Choice

by AnOrdinaryWriter

44

You ultimately decide that Twilight appears to be more in need of help than Pinkie Pie. You have no idea why the princess herself would need you of all ponies to help her. After all, you two had never talked to each other or know anything about each other. But if Twilight’s situation is as serious as she’s portraying it, you won’t refuse.

You walk up to Twilight, and the look of relief that washes over her face doesn’t slip past your attention. “Come with me into the castle, I’ll explain as we walk.” You follow the purple alicorn, checking back in Pinkie Pie’s direction. Like earlier when you had gone with Vinyl, she gives you a blank, almost dead look before turning round and walking away. Her movements are stiff and robotic, as though she lost all sense of reality in that one second.

“I know this is really sudden,” Twilight says, breaking your attention from Pinkie. You focus on the alicorn who is currently opening the front door of her castle to allow you inside. “But something’s happening to Ponyville that’s beyond my control, and I need your help to fix it.”

Twilight begins leading you down the labyrinth of crystal hallways ahead of you, the luster surfaces reflecting the two of you as you take a left turn, followed by a right, and then another left.

“I think Ponyville is stuck in some sort of time loop,” Twilight explains. “I woke up one morning to take care of official princess duties, but maybe halfway through the day, I blacked out and suddenly I was waking up again, same time, same day, as though the whole rest of the day had never happened. Ever since, I’ve been blacking out and looping back to the morning at random points in the day.

“Not only that, but the ponies in Ponyville aren’t acting right. Nopony’s acting like their normal selves and they don’t respond or even react whenever I try to talk to them. They follow through with the same routine every day but it doesn’t look like they’re aware that they’re in a time loop. ”

You listen as the princess frantically lays down her story. There’s no doubt in your mind that an ordinary person would think Twilight is crazy, and a small part of you thinks so. But the other part, for some strange reason, believes her.

Twilight rounds another turn, approaching a staircase that leads down to a large room at the bottom, which you can’t make out from where you are.

“I don’t know why, but you’re the only one who responds to me when I talk to you. I’m thinking it’s linked to how everypony in Ponyville seems to know you even though I’ve never seen you before in my whole life, or how you do something different after each loop, but I can’t be sure.

“What I am sure of though is that whatever did this—created this time loop can somehow control the flow of time, space and nature.” Twilight pauses and shoots you an accusatory look. “I’m also sure that you showing up out of nowhere when this all started is no coincidence.”

You take a step back at her somewhat threatening expression. Then, she turns her gaze away and leads you down the rest of the stairs. “From the last four times I talked to you, I can conclude that while not on purpose, this space and time imbalance has something to do with you. However, I don't think you're the direct cause of it all. Which is why I need your help with something.”

Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, you look ahead of you. The room you’ve entered is filled with technology the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Rows of computers are lined up down the length of the lab beside printers, scanners and other high-tech devices: machines connected to thick black wires that run along the floor in a tangle of other wires that lead into the walls and capsules connected to monitors that you have a feeling are Twilight’s own inventions. It all looks so much like a scene from a science fiction movie that you can hardly believe this is all real.

Twilight doesn’t let you wait around to scan the rest of the room as she lights her horn and suddenly your entire vision goes white for a millisecond before you appear right next to the alicorn.

“Hurry up,” Twilight says. “We need to focus and get this done before everything resets again.”

You oblige, following behind her until she reaches a large machine unlike all the others in the room. It’s a horizontal, metal table with straps at each corner. Beneath the table is a system of gears that suspend it just about up to your neck, and at each corner are straps with small openings where wires run out toward a computer next to the table, comprised of a terminal and a keyboard with a lever just beside it.

“This is a weird question, but… taking into account what’s happened to everypony else, has it felt like you’re not in control of yourself? Like something or someone else is making decisions for you?”

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