It wasn’t easy to stop her. It almost didn’t happen. Equestria was nearly destroyed because of her. In fact, it was, but everything’s back to how it should be. However, a decision needed to be made about her.
In Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle, Starlight Glimmer paced outside its throne room’s light-green double doors with a frown. She had her head down, and her heart fiercely pounded at double its normal speed. Twilight, Spike, and five of their friends were discussing what their next action should be inside the room. Starlight accepted that she would face consequences for the crimes she committed by messing with the timeline, but what would her punishment entail? Community service? Jail? Banishment? Petrification? Loss of her Cutie Mark and what made her special? Could Lord Tirek get a violet Unicorn as a cellmate in Tartarus?
After what felt like the whole day, the throne room’s door creaked open, revealing the head of Spike. He said nothing, but waved his claw for Starlight to enter.
Starlight gulped. With a deep sigh, she crept into the throne room, where Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all sat in their respective thrones made of light purple and blue crystal. Spike was on the way to sit in his smaller throne, beside Twilight’s, as Starlight walked in the room. The thrones all surrounded the “Cutie Map”, a large circular table with a mini-map of Equestria.
As she approached the Cutie Map, Starlight said, “I know what I did was wrong, and I will take whatever punishment you think is fair.”
Twilight responded, “Well, Starlight, we have thought hard about what we should do, and have made a decision.”
Starlight again gulped and timidly asked, “Okay. What is it?”
It was the moment of truth. As she awaited Twilight’s answer, who wore a serious frown, the muscles in Starlight’s body tightened, and her heart rate sped up from double to triple its normal speed. A drop of sweat formed on her head. Starlight hoped that Princess Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, would be merciful. She also didn’t give off the air of a pony that dished out unnecessary harsh punishments.
But even so, Starlight’s actions were apocalyptic to Equestria. Albeit it was not her intention, and the damage was reversed as if it never occurred. In some ways, it didn’t. The effects of time travel can be extremely complicated.
Three seconds after Starlight’s previous question, or three minutes to Starlight, in an authoritative voice tone, Twilight answered, “Starlight Glimmer, I will make you my student, and teach you friendship.”
“Okay, I under--huh?!” Starlight's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat out of pure shock. Twilight wanted to not punish, but help, Starlight?! “Really? That's it?”
“Well, yeah. What did you think I would do?” Twilight responded in a casual voice as if talking about the weather.
“P-Punish me?” Starlight replied. She didn’t want to be punished. Who would? But she steeled herself to face some kind of a consequence to such a degree, hearing it wouldn’t happen threatened to short-circuit her brain.
“Starlight, you understand what you did was wrong, right?” Twilight asked with a smile and in a kind voice full of understanding and forgiveness.
Starlight nodded her head. “Yes.”
“And are you sorry for everything you did?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Is anypony in pain or suffering because of you right now?”
“I...I don’t think so,” Starlight answered. She didn’t know for sure, but Twilight appeared to think that nopony was currently suffering from Starlight's actions, so Starlight simply “agreed” with her.
“Do you want to learn what I can teach you about friendship?”
“Yes.”
Twilight’s smile widened. “Then why should I punish you? It won’t change anything or help anypony.”
Starlight pondered Twilight’s words, but struggled to process what she heard. Did Twilight claim punishing her would do no good, so Starlight shouldn’t receive one? Has anything like this ever happened to another pony, or was Starlight the first to get this kind of treatment? “I-I guess, b-but...”
“So, I instead want to help you grow into a pony that can help others. Maybe you’ll even save Equestria someday.”
Now Twilight actually thought Starlight might go on to save Equestria! Starlight Glimmer, who doomed Equestria -- sort of -- might become its savior? Starlight fought the urge to shout that Twilight was out of her mind and said, “Well, I don't know about that last thing, but--”
Twilight moved off her throne and walked to Starlight. “What do you say? Are you ready to learn friendship, friend?”
Staring at the warm, friendly smile and eyes of Princess Twilight Sparkle, who rested a hoof under Starlight’s mouth and raised her head with the same hoof, Starlight couldn’t believe her eyes and ears. In her head, Starlight asked herself, Is this really happening? over and over, but couldn't give herself an answer. After all she has done, was Twilight really willing to let it all slide and even call her a friend?
Twilight made interesting points. Starlight Glimmer felt remorse for what she did, and wanted to turn over a new leaf. There was no damage to Equestria, and nopony was in any pain from her actions. She never wished to hurt anypony, and gave up her revenge plot on her own accord, where many would have been too blinded by anger or hate to listen. Starlight was even willing to change her opinions. Being truly willing to change one’s opinions, let alone strong opinions, is not something anypony does easily, if at all. Punishing Starlight would have been pointless since she already learned the error of her ways.
Yet even if the decision to let Starlight Glimmer off unpunished might ultimately save ponies’ lives, and thus be the correct call, no consequences for her at all? Crazy. Unbelievable. Unthinkable. Or was it? Could this be a dream? Did Twilight cast a mind-altering spell on Starlight, and she’s hallucinating all of this? In fact, could this be a ploy from Twilight to trick Starlight into dropping her guard for an attack? Twilight did struggle to land hits on Starlight during their magic duels in the past.
“Starlight? Are you okay?” Twilight asked with her head tilted to the side with a confused frown.
Unfortunately, Starlight’s brain cells could no longer handle the unreal situation. The whole room started spinning. Starlight's entire body tightened. Her mouth dropped and seemed to forget how to make words. Her eyes widened, but her pupils shrunk to a third their normal size. Starlight’s now-stiff body fell to the floor on its side with a thud, with no signs of being aware of what was going on.
With Starlight lying on the floor utterly stunned, both physically and emotionally, a smug smirk curled on Twilight's face as she turned toward her friends.
“Guess your plan worked, Twilight,” Spike said.
Fluttershy turned to Starlight and placed a hoof on her cheek. “I still can't believe how Twilight telling her she wouldn't be punished would do this.”
“And I really didn’t think it would happen,” Applejack admitted.
“How long will she be frozen like this? I bet I can do it longer!” Pinkie stood in her throne, took a deep breath, and stiffened her body to stay perfectly still.
With her head up high, Twilight answered, “One week.” Twilight looked to the un-moving Pinkie and giggled at her trying to “out-last” Starlight. “And I don’t think even you can stay like that for a week, so you can stop trying, Pinkie.”
Pinkie relaxed her body and whined, “Aw.”
Rarity asked, “But how do you know she will be like this for a week, Twilight?”
“Trust me. Twilight knows about this kind of stuff." Spike, with a smirk, motioned his head to Twilight.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, ha, ha, Spike. But I haven’t frozen like that in over three months.”
“I’m surprised you lasted two months without freezing over something silly, like losing a checklist,” Spike teased.
Twilight groaned and complained, “Come on, it was just those three times, Spike!”
“You mean four times,” Pinkie corrected.
“Fine, four times.”
“But never mind that; what are we going to do with Starlight, Twilight?”
With a smile, Twilight answered, “That’s easy, Rarity. Now we punish her.”
“Are we really going to punish her, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.
“It will be for her own good and mine.”
Applejack looked at the motionless Starlight lying on her side on the floor. She didn't think Starlight truly needed a punishment, but Twilight's not one to make bad decisions. At least, Twilight's usually good at making decisions. After a short stare at Starlight, Applejack turned to Twilight, sighed, and asked, “If ya say so, Twi, but how will we punish her?”
“First, let me cast a spell so Starlight won’t need to, uh, ‘go’ for a week.” Twilight’s horn glowed with a magenta light and fired a magical beam at Starlight, but she didn’t budge from the impact. “That should do it. Now, like I said, Starlight will be like this for a week. There are seven days in a week, and there are seven of us, so we can each get a day with Starlight.”
“Okay, first, your magic scares me sometimes, Twilight. And second, what do you mean by ‘we each get a day’?” Rainbow asked.
“Today’s Saturday, so --” Twilight turned to Applejack’s direction ”-- Applejack, you get Starlight for the rest of the day. Maybe you could go buck her at your farm for practice?”
While surprised by Twilight’s unexpected suggestion, Applejack was still Intrigued and rested a hoof on her cheek and slightly tilted her head down. Ever since her battle against the Changelings in Canterlot, she wanted something similar in size to them to practice her bucking, in case she would have to fight them again. “I...guess I could buck her, but could she even take it? I don’t want to hurt Starlight.”
“Well, I can cast another spell to increase her durability, so your bucking won’t injure her.”
“Okay. In that case, I guess I’ll buck her as hard as I want, if she won’t be hurt by it.”
Twilight looked to Fluttershy. “And tomorrow will be your turn, Fluttershy. You said some animals in the forest calm down when ponies are nearby, right? So you could stick Starlight there for the day.”
“I think that could work, and I would like a day without worrying about the animals getting into fights.”
“And Monday will be Rainbow Dash’s turn.” Twilight turned to Rainbow. “You always wanted to see how fast you could make ponies spin in circles by flying around them as fast as possible. Well, here’s your chance.”
Rainbow raised a hoof in a cheer. “Yes! I’ve waited forever to do this! I can’t wait till Monday gets here!”
Twilight turned to face Rarity. “And Tuesday will be your turn, Rarity. Maybe you could practice new mane styles on Starlight’s mane?”
It was Rarity's turn to place a hoof on her cheek, and raised her head in thought. “You know, there are some styles I would like to test on a real pony’s mane, but I didn’t want to practice them on my mane and risk ruining it.”
Turning to face Pinkie, Twilight said, “Pinkie, you get her on Wednesday.”
Pinkie grinned and hopped in place in her chair. “Ooh, and I already know what to use her for: a pinata for parties!”
“But Starlight’s a real pony, so you can’t stuff candy in…” Twilight stared at Pinkie, and remembered that Pinkie is Pinkie Pie. “You know what, Pinkie Pie? I’m not asking any more.” Twilight looked to Spike. “On Thursday, Starlight’s all yours, Spike.”
“What can I do with her?”
“I don’t know; do whatever you want that won’t harm her.”
“Wait, anything, Twilight?” Spike asked with a big smile.
“Yeah, anything.” Twilight’s smile became a serious frown. “Except that.”
Spike’s smile flipped into a frown. “Aww.”
“And finally” -- Twilight smiled again and placed a hoof on her chest -- “I will have her on Friday. Once she snaps out of it, I’ll start teaching her friendship lessons as my student. Who knows, maybe she’ll prove herself worthy and I’ll ascend her to an Alicorn someday.”
“Hold on, you can do that?!” Spike exclaimed.
Twilight motioned her forelegs in an “I guess” motion and grunted, “Eh.”
Rainbow stared closely at Starlight, whom's eyes were still widened and body still stiff and motionless. “Uh...Twilight? I know you will be a great teacher for Starlight, but let’s not get carried away. This is Starlight Glimmer.”
“You never know, Rainbow. She might overachieve and surprise us; I saw some of myself in her. But, if you all understand who gets Starlight and when, I’ll cast a spell to raise her durability. Then, Applejack can take Starlight and buck her.”
After Twilight cast the spell to raise Starlight Glimmer’s durability tenfold, the seven friends proceeded to “punish” Starlight on the day it was “their turn” with her.
Once the week was over and Starlight could move and “go” again -- the latter occurred the instant she “unfroze” in Twilight’s bedroom -- Twilight officially made Starlight her student. Not only did Starlight learn friendship and recover from deep-seated issues that she suffered from for years, but was on pace to make a great Guidance Counselor someday.
However, there was something that Starlight Glimmer would never get out of her mind. After a few times of being bucked hard by Applejack, she regained some awareness, but still couldn’t move or speak because of the remaining shock of Twilight telling her she “wouldn’t” be punished.
This meant Starlight was aware of what happened on the day Twilight Sparkle had her. And Starlight didn’t dislike it.