History Fanfic / HardReset

[[redirect:FanFic/EakinsHardReset]]

[[redirect:Fanfic/EakinsHardReset]]

-->-"Well that didn't work."
--->-Spike

Hard Reset is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan fiction story by Eakin.

Twilight isn't having a very good day. An experimental spell blew up in her face, [[BugWar an army of changelings is attacking Canterlot]], and she just died. Yet somehow, it looks like it's going to keep going downhill from here.

Given the chance to correct what's gone wrong, Twilight swears [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong she's going to fix all this]] even if it kills her. Which it will. [[TheManyDeathsOfYou Frequently.]]

It can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/67362/hard-reset here]].

A [[DramaticReading Dramatic Reading]] can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE8nLEHdZ4o here]]

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!'''Hard Reset provides examples of:'''
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: [[spoiler: The Wall of Horrible Shiny Death, aka, The Elements of Harmony.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Changelings are portrayed this way in the fic. There's a loop where Chrysalis spares Twilight after the two share [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu a surprisingly friendly and hostility-free chat over tea and scones,]] leading Chrysalis to wistfully express her regret more ponies aren't like Twilight, which sends Twilight into a brief epiphany regarding the relationship between their species. [[spoiler: The notion is DoubleSubverted when Chrysalis promptly pops up again, says she changed her mind, and proceeds to lay eggs in Twilight's head.]] After the event, the [[spoiler: ponyfied-]]Changelings are revealed to have been basically oppressed by the Queen, [[spoiler: according to the Changeling Butterscotch,]] which if it's true, means the only one that was AlwaysChaoticEvil was Chrysalis.
* [[spoiler: AndThenJohnWasAZombie: In the canon ending, the Elements of Harmony transform almost every Changeling into a true pony permanently. In the Alternate Ending, this trope is exploited by ''Twilight'', willingly becoming a Changeling in order to take over the hive.]]
* AssKickingEqualsAuthority: This is how Changeling society decides upon its ruler.
* {{Badass}}: By the time the story's over, Twilight's become an experienced, battle-hardened killing machine over her many, many loops.
** BadassBookworm
* BatterUp: Twilight gets ''quite'' friendly with a baseball bat in one of the loops, which quickly becomes a favorite weapon of hers, to the point [[ICallItVera she affectionately calls it]] "Home Run". [[spoiler: The name even gets engraved into the bat when the rest of the Mane 6 give it to her as a gift in her Thank-You party.]]
* BeamOWar: Twilight finds Celestia and Chrysalis engaged in one. [[spoiler: Celestia will inevitably lose unless Twilight steps in.]]
* BloodyHilarious: The author didn't originally intend to make the fic come off so comedically, but Twilight's DeadpanSnarker narrative is both brilliantly in-character and stupendiously hilarious enough to make several deaths entertaining to read. It helps Twilight eventually becomes so desentized to the idea of her death that she quickly becomes very non-chalant about it.
* BugWar: A huge Changeling invasion that will almost certainly succeed in taking over Canterlot... [[spoiler: if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony being pissed off by that.]]
* ChainsawGood: Used in at least one loop for the sole purpose of [[MundaneUtility beating her previous record of changeling kills.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Twilight's initial confrontations with Changelings result in her death multiple times. After looping enough times to predict exactly how a Changeling will react in battle and gaining enough battle experience, she's the one dealing them instead. This is also invariably the result of any encounter between Changelings and an Alicorn [[spoiler: unless they ambush her in the hundreds.]]
* DeathByGluttony: Twilight at one point decides to perform an impromptu toxicology study on donuts. [[ForScience For science]] of course! [[spoiler: She manages to eat 23, before being killed by a changeling]].
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: In one loop, [[RefugeInAudacity Twilight goes straight up to Chrysalis and bluntly tells her she knows what's going on]] and that [[SomebodyElsesProblem she has no intention to do anything about it.]] Chrysalis binds her, but the two have a friendly chat over tea and scones wherein they exchange embarrassing stories about Shining Armor.
* DisintegratorRay: This is what [[spoiler: the Elements of Harmony]] do when enraged.
* TheDitherer: Twilight becomes a tragic case of this; spending months in the time loop leaves her with anxiety over the littlest choices once she gets out since she no longer has any way to go back and correct any mistakes she makes.
* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide: Twilight, in the loop where she first discovers her friends will die if she doesn't prevent it, followed by Luna being killed in an ambush.]]
* DuctTapeForEverything: During at least one killing spree, Twilight binds a Changeling with duct tape before casually going over to it and smashing its brains in with [[BatterUp Home]] [[ICallItVera Run]].
* [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn: The Alternate Ending chapter]]
* FantasticRacism: Chrysalis implies this is an overarching cause for the enmity between the two races. This racism becomes much more notorious once the Changelings [[spoiler: are permanently turned into ponies by the Elements of Harmony, resulting in some willing to take them in with others decrying and rejecting attempts to integrate them into pony society.]] After her experiences with them, Twilight herself displays this racism quite strongly, and we can't blame her for it. [[spoiler: She gets over it rather quickly though.]]
* {{Flashback}}: Twilight experiences one during the last canon chapter after Spike unwittingly triggers it by uttering the same sentence Twilight always hears whenever she starts a new loop, showing us [[TimeSkip what happened between the culmination of the last chapter and the time before she has her flashback.]]
* ForWantOfANail: Given the premise, Twilight, naturally, eventually indulges in this for a while, getting into quite interesting and/or hilarious situations for shits and giggles.
* GilliganCut: The fic makes liberal use of these to show different loops, especially when dying in one results in Twilight correcting herself in the next one (or the relevant one several loops later).
* GoryDiscretionShot: For some of the more gruesome deaths.
* GroundhogDayLoop: Resets every time Twilight dies to the point the intial "save-point" spell was cast, although without certain actions taken, the loop basically lasts around 3 hours before [[spoiler: The Elements of Harmony destroy the world.]]
** GroundhogPeggySue
* IgnoredEpiphany: Subverted. See AlwaysChaoticEvil and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu. Twilight comes to believe that she's been approaching the situation incorrectly and that she's meant to bring about peace between ponies and Changelings after the honest fun and good time she had with Chrysalis in the "tea party loop". Just as she resolves to do this, [[spoiler: Chrysalis reappears moments after having left, non-chalantly states she changed her mind and cheerfully kills Twilight.]] Twilight promptly changes her mind about peace.
* {{Irony}}: At one point, Twilight gets killed by ''[[HoistByTheirOwnPetard friendship]]''.
* KaizoTrap: Several of them. We actually learn the main ones pretty soon into the story, though there are others.
** [[spoiler: Chrysalis will overpower Celestia without Twilight's intervention.]]
** [[spoiler: The changelings will kill the other Mane 6 if Twilight doesn't send Luna over to save them.]]
** [[spoiler: Without the Mane 6 together to exhaust the energy of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia will be forced to contain them while Luna leads the war effort, resulting in Luna getting ambushed and killed.]]
** [[spoiler: And of course, if nothing is done to stop the invasion and the rising disharmony produced by it, the Elements of Harmony will destroy the world.]]
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: In at least one loop, Twilight goes on a killing spree after [[KleptomaniacHero having stolen]] from many shops, ranging from [[MiniDressOfPower slinky dresses]] to [[BatterUp baseball bats]] to her dinner.
* KlingonPromotion: In order to become Queen of the Hive, the challenger Changeling must depose and consume the reigning Queen in single-combat. [[spoiler: Twilight does precisely that in the Alternate Ending.]]
* MacGyvering: Twilight eventually learns how to use common household items to put together high-grade explosive charges. [[TheManyDeathsOfYou After many tries of course.]] She puts these to good use to reduce a hallway and a large squad of Changelings to a mess of molten rock and agonizing stragglers.
* NoodleImplements: A weather vane. All that's mentioned is that Twilight seems to have enjoyed whatever Luna did with it...
* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: In one loop, Twilight is [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu taking tea with Chrysalis]], and it seems to be going rather well, and Twilight thinks she can [[HeelFaceTurn convert Chrysalis.]] [[spoiler: Subverted when Chrysalis comes back and tells Twilight she's [[ILied changed her mind]] and will now proceed to [[CompleteMonster lay eggs in Twilight's skull.]]]]
* PayEvilUntoEvil: In one loop, Chrysalis maliciously and cruelly taunts Celestia by [[spoiler: taking Luna's form after she dies]], prompting Celestia to vanish in a rage rather than taking revenge. Twilight states this is because Celestia's better than Chrysalis. Before leaving, she mentions SHE is no better than Chrysalis, then uses a dark magic spell to kill her while making sure she suffers the most excruciating pain imaginiable until the very moment she dies.
* ScrewYourself: A pony named Cloud Kicker all-but states to have done this with a Changeling [[spoiler: that was permanently transformed into a real version of herself due to the Elements of Harmony.]]
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Twilight becomes determined to do anything and everything in her power to save everyone she can.
* [[spoiler: ShapeShifterModeLock: Almost every Changeling becomes permanently locked into the form they had when the Elements of Harmony were used on Chrysalis. This is not merely a change in appearance; every Changeling that got locked was turned into a true pony in every single way, meaning no more HiveMind or emotion eating, for example.]]
* TemptingFate: See {{Irony}} above...
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Some [[BloodyHilarious rather funny]], while some... aren't.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Changelings are portrayed this way in the fic. There's a loop where Chrysalis spares Twilight after the two share [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu a surprisingly friendly and hostility-free chat over tea and scones,]] leading Chrysalis to wistfully express her regret more ponies aren't like Twilight, which sends Twilight into a brief epiphany regarding the relationship between their species. The notion is DoubleSubverted when Chrysalis promptly pops up again, says she changed her mind, and proceeds to lay eggs in Twilight's head.

* BloodyHilarious: The author didn't originally intend to make the fic come off so comedically, but Twilight's DeadpanSnarker narrative is both brilliantly in-character and stupendiously hilarious enough to make several deaths entertaining to read. It helps Twilight eventually becomes so desentized to the idea of her death that she quickly becomes very nonchalant about it.

* {{Flashback}}: Twilight experiences one during the last canon chapter after Spike unwittingly triggers it by uttering the same sentence Twilight always hears whenever she starts a new loop, showing us [[TimeSkip what happened between the culmination of the last chapter and the time before she has her flashback.]]

* IgnoredEpiphany: Subverted. See AlwaysChaoticEvil and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu. Twilight comes to believe that she's been approaching the situation incorrectly and that she's meant to bring about peace between ponies and Changelings after the honest fun and good time she had with Chrysalis in the "tea party loop". Just as she resolves to do this, Chrysalis reappears moments after having left, states she changed her mind and kills Twilight. Twilight promptly changes her mind about peace.

* [[spoiler: AndThenJohnWasAZombie: In the canon ending, the Elements of Harmony transform almost every Changeling into a true pony permanently. In the Alternate Ending, ''Twilight'' willingly becomes a Changeling in order to take over the hive.]]

* FantasticRacism: Chrysalis implies this is an overarching cause for the enmity between the two races. This racism becomes much more notorious once the Changelings [[spoiler: are permanently turned into ponies by the Elements of Harmony, resulting in some willing to take them in with others decrying and rejecting attempts to integrate them into pony society.]] After her experience with them, Twilight herself displays this racism quite strongly, and we can't blame her for it. [[spoiler: She gets over it rather quickly though.]]

* GroundhogPeggySue

* BugWar: A huge changeling invasion that will almost certainly succeed in taking over Canterlot... [[spoiler: if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony being pissed off by that.]]

* [[spoiler: HeelFaceTurn: The Alternate Ending chapter]]

* [[Spoiler: HeelFaceTurn: The Alternate Ending chapter]]

* TemptingFate: See Irony above...

* TemptingFate

* GroundhogDayLoop: Resets every time Twilight dies to the point the intial "save-point" spell was cast, although without certain actions taken, the loop basically lasts around 3 hours before [[spoiler: The Elements of Harmony]] destroy the world.

* {{Irony}}: At one point, Twilight gets killed by ''[[HoistByTheirOwnPettard friendship]]''.

* TemptingFate

* GroundhogPeggySue

!'''Hard Reset provides examples of:'''

Twilight isn't having a very good day. An experimental spell blew up in her face, an army of changelings is attacking Canterlot, and she just died. Yet somehow, it looks like it's going to keep going downhill from here.

Given the chance to correct what's gone wrong, Twilight swears she's going to fix all this even if it kills her. Which it will. Frequently.

Given the chance to correct what's gone wrong, Twilight swears she's going to fix all this even if it kills her. Which it will. Frequently.