One final time bubble was all it took to return the three occupants back to the castle, and when they had landed, the scroll flew up into the bubble and vanished with it, never to be seen again!
"We're home?! We're home!" Spike happily exclaimed, kissing the ground in excitement. "One crystal castle of friendship, check."
Just then, the throne room doors creaked open, and into the room poured all of Shining's friends. "Ah, there you are, Shining," Fancy Pants commented. "Your sister's been worried sick. Where the heck have you been?"
"And one amazing group of friends, check," Spike added. "Yup, everything's as it is should be."
"You guys are never gonna believe this, but let's just say time travel is no longer mere science fiction." Shining remarked. For some reason, he found himself feeling incredibly drained. He could barely muster up enough strength to stand (most likely a side effect of using all that dark magic).
"Oh great, you've been hanging around with that Dr. Whooves fellow again. Everypony knows he's a few heads short of a herd." Soarin groaned, putting a hoof to his face.
Everyone else's attention, however, was drawn to a very familiar mare that was hiding behind Shining Armor. Big Macintosh reluctantly said what everyone was thinking. "Is that who I think it is?"
"So, Starlight Glimmer's finally decided to show herself, huh?!" Thunderlane growled. "Well, we'll teach her a thing or two! She's not getting away this time!"
"Wait just a minute, guys!" Shining immediately pleaded. "I know this is gonna sound crazy, but you must believe me when I say, Starlight's a different pony now. We've had a lot of time to talk, let's leave it at that."
But before Shining could say anything more, the throne room doors burst open, and several royal guards came rushing in, lead by Private Spearhead! "Well, well, well, looks like the captain's sister wasn't pulling our hooves after all," Spearhead commented, as his eyes fell upon Starlight Glimmer. "You've made a huge mistake messing with our captain. Okay boys, take her away!"
Two royal guards rushed forward and grabbed hold of Starlight before she had a chance to even think of escaping. "Wait, stop! Please, I beg you!" She shouted in desperation, but to no avail.
Shining opened his mouth to try and speak on Starlight's behalf, but before he get a word in edge wise, he found himself growing faint. "S...Starlight." He barely managed to croak out, before his world went black!
Shining was slow to open his eyes, and when he did he groaned at the bright lights that greeted him. "Just great! Heck of a time for my migraines to kick in!" He thought to himself, even as the pain slowly dulled a little.
"Oh, thank goodness you're awake, B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight exclaimed, as she stood at the foot of her brother's bed. "You've been out cold for hours now, whatever happened to you while I was gone must taken a lot out of you."
Shining groggily turned towards his sister. "W...what happened? Where's Starlight?!" He asked, although he was pretty certain he knew the answer.
"The guards led her away, she's currently on trial in Canterlot and Princess Luna's presiding over it. They mentioned something about a troubled psyche," Twilight commented. "But why do you care? From what you told me, she was a brutal dictator who enslaved an entire village and forced them to give up their cutie marks."
"Well, that's only half of the puzzle," Shining explained, even as he had to deal with the throbbing pain in his forehead. "Starlight snuck into the castle and ended up sending Spike and I back in time along with her. She tried to change the past and stop me from getting my cutie mark. And, well..." Shining hesitated for a bit. Did he really want to let his sister know what he'd done? What would she think of him if she found out? Or had Spike already told her anyway?
"Well, what?" Twilight asked with concern.
"I...I..." Shining stuttered, before he swallowed a lump in his throat and confessed. "I used Discord's technique, you know, the one that lets me travel to any timeline at any point."
"Yes, Spike already told me that," Twilight nodded. "And he mentioned something else as well, but I wanted to hear it from you. Did you really use dark magic again?"
"As much as it pains me to admit it... yes," Shining confessed rather shamefully. "It's just... Starlight threatened to hurt you, a past version of you. You've always meant everything to me, Twily, I would move mountains for you if I had to. I couldn't stand the thought that Starlight would try to hurt you in any way, shape, or form. And somehow, I couldn't control my thoughts. All I could think about was how mad I was at Starlight for threatening you, how I wanted to make her see the error of her ways at all costs."
Twilight stumbled back in shock! From what little she'd read on dark magic, she knew that those who tried to use it were almost always driven to madness sooner or later, consumed by the dark thoughts associated with the magic. And this wasn't the first time her brother had used it either, he'd told her about the other times he'd had to use it. But she'd never imagined he would be so easily pushed into using it against another pony, even if it hadn't been for violence.
"Figured you'd react that way," Shining frowned, throwing his head back onto his pillow. "I'm sorry you had to learn about that, Twilight. But back in the heat of that moment, all I could think about was my anger, how I wanted to make Starlight pay. But the subject of Starlight is what I really want to mention to you. I saw her past, Twilight, I saw pains that she'd gone to great lengths to surpress. She lost her only friend as a filly, and blaimed cutie marks for it, because there was no one there for her in her time of need."
"Sounds a lot like Moondancer, only with the reckless desire to take it out on others," Twilight commented. "Or Sunset Shimmer for that matter, before you and I helped her to see the error of her ways of course."
Shining forced out a raspy laugh. "Funny you should mention that, Twily, because Starlight reminds me a lot of Sunset herself. They even have similar name themes. In another time and another place, maybe the three of you could've all been students at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns or something. Anyway, much like Princess Celestia had Sunset, Sunburst, and you and I as her students, I was thinking that the time has come for me to take on my own student. And I want Starlight Glimmer to fill that role."
"What?! Are you sure?" Twilight asked with worry. "If what you've just told me is true, Starlight sounds like an extremely troubled pony."
"I know, and that's precisely why I want to take her under my wing," Shining said quite firmly, slowly sitting up in his bed. "Much like Sunset Shimmer, she needs a guiding hoof to keep her on the right track. A shoulder for her to cry on. And someone to show her a better way. Otherwise, she's inevitably going to do what she did with the map again, only on a far greater scale. But, do you think it's worth it?"
Twilight shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that, B.B.B.F.F, and neither can anyone else. You're the only one who's seen the worst and the best of Starlight. You have to be the one to decide whether you think you can help her. This isn't like Sunburst or Sunset Shimmer, there's not going to be an overnight fix," Looking across the room toward the doorway, she then added. "Speaking of Sunset, I noticed that she's been sending me a LOT of messages! I haven't had time to respond, because I was worried about you. And if it's true that Starlight messed with the table map and tried to rewrite history, who knows how the portal between worlds would've been effected had I tried to use? But now, I'd probably better check up on Sunset personally and explain myself. Her messages sound pretty urgent."
"You do that, Twily," Shining nodded. "Be sure to give Sunset my regards and that I'm sorry I couldn't come myself. Oh, and be sure to tell her that she's always welcome to come back to Equestria whenever she wants, Princess Celestia in particular has been longing for a chance to patch things up with her."
"Will do, Shining. I just hope nothing bad's happened in my absence," Twilight commented, as she left the bedroom she and her brother shared. "I hope it's not trouble with The Dazzlings again, because last time they nearly destroyed us."