Reflections - Movie-related changes · 12:47pm Oct 17th, 2017
Morning everypony,
A few days ago, I said that I would be affecting some changes to earlier parts in the story so that the story was more in-line with what happens in the movie. It became increasingly apparent to me since watching it that what I had was not really in line with the movie's narrative. I've finished blocking out those changes and have introduced them into the story proper. The changes in question are to chapter 15 only, and they do not affect the overall plot of Reflections. However, if you are interested in seeing how exactly this scene is now, you can find it after this page break.
Twilight glanced up at the dark clouds that hung over Canterlot. She then turned her eyes toward the hulking yeti-like creatures in front of them. Their foes wore armor that covered their heads and their midsections and they all carried spears and shields.
And Crystal suddenly appeared behind one of them (whether it was teleportation or just unfathomable speed was not something Twilight could distinguish) and kicked them into a nearby building. She disposed of the other one just as quickly.
After examining her work, Crystal turned to them. “I don’t have anything yet on how to deal with the collision issue. It’s not like there exists magic that can control an actual timeline.”
Sunset scratched her head. “Well... working with crystallization and threading is all we have…” she mumbled.
Crystal nodded and turned down the street. The others followed closely behind.
Canterlot itself was rife with broken windows and many buildings had holes in their walls and roofs. A few black banners hung from the occasional wall, each displaying a pointed crest that looked like a pair of lightning bolts. Aside from the creatures that they now walked past, the streets were empty.
Silverlay in particular considered the fallen creatures. “Hmph. You would think that after besting my invasion, those oafish ponies would have taken their defense a little more seriously. I guess I was wrong.”
Twilight blushed and scratched the back of her mane. “You know… I really am starting to think that we’ve been pretty lax about defending ourselves. What with all the threats that I’ve seen and had to deal with.”
“And Fizzlepop is quite the formidable opponent. She’s a gem once she’s on your side, but alas…” Crystal said with a chuckle.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Formidable? That’s a compliment coming from you.”
“You’re telling me that she defeated three princesses in sixty seconds and conquered Equestria in a day,” Sunset said as she glanced around the ruined city. “I’d be complimenting that too.”
“Despite those being rookie numbers,” Crystal replied. “I’ve seen it done in less. I’ve done it in less.”
“Equestrians really are weak,” Silverlay snorted.
Starlight deviously grinned and leaned in close to Silverlay. “Equestrians beat you twice in a row.”
Sunset snickered in response.
Silverlay’s expression rapidly deformed into a snarl and she pressed herself muzzle-muzzle against Starlight. “Do not make me hurt you,” she growled.
“Chrysalis,” Crystal interrupted.
Silverlay whirled around to face Crystal. Her eyes were still like slits.
Crystal peered around the corner of a nearby building as she tracked some bodies making their way across a nearby street. Said bodies turned out to be a bipedal cat, bird-like creatures, and a hippogryph. Spike and the rest of Twilight’s friends hung closely together with them.
Once they disappeared, Crystal nodded and stepped into the street herself. “There is one thing that I know: even after visiting your timeline, where I threaded together divergences that came afterward… that didn’t stop it from colliding again.”
After a moment of staring Crystal down, Silverlay nodded and followed suit. “Then your threading technique isn’t going to help.”
“No,” Crystal affirmed.
The five of them continued through a few alleyways heading in the direction of Canterlot Castle where the clouds were the thickest. The occasional storm guard blocked their path. Said storm guards were promptly sent flying down the street, courtesy of Crystal.
While Twilight, Starlight, and Silverlay watched the short exchanges and overall took in the disarray the city was in, Sunset kept her gaze toward the ground. She muttered a few words to herself here and there but overall kept quiet.
The space above the castle brightened up as a bolt of electricity shot into the sky. It disappeared into the clouds and the clouds, in turn, began swirling about at velocities that would have made even Rainbow Dash cringe. The air howled in their wake and the five of them could feel fleeting hints of its power even from their distant position.
“Ah,” Crystal said, “here we go.”
Crystal threw up a barrier around them and the five continued closer to the castle. The increasingly harsh winds outside the barrier picked up pieces of debris and slammed them together, wherein they exploded into even smaller pieces. Several pieces of debris bounced off of Crystal’s barrier but it yielded to nothing.
“The protective barrier does work, huh?” Sunset mused.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “You would think that’s what it’s for.”
Sunset shook her head. “I just think it would be nice to have something like that for a timeline. Something that protects it from damage.”
Twilight nodded and glanced up at Crystal. “Do you have anything like that?”
Crystal groaned. “Not a chance.”
Silverlay shook her head. “Pity.”
Crystal stopped in the middle of the street just as a wooden cart bounced off of her barrier. She glanced toward the gales above and then, when a gigantic boom sounded from down the street, watched as Spike and Twilight’s friends arced through the air and into the castle throne room. She nodded. “This will do for a moment.”
Sunset continued stroking her chin. “Well, if you can’t do that…” She paused for a moment more and then gasped and slapped the ground. “Wait, I think I’ve thought of something.”
Twilight leaned over. “Yes?”
Sunset lit her horn and protected a flat image in front of her. It contained two lines; one was thick and the other thin. “Say this thick line is already crystallized in some way and now these two lines collided. What would happen?”
Silverlay tapped her chin as she considered the image. “Hmmm, right. Yes. If this is a crystallized timeline,” she said as she motioned toward the thicker line, “that means this whole span of time is set in stone and can’t be changed.”
Twilight gasped. “Oh! I see where this is going! It’s—”
“There won’t be anything going between these two timelines like what happened with mine,” Silverlay finished.
Crystal turned to examine the image for herself.
“Because nothing enters or leaves this crystallized timeline, and same thing with this uncrystallized one as a result.” Starlight said. She stared at the image for a few moments more and then scratched her head. “But that helps us how?”
“These parts are rigid and unmoving and are probably impervious to damage,” Crystal said as she pointed to the crystallized parts.
“But did my timeline not have another collision?” Silverlay asked.
There was another loud roar as sections of the castle’s ceiling caved in. Crystal regarded it carefully and then turned back to the diagram and said, “Everything beyond what was crystallized kept going and eventually caused that second collision. But this is still helpful information.”
“So, then, if we did something like that to a colliding pair of timelines,” Sunset said, “where we crystallize the one that’s about to be hit, there won’t be any damage to either of them. Maybe we’ll even stop the timeline that was moving, too.”
Crystal nodded and then turned and walked through her own barrier. She ruffled her wings at the sight of the gales above and coursed some idle magic into her horn.
Twilight slapped the ground. “And if we did that everywhere we need to, that would solve the entire collision problem.”
“Yes.”
Twilight giggled and shook her head. “Gosh, Sunset, you’ve been really on the ball with all of this; a lot more than I expected. I’m impressed!”
Sunset blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, well, dealing with the Nameless was really good practice.”
Crystal kept watching the gale in silence and then she spotted a long rod-like object come flying out of it. Her eyes tracked it as it arced toward them and, just as it was about to lance through them, Crystal shot into the air. She grabbed the staff mid-flight as she barreled right toward the storm. At the same time, she shot a bolt of magic out of her horn which tore a gigantic hole through the cyclone. Much of the winds around it immediately evaporated or otherwise tore themselves apart.
And then Crystal disappeared into some of the remaining bits of cloud with the staff still tucked within her forelegs. A few seconds went by, during which the remaining clouds calmed down and quit circulating.
At that point, the barrier which had been around the four of them melted. Crystal appeared in the same instant, now empty-hooved.
“I agree,” she said. “I think that’s a really good plan. But…”
“Yeah yeah,” Starlight groaned and rolled her eyes, “details and all that stuff.”
“Right. We don’t have to block it out right this second. But…” Crystal frowned and let out a sigh. “I’m already trying to think of how high we’d have to make such a wall; how much time I’d have to crystallize.”
“If we have to make the wall,” Sunset replied.
Crystal nodded and said, “I might have some ideas. But, also, I’m concerned about the astronomical amount of timelines that I’d have to work this method on.”
As your editor, I feel I should point out a few things about this:
I feel like at least one of them would remark on how silly her real name is.
This paragraph is a bit jumbled. A better wording might be, "The occasional storm guard blocked their path. Said storm guards were quickly sent flying down the street, courtesy of Crystal."
"five of them"
Replace the period with a question mark,
Comma after "well"
"really been on the ball"
"grabbed"
4700502
And as your author, I shoulda known better than to push all this without getting a set of eyes on it. My bad.
I should also tell myself not to do this while on no sleep. Nevertheless, all fixed!