Starlight is stuck. She's just stuck. Where? She doesn't even know herself. How did she get there? Following a strange mare through a portal leading her to a new level of confusion.
As she travelled, she sensed a familiar feeling. A feeling she felt before. A strange, well known feeling.
"Time travel."
Starlight spoke when she fell on the ground. She lifted her head, blinking in confusion. She knew she's either in the past, or the future. But she wasn't familiar with the place she was in.
She was outside. She stared at the city. It seemed to be Ponyville, but it's not the Ponyville she knows. It was certainly strange and different, that if it actually was Ponyville, she'd never believe that fact.
Starlight stood up from her position and looked around. It was a rather small looking city, with not much buildings. They looked all old and rusty. There was an old fountain in the middle of it, which had no water placed in it, being rusty as the buildings. Even though, she saw no other pony than herself.
"This is that black world all over again," Starlight thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she did so.
She started walking forwards, going after a search of anypony in the city.
Trotting along, she noticed a familiar face.
"Sunburst?" She spoke, looking at the now confused stallion wearing a blue cape, who turned around as a response. She ran towards her old friend.
"I'm so happy to see you!" Starlight spoke as she stood in front of him, smiling.
"Hello... Uh... do I know you?.." he said to her, while she looked at him in surprise.
"Sunburst, it's me! Starlight!" She spoke, lifting her hoof up to her chest.
Sunburst thought while lifting his hoof up his chin. After a quiet short moment, he finally answered with:
"I don't think I know any Starlight."
After his words, Starlight let out a small gasp. "You... don't?" She asked again. He nodded, while Starlight stopped, thinking for a moment. This must not be the right world. Did they meet in this one? Is this her normal world, just that there's a fact that Sunburst doesn't remember her from their foalhood? This must've been before they were friends again in the Crystal Empire.
"O-kay...," she spoke again. "I'll go now...," she said again, turning around while she walked away.
She trotted away towards an another building. She walked over a wall and sat next to it.
She sat for a while, thinking of the plans of escaping this place.
"I can't be stuck in time AGAIN!" she thought to herself. "It just can't be right!" she thought once more, before a flash of light appeared in front of her that shaped a pony. A very, very familiar pony. Standing up, she walked over at the faded light.
"Trixie?" She asked, looking at the mare on the ground.
Trixie rubbed her eyes with her hooves and looked up at her best friend.
"Starlight?" She asked, as she stood up and hugged her friend. Both mares were delighted to see eachother, especially because they found eachother in a strange place that was nothing like the place they know.
"Where are we?" Trixie asked, looking around.
"I'm... Not sure. I saw Sunburst, but nopony else around here," Starlight spoke, worried.
"Sun, who?" Trixie asked, much to Starlight surprise.
"Sunburst? My foalhood friend?" Starlight said, trying to remind her.
"Oh, Sunburst! I thought you said Sun Burn!" She chuckled. "My bad."
Rolling her eyes, Starlight looked over at the rusty fountain again. She saw an another pony sitting there: that being Lyra. She sat in a rather unusual way, or that's at least what Starlight thought. She looked quite unclean, unlike her usual look. Her mane and tail were darker that her normal shade. She sat quietly, looking at the fountain aswell and just staring at it.
"Is that Lyra?" Trixie asked, looking in the direction Starlight looked at.
"Seems to be her," Starlight answered, looking back at Trixie. "Although she's... Different," she said, looking back at the oddly sitting mare.
"Okaaaay...," Trixie said slowly. "We should talk to her," she said, before starting to approach the mare. Starlight followed her.
Trixie stood in the back of the mare, that faced the empty fountain.
"Hey!" Trixie greeted, waving her hoof along with Starlight, both smiling.
Lyra turned around, gasping as she seen the two mares, leaving them in confusion.
"W-Who are you!?" Lyra asked, still frightened.
"We're Trixie Lulamoon and Starlight Glimmer," Trixie said proudly.
"O-Okay..," she said more calmly. "Why are you here?"
"We were just wondering... What city are we exactly?" Starlight questioned.
"Ponyville. Duh." Lyra said.
The two mares' jaw dropped.
"THIS IS PONYVILLE!? HOW CA-," Trixie screamed, Starlight using a spell with her magic to keep her silent.
"Is she okay?" Lyra asked Starlight, while she replied with a 'meh', shrugging.
"...okay then. Why are you so surprised anyway? Ponyville has always been like this," Lyra said, still looking at the screaming mare that couldn't be heard.
"Well, uh... It's complicated," Starlight spoke, an awkward look on her face.
"...How complicated?" Lyra asked again, raising her eyebrow in wonder.
"Quite... Quite complicated, " Starlight said again, looking over to her friend and stopping to use her spell since Trixie relaxed, and stood in her usual way.
When Trixie got released from the magic ball, she huffed a few times, breathing in air, and coughing right afterwards.
"What is that smell?" She asked, mid coughing.
It took a moment for Starlight to realize where does the smell that she's referring to coming from. She laughed awkwardly, slightly sweating.
"Uh... Why uh, don't we talk for a moment, Trixie?" Starlight said, turning to her friend who nodded in agreement.
The two walked away, leaving Lyra alone again. She turned around to the empty fountain and stared once again.
In the meantime, the two mares discussed about particular things. Not much important things though.
While the odd things happened with travelling, Spike, back at the got worried when he saw the disappearance of Starlight. He informed Twilight about this, who didn't seem concerned. He got doubtful about it, and went to speak to Twilight other friends to see if they know the reason why did Starlight disappear or why did the alicorn princess not care much. None of them seemed to know the answer. Later, he went to question Twilight about the strange behavior. She explained the situation, while he still didn't understand.
He found out that her friends figured it out too.
That left him being the only one confused.