Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait everyone, I got a little sidetracked with things.

What Was Made Can Be Destroyed

Canterlot

Once the girls found out that Trixie and the others hadn’t sustained any major injuries and were able to walk it off (Trixie looked absolutely disgusted, despite her best intentions to hide it), the girls ended up playing for another hour before deciding to call it a day and head home. Starlight had been spending the last few weeks crashing at Sunset’s apartment and naturally the two of them walked home together. “I’m starting to think these kinds of things are becoming normal for you girls,” she commented.

“When you live in Equestria, nothing is out of the ordinary,” Sunset chuckled. “But I don’t get why Trixie of all people would now have the ability to pony up. I guess Equestrian magic is running rampant more so than we thought. I should probably get a hold of Princess Twilight…”

“Well, is it really a bad thing?” Starlight asked. “I mean…I don’t know this Trixie but the other Trixie and I are best friends…maybe there’s a connection.”

“Maybe,” Sunset said. “Then again, it’s probably not a big deal. So, think you’ve finally adapted to this world?”

“Mostly,” Starlight shrugged. “I admit so many things about this place amaze me.” She then pulled out the smartphone that Sunset got for her. “Like this phone, we could never send messages this fast. Or contact one another from long distances.”

“Yeah, Equestria could learn a thing or two,” Sunset said. She then paused and sighed. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this crazy theory, but let’s say one day the portal between worlds closes for good. Twilight said Starswirl was the one who ultimately created the portal but magic over time begins to fade and…” She paused when she saw Starlight’s confused face. “Sorry, the point is, I would have to make a choice between being here or going back to Equestria and it’s not a simple choice. My friends are here, but whether I like it or not, Equestria is my true home. What choice is the right one?”

“If you want my honest opinion,” Starlight said. “You have to realize who you are. You’re Equestrian Sunset; truly you don’t belong here. I know it sounds harsh but if things had been different in the past you probably never would have set foot here in the first place.”

“I know,” Sunset said. “Maybe you’re right…hey are you hungry? I can go and get us pizza but you can head back to the apartment if you want.”

“Sure, I’ll see you in a bit?”

“Yeah, hopefully won’t be too long.” Sunset took off right on the adjacent street as Starlight watched her go. Her smile faded into a frown of annoyance as she punched a number into her phone. The phone on the other end rang twice before someone picked up.

“Star, long time no talk. I was starting to think you got lost somewhere.”

“Sorry about that DD, I don’t get a lot of opportunities to be by myself,” Starlight huffed slightly.

“It’s no big deal,” DD said. “So how’s your little investigation going?”

“It’s exactly as I thought,” Starlight said. “These girls have abilities that would have supernaturalists squealing with joy. More than that, it seems like their influence is spreading to others in their school.”

“Okay, I get that this is a story we want to get out, but what exactly do we gain by exposing them?”

“People need to know what’s going on,” Starlight said as she started walking the opposite way towards the apartment. “They may be heroes, but what happens if they decide to use their powers for evil purposes? The proper authorities need to detain them. If there’s even a slight chance that they could use that power for evil-”

“This is a damn witch hunt. You really think anyone is going to believe us?”

“I’ll make them believe us…”

“Somehow I believe that. Just be careful alright?”

Starlight smiled slightly. “I know how to cover my tracks…”

“True. You wouldn’t be the leader of the Equalists otherwise.”

The call ended and Starlight kept walking, the smile now staying on her face. To think only a month ago she was still in the planning process of this whole operation. Now she was in the thick of it, with enough information to set the media on fire. Of course, the girls would probably not be arrested, they hadn’t done anything illegal but she knew the proper agencies in the government would keep an eye on them nonetheless. It was kind of ironic now that she would have to rely on the same group of people to help her that she was currently at war with.

The Equalists are a group of cyberactivists (most would call them “hackers” which wasn’t inaccurate but Starlight liked the term “cyberactivist” better) that, as their name stated, believed in equality for all citizens, whether it had to deal with politics, economics or civil liberties. They had “gone to war” with the government on many occasions and won every time without giving away their location. Even the best hackers the government could find were no match for their skills.

But how did this all connect to the other world, and how did she get there? The events that led to that Starlight kept to herself, because even the most out there people wouldn’t possibly believe her. She could remember everything clearly.

Two Months Ago…

“I’m telling you, this is huge!” Starlight almost yelled to her fellow hackers as they were sitting in the large room surrounded by monitors and desktops. “There are multiple witnesses and plenty from both Canterlot High and Crystal Prep took videographic evidence that shows everything!”

“You do know most things these days can be edited in?” DD, also know as Double Diamond, asked, looking doubtful. “Come on Star, plant monsters from another dimension? Even the tabloids don’t get that ridiculous.”

“I have to agree with Diamond,” another male close to DD’s age said, looking anxious and suffering what looked like lack of sleep. “People are going to think we’re getting desperate.”

“You too Party Favor?” Starlight asked. “What about the rest of you? You think I’m being desperate?” There were seven of them total and the four other people chose not to say anything but the looks on their faces was enough of an answer. “Fine, I’m going to get answers on this with or without your help. And once I find them, no one, and I mean no one will be able to cover this up.”

She left the room in a hurry, slamming the door in the process as she climbed the stairs to the main floor of the building they were located. Once she found the exit doors and opened them, she breathed in fresh air, already used to the stale air and the assortment of smells that accumulated over time in a cramped environment. Maybe it was too good to be true, maybe she was wasting time on what could be fiction. But she wasn’t going to stop, and they all knew how stubborn she could be.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and saw that it was a private number. It was enough to send up red flags. She could just ignore it but against her better judgment she hit the receive button. “Hello?”

“You want information?” Starlight froze. What the hell…!? “You’re looking too broad. You need to find a connection.”

Well no shit, Starlight thought. “Who is this?”

“The girls are the key.” The caller suddenly hung up and Starlight could only stare at her phone. This was a burner phone, no one should have been able to track it. But even if the government had found out about her, they would’ve shown up and taken her somewhere, not call and offer free information. Still, her words of advice were enough to intrigue the girl.

After that, Starlight looked through the reports she found and slowly found her connection. Canterlot High was the focal point in all this, more specifically a group of girls. They were right in the middle of every event that had taken place.

As time went on, she was finding out more and more information. Camp Everfree and then sometime later there was an event where the Canterlot Orchestra was upstaged by what people thought was a prank. Starlight recognized one of the girls who was playing a keytar from pictures she had gathered. Starlight didn’t believe in coincidences, certainly not this many. But it was what happened only a few weeks ago that truly changed everything.

It had been about eight o’clock at night when Starlight had left the building that was the Equalists’ HQ and was heading back to her small apartment downtown when the strange phenomenon took place. There was an alleyway that she always used as a shortcut to get home and she always recounted how quiet it was, often putting her on edge.

As she was walking, a loud boom erupted in front of her, as if an explosion had gone off. The sound alone was enough for Starlight to jump and fall onto her butt. When she looked up, there was no flames, no char marks. Instead, she saw absolutely nothing in front of her, or so it appeared at first. Looking closely, she swore she saw ripples, as if a body of water was sitting right there.

She got up slowly and cautiously approached it, apprehensive that something would come out of it. She got closer and with a cautious hand, she reached out to touch it. It didn’t feel like water but her hand was passing through something. Taking a deep breath, she continued forward and went through.

What had happened next was something Starlight would never forget. In that one second when she crossed over, many things happened. Her body structure seemed to change, her bones melting and reconfiguring, although it didn’t seem to hurt at all. She was certain she had blacked out because the moment she woke she was lying in what appeared to be grass.

She got up slowly and wiped the hair out of her face away…only to look at her hands and suddenly realize she had no hands. She looked at both and saw she now had hooves and despite all this, she didn’t break down into hysterics or start screaming but she was unnerved nonetheless. Breaking out of her confusion, she finally took a look at her surroundings.

It appeared to be a rainforest of sorts, humid enough to cause her hair to stick to her neck. She saw a river nearby and slowly got up, going over towards it. What she saw in the reflection confirmed everything.

Starlight could remember she was both fascinated and horrified by what she discovered but it wasn’t until she saw the large bug that she realized she was in alien territory. At first, she thought it was going to kill her as it said something about revenge but as it stared at her, it realized something was off. Something was…different. Starlight decided to be honest and explained who she was and how she got there. The bug seemed doubtful at first but then told her that it had been noticing strange occurrences as well. Getting off of her, the bug introduced itself as Chrysalis, former queen of the changelings (she didn’t actually use the word “former” but Starlight deduced as much) and she was out for blood against what appeared to be Starlight’s doppelganger. While Chrysalis didn’t understand much of or why there was another world, she was able to explain that here, in Equestria as she called it, there were no “humans”, only Equestrians and other similar creatures.

She then showed off her ability, turning into an exact replica of her with her exact voice and everything. Starlight had to admit she was becoming more and more curious with this place. It was then that she came up with an idea: since she was looking for her doppelganger, she could take her place while Chrysalis could have her little revenge. The look on Chrysalis’ face was golden as she looked a mixture of glee at the idea and disgruntlement that she didn’t think of it herself. And with that, the planning had begun.

It was about a week later that the two came face to face in that alleyway. Chrysalis had lured the other Starlight into her trap and she had been able to disarm her. The whole idea of magic was new to her and Chrysalis was gracious enough to teach her for the past week. She was impressed that she was able to take down a unicorn as powerful as her doppelganger with the limited knowledge she had.

After that, Chrysalis was more than happy to take the poor unicorn away as Starlight took her place. She had to admit, she did feel a little sorry for the unicorn but her passion for knowledge of this place outweighed her guiltiness. As it turned out, she wouldn’t be staying in this “Ponyville” for very long, as the one known as Twilight said. Chrysalis had explained about alicorns, as well as her relationship to this princess and her friends. As for Starlight, she blended in quite easily.

And now, she was back home, with these other people that apparently were her “friends”, and she was starting to learn more and more about the connection between the two worlds. Now is the time to destroy that connection… she thought with a wide smile.