Chapter 7
The group of ponies looked at the results of the die roll. The first had resulted in a six, meaning another roll was needed. The second time, a three came up, meaning a pony had been chosen.
"Are you sure about this?" Rainbow Dash asked as she watched Applejack stand in front of the mirror. "We could just send the message through the journal."
"Absolutely not," Rarity said. "We're going to let them know in person. We simply can't drop this on them through such an impersonal method."
"'Sides, Twi always said that the place was pretty safe," Applejack said. She looked like she was trying to gather her nerves.
"Sunset was trying to contact Twilight to get help with runaway magic," Rainbow Dash said.
"And she sent an all clear," Applejack said. She took a deep breath. It didn't matter how safe the new world was, getting a new body was a daunting prospect. “There should be nothin’ to worry about that isn’t in Ponyville.”
“Ponyville gets attacked once a month,” Pinkie reminded her. “That’s how I remember it’s time to pay the gas bill.”
Applejack didn’t respond. She took a deep breath. “Alright, here I go.” Before her nerves could flare up, she ran through the mirror.
It was a scary process, going through the portal. It was big and white and the transition was unlike anything she had ever felt. It also wasn’t pleasant to come out for a rough landing on the other side, even if it was on grass.
Even as she was recovering from the trip, she heard several gasps of surprise. This didn’t truly worry Applejack. Twilight had mentioned that the entire school knew the truth, so there was no need to hide it. What really got her attention was the cry of “What in tarnation?”
She stopped. That sounds like something she would say.
She turned and she saw herself. Or rather, she saw the other version of herself. She recognized the freckles, the hair, the eyes, but it was in a strange new body.
“Yer... me,” the other Applejack said, clearly unnerved by what she was seein’.”
“Yeah, I’m me,” Applejack said, trying to get her bearings together. She looked down and tried not to freak out as she saw a hand instead of a hoof. She wiggled her fingers, experimenting with the new appendages...
“Do I really sound like that?” the other Applejack said. "Is that really my voice?"
"That's really your voice," Applejack heard Rainbow Dash say.
"It really sounds like that?"
Listening to her counterpart, she frowned. "Where'd you get that accent from?"
"What accent?" the other Applejack asked.
"I told you you have an accent," the human Rainbow Dash said, laughter decorating the syllables.
Before Applejack could turn and see this new Rainbow Dash, her vision was filled with orange. A new face was looking at her.
"Applejack?"
"...Sunset Shimmer," Applejack said, dawning on her after a moment's thought.
"Not that it's not nice to meet you, but... where's Princess Twilight? Did she get that message I sent her?"
Immediately Applejack felt her grief flood back. She tried to sit up, difficult with her new body. Seeing this, Sunset offered her a hand. Applejack took it and was pulled up onto her rear. She saw the others crowd around her.
Applejack opened her mouth, but a lump caught in her throat. Having to break the news again was a fresh kind of torture. She opened her mouth again, but the sound refused to come out.
"Come on, come on, what is it?" the human Pinkie said.
"Yes, I must admit, I'm curious about my..."
When Applejack heard the voice, her blood ran cold. Even as scared as she was, her head whirled to look.
When she saw her, she let out a yell that caused the humans to jump. Applejack was on her back again, scooting away from the ghost that stood in front of her.
"What? Applejack, that's Twilight. She just transferred here."
Applejack barely heard. Her breaths were too heavy. Her lungs kept trying, and failing, to take a big breath.
Sunset Shimmer leaned in. AJ? Come on, this Twilight already knows everything. There's no need to panic..."
"She's dead! Twilight's dead!"
Silence followed that. For a full minute there wasn't a sound except the occasional bird chirping. For the humans, it was processing the news they had just been given. Each was turning it over in their mind, trying to understand.
For Applejack, it was the shock of seeing Twilight again. Even in the new body, it was her. The skin color matched the coat, the mane had the same pink stripe, her eyes were just as beautiful, even if they were behind a pair of glasses.
Her body was starting to calm, but her mind refused to. It was still trying to process the impossible.
"What?" Sunset finally managed to ask. It was the only thing that any of them had to say.
Applejack managed to tear her eyes away from the Twilight in front of her and back to Sunset. She was still looking at her with a blank expression. She still didn't understand.
Applejack took a deep breath. "A mare named Starlight Glimmer did it. She tried playin' around with some time spell. It killed her."
There was another long pause. During that time, Applejack tried not to look at the other Twilight.
There was a deflating should. The human Pinkie's hair went flat. Sunset fell to her knees, a look of horror on her face.
"Where is she?"
Everyone jumped at Rainbow Dash's question. She looked enraged.
"This Starlight... where is she? I'll kill her!" The look she was giving crushed any doubts she was exaggerating.
"You'll have to get in line," Applejack said. "Half of Equestria wants her dead."
Applejack half-expected the human Rainbow Dash to make some follow-up comment, but there was nothing.
For a long time, the group sat there in silence, tears streaming down their faces. Only the human Twilight wasn’t crying, and even she was too stunned.
It was a full three minutes before Sunset spoke. “Wh... when’s the funeral?”
“Don’t know yet,” Applejack said. “But yer all invited to it. I know Twi would want you there.”
She briefly looked at the new Twilight, but only briefly. It was far too painful. “Though, if you're going to bring your Twi, she best go in disguise.”
She looked at the ground, not wanting to look at Twilight. She was surprised when a small dog walked into her vision.
It took a few moments before Applejack realized who this must be.
“The other Spike,” she muttered, more to herself than anything.
“What about the other Spike? Is he okay?”
Applejack jumped. She had expected that question to come eventually, she just hadn’t expected it to come from Spike himself.
“Wha? How?”
“Magic,” Sunset said. It was the only word she got out before she descended into tears.
The shock had passed, and the tears were no longer silent. Sobs were escaping the throats of all the girls. Twilight was the lone silent one, even though she looked sad.
Applejack looked at the new Spike, who was still looking at her, waiting for an answer to his question.
“He’s still alive,” Applejack said. “Don’t know about ‘okay’. He’s sad an’ we can’t bring him out of his funk.”
The dog whimpered. Twilight picked him up and coddled him.
Applejack looked at the ground and waited for the humans to cry themselves out. Once they were done, she’d have to give them the messy details, then ask what was going on with the holes in reality that had been caused.
She looked at Twilight again, but only for a split second. She moved towards the statue. She better spend this time trying to stand.
Starlight was in constant agony. Spike had given her a beating that she was lucky to survive. She wished the doctors would increase her painkillers, even if it would kill her. Whatever pit in the Underworld she was sent to couldn’t be worse than this.
Her lawyer had been her only visitor. She supposed that shouldn’t surprise her. Even if Twilight hadn’t turned her followers against her, and even if Sunburst actually took responsibility for abandoning her, she didn’t think Celestia would allow visitors.
She tugged at the restraints holding her hind legs to the bed. It was the most unnecessary security ever. She could be completely free and she’d be in no condition to leave. Her front legs were in casts, and it looked like they would be for months.
She weakly looked at the steel doorway that led to the outside world. This might look like a hospital room, but it was truly a dungeon. She knew she had best get used to the idea.
A set of locks tumbled and clanked, and the door opened. Her lawyer walked in. The guard looked at the stallion suspiciously, but followed procedures and left them alone.
The stallion looked at Starlight with a smug grin. It made her furious.
“My, my, you’ve been a challenging case,” he said. “It’s like you’ve dedicated your life to getting arrested.”
He lifted a stack of papers out of his briefcase. “I’ve looked over the charges. Forty-seven acts of kidnapping, spell casting on a pony without a license and without their consent, using an undocumented and unregistered spell, time-traveling using an unregistered spell, assault with magic, ponyslaughter, assuming they leave it at that and don’t push for a full murder charge, and all this on a crown princess of Euquestria, so treason as the cherry on top.”
Had Starlight’s jaw not been wired shut, she might have told him to get on with it.
“A not guilty verdict is out of the question, so I propose we go with the insanity defense.”
Starlight’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Insane? Her? No, she was the only one thinking clearly!
“Now, contrary to popular belief, there are very few forms of insanity that can absolve you of legal responsibility. Normally I’d suggest we go with dark magic, but there’s no way it wouldn’t have been detected by now.
“The second is compulsions, but Princess Twilight did her homework on you, and besides, there is no compulsion that could cover everything.
“So that leaves us with the ever popular delusions. And this one shouldn’t be too hard. I mean, eliminating cutie marks, really?”
Starlight moved out of anger, and immediately regretted it as pain shot through her body. She whimpered and moaned, tears coming from her eyes.
He waited for her to calm before he went on. “Now, we need to sell the fact that you didn’t understand that what you were doing was legally wrong, so you can start rambling and saying that Celestia spoke to you, telling you to carry out the next phase of Harmony’s plan. Go big, the crazier, the better.”
Starlight narrowed her eyes. How dare this stallion tell her that her philosophy was crazy. How dare he!
“Aww, did I hurt your feelings?” Nocturn said, his grin getting bigger. Starlight’s eyes narrowed.
Nocturn brought his hoof up, and Starlight watched as he brought it to one of her sides. He grinned.
Then he pressed. It wasn’t much, but it still brought an intense pain. Her muffled screams sounded, which only brought the pain in her jaw out. By the time Nocturn let the pressure up, she was in tears.
“I can talk to you that way because you got yourself into this mess. You need me to get out. It’s your only way out of prison. Well... maybe not. There’s no death penalty in Equestria, but you never know. You killed Celestia’s little pet. She might make an exception.”
Starlight whimpered.
“Right, glad you understand. Now then, you’ve seen the stick, now see the carrot.”
He lit up his horn. Starlight felt a quick pain. She realized a bandage on her hind leg had been ripped off. It had been to cover a smaller cut on what was otherwise the only undamaged part of her body.
She could see it. Nocturn put his horn up to it.
Suddenly, Starlight was in less pain. Even as small as it was, she noticed.
She had to strain her eyes to be sure, but the cut was gone.
Starlight’s eyes bulged in surprise. Nocturn grinned.
“That’s all I can do for you at the moment. Any more and the guards will get suspicious. But full healing awaits you. Yes, even your horn, if you’re a good filly.”
Conflicting emotions erupted in Starlight. Excitement over getting cured, fear over this stallion, rage as he mocked her ideals. How dare this pony insult her.
“Confused?” Nocturn said. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to think about our offer. In fact, thinking is about all you can do right now.” He let out a small chuckle. At Starlight’s glare, he merely shrugged. “Just a little joke. You need to get a sense of humor.”
With that, Nocturn walked out, giving a small chuckle. The doors closed and locked behind him, leaving Starlight alone in her cell.
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I hope Starlight gets her just desserts. That STUPID mare is wallowing in so much self pity and is so blinkered by her ideals that she still thinks its all about her. Has it even registered in her idiotic brain that she just indirectly murdered a pony, and a princess no less
So starlight still thinks she was in the right and justified
Hope she is too stubborn and refuses to go back or plead guilty
yeah.. this starlight is due to getting offed sooner or later
Oh damn. This chapter had a lot of emotions with it. There was the fresh waterworks all over again, with Applejack breaking the news to Sunset and the Rainbooms. Poor Sci-Twi, I can't even imagine what she's feeling, it's probably yet another upending of her world to realize that there's another her out there, and that this other her has been murdered. Wow.
And then there's Starlight. God damn, Starlight hasn't learned a single fucking thing. Pretty damn rich how she blames Sunburst for not taking any accountability, pot meets kettle right there. Nocturn is interesting as always, and now I'm real curious as to what his goal is...
I hope Celestia makes an exception for the little fuckhead.
I guess that the Rainbooms took the news as well as they could. Meanwhile, Starlight continues to blame everyone but herself for what happened. I might like the canon Starlight (from season 6 onwards) but this one deserves to suffer and be humiliated.
Although I agree with the main point of that, the fact he referred to Twilight as a “pet” means he has “villain” written all over him. I hope he and Starlight both suffer the same fate.
10166273 That makes two of us.
And as of this chapter, I don't know who I hate more in this story: Starlight, or that filth Nocturne.
"Celestia's little pet"?!
Okay, now I know who I hate more.
Nocturne.
I just hope they both get what's coming to them at the end of this.
starlight just need some time to have her 'what the fuck have I done' moment, since right now she's probably trying to find a safe spot to rest.
this fic needs a villain and this nocturne stallion who I'm questioning is really a pony due to not having a pun-based name and want to cry changeling.
Holy moley, that was a majorly emotional chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all superbly done. Yeah, I can definitely understand why AJ took responsibility of explaining Twilight's death to the Rainbooms (though only "HALF of Equestria wants Starlight dead?" I would say more along the lines of "ALMOST everybody EXCEPT the major villains want Starlight dead.", which would be more than 99 percent of Equestria). Though, yeah, the stuff about the accent was good comic relief to what was otherwise a REALLY emotional scene and, yeah, AJ has a point about how Dragon Spike still being alive is the best they can hope for right now (i.e. it will be A LONG TIME, if EVER, before Spike overcomes a significant portion of his very understandable funk). And, yeah, that Nocturn continues to SERIOUSLY give me the chills. I mean, yeah, the guy's a lawyer, so him being a scumbag is expected. But his referring to Twilight as "Celestia's little pet", as aforementioned by other reviewers, combined with his "offering to gradually heal Starlight if she plays nice"? Definitely has "possible demon" (if not the straight-up Devil himself) written all over it. And, yeah, I am wondering how long it will take for Starlight to realize just how badly she messed up (yeah, I know, it will probably take most, if not ALL, the story, but part of me IS hoping that she will come to her senses in time to help stop Nocturn, if only to show that, while she still needs to be punished severely, she isn't COMPLETELY beyond redemption).
Oddly enough, I get the feeling Nocturn might be working for Grogar (as in THE REAL Grogar), if not even the real Grogar in disguise looking to Starlight as the first recruit to his Legion of Doom. But that's admittedly just an extremely out-there-theory FAR more likely to be wrong than right.
But I digress.
Anyway, I am VERY definitely going to be looking forward to more of this. Particularly Starlight and Nocturn getting their proper comeuppance. .
It was so hard for me to read the story when Applejack was telling Sunset and the other is about princess Twilight’s death. Amazing chapter though
...Ok so raise your hand if Nocturn is officially your favorite character in this fic.
I mean yeah, the guy's evil...probably, maybe...but just the fact that he's just taking the absolute piss out of Starlight earns him major brownie points.
What is Nocturn scheming?
10166692 Probably wants to put himself into a position of power by making sure that a criminal like Starlight isn't convicted and in turn discredit the princesses.
Don't think the last dropped "g" should be there unless AJ's accent is spreading to the narrative.
10166426
In fairness, I think they also want Starlight dead, just for different reasons - either because they wanted to be the ones to kill Twilight or simply because Starlight... exists and is a pony, so she needs to die and having done the villain this minor favor isn't enough to mitigate that.
Anyway, yeah, good chapter. I'd say I enjoyed it, but this isn't the sort of thing one has fun with. Still, it was immensely effective.
That said, I do, strangly enough, find Starlight's portrayal here oddly satisfying even in the moments when she's being shameless, defiant and refusing to acknowledge her faults. I think it's simply due to the fact that it's actually acknowledging and intentionally showing how pathetic and childish she is and isn't desperately trying to whitewash her and beat us over the head with poorly thought-out sympathy ploys.
🍿🙂👍
Honestly I think Starlight is getting too much blame for Twilight’s death because no matter how you look at it she was not directly responsible for it nor did she have any intention of it happening. If anything this would count as manslaughter not murder and I’m not entirely sure if it qualifies as that even.
I prefer the parts where Spike and the ponies take care of one another and try recovering from their loss.
10167021
If you do something incredibly dangerous, that you know is dangerous, and out other people in danger, you are responsible for the result. This is involuntary manslaughter. It’s not a death penalty offense anywhere, but it ain’t a slap on the wrist either.
10167461
Not saying it’s a slap on the wrist. I’m just saying that everyone is acting like Starlight intended for Twilight to die and killed her herself when that just isn’t the case. If they really did see Spike’s memories then they should know that.
I suppose a simpler way to put it is that they’re treating her like a murderer when she isn’t one. Not sure how well that applies but it gets the point across.
10167517
And my point is that you don’t have to pull the trigger to be a murderer. She is responsible for Twilight’s death. If it had been some kind of accident, shit happens. But she was deliberately trying to hurt her, and even if she didn’t meeeean to kill her, she’s dead as a direct result of Starlight’s actions.
10167021
She did cause the chain of events that led to her death and you can't really blame an alternate timeline version of Nightmare Moon for killing her because 1, she no longer exists and 2, even if you do, you have to acknowledge that Starlight inadvertently created that version by stopping the Rainboom.
10167660
10167637
I’m gonna tell you the same thing I tell Starlight haters because it’s basically the same issue now.
Nothing that happened in those alternate timelines is a direct result of Starlight’s actions. The only direct outcome is that Twilight never became friends with the others. Everything else was going to happen regardless of her actions and we know this because we already saw them happen with the difference being that they were stopped before they reached the point seen in the alternate timelines.
Now the reason for explaining all that is to establish that Starlight had no involvement in the villains actions. This is a key point because it’s what can be used to determine whether or not it was murder. In this case it’s being argued she’s guilty of murder because Nightmare Moon killed Twilight. This argument could work if Starlight had told NM to do it but as I’ve established, Starlight had no direct involvement with the events that occurred in the other timelines which that NM acted on her own with no outside influence.
So the most Starlight could be charged with is manslaughter if anything.
One more thing: how do you know for certain that those timelines no longer exist? Just because the three of them were returned to their timeline doesn’t mean the others stopped existing.
10167747
Forgive me, but that seems to be like saying that, if someone provokes a war between two countries, they must be held blameless for the destruction and death caused by that war. After all, they didn't shoot anyone or blow anything up, nor did they directly command anyone to, so they must be innocent, right?
I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. Yes, there was an intermediate step between her and Twilight, but the causation is still pretty direct and she must be held culpable for it. Legally, it may make a difference, but then, we're not really talking in terms of legality, since Starlight hasn't yet been sentenced or even brought to trial in-story. Besides, the talk about her sentencing has been leaning more towards manslaughter. However, we're talking about how others are treating her; we're talking about her actions from a moral perspective. And that makes things just a little bit murkier.
It seems as though the thrust of your argument is that Starlight didn't intend to create the terrible futures she did and couldn't have known she would, therefore she's not responsible. However, saying that she couldn't have known it would is a little misleading. She was knowingly, intentionally changing the timeline and, as such, must have known that what she was doing would change the future massively (as, even ignoring the butterfly effect, she was removing an alicorn from the equation). So, even if she didn't know it would create worse futures, she should definitely have known it could and, as such, takes responsibility for taking that risk. After all, if I gave someone weapons-grade plutonium because they told me they were a reputable scientist and I didn't bother to check further, I can't know they'll use it to make and set off a nuke in a populated area, but I'm taking the risk they will and bear a hefty chunk of responsibility for what happens if they do. Similarly, Starlight does bear responsibility for creating the dark futures, even if she didn't intend to.
However, that brings us to the question of intent - something that matters somewhat in legal matters and massively in moral ones. And, yes, it's true she wasn't intending to kill Twilight. But she was intending to hurt her. Badly.
In fact, she was explicitly attempting to ruin her entire life (in fact, rather more literally than most uses of that phrase, since she was doing so retroactively as well) and was willing to risk the timestream to do it. And, if you'll forgive a rather unpleasant analogy: if I'm "only" trying to break someone's arm, but pull a little too hard, rip it off and cause them to bleed out, does that make me less culpable? If you're trying to hurt someone, then even if you don't mean to take it too far, the underlying malice aforethought still makes it a terrible act.
That is why Starlight is held in such contempt in this story. Not because people think she intentionally killed Twilight, but because she directly got her killed in an explicit attempt to destroy her.
I think the important question is this:
Will Applejack ever be able to internalize her accent? Can she accept the truth?
Oh, also it was a nice chapter and I'm curious as to what this Nocturn is up to.
I wonder what’ll happen when Spike is reunited with the likes of Celestia, and more specifically Luna. I wonder if seeing her would bring back the memory of what had killed Twilight, thus causing Spike to go in a frenzy.
10167021
No offense but I think you might be biased
10169111
Possible. It’s also possible that I just don’t know how to properly explain what’s going through my head. Either way.
10166609
*sits on both hands*
I would very much like EG Twilight to visit Starlight. Without a disguise, of course. Freak her out big-time.
Can't to see Sunset and Celestia talk.
Wow, I’d forgotten just how smug Glimglam used to be.
(Also didn’t remember AJ thinking Twilight had “beautiful eyes”....
)
10167021
I think what starlight did would fall under involuntary manslaughter or in this case involuntary ponyslaughter (.Involuntary manslaughter is defined as an unintentional killing that results either from criminal negligence or the commission of a low-level criminal act such as a misdemeanor. Involuntary manslaughter is distinguished from other forms of homicide because it does not require deliberation or premeditation, or intent)
10301409
Maybe. Regardless though my point is that everyone is acting like Starlight directly killed Twilight even though that’s not the case.
Damn I feel for Applejack in this chapter.
10301409
Celesta help the judge and/or jury that finds Starlight guilty of pony slaughter as opposed to murder, thus giving her a lighter sentence as no doubt a certain unhinge and mentally destroyed dragon will be out for all their heads.
10167021
Thank you
I'm happy you chose to continue this!
10167021
Thank you, yes Starlight had no intention of harming Twilight.
10608599
While It’s nice to see someone agree with me I have to ask, why are you thanking me a second time?
10608657
I forgot about doing so the first time. Sorry.
10608666
Yeah I had a feeling that was the reason.
eg crossover as in Equestria girls I just refer to it as mlp eg in short
so eg crossover a lot of grief possible very sad and anger filled redemption and starlight being on everyone in 2 worlds hit list
she dun goofed got that from a mare do well fic aj and others being weirded out on another twilight and spike that makes sense and
very emotional chaos type ensues and one of the saddest semi brutal and best spike fic other than the one I read where spike ends up in trial cuz of 2 doctors sorry about my rant
I've read this story already and just coming back to see if anything was happening and this story has always resonated with me cause I know exactly what's like to loose a parent and the most worst part is getting over it and exactly what this story describes is so perfectly close to It, no matter what you do, think, dream or deny it. You can't change it or get it back and that's what makes this story so painfully true and powerful.
Thank you Darth and I can't wait to see what else you have in store.
and hears hopping Starlight doesn't get away with what she has done.
Oh no it doesn't continue! I wanted to see Starlight go to prison!
It was Magic, Magic everywhere!
Wow, those are more useless straps than an airplane horn.
10301465
I know this comment is old as hell but it was really annoying me. You and that other Starlight user seem to be conflating morality with law. Only one person in the story actual suggests that they may try to convict Starlight with murder.
Everyone is just using murder in the sense that it is her fault Twilight was killed. Regardless of whether or not that's legally speaking true. Either way we'll never know anyways unfortunately..