//------------------------------// // Ch. 1 - Torn Apart // Story: Different Events // by Moonlight Bloom //------------------------------// "No.” Starlight looked up at Twilight through her tears. She began to pull her hoof back as her face tensed with anger once again. "It wasn't my fault!” she snarled, “I was there, ready to keep our friendship alive! Sunburst was the one who let things fall apart!" She gripped the time-scroll tighter in her telekinetic grasp, and firmly stood her ground on the cloud she stood upon. "But did you just wait, or did you actually try to stay friends with Sunburst?" Twilight asked, standing a few feet in front of Starlight, Spike sitting tightly on her back. "I was 11! Do you really think I could just go to Canterlot looking for him?! If he wanted to keep in touch, he should've called or wrote to me!" Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed in worry. "So maybe that friendship didn't work out, but that doesn't mean that all friendships will end that way! Please, Starlight, you're walling yourself in a room of fear!" "What I'm 'walling' myself in, is reality! And the reality is, not every pony is important enough for her friends to stick by! Not every ending is a happy ending, Twilight! But you wouldn't know that would you? Because your life is perfect! You're an Alicorn Princess, you're surrounded by friends, and you've never had your greatest source of happiness ripped away from you! So you know what? For once in your life, you’re going to know what it feels like to lose!" "Starlight I–" Twilight gasped, as she witnessed her fear come to fruition. Starlight, her face tense with hatred and a vile glare in her eyes, pulled the two ends of the scroll apart, splitting it and destroying the time-spell. Twilight's heart nearly stopped. Spike gripped Twilight’s mane all the more. There was no longer a reset button, no longer an eraser; this was now the only chance left. Worst of all, Twilight and Spike no longer had a way to return home. Eyes wide and teary, and her mouth agape, she couldn’t help but stare at the point where the time scroll was last whole. Watching Twilight, Starlight released the halves into the windy Cloudsdale air. "You feel that? That’s what it feels like to lose the friends you cherish so much!” Twilight continued to stare as tears began to run down her face. With that, Starlight levitated herself up, turned, and blasted a turquoise beam toward a speeding Rainbow Dash. The beam hit the filly, entrapping her in a bulky crystal structure, which stopped her momentum and pulled her straight towards the ground below. Twilight felt a yank on her mane from a more alert Spike, bringing her out of her catatonic state. “Huh?” Twilight exclaimed, looking around to try and figure out what had occurred in the past few seconds. Spike pointed down towards the large crystal boulder that was falling through the sky. Twilight gasped before swooping down and racing toward the entrapped filly as fast as she possibly could. Upon reaching a reasonable distance, Twilight powered up her horn, preparing an ultrasonic vibration spell. She aimed, and fired. A continuous stream of sound-waves, at the resonant frequency for the crystal structure, hit the young Rainbow Dash’s prison, and after a few seconds, caused the crystal to burst into thousands of small shards. Twilight dove under Rainbow, catching her in her forelegs, and immediately began flying back up towards Cloudsdale. In a few moments, Twilight had landed, and was gently setting the filly on the clouds. The young Rainbow Dash, processing what had just occurred, turned her gaze up towards her rescuer. “Y-You saved my life! I-I thought I was gonna die, but then you just swooped in out of nowhere Miss-” Rainbow gasped. “–Wait, you’re an Alicorn!? My life just got saved by an Alicorn!?” she shouted, with a volume so loud it even rivaled instances of shouting from her adult years. Everypony in the vicinity whipped their heads around. Immediately, ponies began flooding over to Twilight, asking her questions: who she was, what she was doing at a Cloudsdale summer flight camp, and where she came from. Twilight, who was now surrounded by a sea of mostly young ponies, looked past the crowd as best she could, trying to find Starlight Glimmer. She finally spotted what she was looking for: a light pink coat, with a purple, aquamarine-streaked tail. Twilight teleported herself and Spike above the crowd, and zoomed over to the pony she intended to apprehend. As she flew away, a certain shout came out of the crowd. “Wait! I never got to thank you, or get your name!” the young Rainbow called out, but it was unheard by Twilight. Meanwhile, the pink pony was being thrown to the ground, and found herself pinned under a very angry alicorn. “That's enough of all this, Star–” Twilight froze, anger vanishing from her face. “W-Who the hay are you?” the frightened mare asked. She had sea-green eyes and was a pegasus; clearly not Starlight. “O-oh… Sorry,” Twilight’s face turned slightly red and she immediately backed off the mare, who hastily dashed away. She continued looking around to try and find Starlight, but saw nopony that matched the delinquent unicorn. Twilight took off into the main city, and began to ask nearly everypony on the street if they had seen a light pink self-levitating unicorn, with a purple, aquamarine-streaked mane. “Nope, sorry.” “Can’t say that I have.” “Not in Cloudsdale.” Flying up higher to take another look around, Twilight let out a stressful sigh. “Where is she!?” she whined, nervously darting her eyes all over. “Where do you think she is?” Spike asked, gripping her mane. “I don’t know, Spike! She could have anything planned!” “You mean like turning Princess Celestia against us!?” “Spike! That’s–“ Twilight paused, biting her lip as she thought. “...not out of the question,” she sighed. “We’re really in trouble this time...” she lamented, shaking her head, before diving back towards the crowds of Cloudsdale ponies to continue her search.