Starlight Fixes Everything Else

After a good long cry in the hooves of her lover, a long steamy shower, and a night of cuddles Starlight was ready to audit the Cloudsdale weather factory. "Like last time, I'll share the gory details later. In fact it might be easier to start making written reports," Starlight admitted, a pensive look on her face.

"I'm glad you brought that up Glim-Glam," echoed the voice of discord throughout their room in the castle. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Discord materialized holding a rather large leather bound tome in his claw. "I've already took the liberty of filling out an entry for your adventure with Pinkamina," he said, opening up the book to the beginning.

Sure enough, there was an accurate accounting of the whole affair as well as her personal thoughts on the matter. "Wha-how did you! Ugh, fine!" Giving up on trying to understand Discord, Starlight took the tome in her magic and started writing a detailed account of her time at the rainbow factory... as well as what she had to do to save the timeline. So many foals, she thought as she finished up the entry.

As soon as the book was closed, Discord took it back to look it over. "Hmm, yes quite a tragedy there. But you really didn't have another option did you." It wasn't a question. "Well Starlight, I hope you learned a valuable lesson from this."

"What the buck kind of lesson is that?" Starlight snarled incredulously as she glared at the lord of chaos.

Giving her his full attention, Discord looked her directly in the eyes before speaking. "You can't save everypony," he said in a stern, yet understanding voice. "Not even I could save everypony. I might be the most powerful being in this universe, but my power still has its limits." With another snap of his lions paw, he was gone, leaving Starlight's new journal on her bed.

After she finished writing her latest entry into her journal of timeline fixes (it's a working title) Starlight stretched her wings and took off for Cloudsdale. At least, that's what she would have done if a certain baby blue unicorn hadn't pulled her tail back to the floor with magic. "Where do you think you're going?" Trixie demanded.

"Uh, to the Cloudsdale weather factory? I need to make sure they aren't sacrificing foals to make rainbows," Starlight replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not until we cover some new ground rules Star," Trixie insisted.

"Ground rules?" Starlight cocked her head in confusion.

"Yes, I know these missions are taking their toll on you, and I want to make sure you don't overextend yourself," Trixie stated as she brought up a hoof to caress her lover's cheek. "I'm worried Star, so I need you to promise you'll follow some basic rules, if not for your sake, then for my own peace of mind." Trixie's tone was gentle, but her words carried a real weight to them.

At the clear outpouring of love from her fillyfriend, Starlight stole a quick kiss before bidding Trixie to continue. "I'm all ears Trix."

After recovering from the unexpected display of affection, Trixie cleared her throat. "Well for starters, I don't care if that map is calling you to an alternate timeline or whatever. You're the princess of time! it doesn't matter how long your flank is flashing, you don't need to go right away. So, I only want you going on missions if you actually feel totally prepared."

"Ya know? That's a really good point! I guess I was just assuming I needed to solve the problem as soon as possible, but... there's not actually any rush." After a hearty hoof to the face, Starlight collected herself and bid Trixie to continue.

Taking the hint, Trixie went on with her conditions. "Second, I don't care how traumatic you think something is, you share everything with me. As soon as you get back, you tell me everything!" Trixie demanded, an uncharacteristic severity in her tone. "Third, and last for now, if you find a problem you can't fix, come back and let me and everypony else help you come up with a solution. You're not alone Glimmy," Trixie insisted, gently cupping her fillyfriend with her hoof.

"I can abide by those rules," Starlight affirmed, as she slowly nodded her head. "Now can I go audit the weather factory? Or do I need to leave you tied up with magic bonds before you'll let me go?" she asked, with a lascivious leer.

"As much as I enjoy your little power plays, especially when we cuddle," Trixie said with a shiver of delight, "I know you won't have any peace of mind until you see with your own eyes that we don't make rainbows out of foals." With a final parting kiss, Trixie backed off so her favorite pony could take off.

After flying to Cloudsdale for the second time in as many days, at least relative days from Starlight's perspective, she came to truly appreciate those flight lessons from Twilight and Rainbow Dash. She might be an immortal time bending goddess, but
she was far from omniscient, despite what some ponies might assume.

In any case, the weather factory was dead ahead, so Starlight started her gentle descent right in front of the main gates. While Rainbow's winter freak out never happened in this timeline, Starlight still made sure extra security measures were put into place. So the pink alicorn wasn't the least bit surprised when two armored pegasi came rushing to her location.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" one guard barked out while his partner stayed silent.

"Starlight Glimmer; Princess of Time," replied Starlight.

"Do you have proof of your identity?" the second guard spoke up.

"Yes I do," Starlight said before lighting up her horn. In the blink of an eye all three of them were transported to Equestria, fifteen hundred years prior. Catching the two shocked pegasi in her magic, she once again addressed them. "Behold, Equestria of the far ancient past! There's the mountain Canterlot will later be build on," Starlight pointed to the tallest land mark visible to the trio.

"If you look closely, you can see Ghastly Gorge as it leads up to what will eventually become the abandoned Everfree Forest." Each land mark was clearly pointed out as the two guard ponies came to the realization of who they were dealing with. "Do you stallions need any more proof of my identity?" Starlight asked, a smug grin on her face. Seeing them hold each other and shaking their heads in tandem, she once again lit up her horn.

Once the two guard ponies were done loosing their lunches, they waved Starlight through, giving her a royal visitors pass. "For the record, I know you do an important job, and I'm not trying to be malicious, I'm just in a hurry. Keep up the good work," Starlight assured them before merrily prancing inside.

The first sight to greet her was a flowing stream of liquid rainbow. This caused Starlight to freeze up as her mind brought her back to that accursed facility, glass tubes and vats flowing with individual colors. She was brought out of her flashback when a gentle hoof prodded her shoulder and she immediately dropped into a fighting stance.

"Uh, can we help you... your highness?" asked a mare in a lab coat and hard hat.

Blinking, Starlight looked around to see... a lot of scared and confused ponies. Closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths, she managed to calm her nerves enough to speak. As she opened her eyes she pointedly looked away from the liquid rainbow, focusing only on the mare in front of her. "W-what's your name?"

"Oh-uh, Flitter your highness!" replied the pale Persian blue pegasus.

"Tell me Flitter, where do you make your rainbows in this factory?"

"Y-your highness? What's this about?"

"I'll be asking the questions here! If you can't show me where you make your rainbows, bring me to a pony who can! This is a surprise royal audit!" Starlight had to reign herself in just to avoid using the royal Canterlot voice.

"R-right away your highness!" Flitter blurted out with a wing salute before motioning the alicorn to follow. "I just work here part time, so I'll take you to the weather manager."

As they made their way to to a cloud office, Starlight had to keep reminding herself not to freak out at the ponies around her. Focusing solely on her immediate task, and forcing her eyes not to wander, she nearly bumped into her guide as she knocked on a cloud door.

A moment later, an alabaster pegasus mare with a pink and green mane walked out of the office. "Flitter, what's going on? Was there an incident?"

"Sorry Blossomforth, but we're apparently having a surprise audit and I didn't know who else to go to," Flitter apologized as she studied the cloud floor.

"Surprise audit? On who's authority?" Blossomforth questioned with a mix of incredulity and panic.

"That would be my authority," Starlight said, stepping out from behind her guide. Her suspicious glare and ruffling wings helping to get the message across that she was not taking any shit from anypony. "Now take me to where you make the raw spectra before I bring the full might of an alicorn's power down on you and your ancestors." Starlight's tone broached no argument while maintaining a relatively subdued volume. She'd reserve the royal Canterlot voice for if she found something she didn't like.

"R-right this w-way your h-highness!" Blossomforth's tone lost all incredulity and was now in full panic. However before she took another step she turned to Flitter, "go on back to your work station, I'll handle this."

As the pissed off princess and the pegasus departed, Flitter waited a few minutes before returning to her work station a bit shaken up, but no worse for wear. I'm gonna need some extra cuddles from Cloudchaser tonight, Flitter thought to herself as she struggled to imagine what in Equestria the newest princess could want from the rainbow factory.

As they made their way through the back rooms of the weather facility, Starlight took notice of how different it was compared to the other facility. No rusty looking metal doors, or concrete floors. Just clouds, and metallic machinery, clearly producing various types of clouds. No scared little foals, just a bunch of clean and well maintained thunder forged steel.

"Here it is," Blossomforth announced, motioning toward yet another cloud door. "This is where we make the spectra." Not wanting to wait any longer, Starlight shoved past the mare and burst through the door. As soon as her eyes took in the room, her jaw dropped.

"Is... is that what I think it is?" Starlight breathed out in shock at what she was seeing.

"W-were you expecting something other than sugar and spice?" Blossom squeaked out as she trembled behind the overbearing alicorn.

"Yeah... honestly, this was the last thing I imagined I'd see..." Starlight was dumbfounded at first. She saw the whole process from start to finish as the pegasi infused the sugar crystals with spectra from what Starlight assumed was a magic prism. After the raw rainbows were liquefied, they mixed in various spices, presumably to give it it's signature taste.

Starlight didn't understand quite how it worked, but she sure was glad to see a lack of pony sacrifices. Letting out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding, Starlight finally relaxed. Without another word, she teleported back to her room in the castle of friendship, and slumped down on her bed.

Before she could get too comfortable though, another warm body slipped into bed and cuddled up with her. "I take it the audit went well," Trixie stated, a smug smile on her face. Starlight couldn't see it with her eyes closed, but she could feel the smug energy radiating off her cuddle buddy.

"Yes Trixie, it went well. It seems that in our universe, the rainbow's tale is actually as nice as the story we knew of sugar and spice," Starlight mumbled, half asleep already.

"What the buck does that even mean Star?" Trixie asked, giggling at the absurdity of the statement.

"Oh, nothing... just something that popped into my head," Starlight replied before she slipped into unconsciousness.

The next morning, Starlight woke up to a warm feeling on her flank. Not the usual afterglow of her usual nights with Trixie, this was mildly irritating. Groaning at the minor inconvenience, Starlight lifted herself from her bed to see a faint glow on her flanks. "Great timing map. No sleeping in for this princess," she grumbled before catching sight of Trixie, already up and dressed for the day.

"Sleep in? Starlight, it's ten thirty," Trixie said, wondering how her lover didn't realize the time, since that was her domain after all. "But if you want to go back to bed, why not do that time stop thing and just sleep until you want to get up? At least, that's what Trixie would do if she had that power."

"Huh, not a bad idea," Starlight admitted before flourishing her magic and stopping time around her. The uncomfortable heat in her flanks subsided and she smiled as she made her way back to bed, put on her eye mask, and fell back asleep.

Nopony, not even Starlight knew how much longer she slept. It could have been hours, or just ten minutes. In any case, when she next woke up, she was feeling well rested and ready to take on whatever challenges came her way. As she resumed time, she gave Trixie a quick kiss on the cheek before teleporting them both to the map table to see who needed saving this time.

What greeted them surprised and unnerved them both. The holographic map displayed various features never before seen by either mare. All across Equestria, there were dozens of what looked like needles reaching up to various swaths of thick cloud layers. Canterlot looked like a crumbling pile of rubble barely holding onto the side of the mountain.

There were various craters dotted across the landscape, and every major city looked dilapidated. What drew Starlight's attention though, and what simultaneously chilled her to the bone, was the cutie mark that rose up as her own orbited around it. Three pink butterflies, hovering over what looked like a bunch of rubble where Manehattan was supposed to be. "Buck me..." Starlight sighed.

Trixie was quick to wrap a hoof around the anxious alicorn. "Starlight, you don't have to go right now. You can wait a bit, gather some supplies, make a plan, all that stuff Twilight does before she goes on a mission," Trixie pleaded for her fillyfriend to listen to reason. However in the blink of an eye, her hoof fell to the floor and she saw Starlight standing over the map table, determination in her eyes and full saddle bags.

"I'm ready. Thanks for the advice Trixie, I'll be back soon, and in one piece," Starlight promised, giving a confident smirk. Before Trixie could say another word, Starlight cast her time spell on the crystal table and was sucked in without a fuss. About ten minutes later, she flew out of her time portal, and gently landed on the floor inches away from Trixie.

"Wow, that took a while. Did you run into any trouble?" Trixie questioned with a tilt of her head. Starlight didn't look like she was hurt, but there could still be some underlying issues. Although, she wasn't curled up on the floor crying, so that's a bonus. However, her saddle bags looked a bit fuller than when she left. Did she bring back souvenirs? Trixie thought as she continued her inspection.

"Nah, just some weird time shenanigans. Nothing I couldn't handle though," Starlight bragged, oozing just as much confidence as before her mission.

"Glimmy, you know if there's something bothering you, I can help right? You don't have to put up a brave face," Trixie insisted, placing a gentle hoof on Starlight's withers.

"That's just the thing Trix, this was probably my least stressful mission yet! I'll tell you all about it when I write out my journal report, but man! That was a breath of fresh air!" Starlight gave out a hearty laugh before she teleported the pair back to their room. As she floated over her journal, she laid out on her bed and gestured Trixie to join her. "You're gonna love this Trix."