Disclaimer: MLP is the property of Hasbro
Prologue: The Beginning
If one were to ask Spike the dragon what his special talent was, he would probably point to the fact the majority of his time was spent asleep, his ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, the strange skill that allowed him to stay asleep on the back of a moving equine, as well as his power to nap through Twilight Sparkle’s craziness the night before a test when she read textbooks at volumes loud enough to make his ears ring form the overloading sensory input of the information. Armed with these skills, it was next to impossible to rouse the dragon from his slumber, or keep him from it when it was time for bed.
So when he was awakened from his dream of swimming through a sea of sapphires by a jubilant scream, you might understand just how joyfully loud Twilight was being that morning.
“WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Spike pulled his head out of his basket and looked on in confusion as Twilight danced around the room in a way that would have made Pinkie Pie jealous while a mess of papers lay strewn about the floor, already dictating his first job of the day. “Ohmygosh! Ponyville! I’m still here! And I'm in the library! The library here in Ponyville! It worked! IT REALLY WORKED!” she cried while sliding forward on her hind knees with upraised forelegs.
The confusing antics of his honorary big sister had Spike scratching his head. As far as he knew, Twilight hadn’t been doing one of her mad science experiments last night. Hay, they hadn’t even gotten her stuff delivered from Canterlot yet.
“Twilight?” the little purple dragon groaned in confusion.
The purple unicorn froze, then slowly turned around to face Spike with wide eyes. “Spike?”
“Ye-”
“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted again before she just…appeared right in front of him in a flash before snatching the dragon up in a crushing hug to nuzzle the smaller reptile. The strange behavior made the dragon tense in surprise and before Spike could even begin to fight her off, Twilight did something that stopped him cold: she kissed him on the forehead.
Then things got really strange as she loosened her grip and looked down on the dragon with some sort of weird expression with a smile that Spike had seen on Princess Celestia a few times and motherly eyes. “I love you Spike.”
After the weird swelling of emotion caused by Twilight's affectionate actions was finally under control, Spike looked up at his caretaker in worry. She had another odd expression on her face that only confused the dragon even more, if anything her joy seemed to fade for every second she looked at him. “T-Twilight?”
“I never told you that enough before, did I?” she asked as her eyes became a bit sadder. “But I do love you, and not just for being my assistant! I love you because you’re you. In fact, forget about being my assistant from now on!”
The declaration snapped Spike out of his confused haze. “W-what?” he nearly screamed as the dragon's brain tried to digest the information. Being Twilight's assistant was...well, it what he did! It was what he always did! In fact, if Spike had been a pony, he was pretty sure that he would have had a crazy purple unicorn assistant cutie mark! If he wasn't Twilight's assistant, then...
He really didn't know what he was.
“But Twilight! I like being your assistant! If I’m not you’re assistant, then what-umph!”
Twilight held her hoof to his mouth for a few more seconds after he stopped talking, and gave him a warm smile; banishing the look of growing depression that had been there a moment before. “Okay Spike, you’re still my assistant. Just…if you don’t want to do something, then tell me and I’ll take care of it instead, okay? I don’t want you to be cooped up in this library all your hatchling life. You need to be like me! Go out and make friends! Live! Play and be happy!"
“Umm, did you read a self-help book again or something?” the dragon asked cautiously. He didn’t want to think about the last time Twilight had tried messing with one of those things. It was supposed to help her get organized, and now she made lists for every little thing. Every. Little. Thing. Twilight even had a whole schedule that covered everything from what she planned to do in the morning that was so broken down it had steps that actually involved getting out of bed and going to the bathroom!
“No silly, I’m just happy! I mean look, we’re in Ponyville!” the unicorn exclaimed as she finally released the dragon and practically bounced away from him in joy. “I can’t wait to go hang out with Pinkie, and Rainbow, and AJ, and Rarity! Oh, and Fluttershy, can’t forget about Fluttershy!”
Spike frowned. “You mean the ponies you were telling me about yesterday? The ones that helped you take down Nightmare Moon a couple of days ago?” They had seemed like a friendly enough bunch, although...that white unicorn named Rarity stood head and shoulders above the rest. He wondered if she needed any help at her... Wait, does she design dresses, or decorate stuff? His memories weren't too clear on that point.
For a moment Twilight’s exuberance vanished, and she rubbed her chin in thought. The action dragged Spike out of his introspection, as the sudden loss of his caretaker holding him nearly made the dragon collapse. “Couple, so that’s two days then?” she asked herself. “Looks like I overshot my mark, but…ah well! Guess that just means more time to enjoy unicorn-hood!”
“Say what?” the dragon asked while Twilight ignored him and just stared at…her back?
Twilight let out a sigh of contentment before Spike began to hear an odd sound coming from the air around him a few seconds before the Music of Harmony kicked in. While Twilight muttered to herself, some music Spike remembered from a puppet show back in Canterlot began to play. “No wings. Oh…
I’ve got no wings
To flap around
To lift me up
And get me down
Plainly, as you can see
I’ve got no wings on me!
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike said as the music abruptly stopped so fast he could practically hear the needle being ripped off the record, “you’re starting to worry me.” Why in the world would Twilight be singing a song about not being a pegasus? Spike had no idea. It was just…freaky.
As soon as he said the words, Spike began to have regrets. Twilight just flashed in front of him again, and her expression changed form insane levels of joy to something approaching panic. “Oh no! Am I neglecting you? I’m sorry! I just got so wrapped up in the fact I’m not an alicorn I couldn’t help it! I… I, oh my gosh, I REALLY AM A HORRIBLE MOTHER!” she cried to the ceiling.
“Really worry me,” Spike continued before trying to back away. Unfortunately, he found himself trapped between his basket, the wall, and Twilight's bed.
A second later, half a dozen gemstones floated over to park themselves in front of the dragon’s face. “Breakfast! You need breakfast, right?”
“Uh-” Spike managed to say before Twilight cut him off with more panicky nonsense.
“Oh jeez, how many years did I have you just slaving away cooking breakfast for me every day?” she asked the ceiling. “That’s not what a mom is supposed to do!" And, before the dragon could point out they were in no way related, Twilight was back to looking at him with some kind of wide-eyed look that was a fifty-percent mix of guilt and worry. "Spike! From now on, I’ll do all the cooking, okay?”
While the rather odd idea of Twilight getting it into her head that she was supposed to be Spike’s mother needed to be addressed, he didn’t want the place they lived in burnt to the ground. “But, you’re a horrible cook,” the dragon pointed out.
“I’ve gotten better!” the unicorn exclaimed before she pointed a hoof at the dragon. “And don’t back talk your mother, it’s rude.”
“Uh, Twilight, you’re not-”
Twilight cut him off with a somewhat forceful poke to the dragon’s gut with her hoof. “I hatched you from an egg,” she told him before he could even finish. “And I’ll admit, I wasn’t ready for you when you first came out. But now we’re on our own. I’m the adult, and I’m ready to take on my parental responsibilities!”
Spike blinked, unsure as to how he could follow that. Although, he was starting to get an idea of what was really wrong. “Please tell me you didn’t read some kind of single mare’s guide to parenting or something,” he groaned while regretting the fact he hadn't gone through the library's stacks of books to get rid of anything that instructed Twilight Sparkle in the way things had to be done.
“Um...no,” Twilight replied before she waved away his concerns and brought the gems up to Spike’s face. “Now, here’s your breakfast. When you’re done, you can…actually, I think I’m going to need this week’s to-do list. So you can find that for me, and…we’ll go from there. I’m going to go make myself some food.”
The looming threat of the incineration of their new home brought out a sigh from Spike. “I’ll go get the fire extinguisher.”
Before Spike could start searching for what Twilight asked for as well as what they‘d need to keep the tree full of books from going up in flames, a knock at the door drew his attention. “Who is it?”
“Spike?” a female voice with a southern drawl called out. “Is Twilight in there? Ah need to ask fer a favor.”
Right as the dragon opened the door, there was a loud pop of displaced air and magical light, and Spike found Twilight standing right behind him with an almost manic level of happiness on her face. “Applejack!” the unicorn said as she grabbed the farmer and brought her into a hug. “It’s so good to see you again! You have no idea how much I’ve missed you!”
“Twilight, we saw each other yesterday,” she managed to get out before fighting the unicorn off of her. When she looked down to the dragon, he just gave a confused shrug as if to say: ‘don’t ask me’.
A few seconds passed as Twilight just stared blankly at the orange pony, then let out a nervous laugh. “Hehe, right…yesterday,” she mumbled. For a moment, Spike was sure he saw the smile on Twilight’s face slip, but it was back less than a second later with renewed vigor. “So, what do you need?”
For a moment, the farmer pony’s face took on a look of embarrassment. “Well, the thing is…Ah might need a tiny bit of help at the farm,” she admitted slowly; clearly not used to asking for assistance. “Ah already asked Rainbow Dash, and-”
Twilight didn’t even give Applejack time to finish before she practically got in the other pony’s face, her own split in a grin of excitement. “You need help on the farm?” she asked in glee. “Oh, I haven’t done that in…okay, well, I haven’t done that at all…yet. Sure I’ll come! No need to thank me. We’re friends, and friends help each other! Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Just let me take care of something real quick.”
The purple unicorn took off in a burst of speed and out of the sight of the dragon, who turned his attention back to Applejack when she asked a question. “Uh, is she always like this in the mornings?”
“Not usually,” Spike replied before a flash of light returned Twilight to the doorway.
“Okay, ready to go!” she exclaimed. “Hey Spike, you want to come with us, or stay here?”
Spike considered his options for the moment. Usually, he would have jumped at the chance to see the sights Ponyville, and Twilight would probably need some help avoiding a few social pitfalls thanks to her complete lack of skills in that regard… But, the way she was acting this morning was a little too weird, even for the wyrm who’d been with her his whole life. “Uh…think I’ll pass. Thanks.”
“Suit yourself,” Twilight said as she stepped outside and turned around. “Be good. And don’t forget, I love you!”
As the purple unicorn waved goodbye, Spike quickly closed the door in her face and made his way back into the library’s kitchen. Much to his surprise, nothing was on fire. But then again, Twilight hadn’t had time to really start cooking. A quick check of her desk did reveal what she had been doing. There was a small checklist that had been left out in the open for the ink to dry.
Spike pulled himself up onto the desk, and read it.
Use Chronomancy Spell: Check
Ensure Proper Temporal Landing: Check (more or less)
Ensure Complete Mental Amalgamation: Check
Obtain Elements of Harmony:
FIX EVERYTHING:
Golly.....
This looks very good! Please dont let it crash and burn. Also is fix everything suppose to be some big evil thing or all the misadventures they had?
Wow, this is very well written and I love the concept! I will definitely be watching this story.
This concept comes up pretty frequently in fan fiction, but I have yet to see it done with this show, so you've got me interested. No obvious grammatical or spelling errors, and your dialogue is fast paced, but in the fun, comprehensible sort of way. From the glimpse you've given me, I already like Twilight in this. She's overcome some of her most glaring flaws, while remaining recognizable as Twilight Sparkle.
In short, this looks great and I can't wait for more.
I kinda wonder how Spike will adjust to Twilight s-mothering him so much, and how it would affect his actions with Rarity.
Really, the other elements will probably have the easiest time dealing with this, since they've only known her a couple of days, but Spike, Celestia, Cadance and Twilight's Family all have a lot to adjust to (For instance, her parents suddenly being grandparents and their daughter being a single mother)
Ahhh,.... I think I see what happened here...
Are we talking a "Quantum Leap" scenario?
Or a "full life time in an hour" scenario?
Or a "Scrooge-dream" scenario?
Uh...
I have no idea what I just read.
I'm certain that I won't like this story once the "Dark" tag kicks in...
but so far it was interesting, yet Twilight feels very... unhinged.
4022796 We'll she's probably from so far in the future that at least the EoH are dead if not Spike so she's just so excited to see her friends and dragon when he was a baby or even alive. I've only seen this done once and that was with the G4 ponies being replaced with their G1 counterparts (RD = Firefly, Fluttershy = Posey, and Pinkie Pie = Surprise). However that story hasn't been updated for so long it's basically dead. If anybody knows any other stories like this where Twilight from the end of series comes the beginning again I'd love to read them.
It only hit me just now that you twisted Pinocchio's little song to suit Twi.D'oh
This can only end in tears.
She is so fucking adorable it HURTS.
No more wings! *Dance and sing along with Twilight.*
Oh, no.
Love everything about this. Love the premise, love the characterization, love freaky-mature OCD Twilight.
You know...i really hope she wont got crazy. Really
Am I right to assume she went back in time after becoming insane with lonely-ness after centuries of immortality? She must have cracked one day and said "fuck it, I spent years on this spell and I am going to use it!".
And for the million dollar question: Where is past (present?) Twilight?
4459831 I guess it has to be with this
my guess is that past/present twilight is one with future/present twilight?... my brain hurts god I love these time travel stories
Problem number one: That title. Change it. It's redundant as fuck. It's like naming the chapter "Prologue: Prologue."
Not that shocking, Spike. Sudden teleportation would be the attention-drawer here.
This is coming from the pony who said that becoming a princess was the happiest day of her life. Not going to put you down on it, though. It seems to be a major plot point.
I think that this issue would come up earlier in their lives. If you were a dragon growing up with a totally different species, you'd ask who your mother is. And wouldn't that result in Twilight's mother saying to Spike that he's adopted?
On an end note for this chapter: THANK. FUCKING. GAAAAWD. This isn't nearly as bad as the synopsis makes it out to be. Twilight's not dark, wise, motherly and bonkers. She's just her awkward little self with the word 'mother' thrown about in the story here and there with her doing stereotypically motherly activities. Hold on, I need a gif of somebody sighing in relief to celebrate.
omitlimitation.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/bvb104-gif-drew-relief.gif
Oh boy.
[DARK] tag. Time travel.
What did you do to Twi's future self to make her try to "fix everything" by resetting to just after rainbow-nuking Nightmare Moon?
4017148 neither did i
Hey, this is fun, I love this...!
Oh fuck, its one of those! Twi is more of a sister then a mom... if anything, Celestia is more his mom the Twilight is! Oh well... at least he wasn't magically brought to existence from a wooden egg... like it so far
4465386 But Twilight's parents sent her to school, and she came home with a baby and a tattoo!
4461907
img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140331222534/plantsvszombies/images/1/13/Thats_the_joke.jpg
As for my own thoughts:
HOW COULD THIS HAVE A DARK TAG
4466184
Think about how unimaginably delighted Twilight is to be in the past again. What sort of future would she have been so joyous at escaping? She's actually happy at losing her wings. Think about how she acts like she hasn't been able to see her friends in a long time. Yeah, this story is hella dark.
*fall over squirming*
EVERYTHING IS SOOO GOOOD! *wriggles more*
... eheheh.
Did something happen with spike in the future or something? It must explain why twilight is being so motherly with him. It's strange when you don't know why.... Brrb.
I've seen this basic plot done in a few scence fiction stories and fantasy movies. You're doing it well, so far
been hard to find interesting time travel stories here but this has a good solid start thats caught my interest. looking forward to reading the rest
Oh boy, it's one of those Anti-Alicorn Twilight fics
I'm going to guess she came from a future where either all her friends along with Spike (and maybe the other princesses) were killed. Or she maybe didn't want to be an alicorn so she wouldn't have to deal with all the responsibilities that came with it. I'm just going to keep reading to find out.
i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7979818752/h6A3C577A/
4699865 Or, she watched them all die.
OK one q&a if twilight has come back from the future to fix something,
WHAT THE BUCKING HELL HAPPENED
to make twilight act as if she hadn't seen spike or the rest of the mane 6 in years.
and mama twilight to spike,
HMMM I LIKE IT
This is certainly a great start up! Based on the summary, it can be deduced that the future Twilight has "possessed" the present Twilight, as one can see how happy she is to have these mundane things that she presumably lost in the future. I also like how you haven't spoon-fed in the chapter that there is a bad future by having a prologue that shows the bad future. It's also cool how you did that, by having this chapter told from Spike's perspective.
It was also cute, that thing about their brother-sister relationship, and how lovingly she greeted him.
I also really liked that part with Twilight singing, and how it was a parody of that one song from Pinnocchio
So yeah. Great first chapter. I'll see if I can get around to the reading the rest!
So... just how FUBAR did things get that Twilight resorted to Time Travel???? And was a certain stallion with an hour glass involved at all??? Or a giant blue box????
4465458 Jesus Christ, out of context, that is freaking hilarious!
You win a shiny metal for today.
Just today.
4464748
This story is solid gold.
Welp, prologue finished and i'm hooked. Well written and interesting to boot.
I'm loving this and can't wait to see how a uni-Twi deals with everything she already has a memory for.
You've used 'form' instead of 'from'
Verry interesting so far. Can't stop. Must keep reading.
Twilight's mothering comments are pretty funny when you consider that Spike actually considers CELESTIA to be the closest thing he has to a mother-figure (according to Lauren Faust, at least).
its
________
This is looking to be a good fic. Can't wait to read more ^_^.
5004786 Screw that, this is fanfiction and this way is cuter!
I AM IN A RE-READING MOOD!!!! *takes out popcorn*
Time to bask in yer awesomeeeee.
This... I can sense this will be glorious!
If only I had found this sooner.
This is a great story idea, far future twilight, one of the immortal twilight not the mortal, finds herself back in time in her younger body.
SO.MUCH.POTENTIAL.IN.HALARITY!
FIX EVERYTHING:
So many ways this can be taken, as hindsight is 20/20. What does twilight consider important enough to be part of that "everything"?