Double Rainbow
written by theworstwriter
An Explanation Is In The Comments!
Comment #360 on this story (belongs to chapter 24, the last one) contains the explanation, what are you reading this for?
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21622 ok I get it now (sort of), and no your not a bad writer its just there are very few and I mean VERY FEW writers you can mess with time and space and make it work. please write another story but do all of us a favor and leave time travel out of it.
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So, time shenanigans. Yeah, I'm gonna go with time shenanigans.
I read the first 5 chapter....school started....I comeback and accidentally look at one of the final chapter.....im scared...
First off,
Also arguably the best self-insert one too, because the audience themselves were the freaking insert along with the author! 
This was a brilliant read, and I can honestly say that, now knowing the full explanation, that this is probably one of the best written time-travel fics -no, actually the best - I have EVER, EVER READ.
I'm also pleased that, at least until the introduction of Rainbow/Scoot's paradox events, that I was able to hold on and understand how most of this was going. I could see how Rainbow Dash traveling to the past could cause a slowly building strain on reality as, through each attempt at fixing the past, she and Twilight further pushed reality to fall apart due to vague info on Dash's part and Twilight perhaps jumping the gun sometimes after discovering how she was sending Dash back.
I could track the rough flow of each time-traveler and piece together previous scenes in a chronological order that made some sense, even though I knew parts were missing still. I could even see how you might've (at least by my silly logic 
) ended this 'happily ever after', especially after the scenes between Twilight and Celestia, and the Wonderbolts and Dash performing a crazy flying spell ritual, which (at the time) in my mind would've seemed likely to end somehow with nudging a past-Twilight from before everything began and/or Rainbow Dash's train of thoughts, so that they didn't actually do anything or go through with the time-travel, thus sadly wiping out one future but saving all of reality. In fact I probably thought that because I've seen it at least once before in another story somewhere.
Then the Paradox(es) showed up.
From there the story became more awesome, but sadly I lost all of my sanity and couldn't find it again.
Even after realizing Scoot was somehow the pony behind all of this, behind even a psycho!Twilight who thought she was the one pulling the strings, I couldn't really understand. I totally missed the scooter thing and the ending kinda just happened to me, leaving me scratching my head since I know it wasn't technically a sad ending. 
Reading the comment explanation however made me realize, again, how scary brilliant this story was and how scary brilliant you were in writing it.
A Paradox story about the paradox story. A Möbius strip about a cute little filly whose cutie mark was the very thing that caused the strip in the first place...or something along that line. I think I'm losing my sanity again just typing this.
I think I really will re-read this fic...later. After some pain medicine, a few non-time travel fics, perhaps some AppleDash fics that don't break the universe and give birth to a paradox filly, and some freaking sleep because-this-was-too-freaking-good-to-stop-reading-even-though-I-have-work-tomorrow-and-oh-my-god-look-at-the-time!!!
Hope you write more soon!
...
Ohhhhhhhh...
Subtle. I like it. Sorry you had to spell it out for us.
I enjoyed this story very much. It did melt my brain a little and i myself did not catch the Self-insert. This story did get me thinking though.
As is seems(to me at least), this entire story took place in an alternate universe, or atleast in a different branch or that universe. We never had the current timeline from the start so its possible that entire story is the story or a brantch off of the main line. It reminds me of the timeline in Steins;Gate..in a way. In this case time travel is the reason time travel is created(or founded). Time travel itself is the paradox.
Its not that it never had a begining. Its the fact that the instant that time travel is created, it is its own creation. So all things before that instant are cut off in sort.
Hopefully, that made at least a small bit of sence. Im still gathering the pieces of my brain off the floor.
I must say, that this was a very........interesting story. It completely MURDERED my mind, but it was still a good story. Grammatically correct too, as far as I could tell. *sigh* Seeing people using correct grammar always gives me a happy
1.
DO NOT UNDERSTAND
DERP?!?!?!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
CAN'T ... FIGURE... OUT...
ARE YOU A SPY?
Not very understandable.
HUH?
WHAT?
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8.
9.
1.
DO NOT UNDERSTAND
DERP?!?!?!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
CAN'T ... FIGURE... OUT...
ARE YOU A SPY?
Not very understandable.
HUH?
WHAT?
2.
3.
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22607
>successful troll was successful.
After an entire day to consider why things might be, I believe I may be on to something, so please, just bare with me for a sec. Okay, first of all, I believe that the reason as to why Scootaloo is nonexistent is because she is the author, whom cannot exist in the MLP universe, BUT, because this is his story, he has the ability to wade through and manipulate events as he (scoots) sees fit, although he cannot begin nor end this universe because did not create it. And the reason that we (Psycho Twilight) could not see you (author/scoots) is because you willed it to be such, and had not explained how you came upon us without us knowing until afterwords, because if you had, then we (P.T.) would have been expecting said attack. Although I have a few concerns as well. Time is perceived as both a single line, that can be changed and altered, and as a tree or web, wherein every decision creates an alternate or parallel world, according to what decision was made. Going with the former, I have some speculations. If this were the case, than the situation in which Rainbow Dash messes up big time and ends up becoming suicidal would contradict all of the other Rainbow Dashes that have already come back from a predetermined future in order to correct, or rather, to recreate what had already happened. This is the only instance in which I can see the latter of the two perceptions of time being applied, as for every new "tense" of a character to appear, they would attempt to change an event in a common past, only to create another parallel world, which would become completely disconnected to the others' "future" past a certain point.
<gasps for air> and I would just like to say that this is in no way negative criticism, or an attempt at finding holes in your story. I merely wish to understand what you, the author, had imagined, and to comprehend how certain events tied in to one another. I would appreciate it if you would reply with a little help.
-A Very Intrigued M.A.D Man.
27683
Any given timeline cannot be changed (except in the case of a paradox) and is effectively a straight line.
Every possible combination of events that create every possible timeline already exists on a line out there somewhere.
The web that can be seen from 'backstage' is where these lines cross. This does not NECESSARILY imply that the points where they cross are critical decisions that lead to branching paths, although it frequently APPEARS to be the case. This is because the points where the lines cross are the points where the timelines are most similar, and consequently where the natural resistive barrier between them is weakest.
When you successfully interact with a medium and a story in ways that people don't even know is possible, that's art.
Kudos.
Unfortunately, I don't get art.
27698
Don't you know that time is not a strait progression of linear events?
Time is more like a big ball of Wibbly Wobbly, timey wimey....stuff.....
Thant sentence got away from me.
SO MUCH READING, THIS WILL TAKE A WHOLE LOT OF TIME TO FINISH FROM THE START.....
So... Confused... This is one story that never clears itself up... and when there was just utter chaos with 7 RDs and stuff... I lost track of it all. Your appendixes hardly help as they stopped too soon... So sorry... But this is just a fic I regret reading...
I did enjoy the whole causality thing with scoot, but that too became a bit confusing...
Also, there was almost no focus with the actual shipping, which was a bit disappointing... But in the end, it seemed trivial.
BUT WAIT... where did scoot get the ability to travel thru time? o.o
I may regret this, but I am going to give the fic another read, I can't leave this unsolved. XD just not who I am.
HOLY F
K I GET IT!
It all makes sense now! I won't bother explaining it. good luck to the rest of you
This show is frilly.
What in the fu
k did I just read?
My mind is now full of crazy shit I do not and probably will not comprehend.
4542 TOO MUCH DOCTER WHO!!!
NEVER!!!!!!!!!!
well no matter how many times I think and read this I'm just not sure what to make of this.
*stands up and claps* That was heavy Doc, really heavy... Now what is troubling is that for as simple minded, however scientific, as I am I managed to understand this all to easily with only the appendix's "drying the cement", if you will, and that to me means something must give. Either memory or sanity, I bet on the latter as the weaker link. I will admit the scooter slipped by me... Now. . . I am going to get myself a drink that will hopefully numb enough of my being to soften the coming dreams, perhaps nightmares is a better word.
Time travel. I promised myself I'd never let myself get caught up in one of these Celestia-forsaken paradoxes. The future's the past, the past is the future. It all gives me a headache.
303771
Oh my... that's quite unfortunate.
The puzzle aspect? I would absolutely LOVE to make one big sticky puzzle that only the 'cool kids' would be able to solve.
But I've been told explicitly on more than one occasion to never ever do that. So I didn't here. That said, there ARE several smaller puzzles in here that have solutions, and in fact one fairly large one. The scooter. It CAN be understood.
I loved Primer.
450162
Lol I saw you replied and so I start to scroll up to find which one it was and saw like 5 in a row from me and was like "oh crap..." lmao
'Scootaloo wondered briefly if her cutie mark would be making absurd thoughts come true'
Most brilliant foreshadowing ever...
...or is it anteshadowing since this already happened infinity^infinity ago...?
This is one of the first pony fics I ever read, and to date, is the only one I've read twice. I rarely read anything twice, and I didn't re-read it just to understand... One of the things I applaud you for doing, is re-imagining the paradox. A paradox is something that by definition defies logic, and thus defies its own definition! That note in the story resonated with me so positively my windows broke... and then remained perfectly intact and nonexistent at the same time.... but not 5 seconds to the left or right of the same time.
I don't know if I commented on this before, (which was before I'd even registered) but having returned to this for a second run... it's once again at the top of my favorites list.
I do have to wonder though... Scoots returns to her proper time and everything returns to working order, but is she still outside of time even then, seeing as she is the living paradox? Even when her proper self is in time, she is out of time watching herself be in time? I suppose by definition she must be....but definitions are so... logical and aparadoxical.
Scoots is best paradox.
...
I had figured out the paradox for paradox's sake concept and some of the major points, except for Scoots as a representation of the author(ironically due to the way I figured out the rest): when I analyzed it, I decided to internally model it as a separate universe; even mentally tracing a graph correlating the chapter progression with the timeline so I didn't have to worry about causality on the timeline - the timeline could loop all it wanted to and I wouldn't have given up. A useful model to avoid questions that would only apply to our reality; but this model completely neglected the role of the reader as the interpreter of this universe. For an example, my earlier mental model still had a linear progression of the narrative in spite of how I read it checking other chapters and such.
Like Twilight, I was paying attention to all the cogs; except for one of the most important ones. Even though the system could work by itself; something still felt like it was missing, and so I scrolled down into the comments.
"Hah! I knew it!"
"Oh. Crap. I see what I did wrong"
On a related note; Primer is an obvious influence - any other works with ideas like it/this that might be interesting to check out?
That certainly was quite a convoluted mess to read, and it certainly was enjoyable. XD
...just wondering, why did we never get to see "time traveling Pinkie Pie" in action?
That twist with Scootaloo was great.
i1.kym-cdn.com/profiles/icons/big/000/074/522/131244795878.gif
Although now I don't know what ever happend to her in the end / if she ever got to live out a regular life with her family (or in case that happend, I kinda lost track of it throughout the multiple timelines).
Ah well, I guess everything turned out okay. To a certain percentage, with a certain statistical probability, of course. Quantum and all that.
...and that's how Scootaloo got/gets/will get/has been getting/will have gotten/has been will get her cutie mark!
t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4yQcM2insdwjphVuKMs-rrAhx2DzlHfy8YCOJeEERAnlC9JXN
21622 Hey... I ended and restarted the universe, and I never inserted myself into the fic! There's no paradox in my story, just the end of everything as we know it, and the restarting of everything as it is known!
This was one of the first fics I read on FiMFiction, a long time before I got an account. It broke my brain so bad that I just stared at the screen uncomprehending for a few minutes after finishing it. Well, now I do have an account and I just happened to stumble upon it again and I'm gonna reread it and see if it still breaks my brain.
This is also one of my favorite fics because it broke my brain.
Just read through this story for the first time... While listening to the Double Rainbow Song on infinite loop... unsurprisingly the two go together VERY well.
Reading this, I feel like I've lost my mind, but I feel I have enough sanity to provide some feedback, so here I go!
First and foremost I want to say that you've got a strong talent with your writing itself. The story, while confusing and almost impossible to follow, at least has a great structure and foundation, and it goes along at a fairly brisk pace. There's definitely some strong quality to this and there seems to be a method behind the madness, but it's very very hard to see it.
Trying to go in with the description given, it felt like a near simple premise and story at first, but then all that went out the window once all the multiple timelines started happening. It got all so alarmingly confusing and chaotic that I had to put the story down and condemn it for fear of it making my sanity levels drop even further with the amount of nonsensical stuff going on. I think one of my bigger issues I had is the story had a major MAJOR lack of focus, and changing perspectives all over the place certainly didn't help. Personally I think at this rate the story could definitely use the "random" tag from how much I've read of it, and I don't know if I'll ever finish it.
As I said, there does seem to be a rhythm to it all, it's just really hard to see, and just go along with. The story, while a mess, is at least entertaining, and you do have a strong attention to detail. I'm at a loss for words for what else I can say about it. You're a good writer, for sure, and you seem to have this all organized, but the execution is kinda flawed unless you're deliberately screwing with the heads of all your readers.
Well, that's all I can safely say. Here's to hoping I'll see more of your more sane works in the future, cuz you've definitely got the talent! Now just put it to better use writing stories that doesn't make me wanna pound my head with a hammer to try and make logic of it all.
-M.
I have mixed feelings about this story. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think I followed it better than most (judging by the comments anyway). In my own headcannon she just reinserted herself into the timeline she was actually born in, though
OH MY GOD WHAT THE BUCK IS HAPPENING MY BRAIN IS ROASTING.
I'm sorry, but this is WAAAAAAY too confusing for me.
i understand the premis is to be confusing, but i just cant follow the plot when you have rainbow dash sitting next to rainbow dash sitting next to rainbow dash watching rainbow dash whilst theres a couple more floating around. I could if you started from the beginning, but i realize that that would kindda ruin the whole of the story. Overall this just aint my cup of tea, too confuzing i dont like headaches when im reading
Ok. I think* I've straightened out this plate of time-spaghetti** and cut-and-spliced and color-coded the one(s) I suspect were the same one*** in an attempt to read as much as possible in what might be described as "chronological order" (insofar as "chronology" makes any sense here, and insofar as "logic" has anything to do with this mess. "Order" is right out the window.)
Seeing as I've had to keep mixing and matching story segments, read it a few times through from three different "starting points" (including the one given in "Chapter One") and given the lack of tenses to the involved time-scrambled during the story itself, all I can safely say is that I've wasted a lot of my time and many sheets of paper, and possibly gained a slight insight as to how it might have been written****.
Much as I might like to see the original notesº from the writing of this, I think I'd prefer not to know how close I am for certain. Then I can reread this in five years or something and see if it still makes my brain fizz like some nut was spark-welding in there.‡
* I might be wrong. In fact I'm probably wrong.^
** Where each noodlestrand represents a sideline reality. Thanks to the nature of the story, each "end" connects to the other end of the same noodle, at least for the strands where we were actually given the whole thing. Most of these noodles were quite tiny, if I've got this right. (See * above.)
*** Complete with crossover point markings. Provided, of course, that there was only one "main" strand.
**** Very slight indeed.
º IF they (still?) exist and were available.
‡ Not as unlikely as you might think.
^ I am , in fact, wrong.
27698
Wow, I'm late to this party. Still, can't HURT to comment, right?
And I know you don't like giving answers, but perhaps you could at least look at what I say and then say "There. Right there. You're wrong there, re-analyze that point."?
So, there are a lot of pieces to this story, some of which I've put together, some of which I don't think I have yet.
However, for some reason, the one thing that stands out, and that I really want to know in order to start wrapping up this story in my head, is:
WHAT TWILIGHT WAS FIGHTING PSYCHO TWILIGHT?
Now hold on a second here while I explain my logic here.
1.) At two points in the story we see a Twilight that hasn't made it behind the curtain thinking about making it behind the curtain.
2.) However, these events should be part of the same timeline/reality, and thus they should eventually be the same Twilight.
3.) One of these times is when she decodes her message to herself. This should be in the same timeline that the vast majority of the other events in the story happened. She is trying to sort out the convoluted events. She thinks of whatever is behind the curtain as an enemy, and thus it kind of feels like she's preparing to fight psycho Twilight.
4.) Later, (for Twilight, since she knows about the cracks), SOMETHING has happened, and Twilight can't believe it. She's right on the verge of making it behind the curtain. It seems that she'll succeed. Her mental state seems like she could easily succumb to becoming psycho Twilight.
5.) However, they seem to be coming from the same iteration of Ponyville, not one of the many, many Ponyville's that showed up for a while.
6.) The two Twilights, during the confrontation, seem to act independently of one another, and not like one is a future version of the other. Did they come from different realities after all? If so, can we know specifically which ones? Which ones are they?
Did I go wrong here? If so, where did I go wrong here?
So, to sum this up this is just essentially the worst resue ever! (from a paradox that should have never been)
ALSO, Am I the only one who thinks this whole situation would have been much easier to deal with if twilight had, I don't know, ASKED DOCTOR WHOOVES, PONYVILLE'S RESIDENT TIMELORD, FOR HELP?
Still, fairly good though
Having only read stories originally that EQD posted, I never thought to go back and search for stories I've really enjoyed or loved or even lost track of, firefox used to be so cruel back in the days, but wow I really love this story and now I get to continue where I left off <3
Sure is great seeing all these nostalgia inducing fics again
First off, I looked at comment #360...that did explain it perfectly and cleared everything up well. I showed this story to my AP physics teacher and my AP psychology teacher at my school for them to read over the weekend. On monday they immedietly dropped my grade by 10% each for confusing the un-holy shit out of them. Now, I AM starting to understand and piece all of what happened together into something that makes a bit of sense. This must have taken an inconceivable amount of time to think of and write in a manner that actually makes sense (at least to yourself). This was, oddly enough, very well written and it captivated my attention from beginning to end. Very well done! I look forward to reading more from you in the future. Keep up the great writing!
What the *yay*ing HAY in Celestia's TARTARUS DID I JuSt reAD?!?! *twitch*
You know, I really *really* wanted to like this story. For about the first three quarters of it, I was enjoying this story more than just about any other time travel story I've read. I had intended to simply go with the flow, not really try too hard to wrap my head around it and see where things led.
Once I hit the first appendix, though, I got the impression that the author actually wanted us as readers to try and comprehend the flow of events, to view the whole thing as a solvable puzzle. My brain shifted gears from "enjoying the ride" to "plotting the route". That's when the roller coaster went off the rails.
I'm starting to get the impression from some of the comments that this is exactly what the author wanted. To force those of us who were following the story like Pinkie careening through the Diamond Dog's tunnels to stop waving our hooves in the air enjoying ourselves and instead take on the role of the twitching, confused Twilight.
If that's the case, then, indeed- well played, sir. You've won. Now if you'll excuse me I don't think I care to play your games any further. Best of luck in your future endeavors. I'm going to go find a bottle of aspirin and read a nice comedy now.
2463775
You may be pleased to hear that none of my other stories here have anywhere near this level of this particular flavor of shenanigans and for the most part do not feature any of these sorts of shenanigans at all (though a few twisty puzzley bits pop up here and there).
In fact, my most popular work is a simple and straightforward "CMC cause problems" comedy.
I do not apologize for your headache, though. That just means your brain is working extra hard.
you're clearly unaware that it's not possible to look at comments by number >< Or if it is I don't know how.
2714971
It used to be possible and/or make sense. Way back when this was posted. It's better this way, so my ridiculous format experiments (appendices? comment hints?) are forgotten.