Flight of the Valkyrie

by Underwood

Chapter 8: Homeward Bound

“And then I said ‘Oatmeal, are you crazy?’” Pinkie Pie finished, bursting into laughter.

Shooting Star smiled, surprised to be enjoying the company of a pony she first thought would be obnoxious and overbearing. As Pinkie concluded her lengthy and nuanced story, Spike the dragon burst through Sugar Cube Corner’s doors, staggering to a halt as he caught his breath.

“Sh- Shooting Star, Twilight asked- asked me to come get you. She has- something she wants to tell you,” he gasped, claws on his knees.

“The Princess wants to see me?”

Just as Shooting Star stood up, Twilight Sparkle appeared between them in a flash of purple.

“Shooting Star! Just the pony I was looking for!”

“If you were just- going to teleport here- why did you send me to get her?!” Spike snapped between wheezes.

“That’s not important now, Spike. Come on, I’ve got something to show you.” Twilight beamed, clearly ecstatic over something.

Not waiting for verbal consent, the alicorn teleported the pair out of the cafe, leaving Pinkie Pie and Spike in bemused silence.

“Oh come on!” the dragon yelled, throwing his claws into the air.

“I know, right? I’ve barely been in this story at all!” Pinkie empathised, before snapping back to her sugary demeanour. “Want a cupcake?”

Spike sighed, slouching toward the table in defeat. “Yes.”

Twilight and Shooting Star reappeared at her lab in Canterlot Castle, leaving the pegasus in stunned silence as the numerous and alien scientific wonders overwhelmed her senses. To their left stood a typical store mannequin dressed in familiar Valkyrie armour, while to their right lay a laden workbench, on which a plate of the same armour sat under a device.

“Here, take a look at this,” the Princess immediately began, ushering the stunned pony toward the microscope.

“What is this?”

“Oh, right.” Twilight hummed, pondering the repercussions of exposing Star to yet more future technology. “This shouldn’t be a problem if I keep things vague. Basically, it lets you see things up close. You turn that knob to zoom in and out.”

“So, like a microscope?”

“… Yes.”

While Shooting Star was aware of microscopes as a concept, the ones she knew were far more primitive than what was being presented to her now, not that she had ever used one in the first place. Twilight encouraged the Valkyrie to put her eye to the white-and-gold eyepiece.

“Do you see it?”

“Uh-”

Star peered into the protruding tube, finding some crystal-like shapes and… multiple Discords? The Princess said it showed things up-close, but what she was seeing made no sense. Surely this was some kind of… scrying device? Entertainment? Yes, perhaps this was some kind of joke; a trick of mirrors, like a kaleidoscope. How could looking at a sheet of metal show a living creature? Creatures could not possibly be so small, let alone all Discord.

“What in Equestria is this?”

“Residual chaos magic!” Twilight answered triumphantly. “On a portion of your armour! Sorry, I didn’t mean to bury the lead, but simply telling you felt a little anticlimactic, and I thought you’d like to see it for yourself. This is-”

“My armour?”

Shooting Star stepped back and yanked the metal collar from the delicate device without hesitation, causing Twilight to wince. Star turned back to the mannequin, recognising the subtle blemishes that confirmed it to be her own; not that it could be anypony else’s in this timeline, of course, but that armour was a common sight where—when—she was from, so she hadn’t thought more of it.

“What are you doing to my armour? What is this magic?”

Twilight tenderly inspected her microscope to ensure it wasn’t damaged before answering.

“Research,” she smiled with a hint of self-satisfaction. “And not just any research, but successful research!”

“Researching what, exactly?” Star asked in an increasingly annoyed tone as she trotted to the mannequin and clipped the collar-piece around its neck, leaving only the helmet missing.

“Sending you home, of course!”

“And what does my armour have to do with that?”

“Not your armour, per se, but what was on it. The final piece of the puzzle, the last ingredient of the formula, the key to-” She coughed, catching herself mid-tangent. “My point is, I’ve come up with a hypothesis that could send you back to your own time; all thanks to the residual magic left on your armour by Discord.”

“He left magic on my armour? Wait, so he did do it!” Her confused frustration quickly spiked to anger. “He lied to me, that sack of- You all lied to me! Summon him immediately and give me the truth, or so help me-”

“Woah, woah, woah. I’m starting to see the flaw in my approach.” Thankfully, she now knew how to calm the pegasus down. “Have you forgotten who you are addressing so quickly?”

Shooting Star’s eyes widened and her lips clamped shut. Indeed, the unexpected arrival of the Princess and subsequent teleportation to this strange place had overwhelmed her senses to the point of forgetting herself in front of royalty.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Twilight sighed, shaking her head as she stepped toward the pegasus in a gesture of comfort.

“I should be the one apologising. I was so caught up in my own theatrics that I didn’t consider the reality of your reaction, and the clear explanation you rightly deserve.” She levitated a stool from the workbench and set it behind Star, who accepted the offer. “I don’t understand the behaviour of your era’s Discord, but I think it’s fair to say that he wasn’t the same creature he is now. He’s changed a lot in the relatively short time I’ve known him, so how different he was two-thousand moons ago… Well, I think your account speaks for itself. That said, as morally ambiguous as Discord has been in the recent past, if the present Discord says he didn’t do it, I believe him.”

“But-!” Star let her mouth hang in silent protest, fighting the urge to argue.

Did she stay her tongue out of respect for the Princess’ authority, or was she growing tired of her own blind hatred? Having now spent some time with this era’s Discord, as disagreeable as she found him, it was clear that he and his past self were not the same creature at heart. What power could quell the pure evil of his old ways was beyond her imagination, but something must have happened between then and now. Was it wrong to hate his present self for what he was in the past, as recent as it was for her? Forgiveness was a trait she had no experience with.

Yesterday she had been invited to a boardgame night held in Canterlot Castle by the Princess’ friends, including some she had yet to meet. One of those friends was Discord, which was why she declined the invitation. Despite that, she had spied on the group from the corridor as they played, shocked by the genuine fun they seemed to be having despite their differences. Different species, former enemies, all laughing and vulnerable together… Two weeks ago she never would have imagined speaking to a dragon, let alone watch one play games with a Princess of Equestria and the monster that had invaded their capital.

What is the value of forgiveness? What is gained from accepting losses as the past and breaking bread with the one who wronged you? The answer to this question seemed to be the fundamental difference between this Equestria and hers. Her Equestria was bitter, still raw from the years spent under Grogar’s tyrannical hoof and under constant threat from other would-be invaders. Ponies of her time feared other races and chose to defend themselves rather than risk being taken advantage of again. It was common rhetoric that ‘ponies are weak’, yet here stood a prosperous nation without fear or enemies—or at least none they hadn’t overcome with little more than kind words and bouquets. How? When would steel and sleepless nights give way to cupcakes and slumber parties? Perhaps her mind was too archaic to grasp these modern ideals, but this was the future that she and the Valkyries fought for—peace, comfort, the pursuit of personal passions—but in its most extreme form: a utopia for all.

Twilight could tell Star’s silence was weighted, seemingly lost in her own thoughts as her mouth slowly closed without further protest.

“I understand that you might never be able to forgive Discord for what he did to you in your time, but getting you home should be our top priority, not who or what brought you here in the first place. As much as I wish I could make things better for you and the ponies of the past, things must unfold as they are destined to, or your future will never become our past—so to speak—and I’ve seen the dramatic effects that can have firsthoof.”

She sighed, levitating another stool and placing it in front of Star, taking a seat herself.

“Last night, my friend, Starlight Glimmer—who I believe you met at the Castle of Friendship—suggested that I erase your memory of everything you’ve witnessed since your arrival, to protect the timeline.”

Shooting Star seemed to refocus on hearing this, making eye-contact despite her dazed expression. The Princess continued.

“I was going to tell her that wasn’t a good idea, of course. Memory is a tricky thing at the best of times, and even if I did—not that I would—I don’t know how I would get you home without your knowledge and the understanding we’ve grown to share. But do you know who spoke out in your defence before I could?”

Star blinked, not having an answer.

“Rainbow Dash. She said that you’d grown so much in such a short amount of time, that there was no way we could take that away from you—that no matter what you had seen here, your experiences could have only changed you for the better.” Twilight smiled, looking at the suit of armour. “I could talk for hours about the various theories surrounding time-travel; predetermination, the möbius paradox, ripple effect and chaos theory… but Rainbow Dash’s blunt and uneducated outburst gave me the only answer I ever needed. If experiences change a creature for the better, how could that ever have negative consequences?” She turned back to Star. “I think you’re the kind of level-headed pony that accounts for consequences before making decisions. You speak your mind, but only in service of the greater good. You’ve faced impossible situations lately, yet here you sit, calm, having adapted and survived. Your moments of desperation and recklessness were only in the pursuit of returning home to protect your friends and neighbours, not ego or self-preservation.”

Twilight smiled as the pegasus looked down, thinking about those final moments of her timeline again.

“Despite the things you’ve witnessed here, I don’t see a problem in returning you home. Whether this was how it was always meant to be, or whether I’m putting the fate of Equestria in your hooves… I know you’ll do the right thing. It’s time to go home, Shooting Star.”

“But-!”

She shocked herself at the reflexive reaction to ask for more time. What would she gain by remaining? Time was critical to her friends’ fates, if it wasn’t already too late, and she didn’t belong here. So why… Why would she hesitate to leave now, after fighting for it for so long? Was it hearing Rainbow Dash’s kind words, that she would have surely never said to her face? Was it feeling seen by the Princess, having never been acknowledged by her family or peers back home? Was it knowing that the momentary connections she had made here would never be felt again?

“It’s never easy to make absolute decisions, no matter how sure we are until the choice has to be made. Nocreature is infallible, not even princesses…” She smiled weakly, thinking back on the story of The Sisters as she dismounted the stool and returned it. “It’s hard to say goodbye to friends, new or old, but you’re needed back home, aren’t you?”

Star took a deep breath, trying to organise her thoughts. The bleak reality of her era felt like a bad dream in comparison to this utopia. For her Equestria, the war had never really ended. They lived in fear of the next attack; fear of the unknown; fear of trusting one another. The fight was all she had ever known, from her abusive parents to proving herself to the Valkyries, she had always been on the defensive. Ponies like her didn’t belong in this era. She needed the fight to know her place; without it… who even was she?

“Yes.”

Twilight smiled comfortingly, knowing this was hard for both of them, even if it was the right—neigh—only choice. There are some things in this magical world that not even friendship can best.

“You’ll be glad to know that I’ve run practical tests with the help of Discord, so what I have planned isn’t purely theoretical. Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly what happened to that apple, as the speed it had to achieve to activate the time-wormhole was more-or-less equal to the speed you travelled to get here—we made a lot of apple sauce working that one out, let me tell you,” she laughed, though quickly trailed off in this sentimental moment. “Anyway, either you’ll find an extra apple in Pre-Classical Equestria, or I’ll see you in two-thousand moons for a second go.”

“This might send me even further in time?”

“There’s a non-zero chance, but I haven’t spent all this time sitting on my hooves. We wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t think this was our best option. And if it doesn’t work? Well, I guess I have plenty of time to think of something better.”

Twilight forced a smile, which was reciprocated.

“I understand, Princess.”

“Please; ‘Twilight’.”

“Thank you, Twilight.”

Star dropped from her stool and slowly trotted to the dressed mannequin, staring at it face-on. Regardless of what had happened on this bizarre journey, it didn’t change who she was: a warrior. As if looking in a mirror, she saw her face on the mannequin, standing in full plate; the symbol of Equestrian pride.

Peace, friendship, understanding—rather than losing them to this future, they were values that she would fight to bring back with her to the present. It wouldn’t be quick and it wouldn’t be easy, but she would do her duty as a Valkyrie and as a member of the Royal Guard to protect what Equestria had stood for since the first Hearth’s Warming: equality and unity. She would fight to see this future come to pass, with every fibre of her being.

With renewed purpose, Shooting Star reached out to don her battle-worn armour once more. It was time to go home.

---

The sun hung low in the sky as a surprisingly large group gathered on a balcony of Canterlot Castle to see Shooting Star off. Discord floated more-or-less where he had been two-thousand moons ago, based on the Valkyrie’s directions, accounting for the drastically different layouts of the two eras’ royal residences. Star hovered not too far from him, subtly measuring the ambient air speed and precipitation with her wings, in the almost subconscious way experienced fliers do.

Most of the ‘Mane Six’ had gathered to see off their newest friend, along with Starlight Glimmer and the other boardgame-night ponies: a blue unicorn in a starry coat, a wide-eyed griffon, a large red stallion, a blue dragon, and some bug-pony creature. It was odd to see these different creatures she had never even met waving her off, but it perfectly encapsulated the essence of this Equestria and why it tugged at her to leave it behind so soon. She mentally and physically prepared herself as Princess Twilight approached her from the balcony, flying up between the two; her starlit mane flowing in the almost non-existent breeze.

“Alright, I’ll skip the specifics, but basically Discord is going to be using the Mirror of Harmony to invert his magic. It works a little differently when chaos magic is involved, so rather than purifying it into ‘order magic’, it sort of… well, it becomes ‘negative chaos’? Not ‘anti-chaos’, but-” She shook her head. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know how it works, but it seems to effectively reverse the flow of his magic.”

Saying this, Twilight used her own magic to pass a rather ornate-looking, round, crystal mirror to the draconequus.

“Think of it like reversing the polarity of a magnet, or the changing of the tide. It’s fundamentally the same magic, but it produces the opposite effect.”

“Far be it from me to question Twilight’s neurotic dedication to double-, triple-, and quadruple-checking things,” Discord interrupted, turning his nose as he took the mirror with pinched fingers. “But if this little stunt does end up turning us both to paste, just know it isn’t personal when I reform myself afterwards. Just a little perk that comes with being me.”

Star snorted, finding his macabre humour far more palatable than the practical jokes. It took a moment for the gravity of that thought to really sink in; she found the creature who killed her squadron and destroyed the capital amusing. This Discord and the one she had attempted to sacrifice herself to delay truly were night and day. Did something happen to make him change? Were they even the same Discord? These were questions she would never have answers for, it seemed; not that it even mattered. She would be long dead by the time this Discord was around, and she wasn’t planning on making friends with the other one.

“So what do I do?” Star asked, having already been briefed, but feeling the weight and finality of this moment fray her nerves.

“All you need to do is recreate the incident that brought you here to the best of your ability. Match your speed, your trajectory, even your emotions as faithfully as possible. We don’t exactly know what the ‘secret sauce’ was that brought you here, so replicating everything is the best chance we have at triggering the same reaction. It wasn’t raining, right?”

Shooting Star shook her head. “No, same weather, same season… It might have been noon, I think.”

“Right, on it.” Without fanfare, Twilight’s horn began to glow as the sun reversed its course in the sky, now shining down from above them. “There. Nocreature will mind if we’re quick.”

If there was any doubt left in Star’s mind that Twilight was a real alicorn Princess, literally moving the sky on a whim was more than enough evidence to convince her.

“Twilight, I’m- I don’t know if I can reach that speed again. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’ve never flown that fast before.”

As unlikely as it was that Rainbow Dash heard her from the balcony below, she called up: “I believe in you, kid! You can do this!”

“Woo-hoo!” Fluttershy added.

The Valkyrie smiled weakly, which Twilight returned in full-force.

“See? They have faith in you, and so do I. Just keep home in your mind and I’m sure you’ll find your way back. And remember: the faster you’re moving, the further back in time you’ll go. The same amount of time has passed then as it has now, so you do have a few days of leeway, but it would be a disaster if you arrived before you left. It’s… It’s a whole thing, so try to match your speed the best you can, okay?”

“OK…” Star exhaled, shaking the tension out of her muscles. “Ok.”

The Princess smiled and nodded, exiting the flightpath and returning to the crowded balcony.

“Give my regards to the world’s first time-travelling apple when you get there,” Discord quipped.

“I don’t know whether I should be thanking you, or picturing you with a hole through your chest,” she retorted with a wry smirk.

“You wouldn’t be the first, my dear,” he replied in kind. “But know that for as socially stunted as that purple pony might be, I’ve never known her to fail when it matters. If she says this will get you home, you should believe her.”

“Never thought I’d hear you praising a pony. The future is full of surprises.”

“Yes, well, you won’t be around long enough to tell anycreature, now will you, firecracker?”

“Wait! Wait!” a shrill voice echoed from within the tower, drawing the attention of the audience as Rarity burst through the inner castle doors and toward the balcony.

“Rarity?” Twilight exclaimed, surprised that she was this late to begin with, and now making such a scene of it, too. Rarity was known for her dramatic flair, but this was bordering on selfish.

Skidding to a halt in the circle of assorted creatures, she doubled-over, gasping to catch her breath.

“Are you alright, Rarity? What’s going on?” Spike asked, bending down to offer his claw.

“Yes- Yes, I’m fine, just a little- Just a little winded, that’s all. One doesn’t realise just how- many steps there are in a castle- until one has to gallop up all of them in one go.”

“Glad yer here, Sugarcube, but ain’t this a bit much, even fer you?” Applejack suggested.

“Yes, sorry about that,” she gasped, catching her breath enough to stand up straight. “But I simply couldn’t let Miss Star leave without this.”

Using her blue magic to unlatch her finely embroidered saddlebag, the unicorn pulled out a gleaming silver helmet, polished to a shine with an ornate trim, intricate tableaus on the cheeks, and a rainbow faux-mane from its crest.

“Rest assured, I made it with all period-accurate materials and techniques,” she continued, floating the helmet up to Shooting Star. “I hope that’s alright with you, Twilight?”

“Well, as long as it could have existed in her time, I suppose so,” the Princess conceded, feeling bad for doubting the Element of Generosity's intentions.

Star took the gift in her hooves. True enough, this helmet was structurally identical to the standard issue one she had discarded before her confrontation with Discord, though of far superior construction and laden with embellishments. She looked it over in awe, holding it as gently and uncomfortably as a newborn foal. It was beyond anything she had seen before, from the gold piping to the glimmering jewels accenting key points, to the scenes of Equestria’s formation on its sides. It was craftsponyship worthy of the King himself, and despite its solid construction, remained light and airy as all aerial corps armour should be.

“I… I don’t know what to say,” she thought aloud, blown away by the generosity of a pony she had barely spent any time with, let alone the contempt she had shown in return.

“Do say you like it!” Rarity called up, eagerly awaiting the verdict.

“It’s- It’s incredible, thank you.”

The white unicorn beamed happily. “Twilight was gracious enough to allow me access to the Royal Archives, where she just so happened to have a superbly preserved example of a Valkyrie helm locked away. Why she never told me about such a treasure before is beyond me, but studying it allowed me to reproduce a perfectly accurate replica—if I do say so myself—from the rainbow plume down to the exquisite tableaus. Whoever designed such a beautiful piece must have been a true master craftscreature of their time, though of course I couldn’t help but add a little Rarity flair here and there,” she chuckled.

“Wait, you have a Valkyrie helmet and you never told me?” Rainbow Dash snapped, turning to the Princess. “That should be on display at the Academy, not locked up in some dusty vault! That’s pegasus heritage!”

“Rainbow Dash, please, we’re in the middle of something here. Can we talk about this later?”

The blue pegasus huffed, folding her forelegs in contempt.

“With that said, if anycreature wants to say their goodbyes, now’s the time,” Twilight instructed the crowd, eager to close the book on this bizarre chapter of her rule.

“Take care, Sugarcube,” Applejack hollered, waving her hat in the air.

“This still isn’t a sonic rainboom, I hope you know that!” Rainbow Dash shouted, before being nudged by her partner. “And… take care of yourself, kid.”

“You can do it,” Fluttershy whisper-shouted. “We all believe in you!”

“What about me?” Discord whined. “I’m putting myself in harm’s way too, you know!”

“Uh; yeah, go Discord. Woohoo,” the yellow pegasus replied ingenuously.

He snorted at the poor effort to placate him. “I’ll take it.”

“All this drama is getting quite exciting, isn’t it?” Trixie gushed to Starlight. “I’ve never been to a time-travel takeoff before. Is that what you’d call this?”

“I don’t think anycreature has,” she replied. “Hopefully this doesn’t become a thing.”

“Think about it, Starlight; if this did become a ‘thing’, we’d have already seen the time-travellers.”

The purple unicorn was stunned to silence by this thought.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving already!” Pinkie lamented loudly as little Cheese Slice watched from her mane. “There’s like a million things I still need to put in your super-secret party dossier!”

“My what?” Shooting Star yelled back.

“Noth~ing! Just promise you’ll visit again, okay? And don’t forget to write!”

“I don’t think you understand what’s going on here.”

“Have a gouda trip!” a frizzy-maned pony called from Pinkie’s side.

“Good luck with things back home!” Spike shouted, waving with a smirk. “Give Discord what-for!”

“Thanks, some friend you are,” Discord sneered.

“Hey! We never met, but my name’s Gabby!” a grey griffon called out, energetically waving her taloned hand as she hovered beside the large dragon. “I don’t know much about you, but I’m sure you’re great! Have a safe trip!”

Shooting Star didn’t really know how to respond to that, both as an awkward social exchange, but also the particular prejudice she held told towards griffons, as all ponies of her era did. Seeing them roam freely around Cloudsdale and the Academy from a distance had been one thing, but to be addressed by one directly caused a surge of otherwise softened feelings that caught her off-guard. After all, this was two-thousand years after the Great Griffon War; this griffon obviously had nothing to do with that calamity, nor did her parents, or their parents… And yet Star struggled to suppress her scowl as she locked eyes with the feathered beast.

“Um, did I say something wrong?” Gabby hesitantly asked Spike, slowly setting back to the floor to hide among the crowd.

“Uh, I wouldn’t take it personally,” he replied behind a claw. “She has creature problems.”

“Bon voyage!” a multi-coloured bug-creature called up to her, speaking in tongues she chose to ignore.

“Is that everycreature? It can’t stay day forever,” Twilight urged, scanning the audience. Content that everycreature had said their piece, she nodded up to Shooting Star with a smile. “Break a wing.”

Shooting Star nodded back with a grateful smirk. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she rose her newly acquired helmet and slid it over her ears. It smelled of buffing rub and iron, an already nostalgic scent from her barracks, and the interior pleather padding gently creaked as it fitted tightly against her skull for a perfect fit. Had Rarity measured her head while she slept? She wouldn’t put it past her; not that she was complaining.

With a proud smile, she gave the gathered crowd of new friends a final salute before flying toward Discord. He raised an eyebrow, expecting a parting sardonic comment, but was instead offered a hoof. Genuinely taken aback, he paused before reaching out and shaking it. With one last smirk, Shooting Star pulled the goggles down from her helmet and turned, flying directly away from the draconequus, leaving this new and bizarre Canterlot behind for the final time.

“You know, I think I might actually miss her,” he thought aloud.

“Aww, Discord!” Twilight empathised.

“You ponies are practically boring in comparison.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, regretting giving him the benefit.

Shooting Star beat her wings surely—having now more-or-less healed from her initial injury—as she climbed higher and higher, using the perennial landscape as reference for her original position. The air grew cold as the clear blue sky darkened and her breath grew thin. This was it. She closed her eyes, thinking back to the fight for Canterlot and what had driven her to that speed before. She had to give this her all.

“Terra or Elysium, here I come.”

With one final beat, she glided upward, hanging still in the air for a second before turning back and into a dive, flapping with all her might. The surge of air against her face was more bearable with goggles this time, but that didn’t stop it from feeling like knives against her coat as her gums began to flap against the pressure. Whoom, whoom, whoom; with each beat she sped up, aided by gravity and slightly more aerodynamic thanks to the helmet. As she passed the tips of the lesser mountains she banked up hard, struggling to keep her wings open against the oppressive air pressure. There came a sound like the tearing of paper, followed by loud pops as she could feel herself pressing up against that same invisible barrier as before—an experience that she could never forget. Discord swallowed as he held the mirror to his chest like a target. The Valkyrie began to instinctively close her eyes, feeling the air fold around her body as a deafening BOOM blasted from behind her, sending out a star-shaped rainbow shockwave.

“No. Way,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed under her breath.

“It’s a sonic rainboom!” Fluttershy screamed at an uncharacteristic volume, along with the assorted cheers of the audience.

“Nuh-uh!” the Wonderbolt desperately refuted.

“She’s- She’s going really fast,” Twilight fretted, the lone point of concern within a crowd of awe.

Discord reflexively flinched as the pegasus shot at him like a train. Shooting Star’s eyes remained tightly shut. All she could hear was the wind battering her ears like a hurricane and the slick, icy embrace of the slipstream. Her wings swung smooth and steady like oars through still water, with miles becoming years as time and space bowed to her untraceable speed. The only thought that filled her mind, besides a responsible amount of fear, was that she had to get back in time to save her friends. Nothing continuum-breaking—no meeting herself—just enough to make a difference. Just a little faster. Just a little—bit—more—and—

Had she hit Discord yet? She was on-target during the approach, so it was unlikely she had missed. At least she hadn’t felt the impact, as it would have certainly been the last thing she felt. She tried to recall her first journey through time, to compare the sensations, though right now it was hard to tell if there was a deafening cacophony or utter silence; a black void or closed eyes; movement or stillness. Feeling her breath begin to stifle and wings tire, she dared to open her eyes, finding nothing but a blur of colour behind fogged lenses. Panicking slightly, she attempted to slow down, commanding a little more control this time around.

The wind battered her feathers as she began to descend, deftly avoiding the large grey blob on her right while aiming for lighter, slower-approaching colours—hopefully clear sky. The air seemed to pop and crackle as she slowed down, with the unnoticed numbness in her limbs turning to that familiar bitter-cold stabbing, kindly reminding her that she was still alive. Despite all four legs and both wings reeling against her momentum, she wasn’t quite able to stop herself before hitting what she thought wasn’t there.

It took a few seconds for the frigid shock of the impact to pass before Star realised she had, one: mercifully hit water, and two: was, in fact, currently underwater. Frantically struggling to find up from down, she pushed herself towards the light, breaching the surface with a desperate gasp for air from burning lungs.

“Fur and feathers!” a voice screeched from the waterside, clearly taking somepony by surprise with her sudden arrival.

As light and airy as Valkyrie armour may be for flying, it was not designed for swimming, as made evident by Shooting Star’s desperate struggle to keep her head above the water.

“H-Here! Take me hoof!” the same voice called out, partly muffled by water washing over Star’s ears.

She moved towards the voice the best she could, and sure enough a pair of hooves grasped her flailing foreleg, pulling her toward the steep bank.

It took a few minutes to recover from the experience, but Shooting Star finally found herself back on solid land after what felt like an hour. Lifting the waterlogged goggles from her face with a small splash, she was finally able to look at her surroundings and who had saved her.

To her left were the looming grey walls of her era’s familiar Canterlot Palace—an oddly comforting sight given its bleak appearance and the enforced lockdown since the Queen’s passing. Home-sweet-home. For some reason the thought of doubting Twilight’s plan had not once entered her mind, and it was only now, after the manoeuvrer’s success, that the danger of what she had just done struck her. It was a strange mixture of adrenaline, pride, fear, and loss, all at once. But she was here now. But ‘when’ was here?

Kicking the water from her shoes, she turned back to the pony who had helped her out of one of Mount Friendship’s many plunge pools: Private Gliding Light. A familiar face! She couldn’t help but smile as though seeing an old friend, despite them having no social history together.

Gliding Light was a yellow pegasus with a long, orange mane tied back in a ponytail, wearing the same standard-issue Valkyrie armour as Star. Unlike most ponies she drilled, Light was a somewhat unwilling member of the squadron, taking up the mantle of her brother after his wing was irrevocably broken during the war. And unlike most ponies she flew with, Light chose to stay with Star in her defiance of their superior, confronting Discord to give the others time to escape. She was a contradiction of bravery and fear; softness and resilience; determination and trepidation. Discord had no knowledge or care of her nature, of course, swatting her like a fly during their encounter and leaving her fate unknown, until now.

“Is- Is it really you, Lieutenant?” she asked, audibly and visibly trembling.

Before Shooting Star could answer, she glimpsed a flash of light from the corner of her eye that she had become intimately familiar with as of late. Without hesitating she grabbed Gliding Light by the neck and fell backwards into the frothing basin, losing her shiny new helmet in the process. She held her panicking companion down long enough to convey the message to keep quiet, before letting go and cautiously peeking above the surface. Sure enough, Discord’s unmistakable silhouette was floating above the palace, looking for signs of the disturbance she had caused upon arrival.

Whether it was the active waterfall, their lack of unicorn or alicorn magic, or perhaps the residual chaos energy masking their presence, Discord didn’t seem to have noticed them. After looking around for a few more seconds, he shrugged, kicking a nearby pegasus statue in frustration before teleporting back from whence he came. The weighted Valkyries continued to hold their breath as they desperately kicked to not sink deeper, ensuring that he had truly left before fully surfacing. Leaving Gliding Light to struggle to the bank alone, Shooting Star took a single gasp of air before diving once more, hooking her helmet off the silt bed with one hoof and resurfacing. Once all four of her dripping-wet hooves were firmly planted back on land, she slid the helmet back over her ears, briefly showering herself with its collected contents.

“W-We could have j-just hidden b-behind that rock,” Gliding Light chittered out, now shaking from both fear and being soaked to the bone. She pointed to the nearby, large, mossy boulder she had been cowering behind before Star’s arrival.

“Sorry, I had to think fast,” Star smirked weakly. It felt strange interacting with a subordinate after her experiences in the future. Was it inappropriate to be friendly, or should she commit to discarding her old, self-isolating ways?

“It really is you, isn’t it?” the yellow pegasus smiled, relief warming her tired face.

“Yes, it’s me,” she confirmed, smiling back awkwardly. “Glad to see you, Private.”

“You are?” Light asked, genuinely confused by the show of concern as she rung out the pleather straps of her armour’s skirt. “Are- Are you alright? Did you hit your head? That was a heck of a speed you came in at.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It hurts like Tartarus, but I’ll live,” she answered, rolling her neck and aching joints. “How- uh- How long was I gone?”

“You were gone? I-I mean, it’s not like I didn’t try looking—I did—but when I saw Daisy—uh, Private Daisy Dale—fall into the water here…” she looked to the frothing pool and pointed, drawing Star’s eyes to the bottom. “I tried to get him out but- but he was just so heavy, I couldn’t…”

Shooting Star peered beneath the waves, barely making out the grey silhouette of a pony, rigid as though frozen mid-flight. She exhaled, having feared for the worst.

“At least he’s petrified.”

“‘Petrified’?”

“Yeah, this Discord seems to enjoy turning ponies to stone; weren’t you paying attention? I get the impression it’s reversable, though, so as long as he’s stone he should be fine down there. I think.”

“Did- Did you say ‘this’ Discord? Is- Is there more than one?!” Light stammered, the hopeless grimace returning to her face.

“Uh- No. You didn’t answer my question; how long has it been since we engaged him over the palace?” she asked, quickly changing the topic as she looked up to where Discord had been.

“Oh, um, I’m not sure. I had a bit of a panic attack after I couldn’t get Daisy out, and I might have… uh… been unconscious until you arrived. Was that huge bang you? What happened?”

Star looked to the east, where the sun hung significantly lower than the midday she had just come from. Having spent almost two weeks in the future, it was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed here, though it could have only been a matter of hours given Gliding Light’s account. Apparently she had not only matched her speed from the previous time-travel incident, but significantly exceeded it, considering Princess Twilight’s warning. Perhaps it was her eagerness to return home, or believing that she would come out of it alive this time, but she had only barely avoided the ‘disaster’ of that paradox-thing, whatever the consequences of that were. In truth, she had hoped she would reappear at the moment she had left, able to rejoin the fight and somehow turn the tide against Discord… Perhaps it was better that had not come to pass. Much like the fabled Icarus, she had dared to fly towards the sun with her selfish need to get back in time to make a difference, but unlike Icarus, she had accidentally fallen short. Oh well; no harm, no foul.

“So- So he’s all right?” Gliding Light asked, having received no answer to her previous question. “Shouldn’t we, um, at least get him out? What if he wakes up down there?”

“Just be glad he’s still in one piece,” Star answered dryly, the weight of her time’s plights slowly bearing back down upon her. Future Equestria was starting to feel like a pleasant dream, fading fast under the harsh light of reality. Indeed, if this sight upset Gliding Light, it was for the best that she somehow didn’t recall the scene in the throne room.

Shooting Star looked between the waterfall’s basin and the chaos-warped palace, weighing their options. Whatever grace allowed them to go undetected by Discord this time might not last forever, and there was no certainty that these petrified ponies would be revived any time soon. They were already wet, but would struggle to lift the statue even as a pair without shedding their armour, and that didn’t seem like time they could afford to waste. She didn’t even know for certain that it was possible for ponies to be revived from this state; Discord was hardly a benchmark for normalcy.

Of the few absolutes she had gleaned from the future, one was that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were safe, and that the bright future of Equestria must surely be connected to their survival through this nightmare, however unlikely that might seem right now. She had only rarely caught glimpses of the eldest royal daughter around the palace, and not once laid eyes on the younger, yet she somehow felt confident that Equestria’s future was safe in their tiny hooves. They were, after all, daughters of the great alicorns King Cosmos and Queen Stella. Might and logic had failed them; faith was all they had left now.

“Did the others get away?” Star asked, once again not answering the Private’s question.

“You mean the Commander and the others? I think so, I didn’t see them again. We kept that monster busy, like you ordered. Tried to, anyway. I think- I think I’m the only one left, though,” she answered meekly, twisting her armoured hoof into the soft ground.

“Then I think we’ve done all we can here. They flew to Pegasopolis, right?” she asked rhetorically, turning to the western horizon.

“Yes, but-”

Gliding Light was silenced by the sky suddenly coming to life, rendered speechless as the sun and moon began doing laps above them, making it feel as though days were passing in seconds. Sudden shifts in the stars was not uncommon as of late, given the King’s condition, but it was never like this—never this chaotic.

“What in Elysium-” Star exclaimed, shielding her eyes from the flashing as she looked up.

“It- It must be that monster!” Light squeaked, retreating behind her boulder. “It really does have the power of an alicorn! Oh fur and feathers!”

Star scowled. It came as no surprise to her that Discord’s power might extend this far, but the reality of it was just as terrifying. This Discord really did see ponies—neigh, the world—as toys to be played; entirely at his whim to tease or destroy… What changed? Would the royal sisters somehow get through to him—have him change his ways? Whatever the cause, as unsafe as any of Equestria was right now, this was probably the worst place of all to remain idle.

“We should go,” she stated with authority.

Indeed, as confused and helpless as she had been in the future, this was who she was in her era. Strong, decisive, reliable; a leader. The future may be all sunshine and cupcakes, but her Equestria required assertiveness and strength to survive, and that’s exactly the kind of pony she had always strived to be. She had to take the reins, for her own sake, as well as everypony around her. Now was the time for action, not theories.

“But we can’t do this alone,” she continued. “Any suggestions?”

Gliding Light blinked, taken aback. “You want… my suggestion? Um, well, let’s see.” She scratched her mane, remembering that she had lost her helmet when she was whipped into the royal rose garden by Discord. “All the Valkyries are gone, and I don’t imagine there’s anypony else left in the palace… If we wanted help, it would have to be from outside of Canterlot for sure.”

“Outside Canterlot, hm?” she pondered, thinking of all the options they would have had in Future Equestria. But this wasn’t the future, this was the present. Even if they dared ask another race for help, they would be lucky to leave with their lives, much less aid against an all-powerful monster. The other races would surely fall to Discord’s whims sooner or later as well, but right now Equestria was hardly owed any favours. No, if they wanted help, it would have to be from a pony settlement yet untouched by Discord’s evil. “Can you think of anypony?”

“Hm. Ponydale is the only settlement I can think of between here and Pegasopolis, but they’re just a bunch of farmers.” Gliding Light shook her head. “Besides the Nephophytes, the only other warriors I know of are the Mighty Helms, but they’re way out west.”

“The ‘Mighty Helms’?”

“It’s a tribe of primitive terrans that live on an isolated island in the Frozen Sea. They’re on the blacklist, though…”

“And you think they’ll be of use?”

“I- uh- I don’t know. If you want to meet up with the others at Pegasopolis, they’re the only other ponies I can think of in that direction. But they dissented after the War, so they might not even want to help us.”

“The Frozen Sea, huh? That’s twice the distance to where Pegasopolis should be… Two days flight without a break, I’d say.”

Gliding Light swallowed. “You don’t- You don’t want me to fly that far, right? Normal ponies don’t have your stamina, Lieutenant.”

“Then it’s a good thing you’re a Valkyrie, and not a ‘normal pony’, isn’t it?” Star replied with a wry smirk. “Don’t worry, you can stay at Pegasopolis. I’ll go on alone if I have to. However they feel about the War, we have to stand united against Discord. Every hoof counts.”

With that, Shooting Star took to the air, offering a symbolic hoof to the Private.

“Let’s go.”

Gliding Light nodded, flying up beside her superior before the two set off westward.

“By the way, Lieutenant, where did you get that fancy helmet from?” she asked, having worked up the nerve.

“Oh, this? It… It’s a long story,” she smiled, thinking back to the dream-like ride her last few days had been. “It was from a friend.”

Gliding Light blinked in confusion as the two pegasi continued toward the North Brine, also known as the Frozen Sea, just as the sun settled on the horizon, silhouetting their glistening armoured frames with its golden rays. For what had been the darkest day in living history, knowing that it would all be alright in the end—however that point was reached—helped Shooting Star push on. However bad the present might get, there would always be hope if they were destined for such a bright future. She wouldn’t live long enough to see it herself, but if she could help set Equestria on the right path, that would be enough for her. The rest would be up to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

---

Two weeks later, an apple appeared from seemingly nowhere beside Canterlot Palace, moving at such a speed it had no time to consider its existence in this new era before it hit one of the palace’s towers, leaving behind nothing but a sweet paste.

Discord teleported to the roof of the palace once more, disturbed by the sudden burst of strangely familiar magic, yet once again finding nothing. He huffed in frustration.

“Perhaps I should put some of those ponies to work as guards. This really is beneath me.”

And with that, he teleported back to this throne room, eager to plot his next mischief with the other races of this vast and varied world. Flying reindeer? Hairless yaks? Perhaps a race of aquatic half-ponies? His options really were limitless. This fresh, new world was his oyster, and without the threat of those so-called ‘alicorn princesses’ to stop him, he could do whatever he liked. Today was another wonderful day in his Discordia, and gosh, did it feel good to be him.

Author's Note:

This story continues in The Tale of Two Sisters.

1st Edition - 21st February, 2023 (Release) (8,024 words)

Comments

[Moonlight_Mist]

Is the story over? Or is there going to be another chapter in the post-series Equestria?

[Underwood]

11512774
There's a future-Equestria epilogue coming soon, and the possibility of two more bonus chapters in the future: one what-if, and one covering the mentioned O&O session.