By now, Shining Armor and Spike were starting to get used to constant flashes and having to re-adjust their eyes. Even so, they were surprised when they finally got a good look at their surroundings. They were looking at an unfamiliar village in some unknown place. It seemed like a peaceful little town, populated by a good mix of ponies from all species. But what stood out, was that many of them were young (though not so young as to not have their cutie marks).
"What is this place?" Shining Armor asked, looking across to Starlight. "And why are you showing me this?"
Starlight only bitterly said in reply. "Don't act like you don't know, prince, or are you really that clueless about what that map of yours can do? It's connected to every part of Equestria, no matter how small. So I used it in combination with the time travel spell, to bring us back to my old home in the town of Hoofington," She then pointed a hoof towards the window of a small house, near the village center. Through said window, it was possible for Shining, Spike, and Starlight to all see a younger, cutie markless version of Starlight, who currently wore her mane in two pigtails. Next to her was a unicorn colt with an orange coat, except for light green patches on his legs and a small similarly colored spot on his face. His mane and tail were a two toned orange in color, styled into a loose curl, and his eyes were dark blue. Said colt was instantly recognizable to both Shining and Starlight. "You know who that is, right?" Starlight bluntly asked.
Shining nodded. "It's Sunburst. I figured he must be important to you, but I never knew you two went all this way back. Far as I know, he never talked about you."
"Figures he'd forget all about me, but I suppose I should've expected no less," Starlight grumbled. "Now watch closely. Because up until this day that I've brought us here to witness, Sunburst and I were the best of friends. We did everything together, played games, did homework, celebrated holidays, you name it. But then..." Starlight paused, her lips quivered a bit before she added. "Well, see for yourself."
"Goodness, look at all the books we had to bring down just to use for references!" The young Starlight exclaimed, looking across to Sunburst.
"We're gonna have to clean it up before my parents see this. My mom especially likes every book to be back where it belongs when ponies are done with it." The young Sunburst commented with a hint of nervousness.
"But there's so many of them!" The young Starlight complained loudly. "There's no way we can just put all of them back, some of them were in very hard to reach places, and my magic's still nowhere near as good as yours."
The young Sunburst just smiled, as the colt boasted. "Just watch, Starlight. I've got a spell that should solve all our problems." With a great deal of straining, Sunburst lit up his horn. A pale yellow magical aura surrounded all the books, and after they swirled around Sunburst for a minute, they started magically flying towards the nearby book shelves. One by one, books of all sizes and colors, were placed back on the shelves from which they'd come.
The young Starlight was amazed! Even in her dreams she'd never seen such impressive magical power! But then her attention was called to something else, a flash of white light that all but blinded her! When it faded, Starlight took one look at her friend's flank, and gasped! "Sunburst, you got your cutie mark!" She exclaimed, sounding more unhappy than she should be given the circumstance.
"I'm not falling for that one again, Starlight," The young Sunburst snorted. But he looked anyway, and when he did, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a happy whinny! For on his flank was an orange sun with bursting yellow rays, and six blue stars. "I did it! I got my cutie mark!" He proudly proclaimed, as he rushed past his friend without a second thought and started prancing around outside!
All the young Starlight could do, was just stand there and frown, as she hung her head.
"And that was that, in the blink of an eye my friend was gone," Starlight narrated in a sorrowful tone. "Within a day, his family realized his potential and sent him off to Canterlot to attend Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. He even said he wouldn't come back until he became that big, important wizard he always wanted to be. He moved on, and I didn't. I was stuck in that village without a friend to my name. And all because he got his cutie mark, and I didn't."
"But what about your parents?" Shining spoke up with concern. "Surely they at least knew of your pain, right?"
Starlight only shook her head. "My parents didn't care, they were too busy working to take any notice. Heck, I was one of those latchkey kids. You know, those kids where the parents are so busy the kid gets a key to the house, and has to fend for themselves for a few hours, with only the neighbors that come to check on them. By the time I got my cutie mark, my parents had all but stopped being a factor in my life, which is part of the reason why I ran away as soon as I became an adult."
"What?! You just up and left everypony without even saying goodbye?!" Spike exclaimed with shock! "Without even trying to make new friends, or sending a letter to Sunburst?!"
"Don't you think I tried both?!" Starlight snapped back. "Sunburst never returned any of the letters I sent, or even acknowledged getting them! But they weren't returned to me for any reason, so I know he had to have gotten them! He just forgot about me, like everypony else did! When he left, I was the only blank flank in town, and I stayed that way for the rest of my childhood! When I finally got my cutie mark, hardly anyone cared and I made no effort to befriend them! They didn't think I was worth hanging with before I got my cutie mark, so why I should pretend that things were suddenly different now that I had one?!"
"And that's why you founded your village in the middle of nowhere!" Shining realized as his eyes widened! "All this time, you were bitter and hardened, because you thought Equestria had turned its back on you."
"Exactly," Starlight confirmed with a nod. "I didn't want others to have to suffer the way I did, I wanted to offer them a chance at a better life. So what if it was sold on a lie? If it brought them happiness, it was worth fooling them into thinking I'd given up my cutie mark. I only wish I'd thought to remove mine sooner, rather than waiting until I had an army of loyal followers at my disposal to do as I please."
"But, Starlight, do you think that any of that is what Sunburst would want?" Shining pleaded, looking Starlight square in the eyes. "Do you think any of what you've done and have tried to do, would bring him back?"
"Well, what else was I supposed to do?! I had no one to turn to, no one to be there for me in my time of need!" Starlight complained loudly. "And please, spare me your pity, I don't need it! Growing up I had lots of ponies tell me they were sorry for what I was going through, but their words were nothing but empty promises for me! I don't buy for a second that you're any different, just because you're the Prince of Friendship! I know what you really think of me!"
"Starlight-" Shining began, as he felt a huge wave of guilt wash over him. Hadn't he suspected after the map mission to the village that Starlight was hiding a troubled psyche? How could he have so easily been blinded by rage, as to label someone so harshly without a second thought?
Starlight quickly cut Shining off. "-But if what I saw in that 'future' was true. If that's really what Equestria will be like if I get my way. Then there's no point in trying to continue the quest. My vision isn't worth the price it'll bring to others. So congratulations, prince, you win. I'm done trying to run, and I've no interest in trying to fight back." And just like that, another time bubble appeared, and Shining, Spike, and Starlight were sucked up into it and disappeared.
It's hard to be grateful when he runs out without a second thought and never contacts her or say goodbye.
Starlight wouldn't know where to send a letter. Sunburst would and he didn't. And there really was no excuse not to keep her updated.
This is not like the real world. There's no phone book or internet to look his address up. And not everyone has a dragon to send direct letters to someone.
8563258 Even so, that doesn't excuse why Starlight does what she does. Losing a friend and never hearing from them again is hardly justification for becoming a dictator or trying to rewrite history. Apple Bloom and Moondancer had the same problem as Starlight, but they never took their troubles out on others, Apple Bloom made new friends and Moondancer (even if she overreacted) shut herself off from the world.
Differance is that it happened when she was still developing, not an adult like Moondancer. And give it a few more years. Moondancer very well could have ended up like Starlight if Twilight hadn't reached out to her.
Plus other ponies actually reached out to AppleBloom. For all we know, nopony reached out to Starlight.
Point being, we still no very little about Starlight.
What we got is like somepony asking Twilight how she got her wings and she responding it was because Fluttershy got bullied without saying anything else after. Except we know that the bullying was only the first step to her becoming an alicorn. Her being bullied lead to the race which lead to the Sonic Rainboom, which lead to the all getting their cutie marks, which lead to Twilight becoming Celestia's student and hatching Spike, which lead to her being sent to Ponyville which lead to her making friends with the other Mane 6 which lead to the getting the Elements of Harmony which lead to them saving Luna, and so on and so forth. All because of one seemingly minor event that nobody sees the big deal about.
We never got the whole story abut Starlight. We only got the first step and the last. It's like Zecora and Twilight said in those episodes. One small thing lead to something else which lead to something else.
It's Amazing how this seems to go over most people's heads when they watch these episodes. Starlight's story is the very definition of what Zecora and Twilight were saying. Her losing Sunburst lead to something else, which lead to something else, and all the way down the line until she started that village.
Starlight tried to stop a event which eventually lead up to a bigger event is exactly what happened to Starlight.
Hey there. Thanks very much for getting this next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, excellent job on the characterizations, exchanges and epilogue set-up in all the right places. I particularly liked the extra detail you went into concerning Starlight's backstory. Anyway, here's a little something I thought of that you could include in either the next chapter or the chapter after that.
Twilight: Oh, Spike! I am SO happy to see you (hugs Spike in an unexpected, but NOT unwelcome manner)
Spike: Twilight. Look, not that I'm complaining about this show of affection (because I'm DEFINITELY NOT), but what brought this on?
Twilight: It was just that I missed having you over in the other universe with me - especially when I saw the OTHER world's Spike along with that universe's me.
Spike: So what ABOUT the other me?
Twilight: By all appearances, he appeared to be a normal dog - past tense.
Spike: So what happened?
Twilight: He gained the ability to talk due to an accidental discharge from a device the other me built that absorbed magic.
Spike: A device that absorbed magic?
Twilight: Yeah. That was the cause of all the craziness I mentioned earlier. I would explain more, but it's a pretty long story.
Spike: Trust me, after the mess Shiny and I just had, I think it's safe to say we have all the time in the world.
Of course, if you DON'T like the dialogue idea, I profusely apologize for wasting your time.
As for Season 6, I'm going to guess you are going to include "the Crystalling" (obviously), the Cutie Map Missions (single chapter each), the Dragon Lands Adventure (again, single chapter), "the Times Are Changeling" (again, single chapter) and "Where and Back Again" (with all of the other Season Six episodes being only passingly mentioned). Though I will admit that I COULD be wrong.
Once again, I will most certainly be looking forward to more of this, but I will also be very willing to be patient. After all, I know real world concerns have to come first, especially with Thanksgiving just a few days away.
8563457 But that doesn't excuse what she became, or the fact that even after being confronted with the truth she refused to accept it, then tried to justify it with one experience that we didn't know all the details about. Heck, since we saw it from Starlight's perspective, how do we know she's not exaggerating the details according to how she perceives it?
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It seems that Starlight must have had a self-serving memory. She probably had plenty of opportunities to make other friends that she couldn’t even see, because she was willfully bitter.
If she really did come from a crapsack part of Equestria, I might understand how the concept of friendship would be hard for her to understand.
From the evidence in the canon, it seems what Starlight really wanted was power and fame. Such people have a ridiculously cynical view of the world. The original story might act as though she wanted a true friend all along, but I think the evidence contradicts this. Maybe she never considered a mature concept of friendship in the first place — until she could see she would have no future without it.
Yeah you could have just do that without going crazy I know you're upset but this has gone too far starlight
Well at least she knows when to stop especially knowing that the future can get any worse if you keep messing up with the time line
I did remember back in your last chapter when you trying to find Trixie and telling them never label her because they don't know how she been through