Time is up, Twilight

by Dream Whisper

Chapter 5: The clock is ticking, Twilight

It was disproportionately easy to travel back through time and space. It had always been so hard to just get a week or two, but with the potion, it felt like trying to lift a feather. Twilight could have almost traveled back another two years, just to enjoy the feeling again. For now though, she had to concentrate on her surroundings. She was outside of the tree library, while the door was already shattered. She stormed through the open door, just fast enough to catch a glimpse of that mysteriously veiled pony trying to attack past Twilight.

At this point, she couldn't even be sure that the mare had wanted to do something bad. She had thought that future Twilight would have had a valid reason to save her. Now however, she knew, that the only reason for her coming back to that time has been the idea of stopping constant torture through being thrown back again and again.

"Your time is up, Twilight!"

Now it was time to strike. She leaped through the door, trying to pull the mysterious mare down. Her heart was beating so fast and loudly, she almost expected past Twilight to hear it from inside.

"No! Yours is up!"

As she tried to teleport herself and the mare out of the room, the whole situation completely collapsed. There it was again, the door of Celestia’s chambers.

Knock, knock

"Come in!"

It took Twilight a second to realize that she was not actually in the past anymore, but instead two years into the future again. The confuzzlution - which would be the proper noun, wouldn’t it - exceeded any limit. What had she done wrong? Had there even been something wrong? It all felt like trying to swim through a sea of jelly. (Yes, she knew how that felt due to an incident with an idea of Pinkie Pie… That however, is a story to tell another day.) She was actually advancing, but being set back again and again was just one huge annoyance.

She had been teleported back at the exact moment, when she had tried to teleport herself and the mare out of the room.. Although there may have been just something she was missing, she decided to try to just leave the teleporting out. There were not many other things she could think of. Damn confuzzling time paradoxes. She really liked the word as it was really matching.

She teleported back into the storage room, this time directly into the room. She now knew where she could teleport and where not. Then, after creating the same potion once again and drinking it, she traveled back the same two years. This second try would work for sure! Of course, she couldn’t keep that thought very long as doubts already pushed it aside. What if she would not succeed? She couldn’t live without her friends. No! It is not the time to think about it Twilight.

The front door was open already, broken in by the mysterious mare. The mare was just breaking through the thick metal door to find that past Twilight. That mysterious mare was most certainly a strong unicorn. How had she known where to find past Twilight, though? That was a question that she could not bother to think about right now, as that mysterious mare with the black robes already spoke that one sentence:

"Your time is up, Twilight!"

So, she leaped through the room again, trying to jump the mare down and managed exactly that.

"No! Yours is up!"

This time however, she did not teleport anywhere. For almost a heartbeat nothing happened. However, then the mysterious mare teleported them both away. She really began to wonder, what this was all about. Why would the mysterious mare have teleported the future Twilight away and not the other way around? Wow. This was exceeding any previous confuzzlingness. Her head was already starting to swirl.

"Don't mess this up for me!"

The mysterious mare had been quiet, almost impossible to hear. It was impressive to find out, that something had happened in the past, that she had not been aware of. That moment soon ended as she heard past Twilight stepping out. She jumped down the mysterious mare, causing two bruises where each of her hooves had hit. As it had happened once already, the mare teleported herself behind past Twilight and tried to stab her. Again, past Twilight was able to evade the critical hit.

"You don't understand! If you do this, then..."

Twilight teleported right next to past Twilight, ramming the mare away as future Twilight had done it in the past already. However, then there was this realization: She could not continue. She could not bucking continue. To continue, she would have to try to kill that innocent mare. Why in Equestria should she ever do something like that? There had to be another way. She… she could not do it.

Knock, knock.

"Come in!"

There was no way she was going to kill an innocent pony just to be free. Inside of her, two parties were fighting. On the one side she had her needs, like friendship and the need to live a normal life. On the other side however, she had her morals. She could not overstep boundaries to fulfill her own selfish needs, could she? No! The very thought disgusted her. How could she even consider it?

How had anypony come to that idea? Had there been a first future Twilight deciding to do it and causing every following Twilight to be forced to do the same? Or was the reason the inevitable consequence of itself? Paradox was really the right name for this all. It wasn't going to make more sense the more she thought about it. How could future Twilight have been so cruel and thus forced herself to do the same cruel thing? Bucking future Twilight. She had messed up everything.

"Hello? You can come in now!"

She had to search a way. Maybe, if she could use the potion and travel into another time? No, she neither wanted to try to time travel again nor could she possibly escape the continuous resetting of the time. What could she do to actually succeed in this all? Was there even a possibility for success? Twilight! What was she even thinking? There had always been a way to success, so there would be one here. She missed her friends. They could have helped in this situation. At least at consoling her. She missed them so badly, but there was no way to solve this darn paradox. The tears she had tried to hold back, finally started flowing. She really really missed them. It felt like a dagger piercing into her heart. What if she would never see them again? No! Don’t think about it, Twilight. You will be just fine! You will have to be...

Then it hit her. Actually, there was a way. She started giggling. She would just have to kill the mysterious mare without actually killing her. There was a way! There was a way! She would not have to kill the mare, as the mare would escape. Future Twilight had know that, trying to kill the mare of course, but knowing she could not succeed. Future Twilight had not been a monster, only looking like one, and she had not been able to tell her, because of this time paradox! So, back into the past.

"Twilight?! What are you doing?"

She decided to answer Celestia’s question, even though the reset was about to happen. It didn’t matter if she said it or didn’ say it.
"Oh. I am sorry, I didn't hear you opening the door.”

There would just be a couple of seconds, until she would be thrown back to the moment when she knocked at that door.

"Okay? Is something wrong, Twilight? You seem quite exhausted."

"It's fine. It's time travel. You won't even remember a word of what I said. It's actually quite ridiculous: I could tell you anything I wanted right now. For example, that I have never liked your lessons. Although that would be just a lie."

It was actually quite funny to see the disbelief and confusion on Celestia’s face. She giggled. Maybe because it was a funny face, but more likely because she had to somehow push these sad thoughts aside.

Knock, knock.

"Come in!"

Time to travel back! She didn't lose any second to hesitation. Immediately, she teleported right into the storage room, powered up the engine and drank the potion. If this actually worked, maybe, just maybe, she would finally be free again. Then, she would definitely meet up with her friends again. She really missed them. She really missed them. She passed a mental image of each of her friends through her head: Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. For them she would succeed. She drank the whole potion in just one go.

The potion had the same awful taste, the same awful time to finally start working, the same awful spell to be cast. She arrived in the past again to do exactly what she had done before, and what her past self was going to do afterwards. Maybe it was not too late.

The same situation, the opened front door, the mare just bursting into past Twilight's room, the same sentence:

"Your time is up, Twilight!"

She leaped through the room once again, leaping through the room onto the mysterious mare, throwing her down with her own weight, knowing how useless that was, since that mare was about to teleport away anyway.

"No! Yours is up!"

The mare teleported both away again and spoke the same sentence:

"Don't mess this up for me!"

What had the mare actually meant? Don't mess this up for her? Well, she had no other choice than messing it up. Why wouldn't she mess it up? The mare had tried to... Well, maybe kill Twilight, maybe not. There was no certainty in that statement anymore, as there was no possible way to know what had never happened. She jumped down the mare once again, this time outside of the library, and thus caused the two bruises. Again, the mare teleported behind past Twilight without her intervening, - even though knowing, it would happen - and again, past Twilight was able to evade the critical hit.

"You don't understand. If you do this, then..."

This time, she put all her effort into ramming the mare down and trying to finish her off. As she had expected, the mare just teleported away. Had she actually just risked a life of an innocent pony to save her own sanity? She noticed the well known anger and disgust in past Twilight's face, as she had felt them herself already. She anticipated the coming sentence as if it had been a sentence over life or death.

"I don't understand. Why... Why did you...?"

Yeah, why did she actually do it? Why did she...

" ...try to kill her? She had almost killed me, when I had been in the same situation. The future Twilight, that had saved me at that moment had also tried to kill her. I don't know, what would have happened to you, if I would have not..." ...said these exact words.

She was already being pulled through the orb back into the future again, never revealing these last crucial words, which could have changed everything. She had not been supposed to be able to say these words.

Everything was so wrong, so scripted. If she had said anything else, that would have caused her to be reset in time again. She could only speak what she knew she had to speak. There was no way to escape the necessity of these words. They had been spoken and they would be spoken again, because otherwise, she would lose her sanity. It felt wrong to just speak these scripted words, but there was no other way. There was nopony to help her out this time. A deep sadness was slowly building up inside of her. A sadness she could not hold back. A sadness that was somewhere in the back of her mind, waiting to erupt.

She remembered her own thoughts: She could have not even imagined herself to become so... insane. Yet, her insane actions were the only way to keep her sanity. Not only confuzzling, but also ironic. Damn paradoxon! Hopefully, she would be free again.

When Twilight was being pulled back to the future, she arrived in the storage room. Though... not in the storage room, she had expected to be in...