Chapter 90: It's About Time
The next day, Spyro was in town doing some errands for Applejack, picking up a few things and getting them back to the farm house before deciding to go back into town and check up on Rosy as yesterday, she was crushed by what he told her, what he saw when he was holding the Time Stone and how he had a plan to prevent it, but the favor he asked of her was something she refused to do at first, running away from the garage to not give him an answer, fearing he'd persist in asking her. As he reached the town, he slowly approached the library and was about to knock, but was suddenly pulled into the place and tossed into a chair, seeing a furious looking Twilight in front of him as she put his face right up to his.
"What exactly did you ask Rosy to do?" She asked, trying hard not to loose her temper. "Yesterday when she came back to the library, she was in tears, saying you asker her to do something she didn't wish to do."
"Twilight, calm down." Spyro replied, getting up from the chair. "It was just a favor, one in which she refused to do, so I must respect her choice as I knew it'd be impossible for her to do."
"Which is?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Twilight, sometimes knowing everything isn't always the best thing." Spyro replied, walking to the window. "It's basically an impossible decision, one in which no one should make. So, if she says no, I must respect her wishes."
"Spyro, you know I hate it when you're being cryptic." Twilight said, walking up to him as he turned around. "Tell me, what did you ask her?"
He wanted to tell her, but if he did, she'd probably try and prevent him from doing what he needed to do to make sure whatever Rosy came back in to do never happened, turning his head to refuse to answer, but he then felt a sudden disturbance in the Force, looking to the center of the room as the wind began to pick up as papers started to fly everywhere, both Spyro and Twilight covering their eyes as the light became too much for them to handle. When the light died down, they both looked to see what it was that caused the sudden blinding light, but were shocked to see, Twilight, wearing a black suit with a messed up, half burned mane, an eye patch over her right eye, looking a bit like Nick Fury, a white bandage over her head and a cut on her left cheek, leaving both of them speechless.
"Oh come on!" Spyro exclaimed. "We already did an episode with time travel, now we're repeating!? Man, the author must be running out of material."
"Um, Spyro, what are you talking about?" Twilight asked, looking at him in confusion.
"Forget it." Spyro replied.
The other Twilight looked over to them, seeing the two of them and rushed over.
"Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" The other Twilight said.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked. "I mean, you're me, but I'm me, how can this be possible? It's not scientifically possible."
"Obviously a time spell." Spyro answered. "You used a time spell to come back here, didn't you?"
"Spyro is right, I used a time spell in the Canterlot archives to come here." Future Twilight said. "I have a very important message from the future!"
"You really are from the future!?" Twilight asked, looking over her future self. "What happened to you? The future must be awful."
"Please, listen, I don't have much time." Future Twilight said.
"Was there some kind of epic pony war in the distant future?" Twilight asked.
"I'm actually from next Tuesday morning." Future Twilight replied.
"Geez, must be something awful if you came back in time from next week." Spyro said, now worrying about what was going to happen.
"Please, listen, both of you." Future Twilight said. :This is not important right now, you need to-"
"I can;t believe time travel is really possible!" Twilight said. "I mean, it's possible with the Time Stone, but I never knew there was a spell in the Canterlot Archives to time travel! Which section are they in!?"
"They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing." Future Twilight replied. "Now please, you need to listen to me before-"
"Is time travel fun, or does it hurt?" Twilight asked excitedly. "I have so many questions, where do I-?"
Future Twilight then used her hoof to get her past self to stop talking.
"Please listen, I have a very important message from the future!" Future Twilight said, energy arching across her body. "And I have only a few seconds to tell you! So please listen, whatever you do, don't-"
She never got to finish as she was suddenly taken back to the future, leaving the two of them alone in the room, speechless about what they had just seen, but also confused and worried.
"Oh no, what was she trying to tell me?" Twilight asked herself. "Her mane, the scar, her clothes..."
"Maybe if you didn't interrupt her, you'd have found out." Spyro said, lifting an eyebrow at her.
"I know, I know." She replied. "But what kind of terrible thing does she want me to prevent in the future? A war? A catastrophe? What is it? Oh, I got to warn everypony!"
She then rushed out of the room and outside to warn the populace about the coming catastrophe, leaving Spyro alone in the library's main room, shaking his head at the over excited and very nervous unicorn as she ran. He was about to go after her when he heard what sounded like sparks behind him, turning his head to see a green circle of sparks appearing in the middle of the room as a rift opened up and from it, he saw himself cross over the rift and walk to him, his clothes the same as Future Twilight's, but not seriously damaged, his mane messy and covered in branches, a bandage over his right wing and tail, and a scratch mark on his shoulder.
"Seems Twilight failed to tell you guys about the future." Future Spyro said, the rift closing behind him.
"Holy smack, you look like a wreck." Spyro said.
"Thanks for noticing." Future Spyro replied. "I don't have a lot of time before I'm pulled back to my time line, so listen carefully. You need to help Twilight keep Ponyville safe from the 'disaster' until next Tuesday morning."
"What kind of disaster is it?" Spyro asked.
"If I told you that, I'd be messing with the timeline." Future Spyro replied. "Not that I am already doing that now, but just go along with her and be careful. Sometime this week, there's going to be a certain mutt that will be causing a ruckus in Ponyville and will mess with your powers."
"Ugh, Pete again?" Spyro asked.
"Worse." Future Spyro replied. "Also, stop calling Pete a mutt, he's a cat."
"Wait, really?" Spyro asked. "Now I feel kind of stupid for calling him a dog."
"You and me both pal." Future Spyro said, noticing the green sparks appearing behind him. "Listen Spyro, you can combine the time spell you find in the Canterlot Archives with the Sling Ring to create a Time Portal at any point of time, but it doesn't last long, so use it carefully as it is very powerful and shouldn't be abused. Remember, only use it when you need to, not when you want to."
The portal opened up behind him and he turned around, walking through the portal transporting himself back to the future before closing. After letting the words sink in, Spyro immediately went after Twilight to see what he could do to help her and after running out of the library, trying to find Twilight when he heard somepony screaming, recognizing it as Pinkie, he followed the scream to the bridge and found Twilight addressing a crowd of ponies as pinkie tried to panic and run, but she was connected to some balloons, so running away was going to be impossible for her. Letting Pinkie panic, he went over to the crowd and saw Twilight was addressing everyone as they were laughing at her about something she said.
"This isn't a joke!" Twilight said. "I was visited by my future self and she tried to warn me about a disaster that would happen before next Tuesday morning! Spyro was there, I heard it!"
"It's true, she was visited by her future self." Spyro said, walking towards her before turning to address the crowd. "I was also visited by my future self who gave me the same warning, but said to be careful as Ponyville would be visited by some kind of dog."
"A dog?" Twilight asked. "Would that be the disaster?"
"I don't know." Spyro answered. "He said he only had a minute to let me know before being yanked back to the future."
"Whatever shall we do Twilight?" Rarity asked. "How can we stop a disaster from happening if we don't even know what it is?"
"We'll just need to work together to make sure Ponyville is safe." Twilight replied
With all of Ponyville backing Twilight up, she split everyone into groups to make sure the whole town was safe, the Pegasi being sent all across Equestria to make sure there aren't any kind of disasters heading their way, going in different directions to cover the entire place and left nothing unchecked. All the non-Pegasi ponies got to work repairing and safety proofing the entire town that could be a possible disaster, starting with repairing the cracks in the dam, refilling the water tower so there was enough drinking water for everyone in the town, repairing the cracks that were forming on the building walls and on the bridges support beams, basically anything Twilight deemed to be a possible threat, even Pinkie's mane, which only had a single strand of hair cut to make it even, which he didn't understand, but Spyro just went with it. After a few hours of repairs and maintenance work, Ponyville was now the safest town in all of Equestria, Twilight checking her list to make sure they didn't miss anything when Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Pegasi came back.
"I got word from all the teams." Rainbow Dash said. "Everything from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus is A-Ok."
"Perfect!" Twilight said. "Applejack, everything quiet at the Everfree Forest?"
"The forest is pretty quiet." Applejack replied, Rarity picking the leaves out of her mane. "Nothing goin' on there."
"Nice work everypony." Twilight said, checking her list. "But I still feel like I'm missing something and Future Twilight looked like she went through a horrible ordeal. I feel like we should be looking for something bigger than loose bolts, leaky pipes, and cracks in the walls."
As she said it, they all heard what sounded like a monster roaring and barking, leaping out from behind some buildings and revealing itself to be the three-headed Cerberus and as it looked around and sniffed the air as if looking for something when it laid it's eyes on Spyro and Twilight.
"Alright everypony, follow my lead!" Pinkie said.
She then started to run around and panic as did everyone else in the town as Cerberus lowered its head to get a closer look at both Spyro and Twilight, as if recognizing one of them.
"Cerberus?" Twilight asked. "He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus, what's he doing here?"
"Must have wondered away from the underworld by accident." Spyro said, suddenly realizing what he just said.
"And if he's here, all the evil spirits and creatures trapped in Tartarus can escape." Twilight said, looking too excited. "This must be the disaster Future me was trying to tell me about!"
"You're way too excited for something bad to be happening Twilight." Spyro said. He then turned his focus to Cerberus as it set its sights on Spyro, knowing they had met before. "Why are you looking at me like that bud?" The three-headed dog then took a sniff at the Keyblade bearer, nearly pulling him into it's nose when it's eyes widened, recognizing the smell as it growled at him, it's eyes glowing. "Wait, those eyes, they're... Oh no! TAKE COVER!"
The massive three-headed dog reared it's head back as black miasma formed in it's maws and lowered it's head, wretching up the miasma into the ground and immediately Spyro leapt up into the air and avoided a dark spiral shooting up from the ground, landing on the ground and running around the dog, dodging and rolling out of the way of more of the spirals as they popped up until they stopped, the dog turning to face him as it got ready to pounce on him, ignoring the completely shocked unicorn.
"W-what is happening!?" She asked, unable to fully comprehend what she was watching. "Why is Cerberus attacking you!?"
"Maybe because Sora and I had a run in with this mutt before in the past!" Spyro answered, leaping into the air as he called his Keyblade. "Hades juiced him up with enough dark magic to make him an annoyance!"
Cerberus leapt up to try and bite him, but Spyro managed to avoid the attack, but not another round of the black sludge as it wretched more of the miasma, but this time it didn't turn into death spirals, but covered him in a disgusting black goo that caused him to fall to the ground, unable to move much as the massive dogs central head bit his wing, making him yell in pain as it picked him up and threw him into the nearby building, slamming his back into the wall and sliding down as the goo trailed behind him. Spyro managed to shake himself out of it and dodged an incoming fireball that the massive demonic dog sent at him, calling his Keyblade and throwing it at the massive mutt, smacking it's central head in the forehead and dazing it before leaping up and slamming his tail down hard on the ground, causing an earthquake and making multiple earth spikes shoot out of the ground and hit the demon dog in the head, knocking it down and making it see stars.
"Looks like someone needs some obedience training." Spyro said, calling storm clouds overhead.
However, before he could send down any kind of electrical based attack, Fluttershy came over and started petting the massive dog, calming him down as it seemed like the pets that he was receiving, the storm clouds disappearing as he was left in complete disbelief.
"Aw, who's the cute three-headed dog?" She asked, cooing at the evil mutt. "You are, yes you are."
"I don't believe it." Spyro said. "She tamed Cerberus, the same three-headed dog that tried to kill me and Sora more than once when we were in Olympus."
"Wait, you met him before?" Twilight asked, walking up to Spyro.
"Yep, unfortunately." Spyro answered. "Except he didn't have bulldog heads, they were more like Dobermans, but the same bad attitude." He then looked over to the happy canine as Fluttershy kept petting him, instantly tamed by the lemon Pegasus. "I knew she was good with animals, but taming Cerberus? She's truly gifted."
"He's just a big old puppy at heart." Fluttershy said, bringing Cerberus over, who growled at Spyro, attempting to bite him, but Fluttershy got in front of and gave him the stare, instantly pacifying the massive dog as it backed away. "No, you do not bite my friend, you hear me!? He's my Colt Friend and if you even try to attack him again, I'll make sure you don't get anymore tummy rubs, you hear me!?"
The dog nodded it's heads, gingerly moving over to Spyro and licking him a couple of times, but then the center head opened it's maw and chomped him, trying to eat him, but Spyro just conjured a hammer with his magic, forcing Cerberus to smile as he slammed the hammer against his teeth, shattering them as they fell one after the other, letting him jump out and try to fly, but fell to the ground as he couldn't flap his wing, noticing it hadn't healed up properly, in fact it wasn't healing at all as he couldn't see the green chaos energy go up his wing, making him worry.
"What's going on?" Spyro asked. "My wing, it isn't healing."
"Maybe when you got hit with that sludge earlier, it did something." Twilight suggested.
"Maybe." Spyro said, looking back to Cerberus as Fluttershy scolded the dog again. "But how did Cerberus get here in the first place? He's from the underworld in another world, how's he here?"
"Wait, he's from another world!?" Twilight asked in fright.
"Yes, he is." Spyro answered as he bandaged his wing and tail as he also noticed a some damage there as well from the fight. "He's from the Olympus Colosseum, a world that houses a grand arena where everyone from across all the worlds come to compete for dominance in the arena. Sora and I use to go there to try out our skills to see how strong we are. Still, if there's a pathway to this world from the Underworld, I hate to imagine someone using that to their advantage."
"Well, we better get Cerberus back to Tartarus before he causes anymore trouble." Twilight said.
After Fluttershy was done scolding the massive dog for trying to eat Spyro, he and Twilight used their magic together to create a leash, attacking it to the collar that was on the dogs neck and went towards the gates of Tartarus, which is a passage way into the underworld, much to Spyro's dismay as he really didn't want to run into Hades anytime soon. They then reached Tartarus and Spyro could feel the dark energy coming from the darkest parts of the place and sensing a familiar presence close by as they came across some cells of demons and dark spirits trying to break free from their dark crystal cells.
"So this is Tartarus." Spyro said. "Never saw this when I was in the Underworld."
"Yeah, this is where the worst of the worst criminals and evil beings are imprisoned for their crimes against Equestria." Twilight said. "Anypony who's sent here, never escapes."
"CERBERUS!" Someone yelled, making the massive dog wince and Spyro groan as he recognized the voice. "Where are you, you lazy mutt!? Get over here now!" The god of the underworld came around the corner, entering the Equestrian section of the underworld, his body was blue in color and wore a black toga with a skull on it as his steps appeared to be non-existent as he moved with dark mist coming from underneath his robes, his hair nothing but blue flames and he didn't look happy. "I swear by my goody-goody, good for nothing brother Zeus, I leave you alone for a few hours to try and kill wonder boy and you go and-" He then froze when he saw the pony version of Spyro with Twilight, pressing his fingered against the temple of his head as he recognized Spyro instantly. "Oh, perfect, you again."
"Hello Hades." Spyro replied. "Brought Cerberus back for you." The massive dog then started to growl, threatening him, but Spyro was unfazed and just turned his head to the dog, glaring at him. "Don't make me bring Fluttershy down here, you don't want to make her angry again, do you?"
The dog then stopped growling, whimpering as he leapt away from Spyro and past Hades, iWork looked annoyed that the prince was in his domain again.
"So, seems you still have the power of the Olympus Stone protecting you." Hades said, picking at his ear, looking at Twilight, who looked to be weakened. "Who's your friend? She another of those Keyblade buddies you have? Cause if she is, we're going to have some issues because I am getting the littlest bit sick and tired of you and your friends mucking up my big plans."
"Oh, she is a Keyblade bearer Hades." Spyro replied, getting in front of her. "One of six to be precise."
"Six!?" Hades asked, turning red for a moment. "That's all I need! More of you pesky brats getting in my way, ruining my plans, and being a pain in my rear!" Flames shout out of his head and arms, Twilight hiding behind Spyro as the flames washed over him, not even singed by the flames as Hades calmed down. "Ok, ok, I'm cool, we're cool, cool as a cucumber."
"Spyro, who is he?" Twilight asked, still hiding behind Spyro.
"This is Hades, god of the underworld." Spyro answered. "Has anger issues and hates his brother about as much as he hates me, Sora, and Hercules. Look Hades, we only came to bring Cerberus back to the underworld where he belongs. We don't need any headaches from you right now as we have enough of our own."
"Listen kid, I have enough of a headache myself." Hades replied. "I don't need a whole army of Keyblade bearers barging into my home where ever they want, however they want. Speaking of, how'd you get here in the first place?"
"There's a portal that leads to Tartarus from Equestria." Spyro answered.
"Equestria, haven't been there in a while." Hades said. "Tell me, how's old sun butt doing?"
"You know about Celestia and Equestria?" Twilight asked.
"Of course I know that world." Hades said, appearing behind Twilight in a puff of smoke. "A bit too colorful for my taste, I feel sorry for you bud."
"Don't be, best thing to happen to me in my life." Spyro said, wrapping his uninjured wing around Twilight. "Anyway, we're leaving now before you come up with a plan to take over Equestria."
"Oh please, you can keep that world, I'm too busy trying to conquer my own." Hades replied. "Oh, I also noticed you're injured. Chaos energy not healing you?"
"Cerberus did that to him." Twilight replied.
"Ah, now it makes sense." Hades said. "Don't worry, the sludge you got hit with will wear off, in a week or two."
"Two weeks!?" Twilight shouted.
"Twilight, relax, it's not the end of the world." Spyro replied. "As Hades said, it'll wear off. Let's go before something else happens."
The two of them made their way back to the portal, passing by some of the most evil creatures that were banished there in the first place as Hades looked relieved that they were gone, scoffing at them before turning around and heading back into the underworld, not even nothing to make sure none of the prisoners hadn't escaped. By the time they had gotten out of the underworld, it was already the next morning as time in other worlds and dimensions was usually a little wonky and unpredictable, returning to the Golden oak library to make sure everything was ok, but when they entered, they saw Rosy was already up and looked to them, feeling anxiety and dread rise in her as they approached.
"Morning Rosy." Spyro said.
"Morning dad." She replied, still down in the dumps.
"I'll leave you two to talk." Twilight said, dragging Spike up the stairs.
The room was quiet except for the blind unicorn reshelving the books to where they were meant to go, an awkward silence between the two of them as they tried to figure out what to say. Spyro then took in a deep breath and approached her, standing next to her as he looked up to the shelves as if to find something.
"Rosy, I wanted to apologize to you." Spyro said. "What I asked of you the other day, I knew it was a long shot, but I wanted to-"
"Dad, please... let's not talk about it." She replied, walking away from him, but he followed after her. "What you asked me to do is something no pony should have asked their child to do."
"I know." Spyro replied, sitting down. "But I can't ask any of the girls to do it, they'd refuse instantly. But what I saw in the Time Stone, what is to come, from the fourteen billion futures I saw, only one the most preferable outcome, one in which the future won't be dark and destructive."
"And how can you be sure that it will work?" She asked, her anger rising in her. "How can you be sure this would work?"
"I don't." Spyro replied, putting his hoof on his daughter's shoulder. "It's a risk, one in which I need to take. For you, for the girls, and for Equestria."
Rosy paused for a moment to think about what her dad said, turning back to him as if to look at him, but with her lack of vision, she couldn't see his smile, but could sense how he felt, knowing he was being serious about what he needed her to do, but before she could say anything, Twilight rushed down in a panic, Spike flopping down the stairs as he fell down them.
"Spyro, this is bad!" Twilight said. "Super bad!"
"What, what's wrong Twiley?" Spyro asked.
"This!" She said, pointing to the cut on her cheek, which was a match for the one Future twilight had on her cheek.
"It's just a paper cut." Spike said.
"No, it's more than that!" Twilight shouted. "It's the same one that Future Twilight had when we saw her. We haven't prevented the disaster from coming! The future hasn't changed at all!"
"Twilight, calm down." Spyro said. "We still have time, worrying about it won't help us prepare for it."
"Dad's right." Rosy said. "Whatever this disaster is, we'll be there to face it together."
After that, Spyro left the panicked mare alone in the library with Spike and Rosy, heading back to the orchard to do his chores for the day before he got yelled at by Granny Smith for not doing them in the first place. The next few days however didn't get any better as Twilight was still working on plans to prevent the disaster from happening, which her first plan was to stand in one place until next Tuesday, hoping that will prevent the disaster from happening and Spike decided to get in on it and started to eat tub after tub of ice cream like Rarity does when she is depressed, which Spyro warned him against doing so, but said it was future Spikes problem as he started to torment Twilight, making him hoof smack himself as he knew he'd become future Spike by next Tuesday. Rainbow Dash then came by a little bit later and gave them more news about everything going on in Equestria, saying it was all clear when she saw Spike eating the ice cream and learned of Twilight's plan and decided to join in on tormenting the poor unicorn.
Spike then got the idea of tickling twilight with a feather from the nearby desk, tickling her and making her try hard not to laugh as the baby dragon tormented her with the quill, however it didn't work out the way he thought it would as Spike was then flung away from Twilight and smacked into the wall, which inadvertently caused the poor dragon to spit out a ball of fire and before Spyro could stop it, it singed Twilight's mane into the exact look Future Twilight's mane looked, making her worry even more. The next day, she tried to speak with Pinkie to ask her if her Pinkie Sense, walking to a tent that she had set up and called herself madam Pinkie Pie, but when she asked, Pinkie only told her it's for vague and immediate events. As if to demonstrate, her tail started to twitch and a flower pot fell from the sky, hitting Twilight on the head, leaving even pinkie Pie wondering where the pit came from, so Spyro got out a bandage he conjured up and wrapped it around her head, only to see it looked exactly like the one Future twilight was wearing.
As Tuesday was fast approaching, Twilight was freaking out more and more, so Rosy decided to get Spyro to see if he could calm her down, approaching the farm until Big Macintosh noticed her walking up.
"Hey Big Mac." Rosy said. "You seen Spyro this morning?" Her question was immediately answered when she heard something explode, followed by Spyro yelling at the fillies, knowing where he was. "Never mind, I think I know where he's at."
"Eyup." Big Mac said, agreeing with her.
Rosy then walked over to the crusaders club house and found Spyro was repairing it using the Force, looking very unhappy as he was fixing the the destroyed Clubhouse.
"Girls, remind me how you managed to blow your own clubhouse up in the first place." Spyro said. "And why you needed my old chemistry set."
"Well, we sorta wanted to try and get our Cutie Marks in potion making." Apple Bloom replied.
"Didn't you try that when you used Hearts Desire to make a Cutie Mark for yourself?" Spyro asked.
"Don't remind me." Apple Bloom said. "Guess we added too much of the red powder into the flask."
"It's wasn't the red powder that was the problem." Spyro said. "It was nothing more than ground up red herbs made to be mixed with other medicinal herbs to help heal or cure illness. I'm more furious with you that you had the gas tanks right next to a lit burner! You could have been killed!"
"Sorry." Scootaloo said, the three fillies lowering their heads.
"I'm just glad you three weren't seriously hurt." Spyro said, finishing repairing the Clubhouse. "But next time you try to make potions, make sure the gas tanks are far away from the burner."
"Ok." Apple Bloom said, the three fillies running into the Clubhouse.
"Hey Spyro." Rosy said, walking up.
"Oh, hey Rosy, what's up?" Spyro replied.
"Well, Twilight's going crazy about the disaster that is coming." Rosy answered. "She's hold herself up into her room at the library and is refusing to come out until she discovers what the disaster is."
"Seriously?" Spyro asked. "Something tells me this disaster is all in her head and she's just doing this to herself. Might as well go check on her and make sure she doesn't end up with a one way trip to the loony bin."
Spyro walked with Rosy tot he Golden Oak Library and as they approached, they ran into Pinkie who was bouncing up to the front door to check on Twilight as well, noticing them walking up and waving to them.
"Hi Spyro, hi Rosy!" Pinkie said. "You here to see the amazing birthday present Twilight will get on her next birthday!?"
"No Pinkie, we aren't here to see the Birthday present." Spyro replied. "I just haven't seen her in the last few days and Rosy told me she was going nuts trying to discover what the disaster is. I just want to check on her."
They walked into the library and his jaw dropped, seeing that the main foyer of the library was littered with papers, stacks and stacks of papers about twice the height of the young price, a few devices he was unable to name and a few bulletin boards that were filled with graphs, charts, equations, and other kinds of information and data the young unicorn had up acquired. They watched as she rushed between the devices, writing down whatever was on them and erasing whatever didn't make any sense as she rushed over to the different devices and on the stairs was Spike, who was eating large spoonfuls of ice cream, watching the mare run around as he ate each bite with pure bliss.
"Wow, she must really want that present." Pinkie said, making Spyro hoof smack himself at both the panicking unicorn and the oblivious earth pony.
"Oh, hey guys!" Spike said, stuffing his face with another large spoon full of ice cream. "What are you guys up to?"
"Spike, have you been doing nothing but eating ice cream this entire time?" Spyro asked.
"You betcha!" Spike replied, stuffing his face into the ice cream container, eating half of it. "Since Twilight is so busy with this disaster, she hasn't had any time to scold me about all the ice cream I'm eating."
"Spike, you're going to end up with a planet sized stomach ache if you keep eating all that ice cream." Rosy said.
"Hey, that's future Spikes problem, not mine." Spike replied.
Both Spyro and Rosy hoofsmacked themselves, not believing how absurd the baby dragons theory was.
"Spike, Rosy is right." Spyro said. "That stomach ache is going to be your problem when ice cream comes back to haunt you."
The young dragon just shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating his ice cream while Twilight kept on running around checking her devices, but looked up from them to see Spyro and Pinkie there with Rosy, glad to see them there.
"Spyro, Pinkie, perfect timing!" Twilight said. "Pinkie, thin you can help me recalibrate the aperture's on the nine-and-quarter catadioptric telescopes?"
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie replied, though when she turned tot he telescope, she had no clue what to do.
"Twilight, are you ok?" Spyro asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
"That's because I haven't since my future self told me about the disaster!" Twilight replied, rushing over to her device. "You see, I had an epiphany about the disaster. Trying things to save Equestria didn't work, not doing anything to save it didn't work, and I can't monitor the future unless I have the power to see the future like..."
She then stopped and turned to look at Spyro and Rosy, both instantly knowing what she was thinking.
"Oh no, not happening." Spyro replied. "The Force only lets you see glimpses of the future, not the whole thing. And even then, it's only a possibility of what will happen, not a guarantee."
"Dang it!" She replied. "Then there's only one thing for me to do; monitor EVERYTHING!"
Twilight had gotten pretty close to Spyro, their muzzles almost touching as if she wanted to kiss him, but she then rushed back over to her telescope.
"Twilight, you need to calm down and get some rest." Spyro said, walking over to her. "You're starting to loose your mind like you did when you tried to make a friendship problem."
"This is nothing like that!" Twilight exclaimed. "I only have three days to discover the disaster is and I have no time for rest."
"Twilight, tomorrow is Tuesday." Rosy said.
"TOMORROW!?" Twilight shouted, completely horrified by the realization, teleporting to the telescope Pinkie was at, knocking her off it. "Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the aperture's on the nine-and-quarter catadioptric telescopes?
"I have no idea." Pinkie replied.
"Ugh, should have had Spyro do it." Twilight said. She then lifted the telescope to see if she could see something in the sky, but ended up looking into the sun, blinding herself and poking her eye on the telescopes viewer. "Ow, my eye!"
"Don't worry Twilight, I have eye patches stashed all over Ponyville, incase of eye patch emergencies." Pinkie said, reaching in and pulling out an eye patch and putting it over Twilight's eye, the exact eye that Future Twilight had it over. "There you go, all better. Hey, you look like a pirate, or a bit like Nick Fury with that eye patch on! Oh, or a secret agent who wears a stealth suit and has an eye patch as well, slinking around in a box to avoid being spotted!"
She then started slinking around, pulling a box out of her tail and tried to slink around using it while humming something, which everyone else just ignored her as Spyro walked over to Twilight.
"Oh no, another sign!" Twilight said. "Spyro, there is only one thing to do, stop time."
"Twilight, you can;t stop time." Spyro replied. "Not unless you have the Time Stone. And no, we are not going back and getting it."
"But you can stop it, can't you?" She asked. "Your Stop spell and your time manipulation abilities you have with your Draconic magic!"
"No Twilight, the Stop spell only works to freeze enemies, not freeze an entire world." Spyro replied. "In addition, my ability to slow down time only lasts a few seconds."
"Shoot!" Twilight exclaimed. "Then we have only one option, we must go to Canterlot and get the time spells from the Canterlot Archives, located in the Star Swirl the Bearded section! Come on everypony!"
Before he could object to her plan, Twilight rushed out of the room, Spyro hoofsmacking himself in the head as Pinkie bounced out, screaming with glee as she got the chance to be a part of a spy mission, as she called it.
"Guess we better tag along." Spyro said. "Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."
Later that evening, Spyro, Rosy, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike all took the evening express to Canterlot, following the sleep deprived unicorn mare to the castle and in the library was the spell she needed to stop time, but those archives were only open to those who had the princesses approval. As they got off the train, they were all wearing black stealth suits, how Pinkie's mane fit underneath the hood was beyond him, but he didn't want to question it, following the princesses star pupil, but didn't;t understand why she needed to sneak around as she has visited the princess daily while she was at Canterlot, but chalked it up to her being unable to think straight due to a lack of sleep.
"Alright, the Canterlot Archives are this way." Twilight said, trying to be sneaky. "Follow me."
"Twilight, this is ridiculous." Spyro said. "You're her star pupil, surely you don't need to-"
"Quiet!" She snapped, pushing him into the nearby bush as a patrol of royal guards walked past. "Do you want to get caught!?"
"Twilight, you're the princesses star pupil." Spyro pointed out. "You don't need to sneak around."
Spike then came up and was carrying an ice cream cone, eating the ice cream on it as they followed their friend.
"Yeah Twilight, it isn't illegal to walk around Canterlot." Spike said, finishing the ice cream before applying a new scoop onto the cone.
"I know, but we need to sneak into the Canterlot Archives in order to get into the Star Swirled the Bearded section." Twilight replied, pointing to the building they needed. "It's one of the most secured sections in the archives! That's why we need to sneak around."
She then leapt out for the bush and ended up tearing her suit, making Spyro hoof smack himself again as he got his Sling Ring out, standing on his hind legs and spinning his right hoof around, purple sparks appearing in the air and opening a rift, the four of them walking through the rift as twilight opened the window, hopping in and smiling before she saw her friends, her jaw dropping as she was left speechless on how they got in already.
"You do remember I have a Sling Ring, right?" Spyro asked, taking the ring off.
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that." Twilight said, smiling nervously as she saw her suit was torn, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh on, the final sign! We need to hurry!"
She then rushed towards the Star Swirl the bearded section, Spyro and Rosy rolling their eyes as they walked after her, sneaking past the guards, though Pinkie decided to use a box to sneak past them, thinking she was Solid Snake while Spyro and Rosy walked past the guards without even trying to be sneaky. Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike hiding in some of the tapestries, but Spyro and Rosy just remained on the ground, letting the guards pass as they ignored them, the three hanging spies sliding down the tapestries as they kept walking, Spyro and Rosy following behind to make sure nothing bad happened.
"Alright, we're almost there." Twilight said. "According to my calculations, the door into the archives is right... here."
"Twilight, this was where we started." Spyro said.
"Cool, hey, can you let me climb through the window Spyro?" Pinkie asked.
She looked at the door and then to the opened window, groaning to herself as she started to pace around.
"This doesn't make any sense." Twilight said. "It was supposed to be right here! How will we find it now?"
Spyro shook his head at the mare and turned to go back the way they came, thinking they walked past it, but then saw entrance for the Star Swirl the Bearded, hoofsmacking himself again as he didn't see it the first time.
"Maybe look on the other side of the hall." Spyro answered. "The Star Swirl the Bearded section was right in front of the door."
Twilight looked over and saw the gated door, hoofsmacking herself in the head as she felt ridiculous for having passed by it the first time.
"Ugh, how did I miss that the first time?" Twilight asked herself, staring into the room. "Look at all of those priceless scrolls and manuscripts. There's more in there than I have ever seen in my life.
"Dad, the guard!" Rosy said, sensing him coming towards them.
"Oh, what do we do!?" Twilight asked.
Before anyone could think of anything, the guard saw them and approached them, showing no emotions as he approached, but did recognize Twilight and looked to be happy.
"Oh, hey Twilight." The guard said. "Haven't seen you in a while. What brings you by this late at night?"
"Well, um... you see..." Twilight tried to say, still nervous.
"She just needs access tot he Star Swirled the bearded section." Spyro answered for her. "She needs a spell to help her out and this wing is the only one that has it."
"Oh, well in that case, let me get the door for you." The guard said, opening the door for them.
"Thanks." Spyro said.
"No problem." The guard said. "A friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine."
They then rushed in and looked for what they believed to be the spell they needed, Tuesday morning was nearly upon them when Spyro found something interesting, which indeed was a time spell, but it wasn't in the form of a scroll, but in the form of an orb. The orb looked to be a clock face, but it's hands were moving in the opposite direction of one another before stopping and reversing their motions, continuously doing this over and over again, instantly intrigued by it as he lifted it up and unlocked his bracers, placing the orb on the section at the tip of his bracers, the orb hovering over a small circle.
"Information, I need you to identify this spell." Spyro said, the scanner activating as a green light passed over the spell before revealing what it was.
"Time Manipulation, a.k.a. Time." The bracers said. "A very rare and powerful spell, allows the user to manipulate time to their will for a short period of time. Allows for the creation of time vortexes that will allow the user to go back in time at whatever period, but it does require an item that can create portals or rifts, or to reverse or fast forward however long they wish, however, the caster can only reverse time back for six minutes to make sure temporal destabilization does not occur."
"Six minutes huh?" Spyro asked. "And can create time rifts? This could come in handy."
The orb floated off of his bracers and flew into his chest, immediately feeling the power from the orb as he saw how to use the spell and some of the dangers it could bring if used incorrectly.
"Spyro, you find anything?" Twilight asked.
"Well I found something, but it won't help us in this instance." Spyro replied.
"Ugh, there must be a million scrolls here!" Spike said. "How are we going to find it?"
"I don't know!" Twilight replied. "Keep searching!"
They all kept on looking through the scrolls and books in the library, everyone looking at every single one they could get their hooves on as the dawn started to crack above the horizon and through the window, everyone realizing they were too late.
"Oh no, we're too late!" Twilight said. "Take cover!"
Twilight immediately covered Spike with her body, awaiting for the disaster to happen, but nothing happened, Twilight opening her one good eye and seeing that nothing happened. Everything remained unchanged, which Spyro kind of figured as he couldn't;t sense any kind of threat throughout the entire world through the Force, so he knew they were ok while twilight rilled herself up for nothing, looking like she came from an apocalyptic timeline while her Future self was trying to tell her not to panic or worry, but never got the message.
"Morning Twilight, Spyro." Princess Celestia said, walking by them. "Lovely morning today, isn't it?"
"It sure is." Spyro replied. "Hey, how's Luna?"
"Oh, she's fine." Celestia replied. "Though she had to take care of a nightmare last night, so she's exhausted."
"Oh, then I won't disturb her while I'm here." Spyro said. "I'll come back another time."
The princess then walked past them, twilight getting up and not believing what was happening.
"I can't believe it." Twilight said. "I got myself all worked up... for nothing?"
Afraid so little bookworm." Spyro replied. "You went through all this pain and causing yourself to become frantic over nothing. Your future self wasn't;t warning you about a disaster, she wanted to warn you to not worry about it." He then looked over and saw Spike was on the ground, groaning in pain as he got the worst stomach ache in existence. "And it looks like 'future' Spike has himself a tummy ache."
"Oh, you're not wrong there." Spike replied, looking pale.
They all laughed at the poor dragon, feeling a little sorry for him, but he did do that to himself, so he got what he deserved.
"Well, one thing I learned from this is to not worry about the future, and only focus on the here and now." Twilight said. "Besides, I look ridiculous."
"Oh I don't know, i actually like the hair style a little bit." Spyro said, hugging Twilight. "Actually looks good on you if we get it cleaned up a bit."
"Thanks Spyro." Twilight said. "You always know the right thing to say. But I wish there was a way for me to go back and tell myself not to worry."
"Hey twilight, I got something!" Pinkie said, rushing over with a scroll. "It doesn't stop time, but it lets you go back in time. Says you can go back once and it only lasts a few moments."
"That's all I need." Twilight replied.
She then used her magic to create a ring of magic, transporting herself into the past in a flash of light and leaving them alone in the wing.
"She's won't succeed." Spyro said.
"Why not?" Pinkie asked.
"Because if she did, we wouldn't be here with memories of what happened for the past week." Spyro replied.
After a little bit, the same light reappeared in the middle of the room lit up again as the lavender unicorn reappeared in the middle of the room.
"-Waste your time... worrying... about..." She then groaned and flopped to the ground, not believing she had failed to warn her past self about what was going to happen. "I can't believe I did that. I was Future Twilight trying to warn myself not to worry so much about what's going to happen in the future. Now I'm going to worry for the next week about a disaster that doesn't even exist!"
"Hey, maybe I can give it a try." Spyro said. He walked away from Twilight and stood on his hind legs, putting the Sling Ring on as he brought his hooves close to his chest, far enough apart from one another to make the Master Emerald visible as he closed his eyes, thinking about last week at the exact time Twilight left him alone and where his Future self arrived. "Time."
As he spoke the word, he could feel the flow of time slow down for him, reaching his hooves out and spinning his right hoof around as a circle of green sparks appeared and grew bigger and bigger, watching the event of the entire week go in reverse until he found the exact moment he needed, walking through and seeing his past self, smiling at him.
"Seems Twilight failed to tell you guys about the future." Spyro said, the rift closing behind him.
"Holy smack, you look like a wreck." Past Spyro said.
"Thanks for noticing." Spyro replied. "I don't have a lot of time before I'm pulled back to my time line, so listen carefully. You need to help Twilight keep Ponyville safe from the 'disaster' until next Tuesday morning."
"What kind of disaster is it?" Past Spyro asked.
"If I told you that, I'd be messing with the timeline." Spyro replied. "Not that I am already doing that now, but just go along with her and be careful. Sometime this week, there's going to be a certain mutt that will be causing a ruckus in Ponyville and will mess with your powers."
"Ugh, Pete again?" Past Spyro asked.
"Worse." Spyro replied. "Also, stop calling Pete a mutt, he's a cat."
"Wait, really?" Past Spyro asked. "Now I feel kind of stupid for calling him a dog."
"You and me both pal." Spyro said, noticing the green sparks appearing behind him. "Listen Spyro, you can combine the time spell you find in the Canterlot Archives with the Sling Ring to create a Time Portal at any point of time, but it doesn't last long, so use it carefully as it is very powerful and shouldn't be abused. Remember, only use it when you need to, not when you want to."
The rift opened up behind him as he needed to return to his timeline right away, so he turned around and walked into the rift, returning to his time line as it closed behind him.
"Did you tell your past self about the birthday present Twilight will get?" Pinkie asked
"No Pinkie, I told him exactly what my future self said to me." Spyro replied. "If I did anything or said anything else that wasn't part of the original timeline it would cause a paradox."
"Oh, ok, makes total sense." Pinkie said.
"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" Spyro asked.
"Not a clue." Pinkie replied, making them both laugh.
"Well, might as well head back home." Spyro said. "Twilight, let's..." He stopped talking as he saw Twilight, on the ground sleeping comfortably after nearly a whole week without sleep, shaking his head at her. "The train ride would be too loud. I have another way home."
He got back up on his hind legs and turned around, spinning his hoof around in a circle while holding the one with the Sling Ring up, purple sparks appearing in the air as a new rift opened up in the middle of Twilight's bedroom, creating a quick way home. Pinkie picked up the sick baby dragon and carefully walked through the portal to not make him throw up form the stomach ache he as, not wanting to be covered in a weeks worth of ice cream while Spyro used his magic to gently pick Twilight up, putting the sleeping mare on his back as he gave her a kiss on her forehead, the mare smiling as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck as he walked through the portal, taking her to her room as the portal closed behind him and took her to her bed, gently laying her down and covering her up with the blanket on her bed, giving her another kiss on the head as he and Pinkie slowly backed out of the room, gently closing the door behind them and using the Force to close the blinds to her room to let her sleep.