My Little Timeline: Rewound

by ChangelingProductions

Time Alone

Twilight stared at the books that lined her shelf. The stories that once entertained her for hours now collected unwanted dust. Under normal circumstances, Twilight would organize them alphabetically, but here the stories were set from oldest to newest. It was easier to remember when the good times happened that way. It had only been two years since Pinkie passed, but she had felt so cold through that time. The last of her friends to go.

She still hung the there photos on the wall right next to the door. Spike sat at the top dressed in the knight armor he was buried in. Bellow was Rarity and Apple Jack having a lovely day in an orange park. Bellow was Fluttershy and Discord drinking tea in an impossible room. And finally was Pinkie and Rainbow Dash at the Wounderbolts reunion. Every one of them wore a smile that Twilight had lost.

Twilight stopped reading those books. She stopped leaving her castle. She stopped making public appearances. She simply did her job and left things at that. Over time, she became nothing but a silent drone to her work with but one exception.

Twilight stared at the books that lined her shelf. She wanted to enjoy them again but without her friends, there was just no joy to have. The only company was the void of air that surrounded her.

The room felt cold.

---

A year went by with this cycle unending, with only one exception. Less and less, Twilight visited the books she once loved and turned to her work. Soon, after a few hundred years she even convinced herself none of it truly happened. If it was ever brought up to her, she would laugh and brush it off as a legend. Even if she started acting like her old self again, she was but a cog in the machine of life now. She simply did her job and did it well. She had no time for stories.

The cog had spawned back around to the summer sun celebration once again, and Twilight prepared as usual. She combed her long hair, acquired her golden crown, practiced smiling, and finally placed her golden horseshoes on. She was as ready as she ever was.

She didn't remember when she hired castle staff, yet she saw them running around cleaning the crystal palace. She walked past them as if they were shadows, and they treated her as such back. The cogs did their work. Twilight walked out the Castile without fan fair into the night. Everypony was already at the designated celebration spot as commanded by Twilight.

The moon was bright, just as Twilight wanted it to be. She wanted to make sure everything went as smoothly as it did every year. She couldn't remember a time where she didn't control the sun and moon. To her, it had always been her job.

Twilight was about to take the direct way to the celebration but stood still. She just needed a second. Twilight looked back up at the moon and started to think to herself. Life was quiet. There were no threats to fight, no dangers to run from, it was peace. Yet, she felt empty, as the same could be said toward the positives she lacked. There was no time for friends, or birthdays, or even... reading. Twilight couldn't remember the last book she read. She tried to think of its title, yet not even a letter from its pages came to her mind.

Twilight took a breath before convincing herself to walk. The ground crunched under her hooves as the only noise she could hear. She looked around the empty town and felt uneasy. She knew everybody was by that old apple barn, yet the coldness of the night truly made her feel paranoia.

Twilight decided to focus on something else. Looking down and listening to the bunch of her walk, she took deep breaths.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

That did the trick. Now along as she didn't look up her mind would be at ease. Taking but a quick lookup, she could tell she was halfway to the barn. Twilight smiled a little smile. Almost there.

Crunch crack, crunch, crunch crack. Crunch, crunch, crunch crack.

The sound of cracking kept pace behind her. Twilight looked behind but saw and heard nothing but the night. The cracking of ground stoped with her. Twilight scanned the aria a little longer before continuing her walk. The cracking did not continue, but even so Twilight no longer felt at ease by the sound of her walking.

She couldn't put a word to it, but this felt dreadfully familiar.

---

Near the barn, sounds of celebration began to make their way into Twilight's ears.

Ponies were drinking, talking, and those that saw Twilight praised her. She tried to sneak behind the stage that had been set up, but her earlier paranoia caused her to be sloppy. She didn't like being seen before the celebration.

Making it behind the stage, Twilight took a minute to prepare.

"From fillys to Colts and mares, changelings and dragons, even the griffons' buffalo and Hippogriff of Equestria and Ponyvill" Twilight whispered to herself to rememorize her speech. "Once again, we are at the dawn of Summer, and once again it is my time to raise our sun."

Twilight took a breath. "I'm very grateful to have you all here tonight, as it shows me that after all these years we still stick together like..." Twilight paused for a moment. "Oh right... We stick together as chains forged from friendship. Together, we are at peace. We are safe."

Twilight paused and looked up to her moon. She felt like a lier. She had kept herself separated from her subjects so often that she could not believe they remembered her every year. She only did as needed, but not much more was needed. She remembered she used to help make laws, or join celebrations, or even go visit other nations. She also remembered setting up a branch of her castle to make laws without her, staying cooped up, and sending diplomats off to do the hard work. She felt useless.

Twilight looked up and whispered "By my tail, I wish... I wish I had a reason to be." The moon sparkled in the sky.

Twilight took a peek out from behind the stage. Looking around at all who attended. Once again, mostly ponies. She could see the other races isolating themselves more and more every year. She wanted to get to them and talk, but that could never work. She was a cog to be used. She had a set path, and they were not on it... And yet her cog would be freed from her machine at but a glance.

It was only for a second, but she saw it. She could not put a name to it, but she saw it. A pink-haired pony walked through the crowd. One she knew could not be there. She didn't remember why they caught her eye as they did, but she could not look away from the spot where it hid in the crowd.

---

The pink pony walked past the crowd, following a compass stitched into the sleeve of her coat. She was told not to move out of the crowd for a second but ended up slipping out to grab a plate of food. After all, it was only for a second she was visible outside the large group of ponies. Nobody would see her.

It didn't matter anyway. She was close to the Core of this reality anyway, so it wouldn't matter. Nopony was in the barn, and the only important pony in this story would never recognize her.

She took one last look at her tablet to make sure she knew whats he was meant to do.

The screen shows: "Reality-title---'Twilight-100-years'___Timeline-Rating-'Everyone'---_Status_-CANCELED---Scheduled--_--DELETE."

She stole a random ponies drink and took a sip. Oh well, even if that ponie would get mad it didn't matter now. She remembered a time where she felt bad about deleting worlds, but not now. Now she knew how little it mattered.

She failed to notice the purple alicorn following her, even as said alicorn tried to calm the crowd that swarmed her.

Author's Note:

Queen Twilight is original to this story.

?.?.?.? Pink haired pony is original to this story.

Comments

[Bob936753]

Is the original one finished? Or at least the "first" story in that series? I notice that one of the chapters are titled, "Ending." (Edited because I slightly misremembered the name of the chapter.)

[ChangelingProductions]

11048999
The original was made back when I was new to the site. This is a reboot of sorts.

The original is not cannon and should be ignored. The only reason it's still up is because of how it was one of the first I wrote.