The Dahaka are the Guardians of the Timeline. When something exists in the Timeline that should not be there, a Dahaka is sent to erase it.
When that which must be erased is being bolstered by Harmony itself and is in turn erasing something which should exist and creating multiple other temporal disturbances in the process, a Dahaka must make an effort to preserve that which should exist as a priority over erasing that which should not.
Luckily for Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, she is deemed 'essential' to the Timeline and effort must be made to preserve her as she is now, but the Dahaka must also complete its mission to erase. Good thing that cooperation is always an option.
(Original idea by Shagohad12. Co-written with Shagohad12. Inspired by and in response to StormLuna's 'Glimmerverse.' Dahaka concept from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, but not a true crossover.)
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Hey, apparently we got Featured at some point. Noticed on 3/14/18 with newest chapter.
The amount of YES cannot be contained
I like this.
Now this is interesting. I want more!
starlight is gonna have a "BAD TIME"
Let's go. The Time Breaker shall be BROKEN!! LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND, AND RETURN HER SOUL TO THE OBLIVION FROM WHENCE IT WAS BORN!
*ahem* Sorry. My inner bloodlust came out for a bit. In all honesty, Starlight deserves whatever happens to her.
8761352
nnaaaa more like this
8761370
True.
8761390
eeeeyyuuuppp
8761390 8761396 You're both wrong...
8761390
this is Dahaka:
this is starlight after dahaka is finished with her: memecrunch.com/meme/8G2YK/i-m-dead/image.png
Oh yeah, Warrior Within was my favourite of the Sand of Time trilogy.
Mostly for its soundtrack and those two song from Godsmack.
Actually, Starlight doesn't need the scroll to travel through time.
8762196 Right, but she probably would need the scroll to completely change what she wants her version of the spell to do, going from travel to something else. Villains lie, especially to heroes, when it suits their desires.
I am such a fan of psychological torture and torment over physical. Much more fun to watch their mind and sanity crumble than the blood run out their veins.
I approve of this direction.
Starlight’s lucky, you know? Lucky that the Twihaka is focused on trying to fix the time stream right now. Gives her some time to maybe figure out a plan.
For all the good it will do, that is. After all, there is no Empress to save her.
8763620
The one problem with Starlight figuring out a plan? How do you fight, let alone defeat, a creature that exists only to correct the timeline? I assume the Dahaka's mission is divinely given, in a sense.
Well Starlight's nightmare are just starting. I can't wait until the Dahaka/Twilight fully manifest physically into this reality to chase Starlight wherever she goes.
Though I also like this course of action to restore Twilight's friends destiny.
Also Dahaka's backward dialogue is gonna take a while to get use to.
Mistakes found:
her
gnidliuber
8763665
I believe you may have answered your own question.
8763707 Thank you for finding these! I do my best to proofread everything intently before posting it, but sometimes stuff still slips through.
Did Starlight get full set of Twilight's memories? (Also she's pretty nice to Spike a bit later).
If so, then why she has trouble finding her way in the castle?
Interesting so far. Will track and see how this develops.
One thing to watch out for though,
This is just one example, but the tense fluctuates as times. Don't know if that's deliberate since it's with present and past tenses, but it's very jarring when it happens.
8763919 Rrrrgh. I thought I caught all of those.
That's due in part to the fact that I tend to write in present tense whereas Shagohad writes in the past tense, and I have to keep reminding myself to use past tense as we write.
Honestly, this entire work so far is us riffing off of what the other writes and generally just having fun with it. we're treating it seriously, but it just happens so naturally that we're already six gdocs pages into the next chapter.
8763908 Starlight obtained a full copy of memories of what would have happened to her if she had been in Twilight's place, with events varying as befits the other changes to the timeline as things go on, however, she retains her own memories from her native timeline as well. Starlight thus has two conflicting sets of memories, only one of which includes MUSCLE memories, so she can't even just autopilot herself around like some people do when they're half awake and need to use the bathroom.
Also, the first half of the chapter is a dream that's being influenced by the Dahaka-Twilight gestalt entity, and is meant to both confuse and terrify Starlight to keep her off balance.
Wow. Dahaka are freaking powerful. Damn.
If Starlight has a headache now, she is in for the mother of all migraines by the time Twihaka confronts her.
8766899 Well, Shagohad and I had little to work with from the source material besides 'massive juggernaut only harmed by water and capable of following you through time' and the title 'Guardian of Time,' neither of which would really do much as far as slow piece-by-piece restoration of a shattered timestream, so I came up with a bunch of ideas about how things work for them and such.
Plus the gestalt entity of Twilight and the Dahaka aren't being actively opposed by anything yet. It's only natural that they seem overpowered without anything trying to stop them.
This is the beginning of the end for you, Starlight Glimmer. And I can't wait to watch you burn!
I suppose really the only question is what happens to Starlight at the end of everything? We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
Oh, and I have the song on standby for when the time is right. You know which one.
The rewriting of Rainbow's destiny, the discussion between Twilight and Dahaka on her future, the shifting of reality, all that made up an amazing chapter.
I see what you did there.
Mistakes found:
Tartarus
severed
8767929 The first 'mistake' is a deliberate one. Rainbow Dash is INCREDIBLY drunk despite the early hour. Absinthe is potent stuff when being chugged without being diluted. (And the flavor is far more concentrated as well. I like the stuff and I can only barely tolerate a couple straight shots at a time when I really want to get plastered.)
Rainbow's glass was already half empty, though I suppose it could be made more clear that this is a regular drinking glass and not a small container like a shotglass. She's completely and utterly shitfaced when she first sees 'Twihaka.'
I don't particularly like sacrificing readability to represent accents or slurred speech, and I try to make it as subtle as possible.
Thank you for pointing out the second one.
I certainly hope Twilight won't be going easy on this Starlight. Always hated the bloody canon solution to the conflict.
8769079
Same.
I've never played Prince of Persia: Warrior Within... Does the Dahaka speak?
8770903 Yes, backwards. You'd have to record the game audio, then reverse it to distinguish the words.
8766940
Indeed the games give so little info on the Dahaka, but I imagine being the guardian of time they quite powerful or become a sand wraith
8771221
No you don’t all you have to do is wait for it to speak and reverse time
8774710
I...what the fuck was I thinking forgetting that you could DO that? I can't come up with a reason why I would ever forget THE central gameplay mechanic of the entire trilogy of games, and yet I managed to do just that.
8775349
Don’t worry I did something dumber
(I forgot Tuesday existed)
8775445
OMNI:I don't even pay attention to Thursday I just think of it as the day before Friday.
8770903
It speaks backward. If you rewind time, he'll speak forward. It was a nice little easter egg,
You know what I can't wait for? The final confrontation, where it is revealed in front of everyone the depth of Starlight's sins. The looks of shock on Celestia's, Luna's, the Bearer's, and Spike's faces when Twihaka reveals what has happened. When it is revealed that Starlight stole Twilight's wings, her friends, and her destiny.
How she didn't care for the consequences of her actions. And her willingness to not say a thing in regards to them.
All out of petty revenge/jealousy.
I absolutely love this story it’s the only prince of Persia fic I can find on this site and it’s written so well
8796545 It's not technically even a PoP fic... One creature and a brief mention of a similar kind of thing happening at some point isn't a true crossover.
However, far be it from me to tell you to not enjoy something you like.
Unless it's, you know, harming another person or sapient being,
8796551
CLOSE ENOUGH GOD DAMN IT
8796544 I really can't say anything regarding this because
It's likely not going to go quite how you imagine it will from your current perspective. It WILL be satisfying, though.
Very interesting idea, nice work.
8796568
Worse? Hopefully, as this Starlight is a true monster.
Tartarus or worse at minimum, or (the) Dahaka should just take/unmake her once the timeline is restored, just like all others who try to break time.
There's a fine line between cruel and karmic punishments. Starlight definitely deserves a karmic one at least.
Edit: Though, seeing as by the end she'll have complete and conflicting memories from what, eight or more timelines? She may just be a vegetable or too insane by then to tell what's going on.
8796704 Reread the last bit of this chapter and think about it. Combine that with the human mentioned in the author's note.
8796713
Oh. Ohhhh...
That is... delightfully appropriate.
Caused by the multiple memories, time shenanigans, usurped destinies, Twihaka, a preexisting condition, or some combination of the above I wonder. Don't feel obliged to answer, just me speculating.