Chapter 1: The First Chapter

CHAPTER 1: THE FIRST CHAPTER

2013, Royal Equestrian Timeline

Apple Bloom sat in the tree house and leaned out of the window, gazing into the Equestrian night. She had just adjourned yet another unsuccessful meeting with her two fellow blank flanks, and another day had gone by without any cutiemarks. The Cutiemark Crusaders could celebrate almost a year of existence, yet poor Apple Bloom could only sigh at her misery. All she wanted in life was to find her special talent, but all three of them had tried everything and they were steadily running out of ideas; the other ponies in Ponyville also steadily running out of patience with them.

There was only one thing that she hadn’t tried yet by now, and she had tried everything from weird potions to powerful spells. She pressed her hoofs together and shut her eyes in concentration for at just that moment, Apple Bloom had seen a shooting star, said to be Luna’s way of granting the wish of the hopeful.

“I wish I may, I wish I might, I have this wish I wish tonight
I want that mark, I want it now, I want it all and I don’t care how”

So sang Apple Bloom, remembering the nursery rhyme Applejack had always sung to her when she was smaller. But Apple Bloom had forgotten how the rest of it went. If she had remembered, she wouldn’t have been so quick to ask providence for help.

“Careful what you wish, careful what you say
Careful what you wish, you may regret it
Careful what you wish, you just might get it”

She peered into the darkness and saw the star twinkle at her before disappearing somewhere over the hills of Equestria north of Ponyville. It was not that she expected a cutiemark to suddenly appear, but Apple Bloom was eager and very impatient by now to earn her mark. She checked right away and as always, nothing. Crestfallen, she crossed the floor of the tree house, trotted down the stairs and returned to the farm. She enjoyed a light dinner before going straight to bed. The day had been disappointing enough as it was.

Not even when she woke did she have a cutiemark. It could have been that the star just needed time to work, but there was nothing on her flank either when she woke up. She didn’t feel like hooking up with her friends for another letdown search for their talents, but Applejack was insistent around the dinner table that she got out and played with her friends.

The other two were already waiting for her at their clubhouse, sitting on the rug in the middle of the small wooden box and vividly chatting about all the exciting things that they would try today. But Apple Bloom was still down from yesterday’s bad experience and simply sat down between them glumly.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sweetie Belle on her right asked and raised an eyebrow.

“What’s the point, you guys? Every time we do this, it’s the same result,” Apple Bloom said and lay down with her head in her hoofs.

“Yeah, but... for everything we fail at, we get one step closer to our special talent!” Scootaloo on her left said enthusiastically.

“Blllrrgh.” Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue in resigned defeat.

“But Scootaloo’s finally found our talent!” Sweetie Belle said and tried to cheer Apple Bloom up.

“Watching paint dry?” Apple Bloom asked hopelessly, not even bothering to look up.

“What? No. Didn’t you see the shooting star yesterday?” Scootaloo asked a little disgruntled.

“Ah did, and Ah still don’t have mah cutiemark.”

“But Scootaloo saw where the star fell down,” Sweetie Belle said. “We’re going to be astronomers!”

“No, astrologists,” Scootaloo said.

“Astronomers!”

“Astrologists!”

“Astronomers!”

“Astrologists!”

“Can we agree to something?” Apple Bloom asked and cut their argument short. “If this fails, how about we just give this up?”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other in shock, then at Apple Bloom, unsure how to respond with their mouths open like guppies.

“Apple Bloom...” Sweetie Belle started, but didn’t know how to finish.

“Ah’m tired of always getting kicked down doing this,” Apple Bloom said and got up. She went over to the window and gazed up into the sky. She had been doing that a lot lately, simply staring off into nothing in particular. “Ah get the feeling our special talent is not to have any special talents.”

“But if our special talent is not to have a special talent, how would we know that we our special talent is not to have a special talent?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle gave her a confused look for a moment before picking up the conversation.

“You’re just having a bad day,” Sweetie Belle said and came up next to Apple Bloom and put an arm around her.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo said encouragingly and came up on Apple Bloom’s other side. “I guarantee you, this can’t fail. The star fell down just outside Ponyville. If we’re lucky, no other ponies have gone to expect it. Who knows, we might even get a reward for turning it in, if it’s valuable!”

“Sure, why not. It’s not like I have any ideas of my own,” Apple Bloom said with no real enthusiasm and sighed, looking out into the sky that had betrayed her yesterday.

The Cutiemark Crusaders were once more off on another attempt at earning their marks, arguably with less gusto than usual. Apple Bloom was bumming down the whole team and they were all thinking the same. Not having your cutiemark would be okay for another while, but how about a year? Or two years? How much longer could they go on before having to face the fact that they would never get their marks?

But it was as Scootaloo said. Every little thing that they tried was one more thing that they could cross off their list. And if astronomer or astrologer didn’t work out either, they would just have to try something else. The real problem here was all their possibilities. Being as blank as they were, their special talents could be just about anything! Why, it could be glue eating for all they knew.

The grasslands to the north of town were vast and stretched on as far as the eye could see, hemmed in by the mountains somewhere in the distance. Scootaloo had not been able to pinpoint more exactly where they were supposed to start looking. But the day was still young and most of the crusaders were eager in their pursuit. They decided to split up and meet back again in an hour, hoping fervently to get some result in the end.

Apple Bloom had not been convinced, and she still couldn’t see how an extraterrestrial stone would be able to earn them their cutiemarks. And perhaps Scootaloo had been wrong? There were no signs that anything had landed here for miles; no smoke, no craters, no nothing. She went up a large hill from where she could see most of Equestria. Miles and miles of hills and grass and lakes further in the distance and mountains around them. Her two friends were doing the best they could, they actually believed in this ludicrous, self-imposed mission. Not Apple Bloom. She just lay down in the grass and indulged in her depressed thoughts.

“Apple Bloom.”

“Huh?”

Apple Bloom looked around her to see if she could find the source of the voice calling her. She got up again and looked down at her friends, but they were too far away for their voices to be this clear. Instead, Apple Bloom looked around her but could find no one close enough to her to justify what she had heard.

“Apple Bloom, come to me,” the voice said again, more insistent and a bit louder now that it knew that Apple Bloom was listening. She couldn’t tell much about what she heard other than it was definitely a mare.

“Who’s there?” Apple Bloom called out.

“You want your cutiemark, poing?”

“Yeah, but... where are ya? Ah cain’t see ya,” Apple Bloom pointed out and turned around frantically.

“Come and find me, poing poing. We’ll be best of friends... poing,” the voice said and sounded farther away. Apple Bloom was intrigued and started to follow the sound and ran down the slope and nearly slipped in the dew-wet grass.

“Ah don’t understand,” Apple Bloom said and darted purposefully across the meadow. “Who are ya?”

“My name is Poing, poing, and I’m just a lonely soul like you. No one understands me either, poing.”

Apple Bloom constantly adjusted her direction according to where the voice was located, trailing it all over the hilly meadows. She didn’t even understand herself why she was following this incorporeal mare, but perhaps it resonated with the loneliness inside her?

Applejack had never wanted to tell her where their parents where and she had no recollection about them either. She had grown up on the farm with only her sister and brother to play with. The other ponies her age had always teased her for being such a hick. In fact, the only true ponies she had ever considered friends were now Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Well, there had been Twist of course, but the two of them had never really clicked.

Yet, Apple Bloom did have two perfectly good friends. There was no reason for her to being enticed by the voice, yet she followed it obediently. It could be the promise of a cutiemark, or it could be something else...

“Very good, poing, you’re nearly there, poing. Come a little closer.”

The voice was getting clearer now. She still couldn’t see any changes in the landscape however insignificant and she was starting to wonder if this was someone’s idea of a prank. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the hole. What hole, you may ask? Why, the one she didn’t notice of course!

Her hoof trod down in the indentation and sent her whole body careening through the air. Fortunately, she had the soft grass to cushion her fall. Still, she tumbled around for a bit and got up hurting. She hadn’t broken anything, but she was covered in grass and dirt.

“Dumb grass,” she muttered as she returned to see what had made her fall.

Unseen and shielded by the grass, she finally found the fallen star. It did not resemble any rock that she had ever seen or heard of before, but then again, she didn’t have much experience with things from the sky.

It looked like a handle, or perhaps a staff. It was shaped as a small deformed orange hourglass with three spindly fingers grasping a pellucid orb the size of an eyeball in one end. Could this really be it? Or was this just something somepony had chucked away?

“Pick me up, poing,” it said in its alluring voice.

Apple Bloom was wary about complying and she was starting to get an ominous chill down her spine. A cold breeze swept across the grass and rustled her coat and hair, making the otherwise fine day seem much colder.

“Come on, pick me up, poing,” Poing said. “You want to get your cutiemark, don’t you?”

“Will this really do it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Ha ha ha ha, of course, poing! I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Ah don’t know,” Apple Bloom said and tapped her chin in contemplation. The Cutiemark Crusaders had done a lot of strange and reckless things thus far, but nothing as simple as picking up strange objects hidden in the grass.

“I won’t bite,” Poing said. “You and I are going to have so much fun together, poing!”

“But what about mah friends? Ah also want them to get their cutiemarks,” Apple Bloom said.

“Of course, poing! We’re all going to be friends from now on, poing. Oh, but perhaps you and I will be such good friends that you won’t need anyone else... poing.”

Apple Bloom eyed the small thing down in the hole with some suspicion. But what harm could it possibly do? She reached down to grab it but nothing happened. It might have been a trick of her mind, or it might just need some time to work.

At first, it was a warm tingling feeling spreading from the hairs of her arm, then it rapidly engulfed her to the point that she could no longer feel a thing. Her vision faded, her hearing dulled down. She had lost conscience.

***

7 years later, 2020, Royal Equestrian Timeline

Lives are intertwined and fates tangled together. Outsiders and foreigners fight for control while Celestia desperately tries to maintain order. Among the many newcomers arrives a hero through space and time to pick up where others have failed. Though for what purpose he has come will remain to be seen.

Somewhere in the Everfree forest, a light flashed brightly for a moment only to instantly disappear. The remoteness of the woods and the briefness of the glimpse ensured that no one saw what was really happening, for now. A hulking pony shape crouched down from the strain of having jumped between dimensions and took a moment to rest, panting and sweating. He looked up into the sky and saw that it was getting dark. He didn’t know where he was and he would have to find shelter soon. Whatever his job here was, it had to wait until morning. Had it been light when he had accepted his mission? He could not remember.

“Is this it?” he asked, walking out of the bush to a small trail. He was alone, and yet someone was answering him, someone only he could hear.

“This is it.”

His was a deep voice with a slight hint of a foreign accept, possibly German or Scandinavian. The colt who answered had a lighter, more feminine tone to it.

“’Cause you know she would totally screw us over at any given chance,” the deeper voice said.

“You’re too harsh on her. She’s doing her job, we’re doing ours.”

“Speaking of which, have you found “it” yet?”

“No.”

“No?” the deeper voice asked and looked up and down the forest trail. “But if you don’t know where it is, how do we know we’re in the right place?”

“Because I can feel it. It’s definitely here, but beyond that I don’t know. It seems to have been deactivated.”

“How is that possible?” the deeper voice asked irritably.

“Ara, you don’t have to cut that tone with me. Why don’t you worry about finding a place for the night while I search? There should be a town nearby.”

“Very well, one last question then, Lohengrinn.”

“Yes, Maxwell?”

“Why am I a pony?”

***

2013 RET

“Apple Bloom, are you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked and looked down at her friend.

Somehow, Apple Bloom now found herself on her back, not quite sure what had just happened.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Apple Bloom said and got up on her hoofs again.

“Are you sure?” Scootaloo asked and raised an eyebrow. “We heard you scream and found you unconscious.”

“And where did you get that armband?” Sweetie Belle asked.

She couldn’t have been out for long. Her two friends were both here, standing on either side of her. They hadn’t gone for help yet nor had they tried to carry her back to town. She looked down at her right arm and saw that the strange orange object was tightly secured there. It looked like a bangle since it now grasped around her arm with some white substance from end to end. It was neither warm nor cold to the touch, and while it felt like stone it looked like metal.

In a way, she wasn’t surprised to see it. It felt like it was supposed to have happened, as if she had seen it occur in her dreams. It wasn’t completely rounded, since the original hourglass thing had not changed its rigid shape.

“I found it in that hole over there,” Apple Bloom said a little distantly.

“Somepony must have lost it,” Scootaloo said, and then sighed. “Guess we won’t find that star after all.”

“Yeah, we looked everywhere,” Sweetie Belle, putting emphasis on that last word. “Hey, since you found that thing, perhaps you’re a thing finder?”

Apple Bloom looked behind to check her flank, but there still wasn’t a cutiemark. Not as a thing finder, not as an astronomer, nothing.

“Sorry,” Scootaloo said and looked away. “I really thought this was it.”

“That’s okay,” Sweetie Belle said cheering. “I don’t want to go around looking for stars anyway. Let’s just go back to the boutique. Unless Rarity is too busy to sit us again,” she said and rolled her eyes.

That’s right; they were going over to Sweetie Belle’s afterward for a sleepover. They would spend all night coming up with things that they should try their hooves and eat snacks and have a fun time.

“Don’t worry,” Scootaloo said. “I’m sure Rainbow Dash would if Rarity won’t have the time.”

“And how would we get up there?” Sweetie Belle replied. “If Rarity can’t, we’ll just have to ask Fluttershy again.”

“Yeah, and get sent straight to bed,” Scootaloo replied and crossed her arms.

Apple Bloom wasn’t paying attention, though. She was more interested in her new accessory and spaced out watching it, especially how it wouldn’t reflect her image, not even the sun. It was like it was there, touching her skin, yet not there at all.

“Are you coming or what?” Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom looked up slowly.

“Maybe you hit your head?” Scootaloo suggested worriedly. “You know, rolled down the hill and landed on a stone?”

“No, I’m fine,” Apple Bloom said and smiled.

She somehow felt that she couldn’t, that she wouldn’t talk with her friends about this. It was a strange feeling, but she felt insecure about betraying it. She kept up her appearance and followed her two friends back to town. That bracelet would be a secret that she would keep to herself. It would be best if no one knew the full extent of how it had come into her possession. *Poing.*

***

2020 RET

After a while, Maxwell finally emerged from the forest, twigs entangled in his blonde mane and tail. He tried to slick back his hair again but found it hard now that he had hoofs. He was curious to see what he looked like now and was delighted to find a small pond.

The water inside was crystal clear and undisturbed, safe for the small fish swimming around inside. He could see his reflection perfectly from the moonlight.

Maxwell was a big colt, taller than most others as he would soon find out. His coat was brown like clay with darker splotches like mud around his body, his mane was blonde like corn and waved down his back like a sea of straws dancing in the wind and his bushy eyebrows were like silk worms nestled above his eyes.

“Looking good,” he said, to which he was repaid with a chuckle.

“You are gorgeous, hun.”

“Can’t imagine you would look any better,” Maxwell said and grinned down at himself on the water. “I just hope this hasn’t shrunk my pork sword. Where is it by the way? I can see that I’m naked, but where’s my family jewels?”

He wasn’t completely naked. A black backpack, which had accompanied him, had now turned into a pouch by side, wrapped around his belly.

“There they are!” Lohengrinn said laughingly. Maxwell couldn’t see what the voice was alluding to, but when he turned around, he could see that the image of an emerald had been imprinted on his flanks.

“Hello, hello, what do we have here?” he asked. “Is this supposed to be a clan marking or a tramp stamp or what is that?”

“It looks good on you, Maxwell. No matter what shape you take, you’re always handsome.”

He chuckled to himself and looked up. He could not keep staring at himself like that, but who could blame him if he did?

The pond was connected with a little stream that ran across the grass-covered grounds to a small town not too far from where he had emerged. Not feeling like spending the entire night outside in the cold, he began to walk towards the bright lights.

He was quickly getting used to being a pony. He had his usual charms about him and he was as devilishly good-looking as always. The women of this place, if there were any, could only be promising as well. When this job was over, he might have to check it out, just to see what it would be like to do it in a shape like this. Wouldn’t be the strangest thing he had done, stranger less when he was a horse himself.

The transition from nature to city was fluid and a small sidewalk emerged a small way away from the pond. It ran straight towards the town with no interference and cut through the houses where it got cemented and melted into the roads up there.

A blue telephone box had been placed on the road halfway between the pond and the city, in the crossing between grass and pavement. It was a curious sight anywhere, but even more so out here at the backside of this town between the lights and the forest. Maxwell, who was familiar with the concept of telephone boxes, was still puzzled at its placement.

Around it stood four ponies, chattering in agitated voices. They hadn’t noticed Maxwell yet and managed to catch snippets of their conversation.

“But Doctor, how can there be another TARDIS here?” a stallion asked. He had a hunter green coat and well-trimmed, short black hair and wings folded by his side.

“I don’t know, my boy.” An older colt answered him; he with a coat of dark brown like chocolate and thinning, white hair combed back, also a pegasus. Both were standing in front of the blue box, but whereas the young one was surprised and frightened too, the older seemed to be more amused.

“Look, there must be an explanation.” The third pony was a wingless mare with a bright red coat and a sixty’s bobby hairstyle. She was talking to the younger stallion and smiled, trying to calm him down, but it was at this point that they noticed Maxwell coming towards them.

“Grandfather, someone’s coming!” And lastly, a pale yellow pony, the youngest of the group with a head full of scarlet hair, alerted the others to Maxwell’s presence.

“Hmmmm...?” the old pony said and looked up to where the young mare was looking. “Ah, yes, yes. I hardly think we have anything to fear from him. Just another resident of this city, are we not young man?”

Maxwell nodded, not wanting to throw people off this early on his assignment. Best case scenario, he would slip in and no one would ever notice that something had been up. Yet he got the distinctive feeling just from this odd bunch that things were perhaps not quite as they should be.

“I am actually unfamiliar with these parts in fact,” Maxwell said. “Perhaps you can give me some directions?”

“Well, we’re not exactly from around here either,” the older mare said. “We were just admiring this strange thing.”

Maxwell looked up at it. It looked like a normal blue telephone box that you might see in London if you travelled to the sixties. Did ponies even use telephones? He would just have to play along.

“You’re right,” Maxwell said and looked up at, feigning his ignorance and quizzical tone. “Wonder what it does?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” the younger colt said and wet his lips. “It must be a statue commemorating someon... somepony.”

“Perhaps it’s about time that we went back to camp?” the older mare asked and looked around first the younger stallion and then at the older one.

“Oh come now,” the oldest pony said. “Ehehe, we still haven’t explored the area yet. I daresay we might find something interesting, hmmm?”

“It is getting late,” the young mare said. “We can go exploring tomorrow!”

Maxwell passed them again and left them to their discussion. What a curious bunch. He got the strangest sensation that they were not from around here, just like himself. And some of them had wings. Was that commonplace around here?

However, Maxwell had not gotten far before he stumbled into another pony outside at this hour. Stumble might not be the right word to use here, as it was more Maxwell that was discovered than the other way around. A young brown colt with darker brown mane called to him from behind the bush that he was crouching behind.

“Uhm, are they gone yet?” he asked and looked up at Maxwell with his bright blue eyes.

Maxwell looked behind him and saw that the group he had just encountered was slowly filing away. He looked back at the colt and nodded.

“Oh, good. I’d hate to have to explain myself to me... uhm, never mind that,” the pony said and got out from behind the bush to the sidewalk.

“Say, are you from around here?” Maxwell asked and smiled.

“Not exactly no, but I’ve been living here for... well, quite some time now,” the pony explained and looked away with a wrinkled face to recollect memories.

“Then you wouldn’t mind showing me around?” Maxwell asked, throwing an arm around the colt.

“Well actually, I have some things I need to do.”

“Nonsense! The night is still young; there must be plenty of things to do. What do you say we have a drink? You can tell me a little about the town and perhaps what’s bothering you and maybe you can help me?”

“As lovely as that sounds, I really must -”

But there was nothing he could do. Maxwell was already dragging him into the city and laughing boisterously, like they were two old friends just catching up. The stallion was visibly nervous, perhaps because he was nearly half the size of Maxwell.

The town they were entering was like nothing Maxwell had seen in a long time, and the blend of new and old was something unique. The city had roads and sidewalks like so many others, but the houses were made of stone with plaster on the outside and hay for the roofs. Street lights illuminated the darkening city and large monitors were posted on many walls of public places, playing the same news over and over again.

“What a bizarre town,” Maxwell remarked and looked around. As it was getting late, not many ponies were outside.

“Ah, yes... this is Ponyville. You should have seen it when I first arrived. Much more quaint and quiet,” the pony said with some melancholy to his voice.

“Ponyville? Are you kidding me?” Maxwell asked and laughed. “It’s a city inhabited by ponies and called Ponyville! What’s next? Kittentown? Cow City?”

“I take it you’re not from around here either?” the pony asked and looked up at Maxwell.

“Nope. I am Maxwell, Holy Avenger and the Saviour of Lost Souls!” he proudly stated. “And what about you?”

“You can just call me Doctor,” the colt said and smiled.

“Doctor what?”

“Almost right.”

This Ponyville, as he had called it, was a big place full of noise even at this hour, most of it from the many machines around here. There were steam engines with visible gears and many gauges for pumping up water from wells, there were alien factories towering up in the distance that looked like that couldn’t have come from earth and shops where the light was still on had things that went ping.

“Say, is there not a watering hole in this town?” Maxwell asked and looked about curiously, having already passed shoe stores and candy shops and carrousel boutiques.

“Watering hole? Ah, you mean like a bar! Well...” the Doctor said and tapped his chin in contemplation. “I don’t think there is any in Old Ponyville, but I’m sure New Ponyville must have one.”

“Lead the way!”

The part of the city that Doctor had in mind was to be found off the main street and down an alley that seemed less travelled by decent citizens and more by people like Maxwell; ones seeking some new thrill. Hungry eyes watched them from the darkness and strange sounds carried with the winds. The Doctor was visibly nervous by the situation and glanced around quickly from side to side.

“Eh. This was not what I had expected,” he muttered, but Maxwell was in a good mood and felt almost at home.

The alley opened up to a large district of the city where the houses had been placed in some arbitrary fashion, many of them pressed together, others opening up and allowing for a small path to cut through. There was not one identical building among them, and it was a strange mixture of stone, wood and glass.

It would be easy to get lost here, but that might not be such a bad thing. There was plenty to look at and there were food stores and clothing shops and even apartments for sale.

The Doctor wasn’t sure where to go, but that didn’t matter anymore. Like a bloodhound, Maxwell could sniff out a bar from miles away, whether it be the stench of blood, or beer, or shame.

From where the alley ended, half a dozen other roads took over and diverged into multiple arms. Maxwell went down the second on the left, running past doors, garbage bins and the occasional citizen. The Doctor was following close behind, he more out of intrigue and wonder than the prospect of quenching a parched throat. He nearly lost sight of Maxwell when he stopped to admire some curious shop or large building.

But Maxwell wasn’t keen on losing sight of his newest friend and stopped here and there to allow the Doctor to catch up with him. Though they passed many bar-looking establishments along the way, Maxwell kept on going. He had his sights, or rather nose, on something in particular.

He stopped, finally, in front of small purple building with green and orange stained glass windows. It stood at the edge of the small alley with a musical store next to it. A small sign above the swing door simply read “Snap’s.”

The Doctor came up next to him, panting from having to keep up with Maxwell and was delighted to finally stop. They had come to a more rundown part of town where dogs were howling somewhere in the distance and a low mist hung from the heat vents. The houses were close together here and three ponies could just walk side by side.

Maxwell smiled widely. Even at this point, there was a bustle of activity. The shops were closed, but other establishments had just opened. From bars he could hear singing and from the apartments he could hear fighting. Enticingly clad mares winked at him from under streetlights and addicts scuffled about looking for a dealer to satisfy their next fix.

Of all the places Maxwell could have visited, he chose the shabbiest, seediest looking one out of them all. The interior was dimly lit from a grimy overhead lamp and there was little in the way of furniture and space. There was only a counter on the right, some booths on the left and pool table in the middle. The owner, Snap, was a surly-looking and rather ugly unicorn with black coat and curly, grey hair.

There weren’t many other patrons here, just a noticeably tipsy dark purple mare with fruit on her flank and an overweight light purple pegasus with short, messy, brown hair. He burped loudly as Maxwell entered with the Doctor in tow.

“Ah, what a delightful place!” Maxwell exclaimed, completely indifferent to the sombre mood. Well, except for the aforementioned mare who seemed to have a fine time laughing at her own jokes.

“Ah, maybe we should find someplace else?” the Doctor asked, but Maxwell had already parked himself in one of the booths.

“Nimble Snap of Snap’s Tavern, how may I help you?” the barkeeper asked.

“Barkeep, a mug of your finest ale!” Maxwell shouted.

“I got Duff and Duff light,” Nimble Snap replied.

“Duff?” Maxwell asked curiously. “Well, we sure as Hel won’t be having any light stuff.”

“Two mugs of Duff coming up.”

“Now then”, Maxwell said and turned his attention towards the Doctor, “Perhaps you would like to explain to me why you were hiding from those ponies?”

“It’s a long story,” the Doctor said and took a seat opposite Maxwell.

“Family?”

“I guess you can say that,” he replied and smiled sheepishly. “What about you? Why were you coming out of the forest?”

Maxwell leaned across the table and accepted the two foaming mugs that the black pony handed them.

“I’m looking for a dangerous artefact that has popped up here in the land. It looks sort of like an orange hourglass with a white ball at the end. You wouldn’t have seen it by any chance?”

“Can’t say that I have.” The Doctor took the beer to his mouth and sipped. Maxwell grinned broadly at him. “What?”

“That’s not how you drink a beer, lad,” Maxwell said and took the mug and nearly downed it all in three gulps. He wiped the foam from his mouth as soon as he was done. The Doctor tried to emulate him and nearly choked on it, prompting Maxwell to laugh wildly.

The addition of beer served to grease their vocal cords and open up subjects that neither of them would ordinarily have talked with anyone else about. Especially the Doctor was starting to get slurry and though reluctant at first, now started blabbering about the subject that had brought these two unlikely ponies together.

“You know... you know who that old pony was?” the Doctor asked.

“No?”

“Me!”

“Get out of here! How is that possible? I mean, that old geezer looked nothing like you.”

The barkeeper came back over to their table with a sixth refill and took their empty mugs away again. Maxwell, who had not gotten used to grab around things like other ponies, had hitherto been content with dunking his head into the drink. Now that he had gotten a little under his vest, he was finally ready to try. With the following result that the mug slipped and crashed on the table so that its content spilled all over the table. Both of them snorted with laughter and the Doctor nearly choked.

He coughed violently which quickly turned back into laughter. “I’m a Time Lord,” he finally managed to say. “Gosh, I can’t even remember having visited this place when I was younger. Time sure is a fickle thing.”

“A Time Lord?” Maxwell asked blearily. “Any relations with the Devil?”

“What? No!”

“Oh good,” Maxwell said and pressed his face against the table so that he could suck up the spilt beer, not caring about the shards of glass piercing his face. He looked up again, his face cut and bleeding. He simply brushed the pieces of glass away and his wounds seemed to close all at once. It was hard to tell with the blood and the diminutive size of the wounds. Not to mention the Doctor was getting rather inebriated.

“Hey... how come you didn’t want to see them?” Maxwell asked and rested his head against the table again and slobbered up the beer like a lazy dog.

“Didn’t you see them? Their camouflage was bloody terrible. That green shade was just sickly and the red was too bright,” he said and hiccupped. “I can’t believe I would have allowed my companions to choose such terrible colours.”

Before they could ask for another round, they had both passed out in the booth. They slept for the next few hours, perhaps even more, since daylight would not shine through such dirty windows.

***

2020 RET, slightly later that day

“GOOD MORNING CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA. ‘TIS WE, YOUR BELOVED PRINCESS LUNA AND WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE FOURTH WALL BREACH SEVEN YEARS AGO HAS BEEN RESOLVED, ALTHOUGH YOU MAY STILL EXPERIENCE SLIGHT OOC TENDENCIES. THIS IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT AND SHOULD QUICKLY PASS. IF YOU ENCOUNTER ANY FOREIGNERS, REPORT THEM TO OUR STAFF IMMEDIATELY. HAVE A NICE DAY, EVERYPONY.”

Maxwell was the first to wake and smacked his lips dully. He looked around to see what had disturbed his slumber and noticed that Nimble Snap had turned the TV on loudly. He just barely caught of a glimpse of a blue mare with wings and a horn, before the broadcast ended. Disoriented, he looked about him and saw the Doctor was still asleep and snored loudly in a little pool of his own drool.

“Oh yeah... still a pony,” he said and looked at his hooves.

A young mare entered the tavern just at the moment, and she had roughly the same colours as the older mare sitting by the bar.

“Mom, we’re going home,” she said and tried to get the older mare up on her hoofs.

“Whazzat?” the older mare said, still tiddly from last night.

The younger one rolled her eyes and used her horn to levitate her mother up in a standing position. Berry then leaned up against her daughter for support.

“Ola chica,” Maxwell said and flexed his eyebrows. “What say you and I go find an alley and play some sweet music?”

The younger one blushed and looked away while the older one was interested. She looked at Maxwell with a lecherous grin before the younger one dragged her out.

“Heh, heh, heh! Still got it,” Maxwell said.

Without warning, clarity returned to him and the effect of the liquor from yesterday disappeared. Surprised, Maxwell looked up.

“And I’m sober again. What’s going on?” he asked, but neither the barkeeper nor the Doctor answered him.

“I just found the artefact,” Lohengrinn said. “There’s something off, though. I can’t tell you what, but it seems to have reacted to the transmission.”

“And I was just about to have some fun. Oh well, work calls.”

Maxwell stepped down from the booth and went for the door when the barkeeper stopped him.

“Hey, hey, who’s supposed to pay for the beer and the broken glass?” he asked and looked at Maxwell with his troglodyte face.

“Put it on that guy’s tab. I heard he wanted to pay for both of us,” Maxwell said with a grin, alluding to the still sleeping Doctor.

***

2013 RET

“All right, Cutiemark Crusaders, what will our next objective be?” Sweetie Belle asked and took some candy from the bowl.

“Uhm,” Scootaloo said and tapped her chin in thought. “I already thought of astronomy today, so don’t look at me.”

“Perhaps we could a start a fire?” Apple Bloom suggested and gazed at her new bracelet.

The other two looked at her suspiciously.

They had gone back to Rarity’s Boutique. It was night, and the three fillies were huddled together under a blanket in Sweetie Belle’s room. That was their secret hideout for tonight and Rarity had supplied them with a little glass bowl filled with sweets. They had quickly begun to discuss how to acquire their cutiemarks, but Apple Bloom had been acting strangely all night.

“I’ve always wanted to be a firepony!” Scootaloo said. “Until I found out they put out the fires.”

“Listen guys, our special talent is not starting fires,” Sweetie Belle said and stared hard at her friends.

“And how do you know?” Apple Bloom asked calmly, in a tone quite uncommon to her.

“Well...” Sweetie Belle started, unsure how to finish. “What would a fire starter cutiemark even look like? And what good could we possibly use that talent for?”

Apple Bloom smiled creepily and both the girls folded their ears back in stark surprise. “Who says we have to do good?”

***

2020 RET

“What a ghastly canyon,” Maxwell said and looked down from the cliff top he was perched on. “Are you sure it’s down there?”

“It’s a gorge, sweetie, and yes, I am,” Lohengrinn’s silken voice said.

Maxwell trod carefully down the side of the rock; pebble and other objects coming loose at his touch and tumbling down ahead of him.

The ravine was placed deep in a forest with trees on both sides and steep walls that would be impossible to climb. Any attempts at doing so would result in a broken neck. A small river ran in the bottom, but nothing seemed to be growing down here. It was just a long stretch of barren land, a deep trench cleft into the soil by some unknown power a long time ago.

Once safely at the bottom, Maxwell looked around. “Any idea where I should begin to look?” he asked.

“I lost the signal again, but it ought to be somewhere in the middle.”

“Great. It’s not like this eerie, dangerous, monster-filled canyon stretches on forever or anything.”

“Gorge, sweetie, it’s a gorge.”

It was a long walk through dangerous terrain. The first stretch was deceptively easy and filled Maxwell with a traitorous sense of security. The only sound down here was the babbling river as it snaked from the mountains behind him through the gorge, like a wet little companion. Maxwell had plenty of friends however and the river’s inability to shut up began to grate his nerves.

He decided to use this long walk to test out his newfound equine form. He galloped and he trod and he frolicked, whipping his mane and tail every which way. The lack of anything happening made him lose sense of his surroundings and Maxwell could enjoy his newfound state for a while. He could hear a faint giggle in his ears and knew that Lohengrinn was enjoying the situation as well. But as with all things, his carefree stroll had to come to an end.

Right in the middle of the gorge was a large pile of rocks blocking the way. A tunnel had been carved right through it, but it gave him a foreboding feel of dread. He could feel a strong wind whistling through the debris, throwing with it smalls rocks and sand that made his eyes sting.

He stopped up and looked inside. The cave was too long for him to see the other end and he had absolutely no idea how long this cave would be.

“Is this where it is?” Maxwell asked hopefully.

“No. It’s hard to ascertain, but I would estimate it to be beyond.”

“Oh joy. There isn’t a way around?”

“Do you see one?”

Indeed he did not, and Maxwell did search very carefully, very briefly, for a route that would bypass the cave.

It didn’t take long before it got too dark to see a hoof around him. There were no signs of progress and soon even the entrance was gone from his view. All the while, the wind only picked up and halted him further. He could not tell if he had walked for miles or metres. The river was still here, but fortunately inaudible over the harsh breeze.

“You know, I get the feeling I’m not alone in here,” Maxwell said after a while.

“Of course you aren’t! I’ll always be with you, sweetie,” Lohengrinn replied teasingly.

“No I mean... I think there’s something in here with us, something physical.”

It was an odd premonition. It had started out as nothing more than a chill down his back, but it only picked up from there. When he looked around him, he always thought he saw something just outside his field of view. The crunching of bone under his feet didn’t help either. Whether bones from animals or ponies, he could not tell, but the effect was terrifying. Our fearless adventurer pressed on nevertheless.

Nothing would deter him from his quest. He had a mission to accomplish, and by gum he would do it. Such bad feelings were nothing more than superstition, rising from man’s fear of the unseen and the unknown.

He seemed to have walked forever when the exit suddenly flashed before him, like a little beacon of light in the distance. It was nothing more than a dot on the horizon, but seeing the end to this horrid cave urged him to pick up his speed. But... there were two of them now. Two little flashes of light, and not in the distance. They towered up before him and an indistinguishable stench of death followed it. He had walked right into the lair of some unknown beast.

He stopped up to see where this was going. He could see nothing but its eyes, but judging from their position, he was dealing with something big.

Sniff, sniff.

The beast had picked up a familiar scent of fresh pony prey. Although its eyes had gone milky white from disuse, its sense of smell had long since taken over. Since the wind was not in its favour, it had trouble picking up the scent trail, but Maxwell had quite literally stepped in it this time. The beast gave out a terrifying roar that sounded as it came from the bowels of Hell itself and not a living creature.

“Ha-ha, foul beast, what an unlucky day it is for you! I, Maxwell the Holy Avenger, the murderer of monsters and conqueror of creatures will put an end to you today! I, uh... huh?”

Maxwell reached into his backpack only to realise that there was something vital missing. He usually carried a sword around with him which seemed to be strangely absent right now. The large beast, now convinced that there was prey before it, swished out with its paw. Luckily it missed Maxwell, but only because he had started his withdrawing already.

He was plenty proficient with any number of weapons and even hand-to-hand fighting. Only problem was that he wasn’t in possession of either weapons or hands. Dying always hurt, so rather than risk a painful death, he now chose a tactical retreat. The wind proved an ally now that he was running with it and it practically took him and blew him out of the cave. Thus, the return trip was cut short to mere minutes and Maxwell landed on his face on the ground outside.

The savage beast followed him outside, but its sensitive eyes could not handle the sun. It snarled angrily and retreated back into the cave. Before disappearing, however, Maxwell earned a short glimpse of whatever hellspawn he had encountered. Although it initially looked like a lion with a red mane, it had wings like a bat and tail like a scorpion.

“Thundering Thunor, what in Hel is that thing?” Maxwell asked.

“I believe it’s a manticore,” Lohengrinn replied, seemingly undisturbed by the monstrosity.

“Never mind that,” Maxwell said and got up on his hooves. “More importantly, what did you do with my sword? Don’t tell me we forgot it?”

“You’ve been here a whole day and you haven’t noticed until now?” the voice said incredulously.

“That’s hardly fair,” Maxwell said defensively. “I came here at night, so it’s only been half a day.”

“You can’t hold it probably and I don’t want you to lose it. It wouldn’t be a problem ordinarily, but we should exercise caution with this enemy.”

“I see.” Maxwell looked down at the ground, thinking. He looked at the cave again, his face wrinkled with the effort of thinking. “Very well, but how do you propose I get past that thing then?”

“You could always try sneaking?”

***

2020 RET, same time, slightly farther away

A young, yellow mare sat atop her throne made from darkest mahogany wood padded with red fabric. She was a tall beautiful earth pony and had long red hair with a bow attached to her neck. Her eyes drooped and her head was perched on her hoof, staring off into the distance.

There was a little camp in the middle of the gorge where ponies were gathering for some unknown objective. A platform had been constructed from wood and towered over them, and this is where we presently find Apple Bloom. As in, the same time as Maxwell and not seven years earlier. Many ponies milled around here, tending to campfires, cooking, chatting and otherwise enjoying themselves. Apple Bloom, on the other hand, was not enjoying herself and sat on her throne. She sighed, wishing that the preparations would go along faster.

A tall, orange robot resembling Scootaloo walked up the stairs behind the platform and came up next to the throne. A smaller, white and blue robot followed behind. This was supposedly Sweetie Belle, but there was little left of her appearance to indicate this. Her body had been reduced to a metallic cylinder with two legs in front and her mulberry tail acting as a third leg at the end. Her head was just a small dome with a horn sticking out.

“Master Apple Bloom, Master Apple Bloom,” the orange robot said and walked stiffly towards the throne.

“Yes, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked in a disinterested voice.

“Well, an intruder has been spotted in the gorge,” Scootaloo said.

“So? Have the manticore deal with it,” Apple Bloom said affronted. “I don’t have to tell you to do everything, do I?”

Sweetie Belle made some more beeping noises. “It’s as Sweetie Belle says, the manticore has already torn the intruder to pieces. We were merely wondering if you wanted to know more. Perhaps find out if he was alone or was sent by someone?”

“Don’t bother,” Apple Bloom said and waved her hoof in the air. Her eyes caught the bracelet and she gazed at it intently. “I don’t care what the mane five is up to. They will not ruin my plans again, not when they are missing a key party member.”

Scootaloo bowed and retreated again with Sweetie Belle.

“I think we’ve gathered enough here,” Apple Bloom said, her eyes still fixed on her bracelet and her words directed to no one in particular. “It’s time that we left for my new headquarters.”

“As you wish, poing.”

Apple Bloom smiled, too brief for any of the ponies beneath her to catch it. They didn’t dare look into her eyes, knowing how changeable she was these days.

***

2020 RET, same time and back again

Maxwell’s attempt at sneaking, as one might have guessed, did not end well. Unable to see where the beast was, Maxwell mistakenly stepped on its scorpion tail. The manticore sprung to life and slashed at our hero with its claw and despite given it his best, Maxwell was not a pony at heart and completely incapable of defending himself. He circled the monster in hopes of avoiding it and then go for the cave exit, but the tail wound around his legs and tripped him.

Even knowing the danger, Maxwell smiled to the last. He was a pony that knew no fear and braved all dangers. The manticore was coming up on him from behind, so he retaliated by kicked his hind legs as hard as he could, only hitting its deep red mane. The beast sunk its teeth deep into Maxwell’s back flesh and he ceased moving.

The manticore now had time to leisurely kill him, tearing off pieces of him as it slowly feasted and gnawed on his bones. It disappeared inexplicably in a cloud of smoke that hovered for a moment under the ceiling before twirling towards an unseen pony, drawn towards her bracelet.

How long Maxwell lay there in the dark cave, we’ll never know. When the second mysterious visitor appeared, however, Maxwell had long stopped bleeding and the frayed ends of his limbs had gotten oddly smooth. The silhouette of a unicorn grabbed the front end of Maxwell, while an earth pony companion grabbed the lower end.

***

2020 RET, earlier that day, checking back in with the Doctor

“Muh,” the Doctor grunted and raised his head.

He had never felt this horrendous before, not as a pony or as a human. He tried to remember what he was even doing here in this rundown bar when he remembered that massive, mud-coloured pony he met yesterday. He was now alone in here, as it was too early for any new visitors and too late for anyone else to have stayed. He got back down on his hoofs and swayed towards the door, his head groggy from last night’s drinking, when he heard the cocking of a shotgun behind him.

“Hey, HEY, where do you think you’re going?” the barkeeper asked and pointed his gun at the Doctor.

“I-I’m going home,” he replied nervously.

“Not without paying your bill you’re not. Your friend is already gone so that leaves just you.”

The Doctor wasn’t too intimidated by this threat. Seeing as how the barkeeper was hoofed, like all other ponies, it was doubtful that he could pull the trigger. Still, the Doctor had left his sonic screwdriver and much of his courage back at the TARDIS. That was also the reason he had been so eager to get away from Maxwell yesterday and into his telephone box.

“I have a few bits on me,” the Doctor said. “How much are we talking about?”

“Fifty.”

“Fifty bits?!”

“Fifty bits for twelve mugs of beer and the broken glass.”

The Doctor had at max gotten a single or two refills in addition to his first glass. That meant his friend had drunk around ten tall mugs of frothing beer. Blimey! It was not as much impressive as it was downright disturbing. Long after the Doctor had passed out, Maxwell had continued to drink and who knows what else.

“I don’t have fifty bits on me! I doubt anyone would have,” the Doctor said.

“Then we have a problem,” the barkeeper said, his voice resolute and confirming that there would be no squirming out of this one.

“DOOOOOOOOOOOOOCTOOOOOOOOOOOOR!”

That loud voice was unmistakable. But she couldn’t possible have located him here of all places, could she?

Derpy crashed through the swing door and tumbled inside, slid across the floor and came to a halt right before slamming into the opposite wall. She quickly darted to the Doctor’s side and embraced him with a big smile. He looked down at her, repaying the smile awkwardly.

“Hello, Derpy. I’m not even going to bother with asking how you find me, since you always seem to do that.”

“Where were you all night?” she asked and looked up at him worriedly with a cross-eyed stare.

“I uh, heh,” he said and looked upwards to find something to say. “I made a new friend, let’s leave it at that. Derpy, I’m afraid I’m in a bit of a spot right now.”

“Yeah, you’re damn right you’re in a spot,” Nimble Snap said. “I don’t work for free here, you know, so cough up.”

“How much?” Derpy asked.

“Fifty bits,” the barkeeper said.

“Why don’t I pay that?” a new voice said with a Russian accent.

Having been so taken with Derpy’s entrance, none of the two inside had noticed an elderly unicorn walking in after her. Oddly, he walked on his hind legs like a hunchbacked human and dressed in a long white lab coat with a light blue shirt underneath, dark blue jeans and an orange tie. His coat was dark, almost black but lighter than the barkeeper’s. He had almost no hair left on his balding crown and only a ring of grey remained just above his ears. His short withered tail that just poked out beneath the coat had once been blonde like corn but had long since become grey like the hair on his head.

From his pockets, the old unicorn took a small leather pouch with nice clanky bits of loose change. He walked, crouched almost all the way down to the floor, but still walking rather quickly. The barkeeper accepted the money and the old unicorn led the Doctor and Derpy outside.

“Allons-y!” the Doctor said to the barkeeper who curiously opened the leather pouch and indeed found all of the bits needed inside.

It was morning outside and the Sun beamed down from a cloudless sky and cast the neighbourhood in a quite different light from yesterday. The Doctor placed a hoof on his brow to shield his eyes. The old unicorn stood with his hoofs behind his back, leering at the Doctor with a mouth missing many of its teeth.

“Phew, you really saved me there,” the Doctor said, standing just beneath the windows of the bar. “Who are you? I can’t remember seeing you before?”

“My name is Doctor B.” the old unicorn said and took a strange black box from his pocket into his left hoof. It had a big red button on it and an antenna with a lot of coils around it at end.

Doctor B. pressed a large red button, the only button, on the device and was surrounded by a field of electricity. Only the Doctor was smart enough to take a step back whereas Derpy simply stood nailed to the spot, her face scrunchy and her hair standing up shocked. She didn’t appear to be notice however and simply looked to the sides.

“What, what, what was that?” the Doctor asked.

“The pony you met yesterday, where can I find him?” Doctor B. asked, avoiding the Doctor’s question.

“Oh Maxwell? I don’t know. He just left me there with the bill.”

“Maxwell... he did happen to tell you where he was going?”

The Doctor shook his head and Derpy rubbed herself affectionately up against him. The old unicorn nodded and walked off with his strange, crouched gait.

Chapter 2: The One Where The Plot Thickens

View Online

Death is like an empty space, feel no thoughts of fear
The future cries as Mother Nature sheds a tear
The world becomes a prisoner, a victim of its crime
The pony race is now a race against time

CHAPTER 2: THE ONE WHERE THE PLOT THICKENS

2013, Royal Equestrian Timeline

“Apple Bloom, I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Sweetie Belle said worriedly.

“Yeah, I mean, even as a prank, this is going too far,” Scootaloo added anxiously.

But Apple Bloom wasn’t listening, or perhaps she didn’t answer because she held a can of petrol in her mouth. She was backing up across the floor, dragging a line of flammable liquid after her. Round and round she went with her two friends nervously following her, looking around them, afraid of every little noise they heard.

When she was satisfied, she finally spat out the red can. Excess petrol slowly gurgled out and pooled around the can.

It was the wee hours of morning and no one was inside the bowling hall. Lanes and floor and walls had been coated and the fumes were getting rather intense. Scootaloo shook her legs as she accidently stepped in some of the petrol, making gag reflexes at the stench.

“You’ve done good, Apple Bloom. Now burn it... burn it all, poing!”

It was only yesterday that Apple Bloom had found the bracelet around her right arm. Though she couldn’t see it in the darkness, she still looked at it and smiled wickedly. Ever since she had equipped it, a spirit had begun talking to her, planting ideas in her head. She loved to hear the disembodied voice, talking to her in that sweet female voice. She wasn’t condescending like Applejack and Big Mac and she treated Apple Bloom like the big mare she was.

“Apple Bloom, can’t we just go home? Please?” Scootaloo asked, getting more and more eager to just abandon this whole thing.

“Don’tcha want yer cutiemarks, girls?” Apple Bloom asked and looked up at them, still grinning like an undertaker.

“The grownups will be so mad at us,” Sweetie Belle said and got an increasingly pleading tone to her voice. “I don’t want a cutiemark like this.”

“Pfft. Babies,” Apple Bloom said and rolled her eyes. Unconsciously, she dragged her left hoof over the bracelet and polished it with her coat, like someone would scratch an itch and barely register it. “Come on, we don’t want to be caught in the fire.”

The three fillies hastily moved towards the door, at least two of them happy that this would be over soon. Once they got to the glass door entrance, Apple Bloom turned toward Sweetie Belle.

“Now all we need is a spark,” Apple Bloom said nonchalantly, like asking for money.

“Forget it. Every time I try and use a spell, something’s catching on f...” Sweetie Belle looked up at her friend with horror in her suddenly big eyes. “I don’t want to start the fire! This was your idea.”

“Well how else do ya wanna start it? We don’t have hands, so lighters and matches are out,” Apple Bloom answered and grabbed the white unicorn, shaking her violently in the progress.

“Guys,” Scootaloo said and looked behind her, but Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were too busy arguing.

“What do you want with hands?” Sweetie Belle asked and slapped Apple Bloom’s hooves away from her shoulders. “You’ve been acting very strange since yesterday. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Perhaps Ah’m not all right, but that would be because mah best friends are a chicken and a dictionary!” Apple Bloom retorted and shoved her face angrily up against Sweetie Belle.

“Guys, seriously,” Scootaloo said loudly. “I think someone’s coming.”

They stopped their quarrelling, for now. Such heated exchange of minds would have to wait to another point in time where a shape wasn’t forming in the early morning light on the glass doors to their privacy. Apple Bloom flushed with rage, but rather than acting out on it, she fled. The shadow forming in the hall from whoever was visiting the bowling hall this early was getting bigger, but the chance of successful escape hadn’t run out yet.

Neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle wanted to be caught in a petroleum soaked bowling hall either and they too vamoosed right behind Apple Bloom.

The unicorn barely even noticed the fillies fleeing from the scene. She would discover the mess left behind, but unable to properly describe the ponies she had seen escaping, the case would go cold.

***

2020, Royal Equestrian Time

“Are you awake, are you, are you, huh? I know you’re awake, darling, I just saw you blink so you have to be awake!”

That energetic tone was not exactly the first thing Maxwell wanted to hear right after having died. This ache in the bones, every fibre and nerve alive with prickling pain, it could only mean that he had recently regrown his limbs and most of his body. He hadn’t been this sorely beaten in a while.

“Rarity! Stop badgering our guest.”

Another female voice. Well, it seemed that Maxwell had no business snoozing here when the fairer sex demanded his attention. He opened his eyes with a smile and saw two unicorns by his bedside, both of them young adults.

The room was a large wooden circle, like the bottom of a carved tree. There were a few other beds down here, but his was the only one occupied. The room was otherwise empty save for a few chests by the foot ends.

The cheery unicorn that had woken him, this Rarity, was bluish white with dark blue hair and a red stripe running through it. Her cutiemark was three solid, blue gems and she had a bright smile on her face, tiptoeing across the floor and giggling.

The other one was less amused however and looked like a kindergarten teacher who had been doing her job for too long. Her coat was light pink, her hair almost completely white save for a broad purple streak. Her cutiemark was six purple stars, spread out on each flank. She stood next to Maxwell’s bedside and looked down at him with tired eyes.

“We meet again, Maxwell,” the unicorn said in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Again?” he replied curiously. “Look babe, I remember all my scores. I know you want to impress your girls by saying you’ve tried the Max, but -”

“Dammit Maxwell, this is no time to be goofing off!” Stars said and slammed her right hoof loudly into the floor. “What are you doing here? I told you to come to Ponyville BEFORE all this happened!”

Maxwell simply frowned up at Stars and stark horror washed over her face.

“Oh no... oh no, no, no, no, no!” Stars said and paced around frantically. Rarity thought it was game and bounced after her until Stars stopped up abruptly and knocked Rarity to the floor. “You really don’t know who am I?” Stars asked frantically and jerked her head back towards Maxwell.

“Sorry, love, I’m new in town, you see,” Maxwell said and got out of bed, turning on his most charming smile. “But what do you say we get acquainted, you and I? Your friend over there can join us too if you like.”

“Ooh, I love making new friends!” Rarity said and jumped up and down ecstatically. Her horn glowed and various streamers and balloons popped out and filled the room.

“NO!” Stars said and glared at Rarity. “You, up to the others, serious business!”

“Okey dokey lokey,” Rarity said and skipped up the stairs that ran along the edge towards the door.

Stars gave a weary sigh and sat down on the bed next to Maxwell’s. She took a moment to compose herself, breathed in heavily and then continued her conversation. Maxwell was now sitting as well on his bed opposite her.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and I will keep this as brief as possible. I know how short your attention span is.”

“I wonder if you ponies have mammaries,” Maxwell said and stroked his chin, looking interestedly up and down Twilight’s exposed belly.

“Concentrate when I talk to you!” Twilight said, just angrily enough to make Maxwell sit up straight and look at her properly. “I contacted you not long ago since this whole problem is due to something from your universe.” She put an accusing tone into the last two words. “I told you very specifically to come here in 2013 and prevent this situation from ever happening, yet, here you are now.”

“You probably talked to me in the future,” Maxwell said casually. “I’ve lived for a long time you see. What’s so wrong with this universe anyway? Seems pretty sweet to me, apart from all the ponies.”

“What’s wrong with it?!” Twilight asked and her voice climbed again, as did her arms flailing about her. “Everything is wrong with this universe! People and buildings from all manners of universes are making not just Ponyville, but all of Equestria their playground!”

“Calm down, babe. Tell Maxwell your story, from the start,” he said, his gaze slowly wandering across her body.

Twilight glared at him, her horn glowing faintly. Maxwell’s bushy eyebrows responded by spontaneously catching on fire. He quickly clapped his eyes, but Twilight carried on unfazed.

“Seven years ago, a young filly named Apple Bloom found an artefact from your world. It changed her. She became menacing, violent even. We tried to stop her, but she lashed out at us. She decided to change the world at her own whim, and the artefact allowed her to do so. She pulled things, small objects at first, into our world, but she wasn’t satisfied. She took larger and larger objects; tools, machines, even houses and factories and lastly people as well... Maxwell, are you still paying attention?”

“Wha- huh? Yeah sure,” he replied and scratched his ears. “Young girl finds powerful artefact, it changes her and she abuses its power.”

Twilight cleared her throat and moved on, the next part closer to her and she spoke with more feeling and less recital.

“Celestia tried to stop her, so Apple Bloom decided this world would be better without her.”

“Celestia?” Maxwell asked. Twilight did not look happy at being interrupted, but she knew that Maxwell was an outsider and unaccustomed to their history and ways.

“The princess of Equestria, the land you’re currently in. She has powerful magic at her disposal and she controls the raising and setting of the Sun. Where was I?”

“Celestia tried to stop Apple Bloom,” a soft third voice said.

Twilight was so focused on telling her story that she didn’t realise the voice didn’t belong to Maxwell.

“Ah yes,” Twilight said and continued. “Not even Celestia could stop Apple Bloom, so she asked us to help her by using the Elements of Harmony... a powerful magical tool,” Twilight interjected sharply. Maxwell raised his hoofs in defence, not even daring to ask who “us” was. “But there was nothing we could do. We had allowed Apple Bloom to become too powerful, and just as we faced our demise, Pinkie...”

Twilight looked like she was about to cry. She bit her lip and looked away, taking a moment to wipe her eyes.

“Pinkie Pie took control of the elements somehow. She sacrificed herself for us and exploded, sending Apple Bloom into a rift in time and space. A disaster had been prevented, but we had lost a good friend... well, not lost in the strictest terms. You see, Pinkie is still with us. We absorbed her.”

There was silence for a moment, and Maxwell simply stared at Twilight, neither of them moving a muscle. Finally, Maxwell leaned closer.

“That is without a doubt the single most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard,” he said. One would think Twilight to get mad or fly off the handle, but she had a serene look in her eyes as she stared back at Maxwell.

“Your future self said the exact same thing,” she said. She closed her eyes and then hardened her face again. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. You’re here, right now, and none of us can explain why. Before you tell me your end of the story, I think I had better introduce you to the rest. They are no doubt anxious to hear how you will resolve this.”

***

2013 RET

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stopped breathlessly. They had been running as fast as their little legs could carry them from the bowling hall, and they only halted now because they could run no longer. They collapsed at the foot of a galloping stone mare in the square around town hall.

“Scootaloo... I think... something’s wrong... with Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said between pants and leaned back. It was early, early morning and no one was out and about. Well, except for the pony that had interrupted them at the bowling hall. It was also cold and the two fillies shivered slightly.

“You don’t say,” Scootaloo remarked and fell flat on the ground. “Ever since we went searching for that star, she’s been acting so weird.”

Sweetie Belle gasped, and then said: “You don’t think she found the star and got her cutiemark?”

“Did you see a cutiemark on her flank?” Scootaloo retorted.

“Well, no... but what if she’s just trying to hide her mark from us? She might be afraid that we’ll get jealous?” Sweetie Belle said optimistically.

Scootaloo simply rolled with her eyes, a feat that went unnoticed in the dim morning light. “Yeah, she’s trying to hide her mark from us by burning the bowling hall.”

“It was just a suggestion,” Sweetie Belle said and pouted.

Neither of them said anything for a while, instead allowing strength to return to the limbs.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“What?”

“What do we tell Rarity when she notices that Apple Bloom is missing?”

***

2020 RET

“What is this, a convention of circus freaks?” Maxwell asked cheerfully and looked around the room.

It appeared to be a library and the initial assumption that he had been placed in a hollowed tree became apparent. Most of the wall space had been dedicated to the storage of books with only a window here and there, a door and further stairs upwards.

Four other ponies where gathered here, one of which Maxwell had already met. Rarity was sitting in a corner and humming to herself, rocking back and forth to the internal melody.

“I told you,” Twilight said and stepped into the room. “We’re not quite ourselves anymore. We don’t even look like ourselves.”

“You look like your mother!” Rarity commented, finding that fact so hilarious that she fell backwards, snorting with laughter.

“Yes, we’ve established that four hundred times by now, Rarity,” Twilight said irritably.

The middle of the floor had a nice purple rug, and Maxwell was surprised to feel the softness of it. His hooves didn’t look that hard but he could easily gallop across even hard terrain without injuring himself, yet also feel the texture of this little carpet thing.

“Maxwell! I swear, you’re worse than Pinkie!” Twilight blurted out and then quickly looked away. She cleared her throat and then began her introduction. “Maxwell, I want you to meet the current wielders of the Elements of Harmony. Applejack over there is the element of honesty and gained Pinkie’s resilience and cartoonish immortality.”

“Well howdy Maxwell!” a gamboge earth pony said. She had corn blonde hair tied with red hair bands and had three apples as a cutiemark. She sat underneath a window opposite the cellar door, stretching her neck more than physically possible to check what was going on outside.

“Fluttershy, who gained Pinkie’s insatiable appetite, is the element of kindness.”

“Uhm... h-hello,” an overweight yellow earth pony said and looked away bashfully. She had light purple hair and three purple flowers on her bulky haunches. She lay on a large bed of red pillows next to Applejack, her gut oozing out and spilling over the pillows.

“Rainbow Dash up there is the element of loyalty and got her unstoppable energy.”

“I haven’t slept in seven years!” a light purple pegasus said. She had blue hair and two bolts of lightning in the colour of her hair as her cutiemark. Round and round she flew under the library ceiling. It was really dizzying to look at, so Maxwell pried his eyes away from the hypnotic sight.

“Rarity, the element of generosity, got her bubbly personality as you can tell.”

Rarity looked up at the mention of her name, but quickly lost interest in favour of watching Rainbow Dash spinning right round like a record.

“Very well, but what about you then?” Maxwell pointed out as Twilight had not yet explained her own powers.

“I am the element of magic and I got her power to be anywhere at any time,” Twilight said gravely and looked at Maxwell with hard, serious eyes. “I have travelled to universes the likes of which you couldn’t imagine, counselled with the greatest of minds about this situation and I have searched the tiniest crevices for hints, but I have turned up nothing. Believe me, Maxwell, when I say that you are our only hope.”

“Please, Mr Maxwell, Ah beg of ya... Apple Bloom is mah little sister. Please, save her,” Applejack said with pleading eyes.

He could feel the eyes of the others staring at him, all of them weary from their distress and hopeful at his arrival. He hated to disappoint them, but he sighed and spoke.

“The only way to get that artefact off of Apple Bloom would be to...”

But Maxwell wasn’t allowed to continue. A white unicorn suddenly materialised in the middle of the library, making them all take a step back. He was of slender built, like Luna, but his coat was like newly fallen snow and his blonde hair shone like the Sun and held back with a red hair band. He had a self-satisfied smile on his lips and stood like a photo model in front of cameras. There were no cameras, of course, only very puzzled eyes looking at him.

“Nya, Maxwell, don’t begin talking about things you don’t know about,” the unicorn said playfully and flicked his hoof.

“Lohengrinn, I was only going tell them that we would have to...”

“Shh,” Lohengrinn said and put a hoof up to Maxwell’s lips, then looked around him and saw that they were all staring at him. “I know I’m fabulous, darlings. You can look all you want, I don’t mind! I almost envy you that you can view my splendour.”

“What in tarnation is going on here?” Applejack asked very puzzled and a little frightened as well.

Lohengrinn turned his delicate head towards the earth pony and smiled sweetly.

“I am Lohengrinn,” he said with his silken voice and bowed slightly. “I will be explaining this situation to you, since neither Maxwell nor you have any idea what’s really happening.”

“We know exactly what’s going on,” Rainbow Dash said from up above. Lohengrinn craned his elegant neck and looked up at the blue pegasus. “Apple Bloom tried to get her cutiemark with catastrophic results.”

“Hmm-hmm, that’s certainly a way to put it,” Lohengrinn said and nodded his head. “But none of you know the powers she’s dealing with.”

“Ooh, ooh, I know!” Rarity said and got up, jumping up and down around Lohengrinn. “It’s the armband, isn’t it? It is! What do I win?”

“Aya, calm down,” Lohengrinn said with little effect. “When little Apple Bloom picked up the armband, she inadvertently sealed a contract with the spirit within. I am unfamiliar with its motivations, but it’s certain to be something clandestine.”

“How come you know all this?” Rainbow Dash asked with suspicion in her voice. “How do we know you’re even on our side?”

“Twilight did say that you were supposed to arrive seven years ago,” Fluttershy stated timidly. Lohengrinn looked at her serenely, to which she blushed and hid her face.

“You don’t think we have our misgivings, little lady? You are strangers to us, but so is this land. I believe we can both benefit from a mutual agreement. We will take Twilight’s word that she came to us in the past asking for help, so nothing has changed since then. You still need our aid and we are more than willing to give it.”

“Well... I-I suppose we could trust you for now,” Fluttershy said and peeked through her hoofs. “But, uhm... if you don’t mind me asking, what do you intent to do?”

“Haha, it’s very simple, really,” Lohengrinn said with a girlish laughter and straightened his hair back. “If I can get close enough to Apple Bloom, then I will be able to fight with the spirit.”

“You?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. “Fluttershy could kick your flank!”

“Aya, it is true I don’t look like much, but my symbiosis with Maxwell makes me far more powerful than any run-of-the-mill spirit.”

Rarity approached Lohengrinn with big, curious eyes and looked him up and down. “Darling, don’t tell me that you...?”

“Nyahaha, you finally seem to have understood,” Lohengrinn said and smiled at Rarity. “Maxwell is to me what Apple Bloom is to her spirit.”

Those still capable recoiled in fear like Lohengrinn had just pronounced his intentions to murder them all. The see-through spirit, however, simply tossed his hair back and forth.

“The bond between humans and spirits is fickle,” Maxwell said with a grin and wrapped an arm familiarly around a disapproving Twilight. “The spirit will almost always be stronger than the flesh, but sometimes their powers align and helpful contracts can be made. It is my job to hunt down those that, willingly or not, become entangled with the ghosts of the dead and end up possessed.”

Twilight removed Maxwell’s arms with her magic. Silence hung thickly in the room as the ponies inside contemplated the words, before Lohengrinn picked up again a few moments later. “The benefits of a contract are too tempting for humans to resist, and they foolishly stumble into what they think is a treasure trove, only to discover a lion’s lair. Maxwell however was chosen from birth to wield me. His and my power aligns naturally, and he has gained immeasurable strength in the process. As long as there will be people alive, so will he exist to protect them.”

“Then, uhm...” Fluttershy said. “What happened to Apple Bloom?”

“The question, my pudgy pony, is not what happened but why it did. A spirit will always choose a slave, or a master, that resembles itself in some way. Out of innumerous possible candidates, this spirit crossed universe and chose Apple Bloom specifically which we can use for our own advantage as well,” Lohengrinn explained calmly and went over to Maxwell where he placed his front hooves over his back, staring in turn at the remaining wielders of the elements.

“Then why here of all places?” Twilight asked almost angrily and stared into Lohengrinn’s eyes.

“I can’t say,” Lohengrinn said and shook his head. “Perhaps it was the first universe it entered, perhaps Apple Bloom is its perfect host or perhaps it came here by coincidence. It doesn’t really matter, does it now? We only need to get me close; we can worry about the rest afterwards.”

And with that, Lohengrinn had said what he wanted. Once again he slowly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of himself other than the memories of all that had seen him.

“When we fought against Apple Bloom last time,” Twilight said and then directed her attention towards Maxwell, “the elements were just barely enough to restrain her for a small amount of time. Since we can’t use the elements, you will have to do it alone. I don’t know if you have noticed, but most of us are more or less incapacitated.”

“I can’t do that,” Maxwell said and smiled at her in hopes of making her understand. “I can’t hold things with these hoofs, you see, so I would never be able to wield my sword expertly enough to survive. You must have seen how it went with that thing in the tunnel.”

“True,” Twilight said and went over to Fluttershy. Her belly was cluttered with papers, a few books and a single quill in an ink bottle. Twilight grabbed the quill with her mouth and began to scribble down a few lines on the only blank piece of paper available. “I know someone who could teach you, however.”

Twilight placed the quill back in the bottle and grabbed the paper instead. She crossed the floor again towards Maxwell and deposited the scroll in the bag slung across his back.

“Her name is Cheerilee,” Twilight explained sternly and looked up into Maxwell’s blue eyes. “That paper will tell you how to get there. Do not run off. Ponyville is a very, very large city and you will get lost if you stray. And... if anyone asks, don’t use your real name. Blend in and don’t cause any trouble.”

“Yes, mother,” Maxwell said with a grin. Though Twilight had slowly begun to calm down, her temper was rising again. “But what would you have me call myself then?”

“How about Emerald Shine?” Fluttershy suggested enthusiastically. “I think it would be perfect, since you have such a shiny emerald as your cutiemark.”

“Yes, go with that,” Twilight said with her focus still on Maxwell. “I don’t know how difficult it is to learn hoof holding, so you pay attention. You won’t be of any use to us until you can hold your sword.”

“Ha, no worries! I, Maxwell the Holy Avenger and Protector of Peace, have never failed a mission before,” he said with a boastful laughter. Twilight and Applejack traded nervous glances.

“Ooh!” Rarity said and bounced up and down. “We have to have a party to celebrate our new friend! There will be cake and diamonds and balloons and games and music and...”

“No! No parties,” Twilight said and slammed her hoof into the floor. Rarity made a whimpering duck face, to which Twilight sighed and looked away. “You should go before I hit something, Maxwell. Forgive me, we’re not quite ourselves, and don’t forget your instructions. The sooner we can get things back to normal, the better.”

Maxwell waved a hoof at them without looking back.

He was right, it was a tree, standing on just about the last patch of grass in town. Everything else was covered in pavement or roads or buildings. Ponyville looked completely different in the day and a carpet of smog loomed above the city roofs. Tall chimneys protruded from brick factories like a dad with his pipe, sitting in his comfortable red chair with today’s newspaper. But this was not an image of comfort; it was a cold drizzly day, probably afternoon. There were no comfortable chairs, only hard wooden benches where ponies waited patiently for the bus; a place where newspapers blew about in the chilly wind and tumbled down the streets along with empty plastic bags.

No one smiled here either, nor did anyone offer direct contact or any interaction. They stared out in space and grunted for communication, to express their dismay with the weather or that the bus was late. No one noticed Maxwell, walking down the road with the little paper Twilight had given him pressed to his face. No one cared that he looked new to the city and probably needed some directions.

He put away the paper, giving up on the neat handwriting. No way that Maxwell could decipher all those curves and loops. He would have walked through Misery Metropolis, as Ponyville had come to be known, for ages and never gotten anywhere, had it not been for a lithe voice in his ears. Lohengrinn had seen the paper too and knew the tale it told. Rather than recounting it and running the risk of Maxwell getting lost anyway, the spirit simply told him where to go. “Take a left up here,” “Just continue ahead for a while longer.”

Although he walked, the city never seemed to change. It was the same tall brick buildings in various depressing colours. Even otherwise vibrant colours like red or yellow had somehow gotten boring to look at. Here and there, a white plaster building with thatched roof broke the monotony. They were possibly relics from a better time where the city was quieter and cleaner, a time where car horns and car tires and car engines didn’t compete with jackhammers and drills and all sorts of machinery.

“Why did you interrupt me?” Maxwell suddenly asked. No one around him noticed, not that they would have cared. “You know the only way to deal with a spirit is to kill the host.”

“Yes, ordinarily, but this is not an ordinary case. You heard them, it has manifested as an armband this time, not a weapon. I do not comprehend the significance of this yet, but I think we can forgo our usual methods.”

“Then why don’t we do this in all our cases?” Maxwell asked, his voice rising. “Are you telling me that I have killed people needlessly?”

“No,” Lohengrinn explained quietly. “The ones that we have, uhm... dispatched have all been hopeless souls beyond redemption; thieves and murderers craving immortality and power. A little girl whose biggest aspiration is to run and play is a poor conduit in a traditional term, too innocent and untainted. This spirit chose her for a reason that goes beyond what we could normally expect. As I said, no ordinary case.”

Maxwell looked up into the dark sky, but might have been a blanket of thick chimney smoke. As always when his partner began using big words, his mind went blank. There was little sense for him to find and so he filtered Lohengrinn out, almost bumping into two darkly clad figures, one a tubby earth pony, the other a nimble pegasus. The earth pony looked as if he was about to berate Maxwell, but the pegasus continued ahead, leaving his partner no choice but to follow. There sure were a lot of strange ponies in town.

Old Ponyville was a relatively small area that despite its name contained little of what could be characterised as old. The school was one of those few things, a churlish red building of wood with a slanted tile roof in a darker shade and a small belfry to ring in its students. A large area had been fenced in and contained a grassy playground and backyard. It looked curiously out of place, as did all these relics, like existing in a little bubble of its own.

A large sign had been placed in a flower pot just outside the doors, its surface simply displaying an opened book underneath a silhouette of two ponies with a heart between them. Maxwell took the instructional papers under his scrutiny again, comparing the drawing on the sign with the one on his paper.

“Close enough,” he finally exclaimed and put the paper back again.

The inside was no less quaint and looked almost bigger than it appeared from the outside. A hallway granted access to rooms here, and Miss Cheerilee sat behind her desk in a room on the left. The black board contained a few mathematical scribbles and what looked like a planet. Three rows with four seats sat on the stamped earth floor and the walls were lined with books and instruments.

“Parent’s night isn’t until Tuesday,” Cheerilee said without looking up from the papers that she was going through.

“I am not a parent to any students here, rather, I wish to be taught,” Maxwell said and smiled at the gorgeous beauty in front of him, a mature earth pony mare with purple coat and a soft mane in lighter shades of her coat. She looked up at him with her green eyes.

“Oh dear me, I thought...” She couldn’t finish her sentence, having never seen an earth pony as large as Maxwell.

“I am Emerald Shrine and I wish to learn how to hold things with my hoofs,” he said and bowed to her.

“Emerald Shine,” a soft voice sounded in his ears.

“Ah, Emerald Shine,” he corrected and smiled sheepishly.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Cheerilee asked in a tired voice.

“No, I am not. How did you know?” Maxwell asked, genuinely surprised that his masterly disguise had failed him.

“Just a hunch,” Cheerilee said and turned towards her papers again. “I’m very busy going through these essays, so perhaps we can arrange a later date.”

“Actually, I was hoping that we could start now,” he said and flexed his eyebrows alluringly. “Twilight asked me to learn as quickly as possible.”

“Twilight?” Cheerilee asked and looked up again. “Goodness, I haven’t heard that name in seven years. I thought she was... never mind, how is she?”

“A little uptight, needs to relax more,” Maxwell said nonchalantly. “What do you say you and I get to know each other better?”

“That sure sounds like her,” Cheerilee said relieved, disregarding his advances. “Very well, I won’t ignore a plea from an old friend. Have a seat, Mr Shine.”

“Mr Shine? Oh, right, me!”

She got up from the desk and quickly walked out of the room, leaving Maxwell to try and fit down on one of the kiddie chairs. By the time she returned, Maxwell had resigned himself to sit down on the floor instead, the sad broken remains all too telling of his massive size. She carried in her mouth a metal rod, a wisp-thin stick of metal, which she deposited on the table next to Maxwell.

“Now, it may not seem like it, but the pony hoof is actually very malleable,” she explained, passionate in her teaching. “This allows us to remain unhurt when galloping hard over rough terrain and at the same time feel the soft grass. Knowing this, ponies have adapted and learnt how to properly hold things over centuries. Like so.”

Cheerilee demonstrated her words by pressing her hooves against the stick. Although it looked like she hadn’t done anything, her hoof picked up the object and she confidently held the stick in front of Maxwell, even waving it around.

“You see? Not too hard,” Cheerilee said encouragingly. “I doubt that you will get it right on your first try, but with a lot of practise, you should be making progress in a matter of hours. Your turn.”

She put the stick back on the table, and Maxwell gazed at it with curiosity. He pressed his hoof against the stick a few times, but it wouldn’t stay attached despite his best attempts.

“Whoops,” and “Almost got it there,” he said, deeply concentrated and focusing all of his mental capacity towards this small task.

“Remember, it’s a mental challenge more than a physical one,” Cheerilee said optimistically. “Think of your hoof as clay that you want to sculpt into holding the stick.”

***

2013 RET

“Girls, breakfast time!”

It was morning in the Carousel Boutique and Rarity was coming up to the bedroom to wake the Cutiemark Crusaders. Even if she didn’t live here, Sweetie Belle was visiting often enough to merit her own bed in Rarity’s chamber. It was a small bed, but wide enough to accommodate multiple visitors. It was, strictly speaking, not here specifically for Sweetie Belle, but a guest bed that Rarity had in storage for occasions such as sleepovers.

“Where’s Apple Bloom?” Rarity asked and noticed that only two heads were poking out from under the covers.

“She wasn’t feeling well. / She had work to do back at the farm,” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said in unison. They looked at each other surprised. “She had work to do back at the farm. / She wasn’t feeling well,” they said again, switching in their excuses. Rarity raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“She felt a little hot,” Sweetie Belle said.

“So she went back to her farm where Applejack had work for her,” Scootaloo finished and nodded in agreement.

“That’s odd, I didn’t hear her leave at all,” Rarity said and tapped her chin.

“Well, you always sleep with your eyes and ears covered,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“And she was very quiet. Didn’t want to wake you up,” Scootaloo added.

“Hmm. Well, I guess I’ll just have to remove one plate from the table,” Rarity said and crossed the room for the door again.

Both of the remaining crusaders sighed in relief, after which Sweetie Belle jabbed an elbow into Scootaloo’s side.

“Ow! What was that for?” she asked in a hushed voice and looked at Sweetie Belle angrily.

“I thought we agreed that Apple Bloom was ill!” Sweetie Belle stated affronted.

“No way, I told you that farm work was a better excuse.”

“How is that a better excuse? What work could she possibly do on the farm when it’s not even light?”

“I don’t know! Milk the cows?”

“The Apple family doesn’t have cows!”

“Girls, are you coming down or what?” Rarity asked from downstairs.

The two fillies quickly jumped out of bed, their quarrel laid aside for now, and went downstairs to the kitchen in the back of the shop. It was with some apprehension that they ate their breakfast this morning, a meal fortunately prepared without Sweetie Belle.

It was the thought of what Apple Bloom had done and how she had changed that weighed heavily on their minds and for the first time in their short relationship, the two crusaders were quiet for more than five minutes. Rarity noticed the sombre mood and put her cup down on the saucer.

“Girls, is everything all right?” she asked.

“Just worried about Apple Bloom, Miss Rarity,” Scootaloo said and without much gusto took her spoon and fed herself from the cereal bowl.

“It’s not serious, I hope?” Rarity asked concerned.

“Of course not, but uh... we had plans for today. You know, important crusading stuff,” Sweetie Belle said and nodded and prodded Scootaloo.

“Oh, yeah, we uh... wanted to try uhm...” Scootaloo’s eyes darted across the room. Truth was, they were running out of ideas for their crusading and she could not come up with anything. “Porcelain... painting.”

“Porcelain painting?” Rarity asked surprised, not realising Scootaloo had just named the two first things she saw in front of her.

“Yeah, you know, Scootaloo did such a fine job of making the props for the talent show last year, that we thought we might all try some painting,” Sweetie Belle said as matter-of-factly as she could muster.

“Well you’re not getting any of my porcelain,” Rarity said and took the cup of tea up to her mouth again, her horn glowing from the task. “I’m sorry Sweetie Belle, but you must understand that it’s very fragile, not suited for your little hoofs yet. Although... I may have some old mugs in the basements.”

“Uhm, that’s okay sis, we’ve gathered some in the clubhouse,” Sweetie Belle said and finished her buttered toast in one final, big gulp. “I think we better be going too,” she added and quickly downed her glass with orange juice.

“But girls, I took the day off so we could spend some time together,” Rarity said. “There’s a fair in town just for today, so perhaps you could wait with your porcelain painting for tomorrow?”

“We’d love that. Thank you, Miss Rarity,” Scootaloo said and jumped down from her seat.

“We’ll be back soon, sis,” Sweetie Belle said, and together, the two fillies were on their way again, leaving Rarity with the dishes.

***

2020 RET

“Mr Shine, please, go home” Cheerilee said in despondency.

“But I almost got it, teach!” Maxwell said and poked the stick again. “Oh! Oh! Aww,” he said and dropped it down on the floor. It rolled away from him and crept under her desk.

“Look, you’re not going to learn how to hold things anytime soon and I have essays to go through. Why don’t you go home and practise?” Cheerilee said and went to pick up the stick.

“But I can’t return to Twilight empty-handed! I need to be able to hold my sword if I’m to stop Apple Bloom,” he said and got up on his hoofs again. Cheerilee was silent for a long moment, standing with the metal stick in her hoof and looking at the blackboard.

“Seven years ago, I almost had to close this very school,” she finally said, her voice filled with lament. “Half of my students had disappeared or gotten killed. It was only the sudden surge of outsiders that got me enough new students to keep the school running.”

“I see,” Maxwell said half-heartedly and scratched his ear.

“Oh, listen to me reminiscing!” Cheerilee said and giggled. She turned to face Maxwell and placed the stick on her desk. “Listen, if you’re looking to quickly be able to grab things, I might know someone who can help.”

Cheerilee took the pencil she had been working with prior to Maxwell’s arrival and found a blank piece of paper. Wriggling her mouth around, she scribbled down a few words and then handed the paper to Maxwell.

“Her name is Lyra Heartstrings. She has an apartment in Old Ponyville that might be hard to find, so stick to my directions,” Cheerilee said and beamed.

“Thanks, sweet legs,” Maxwell said and winked at her, then hastily proceeded outside.

The time he had spent inside could not be seen on the weather. The sun had been permanently forbidden to shine on Ponyville and a thick cover of smoke and dust held up their end of that contract. Still, it was lighter now than before. Without a clock, a safe guess would be around midday.

Old Ponyville was like a small island in the middle of the town. Access to Old Ponyville was through back alleys and dark tunnels, a good forewarning about the things to come.

Maxwell moved between buildings, mostly because proper streets didn’t exist. It was like someone had raised an entire city and given little thought to the design. Houses and homes were pressed up against each other, in places allowing only for a lone pony to walk, in others small vehicles to drive around.

The apartment where Lyra lived was as anonymous as most anything around here. Dirty looking hobos warmed themselves to fires started in large metal barrels while a mare with a red bandanna vandalised a wall with a spray can, muttering to herself and not even realising that her can was empty.

The inside wasn’t much to speak of either. The paint was flaking off the walls and the floor was covered in several layers of grime. Cardboard boxes littered the ends of hallways, most of them empty, some containing small pieces of memorabilia. The hallway he was looking for even had a musty old couch, where a strong-looking stallion sat and enjoyed a smoke. Both of his arms had been replaced with golden augmentation.

Maxwell knocked on the appropriate door which creaked open at his touch. He found Lyra inside on the floor of her sparsely furnished home with a sleepy look on her face, several bottles of pills scattered around her. She was a mess, her mint green coat containing several unidentifiable stains and her cyan mane and tail unkempt. Most interesting of all, however, was a metal frame that surrounded her, a sort of exoskeleton that gave her the appearance of having hands and feet. She didn’t notice Maxwell entering, not even looking at him as he spoke.

“Excuse me, young lady, but the door was open,” Maxwell said in his usual good mood.

“What do you want?” Lyra asked detachedly and stared blankly into space.

“I have heard from a common friend that you can help a fellow who needs to quickly be able to grab things.”

Lyra raised a metal hand and flexed the fingers, then pressed the fist against her skull, tears streaming down her eyes. Then she extended the hand towards Maxwell.

“You can have it if you want. I’m tired of Neuropozyne and pain and all this misery,” Lyra snivelled. She dropped her hand and grabbed a pain bottle, promptly throwing it against the wall. It was made of plastic, though, and simply bounced off.

“I’m grateful for your offer, Miss, but I doubt it could fit on me,” Maxwell pointed out, considering he was twice Lyra’s size.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said and relaxed on the floor again. “One size fits all, they say. Very flexible.”

“Very well, but surely I can do something for you in return?” Maxwell said gratefully and crossed the floor.

“Just get it out of my sight. It cost me everything that I held dear,” Lyra said unhappily. She folded her arms and pressed two indentations, one on either side of the exoskeleton. The frame loosened and released its grip on her and allowed her to step out of it, leaving a somewhat humanoid casing on the hard wooden floor.

“You sure I can just have it?” Maxwell asked and poked the metal cautiously.

“Whatever,” she said and slid down the opposite wall, an errant sliver of sun penetrating the cloud clover and lighting her face for a moment before it too was blocked out by the roiling sea of pollution up above.

Carefully, Maxwell entered the exoskeleton. His hind legs slipped into the corresponding holder and adapted to his shape, wrapping itself around his form flawlessly. Confident of his success, Maxwell lay down completely and allowed it to do its thing, enveloping him snuggly. Once it was done adapting, which took only moments, Maxwell had again regained a human posture. He stood up and walked around the room, swinging his arms around and whipping his tail.

“Haha, I’m standing up and no one can stop me!” he exclaimed.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Lohengrinn said into his ears. “You have no idea of the pain you would be in right now if I didn’t stop it. I don’t think I can keep it up in the long run if I’m to control your fatigue and regeneration as well.”

“Well then, we just won’t use it unless we really need it,” Maxwell replied and turned back towards Lyra. “How can I repay you? Let me guess, you want to spend a night with me, right? Don’t feel ashamed to admit it, everyone does.”

Maxwell took Lyra under her arms and lifted her up in the air like she was a ragdoll, her head falling listlessly to the side, her eyes devoid of any sort of spark.

“Come now, Miss, there’s no need for this teary-eyed despair! How I about I help you find what you lost, eh? Whatever it is, nothing is ever so far gone that we can’t retrieve it.”

“I had a friend once,” she said in a quiet voice. “I haven’t seen her in years.”

“There you go!” Maxwell said optimistically and placed Lyra back on the floor. Her knees buckled under her and she collapsed once more on to the floor. “Hmm. This might take a little more work.”

He tapped his metallic chin holder in contemplation, and then finally scooped Lyra up under his arm and carried her off, her arms and legs dangling carefree under her.

“Where to, Miss?”

“Old Ponyville,” she said in her quiet, uncaring voice.

Without putting much heart into her directions, it was up to Maxwell to retrace his step back into the old part of town. Ponies had by now seen many strange things. A large pony in a human exoskeleton carrying another pony around with him under his arm like so much luggage didn’t even make them a bat an eye.

By the time they entered Old Ponyville, Lyra seemed to perk up a little. She lifted her head and looked around, and her guidance became livelier. She didn’t object to being handled this way either and was quite content with Maxwell taking them both around town. Her directions eventually lead them a broad street with what appeared to be original buildings lined up on both sides with plenty of air between them.

When they arrived at the right house too, Maxwell dropped Lyra down again and allowed her to ring the door bell herself. She rang it a few times and finally resorted to hammering on the door.

“Bon Bon! Bon Bon, open up!” Lyra called, but there was no response. “Bon Bon, I’m... I’m sorry, all right? Please, just let me in!”

“Lyra?”

The house on the left was inhabited by a yellow earth pony with curly orange hair. She had opened a window in disbelief over recognising a voice she hadn’t heard in many years.

“Carrot Top!” Lyra said. “I mean... Miss Harvest. Where is Bon Bon?”

Miss Harvest smiled at Lyra, especially at seeing her without that ridiculous contraption on her back. “You may still call me Carrot Top, I don’t mind. We’ve missed you, even Bon Bon.”

“Really?” Lyra asked hopefully, her mood increasing more and more and her personality slowly returning to normal.

Carrot Top nodded and flicked her hoof. “Naturally, she doesn’t show it, but I can tell on her. There are many things that mare doesn’t like, but you are the one thing she always ends up talking about.”

“Then, where is she now?” Lyra asked excitedly and bounced up and down.

“You just missed her,” a younger mare said and came up next to Carrot Top. She had the same colour scheme as Carrot Top, except for creamy hair that flowed down her shoulders unhindered. “I think Miss Bon Bon just went out for dinner with her boyfriend.”

“Oh no!” Lyra bit her lip in anxious contemplation, then looked up at Maxwell. “Downtown!” she commanded and stretched out her right hoof dramatically in the air. It took Maxwell a few seconds to realise her intention, and some of the effect was lost when he finally picked Lyra up again. Maxwell looked back at Carrot Top and smiled charmingly.

“Perhaps when all this is over, you and I could find something to do?” Carrot Top proceeded by shutting her window again. “All right then,” he said and chuckled and adjusted his grip around Lyra’s belly.

“So where are we going now?” he asked as he went back up the street again.

“Hmm. Bon Bon doesn’t really like any of the changes, so we should look for a restaurant that still serves traditional pony food,” Lyra said after wracking her brain.

“Is there any place left that serves that?” Maxwell asked curiously as they moved away from the industrial quarters to a more consumer-based area, where old buildings were fewer.

“Oh yes, there should be plenty,” Lyra said and wagged her tail enthusiastically as they went down the road and crossed into a pedestrian area with shops and restaurants and banks and cafes. “Maybe over there!”

She pointed with her hoof to a sign that contained some sort of shrubbery with three clover-like leaves on it. The building it advertised had green woodwork, but looked otherwise like all the other old buildings here with white plaster and slanted straw roof. It was bigger too and had a large area with plenty of tables and bales of hay for sitting. As they got closer, Lyra began to fidget violently in his arms, something that he was oblivious to.

“Maxwell, thank you for bringing me here, but I would appreciate it if you put me down now,” Lyra said and looked up at Maxwell with her big, seeking eyes.

Near the entrance sat an earth pony mare sipping on a bottle of fizzy drink through a straw. She had an off-white coat with a curly blue and pink mane and tail. Opposite her sat a yellow unicorn wearing a black coat and built-in shades. A waiter stood in front of their table with a bill.

“Madame, you ordered fries with your meal,” the waiter said frustrated, a white earth pony with a blue mane slicked back and wearing some kind of uniform with a little red bow tie.

“I didn’t put those on my plate,” she replied bitterly and looked up at the waiter.

“I never asked for this,” this yellow unicorn said and pushed his bowl back.

The two looked at each other intently for moment, as if time had come to a standstill. They stretched their necks over their table slowly, awkwardly, she closing her eyes and missing his head. They retracted a bit and tried again, but he accidently poked her forehead with his horn.

“Bon Bon!” Lyra exclaimed and darted past the tables and shoved another waiter aside.

“L-Lyra?” the earth pony mare said and looked up, making the yellow unicorn fall headfirst into his soup.

Lyra stopped up just short of the table, where the waiter still stood perplexed. She looked at her best friend with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Bon Bon was caught in the moment and she too couldn’t hold the tears at bay. She wiped her eyes and jumped from her bale of hay to embrace Lyra in a warm, loving hug.

“I... I’m so sorry, Bon Bon. I can’t believe how selfish I was,” Lyra said and sniffed, but Bon Bon rubbed her head affectionately up against Lyra.

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Bon Bon said with her eyes closed and her voice filled with happiness. “When you used all our savings on that contrivance, I thought that I had lost you forever. What are you doing here?” Bon Bon held Lyra out an arm’s length to get a good look at her.

“I was just sitting in my apartment when Maxwell here came by and insisted he would do something for me!” Lyra said and smiled excitedly back at Maxwell.

“Just glad to be of help,” he replied and winked at them. He slowly went to their side and helped ponies up on his way, being in no hurry. “Hey, maybe you’d like to do something later? I’m sure that we could figure something out.” Maxwell flexed his eyebrows attentively to which Bon Bon gave him a disapproving glare.

“Bon Bon, there’s something you must promise me,” Lyra said unexpectedly, to which Bon Bon could only nod in surprise. “There’s something strange about New Ponyville. That place just seems to suck the soul out of you. Promise me that you will never, ever go there.”

“I don’t even like the place,” Bon Bon insured with a smile and stroked her chin. “Let’s just go home, Lyra, you need a bath. I’m not even sure what I smell from you.”

They left Maxwell standing with his hands on his side and a broad smile and feeling really good about himself.

The yellow unicorn from before had wiped his face clean and now stared down at his soup with little interest. Having come all the way over to the table, Maxwell saw his chance for a free meal and swiped the bowl.

“You don’t mind, do you? I haven’t had any breakfast.”

The question was rhetorical of course as the soup was gone past his lips before his words could leave them. By the time that the coated unicorn opened his mouth to say another thing, Maxwell was already gone. The waiter looked from Maxwell’s back to the unicorn in disbelief, hoping that someone would say something. Finally, the unicorn sighed and put a plastic card on the table.

Maxwell, however, was focusing on other things. He could finally walk around like a human again and with a clear conscience. He was naturally eager to return to Twilight, to show her and the others that he was ready to take on Apple Bloom. He strolled down the streets and music started playing from somewhere to accentuate his newfound swag.

An old stallion approached him on the sidewalk not far from the cafe. At first Maxwell thought him to be a human due to his clothes and general appearance, but he had hooves sticking out of his white lab coat and a fur on his face. He walked hunched over with a single-button remote in his left hoof, stopped up and smiled up at Maxwell.

“That exoskeleton is a dead end,” the old stallion said and looked up at Maxwell with a troubled look.

“Hmm?” Maxwell exclaimed, initially having overlooked the old stallion. “What do you know about it?”

“I invented it and I know that it will fail you when you need it the most. You should not rely on it,” the old stallion said and shook his head.

“Say what you want, old man, but I need to be able to hold things. Now stand aside, citizen, I have places to be,” Maxwell said cockily and lumbered forward, his movements a bit awkward and stiff still.

“You can’t even beat me with that thing,” the old stallion lamented.

“Is that a challenge?” Maxwell asked delighted and turned around. “I’d gladly show you how wrong you are!”

The old stallion pressed the red button on his remote, surrounding himself by an electric field. Passersby stopped up or stood back, curious to see what was going on. The old stallion charged forward with the vigour of a spring hare and dove headfirst into Maxwell before he could react. He tumbled backwards and rolled down the streets before banging into a streetlight.

“Blimey,” Maxwell said surprised, got up on his feet again and ran towards the old stallion. “All right, old man, you asked for this. Don’t blame me if you break a hip.”

Despite Maxwell’s words and his initial eager, he stopped up just short of the old stallion when he saw him lying on the sidewalk. The old pony coughed and a green mist escaped his lips that enveloped Maxwell and made him recoil sharply. The old pony kicked himself up into a standing position and planted both shoes into Maxwell’s abdomen in the process.

Maxwell was getting riled up and punched at the old pony who simply sidestepped him and slipped away into the background. He pressed the button again, this time with only Maxwell to see it. Everypony else had left the stage and quickly retreated to safety. The two combatants were now using the entire deserted length of road as their playground.

Once the old pony was done, he charged in again. Maxwell was waiting and embraced himself for another impact, but he hadn’t expected the doctor to uppercut him so hard that Maxwell was sent flying. He landed with a sickening crunch on the hard pavement, his exoskeleton giving a short fizzing sound before pooping out.

“Let’s just call it a draw,” Maxwell said, too beaten to move. The outer frame opened by default and allowed him to step out of the exoskeleton at his leisure.

“Use the Elements of Harmony,” the old pony said with a tired voice and sat down with his legs crossed next to Maxwell.

“The Elements of what now?” Maxwell asked curiously. “Hang on, I think Twilight mentioned those... hey, where’re you going?”

But the old pony was done being social. Without moving a muscle, the doctor darted across the road, still sitting with his legs crossed, and left a little cloud of dust.

“Even if I wanted to use this thing, it’s busted,” Maxwell said with mourning in his voice, like losing an old friend.

“I think he was right though,” Lohengrinn said. “That exoskeleton was straining you too hard.”

“Hmph. Very well, but... what am I supposed to tell Twilight?” Maxwell asked wryly.

***

2020, around the same time

Apple Bloom stepped into the dark room where a table was filled with silhouettes, the exact amount and definite shape indeterminable. She closed the door again so that a small dingy lamp was the only light source left.

“Ah hope ya can guess why Ah have summoned ya’ll here,” Apple Bloom said sternly and looked around the room with an intense gaze. “Yer all the toughest villains that Equestria has seen. Ah failed in my conquest last time, so Ah’m not leaving anything to chance.”

“This is ridiculous,” a pointy-hatted silhouette said. “The great and powerful Trixie is not a villain.”

“Shut up, dweeb,” a winged silhouette replied.

“Ah will not ask ya of yer silence more than once,” Apple Bloom sharply and the room fell quiet instantly. “Good. Let us move directly ta the plan and not waste anymore time. Though missing a party member, the Mane 6 is still out there plotting and scheming. You,” Apple Bloom said to a unicorn silhouette with light streaming through holes in her horn. “Ah have a special task fer ya.”

Apple Bloom smirked, and the silhouette laughed.

Leave a comment, tell me what you would want to see in the future.

Wish I May, Wish I Might

by JC Borch

Chapter 1: The First Chapter

Chapter 2: The One Where The Plot Thickens