The Chaos of a Bootstrap Paradox
Quick Author's Note:
Part of this chapter was written as the prize to Daxn for being the other winner to my little contest. Enjoy
The Chaos of a Bootstrap Paradox
___________________________________________________________
I frown as I sit in the hospital waiting room, giving glares every few moments at the mare sitting next to me.
After Hearth’s Warming, Spoiled arranged this appointment. When Daddy asked she said it was because she was worried for my health since I’d had to stay home instead of go to the party, but I know better.
I’ll bet you anything she’s hoping the doctor will say I need to go away for treatment or something, so she won’t have to deal with me.
“Miss Screwball?” a nurse down the hall calls.
I sigh, lifting my hoof. “Here.”
She nods. “Doctor Deep Injection will see you now.”
I glance at Spoiled with narrowed eyes. I don’t recognize the name, and I’d read the file about me during my body’s catatonic state, including all the doctors and nurses who’d tended to me during that time.
I get up, Spoiled following after me. I feel more like a caribou being hunted by a lion than a child being followed by her mother with her behind me.
After walking down the hall for a bit we come to a room with the name Doctor Injection written above it and enter, causing the stallion to turn at the sound of our entrance.
He looks, pretty much, like a male Lyra, I think he’s called Harpsy? He’s wearing a white lab coat and glasses. However, I notice his Cutie Mark is a bunch of grapes and a bandaged teddy bear with torn crotch, stuffing pouring out from that spot.
He glances at us both, before returning to his computer.
For once, Spoiled and I seem to be on the same wavelength, because we both frown.
“Um, excuse me,” Spoiled says in a firm tone.
The stallion doesn’t even look up. “Yes, what do you want? I’m busy right now.”
Spoiled scowls. “My daughter has an appointment!”
He glances at her, blinking a few times, before moving his gaze over to a scroll. He goes down it a bit, before sighing. “Right. Forgot.”
He turns around and gets up, indicating to the bed.
Rolling my eyes, I head over and hop up onto it. He indicates to lie down on my back, so I do.
I frown as I see his eyes trail down my body, before looking back to my face. “What seems to be the problem?”
I groan. “I had a concussion after being tossed by a Timber Wolf on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
He snorts softly. “You think you have it bad? Try being the child of notaries and spending your foalhood stricken by Thypus, or when varicella infected me? How about the many times I had influenza and had to suffer Tartarus to recover? Or maybe, if you had the necessary organs, orchitis shortly after getting a mole removed and all of it causes you to live in a depression-like state, feeling oppressed and crushed? Oh, but then puberty hit.”
He’s really getting into his rant now.
I’m frowning in confusion, wondering why he’s bothering to tell me this.
“For what was an age of doubt and struggle for my peers was an age of renewal and joy for myself, as I felt all my pains disappear, along with gaining the realization that I was not a foal anymore and that I was being treated more like an adult,” he says, waving his foreleg in a flourish.
I frown. “Okay. Um, about my check-up?”
He blinks, before shaking his head. “Oh, yeah, right.” He looks me over, before he blinks. “Wait.” He glances at my name on his list again, before his eyes alight. “You’re the miracle foal?!”
I don’t like how he said that, nor the look in his eyes.
Suddenly, he grabs me and starts looking me over. “This is amazing. Last time I checked, you couldn’t even move without another ponies’ help. Now look at you. Talking and with an attitude too. Ooh, those eyes.”
I want to back away with as close as he is to my face, but don’t have anywhere to do so.
“Oh, I’m never seen eyes like these before. So unique. I have got to learn how they allow you to see without pupils. Then there’s your body functions. Oh, how does it feel going to the toilet and knowing you’re doing it when you didn’t for most of your life?”
My ears splay against my head. His enthusiasm isn’t making me feel comfortable.
“Hmm,” he says, frowning. “You mentioned a concussion? Well, if it was really bad symptoms would’ve shown up by now, so we most likely don't have to worry about that. But, we should see how your body’s been coping with all the activity it’s been having since you left the hospital. Perhaps an anal endoscopy could reveal if your bowels are functioning properly,” he says, his nose bleeding slightly as he talks. “After all, you didn’t have any control before you left; the sudden change could cause a problem at any given time if not checked.”
I squirm. “A-anal? As in, you’re gonna shove something up my butt?!”
He nods, the blood dripping from his nose again after having just grabbed a tissue to wipe it clean.
Never in my life did I think I would feel as relieved as I do when Spoiled comes over and pushes him away, motioning for me to get down.
“Well... thank you, doctor,” she says curtly, giving him a look I know she only gives those she has no intention of wanting to interact with ever again. “It seems you’ve helped put our worries about her concussion at ease. Thank you. If we need your help again, we’ll contact you. Though I highly doubt we will,” she mutters, though I manage to catch it.
He blinks, before frowning. “Excuse me, miss, but I haven’t finished my examination. And, unless I have, your appointment is not done.”
Spoiled snorts. “Screwball, come. We’re leaving.”
Cocking an eyebrow, I follow her out, flicking my tail and hearing an intake of breath from behind me, glancing over my shoulder to see Doctor Deep Injection looking at me with an expression I can’t really explain as he tries to stop his nose from bleeding a third time.
As we walk out and head down the hall, I glance at Spoiled. Did she... just help me, in a way?
“I am not risking us being associated with a stallion so clearly in need of mental help,” she mutters as we walk out.
I roll my eyes. Of course. It wasn't care about me, but the reputation of the family.
___________________________________________________________
“Oh, Doctor Injection?” Scootaloo asks as we all sit in the clubhouse, enjoying some hot cocoa I blinked into existence to warm us up. We’re all wearing scarfs and woollen beanie.
I nod, before frowning. “He was... weird. Does he usually get nosebleeds? Is he a hemophiliac?” At the confused looks I roll my eyes and elaborate, “Somepony who bleeds really easily, even from small things like a cut.”
They all open their mouths in Os of understanding, before frowning and looking to each other.
“Ah don’ think so,” Apple Bloom shakes her head. “Though, he does tend t’ have ’em a lot, don’ ’e?” she asks her fellow crusaders.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo scratches her neck. “He always has them whenever I’ve had an appointment directly after another foal.”
“Hmm,” I frown, sipping my mug. Maybe he is a hemophiliac. Would make sense, I guess. Younger ponies (children in general) tend to worry about things during hospital check-ups, so him being hit hard enough by said foals during a check-up due to them being scared, for a pony like him to bleed heavily doesn’t sound too out there.
“He’s really self-absorbed an’ arrogant, though,” Apple Bloom continues, frowning. “One time, Ah had a check-up and Big Mac was with me. He didn’t even notice us come in til Mac cleared his throat and he acted really rude to Mac.”
That I can believe. The guy had seemed like a male, downplayed version of Spoiled in a sense when we’d first gone in. The fact he made Spoiled and I somehow think on the same wave length for a moment is proof of that. Plus, there was the fact that, despite him saying we didn't need to worry about my concussion, he told Spoiled that she couldn't take me out because he said the appointment wasn't over, even though the reason we'd come had already been sorted.
“Still, he ain’t nowhere near as bad as them Flim Flam brother were,” the Crusaders nod in agreement of Apple Bloom’s statement.
I open my mouth to verbally agree, when I catch on to just what she said, it causing me to frown in confusion. “Wait.” They look to me. “Are you guys telling me that the Flim Flam brothers have already been here?”
They all nod, before Scootaloo speaks up. “It was back before you got out of the hospital, Screws, back before Discord got out.”
I just stare at the orange Pegasus, trying to understand her words, but they’re struggling through the cogs in my brain as it tries to process them.
Flim and Flam were already here before Discord? But, that episode wasn’t until volume two of the season, after Discord.
After a few moments I shake my head and ask what other things I might have missed that came before I arrived in Ponyville.
To say the answer stumped and confused the hell out of me, making my brain literally threaten to go on strike do the inconsistencies it was having to work with, would be an understatement to say the least.
The CMC spend the next few minutes, telling me of events that I recognize as being from the episodes The Cutie Pox, It’s About Time, Sleepless in Ponyville, The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Sweet and Elite, Secret of My Excess, Read It and Weep and Wonderbolts Academy. How did all of these events happen before Discord? I... but... HOW?!
“Though, if it weren’t fer that Nyx filly, A’m not sure what woulda happened t’ the farm,” Apple Bloom returns to the subject that started this confusion in my brain to begin with.
I try my best to shake off the whirling in my head as my brain tries to adjust to the shift in time frame I’m now dealing with... before my eyes widen and I look to Apple Bloom in shock.
“If it weren’t for WHO?!” I have to have misheard that. There’s no way Apple Bloom’s talking about who I think she’s talking about.
“This unicorn filly named Nyx,” Apple Bloom says, looking at me strangely. “She’s the one who called the Flim Flam brothers out when they just decided t’ take our farm when it was only the cider-sellin’ rights they’d won.”
“Never saw a unicorn with a black coat like hers before,” Sweetie Belle says, before sighing. “I had to listen to Rarity moan about not getting to work with her colour for weeks.”
“And that purple hair was pretty cool, too,” Scootaloo nods. “Never seen a pony with that dark a purple mane and tail.”
I try to speak, but my mouth only makes strange gasping noises as I’m trying to keep my cool as the implications and similarities in description as running through my mind.
“What... what were her eyes like?” I croak, my head flopping forward every few seconds.
Apple Bloom smiles. “They were the prettiest blue Ah’d ever seen. Shame she had to wear glasses. She’d look even prettier without ’em.”
I can literally feel my brain shutting down as it intakes ever bit of this Nyx filly’s description they’ve given and it forming a very eerily familiar image of another certain filly in my mind.
“Where... where is she now?” I manage to ask as I struggle to stop myself from screaming. How is Nyx here? How?
They all shrug.
“Never saw her again,” Scootaloo says, calmly shruggin. “She said something about how she only came back to sort out something that had been bothering her for a few years since first seeing the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. Something about a detail always bugging her.”
Sweetie Belle shakes her head. “And I’m still confused as to why her aura was orange when not anything about her gave a reason.”
My brain screeches to a halt. Orange? Nyx’s magical aura isn’t orange. Not even close.
“I wonder what ever happened to her,” Scootaloo rubs her chin in thought. “She didn’t have her Cutie Mark, but she left before we could ask her to join the Crusaders.”
I frown, thinking. I’d been panicking at first, true, but that bit about Nyx’s aura being orange has calmed me down and allowed me to think. If the Nyx they’re talking about was indeed Nyx from Past Sins, her aura would not have been orange.
But, that would mean, whomever this Nyx was, was some other pony, pretending to be her. But, how? Nopony in this world save myself knew about Nyx until Hearth’s Warming. I’ve no doubt Twilight’s already read a fair bit of the book I gave her, since I know she and Spike open their Hearth’s Warming gifts on Hearth’s Warming Eve because Spike did just the same the first Hearth’s Warming Twilight had him and Luna’s probably read at least a bit of it by now.
So, that leaves only myself who could have possibly known about Nyx, but I wasn’t around back when the Flim Flam brothers were in Ponyville, so how could that work?
I almost facehoof. Oh, sweet Celestia. It’s a Bootstrap Paradox, like what Twilight went through? How is it that I’m part of something like that?
I sigh.
“Something wrong, Screws?” Scootaloo asks as the three notice my sigh.
I nod, before sighing again, before I look up, grinning. “Just that I’ve got to go do something right now to ensure the Space Time Continuum continues working. Brb.”
With that, I pop away.
___________________________________________________________
I blink, before looking around. Having been seeing snow covering Ponyville for almost a month, the sight of it without snow takes a second to get used to.
I shake my head and look around, noticing I’m in the Sweet Apple Acres fields, shortly before seeing a crowd of ponies not too far off, cheering.
Nodding to myself, I teleport closer, remaining behind a tree. The contest between the Flim Flam brothers and the Apple plus the rest of the Mane 6 is over.
“Flim and Flam win!” Mayor Mare’s voice calls out.
As everypony is distracted by the shocking news, I quickly change myself to fit the role I must play. My coat changes to black, my mane and tail turn dark-purple and become more combed back, a green headband appearing in my mane to keep it in tack, my beanie disappears along with my Cutie Mark, my eyes turn into normal eyes with turquoise irises around normal round pupils and a pair of glasses appear, held up by my nose.
I now look like a black unicorn filly without her Cutie Mark. Now to just wait for the right moment. I’m not sure when that will be, but the CMC said I call out Flim and Flam.
“Daw, too bad, Apples,” Flim says, his tone full of so much arrogance I have to stop myself from sending him to the moon.
“Guess you'll just have to find a new line of work that doesn't match your names quite so... perfectly,” Flam smirks.
“Now, should we tear down these tacky old buildings and put up new ones, brother?” Flim asks.
I blink, not having remembered either saying that, before it goes through my mind and I glare.
Again, as I had stated to many back in the real world, both online and IRL, I don’t recall, at any point, the deal being that, if the Apples lost, the two shady unicorns would get any more than the cider selling rights. At no point was there talk of anything meaning the Apples would need to find a new line of work that doesn’t match their names or the unicorns having a right to tear down the Apples’ home.
“I don’t see why not, brother,” Flam says casually. “After all, this isn’t Sweet Apple Acres anymore. How about,” his horn glows, before a banner appears over the sign of the Sweet Apple Acres cider stall, now showing two unicorn head silhouettes with a mug of frothing cider between them, “Flim Flam Fields?”
“Not on your fucking lives!” confusion erupts after I scream and step out from behind the tree, my eyes narrowed at the two insults to unicorn kind.
Everypony stares at me with shock, Rainbow Dash looking uncertain, most likely because, in the show, she was the one meant to get angry, so hearing a young filly none of them recognise do so threw her off.
Then again, it could simply be because a filly as young as I appear just used the F word like that.
Applejack seems to want to follow the script though. “No, little filly,” she says sadly. “A deal’s a deal.”
The two unicorns starting laughing in a stuck-up, full of themselves, annoying way that I don’t remember, but irritates me all the more.
“Last I checked, that does not give them the right to tear down your farm,” I say, lighting my horn with an orange aura and blasting the banner for Flim Flam Field, turning it to ash.
At once, the two unicorns lose their smug expressions and look to me with anger now mixed in.
“Now, see here, young filly,” Flim begins in a lecturing tone as if I’m stupid.
“You’re too young to understand the way big ponies do their business,” Flam continues for him in the same tone. If I wasn’t pretending to be somepony I’m not and didn’t want to risk the timeline, that tone alone would be earning them some serious shit, courtesy of me. “We won the competition fair and square, which means we’ve won the rights.”
I growl. “Yeah. The rights to sell cider here in Ponyville instead of the Apples!” I look to Mayor Mare. “Did anyone ever say that, if the Apples lost, they lose the whole farm?”
The mayor blinks for a few moments, before frowning, clearly going over everything in her mind, before she looks at with confusion. “I... don't think so.”
I growl. “Well, let me remind you all, with Flim’s own words!”
Eveyrpony looks confused, Flim and Flam especially.
My horn glows and an orange magical window appears, showing Flim with Granny Smith standing before him after having said the unicorns could use the south field for the contest.
Excellent, the Flim in the recording says, we have a bet. Whoever produces the most barrels in one hour wins the exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville.
The screen pops out of existence and I look to the two unicorns with a smug snarl. “Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don’t remember hearing anything about the farm during that,” I look around, “does anypony else?”
Murmurs come from the crowd as they all clearly remember that happening.
The anger and smugness in the two unicorns’ expressions disappears slightly, before they glance at each other.
“And, just for some added reminder,” I bring the screen up again, this time showing Mayor Mare. “Let’s see what the mayor said, so that it’s official.”
The teams have one hour to produce as much cider as they can, after which the barrels will be counted and the winner will be named the sole cider provider for all of Ponyville! the mayor on the screen says, before it vanishes.
The mayor blinks, before her eyes narrow. “That’s right. I never said anything about the farm going to them; just the rights to be the only ones in Ponyville to provide cider!”
All the ponies turn glares on the unicorns, but none are glaring at the brothers with more fire than the Apples.
“Ah can’ believe Ah fergot something so simple!” Applejack scolds herself, before snarling at the brothers. “And ya’ll were perfectly fine with just tricking us when we were down an’ leavin’ us homeless!”
Both unicorns begin sweating as eveyrpony starts shouting at them angrily.
“Ah,” Flim says, holding up a hoof. “But we are still now the sole cider sellers, here in Ponyville. That you can’t deny.”
Mayor Mare snorts. “True. You won those rights. However, don’t think you’ll get away with trying to steal somepony else’s home. The Apples have lived in our town since it was founded! Such a crime will not be ignored!”
They both see the crowd drawing closer, RD pounding one hoof into the other, like a fist.
I smirk at the two anxiously backing away unicorns. “Congratulations, boys. The cider business in Ponyville is all yours... provided you can keep it after going to jail. Plus, once word gets out that you tried to swindle the Apples, a family who pretty much have a say in every apple sale all over Equestia, out of their home, you won’t likely be able to get the apples for the cider in the first place. Especially when it was Princess Celestia herself who gave them that land to make their homes.”
As the crowd grow nearer, backing the two towards their machine, Flam glances at his brother. “It looks like we've encountered a slight... problem here in Ponyville.”
“Nopony wants our product,” Flime agrees. “Next town?”
“Next town. Let's go, Flim!”
“Let's go, Flam!” his brother cries as they jump onto their machine and it quickly flies off.
The mob of ponies begin to chase them, but Applejack calls out, “Don’t bother, everypony,” causing them all to stop and turn to her. “They ain’t worth it.”
“That was so awesome!” I look to my right to say Dash has come over and is grinning at me, as are everypony there.
“Rainbow Dash is right,” Applejack says, stepping forward and putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Young filly, we can’ thank ya enough. Ya helped us keep our farm.”
I grin. “You never really lost it to begin with.”
She nods. “But we wouldn’a thought o’ that fer a while an’ by then, it woulda been too late.”
“Applejack is right,” Granny Smith walks over, smiling at me. “What’s yer name, little filly.”
“Nyx,” I smile back.
“Well, Nyx, as a token of our appreciation, we’d like to make you an honorary Apple,” Granny says, coming over, causing Applejack to back up, and placing a hoof on my shoulder.
I blink, before a few tears come to my eyes and a warmth fills my heart that I wasn’t expecting. “Um... th-thanks.”
"So, where're you from?" Twilight asks, looking to me.
I just shake my head. "I just came to sort out something that had been bothering her for a few years since i first saw The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. There was a detail that's always bugged me. But, it's all good now.”
They look at me with raised eyebrows.
“Hey, everypony!” we all turn to Apple Bloom, who’s standing at the cider stale. “Because of this silly competition, we've made enough of our cider for the whole town!”
Cheers ring out across the area and Granny moves off to help serve out the cider.
I smile and teleport away, glad to have helped.
___________________________________________________________
As the teleport ends, I hear a gasp from the Crusaders.
I open my eyes to find myself back in the clubhouse, with the CMC staring at me... with open mouths?
“Nyx?!”
I blink, before looking down and cursing myself. A quick flash of orange light and I’m back to my normal self, but the three fillies are still staring at me in shock.
“Screwball?” Scootaloo asks, her eyes wide. “You were Nyx?!”
“Uh,” I chuckle, rubbing my neck. “I... guess so.”
“But, how?” Sweetie looks between her friends, to me. “That was ages ago. And you were still in the hospital back then, weren't you? You only got out because of Discord and he came around after the Flim Flam brothers.”
“I... kinda went back in time to do as you said Nyx did,” I scratch my neck.
They all stare, before they all scream at once, “YOU CAN GO BACK IN TIME?!”
“SHH!” I gasp, holding a hoof to my mouth. “Yes, I can. I’m a being of chaos, remember? But you can’t tell anypony I did that! Nopony can know about Time Travel magic. The only officially documented copy of it is in the—” I gasp, putting my hooves over my mouth to stop myself. There is no way in hell I am telling these three fillies where to find a spell that can send you back in time. I shudder just thinking about the damage they could do.
“Where? Where is it?” they all ask, eyes wide with glee before they cry out, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, TIME TRAVELS, YAY!”
“NO!” I scream, waving my hooves about. “No! No time travel!”
“Aww, why not?!” Scootlaoo frowns at me. “You went back in time.”
“That’s only because the event with the Flim Flam brothers is a Bootstrap Paradox!”
They all blink, looking at me in confusion.
I sigh and sit down. “Okay. Let me explain. The bootstrap paradox is a time travel paradox in which an object or information can exist without it ever actually being created. The object or piece of information is sent back in time where it is retrieved and becomes the very object or piece of information that was brought back in the beginning.”
They look on in confusion.
I sigh. “Okay. Hypothetically, what if Twilight Sparkle went back in time to meet Starswirl the Bearded, the guy she dressed up us for Nightmare Night and found that he’s apprentice, Clover the Clever, the unicorn mentioned in the Hearth’s Warming play you went to, doesn’t actually exist, but found displayed using a spell noted as one of Clover’s first spells?”
“Clover’s first spell?” Scootaloo frowns.
“I think Rarity and Twilight talked about it a bit during Hearth’s Warming Day,” Sweetie Belle frowns. “I think it was teleportation without the use of a... circle of some kind, I can’t remember what.”
I nod. “Exactly. Now, the Twilight in this case knows teleportation was Clover’s first spell and, upon learning nopony has ever heard of such a spell before, wonders if she’s just altered the timeline. What happens then, if, when asked her name, she stepped on a piece of clover and, in annoyance, said Clover, making everypony think that’s her answer?”
“Everypony would think her name’s Clover?” Apple Bloom guesses.
I nod. “Yes, but then Twilight puts several facts together. Clover the Clever has been confirmed not to exist in the time she’s arrived in, when she knows she should exist. She’s just used the first spell Clover ever used according to documents and has accidently led ponies to think her name is Clover. What do you think this would mean?”
I wait for several moments as they try to understand it. Just when I think I’ll have to spell it out, thankfully, Sweetie Belle cries, “It would mean Twilight had been Clover the Clever all along!”
I nod.
“Wait. So, Twilight’s really Clover the Clever?” Apple Bloom asks, before her eyes widen in worry. “Is she gonna go back in time and never come back?”
“We have to stop her!” Scootaloo says, pressing her hooves on the table.
“But, if we stop Twilight from going back in time and becoming Clover the Clever, she’ll never be there to make the Freindship Fire with Smart Cookie and Pansy,” Sweetie Belle says, looking fearful.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I hold up my hooves. “I never said Twilight’s really Clover the Clever. I just used the idea as an example.”
Though whether Twilight is really Clover the Clever is a popular theory among the fandom. I’ll have to look into that later.
Apple Bloom sighs with relief, before frowning. “So, what’s this gotta do with you being Nyx?’
I sigh. “Okay, like I described with the idea of Twilight being Clover the Clever, you all told me about Nyx, but said you didn’t know where she came from or who she really was. I’m the only pony who would really know that name, because it’s in a book I gave to Twilight and Princess Luna for Hearth’s Warming; a book you cannot find anywhere else in Equestria.
Now, what happens if, after being told everything about this Nyx filly who helped stop Flim and Flam, I were go back in time, see no filly matching her description, but, remembering what Apple Bloom said about Nyx being the reason those two unicorns beat it, I make myself look like Nyx and do whatever I can to point out the Flim Flam brothers don’t have the right to take the farm? But, here's where how it's a Bootstrap Paradox. I don't go back in time to become Nyx without Apple Bloom telling me about her, which she can only tell me abotu because the me she's telling goes back in time to become Nyx. See what I'm getting at?”
They all stare for several moments, before their eyes widen and their mouths open into wide Os.
I nod, before leaning back. “Pretty cool, right?”
They all nod, before Apple Bloom looks at me uncertainly. “But, can we at least tell Applejack 'bout you bein' Nyx? Ya are an honorary Apple, after all?”
I think for a minute, before sighing and nod, giving a small smile. “Alright. but only your family, Apple Bloom. We can’t let anypony else know about time travel beyond what they already do thanks to Twilight’s future-self going back in time, okay?”
They all nod.
“Pinkie Promise?” They do the motions and I sigh with relief.
But that is the last time I mess with time travel unless it's a key event ever again. Sure, this time was okay, but I’d shudder to think what would happen if I’d changed the timeline.
Luckily, since I’ve now gotten confirmation that Twilight’s already completed the time-loop of warning herself not to worry about the upcoming Tuesday of when she went back in time to warn herself, I know time travel will never come up and cause problems in Equestria again.
Really ashamed it took me so long to get this out when the first part with Doctor Deep Injection was pretty much already done on Australia Day.
Though i do partially blame it on being distracted by my internet protection going down again for NO LOGICAL REASON!
I meant to get this done and then update at least one new chapter to another fic that needs an update soon, but, i guess that'll have to wait til tomorrow.
Edit: Deep Injection's new first half of his rant was written by Daxn himself.
So, what will Twilight and Luna reading Past Sins lead to. Will Twilight realize she is like Spike's mother after reading the her in the story tell Nyx Spike's like Nyx's brother because that Twilight's like Nyx's mother?
Will Luna be looking into things to try and figure out if there is really a Spell Nexus or Children of Nightmare?
Will Applejack invited Screwball to the Apple Family Reunion?
These may or may not be answered in future chapters. You'll just have to wait and see
So, Screwball went back in time to do something she was told she did so that she would be told she did it so she would go back in time and do it so she would be told she did it, so she'd go back in time and do it. Bet you didn't see that coming.
Told you the Random tag was serious, didn't I?
Anyway, hoped enjouyed this chapter and, til next time, later everypony.
Edit: I just realized this is the longest chapter for this fic so far 
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Awesome so a bootstrap paradox, a bit confused there for a second when Nyx was brought up. But awesome chapter and can't wait for more!
Loved the update and look forward to more! I HAVE to ask though, will Screwball return to EQG again to check back in on Lilac and to speak with Dr. Discord again? I think many of us would like to know whats happening with them.
6872217 Maybe it was an arranged marriage he had no choice in and he only puts up with her because he has to?
Cough cough... starlight glimmer
Poor Screwy, always thrown for a loop by events happening in different order
Dr. Injection strikes me as a major pedo. Every part of me wants him to pay... in blood, preferably.
ohsweetmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/wibbly-wobbly.png
that is all
Just you wait till Season 5!
Oh, she will be pissed with Starlight I believe.
Well, she should know time travel will be a problem later, on Equestria Girls 3 the Equestria Twilight go trough the portal saying she was busy with time travel, y'know, when she met the human Twilight.
Small typos:
"It wasn't", right?
about
ChillOut
That moment when you realize you have to go back in time to do something kinda silly or the universe explodes.
Screwball is inhabited by a 20-something year old correct? If so how did he not realize that the doctor is a pedo?
Another great chapter.
Can't wait to see what will happen from them reading Past Sins.
6880918
Yeah, I managed to see 'Wizards of Aus.' A very fun and silly, if not hilarious, movie... Still, that ending was terrible. I wonder if 'Matie Potaty' an actual thing among friendly rivals. At least you'd know who you were competing against or saw you as outright competition. Then again, bullying or behaving tsundere pretty much cements that either way.
Not gonna lie, my brain hurts after reading this chapter lol
6880872 glad I wasn't the only one to think that!
6883483 Agreed.....
My brain is still smoking.... from lack of sleep and the whole paradox thing.
That chapter was alright, but somehow sometimes I get the feeling every subject is only touched slighty, like her family.
I probably feel the way because of the random tag, I just saw you mention it, but I haven´t noticed it sooner.
Okay, I've read through your entire story up to this point and I've got to say that in it's current state it's okay but could be a whole hell of a lot better. From where I'm currently sitting your story has two major flaws that are holding it back, one is the fact this is not a true Screwball, and two is the inclusion of the Equestria girls canon so heavily and frequently. Now neither of those two facets on their own is a flaw in and of themselves, but the way you handled them is so fundamentally flawed that it would be better if they were all removed.
Now let's take a step back and look at the positives, I don't mind you making Screwball related to the Riches, in fact making her related to such a flawed and stuck up family actually plays very well off Screwball's natural need to be silly and seek fun. I like your interactions with the family and the ways you characterize Spoiled's attempt to maintain control over the uncontrollable, as well as how the rest of the family dynamics play out. The scenes of Screwball trying to bond to her family and the road blocks she encounters are all enjoyable. I just feel a lot of these scenes would be stronger if it was actually Screwball.
That's one of the major reasons I find such fault with you making this Screwball a human as pony character. Not only does it not really add anything to the story, but it feels like it takes away both some of Screwballs agency and also the personalness these moments could carry. Since this is actually a human this is not a mare that has been trapped in her own head for years finally free to express herself and get to know her family, this is some random smuck, one who happens to be a fair sized dick to, forcing himself into this roll. You wouldn't even have to change much about Screwballs mental processes or why she tries to avoid certain scenarios, you could simply wave it away with a bit of Chaos sense and a watered down version of Discord/Pinkie's 4th wall knowledge base.
I also have a problem with the human aspect because you use that as an excuse to have a twelve year old masturbate and rape several characters just off screen which this story doesn't really need and feel very out of place in a story that at its core appears to be about trying to connect with one's family.
As for why I don't really like the inclusion of EG in this story it's much more simple. It's not adding anything to the story. Admittedly after the first chapter or two in the EG universe I mostly just skimmed the chapters, but from what I could tell nothing really important happens from either a story or character standpoint in any of these chapters which makes them little more than filler and fluff.
Again, you have a really strong and engaging story under all this, but your story really does need to trim the fat and shave off the pounds in a few places. From the bits I've read, I have no doubt you should be capable of turning this story from a rough diamond into a true polished gem with a little work and I think both myself and your other readers would not mind you taking the time to restructure the story if it meant we got a stronger product and you got to further refine your writing skills.
I certainly hope you have something to put the kibosh on that pedophile pediatrician. Dear God, talk about the ultimate parental fear...
Very amusing, good work.
Pity there won't be a little Nyx though...
You seemed to have missed a few details then.
A. It was a deal about monopolizing the rights to sell cider, the product that 'helped' over the winter. With it gone, they'd not make it over the next few winters.
B. IF they wanted to survive or continue their line of work, they'd have to sell/give, or give up their orchard to somebody else, most likely the brothers.
C. They would need to leave Ponyville to start over somewhere else, maybe join up with their extended family like Breaburn.
Fact is they would need to leave ponyville and the farm behind, in order to go on with their lives and profession.
Hence, why the brothers are making fun of their 'old building' that they would tear down very soon to build new ones.
A least that is mainly their train of throught, of course the brothers rubbed salt in their wound and where 'riding on their high' to have won the competition, which made the apple family as well as the entire town stupid on the conditions of the agreement.
To be fair, I'm actually not sure that they did that intentionally as to swindle away the families property, It looks to me like they were just to excited to have won and felt smug enough to go down on the losers, hence they didn't even think about what problems they would have in the long run for doing so, as 'Nyx' pointed out. A lot of ponies act unintenionally like that, given what is presented by the show.
The same as with overstraining their machine really, producing garbage cider.
S5E25&26
7082020
She didn't see any episode past s5e23
7089724 And beyond that point is true AU territory, unless she cheats and enters an Earth that's not her homeworld to finish up where she left off
7420165
I think he already knew that. Which is why he started this on the episodes right before the Season 5 finale.
Time Travel hurts my mind so much...
"the princess that Equestria always had" is one story i read with that premise.
Oh Screwy... you forgot about Murphy's Law!
Time travel is very confusing
I know you've made edits to other chapters, based on new information gained by released material. So, bearing that in mind, has Screwball yet seen The Cutie Re-Mark, and is Chrysalis's Throne from To Where and Back Again going to play an important role in chapters to come, considering what happens post Canterlot Wedding?
this is my response 2 the no more time travel, lol
Yeah, about that.
......deep injection sound more like he should have been doctor bad touch
Ahh, doctor pedophile, how doth your nose bleed like anime so much?
You know, that theory about Twilight being Clover the Clever was offfically debunked, because during the eq one hour special forgotten friendship, it was specifically said that Clover was a he and not a she, so the theory that Twilight is Clover. Yah... it’s officially wrong.
8756999
true. But Screwy doesn't know that yet. trust me, you'll get a laugh out of when she finds out
Mr Murphy: "Ho, what's this? My ears are burning~"
9054419
Can someone get me a wing ding translator here please
Welcome to the timeline. It's complicated.
> Watched Friendship Games
> "No more time loops!"
Kiddo you forgetting somethin?
Same thing in "It's About Time" dammit screwball.
*Murphy cackles in the background* Why?
Oh i just loved this chapter as the bootstrap paradox is my favorite temporal paradox
“I know time travel will never come up and cause problems in Equestria again.”
The season 5 finale he missed happens. John Cena says in the background, ““Are you sure about that!”
9742195
Imagine now you becoming a paradox.
9527022
It’s called past sins
I hate paradoxes they give me a headache in fact after reading the paradox it feels like my brain is getting mummafied ancient egypt style through my eye
Better Bootstrap Paradox: