“You’re kidding, right?”
“Even if I was known for my humor, I wouldn’t joke about something so serious.”
“This is going to have to be a priority, isn’t it?”
“It’s the princesses. If we don’t solve this as soon as possible, who knows how long it’ll be before they cause another rift?”
“Are you saying we’d have another Nightmare Moon scenario?”
“Maybe it won’t be the first thing it leads to, but I wouldn’t be surprised. And that’s if we assume history repeats itself exactly.”
“Hold on, are you seriously thinking…?”
“Even Princess Celestia has the potential to become corrupted.”
“…Yep. Definitely a priority.”
“Then let’s get to work. So, right away, we can probably disqualify Princess Twilight from this one.”
“True. She respects the Royal Sisters too much to want to speak against them, Celestia especially.”
“Perhaps we could go with Rarity. She’s calm, understanding, and she may be able to pick up on the situation faster than the others.”
“Ehhh…”
“Problem?”
“Well, Rarity has this habit of focusing on the smaller details rather than the big picture. You remember Restaurant Row, right? She was so focused on getting Zesty’s approval, she nearly blundered the whole mission.”
“Well, Pinkie wasn’t exactly helping on her end, either, but yeah, you make a good point.”
“How about Applejack? Honest, down-to-earth…”
“She may value the truth, but she’s not the most blunt, especially around those she respects. And that’s what we need: someone who won’t beat around the bush.”
“Um, okay, uh, what about Pinkie Pie? She’s the most likely to say whatever’s on her mind.”
“You’re not wrong, but it’s too risky.”
“Risky? What’s risky about it?”
“Not necessarily with long-term effects, but there’s a not-too-small chance she may not even notice. Keep in mind, the problem here is that the Royal Sisters aren’t fully aware of what the other is going through. You really think Pinkie is going to catch on that quickly? Like I said, time is of the essence.”
“Rainbow, then! Blunt, no real filter to speak of…”
“Has been shown to takes sides when a conflict has no real, immediate answer. This isn’t a case of one sister being right, after all.”
“Fluttershy?!”
“…”
“What? She’s… a peacemaker… and… she’s the most relaxed when… she’s in her… ele…”
“…”
“Give me a break! We’ve run down the entire list of ponies, and none of them work! I’m desperate!”
“I understand, but if we don’t send the right pony, this job will most certainly end in failure.”
“Didn’t you hear me? There is nopony else!”
“Nopony else… Nopony… else…”
“Um, what are mumbling about?”
“We may have one more shot. There is someone else we can send. She’s well aware of the map and what it does. She has the qualities we need to make this mission a success.”
“Who are you…!”
“…”
“You’re not serious.”
“Again, this is no joking matter.”
“You talk about Pinkie Pie being risky, but Starlight Glimmer is a disaster waiting to happen.”
“You’re not still upset about her time-travelling scheme, are you?”
“I’ve long since gotten past that. But when you think about it, she’s only changed so much.”
“Her skills with friendship have improved considerably, though, especially given the time she’s spent with Princess Twilight.”
“And yet she still feels the need to resort to magic to solve all her problems. None of which have worked all that well. Let’s review: friend falls out of contact, take everyone’s talents. Princess screws up that plan, screw up the timestream. Can’t make friends with anyone, use magic to expedite the process, with less than amazing results. Do a whole bunch of friendship lessons at once, mind control. Constantly getting angry, literally bottle it up. Starlight’s first answer has always been to use magic for everything, and it’s almost always blown up in her face.”
“Perhaps, but it’s that kind of attitude we need.”
“What?”
“Think about it. Neither Princess Twilight nor her friends will be willing to confront the princesses about this, if they’ll even recognize the true problem at all. But Starlight has been shown to do whatever it takes to accomplish her goals. Even if her methods are… questionable…”
“Understatement of the millennium.”
“…her most recent misadventures come from a place of wanting to do the right thing. You said it yourself when we all made it back from that whole time travel debacle; she’s regretful. She’s been turning over a new leaf ever since. Every time she messes up, it’s because she wants to be a better pony, to keep her new friends close. But she’s spent years being the next despot-to-be with magic as her only tool; you don’t just get rid of that tendency all at once just because your goals are more altruistic.”
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t go with this. I’m just pointing out that Starlight has a tendency to make things worse before they get better. Don’t be surprised if we end up needing to send someone else later on.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when and if we come to it. For now, though, this needs to be taken care of soon, and Starlight’s the only pony we know who won’t waste time trying to beat around the bush.”
“I guess. Our only real issue now is figuring out how to call her. I mean, Princess Twilight and the others were easy; they were built into the map through those thrones. Starlight didn’t show up until much later.”
“Any ideas?”
“Hmm. Well, her magic is still somewhere on this map, both from the time travel and when she helped Princess Twilight repair it. Maybe… if I take this… is there some… yeah, that’ll do… just a little tighter… Done.”
“Starlight marker. I’m impressed.”
“Please, I’m the creative one. If I didn’t look at every problem as a challenge that needs solving, we wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as we have.”
“If you say so. Ready?”
“Not really.”
“I’m going to assume that’s sarcasm, so let’s do this.”
“No, I’m serious. I’ve been meaning to work on this new feature for a few weeks now.”
“Wait, what?”
“Just a little something to keep big cities like Canterlot from becoming a navigational nightmare… Okay, there. We should be able to pinpoint just the castle as opposed to the whole of Canterlot now.”
“Um, okay then. Shall we?”
“Here’s hoping.”
“Calling Starlight Glimmer. Your mission begins here.”
“…Deities help us.”