Final Chapter
The lion sorcerer smiled in silent triumph. Now that the spell had connected, there was no way out. He’d analyzed it to perfection. Twenty-four hours from now, Twilight Sparkle would reappear, and he’d repeat the procedure, each time catching just enough of the amplified magic rush to do whatever he pleased.
He felt a buildup of magic. It wouldn’t matter. The spell’s pattern had solidified too much. Besides, Twilight Sparkle would not be stupid enough to try and disrupt a spell she didn’t understand, and there was no way she’d decipher a spell this complicated that fast.
He squinted. Huh. He might have overestimated her intelligence in some way. That was definitely a magic surge. Still, she couldn’t possibly …
There was a flash, and a sickening crunch. Merrok felt around. No, the spell was still there. Was the pattern still intact? It looked like it was. He didn’t have time to fully inspect it, though. The spell was resolving. It would take effect. Of course it would. It wasn’t possible to stop once it had connected. He’d made sure of it.
The pattern vanished into time, just as intended. Excellent. Now to deal with …
Suddenly he was on his back. There was a screaming pain in his right front paw. He tried to move, and couldn’t. He growled in defiance and tried to focus a spell, but the pain just intensified. That was, of course, when his mind made the obvious connections. His right paw was, after all, where he focused his magic and turned it into spells, much like a unicorn might use her horn.
But … that was impossible. He knew for a fact the spell had worked. Not just that it should have worked - he had actually felt it. But now he could not just feel the multitudes of unfamiliar magic holding his body in a grip, he also realized the storm clouds above the plaza and the lightning streaking through them were separated from him by a dense blue-tinted fog, itself of magical origin. Just like that, he had been cut off from another major source of his power.
Power, he realized, he couldn’t have drawn in anyway, because he couldn’t feel his tail at all. There wasn’t even pain. That had to be coincidence, though. No lion sorceror before him had figured out that the tail could serve as a second catalyst. No one else but him could possibly know. Not even her.
He didn’t need any explicit confirmation of the shambles all his plans had become, but as though to taunt him, she decided to appear over him in his field of vision anyway. Looking in from the side, as she was standing next to him, but craning her head so her eyes met his. The fury in them sent a shiver up his aching spine. He tried to get up, to move, but the attempt was only rewarded with more pain.
“You humongous flipping jerk,” the unicorn growled, tears in her eyes, “going around causing hurt and grief and pain and thinking you know everything!”
Merrok growled, focused his magic one last time, and lunged.
He made it perhaps three inches off the ground before the pain flared up again. He gave a yelp as his head smashed back into the solid dirt. The pain in his right paw almost made him lose his mind. Twilight Sparkle hadn’t even budged.
She didn’t yell or even speak particularly loudly, but the barely suppressed rage in her words commanded Merrok’s attention in a way he would never have thought any living creature, especially one half his size, could - he was filled with dread. “Don’t think I’m not paying attention. I’m watching you struggle, very closely. And you’re actually lucky these binds and seals are working. I researched four distinct approaches to eliminate a lion sorcerer as a threat, and the one I’m using right now is the non-lethal one of the four. It hurts, and I hate that it hurts, because I hate hurting anyone. Even you. But I can’t allow you to do as you please, because that would cause far more hurt to far more people. You’ve already caused more than you could even imagine.”
Confusion was mixed into Merrok’s building fear and resignation. What was she even talking about? But the pain quickly extinguished any clear line of thought. “The spell should have worked. I don’t ... understand.”
“You don’t understand a thing about anything!” Twilight snapped, tried to calm herself, and shook her head. “I wish this seal was permanent. I didn’t hold back on it, and with the amplification at work it’s enough to keep you from doing magic again for a long, long time. Maybe you will learn. But I don’t have much room in my head for hoping right now. Right now, all I can try and drill into your stupid lion head is this,” she climbed on Merrok’s body, sending jolts of pain through his joints every time she disturbed the sealed paw, until she stood on his chest, and lowered her head until their stares were locked, eye to eye, just inches apart. She didn’t blink. She still had tears in her eyes that would not stop flowing, but her expression was all rage, and no fear. “I’m watching out for you. You’re my responsibility now. I’m prepared. If I ever catch wind that you’ve caused pain and grief to anyone, again, I will find you, and I will stop you, whatever it takes.”
She kept staring at Merrok, ice hot, for a short, excruciating while. Then she started talking again, somewhat quieter. “And one more thing. Maybe you will dedicate your talents to good. I’ve seen it happen where I thought it couldn’t, so how should I know? Regardless of the purpose, do not ever, ever, mess with time magic again. No one should. It’s never worth it.” And puzzlingly enough, rage turned to sorrow, tears welled up, and Twilight Sparkle jumped off Merrok’s body, causing a last jolt of agony to ravage him, and disappeared into the slowly dwindling storm, as if she had no thought in the world left to spare for him, leaving the lion sorcerer to ponder just what it was that had defeated him in the end.
Twilight tried desperately to get the tears to stop. She had to find the others, and she kind of needed to be able to see to have any hope of finding anything in the magic-blocking fog she had created. Darn it!
“Twilight!” came a yell. “Stop!”
Twilight stopped. She recognized the voice. Thank the stars, she did. “Rainbow Dash!” she let out a joyful scream as she saw the form the voice belonged to emerge from the mists. “You’re okay!”
“Well, yeah! I just got here! Why would I not be okay?” Rainbow Dash said, but was suddenly pinned back-first to the ground by the force of onrushing unicorn.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Twilight exclaimed through the sniffling as she dug her face in Rainbow’s chest, causing a wince as she poked her friend with her horn in her exuberance.
“Are you?” Rainbow asked apprehensively, rubbing her bruise.
Twilight suddenly rose up. “That depends! Where are the others?” Her hooves stomped the ground, unruly, as she turned her head into every imaginable direction. Even on a sugar overdose, Pinkie Pie could not have been more twitchy.
Rainbow Dash finally spotted the suffering pile of sealed lion sorcerer. “Woah, is that him?”
“Yup,” Twilight replied as she kept stretching her head. Maybe she should have reconsidered the fog. With the seals on his paw and the tail, it had been exceedingly unlikely Merrok could have drawn on the magic in the clouds anyway, and now it only made finding her friends harder.
Rainbow Dash poked Merrok in the side, triggering a roar of pain. “Woah!” She flittered back over to Twilight’s side. “Did you do that to him?”
“Yup. Applejack and Rarity should be here by now, right? Where are they?!”
There were voices some way off in the distance behind them. “Leave your paws off my Twilight, you ruffian!” There was a high-pitched battle cry, and then the sound of pony hooves skidding to a halt near where Merrok lay and suffered. “Huh.”
“Rarity!” Twilight yelled and turned around. “And Applejack, too! You’re alright!” Her horn flared up, and a split-second later she had her forelegs around them both, hugging them with vice-like strength. Rainbow Dash followed flying, smiling, but shrugging when she saw Applejack’s and Rarity’s puzzled looks.
“I take it ya gave ‘im what for then?” Applejack pressed out.
“No time for that! Where’s Pinkie?”
“Eat Combat Pie, you huge jerk!” came a war scream in the distance. There was a splat and loud cracking sound, and following its source Twilight and the others saw a bowling ball covered with cream and shattered frosting, lodged into a crater in the broken pavement, inches removed from the head of a terrified lion. “Darn it! Missed!”
“Pinkie, stop!” Applejack yelled. “He’s already done for!”
“Aw, really?” Pinkie answered, still at the end of the plaza, with a cart stacked with strangely ball-shaped pies tethered to her back. The fog had slightly thinned by now; evidently she had thrown the pie the moment she had gotten a good glimpse of lion without further thought. “Oh well. Good thing my pies are multi-purpose! Anyone up for banana cream?”
She barely had time to unfasten the harness before Twilight grabbed her and started twirling her around. “You’re okay you’re okay you’re okay!”
“W-woah, c-calm down!” Pinkie tried to say.
“Of course I’ll be at the party! I would never ever miss a Pinkie party!”
“I n-never s-said anything abo-bout a p-party! P-put me d-down, please!” Twilight put her down. Pinkie shook herself, trying to get her pupils to align again. “Geez, Twilight! You can’t just go around shaking ponies! You have to respect their personal space!” she paused, “Wait, did I just say that?”
There was a swooshing sound above them, and suddenly the ground shook. Everyone turned around to find Fluttershy standing right in the middle of the plaza, panting heavily. “I came as fast as I could! Is everything alright? Is everyone safe?!”
She had Twilight hugging her tight in split-seconds. “Yes! You’re safe, everyone’s safe! I did it!” Her expression unhinged, and big tear drops started streaming down her face. “I did it,” she pressed out, clamping around Fluttershy so hard it felt like the head would snap off. “I did it,” she whispered again, and kept crying even as her friends gathered around, deeply worried and puzzled. Celestia’s number one student had defeated countless dangerous enemies before, and never had she reacted like this.
“I guess fighting that lion dude must have been pretty intense,” Rainbow Dash said. “It looked like you were on fire! I guess that was some sort of magic. I was almost convinced I would get there too late. Must have been a close one.”
Twilight loosened her grip a little and turned around, giving Rainbow a blank stare. “You have no idea,” she finally said, smiling and trying to rub her eyes dry.
Finally able to breathe again, Fluttershy flashed her a sympathetic smile and hugged Twilight tight, this time of her own volition. “You must have had a terrible fright,” she said, gently.
“Well, she should tell us all about it. In her own time,” Rarity said, and she walked up to Twilight and hugged her, too. Pinkie Pie joined them in an instant - trying as hard as she could to put her forelegs around all three of them and succeeding in having her hindlegs leave the ground and most of her weight placed on Twilight’s shoulders, almost crushing her. Applejack snickered and joined in. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and when no one said anything, quickly checked in several directions for witnesses, blushed and piled herself on anyway.
“Remember, Twilight. No matter what happens, we’ll always be there for you,” Rarity said.
Twilight blinked, and then smiled, finally calm. “And I will be there for you.”
Many thanks to Sagebrush, who helped me untangle some of my messes. Many thanks also to all who've commented and otherwise helped and encouraged me. And of course, thanks for reading!
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Glimmerglaze · 6.5k words · 625 6 · 7.6k views
- Skywriter · 11k words · 477 5 · 5.7k views
- AdrianJNovelle · 45k words · 37 4 · 1.3k views
- Demi-Gryphon · 7.9k words · 59 5 · 1.8k views
- Esle Ynopemos · 7.7k words · 129 5 · 2.4k views
- A Hoof-ful of Dust · 4.6k words · 55 0 · 931 views
- 8686 · 37k words · 120 2 · 1.7k views
- adcoon · 15k words · 158 3 · 2.9k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.216 seconds
Total duration
966 users online
1,575,129 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yay, a happy ending!
Would be nice to know what did happen in ten years, just to know if Twilight managed to keep everything right... as it is, it's guesswork how much she's affected the time stream, so a bit more open-ended than I would have preferred. Perhaps an epilogue maybe?
Still, the crux of the morale dilemma was the important bit, and it was well-reasoned both ways. (Personally, I'd have gone with the staying option, myself, were I Twilight, I think...)
Very nice work. It's always good to see something new with time-travel involved.
2193555
The future is always guesswork.
Here's what I've bitten my tongue over before: I don't think it's sensible or practical for Twilight to write a record of the ten years of the changed timeline and try to solve every crisis based on that record after she goes back. The smallest change can lead to severe repercussions. There are no guarantees even something that happened a week after her disappearance in one timeline is going to happen in the other. Even someone who researches as thoroughly and is as brilliant as Twilight cannot possibly keep track of even a fraction of the possible changes she's made to the time stream by going back. She could research the events that transpired in those ten years for centuries and she wouldn't be able to predict a single thing with absolute certainty. Twilight understands very well that she cannot possibly know everything. It's something she tries to drill into Merrok's head at the end, too, and one of the points the story tries to make.
The very biggest risk - and most calculable, because she has to fight him immediately after her return - is Merrok himself, because his plans depend on Twilight's presence in the first place. Beyond that, there's very little reason to assume her presence will have negative repercussions for her friends, or Equestria, or the universe, if you ask me, but more to the point, there just is no way to know for sure.
And of course - she knows that she traded a certain, pretty good timeline for an uncertain one, solely because she wants her life back. She knows she's made the risky - the Rainbow Dash - choice, and for selfish reasons. That's why the battle against Merrok is such a curbstomp - she cannot possibly afford to lose ("You're my responsibility now."), so she takes a page out of Merrok's book and Prepares with a capital P. That's also why she is completely frazzled until she makes sure all her friends are ok. Personally, I'd be very surprised if she has researched very much beyond beating Merrok. Whether and how much she ends up sharing about her timeline, with Celestia or her friends, I can't say. I think she's content with her choice, but she definitely wouldn't claim it was the definitely right one. Your guess is as good as mine. The open-endedness is very much intentional, and I'm as certain as I can be that there won't be an epilogue.
Anyway! I'm delighted you enjoyed the story. I fully expect my readers to disagree over whether or not she made the right decision, because I don't know that either.
So good I had to read the final chapter twice.
Before reading other people's opinions, I don't know if she made the right choice. However it's the choice I would have made if I had Twilight's life. Perhaps my own life as well, I'd have checked the future out more.
2211490
That's pretty much how I see it, too. Your guess is as good as mine on how much she researched exactly about the ten years she undid, but I think the lion's share (dohoho) of her research went into defeating Merrok.
2249731
Is that in a good way or in a bad way? It gets better starting with chapter 2! I think!
2249799
in only the way that time travel can do.
I'm normally okay with basic time logic, but when you put it as much detail as you did, it becomes a bit overwhelming.
edit: I finished the story, and it did get better.
A great conclusion to a great story. Read the whole thing in one siting and I was very satisfied. Hope to see more from you in the future. Keep it up!
2328113
I actually was online when your first comment showed up, just didn't want to interrupt anything.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Despite the flaws - by now just about everyone, including myself, agrees that the first chapter turned out way too heavy on the exposition, and the complaints I got about the end of chapter three match your expression of confusion perfectly. Your reaction was the one I was counting on - that people would just click "next" for the final chapter and get their confusion cleared up (was it for you?) - but there's definitely a much better way to go about it, I just haven't figured it out just yet.
It feels like I owe it to those who've given me such great feedback and insight into the ways I went wrong with this story to go back and revise it - but right now I don't think I've got it in me to pull it off the way I should. I'd like to write something new first. I don't write nearly enough.
2328235 This story could benefit from a bit of revising but it isn't really necessary. Hope to see more fro you in the future, Keep up the great work!
Also, thanks for not interrupting :D
2556528
Twilight turned out to be massively over-prepared, no question about it. Merrok definitely had contingency plans though. He was carefully watching the progress of his spell, and while he was caught by surprise by it not working, if Twilight hadn't acted so quickly and so decisively, sealing both his magical channeling outlets and applying powerful magical binds in a matter of seconds, he might have recovered quickly and struck back. I don't know either. But it would have made no sense for Twilight not to prepare as much as she did.
So, what if she couldn't have? I have considered having Twilight not retain her memories of the future upon the counterspell, but I think that would have pushed it far over the "too risky to consider" line, and I would have to make the future at least kind of crappy so it would be a believable choice for Twilight to make. But my main goal was to subvert the "terrible future, must undo" premise we know from stuff like Ocarina of Time (and apparently some other fanfictions on time travel already on the site, and come to think of it 80% of time travel stories ever), into "pretty damn good future, still undo?". Instead of "how do I do it?", the question driving the story is "do I even do it?". I wanted to write a story in which that question is as hard to answer as possible.
I personally like Twilight's decision, considering many other stories would pick the opposite. (I would almost say seeing an alternate ending would be interesting, but that's just me trying to make more work out of nothing.
)
The only real complaints I have is that the first chapter is a little wonky in the pacing department. Otherwise, I really liked this story and can't wait to see more from you~
I almost passed this story by but after reading it I'm so glad I didn't
2668250
That's what I get for making the first chapter almost impenetrable. Glad you stuck it out!
Wow. This is the perils and conundrums of time travel done right. this really needs more attention.
I probably would have made the other decision my self but I don't really fault twilight for her choice. It really is impossible to cleanly choose between the infinite number of lives that could have been, or would be in the new reality.
The only thing that's still bugging me, and that might cost Twilight some sleep in the future as well is that: Will the alternate timeline really cease to exist after she 'undid' the bent time, or will it continue its existance, with Twilight just vanishing from it again when she casts the spell? If so, that would probably break her friends in that timeline.
3887076
That is at the same time terrifying and delicious. Celestia does state that they've managed to peer into the time stream and as far as they can tell there is only one. At the places where the time stream took a different flow because of some time magic use, they detect a bend in it, not a fork (i.e. another timestream that exists simultaneously). I don't think she would lie about anything in order to get Twilight to go back to the past (it would go against everything she says about enabling Twilight to make her own, fully informed decision).
The only way this, as I said, both terrifying and delicious possibility exists is if Celestia and her crew of Equestria's best scientists - were mistaken. Which, unfortunately, no one can really tell for sure.
(EDIT: Well, that escalated. Think that should be a blog post? I'll leave it here, maybe you'll enjoy it)
Celestia opened her eyes. Nothing to see in front of her.
She looked to her side, and caught Luna doing the same. There was a sliver of hope in their eyes, then realization, then only sorrow.
"You remember her, too?" Celestia asked.
Luna looked away and nodded. "What do we tell them?" She almost whispered the words, and her voice trembled partway through. Tears had formed.
Celestia realized that she had to think of an answer soon, not just for the sake of Twilight's friends, who would soon find her gone once more, but for her own sister. She spread out one of her wings and pressed Luna softly against her side.
"We will tell them about her determination. We will tell them how hard she has worked. We will tell them that there can be absolutely no doubt that she will defeat Merrok and take her life back, and create another timeline, one in which their counterparts will never have to go through the things they did. They'll have to - we'll have to endure the loss, but at least..." Celestia trailed off, eyes growing watery. She'd reached her limit, too. She looked at Luna, pleading.
The younger sister managed a smile. She rose a hoof to Celestia's eyes and rubbed some of the tears away. "Twilight will be happier this way. We'll bear it, for her sake."
"Do you think she will be?" Celestia asked, full of sorrow and doubt.
"I can only speak for myself," Luna said thoughtfully, "but if I could, I would undo my own worst mistake and take back those thousand years. And I know, as much as I know of the existence of the moon and stars - I would be happier today. How could I not be? I'd have been able to spend all that time with you." She closed her eyes and rested her head against her sister's neck. "It's the same for Twilight, or she would not have gone back."
Celestia finally smiled again, too, even if just for a moment. "It's not much."
Luna nodded, sighing. "I know. It's not fair to them. They've suffered so much, and we can't make it stop. But Twilight will be happier this way. I know it. I think they know it, too. And unless everything I've learnt about them is wrong - that will help. At least a little."
They went silent for a while. Then Celestia spoke up again, wistfully. "You know, it's different, this time."
Luna nodded, looking up from Celestia's neck to find her sister smiling at her. "It is, isn't it?"
"Before, I thought of her as lost in the time stream, and I had images of her lost and adrift at sea. I worried for her so much it almost killed me. Now..." Celestia's eyes gleamed. "I see her in the company of friends. I know she's fine."
"I can see it, too," Luna whispered.
And they sat, and stared at the place where Twilight had stood, tense and full of concentration to the tip of her horn, and waited for the opportunity to take back her happiness.
Finally, the fact that they remembered didn't seem like so much of a disaster after all. You couldn't hope for a perfect outcome with time magic - but even in the bleakest-seeming futures, there is usually light on the horizon.
I most certainly did.
And I don't think that Celestia would lie either, but she has been wrong before… and I'm still upset with her for telling Twilight that "trusting [her] instincts is a valuable lesson to learn" without admitting and apologizing even once that it was she, not Twilight, who hadn't trusted Twilights instincts. She was wrong. She had lept to a conclusion without seeing it through that time, so I'm not sure I trust her thorough research now
But maybe I'm just a little overprotective of Twilight
No words, I have no words, just, just take my Thumbs Up
That amused me more than it probably should have
3891977
I know the feeling
OK yes.
I would have liked a little more about the exact methods Twilight used to shut him down, but this was a pretty good ending, all around.
This moved me, and that makes me unbelievably happy.
I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this story, and find that you- Glimmerglaze have a lot of talent. You write excellently and you have interesting thoughts to write about.
Thank you for taking the time to do it.
Thank you.
Fantastic. A satisfying read from start to finish.
Reading this story for the first time, well after its publication, I'm amused at how ahead-of-its-time it is. Because I've read three other fics with similar premises—that is, Twi winds up in an alternate timeline that's actually pretty nice, and debates whether she should stay or go back to the canon timeline. Except those other three fics were inspired by the season 5 finale, while you wrote yours back when Twi was still a unicorn.
And I think I like your take on that premise best.
7483784
Huh, I never thought about it - but I guess MLP time travel in season 5 did turn out to work similarly to how I wrote it, both with events of the past affecting events of the future, and time travellers retaining their memories of changed timelines. Back then all we had was It's About Time, which was focused on the predestination paradox - Twilight traveling back in time is the cause of the events that she travelled back in time to prevent. So while the story does intentionally subvert the "bad future; must fix" premise, that premise hadn't actually been utilized by the show yet, and so a subversion of it wasn't a natural starting point for an MLP time travel fic. (I do remember at least one fic releasing close or concurrent to mine that played the premise straight, with Twilight stuck in a bad future that - naturally - needed fixing. I'm betting there's plenty more of those now - especially with regards to the last, unexplained wasteland future in the season 5 finale.)
The starting point for "It's Also About Time" were the scenes involving Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six in the future - they started popping into my head at some point and had an emotional impact on me, which I then tried to inflict on others. The idea to write a subversion of "bad future; must fix" came after that somehow, I'm not sure how. Chalk this one up as a coincidence.
I'm glad you liked my take on the premise - how have other fics been dealing with it? I'm pretty out of the loop in fanfiction.
7484363
All the other fics took the timeline-hopping fight with Starlight Glimmer and, after visiting many nasty timelines, Twilight and Spike wind up in one that's very different from canon Equestria, but not really better or worse. Like in one fic, Sunset Shimmer was the new timeline's Element of Magic, but her version of the Mane Six outright killed Nightmare Moon / Princess Luna, but on the other hoof they were able to redeem King Sombra, and now he's married to Celestia. Or in another fic, the alt-timeline's local Twilight redeemed Sombra and negotiated peace with Queen Chrysalis, but sacrificed her life to defeat Tirek.
So, much like in your fic, Twi debates whether to say this altered timeline is good enough and stay in it, or to risk everything by fighting Starlight to restore the original timeline. In two of the fics, Twi goes back and fixes the timeline. The third was an extended reference to the SF short story "All the Myriad Ways", and it ends with the timeline splitting further, and we see Twilight make every possible choice, though the consequences aren't shown.
7484465
Looks like I had it a bit easier, then - because I had Twilight jump into the future, I didn't have to mess around with canon events to arrive at the "actually pretty good" future, so I didn't have to come up with creative explanations for why Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Tirek etc. didn't take over the world.
I'm pretty sure I couldn't actually have written the story I wanted based on the season 5 finale, since that whole affair with Twilight's friends having to wait for her to return for the next ten years while grieving for her loss - the initial reason I wrote the story in the first place - was also dependant on Twilight making a journey into the future, as opposed to the past.
Really great story! I'm curious about how much detail Twilight might go into when explaining what happened to her friends - would she even mention that she went to the future? It seems like a secret that might not be fun to keep for 10 years. On the other hand, if she did let her friends know, it's not fair to say "Yeah, you're captain of the wonderbolts, RD" (talk about spoilers!). She could say "I went to the future" and then when prompted what it was like just say "you've got a lot to live up to" or something vague like that. But that's just teasing.
Anywho, I caught a single typo, right there at the end (such a great story doesn't deserve typos!
):
7829393 Honestly, I don't know what she's going to tell them. I probably never did. That's probably why the story ends at the point it does!
Considering how afraid she was and still is of disturbing the natural flow of time, I think she'd tell them that she traveled ten years into the future, and came back knowing how to defeat Merrok, but that she won't tell them what happened in that future because she's afraid of what the consequences of her telling them might be. No idea if she will be able to hold to that resolution.
I don't think she's the type to make light of the situation - if anything, it's her friends who will.
"Twilight, Spitfire is retiring - the team offered me the captaincy."
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, that's wonderful!"
"I mean, yeah, but I was wondering..."
"Yes?"
"Like, if I should even do it. I'm not sure."
"WHAT WHYYyyever would that be? Cough."
"I mean, I often think about what you've seen in that future... Did I make it then? Did I find something better? Maybe I'm going to ruin everything. I'm just not sure. Can you help me out?"
Twilight's right eyebrow twitched. "I... I can't tell you... Look, it's not about what I saw in the future, really, you should make your own decision based on... I mean, I don't want to affect... WHY WOULDN'T YOU I mean of course there's always doubts with every decision you make in life..."
"You're just mumbling now. I can't hear you."
"What I'm trying to say is... You can't make decisions based on what I think, because... It has to be YOU who... You know?"
"You know what, Twilight? Stop the excuses. Just tell me. Was I captain of the Wonderbolts in the other timeline or not?"
"YEEEEEYYYou know I can't tell you, really! I wish I could! I can't..."
"You know, with you being so reluctant, I think what you're trying to tell me is either that I didn't become captain, or that I did and that I did actually fail at everything and they kicked me out again."
"What?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "I mean, that has to be it. I'm just too klutzy and irresponsible. I'd never amount to anything. I guess I just have to live with that. Thanks for being straight with me, Twilight."
"WHAT?"
"Sorry for taking up your time." Rainbow turned around, head drooped low.
"NOOOO!" Twilight blinked out of existence, and reappeared directly in front of her startled friend. "Don't just give up like that! You can't!"
"So you're telling me I did become captain of the Wonderbolts in the other future?" said Rainbow Dash, eyes twinkling.
"OF COURSE-" Twilight blinked. "I am not telling you that, because, like I told you... Argh!" She embraced Rainbow, tears in her eyes.
While she bawled, Rainbow Dash softly patted her back. Once the torrent died down and they pulled apart, she softly patted her friend's head. "Of course I'm going to do it. I knew that when I came in here."
"What."
"You're cute when your eyes bulge out like that." She chuckled. "Twilight, I know you're scared of screwing up. I can tell. We can all tell. Lighten up. Listen."
Twilight, who had opened her mouth to speak, or more likely scream, shut it again.
"You can't screw up. You're our friend. There's no way in hell that a timeline that doesn't have you in it could be better than the timeline where I can talk to you and make fun of you like this." This time, she embraced Twilight. "Do you get it?"
"Sniff. I do. Very funny."
"Not my prank. Though it was hella funny."
Twilight smiled, and leaned her head against Rainbow's mane. "I do."
"You gotta admit, that was good acting. Making you think I was not going to do it. Ha! Me! Like I'd ever let anyone tell me what to do!"
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you very much."
Rainbow chuckled. "But?"
"Shut up."
"Shutting up, yes ma'am."
7829871
7829931
Pleasure is all mine :)
I also had this idea of Rarity consistently pestering Twilight for information on future fashion trends, and Twilight finally giving in and telling her all she knows - which, of course, is nothing.
I don't think Fluttershy or Applejack would knowingly bother Twilight about the future at all. And Pinkie Pie can probably time travel herself.
So, Twilight: how does it feel to have commited omnicide? Saying she is literally worse than Hitler isn't an exaggeration in this circumstance. So many foals -- living, breathing, potentially happy foals -- snuffed out in an instance. One moment they were there, and the next they were just molecules and atoms scattered about the planet randomly, ten years in the future of the new timeline. It's the equivalent to them being vaporised personally by Twilight Sparkle herself. Never to be born again.
After giving it some thought, I have decided not to give this story a like. The whole point of the story was about her choice and the consequences therof, yet the biggest consequence wasn't even considered. Unacceptable. Such a huge plothole, staring in my face and ignored by everyone.
And it doesn't even matter if the timeline wasn't erased: she thinks it was. So if it does still exist somewhere and no one knows that, that doesn't change the morality of it.
7874081
That's fair, I'd downvote a story, too, if it had Twilight in it murdering people.
I don't think I'd agree that I overlooked your concerns - they very much went through my mind, and you yourself quoted a passage where I tried to include them, at least partially. But it's definitely fair to argue that the text I produced - the story you read - didn't present or discuss the conundrum properly, and as the author of the text that's definitely on me to prevent from happening to the best of my abilities.
The idea (as far as I remember, it's been a while) was definitely to present Twilight's action as morally ambiguous. Of course, for ambiguity to exist you have to accept that the wrong Twilight suffered - to be displaced from her rightful place in the timeline - is grievous enough that Twilight has a right to correct it, if she wishes, even if that leads to an entire timeline being erased. That's essentially what I tried to do.
Though mainly the story is intended as a deconstruction, of sorts, of the "terrible future, must undo" plot found in many forms of media, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Consider that the future where Ganondorf rules hasn't extinguished all life in Hyrule, and it's very possible that life came into existence, in Kakariko or elsewhere, that would not have existed in that form if Ganondorf had never risen to power. When Zelda undid Ganondorf's ascension to power, did she commit murder as well?
To take it to the extreme, consider a future in which a mad scientist inadvertently unleashed a deadly plague on the world in his efforts to devise a cure to his six-year-old daughter's lethal illness, creating a future where mankind has been reduced to mere remnants, but the daughter lives, quite happily and obliviously, on an island somewhere. Can you go back in time, prevent the scientist from completing his work, and condemn his daughter to die?
I think this is essentially the Trolley problem at work. You can take a utilitarian view and compare the numbers and quality of lives condemned and saved, or a hard line stance, where you are always prevented from action one way or the other because it would always constitute murder. This is rarely explored in stories like this, of course. Usually the future is presented as in various ways unacceptable, and the protagonists even have a moral imperative to try to change it.
I made an effort to show Twilight trying very hard to extablish this kind of plot - she tries to look for reasons why there is a moral imperative for her to attempt to undo Merrok's time spell - but also ultimately failing to do so. Instead, the person who suffers the most - perhaps the only person who suffers at all - is she herself. The question I tried to pose is: Isn't that enough? Doesn't Twilight, as an individual, have a right to live her life undisturbed from time magic? If she does, doesn't she also have the right to correct any such disturbances?
At the risk of really taking this conversation super off the rails, you could draw a comparison to a pregnant woman whose medical condition has deteriorated to the point where the only way to save her life is to abort the child. Does she have the right to save herself? Does her husband, or whoever is tasked with making the decision, have a right - or even an obligation - to save her at the expense of the child, or is the obligation the other way around?
Celestia essentially argues for a "right to choose" for any unwilling time traveler - that they should have the right to return to their original spot in the timeline, at the price of it leading to changes down the road. Twilight never really gets around to agreeing that she has that right, and I think I managed to show fairly clearly that her motivation for using the counterspell was irrational. She didn't go back because she felt she had a right to, she went back because she couldn't stand the alternative.
I also tried to convey that she's not going into it with a clean conscience at all. What, admittedly, the story doesn't show Twilight having is a conscience that says "I murdered people". She's successfully rationalized it down to "I have an obligation to do my best to make this timeline better for having me in it." That's also why she doesn't kill or permanently cripple Merrok; she tries to scare him straight - because if successful, at least she's saved one life that she knew was gone in the original timeline, and maybe if she saves enough she can forgive herself for being selfish.
It's perfectly legitimate to say "That isn't good enough."
What's been gratifying to see in the comments for this story, apart from there still being new ones years after I wrote it, is that they really do go in either direction. You've presented great points, and for that I'm particularly grateful!
7875377 Well, this is embracing. I had a reply to everything you said... then my internet stopped working. I copied what I had to my clipboard so I could paste it once it went back up. Alas, I forgot I had it copied to my clipboard and so turned my computer off. Poof, entire message erased.
So I'll just summarize and say that I'm glad you know about the Trolley Problem and I do understand why you didn't go down that route, even if I disagree with the decision from a personal standpoint. I had a lot more to say, but I really don't want to spend another twenty minutes writing it out. Stupid Comcast.