//------------------------------// // 5: Twilight Paradox // Story: You Have the Right to Remain Silent // by RDDash //------------------------------// "Are you awake Sparkle?" A soft metallic voice could have been heard in the darkness. Twilight stood up on her hooves and looked around, she was inside of the virtual reality world. She thought that maybe at some point in time she was connected to it, but why? "Did you just stick a data cable right into my spinal cord?" "Of course not, our corporation is not that barbaric. We just put you into the trance state which is based on a zebra potion. Congratulations Twilight we managed to install your new wings to you, and now we just need to acclimatize them." Twilight opened her wings up, for some reason she became aware of them only after she was told about them. Her new wings were built to function and feel just like her old wings once did, all the way down to each individual feather, and nerve connection. "So what exactly do you want me to do then?" "That's very easy Sparkle, welcome to your flight exam. You still remember how to fly don't you?" "Well yes, I am." "Well that's perfect then, please come into the next room." Twilight noticed the small opening in the cube chamber. She would have to guess that there where she should go. However, when she actually did it she almost fell into the abyss because instead of the of the cold hard floors the room is filled with infinite abyss made of moving clouds. "Woah!" "What seems to be the issue?" "It's uh, the room's floor suddenly disappeared, and then." Inside of Twilight's mind, "Oh, is this what you meant by flight exam?" It is an infinitely stretched room, designed to be extremely safe for its users, fluffy clouds. Even if the user is a total novice, they can't really hurt them while they are in here." "Even if I am inside my own mind?" The voice paused for a moment, "Especially when you are inside of your own mind. By any chance, your very first experience felt real to you?" "For a moment I thought that it did, but then I eventually figured out that what I was observing was just an afterimage of what's happened back then." "Hm." "What?" "Oh, it's nothing, just curious, by the way, look at yourself you are flapping your wings now." Twilight awakened now back in real world, she was laying on the bed, she looked around she was in a somewhat sterile room. she thought that she already had plenty of time of lying around doing nothing, so she stood up and then dashed off to the supplies that have been lying near her bed. She then shrugged and then put her uniform back on. "Alrighty then," she went outside into the next room, where she found an oversized long-barrelled sniper rifle and the memo that's been attached to it. Sparke, I am so sorry but I am too lazy to meet you in person. Please think of this, let's just say sniper rifle as a gift from me to you. You probably going to need it. if you are not going to end up using, then please still take it. Oh and consider this a lab testing of the new gun. You like doing science, right? Senior Supervisor Star. Twilight shrugged it off, What is it all about? Maybe she should just take it. Having nothing else to do she took the rifle and then put it on her back. She went into the next room, where she found another note. Once again I am really sorry Sparkle for bothering you, but here is the thing. In front of you two doors, the door on the right is just a regular old door, It basically leads to nowhere. Meaning that if you would go through it, then you would just stay here. However, if you go to the door on the right, then you would pass through the causal loop, which would then drop you off right where you left off. Like I said, using that gun is completely optional. Senior Supervisor Star. Twilight looked around the room that she was in, just like the note said, there were two doors. One door leads to the past, and the other one leads to the present. "I suppose she wants me to choose, very well then I will choose it," Twilight thought about Princess Celestia, she thought about her friends. Then she remembered how in her own foolishness she traveled back in time for the first time in her life. Twilight giggled. Oh, why the heck not? She eventually decided to go to the right door instead of the left one, she was immortal and she wasn't in any hurry to live in the future she thought that she could take more or less boring route to get there. Which was live those thousands of years as a Princess of the Equestria, watch her friends live, age, and die. But before that. Twilight looked at that paper again, she giggled again. Paper had been extremely rare in the future, Twilight knew what she is going to do now. "Excuse my rudeness, I hope I can put it back in later. Hmm, I wonder if it can grow back." Twilight plucked a feather from her wing and then summoned an inkwell. Mechanical pens was somewhat a relic of the past, they existed for the sake of existing, after all, back in her day they used pencils as well as feathers. Dear Star, Thank you very much for everything that you did for me, I just felt like I need to thank you for it, even though I suppose you were very blunt about not meeting me here when saying the final goodbye. No matter, maybe we don't even need to say goodbyes to each other, we are probably going to meet someday once again because let's face it I am not going anywhere. I suppose I will take the gun out of politeness, hm I don't actually need to use, do I? Alright, wish me luck, I will see you again thousands of years later from my point of view. Oh, and almost forgot I am not going to take a robot Spike with me, I don't think I am going to need him where I am going. Princess as well as Friendship Officer Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle put the piece of paper back down and then put a black eye patch on her left eye. "That's better!" She smiled and then stepped right throw the door on the right. She saw the tunnel of brilliant white light, she then continued going right through it until she exited on the other side of it in her own castle. Specifically from a wardrobe in her own bedroom. Twilight looked at the clock, it was almost 10:00 a.m. in the morning, that means the other version of her is right now in the kitchen eating breakfast. Starlight is probably with them too, but the most important thing is that she could hide until the event would happen. She opened a wardrobe and then noticed that it just a regular old wardrobe now that it stopped to function as a portal to the future. "I guess it won't hurt if I put a gun into it, probably should find a better hiding place for it." So she did just that, she put her sniper rifle inside of it, she undressed her body armor and then put it in the same place. "Perfect," Twilight thought about it and decided to keep an eye patch for now. "Oh well, I think it's going to be more fun this way!" Twilight carefully opened the door of her bedroom and then quickly trotted next to her destination. She has no actual clue of what she is going to do now, however, she knew that she is not going to prevent that accident. It's just part of who she is now and it is not going to change who she was. She decided to stay in the castle, for now, she blinked and then she closed her eyes for just a second. "Twilight is that you?" Twilight opened her eyes and then looked around, in the corridor she saw Starlight Glimmer standing there, perhaps she was too slow to make a strategically important decision. Wait, why is she saw surprised by seeing me? Could it be that she was slightly taller by a few inches, leaner then she would have normally been if she was a year younger. "Yes, Starlight it's me, I just... I just need to come back to my bedroom that's all. I thought that you are already in the kitchen helping Spike or something. Kind of thought that you and Spike kind of have a friendly chemistry." "Well yeah we are, but it's not what you think!" For some reason, Starlight became slightly embarrassed. "I didn't mean it like that," Twilight blinked, "I thought that maybe you two were kind of like you and Trixie, the friendship that evolved all by itself. Besides..." "What?" "Oh, it's nothing much," Twilight quickly dismissed the thought, right now there are a bit more important things to say. "Um, listen to me..." "You are time traveled again didn't you?" Twilight blinked, "..." "Your eye patch is kind of dead giveaway, sorry. I remember you've been saying that the orientation of the eye patch will be dependent on the direction of your travel. Although I never understood why would you want to travel to the future." "To skip the extremely slow wait between the two experiments," Twilight helpfully offered. "How irresponsible it is of you." "I never thought I will hear you start lecturing me about being irresponsible," both mares looked at each other and then started laughing. "Alright, but seriously why are you are here?" "I am sorry but I cannot say, "Twilight paused. "I promise that I will be there for you when the time is right, and then perhaps I will tell everything. For now, I just want you to trust me on this one."