A Better World

Despite the day ebbing away to make room for night, the bright colors projected by the Crystal Heart remained, adding flair to the glittering stars dotting the dark sky. The Crystal Empire seemed to be shining with vivacity as the bright light of nightlife complimented the glow of the Crystal Heart. For the first time in years, the citizens were freed of the nightly curfew and allowed to do as they pleased by decree of Princess Luna. Once it was clear Princess Luna was not Nightmare Moon, she was able to appeal to the better nature of the guards and citizens alike. It also helped that Crystal Heart's magic dispelled the fear and anger that seemed to originally permeate the crystal ponies, allowing them to embrace the love and light they had forsaken for so long in the name of safety and security. Of course, many subjects still distrusted Luna, as attitudes cultivated over years couldn't simply be "blasted away" by the Heart's magic. However the so called loyalists couldn't do much as Cadence and Shining Armor were imprisoned. The battle had been won and peace had been achieved, for now at least.

Twilight leaned over the railing of the crystal balcony, watching the crystal ponies go about their business, taking advantage of their new found freedom. There was a sense of... Twilight tried to put a word on it... life. Life. It was something she'd never really noticed before, something you couldn't notice until you'd seen the absence of it. It wasn't happiness exactly, even Ponyville, one of the liveliest places Twilight knew, wasn't always happy. But it seemed as though life had returned to the Crystal Empire, a sense of free flowing action and freedom. When she'd seen this world's Ponyville and Canterlot, Twilight could only describe them as rigid and controlled, predictable. But isn't that what order and Harmony were? Control, predictability and safety? But it felt like there was something missing, something almost intangible and undefined that insisted on frustrating Twilight by hanging at the edge of her mind. If order and Harmony weren't the goal, what was? For some reason, "making things better" didn't seem like an ample answer. If she couldn't even decide on a goal, what good would she be as a princess? Right now, all she had to guide her was that she needed to stop A-Twilight and the others, yet she still had no strategy in mind after a whole day of thinking.

"HELLO TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

Twilight felt her mind scramble like an omelet, struggling to recover from Luna's royal Canterlot voice.

"Princess Luna! Um, no need to use the Royal Canterlot voice when it's just me and you, remember?" Twilight reminded gently.

"We... I apologize." Luna said with a sheepish look. She looked away sadly, watching her night sky. "Many moons ago your counterpart once told me the same."

Twilight remembered that this timeline had been very similar to her own until two years ago, so the whole Nightmare Night incident would have happened just as it did on her world. She felt a sudden pang of empathy for A-Luna, realizing that she would've barely spent a few months free from the moon before her sister's death.

"I am sorry for abandoning you in your time of need Twilight Sparkle. After your counterparts' betrayal, it was all I could do not to attack you right then and there when you freed me. My trust had been shaken so greatly that I was unable to bestow it again."

"Why did you decide to help us?" Twilight asked.

"In the end, it was Starlight Glimmer who convinced me."

"Starlight?" Twilight realized she'd lost track of her student during the first part of the battle until her fight with Shining Armor.

Luna nodded. "At the start of the battle, she came to find me. We discussed a great many things. She helped me realize the importance of giving you the benefit of the doubt, as you did for her and my Sister did for me. We all have our worse natures, but when we try to fix our mistakes, it is important our friends and allies are by our side. In her words, 'to look for the light amongst the dark, even when it's hard to find'. I should've known that better than anypony."

"Starlight said all that?"

"Indeed, her past mistakes have made her quite wise, though she still has much to learn. You are very lucky to have her as your friend."

Twilight pondered that silently for a moment as she observed the city below. She noticed the ponies eyeing the night guards nervously, quickening their pace and keeping their voices low.

"They still seem nervous. I don't their fear is completely gone." Twilight observed dejectedly.

"It will take time to regain the trust of my subjects, but I believe it can be done. After all, my sister overcame my fear and anger with compassion and love. I shall follow in her footsteps, and try to do the same. All this, assuming you can defeat your counterparts."

"You aren't coming with us?"

Luna shook her head. "It is better if I do not. The temptation will be too great to remain in your world with your version of Celestia. My sister is gone, and I must accept that." She sighed sadly, speaking in a firmer tone. "Besides, I must remain here to raise the sun and moon, and lead Equestria now that Cadence and Shining Armor have been defeated.

"What's going to happen to them? Do you think they could be reformed?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I do not know. Perhaps if we show them the same kindness and compassion they have forgotten all this time, they might do the same. However if you are unable to stop our Twilight and the others, there will be a terrible battle, one which I will be unable to win."

Twilight decided not to mention that she wasn't too optimistic about their chances either.

"How's Rainbow doing?" Twilight asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Fortunately she has made a full recovery, and indeed it will be time for you to depart soon. It was fortuitous that her Element was able to dispel the corrupted love magic, though I do not understand how."

"An act of true loyalty." Twilight guessed.

"Pray tell what dost thou mean?" Luna cleared her throat. "What do you mean Twilight Sparkle?"

"My counterpart told me they were able to become alicorns by performing some kind of dark ritual with the Elements, draining Discord's magic and using Tirek like a conduit."

Luna frowned. "Very profane magic indeed. It is a vile act beyond any dark magic I have heard of."

Twilight couldn't help shuddering a bit. "When Rainbow pushed me out of the way, it was an act of loyalty inspired by friendship. I think it sort of, purified the Element, and when I brought it close to the spark, my Element, it was able to purify Rainbow of the dark love magic." Twilight chuckled. "I guess friendship really is the spark that connects the Elements. I always thought that was a bit of wishful thinking."

"If friendship truly is the guide for the Elements, it would explain why the other elements followed when this world's Twilight went astray." Luna said thoughtfully. "Though Rainbow Dash's self sacrifice was most admirable. Starlight was indeed right that I should have more faith in your capacity for good over evil."

"Yeah yeah, I'm awesome I get it!" Twilight turned around to see Rainbow Dash grinning at them, standing a few feet away. "Cmon! We're all waiting for you in the mirror room!" There was a sharp wind and a flash of color as Rainbow zoomed off down the hall.

Luna chuckled slightly. "I believe that is our "cue" as it were." Twilight laughed as she and Luna began trotting down the hall to join their friends.

"So after she found your village this world's Twilight recruited you to her side?" Starlight asked, looking up at the painting of A-Twilight and her friends in the grand dining hall.

A-Starlight shrugged. "More or less. I was just... so angry... at Sunburst, at everypony. I guess Twilight was using me in the end. She didn't care about helping me overcome my past, she wanted to use it against me."

Starlight put a reassuring hoof on her counterpart's shoulder. "I know. The important thing is what you do now."

"What about you?" A-Starlight asked quietly.

"Me?"

"Well... from what I've figured our timelines were nearly the same until two years ago, but what happened after that?" A-Starlight pressed.

Starlight hoofed the ground uncomfortably. "Well, Twilight and her friends came to my village and sort of... turned everypony against me, well not me, but my whole equality idea. After that... I managed to escape into some nearby caves. I felt more alone than ever, felt abandoned again. But eventually my sadness turned into anger and I wanted revenge. I sort of, stole a time travel spell and stopped Twilight and her friends from getting their cutie marks." Starlight noticed an awed look on A-Starlight's face, and hurriedly continued, "Twilight followed me back to the past, and she convinced me to finally let go of my anger and give friendship a chance. Instead of punishing me she made me her student and... well, here I am today."

"You traveled back in time??"

"Yes... but I can't do it anymore. The scroll was sucked into the time stream and I'm not powerful enough to recreate Starswirl's entire spell." Starlight said quickly.

A-Starlight tapped a hoof to her chin. "Your scroll was destroyed, but ours is still intact."

"I... suppose yeah..."

A-Starlight stared at Starlight, a serious look in her eyes. "What if we could stop all this from ever happening?"

"What do you mean?" Starlight asked uneasily. She suddenly didn't like where this conversation was going.

"When you were making that time travel spell, didn't you ever think about using it to save your friendship with Sunburst instead of getting revenge on Twilight and her friends?"

"I... I did for little bit, but even if I stopped Sunburst from getting his cutie mark that day, the same thing would've happened a few days later. And... I'm not sure if we should manipulate ponies' destinies that way. It just feels... wrong."

Starlight was surprised as her counterpart grabbed her shoulders, and locked gaze with her. "We could save Princess Celestia."

Tense silence hung in the air as Starlight tried to process her counterpart's words. She was right. There was nothing stopping them from taking the scroll from the Canterlot Library, and reconstructing the time spell. All they would have to do is go back in time and stop Chrysalis, or warn Celestia. Starlight thought back to her battle through time with Twilight. It was only afterward that she'd learned how her simple act of stopping the rainboom had rewritten so many destinies for the worse. Isn't that what changing time was? Rewriting destiny. Now, they could change so many ponies' lives for the better.

"They didn't know there could be a better way, but we helped them find one." A-Twilight's voice seemed to ring through Starlight's head. She saw Longhorn's eyes widen as his memory, his very individuality was erased by A-Twilight's spell. Wouldn't changing destiny merely be a different way of taking away free choice? And not just for one pony, but for everypony in Equestria.

Starlight took a deep breath. "I don't think Princess Celestia would want us to save her."

"What do you mean?"

"If I've learned anything from all this... it's that we have to learn to live with our past mistakes, no matter how badly we want to change them. Rewriting destiny like that... I don't think it's something we're meant to do. When I stopped Twilight's friends from getting their cutie marks, it led to so many horrible futures where all of Equestria suffered. Sometimes using magic, especially time magic to force the world to fit what we want can have unpredictable, sometimes truly horrifying consequences." Starlight said dejectedly.

"Maybe, but isn't it worth the risk for the greater good? We could save all those ponies who had their minds erased, we could bring Harmony-"

"Doesn't that sound like someone you know?" Starlight prompted.

A-Starlight paused. "I guess I do sound a little like Twilight. But-"

"Twilight, your Twilight thought the same thing. She thought that by controlling everything, by changing the world as she saw fit that she could bring Harmony. Maybe she did, but was it worth the price?"

"No..." A-Starlight admitted, hanging her head. "I guess it wasn't. But how are you going to win against them? They're alicorns with dark magic. At least the time spell is a guaranteed solution."

Starlight shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I don't know."

"That's reassuring." A-Starlight said sarcastically.

"Maybe sometimes it's better to take a risk than a guaranteed solution."

"Right, lets gamble on whether we can beat the tyrannical dictators who're planning to force Harmony on two worlds."

Starlight chuckled. "Twilight'll come up with something. She always does. Now come on, we've got to go meet everypony in the mirror room." A-Starlight sighed, trotting after Starlight as they left the grandiose crystal hall. Despite her cavalier attitude, Starlight hid her uneasiness as they walked toward the castle's artifact room. On all their past adventures, Twilight had managed to find a solution, but this time, there was a nagging feeling they'd bitten off more than they could chew.

Starlight stared at the innocent looking mirror, ringed by a red ornate frame. To think this was the room where this all started, a copy of the same room in their own version of the crystal empire, the room where Twilight had journeyed into the human world after Sunset Shimmer.

Zecora, Trixie, Daring Do, Iron Will and A-Starlight all stood to the right, solemn expressions on their faces as they gazed at Starlight and her friends. The air in the room was tense, as even Pinkie Pie's face was serious. Starlight could only imagine the damage done by their duplicates in their world. It didn't bear thinking about.

Luna stepped forward, levitating a small, jeweled case. Twilight and her friends took off their Elements, gingerly placing them into the cushioned box.

"What will you do with them?" Starlight queried.

"I shall keep them hidden, until new bearers emerge. We may have to wait a long time." Luna replied snapping the box shut.

"Perhaps not as long as you construe. Elsewhere the spark of friendship has already begun anew." Zecora said mysteriously.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" A-Starlight asked.

"Surely the Great and Powerful Trixie's magnificent abilities of illusion could-" Trixie began.

Twilight shook her head. "No. If we aren't able to stop them, we're going to destroy the mirror portal so they can't come back here."

"That won't stop them from coming back." Daring said.

"It'll give you time to prepare." Twilight said grimly. She touched her hoof to the portal, and Starlight saw it begin to glow purple, lighting the passage back to their world.

"Hey Dash..." Rainbow turned around, and saw Daring offer her hat, "Good luck."

Rainbow took the hat with ecstatic glee. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh. Totally. Awesome!"

"Come on egghead." Twilight laughed.

One by one, Starlight watched her friends step into the swirling purple light of the mirror. She walked over to the portal, pausing to glance back at her counterpart. A-Starlight smiled, giving Starlight a brief nod as acknowledgement passed between them. Starlight trotted forward into the spiraling purple mass, ready to face what was to come.

"Maybe the Princesses, our princesses could help?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.

Applejack shook her head. "Ah'm willing ta bet they've got Princess Celestia, Luna and maybe even Cadence locked up somewhere."

Pinkie raised a hoof. "But... we have friendship on our side, right? We can do the whole crazy rainbow thing and-"

"But so can they." Rarity said.

"They're more powerful than us and just as smart. Not to mention they can use dark magic." Twilight said, leaning forward on her throne as she studied the cutie map pensively.

"And unlike our other enemies, they're willing to kill." Starlight pointed out grimly.

"What're ya'll sayin, that we have to use their methods? Ah ain't sacrificing my morals like that!" Applejack said firmly, crossing her hooves.

"How else can we stop them?" Twilight asked sadly.

Starlight locked eyes with Twilight silent words passing between them. "We can't do it... not unless we make some kind of sacrifice."