The Family of Time

by Ephraim Blue

Chapter 2 - Hope for Silver in a Moon with Light

"M- My father?" Hope asked, scared and confused.

"Yes," the stallion said. "I believe I made that perfectly clear. Now do not make me ask again otherwise you may not live to see another day."

Hope cowered more beneath the stallion. "M- M- My d- dad is dead..." she said.

"LIAR!" the stallion shouted. "I know he's alive. He's too clever to die from a couple of bandits! Now either you tell me right now where he is, or I will make sure you and your brother never see the light of day, ever again!"

She cowered even more, too afraid to speak. Why was this stallion asking about her dad? She told him the truth. Why didn't he believe her? He told him exactly what her mother told her.

"Stop it right now! She doesn't know."

The stallion stopped and perked his ears up. He chuckled. "My, my, I never thought I would hear your voice this late at night, Mrs. Blade Runner." He slowly turned around to where Hope's mom stood, glaring at him. "I do believe it's past your bedtime." His eyes suddenly flashed with anger and his horn shone a crimson red color. "ALL your bedtimes!"

Hope closed her eyes in fear as another flash erupted from the stallion's horn, and everything around her faded into darkness.

---

A bright red flash erupted in the air and tore away the clouds from that spot. For all, it raised questions in the crowds.

"What is that?"

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Where's that coming from?"

"Is that a spell? Who could cause something like that?"

Everyone asked questions that none could answer. Foals cried from their cribs, and everyone in it's sight rose from their sleep to see the light.

Some say the moon turned red that day. They were right. All color in the sky vanished, replaced by the red that filled the void for miles to come. The moon turned red, and none looked at it the same.

The color soon faded, along with the light. Murmurs and rumors spread in the town abuzz. Some might know what that was. Some might not.

But as the rest of them soon went back to bed, one stallion in blackish-blue armor continued staring up at where it once sat. "Let it not be true," he said quietly. "Please, let it not be true."

---

A ringing filled her ears and a feint muffled sound could be heard. She tried to see, but opening his eyes was impossible.

What's going on? he thought. Why can't I open my eyes? Why can't I speak, why can't I hear? Has something happened to me? She stopped thinking for a time to ponder. I feel weird.. as if something's holding me here... Something around me... Is it preventing me from seeing? From speaking? If it has me trapped like this, why can I still think?

"For the longest time..."

W- What was that? That voice... why did it sound so familiar? Was it my voice? Did I say that? Do I sound like that? She stopped again. Or was that somepony else's voice? I guess it could be either one. What was the voice meaning by 'For the longest time'? That doesn't sound like anything to say. Is there more to it? Will it tell me who I am?

She paused again. Please! Come back! Voice--whatever your name is--please tell me more! Please! I need to know who I am, where I am, what I'm doing here. Please...

I can't remember...

---

Silver's eyes blinked open to nothing but an orange fur lingering above him. Took him several blinks to finally realize that it was his mother.

"M- Mom?" he asked. "Why are you on top of me?"

But she didn't respond with what he was expecting. She responded with a heavy sigh, followed by a load of breathing. A second sound next to him caught his attention. He turned to see his sister lying down next to him. Ugh... my head hurts... he thought. What happened? I was in bed... then I got up, right? Did that happen? I can't think straight...

He tried to sit up, but there was another pain in his back that prevented him from doing so. It hurt so much. Was it broken? He shifted from left to right, bending his back ever so slightly. Not broken if he could move it. That's what his mom told him.

"Well, some activity!" another voice spoke up from out of his sight. "I was getting a little tired of sitting here, beating at the ridiculous barrier. Honestly, I should have broken through it hours ago."

Silver craned his neck in the direction of the voice. A gray stallion with a green and orange mane sat with an abnormally large hammer--several of them, actually--lifted magically above his head. A small pinkish tint of his mother's magic almost prevented the orange of the stallion's mane from being completely visible, but the barrier was flickering.

"I'm surprised at your mother's strength, young colt. She's managed to prevent me from breaking in. You three would be dead, and I would be on the long goose-chase for your father."

My father? My father's dead... what does he want with him? He squinted his eyes at the stallion. I've seen him before... But who is he?

"Now that you're awake, why don't you have you mother tell you a story, eh? You like stories, especially hers, I can tell. Let's see, what should it be about..." He seemed to ponder for a moment. "I know! Blade, why don't you tell them the story about how you lied. Lied to them about their father being dead. Lied to them about him being the one that they always wanted to know. Lied to them about the entire world around them! Lied to them about-"

"SHUT UP!" Silver's mother shouted, breathing heavily. "You shut up this instant!" Her horn flickered and the barrier finally fell around them as she cried tears like there was no tomorrow.

"M- Mom...?" Hope said weakly, the worry clear for those around her to hear.

"Well it looks like you time is up now," the stallion said. "Say goodbye to the world you never knew, for it will no longer exist when Father gets through with it." He took the hammers in his magic and swung them down upon the three.

That was when they rebounded back at him.

"What's this?! The barrier broke! Why can't I hit you?!" He swung the hammers over and over, only to have them all bounce back before they could hit. "Impossible!"

Blade was crying, but smiling as well. "Blue..." she said as a tear fell to the ground, "you kept your promise..."

"Blue!? This is your doing isn't it?!" the stallion shouted. "You've hidden yourself well for thirteen years, but the moment I attack your family you decide to give yourself up finally?! What a coward you are! Face me!"

He continued turning around wildly until his eyes fell upon Silver, who cowered as soon as the stallion looked at him. He growled, "I see... You're still hiding... You didn't know when they would be attacked..." He smiled devilishly. "Oh well... At least now I have a way to find you, and when I do, Father will be proud to have you in his collection." He started walking toward the family that cowered on the floor.

"Stay away from us!" Blade shouted as she lit her horn again, firing a beam at the stallion. Instead of dodging, he took it straight on.

"A weak spell like that won't work against me," he said.

"Your wrong," Blade said as she stood up and glared at him. "It's worked already."

He laughed. "What're you tal-"

He vanished before anything else could be said.

The three of them sat there in silence, the two foals confused and their mother looking onward.

"It's not safe here anymore," she said. "Come on... We need to get to your uncle's place."

"M-M-Mom? W- What's going on?" Hope asked, clinging onto her twin. "Why did that stallion want our father? What did he mean by 'he was hiding'?"

Blade looked between the two of them, eyes filled with worry. "I'm sorry... I always wanted to tell you, but he asked me not to... He wanted us to be safe until he was sure the project was cancelled..."

"P-Project?" Silver asked. "Who told you to not tell us?"

"Your father," she answered, causing shock between the two of them. "I promise to tell you everything once we make it to your uncle's place."

"No..." Hope said. "Tell us now."

Author's Note:

I don't know how long I'm planning this story. It might be long, it might be short. Who knows?

Comments

[The Portal Passer]

i have to confess at first I thought this was a doctor who crossover