Runaway

Chapters

We'll Never Find Her
Pack A Bag, Spike
Time Travel!
Sneaking Around
The Last Straw

We'll Never Find Her

“Spare me your sentimental nonsense! I gave these ponies real friendships they never could’ve had otherwise!” Starlight argued.

“How do you know that?” Double Diamond asked, throwing his ski helmet off of his head. “You never even gave us a chance!”

Her eyebrows furrowed, her teeth clenching, and her horn lit, she created a big, bright forcefield that exploded, giving her the chance to run through the cave without being seen.

“She’s getting away!” she heard Rainbow Dash’s voice echoing through the cave.

Starlight held her breath, resting against the rocks in the caves, listening for their next response. “We’ll never find her in there,” a voice that sounded like Double Diamond replied.

She could barely hear the next voice, which probably belonged to Princess Twilight. “We just have to hope that when she’s had a chance to think it over, she realizes that you all have taught her something.” And with that, she let out a huge sigh, both from relief and holding her breath for too long.

Starlight was too busy trying not to laugh that she didn’t hear the others speaking. Taught me something? Yeah right. All you’ve taught me is that getting revenge on the Princess of Friendship is harder than you think. But when you do, it’ll be totally worth it.

Starlight stood up and peered from behind the rock. Everypony was still there, but they were too busy laughing and hugging or whatever gross friendship thing it was to notice her. Sugar Belle said something, and they all laughed, walking back towards the village.

Starlight looked at the broken glass that once contained all the cutie marks in her village. If it weren’t for those six ponies, especially the alicorn, she would’ve still been happy, leading her town, being more powerful than the rest.

Now I’ll never feel happy! I’ll always feel the way Sunburst did when he left me! Starlight thought. Princess Twilight and her stupid friends, her stupid cutie marks! Why did they have to take my whole life away?

Starlight had spent a few more days in the cave, shivering and despising her choice to stay in the cave. She looked to the cutie mark vault and shook her head. Why would she want to remind herself of her own defeat? She walked to the edge of the cave, which was half covered in snow. She smugly smiled as she looked at the village below her. They were all living a normal life, now, one with special talents and pain. So, angrily, but also happily, Starlight teleported away to a place where Twilight, her friends, and the rest of her village couldn’t find her.

Everything was gray. The ground was gray, the rocks were gray, and somehow, even the sky was completely gray. But there was a barn and a silo here, and she’d take living in a warm, bleak farm over a cold, snowy cave any day. She opened the door to the silo and stepped inside. It was, surprisingly, empty, other than the rocks and hay-covered ground. She sat down and laid down on the hay, settling in for a more comfortable night than she would ever have expected.

Starlight woke up to the sound of an annoyed, raspy voice. “Listen, I don’t care if you’re a stranger or what, but if you want to stay here, you’ve gotta work here.”

Starlight sat up straight, and her ears flipped down. “No thanks,” she answered, and lit up her horn to teleport. But before she could get away, the pony who had woken her stomped on her tail.

“No,” she said, getting closer to Starlight’s face. “If you’re going to live on our farm you gotta at least pay the price.”

Starlight smirked. This girl was almost as tough as she was. Almost. She stood up, nodding, but wearing a big grin on her face. Maybe she could use her in her plan.

“One day’s worth of work for one night’s worth of staying,” the pony, named Limestone Pie, told her, handing her a rock pick.

Starlight took it with her horn and followed Limestone out to where she was instructed to work. “If this is a farm, why isn’t it-”

Limestone silenced her with a glare. “Less talking, more farming,” she blandly replied.

Starlight’s eyes narrowed. She hated working here already. She levitated the rock pick and sat down. Then, she hammered at the rock, imagining as if that rock were Princess Twilight. Just the thought of Twilight going through all that pain made her grin.

Limestone looked back at the unicorn to make sure she was doing what she should’ve been, not messing around. But of course, she was. “Hey! What are you doing?” she shouted, stopping the pick from moving. “You have to be gentle, or else the rocks will break and we’ll be short on supply.”

Starlight clenched her teeth, her eyebrows furrowed. This was the most boring place ever. Why had she come here, again?

Starlight snuck away from the rock farm, looking around for someplace to stay. And then she found it. Well, not really, since she wasn’t there, or even close to there. But she knew exactly where to go. And she would head there right after she got a little rest under some nice, shady trees…

Starlight was already breathing heavily. And so far, she’d only gotten to the edge of Ghastly Gorge. She groaned as she started to walk around the Gorge, and then, her ears perked up in realization. If she’d just slid down there, maybe she could cross more easily. Plus, there was less of a chance that anyone would see her…

She screamed as she fell towards the ground. Levitating herself, she quickly clamped her mouth shut. She carefully placed herself onto the ground and trotted along the riverbank. That’s when a dusty wind blew. It was so dusty, she had to close her eyes shut. And it was so windy, it blew her into the river. But after a while, she figured it was an improvement. The river’s current would carry her along, and she could open her eyes underwater if she wanted to. Which she did.

She drifted along the water, bracing herself for the terribly strong winds in the tunnel ahead of her. She shrieked when she saw vines all over the place, thistles all over them. Quickly hopping out of the water, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then she teleported herself as far as she could from Ghastly Gorge. And of course, that meant right at the edge of Ghastly Gorge, so close she almost fell back in, almost killed herself. Luckily, it had taken her to the side she needed to get to, and not all the way back to the start.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the forest. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much of a challenge. All she had to do was blast the timberwolves with her magic, one after another. When she finally reached the edge of the Everfree Forest, she smiled, taking in the sight she saw. A bridge, leading to a small town, a joyful, playful town. And in that town rested the ponies who had taken away her own town. Now, she could finally get some ideas for revenge on Princess Twilight, straight from the horse's mouth. Literally.

Author's Note

"Golly," this took a while. Sorry if I've been inactive for a while, to those of you who have been waiting for the next chapter of Revenge. I've been kind of unmotivated latetly, so thanks for having so much patience with me. I hope you liked reading it, and for those of you who read this all the way through, thanks so much!

Anyways, if you were wondering why Starlight didn't just use her magic to get to Ponyville, it's because she's not too emotional right now, and she's pretty exhausted, so her magic's not too strong. Plus, I needed to make this chapter longer and extend the amount of time it took before she got to Ponyville.

Pack A Bag, Spike

Starlight slowly peeked her head out from behind the Town Hall. It was noon, the worst time to be snooping around, especially if you were going to spy on a princess. But either way, the princess had taken away her sanctuary, and she would not hesitate to retaliate.

But no one seemed to be wandering around Ponyville anyways, so she decided it would be safe if she cast a cloaking spell. No one would run into the "air," would they? Of course not. Not with everyone gone. So she cast the cloaking spell and ran towards the castle, making sure not to run into anything, especially not any living thing.

As she got closer and closer to the Castle of Friendship, she realized that there were more ponies than just Princess Twilight Sparkle at home. They were having a party. Starlight was about to look through a window, when she realized she had stopped casting the spell. She bit her lip and reactivated her invisibility spell, peering through the window once she had finished.

"But you shouldn't just let it pass by you," Twilight said, putting her hoof on a lightly colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane. "You should talk to her and tell you how you really feel. That way, she may feel more open to you, and then you'll each know both sides of the story."

The earth pony nodded. "Thank you, Princess," she said, bowing.

"Oh come on, Bon Bon. You know you can call me by my actual name. And just know that I feel kind of... well... uncomfortable when you give me a gesture like that," she added.

Bon Bon chuckled. "Of course, Twilight. Thanks again for helping me. I just hope Lyra will be-"

"She will," the princess reassured her. Then, Bon Bon walked out of the castle door, trotting to a house, presumably her house. Starlight shook her head and peered into the castle. Twilight was cleaning up. The party, or advice giving session, was over. She teleported all her dirty dishes somewhere, then walked to another room. Starlight, wanting to get every last bit of information, teleported into the castle.

She followed after Twilight, making sure not to step on anything or bump into anything, making sure she wouldn't make any noise. She hid behind the couch Princess Twilight was sitting on, peering from behind it, she could clearly see her getting a book, sitting down and reading it. Wow. Today was not the right day to arrive in Ponyville if all the princess was going to do was read and relax, maybe tell some others about friendship. Then, Spike walked into the room, and Starlight ducked behind the couch again, making sure her spell was on, which it was.

"Ugh," Spike groaned. "You know the worse thing about you being the Princess of Friendship?"

She takes away other pony's paradises? Starlight thought to herself, almost giggling.

Throwing off his kitchen gloves, not waiting for an answer, Spike answered the question himself. "The dishes!" he complained. Starlight nodded in realization. So the princess had made her dragon do all the hard work, huh?

"Thanks for taking care of that, Spike," she replied, turning her head to face him. "After three events in one week, I really needed to relax with a good book." Starlight rolled her eyes.

"Eh, it's kind of funny, isn't it? All these ponies coming to you for advice about friendship," he responded. Starlight couldn't have agreed more.

"What's funny about that?" Princess Twilight asked, hopping off the couch and placing the book back on the shelf.

"You know," Spike explained, "'cause you used to be famous for being such a bad friend!" He said this rather casually, and Starlight's jaw dropped open. The Princess Twilight Sparkle? A bad friend? No, she couldn't beleive that. Twilight was the most friendly, do-goodiest pony ever. It was impossible. Yet, it was true.

"What are you talking about? I had good friends in Canterlot!" she rejected.

"Come on, Twilight," Spiked scoffed, "look at the wall! Do you see any photos from before we moved to Ponyville? And look at you now, the Princess of Friendship!"

Twilight gasped. "This is a disaster!" She started pacing around the room, much to Starlight's annoyance. "I can't remember any of their names right now. Do you really think that they think I'm a bad friend?"

"Well, I only meant that you've come so far," Spike reasoned. Starlight could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "You're a great friend now and-"

"Oh, I feel terrible!" she shouted, interrupting Spike. "I've got to make it up to them." Starlight watched as Twilight ran out of the room. "Pack a bag, Spike. We're going to Canterlot!"

Starlight's gaze moved to Spike, waiting for his next move. But then Twilight came running back into the room. "And make a list of my friends' names," she sheepishly directed him.

Starlight eyed Spike again. "Ugh, me and my big mouth," he groaned.

Well, yeah! Starlight angrily thought at Spike. I came all this way to Ponyville, and now I have to venture off, again? She crossed her hooves as Spike sulked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Ugh," she moaned out loud. "I'll see you in Canterlot tomorrow."

Starlight teleported behind the Canterlot Castle and looked around. Princess Twilight Sparkle, though, was nowhere to be seen. It was only a day after Twilight had left for Canterlot, but Starlight couldn't find her anywhere. Starlight was about to give up when she heard a familiar voice through the open door of a donut shop. "So for all the pain I caused you, I am truly sorry."

Starlight peeked her head into the shop, looking for Princess Twilight. And she found her, hanging out with three other unicorns. They were all laughing, probably at Twilight, while she just sat there, a stunned expression on her face. Serves her right, Starlight thought to herself.

Once they stopped laughing, the blue unicorn spoke up first. "Aww, come on, Twilight! Sure, it might of stung a little bit when you ran off to Ponyville without saying goodbye, but it's not like we weren't used to that from you!"

Walking into the shop, Starlight kept her eye on Twilight's group of friends, almost bumping into another group. "Yeah, we didn't take it personally," the pink-haired unicorn agreed.

The yellow-coated one added, "But it's really good to see you now." Then, suddenly, she grinned. "Hey! Anypony up for a blast from the past?" Everyone showed their agreement with nods and smiles, and even Starlight smiled. Though, it was more of a smirk than a smile.

Starlight hid in a bush, waiting for something to reveal what Twilight really hated, and maybe even what had linked her friends together in the first place. But she didn't have much to say. Gasping, she remarked, "It's our old science lab! I have so many great memories of this place."

The blue mare giggled. "Remember when Lemon Hearts got her head stuck in that beaker?" Twilight's ears dropped almost simultaneously to Starlight's. If she wanted information, then she would have to spy on Twilight when it was more, well, serious. Although having your head stuck in a beaker must have looked really funny. Starlight shook her head, clearing her thoughts. If she wanted revenge, she couldn't focus on silly things like lab accidents.

It had already been three days. Still, Starlight hadn't gotten much information. Maybe that was because all Twilight was doing was spying, as well. Starlight groaned from behind the building and walked to the library, since Spike had said something about Twilight's victim going there.

Luckily for her, Twilight came by in a few minutes. Starlight quickly ducked behind the building, watching through the windows as Twilight walked past a cream-coated unicorn with glasses. She couldn't hear anyone, since the library was sound-proof, but she could make out Twilight doing some pretty akward things. And she could see the other mare's face, which mostly only showed aggravation. And Starlight didn't blame her. Twilight could be pretty annoying.

After a while, Twilight and the unicorn walked out of the library, and Starlight gave them a head start. They ended up in a section of Canterlot Castle, which apparently used to be the Princess of Friendship's home. Starlight levitated herself, watching through the window as the two talked with each other.

Eventually, though, the glasses girl grew bored of Twilight, and, surprisingly, Starlight liked her already. Starlight lay herself flat against the staircase, breathing heavily. "See you at dinner tonight!" she heard Twilight call out. After that, she heard a few mumbles. Starlight grinned. She could probably stay one last night, just for dinner.

Starlight walked into the diner. She spotted Twilight sitting at a table with Spike and the four unicorns from earlier. She chose a seat near the door, where she could run in case of an emergency. Luckily, Twilight's table wasn't too far from hers. She buried her face into the menu book on the table and listened to the conversation.

"So, uh, what are you studying these days?" a high voice, probably belonging to the unicorn named Minuette, asked.

A bored voice replied, "Science, magic, history, economics, pottery, things like that."

"Yowza!" She heard a nervous laugh from Minuette. "You... planning on being a professor or something?"

"No."

"So, you're just... studying!" Minuette remarked.

"Can I go now?" Moondancer groaned.

"Moondancer, please," Twilight confronted.

"It's alright, Twilight. We're having a good time. Right, everypony?" But all she heard were two nervous chuckles in response. Wanting to lighten the mood, Minuette spoke up. "So, uh, Spike!" she said, quickly coming up with more to say. "Tell Moondancer that story about how Twilight had to read a book about doing a sleepover."

Starlight moved her menu down just a little so she could see what was happening. Spike wiped his lips and opened his mouth, but Moondancer interrupted.

"Slumber 101? I've read that," she blandly replied. Starlight's expression turned almost identical to Moondancer's, and then she covered her face with the menu book again.

"Oh," Twilight nervously chuckled, "really? Well, did you know... Lemon Hearts here, works at the Canterlot Palace?"

"Uh, yeah, it's true," she agreed. "I do the big events, mostly, state dinners, that sort of thing." After a few moments of silence, everypony, except for Moondancer, nervously laughed. It was starting to get old.

Starlight heard a chair being pushed away as Moondancer groaned, "Ugh," trotting away. She saw a pink flash of light, and she assumed that that was Twilight teleporting out of the shop. Lowering the book, she realized she was right. Then, a pony came up to her. "What would you like to order, miss?" he asked.

Starlight slammed her book on the table, but not loud enough to capture everyone's attention. "Nothing," she snapped, teleporting away similar to the way Twilight did.

Time Travel!

Starlight lay on the ground, exhausted, but more angry. Just a few moments earlier, she was in Canterlot, where she'd gone for a few days. Actually, it was more like Princess Twilight had gone to Canterlot while Starlight followed. No, spied. Anyways, the spy mission was completely useless. All she got were a few akward moments between Twilight and her "friends." Not any information on how to stop her and her friends from coming together.

She stood up as she heard faint hoofsteps getting louder, coming closer to her. They were coming from inside, so Starlight was sure that Twilight wouldn't see her. Unless she opened the front door. Starlight sat up as she heard the door slightly creak. She quickly got onto four legs and sprinted towards the back of the castle. Peering from behind, she saw as Twilight walked outside with Spike right next to her. They were talking about something she couldn't hear, but to her relief, it was definitely not her.

When she was sure Twilight had gone, she teleported to her hideout, a place where she could plan in secret. Rambling Rock Ridge, a deserted desert, and now the secret hideaway of Starlight Glimmer. Starlight teleported over a quill and dipped it in an inkwell, illustrating an alicorn princess in all her might. An alicorn princess who had straight hair, two streaks running down her mane. An alicorn princess who had a magic-related cutie mark, like hers. An alicorn princess who had stolen her town.

Starlight glowered at the drawing. That darn Princess Twilight Sparkle restored my village's cutie marks. She had taken all equality away. She had taken all my happiness away. But I'll show her, she thought to herself. I'll show her how wrong she was to destroy the one thing that gave me a place in the world. She looked at her drawing again. Maybe I should've drawn Twilight Twinkle foolishly.

Starlight's stomach grumbled. Why hadn't she eaten at the diner in Canterlot? Oh right, because she had only gone there to stalk on Twilight and her friends. But now, she was really hungry. Maybe she should grab a bite to eat before doing anymore eavesdropping or planning.

Starlight yawned, stretching. It had already been about two weeks since she had first spied on Princess Twilight. And today, she was finally going to try again. In front of her face, she levitated a drawing of the princess she had drawn a few weeks ago. She grabbed her quill, dipped it in ink, and stuck the drawing on the wall. Then, she scribbled over the drawing, ending it by ripping the paper entirely.

She chuckled as she stared at the paper below her. If that had actually been Princess Twilight, she would've really enjoyed seeing her torn to pieces. Though, maybe not dead. She was only trying to stop the princess, not kill her.

Starlight quickly shook her head, clearing her mind of all the thoughts. Today, she would go spy some more. Maybe it would help relieve her.

It was already around noon. Okay, maybe she shouldn't have wasted all that time gathering materials, but at least now she had a pair of functional binoculars. Starlight quickly hopped into the nearest bush, making sure nopony, especially one of Twilight's friends, saw her. She stuck her binoculars through the bush and peered through them. She could sort of make out what they were saying.

"I guess you had to be there," Fluttershy said.

"I do need to be there," Twilight remarked.

"But you weren't!" a confused Rarity spoke up. "And it's already happened. Ooh! Are you suggesting-"

"Time travel!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, cutting her off. Starlight didn't think this was a bad idea. In fact, if she traveled back in time, maybe she could disconnect Twilight and her friends, and she'd be living her happy life again.

"Absolutely not!" Twilight protested, sticking her muzzle in Pinkie's face. "Time travel is NOT something to be messed with." Starlight grinned. The Princess of Friendship was incredibly reluctant to use time travel? Well, all the more reason to use it, right?

Starlight glanced at the princess's little dragon. At least he was taking notes, so Starlight wouldn't have to. She could snoop around the castle and steal them later if she wanted to. Which she did.

Twilight and her friends walked to another diner. Starlight rolled her eyes but sneakily followed anyways. She had given Twilight's friends a big head start, plus she had only walked, while Twilight's group trotted. So by the time she arrived, they had probably already gone over a lot.

Starlight gaped in awe as the weird draconequus creature touched the tablecloth of the table Twilight's friends were sitting at. Just by putting his finger on the tablecloth, it turned red as if someone were spilling paint over it.

"One change to the equation could ruin the experiment," he restated, giving himself a mane that looked like Twilight's plus her wings and horn. "Twilight said so herself."

Discord paced around, now wearing a doctor's coat. "Anything stand out as being different? Anything at all?"

"Um, I've noticed a couple things," Fluttershy volunteered, raising her hoof.

"Me too!" Pinkie added. At this, Starlight bit her lip. Surely, she wasn't on of the strange things, was she? Starlight slowly crept away from the scene, until she was far enough away that she could run away without anyone being suspicious of her.

Starlight covered herself with the invisibility cloak spell. Tiptoeing, she snuck into the dragon's room. The notes from earlier were probably there. And she was right. She found the paper and teleported herself back to her lair.

When she arrived, she placed the paper on her table, vowing to keep it safe. Now, all she needed was a bit more information, and maybe just a few more supplies, and she could finally put her plan to action.

Author's Note

Yes, I know. I've never heard of Rambling Rock Ridge either, but it was there on the MLP Map, so I used it anyways. Plus, it looks pretty deserted, so it's perfect for Starlight to work on her own.
Anyways, thanks for your flexibility! I've been pretty inconsistent lately, and I hope this chapter is at least enjoyable to you. I appreciate you reading my story!

Sneaking Around

Starlight looked at the town behind her. She could barely see any light, not even coming from behind Fluttershy's cottage, the shortest house in Ponyville. The sun had barely risen at all, so Starlight figured she had enough time. She ran towards the hillsides, to Canterlot. Once she got far enough away from anypony, or creatures that might tell Fluttershy, she used a teleportation spell and got herself into the big city.

Activating her spell, Starlight walked into the Canterlot Archives. Now all she had to do was find a spell that might help her go into the past. She teleported herself onto the top floor. Everything was always more interesting if it was hidden farther away from you. Turning her head back and forth, she finally found what she was looking for.

The Star Swirl The Bearded Wing! If Starlight wasn't mistaken, Star Swirl was one of the greatest wizards ever. Surely, in a room full of all his super complex spells, Starlight could find a basic time travel spell. Right?

Starlight noticed the lock on the gate to the wing and rolled her eyes. She did a simple lock unpicking spell and let herself into the room. She was amazed at all the scrolls there were. So much magic I need to learn. So much magic I could use if I just... Starlight thought. Then she shook her head, clearing her thoughts. No. She needed to focus on the time travel spell. Starlight walked around for a while, searching for a spell. When it was around noon, she facehoofed.

Why hadn't she thought of it before? A time travel spell would be under T! T is for Time. And T is also for Travel. Starlight rushed to the T section. Her eyes darted from scroll to scroll as she pulled each one off the shelf, reading it to make sure it was the right one. After what had felt like an eternity, she had finally found what she needed. But as she read the scroll, she couldn't help but make a conclusion: Star Swirl was nothing but a crumpled up ball of trash.

To go back once
To a time close by,
You won't last long,
But you'll have to try.

For a few moments
In the past you'll stay,
You can go back
To up to fourteen days.

Seriously? Only fourteen days? The "greatest wizard of all time" couldn't create a spell that actually let her do something? Starlight became more frustrated as she read the paper over and over again. Oh well. If you want something done, you'll have to do it yourself.

Rolling it up, Starlight took the scroll back with her to her lair. Arriving, she placed the scroll on the rock-desk alongside the notes on recreating the past. Laying down on the sandy ground, she closed her eyes and got ready for tomorrow. She could get some more information then.

Starlight sat down, scribbling things all over Star Swirl's scroll. If she wanted to go into the past, and big time, she would need a more complex spell. She smiled proudly at the paper below her. This was probably one of her best written spells ever. And, well, maybe it was originally Star Swirl's, but she had modified it so that it actually worked.

You, to go back,
To a time far away,
You will last until
The spell sends you away.

Moments you can change,
The past holds the key.
Might as well go back
To when you were three.

There were only two problems with her spell right now. For one, the fact that she had nothing, no source of magic, to amplify her power if it wasn't already enough. And, no, it probably wasn't enough.

Second, Starlight needed a specific time and place to go back to. If she didn't have that, then she would have nowhere to take herself. And then, the whole point of time traveling would be useless. Right now, all she knew was that she could ruin Twilight's filly life in Canterlot. But that was all.

Biting her lip, Starlight decided she would go to Ponyville to get more information. Hopefully, Twilight wouldn't be around to see her.

Starlight was incredibly lucky. It was hard to believe, but the day had definitely gotten even the slightest bit better. Princess Twilight didn't even keep a lock on her door or anything. No measures of security. Wasn't Twilight supposed to be the smart one?

Actually, yes. She was the smart one. Maybe she was trying to be secretively smart. She probably didn't put the lock there to fool ponies who attempted to break in. Maybe she had security cameras. Or motion sensors. Or motion-activated laser beams. That would be painful. Starlight winced at just the thought of it. She cast her invisibilty cloak just for extra measure. Then, she trotted in freely.

Starlight looked around, surprised. "This thing looked a lot smaller from the outside," she murmured. Though, it might have been a curse. Either way, she still had trouble finding her way around the place. She decided to walk straight until she found an interesting looking room. And boy, did she. Looking to her right, she bumped into the door that was in front of her. Starlight opened the door, partially expecting the door to lead to a hallway full of even more doors. But no, it was nothing like that.

It was a big table. No, it was a big map. A map-table thingy? Whatever it was, it was big. And surrounded by thrones with each of the girls' cutie marks. There was even a smaller one. That one was probably for the notes dragon.

Right then, she head hoofsteps coming into the room. Starlight's breathing sped up as she teleported into the room next door. There was a greenish window connecting them, so she could easily peer through and see what was happening.

And in that moment, the Princess of Frienship came bursting through the door. She was clearly full of glee. But why? That's when Starlight noticed the most suspicious thing ever. Twilight's cutie mark, the sparkly magic looking one, was pulsating, glowing, even. Starlight covered her mouth. The cutie mark came off of her flank, but still it hadn't. It was quicker than when Starlight had taken it off, and when the cutie mark came off, it started circling a dark area on the map.

Starlight squinted. She wasn't sure if she was right, but there seemed to be two cutie marks there. Twilight's dark pink one, and a lighter pink one. And she was right. About four minutes later, when Twilight had already laid out a million books and charts and binders everywhere, a yellow-cream coated pegasus came into the door, with Twilight leading her in. Her cutie mark was glowing, too.

Wait. Starlight's eyes widened. That pegasus was the one who had pretended to be kind just to sneak into the village. She was the one who had shown the whole village Starlight's cutie mark. It was still Twilight's fault for everything. Well, almost everything.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Twilight and the other one, Fluttershy as she guessed, left the room. And with that, Starlight teleported back in.

Starlight gaped at the sight, placing her hoof on the place that used to be her village. But her hoof sunk right through. And one word came to mind: magic. This map thingy was magic. At least it looked like it. And didn't the princess say they found her village on a map? Maybe their cutie marks were moved to her village the way the two mares' had gone to the Smoky Mountains. Maybe, just maybe, the map had the power to supply her with the magic she needed to cast the spell.

Starlight smiled as she looked up at the bright tree roots. She could just use the map to-

Starlight heard a rustling noise coming from one of the book piles. The dragon! She had completely forgotten about him, especially that he was under a bunch of books. Starlight clenched her teeth in frustration and teleported back to Rambling Rock Ridge before anyone could spot her.

Author's Note

It was under T! Although, probably not. I don't think it's alphabetically organized...
And, yes, I still suck at rhyming, so sorry about that.

Anyways, that was really fun to write. Maybe because I didn't have as many restraints of using the script anymore. Well, I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it!

The Last Straw

Starlight was almost ready. She had a modified, more powerful spell. She had a source of magic to cast her spell on. All she needed now was the last bit of information. She needed to know where to go in the past.

She trotted around the small - big in comparison to her village which Twilight had stolen - city of Ponyville, without her spell this time. Instead, she did her hair in a bun and combed her bangs together. She also covered her cutie mark with powder, and drew over it. She made sure she had a backup name, too; pretending to be someone, anyone else without a plan was dangerous sometimes. She knew she could be exposed if she made one wrong move.

But the disguise was of no use. There was something off about today: Princess Twilight was nowhere to be found! On any other day, Starlight, err... Aurora, would celebrate and use a chance like this to mess around with Princess Twilight's things, and maybe even her friends. But today wasn't just any day. It was the day she was going to finally get her revenge on Twilight Sparkle. How was she going to do that if she couldn't even find Twilight? Well, with no one to recognize her, she figured she could put her hair back to normal, dusting off the fake cutie mark.

She also needed to find the perfect place in time to jump into to destroy Twilight's friendships. Then, maybe her utopia would be restored, and Princess Twilight would feel the way Starlight did when Sunburst left her all those years ago. And especially when her village's cutie marks were restored. She felt special until Twilight and her friends took it all away. She'd feel better with them seperated, even if it did mean Sunburst and her village were gone.

Starlight walked around town, looking for any way to seperate the girls. Obviously, it was hard without a direct source of information. But then, two ponies rushed past her, making her fall down. "What's the big deal?" she retorted.

"I'm so sorry," the first one apologized, blushing and helping her up.

"Yeah, sorry about that," the other one said, clearly distracted. "It's just that Princess Twilight is giving a speech about magic today! And it's free! We just couldn't wait to see the princess!" she squealed.

This caught Starlight's attention. "Oh? Where is it?" she asked, as friendly as possible, trying to make herself sound interested in meeting Twilight and seeing her do a speech. Not that she was interested. She wasn't. She just wanted as much knowledge as possible. Any little piece of information would help to track Twilight down. Especially since it would be stated by Twilight herself.

The first pony pointed in the direction they were headed. "Canterlot. Would you like to join us?"

Starlight shook her head and pretended to be on her way in the other direction. She hid behind a building, and after a few seconds, she turned back to make sure the mares were on their way. They were, so Starlight did one more scan to make sure she was being very secretive with everypony else. She was.

Starlight grinned and teleported herself into Canterlot.

Starlight smiled, arriving the big city. It wasn't somewhere she would normally go, but Twilight was here, and she had information. Very, very useful information. Starlight looked around, and saw a building which multiple ponies were heading into. Surely that was the building Princess Twilight was giving her speech in. Everyone just loved to see princesses, even if it was for boring things like speeches.

She rolled her eyes and teleported herself into the building. Upon arrival, she took a seat, acting engrossed in the speech that Twilight was giving.

"...it can be traced to a single event! Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor, this rainboom wouldn't have happened. Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals. Applejack might never have realized that she belonged on her farm. And Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. It might be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to fathom what my life would be like."

Starlight smiled. She could just go back in time to the race, maybe mess up the rainboom, and then Twilight, not to mention all her annoying friends, would never learn about their special talents and loves. There was no guarantee they wouldn't meet and still stop her, but it would be better if they never learned to love what they did. They needed to feel the despair she did when Sunburst left, and when Twilight restored her village's cutie marks.

"Without this rainboom, I might not have gotten into magic school. Celestia wouldn't have taken me on as her pupil! Or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends," Twilight continued. Starlight smirked. Twilight had just confirmed it. Now, if she could time travel and stop the rainboom, she would never meet her friends, maybe even meaning she would still have her village. All she needed to do was stop this one event in time. It would all work out perfectly.

As Starlight continued to work out a few details, Twilight continued to ramble on and on about magic and cutie marks. "And the most powerful thing about cutie mark magic that I found..." by the time Twilight had reached this part, Starlight had already teleported out of the room, landing in Twilight's throne room.

She landed on a crystal throne, which on the back of it, had a picture of three pink butterflies. They looked kind of familiar to Starlight, but she just couldn't put her hoof on it. Eventually, she decided to lay back, putting her hind legs on the tablish-map thing. She teleported the scroll of her altered spell and put it down on the armrest of the throne. She could make the big reveal when Twilight arrived. If she arrived.

After a few minutes of waiting, she heard voices outside the room, and not long after, a magenta-colored magic aura enveloped the door's handle. The door was pushed open, revealing Twilight and Spike, discussing something, most likely about her. Maybe she should've tried to hide her identity. "Well when you say it like that, it does sound kind of silly."

Starlight saw as Spike caught her eye, her evil grin widening. "Or, it's totally true!" Spike said with a scared and cowardly voice.

"Welcome home, Twilight!" Starlight greeted, adjusting herself so that her front hooves were on the table now. She lifted the spell, revealing it to Twilight and Spike. She shot her magic beam at it, and the scroll floated into the air on its own. It proceeded to power the map, and Twilight ran closer to it, looking back and forth between the sections of Equestria, concerned.

"What are you doing, Starlight?" she asked, putting on an angrily brave face.

Starlight cackled in response. "I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise," she seethed, bringing down the scroll and crumpling it up into a ball and tossing it aside. "Won't be needing that anymore." She started to chuckle again as she cast the final part of her spell, which created a powerful magic barrier that not even the Princess of Friendship could break through.

Near the roots of the Golden Oak Library, a time vortex opened up. Starlight was glad her spell worked, and she didn't even test it out. She kept watching to see what would happen, leaning forward. She threw one last smirk at Twilight and Spike, keeping it on, and levitating herself through the portal.

She could see it so clearly in her mind. Cloudsdale, in the past, when Rainbow Dash was standing up for Fluttershy. She found the perfect spot to land, and disappeared to the perfect location, where she could disrupt the fate of Equestria. Twilight's friends would now never meet. She would get to keep her village. It would all work out perfectly.

At least, that's how she saw it.