… Therefore, by Farnsworth’s logic, we were always meant to feature today’s story.

A Brief History Of Time
[Drama] [Sci-Fi] • 5,861 words

“Anything that happens, happens.

Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.

Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.

It doesn’t necessarily do it in chronological order, though.”

– Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Twilight and Minuette discuss Starlight Glimmer’s timeline disruptions.

Twilight just wishes the conversation had happened in chronological order.

FROM THE CURATORS: There are two types of fanfics — those which leap from canon into the unknown and unexplored, and those which dig into the details of the show to bring new context to the moments we love — and this is an easy exemplar of the second type.  “At its heart, this is a short and simple exploration of how to reconcile the S5 finale with It’s About Time‘s premise of stable time loops,” Chris said in his nomination.  Horizon praised the nuance with which it handled that topic: “The way this squares two episodes with seemingly incompatible time-travel theories is sharp, and it’s got a good eye for the multiple-timeline consequences the episode leaves unexplored.  It’s nice to find writing both this smart and this clear.”  AugieDog especially appreciated that clarity: “Time travel stories in general make me itchy, so anything that serves to lessen that itchiness is always welcome.”

But this fic isn’t content to merely bat around time-travel ideas.  “There are tons of cool little details, like the idea that Equestria would have a journal for both fiction and true accounts, or the rotation of the magical bubble,” Soge said.  “It takes a premise which could easily fit a blog post, and turns it into a full fledged story thanks to some great characterization work.”

It was that “terrific character writing,” as AugieDog put it, that sealed the deal on the feature.  “I love it when Minuette gets serious and Twilight realizes that this isn’t just a theoretical discussion they’re having — and the way the story comes up with a Pony-logical solution for the problem it’s addressing,” AugieDog added.  Soge enjoyed the characters as well: “Minuette is adorable, Twilight is perfectly in character, and it has amazing comedic timing,” he said.  And, as Chris noted, Minuette’s personality served the story very well: “Her cheeky carefree-ity is used to keep what could easily have become an overly-technical bit of headcanon from being too narrow in scope or dry in tone.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Doppler Effect discusses Novikov consistency, Terminator predestination, and Asimov’s ambiguously real goose.
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