Reinforcements From the Future PT1
It was a quiet night in a little town between Manehatten and Canterlot, the ponies living there all sound asleep. But that quiet serenity was soon to be broken as in an alleyway between two of the buildings, a powerful gust of wind started blowing. It swirled around something invisible to the naked eye, growing faster and faster, only for a bit-sized circle of green light to appear. The circle soon grew larger, going from a bit size, to the size of a plate, to the size of a trash can lid and then to the size of a foal's play pool. And once it was that size, the light began to extend upward and curve until it formed a green dome that had lightning sparking off it.
The dome remained like this for several seconds, only for a pony-shaped figure to appear in front of the dome, which quickly reversed in size before completely vanishing. The being hid itself in the darkness of the alleyway, a horn sticking out of their head, though it was curved and had a tail that appeared like an insect wing.
It walked up to a nearby trash can, glancing a paper on the top. It grabbed it and stared it over, seeing the title of Saddleton Daily. "Saddleton?" it yelped before moaning, "This wasn't where I wanted to be!" It then squinted its eyes at the date on the paper, "Wait...I only have until tomorrow?! Stupid Royal Knight!" The figure grabbed the sides and began to rip it in half, only to go wide-eyed, "Now I have to...wait...maybe I can slow them down." The being threw the paper aside, now trotting out of the alleyway, "I will change things for the better! No more stupid U.F.O.C!"
The next day...
The castle of friendship was brimming with activity, Twilight and Spike now busy packing suitcases. "Alright," Twilight started at everything she had packed, "We've got formal wear, my crown, the books on trade and alliance negotiation..."
"And enough snacks to keep us well fed until we get there," Spike finished as he carried a load of plastic bags in his magical hold.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Be serious Spike. These negotiations are important. This will determine the future of relationships between ponies, changelings and dragons." She then remembered back to the events a few weeks ago, when Ember and Thorax had been accidently invited to the town before eventually agreeing to an alliance between their nations.
"Remind me why we have to hold this meeting in Manehatten?" Spike asked. "Why not in Canterlot, or even here?"
"It's protocol," Twilight replied, "When these kinds of meetings take place, the location is always different from the last three meetings. It's a security measure, to make sure nopony tries to interrupt it."
"Still feels like a lot of extra work for nothing," Spike sighed, "And why do we have to take a train and not use the Rune Gate?"
"Again, its security. If we make a Rune Gate to the location, what's to stop somepony from using the rune gate to send themselves or something dangerous to us? As such, for safety reasons, the rune gates will be shut off until the meeting is complete. Now stop complaining and help me finish packing these bags. You, me and Flash have a train to catch."
"Then why isn't Flash helping with all this packing? Where is he anyway?"
"He'll be here soon," Twilight responded, "He's just getting Heart set up with the training regime he has to complete while we're away."
The training room had been transformed into a baseball pitching cage, Flash and Heart staring at a pitching machine. "So why are we here?" Heart asked, "I mean, I like baseball as much as the next pony, but I thought we were supposed to be training. Besides, there aren't any bats."
"We're not gonna be batting the balls," Flash replied before stepping up to the plate. "This training exercise is designed to help you learn to make out minor details in split seconds. Trust me, being able to do that could make the difference between life and death."
Heart raised an eyebrow, only to see Flash switch the machine on. The pitcher warmed up, then fired a baseball right at Flash. "Six!" Heart opened his mouth to ask why Flash said that, but he saw his mentor caught the ball. He held it up to Heart, who now saw that the ball had the number six with a line under it engraved into it. "These travel at one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour." He threw it and Heart caught the ball, "Being able to read the numbers on them will sharpen your senses and reaction time."
Heart's eyes shined with stars, "That's awesome! Let me try!" Flash nodded and stepped aside, allowing Heart to jump onto the plate as the pitcher began to power up. And after a few seconds, it fired a ball. "Four!" The ball flew past him and hit the net, stopping before it fell to the ground. He spun around to stare at the sphere, only to see a number Seven on it. "Aww..."
Flash chuckled at the sight, "Hey, it's okay. There'd be no point of this training if you could do it right away. Just keep trying and don't get discouraged."
Heart nodded and Flash ruffled his hair as the door opened. "Flash?" Twilight asked, "You ready to go?" Flash nodded and followed her out of the room. And as soon as he closed the door, a cry of pain rang out, a ball now hitting Heart's side.
"Alright," Flash turned to Twilight, "Let's get going. Don't wanna miss the train."
Twilight nodded before she, Flash and Spike headed for the exit, only to hear Heart cry out again. "You sure Heart's gonna be okay by himself?" She asked as they left he castle.
"He'll be fine. Grand promised to check in on him when he can to make sure he's not goofing off. Its just too bad Springer's not here."
"Well, he was excited to take Ace and Mira with the others to Winsome Falls," Twilight replied, "I just hope nothing goes wrong for them." They then walked up to the train station, the train having not arrived yet. "I heard there's been a large outbreak of Fly-ders in that area, but hopefully they'll be okay."
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Flash replied as they walked onto the platform.
"So what have you got Heart doing while we're gone?" Spike asked, the little dragon taking out a page he had copied from his spellbook to read and practice on the way there. Flash quickly explained the exercise, the pair going wide-eyed, "That sounds tough."
"It is. But I think Heart should be able to get it down by the time we get back." But as he said that, both Twilight and Spike could sense something in his voice, a hint of worry. However, the whistle of a train made them all look away, now seeing the locomotive quickly roll into view. The trio grabbed their things and got on, their thoughts now going to the conference.
Back in Saddleton...
In the same alleyway that the first portal had appeared in, another gust of wind came and spiraled around the same spot. Once again, the portal appeared the same way it had the previous night, a figure soon revealing itself as it walked out of the soon shrinking and vanishing portal.
The being remained still for a second, only to rub the side of their head, "Whoa..." they mumbled with a male voice, "Head rush." They shook their head, only to see the same bin from before and saw the paper, "Seriously?" He commented as he stared at the date, "What's he doing here?" The figure threw the paper away, "I need to find him before he does serious damage."
With that, the figure reached back and pulled a hood over their head before opening up a pair of wings.
Meanwhile...
The locomotive had just entered the tunnel of the mountain located in the kingdom's center, Flash now sitting by the window, staring out at the darkness of the cave. He showed a bored expression, but anypony that knew him would be able to tell something was on his mind. And as the train left the tunnel, Twilight and Spike returned from the snack bar.
"Hey," Twilight said as she held out a packet of chips to him, "We got you your favorite."
Flash glanced at the bag, taking it in his hooves, "Thanks." He muttered before throwing a few chips into his mouth, staring back at the window as Twilight and Spike sat opposite him.
"So...what's wrong?" Twilight replied, Flash turning to her, only to see a glare from the alicorn, "And don't go saying nothing's wrong. I've known you long enough to know when something's bothering you, and Spike knows it too." Spike nodded as he bit off a piece of his chocolate bar. "So..."
Flash remained silent for a moment, only to lean back and sigh, "I've just been wondering if...I'm doing enough with Heart?" Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow, "Am I training him well enough?"
"Of course you are," Twilight instantly responded, "What would make you think that?"
"I don't know," Flash shrugged. "I just get the feeling that Heart should have progressed more. And that I haven't done enough to help him grow as a Royal Knight."
"Flash, he's young and you haven't been training him that long." Twilight pointed her wing at him, "You didn't exactly become a master warrior the first few years Grand was training you. It took a lot of work, I know as I was there. And besides, Heart's improved a lot since he started training with you."
"But it wasn't just me that was teaching him," Flash countered, "I mean...I couldn't help him with his fire powers. Grand did that."
"And Shining taught you how to properly use a sword because Grand uses a hammer, and you had Soarin teach you how to fly." Twilight pointed out, "Grand couldn't teach you everything. Heart is going to school, something you didn't do, and he's being taught there. You shouldn't expect to teach him everything."
Flash opened his mouth at this, only to sigh, "I guess..." He glanced back out the window. "But you can't blame me for being worried. I'm training Heart the best I can, but I have no idea what kind of knight he's gonna turn out to be. I just...when I was training, I felt I figured it out really easily. I knew my way and style. But when I look at him..." Flash looked down at the floor at this, putting a single chip in his mouth. "I just don't know."
Twilight shook her head at this as the overhead announcer stated they were about to stop in a town called Saddleton. "Flash..." she reached out and placed a hoof on his knee, "Heart will find his way. No matter how you train him, you'll help him discover his own way of being a knight. You just have to let Heart be Heart and believe in him...and yourself."
Flash glanced back up at her, seeing the kind gentle smile on her face. Part of him really wanted to just grab and make out with her right there, only to hear Spike finish his snack. That sound clicked him back into reality, knowing he shouldn't do that and looking back at the window. He saw the town of Saddleton, remembering it the times they had passed through it when they went to Manehatten, remembering how peaceful it was.
That is, till the train pulled away from Saddleton's station and began to build up speed, only for the train to suddenly come to a screeching halt. Flash, Twilight and Spike were flung from their seats, the carriage suddenly hopping upward. Screams came out next, the carriage landing as everypony hit the floor. The ponies in the carriage all moaned after this, Flash glancing up and seeing nopony was particularly hurt.
"What just happened?" Spike asked after he moaned, clutching his head.
"I don't know," Twilight replied, quickly grabbing all the ponies in her magic and teleporting them out of the carriage, appearing a safe distance away from the train. They then gasped as they saw the train's engine now driven into a hole in the ground, the dirt under the track having collapsed as the train rolled over it. This caused the entire train and half of the first carriage to fall into the hole, derailing the entire thing.
"What the heck?!" Spike yelped as they ran over to the hole.
"Are you okay in there?!" Flash called out, seeing a bunch of ponies who ran the train stick their heads out of the car.
"We're fine," the driver replied, "But we're trapped."
"Hang on," Twilight grabbed them in her magic and teleported them above ground. "Are you okay?"
"We'll live," the firepony responded, "But what just happened?! I've run this route hundreds of times and the grounds never shown signs of being week."
Flash turned back to the hole, staring down at the structure. It was hard to tell with a train inside it, but the hole didn't look natural. He squinted his eyes at the situation, only to feel the ground begin to shake beneath his hooves. Flash and Twilight glanced to one another before grabbing the others and moving them away, only for the ground to explode as something leapt out. The ponies and dragon were thrown back at this, Flash quickly rolling back onto his hooves and pulling out his sword. And as the dust settled, he got a look at a giant mole-like creature with large claws.
"Maulwurf!" Twilight screamed as the beast let out a roar.
"But what's it doing here?!" The creature then tried to slash at Flash, but the pegasus leapt back. "Flash Cutter!" He fired the light blade, which struck the maulwurf on the head, only for Twilight to fire a magical blast and Spike to breathe several fireballs.
The attacks pushed the creature back, Flash flying back and spinning into a wheel of light, "Flash Grinder!" The monster saw this, quickly digging back down as it kicked up a large cloud of dust, which shielded the beast as the wheel flew into it.
The others heard the sound of grinding, but didn't here the maulwurf's screams. They saw the dust clear next, revealing the creature was gone and had now been replaced with a giant scorpentine, which was using its claws the block the Flash Grinder.
"What?!" Twilight yelped as the scorpentine threw the wheel back, Flash hitting the ground before rolling on the dirt. He let out a moan as he came to a stop, Twilight asking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He grumbled, "But where did that thing come from?!"
As he asked this, Spike saw the scorpentine take something out with its claws: A small sack. "Look out!" He yelled as the creature threw it at them. Flash and Twilight tried to move, but the sack hit the ground, its contents spilling out. What came out was a bronze colored dust, the two crying out as they were bathed in the dust, both using their wings to blow most of it away.
"What is this stuff?" Flash asked as the scorpentine raised its tail stinger.
Twilight tried to spark her horn at this...only for nothing to happen. Her horn wouldn't light up. "I...I can't use a spell!" Flash then tackled her out of the way, seconds before the stinger stabbed them. "My magic's gone!" She screamed as she put her hooves to her horn, "What is happening to me?!"
Flash picked himself up and raised his sword, only for it to not respond. "Huh?" He swung the blade, but nothing happened. "What the-Amrorize!" He yelled, ready for the Sacred Light to appear on his body...but nothing happened. "What the heck?!"
Twilight was wide-eyed at the sight of the pegasi now dodging the stinger from the monster, only to glance down at her coat, "That dust...it must be effecting our magic." She tried to brush it off, but she couldn't get it all off of her, only for Flash to tackle her again to dodge the tail.
Flash then flipped back onto his hooves and flew up and slashed at the tail. But the blade wasn't able to even scratch it. "Not good," Flash gulped as the beast thrust its claws, smacking Flash back. "Augh!"
"Flash!" Twilight and Spike cried, Spike breathing out another blast of fire. The flames made the scorpentine backpedal, only for it side-step the fire and try to grab the drake in his claws. "Get out of there!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Spike turned to run away, Flash picking up a rock and throwing it at the monster's head.
"Hey! Come and get me!" The beast let out a hiss and raised its claws, Flash and Twilight getting into defensive positions. But as this happened, a fireball shot over the two's heads and struck the scorpentine in the face. The beast cried out in pain, only for three more fireballs to hit it.
Flash and Twilight blinked at the sight, making them spin around and see a pony wearing an orange leather jacket with a red hood that was covering their head. They appeared to be a pegasus, with red wings and a yellow tail with orange tips. Their legs were red up to their knees, where they started turning yellow all the way to their hooves. In their front hooves was a bow-shaped weapon that didn't have any string, and where the arrow would be had a ripcord-like attachment.
"Back off Tragus!" The hooded pony yelled as they held the bow up and pulled on the ripcord, which showed a metal pole connecting it to the weapon. When they let go, the ripcord flew back into the bow before a fireball shot out of a hole in the front. The scorpentine dodged the fireball as the pegasus charged, the bow glowing and suddenly transforming into a small device that looked like a red metal H with two of the legs curved towards one another. The pony ran past Flash and Twilight, the defender going wide-eyed as he caught sight of the pony's cutie mark. It was a blue shield with a heart-shaped flame inside it.
"That's-" He whispered as the figure reached the scorpentine, the pony side-stepping from the monster's claw. The device in its hoof then glowed, changing to a red sword similar to Flash's, only for fire to consume the blade. The sword was stabbed into the beast, flames bursting out before the pegasi pulled back, the sword now transforming into a mace with the head on fire. The pony swung it back at the monster, but the scorpentine backpedaled, only for the mace's head to detach from the handle and showed a long chain. The figure swung the still burning head, the weapon turning into a blazing comet that the scorpentine could barely avoid.
After getting hit by the flames, the monster thrust its tail at the pegasus, but the pony raised the mace, which suddenly transformed into a shield with a line running down it. The stinger hit the shield and bounced off it, the shield then opening up and unleashing a burst of fire that burned the tail.
The scorpentine screamed at this, the pegasus then reaching into their jacket. "Heads up!" He yelled before pulling out a familiar small sack and throwing it, the sack hitting the scorpentine in the chest and bursting. The bronze dust covered the scorpentine, making it cry out. Flash, Twilight and Spike all watched with wide eyes, now seeing the scorpentine suddenly get consumed in green fire. The fireball shrank and then faded to reveal the true culprit.
It was a changeling, its coat being a mixture of yellow, green and orange. His head and legs were yellow, while his neck, wing-covers and tail were green. His body-jacket was orange along with his eyes, while a single crystal could be seen on his chest.
"Ahh!" He cried as he kept backpedaling before yelling at the pegasus. "Curse you!"
The pegasus's weapon turned back into a sword, "It's over Tragus. Surrender and give back the Time Stone."
"Never!" The changeling screamed, "I will do what I came back to do! Mark my words!" He then glanced over at the hole, the train still inside before diving inside.
"Hey!" The four ran over to the hole, the pegasus taking something out of his pocket and pointing it at the changeling. Before anypony could ask, it fired a beam of light that struck the changeling in the back seconds before he flew into the hole.
The insect pony went down to the bottom, slamming a hoof into the train as he passed it. The kick caused the sides of the cave, making it break apart and crumble, forcing the four to leap back as the hole collapsed in on itself. The changeling disappeared into a tunnel at this, rubble soon blocking up the hole. The changeling had gotten away.
"No!" The pegasus yelled, "Get back here you-" The pony came to a stop at this, now feeling three stares. He slowly turned to Flash, Twilight and Spike, the three stares making the pegasi gulp, "Err...hi."
"Who...are you?" Twilight asked, "How did you-"
Flash put his wing in front of her, his stare turning to a slight glare as he said, "I think I already know who he is." He pointed at the pegasus, "Could you show us your face? Please." The pegasus blinked at the defender, only to sigh. His weapon returned to the H-shape and he put it away before reaching up to his hood. When he did, Flash saw a long scar running from one side of his right hoof, around the top of it and up the other side a few inches.
But the scar's existence flew from Flash's mind when the pegasus pulled down his hood, revealing a face of a pony Flash knew all too well...except it also looked slight wrong.
"Hey Flash," the pegasi replied, trying to hide a smile.
"I knew it. Are you...Heart?" Flash asked, Twilight and Spike going wide-eyed.
"Heart?!" Spike yelped.
"How is that-wait...are you...older?" Twilight muttered as she started at the pegasus.
Heart scratched the back of his head, showing a small grimace. "It's...complicated." He cleared his throat at this, "Um...how about I introduce myself first." He put a hoof to his chest, "I am Fire Heart, Royal Knight of Equestria." He raised his hoof and it set on fire, "Also known as the Ig-Knighter. And I'm not the same Fire Heart you all know. I'm...from the future."
Twilight and Spike were fully wide-eyed again as Flash asked, "You're...from the future?" Heart nodded. "I guess that explains why you look...older."
"But what are you doing here?" Twilight added, "And who was that changeling that attacked us."
"That changeling was also from the future," Heart responded, "I know it's hard to believe, but I followed him back in time after he stole a relic that was recently unearthed: The Time Stone. It's what Starswirl original studied in order to create his time travel spell, but was lost until some archaeologists found it. Tragus attacked the sight and stole the Time Stone and I was sent to stop him, but he was able to figure out how to make it work when I arrived. We fought for a bit, but then he managed to get away and use it. He created a portal to the past and I...followed him, but he got ahead of me."
Flash and Twilight shared a glance, Flash shrugging, "Eh, we've both done time travel shenanigans. Seems legit to me."
"That's not reassuring." Twilight deadpanned before turning back to Heart, "Why would a changeling want to travel back in time?"
Heart sighed and shook his head, "In the future, most changelings are absolutely fine with how things are and love being under Thorax's leadership. But every now and then, a renegade shows up thinking life would be better if they went back to their old ways. Tragus is one of those."
"Okay...but why did he come to this time?"
Heart shrugged, "Who knows. Maybe me showing up stopped him from completing the spell, so it couldn't send him back the whole way. Honestly, I have no idea how long he's been here already. He could have arrived yesterday, or two months ago. I don't know."
"I don't think he did go back. I mean, Thorax just became leader just a few months ago."
"Yeah. Why didn't he go back further?" Spike added.
Heart nodded at this, "Oh, the Time Stone can't make more than one trip backwards. If he uses the stone again, the only place it'll take him is back to our time. To the exact time and place that we left, and I've got a squad of guards waiting for him there."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, "You seem to know a lot about this stone."
Heart nodded again, "Well, you did debrief me before sending me out to catch him."
"I did?!" Twilight yelped.
"Sure. Who else would-" He stopped himself, "Shoot. Spoilers. Sorry. Probably not a good idea to tell you too much about the future." They nodded back, only for Heart to continue, "Whatever. All that matters is that Tragus has the time stone and can't return to the future without getting captured. So he's obviously planning to do something here that'll change the future."
"But why?" Spike asked, "Why did he attack us and stop our train?"
Heart shrugged back, only for Twilight to speak up, "You don't think he was trying to stop us from getting the Manehatten, do you?"
Heart tilted his head at this, "Why are you going to Manehatten?"
"We're going to discuss a peace and trade treaty with the dragons and changelings." Heart's eyes went wide at this, making Twilight flinch, "What's wrong?"
Heart facehoofed at this, "Of course! He's trying to stop the C.D.P.A!"
"The what?" The three asked in unison, Heart flinching at the question.
He opened his mouth, only to sigh as he replied, "I'm guessing its about to happen, so I'll tell you. This peace treaty is very important. The Changeling, Dragon, Pony Alliance will be signed and formed tomorrow. It's what allows peace between the three nations to exist all the way to my time...and Twilight's a big part of those treaty negotiations." He pointed at the alicorn, "If she's not there, it might cause the talks to go south."
"That's why he attacked us," Twilight gasped, "Even though he couldn't take us down, destroying the train has made it almost impossible to get to Manehatten."
Heart nodded back, "And I'm gonna guess this won't be the only thing he does." He turned back to the hole, "He's got to be heading for Manehatten to try and make things worse."
Several miles from the town, a hole suddenly appeared, Tragus scraping out of the dirt. He shook himself, dusting flying off him as he groaned, "Great...stupid capture dust."
He closed his eyes, focusing as his body was consumed by fire. But when it extinguished, he was still a changeling. "Oh, come on!" He glanced up and saw a large mountain range many miles away. "Great. Now I've gotta get there by myself!" He spread his wings and flew off, soon realizing he wouldn't make it to the mountains before nightfall. "Hopefully, that dust will have worn off when I get there." He smirked, "I will stop those stupid talks and return the changelings to their true state. I swear it!"
Back in Saddleton, Twilight had gotten the group a room at a local inn. Heart had been worried about interacting with others from this time, but Flash edged him on. Now he was sitting in his and Spike's room, waiting for Flash and Twilight to get out of the bathroom, Spike on the opposite bed, reading a page from his book.
The door to the bathroom opened and Flash walked out, Twilight coming next as Flash dried his mane, "Finally managed to get all that dust off me."
"But I still can't use my magic," Twilight growled as she tried to spark her horn.
"Don't worry," Heart replied, "The capture dust's effects will wear off eventually. Probably by tomorrow morning."
"Capture dust?" The three asked as they sat down on the beds.
"Yeah," Heart nodded, "You developed it to temporarily neutralize the magic of anything it covers. Pony, changeling, kirin, they all have their magic rendered useless once they've been covered in that dust."
"I made that?" Twilight asked, getting another nod from Heart. "But then how did that changeling get it?"
"It was...stolen a few years back and sold on the black market. It's not easy to get, but there are ripoffs. Thankfully, your capture dust is way stronger. The stuff I hit Tragus with won't wear off until much later tomorrow, which means we've got a chance to capture him before he can transform and fight back."
They all nodded as Heart shifted his weight on the bed, allowing Flash to see the scar on his hoof. Flash stared at the injury, now seeing that it must be several years old. And before his brain could stop him, he asked, "So...how'd that happen?"
Heart looked down at his scarred hoof, Twilight and Spike turning to the pony as he replied, "It's...complicated. Probably not a good idea to tell you how I got it. Don't wanna alter the timeline and all that."
Flash frowned, "Does it hurt?"
"It did when I first got it," Heart chuckled, "But most days, I forget I even have it. Guess it pays to have the Princess of Life for a sister. Means you can be reckless and not have to worry about getting too badly hurt."
"That's no excuse for acting reckless," Twilight responded, "But I'm more interested in that unusual weapon you used earlier. Was that your Celestic Gear?"
Heart nodded and took out the handle-like device, "It's called Flamemaker. Its power allows me to transform it into any weapon I want, and it can harness my fire powers so I can fight without needing to transform. Most days I only use my fire form the same way Flash uses his Sacred Light, for emergencies."
"Wow," Twilight whispered. "I've...got so many questions I wanna ask, but I know asking them isn't a good idea. I've already seen where that goes with my own time travel adventures."
"Tell me about it." Flash added, Twilight rolling her eyes at him,
"Anyways..." She grumbled before asking, "Just tell me one thing Heart. Is Equestria...safe? I mean, there must be some things in the future that could be better."
"Well...yeah," Heart shrugged, "It's still a great place. In fact, it's even better in my time than it is right now." He turned to look out the window. "I can't tell you anything, but I will say its amazing. And it's thanks to you and the others who helped build it." They smiled at this, only to see Heart shake his head, "But none of it will happen if we let Tragus stay loose. We need to do something to stop him."
"We will," Twilight replied, "I'm gonna write a letter and send it to Celestia, to let her know what's going on."
Heart went wide-eyed at this, "Whoa! Don't do that! What if she decides to cancel the talks?! That could cause the future to change and I might even get blinked out of existence!"
Spike raised an eyebrow, "I think you might be exaggerating a bit."
"I'm not!" Heart yelled, "Don't forget, this is all history to me! It happened and I know these talks went down perfectly. If you cancel them, then the future I return to will be completely different. Don't you remember what happened when Starlight stopped the Sonic Rainboom? You told me about that before you sent me Twilight. Changing one small event in the past have disastrous effects on the future."
Twilight opened her mouth at this, only to let out a sad hum, "You're right. If the talks happened tomorrow in your past, then they can't be cancelled. But I'm still gonna tell Celestia, but make sure she doesn't change the plans." She turned to Flash and Heart, "Which means it'll be up to you two to stop Tragus." The two pegasi nodded back, only for the alicorn to glance over to her assistant, "Spike, get me some paper. I need to make sure this all goes perfectly tomorrow."
"On it."
Tragus panted as he stared up at the mountain range he now stood at the base of. There were around ten mountains standing around one another, the changeling knowing he would have to at least scale three of them. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the sun and saw Celestia begin to lower it. "Scaling this thing in the dark is suicide, especially since I can't transform." He sighed, "Guess I'll have to scale it tomorrow."
His stomach then started moaning at him, making him glance around. After a few minutes, he spotted a bunch of berry bushes. "Perfect." He started picking them, only to see on the ground a large hole that went downward vertically. He stared at it for a moment as he threw a berry into his mouth and crushed it with his tongue, only for his eyes to go wide. "Gyah!" He spat, the foul tasting and now very smelling piece of fruit. The juice hit the ground and continued to smell, Tragus quickly throwing the other berries away.
It was ten minutes before he could no longer smell the horrible scent, the changeling instead finding a nice tree to snuggle up against. "I should have snacked on one of those townsponies," he grumbled, "I need some love."
He remembered back to his childhood, when his parents had first taken him to Equestria on vacation. He had snuck away at the time, running into a filly that was just glowing with love. That had been the first time he had lost control and feasted on love, the memory of the taste making him lick his lips.
"That's what a changeling's supposed to be," he told himself, "And when I return to the future, it'll be a future where changelings realized the truth and stopped trying to be friends with their food." He then pulled out a green rock that had multiple patterns on it that all glowed blue. On the front was an image of an hourglass. "This rock was created the fix mistakes, and I'm gonna fix the greatest mistake ever made." With that, he curled himself up and tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow was gonna be a busy day.
The next morning...
As soon as the sun had risen the next day, Twilight, Flash, Spike and Heart were up and ready, the dust now gone off of Twilight and Flash. "Yes!" Twilight cheered as she used her magic to lifted her saddlebag onto her back. "My magic's back to full strength!"
"Same here," Flash added as his sword lit up. "Now we can go after Tragus and stop him." He put his sword on his back, "So what's the plan? He's heading for Manehatten, so how do we catch up?"
"I have a way to find him," Heart chimed in as he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like some kind of silver pocket watch.
"What's that?"
"Another invention from the future. Solid Script designed this one." He opened it up to reveal it was actually a compass. "This thing doesn't point north, instead pointing in the direction of whatever it tagged last."
When he said that, Flash blinked before speaking up, "That's the thing that you fired at him yesterday."
"Yup," Heart nodded. "It's still a work in progress, so it takes time after it tags somepony before it can lock in on them. But now we'll be able to find Tragus, no matter where he is."
"Awesome," Spike cheered, "So let's get after him!"
"Spike, I already told you that you're coming with me." Twilight interrupted, "You and I are heading straight to Manehatten. I'm gonna need all the help I can get with this peace treaty with the dragons and the changelings."
"But how are we gonna get there?"
"Simple. We're gonna teleport. I don't like travelling that far with my teleportation spell unless I absolutely have too, but this is an emergency. The future depends on it." She turned to Flash and Heart, "Are you two gonna be okay going after Tragus? He's got a whole day's head start on you."
"Maybe, but we have a speed advantage." Flash smirked, "Changeling aren't exactly fast flyers, so we should be able to catch him up no problem."
"Especially if we use a turbo booster," Heart added as he lit his hoof aflame. "I've gotten a lot of practice over the years."
"Alright..." Twilight then took something out of her bag, "Here. I was able to get this from one of the travel stores." Flash took it and saw it was a rolled up piece of paper. "It's a map of the area, everything from here to Manehatten. That should help you know what's coming."
Flash nodded and stared at the map, "My best guess is he's going to pass through the Andor Mountain Range. That's the fastest way to get to Manehatten from here on hoof."
"Be careful," Twilight responded, "There's no telling what he'll pull since he's knows you're probably coming." Flash nodded and the two shared a kiss, Spike sticking out a tongue while Heart laughed at the drake. "Let's go Spike," she pulled away from Flash and placed Spike on her back before glancing back at the Royal Knights. "Stay safe, alright?"
"We will." Flash replied before Twilight sparked her horn, both vanishing in a bright flash of light.
Once they were gone, Flash turned to his grown up apprentice. "Let's go."
"This is gonna be awesome!" Heart cheered as they rushed out of the inn, "just you and me on a whirlwind adventure against a great evil! I'm so psyched!"
"Why?" Flash asked as they stepped outside. "The two of us must go on hundreds of missions together. Isn't this just another day at the office for you?" He flared his wings at this, taking to the air as Heart stopped for a second.
"Yeah," Heart said, his teeth almost biting his lip as he spread his wings, "We've been on...hundreds of missions." Both took to the air, Flash glancing back at the knight.
"What's your thing say?"
Heart pulled out the compass, "Looks like its pointing at the mountains, just like you thought."
"Alright. You ready to accelerate?" Flash asked, Heart nodding back, "Nice! Armorize!" A burst of light appeared round Flash's chest and wings, forming the armor just as Heart's hooves ignited. Flash's wings opened up and began to expel the light, shooting him ahead as Heart followed with his flames. The two began moving at speeds even Rainbow would have trouble keeping up with, the town now seeing what looked like two comets flying towards the mountain range.
Tragus had gotten up at the same time as his enemies, now travelling up the mountain. "Ha!" He laughed, "I'll just fly up to the nearest peak and be over it in no time." But as he did this and hit the three mile mark, he suddenly found himself getting bombarded by an extra powerful wind that his wings couldn't fight against. "AHHH!" He yelped as the wind smashed him into the side of the mountain and pinned him down.
After about a minute of this, the changeling was able to start pushing against the gust, soon managing to get himself to stand up against the side of the mountain. But the force of the wind continued to batter against his body, forcing him to hug the side of the wall.
"Great," he moaned before he started pulling himself upward, "Just great." He tried transforming into something that could fight against the winds, a roc or even a griffon, but he still couldn't transform. "Darn it! Stupid knight!"
All he could do was keep pulling himself higher up the side of the mountain, waiting for the strong wind to die down. But no matter what he tried, the winds refused to give up. They made climbing so difficult that it took almost an hour to reach the top. And as he got there, he saw he still had another two mountains to get past before he was out of the range. However, he knew the powerful winds were there, forcing him to climb down the other side.
"I thought the ponies in this land were supposed to be in charge of the weather here..." he grumbled as he slid down the least steepest part he could find. "Who's bright idea was it to have super strong winds spiraling around these mountains?! I gotta get to that stupid conference!"
Flash and Heart continued to fly as fast as they could toward the mountain range, both starting to feel the strain of the many miles they just went past. Soon, they reached the mountain's base and flew down into the forest and as soon as they touched down, Heart killed the flames and Flash dispelled his Sacred Light. Heart checked the compass as Flash pulled out the map.
"He's still ahead of us."
"Okay," Flash told his grown up apprentice, "These mountains are the only way to get to Manehatten from Saddleton. They're too big to fly around and get there in time, so Tragus must be attempting to fly over them."
"Please tell me there's a way we can catch up to him," Heart asked as they started running through the trees.
"There is. Those mountains have some very powerful winds, way to powerful for a changeling to easily fly through. Since he can't transform, he'll be forced to fly slowly and close to the mountain." He came to a stop and lowered the map. "Which means, we can get ahead of him if we cut through the tunnels of...Andor."
He and Heart started ahead, now spotting an opening in the ground leading downward that was surrounded by berry bushes. Heart was about to head in, but he then turned to Flash and saw his face, "Oh no...I know that face. I'm not gonna like this, am I?" He pointed to the hole, "What's in the tunnels?"
Flash cleared his throat as he rolled up the map. "They're...infested with wildren."
"What are wildren?" Heart asked, Flash then holding his front legs as wide as they would go.
"Well, they're like giant-" He stopped when he saw Heart's slight glare before bringing his hooves back together so they were only a few inches apart. "Baby rats."
Heart raised an eyebrow, "Baby rats?" Flash nodded, "They don't sound so bad."
"They've been known to feast on pony flesh."
"Maybe we should go over the mountain," Heart instantly replied, only for Flash to give him the map and walk over to the nearby berry bush. "Uh...what are you doing?"
"Wildren are completely blind. They hunt by sense of smell." He held up a berry, "Gaia berries will put them off the scent. It's probably why somepony planted them here." Flash began to crush them against his cheeks while Heart moved over and picked some more. "So if we smear ourselves with them, we should pass through the tunnels undetected."
Heart took the berries and smeared them onto his face, only to suddenly try to pull back when his nose got a whiff of the fruit. "Augh! That's stinks!"
Flash laughed before pointing to the cave, "Perhaps you'd prefer to be eaten alive?"
Heart stared at him for a second before sighing, "Pass me some more, will ya?" Flash complied, picking up some more berries and smearing them onto Heart's face. "Ack! Hey!" He then grabbed some of his own and smashed them into Flash's forehead, the two suddenly breaking out into a berry fight. And as they did this, the two laughed until they were both completely covered in the smelly juice.
"Alright," Flash turned to the cave, "Let's do this thing." The pair descended into the hole, soon finding it rather dry despite being a tunnel under a forest. The rocks were flat, making no issue with tripping. The only two issues were how small the place was, making flying difficult, along with how dark it was.
"I can handle this," Heart lifted up his hoof and ignited it. The light of the fire filled the cavern, allowing the pair to see what was ahead of them. They walked ahead for a few miles, finding that the tunnel got larger the further in they went, but Flash told them it was best they didn't fly.
"Why not?" Flash pointed at the ceiling, Heart looking up and seeing a lot of jagged rocks above them.
"Those rocks are very loose. If even a slight gust of wind were to touch them, it'll set of a chain reaction that could bring the whole roof down on top of us."
"You seem to know a lot about this place," Heart replied, "Have you been here before?"
"No," Flash shook his head, "But I've heard stories. Grand and some guards chased a criminal through here once when he was younger. The criminal ran into the wildren and...didn't make it out. Grand's group barely managed to escape, but one of them fell behind and was attacked. Grand and a stallion named Doom Chaser saved him, but the pony was seriously hurt and the wildren were hot on their tail. Doom tried to fly them all away, but doing so made the cave collapse. They barely made it out alive."
"Yikes," Heart gulped. "Alright, no flying while we're inside. Got it." They kept traversing the tunnel, going mile after mile with no signs of life. Every now and again they came across the fork in the tunnel and had to pick a way, but there was nothing else. They found they were making mostly right choices, most tunnels being straight with an occasional turn left or right, but after a few miles, the tunnel curved back the other way and put them back on the right path.
"We've been walking for a while now," Heart commented, "But we haven't seen any of these wildren things." He turned to his mentor, "Are you sure they're still in here? They could have left or died out."
"I hope so," Flash replied, "The last thing we need is getting caught up by one of them and slowed down enough to let Tragus escape."
He would have said more, only for a noise to fill the air. The sound of loose rocks being kicked and a loud sniffing sound. Flash and Heart both shared a wide-eyed look as a shadow appeared on the cave wall that was getting bigger by the second. The ponies quickly threw themselves against the wall as the shadow's owner came into view and they were met with the sight of a creature the size of a dog.
It's body shape and skin looked like that of a baby rat, though the skin was gray in color, but it did have a few changes. Its feet had three large clawed toes that had webbing between them while its head was much larger than a baby rat's was in proportion to its body. It had no eyes, and its nose was absolutely massive, taking up the whole front of its snout. It also had rather large teeth, large enough that they didn't fit into its mouth properly.
The wildren lumbered through the tunnel, not seeing the pair as they refused to even breathe. But as it marched past them, it suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. The ponies felt their hearts stop for a moment, neither wanting to risk attacking in case it attracted more or brought the roof down. The wildren moved up to Heart and jumped onto its back feet before leaning forward, its nose inches from his face. It sniffed several times, Heart not sure how long he could hold his breath, then gave a horrified growl and pulled back. It got back down on all fours and continued down the tunnel, disappearing around a bend.
A few seconds after that, both pegasi finally breathed and panted to catch their breaths. "I think I almost had a heart attack," Heart clutched his chest, "I was sure it was about to bite my face off."
"Yeah," Flash nodded, "I guess these gaia berries worked after all."
Heart nodded, his eyes then going wide as Flash walked past him. "Wait...you did know that the berries would mask our scent, right?" Flash turned back to Heart and shrugged, "So you were just guessing?!"
"Pretty much." Flash nodded.
"So what would you have done if that hadn't worked? Oh, what's that in that wildren's mouth. Oh, it's only Fire Heart." Flash snickered at this. "I don't remember you being so reckless when I was younger."
"Well obviously I've gained a lot more reck in the years leading up to your time," Flash replied, Heart glaring at him as the defender continued to make his way through the tunnel. "And for the record, when you have a little kid trying to jump into every fight he sees, you tend to be a lot more careful in certain situations." Heart grumbled as they continued through the underground passageway, not running into any more wildren during this time.
And after a few dead-ends, they found the right path until Flash's nose picked something up. "Do you smell that?"
"All I can smell is gaia berry."
Flash rolled his eyes and continued to sniff, only to go wide-eyed, "Put your flame out." Heart opened his mouth, only for Flash to glare at him, "Put it out!"
"Alright, alright..." Heart replied as they were plunged into darkness. "What's so-" He stopped when he sniffed, "Hey...I do smell something." He sniffed again, "Smells like...rotten eggs." His eyes went wide, "Methane!"
Flash nodded back despite Heart not seeing it, "There must be a natural vent somewhere."
"Great..." Heart sighed. "Now what do we do?"
"We have to keep going," Flash put his head low to the ground. "And try to keep your head as low as possible, since methane floats." Heart nodded and did the same, the two blindly wandering through the dark tunnel for another hour. They were finding it hard to breathe due to the thick methane, but they soldiered on while doing their best to protect their mouths and noses.
But eventually, they found themselves in a rather different environment. After stumbling out of a tunnel, they found themselves in a large chamber roughly the size of Ponyville's town hall. The chamber was full of methane, but it was so big the gas was hardly filling the air. And on the other side of the chamber was a tunnel with light streaming through it.
"The way out," Heart gasped, only for Flash to grab his hoof, "What?" Flash pointed to the ground, Heart glancing down and seeing a lump. A lump that was slowly breathing the way only a sleeping creature could. The wildren rolled over in its sleep, their eyes following it and catching sight of another wildren sleeping on the ground. They then spotted another, then another and another. The whole tunnel was infested with them, all asleep.
"Great," he whispered, "What do we do now?" He looked up at the ceiling at the many spikes barely holding onto it along with the floating methane, "Do we risk it?"
Flash shook his head. "If we're careful and watch our step, we should be fine." Heart nodded and the pair began to slowly make their way through the horde of sleeping carnivores. They tip-hoofed as best they could around the rodents, being careful not to step on their tails or anything else.
Several times they had to pull a hoof back to avoid a tail that swept under them, only for one of the wildren's tails to sweep around and kick up a large cloud of dust. The dust flew over to Heart and he ended up walking right into it, breathing it in and suddenly finding his nose beginning to itch.
"Oh no," he whispered as he felt himself about to sneeze. "Ah...ah...AHHH!" Flash heard this and gasped before reaching up with his hoof and pressing it against Heart's nose. After a few seconds, Heart nodded and Flash pulled his hoof away. "Thanks." Flash nodded back before they turned to back to the chamber and- "ACHOO!" Heart sneezed and unleashed a mighty cry that echoed through the tunnel.
The pegasi stood there, looking terrified as the noise repeated six times. And every time it did, a batch of wildren woke up and glanced around.
"Not good," Heart gulped.
"Just don't make a sound or-" he didn't finish as he suddenly felt himself step on a wildren's tail. The beast roared at this and turned to him as he pulled his hoof away. "Really not good." One by one, the wildren sniffed the air and picked up the horrible smell of gaia berries, only for Flash to see they had now all turned toward them.
Flash and Heart drew their weapons, Heart's turning into a war-hammer, but neither of them used their elemental powers. And as the wildren charged, all they could do was knock them away as best they could in the dim light of the cave. The sounds of rodent screams filled the air, the pegasi fighting their way toward the exit. But no matter how many times they knocked a wildren down, another appeared to get in their way.
"Back off!" Flash yelped as he used his tail to whip one in the face.
"Four!" Heart swung his hammer and knocked a wildren away. The pair then leapt back to the center of the cave, where a large rock was situated as Heart almost hit it. He glanced back and saw the rock had a large opening that lead to a hollow section under the rock that that was quite large. "How many of these things are there?"
"I don't know," Flash jumped back to avoid a claw strike, "But it's clear that if we don't get through them, Tragus is gonna escape."
"So what do we do?"
Flash slashed down another wildren, "I'm open to suggestions!"
Heart tried to hit a wildren in the head, but it somehow leapt back and his hammer smashed into the rock and broke a piece off. He slammed that piece and sent it sailing over the wildren, hitting a wall on the far side and causing it to break apart. The wildren there sniffed the air and hissed before pulling away, Heart realizing he must have opened up another methane vent.
"I think I've got an idea, but it's mad!"
Flash hissed as a wildren nicked him in the leg, "I'll take it!" Heart nodded and grabbed Flash before pulling him to the ground, then rolled them both into the opening in the hole under the rock. Flash saw this and glared at Heart, now seeing they were trapped as the wildren began to gather around it. "This is your plan?!" Heart replied by holding up a hoof and igniting it, Flash going wide-eyed before smirking, "I trained you well."
Heart grinned before glancing over at the wall that was not leaking gas. "Bomb voyage!" With that, he thrust his hoof forward and sent a fireball racing at the wall. The wildren ducked back to avoid getting burned, allowing the flames to slam into the wall and ignite the gas seeping through it.
KABOOOOOOOOOOM!
Fire filled the entire cavern, flying through every tunnel connected to it. Every single wildren was consumed and the flames shot out of every exit within a five mile radius of the cavern. The entire mountain atop the cave shook, the force of the eruption shaking the entire land.
To be continued...
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That was an awesome chapter and I like that we get to meet older Heart earlier rather than epilogue stuffs.
So his Royal Knight title is Ig-Knighter? Make sense… Ig is short for Ignite (to catch the fire) and Knighter is lighter… very interesting title for a Royal Knight.
I hope he and Flash stop Tragus before he change the course of the future!
Was the title Reinforcements from the Future a reference to Power Rangers Wild Force since that episode shares the same title and same time travel team up plot as this or it just coincidence?
I wonder if young Heart will get that scar at some point in the future chapters? I had a bad feeling about it.
Here's highlights
Is that….
I had a feeling we are meeting Heart from the future.
Definitely Heart for sure!
I knew it!!!!!!
Dodge a bullet there, Heart! Twilight would go crazy if you told her about her destiny in the future! She would be a massive nervous wreck for sure!
Oh dear… I feared he would probably get it from intense battle and one of his hoof earn a scar due of his reckless behavior.
Unless he was scarred by a cat like what happened with Nick Fury in Captain Marvel one.
But who know?
Well… My Little Pony: A New Generation movie answer your question, Twilight and Equestria is…. somewhat not better. 😬😬😬😬😬😬
Ha ha ha ha ha! That's funny! Despite going on hundreds of mission with his mentor, he still act like a kid going to the candy store!
He finally mentioned Doom Chaser! But what about Remarie?!
We need to know what happened to the poor mare! Did she died of broken heart or was Grand focus on his personal issues that made him forgotten about her?
JusticeForRemarie!
Wow! How careless of you, Flash!
Well…. I glad you finally have Future Heart appear earlier on cause if you have him shows up at "The Last Problem" episode, it would be shame that he didn't get to showcase his Celestic Gear but I glad you decides to showcase his Flamemaker in this chapter!
Cool Celestic Gear!
Oh man, this is so awesome! Getting a "future badass" version of Fire Heart coming from the future to the past is interesting, and we get a few hints of some stuff to come like that scar he got, or Twilight inventing that capture dust stuff. Now I kinda wish we could see more of the future versions of everyone. Plus, you get big points for the title, since "Reinforcments From the Future" is probably one of the best Power Rangers crossovers ever.
Interesting that the enemy is a rogue changeling. I guess Pharynx (or Chrysalis depending on how you look at it) wasn't the last one after all. I'm excited to see how Flash and this Future Fire Heart finish their mission together and keep the future on track.
That kinda reminds me of Impulse from Young Justice.
Why does that make me uneasy? I doubt Flash died or anything, unless this is way into the future. Did Flash retire from the Royal Knights to become a prince after marrying Twilight? Or did he and Heart have a falling out?
That was such a badass moment. Of course you made it a cliffhanger there. I like how Flash approves of Future Heart's thinking here, since let's face it, Flash has done some crazy stuff himself too. Also, "Bomb voyage" is a great pun here, but it also reminds me of that mime villain we saw from The Incredibles.
Can't wait what you come up with in the next chapter. Because this was awesome
And hey everyone, check out my fanfic. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/505143/kamen-rider-saber-eg-volume-1
Here's the link
And we're hitting the ground running with this 2-parter here!!! These pair of time-travel guys have sure rocked Flash/Twilight/Spike world, especially with the pact between Pony/Dragon/Changeling about to happen!
It was a great surprise seeing an adult version of Heart, not to mention his Royal Knight weapon, that was a blast! 
Looking at Highlights here we include :
Hope it didn't left a dome-like hole as well, like it's T2 counterpart!
Glad to see Spike keeping up with his magic training, hopefully this spell will come in handy in the current situation!
Oh crap!!!
Damn, love both Heart's future look & his celestial gear!
HA karma's a b**** ain't it??!!!
Yikes, guess Heart had his own *sobering moment* like Flash did way back in S3!
Ah ah ah please Twilight........like Rarity would say *NO SPOILERS!!!*
The only mistake I see right now is your mindset pal!
HA HA!
One word........*MEEP*
Holy Smokes Banshee, will our heroes escape unscathed? Will Tragus wreck the conference? Will Flash & Future Heart stop blowing stuff up everywhere they go?(probably not
) Find out next Tuesday, same Banshee time, same Banshee channel!!! 
the future is in danger.
Whelp Flash is probably dead in the future XP
I got Terminator vibes from reading this!
I foresee Flash needs to have a massive heart to heart with Future Heart, because Future Heart clearly has something to get off his chest.
Question: Are you familiar with the Grandfather Paradox? Because this seems to fly in the face of the Causal Loop paradox.
That does not bode well for the future of this relationship. Hopefully, this adventure helps give Heart closure on whatever issue he's dealing with.