SPOILERS FOR THE CUTIE REMARK
Twilight felt like she was at the end of her rope. How could she stop Starlight? She'd already tried so many times. Now she was looking at something that simply wasn't possible, namely the Flim Flam Brothers having somehow become tough enough to take over Equestria! The time distortion was simply going out of control!
“How is she so tough?” Spike asked.
“She isn't just tough, Spike...she has the advantage...I have to stop her, but all she has to do is disrupt the race somehow...she's got the advantage so long as we're back then,” Twilight explained grimly, thinking about it.
“Geeze, if only we could do that too...” the little dragon replied. He hadn't said it just yet...but in the back of his mind he knew what never happened. If they couldn't fix things...Twilight would never have hatched him. He was terrified deep down, but knew Twilight needed support more than anything.
“...Spike! That's it!” Twilight exclaimed, galloping over the the Map, the one constant.
“Thanks...say what?”
“How to stop Starlight!” Twilight explained. “We're on her battlefield...but what if there's no battle? What if Our Town never existed for us to ruin and we never even met? Then she'd have no reason to try and take revenge at all!”
“I don't know...” the dragon started, not liking the sound of that. Or how desperate Twilight looked to put an end to it. He then jumped onto Twilight's back in surprise as the Flim Flam Brother's weird machine ripped up another tree. “...Worth a shot.”
Twilight focused, finding the location of Our Town. “Let's see...if I recall what Double Diamond and the other told us...got it! Alright, let's stop this before it can begin!”
Spike jumped on her back and the mare used the spell to open the portal in time, the duo going through it.
Flying through the tunnel in time, she could see it, the end of the portal, the place where Our Town would one day stand. All it'd take would be to sabotage it before it can start then Starlight would never be able to do any of this in the first place.
“Stop Twilight!”
The Purple Alicorn gasped, finding a magic aura wrapping around her and Spike. She snarled, turning around. She expected to see Starlight Glimmer, here to stop her...that wasn't what she saw, not at all.
Before her, was another Twilight Sparkle, using every ounce of magic she had to prevent her or the other her from being sucked into the past.
“Whoa...” Spike muttered. “That's weird.
“Twilight, you have to stop this!” the other Twilight yelled, a look of panic and fear on her face.
“But I have to stop Starlight!” Twilight yelled back, glaring at the other her.
“...You do...but it's not worth it...”
Twilight's anger and desperation vanished at the broken look on the other her's face.
“...Does Starlight...”
The other Twilight shook her head. “No...us...we're the ones to change the future...and if anything, it only makes things worse...”
“Worse?! What could be worse than Tirek taking over? Or Chrysalis?! Or Sombra?! Or Discord?!” Twilight questioned her other...her future self.
The other Alicorn merely looked down. “...You don't want to know...”
It was at that point Twilight noticed something. Somemthing she'd missed in her surprise. “...Where's Spike?”
Spike gasped in shock, the little dragon looking the future Alicorn over in horror. “Is he in your saddlebags?!”
A few tears ran down the other Twilight's face. “...”
Spike's face seemed to drain of color and he looked like he was about to faint.
Twilight's eyes went wide in unfiltered horror. “...How? How can us changing the past before Starlight make the future worse?”
“...Remember what that other Zecora said?”
“Time is a river, where even the tiniest changes seem, can lead to a cascade of events downstream...”
Twilight looked down in horror. “...It doesn't matter who changes the past at all...all that matters is that the past is changed...even the tiniest change causes a ripple effect...“
Future Twilight nodded grimly. “All Starlight is doing is throwing a pebble into a pond...”
“...And all going back to stop her before it can start will do is throw one in a different part of the pond...Changing the past in any way has the same effect: a ripple that turns into a tidal wave changing everything in its path...” Twilight replied. “...The only way to stop her is to make history happen how it did before...but how can I do that when...” Twilight's eyes went wide. “...I'm going about this all wrong...I think I know what I really need to do...”
“Good...” Future Twilight replied. She then gasped, looking back down the time tunnel she'd come from, which intersected their own. A massive wave of dark magic seemed to be coming down that way. “Oh no, she's following me!”
“She?”
“No time! Go! Fix everything...fix it the right way, unlike me...” Future Twilight replied, grabbing her past self in her magic and swinging Twilight with all her strength back the way she and Spike came.
All Twilight and Spike saw was what looked like an Alicorn attack her future self...whoever it was was purple, but Twilight couldn't tell what shade.
“...Come on Spike, I think I finally know how to end this...” Twilight said, horn glowing and changing the destination of the spell.
“So you know how to kick Starlight's flank?!” Spike exclaimed, smiling. He did his best to shake off what he'd learned from Future Twilight.
“...No...”
The little drake blinked. “Huh?”
“...Fighting her is pointless...the only way to end this is to stop the fighting...and I know just how we might be able to do it...”
The End...
