Starlight Glimmer trots into Ponyville Castle’s library, her face knotted in concern. “Hey, Twilight...can I talk to you for a minute?”
The Princess of Friendship looks up from the scrolls laid out in front of her. “Of course, Starlight! I’m always here to help a friend.”
Starlight trots over and takes a seat on a nearby reading couch. “It’s about my Dad. I’m really worried about him. As you know, he’s in town for the weekend.”
“Is he still coming over for dinner tomorrow?” Twilight asks hopefully.
Starlight’s eyes crease shut. “Maybe, I don’t know. I had coffee with him about 15 minutes ago, and…” Sighing, she meets Twilight’s gaze again. “You know that I never knew my mother, right?”
Twilight pouts in a mixture of thought and sympathy. “You never talked about her, so I figured as much. I didn’t know if it was a sensitive topic.”
“Today, my Dad told me he wanted to tell me ‘the secret of my birth’...Went on all these ramblings about how I already knew my mother dearly, and diatribed like wild about how fate has a circular shape, and all sorts of nonsense...I think he might be mentally ill.” Starlight’s face shows a grave concern. “I just left in a hurry.”
Twilight’s snout scrunches up. “Oh...I don’t think he’s crazy, that’s, uh, jumping to conclusions! I’m sure he’s fine.”
Starlight’s eyes flash with anger as she stares directly into Twilight’s eyes. “I know that face. What are you hiding?”
“Whaaaaat? Me? Hiding forbidden knowledge from my students?” the Princess chuckles nervously. “That’s crazy talk.”
“So help me Twilight…”
Her head falling in defeat, Twilight lets out a strained sigh. Standing up from her desk, she trots to a nearby window and looks out pensively. “Starlight...As unorganized as your father’s speech was...He’s telling the truth. I know who your mother is.”
Starlight’s features soften as she stands up from the couch. “Who? Who is it!?”
Twilight turns around. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“YES,” Starlight half-screeches. “Of course I want to know who my mother is!”
“Okay, I was just checking,” Twilight says defensively. “I was hoping you would have one of those, it-doesn’t-matter epiphanies. You can follow your own path without knowing this, Starlight. There is no turning back if you learn the truth.”
Starlight uses her magic to heave a book at Twilight. It smacks her on the side of the neck.
“Ow! Alright,” Twilight huffs, rubbing her new bruise. “Geez. Take a seat.”
The two sit next to each other on the couch.
“You do indeed know your mother, Starlight,” Twilight begins cautiously. “As you know, I’ve had my share of experience with time travel magic and alternate timelines. Of course we had our standoff over that scroll...But soon after I arrived in Ponyville, I traveled through time myself. It’s a long story,” she quickly waves off, “I bet it’d take like, 22 minutes to tell, so we’ll leave that for later.” She shakes her head to recenter herself. “Point is, a few months ago, I met...me.”
Starlight, who had been listening unmoving to this point, cocks an eyebrow. “You met you?”
“Future me, to be exact,” she states proudly. “I look very tall and magical, in case you were wondering.”
Starlight rolls her eyes and motions with a hoof for Twilight to get on with it.
“Right. Well, in the future, a cult of technomancers overthrows the Equestrian government. Myself and the other element-bearers are all defeated in the final battle, but you, Starlight, succeed in destroying them, ushering in a new era of peace.”
Starlight’s ears perk up. “Well, that sounds like it’s a good thing. I’m glad I figured it out.”
“That’s not the end,” Twilight warns. “The cult’s survivors hatch a plan. They send back an assassin to kill your dad, altering the future and making it so you were never born.”
Starlight’s eyes widen. “Wow. This...isn’t a joke?”
Twilight’s face remains deadly serious. “Future me was kind enough to inform me of what she did. She sent a powerful pony back in time to protect your dad...she ends up becoming your mother.”
Spike leans out from beside a short bookshelf which had been obscuring him from view. “Seriously? This sounds like a plot to a thirty year-old sci-fi film.”
“Shut up, Spike!” Starlight declares. “This is serious!”
Spike glares back at Starlight. “I never knew either of my parents, but you don’t hear me bitching about it,” he grumbles, returning to his work dusting the shelves.
“And you!” Starlight accuses Twilight. “You knew this all this time and never told me!?”
Twilight smiles awkwardly again. “I didn’t really know how to go about it.”
“So who is she?”
“Wait, there’s more,” Twilight continues over Starlight’s groan. “Because this pony becomes your mother, now she’s a target for the technomancers. So I’m always vigilant about making sure I have plainclothes agents from the royal guard making sure she’s safe now. We’ll never know when, or even if, they will strike at her.”
“So who is my mom, Twilight!?” Starlight demands again, clearly annoyed.
“Future me chose to send back a powerful pony to protect your dad, but I couldn’t send back anypony in our inner circle; the cult would recognize who they were immediately. So, I sent back the most powerful magic user I could find: but one that the technomancers didn’t know.”
Starlight leans in expectantly to hear the news.
Twilight cringes and smiles awkwardly back at her. "Hehe," she chuckles. "It's...uh..."
“...So after he said that, I kicked him as hard as I could, spat in his face, and threw his food on the ground,” Trixie beams, her fiery eyes relishing her own story. “I’m the Great and Powerful Trixie, after all! I’m not going to let some shit foal talk to me like that.” She smugly takes a big sip from her bubble tea.
Starlight’s coat is so pale she looks almost pink. She curls her lips into a forced smile. “That sounds...fascinating.” She answers, her mind obviously lingering on something else besides Trixie’s story.
Trixie shrugs. “So anyway, I know it’s your birthday this weekend. I’m still a little jealous that you’re two months older than me, but Trixie forgives you. We should go see that new movie about the killer robot pony to celebrate.”
Starlight nods quietly, her eyes staring far off into the distance.
“Will your dad still be in town? Should we invite him?”
“No!” Starlight quickly answers, her frenzied tone attracting the curious looks of passersby. “I-I mean...He’s a big scaredy-cat. He won’t like that movie…” She stares off again.
Trixie swallows her latest sip of bubble tea and sighs in relief. “Good. Between you and me, Starlight,” she leans toward Starlight furtively and lowers her voice to a whisper, “Your dad has always acted a little weird around me.”
Starlight whimpers softly.