Mark of the Hourglass

by Starsong

Out of Time

All of creation washed clean of its slate, spiraling inwards to that point. That featureless hill where I'd stood and Twilight had changed fate forever by saving my life. Reality crept through me as it fell apart and for a brief moment I could see. I could understand. Maybe it was the threads of the universe coming unwound from my perception. Or maybe I had just chosen to block it out, time and again, staving off the inevitable.

It could have been the 'real' Ponvyille, or a facsimile, a memory. It didn't matter. She met me there, just like I knew she would.

“You see it now, don't you?” I laughed, mostly at myself.

“See what?” Twilight moaned. “The end of the world? There's nothing left.”

“Of course there is!” I put on my bravest face and clopped her shoulder with a hoof. “Dear Twilight Sparkle. You brilliant filly. You figured it out before I did. What happened to us.”

She maintained defiance. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Of course you do,” I said, and planted my haunches on the ground. It was nearly silent ,now that all was left was a small field of reality and all the universe to just the two of us. “Oh, no one blames you. No one else could pull it off. Of course then you were stuck with me, and things just got nastier from there.”

“Pardon?” she said. “We don't have time for this.”

“Oh, but we do. We always have, and that's the problem. You know that's what Princess Celestia meant, don't you? Time. It was always a matter of time. Repeating and retrying, hoping there would be a happy ending.” I tapped my forehead with a hoof. “You probably only remember a little, but I remember it all. Oh yes. Every time, every detail, from the first time you saved me. It took decades to reach this point before, when we parted ways. Then the next time I stuck with you. Married, I think, with three untameable fillies. That was more effort than a lifetime, I daresay.”

Twilight looked incredulous. “What are you.. and how did you pull that off?”

“Being a little clever,” I mused. “Recitations. Some things I cobbled together myself. Chronicles. I've learned to be a ripe conman over the ages, too. Then swept you off on some ridiculous escapade over the western sea.” I laughed so hard I was crying. “Oh, your friends were furious! I thought Dash was going to kill me, but... oh, that was so long ago. So many lifetimes ago. It always turns out so differently. One time you hated me, fierce and true. I'm not sure how we kicked that one off.”

Her head moved up and down in slow motion as the blank slate of all things crept closer. Maybe she was remembering. Maybe she always knew, the way I did, and just enjoyed remembering it with me. And we both knew what happened next. It happened every time.

“I don't think I can do it,” she said.

“Sure you can.” I smiled. “That's how this whole mess started. One little hop back to one little moment in time. One insignificant little...”

“Shut up!” she sobbed. “I do not need to hear you give this speech again.”

I sighed. Then I hugged her tight. Her heart was beating so incredibly fast when she pulled me close. We would need the space soon, anyway, because oblivion was near to tickling our heels. “You're right,” I whispered. “I hate being so cruel to you like this.”

“It's not you, it's...”

One hoof to her lips. I smiled. “You always go back. You always save me. That's what makes you incredible. But you're too good.”

“I can find a way...”

“We're out of time. We're out of everything. It just wasn't meant to be.”

“I'll keep trying! So don't...”

I looked into her eyes. “Twilight. This time it only took a few days for the world to end. How much will it be again, next time? A few minutes? Too little time to prevent it from happening again? I can't take that risk. You have to be better than good. You have to be good enough to carry the world on your shoulders. Even if I'm not a part of it.”

“I know,” she said, trembling. I tried to still her but I was shaking worse because I knew what happened next.

“Besides, I've had lifetimes to mess around with when most ponies only get one.”

“And they'll all be erased.” Her grip grew tighter.

“Details.” I smiled. She hated when I didn't take things seriously.

We were all there was in all the world. We scarcely noticed.

“Will I remember?” she asked.

“In your heart at least,” I said. I hoped as much. “You'll go back, and you'll do it. It'll kill you inside but you'll get it done. And you'll love me the way you should have, the way a mother feels when she loses...”

Twilight Sparkle choked back a breath. We were fading. We were out of time. I brushed back her tears with my nose and kissed her on the cheek. In the face of that she could still blush like a princess. I whispered the last two words I would ever speak to her, such selfish little things. “For me.” I pleaded.

She didn't reply, instead pouring all of her effort into one spell. She screamed. We were ripped apart and echoed across all of time and space until we'd been brought back to the moment where it all began, and where it would end.

#

Where was I, again?

That's right. Dancing in the rain. Height of the thunderstorm, and all the world coming alive around me. The ferocity built and this time something caught my eye. Twilight Sparkle stood a few paces from me. A smile. A tear. Then three things happened.

The sky exploded with light and violence.

I saw her speak a few words, but my exploding eardrums couldn't last long enough to collect them.

Then everything faded in a rush.

Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for everything.

Comments

[toafan]

So that's interesting.

I have this... recieved wisdom that anonymous, featureless, in-love-with-one-of-the-main-six OCs don't work. I can't say if it's true. In this case, though, you get away with it fine -- we know practically nothing about him, but that's allowable, because he never existed anyways. Even though we have no idea what his connection relationship with Twilight Sparkle is.