To Start Over Again

by Catlovingmermaid

Princess Celestia

Twilight knocked on the door to the throne room, it seemed odd seeing two rows of guards standing in front of the throne room. In the future, she didn't have that many guards posted, one or two to make sure that everypony was safe. As the Princess of Friendship, she felt like she had to be approachable, besides she had been so unused to the guards that when she had first taken over Equestria she had been quite uncomfortable with them following her around.

A commanding voice told her to enter as the doors swung open. Twilight slowly made her way down the hall to where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood. It was obvious that the two sisters had been talking when she had knocked, "You wanted to see me Princess Celestia?" she asked nervously, before tossing her mane up and looking her mentor in the eyes.

"Yes," Celestia said, stepping away from her throne, "I believe that the best way for us to figure out how to get you back to your time is to figure out how you got here in the first place. Tell me, what do you remember happening, before you woke up the other day, that is."

"I was..." Twilight frowned, "Everything is kind of blurry, but I think I was in a library, not the one here in Canterlot a different one, I don't remember where it was, I think it was a new one. I've been making sure that every town and village had a public library, it could have been one of several." Twilight frowned, "After that, I can't remember anything."

"I see, what about enemies," Luna added, "That might give us a clue as well."

"There are none, Equestria has been at peace since right before I took over unless you count that little squabble we had with the Hippos two years ago, but we figured it out and resolved it peacefully."

"Perhaps Discord escaped his stone prison?" Celestia suggested.

"Discord?" Twilight repeated, picturing her friend's husband, he was crazy everyone knew that and sending her back in time would be something that he could do, but, "I doubt Fluttershy would approve," she finished aloud, only to blush when she saw the look the princesses were giving her, "You had us reform Discord, " she explained, "He helps Fluttershy with her animal sanctuary. He also sometimes helps Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich with birthday parties. Foals love watching him pull himself out of a hat."

Princess Celestia blinked, "Are you sure that he isn't a threat?" she insisted, "He's magic is the only thing I can think of that can do something like this."

"Perhaps you insulted him by accident or something?" Luna inquired.

"No," Twilight insisted, "Trust me he isn't the type to hold a grudge, unless..." Twilight trailed off, "I did kind of accidentally stood Fluttershy up a couple of weeks ago. She invited me over for tea, but an emergency popped up, and I couldn't make it, nor was I able to send her a notice that I wasn't going to be able to make it because Spike was with Ember in the dragon lands... and Discord is really protective of Fluttershy."

"Are you suggesting that Discord sent you back in time because you couldn't make it to a friend's tea party?" Luna asked.

Twilight shrugged, "This is Discord we're talking about," she said, "he sometimes does things for the oddest reasons, but I haven't seen him since I arrived here, and trust me, Discord wants to be given credit for his actions, no matter how chaotic they seem."

"So you're saying that you have no idea who could possibly be responsible for this?" Celestia asked, "None at all."

"It could be that there's a new threat to Equestria and they decided to get rid of me before invading, or maybe King Sombra has returned, or the Storm King," Twilight muttered, "But nobody has seen or heard from them in years so that might not be the case."

"I guess there is very little that we can do," Celestia announced, "But study up on the theory of time."

"When it comes to magical theory I usually turn to Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst, but I have no idea where to find them in this time period. I mean, they run the school of friendship together, but before that Starlight was my student and Sunburst was the Royal Crystaller to Flurry Heart and lived in the Crystal Empire. Before that, I have no idea where Sunburst is. Except for maybe their hometown and Starlight might have already formed her town of equality," Twilight shuddered, "Starlight was so hard to reason with, it took her almost destroying Equestria to get through to her. Or I can discuss it with Sunset, she always has a good theory, even if magic works differently in her world, but even if I use your magic journal to open the portal, she probably won't talk to me, although since I haven't become a princess yet, she might not have developed her grudge against me..." Twilight trailed off, "To be honest, I think that I could have handled that situation better, all she really needed was a friend, same as the others."

"Twilight, what are you talking about?" Celestia asked, blinking slightly.

"Oh, I'm rambling again aren't I, sorry, I was just trying to think of what could explain this, but the only enemies that I ever had that I know of that had the power to do something like this became my friend. If I don't get back to my time I might have to fight Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Discord, and Trixie. I don't want to have to fight them again. Although I think that I can, maybe, prevent them from trying to destroy Equestria. If I handle the situations differently. But I'll need to figure out where they are now, and of course, I could use the restricted area." Twilight blushed, "I'm rambling again aren't I," she offered a slight smile, "It's like all of my old insecurities are trying to come out just because I'm in my old body."

"That might be part of whatever spell that has been placed on you," Luna suggested, "Whatever it is, whoever sent you here must be planning something nefarious for Equestria in the future."

"If that's the case," Twilight said, holding her head high with a slight shake of her mane, "Then I better figure out how to get back quickly, and that means I need to at least find Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst."

Comments

[Eversong]

Isn't sombra full on dead

[Comickook]

10725108
Supposedly, yes. But you can't keep a good super-villain down. In fact, comic book and cartoon villains seem to have an easier time escaping from the Infernal Realms than they do prison.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, excellent job on the exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up. I especially liked Twilight's discussion with Celestia concerning possible enemies that could pull something like this (even briefly considering Discord because of Twi unintentionally hurting Fluttershy before dismissing it because, while Discord certainly has the power, he would be trying to take the credit for it if it WAS him), particularly the stuff about Starlight and Sunburst. Of course, it's possible that Twilight MIGHT be overthinking it and was simply sent back by accident courtesy of some magic in one of the books she was reading , but it is more likely that Celestia is right and some as yet unrevealed villain (either an old enemy or a new one) did this to Twilight. Of course, if it IS the latter, then sending Twilight's more experienced mind into her younger body is more likely to backfire than go right - unless the mystery villain is COUNTING on Twilight getting over-confident because of working under assumptions based on past experiences and then subtly (at first) changing things up.

At any rate, definitely looking forward to more of this.

[Zhafran]

10725108
If you believe a fan theory about King Sombra in S9 is actually Discord himself, I'm sure the real one is still somewhere.

[Ali della Morte]

"Spike was with Amber in the dragon lands... and Discord is really protective of Fluttershy."

If you're talking about the Dragon Lord, it's Ember, not Amber.

[Catlovingmermaid]

10726183
Thanks fixed.

[PonyofEntropy]

Interesting story. Added to my read list.