When Destiny is not so easily deterred.

Time affects a lot of things, especially if the rivers of time have had their course redirected. Destiny is both a minion of time and one that will not bow to time.

In the Land of Equestria, time was going so smooth with very few alterations as time magic was very hard to do…until some unicorn by the name of Starlight Glimmer broke through and started altering time for a foolish motive. From one action, not only did an alternate timeline spawn, but six. Five of them were bad futures belonging to: Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra and one completely desolate. The last one shows that Destiny is not so easily deterred and did not bow to time’s change.

In this time, Twilight Sparkle failed, but somehow, she still got to be Celestia’s student, the fated five friends turned out alright but the gap was still there. Twilight Sparkle has grown into the most powerful mage in all of Celestia’s existence. Together with the power of Princess Celestia and Cadence, Twilight had assisted in the takedown of Nightmare Moon…much to Celestia’s dismay, she also assisted in the other aforementioned villains and threats, she’s Celestia’s most trusted ally and friend and about 80% of Celestia’s full power despite only still being a unicorn.

There was no bad future here, merely a different road taken, the Elements weren’t needed and still lied inert in the castle, the threats were solved by magical combat. But one day, Princess Celestia is about to become aware of the timeline shift.

2 years after Nightmare Moon’s return/death…

I’m on the way to the old intelligence archives, I have admittedly not visited in such a long time, I am a busy mare after all. I have Twilight at my side, I never did show her these archives until today, I feel she will enjoy looking at these, I also feel that the dustier the records, the more interesting they are to Twilight despite telling me otherwise.

The Intelligence Archives are a special archive full of military and Secret Service reports gathered from everywhere over the years, it never hurts to keep an eye out in case some threat shows up or something odd comes up that doesn’t make sense. I am not paranoid, I am well-prepared as every good Princess worth her salt must be.

I have ponies observing around the clock upstairs gathering information but I am here to check up the status of this archive, an inspection if you will.

“Twilight, you really must control yourself around here, one would think you quite mad, looking at all this information” I said to Twilight as I noted her look at the room we just entered.

“Sorry Celestia, but I can’t help it, it’s information, knowledge, something to learn” Twilight apologizes.

“I suppose, but please don’t touch anything, we are here to inspect the condition of the archive, not read it all. In any case, these files are quite personal” I told Twilight not to touch anything.

Hmm, perhaps I should’ve visited earlier, this place needs a thorough cleaning, there’s even a photo on the floor and…………..

A picture of Twilight? With Wings? I am most confused with a photo such as this is doing here, in fact it must be fake, perhaps a prank, still, I get a cold shudder down my spine. Something feels wrong, I must know where this came from.

“Photo Memory, a moment please?” I called out to the archivist.

“Celestia, what’s wrong?” Twilight noticed me looking at the photo.

Twilight caught sight of the photo, she seemed…lost in thought, I wonder if she has similar thoughts as I?

“You rang, your majesty?” Photo bows to me quickly.

“This photo, what file does it attach to, I am curious as to why a look-a-like of my student is in here of all places” I ask Photo where this came from.

“Hmmm, I believe this is year 985 Nightmare Exile era. Just 17 years ago I believe, I will fetch the file for you if you wish” Photo examines the photo.

“If you would” I ask her for the file.

“Celestia, what’s wrong? Why do you look like the world turned upside down?” Twilight asks me.

“I do not know yet Twilight, there is an awful feeling from this file I am about to see. My experience say this could be a prank but this is not a place to do it, my heart tells me this photo is a real deal despite defying all logic. An Alicorn that looks exactly like you but with a different cutie mark, in Cloudsdale of all places, it makes no logical sense” I explained my feelings on the subject.

“Do you suspect something…abnormal being behind this?” Twilight paused for a moment.

“I fear what the answer to that may be” I admit.

“Your majesty” Photo came and put the file on the table.

“Thank you, Photo, you may go now” I dismissed her.

I looked down at the file and started to read…

Report: C10WD5DA13-985-2/11-Exile.

Warning: For Authorized Ponies only, anyone found violating this law may face fines of up to 30000 bits and jail time.

November 2nd, 985 Exile Era. Cloudsdale, Equestria.

Subjects of interest: Unidentified, further investigation required. Three Subjects Unidentified, One Unicorn, One Alicorn and One Dragon.

Observer of case: Black Bird.

Location of Case: Cloudsdale, Equestria.

Threat Level of case: Low.

Priority: Low.

Location of Subjects: Unknown

I saw three other photos, one was a shot of all three subjects, another was of a unicorn mare using her magic to fly through the air and the last was a close-up of a dragon, a baby one that was sitting on this Twilight’s back.

Subjects were spotted by Black Bird whilst scouting around Cloudsdale near a race. The Alicorn and the Unicorn appeared in heated debate, the Unicorn had froze the Alicorn and Dragon under the clouds to fall. Black Bird had sent out his partner, Recon Survey to keep and eye on the Alicorn and Dragon…

…Unicorn had blocked a racer identified as Rainbow Dash… ….Unicorn disappeared in a wormhole of sorts and the Alicorn and Dragon followed closely behind…

…Subjects were not located again, searches all around Cloudsdale and by extension Equestria have been made but the subjects have not been seen again. The motive behind the visit is unknown although it’s obvious that the Alicorn and Dragon have something against the Unicorn…

…recommend keeping an eye out, but not prioritize it.

I read through the whole report as did Twilight, none of this report made sense. Another Alicorn? Highly improbable, since the Ritual of Ascension has not been performed since Princess Cadence’s ascension and that was 10 years before this event.

“Celestia, this date was the same day I failed that test with the dragon egg, there’s no way that’s me, and I was just a filly back then” Twilight notes.

“I noticed, you don’t have a baby Dragon and this unicorn is somepony neither of us have ever met, of that I am certain” I nodded.

“So who’s this Purple Alicorn that looks like me? I know for certain I don’t have an older sister and I know I don’t have any dragon friends or anything of the sort, my conclusion is that this pony isn’t me, the pony described doesn’t even act like me” Twilight asks the all-important question.

“There are too many similarities to say fully that isn’t you or some other you, but there are too many differences to say that’s you” I pointed out.

“What do you suggest then, Celestia?” Twilight asks.

Hmmm, I take a glance at the report, I think I know a way to get to the bottom of this mystery.

“We find the observer, Black Bird and ask him about the event. We should also track the Pegasus that the unicorn blocked from the race, Rainbow Dash. The unicorn blocked her from winning the race, I want to know what lead to that race and what happened afterwards. If my suspicion is right and I hope it’s not, what happened at this event proves a big danger” I explain my plan to Twilight

“What about any others at that race? Who she was racing with? The yellow Pegasus that fell down after the race started, those seem important details to be leaving out” Twilight suggested this to me.

“That will depend on the information we are given by our primary ponies of interest. Come with me Twilight, we have work to do” I beckon her to follow me.

As a Princess of Equestria, I must get to the bottom of this mystery, at worst I fear a destiny misplacement may have occurred, I need to find those involved and get the information out of them.

It was time to get to work…