Open Arms
Discord was indeed not happy.
“Not that it matters to you two self-serving creatures,” Discord said, arms folded and back turned to the Princesses, “but I’ll have you know, Fluttershy and I were enjoying a positively wonderful vacation before your little ‘emergency call.’”
“And we are very appreciative,” Luna said, trotting within his line of vision. “It’s quite admirable for you to come on such short notice.”
“Hmph.” Discord turned his nose to the air. “And I was just about to win Fluttershy and I’s game of Mythical Creature Bingo. Now victory will have to elude my grasp!”
“I’m sorry, Discord,” Celestia said, attempting and promptly failing to prevent an eye roll. “But, this matter is extremely urgent. And frankly, we need your expertise on the subject.”
Discord turned his head around in a one-eighty-degree motion to see Celestia. “Oh really?” He twisted the rest of his body around to face her directly and curled his lips into a devious smile. “Well that does make everything a little more interesting, doesn’t it? When I received your magic letter, it failed to state anything about my services being of use. Yet, here we are, you begging for my help. It’s quite the beautiful sight, isn’t it?” Discord poofed a box of tissues into existence and wiped a few tears from his eyes.
“Are you finished?” Celestia tapped her hoof on the ground.
Discord wiped one more tear away and vanished the tissues into thin air. “Okay, now I am. So, pray tell old compadre, what do you need Discord’s help with?” He slithered over to Celestia and began walking in circles around her. “An old villain returning for vengeance? Or perhaps a swarm of parasprites has infested the royal washrooms? Or, hmm, maybe one of those dastardly red and black alicorns saw fit to will itself into existence again? Nasty business, that.”
“None of the above,” Celestia stated, her brow creasing as her patience ran down. “It’s something far more dangerous, I fear.”
Discord’s eyes popped open. “More dangerous than a parasprite infested washroom? Oh, my.”
“Very much so,” Luna cut in. “We’re dealing with some form of magic that’s causing time distortions across the area.”
Discord immediately stood up straight. “Time distortion magic, you say? This is quite peculiar. How long has it been going on?”
“Since last night, as far as I know,” Celestia replied. “I saw time move backward, my tea get cold and a conversation I had get wiped from existence.”
“I see, I see…” With a flash, Discord was decked out in classic detective gear that’d make Sherlock Holmes proud and began pacing back and forth. “So, it’s been one day, and you saw time move backward. And how far, exactly, did time go back? To the minute if you could.”
Celestia scrunched her brow in thought. “I’d have to say it was a little over an hour. Maybe an hour and five minutes? Why do you ask?”
Discord ceased his pacing and turned around to Luna, holding a magnifying glass to her face. “And where were you precisely when all this was taking place, last night?”
Luna rose an eyebrow. “I was assisting other ponies with their dreams as I’m prone to do as the Princess of the Night.”
“Hmm, likely story,” Discord said, stuffing the magnifying glass into a pocket. “Well, I’m afraid I have some good news as well as some bad news for you two.”
“Just give it to us straight, Discord,” Celestia said, an icy chill in her voice. “No games.”
Discord frowned and pulled a box of Marenopoly out of his jacket before subsequently tossing it into a nearby garbage can. “Very well, we’ll do it the boring way. The good news is I am familiar with magic like this. The bad news is that I have not the slightest idea of where it could be coming from or if it will get worse or not.”
“Ugh, another dead end.” Celestia through head back, emitting a loud groan. “Well, what do you know about it? Or, better yet, who do you know that could cast magic like this? We need something to go off.”
Discord levitated over one of the chairs from the table and hopped onto it, kicking his feet into the air, resting them on the table. “Well, that’s the real mystery, isn’t it? You see, any unicorn can learn time magic. Most can even learn to cast moderately effective spells. But nopony that I’m aware of can cast a spell that’s doing what you’re saying it’s doing. Multiple locations, freaky time hijinks, all that lovely stuff.”
Luna trotted a bit closer to him. “Well, perhaps it’s not a pony then? What about you, Discord? Do you have the ability to cast such a spell?”
Discord clutched his chest and gasped. “What? Are you accusing me of this magical negligence? I assure you I am nothing but innocent and pure! I was with Fluttershy the past three days!” Discord willed a holy book of some kind into existence and placed his claw on it. “I swear, under oath!”
Celestia grabbed the book with her magic and tossed it across the room. “We’re not accusing you, Discord. We’re just exploring all our options. But, if your species can create this sort of magic, then perhaps we’ll have a much bigger problem than a rebellious unicorn.”
“I see.” Discord cautiously reclined back in his chair. “Well, have no fear, although I do possess some of the strongest magic known to Equestria, if I do say so myself, not even I can manipulate time itself like that.”
Celestia shook her head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve seen you completely fabricate dimensions and all kinds of things. You can also send ponies backward and forwards in time, can you not?”
“Well, yes,” he replied with a cool shrug. “But actively sending a pony backward in time or to a different dimension is completely different from actually destroying the fabric of time itself. And that, my dear Princess, is what’s happening here. This magic isn’t simply sending one pony through the time stream. It’s destroying time itself, and that is something I cannot and would not do.” He crossed his arms turned his nose to the air. “Not even I’m that mean.”
Celestia looked toward Luna, a hollowness in her eyes. “You’re saying that time is being… destroyed?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Discord said. “From what I know of this particular type of spell, it treats the timestream like a disease or a really pesky parasprite and attacks it, causing ruptures and all kinds of wild side-effects.”
“Like my tea going cold…”
Discord nodded. “Precisely. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely familiar with it beyond that. Rumor has it that it’s a spell that existed once long ago but was deemed too powerful and hidden away. But, of course, that’s here say.”
“So,” Luna spoke up. “You don’t know anything about this spell other than that it existed long ago?”
He shrugged. “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I know everything. Remember, you trapped me in a block of stone for a better part of my golden years. Years I could’ve spent learning about time spells, mind you.” Discord made sure to waggle an eyebrow at Celestia who merely shrugged it off.
“Well, I’m not ready to let you go just yet,” Celestia replied. “Starswirl may come back with more information, and you may be able to work with him on a plan to help us. Hopefully.”
“Oh no, not him,” Discord said, bring his paw to his forehead. “You know we don’t exactly get along. He’s so… so… serious about everything!”
“Trust me,” Celestia replied. “He doesn’t exactly love you, either. But please, for my sake, try and get along. I need your help.”
“Oof, you had to make it personal.” Discord groaned. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll help. But don’t expect me to be all sunshine and rainbows about it.”
“I would expect nothing less,” Celestia replied.
Their lovely banter was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.
“Yes?” Celestia said, her voice cracking with obvious agitation.
A guard opened the door. “Pardon the interruption, your majesty, but Starswirl re—”
“I have returned!” Starswirl announced, pushing past the guard who politely saw his way out.. “And I bring with me something I think will provide a bit of illumination on our issue. With any luck, we might even— Oh, hello Discord.”
He replied with a half-hearted wave. “Hello yourself, Starswirl.”
The two engaged in a temporary stare down for a few seconds before Starswirl finally broke it, pulling an object out of his cloak and setting it on the table.
Celestia, Luna, and Discord all stood around the object that Starswirl had brought. It was a small, white ball carried safely in a glass tube of some kind and was suspended within it. Motionless.
Discord looked from the object and up to Starswirl. “It’s a ping-pong ball.”
"Of course it's a ping-pong ball, you looney!" The wizard said, glaring daggers at the draconequus. "But that's not what's important about it!"
Luna politely cleared her throat. “What is important about it, Starswirl? I assume you had a purpose in bringing it here.”
“I’m glad you asked,” he replied. “Let me explain.”
Discord pulled a bag of popcorn out of the air and began munching away on it. “Well, this ought to be good.”
Starswirl grimaced at the snarky draconequus, before turning his attention back to the ping-pong ball. “You see, while studying, it’s become a habit of mine to toss this ball in the air. However, while researching today, as I promised I would, I threw the ball in the air, and it never came back down.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Never came back down?”
“Precisely.” Starswirl’s eyes were wide, a mixture of excitement and fear plastered on his face. “I turn my head up, and what do I see? The ball, hanging there in the middle of the air. Almost as if— “
“As if it were frozen in time!” Celestia interjected. “And that means…”
“I was able to cast a protective spell around the ball and seal it in this capsule.” Starswirl held the capsule up for all to see. “In doing so, I was able to preserve whatever magical field or force was acting on it at that given time. That, in turn, allowed me to study it a bit closer and what I found…” The elderly stallion sighed and shook his head. “It’s not ideal, to say the least.”
“Right, right, right,” Discord said, waving his arms. “This is all very lovely, but let’s save the exposition dump for Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolt fanfiction and get to the point. We don’t necessarily have the time for it right now, hehe.”
Celestia shot Discord a warning glare before turning back to Starswirl. “Please, tell us what you learned. Any new developments, no matter how foreboding, would be welcome right now.”
“Of course.” Starswirl set the object down and addressed the room. “This spell matches properties of one I studied far back in my early years of learning magic. The spell itself, Tyrannus Tempore by name, was a ritual spell created for the sole purpose of causing irreversible destruction. As opposed to a standard offensive spell which can destroy an individual or even a group of individuals; this spell was built to manipulate things on a much more dangerous scale. Killing a soldier is one thing but causing the entire army to have never existed in the first place? That is a much more terrifying thing entirely.”
Luna gently raised a hoof, her voice cracking ever so slightly. “B-But is such a spell even possible to cast? I’ve never heard of it nor seen it used before… until now that is.”
“And that is where things get a little more confusing,” Starswirl continued. “From what I learned of it at least, no pony was ever able to master this spell. The most it could ever do was cause an enemy to oversleep in the morning.”
“A spell nopony ever learned to master?” Discord questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Pff, I doubt it. Why would we have a record of it all if nopony ever learned to use it?”
Starswirl rolled his eyes. “If you’ll let me explain, I’ll tell you the reason why that is. You see, to properly cast this spell, the proper ingredients must be amassed and then a standard time spell must be cast on the ingredients. After that, its effects begin to take place. But, for the spell to do any more than be a mild inconvenience, only the strongest time magic can be used, and very few ponies can use such magic.”
Celestia cocked her head to the side. “So, you’re saying somepony has initiated the spell in my land, and we’re beginning to see the effects?”
“I wish it were that simple.” Starswirl shook his head.
“It never is,” Celestia said, shaking her head.
“You see,” Starswirl continued, “the ingredients to create this spell have been extinct for over a thousand years. Nopony in this day and age could’ve cast this spell. It’s simply not possible.”
“Heh,” Discord cut in. “You might be getting ahead of yourself given we’re in a land of fire-breathing dragons and magical ponies.”
“Trust me,” Starswirl replied, “based on everything I know, this spell would’ve had to have been cast long ago. And judging by the structural aging on the magic field surrounding it, I can almost pinpoint the date.”
Celestia slammed a hoof down. “So, you’re saying that this spell was cast over a thousand years ago and is just now going into effect?”
“That is precisely what I’m saying.”
“How does that make any sense?” Celestia shouted.
Discord quickly waved a claw at her. “Take it from a god of Chaos: The easiest way to make sense of time paradoxes is not to even try. You’ll give yourself a headache, trust me.”
Celestia held her mouth open for a moment, before finally taking a deep breath. “Alright. For the sake of my own sanity, I’ll take it at face value for now.”
“I’m still confused, however,” Luna stated. “How would a spell cast so long ago only be revealing its effects now? Wouldn’t there have been some sign or something over the years?”
“It frightens me to say this,” Starswirl said, looking around the room, “but it’s quite possible somepony did it that way on purpose for the sake of destroying our present world.”
Celestia felt her heart rate pick up as she thought about it. “So, just to make sure I’ve understood you correctly, you’re saying a pony possibly set this spell up over a thousand years ago, cast it, and then rigged it to lay dormant somehow until now for the sole purpose of destroying us?”
“Or it could have just been a really unfortunate magic ritual mix-up,” Discord said with a shrug. “But, I’m leaning on the first. There are spells, much easier to learn, that delay other spells in a manner of speaking. It’s quite possible the time spell was cast, and then another was cast on top of it, so it’d release now, all those years later. It’s quite fascinating, isn’t it?”
Luna grimaced. “It’d be far more fascinating if it weren’t threatening all of us.”
“Oh, pish posh,” Discord replied with a wave of his claw. “For all we know, this whole thing could be one big false alarm, and the spell could disappear as quickly as it came. Right, old boy?” Discord playfully nudged Starswirl who responded with a grim frown. “Oh, well never mind then. Geez, if looks could kill.”
“As much as I’d like to agree with Discord here,” Starswirl continued, “I can’t be sure what the overall effects of this spell will be. However, if it’s this strong already, we have no reason to believe it won’t get worse as time goes on.”
“And, hypothetically of course, how long do you think it could take to reach its full power?” Celestia looked at Starswirl, her muscles tightening to retain her composure. “Are we looking at a timetable of a few days, a few years, or—”
The conversation was interrupted by a loud banging at the door. All of them turned their heads as Celestia used her magic to open the door, revealing a guard trying to catch his breath. His eyes appeared hollow, and the skin beneath his fur almost seemed to pale as he spoke.
“Princesses, please, I need your assistance!” He paused for a moment to take a few deep breaths. “We have an emergency, and a citizen needs an immediate audience!”
“I’ll handle it, sister,” Luna said with a curt nod. “Please, stay here and continue working on a plan of some kind.”
The younger sister cantered across the room and followed the guard out the door, shutting it firmly behind her.
“It looks like we won’t have to wait long to find out…” Discord exhaled a sigh.
“Anyhow,” Celestia said. “You mentioned that you pinpointed the date at which the original spell was cast, Starswirl?”
“In a manner of speaking,” he said. “I was able to safely identify that it happened one-thousand-one hundred and seventeen years ago. Most likely during the spring portion of the year. Other than that, it’s anypony’s guess.”
Discord raised an eyebrow. “You got all that from a ping-pong ball?”
Starswirl responded with a cocky grin. “I’m proud to say I took several advanced classes in magical study and origin. It’s rather simple really when one gets down to the basics.”
“Oh, very nice,” Discord said with a chuckle. “And here I thought you were just an old fogey with too much free time on his hooves.”
“Both of you, cut it out,” Celestia shouted. “We don’t have time for any arguing, no matter how humorous.”
“Fine, be that way,” Discord said with a frown. “Just trying to lighten the mood. My bad.”
“Starswirl,” Celestia said. “I’m afraid I already know the answer to this question but is there any way of containing the spell? I can accept we can’t stop whoever did it in the first place, but could we shut it down?”
“Given the sporadic nature of the spell, the only way to do so would be to put an anti-magic vacuum spell around all of Equestria and hold it there for eternity.” Starswirl rubbed his chin. “Discord may have a magic trick in his arsenal for that.”
The draconequus immediately faced the both of them at full attention. “I’m sorry, but not even I’m a miracle worker. A spell around all Equestria? Used specifically for putting the kibosh on other magic spells? That’d be a suicide mission, even for me!”
For once in her life, Celestia felt like collapsing. For once, she felt defeated. A dead end everywhere she turned.
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
The door flew open, revealing Luna. Despite only being gone for a few minutes, she looked like she had been through a battle. Her cheek fur was matted down from fresh tears, and rapid breaths and widened eyes replaced her ordinarily calm demeanor.
“Luna? What is it?” Celestia rushed over to her sister.
“We’ve…” Luna shook her head a bit, attempting to gather herself. “We’ve lost somepony. A child. H-Her father came to visit and… His daughter simply disappeared. Right before his eyes. And his wife did too, immediately after.”
There were no jokes to be had from any party. Only stunned silence. And the silence remained until Discord opened his mouth.
“Whatever we’re supposed to do, we should probably do it soon.”
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You wrote Discord REALLY well here. No worries.
Keep up the good work my good man
Great chapter, man the stakes just went way up and things just got real. I wonder what they will do and how in the world Spike will come into play in any of this?
8985933
Thank you so much, bro! I really appreciate it.
8986022
Oh yeah, and the stakes only get higher. But so does the fun stuff.
8986023
Don't worry man, I'll make sure to give you a workout next chapter. (opens with weather report despite being three chapters into the story already)
Did I like it? DID I LIKE IT!? why yes I did, in fact I loved this chapter :) can't wait what happens next.
No complaints here; this is getting intense. And really, writing Discord is easy compared to writing Zecora.
8986183
Oh my gosh, I know. I have a story with her as the main character on my alt account and it was brutal.
Innnnnnteresting. I like where this is going, and although they claim to dislike each other, I like the banter between Discord and Starswirl. It's perfect to show that they'll put any disagreements aside when it comes to saving the world (as I would hope would've been the case anyway).
8986389
One would only hope so. But, then again, the fate of the world was always a game to Discord, anyhow.
I SO HATE TIME ATTACKS! Another good chapter. Great job!
... Well. That's no good is it?
Now, from the description, I take it Spike gets sent to the past to stop this somehow? My first thought was 'Why him specifically? Usually they make Twilight do things like this.'
I wonder if I think too much if I actually can come up with a reasonable explanation for why he'd be sent and not Twilight.
8986700 The reason not to send Twilight: she's actually important to the toyline.
(So meta..)
8986700
It actually gets explained in the next chapter and then put in action the chapter after that. Don't worry, Spike will be here for more than just plot convenience.
I just realized the opening synopsis was missing something important about Spike's daily life:
After that last part, it requires: "..have naughty dreams about being a giant dragon again with Rarity as a helpless Princess sacrificed to him for his delight..."
Spike's getting to 'that' age, after all.
Nice work, though I still want more! The mystery continues to grow, but the pacing is only unbearable because I want more. Though, for being big old honking magical beings, it seems odd Celestia and Luna didn't lead the situation knowledge-wise.
8987310
Well, I thought of that, but since Discord and Starswirl were both older than than them, I figured it made sense that they'd have more specific magical knowledge.
8987325
But wasn't Starswirl in some kind of magical limbo iirc?
8987337
Yeah, but this spell originated before all that. That's why Celestia and Luna have no idea. Also, they've never actually shown much interest in magic itself but instead focus on their citizens and princess stuff.
8987344
Oh, so... hrm. I guess that'd be before you have them born?
aah i guess i'll find out during the historical sections8987350
I legit have a huge excel document with all the details mapped out just so I don't mess it up. .
Timeline stuff is complicated
8987438
Wow.
I actually really enjoyed the final result of all your efforts with Discord's lines.
Oh...oh no...this got real serious real fast.
8986921
I wasn't worried about that. I did just say I could think of a reason for it. It's likely not the reason you had in mind, but hey. I'm a deep thinker.
8987543
Eeyup. But like, at least they didn't die. They just never existed in the first place at that point. It's a little better.
But seriously, thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate it.
8986927
Stop
Wow! This chapter did a great job at establishing the stakes.
8989407
Thank you! I wanted to make sure it felt real but also wasn't overly dramatic. Like, a happy balance of exciting and dangerous.
Idk what you were worried about, your Discord is fantastic.
We must go back in time and murder the Sunova Beach who cast the spell in cold blood!
(You mean 'murder in cold blood the.. ahem... 'perpetrator' who cast the spell'.)
No, I mean murder them in cold blood. It's part of undoing the spell.
(Oh... well that's... dark.)
8991506
Thank you!
Things are getting serious
so far the only additions and differences from this version and the original is the inclusion of starswirl, the banter between him and discord, and it seeming more thought out. welp, am liking it so far. is a shame that the whole of the story is going to be a mess of a paradox.