• Published 18th Jan 2012
  • 2,358 Views, 61 Comments

Shadow of Twilight - GreenS21



Crossover between "MLP:FiM" and "Shadow of Destiny/Memories"

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Twists

Twilight appeared ten years in the past, her hooves sinking into the snow on the ground after her time bubble disappeared and she dropped down. She looked around; she had appeared in the middle of the square, near the edge of the now snow-covered flower arrangement. “It hasn’t been too long since the shooting occurred. Homunculus showed up right afterwards to grab the baby. He should still be here,” she murmured to herself. Hoping she was right, she ran out of the square and started making her way to the art museum.

After several minutes of running, Twilight reached the street where the crime had occurred. Looking around, she saw there was nopony on the street. Eckart had probably taken Miriam home after making sure she was okay, and she could only speculate about everypony else. Looking over at the building where the bolt had hit, she could see it had been removed, but the small indentation was still there. “Did I miss him already?” Twilight wondered as she walked towards the building.

Suddenly, she noticed something off to her left and turned to look. And there was Homunculus, lying down on his front under a tree with his forelegs tucked under his head. Twilight gave a sigh and walked over to him, her hooves crunching the snow underneath them. As she got closer, Homunculus opened his eyes halfway and turned his head in her direction. He smiled and opened his eyes all the way as he spoke, “Hi, how are things? I’m not doing too well, as you can see. This body can get a little tiresome sometimes. It must be nice to have a proper pony body.”

Twilight looked back at him for a moment and then asked, “Listen Homunculus, can you come with me for a second? Hugo’s looking for you, and I have a few questions I wanted to ask you.”

Looking down, Homunculus replied, “Hm, Hugo, huh? That means you know who the killer is, I guess.” Looking back up at Twilight, he said, “Let me guess what Hugo’s plan is. He’s going to leave Lucian in the present and wipe you, his descendent, out that way.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at his words. “You knew about this?” she asked.

Homunculus shrugged, “Since I was willing to give you time-traveling powers, you didn’t expect me to just sit around, did you? I tested out a few histories – that particular outcome is just a variation on a theme, so it was fairly easy to guess.” Looking back down, he added, “It’s the sort of thing Hugo would think of. So I – heh, please don’t thank me, I just wanted to help – switched kids.” Looking back up at Twilight, he explained, “I found a baby, just about the same age.” He then chuckled and asked, “The Lucian you know… does he have a red coat, yellow mane and tail, and dark blue eyes?”

None of those traits matched the ones that Lucian had, but Twilight was more confused about what Homunculus had said before that. She asked, “What are you saying? You switched babies? Isn’t Lucian an ancestor of mine?”

Homunculus replied, “Well, that’s what I think. There’s something uncanny about your involvement with that family, don’t you think? You happen to believe in Occam’s razor and all that, right? As for Lucian, if he isn’t a red unicorn, that means my plan worked. No matter what happens to Lucian, your existence is an assured fact.” Looking back up at Twilight, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll switch things back to the way they were after all this is over.”

Twilight looked down at him for a moment, confused by what he was saying. Suddenly, she realized what he was telling her. That had to be why she had seen him earlier with Eckart and Miriam’s son. She asked, “You mean you switched Lucian with Mr. Brum’s son?!”

Homunculus shrugged, “So what, Twilight? No big deal, I say. His life was going to be in danger, even without you saving his mother, and I saved him from that. It’s harmless compared to Hugo trying to cancel your existence by abandoning Lucian in the future. Don’t you think? Master Hugo’s plans will fail thanks to me.”

Twilight turned away from the black pony and held her right hoof to her forehead for a second. She then muttered, “Oh Celestia… So that’s what really happened when Mr. Brum’s son disappeared… That’s why they never found him…” She then had a thought and her eyes widened at it. She turned to look back at Homunculus and said, “Wait a second… Were you the one who tried to murder his wife?!”

Homunculus glanced at her with half-lidded eyes and asked, “Who, me? You think I’d risk myself doing something like that? Do you have any idea how fragile my body is?” He pushed himself up off the ground and sat on his haunches before continuing, “I have to take good care of it so that it won’t break. I’m really not very strong. Just now, I had to rest a little here, and the next thing I know, there are ponies all over the crime scene. So I couldn’t complete the switch… But I did manage to bring the real Lucian to this time.” He then looked over at Twilight as he added, “Under the name ‘Dante’, of course. No need to worry.”

Twilight shook her head, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You’ve purposefully been messing with ponies’ lives, their fates, just because of all this?”

Homunculus replied, “Hm… you lost me there for a second, Twilight. Sorry, but I’m not a true pony, so I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Before she could protest, he stood up and said, “But I do believe in the power of fate, you know.” Turning away from her, he went on, “No matter how much you meddle, it always wants to go back to the way it was. It has a kind of homing instinct, if you catch my drift. That’s why we’re having so much trouble getting ‘Death Du Jour’ off the menu.”

Twilight looked down and closed her eyes as she said, “I know what I said about not wanting to die. I… I said it because of the chance that my death might mean bad things for Equestria. But…” She looked up at the black pony as she asked, “Do you really have to change other ponies’ destinies so… casually? I mean, why do you have to go that far?”

Homunculus spoke, “Well, if you’re that unhappy about it, Twilight, would you like me to change it back? Of course, it has to be after ten years have passed, after he’s been taken hostage by Hugo. Otherwise, there’s no point in switching them in the first place.”

Twilight glared at Homunculus, starting to get rather annoyed at the way he was treating all of this. “You…!” she growled before stopping herself. Taking a few steps towards the pony, she said, “Ten years isn’t something you can just erase from memory and relive…! You… I thought you knew how serious time is! You said it was serious the first time we spoke to each other!”

Homunculus turned his head to look back at Twilight, a bemused expression on his face, and asked, “Excuse me? Are you trying to lecture me, Twilight? After all I’ve done for you?” The lavender unicorn could only stare at him. Homunculus said, “Seems like the only thing you ponies are good for is causing headaches. Really. Well, see you later then.” He then started to walk away.

Twilight noticed he was beginning to disappear again and called, “Wait! Where do you think you’re going?!” It was too late; he had already disappeared in a red flash. She ran over to the spot where he had been standing and looked around, but she could find no trace of him anywhere.

Twilight murmured to herself, “He said something just now… Fate has a ‘homing instinct’…?” Her mind thought back to both Dante and Lucian, two unicorns from very different times. Both of them had talked about seeming different from other ponies in their times and both had had some kind of relevant contact with her. Dante’s life had recently turned around and Lucian had expressed a desire to see Twilight’s time for himself. She had thought that the two things had been coincidental at best, but this new information made her reconsider that. Adding onto that was the comb Lucian had given her and how Eckart and his wife recognized it. Suddenly, all the pieces seemed to fit together.

Looking down, Twilight muttered, “No… Is that what he meant…? That would mean… the Dante I know is my ancestor… And the Lucian I know is Mr. Brum’s missing son…” Looking up, she asked herself, “Is that the way things are supposed to be?” She pondered this for a minute before pulling the Z-pad out of her saddlebag and using it to travel back to the present.

________________________________________

Twilight appeared in the back alley near the fortuneteller’s house, not far from the Canterlot square. She thought about what to do next. Should she go confront Hugo and put an end to this? That seemed like the best course of action at this point. But then she looked back at the fortuneteller’s house, the same house Lucian and Hugo had lived in 400 years ago. What Hugo had said about attempting to bring his grandmother back… It was something she needed to clarify before going back to the square. So she walked up to the fortuneteller’s house and pushed against the front door, opening it when she found it wasn’t locked.

The fortuneteller greeted her as she stepped in, “Welcome.”

Twilight approached the fortuneteller’s table after closing the door, saying, “Uh… I had a question for you…”

The fortuneteller replied, “Yes…?”

Twilight asked, “You’re…? Who are you…?”

The fortuneteller asked in turn, “Would you really like to know?”

Twilight nodded, “If you really don’t mind telling me.”

The fortuneteller spoke, “Could it be that you are here because you have some idea of what the answer will be? I met you once… long, long ago. I could not have imagined then that we would meet again under such circumstances. I’d listen to Hugo talking, of course. But… how could I have believed these wild fantasies about time travel? That is, until I became what I was and saw you again… Yes, long ago, I was called Helena. I had a life of my own and a daughter named Lenore Wagner, and she later had two children named Lucian and Hugo. But after her husband left, I became very ill…”

Twilight sat down on the cushion in front of the table and carefully said, “Go on…”

The fortuneteller continued, “When we first met, I couldn’t even raise myself from the bed anymore. And soon afterwards, I died… All that was left of my existence was a lock of hair from my mane, as it should have been. But Hugo… my grandson Hugo found the Homunculus device that his mother had been experimenting with, and he used my hair in the machine. Hugo’s act brought back my spirit alone to this world, stripped of the protection of the body. And the disembodied spirit, kept forever from rest, has been wandering this earth through time, and I will for all eternity.”

Twilight asked, “Does he know? Have you told Hugo about this?”

The fortuneteller answered, “No. I have not told Hugo. He cannot see me, nor hear me.”

Twilight said, “Okay. But even so, why are you helping me?”

The fortuneteller replied, “You are very special; you can hear my voice. The only ones I can reach are those who have ended their stay in this world of the living and are on their way to the next.”

Twilight deadpanned, “Oh great. So even after all I’ve done, I’m still going to die today. Is that what you’re saying?”

The fortuneteller said, “Perhaps that was the case before. But you are trying to change your destiny, trying to deflect it away from immediate death. And the cause of your death rests with Hugo, my grandson. So, I suppose I was hoping you would be able to change your fate. Just like that creature, I know how powerful fate is, but I still hoped… Though of course, my reason is not the same as the creature’s reason.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side and asked, “The creature?”

The fortuneteller replied, “The Homunculus. My daughter did not create it, you know. Its true nature is far from that. It is a kind of genie, trapped in the Philosopher’s Stone. All my daughter did was free it.”

Twilight looked down and murmured, “A genie? But… that’s completely different from what I’ve read…”

She looked up as the fortuneteller said, “What I’ve told you, I pieced together from what other souls told me in my wanderings, ever since I became what I am now. Of course, not all of it may be true.” A moment of silence passed between the two, and then the fortuneteller spoke, “I sense a storm approaching; I’ve kept you long enough. You must go…”

Twilight slowly rose to her hooves. “Uh, okay. T-thank you for… for helping me,” she murmured. She then turned and slowly walked towards the door, her head hanging. In reality, it was actually spinning from everything she had just been told.

Before she reached the door, she stopped and her head rose up as the fortuneteller spoke, “Fate is something that belongs to you, and the only one who can change it is yourself. My work is near its end… There is only one thing… one thing I ask of you. Should you ever see Hugo again, tell him… Tell him, ‘He has done an unforgivable thing… But I forgive him, even if no one else can’.”

As she considered this message, Twilight realized that she held no hatred for Hugo for trying to kill her. She’d been working this whole day, trying to figure out who was trying to kill her and stop them, yet now, now that she knew who was doing it and why, she found she couldn’t bring herself to truly be angry at him. She closed her eyes and nodded, softly saying, “Okay.” She then opened them and turned to look back at the fortuneteller, but she looked around in shock instead. Everything in the house had disappeared. The carpet, the candles, the designs on the walls and even the fortuneteller herself had vanished. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all gray; it was like she was standing in a large gray box.