//------------------------------// // Starlight's World VIII // Story: Starlight Glimmer Makes Many Mistakes // by MagicS //------------------------------// Twilight found her way down below the dungeon and was attempting to find the room where Empress Starlight said she had put her alternate self and all her friends into stasis. Luckily Twilight was quite knowledgeable of the layout of the Crystal Castle and could easily find her way around while avoiding any guards. With her Cutie Mark back the only real problem would be if Empress Starlight came down here herself. Twilight wanted to rescue herself before that possibility occurred. She hoped Spike and Starlight were doing okay, she had faith in their abilities but worried that there would probably be more obstacles for them to go through to get the Heart. But the other option of Starlight being the one to rescue the alternates wasn’t really an option at all. The moment they woke up and saw her… that would end poorly. It needed to be Twilight to free them and explain things to them. “I just hope nothing bad happens to you two.” She said, thinking about her friends. And that I have enough time to rescue everypony. The crystalline corridors were pitch black down here. Any windows that were supposed to let in light were boarded up and no torches had been lit to illuminate things come nightfall. Empress Starlight clearly didn’t want anypony down here. However none of this was a problem to Twilight. A simple light spell on the tip of her horn and she had all the light she needed to see. “Okay, there are only a few rooms down on this level. I just need to find the one that evil Starlight used as storage for me and my friends.” Twilight was as methodical as ever. If the situation was slightly less dire she might have come up with a song in her head for checking everything. The flashlight from her horn swept over the first door and Twilight opened it up. A quick scan revealed nothing inside out of the ordinary so the Alicorn frowned and closed it, moving on to the next door. As she trotted along she heard movement from the floor above her and voices carrying down from the stairs behind her. It seems the guards were searching through the dungeon and might even be down here soon. That’s not good, better hurry up. Twilight galloped to the next door and then the next, the dark basement not having much more for her to check. Still nothing as she checked the next one. She was starting to get worried that maybe what Empress Starlight had said was a lie. Maybe they were held somewhere else or there was some secret room Twilight didn’t know about? Maybe the Empress had made an entirely knew room just for them in the first place. She could hear hooves coming down the stairs now. Regardless of what she found she’d probably have to fight her way back out of here. There was only one door remaining at the far end of the floor away from the stairs. Wishing herself luck, Twilight skidded to a halt in front of it and yanked the door open. “Of course.” She sighed in relief. “Naturally she’d pick the room furthest from the stairs.” When Empress Starlight had used this room to hold her world’s Twilight and her friends she did some renovating. Everything nonessential had been cleared out, leaving only the stasis crystals that held the six friends along the back wall. The crystals glowed with a faint blue light, casting an eerie atmosphere across the entire room. But Twilight wasn’t put off by that at all. She was only happy to have found the ponies she was looking for. Before she could do anything else though she heard a squad of guards come down the stairs onto this floor. Frowning, she stepped into the room and closed the door, placing a barrier of magic around it from the inside. None of those guards would be able to get through something like that. Satisfied at her defense she turned back to the captive ponies. Twilight steadily walked forward to see how they were doing in there. “I suppose “stasis” is accurate.” She said as she looked upon them. Herself, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy lied curled up inside crystal pillars as if they were asleep. Physically they seemed fine and uninjured. That was a relief. But they were still stuck. There suddenly came loud banging on the door to the room but Twilight’s magic held strong, she didn’t even look back at it to make sure it was holding in place. “So how to free you?” She wondered as she felt a hoof up and down the crystal that held her alternate. “You’re not still awake and just stuck so this isn’t like Starlight’s crystal spell. At least not entirely. Maybe more like a changeling pod?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash would just smash them open. Starlight too probably… I don’t know if I want to take that risk though. Twilight lit up her horn and pressed it against the crystal, seeing if she could find out anything about it through a magical scan. With a frown she pulled her horn away after a second. “Well it seems normal enough.” She didn’t like the idea that Starlight could perform a spell or do something she couldn’t figure out. Either version of her. Twilight furrowed her brow trying to come to a decision. Finally she sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “I guess I’m going with the Rainbow Dash method.” She reached out with her magic to enclose the softly glowing crystal, making sure she had an airtight grasp on it before she soaked her magic through and deeper into the crystal. She formed an outline around her imprisoned self, hopefully protecting her from any adverse effects shattering the crystal prison might have. The alternate Twilight was like a glowing ball of magic now and Twilight was ready to free her. Twilight now started to expand the magic that was inside the crystal. Instead of the magic passing into the crystal like water into a cloth that she had done previously her magic took on a solid state more akin to one of the powerful shields she could summon. The crystal began to shake and crack as Twilight’s magic started to break it apart from the inside out. She grunted and sweat ran down her brow as she kept expanding the magic, the crystal was tough and shattering it wasn’t easy. But this was Twilight Sparkle we were talking about and she had enough power and skill with magic to beat a simple crystal prison. With a final grunt of exertion Twilight put as much of her strength as she could through her horn and blasted apart the crystal that held her other self. The other Twilight came tumbling down to the ground, falling spread eagle and groaning weakly as if she had just woken up from being knocked out. Twilight was tired and panting but smiled down at seeing that her alternate was at least awake. Twilight bent down and helped her other up, her double wobbling a bit as she looked around through bleary eyes. “Where… what happened?” She asked before her eyes finally settled on her rescuer. “That’s a bit of a long story.” Twilight sheepishly said. “Apparently so.” Her double looked her up and down. “Did I time travel? Again?” “Well yes and no. Suffice to say I’m here to help you.” She stared at her for a second, frowning. “I have… so many questions right now that I want to ask. But I’m assuming we have something bigger to worry about it?” Twilight nodded. “We don’t have much time so let me give you the short version...” “You said something back up there that I’m concerned about.” Empress Starlight asked Starlight as she carried her down the stairs in her magic with the others. “That if you destroy the Crystal Heart you’ll have changed things enough here that you’ll shift to a new world? Something like that? I’m curious about what you meant. You already told me that you were time-travelers or something but I’m surprised you’d be willing to take the risk of destroying the Crystal Heart when I had you at my mercy. Were you really sure that you’d just disappear from this world if you did?” “Who knows.” Starlight snidely said, having a much easier time at talking since the Empress had decided to slightly loosen the magic restraining her. It’s not like Starlight could teleport away or anything anyways. The Empress glared at her. “I wouldn’t be that way if I were you.” She gave a look to Captain Gleam and the unicorn guard started to squeeze Spike with her magic. “Ow! Stop it!” Spike yelped. Starlight choked. “Stop you psycho!” She yelled at her. “How can you do that to Spike?!” “I meant it when I said I had no desire to hurt anypony.” Empress Starlight said, shrugging. “But this world I’m creating is more important than my desires. Or any one pony’s desires or feelings. I am not about to let a couple of outsiders ruin everything for me when I’m so close.” She stopped, glaring deeply into Starlight’s eyes. “So answer my question.” Starlight only needed to look at the struggling Spike for a second to decide on what to do. “Okay, just stop hurting him!” The Empress nodded at the Captain, who relaxed her hold on Spike. “Now was that so hard?” She chided Starlight. Starlight stared daggers at her. “How can you do something like that and say you aren’t evil?” “Don’t call me evil.” The Empress returned her venomous stare with a frown. “Just answer the question already.” There was a lot more Starlight really wanted to call her right now but with Spike at her mercy she grit her teeth and forced that down. “Fine. It’s like I said up there, I think if we cause a big enough change in this world, such as stopping you, that the timelines will shift again and we’ll be transported out of here.” “I see. And why would that happen?” “It’s just a guess.” Starlight continued. “Before we came to this world I had made other changes in the past, but when I did it never felt like we were actually transported or came to a new world. It felt more like a new world branched off or was created then. Spike and I still stayed in the same place.” “But now you’re here and you figure if you cause a change then instead of things changing around you you’ll instead go back to the timeline you belong.” The Empress mused. “Yes.” Starlight nodded. “Maybe.” “Interesting. Well I’m certainly never letting you come close to the Crystal Heart again, if your goal is to make a big change and suddenly leave that makes things pretty easy for you.” She said. “However this still begs the question of how and why you all ended up here in the first place.” Starlight briefly shared a glance with Spike. “We honestly have no idea. I think we were tossing around the theory of Discord or the Tree of Harmony but we really don’t have a clue either way.” “I tried my best here to take those two things out of the picture.” Empress Starlight frowned. “We noticed.” Spike said. The Empress ignored him and her group of guards continued to carry the two of them down the stairs. Starlight wasn’t sure what she might be thinking about right now but she was fairly sure it wasn’t about how horrible she just behaved. “I can’t believe you would do something like that to Spike. I can’t believe I would ever do something like that.” Starlight riskily said to her. “Quiet.” She said without looking back at her. “Oh? Do you actually feel guilty for that? Ashamed? For a while I thought feeling like that was beyond you.” "Do you want me to tighten my grip on you so you can’t talk anymore again?” The Empress glared back at her before returning to marching down the stairs Spike nervously looked back and forth between the two Starlight’s. Wondering if maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to antagonize the evil one. Good Starlight though was just staring at the back of her evil counterpart’s head. Pityingly staring at that old manestyle she used to have. Formal. Mature. But she liked her current mane so much more. The more casual and open look suited her changed self. “It’s good if you feel bad about it you know.” Starlight whispered. “That means you’re not all the way gone.” The Empress pretended as if she didn’t hear her. “Don’t ignore me, look at me. I know you want to just push it out of your mind but do you have any idea how much happier I am than you? How much better things have been for me since I became friends with Twilight?” Starlight tried to plead with her. “Don’t you want friends too? You know when I was sent back in time I could have done anything, but all I wanted to do were things that would help my friends and Equestria. Maybe that was misguided but I didn’t think for a minute to do anything like try and start over with equality and taking away Cutie Marks and all of that. Even with the opportunity presented to me I only wanted to help others. And if I could change that much, if I could go from how I was back in my town to this then the possibility is inside you as well. I know it.” Empress Starlight continued to walk down the stairs step by step. It looked like she wasn’t going to say anything. Starlight sighed and shut her eyes in dismay. “You’re worse at this than Twilight.” The Empress finally said. “It’s gone too far anyways.” “It’s never-urk!” Starlight couldn’t finish as the magical aura around her strengthened and she couldn’t move her mouth anymore. “So you’re saying there’s a good version of Starlight Glimmer? That’s a little hard for me to believe right now.” “Yeah I’m gonna have to agree with my Twilight there, sugarcube. That’s a bit of a tough apple to swallow.” Twilight Sparkle’s explanation had so far gone decently and now she just had to convince them that yes, there was indeed a good Starlight Glimmer. But she couldn’t really blame her other self and the Applejack here for being just a tiny bit unbelieving. All of the other alternates had been rescued and were readjusting to being outside the crystals. Applejack had recovered the fastest and was standing side by side with her Twilight now while Rainbow Dash was helping steady Fluttershy and Rarity. Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie and poking at the magical barrier on the door that was still holding strong against the repeated poundings of evil Starlight’s guards. “I know it may be difficult to believe but it’s true. I mean you never would have expected Discord to become good either would you?” Twilight argued. “But anyways that’s not even important right now, you just need to know that the Starlight with her mane done differently is on our side.” “Well okay, I guess I’ll take your word for it. I mean it would be illogical for me to not believe myself wouldn’t it?” Other Twilight said, rubbing a hoof under her chin as she thought. “My brain is gonna take a little getting used to there being two of ya.” Applejack shook her head. "Tell me about it.” Rainbow Dash said over to them while she supported a wobbly-kneed Fluttershy. “Girls, girls! Check this out, it’s like pink, magical jello!” Pinkie Pie said while poking Twilight’s magical barrier, causing it to ripple like, well, jello. “Pinkie Pie, stop that!” Both Twilight’s said at once and then looked at each other. “Oof, that’s not gonna be the only time that happens is it?” Applejack sighed. She looked up and tugged on the rim of her hat. “At least my hat was with me.” Rarity then walked towards the three of them, she still wasn’t looking one hundred percent okay but she was doing her best to be presentable. “This little meeting is all rather nice darlings but what are we actually going to do now? Thank you for rescuing us and all Miss… other Twilight, but where do we go from here? It seems we’ve already been discovered and cornered.” “Kind of wondering about that too.” Rainbow Dash said as she floated over to them with Fluttershy lightly walking along beneath her. “Hi, um, Twilight.” Fluttershy greeted the other (according to her) Twilight with a friendly smile. “Hi girls.” Twilight smiled and waved at the others despite the weight of the situation. Pinkie Pie also bounced over to join them all after getting her fill of the barrier. Now all of the alternates, even her other self, were arrayed around Twilight, looking to her for an answer or at least some sort of plan. “Right.” Twilight coughed into her hoof. “Well first off I’m glad you’re all taking this pretty easily. But I guess considering everything you’ve—we’ve—been through it’s not too much of a surprise.” “You can say that again.” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “I’m just mad that we’ve been kooked up in these dumb crystals for, like, how long now?” “Uh, I’m not really sure.” Twilight shrugged. “It’s not important. Not now anyways.” The other Twilight said to Rainbow Dash. “Let her finish.” She nodded to her double. “Thank you. So secondly we don’t really need to worry about the guards out there, either me or… me, can take care of them easily and harmlessly. And there’s no way that the evil Starlight would be able to fight against us both either so I think we’re in a fairly good position there.” She said. “Well that’s good and all but how do we actually stop her and reverse all this? You said she was gonna activate that brainwashing spell again in the morning and even without it everypony else would still stay brainwashed.” Applejack asked. “Basically my plan when we first came here was to somehow get the crystal ponies to naturally power up the heart and then I could use my unbrainwashing spell on it and fix Equestria all at once. But I never really figured out how to get that to work in the first place.” Twilight sheepishly answered before furrowing her brow and focusing. “However that was before I learned all of you were here. Even with the Tree and the Elements in the state they’re in you’re still the Elements of Harmony in this world. And together you still have the most powerful magic of all.” She smiled at the six of them. The other Twilight smiled right back at her. “You think together we can power up the Heart on our own with our own magic and special bond of friendship?” “Yes.” Twilight nodded. “I truly think you can do it. And when that happens then me, or even my Starlight, can stop the brainwashing.” “Sounds good to me!” Pinkie Pie said, cheerfully bouncing up and down. “If a random chest that sprouted out of the ground and only existed for one express purpose can make all our hair grow and give us these super cool highlights and enough power to defeat Super Duper Tirek I don’t see why this wouldn’t work!” “The only problem now is that Empress Starlight isn’t here.” Twilight said, frowning. Rarity raised an eyebrow at her. “Beg my pardon, darling, but isn’t that a good thing?” “No.” The other Twilight answered. “Because that means she’s gone up to defend the Crystal Heart from Spike and the other Starlight.” “Precisely. If the Empress isn’t here by now then that’s exactly what she’s done. If we’re lucky Spike and my Starlight will have succeeded and have control of the Heart, possibly even taking it down already. But if not...” “Then poor Spikey-wikey might have been captured by that awful tyrant.” Rarity grimaced. “Oh my, I hope the both of them are okay.” Fluttershy worried. “Both? You don’t mean that other Starlight do you?” Rainbow questioned her. “Well… why not? If what Twilight, um, the Twilight from the other world, is saying is true then she’s a perfectly good pony.” Fluttershy patted her hair, turning away from Rainbow’s sharp gaze. “Ugh, fine.” Rainbow Dash threw up her arms in defeat. She just didn’t have it in her to argue with her oldest friend right now. “Can we maybe get back on track here?” Applejack said over them. A slew of apologies came from the others and the six quieted down as they returned to listening to whatever Twilight would tell them next. She waited for all of them to be paying attention (even Dash and Pinkie Pie) before she continued. “So our next move is pretty simple. We get out of here and go up to the Crystal Heart as well. It’ll either end up with us joining our friends or confronting the Empress. But with all of us together I’m sure we’ll succeed no matter what.” She confidently grinned at them. “Alright, that’s what I wanted to hear. No more talking, it’s time to kick butt!” Rainbow Dash exaggeratedly punched and kicked at the air. “I hope it actually isn’t.” Fluttershy gulped. “Whatever time it is we should probably get moving.” Rarity fluffed her mane. “I can’t abide thinking about Equestria being in this state any longer.” “Rarity has the right of it.” Other Twilight said before turning to… the other Twilight. “We’ll follow your lead.” “Thanks. We’ll incapacitate these guards and head up to the main room of the castle, and from there to the spire. Let’s go.” Twilight steeled herself and held her face in a tight frown. The time for talking was over. With a quick blink from her horn the barrier around the door disappeared and the squad of Starlight’s guards spilled into the room. Empress Starlight, Captain Gleam, the other guards, Starlight, and Spike all stood within the main hall of the Crystal Castle. Well stood was a little inaccurate for Starlight and Spike. They floated beside the others, still caught in their captors magical hold. Empress Starlight looked out down the large room at the door at the far end with a pleased and patient smile on her face. The doors to the throne room were shut behind them and the stairs and other hallways to their right and left were currently quiet and devoid of guards. Outside the windows that lined this room there was still nothing but blackness and the faintest light generated from the Crystal Heart. Starlight’s eyes shifted around in her binding, trying to figure out why they were here and if there was anything else in the room she was missing. The Empress quickly noticed her confusion and rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can speak again if you want.” Starlight felt the magic around her weaken slightly and she took a deep breath before voicing her thoughts. “Why are we here? What are you waiting for?” “Please.” Empress Starlight scoffed. “As if it wasn’t obvious what your Twilight was doing while you went for the Heart? By now she’s had more than enough time to rescue the Elements of Harmony of this world. Through here is the only way from the bottom portion of the castle to get up to the top. She’ll be through in a moment and then we can finally put an end to this. I already have the crystal ponies moving to power the Heart again, by now there’s maybe an hour or an hour and a half at most before they get the Heart back to full power. But I’m not just going to sit idly by and wait for that, I’ll be stopping both Twilight’s from doing anything.” She glanced at Starlight and Spike. “It’s a good thing I have some excellent bargaining chips right now too.” Her eyes then briefly flickered to the door to the throne room. “And even a pair of aces up my sleeve.” “Your talent for analogies puts mine to shame.” Starlight snarked at her. “Go easy on her Starlight, without any friends what else does she have to do than come up with stuff like that in her spare time.” Spike mocked her. The Empress glared at the both of them. “I’ve never seen two creatures who wanted to be punished so badly. And those were metaphors.” “Psh, dork.” Spike said, getting Starlight to chuckle along with him at the Empress. A vein pulsed on Empress Starlight’s forehead. With a twitching eye she went back to looking at the far door. “You both have a penchant for making me regret being even slightly lenient with you.” “It’s good to lighten the mood in situations like this. It can help clear your mind.” Starlight said with a smirk on her face. But the smirk quickly vanished and she frowned, seriously staring down the side of Empress Starlight’s head, daring her double to meet her gaze. “Which is useful since we are definitely not going to let you succeed here. Count on it.” The Empress was going to retort, was going to angrily shoot her another glare and tell her to shut her trap, but- “Empress, look.” Captain Gleam said, pointing down the hall. Out the doorway there walked Twilight Sparkle… and another Twilight Sparkle and her five friends. The Empress’s face softened and she returned to smiling, satisfied that her prediction was right. Meanwhile the seven slowly walked towards them, or lightly flew along in Rainbow Dash’s case, they had noticed The Empress’s party immediately but aside from a few frowns or nasty looks didn’t react. It was clear they were letting the Twilight not from this world take the lead. Empress Starlight watched as she marched forward with a determined look on her face, the Empress not letting any of this phase her at all. Finally when they had covered half the distance Empress Starlight called out to them. “I think that’s far enough.” Twilight and the others stopped. Rainbow Dash’s face scrunched in annoyance but even she didn’t do anything. “So here we all are.” The Empress said through her mocking smile. Twilight ignored her, looking to her side to see if Starlight and Spike were okay. Although she didn’t show it on the outside she still winced, knowing that the Heart was still under their enemy’s control. “Hello, Starlight.” The other Twilight said as she walked forward to stand side by side with Twilight. “I’m… disappointed that things have come down to this.” Empress Starlight frowned. “I’m not.” “Ugh, so what are we all just standing around for?!” Rainbow Dash finally impatiently let out. “You’re standing around for me not hurting your friends.” The Empress nonchalantly said to her. “Well, not your friends. But you’re not the type of ponies who’d allow something like that anyways.” She smirked. “And now what’s going to happen is you’re all going to quietly give up and let me imprison you in crystal again until the brainwashing spell is activated.” “That’s not going to happen!” Both Twilight’s said together. “That’s right! Don’t let this nutjob get her way, Twilights!” The good Starlight said, giving a smug grin to her evil self. The Empress huffed. “So you don’t care what happens to these two? Don’t even try to bluff that.” “You can’t restrain Starlight and fight at the same time. And if it comes down to a fight it’s obvious who has the advantage here.” Twilight (the first one) said. “We can save her and Spike easily. Your guards are no threat and you know it too.” It was silent in the hall for a moment. The Empress’s face was like a stone mask that didn’t give away anything… until an evil smile slowly worked its way across it. “You want to see who really has the advantage here?” She tapped her hoof on the ground. The doors to the throne room opened up. Both of the Twilight’s horns lit up, preparing for what might be coming. The others as well tensed up, getting ready to fight, and Starlight and Spike both fought against the magic holding them to turn their heads and see what was coming out of the throne room. Two ponies. Just two ponies walked out. But they still caused everypony else to gasp or recoil in shock and anger. Starlight and Spike both sadly looked at the new arrivals while the Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. “Shining… Cadance...” They both muttered. Neither could help stop the tears starting to form in their eyes, even for the Twilight Sparkle who technically wasn’t related to them it was still gut-wrenching. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance strode forth to stand slightly behind Empress Starlight. The poor ponies featured the same dull eyes as every other brainwashed pony and gave no indication that they knew the ones arrayed against them. “As you can see.” Empress Starlight said. “I think that evens the playing field if it comes down to a fight. And with my hostages I think it’s plain for the seven of you to see who’s really in control here.” “Twilight, forget us! You can still win, just fight her!” Spike yelled to them. This time the Empress didn’t even bother telling him to be quiet, so assured she was of her position. The Twilight’s looked between each other, unsure looks on their faces. With Shining Armor and Cadance there their enemy had more than enough power to stop them from rescuing either Starlight or Spike. Applejack came up behind the two Twilight’s to whisper in their ears. “What do we do?” Both of them looked around at their friends to see an array of worried and hesitant expressions on their faces. Really what did they do now? Empress Starlight had the Heart, she had hostages, she had backup, there didn’t look like there was a way out. “I… I don’t know.” Alternate Twilight said while her double just nervously stared at the Empress. Meanwhile unbeknownst to anypony else Starlight was taking the opportunity to practice if she could use her magic despite the vice grip of her evil double. It felt like trying to squeeze out the last drop from a seemingly barren tube of toothpaste. But if she could just do something it would mean a lot. Thankfully Empress Starlight was distracted and while Shining Armor and Cadance could see what she was doing they didn’t move or react to it at all. “You can quit stalling and give up already.” The Empress called out to the two Twilight’s and the others. “It’s over. But if you’re so inclined to keep fighting and trying to stop me even now...” She trailed off and nodded to Captain Gleam. The Captain’s horn glowed brighter and she started to squeeze Spike again. “Grrr!” Spike grunted as he felt the magic closing around him, trying to out-muscle it but just not being strong enough. “Ahhh!” Rarity screamed as she watched and Fluttershy’s breath hitched. “Stop!” Both Twilight’s pleaded with her, almost attacking then and there. With another nod from her leader Captain Gleam relented and Spike wheezed a sigh of relief. The atmosphere in the main hall had taking a decidedly cold turn. “Have you made your decision now?” The Empress stoically asked. Rainbow Dash was on the verge of exploding and Applejack would’ve been right behind her. Pinkie Pie gulped, ready to act at a moment’s notice, wishing she could help Spike. Rarity’s earlier horror was now replaced with a white hot anger at the despot in front of her and even Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she had just seen. But the two Twilight’s only shared a sad look with each other and nodded in affirmation. “We’re willing to do what you say...” They started, drawing startled looks from their friends and a smirk from the Empress. “But only if you turn over Starlight and Spike and take us as hostages instead.” “Hah!” The Empress barked out. “Fine! Good riddance to these two, you wouldn’t believe how annoying they are anyways.” She narrowed her eyes at the Twilight’s. “I want just the two of you to walk forward. The rest of you can stay back there.” She motioned to Captain Gleam and had her walk with her, carrying Spike behind her. “No, Twilight! You can’t listen to her!” Spike yelled. Starlight was pulled along too by the Empress, she watched as both of the Twilight’s dolefully walked forward, there wasn’t anything they could do now. The five ponies and one dragon had almost met, each hoofstep bringing defeat closer and closer. I have to think of something! Starlight thought, feeling the bit of magic she could summon in her horn. Anything, anything at all that can stop this… I can’t teleport, I can’t break free, what can I do?! Starlight wracked her brain trying to come up with something. And finally she did. I hope this works… “Hey! Twilight and Twilight! Get ready!” Her horn lit up with a wild discharge of magic. Both Twilight’s stepping back in surprise. The Empress’s face swung to look at her. “Stop! What are you-” But before she could finish or clamp down on Starlight’s magic the spell erupted, a cascade of glowing teal magic exploded all throughout the main hall, blinding and washing over everypony irregardless of them being friend or foe. Empress Starlight, both Twilight’s, all their friends and Starlight herself felt a strange and foreign sensation overtake their bodies from the magic. And everypony had their Cutie Mark swapped.