Iron Blade’s eyes narrowed. Clearly he didn’t believe Terrain. “Thrown?” he questioned, moving closer to him as to make him back up. “Into the future, you say?”

The earth pony nodded, feeling a twinge of nervousness at how his story was being received. “Yes, yes sir.” Out of the corner of his eye he could see the Lieutenants taking notice of their commander’s sudden change in posture and starting to make their way over to the two stallions, curious as to what was transpiring.

Blade noted the three new arrivals, but kept his sharp gaze on the palomino. “That is hard to believe, scout, especially for a warhorse like me.”

Terrain felt the unyielding bulk of Smasher behind him and froze, swallowing. In front of him, eyes locked onto Blade’s, he heard the sound of the commander’s sword unsheath at the red stallion’s side and soon the glint of steel in the sunlight in the corner of his eye.

“I am a simple stallion, you see,” Blade went on. “I rely on this,” the blade moved slightly closer to Terrain’s throat. “My magic and the loyalty of my army. I leave the esoteric magic and implausibility of travel through time to his Majesty.”

The scout said nothing, his mind racing and numb at the same time. Despite having been through this before, he wasn’t sure that anything he said would change the commander’s mind if he decided this time to slit his throat. There was always that thought in the back of his mind that Blade knew Sombra trusted Terrain and would be annoyed if the scout were to die, but time, as he had already seen in his future, was always in flux.

Lowering his gaze, Terrain sighed. “I am tempted, Commander, to let you slit my throat.”

This threw Iron Blade. Cocking his head back, he glanced at the other two Lieutenants, the bat pony, Crimson Mane, having been sent out to scout ahead for the enemy a while earlier. Other than raising their eyebrows and exchanging glances with each other, they offered no reaction.

“You are that eager to die?” he asked, his grey eyes fixing on Terrain’s again.

The palomino shook his head. “No, sir. I am not, but it might be better than this endlessly repeating my life up to this point in time.” He dared now to look Blade in the eye. “Nyx said I have a choice, that not all events in time are fixed, but she also confided in me that I would be saving both you and, well, another mare’s lives if I made this sacrifice of my future.”

The wind across the grassy plains kicked up at that point, sending a shiver through not just the red stallion’s hide, but his very soul, reminding him of his father’s old saying about feeling that somepony had just walked over his grave.

Sombra’s commander hated hesitation. Hesitation killed any who fell victim to it in battle. Deciding it was not worth letting the ramblings of one horse weaken his resolve and status in front of several of his highest-ranking Lieutenants, he poised the tip of his razor-sharp blade at Terrain’s throat. The earth pony seemed to accept this, closing his eyes and offering no resistance.

Time seemed to pause, to hold its breath, as it always did when one being was poised on the brink of making a life-altering decision such as this. The pause stronger with not just one, but two lives at stake, and unhurried without the fire of battle raging about them, it allowed the red stallion that precious moment of meditation and clarity of mind to realize something before he drove the point into the scout’s neck.

In fact, it was several somethings.

“You spoke with their Priestess?” he asked the scout.

“Aye, sir,” Terrain replied.

“Why did you not tell us before this?” the Commander pressed, lowering his blade. “And who is this ‘other mare’ you speak of?”

“The memory of it was hazy,” the scout replied honestly. “Being thrown about in time, it disoriented me, though now, so close to being thrown again, I think, things are coming more into focus.” Looking up into the sky, he nodded. “He’ll find two dozen mares heading towards us,” the earth pony continued cryptically. “Following the line of the groves east of here.”

“How do you know - “ Blade started to say.

“Commander,” interrupted Fire Bow. “Crimson returns!”

All three looked to the skies as the bat pony made his approach. He landed silently in front of them and bowed. “Commander,” he saluted.

“Crimson,” Iron Blade acknowledged. “your report.”

“There are two dozen mares heading towards us,” he began, echoing Terrain exact words.

The two earth-bound lieutenants exchanged glances that were more surprised this time.

“Yes?” Blade replied, eyeing Terrain.

“They are following the line of the groves east of here,” Crimson finished.

Iron Blade turned his attention back to their earth scout, appearing less than impressed at the coincidence of the exactness of the news and Terrain’s prediction. “This proves nothing,” he said flatly. “You could have been informed of this by their Priestess.”

Terrain shifted and felt his pack move slightly, suddenly reminding him of something. Something he realized he had been foolish to bring along. Before he could stop himself, he glanced nervously at it.

“Whatcha got in there?” Fire Bow asked, noticing the palomino’s twitchiness.

“I - “ Terrain’s mouth went dry.

Iron Blade reached for his pack. “Commander, please, do not - “ the palomino warned him, trying desperately to get away from him.

Smasher grabbed the scout painfully by the hoof, dragging him back towards the commander. When Blade was within half a foreleg of touching the saddlebag, felt a wave of sickening dizziness. He staggered, the world going blurry.

“What sort of magic is this?” the stallion asked, shaking his head to clear it. When it didn’t work, Crimson and Fire Bow grabbed Terrain between them. They too felt strange, mildly dizzy, but nothing like what Sombra’s second-in-command appeared to be experiencing.

“Get him away from me!” Blade ordered, feeling the ground slip beneath his hooves, his outstretched hoof fighting his control as some unknown force pulled it closer to the saddle pack.

Smasher grabbed his Commander, certain it would be easy to draw him back, yet finding a near-immovable force resisting his efforts. Grunting, the earth pony wrapped both forelegs around Blade, dug his heels into the ground and strained to drag him backwards.

The other two Lieutenants also strained in their attempt to drag the earth scout in the opposite direction. After a long moment of all the stallions snarling, grunting and straining yet gaining only a few inches of distance, Smasher was able at last to pull Blade back with a violent snap that threw them both to the ground.

Everypony involved began to immediately return to their feet, panting, yet undamaged.

“What the Tartarus was that?!?” Fire Bow exclaimed when his heart stopped beating so fast.

“That is what I would like to know!” Iron Blade snarled, summoning his blade instantly back to his side.

Terrain had crawled back to his feet as well, willing his own heart to stop pounding. “It - it was proof, Commander. Proof that I am from the future.” Reaching in, he slowly drew out a blue headband with a tiny crescent moon of silver on either side holding delicate-looking ribbons together. Next came a necklace of thick, blue fabric bands woven into an elaborate braid, a clasp of two crescent moons back-to-back holding it together. “These,” he held it out for all of them to see. “are from one of the mares in that party coming towards us.”

“Bewitchments,” Crimson Mane declared.

“Not in of themselves, no. But...” Terrain pulled out a small clump of red, coarse hair caught in the weave of the necklace.

“A stallion’s hair,” Fire Bow said, peering closer at what the scout held. “So what?”

Iron Blade tried to look at what the palomino held, but it made his vision blurry and his head ache. Annoyed, he raised a hoof, rubbing his eyes. “I - cannot focus on it. A stallion’s coat, you say?”

“A red stallion,” Crimson elaborated. “In fact, sir,” he peered harder at his Commander’s sleek hide. “It is a dead match for your own coloring.”

“Not just a match,” Terrain nodded. “Your hair, caught in her necklace as you two struggled - or will struggle.”

Blade’s grey eyes caught his. “A trick,” he said, disbelieving. “Who gave you these?”

“No trick, sir,” the earth pony replied. “You give them to me - in the future.” After making certain to remove all the red hairs out of the braid, he gave it and the headband to Fire Bow to give to their Commander.

Slowly, cautiously, Fire Bow approached Iron Blade after the red stallion gestured him closer. The Commander took the mare’s adornments when their proximity proved to be harmless enough.

“Take care,” the palomino warned his superior officer. “When you meet her, if she is wearing these items, DO NOT let them touch each other! It would be disastrous.”

“What would happen?”

“Worse than what we all experienced just now,” Terrain answered. “Much, much worse. It feels like time - well, it feels like time sort of coils up around you and - snaps. It’s difficult to explain or even comprehend unless you experience it for yourself.”

The stallion examined them, catching the scent of a mare still clinging to the headband. The trappings the scout could have obtained from any mare during the prior campaigns, yet very faintly, he could detect his own, unique scent lingered on them and, as much as he wanted to refute their origins, that scent was definitely harder to explain. “Who is she?” he asked, eyes going back up to Terrain’s.

“From what I have seen sir, she is your destiny.”