Twilight's Time Traveling Troubles

by LordBrony2040

Chapter 2: The Mare You Thought You Used To Know

Twilight didn’t know what to think. In that one brief instant when she had looked around and seen her castle, she had thought that she had managed to get home. Logically, it didn’t make any sense. Rainbow Dash had recognized her as a filly, something that should have been impossible. Even if Starlight had gone back in time to a point before they arrived, Twilight hadn’t.

Then there were all the other differences. The mention of this Empress was a big one. Plus, the big unicorn had talked about Princess Celestia, but without the title, showing a lack of respect Twilight would never have allowed from a guard. Plus, the more she trotted around, the more Twilight realized that her castle was different.

While the materials used in the construction, the design of the doors and everything else when it came to aesthetics was the same, the layout was different. Doors were in the wrong place and there were hallways where there shouldn’t be.

Something had gone wrong and Twilight needed to go back to fix it.

But, judging by how this Fizzlepop pony was acting more like a babysitter than a guard captain, Twilight wasn’t sure that she would let the purple pony just walk away. On the other hoof, it didn’t seem to Twilight that she was being led to a dungeon either. “So uh...where’re we going?” she asked hesitantly as Fizzlepop passed her.

“The infirmary,” Fizzlepop told her simply.

I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN INFIRMARY, Twilight mentally screamed before her body took that as a cue to point out that it needed one. A spike of pain that ran from her bruised muzzle, through her cracked ribs and to her pounded plot made Twilight stumble and let out a squeak of displeasure.

“Hm?” Fizzlepop said as she turned around and looked back to the alicorn. “Twily? Are you alright?”

Twilight took a moment to compose herself the best that she could. “I-I’m fine,” she lied.

For once, the mystery mare didn’t act like a nanny and turned around to keep taking Twilight where she needed to go. As soon as she did, Twilight turned her attention back onto herself. Okay, she’s not looking. Time for me to get going, she thought as they continued to slowly trot down the hallway.

I just need to gallop back to the throne room, Twilight told herself as each of her legs began to ache.

Then cast the spell to send us back in time, she thought between the growing throbs of pain from her horn.

Teleport back to Cloudsdale, the purple princess reasoned as her wings let go of some damaged feathers that were barely hanging onto.

“We’ll just get you into a bed and I’ll go get Spangled,” Fizzlepop told her as she opened a door that was supposed to lead to an unused storage room.

Twilight stumbled forward and barely avoided running into the too tall mare. “B-Bed?” Twilight asked.

The dark mulberry pony looked back at Twilight with a tight frown. “Yes, you’re getting off your hooves,” she told the shorter pony. “Now come on, I’ll lecture you after you’ve been taken care of.”

Twilight knew what she had to do. She understood the gravity of her situation and the momentous task in front of her.

But...for the first time in what had to be over a day, there were no changelings, no chaos spirits, no zombies, giant robots, vampire bat ponies, or anything else trying to capture her. She was in an imperfect replica of her castle and beginning to feel safe. She...she could just...lay down and…

And what? Twilight asked herself.

Unlike the last few times, her friends weren’t in danger or living hopeless lives under the constant threat of annihilation. Twilight wasn’t being attacked by some evil they had defeated in the past, either. If she didn’t gallop back to the table as fast as she could...she wouldn’t be able to…

She wouldn’t…

Well…

She wouldn’t get the rest her body was so desperately crying out for.

“Okay,” she agreed before there was a loud boom from outside that shook everything around her. In her heightened state of barely holding on, Twilight let out a cry of surprise before her wings flared out and reminded her that they weren’t in the best shape either, causing her to wince.

“Gah! Damnit Rainbow!” Fizzlepop exclaimed before she galloped off down the hall before darting into a room on the right.

Alone for the moment, Twilight cast a spacial spell on her right wing and slid the scroll with the time travel spell into the fold to hide it. If a doctor was going to be poking around, she didn’t want to have to explain its presence.

Without much else to do, Twilight limped after the stranger as quickly as she was able. She opened the door and went inside, only to stop and gawk at what she saw. All around the large room with its multiple tables were beakers, test tubes, several of Bun Son’s patented heating apparatuses, a thumatic measuring scope, and a few pieces of alchemical equipment that Twilight hadn’t even seen before. It’s a lab, she realized before taking a few dazed trots inside the room.

Twilight didn’t have a lab in her castle. She didn’t experiment with alchemy and the other sciences anymore. She stopped a year after she became a princess because...well...she had become a princess. Princesses didn’t work in labs.

But upon seeing what was in front of her, it was as if somepony had just walked out and pointed to a big hole inside of her that Twilight hadn’t even been consciously aware of.

“I swear, that mare is an idiot!” Twilight heard the big pony’s voice call out from a pair of double doors on the other end of the room before the dark pony came back inside with an angry trot to her step. Spike was with her, staring back out the door until Fizzlepop kicked it closed with a back leg. “I don’t care if she throws me in jail. When Dash gets back, I’m gonna throw her down on my hind legs, and give her a spanking!”

Realization dawned in Twilight’s mind. “That sound, it was...a Rainboom?”

Fizzlepop snorted. “Of course! But does she even think about how that’s going to affect the crystal tower? No, of course not, she’s all, ‘squeeeee Daring Do’s gonna sign my convention book’ and crap! Why the two of you are so into her, I’ll never know.”

Despite the angry pony’s current temperament, Twilight felt she needed to defend her foalhood hero. “Well, um...she does go on a lot of adventures,” she said before noticing Spike was still looking back towards the doors as he rode on the crystal-horned pony’s back. “Is everything okay, Spike?”

“Uh...yeah,” he said to Twilight, clearly dazed. “I just...Fizzlepop showed me the...factory that Ponyville is famous for.”

Twilight’s body went rigid. “F-Factory?” she asked before images of the Ponyville she landed at where this whole thing started. Equestria had been at war with the Crystal Empire, which had been taken over by King Sombra. If there was a factory in Ponyville, that meant that things were all that great and ponies were fighting for their lives at this very moment! “What about the Crystal Empire?!”

The question got a raised eyebrow from Fizzlepop. “Well, they manufacture crystal batteries too. Not to mention all the other crystal stuff. But outside of the Empire, Ponyville is the only municipality allowed to produce them. Twily, are you feeling okay?”

What’s a crystal battery? With Fizzlepop’s nonsensical information going right over Twilight’s head, the purple pony slumped. “I...I need to go lie down,” she said before sparing a look at the lab she had been denied in her real life. How is this even here?

When Fizzlepop went back to trotting down the hallway, Twilight followed her, completely drained. The unease that Spike was showing didn’t matter to her. Whatever changes had happened to Equestria would be fixed when they went back and confronted Starlight Glimmer. But, she couldn’t shake the image of the alchemical laboratory this Twilight had somehow been allowed to have when the real Twilight didn’t get anything like that in her life.

It wasn’t fair that a fake should have something that the real pony did not.

She also didn’t get a doctor, or guard captain, not that she really needed the last one. But...Twilight felt her heart ache when she thought back to the first few weeks she had been in her castle and how lonely it had been. Her friends had helped remind Twilight that she would always carry them in her heart, but that didn’t actually make the castle any less empty.

The swishing sound of a broom brought Twilight out of her thoughts and she looked up to see a rather gruff pony with an extremely bushy mustache sweeping the hallway in a multi-colored version of Celestia’s palace livery.

“Scruffy,” Fizzlepop greeted as she stopped in front of the older mare.

“Fizzy,” the gruff pony replied with a voice that matched his demeanor before looking over to Twilight and giving a slight nod of his head. “Princess. Er, dragon-looking-creature.”

Spike raised a cautious claw. “Hello. Uh, who’re you?”

“Scruffy, the head janitor,” he told the dragon. “I clean and manage the pipes that connect to the toilets, the boiler, and that one boiling toilet.”

Fizzlepop frowned and looked around with a frown. “Where’s your...assistant?” she asked after glancing Spike’s way for a moment, obviously using some restraint on that last word.

“Which-oh! You mean-err, not too sure,” Scruffy replied. “I’d better go find him then.”

As soon as the stallion was gone around the corner, Fizzy looked back at Twilight. “I’m going to start having a guard assigned to watch that idiot twenty-four-seven,” she said.

Twilight blinked before assuming that was what passed for asking permission when it came to this pony. “The...janitor?” she asked. Why would guards need to watch a janitor?

“Not him, Discord,” Fizzlepop replied with a disgruntled frown before softening a little and sighing.

Once again Twilight and Spike shared a look. Spike picked up on the hint and poked the mare he was riding on the side of the neck. “Uh, Discord? Like, the chaos guy, Discord? Why would he be here?”

“Because he tried to wipe out our species!” Fizzlepop snapped, making both Twilight and Spike wince. Fizzy quickly calmed down and sighed. “Sorry. Touchy subject for me.”

Spike gulped. “He...did...what? How did that happen?”

The mare took a look at Twilight before she turned and began walking again. “About two years ago, Celestia convinced the Empress to give Discord another chance and freed him from stone. For a while, he actually behaved himself. Then, when the Empress went into her annual hibernation, a centaur named Tirek started causing trouble and Celestia thought we should let Discord show his loyalty by capturing the bastard,” she explained. “Instead, he turned on us and helped Tirek absorb the magic of several ponies in the span of three days. Celestia decided to wake the Empress up early, but Discord cut her off and helped Tirek drain her dry. If it wasn’t for Twilight and her friends, a lot more than just a few dozen ponies would have died.”

Twilight felt as if she had been kicked in the gut and stumbled. That hadn’t been the way things went in the real Equestria. “Wait, what?” she asked.

“Sorry,” Fizzlepop told Twilight. “I know you don’t like being reminded of all that.”

Despite the recovery she had managed after seeing this Twilight’s lab, the purple pony felt as if she fell deeper into confusion than ever before. Discord never...killed anypony…

...right? Twilight asked herself.

Celestia wouldn’t have forgiven him if that was the case.

This all has to be some kind of mistake, Twilight told herself.

Something different obviously occurred in this timeline.

That was it. Even though Twilight and her friends had pulled through, it must have been extra hard or something.

“H-How did he, I mean...um…” Spike said uneasily.

The expression on Fizzlepop’s face tightened. “He drained ponies of the magic to the point where they couldn’t even move, then left them to starve to death,” she said. “Most of the ponies, we managed to save before problems like dehydration set in, but some of his first victims, and other ponies that were carrying foals, they didn’t survive.”

Twilight’s mind couldn’t help pointing out that three days was the same amount of time that Discord and Tirek had run around in the real world too. If they had done more than just...leave ponies on the ground to starve to death…

No, Twilight told herself. Celestia wouldn’t just let him say he’s sorry and that be that if his actions had gotten ponies killed. So, something different must have happened in this timeline. Discord obviously hadn’t had his change of heart after being captured by Tirek and...made Twilight feel as if her friends had abandoned her just a few months after she took steps to save him from the centaur. Besides, that was my friendship test. I wouldn’t have this castle if I didn’t pass-I mean, this Twilight wouldn’t have a castle if she didn’t pass her friendship test.

So, that was the end of it.

The Discord she knew wasn’t evil.

He was just...mean and petty, and didn’t care about anypony that got hurt because of his actions…

Like, ponies that died of thirst three days after he left them lying on the ground.

Twilight shook her head again to clear it. I’ve got to stop thinking about this, she told herself. She had to get some rest, then go back in time again to find Starlight Glimmer before she...did whatever she did to change things from the way they should be.

Hearing some new voices, Twilight’s ears perked up as she focused on what was going on rather than the disturbing places her mind was going. “Well, everything I see tells me everything’s going fine. Just try to scale back your physical activity for the next four months and your hooves won’t bother you as much,” an new unknown voice said.

“Thanks Star,” another voice that tickled the back of Twilight’s memory replied. But, there wasn’t enough familiarity to place it.

So, Twilight walked in and froze when her eyes fell on the two mares in the room. Both of them were blue, although the shades couldn’t be more different. The mare Twilight didn’t recognize had a dark blue coat that clashed with her red mane and a set of stars as her cutie mark. The mare that Twilight did recognize, unfortunately, was a very light blue with a silvery mane. “T-Trixie?” she asked before taking a step back in shock.

What in the wide world of Equestria was Trixie doing in her castle?!

Discord, she could understand. But Trixie? Under no sane circumstances could Twilight ever see her allowing that mare within ten yards of any place of residence that she called home! Trixie was the very antithesis of everything Twilight stood for!

“Twily?” Trixie said before she glanced behind herself and slowly rolled around to reveal a rather bloated belly. The familiar name that only her brother was supposed to use threw Twilight for a loop as she heard it coming from that mare while the doctor helped her down from the examination bed. She slowly trotted over to give Twilight a once over before frowning in what the purple princess would have called concern if it were anypony else. “You look awful.”

The impossibility of the situation made Twilight’s mind struggle to work correctly. “You look...fat,” the purple pony said with some difficulty in her dazed state.

It seemed that was the wrong choice of words, as the mare reared her head back just a little before frowning and getting right in Twilight’s face. “Trixie is pregnant!”

Unable to withstand the verbal onslaught, Twilight stumbled back a couple of steps before falling on her rump. Something that was also somewhat damaged, judging by the spike of pain that came from her rear end. However, her tired, overworked body and overloaded brain barely registered the fact in lieu of the mare in front of her. “Wha-what’re you...doing here?” she asked in a daze.

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Getting my check-up, obvious-uh, Twily?” the pregnant mare said before her expression became twisted into something approaching concern again and she trotted over to look at Twilight closely again. “Are you okay? Please tell me you didn’t try to copy anything Dash has been doing in the air. I told you that stuff is dangerous. I don’t care if you are a real princess now, you should still listen to your senpai!”

I...how did… Twilight tried to wrap her mind around what her eyes saw to figure out just why Trixie was in her castle and going to a princess’s private physician rather than the Ponyville town doctor. Not to mention the fact that she was calling Twilight by a name only her Mom, Dad and Shiny had any right to call her. Fizzlepop was one thing, she was a complete mystery and thus unquantifiable, but Twilight had no idea why a mare like Trixie would call her by a name only close family would.

Or what the buck a senpai was.

Finally giving up on it, Twilight slumped forward and moaned in distress as all the aches and bruises the guard pony said she had came flooding in full force. And the throbbing ache became a constant pain that made her skull feel like it was going to split open. “My head hurts.”

“What?” Trixie breathed before getting close to the purple mare. “Alright, come on Twily. Up you go, come on. Star, get out here! Something happened to Twily!”

The purple alicorn was dimly aware of Trixie and the badly colored pony helping her into a chair with their magic as gently as was possible. The Fizzy pony shared a few words with the doctor pony, who was nice enough to share a few of her own.

The world spun around a few times, it made Twilight feel dizzy.

“...ly? Twily?” the blue mare with the stars on her flank said as she knocked her hooves together in front of Twilight a few times. “Hey, Twily? Twily? Can you hear me?”

Twilight did her best to focus on that mare, she had an important question to ask. “Why’re you calling me, Twily?” She didn’t know this doctor. It should be Princess Twily!

Or...Princess Twilight.

Twily was a name only her family used.

The blue mare got really mad and looked over to the dark mulberry mare with a frown. “You said she was hurt. Did you check for a concussion?”

“That’s why I brought her to you!” the pony that looked like she could have been Cheerilee’s big meaner sister said. “Do something already!”

Spike looked around with a worried look on his face...that looked worried. “W-What’s going on? Is Twilight going to be okay?”

“What is a dragon doing here? Did he do this to her?” Trixie demanded. “Did you do this to her, dragon?”

Twilight wished that Trixie would just go away.

It didn’t work.

“Judging by the lack of burn damage and claw marks, I’m pretty sure we can rule out the baby dragon, Trixie,” Cheerilee’s big sister said.

Somepony turned down the lights around the edges of Twilight’s vision. It was annoying.

The dark blue pony’s horn lit up and the world changed to a nice light pink. Then she had to go and ruin it by talking. “Three cracked ribs, mild concussion, cracked hooves, minor optical damage, horn strain, stressed wing muscles, not to mention a few others, shin splints in three of your legs, mana exhaustion, high blood pressure, although I suppose that’s normal for you,” she said before the magic faded. “Okay Twily, just give me a minute and we’ll get you fixed up.”

“Stop,” Twilight ordered weakly, which was ignored by the doctor as she pulled something out of her cabinet as well as several pads of varying sizes. Only Shiny called her Twily anymore. “Hey, where is Shiny?”

If a pony like Trixie was in Twilight’s castle, then Shiny needed to be too. It only made sense that he would.

“Shiny?” Star Flank the blue mare asked as she looked up from the task of applying some kind of goo to the big patches of cloth she had laid out. “He’s in the Crystal Empire, Twily. Do you want to talk to him?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes!” she decreed before instantly regretting it when her head started hurting. “Ugh...head hurts.”

Star Flank, or Dr Star Flank, since it was only right for Princess Twily to use her title, nodded before several bandages floated up into her magic. “Okay Twily, we’ll get in touch with Shining Armor as soon as you’re up to talking with him,” she said before trotting over and laying one of the bandages on her head. A strange smell that was like peppermint and bananas filled Twilight’s nose before Dr Star Flank also put a sticky on her side that was hurting and wrapped her legs in bandages after slathering some of the good onto her hooves. “Now lay back.”

The effect was almost immediate. Twilight felt a surge of pressure as her bones knit and hooves sealed. The fog that had made it so hard to think cleared and Twilight found herself feeling embarrassed as the doctor set another cloth over her eyes, one without any of the unknown substance. “W-What is that stuff?”

“Just the usual rejuvenation cream,” the doctor explained as Twilight felt a spell she didn’t have any experience with touch her eyes. With it already being too late to do anything about it, Twilight did her best to remain still as the pony finished her work. The eyes were a delicate organ, interfering with her work could have dire consequences.

A minute later, the cloth was removed and the doctor smiled down at her. “There we go, all done. How’re you feeling, Twily?”

Twilight blinked at the question She opened her mouth to tell the doctor that she was tired, but didn’t say anything before her stomach to rumbled. “I um...I’m-”

The door burst open before she could tell them, making Twilight’s heart leap in joy when she saw the big white pony come into the room with a look of worry on her face that was framed by her wonderfully multi-colored mane. “Twilight? Is Twilight okay?” Princess Celestia asked in a worry.

“Celestia?” Fizzlepop said with an arched eyebrow as the medical room began to get crowded. “What’re you doing here?”

“I heard Twilight was hurt, obviously,” she said before trotting over. Twilight blinked at the complete lack of regalia, but...she had probably heard about her most devoted student getting hurt when she was in the bath and came rushing over as fast as possible...somehow.

“Yeah, but...how? The tower is down,” Fizzlepop asked before her confusion became annoyance. “Dash knocked it out on her way out of town, again.”

“Really?” a new voice that Twilight didn’t recognize said before she looked over to see another extremely tall mare standing behind Celestia with an oddly curved horn that didn’t have the usual spiral formation that all unicorn’s possessed and butterfly wings. “The call we got from Wedge saying that Twilight teleported into the castle came through just fine.”

Twilight blinked at the...creature. If not for the white coloring, lack of holes, straight horn and butterfly wings, Twilight would have called the creature standing behind Princess Celestia a changeling. It was definitely an insectoid equine, but other than that, Twilight was’t sure.

The mystery of who, or even what, the unknown quadruped was got put on hold when Fizzy spoke up. “So, one of your spies in the castle called you.”

Unknown Quadruped shrugged. “Eh, it’s what they were born for.”

“Cut that out you two,” Princess Celestia said before she moved to block Twilight’s view of the pair. She cast her own diagnoses spell before doing a visual examination and reaching over with a leg to stroke the back of Twilight’s neck with her fetlock. “Are you alright, Twily?”

For one brief second, Twilight felt like shouting at Princess Celestia that she shouldn’t be calling her that, but the concerned look on Princess Celestia’s face, the intimate touch that the Princess rarely gave anypony, the decreasing level of adrenaline in her system, all of these things added up to destroy Twilight’s precarious hold on her emotions.

The world blurred as a rush of fear, exhaustion, shame, and a million other feelings crashed down on her. “I-I’m sorry, Princess!” Twilight cried. “I tried to stop her! I-I’m still trying! But it’s so hard and she’s so mean!”

All of the ponies shared an uneasy look before Princess Celestia pulled Twilight into a hug. “It’s okay, Twilight.”

“No it’s not,” Twilight told her as the tears continued to fall. “I can’t fix it, And n-now Rainbow a-and all my friends are gone!”

Princess Celestia continued to run a fetlock along the back of Twilight’s neck as she sobbed. “Shhh, they’ll be back.”

But Twilight knew that wasn’t true.

It would never be true!

Her friends were gone and they were never coming back!

Princess Celestia looked up to the blue pony. “Do you think it’s a good idea to take Twilight to her private room?”

“As long as you keep her head elevated, make sure she stays calm and stay with her, it should be fine,” the doctor told Princess Celestia. “I’ve already applied some healing gel, but that doesn’t mean something can’t still go wrong.”

“You mean like how she’s referring to Celly as-”

Princess Celestia cleared her throat. “Twilight is still a little dazed and confused from the remains of a concussion I detected, dear. I’ll see to her, you take care of that dragon down there.”

Both Twilight and Spike got wide eyes at Celestia’s command. “What? No! Twilight, tell them to let me stay with you!”

“Umm, I-I need Spike to-” Twilight said before Princess Celestia gently shushed her.

“Shhhh. It’ll be okay, Twily,” Princess Celestia said. “ We’ll take care of your little friend while you get some rest.”

The not-changeling stepped forward to put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Twily. I’ll look after him myself,” she said before looking down to the dragon. “Don’t eat the walls.”

What is it with everypony calling me Twily? Twilight asked herself as she looked around. While Spike didn’t seem that at ease at the prospect of being separated, the fact that Princess Celestia had vouched for the creature was enough for Twilight. While they had seen a lot of weird things since this adventure started, the fact that Princess Celestia was always right remained a constant. There was nothing that Starlight Glimmer could do to ever change that. “It’ll be fine, Spike. You’re right, I need to get some rest. So you go with, uh...her,” Twilight told the dragon before everypony in the room shared another worried look. “And I’ll go with Princess Celestia.”

“Are you nervous, little one?” the insectoid pony asked. A second later, she took a step back and was consumed by a green flame that replaced her with the figure of a green dragon a head taller than Spike was. “This better?”

Twilight went rigid and grabbed onto Princess Celestia for all she was worth. The changeling transformation stirred Twilight’s memory of the familiar voice that had been tickling the back of her mind, letting her connect it to the memory of its owner a second later. The creature in front of her, it was Queen Chrysalis!

Fear made Twilight’s blood run cold as her muscles locked up. She wanted to scream in terror, but her mouth wouldn’t move.

Princess Celestia gave the changeling a tiny smirk. “Don’t frighten the poor boy, Chrysalis,” she said as she admonished the disguises evil monster in a friendly manner before looking down at Spike. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t bite…too hard.”

“I’m going to be leaving teeth marks on you tonight for that, Celly,” the not-dragon said before taking Spike by the claw with one of her own. “Come on little guy. We’ll raid Rarity’s gem stash to get some grub for you.”

“Twilight?” Spike asked in a hopeless confusion as Chrysalis led him out of the room without any other resistance.

Debilitating fright slowly gave way to tired confusion as the seconds passed. Twilight tried to wrap her mind around what she had just seen, but couldn’t do it. Chrysalis was...good now? “I don’t understand,” she told Princess Celestia in a lifeless tone.

Princess Celestia gently but firmly removed Twilight’s hooves from around her neck, making the purple pony want to whine in protest. She didn’t want to let go of Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia was safe.

“Twilight, I know you’re very confused right now, but-um,” Princess Celestia looked over to the blue pony. “Spangled, I know concussions can cause a great deal of disorientation and a slew of other problems with the thought process, but...is she supposed to be this confused? She acted like this was the first time she saw Chrysalis. You saw the way she jumped when Chryssy transformed.”

Star Spangled gave Twilight another visual once over before looking back to the supreme ruler of Equestria. “The healing is done, but her brain is still probably sorting through all the information that got jumbled around with the swelling,” the doctor explained evenly. “And it was the transformation that frightened her. Twilight being frightened of Chrysalis makes about as much sense as Dash not kissing Cadance’s big pink plot.”

Which it didn’t. Neither of those things did. If Twilight wasn’t so tired and hurt and hungry, she would have told them that!

“Alright then,” Princess Celestia said before Twilight found herself up in her mentor’s magic before she was placed on Princess Celestia’s back. “Don’t worry Twily, we’ll get you to your room and-”

Twilight’s stomach rumbled, cutting Princess Celestia off before she could finish.

“And I’ll see who’s pulling kitchen duty today,” Fizzlepop added.

Despite everything that was going on, the confusion and pain, the worry about what was going to happen to Spike, all Twilight could go was think, I just want to lay down.

---

Spike looked over to the fake dragon and gulped. Alone. He was alone, with Chrysalis. “Uh, you don’t have to look like that. I know what you are, y-you know.”

The changeling gave Spike an odd look before shrugging, and then she turned back into the fuzzy bug form he had seen from before. “Happy?” she asked in a tone that didn’t sound quite as nice as a moment ago, but still better than the usual Spike had heard from her.

After a few seconds, the bug-pony knelt down and motioned to her back. Spike blinked before carefully getting on Chrysalis, placing his legs behind where her wings met her body. It wasn’t as if he could say no. That would be like an insult. And insulting Chrysalis was probably a good way to end up in trouble.

Chrysalis trotted along in silence, leaving it to Spike to fill the gap. He didn’t want to, but there was the really big obvious question that was just begging for an answer. “So um...you’re...reformed,” Spike said. “I thought were supposed to be evil, or something.”

The question got Chrysalis to look back at him with a frown. “Have you been living under a rock for your whole life?” she asked in a way that made her seem much more like the changeling Spike remembered.

“Sorry!” the dragon apologized before the monster could get even angrier. “I just, you know...uh, everypony I met said changelings are bad...and stuff.”

Chrysalis grave him a frown. “Everypony?” She asked in a questioning way. “The only dragon I’ve heard use that term is the Empress’s little pet. Where are you from, boy?”

Put on the spot as he was, Spike gulped. All of a sudden, Chrysalis didn’t look so nice and inviting. “Um, well...you see, I uh...I was raised by ponies!” he half-lied. “Yeah, after my dragon parents tossed me out for being too small. It was in this little bitty town out in the middle of nowhere called, ah…” Wracking his brain to try and come up with something before the changeling did something like throw him out a window, Spike did his best to come up with the best pony-sounding name he could. “Gravity...Falls?”

“Oh,” Chrysalis snorted before she turned back around and trotted along with Spike on her back. “That figures. Lots of little towns out there are still suspicious of changelings. Nevermind everything I’ve done for this stupid country over the years.”

Spike felt a pang of sympathy for his mount of the moment. “So um, what was it that made you turn from bad to good?”

After a few seconds of trotting down the hallway, Chrysalis snorted. “Oh please, there isn’t a creature alive that has a sudden course correction in personality. Any of them that do are just lying to themselves and everyone else around them. Change takes time, little lizard, and I should know a few things about change.”

With the previous talk of the reformed villain still fresh in his mind, Spike thought back to his last encounter with Discord. While Twilight had been shelving books, he had played with all of her friends. Spike had thought that it was proof he had finally changed, but it had all just been a trick to make Twilight feel left out. Fluttershy had tried to excuse it by saying he was just being his usual harmless self, or trying to teach Twilight some lesson, or some other such thing, but the fact that he was the one to keep the others from including Twilight and never came back just to hang with all the girls again told Spike something was up.

“So then, uh…” Spike wasn’t sure how to ask the question.

Chrysalis stopped and looked back at Spike with a thoughtful expression on her face. “But, if you want me to oversimplify years of my personal, life changing experiences so your little brain can wrap its head around an answer, well...I guess if I had to chalk it up to one big thing, I’d have to go with...respect,” she said before her expression hardened. “Cadance showed me she was worth my respect. And if she was worth that, then she was worth listening to and even changing for, in time.”

The revelation had Spike thinking. “When did this happen, when you um...foalnapped her?” he asked, thinking back to the royal wedding.

“You mean when she went with me willingly and talked Sun-er.” Chrysalis suddenly paused and a worried look crossed her face for a moment. Then she cleared her throat and went on as if nothing had happened. “The Empress out of wiping out my species for escorting her on a diplomatic mission to the changeling hive to bring us into Equestria?” the bug-pony asked in a deadpan tone before raising an eyebrow.

Spike froze. “Uh...right,” he said. “Um, why did you do that?”

“Do what?” Chrysalis asked, her face becoming more confused.

“You were gonna say a name, then you stopped and just said Empress,” he pointed out.

“Because I didn’t want to wake her up,” Chrysalis told Spike, knocking him off her back before whirling around to glare at the little dragon. “Didn’t anypony tell you in your podunk little town what might happened if you called out to the Empress during her hibernation?”

With Chrysalis giving him such a look, Spike felt his own stomach begin to churn with anxiety. What would happen if he said the name of Twilight’s mom? “Oh...uh, right. Sorry,” he apologized before picking himself up. He also wondered what this whole hibernation business was about, but thought best not to ask too many questions that it seemed everypony in Equestria knew.

Chrysalis snorted. “It’s not as if I care about the life of one measly dragon. But Twilight seems to have some fondness for you, and seeing her in any more distress is not something I wish. So, don’t call out to the Empress, and she won’t accidentally crush you with an uncontrolled surge of power because she’s too groggy to properly rein in her magic when she focuses on the creature she thinks is calling out for help wakes her up far too soon. The week just began, after all.”

“Right,” Spike agreed as he did his best not to show how much Chrysalis outright saying that Spike dying right in front of her wouldn’t be anything for her to cry over. “So uh, that Empress. Crazy how she’s like that, right? Knowing when anypony says her name.”

Another snort came from the bug-pony before she turned around and began trotting again. As Spike fought to keep up with her, Chrysalis began talking again. “Don’t be stupid. That’s the least of what she can do. The Empress is linked with a magical object which connects her to all of Equestria. If anything should fall out of Harmony, she knows about it in an instant and can correct the problem herself or send a pony that can.”

Spike blinked. That sounded an awful lot like the map.

“And we’re getting off topic,” Chrysalis said before she went back to trotting down the hallway. “But, yeah. I may have had a healthy fear of the Empress, but it was Cadance that got me to join Equestria as a princess.”

---

Twilight found herself in an unfamiliar hallway as Princess Celestia continued to carry the purple pony on her back. Despite how much she wanted to enjoy the attention that the big white pony had never visited upon her before, it was just so different from everything Twilight had ever experienced with Princess Celestia before that she just couldn’t. “Princess, I...I can walk, really.”

“You really shouldn’t undermine your attempts to make me think you’re okay with the first word that comes out of your mouth, Twilight,” Princess Celestia told her before they turned the corner.

Not understanding what Princess Celestia was getting at, Twilight turned her head away from the perfect mare’s beautiful face and flowing mane to the path ahead and...blinked. The hallway they had entered wasn’t the longest in the castle, but it was definitely a contender before it came to an abrupt end when it met some double doors decorated with the six cutie marks of Twilight and her friends, arranged into a pair of columns. Six other doors also dotted the hallway with a good amount of space between one and the next, each one displaying one of the six cutie marks alone.

There hadn’t been anything of the like in Twilight’s real castle.

The sheer level of such a discrepancy made Twilight’s head spin in confusion. “Wha-What is this?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“This is…” Princess Celestia stopped and turned her head around. The look on her face was reserved, but it had a tightness to it that Twilight couldn’t remember seeing in her mentor before. “Twilight, do you not know who these quarters belong to?”

Twilight blinked. “Of course I do,” she said, still confused before pointing out a hoof to the door with the three apples. “That’s Applejack’s and there’s Rainbow Dash’s, and that one belongs to Pinkie Pie.” Twilight slowly finished naming off her friends as she pointed to each one, then came to the large double doors. “And that’s umm…” Unable to come up with the answer, Twilight blushed.

“Yes, well…” Princess Celestia paused and the muscles on her face visibly relaxed. “I think your private quarters would be a better place to recover than the one you share with the others.”

Once again, Twilight blinked as she failed to work out what Princess Celestia assumed she already knew. A quarters that Twilight shared with the others? Did she mean that it was some sort of living room where they all hung out?

The layout of the hallway also confused Twilight. From the looks of things, she had been put on equal footing with all of her friends. But that didn’t make any sense. She was the princess, not them. This was her castle, they were just… Twilight blinked as she considered an impossible oddity thanks to Princess Celestia’s description of the situation.

Were her friends...living with her?

That wasn’t possible.

Back when she got her castle, Twilight had let the size of the place get to her. But with some help from her friends, she had come to realize it didn’t matter how big, empty, lonely, and cold everything was. As long as she had her friends…

Well…

The fact was, princesses lived in castles, and Twilight was a princess, so that meant she lived in a castle.

End of story.

The thought of inviting them to come share the big empty piece of real estate she had been granted after saving Equestria from Tirek didn’t make sense. They had their own homes, their own lives. Forcing them to just abandon everything they had worked so hard for because Twilight didn’t want to live by herself in a big empty castle didn’t seem right to her.

Which made Twilight wonder…

Every different timeline they had been to in the past...present...whatever… Every other Equestria had been a horrible ‘what if?’ scenario. What if this time wasn’t any different? But, what if instead of some great evil beating everypony and rising up to destroy the world, what if it was Twilight that had become evil?

“Is there something wrong?”

Princess Celestia’s voice cut into Twilight’s thought, making the purple pony jump a bit. A slight soreness in her muscles made Twilight regret the action a moment later. She put on a fake smile and gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just...you know, still have a hard time believing all my friends are living with me, now.”

The tightness appeared on Princess Celestia’s face before she took a step away from Twilight’s door, despite opening it while Twilight had been distracted. “Your...friends,” Princess Celestia repeated slowly.

“That’s right,” Twilight told her. What wasn’t hard to believe about five ponies, many of whom had their own lodgings, decided to just up and move in with her? In fact, the more she thought about the subject, the more Twilight was sure that this timeline’s Twilight must have used some dark and evil magic to force them into moving in with her. It was the only thing that made sense. “Do you think I...forced them to, or something?”

Would Princess Celestia know if the evil Twilight really was evil?

Princess Celestia studied Twilight for a few moments before she stuck her head into the room while keeping Twilight outside of it at an angle she couldn’t see past the doorway. There was a brief golden glow from her horn, then the Princess brought her in. When she did, Twilight found her room...odd.

There was definitely a Twilight-ness about the place. All of the walls in the living room had a bookshelf or two, perfectly organized in the manner Twilight had perfected a few months ago, before she came up with a whole new system during that three-day weekend when Discord had tricked her friends into liking him. But there were some oddities, like the mirrors. There were mirrors everywhere, tiny ones that she could hold with her a hoof and big ones that could reflect her whole body if Twilight stood far enough away from them, all in odd places.

However, when Princess Celestia stuck her head in Twilight’s bedroom to repeat the same spell from before, she caught onto why there was so many of them instead of what Twilight knew should have been present. “Princess Celestia, why are you turning all of my pictures into mirrors?”

“Because I don’t know if showing and telling you things that will probably upset you is a good idea with the state you’re in,” Princess Celestia explained in a vague manner before she brought Twilight to the bed covered in white sheets.

Twilight looked around the other Twilight’s bedroom and blinked. The mirror holding all of the pictures she had taken with her friends over the years was gone. There were other mirrors, but judging by their size, they had also been pictures. In fact, the only real mirror Twilight could see in the room was the oddly positioned fifty-two inch one hanging on the wall to her right, on the opposite side of the room from her bed. “How would a bunch of pictures upset me?”

Magic enveloped Twilight to set her on the bed after Celestia pulled the sheets aside, but left the purple pony’s coat open to the air. “Twilight, I hate to tell you this, but it’s obvious to me that there is something wrong beyond a little confusion caused by a simple bump on the head.”

The idea that Princess Celestia might find her out made Twilight pull in on herself as the worst of possibilities entered into her head. What if Princess Celestia tried to stop her from changing things back to how they should be?

Twilight gulped. “W-What do you mean?”

“Twilight...can you tell me who your brother is married to?” Princess Celestia asked.

At first, Twilight opened her mouth to give the obvious answer, but the encounter with Chrysalis just moments before stopped her. What if something happened and her brother ended up marrying Chrysalis? How was something like that even possible?

What happened to Cadance?

Twilight forced herself to stop before her imagination ran away from her completely.

Just because Chrysalis was in the castle didn’t mean that she had somehow replaced Twilight’s real sister-in-law.

“P-Princess Cadance,” Twilight said nervously. When Princess Celestia simply stood there looking at her, Twilight took that as her cue to keep going. “She’s the ruler of the Crystal Empire. It came back after a thousand years of being banished by King Sombra, or...because of King Sombra, you uh, were never really clear on that part.”

Princess Celestia waited for another second before she nodded. “And?”

Twilight froze again. What did the Princess mean, ‘and?’. Was there something else about Cadance that Twilight needed to tell her?

Then, she remembered that other little thing about the couple. “Oh! And Cadance is pregnant with their first foal.”

Surprise appeared on Princess Celestia’s face. “She’s pregnant? Really? Since when?”

“A few months now,” Twilight said. “You...didn’t know?”

Princess Celestia frowned a little. “I didn’t hear anything about...well, that’s not important right now. Okay then, what can you tell me about...the Empress?”

Once again, Twilight tensed. “You mean, um….” Fear of being found out kept her mind from working for several seconds. Then, she remembered a little bit of information that had been learned earlier. “You mean...um, my...mom?”

“That’s right,” Princess Celestia told her with caution evident in her voice. “Tell me about your mother.”

With the pressure mounting, Twilight looked around nervously. The idea of her mother somehow taking over Equestria seemed absolutely ludicrous. But without any clues to go on from the missing pictures all around her room and the small bookshelf being nothing but books with dates on them that looked suspiciously like journals that dated back before she was even in magic school, Twilight decided to keep to the bare minimum of information so she wouldn’t make a grievous error that outed her as some kind of intruder instead of just the fake version of Twilight with a little brain damage. “W-Well, my mom, the uh, Empress, who’s also my mom, Twilight Velvet, she uh...she looks like me, but with um, a different colored coat, a-and her cutie mark is three purple stars.”

The look on Princess Celestia’s face became very worried. “Your mother...Twilight Velvet.”

Twilight nodded as her worry increased. Had she said something wrong? She couldn’t see how. There was no way that Twilight Velvet wouldn’t be her mother. No matter what Starlight did, nothing would change that. “T-That’s right.”

As Celestia continued to look down at her, Twilight became more and more nervous. I...I said something wrong. Something big. Really big. But how? What did I say that was wrong? Twilight asked herself.

Princess Celestia’s cautious look disappeared a few moments later to be replaced by something that was much more calm, but also...sad. She reached down and gently ran a hoof over Twilight’s bangs before leaning down to kiss the purple pony on her forehead. “It’s okay, Twily. I’m sorry I made you nervous. Come on, let’s relax a bit like the good old days, shall we?”

While Twilight wondered what the good old days entailed, Princess Celestia’s horn lit up to the point where Twilight had to cover her eyes. When the light of the solar alicorn’s magic faded, Twilight blinked at what she saw. Instead of the majestic and regal Princess Celestia that towered over everypony, what stood in her stead was a pony of average height and slightly better than average figure with a long pink mane wearing Celestia’s cutie mark.

“Bwa?” Twilight asked.

The youthanized Princess Celestia worked a crick out of her neck. “Yeah, been awhile since we had a fillies be free day, and Chryssy will probably lecture me about mixed messages and junk, but I’m thinking you could use some relaxing,” she said before scooting Twilight over with her magic, then hopping into the bed next to the bewildered purple pony to put a wing under her back. Once Twilight was lowered back onto the bed and sever pillows used to prop her head up, Celestia kissed her on the cheek. “Okay so, the tower being down means we can’t connect to the main library. What do we got in storage for-”

A knock on the door made Celestia stop talking and look over in the direction of the sound. “Come in.”

The door opened to admit an earth pony Twilight didn’t recognize, but...there was something about her that tickled Twilight’s memory. As if she had met the creamy-yellow mare with the curly orange mane before, but not in any deep way. Maybe she was just a pony that lived in Ponyville that Twilight had seen on the street, but never talked to. The town may have been small, but that didn’t mean Twilight knew all three-hundred-plus residents by sight.

“Hello, Pear Butter,” Princess Celestia greeted her. “You working kitchens today?”

“Afternoon, Tia. And Ah wouldn’t have to if the girls could keep a cook for longer than a week,” she said with a little smile. “So Ah see you two are having another one of yer filly days. Ah ain’t gonna have ta tan yer hide again, am Ah?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. What?

Princess Celestia rolled her eyes in a good-natured way. “I burn down one little orchard, and nopony ever lets me forget it,” she said.

“Forgivin’ and forgettin’ are two entirely different things, little missy,” the earth pony joked. “Sides, it was mighty funny, watchin’ Granny Smith gawk at’cha havin’ to make it all up with yer community service. Yer applebuckin’ left a bit to be desired, but nopony could get the crop in as fast, or collect the eggs as easy as you. Plus, them gutters ain’t never been as clean as when you were doin’ em. If you ever get tired of teachin’ we would sure appreciate yer help on the farm again.”

Disbelief flooded Twilight’s mind before she looked to the pony laying beside her. “You...worked on-wait, just who are you?” she asked, turning her attention to the mare standing beside her bed. Twilight knew all the farmers in Ponyville, especially the apple farmers, all four of them! This mare sure as hay wasn’t on the Apple Family list!

Pear Butter blinked in confusion before frowning. “Twilight? Ah’m yer-”

“Applejack’s mother!” Princess Celestia quickly interjected as she lifted her head to block Twilight’s view of Pear Butter. “You remember, right Twily? This is your friend Applejack’s mother who you met and have known for years.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as recognition ignited in her brain. She had seen the mare standing beside her before. But, she hadn’t met her. Because the only place Pear Butter existed, although Twilight thought Buttercup was the name Applejack used, was in a family photograph in the Apple Family household. “You...you’re alive,” she mumbled in confusion.

“Say wut now?” the older mare asked as she pulled her head back.

Before the ensuing silence could become very awkward, Princess Celestia cleared her throat. “I’m afraid Twilight was attacked recently and the effects on her memory may be a bit more serious than I originally thought. But she is hungry right now, could you please make us something to comfort her?”

Pear Butter looked back and forth between the two ponies, moving her eyes to do so. “Of-of course. I-I’ll be right back, Twily,” before she quickly turned to gallop out of the room.

For her part, Twilight could only stare blankly at the place where the mare had been a moment ago. “Applejack’s mother is...alive?” she asked nopony in particular as she simply voiced her thoughts. “But...I don’t...how?”

Princess Celestia pulled Twilight into another hug and gave the purple pony a kiss on the side of her head again. “Shhh. It’s okay, Twily. Everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to fix this, you’ll see.”

“Right,” Twilight agreed, her tone empty as her mind drifted a million miles away. If Applejack’s mother was still alive in this world…

She couldn’t complete the thought.

She couldn’t allow herself to.

She had to fix things.

She had to get her friends back!

Besides, Twilight told herself. This world isn’t real. This isn’t the way things should be. I’ve got to make things the way they should be.

Celestia’s horn lit up, which was followed by the mirror that took up the majority of the room’s far wall becoming white. A list was displayed instead of their reflections, which made Twilight blink. Are those the titles of plays? she wondered.

“Well, we still have local storage, so...um…oh! Here’s that educational show you did with Pinkie, you remember that, right?” Princess Celestia asked.

Caught between telling Princess Celestia a lie and getting closer to exposing her true identity, Twilight was unable to form a full answer. “Well, I...um...sort...of? Everything’s a little fuzzy, to be honest.”

Princess Celestia looked back to the mirror, that seemed very reminiscent of a human device Twilight had encountered now that she thought about it. “Well, let’s see if we can jog your memory,” she said before sending a strand of magic into the mirror. “You and Pinkie had so much fun together doing this.”

“Pinkie had fun with something educational?” Twilight asked herself more than Princess Celestia as the image in the mirror changed and sound began to play.

A barely lit room slowly illuminated to reveal a pair of ponies sitting at a long wooden desk. The one on the left was a purple unicorn, while a pink earthy pony with an even pinker poofy mane sat on the right.

“Hello everypony,” the unicorn Twilight greeted with a little nod. “As well as every other creature joining us today.”

Pinkie stood up a little bit and waved in the direction she was face. “I’m Professor Pinkie, and that is Princess Sparklebutt!”

Twilight’s eyes went wide and her head cocked to the side ever so slightly before she spoke. “W-What?”

“Sparklebutt!” Pinkie immediately exclaimed happily.

After taking a deep breath, Twilight looked over to the other pony. “Pinkie, my name is Twilight. And you know I hate it when ponies use my title! I’m just a normal little unicorn.”

As Twilight wondered three things at once that just got jumbled up in a mess of confusion, Princess Celestia giggled. The device, it was like one of those human devices, but done with magic. “I don’t think normal has ever been the right way to describe you, my darling little Twilight,” she said before snuggling closer to the purple pony.

“Look Twilight, I talked to your E-mom about it, and it’s called a persona,” the mirror Pinkie explained. She said more things, but Twilight found herself unable to focus on them in lue of being so physically close to Princess Celestia.

The words of concern, the nickname, she had written them off as some sort of time fluke like her chandelier. It was obvious that Princess Celestia was much closer to her emotionally in this world than in Twilight’s original one.

Were she and the Princess...more than just teacher and student?

More than just...friends?

Twilight gulped nervously for just thinking such a thing, a thought left over from the days when she was a silly little filly experiencing her first heat. Princess Celestia had been on her mind all the time during those days and every single hot experience afterwards. Just thinking about all those nights spent alone in sweltering need with nothing but the Princess on her mind made Twilight bite her lip.

What if, instead of nervously retreating to her room to fight through the need, she had asked Princess Celestia for the relief so many other ponies received from their friends during heated days? With the exception of Twilight, of course, if Princess Celestia didn’t need to seek out a pony to help cool down, she didn’t ever even look like she needed a pony for that, so Twilight would forever follow her shining example.

But, what if the Princess had been asked and...asked Twilight to help her in return?

She had been fourteen at the time, but...Princess Celestia was so much older than everypony else, what did a few years matter when it came to silly things like the usual acceptable age for consent?

It was Princess Celestia! Everything she did was acceptable!

Especially if it happened to be Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight nervously licked her lips. With as affectionate as Princess Celestia had been to her, surely it was okay if Twilight...returned the kisses, right?

“Um, P-Princess C-Celestia?” Twilight asked as she tried to get the mare’s attention. It would just be a quick peck on the lips. One little fantasy fulfilled, that was all.

But, such plans were put on hold when the door opened to the reveal Pear Butter gain, pulling a small cart of pies and other treats behind her. “Hello girls. Ah know, reheated pies aren’t quite as good as fresh, but sometimes, expediency outweighs quality.”

Princess Celestia looked over to the mare, “Thanks P.B.,” she said before floating some treats for her and Twilight to enjoy before looking back to the mirror. “Oh, Twilight, here it comes. This is always my favorite part of the premier.”

“So, what’s our first Question, Pinkie?” Twilight asked as a glass tube descended from the ceiling to deposit a rolled up scroll.

Pinkie took the scroll from the delivery system and opened it up. “Well, let’s see here,” she said before she began reading the letter just loud enough for the words to be picked up. “Dear Princess Twilight and Pinkie Pie, hey that’s me! I’ve always been fascinated by the way weather works in Equestria. So different than in my home country, especially with how pegasi make it. Okay, so more and more flattery, yada yada yada, mentions rules of physics violations and-ah! Here’s the question!”

From her seat beside Pinkie, Twilight wore a fake smile for one...two...three....four...five seconds before she glanced over at the earth pony while still keeping her toothy smile up. “Well?”

Pinkie looked over Twilight. “What?”

“Pinkie, aren’t you going to read the question?” Twilight asked in an obviously forced happy tone.

The pink pony blinked. “I did read the question,” she said before giggling. “ I wouldn’t say here’s the question and just stop reading, that would be silly!”

Twilight’s eye twitched as her happy smile became even more forced. “So, don’t you think you should tell everypony what the question for today is?”

“Oh! Okay,” Pinkie said before sitting up straighter and clearing her throat to speak in a cheerful voice. “Does Princess Celestia fart rainbows?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as her pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

…

…

…

“Wut?”

Princess Twilight’s eyes mirrored those of her wingless counterpart in the mirror as Princess Celestia fell into a fit of giggles while Pear Butter rolled her eyes and left the room. “Wha...What the hay kind of question is that?!” both the reflected and real Twilight said at the exact same time. “How? How could anypony ask something like that?”

The distressed demands brought an abrupt halt to Celestia’s laughter. “Um, Twily? Are you alright?” she asked.

“Alright? How can I be alright? Did you hear What somepony just asked about you?” Twilight demanded as she got to her hooves in anger. “A...a pony like that, they...they need to be thrown in the palace dungeon! Or banished! Or thrown in a dungeon of wherever it was that you banish them to!”

Princess Celestia frowned at the same-sized alicorn. “Twily, you don’t remember broadcasting this?”

Twilight tensed. “Umm, well I, um...I just don’t remember who wrote that letter.”

“Really?” Princess Celestia asked evenly before she looked over to the mirror. “Skip to guest star.”

Wondering what was going on, Twilight looked back to the mirror. Hundreds, if not thousands of images sped by at a rapid pace, making it seem as if the Twilight in the mirror was moving at super speed. Then, seemingly as suddenly as it began, time resumed its normal flow.

“To help us answer this rainbow related question. Let’s bring out our good friend, who’s also a weather expert,” the mirror Pinkie said before throwing out her hooves to the side. “Doctor Dashie!”

There was a great deal of applause from somewhere as Rainbow Dash came trotting into view. “Hey everypony!”

“Hey Doctor Dash!” dozens of ponies said from somewhere Twilight couldn’t see through the mirror.

The Twilight in the mirror frowned. “You’re not a doctor.”

After she finished waving to some unseen crowd, Rainbow turned to face Twilight. “I’m totally a doctor, Twi. It’s in my name, Rainbow, totally a doctor, Dash.”

Mirror-Twilight’s eye twitched once...then twice, then she slammed her head into the table. “Ugh, fine. Whatever, just answer the question so we can get in with it.”

“Dashie, being a weather pony, we’d like to know if you fart rainbows.”

Rainbows face became a tiny frown. “Pinkie, you know I don’t fart rainbows, I make them.”

Mirror-Twilight raised her head in time to groan and slam it back against the table. “Seriously, Dash?” she asked without removing her head from the wood.

“Princess...did Rainbow Dash write the letter?” Twilight asked the mini-Celestia next to her. Considering all of her previous pranks, Twilight wouldn’t put it past her.

After a few seconds of giggling at the antics being displayed. Princess Celestia looked over to Twilight and sighed. “No, I just forgot that she came in before me,” she said before her horn lit up again. “Fast forward to the last five minutes of the program.”

Twilight looked back to the screen as the ponies began to move at a super fast pace again. From the looks of things, Rainbow actually took the time to explain just how rainbows were made, complete with diagrams she pulled out from somewhere Twilight couldn’t quite see. Then, after a great deal of talking that made it look like the Twilight in the mirror was becoming more and more exasperated, Princess Celestia trotted into view. There was another three seconds of talking, then everything slowed down to normal speed.

“-so, no,” Celestia said as she finished what had to have been an extremely long explanation in an amused tone. “I do not fart rainbows.”

“So now the question is, can you be made to fart rainbows?” Pinkie asked.

With her face still down on the desk, the Twilight in the mirror groaned. “Oh, shimmering sun,” she said before looking up and grabbing the scroll that Pinkie had set aside in her magic to unroll it in front of her face. “Just who in the buck wrote this question, anyway?”

The Princess Celestia in the image put on a big smile and turned her attention to Pinkie. “Well, I’d best be going now girls. I must say, I had a really fun time and would love to stay-”

“SUNNY SKIES?” Twilight shrieked before she gave a death glare to the big white pony in the mirror.

“But the Empress won’t advise herself!” Princess Celestia said before she turned around and trotted off at a hurried pace. “Toodles girls!”

“YOU GET BACK HERE!” Mirror-Twilight yelled before she chased Celestia beyond the edge of the mirror, much to the real Twilight’s confusion.

Left alone in the mirror, Pinkie looked out towards the real Twilight. “Well, that’s our show for the day. Join us next time when we have the Empress on stage to answer questions directly from our audience!”

“YOU ARE SUCH A TROLL!”

Twilight blinked in confusion at her double’s final words before the reflection went back to normal. “Okay...Sunny Skies,” she said, keeping her mind on task. If she didn’t, Twilight knew that she would have been begging for Princess Celestia’s forgiveness because of her double’s actions. And the fact that she had reacted in such a way, yelling at Princess Celestia, it proved to Twilight that this world was just as wrong and evil as all the others. But in this one, it was Twilight who had become the villain! “When I get back home, I’ll deal with her!”

“Um, Twily? You are home,” Princess Celestia said, drawing the purple alicorn’s attention back to the seemingly-young mare that was laying belly up on the bed. “And what do you mean, deal with Sunny Skies? Are you seriously telling me that you don’t know who that is?”

Caught red-hooved, Twilight froze. “Um, I...um,” she said as she wracked her brain for a response while the expression on Princess Celestia’s face became more and more concerned. “A...pony that you threw into Tartarus for asking such an insulting question about you?”

When she didn’t respond, nervousness began to creep into Twilight’s mind, followed by a small throbbing pain. “I’m sorry, Princess. My head is starting to hurt again. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember.”

Silence filled the room for several seconds as Princess Celestia just stared at Twilight before guiding the purple alicorn back down into bed and into a wonderful embrace with her magic. “Have you seen the latest Solar Battles, Twily?” Celestia asked. “And I mean, seen all of it.”

After looking away from the mirror that had changed back to displaying a list of plays and to the pony laying beside her, Twilight blinked. “I have,” she said. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had dragged her to watch it the week before in Canterlot.

“Good!” Celestia told her before the mirror’s image changed to a deep black.

Long ago, in a land that is far, far away…

---

Walking through the streets of the changed Ponyville was a very interesting experience for Spike. Everything was the same, but...not. The grass streets remained the same, although a telltale rock inscribed with a plant growth rune explained how the ground remained green despite the increase in hoof traffic. Spike recognized all the buildings of Ponyville as well, there were just more of them, and bigger ones in the background, outside of the Ponyville he had spent the last several years in. It was as if a pony had come in and decided that everything of the original Ponyville would be preserved as it was and more would just have to be added on as the population increased.

And whomever had decided it also decided that the small town aesthetic was mandatory. Despite the increase of population and size, all the buildings aside from a big crystal tower near the center of town, the large square factory on the far end of town, and a few minor details like the electric light posts that didn’t belong outside of Canterlot, Ponyville was still mostly comprised of buildings with straw roofs and other country town things. Even the town market looked the same, if a tiny bit more crowded than it had been before.

Most of the ponies, Spike knew as well. Bonbon was out and about with Lyra, that crazy brown stallion with the tie Derpy always talked to trotted past them after giving Spike an odd look, Raindrops, Carrot Top, the flower ponies, they were all still in Ponyville and going on as they normally did. Even the stallion from Quills and Sofas was still there.

And then, they got to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique...which looked the same.

Seeing it made Spike’s heart ache. There was no panic, like the first time he had seen an alternate version of the building, all boarded up. The only feeling he experienced was how much he missed Rarity. His Rarity, not the Rarity in the castle with Nightmare Moon. That had been depressing.

But, there was nothing like that in this world. In fact, if Twilight went back again, Spike was afraid they would come across a timeline that was far worse than the one they were in now. With that being the case, tired as he was, Spike had to wonder if staying in this world...would be really be so bad?

It wasn’t their home, but it looked like everypony was still in Ponyville and happy. This might be as close to the original world as they were going to get.

“Okay, so...let’s see,” Chrysalis said before she took a moment to inspect the lock and, winced when another pony shouted her name.

“Chrysalis!” somepony called out from behind Spike in a rage that sent a shiver of fearful recognition up Spike’s spine. The changeling sighed and turned around, making Spike do the same. What he saw made him quickly hide behind Chrysalis’s forelegs for protection.

Starlight Glimmer looked slightly different than the last time Spike had seen her. The mare’s mane had changed to a more wavy style, combed over to one side of her face rather than what she had used before. However, the angry scowl on the lilac pony’s face was all too familiar. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “I get an intruder alert at the castle and come galloping back, just for Fizzy to tell me that Twily’s hurt and in bed recovering from a fucking assault. And I can’t even take the time to check on her, because Dash decided to break everything again! Which I have to go fix instead of looking in on Twily.”

“Well you summed everything up nicely, Glimmy,” Chrysalis replied with a tiny smirk. “So why’re you asking me something you already know the answer to?”

After a moment of simply standing there, Starlight Glimmer let out a tiny groan and slumped just a bit. “Because I’m angry that Twilight’s hurt, my cock is out of town and Sunlight is in one of his little moods, which Trixie doesn’t want to deal with because she’s got one of her own on the way,” she grumbled. “There are times I wish I had just followed the Glorious Empress’s shining example and held off on foals.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes before she sighed and reached up to put a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Then the second passes and you get all weepy over just considering the thought of not having your son,” she said to the angry pony, making Starlight’s expression fall. “So, let’s just skip to the part where I give you the comforting words you came to get from me, okay? Twilight’s recovering, Sunburst will be back in a few days, and I told you to hold off on that sun worship crap when I’m around.” Then Chrysalis looked down at Spike and stepped aside, exposing him to Starlight. “Oh, and watch your mouth, there are younglings present.”

“This the dragon Fizzy told me about?” Starlight asked evenly as she raised a hoof to point at Spike.

A snort came from Chrysalis. “No, this is a different purple dragon that appeared in the castle alongside Twilight when she teleported home who also happens to be named Spike.”

Spike nervously raised a claw and moved his fingers in a greeting as Starlight Glimmer frowned down at him. “H-Hello.”

The frown didn’t disappear in a show of friendliness either. “Hello Spike, I’m Starlight Glimmer,” she said evenly. “As Ponyville’s magus and assistant to the Royal Council of Friendship, I’ll be conducting your interrogation along with Captain Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

“Because interrogating baby dragons needs two intimidating mares,” Chrysalis said evenly.

Starlight glared at Chrysalis for a few moments before slumping with a groan. “Look, I got repairs to assess and do, if we even have the proper crystals. You do whatever to need to then go...concubine for the Mother Celestia, or something.”

As the lilac unicorn trotted away, Chrysalis rolled her eyes and shot Starlight a few words. “You know she hates that title!” the changeling yelled at the departing pony before switching to a grumble. “Sun worshipers.”

The explanation only made Spike more confused. “That was...Starlight...Glimmer,” he said as Chrysalis turned her attention back to the boutique’s door.

“The one and only,” Chrysalis said before there was a click and the boutique’s door opened to a push of the changeling’s hoof. “Don’t worry, she’s...uh, okay yeah. She’s just as loud, violent, rash, and stupid as everypony says. Wait, I know she ends up in the local paper a lot, but how do you know about her?”

Spike tensed. “Uh, well...that time, you know, when she made national news for um, you know, blowing up that thing...or did she burn it down?” he asked, trying to sound as vague as possible. In no version of the timeline could Spike see Starlight being anything but a violent maniac.

“...you have no idea how little that narrows things down, do you?” Chrysalis asked before trotting inside. “Now come on, Rarity’s stash is upstairs.”

After taking a single step forward, but not going into the building, Spike blinked. “Wait, Rarity’s not here?”

“She and Pinkie Pie are spending the week in Baltimare,” Chrysalis told him before sticking her head out to look at him. “Don’t worry, I doubt the High Lady of Generosity would mind losing a few shiny rocks to feed a hungry child.”

Spike blinked several times at the title before Rarity’s name. Rarity hadn’t been a noble in the previous timeline, even if she deserved to be, and the way Chrysalis said it sounded more like it was some kind of insult rather than a show of respect. “What do you mean by-” Spike stopped mid-sentence as he walked into the boutique.

Although the building was the same on the outside, the interior was extremely different. All of the clothes that Rarity put out on racks for ponies to pick from had completely disappeared, along with her bargain bin for hats. Instead, it looked like the entire showroom floor had been changed into an oversized mix of Rarity’s inspiration and sewing rooms. “Where’s all the clothes?”

“Hm?” Chrysalis asked.

Spike rephrased his question as he continued to slowly look around. “Rarity, doesn’t she uh, make dresses and stuff?” he asked before coming across a small painting that definitely didn’t belong and had Spike wondering if he was seeing things.

As he moved closer to get a better view, Chrysalis snorted. “Oh please, Rarity hasn’t made anything in a year-okay, well there’s been favors to friends and stuff, I don’t think she could survive without being able to use the girls like her little living dolls, but the closest Rarity’s come to making commercial clothes is a few collaborations with a unicorn in Canterlot and-hey, where’re you going?”

The painting that had transfixed Spike so much was one featuring Rarity and Fluttershy. The two of them were laying in a meadow, snuggled up side to side, with Fluttershy’s wing laid across Rarity’s back. But the most disturbing part of the painting was how they were looking at each other, with half-lidded eyes that seemed to be in a kind of daze. That wasn’t how friends were supposed to look at each other!

“I was-” Spike said before he turned his head and froze when his eyes saw another painting. In it, Rarity was laid out across Applejack’s back as the larger pony trotted down the road. The unicorn’s forelegs were wrapped around the farmer’s neck in a hug while she whispered in a blushing Applejack’s ear. “I was just-”

Then came the painting of Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They were at a party of some sort, judging by all the balloons that were being on display. Rarity had her back on the floor while Pinkie laid on top of her, giving the unicorn the same look that friends weren’t supposed to use. “What is-”

Once again, Spike turned to see what were probably the two most important pictures in the room when it came to how drastically different this new timeline was on opposite sides of the door. In the left one, Rainbow Dash held Rarity in her legs as she held the blushing unicorn up from behind while biting her ear, something only a very special somepony did when they were feeling playful. But the one to the right of the door was far worse. In it, a unicorn Twilight that had been wrapped in a simple but elegant white dress was opposite a Rarity wearing red.

AND THEY WERE KISSING!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Unable to stop himself, Spike screamed. The confused haze he had been in since seeing a good Chrysalis, compounded by Starlight Glimmer’s presence, finally cleared away into one of outright panic. Whereas before, he had been wondering if it was possible to stay in the one good world that they had stumbled across since it seemed that every other instance of Twilight traveling back in time, things just kept getting worse and worse, he now knew that such a thing wasn’t possible and they had to fix things as soon as they could.

“What? What is it?” Chrysalis asked she trotted over and looked around wildly.

Spike pointed to the picture. “That!” he said. “W-What’re they doing?”

After looking to the painting, Chrysalis looked back down to Spike. “Kissing. It’s what ponies do when they’re married. Geeze, boy, just how much of a backwater town were you from?”

“M-M-Married?” Spike repeated in absolute horrified shock. But I’m supposed to marry Rarity!

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and picked Spike up in her magic before she trotted deeper into the evil monument to the things that should never have come to pass. “Ugh, this is why I gave up on raising my offspring,” she grumbled. “Now come on, with the way Rarity organizes everything, it’s going to take forever to find you some food.”

Comments

[Fisherman]

Just refreshed!

[LEGION55]

.....Wow. the differences are such a stark contrast.

[Pinklestia]

You know the whole time skip thing and going by sunset getting even more overpowered took all the fun out this story.

[amiamera]

What I don’t get is why Twilight doesn’t just admit what’s going on. The people obviously aren’t violent. Although, I’m trying to figure out what happened to Velvet and how Twilight became romantically involved with...all of her friends?

Also, if Twilight’s “mom” (Sunset Shimmer) is married to Shining, doesn’t that mean her mother is married to her brother? Disturbing thoughts brought to you by I’m my own grandpa limited.

[River Road]

9145962
This Twilight seems to be using Lesson Zero as benchmark when it comes to Celestia-induced OCD and paranoia. As far as I can tell her thought process is a mix of "don't tell ponies that you want to erase their entire world in favor of your own", "don't make ponies realize that this world's Twilight is obviously evil and should be vanished and thrown into a dungeon" and "don't say anything that has the slightest chance of making Princess Celestia angry/worried/disappointed at you".

[PrinceOfDoom]

Oh, ALL of my YES! This is amazing! I can't possibly relate how GLORIOUS this is! I cannot WAIT to read more. When they realize Spike and Twilight are Time Travellers and when Celestia learns just who Twilight actually is... oh goodness, this is going to be incredible! I love good Chryssi! This is amazing!

[dvdspires]

The fans going to be smashed to pieces when Twilight finds out who the Emperess is and when she finds out that Twilight knows about her time at CHS. That will be an interesting scene to read.

[kord]

I am baffled by the decision to skip almost everything that was being foreshadowed in the stories before this one. It is really disappointing that we seem to have missed so much of the story just to go right to the end.

Did you just get bored with the build up or maybe you couldn't decide how to do resolve the conflict so you just skipped over it? Either way you lost the great momentum of the first two in exchange for another seemingly generic Twilight in a alt timeline Equestria story.

I hope you have a plan to make this make sense, because at the moment its just disappointment that over 500k words building up to a climax that was totally skipped.

[dvdspires]

9146030
My guess is we’ll get the background story on what has happened when Twilight gets brought up to speed on things. She’ll ask the questions and we’ll get the answers.

[Secundum]

So, Main 6 Harem, ChysalisxCelestia, StarlightxTrixiexSunburst.
I liked the brief forshadowing there was when Twlight blushed when looking at the room that 'You share with the others.' =D

Wonder what causes Sunsets hibernation?

Surprised that Celestia hasn't figured out what's going on yet. And I wonder what happened to Luna...

Also, poor Spike.

[amiamera]

9146030
I have to agree to a certain extent with this person. One of the most enjoyable parts of these stories is seeing how the butterfly effect happens. (Wait is Chrysalis a pun now?) Even if you go back and write the scenes, we’ve lost more than a bit of its magic. If you went back and wrote that scene, we would already know the inevitable conclusion. There wouldn’t be much of any suspense. The same happens with the romances and anything else that’s revealed. It’s also been indicated that apparently they don’t have a real solution for Sunset’s increasing power and she needs to essentially hibernate for periods of time. There’s also apparently SOME kind of difference in Discord.

[RolkFlameraven]

Why do I get the feeling that Sunset and Cadence made hurding just what people DO now? Then again, Sunset my be Empress, but she seems to have a sleep cycle. So Cadence would still be the main pony in charge, so Love is more powerful than it should be.

Twi is going to friggen lose it when she finds this out. I mean I thought all the girls where going to be 'sisters' not a big ball of, this.

Though she isn't anywhere near as safe around Not-Princess Celestia as she thinks. At lest once the older Alicorn figure it out, and Twi as dropped more than enough hints.

[Silver_Linings]

Brilliant. I never even thought about how Sunset introducing poly relationships to Equestria might effect the mane 6's relationships. This change was completely unexpected but makes so much sense. I love that you chose this path. Anytime a story makes me go: "What!? Then Oh! Of course!" I know it's something special. Can't wait to read more.

[guldringr]

Once again, Twilight blinked as she failed to work out what Princess Celestia assumed she already knew. A quarters that Twilight shared with the others? Did she mean that it was some sort of living room where they all hung out?

What...oh....OH
this is looking like it's going to be just as good as the rest of the series but I really hope the whole facade doesn't last too long it's probably my personal opinion but I hate that kind of cringe humor

[Stainless Steel Fox]

9145962 Characters keep information to themselves, even when they have no reason to.

In this case, Twilight might not want to let them know she thinks this timeline is a mistake, though it never stopped her in the other timelines.

I must admit, the timeskip and the changes do seem confusing.

[Nova_Wings]

Well let's start taking bets on how long until Twilight lets everything slip, or Twily comes back.
So Equrestria seems to be in some magic infused technological revolution, I am very much happy about this.
Unless I've missed my mark, the main 6 are in a herd, I really want to know how that happened. and Cadence was the one who brought the changelings into the fold, how did she go from "Kill them all with crystal fire!" to "Lets hug the bug pons"

[Sinnerlust]

9146069
Yeah twilight would break if she found out tia hates her guts

[KMCA]

I feel like we're missing a book or 3 in between here.

[Dragonwaz]

9145962
To be fair if this is the same Celestia as Sunset Reset, if she finds out exactly who this Twilight is she's expressed the desire to end her before. Not that Twilight knows that but there it is.

[Secundum]

Also, I just realised, seeing as Scuffy is in this fic...

Twilight = Professor Fanrsworth
Rainbow Dash = Leela
Pinkie = Bender
Applejack = Hermes
Rarity = Amy
Fluttershy = Zoidburg?

[PrinceOfDoom]

To those worried about the 'skipped parts': This is very likely to be a similar future to the one Shining Armor found himself in. I don't think PrimeTwilight is going to be staying for long. A lot of the potential climax is revealed with possible spoilers, but once we return to the 'main timeline' where Starlight Glimmer appeared(which occurred just around SunTwilight's test), things will only get even more interesting if PrimeTwilight ends up there.

[LordBrony2040]

9146059
Ah but you're forgetting the first rule of time travel fiction: subject to change.

And then of course, there is the second rule: fuck linear storytelling!

Which is also part of rule 3: The end must be known before the road to get there is revealed.

Bringing us to the fourth rule: Expect detours

Oh, and on the relationship thing (this does contain an actual spoiler for people who are feeling disappointing at the writing guidelines) the story I have planned out for all of this will be ending LONG before Twilight even thinks about the girls in a romantic manner. he main story will always be Sunset, this is just a side story to remind everyone that the future Twilight is still out there, waiting at the end of the road. There's 2 more small character development stories that will be about 3-5 chapter a piece, and 2 major stories that will be about 10 or less each.

9146146

But..ponies actually like Fluttershy

[Jaro45]

Starlight glared at Chrysalis for a few moments before slumping with a groan. “Look, I got repairs to asses and do, if we even have the proper crystals. You do whatever to need to then go...concubine for the Mother Celestia, or something.”

Either you mean Repairs to assess and get to, or "Repairs to asses to do". The first is grammatically correct, the second is far funnier. Either way works.

[anyone675]

9146146
Spike = Fry?

[Fisherman]

Okay, I'm starting to build nets of relationships inside my head. Seems like nothing is wrong yet.

Also, while we all know where Twilight Sparkle Prime is, where is Twilight Sparkle Beta? After all, time rewind spell do not affects spellcasters (Starlight Glimmer Prime and Twilight Sparkle Prime), throwing them out of time-space continuum of their timeline. Sun– Empress is unique case there. She was affected, but she wasn't in Equestria and because of that Shimmer Beta was erased and Empress was thrown on her place. But there was clearly two of Starlights and two of Twilights in the time of Rainboom. And while Starlight was victim of unfortunate event, Twilight is here and mostly intact. Actually, I don't think that Starlight Glimmer Prime is going to die anytime soon, but messing with time-space on global scale is a big mistake for her. So, awaiting her releasing from timeless void and proper court.

9146008
They aren't time travelers, they are space-time travelers. Because they ended in entirely different timeline.

[Scientia Caballio]

I wonder how Twilight's and the map's presence will effect Sunset's magic. Since the magic that turned Sunset into an alicorn was "borrowed" from Twilight/The elements of harmony, now that the original owners have appeared will the magic return and Sunset will slowly turn back into a unicorn?

[Ri2]

...oh my god how hard is it for somepony to say, "Sorry, I'm not the Twilight you know, I'm from an alternate timeline?!" It's not that hard! This is doing nothing but pointlessly dragging out things! Not to mention the locals are looking dumber and dumber by the minute for not yet realizing this clearly isn't the Twilight they know!

[Ri2]

Also I'm a bit awed and intimidated by how powerful Sunset has apparently become.

[FTKnight]

while I loved the other stories in this series... this lack of Know what the hell is going on is making it hard to enjoy/get into the story.

[Fisherman]

9146258
Nope. Map is terminal, not the power source. Both map and Empress get their energy from entire Equestria and the Tree of Harmony. However, with living Alicorn of Harmony, Map may be slightly (or severe) underpowered.

9146266
Sunblast in the face. Even after 10+ years of Empress returning, Celestia still may hold a grudge on Twilight Sparkle Prime.

[CaioCoia]

That's ill be that kind of stories of Spike was going to be an useless character who would freak out in many ways and have a bad experience while Twilight would enjoy thw life over there during 5 to 7 chapters. And it would be a bad story as someone give clues about Sunset and she will be sleep until Twilight suddenly almost in the end of fiction will say her name and wake her up and for the last moment she will see her and question what happened. Isn't it?

Please I was expecting so much about Sunset meet Spike and she say. Wait he is the only one I can remember from my old dimension and try to find Twilight. But it seems this fiction will disappoint me.

Sorry dude. I liked all the other fictions and I enjoyed the start of this fiction... But now I'm startint to disappoint. Please can you tell me if it will be that kind of fiction? Because I can wait until the end of the fiction and I still will fav you. But read I really want to have something to not be disappointed to read every chapter until the end.

[Vaguely Demented]

Looks like Polyamory really caught on.

[Scientia Caballio]

9146284
When Sunset checked the magic that turned her into an alicorn, she said she could tell that it was Twilight's, or at least not her's. Now that Twilight has appeared the magic could return to her as it was originally her's.

[Secundum]

9146220
Yeah, but she didn't really fit into anything else, so I went with vet = doctor and shy = ignored.

[Secundum]

9146266
Twilight wouldn't be acting out of character for someone who suffered severe trauma. In the real world, people can have drastic personality changes for a while till they recover.

[Fisherman]

9146324
Twilight Sparkle Prime used Element of Magic in not-parallel-anymore universe. Because of that, 5 humans became magical. Actually, I think that because of portal, some magic was leaking every time portal was open. So, Empress take all magic that was nearby (and remains of Harmony Blast magic) and went through portal. But because of time rewinding, she was thrown to replace Shimmer Beta, that was erased. Magic of Harmony was the core of her link and all other magic was used to Ascend her.
But technically, her power is still stolen.

[Majk]

Oooh! I predict a serious shitstorm, when Celestia figures out it's 'that' Twilight.
I loved the uncanny valley feel you managed to get, by writing Twilight in character, yet not as friendly as it seems.

[Kichi]

Sigh, if only Twilight could tell Celestia the truth, that she come from a different timeline

[Coranth]

"Look, I got repairs to asses and do"

PLEASE TENACIOUSLY REPAIR THOSE BUTTOCKS!

[Grailm]

Woo-boy. Now this is quite the timeline.

The main 6 are all married to each other.

Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst are married. Have kids.

Celestia is not in charge, Sunset is the big God and has to do the Odin sleep.

The world got a technological upgrade big time with all the stuff Sunset stole from earth.

Too many changes to name.

And now I wonder, what will the group do when they find out thier Twilight has been replaced by the Twilight they all hate.

After all, two of the same person cannot exist at once in this timeline since it would create a paradox. Which is why Sunset got sent to a time where she existed and replaced her old self.

This is going to be interesting.

[PonKing]

9146020
I'm more worried about Twilight being confronted by Celestia after they find out that she's from the timeline where Sunset went to CHS.

[TDR]

4k, 3k, 13k ......... Well that slammed in out of nowhere, i'm gonna enjoy this.

[Xanderfox]

9146611
Why would any of them hate Twilight? Also as to the two of someone paradox, there is no way to know if that's true, and this timeline's Twilight might count as a different person. After all our experiences shape who we are, and they've had very different lives. Either the timeline's native Twilight shows up and exposes things or when Sunset wakes up she will recognize Spike and realize what happened. Of course now Sunset has proof of her time travel story. Heck maybe this is the Twilight who reformed Sunset?

[Deadpan29]

My thoughts on the situation:
1) Twilight is injured, exhausted, hasn’t eaten all day, and is understandably stressed. That some of her flaws may be more pronounced than normal isn’t strange.
2) Her suspicion that there is some dark evil under the surface is understandable given the pattern so far.
3) One flaw coming to the fore is her OCD that says she has to put everything exactly right and it has to be her alone.
4) Celestia worship is creepy but also part of her character.
5) Spike is both a dragon and a child. “Mine” is a primal drive for him.

Questions:
1) What happened to Twilight Velvet? Some extreme stunt gone wrong wouldn’t be surprising.
2) Nobody has mentioned Luna yet. Did the canon happy redemption not happen?

[Midknight Defender]

Whoa.

Okay, Twily, take a deep breath, and repeat after me:

"I'm sorry, Princess. My head is getting clearer. I seem to be in yet another alternate timeline. I was injured while battling a villainous madpony named Starlight Glimmer, who was using a hybrid of Star Swirl's time travel spell and Harmony magic from my Cutie Map to try and rewrite history so I would never meet my friends. This timeline isn't outright bad like the others I've visited--certainly nothing like the one where all of Equestria was reduced to a smoldering, gray wasteland!--but I still barely recognize it, and I have no idea who this Empress/Mother-who-is-not-Twilight-Velvet pony is!"

Then take another deep breath and turn those panicky cutie-eyes on Sunbutt and let all be explained. And hopefully she doesn't leap back to her very emotional, understandable, and misguided conclusion of many years ago that "Future-Alternate-Twilight is an evil pony who used and abandoned my daughter to her fate in a strange universe" so she doesn't turn you to stone and throw away the counterspell.

And when you meet yourself, try not to explode? Please? Nopony likes post-explosion Twilight...pre-explosion Twilight is much, much better. Thanks in advance for not exploding!

[TheGrog]

Hmm. Sunset seems to have replaced herself, assuming that what happened to her was time travel.

Glimmer, on the other, didn't seem to replace herself unless it was some weird temporary bodyjacking that ended when she got recalled.

Right now, there's no guarantee that Twilight replaced herself. If she did, there's going to be a serious problem when the natives figure that out. If she didn't, then she should meet herself in the near future.

[Spiritus Arcane]

So, so far I predict at least three major downsides to this timeline.

1. Something has obviously happened to at least Twilight Velvet, maybe both her and Night Light, causing the Shining/Sunset/Cadance herd to adopt Sparkle directly.

2. Though there's no sign of her one way or the other yet, I predict Luna is dead, due to the stupid pact Celestia made with Nightmare Moon in Crowning, and the fact that Celestia is still alive.

3. Either Twilight never hatched Spike, or something else happened to him (there is mention of Sunset having a 'pet' dragon), but they obviously don't have the pseudo-sibling relationship they have in the original timeline, assuming they even know each other at all.

Ok, 4 actually: Discord's jackassery apparently got ponies killed in this timeline (that or Celestia covered up the full extent of Tirek's actions in the main timeline).

[dvdspires]

9146695
Yes that will be a problem as well. Again it will still be interesting scene to read, as well as Twilight’s reaction to everything that has happened ‘to her’ since Sunset came back.

[Jayellow]

You know, I really enjoyed the first two stories in this series. But, I'm not gonna lie, I'm worried here. Everything seems so drastically different and we just skipped over like all of it. I think I enjoyed the first two stories because both Sunset and Cadance were both very down to earth characters, at least personality wise. Here everything just seems so through the roof crazy that I'm having trouble accepting it.

I think the biggest thing I have a problem with, and this has been present for a while really, is just how fucking powerful Sunset is. It worked originally because most of her problems were interpersonal and not something she could just go all Superman on (which, coincidentally, is the common theme among the best Superman stories). Now though it's like you've taken this main character I just spent like 400,000+ words getting to know and elevated her so high above the others that she's just gone. It's like Sunset has been taken from the role of hero to the role of actual god. And with how much else is so far off base, it's like this is an entirely different story.

I think I would have preferred a version of the story where instead of Sunset turning into the frickin' One Above All, she remained more tangible. I would have liked to have seen Sunset actually tackle the problem of Time-Travel-Twilight and the source of her reset as an actual pony. Instead, based on the vibe I'm getting, this whole story is going to be Twilight getting to know the new world around her and freaking out occasionally, until Sunset wakes up from her (honestly contrived) hibernation, at which point said seemingly-omnipotent deity will just zap everything into a tight conclusion. This sort of arc could work if I hadn't just, as I said, spent the past 400,000+ words getting to know Sunset as a (mostly) regular pony instead of as a clear representation of the almighty.

To go back a bit, if this story, instead of time-skipping, had actually started at the point of the Sonic Rainboom, with Twilight and Sunset working together to solve the problem, with a bit more of a drama based of off the results of the time travel and what may happen if they allow Twilight to fix the timeline, I'd enjoy it much more. Imagine the two of them having to hunt down the rogue Starlight Glimmer together, with Cadance and Shining of course, all the while trying to dodge the fact that they don't know if stopping Starlight is going to erase their timeline or not. This, I believe, would be a greater payoff to all that built up in the first two stories, instead of basically just giving all of us readers a giant collective blue ball. The story as it is doesn't seem mysterious or intriguing to me, it's just so far removed from everything I just read that it's simply confusing. As it is, I'm willing to proceed, but I'm feeling rather uneasy about the path this story is taking. Maybe you'll turn it around on me, but the more I read the more I worry that won't happen.

[Neece]

9145960
9146030
9146059

The previous chapters do hint towards more than meets the eye having happened, such as Twilight's parents having died. Actually, just as every affected timeline before, this one also was changed by Starlight's appearance. Spike even noted so in this chapter, here:

“Don’t be stupid. That’s the least of what she can do. The Empress is linked with a magical object which connects her to all of Equestria. If anything should fall out of Harmony, she knows about it in an instant and can correct the problem herself or send a pony that can.”

Spike blinked. That sounded an awful lot like the map.

Starlight appearing changed how the story would go. The map might've given Sunset an even greater boost, and changed everything - and we'll only know how things should've gone if Twilight manages to get to the map, stop Starlight from changing things from the beginning (saving her in the process) and goes back to her world, with a new universe of possibilities in her mind.

Also, as the divergence point from Sunset Reset happens before the Rainboom (and as apparently other worlds don't count), this is actually a timeline that Twilight can't erase entirely.
I'm rather curious how hurt Twilight will become when Celestia finds out this one is the monster that decided to keep her daughter stranded in the magicless ape world

Oh, and this Twilight is interesting. At first she sounded somewhat like a bigoted asshole (that reaction to Trixie was a prime example), but after, with her reaction to Celestia? It seems more like she's well stuck in student mode, not being able to see the world beyond her preconceptions and being radical in them. This will be quite the eye opener for her.

9146100
Or rather Characters are people, and "hello I'm someone you know from another world" might not be a good idea when you don't understand jack about what's happening, and every new tidbit builds upon your confusion. Being straightforward might actually hurt more in such situations.

9146220
On the last spoiler:
But THE CUTEEEE!!!
Then again, I'd like to point to the first line of your own post about time travel fiction: subject to change

9146347
Not erased, as there was not a Sunset Shimmer in equestria at that time. She simply came back home, but instead of years in the future, just after she left. Since time with EQG universe never was 1:1 with equestria, that doesn't require any erasing, just a certain fanatical unicorn breaking space-time.

9146611
Why not? Why would time care? The spell clearly changes the future so by definition this version of time travel is the "time doesn't give a fuck and rewrites itself, also people outside time become detached from their past selves" version. Else Starlight would always erase her filly self when she came back, for example.

It does bode BADLY for this Twilight if she did substitute the native one, though.