Queen Twilight Sparkle

Outstanding. It hasn’t been a day since past me defeated Sombra for the first time in the Crystal Empire. But that hasn’t stopped Celestia from turning me into a prisoner for the time being. Now I wear a unicorn illusion disguise and act as her personal assistant. I feel so degraded as this white coated brown maned pony. Gone are my luscious violet fur coat and mane and hello to being next to Celestia for most, if not the entire day. Even through organizing her schedule and paperwork, which I’m still great at, there were rarely two times in the day where I can find relief; at night in my dinky little room where I could sleep and my morning coffee run to this little gourmet cafe just outside the castle walls.

I step in and see my friend working the counter. I wave to her. “Hey bestie! Over here!”

Her attention comes to me with a smile. “Late, as always.” She turns to her drone-coworker. “Hey Keurig, I’m on break.” She trots over to our usual table with three coffees in her bright green magic. “So, come on spill. Where’s Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?” She took her one coffee and started sipping.

“Oh yeah… that.” I begrudgingly said as I took the cooler of my two coffees. The other, hotter coffee, being for Princess Celestia when I’d get it to her later. “He was defeated by me. And before you ask, yes, that was the plan. This is how the past events went before so I need to make sure they happen again.”

“Hmm. So that’s why you’re acting as Celestia’s little puppet. One too many times disappearing and she’s lost her trust in you. How long do you have to keep this act going?” She asked curiously.

“About ten years. These last years are a little blurred as to what I need to do. Last I knew we were all having a fun night on the town… then I think I saw myself.” I rubbed my head trying to make the start of a headache go away. “That must be the time spell I cast on myself but there’s so many variables to take into account.”

Chryssi went into full thinking mode. “So the question becomes when should you leave Celestia’s side. Everything else can be worked around correct? So the wild card becomes ‘how she’ll act once you leave her side’.” I look up to see a sly smile on her face. “Which means you can-no, must leave her when she has the least options to act against you. And when is that?”

A defeated sigh signaled my acknowledgement of the answer. “Of course I’ve thought about that. When both armies attack Equestria. Sombra and yourself will crush the ponies, then partly stop halfway through attacking Canterlot. I’ll escape during the assault, then go into hiding until I’m able to return to the throne.” My words faltered as I continued.

Chrysalis didn’t seem as enthusiastic anymore. “What’s wrong? Isn’t this what you wanted for the longest time?”

“I… did. Now I’m not sure.” I took a long few sips just so I didn’t have to speak.

I could still see the utter surprise in Chrysalis’s eyes. “What? You set this whole thing up. You saved my race from extinction, brought Discord and the princesses here, and literally made Sombra into the pony he is today. You’re just going to give all that up?” Disbelief rang all through her voice and I couldn’t blame her.

“...”

She continued in my silence. “Twilight, the most important thing right now is the spell. If your past self ends up staying here with you… well you know the laws of time and you’ve been pushing it for years as is. I’ve got to get back to the counter but do me a favor, think about what you want. The point of no return is approaching so you need to figure out which path to take.” She tossed her empty cup into the trash before walking back to the counters.

She’s right. My mind has been pulled in a few too many directions. I want everything and everyone in my life but it’s obvious that I can’t. Sombra and the princesses will never accept each other that much I do know. Shit, I’m running late for Celestia’s morning meeting. I grab my second still hot coffee and make my way to the throne room.

Time passed without any sign of trouble. I did see my princess coronation and Discord becoming reformed thanks to Fluttershy. Those were neat to watch. Still I couldn’t help but feel a sense of impending dread in the near future. Something wasn’t right and I could feel it deep down.

One night I sat on my bed from inside my castle room, being the princess's assistant still, and I drew in a notebook to waste time. With the time spell complete all that needed to be done was to wait for the attack. If everything goes the same then the Crystal Empire will fall first but Equestria won’t know about it until Cadence escapes with a few ponies. That’ll be when-

“Ooo. What is that?” I jump from my bed somehow ending up on the floor with a possible bruise from landing on something. Discord stood over my bed with my book in his claws. “Is this that somber pony I’m hearing so much about? I see why you like him if he’s this much of a looker.”

“Wha-h-y-Hey! Give it back!” I rip the book out of his grasp easily with my magic. “What do you want?” No reason hiding my identity from somepony like him. At this point in time he’s too powerful to try tricking. But that’s just it, I cast multiple spells to keep him from finding me.

“Answers.” His gleeful smile left with only a scowl remaining. He snapped a claw and my disguise vanished and I was lifted into the air by his magic. He choked me but still left room for me to talk. “I’ve been a very patient chaos lord letting you run about long before having been trapped in stone for a thousand years. Tell me, how do you have traces of my magic in you?”

“Ah!” The hold over my throat had been tighter than I thought. “I’m from the future. An alley of mine stole your powers so you wouldn’t pose a threat.” Not a blatant lie but I needed him to let me live. I’ll need something else to coax him into stepping down. “I can assure you Fluttershy is never harmed. I’d never let that happen to one of my friends.”

Discord squinted his eyes in hopes of catching me in the act. Jokes on him, Chrysalis made sure I’m in control in these situations with plenty of subtle acting classes. Satisfied he let me drop to the floor. “Fine. So you’re not the pony directly responsible but that only means I’m going to keep a close eye on you.”

“Uh… thanks.” My croaky throat didn’t hurt so bad but still made me sound like I passed through a gas chamber.

I wanted to ask more questions but Celetia burst into the room. “Twilight, we ha… what’s going on here?” Her dread turned into curiosity for the briefest of seconds seeing Discord in my room. “Twilight.” I already knew the stack of questions that were beginning to pile up in her mind but couldn’t answer any of them.

“I’m sorry.” That's all I could say. I willingly held information from her that would save ponies' lives and now she came to me for help that I wouldn’t give her. With a heavy heart, and body full of regret, I teleported out of the castle. Before I left I heard an explosion in the distance which I assume was the beginning of the attack on Equestria.

I materialized in the Everfree Forest. Surrounded by trees and other dense plants only one light blue figure stood out. “It’s about time. The Great and Powerful Trixie was about to give up and leave.” Trixie stood in front of me with the Alicorn Amulet and brown cloak she always had. “Trixie assumes you settled everything with the princesses.”

“No. And I...” I walked passed her and slammed my head into the nearest tree. “I don’t know what I want to do anymore. By the stars, why did Celestia have to take me in, now I don’t know what I want.”

“What you want? You’ve been planning this whole charade for thousands of years and now you’re just… changing the plan?”

I couldn’t disagree with Trixie’s berating questions. Somewhere down the line I lost myself, who I truly am as a pony. Sombra enslaving me, Celestia taking me as a student, Chrysalis becoming a friend, and turning Luna into a demon. It wasn’t bad enough that my head had turned into a blender of confusion but now my actions didn’t line up with my original plan. Stuck between being a princess and a queen with Equestria caught in the middle. “I truly am a selfish pony.”

“Self? Yes. Crazy? You bet. Insane? Absolutely.” Trixie playfully told me.

I lifted my head to look up, an exasperated sigh leaving me. “You can start helping me at any time.”

“Of course it’s up to the Great and Powerful Trixie to save the day. You want one don’t you but you can’t decide. That’s where this spell comes in handy.” I look over to see the time travel spell in Trixie's magic. “Why settle for one?” She said with a cheeky grin.

“Trixie, that’s for sending me-future me-into the past. It can’t...” The wheels began to turn. What Trixie had been implying lining up like a well kept clock before the chime rang like a gong. “Trixie, you’re a genius!” I grab the spell in my magic and start scanning over the equations, seeing exactly what I needed to change.

“Trixie does have her moments.” Her smugness was showing. She may have acted like her ego was the size of the sun but I knew I kept her around for a reason.

I knew what I wanted but I needed to cut a few loose ends if my plans were to go through. I had been tempting time itself to… correct my being here along with my past self for too long already. That needed correcting.

“Ok Trixie, I’ll go back to Canterlot and cast the spell once I’ve changed it around. That shouldn’t take too long. I need you to do what you’ve always wanted to do. Once you’ve done that, meet me in Canterlot. Understood?”

The spell was complete but the magical exertion left my body tingling and I collapsed to the forest ground. I attempted to get up but end up dropping back down. I need to recover quickly in order to set off my plan. Where is Trixie? It doesn’t take that long to- oh here she is.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned. You don’t look so good.”

“Cast… recovery… spell.” I struggled to get that much out but thankfully Trixie got my meaning and helped me recover some strength. I stood up on shaky legs. “Are the spells all in place?”

“Of course they are. But are you sure about this? You’ll eventually...” I already knew what Trixie would say and didn’t want her to finish that thought.

“Good. Let’s get moving. Canterlot’s defenses won’t last forever.” As Trixie teleported us away I was struck with a heavy case of deja vu.

The spell was complete but the magical exertion left my body tingling and I collapsed to the forest ground. I attempted to get up but end up dropping back down. I need to recover quickly in order to set off my plan. Where is Trixie? It doesn’t take that long to- oh here she is.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned. You don’t look so good.”

“Cast… recovery… spell.” I struggled to get that much out but thankfully Trixie got my meaning and helped me recover some strength. I stood up on shaky legs. “Are the spells all in place?”

“Of course they are.”

“Good. Let’s get moving. Canterlot isn’t going to last forever.” As Trixie teleported us away I was struck with a heavy case of deja vu.

The spell was complete but the magical exertion left my body tingling and I collapsed to the forest ground. I attempted to get up but end up dropping back down. I need to recover quickly in order to set off my plan. Where is Trixie? It doesn’t take that long to- oh here she is.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned. You don’t look so good.”

“Cast… recovery… spell.” I struggled to get that much out but thankfully Trixie got my meaning and helped me recover some strength. I stood up on shaky legs. “Are the spells cast on her?”

“Of course. Her morality will become corrupted in time, guaranteed.”

“Good. Let’s get moving. I don’t want to stick around when Discord takes over the Everfree Forest.” As Trixie teleported us away I was struck with a heavy case of deja vu.