Fight the Future

by BubblePuff

Chapter 2

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “M-Me? Why would I want to kill my own niece?”

“You have no idea what the future is like, or rather what’s left of it...” Higgs shook his head at the mere thought of the disaster zone he’d left behind. “Ponies dead and dying everywhere. An entire nation destroyed. And your ‘precious’ niece…”

At this point, Higgs started banging on the bars again, almost rabid in his desperation. “You have to let me out now to destroy her. Otherwise I fear, Equestria as you know it will never be the same again, a mere few decades from now…”

“You’re not going anywhere until I get to the bottom of this...” Twilight frowned at the sheer gall of the stallion in front of her. “...And I don’t know how you do things in the future, but we most certainly do not go around assassinating innocent foals in our present! So, you can get that notion out of your head right now!”

“Oh, but it’s for the greater good, I promise…” Higgs assured her, with a calmer face. “You see, she might look cute now, but your precious little Flurry Heart is actually going to grow up to be…”

“Yes?” Twilight leaned in a bit closer, unable to hold back her curiosity.

“A TYRANT! A MONSTER! SHE’LL DESTROY US ALL!!” Higgs screamed, grabbing the alicorn all of a sudden and almost dashing her head against the bars, if she hadn’t teleported away in the nick of time.

“Whoa, okay. Another unspoken rule we have in modern Equestria is a little something called ‘personal boundaries’...” Twilight informed her prisoner from further away. “And may I just say, your story sounds more than a little far-fetched to me. I’ll investigate it, but I really don’t think…”

“If you’re not willing to do what’s necessary, I will!” Higgs growled, while narrowing his eyes. “Time is of the essence here, as I only have a few more days before…”

“If your sentence there was about to end with ‘up before a judge’, than congratulations, you’re absolutely correct.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and turned to leave the room. “I’ll conduct a few inquiries into your wild claims, but as for now you might want to look into getting some rest. You look as though you need it.”

“Hang on princess, there’s still so much more I need to tell you. I know what happens to you in the future as well, and to all of your friends…” Higgs desperately tried to persuade her to come back. “You have to listen me, the Twilight I know some years from now would. Because you see, she…”

That was the last Twilight heard from the raving Higgs as the door was firmly closed behind her. Wow. he certainly spins a good yarn, shame I don’t believe a word of it, the alicorn pondered, as she made her way away from the cell. But, even so…

“Watch that prisoner closely!” Twilight ordered the two guards playing cards nearby, before stomping off with a distinct anger.

The soldiers waited until she was gone, before the taller one asked his friend: “Geez, I wonder crawled up her…”

…………………………………………………………..

“...And then, he claimed that Flurry was some kind of future power-crazed dictator who’d destroy everything when she grows up!” Twilight told the nearby Cadance, who was playing with her daughter.

“What, you mean this little munchkin? Impossible!” Cadance shook her head in disbelief, before giving the giggling Flurry Heart one of her patented belly blasts.

“I know, that’s what I said!” Twilight shrugged her shoulders. “But I thought, just to set my mind at ease, I’d better…”

“Hang on a minute, Twily…” the alicorn’s big brother Shining Armour stopped staring down adorably at his daughter to frown in his sister’s direction. “Please don’t tell me you’re attaching any credence…”

“Yes, dear?”

“Sorry, darling… I said ‘credence’, not ‘Cadence’. Anyway, there’s nothing to these spurious allegations I’m sure. That stallion you have in there is most likely highly mentally unstable, or sent from a hostile country, possibly from one of the undiscovered areas. If I were you I’d leave that lunatic to rot in jail until his trial.”

“B-But…” Twilight tried to get him to change his mind.

“Sorry Twilight, I just can’t accept my darling daughter might grow up to be the harbinger of destruction for all of Equestria. Now, if you’ll excuse us, it’s almost time for her bath…” Shining Armour turned away from his sister, indicating the conversation was over.

She was about to take his advice and make her way back home (her friends had long since departed), but a strange nagging feeling at the back of her head told her otherwise. I’d better talk to Sunburst before I leave. Maybe he’ll understand.

………………………………………………………

“If it wasn’t you asking me to do this Twilight, I’d turn you down in an instant. That would-be assassin almost murdered the second most important pony in my life. I have no idea why you’re even entertaining his fanciful…”

“Sunburst, please. Just this once.”

“O-Okay Twilight, but I’m positive we’re not going to find anything out of the ordinary.”

“That’s what I’m here to find out.”

“Alright, here’s goes nothing. Brace yourself...”

An incredibly reluctant Sunburst had agreed to use a Future Vision spell he kept tucked away in his private archives to see if Higgs’s story carried any weight. He didn’t want his royal employees finding out about this unpermitted activity though, hence why this ritual would be kept strictly off the records.

As for Twilight, she usually wouldn’t be so secretive around her friends and family, but for a situation as potentially catastrophic as this, she was willing to make a personal exception just this once.

After finishing his chant, Sunburst’s eyes suddenly glowed deadly white, forcing Twilight to shield her eyes from the intense light. Immediately, the magic-using stallion began describing the future in intensely deep tones, a million miles from the soft candour he was known for.

“Ten years from now… lush fields, ponies frolicking in the grass, Celestia and Luna rule with great benevolence.”

“Twenty years from now… A similar scenario, only those ‘lush fields’ could do with a bit of a trim.”

“Thirty years from now… Look, do I have to continue? It’s pretty much the same thing.”

“Yes please…” Twilight felt a lot better by this stage, but she wanted to make absolutely sure.

“Okay, you’re the boss. Forty years from now… Wait, what’s this?! No… NO!!”

Sunburst suddenly started writhing in agony, which broke the spell and forced Twilight to catch him as he fell unconscious to the floor. Initially shocked at his disturbed reaction, an even more horrible thought suddenly entered the head of Twilight.

After gently laying him on a nearby couch, she scrambled back to Higgs’s cell in record time to demand of the perplexed guards there: “I need to see the prisoner… NOW!!”

Seeing them momentarily hesitate at her brusque demeanor, she levitated the keys herself before galloping past them to unlock the door in earnest…

… Only to find nopony was there. Only a letter, with her name on it.

Comments

[light997]

Yes yes yes yes Don't Stop Love It

[deadpansnarker]

Interesting to see how this one does... Crosses fingers

[Kyuubi325]

I don't like Flurry Heart but a baby is a baby but it does leave an important question, what is the worth of one future tyrant over the countless lives of those who will suffer from there birth? Also I look forward to seeing The Denial of her parents and the possibility that this event only made it worse!

[Ciphers]

8209647
True, it's like The Ethics of Killing Baby Hitler all over again