The Day The Show Reset

by JazzyWaffles

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Moondancer, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe
Length: 3650

Twilight Sparkle took a nap after Season 9 ended, only to find herself back at the start of Season 1.

Twilight Sparkle took a nap after Season 9 ended, only to find herself back at the start of Season 1. Stuck going home the long way 'round, will she be able to keep the timeline she remembers intact, or will the butterfly effect bulldoze over everything she held dear before the reset?

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, this is a story concept I originally was going to abandon until I got a mountain of positive feedback. Expect character tag changes as each chapter comes out. (And yes, the cover image is inspired by Groundhog Day.)

Here's an entirely optional guide to the canon of this story, which will be updated periodically to include new details.

Featured April 20th - 22nd, 2018. :pinkiegasp:

Published 2018-04-19 20:50:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-04-21 23:00:51 UTC

That Awkward Feeling When You Say Hi To An Old Friend But They Don't Even Remember You

As day broke over Canterlot, there was one unicorn whose morning was not as cheerful and relaxing as the rest. On the upper floors of a book-filled tower, a frazzled Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth across the floor, lost in thought. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

"Good morning, Twilight." Spike yawned as he entered the room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he finally noticed Twilight's appearance. Twilight wasn't looking very good. In the mere hour or so that Twilight had been up, her mane and tail had grown unkempt and her right eye, bloodshot, kept twitching every so often. "Is... is everything okay?"

Twilight's ears swiveled towards the dragon moments before her head snapped to attention. "SPIKE!" She was in his face before he could even blink. "Of course everything isn't okay! How could you say that? Haven't you noticed?"

Spike stared back at her incredulously. "You... learned to teleport?"

"Augh! No!" Twilight grabbed Spike between her hooves and shook him. "Our wings! Our home! Everything just... reset!"

Spike began to get worried. Had Twilight completely lost it? "We... don't have any wings."

"Exactly! Don't you find that weird!?"

"Twilight... we've never had wings." Spike backed up a few steps. "Are... are you okay?"

Twilight stared at her assistant blankly for a few moments before tears started to form in her eyes. "B-but... the castle! The school! Our wings! Our friends! You have to remember... you can't have just... I can't be the only one who remembers..." Her voice was as shaky as her legs were wobbly. She looked like she was ready to collapse on the spot.

Spike took a few steps towards her with a worried expression. "T-Twilight? Please, d-don't scare me like this. Why are you saying all this stuff? I don't..." Before Spike could finish, Twilight rushed past Spike and down the stairs. "Twilight, wait!" Spike could hear the door slam as his big sister ran out into the streets of Canterlot. Seconds felt like hours as Spike tried to absorb and comprehend what had just happened. After what felt like an eternity, he turned and walked over to Twilight's fresh stack of blank parchment, taking an inked quill in-claw. Celestia would need to know that Twilight had lost it.

Twilight walked briskly through the streets of Canterlot, walking past hundreds of ponies going about their daily business. In her catatonic state, she barely even noticed the outside world. What could this all mean? Why had things reset like this? It had been... six, maybe seven years since she had lived here in Canterlot as a unicorn? Twilight didn't understand...

With a thump and a tumble, Twilight ran right into somepony. "Who? What? Huh?" Looking around, she saw Lemon Hearts helping Twinkle Shine off the ground, as Minuette held her hoof out to Twilight. "Minuette...?"

"Wow, you must have hit your head pretty hard if you're having trouble remembering me." Minuette giggled as she pulled Twilight off the ground. "You okay? I mean, you've been really oblivious to the world around you before, but you usually never run into ponies like that!"

"I... n-no, I'm fine." Twilight dusted herself off.

"That's good." Minuette smiled. "Oh, before I forget, Moondancer is having a little get-together in the castle courtyard later today. Wanna come?"

Twilight stared back in disbelief. Today was the day of Moondancer's party. The one she never attended because she was too focused on stopping Nightmare Moon. The day she was sent to Ponyville and met her friends.

"I..." How should Twilight even answer? She wanted to go, to make things right with Moondancer this time, but... her friends... and Nightmare Moon... "I'm... I'm sorry. I won't be able to attend. I'm being sent to Ponyville here soon."

Then, a thought occurred to her. A brilliant thought. A thought that maybe, just maybe, could fix everything before anything even went wrong.

"Actually, do you know where she is right now? I don't want her to think I'm skipping out on her."

Twinkle Shine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette just stared at Twilight like she had grown a second head. "Um..." Lemon Hearts was the first to speak up. "Y-yeah. She should be in the castle courtyard setting up the party right now."

"Thanks! See you gals later!" Twilight dashed off, leaving three very confused ponies looking at each other in confusion.

Twinkle Shine chuckled half-heartedly. "Who is she and what did she do with Twilight Sparkle?"

If only she was fully committed to the idea that it was a joke.

"Aaah!"

Moondancer was understandably startled when Twilight teleported in front of her and nearly caused a two-pony pileup. Plates, party hats, and other bits of party paraphernalia flew in all directions before quickly being caught in Twilight's aura and placed gently on a nearby table. "Whoops! Hehe... Sorry, Moondancer." She held her hoof out to pull Moondancer up off the grass.

"Twilight! I... wasn't expecting anypony yet." She grabbed onto Twilight's hoof and was pulled up. "Er... you can teleport now?"

"Yeah, I can." Twilight looked around at the party she never attended with some amount of guilt. "Actually... I really hate to say this, but I don't think I can attend."

The effect on Moondancer was almost immediate. Her ears drooped, her demeanor dropped to an all-time low, and she had to look away to keep from crying. "Oh."

"Please, don't take this the wrong way. I'd like nothing more than to be here for you. But... here soon, I'm going to Ponyville on Celestia's orders." Twilight brought a surprised Moondancer into a hug. "But please... don't let it ruin your party. All of your other friends will still be here for you, and they all care a lot about you. And hey," Twilight pulled back a bit and looked into Moondancer's eyes, "I'll definitely attend your next party. Pinkie promise."

Moondancer just stared back at Twilight for several seconds, stuck somewhere between wanting to cry, wanting to smile, and being completely confused. Had Twilight ever acted like this before? Why had she suddenly changed? Regardless, the floodgates were too weak to wait for her decision to be made in a timely manner, and she found herself sobbing into Twilight's chest, where the two sat for several minutes before Moondancer was finally done.

Twilight smiled down at her. "You good?" A small nod and the two finally parted.

"You... do you really mean it? You'll be at my next party?"

Twilight nodded.

"...thank you," Moondancer said, smiling as she awkwardly wiped her eyes with a hoof.

"Hey," said Twilight, "if you ever decide to visit Ponyville while I'm there, you're welcome to come and hang out! I'll be sure to open up some of my schedule just in case you drop by, okay?"

Moondancer nodded. "Yeah... I'd like that."

Twilight smiled to herself as she trotted back towards her old tower. Maybe this reset wasn't so bad after all. She had a chance to fix her mistakes, ones she once had to live with. Perhaps she could even speed things along in some places?

As Twilight approached her tower, she couldn't help but notice that there were two guards and Celestia's royal chariot outside. Trotting up to her front door, she glanced at the two stoic, unmoving guards as she entered the abode. "H-hello? Celestia?" This hadn't happened last time. Celestia didn't pay her a visit today. What was going on?

On cue, Celestia trotted down the stairs, Spike trailing behind her. As she reached the bottom, she nodded at Twilight. "Twilight. I am here because Spike alerted me to your... unusual distress this morning. May I ask what exactly you meant by the things you said today? About missing castles and vanishing wings?"

Twilight froze. Should she tell Celestia? What if she spoiled the future? "I..." Twilight had trouble forming the right words. "I'm not really sure how much I should tell you..."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "And what on earth could you possibly tell me that I shouldn't know about?"

Twilight took a step back. "N-no, I don't mean it like that, I just... I know things that are going to happen in the future."

Celestia scrunched up her face. "Thing such as?"

Twilight paused for a few moments, avoiding Celestia's gaze. Was there anything she could say? Yes... she could say what was about to happen over the next two days.

"Today you're going to send me to Ponyville to make friends with a very special group of five ponies. In the morning, Nightmare Moon will return after her thousand-year banishment. My five friends and I will venture into the Everfree Forest to retrieve the Elements of Harmony, and will use their power to defeat Nightmare Moon..." She looked up into Celestia's eyes. "...and turn her back into Luna." She looked away again. "You've been planning on sending me to Ponyville for a while now... but you're afraid that if I make friends, I won't need you anymore."

Celestia stood there for what felt like eons, mouth agape and eyes wide.

"Twilight... we need to talk."

Twilight sat awkwardly across from her mentor and former fellow princess. Or would that be her future fellow princess? Regardless, even in such a calm setting as the Canterlot Gardens, sipping tea with the Princess, she couldn't help but feel awkward as the Princess looked over her with confusion and a bit of fear.

"So..." Celestia finally set her teacup down. "The future. What can you tell me?"

Twilight took a deep breath. She had tried to compile everything on the way over here, so hopefully, she hadn't left any spoilers in. "Well... I told you about Luna already." Celestia nodded, and Twilight continued. "A few months after we become the new bearers, Discord breaks out of his stone prison. We defeat him, though..." Twilight turned and stared in the direction of Discord's statue, some hundred yards or more away from where they sat. "After Discord, in no particular order, we defeat the Changeling Queen, a couple ancient demons, a powerful unicorn or two out for revenge, an ancient threat or two sealed away by Starswirl and the Pillars, and some particularly evil plants... oh, and King Sombra." Celestia's mouth dropped open at that last one, and she nearly dropped the tea she was about to take a sip of.

Twilight paused and took a sip of her own tea. "At some point, you send me Star Swirl's journal, with the unfinished spell." Celestia's eyes grew wide and she just decided to set the tea aside until Twilight is finished, lest she have no tea at all. "I become an alicorn, we give the elements back to the Tree of Harmony, and I end up with a castle and an apprentice of my own."

Twilight sighed. "But now... everything reset for some reason. I'm back to square one."

A silence passed between the two as Celestia digested what she just heard. There are simply too many details Twilight had said, such as the bit about Ponyville and her fears, or the bit about Sombra and Star Swirl's journal, that she shouldn't know.

"...I believe you." Celestia finally said. "And... if what you say is true, then I suppose it's high time I sent you and Spike to Ponyville to make some friends."

Twilight nodded, smiling. "I couldn't agree more, Princess."

Author's Note

Old Author's note:

And then I lost interest in the concept and never touched the text file again. So eventually, I just dumped it unceremoniously on FiMFiction. The End

New Author's note:

After all the positive feedback, this will DEFINITELY be continued.

Fun Fact, each segment is 380 words long exactly.

Captain Mare-vellous: Internal Dispute II (Now with 20% More Spider-Mare!)

Twilight smiled to herself as she sat on Rarity's chaise in one corner of the Golden Oak Library, sipping at her solo cup full of punch. Pinkie Pie's party was in full swing, and for once she had a chance to enjoy it instead of being overly concerned about Nightmare Moon's return. This time, though, she knew everything would turn out fine, so she was free to sit back and actually enjoy the very first party Pinkie threw for her.

Her meeting with each of her five friends had gone mostly unchanged, with the minor difference that she actually enjoyed herself this time around. Her Canterlot friends had even shown up late into the party, having finished Moondancer's party in Canterlot shortly before Twilight finished meeting her friends in Ponyville. She couldn't help but notice they were acting bit 'off', though. Was she really so different now that they were put off by her sudden change in demeanor? Though it made sense that they would feel that way, the thought worried Twilight.

But for the moment, she had a different problem to deal with.

"So... you're from the future?"

"Yes, Spike, we've been over this twice already." Twilight sighed. Spike was the only other one who knew about her secret outside of Celestia. Her secret... Twilight couldn't help but think of all the friendship reports she had sent to Celestia, both from herself and her friends, about telling the truth and not keeping secrets from your friends. Maybe, when she was ready, she would confess to her friends. But not yet.

"Okay," Spike said, "I get that you're still Twilight, just an older Twilight in my Twilight's body. But... how?"

"Look, Spike, just think about it like one of your comics. Like... remember the Nights of Future Present storyline from the Power Ponies comics?"

Spike blinked and was silent for a few moments. "You... read Power Ponies in the future?"

Twilight sighed. "No, but that doesn't stop you from constantly gushing about how cool every single story arc is."

Spike chuckled nervously and rubbed his arm. "Well... they are pretty cool..."

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. "Riiight... but you know how they send Fili-Second back in time to stop some future disaster?"

"Actually, it's Mistress Mare-velous. Fili-Second is sent back in Fili-Second Chances."

Twilight gave him a blank stare. "But you know what I'm referencing, right?"

"Yeah!" Spike smiled brightly, before scrunching his face up in confusion. "Wait... so were you sent back to avert some disaster several years from now?"

"No."

"Then... why'd you travel back in time?"

Twilight threw her head back in exasperation. "I don't know!" Her head landed squarely on the pillow of Rarity's chaise. "I just... woke up in the past. With everything I knew and loved reset back to square one." Twilight buried her face even deeper, only to be yanked out of the pillow and into a particularly pink hug.

"Hey now, Sparky, turn that frown upside-down!" Pinkie beamed, "You should be enjoying the party!"

Twilight sighed and smiled. "Yeah... you're right, Pinkie. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, Twilight!" Pinkie bounced backward and out of the hug. "I mean, second time's the charm, right?" Without giving Twilight a chance to respond, the pink party-planning pony had already bounced off into the thick of the party, leaving a very confused Twilight and Spike.

"Did she just...?"

Twilight frowned. "I'm... not sure if she can remember, or if she's just being Pinkie."

Regardless of what the answer to that was, Pinkie had a point. This time, Twilight would endeavor to enjoy her party. Pinkie could wait until later. And as said party dragged on through the night, Twilight couldn't help but look forward to the morning, or rather temporary lack thereof. Luna, the Elements, her friends... pretty soon, everything would be one step closer to being back to normal.

Twilight sighed contentedly as she sat in front of her desk, looking out the window at the bright and bustling town, a sunset on the horizon. Everything was good so far. She had her five friends back, Luna was back to normal, and she had made sure that Princess Celestia would accept friendship reports from any of her friends, should they learn new things about friendship. And now, with everything settled down, Twilight had taken the time to create graphs, bulleted lists, flowcharts, and timelines for all of the events she could remember happening over the next seven years.

Twilight immediately started seeing areas where she could improve, things she could tackle head-on earlier than she had before. With Starlight's cult not yet started, she could find Sunburst and get to her before she went full villain. With Tempest wandering the lands South of Equestria, Twilight had plenty of time to find her and teach her the magic of friendship before the Storm King could get to her. Tirek, Chrysalis, and plenty of others could be swiftly and easily dealt with. Perhaps, with some luck, Thorax could even be put in charge of the changelings ahead of schedule!

Twilight smiled down at the small, carefully compiled collection of information she had decided to send off to Celestia. After all, with the ability to avert so many disasters, it would be wasteful not to at least be prepared. Yawning, she decided to give the document one final read before she had Spike send it off.

"You wanted to speak with me, Princess?" Twilight fidgeted with her hair as she trotted down the steps to meet her mentor. While Twilight had expected a response after sending the documents, she had not expected Celestia to visit personally because of them.

"I did." Princess Celestia nodded. "It has to do with some of the... suggestions you made in your report."

Twilight sat down across from Celestia. "Suggestions?"

"Specifically, your suggestions about stopping certain future threats." Spike entered with tea for the two, carefully pouring both mares a cup. "Thank you, Spike."

Taking a sip of her tea, Celestia spoke again. "I looked into the Storm King you mentioned in your report, to find that he has not yet committed any punishable crimes. In fact, if your report on Tempest Shadow is accurate, then he will not begin doing so for a number of years."

"So... you can't take any action against him until it's already too late."

Celestia shook her head. "I will see what I can do as soon as he begins seizing land and invading other countries. But I will not arrest any creature who has not yet committed crimes based on the possibility that they might commit crimes in the future."

Twilight sighed. "I... understand. It wouldn't look good on a geopolitical scale if Equestria were to depose another nation seemingly at random." She looked up at her mentor. "I assume that there are other things you similarly disagree with?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes... Twilight, I am worried. What would happen to your future if we do these things? Reforming villains years before their time, stopping the bad guy before they even get a chance... decisions like this might erase the future you came from. Are you really willing to do that for the safety of Equestria?"

Twilight's face fell and she stared down into her tea. The thought had never occurred to her. Though she had planned for many, many contingencies, she had never once realized what changing her present might mean for the future. Would sacrificing the future she loved be worth the changes she would make?

Looking up at her mentor, she took a deep breath and gave her answer.

"I... I don't know." She shrank back. "I'm sorry..."

A hoof on Twilight's shoulder made her look up at a smiling, empathetic Celestia. "It's okay to not know sometimes. I've ruled for over eleven hundred years and even I'm not sure what to do sometimes." Celestia pulled her student into a hug. "But if you are to be a princess again someday, you may have to make hard decisions like this, often under great pressure."

"I know," Twilight said sadly. "But that doesn't make those decisions any easier." She sighed. "Is it right to let things simply play out the way that they did for some 'greater good', or because I selfishly want things to stay the same? Or is it more right to use this knowledge I have to make things turn out for the better?"

"Only you can make that decision." Celestia brought Twilight in closer. "It's a difficult one, but your heart knows what's right, even as it hurts."

Twilight giggled. "I recall you saying something similar about whether it was time for my student to go out on her own or not."

Celestia stood up and smiled. "I look forward to meeting her, whoever she may be."

Twilight nodded. "Thank you, princess. I think... I'll need a while to decide. I'll have Spike send you a letter when I have my answer."

Celestia nodded and turned to go. "That's all I ask."

"Celestia?"

Celestia turned back to Twilight, who was smiling warmly up at her mentor.

"Thank you."

Celestia smiled warmly in return. "You're welcome, my faithful student."

And with that, Celestia left the little library, leaving Twilight with her thoughts.

Author's Note

Yes, the title is a reference to Civil War II, a dispute between Captain Marvel and Iron Man in the comics. In it, there's a disagreement because an Inhuman who can see the future can predict disasters before they happen, but there's a dispute over how accurate the aforementioned foreseen futures are, as well as whether it's right to punish criminals before they commit any crimes. This is reflected in Celestia's assessment of why she can't do anything to the Storm King without potentially causing an international incident, as well as damaging Equestria's geopolitical reputation.

Also, expect plenty of content to be skipped if it happens basically the same way as the show depicted it.