What You Leave Behind
It was games night at Canterlot Palace that night, according to Discord, who had reappeared some hours later, and casually shrugged off Princess Celestia's veiled threats of future Fluttershy visits. Instead, the chaos god had suggested playing something. The usual suggestion of monopoly proved a dead end when Luna was nowhere to be found, and so an epic thirty minute debate ensued as to which game would be the focus of the night. At several points Discord would suggest a game, Celestia would agree to play it, and then Discord would reveal he had no intention of playing such a game. Eventually they decided upon chess. It took some time for Celestia to re-re-re-explain the rules to Discord, in order to prevent the pawns from trying to form a republic, or creating a new piece, or a third faction, or even worse the repeat of the times Discord made the board three-dimensional and the pieces slightly alive (Occasionally the cleaners would still find a piece of Celestia's second castle in the process of their work, the result of Discord not being informed that dynamite was not necessary for removing the piece from play). Of course, Celestia had other things on her mind beside chess as she played, and from his expression, Discord realised this.
"Well, who's going to go first?" he said. Celestia looked up, her train of though derailed, as she tried to contain her annoyance.
"Discord, I went first. That was twenty minutes ago."
The chaos god raised an eyebrow, and sighed. "I am aware of that. I was talking about something else entirely."
Celestia's expression shifted. "Then what, exactly, are you talking about?" she asked, as one of her pawns managed to take a castle.
"You were going to ask me a question, so do it" Discord said, utterly uncaring about his missing piece, as he moved one of his bishops.
"Why?" Celestia asked, frowning at her side of the board. Discord stared at her. "It just strikes me as unusual, is all. Your interfering in the affairs of Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Twinkle. And I find it quite interesting that your actions have resulted in the girl benefitting in many respects."
Discord nodded, as his queen knocked away another pawn. "So it did."
"And helped young Twinkle get over much of her problems with her mother. And restored her father, whom you yourself erased from existence. You cannot expect me to believe all of that was coincidental."
Discord paused, and suddenly unfurled to his full height. "If you must know: her finding her father? That might have been intentional on my part. The wings, those were my idea. Couldn't let her throw her life away."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Really? You didn't want her to die? Why do I have a hard time believing that?"
Discord's expression soured. "I... disapprove of death. I am a chaos god after all. Death is predictable, inevitable. A waste of potential. As was little Twinkle's attempted suicide."
He turned his glance back to the board, and then after a few seconds saw Celestia still had her eyebrow raised. He sighed.
"Alright. There is something else. She is... unique."
Celestia just chuckled. "They are all unique, Discord."
"Not like that. I mean unique in a different sense."
The mare looked at him. "In what sense, then?"
"It is a bit difficult to describe, especially given that I'm not supposed to know this at all, but... she is unique, and increasingly so."
"Still not making your point clear. Oh, and I just took your queen."
Discord waved a paw irritably. "Whatever. My point is... every pony is unique, yes, but there are also other versions of them. Other universes. Like that one where you and Luna run a school, for whatever reason, and your 'most faithful student' wears woollen pullovers and bowties."
Celestia looked up in horror, and Discord rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, 'How could I have known about that'. I wanted to see if that universe's Discord was as devilishly debonair and dashing as me."
Celestia just looked at him. "And?"
He cursed inwardly, hoping she hadn't be listening clearly not working. He muttered something to himself quickly. "Anyway, not the point. My point is..."
"Discord?" Celestia asked, as he stared towards the edge of the room. "Discord? Discord!"
"Sorry, what?" he asked, in a dazed tone of voice, "Thought I saw some string for a minute. Oh, the things I would do for some string..."
"Discord."
"Oh, yes, anyway. I decided to futz with the reception on that mirror thin-"
"YOU WHAT?!"
Discord shook his head, and slowly pulled himself to his feet, somehow managing to miss, and end up sitting on the chair upside down.
"Relax, nothing that can't be fixed, you can still wait around for you former student, ol' whatever her name was. I just used it to keep an eye on Twilight's progeny. And at one point I guess I must have gotten things mixed up. I found another version of her, with even more 'issues' than this one."
Celestia couldn't help but feel an odd feeling in her stomach. "And?"
"As it transpires, the desire to be nauseatingly selfless is probably a genetic issue. As is the lack of imagination. This one had gone about calling herself 'Midnight Eclipse' on her little sojourn in the past."
He shook his head, as he took out one of Celestia's pawns with his rook. "Upstart young ponies, changing their names all the time. I honestly expected young Twinkle to start calling herself something like Twilight Dawn, or Twilight Eclipse."
Celestia blinked. "And the point of that tale was?"
"Didn't I say? No? How remiss of me. Young 'Midnight'" he paused to scoff, "Or not-so-young Midnight, only went and performed a ludicrous act of self-destruction posed as something incredibly noble and moving. Only in that universe she did not have a trained miracle worker at hand to revive her. Game over for that Twilight Twyla Twinkle."
He frowned as he looked down at the board. "Oh. I seem to have less pieces now."
"You're in check" Celestia smirked. For a few seconds Discord stared at her, before groaning.
"Have you ever considered a career in villainy?"
Celestia shrugged. "No dental. Less free cake."
Discord sighed. "True" he saw Celestia's disapproving glance. "Oh, you thought I really went along with your reformation scheme because I wanted friends? Aside from the fact that I turned out to like having friends? And not getting turned to stone every time one of my schemes was thwarted, just getting lectured by Fluttershy?"
Celestia shook her head. "So, you saved her from an impossible situation?"
Discord shook her head. "I was the one who got her into it. Somewhat. I mean, I didn't exactly stop her from travelling back to now (well, I did at first, but then I let down the barriers after she met her tediously tragic counterpart and didn't fight her)."
He frowned. "Besides, I couldn't let her die. Not when all-new Alicorn Twilight Twinkle has so much potential for causing chaos. Just look at the damage she already did, including disrupting that idiot time-travelling know-it-all's history, if only a bit."
He then muttered something else under his breath, something including the words 'stone' and 'Twilight Sparkle'.
Celestia stared at Discord for a moment, and he just stared back.
"Oh, don't give me that disapproving expression. I know about your manipulating things between the changeling and your niece's daughter!"
Celestia looked nonchalant. "And? What's wrong with two ponies falling in love?"
Discord made a gagging motion. "True love. How boring. See, Twinkle spent several months trapped in that alternate-past, and she never once met a good-looking guardspony that she fell in love with. Although there might have been a bit of unrequited love on a certain princeling."
Celestia just gave a small hum, before looking at the board and smiling. "Check-mate, by the way."
Discord sighed. "Best two out of three?"
"No. I have things I need to do. Letters to write to certain mayors. Right now."
Discord watched Celestia walk away, and after a few seconds righted himself. He waited until the doors shut, and then looked down at the chessboard.
After a few seconds, he smirked, and then vanished with a bright flash.
*****
There was light, and sound, and the wonderful scents in the air, courtesy of the only party planner she knew was capable of pulling everything off satisfactorily. And there was also music, which for some reason seemed both maddeningly quiet, and amazingly loud, as a purple unicorn danced with her beloved. As she did, Twilight Sparkle noted for the hundredth time that she was actually dancing at her wedding, and that she had to thank the several ponies who had taught her to dance. It seemed insane. There was nothing about him that was truly different from any of the dozens of stallions she'd met. He wasn't a hero, he'd never fought monsters (or not on purpose), he'd never wowed anypony with magical displays, his scholastic achievements weren't anything to write home about. Although he did have an endearingly nervous smile, and he was heir to a family line measuring back to Mimic, a pupil of Star-Swirl the Bearded, but that wasn't what she liked about him. It defied all logic. All science told her was that she felt attracted to him, and she knew that. She wouldn't have married him if she didn't. The two ponies leaned closer as the music continued, and then, she was dancing on her own, in thin air, all alone.
Twilight Sparkle's eyes shot open, and while she didn't immediately bolt upright in bed, she did kick the covers furiously for a second, her heart pounding. She shifted slightly, her gaze moving from the window overlooking the Crystal Empire, to glancing at the clock sitting on the bedside table. It told her the time, and it was far too early. And she could tell instantly that she wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. For a few moments she lay there, trying to get her breathing under control, as a soft breeze wafted in through the window. Her horn glowed, and the bedsheets slowly drifted back into place. She frowned as she noticed a small tear from where she'd kicked. Then she heard the noise. Slowly she turned her head to see the pony lying next to her, a dark blue stallion with bright orange hair, her husband, one forelimb positioned under the pillow his head was lying on, another laying free over the bedsheets. After a few seconds, she slowly wrapped her forelimbs around him, holding as tight as she could without waking him.
*****
Elsewhere, outside of time, and space, and in the machine known as the TARDIS, three ponies were engaged in discussion.
"So, where to next?" the madpony said, beaming away like nothing was wrong, like they hadn't just nearly been eaten by anything, or several things. Ditzy Doo frowned, and gave it some thought.
"How about... I don't know, seeing old Canterlot? You said you knew some of the ponies who were alive at that time, right?"
The Doctor paused in the middle of leaping around the main console, and stared at her. His jaw shifted.
"Dunno if we can" he muttered, "Got into trouble the last time I was there."
Ditzy frowned. It didn't take a genius to realise that he was hiding something. Even Dinky could probably have told, and the filly practically worshipped the Doctor, though this may have had something to do with finding the fact that underneath all his craziness, and his occasional odd moment, he seemed to get on far better with children than he did with adults, and the fact that he took them on a sightseeing tour to some of Equestria's more remote islands at a time when nopony had settled on them. That had been two weeks ago, and Dinky was still asking why she wasn't allowed a pet dodo. But even for the Doctor, who Ditzy had noticed frequently hid things and facts and tried to rush headfirst into danger, he seemed to withdraw quickly.
"What is it?" she asked. The Doctor's expression changed, as he bopped one of the consoles with his hoof.
"Oh, it's... the transdimensional slave relay. Acting up a bit. Star density must be too high right now for the old girl."
"Doctor" Ditzy frowned, trying to give him her hardest stare. After a few seconds he stared back, and then frowned.
"Alright, not trouble," he said, bopping the console again, ignore the slightly distressed noise the TARDIS produced at that. He walked over toward Ditzy, and sighed.
"You know when you make a promise, a really serious promise, and you have to keep it."
Ditzy nodded. She'd heard of Pinkie Pie's strange ability to materialise in unexpected places when ponies talked about keeping promises.
"I..." he gave an exasperated sigh, "I'd be crossing my own time-line, something that even under normal circumstances is dodgy at best. I was being clever, too clever by half and... it ended badly."
Ditzy stared at him. From the look on his face, he was remembering something he'd much rather have forgotten. She knew he hadn't actually answered her question at all, but at the same time she didn't want to upset him further.
"Okay" she said quietly, "So where then?"
He paused. Then a grin passed across his face.
"And not the Eye of Orion" Ditzy grinned. He pouted.
"It was nice the first four times, but I wouldn't mind going somewhere different."
"Different?" he smiled, with an air of excitement. "Oh, Ditzy Doo. I can show you different!"
He walked over toward a level and pulled it. There was a loud clunk, as he began laughing, and the machine began to whir.
"Ood Sphere, here we come!"
*****
In another time and place
It was a lovely day, and so far had been completely devoid of any sort of crazy ponies, which was always a good thing in Comet Chaser's book. Or rather, it had been up until he'd encountered a certain pair of ponies, one of whom had asked, innocently enough it had seemed, how things had been going with him, and whether he'd been talking to Twilight Sparkle lately. He froze, and smiled nervously.
"No, no. I've been busy."
"Oh, my" Twilight Velvet said, "That's a shame. You two looked like you were having a lot of fun dancing at our son's wedding. Didn't they look happy, dear?"
Night Light just nodded slowly, as Twilight Velvet continued smiling unnervingly at Comet Chaser.
"Well, I'm sure you're busy, so we'll just let you get on with your usual activities."
The two ponies walked past him, and Comet Chaser stood there. He did have things he needed to do today. He had work. He couldn't just go running off to Ponyville at the drop of a hat. He couldn't.
He couldn't.
Twenty minutes later and he was sitting on the platform of Canterlot station.
*****
In Ponyville
"-ust don't know why, Mr. Rich. Can you think of anything that might have caused this?" Cheerilee said, trying not to slump. It had been a perfectly normal day, up until lunchtime, when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had begun fighting. She had just assumed the two fillies had been upset about something, but now that she thought back on it, the two had been unwilling to work together during arts and crafts projects, which was especially odd given those two were practically inseparable. And Silver Spoon had declined an opportunity to work on the Foal Free Press, but she'd just assumed that was because she had no interest in the paper. And then the two fillies had fought. She'd been calmly grading papers when she heard the alarming chanting of 'fight' coming from outside, and that had been a shock to hear. None of her students had ever fought before. Argued, yes. Called each other names, despite her best efforts. Committed gross abuses of admittedly limited power, definitely, but fight? Not on her watch. And then she'd found Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had been fighting, and that had left her no option but to summon Filthy Rich, which had caused the pink filly to go practically pale. He had calmly listened to everything she'd said, not responding once, just looking straight at her.
"No." he said, "I didn't even know Dizzy and Silver Spoon weren't talking."
His voice was calm. Indeed, alarmingly calm. He just looked at Diamond Tiara, who looked down at the floor.
"I shall have a talk with her when we get home" he said, "See if we can't sort this out. Good day, miss Cheerilee."
Cheerliee nodded, as the stallion turned toward the door. Diamond Tiara just stared down at her hooves.
"Dizzy?" he called out, and with a sudden burst of movement the filly rushed over toward him. Filthy Rich gave the school-teacher another nod before closing the door behind him.
*****
Across town, it had actually been a nice day in the Golden Oaks library so far, as well as incredibly boring, as Spike had noted at least half a dozen times already. Aside from some mail from Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, there had been no new developments. Twilight had decided to go about reorganising the library again, and was going over the checklist necessary to do such a thing. Spike was grateful for this, because Twilight had spent most of the last few days just staring ahead and sighing every now and then, which didn't help that she had very little to do at the moment. Then Spike saw Trixie enter from the kitchen carrying a plate.
"What?" the mare asked. Spike looked at her.
"What are you eating?" he asked. Trixie looked down at the selection of crackers sitting on a plate sitting next to her.
"Peanut butter crackers" she said, slowly. "What?" she added, on seeing Spike's expression.
"Nothing" he said quickly, "It's just not deep fried and covered in chili sauce or dipped in butter then covered in chives."
Trixie blinked. "Your point?"
"It's just kinda weird seeing you eat something so normal."
There were a few seconds as Trixie just stared at Spike. Her horn glowed, and one of the crackers floated up toward her mouth. There was a crunch, which Trixie somehow managed to fill with as much silent defiance as was possible.
Spike was silently thankful that Twilight chose that moment to reappear. Then he notice she was looking at something as she came down the stairs.
"Twilight?"
She didn't seem to notice him. Then he saw she was carrying what looked like a letter, and it couldn't have been the one from Shining Armor, because that was still sitting on the desk where Twilight had left it.
"Twilight?" Spike asked, "What's up?"
She looked over at Spike, and then back to the letter. "I... found this" she said. For a few seconds she just stared at it.
"It's from Twilight Twinkle."
There was a sudden silence, as Spike and Trixie both looked confused.
"I think she wrote it before she left" Twilight said, not noticing their expressions. This was followed seconds later by Spike and Trixie quickly stating that of course they knew that, and certainly hadn't assumed it had somehow been delivered via time-travel.
"What does it say?" Spike asked. Twilight just looked at him, and then back to the letter. She levitated it over toward Spike. A few seconds later, Trixie had made her way toward the dragon and was reading the letter alongside him. Several minutes of quiet reading followed.
"Oh" Spike said, looking up at Twilight, who had a look Spike had seen far too many times to consider healthy. He walked over to Twilight and sat next to her. He tried to think of something to say, and after a few attempts, just settled for sitting next to her.
This mood was eventually interrupted by a sudden knocking at the door. Spike slowly got up and walked over toward it. On the other side was a grinning multi-coloured pegasus, a saddlebag with a noticeable book around her waste.
"Hey, Twi-" Rainbow Dash stopped when she saw the look on the mare's face.
"You okay?"
Twilight just stared straight ahead for several seconds before nodding. "Yes," she said, "Yes, Rainbow Dash, I'm okay. I'm okay."
She slowly turned to look at the mare and sighed. "Is something wrong?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Nah, everything's cool. But the rest of us were thinking about maybe hanging out together, or just doing something, you know?"
"Going to the zoo?" Spike asked. Rainbow Dash just stared at him.
"You remember what happened last time, right?"
Spike's expression shifted. "Oh. Yeah. That."
Twilight nodded, "All things considered, we should've seen that coming from Fluttershy."
"Should've," Rainbow Dash sighed. "Anyway, you in? We were thinking of just hanging out at Rarity's, since she's got the biggest house."
Then something occurred to Rainbow Dash, "Oh yeah, check this out." She removed the book with uncharacteristic gentleness from her saddlebag, and showed it to Twilight.
"'Daring Do and the City that Wasn't There'?" Twilight frowned. "I've not heard of this one."
"I know" Rainbow Dash squeaked, "That's 'cuz it's new."
Then she saw Trixie and Spike staring at her. "What?"
"Nothing" Trixie said quickly.
"I was thinking of bringing it round to the sleepover, maybe asking Flutters to sign it."
There was a new silence that made the last silence look like a cheap imitator, as Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash.
"How did... how did you figure that one out?" she asked. Rainbow Dash just scoffed.
"What, seriously? How did I figure out a pony I've know since I got my Cutie Mark wrote Daring Do?" she tilted her head, "Actually, it did take a while. It was mainly 'cuza Professor Bumble, her clumsy friend."
"Hey, yeah, she does act kinda like Flutte-..." Twilight trailed off.
"Isn't Professor Bumble the one that gets lost walking around a library?" Spike asked, looking at Twilight, "And didn't you say th-"
"Yes" Twilight said quickly, giving Spike a brief Look, "I did."
"Said what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Nothing" Twilgiht smiled nervously. Rainbow Dash just nodded.
"Right. So... how long did you know?"
Twilight scratched her head. "A while. Wait," she said, "How come if you've know this you never mentioned it?"
Rainbow Dash just gave her a deadpan stare. "I don't know. Maybe because Fluttershy is my friend and if she doesn't want everypony to know she writes Daring Do she must have a reason, right? Right?"
Twilight nodded. "Okay, so, we're all meeting up at Rarity's, then?"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah."
"Alright," Twilight said, giving a small smile, before gently folding the letter from Twinkle up. "I'll just go put this away upstairs."
Rainbow Dash just nodded. "'kay."
Twilight quickly made her way up into the bedroom and part-time observatory, making her way toward the small desk to store the letter. She stared at the second spare bed, the one Twinkle had used, and tried to resist the urge to sigh. Then she turned around and made her way downstairs. She looked over toward Rainbow Dash, and nodded.
"Let's go."
The three ponies and one dragon walked toward the door. Twilight opened it, and then nearly collided with the stallion on the other side of the door. Twilight blinked as she stared at the dark blue fur of the pony standing in front of her.
"Hi" he said nervously. Twilight stared back.
"Hello."
The two ponies stood staring not at each other, but at each other's ears.
"Is... something wrong?" Twilight asked. Comet Chaser twitched.
"No, no. Nothing. I just thought it was a nice day."
Behind Twilight's back, Rainbow Dash and Spike exchanged glances with Trixie.
"And I was wondering if perhaps you'd maybe..." he coughed, "If you'd like to do something."
Twilight bit her lip. "Well, that's very nice of you to offer, but you see, I-"
She was cut of by the sudden action of the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, shoving her onto the pony. Twilight was certain she heard Rainbow Dash mutter the words 'unbelievable egghead' under her breath. The two stood there for a moment, trying to look anywhere but each other.
"So," Comet Chaser said quickly, "You live here?"
"Yes" Twilight blurted.
"It's very nice."
"Yes."
There was a painful pause of several seconds as both ponies stood away from each other, still looking around nervously. Twilight made a mental note to get back at Rainbow Dash for her actions.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked. Twilight paused, thoughts of revenge on Rainbow Dash forgotten. It was a nice day, after all.
"Alright" she eventually said. "But just as acquaintances, nothing more. And we aren't going anywhere romantic, okay?"
He nodded. "Got it. No romance. Shall we, then?"
*****
Rainbow Dash slowly closed the door to the Carousel Boutique and turned to look at the four ponies staring at her.
"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked. Rainbow Dash shrugged.
"Sorry girls, but Twilight's not coming."
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Why not?"
Rainbow Dash allowed herself a grin. "Sudden change of plans."
"Now that ain't like her" Applejack commented. Fluttershy nodded.
Rarity frowned. "Now what could possibly have caused this?"
Trixie walked over toward the fashion designer and whispered into her ears. Rarity's eyes went wide.
"I see."
"See what?" Applejack asked. Then she saw the look on Rarity's face. "Oh. Oh."
At which point Pinkie Pie asked, and Applejack whispered it to her. Pinkie Pie's response was to giggle.
"Guess we'll have to do without her, then" Rarity said, shaking her head. Then her eyes lit up.
"Say, that gives me a -" a ball of yarn hit her in the head.
"No." Applejack said sternly, before turning to Pinkie Pie, "And that goes double for you, Pinkie. Let those two sort things out themselves."
Pinkie smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Then she turned to look at Rarity, staring intensely. Rarity blinked, before smiling nervously.
"Do I have to, dear? I mean, surely you can trust me not to... to interfere?"
"Just do it," Rainbow Dash sighed, "Or we'll be here all day."
Rarity sighed. "Very well. I promise not to interfere in the affairs of Twilight Sparkle and... whatever his name was. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my..." she paused, wincing as she closed her eye. "Eye" she finished. Pinkie nodded approvingly. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but Applejack just stared at her.
"Don't."
Rarity pouted. "You don't know what I was going to say."
"Ah can guess, and ah know you, Rare."
Rarity silently frowned.
"Now then, less arguin', and let's try and think of something to do."
"Truth or dare! Truth or dare!" Pinkie said.
"I brought a book!" Rainbow Dash said meekly, not noticing Fluttershy's look of abject terror.
*****
Across town, Diamond Tiara frowned as she sat in front of her father, who had walked all the way in silence, and evidently felt the need to make up for lost time after that.
"Disgustingly Rich," he sighed, "I had thought that your mother and I raised you to be better than this. Fighting with your friend, your best friend. What sort of way is that for somepony your age to behave?"
"She started it" Diamond Tiara muttered, but he didn't seem to hear it.
"And over what? What could possibly have caused that?"
"She was being stupid."
The stallion frowned, and sighed. "Just... got to your room Dizzy. We will talk about this when your mother gets home, though."
"Whatever" Diamond Tiara muttered, making her way toward the stairs. Her father frowned, and for a moment considered saying something. She walked along the landing of the small mansion-sized house until she reached the door to her room. She opened it, walked through and then kicked the door behind her, before hopping onto her bed. As befitting the bed of a preteen girl with lots of money and doting parents, it was incredibly pink, and incredibly frilly.
"She was being stupid over nothing. Wasn't my fault" she muttered. She wasn't even sure what she'd said wrong to Silver Spoon, but everything seemed to have gone wrong. She'd been trying to get Silver Spoon to apologise after all.
It was her fault
Diamond Tiara looked around her room. There wasn't anypony there. She checked under her bed. Her mother had always said that was where monsters lived, wasn't it?
The underside of the bed was monster-free. She frowned.
It was her fault. She's stupid.
Diamond Tiara nodded. This was true. Silver Spoon was being stupid. Everypony else was being stupid, including her dad. He never took her side, and he was always telling her she was wrong.
Don't listen to him. He's silly. Also, stupid.
It occurred to Diamond Tiara that whoever was speaking to her, it wasn't her. But the voice was making a convincing argument.
Of course I am, Diamond Tiara.
But her father wasn't stupid. Okay, so he didn't give her enough pocket-money and sent her to the crummy Ponyville school, but he wasn't stupid. It was just everypony else.
Alright, fine. Your father isn't stupid. But he isn't doing enough for you.
Diamond Tiara nodded again.
And it isn't fair that Silver Spoon turned against you, is it?
No, she thought. That wasn't fair. She'd never done anything to Silver Spoon. Okay, she said those glasses made her look stupid once, but that was true. She didn't deserve to be punished.
No, you don't.
Now, the voice said, sounding a lot closer, what are we going to do about it?
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Originally, I had a bit where Past-Twilight's plans are disrupted by a twelve year old Twinkle materialising in the bedroom, apparently having found the wrong spell while looking for the one that grants her wings. But I decided to leave it out because... it just didn't seem right.
a great chapter.
Congratulations on finishig this beast of a story. I loved every moment of it. This ending was much more satisfying that almost anything I have ever seen on this site. I don't want to see a sequal (though I would not be opposed to a spin-off) because you wrapped it up so well.
Brohoof my friend. Brohoof /)
That might be one of the greatest sequel hooks I've ever seen. DT suddenly being friends with the nightmare that killed her, and not even knowing it. (At least, that's how it seems to me.)
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Not the same Nightmare.
Just that all Nightmares operate in a similar fashion.
2937975
Actually, I do have some ideas for a sort of spin-off...
But those may take some time.
Wow, congrats on finishing. So does Twinkle ever have a happy ending of sorts?
2959806
She was returned to Ponyville because there really was no other choice for her. She'd have stayed with the Doctor forever, and that would...
Which means poor Dinky can never forget, while her mother must never remember.
2959924
She'd say she's happy enough with what she's got.
If she could get away with it, that is.
Sequel...
3340898
Vanilla's one of Pinkie's kids (Pinkie's many, many kids), who look after the library for Twilight Sparkle (because she sometimes stays there and sometimes in Canterlot). And don't let the pink mane fool you, Vanilla is a guy.
(Pinkie insists on naming her kids after foodstuffs. And pies. Usually the later, but she's running low on pie-themed names by now.)
Absolutly amazing story. And to think that's your first one...
Ever considered to look for a few appropriate groups to put that fic into? That could really help to get the attention it deserves
3403144
It was intended to be a mutation of the 'chimney' line. After all, if one can think inside the chimney, one can think their way up the chimney, naturally.
In-universe, goodness only knows where it came from. However, since Twinkle has known Pinkie Pie and her family since she was little, it's possible she picked it up from them at some point. But where they got it from is probably best not asked. That way madness lies. And pudding.
And as to why Celestia's thinking it... strange minds think alike, it seems.
3378660
Well, actually, I hadn't, but that's because groups confuse me a little bit, and there are just so many of them...
(Sorry for the lateness of my reply, by the way.)
So do we have an E.T.A. on the sequel yet?
3463741
Options are being considered. But nothing's set in concrete yet.
And for a variety of reasons, it may be a while, I'm afraid. Sorry about that.
The spin-off I'm working on, meanwhile, is just being... uncooperative.
4082406
I have honestly considered that one, although that may be slightly more cruel and unusual than I'm comfortable with.
No-one deserves Blueblood as a father.
4084383 How about NIGHTMARE TWINKLE...?
And Jeeeezusss dude, that comment was 42 weeks ago, had to do a double-take when I saw your reply in my notifications.
4084433 No its like saying the word bubbles. No-matter how you say it, it sounds silly.
4341206
Long-term, it didn't. It really didn't. But at the time, it did save Sombra from a few headaches.
And as for the second one, I don't know. It just sort of came to me, and it sounded so ludicrous I had to use it.
Please put a link to sequel!
OK... I thought the story itself was good. Well structured for the most part and it kept me mostly engaged for the whole thing. The character development was good and I like what you did with Discord, that was right up his street.
The things that bugged me about it were:
The words you used in some places were wrong, like the wrong type of word... i may be bad at explaining this but if you would like i can go back and try and find some of them.
It was sometimes difficult to follow who was speaking, possibly because it flicked between characters quite rapidly in places and how you made it do that was a bit odd.
Differentiating between some of the scenes was quite difficult, although that may be down to my ereader being funny. It wasn't showing proper spacing or breaks between paragraphs. If its your error i would keep an eye on it, if its mine then meh, damn my reader and you did a good job.
Overall it was very good and I enjoyed it very much so well done and keep writing
4432307
Those paragraphing errors are mine. I didn't format them very well, and have been meaning to get on that. For a whole year now.
(One day... yes, one day I shall fix them.)
There. Every chapter finally in a consistent format. (unless I missed one.)
The writing may not be up to much, but at least it is consistent!
4695334
It's been mentioned that they can, just hasn't been shown.
4706002 No, that was funny
4695348 First, when you respond to a comment, please, please, PLEASE do it from the chapter upon which it is a comment. Otherwise the person you're replying to won't get a notific8tion. It's a pro8lem, 8ut I don't have access to the server and thus can't fix it.
Second, wh8re has it 8een mentioned?
~Vriska Serket
4708441 See 4708930.
Also, that m8y or m8y not have 8een a su8tle ja8 telling you to go fix your comment. 8ut I guess it was too su8tle, since you don't seem to have noticed. Or perhaps you did and you think it's funnier to leave it that w8y, with which I agree, 8y the w8y.
~Vriska Serket
4432782 If you don't do it soon, I will, and I will send you the downloaded HTML file with all the edits. All of them
That's all for now. *8ounces aw8y*
.
~Vriska Serket
Hmmm...about.....22 hours it took to read this,front to back.
Impressive,amazing even,the narration was simply a joy and Twinkle's character was absolutely superb.
And I'll admit,the feels happened,and I could not stop grinning and laughing throughout the whole thing,it was amazing.
17 hours later I can safely say I regret nothing. I had an alarm go off at some point when I thought it was nearly ending and it looked like a lousy end, but I didn't see that the remaining chapters were damn large, and everything fell into place nicely.
I'm somewhat sad to see the sequel on hiatatus, I must admit.
This is quite possibly the best explanation I've seen as to why Discord doesn't kill. He certainly has more than enough power to kill anypony (including any of the Princesses I would say) he would choose to, but he doesn't because death is (usually) forever and forever is boring to the Lord of Chaos.
With that out of the way I'll move on to general thoughts on the story as a whole. I find it amazing and somewhat hard to believe that this is your first story. It's well written and quite interesting. Twilight Twinkle is an engaging protagonist and her interactions with the other main characters feel genuine. You do a good job of writing the canon characters as well. I really enjoyed reading this story, even though it did drag at certain points. If there was one thing I would have liked to have seen it would be more Trixie. I feel like Trixie was somewhat wasted in this story, as the majority of the time she is either off-panel getting smashed or simply making some snide remark which, while funny, is generally ignored by most of the cast.
I will go on to read what there is of the sequel, though it's status as 'On Hiatus' is currently tempering my desire to read it. If you are simply stuck at a roadblock I would suggest going back and re-reading what you have written (hopefully making some edits along the way) and try to get a feel for the characters and where you want them to go.
Thanks for the ride and I look forward to reading more of your work.
With the introduction to Tiara's Nightmare, my first thought was Simeon and the Great Intelligence.
5619637
Oh, there were more errors. But people helpfully pointed out the errors, and they were removed.
The errors of storytelling remain, though.
5624836
It is not a shot at any other fic.
I think, what with the "incredibly stupid mare" line, that it might be a shot at Twilight / any Twilight-based knockoff.
Rarity's taste in novels is probably better than that.
Finally finished reading this, the longest fanfic ive read and all i can say is bravo good sir, bravo.
I like a story that keeps me guessing which is difficult. Twinkle was a great character and all the others were spot on and enjoyable. Especially like your Discord.
At some points i was worried of how you would resolve certain conflicts and the tangled mess of parodoxes you created but the resolutions never dissapointed. I especially liked the Doctor's explaination about fixed points in time where if you already know what will happen then it will happen. This gave twinkle an advantage with knowing most of the stories/events and didnt have to worry too much about the end results being different but she could still make the ride, lets say, easier.
Only qualms i have is that sometime the conversations can be confusing and some parts could use a little more detail. All in all this goes as one of my favorites though.
Cant wait to read more of your work.
Good job.
Well, I hope it's not too late for criticism, since it's been a while I've finished reading it, and also, I'm no expert with this stuff, I'm of get to the point very often. I might not remember everything also, but here goes
. Fortunately, this is not the case 
we got instead an interesting character overall, and you made it clear at the beginning. She has many virtues, but she also has flaws, insecurities and, while she offer rational solutions, she's also prone to make big mistakes. Also her introduction as a well defined character but keeping us in the dark about other things of her deserves some points too
. Most of the original plots were funny and the flashbacks kept me looking forward of knowing what made Twinkle the mare she's today. I still liked less the retellings in comparison though
-Twilight Twinkle...... First time writer+child of a mane6+ time travel to the past and participate in canon events+main focus most of the time...... Those usually screams Mary Sue
-The story: We got a basic plot, and it's clear were the story wanted to got, but you also kept us distracted with show canon events with the main character participating, having other canon chapter taking place but she decided to do something else, original events, flashbacks, etc. You did a good work with the show-canon chapters, as they are not an outright retelling but with Twinkle just being there with few lines. Her presence and foreknowledge of those events offered interesting plottwists without making her an instant win element
You made no major grammar and plotwise mistakes, but what I really didn't liked about the story is your treatment of Diamond Tiara, making her life miserable clearly served no point other than to make clear you hate her
(specially during the nightmare arc 
). It's like the average anti-Flash Sentry fic, from giving him a hard time at the best or making him an outright villain for the sake of it
Other than that, I really had a good time reading your story, good work
6461108
I certainly couldn't not use it.
6519694
They may have had ulterior motives, but they were still saving lives. If somepony else saving lives "utterly destroys" Rainbow's self esteem, the fault for that lies entirely with Rainbow Dash. Slow-falling balloons or not (rewatching the clip says "not really", but RD did leave herself enough time-- looks to me like she only flubbed that one because she was distracted by Mare Do Well's sudden appearance), Mare Do Well still saved lives on several occasions where Rainbow Dash alone would clearly have failed. Rather than being grateful for the assist and glad that lives had been saved, Rainbow was... angry that somepony was stealing the spotlight?
The very worst thing they actually did was bragging about Mare Do Well's achievements... in much the same way Rainbow Dash had been bragging about her own.
A lot of the trouble with the episode seems to be the way the writers tried to preserve the suspense. It means we don't really get a good look at what the ponies were thinking when they decided on their scheme. Is it really so hard to imagine, though, that they intended Mare Do Well as a positive example and role model, rather than just wanting to crush RD's ego?
I mean, which of these do you think has a better chance of getting through to Rainbow Dash? Lecturing her? Or inventing a superhero?
6034089
First of all, I have to admit that I had some concerns while reading this story – concerns not dissimilar to those already voiced by Zekromic. It all played well in the end, however.
One of the things I was unable to make much sense is the whole “Twinkle—Applejack issue” – even if Twinkle goes so far as to call it “irrational” herself. On the one hand, she seems to recount the Queen Chrysalis incident way to vividly – as if she saw it with her own eyes. (Or at least the part of it where AJ made that fateful remark.) Who and for what purpose would emphasize that part of the story when telling it to Twinkle, anyway? Or did she get that part from some sort of an “adaptation”? If so, I’d rather expect her to approach any such thing with a bit of critical thought at her side.
On the other, how did it come that Twi and AJ never met before (in Twi’s own time)? The magic that powers the Elements is the one of Friendship, and for AJ to in effect avoid one (or more) of her fellow Element Bearer friends, or their family… Well, that simply doesn’t seem to compute to me.
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Another thing is that while I respectfully disagree with RealityCheck’s comment (and so I hope the alternate mane 6 do), all that early chapters’ talk about time paradoxes seem to go straight up to nowhere once it becomes apparent that Twi’s adventures in the past occur in the timeline different to the one she returns to (and, presumably, comes from.)
(I may’ve missed a thing or two reading the story, so if someone could take care to provide some explanation on the two points above, that’d be much appreciated.)
On the storytelling part – the pacing felt a tad ragged to me. It may have something to do with the inclusion of canon plots in the story, though.
… On the nitpicks side, there’s a fair share of typos and homophone mix-ups (say, ‘bear’ vs. ‘bare’, or ‘waste’ vs. ‘waist’), some inconsistencies in terminology (say, using “Her Majesty” to refer to a Princess, and I think I once saw “Highness” used to refer to Queen Chrysalis), and also some unwarranted redundancy also (yes, just like this.) I’d think that the readers to come would appreciate these being weeded out.
I believe I’ve spotted one or two minor issues in specific characters, which I’d try to locate and point out later.
7733602
A percentage of those children are adopted.
As to the parent... good question.
But it's probably safe to say it isn't Fluttershy.
7739936
mayhap you are right . However at this point in the night this egghead is a little scrambled. Rum will do that to you.
7758681
According to a website on names I checked, Twyla is an old English word for "Twilight".
So, her name is Twilight Twilight Twinkle.
(No doubt Twilight enjoys explaining this to others, then wondering why they don't seem to get the joke.)
Did I just read this entire thing in effectively one go?
...
...
Must be decent.
7887682
...Not really, no. You can't exactly kill what does not exist, no?
7893079
She was going to.
Probably when Twinkle turned eighteen.
But circumstances and bickering made it never seem like the Right Time.
7994517
Song was hilarious and must admit was appropriate
Honest question what is with the dungeons , banishments and dungeons in places of banishment? that was ONE episode... Or to put it in the correct terminology "THAT WAS ONE TIME!!!" lol
Pinkie i wish to inform you that the 4th wall needs time to heal otherwise it will crumble with the cracks you're putting in it
So... re-reading this several years after first seeing it.
I admit, it was.. rougher, than I recall, but it still had me laughing and feeling all the same.
And I still love it. It's still one of my favourite reads on this site, for all the reasons I loved it the first time.
Oh no! I read this story a couple years ago but didn't finish it, or I did but forgot.
Whatever, ill just read it again until I remember and leave a proper comment!