A Better World

"Psst Starlight?"

Starlight groaned and rolled over in her bed, trying to block out the noise with her pillow. She was having a blissful dream of her foalhood, before Sunburst left and things were happier. Before things went wrong.

"Starlight?" the persistent voice called. She felt a small tickling sensation on her muzzle growing more and more irritating. Before she could stop herself, Starlight sneezed loudly and shot up in bed. There was a familiar dark chuckle next to her. "Works every time! Priceless!"

Bewildered, Starlight looked in the direction of the voice, and found the culprit standing next to her bed holding a feather. "D-"

Her yell was cut off as a large pacifier appeared in her mouth. Discord put a talon to his lips and made a shushing sound. "I'm trying to keep a low profile." A pair of black shades appeared on his eyes, giving the appearance of a oddly mismatched secret agent.

"Why are you here Discord?" Starlight whispered, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "And why do you have to keep a low profile?"

"Because our friends... are not our friends." he said dramatically, pausing for effect.

Starlight was about to point out how that made absolutely no sense, but caught herself as she remembered who she was talking to. Instead she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Fluttershy and the others never came back from their little adventure." Discord replied, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"But... they did. Unless, are you saying something's impersonating them? But then how could they know Twilight's secret fear?" Starlight wondered.

"Ooh Twilight has a secret fear? Do tell!" Discord asked gleefully, rubbing his paw and talon together.

Starlight shook her head. "Not a chance."

Discord drooped. "Well poo. But as to your question, they are very much Fluttershy, Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Applewhatsit and Rarity, but not our versions of them."

"You mean they're duplicates? Like in that opposite Equestria?"

"No. They still have the same personalities as our friends, but have a much darker ambition. Order." Discord explained, shuddering slightly.

"Order? What's so bad about-" Starlight remembered Lyra's terrified face, and the blank looks of the cattle rustlers as Twilight brainwashed them into submission. "So you mean, that whole thing about them fixing a chaotic world was a lie?

Discord shook his head. "Not a total lie. I suppose that's what they did, from their point of view at least. You might even appreciate their methods. After all, friendship IS magic is it not?" He snickered, clearly enjoying the delicious irony of throwing Starlight's argument back in her face.

Starlight decided not to comment. "Where are our friends?"

Discord snapped his claws, and a shimmering image appeared, showing Twilight and the others trapped in magical cages. Starlight looked a bit closer, and saw small black equal signs on their flanks. "Canterlot dungeons. I can send you there, but after that you're on your own."

"Hold on. Why can't you just snap your claws and bring them back here?" Starlight asked.

Discord chuckled quietly. "How genre savvy! Sadly, no I can't do that. Too much Order in that world for me to do more than send one pony there. And they have about twenty heavily armed guards watching the other side of the mirror, so I wouldn't try that either."

Starlight felt a familiar wave of nervousness wash over her. Once again, it seemed the fate of Equestria was in her hooves. But wait! It didn't have to be, not this time! "If you can only send one pony, shouldn't you send Princess Celestia? In fact, we should warn all the princesses!"

"Maybe you've forgotten, but my reputation with Equestria's royalty isn't exactly... stellar." An image of Canterlot Castle turning into jello popped into existence, showing Celestia and Luna trapped in the gelatin looking very annoyed. Discord took a bite out of the jello castle, and then waved the image away. "By the time they're willing to believe me, it'll probably be too late for all of us."

He had a point. Even Starlight might've thought Discord was playing some kind of prank on her if she hadn't seen Twilight's actions today. And if Princess Celestia thought Discord was pulling her leg, she might be even more vulnerable to whatever alternate Twilight had planned. Starlight was slightly impressed by Discord's foresight. Maybe it was because she'd made the same mistakes in the past, that she was willing to accept Twilight (or rather, alternate Twilight) could as well. She filed that thought away as she slipped out of bed.

The fate of her friends truly did rest in her hooves, and her hooves alone. She nodded to Discord, who snapped his claws and conjured a small, red portal, just large enough for one pony to fit through. "This'll get you as close as possible. Chaos isn't exactly known for its accuracy." Discord said, shrugging apologetically.

Starlight trotted towards the portal, staring at the swirling redness that would transport her to entirely new world. A world, according to Discord, that enforced Harmony with an iron hoof. She glanced back at Discord, who was looking at the ground dejectedly. "Everypony never lets go of the past, while asking us to forget it." Starlight said, feeling a sense of empathy with the draconequus.

Despite all the good he had done, Discord knew that the princesses would never fully trust him. Twilight and the others were Starlight's best friends, but despite all the good times they'd had together, there was always a sense of tension hanging between them, like they were standing on ice that could break at anytime. She was sure her friends did their best to trust her and put the past behind them, but there was a subconscious sense of caution, a sense that Starlight could fall back to her old ways. They had forgiven her, but that didn't take back the things they had seen her do. That hesitation had shown itself most when Twilight expressed her disapproval with Starlight befriending Trixie. Although Twilight had seen her mistake, Starlight knew that the feeling behind it would never go away. It was another burden of her past Starlight simply had to bear.

"Even if nopony will ever trust us completely, the important thing is that we're willing to trust ourselves, to trust that we really are different from our past selves. And what you're doing right now, proves that you are."

Discord smiled. It wasn't his typical, joking smile. It was the type of smile he usually only gave to Fluttershy. "Thank you Starlight." he said quietly. "Bring- bring Fluttershy home will you? My- Our Fluttershy."

"I will. I'll bring them all home." Starlight replied determinedly. Without hesitation, she jumped into the spiraling red portal.

When the swirling flashes of red stopped, Starlight opened her eyes to find herself in a small cavern, lit by magical lamps hanging off the stony walls. The portal had clearly deposited her deep under Canterlot, where the mountain rock was still intact. Starlight knew that a long time ago, passages deep beneath Canterlot Castle led to the dungeons, where criminals would languish until their sentence was fufilled. Princess Celestia had since modernized the justice system, and prisons were alot more geared toward rehabilitation than punishment. They were also above ground. Starlight herself had only avoided a prison sentence because Twilight had spoken on her behalf.

In this world, it seemed the dungeons were still in full use. She saw scrapes on the rock, signs that ponies had been dragged in here against their will. Starlight shuddered a little as she came to a locked wooden door. It swung open creakily, as Starlight's magic unlocked it with ease. The room beyond was a large, open space, with cells lining the sides. Strangely, there were no prisoners occupying them.

"Odd. I thought a world that enforced order would have more prisoners." Starlight said to herself.

There was a loud crackling sound behind her. "Why restrain when you can reeducate?

Starlight turned around, and saw her counterpart looking at her contemplatively. Although she'd been expecting to face her, it was still a bit surreal. A-Starlight looked almost exactly like her, except that she still sported Starlight's old mane style, the one she'd used in her village.

"I thought I sensed a portal down here." A-Starlight said.

Starlight sighed. "I knew you'd sense me, just like I know you're going to-" She blocked a massive blast of magic from A-Starlight's horn. "do that." They began circling each other, looking for the other to drop their guard.

"Why are you here?" A-Starlight demanded.

"To help my friends."

"We are helping them. After Princess Twilight reeducates them, they'll finally understand what true Harmony is." A-Starlight blasted again.

Starlight's shield shattered under the force of A-Starlight's magic, and she was thrown back. For a brief moment Starlight wondered if she should've spent more time studying magic, and less studying friendship. In terms of outright power, she was outmatched by her clearly better studied counterpart. But maybe Starlight could still win. She'd just have to throw her opponent off her game.

"I see you're showing your cutie mark. I thought 'every pony should be equal'?" Starlight said as she got to her hooves.

A-Starlight snorted derisively. "I was naive and foalish. After she found my village, Twilight showed me the truth. The problem isn't special talents." She ripped several cell doors off their hinges, and held them in her magic. "The problem is ponies!" A-Starlight hurled the heavy iron doors toward Starlight forcefully.

Starlight channeled her magic, vibrating her molecules faster and faster. She zipped between the iron doors, dodging them as they crashed into the cavern floor with a loud crash. "Phew!" Starlight sighed in relief, noting that her practice with speed spells had saved her from getting badly injured. Taking the initiative she'd gained, Starlight shot a bolt of energy at her counterpart.

A-Starlight dodged easily, levitating herself out of the way. "Don't you get it? The very nature of ponies is selfishness and greed. They form friendships, but only as long as its convenient, as long it suits their needs. As soon as they don't need you anymore, they cast you aside like you were nothing."

"That's not true! My friends, the very friends who I've come here to save, would never do that to me. They're willing to put their friends ahead of their own interests. You have to be willing to give ponies a chance, to show them that they're wrong through care and understanding."

"But what've you ever really accomplished with those? Aside from fixing a few "friendship problems" here and there and putting a few jerks in their place?"

"It all adds up."

"Not fast enough. You can keep trying to treat the symptoms, or root out the illness itself. If you really want to make a difference, if you want to change the system instead of just patching it, you can't be subtle, you've got to force ponies to go against their nature, force them to embrace friendship, like we did."

The glow around A-Starlight's horn brightened, and two large rock golems formed out of the rubble on the floor. They lumbered towards Starlight, clenching their rocky fists. Starlight shot a melting spell at one of the golems, turning it to sludge as she dodged a swipe from the other one. The remaining golem kept swinging its fists at her, not allowing her to concentrate enough to use another melting spell.

"Think about it. A world where there's no evil, no hatred, no loneliness."

"And no freedom." Starlight cleaved the golem in half with a slicing spell, and watched it crumble back into a pile of rocks.

"What does freedom lead to? Arguments, fighting, destruction, pain?"

"It has other virtues, but you seem to have forgotten them."

"I didn't forget, I just chose Harmony and friendship instead!" A-Starlight made a slashing motion with her horn, and Starlight was blasted against the wall. Alternate Starlight smiled, readying another blast.

"You call this Harmony? All you did was stamp out individuality, creativity and originality!"

"And by destroying those, we've made a world where no filly will ever be left alone crying her eyes out, because her best friend left thinking he was too good for her!" A-Starlight yelled. The spell on her horn flickered as she began to lose concentration and tears welled in her eyes.

Then Starlight saw it. She was looking at the mare from all that time ago, crying her eyes out alone in a dark, silent cave, thinking she would never be loved, never be cared about by anypony unless she forced them to. Suddenly, A-Starlight stomped her hoof, letting out a cry of frustration and anger. Her magic blasted wildly out of control towards the ceiling above Starlight. There was a loud rumbling sound, and the cavern's ceiling began to collapse. Starlight tried to move away from the falling rubble, but found that her body was too winded from being blasted to move. Her magic felt drained, and feeble. Still, Starlight was able to speak.

"You can't force other ponies to be your friends! Friendship is based on love and compassion for each other, a celebration of everypony's differences!"

"Look how well that worked out! Sunburst abandoned us! Maybe magic can succeed where love and compassion failed!"

"I used to think that too, but I realized you can't just magically create friendship. The very reason friendship means so much to us is because we choose it! We choose to accept each other's differences and embrace them. By forcing friendship, you're defeating the very purpose of having friendships in the first place!"

"That's easy to say when you already have friends!"

"Because I was willing to try again, make new friends! You can too, all you have to do is try!"

A-Starlight faltered. "What if I just get hurt again? I can't be vulnerable again, I can't!"

Starlight looked away. "I know how you feel. My past made me feel vulnerable too, and for a while I was too afraid to let anypony see that. But keeping all that hurt and anger pent up inside me almost led me to hurt alot of ponies. The irony is, letting Twilight understand me is what led me to form such a powerful bond with my friends in the first place."

"But... but there has to be some spell, some way I can..."

"Friendship is magic Starlight. But magic, isn't friendship."

Starlight smiled, and reached out a hoof to her conflicted counterpart, just as Twilight did for her. The rumbling above her intensified, and Starlight saw a large chunk of rock falling toward her. She closed her eyes, silently apologizing to Twilight for failing her.

One second passed... then two... then ten. Starlight cracked open one eye, and was surprised to find the large piece of rubble hovering over her in a blue aura. She saw A-Starlight take her offered hoof, smiling hesitantly as tears ran down her eyes.

Discord leaned back on a large, red recliner, watching the conclusion of the two Starlights' battle on a television screen as he munched loudly on some popcorn. He couldn't help smiling a little bit at the end. Eagerly, he leaned in closer to see what the two Starlights would do now.

Suddenly, he sensed an immense amount of power being used, all put into one spell. With a horrified gasp, he saw rainbow ribbons envelop his body as he was dragged away by the summoning spell. There was an intense flash of rainbow light, and Discord found himself dropped unceremoniously on a crystalline floor, at the hooves of six angry looking alicorns.

"Discord." alternate Twilight said with disgust. "You thought you could hide from us?"

"You're the ones hiding something. Maybe I should spill your little secret to everypony?" Discord conjured a large megaphone in his paw.

A-Rainbow laughed. "Like they'd believe you over us."

"No matter how much ya claim to be reformed, you're still the same old dirty trickster." A-Applejack said.

"Somepony once told me, it doesn't matter if other ponies think you've changed, as long as you believe it." Discord said.

"Then they're even more delusional than you." A-Twilight said. "We both know how this has to end Discord. We will bind you and your chaos once again so we can create a better, safer world for ponykind."

"If you really believe that's what you're doing, then you're the delusional one, princess." Power crackled at Discord's finger tips as he prepared to blast A-Twilight in the face. There was a loud zapping noise to his right, and Discord's body was instantly wracked with unbearable pain. He fell over with a cry of anguish as he writhed in torment.

Discord instantly recognized the spell used on him. The killing spell, the most perverted and profane dark magic known to ponykind, so reviled for its brutality that even villains like Chrysalis wouldn't use it. As he was immortal, the spell wouldn't kill him, but it could certainly cause him alot of pain. He managed to turn his head slightly, to see who cast it. A-Fluttershy looked at him with malice in her eyes, a malice Discord had never imagined possible on Fluttershy's face. Her horn smoked with dark energy, slowly dissipating away.

"A killing spell? Celestia would be so proud." he said sarcastically, still suffering from the pain. "I bet she'd love your methods."

That really seemed to anger A-Twilight. "If Princess Celestia had used my methods, she'd be alive today!" A-Twilight took a deep breath and spoke in a calmer voice. "Once this world's Celestia sees the new, better Ponyville I create, she'll see the merits of my way. Together, we'll bring Harmony to the rest of Equestria."

Discord coughed weakly. "Your 'Harmony'... is a joke."

A-Twilight's horn began to glow. "Goodbye Discord."