Meanwhile…
Luna’s night had fallen over Ponyville, and all was quiet. Three foals and a baby dragon huddled in their clubhouse, enjoying their monthly sleepover. A timid Pegasus closed her eyes, relived that she could convince her new houseguest to relax for the night. A much beloved member of the community shut all her blinds before letting sleep reveal her true form. Before long, there was only one pony in the entire town that was truly awake.
As she began noting what books to request from the Canterlot archives, Twilight Sparkle chuckled lightly to herself. It seemed Fluttershy was a lot more cunning than anypony took her for. That might be why Discord had befriended her so quickly…she’d have to keep a close eye on those two. Well, that was a concern for the future.
Right now, she had to replace the books Discord had eaten. Reformed or not, she couldn’t be too careful. Discord was the god of Chaos after all, and she had to expect the unexpected with him about…
A breeze suddenly picked up, rustling her checklist. Twilight frowned. Didn’t she close all the windows? She looked up to check, but when she did she saw countless white sparks appearing all over the room. Where had she seen them before…
The strange wind picked up, scattering her notes all over the library. A light appeared in the center of the room, a blinding white radiance that forced Twilight to look away. A whirlwind of energy nearly knocked her off her hooves as an immense magical explosion was detonated.
Twilight got herself back upright and rubbed the brightness from her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, Twilight was looking at herself. The doppelganger was unmistakably her, but several subtle indicators told Twilight she was somewhat older than her. She was taller, more muscled, and there were a few tiny wrinkles around her eyes. Or maybe that was just sleep deprivation. The eyes themselves had an adult fierceness about them, and as Twilight looked into them she felt a shiver go down her spine.
“Twilight!” her doppelganger thrust her hoof into Twilight’s mouth before she could speak. “Listen to me! Listen to me very carefully! I’m from the future, and I have to warn you about something!”
Twilight pulled away from Future Twilight, taking her hoof out of her mouth. “Ok, what is it?” If she’d learned anything from the timespell debacle of last time, it was to listen to what her future self had to say.
Future Twilight took a deep breath before talking again. “Ok, your bro…your…b…” for some reason, the word was difficult to spit out. “Your…Shining Armour! Shining Armor’s going to get married in Canterlot, but the bride is actually an evil monster called a Changeling!”
Twilight blinked, her earlier concern replaced with incredulousness. “…what?”
“Don’t say anything! I don’t have much time! That monster is going to destroy everything you care for! You have to stop her!”
Twilight just blinked. “Um…aren’t you a little late for that?”
Future Twilight gasped. “What?!”
“You’re talking about that Changeling invasion? That happened a long time ago, and we dealt with it just fine. Shining Armor and Cadence are ruling the Crystal Empire now.”
Future Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. “But that’s…that’s not possible! How…When…why?” she babbled, shaking her head in disbelief.
Twilight was confused by her future self’s confusion. Wouldn’t she know all this already? “Here…I took pictures!” Twilight turned to her bookshelf and levitated a thick green photo album out. Opening it, she turned Future Twilight’s attention to the photographs.
Future Twilight gaped at the images. There was Celestia, Cadence, Twilight and…him…dancing together at a wedding reception. Cadence was in her ball gown and he was in his tuxedo. Celestia was there, smiling. “But…that didn’t…the changelings…”
“Those things?” Twilight casually answered. “Shining and Cadence drove them away from Canterlot with their love. We were worried that there was going to be another attack, but we haven’t heard from them at all. You should…you should know all this…”
The librarian of Ponyville turned away from her doppelganger, trying to figure things out. “Unless…you mean there’s another wedding coming up? Is Shining going to get married again? Are he and Cadence going to break up, and then this facilitates another Changeling attack! Oh no! This is bad! Shining and Cadence are so happy together…I have to talk to them! I can’t have them…”
Twilight was so busy with her ramblings and terrified theorizing that she didn’t notice the expression on Future Twilight’s face. She didn’t notice how her eyes stared at the images of happiness on the photographs with a chilling intensity. She didn’t notice the corners of her mouth turn upwards into a smile. She only barely heard her doppelganger mumble the word’s “Lutece’s hypothesis…of course…”
“…and Rarity would have to make an entirely new dress, all over again! This is beyond terrible! You have to tell me everything about how this is going to happen, so I can stop it before…” Twilight whirled around to face her future self and begin demanding answers, but she was stunned by what she saw.
Future Twilight had cast some sort of spell on herself, and all the fragments of age had vanished from her body. She was now a perfect duplicate of Twilight Sparkle. Before Twilight could question this new development, she found herself frozen in place.
Her eyes widened as she tried to move, cast a spell, scream for help, do anything. But whatever was gripping her was stronger than her by far. Twilight felt a burning energy flow into her body as electricity coursed all around her. Nothing she did could stop or even slow down whatever was happening. Her frightened eyes fell upon her doppelganger, staring at her with a terrifying intensity.
”What are you doing?!?!?”
“Taking my life back! The life I should’ve had! The life that monster stole from me!”
A whirlwind of energy.
A blinding flash.
An immense magical explosion.
And Twilight was alone in the library once more. She looked around for that photo album, but it was gone. No matter. That was a concern for the future. A future that was going to be very, very bright indeed. A future that was hers again.
Twilight Sparkle trotted up to her bed, feeling happy for the first time in ages. She couldn’t wait to see her friends again tomorrow. As she snuggled up against the pillow, she resolved to write to her beloved Princess Celestia in the morning.
Everything was going to be alright.