"No, no, no, no! A presentation in front of the whole town? How can I do this?"
After Twilight's "genius" idea, Starlight retreated to her room to think, where she was rejoined by Sunburst. In her excitement to break the news to Twilight, she'd raced out of the train station and left Sunburst behind to carry the luggage. Not that he had a problem, mind you but still, it was the thought. Now he was watching his best friend having a mental breakdown right in front of him.
Sunburst watched the madly-pacing mare with equal parts concern and optimism.
"Come on Starlight, it can't be that hard-..."
"Not that hard?!" Starlight shouted, her nose smooshed up against Sunburst's. She shrunk back upon noticing their close proximity and cleared her throat, her cheeks tightly pressed into her hooves to hide the blush. "I mean, you're serious? It'd be fine if it was just Spike and the girls. I at least know them. But the whole town? They're all practically strangers and they'll be sitting there, judging me, waiting for me to mess up!"
"Starlight, please. Calm down. You're going to be great!"
The mare shook her head. "No, I don't want to be great. I want to be astounding. I want to wow everypony." She planted herself on the floor and sighed, curling her tail around herself. "If I don't, then how can I ever be accepted?"
Sunburst took a seat right up against Starlight and nuzzled her, which she happily reciprocated.
"Don't worry about what they'll think of it. Just be yourself and I know you'll knock it out of the park. I mean, it's not like they're expecting you to be Clover the Clever or anything."
Starlight pulled away so fast that Sunburst slid and collapsed against the floor.
"That's it!" Starlight beamed, oblivious to her friend laying stunned and nursing a bump on the noggin. "What's better than hearing about Clover the Clever? Why, hearing something from Clover the Clever! Sunburst, you're a genius!"
Dusting his cape off, Sunburst straightened his glasses. "I don't know what you mean-..."
Whatever he was going to say next fizzled up when he felt Starlight's warm lips on his cheek.
"I'll see you later, Sunburst!"
"Wha-what just happened?"
~*~
Kissing Sunburst had been something to scratch off of Starlight's bucket list for quite some time. Ever since they were foals, she'd often wondered what it'd be like and by Celestia, did he not disappoint. Not only was his cheek the right amount of soft and scruffy but he smelled terrific, like freshly-sliced pomegranates. Now if it'd been his lips, Starlight would've likely still been back there to enjoy the experience. Sadly, there wasn't any time to dwell on that as she had a presentation to prepare for!
Starlight feverishly searched through her saddlebags until she found her notebook. It was the same one that she used during her whole travel-back-in-time-to-get-revenge-on-Twilight-Sparkle scheme, which contained all of her notes on the subject of chronokinetic magic. She flipped through the notebook until she found her earlier recordings, detailing the proper spell to bring somepony through time. Said spell had come from a badly-worn notebook she'd discovered in a yard sale over in Manehattan, one that she had to transcribe into her notebook so that the information wouldn't be lost.
"If the summoner uses something of theirs, like a hair or a hoof-filing, in conjunction with something belonging to a blood relative, then he or she may bring forth that pony through the gates of time. The connection ensures safe passage for the summonee; this being the safest route for time-pulling and the most guaranteed for success."
So if the pony casting the spell used a sample of their DNA, plus the DNA of the one that they wished to transport, then the one being summoned could be safely transported to and from their original time via shared blood connection. The only problem was how could Starlight get a sample of Clover's DNA? The only personal belonging of Clover the Clever's that was still around was his famous cloak and that was locked away in the Canterlot Museum of Magical Antiquities. She racked her brain to come up with the perfect plan but alas, nothing even close to satisfactory came up.
This is hopeless! So far, none of my ideas are realistic, let alone make any sense!
"Wait...make sense. By Star Swirl's beard, I've got it!"
~*~
Starlight ambled across the field near Fluttershy's house, feeling the sun's warm rays lightly toasting her back. She hoped and prayed that he'd be there. It was his favorite spot; she remembered Fluttershy bringing it up once during lunch. Peering out from under her raised hoof, Starlight looked to where two lone trees stood and quickly found her quarry. Discord was laying in between the two trees, his neck and tail wrapped around their trunks and swinging as though he was lying on a hammock. It looked uncomfortable but then again, looks were always deceiving with him.
"Excuse me, Discord?"
The draconequus lowered his sunglasses. "Oh, if it isn't the Mary Sue of MLP. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
There he went, speaking in nonsense. "Um, hi? Listen, there's something very important that I could use your help with-..."
A second Discord appeared right beside Starlight, dressed in a red bathrobe and holding a cup of coffee.
"No, no, no, no, let me ask you a question. When you came trotting up here, did you notice a sign out in front of the field that said, 'Discord’s Helping Service'?"
Starlight looked at the new Discord. "No but-..."
"Do you know why you didn’t see that sign?"
She sighed, "Why?"
"Because it isn’t there, because helping ponies isn’t my business, that’s why!" Discord answered indignantly, as though he were offended by the very concept. "What kind of Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony would I be if I went around helping out random ponies? The very idea!"
The second Discord vanished, leaving the first one to slide his sunglasses back on.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have some rays to catch," he said while shooing her away with his bird talon and then muttered, "Helping out ponies, who does she think I am?"
Starlight, though slightly baffled, was not deterred. Despite Discord's legendary craftiness, he was susceptible to manipulation just like everypony else. All it took was knowing what buttons to press and how to press them. An idea quickly formed.
"Well, that's a shame because I needed your aid in stealing something from the Canterlot Museum of Magical Antiquities." Discord's ear twitched and that's when Starlight knew she had his attention. "I mean, imagine the looks on the guards' faces when Clover the Clever's cloak suddenly vanishes. It could cause quite the pandemonium. Oh well."
With a shrug, Starlight adopted a mock-crestfallen expression, rotated and started to go back the way she came. She made it three feet before Discord emerged in a cloud of silver sparks.
"Now, now, now, let's not be too hasty! Pandemonium is my middle name!"
"It is?"
"I have many middle names. Now then, you said that you needed the cloak of Clover the Clever?"
SNAP!
A light blue cloak floated above his upturned lion's paw.
"Boo-yah."
Starlight reverently reached for the garment only to have Discord pull his arm back.
"Hold your horses!" Discord tutted with a finger. "Quid pro quo. It's going to cost you."
Ignoring the smug expression, Starlight swallowed her annoyance. "What do you want?"
"I want..." Discord started, leaning forward. "...a shrubbery!"
"A what?"
"I'm just kidding! Although, a shrubbery would look rather nice on my front lawn...anyway! What I want from you is a favor." He then puffed his cheeks out and said in a nasally tone, "Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this cloak a gift."
Now, anypony with half a brain cell would know to never make a deal with Discord but Starlight wasn't about to let this opportunity pass by. She retrieved the cloak and held it up to the light, her chest welling with a sense of awe. Sure enough, there were strands of hair still clinging to the interior of the hood. Carefully pulling them out and shoving them into a plastic baggie, she passed the cloak back to Discord.
"Thank you."
"Sure, sure," Discord waved her off and sent the cloak away with another finger-snap. "Don't forget, you still owe me a favor!"
~*~
Back at Twilight's castle, Starlight was putting the finishing touches on the conjurer's ring and stood back to access her work. The ring was one large circle, exactly eight feet in diameter, and filled with several smaller circles containing various interlacing geometric shapes and incantations. It had been painstakingly drawn in chalk, every last detail requiring precision lest the spell either failed or horribly backfired. Terrible consequences laid in store for many careless magical adepts that toyed around with chronokinetic spells. So far, everything matched the ritual described in Starlight's notes to a T.
Sunburst wiped his brow and rose from his knees and hocks, having finished the final part of the ring. Thanks to his aid, it'd been accomplished in half the time. "All done!"
"Excellent! Now that the ring is finished, all we have left are the final touches!"
Carefully fishing some of Clover's hair from out of the plastic baggie, Starlight lightly placed it on the left side of the circle before repeating the process on the right side, only this time substituting some of her own hair. She took a deep breath. Even if the spell was a success, she still had to contend with meeting her ancestor, an actual hero and legend. The pressure was incredible and there was a fleeting moment where Starlight considered canceling the whole thing.
No, I'm going to finish what I started!
Starlight's horn flared with swirling turquoise light, building up power that created a small vortex around the unicorn as it flowed and ebbed. She threw her head forward, striking the conjurer's ring with a column of crackling energy. The ring hummed as magic flowed into it, alighting the shapes and inscriptions. Glowing vistas pooled around the two clumps of hair, surrounding them in scintillating auras before shooting twin beams into the air. An eddying portal opened up, its interior a seemingly-endless tunnel of mystic lightning and nebulous, bursting spheres.
A shape came careening out of the portal and landed in the center of the ring. It stood up as the portal slowly closed itself up, the ground around the new arrival's hooves crackling with leftover electricity. Starlight and Sunburst watched anticipatingly as the figure turned to face them. He was a mustard-yellow unicorn stallion garbed in a light blue hooded cloak, which flapped around him in the tempestuous remnants of the magical energy surge. He faced them, dark green eyes brimming with questions.
"Where am I?"