The Desperate Journals of Starlight Glimmer

by Arararagi

Entry #5

The next thing I remembered was waking back up in my bed. I gasped for air as the sensation of being hung still lingered in my mind. Uncertain of where or when I was, I carefully peeked around the castle a bit. Twilight was once again sitting at her desk, working on the treaty, and Spike was in the kitchen making toast. There were none of the royal guards wearing purple armor. The calendar in the kitchen read June 11th; I had looped again.

Somewhere in my mind, the entire time I was getting sentenced to the gallows I had hoped this would happen. Feeling oddly vindicated I started laughing out loud, but it didn't make me feel any better. I was glad to be alive, yet the experience had been too real for me. I needed to keep my mind on track, or I would soon lose it. How much more of this sort of thing could a pony's mind take?

"Starlight? Are you okay?" A voice called. It belonged to Spike, who was now standing behind me with his half-eaten toast, a confused look on his face.

"No Spike, I'm not okay." I replied, tears streaming from my face. The kind little dragon responded by running over and hugging me. His breath was awful, and he was getting crumbs all over my fur, but I didn't care. I was thankful for the gesture, and hugged him back tightly.

We stayed like that for a minute or so before he asked, "So who was it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who made you cry? I'll beat him up!" Spike asked in a tone that would have been threatening, had he not been half my size. I started giggling as my mind processed what Spike had assumed.

"You think I'm crying about a stallion?" I managed to say between laughs.

"You're... not?"

I shook my head. "No, Spike. I wasn't crying because of a stallion." I finally stopped laughing and just smiled back at Spike. "But thank you. I feel much better now." I stroked his adorable head gently. "You helped me remember I'm not alone."

Spike still looked confused, but said nothing. We stayed like that for at least another minute before parting and going our separate ways.

*******

Much later, I had enlisted Trixie, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie's help in finding Luna's missing crystal. Trixie was all too eager to help me, and Pinkie Pie was not hard to convince either. "That sounds like fun!" was her response. I had not originally planned to bring Rainbow Dash, but she practically volunteered once she heard Pinkie Pie was going. I suspected I could have asked Twilight for help as well, but I figured she needed to complete the treaty this cycle. In the early afternoon, we set off into the Everfree Forest towards the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"So remind me again why we need to find this crystal thingy?" Rainbow Dash asked about three seconds in.

"You mean besides the fact that Princess Luna herself asked me to retrieve it?" I shot back. "It's a powerful magical artifact made by Starswirl the Bearded. Do you really want to know more than that?"

Rainbow Dash muttered something about unicorns under her breath, but then replied, "No, I guess not."

Besides the sound of Pinkie Pie softly humming some gleeful song as she bounced along, we walked in relative silence for a few minutes before I noticed Trixie's hooves were shaking. I gently poked her in the side, and she jumped a bit before realizing it was me.

"What's wrong, Trixie?" I said, giving her an evil grin. "Are you afraid?"

"T-trixie fears nothing!" was her reply.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash said, obviously unconvinced. "Then why do you look like you just saw Nightmare Moon?"

"Trixie doesn't know what you are talking about." She scowled. "This forest does not scare her, nor the many deadly animals and plants that live here." Trixie started breathing faster as she continued talking. "No, Trixie is not scared at all."

“That’s good,” Pinkie Pie sing-songed, “cuz I thought you looked kinda scared, but that would be silly cuz Rainbow Dash is with us and Starlight is pretty powerful too, Imeannotaspowerf-”

She was cut off when Rainbow Dash inserted her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth.

“Okay Pinkie we get it.” Rainbow pleaded.

Pinkie gently pushed the hoof away. “We do?” She looked over at Trixie, who still looked a bit nervous, though not as much as before.

“Trixie supposes she is in good hooves.” Trixie replied in subdued tones.

The rest of the trip went rather smoothly after that.

*******

We finally arrived at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Even in ruins, it was quite a sight to behold. It was much smaller than its successor in Canterlot, but it was still very large. Just from the outside, I could tell it was divided down the middle into two opposite wings. One each for Celestia and Luna, I presumed.

We spent a long time searching the entire castle for Starswirl's crystal. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to find. At first, Pinkie and the others were eager to help turn over every stone in search of the crystal, but several hours later our enthusiasm had waned. Celestia's sun hung low in the sky, and I decided it was time we either set up camp for the night, or headed home.

It was right then, that I happened to notice that something looked off. Behind where the two thrones would have once sat, there was an odd pattern in the wall. One that didn’t make any sense, structurally. I approached the wall and inspected it more closely.

*******

Several pages are missing from the text here. They were neatly torn out at the base, leaving only tiny scraps of paper.

*******

I have rewritten this part many times. I find it extremely hard to describe exactly what happened as I feel words cannot truly do the experience justice, but I will try.

The next few things that happened to me felt like a blur. It was like I wasn’t really there? I had experienced something similar the few times I had been sent back in time before, but they were nothing like this. This was far stronger. It felt like I was moving in slow motion, but unable to control my actions. And yet, paradoxically, the whole event felt like it only took maybe a minute or two. Before, I felt like I was underwater; this time the pressure was choking me. At least, until I started falling.

When I touched my hoof to the wall, that was when I felt time slow to a crawl. My vision went completely white for a moment and then a bright tendril of light shot out into the sky. I was blasted backwards as the wall I touched shattered into a million pieces, or rather what looked like a wall did. Now we could clearly see it was in fact an illusion. There was a hidden staircase behind it!

I think I lost consciousness when I collided with one of the stone columns. The next thing I remember, I was being carried down those stairs by Trixie, as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash followed. We found the artifact, but it was encased in some powerful magical barrier. My memory of this part is especially hazy, but somehow I managed to get through the barrier and touch the crystal. Then, it only got worse.

In short, I fell, but not quite. At least, it felt like I was falling. I'm not sure how long I fell, but it was a long time. Long enough for me to change moods from terrified, to confused, to somewhat calmer as I tried fruitlessly to figure out what was happening. Finally, as I wondered if I would be stuck falling through an endless black void forever, I suddenly landed, hard.

Pain. For several long moments, all I could feel was pain. Before I could regain rational thought and see what had happened, I heard a voice.

"Are you okay?" It said. The voice was feminine, and I did not recognize it.

I tried opening my eyes and looking around. I saw branches, grass, and a small green earth pony mare with a blonde mane. The world was upside down. Slowly, it sunk into my rather rattled mind that I was stuck in a tree. As I attempted to move my limbs, I confirmed that I was, indeed, stuck.

"I'm stuck." I replied. "Can you help?"

"Oh, Yes! Ah’ course!” The young mare replied. “I’ll get ya down in a jiffy.”

She eyed the tree carefully before turning around, rearing up and bucking the tree. My whole world shook violently. Before I knew it I was airborne, but right as I expected a hard landing again, I was caught in the hooves of my savior.

“Why hello there, Missy.” She said. “Mah name’s Granny Smith. What’s yers?”

I stared at her blankly for a moment before automatically replying. “I’m Starlight. Starlight Glimmer.” I looked myself over briefly. I still had my saddlebags, and besides a few new bruises I was probably fine. Thank Celestia this Granny Smith was here. Who knew how long I could have been stuck in a tree?

Wait. Granny Smith? In my not-quite-alert state I had almost missed the fact that this pony called herself Granny Smith. Was she a badly disguised changeling, or just a pony that didn’t want to give me her real name?

“Well ain’t that a unicorn’s name if I ever heard one!” She laughed, as she gently put me down on my hooves. I was still a tad disoriented, but I managed to stand.

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be. I don’t mean no offense, it's just this is mostly an earth pony town, so we don’t get many unicorns that come through these parts.” She explained. “Might I ask how you ended up in that tree?”

I didn’t want to lie to this mare who just saved me, but I couldn’t really explain what happened myself. So I said just that: “I’m not quite sure.”

“Yah don’t know?” Granny Smith acted surprised for a moment before rubbing her chin with a hoof. “I guess ya wouldn’t. What do ya remember?”

“I remember falling. Then everything hurt.” It was all technically true. As I looked at this ‘Granny Smith’ I could see a resemblance to the real thing. They had the same coat color, and although the Granny Smith that I had met before had a grey mane, while this one had a blonde one, their faces did look somewhat similar.

“Alright, you can tell me if you remember anything else later. Right now, follow me. You can spend the night with my family.”

“Really?” It was my time to be surprised again. “Just like that, you’ll give me a place to sleep?”

“Well I don’t know about you, Miss Glimmer, but I don’t want to stay out here any longer.” Granny Smith explained. Then in a lower voice she continued, “Celestia will set the sun soon. We need to get back to Ponyville before the Timberwolves come out. They get feisty this time a year.”

*******

Granny Smith led us back out of the Everfree Forest rather easily. The paths had changed somewhat from my memory, and I might have gotten lost if she had not helped. I thought we might pass right by Zecora’s hut, but it was nowhere to be seen. That was not the biggest surprise, however. No, that was when we made it back to Ponyville.

It wasn’t the Ponyville I remembered. It wasn’t even half the size. Twilight’s crystal castle was nowhere to be seen, and many other buildings were missing as well. It was an entirely different village!

“This is Ponyville?” I asked in disbelief.

“Well, I’m sorry it ain’t Canterlot, Miss unicorn, but we like it just fine here.” Granny Smith said, cantering ahead of me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way.” I protested. “I just expected something… different.”

She slowed down and looked back at me as she cocked an eyebrow. “Different, how?”

“I, uh, guess I just expected more ponies.” This was also not entirely false. This Ponyville was missing more than just a few ponies, though.

This made Granny Smith smile. “Well, yer one more pony, ain’t ya?”

I smiled back. “I guess I am.”

“Come on, let’s eat supper and get some sleep.”

“That sounds good to me.” I replied honestly.

*******

The rest of my evening with Granny Smith confirmed my suspicions. Or rather, one look at the calendar did. It was the year 1193 R.C.! I had somehow traveled back in time over fifty years!

To be exact, right now it is the morning of June 9th, 1193 R.C. A Monday. Funny, since I had traveled back fifty-five years, almost to the day.

Not even Starswirl the Bearded could do that! All of his spells were limited to a maximum of around fifteen years. Most ponies wouldn’t know that, since his time travel spells are all forbidden, but I happened to have some first hoof experience. Anypony reading this probably knows about my most embarrassing mistake ever, when I almost destroyed Equestria over my petty feud with Twilight. What you might not know is that I felt I had to act right away when I found Starswirl’s spells because in less than a year I might not have been able to travel back far enough.

But now I was over fifty years in the past! How? Why? I had so many questions. Before I met Twilight, I laughed at the existance of fate. Now? I’m nearly sure this is no coincidence.

“Starlight?” A familiar voice spoke, “I don’t mind givin ya a bed to sleep on, but it ain’t no free ride here.”

I looked up from my journal. Granny Smith had come to wake me up. She stood at the doorway, patiently awaiting me to follow.

“Let me guess,” I said, standing up and stretching my legs. “You need my help bucking apples?”

“Oh, the smart-pants unicorn thinks she can buck apples?” a new voice defiantly questioned. The pony in question walked through the door a moment later. It was a small tom-coltish filly, with a rather striking coat of bright fire orange. Her mane was blonde, but dirty with speckles of browns and gold, as opposed to Granny Smith’s immaculate natural blonde.

Her name was Ambrosia, or little Amb, as many called her. She was quite the lively filly. What worried me, however, is that she didn’t exist in present day Ponyville from my perspective. I had never heard of her. That was strange, since I knew everypony in Ponyville.

“Ambrosia, that is no way to talk to a guest!” Granny Smith scolded her.

“It’s fine Granny Smith. I think she just requires a demonstration.” I replied, smugly grinning right back at the filly. “Just give me a moment to pack up here.”

I think I’ll end this entry here for now. Hopefully when I come back to write more tonight, I will have figured out more about my current situation.

Comments

[MercuryTwilight]

This is definitely going in a different direction than what I pictured but I like!