//------------------------------// // The End // Story: The Unequal // by Invinsible //------------------------------// “Ugh…” Starlight Glimmer groaned as she came to. “Stop knocking me out. Please?” “Oh, very well. Last time.” Starlight picked herself off the ground and stood up. She and the filly were inside an incredibly dark cavern. One that looked somewhat familiar to her. “Where have you taken me?” The filly chuckled. “Come now dearie, you remember this place. Right now we’re in the middle of the elaborate cave maze that you fled into after Princess Twilight and her friends reclaimed their cutie marks and kicked you out of Your Town.” Starlight sighed. “Thanks for reminding me about the third worst day of my life.” The filly tilted her head. “Only third?” “The second was the day Sunburst got his cutie mark. Can you guess the first?” Starlight asked with a half-lidded glare. “The day you met me?” the filly asked with a smile. “Nailed it,” Starlight sighed. The filly giggled cheerfully before she asked, “But what about after that?” “As far as I’m concerned that day has been going on for months. And it still hasn’t ended.” Starlight stared at the filly with a hollow look in her eyes. “Why won’t today end?” The filly chuckled. “Well my dear, we’re almost there. Now look around and tell me what you see.” Starlight sighed and did as she was told. “We’re in a huge, dark cave. I can’t make out any distinctive details.” “What about me? What about you?” Starlight stared at her. “You’ve got your mane in pigtails again. You washed off that creepy makeup.” “And yourself?” Starlight spun in a slow circle as she examined herself. “I look about the same. My injuries from our fight seem to have healed. My cutie mark is exposed on one side but I still have a fake equal sign on the other side of my flank.” The filly smirked. “Why, yes. You could almost say you look the same as when you first entered these caves.” Starlight frowned tiredly. “What are you implying this time?” The filly giggled and gestured around her. “Consider this cave, a visual symbol of your many possible futures. You’re at a crossroads, dearie. Dozens of ways to escape, but only one option is better than your current situation. This is our final game, Starlight. Choose wisely and you can live a happy life. Choose poorly and you’ll belong to me.” The filly’s evil grin widened. “Forever.” Starlight gulped. “N-now hold on a minute! I need to know the rules of the game before I play!” The filly smiled. “You know what, since I’m feeling generous I’ll let you decide on the rules. You can’t make it too easy for yourself though. Pick something that you want to achieve and if I agree, the game can begin!” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “You’re letting me pick the rules? This…feels like a trap.” The filly giggled. “I couldn’t trap you anymore if I tried. At this point you are lower than rock bottom, dearie. Let me help you. First rule is that I won’t physically hurt you and you won’t physically hurt me. Does that sound fair?” “Ok. Second rule, you can’t hurt me emotionally, psychologically, or-” “Nope.” The filly said with a grin. “Try again.” “You already said I’m lower than rock bottom!” Starlight cried. “And yet I’m still going easy on you.” “Going easy on me?!” “Compared to other bad guys I’ve met, you’re not that evil. And I didn’t punish you nearly as bad as them.” The filly smirked at her. “Trust me darling, you’d rather not know.” “Fine…” Starlight sighed. “Can’t I just pick a tunnel and you’ll tell me if it’s the right way?” The filly rolled her eyes. “Dull.” Starlight frowned. “Alright, give me a minute. Something I want to achieve…hmm.” She scratched her head in thought. “So if I win, you’ll let me go?” The filly nodded. “Well that’s one thing I want to achieve, but you said I can’t just pick a tunnel…what else do I want?” Starlight’s eyes widened. “I’ll never get a chance like this again. Okay. The game will be figuring out just what kind of creature you really are.” The filly giggled. “Seriously?” Starlight frowned. “Well what else can I-” The filly held up a hoof, interrupting her. “I wasn’t saying no, dearie. I just find it funny that you still haven’t guessed right yet.” “Well I’ve got nothing else to lose,” Starlight sighed. “So, if I guess right, you’ll let me go.” The filly smirked. “Take as many guesses as you want. You’ll need them.” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “How suspiciously generous of you. If I guess right, you need to tell me if I was right.” “If I want to lie, you can’t stop me. That’s as honest as I ever get, dearie.” Starlight sighed. “Fine.” The filly grinned and raised her right hoof in the air. “Aschente!” Starlight gave the filly an odd look. “Ash…tent…what?” The filly lowered her hoof and sighed dramatically. “A word that comes from a better world, my friend. In my humble opinion, anyway. I might be good at solving my problems with violence but I do wish there were more creative options.” The filly shook her head and chuckled. “Don’t mind me darling, I’m just babbling nonsense again. Go ahead.” “Okay,” Starlight sighed. “I didn’t want to say this out loud, but it looks like I don’t have much of a choice anymore. You’re…you’re my d…daughter. From the future.” She winced a little. “There, I said it. I honestly don’t know what happened to you in the future beyond what you showed me in that one nightmare, but I am so sorry if I ever hurt you.” The filly smirked at her. “Sorry dearie. You’re wrong.” Starlight blinked at her. She readjusted her footing on the ground and said, “What?” The filly’s smirk grew. “I’m not your daughter. I made the whole story up.” “But…but…no! No, you showed me that nightmare! That…that couldn’t have-” Starlight stopped as she felt a headache building up. Something wasn’t right. The filly pointed at the floor and giggled. “I see you’ve let go of that rock I gave you.” Starlight followed the filly’s hoof and saw that her front hooves were resting on a rock that definitely wasn’t there before. Cracks were forming on the rock as it slowly sunk into the ground before disappearing completely. “What’s going on? What’s happening?!” Starlight asked as she felt the cave rumble. “I suggest you take a deep breath. And hold it.” The filly chuckled as she disappeared into the darkness. Five seconds later, a tidal wave of inky, black water came rushing into the cave. Starlight let out a terrified cry and tried to teleport away. Gazing up at her horn and realizing that it wasn’t even glowing, she desperately tried to escape the incoming flood. But all she could do was follow the filly’s advice as gallons upon gallons of water rammed into her like a freight train. Starlight never really thought she would have to worry about drowning. She learned how to swim at around the same age as most colts and fillies, but after her swimming lessons she lost interest. And yet her she was getting tossed and turned in roaring waves of black water. Being the intelligent unicorn that she was, she tried to swim upwards in the direction she hoped would lead her to fresh air. But the water was so dark that she couldn’t even see her own hooves in front of her face. Eventually her hooves touched something and quite suddenly, the water began to drain out of the cave. She gasped in a lungful of air as the water flowed out of sight. Her shocked gaze spun around the cave, noting how completely dry everything was. Her hooves were resting on another rock and the filly’s hooves were right next to her. The filly chuckled and let go of the rock. “Well that was fun.” “What…how…that…” Starlight groaned and pressed her hooves to her temples. Taking several seconds to calm down, she sighed and said, “That was just another trick of yours, wasn’t it?” The filly stared up at the cavern ceiling in contemplation. “By now it should be obvious that you are not my first enemy. No, I faced evil earlier than you and even greater than you. Many of the arrogant thugs and dictators liked the sound of their own voice even more than I like the sound of my own. Would you like to hear what this one guy said? “He said, 'there can be no true despair without hope'. Honestly, that’s just stupid. It can hurt something awful when your hopes aren’t fulfilled but being optimistic doesn’t make you miserable. Hope is stronger than despair. But the trick is, hope is an emotion for heroes. Bad guys can have hope but hope can never be used to do bad things. “To manipulate you into fixing your mistake, I needed to push you into a spot where your mind can’t escape even if your body can. To the point where my memory will haunt you even if I’m miles away. That is why I told you a killing joke.” The filly smiled at her. “Do you know what a killing joke is?” Starlight eyed her warily. “What?” “A killing joke is something I’ve seen in literature very rarely. Perhaps two or three times. It’s when you have a character with no origin story, who gives you multiple choices for a possible origin story, but none of which are truly believable. A killing joke is the one choice that makes the most sense. The one that your audience clings to the most even when there’s a good chance that it’s just another lie. “This entire time I have been a mystery to you. You don’t know my name and you didn’t know why I was hunting you. You tried to fight me, but you couldn’t even guess what I was going to do next. I’m unknown, unpredictable, and unequal. When you heard Discord’s story about the Curse-Breaker and my own story about a daughter from the future who was possessed by the Curse-Breaker…” The filly raised her hooves in the air and grinned. “It all made sense! Here was a reason for why I hated you! Here was a reason for how I could perform trickery, manipulation, and magic that no other pony could! You had an answer!” The filly smirked and lowered her hooves back to the ground. “And if you lose that answer, you’ll have lost everything. The stories I gave you are a rock that you cling to for safety in the middle of your punishment. A raging storm is over your head. A roaring ocean of dark water surrounds you; hiding hideous sea monsters. You know that the only way to escape is to let go of the rock. But you also know that if you let go of my story, you’re going to drown in a never-ending sea of insanity.” “That is my final nail in your coffin. You want my name? You want to know what I am? Well, I’m not going to tell you.” Starlight’s jaw dropped as she stared at the filly’s creepy grin. “No…that’s…no! NO! Come on! After everything you’ve done to me, don’t I deserve to know the truth!” The filly shrugged. “Would it really change anything if you knew who I was?” “YES! Do you have any idea how infuriating that is?! Ponies are herd creatures! We’re not used to not knowing who somepony is! A cutie mark is a summary of that pony’s talents; their personality! We can just look at their flank and get a good idea of who they are as a pony! Even if they’re a blank flank, at least we still have their name! Even when I stole cutie marks I still let every pony keep their names, otherwise we would have lost our minds!” She jabbed her hoof at the filly. “But YOU! No cutie mark, no name, no friends, no family history, everything about you is just…unnatural! Something like you, CAN’T be a pony!” “Well look at you, defending cutie marks,” the filly giggled. “I take it that special talents aren’t evil anymore?” “Fine, I admit it! I was wrong! I already said I was sorry! What more do you want from me?!” Starlight cried. The filly shrugged. “Give me a minute. I’m still coming up with ideas.” “Please, just tell me who you really are! No more games! No more lies! Tell me, and I’ll do anything you want me to!” The filly smirked. “You’ve already made that promise.” “ARGH!” Starlight cried. “At least let me guess! You let other ponies guess, didn’t you?! Are we even still playing that other game? I’m…” She clutched her head in pain. “I’m so confused…” The filly sat up against the wall and sighed. “Oh, why not? Take your best guess. You’ll still never get it.” “Okay. Okay,” Starlight sighed. “Better. Thank you. I can do this. Now…you’re not my daughter from the future.” “I suppose in some alternate reality I could have been, but no. We’re not related in anyway,” the filly said. “And that curse story Discord made up is wrong,” Starlight said. “Actually, he was telling the truth.” The filly smirked at Starlight’s baffled look. “A monster to hunt all other monsters? A curse designed to destroy all other curses? The Curse-Ender is real, dearie. I played a part in its creation. It’s as much a part of me as your horn is a part of you.” She winked and added, “But that’s not the whole story.” Starlight blinked. It seemed as if the filly was being honest. “So…are you Discord? Are you related to him?” “I consider myself a queen of chaos. But no, I’m not Discord and he’s not my dad, my uncle, cousin, or anything like that.” “Were you a part of Nightmare Moon?” Starlight guessed. “I know how to manipulate the nightmares of others. And I do have plenty of experience with multiple, darker personalities. Other than that, no relation.” “Are you a changeling?” “Nope.” Starlight scratched her head in thought. “I feel like the answer is right there…but…I can’t…” An evil grin stretched across the filly’s face. “Have you ever considered that this was all your doing? From the very beginning?” Starlight sighed. “I know what I did was horrible. You don’t need to rub it in anymore.” “Why do you feel the need to rub it in?” Starlight raised an eyebrow at her and the filly giggled. “Haven’t you ever wondered how I could know so much about you? Your friend? Your plan? All your darkest secrets?” “You stalked me,” Starlight answered flatly. “You’re not acknowledging the other option. Here you are, in the very same caves that you escaped into when Princess Twilight and her friends chased you out of town. All the ponies in your village know the truth about you. How does that make you feel? Angry? Afraid? Remorseful? Guilty?” “All of the above,” Starlight sighed. “Where are you going with this now?” “Perhaps while you were escaping, you hit your head on something. Maybe when you feel asleep, your subconscious mind was able to process all the dreadful things that have happened. Maybe you’re thinking to yourself…do I deserve this?” As a very disturbing thought entered Starlight’s head, the filly leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “Have you considered the possibility that you’re all alone. That from the beginning, you were alone. That in these dark caves, a mare is trying to defend herself from an angry mob that doesn’t exist? What if there was no monster? What if the only crazy pony in here, is you? What if it was just you?” “No…no, don’t you dare!” Starlight cried as she jabbed her hoof at the filly. “Don’t you dare! Don’t even think that!” “I’m not saying it’s true. But I’m not saying it’s not true either.” “It’s NOT true! It is the worst lie you could ever come up with and I refuse to even consider it!” “Why not? It’s possible.” “NO it’s not!” Starlight screamed. “You are real! What you did to me was real! I know what you’re implying but you’re not just a hallucination! You’re an abomination, not just my guilty conscious! So don’t even try to think about it! I did not imagine you! I did not torture myself!” The filly chuckled. “Looks like I finally hit a roadblock in your mind. Don’t worry dearie, I’m just teasing you again.” “Please stop. Just…I give up. I already give up. I’ll do anything you want me to. Just please stop torturing me…” Starlight cried as she collapsed onto the ground. “Aww. It’s okay sweetie. Up you get,” the filly cooed as she pulled Starlight back up. “Tell me Starlight, are you ready for this to be over? Are you ready to redeem yourself? To get a chance at a happier life.” Starlight sniffled and nodded. “Yes.” The filly smiled innocently at her. “Since I am a vain, arrogant little psychopath, do you think you can show me a little more respect?” Starlight sighed and knelt before the filly. “Yes, my…queen.” “Ooh. What a nice feeling,” the filly giggled. “Your queen is satisfied. Rise, my loyal subject.” Once Starlight was back up, the filly pulled out a scroll. “Do you recognize this, Starry? It’s old Star Swirl’s famous time travel spell. The one you made such improvements to, yet so many mistakes. What I want you to do is use this spell, travel back in time to your battle with Twilight in the past, and…this is the important part…” “Let. The good guys. Win,” the filly said, gently tapping Starlight on the head with the scroll with each word. “Do you understand?” “Yes, my queen. Anything else?” Starlight asked. The filly shrugged. “Not really. I leave the details of what you’re going to say and how you’re going to convince Twilight that you want to be a better person. Ooh, you know what? Make it seem like it was her idea. See if you can manipulate events so that she’s the one who makes the offer of friendship first!” Starlight sighed. “As you wish, my queen.” Her horn glowed as she prepared to cast the spell but then dimmed as a thought occurred to her. “Wait, so…that’s your plan? You want me to go back in time and just…erase all of this?” The filly hummed to herself laid back against the cave wall. “I’m not erasing anything. I’m just putting things back the way they’re supposed to be. Like cleaning up your room after a wild party.” Starlight frowned. “But…what about all the work you put into this? The steps you took to get Equestria to see that I was wrong? You freed ever pony’s cutie marks. You put the princesses back in control. Equestria will be the same as it was before I tried to conquer it. Why do you need to change the timeline?” The filly smiled. “As a kindness to you, sweetie. Twilight and her friends will move on with their lives but they could never accept you after this. If we erase some of the nastier things you’ve done, you’ll have a chance at redemption and a chance to be their friend. Wouldn’t your life be so much easier if you had a friend?” “That seems unusually generous for you,” Starlight remarked. The filly giggled. “I only act like a bloodthirsty monster around the folks who deserve it. I’m actually a pretty nice gal once you get to know me. Besides, I need to fix the other hiccups too. I unintentionally hurt a couple of ponies who didn’t deserve it. So once we fix your life, I won’t need to enter the picture and all that stuff with the rat, Spoiled Rich, making ponies go crazy with the Crystal Heart; that’ll all be wiped clean.” Starlight blinked. “That’s…that’s it? You really think you can just send me back in time and everything will fix itself?” “Of course!” the filly said cheerfully. A dangerous glint filled her eyes. “Why wouldn’t it? You’re not planning on messing up the timeline behind my back even further, are you?” “No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just…I don’t think it’ll be that easy.” The filly tilted her head to the side. “I’m…not following you.” Starlight sighed. “Look, I’ve messed around with time already. We can’t just hit the reset button and make everything happy again. Real life doesn’t work like that.” The filly stared at Starlight. She blinked once. Twice. CRACK Starlight gasped and stepped back as the filly’s neck snapped in two. She collapsed onto the floor, dead as can be…only for an identical filly to slither out of the darkness behind her. She stepped on her former self, causing it to burst into pink smoke and flow into her body. Starlight shivered as the smoke was absorbed through the invisible pores of the violently twitching girl before her. “Would you care to repeat that, dearie? I know you said something else but to me, it sounded like you said ‘Please kill me’. But that can’t be the case, right d-dearie?” “F-forgive me, my queen!” Starlight cried, hastily bowing before the filly. “I spoke without thinking.” “W-well, you’re just a dumb g-grown up, a corrupt p-politician, and a t-thief all in one. Speaking without thinking is natural for you f-freaks. He, he, AHA, he!” The filly let out a deranged giggle. “B-but don’t think you can just s-sweep your mean comment away. W-what were you saying, sweetie?” “I…I just don’t think time travel will solve everything. There are too many factors. I promise you that I’ll fix what I can, b-but we need to think realistically, my queen.” “Realistically. Real world. You’re a unicorn. I am chaos and vengeance incarnate. How is any of this realistic? What makes you think problems will be solved by thinking realistically.” The filly shook her head. “L-lady. You don’t know even what’s real and what isn’t. None of you pathetic normals do.” “Um…” Starlight took another step back. “I think I may have upset you and I am really sorry about whatever I said. Look, let’s just forget it and move on.” She offered a hopeful yet terrified smile. “P-please?” “No.” The filly growled. “You’re going to finish your thought and I’m going to tear it apart. Just like every evil thing I’ve come across. I want to hear…” The filly’s glare faded as she took a step back. She spoke in a much gentler voice, “No. This…we’re going too far. We’ve done what we needed to. I don’t need to know…” The filly’s scowl returned as she stepped closer to Starlight. “No. We want to hear her. We want to know what this is really about.” The filly thrust her hoof out and a rolling ball of pink smoke puffed out of her skin and landed in Starlight’s face. Starlight tried to cough and push the smoke out of her lungs, but as her vision turned red all she could think about was…was… “Oh, come on! I’m forced to remember everything you did to me, but all the other ponies you hurt, their pain and suffering just gets erased? Like it never happened? How is that fair?” “Fair…” the filly growled. The blood vessels in her eyes grew a bit. “The things I did to the innocent ponies are minor compared to what I did to you. In any case, it won’t matter anymore. I’m sorry for what I did to them and time travel will make sure they never meet me anyway.” “But either way, I still have to remember how you tortured me?” The filly hissed. “Yesss. Because what you did was evil.” “And what about you, huh?” Starlight growled. “How is it that I get punished but you get off without any consequences? At the very least, you’re just as evil as I am!” The blood vessels in her eyes burst. Far more than blood vessels should burst. The filly stared at Starlight with blood falling out her eyes and crawling down her face. “Take that back, Starlight Glimmer. You are making a big mistake, dearie.” “You know what? You want to punish me so bad for what I did? Fine! But you deserve it too! After everything you did to Equestria, you need to be punished too!” “WHAT.” The anger within Starlight began to fade away as she finally saw what was happening right in front of her. The filly’s body was twitching so much it looked like it was vibrating. Along her white fur, bulging veins were growing larger on her. Glowing green, red, gold, pink, and black veins were pulsing on her legs, her chest, and her face. Blood was dripping out of her eyes and mouth and pink smoke was spewing out of her ears and hooves. “Uh oh,” Starlight mumbled. “Um, you okay there?” “GGRRR.” “L-listen to me, okay? F-forget about what I was just saying. M-maybe you just need to put in a small time out or something? I-I really shouldn't be that hard on you, uh kiddo. Okay? I don’t know what you’re doing but…” Starlight gulped. “If this is your idea of punishing yourself, please stop. This really doesn’t look healthy…you don’t look healthy!” Behind the filly, Starlight saw blurry, ghost-like figures appear within the cave. A stallion and a mare, cowering in fear as another stallion wielding a knife growled at them. “Hand it over lady! Your money of your life!” “How about your money AND your life?!” the filly snarled. She lunged at the mugger and swiped his knife away, jamming it in his eye. Starlight forced herself not to throw up as she saw the blood gush out of the mugger’s face. To her left side, Starlight could see more figures. A small colt cowering in front of a large dragoness, licking her lips at him. “I’ve always wanted to eat pony!” “Funny, I always want to eat thugs like you!” The filly snarled again. She tackled the dragoness from behind and ripped her scaly tail right off her body with her sharp teeth. “You will all be frozen!” Nightmare Moon declared. “My night will last forever!” “NO! Just your nightmares!” the filly growled. From her back, a swirling tentacle of pink smoke rose up and sliced Nightmare Moon in half. “I am your king! Your are my slaves!” Sombra screamed from behind them. “NOT your slave! Not now, not ever again!” The filly screamed. More pink smoke erupted out of her hoof, forming a lasso that wrapped around Sombra’s throat and ripped his head off. “Friends are just a myth! Love doesn’t exist!” Queen Chrysalis shouted. The filly roared as another tentacle of pink smoke impaled the changeling queen. “You’re too stupid to think for yourself!” A voice shouted in the cave, only to be silenced by a gigantic, smoky hammer. “You’re too naïve to see how greedy they are!” another voice roared, only to be smashed into the ceiling by a second pink hammer. “There is no hope!” “Life sucks and then you die!” “That’s just the real world! You can’t change anything!” “Dumb kid!” “Stupid girl!” “Egghead nerd!” “The world will end!” “Your dreams will die!” “Your kind isn’t welcome here!” “The world would be better without us!” More and more voices screamed out. Starlight shuddered at all the wrath and hatred that was pouring down on them. She watched in horror as the filly’s tentacles continued to grow and lash out, destroying every form of evil it came across. The filly…wasn’t a filly anymore. There was nothing pony about the creature screaming in front of her. It just kept growing and growing, bigger than a house, bigger than a castle, more hideous than her worse nightmares... Starlight had once read about the Dragon Lord Torch. By now, the creature had grown even larger than him. A writhing, slithering, crawling mass of tentacles, hooves, horns, blood-filled eyes, skeletal wings, and screaming fangs, all covered in churning pink smoke. It was like standing right at the edge of an erupting volcano. The cave shook with every lash of the tentacles as they impaled, crushed, bisected, and eradicated everything they came into contact with. Starlight horror filled eyes began to fill with tears as she realized something. “No…wait! Stop! Don’t do this to yourself!” Her magic glowed as she levitated herself up to the top of the creature. “Please! You don’t need to do this!” “SSSSSKKKKKKRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” “Please! I know you’re in pain right now! I know that it hurts! You feel as if life has no more meaning, but it does! You feel like nobody loves you, but they do! You feel like you’ll never see hope or happiness in this world! But there is hope! There is something worth living for! All those voices you heard, they are wrong! There’s so many beautiful, wonderful things out there!” Starlight tried to grab one of the tentacles but recoiled as she felt her flesh begin to melt at the slightest touch. “You don’t need to lash out anymore! Please, don’t do what I did! You may be a dangerous monster but there is more to you than just that! You are better than me! What about all the times you said you would never hurt an innocent? Show me that’s true!” “YOU…” Starlight felt a shudder roll over her. A massive cloud of pink smoke billowed out of the creature and washed over the angry, hate-filled voices. It drowned everything evil that it touched. It utterly obliterated all that stood in its way. A thousand, glowing eyes stared down at Starlight and declared, “…INNOCENT.” Starlight gasped as the pink smoke giant folded in on itself. She levitated herself down to the ground as the monster got smaller and smaller, shedding its layers of pink smoke until the cave was clear again. Starlight’s hooves touched the ground and she stared at the filly hugging herself on the floor. “Hey…it’s okay, little one,” Starlight whispered. The filly glared up at her with tears in her eyes. And for just one second, Starlight didn’t see an enemy. She saw a much younger, heartbroken version of herself. Starlight took a deep breath and gently hugged the filly. “It’s okay.” “Do you really think I haven’t been punished? Do you think I’m not being punished right now? I don’t like feeling vulnerable, Starlight, but there’s no helping it now. Even a broken clock can be right once or twice a day. Even a deranged lunatic like me has moments of sanity and clarity. I may smile and giggle a lot but being insane really isn’t as fun as it looks. Do you know what it feels like when you know there’s something abnormal with your mind? To know that the world hates you and tells you that you don’t belong?” Starlight sighed. “No. I don’t.” “It hurts. But it’s not the only thing that hurts.” The filly wrapped her limbs around herself. “It feels like someone has set me on fire. I feel like my flesh is being burnt off. If I don’t laugh at myself, I’m genuinely afraid I might kill myself.” Starlight squeezed her eyes tight as they threatened to fill with tears. “Stop. Please don’t talk like that. Please,” Starlight begged her. “But it hurts so much. Even if you’re a good person Starlight Glimmer, there are too many who aren’t. Muggers, and murderers, and monsters. Corrupt politicians, cruel dictators, greedy business owners. Sexists, racists, species-ists, and all other kinds of -ists.” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Are these people all in Equestria?” “My mind and heart are ever expanding. I try my best to protect people, Starlight Glimmer. Whether they’re ponies or not. I’ve seen and done more than you can imagine.” She wiped another tear away. “Why can’t I just use an easy solution to solve the problem, Starlight?” Starlight shrugged. “Maybe you can. But is it really worth blowing up if the solution is a little more complicated?” “Yes,” the filly hissed. “The entire freaking multiverse would be so much better if we were all kinder people. If we were all nice, all the time, so many problems could be solved. But even though there are so many good people there are still a pack of evil idiots who are too stupid to be nice. ...Why are people stupid?” The filly looked up at her. “I don’t know, little one. But watching Twilight and her friends…even watching how you smile when you’re with them…it gets better.” Starlight adjusted her position on the floor and asked, “Do you have any friends outside of Ponyville?” “Not many. But yes. I…I miss them,” the filly sighed. “What are they like?” “I won’t tell you Their names. We like being mysterious. But They…They’re so much better than me. The way ponies see alicorns…I see Them as even better.” The filly chuckled. “They check up on me sometimes. They saved my life on countless occasions. They even offer to break this curse I’m under, and let me live a happier life. Every time I seem Them. But I chose to be this way. If I can protect good people and punish the bad guys, it’ll all be worth it someday.” Starlight sighed. “Do you really think that’s the best solution?” The filly shrugged. “It’s what I’m good at. You could say it’s my special talent. Heh, heh. You know, I do have a cutie mark but I had to cover it up. The last pony I showed it to took one look at it and turned crazy for an entire week. Good times. Point is, I only do things my way when there’s no better option. If the heroes can save the day before I get there, it’s better for everyone. But if they can’t do it, I’m NOT just going to sit on the sidelines and let the villains win.” She drew a circle on the floor with her hoof. “I just need something. Some way to just…stop evil. Everywhere and forever.” “Hard to believe that a chaotic beast like you wants world peace. But you know, maybe you’ll get what you want some day in the future.” The filly looked up at her with big eyes. “But I want it now!” Starlight chuckled. “Canterlot wasn’t built in a day.” “But it can be! Lots of stuff can be built in a day!” The filly stomped her hoof on the ground. “I want stupid evil people to stop being stupid and evil! I want world peace! I want it, I want it, I want it!” As she watched the filly stomp all over the cave, occasionally coughing out a small cloud of pink smoke, Starlight made a decision. She had found a new rock and she wasn’t letting go of it no matter what. In that moment, she figured out the filly’s true origin, whether it was true or not. On the outside, the filly was an unstoppable, uncontrollable chaos monster that would one day destroy evil in its entirety. But deep down inside, she was just a little kid in far too much pain. Starlight smiled at the filly. “I don’t even know your name, but if you don’t want to tell me…I’m okay with that. You changed my life and I think it can be for the better this time.” She sighed. “I want you to know that I forgive you, for everything you have ever done to me.” She looked back at Starlight and smiled. “If you promise not to do anything evil again, I can return the favor. I forgive you, sweetheart.” Starlight grinned. Her horn lit up with power as she summoned Star Swirl’s time travel spell to her side. She unrolled the scroll and said, “Enough arguing then. Tell me how to save the world, my queen. How can your loyal subject serve you?” The filly looked up at the cave ceiling and chuckled. “You don’t know what it's like to lose a friend” “I don’t know what you went through! But I do know you can’t do this! I've seen where this leads, and so have you!” “I thought Sunburst and I were the same. But we turned out different, and it tore our friendship apart!” “So try again! And if something that you can’t control happens, work through it together!” “How do I know they won’t all end the same way?” “I guess it's up to you to make sure they don't.” The filly looked back at her and smiled. “You know what? You’re a smart girl. You’ll figure out what to say. If there’s one more piece of advice I can give you it’s this. Believe in your friends, but don’t ever stop believing in yourself either. Your own power is worth more than you might think. Now get on outta here, you crazy kid!” Starlight chuckled before she glanced up. She squinted and shielded her eyes at the glowing ceiling. “Time to go.” The filly giggled. “Time indeed.” Starlight chuckled and waved goodbye before she floated up into the time travel spell and disappeared. The filly sighed to herself as she walked through the cave, found a door, and opened it. On the other side a million eyes stared at her. Tyrants and dictators, evil queens and wicked witches. Dark lords and cruel serpents. Dark cults and angry mobs. Thugs, crooks, bullies, and worse. Armies of demons and legions of hungry undead. All the evil in existence stared at her…and took several steps back. “No. There is no escape.” The filly chuckled as she stood up on her back legs. Wings grew out her back as tentacles and talons began to sprout along her rapidly changing arms. Eight eyes blossomed on her face and surrounded her ever-expanding smile. Her claws flexed and a deadly whip appeared in a roll of pink fire. “Even in the worst of times, I’ll never give up. Even through the worst of my pain, life is just too dang fun to ignore.” She grabbed the whip and cracked it; sending thousands of villains screaming in retreat as they crawled back under the rocks they came from. “Now…who’s next?”