You are Anon, the colt from another dimension. You were outside heading towards Lyra and Bonbon's house with renewed vigor. You were in a positive mood with a better outlook on things, you wanted to become closer with your friends, and off the top of your head, Lyra and Bonbon would be the friends you've visited the least.
With Discord's abilities, determination, and intelligence, you were sure he would do just fine.
As for Mrs.Muffin Top. Well, she was a pretty kindly pony. When you had calmed down, you had asked her if you could ask some questions. These questions would be about her to get the current situation off your mind. Well, that’s what you told her. You told her just talking about something else would help you.
You also had to explain away Discord's disappearance as something extremely important that you understood and was for your well being. Which, wasn't exactly a lie. Though she did seem upset either way that'd he just leave.
Her cutie mark was probably what interested you the most, and her ability to read you. They apparently went hand in hand. She used to be a master dealer in Las Pegasus with an innate ability to read the faces of other ponies. That was her talent after all. She was so good at it that in every set of games she's ever played and dealt, she made sure to bring more money to the house than she ever lost. And apparently, she had never made a net loss.
That is, until a fisherpony by the name "Big Catch" came strolling in one day with money he had made from catching some legendary fish called "Mega Bassanova". He went to her table with nary a care of whether he won or lost. Apparently he had made decently good money as a fisher already and this money was just extra.
Muffin didn't believe it to be the truth at first, apparently no one ever plays at the tables with 'extra' money. But through his honesty and calm nature, she realized she couldn't read him at all. Apparently the guy is pretty absent minded at times when it comes to anything but fishing as well. And for the first time, she had caused the casino to lose money by failing to figure out what he was thinking. It also made her fall madly in love with him despite him being fat and not very good looking. She loved him for his unpredictability.
And for him? He had trouble keeping a mare because sometimes his fishing would takes weeks or even a month. They couldn't stand waiting or they just didn't want to deal with it. But apparently Muffin didn't mind. And in their marriage they had four children. Spade and Club, the stallions on the left side of the portrait, followed in their mother's hoofsteps.
Bait Masters, who you had to muster all your strength not to fall over laughing, followed in his father's footsteps and helps him on the boat. However, and this surprised you considering how young the daughter looked, but she was apparently the eldest and was aptly and accidentally named "Itty Bitty". Apparently she goes out on her lonesome not to just catch fish, but to catch the legendary uncatchables. Fish that fisherponies strive all their life to catch. She has apparently caught three so far. Impressive, especially since she has found no stallion thats willing to settle with her. Or more, she won't settle period unless the stallion is as spry as she is, as she was apparently very outgoing . She sounded adorable.
It was neat to learn. Gave you an idea of who you'd be around tomorrow. But enough about that, you wondered what BonBon and Lyra were up to. You remembered you also had to see them tomorrow with Scoots for some star gazing, but a visit today too should work.
Though, when you arrived at Lyra's house and knocked....there was no answer. In fact, when you decided to detour and try Bonbon's house....no answer. "...come on, I don't want to walk around all day…” You knock again, but no answer. "Ogh, don't tell me their both in Canterlot. I thought them being there and here a lot was just an exaggeration from the show. LYRA...BONBON! ANY OF YOU IN THERE?"
No answer.
So, what were you supposed to do with your day? Well, you were going to check up on Starlight, that could work. But what if she had left already? Uhhmmmm...why not? It's not like it'd be too much trouble to find out anymore now that you had a portal.
So, using your map and dumping it near a convenient puddle, you return home and use the portal door to enter Starlight's town. Hrn, there has been some progress in just a few days.
You enter the town from where you usually enter and look straight down to spot a building that looked completed at this point, it was right down the middle. That must be the new town hall.
It made you think how fast they managed to get it built within a few days, it was fairly impressive
With nothing else to really do, you might as well get something important done. As you pass by the straight placed homes, you look around to see happy ponies doing happy things. The town itself was much more vibrant now than it was from the show. Sad it was still in the middle of fucking nowhere, that alone still made it feel kind of dreary.
The new building itself was MUCH bigger than Starlight's old house. It was wide and made of marble with pillars lining the front. But it wasn't as big as say, an average government building on earth, It was about half. You wondered if Starlight lived here considering her house was now gone.
You look around, and spot a sign on the side plastered to the wall with some notes about furnishing. Lists of things like tables, seats, a podium, lots of stuff. But you didn't know why the list was there. Though ,when you pushed the doors open and peered inside, you could then see why.
The entrance hall was small and empty with no furnishings, and the walls being made of brown wood. It wasn't even painted yet.
"Hello?" Your voice echoes, but no answer.
You decide to take a look around. But each room you went into was just a big and empty square or rectangle. There was an odd thin hallway that was connected to the entrance hall as well that seemingly ends at a dead end.
But along the way was a sliding door that led to a staircase that spiraled upwards to another door with a weird rope on the side of it. There was a sign, but you didn't care to read it. You were too curious about what was behind that door.
Peculiar, what kind of town hall was this that had something like this out of the way? Seemed like a secret to you, even if the sliding door was obvious.
When you pushed the door open, it lead to a round room with a bed to your left, a desk on the right with filing cabinets to the right of it, and something else to hold..maybe food? Looked like a container of some kind, since there was a small stove on the side.
When you stepped forward, there was a sudden clanging noise. A clanging noise coming from the top of your head. Because a freaking frying pan slammed right onto your noggin, that's what fucking happened. "OGGGGH! WHYYY!" You fell to the ground, your face slamming right onto the ground from the force of the slam, and it fucking hurt. But it didn't knock you out. You felt dizzy as fuck though. "M-my...head...why?..always"
"Oh my gosh! Y-you're Anon! Oh..OH!" You heard a scared stallion's voice as he lifted you with his magic and gently placed you on his bed as he dabbed his hoof on your head and sifted through your mane for any big injuries. "Are you ok?! Ogh..I hope I didn't knock him out"
You groggily turn your head and look to your side to see a blue male stallion with a balloon animal for a cutie mark. "Starlight? When did you get so blue? And changed your cutie mark? And grew a dick..."
"A what now? A-anon, are you alright? Oh no...Everypony is going to get upset at me. Anon, I'm not Starlight. I'm Party Favor." He looked worried as fuck.
"....Why did you change your name?"
"Ohhh, I better get Starlight. H-hold on." Party Favor fetched you a glass of water and put it beside you as he dashed out to get Starlight.
You just rolled on your back as you groaned and held your head, looking around the empty room. "Ugggghh, I swear, when I find out who hit me, I'm going to shove my horn right up their ass...."
It took awhile, but your head finally cleared up enough for your senses to return. You looked around and get a little spooked until you remembered what you were doing. "Fuck..where am I? Is this part of town hall? Or was I kidnapped? Where the hell am I?"
You hop off the bed and take another look around. First, by opening the filing cabinets.
But when you open the bottom most drawer You got blasted with streamers and confetti.
"GYAH!" You fall onto your back as the confetti blasts onto your face, forcing you to spit a few times. You then look straight up at the ceiling, annoyed. ".....Who the fuck puts party shit in their filing cabinet?" ...Then it sorta dons on you. "....aside from Pinkie"
And then you hear the door open. Prompting you to hide on the side of the filing cabinet, because whoever it was, he was clearly fucking violent.
"I-I swear Starlight, I didn't know. He didn't ring the bell. I really thought he was a burglar." You saw Party Favor step in first, nervous about what he had done to you.
"Party Favor, it'll be ok, I promise. C'mon, you have to get a grip. You're the mayor now." Starlight said, she had a saddlebag on with a red cross on it.
"I know, but this is bad. What if I really hurt him?" Party Favor has his eyes completely on Starlight, he was frantic as fuck.
Starlight looked worried too, but not as much as him. "Well...let's just find out if he's....huh?" She noticed you weren't on the bed "Party Favor, didn't you say he was resting on the bed?"
"I uhh...yes?" Party Favor looked upon his bed, but you weren't there. He immediately started to panic and opened the window to look down "OH NO! WHAT IF HE JUMPED OUT THE WINDOW?!"
"Party Favor relax." Starlight tried to calm him down. "He wouldn't just do that"
"S-Starlight, It's just. My entire talent is entertaining and helping ponies, especially the kids. And now? I hurt one, really bad! I knew being mayor was a bad idea, but I didn't listen to myself! How can I be a good mayor if I go around smacking foals?!"
"PARTY FAVOR!" Starlight gave him a slap on the face. "Get a hold of yourself! I promise you it'll be ok. We just need to find him!"
Oy christ, the guy was having a meltdown because he thought he hurt you. Lucky for you, you were used to getting smacked on the head. But fucking mayor? Over Starlight? How the fuck did that happen? "Ok ok, relax. I'm here. Before anypony asks, I wasn't aware of where I was and I was afraid of who was coming in." You pop out and make yourself known.
They both noticed you. And while Party Favor still looked worried, Starlight could already tell you looked pretty ok. She let out a sigh of relief. "Anon, you're ok! That's good but...what are you doing here? And how is your head?"
You give her a soft smile as you approach her and give her a hug. "The usual, it works. Gonna take more than a frying pan to get the better of me. Oh, hey. Party Favor, relax dude. I'm fine. See? Ra-tacha-ratatacha!" You did a little dance and smiled at him to show you were fine.
"Oh thank Celestia. I thought I really hurt you. But, yeah. What are you doing here?" He asks, taking a moment to relax himself
"Um, well. I wanted to talk to Starlight about something and I thought she may have been in here, but when I didn't find her...I kept looking. It looks like somepony lives here after all."
"Well, I do live here. I'm the mayor of our town...which doesn't have a name still" Party Favor informed you as he relaxed himself further.
"Weird, I would have thought Starlight would have become mayor if you guys were going to have one."
Starlight gave you a sheepish smile, more calm now that everything was ok, but feeling a little anxious about the whole thing. "Well, I was mayor. For all of a minute"
Wut? "Ok, what exactly happened then?"
Party Favor chuckled nervously "Well, we held a quick election and Starlight chose me as her opponent. We didn't really need to campaign or anything since everypony knew us anyway. It was pretty short. And in the end Starlight won...then resigned. And here we are"
Well damn. "So, did you make that happen just to make him mayor no matter what? Why?"
"Well, I mean. I didn't. It's just I don't feel I'm really ready to lead the town again yet, e-even though I sort of have since I came back. Party Favor is a lot more qualified right now. Aside from...well...hitting you with a frying pan, he's pretty confident, good with the kids, friendly, hasn't enslaved a town yet, and is really good at setting up social events which helps attract more ponies to the town for trade and new residents" Starlight sighs. "I felt I should just give another qualified pony a chance to lead."
"And I just hope I can handle it. But, I-I know I won't be doing it alone. I have the support of the entire town. And I did promise to do my best for them. I guess I just lost my nerve for a minute" Party Favor chuckled nervously
"Well, it's alright man. I guess I didn't notice if there was a bell to ring or anything. My bad. Won't happen again."
Starlight approached you and gently moved your mane about to make sure there wasn't any bumps or bruises. Amazingly. you looked alright. "Ok good, you really do look ok. So, what did you need to talk to me about?"
You look to Party Favor, then back to her. "Actually, it's something really really private. And I'm pretty glad you haven't left to the Crystal Empire yet"
"Well, I was going to catch the evening train so I could sleep on the way over. I wanted to have a whole day to catch up with him...but um, private? Ok. Party Favor? you don't mind if we use your room to talk, do you?" Starlight asked.
"Of course not. I guess I better do some mayoring stuff anyway. Check on the town and all that. See if there's anypony with a birthday coming up. Take as long as you both need. And Anon? I'm really sorry about hitting you on the head" He still looked rather broken up about it.
You just grin at him, walk over, and pat the side of his leg. "It's alright, dude. Really, I've taken a lot worse. I'll be ok."
"Alright. I'll leave you two alone." And so, feeling a little better about it. Party Favor left you and Starlight alone.
Starlight put the medical bag on the bed and hopped into Party Favor's desk seat as you plopped your butt on the floor.
"So, what did you need to talk to me about Anon?" She asked
"It's complicated, I'm going to tell you some things first. And I want you to tell me what you think. Ok?"
"Alright, no problem. I hope it isn't anything serious. Oh..." She sighed in relief. "I'm glad Party Favor didn't use the taser I gave him either. Woo, that could have been pretty bad"
Wut? "You gave him the taser?"
"I gave him the rebuilt prototype to keep up here in a safe since I want it to be close but closed off to everypony. Only he and I know the combination. The safe itself is behind that filing cabinet there." She points to the cabinet.
Interesting, but not important at the moment. "Yeah, it's good he didn't use it. Anyway, Starlight. This is super important. So pay close attention, ok?"
"As if I wasn't. Anon, are you sure you're ok? You're looking pretty worried all of a sudden."
Of course you were suddenly worried. You were putting this fucking Celestia business back in your head. But it'd be ok, Discord had things handled. Really? You only needed to talk to Starlight for some of her advice and to be around her a little bit. It'd be fine, "I have a lot on my mind. And a lot to say. That's all."
But it seemed Starlight could read it all over your face. She didn't need to be an expert to know what was on your mind. And she didn't seem too happy about it either. "This is about Queen Chrysalis again, isn't it?"
Were you that obvious? "Yeah...but, there's a lot that's happened over the past few days and.." You stop, you could tell by her face that she didn't seem to want to talk about Chrysalis. But you needed this, you needed her advice. She was relatable and super smart. The only one you could really talk to about this.
You look right into her eyes, trying to show her with your expression that you wanted to discuss this. "Please, just hear me out. Please?"
Starlight sighs, she didn't really want to hear this. But she didn't want to shoo you away or give you the impression that she didn't like you. It just was what it was. "Alright, alright. I'll listen. So, what's happened? What's going on?"
"Well..."
You explain to her what's going on. What the princesses are up to, that you showed Chrysalis another movie, that you want her to reform. You explain more in depth about Scrappy and then go into Thorax's appearance. What Discord went and did. And the plan to reform the changelings over reforming Chrysalis. "...And that's it. They think they can do a better job than I can. Even though making friends with Chrysalis, I'd say, is a pretty big thing. Don't you think?"
Starlight looked to the right, looking away from your eyes as she answered. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
...ahg?! Really?! "...Starlight, you think I'm wrong?"
"I just know what I've read. And I remember when she showed up when I was in your house. There wasn't any good in her. I could just, y'know, feel it. Besides, if even her own changelings thinks she's pure evil then what do you expect me to think?"
You expected something different. "I expected you to maybe understand my side of things. Maybe? Y'know, don't you think it's kind of messed up that Celestia can just do that? What if something goes wrong? The entire hive will definitely be lost if it does. They'll just want to destroy everything."
"Yeah...that's pretty bad too." Starlight leans back on the chair and tries to think. "This is insane, thinking about it that way. If they screw up, things would definitely get worse. Chrysalis wouldn't trust you at all if that happened. Then again, we don't know what Chrysalis is up to either. I'm sorry, Anon, you say she's your friend and that’s fine. But you also said she hates ponies and wants to enslave us. You know she's plotting something. She's gotta be. For all we know, she might be able to use all this against Equestria"
Well...she wasn't wrong about her plotting. "I mean...she is planning...something. But, she's contained. There's nothing she can do when she's also stuck as a pony"
Starlight nearly fell over when you even admitted it. "Anon! So you know she's planning something and you think it's ok just because she's 'contained'? How can you be so sure she doesn't have a way to change back or a way to force Discord to change her back?"
"Now hold on. I know what you're thinking. Trust me, there's NO WAY she could reverse it. Not unless she somehow got back to her kingdom"
"Her kingdom? Why? What would happen if she went back there?"
"Well, apparently it has a anti-magic field throne that would cancel Discord's magic"
Starlight groaned as she put her hoof to her face and shook her head. "Anon, I'm not saying this to upset you. But are you listening to yourself? Can you not see how crazy this sounds to say...anypony else?"
You kind of did. But this is why you had things under control, as did Discord. "I know it sounds bad, Starlight. But like I said, I have things under control, and so does Discord. My only real problem though is that I can't really figure out a way to reform Chrysalis right now. All I have is her friendship. But I need to do more."
"Anon, let me ask you a question. What if you can't reform her? What if you never do? Then what? If you think she's going to just stay in your basement forever all nice and complacent then I definitely know you're wrong. From what I've read and what I know, changelings will eventually go nuts without real love to feed off of. They apparently get extremely hostile the longer they go without it. I don't know how long they can last on that orb thing you mentioned from before. And even if Chrysalis brings them love from ponies they can eat, their instincts will still eventually get the better of them and things will fall apart anyway. Reforming even them then, from what you said, would be totally impossible. So again, what's the long term plan here?"
Long term plan...No, you didn't need one. You KNEW it was possible despite what Celestia may think. "Chrysalis can be reformed. Like I said, that Chrysalis from that other dimension, which was, by the way, another timeline, reformed after some dire things happened to her. I'm not going to do anything to hurt her myself, but it lets me know that it's possible. That's why we need to put our heads together and figure it out. Starlight, please. Can we stop? I already went through this with Celestia. I came to you for help, not for this..."
"Anon...Let me ask you something about that other Chrysalis. After this, I promise I'll help you. But only after this last thing, ok?" Starlight was asking specifics about her? Huh, why? What does it matter other than it's your proof?
"Ok, that sounds fair. What's the question?"
"Are you sure it was a Chrysalis from another timeline? How sure?"
"Well, pretty sure. Discord mentioned he was able to open doors to other timelines due to some time manipulation from another dimension close to ours."
"That's what I thought..." Starlight got up and walked to the filing cabinet and used her magic to move it aside to reveal a safe, she then started to spin the dial to get it to open. Once she did, she started to take things out.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a few things out that I was going to bring with me to the Crystal Empire to ask if they can be returned to Canterlot. And also apologize. I hid them in the safe considering how important they are." She walked over to the bed and dropped a couple of huge books and a scroll onto it.
"Canterlot? Return? You stole these? Starlight, what the? Why?"
Starlight shook her head "Don't get any ideas, Anon, these are the same books and scrolls I had in the cave where we first met. I just haven't had time to return them yet. But look..." Starlight picked up one of the books as she struggled with some sort of spell. She was actually sweating a little when she cast it on one of the books, making it thicker with more pages. Huh... "This book here? It has Starswirl's complete notes on what he's discovered on time travel. I already found a way to improve on his spell using this scroll, only took a little extra studying actually. But I wasn't aware of the effects or consequences. So, Anon, this is going to clear something up about that possibility you keep mentioning"
Time Travel notes? That's right, she had mentioned she had worked on it before. And keeping the stuff around and not having to watch her back must have given her more time to do research, even finding some secret notes of some kind. "Ok, but what does this have to do with Chrysalis?"
Starlight opens the book to the notes "A lot. Are you ready for this, Anon? This is a little bit of a mouthful. But it's going to make a few things clear, Alright? Like I said, no matter what, after this, I'll help you. But I just want you to hear me out"
This was interesting, even coincidental. You weren't aware she still kept the time travel stuff around and now it's apparently relevant. Plus, these were notes from Starswirl. Notes that even Twilight probably had no idea about. Starswirl the bearded seemed like a powerful guy, so anything he has to say, related or not, has to be interesting. "Alright, shoot"
"Ok, Ahrm" She clears her throat as she gets up on the bed and then looks over at the chair she was sitting on "Why don't you grab a seat? Make yourself more comfortable first"
"Alright" You decide to do what she says, and climb up onto the chair and spin it to face her. Huh...it was a spinny chair. Maybe a little later you could spin around a bit for fun. "I'm ready"
"Ok, so here we go. There are the secret notes of Starswirl the Bearded, regarding his further investigation into time travel. Let me read it out to you, ahrm. If you are reading this, then you have broken the seal on my notes with powerful magic all your own and wish to understand the complexities of time magic. Or moreso, what I understand of it. Well, let me just say at this moment that it would be ill advised to try to control time and space through magic due to the dire consequences it can hold. Allow me to explain."
"As you may have read, or even tried yourself if able, there is a time spell I developed which allows one to go back in time for only mere seconds. There is however, another way to make it last longer. But due to it's dangers, I will not explain how to replicate it in any of my notes. I will instead leave an incomplete scroll which holds the base of the spell needed to create a stronger time spell in which only a powerful and wise unicorn could figure out and use. One that I pray will be mindful and courteous with their ability to manipulate time as I myself have not mastered it yet. But that is neither here nor there."
"As for the spell itself, I had used a very VERY dangerous spell to energize two crystals with 'Chronos' energy. An energy I discovered, that unfortunately, when gathered, causes much of the life of the gatherer to wither away. That is why I will not share how to replicate the spell here. In any case, using one of the two crystals, I returned back to the past to meet with myself with full confidence that I had actually mastered time at this point. I returned to the precise moment in time I had before using the base spell. And in doing so, I had planned to impart my past self with with all the knowledge I gained throughout the years so he may study other magics and further improve his magical prowess. Things were fine at first. He understood, as did I, how important this was and didn't even mind my methods of using time travel to meet with him. Though, two things struck me as off as we spoke."
"One was that I don't remember this encounter myself, I only remembered an odd vibrating chill in my spine. I would think that speaking to my past self would mean that I would have twice as much knowledge studied. But it was not to be when I noticed the second problem. My younger self was drinking the vile black tar known as Coffee! Coffee, a drink that I could do without. It was bitter with a foul taste. But the worst part of it all was the fact my younger self was drinking it! And had apparently been drinking it for years instead of the calm serene taste of tea"
"We argued for what must have been about two hours before the crystal I was using cracked from the excess of magic and flung me back to the present. It took me awhile to get over the nausea from the sudden trip, but it appeared everything was as it was supposed to be. But it also meant my second crystal would only let me return for only so long, which meant my plan was a failure in that regard. I was ready to write off time travel for a very long time after the strange coffee anomaly. In fact, I just wanted to spend the day meditating while drinking my beloved tea to forget what my other self considered a 'good' drink"
"But to my horror, when my apprentice, Princess Celestia, had brought me my beloved tea and I took a drink; I immediately found myself heaving when I realized I had downed coffee. Understandably, I was angry. But it had seemed Princess Celestia had not understood my anger as I had apparently been drinking coffee all my life. This was an ultimate horror"
"I resigned myself to my study upon discovering this fact, and locked myself in for days as I tried to figure out what went wrong. Something had gone wrong with the time spell. But what?"
"Days turned into weeks, I don't even remember if they turned into months. But after many controlled experiments and further study into dimensional theory, I came to realize a horrifying fact. Returning back in time to a point I had already visited with a prior time spell had caused a ripple in time, that's what caused that deathly chill when I had returned to my past self. Going back in time twice to the same time and place had caused a temporal fusion and then separation of dimensions. Creating the regular time space dimension I was from, We'll call it Time Space A. And the time space dimension I find myself in now, Time Space B."
"My problem now was trying to return to Time Space A. I only had one crystal to use and forging more may have caused more trouble than it was worth. Of course, with my great knowledge, It did not take me long to figure out all I need to do is go further back in time and then return to my own time. And although I cannot do that manually, when the crystal shatters, it will happen automatically. As long as I go back further before the split in time space and make sure it was not a time I had already been too, It will work. As it will not cause any further splits in the time space continuum."
"Of course, if you are reading this you are well aware that it did indeed work. And I hope these notes, to whomever reads them, helps them understand the dangers of time travel. Especially if one should master it and create multiple time space dimensions by returning to a certain point in time multiple times. As it would cause subtle to drastic changes to events and even the personalities of beings within that dimension, and make things worse with every route created."
Starlight closes the book "And that's it. If that dimension you jumped into was another time space dimension, then I can only guess that somewhere at sometime around that time, I had managed to finish the time spell completely and carry out the revenge I was planning, causing anomalies that Discord managed to find and open doors to from wherever he was when he made those doors. And do you know what that means, Anon?"
"...Uhm...no?" You really didn't, you kind of blanked out a few times during that whole thing.
Starlight sighed. "It means that the dimension you jumped into may have had a ton of changes in it. A change in that Chrysalis that would have made her capable of reformation."
A change? "I don't think so. What happened was pretty traumatic for her. She even told me the Chrysalis of this world could reform. I think she knows what she's talking about. Besides, everypony seemed the same to me, mostly. It was just a different circumstance"
"So, aside from events being wildly different. There was nothing out of place in that dimension? Nothing that was so noticeable in the sense it shouldn't be there? Are you sure? Think carefully, Anon, I don't think Starswirl would write these notes if he thought he was wrong"
But what if he was.... "Let me think. Because I'm having trouble thinking of anything that was off"
And so you pondered. Aside from circumstances changed by time, everything seemed mostly normal. Well....wait........Sunset Shimmer was there.
And...she had mentioned the portal to Equestria had closed up due to some dimensional distortion, a time distortion?...No, fuck no. No...NO! "...A-are you telling me there really is no connection between that dimension and this one? Other than it having the same ponies?"
Starlight nods. "If Starswirl's notes are right. Then yes. I'm sure. Especially since you told me there was that many doors. I guarantee each one had a different timeline in it, each vastly more different than the last. So it's very possible that the Chrysalis from that other timeline was mistaken, simply because for different timelines to exist, there had to be multiple separations of time space by somepony returning to a point in time multiple times for some reason. So Anon, I'm going to ask you, what do you think now that you know all this?"
What you think?...W-what you think? How can that even be? Could she really be right? Was that really it? A time flux? It would mean that there really may be no way to reform Chrysalis. The only thing you could be sure of was her friendship to you. So what DO you think? What are you supposed to think? Was Discord right? You invested so much into nothing, when you should have invested into the friends that actually matter.
But Chrysalis matters too. The only reason you cared about her the most was because she was the one in immediate danger right now. But with this information coming out so conveniently, what were you supposed to do? "...I don't know what I think. I'm just...I'm afraid that even with Discord holding back the princesses, I can't do anything." You were just staring blankly ahead. This time, it was really hammered in.
"I'm sorry, Anon, but I felt you really needed to hear that. I didn't want you getting in over your head or anything like that. But I'm keeping my promise. If, for whatever reason, you still think it's possible to reform her, then I'll brainstorm with you until it's night time. Because after all that, if you still feel it's possible, then there really must be a way"
....Was there a way?
You felt stupid. You felt utterly stupid. Everyone was telling you the same thing and you refused to listen. Were you under Chrysalis's control? Or did you really just enjoy her company that much that you just slowly started to disregard everyone else. Everyone else was right, even some possibly dead dude who didn't even know what the fuck friendship was nor knew the situation you were in.
You felt foolish. You felt naive. You slumped over again. You didn't cry, you just felt empty. "Starlight, I goofed again. I put so much emphasis and work into this that I really did lose sight of what is important. I caused ponies to get hurt and I got angry at those who didn't deserve it. And yet, even realizing all this, I still want to save Chrysalis. And it makes me feel like a monster because it makes me feel like I don't care about anypony else....then so be it"
...You were such a fucking moron… When will you learn? When you looked up at Starlight however, she looked deep into thought. "S-starlight?"
"Hold on, Anon, I'm thinking" She said as she pondered. That was rather cold.
"...Oh..." Maybe she didn't actually care...
You lower your head. But as you do, Starlight suddenly springs up with an ecstatic "I GOT IT!" But you just groaned at your own failures. "Anon, come on. Buck up. I think I figured something out" Starlight smiles at you.
You still felt drained, what could she have possibly figured out? "W-what?"
Starlight's horn glowed as she picked you up and brought you onto the bed in front of herself. "Come on, Anon, don't be like that. I think I've got something that'll cheer you up. It's probably nothing as good as what Twilight can come up with. BUT! It's pretty logical"
You just lowered your chin to the bed and sighed. "..I hope so.."
Starlight rolled her eyes at you. "Geez, Anon, your excitement could power an entire city." Starlight used her hooves to sit you up. "Look, if this doesn't work then I'll let you just mope around like a slug, ok?"
You sigh, and straighten your back as you decide to give her a shot. "..Alright. What do you got?"
"Well, it's a two parter actually. First, you know how you've been obsessing over Chrysalis? And how it makes you feel like you've been disregarding your other friends, right?"
"...Yeah?"
"Yeah, well. Consider this!" Starlight smiles at you as she raises her hoof in a "matter of fact" like way. "How obsessed were you when you found out Twilight was coming to confront me about my return."
"Huh? Erm, well..." Hell, you remember wanting to get to Starlight at any cost. You even brought Lyra along to help you out. "I guess it was a lot. I didn't want to stop trying to get to you because I was scared Twilight would get to the town first. And then? I just wanted to protect you the moment I got there."
"Exactly!" Starlight points out "When you felt I was in trouble and needed help, you focused on me until everything was ok. I'm even willing to bet Chrysalis and I aren't the only ones you obsessed over when they were in trouble. Or, to be more precise, you have a tendency to just blindly hurl yourself into whatever trouble there may be for everypony you care about."
Wait… Was Starlight on to something?...Was she? "Thinking about it. I did sort of jump at the Chimera when I thought Fluttershy was in trouble. And then I got really zany when I thought Trixie got eaten. And even Diamond, I didn't like her at the time but I guess I didn't hate her either. I stood and fought for her even if it meant I'd get smashed. And..."
Holy shit....
"So, what you're saying is. That the reason I've been obsessing so much IS because I'm scared for Chrysalis. Longer than anypony else because the situation hasn't been resolved yet."
"Right! That's what I think anyway. Pretty good theory, right? Pretty much proves that you've just been in a rut because of what's going on. You've been putting yourself down and you haven't been able to focus because you think you don't care about anypony else too. Well, we know that's wrong."
Because of what's going on. Woah...So you've just had your mind constantly occupied. That's all, that's amazing. You already felt better. It wasn't your fault. It was just you losing your mind!.....huh
...Wait, that's not good. But it's better than the alternative! A little crazy never hurt anyone anyway. "Starlight, I...I feel so much better already. That's so awesome! You're AWESOME! Now I can focus on helping Chrysalis without worrying if I'm hating everypony else! Flippin' genius! I love it! I can focus much more now and...." Starlight was cringing however, why was she cringing? "...Starlight?"
"Yeah...see, here's the second part. And this one is from personal experience."
"It can't be that bad. I feel so good now. What could possibly be so bad about the second part?"
Starlight sighs "Well, the second part is simple. You let the changelings get reformed."
......Oh, yeah. That's pretty cringy. "W-what?! I thought you said you'd help me. H-how does that help me? How is that from personal experience?" How does that help at all?
Starlight's sudden cheer drops as suddenly as it came as she explains. "Anon, just think about it. When I had control of the town, I was a pretty bad pony. I mean yeah, I had a reason that I thought was good. But for this explanation, let's just keep it as simple as that. A bad pony who kept townsponies under her will. But then I lost them to Twilight and her friends and due to my own deception as well. I hid myself, and plotted revenge and felt...so alone doing it all. I was even alone while I controlled the town, but I just didn't care back then. And then? I ran into you. Or, rather foalnapped you. But it was probably the best thing to happen to me in my entire life. You stayed with me even after I threw a hissy fit. You listened to me even when my reasoning to be against cutie marks wasn't as sound as I thought it was. And you helped me find my way. And...here we are. Basically, what I'm saying is...When Chrysalis loses what she has, she'll most likely will be really mad about it for a long time. But then, she'll realize how lonely it really is. And who will be there waiting for her when she realizes it?"
You've been told this before. But only now did you feel it made sense...but… "Me...but she's so set in her ways. This could also make things worse.."
"For how long though? Anon, that bitter feeling of loneliness and hatred, when it piques? Oh, you have no idea. All I could see after mastering this time spell was finding a catalyst to use it on and a point in time to change. And finally? Bringing Twilight along with me so she could see her entire world crumble in a flash" Starlight looked out the window at the side of the bed, putting her hoof on it as she stared outwards towards the ponies outside "..But when everything came into perspective. I felt so empty inside, it was all meaningless. Even if I succeeded, I'd still be alone. After befriending you? And the townsponies? No, I could never go back. And the ponies of this town? They still need me....And I can't let them down."
Starlight turned to you, she was committed to the idea. But she wasn't happy about it. "So basically, what I'm saying, Chrysalis WILL get angry. I don't think I could imagine how angry she'll be. But that doesn't take away that eventually she'll need somepony to be there for her. Because once that loneliness hits, it's like being slammed by a bag of bricks. Do you get what I'm saying?"
It made sense...it made a lot of sense now that you were hearing it from her. It hurt...but maybe she was right. You couldn't help Chrysalis now...but you could help her later....or maybe.. "Starlight, I understand what you're saying."
Starlight sighed in relief. "Oh good, I almost felt that I was just wrong on that one. Since I'm still learning myself but..." She smiled at you. "I'm glad you understand. It helped, right?"
You nod...it did "Yeah, it made me realize something too..."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"That if I want to make sure the princesses don't screw anything up. I'll just have to speed up the process on that whole loneliness thing"
Now Starlight was lost...and worried "Uhhhhh, what?"
"Yeah, imagine it. What if one of the futures in those doorways Discord brought up was one where Chrysalis ruled? If I could find a way to get it to appear, I could show Chrysalis how empty ruling Equestria really is. Therefore reforming her AND not betraying her. It's perfect!"
"Oh, no no, Anon." Starlight thought that was a terrible idea. "You can't do that! Even if it exists, you don't know how dangerous it could be. Or worse, what if it has the exact opposite effect? What if Chrysalis just..I dunno. Do you know how terrible and crazy it'd be if she bumped herself off just to rule everything herself?"
Ahh, but you wouldn't let it happen. "IF she did that. Two reasons why it wouldn't. One, I'd be there and she wouldn't leave me hanging. And two? I could only imagine that future's Chrysalis being a lot more vicious. Our Chrysalis wouldn't win. Come on Starlight, don't you see how foolproof this is?"
Starlight could see how desperate and obsessed you really were now. She couldn't let you do anything like that. "Anon, I can't let you do that. Whatever future that would be, if it exists...I can't let you do it. I won't"
"I can handle it, Starlight, I have the horn remember? If anything goes wrong, I'll just use it. AND I am sure Discord would find a way to give it more juice for this operation too" You felt confident, even arrogantly so.
"But didn't you mention Chrysalis has some anti-magic throne? Yeah, think about it. Do you really think she wouldn't find a way to expand its influence if she ruled the world? If it can even nullify chaos magic, you'd be doomed the moment you step in there" Starlight reminds you...and damn...she was probably right.
"I...uhh...well....err..mnnn" You got sad again.
And the moment your ears drooped, Starlight lifted your head gently with her hooves so she can look right into your eyes. "Don't do that, Anon. Come on, You know I'm with you on this. I just don't want you do anything you'd regret. You have a tendency to do things without thinking it through. I'm not going to force you to do anything, I just don't want you to do anything dumb. If you want to try something else, fine. But think it through or at least come to me and we'll plan it together. But if you don't have anything then it just might be better to just let things happen and be there for her when she realizes that same loneliness I felt, ok?" She looked right into your eyes with a worried smile. "Alright? Come on, I'll treat you to a cinnamon roll before I head to the Empire. Sugar Belle's cinnamon buns are the best. I promise"
Starlight. She was a lot more confident than you remember. Maybe she had a handle on things better than you did...no, she totally did. "Starlight...how did you get so strong?"
"Strong?"
"Y'know..emotionally"
"Emotionally? Oh no no no, Anon, I don't think I'm that strong..I...just. I just got comfortable after a while. I'm still super nervous about meeting Sunburst after so long. I know I said I'd do it alone, but it's been driving me crazy sometimes just thinking about how THAT'S gonna go"
"But you're still going to go alone, right?"
She nods "Yeah, and hope for the best"
Starlight… "Ok, I think I have a grip on things now. I think I'll just try it your way. It's going to drive me crazy too. Feels like I'm just betraying her, y'know?"
"I know. But it isn't your fault."
"I know...They had dibs before me after all" You put your hoof to your heart, you could feel it thumping. "But it feels so bad. What if I relapse?"
"Anon, like I said. If you have a better idea, go for it. But if you're going to follow mine, then I'm going to have to make some time for you."
What did she mean by that? "Time for me?"
"Yeah, you know. Just some time to help you keep it together. Considering how obsessed you get, you're probably going to need some help"
"Yeah...I guess. But if I do come up with a better plan, you'll hear me out, right?"
"Yup, I'll even help you if you need me"
"Yeah....Starlight?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks, I think out of everypony I've talked to about this with. You're the only one who really helped me out"
"I'm glad. You're a great friend, Anon, even if you're dense sometimes..."
"Hey! I'm not that dense!" Gyah! Why did she say that?!
Starlight giggled "You sure? You took that frying pan hit like a champ"
..Ogh. "Well, whatever. At least I took it like a champ. Anypony else would have clocked out"
Starlight let out a cute belly laugh "I guess, hmmm. Anon, thanks for being my friend. You interdimensional weirdo."
You grin at her. "Yeah, you too, you dirty commie"
You both share a soft laugh as you give each other a hug. She was still arrogant when she wanted to be. It was cute.
Though, it also made you wonder about Discord. Or mostly Celestia since she now knew you told him. You were going to have to figure that one out soon.