Once Starlight had received an adequate amount of cuddles, she decided to check up on a certain pink party pony. But first, she had to assure Trixie everything was fine, even if it wasn't. "I think I'm good now Trix, mind letting me go?" Starlight asked, not wanting to just teleport away and upset her fillyfriend. "I kinda got stuff to do, things to check on, et cetera..." she trailed off, trying not to be too specific.

"Hold on, if you're doing okay, can you tell me what happened? I'm worried Star," Trixie whined, looking into Starlight's eyes. "What did you mean when you said you needed to see Pinkie's basement?"

"It's a long story Trixie, but before I can tell anypony about it, I have to check on something for my own peace of mind," Starlight explained, still keeping things vague. She didn't want to burden the mare she loved with the knowledge she gained in the other timeline. "I promise I'll explain everything tonight, but let's just say for now that I found something in that other world that I hope to Celestia and Luna isn't in this world."

At that, Trixie released her grip, still visibly worried, but she nodded in understanding before Starlight gave her a quick salute. "What do you want me to do while you're checking out... whatever it is you need to check?" Trixie asked.

"Write a letter asking Twilight to call an emergency friendship council meeting. I'll send it to spike when I get back, they're all gonna want to hear about this new development," Starlight instructed before teleporting out of the castle and straight to the street outside Sugar Cube Corner. Taking a deep breath in, and slowly letting it out, starlight stepped into the bakery. What greeted her was her familiar Sugar Cube Corner. No muted colors, no detail out of place, just as she remembered it.

"Hiya Starlight! How was your adventure in the other world? Did ya meet another version of me? Oh! I bet she greeted you with a crazy look in her eye before she..." Pinkie, who had been smiling as broad as ever and bouncing off the walls suddenly stopped, dropped to the floor, and looked Starlight in the eyes as her face fell and her mane almost completely deflated. It still maintained its curls, but the volume visibly shrank like a sad soggy balloon.

"Pinkie?" Starlight asked, worry evident on her features.

"Follow me Starlight, I'll show you the basement," Pinkie muttered, as she trudged to a door to the right of the entrance. Opening the door, she flipped a light switch inside, revealing a stair case similar to the one in the broken timeline.

After a few seconds of processing what just happened, Starlight trotted after Pinkie down to the basement where she saw... storage shelves. Plain wooden storage shelves lining all the walls holding sacks of flower, sugar, some seasonal themed baking pans, oats, and a few jars of crushed gems; presumably to cater to the growing dragon population of Equestria. "Huh, just... storage," Starlight said before looking over to the dejected pink mare who brought her down here.

"I'm not gonna sugar coat it Starlight, I know what happened in the other world," Pinkie said, still looking dejected. A sight that both unnerved Starlight, and made her want to hug her depressed friend. However, she figured now wasn't the best time. "I know what the other me did. I can't explain to you how I know. It's not my Pinkie sense either, that's for predicting the future," Pinkie explained in a monotone voice.

"Pinkie, I... I fixed it! I made sure the other you wouldn't... do what she did again," Starlight tried cheering up her friend, but to no avail. "I was going to explain what happened to the rest of the girls-NOT IN AS MUCH DETAIL BUT... yeah, If you want to sit out the council meeting, I'd understand."

"No, I'll be fine Starlight," Pinkie reassured with a weak little smile. It wasn't her usual expression, but it was genuine. "I'll be back to my normal self soon, I just... want some time to grieve," she admitted.

After a moment of contemplation, Starlight nodded her head solemnly. "Would you like some time alone?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate it. Don't worry, I'll see you at the council meeting," Pinkie replied, just above Fluttershy's standard volume. "And Starlight?"

"Yeah Pinkie?" Starlight asked, an understanding smile on her face.

"Thanks for not giving up on me."

"Of course Pinkie, I promise I'll do everything in my power to keep you girls safe and happy in as many timelines as possible." With that, the Princess of Time teleported back to the castle of friendship, appearing right next to Trixie who was lounging in one of the library sofas. Oddly, she barely flinched, still just laying on her back, legs tucked to her barrel, eyes focused on the ceiling above her.

"Uh, Trixie? Did you get that letter written up for Twilight?" Starlight asked, a bit of concern in her voice.

"Oh, yeah. It's on the table over there," Trixie mumbled, pointing a slightly shaking hoof at a single piece of parchment on a nearby crystalline table.

Trotting over to it, Starlight read it over before sending it off to Spike with the dragon fire spell Twilight taught her. With that taken care of, all that was left to do was wait for everypony to show up. In the mean time, she had a filly friend to cuddle. "Hey Trix, make room. It's cuddle time," Starlight announced as she teleported back to the couch.

"What?" Trixie asked, before she was glomped by her alicorn lover. "Uh, Starlight... as much as I love cuddling you, why are you so clingy all of a sudden?"

"Because, miss hot flanks, you need cheering up!" Starlight shot back.

"What?!" Trixie demanded incredulously. "You're the one who was crying her eyes out! I should be cheering you up," she said before gasping, "Starlight, are you bottling up your emotions again? Please, you don't have to do that, I ca-" Trixie was cut off with a quick kiss.

"No, I'm not bottling up my emotions Trix. I am upset about what happened, but I have to move past all that," Starlight soothed the baby blue mare. "If it gets to be too much for me to handle, I'll let you know, but that long cry I had when I got back really helped. Plus, talking with Pinkie gave me some better perspective on everything."

"That reminds me, you still haven't told me anything about what happened!" Trixie accused, as she began to wriggle out of the other mare's grasp to sit up.

"I'll tell you when I tell the others," Starlight said before an Idea struck her. "Actually, if you want, I could just, use some time magic," Starlight suggested, noticing Trixie visibly brighten at that suggestion.

Powering up her horn, Starlight first teleported them to the map room before reaching out to the fabric of time. With a mild tug, a teal orb enveloped them as their surroundings blurred. Soon, they could see Fluttershy making her way to her throne, but she was moving faster than Pinkie or Rainbow Dash, both of which bolted in and to their seats moments later, followed by Applejack and Rarity, and finally Twilight and Spike teleported in.

Seeing everypony assembled, Starlight canceled her spell. To her and Trixie, it just looked like a magic bubble dissolving. From everypony else's perspective, Starlight and Trixie teleported into view just in front of the throne room doors. "I suppose you're wondering why I gathered you all here today," Starlight began, not missing a beat. Meanwhile everypony, save Trixie and Pinkie, were staring at her with a mixture of shock and confusion.

"Uh, ah thought Twilight summoned us for an emergency council meetin'," Applejack cut in.

"Well, I did, but at the behest of Starlight. Sorry for the confusion, but her message said it was urgent, so I figured explanations could wait," said Twilight.

"So why'd ya call us here Starlight? We don't got all day!" Rainbow Dash demanded of the newly minted alicorn princess of time.

Looking very nonplussed, Starlight began anew, "well if you would let me speak, I'll tell you." At that, Rainbow shut her muzzle, biting back her retort. Usually, she'd enjoy a bit of banter, but today she just wanted to get this over with.

"First off, there's been a bit of an alteration to the map." Lighting up her horn, Starlight reached out to the magic map table, causing it to reveal its new extra dimensional features. "From what I can tell, the map has made connections to every alternate timeline, and it has apparently tasked me with solving... friendship problems, across these timelines." Starlight visibly winced at the memory of her first 'friendship problem' she had to solve.

"Fascinating! Do you realize the implications this brings up? The possibilities for studying the multiverse? Starlight, this is incredible! How many missions have you gone on? What differences can you tell us about the other timelines? Have you-" Twilight was cut off in her rambling by a cyan hoof to her mouth.

"Twi, please, I'm on my lunch break here, just let her finish, and then you can go full on Twilight mode," Rainbow pleaded before sitting back down in her throne. To her relief, Twilight just gave a sheepish nod before returning her attention to the other alicorn in the room.

"Where was I? Oh, right! My first, mission.... report." Starlight's ears wilted back and she lowered her eyes to the table map which had managed to reorient itself back to its standard resting state. Pinkie also sagged a bit at what she knew would be coming next. Steeling herself with a deep breath, Starlight continued.

"The map sent me to a timeline where Pinkie... needed my help. She kinda, sorta, snapped and... hurt a lot of ponies. So after subduing her, I found the crux of the issue, went back, and stopped her from falling down the dark path in the first place. I can only hope that my other missions won't involve so much..." Starlight trailed off as her whole body shivered in revulsion.

"So much... what, darling? What aren't you telling us?" Rarity inquired, concern evident on her face.

"Trust me, you don't want to know..." Pinkie cut in, glaring at Rarity for just a moment before catching herself, and looking back down to the table, her glare softening to a look of sorrow. Her mane was about half deflated, but clearly doing better than she was back in the storage basement.

"Anyway, " Starlight said, bringing the attention back to her presentation. "I just wanted to inform you all of the nature of these missions, and... don't be surprised if I come to you for reassurance that, what I saw wasn't real. I know it might sound weird, but if anything I find in another timeline could harm ours, I'll need to know about it, so if there is any similar issues, I can deal with them," she finished, glad to be done.

"Well, ah guess that's good to know," Applejack offered, "jus' make sure y'all don't go scaring mah sis. This stays between us, that sound good to y'all?" she asked, and everypony there nodded in agreement.

"Also, if anypony needs someone to talk to, I am the school councilor. I know you might not think much of me, but the caring and sympathetic Trixie is always here for her friends," Trixie cut in, surprising most of the other ponies who hadn't realized she was there. She made eye contact with Pinkie, then Starlight before continuing. "Even if it's after office hours, I'm here for you," she finished before walking up to Starlight and wrapping a comforting hoof over her withers.

"Now Rainbow, since this meeting went a bit long, how about I send you back about an hour so you'll have plenty of time to eat lunch and get back to work?" Starlight offered, "just steer clear of yourself while your timelines overlap, or you might cause some damage to the timeline," she explained, looking Rainbow in the eyes. "It won't destroy the universe, but I will have to clean up the mess, and it might make you fade out of existence or something."

Blinking away her surprise at the offer, Rainbow recovered with her signature cocky grin. "Sounds awesome! And don't worry, I can avoid myself for an hour no problem," she reassured.

"Well, If you're sure you can handle it," Starlight said before lighting up her horn and grabbing Rainbow in a magic orb. With a flash of teal light, she and the bubble were gone.

"Yeah, I'm sure," came Rainbow's voice from behind the castle doors before she slammed them open hovering in mid air. "Just wanted to stop by and say thanks, I had a great lunch. Now I gotta go for real, or Spitfire's gonna put me on janitor duty for a week." At that, she gave a salute to the two alicorns before bolting out of the castle, making sure to wait until she was above the cloud layer before breaking the sonic barrier, and shooting back to Wonderbolts headquarters.

Just as the Sonic Rainboom wave passed over the castle, Starlight's cutie mark lit up once again, and the holographic map started undulating, shifting and morphing as it did before. Everypony present save for Pinkie, Starlight, and Trixie gasped in amazement at the novel development. Starlight tensed up in Trixie's grasp, causing the blue unicorn to lean in closer to her filly friend. All their eyes widened when the map finally settled down and Rainbow Dash's cutie mark started to rise from Cloudsdale as Starlight's cutie mark started to orbit around the city in the clouds.

"Here we go again," Starlight groaned as she started taking calming breaths. Trixie did her best to help, sitting on her haunches, and guiding Starlight to do the same.

"Hey, Glimmy, you got this! You are the princess of time! Just remember, I'll be right here when you get back," Trixie encouraged her lover. "And when you get back, I'll do that thing you really like with my tongue," she whispered in the alicorn's ear, causing them both to blush, and for Starlight's wings to pop out uncontrollably.

"Alright, everypony stand back, you don't want to get sucked in with me," Starlight warned before lighting up her horn and unleashing the familiar time spell on the hologram. Without further fan fair, Starlight leaped right into the swirling vortex. The last thing she heard was the collective gasps of everypony present before the odd sounds of a key scraping along a piano wire filled her head.

Trixie looked on with mild concern. Five seconds passed, then ten, then a whole minute. "It didn't take her this long last time," Trixie mumbled to herself, her brow furrowing in concern. Nopony moved a muscle as all eyes were trained on Trixie. Then, to everypony's relief, the vortex opened up again just to spit out a haggard, Starlight Glimmer, covered in splotches of crimson. Twilight wasted no time in catching her peer in her magic before gingerly setting her down in front of Trixie.

The azure mare was frozen in shock, not understanding what she was seeing, until she heard Starlight whimpering. "Glimmy! I'm here, are you hurt?" Trixie fussed, checking over the dejected mare in front of her. For a moment she was surprised when Starlight pulled her into a tight embrace. However, once it sunk in what was happening, she wrapped her hooves around the crying princess. "It's okay, the loving and patient Trixie is here, you're safe."

While this was quickly becoming routine for the couple, the remaining ponies and dragon were a bit shocked. "Is that... blood?" Spike asked, his nostrils flaring and eyes widening in horror.

"It's not mine," was all Starlight said before falling into a fit of cries and sobs while the unicorn holding her whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

Author's Note

Any feedback is much appreciated