Years in the future, but not too many... Just about sixteen or so... In the beautiful land of Equestria... some wind was blowing gently. The sun shone brightly, and everypony was happy...

Wait, no! No! Nopony was happy. There was nopony! The sun didn't shine at all! Clouds of dust were everywhere, blocking its light! The wind was stronger, than anyone would have been happy to have it! And the land of Equestria... Well, let's be blunt: there was no beauty to be found even by the most morbid of persons!

No!

The land was in devastation. A wasteland. There was the big question, whether life was still present. Surely it had to be, but... what kind of a life was it?

Not a very good one, that was for sure.

The grim picture was disturbed by the time portal opening and spitting three living souls out. Under the portal appeared a table displaying the map of that wretched land. The three souls slammed into it, then rose on their legs.

Starlight watched in confusion. What had happened? Had Twilight just... whisked her alongside with her? But then... the spell! How had it worked? It was supposed to pick Starlight's mind up, and then her body! Had it... failed?.. What'd happened?!

"Where are we?!" -- demanded Starlight.

"The future. Or rather... the present", -- Twilight replied gloomily.

"But there's nothing here!" -- Starlight shrieked.

How could the future, or rather the present, be so... so grim??! So dark??! So... empty??!

What had happened??? Had something changed?! Starlight couldn't remember, but she was sure the only difference in the past was the rainboom.

Could the rainboom have done it?? No. Something else must have changed alongside.

Starlight didn't want to win for a future like that, and she bet neither did Twilight. So, of course, a jump back was in order.

Then Starlight froze, as a thought came to her: was it Twilight's excellent plan to drag Starlight to the future in hopes it would be grim and to leave her there, while Twilight went back and monitored the rainboom, ensuring nothing happened to it?! Was that it? But Twilight wasn't holding the spell to jump back. That was a huge relief! Unless, of course...

Starlight's thoughts were interrupted by Twilight:

"I wish I could say I was surprised. But every world I come back to is worse, than the last. I don't know, why my friends and I are so important to Equestria, but we are".

Oh, Twilight, please, spare Starlight your overblown ego! How could a group of friends never existing cause the world to fall apart? That was impossible! Starlight held the belief no group of friends was so much important!

"I don't believe you!" -- she bellowed.

And that was the moment Twilight's useless dragon companion durst open his mouth:

"Come on, Starlight, look around!"

And she wanted to silence him. Who was he, anyway?! Nopony! Whatever had happened to the world must have happened due to... what? Starlight didn't know. But the rainboom? How???

"Like I said, -- Twilight picked up after Spike, -- everything in the past affects the future, even the tiniest act. And what you're doing leads here. I know I can't stop you, but I thought showing you this might change your mind".

"Change my mind??!"

Now that was downright insulting. Did she think Starlight would stop after seeing the future??? She trembled.

Even if Twilight was right -- impossible, but still -- and even if Starlight had won and ended up here... In the unlikely case Twilight was giving up... Or was she?

Did she want Starlight to turn back? Just because the future was so grim? She knew she couldn't win through pure determination... so she decided Starlight would reconsider?

Well, what was there to reconsider? Sure, it wasn't good, but... Hm... Yeah, Starlight thought. She could always turn back and try again. Surely next time the rainboom's cancellation would have nothing to do with the world being destroyed...

Starlight looked into Twilight's pleading eyes and thought: no, she was convinced the rainboom was the cause of it, and she wanted her not to prevent it. She wanted Starlight to give up.

To give up! And to go back on everything she had worked so hard to achieve??

"Change my mind?!?! You don't know anything about me!!! I was perfectly happy, before you and your friends ruined what I'd built!"

And to that perfectly crafted retort Twilight replied with something unexpected, surprising Starlight for Celestia-knew-which time:

"I don't know, what happened, that led you to make your village without cutie marks, and I'm sorry my friends and I had to take it away".

Oh? She was sorry? Come again! She was apologising?? She truly knew nothing about her! If she had, she would have known, how important that equality project had been to her! No amounts of apologising were going to cut it!

Starlight felt she was shaking of rage and stopped herself. But of course... She'd said so herself: she didn't know, what had happened to her. She was acting out of ignorance.

And that ignorance was getting on Starlight's nerves. How durst she think she was correct to stop her?! How DURST she?!?!

That was it! Twilight Sparkle needed a lesson. Then after that lesson Starlight would re-activate the spell, prevent the rainboom... and destroy the time machine, so that Twilight could not rewind her any more!

"You want to know, what happened to me?! -- Starlight shrieked. -- I'll SHOW you!!!"

With that she jumped upon the cutie map and reached her magic out. The table's magical interface was exposed. She needed it to get them to her town...

To her home.

The map was connected to every place in Equestria... and now, thanks to the time spell, to every point in time as well. Huh... So... let Starlight get this straight: the map could have brought Twilight and her dragon to any time and relative dimension in space? She could have escaped Starlight's evil clutches?.. with ease?

Hm... Maybe, Starlight thought, she hadn't realised the mechanics of time travel? Ha, of course! Nopony, except for Starlight, had! OK, maybe, except for Star Swirl the Bearded too. But not her! And certainly not her dragon! Boy! She didn't even understand she didn't need to fix whatever Starlight had done. All she had to do was to go back to before Starlight had appeared -- without using the spell! The time machine interface was still connected regardless! If Twilight had... Oh!.. It would have been a disaster for Starlight!

...Or not. After all, if the time machine was busy, she couldn't use it -- of that Starlight had made sure! However now... it wasn't.

Starlight activated the map. It glowed and swallowed her whole. Then it sucked in Twilight and her dragon.

The two found themselves in Starlight's past...

And thus she showed them what it was like. Showed them, what had happened back then. They didn't understand. They said a cutie mark couldn't take one's friends away! However it had been due to a cutie mark, that Starlight's sweet, sweet Sunburst was shipped off to Canterlot! If it had not appeared, his magical talents would have never been recognised and they would never have been separated! They could've stayed together...

Starlight had thought, that, if one cutie mark could do such a thing... what about the rest of them? If she'd made a friend... wouldn't their differences, signified by those cutie marks, have driven them apart?.. Again and again...

Starlight didn't want to admit it, but never seeing her friend again was... Well, she couldn't express, how much it hurt. At first she just missed him. Then the feeling only grew stronger. After a whole month she couldn't bear it any more and cried into her parents' shoulders about that.

They tried to comfort her. Told her she could always send out a letter to Sunburst. That calmed the little filly a bit. With her parents' help she sent out a letter.

No reply. She tried again. The reply came. "Hi. Busy studying. Will write more shortly". And that repeated time and time again. No meaningful conversations, no nothing! He was always busy! If not for his talent, not for his cutie mark -- none of that would have happened! They would've continued living together... in happiness... In sweet harmony...

But he was gone. Forever. And nopony could fill in the hole he'd left after himself... Partly because Sunburst had been special. But mainly because Starlight was very smart, albeit a bit insecure. She foresaw her future friendship ending, when another colt approached her. He also was cutie-mark-less. Starlight looked at his blank flank and realised in a second, that the story could repeat. He would get it, and she would not. He'd move on, and she wouldn't. She would write, but he'd be busy! Another pony whisked away by a cutie mark!

Starlight couldn't handle losing yet another friend. So she spared herself the pain. Even when she got her mark, she still believed -- now even stronger -- that differences between ponies would never allow for friends to stay together. Never! It was unthinkable, wasn't it? Was it even possible? Would she ever find a friend that wouldn't be whisked away?..

She didn't even want to try to find out. She didn't want to experience that pain ever again.

But Twilight wouldn't understand, would she? She was very lucky to be destined to befriend ponies -- five of them! -- but not everyone was that lucky.

That was why Starlight had tried to build a perfect world, where cutie marks could not have driven ponies apart. Where everypony had been the same. Where friendship could've prospered and where Starlight would have finally found a life-lasting friend. Tell her, Twilight, was that so much to ask?

Of course it was. Of course it was! She had had to ruin everything, so now Starlight would avenge!

Starlight touched the spell magically, and the time portal appeared. She, Twilight and Spike were sucked in...

Years in the past, but not too many, they were deposited in Cloudsdale. All three of them. That surprised Starlight. Why hadn't she been deposited earlier? What was going on?

The spell! She had to retrieve it, to prevent the rainboom and to win -- once and for all! She focused her magic and said her final words in her debate with Twilight:

"You don't know what it's like to lose a friend because of a cutie mark. But once I stop the rainboom, you will!"

She reached with her magic to the time spell scroll and... Zap! Successfully teleported it to herself. The duo gasped in shock.

"...and when I destroy this scroll, there'll be no way for you to change it!" -- Starlight declared.

At first she wanted to incinerate it on the spot... but her gut told her that would botch the time machine and they would never return to the future -- no matter which. She hesitated, but what was said was said, and she started to rip the scroll apart.

"Starlight, you're right! -- Twilight blurted in panic. -- I don't know what you went through! But I do know you can't do this! -- she insisted. -- I've seen where this leads, and so have you!"

"I only saw what you showed me! -- Starlight retorted. -- Who knows, what'll really happen?"

If she understood time travel at all, then anything was possible with it. The future was uncertain... unless it was predetermined, in which case...

"I've seen it a dozen times!" Well, maybe, the future was really dependent on this rainboom... "Things don't turn out well in Equestria without my friends!" Maybe... she was right... The heroes of Equestria... The Elements Of Harmony...

Ha! Some harmony they were! So different they couldn't even agree each with other at times! Phoneys! There wasn't anything special about them, but Twilight kept stubbornly insisting they were.

Starlight let out an exasperated groan (the scroll received another inadvertent tear at that):

"Ugh! What's so special about your friends?! How can a group of ponies, who are so different, be so important?!"

"The differences between me and my friends are the very things, which make our friendship strong!"

Nonsense! -- Starlight wanted to scream. How was that even?.. Hadn't she listened to a word she'd said? Hadn't she learnt a thing?

"I thought Sunburst and I were the same..." Sunburst... Upon remembering him tears appeared in Starlight's eyes. "...But we turned out different... and it tore our friendship apart!"

Speaking of tearing: the spell... Starlight thought about it for a moment. The map was still connected to the time machine. But Twilight didn't know that. The scroll would be destroyed, but the spell would still work. She only had to prevent the rainboom one more time, and she would prevail. What was Twilight to do? Explain her to death, that what she was doing was wrong? She didn't understand... Starlight could not go back now! Her equality project had been destroyed. Her friend had left her. What was she to do? Trust friendship to fix everything? Friendship was a fragile thing, easily crushed with ponies' differences. Starlight knew that first-hoof: her friendship with Sunburst had been ruined!

"So try again! -- Twilight suggested. -- Make new friends!" What, and experience the pain of a loss all over??? "And if something that you can't control happens that changes things, work through it together! That's what friendship is! And... it's not just my friendships, which are important to Equestria! Everypony's are! When yours ended, it led us here. But just imagine all the others, which are out there, waiting for you, if you just give them a chance!"

For a second there Starlight didn't know, how to respond. What did Twilight mean: "work through it together"? Together with whom? That needed consideration, and she paused her tearing the scroll up.

What, if she had tried to work things out together with Sunburst? No, that had been impossible! Try, as she might, she couldn't! She'd stayed friendless, and it was all because of cutie!..

Huh. Wait, Starlight thought.

Wait... That was right!.. She'd stayed friendless. After Sunburst she had not had any more friends!.. He'd been the only one...

"Try again"... "Make new friends"... And, if things changed... "work through it together". She didn't understand that last part -- probably because she was... admittedly... in... inexperienced with it... Embarrassing... What did she know about friendship, if her only friend had left her back in her early childhood?

Starlight felt shame. She could not have been that stupid! And she was not!

"How do I know they won't all end the same way?" -- she asked, eyes teary.

That was the question! Sure, Twilight was right, it was worth a try -- but if differences could lead to friendships ending... and if she was a bit too unfortunate... Then nothing guaranteed her happy, uneventful friendships... The future wasn't set in stone, and anything could happen. Including the worst-case scenario.

That meant the pain would come again.

Twilight stared at Starlight. Did she understand what she was going through? Did she understand the tough dilemma Starlight had?

"I guess it's up to you to make sure they don't".

And that was it. Without much further explanation Twilight simply offered Starlight a hoof.

Somepony whooshed nearby.

Oh darn it! The race was still on! With all this talking Starlight had almost missed her chance to fix forever what Twilight had undone!..

If she didn't do anything now, the rainboom would happen... the time portal would do its part... Twilight would win! Revenge wouldn't be achieved!

Starlight had to decide. She stared at the passing foals, watching the event unfold.

Why was she hesitating?

Starlight exhaled. Of course she could try to stop Twilight. And then... Act quickly: destroy the scroll... shoot that filly... and that would be it. She would win. She would achieve her revenge!..

What next? Starlight had to think about it. The future could be worse. Or it could be better. Twilight... What would she do?..

More importantly: what would Starlight do? After her revenge was done... What kind of future was prepared for her? Without her village of equality... she couldn't have that perfect world she'd dreamt about. And without that world... she couldn't have friends...

Friends... Had any of the villagers truly been Starlight's friend?

No. Rebuilding the project was not going to make Sunburst come back.

"Try again. Make new friends"...

How was she to know they wouldn't end up like Sunburst? How was it it was... up to... her?

Twilight... What did you know, Twilight?..

What did the princess of friendship know... about friendship?..

Dead end. Either way Starlight would continue to be friendless.

Twilight was still waiting with her hoof outstretched. She was ready to offer her friendship. And it seemed... It seemed... she was not going to give up on Starlight... if their differences...

Starlight's hoof twitched, her foreleg half-bent...

In the end Starlight let the rainboom happen. She allowed Twilight to take her to the future. Without waiting to be brought back part by part. The time machine didn't like such shenanigans. The spell floated above the cutie map upon their arrival, unfurled, then destroyed the connection. The time portal sucked the scroll in and exploded. The spell had ended. And of course, with the rainboom performed the future turned out to be the same Starlight had left it as. Probably a bit different. But for Twilight and her friends that didn't really matter.

Without the spell Starlight couldn't interface with time and thus could not rewind to any previous choice points. She had to face the consequences. Surely Twilight would tell others about her messing with the time... It didn't really matter, because Equestria hadn't even noticed something had been wrong. Yet Starlight had still tried to destroy one group of friends, and she had to answer to that group. She wasn't sure they would forgive her.

She was surprised to discover they weren't really mad. Twilight was a smart pony, who saw potential in Starlight. And for that Starlight was infinitely grateful.

Of course, Starlight liked to think she was pretty much smarter. After all -- victory had been hers! It was that she'd chosen to listen to Twilight and to give friendship another chance.

And Starlight was glad she had. Because now friendship... was not going to be destroyed by differences. Or cutie marks, for that matter. And that was all Starlight needed, to stop her hunger for revenge.

And yet, as shameful, as Starlight felt for her misdeed, she still felt pretty proud. Proud she had pulled off such a scheme.

It had, all things considered, indeed been a very excellent plan. A plan that had worked, until she'd decided to abandon it herself.

It was for the better indeed. For now Starlight had a whole lot of friends. Friends, who would not abandon her.

Not even because of a cutie mark.

The end

Author's Note

Hope this has been satisfying.

To be completely honest, it has been bugging me, how people misunderstand everything about Starlight, especially her backstory, her reasoning and her philosophy. They think her dumb, but Starlight is pretty dang smart.

This is what I'm showing here. First of all, her plan. I've read fics exploring its shortcomings and have been thinking, that Starlight can't have made such stupid mistakes. She had to have thought of everything, because otherwise we would have received a stupid episode. And episodes can't be that stupid. Her plan had to be well thought out, so here is what it may have looked like. Second of all, her backstory. Twilight says a cutie mark can't take friends away, and generally speaking she's right. But Starlight's case is special. Again, cutie marks signify differences, and differences are known to have caused friendships to end. How many people are there, who can't be friends precisely because they are so different? This is exactly what the show explores! I can't believe, how many people have missed that !

This is the problem Starlight tried to fix with her equality project. She tried to create a perfect world, where ponies would never experience what Starlight had. She eliminated the differences... except for that cutie marks were more, than just differences between ponies. Starlight overlooked that detail, but, as I show in this story, things are easy to overlook, and it's not ponies' fault they do. So they are not to be blamed. Starlight is pretty dang smart, but she is not perfect. We need to understand and to sympathise. If people can't (and some can't) -- too bad.

In the end it was Twilight, who fixed everything. She offered Starlight the solution to give friendship another chance. And again: Starlight is smart, and so are the people behind her story. People miss, that Starlight was too afraid to try again, because it had been too painful. Not everypony can move on. People have to understand that.

So in the end it was an excellent plan -- and an excellent story about an excellent character. I hope to have demonstrated that and hope you agree.

Now come! The comment section awaits!