“You want to know what happened to me?” Starlight roared as she levitated to the map, “I’LL SHOW YOU!”
A burst of magic struck the map. Starlight’s time spell opened a vortex, sending the only living things back in time.
On the other side of the vortex was Starlight’s childhood home. Her best, and only, friend Sunburst was stacking books with a young Starlight. Then the stack of books fell. Sunburst displayed a fantastic use of magic and returned all the books back to their sports on the shelf. A bright golden glow enveloped Sunburst. His cutie mark proudly planted on his flank for all to see.
“And just like that,” Starlight frowned, “my friend was gone.”
Sunburst ran outside to show his family his cutie mark. His parents cheered with joy, levitating him away from Starlight’s home.
“His family recognized his magical talent and sent him off to Canterlot,” Starlight sighed with a tear in her eye, “I never saw him again.”
Twilight’s ear flicked as she heard the mournful cries of a young filly.
“Well, why not?” Spike innocently asked.
Twilight peeked through the open window sill.
“Because of his cutie mark!” Starlight shouted, “He got his, and I didn’t! He moved on, and I didn’t! I stayed here and never made another friend because I was too afraid another cutie mark would take them away too!”
While Starlight angrily revealed her backstory, Twilight watched the young Starlight cry over a small picture.
“First I lost my parents and now my only friend,” Young Starlight sobbed, “I’m all alone.”
Twilight noticed the picture held a mare and stallion couple with a baby Starlight. She gasped and jumped through the window to hug the young Starlight. Spike and Starlight glanced over with confusion.
“You poor thing!” Twilight smothered young Starlight, “I’ll be your mama.”
The young Starlight looked up with a wide smile, “You will?!”
Starlight held her head, grunting in pain.
“I promise to always be there for you,” Twilight reassured the young Starlight.
Spike rubbed his chin and scratched his head. He wondered what Twilight was planning. Usually the other villains they faced were blasted by the power of rainbows or love or friendship. Was Twilight planning on blasting Starlight with the power of motherly love?
Either way, Starlight screamed in pain as new memories imbedded into her mind. Memories of a wonderful childhood with Twilight as her mother. At the moment the memories stopped pouring in, Starlight jumped through the window and hugged Twilight.
“Mama!” she cried, “I finally have you back!”
Tears streamed down both Starlights’ faces. Twilight embraced both of them. The moment was heartwarming and slightly odd. Spike expressed his conflicted emotions by both dawing and cringing.
“Now Starlight,” both Starlights looked up to their mother. Twilight rolled her eyes, “Starlight from the future. I think you know what you’re suppose to do now?”
Starlight pulled out Starswirl’s scroll, “A-are you sure about this, mama?”
Twilight nodded.
Starlight opened a time vortex. She was whisked away with the scroll in hoof.
“What the heck was that all about?” Spike mumbled.
Twilight gently rubbed Starlight’s head, “It’s to protect the time stream. In order for us to get to this point, we had to stay in the past while Starlight destroys the scroll in the future.”
Spike’s eyes shot wide, “You mean we’re stuck here?! But won’t that change things?”
“Not at all Spike,” she levitated young Starlight to a couch, “Not at all…”
The future aka The present
Starlight fell out of the time vortex. She gracefully landed on all four hooves. She made sure the vortex closed. With the scroll wrapped in her magic, she tore it to pieces.
Twilight and Spike would be trapped in the past.
No way out.
A sacrifice worthy of a hero.
The throne room doors opened. Twilight’s friends walked through. Their chatter ceased when their eyes fell upon Starlight Glimmer.
“You!” Rainbow tackled Starlight, “What are YOU doing here?”
“I-i-“ Starlight stammered.
“She’s probably up to no good,” Applejack accused, “Trying to steal our cutie marks again?”
“Maybe she decided to reform, like Discord?” Fluttershy suggested.
Applejack sigh with pity, “Sugarcube, sometimes you can be too forgiving.”
“Well I-“
“Applejack is right, darling,” Rarity interjected, “Anyone who subjugates people to wear ghastly rags is irredeemable!”
Rainbow hovered behind Rarity with a deadpanned expression, “Seriously?”
“Can I just say-“
Pinkie’s party cannon went off, “If she’s good now we should throw a party!” Pinkie somehow brought a tray of cupcakes out of her mane. Miraculously, no hair on any of them nor was their any frosting in her mane.
“She ain’t redeemed, Pinkie!” Applejack growled.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Fluttershy stated, “Can we just let her-“
“Starlight Glimmer is certainly not redeemable in any way,” Rarity huffed, “She’ll most likely be a permanent foe we’ll face every month or so.”
Rainbow smirked, “A recurring villain we can kick around? Sounds sweet to me.”
Pinkie jammed a cupcake in her mouth, “That’s mean, Dashie! We should at least try to be friends with her.”
“We did the same for Discord,” Fluttershy yelled as loud as she would, “Starlight should be no different.”
Applejack pulled her hat back, “No way no how is there anything that’ll convince me. Starlight’s a crooked snake and that’s it! Ain’t no pony able to say otherwise!”
“How about a dragon?” a deep masculine voice asked from behind the door.
All ponies looked behind the door to see a tall thin purple dragon. He looked a lot like Spike.
“BBBFF!” Starlight ran past the other ponies to hug the teenage dragon.
The dragon patted her on the head, “Good to see you too, lil’ sis,” he glanced around the room. All eyes laid on him and Starlight.
“Been a long time since I last saw you guys,” the teenage dragon stood up. Starlight hopped to his side, “We’ve got a long story to tell you guys.”
“Is mom here?” Starlight innocently asked.
The teenage dragon lifted a large chest over his shoulder with a smile, “Of course she is! It’s her castle after all.”
Mouths dropped all around.
“Spike?!” Rarity yelped, “Is that really you?!”
Spike giggled with a blush, “Yeah, it’s me… I had a little… growth spurt since yesterday.”
“A little?” Rainbow teased.
“Look, Twilight can explain everything once she gets here.”
Applejack walked to her seat at the round table, “This is going to be a doozie. May as well sit down for this one.”
The others looked at each other and followed Applejack’s suggestion. Each pony took their respective seat (Starlight taking Twilight’s seat), waiting for the princess of friendship to come in.
Rarity gave Spike a strange look, “BBBFF?”
“Big Brother Best Friend Forever,” Spike stated.
“Of course…” Rarity muttered under her breath.
It was not long before Twilight arrived. She was always on time for appointments. However, her friends never expected to see Twilight this… majestic.
Twilight glowed with a violet aura. Star twinkled with each breath she took. Her appearance was a strange mixture between Celestia and Luna. She was noticeably taller, measuring up to Cadence’s hight maybe more. Not one piece of jewelry was on her, yet her radiant presence proved there was no need for trinkets. She did, however, wear the princess dress Rarity made when she was working in the Canterlot Carousel.
“Hi girls!” Twilight greeted in her usual voice.
Her voice echoed off the walls, expressing how silent the room was and how stunned everyone in the room were.
Twilight sheepishly looked over herself, “Was the princess dress too much?” she directed the question at Rarity.
Rarity fainted.
“I…guess that’s a yes?”
Applejack whistled, “Woo wee, never thought you’d ever look like that!”
“Applejack!” Fluttershy whispered.
“Oh uh, no offense…”
Twilight laughed, “Don’t worry about it. I was surprised to see myself like this too.”
Starlight nodded, “That was a day I thought I’d never forget.”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Rainbow shouted, “What’s the deal with Starlight calling you mom?”
“Biologically, I’m not, but I did adopt her when I was trapped in the past.”
Pinkie looked to Applejack, “You were right about this being a doozie. Do you have a pinkie-sense too? Or is it an apple-sense and I have it because I might be your cousin?”
“Can we get an explanation before talking about family?” Rainbow urged.
Twilight looked over Rarity, “Should we wait until Rarity gets up or…”
Spike raised a claw, “I’ll fill her in when we’re done.”
Twilight nodded, “Ok, so the basic run down of the whole thing is this…
Starlight was sitting in the throne room and used a spell on the map to transport me, Spike, and her back in time. She ended up sending us to Rainbow Dash’s first Sonic Rainboom. Starlight intended to prevent that from ever happening…”
“And you stopped her,” Rainbow yawned.
Twilight shook her head.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped.
“What? Then how are we here?”
“I’ll get to that part soon!” Twilight sighed before continuing, “Starlight succeeded… many times… and altered Equestria’s future!”
“First we were in a war with Sombra, then Chrysalis’ invasion was a success, then Nightmare Moon banished Celestia to the moon!” Spike screamed, “And that’s only the first few timelines we saw.”
“Each timeline got worse and worse. I knew I had to stop Starlight at all costs.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes at Starlight, “So why’s she still here?”
Starlight averted her eyes, “Mom took me to see the latest timeline I altered,” she confessed, “It was a barren wasteland with no life. Mom started to give a speech on how important you guys are to Equestria but I wouldn’t listen,” Starlight sniffled.
Twilight went to Starlight to comfort her, “She took me back to when she was a young filly. Her only friend abandoned her when he got his cutie mark and went to Canterlot for better education in magic.”
“You poor thing,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Then Starlight gave us this monologue on how she lost her friend because of his cutie mark… well, she gave it to me at least…” Spike scratched the back of his neck.
Twilight cradled Starlight, “I noticed young Starlight was holding a picture and heard her cry about being alone,” Twilight looked over to Applejack, “She lost her parents to a monster attack.”
Applejack shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
Starlight wiped a tear from her eye, “That was when mom jumped through the window and hugged me… er, young me.”
“That was when I made a plan!” Twilight clapped her hooves together, “I would adopt Starlight, raise her to be good, and we’ll live happily ever after!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “But wouldn’t she have to start that town and cutie mark thing for you to be her mother?”
Twilight, Spike and Starlight bowed their heads, “Sadly, yes…”
“Twilight used a memory block spell so Starlight wouldn’t recognize her when she was doing her cutie mark thing,” Spike explained.
Starlight sniffed, “It was as painful to think about then as it is now.”
Twilight soothed Starlight, “There there… I’m here now. You’ll never loose anyone ever again.”
Fluttershy squeed, “That’s so sweet!”
Rainbow groaned, “You’re telling me that you had Starlight do all those bad things? Why?!”
“To make sure the time stream stayed in one piece!” Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and Pinkie shouted.
Everyone suddenly looked at Pinkie.
“What? It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Er… Right,” Twilight tried to remember where she was in her story, “I knew, for the sake of keeping things in order, I had to make sure Starlight would be ready to take me and all of you on. I also had to make sure she knew how to use Starswirl’s time spell… something no other pony can do.”
“You taught Starlight magic you can’t even do?!” Rainbow roared in shock.
Twilight nodded, “I taught her all magic I know and more. I’d even say she surpassed me in magic power!”
Starlight blushed, “Thanks mom…”
Applejack leaned back, “Ok, Starlight’s good and Twilight’s her ma. What we suppose to do now?”
Pinkie glared at Applejack, “You know what happens now…”
Everyone face-hoofed. Applejack pulled her hat over her face. Pinkie jumped in the air, releasing confetti and streamers from invisible pockets around her. Joyous whistles filled the castle. Cake suddenly appeared on the table with party favors. Pinkie landed on her party cannon, aiming it at Starlight.
“Pinkie!” Twilight screeched.
Starlight sweated wondering what the insane party pony was going to do.
Pinkie pulled the fuse, party supplies flew out of the cannon with a high pitched squeak. A tiara, scepter, and sash (with the words ‘new good princess’ on it) found themselves in Starlight’s possession.
Pinkie grinned a manic smile, “Let’s party!!!”
