Everything came to a dead stop, Twilight and Starlight staring at each other. And then they jumped apart, getting tangled up in the blankets as they tried to get some distance. And they both began babbling at once.
“Wife? But I’m not married!”
“...just celebrating the solstice…”
“We’re not even…”
“...good friends sure, best friends, but…”
“Stop,” said Sunset firmly, raising a hoof. Amazingly, they stopped. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Twilight. Of course that hasn’t happened yet. I should have realized. It’s 1007 isn’t it?”
Starlight just nodded. The reality of what Sunset had said was sinking in. Twilight’s wife. From the future. The comfortable feeling of a moment ago, already washed away by shock, became a sickening pit in her stomach.
“Of course,” Sunset said, nodding. “I really am sorry, Twilight, I shouldn’t have dropped that on you and remembered about spoilers. But it’s been... “ she paused, collecting herself. “Well, lets just say I’m glad to see you and leave it at that. But you,” she added, turning to Starlight. “Who are you?”
“I’m... I’m Starlight Glimmer. Remember?” Sunset just looked blank. “Twilight’s student?” Still nothing. Starlight tried not to wince. “I... went to your world for a visit? Ten foot tall girl? The magic mirror?”
“Sorry, drawing a blank. It’s been a really long time since high school. Wait, I haven’t fallen into an alternate reality have I? Luna rules with Celestia, Sombra defeated, Changelings are ridiculous pastel lovebugs? Discord is a pest and the Flim Flams are in Las Pegasus? Goatees not a major fashion trend?”
“All that sounds correct,” Twilight said thoughtfully. Which was good, because Starlight was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to answer at all. “We’ll check a book of recent history to be sure, but it certainly sounds like you’re in the right world. And falling into an alternate past should be almost impossible if the Tree of Worlds model holds.”
“Huh. Yeah. I’m sorry Starlight. I thought I knew everycreature important in Twilight’s life, but I guess talking about the past you just must never have come up. But let's start over. It’s good to meet you.”
“Likewise” said Starlight numbly, her stomach knotting tighter. It’s a strange feeling, she thought detachedly. Like you’re giving blood. There’s no pain, but your body knows that you’re bleeding to death.
She’s Twilight’s future wife. And she doesn’t remember me. She doesn’t even know I exist.
Twilight was looking at her. With pity? Sympathy? Starlight couldn’t tell. But then Twilight turned to Sunset suspiciously.
“How do I know you’re really from the future?” Twilight asked, eyes narrow.
“I can prove it.” Sunset lifted the crystal artifact from the floor in her hooves. “This thing doesn’t have much juice left, and I think it’s going to short out soon, but a demonstration should be safe enough.” She looked closely at Twilight. “You...got given a scarf a few days ago yes?”
“How did you know that?”
Sunset pulled a scarf from her bag. “One that looked just like this?”
“Well, yes. Wait, are you saying that was…”
“Hold that thought. I’m going to prove I can travel to the past. Just got to put this cloak on. Don’t want to be frightening the civilians as an unexpected alicorn right? I hope this thing works...”
There was another blinding flare of green light and fire, and she was gone. Mostly. A sandwich fell to the floor, apparently left behind from one the the cloak’s pockets. They stared at it. They stared at each other.
“Starlight…” Twilight said, quietly, “I’m…”
There was another blinding flash, and when they could see again Sunset was back. Covered in snow, and completely lacking in a scarf.
“Brr! That was a cold day. And you just had to chase me didn’t you? Never saw a mystery you wouldn’t pry into given half a chance. Definitely vexing sometimes. Twilight, I know you’ve got a lot of questions and this is completely overwhelming. But it’s really me. I’m here from the future, and we’ve got important work to do. Unless we recover Prismia’s Amulet by the winter solstice, the Changelings are doomed.”
“What? The winter solstice? But that’s tomorrow!” Twilight jumped to her hooves. “There’s no time to waste! I’ll get the girls, and we can…”
“NO!” Sunset interrupted. “No, don’t bring them. It has to be just us.”
“Why?” Asked Starlight. “How many times have you tried this already?”
“Look, if your friends come it’s going to be bad. Just trust me okay? Rule one of time travel is to listen to your elders. They know more than you.”
“Actually I’m pretty sure rule one of time travel is ‘Don’t’,” snapped Starlight. The numbness was fading, and the sick knot in her stomach was turning into a tight coil of anger.
This isn’t fair, she thought. Sunset Shimmer is just going to drop in out of the blue as an alicorn, now of all times, and just take Twilight away from me?
“No, that’s rule zero” Twilight chimed in, oblivious. “And rule five is ‘Really, don’t. No, not even then.’ Rule number one is…”
“Twilight, missing the point.” Starlight rounded on Sunset. “You say the other bearers can’t come, for some reason? Fine. But you’re taking me. I’m not letting her face whatever this is alone.”
Sunset gave a dismissive snort. “Why do you care so much? Look, no offense, but you obviously don’t care enough about Twilight to stick around in the future. Why now? And we can’t afford to mess this up. So unless you’re an expert on psycho-emotional magic…”
“I am an expert on psycho-emotional magic, and temporal thaumodynamics!” Spat Starlight, stepping forward. “What are you going to do if we have to cast a spell, spark at it?”
“Okay! That’s enough.” Twilight forced her way between the two of them, glaring. Starlight recognized her Princess Face. Oh buck, she thought, that probably went way too far. “We all need to calm down. We’ve got more important things to deal with. If the Changelings are in danger, then we’ll need to work together to save them. And we can’t do that if we’re fighting. First, Starlight, that was very insensitive. Can you apologize?”
“...Yes.” What was it about Twilight that could make her feel two inches tall? A very angry two inches, but still. She could apologize. For her. “Sunset, I’m sorry for insulting your horn. I shouldn’t have said that, it was uncalled for.” Sunset didn’t say anything, but did give a curt nod.
“Good! Now Sunset. Starlight is a very close friend of mine. I don’t know what happens in the future, but right now we care about each other very much. I trust her with my life and I want her to come help us, unless there is a very specific reason not to. It’s bad enough facing this without my other friends, I’m not doing it without her too. Understood?”
Sunset looked like she was biting on a lemon. Starlight tried not to feel too satisfied about that. “Ugh. Fine. She can come tomorrow, we don’t have time to argue anyway. Twilight, I’m sure you’ve got questions. Come with me and we’ll make plans.” And with that she turned and stalked off down the hall.
Twilight looked at Starlight sadly, the princess mask falling away as fast as it had appeared. “I’m sorry, I really should go with her. And...it’s probably best if you two give each other some space for now to cool off. But about what she said…”
“Heh, what, about the future wife thing? That’s great. How many couples get to know it’s going to work out ahead of time anyway.” Starlight was smiling. She was sure of it. She was being very careful not to stop, after all.
“But that’s...we’re not even dating! We’ve never dated. And that’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Starlight closed her eyes. She couldn’t deal with this right now. “You should go work with Sunset.”
“But…”
“I’ll be fine. I can do some research. See if I can learn anything about Prismia’s Amulet. Okay? Sunset’s right, there isn’t much time.”
“But I want to know what I did wrong!” Twilight burst out. Starlight blinked. “I need to know what happened to me. How could I drive you away?”
“It probably wasn’t you,” Starlight said quietly. Her eyes watered as she spoke. “You know how much I care about you, but...you and I both know I’m not the most stable or reliable pony. Whatever happened, it was my fault. I know it.”
“Starlight…” Twilight reached out a wing to hug her but Starlight flinched away. She couldn’t take Twilight's sympathy right now. Not when she had proof that for all her best efforts to be a better pony, for all the progress she knew she’d made, she’d ultimately failed.
Just like she always knew she would.
And she’d lost her closest friend, the pony she loved. Hurt her so badly she couldn’t bear to speak about her, even years later.
“Twilight just go. Please. Help save the world again.” Starlight spoke with her eyes closed. “I’ll be better in a little while, and we can talk then.” And, after what seemed an eternity, she heard the sound of hooves on crystal leaving the room.
By midnight Starlight wasn’t feeling any better, and the anger that had let her overcome her self loathing had faded to an ember. The research hadn’t even been productive, despite the many tomes she had raced through with an accelero spell modified for endurance.
Oh, she had found the basic history of Prismia easily enough. She was a sorceress who had stolen and perfected some very nasty Changeling magic, somehow draining the light and love from whole villages at a time. Princess Cadance was just an orphaned pegasus filly back then. But somehow she had stopped her and redeemed her, returning the stolen love a dozenfold. Cadance ascended as an alicorn on the spot. And Prismia, moved by Cadance’s forgiveness and love, had become her first teacher of magic.
But there were no records of any amulet associated with Prismia. Prismia’s Codex existed, a collaborative work with Cadance on ways to spread love with magic instead of stealing it. There was Prismia’s Diadem, a focus for love magic that was eventually reworked into the Crystal Empire’s royal regalia. There was Prismia’s Nasal Exsanguination, a combat spell that caused nosebleeds proportionate to how attractive the target found the caster. It made Starlight suspect that Prismia hadn’t left her dark side completely behind.
Something they had in common apparently.
The list went on. Between her important position and her frequent collaboration with Cadance, she had been a very notable and accomplished spellcaster by the time of her death. But there was no record of her creating any amulets anywhere in her career.
She sighed and stood up. Well, if this was a bust she should check on Twilight and Sunset before getting some sleep. It might be hard, but she had to face them eventually. She might as well get it out of the way tonight.
She headed down the corridors of the castle, belatedly realizing she didn’t know where they were working. But she had a hunch. The castle had many studies, and Twilight’s favorite was on the fifth floor. Just the right size, spacious yet cozy, and with windows that let her overlook all of Ponyville. And she found her guess confirmed when she heard voices coming down the corridor as she approached.
And then she froze. The crystal walls tended to distort sound, but she could distinctly hear the tones of their voices. Twilight nervous, hesitant, and Sunset...sultry.
Oh Harmony help me, she thought. Emotions swirled. Rage, shame, and above all a horrible morbid curiosity.
I shouldn’t listen, she thought. It’s not my business, and the best it will do is hurt me. I don’t want to hear Sunset seduce Twilight. Not tonight.
But she had to know.
She lit her horn, floating to the door without a sound. And, hating herself for it but unable to turn away, she listened.
Sunset’s voice, filled with both love and quiet desperation.“...know you’re not her. I do. But I’ve missed you so much. And just seeing you again, it’s all I can do not to throw my wings around you and kiss you like tomorrow will never come.”
“If...if you know I’m not her, then why?” Twilight sounded quiet, nervous. But she didn’t sound like she was denying anything. “Logically, the foundational experiences of the relationship will never occur anymore. The butterfly effect will see to that. Whatever I did to earn your affection in the future is an invalid basis for any feelings toward me now.”
Oh Twilight, Starlight thought, you always did ramble. Why do I have to love that about you?
“Love isn’t logical Twilight. It doesn’t make sense. Someone once told me that love is a gift. You didn’t earn my affection, you already had it. Everything we had together just proved how much it was worth to me.” There was a shifting noise, of somepony moving closer to the other on a couch. Starlight desperately hoped it was Sunset. “I know this is sudden, I don’t expect you to feel the same way for me yet. But please, if you care about me at all, can I pretend? Just for this night?”
And that was when Starlight, unable to stand any more, teleported back to the library and collapsed sobbing to the floor.
She was still there, staring at nothing, when the clack of hooves on crystal made her look up. The very last pony she wanted to see right now. But she forced an expression on to her face that would, with luck, at least appear equine.
“Sunset. Hey. What are you doing here?”
“I got lost on the way to the restroom. But it’s just as well really. I was looking for you.” She turned a glare on Starlight. “You were eavesdropping.”
Well, no point in trying to deny it, Starlight thought. She expected to feel angry, barely containing the rage that had driven her through so much of her life. But instead, she just felt drained.
“Just a little. I heard you come on hard to Twilight right before I left.” I sound like Maud, she thought. Can you really just run out of emotions? ”Did it work?”
“No, as a matter of fact.” Sunset’s voice was cold, and she was staring at Starlight intently. Were her eyes always that shade of green? She couldn’t make herself care about that either. “Twilight said that she couldn’t be with me. Not when she had feelings for someone else. I think she was talking about you.” A light of hope flared in Starlight for a moment, but then that drained away too. It didn’t really matter. She already knew how this ended.
“What, are you going to threaten me to stay away from your wife?” Starlight managed to say. Something was wrong, she shouldn’t feel like this, what was...
“No. I’m just going to tell you something I shouldn’t. Why if you care about Twilight at all you should leave now. Remember how I said that I didn’t know you? That I’d never heard of you? Well I lied. I know exactly who you are, and how you broke Twilight’s heart when you betrayed her."
Starlight tried to protest, to get in a word, but she couldn't think. Sunset's words were falling with the inescapable weight of lead slabs and she couldn't find the will to disagree.
"Oh you tried to be good, don’t get me wrong," Sunset continued, her voice laced with venomous sarcasm. "But in the end it didn't matter. At your core you were the same sad broken pathetic little wretch you always were. All caring got you was putting yourself in a better place to stick in the knife.”
“Alright, that’s it!” Twilight’s voice rang out, and with a flash she appeared by Starlight’s side. A mulberry shield snapped up around them, and as it did Starlight’s emotions poured back in a rush.
Oh, psycho-emotional magic, Starlight thought dazedly in the midst of the whirlwind. She gasped and struggled not to collapse, overwhelmed by her returning feelings, as Twilight stared down Sunset.
“I thought there was something wrong when you tried to seduce me,” Twilight continued, “but now I know for sure. You’re not the Sunset I know, and there is no way you will ever be my wife!”
Sunset sneered, all pretense of civility falling from her face. “Well, aren’t you the clever one. I hope you’re happy, knowing what became of the ‘friend’ you left abandoned and magicless in another world! See what all your 'friendship' has wrought!”
But in the midst of her whirling emotions, overwhelmed from all directions, Starlight felt a paradoxical sense of clarity. And, in a moment, everything clicked.
“No. That’s not it is it?” Starlight burst out. “You’re not Sunset at all. You’re not even from the future!” ‘Sunset’ stopped mid rant, thrown off pace, and Twilight turned to stare at her. “I should have realized it right away. Your proof you could travel into the past? You just planned it out ahead of time. Handed Twilight a scarf, scarpered, and popped in dramatically with an identical copy. The showmareship, the deadline, the edgy future badass look...it was all to make us take things at face value and not think it through. Trixie would be proud.” Starlight was on fire, a grin on her face matching ‘Sunset’s’ increasing dismay. “You know, I wondered why I couldn’t find any reference to Prismia’s Amulet in all of her work with Cadance. But that’s because she didn’t create it with other ponies. She made it when she was alone, and so desperate for love she would steal it. And that’s just what you wanted. You even told us the truth that the Changelings were under threat didn’t you? You were going to drain their love, undo their metamorphosis, and turn them back into monsters...Chrysalis!”
“You insolent brat!” And in a flair of green light that, at long last, Starlight recognized, the insectoid Queen revealed herself in a spitting hiss. “You’ve taken my hive, taken my love, destroyed my life...you might as well have killed me, Starlight! I was simply here to return the favor.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Twilight’s horn was glowing, and her voice was hard. “You should surrender, Chrysalis. I could take you alone, and Starlight could do it faster. There’s no way you can beat both of us, but if you resist we might have to hurt you.”
“Take me? You wish. But you can certainly try.” There was another blinding flare from Chrysalis, but Starlight was ready for it this time and closed her eyes. She ducked forward as a bolt of energy slammed into Twilight’s shield. And as Chrysalis bolted down the stacks in the form of a viper-cheetah Starlight took off in pursuit. Her horn charged as she flew, darting between the shelves. There! By the window. Starlight lined up her horn and fired a coruscating beam.
And then standing where Chrysalis had been was Twilight, screaming in fear.
She instinctively pulled the blast away, obliterating the window behind Chrysalis, before cursing herself for falling for the obvious trick. But by the time she had readied another attack Chrysalis had leaped out of the broken window and vanished in a whirl of wings.
Twilight and Starlight lay in bed, just holding each other. The other Princesses had been alerted, the rest of their friends had come to support them, and the royal guards were combing the region for Chrysalis. For all the good it would do, hunting a shapeshifter at night. The sounds of Trixie and and the others in the main hall could be heard even up here, and the castle was filling with the smell of Pinkie and Spike’s cooking. It was almost looking to turn into an early Hearths Warming.
But after an emotional and exhausting night, culminating in combat and a psychic assault, they had begged off for a moment of rest before joining in. And then Fluttershy had glared at the rest of their friends until they agreed. Starlight was immeasurably grateful for that. They needed each other right now.
Which was why she had to steel her courage, and tell the truth.
“Twilight?” Said Starlight quietly, half hoping she was asleep.
“Yes?”
Darn, she thought, no such luck.
“Twilight... I love you.” She had thought of all sorts of flowery phrases. But in the end she had asked herself what Applejack would do and opted for the simple truth. ”I have for a long time. But today, after thinking I was going to lose you? I thought you should know.”
“I do know,” Twilight replied, and to Starlight’s delight she cuddled closer. Twilight’s warm,heavy wings wrapped around her, and her heart glowed as their tails twined beneath the covers. “I love you too. It’s why I knew Chrysalis had to be lying. There’s no way we would abandon each other like she said.”
Starlight let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. “You have no idea how happy that makes me. You know I still sometimes have a hard time believing I even deserve friendship, let alone…”
Twilight cut her off with a hug and a light nuzzle. “I know that too. But you’ve got me to remind you.”
“I do. And you’ve got me. Always.” Starlight gave a sheepish smile. “I know I should kiss you silly right now, but I’m honestly too tired after everything we’ve been through tonight.”
Twilight laughed lightly. “Me too. Tarts of a Solstice celebration. I think these old traditions may be a bit too violent.”
Starlight laughed too. “But later?”
“Later. I'll be here when you wake up.”
Starlight smiled, closed her eyes, and reached out to turn off the lamp. And the two drifted to sleep together on the longest night of the year.