Twilight stood still as she witnessed Starlight preparing to cut Rainbow off of making the Sonic Rainboom. However, she was not scared. She was not worried. She was smirking.
“Twilight! We have to do something!” Spike cried out to Twilight, who merely just patted Spike on the back.
“Watch, Twilight! You will no longer have any friends, just like me!” Starlight cried out as she fired a blast towards Rainbow Dash. Admittedly, she winced as the young and spunky Rainbow Dash got hit with the magical blast and then plummeted to what might as well be her imminent death had her foal body not gone limp.
But she just had to wait five more seconds as Starlight laughed.
TICK…
Starlight’s leg jerked as she fell to the ground.
TOCK…
“Arg… What the?!” Starlight noticed her leg. As she did, she could notice the cloud that her leg was blocking, though her leg appeared back again. She wondered what was causing her leg to be so translucent before noticing that the rest of her body began to go through this exact same way. “What’s going on!?” Starlight winced.
“You should have done your research, Starlight. Time travel is such a complicated mess.” Twilight just kept a smug face. She flew down to Starlight’s level.
“Get away from me, you jerk!” Starlight barked at Twilight, complete a vein popping out of her neck, but she just shook her head.
“No. I’m always curious about how a pony could undo themselves with the power of time, and now I get to see it in all its glory. Spike! Take down some notes!” She ordered as Spike got out the notebook and quill that he’d often use for Twilight’s experiments.
“Undo!?” Starlight’s eyes widened as Twilight just nodded.
“See, you went back in time to separate me and the others by stopping the Rainboom out of revenge for us disrupting your cult.” Twilight said.
“IT’S NOT A CULT! IT’S A-”
TICK…
Starlight’s other leg retracted as she grunted, turning onto her side. Twilight recognized this position. It’s commonly seen with Pinkie Pie whenever she eats too much sweets.
TOCK…
“I’m quite surprised that you’re still fading away. I thought the timeline would just overload and you’d just vanish. It’s kinda cruel to see you suffer like this, but it helps me explain to you in detail what will happen to you.” Twilight said. Starlight’s pangs caused her jaw to seize up. No longer can she talk down Twilight. She now has to hear every little word out of her self-righteous mouth.
“See, if we weren’t united together by the Rainboom, we wouldn’t be able to, among other things, stop said cult and you. Thus, you wouldn’t be able to seek revenge. Thus, you wouldn’t be able to get the time scroll and use it to travel to this area in time. Thus, you would not be able to be here stopping us from uniting to stop you and you can probably go from there.” Twilight said.
“Gah! Aaarg…” Starlight just groaned. Twilight, for a brief moment, frowned. In this moment, she didn’t see an arch nemesis who refused to listen to her speeches, nor did she see a villain who needed to be stopped…
She saw a wounded animal who was in desperate need to be put to sleep. Unfortunately, even if she had one of Fluttershy’s or Zecora’s medicine, Starlight was now almost completely translucent. She placed her hoof over Starlight as she tried to swat it away, only for her hoof to pass through. As she had thought.
“Spike, note that you can’t interact with someone going through a time paradox.” Starlight could hear the somberness in her voice.
“Spare me your pity! I’ll find a way to get back at you for this!” Starlight glared at Twilight as tears began to drop from her face. Twilight only knelt next to her and place her wing slightly above her fading body like a blanket.
TICK…
“Shh… I know. Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon. I’m sorry.” Twilight began to cry a bit. “I know you’ll find a way out of this. I just know it…” She stayed with Starlight for a little bit longer before she heard the eardrum destroying scream fade away into a quiet whisper… and soon…
TOCK…
The silence of the breeze. Twilight closed her eyes as Cloudsdale began to crumble apart.
“Twilight!? What’s happening!?” Spike shouted.
“Calm down. I believe the timeline’s just correcting itself. We’ll be back-”
“-in Ponyville before we know it.” Twilight opened her eyes and saw the castle she was back in. Everything was back to normal. Spike looked around.
“W-what happened to Starlight?” Spike asked.
“This seems to be the fate of one who decides to alter the timeline without thinking of the consequences. I’ll forward the note to Celestia and ask her to move Starswirl’s Time Travel spell to the Crystal Empire’s library. It seems to have better security than in Canterlot.” Twilight walked away.
“Where are you going?” Spike asked.
“I know a doctor who specializes in this sort of field. I know magic, but time magic is something that’s a mystery even to me. Him, on the other hand, knows all the ins and outs of it. If he can tell me how this whole grandfather paradox works, maybe he can help me find a way to save Starlight.” Spike ran in front of Twilight, arms spread out.
“Hold on! You want to save Starlight!?” Spike asked.
“Yes. She was suffering, Spike, and telling from the way she callously used time travel, she obviously doesn’t know how to use her magic properly. She’s misguided and somepony needs to lead the way.” Twilight said.
“Did you see what she did to Rainbow Dash!? If she didn’t go poof, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t even be here! I wouldn’t be here!” Spike voice began to do that growly dragon tone that Twilight warned Spike not to do.
“… I know. But Starlight needs help. A pony to be there for her and tell her that it’ll be alright. There’s more to her than her misdeeds, I know it.” Twilight then ran off to find the Doctor. Hopefully he knows of a way to pull Starlight out of her time paradox.
