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Organised by
RogerDodger
Word limit
400–750
Tick
There was only ever one Twilight Sparkle. Sure, a pony could consider the filly of twelve to be different the young mare of twenty one who saved the world from Nightmare Moon. However, they were just cross-sections of the pony that was Twilight Sparkle. Each individual was no more separate from the continuum than a single wafer of Twilight was a pony.
Except for that week when there were two Twilights.
Twilight the younger dragged her hooves as she made her way through the shattered streets of Ponyville. Her hair was dirty and streaked with gore, and her wings hung limp at her sides. In the sky above her head the sun was dying, fire bleeding out into the sky as it dimmed to a blood red.
At the centre of Ponyville the Machine rose high above the broken roof of the town hall. An alien thing formed of spheres of metal and magic that spun around each other endlessly. Insane geometries dragged the eye off into oblivion and Twilight fought to avoid looking too deep. The Machine was running full tilt under the direction of the alicorn at its base.
“You’re right on time,” Twilight the elder, Queen Sparkle, said. “And too late.” She turned to face her. “This marks the six million, four hundred and twenty three thousand and third time we’ve failed to save the world.” A tome appeared in her magic. “I’ve prepared my instructions for when you’re ready to try again.”
Twilight stared at the Queen, slack jawed. “What?” she demanded. “What! You said you had a plan, you said you knew how to save the world, you said that everypony would live!”
She nodded. “I know. The first instruction is to lie. Twilight, there is so very little time to explain, the world will end any minute. If you aren’t back in time by then, if you haven’t used the Machine, then everything we have done will be for nothing.”
“It has been!” Twilight roared, flaring her wings. “They’re dead, don’t you understand that? The princesses are dead, my friends are dead, Equestria is dying and all because of this!” She jabbed a hoof at the machine. “All that power, all that metal and time, what did it even do?”
“It will give us another chance,” Sparkle said, softly. “There’s a perfect answer, Twilight, there’s one where the princess’s live and Equestria has a future, but it’s not this one. Try again, please.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You could have tried this time around! Ponyville... you were right here and you did nothing.”
Sparkle’s smile had no warmth. “I said that last time too. The machine takes so much to build, but we have to build it, otherwise the world ends with us. Take the book, Twilight, try again.”
The tome passed between two identical magical fields.
“I won't.”
“Six million times you have have,” Sparkle assured her. “It's the only way. If you stay, Equestria will die and our friends will stay dead. Go.”
Twilight did, making her way across the blackened cobble towards the monstrous Machine. Twilight fancied that the feverish writhing of grew frantic as she approached.
“Why?” she said, her voice a whisper. “What will be different this time?”
“It will be better,” Sparkle assured her. “The plan becomes better every time we fail. It will work, eventually.”
Twilight closed her eyes. She saw Celestia, bleeding out because she’d given too much to the Machine. She saw Rainbow, sobbing over Fluttershy’s corpse, too late because of the Machine. She saw Equestria fall while the Machine rose ever higher.
“No.” Twilight turned to face her elder self. Tears stung her eyes, but, despite her exhaustion, magic poured through her as she called upon the last of her strength. “No, I will not do this! This ends now!”
Broken stone and shards of metal leapt into the air, wreathed in magic, and Twilight hurled them into the Machine. Stone slammed into the delicate workings, magic breaking free from its bonds in a devastating chain reaction.
“What have you done!” Queen Sparkle roared, hurling herself towards the Machine, but it was far too late.
“I won’t be another tick in the book.”
The Machine exploded.
Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book, frowning. She had the strangest feeling that something momentous hadn’t happened. Chuckling to herself, she shook her head and continued her reading.
Whatever the problem was, Twilight knew that she and her friends could figure it out when the time came.
Except for that week when there were two Twilights.
Twilight the younger dragged her hooves as she made her way through the shattered streets of Ponyville. Her hair was dirty and streaked with gore, and her wings hung limp at her sides. In the sky above her head the sun was dying, fire bleeding out into the sky as it dimmed to a blood red.
At the centre of Ponyville the Machine rose high above the broken roof of the town hall. An alien thing formed of spheres of metal and magic that spun around each other endlessly. Insane geometries dragged the eye off into oblivion and Twilight fought to avoid looking too deep. The Machine was running full tilt under the direction of the alicorn at its base.
“You’re right on time,” Twilight the elder, Queen Sparkle, said. “And too late.” She turned to face her. “This marks the six million, four hundred and twenty three thousand and third time we’ve failed to save the world.” A tome appeared in her magic. “I’ve prepared my instructions for when you’re ready to try again.”
Twilight stared at the Queen, slack jawed. “What?” she demanded. “What! You said you had a plan, you said you knew how to save the world, you said that everypony would live!”
She nodded. “I know. The first instruction is to lie. Twilight, there is so very little time to explain, the world will end any minute. If you aren’t back in time by then, if you haven’t used the Machine, then everything we have done will be for nothing.”
“It has been!” Twilight roared, flaring her wings. “They’re dead, don’t you understand that? The princesses are dead, my friends are dead, Equestria is dying and all because of this!” She jabbed a hoof at the machine. “All that power, all that metal and time, what did it even do?”
“It will give us another chance,” Sparkle said, softly. “There’s a perfect answer, Twilight, there’s one where the princess’s live and Equestria has a future, but it’s not this one. Try again, please.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You could have tried this time around! Ponyville... you were right here and you did nothing.”
Sparkle’s smile had no warmth. “I said that last time too. The machine takes so much to build, but we have to build it, otherwise the world ends with us. Take the book, Twilight, try again.”
The tome passed between two identical magical fields.
“I won't.”
“Six million times you have have,” Sparkle assured her. “It's the only way. If you stay, Equestria will die and our friends will stay dead. Go.”
Twilight did, making her way across the blackened cobble towards the monstrous Machine. Twilight fancied that the feverish writhing of grew frantic as she approached.
“Why?” she said, her voice a whisper. “What will be different this time?”
“It will be better,” Sparkle assured her. “The plan becomes better every time we fail. It will work, eventually.”
Twilight closed her eyes. She saw Celestia, bleeding out because she’d given too much to the Machine. She saw Rainbow, sobbing over Fluttershy’s corpse, too late because of the Machine. She saw Equestria fall while the Machine rose ever higher.
“No.” Twilight turned to face her elder self. Tears stung her eyes, but, despite her exhaustion, magic poured through her as she called upon the last of her strength. “No, I will not do this! This ends now!”
Broken stone and shards of metal leapt into the air, wreathed in magic, and Twilight hurled them into the Machine. Stone slammed into the delicate workings, magic breaking free from its bonds in a devastating chain reaction.
“What have you done!” Queen Sparkle roared, hurling herself towards the Machine, but it was far too late.
“I won’t be another tick in the book.”
The Machine exploded.
Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book, frowning. She had the strangest feeling that something momentous hadn’t happened. Chuckling to herself, she shook her head and continued her reading.
Whatever the problem was, Twilight knew that she and her friends could figure it out when the time came.