//------------------------------//
// The "Interrogation" 
// Story: Starlight's Time Trial 
// by Matthais Unidostres 
//------------------------------//

Starlight Glimmer was amazed at how fast it had all gone down. Immediately after coming through the portal, she had been marched right into a dungeon cell, chained to the wall, and left there without a word. She simply hung there, her mind reeling as she slowly began to make sense of what was happening to her, and how she had gotten to this point.

"What you're doing goes way beyond cutie marks! Everything we do here in the past – even the smallest change – can snowball into an avalanche of trouble for the future!"

"Oh, next I suppose you'll tell me that 'the fate of all of Equestria hangs in the balance'!"

"It does!"

"Spare me your overblown ego! No group of friends, not even Princess Twilight's, is that important!"

The clanking of the lock on the cell door interrupted Starlight's quiet reflection, and silent tears, and she lifted her head up to see the door swing open.

She then watched herself walk in.

This world's 'Starlight Glimmer' had only two notable differences. For one thing, her mane was cut much shorter, styled as a pair of bangs on either side of her horn. Secondly, she wore a red sash, which had a round golden emblem depicted a horseshoe over a clock face. 

'Starlight' paused to look the prisoner over from tail to horn. She noticed the tears streaking down the prisoner's face, and she tut-tuted to herself softly and said, "Typical, typical. Crying because she got caught."

The prisoner felt as thought she'd been struck when she heard this. Taking a second to gather herself together, she began, "I truly am-."

"QUIET!" 'Starlight' snarled nastily at the prisoner.

The prisoner was very much aware of the chains that bound her body and the ring that bound her magic, so she obeyed her alternate self's command.

'Starlight' composed herself after her outburst, then she began to speak in calm, meticulously measured tone of voice that the prisoner recognized from the days of running the Equality Village. The only difference was that 'Starlight' wasn't smiling.

"Now, I am supposed to interrogate you, but that seems pointless, as we already know all about you thanks to our Time Window Spell. So, I say forget the interrogation, and you can just hang there while I talk at you. Okay? Good. Now, you are probably wondering how we managed to come after you, let alone discover that everything was your fault. Well, it is quite the long story, so let us start with one of the key players in your downfall." She then pointed to herself and continued, "Me. Like you, I had my little Equality Cult out in the middle of nowhere. But when the threat of King Sombra reached a level that required the efforts of all of Equestria, the Royal Guard ended up searching all four corners of the land looking for ponies to aid in the war effort. Eventually, they found my village, and they were disgusted by what I was doing."

'Starlight' began to grow nervous and anxious, and rather than continuing to look the prisoner in the eye, she began pacing back and front in front of her, staring at the ground as she related her tale.

"They started asking questions, snooping, investigating. Apparently, with the dangerous threat of King Sombra outside of Equestria, Princess Celestia couldn't afford to have any dangerous threats within it. I was detained, exposed as a liar, and arrested for malicious misuse of magic and physiological torture."

'Starlight' stopped pacing, and she finally smiled as she said to the prisoner while staring at the wall, "Would you believe that getting arrested was the best thing that ever happened to me?"

"Did you-?"

'Starlight' whirled around and screamed at the prisoner, "I said QUIET! You don't get to speak unless I say you can!"

The prisoner stared back with wide eyes, frightened by the possibility that this 'Starlight' that she was currently at the mercy of wasn't entirely sane.

"You're scared. Good," 'Starlight' said bitterly, "You should be scared. It's the least you deserve after you destroyed so many lives."

'Starlight' just stared at the prisoner in silence for a moment, waiting for her words to sink in. Then, she huffed and said, "As I was saying, while I was in prison, I was given therapy. Lots of it. I didn't know it at the time, but Princess Celestia was impressed by my Cutie Mark Removal spell, and realized that I had incredible magical talent. She wanted to reform me so I could join the war effort. The war against King Sombra was going badly, so it makes sense that she'd want to use any available resource to finally defeat him.  Anyway, it wasn't long before I finally gave in an spilled my whole life story to a particularly good therapist. Next thing I new, Sunburst was coming to visit me every week."

'Starlight' paused a moment, and she closed her eyes and said, "I had fallen so far. . . I manipulated other ponies and treated them like my personal possessions. . . all because I couldn't get over one pony. He could've seen me as a freak, or a psychotic monster. . .but he didn't. He still cared about me. He regretted having to leave me. He even started sharing his own insecurities over his lack of magical power. He told me, 'Starlight, you are not a monster. You're just hurt and broken, but that's okay, because you can be fixed. I'll make sure of it.'"

'Starlight' opened her eyes and hardened her gaze, "Okay, enough of that. Anyway, when Princess Celestia got Applejack's letter about that mysterious Alicorn and dragon, she secretly took a team of unicorns to Applejack's farm factory, and they spent a night searching and scanning for evidence, and they found it. Alicorn magic, time magic, magic from the long dead Tree of Harmony. It was all there. And so, a new task force was put together."

'Starlight' tapped the golden emblem on her sash with her left forehoof and said, "The Time Turners. A group of intelligent and powerful ponies with one goal: find the pony who used time travel and allowed Sombra to get the upper hand over Equestria, and undo that damage if possible. Ponies were gathered together from all over for this group. Myself, Sunburst, EEA Chancellor and portal magic pioneer Neighsay, a genius earth pony named Time Turner, the name thing was just a coincidence, this world's Twilight Sparkle, another student from Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns named Moondancer, Celestia even sent us through a mirror portal into a world filled with creatures called humans to retrieve one of her ex-students named Sunset Shimmer. The seven of us worked tirelessly, pouring over Starswirl the Bearded's notes on time travel in order to find a way to achieve our goal. Time travel is obviously no easy feat, but where there is a will, there is a way, and with countless ponies suffering and dying because of this war every single day, there most certainly was a will."

'Starlight' nodded and said, "And so, we had our first breakthrough. Not a portal through time, but a one-way window in time. We couldn't travel through, or change anything, but we could observe, and learn. And learn we did."

'Starlight' suddenly used her magic to fly right in the face of her chained up counterpart. "YOU!" she shouted, spraying the prisoner's face with spittle, "YOU are the one responsible for this! And for what!? Because Princess Twilight put an end to your cult!? Did you really think she was the one to blame, when your own cultists couldn't stand you and were just waiting for an excuse to escape you! Don't deny it, because up to that point, we were the same, so I know what I'm saying is true!"

SMACK!

The prisoner's head was knocked to one side by 'Starlight's' right hoof, and the enrage unicorn continued, "Why time travel? Why? You didn't need to go that far to make her miserable. You didn't have to destroy the world just to get revenge on one pony, or even a group of six ponies! Are you seriously that incompetent and blind! How were you not aware of the Elements of Harmony? What did you think would happen to Equestria if you disabled its greatest defensive weapon! WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT ARE YOU!?"

The prisoner's eyes were wide and filled with tears, yet she didn't look away form 'Starlight's' rage filled eyes. She simply couldn't, not now.

'Starlight' ended her levitation spell and landed back on the dungeon floor. "After I saw what you did. . .I tried to take my own life," she said bitterly, "Thankfully Sunburst was there to stop me, and he helped snap me out of it. He helped me realize two things: That you and I are not the same pony, and that the right thing to do would be to fix the damage you caused, as well as make you pay for it."

'Starlight' nodded slowly and said, "So. . .The Time Turners worked in double time, and we were able to crack the inner workings of branching parallel timelines, which led to a spell that would allow us to jump between timelines. A few tests later, and we were finally able to bring you to justice, as well as do Applejack a favor for her role in your capture."

'Starlight's' eyes looked up at the prisoner, loathing and disgust evident with them. "You have no idea how it feels. . . to know that you will always be connected to somepony that caused so much death and destruction in the world. You have blood on your hooves, and it will never wash out. And soon, very soon, the ponies of Equestria are going to put you down like the mad dog you are."

'Starlight' stood staring at her counterpart, breathing heavily as she studied the prisoner's facial features. There was pain, guilt, and shame; all as clear as day, and it was infuriating for reasons she couldn't pin point. "You may speak now," she said, legitimately curious about what the prisoner had to say.

"Just one question," Starlight Glimmer said, her voice very small and near breathless, "Don't you see. . .that I never wanted all of that to happen to the world?"

"Oh, I know," 'Starlight' said testily, her expression more annoyed than angry, "I know that you only wanted to destroy the lives six ponies, but it doesn't matter what your intentions were. All that matters is what you did. You put us at war with King Sombra, you forced everypony to live in constant fear and want, and you caused countless ponies to either suffer or die. That's all that matters."

'Starlight' then turned, unlocked and opened the cell door with her magic, and swiftly exited the room, closing and locking the door behind her.