Linear Chronology of Alpha Timeline
First Backward Leap – Paradox Birth
(F) is now the present LATER. Think of it as the future if you want. This portion of the appendix is written with the point where Twilight first successfully casts the time travel spell anchored as the present, so that is where (F) points now. (P), if you like, could stand for past now. It’s the present from before. The presence or absence of an event in these listings is not related to the importance of the event. There is a semi-arbitrary process I am using to decide what goes in and what does not. Like I said before, this is a helpful guide and not a complete cheat sheet. I want you to understand, but I want you to reach that understanding via brainy thinky times.
The previous appendix gave a sense of how events flowed even with ‘multiple’ ponies appearing. This one should start to show how the multiple paths fold across each other, letting you get a feel for how connections are formed… as well as showing you one of the important ways Twilight was wrong.
26) Rainbow Dash (2) switches places with Rainbow Dash (F – now 1) and Applejack (F – now 1) via Twilight (F)’s first time travel spell.
27) Twilight Sparkle (F – now 1) and Rainbow Dash (2 – now 8) switch places with Rainbow Dash (7) to go perform event 24.
28) Rainbow Dash (7) switches with Rainbow Dash (3) (4) and Twilight Sparkle (2).
29) Rainbow Dash (4 – now 5) switches with Rainbow Dash (10) to go to event 15.
30) Rainbow Dash (10) switches with Rainbow Dash (6) Twilight Sparkle (3) and Applejack (2).
31) Rainbow Dash (6) and Twilight Sparkle (3) switch with Rainbow Dash (10) and Twilight Sparkle (4) to go see Princess Celestia in the past.
32) Rainbow Dash (10) switches with Rainbow Dash (7).
33) Rainbow Dash (7), The Wonderbolts, and Twilight Sparkle (4) coordinate their efforts to send the energy and signature back to event 1.
34) Rainbow Dash (7) returns to Sweet Apple Acres to be with Applejack (2).
35) An undisclosed accident causes the death of Applejack (2).
36) Rainbow Dash (7), without the assistance of any Twilight Sparkles, sends HERSELF back and rewrites history to prevent her lover’s death.
oh look! my brain is back! I wondered where it went. odd... it seems to be screaming in agony. good thing that Scootaloo is here to step on it. it was starting to get confusing for a second.
But seriously, dear god, this is doing soooo little to help me understand this shit. Dash (8) was right, charts would really help right about now... I still say that this is one of the most brilliant fics I've ever read tho, simply on the merit that if by some miracle it all makes perfect sense in the end, it is one of the most brilliant narratives I've read, and needs some kind of recognition...
fandom needs to develop its its own Fan FIction Academy award.
14077 What you said. Awesome. Except the part where I understand all of it so far. I'm pretty sure I know what events have not been disclosed yet, and which events that have been revealed fit where in the timeline. Took alot of thought though, and I'd be screwed without this Appendix... just to many variables. It reminds me of when you try to find a solution for several planes (usually 3) on a 3D graph, and your working with more than 2 variables. You have to substitute variables to solve for other variables. Except here you are only eliminating possible variables by realizing that other variables are defined. So in that sense it's more like Sudoku. I like Sudoku. I'm not sure whether or not to put a or a ...
I admit that I don't have the individual instances of ponies completely straight, but I'm fairly certain that I've got the gist of events thus far. Also, I look forward to seeing the description of Scootaloo's "master of time" cutie mark.
Time travel always gives me a headache, temporal/quantum physics in general being several orders of magnitude beyond the level of math I'm comfortable with in my head. But aside from loosing track of exactly how many of each pony exist in a given point in time and their precise purpose, I think I've got a handle on the general flow of events. And it is awesome, so very, very awesome.
I do agree with the call for a graphical representation of the timeline(s) and planes, but I think it would be best to wait until the writing's done to avoid spoilers and complexity.. Perhaps at the end of the story, we'll get to see one, but until then: bookmark'd, watch'd.
It seems to help if you don't think about it too hard, and it seems to bleed understanding into your brain. On that note, it's taken me like 3 weeks to understand this...
Okay, now I'm thoroughly confused. I can't wait until the next appendix. Then I can start to get an idea of what's going on.
I just have tiny winy question. What happened to the time traveling, 4th wall rending, party pony in all of this?
Seriously, I would imagine she, and any other hers that met her, would be a source of all different kinds of trouble.... and transtemporal parties
This story makes me want to invent time travel and have my own Time Shenanigans!
I don't even want to understand, I just read it and imagine that it's all a matter of them being mentally unstable or something :(
The pieces fall into place, but I suspect the puzzle is only just beginning to be solved.
Like we have the corner pieces or something :P
confooosed...
wow it... works...
OK, trying to read it to understand it...
Ending up going f**k it, I'm not going to bother understanding it apart from this one thing:
Attempting to mess with the 'timeline' will ensure utter chaos.
You may ask why I say 'timeline' with '. That is because it is not a line but a tree, and one with a uncountable amount of branches. Each branch represents an action or thought that has, is, or going to happen. On one set, Applejack and Rainbow Dash got along normally, and in the end... there was no Scootaloo (Poor Scoot ). That is where the ending of this fanfic lies. Yet for it to truly happen, there had to be no Scootaloo to begin with, which furthers this ending. In short the ending is the 'True' branch, more or less. On another set, you have this, a complex, twisted set of branches that cross and meld together. Also you have Scootaloo's where they shouldn't, and therefore chaos reigns. Where these two branches originate from is one simply thing: Paradox Scootaloo.
Now how PS originates from is beyond mortal comprehension. Also PS is able to see the branches and manipulate them, in a sense. Yet in the branch where PS does not exist, you have, at least to this stories glimpses, one AppleDash couple that AJ dies in, and one suicidal RD at the least. There are branches where 'true' Scootaloos exist, and some where Scootaloo doesn't exist at all.
You know, saying that makes me realize something: I lied when I said this story ended on the 'true' path, as Twilight still remembers who Scootaloo is/was/will be. I say will be because PS is able to manipulate the branches to make sure that she exists because she does exist (lol Paradox statement).
If attempting to alter the timetree ensures chaos, a chaos that builds until it doesn't make sense, then paradoxes start where that chaos ends and continues it until either your brain becomes nothing or you have learnt to not think about it and just accept it.
In terms of better understanding, paradoxes are Pinkie Pie. You don't bother.
Oh and the whole thing about the universe ending being a paradox, well doesn't that mean that the fact that we live is a paradox, since we too were created from nothing? Oh and I don't mean God or anything like that, I just mean that we exist from nothing. And besides, it's called a timeline/timetree for a reason: it has a beginning and an end. Yet from every ending, there is a new beginning, the seeds of the last tree giving birth to the new one.
To those who say that this story can really be considered 'Chapter 1' in its own sense, where is the rest of the story? I would love PS' story expand further and can resolve her own paradox.
On a different note... all this time and paradox talk has me really wanting to play Final Fantasy XIII-2 again, but I have nothing really to do in it except achievement hunt or start a new game.