It wasn’t the Ponyville library, but had done well these past few decades. The office, her one refuge, was kept obsessively clean. Her walls were covered with diplomas, degrees, certifications, and pictures when they were not covered with bookshelves. Her desk was made of the finest mahagony, crafted magically to bend the very fabric of space and time so that she could have comfortable naps when the desire fell upon her. The statue of Discord stood beside her door, it’s rather amusing expression covered by the coat she left upon it. Twilight Sparkle was an intelligent, powerful, wise and kind pony of many years. The current data suggested that due to prolong and intense use of the Elements of Harmony, her mind and body were being warped into a new, more regal form. Therefore, she was Celestia’s protégé once more, and had to practice her ‘Princess lessons’ when speaking with all subjects of the Equestrian crown. This is what Twilight kept saying to herself as she listened to the supposedly distressed student pleading with her over the telephone. “No, I will not give you a better grade,” Twilight told the person on the other end of the line. There was more talking on the other end, not quite audible to others in the room. Twilight sighed a little bit. “How unfortunate. What was her name?” there was more talking. “Huh. You said she died two times during this semester alone. The data would suggest that since your grandmother is constantly dying and being reborn, you would be part phoenix. Which is false, since phoenix are incompatible with ponies. In any case, they’re much smarter than you,” Twilight said in deadpan. More babbling came from the other end. “Well let’s go down the list, shall we?” Twilight asked, an edge of vindictive glee in her voice. “You’re always late to class. You’re always drunk. You are never keeping colt friends, and I had to console several of the talented young stallions you threw away because they needed a mother figure and apparently I’m it. Although the rise in social illnesses correlating to your arrival does not suggest you are the cause, I would still suggest testing.” There was outright yelling now, although Twilight stood her ground. “Well, the data suggest that you could be defined as such if we were strictly keeping with the dictionary definition. Oh, the Chancillor? Do you mean our fair Princess Luna? Founder and head of the Royal Lunar University, of which you are taking classes and allowing you to pester me with all these wonderful toys?” There was silence on the other end. Twilight smiled. “Gotcha. I won’t be handing out ‘emergency bonus grades’. Go to bed, fail the final with some semblance of dignity, and register for another semester. If you do well, this one will be forgiven. Now good night.” Twilight hung up the phone before quietly tucking it away. Spike knocked on the door. “Come on in, Spike.” The young dragon had entered into the office carrying a tray. “I got you some milk and cookies,” Spike said. He was larger now, more the size of Big Macintosh than a young foal. He seemed more mature, and in many ways he was, but at his core he was still the same Spike. “You don’t need to treat me like a kid, Spike,” Twilight replied. “In fact, aren’t I kind of your mother?” Spike grinned. “You hatched me, but that doesn’t you Mom. Your Mom is my mom. That's why I call her Mom, remember?” “Fair enough,” Twilight said with a shrug. Despite her initial protest, she began to nibble on one of the cookies. “These are good.” “Are they? I learned how to make them from Pinkie Pie,” Spike replied with a grin. “Which means they’ll go to my flank,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Or would, if I were a normal pony.” “But you are a normal pony,” Spike said. “No Spike. If I were a normal pony, then other ponies wouldn’t be treating me like some sort of Princess,” Twilight replied, quickly standing up and walking out of her office. Spike followed her. “My love life is a mess, which I guess goes along with being ‘an egghead’. Or the fact that I’ll outlive most of my age cohort. My friends are all in corners of the world I have absolutely no control over. My family expects me to do… something… “And to top that all off, I either have to deal with hero worship, insolence, or political chicken manure!” Twilight ranted off. “How’s politics involved in this? You’re not a politician,” Spike replied. “No, I’m not. I’m the Chair of the Arcane Sciences department. Which means I get to sign off on money. In fact, I get to sign off on all the money!” Twilight said with false enthusiasm. “Oh, I was dreading a life of studying subjects which intrest me, in relative solitude, while drawing a government paycheck for it. Now I get to spend all days fisical reports and requests and papers which I couldn’t give two bits about until my eyes go bad, which is oh so much better. “I swear by all gods old and new, and I mean this Spike, overseeing a thesis defense was the highlight of my month. My month! I should be the one defending research. Or making a new spell. Or studying all the new things going on in the fields of natural philosophy. The fields of natural philosophy. It’s dividing itself now because there so much to do and learn. And I should be doing that! Learning and doing! Not wasting my life in an office!” “But Princess Luna asked you to do this, Twilight. And you were so happy to do it,” Spike said, almost pleadingly. Twilight sighed, looking around as she walked. She was approaching the library now. For some reason it was a more comfortable place to sleep in than her own almost lavish bedroom. “Yeah Spike, I know. But you know what would make me happy right now? Going back to Ponyville.” Twilight opened the door to the library and turned on the lights. This library was much more plush and intimate than Celestia’s, with comfortable carpets and places to sit for multiple body layouts. But it was all wood and brass, like some royal’s parlor instead of the comfortable reading place the Ponyville library was. “But you were in Ponyville last week,” Spike said. “Not that Ponyville. I want to go back to the old Ponyville,” Twilight said as she found herself a particularly large pillow to lay down on. “You’re going to mess up your mane like that,” Spike warn. “It’s already messed up,” Twilight said with a yawn, before laying down. She stroked the luxerous couch, cooing lovingly to it. “Oh couch, I’m so unfaithful with my bed by sleeping with you. Nopony must ever know.” Spike sighed. “Now your just being silly.” “I’m a tired old mare, Spike. A lonely, tired, single old mare that even Cadence couldn't find a match for. I have a right to be silly,” Twilight replied, closing her eyes. “Turn off the lights on your way out, and wake me up before the librarian comes by and throws a fit.” “Yes ma’am,” Spike wearily replied. He then turned off the light, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts and dreams. ---------------------------------------- Okay, so here's the commentary part to keep from double posting. The past few weeks have been emotionally exhausting for me. I've had to take a step back and look at things. I looked at several of my older projects and wanted to get them back up to speed. However, I couldn't simply continued because I've written so much (and have made so many mistakes) that I've made a noticeable leap in the quality of my writing. This is principally a rebooting of "The Trouble with Time Travel", which I couldn't find a way to unfuck. Everything has been planned out beforehand, so it'll be more cohesive and 'tight' than my previous go at writing this story. I'll be removing several of the old things for the sake of keeping it tight, and implimenting several of my storylines in new ways. (Having Space!Texas make contact with Equestria in a much more natural way, rather than forcing it and coming out of nowhere. Incoperating feats of superheroism. etc.) However, this will also be a serial, so I'll probably get around to incorporating everything else in one way or another as I go along. It won't be all carbon copy, but hopefully it'll all end up to be as episodic and zany as SB influenced MLP:FiM should be. That said, I'll still be maintaining the MLP:FiM and MtG crossover, as it's a radically different tone and story and a true crossover.
Very nice. I look forward to more. Its a bit understandable as well. My original idea before you adopted it was very unworkable. I was really surprised you did as well as you did on TTWTT.
Should be a ‘make’ in there I think. Never read The Trouble with Time Travel so I have no idea what this is supposed to be about. Still I can see some rather interesting ways it could go so we shall wait and see.
The Trouble with Time Travel was partially based on an idea I had along time ago. It was part of two ideas I had concerning Twilight, and Time Travel. The Trouble with Time Travel was based on the idea that a much older and more experienced Twilight exhausted with her life, either by choice or outside influence, was sent back in time to the start of her adventures. Except this time, she does not take things as seriously. The very base idea turned into a Twilight Sparkle Trolling everyone, and would have eventually devolved into a personality death fic for Twilight. The Trouble with Time Travel is Fijkus taking the idea and making it better. This is in turn appears to be a refinement of The Trouble with Time Travel. The other idea I had is currently adopted and being written by Koolerkid, under the story title My Choices: Twisted Tales through Time.
No, I tried writing a bit. Discussion in the idea thread ultimately pulled it into what I mentioned. Fijkus's TTWTT contained a certain medium of balance where my very base idea did not. Fijkus just did it better to put it one way. Its also a unfortunate aspect that I suffer from Twilight-is-best-pony-itis, so my ideas rarely stray from her as a centering character. Although I think I might have caught a case of Trixie-is-awesome Syndrome at some point that sneaked up on me. Offhand, I still feel a mixture of pride and shame for basically creating Trollight Sparkle.
quick question how similar wil the ponys personalitys be? examle will flutershy still be pony irwn/gordon green
I hope she isn't. That was strained and a terribly stupid Fluttershy really isn't funny in the long run.
Pony fandom was going through a sudden spurt of speciest self loathing during the time. In nearly every case the humans were a) almost completely evil or b) tremendous assholes. Considering the fact that the fic was helping me manage my emotions at the time, the inclusion was a bit frantic. There'll still be humans. But it'll be after Nightmare Moon is dealt with, when the main cast is trying to figure out what that giant grey metal bird was that caused so much property damage in Cloudsdale. A much more natural first contact, where most of the humans are just folk trying to figure out the best way to get by. Just like the ponies. I like the idea of Fluttershy being the soft spoken pony Ranger living next to the giant D&D forest. I was a bit manic at the time. Most of the family issues have been resolved for now. Yes. Yes.
Fly softly, and have an epic gaze attack. As I don’t have the time to read the pre-reboot material and the prologue was rather ambiguous I will ask outright: are the ‘changes’ the EoH inflicted on Twilight (and presumably her friends) an Alicorn upgrade?
My understanding was it was something like my Avvy as it stands: She's still a Unicorn... she's just bigger... Think of it that the DM applied extra HD and class levels to her
Stick wings on her, and she could be a Princess. Everything about her is still about the same as a base pony, she's just Celestia sized, half as powerful as Big C (though much more diversified).
It just seemed like a separate story premise than "twilight goes back in time" and a bit like two-plot lines being mashed up unnecessarily, but I'm glad to hear you'll make it more natural. I'll take your word for the 'anti-human' thing, since the only stories with ponies and humans interacting I saw here were "Friendship is Dragons" and "Arrow Contact Logs" and neither one of them displays anything of the kind.
It was percolating in the Ponychan collection of authors, mainly. Some of it was "Oh, I'm a cynical teenager! ANNNNNGST!"
The sun was bright in the face of Twilight Sparkle. Slowly she shook the sleep from her eyes. She felt so fatigued, but from the blurry image of the book laying on the desk she quickly decided that she was sleep reading again. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then looked around. She was in a library, but it was not nearly as baroque as the one she fell asleep in. Everything was either off white or brightly colored, brightly colored modern books sitting on the shelves. The glass windows let the sun into the atrium, which would decay the older tomes that Princess Luna favored making available for her students, researchers and printers. The giant globe and the hour glass sitting in the center of the room was perhaps the biggest giveaway to her location. “Oh no no no no! I’m in the Canterlot Royal Library! I must have teleported here while I was sleep researching!” Twilight said frantically, almost reaching to the point of yelling. “Maybe if I used a spell to travel back in time… no, I don’t have any time for that! Where are my clothes?” The mare looked around for the clothes that she normally wore, particularly her vest and sweater, before seeing herself in an antique silver backed mirror. Twilight gasped. The pony before her was not her. She looked like Twilight Sparkle, but was a much younger mare of normal proportions, and with a relatively stubby horn. Twilight screamed, backing away from the mirror as quickly as she could. “Twilight, what’s wrong?!” Spike yelled, running into room. Twilight could hear her heart racing in her ears as she saw her assistant and little brother figure appear at least fourty years younger. A full on baby dragon. “I… you… you’re a baby!” Twilight babbled incoherently. “I’m not a baby! I’m eight years old!” Spike replied indignantly. “Geez. What’s going on with you?” “I don’t know! Maybe a spell backfired! Or anything!” Twilight yelled, before realizing that she was panicking. She then closed her eyes, and began counting quietly to twenty, her hoof lightly tapping on the ground. “Uhh… Twilight? Are you okay? What are you doing?” Spike asked. “Calming down,” Twilight replied. She still seemed somewhat panicked, but at least she wasn’t yelling now. “It’s an old zebra trick. If you count slowly, you give yourself enough time to calm down enough from panicking to make better informed decisions.” “That’s… actually kind of cool,” Spike replied. “But why are you so nervious?” “I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “That’s the problem. Anything could of gone wrong while I was sleeping.” “You look perfectly normal to me. A bit tired, though. Maybe you should take a nap. I do it all the time, so it must be good for you!” Spike replied enthusiastically. “Umm… no thanks,” Twilight replied, pulling down a book. “I need to figure out what happened so that I can go ahead and teach my class. I hate being late for class, especially if I’m the professor!” “You… a professor? Seriously, Twilight, what’s going on. You’re not a professor. You’re Princess Celestia’s student,” Spike replied. Twilight stood still for a moment, before pulling down a couple of more books. “Spike, what’s today?” “Thursday. The day before the Summer Sun Festival,” Spike replied, which caused Twilight to pull down a few more books. “Need any help?” “Not right now. I’ll take a nap after I do some light reading,” Twilight replied, before casually lifting two dozen tomes on theoretical magic with her own unicorn telekinesis. “That’s light reading?” Spike asked. “Actually, it’s… yes, Spike. Yes it is,” Twilight replied. “I need to get some more exercise anyway. Get some fresh air, see some friends. I’ll be in the park if you need me, okay?” “Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike replied. As the young unicorn mare walked out, he began thinking to himself. “She’s sorta acting like normal, but she’s not making any sense. Who should I talk to?” At that, he smiled as the answer almost immediately entered into his head. “Princess Celestia! She’ll know what to do!”
Spike contacting Celestia? Not even in the past for a minute and already things are off the rails. Good job Twilight.
"The magical apprentice is acting really weird. It may be a magical accident from the way she's talking. I should contact her magic teacher just in case," is not an unreasonable line of thought. Especially when the characters are designed so that everyone's reasonably competent (although not perfect or infallible).
Plus, if Twilight has any kind of history concerning emotional reactions and such similar to what happens in Ponyville from time to time before she actually went there, Spike has a standing policy similar to the Color Alert system. A sort of instinctive assessment of how much OH-MY-GOD-WHAT-IS-HAPPENING is about to happen in response to Twilight's standing mental state. Right now, Twilight is rambling, talking about magical experiments and such that did not happen, and is on the verge of sounding off on a rant. Spike, in response, has elevated his alert status to Code Blue which likely follows thus: Twilight is acting very strange, advise Princess Celestia as to obtain operating procedure and prepare potential crisis response.
"At least she's not using Want-it Need-it yet." Twilight wanting people to love her is a very scary mare.
Indeed. In other words, Spike is Twilight's assistant, and Celestia's early warning system in case the next Equestrian Apocalypse happens to be Twilight Sparkle related.
Its always nice to see a time traveler that can't immediately seem to accept their new circumstances. Especially one who has had experience with time travel and looks to consider it an acceptable solution for being late.
