Chapter 10 - Search for the Time Stone

Back at the palace, Lobo and Lupe walked out of their room, holding hands and smiling, and soon joined the others at the main's room.

"Hi, every-pony... heh, never gonna get used to that... Anyway, what did we miss?" Lobo asked them.

"Spike got the Mind Stone, we got invaded by Changelings, we kicked their flanks, Spike got all 'ferocious', readyand he spilled his feelings for..." Sonic stopped talking when Rainbow put a hoof on his mouth.

"Aaaaand... you guys had fun?" Rainbow grinned nervously at the wolf couple, both of them staring in disbelief until Celestia nodded at them, confirming Sonic's rant.

"Wow. We missed ALL that?" Lupe arched an eyebrow and rubbed her temples.

"Yes, you did." Garble grinned. "Seriously, how noisy can you wolves be when you..." Now he was the silenced one, as Nicole wrapped her fingers around the dragon's muzzle.

Lobo and Lupe blushed a bit at this.

"Don't feel bad about that." Celestia, containing her own laugh/smile, approached them. "I gave you that room precisely because it's very isolated and it's hard for anypony to hear anything coming from outside or inside the room."

"And besides, we handled most of the battle with little trouble." Maria pointed out; she and Daemon had done most of their contribution fighting the changelings at the city's outsides, where Daemon's weather control powers were more useful and caused less collateral damage.

"Thanks mostly to Spike." Fluttershy admitted. "He used his staff to clone all of us ponies to improvise a little army."

"And now he is with Pinkie, Twilight, Cadence, Shining Armor and Adam trying to find the Time Stone." Daemon added. "Then again, only Spike, Twilight and Pinkie are entering the library; the others are gonna wait outside as a back-up team."

"I would have liked to go too." Sally sighed. "But Princesses Celestia and Luna said this mission required only a small group, since Spike has to do most of it by himself anyway."

"And Pinkie Pie is the most useful pony at this point." Luna explained. "Star Swirl The Bearded was a very wise, smart magician, and he protected the Time Stone with riddles and traps that would be hard to solve even for himself... meaning he used a special logic that was very different from his own when devising the riddles."

"In other words, yah need to be a bit crazy and goofy to solve those riddles." Applejack chuckled. "That means Pinkie is overqualified.

Applejack's half-joke made everyone to laugh, even if Sally still wished she could be there helping Spike; not just to assist him in whatever they were doing, but also because she loved his company.

At the library, Twilight took out the book Sonic had retrieved from The Crystal Empire's library and handed it to Spike.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Spike paused. "And... how I'm gonna use the staff here? Just summoning the power and touching the book?"

"No idea myself." Twilight rubbed her chin. "Something that will help you read the hidden clue..."

"If you're gonna read, you should wear glasses." Pinkie giggled.

"Pinkie Pie, that's..." Spike stopped talking and then gasped. "Brilliant. Simply... brilliant."

Spike grabbed his staff and, instead of morphing it into a weapon, the dragon transformed it into a pair of glasses, with the Mind and Reality Stones serving as the lenses. When Spike put on the glasses and then looked at the book, he could see bright, magical numbers on the cover.

"It works! It says... Page 123..." Spike opened the book and searched for the page. "Here's the riddle... Mmm... "A father gave money to his two sons; one got 10 cents of a bit, and the other 15 cents. What time is it?""

"Uh? That makes no sense." Twilight frowned.

"Oh, I got it!" Pinkie grinned. "Ten plus Fifteen is Twenty-Five. Twenty five cents of a bit is a quarter; so, the father gave a quarter for two."

"A quarter for two..." Twilight, wide-eyed, then got a big smile. "That's pretty clever, Pinkie. But... it sounds like a joke."

"Well, you say this Star Swirl guy was very serious, right? Maybe he had a little sense of humor, and a joke, for him, was like a very hard riddle." Pinkie shrugged.

"That's possible... oh, wait, there's another riddle here. Mmmm... 'What kind of animal would protect time?'"

"Easy. A WATCH-dog." Pinkie chuckled a bit. Now Twilight was the one getting a little grin.

"And there's a very big clock in the middle of this library with animal decorations. I'm sure it has a dog too." Twilight then guided the group to the clock.

As the purple unicorn said, the clock was pretty big, and it was decorated with animal drawings/paintings. Spike found the dog and then looked at the clock's face.

"Okay... a quarter..." Spike used the Mind Stone to move the minutes' hand. "... for two..." and then moved the hours' hand. After doing this, the dragon touched the dog's drawing; almost instantly, the whole clock started glowing, and a secret door opened right under the dog.

"Yes! We found it!" Pinkie got excited.

"I think it's just the next clue, Pinkie." Spike told her.

"Yes! We almost find it!" Pinkie corrected herself.

The trio walked inside and Spike used his glasses again; this time, he saw the magical letters appearing on a wall.

"At night they come without being fetched; and by day they are lost without being stolen." The dragon read.

"I know that one; The Stars." Twilight smiled, glad she could contribute with the riddles.

"Great, Twi!" Spike smiled before looking at a second riddle. "The beginning of eternity.. The end of time and space.. The beginning of every end, and the end of every place."

"Okay... Oh, I got it! The Letter E!" Pinkie grinned.

"I know where to look; 'The Stars' is 'Astronomy'; the aisle of astronomical books. And we have to look at Section E." Twilight deduced.

"Excellent... wait, we have another riddle... mmm... how weird... the letters look bright red." Spike frowned. "This is the time when you're about to get too late."

The trio started thinking, and after a couple of seconds, Pinkie panicked.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

Spike and Twilight barely had time to react as Pinkie, in one of her wacky displays, carried the both of them and ran out of the secret room using just her hind legs; she did it so quickly that the dragon and unicorn needed a few seconds to realize they were now outside the room.

"Pinkie, what was..." Twilight stopped talking when the room started glowing and the door closed; the unicorn then sensed a very powerful defensive spell coming from inside.

"I can feel it too." Spike used his new glasses to inspect the now hidden door. "Whoa... it's some sort of... time trap... if we had been inside, we'd be frozen in time for Celestia-knows-how-long. Pinkie, how did you know it?"

"The last riddle you read. When you're about to get too late? When you are RUNNING OUT OF TIME." Pinkie explained. "That's a last moment warning before activating this trap."

"Pinkie, if I ever again say you have a weird way of thinking... take it as a compliment." Twilight smiled at her friend.

"I always do that." Pinkie smiled back. Then, the trio went to search the next clue.

When they entered the Astronomy Aisle, Spike used his glasses on Section E. He soon found a glowing book, with magical numbers on the cover (indicating page 321), and opened it; again, the next riddle revealed itself.

"Two bodies have I, though both joined in one; the more I stand still the faster I run. What am I?"

"That one's easy; an hourglass." Pinkie guessed correctly.

"Mmm... no more clues in this book." Spike frowned.

"This library's windows have painted glass, right?" Pinkie commented. "Maybe we need to find the glass that has a clock, watch or something."

Spike and Twilight nodded, accepting it was a very strong possibility. After looking for a while, they found the right window; not only did it have a large watch in the middle, but the window itself was shaped as an hourglass. Again, Spike used his glasses, and, as expected, magical letters appeared on the window.

"When the clock is broken, what time is it?"

"Heh, this one is fun." Pinkie giggled and, out of nowhere, took out a slingshot, and used it to break the window with a large rock.

"PINKIE!" Twilight and Spike gasped at this.

"Hey, don't worry; Spike can use the Reality Stone to repair this. And that's the answer." Pinkie grinned. "When the clock is broken, what time is it? Well, it's time to fix it!"

Spike and Twilight looked at each other, and, realizing it was the most logical (even if still crazy and goofy) idea, the dragon used the Reality Stone on the window's broken shards, repairing it in no time. The moment the window was complete again, it started glowing, and this time, instead of magical letters, a spectral voice said the riddle out loud.

"This thing all things devours:

Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;

Gnaws iron, bites steel;

Grinds hard stones to meal;

Slays kings, ruins towns,

And beats high mountain down."

"You think that voice is..." Pinkie looked at Twilight after hearing the riddle.

"Yes... Star Swirl's voice." The unicorn nodded. Spike walked a step ahead and stared at the window.

"I know the answer to this one. It's... Time."

Two little light beams emerged from Spike's glasses, hitting the window's center, and then, slowly, a small, solid form started materializing in an orange glow.

"The Time Stone." Spike whispered as the light beams attracted the Time Stone towards himself. Pinkie and Twilight just stared at the scene.

"Go ahead, Spike." Twilight smiled at him.

"Yep. This party gift is all yours, and nopony else can open it." Pinkie nodded at the dragon.

Spike smiled at the two ponies and then grabbed the Time Stone with both hands. An orange flash blinded him for a moment, and when he opened his eyes again, everything around Spike was literally frozen in time; Pinkie and Twilight looked like living statues, and the dragon could actually see small dust particles suspended right in front of him, nothing moving at all.

Spike walked to another window, and looked outside; by using the glasses, he could see the whole city at once, and realized everything was just like in the library. Everypony was frozen; a ball was hovering, immobile, after a kid threw it; the clouds, birds and flies were stuck on mid-air; and all the clocks around town were frozen as well, not making a noise or advancing at all.

"Whoa... I'm... how would Twilight analyze this... Oh, wait." Spike used his telepathy to read Twilight's mind; it was pretty hard since even Twilight's thoughts were immobile, but Spike eventually found the information he wanted. "I'm moving and living between seconds; an instant is like an hour from my point of view. But... what if..."

Spike started concentrating on the Time Stone, and then, the whole world started moving... much faster than usual. The dragon gasped when looking outside; everypony was moving so quickly they were like blurs.

"Whoa! It's like living in a world of Sonics and Rainbows!" Spike closed his eyes and focused all his energy on the Time Stone; soon, the orange glow covered his whole body, and the other stones' glows started covering the Time one.

"Time... Stone... it's time... for you... to behave... I control you... and I... will respect... your power..."

Finally, the orange glow disappeared and the stone was back to its inert form. The dragon smiled and placed it in the staff.

"Spike, what happened?" Twilight asked him, visibly worried.

"Yeah, one moment you were moving super quickly, and the next you were in slow motion!" Pinkie added.

"Guess that's how everything looked like from your point of view." Spike rubbed his chin and then grinned. "Don't worry, I think I already got the Time Stone to accept me as its new owner. And I already saw two ways to use it; de-accelerating things..."

Spike grabbed a nearby book, threw it up and then used the Time Stone to freeze it in time, the book staying in mid air, completely immobile. After Twilight and Pinkie looked at it for a moment, Spike made it move back, catching the book as it fell.

"... and accelerating them." Spike chuckled and then, surprising the ponies, made a dash that would make Sonic proud, moving around them at impossible speeds.

"Spike, that's amazing! You're running like..."

"I'm not running, Twi." Spike stopped. "I was walking."

"But the Time Stone accelerates you so much, that your walk is like... super speed for anypony watching you." Twilight correctly guessed before gasping. "You think you can travel back in time too?"

Spike grinned a bit and looked at the Time Stone, thinking about this.

"Uh... Twilight, maybe Spike can do that, but... messing with time is risky; remember what happened the last time you tried it." Pinkie pointed out. Both Spike and Twilight looked at the pink pony and sighed; if Pinkie was being the voice of reason, it definitely was a serious issue.

"Yes, you're right, Pinkie. I can mess up our present if I change our past." Spike nodded.

"Especially if you do big changes in the far past." Twilight added.

"Mmm... but... what would happen if you only travel a few minutes in the future or the past?" Pinkie asked.

"That wouldn't be that bad, I guess."

Everyone turned to see another Spike, grinning at them.

"You are..." Spike looked at his 'double'.

"I'm you, in about 30 seconds."

Spike grinned at this and started using the Time Stone again, focusing on a short travel. He disappeared after a few seconds, leaving... himself with the two mares.

"And here I am." Spike chuckled. "Guess short travels aren't dangerous."

"This is great!" Twilight smiled and hugged him. "Well done, Little Brother."

"Thanks to you, Big Sis." Spike hugged back. "And of course, thanks to you too, Pinkie."

"Hey, you know me. I do anything to make my friends happy." The pink pony giggled before hugging Spike and Twilight at once. "Let's go tell the others! They'll probably wanna party after seeing you with the Time Stone."

"Let me guess; it's Party Time." Spike grinned at this.

"Spike, almost any time is Party Time." Pinkie chuckled.

"Guys, guys, please, cool down." Twilight said in a serious tone yet still smiling. "No noise in the library."

Pinkie and Spike, playfully, covered their own mouths, and the trio started walking out of the library, eager to tell the news to Adam, Cadence and Shining before going with the others.

As all this happened, Celestia and Luna had started talking to the many ponies going to the palace; with Discord returning and the Changelings attacking in the same day, everypony in Canterlot was understandably nervous, so their leaders had to calm them down and explain what had happened, plus reassuring both emergencies had been properly dealt with.

"Thank You, Your Highness-es." Some of Canterlot's high class nobles and business ponies bowed respectfully at Luna and Celestia. While this happened, Blueblood was meeting with Rarity.

"Are you sure you're okay, My White Gem?" Blueblood asked, visibly concerned. "I heard you were fighting those Changelings and..."

"Your concern is quite touching and adorable, My Prince." Rarity smiled at him. "But remember, like a gem, I'm both precious and tough."

"Uh... guess we should give them some privacy." Fluttershy suggested her friends, all of them looking at Rarity and Blueblood's flirting.

"Yeah..." Garble was about to say something but stopped himself. "I was about to yell 'Get a room'... and I remembered we're at a palace with MANY rooms."

"Heh, they'd do just like you say." Shakes chuckled.

The group joined the princesses as they said good-bye to the last ponies and left Rarity and Blueblood alone.

"Hey, look, they're back." Sonic pointed out as Spike, Twilight, Pinkie, Cadence, Shining and Adam returned; funny enough, Spike had used the Reality Stone to make himself much bigger and grow a pair of wings, so he was carrying Twilight, Pinkie and Shining on his back while Cadence and Adam flew on their own at his sides.

"The wings fit you, Spike." Rainbow, grinning, flew in front of the dragon before he landed.

"Yeah... told you, the flying dragons are the best." Garble grinned, visibly impressed as well.

"Thanks, guys." Spike said while gently dropping his passengers on land. "And... here's the new stone."

Spike showed everypony the Time Stone, already set on his staff.

"Excellent... and, you already tested it?" Sally asked, trying to hide a little blush.

"In the words of Big Mac... E-Yep. Watch this." Spike used the 'accelerated speed' trick, moving around them, so fast, that only Sonic and Rainbow could follow his moves, and just barely.

"Whoa... that Stone makes you my twin or something?" Sonic chuckled.

"And more. I need some space now." Spike moved a few steps back and then used the Time Stone to age himself to his adult, giant form.

"Whoa... so, that's how Spike looks when getting greedy enough?" Maria asked, looking up in awe like everypony else.

"Mmm... I think I like him tall." Sally grinned before covering her mouth with both hands, mentally kicking herself.

"And back to youngster." Spike's adult voice was so loud and cavernous that many of his friends had to cover up their ears. Luckily, he de-aged himself a few moments later, getting back to his original form.

"Hey, now you can have a hundred birthdays a day!" Pinkie grinned. "Lots of parties!"

"Okay seriously, you need to keep that pony friend of yours under control." Fumes groaned.

"Fumes, trust me, after today, I wouldn't even dream about changing Pinkie Pie's mind. Not even for a single second." Spike grinned at him. "Seriously, without her help, I'd have needed weeks to find the stone. Maybe even more."

The group then looked back at Pinkie, who was now shrugging at them.

"I do my best. And it seems my best is good enough for some difficult stuff."

"Nopony doubts it, Pinkie Pie." Celestia smiled at her. At that moment, Spike noticed Rarity wasn't around.

"Hey, where's Rarity? I wanted to show this to everypony."

"Ah, she's inside the palace, with..." Applejack couldn't finish the phrase.

"Thanks, AJ; I'm seeing her now." Spike chuckled and used his accelerated speed to dash inside the palace.

"I don't think he's gonna like that scene." Twilight groaned a bit.

Spike changed back to normal speed when sensing Rarity's perfume; she was just around a corner.

"Hey, Rarity, look what..." The dragon stopped talking when seeing Rarity with Blueblood. They were still complimenting each other, flirting, and, after a few more seconds, started kissing and caressing.

"Wonder if I can use the Mind Stone to give myself some amnesia." Spike groaned. He got back to 'accelerating time' so Rarity and Blueblood wouldn't notice him face-palming and sighing; Spike looked back at the couple that, from his point of view, were posing like statues, and about to kiss again.

Spike stood there for what seemed to be a couple of minutes, and then looked down, sighing again but also getting a little smile before looking back at the couple.

"I know you can't hear me now, but... Blueblood, you better treat her well, or I'll find some very creative ways to punish you with my Stones. That said... Congratulations." Spike then stared at Rarity. "Rarity... You will always be somepony very dear and important to me; and I'll always be at your side whenever you need a friend... a friend that wants nothing more than seeing you happy. Just like now." Spike smiled and gently caressed her cheek. "See you later, My Lady. "

Spike left immediately after this. Rarity and Blueblood didn't notice him at all, except for a slight air current caused by his accelerated moves, and a slight yet warm sensation on Rarity's cheek.

Once he was out of Rarity and Blueblood's sight range, Spike went back to his normal time's moving.

"You know, now you have the Time Stone, you could have used a couple of seconds to hear the rest of Applejack's message." Spike turned to see Twilight waiting for him.

"Yeah... I really need to learn how to use the Stones at full capacity." Spike sighed yet smiled warmly a moment later. "Rarity was quite happy."

"Yes. She is; and Blueblood is correcting himself for her sake. He's no longer a narcissistic jerk... or at least, not to the point you can't stand him." Twilight chuckled a bit before smiling at the dragon. "Will you be okay, Spike?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay." Spike nodded at her. "After all, if Rarity is happy, I'm happy for her. Guess I have to move on... and now I have the speed to REALLY move."

"Spike... He can really move... Spike...He's got an attitude!" Pinkie popped from nowhere and started singing. "Spike... He's the fastest thing alive..."

"Uh, Pinkie, that's a nice song but... MAYBE it doesn't work for me." Spike stopped her. "Why don't you... change 'Spike' to 'Sonic' and see what happens?"

"Mmm... Sonic... He's the fastest thing alive..." The pink pony grinned at this. "Not bad. I'll work on the rest of the song. See you." Pinkie chuckled and started hopping away while Spike and Twilight just smiled and shook their heads.

"Usually, I'd say something among the lines of "You can live neither with her nor without her", but guess that, with Pinkie is "You can live without her but you never want to try that"." Twilight chuckled at this.

"You said it. Come on, let's get back with the others. I can already hear Pinkie singing the song's new version, Knuckles groaning, and Sonic asking for an encore." Spike chuckled.

"You got super hearing?"

"Nope; I'm using the Mind and Time Stones at once to see one minute into the future. By the way, watch your step."

"My st..." Twilight stopped herself before stepping on a crack on the floor that would have made her to trip slightly. "Very smart."

"I'm learning." Spike grinned as they went to join the others.