Ch. 17 Interlude IV
Starlight had spread parchment across the table in the map room of the castle, each one containing variations of the time spell. She had tried each and every one of them in past loops, over a hundred total, and not one had fixed or ended her imprisonment.
Every relevant book from the small town library, and the castle’s extensive library, were stacked up around her. As far as she could tell, there was not a single useful bit of information left on how to fix a screw up of this magnitude.
Even with Minuette’s help over countless interrogations, Starlight didn’t have what she needed. She was convinced that the blue unicorn wasn’t holding anything else back at this point. It’s easy to lie, but it’s a lot harder when a pony can just ask a new question a slightly different way the next day and you can’t remember your original lie.
Whatever Minuette knew, Starlight knew, and that scared her. There was nothing left to try, no more untapped resources, just a town full of ponies who couldn’t be of use to her. The pegasus Dawn was a particular nuisance, and seemed to be aware they were trapped in a loop. Starlight had spent days interrogating Minuette about how he knew this, and where he lived. Unfortunately, that was something Minuette seemed determined to take to her grave over and over. Starlight hadn’t run into Dawn around town for days; it was almost like the stallion had vanished completely. At least his sneaking around in the shadows provided her a brief reprieve.
Ponies frustrated Starlight to no end when they’d choose friendship over self-preservation or logic. Minuette would be an eternal punching bag just to protect some worthless pegasus who couldn’t levitate a book, let alone fix a time spell. Starlight was almost certain the two must have been seeing each other.
Still, all those concerns were secondary to the elephant in the room. Starlight had tried almost everything she could think of, there was only one thing left she could do to escape this time loop.
Starlight cast a spell on herself to try and bring herself out of phase with time slightly. Everything in the room appeared in a slight double vision as she got out of her chair.
It was at this moment Spike walked in, looking over at the unicorn in confusion. She reminded him of Twilight at first, sitting amidst a pile of books and scrolls deep in study. Then he recognized her from the warnings Twilight had given him of a mare known as Starlight.
“Um, can I help you?” Spike asked. “If you’re here to cause trouble, we’ll stop you again.”
Starlight smiled at the little dragon as she walked over towards the window. Her motions were smooth and carefree as she climbed up into the window, and stepped outside, still smiling.
“Starlight!” Spike shouted, running over to the window.
There was a thud from outside. Spike looked down from the window to find one very dead villain on the ground, several stories below.
Starlight ran straight into the crystal door of the map room. She sat down, not bothering to wipe the blood from her nose or pull the door open. She sniffled in defeat, and began to mutter to herself.
“Of course I can’t die, even if I try to suspend the spell. Everypony else that died came back. There really is no escape. This is my prison for billions of years.”
She began to sob, leaning against the wall as she contemplated this fate worse than death. At least the other ponies were blissfully ignorant, they would never know of the prison they lived in. For Starlight, and possibly that pegasus Dawn, they would live every day dreading the millions that would follow.
At some point her tears had dried up, but Starlight still didn’t have the strength to stand. There was a blanket that somepony had put over her shoulder while she had laid there crying, and a small pillow nearby. Perhaps it had been Spike that had found her and shown sympathy. Starlight spent the rest of the day curled up outside the map room.
The next day Starlight had another idea, one she hadn’t tried before. She had hurried over to Minuette’s to demand answers. The light blue pony was currently on her couch with her legs encased in crystal.
“Even if there was a way to pierce the barrier of damaged time, and there isn’t, I wouldn’t tell you. This isn’t a problem you can run away from, it’s one that you have to fix,” Minuette explained. “You’re lucky you didn’t tear space-time wide open. That barrier you keep asking about is probably the only thing holding reality together. You know as much about it as I do, and I only heard about it half an hour ago.”
“We’ve been over this,” Starlight replied “I’ve tried everything, hundreds of iterations, it can not be done! However, if I fix the spell locally, just a big enough gap for a pony to squeeze through...”
“You haven’t tried asking for our help.”
“Please,” Starlight huffed. “A town full of earth ponies and pegasi. If I need to grow some carrots and make it rain, I know just what to do. As far as unraveling time spells go, you’re the only pony in this town worth a damn, and you refuse to help me.”
Minuette rolled her eyes. “Well, did you think maybe shooting first might give the wrong impression? Heck, I’d probably be none the wiser if you just asked nicely.”
“Oh, I’ve tried nice, and I ran out of patience after a few months. I even tried making friends, but by the time I’d made one the loop reset, leaving me alone again. You want to know the only thing worse than being alone, Minuette?”
“What is it?”
“It’s being surrounded by ponies that make you feel alone. Every single day I see every pony but me living their happy lives. Even in this prison, they’ve known more happiness in a day than I have since I was a filly.”
Minuette tried to cast a spell, causing the crystal encasing her horn to glow brightly for a moment, before the spell fizzled. “Fine, you win for the most tragic backstory. However, we can still help you.”
“Oh? Like how your coltfriend Dawn wants to help? You never did tell me how it is he seems to remember the loops,” Starlight observed.
Her eyes shot to the window and the house across the street. In her haste today, Starlight hadn’t bothered to draw the curtains shut.
Starlight followed her gaze and smirked. “Well, this just got interesting. How many times have we done this dance, Minuette, and you finally slipped up.”
“Please—” Minuette’s plea was cut off as Starlight’s magic expanded the clear crystal, trapping the unicorn in it like a mosquito in amber.
She stepped outside, closing the door behind her and looking up at the home across the street. Starlight saw somepony watching from the window, but the curtains closed before she got a good look.
“Was it really this simple the whole time?” She walked across the street and let herself into the house. She looked around for any photos, but didn’t see any. The home certainly looked messy enough to belong to a stallion. Before she could head up the stairs, she heard a hissing sound and a large black cat pounced on Starlight.
She batted it away with her levitation, and the cat ran under the couch. Starlight proceeded up the stairs, and began to look around the room for the owner of the home. She saw one of the dresser cabinets sitting slightly open. Pulling out the drawer, she looked into it to guage who the contents might belong to.
“Uh, hi. Can I help you?” A bright pink pegasus mare stood in the doorway to the bathroom. Her blonde hair and blue highlight was about as opposite the stallion Starlight was looking for as it could get.
Starlight nearly teleported away out of sheer frustration, but decided to ask a few questions before she left this mare.
“Sorry, I was looking for a stallion friend of mine.” Starlight smiled and glanced over at the mare. She already had decided on a believable enough lie. ‘I think he’s been… cheating on me. Do you live here alone?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “Just me.”
“And you are?” Starlight asked.
The pegasus blurted out with the unearned optimism of most of their kind, “Sunny Cloud.” Starlight had to fight from rolling her eyes, wondering how a cloud could be sunny. Maybe partly cloudy would have fit her better, but her cutie mark had no clouds on it.
“Ah, Sunny.” Starlight levitated an object out of the nearby dresser. “I see you’ve got some rather interesting… marital aids.” She dropped it back into the drawer with a thud, causing something else to start buzzing softly against the wooden dresser. “And some of these outfits seem a bit big for a mare.” Starlight’s eyes flicked to the open drawer, then back to the pink pegasus. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to spot any signs the mare was lying.
Sunny took a moment to reply. “I’m a friend of Cloud Kicker’s.” Feathers brushed softly along the unicorn’s flank. “Friends with benefits you could say. Have you heard of the weather vein trick?”
Starlight’s brain skidded to a halt, as she contemplated the odds of being hit on by a horny stranger while stuck several months into a time loop in the search for a stallion with a special talent of being a pain in her ass. The formula must have contained division by zero and her mind skidded to a halt, as she glanced back at the horny pegasus. “Wait, what?”
“I’m no stranger to horns either, if you’re feeling horny. Mysterious pony breaking into my home is one of my top three fantasies,” she explained.
Starlight pictured herself using a few choice spells to have her way with the mare, but only for a brief moment. “No… Just no!” She groaned, making a mental note to take a long bath later to alleviate some of her frustrations. “Look, I’m looking for an idiotic cyan pegasus stallion. Everypony seems to know everypony in this damn town, so can you at least tell me who it is?”
Sunny tapped a hoof to her chin, eyes looking up and to the right. “Hmm, real sarcastic smart ass? Always doing reckless stuff? Sounds like Dawn. I think he lives near Ghastly Gorge.”
“Thank you!” Starlight blurted out in relief. “Finally somepony in this town can answer a bucking question on the first try. Well, sorry to have barged in, Sunny! Take care!” Her horn lit up and without further explanation, she threw herself across town and near the canyon.
When the spell ended, Starlight stood near the barrier and on the upper lip of Ghastly Gorge. She looked around, noticing there were very few homes near the gorge that she’d need to check. After that, Starlight could pursue her lead about piercing the barrier. If she could poke even a small hole through the barrier, then she could dive through and escape to freedom. Once on the other side, the best case is she would be free forever, and the worst case was she could teleport back to the Canterlot library to pursue further leads. Starlight had tried to teleport through the barrier before, but it had instantly reset the loop.
Starlight grinned. It was hard to imagine she had been desperate enough to casually step out a window mere days ago, but for the first time this year she felt a spark of hope. Now she just needed to take care of a loose end before it could stick its nose in her business and ruin everything.
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11135984
Scott Bakula is awesome, he had a nice cameo on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia of all places.
11136233
Lyra really is awesome, maybe if Dawn had picked her instead of Dash we could have avoided everything that was bad about the old 3rd story.
So this just a previous chapter from starlight's side? That kinda didn't really add much to the whole thing I gotta say.
You're a cocktease leaving the last chapter off like you did and following it up with an interlude.
11136660
That's how all of the interludes have worked. It's just more blatant now that the two are actually interacting.
I'm waiting with a Polaroid for the "why am I" moment.
11136634
I liked the old version... hurt comfort is cathartic.
Tsk, posting an interlude when what I crave is more content?! Pure evil!
I really like that we get to see how desperate Starlight was getting, a sort of "window" into her soul where we can see how she got to the point she's at.
Hopefully the next post doesn't trick me like this one did... Remember, Friend Pinkie is watching you!
.... but only when it isn't weird!
You know Starlight, I'd actually feel bad for you... except everything that's happened is kinda your fault, so...
11136937
I think I know that already. I did read the chapter
It's certainly interesting to see how Starlight is handling the loops she definitely needs some R&R, oh well slipping into madness is an option too.
"take care of a loose end"
few straws short of a haystack there starlight
Looks like this story hit a time loop... we're seeing events that already happened!
I'm sick with the Coof, so got plenty of time to binge this. This is so much better than just the brutal darkness of the previous version. There's actual stakes, a coherent story, and it has plenty of comedy moments to keep this light hearted mostly and entertaining.
If Dawn and Starlight compare each other's notes, the they would quickly realize a few things.
where is Rahs when you need a magic eating doggo