Starlight’s eyes blinked open and close as she finally awoke. “What…? No!” She struggled upon seeing the red fleshy insides of Corruption. Yet, despite her struggles, she continued to sink. Gases and ooze twisted around Starlight as she sank deeper into him. She looked upward toward the exit as it drew further and further away. She reached up to it, pulling with all her might, but the ooze of Corruption’s insides wouldn’t relent. They pulled her deeper into his stomach.
His roars reverberated through his insides as he seemed to argue with something outside. Starlight tried to push herself to a near enough wall to hear the outside, but it was no good, she was completely under the grip of Corruption’s digestion track. Soon she felt something hit her. She looked only to jumped back terror upon seeing dead, mindless alicorns. Bits and pieces of them floated beside her as they sank. It was sickening.
Starlight tried struggling more, pushing herself up with her wings and pulling at her arms. If she could at least get her arms free she could use the katanas still in her hands to cut herself free. This proved fruitless as well. His insides were too strong, No, the corrupted magic that filled his body was making it near impossible to rely on any magic, and her own bodily strength was draining fast as the gases were just too much to handle.
Her head fell back as his roars weaken. Her face and mane fell into ooze around as her eyes weakened with her strength. Tears started to form as she tried to hold on to the very last minute. Yet it wasn’t enough as her eyes; despite her determination, slowly closed.
Darkness surrounded her and she felt as if the ooze and gases were leaving…
******
“Starlight wake up.”
Starlight rubbed her eyes and looked around to see a great pasture around her. She could smell the sweet scent of the grass below her hand and the salty air of the ocean beyond her. She looked around until she spotted a figure wearing a teal long cloak over a white tunic with gold frills, a pair of light brown pants with a pair brown shoes.
She got up from the ground and smiled. “Hello, Sunburst.”
Sunburst scratched his head in confusion as he approached her. “Why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be training with Cult Race?”
“Nah, that old stallion was getting too annoyed with me so he sent me off for a break.” Starlight waved her hand at him.
Sunburst chuckled, “That’s a terrible lie. You know he can’t ever be annoyed with things because that would require an emotion.”
“Fine, I snuck out here to get some air,” Starlight huffed as she fell back to the ground.
Sunburst smiled and walked over before falling beside her. “Yeah, things are getting pretty tough in the training.”
“I mean what does he think he’s doing pushing me so hard?”
“Because he wanted you to be ready for your battle with Corruption.” Sunburst looked toward Starlight as she looked at her new gloves. “And because he wants to protect you.”
“I… I know that. Why wouldn’t he? It’s his job now after all.” She threw her arms down in annoyance. “But what about the other missions he has taken on in all his years?” Starlight frowned. “I know he’s not a kind being. He’s killed millions of creatures in many lands and I'm supposed to trust him to train me? Am I supposed to trust him as… “ her words drifted into a mumble.
“Yes, because, that what he is.” Sunburst winced his eyes as he rose up. “He hasn’t seen you in years and you treat him like he is a menace!”
Starlight jumped slightly at his anger. “I’m sorry.”
Sunburst took a breath. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m defending him. I’m sure if he could, he would hate me more than anything.” His face fell his frown grew.
“Sunburst.” Starlight smiled snarkily and rose up. She placed her forehead against his and looked at him directly in the eyes. “I’m sure he has forgiven you by now.” She smiled.
Sunburst smiled back. “You’re right.”
“I always am.” She pulled him into him a tight hug. Sunburst squirmed a bit at first but then sank into the hug.
“Um, Starlight... Something is poking my chest.”
Starlight pulled back in a frown and held her arms over her chest. “What?”
Sunburst’s eyes widened at her reaction. “No, I don’t mean those.” He reached his hand out to her and grabbed the necklace just above her chest. “That.” He looked over it closely as she turned her face away in annoyance. “You wearing the charm.”
“Well… of course I am.” Suddenly the sound of something crashed behind Starlight. Starlight grasped at the possibility as she tried holding her breath. Sunburst retracted his arm back in complete fear upon whom he saw landing behind Starlight.
“I… I… I’m sorry sir. I was just looking at her necklace.”
“Really?” Cult Race spoke up as he walked around Starlight. “That’s not what it looked like to me.”
Sunburst narrowed his eyes for a moment and then realize it. “NO…. I wasn’t doing that.”
Cult Race raised his bone knife to Sunburst. “Enough.”
“Cult Race, leave him be!” Starlight huffed as she wiped away his knife.
“How many times have I told you to call me--”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Starlight walked over and stood between Cult Race and Sunburst. “But I won’t let you treat my friend this way. He was just looking at my charm.”
Cult Race lowered his weapon and backed away. “Fine, but the Charm of Emptiness is not to be taken lightly.”
Starlight looked down to the charm. To her, it seemed more like a glorified magic dampener. “I don’t even know why I even need this?”
Cult Race fakely smiled and raised his hand to her head and rubbed at her mane. “Because of your training, but most of all because your mother said so.”
“Fine…” she huffed.
“It’s just like you. The charm. It’s full of hope…”
******
“STARLIGHT GLIMMER!” Cult Race’s roar tore through the walls of Corruption’s body and Starlight from her dream. “You were never meant to be the reincarnation of Balance. You were meant to be a new Idea, a better emotion that live with all of us and that is Hope.”
Starlight’s eyes widened as she heard his words. “I hear you, I HEAR YOU!” She pushed from the ooze once more. “I can’t give up hope. I am the symbol of hope for all that have fallen and for all that are reborn.” Suddenly she noticed a light around. She looked to the source and it was coming from her pocket. “I know what I have to do now.”
She pulled out the charm and grasped it tightly in her hand. “Now I know what Cult Race meant about this charm. It just like me. It's a star shooting across the sky.” She squeezed it tighter until cracks formed. “Shining like a light of hope as well.” Magic pulsed from the crack in the charm. “It not just a magic dampener, it’s a magic storer!”
******
Suddenly a gigantic immense pillar of dark and light magic shot out from Corruption’s torso and rose to the sky and beyond. Within the pillar, Starlight floated with her hands together holding the remains of the charm tightly in them. She held the charm to her chest and closed her eyes. Milky purple liquid oozed out of the charm and float around her. The katanas floated as close to each other as possible as the ooze enveloped them as well. The ooze formed an orb around her as the light and dark magic covered it. Two doors appeared around her. One was black covered in goat skulls and the other was white covered in bird skulls. She separated her hands and aimed them at the door as the ooze collapsed upon her flesh. She opened her eyes and the doors flew open. Innumerous arms shot out from both doors swarmed over her. They pulled every part of her as everything blurred.
The pillar shook greatly as cracks formed. So much, that the shaking spread across the entire country in a matter of seconds, as both light and darkness pushed through cracks forming in the pillar.
“What is this?” Corruption questioned? “I sense rage and joy. I sense sorrow and happiness. This makes no sense!” His eyes glowed with great rage. “What is this?! What is this?!”
Words swarmed through Starlight’s head at the last moments. “This spell will only work once. The power is great, but the price is high. Finish the battle, before it's too late.”
On those words, the pillar completely shatters and the shaking stopped. Dark and light magic dispersed across the ground. As it cleared Corruption's eyes widened in terror. Starlight had taken a new form, fitting that of an Idea.
Her coat had turned a solid purple, her mane had become a mixture of bright red and bright blue and flowed through the air like a fusion of water and fire. On her back, she had four small light alicorn-like wings and two dark alicorn-like massive wings. The wings on the left side were as red as fire, the wings on the right side were as blue as the ocean. In her hands, the two blades had become one. The weapon had transformed into a zhanmadao and had a gray handle and purple blade.
“I have transformed into the same level as you.” she pulled back her zhanmadao as she finished. “And this is my weapon, Vasilikí Kardiá.”
Corruption’s head pulled back in annoyance and rage. “I see your true skin now and feel your true power. Now feel mine.”
Small flames appeared on select points all across the strings that flowed from his limbs. Unrolling from the flames were scrolls with incantations on them. Each scroll was of a soul under his command. Within his mouth, a large laser of both light and dark magic shot forth. Starlight saw the attack heading towards her. She floated up her zhanmadao above her head and she held up her hands and took the attack. The beam was so condensed that she knew if she were to dodge it or cut it in half, at this range then it would hit the ground and would carve a hole to beyond even Tartarus.
She was holding it back, but soon it burned her hands. Eventually, her gloves were burned away. She winced as their ashes flew by. As the burning spread to her arms Corruption looked at his victory, so he decided to finish it. The scrolls that were hanging from the strings glowed. As they did, giant orbs of corrupted magic formed in front of them and shot forth towards Starlight. Soon trillions upon trillions of orbs from all across the planet surged toward Starlight. They all hit her head on, igniting in a giant explosion so big that all of Equestria could see it. The shine of the explosion was so bright that even the Sun was dimmed in comparison.
Corruption stopped his laser and looked, impressed with his power. Finally, the explosion cleared and showed Starlight standing in a crater so deep, there was no bottom to be seen. Her armor was almost completely gone. All that remained was a black tank top, a pair of tight pants. But other than, she only had a few burns.
“I see you survived my extinction move. And only with burns, still, you did better than the last time I used that move, which was against the dinosaurs,” Corruption gloated. “The move harvest corrupted magic from every soul on the planet that is under my command, whether alive or dead. The best part is it becomes stronger every eon I use it.”
“You think that means anything to me. This battle is not over.” Starlight shook away the pain in her hands and stood ready as her zhanmadao floated back into her hands.
Corruption smiled and charged at her head on. Starlight stopped his jaws with her blade as it sent out static charge around them. His eyes glowed as he pushed forward. Starlight knew what he was doing and pushed at her wings to move and they flew through the sky. He flew her higher into the sky. They kept going so high until they left the atmosphere and went deep into space. They raced thru space and flew past the Moon as they continued to clash. Starlight knocked back Corruption onto the Moon, sending him crashing into with enough force to send cracks on the surface.
******
As the remaining mindless alicorns continued to fight Arabus and Zeb, Selena Moondie landed near Cult Race as he rubbed at his open wounds. Cult Race looked at her with a fake frown. “Damn it. I’m still out of magic.”
Selena Moondie looked at his hands and grabbed them, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t do better.”
“Don’t worry. You did your best. Give me some time and my magic will return. All we need to do now is finish up here.”
“About that,” Twilight remarked as she landed near them. “I think we are losing numbers even faster now.”
“No surprise. Corruption is refusing to show it, but Starlight is tearing him up,” Celestia landed near them as well.
“So he’s calling of his alicorns to regenerate. Looks like we will have to finish what is left here, to make Starlight’s battle go a little bit better.” Cult Race pulled out some red cloth and blue cloth and wrapped them tightly around the appropriate hands. Once he was finished he pulled out two bone knives. “Selena Moondie my dear, please make sure that we pick up the remains of my giant blades when this is over. I don’t want to disappoint Saturn a second time.”
******
Corruption and Starlight continued to clash through space all the way back to Equestria. Every attack he sent, she matched. Every attack she sent, he matched. They seemed completely even, yet Corruption seemed to be tiring as the battle went on, while Starlight was almost getting better. This made no sense to him. He was using his full strength, yet she was not only matching.
Corruption continued to grow in anger as the battle went on. “How is this happening? This made no sense. Could Cult Race have been telling the truth? There is no way she is a new idea?”
Corruption finally crashed Starlight into the ground. He stood high above her. He flew up to the top of the atmosphere and concentrated on his strings. They glowed brightly as corrupted magic filled his jaws. He lifted his head up high and swung downward sending out a wave of corrupted magic big enough to slice through the planet. "Eternal Slice."
Starlight held up her zhanmadao high above her head as it glowed with purple light. "Aiónia Féta." She swung and sent out an attack the same height and power as his. The attacks clashed, sending cracking winds in all directions as the sound of the clash was like a thunderclap.
Corruption smiled as the attacks stopped moving. However, he was shocked when his attack cracked wide open. He moved too slow and her attack broke through his and tore into him, leaving a massive gash all along his body.
He roared in agony as more mindless alicorns flew around him, filling his wound back up. "How dare you?!" His eyes glowed brightly as his scales grew over the alicorns stuffing themselves in his wounds long before they were even done ripping themselves apart.
As Starlight flew up to him, she frowned at his treatment of the mindless alicorn. "You don't care about them at all."
"Well, of course, they are my flesh. Nothing more and nothing less." Corruption smiled as he charged another condensed beam of similar magic from his extinction move.
Starlight gritted her teeth at his answer and flew up right into his face as the beam shot outward. "And you wonder, why we will never call you God?"
She not only blocked it but used her zhanmadao to cut the beam in half, causing it to fire in two different directions, carving massive holes through the atmosphere around her and pushing clouds miles back with the force of the attack.
His face grew with rage, his eyes glowed brightly, however, Starlight smiled. She pulled back her leg and kicked forward. A massive shockwave smacked him under the face, making him point his beam upward as it vanished.
She flew away from him as he twisted in annoyance. "Damn bitch." He opened his mouth wide and chased after her. The two flew downward through the sky. Eventually, they made their way back to the pyramid as Corruption got close enough to knock Starlight out of the sky.
She hit the ground near the pyramid with such force that the ground cracked in all directions. The pyramid felt the full force of the attack and finally crumbled. Twilight and Celestia flew toward the crash site as chunks of the pyramid fell around them.
"No, not again." Twilight increased her speed. "Starlight!"
"No, Twilight don't get in the way." Celestia struggled to keep up.
They landed on the shredded ground as smoke covered everything. They could hear Corruption’s laughter above them but refused to listen.
"Starlight! Starlight!" Twilight ran across the ground as she searched.
"Stop screaming, Teacher," Starlight swung her zhanmadao knocking the smoke away. "I'm not dead yet."
Twilight stopped and grabbed her mouth in confusion. "Teacher?" she whispered.
"Corruption, are we done yet?" Starlight looked up to him.
His eyes widened upon the sight of her, “No, no, no, no! This is absurd." His eyes fell into a glare. "There hasn’t been a creation of a new Idea since before the universe was born.” In his jaws filled with so much corrupted magic. It surged brighter and brighter. “You continue to lie to me and yourself. You can’t be this Hope. You can’t be anything at all. I shall prove it by wiping you and the entire solar system off the face of the universe.”
The scrolls on the strings glowed brightly as writing in a strange language appeared on them. All his limbs glowed even brighter the then scrolls. Spikes along his back stretched outward as he pulled as far back as he could. Soon a massive ball of corrupted magic formed in his mouth. It expanded so large that it dwarfed the whole planet. It kept growing and growing until the entire sky was covered in its sight. “The Great Power Of The Grand Eternal God, Endless Forever End.” On that, he threw the massive ball right at Starlight.
Starlight’s eyes widened as the attack descended upon them. "There is only one way." She pulled out her right hand and drag it along the entirety of her zhanmadao. Purple blood poured from her hand and drenched the zhanmadao's blade as she winced in pain. Once her hand was back on the handle, she pulled back her zhanmadao and concentrated every remaining ounce her magic into an orb at the tip of the blade. The blood over the zhanmadao dripped into the air and swarm around her zhanmadao's blade as the drops would either glow red or blue. The drop spun around the zhanmadao as they took the form of DNA. Starlight moved the zhanmadao's handle over her heart. She closed her eyes as symbols glowed all over her body.
Twilight gasped as she watched this. Though the symbols were near impossible to read, everything inside her was telling that these were the languages of both light alicorns and dark alicorns.
Starlight finally opened her eyes as they glowed brightly. Her left eye glowed blue and her right eye glowed red. Meanwhile, the orb turned black and white. “You don’t get it at all. I became a new Idea because of you, Aiónia ékleipsi Sto Télos Kai Tin Archí.” as she finished, she shot the orb towards Corruption's attack.
The two attack clashed as time and space were bent and twisted like never before. Everything across the entire planet shook. The shaking even left the planet and spread to the stars beyond.
"They need to finish before it's too late." Celestia struggled to stand from the clashing attacks.
"Too late, for what?" Twilight fell to the ground.
"I told you a battle like this led to the creation of this universe. The universe won't survive the power of the creation of another."
Twilight's eyes widened at this. "She can't fight alone this time." She pushed at the ground and tried to stand despite her body screaming for her to fall. She pushed her legs, moving toward Starlight.
Celestia looked in confusion to this, but her eyes widened as she saw Cult Race and Selena Moondie fighting through the shaking and going the same way.
Starlight stood her ground despite her own legs wanting to give out. Suddenly she felt Twilight's hand on her shoulder. She looked to see her and smiled. She then felt more hands on her other shoulder. She looked over to See Cult Race and Selena Moondie standing by her as well. She faced forward and smiled as tears fell from her face. "All three of you are here for me. Thank you for this."
Celestia looked at them all in confusion as she felt the universe quaking to the breaking point. "They don't want to give up."
"And they shouldn't," a voice spoke from behind her ear. It was a strange voice that filled her joy even though she had no memory of who this voice was. "Celestia, let us help them." Her eyes widened as she saw a faint image of a yellow unicorn stallion with a fiery red mane standing beside them with his hand upon Starlight shoulder.
Celestia arose at this and walked through the thickening winds. She got as close as she could and placed her hand right beside the fain image's hand. She smiled and let tears loose even though she didn't know why.
Starlight was glad to have them all here with her. They all smiled to their best abilities as they stood with her. This filled her with enough magic. Hopeful enough.
Starlight's orb increased in size as Corruption's orb cracked. Starlight gritted her teeth and pushed onward as her attack tore through his. Corruption rilled and twisted as he tried to push more corrupted magic into the blast. But it was not enough as his attack fell apart.
He roared in one final bit of rage as Starlight’s attack tore completely through and hit him head on, igniting in a gigantic black and white explosion that glowed so bright that whole planet shined brighter than any star.
The explosion cleared, seemingly leaving nothing behind. The group of ponies stood still as things came to a close. Mindless alicorns left and right fell to the ground. The small remains of the army twisted and squirmed across the ground like fishes out of the water until they came to a bone-chilling stop.
"What wrong with them?" Twilight posed.
"Without their master's power, they are nothing at all. To them, they no longer exist." Celestia pulled away and looked over them all. Suddenly she turned and span around.
"Princess? What is it?" Twilight let go of Starlight as well.
"It felt like somepony was near me."
"Are you--" Twilight stopped as she saw a faint image behind Celestia. The image became more and more blur as it faded from sight. "Maybe somepony was just saying one final goodbye."
Cult Race and Selena Moondie backed away as Starlight floated up to the sky. Selena Moondie turned to Cult Race and held onto him tightly. "It's happening, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is?"
Twilight turned to them curiously. "What happening?" She looked to Starlight and her eyes widened. "Her wings are..."
Starlight reached out into the air as the remains of her cape flew by and grabbed it. She pulled it over her wings as cracks formed over them.
Suddenly something crashed nearby. She quickly flew over, hoping the battle was over. She arrived nearly a mile away from the pyramid's remains. However, as she landed, her eyes widened in shock.
Corruption was barely alive in his smaller form. The three charms had been vaporized, but he still had some power. He slowly rose forth and looked at Starlight directly in the eyes.
Without warning her wings completely shattered and her coat and mane returned to their original form. That was it, she had run out of time. She knew she could only use this form once. Now it was gone.
Corruption smiled at this, “Starlight Glimmer, looks like fate was wrong. I am still alive." He grinned and snickered aloud. "You have failed to kill me--” However he was interrupted by vines that suddenly ripped out of his chest and wrapped around him. “What is this?” he struggled.
“Well, it seems they finally sprouted.” Cult Race and Selena Moondie flew over.
“You." Corruption twisted and turned. "What did you do to me?"
Cult Race held up his hand, showing a strange seed in it. “Do you recall when I stabbed you in the center of your chest and ripped out King Heavonos’s heart. I had in my hand a certain relative to the plunder vines. It is called, Saqueo de las Vides. I left it inside in case I failed.”
“What?!”
“You see Corruption the prophecy never stated that the omni-pony would kill you, only defeat you. That is why I placed those seeds within you. It was my glimpse of hope. While inside you the seeds copied every ounce of magic you used against Starlight. So the longer the battle went, the stronger they would become when they finally sprouted.” As he was talking the vines spread across Corruption's body, wrapping tighter and tighter around him.
“So you think this can hold me?” Corruption charged up what little magic he had left and started ripping at the vines but in vain. “You are a fool--Ahhhh!!!” Once more he was interrupted as agony shot forth from his tail that just got free. He looked to magic ripping through his exoskeleton. “What is this?”
He looked to see Twilight landing behind him. Her eyes were pulsing with magic. "Face it, Redsting. You lose."
"This won't be my end--" Corruption was stopped again as special line chains from Selena Moondie wrapped around him, followed by Celestia's fire magic. "No... NO!"
"This is where it finally ends, Corruption. Everything went according to plan." Realta finally returned, landing right in front of him.
Corruption grew in anger. “So you planned all of this, Realta. From Cult Race joining my side to this very battle with the future Starlight.” He spat up blood as he struggled. “Why? I am God?”
“You think so?” Realta argued. “The truth is that you, me and even Grogar. We could never be the creator of all things because we only bend the creations to our bloodlines and will. But that’s not what makes us Gods. We are truly here for those things but we make our choices as the mortals do.” He pointed to Starlight. “What we do to them, what we inspire them to do, that is what makes us fathers, not Gods."
“That is bullshit. We are Gods!” Corruption struggled. "The beings of this universe, the creation of this universe are meant to bend to our will!”
“I understand, Balance tried telling you the same thing I am trying to tell you now before you killed her. But you don’t remember her last words do you?”
Corruption growled at this, yet seconds later his eyes stopped him as they widened. “What ?”
“She said that you could never be their father.”
“No…” Corruption drew back in almost horror.
"She knew that a battle with you would lead to her death and the creation of you and her children." Realta raised his hand up to Corruption and placed his hand upon his head. Corruption's eyes glowed momentarily as the truth was revealed. "Yes, you are their father, the father of all creatures in this universe. But you never wanted to be a father. You never cared to be the father.”
Starlight walked over by Realta. She looked toward Realta as he noticed her and then looked toward Corruption. “Corruption… my mother once told me something. If a father can’t be a dad, then they are a devil.”
Corruption’s head fell slightly for only a short moment before rising back up in fury, “I am no devil. I am God!” He rushed forward, stretching his neck outward.
Selena Moondie and Cult Race's eyes glowed as rainbows shot out of their hands. Selena Moondie's rainbows were more red and Cult Race's rainbows were more blue. The rainbows span around and flew over behind Starlight as she held her zhanmadao out to the oncoming attack. The rainbows fazed through her body and wrapped around her zhanmadao as they turned into one final black and white rainbow. Starlight swung and sent the final attack right at Corruption.
The attack wrapped tightly around Corruption as both the specialty chain and the vines glowed with all too familiar writing. Corruption was stopped mere inches from Starlight as the rainbows wrapped tighter around his body. “I am no devil, I am God!!” Soon the rainbows covered everything except for his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but you could never be such a thing." Realta turned away from him and walked away as Corruption's body slowly turned back to stone. Corruption gave one final roar as the glow in his eyes faded and he was fully encased once more.
Once Realta was far enough away he raised his hand upward.
"What is he doing?" Twilight released her magic and walked over to Starlight.
“Realta is undoing the time spell he had up.” Starlight finally took a deep breath.
“Wait what time spell?”
“He set it up just before Corruption unlocked the power of the Charms.”
That's when it hit Twilight, “I knew I could sense something was off but I didn’t know what. Why would he do such a thing?”
Realta dropped his arm down once he finished and looked to them. “To ensure that Cult Race and Selena Moondie would survive the battle. Had this thing not been up and slowing down time for them all, Corruption would be had defeated them a lot sooner.”
“Wait a minute." Twilight turned back and forth. "Where did those two run off too?"
"Don't worry about them, Twilight."
Twilight tried to hide the fear on her face as she turned back to them. "But Realta, I’m confused. Why not bring in the future Starlight sooner?”
“Because that part needed to happen. I have the at most trust in him.”
“But why?” Twilight almost demanded, “Cult Race is evil. He nearly killed Starlight not but a few days ago. If you could have done that for them, then why not for me and Celestia.”
Future Starlight tried to speak up against Twilight’s words but Realta gestured to her to let him answer. “Twilight, are you asking why I would choose Cult Race to finish the battle or why would I chose him in the first place for anything. And my answer is the same reason that Grogar chose your previous life's father, Rex Moba.”
Twilight was stopped at those words and decided to not ask anymore. Future Starlight walked over to Realta and stood ready. Realta held his hand over beside her. Out of a bright light, the present Starlight fell down still out cold. He looked to Twilight. “She is alive, but she is not out of danger yet.”
Twilight walked over to her and looked her over before asking, “What do you mean?”
The future Starlight looked at Twilight and spoke, “I only survived this battle because of the lessons you gave me. You were my teacher, my confidant, and my greatest mentor.” She stopped as she could feel tears beginning to form in her eyes. “You were like a second mother to me.”
The future Starlight rushed forward and gave Twilight a tight hug. "And I will always miss that." On that, the future Starlight pulled away and walked forward away from Twilight and kept walking. Realta held his hand toward her and she vanished into the future, but before she could vanish she turned around and almost demanded, “Realta, I need to tell her!”
“No, if you do then time will change forever. Things need to happen for her and you. If you change that when you change yourself and her.”
Twilight could see the tears falling from future Starlight’s eyes. “What do you need to tell me? What do you mean by missing me?”
"I'm sorry. I want to tell you. I really do want to." Starlight held up her hand to her heart. "But he is right. No matter how much I want him to be wrong." On that final, she vanished completely.
Once the future Starlight was gone Twilight stood still unable to process all of this. Suddenly she was pulled from thoughts upon hearing the voice of the present Starlight. She took a deep breath and turned around. She walked over to the present Starlight as she woke up.
Starlight looked at all of them and then grabbed her chest almost frantically, “What happened to that mare?” Her memory played back to the moment when she died and the memory of a mare with a navy blue mane shined forth only for the memory to fade from her eyes and be replaced by Twilight kneeling near her. Without even thinking she hugged her tightly. “I thought I was dead.”
“I thought you were dead too.” She hugged her back tightly. “Let’s go home.”
As they left, in the distance stood an all too familiar goat as he watched them from the shadows. “So this is the omni-pony. She is indeed of both our bloodlines. But I wonder who she will prove more useful to, Reatla or me.” On those final words, that only Realta heard, he vanished.
Realta smiled, looking toward the spot and spoke in an inaudible voice so none could hear. “We shall see soon enough Grogar.”
******
After they left, an unexpected figure landed in the field of motionless mindless alicorns as they died off. The mysterious pony was an alicorn with a coat that was red and shined like a diamond. His long mane was teal, refined, yet seemingly jagged at the bottom. He wore an overly fancy tall collar teal cape covered in frills and spikes. Under the cape, he wore dark blue armor.
He walked slowly through the corpses as many of the mindless alicorns almost seemed to reach out to him. He ignored them as their hands fell and their flesh decayed around him. He kept walking until finally he kneeled down and pick up a blood-covered skull. “Such a shame that our Lord was defeated. But in the end, he was trying to change fate instead of fixing it. We must warn Hollow Prince of his father defeat.”
He turned and open a portal to teleport. “Hmm, but first let’s gather the bodies.” On that several doppelgangers walked out of the portal and moving the remains through the portal.
Meanwhile, the red alicorn walked through the bodies more until he reached the remains of the pyramid. Once inside, he walked around more until he was stopped upon seeing a severed arm lying on the ground. “What is this?”
He walked over to it and picked it up, looking over it closely. “This is very unusual. It seems like there is an unusual anomaly in this arm. We feel that we should know the owner of this arm, but we don’t. It’s as if it’s owner never existed. Or maybe he no longer exists.” He smiled greatly as he read the red writing on the brace that was locked to the arm. “This will be useful, but we will need the other one in order to work it.”
Soon a doppelganger walked up to him. “Prince Blood Diamond, we are nearly complete.”
“Good, make sure every bit of it gets back to the lab.” Suddenly his eyes widened as few dozen wounded mindless alicorns walked over to them. “Well, it looks like we have a few survivors that can somehow stand without our great lord’s power. How many will we need again for the Harmony Experiment?”
“Only five living subjects.”
Blood Diamond’s smile became wicked. “Than we five is all we need.”
On that, the doppelganger charged in and went to cut the mindless creatures down as Blood Diamond laughed aloud. However, as the blood splattered across the room, Blood Diamond’s face randomly twisted over and over until he finally fell slight and screamed, “Quit yelling, we can hear just fine!” On that, he walked off before the confused doppelganger could question his words.
******
Celestia, Twilight, and Starlight returned to Canterlot Castle. There they stayed to rest from the hardships they had gone through. Twilight and Starlight had been through a lot on this journey.
However, there were other things they had to get passed. Things that they needed to confront before they could leave together. Though, a full day passed before they could.
On that day Twilight woke up and took a shower. She thought it would be best to finally have one. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. She slowly pulled off her clothes and stepped inside.
Feeling the water across her body felt good. It had been too long since she had any kind of shower. She grabbed the soap and went to work cleaning the scars. More than a year she had spent on this journey and she had seen a lot and her scars were many.
Over her neck was a scar from when Alternate Rarity tried to kill her. On her shoulder was a scar from her battle in alternate Tartarus when she saved Alternate Rarity and stood up to Alternate Trixie. On her stomach was a round bruise that never vanished from her final battle in that alternate timeline where she fought Alternate Nightmare and nearly died too many times to count. But of course the one that sent the worse memories through her mind was the one that had been removed by time, and though there was no longer a mark she could still remember the horrors of it.
Eventually, she finished and rinsed off. She stepped out and looked herself over in the mirror. She had been through a lot. Frankly too much. She knew Spike would ask about the scars eventually when she got back. But most of all her face. It looked so different, something had to be changed.
Grabbing a pair of scissors she looked to her hair. Placing a towel tightly over her body she went to cutting her hair. As she cut she heard a knock at the door. She pulled the towel over her body tighter and answered, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Starlight. Will you be done soon? I sort of need one as well.”
“Sure, just got done. You can come in, I’ve got a towel on.” Twilight went back to cutting.
Starlight opened the door and looked with surprise at the sight. “Why are you cutting your hair?”
“I needed a change.” She continued to cut.
“Let me.” Starlight walked over and sat beside her and took the scissors away.
Twilight just placed her hands down and let her be. “I’m aiming for short and flaring up.”
“I can pull that off.” Starlight went to cutting. As she cut she noticed the scars more clearly. “Hmm, it seems we both need a change. How about before I take my shower you do my hair next?”
Twilight simply listen to the cutting with her eyes closed. Taking the sound of the soft cuts in before finally answering, “Sure. What style do you want?”
Starlight stopped for a minute. “When I was standing on top of the Mind Temple, the charm showed me something that might stay with me forever.”
“And that is?”
“That I will never be alone. It showed me that despite my mother and father leaving me to an orphanage, my mother never stopped watching me from a distance. And one thing they would do when I wasn’t looking was brush my mane to one side.”
“That sounds like a brilliant idea.”
Soon Twilight’s hair was finished and Starlight’s hair was started. After they got both their hair the way they wanted it, Twilight grabbed her clothes and left the bathroom to Starlight.
As she left she saw Starlight turned around and take off her shirt. She saw the scar on her back. The scar that Cult Race had given her. She quickly closed the door and fell onto the wall and grabbed at her heart. Seeing that made her once again remember the scar on herself that had been wipe from time. Her most painful scar, the one that would have killed her.
Though time had removed it the memory was still there of her very first encounter with Cult Race when he stabbed his hand through her chest and grabbed her heart. Now Starlight had her own scar from Cult Race and this one wouldn’t go away.
Pushing the memory to the further back of her mind she walked out of the hallway for somewhere to change.
*****
Finally, the day arrived for them to leave. Celestia, Twilight, Starlight, and Realta arrived at the crystal table. They looked at Realta as he held the time spell in his hands. “I would have set it to send you back home, but this spell still has one coordinate in time set.”
“Why don’t you fix it, we need to go home?” Starlight questioned as she and Twilight stepped onto the table.
However Twilight frowned at the looked in his eyes. “There is something else we need to do isn’t there?”
“I can see all of time itself. I know what will happen and when it will happen. And even every possibility. I have seen you both before in a distant past, working alongside a certain warlock.”
“Rex?” Twilight’s eyes widened.
“Indeed.” On that, he activated the spell and opened the portal.
“But how will we get back?” questioned Starlight.
“Don’t worry. I already know you will. These last coordinates were the last ones set. You just need only to find somepony to fix it, properly once you get there.”
On those words, they walked through the portal. Celestia and Realta moved back as the crystal table vanished with them. However, an ever so small brown spider, so small that Celestia couldn't see it, crawled onto the table. “Grogar said he based my design on a creature he saw in the past, and now I know why ” whispered Bray. Soon the table vanished with the spider aboard it.
Once the portal closed, Celestia looked to Realta and asked, “You know who altered the spell, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. But the altering itself was not meant to send them into the past. The coordinates were originally in reverse.”
“Which means, somepony from the past, that very past they just went to, wanted to go to the future they were from.”
“Yes, the events here, then and later are apart of a loop in time. A loop they must complete before they can go home. Once they get to the past, they will meet the pony that altered the spell, or should I say, will alter the spell. And it will be one of the hardest battles of their lives.”
******
The End.