"Let's have a talk, I and I."
Twilight looked down at the cover of Unravelling Baleful Psychomancy - Fourth Edition.
She looked up to regard the pony that had given it to her. Pinkie Pie smiled back.
“It was under ‘U’,” the perky pink party pony proffered helpfully.
“Thank you, Pinkie,” said Twilight with a sigh, cracking the tome open at the index and poring through. “One of these days, I’m going to stop third-guessing my second-guessing of my first guesses.”
“Ain’t going to happen anytime this century,” said Applejack. She, the other Element Bearers, and Spike had gathered in the main room of the library. On one wall, above a window that opened onto the snowy dark of early evening, a clock chimed seven. “But don't fuss. You just focus on undoing whatever’s cloudin’ up your mind.”
“Yeah! Find out whoever’s been jerking around with your head,” said Rainbow Dash, hovering above the group. She smacked one hoof into another. “We’ll return the favour to ‘em with interest and then some.”
“It might not be anything bad or with a malevolent party behind it, Rainbow. But rest assured, Twilight, we're ready to help if anything unwanted arises as a result of this,” said Rarity. She winced, and rubbed at the side of her mouth. “Urk. No, really, did I roll over on something in my sleep and do this? I'll need to consult Colgate. This hurts.”
Twilight turned to the correct page and cast her eye down the spell meant for unlocking memories that had been sealed away. It was a complicated and broad catch-all for all manner of causes – memory loss by an external spell, flubbed teleportation, predation by a psycheghoul – but the basic elements were all recognisable. Standard Starswirl Notation in a sixteen-line format, sygaldric runes down the left denoting the magical patterns to be composed in mind at each stage, declared variables to carry the values that would be shifted around in Twilight's mind's Arcane Summary, and sequences of notes she recognised as safeguards to minimise the risk of a lifetime thereafter spent drooling and smiling vacantly.
All straightforward enough on its own merits. She closed her eyes and steadied herself. Magical motes trailed from her horn as she exerted what was needed to declare the spell's initial values.
“Assign ravelstate to cranial degrees two through seven,” she murmured absently to herself. A warm glow pulsed through her brain as the Arcane Summary took its reading. “Assign unravelstate to ravelstate through the Thaumic Sequencer, Comet-Pattern ...”
“Am I the only one a little concerned that Twilight has a protocol for suspected memory-wiping?” came Fluttershy's soft tones, muffled and distorted by the flowing haze of magic Twilight was immersed in. “Is … is that a thing other ponies have?”
“Eh,” said Spike, and Twilight could imagine his shrug. “She's prepared for sillier things in the past. I remember when we were still in Canterlot, and she'd gotten it into her head -”
Despite the complicated workings filling her mind and spilling down from her horn in glowing arcs, Twilight still found the focus to reach out and zip Spike's lips shut on that embarrassing foalhood matter, which was apparently still referred to by the School's staff as the Incident That Never Happened. “- that therenngh! Mmmph!”
She'd been a normal and well-adjusted foal for the most part, damnit.
The magical sequences running in parallel through Twilight's mind neared their crescendos, and the whole universe around her shivered with pent-up power. One beat, and they stilled. One more beat, and she harnessed them and prepared the channels in her mind and horn for them to travel from. One last beat, and she released them.
Light pulsed red on the surface of her eyelids as the energies were released, and gradually cleared. Twilight opened her eyes to find her friends blinking and papers in the library rustling, but no change other than that. No scorch marks, no inadvertent transformations, no interdimensional travel. A successful casting.
She didn't feel much different. There had been that moment – there was always that moment - at the spell's apex where the universe had seemed to go 'pip!' and shift slightly around her, but beyond that, nothing.
Twilight considered the situation where she stood, and tried rummaging back through her memories to see if anything new had come up.
For a short while, she stood there, stock-still, her face frozen.
Applejack was the first to trot up to her and pat her on one wither. “Talk to us, Twi. Find out anything? You feelin' alright there?”
Twilight's stare had become distinctly glassy.
“Twi? Talk to us. Tell us what's happening.”
“Flying feathers, I become what? Time Police, what? Tyrant, what? Did I get bits of assassin in my mouth? Aaaaagh! How long have they been doing this? What did they mean, I'd do these things? I wouldn't do these things! I can't conceive of any feasible prospect in any utilitarian ethics system I might subscribe to that would make these things a good idea! How could I even turn Capra to molten glass even if I hypothetically wanted to which I don't! It's nigh-on two hundred thousand square miles and I don't control the Sun!”
Wide stares from every inhabitant of the room warily watched the display. Applejack breathed out, and gingerly patted the gibbering, wailing alicorn on the head. “I suspect 'There, there' ain't gonna cut it. Pinkie Pie, get Twi a paper bag. Spike, go brew up some tea. Strong tea.”
Meanwhile, in the future.
“And that, recruits, is why Time Police training includes that initial three-month course on interior decorating, carpentry, rhetoric, historical sociology, or other such disciplines as you may be assigned to. It's not enough to just whack any onlookers with a Remember-Me-Not and trot gaily into the sunset. You've got to get a disturbed environment back into plausible order. You've got to pick up that table, boil a new pot of tea to replace the broken one when your ancestors are still in stasis, and persuade an angry crowd that there's no need to investigate the wellbeing of their friends in the ravaged building – before you can get them all en-masse with the Remember-Me-Not, of course. Rewinders are marvellous little tools for our purposes on the other fronts, cherish them. No job can be perfect, of course. Fray always finds a way. But we can dampen down where it'll be the most incongruous in our estimation. There's never any harm in doing a perfect job. But there's not necessarily much harm in not getting each tiny detail back the way it was.”
Bramble addressed the assembled recruits outside of the Chronocube. Varying states of fatigue and frazzlement were on full display. Bramble couldn't blame them. He hadn't anticipated being forced to painstakingly rebuild interior walls either back when he first joined the force. He'd opted to follow Pencil Pusher's advice – the mare herself was watching with an amused expression from the comfort of the control panel – and lectured rather than bollocked. Kindness was a virtue that ought to be occasionally indulged in, he supposed.
“Time's Flow is a river. It carries on in the one great direction, and it has momentum. The big events and great movers and shakers are set in their course, and aren't easy to shift. One of those onlookers was the Element of Generosity. If we hadn't dealt with that teapot, then that in itself wasn't likely to be a risk to the overall Flow. She was hardly going to step on a splinter, get an infection, and croak from that, something inconsequential enough for Time to brush over. She's got the rest of the Deeds of Harmony and the Great War and her own rebellion against Sparkle and the Siege of Manehattan to get through, and they're all big enough to pull on the past. To iron out all the petty cracks in teapots and little mundane differences. A bolt through her head, say, would be enough to Fray the future apart. Less so for something peripheral. Understand?”
Some tentative nods were ventured.
“Oh, good. I still don't, so some of you can explain it after. The point is that we dampen down Fray regardless, even in the small ways. There might be some small hiccup in behaviour from that broken teapot, and that little hiccup's difference can potentially get a little momentum of its own that Frays the future Flow. I assume you're all at least vaguely aware that that's a bad thing. The sort of bad thing you underline twice in your lecture notes and accompany with frowny faces.”
Some more confident nods this time. Jiffy's nod was a little too much so, and she turned green again as her chronologically-displaced body protested.
“Good to know you know that much. Dismissed. Get to the mess room and count your bruises. I'll be along soon to drag each of you out and berate you individually on your performances.”
Bramble relaxed as he watched them tread towards the door once again. Two missions in one day, fairly rigorous ones at that, wasn't bad going. He caught Pencil Pencil's gaze and grinned. She looked up and returned it, briefly, before her face collapsed back into a frown and looked back down at the control panel. Bramble ventured closer to find out what the problem might be.
He was stopped mid-trot by Pencil Pusher hissing, “Oh, skyfire,” and a persistent and alarming vwoorp-vwoorp-vwoorp noise suddenly coming from the panel. That was a noise Bramble had learned to hate.
The recruits stopped where they were and glanced dubiously at each other as Bramble galloped past them to reach Pencil Pusher.
“Fray spike. A big one. Another big one,” said Pencil Pusher, gesturing at the relevant dial. She twiddled something complicated, and a magical display of intersecting glowing lines and parabolas sprung into existence over a flat section of the panel. She narrowed her eyes at it, muttering all the while.
“Another - ? How many assassins are going to try their luck before the day's end? Was there a convention of the pricks that we missed or something?”
“Not assassins. No entities moving up the Flow.” Pencil Pusher brushed the tip of a wing against the display, narrowing in one several of the flickering parabolas.
“Then what – oh. Blast. Something was left behind, wasn't it?” The recruits in Bramble's field of vision started exchanging terrified looks.
“Something has shifted Sparkle's behaviour, certainly. Nothing's interacting with her directly from our present or further up or down the Flow.”
Bramble exhaled heavily. “Alright. One more mission. Reset the Chronocube and zero in on the incongruity, Pencil. Recruits! Belay the mess hall. Gallop to the armoury, dump your armour, shoes, and crossbows; and power up your Remember-Me-Nots. We're going in non-lethal, and preferably in a stealthy, non-intrusive manner at that. Move out!”
Hooves thundered on the floor around him, machines chirped and ticked, and yet in the moments that followed, one sound yet managed to cut right through to Bramble's attention.
A speaking tube on one wall thumped. A speaking tube only used by one pony in the Time Police's complex.
He cautiously ventured over, unheeded by the blissfully unaware recruits and watched by the nervous Pencil Pusher, and picked up the tube. “This is Lieutenant Bramble.”
The cold voice of a mare came down the crackling line. “This is Commander Tenebris.”
Bramble licked dry lips and rallied. “Commander. To what do I owe this call?”
“Three Fraying incidents in your sector in one day. That's what you owe this call to. And that's what you're about to explain to me.”
“Two initial assassination attempts, both thwarted. This latest one seems to be the product of contamination from one of the earlier missions. My team is readying as we speak, and we'll see it dealt with, ma'am.”
“You shall. This sector is one of our lynchpins. You would not appreciate the consequences if it were to fall apart. I will call again in three minutes, and I'll expect to hear of your success and acceptably low levels of Fray.”
There was the sound of the tube being set down at the other end. Bramble gingerly set his own back down and stepped away. He realised his posture was tense, and upon brief consideration, saw no reason to relax it.
“Was it … um -” ventured Pencil Pusher.
“I'm not dead. Yet. Come on. Tell me what's going on in the past.”
“...and that's when I left the note for myself and they zapped me with that little device of theirs,” said Twilight. Her magic tightly held a trembling cup of tea. “And then they left the four of us – Rarity, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and me – all in stasis in a corner while they fixed the damage and spoke to other ponies who came running up. Then they reposed us back into sitting positions around the table, teleported away, and the stasis wore off.”
The story had gradually emerged with the application of a paper bag to breath in, the interior dusted with smelling salts Rarity had donated. Twilight's subsequent sneezing fit had calmed her down sufficiently for coherent words to begin emerging. Spike carefully patted her free hoof as she spoke.
“And how long do you reckon they've been doing this?” said Rainbow Dash, bewilderment written into her face. “Just those last two times?”
“The spell only works back through the last few days. But they implied this happens a lot. They were even bringing along … new … recruits ...” Twilight's mouth slowed as her brain caught up with the words. “How often does this happen? I'm apparently a training mission for them!”
“Sugarcube, still yourself,” said Applejack, pressing Twilight gently yet firmly back down where she'd started to rise with indignation. “Multiple packs of time-travelling bozos aside, there's a few things that have to be laid out plain and clear.”
“Like what?”
“Well, all those ponies you described were fixated on the belief that you turn into some kinda tyrant in later life. You really need us to tell you that's a steaming pile of horseapples?”
“The Twilight I know wouldn't ever become some sort of high-and-mighty meanie,” said Pinkie Pie, snuggling up close to Twilight and surprising her with a sudden hug. “Sure, she's got a meanie tendency or two when ponies bend book spines or by some totally innocent accident get chocolate powder inside the pages or all manner of other things I swear weren't my fault. But that's just little, conventional, kinda justified meanie-dom. You're not a Sombra or a Capricious Crown or a Chrysalis or anything like them.”
Twilight shook her head. “When somepony travels back through time itself just to try and kill you, then they're really convinced you're up to no good. And when multiple someponies are apparently up to it? What does that say?”
“Says they're all bozos. Bozoitis is an infectious disease in the future. And hey, now you as a Princess are informed and can take steps to counter it.” Rainbow Dash spread her forelegs wide and grinned. “See? Silver lining. The future ain't written.”
“Maybe they're all bluffing. I'll subscribe to a belief in the the most elaborate of ruses before I believe you become some manner of despot, before I believe the witterings by a bunch of madponies who attacked you and me without cause in the boutique.” Rarity looked indignant. “Those ruffians owe me a tooth. Generosity be damned, I'm going to collect.”
“Put it this way,” said Fluttershy, uncertainly. The others turned to her and her tone strengthened. “You're not going to become a tyrant, Twilight, not ever. But even if you're worried you are, then you can just resolve not to. Just keep an eye on yourself and what you do, avoid doing cruel things, and listen to your friends if we say you're doing something wrong. We all believe you're smart enough. Um. Well, not to presume everypony else's opinion. But I'm sure you're smart enough. And, um, by that previous statement I'm not implying anypony else here doesn't -”
“We get it, Shy,” said Rainbow, breaking Fluttershy off with a sudden and affectionate head-rub. She turned back to Twilight. “But Fluttershy's right. Heck, if you resolve to do that like she says, then you'll never become a tyrant, nopony will want to kill you, and no Time Police or assassins will come for you again. Problem solved!”
Twilight looked to all of them. A smile forced itself from her lips. “Thank you, everypony. I suppose when you all put it like that, then I just have to consistently start deciding against tyranty or evil things and think about them when they might arise. I can do that.”
And in the instant she stopped speaking, there was a flash of light outside the window. Pinkie Pie rose briefly off the ground, trembling violently, and fell back to the floor with an almighty sneeze. She looked around, startled, and wiped at her nose with a hoof.
“Was that Pinkie Sense for something?” said Twilight, guarded.
“I think so. Not sure what, though.” Pinkie considered it for a moment, as if cross-checking the sequence against other signs. “Somepony somewhere got married? Got divorced? A vaudeville show's coming to town? Somepony time-travelled? Honestly, I don't have a clue -”
There came a knock at the door. A hush fell across the room.
“Let me get it,” said Applejack suddenly, making for the door. “I'll sound 'em out. Stop them gettin' to you immediately if it's Time Police or assassins here for you, Twi.”
“Be careful,” hissed Twilight at Applejack's back to no avail; the farmpony was already moving and had set a hoof to the door. “Spike, go upstairs. Don't come downstairs, no matter what entertaining things you hear.”
“Aw, c'mon. I already apparently pulled off one awesome-dragon-assistant-rescuing-Twilight trick today, it could be repeated -”
Applejack opened the door just far enough to be greeted by a pair of ponies, a pegasus mare and an earth pony mare, each wearing saddle bags and metal rings around their legs. They stood as if at attention on a drill ground, suppressing shivers amidst the snow. A large bush past the library rustled slightly.
“Good day, fellow pony!” announced the pegasus, smiling widely up at Applejack. “What a nice day it is, living in the Early Quadrumvirate Period as we do. Boy, how about that Changeling Incursion? That's a contemporary thing to have happened to us, being the normal ponies that we are. Say, Princess Twilight Sparkle isn't here by any chance, is she?”
Applejack stared down at the pegasus. From the bush, there was the sound that might be made by a forehead meeting a hoof with some force.
“Well, I can't say for certain,” said Applejack after a moment. One side of her mouth crooked. “I don't suppose you fine upstandin' mares have badges of any kind?”
“Ooh, we do!” The pegasus excitedly wheeled around, reaching for her saddle bag. “Got them yesterday after preliminary graduation! We're Time Police now! Official … and ...” The pegasus, holding her badge in one hoof, stopped and looked plaintively up at Applejack. “Aw, Tartarus. Um. Could you maybe forget what -?”
“You've already tipped them off, you moron! Rush them. Wipe Sparkle's memory!” screamed the bush, which was now thoroughly agitated with rustling.
The pegasus and earth pony hurriedly turned on Applejack, just in time to meet a tree-shattering buck courtesy of Applejack's thews. The pegasus was mercifully only clipped enough to wheel off through the air, squealing and clutching a broken snout. The earth pony sailed off insensate, hitting a couple of the four ponies emerging from the bush. A chorus of pain sounded from all quarters.
“Time Police,” spat Applejack, rising from where she'd crouched to buck and fixing her gaze on the others inside the library. “Pack of half-a-dozen, knocked one out. Best if y'all hang back-”
“To hay with that!” roared the rainbow-hued blur that filled the air above Applejack for an instant before sweeping out into the snowy evening. A couple of the oncoming Time Police, an earth pony mare and stallion looked up just in time to be hammered flat, tumbling back in the street and kicking up sprays of snow. They coughed and struggled as the next two Time Police, another mare and stallion earth pony pair, leapt over them.
“Consarn it, Rain – actually, no, that works fine. Keep at it!” Applejack descended from the front door to meet the oncoming mare in a hoof-filled storm. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy galloped out in her wake. And with that, Tartarus broke loose.
As Applejack laid into the mare, the stallion – a short, black-coated one – rose his hooves to lash out at Pinkie Pie as she barrelled straight at him. She dropped and slid under him, and as he staggered and glanced down at her, he found himself staring into the barrel of a Pie-patented Party Cannon. Thunder pealed and colour lashed the snow as the stallion plummeted to the ground a short distance away. The stallion behind him, who had been laid low by Rainbow Dash, forced himself upright in time to meet Rarity's demonstration of how the principles underlying the serene art of Ponikido could, in fact, be used to not protect an attacker from injury at all. More pained yelling rang out across the street. The mare who had accompanied him staggered to try and assist, and in turn was hit side-on by Rainbow Dash. She dug a long groove into the snow before Rainbow opted for straight-forward pummelling instead of prolonged fanciness.
Fluttershy, who had taken to the skies, encountered the vaguely-wheeling Time Police pegasus. The pegasus looked down at the scene on the street, looked to Fluttershy, and immediately raised her hooves. “Non-combatant?” she ventured.
It was over swiftly. Twilight stepped out of the library after finally teleporting Spike away just in time to find matters settling down. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were all subduing and pinning their own targets with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Pinkie was perched on top of the short black stallion – Bramble, if she remembered correctly – doing one of the several patented Pinkie Victory Jigs. The earth pony mare Applejack had bucked at the beginning was still unconscious and embedded in a bush. And Fluttershy -
Fluttershy alighted before Twilight, holding the pegasus gently by the hoof. The pegasus looked beseechingly up at Twilight. “I surrender. Please don't eviscerate me and throw my pieces to wolves and harvest my soul and magic for use as a weapon of war. Please?”
“I don't know where on earth you ponies in the future have been getting those appalling ideas -” started Fluttershy before Twilight stopped listening. She focused, and scooped up each of the fallen Time Police into a separate bubble, dislodging several of her friends in the process. They tumbled off the bubbles, protesting, as she rose each one into the air before her. Flapping her wings, Twilight flew up to regard Bramble in his own.
He returned her look with a bleary glare, and sneezed out a strand of confetti.
“I'm not going to hurt any of you,” Twilight started. “But I am going to ask you some very pointed questions, and deliver you all to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I'm not the monster you think I become. I'm not going to become that monster at all. If you'd just -”
“No, I don't think so,” said Bramble abruptly. He reached down to the ring around his leg, and quickly cast his gaze over the other Time Police before flicking it sharply with his hoof.
White light immediately coursed around his form and those of the other Time Police, enveloping them before Twilight could blink and vanishing them from existence with short pops of displaced air filling a vacuum. She looked at the emptied bubbles, and dispelled them with a curse. “Aaaargh! We had them!”
“We've sent them off back where they came from, at least,” said Rainbow Dash, flying up to Twilight's side. “That's something, right?”
“Yes,” said Twilight, “But unless we've somehow mucked up their future for good – the one where I become a tyrant – then they're coming back.”
“Why? Why would she keep punching me in the mouth?”
“It wasn't surrendering! It was – it was a tactical ploy. It was planned!”
“I saw one of them get a cannon out. Where was she keeping it? Seriously, where?”
“'Become one of the Time Police,' Dad said. 'Upstanding vocation, daughter mine. Keep us all safe and see foreign parts. Fun and useful in equal measure.' Screw you, Dad. Screw you with a sideways lance.”
The recruits had been dumped onto the floor of the Chronocube and largely remained there, groaning and babbling and nursing their various aches. Bramble would have dearly loved to follow their example, but terror had a way of hooking into and pulling up at one's underbelly.
He hobbled out of the Chronocube, brushed past Pencil Pusher's concerned queries as to what had went wrong and why there was a streamer in his ear, and made for the speaking tube. He glanced up at the clock as he neared. The speaking tube thumped at the exact three-minute mark.
Silence greeted him when he rose it to his ear. “This is Lieutenant Bramble,” he ventured. He licked his lips and pressed on. “My apologies, ma'am. They're clued in and ready to resist us. My recruits won't cut it, and they'll just get hurt if they're sent back again. We have to rotate in one of the veteran squadrons, or even some of the Timetroopers. A quick strike before the Fray ticks up any further -”
“Be silent.”
Bramble complied for the long pause that followed. Common sense railed against him, but eventually he broke the commanded silence with, “Commander Tenebris, how is it to be dealt with?”
“Your recruits shall stand down for now. You shall join them. The Timetroopers shall stay out of this.” Commander Tenebris's tone was as cold and absolute as a glacier. “I'm going to deal with this myself.”
Gathered once more in the downstairs of the library, the six and Spike hashed events out.
“I propose a watch on our parts,” said Applejack. “If these Time Police are fixin' to come back, stands to reason they'll come back as quickly as possible since preparation time's not a issue for 'em. We'll all stay at the library throughout the night and make sure no Time Police-related mischief comes lookin' for Twi. If they do, we'll show 'em what for and teach 'em Twi's not for turnin'.”
“We'll make a sleepover of it!” chirped Pinkie Pie. “I have games! And spare s'more ingredients- though they may be on the teensiest side of stale, they've been in my mane for a while. Let me check.”
“I'd feel better to have you all here, no kidding there,” said Twilight. She smiled at Spike. “But it makes sense to keep Princess Celestia up to speed with what's been going on as well. If she has any insight into Time Magic that I don't, then her advice would be a great help to understanding all this. Take a letter, Spike.”
“Oh, sure. Keep your heroic and handsome dragon assistant out of the exciting stuff and bring him back in when it's time for the paperwork,” Spike grumbled, rummaging on a shelf for a pen and paper. “Can't remember the awesomeness I did to begin with, and don't get to replicate it. Bah. I'm only doing what you say right now because I'm worried as well as annoyed. I hope you appreciate tha-”
Softly, quietly, the universe went thwip.
Spike's voice stopped short just as Twilight turned to remonstrate him. He'd frozen with his claw probing along the shelf.
“Spike?” said Twilight. “I'm not going to apologise for keeping you out of danger if I can, you should appreciate that as well. You're still … Spike?” The little dragon's body was stock-still. His eyes were unblinking. In the light around him, the drifting dust motes hung suspended.
“Spike? Spike!” Twilight glanced from side to side, and froze herself when she caught a glimpse of the others. They had all stopped where they stood, still in their poses. Unmoving, Applejack regarded the spot where Twilight had stood. Pinkie Pie held something that might have once been a marshmallow before her, still as the grave. The others were locked in their middle of their own motions or shrugs.
Frantic, Twilight looked from side to side. Still snowflakes drifting forever outside the window. The flame of a candle made an upright, inert ribbon of orange. No tick from the clock, no breaths, only Twilight's rapid breathing and heartrate hammering in her ears.
Nothing but those, and a single clear voice from upstairs which broke the unnatural hush like the crack of lightning. “Come upstairs, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight all but leapt out of her skin and cast her gaze as far as she could up the winding staircase. She saw nothing, nothing but the suggestion of a shadow coming from the direction of her bed.
“Come upstairs,” the voice – oddly familiar somehow – commanded. “There's a mystery ahoof and you'd quite like to solve it, wouldn't you? Come upstairs. There's nothing moving in Time apart from you and me right now.”
Her heartrate hammered, and magic came unbidden to the tip of Twilight's horn, ready to be hurled forth as fire and thunder. Instead, she took her first step leading up the stairs. And another. And another.
She reached the top, and looked towards her bed. Upon it, there rested an alicorn.
A lavender coat and a purple mane, the colours of the dying day, streaked through with rose. Tall, taller than Twilight, with a horn capable of being used as a short lance. She sat with her legs folded beneath her on Twilight's bed, poring through a book.
She set the book down, and Twilight stared into her own violet eyes, flecked through with acid-green specks. A cold smirk played along the alicorn's mouth.
“Salutations,” said Twilight Sparkle to Twilight Sparkle. “Let's have a talk, I and I.”
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Tenebris. But is she really Twilight?
5465576
We don't know that's the case. Granted, it might seem that Future-Twilight is Tenebris, but remember that earlier Lieutenant Bramble said, "Sparkle herself would probably be more suitable for training baby Police than Tenebris,” so there's at least a chance that they're separate ponies.
Nightmare Twilight? Develop a conscience after wiping out a country? Create a time-force to prevent temporal muck-ups?
5465641
that's my point. This must be Tenebris(unless future Tyrant Twilight suddenly showed up) but the future Twilight "I'm you" thing could just be a trick.
5465664
So you're telling us it's definitely one thing, unless it's something else.
Thanks for clearing that up for us. =P
5465576 5465641 5465651
There are undoubtedly very good, straightforward answers to all these questions.
Damned if I know them myself, though.
5465802
Lol. Love it.
And yeah, I've been there too. "What happens next?" "Damned if I know. I just write the thing."
If there are two Twilights, then there is the possibility that one is a fake, whether it be Tyrant or Tenebris. Of course, there's always the possibility that they're both fake...
5465641
They refer to past-Twilight as Sparkle. Potentially, he was doing the same there. "Their namby-pamby Twilight would do a better job than ours!"
5466431
5466427
5465664
I'm reminded of the MadTV sketch where "Arnold Schwarzenegger" talks about his newest movie.
"Who are you?"
"I'm you!"
"If you are me, then who am I?"
"You're me too!"
*inarticulate gibberish*
Oh! More Time-Chaos! Discord??
Why can't they go back to before the Fraying Point and correct it from there? A matter of precision? A matter of: can't go back to the same point twice? Or something? Or: The Cube sends them X amount of time into the past, and the Time Police still advance in time, so the time they get sent back to, keeps moving forward, too.
Also: 'rarity'
Nice opening! And as always, nice Title Drop!
5467036
Precision is more or less the reason in-universe, yep. (Authorial incompetence plays a larger one out of it.) There's also the possible matter that going back before the Fray-inducing event can potentially retcon the actions of Time Police involved in incidents post-Fray. The consequences of this are both terrible and shown with great enthusiasm to Time Police recruits.
Or something like that, anyway. oh god i have no idea about time travel why did i think this was a good idea
Glad you continue to approve!
Well. This raises all kinds of questions... and I think I may have guessed a few answers. After all, in such an unlikely-seeming future, it makes sense that the focus of that timeline would have a vested interest in seeing it realized.
Eagerly looking forward to more.
5476190
Glad you're still enjoying it.
Couldn't possibly comment on that implied guesswork.
I'd love it if it was just something like Twilight manipulating the history books to get herself off the throne after Celestia and Luna are gone
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It's great fun, being a writer that knows what's going on.
Or approximately knows, at least, time travel is confusing
5487321
It ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you.
There's going more than one terrible consequence from all this malarkey, certainly.
Good thing AJ is reliable, because Twilight has checked out for the moment.
You know, I was definitely wondering about all that damage to the Boutique. Nice to know that the Time Police has a very broad skill set.
This is a great example of why Rarity is absolutely best pony at times.
All Tartarus may have broken loose, but it was beautiful to behold.
Beautiful.
Oh my. For some reason I was thinking Luna for Tenebris, right up until just before the end of the chapter when I remembered its title.
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I do like to incorporate a bit of beauty every now and then. Glad you continue to approve of all the convoluted mayhem.
I'm guessing this is when the future is changed from Nazi Equestria, to 1980's action movie Dystopia Equestria. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Fluttershy.
Oh, and the Crown was referenced.
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fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/343/3/a/fluttershy_tha_terminator_by_ironmanjae-d4ikvq1.jpg
I've heard of sillier propositions in my time.
Glad you enjoyed the reference.
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I'm going to guess that if you go back in time to before Fray that you accidentally caused yourself, and prevent the Fray from ever starting, then the alarm to tell you to go back the second time never goes off, and so you never go back, and so you never fix the problem, and so the Fray happens anyway, and so you do go back and time a second time and so it doesn't, and nine times out of ten the temporal paradox resolves itself into "you go back but fail to prevent the Fray", forcing the ponies to have to go back to afterwards anyway (and you really don't want to know what happens to the paradox if you aren't that lucky).
Going back to before somepony else triggers Fray and preventing them is alright; the trouble only comes in when your own timeline gets crossed. (Which means that if any Fray gets past these Time Police, it might be picked up by a different Time Police agency a few centuries down the line with better technology instead).
5516111
...I understood some of that. I think. The Time Police have a very complicated job, that's undeniable.
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I believe that it was Douglas Adams who said that the most difficult part of time travel is the grammar. If we had some sort of tense that could properly deal with something that did not and can not happen due to temporal paradox, I think I might be able to explain it in a more straightforward manner (or possibly not, I can be verbose sometimes...)
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Douglas Adams has far too much to answer for, bless his ingenious soul.
5516111
you leave yourself a note to go back because otherwise it doesn't get stopped
5689216
Working on the next chapter currently.
We'll see what the future holds for her.
Knew it!
This has been a very fun, clever, and occasionally temporally confusing read so far, and I'm eagerly waiting for more.
5689251
Glad to entertain! Temporal confusion is a price worth paying.
I'm reserving judgement for the next chapter. If you play this future-Twilight straight, this fic probably won't be worth reading. But there's plenty of room to play it in other directions.
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Next chapter should be along soon. I do have a plan in mind for future-Twilight, which may or may not be to your tastes. It may depend on whatever your definition of 'straight' is in regard to how she could be played.
You have my interest :)
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Glad to have it, and determined to finish this. So many scenes I have in mind...
The story looks interesting, but here is a couple of mistakes:
It should be "and me" in both cases. When a pronoun is a part of a list, it takes the same form it would take if it was single, see here.
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Fixed. Much obliged.
You really need to write more, that's a reaaally bad cliffhanger lol
I love it so far
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Just as soon as I finish off another ongoing piece.
More'll be written, no worries.
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I've always wondered what would/wouldn't/should/shouldn't/could/couldn't/might/mightn't happen if one had multiple instances of Time Police from the same point in time up the line but from different timelines all converged simultaneously on the same key event in the past.
[Obligatory Squishydodo quote]
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[/Obligatory Squishydodo quote]
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In those cases, the existence of multiple time Flows would indicate to the Time Police that the rules of play have already been mucked up beyond all possible repair. If anything survives, it'd almost certainly be best to just remember the involved squadrons as they were.
Time policing! Don't suggest it to your loved ones.
Any story where you can use "Meanwhile, in the future..." as a scene transition is a good story.
Heyyyy! I'm baaaaack! From the future!
It's JIFFY! Is she the one who keeps waving her badge around? I hope so. I really hope so.
HAH! I laughed so hard when I read this. You don't even know.
Okay, so I was already laughing pretty hard, but when I read this I 'bout pissed myself.
First off, a little nitpick from Editor Beans: a character should only engage in an action like staring after they've been given a reason to stare; the staring probably should have come after the full dialogue was delivered. Plus, having Applejack and Farmpony in the same sentence is repetitive; But I digress. Nitpick aside this was a hilarious passage. I really hope that its Jiffy speaking.
This mare's abundant pride in being a member of the Time Police is so freaking adorable. SO FREAKING ADORABLE!
Around this time was when I started crying. And also stopped breathing.
And this was where I had a heart-attack. This was the third time I died. SO UNFUCKING BELIEVABLY ADORABLE! HRNGH!!!!
I'm guessing that this was the earth pony mare? Despite not knowing her name nor anything else about her, I'm starting to like her.
That's all for now. I read this chapter twice because I enjoyed it so much. My eyes are still red and puffy.
I don't know how I know this, but the specific Pinkie Victory Jig mentioned here is absolutely the Snoopy Dance.