> Time Problems with the Sun > by KingJoltik > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Time and Consequences > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Timeline 47.382?" a certain gruff voice asked as he walked up to individual under him. The voice's owner was a large dark skinned humanoid creature with a long brown scaly tail. The individual under him was also dark skinned but had a slightly smaller tail. Together, they were located in a room filled with monitors, all showing different statistics, profiles and other data. "100 percent on track sir," the other responded, tapping a few buttons on his keyboard. "Timeline 47.383?" "99.87 percent on track sir." "Any reason why it is not 100 percent?" "Not sure. Inspecting now." A few taps on the computer later, he quickly found the source. "Odd. Seems to be a small discrepancy in a certain time space pocket within this timeline. It seems that this timeline started to go off its path due to irregularities of multiple beings trying to control time in short spurts." "How short?" "One week." "One week? How many suspects?" the superior asked as he raised his eyebrow. "Just one. Someone is trying to alter the events of one week. However..." he rambled before giving his commanding officer a slight glance. He knew where this was going and let out a groan. "Let me guess. They're about to make a closed loop without realizing it." "Yes sir." The other nodded. "Even so, according to our readings, the ability to use the time travel device will still be available after the loop." "Here we go..." the captain said as he walked away. He rubbed his forehead as he went up to another machine, quickly typing in several commands. A picture of a scroll then appeared on the main screen, causing the other officer to raise his eyebrow in skepticism. His boss didn't notice and continued, "Time to do our job. I'll setup the extraction point. We need to remove that device without any problems, understand?" "Of course...but is that scroll the time device?" "According to the readings you gave me, yes." he replied, a small frown popping onto his face. "I'm a bit skeptical about it too, but we've seen crazier time traveling devices." "Very well. Should I inform the other magisters?" "No. This is just a routine removal of a time device. I'll fix it myself." He shook his coat as he typed one last command into the computer. "I am a Magister of Time after all. I can easily handle one time device removal." "Understood." the other nodded. "Any other commands?" "No...unless we can get some cake after this. I would love some triple decker chocolate fudge right about now." "I hope so sir. We've been at this for four days straight." "Eight days. But who's really counting?" "Agreed." the other replied as he pulled up another screen. "I'll check the last timelines and then order us some." "Sounds good to me." And with that, he began to leave the room. He grabbed a set of equipment, quickly putting on several devices on his persona as he whistled to himself. "Hum de dum de dum. Here's to time and time is me." With that, he left the room. Welp, here's hoping nothing goes wrong. He thought as he walked into another room. In this room was a large cylinder like device along with a small touchpad machine outside of it. He went up and typed a few numbers in, quickly scanning for his destination. Let's see...huh. Never been to this planet before. Surprised it isn't the usual Earth. There's always some time traveling problem going on there. Then again, it's definitely a nice change of pace. Tapping a few more buttons, the device in the room lit up like a thousand lightbulbs. A small smile popped onto his face as he put the final coordinate in. "Let's see...ah! Here we go!" he touched one last device, which pulled out a small microphone. "I'll be back, so keep things settled here. Remember, if something happens to me, follow protocol. I have to fix it myself. Do not interfere with the timeline." "Understood sir. Safe time travels." "Indeed. And here's hoping we can get a good snack after this." and with that, he walked into the device. A bright light devoured the room as the captain disappeared within it. It was here that a small spark of electricity filled the room, causing the other officer to give a look of concern. "That's not good." Meanwhile, near the time magister's destination... Why me? That was the thought of one white rainbow-haired alicorn named Celestia. She was currently flying home after what was apparently one of the worst weeks of her life. She had just got done with a master of chaos escaping from his stone prison to her protégé going insane because she couldn't figure out what letter to send to her. Celestia could only facehoof at this fact as she got closer and closer to her castle. It's gonna be one of those months, isn't it? she thought as she reached the balcony. And knowing me, something is gonna happen right before I lower the sun and- "Your majesty! Welcome back!" her secretary exclaimed as she ran up and bowed before the alicorn. Celestia quickly flew inside as let out a long winded sigh. "Hello Raven. Do I have any more meetings today?" "Well, you do-" "Cancel them. I'm done for today." Celestia groaned as she sat down on her throne, her wings falling to the floor from overwork. "I am so done. I need like...three hundred cakes. Now." "Um...your majesty? Are you alright?" Raven said, concern obviously in her voice. "No Raven, I'm not." Celestia replied as she rubbed her forehead. "This week has been the worst. First Discord got loose and decided to take my tail again. Then I lost the poker game to Luna last night. And now, I had to tell my student that it's okay to not have to send me letters all the time so she doesn't think I'll send her back to magic kindergarten. Magic kindergarten Raven! Can you believe that?" "Er...maybe? This is Twilight we're talking about, right?" Celestia wanted to reply, but found nothing. Instead, another groan escaped her mouth. "Alright, you have a point there. I just wish I had somepony who was more like me sometimes..." "Well I think-" BOOM! A resounding explosion pierced the throne room, making Celestia and Raven jump from the sound. Hearing this, Celestia could only say one thing, "Aw great, here we go again." She rose from her throne and went up to the local window. There, she saw a large amount of smoke coming from the castle's garden. "Oh no...please don't tell me Discord has already escaped again. We just got him sealed away again!" "Should I summon the guards your majesty?" "Yes." Celestia nodded as she turned around, quickly going to the exit of the throne room. "I need to get down there as well. I just hope Discord hasn't escaped again." "Understood your majesty." Raven replied as she ran in another direction, making sure she informed every guard she could. Celestia soon found herself at the main Canterlot garden, the pillar of smoke was still there, though it was slowly dissipating. There, she found several guards arguing with each other. There were mainly saying, "What do we do?", "I don't know!", and "What do we tell the princess?!" Seeing this and one other sight, Celestia let out a sigh. Her eyes had seen Discord, still sealed away. Confirming her worst fear had not come true, she decided to confront the guards. "Alright boys, what do we got?" "Ack! Your majesty!" one of the guards yelped, quickly bowing as the others followed suit. Celestia then let out a slight cough, causing the guard to speak up again, "Um...we don't fully know your majesty. We've never seen anything like it before." "Really? Let me see." Celestia walked between her guards and lit her horn. Magic swirled around the smoke, lifting the fogging air. There, she saw a truly different sight. It was an unconscious alicorn colt inside that crater of smoke. He had a white coat, a fire red mane, no cutie mark and his wings were a bit big for his age. He would definitely have to grow into them. "Now this is interesting." "What should we do your majesty?" "Hmm..." Celestia rubbed her chin before responding. "Get him inside the castle infirmary for now. See to it that the doctors examine him immediately. His health will be first priority, everything else can come later." "Yes your majesty!" As they carefully lifted him up and ran inside, Celestia examined the crater. She couldn't find a point of impact or any sort of sign of blood, injuries or anything. Instead, all she found was just a small crater of dirt. Seeing this, she turned around and began her trek back inside. Huh. An alicorn colt? This should be interesting. Here's hoping this will be my bright spot of this month. > Hospital Beds and Cake. Lots of Cake. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Okay, let me get this straight." Celestia moaned as she rubbed her forehead with her hoof, her ears twitching as she continued, "We don't have any records on the colt? Is that correct?" "Yes your majesty. Nothing on a colt of this size with this type of mane and coat." said a pony in a long white suit. "You do realize that alicorns don't just pop out of nowhere, right? Ponies have to ascend to become an alicorn and all alicorns are connected in one way or the other." Celestia grit her teeth as the next words came out. "That means I would have felt the ascension. Instead, this colt comes out of nowhere and you're saying that's all we have on the foal?" The pony made a huge gulp and replied, "Um...yes." "Okay." "Okay?" "Yeah. Okay. I'm done for the day." Celestia grumbled as she clapped her hooves. "Guards!" "Yes your majesty?" one guard responded as he rushed in. "Tell my main cook that I want three triple decker chocolate fudge cakes. This week is going to be the end of me and I need my sweets." She then slammed her hooves, a small rumble covered the room from the impact. "Make it snappy!" "Yes your majesty!" he said with a salute and then took off. "But your majesty! Your main doctor, Death Preventer, said that if you eat too many-" "Don't care." Celestia said as she flashed her hoof. "I'm gonna indulge myself and get some help while doing it. And by help, I mean lots and lots of cake with my name on it." She then glared at the pony with a stare that could cause spirits to flee. "That is all." The pony made another gulp and replied, "Understood your majesty. I'll take my leave now." "Good." Celestia waved her hoof and the pony ran off. Celestia's horn then began to shine and some paper floated in front of her. "I believe this calls for some extra help." she said to herself as she wrote down some notes on the letter and then teleported it away. "I just hope I can figure out what to do with our new alicorn friend..." Meanwhile in the castle infirmary... The young alicorn laid there, his body twitching as his hooves shook. He was still asleep, his eyes fully closed as he shifted under the covers. As he continued to move around, the nearby doctor walked up and nudged him. "Hey! Are you awake now? Hello?" "Uhhh...oooohhh..." he moaned as he tossed and turned. His eyes soon began to open as a yawn escaped from his mouth. "Oooohhhh...wha...what happened?" "Ah! You're awake! Good! Can you see me? Can you hear me?" the doctor then shined a small light over the alicorn's eyes before turning it's head and yelling. "Nurse! Inform Princess Celestia that he's awake!" "Yes doctor!" the nurse responded as she ran out of the room. "There we go." the doctor turned back to the colt, still shining the small light. "Now, how are you? Can you see or hear me? "Bright...too bright..." he moaned as he tried to swat the light away. "Can't see." "Ah, sorry." the doctor put away the light and asked, "I just had to check and see if you could see me. I'm glad you're awake! How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" "Feeling?" he mumbled, his mind still in a complete daze. The doctor's word fell on deaf ears as the colt started blinking several times as he tried to look around. It was then that his eyes grew wide as he saw the pony in front of him. This was mainly due to the fact that he had never seen a pony before. After all, all he knew about his mission was a scroll, not the species using it. What in the name of time itself?! What the-what is that?! It looks like some kind of- he thought before he felt an odd brushing feeling on his side. He slightly turned his head, only to see he now had wings. What in...oh no. Don't tell me... "Are you okay? Is something wrong?" the doctor continued to ask. I have wings? Wait...did the main time transporter do this? It shouldn't have fully transformed my body. Well technically, it can do that in terms that if I needed to use my age as a disguise...but not my entire body! What the time traveling ****?! he thought before he looked at the doctor and saw another sight. And why does he have a horn on his head? Wait, my head feels a little funny... he then lifted his hoof, quickly staring at it for a bit, realizing all his digits were now gone. Still trying to adjust, he tapped his forehead. At least, it was supposed to be his forehead. Oh you have got be kidding me. I have a horn too?! WHAT THE ******* TIME **** ON A ******* PARADOX!!! "Um...perhaps you can't fully understand me? What language do you speak?" the doctor asked before starting to ask in different languages. "Uh...parlez-vuos prenchais? Er...hablas esprancol?" "I can speak your language." he replied in a deadpan tone, tired of hearing the questions. "Can I ask you a question?" "Um...sure." the doctor stuttered, surprised at the mature tone of the colt. "Where am I and how did I get here?" "Well..." the doctor twiddled with his hooves. "You are in the Canterlot Castle Infirmary and...we don't know how you got here." ".....what?" "You suddenly appeared in a crater of smoke in the royal garden." "..." the foal just blinked at the statement. His mind had decided to talk instead. Oh great. I ended up in some overly public place. I seriously landed in a castle garden?! That means it'll be harder for me to make sure I don't interfere with the timeline. Now how am I gonna get that time device that looks like a scroll?! How am I- his mind stopped as he glanced at the doctor. "Hey uh...could I ask you a big favor?" "Sure. What is it? Are you hungry?" "Could you leave the room for one minute please?" "Leave? Now hold on little colt, you just woke up. I don't mind helping you but I'm going to be your doctor during your stay here." the doctor replied as he shook his head. "I'm sorry to say, but I need to stay here and make sure you're alright." "Little?" was all the colt could say after hearing that. It was then that he looked down and back at the doctor. Wait...I'm a kid?! Are you ******* kidding me?! What in the name of all that is holy timelines is going on?! The doctor then put his hoof on the colt's shoulder and gave a soft smile. "Listen, I know you just woke up, but I need you to answer a few questions. Don't worry, it's nothing serious, I just want to help you." The colt however, didn't want to respond. To be fair, he didn't want to do anything. All he wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep, hoping that this was just a bad dream. No no no...why?! I just wanted to get the job done and have some cake! Is there no justice in the timeline?! The doctor patted him again. "There there, it's gonna be okay. I'm here to help you." The doctor took a slightly rigged stance next and adjusted his glasses. "Now, are you okay? If you aren't, just tell me." "I'm...I don't know." he replied with a groan. He began to rub his face with his hoof. "I can't make heads or tails of anything." "Well-" "PREVENTER! Are you in here?! I was told that the colt is awake!" said a sudden loud voice, interrupting the doctor. The duo turned to see a large white alicorn enter the room. The doctor quickly got off his seat and bowed while the colt just blinked at the sight. "Ah! You are awake! Hello my little pony, are you alright?" Whoa. That one's huge! She's a giant compared to that doctor! he thought as the alicorn sat down on the other side of the bed. She shinnied a big smile as she patted his shoulder. "Greetings little one. I am Princess Celestia. Could you tell me your name, little pony?" "My...name?" he stuttered as he stared at the alicorn. Shoot. I don't know what my name is in their language. In fact, I don't know if I can pronounce... he then glanced at his right hoof, his eyes seeing a small line that only he could see. The translator is still working. Hmm...should I make up a name? "Death Preventer, has he said anything?" Celestia said as she turned to the doctor. "Uh, not much. But he did just wake up." the doctor said as the two continued to talk. Death Preventer? Their names are like that in this world? Hmm...okay. I have an idea. he thought before he let out a cough. The two quickly turned to the colt, hearing the cough. "Um, my name is...Chrono....uh...Stream." "Chrono Stream?" "Yeah." Chrono nodded, only for his brain to start yelling at him. You idiot! You just gave her a hint that you're a time traveler! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! "Very well, it's a pleasure to meet you Chrono Stream." "Uh...yeah. Nice to meet you too." Chrono gulped before he rubbed his eyes in frustration. This is not good. I've been discovered by what is obviously a large figure in this world's timeline. Now I'm gonna create a paradox unless I can get out of this timeline right now and- "Your Majesty!" yelled a voice as it entered the room with a large tray. "Your cakes are ready!" "Yes! Bring them in!" Celestia exclaimed while her doctor just facehoofed. As the tray was brought in and the cakes showed themselves, the triple decker cakes towered over everypony but Celestia. It was then that Chrono began to lick his lips at the sight. Maybe there's an upside to this after all... > The Art of Bribery and the Fun it Makes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bribery. To some, it's a crime. To others, it's a way of influencing others, gaining favor and helping anyone get exactly what they want. As for why this subject came up, well...despite Celestia wanting to gorge in on her collection of cakes, her eyes saw the waterfall of drool dripping from Chrono's mouth. "So, would you like some cake as well Chrono Stream?" Celestia asked with a smirk. "Uh-huh." Chrono nodded, his eyes still entranced with the sight of the three triple decker cakes. "Chocolate..." "Well then..." Celestia's horn glowed as her magic aura turned into a shape of a knife and cut out a slice. She levitated the slice over to the colt, only for him to immediately wolf down the treat. Celestia giggled at the sight while the doctor facehoofed. "My my Chrono Stream, were you hungry?" "Your majesty! Please don't do that! He's still recovering!" Preventer yelled as Celestia just waved it off, ready to cut Chrono another slice of cake. The doctor's horn began to shine as he tried to make sure Celestia didn't give him another piece of food. It was here that Chrono first truly noticed magic and his eyes widened at the sight. Noticing this, Celestia quickly asked, "Is something wrong?" "Um...how are you doing that?" he said as he gulped the last piece down. "Doing what?" "That." he pointed at her horn and the aura carrying away a piece of cake. "That's magic." Celestia replied, making Chrono's head tilt in confusion. "Have you never seen magic before?" "Um...no? I'm not sure." he said as he watched the slice of cake being used as a magical tug-of-war between the princess and the doctor. His mind continued to wander as he started to reach for the slice. Okay. Never seen that before...and it looks like I said the wrong thing. Gotta be careful here. "I must say, it's very unusual that you don't know magic but..." Celestia wanted to continue but Chrono was already devouring another slice. Instead, she just blinked and chuckled. Strange. It's odd that an alicorn doesn't know what magic is...but that's not a bad thing. As Chrono finished the slice, Celestia showed her usual calm smile as she asked. "So Chrono, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?" "Uh..." Chrono stuttered, his mind screaming at him. Don't say anything! Don't tell her anything! Don't tell her that you have no idea where you are or what you are right now! She's royalty and that means she'll be important to this world's timeline and you have to make sure you don't create a paradox! You already gave her a hint about your time-traveling background with your stupid makeshift name! His mind then sucked in a bunch of 'air' and let out one last giant scream. DON'T SAY ANYTHING AND STUFF YOUR FACE WITH CAKE SO YOU CAN'T TALK! "I'll let you have another slice." "I have no idea where I am or what species I am right now." he suddenly sputtered out. As the words flew out of his mouth, his mind began kicking his brain in a blind rage. WHAT THE **** DID I JUST SAY?! WHY THE **** DID YOU JUST SAY THAT YOU ******* STUPID DIMENSIONAL **** SPACE-STINKING **** HEAD!!! Celestia just blinked at the statement while Chrono sat there, his mind still yelling at him. She wasn't sure what exactly to say, which was something she hadn't experienced in some time. The last time involved an incident between Luna, Philomena and several legions of pillow forts. That Philomena had somehow not burned. It took Celestia ten minutes before finally saying, 'You're getting your own pet Luna.' However, in this scenario, her mind told her one thing. The alicorn foal before you for some reason, doesn't know what they are. You must help this colt. Letting out a small cough, Celestia spoke up while Chrono was still sitting there, his brain fried from his mistake. Thankfully, her cough knocked him out of the trance. "Listen um...Chrono Stream? You just said that you don't know what you are, correct?" "Um..." Chrono muttered while mind kept yelling. Eat the cake you idiot! Don't tell her anything! Don't do it! Seeing the sweat pour down his face, Celestia raised her hoof and tapped his chin. "It's okay. You don't have to be afraid. If you don't know, I understand." Don't talk! Don't say anything! Eat cake now! his brain continued to scream. However, as Chrono sat there, he felt a certain warmth. He knew he had to complete his mission, make sure there were no paradoxes or anything. And yet, he couldn't help but feel comfortable in Celestia's presence. Her smile just made all his fears go away. "Um...you said your name is Celestia, right?" "That's correct." Celestia nodded as she gave the doctor a slight glare. She knew he would immediately speak up and tell the colt that he had to respect the Princess's title, but now was not the time for that. Celestia then turned back to the colt and kept smiling. "Listen Chrono, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand. I just want to help you." Don't say anything! Don't...don't...we're not getting out of this, are we? his mind asked himself. Chrono looked down at the bed covers and let out a sigh. Darn it. I can't escape this, can I? I'm in a foreign body, so I probably don't know how to walk properly. That means I can't get out of this room without some difficulty. Not only that... he looked at his hoof, seeing a small line that no one else in the room could see. I can't check the timeline here. If I just sit here, staring at my...arm? Not sure if this is an arm or...whatever. Doesn't matter. Point is, if I just stare at my 'arm', they're gonna get suspicious. If that's the case, my best option here is... Chrono then looked up at the princess and, despite his mind wanting to warn him, he spoke up, "I need your help. Will you help me figure out why I'm like this?" "Of course." Celestia nodded again. "But when you mean 'like this', do you mean...why you're an alicorn?" "Yeah. At least, if that's what I am right now, then yes. Please help me." "Very well." Celestia then patted his shoulder and gave a wide grin. "If that's the case, I will do everything in my power to help you. But first..." she turned to Death Preventer. "Is all his checkups done?" "Well, with the exception of testing his magic potential, yes. He's in perfect health. No bruises or injuries despite being found in that crater." "That's fine. We'll check that later." Celestia turned back to Chrono and extended her wings around him. "Let's get you out of the infirmary and get you to a proper room." "A room?" Chrono asked, his head slightly tilted at the news. "Yes. You are an alicorn after all. Alicorns are very special ponies and I will be helping you understand that." Celestia chuckled at her own words. "It's a long explanation. We'll get to that later." "I see. So..." Chrono felt a slight tinge in his stomach as he asked the next question. "What exactly does being an 'alicorn' as you said it, mean for me?" "Simple." Celestia leaned down and hugged him. "I'm gonna adopt you! Welcome to the family!" Oh, you have got to be ******* kidding me. I am so creating a ******* ten million paradoxes by doing this, aren't I? he gulped as his next thoughts went through his head. I just hope my boss doesn't find out...or one of those space manipulating ****heads. Celestia's hug soon grew tighter until she suddenly let go. As Chrono slumped over from the embracement, the alicorn of the sun let out a cheer. "Alrighty Chrono Stream! Let's get you a room and some more cake!" Hearing the word 'cake' made another shiver go down his spine as his stomach and his brain began another war. He knew he was in trouble when his mouth soon joined the battle with it's legion of drool at it's side. That and the thoughts, Hey, there's cake. Can't be too bad if there's cake. His body soon followed Celestia as a giant magic aura picked him up and dragged him through the air. I am so ******* screwed. > Finally Something Serious Happens > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrono wasn't sure what to think. Just a few minutes ago, Princess Celestia had told Chrono that she was going to adopt him and then led him to a spare room until she could get him a proper one. On the one hoof, he was now stuck as the new adopted alicorn foal of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. A title he did not want or need. Besides, he already had one as a Captain Magister of Time. One the other hoof though, he was finally alone. In a spare room in a castle and land still unknown to him, but finally alone. Okay...time to put myself back together, he thought as he rubbed his feet while sitting on his new bed. Celestia had let him down halfway through the hall, letting him walk the rest of the way only for him to constantly fall over. He was originally a biped, making the quad pedal leap quite difficult for the colt. That, and he was sure that Celestia was really on to him in terms of him being a 28 year old adult time magister in a colt's body. You can do this. Just gather your thoughts, one at a time. Letting out a sigh, Chrono looked at his hoof as several lines appeared on them. Tapping the hoof with his other, several screens soon popped, showing several layers of data. Ah good. The multi-layered skin-tech is still fully working. I was afraid when I could only see one line that it meant that this...transformation ruined it. It would be really bad if I lost my way to travel through time. A few taps later, he started to see his full situation. This is...no! According to this, I went back two months before the scroll-like time device is used! But, how did that happen? I know that I put in the right coordinates and I made sure that the amount of energy would be implemented into my tech so I could make both jumps. If that's the case... He rubbed his face in discontent. If I try to jump to that part of the timeline, there's a good chance I won't have enough power to get back home. That means...I'm stuck here for two months. Two whole months... The colt fell over, his body sprawled out on the bed as several groans escaped his breath. I don't believe it. I literally can't get home without breaking something now. Even though I could totally get as much cake as I want now, I'm still stuck. He looked at his hoof and let out another groan. No. I shouldn't think that way. I need to look at the positives...and if there's any more problems that could pop up. He lifted himself back up and tapped the hoof again. Well, better make sure I haven't strayed from the timeline with the scroll. Let's see, how many alternate timelines are there right now? Hmm...oh you have got be kidding me! His mind began to scream as he saw the numbers appear on his screen. There's that many?! Most worlds don't have half that many timelines in the world's entire lifespan! Talk about a gold mine of 'What-ifs'! He swapped screens and his eyes glared at a diagram of multiple timelines. This is...I'm still on the main timeline. Good. That means I can sit here and have cake for two months and then fix the problem. That's all I need to do. After seeing that, Chrono laid back down and turned off the screen. He felt the softness of the mattress as he started to close his eyes. Stop worrying. Everything's gonna work out and there will be plenty of sweets along the way. After all, at least there isn't any Dimensional Lords here. Stupid space loving ****heads with their giant ******* egos. And with that nasty thought, he fell into a deep slumber. Meanwhile... Hmm...what to do? What to do? Celestia thought as she entered her bedroom. She had just finished lowering the sun and let Luna take over the duties as ruler. With her final duties for the day done, she sat on her giant mattress and let out a sigh. "I just don't know." Her mind was telling her a thousand things. One, she had just went through the worst week ever. Discord got loose and she had have her student turn him back to stone. Then, her student went bonkers over thinking she wasn't a good enough student after she beat the Master of Chaos. Now, she was about to adopt an alicorn colt that appeared out of nowhere. In regular circumstances, this would be way over anypony's head. But not her. She was Princess Celestia for a reason. "Well Philomena, what do you think?" she asked her pet phoenix, only to get a shrug in response. "Yeah, I agree. This whole thing is quite the mess after all. I mean, think about what will happen tomorrow when I announce to everypony that I've adopted Chrono Stream. They'll flip, especially those bullheaded idiotic nobles." she chuckled at her own words. "Can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see him." Celestia then turned her head, eyeing a calendar she kept in her room. Not only that, he popped up a week before Nightmare Night. That'll be a good bonding experience for me and him. Hmm...speaking of bonding. Celestia rubbed her chin as she magically grabbed a few items from her bedroom desk. I'll need to have Cadance also meet the colt. Maybe she can give me some pointers over taking care of foals. It has been a while for me. After writing a few notes down, Celestia let out a yawn. "Looks like I'm done for the day Philomena. Turn out the light, would ya? I am ready to start dreaming about some delicious cake." Celestia then gave the bird a smirking glare. "Don't give me that little birdy. You know that Luna still owes me after the rematch we had over poker night. I can't help she isn't good with the dice...and that she can't gamble when it matters." As the light went out, Celestia rested her head on the pillow as sleep start to embrace her entire being. Huh. Maybe this'll be fun. I mean, the colt obviously likes cake like I do. All I need to do is care for him, teach him about being an alicorn and get him adjusted to the royal lifestyle. Everything will work out fine. Yeah...that's the spirit Celestia. That's the...spirit. She then blinked at her own thoughts. This is gonna be harder than I thought. > Meeting the Moon, Love and Breakfast > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You know what? Maybe this two month wait won't be so bad. Chrono thought as he stared at the feast before him. He was never the biggest breakfast eater, but he was pretty sure he could change that. After all, three giant stacks of wondrous smelling, freshly baked flakey pancakes stood before him. A tuft of cream and syrup covered the delectable grub as some it sat by some French Toast covered in powdered sugar. Drool gushed out of his mouth as his eyes shined like diamonds from the sight. Oh...that smells good. I can't wait to dig in. "You like what you see?" Celestia asked as she put a bib around her neck. "Uh-huh. Oh yeah..." Chrono drooled, his eyes basically drilling into the food. "I'm hungry." "Heh heh." Celestia giggled. "That's good Chrono. I'm glad you like what you see. I hope you love to eat stuff like this, because we'll be having a lot of it in the future." "Really?! Yes!" Chrono cheered as he rubbed his hooves in anticipation. "May I have some then?" "Go ahead." Celestia nodded. "Alright." Chrono replied as he tried to grab the food with his hooves...and failing. His little colt body tried to crawl up to the top of the table, his hooves almost touching the food. Celestia giggled again at that sight before her horn began to glow, lifting the food towards the colt. Seeing this, he fell back into his chair and watched the grub fall on his plate. "I gotta learn how to do that." "And I can teach you Chrono. Would you like that?" "Sure." Chrono said as he licked his lips. "Sounds good to me." "Good. But first, let's dig-" "SISTER!" suddenly rang a voice as the slamming of doors could be heard. Chrono almost fell out of his chair while Celestia facehoofed from the noise. The voice's owner was a dark-colored alicorn with a shining white moon as her cutie mark. Her mane looked and flowed like it the night itself as she pranced in. She then let out a what Chrono thought was a half-roar. "We have heard that you have found an alicorn! What madness is this?!" "Good morning Luna." Celestia replied as a cup of coffee levitated up to her mouth, taking a sip. "Aren't you about to go to bed sister?" "HA! You expect us to go to sleep after hearing this news?! You should be glad that we had a full night of dreamwalking so we couldn't talk to you about this sooner!" "That's fine. He's over there." Celestia responded as she pointed to Chrono. "Don't scare him Luna, he's just a colt." "A colt?! He's not a mare alicorn?!" Luna exclaimed while walking up to Chrono. "Great Moons, he is! And he doesn't have a cutie mark!" She then turned and glared at Celestia. "You're adopting him?!" "Yes." Celestia nodded. "He needed help and he's an alicorn. I want to help him find his place in the world." Hearing this, Luna glanced back at Chrono, who just blinked at her in response. In his head though, was a different story. This is her sister? Talk about total opposites. Then again, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. This world is a bit strange...not as much as some I've gone too, but still. Also, what was that about a 'cutie mark'? What's that? "So..." Luna leaned down and looked at the colt directly in the eyes. "You are the colt." "Y-yes. I'm Chrono Stream. Nice to meet...you?" Chrono replied in a shaky voice and extended his hoof. Luna then nodded. "Very well. It is an honor to meet you Chrono Stream. We are Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night." she said as she shook his hoof. "We hope that we have a good future together." "Er...yeah. Me too. Nice to meet you, Princess Luna." Celestia chuckled at the response and then spoke up, "You best get used to my sister Chrono. After all, she's going to be your aunt now!" "My aunt? Oh yeah...that's true, isn't it?" Chrono replied while tilting his head. He shined a small grin. "Alright, nice to meet you Aunt Princess Luna!" "Indeed." Luna replied, her voice slightly grating. Tch. Looks like this small one is just like a little Celestia. Should have guessed that she would eventually find somepony just like her. And if I'm right... she then saw the colt look back at the breakfast feast as drool reappeared in his mouth. Yup. Just like her. "So, are you going to bed for the day Luna? I did raise the sun this morning after you lowered the moon earlier." "Yes." Luna nodded. "We shall retire now. We shall see you much later sister." Raise the sun and lower the moon?! Chrono thought as she watched Luna leave the room. Are they saying they control the nature of the world here? Wow...that's crazy! Just where did I end up?! I mean, if they can do that, then...no! he mentally slapped himself. Remember why you're here, you idiot! You're here for that scroll time device so you can get rid of it and go home...and have more cake...that isn't as delicious as yesterday's. He slightly slumped over in his seat as that thought settled in his head. Darn. Makes me wanna stay. But...I can't do that. I have a job to do and my bosses would eventually find out if I'm squatting in some weird world just so I could get more sweets into my system. "Is something wrong Chrono?" Celestia asked as she finished her 25th pancake. "Huh? Oh, uh...no. Just thinking." Chrono said, shaking his head in response. "Alright. If you have any problems, just tell me." Celestia then shined her usual calm smile. The expression alone almost made Chrono's heart melt, making him want to tell her his entire absurd situation. Instead, he just took another bite while she spoke up again, "Also Chrono, I was wondering if-" "Auntie!" yelled another voice as it stumbled in. "I got your message! You said there was a...huh?" Chrono blinked at the newcomer as she rushed into the room. She was a pink coated alicorn with tri-colored hair and a blue heart as a cutie mark. Chrono could only stare as part of his next pancake fell out of his mouth. Who is this? She looks like she's made to advertise the color pink! "Ah Cadance! Good morning." Celestia cheered as she gulped down another cup of coffee. "How are you doing this fine morning?" "Oh, I'm fine auntie." Cadance nodded and turned to Chrono. "And who is this little one?" Well, she seems calmer than that last alicorn. At least I think that's what the species is called...that I currently am. Chrono thought as he picked up the dropped pancake and gulped it down. He then gave her a cheeky smile, "Hello. I'm Chrono Stream." "Nice to meet you Chrono Stream! I'm Princess Cadance, Celestia's niece!" Cadance replied as she went over and shook Chrono's hoof. As she continued, a certain thought popped into her head, causing her to turn back to Celestia and ask, "I didn't know there could be male alicorns auntie." "Er, yes. I didn't know either Cadance, but here we are." Celestia chuckled as she looked back at Chrono. "Though I don't think that really matters. After all, I'm glad to meet another alicorn, wouldn't you agree?" "Oh yes." Cadance nodded before continuing to talk to Celestia. As their conversation continued, Chrono just sat there, thinking. Huh. So I'm the first male version of this species? Am I that rare? Chrono glanced at his wings and then tapped his horn, Interesting. Seems this world is even more bizarre than I thought. Ah well, better not get too used to it. Just two months and then I'm off the hook...I hope. As that thought went through, his ears picked up the conversation again. "Speaking of which Cadance, could I have you foalsit him sometimes? You wouldn't mind, would you?" "Not at all auntie. Besides, it isn't like I have much else to do around here. You know, besides the basic errands." Celestia cocked her eyebrow and gave a mischievous grin. "Except have regular make-out sessions with your coltfriend, right?" Cadance began to blush furiously. "Auntie! That's-" "I'm kidding Cadance." Celestia interrupted while giggling. "You can do whatever you like. I was just asking if you could watch Chrono for me tomorrow?" "Sure." Cadance nodded. "Speaking of things to do, I do have an errand or two this morning, so I gotta get going. It was nice meeting you Chrono!" "Uh, sure. Nice to meet you too." Chrono stuttered in response, his head knocked out of his thinking trance. As the pink alicorn walked out of the room, Celestia spoke up, "So, what do you think of Cadance? She's the Princess of Love." "Love? Wait...she has power over Love? Like the emotion?" Chrono was taken back by the title. "Yes." Celestia nodded. "I'm the Princess of the Sun, my sister is the Princess of the Moon and Cadance is the Princess of Love. All our titles refer to the powers we have dominion over." "Huh." Chrono wasn't sure how to respond. The very information baffled him. So...that whole moving the Sun and Moon thing wasn't a lie, was it? That's crazy. I should really stop being surprised at all this... "Is something wrong Chrono?" Celestia asked, seeing the colt's surprised expression. "Hmm? No! No no no. I was just thinking, that's all." Chrono hastily replied, waving his hooves. "I see...you're surprised, aren't you?" "Huh?" "You don't have to hide it from me Chrono. You obviously don't understand your situation." Celestia said, shaking her head as she put down her cup of coffee. She let out a little sigh before staring directly at the colt. "Chrono. Yesterday, you told me you don't know where or what you are, correct?" "Er...yes." Chrono gulped, his whole body shaking. I had a feeling we were going to get to that eventually. Hope I can bluff my way out of this one. "Alright. First off, I believe you." "Huh?" "I said I believe you. I believe you don't know what's going on with you or where you are. Because of this, I'm going to adopt and help you." "Uh..." Chrono tried to talk, only for muttering to come out. What do I do here? I don't know! "However, that doesn't mean I should." Celestia continued before getting out of her seat. She began to walk over to the colt, a warm smile on her face. "I want you to decide." "I...what? What do you mean by that?" "Simple." Celestia put her hoof on his shoulder. "I am no fool my little pony. You obviously have things you don't want to talk about and I understand that. All I want to do is help you. Will you let me do that?" Gotta think here. First, find out what happens if I say yes. Chrono took a small breath. "Well...if I said yes, what would happen?" "Well, I would adopt you into my family as my son. You'll then be turned into a prince. A prince of what, I don't know yet, but a prince all the same." Celestia mused as she tapped the shoulder of the cutie-markless colt. "We can work that detail out later." Don't say yes. Don't say yes! his brain yelled. If you say yes, you'll get stuck here! You'll be a prince, stuck in this castle and you'll probably end up in every history book this world has to offer! And if that happens, who knows what will happen when that scroll appears! There could be ten million paradoxes! It could pop up and then be transported half across this world and you'll be stuck here even longer! Don't say yes! "Um...is it okay if I think on it?" Chrono said, his voice shaking as the words mumbled out. THANK **** TIME **** PARADOXING ******* MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS ******* HOLY! You didn't say yes! Celestia nodded. "Sure. But, before that...could I ask you something?" "Sure." "Even if you don't accept, can I still teach you the ways of using your horn and wings? I'm guessing you can't fly either since you seemed to be having trouble walking in here." "Uh...yeah. Please." Chrono replied, blushing in embarrassment. "I don't know anything about this body." "Very well. But first..." Celestia leaned down and gave the most devilish grin she could give. "Wanna have some extra cake for breakfast?" Chrono went wide-eyed as an equal devilish grin popped onto his face. "YES!" > Starting to get Somewhere > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. I really need to figure out my life right now. Like...right now. Chrono thought as blinked at the sight in front of him. He had just spent the last few hours eating cake for breakfast, getting a tour of the castle he would now being staying in despite asking to not be adopted though he was a young colt, (He still didn't get that one.) and being presented to the press that he would be the new prince of Equestria due to him being an alicorn. Now, he was being presented with a late lunch. However, he couldn't get himself to eat. I just don't get any of this. I did say I didn't want to adopted, right? And yet she's acting like it happened anyways...not like I can escape this situation right now. Not only that, I still can't figure out these blasted new legs! Ugh...I gotta stop being depressed. Surely there's something I can- "Chrono? Are you okay? You haven't touched your lunch." Celestia asked, causing Chrono to snap back into reality. "Huh?! Oh...right. Sorry. I'll uh...eat my lunch." Chrono stuttered before trying to grab his sandwich. "Grrr...this is hard." "We need to teach you levitation magic." Celestia remarked as she gulped down a second sandwich. "Yeah...I think I would like that." Chrono replied as he munched down on his first bit of food. That and figuring out what to do with myself. "You don't look that enthused. Is something wrong?" "Uh..." Chrono looked down at his plate, his sandwich just barely eaten. He had already figured out that it was very hard to hide things from Celestia, even when she didn't have cake to bribe with. "I don't know." He looked back up and stared at her. "I'm just...I have no idea what to think." "About what?" "About this!" He pointed at himself. "And you! I told you I didn't want to be adopted and you still act like you have! I'm no prince, Celestia!" "I know." Celestia nodded. "But you are an alicorn. Our species is seen as royalty and the populace will be see you as such, regardless of what you try to do. That's why I want to adopt you, it'll make things easier and it will let me help you even more." Chrono opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Ugh. Why do I get the feeling she's right about that? Grrr...why did I end up in this form?! Why couldn't I have ended up as something this world considers 'normal' so I could just finish my mission in peace...and in secret. Chrono took a deep breath before trying to change the subject. "So, what are our plans for all this? You know, the whole me not being adopted by you and still being a prince either way." "Well...nothing else really. Except for teaching you magic and...I was thinking we could participate in Nightmare Night." "Nightmare Night?" "Yes." Celestia nodded again. "It's a holiday where young ponies dress up and get free candy from the older ponies. Most families do this to..." Whatever came next out of Celestia's mouth was drowned out by certain thoughts in Chrono's head. Free candy?! Oh...candy is a luxury that most time magisters only get every once in a blue timeline! I mean, we can usually get away with ordering cake due to how most of the staff like some form of it, but...candy?! That luxurious delicious treat?! If it truly free, I must take advantage of this at once! "When is this event happening?!" Chrono yelled, cutting off Celestia's informative rant. "Um...one week from now." Chrono's eyes shined with excitement. "Let's do it. I want that free candy!" Celestia wanted to chuckle at his sudden excitement. "Sure. But, you do realize that the event is one week from now, right?" However, she soon realized her words fell on deaf ears as Chrono just sat there, daydreaming about candy. Following a facehoof, Celestia's mind began to wander, Just when I thought I had found a way to make him realize that the adoption has to happen, this happens instead. I must say, he sure gets distracted easily. Maybe I should try something different... "Chrono?" "HUH?! Oh, uh...yes?" Chrono replied, knocked out of his daydream. "Um...sorry about that." "It's no problem." Celestia shook her head. "Now, since we have a week before Nightmare Night, why don't we practice some magic after lunch?" "Um...sure. Sounds good to me." After this final exchange, the duo devoured their lunch. It was here that once again they were greeted by another dish of cakes thanks to Celestia's chef. Their mouths soon became full as they jumped into the sweet goodness that was the tasty treat of cake. After that, Chrono left the room in a moderate, albeit still clumsy pace due to his inexperience with four legs. As he left, Celestia motioned one of the guards, who then gave her a book labeled: Parenting for Clueless Monarchs. As her eyes shifted through the pages, one thought went through her head. Okay, time for plan G. Here's hoping I can use candy to get the adoption going... The next day... Or not. Celestia thought as she watched Chrono levitate a small orange after she had picked him up from a morning with Cadance. Turns out, he was quite adept with magic compared to walking. And flying. He wasn't much good with his body compared to his magic skills but it thankfully didn't bother him much. However, it did bother Celestia that she was unable to convince him to just join the family and not worry about anything else. He still wouldn't agree, even with candy bribes. I'm just...not getting this, am I? I know he's hiding something, but I can't just ask him. I know that look he gave me when I found out he didn't know what and where he was. That look was the look of somepony that will not show what they're hiding no matter what. So...what to do? But that thought wouldn't help her. Lesson after lesson went by as she still just taught him magic, still unsure how to ask him about the adoption. Even when she brought in some candy. And more cake. (Mainly for her though) After a few more small lessons of magic, Celestia told him she was done for the day. She had a few meetings to attend, so he was open to any kind of free time that he wanted. Seeing this, Chrono quickly retreated to his room and tapped his hoof. Several screens popped up as he watched data fly through the air. His mind kept going as he observed the information, Okay, looks like I'm still on track. I haven't diverged from the timeline, that's good. Now...even though I can't get to the scroll till two months from now, that doesn't mean I can't find out how the scroll came to be. It's obviously similar to this 'magic' this world uses, so... Chrono glanced around the room, only to see a small bookshelf. Of course! Books! We time magisters no longer usual such primitive means of containing information, but thanks to my skin-tech, I should be able to read anything here. Which reminds me...when Celestia gave me that tour yesterday, we did go by a castle library. Maybe I should pay a visit... One trip through the castle later... Thank time that the librarian here is totally oblivious. Chrono thought as he snuck into the library while the librarian was reading a book. He shifted down several bookshelves, his eyes quickly trying to find books over time magic. He tapped his hoof several times as several screens shifted over his eyes, helping him scan the books. No. No no no...hmm...is there no books over time? I was sure that this 'magic' would have some power over time. Perhaps I'm being to hasty... Chrono began levitating several books in front of him as he went down an isle called 'Advanced Magic'. Let's see...there's this book called, 'Advanced Magics of Plants and Forgery'. There's also 'How to kick flank with Plumbing Spells', 'Destruction and Death: 101 ways to use Cooking Magic', and 'It's called **** not **** or 50 spells of the ******* good **** stuff'...What the **** are these books?! Chrono put the novels back into their shelves and looked at another shelf. No. Still no...huh. Is there really-wait. What's this? Chrono pulled out another book titled, 'Starswirl's Special Spells over Time, Space, Reality, and that other dimension that nopony cares about'. He quickly opened the book, viewing the table of contents. Huh. Looks like this might be the clue I'm looking for. It seems this 'Starswirl' made a few chapters over time. Tapping his hoof again, another screen appeared over his eyes. "Begin scan and record. I want every bit of this." As his advanced tech began to record every word, only one thought went through his head. Perhaps this will lead me to the scroll. Then I can leave this world, not get adopted and get back in time for some cake...hopefully. Then I can finally abandon this world and... That is, till another screen popped up, showing him a reminder he had set earlier. The reminder said the following: Remember, do not go back until you get free candy. A facehoof soon followed. Darn it. > Order, Chaos and How They Love Shoulders > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrono could only sit there, alone in the library. To be fair, the librarian was there too, but she was too absorbed into a romance novel to notice somepony else was there. That and she couldn't see him anyways, Chrono was behind several bookcases and a few books on the ground. As for Chrono, he was just sitting there, staring at the screen above his hoof. The screen was showing him a reminder for free candy, one week from now. Free candy. was the only thought that plagued Chrono's mind. Leave sooner or free candy. I'm supposed to chose that?! ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME?! "The choice is simple pal, trust me. Stay for the candy." said a sudden voice. Chrono began looking around, trying to find the voice's owner, only to see a small puff of smoke pop onto his shoulder. After the smoke disappeared, there stood a little red version of himself with red horns on it's head. "Take advantage of the situation pal. Stay here and get the candy." "Who are you sup-" "Oh no you don't!" exclaimed another voice, a puff of smoke soon following. A small blue version of himself appeared after the smoke, complete with a small halo above it's head. "You need to do your duty! Don't listen to that red snake!" "What is-" "Oh come on! Listen here you blue wimp, he needs his sweets and you know it!" "Now hold on-" "Now now, I never said he didn't need sweets. I just said he needs to complete his job! He is a time magister and must complete his duty!" "Okay, that's-" "Yeah yeah, whatever. Listen pal, we need those sweets and that means we stay." "Alright, that's enou-" "Oh dear, did you not hear what you just said? Life is more than just tasty treats you know. We need to-" "ENOUGH!" Chrono yelled, causing the nearby bookshelf to rattle from the noise. Surprisingly, the librarian didn't hear it due to her absorption into her book. The other two did, and quickly shut up after hearing the outburst. Seeing that they had finally calmed down, Chrono took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Explain who you two are. NOW!" The duo looked at each other before the blue one spoke up. "Ahem. Greetings, I am...Order. In other words, I'm the good and balanced side of yourself." "You're me? As in, some thing in my mind right now?" Chrono asked, sarcasm and skepticism ripe inside his voice. "Yes." the blue one nodded and then pointed to the other. "And he's Chaos. He's your-" "Bad side?" Chrono interrupted, his voice grating. "No I'm not." Chaos yelled before somehow pulling out a pair of sunglasses and putting them over it's eyes. "I'm your awesome side! I'm here to take you down the path of coolness and sweets!" "You most certainly are not going to take him down that side! I can't believe you...you...you red snake you!" "You're just jealous cuz I can look cool and you can't." Chaos then twiddled with it's horns. "After all, I got these and all you got is that flying tutu over your head!" "Why you little-" Chrono then facehoofed as he let out a serious groan. Aw man, I can not believe this is happening right now. Why is this happening to me? I thought I was here to get a scroll and go home! Why is- "Hey, uh...you do realize we can hear your thoughts, right?" "Huh?! You can?!" "We're in your head dear." Order replied before adjusting it's halo. "Don't worry. After all, I'm here to help." "Yeah. You're here to help him be a **** **** loser!" Chaos puffed out it's chest. "I'm here to make him into an awesome winner!" "You do realize that's not a goal, right? After all, being 'awesome' is subjective." Order snidely remarked before turning to Chrono. "Now, how about we-" "How about we shut you up and then me and him can-" BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The sudden noise caused all three to stop and look around, only to see that Chrono's hoof was 'beeping'. Ah! It's done recording! he thought as he pulled up another screen. Let's see here...ten chapters over different time spells, theories and other explanations. Well, I don't need the theory, I need the magic. I am time magister after all, time theory is basic learning for me. Tapping the screen a few more times, he was presented with several rows of texts. "Oh dear. That's the a lot of different spells." "Agreed. This 'magic' of this world is quite fascinating." "Is there any time spells that speed up the 'becoming awesome' process?" "If there was, I'd make sure you'd never use it!" "Oh yeah?! Let's see you try you **** blue *****!" "Why I never-how dare you use such language!" "I can ******* swear all I ******* want you **** ****! What are you gonna do about it, you little **** ****?! "Why you-" "Will you two please be quiet? I'm trying to concentrate here." "Oh! Um...apologies. Please go on. We'll make sure to be quiet." "Thanks. And...uh..." It was this moment that Chrono's brain finally caught up to him. He blinked several times as he slowly turned his head back and forth, glaring at the two. "Hey, wait a minute!" "What's wrong?" "Why am I acknowledging you two?! In fact, why am I talking to myself, which for some reason is split into two?! Why is..." "Don't stop. Keep going pal, you'll answer your own question eventually." "I..." Chrono stopped. Chaos had a point. All of this was in Chrono's head. He was just having a real hard time acknowledging it and making it go away. It was at this point that Chrono decided to figure out what to do next. Thankfully, it was right in front of him. "Nevermind. Back to time magister business." A few sessions of reading later... "Let's see...perhaps this is closer to what I'm looking for." "What's that?" "Looks like this Starswirl guy theorized, which it's annoying that I had to look through the theories, but he theorized that the best way to time travel would be using certain objects and embedding them with time magic properties. In other words..." "He probably made the scroll!" "Great. Just one more step towards not getting candy. And also staying for more free cake." "Now now, he needs to do his duty. After all, that is a time magister's job." "Agreed. Which I really shouldn't be agreeing with you since you aren't real, but whatever." Chrono groaned as he shifted to another screen. "Still...it seems he did make a few time spells that don't need the scroll. Perhaps this one will help." "Is that a good idea? You do know you only have enough power in your tech for one trip home. That's it, nothing else." "I know. But this spell just uses my horn, not the tech." Chrono then squinted his eyes as he tried to read the full spell. "Though...looks like the recording couldn't get all of it. A bit of it is faded and this book is old but...ah, who cares? Let's try it! I got nothing to lose right now! Besides, this spell should just propel my mind a few days into the future, nothing too serious. That or reverse the mind process, but that shouldn't happen as long as my mind goes foward." "But shouldn't we-" However, Order's words fell on deaf ears as Chrono fired up his horn. A magic aura quickly appeared, entrapping the horn as he closed his eyes in concentration. He remembered the lessons Celestia taught him. Though brief, she had confirmed that he had certain talents in magic, especially when it came to spells in the long drawn out variety. Unfortunately, Chrono didn't realize that the spell was meant for unicorns. So, as his alicorn horn fired up...a sudden spark appeared as the magic aura began to encase his horn. After that, well...the spark turned into a duo of an explosion, knocking him backwards into a wall and a beam, which repeatedly flew across the room. The beam ricocheted again and again, bouncing off everything until finally hitting it's own sender. "Was that supposed to happen?" Chaos asked as a pile of smoke covered Chrono. "I don't think so." Order replied as the smoke began to disappear, showing a dizzy Chrono. "Oh dear, are you alright?" "He doesn't look it. Say, wasn't that spell supposed to shoot him into the future? That or make him younger?" "It should, but just his mind. But it doesn't look like it fully worked." "Yeah...so what did the spell do?" "Well...if it still hit him, then that means it either sent him through time anyways, or reversed time for...something." Order gasped as it started to realize the situation. "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly looking like a space **** staring at a sun?" "Well, if it didn't affect his body..." Order then looked at Chaos in horror. "It might have affected his brain." Finally catching on, Chaos stuttered out, "Are you saying he's now got the mind of a-" Poof! And like that, Order and Chaos were gone. After all, they were figments of Chrono's imagination, which wasn't exactly the same at this moment. Instead, a different kind of mind was present inside that small alicorn body. The mind of a younger, happier time magister...that was still half unconscious. Meanwhile... "What do you mean you don't know where he is?!" Celestia barked at a guard. "You were supposed to guard the hallway where his room is! Where is he?!" "I-I-I don't know your Majesty! All I know is that some guards saw him running towards the library wing!" The guard stuttered out as his body shook like a leaf. "Ah! So that's where he went." Celestia replied before turning around. "Next time, say that first!" The alicorn then went into full-sprint mode as she ran down the hallways, quickly reaching her destination. There, she found the librarian who was still hypnotized by her romance novel despite the explosion of magic going on in the desolate library. Following the scorch marks of magic, she soon found the small unconscious alicorn colt. "Chrono? Are you alright?" "Ooooohhhh...I feel funny." Chrono muttered, his eyes barely opening. As his vision adjusted, he then saw the alicorn which his new memory had never saw before. "WHOA! Who are you?!" he exclaimed as he tried to scurry away. "What is this?! Where am I?!" Celestia was quickly set back from the response. Thankfully, her mind was thinking about what she should always ask Chrono. "Um...are you okay Chrono? Do you want some cake?" "CAKE?!" his colt mind instantly brightened at the thought. "Oh! Oh! I want cake!" "Um...sure. Let's get you some then." Celestia levitated the colt onto her back as they started to leave. However, before she started to leave, her eyes caught one sight. Chrono was reading some book in here...gotta make sure to ask the librarian to keep those books separate from the rest. As they both left, two other 'voices' rang out in the silence that was Chrono's subconscious. "So uh...what do we do now? We just wait in the back of his head?" "We don't have a choice. I just hope Celestia can fix this." Chaos shined a cocky grin. "You do realize if she does do that, she'll know he's a time magister, right?" "Oh dear." > To Be Young Again, or Nothing is Wrong as long as Cake exists > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hooray! Cake-ow! Cake-ow! Cake-ow!" Chrono exclaimed as he kept trying to hop while cheering for free cake. However, his body kept rejecting his hops as his face repeatedly kissed the floor, only to get back up and kiss it again. Since he had basically forgotten everything about Equestria, his body and everything else was new to him due to the recent time spell. Now, he was now a stumbling colt alicorn with the mind of a colt...that wasn't used to the new body even more than usual. So, he kept cheering for cake with his newfound usual happiness. "Cake-ow! Cake-ow! Cake-ow!" "Um...Chrono? Are you okay?" Celestia asked as her horn began to shine, quickly grabbing the colt with her magic. "You seem...different. You didn't use a spell on yourself, did you?" "Chrono? Who's that?" Chrono asked, his expression still showing a big innocent smile with some slight confusion in it. "Um...you know, Chrono Stream. Your name?" she replied as she let him down. "Uhhhhh...never heard of that before. But..." Chrono looked at his hooves as he got up and tried to walk again, only to fail. As he tried to pick himself up again, he said, "I definitely don't remember looking like this. Eh, guess I'm Chrono then." Okay. He used a spell on himself...which means I really need to slow down the magic training. I'm also betting I know which spell he used, but first... Celestia thought before magically grabbing him again, quickly putting him on her back. "Let's forget about that and get some cake, shall we?" "YAY!" Chrono cheered as Celestia galloped down the hallway. As they continued to get closer to the dining room, two certain beings in the back of Chrono's head started to talk to each other. "Oh great. Now we're stuck in the back of the head of an eight year old! It's almost as bad as being stuck with you!" "You are stuck with me Chaos. Even since you were born, you've been stuck with me." "I know. It blows you blue **** ****. I honestly can't believe I'm stuck here right now. I was so close to getting him to stay and eat cake for rest of his life." "You truly are despicable, you know that?" "Yeah yeah, whatever. Say, is there anyway for us to get control while he's like that?" "Yeah. But you have to go through there." Order deadpanned, pointing to a 'door' in the subconscious. It had large gold letters on top that said, 'DO NOT ENTER'. "Oh yeah, forgot about that. That and the ten-eyed twenty-fanged monster that's behind that stupid door. No need to go there." "Indeed." "So...what's he up to now?" "Apparently, more cake." Order replied, pointing to a 'screen' in the subconscious. "Sounds good to me." As Order had said, Chrono was currently face deep into another cake, his young mind in true bliss as he devoured the vanilla filling inside. Various slurping noises could be heard as Celestia watched the sight, surprised at the change of Chrono's eating habits. Okay. Just when I thought this kid couldn't keep surprising me, he changes how he eats too. Before, Chrono was very cordial and organized when he ate. He had such good table manners yesterday and now...what did that spell do to him? What did...no. Don't be like that Celestia. Remember, you want to help him. "Chrono?" "Yes?" Chrono asked as he peered out of the cake, his face covered in vanilla and chocolate. His tongue back swirling around, trying to get whatever was on his face. "Um...er...listen, could I ask you something?" "Can I get more cake if I say yes?" "Yes." Celestia giggled as she motioned the guard to get another tray of sweets. "Okay! What's up?" "Um...what were you doing in the library?" "Library? What's that?" he asked, his young mind unable to comprehend such a place since his original home had moved on from books thousands of years ago. "It was where I found you. You know, before you used some spell on yourself." "Spell?" Chrono asked, his head tilting in confusion. "Yes. Don't you remember? I taught you what spells were and even taught you the levitation spell earlier." "Nope." Chrono shook his head before grabbing a piece of cake with his hoof and stuffing it into his face. "Don't remember that. Then again...how did I get here?" He's just now asking that? Celestia thought, cocking her eyebrow. Okay, that settles it. Either he used a memory spell or something similar... "Looks like we won't have to do anything after all..." "Why's that?" "I believe Celestia is going to fix it for us." Celestia fake coughed a few times, getting the colt's attention as he gulped down the last slice of cake. His mouth still full, he tried to talk. "Mmmm...yeah?" "Um Chrono...would you like to do anything else today? Anything um...fun?" "Fun? Hmm...." Chrono rubbed his chin, trying to show he was comically deep in thought. "I dunno." "Don't know huh?" Celestia replied with a weak smile. "Alright...could you tell me what you were doing in the library?" "Well uh...I don't know." Chrono said as his young mind started to remember his younger years. "I know I was in my room, studying for my first exam into the time registry classes." Time registry?! Celestia thought, already surprised. "Then...I was um...huh. I think I was about to have lunch with one of the main time magisters. He was going to show me where I would end up working in terms of my job when I graduated." Time magister? Job? Graduation?! Wait...is this why he wouldn't tell me anything before?! If that's true...don't tell me the spell he used was- Celestia gulped as she signaled for a guard. She quickly whispered in his ear to have the royal librarian come to her throne room immediately. As Chrono continued to blab on and on about his past life, Celestia stopped him and asked him if he wanted to rest for the remainder of the day. Rubbing his now full belly in response, he agreed and had a guard walk him out. As he went down the hallway, two voices continued to talk. "Okay, was this part of the plan?" "No. But it might speed things along if we're lucky." "Really? Sounded like to me that we might have just messed everything up. Time magister and the adoption plan." "No...I don't think so." As Chrono finally got to his room, Celestia entered the throne room. There, the librarian stood there with a small pile of books. Seeing the pile, she let out a sigh as levitated them to the throne. She was in for some heavy reading for the next few hours, determined to find what spell Chrono used. Meanwhile, Chrono sat on his bed, his tongue stuck straight out as he stared at the ceiling. Weird. This is really weird. I mean, that Celestia lady was really nice but...where am I? What exactly am I? I know she said I was in Equestria and I'm an alicorn colt...but I don't know what that means. If I only I had some time magister tech to help me. Too bad I'm only a student right now. he thought as a sigh left his mouth. That is, till his hoof began to shine. He turned his head and tapped his hoof, curious as to where the light was coming from. That is, till he got his answer. Whoa, this is... > Restoring the Lost Things > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note to self Celestia, when engaging over the matters of alicorn colts, make sure you understand what their knowledge level is first. Granted, this is the first time this situation has ever happened...except that time in Albuckuerque. But we don't talk or think about that Celestia, right? Right. Now, where was I? Celestia thought to herself as she flipped through the fourth book the librarian had found where Chrono was before they found him. Turns out, when his spell backfired, several other books over advanced magic had fell off the nearest bookcase, causing confusion as to what book he was really reading. Now, Celestia was reading: Clover the Clever's Specialized Spell Emporium, the Wizard's Guide to Mind, Time and Other Unique Spells. She had personally forgot how detailed the book was as she hadn't read it in over three centuries. Gah! Seriously Clover? Did you have to write eighteen chapters over mind spells?! I know I was convinced that he either used a memory based spell over his mind or a time spell but...ugh, this is the problem with smart ponies. They love to write two billions pages over every little detail on every spell they come up with. Celestia snorted as she flipped another page. I'm gonna be stuck here for a long while, aren't I? she thought, not knowing the book she was looking for was three books under the next one she was about to read. I could really go for a stiff triple vanilla and caramel cake right now...with extra frosting and a side of chocolate ice cream. Meanwhile... No way. How is this...how is this possible?! was all Chrono could think as he tapped his hoof. The following caused another screen to appear as his eyes kept shining at the sight. How do I have advanced skin-tech?! I thought I wouldn't get that implemented until three years into the time magister school course! So...how do I have it now? Is some kind of simulation I'm currently in? Chrono swapped through several screens, happy that the tech was very simple to use thanks to already basic training he had had when he was young. He began rubbing his chin in thought. Okay, think this through. If I am in some kind of...training simulation? No, this feels too real. Did I do some kind of time transporter course and something messed up? Like, my mind got transported to the wrong place? No, then I wouldn't have skin-tech. So...my mind went through time into this body? I mean, that seems to be a bit more of a possibility but...darn, I'm not sure. Then, an idea struck him as the lightbulb that was his brain turned on. Wait a minute, if I have skin-tech, my ID will be in the skin-tech. Let's see here...dum de dum de dum...huh?! Chrono gasped as a new screen showed itself. This...this says I'm...I'm in my late twenties?! But that's impossible! I mean, I'm ten! I just started the time magister classes, there's no way I could be...I could be... Chrono's mind stopped. He couldn't believe what he was now thinking. I'm in my future body. But that's...no...WHAT THE ******* TIME **** SPACE **** PARADOXING ****!!! he internally screamed. That can't be true! It can't! I mean, me...in my...future body?! No... Chrono laid back in his giant new bed, his eyes filed with nothing but a mix of confusion and despair. He didn't know what to think. He wanted to think that everything would be fine, that it was some dream. But one pinch later proved it to be real. So, he just laid there, thinking about what he was supposed to do. That is, till his eyes closed into a deep sleep. The next day... I hate you Starswirl. I hate you with a burning ******* passion! AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!! Celestia internally screamed, wanting to do a marathon of facehoofs as she read another one of his spell books. Why do all of his books have like...two hundred chapters?! Ugh...only Twilight could love this many pages. Celestia chuckled at that thought. What would I do without my faithful student? Now taking a sip of coffee, she answered her own question. Heh. I wouldn't be much without her, would I? Perhaps I should ask her to search for whatever spell Chrono used on himself. It would definitely be a load off of my mind. However, after that thought went through her head, her eyes finally noticed something. Blinking a few times, she focused her vision as she read the words in front of her carefully. This is...this is mind transfer spell based with a time spell. she rubbed her chin as she looked over every bit of the spell. Could this be the spell he used? It's made for unicorns and it mainly is used for the...future. Oh no. Don't tell me his alicorn magic- She quickly closed the book and put it on her back. She signaled for her secretary. "Raven!" "Yes your majesty?" Raven replied, bowing down. "I'm going back to the library for a second. Have a guard find out if Chrono is awake yet." "Yes your majesty." With that, she quickly trotted down to the book haven. There, she asked the ponies inside to leave, wanting the library to herself. All of them quickly complying, she paced through the room, examining the scorch marks that Chrono's previous spell had made around the library. She had noticed that the spell had ricocheted around the room, hitting multiple objects. She started comparing the book's spell to some of the marks and made a resounding gulp down her throat. "This is what he did." she said in a sad tone. "But...why a time spell? Why did he pick that of all things? I mean, there were tons of other spells here and..." her thoughts finally stopped her talking as she realized something. Wait a minute Celestia. Chrono has been acting strange ever since the library incident. He's been acting...more his age. Like, he suddenly turned into a kid after that...even though he was already a kid. she chuckled at that thought. He sure is mature for his age. Finally seeing a solution, she closed the book and walked out of the library. Letting out a small yawn, she knew what she had to do. If this book is right, there is a way to reverse this spell. All I need is Chrono...and make sure he cooperates. Meanwhile... Okay...okay. Everything is okay. Everything is alright. Everything is awesome. Yeah...its all good. Its all good. Chrono thought as he stared at his hoof on his bed. Every since he woke up, he had been staring at his hoof, his eyes boring deep into the body part. He hadn't once activated the skin-tech after waking up, for he feared that doing just that could cause a paradox. Remember your training. You can manipulate the time based on the fact that you don't know your future and you make sure others don't mess up the future. The Time Magisters exist in order to keep time, not manipulate it. It was this point his mind kept repeating to himself to not mess up. Remember, you can't mess this up. You need to keep the timeline safe, and yourself safe. I have no idea how that works, but I have to. Remember...remember...you become a time magister and mess up, resulting in your young mind ending up in your future body...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! he internally screamed, his mind slowly descending into madness. Why?! Why am I here?! Why am I in this time and in this world?! Why am I some four-legged winged being with a horn?! Why is this happening?! Why is- KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! "Chrono? Are you there?" said a familiar voice as it knocked on the door. "Yes?" he yelped in response. "May I come in?" "Uh...er...um...yes?" Celestia slowly walked in, a book on her back as she closed the door behind her. She shined her usual calm kind smile as she walked up and sat down on Chrono's bed. She instantly saw his panicked expression, and had a pretty good idea why he was panicking. "Chrono? Are you alright?" "Um-uh-er-dur-uh....yes? I'm uh...I'm okay!" "Are you sure?" Celestia asked, cocking an eyebrow in concern. "YES! My name is Chrono Stream and I'm fine!" he yelled, his eyes wide as dinner plates. "Ooookay." Celestia remarked as her horn began to shine. The book on her back began to float over as she opened it and turned to a certain page. "Now, could I ask you a question Chrono?" "Uh...sure." Chrono shrugged. Oh sweet timelines!!! What do I do here?! Do I go along with her or- "Do you recognize this spell?" she asked, knocking his mind back into reality as she showed him a page. "Huh? Spell?" Chrono replied as his eyes focused on the book. As he read the entry, he looked back up and shook his head. "No." "I had a feeling you would say that." Celestia sighed as she put the book down, its contents still open to that page. "Chrono...you're not currently yourself, are you?" "I uh...what do you mean?" "Simple. You used this spell." Celestia pointed at the book as she stared at him. "And now your brain is something entirely different." "Uh..." Chrono gulped, his mind in a massive overload of panic. Uh-oh...she knows! What do I do now?! I mean, I don't even know my mission! What if I tell her and all manner of paradoxes happen!?! What if her finding out results in a time apocalypse where the Dimensional Space **** heads rule everything?! What if- "Chrono? You alright?" "Um....yes?" he repeated. I need a better response here. "You used this spell, didn't you? And now, you don't know who or what you are, don't you?" "I...I..." Chrono couldn't respond. He didn't know what to say. Instead, he just sat there, stiffening like a board. Celestia sighed again and then gave him a small smile. "Chrono. Will you let me restore you?" "Restore...me?" "Yes." she nodded. "Let me turn you back to normal. I can reverse the spell. Will you let me do this?" "I..." Chrono stopped, his mouth wide open in fear. What do I do? I don't...I mean, I think I trust her. My future self wouldn't be around her if I didn't, right? "Okay." "Really? You're sure?" "Yeah. Please fix me." "Alright. Just hold still." Celestia replied as she flipped through a few pages. There, she saw the entry she was looking for and asked Chrono to hold still. A few seconds later, her horn shined a magnificent glow and the aura around it surrounded Chrono. He could feel his body being lifted into the air as the spell continued, a small aura slowly encasing his brain. Then...nothing. Nothing but a white void. That is all Chrono could see as his body fell back down on the bed. Minutes passed as he laid there motionless, unable to move. Until finally... "Ooooohhhh...I don't feel so good." Chrono moaned as he rubbed his head. "What happened?" "You, my little pony, went on a serious mind trip." Celestia answered as she tapped his head. "You okay?" "Yeah...I'm good." he groaned as he opened his eyes. "I feel like my mind went through like...ten beatings or something. What happened to me?" "You used a time spell Chrono." Celestia replied, her tone switching from concern to serious. "And now you're going to tell me why." > Finally telling the Truth. (I need more frosting on my cake!) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh ****. That was the only thought going through Chrono's head as he stared at the sun-wielding alicorn. He knew he wasn't getting out of this one. He knew what he had done, sending his mind through time in an attempt to skip a few weeks ahead, only to end in failure. He knew that if he tried anything at this very moment, it would probably backfire. As he blinked at the sight before him, the alicorn staring directly at him with a 'no-nonsense' look on her face, his mind wanted to cave in. I am so ******* screwed. I am so ******. he thought as a gulp went down his throat. Why? Why is this happening?! Why is this mission this crazy and stupid?! Why?! "Oh dear, this isn't good." said a certain voice as it appeared on his shoulder. "We are in some serious trouble now, aren't we?" "HA! Maybe for you, but not for me!" replied another voice as a puff of smoke appeared on his other shoulder. "We finally got caught! And you know what that means..." his lips curled into an evil grin. "We have to tell her everything! "You truly are chaotic if you think that's the solution!" "Hey, I'm Chaos. Its what I do." "You meanie. Don't you realize what this means?! He mustn't reveal who he is. After all, that is part of his duty and- Hold it. Both of you stop. "Oh! Um...yes?" Why are you two still here? In fact, why am I still acknowledging you? "Uh, so you can delay yourself from spilling the beans. DUH! Well, that or you're actually going insane. Take your pick." I hate you both. and with that, the two disappeared from his shoulders. He looked back at Celestia, who still stared at him with the same look. His mind went slight blank this time, knowing that the problem still wasn't solved. Shoot. What do I do? Should I tell her? I mean, she did restore me and...I'd be dead in the water if she didn't save me from my stupid mistake. "Um...Celestia?" Chrono gulped, twiddling his hooves. "Yes?" "Uh...if I tell you, could you please promise to not tell anypony?" "Of course." Celestia nodded before giving her usual calm, kind smile. As Chrono saw this, he felt like he was slowly melting away at the very sight. It was if he knew she would be understanding about everything. Letting down a gulp his mind began to race. I guess...I guess there's no avoiding this. That's okay. I know I've only spent a little time with her but...I feel like I can trust her. "Okay...I'll tell you." "Good." Celestia then sat down on the bed, putting her wing on his side. "Go ahead Chrono." "Alright, and uh...be prepared, this might take a while to explain." "That's fine." Celestia nodded. "Okay...okay." Chrono said as he scratched the back of his head. "Alright, let me start by saying this. I'm...not a pony. Well, at least...I used to not be a pony." "I had a feeling you were." "Really?" "Considering you can't walk at your age and don't understand your wings or your horn, well..." "Yeah yeah. I get it. There's plenty of signs." Chrono pouted as Celestia chuckled. "Anyways, before I turned into...this, I was something else. I was a Time Magister." "Time Magister? What's that?" "Well...that's a long story." Chrono sighed, knowing a long explanation was at hoof. "For starters, Time Magisters are time manipulators. Well, that's a crude way of putting it, its more like...we're the keepers of time. We make sure others don't disrupt the time stream and create paradoxes." "So...you're a time guard?" Celestia asked, surprised at this reveal. "Yeah. You could call it that." Chrono laid slightly back. "Our job is mainly two things. One, make sure no one, or...nopony in your case, messes with any time streams that would result in temporal paradoxal phenomenon. This means that any individual who believes they have the right to control time itself is a paradox that must be justified and corrected. Therefore, we-" "Hold on there Chrono." Celestia interrupted. "That sounds a bit on the absurd side. After all, if you're time manipulators, aren't you that paradox you just mentioned?" "Yes." Chrono nodded. "But we Time Magisters are...let's just say that we have no choice but to prevent these time anomalies." "What do you mean?" "Well, remember when I said I was a keeper of time?" Celestia nodded at this remark. "Well, its more than just that. Time Magisters are...they are born, breed and designed to fulfill this job. It is the duty of our species to carry out this task and fulfill it." "But...why? You're saying the species you used to be are designed from birth to do this job?" "Correct. We exist in order to make sure time is safe." Chrono rose back up and stared at Celestia with a deep long gaze. "In our society, time is considered to be a gift. It is something that must be cherished, loved and never abused. It exists as something beyond our full control, but we must use it to make sure none abuse it. We keep time in order for time to continue existing." "Well..." Celestia tried to reply, only to scratch her head in thought. Wow. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but this sounds a little out of my league. Hmm...what to do here? "I apologize for being so vague Celestia or that I confused you, I don't mean too." "I know you don't Chrono. I understand why you hid this..." a bulb went off in Celestia's head. "But if what you said was true, why did you try using a time spell?" "That...is for my mission." Chrono mumbled, looking down. "I uh...got sent to the wrong part of the timeline here." "Wrong part? You mean, you wanted to send yourself to a different time in Equestria?" "More or less..." Chrono looked away as the next words came out. "Let's just say...I got here a bit too early." "How early?" "Two months." "Oh. I see." Celestia replied, going into a thinking pose. So, he's a time traveler tasked with some mission that doesn't happen until two months from now. If I wasn't over ten centuries old, I would say he's crazy but...I know he's telling the truth. I can just tell. If that's the case... Celestia tapped his shoulder, causing him to look back at her. "You can't tell me what your mission is, can you?" Chrono shook his head in response. "No. I'm sorry Celestia." Celesta merely nodded. "I understand. If that's the case..." letting out a small sigh, she shined her usual kind smile. "Could I ask you one favor?" "Sure. After all, you saved me over that...young time spell accident. I would be horrible if I didn't repay you back." "Very well. If you would Chrono Stream, even though you will probably leave two months from now, would you let me adopt you anyways?" "Huh?!" Chrono hopped in surprise at the statement. "What are you-why would you ask that? You do realize that I will do what you just said, right? I will leave two months from now." "I know. And until then, you are stuck here. I can tell you are, because if you weren't, you would have called another time magister. Am I correct?" "Yeah..." Chrono blushed at this. "You're right about that. I can't contact them unless certain circumstances happen." "I see. If that is the case, please accept the adoption Chrono Stream." Chrono tried to rebuke, only for a hoof to placed over his muzzle. "Chrono, this is only a formality and it will help you move around in this world. Though I am not against the idea of having a son, a fake one is fine as long as you agree to it. If you agree to this, it will allow you to move freely to wherever you need to go for your mission." "Well...um..." "Okay Order, you gotta admit she has a point. We are stuck in this weird pony form now. We will need to get used to this place for a quite a while." "True. Maybe it is for the best." As the two voices went through his ears, Chrono let out another sigh. They're right. Which I really shouldn't be acknowledging...but they're right. Chrono looked back at Celestia. "Okay, I'll be your son. But only if I'm allowed free reign to wherever I need to go when my mission finally happens...and before that too." "Agreed." Celestia replied before gripping the young alicorn into a hug. "Welcome, my son. My little Chrono Stream." "Thanks." Chrono hugged back. "And thank you for listening." "No problem. And I promise not to tell anypony about your secret identity." Celestia said as she released the hug. "Now, you want some cake to go with your adoption?" "**** yes!" "Chrono! You do not use that kind of language in front of me!" "Oh...sorry." Chrono gulped as he watched Celestia's mane turn into a blaze of fire and flames from his swear. "Uh...can I still have some cake?" > One Week Later Because Time Jumps need to be Simple > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Its all over. I can't do this. Chrono thought as his eyes strained from the sight in front of him. It had been one week since he confessed that he was time magister and accepted the adoption. Since then, nothing but ordeals had happened. First, he had been shown off as the new adopted son of Celestia, causing nobles to go crazy, wanting to start riots in the streets, all over a new alicorn. This honestly didn't make any sense to Chrono since he met all the same nobles a few days before. Then, he found out that because both him and Celestia had been eating so much cake and the chefs aren't prepared for two sweet tooths of their caliber, all the ingredients for said sweets were gone. So, they had to wait till the end of the week before a full, double restock would end up happening. Those few days of no cake left both mother and son very cranky and ill-tempered. That is, till now. Its all over! This is the end! he thought as he facehoofed for the fifth time. I can't believe I'm doing this. "I thought you wanted this! We're about to do that Nightmare Night thing! You know, a night of free candy?!" "Now now, he can't help it in this situation Chaos." "But-" Quiet you two. "Tch. Fine." "Don't worry, it'll be alright. We'll be quiet." Good...and stop making me acknowledge you two. his mind rambled as he facehoofed one more time. He had found these past few days that the two voices weren't going away no matter what he did. Despite wanting to tell Celestia about it, he just couldn't. He already knew that his trust with her was still a little shaky, despite now being her son. That and she was still cranky of being deprived of cakes, though he couldn't deny he was too. As for why he was angry right now, it was about to be answered by an entering alicorn. "Chrono? Are you in here?" "Yeah. Over here mother." Chrono replied as he turned to the sun mover. Over the past few days, Chrono had agreed to call Celestia 'mother' even though she wanted to be called 'mom' or 'mommy'. (She really wanted the mommy one) After a good three hour debate, she finally gave in and let him call her 'mother'. He mainly argued that he was taught to be very courteous and upright in his upbringing as a time magister and that was why he would call her in such a way. He told her that time magisters didn't have a 'foalhood' as they were breed to control time, which meant strict military-like training from birth. The love of cake is a side effect in order to help give each time magister some personality. Time magisters believe that some personality must be present so that they can improvise effectively when it is necessary. Celestia however, just saw this as somepony who didn't know what it meant to have fun, and decided that she and Chrono would do every event she could think of so that Chrono could live like a normal colt. To say the least, he didn't exactly agree to this in a good comforting way. "Are you still fussing about that?" Celestia groaned as she saw what Chrono was so worried about. "Seriously?!" "Yes I am...mother." Chrono grumbled, his voice slightly grating. "Does it look like I'm happy?!" "You look like you're about to destroy that mirror Chrono." Celestia deadpanned as she turned the colt around to face him directly. "And you need to stop." "But...but this looks so stupid!" he complained as he tugged at his costume. Celestia had picked out a pirate outfit for him to wear for Nightmare Night, only to get a series of complainants, arguments and several choice swear words. She had chosen this since she too would be wearing a pirate costume, only to regret this choice. She had the maids try out several other outfits, only to get same results. Chrono did not want to dress up, which turned to Chrono holing himself up in his room with the pirate costume. "Please Chrono. Just do this for me." "No! This scruffy thing will be the end of me. I told you, it's interfering with my skin-tech!" Chrono whined as he tapped his arm, only to get zero response. "Blasted sleeves! This is why we time magisters use our skin tech to make temporary outfits. They don't interfere, unlike these...these garments." "If that's the case, why haven't you been wearing anything while you've been a pony?" "Because I noticed that most ponies here don't wear clothes. It makes things even easier that way." Chrono grumbled as he kept tapping the hoof. "Come on...come on!" Celestia facehoofed and grabbed his shoulder. "Come on son, let's just go and have some fun, okay? Don't worry about your 'time duties' while we're doing this, alright?" "She's right. Can we just go and get our free candy already?" "Ugh. You are such a glutton Chaos." Quiet you two. Chrono mentally noted before he turned to Celestia, sighing. "Ugh...fine. Let's just get the free candy." "That's the spirit!" Celestia exclaimed with a hug, causing Chrono to chuckle at her glee. Celestia then went into the hallway and yelled. "Guard! Tell my sister that me and my son are leaving for Nightmare Night!" "Um...she's already left the castle your majesty." "She has? Where did she go?" "Ponyville your majesty." "Oh...okay." Celestia shrugged. "At least she's finally getting out. Twilight will probably help her get over the Nightmare Moon stuff. Less work for me." "Twilight?" Chrono asked, hearing her name for the first time. "My student. I'll explain later." Celestia put her wing over her son. "Come, let's go annoy a bunch of snobby nobles for candy." "Sounds good to me." Some time later... Turns out, Nightmare Night was a lot more fun than Chrono thought. He honestly didn't care about having fun, he just wanted to do two things, get candy and eat candy. That was all that mattered. Instead, most nobles gave him and Celestia what could be considered to be the most interesting reactions ever. Chrono's personal favorite was the entire noble family fainting from seeing Celestia just visit their house, which included two maids falling over onto each other in a 'certain type of embrace'. It honestly made him want to use his time powers to put the scene on repeat, but he knew couldn't risk it for something so small. "So, are you enjoying the sweets?" Celestia cooed as she watched Chrono stuff his face. "Mmph. *smack* *chomp* *gulp* Yessss...me like candy." Chrono slurped as he gulped down another piece before grabbing a glass of water Celestia gave him. "Ohhh...the last time I had something like this was twenty-five time cycles ago..." "Twenty-five cycles?" Celestia asked, cocking her eyebrow. "Yeah, it's a time magister term. It would roughly translate to...five years in your time, I think?" Chrono replied as he chomped onto another chocolate confection. "Ooohhhh...this is too good. SO GOOD!!!" a few tears went down his face as he kept eating. Celestia shook her head as her horn shined, levitating the rest of the candy away. "That's enough for tonight my son." Chrono immediately started to wave his hooves in anger. "Hey! I want more! No fair!" "No. That's enough Chrono. You can have some more tomorrow and-" "GIMME CANDY! GIMME MY ******* CANDY RIGHT ******* NOW!!!" "Language!" "I DON'T GIVE A *******-" One argument and punishment for swearing later... "Good night Chrono." "Good night...mother." Chrono grumbled, his teeth grinding at the statement. That and his body now tied down with five different binding spells so he couldn't escape his bed and get the rest of the candy. That and the candy was under about ten spells to prevent Chrono from getting the confectionaries. As Celestia finally left the room, Chrono sighed and thought. Its okay. Just fall to sleep and get candy tomorrow. Candy...tomorrow...candy...tomorrow...AUGH! ITS TOO FAR AWAY!!! The next day... Turns out, Celestia finally found out her limit in terms of binding spells that day. Overall, she could cast about ninety-five before finally running out of energy. Chrono also found out his limit, at least for now since he hasn't had much magic training, which was about twenty bindings he could get rid of before tiring out. He did eat half of the remaining candy before the rest were sealed away though. That, was the morning and middle of the day for Chrono. That night on the other hoof was a different story, as it began with Chrono 'finishing' his maic training for the day. Unfortunately, the training so to speak didn't exactly go well since candy was all that going on in Chrono's mind. Order was convinced that Chaos had found someway to control him, but he denied it everytime. "******* mother. Can't believe she did that." Chrono grumbled as he walked down a hallway with Celestia. "Blasted ******* candy restrictions..." "You do realize I can hear you, right?" Celestia growled as she glared at Chrono. "And what did I tell you about language?" "I know. That's why I'm ******* swearing mother. I'm angry and rebellious because I want my candy." Chrono then gave her a deadpan glare. "You did want me to act like a colt, right?" "Yeah yeah, whatever my son." Celestia facehoofed before a guard came up to her, telling her the news about her sister. Her eyes widened as whatever the guard had just told her reached her ears. "What?! My sister has found an alicorn filly? And she's named Nebula?" "Nebula?" Chrono raised an eyebrow at the name. I don't like the sound of that name. > Of Time and Space Manipulators > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dimensional Lords. To most beings, they don't even know that this organization of beings exist. But they do. Their existence is one that is tied and yet divided with the Time Magisters. In truth, the magisters and dimensional lords hate each other. One is an organization of time bearers, beings that manipulate, preserve and keep time. The other handles the matters of Space. Space and Time go hand in hand, hoof in hoof. Despite this, they hate each other. The Dimensional Lords are beings that manipulate, preserve and help over spatial matters. That and the traveling of dimensions. They help keep the balance of dimensional planes, unstable space, and unnatural powers. They possess the ability to manipulate dimensions and space itself, making sure that power is in the right place. Due to this, they could hand in hand, hoof in hoof mess with Time. However, they still hate each other. They were known to never ever agree with each other. In doing so, Chrono was told to join Celestia when meeting this 'Nebula' he had heard about. He felt his stomach toil as the name 'Nebula' made him cringe. His mind was aflame from thinking about that name. Why? Why do I think something really bad is about to happen? "Pretty sure you're thinking that since your entire mission keeps going down the tubes." "Chaos! You know that's not true!" "Oh come on Order! You know that he's going crazy and things keep getting crazier. That's just how it works here!" "Now listen here, you know that-" Quiet you two! I don't need you two yelling in my head while I meet this 'Nebula'! he yelled internally, causing both voices to vanish. He knew they would be back, but he didn't care. All he knew is that he was about to meet somepony new and then cake would happen. Cake made everything better. A few minutes later, his initial thoughts became reality as he and Celestia went to greet this newcomer. As they went to the other side of the castle, Chrono couldn't help but think that something bad was about to happen. Then, they finally reached Luna, who had a small blue alicorn filly with a dark purple mane with her. Chrono's eyes shrunk as he instantly recognized what the filly really was. Oh ****. No...no no no! Not a Dimensional Lord! Not here! Not now! he let out a groan as he stared at the filly, who just glared at him. This is not gonna go well, is it? "Seriously? You're asking that now? You kept thinking that before you got here!" "Stop that Chaos! You know that-" Be quiet! I'm not in the mood to listen to you ramble on! We have a situation here! "We?" "Be quiet Chaos. Let him think." Chrono looked to Celestia and then Luna as night princess spoke up, "Nebula, meet your soon-to-be-cousin, Chrono Stream!" she exclaimed as she pointed to Chrono. Chrono just blinked at the exchange as Celestia replied, "I see you've already planned on adopting this filly. Oh, the nobles will have a fit when they hear of this." "Forget that simple-minded rabble, for today is yet another glorious night! And right after Nightmare Night! Perhaps we can have a third night of glory in a row tomorrow night!" Luna yelled as Chrono ignored her as he began a staring contest with 'Nebula'. The filly soon decided to walk right up Chrono, their muzzles almost touching as they continued to glare at each other. It was here that another voice spoke up, one that Chrono recognized but he hadn't noticed this individual had entered the hallway. "Umm... aunties? I think something is wrong with the two foals." Cadance said as Celestia and Luna were now temporarily distracted by the Alicorn of Love. "What are you doing here?" Nebula hissed, her teeth gritting. "None of your business, but I could ask the same for you." Chrono whispered as he gave her the stink eye. "Well, I'll be honest then, I have no idea why I'm here." "Typical for one of you dimensional egomaniacs." Chrono sneered, wanting to facehoof at this confrontation. "Pretentious time-obsessed snob." Nebula whispered back with a continuing glare. "OOOOHHH!! She told you son! You gonna take that?!" Shut up. "Agreed. Be silent Chaos." You too. Chrono irked as he yelled inside his head. Celestia then leaned down with a cocked eyebrow in confusion. "Have you two met before?" "Never seen him in my entire life." Nebula responded before Chrono could reply. Seeing this, Luna gave a face of joy. "They were trying to assert their dominance!" Everypony looked at Luna as Celestia replied, "That is just a ridiculous thing for you to sa—" "I was asserting my dominance." Nebula interrupted, making Chrono frown as Celestia then glared at the alicorn filly. "Then why, pray tell, were you asserting your dominance over a colt that is going to be your cousin?" "Cause I wanted to let him know who's boss out of the two of us." Chrono and Celestia both wanted to facehoof from that statement. Instead, a sudden puff of smoke appeared before the sun princess. Inside was a scroll, which Celestia quickly enveloped in her magic before quickly reading. "Ah, it seems my student or one of her friends has sent me a letter." Celestia's face soon changed back to wanting to facehoof as she finished reading the letter. "What is wrong sister? Is one of the Elements in trouble?" Luna asked, seeing the slight disgust on her sister's face. "No, but this is a letter from Pinkie Pie, addressed to the newest member of our family," Celestia answered as she glared at Nebula before fully closing the scroll. "There's a letter already addressed for me? And here I was hoping to be that black sheep of the family that no pony pays attention to," Nebula said as everypony responded with a slight look of confusion. "What? I never said I was a normal pony, even if I'm an alicorn. So are you going to tell me what it is, my future aunt-to-be?" Celestia then started on how Pinkie was going to make her 'smile', which made Chrono just mentally groan. He ignored the next few statements as he looked Nebula over. Ugh. Why is there a Dimensional Lord here?! WHY?! This mission just keeps getting worse and worse. "No kidding huh? Nothing better than something showing up to mess things up even more, huh? Remember what happened when you encountered Pinkie two days ago? That was pure insanity." Tch. Can't disagree there...to a voice I don't acknowledge. "Oh really? And what about-" "That's enough Chaos. We need to report to the other time magisters now that a Dimensional Lord is here." I agree. "Ugh...fine." "Yes Nebula, welcome to our family," Celestia said as Chrono snapped himself back into the conversation. Celestia on the other hoof, decided to end the conversation. "I'll see you three at breakfast, I'm going to have the chefs prepare some extra cake today." "Now that's more like it!" "Now now, we need to-" Don't care. Cake comes first. "But what about-" "You heard the man! Cake first, time garbage later." With that, Chrono began his trek to the dining hall with Celestia. He knew that tonight he would have to report to the time magisters over the Dimensional Lord, but right now? Right now was cake time and that was all that mattered. > Losing Time > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLAM! That was the sound of Chrono closing the door of his room. As he hopped onto his bed, the alicorn colt tapped his hoof as a small screen appeared. He stared deeply into the screen as he tapped it several times before showing a certain number. Taking a long deep breath, he closed his eyes as he grumbled to himself, telling himself that he seriously hoped things wouldn't turn out the way he was fearing. However, as he tapped the screen one more time, he knew his fate would then be decided. "Transmitting code for 173852. This is over timeline 47.383. I would like to report a...oh this is too ******* much. I would like to report a 1-alpha-delta-35." Chrono sat there for a second, waiting for a response. His eyes kept twitching as he stared at the screen, his teeth gritting. Come on...come on! "This isn't going to go well, is it?" "I must agree with you there Chaos. Reporting a Dimensional Lord is never good." Quiet you two. I need full concentration here. After all, I need to- "Transmission received 173852. Dimensional Lord eh?" Chrono let out a small sigh of relief. "Indeed. Good to hear another Time Magister's voice. Especially yours." "I suspect so captain. According to our readings, you've been stuck on that timeline for a week. Though, I'm guessing it was due to the malfunction we had here with our equipment." "It was." Chrono groaned as he laid his head on a pillow. "Say, was the cake we ordered any good?" "Eh, it was fine." "Can't win them all." Chrono clicked his teeth and then spoke up again, "Anyways, on to business. I got a Dimensional Lord on my tail. Stinking space monger showed up today and..." "You had to report it. Understood captain." Several noises similar to typing followed. "Let's see...you're on timeline 47.383, so I'll need to check and see if there has been any spatial anomalies. Hold please captain." "Understood. Holding." Chrono replied as he pulled up another screen. He rubbed his chin as he tapped another screen, trying to see the data he had already created. Nothing on the timeline has changed despite that space freak being here. Let's see... "Captain?" "Go ahead." "We've identified the space **** on the timeline you're on. Looks like this one has quite the track record." Chrono groaned, "Oh boy. How ******* bad is it?" "Looks like we a ******* genocider class space manipulating ****. Apparently took out the Venanites." "Oh great. Just the problem I need, a ******* monster destroyer." Chrono facehoofed as heard that news. He then glared at the screen as he shook his hoof. "What do the superiors say?" "I sent them the report and...I'm still waiting captain." "Understood. So...anything else new?" "Well captain, I did get a special deal on orange sherbet cake with a special chocolate frosting on top. Got twenty percent off. I also got a special deal with the guy two capsules down, we got a new betting pool on how far the bosses can go before doing another declaration of war against the **** space ******." "Oh really? How much is in the pot?" "Pretty big. Got 352 in the main pot right now." "How many magisters are participating?" Chrono asked as he tapped his second screen, pulling up his bank account. "I'm in the two week pot, which has 37 members. 45 for one week." "Any for three weeks?" "Um...should be about 15 captain. Want in?" "Hmm...put me in for three weeks. I'm always down for guessing how long it takes to get angry at those space *****." "Alright. How much you putting in captain?" "Eh, I'll send it to you shortly." "Alright. Now, how has the mission-wait! Got a report from the superiors!" Chrono perked up hearing that. "What's up? New orders?" "Yeah, let's see here...oh." "I don't like the sound of that." Chrono remarked as he heard the drop in his voice. "What does it say?" "It uh...I better just transmit it to you." "Okay." Chrono grumbled, expecting the worse. A few beeps later, the report appeared on his screen. His eyes soon scanned it over as he read aloud. "Let's see here...due to your report and confirmation that 173852, that's me, has now encountered a genocider class Dimensional Lord in timeline 47.383, a new order is needed. This is the new order, 173852 must continue his mission to retrieve the time device and now must also..." Chrono's eyes went wide as he slowly read the next words. "watch over the timeline until...the...Dimensional Lord...leaves?!" What followed made Chrono's comrade mute the transmission so the mic and recording equipment didn't malfunction due to the screams Chrono yelled at that moment. "WHAT THE ****?! ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ******* ME?! ALL BECAUSE OF THAT ****** SPACE **** WHO JUST ******* SHOWED UP AND ******* DECIDED TO ******* INTERFERE WITH MY ******* MISSION THAT I HAVE ******* STAY HERE EVEN ******* LONGER?! AUGH! SON OF A ******* SPACE *****! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! ****! ****! ****! ****! ******* ****! AUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!! Huff...huff....****!" Seeing that there was no more noise interference, the other time magister turned the audio back on. "Um, are you okay captain?" "I'm fine. Just uh...can I come back to at least get my skin-tech repowered? Its almost completely drained." "Sure. No problem." "Good. That's good." Chrono fell back onto his bed as he tapped a few screens, trying to activate a teleport beacon to go back to base. As he did this, his mind only said one more thing. I hate this. All I wanted to do was complete my mission, get some extra cake and candy, and go home. Now, I'm stuck here to play babysitter for a space ****! AUGH! Curse you Nebula, you ******* space ****! > More Time Problems than the Title Suggests > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrono had just returned from HQ. Thanks to his skin-tech, teleporting there and back was a breeze, and this time, his skin-tech was at full power. Granted, he was glad that the mess of losing all his skin-tech's power was cleared up so he could use his skin-tech to fix any problems that the future held. Unfortunately, he now knew that he was completely, utterly stuck in this timeline until Nebula decided to leave. That fact was now real, causing him to be filled with unending rage. Rage that could cause several time paradoxes, disrupt every timestream law and cause one certain alicorn colt to go completely, mind-numbing crazy while causing said paradoxes and breaking of laws. Because of this, he knew that there was only one way to fix that rage. Chrono hopped out of bed and walked up to his bedroom's main door. He slowly opened it, only to notice a single guard standing outside his room. Coughing for a second, Chrono spoke up, "Hey you." "Hmm? Yes, Prince Chrono?" the guard asked back as he turned towards the colt. "Yeah...listen here pal, could I ask you favor?" "Sure. What do you need your majesty?" the guard replied with a bow. "Booze." The guard just blinked at that answer. He wasn't sure what to say next. "Um...excuse me?" "Booze." Chrono deadpanned. "As in booze booze. You know, the stuff you use to fight off depression even though its a depressant?" "Um...you're just a colt your majesty. You can't-" "GET ME SOME ******* BOOZE RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I'LL HAVE YOUR ******* HEAD ON A ******* PIKE WHILE I DRINK A **** TON OF BOOZE WHILE I'M ******* KILLING YOU!" "Uh...well..." "GIMME BOOZE NOW!" One segment of trying to get a guard fired and failing later... "I can't believe it. I just can not **-OW! believe I'm **-OW! not allowed to have **-OW! booze!" Chrono grumbled to himself as he made his way to the castle's library. "And I can't **-OW! believe that Celestia put this stupid **-OW! anti-swearing curse on me! And its supposed last a **-OW! week?! WHAT THE **-OW! Stop doing that, you blasted **-OW! curse!" "Uh...are you okay Prince Chrono?" said a passing by guard. "Do you want your liver taken out and shoved down your **-OW! throat?!" Chrono hissed back. "Um...no?" the guard squeaked back. "Then leave me the..." Chrono stopped himself, putting a hoof in his mouth. "Just leave. Now." "Yes your majesty." And with that, Chrono entered the library. Once again, he easily dodged the librarian's vision and proceeded to the aisle of books over advanced magic. There, he looked over a few other volumes since he only recorded one of them in his skin-tech. Let's see here...no. No. I don't need the simple spells, at least according to the translation I'm getting. I need something with a bit more kick. "Okay, what are we doing here? Last time you did this, me and the blue **** got stuck in your subconscious." "Chaos! Language!" "Oh shut up! The curse doesn't work on voices in his head!" Quiet you two. Chrono internally said as he started up his skin-tech to record another book. I'm recording these books over spells since I jumped the gun last time. This knowledge could be useful later on, especially since I might be stuck here for more than two months. "Oh. That makes sense, I guess." "So...what should we do after this?" Simple. We go back my room and start testing any time spells I can find. The voices in his head 'looked' at each other, both showing looks of pure fear as they heard the skin-tech let out a ding, signifying that the recording was done. Seems things were about to change again. One transition to Chrono's bedroom later... "So...what spell are we doing that's gonna mess your head this time?" Not sure. I want to find a type of 'time window' spell. "Time window?! Isn't that against the rules? Time magisters aren't allowed to use their skin-tech to see glimpses of a timeline after they've traveled to it. It could mess up the order of events!" In normal circumstances, that's true. Chrono thought as he tapped the screen again, still wondering why he's talking to these voices he was still trying to not acknowledge. But, this isn't skin-tech. Therefore, it isn't against the rules. Besides, all I want to do is make sure I'm not stuck here for half a century thanks to that stupid space ** "OW!" "Wow. The curse even covers his thoughts." Shut up. I need you two to be quiet so I can-wait, maybe this will work. "What is it?" Chrono coughed once more before reading the spell out loud. "Let see here, 'Starswirl's Time Vision'. This spell is designed to certain events of time based on certain points that are...inconsequential?" "Wait...what? Did that just say what I think it said?" "It did." Chrono replied as he scratched the side of his head. "Its a spell where you can see the past, present and future...but it shows events that won't change the timeline. Interesting." Chrono tapped the screen again as he scrolled through the remaining spells. He soon noticed that every spell had some sort of safety mechanism attached to them. "Interesting. Very interesting....seems this Starswirl character was quite smart. He thought of everything that could go wrong with these spells and fixed them appropriately." "How so?" "Looks like when you use this 'time vision' spell, which shows a type of time window in front of you, it shows only events that don't matter. For instance, if you use it to view the exact same moment of time twice, the results won't matter. Like...you could use it to view a morning next week. One vision could show you brushing your teeth, while the other might just show you just getting up. Either way, it doesn't show anything important, it always makes sure to show inconsequential things that won't affect the timeline." Chrono tapped the screen one more time. "If that's the case, that could be very useful to me." "Let me guess, you're gonna see if you're still here a few months down the line." "Correct. Though...there might be a slight problem here." "Oh dear, not again." "Yeah...looks like Starswirl made this for unicorns, not alicorns. But...I should be okay. I just need to make sure I use less power." "WHAT?! Didn't you just say that last time you jumped the gun?! Don't-" "SHUT UP!" Chrono yelled, causing the outside guard to just glance at the bedroom door. "Be quiet. I need to know. If I don't know, I'm going to go get some **-OW! booze which I can't have. So its the spell or booze. Got it?" "I...very well. I can't stop you." "Good. Let's begin." Chrono's horn began to shine as he read the spell. After reading it again, he closed his eyes as his mind kept thinking about the destination he wanted to see. "Show me...show me the future. Show me...show-" "CHRONO! Are you ready to have some fun?!" said a sudden voice as it entered the room, slamming the bedroom door open. It was Cadance, who quickly shut the door behind her. "Aunt Celestia asked me to look over you after you tried to...to..." Cadance's expression turned from happy to worried as she saw the light shining from Chrono's horn. "What are you-" "AAAAHHHH!" Chrono yelped from the sudden door opened and slamming shut, causing his concentration to be broken. The spell then shot out of his horn, bouncing around the room in response. "Eek!" Cadance shrieked as she watched the spell keep bouncing around before it did last one ricochet. Cadance's eyes widened as the spell hit her, knocking her out instantly. Chrono on the other hoof, fell off his bed, knocking the wind out of him. "Ugh...that hurt. Not as bad as the **-OW! swear curse, but still." Chrono said to himself as he got up. He rubbed his forehead before shaking his head as he got up and saw the unconscious Cadance. "Oh **-OW! Cadance! Are you okay?!" Chrono ran up and shook the knocked out alicorn, trying to wake her up. It was then that a certain noise caught his ears. He saw Cadance's horn begin to shine, and noticed that it was the spell from earlier. "What the...the spell! Why is it-" ZAP! The spell shot out of the horn, knocking Chrono off of his feet. He watched the spell turn into a beam as it flew out of her horn and into the wall. What followed was a large 'window', but it didn't show anything. "What in the...it's not showing a window?" Then, his question was answered as the 'window' suddenly spat out a young mare. She had a whitish-pink coat with a light purple mane with light blue streaks. Chrono could only blink as the young mare got up and looked at him with a look of rage and fear combined. "WHAT THE ****?! Where am I?!" she yelled before grabbing Chrono's neck. "What is this?!" "Um...I uh...er..." Chrono stuttered before the mare let go of him and walked over to Cadance. Chrono just fell to the ground and grabbed his neck, coughing. "What in the-" Chrono looked back at the mare and he felt like he was about to shrink into the floor. The mare was now furious as she stopped looking at Cadance and glared at Chrono. He could feel a sudden amount of magic power in front of him, more than anything he had ever felt. His eyes shrunk as the mare flared her wings and her horn started to shine. It was this moment that he realized that she was an alicorn, something he should have noticed earlier. The young mare's eyes turned into a death glare as she hissed. "What did you do to my mother?!" "Mother?" Chrono yelped, not understanding what she meant. "I am Princess Flurry Heart and you will pay for hurting my mother!" > Fearing the Future Family Member > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Chrono repeated as Flurry's magic aura grabbed his body and began flinging him around the room like a ragdoll. "Ow! Will you-ow! stop-ow! doing-ow! that?!" "NO!" Flurry yelled as she slammed him into the floor and put her hoof on top of his head. "What the **** did you do?! What did you do to my mother, you ********?!" "I didn't-ow! Stop that and let me explain!" "Grrr..." Flurry shook her other hoof and then released him. "Fine. Explain. Now." "Ugh...that **-ow! hurt..." Chrono moaned as he rubbed his cheek. He wanted to say more, but the glare he was already getting made him stop. "Darn it." "Explain wimp. And make it snappy." And so Chrono explained. He told her about why he was doing the spell and how it messed up when Cadance interrupted him. He made sure to leave the time magister part, and instead just saying he was doing the spell as an experiment that Cadance unfortunately interfered with. After this, Flurry just glared at him and back at her young mother. "So...let me get this straight." Flurry grumbled as she stared Chrono straight in the eyes. "You messed up a time window spell, and it hit my mom?" "That's right." Chrono nodded. "And now...I'm in the past." Flurry hissed as she looked back at her still knocked out parent. "Great. I would say you're lying but...mom really does look young." Flurry crossed her hooves before glancing back at Chrono. "And you, you're my uncle Chrono Stream. Wow, you look really young." "Let me guess, I'm a full-blown stallion in your time, aren't I?" Chrono groaned, wanting to facehoof as he watched Flurry nod at his question. He could tell that Flurry Heart was a teenager, and that meant only one thing in his mind. If that's case, and if I'm her 'uncle' to her, I'm going to be stuck here for a very very long time... "Something wrong with that?" Flurry asked, her head tilting while asking. "Its...nothing." Chrono said before getting up and patting himself down. "Say, are we good?" "Good?" "Yeah. Good, as in, are you no longer going to attack me because of what happened to Cadance?" "Yeah. We're good." Flurry nodded before she got up as well. "So...what do we do? Its obvious I shouldn't be here and..." Chrono began scratching the back of his head. "Yeah...about that. I need to figure out a way to send you back before your mother wakes up." "And if you don't?" "Time itself might fall apart." Chrono deadpanned. "And I'm not kidding here, a time paradox might happen." Flurry rubbed her chin in response. "Okay. If that's the case, I'll help you figure this out. After all, I shouldn't be here." "Really? What about the whole bit of you beating me up and throwing me around like a ragdoll?" "Oh, I'm still gonna do that, just when I meet your older self when you send me back you ********." Flurry cursed as she walked over to mom and her horn began to shine. "Until then, I'll need to make sure mom doesn't see me. Good thing I had Aunt Twilight as a magic teacher. That and King Thorax." "That's some weird sounding names." "I agree. I wonder if we meet them in the future." Agreed. Her existence is a time anomaly right now, and I have to make sure she doesn't tell me anything about the future. Though I wonder, just what is she doing? Chrono thought before his eyes went wide as he watched the alicorn's magical aura cover her whole body. A bright light soon followed, causing the colt to cover his eyes. A moment later, he opened them, only to see the same alicorn, but with dark green hair and no wings. "What in the-" "Its an illusion spell *******." Flurry grumbled as she adjusted her hooves before looking back at Chrono, who was still wide-eyed and confused. "What?! Its a simple ******* spell." "That's...incredible." Chrono replied, blinking. That's as advanced as my skin-tech! I mean, I can only somewhat change my appearance if necessary, but she made it look like she changed races! Incredible! "Uh...sure it is." Flurry said as she levitated her mother onto the bed. "Say, why don't we ******* go somewhere else so she doesn't wake up with us around. I'm pretty sure you don't want her around so she can play twenty ******* questions with us." "Agreed." Chrono nodded as he headed for the door. "Let's go find someplace where I can retry the spell." "Yeah..." Flurry replied before blinking as a certain realization hit her. "Wait, don't you need my mom to redo the spell? I mean, it happened cuz your **** hit her, right?" "No." Chrono shook his head. "I can just trace what part of the timeline you're from and send you back. She's not needed." Chrono motioned her to follow. "Come on, we need to be quick about this. We have to make sure no one meets-" "Good afternoon son." said a certain calm and generous voice as Flurry quickly hid behind the door. "Aw **-ow!" Chrono grumbled before his curse acted up again. "Seems the spell is still working." Celestia grinned as she patted him on the head. "Too bad you're still not learning." "Yeah yeah..." Chrono muttered before putting on a fake smile. "Hello mother. What are you doing here?" "Oh nothing much. I was just coming by to tell you that another meeting came up, so I need you to stay with Cadance a bit longer." "Oh...okay." Chrono replied before Celestia noticed the sleeping princess of love on Chrono's bed. "Say, why is Cadance asleep?" "Oh that?" Chrono looked back at Cadance before grinning at his mother. "Let's just say my energy is too much for her." "Pfft-HA!" Celestia giggled before glaring at the colt with a cold dead stare. "I doubt that son. What did you do?" "I...uh...er..." Chrono muttered, trying to think of an excuse. He looked at the floor as he could feel sweat start to form under his hair. "What. Did. You. Do. To my niece?" Celestia asked in a cold, icy voice. "And don't lie. I don't care how old you really are Chrono, tell me what happened." "Okay, even I don't know what you should do here." "Um...perhaps you should tell her that she wouldn't understand anyways? That is the truth." You got a point. Chrono thought before looking up at Celestia. "Listen, can I just say that I tried a spell and..." Chrono looked at Cadance and then Celestia again. "She interrupted it and things went wrong." "So...is she going to be okay?" Celestia asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Yeah." Chrono nodded. "She's just asleep. Don't worry, I used my...time magister abilities to check her vitals, she's fine." "Alright. I'm trusting you with that then son. After all, I need to get to the meeting." Celestia groaned as she shook her head. "Just...don't get into any trouble, okay?" "I won't." Chrono nodded as she gave a nod as well before leaving. As she left, Chrono let out a long sigh before a tap on his shoulder happened. "Hmm?" "Nice acting ********." Flurry remarked before leaving the room. She turned around and glared at Chrono. "So, we gonna get time **** done or what?" "Yeah, let's go." Chrono nodded before closing the door. They then walked down the hallway towards another room, as they walked down it, Chrono spoke up. "We're going to do the spell in Celestia's room. They'll let me inside there and no one should disturb us." "Sounds good ********." "Tch. What a vulgar pony." "I like it." As they passed down another hall, Chrono spoke up again, "So...you're Princess Flurry Heart, right?" "Yep. That's my ******* name, don't wear it out." "Huh. Considering how you threw around like a rag doll back in my room, they should call you Fury Heart." "And they should call you Time ******* since you messed things up you ****." Flurry spat back. "And don't call me Flurry while I'm here you dumb ****! I'm not supposed to be here, remember?" "I know." Chrono grumbled. "I'm just glad you're smart and understanding. This would have been a total **-OW! pain if you were unreasonable." "Oh, I'm totally reasonable, especially when it comes to dumb ***** who decide to send me back in time without my permission." Flurry remarked with a cocky grin. "That, and I'm the ******* smartest pony I know." "And the most vulgar princess I know." Chrono shot back. "And you have a tiny ****. Nice to meet you, uncle Chrono ****." "I think I'm starting to hate you." "Love you too, you time messing ****." "Ugh..." groaned as they walked up to the room. "Let's just go inside and get this over with." "Sounds good to me." "Good." Chrono said as he shut the door behind them. "This'll only take a minute." Three hours of time spell failures, vulgarities, and other things too boring to mention later... "I'm stuck here with you, aren't I?" Flurry groaned as her horn shined a brilliant glowing light. A similar colored aura placed itself around Chrono's neck as she continued to strangle him. "Well?" "Um..." Chrono gasped, his neck slowly constricting from her hoof. "I'm not...urk...sure why...ugh...this isn't working." With that, Flurry released her hold, knocking the colt to the floor. As he scrambled to get up, Flurry let out another groan before saying, "Alright. My old foalsitter used to tell me that time travel is tricky and things are always prone to go wrong with it. Of course, that's why Starlight told me not to mess with time travel or break any of its stupid ******* rules." she whispered to herself before sighing. "So, if we can't get this to work, we'll do the next best thing." "Which is?" Chrono coughed as his hoof rubbed his neck from the pain. "Simple. We go see the smartest pony I know. We'll go see my ******* aunt, Twilight Sparkle." > Time and Hiding (No cake was harmed in this chapter. Some may have been eaten though.) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Twilight Sparkle? You wish to meet my protégé?" Celestia asked, surprised at Chrono's sudden request to leave Canterlot. "Why do you want to meet her?" "Well..." Chrono muttered, his form slightly shaking from asking Celestia such a request. It had been just an hour or so after Flurry Heart had given her suggestion. Seeing that his time spells were not working, he agreed to it...but didn't exactly plan the next move. "Welp, old Fury Heart was totally right. You're an impulsive idiot." "Chaos! That was uncalled for!" "Its the truth and you know it. After all, he just-" Will you two be quiet and help me?! "Sooo...are you acknowledging us now?" Just help me or shut up. Chrono thought, anger in his thinking tone. After another moment of thinking, he mentally facehoofed as he realized he was finally acknowledging the talking voices in his head. That and the fact that they weren't going to help him since they decided to shut up. Okay...let's see if I can bluff myself out of this one. "Is it a time thing?" Celestia blurted out before he could speak, causing Chrono to hop in place. "Is that reaction a yes?" "Err...you could call it that." Chrono replied as he started scratching his neck. Think! Come on! Think up an excuse!!! Chrono mentally hit himself again before saying, "I uh...believe that the time anomaly I'm looking for might not happen here in Canterlot and um..." "I see." Celestia rubbed her chin in response. "It definitely is true that where Twilight lives right now is a...center for trouble. But why are you asking this now? Haven't you been trying to figure this out the past week or so?" "Let's just say I was recently asked to take a...new perspective." Chrono muttered, looking down at the ground. Please buy this. Please buy this. "Hmm...very well. I'll let you see Twilight." "Really?!" "Yes." Celestia nodded. "I have no reason to refuse. Though you will have to agree to do something with me first." "Okay." Chrono agreed. He had learned over the time he had spent with Celestia that it would probably be something fun. That or some excuse for her so she could slack off for a day. "What are we doing?" "Simple. You're going to help me prank some nobles that are annoying me. Oh, and we'll do it tomorrow." "Oh...okay." Chrono nodded again, his mind wanting to blink at that statement. Oh boy, that's not good. Last time we did some prank, it almost set the kitchen on fire. "Um...not to disturb you but uh...aren't you forgetting our time traveling companion?" Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Chrono thought as he hugged Celestia before returning to his room. As he entered the hallway towards his destination, he mentally kicked himself. Hmm...what should I do? I'm not going to be able to leave Canterlot unless I do this tomorrow. So...what do I do? "Guess you gotta spill the beans to Fury Heart. Can't wait to see this." "Chaos! Stop being mean!" Its fine. Just shut up you two. Chrono thought as he grabbed his bedroom's doorknob. Here we go... "About time you got back, you ********." Flurry said as she watched the colt walk in. Cadance had woken up while the two were out trying the time spells, so Flurry was able to sneak back into his room with ease. "Well, did it ******* work?" "Well..." One explanation later... "WHAT THE ****?! ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME?!" "Will you stop yelling?! You're not supposed to be here, remember?!" Chrono barked back, trying to calm her down. "Besides, you should be glad its just one day. She could have said a week. Do you want to sneak around here for one week?" "Well...no." Flurry admitted. "But still-" "Then don't complain." Chrono deadpanned. "We should see this as a blessing in disguise. That means you have a day that you can use to secure a route for you to sneak out of here if you need to." "Grrr...fine. You have a point." Flurry pouted. "Alright, I'll use tomorrow to find a route to Ponyville without being seen as a just in case plan. Shouldn't be too hard." "Good." Chrono replied before going inside his closet. There, he tapped his hoof, activating his skin-tech. Let's see...I should have some spare camping equipment I can summon with my tech. There should be a sleeping bag in there. A few touches later, a small sleeping bag appeared out of thin air. Good thing we stole that space tech from those space **-ow! AUGH! Why are my thoughts censored by that curse?! "You okay in there?" "Yeah...I'm fine." Chrono opened the closet and threw the sleeping bag at her. "Here, use this. I'm sorry if its too small, its all I got." "Oh..." Flurry remarked as she grabbed the bag and opened it up. "Huh. Okay. This'll be fine." With that, she walked inside the closet and unfurled the bag and laid inside. "I am kinda sleepy. I'll sleep in here so nopony can see me." "I...was about to suggest that." Chrono muttered, feeling his thunder was slightly taken. "Just be glad I'm this ******* adaptable, you piece of ****." Flurry countered as her glowed, closing the doors with her magic. "Night ********." "Yeah...good night." Chrono replied before hopping onto his bed. As he started staring into the ceiling, he let out a sigh. Time anomalies, Celestia, Flurry Heart...that space **-OW! Ugh...way too many problems. Chrono mentally stopped and stared at the closet. "Hey Flurry?" "Yeah?" "Thanks." "For what?" "For uh...for being cool with this and helping me with it." "Yeah yeah, whatever." Flurry moaned as she turned over in the bag. "My aunt Twilight taught me to try to be nice to everypony...I just have problems showing it. Either way, you're welcome." "Yeah...thanks." Two days later... Turns out, the next day wasn't so bad for Chrono Stream. He basically had a day where him and Celestia just hung out. Celestia had a cake eating contest with him, showed him a bit more of the politics of Canterlot, (She still believes he'll be around for a lot longer than he wants to be) and also showed him the secrets of sun-flavored donuts, a specialty created in secret by a pony named Joe. Despite all this, Chrono found the politics to actually be the most interesting part of the day, as it mainly involved tricking nobles in to being the biggest flank kissers ever. He was mainly intrigued by this thanks to his past experiences of low level soldier stature. Also, Flurry kept to her side of the bargain and stayed out of sight. That is, till that night where Chrono brought Celestia to his room. "So let me get this straight, you messed up another time spell?" Celestia asked as they got closer to Chrono's room. "Yes." Chrono nodded with a sheepish smile. "In doing so, I brought someone from the future of this timeline. I'm having them currently hide so they uh...you know, don't mess up the timeline." "I see." Celestia replied as they found themselves now standing in front of the door. "And you want me to give her a false identity until you can get her back to her time?" "Yes. I need it so she can make sure she doesn't arouse suspicion when she joins me to Ponyville." Chrono sighed as he looked up to Celestia. "I'm sorry mother. I didn't mean for it to happen, I was just trying to fulfill my mission." "I know." Celestia shook her head. "However, if I do this Chrono, I'll do it on one condition." "Alright." Chrono gulped. He knew he was already in trouble, so he knew it could get worse depending on what she said next. "You will never do a time spell again unless I'm around, understand?" "Well...but I'm going to your protégé so I can change what I've done." "I know. You told me this time traveler knows that Twilight is smart in this field. I understand that Chrono. Twilight is proficient in all types of magic." Celestia then glared at Chrono with a narrowed expression. "And I will allow you to do time spells with Twilight. But nopony else, got it? When you return to Canterlot, you will do the spells when I'm around. Do I make myself clear?!" "Crystal." Chrono nodded again. That's not that bad of a deal. I can handle that. "Alright, let's meet our time traveling visitor." "Er...maybe just not yet mother." Chrono motioned Celestia to sit still. "I need her to cast her illusion spell. I can't have you recognizing someone you might meet in the future. You know, time paradoxes and stuff." "Oh...of course." Celestia nodded. "I understand, go ahead." Chrono then entered his room and walked up to the closet. He tapped twice and whispered, "Hey. Flurry Heart, are you in there?" "What?!" Flurry muttered back. "I was having a good ******* nap, you ********." "I need you to use that illusion on yourself and make up a name." "Why?!" "I uh...the only way I can get you to this Twilight Sparkle is to have you meet my mother." "Uh...you mean my great aunt Celestia?!" Flurry almost yelled, causing Chrono to let out a 'shhh!' "Yes! I'm sorry, but it was the only way." Chrono forcefully whispered. "I had no choice. But don't worry, she knows you're a time traveler and she knows that she can't see what you really look like. Don't worry, I explained the rules to her and she's agreed." "Well..." Flurry wanted to talk back, but she knew her great aunt. She remembered plenty of times where her aunt would show she was one of the more level headed ponies of their family. "Okay. Give me a minute." One illusion spell later... Chrono opened the door, letting Celestia in. As she walked in, she saw Flurry with no wings and dark green hair, calling herself 'Love Wing'. Celestia was initially skeptical about the name, but knew it was just an alias. "So...Love Wing?" "Yes Princess Celestia?" Flurry responded. This feels so weird, actually saying my great aunt's title. "You do understand that I'll need to transport you separately from my son to Ponyville, correct? After all, you don't exactly exist right now in terms of your real identity." Celestia explained as she looked Flurry over. "Chrono told me you haven't even been born in this time, which makes this even harder." "I know." Flurry huffed, crossing her hooves. "I know that I have to make sure I don't make any time paradoxes with telling anypony about the future or anything. I just gotta make sure I get back to my time and not tell anypony about anything about the future." "I see. Thank you for being so...understanding." Celestia complimented, her eyes still scanning Flurry over. Hmm...I wonder if I know her parents? Then again, I better not find out. "No problem." Flurry said as she went back to the closet. "Welp, I'm going to bed. Long day tomorrow and everything." "Um...okay." Celestia tried to respond, only to see Flurry hop back inside the closet, slamming the door shut. She looked at Chrono with an expression of slight concern. "She beats to her own drum, doesn't she?" "Yeah...don't ask." Chrono replied before hugging Celestia good night. A little later, Celestia left and Chrono hopped onto his bed. He performed a quick check on his skin-tech, making sure everything was alright. Let's see here...timeline looks good even though I brought Flurry here to the wrong time. As long as I can make sure she doesn't involve herself with any major event, I should be okay. "Tch. Why are you even bothering? Haven't you messed up the timeline enough already?! Just use your skin-tech to send her back!" "You know he can't do that Chaos! He doesn't authorization!" "Yeah yeah, sounds like an excuse to not have more chocolate cake with Celestia. Instead, you want to go on some wild goose chase!" "My my, someone's cranky tonight. What's wrong Chaos, did a snake bite you?" "No. Just ticked off that I have to sit here and watch mister time magister screw up again. That and knowing that this little adventure won't make me happy." "Oh really? And what makes you happy?" "Two things. Cake or you dead." "DEAD?! Why would you think such a horrible thing?!" "I don't think it Order, I imagine. Watch:" Chaos 'snapped' his fingers and a screen appeared in Chrono's head. Chaos then began rolling through several slides on the screen. "See this? This is me. This next slide is you dead. And this slide is me happy because you're dead. You want fries with that?" "Sounds like someone's salty." Will you two be quiet?! I'm trying to sleep! And no Chaos, I'm not acknowledging you. With that, Chrono fell asleep. He felt good that he had a full plan this time, ready to seize the next day which would let him go to Ponyville. That is, till tomorrow arrived. "Yaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn." Chrono yawned, his hooves stretching as he tried to get out of bed. A few minutes later, the colt hopped off, walking into the bathroom, ready to start his morning routine. As his eyes adjusted to the morning light, he peeked into the bathroom mirror, only to do a double take at his face. "What in the name of..." His eyes began to widen as he saw the sight before him. His red mane was bright lime green and his white coat was a distinct pitch black color. He blinked at his new form as he sat there, completely shocked at his new look. That is, till a scream could be heard throughout the castle from the sight. > Meeting the Sparkle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "**-OW! **-OW! **-OW! Stupid piece of **-OW!, blasted **-OW! swear curse that is **-OW! my life up! AAAAUUUUUGGHHHHHH!" Chrono yelled as he hit the mirror, making a giant crack as the end of his hoof began to bleed from the shattered glass. "Huff...huff...huff...hate this. This is so stupid that it has to be that **-OW! stupid space freak...curse you Nebula. Curse you..." he panted before hearing his closet's door slam open. "What the ****?!" Flurry yelled as she hit the bathroom door. "What the **** are you yelling about?!" "Look at me!" Chrono screamed, pointing at himself. Flurry blinked for a second before rubbing her eyes, trying to focus due to her just waking up. "Hang on you *****. Just what is..." Flurry's eyes grew the size of dinner plates as she finally saw the new 'paint job' that was Chrono's coat and mane. "Pffft! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she laughed as she fell over, rolling in the floor with a fit of giggles. "You look like some ******* evil changeling reject!" "What are you-that's some pony joke, isn't it?!" "No." Flurry shook her head as she wiped away a tear of laughter. "Just uh...something from my time." "You mean the future. Which is something I shouldn't hear or know about Flurry." "Yeah yeah, whatever." Flurry waved her hoof before letting out a yawn. "Just wash that stupid **** off so we can get ready to go to Ponyville." "This can be washed?" Chrono asked as he looked back the mirror. Flurry didn't respond as she hopped back into the closet. This was actually good, because the moment she closed the closet door, Chrono's bedroom door flung open. "Son?! Are you alright?! I heard you yelling!" exclaimed Celestia as she barged in. "I'm fine mother." Chrono grunted as he turned on the sink. "Just ticked off due to a...certain cousin of mine." "What are you-pfft!" Celestia stuffed her mouth with her hooves, trying to not laugh at her son's new look. "What in the world happened to you?" "Did you not hear me? I said it was my cousin." he hissed, gritting his teeth at the end of the statement. "Either way, I need help washing this off, will you help me mother?" "I uh...sure." Celestia nodded as she walked up to him and shined her horn, a magical aura soon appeared and grabbed several towels. "Go ahead and wash yourself in the tub and I'll help you dry. Don't worry about dirtying these towels, I can get the servants to buy new ones." "Got it." Chrono did as he was told. As the two began washing off all the paint Nebula had splattered all over him, Chrono slowly looked up to Celestia. "Hey um...mother?" "Yes?" "Thanks." Chrono said, looking down with a slight blush. "No problem. Though if I may, what brought this on?" "Oh uh...its just I...I wanted to say I'm sorry for the past few days and I'm grateful you're so....so..." "Understanding?" Celestia interrupted with a slight chuckle. "Yeah." Chrono bit his lip as he said that. "I just...I really **-OW! er...messed up with bringing Flu-er, Love Wing here and time switching my mind and all that nonsense and you...and you just accept it and move on." "Well..." Celestia giggled as she began brushing Chrono's washed up mane. "I wouldn't say I'm that tolerable. I did put that anti-swearing curse on you." "Much to my sorrow." Chrono grated. "Yes, but I'm also glad you're here Chrono. After all, even though when you do your...'time magister' stuff, you usually cause problems, you're well behaved otherwise. That entire week we spent together between getting you to change back to your present self and Nightmare Night was a blast. Not only that, when we did it, you never complained or tried to be rebellious. In fact, the only time you seem to be violent or rebellious is with the time stuff, which I find a little odd since you don't even have your cutie mark yet." "You think I won't have a time related one?" Chrono asked, remembering an earlier conversation he had with her over his magic training. "Yes, I still think you will, but..." Celestia replied as she switched brushes, "I think it'll happen when you truly accomplish a time magister task. Wouldn't you agree?" "I...huh." Chrono stopped himself, thinking, That's a good point. Up till now, I've just been trying to manipulate the timeline so I can finish this job. Otherwise, I haven't been able to fix anything time wise. "Okay mother, you definitely have a point there." "Heh heh, thank you. I had a feeling I would." Celestia giggled. "So, anything else on your mind?" "Not really...except one thing." "What's that?" "I...I'm sorry I'm leaving you for a while." Chrono said in a hesitant tone. "I know you don't want me to and-" "Its fine son." Celestia interrupted him. "I know you need this information and my protégé can probably help you. Don't tell her I said this, but she's much better at magic than I am." "Huh...okay." Chrono replied as he wiped himself with the sixth towel. With it, he was dry, and all of the paint was gone. Seeing this, he turned and hugged Celestia. "Thank you." "No problem my son." Celestia returned the hug. "Remember, you always have a place here with me." She then released the hug and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Now, I went ahead and sent a letter to Twilight saying you were coming with a guest. Remember, you're there to get help, then come back, okay?" "I know. Thanks." Chrono nodded before Celestia got up and left the room. As she left, she told him that she was going to arrange a sky cab for him, which he thanked her again. After that, he tapped his closet's door. "Hey uh...Love Wing?" "Yeah yeah, I know." Flurry responded as she opened the door. "I'll get washed up and then we'll go." "Thanks." Chrono replied as he then walked over to another part of the room and started stuffing a saddlebag. As he did this, Flurry entered the bathroom to clean herself up. A few minutes later, the two left the room and proceeded to leave Canterlot. One sky cab trip later... "Later pegasi!" Flurry said as she waved the sky cab drivers off. Thankfully, they were able to get Flurry on the cab with little to no problem. They used the excuse that she was some 'unicorn' chosen by Chrono as his escort. That, and her illusion spell disguise fooled everypony, which made Chrono breathe a sigh of relief. "Happy trails!" "You're being nice to them?" Chrono asked, surprised at Flurry sudden kindness. "I'm kind to all soldiers, you *******. I owe a lot of my life to soldiers...in the ******* future that is." "I see." Chrono replied, not sure what else to say. Instead, he began looking around at the town before him. His eyes shifted around as he glanced at the small little village, staring at the basic one and two story buildings. He had to admit, it was a definite shift from Canterlot, which was filled with manors and a giant castle. "Well...this is different. So this is Ponyville." "Yeah. We better not stand around too long." Flurry said as she walked up to Chrono. "Trust me when I say this, this place is a total center of all things crazy in terms of disasters. We better find aunt Twilight as soon as possible." "Oh, okay." Chrono scratched the back of his head before taking out a small map Celestia had given him. "This place is ground zero for disasters, huh? Alright...I'll take your word for it. Let's see here...says Twilight Sparkle lives in a house shaped like a tree in the middle of town." "Oh yeah, that's right." Flurry crossed her hooves, nodding. "I was wondering why I didn't my aunt's castle. This must be before-mmph!" That was the sound of Chrono's hoof stuffing itself in Flurry's mouth. "No telling me what the future is!" "Yeah yeah, whatever you ****." Flurry spat out his hoof. "Just give me the map, I'm more familiar with this place than you are." "But you told me you live at some crystal place in your time." "My favorite aunt lives here. I know the town." "Right...okay." Chrono handed her the map, which she quickly scanned over. "Got it. I know where we are, follow me." One small trip later... "So...she lives in this giant tree?" "That's what you said earlier you *******. Why are you ******* repeating yourself?!" "Yeah yeah..." Chorno grumbled as he went up to tap house's door. As he was about to, a certain alarm went off in his head. He glanced at his right hoof as he lightly knocked the door, noticing a certain line appear in his hoof. That's my skin-tech! Why is it sending me an alarm? As he thought this, he didn't notice he was still knocking the door. "Hey ********, why are you still knocking the door. You've done it like forty ******* times now." Flurry muttered as she grabbed his hoof. "Stop it you ****." "Sorry, I just-" "Hello?!" exclaimed a voice as the door suddenly opened. There, a purple unicorn appeared with a big grin on her face, causing Flurry to almost start backpedalling from the sight. "Oh, hello there! Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library!" "Whoa! Aunt Twilight is...really really young." Flurry whispered to herself before trying to switch back to Love Wing. "Erm-uh, hi there! We're looking for Twilight Sparkle, are you her?" This is so weird. "Indeed I am. Looking at the two of you, are you Prince Chrono Stream and Love Wing?" "That's right." Flurry nodded before looking at Chrono. "I'm Love Wing and he's uh...uh...yo prince, you awake?" Chrono just stood there, staring at his hoof. He kept blinking at it before slowly looking up at Twilight. There, he slightly bit his lip before saying, "Right, sorry about that. I'm Prince Chrono Stream, though just call me Chrono." "Alright. If you want that, that's fine with me. Just call me Twilight in return." Twilight replied with a cheery smile. She then gestured to inside her house. "Well, there's no need to stay outside. Come on in!" "Gladly." Flurry replied as her and Chrono walked inside. As they did, Flurry leaned over and whispered. "You okay, you time ****?" "I'm okay. Just uh...fazed a bit." Chrono replied as he walked in and sat down on a chair. As he watched Twilight ask them if they wanted some refreshments before going into the kitchen. As she did, he looked back at his hoof, blinking again. No way. So this 'Twilight Sparkle' is the reason I'm here. he thought as he looked back up, narrowing his eyes at the unicorn. You're the one that will use the scroll time device and cause the closed loop. Tch, after all this time...I finally found you.