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                Are You Really That Naive?                 
                     -by Kamikakushi-                      
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                 Are You Really That Naive                 
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Are You Really That Naive
Are You Really That Naive?
“Once more unto the breach,” Twilight muttered under her breath as she stared up at the ominously swirling vortex hanging just above the dull and chipped crystalline map before them. She took Spike in hoof and the two leaped forward, drawn into the vortex. Once she passed the event horizon, she glanced back to see the hole in reality from whence they came wink closed. In the blink of an eye, the map and scorched landscape around it were gone, and the two were left tumbling through the blinding, spinning aether between time and space.
Twilight and Spike both screamed into the echoing void, unsure which direction was which, or where they would land—if they would land. White and blue light streaked around them like water going down a drain as the two fell endlessly forward. Twilight’s stomach churned, revolting from feeling like she was in a dryer, but before she lost her lunch, the searing swirl of light faded. She dropped face-first onto something very solid, sending a ripple of pain from her chin to the tip of her horn.
“How much longer do we have to do this?” Spike groaned.
“Ow,” she whimpered as she opened her eyes. Endless blue sky greeted her above, and a sea of white clouds below. Her eyes focused in on a blurry purple silhouette looming over her.
"Back for another round, Princess?" the unknown pony asked in a sadistic voice that she recognized as belonging to Starlight Glimmer.
Twilight groaned with her chin still plastered to the runway. Her vision slowly came back into focus. She slowly planted a shaking hoof on the pavement, and then another before picking herself up. “No.” Twilight made it onto all fours then let out a sigh. “You were right. I can’t stop you…”
Starlight reared back, and a sputtering spark of magic appeared at the end of her horn.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. As Starlight let loose a blinding bolt of energy a sudden flash of purple light appeared around Twilight and Spike and deflected the blast harmlessly away.
“But you can’t stop me from trying to stop you either!” Twilight yelled hoarsely. “And we could be at this for all eternity!”
“If that’s what it takes to keep you and your friends apart, I’m game!” Starlight’s horn let loose another jagged blast of magic, which arced straight at Twilight.
Once more Twilight deflected it with a purple shield. “This goes way beyond keeping my friends and I apart! Everything we do here can snowball out of control and wreak havoc on the future!”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Oh, and next you’re going to tell me ‘the fate of all of Equestria hangs in the balance,’ or something stupid like that,” she scoffed.
“Yes, actually. It does!” Twilight’s eyes were wide, pleading, but Starlight simply snorted.
“No group of friends are that important,” she shot back. “Not even yours, Princess Twilight!” Her eyes locked onto a light blue filly zooming by with a rainbow streak in tow. Just as a cone of light appeared in front of Rainbow, heralding a Sonic Rainboom, Starlight let loose a bolt of magic that slapped the poor filly out of the air.
As soon as Rainbow Dash was blasted away, the time vortex opened above Twilight once more. It sucked at her and Spike like a vacuum cleaner.
“Here we go again!” Spike whined as he was pulled up.
Dread swept through Twilight as she gazed up at the portal. She looked back at Starlight, seeing her standing there, waving goodbye with a cocky smirk on her face.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed again. “How about I just show you then?” Fighting against the force dragging her upward, she tackled Starlight, who yelped loudly. Before Twilight could be shaken free, both mares were sucked up and through the portal, with the screaming Spike right behind them.
Twilight held onto Starlight as they made another trip through the searing swirling tunnel. Shortly after entering though, they crash landed onto hard ground. With a groan, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight stood to see their new surroundings.
Twilight glanced out at the surroundings before letting out a sigh. She turned to Starlight, finding her glaring confused out at the landscape as her eyes ran along the quiet scene. Desolate and scorched earth crowned with a foreboding dark sky tainted perpetual dusk on the horizon. The wind roared, smothering any sound that dared to make itself heard. Starlight snapped her head back at Twilight. “Where are we?”
“The future. Or rather, the present.” Twilight placed her hoof on a table next to her. She noticed Starlight’s eyes widen when they fell upon the table itself. It was clear the realization of where they were had struck her.
“But there’s nothing here.” She rolled her hoof as she took in more of the surroundings.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Twilight replied, voice soft. “Each future I come back to is worse than the last.” Twilight’s eyes fell down for a moment before meeting Starlight once more. “I don’t know if you can understand, but my friends and I are important to Equestria.”
“I don’t believe you!” Starlight hissed.
Spike strode forward and spread his arms wide. “Come on, Starlight! Look around!”
Twilight scooped up a hoof-full of dirt. It was more akin to ash than the rich, moist soil from the Ponyville she knew. The roaring wind caught the dust and carried it away. Her eyes followed it as she said, “Everything we do in the past affects the future, and what you’re doing leads here.”
She looked back at Starlight. The mare’s back was turned to the two of them, her ears down flat. Her shoulders shook as a sound caught Twilight’s ear from under the wind. She took a step towards her foe, expecting her to burst into tears at any moment, but that moment never came. Twilight scowled—Starlight wasn’t sobbing. She wasn’t even crying.
She was laughing.
Starlight pulled her hoof from her mouth let the laughter out, which turned to full blown hysterics as she threw her head back and laughed to the bleak sky. Twilight and Spike traded glances before taking a step back from Starlight.
As the peels of laughter lulled, she finally sucked in a lungful of air. “You’re so full of it!” she spat out. Her eyes narrowed on Twilight, though the grin on her face remained.
“It’s true!” Twilight stood tall. “With everything we’ve accomplished together it’s only natural my friends and I would be important to Equestria! I know I can’t stop you from changing the past, but I was hoping seeing all this would change your mind.” She furrowed her brow, and motioned with a hoof to their bleak surroundings.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Give me a break, Princess. You think I care that breaking up your precious little friendship will cause this? Don’t make me laugh!”
Twilight’s jaw nearly dropped. “B-but…” She looked around, frantically waving her still-extended hoof. “You don’t care that this is going to happen because of your actions?”
“Of course not!” Starlight bellowed. “I’ve mastered time travel. Even without you and your stupid friends, I’ll be able to fix whatever mess comes my way.”
Twilight froze. “You—you can’t just do that!”
“That would be pretty awesome,” Spike said slowly, scratching his chin.
“Spike!” Twilight snapped. “Don’t agree with her!” She turned her head back to Starlight, brow furrowing. “What happened to you that made you like this, Starlight?”
Starlight was taken aback. “What made me like this?” she asked.
Twilight nodded, and Starlight’s shoulders shook again. She covered her mouth to hold in a chuckle. “You’re still trying to figure me out?” she asked between chortles.
When Twilight didn’t answer, Starlight couldn’t hold it in. She burst into hysterical laughter. “Are you really that naive? Not everything fits into picture-perfect storybook framing, Princess! Sometimes ponies are just out for themselves.”
“So you’re just evil?” Twilight fell onto her haunches and her ears fell flat.
"What?" Starlight wiped tears from her cheeks. "Were you expecting some sob story about a filly left alone after her best friend got a cutie mark or something?" She let loose another sharp laugh. "Keep dreaming!”
“Yeah,” Twilight said in disbelief. “I kind of was. That would make sense at least! Maybe I could at least relate to you somewhat then!”
Starlight waved her hoof dismissively. “The only reason I did any of this was raw ambition." Starlight slammed a hoof into her puffed out chest with a dull thud. "That little dust speck of a town was just a stepping stone to ruling all of Equestria. Why would somepony as magically gifted and persuasive as I am want anything less?”
Twilight continued to stare. “W-what about equality? Your goal of making a town where everypony’s the same?”
“At least she’s honest,” Spike said with a shrug.
“Spike!” Twilight snapped again.
Starlight stifled another laugh behind a hoof. “Only idiots believe that ‘equality' crap. I just went with the first feel-good garbage that I could think of, and the stupid little idealistic ponies all rallied behind me. I mean, who isn’t for equality?” Twilight railed at the smug confidence oozing from the other mare’s eyes. Starlight’s voice became sickeningly sweet. “With no cutie marks, ponies are free from the shackles of destiny, and if I had all the cutie marks in Equestria, I could shackle destiny itself. This country would be mine.” Like someone hit a switch, her voice flipped from sweet to dark. “Sure, everypony would be equal. Except for me!"
Laughter overpowered the roar of the wind for a moment as Twilight stared blankly at the insane mare before her. Slowly it sunk in. “Are you serious? You just want to take over Equestria? That’s all this is about?” Twilight smacked her forehead with her hoof.
Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any idea how much power a cutie mark holds? It’s somepony’s identity—who they are, who they’re meant to be. If I had control over that, then I could shape this country into my very own utopia. By focusing all that power on myself, just imagine what I could accomplish. Raise the sun and moon? Child's play. Instead of a pawn of destiny, I would be its master. I would make this a world where things played out how I want, and then, everypony would be happy."
“You mean you’d be happy.” Twilight glared. “How would you know what makes everypony happy? Who are you to decide that?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Princess.” Starlight glared back.
“I’ve never—”
The smirk came back across Starlight’s face. “So you didn’t come in and decide the ponies in my town weren’t happy?”
“They weren’t!” Twilight marched right up to Starlight’s face.
“Pot, meet kettle,” Starlight whispered with a smirk.
Twilight’s jaw clenched. “So messing up my friendship and the future is just so you can take over Equestria?”
Starlight closed her eyes for a bit longer than a blink. “No. This is revenge for messing up a lifetime’s worth of work.” Her smirk vanished, replaced by a flat glare.
Twilight raised her hoof, about to jam it right into Starlight’s chest, but stopped herself. “Arguing isn’t getting us anywhere.” Twilight closed her eyes, then took a deep breath and a step back. “Starlight, you’re better than this. You’re better than all this petty fighting.” When she opened her eyes, she put on a smile and placed a friendly hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Instead of trying to force your will on others, why don’t you try and work for the better of society?”
Starlight glanced at Twilight’s hoof.
“You could put your talent for magic and leadership to use helping others. You just need some guidance and somepony to teach you just how powerful friendship can be.” Twilight moved her hoof from Starlight’s shoulder to the mare’s chin. She brought Starlight’s gaze up to meet her own.
The initial skepticism in Starlight’s eyes turned to curiosity. “It’s just silly old friendship, isn’t it?”
Twilight shook her head. “Friendship is one of the most powerful things in this world. It’s how my friends and I have kept Equestria safe and how we help others understand and grow. Friendship is magic.”
Starlight bit her lower lip as her eyes darted to the side for a moment. “Friendship is magic, huh?”
“Yes, and I would be willing to teach you if you help me set the past right so we can get back home to the present we know.” Twilight looked over at Spike. Using her magic she picked him up and set him on her back. From the backpack he carried, she pulled the scroll they had been using to travel through time. Using her magic, she channeled the words written in the scroll and called forth the time vortex. She looked back at Starlight with a smile.
The three were whisked away once more into the past, this time landing safely on a cloud. Twilight looked to Starlight. “How about it, Starlight? Will you let the past play out as it was meant to?”
Starlight looked to the side for a moment, mulling over the proposition before shaking her head. “Are you serious?” In a puff of smoke, the scroll vanished from Twilight’s magical grip. “Of course I won’t!”
Twilight’s eyes cast about until they landed on the scroll, now firmly in Starlight’s possession. "Why?"
"Are you actually asking me to decide whether or not I want to rule Equestria?" Starlight weighed the option with a hoof before letting out a small laugh. "Not much of a choice, really.” She held the scroll up and unceremoniously ripped the spell in two. “I guess you really are that naive. Enjoy your wasteland, Princess!”
Twilight looked on in horror as the scraps of paper drifted down through the clouds. The vortex opened up once more above her head. She shot her gaze to Starlight as the mare casually turned her back to leave Twilight to her fate.
Her hooves started to leave the clouds. The pull of the vortex was getting stronger. Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Spike, hang on,” she muttered. In a purple flash she teleported right above Starlight.
Starlight whipped around just in time to see Twilight. She gasped as the mare tackled her, wrapping her legs around Starlight as tight as she could. She heard the familiar ping of the teleport spell, and then the world was tumbling. Searing white light surrounded Starlight, and then she hit the hard ground.
Dazed, she looked around to see she was in Twilight’s castle once more. “What?” she asked, but was pounced on once more, knocking the wind out of her. Her world spun again, and she was staring up at the ceiling and a very cross alicorn glaring down at her. Twilight had Starlight’s legs pinned to the floor.
Starlight looked around in horror. Everything was happening so fast. Suddenly one thought surfaced.
Teleport.
Her horn lit up, but before she could shape the spell, Twilight touched her horn to Starlight’s. The purple of Twilight’s magic engulfed the unicorn’s horn causing her to cry out in panic. She screamed from the pain, but in a moment it was gone. Twilight tugged her horn back from Starlight’s, leaving a dripping mass of magic hanging from the end.
Starlight was left panting; her heart thumping painfully hard in her chest “W-what did you—” she started to protest, but she stopped with her eyes widening. The terror reflected on her face when she noticed. “Y-You…” she muttered.
“I took the spell, and all the memories you had of researching it.” Twilight panted, but kept a firm glare fixed on Starlight.
The mare trembled. Twilight read it as plain as day on her face. The realization that months of her life simply ceased to be. Like it had never happened.
Starlight’s jaw shook until locking into place. The fear replaced with unbridled rage. “Twilight!” she hissed through clenched teeth.
The dripping mass of magic fought against gravity and pooled around Twilight’s horn before finally seeping into it, leaving not a trace. Twilight huffed and puffed while standing tall over her beaten foe. “Don’t mess with the past again,” she muttered.
Starlight let out a primal scream that echoed in the castle. “You haven’t seen the last of me, Princess!” A blue flash of light blinded Twilight for a second. When her vision came back she stood over nothing. Starlight was gone.
“W-what just happened?” Spike asked looking around.
"I put an end to the time loop, Spike," Twilight replied with a somber tone as she looked to the window. “But I fear I may have started something far worse.”
End