Written by Josh Haber and directed by Denny Lu, the two episodes center around Starlight Glimmer, who tries to take revenge from the Mane 6 by going back in time and preventing them from ever meeting each other.
At Sweet Apple Acres, which is now a heavily industrialized apple-processing plant, Twilight and Spike encounter Applejack, who doesn't remember either of them.
However, Starlight altered the spell to arrive earlier than Twilight and proceeds to talk with the bullies of filly Fluttershy, making them befriend each other.
The duo land in another alternate present, where they encounter several ponies, including Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie with spears, accusing them of being disguised Changelings and try to destroy them.
Now back in Cloudsdale, Twilight fights with Starlight in a magic battle, attracting Rainbow Dash and the bullies, preventing the Sonic Rainboom from happening again.
Twilight and Spike repeatedly fail to stop Starlight from altering the past and are now trapped in a time loop, creating alternate versions of Equestria ruled by Lord Tirek, Discord and Flim and Flam.
Starlight refuses to believe them and shows them her own childhood, revealing that she lost touch with her friend Sunburst after he earned his cutie mark and left to study magic in Canterlot.
Back in Cloudsdale in the past, Starlight, desperate to prove her point, threatens to rip the time scroll in half, but Twilight convinces her to give friendship another chance and all three return to the unaltered present together.
According to the Nielsen household ratings, the season 5 finale viewed by approximately 0.06 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of broadcast and had a total of 325.000 viewers.
He added that the redemption part of the story has been done well, but this was "at the expense of Starlight Glimmer’s role as a villain", whom he labelled as "one of the show’s finest antagonists.