It was one of these days again where Star Twinkle would have stayed home, figuring out what to do with the rest of the day. But instead, he got the chance to listen to Twilight talking for hours now. She had the opportunity to give a speech to a bunch of magic students and wanted to make sure that she would be well-prepared. This is where Star Twinkle came in. Along with Spike, he was tasked to listen to Twilight's speech so that she would get some practice in.
"If somepony had told me when I was a blank flank that one day I'd give a speech to a class at Celestia's School of Magic, I wouldn't have believed it, but I hope that I have been up to the task because I can tell that all of you are and that the future of Equestrian magic is in good hooves," she said, concluding her speech.
Spike was clapping after the speech was done. "Wow, hehe. That was even better than...the first eleven times," Spike complimented.
The little dragon expected Star Twinkle to clap for Twilight as well but to his surprise, the stallion was fast asleep right next to him. Spike had no choice but to push the stallion to make him wake up again.
"Eh? Wu-what?" Star Twinkle cleverly responded before he realized that Twilight's speech was over. "Oh! That was good! Better than the first ten speeches!"
"Eleven..."
"Eleven!" Star Twinkle corrected.
Luckily, Twilight was so caught up in her practice that she did not notice how the stallion was just now waking up. "Eh, I don't know. I'd like to be able to get through the whole speech without looking at the cards," Twilight explained, something that the two did not like to hear.
"Come on, Twilight! You can't be nervous about giving a speech to a bunch of magic students!" Spike pointed out.
"Oh, I'm not nervous, Spike," Twilight replied. "But I do have to set a good example, especially for magic students. That's why this speech has to be..."
Spike let out a sigh. "Perfect?"
"Exactly," Twilight replied happily. "Let's go through it one more time," she suggested before she began clearing her throat and started the speech again.
Star Twinkle groaned heavily. He began sitting back on his seat again and made sure to take another nap. He already could tell the speech himself a6 this point. This was all Twilight being too prepared for something that Star Twinkle was sure she could ace through anyway. The only reason why Star Twinkle still "listened" to her was so that she would feel more confident and safer. But having to listen to her for hours was just boring and making him wish that the speech would already be over.
Later that day...
The time for the official speech was finally here. To Star Twinkle's surprise, the whole town hall was filled with young ponies who actually seemed rather interested in Twilight's speech, which, of course, she managed to do without any problems. It would have been a surprise if she would make a mistake at all, considering that she spent half of the day repeating that speech to Star Twinkle and Spike.
Speaking of those two, they still had a hard time keeping their eyes open during the speech. Having a whole room filled with eager magic students didn't change the fact that it was still the same speech that the two have listened to for what felt like a hundred times. It did make it easier to take a nap during all of this though.
All eyes and ears were focused on Twilight while she was giving her speech while a projector, that Star Twinkle and Spike took care of, was showing some pictures behind her. Fittingly, the current picture was showing the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Obviously, the long term effects of...the simultaneous acquisition of cutie marks has yet to be determined, but..." the mare said before she took a little sip of water which was her sign to Star Twinkle and Spike to put in the next slide so that she could continue her presentation. "Ahem. Next slide, please," Twilight asked of her currently sleeping helpers.
The two didn't notice and kept napping in the middle of the speech. Luckily, Moon Dancer, who was sitting next to them, gave the two a little nudge.
"Oh!" Star Twinkle replied once he noticed someone poking him in the side, which caused Spike to wake up as well.
The little dragon noticed how he missed his cue and instantly went and grabbed the next slide to put into the projector in front of him. He did put in a picture of him on the beach, followed by the next one being upside down at first but Twilight didn't notice it as she continued her speech. By the time she turned around again, the right one was showing, a showing Twilight and the rest of her friends.
"I can speak from my own experience that the power of Cutie Mark Magic is very real, and in the instance of my friends and I, it can be traced to a single event!" She explained before the next slide showed a picture of a Sonic Rainboom along with some pictures of her friends showing up around it. "Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor, this Rainboom wouldn't have happened. Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals. Applejack might never have realized that she belonged on her farm. And Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. It might be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to fathom what my life would be like. Without this Rainboom, I might not have gotten into magic school. Celestia wouldn't have taken me on as her pupil or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends."
Star Twinkle, who decided to try staying up now, was hearing those words many times before but they still were stuck with him. It was crazy to think that one event in the past was determining the lives of so many ponies. And of course, he was the only one who was not part of it, as always. It wasn't even funny anymore. So many times did Star Twinkle feel as if he was left out of certain things that the rest of his friends were part of. This Sonic Rainboom was one of them. He never saw that Rainboom, it didn't affect his life or changed it for the better. He figured that, if his friends wouldn't have seen it, then he wouldn't have met them so to a certain point, he was still grateful for that but knowing that he was the only one who didn't see it, made him still feel sad.
"And the most powerful thing about Cutie Mark Magic that I found is the connection I share with them..."
Then, all of a sudden, Twilight's facial expression changed. The smile, that she had on her face during the whole speech so far, vanished and her eyes popped open. At first, Star Twinkle thought he imagined things but he could clearly tell that something was wrong. Twilight was kept looking at a certain spot in the crowd as if she saw something or someone she didn't expect at all. Star Twinkle looked to where Twilight was looking at but he couldn't tell what caused Twilight to react like this.
"But, um..." Twilight then said before she began looking at some of her cards in front of her to get back on track with her speech again. "The real question about... Cutie Mark Magic is... who it seems to affect."
From this point on, Twilight's speech was sounding a little bit more nervous. There could be a possibility that she was simply blacking out for a moment and didn't know how to get back into her speech but Star Twinkle doubted that. Twilight saw something that worried her and he was curious to know what it was.
Later...
The speech was over. All of the magic students already left the building and Star Twinkle and Spike waited in front of the building for Twilight to come out.
"Hey Spike," Star Twinkle said. "Did you notice how Twilight was a little bit...off during the last half of her speech?" He asked.
The little dragon was yawning heavily and stretched his arms before scratching his back. "Huh? Did you say something?" He then asked confused. Clearly, Spike was sleeping throughout most of the speech after changing the slides.
Star Twinkle was hoping that Spike would tell him that he just imagined those things. Luckily, Twilight was walking out of the building shortly after so he could just ask her directly. She still looked a little bit nervous, the first thing she did was looking around after setting hoof outside. There was definitely something going on.
"Okay, mind telling me what is wrong?" Star Twinkle straight out asked.
Twilight looked surprised to hear that. She was sure that it wasn't too obvious the way she acted during her speech. She began moving away from the building and asked Star Twinkle and Spike to follow her. She was really cautious and wanted to get away from the building as fast as possible. Star Twinkle still wanted an answer so he quietly and patiently followed her. They went towards Twilight's castle in quite a hurry, all while the mare was looking back as if she feared someone was following her.
"Star Twinkle?" She then asked, breaking the silence which went on for what felt like forever. "Did you see someone suspicious in the audience?"
"So you did see someone!" Star Twinkle replied. "Who was it?" He asked.
The answer came fast. "Starlight Glimmer."
Spike quickly picked up on that. "Starlight Glimmer?" Of course, he didn't know that pony since he never met her but Twilight told him about her.
Star Twinkle recalled that name immediately. "That pony who enslaved that one town and who stole our Cutie Marks?" He asked. Clearly, those were the highlights that came to mind when he thought about that mare.
"I was sure I saw her. But when I looked again, she was gone! I'm just worried what she could be up to," Twilight said in a worried tone.
"Nothing good, I bet," Spike said. "I heard she wasn't very happy the last time you saw her.," he added.
But Twilight was not feeling bad for what she did, far from it. "Forcing everypony in her village to have the same cutie mark wasn't right. We had to do something!" She explained.
"And now she's coming back for revenge," Spike figured. "Uh, or she was just really interested in your speech!" He added. But both Star Twinkle and Twilight heavily doubted that.
"Honestly, I'm not really sure what I saw," Twilight said with concern in her voice. "But as long as I have my friends, I know everything will be all right," she added while looking at Star Twinkle specifically. "Maybe I was just more stressed about that speech than I thought."
"Yeah. That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer coming back with an evil plot for revenge," Spike figured.
"Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kinda silly," Twilight replied amused.
The three continued their way towards Twilight's castle. Twilight might not be as concerned as she was before but Star Twinkle began to get a little bit paranoid now. "But...just in case, what should we do? Should we go and tell the others?" He asked before he opened the door of the castle for Twilight and Spike.
Twilight was trying to come up with something as she walked towards the throne room of her castle. She figured that it couldn't hurt to be at least on guard for the rest of the day. "I'll try to figure something out. Can you go and tell the others?" She asked of Star Twinkle.
Of course it was up to the stallion to go and fetch the others, much to Star Twinkle's annoyance. But in case that Starlight Glimmer was actually roaming around in Ponyville. In the meantime, Twilight would hopefully have a plan ready for the worst-case scenario.
But all of that was thrown out of the window as soon as the door to the throne opened. Star Twinkle was about to leave but as soon as he saw someone waiting inside the room, he had shivers running down his back. There she was, sitting in Twilight's throne with a smug smile on her face as if she already won a battle that Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were not even aware of taking place. It was, of course, Starlight Glimmer.
"Welcome home, Twilight!" She said, greeting back the princess in her own castle.
This was a huge problem. Someone dangerous and evil was sitting right in front of them and just by looking at her sinister smile was telling them that she was not forgetting what happened in her town. This proved to be true as soon as the mare pulled out a scroll and used her magic on it. The spell reacted to the table in the middle of the room, revealing the map that usually only showed up whenever one of the girls was sitting on their throne.
Twilight rushed towards the table in her confusion. "What are you doing, Starlight?" She asked, demanding an explanation from the mare.
Starlight Glimmer laughed in response. "I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise!" She said in a sinister tone before she looked upwards at the spell above her. "Won't be needing that anymore," she added before she threw away the scroll that she used moments ago.
Strange lights formed above the table and clock ticking could be heard. Some kind of portal opened up and Starlight Glimmer was sucked into it. "What is happening here!?" Star Twinkle asked in all of this chaos.
"I don't know!" Twilight could only respond.
After some more magic lights, things settled down again. The spell, whatever it was, was gone, and so was Starlight Glimmer. The only thing left was the scroll that Starlight Glimmer threw away before vanishing into this portal.
"Where'd she go?" Spike said, asking the most important question now.
"And what did she do?" Star Twinkle added.
"I don't know," Twilight could only repeat. "But I think we better find out!"
"Easier said than done..." Star Twinkle said. He had no clue what even happened so finding out where she went was even harder to find out.
Luckily, there was one thing that was left from all of this. It was the scroll that Starlight Glimmer used before this whole spell started. Spike picked it up to see if there were any clues on it. "I guess we could start with this," he said before he attempted to read the scroll.
But to Star Twinkle's and Spike's surprise, Twilight screamed out. "Spike, no! Don't touch that!" She said in a panic. But it was too late. As soon as Spike touched the scroll on the ground, the portal from before opened up.
"Again!?" Star Twinkle shouted as he tried to resist being sucked into the portal above him. It was no use though, there was nothing he could do to prevent being sucked into it. It was the same for Twilight and Spike as well. Before they knew it, all three of them got sucked into the portal above them. Once inside, the three found themselves flying through what felt like a magic tunnel. It was as if they were traveling to a different dimension or something else that they could not explain at all. There was no way for them to control where to go too, it was as if they were falling towards the end of wherever this magic tunnel wanted them to go.
And after a while of getting dragged through all of this, they finally were outside again. The first thing they saw after getting out was clouds, so that was a good sign that they were not inside this magical wormhole tunnel or whatever it was they were in.
There was no time to take in the scenery though since there was still one problem. They were still falling, and this time, it was towards the ground, at full speed. It went without question that everyone was screaming their lungs out. That was until Twilight remembered that she had wings and could stop herself from falling any second by just spreading her wings. As soon as she got her balance back, the mare used her magic to grab Star Twinkle and Spike before they hit the ground.
It was a close call, and they all managed to get away with only a little shock. Everyone managed to land on the ground unscathed. "Thanks," Star Twinkle said to Twilight before she released her spell.
Now they could finally take a look at their surroundings to see where they actually landed at. There were clouds everywhere around them, and Pegasus Ponies only, a very familiar view. They recognized this place immediately, it was Cloudsdale.
"Cloudsdale? Starlight doesn't even have wings! Why would she come here?" Spike asked, bringing up a pretty good question that didn't even cross Star Twinkle's mind up until now.
"I don't know, Spike, but it looked like she could fly with just magic! Keep your eyes open. We don't know what she has planned," Twilight advised while she did just that, looking around the place to see if she was nearby.
Star Twinkle tried to find out why Starlight Glimmer wanted to go to Cloudsdale, there must have been a reason why she was choosing this place. The first thing that came to mind was the weather factory, the place where all the weather of Equestria was taken care of. Starlight Glimmer could be planning to manipulate the weather for some evil scheme.
"Coming through!"
Then suddenly, someone was dashing right between them at high speed, barely avoiding the three as they were still trying to figure out what to do next. "Woah! Watch out!" Star Twinkle said in his surprise before he noticed that the voice sounded a little familiar to him. "Wait...was that..."
Spike looked at the Pegasus that flew past him and noticed how familiar she looked to him as well. "Isn't that Rainbow Dash?" He asked confused.
Everyone took a closer look at the Pegasus flying away in the distance. There was no denying, that blue coat and the rainbow-colored mane were all on spot. Still, there was something off about her.
"Did Rainbow Dash look really young to you too?" Twilight asked in an unsure voice.
"And I didn't see a cutie mark," Star Twinkle added. "Does that mean..."
Spike, surprisingly had a pretty explanation of what was going on. "...We traveled back in time to when Rainbow Dash raced the bullies who made fun of Fluttershy and performed her first Sonic Rainboom?"
In every other scenario, Star Twinkle would call Spike crazy or tell him that his imagination was running wild but this time his guess was pretty close to what Star Twinkle had in mind as well. To confirm his thought though, the stallion looked around further to spot a certain other pony. He quickly found said pony, a little slender yellow coated pony with a pink mane. It was Fluttershy, a little younger, just like Rainbow Dash but it was most certainly Fluttershy. This was enough proof for him to believe that what Spike said was true.
Twilight, however, was still in denial. "Spike, only Star Swirl the Bearded could do something like that, and even his spell just went back a week! How could Starlight do more than the greatest wizard in Equestria?" She asked.
It was now that Spike noticed how the wind was blowing something against his legs. It was the scroll from before, the one that the little dragon picked up and caused them all to land in this time. Spike picked up the scroll again, luckily, this time there was no portal opening up and he could finally take a good look at it.
After his eyes wandered across the scroll, he decided to show it Twilight. "With this," he said before he handed it to the mare.
"What is that?" Star Twinkle asked. He had to admit that he was rather curious about what was written on it as well.
It took only a quick glance from Twilight to recognize that scroll and her eyes began to shot open. "Star Swirl's spell! Oh, no!" She said in shock.
Of course, with his limited knowledge about magic, there was no way for him to tell apart that scroll from any other but he did remember how Twilight used it before to travel back in time. "So that proves it, we're in the past," Star Twinkle concluded.
"Cool! Come on, let's go!" Spike then said in excitement as he ran towards where Rainbow Dash was flying to.
"Go where?" Twilight asked confused.
"To watch the race. I don't wanna miss the Rainboom!" The little dragon said before he accidentally walked on a cloud and fell through it. Luckily, Twilight was there to catch him with her magic before he would fall towards the hard ground.
While the situation was pretty confusing, Star Twinkle and Twilight had to admit that you don't get to see a Sonic Rainboom every day, and knowing that this one would be the first was only making it more memorable.
"Guess we just have to keep our eyes open," Twilight said in advice.
Star Twinkle realized that she was talking about Starlight Glimmer. She must have been somewhere around here as well which meant that the ponies in Cloudsdale could be in danger. "Yes, got it," Star Twinkle replied.
Later...
At the starting line, young Rainbow Dash was getting ready to start her race to defend Fluttershy's honor. Star Twinkle, who was in his Pegasus Form to prevent himself from falling through the clouds, Twilight and Spike were sitting near the starting line and waited for the race to start. It was weird watching this race, especially since all of them knew who was gonna win it but it was also interesting to see how things unfolded and how the Sonic Rainbow came to be and seeing it live in front of them.
When the race started and the racers accidentally knocked off Fluttershy, who was giving the signal for the start. Twilight's instincts kicked in and she spread her wings to save her but Spike quickly pulled her back again.
Star Twinkle would like to help her too but he knew what it would mean if they interfered with anything in the past. "She'll be fine," he said with a smile on his face.
Twilight grinned back at the stallion. "Yeah...I know," she said. Of course, she knew, they came from the future after all.
The three continued to just silently watch the race. Rainbow Dash and the bullies, she was racing against, flew through one cloud ring after another and even though the bullies were playing a little bit dirty, Rainbow Dash managed to always catch up to them. She certainly was very competitive even in her younger days.
Looking at the race was all good but Star Twinkle was still keeping his eyes open. "Why did Starlight Glimmer want to travel back in time? And why here?" He wondered. The stallion remembered how Twilight already claimed to see her back in the city hall. "Why would Starlight Glimmer watch Twilight's speech? Has it something to do with us being in this time?"
In the meantime, the race was entering its final phase. The last lap was coming and any minute, Rainbow Dash would unleash the Sonic Rainboom, the one Rainboom that was so important to Twilight and her friends for getting them their Cutie Marks. Star Twinkle did not forget the fact that he was the only one who was not included in this connection and frowned the moment he thought about it.
That is when it hit him and his eyes popped open. "I know what Starlight is after," he said in his realization.
"What was that?" Twilight asked. She was a little too distracted watching the race instead of listening to Star Twinkle.
As if things wouldn't be bad enough, before Star Twinkle could even explain things, he saw Starlight Glimmer revealing herself, levitating out of a cloud with the help of her magic. The stallion knew what was going to happen next but it was already too late.
The moment where Rainbow Dash was reaching her max speed, Starlight Glimmer shot at her and froze the little Pegasus in place. "Hey! What gives?" The filly asked confused, wondering what was happening to her right now.
"Oh no," Star Twinkle could only say after he saw that he was already too late.
Twilight did not understand what was worrying the stallion but she knew that Starlight Glimmer was responsible for it so she decided to confront her about it. "What did you do?!" She asked in anger.
But Starlight Glimmer already knew that she won and smiled back at the princess. "You are about to find out," she simply said.
A second later, the portal that brought Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike into this time appeared above them again, sucking them in once more. Just like before, they could not fight it and they found themselves inside that magic tunnel again.
After another crazy flight through this weird magic tunnel, and a harsh landing on top of it, the three got back up on their hooves and claws again. They were no longer in Cloudsdale anymore, judging by the absence of clouds around them. The table from Twilight's castle was right next to them, meaning that they arrived back from where they started. Only that there was something else missing, much to Star Twinkle's shock, who could only stand there with an open mouth.
Twilight, who just got up as well did not seem to have noticed anything different yet. "Ugh... I don't know what Starlight's up to yet, but we'd better figure it out before it's too late," she said, determined to set things straight again.
"Um, Twilight?" Spike said, who also already noticed what happened. "I think it already is."
The mare did not understand right away due to that crazy flight from before still making her feel a little bit dizzy and all but once she took a look around, she started gasping in shock.
Her castle was gone.
The table, as well as the thrones still remained but the castle around them was completely gone and the three found themselves on a meadow next to a lake. There wasn't even a sign of there being any building at all.
"The castle...is gone?" Spike asked confused.
"The map pulled us back, but whatever Starlight did in the past changed things here!" Twilight concluded.
"But why? And how did we get here? Where's here?" Spike asked in his confusion.
"More like when," Twilight corrected.
"Right," Star Twinkle added. "We're in the present, are we?" He asked.
Twilight nodded in response. "Yeah, looks like you figured it out as well," the mare said before she began to explain things to Spike who was still needed to be up to date on all this. "Starlight altered Star Swirl's spell, then somehow used it on the map to travel into the past and change something! Once she did, the map pulled us back to the present!" She explained.
Spike finally began to understand the situation he was in. It didn't make it any less complicated though. "So we're back where— I mean when we started?"
"Not exactly," Twilight replied. She pointed towards the map on the table. Up until now, Star Twinkle didn't even notice it but the map looked no longer the same as well. "Everything's different. Look. The map doesn't even make sense anymore! The Crystal Empire takes up half of Equestria!"
Star Twinkle's mind was already figuring out why that would be. He had a pretty good guess how it all came to this, not only Starlight's interference but also why the Crystal Empire was making up half of Equestria. It was not too hard to figure out what was going on for him but at the same time, it did not help the three out in this situation at all so thinking about it could wait a little. The was only one thing that he needed to know.
"So, what do we do now?" Star Twinkle then asked
Twilight tried to figure out a solution for all of this but she came to the conclusion that this was beyond her. This, in turn, gave her a good guess, however, to tackle this problem. "This is too big to handle on our own. We need to find our friends and get help!" She suggested.
If things were too much to handle for one pony, then take help from someone else. This is something that Twilight realized in all of her adventures. This situation was no different. They needed help to figure out what to do next. They needed to find their friends.
But Twilight seemed oblivious about one problem in all of this, something that Star Twinkle was already aware of. He decided to remain quiet though just to not crush the little hope that they had. There was also a chance that he could be wrong. There was only one way to find out, and that was going to Ponyville.
Later...
When the three arrived in Ponyville there was quite a surprise waiting for them. The whole town felt abandoned and the few ponies living there barricaded themselves inside their houses and closed their windows as soon as they saw Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike waking through the roads. On top of that, the town was in pretty bad shape as well. The houses looked as if they were not properly taken care of for a long time.
Spike had one sentence that summed up what was going through Star Twinkle's head as well. "I'm gettin' a bad feeling about this."
"I know, Spike, but this is Ponyville. How bad could things be?" Twilight replied, trying to stay positive still.
The first friend, they decided to visit was Pinkie Pie in Sugarcube Corner. They could use some cheering up right about now after walking through this sad town. But again, what they found was not what they were expecting.
"Is that Sugarcube Corner?" Spike asked after he took a look at the building that was supposed to be Sugarcube Corner.
It was another poorly maintained building. This was especially surprising since Sugarcube Corner was usually a pretty fancy and bright place. But instead, it was actually one of the direst looking places that they came across.
"I don't understand," Twilight said in shock.
"I do," Star Twinkle said. His theories started to all make sense right about now. He still decided to remain them to himself.
Seeing in what state Sugarcube Corner was instantly worried Spike about Carousel Boutique. The little dragon rushed over to that building and only found barricaded doors and windows.
"Rarity?" He shouted desperately while knocking on the barricaded door in front of him.
"I don't think Rarity is here..." Star Twinkle said.
Realizing that, what Star Twinkle said, was most likely true, the little dragon sunk his head in sadness, causing Twilight to comfort him a little. "I'm not sure anything we know is the same. But I know one place that could never change!" She then said with confidence in her voice.
The mare was leading the way to Sweet Apple Acres. Whether something in the past was changed or not, she was positive that the farm would always stay the same. Her surprise was big once she arrived at the place though. Her guess was wrong, the whole place had a whole different atmosphere around it. Black clouds were all over the place, created by the huge chimneys of the barns. They took a look inside one of the barns to see machines making cider without love or care. This whole orchard turned into an industry side. The three couldn't believe their eyes.
"What a sad sight..." Star Twinkle said, summing up what Twilight and Spike were thinking right now.
While the three still tried to understand what was going on here, a mare walked outside the barn, loading some barrels on a cart. An Earth Pony mare wearing plain brown clothes and a hair net around her mane and tail. Those clothes made her look really different but that pony was still someone familiar, much to everyone's delight.
"Applejack?!" Twilight said in a mix of happiness and confusion before she rushed over to the mare to give her a hug. Seeing a friend for what felt like ages create actions like those.
However, Applejack did not seem to be too fond of that greeting and pushed the mare away. "What can I do for you?" She asked in an almost bitter tone.
"It's just so good to see you! We couldn't find Pinkie or Rarity or Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, but I just knew you'd still be here!" Twilight said happily.
Applejack went back to her work. "Of course I am. This is my home. But who in tarnation is Pinkie Bow and Flutterdash? Or you for that matter?" She asked bothered.
"You... don't know who I am?" Twilight asked with a frown on her face.
"Nope. Honestly, the only name I recognize is Rarity, but she left for Manehattan years ago," Applejack explained.
Spike quickly picked up on that. "Probably to become a world-famous fashion designer, I bet," he figured.
"Not that I know of," Applejack quickly replied. "Last I heard, she went to help with the cause like everypony else," she added.
Star Twinkle and Twilight looked at each other confused. "The cause?" Star Twinkle then asked.
Applejack walked up to the three with a pretty confused look on her face. "The war against King Sombra and the Crystal Empire?"
"What?!" Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike said in shock.
In hindsight, that would explain the map from before. "Is that why the Crystal Empire made up half of Equestria?" He figured.
By now, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike must have looked really suspicious. A war is not something that you can be unaware of, especially if you are living in the land where it's taking place. "Where have you two been?" Applejack rightfully asked.
"Actually, it's when," Spike corrected, a detail that was not necessary to know after just hearing that there was a war going on.
Going into too much detail would probably confuse Applejack even more so Twilight tried to keep it short. "I know this is hard to believe, but you and I and those other ponies I mentioned are friends!"
But Applejack highly doubted that. "Did you bump your head on a crate of cider or somethin'?" She asked.
"I'm telling you the truth! And if you come with me, I'll prove it," Twilight explained before she walked away, expecting Applejack to follow her. The Earth Pony had no interest in all of this though and turned around, only to get dragged behind by Twilight's magic eventually.
A little later...
The four were walking through the dirt road of Ponyville. Applejack figured that resisting was pointless because Twilight wouldn't listen anyway so she decided to follow close behind. It was really awkward having someone who was supposed to be your friend following you and not remembering anything about it. Twilight tried her best to get a conversation going multiple times but each time she failed. Applejack did not know any of them and this war was definitely shaping her differently than the Applejack that they knew from their time.
"This is so weird..." Star Twinkle thought as he continued to walk to Twilight's table. He was already a master when it came to awkward situations but this was weird on so many new levels for him.
"Quick! Hide!" Applejack then said in a hurry before she dragged the three with her to take cover beyond some houses.
"What? What is going on?" The stallion asked confused.
Applejack pointed towards the sky. There were three Pegasus Ponies, wearing black breastplates flying past them in the air. They looked familiar, two of them had a gray coat and one of them a yellow one. On top of that, the yellow-colored one had one metallic wing.
"Wait...is that Steel Wing?!" Star Twinkle asked in his confusion.
"You're right, it looks like him," Twilight figured after taking a closer look at him.
"Their armors...they are soldiers from King Sombra. And judging by how those are Pegasus, I assume they are members of the Storm Wings," Applejack explained.
It was Steel Wing, a member of the Storm Wings. Then the other two Pegasus were most likely Featherbrain and Cloud Head, the two ponies that were always accompanying him on his missions. Something didn't quite make sense to Star Twinkle though.
"I thought this war was going on between the Crystal Empire and Equestria? Why are the Storm Wings part of this too?" The stallion asked.
But Twilight figured that they should return to the table first. Applejack could explain the whole situation later. It didn't take too long before the four found themselves in front of the Cutie Mark table again. Applejack was surprised to see this table and all the thrones at this place. She lived her whole life in these parts and claimed to never have seen this before.
"Alright, you got me. This table is new. But I still don't see what this has to do with you and I bein' friends," Applejack said.
Twilight then began to explain the situation to the mare "Another pony named Starlight Glimmer used this map to travel through time and change things in the past. For some reason, the map's here but everything else is different!"
"Different how?" Applejack asked.
"Well," Star Twinkle started. "There is no war with King Sombra from where...err...when we came from," he explained.
"Maybe you could tell us how the war started, then we can figure out when everything changed!" Twilight asked.
Hearing that those strangers come from a time where there is no war was probably really hard to listen to. It sounded too good to be true for Applejack. She probably thought that Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were just crazy.
But despite all of that, Applejack decided to explain things to those strangers. "That's easy enough," she said followed by a sigh.
"When the Crystal Empire returned, it brought King Sombra back with it. And it didn't take long for him to force every one of his subjects to fight for him against Equestria. He managed to take over most of Equestria with his army of Crystal Ponies. As if that wasn't bad enough, this group of Pegasus, the Storm Wings, were offering their forces to King Sombra as well, making his army even stronger. Even with Princess Celestia leadin' the charge, it still takes every last pony in Equestria doin' their part, workin' day and night, to keep up the fight."
Hearing that story was not really surprising Star Twinkle. It was exactly as he thought to be precise.
"I just can't believe it! We stopped King Sombra! You and me and all of our friends!" Twilight said.
"But not here," Star Twinkle added.
"Yes," Applejack agreed. "We aren't friends. At least not here," she added.
Hearing those words from Applejack was making the three feel really sad. Twilight had no choice but to accept these words as facts in this timeline. "Right," she said with a frown on her face.
Meanwhile, Applejack wanted to return to her own work. "Look. I hope all this helped, but I really need to get back to cannin' those apples," she said.
"Thank you. We're going to set things right," Twilight promised.
Applejack was letting out a heavy sigh. "I hope you do," she said before she walked back to the farm again. After Applejack was gone, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were pretty much left where they were before. Those were a lot of information to take in for the three.
"So... how are we gonna set things right?" Spike asked.
"I don't know!" Twilight replied."The only thing we know for sure is that Starlight stopped the Rainboom," she added.
"Exactly," Star Twinkle said. He figured now would be the best time to share what he had come up with all this time. "I think that was her plan all along."
"But why?" Spike asked confused.
Star Twinkle explained. "Twilight, you said you saw Starlight watching your speech in Ponyville, right?" He asked, causing Twilight to nod in response. "I bet that is how she came to know about that connection of the Sonic Rainboom and your friends. She knew that all of you got your Cutie Marks at the same time by watching the Sonic Rainboom. I don't know why but I think her plan was to stop the Rainboom from happening so that you and your friends would never end up meeting each other. I mean, why else would she go back to Cloudsdale at this specific time?"
Twilight had to admit that what Star Twinkle said was making sense. It didn't explain her reasoning for doing it but she also saw Starlight stopping Rainbow Dash from doing the Rainboom. "And with the Rainboom never happening, a whole lot of events were changed because my friends and I were not there to fix them," she figured.
"Yes," Star Twinkle replied. "For example, King Sombra was never stopped by us because I guess you never saw the Rainboom and Princess Celestia didn't take you as her student. This meant that you were never sent to Ponyville, never met the others, which should have not there to begin with because they never saw the Rainboom as well, and you were never sent to the Crystal Empire to stop King Sombra from returning," the stallion summarized.
Spike's head started to spin after taking in all of this information at once. "I hope you don't expect me to keep with all of this," he said as he was holding his head in confusion. "So we all knew why things happened here but how is that gonna help us fix things?" The little dragon asked.
Star Twinkle had to admit that he didn't think about that. "I...have no idea..." he replied in defeat.
Spike looked at the map once more. "It sure is strange that everything around us changed but for some reason, the map is still here," he casually mentioned.
That was exactly the bit that helped Twilight to realize something. "Spike, that's it!" She said in a surprising boost of excitement. "The map is connected to the Tree of Harmony! It must sense that something isn't right! That's why it's still here!" She explained.
"So?" Star Twinkle asked. He couldn't see how that was helping them out in this situation at all.
Twilight explained. "Remember when Starlight used Star Swirl's spell? She used it on the map! Which is still here!"
Star Twinkle started to realize what Twilight was getting at and her excitement wandered over to him now as well. "Does that mean we can use it too? To go back in time?" He asked, his voice filled with hope now.
"Yes!" Twilight replied. "I'll just use Starlight's version of the spell and go back a little earlier and stop her before she even knows we're there!" She said before she started opening the scroll to use it on the map.
STOMP!
Then suddenly, Steel Wing landed right on the map in front of Twilight, preventing her from continuing. She jumped back in shock and accidentally dropped the spell right in front of the Pegasus stallion. Steel Wing looked at the scroll next to his hooves and picked it up. He took a closer look at it for a moment with a serious look on his face.
"Uh...we kinda need that back so if you don't mind..." Twilight said in a nervous voice as she slowly approached the stallion, only to get interrupted by Featherbrain and Cloud Head, who landed right in front of her.
This was bad, Steel Wing got the scroll, the thing that could help them fix everything. The Storm Wings were working for King Sombra for some unknown reason which meant that they were enemies of Equestria, enemies of them. This was not going to end well.
Steel Wing closed the scroll again and looked at Star Twinkle, Twilight and Spike with a serious look on his face. "I don't know what this is but it looks like some kind of spell. We'll be taking that with us, maybe King Sombra can find a use of it," he figured.
"You can't do that!" Twilight exclaimed. "We need that scroll to fix everything!"
"Sorry," Cloud Head replied. "If that spell turns out to be something really powerful, then King Sombra needs to see it," he said.
Star Twinkle stepped up to the three. "Why are you working for King Sombra? I thought the Storm Wings want to protect and help the ponies of Equestria. Why did Cyclone Wing join King Sombra and not Princess Celestia?" He asked.
Steel Wing jumped off the table and locked his eyes on Star Twinkle. "You seem to know the Storm Wings from way back. Cyclone Wing used to be our leader. If things would have stayed like that, then we Storm Wings would have happily helped Princess Celestia fighting off that crazy king. But with our current leader..."
Star Twinkle completely forgot about that. Of course, with him and his friends not being there, they would not have encountered the Storm Wings. That meant that the one who was leading them would still be Mystic. And knowing Mystic, he would never join with Princess Celestia because of his hate for her. It all made sense why the Storm Wings joined King Sombra now, Mystic probably saw a chance to take care of Princess Celestia for good by joining the Crystal Empire.
Featherbrain turned towards Steel Wing. "Is it really good to talk about King Sombra like that? We are working for the guy after all," he figured.
Steel Wing clenched his teeth in anger. "Whatever! You think I care anymore which power-hungry Unicorn is ordering us around anymore?!" He said in anger before he looked at the ground with a frown on his face. "It feels like forever when it was just us six helping out the ponies of Equestria instead of fighting others in a war! This is just too messed up!"
The Pegasus was clearly not happy about this whole war going on in Equestria. On top of that, Mystic, who was responsible for giving the Storm Wings a bad name, and King Sombra, who was starting a war, were just ordering them around to do things that they didn't like doing. Star Twinkle knew that the Storm Wings were not evil. They just found themselves in a situation that they couldn't escape from.
At least not until now...
Star Twinkle walked even closer to the three Pegasus. "What if I told you that this scroll is going to fix all of this," he said.
"What?" Steel Wing replied confused.
"That scroll can change everything back to normal. It can turn things back to how they are meant to be," Star Twinkle explained.
"And how are things meant to be?" Steel Wing asked back.
Star Twinkle began to smile. "No war, no Mystic ordering the Storm Wings around, and no more fighting for someone you don't want to. We met you and your brothers before, and we know that you want to help and not hurt. If you give us back that scroll, then all of this is going to stop."
Steel Wing walked up to the stallion with a serious expression on his face. His sky blue eyes staring into Star Twinkle's light green eyes. The Pegasus looked at the scroll in his hoof and back to Star Twinkle. A moment later, he was handing him the scroll back again.
"Boss?!" Featherbrain asked in shock.
"Should we really do that?! This could be a trap!" Cloud Head pointed out.
Steel Wing turned towards the two. "I really want things to go back the way they were before," he said before he turned back to Star Twinkle again. "For all I know, you could be a spy from the Royal Guards or something but if there is even the slightest chance of what you are saying is true, then I'm willing to take it."
Star Twinkle smiled in response. "Thank you," he simply replied.
"We promise that we fix things!" Twilight said.
Shortly after, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike stepped on the map and Twilight used her magic to start the spell that Starlight used before. As expected from Twilight, just after watching Starlight performing the spell, Twilight managed to copy it with no problem. The portal started opening and Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were sucked into it again, finding themselves back inside that magic tunnel again.
Steel Wing, Featherbrain, and Cloud Head watched all of this unfolding in front of them and they certainly got a little bit confused about what was happening. Featherbrain moved closer to Steel Wing with a confused look on his face.
"So...did they come from the future?" He asked confused.
The yellow Pegasus shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe?" He simply replied.
"Darn..." Featherbrain replied with a frown on his face. "Should have asked if I got a mare friend in the future," he said with a hanging head. The other two Pegasus just shook their heads after hearing that.
Meanwhile, in another timeline...
At the end of the tunnel, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike arrived back in Cloudsdale again. Twilight's spell seemed to have worked perfectly. Star Twinkle instantly turned into a Pegasus again to prevent himself from falling through the clouds.
"What now?" Star Twinkle asked.
"All we have to do now is find Starlight and—"
ZAP!
Before Twilight could finish her sentence, she, Star Twinkle, and Spike got shot by a magic beam which trapped them inside some kind of gem prison. They couldn't move at all on top of being really confused about what happened to them. There was only one explanation, however. It was Starlight Glimmer, who was levitating herself towards the three.
"Well, finding her will be easy! But stopping her's gonna be harder than you think," she said with a smug smile on her face. She must have expected them, which was weird since Twilight used Starlight's spell to make them appear in this time before Starlight appeared. As if she was reading everyone's mind, Starlight happened to explain why that was the case. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I created that spell to send myself back in time. So even when you cast it, I still get sent back here. It wasn't difficult to change Star Swirl's spell. He'd already done the hard part. But figuring out I could use the map to go to any time or place and pull you along with me?" She said before she started laughing at her victory. "I even impressed myself with that. I knew you'd try to stop me. You're so predictable. Why else would I leave the scroll behind? Touching it triggered the map to whisk you here and watch me erase the one thing that linked you with your friends!" The mare stepped on the gem prison beneath her which long before started to sink into the clouds below it. "My village was a sanctuary of equality, where nopony's cutie mark allowed them to feel superior! It was a special place, and you and your friends took it away! "Now it's my turn to take something special from you! Without the Rainboom, you and your friends will never form your special cutie mark bonds! Cutie marks for cutie marks! Sounds like a fair trade to me!"
After she fully revealed her plan and had nothing more to talk about anymore, the mare stomped down on the gem and let the three fall through the cloud and towards Equestria. Of course, Star Twinkle wanted to break free but there was nothing he could do in this situation. He was trapped and he couldn't even transform into a Unicorn to try and teleport out of this. Luckily, Twilight was already working on breaking out. She focused her magic and with a big magic shockwave, the gem shattered and the three of them were free again. Spike was about to fall down due to the lack of a pair of wings but Star Twinkle quickly caught him before he would fall towards the hard ground of Equestria.
"I'm starting to get real sick of falling down places," the stallion said annoyed before he let Spike climb on his back.
"Tell me about it," Spike added. He couldn't even fly or magically grow wings in time to prevent any of that.
Twilight was joining the two shortly after. Since Starlight Glimmer was nice enough to share her plan with them, it was clear what to do next.
"So, in order for the future not to change, we just have to prevent Starlight to do anything here, right?" Star Twinkle guessed.
"That's right," Twilight said before she flew to where they last saw Rainbow Dash and the bullies, and hopefully not, Starlight Glimmer. "we have to keep our eyes peeled. We have to stop Starlight as soon as Rainbow Dash and those bullies race by!"
"Got it!" Star Twinkle replied as he followed the mare closely.
"Um," Spike then said with a heavy voice.
"So be ready," Twilight advised as she kept scanning her eyes throughout all of Cloudsdale.
"I know, but—"
"Because she could pop up anywhere!" Twilight said, not listening to the little dragon one bit.
"Like over there?" Spike then said before he pointed towards some of the bullies who were standing next to Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer.
"Not good!" Star Twinkle said once he realized that something bad was about to happen and flew right towards those ponies with Twilight following right behind.
The three landed right next to the group of ponies. None of them seemed to have noticed them since Starlight Glimmer seemed to have grabbed their full attention. "Just remember how you'd feel if someone said those things to you," is the last thing they heard before Twilight decided to put a stop to this.
"What's going on here?" Twilight asked angrily.
"Oh, I was just reminding these two colts how hurtful teasing can be," Starlight explained casually.
"Well, don't!" Twilight said, again in an angry tone towards Starlight Glimmer. Of course, out of context, those words would sound pretty mean to the two colts and young Fluttershy, something that Twilight realized just now as well. "I mean... you were?" She then asked surprised.
"Of course!" Starlight replied, playing the innocent one in this situation. "In a world where everypony is unique, some are bound to feel more special than others. But that isn't a license to be cruel, is it?" She explained.
"No, of course not..." Twilight figured.
"Oh, isn't it a shame we don't live in a world where everypony is equal? No one would ever tease anyone there! Wouldn't that be nice?" Starlight Glimmer said as she gave the small ponies around her a big hug.
Star Twinkle could only clench his teeth at the mare in front of him. Not only did she stop Fluttershy from getting bullied and letting Rainbow Dash defend her, but she also tried to subtly drop her equality mentality into those ponies.
"Come on, Fluttershy. Maybe I can help you get through the course this time," one of the bullies then said in a friendly tone.
"Well, I-I sure could use the practice..." Fluttershy replied hesitantly before she followed him.
It was hopeless. This might have been a good deed but it was happening for the wrong reasons and only made things more complicated. And knowing that made it all the more frustrating.
Twilight walked up to Starlight with a glare on her face. "I know you only convinced those bullies to not tease Fluttershy to stop the Rainboom!"
"Oh, that's not true," Starlight replied offended. "I convinced them not to be bullies because everypony should be equal. Stopping the Rainboom is just a bonus," she explained.
Just at this moment, young Rainbow Dash was flying past them. It was probably too late but Star Twinkle figured that if Rainbow Dash still created the Sonic Rainboom, then maybe things would get back on track again. "Maybe we can still save this. Twilight try if you can convince Rainbow Dash to do her Rainboom," Star Twinkle said, in the hope to still get this situation turned around.
"On it!" The mare replied before she followed the young Pegasus with Spike hanging into her.
Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer was just laughing at the poor attempt of Star Twinkle and Twilight to try and stop all of this. "How sad. You already lost and you haven't even realized it yet," she said amused.
Star Twinkle turned towards the mare with a glare on his face. "I know you are mad at Twilight but that doesn't give you the right to just change the future like that."
Starlight glared right back at the stallion. "I told you before, Cutie Marks for Cutie Marks!" She said as she angrily stomped on the ground. "It took me years to build up my town and create harmony and then you all show up and take all of it away! I think it's only fair for me to do the same to you!"
"But what you did back then was wrong! You can't take away the Cutie Marks of others and force them to be equal. You claim that they were happy but all you did was talking all this nonsense into them!" Star Twinkle shot back.
"This nonsense was making them a lot happier, they just didn't know how much better their lives were without Cutie Marks!" Starlight now shot back.
"Why do you think that Cutie Marks are so bad? There must be a reason for that, right?" Star Twinkle asked.
Now Starlight's expression seemed even more bitter than before. "That's none of your concern," she said angrily.
After that small exchange, Rainbow Dash was flying past the two again. "No! Wait!" Twilight threw at her in frustration. Things were definitely not going well on her end.
And of course, Starlight couldn't help but pour more salt in this open wound. "Gee, Twilight, what's the matter? Couldn't convince her to do the impossible? That's too bad," she said in her amusement. Twilight was about to say something in return but suddenly, the portal from before opened up above her and sucked her, Star Twinkle, and Spike inside again.
In another time...
The three were going through the magic tunnel once more. When they reached the other end, they found themselves in what looked like the Everfree Forest. Star Twinkle was not liking this rough landing each time one bit. He got back up on his hooves while sighing loudly.
"I'm assuming that things didn't work out too well with Rainbow Dash?" Star Twinkle asked annoyed.
"No," Spike replied.
In the meantime, Twilight was getting the scroll ready again. "This is gonna be harder than I thought. We'll have to try again! I don't want to live in that awful future we saw!" She explained before she opened the scroll.
"I...don't think you'll have to!" Spike then interrupted with a panicked expression on his face.
Before Star Twinkle could even turn around to see what created that reaction, a spear was pointed directly at him, too close to his liking. A bunch of ponies surrounded the three, all of them pointing their spears at them and with angry looks on their faces. They all had weird face and body paints on them and two of them were looking awfully familiar.
"Pinkie? Fluttershy?" Twilight asked confused.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were also among them but of course, since this was a future where none of them knew Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike, they did not recognize them.
"Silence, changeling!" Pinkie Pie said in an unusually angry tone.
"All servants of Queen Chrysalis found in these woods must be...destroyed!" Fluttershy said in an even more surprisingly angry tone.
There was no telling what was going on in this time now but whatever it was, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike already found themselves in danger and could not return to the past right away. Starlight Glimmer interfering in the past seemed to have brought them into another alternate future and before they could stop her, they first had to look for a way out of this situation.
To be continued...