Sands of Time

by Amaranthine Thought

Chapter 4

…It is warm.

I open my eyes and see a bright sun lighting a field. It is not familiar to me.

I feel weak, trembling as I stand. All around me is green, spotted with flowers. Hills that remind me of the dunes…

The sky above is blue, with little wisps of clouds drifting across it. A gentle breeze rustles the grass around me, and brings strange scents with it. I don’t know them, but they make me hungry instantly.

I look, and where there had once been field, there is a pony town. They are happy, gathered together in some form of celebration. The scent seems to come from within.

Many see me, but none seem worried, upset, or anything. They wave at me, happy to see me. I walk toward them, and while they part to allow my mass, not one fears me.

They make no sound, though I see them speaking and waving as I pass. As I go, it seems… as if I am weighed down. Like nothing clings to me, trying to pull me back.

The scent pulls me forward.

The crowd thickens, and I slow, ponies struggling to get out of my way. Before I am even aware of it, the town itself seems smaller, closer together, and I am having a hard time fitting.

But the scent, my hunger, pulls me ever forward as the buildings tower over me and ponies swarm under my feet. Only a little more. It is so close! These obstacles matter nothing.

Until, at last, I can progress no more. The area ahead is packed with ponies, no room for me. The scent itself comes from what lies in their center, a small building, tiny compared to the towering things nearby.

I cannot reach it. Nothing can move anymore. The only way I could progress would be to step on ponies, or…

Or devour them so as to clear a way.

I shake my head, and stare at the colorful mass under me, each pony seeming to blur into the next.

Earth ponies are strong… maybe they could support my weight?

I lift a paw, and the space under it fills with more ponies. I hold it up, and spot a few earth ponies nearby.

“…I shall be careful.” I tell them, and slowly set my paw down.

As they disappear under my paw, I hear a single yell.

A child’s yell.

I pull back, and see a single pony, just a filly. A yellow earth pony, breathing hard in minor panic before she vanishes into the crowd.

I had almost smashed her.

The ponies around me press ever closer, and I still have my paw up.

I feel some of them holding onto me. A few try climbing.

I am tempted to shake them free, but…

I would kill somepony in this mass.

But the scent is so close, so good. They swarm, leaving me trapped, the buildings loom, preventing my flight. They cling to my fur, pulling on it, a few climbing onto me like ticks! The sensation is…

Unbearable!

I am breathing hard, staring at the tiny building. It is red now.

Most things are red now. A few of the buildings are damaged.

The crowd is gone. In a sense. I… don’t really have much reason to fear stepping on them anymore anyway. I walk forward, and my steps squish until I reach the tiny building.

I bend to see better, and the tiny building changes. The scent does not, but I no longer see a structure.

I see fillies. Terrified, huddling together, not looking at me. Yellow, orange, and white.

My desire, and my action, changes not.

My jaw opens wide, and I hear them scream.

“Kitty!”

I wake suddenly, something thudding into me with some force. My mind comes back to me, and I am left dazed and weak. I still feel hurt.

“KITTY!”

I stir more, and feel another powerful strike. The jar of it drives me more awake.

I open an eye, and see a green blur. I shut it again, and swallow, enduring the pain and weakness within me.

“Kitty! Wake up!”

“Mirage..?” I murmur, finally recognizing the voice.

“Kitty! Giant lizard thing! Get up!”

I open my eyes again, and see Mirage, desperate. Terrified.

The sight removes some of my weakness. I force myself up, and stand upon trembling legs as I stand once more.

I hear a trio of yelps as I do so, but I also hear the crack of branches and the thud of heavy steps.

I turn toward that, my strength returning slowly, the pain nothing to me right now. I see three lizards. About as… no.

There is but one lizard with three heads on long necks. It stomps with two feet on a big body, damp and muddy. Little scales cover it, and its eyes are surprisingly sharp. It is… technically my size. I am longer and less of my size is composed of neck, but I suspect it outweighs me.

It spots me and hisses, stopping its advance, all three heads acting independently. I growl back, flapping my wings out.

It is not retreating. I am… not really up to fighting it.

But Mirage depends upon me, and this beast must be driven back before it eats me and her.

I roar.

And seriously hurt myself as I choke, the pain within me spiking suddenly.

But it has… slowed. It has not stopped, but it is moving slowly.

That is enough.

Despite the pain within me, my jaws and claws worked the same. Tearing all three heads off was actually easy. A simple mauling later, and the beast was no more.

I ate some portion of it as I did so. The pain, though encompassing, seems eased by the act of eating, and by the time it wasn’t twitching anymore, I felt full and my pain had reduced to where I could think rationally. Not that it tasted very good, but food is food I suppose.

I look back, and spot Mirage. She is pale and trembling, turned away from the sight. The fillies are near her, and are pointedly not looking either, though they seem mostly normal.

I take the opportunity to rip another hunk from it and swallow, most of my strength returning. I still ache, and I still feel dazed and weaker than I would be normally, but it is fading.

“It is done.” I say, my voice harsh and raspy, heading to them.

The fillies look at me, and wince a little.

“Yer,” the yellow one says before Mirage looks again, pales heavily, and rushes into the nearby bushes.

The trio look after her, and the yellow one, speaking slowly as they look back to me, finishes, “Covered in… blood.”

… More evidence that my Mirage was a unique individual. It seems most ponies are bothered by the sight of blood. I take a few moments to lick at least most of it off, the trio taking note and then trying to help by telling me what I had missed.

Their mild distress vanishes as they do so. After a moment, the white one even giggles.

“Is something amusing?” I ask her.

“You’re just like Opal.” she tells me, smiling.

The others ponder that for a second. “…I suppose.” the yellow one murmurs.

“Do all cats do that?” Scoots asks the white one.

She nods. “Opal always licks herself clean.” Then she pauses, recalls something, and adds, “Thank you for saving us.”

“Oh, yeah! Thank ya Kitty!”

“Thanks.”

I chuckle at them, and they smile back. “I never heard your names.” I tell them.

“I’m Applebloom!” the yellow one says.

“My name is Sweetie Belle.”

“Scootaloo!”

I nod, and turn to try and spot Mirage. Then, with a practiced motion, all three climbed atop me, to stand upon my back. I watch them do so, curious. They seem perfectly at home on me.

Their being there feels… oddly familiar. Still, I have Mirage to find.

“Mirage!” I call.

“O, over here!”

I go that way and find her, a little pale, shaking slightly, but alright. Her seeing me clean seems to calm her immensely, and she flutters uncertainty up to land atop my head, grabbing hold of it.

I can easily feel her tension and relief in her grip. She gives a gentle laugh as she holds onto me, and I think I hear her sniffle.

“…Mirage?” I ask, worried.

“Give me a moment.” she murmurs back, inaudible if not for how she is so close to my ears.

After a few moments she sighs again. “It’s good to have you back.”

“…I was gone?” I ask her.

“Ya slept fer three days.”

I look back to the fillies, and see them nod.

“You wouldn’t wake up no matter how loud we got.” the white one says.

“Yeah.”

I wonder. “…Why are you still with us then?” I ask.

“Cause we can’t find anythin.”

“After you roared, everything went all blurry.” Scoots says.

“And the whole castle disappeared, and the forest changed.”

“An then we were here, an you fell over, an wouldn’t wake up.”

“You really scared me.” Mirage adds in a slightly tight murmur.

“…My apologies.” I say. Three days. Mirage, trying to take care of three fillies for three days in some unknown place. “You have all been through a trial, and because of me.”

“Not your fault Kitty.” Mirage sighs. “Besides; they’re more upset that we can’t find anypony.”

Because they can’t find anypony? Why would… I’m being stupid.

First, Mirage is used to being in a city. Not by herself. Second, the fillies have families that they no doubt want to return to.

Mirage taps at me, and the fillies hop off of me. They move to stand nearby as she begins to whisper, holding one of my ears close to her.

“They want to go back home, and we haven’t spotted anypony for three days. And… I haven’t told them yet, but…”

“Told them what?” I whisper back, wondering why she is being quiet.

“I flew up high, to try and see more. And I saw… I found…”

I waited a moment as she took a breath. “I found where Canterlot should be.”

“…Should be?” I quietly ask.

“It’s not there, Kitty!” she hisses, distraught, “It’s not there! Nothing is! Everypony’s gone and I can’t find them! The girls don’t know about that yet, but I can’t keep it a secret forever!”

Canterlot is gone? Everypony is gone? What has happened?

I must take charge. Mirage is near tears already. It is long past the time when I should have been awake and caring for her.

“I shall handle this.” I tell her. She calms atop me.

I look to the fillies, and say, “I shall discover where we are. Then I shall make a decision; climb back upon me, and tell me should you recognize anything.”

I wait to allow them to get atop me and then I set forth. Flying would be more effective, but I would crash, and I cannot guarantee the safety of my passengers.

I walk out of the forest into a land of rolling hills. It is bright, green, and flowering, with a few trees scattered about. I see a mountain in the distance, and while I am not sure, it could be the one where Canterlot is supposed to be.

For obvious reasons, I haven’t spent much time looking at the mountain.

It doesn’t take too long before one of the girls gasps and begins to thump my side. I stop, and look back to spot Applebloom, excited.

“Over there!” she yells, pointing toward a small lake overgrown with reeds and long grass. “That’s Froggy Bottom Pond!”

“That’s near Fluttershy’s house!” Scootaloo says, happy.

Sweetie thinks for a second, looks around and frowns. “But… I don’t see Fluttershy’s house.” she murmurs. The other two hesitate and look about as well, all three faintly tensing.

“But… it should be…”

“Over there!” Scootaloo yells, pointing at a small hill nearby. A brook passes very close to it, and though it is a noticeable hill in the land around it, it is nothing to me. But they are growing worried.

“Is… is that Fluttershy’s place?” Scootaloo asks, as if she dreads the answer.

“But the tree! The house! It’s not there!” Sweetie says.

“An if her house ain’t there… what else ain’t there?” Applebloom asks the others. “Ya kin see Ponyville from here, right?”

We cannot. I realize something.

The first is that I recognize the area. Despite my having only spent a short time in it, I vividly recall it. That field is where I had crashed, and the same land I had walked into the forest from.

The next is something I should have realized a while ago.

My Mirage could walk when only I could. When my roar stops things, she moved unencumbered.

She gained her cutie mark the first time I roared in her presence.

Said cutie mark was a pair of clocks.

Mirage the 39^th also has a pair of clocks, and she too, moved despite my roar in Canterlot.

I think I might not be simply stopping things with my roar.

I might be stopping time itself. And then be able to move despite that.

However… that is when I roar with the intent to stop things.

I did not intend to stop things earlier.

I had intended to escape. Escape as far as possible.

And if my roar affects time…

It is all too possible I have thrust us all through time, to arrive at this time: a time beyond Ponyville and Canterlot. Beyond the heroes and even beyond Celestia and Luna. Escaping the rainbow power by fleeing to where it is not.

The thought is… oddly nothing to me. I’m not truly sure why, but I look to the fillies, sure that I will find them distressed. Best to keep them calm.

I… soon grow confused.

First, they are horrified, thinking the entire town has been destroyed. But then they turn towards more fantastic explanations, and horror slowly changes to curiosity, and wonder.

And I do not know how, but it takes them almost no time at all to somehow arrive at the same conclusion I have. What was left of fear turns into fascination and excitement as I watch, speechless.

“You can time travel!” Scootaloo says, “That. Is. Awesome!”

“I can see where my house will be!” chirps Sweetie.

Mirage seems confused at this. She has obviously expected something much worse, but she soon tries to accept the circumstances.

“You’re not upset?” she hazards, worriedly.

“Course not!” Applebloom tells her, “It’s jus time! We kin go back anytime we want, an no time woulda passed, right?”

The fillies nod as one, and Mirage lets out a long sigh of relief.

…

“It may be a time before we can return.” I say, and all four look to me, curious. “The ability… takes much out of me. I cannot do it again so soon.”

They all nod, understanding, and the fillies begin chattering amongst themselves. I watch for a moment before resuming my walk.

I need to find a den. And I think I know where I might find one.

It is not a long trip to the mountain, and once there, I see a cave in the rock. It is not much, barely a small cove, but I might be able to enlarge it. I lie down to allow the fillies to get off, and then I head within.

One blow has me discover that my claws pass through stone with ease. And soon after, I am digging.

I spend the rest of the day doing such before I grow too hungry to ignore the urge. I need to find food. Flowers can sustain a pony, but I require more.

I leave them in the cave and head back to that lizard corpse, to devour the rest of it. When I return, the sun setting, I find a small fire, the fillies covered in soot and Mirage’s tail appears burnt. They seem proud. She seems irritated.

“Hi Kitty!” says… Sweetie I think. The ashes make it hard to tell.

“What has happened in my brief absence?” I ask, heading inside and carefully lying on the stone.

Mirage sighs. “They wanted a fire, so I got some sticks and tried to start one, but it wasn't starting.”

“So we got a whole bunch of leaves ta help!” Applebloom says.

Mirage unhappily nods. “I put a few on, and got a little flame going. And they decided it wasn’t burning fast enough and dumped the rest of the leaves on the fire.”

“It was really cool!”

“And there was a huge fireball, we all got covered in ashes, my tail somehow caught fire, and I can’t smell anything but smoke.” Mirage slumps at the last, grumpy. She is unhappy, being so dirty.

I understand. I would be the same. A small sacrifice on my part would do wonders for her mood.

Mirage shrieks when I lick her, and leaps away. Or rather, she tries to. As she leaps, I move a paw to grab her back, and pull her close so I can finish. She yells quite a lot, and continually tries to wiggle out of my hold, but I keep her until I am sure she is clean once more. Then I let her go.

She zips a bit from me, to turn and stare back in mild shock, panting. “What do you think you’re doing!?” she yells, her voice higher pitched than normal.

“Cleaning you.” I tell her, and look to the fillies, who shrink back. “Come here.”

I grab all three, and they all take it far better than Mirage. I cannot hear her well past the little shrieks and laughter, but she tries to say something about personal space or something while I clean three fillies, none of whom try to escape. Or at least they didn’t really try very hard to.

Eventually, they are all clean once more, and with the exception of Sweetie, mostly enjoyed it. ‘Better than a bath’ Scootaloo said. Sweetie disagreed, her mane and tail having lost their curl. Applebloom was somewhere between those views.

I licks the ash from myself, the scattered patches I have from touching them, and yawn. The land outside is dark.

I settle down, and the fillies come to my side to lie next to me as well. Mirage hesitates before flitting up and landing on my mane, curling up there.

Their presence soon makes me begin to gently purr, furthered by the happy sigh Mirage gives and the way her hoof idly rubs at me. The purr and the crackle of the fire soon has all four asleep. But I remain awake, thinking.

What would I find out here? This time unknown not only to me, but to Mirage and the girls. What dangers might be waiting? More multi-headed lizards? Something better? Something worse?

Would I really be able to care for three fillies and a young mare? I am not truly sure how one goes about raising a pony. Many stories about youth, but not one about caring for them. Maybe it won’t be so hard to find out on my own? Maybe they can help me help them, perhaps?

And what of my power? The inner part of me still faintly burns, aching. Will the strength that brought us here ever return? If it does, will I even be able to control it?

Or am I going to have to someday look at all four of them and tell them that we must live the rest of our lives here?

They are worries I have no control over, nor even assurance of, but they consume my thoughts for some time. It is only when Mirage murmurs, “Kitty.” In her sleep that my thoughts are disturbed. I smile at her, and decide.

Let what comes come. For Mirage, I shall endure, and I am sure she and they will as well. Listening to their soft breathing as the last embers of the fire dim and cool, I am soon sleeping.