Double Rainbow

by theworstwriter

Chapter 11

Once again, Twilight Sparkle had an epiphany. She discovered a simple and elegant solution to the problem at hoof, and all was right with the world. Really, she felt foalish for not having come up with the idea earlier. Encoded within the magic of each ‘signature’ spell was the date and time at which it was cast. It didn’t introduce any new variables to track, because she already was tracking the time very closely. It didn’t require knowledge about the signature she wouldn’t have, because the only unique component in the signature was the time. The only POTENTIAL problem was that if there were ever two Dashes trying to leave at the same time, the spell would have trouble differentiating and might target the wrong one. But that wouldn’t be an issue, because so far every dash through time had been at least several minutes apart, and now she would take precautions to insure this remained the case.

All that remained now was continuing to trace the timelines very carefully and applying the spell she had just finished when appropriate. Managing Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been… tiring, at first, but she had begun to get the hang of it.

Why then? Why did the nagging feeling in her head persist? All the difficult portions were complete or well under control. What was left to worry about? No other ponies had gotten involved on her watch… but they had on HER watch! She had told Princess Celestia! WHY? WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT? Everything was under control! They didn’t need the Princess to interfere, and so there was no reason to risk getting everypony banished for tampering with the fabric of reality. As much as Twilight Sparkle trusted herself, she still had trouble understanding what could possibly have compelled her to do something like that. Of course if she had eventually decided it was the right thing to do, then that meant she was eventually going to decide it was the right thing to do.

Understanding where she was coming from, she was less angry at herself. She felt she was ready to be herself and try to convince herself that she wasn’t crazy, even if she didn’t fully understand what made her choose to tell the Princess. She was sure she would listen to herself explain that she should trust herself, just as she was doing now. Of course she wouldn’t listen, because she didn’t, but this thought was squashed as ridiculous. She was logical, why wouldn’t she listen to herself?

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Rainbow Dash came skidding to a halt. Once again, she found herself on a mission to the past trying to… well trying to do SOMETHING. She wasn’t really sure what the end goal was anymore. Thinking back over the long and crazy series of events that brought her to where she was now, a smile flashed across her face. She had lost count of exactly how many, but she had performed a lot of Sonic Rainbooms recently. What used to be nothing more than a legend, she was pulling off over and over as if it were nothing. While that was great proof that she was the best flier in Equestria, it was also a little bit sad. With the Sonic Rainboom so easy now, what other tricks could she work toward? Was this it? Was she at the top? A gust of wind from a nearby Rainbow Dash snapped her out of her thoughts and she remembered she needed to go nuzzle and comfort a confused and angry Applejack.

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Scootaloo peeked her head out from the tiny bush she was trying to hide in. Off in the distance, she spotted Rainbow Dash… stepping into her house? What was Rainbow Dash’s house doing over here? And on the ground? More determined than ever, she crept toward the pile of cloudstuff unnaturally sitting on the dirt. Reaching the wall of fluff, the orange pegasus pressed herself against the front door. She couldn’t hear anything. Rainbow Dash was in there being awesome, as usual, but also mysterious, and she needed to get closer.

The ‘window’ would do. Like most cloudhouses, Rainbow Dash’s home didn’t have any glass windows. Wherever a view or a breeze was necessary, there was just an absence of clouds. Jumping up and down trying to see inside, Scootaloo’s heart stopped when she heard the door opening. Her idol would be mad, knowing she’d been following her, and there was nowhere she could hide. Unless…

Scootaloo clambered up and through the window and crouched down on the other side, breathing heavily. After a minute of deafening silence, she poked her head through the window to check that the coast was clear. Seeing no ponies anywhere nearby, she breathed a sigh of relief. And then she started to smile. She may have lost Dash, but it wasn’t every day she had a chance to explore her house.

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Twilight Sparkle slumped to the floor in defeat. She had finally found the fatal flaw in her plans, and realized the awful truth. The whole thing was impossible. There was no way to close the loop, because the spell required one target to be in the past! Whichever Dash was sent back to the earliest time would have no Dash to switch with because none had gone back any further. The timeline could twist and turn and go through as many corkscrews as necessary to accommodate the middle, but there was no way to link the beginning and the end. And yet here she was, sitting very much in the middle of it. Solid proof that the beginning and the end HAD linked, no matter how impossible that seemed. Maybe she was going to need the help of somepony besides herself. Could the Princess somehow have the answer? Was that the reason she needed to go talk to her?

An explosive rumble gave the library a devastating shake, knocking Twilight to her haunches. Dozens of books tumbled off the shelves with a series of loud thuds and the flapping of thousands pages. After the library stopped moving, the purple unicorn shakily got to her hooves and looked around, surveying the damage. Something at the edge of her vision caught her attention, and she trotted over toward the window. Her pupils drowned out the rest of her eyes as they grew to a size that shouldn’t even have been possible. Barely understanding – and certainly not believing – what she was seeing, Twilight gazed up at the exact copy of Ponyville hurtling toward Ponyville.

Comments

[Swaggy Spike]

wut.

[Triforce of the Gods]

Shit just got real.

[PleaseRemoveMe]

6235 But what if her time traveling caused her to invent time travel in the first place. Depends on what sort of contortions the fabric of space time is willing and able to perform... maybe... I really don't know jack when it comes to this... so, alas, my brain shall remain so full of f***.

[littlerobotbird]

Well... didn't see that one coming...

The plot thickens... making it about an extra 5 feet over my head. This is getting confusing, but somehow makes a LOT of sense. I think...

Whatever, want more all the same...

[RazorRaptor9]

Ch 11. she's closing up the loop by ending everyponys life :D YAAAY

[Ford]

I love stories like this where anything inconsistent can be explained with "paradox. Prove that it wasn't." You can never fully make sense of them; you just have to accept them for what they are. Then you can lean back and enjoy the show; it's always a good one.

[theworstwriter]

6588
I assure you there are - and will be - no inconsistencies to be explained here. The timeline is being lovingly scrambled in my personal kitchen, and no loose thread shall escape. Full sense CAN be made once I give you all the scenes.

Try to put all the events in plain linear order (What, you thought I was giving you things in the order they happened? Where's the fun in that?) and see if that helps!

[Soulsilver]

My brain is litte more than a puddle. It will evaporate after the next chapter.

Lol wut?

I Need a Flowchart...

[NimbleBolt]

ok I understood what was going on till ponyville come shooting at ponyville. can I get twilight's charts please?

Aww Shit, and I thought I had it all worked out...
well looks like ill just have to get back to thinking (and reading)
I atleast thought that the scenes were in chronological order according to the point of view of TS
and therefore accordingly scrambled in all the other ways.

Edit: after reading further i suspect multiple copys of ponyville swapping their characters with terrible consequences

[Sargey]

My mind has been raped by these words.... This is truly amazing....

[deathtap]

Haha! Imagine walking down the street and see that (referring to the last part of the last paragraph). I'd crap myself.

[TwilightUCrazy]

oi44.tinypic.com/2l9nzfm.jpg

[Yami Vizzini]

Yami_Vizzini.exe has stopped responding

[BarryTheFlashAllen]

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/83/03/9e/83039e4bda3ad3cb7ebdf9e7e50e122e.jpg

[Eroraf86]

An explosive rumble gave the library a devastating shake, knocking Twilight to her haunches. Dozens of books tumbled off the shelves with a series of loud thuds and the flapping of thousands pages. After the library stopped moving, the purple unicorn shakily got to her hooves and looked around, surveying the damage. Something at the edge of her vision caught her attention, and she trotted over toward the window. Her pupils drowned out the rest of her eyes as they grew to a size that shouldn’t even have been possible. Barely understanding – and certainly not believing – what she was seeing, Twilight gazed up at the exact copy of Ponyville hurtling toward Ponyville.

If you watch closely, you can actually pinpoint the exact moment my brain ceased to function.