Promises
"Commander Hurricane looked down at the traitor Black Sky with contempt as his blade presses against his throat readying to plunge it through and ending his life. 'Will you not beg for your life coward?' he asked.
'I shall not beg for my life for I know none will be given.' Black Sky said without fear or self-righteousness. 'But I will beg for the lives of my wife and children.'
'Of that you do not need to fear old friend.' the commander said lifting his blade up in preparation of the final strike. 'For I promise to take only your life this day and spare your family the horror of pegasi justice.'
With that the blade was brought down cutting through flesh like hot butter and as the light dimmed in Black Sky's eyes his finial words were 'Thank you.'"
From the play "Traitor's Rebellion"
Act 3 Scene 4
The stars shimmered in the night sky like distant bonfires while the ponies below danced and sing. It was the Night of Redemption in Ponyville, a recently new holiday celebrating the return and redeeming of Princess Luna. Many had come out to the town's main square where they ate delicious food and danced to some of Luna's favourite music which were all from a thousand years ago. The younger ponies complain for the lack of newer more modern music while the older and more cultured enjoyed it immensely.
Time Turner was neither of these things but he still danced with his newly wed wife, both of their hooves warped around the other as they slowly swayed with the slow music. He could feel her heart beating against his chest just as she could feel his. They stare into each other's eyes, molten gold meeting ocean blue. The world faded away as their back hooves moved in perfect rhythm, it was like they were transported to another place, another plain of existence where they were the only two living souls.
Without any warning Derpy lean forward and planted a kiss on the chestnut brown stallion's lips. She lingered there longer then she usually normally does and as she pulled away she flicked her tongue across his lips.
"I want you." she whispered so that he was the only one who could hear it.
Nodding his head in understanding Time Tuner causally moves them over to the edge of the dance floor where they then disappeared into the crowd. They trotted down the streets to Derpy's apartment wanting to get there as quickly as possible but also not wanting to appear rushed. All the while both smiling like teenagers who were about to do something that might get them into trouble if they get caught. Once they had entered the building, climbed the stairs and opened the apartment's door it suddenly became a race to see who could rip out of their clothes first. Derpy's lovely blue dress was flung across the living room and Time Turner's tacky suit littered the stairs. The two ponies buried themselves beneath the covers of their bed and embrace once more like they were long lost lovers who had finally found each other.
"I love you." the grey mare whispered in the stallion's ear.
"I love you too."
The two ponies laid together in the bed, both were tired from the stimulating act they had performed but neither of them wanting to close their eyes and fall to sleep just yet. Time Turner could feel Derpy's head resting against his chest no doubt listening to the beating of his heart. He looked down at the grey mare and softly strokes his hoof through her sandy blonde hair. I wished I met you sooner. He thought with a warm smile.
As if sensing his thoughts she lifted her head from his warm chest to face him with her own smile gracing her lips. Those lips soon connected with his own in a gentle embrace full of love and kindness. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing." He said becoming lost in her gold coloured eyes. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you for a wife."
A soft red glow appeared on the mare's cheeks. "Well, it's good to know you haven't gotten bored of me."
"Bored of you? Never!" He chuckled.
The two of them laughed in merriment before that faded away leaving them in peaceful silence. Derpy lay back down on Time Turner's chest this time facing towards him. There was a question that had been circling in her mind for some time now and this moment seems to be the best time as any to ask it.
"Time Turner do you ever miss your old home?"
One of the stallion's eyebrows rose slightly at the question. "Where did that come from?"
"I'm just curious. You never really talk about it and with the TARDIE fix you can go back anytime you want but you don't. Instead you chose to stay here with me and I've always wondered why.
"Well Derpy, there isn't really much to it to be honest." Time Turner said as he looked off to the nearby window. "I didn't really have much in my own time. I didn't have any sort of family and the closest thing I ever got to having friends was when I was working with other scientists. So to put it all in respective I was kind of a loner. But then one day I made a stupid mistake and the next thing I know I was traveling through time and space with a mare from the past who I fell hopelessly and madly in love with."
To prove this claim he warped his hooves around Derpy's body and gave her a light squeeze which caused her to giggle.
"Besides." He continues. "As long as I have you I'll always be at home."
Derpy smiles at Time Turner's answer before laying her head back down onto his chest.
"You got that from one of my comic books didn't you?"
"Only the last part." The stallion confessed. "The part with me falling madly in love with you was all me."
The two poines laughed before exhaustion finally crept up on them, their eyelids started to feel heavy and slowly they started to drop. The last thing Time Turner heard was Derpy whispering good night to him before he fell into a deep dark slumber.
Canterlot Castle was once a shining beacon of hope to all of Equestria but now it was the centre of a new regime of order and control. The flags representing the sun and the moon were gone, now replaced with three interlocking gears against a red background. The towers are also gone, they were replaced with smoke stacks that spills black smoke into the air causing the sky to become a dull blanket of darkness.
The wealthy had long since moved away from the city and it's growing pollution while those who could not afford to were stuck to fend for themselves from the industrialization of the city. If one was lucky they could find a job working in the office of logistic and distribution or if they are smart enough perhaps they can find themselves working in one of the many labs that had replaced most of the cafés and art galleys. If you were unlucky however then you would be stuck working in one of the factories where every now and a then an unfortunate worker will have an accident or will just simply disappear.
The only ponies who never have to worry about working in the factories are the select few who have found the rare positions within the castle. The worst these ponies would have to worry about was upsetting the grey stallion who was dressed in the long red cape that stalks the castle's halls. What they don't know is that the stallion barely notices them when they quickly bowed their heads and nervously greeted him whenever he walks past them. They may as well have been the tall emotionless machines that were following behind him for all he cares.
Still there were a few who had earn his attention, like the zebra Merook who had once upon a time been an warrior for her tribe before it was wipe out when the griffons started their invasion of Zebaway. When he had met her the two had immediately bonded, both sharing the pain of losing everything they loved from the actions of another. The only deference being that they had been able to find her family's murderers and brought them to justice while he was never given that opportunity.
Time Tuner walked leisurely down the long twisting halls until he arrived at the set of large ornate doors that acts as the entrance of the throne room. The two robotic ponies guarding the doors scanned him over with their glowing red optics, matching his facial features and with those on memory as well as searching for any anomaly such as recent surgery scars or any other sign of facial reconstruction. The action only took five seconds and once it was completed the mechanical guards bow their heads slightly before opening the door.
Like many rooms of the palace the throne room too had been altered greatly since Time Turner's rose in power. The great throne where princess Celestia ruled the kingdom was now gone replaced with a tall marble statue of a pegasus with her wings spread out wide and holding a baby foul in her hooves. He stares at the stature for a moment before turning his attention to the young yellow mare standing nearby the door with four silent metal guards watching her.
The young mare glares at him with unhidden hatred and he returns it with an uncaring glance before turning to her guards. With a simple nod of his head the metal sentinels left, closing the door behind them. Once he was sure they were alone he looked back at the mare this time taking the time to notice the ridiculous outfit the yellow mare was wearing.
The black tunic clung to her body tightly and the matching hood would have been able to hide her face and short red mane. The belt tied around her waist had a number of small pockets and a sheath to hold a dagger. Somepony been a busy bee. Time Turner thought.
"You know most ponies who try to kill their leaders would be dead right now." He said as he walks past her and over to the stature. "There wouldn't be any trial or hearing. The pony would just be taken off to a nearby wall, blindfolded, given their last rights and then shot."
"Ah, know." Applebloom hissed.
"Are you sure?" Time Turner asked. "Because it seems almost every month you seem to forget this fact and try yet another failed attempt on my life. I'm beginning to think you have a death wish."
"No, I don't have a death wish." The yellow mare said, slowly inching her way over to the grey stallion. "Ah, just really want to kill you."
"Yes, you have made your desire to kill me quite clear over the years. Tell me, on the off chance that you manage to succeed what then? Do you plan on taking my place? Do you want to become a princess and rule Equestria like I have or would you return it back to the chaos of the old princesses rule."
"Like Ah said, Ah just want to see you dead. Plain and simple."
"Nothing is ever plain and simple Applebloom." Time Turner said his eyes staring up at the statue's face. "There's always complications, always a grey area, always a twist of fate."
Applebloom quietly moved closer to the distracted stallion, her hooves made almost no sound against the marble floor and her breathing was claim and still. Her hoof slowly moved to the conceal pouch on the front of her tunic.
"You and I are a lot alike in a way." Time Turner said suddenly, throwing the young mare off balance for just a second.
"Ah'm nothing like you!" she shouted uncontrollably as her anger got the best of her. The sound bounced off the walls creating an echo that almost seems to go on forever.
"Aren't we? We both lost somepony we care for and we both fell into a deep, dark tunnel that almost seems bottomless. No matter how hard we try to grab a hold of ourselves we just keep falling and falling, constantly asking ourselves if there was some way to save them? If we had been faster, stronger, smarter then perhaps…then perhaps we could have save them."
Applebloom looked at the back of the stallion's head for a moment, for a small moment she felt sympathy for the grey pony but that moment was washed away by the thought of what he had done to her and countless others. She pulled the weapon free and aimed for the neck.
"Tell me something?" she said staring at where the glassed dagger will be buried. "Do you ever regret the things you've done?"
Time Tuner looked deep into the stature's marble eyes silently, getting lost in the memories of happier times, of a time that is now and forever be far beyond his reach. He turned to face his would be assassin, ignoring the glass dagger in her hoof or the blazing fury in her orange eyes.
"More then you could possibly know."
With that said Applebloom lunge at the older stallion with her hoof high in the air ready to plunge it in to his chest. Time Turner remained where he stood watching as the mare was milliseconds from taking his life. Then a sharp cracking sound echo throughout the room and Applebloom found her hoof stuck in the air with the dagger inches from the stallion's body. Her eyes widen in shock and horror as she looked up to see a lash of leather warped around her hoof. Following the long strand of leather she found a zebra at the other end holding the handle of the whip.
"No." she gasps in disbelief.
With surprising strength Merook flung the younger mare off her hooves and threw her into the nearby wall. The sound of Applebloom's body crashing into the wall echo in the room was only rivalled when she fell to the floor. With gritted teeth she strangle to get back onto her hooves but in the end she collapsed back onto the floor, cursing Time Turner before unconsciousness took her.
Time Turner looked at the motionless mare for several moments, feeling pity he slowly made his way over to her body. Undoing the clasps of his cape he then laid it over her as a makeshift blanket.
"You were right." Merook said as she returns her whip back to it harness on her hip. "The bomb wasn't real, it was decoy. A ruse of hers to get close to you so that she could perform the real assassination."
The zebra walked over to where the glass dagger had dropped from the younger mare's grasp. Picking it up she admires the craftsmanship and effort made into the blade, it was both sharp enough to cut through a ponies skin and also made in a way that even if one was to drop it it wouldn't shatter into pieces.
"This dagger must have been expensive or painful to make."
"Either way it doesn't matter. She failed to kill me and the next time she's come, the cyberponies will have something else to search for." Time Tuner said.
Merook nodded before moving to the grey pony's side.
"What do you want me to do with her?" she asked though she already knew what he was going to say.
"Take her back to the residential sector, make sure to leave her with her brother and tell him to keep a closer eye on her." he instructed.
"As you wish." Merook said before walking to the room's massive door's to order the guards outside to assist her in moving Applebloom.
As she did this Time Tuner looked down at the young mare once more. He was responsible for this, for turning a young carefree filly into a mare who's every waking hours are serve to his destruction. He briefly wondered if there were any other who shares Applebloom's desire to see him dead, besides the crystal princess and the few remaining bearers of Harmony.
Cadence had sworn to avenge her aunts after he had locked them away in the TARDIE, even with both their powers it would be impossible for them to break out of that accursed thing. As for the bearers he had try to make them see reason, how the princesses banishment was for the best for the Equestria and that if they joined together they could bring about a golden age for not only Equestria but also the world. But then disaster struck when Applejack attacked him, forcing him to defend himself. That moment of history was still very fresh in his mind.
Time Turner stood there in shock as the orange earth pony lay on the ground amongst shattered timber and apples. He had come to Sweet Apple Acres to try to enlist the element of honesty to his cause but things did not go as planned. The news of his coup in Cantelot had moved quicker then he had thought and the young mare must have thought that he had come to the farm in order to get rid of her like he had done to Celestia and Luna.
The moment he stepped onto the farm the mare attacked him with little to no warning, throwing barrels, kicking, at one point she even manage to nearly crash him with an apple tree. Time Turner tries to calm the mare down, to reason with her but his pleas went on deaf ears. In the end he was force to defend himself, pulling out his sonic screwdriver the grey stallion turn it's power dial to maximum and fired.
The soundwaves threw the orange mare off her hooves sending her into a nearby apple tree which buckled under the pressure of Applejack's body. The tree literally exploded on impact and Applejack gave out a horrible cry as her body was pierced with thousands of splinters. By the time the dust had settle the mare was laying on the ground unmoving.
When the shock of the situation finally left him Time Turner quickly ran over to the mare's body and proceeded to try to revive her but it was already too late. He stood over the body of the mare who he and his late wife once called a friend and he was the one who had killed her. It wasn't my fault. His mind try to reasoned. She attacked me. I was only defending myself.
The sound of a twig snapping from behind made him turn around with his sonic screwdriver at the ready, expecting to find another pony trying to take his life but what he found instead was much more terrifying. A young yellow filly with a pink bow in her mane staring at her sister's cold, unmoving body.
"What did you do?" She asked as tears started to flow freely down her face. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER!"
Those words still echo through his mind whenever he thinks about that day. In many ways that was the day his revolution really started, the day he murdered the element of honesty. With the loss of their friend the other bearers became divided on what to do. Rainbow Dash had wanted to avenge her friend's death, Rarity and her family went into hiding, Fluttershy wanted nothing to do with the conflict, Pinkie Pie had disappeared though there had been a few odd sightings and Twilight Sparkle had gone to the Crystal Empire for help.
It was this divide that eventually led to Time Turner's victory and while many of the bearers were still out there he had at least manage to capture the only one who could reunite. With her under his care there was no pony who could stand against him, though he still wished things could have gone differently.
If only Applejack hadn't attacked him then maybe he could have avoided the bloodshed that had followed and perhaps Applebloom could live without knowing the same loss he feels every day. He kneels down next to the unconscious Applebloom and slowly brought his mouth to her ear and whispered.
"I'm sorry."
Those two words he had wanted to say that day on the farm but was too much of coward to do so. He really did wish that things had gone differently and if the TARDIE was still functional he probably would have gone back to that moment and changed it, but that was not the hand he was dealt with. Instead he was a leader of the largest empire the world has ever seen with more ponies who want him dead then he care to count. Personally if he was to die from assassination he would want Applebloom to be the one to do it, if only so she could find some peace in knowing that she had avenge her sister's death.
Time Turner lifted himself off the floor and left the room leaving the young mare where she lay before his assistant came and collect her. He told the metal guard outside the ornate doors to not allow any pony beside Merook entry. When the cyberponies acknowledge his commends he went off down the hall to continue his day in the new world he had created.