A Threat As Old As Time

by Shadowmane PX-41

Prologue

On a dark night in Equestria, a shadowy figure approached a large rectangular building with various different banners hanging down from the windows. The pictures depicted that the Great Mage Meadowbrook had created a brand new enchanted item and had placed it on display in the museum.

The figure looked at the artifact being displayed on the banners with a smug grin creeping onto his face. "So, this is where Meadowbrook stored it?" he said to himself as he walked closer to the doors. Using his hoof, he felt that the doors were tightly locked so that no-one could enter. "A locked door, eh? These fools don't know what they're up against..." with that remark, he pulled back his hood revealing a unicorn horn.

He cast a spell which wrapped himself in a dark blue aura. Once he was satisfied with his little trick, he fazed straight through the doors and appeared on the other side. After that was all done, he pulled his hood back up and sneaked into a shadowed area of the museum in case there were any night guards on duty.

Slinking through the darkness, the unicorn finally came to a massive room with one artifact in the center of the room. It was a staff, protected by a glass case which was surrounded by red velvet rope. The staff itself was made of gold, and had a massive ruby gem at the top. This was accompanied by two white wings, both of which radiated pure magic. At the staff's bottom, there was a little clock with hands that turned on their own.

"With this staff, I can save these ponies from themselves, and safeguard their bonds for all of eternity..." the mysterious unicorn said as he moved closer to the staff whilst hiding in the darkness.

As soon as he got to a position where he could simply walk out and take the staff, he noticed that hoofsteps were echoing across the hall. The constant noise that repeated itself alerted him that security was approaching. Even so, he didn't lose his composure and simply camouflaged himself in the shadows.

He could see two guards arrive at the staff, both of them dressed in navy blue security uniforms. They were also using torches to search the darkness, in case anyone was sneaking around to plan a robbery. The guards tried every section of the shadows but found nothing.

Whilst the guards were searching in the shadows, the unicorn was cleverly disguised with an invisibility spell that was immune to flashlights. With this spell, he simply walked around the guards and arrived at the display case. From there, he crept underneath the red rope and slowly lifted the display case. He did it slowly, so as not to alert the guards with any sudden noise. Finally, he grabbed onto the staff and pulled it out. as quickly as he could. As soon as it was in his possession, he dropped the display case.

The noise of the display case landing was enough to grab the attention of both of the guards, who turned around to see the thief wielding the staff.

"Stop! In the name of the law!" one of the guards said charging on the suspect.

"Pitiful..." the unicorn said, using his magic to swing the staff with one swift flick. After he had done so, the guards were completely frozen in place. "The Staff of Time. Just what I needed to save everypony's bonds..." he simply fled from the guards and banged the staff on the ground once again. After he had done so, a powerful portal in the shape of a clock opened up behind him. "Now to make a hasty retreat, to a time where this museum never existed!"

He leapt through the poral and vanished without a trace. As soon as he did, time started up again and the guards noticed that their suspect had escaped.

"Contact the princesses now!" one of the guards said to his colleague. "Tell them that the Staff of Time has been stolen, and that the suspect is trying to change the future with it!"

His fellow guard complied with his order and ran from the display case. From there, he charged down the corridors in an attempt to make it outside. The sweat running down from his face accompanied his mood; he was desperate to contact Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and Cadence.

---

The mysterious unicorn appeared in a different time period in a bright flash of white light. However, his position hadn't changed since he had left the museum. The first thing that he noticed was that the museum wasn't even built, and that he was in the middle of a construction site.

Chuckling to himself, the mysterious pony walked away from the skeleton of girders and proceeded to exit the vicinity. But before he could, he was suddenly surrounded by construction ponies, seemingly outmatched.

"Hey! What are you doing here, kid?" one of the workers shouted at him. "This area is off-limits to all civilians! I don't know how you got in here, but I know that you're not going anywhere now..."

"On the contrary, boys, I'll be going right now, if you please..." he raised the Staff of Time once again and swished it. In doing so, he had stopped time once again. "So kind of you to allow me to leave without any bother..."

The unicorn walked out of the construction site with ease. Even though he was out of the site, time still hadn't started up again, and he was free. He rubbed the staff that he had acquired quite tenderly, feeling its' power envelop him and make him feel stronger.

"With this Staff of Time, I can save friendships from going up in flames," the unicorn said as he walked into the nearby town that was still frozen in time. "These ponies don't know it yet, but they're losing friends with each passing day... I must free them from their curse, and this was just the item I needed to fulfill my wish, and create an eternal utopia for friendship!" the pony wandered into town and looked at each of the ponies he crossed paths with. They all seemed to be happy as they were, but he was unmoved by their emotions. "Now I just need someone to test this item's power on..."

He started up time again, allowing the ponies to continue with what they were doing. Meanwhile, the unicorn blended in with the crowd and concealed his prize.

---

After a while of wandering, he eventually saw a trio of friends walking into a field with no-one around for miles. Seeing his chance, he walked up to the ponies and prepared his staff for his plan.

"Hello there, everypony!" he introduced himself with a more cheerful attitude than before. "Tell me, have you ever wished that you could be friends forever?"

"Well, yeah... I'd love that," a mare with silver hair and a blue coat said. She was a pegasus and had a Cutie Mark that depicted a hailstorm. "My name's Hailstorm, this is Second Wind, and that's Slipstream,"she pointed towards two other pegasi. Slipstream was white with grey hair, whilst Second Wind was pink with green hair. "So, what do you mean about being friends forever?"

"Had it ever occurred to the three of you that the more and more you develop, the easier it is to lose your friends?" the unicorn said in a prophetic style. "As I have grown up, I watched as all of my friends abandoned me for their work, and even found new friends that were also only interested in business. When I matured, I felt like I was my only friend, and that I would always lose any friends that I tried to make..."

"Aww... that's so sad..." Slipstream said, patting the unicorn on the back in sympathy. "We'll be your friends, mister..."

"No, no. There's no need, I only mean to preserve friendships, not make them my own..." the unicorn said, slowly pulling out the Staff of Time from his cloak. "And with this artifact that I wield, I can make a friendship last forever..."

"How does it work?" Second Wind tilted her head as soon as she saw the staff. "And how did you even get your hooves on such a pretty staff like this in the first place?"

"Questions should not concern ponies, at least not ponies that I aid..." the unicorn pulled out the staff and spun it counter-clockwise. "Now then, with the power of this staff, I shall free you from your curse, and let your friendship become eternal!"

As the staff spun more and more, the ponies were slowly lifted off of the ground by an ethereal force. The three pegasi friends felt some discomfort that only grew the more and more the unicorn was spinning the staff. They felt woozy, and began to feel weaker and weaker the longer he used the Staff of Time.

Finally, the unicorn had the staff fire some powerful white beams at the three ponies. The beams struck their chests rather violently, and made them scream with pain. Whilst he watched the ponies become consumed in a bright flash of light, he could hear their screams grow higher and higher in pitch.

---

Twilight arrived at the throne room of her castle and looked down at her map. As she looked down on her world, she sat down on her throne, she could immediately feel that her Cutie Mark was vibrating. A problem had surfaced, and she was called to answer it.

"Alright, so where am I going?" Twilight said as her throne generated a projection of it. She watched as the projection flew upwards, then darted out of the throne room altogether. "Huh? That's odd..." despite her reaction to such an occurrence, Twilight still dashed after the projection

Twilight thought that if it wasn't on the map, then it had to be somewhere away from Equestria. But then Twilight remembered that her map only showed Equestria and nothing else, so her emotion changed to one of intrigue and slight worry when she ran for another room.

"Hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, trying to greet Twilight as she ran down the hall. She was with the rest of Twilight's friends, all of who saw her look of determination. "What's going—" before she could even finish, Twilight's Cutie Mark flew right past her, with Twilight close behind "—on?"

"There's no time to explain, Rainbow Dash! My destiny's calling me to somewhere other than Equestria!" she briefly explained as she followed the projection into another door further down the hallway.

The six friends eventually walked into the room and saw a number of books on the shelves. This was Twilight's library, and at one of the nearby walls was the portal to the Human World. The Cutie Mark was also here, but it was now revolving around the portal, indicating that Twilight's next problem resided on the other side.

"Twilight? What in the hay is yer Cutie Mark doin' at the portal?" Applejack asked as she examined the portal.

"I'm not sure yet, but I think my next problem is going down in the Human World instead of Equestria," Twilight said. "There's just no other way the map would lead me to the portal. It looks like I'm going to be paying Sunset Shimmer and my other friends a visit..."

"But what could possibly be in the Human World that wants to threaten friendship?" Rarity asked as she stared at the portal's rippling entrance. "Last I recall, the threats in that world came from Equestria. And unless this new threat left like Sunset did, then maybe that map needs a little fine-tuning..."

"How would you even tune a portal anyway? It doesn't have any strings or anything like that." Pinkie Pie said, feeling the portal with her hooves.

"It's not that kind of tuning, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash said, looking a little bemused. "I'm no egghead, but even I know that there's a difference between tuning an instrument and tuning a magical map..."

"Even so, if the map's calling me to the Human World, I suppose I should go," Twilight said. "If I leave the problem to fester, friendship could be lost there forever..."

"I'm guessing we have to stay back again?" Rarity asked. "I mean, if you say that we can come, we'd be glad to help out with whatever problem befalls your other friends..."

"No, it's fine. If there were two of us, there would be chaos and pandemonium that not even friendship could fix," Twilight reminded Rarity that only she could go through the portal. "I'll be back in a while, girls. You five can look after Equestria while I'm gone, can't you?"

"Uh-huh." her friends all said together.

"I promise, I'll come back." Twilight said as she stepped through the portal and vanished in a glow of light. After she had left, the projection of her Cutie Mark vanished from sight.

Comments

[Harms Way]

An intriguing story my friend. I can't wait to see what happens.

[FlufferNutters]

Interesting.

[MrB]

I like it

[Tennis Match Fan]

the Staff of Time reminds me of Renet.