It all starts simply enough with Chrysalis sending two of her most trusted changelings to infiltrate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but now she has a civil war on her hooves that threatens to spill over into all of Equestria.
Celestia and Luna have read the signs and enlist the Mane Six to handle the changeling threat forever... by stopping it before it ever happens. Using one of Starswirl the Bearded's most coveted spells, they have a chance to go back to prevent Queen Chrysalis' tragic origins, but one misstep could destroy the present that they came back to protect, and when they get tangled up in the history of the Elements of Harmony, things get even more complicated.
(Conceptualized prior to season 3 or the comics, though it takes place shortly after the events of The Crystal Empire).
I don't get it; no amount of studying Dash should account for an imposter to fly as well as her considering how much time she puts into it. Also it's silly that they didn't bother asking personal questions to figure them apart; Dash has history with at the very least Fluttershy prior to them being famous enough to warrant spying on. Even if the imposter has forgotten she isn't Dash, she wouldn't know a lot of details.
This only makes sense if it really is a duplicate and the changeling is elsewhere.
2012891 I see your point on the personal questions. I guess I presupposed it would fail based on the three months the changelings were studying them. Rainbow Dash likes to tell a lot of stories about herself, so the changelings had heard them all, and she does tend to be an open book. And anything she doesn't talk about, her friends wouldn't think to ask about. Maybe I will find a way to edit in some emphasis on the intel gathering.
Wow interesting way. But you can see that they won't change anything because of subtle hints from before of spell. It's good and bad itself or maybe you gonna change it?
Now i'm even more interested what will happen after spell end.
Oh, so Pinkie's selection of books did have a purpose. Figures.
As for Iris, I thought that the magic of the Rainboom was what gave her some of Rainbow's memories. Or the Elements. There's no shortage of magic hand-waving items around here.
Wait, Twily? Does that mean they remember? So they failed?!
You're good at writing friendship and tension and tense friendships.
Cousin, eh??
If I could draw well I would draw you that fanart. D: That's a genuinely interesting design!
I'm really liking this story! This kind of fantasy adventure is the kind I prefer.
So that's what the sand does.
Well that sure is a cliffhanger. D:
2772135 Don't worry, I didn't leave you hanging long ;)
This is such a mess that it could either end up happily or with nothing changing at all.
I'm not dead! Sorry for the delay, all. I want to finish this one up before November so I can start something new for Nanowrimo, so look for a LOT of additions in the near future.
Hmmm, this is a very good read, I'll be telling the fleet about this.
That with Minuette hah good one
Did the rainboomsplosion lock him in his disguise or something?
I guess we are only defined by how we perceive ourselves.
Lunas letter didn't seem that urgent though I guess it is in twilights nature to overreact.
A few days of hanging out and they all have already put their trust and faith in iris, despite knowing she/he/it is a changeling? Yep sounds like something ponies would do.
Short and simple, just how I like my backstories.
I don't think a war between colorful peace mongering ponies would be epic, more adorably sad.
I don't think you can change history cause anything you would already have happened by the time you decided to do it.
Dragon!!!!
And here I thought chrysalis was the deceptive one.
I'm sensing that it wasn't cocoon who used the love potion.
4887144 Unless you had a way to both A. go back and change something, and B. was able to ensure that your traveling back into the past to change that something is not prevented by the change having happened already. Think... a note to yourself, perhaps? You'd, of course, have to instruct your past self (of a few minutes prior to departure) to leave an identical note there (but NOT the same note, in order to avoid object origin paradox). This forms a Stable Time Loop, which as the name implies is the only temporal paradox that can work as intended.
In fact, I believe this may be the cause of ALL Stable Time Loops, meaning that one episode with time travelling Twilight may have had something a bit more serious happen... like that dam breaking, or that Cerberus causing more trouble than it does in the episode...
Nice start. Chryssie seems a tad frustrated, gotta see where this is going.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Or maybe he became a real Dash?
I like your wiring style, there are some errors here and there, but overall it's quite slick.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Hmm, curiouser and curiouser.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Hmm... Poor Chryssie. Still, now I wonder if she herself could become Celestia if she was confident enough.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Hmm... More weird happenings.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Well, she didn't really give them reasons to mistrust her and they probably realised that her own shock at the revelation was real.
Huh, must've been one hell of a potion.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Now that's a take on changelings I haven't seen before, kudos to you. Carries a note of great tragedy.
Cya
Raziel-chan
4887107... You made me imagine a group of ponies just slapping each other while muttering apologies.
Cya
Raziel-chan
And the time and space continuum whimpers in the corner as they pummel it with baseball bats.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Well then. The timeline slowly gets bent like a slinky.
Of course the ponies would just steal someone's child, the pony master race can do no wrong, after all.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Come oooooon, get to the pre-changeling Chryssie already!
Cya
Raziel-chan
I wonder how will they fix the problem of this is a time loop.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Hrm, butterfly court...
Cya
Raziel-chan
Yay Chryssie!
Cya
Raziel-chan
Castle intrigue!
Your version of Discord is a real bastard...
Cya
Raziel-chan
Twilight is using the Sands of Time!
Oh, come on, we all know that Rainbow Dash is a master of subtlety.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Good job, Faillight!
Cya
Raziel-chan
Poor time and space continuum, that bat can't feel comfortable stuck up there.
Cya
Raziel-chan
OUTATIME!
So... They accomplished a grand sum of nothing squared.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Marty! We have to go back to the future!
Cya
Raziel-chan
Stable time loop set, time to save best pony, that is Chryssie.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Weeee ~
Cya
Raziel-chan
That was nice. Wouldn't mind seeing more of Aurelia being rebuilt.
Cya
Raziel-chan