Destiny
Chapter 22 - Destiny
Twilight was taking the long way to her tearoom and was moving along the ramparts of the palace walls. She had always liked the view, and even though she still could not see, she could imagine it in her mind.
Her mane was blowing on the soft breeze, though she had begun noticing it moving even when indoors. It had just been a few twitches and flops that she might not have even noticed if she had not heard ponies whispering about it. The transformation had begun when her wings came in, but it had finally reached a point where Twilight could confidently say she no longer had a mane like a normal pony.
When she was younger, Celestia’s mane had been a subject of fascination for her. Twilight would be curled up besides the princess working through one of their lessons and the living mass of hair would seem to sneak around her and engulf her. The hairs that were not hairs always tickled.
Once she asked Princess Celestia why her mane was so different. Twilight wanted to know what made it work. Celestia's only response had been a coy smile before the Princess took another sip of tea. When Twilight continued her questioning the Princess made her an offer.
“My most faithful student, I have a game of sorts I would like to propose. If you want you can think of it as an extra credit research assignment. You must tell me how my mane works. If you can get it right, I will give you a very special reward. However, for every wrong answer you give me, you must spend a day without your books or any studying and simply try to relax.”
Twilight had never figured out the answer, which only made it more infuriating that as her own mane continued its transition to a more ethereal state, she still had no clue as to how it worked. Some ponies from Canterlot University had been studying Twilight for their research on alicorn biology. The best answer they had been able to come up with is that for some reason her mane was interacting with the astral realm, as if they believed such a place existed.
Twilight stopped on her trip along the ramparts and took a gentle breath. There was the faint smell of lilacs. Flowers had become an interesting experience without her sight. She had always thought their beauty was in their colors and shapes. However, without being able to see her attention had turned to the other side of them.
Yes, the lilacs smell nice.
Leaning her neck on the edge of the ramparts and sticking her snout hanging over the edge, she could better smell the flowers drifting up to her. Extending her magic downwards Twilight felt the bushes at the base of the wall.
It was her sun that let them live. They thrived off of the energy she provided. The ponies that tended to them were safe because of her efforts. Twilight let her magic feelers dissipate and her body relax. She still had a few minutes before Rarity would be expecting her.
Her ears twitched. Somewhere there were some birds chirping. She could hear some colts playing hoofball in the distance. In the courtyard below a fountain babled. They were all things she normally ignored.
At first Twilight thought the key to coping with living forever might be to ignore all the little details. After all, after several lifetimes, so many of them would accumulate. But as Twilight sat there, she thought that maybe she had been completely wrong.
In a thousand years lilacs would still smell like lilacs, and the burbling of a fountain would still sound the same. Young colts might not still be playing hoofball, but the sound of their joy would remain constant. Perhaps the details could be a rock, unchanging and eternal.
Twilight spread her wings out to either side of her body, hoping to soak up as much of her sun as possible. She was certain that she must look ridiculous to her guards, posed as she was. However, since losing her sight it felt like some of her inhibitions had vanished. It was a bit childlike she supposed. If she could not see herself looking foalish, then certainly other ponies could not either.
She released a deep sigh before inhaling deeply. If offered she would have her eyesight back in a heart beat. However, being blind was a uniquely new experience and she was determined to appreciate what it had to offer.
Friendship report fifty six had been about silver linings. She needed to look for those more often.
Five months ago Rainbow Dash’s two months had expired. Twilight had been all set to tell her friend that she was done with therapy. It had not helped and she was done wasting time on it.
Then her friend had said those five words.
“I’m proud of you Twi-”
Twilight considered, for a moment, lying. Dash trusted her, and if Twilight told her she was still going to therapy her friend would believe her. The guilt had been too much for Twilight to contemplate that for more than a moment, however she certainly was unable to tell Dash she was quitting after such a simple and honest declaration of trust.
So five months later she was still seeing her therapist, Doctor Bitwise. Five months later, and it still seemed pointless, but it made Rainbow Dash happy. She was past the “getting to know one another” stage of her sessions, and were supposedly working through her issues, but Twilight felt like all they did was make her more aware of how miserable she was.
She was not any happier than she had been seven months ago, but her downward slide had halted. When she imagined the Ponyville in her mind, the Everfree was still and unchanging. Twilight supposed that stagnation was preferable to decay. However, she attributed that to Celestia and her friends more than anything else.
She would carefully monitor the dark corners of her mind to keep tabs on her nightmares. However, she was beginning to hope that it might be possibly deal with her dark emotions in a healthy manner.
Twilight wondered if Rarity would mind if she just took a nap.
“Princess!”
Twilight jumped as she near shouted.
“Celly! I told you not to sneak up on me.”
“How is it possible for anypony to sneak up on you with your magic feelers?”
Twilight only grumbled in reply, knowing that her companion already knew the answer.
“So what are you so excited about?”
Twilight could sense that Celly was holding a letter and the pony seemed to be trotting in place.
“I just got a proposal. A company made a very reasonable bid on the rail contract.”
“Really?” Despite the control she had gained over her wings, she felt a flutter of excitement.
“They’re requesting funding for high capacity glow orbs, and that the Crown assists in procuring equipment abandoned by previous attempts. Beyond that, they just want a squadron of guards. Other than that, it’s standard cost of materials and labor.”
“Is that really going to be enough?” Her wings stopped fluttering. “If that was all it would have taken everypony wouldn’t have given up on construction efforts thirty years ago.”
“I think they might feel galvanized by the upcoming Moon Celebration-”
“I’m not going to approve the construction if they don’t have a plan. Keeping construction crews out in the wilds for the amount of time it will take to make the lines is just signing their death sentences. There is a reason we had to stop working on the Equestrian railroad network.”
“Oh, they have a plan. They are going to build fortifications along intervals along the rail. When everything is done they can store maintenance equipment in the fortifications, and they can be used as secure stops. They have a proposal for some of them to be outfitted so that the Equestrian military can use them as outposts.”
“That’s… Not a terrible idea. It still doesn’t solve the problem that we can’t have workers living out in the wilds for the months it would take to complete just one line.”
“They won’t. That’s the primary motivating factor for the fortifications. At no point will they be working so far away from one that they can’t ride the part of the line they have completed back to safety before sunset. Then once the sun rises, they ride their work train back to the end of the line.”
“Won’t that mean the work ends up starting fairly late in the morning and end early in the afternoon?"
“At the worst, when they are doing work on the next fortification along the line, they should have four working hours each day.”
“That’s… Not a lot. It seems like they will need a lot of ponies to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. That plus the cost of the fortifications- How much is the material and labor part of their bid?”
“Er…”
“Celly? How much is it?”
“A lot. I’m not really sure where we would find the bits. But the demands on our other resources are non-existent. Every other attempt to complete the rail lines would require a massive deployment of the Guard to ensure safety, and we definitely cannot afford that.”
“But what good is this plan if we can’t pay for the labor?”
“We can find the bits somewhere. Maybe we can pass a temporary tax increase. Just think about the benefits.”
“A direct line between Canterlot and Manehatten would be useful… And we could begin phasing out the current caravan system which has been broken for years.”
“And highway patrols and caravan guards could be reassigned! Even ignoring the ability to use the rail for high speed troop movements without resorting to teleportation, there would be huge economic benefits. I’ve been crunching the numbers and we will easily recoup the costs.”
“I don’t know…”
“There is a reason Princess Celestia had been pushing the development of rail before your reign.”
“Could we discuss it during the Magisterium? I would love to give ponies a safer and faster way to travel, but a major undertaking like this is something we need to carefully consider.”
“I’ll have it added to the docket!”
“You’re certainly excited about this.”
“Building a comprehensive rail system across Equestria was something that Princess Celestia was never able to complete. I just… really want to see this become reality, to see a line constructed from one end of Equestria to the other.”
“I suppose with the memories that you have, it’s not too much of a surprise. Speaking of construction, we should look into reinforcing your chambers.”
“Why?”
“Did you hear about the earthquake in Ponyville? It’s the first recorded natural earthquake in Equestria in over a hundred years. This area should be geologically stable, but I would be worried if anything-” She paused when she noticed the other pony looking away. “Celly? What do you know about this?”
Celly ceased her innocent whistling. “I may have… Mind you, there is no way to be certain, it easily could have been a natural earthquake, but it is possible, just a possibility-”
“Spit it out.”
“I caused the earthquake.”
Twilight stopped walking and put a hoof to her face.
“Could you please explain to me how you caused an earthquake in Ponyville.”
“Remember a while back you gave me permission to expand my tunnels so I could enhance and add to my matrices to better handle the Solar Guard?”
“Yes…”
“Well I may have gotten a bit overeager and dug a branch tunnel before fully checking the geological stability.”
Twilight had to think about it for a moment. “But... Any digging you’re doing should be too far to cause an earthquake in Ponyville… Just how much have you expanded the tunnels?”
Celly waved a hoof in the air as if trying to pass her answer off as unimportant. “They’ve become… rather large.”
Twilight groaned. She had not personally visited the caverns since before Diamond Justice’s wedding. She would need to go down there and check on the mess Celestia had made of things.
“You need to be careful. If you cause a cave in, you could cause irreparable damage. I told you to take things slowly. What are you thinking causing earthquakes?”
“I’m sorry… It’s just that you have been under so much pressure, and I can do so little. I need to be stronger to help you, and the only way to do that is to grow. If I expand, I can expand the Solar Guard. That means Equestria is stronger and less ponies are put in harm's way. That means you suffer less when your ponies are hurt.”
“Celestia…”
“Please don’t worry about me. I want to ease your burdens not add to them.”
“Listen Celestia-” Twilight remembered where she was. “Celly. I really want to talk about this more. But, I’m afraid I can’t talk right now. Rarity had wanted to speak with me about some discontents and I’m already late for the meeting. Apparently there have been some ponies protesting and there is some concern that they might become violent.”
Twilight also hoped to speak with her friend about Diamond Justice. From what she understood, the former prosecutor was no longer on speaking terms with his parents, and Twilight hated the idea of being the cause of such a divide.
Celly smiled at the alicorn as she replied, “Very well then. I shall see you later tonight, my most faithful Princess.”
Twilight shook her head at the pony and trotted towards the tea room where her friend was waiting for her. It had been some time since she had spoken alone with Rarity. Even though they were just going to be talking business, Twilight was looking forward to the meeting.
She was mere paces away from the tea room when she felt it. A powerful presence had just appeared in Equestria, and she felt her legs trembling. Twilight recognized the presence. She licked her lips. The way in which the magical flows were warping all around Equestria was the imprint of another Twilight.
“I’m sorry Rarity. Looks like we will need to have tea some other time.”
Twilight paused for a moment in front of the door before dashing away. The visiting Twilight was not anywhere nearby and she was having trouble pinpointing the location. She soon found herself standing on top of a tall tower scanning her magic across Equestria.
When she eventually pinpointed the source, she frowned. She did not know why Future Twilight would have chosen that location. Hopefully it was for some reason better than the fact that it had already happened that way for this new Future Twilight.
Suddenly a wave of power washed over Twilight’s senses and she found her magic momentarily blinded as she fell to her knees. It was overwhelming and intoxicating. Something new had appeared. Below, she heard a cacophony of unicorns crying out in alarm. The new presence dwarfed Future Twilight’s power, and even blind, she could see the sky blazing with magic.
“Twilight what… what is that?”
Her senses were being overwhelmed and she could not make out the speaker with her magic, but she recognized the voice as that of one of the Solar Knights.
“I think... I think that it’s me, but from the future.”
Her legs where quivering in anticipation. She could smell the magic coming from the new arrival. With a great deal of strain she managed to locate the location of the second, vastly more powerful arrival. It was at the same location as the first Future Twilight.
She moaned in annoyance when she realized the implications of two Future Twilights being at the same location. “Tell me Celestia, did we ever hear back from the Equestrian language professors? What do you call something from further in the future than something already in the future. Is it future-er?”
Without another word, Twilight wove together the teleportation spell to launch herself deep into the Everfree Forest. The scene that greeted her was not at all what she expected.
Rainbow Dash told Twilight that the palace of the two alicorn sisters was destroyed in her battle with the Nightmare, but until now she had not fully understood the extent of the destruction. All that remained of the once ancient ruins was a massive crater, and Twilight was amazed that nopony other than her had been seriously injured.
Waves of energy were emanating from the center of the crater where another Twilight was curled into a tight ball. As Twilight focused, she realized that it was the first, weaker visitor to arrive. The mare was sobbing uncontrollably.
Standing above the first time traveler was the second, almost overwhelming source of power. The impression of the eldest Twilight given to her by her magic made her gasp. She could sense that the entire crater was being bathed in the radiant flames of power that composed the mare’s mane. The final time traveler seemed to embody everything that her sun lacked. The smell that lingered in the air caused Twilight to pause for a moment before she identified it. She was not sure how she knew, but the older mare reeked of time.
“Good. You have arrived.” The words rippled through the air, commanding and authoritative.
“Please. Please, don’t make her do it.” The other pony uncurled slightly as she wailed her words.
Twilight could only stare on in confusion.
“Pathetic. It is hard to think that We were once so weak.” The eldest alicorn turned away from the weeping pony to face Twilight. “I’m sure that you have many questions, but they will answer themselves in due time.”
“Please, don’t make her. You can’t make her.”
“You can ignore her. She’s just here to take the sun from you while you do what must be done.”
Twilight finally found the courage to speak. “What do you mean must be done? What did you do to her?”
She did not care how much more powerful or how much older the other Twilight was. She did not like the idea of the pony making another version of her cry. Her thoughts were momentarily derailed when she wondered what her therapist would say about that.
“We didn’t do anything to her. Or rather, she does it to herself, so We suppose We did do it to her when We were younger. As for what is about to come, it is something that you have suspected for awhile. We need to maintain as much continuity as possible until the point comes to change the course of time. So pass the sun over and We will provide the power to propel you to the designated moment.”
“What moment?”
“Don’t listen to her. She’s a monster, a devil. Please you can’t do this.”
“The moment you shatter your best friend’s happiness.”
“Why would I-”
“Because you don’t have a choice. You know it happened, and that it must happen. You also know in your heart of hearts that any abomination you commit is justifiable.” As the pony spoke, Twilight could feel the waves of energy becoming more intense. “In the end, as long as We save her, save Equestria our actions are right. Besides, once We have corrected fate’s mistake, nothing that has happened since that day will have any meaning.”
“But I don’t-”
“It doesn’t matter what you want. You know that this day has been coming. Now relinquish control of your sun to this wretch.”
Twilight looked at the sobbing pony and made up her mind.
“No. I don’t care how strong you are or if you are me from the future. I won’t do it.”
“Break the vase, Twilight.”
The words carried the weight of command and Twilight found herself falling to her knees. The pressure inside her head was incredible as the words echoed around her skull, demanding to be acted upon.
“No.”
“Impressive. Even in Our youth We possessed strength. But you will yield.” The towering alicorn took a step towards Twilight. “Give over your sun.”
Again the authority came crashing down on Twilight in waves. There was a desire to listen to the words, a knowledge that everything would be OK if she just listened. Twilight was no longer even kneeling as the weight of her disobedience pushed down on her.”
“No.”
“You will OBEY your Empress. Surrender the sun and journey through time.”
Twilight retreated into her own mind to escape the pressure.
Within the visualization, she could still see, and as she walked through the streets of Ponyville, she was shocked by what she saw. Guard Twilights quaked in fear and other Twilights were running everywhere in a panic as the sky began to fracture. The weight of the command was pressing down and inwards.
She needed to do something.
“Obey!”
The sky shattered. A pillar of flame lanced down landing in center of the town square.
“Pathetic. This is what you call your mind.”
Several buildings had caught on fire, and various Twilights were at work putting out the flames to preserve the memories within. However, Twilight herself approached the older alicorn and felt an army marshaling behind her.
“I don’t care if you call yourself an empress now. You are inside my mind, and here I’m in control.”
She dropped a bus on the alicorn.
“Not sure why that was the first thing that came to mind, but it seemed to do the trick.”
“FOAL!”
The bus exploded in shards of thought and evaporated in a towering column of flame that appeared in the square. Every Twilight present began channeling their magic, trying to contain and banish the fire.
“You think to face Us when this is the best you can do for a mind. An organized mess with a forest encroaching on all sides. You need to do better than this.”
A wind burst out, and all but one of the Twilights were knocked down. Twilight decided that it would be best to be that Twilight and so she was. Looking around at the other fallen Twilights, she came to a conclusion. Pure thought and strength of will might not help her, but she remembered how she had fought off the nightmare.
As Twilight summoned the memory, the door to Sugar Cube Corner opened up and a pink earth pony stepped forward.
The fires began to die and Twilight heard a whisper from Empress Twilight, “Pinkie...”
Twilight thought of all her friends and embraced the warmth in her hearts. She heard Applejack walk up besides her and saw Rainbow Dash flying in. She would not allow an intruder in her mind.
“I’m crazy enough with just me in here.”
The other Twilight Sparkles were up again, strengthened by the memories. They were Twilight. They were strong.
“Leave here now, Empress.” She put the force of command behind the words.
All of her friends were behind her now.
There was silence when Empress Twilight threw her head back and began to laugh.
“You seek to compel Us? Us? Ahh, We have not laughed so hard in two thousand years.”
Twilight took a step back in shock, and heard herself stuttering. “I said leave.”
“No.”
She planted her hooves and shouted. “Leave.” She could feel the air rushing from her lungs as the wind blew leaves past the Empress.
The flames were gone now. There was only the ancient alicorn surrounded by the manifestations of Twilight’s mind. The temperature seemed to plummet.
“Child, let me teach you something about authority. Let me teach you about the Royal Canterlot Voice.”
Twilight could only watch and feel a chill at the cold eyes of the other pony, and what she saw terrified her. There was compassion in Empress Twilight.
“Relinquish your sun.” There was no yelling, nor rushing of air. There was only the absolute authority of the undisputed ruler of all. There was only command and obedience.
And Twilight was standing in the crater again with the two future versions of her self. However, something was different now. She realized that she could not feel her connection to the sun. When she looked at the sobbing version of herself she could hear the words, “I’m sorry,” being repeated over and over.
Twilight stood trembling as she realized that she had lost. Involuntarily she began drawing magic from the future version of herself and started casting a spell. She wanted to fight it, but the spell continued running through her mind. Even attempting to resist was beyond her.
“GO now Twilight Sparkle. Fly back through time. Become the Ghostly Mare that haunts your friend at night when she dreams of her foal that never was. Break the vase and thread the strand of time in the grand tapestry of fate. Fly Twilght Sparkle and soar on your own wings.”
For the second time in her life she was outside of time. She had the distinct impression of doubling back as everything shrunk to a point and expanded to infinity. Twilight could feel herself sinking back into time and knew her destination. She struggled against it and wrestled with the magic.
Then the spell was done.
She could still see the burst of light from her appearance, then there was a loud snap. In fighting the spell Twilight had caused a magic buildup that rushed outwards now that she was back in the stream of reality. There was a loud boom and outward push of air.
She shook her head to try to rid herself of the banging echos of command in her head. Then she saw them.
Two pegasi were in the room, rendered unconscious when her appearance had slammed them against the wall. Sorin looked relatively unharmed, but Rainbow Dash hit a bookcase that collapsed on top of her.
Her friend was not moving.
Rainbow Dash does not die here.
But Dash’s unborn foal did.
“Dash… I’m so sorry.”
Twilight swung her head around as felt magic swirling around her again. She could feel herself being pulled from time. As she began to fade she heard a groan and saw Rainbow Dash raising her head from the pile of rubble. She had just enough time to whisper another apology.
“I’m sorry.”
Like a rubber band snapping she was yanked back to the future. However, something about this voyage was different. Twilight did not know if the things she was hearing were a byproduct of her imagination or were real.
- “I’m sorry. There is no heartbeat. There is nothing I can do.”
- “A miscarriage? I’m so terribly sorry darling.”
- “Excellent work officer Dash.”
- “Don’t sweat it. We’re going to try again once we are ready. maybe this time he will get a ring on my hoof first.”
- “Shadow forms are at the walls.”
- “Maybe we should hold off a bit. I mean, with the Wonder Bolts starting our new tour, the timing isn’t great.”
Snapshots of a pony’s life.
- “For your valor in battle.”
-“Come on, tell me what’s wrong.”
- “I’m ready to give being a mom another go.”
- “She wants me to be the new Captain Commander… I mean…”
- “Maybe if you hadn’t killed our daughter.”
- “How dare you!”
- “Go on, run on back to your Princess. You always cared more about her than me anyway.”
Twilight somehow knew what would happen next. A lavender unicorn would be shaken. For the first time in that unicorn’s life she would see her best friend truly distraught. The pegasus threw herself into the unicorn’s embrace and started sobbing.
The unicorn cried as well. Her friend had been so close to having a family of her own, and now it was gone.
In a flash of light Twilight found herself in a crater where the Castle of the Two sisters once stood. She was alone. Twilight curled herself up in a ball and began sobbing. The other Twilights would be there soon.
+++
“And so the return part of the spell brings her back twenty minutes ago where her presence draws the attention of her younger self.” The now younger of the two remaining Twilight’s sniffed as she wiped her snout. “The you-of-ten-minutes-ago forces past Twilight to give the me-of-ten-minutes-ago the sun. After she is done sobbing and witnesses you sending her younger self back in time, she becomes me right now.”
She shook her head.
“I hadn’t thought about how I was going to get back to the future- present. Last time I just waited and lived through the time until I was were I was suppose to be. You worked that recall part into the spell, didn’t you?”
“Very good. We are pleased with your grasp of the weave. You might be wondering if you actually leapt forward in time bypassing it, or simply managed to experience it in an altered state but while still experiencing the years. It is an important distinction, We assure you, but one you will not learn for some time.”
“You’re a monster.”
“Perhaps, but you were the one to surrender the sun. You were the one to travel back. You unleashed the kinetic burst.”
“You made me.” She was standing up and screaming now. “You didn’t give me a choice. I had to obey.”
“Don’t lie to yourself. You obeyed because it was more comfortable than disobedience. All you needed to do was not listen.”
“Why, why did you do it? You didn’t have to send her, me, back.”
“We did it because We had been sent back when We were your age.”
“That’s not a reason!” Twilight roared.
The echo of command still rang in her head, but it was fading and her anger was louder. Twilight lunged towards her older counterpart, her horn ablaze and wings flared.
She did not even sense the Empress using any magic, but a powerful telekinetic force slammed her to the ground. Twilight groaned as she felt sharp rocks piercing her chest and her breath was knocked from her lungs. She looked up and held her spinning head.
“You can’t unbreak the vase, Twilight.”
Her eyes opened in surprise. “What?”
“It’s a very old rule. The oldest of rules, spoken into being at the start of time by the very first of the immortals.”
Twilight felt her blood pooling beneath her body and struggled back to her hooves. She resisted the compulsive urge to kneel. There was only one ruler of Equestria that Twilight would ever recognize.
“Then why are you doing any of this? Why even bother with any of this if we can’t save her?”
“We didn’t say that.”
“But I thought-”
Twilight locked her knees as blood ran down her legs and grit her teeth. There had to be something she could do, but as she stood there her despair began to overwhelm her anger.
“It may be the rule, but We are the last of the immortals. Changing the rules, changing the game, takes time however… You would not believe how long We have been working towards this. There are only a few threads left, a few more stitches and all will be right.”
“How-” Twilight choked back another sob. “How can I believe that?”
“Because We win Twilight. We win. We have always won. That is the way of time. The path is long and complicated, but in the end it is Our game and We are victorious. When We return to your future, We will not be alone.”
“When you say ‘we,’ you don’t mean you and I do you, or in any sort of weird time traveler pronoun sense either? You mean it in a different way.”
The now Future Twilight gave Present Twilight an odd look, but did not deign to answer.
“What do you mean that you won’t be alone?”
“We mean that We fix the mistakes that mar an otherwise beautiful tapestry. She is waiting for Us... We saved Celestia.”
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Okay. Which Celestia?
5464834
Not breaking the vase implies changing time rather than convincing oneself computer Celestia is actually Celestia. If I am inferring what you mean correctly.
5465417 simply put, Twilight refers to both as Celestia. It is possible that the construct known as Celestia is in danger of something. It is also possible that, yes, Celestia the Alicorn could be saved.
Finally caught up, and dang if this isn't riveting. There are other stories featuring Twilight ruling over a more or less broken Equestria, but none quite like this one, and (dare I say) none better. On a side note, it is easy here to forget just how broken it is until you mention things like the proposed railway being a superior replacement for the heavily armed caravans that prevent horrible death to any civilians caught outside of population centers after nightfall. That is a lot better than having our noses rubbed in grimdark all the time, and also seems realistic in a way: ponies adapt, life goes on.
I wonder what's up with Diamond Justice.
"She is waiting for us... We saved Celestia."
I really hope future Twilight meant the real Celestia and not the construct when she said that...
This has been an awesome story so far. Thanks for giving us more updates!
It seemed like Twilight might finally have slowed her descent to insanity and then a 2000 year old crazy version of herself fucks it all up. Sometimes you just can't catch a break or all the time if your Twilight
.
(Also ecstatic about you starting this story back up and even revamping the older chapters, not a lot of authors would be willing to touch their old stuff like that.)
5466819
Not sure if we Twilight deciding it's a good idea to motivate the Magesterium by fear... That would be... Yea
The Elements of Harmony are addressed at one point, don't remember where though.
5466535
Yea, and the next few chapters ain't gonna help any either.
5465659
I would like to encourage you to continue reading (the next chapter from what you read has Twilight recognizing that she needs to doing something about her descent), but honestly based on your comment you may not wish to continue.
5458040
I've been gone long enough and there have been enough updates to the site that I am not even going to pretend to know.
5462183
I thought Twilight addressed / considered that. Basically Fluttershy would not have had closure that route and would have held onto vain hope that Little Pinkie would have eventually gotten better.
Now i know who is Discord*s mother....
2000 years to think about it and Empress Twilight still haven't figured out a way to talk about time travel selves without confusing everyone... Including herself.
When Empress Twilight arrives back 2000 years in the future she notices that she have fucked everything up. Literally everything (Universe disintegrated kind of fuckup).
5469336 5469190
I started this had (I think) up to chapter 20 pretty much done and sketched out before we were even half way through season 2. The time travel was defiantly before we knew there would be a time travel episode and before we knew anything about Twilight's family.
I think I mention in my chapter one author's note that I ignore the series beyond the episode where Dash gets into reading (if I am remembering the episode ordering correctly) (basically everything up to the time travel episode).
I considered working the rest of season and some of season 3 into my rewrite, but I just couldn't make it work without changing too much of what made the story what it was.
5469235
I figured Twilight would be smart enough not to make the same mistake literary almost everyone makes with AIs in fiction... At least at first.
5467370
Glad someone caught that.
5468318
Thank ye very kindly. Slowly but surly the massive swarm of typos is disappearing.
Now, I've just started reading this, but please please please please please please please please please please tell me you're going to keep writing this story!
5473474
Those are fantastic. (For some reason I made mine with a smart board...)
If they could be sized similarly to the originals that would be great. Fimfiction doesn't seem to have an option to resize embedded images. Actually, this is all html. I suppose I will have to experiment with setting the size in the img tag.
5471122
As described I would say very little chance. It was actually pretty bad. I canalized some of the ideas for the rewrite of EqT and the rest is just not worth doing anything with.
I would like to at some point create a prequel from Dash's perspective from the time of Celestia's death up to when she became Captain Commander. I would also like to try my hand at a "Twilight's time as a student fic" (I really enjoy those). There is no reason I could not make that attempt and have it be a prequel.
5473637 Alright, I've got all of them and they are exactly the same size as the originals. I downloaded one and loaded it into paint tool sai, and then I made all of the new images as new layers.
i.imgur.com/neg7wDk.png
This one was also adjusted ^
i.imgur.com/oCMstRh.png
i.imgur.com/vedTzSs.png
i.imgur.com/QidyLFS.png
Lemme know if you really want something to be improved. It seems that I discovered this story at just the right time.
5474208
Thanks, they're great. Already replaced the old ones and gave you credit for them.
Think its funny that I just got a notification that you added EqT to your favorites AFTER creating images for it :)
Thanks again.
5474245 Well, that's exactly what happened.
I posted my comment, scrolled up, and found that the story was still only in my read later list.
Based on your earlier projections, it would seem that the story is almost over. Things be going down soon I bet.
Actually I've got to commend you on the clarity of the encounters, when it comes to what's going on and who's who. That all makes sense. But the sheer amount of confusion Twilight is going through makes me confused too.
Also, CelestAI really must be picking up the slack for Twi when she's busy with all of this time travel stuff. I like CelestAI... But she feels kind of wrong. Like she should never have been. Unless...
Unless CelestAI is Celestia... F'naa
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...I forgot how confusing the time-travelling bits could be.
that sent chills down my spine