Twilight's Tea and Time-Traveling Troubles

by NoPonE

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Science Fiction, Comedy, Profanity
Length: 5083

Twilight is visited by several future versions of herself attempting to warn her about various impending disasters. Oddly enough, they all seem to be centered around one cup of tea.

Twilight has dealt with time travel many times before. From bootstrap paradoxes to alterations in the past, Twilight has seen and experienced it all when it comes to messing around with time. That is, until hundreds of future versions of herself arrive to warn her about various impending disasters. Will Twilight be able to prevent all these catastrophes from ever happening? And what does her cup of tea have to do with all of this?

Published 2018-04-08 18:50:06 UTC
Last updated 2018-04-09 17:16:45 UTC

Part 1: Teatime

Twilight Sparkle trotted into her throne room with quills, inkwells, parchment, and a large stack of books hovering right behind her. As she entered, she used her magic to turn on the Golden Oak chandelier, which quickly illuminated the whole room with a warm glow. The young princess then placed her items on the Cutie Map while seating herself on her throne.

"Here you go, Twilight!" Spike strolled into the throne room with a gorgeous, amethyst-colored tea set and tray in his claws. He gently placed it on the central table, then lifted the teapot to pour some of its contents into a cute little teacup. Twilight inhaled gently as the aroma reached her nose.

"Mmm, it smells amazing," commented Twilight. "Is this a new blend?"

"That's right! I bought this Earl Grey from Tea Biscuit at the market today," answered Spike.

"Her tea is always the best," smiled Twilight. "She never disappoints, and I don't think her perfect streak is going to end today!" Twilight levitated her teacup and brought it up towards her. The warm steam gently brushed against her muzzle, inviting her even closer. She then placed her lips on the edge and slowly tilted the teacup...

Suddenly, a white light started flashing a few feet away from Twilight and her assistant. Twilight placed her teacup back down on the table as she watched magical sparks fly out in all directions. Spike quickly hid behind Twilight, peeking from behind her back leg while trembling. Small bolts of lightning formed around the anomaly, causing the two of them to shield their eyes from the brightness. Finally, the light dissipated. Twilight and Spike carefully looked back at where the light came from, gasping at the sight before them.

An exact copy of Twilight lay on the floor, panting desperately while gazing up at the duo. Twilight - the original one - and Spike stared back at her. After a few seconds, the original Twilight decided to speak up.

"Who... are you?" she asked. As the duplicate slowly stood up, she took notice of the tea Twilight was about to drink. Gasping, she quickly dashed over to the teacup, inspecting it carefully.

"Did you drink this tea yet!?" interrogated the other Twilight.

"N-no! Not yet," answered Twilight shakily.

"Good. Don't."

"But why not? And more importantly, who are you!?" demanded Twilight.

"I am you from the future. Specifically, I am you twenty-one hours from now."

"Wait, you only traveled a few hours into the past?" asked Spike.

"Correct," confirmed Future Twilight.

"Wait, wait, wait," stopped Twilight. "Didn't I-we promise ourselves that we wouldn't worry about the future again, let alone travel back in time to warn myself about future events?"

"Well, you see, this is kind of an urgent matter. In nineteen hours, Princess Celestia is going to call you over for an emergency meeting," explained Future Twilight. "However, you will fail to make it to the meeting on time because you will be suffering from a stomachache. As you may have guessed, the tea is what causes your stomachache. By the time you arrive in Canterlot, the emergency meeting will be over! So whatever you do... Don't. Drink. The tea!"

"An emergency meeting!?" exclaimed Spike. "What's the meeting going to be about? Is it a surprise attack? Or zombies?? Or a surprise zombie attack??? Is Equestria doomed????" Spike started biting his claws nervously while shivering and sweating.

"Actually, it's about plans for Luna's upcoming birthday party," said Future Twilight.

...

Silence filled the room. Future Twilight stared at Past (relative to her time) Spike and Twilight with a serious stare as if what she had just said wasn't completely absurd or idiotic. Spike and Twilight, on the other hoof, looked at Future Twilight with what could only be described as utter disappointment.

"You mean to tell me..." began Twilight, "that in twenty-one hours, I am going to travel into the past, which, by the way, is something I promised myself I would never ever do again, just because I have a tummy ache and missed a meeting about a birthday party!?"

"Yes, and it's all because of that tea," said Future Twilight, pointing at the innocent-looking cup of Earl Grey.

"How in the name of Celestia did you even travel back in time again!?" asked an incredulous Twilight.

"Oh, there's another time spell hidden in this book here." Future Twilight pulled out a book from the stack Twilight had brought in earlier and flipped to a page somewhere in the middle. "Turns out Starswirl made dozens of different time spells. Wonder why he made so many..."

Twilight read through the time spell, skimming over its instructions. "So... this one has unlimited uses, but you can only travel back to one point in time?"

"Exactly."

"AND YOU USED IT ON A STOMACHACHE!"

"Hey, you haven't experienced the stomachache yet!" retorted Future Twilight. "Trust me, you do not want to go through what I went through."

"Ugh, fine, whatever!" shouted Twilight. "Just to ensure that your trip to the past wasn't a total waste of time, I won't drink the tea. You happy now!?"

"Yes, yes, I am."

"Good! Now go back to your own time!"

However, before Future Twilight could do or say anything, another white orb of light formed in the room. Just like last time, sparks flew and lightning flashed all around before it all faded away. And sure enough, just like last time, there was another Twilight in the room.

"Twilight! Err, whichever one of you hasn't time-traveled yet," said the new Twilight. "Drink the tea!"

"What!? Who are you?" asked Present Twilight.

"I'm you from the future, except I'm from twenty-five hours from now."

Present Twilight facehoofed and groaned. "You time-traveled again!?"

"Yes, because it is imperative that you drink your Earl Grey!"

"I thought I'm not supposed to drink the tea!"

"Yeah, what about our stomachache?" inquired the first Future Twilight.

"Turns out the stomachache was caused by the breakfast burrito we ate this morning," sighed the second Future Twilight. "Those eggs did not sit well..."

The first Twilight who traveled back in time blushed and stared down at her own hooves, trying her best to ignore the death glare her past self was giving her.

"Anyways, Twilight, you need to drink the tea! Upon returning to Ponyville, you will run into Tea Biscuit. She will ask you if you liked her new Earl Grey. If you tell her you didn't drink it, she'll get really upset and start running home, crying. Sooooo yeah, drink it."

"Well, I certainly don't want to upset anypony," thought Present Twilight, "and I certainly don't want to lie to Tea Biscuit. Applejack would never let me hear the end of it if she ever found out."

"Exactly," nodded the second Future Twilight.

"Okay, in that case, I'll drink the tea."

As Twilight made her way towards her tea, which was probably getting a little cold at this point, yet another time anomaly formed in the room, accompanied by yet another Twilight.

"Oh, come on!" cried Twilight.

"Twilight! I'm you two days from now!" announced the newcomer. Unlike the previous future Twilights, this one seemed to be in a panicked and worried state. "Princess Cadance is about to come over for a visit! Well, not now, but in my time, she's standing right at the front door! Problem is, you won't have any tea to serve her!"

"What? Why not?" asked all the other Twilights simultaneously.

"As some of you may know, that tea is really delicious. It's so delicious that you end up drinking all of it tonight - that is, tonight, relative to this current time."

Present Twilight turned to the first Future Twilight. "You drank all the tea in one night!?"

"Like Twilight said, it was really good tea," shrugged the first time traveler.

"I wouldn't know..." frowned the second future Twilight.

"Anyways," continued the third future Twilight. "You must save some for Cadance! Imagine not having the best Earl Grey in the world to serve to your favorite sister-in-law."

All the previous Twilights shuddered and gulped.

"I definitely don't want to imagine that..." thought Twilight.

"Well, I don't have to imagine it, because I'm going through it right now!" reminded the third Future Twilight.

"Alright, alright, I get it! I won't touch the damn tea!" sighed Twilight.

POOF! Another Twilight appeared!

"Twilight! I'm-"

"STOP! Stop, stop, stop!" yelled Present Twilight. "I can't keep track of all of you- I mean, me! Spike!"

Spike, who had blanked out a while ago, snapped back into reality upon hearing his name. "Yes?"

"Get the pile of Post-it notes from my room."

"G-got it!" Spike quickly dashed out of the throne room, then returned a few seconds later with a small yellow pile of paper in his claw.

"Label each of my future selves in order of when they all appeared," ordered Twilight. "Give me the number 'zero' so we know I am the original Twilight."

"Alright then." Spike then gave each Twilight a Post-it with a number on it. The first Future Twilight had a "1", the second had a "2", and so on. The Post-it notes were placed over each of their cutie marks on one side.

"Now that that's settled, what is it that you want?" asked Twilight 0.

"You need to drink the tea!" demanded Twilight 4, the one who had just arrived. "Turns out Cadance prefers ginseng over Earl Grey. However, if you don't drink your Earl Grey now, you're going to end up drinking all the ginseng instead!"

"Twilight, I think you have tea addiction problem," whispered Spike to Twilight 0.

"I'm starting to think you're right," agreed Twilight 0. She then turned towards all the other Twilights. "Okay, I'll drink the tea, but from now on, no more time traveling! This is getting ridiculous, and honestly, most of these problems aren't even that big. I don't think any of these issues warrant prevention via time travel."

"B-but, what about Tea Biscuit?" reminded Twilight 2.

"And Princess Cadance!" added Twilight 4.

"And the stomachache!" cried Twilight 1.

"No! Look, I know I haven't gone through any of the things you all have described, but I think it's best just to handle those problems as they come. Don't you remember what we learned when we tried to warn ourselves not to worry so much about the future?" asked Twilight 0. The other Twilights nodded silently.

"Good. Now, will all of you please go back to your own times now?"

POOF!

"Twilight! Don't drink the tea!"

"What did I just say about not time traveling!?" scolded Twilight 0.

"Listen, this is extremely important!" urged the new Twilight, whom Spike labeled with a "5". "Luna's birthday party is a week from now, and it's going to be held here. You will be in charge of providing beverages and refreshments, including the tea. Princess Celestia is going to ask you for some Earl Grey, but since you won't have any, the Princess will instead choose to drink vodka! Long story short, Celestia is out cold, nopony knows how to raise the sun, and it's still nighttime despite the fact it's 3 PM."

"Okay, that is pretty bad," admitted Twilight 0, "but now that we know that this is going to happen, couldn't we just, I dunno, give Celestia a different drink? Or simply buy more tea before the party?"

"Oh yeah," considered Twilight 5. "Never thought of that..."

"Look, I know the time spell only takes you back to this particular day, but that doesn't mean all your warnings have to be about my tea!" said an exasperated Twilight 0.

"Our tea," corrected Twilight 4.

"Whatever! Anyways, I'll just get more Earl Grey from Tea Biscuit in a few days, alright?"

POOF!

"Wooooooo!" cheered the new Twilight. All the other Twilights reeled in disgust as they stared at this Twilight. Her mane was messy and unkempt, her eyes were unfocused, and her breath reeked of alcohol. In her hoof was a bottle of Applejack's home-brewed apple cider. Spike sighed and wrote a "6" on the next Post-it note. "Awww *hic* yeaaa! Pink... Pinkie Pie? You reeaaally know how to *hic* throw a party!"

"Don't tell me you're-" groaned Twilight 0.

"I swear to drunk I'm not Celestia!" yelled Twilight 6 angrily. She then took a few wobbly steps to the left before colliding with Twilight 5, causing both Twilights to fall over. Her bottle of cider rolled gently out of her hoof, spilling its contents all over the floor.

"Dang it!" cursed Twilight 0. "One of you Twilights, get a mop!"

"Nose goes!" shouted Twilight 1, placing her hoof on her nose. Twilights 0, 2 and 4 promptly did the same. Twilight 3, upon realizing she was the only Twilight who hadn't put her hoof on her muzzle (Twilight 5 was excused, since she was stuck under Twilight 6), grumbled and slowly trotted out the door to fetch a mop.

"Why are you drinking!?" demanded Twilight 5. "Were you able to solve the sun issue?"

"Bah, forget about that!" ignored Twilight 6. "Party don't stop 'til the sun comes up! And if the sun can't be raised *hic*, then the party lasts five-ever!" Twilight 6 cheered again while flailing her hooves around. "It's *hic* forever, but... but..." Twilight 6 snickered as if she had just told the funniest joke in Equestrian history.

The other Twilights rolled their eyes.

"How many drinks did you even have?" sighed Twilight 0.

"I *hic* lost count around twelve..." Twilight 6 waved her hoof randomly around in a circle while the others smacked their foreheads with theirs.

POOF!

"Twilight! You- whoa. Is that what I was like last night?" wondered the most recent Twilight as she looked down at Twilight 6. Spike placed a "7" on her.

"Did you fix the sun?" asked a very concerned Twilight 0.

"Yeah, Celestia woke up and raised it again," reassured Twilight 7. "However, because sunrise ended up happening at 6:23 PM, we're going to have a meeting to figure out how to explain this to the public and how we should adjust the calendars. Also, my head really hurts..."

"And all of this happens because you- we drank a cup of tea!?"

"Well, from your perspective, you're about to drink a cup of tea."

"Okay, if you're absolutely certain that this cup of tea causes this much mayhem, then I'll just discard it," said Twilight 0 as she slowly made her way towards her teacup. "Besides, it's getting cold. Probably doesn't even taste good anymore."

POOF!

"No! Wait!" warned yet another Twilight.

POOF!

"Stop!"

POOF!

"Drink the tea!"

POOF!

"Don't do it!"

Spike ran around the room to label the new Twilights as fast as he could.

POOF!

This Twilight was accompanied by Sunset Shimmer, who stared at all the Twilights in the room, shocked. But then, she leaned gently against the Twilight she had arrived with, looking up at her with dreamy eyes and a curled smile.

"Ooh, Twilight," whispered Sunset delicately into Twilight 12's ear. "You know my birthday isn't for another two months, right?"

"Sunset Shimmer!? Wh-wh-what are you doing here!?" asked Twilight 0. Several of the other Twilights looked on with curious expressions. "And why are you being so close to her- us!?"

"Oh yeah, Sunset confessed her feelings to me a few days ago," explained Twilight 10 nonchalantly. The Twilights with lower numbers all blushed.

"Really???" squealed Twilight 9 in delight. "H-How? When? Where?"

"We had a picnic by the lake and watched the sunset together," answered Twilight 11. "It was really romantic~"

"Glad you liked it!" smiled Sunset Shimmer.

"How far into the future are you?" asked Twilight 4.

"Well-"

"Stop! I don't need details about my future romances!" shouted Twilight 0, her ears burning red with embarrassment. "More importantly, why did you travel back in time?"

Twilight 12 tapped her hoof on her chin for a few moments. "I'm not really sure. I was in the library with Sunset, and I was showing her a new spell... Oh, wait! I must've activated it by accident when my spell hit the bookshelf!"

Twilight 0, using her magic, grabbed a book and angrily threw it at Twilight 12, who was knocked off her hooves.

"Ow!"

"No! Sparky!" cried Sunset, running to Twilight 12's side to make sure she was okay. The other Twilights blushed again upon hearing their future nickname.

"We're having a time-traveling crisis on our hooves here!" exclaimed Twilight 0. "This is serious business! We don't need more future mes popping up here, much less by accident!"

POOF!

"Twilight! The tea!"

POOF!

"I'm you from the future!"

POOF!

"You need to-"

POOF!

"Hi!"

"Pinkie!? What are you doing here?"

"I dunno, I was just making some cupcakes!" Pinkie looked around the throne room. "Hey, you didn't use the mirror pool, did you?"

POOF!

As more and more Twilights appeared while shouting various things about tea, Twilight 0's eyes widened with fear.

"Oh buck."

Part 2: Terminus

There was once a time when Twilight didn't like her castle. Although it was beautiful and gorgeous, it just didn't feel like home. The long and endless hallways were a maze that even now, Twilight couldn't navigate without going the wrong way once in a while. The dozens of rooms throughout the castle were more than enough, and having a house with so many floors felt daunting at times. Essentially, it was way too quiet and empty.

Well, Twilight wished it would go back to being that way.

Hundreds and hundreds of Future Twilights now filled the once-empty hallways, their warnings about future disasters and tea echoing throughout the castle. Most of the Twilights looked identical to each other, though there were a few aberrations. Some had different mane styles, others wore various outfits, a few of them were drunk, and one of them was a stallion for some reason.

Meanwhile, Spike stood on a stool so he wouldn't get buried under the sea of Twilights. He had a pad of Post-it notes marked with numbers in one claw and a megaphone in another. Through the megaphone, he repeated a message Twilight had told him to convey to all the other Twilights:

"All Twilights! Please take a number before reporting to Twilight 0, a.k.a. Present Twilight! Once you've received your number, wait patiently in line, and we will process your request as quickly as possible! Also, please do not talk about anything other than the tea. Do not share dating advice, lottery numbers, stock market data, or anything of that sort!"

In the throne room, Twilight 0 sat on her throne with a very, very, very long list of parchment on the table and a quill hovering next to her. She had already broken three quills and gone through five inkwells. A few feet behind her, Future Sunset Shimmer was lying down on a Rarity Fainting Couch™. She had fainted about three-hundred Twilights ago after the number of Twilights present was just too much for her imagination to handle. Twilight 12 sat next to her, patting her forehead tenderly. The Future Pinkie Pie who arrived earlier sat on her own throne, happily eating a cookie as if nothing crazy was going on around her.

"Hello, Twilight..." Twilight 0 looked at her future counterpart's flank. "2438. Should I drink this tea or not?" Twilight 0 then pointed at her tiny cup of cold Earl Grey tea.

"No," answered Twilight 2438. "You see-"

"I didn't ask you for a reason. I just wanted a simple 'yes' or 'no'," interrupted Twilight 0. She put a tally mark in the "no" column on her parchment. "Next."

Twilight 2438 trotted out of the throne room and decided to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. The next Twilight walked up to Twilight 2439.

"Hello, Twilight 2439," said Twilight 0 with a strained and tired voice. "Should I drink this tea or not?"

"No," answered Twilight 2439. Twilight 0 made another tally mark, then got up from her throne. She pushed her way through the purple mass of Twilights in the hallway outside until she reached Spike.

"Spike, it's me!" shouted Twilight 0, doing her best to make her voice heard amongst the hundreds of identical-sounding voices. "Can I borrow the megaphone for a bit?"

"Absolutely," sighed a grateful Spike. "I need a break..." He hopped off the stool and onto Twilight 0's back. Twilight 0 then teleported the duo back into the throne room. She got up onto the Cutie Map, levitated the megaphone, and addressed all the Twilights.

"Attention all Twilights!" Every single Twilight immediately stopped chatting with each other and looked up at Twilight 0. Other Twilights who were in other parts of the castle heard the announcement as well, prompting them to stop their current activities. Those in the kitchen stopped eating, those in the bedroom and guest bedrooms woke up, and those in the designated party room stopped their dancing and turned off the music.

"Although I haven't surveyed all of you yet," continued Twilight 0, "I have reached a conclusion and have determined the best course of action I should take. During the first roughly fifteen hundred of you, the number of 'yes' and 'no' votes were about fifty-fifty. However, it's been nearly a thousand Twilights since then, and the votes are mainly leaning towards 'no' now."

Twilight 0 then spawned a massive blackboard behind her. It had a pie chart divided up into several sections, each with its own color and label.

"I've drawn up this pie chart, and according-"

"Ooh! Pie!" cheered Future Pinkie. She hopped up onto the table and dashed towards the blackboard with her mouth wide open, ready to stuff it with some "pie". However, before she could reach her target several of the other Twilights froze her in place with their magic.

"As I was saying," continued Twilight 0, rolling her eyes, "According to the data, 53% of you have said 'no' while 39% have said 'yes'. Even though there are still about a hundred Twilights who haven't been surveyed yet and more are still arriving right now as I speak, it would require more than three hundred Twilights to say 'yes' in order to tip it back towards that side."

"Wait a second, fifty-three plus thirty-nine is ninety-two," noted Twilight 648.

"Yeah, what about the other eight percent?" asked Twilight 1873. Twilight 0 groaned.

"Well, 3% came here by accident, 3% are drunk, and the remaining 2% forgot their answers! Therefore, I decided to ignore them."

"Hey! It's not my fault I accidentally hit my head while traveling back here!" argued Twilight 1105, who had a bandage wrapped around her head.

"Yeah!" yelled Twilight 58, who was leaning against a chair with a beer bottle in one hoof. "Who are you to- urp!" She then doubled over and threw up on the chair. Twilight 497, who was standing next to her, teleported the chair and 58's beer bottle into a nearby trashcan.

"Look, even if the other 8% said 'yes', the 'no' side still has 53%!" shouted Twilight 0.

"You never know, what if the next several Twilights say 'yes'?" questioned Twilight 2046.

"Likely story!" laughed Twilight 1552. "You do realize we have a duty to protect rabbits from extinction, don't you?"

"But what about the dragon attack on the Changelings?" reminded Twilight 1735, who wore an eyepatch and an Equestrian military uniform.

"Let's not forget the blizzard," noted Twilight 721, who was bundled up in winter clothing despite the castle being at a reasonable temperature.

"Doesn't anypony care about the results of the buckball tournament between Cloudsale and Manehattan!?" complained Twilight 1748.

"How is a buckball tournament more important than a dragon invasion!?" retorted Twilight 1735.

"Oh, don't worry, I made a big speech about friendship to the dragons, thus preventing the attack from happening! It was a pretty good speech, if I do say so myself," bragged Twilight 1748. "Also, I bet a lot of money on Cloudsale..."

"I just want my wings back..." sighed Twilight 2360, who was the only unicorn besides Future Sunset Shimmer present.

"Hey, can one of you tell me how you turned back into a mare?" asked Twilight 1454, the stallion.

As all the Twilights started clamoring again, Twilight 0 covered her ears in frustration before yelling into the megaphone again.

"Enough!!!" All the Twilights went silent again. "I am getting a massive headache from all of this nonsense, and since I'm the earliest version of all of you, that means you're all going to suffer through it as well! Also, I highly question how one, bucking cup of Earl Grey affects all of these future events!"

"You see-" started Twilight 2180, who was wearing glasses and a lab coat.

"That was a rhetorical statement! Anyways, all of you, go back to your original times, and stay there!"

However, before any of the other Twilights could do anything, Starlight Glimmer teleported into the throne room.

"Hi, Twilight!" smiled Starlight. "I just got back from my trip to the Crystal Empire! I can't wait to tell you about- WHAT THE HAY!?!?" Starlight screamed as her eyes fell upon the hundreds of Twilights who were all staring at her. Her mouth hung wide open as she stared back at them, her eyes darting around all over the room. Shaking her head, Starlight then bent forward a little, entering into an attack stance while charging her horn with magic. She clenched her teeth and glared angrily at everypony.

"S-Starlight," stammered Spike. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Stand back, Spike!" growled Starlight, with beads of sweat forming on her face. "How do I know which one of these Twilights is the real one?"

The other Twilights all looked at each other, that is, except for Twilight 0, who facehoofed for what was probably the thousandth time today.

"Are we really doing this?" shouted Twilight 0. "Are-are we seriously going to do this right now? Because I've had a really long day, and I do not want to deal with anything else at this point!"

"That doesn't matter! All of you, tell me something only the real Twilight would know!" demanded Starlight.

Twilight 0 thought for a moment. Starlight was clearly freaking out right now, so there probably wasn't any way for Twilight to explain this situation to her properly. Even if there was, Starlight would probably see her as a hypocrite, considering how Twilight once stopped Starlight from altering the past herself. Furthermore, getting into a magic duel with so many Twilights around probably wasn't a good idea. Sighing, she gave Starlight an answer.

"When I was four, I accidentally broke Shining Armor's copy of Ponymon Red," admitted all the Twilights simultaneously. They then all stared at each other with surprised expressions.

Celestia dammit! swore Twilight to herself. They're all me! Of course they'd say the same thing as me! Think! I need to come up with something crazier...

"Quesadillas are too cheesy!" said all the Twilights in unison. Better try again.

"Smarty Pants is best pony!"

...

"My favorite song to sing in the shower is 'Neigh, Soul Sister'!"

...

"I once failed a math test in magic kindergarten because I thought two plus two was five!"

...

Starlight, who was getting more agitated and jittery, started charging her horn even more and gulped.

"Okay, you all get two more answers!" declared Starlight.

A few feet behind Starlight, Future Sunset Shimmer finally woke up and slowly got up from the Rarity Fainting Couch™. Rubbing her eyes, Future Sunset looked around the room. Her imagination nearly started running wild again before she took notice of Starlight and the fact that her horn was aimed at her precious "Sparky". Well, a whole bunch of "Sparky"s.

"What's the deal with sea ponies?" offered the Twilights.

"One more answer!"

"That was more of a question..." noted Future Pinkie Pie, who was leaning against the wall with her front hooves up in the air.

"Quiet!"

Future Sunset, realizing the severity of the situation, quickly charged at Starlight Glimmer in full gallop.

"Nooooooooooo!" she cried, crashing directly into Starlight.

"What the-!" As Starlight was knocked off her hooves, she unintentionally fired the attack she had been charging up. A bolt of cyan magic flew across the room, hitting the teacup that had been fussed over during the past several hours. The teacup slid across the smooth, glossy surface of the table, then sailed over the edge. Its trajectory then curved down towards the ground. All the Twilights gasped as the tiny teacup seemed to fall and spin in slow motion. Finally, it impacted the ground, making a rather quiet shattering noise and spilling the cold Earl Grey tea it had been holding all this time.

Everypony stared at the tiny puddle of tea and porcelain shards for a few seconds. Then...

Pop!

All the Twilights, except for Twilight 0, suddenly disappeared. Future Sunset Shimmer and Future Pinkie Pie also disappeared as well, leaving just one Twilight, Spike, and Starlight all alone in the throne room.

"What... just happened?" asked Spike cautiously.

"It looks like the future has been changed," thought Twilight, using her magic to remove the Post-it note that was stuck on her flank. "That is, all the futures that we were warned about. Each of those timelines hinged on whether or not I drank the tea. However, it seems none of them involved the teacup breaking."

"But if the teacup broke, wouldn't that count as you not drinking the tea?" questioned Spike.

"Also, if none of those timelines happened, then none of those Twilights would have ever traveled back in time," postulated Starlight Glimmer. "And if they never traveled back in time, then none of this would've happened, meaning I wouldn't have broken the teacup-"

"You know what, I don't even care anymore," interrupted Twilight, rubbing her temples with her hooves. "My headache does not need to get any bigger. As long as time isn't broken and all those future versions of myself are gone, I don't give a buck." She then slowly dragged herself out of the throne room.

"Where are you going?" asked Spike.

"To write a letter. Then, I'm going to take a shower."

"While singing 'Neigh, Soul Sister'?" teased Starlight, smiling mischievously.

"Shut up!"

Dear Princess Celestia,

I think it's about time we burn every scroll in Equestria containing a Starswirl time spell.

Your fellow Princess,
Twilight Sparkle