Cirrus Light 
"[@Background Pony #2126":](/1298011#comment_5621776
)
>Illogical plot twists
>I've totally been calling it from the beginning
Well, let's look at it this way:
The red line in the bottom timeline (the timeline the resistance lives in) could be interpreted as when her friends die - not their point of departure from the upper timeline.
From the Resistance' point of view:
Best case scenario:
A)The prophesy is literal, and the Mane 6 count as "alive" until their last death in the timeline. Thus killing the Keys would ensure Twilight's death, somehow or other. Maybe in the attempt to kill them, Twilight would try to save them with her own life (knowing, that by the prophesy, if they died, she'd die), and they end up killing Twilight. Whatever the case, if the prophesy is true and literal, then killing the "keys" will absolutely mean that Twilight dies first, so if you can kill them that day, then Twilight will be dead by sunset.
Now, on the flip side, imagine this:
B) the prophesy counts their second appearance (post-death of old age) in their timeline as being "alive again", thus Twilight hasn't outlived her friends, **BUT**, if the Mane 5 return to their upper timeline, then they won't count as "dead" until the upper timeline progresses to point "A", since that's when their last appearance in the lower timeline was.
Imagine, in programming terms, a global variable called "last time alive of mane 5", and that value is set to the time that the mane 5 leave the lower timeline. Okay,_*but_*, now the timer on the mane 5's lives has been reset to the time they return to (dotted line, if they return to their own timeline okay), and the prophesy won't ensure Twilight's death until that timer is equal or greater than "last time alive of mane 5", thus, Twilight could potentially carry on her rule another 1,000 years.
Other alternatives are:
C) The timer counts "last time alive in current timeline" as the time Twilight won't outlive. Thus, if the mane 5 leave (and never come back!) then Twilight dies.
BUT, D), **IF** they come back in the distant future, then Twilight isn't gauranteed to die until then. And finally,
E) Maybe the timer will follow them as if it's a clock counting back that's attached to the mane 5, with another end in the Resistance' timeline, so Twilight is assured to die within, say, 70 years or so, since that's about how much longer the mane 5 may continue to live until death by natural causes.
At any rate, the safest and "best" path (morals aside of murdering 5 innocent ponies) is to murder the "keys" to Twilight's life - the remaining mane 5. And Spike. And I guess her friends in Canterlot, too, but they died a long time ago and aren't back again, so, minus them.
Basically just the rest of the mane 5 and Spike since they're the only ones left alive.
If they *_**DON'T_*** take this route, then they run the risk of A) it will count any of the mane 5's visits to the distant future as them being alive, so Twilight's will live at most for basically an unlimited time, B) it will count until their top timeline returns to "A", so Twilight will live at most about a thousand more years, C) it will count until the mane 5 die in their own timelines, so Twilight will live at most 80 more years, or D) it will count until they leave, and they don't have to kill them at all, they just have to leave the future **and** never come back to a point further than that.
So, basically, if they don't kill Twilight's friends, then they pass up an opportunity where killing Twilight will be as easy as 5 murders. Which is a lot easier than killing a godlike tyrannical empress.
If they do, though, they're gauranteed success, by the prophesy, which is pretty darn great.
But Spike would also have to kill himself to ensure success.
That's be a really cool twist, actually - "I know I was planning to kill you, and you may hate me for that... But it really is for the greater good, and I know it's a lot easier to kill for the greater good than to die for it, which is what I'm asking you to do... But I'm not asking you to do something I won't."
Kills himself to ensure the prophesy. That'd be an interesting twist. Even though you want to call him evil for wanting to kill them, if he's perfectly willing to take the same for himself, then it's a lot harder to call him evil.
Sciencepone of Science!
>Illogical plot twists
>I've totally been calling it from the beginning
Well, let's look at it this way:
 could be interpreted as when her friends die - not their point of departure from the upper timeline.
From the Resistance' point of view:
Best case scenario:
A)The prophesy is literal, and the Mane 6 count as "alive" until their last death in the timeline. Thus killing the Keys would ensure Twilight's death, somehow or other. Maybe in the attempt to kill them, Twilight would try to save them with her own life (knowing, that by the prophesy, if they died, she'd die), and they end up killing Twilight. Whatever the case, if the prophesy is true and literal, then killing the "keys" will absolutely mean that Twilight dies first, so if you can kill them that day, then Twilight will be dead by sunset.
Now, on the flip side, imagine this:
B) the prophesy counts their second appearance (post-death of old age) in their timeline as being "alive again", thus Twilight hasn't outlived her friends, **BUT**, if the Mane 5 return to their upper timeline, then they won't count as "dead" until the upper timeline progresses to point "A", since that's when their last appearance in the lower timeline was.
Imagine, in programming terms, a global variable called "last time alive of mane 5", and that value is set to the time that the mane 5 leave the lower timeline. Okay,
Other alternatives are:
C) The timer counts "last time alive in current timeline" as the time Twilight won't outlive. Thus, if the mane 5 leave (and never come back!) then Twilight dies.
BUT, D), **IF** they come back in the distant future, then Twilight isn't gauranteed to die until then. And finally,
E) Maybe the timer will follow them as if it's a clock counting back that's attached to the mane 5, with another end in the Resistance' timeline, so Twilight is assured to die within, say, 70 years or so, since that's about how much longer the mane 5 may continue to live until death by natural causes.
At any rate, the safest and "best" path (morals aside of murdering 5 innocent ponies) is to murder the "keys" to Twilight's life - the remaining mane 5. And Spike. And I guess her friends in Canterlot, too, but they died a long time ago and aren't back again, so, minus them.
Basically just the rest of the mane 5 and Spike since they're the only ones left alive.
If they *
So, basically, if they don't kill Twilight's friends, then they pass up an opportunity where killing Twilight will be as easy as 5 murders. Which is a lot easier than killing a godlike tyrannical empress.
If they do, though, they're gauranteed success, by the prophesy, which is pretty darn great.
But Spike would also have to kill himself to ensure success.
That's be a really cool twist, actually - "I know I was planning to kill you, and you may hate me for that... But it really is for the greater good, and I know it's a lot easier to kill for the greater good than to die for it, which is what I'm asking you to do... But I'm not asking you to do something I won't."
Kills himself to ensure the prophesy. That'd be an interesting twist. Even though you want to call him evil for wanting to kill them, if he's perfectly willing to take the same for himself, then it's a lot harder to call him evil.