Luna was shooting me a death glare. Celestia was spasmodically flailing as her laughter filled the hermetically sealed war room. Cadance was slack-jawed in utter bafflement. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were grinning like like it was Nightmare Night and Hearths Warming at the same time. Twilight was hyperventilating with Spike handing her paper bags to breathe into. Rarity had fainted on a couch that wasn't in the room a minute ago. Applejack was just looking at me like I grew two heads and started speaking Neighponese and Prench. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball in the corner trying not to be seen. Pinkie Pie just gave me a knowing smile.

I gave my best poker face while I sipped a mug of coffee. "Any questions?"

"You want to do WHAT with MY moon?"

"Lu-Luna! Bwahaha! Yo-your hahahahaha!"

"Who... what? Seriously, what? I... what?"

"I know Cadie, isn't it great? I've been chomping at the bit to really put my shield to an ultimate test!"

"Buck yeah! This is gonna be so awesome!"

"Bu-bu-bu-bu! I-it, Shiny, Rainbow... gah!"

"Breathe Twi, just breathe and try not to think about it! But hey, the plan sounds... physically possible? I'm sure the new glowing alicorn princess knows what she's doing. Just please don't faint like Rarity!"

"Is anypony else wonderin' why the new alicorn is gloin'?"

"Can we please go home now?"

"I think it's a great plan, and I'm sure it'll end in sunshine and rainbows!"

"Um, actually, I have a question about the plan. Why am I here?" Starlight asked, suddenly aware of all eyes in the room darting to her.

I put my now empty mug down on the war room table. "Luna, you heard what I said, and believe me when I say your moon won't miss Tom. Celestia, stop laughing at your sister. Cadance, I need you to help out your fuck buddy with the shield along with your aunts, Twilight, and myself. Shining, this isn't about you, and it isn't going to be your shield. The fact is I'll be supplying a majority of the magic output for this thing, but we need all our heavy hitters because I don't want to risk liquefying the surface of Equis."

Finally I relaxed, offering a smile to my alternate timeline friends. "Yes Rainbow, it will be awesome, and you'll have front row seats to the fireworks, but only after you finish your mission." Draping a comforting wing around my old mentor, I nuzzled her head. "Twilight, I assure you I triple checked the math on this, but if you want, I can write up my work for you to go through and check for yourself. Spike, you're doing a great job. Twilight is lucky to have a little brother like you."

Turning slightly, I addressed the orange earth pony. "I'm honestly not one hundred percent sure about all the exact intricacies, but I know that the artificial alicorns in the future were empowered by magical radiation, and for whatever reason, I took on their specific traits when I came to this timeline. What you're currently seeing is the tail end of the last time I rolled around in radioactive dirt."

Applejack shot me a deadpan stare. "Mind explaining that in plain Ponish?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek and stared up at the ceiling as I thought it over. "The magic bombs from the future left behind magic glowing waste that kills most ponies, but it makes artificial alicorns stronger." I looked over everypony else in the room before continuing. "That's how this plan will be possible in the first place. The moonstone starmetal reaction will create obscene amounts of magic radiation that will use to maintain the shield once tom touches down."

"I thought we agreed never to speak of Tom again!"

"Glad to see you’re awake again, Rarity. Also, I didn't name the moonstone meteor. I think either Trottenheimer or Golden Blood named it."

Celestia shot up, her mirth all but forgotten, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Golden Blood? You mean Blue Blood's illegitimate son? He's a history teacher at my school. What does he have to do with any of this?"

"If I can help it, nothing. If everything goes according to plan, he'll live his life as he should have." My words seemed to reassure Celestia, but she still appeared troubled. Looking around again, I saw Fluttershy was sitting at the war table, Rainbow Dash draping a wing over her oldest friend. If I can help it, none of them will know the horrors of war.

Finally, it was time to address my own doppelganger. "Starlight, I need you to help Rainbow Dash and Zecora with their mission. Remember not to underestimate the Legate. He’s an immortal zebra who uses dark ritual magic. He’s also a master at hoof to hoof combat, so try to steer clear.” Looking up, I addressed the remainder of the assembled ponies. “If there's no further objections or confusion over all of your roles, we should head out."

"I still object to this farce of a plan!" Luna stomped her hoof in indignation.

I raised an eyebrow. "Luna, it's either this, or the world dies. The Eater of Souls is a parasite, and this is the only way to kill it. Or would you prefer to see Equis slowly die off over the next thousand years?"

Luna ground her teeth before muttering a response. "Fine. But mark my words, if Discord takes any more of my moon than what is absolutely necessary, I will shove your head up your own posterior."

So much for not being vulgar moon butt. I rolled my eyes at her threat. "Duly noted. Now, let's head out! The sooner we get this shit done, the sooner I can get out of your manes."

Everypony had their roles to play, myself included. First order of business is releasing Discord on parole. "Alright Twilight, whenever you're ready." With a curt nod, she began channeling the magic of harmony, each element placed equidistant around Discord's statue. As soon as the rainbow lasers blasted off his stone prison, there was a blinding flash that forced everypony to cover their eyes. As soon as the flash dissipated, Discord had materialized right in my face.

"About time you figured it out Glim-Glam!" Snaking himself around me, Discord continued his mockery. "I mean really! You couldn't have maybe stuck around and asked Minister Fluttershy more questions, or maybe ask one of those alicorns about the 'light bringer'!" With another flash, a dunce cap appeared on my horn while Discord now wore a shirt saying 'I'm with stupid' as he draped a paw around my withers.

My brow furrowed in annoyance. "Discord-"

The Draconequus shushed me before continuing his diatribe. "Now you're just doing what Blackjack did, just with fewer steps. Though, I guess I should still thank you for retconning my death, and being tortured for two centuries by sparkle but over there."

"Wait, what?" Twilight balked before glaring up at the over powered annoyance. "I would nev-"

Discord slunk over to the purple pony, getting up in her personal space. "Now, now Twiggles, no need to get offended. I'm sure you didn't mean to leave me in that underground blood sucking chamber. If you hadn't been dragged into that science experiment of yours along with Trixie, there's a good chance you might have remembered to offer me a mercy killing."

"Discord, enough. You know why we released you, and that we can always put you back. You also know what we're up against, so stop taunting Twilight with the sins of an alternate timeline, and do your job. You can fuck around after the eater is dead." I couldn't help but notice half the ponies present look my way with incredulous glares at my swearing, but I was past giving a shit.

"Oh, I already did my job. What did you think that huge flash was?" Discord was once again coiled around me like an anaconda. "Oh, speaking of, you should probably get everything else ready asap. You've got just under seventy two hours before Tom touches down in the middle of Hoofington."

Everypony's jaws dropped at the grim news. Everypony except Rainbow Dash. "What the buck! We only have three days to evacuate a whole town and track down an immortal Zebra bastard?"

"Calm down Rainbow, that's plenty of time, but you should definitely get started immediately. Go on and meet me, Starlight and Zecora in Ponyville. I'll send you guys to Roam, then you and Starlight can help Zecora find Amadi."

"Okay, but how do we capture the freaky immortal star cursed zebra dude, and keep him captured?" Rainbow crossed her forelegs in confusion as she hovered in front of me. "I mean, if half the stuff you told us is true, he'd be a hassle even for me!"

"Starlight and Zecora will handle that. Just make sure you find him before Tom hits the planet. Starlight will let me know and I'll bring you back." Rainbow looked as if she was about to argue, but with another glance my way decided it wasn't worth it. As her rainbow trail faded from view heading towards Ponyville, I addressed the remaining group.

"Alright Fluttershy, you've done your part. You can head home now and we'll handle the rest. Applejack, Rarity, we'll need all the help we can to evacuate ground zero. Spike, you can head home. Pinkie, I need you to get me the thing at the place and bring it to Hoofington."

With a salute from the pink party pony, she started bouncing off to her task. Rarity and AJ gave nods of understanding before galloping off to the Canterlot train station. Spike on the other hand still looked stressed. "I can't just sit at home while Twilight's out there helping you blow up a star monster!"

Twilight knelt down to the little dragon's eye level. "Spike, it's fine. I quadruple checked Starlight's plan. She could honestly do this with just Luna and Celestia, but she'll have the rest of us there just in case. If something does go wrong though, the blast would end up liquefying the planet's crust!"

Spike returned his sister's worried gaze with a flat deadpan. "Twilight, I can swim in lava. If nothing else, you could use me as a heat shield." Before anypony could respond, he furrowed his brow in worry. "Plus, if I'm at home, I'll just be worried about you the whole time."

"Well, him being there won't hurt anything, so I don't see any reason not to bring him. Just be sure you're all at the rendezvous point an hour before impact." With that, the rest of us broke off. The princesses flew off to make the announcement to Hoofington while Shining galloped off to round up all the spare guards he could to help with the evacuation. I teleported myself, Twilight and Spike to Ponyville to set up accommodations for the inevitable influx of refugees.

With all that out of the way, I flew off towards Zecora's hut where I met myself, Rainbow Dash, and Ponyville's local shaman alchemist. After double checking they had everything needed for their journey, I lit up my horn and sent them halfway across the planet. Unfortunately, I also burned out my horn in the process, shrinking back to my original size.

"Well, now is as good a time as ever to pick up Luna's old starmetal armor," I grumbled to myself as I rubbed my temples. Let's just hope it doesn't start whispering corruptions and temptations, leading you to accidentally serve the eater like a certain rat bastard. "Well, he's not going to be a bastard by the time I'm done." Oh, so you're gonna go back and force Blue Blood to tie the knot with Goldie's mother? Sure, what's another iron in the fire. "Shut up, you know what I meant."

Flying through the Everfree, I felt almost nostalgic for the old times when all I had to worry about was fixing the friendship problems from Twilight's journal. Or even the monsters and villains that kept popping up to threaten Equestria. Even on my first go around it wasn't this big of a headache. Wouldn't it be easier to just prune some branches of the timeline?

"No! Not happening! I doubt I could even do that if I wanted to! Which I don't!" Oh, you know for a fact you could do it. You're just too sentimental to erase a doomed timeline. "This isn't a doomed timeline! I know how to fix it, and that's what I'm doing." But what if you hadn't come across that Pinkie Pie goddess? "I would have figured something out! I'm not going to kill a whole universe of ponies!" You're not killing anypony. They just won't be born to begin with. "It's not happening, so stop bugging me about it!"

Just then, a tree snuck up in front of me and slammed itself into my head. Should have paid more attention to where you were flying. You're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash. "Maybe you should stop distracting me. I mean, you are in my head so if I die, you die." Before my crazy could delay me any further, I decided to hoof it the rest of the way to the castle of the two sisters. I thought alicorns were immortal. "Well, Celestia and Luna died in this timeline, and Little Pip killed a few alicorns in her day, so I'd rather not test it out." Fair enough, I'll leave you be... for now.

"Finally," I groaned before looking around to get my bearings. Turns out, my subconscious is actually a half decent navigator because I was standing right in front of the rope bridge leading to the castle. After exploring the castle a bit, I found the chamber where Nightmare Moon was defeated. On the ground were the starmetal scraps, scattered around like so much broken glass.

Bringing out my moonstone orb, I levitated up a sliver of starmetal to the orb and practically purred as the radiation began to spike the closer they came to each other. Bringing them in physical contact the moonstone was flung into a nearby wall as the starmetal disintegrated in a blinding flash of precious radiation. By the time my eyesight returned, I found I was once again a full sized alicorn.

"Ha, good to be back." I did a little happy dance as I swept up the rest of the starmetal shards in my left saddle bag. Once I got all that out of my system, I grabbed up the now slightly dented moonstone in my magic and dropped it in my right saddle bag. "I'll have to see if I can come back here after I finish up. I bet swimming in radioactive water is even more fun than rolling in radioactive dirt."

As I gazed out at the ocean from Star Point on the outskirts of Hoofington, I prepared myself for what would hopefully be my final attempt at fixing this timeline. And what if it still doesn't work? What then? "It'll work." But what if it doesn't? "Then I'll try something else." For how long? "As long as it takes, but this plan will work and you know it." I can feel a migraine coming on.

True... but you have to realize one of these days you'll come across a doomed timeline. Maybe your next mission, maybe one hundred missions from now. But given the infinite nature of the multiverse, there's bound to be truly doomed timelines, destined to failure. "False. There's always something I can do. Go further back, change something else, brute force my way through trial and error." What's the difference between pruning a timeline at the root, and just going so far back, you completely change the nature of that universe? If you really wanted, you could go back to when the eater first impacted the planet and move the moon in front of its trajectory.

"But then Glim-Glam couldn't be sure some other star monster wouldn't come later, or maybe the eater would find a way to survive. This is the best way to make sure the big mean meanie pants stays gone forever, also you should really leave Glim-Glam alone like you promised you would. I know you're just trying to help in your roundabout cryptic antagonistic way, but Starlight really just needs to focus on the task at hand." I wasn't even surprised by Pinkie just popping up out of nowhere holding the starmetal sword I'd need to kill the legate. Nor was I surprised that she apparently heard what my inner thoughts were saying.

I looked down at my Deus ex machina with a bemused smile. "Hey Pinkie, why didn't you become the princess of time? You seem to be a lot better at knowing what needs to be done and doing it."

She just stared up at me like a cow stares at an oncoming train. "Ha ha... please." Deciding it was best to leave it at that, I turned back to the city to see how the evacuation was going. "Sure was nice of Discord to give us three days to get all this organized huh Starlight?"

I rolled my eyes thinking of that perpetual thorn in my side. "I would have preferred a bit more time for a buffer, but I'm just glad he wasn't more of a hassle to deal with."

"Well duh, he knows what's up, at least this version of him does. After all, not all Discords are created equal." Pinkie gave a sage nod as if imparting some grand secret of the universe.

I cocked my head with a snarky grin at her apparent desire to doll out free advice. "Any chance you could give me a heads up on my next mission madam Pinkie Pie?"

"I already did, silly! Besides, you should be focusing on your current mission. It looks like the evacuation is almost done, and Twilight should be arriving soon." Sure enough, not a moment later, I got a mental flare from my doppelganger.

"Hey! Other me! We got Amadi subdued, but Zecora is still struggling to keep him down! Please get here asap!" Noticing Pinkie had disappeared, leaving the sword behind, I levitated the sheathed weapon into my left saddle bag before pulling out my moon stone and another sliver of starmetal armor. Not wanting to lose my source of magic radiation, I settled the moonstone into a patch of dirt just beneath my barrel before tapping the starmetal on the top of the orb.

The resulting flash was like a beam of pure pleasure to my underbelly and it left me at least a head larger than Celestia and glowing a faint green aura. After digging up my precious moonstone and replacing it in my right saddle bag, I teleported to the location Starlight was pinging every few seconds.

The second I materialized in a tall grass savanna next to my smaller self, I stopped time before anypony or zebra could react. To my relief I saw Zecora had Amadi in a head lock while Rainbow Dash was in the process of beating his head with a metal folding chair. Little Starlight was just gaping at the sight in confused horror. Before my spell could wear off, I teleported all of us back to Star Point. Grabbing Amadi in my telekinesis, I teleported the two of us a few hundred hooves above the core of the town before resuming the flow of time.

"Get off me you crazy mares I-" he froze mid sentence as he realized he was no longer in a headlock. After looking around while suspended by my magic, his ears flicked and his eyes bulged in panic, before returning to his previous glare. Finally, he addressed me directly. "So, I take it you're the one who's been throwing wrenches into my master's plans?"

I returned his glare with my own. "If by master, you mean the eater of souls, then yes. My name is Princess Starlight Glimmer, you killed my father, prepare to die."

That got a confused look out of the bastard. "I've never even met your father, or you for that matter."

"No, but if left alone, your actions would lead to his death, along with the rest of the world."

"I've been trotting along this planet for thousands of years, and you are by far the strangest creature I have ever met."

I smirked at that. "I'll also be the last creature you'll ever meet." With a single fluid motion, I pulled the starmetal sword out of my bag, unsheathed it, and decapitated the bastard. Of course, that didn't kill him, so before he could do much more, I sliced off his limbs, and started dissecting him to find his soul jar while occasionally having to chop off his regrowing head. Eventually though, I found the core of his being, and without further fanfare, I pulled it from his wriggling guts and sliced it into as many pieces as physically possible.

As expected, his body reformed a final time. However, his black stripes had taken on a green glow. "Ha! My master won't let me die! The eater still requires my services!"

"Oh, I know you're capital 'I' immortal as long as the eater exists. But I wonder what will happen when your master is disintegrated by a mountain of moonstone. Will you remain? Be given a normal lifespan? Or will millennia of life catch up and turn you to dust? Maybe you'll just liquefy. In any case, we'll find out in about an hour." Looking up, I saw I was a bit off on my calculation. I could see Tom far above the planet, but at its current rate of approach, it would touch down in about forty five minutes.

Following my gaze, the immortal ass hole gaped at the sight. "How? You ponies have only just started dreaming of a space program."

I gave him my best shit eating grin. "You can thank Discord, or as you like to call him, Coyotl."

That seemed to set him off. "What? No! He's a statue! Unless you ponies really were dumb enough to let him out again! You have no clue what he's capable of!"

"I'm pretty sure I have a good idea," I deadpanned. "Seeing as he helped me save Equestria from the changelings... before I went back in time and fixed that whole issue, but I'd say we're still pretty good pals. At least, he helps me keep track of these missions I keep being sent on."

Amadi was starting to look desperate. "He's just manipulating you! If you continue down this path, it'll lead you only to misery and ruin!"

"Oh, I'm well aware he's manipulating me. He kinda makes it obvious, but I was sent on these missions by the Elements of Harmony. Discord isn't a sadist, he's a prankster, he shakes things up, but he doesn't send alicorns on missions to alter a bunch of timelines to be more in line with the vision Harmony has for the multiverse." Why are we even talking to this ass hole? Shouldn't we be getting ready? I couldn't help but agree with my inner voice this time.

Nodding to myself, I froze Amadi in a pink crystalline prison and set him down where the heavy hitters and spectators were gathered. "Pinkie, keep an eye on the legate for me. Everypony else, get into position, and don't break formation." With a salute from the pink enigma and curt nods from the alicorns and unicorn powerhouses, I took to the air and pulled out the last of my starmetal and moonstone.

Flying up above the center of hoofington, I carefully positioned each piece of starmetal around the sphere of moonstone before slamming them together. The reaction released a wave of magical power with the force of a balefire bomb. My eyes snapped shut but couldn't block out the blinding light of the explosion, while the shockwave flung me backwards through the air. As I struggled to regain my balance, I felt the waves of magical radiation empowering me, preparing me for the big event, so much power coursing through my veins that I found it difficult to control. This must be how Twilight felt when she fought Tirek. Opening my eyes again, I looked down towards hoofington; the center of the town was now little more than a glowing crater.

Satisfied with my current energy levels, I flew over the ponies in formation and gave the signal to begin forming the blast shield. Waves of gold, cobalt, teal, and raspberry pink magic swirled into place like a vortex of magic, forming a massive conical shield reaching up towards space. And above it, the visible sight of the teardrop shaped meteor, blazing intensely as it burned its way through the outer atmosphere towards the impact sight.

"Here comes Tom!" Just as I added my turquoise aura to the barrier, the meteor plummeted down into the crater. A wave of sheer magic, unlike anything I had ever seen, blasted forth as the Moonstone struck home, immediately vaporizing everything within the shield to a blindingly hot plasma. Even through the shield, I could feel the heat and magical radiation pulsing out.

My horn burned with intensity as the shield strained to hold back the titanic power contained within, and a glance at the other ponies holding up the shield revealed a similar strain. Forcing my way forwards, slivers of magical leakage scorching my fur, I basked in the sheer force of the magical radiation.

If my power was difficult to control before, it was almost impossible now. It begged for a release. And with the shield spell before me struggling to hold up, I had the perfect recipient. Incalculable amounts of magic poured forth from my horn, the shield shifting as the aura of the others began to pale in comparison to the might of my own magic.

The searing column of plasma ruptured through the planet's crust, pouring up into space and down into the mantle. With a final surge of light, and an ear-piercing scream like that of a dying dragon, the pillar of fire finally dissipated into a blur of glowing radiation, and then nothing. Releasing my grip on the shield spell, the others around me one by one did the same, everypony looking on with an expression of both awe and exhaustion. The red-hot walls of the massive pit which had formed where hoofington once was, now a hole that appeared to lead directly to Tartarus, hissed with steam as the two rivers previously surrounding an island poured down into the void on superheated cliffs of long-buried stone.

With the detonation completed, there is a final shockwave that pulses through the air; this time, not of an explosion, but an implosion, as the air from all around was sucked back into the vacuum formed by what was once Hoofington. Only the quick thinking of the unicorns present and their telekinetic powers prevented everypony present from being sucked down into the pit to hell beneath them.

Landing back with my friends, I released Amadi from his prison. For about ten seconds, he seemed to just be thinking of what to say. His mouth worked, but no words came out. Finally, he settled on just screaming his lungs out as he began to liquefy. I couldn't help but find a morbid similarity to the tone of his scream and that of the eater's last moments.

"What a drama queen!" Discord materialized from a nearby rock, first popping out a pair of eyes, then quickly morphing into his regular self, minus the fact that his head still took the shape of the rock. "I mean really, when you serve something called the eater of souls, you really shouldn't be surprised that your inevitable defeat would be painful. He really should have read the fine print when he made that contract."

"So nice of you to join us, did you enjoy the light show?" Discord just smirked at my sarcasm before slithering up to me.

"My dear, that was possibly the greatest display of destruction I've ever witnessed! So glad I was actually able to be here this time around. I like Blackjack, I really do. She was loads of fun, but I'd prefer to not die." His smirk morphed to a more contemplative smile. "Still, I wonder if that plucky little security mare will pop up again. It took quite a bit of chance encounters to make her the first time after all."

"I'm sure the timeline will persist regardless. In any case, it's for the best that the new future doesn't resemble the wasteland."

"Oh, no arguments here. I just think it's a shame that pony got such a raw deal, and now she and her friends will just be erased from the universe." Discord shrugged before looking back to the rest of the assembled ponies. "Food for thought Glimmy. Oh, and before you start spiraling about my current O&O alignment or whatever, I'm still chaotic, but I won't dip into the evil corner again. I might even try my paw at the lawful or good segments. Who knows what the future holds? Ya know, except those of us near omniscient beings?"

With a flash, the lord of chaos was gone. In his place was a sticky note on my horn that read: 'left to get milk and smokes, don't wait up for me.' Removing the sticky note, realized I now had several shell-shocked ponies on my hooves, including the... triachs? Was Cadance officially a ruler yet? In any case, I got the feeling they would have some follow up questions.

"Hey Glim-Glam, why is your butt glowing?" Pinkie's question jarred everypony else out of their stupor, and now all eyes were on me.

Looking back at my flanks, sure enough, my cutie mark was flashing. "Huh, I guess that's a mission accomplished." I couldn't help but notice Pinkie slightly deflate.

"Does that mean you're leaving already? I was gonna throw a massive party for all the new ponies in Ponyville and I was hoping you and other you could come because I've never been able to invite two of the same pony to a party, unless they happen to be twins, but even then you're extra special because you're not twins, you're the same pony from different timelines and I know you don't get a lot of appreciation for what you do, and you could hook yourself up with this timeline's Trixie because I was gonna hire her for the party since she's already there but-" interrupting Pinkie the only sure fire way I knew, my hoof made its way to her mouth.

She looked up at me with her puppy-dog eyes, but I just gave her a grateful smile. "I'd love to come, Pinkie. I'm not on any time limit now that the work is done, so I'll be sure to attend."

Removing my hoof from her mouth, she beamed hopefully at me. "Pinkie promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my e-ow!" I really needed to learn to do that without poking myself, but it seemed to placate Pinkie Pie to the point she gave me a choking, rib cracking hug before zipping off in the direction of Ponyville. That just left... everypony else.

"Yes Twilight, I'm sure the moonstone starmetal reaction couldn't be used to make your magic more powerful, nor would it really work on the princesses. It would just give you cancer, and probably do nothing to a naturally ascended alicorn." While we trotted back along the road taken by the refugees toward Ponyville, Twilight had questioned, interviewed, and interrogated me. Every bit of information she could get from me about what I just did, as well as some pointers on possible future threats were freely given, but now her questions were getting into potentially harmful territory.

"But what if we controlled the reaction, and only let a little react at a time? Then we could sap the heat from the reaction with steam turbines and-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there Twi. While that idea is actually pretty great on the surface, there just isn't enough starmetal on Equis to keep that up for longer than maybe a decade on a large scale. Maybe if i didn't just destroy the biggest source of the stuff, but having seen the alternative, I wasn't about to take any risks. It would be better to focus on switching your dependence on coal over to things like geothermal, solar, hydro-electric or pure magic batteries."

Twilight scrunched up her face."How do you make magic batteries?"

"Oh, you just charge up specially tuned gemstones with raw magic energy. At least that's how they did it in the wasteland." That seemed to get a reaction out of Spike, who perked up on Twilight’s back with keen interest.

"Wait, gems have magic? Is that why they taste so good? Would they taste better if they had more magic? Twilight, we need to test this when we get back home," Spike insisted as he gently nudged Twilight's head.

Twilight's eyes lit up at her little brother taking an interest in science. "That actually sounds like a fun experiment! We can go gem hunting together too, since Rarity taught me her gem finding spell." While they went off on their own little tangent, I turned to Starlight who looked rather pensive.

I gave her a gentle smile. "Bit for your thoughts, other me?"

That seemed to snap her out of her own head. "I was kinda wondering why you didn't fly off with the other princesses or teleport away like Twilight's brother. Also, where did Zecora run off to?"

"Zecora bolted as soon as that big Starlight caught the zebra dude. Said something about not wanting to be cursed more than she already was or something. By the way, what were you up to before your other self came to recruit you Starlight? We never really had the time to talk that much on our mission." Rainbow flew down to hover upside down in Starlight's face with a suspicious glare.

"Oh, uh, well I was, uh kinda…” As my other self kept stuttering and looking to me with pleading eyes, I decided to her rescue.

“She was doing what I was doing at the time. Building a house out in the middle of nowhere to study magic, but I convinced her to come help us save the world. She’s just kinda embarrassed about it because of some personal stuff we don’t need to get into.” Starlight mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ while nopony was looking.

Rainbow gave an ambivalent shrug before going back to flying a dozen hooves over the group. "Hey! I can see my house from here! C'mon we're almost there, time to pick up the pace!"

Pinkie Pie, having popped up while nopony was looking, decided to chime in. "Oh, don't worry Dashie, we'll arrive just in time for the start of the party!"

Starlight did a double take. "Wait, I thought you were already in Ponyville getting the party ready!"

"Yup, that's right!" Pinkie just kept bouncing like a spring encircling our group as we trotted down the road.

Starlight just looked more confused. "But you're here with us. Did you get somepony else to finish setting up?"

"Nopey dopey!" The pink enigma just kept plonking along..

"So are you gonna finish everything after we arrive?"

"What fun would that be silly? Then you'd have to wait around even longer and waiting is boring!"

Starlight's left eye twitched. "So how can you be here while also setting everything up in Ponyville?"

Pinkie stopped bouncing for a moment to just trot backwards in front of Starlight. "Ha ha, please." With that, she was back to her regular springy self.

Starlight looked like she was about to blow up before I draped a wing over her withers. "Trust yourself when I say, it's not worth it. Twilight had to learn the lesson, I had to learn the lesson, just drop it for the sake of your own sanity." Giving my unicorn self a gentle nuzzle, I felt her relax as she returned the gesture.

"Alright. If even my own alicorn self is telling me to drop it, I guess it's for the best... even if it still makes no sense."

"Yeah, that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie." Twilight leaned closer to Starlight's other side before whispering in low tones. "Just don't remind her about the laws of physics. She gets really upset, and it just makes everything more confusing."

Keeping my wing around Starlight as we kept trotting, I made sure to keep her distracted until we finally arrived to the sight of hundreds of ponies wearing party hats to greet us.

BOOM

With the blast of the largest party cannon I'd ever seen, a shower of confetti and streamers rained down across the whole town. Entering the town square I noticed a massive banner draped across town hall with 'Thanks for saving our universe Glim Glam' written in purple paint. All around us ponies were cheering and blowing party horns. "Well this is a first."

"I know! Nopony ever thanked you for saving their timeline before, so I'm making up for the other two Pinkie Pies who probably just figured I'd be the Pinkie Pie to throw you an awesome party, but that's still no excuse, especially for that first mission where you actually helped a Pinkie Pie not be a bad Pinkie Pie! She should have at least baked you a-ya know what, never mind that, it's probably for the best I'm the Pinkie to do this because you weren't in the mood for a party the other two times, so enjoy the party!" Before I could get a word in edgewise, the premier party pony was gone.

Might as well enjoy this while you can. I doubt every Pinkie Pie will be able to do something like this. "I know. I'm just glad this mission is finally over. After the party, it's back to my timeline and then like, a week of cuddles, and then just wait for my next mission if it doesn't just start calling me immediately after I get back." Still, I wonder what will become of the future. Might be worth checking out before we leave. "Hmm, good point."

For the rest of the day, I just enjoyed the party, gave myself some sage life advice, helped her hook up with Trixie, and mingled with the rest of the ponies. The princesses even showed up at one point, or they were there the whole time and I just didn’t spot them yet. In any case, I went ahead and gave them a heads up on Sombra Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow. I even gave them some comprehensive instructions on bringing back the Pillars and banishing exorcizing the pony of shadows from Stygian.

Before long, Luna had brought out her moon to light up the night sky, and I bid farewell to my friends. This was a nice break, but it’s almost time to get back to the old grind. “Yeah, but not quite yet. Right now, I’m going to witness the non-wasteland future.”

Footnote: Maximum Level Reached
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