//------------------------------// // Chapter 33 Starlight's Revenge // Story: Super Stallion // by PioneerofImagination //------------------------------// After the siege of the Crystal Empire things finally settled down. Pony Ivy taking what Super Stallion said to him to heart, starting making a turnaround even joined Dr. Arachnid and Emo Pony in their little but growing reform group. He also got to visit his old home after his and another family finally stopped their rivalry to make all the plants and trees grow back.  On top of that, Prank Master had also been making progress while still having her crazy moments. She was clearly making an effort to be better and also helped Chrysalis with her problems. Having spent a little time with Payback she learned a bit of how his device worked, not enough to make one but enough to make something similar.  "All right this should do it and the proof is in the peanut butter."  "Don't you mean in the pudding?" One of the guards escorting her asked. "No thank you I still have a whole tub I'm saving for later. You can't have sweets all the time."  Other prisoners however were still making trouble. Weather Warper tried to escape several times and Scar Flank had a large group of prisoners riot for one of his escape plans. "Come on, you dolts push harder and we can all taste freedom!" However the riot was pushed back when Scar Flank was knocked out by 1 mean punch from Stone Wall who ended the riot all by himself.  "All right now that that's all settled it's time for you all to go back to your patrols."  "Uh you don't work here," one of the guards mentioned. "Then how is it I'm doing your job better than you are?!"    *** Twilight with all her memories back could finally go back to her normal life, but as she returned to the castle in Ponyville she came across an unpleasant surprise. "Hello Twilight." "Starlight Glimmer!? What are you doing here?" "That's what I'd like to know," Spike said as he protectively put himself in front of Twilight but before Spike could do anything about it he and Twilight were sucked into a strange portal that brought them back in time to when Rainbow Dash first got her cutie mark. Starlight then prevented Rainbow Dash from winning the race and then Twilight and Spike were then sucked into another portal and found themselves in an entirely different Ponyville. "What's going on? What happened?"  "This isn't good. Twilight. Starlight must have changed history and that caused a butterfly effect throughout the timeline."  "Uh, how do you know that Spike?" "Super Stallion and I are comic book fanatics. He and I exchanged quite a few of them with each other and he lent me a mini series a while back. It involved quite a bit of time travel and while it was confusing it was entertaining." "I don't suppose the comic said how to fix something like this." "Yes actually we just have to go back in time again and undo what Starlight did to undo what she did." "That makes sense, I think."  "Don't worry Twilight we'll have this fixed in no time at all, heh did you see what I did there?"  ***   "Of course I could be wrong."  "What?"  "Oh I was just thinking about how I said this time travel thing wouldn't take long but that's clearly not the case so I added to my previous comment." "Why would you do that now of all times, Spike?" "Well it's just that this reminds me of comics where they say 1 thing and then it skips to a later part to make a joke for the readers-" "Excuse me," Nightmare Moon interrupted. "But would it trouble you to pay attention to me when you're in my throne room? Now what's this about traveling through time you mentioned?" Spike and Twilight didn't say anything. "Oh, don't feel like talking do you?"  "Huh what the?" Spike said as he was lifted up by Nightmare Moon's magic and chains were wrapped around him. "How about now?" Nightmare Moon asked.  "Don't tell her anything Twilight if she learns how to tbl-" Spike was cut off when Nightmare Moon gagged him. "I'm aware that dragons are capable of breathing fire but I suggest you keep that on." Nightmare Moon then picked up a rather large dagger and held the tip dangerously close to Spike's throat. "Otherwise, I'll have to resort to other measures of keeping you quiet." "NO!" Twilight tried to run over to stop her but the guards grabbed her before she got too close. "Please don't hurt him, I'll do whatever you want." "That's what I like to hear." Twilight reluctantly brought Nightmare Moon to where she could find the magic of time travel and Nightmare Moon and her guards dealt with the Timber wolves. In that moment Twilight grabbed Spike and teleported over to the map and went back in time once again.  "That was definitely a close huh Spike?" Twilight asked as she was holding Spike in her forelegs as they arrived in the past once again. "Maybe we can try to just sit Starlight down and talk this whole thing-" Twilight was cut off when she was blasted by Starlight's spell forcing her to let go of Spike making him fall.  "TWILIGHT HELP!" Spike yelled out after he burnt through his gag and Twilight quickly flew down and grabbed him while removing the chains.  "Don't worry I've got you,"Twilight said. Suddenly the 2 were sent back in time once again and seeing what the future turned into time after time made Twilight madder and madder. After coming back to the past again Starlight was ready to stop them once again. "Bring it on," Starlight said with an overconfident tone that vanished the moment she saw Twilight fly straight at her with a face of sheer rage. Starlight tried to run away but Twilight grabbed her and proceeded to strangle her while Spike watched in horror. "Twilight stop! You're going to kill her!" Twilight then let go of Starlight who gasped for air.  "I'm sorry! I got so mad and lost control." Twilight then tried to help Starlight up but she slapped her hoof away and got up on her own.  "You won't stop me from changing the past as many times as it takes." "And you can't stop me from coming back as many times as it takes. We could do this for all eternity. Are you actually willing to do that?" "If that's what it takes to stop your friends from coming together then fine."  "It's more than that you have no idea what you're doing to the future." "Oh please next you'll be telling me that all of Equestria hangs in the balance."  "It does."  "Spare me your giant ego," Starlight said as she stopped the past Rainbow Dash from winning the race once again. Twilight then thought she could reason with Starlight if she showed her what she created so she grabbed her as she and Spike were pulled through time once again. "Where are we?" "This is Equestria or rather what's become of it?"  'What? But how?" "It's like I was saying changing the past can alter the future in all sorts of ways."  "No! I don't believe you, this is some kind of trick!"  "How do you know?" Spike asked. "Where were you when we were going through all the other alternate futures?"  "How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?!"  "Because I'm not like you," Twilight said. "I don't rely on tricks and lies to get what I want!"  "Don't look down your royal muzzle at me, you ruined everything I built, you took away my village." “You did that yourself! You lied to those ponies and manipulated them like you did with me! You had to know that what you were doing wasn't right. Why would you even make a place like that?"  "You want to know why! I'll show you!" Starlight then used her magic on the map to take the 3 of them somewhere else. It was Sire's Hollow, the place where Starlight grew up with her friend Sunburst. She showed that they were the closest of friends until the day he got his cutie mark and was sent away to further his magical talents.  "Are you kidding me!?" Spike said surprise Twilight and Starlight. "That's why you did what you did?!" "Spike-" Twilight was cut off when Spike put his claw in the air.  "No Twilight let me handle this. You talk about cutie marks ruining everything but it's not the cutie mark's fault you lost your friend, it's yours!"  "My fault?!?" Starlight said shocked. "Did cutie marks stop you from writing letters to your friend to stay in touch? Did cutie marks stop you from making other friends so you wouldn't be lonely?” “That’s not what this is about,” Starlight said. No,” Spike replied. “This is about a stubborn selfish unicorn that blames everypony else for her problems!” “Yikes,” Twilight said. “And now you're risking the future of everything we love just so you can have your revenge because you only care about yourself! What do you think that Starlight would think about what you're doing?"        "She'd say it's worth it just to have my revenge." The 3 were then taken into the past where Starlight grabbed the Time Scroll from Twilight ready to destroy it.  "No you can't!" Twilight said. "You saw what happened to Equestria." "I don't know what I saw that could have been a trick."  "Are you honestly so selfish that you'd risk erasing everything just to have revenge!?"  Starlight stopped as she was actually starting to question her actions. "No! It was a trick, no group of friends is that important!" Starlight then ripped the scroll in half and stopped Rainbow Dash from winning the race once again.  A mistake that would haunt her for the rest of her life. "NO!" Twilight and Spike said at the same time as they reached out to grab the scroll and once again they were sucked through time.  "Enjoy your future without your friends!" The 3 appeared in the same wasteland they were in before. "What the? Did you pull the same trick?" Suddenly out of nowhere Starlight was blasted by a beam of magic that nearly broke her spine as she wailed in pain. "Huh, who did that? Who could have done that?" Twilight  and Spike turned around and nearly wet themselves when she saw the attacker. "M-Me?"  A Twilight Sparkle with longer legs and horn with a mane and tail that moved on their own staring down at them. But what caught their attention the most were the other Twilight's eyes, no pupils, just blank soulless eyes. "What's going on?" Starlight asked as she got up and also saw the other Twilight who attacked again making her scream in pain. The other Twilight grinned as Starlight's screams filled her with joy.  "Stop!" Twilight said as her other self turned around. "Go home," the other Twilight said in an echoing chilly voice.  "What?" "Go home and set this right and after all this time I can know peace."  "What are you talking about?" Spike asked and the other Twilight looked at him with a strangely kind smile. Starlight tried to get away but she stomped right on her head and pressed against her horn stopping her from using magic. "I could not convince her and after an eternity I found the means to come here. Go back," she said as she looked at Twilight. "You and I don't have anything in common anymore. But she stays here." The other Twilight then blasted Starlight causing her to scream in pain once again. "No! I won't let you! She needs help."  "Go home and live your life." The other Twilight then used magic to repair the time scroll causing a portal to appear and it pulled Twilight and Spike in it. "Now where were we?" Before the other Twilight could continue Starlight was teleported away by Twilight.  "Twilight?" Starlight asked confused and in shock. "NO!" The other Twilight then flew to try and grab Starlight but the portal closed before she could reach her and the trio arrived once again in Cloudsdale.  "Y-You saved me," Starlight said, rather unable to believe what she just said. "After everything I did, you saved me from, you."  "Well you may have manipulated me when I lost my memory, and tried to steal my and my friend's cutie marks, and were willing to ruin Equestria just to have your revenge. But you probably still didn't deserve whatever "I" was going to do."  Starlight then bowed in front of Twilight. "Thank you so much I thought she was going to kill me. I owe you my life." The 3 finally returned to an unaltered present.  Twilight then took Starlight to the hospital to have her injuries looked at. Spike wanted to call the guard and have Starlight arrested but Twilight had a different idea. Starlight was released the next day and Twilight gave her a shocking request. "You want me to be your student?!?"  "I couldn't believe it either," Spike said with his arms crossed.    "You have a lot of magical potential and it would be a shame to see it all go to waste. I think you need somepony to help guide you down the right path."  "Wow you're really okay with me being your student, no strings attached." "Actually there is 1 condition." “Condition?” "Sweet Celestia, that felt great.”