A/N: Three months later after the previous chapter, and I give a new one to continue the DLC. I do apologize for the wait, as I am quite busy as of recently. I feel old, and I am practically almost 30! From what I am aware, the story will be turning 10 years old when November comes around. It really does fly by, as I remember working on the story in its draft form before it became what it is and what you see. Nevertheless, I am proud of the story I worked on, and I look forward to concluding the DLC, which will be the only DLC for the story.
With all that said, onto the story.
"I don't know about this Twilight... are you sure that you can trust this forbidden magic? It was sealed off from Equestria's public for a reason..."
Spike looked to have his doubts when my magic was channeled on the curtains, moving them to darken the round crystal-like ballroom while the orbs of magical light from the old vault in Canterlot floated in the center, close to where my friends were waiting. Spike is standing right behind me, looking unsure about what me and my friends were going to do here, but I knew what had to be done.
I turn around to look at the grown teenage dragon who I know, used to be a baby dragon himself. I remained determined to get this done... I knew seeing Brayden again was just a few steps away from the magic scroll needed with the right material for this to proceed.
"As much as I wish I shouldn't use or tamper with this kind of magic, I need to do this," I said to him, sighing for a moment and continuing. "Sorry Spike, but I can't keep holding onto the long-time heartbreak of missing him. It is a loose end that I need to wrap up."
"But to use a scroll related to time itself, do you remember what Starlight did before she became your student?"
"That was a long time ago, Spike. Neither me nor her have forgotten all about that," I said to him, keeping my voice calm in reassurance. "This is different though, I'm only going to extract Brayden from a certain point of time to this point here. It'll only be for a day, and even when he goes back to that original point me and my friends extract him from, he won't remember a thing from the present."
"I don't know about this..."
Seeing right through the worries of Spike, I giggled for a moment and responded. "Don't worry Spike. After all, it is only for one day."
He doesn't say anything else, but shrugs as he probably knows as usual that it won't end well. My magic channeled onto the curtain closer by the door, closes off any light from seeping into the ballroom, for it would make the enchantment null upon its usage, as it won't work in direct sunlight. This magic I was about to work on, it might have been the works of ancient pasts in the formation of Equestria, lost to time itself.
"Is everypony ready?" I asked my friends as I turn and trot forward towards the soft pillow close to the center where the scroll laid under the balls of light needed for the enchantment to work.
These balls of light were not of your ordinary Equestria soil light spells when me and my friends borrowed them from the vault in Canterlot, they were that of the remains for what once was Whinnepagos, lost in the raging seas and forgotten into the present. Those were recovered by many other unicorn students under Celestia's school, but had ensured that they were sealed away from the public and kept secret.
Why they kept it secret? That is a mystery alone... the Alicorn sisters were very secretive in their duties and orders for their students in the school. During my studies as Celestia's pupil, this was normal but I however, did not question it as my nose was kept in the books. The vault the orbs were from though... nopony knew about it.
My friends who are sitting around the center turn and look at me, nodding their heads in preparation of the spell. I take a seat on the soft pillow like all my other friends are, and channel my magic to take the scroll and read it again just to check and make sure that everything is in order.
"To activate the Time Extraction spell, one must need:
- Five or six other friends or companions in participation. Performing the spell alone may result in serious consequences whether it be Unicorn or Alicorn.
- Seven orbs of gladed light from Whinnepagos above the scroll laid down on the center of the floor
- A darkened but large room that shuts out the light. For the best results, perform the spell at night.
Be sure to find the right moment in time to extract the item or pony from, which will only be able to last for a single day. Ensure that the subject extracted will forget the moment in the present when the spell has expired. Do not interrupt the spell's process or it may mean dire consequences for time, yourself and your companions. Be well prepared before casting."
I looked up at my friends and saw that they were getting really excited to see Brayden again, the same mutual feeling I was having, although I know the emotions will come pouring out later when he finally arrives. His long dark brown hair and those eyes of his... I want to see again.
At the same time, I wanted more than anything to warn him not to go to battle with Grogar and sacrifice himself. But even I knew the risks of the timeline being damaged if I was to warn him before the spell expired. I slip the scroll underneath the orbs again like before when preparing and wait for Spike to take a seat next to me on his pillow.
After my assistant is seated, I close my eyes and begin to concentrate on channeling my magic to the scroll below the orbs. The sound of my magic humming is there, as there is then another sound that came in front of me as I can assume that is the scroll activating as I kept my focus on unleashing the scroll's magic to its full potential with sweat coming down my forehead.
When I finally opened my eyes, I can see a beam of magic emitting from the scroll itself, bouncing and bounding itself onto the orbs which began shining brighter than before and rapidly changing multiple colors at the same time. With the sound of what was power that my magic could feel, which alone would overwhelm even Rarity's magic - the whole room changed in its appearance, with its walls and the door disappearing from sight and opening up the appearance that looked like we were on a lonesome platform, floating among the stars.
Projected around the platform was a circular beam which I figured represented in itself alone - the Timeline. The very thing holding the past, present and future together in good order as it circles upwards above me and my friends and down with its opposite side doing the same thing. Its appearance was that of a green, straight line - with two curved lines curled around the timeline, representing all of the other alternate universes of Equestria being kept in tact. Beyond the line on either side was the past generations and the future generations yet to come.
Surrounding all of us, what looked like bubbles with a hint of illusion of them came floating down to all of us with a gold tint exposed in its corners. I slowly get up on all four of my hooves, and observe these magical bubbles that float down to us. Inside the large bubble in front of me, there was some sort of dusty essence that surrounded the interior like mist. Then there is a blur of colors inside, and what I saw inside when it had cleared up had both shocked and surprised me.
Inside each of these bubbles were a memory of what we remember. This memory that I was seeing in specific, was when me and Brayden were sitting on a bench by the lake... I know this one, it was when he confessed his love to me. I giggle for a moment, I remembered how nervous he was when he told me, with the words of what he said ringing in my head as the past memory played out in the bubble.
"I've... I've had a crush on you since I first saw you..."
I remembered being caught off-guard, but somehow having the feeling that he was going to say that to me. In the same bubble from that day, I could see the memory of when I carried him back to the Golden Oaks Library when I still had it, giving him the Aloe Vera medicine needed for his injury from the Timberwolf Alpha that scratched him. I did remember earlier, that I was disappointed in him - but I was quick to learn that when he entered the Everfree Forest, somewhere in my heart... I knew I had to save him.
"Are these... memories of us and Brayden?" I can hear Rainbow Dash comment from across the orb circle as she observes the bubbles and the memory presented directly before her.
The giggling of Pinkie Pie is heard, and I can hear her comment excitedly. "There's the time where Brayden joined me and my husband Cheese Sandwich to my family's rock farm." She sighs happily, having observed that memory, showing her and Brayden sharing a hug together.
"There's the time when Brayden joined me and Sassy to a restaurant in downtown Canterlot," I can hear Rarity comment. "He sang a song for us up on the stage in that place. I figured that is why the Song of Order chose him back before then."
"Ah remember these times!" Applejack said, smiling to my left, with a small happy tear rolling down her cheek. "It was when Brayden and me were on the hill, when we talked about mah parents."
"That must have been when I first found him in the Everfree Forest when he first arrived here..." Fluttershy ponders out loud, watching the memory of her taking care of him in the spare room when he came to Equestria years ago. "Poor thing... I couldn't just stand there and wait for the timberwolves to feast on him."
I turn to look at my friends who in turn, listen to what I am going to say. "We all have unique, different moments with him that are collected into these memories, which are stored here. It is the magic of the scroll that unlocks them, and presents them before us with mystic glory." I stated as my eyes perch around to find the right memory. "Now... we'll need to find a certain memory... one before he went off to Mortem for his final battle with Grogar."
"Well, if Ah can recall, when ya got captured," Applejack began, taking off her Stetson-like hat and putting it on her chest. "There was this big meetin' that Brayden and the princesses were at. The last time ya'll of us spoke directly and in a group was at that time."
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a happy expression on her face. "I remember that one! We told him by that point, that we were going to stick by his side for the final battle no matter what!"
"I don't think he'll realize that you aren't captured anymore when we bring in that certain memory," Rarity commented. "So he'll be in for a very big surprise to see that you're standing before him, Twilight."
"I'll take note of that, Rarity," I said to her with a smile on my face. "Now, we just have to find that specific memory. It should be in one of these bubbles..."
"How about this one, Twilight?"
I turn around to look at Pinkie, with a look of shock and surprise to see that she is reaching for one of the bubbles off of the platform, with her about to touch a single hoof onto the Timeline.
"Wait... PINKIE, DON'T!"
My shout was too late, as Pinkie in her attempt to grab onto one of the bubbles, slipped a bit, her right front hoof making contact with the Timeline which began an entanglement above and below, which in turn, began to move everything around the platform, with each of the bubbles popping as if the spell was over, though it was not. Gravity began to play a huge part, and I could feel myself being slammed down onto the floor, with some sort of invisible weight I couldn't feel holding me down.
I was only able to turn my head a little bit to see all of my friends on the floor as well. Above, I can see with the timelines tangling up together, the memories begin popping as well, with only a few falling to the floor with a shatter before dissolving. There is the sound of what sounds like a powerful magical vacuum about to explode from being overstuffed... or at least that's what I heard as white covered around, only making the platform, orbs and scroll visible...
"What is happening?!" I can hear Spike panic with worry, unsure like I am, to what is going on. Pinkie was being a bit too curious, but it came for the cost of her wandering step.
I can hear the sounds of doors opening around us, as well as some sort of evil laughter which I thought sounded recognizable. There is the sound what seemed to be a portal opening up, and then the sound of hooves coming from behind me. That's when this figure appeared before me as I struggled to get up.
The face of the cloaked one was covered in that hood, but I could tell from the exposed bottom, that it was a stallion by his hooves. Other than the white coat, the hooves exposed below were gray... somepony I thought seemed familiar...
"Hey... wait!" I called out to the figure, but he ignored me, facing the center where the scroll was afloat during the sequence as everything around us was going haywire.
He didn't acknowledge me at first, but a white unicorn horn appeared from the hood, as he approached the orb that surrounded the scroll. "I have waited for so long to snatch this opportunity..." I can hear him say as magic is channeled to his horn.
I am slowly getting up, trying to fight against the gravity current that is doing its best to keep me on the ground, watching and struggling to come forward as the hooded unicorn uses his magic to carve a hole into the orb, taking ahold of the scroll. I grunt for a moment as I move forward, in an attempt to stop him.
"That scroll is ours!" I shouted to him as he turns to leave, but not before I jump forward, tackling onto the unicorn and knocking the hood off his head which had exposed his face for who he was...
Prince Blueblood?!
"You... you're alive?!" I said to him, now back on the ground and trying to get up again. His face was pretty much the same, with the only differences being that he had an eyepatch on his left eye.
A clever grin smirks on his mouth. "Surprise, surprise, Princess Twilight," Blueblood turns to me, moving his head closer to mine. "It is the honor of mine to be back, seeing you again face-to-face... with your friends too, of course."
"What are you doing here?!" I could hear Rarity from behind me. "You betrayed Equestria... and you fell to your death!"
Closing his eyes, and chuckling with his mouth closed, he opens them again and says "You were wrong to think that I would simply just die and be forgotten by all of Equestria. When I was falling, I managed to use whatever magic I had left to catch my fall, with the cost of my left eye from those sharp cavern rocks. What was supposed to be a soft landing from a few feet up, turned into a hard one for my face,"
Using his left front hoof, he places it on my chin and lifts it for him to look me in the eye as I exchange a glare with him. "Wherever may your Brayden be? A pity he was not there to see you become the leader of all Equestria when Celestia and Luna faded into the shadows."
"They did not fade, Blueblood. They passed on that leadership to me before they ascended."
"Pity," He releases his hoof from my chin. "But did you really think that you were easily going to bring back your paladin? This whole thing was a trap, of course..."
"WHAT?!" Me and my friends all exclaimed in shock, as he trots towards one of the ends of the platform as the magic from the timeline was holding us down.
He turns to us again. "Your friend Pinkie played a big part in that..." He responds with a laugh following afterwards.
"Hey!" Pinkie yells at him, trying to get up onto her four hooves to my right. "I was only a bit curious about a certain memory!"
"And that need of wanting to use that memory for bringing back Brayden was the one thing needed to get me to that scroll of Time Extraction," Blueblood continued. "I have been working on something for a while that has not been known, and with this scroll in my possession now, you'll be able to see what that is from your own very castle."
"Give it back!" I got up onto my four hooves and resisting against the pressure of the timeline's magic pushing me down, I began trotting slowly towards him.
"You want it?" He uses his magic to wave the scroll teasingly in front of me while conjuring a portal behind him back to what I believe is to where he has been. "You'll have to go through the twists and turns of your new temporal Equestria... but you won't last. For when I have my machine come to life, your timeline here will be different. Until we meet again, Princess. Fare thee well... for now."
"WAIT!" I yelled at him, as he quickly turns and jumps through the portal that closes behind him, with the noise becoming louder around me and my friends. The magic the timeline was presenting got stronger as I fell to the ground, with the pressure becoming too much.
The pressure began to turn to pain, and with the noise of loud magic emitting around me and my friends, I couldn't even hear myself screaming as the sound went on and on, and then eventually stopping... I had blacked out.
"Twilight? Twilight! Wake up!"
The recognizable sound of Spike's voice sounded muffled, but was enough to stir me awake. I open my eyes, with my vision being a little blurry at first, and then clearing up to see my assistant and best friend's face looking down at me with concern, as well as Rainbow Dash.
I groan a bit as I am getting up, before asking. "How long was I out for?"
"Not long," Spike says to me. "The sound of that timeline breaking... I think my ears are still ringing a little bit..."
"You were out for only five minutes," Rainbow Dash says. "While you were out, we took a look around the ballroom, and everything else seems fine. Well, it's only outside that you really should worry about."
"What's going on outside?" I asked as I slowly got back onto my hooves with the help from Spike and Applejack.
"You're not going to like it, Twilight..." Rarity says as she stands at one of the stained glass windows, glancing outside with the look of worry that everypony else was expressing.
Trotting over to the window, I observe at first, followed by a shocked gasp exhausting from my mouth and expressing what was wrong before my very eyes. Everything else may been the same, like Ponyville and the distant Sweet Apple Acres, but what had changed was the environment around the mountains and the sky itself. The skies above, had cracks appearing in them as well as a visible strand of the Timeline large enough that it lingered like a nebula in space, visible to all who look. Spikes of dull gray rocks were poking out from the ground, surrounding sparsely around the Everfree Forest.
Ahead of the Everfree Forest among these spike rocks, was a canyon-like mountain with a flat top above, looking taller than the mountain that Canterlot resided on. Above on the top of that mountain, was some sort of colored... I don't know what that is... but I can only assume that is where Blueblood was waiting for me and my friends.
"Oh no..." I spoke quietly in shock to seeing all of this as I close the curtain to block from view.
My friends all turn to look at me when they saw the look on my face. I didn't want to exactly put the blame on Pinkie as of this moment, as for now, it wasn't her fault. She looked sad, from I believe is what she assumed is guilt and was probably pinning it all on herself. My friends who look to have seen all of what was happening outside are as shocked as I am.
"...I think we broke the Timeline."