After a failed attempt to stop Starlight Glimmer from changing the future again, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike found themselves in another time again. This time they landed in the Everfree Forest surrounded by ponies who all pointed their spears and angry glares right at the three, ready to attack any second now, much to their dismay.
"Alright...how about we all put those spears away and calm down?" Star Twinkle suggested nervously only to get even more spears pointed at him in return.
"Quiet! Changeling!" Fluttershy growled at the stallion.
"Wait! We're not changelings!" Twilight replied nervously. "We're ponies! And he's a dragon!"
Pinkie Pie walked up to Spike to make sure that what Twilight said was true. "A likely story! Do something dragonish!" She demanded. Of course, Spike's first guess was to breathe fire to prove his innocence but all he managed to do was belching up some smoke due to him being a little pressured right now. Pinkie Pie had to cough a little after getting smoked at like that. "That works!" She said before she took a few steps back again.
Fluttershy then moved closer. "The servants of Chrysalis will do anything to save their evil skins!" She said, in order to get everyone rallied up once more.
Luckily, as soon as things started to get messy, someone's voice echoed through the forest and prevented the ponies to do anything. "Stop! If they are changelings we'll soon see. Though I think they're not what they appear to be," a very familiar voice said coming from on top of a tree.
"Zecora!" Twilight said in relief. The zebra seemed, as usual, pretty reasonable to talk with. She jumped down from the tree and walked up to the three with a glare on her face but at least she didn't look as if she was about to attack anytime soon, much to Twilight's delight. "Please, you have to listen," she asked of her.
Zecora seemed to be the leader of those ponies. Everyone stepped aside and Zecora pulled out a green salve. "Beneath this salve, no changeling hides, for it reveals the truth inside," she said before she rubbed it on Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike.
This salve turned out to be the same stuff that was on all the ponies, and zebra, in this forest. After Zecora put the salve on Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike, something unexpected happened. They started to glow and judging from Zecora's reaction, that was not supposed to happen. Everyone besides the zebra took cover as this was happening in front of them.
"We are glowing. Is that good?" Star Twinkle asked nervously.
Pinkie Pie slowly walked next to Zecora while keeping a close look at the three. "What does it mean?" She whispered to Zecora before she walked back again.
Zecora seemed to know what was going on and explained. "The meaning is far worse, I see, for it is we who should not be."
It almost sounded as if Zecora, just by painting the three with this salve managed to get the whole picture of what was going on now. Still, Twilight offered to explain everything to the zebra.
"I'm sure you can," Zecora replied. "But let's not talk here. Chrysalis and her army will soon draw near!" She said before she led the way with all of the ponies around following her, including Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike.
After only a few meters, Star Twinkle noticed how there were ponies positioned in the trees to keep a look around for intruders. Zecora and all the other ponies completely settled down in the Everfree Forest.
"So...what is the story here?" Star Twinkle asked.
Zecora explained. "The changelings took over not long ago. Though I'll wager in your world that isn't so," she replied. This sentence proved that she was aware of Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike not originally coming from this world.
"Chrysalis and her army tried to take over Canterlot, but my friends and I stopped her," Twilight said.
"Those friends as you know them are not here, alas. But tell me how all this came to pass," Zecora said.
Twilight explained. "Starlight Glimmer, a pony who traveled back in time to stop my friends and me from ever coming together!"
"And it is these friends you have in life that keep Equestria free from strife?" Zecora asked.
"I guess so. But this is the second time we've come back and this world is even worse than the last one! If Starlight keeps doing the same thing in the past, how could the present be so different?" Twilight asked in her confusion.
In order to explain this Zecora stepped up to a little stream of water. "Time is a river, where even the tiniest changes seen can lead to a cascade of effects downstream." The zebra put down her hoof on the water stream, which in turn, changed the way how it was flowing.
Star Twinkle began thinking about Zecora's words and came up with what could happen in this world. "I assume that Cadance was never found by you after Chrysalis disguised herself as her, which was enough to make sure that she would take over Canterlot," the stallion further figured.
It was not hard to figure out what events could have taken place by thinking about what is unfolding in this world now and what things needed to be left out, in this case, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and the others never meeting each other. What was really fascinating about all this was how all of this happened just by removing seven ponies from this world.
"Are the others and I really that important to ensure the safety of Equestria?" Star Twinkle wondered. But then the stallion shook his head. "No...not me...Twilight and the others were influenced by the absence of the Rainboom. But what about me? Obviously, I've never met the girls because of all this. How does my life look in this or any other world?"
Star Twinkle was wondering how the future was influenced by just Twilight and the others never meeting but what was keeping him thinking was how his life must have looked like in a world where he never met the girls. But he had to keep those thoughts to him for now since he and everyone else arrived at the place that Zecora wanted to show them.
"This part of the forest is dark and damp, but it's done well to hide our camp," she said as she revealed the place where she and everypony else was hiding from the Changelings.
There were multiple huts, made out of the wood and leaves of this forest with ponies living inside. It was quite surprising seeing so many ponies living in the Everfree Forest, one of the places that were deemed to be too dangerous to live in. But then again, Zecora was living there as well in Star Twinkle's, Twilight's, and Spike's time.
"This is cozy," Spike commented. Considering what state the world was in now this place looked really nice to live in.
Just when Star Twinkle and Twilight were about to take in the scenery as well, some ponies jumped out of the bushes and ran over to Zecora and the others.
"Please! You have to help us!"
"The changelings attacked Ponyville! We barely escaped with our lives!"
To the surprise, of Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike, it was three ponies they knew all too well. "Rarity?! Rainbow Dash?! Applejack?!" Star Twinkle asked in his surprise before he started to walk to them in order to help only to be stopped by Zecora.
"The only changeling attack I see is the one that come here looking for me!" She said angrily.
Applejack then walked up to the zebra with a sinister smile on her face. It seemed to be just like Zecora expected. "It's taken quite a while to find you, Zecora," the mare said before she revealed her true form in front of everyone.
Green flames started to engulf the body of the mare grew in size and it turned out that this pony was not just simply a changeling but instead queen Chrysalis herself, much to the shock of everyone around.
The queen laughed after seeing how scared everyone was at her sight."What a lovely village you've chosen to stage your little resistance. It looks absolutely delicious!" She said as she licked her lips. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were ready to defend themselves, much to the amusement of the Changeling Queen. "Oh, come now, Zecora. You're vastly outnumbered."
Everyone was not sure what the Changeling Queen meant by that until they started to hear humming from afar and even above their heads. Queen Chrysalis came not alone, she brought what looked like her whole hive with her. The place was literally swarming with Changelings and it was just as the queen said, the ponies in the forest were vastly outnumbered.
"I know you don't want your charges hurt. Come quietly to the dungeons of Canterlot and I promise to leave the others alone," Queen Chrysalis offered generously.
But Fluttershy was heavily doubting the words of Queen Chrysalis. "Why would she ever trust you?!"
"Even if there's a chance Chrysalis will honor her word, shouldn't you try?" Twilight suggested.
Zecora was not thinking that this was an option though. "Race to the map while we hold off their attack. Stop Starlight and put the whole world back on track!" She said while her eyes were still locked on the Changeling Queen.
"She's right, Twilight!" Star Twinkle said. "We have to go back and make sure that things never turn out like this!"
In the meantime, Queen Chrysalis was waiting for an answer. "Time to make a decision, Zecora!"
The zebra was giving a quick response. "Even if what you are saying were true, we'd never surrender to a creature like you!" She exclaimed before she and the ponies behind her rushed towards the Changelings.
The two factions clashed and a big fight was breaking out between Zecora and the Ponies of the Everfree Forest and Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings. As much as Star Twinkle, Twilight and Spike wanted to help out in this fight, they had to make sure that the future would be back on the right track again.
"If we go back to the past and stop Starlight then all of this is never going to happen!" Star Twinkle said as he, Twilight, and Spike ran back to the map again. With all these Changelings raining from the sky, making their way back was a lot harder now but the three managed to fight their way through the forest slowly.
"There it is!" Spike exclaimed.
Twilight prepared the scroll to activate the spell but she stopped as soon as she saw someone landing on the map. A Changeling wearing black armor around his chest and a black helmet. He was soon joined by some more Changelings landing next to him.
"You are an Alicorn..." the Changeling in the black armor said with a stern look on his face as he looked over to Twilight.
Some more Changelings appeared and saluted to the one in the black armor. "Commander Cercus, the whole forest is surrounded!"
"Good," Cercus replied. "Make sure that those three over there are brought to the queen. Especially the Alicorn," he ordered.
More and more Changelings filled the place and snuck up closer to Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike from all sides. "We need to get to the map, Twilight!" Star Twinkle said in a hurry.
"I know!" Twilight replied. "But I can't activate the spell like this! I may risk bringing all these Changelings back to the past as well!" She pointed out.
"That...would not be good..." Spike agreed.
With Starlight to deal with there were already enough problems to deal with, not to mention that Changelings were not exactly on good terms with ponies in the first place. If anything things would turn out even worse with them around.
"So we have to get them away from the map?" Star Twinkle asked. A sudden rush of adrenaline caused the stallion to run towards Cercus, he remembered how he and his friends fought against the army of the Changelings back in Canterlot and came to the conclusion that he could overpower them too.
The Changeling commander made him quickly regret that decision though. He flapped his wings and jumped a few meters over Star Twinkle's head and landed right down on him, pinning the stallion on the ground, much to Twilight's shock.
The other Changelings began to laugh. "You see that? That pony thought he could take on the commander," one of the Changelings said.
"Yeah," another Changeling said. "No pony is a match for Commander Cercus. He is the right hoof of the queen after all," he added.
Star Twinkle, with his face in the mud, groaned in frustration. "Wish I knew that before."
Twilight took action and shot a magic beam at Cercus, forcing him to jump away to dodge, releasing Star Twinkle in the process. Unlike Star Twinkle's poor display of strength, Twilight's magic managed to keep Cercus at bay. The Changeling realized how he was backed into a corner by the Alicorn Princess and had no choice but to get more serious.
"Bring Tagma over here!" He then ordered.
Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike reacted in surprise after hearing that name. Tagma was not part of Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings, at least not in their time. Things were obviously different here again but what they saw was not at all what they expected.
Tagma, the usually very cheerful and happy Changeling from their time was chained by some other Changelings and dragged towards the commander. He looked really weakened and miserable. His yellow headband was almost ripped apart and the was no sign of a smile anywhere to be found on his face.
"Tagma?" Star Twinkle said in shock and surprise.
The Changeling looked towards the stallion. A glimpse of confusion could be seen under the exhausted expression of Tagma. "Who...are you?" He asked in a weak voice.
But there was no time left for the two to get into a conversation. Cercus walked up to Tagma and opened his mouth to absorb something from him. Tagma's legs started shaking and there was a straining expression forming on the Changeling's face. Whatever Cercus did to him was very painful looking. Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike wanted to interrupt this but all the Changeling around them would have most likely stopped them in their tracks.
After Cercus was done, Tagma dropped to the ground and fainted. Cercus must have sucked out some energy from the Changeling, his body began to glow in a green light and he turned around to face Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike again and judging from the look on his face, he was ready to fight.
"What did you do to him?!" Star Twinkle asked.
But Cercus didn't answer and readied himself to charge at the stallion. Green flames started to form in front of him and he flew at a crazy fast speed right towards the three. After working through the shock of realizing how fast Cercus was, the three barely managed to jump to the side to avoid him. The Changeling was so fast that he couldn't stop properly after his attack and crashed right into a tree, mowing it down in the process as if it was a twig. Star Twinkle was shocked to see how this could have been him if he hadn't dodged in time.
"What happened to him?" Spike asked confused. "How did he get so strong all of a sudden?!"
One Changeling strangely felt committed to answering that question. "It's thanks to little Tagma here," he said as he petted the weakened Changeling on the ground. "He is the only Changeling that can create love out of nothing and our queen uses it to strengthen our hive with it," he explained.
Star Twinkle could practically feel how Cercus was not approving of that Changeling to reveal such information to some random ponies but he was too busy to position himself again for another attack.
Something was telling the three that Cercus was not planning to miss this time so Twilight needed to act quick. She used her magic to teleport herself, Star Twinkle, and Spike right on the map, followed by pushing everyone besides the three off from the map with her magic. Cercus saw the three appearing on the map and flew upwards before then diving down on them at high-speed.
In the meantime, Star Twinkle was starting to get really nervous. "Twilight, we need to go...NOW!" He pressured.
Twilight was well aware of that as well and quickly prepared the scroll of Starswirl the Bearded. Despite Cercus and some other Changelings coming after them in a hurry, the mare actually pulled off to activate the spell in time and the three disappeared just before Cercus crashed right into the map and destroying it in the process. Tagma who was just barely aware of what was happening just lowered his eyebrows in confusion.
"Who were those three?" He wondered quietly.
Meanwhile...
Inside the magic tunnel again, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike started to get accustomed to traveling through time and space like this. They calmed down enough to start developing a plan on what to do next when they arrived on the other side again. By the time where they would appear in the past again, Starlight Glimmer would most likely already wait for them.
Despite that, Star Twinkle and Twilight immediately acted as soon as they were landing on the other side. Once Star Twinkle's and Twilight's hooves touched solid ground on Cloudsdale again, they were attacked. Twilight was prepared this time and used a shield spell to protect everyone. Star Twinkle then scanned his eyes around the place to spot Starlight Glimmer until he found her. "There!" He then said, pointing at her directly, followed by Twilight shooting magic at the mare.
Starlight Glimmer, who was standing on a cloud a few meters away just easily hopped to the side to dodge the attack. "Not bad, but it's gonna take a lot more than that!" Starlight said unimpressed by Star Twinkle and Twilight's attempt to stop her.
"Lucky for you, there's more where that came from!" Twilight said in a determined voice. She was ready to keep up this fight to make sure that Starlight Glimmer would be stopped this time.
A battle between the two mares across all of Cloudsdale began. One beam after another was shot from both of them, Twilight managed to dodge all attacks but so did Starlight. Most beams destroyed the clouds all around them which was luckily something that could be fixed afterward. The frustrating thing was that Twilight did not manage to get a hit on Starlight.
"You've really gotta work on your aim," the pink mare commented on Twilight's poor attempts to stop her before the battle continued.
Star Twinkle was shooting some magic at the Starlight Glimmer as well, but in comparison to Twilight's shots, his were so pathetic that Starlight simply ignored them. "I can't do anything!" Star Twinkle said in his frustration before he gave up and let Twilight deal with this situation. The worst-case scenario would be that he got in Twilight's way to fight Starlight Glimmer. There was no way he could keep up with this battle. If he transformed into Pegasus, then he would not be able to use magic and he could not fly around like Starlight with the help of his magic while also attacking at the same time. All he could do was to stand here and wait for Twilight to win this battle.
Unfortunately, that didn't seem to happen anytime soon. "They look evenly matched," Spike commented as he watched the fight between the two mares. "You think Twilight can beat her?"
Star Twinkle had to admit that seeing Twilight struggling to defeat Starlight was making him a bit nervous. That is until he realized something more important. "She doesn't have to," he said in his realization.
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.
The stallion explained. "Remember, all we need to do is preventing Starlight Glimmer to get in the way of the Rainboom. As long as Rainbow Dash does her Rainboom then it's fine. Twilight needs to keep her at bay until then."
That was really the only plan that they had at this moment. If Twilight would fight with Starlight the whole time, then Starlight would not have time to stop Rainbow Dash from performing her Sonic Rainboom. This meant that the future would not change. Of course, that was easier said than done, Twilight could not fight forever after all but it was the only thing to do now.
"This is amazing!" A young voice said next to Star Twinkle.
The stallion was surprised to hear that voice and quickly recognized it. "Uh oh," he said as soon as he noticed that the voice belonged to young Rainbow Dash, who was sitting right next to him, chewing some popcorn and watching the battle between Twilight and Starlight.
Shortly after, the battle between the two mares came to a little halt due to both of them getting a little exhausted. It was then when Twilight turned around and noticed all the little fillies and colts watching the battle, including Rainbow Dash.
Twilight reacted in shock seeing the little Pegasus here instead of continuing the race and setting the future back on the right track again.
"What are you doing? You have to finish your race!" Twilight said.
"No way! This is way more exciting!" Rainbow Dash replied excitedly.
Star Twinkle sighed in frustration. Things already changed which meant that the future must have changed already as well. And Starlight Glimmer didn't really have to do anything in order to make it happen.
That didn't mean that she wasn't enjoying her victory however, "See? You can't stop me no matter what you do," she said.
Twilight turned towards her to say something but before she was allowed to do that, she Star Twinkle and Spike were sucked into the magic portal again. They left Cloudsdale with another failed attempt to stop Starlight Glimmer and were now on their way to another future.
In another time...
After going through the usual procedure again, the three came out of the portal once more. Going through all of this was pretty tiring by now and was no longer fun at all. Star Twinkle, who landed on his face again, got back up on his hooves to see where he landed this time. It was, again, the Everfree Forest but this time everything felt a little bit different compared to their last visit.
Star Twinkle spotted a big difference as soon as he looked up at the sky, something that Spike noticed as well. "That's strange," the little dragon commented.
Twilight just now got back up on her hooves. She was obviously a little bit exhausted from her battle with Starlight and was taking things a little bit slow to catch her breath again. "Well, you obviously don't mean us falling, because that's becoming pretty routine," she still commented in an annoyed tone.
"No, it's just the other times we've come back, it's been day! But look!" Spike then pointed out before he pointed towards the sky.
The mare looked up and just now realized that it was dark. "Why would the map bring us back to a different time of day than when we left?" She asked confused.
"We are traveling through time. That should be the least of our concerns," Star Twinkle replied.
However, Spike quickly noticed that there was no time to sit still and think about that. "Um, maybe we should figure it out later!" He said before he pointed at the map.
Some visitors appeared and stood on the map, and they were no friendly ones at that. They were timberwolves, dangerous creatures living in the Everfree Forest. Everyone took a step back to not anger those creatures.
"Twilight, can you take care of them?" Star Twinkle asked. The mare started to activate a spell but she was way too exhausted for that from her fight with Starlight Glimmer. "Guess not..." Star Twinkle figured.
By the time where Star Twinkle attempted to transform into a Unicorn, there were already more timberwolves, too many for Star Twinkle to deal with. They also seemed to have noticed the three judging by how some of them started howling loudly.
The three had no choice but to run away from those creatures. The timberwolves were right behind them but luckily Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were quick enough to outrun them. Still, being out here in the Everfree Forest was dangerous so they needed to go somewhere safe. It did not take long until they came across something. A castle.
"The Castle of the Two Sisters!" Twilight said.
The three almost forgot that this castle was in the Everfree Forest. It did look a lot more different than they remembered though. In fact, it looked as good as new. Star Twinkle didn't know how it used to look back in the day but he would guess that this was really close of how it used to look.
Some more timberwolves howling from behind did remember them that there was no time to take a look at the castle. "Well, don't just stand here!" Spike said in hurry.
Star Twinkle and Twilight went inside the castle and closed the giant doors behind them. They were safe for now it seems. They also had a chance to look around the place and admire how much different it looked.
"This place looks a lot cleaner than I remember," Spike said.
"Yeah..." Star Twinkle added. He had the feeling that he should know why this was the case but he couldn't quite put it so far.
In the meantime, as the three walked through the halls of the castle, somepony was decorating the place with some banners. It was a white-coated Unicorn mare with a purple mane and blue eyes. She was also wearing a purple suit. "Rarity?" Twilight asked once she realized that this pony, in fact, was Rarity.
The mare turned towards the three with an annoyed expression on her face. "The castle isn't open for viewings today. The tapestries all need changing. Again."
"Rarity, it's me!" Spike then said happily as he hopped in front of the mare.
But of course, the Rarity from this time would not know Spike since they've never met here. Twilight never visited Ponyville after all. And Rarity brutally reminded him of this.
"I don't socialize with dragons. I don't know anypony who would," she said in a harsh tone before she continued her work and left a rather sad Spike.
Despite that, Twilight attempted to talk with her friend from another time, in the hope that she would listen to her just like Applejack from one of the other timelines. "Rarity, you have to listen to me! The future of Equestria's at stake!"
Naturally, Rarity was really confused and ignored the words of the mare. "I don't know how you know my name, but I am far too busy to entertain some tourist's ridiculous fantasies," she said annoyed.
"It's no use Twilight. Remember this is not the Rarity we know," Star Twinkle pointed out.
"You're right," Twilight replied with a frown on her face. "We have to get back to the map so we can stop Starlight from changing the past because every present we come to is worse than the last!" She said in a sudden rush of frustration.
Unfortunately, someone was overhearing those words, someone whose voice they would not like to hear at all right now.
"Time travel, you say?" The voice said which caused the three to get pretty scared for a moment. It was also just now that everyone noticed who was on the banners that Rarity placed all around the castle. They showed the picture of an Alicorn mare with a black coat wearing a light blue armor and helmet. The very same mare was sitting on the throne at the end of the hallway and looked at the three with a sinister smile on her face. "Now that's something I would like to see," she said before she started laughing.
"Oh no," Star Twinkle said as soon as he saw this mare. It was Nightmare Moon, or rather, Princess Luna when she was still evil. In this time, Nightmare Moon was not stopped by the Elements of Harmony it seems. And it didn't look as if she turned good on her own as well.
A bunch of guards lined up in front of the princess, all of them wearing black intimidating looking armor. The Princess got up from her throne and flew over to the three. "Tell me how you came by this magic to travel through time," she asked.
Needless to say, having Nightmare Moon standing right in front of you was enough to make Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike nervous enough to not answer right away, much to the dislike of one of her guards.
"You better answer the princess!" One male guard said in an angry tone.
Star Twinkle's ears stood right up as soon as he heard that guard speak. "That voice!" He thought in surprise.
The stallion then removed his helmet to reveal himself as none other than Star Twinkle's boss, Steel Hammer. "If you don't, then you'll end up in the dungeon faster than a hammer down on a nail!" He said in a threatening tone.
Something confused Star Twinkle in this situation. Steel Hammer did not seem to recognize him. They both knew each other since he was little so it made sense that he would recognize him. It confused Star Twinkle a little, he would be working at the Iron Hammer anyway even if Twilight would have not come to Ponyville. The Sonic Rainboom should have not affected all of this.
But the stallion had no time, nor was he in the position right now to ask any questions. Not while Nightmare Moon was standing right in front of him who was still demanding an answer. "Nopony in my kingdom but me should possess a magic powerful enough to change time," she said.
"Your kingdom?" Spike then asked.
"Who else?" Nightmare Moon asked, wondering who could be more important than her.
Star Twinkle knew what Spike was about to say next and he tried his best to signal the dragon that it was a really bad idea to continue speaking. But unfortunately, it was too late for that.
"Um... Celestia, of course!" Spike said nervously.
All of the guards looked at each other. They knew that this was something that could anger Nightmare Moon really quickly. Luckily, for everyone around, Nightmare Moon took it as a funny joke and began laughing. "My sister has been imprisoned in the moon for years!" She said amused before she looked outside the window. Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike just now realized that the Image of Princess Celestia was on the moon, just like before with Nightmare Moon in their time.
"But it is no less a fate than she'd sentence me to!" She added in a bitter tone before she turned towards Twilight again. "Now, reveal to me the source of this time magic!" She demanded once more.
Being surrounded by guards and Nightmare Moon nonetheless was a pretty bad situation to be in and Twilight knew that. She had no options left. "...Alright," she said in a heavy tone.
"Twilight, no!" Spike said.
"We have no choice, Spike," Twilight replied.
Star Twinkle also had his concerns about this. "Are you sure?" He asked, which only got him a nod in response before she turned towards Nightmare Moon.
"I can take you to it, but you'll have to get past the timberwolves," Twilight informed.
But Nightmare Moon was not scared one bit of course. "I am the ruler of all of Equestria. Do you think I can't deal with timberwolves?" She said in an offended tone.
"No. I know you can," Twilight replied in a serious tone. She was speaking from past experiences of course.
Nightmare Moon was not stupid and realized that Twilight was probably trying to pull off something so she prepared herself for that. "And if you were thinking of trying to escape..." she said before she took Spike and summoned some chains around him. "...it would be very unfortunate for your friend," she advised.
If Twilight really had planned something then it would have become really difficult about now. There was no other option but to obey Nightmare Moon for now.
A little later...
Back outside, Twilight was leading back the way to the map, all while Nightmare Moon was making quick work of any timberwolf that dared to cross her path. In the meantime, Spike was chained up and in the possession of one of Nightmare Moon's guards. Star Twinkle was also carefully watched by the guards, especially Steel Hammer, who was staring at him for a while now. It made Star Twinkle feel unease, one of the reasons being that Steel Hammer was usually a friend of him and not a guard for someone who he once fought in the past.
"You are Starfall Twinkle, are you?" Steel Hammer then said out of nowhere.
Star Twinkle was shocked to hear this. "Yes, so you do know me!" He replied before he realized how strange that must have sounded now. "I am working for you after all!" He accidentally added with a slip of his tongue.
Steel Hammer shook his head in disappointment. "It's been a while...I think the last time I've seen you was when you visited Ponyville with your parents all these years ago," he explained.
"Visited?" Star Twinkle questioned. "That must have been the day where I decided to stay in Ponyville, right?" He asked.
"Good one," Steel Hammer replied in a series tone. "Think I would have remembered that. You and your parents went back to live in Canterlot again. A shame really, I miss Sunny and Rainfall..."
That all didn't make any sense. Star Twinkle remembered the day when he and his parents visited Ponyville when he was still young. That was the day where he decided to stay in Ponyville with them for a few years, or in his case, for the rest of his life. What confused him was how his life changed with the absence of the Sonic Rainboom. Why did his life change? He should be living in Ponyville regardless.
"How is that possible?" Star Twinkle wondered. "The Sonic Rainboom happened when Rainbow Dash was very little, I shouldn't have been much older than her. So why did my life changed with it not being there?"
The Sonic Rainboom changed the lives of Twilight and the others, not seeing the Rainboom caused them all to never meet in Ponyville because some events changed that caused them to not live in Ponyville. Star Twinkle grew up in Canterlot but he and his parents moved to Ponyville for some years. Star Twinkle decided to stay in Ponyville and his parents returned to Canterlot. In this timeline Star Twinkle was not living in Ponyville, according to Steel Hammer. The question was just how that was possible. His life should have not changed that much until Twilight visited Ponyville but again, Steel Hammer said that Star Twinkle didn't live in Ponyville at all.
It was confusing and strange and Star Twinkle put a lot more thoughts into all of this than he should at this moment but it just wouldn't leave his mind like that. And after putting all those thoughts into one big picture, he came up with a theory.
"Did I...see the Sonic Rainboom as well?" He wondered. That was the only explanation that made sense. The Sonic Rainboom didn't happen and Star Twinkle's future changed, so that had to be it. "No...that can't be...I would remember that, right?"
Images flashed before the stallion's eyes. Summershine, the pony who supposedly erased some of Star Twinkle's memories with a spell. He just now remembered that. Was that why he didn't remember? He tried to think and the images started to look a lot more clearer now.
Star Twinkle, when he was little, a pony that looked a lot like a younger version of Summershine, and five more other ponies stood there looking up at the sky at a...Sonic Rainboom?
More and more images started to appear in front of his eyes.
Pictures of Summershine and the five ponies when they were older...
Princess Celestia trapped inside some kind of magic sphere...
Fire spreading around in Ponyville...
Star Twinkle standing in the middle of the flames who then turned into a gray coated stallion...
Summershine charging at him inside, what looked like the Castle of the Two Sisters...
Some other pony that he could not identify...a pony with a red coat and a red and white colored mane...
And lastly...the pony in the black armor...
Star Twinkle took a huge breath and his eyes were wide open.
"We're here," Twilight said as soon as she arrived right in front of the map with Nightmare Moon right behind her.
The stallion looked around confused. He was disorientated and didn't know where he was for a moment. All these pictures in his head looked so real as if here was experiencing all of it just now. No one seemed to notice the confused state that he was in right now. It did not take long until he calmed down again and focused on what was happening in front of him.
Nightmare Moon took a look at the map with some interest in her eyes. "How does it work?" She asked.
Twilight explained. "A pony from my time used this spell to travel back and change the past," she said.
Nightmare Moon formed a sinister grin on her face. "And now you will give this spell to me! With it, I will ensure that the Elements of Harmony are never found and my reign lasts forever!" She said victoriously.
"But it won't," Twilight replied.
"What?!" Nightmare Moon asked confused.
Twilight began to spread her wings. "In my world, my friends and I found the Elements and used them to defeat you! And I will do everything in my power to bring that world back!" She said determinedly.
"No!" Nightmare Moon said angrily before she shot at Twilight but it was too late because Twilight teleported herself away already.
Star Twinkle saw how Twilight was putting her plan in motion and decided to join in. He went to the still chained up Spike and took him away from the guards. Twilight, who was now standing on top of the map, saw that and teleported the two to her and shortly after, activated the scroll to go back to the past.
"Noooooo!" Nightmare Moon screamed. She could not prevent Twilight from escaping from her grasp. Things happened way too fast for her to even react to all of this. The three successfully escaped this time again.
In another time...
Twilight decided to act quickly this time. As soon as she, Star Twinkle, and Spike came out of the other side of the portal again, the mare shot at Starlight Glimmer and returned the favor of getting trapped inside a crystal.
"Direct hit!" Star Twinkle said.
After experiencing all these bad futures, Twilight was now more determined to fight against Starlight Glimmer than ever. "Now more than ever I know how important it is to stop you!"
But Starlight Glimmer was not intending to stop either and used her magic to break out of the crystal in an instant. "Well, good luck!" She said confidently before she flew towards Rainbow Dash again.
All the mare did was pushing the little filly as she was racing against the bullies. That was enough to already change the course of the future and just like before, the portal opened up above the heads of Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike sending them to yet another future.
They landed outside of Ponyville and as soon as realized what happened, they already saw what was going on. In the distance was Lord Tirek, who used his magic to destroy everything around him. Fortunately, he did not notice the three appearing out of nowhere and they decided to keep it that way by just returning back to the past in an instant.
Back in the past again, Twilight decided to go again with her "shoot-as-soon-as-she-left-the-portal-strategy". This time, Starlight Glimmer moved to the side and dodged, which caused Twilight to hit Rainbow Dash in the distance instead. Starlight Glimmer couldn't help but slowly clap afterward for helping her out like this.
"Not good..." Star Twinkle said before he, Twilight, and Spike got dragged into the portal once more.
This time, they appeared in Ponyville and landed in a pile of stuffed animals while pie was raining from the skies. It didn't take long until they figured out who was responsible for that. Not too far away from them, they saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna getting chased by Discord who was riding on a unicycle.
The three saw enough and just used the scroll again to go back. Once back in Cloudsdale, they saw Starlight Glimmer messing around in the past by helping Fluttershy to fly through some rings with the help of her magic. This resulted in Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike getting sent back through the portal again.
They appeared outside of Ponyville once more. This time, everything looked a little bit more industrial and they soon found out why that was the case. The Flim Flam Brothers were ripping out some trees with some kind of machine. The three had no idea how it possibly came to this future but they that it was bad enough to go back and stop Starlight, that one was sure.
The three appeared back in Cloudsdale and Starlight Glimmer already waited for them. "Up for another race-ending fight?" She asked, ready to continue the fight.
Star Twinkle looked at Twilight. She was starting to get really frustrated by all of this. Starlight Glimmer was too strong to be stopped and she also seemed to be as determined as Twilight so there was no telling how long this all would continue.
"No. You were right. We can't stop you," Twilight said in an almost defeated tone. "But you can't stop me from trying, and we could be stuck doing this for all eternity!" She added.
"If that's what it takes to keep you and your friends from getting your cutie mark connection, then I'm game!" Starlight Glimmer replied.
"Okay, that's enough Starlight!" Star Twinkle then said in a rush of frustration. "Your revenge aside, you can't possibly want the future to be ruined for everyone in Equestria!"
"I don't," Starlight Glimmer replied. "All I'm doing is ruining your lives just what you did with mine!" She said.
Star Twinkle slowly came to the conclusion that Starlight Glimmer wasn't even aware of what consequences her actions in this time would have on the future.
"What you're doing goes way beyond cutie marks!" Twilight pointed out. "Everything we do here in the past – even the smallest change – can snowball into an avalanche of trouble for the future!"
But Starlight did not listen. "Oh, next I suppose you'll tell me that "the fate of all of Equestria hangs in the balance"!" she asked mockingly.
"But it does!" Star Twinkle replied.
Again Starlight didn't listen. "Spare me your overblown egos! No group of friends, not even Princess Twilight's, is that important!"
Then without a warning, Starlight Glimmer shot at Rainbow Dash, making her stumble and lose the race again. It didn't take long until the portal opened up again to drag Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike into another future.
Starlight Glimmer already had a victorious grin on her face again and Star Twinkle was getting sick of seeing it. He transformed into a Pegasus and charged towards the mare, something that she didn't expect. She was surprised enough to not react in time until it was too late.
The stallion was holding on tight to her so that she would get dragged with them to the future. "Hey! Let go of me!" The mare said angrily.
"No! You're coming with us!" Star Twinkle replied.
Twilight completely supported this plan and prepared herself to be dragged to the future one more time. "I don't know how important other ponies' friendships are to the future, but I can show you what the world is like without ours!"
And just like that the four of them traveled through the magic tunnel to land in another future once more...
???...
Darkness...
That was the first thing that came to mind as soon as Star Twinkle laid eyes on this future. He had no idea where he, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were right now. The map was next to them as usual but that was about it. It looked like a wasteland around them, there was nothing, no plants, no town, no life.
Spike looked up to the sky. "Did Nightmare Moon took over this time as well?" He asked.
He was referring to how dark the sky was at this time. But Star Twinkle somehow doubted that. The sky was not dark in a normal way. Normally when the sun was down, the sky turns into a dark blue color with stars in it. But this sky didn't look like that, instead, it was pitch black as if someone was taking out all the colors from it. The same thing could be said about everything else around them, everything looked pale, gray, and without any life in it. It felt as if there was an absence of light in this world.
"I think that has to be the worst future we've been in yet," Star Twinkle concluded.
In the meantime, Starlight Glimmer, who was standing a few hooves away from them, just tried to make sense of what she saw, or rather, what she couldn't see in this case.
"Where are we?!" She then asked.
Twilight gave a quick answer. "The future. Or rather, the present."
Starlight Glimmer walked up to the mare in her confusion. "But there's nothing here!"
"I wish I could say I was surprised. But every world I come back to is worse than the last. I don't know why my friends and I are so important to Equestria, but we are," she explained.
"I don't believe you!" Starlight Glimmer shot back angrily.
"Come on, Starlight, look around!" Spike said.
"That is why I dragged you here, Starlight," Star Twinkle said. "It's just like Twilight said, everything in the past affects the future even the tiniest act," he explained. "And what you're doing leads here. We know we can't stop you, but I thought showing you this might change your mind," the stallion said.
Starlight Glimmer turned towards the stallion, her face showing more anger than ever before. "Change my mind? You don't know anything about me! I was perfectly happy before you and your friends ruined what I built!" She explained.
"I don't know what happened that led you to make your village without cutie marks, and I'm sorry my friends and I had to take it away," Twilight apologized.
Starlight Glimmer was about to explode in anger after hearing that but she was interrupted by Spike screaming in fear and hiding behind Twilight. "What is wrong, Spike?!" Twilight asked. The little dragon pointed up at the sky and everyone looked at it immediately after. All of them started to widen their eyes in fear as well.
A giant pair of white glowing eyes were looking down on the four in the middle of the dark sky. They were bigger than anything that Star Twinkle has ever seen and the fact that these pair of white-colored eyes were looking directly at him, made him feel really uneasy and scared. "What is that?!" He said in fear.
But there were more surprises waiting in the distance. As soon as everyone started to get "accustomed" to those giant eyes in the sky, they began noticing how some ponies approached them from afar. The word "some" was a bit of an understatement though. There were around hundreds maybe even a thousand ponies slowly walking towards the four. It was a scary sight to look at.
"What is going on here?!" Twilight asked. "What happened in this time?!"
"Does it matter?! Let's get out of here!" Spike said before he climbed up on the map in fear.
Twilight and Star Twinkle followed right away but Starlight Glimmer continued to look at this army of ponies making their way towards her. Star Twinkle jumped off the map to get her. She was his enemy but that didn't mean that he wanted her stranded in this time, even if it meant that she would continue messing up the past again.
The stallion walked in front of the mare. "Hey! We need to go!" He said.
But it had no effect on her, it looked as if Starlight Glimmer seemed to be paralyzed. "Is that...me?" She asked in shock.
Star Twinkle was confused to hear that and looked over to the ponies approaching them. They were a little bit closer so he had a better view of them now. All of the ponies looked like the rest of this place, pale and without colors. Their coats and manes were grayed out and their eyes were also glowing in white light, just like the two giant pair of eyes in the sky.
As soon as the stallion looked over to the ponies, a shiver ran down his back. "What?" He said in shock.
First, he saw Starlight Glimmer between the ponies, which was the reason why the mare got so shocked in the first place. But that was not all. Many he ponies he knew were there as well, some of them including, Steel Hammer, Twilight, Summershine, Mystic, some of his friends, and even...himself.
"Just what is going on in this time?! What happened to cause this?!" The stallion asked himself.
"Star Twinkle!" Twilight exclaimed, to snap the stallion out again. Fortunately, Starlight Glimmer snapped out of it as well and jumped on the map. She used her magic, which gave Twilight some concern. "What are you doing?!" She asked, fearing that Starlight Glimmer was up to something.
"You wanted to know what happened to me didn't you?!" She said in a mix of anger and panic. "I'm about to show you!" She said before she used a spell on the map. A light emerged from the map and everyone got sucked into it which caused them to leave this terrible world behind.
Just after the four vanished, the giant pair of eyes in the sky slowly closed again, leaving the whole place in a much darker tone again. Whatever transpired in this time seemed to have a huge effect on the world and Star Twinkle and the other were sure glad to have escaped it.
In another time...
After another trip through a time portal, Star Twinkle, Twilight, Spike and Starlight found themselves in what looks like a quiet and peaceful little town. A complete contrast of what they saw a minute ago, and a welcome one as well. The place looked like a town straight out from a colorful picture book and had something nice and soothing about it.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked.
Starlight explained. "That map of yours is connected to every part of Equestria, and this part is my home," she said before she led the way to show the three something.
The mare was not making any moves to fight against them so that was a good start if it was only for Starlight to prove something to them. Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike followed her to the window of one of the houses and she asked of them to look through it.
Inside the house were two small ponies. One of them looked like a lot younger version of Starlight Glimmer and the other one was an orange coated unicorn colt. The later one used his magic to build a tower of books in front of young Starlight, who was clapping and laughing in response.
"Who is that?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Sunburst," Starlight Glimmer replied. "A friend of mine. We did everything together. In fact, I don't remember us ever being apart. Until today," she said with a frown on her head before she looked through the window again. She obviously knew what was going to happen next and Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were curious to see what it was.
Young Starlight Glimmer took away one of the books from below in order to put it on top of the already shaking book tower. As soon as she removed the book though the tower started to fall down right on her. The filly was taking cover but luckily Sunburst managed to catch all of the books before they would fall down on Starlight.
Shortly after, a light surrounded Sunburst, and he used his magic to put the books all back into their shelves. Everyone had a good guess about what was happening right now. A Cutie Mark was appearing on Sunburst's flank, an orange sun with sun rays coming out of it and six blue stars around it.
Of course, Sunburst was so happy and overjoyed by his Cutie Mark that he had to show it to everyone outside immediately. He was greeted by a lot of cheers by the other ponies and he was so happy about his new Cutie Mark that he didn't notice how young Starlight Glimmer was starting to cry.
"And just like that, my friend was gone," Starlight Glimmer said. "His family recognized his magical talent and sent him off to Canterlot. I never saw him again," she explained before she sunk her head.
Spike was confused to hear that. "Well, why not?" He asked.
Starlight turned towards the little dragon with an angry expression on her face. "Because of his cutie mark!" She shouted in his face. "He got his, and I didn't! He moved on, and I didn't! I stayed here and never made another friend because I was too afraid another cutie mark would take them away, too!" She said in a mix of anger and sadness.
There were tears building up in Starlight Glimmer's eyes. Remembering and seeing all these memories again must have really hurt. Star Twinkle could understand why the mare was blaming Cutie Marks for all of this after losing a friend because of one.
But Twilight was disagreeing with that. "That's ridiculous. A cutie mark can't take your friends away," she said.
Starlight Glimmer swiped her tears away. "Not everypony's lucky enough to get her cutie mark at the same time as her friends!" She pointed out. Shortly after, the time portal opened up again and brought the four back to Cloudsdale.
In another time...
Back in Cloudsdale, Starlight Glimmer landed across Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike. From the looks of it, she did not plan to stop continuing with her plan. In fact, she was more determined to pull it off now than ever.
"You don't know what it's like to lose a friend because of a cutie mark. But once I stop the Rainboom, you will!" She said. The mare then used her magic to teleport Twilight's saddlebag to her. This was really bad because inside that saddlebag was Star swirl's scroll and Starlight quickly took it out. "And when I destroy this scroll, there'll be no way for you to change it!"
"You can't do that!" Star Twinkle said as he took a step forward to reason with Starlight Glimmer but as soon as he took that step, the mare started to rip the scroll a little which sent down shivers on Star Twinkle's, Twilight's and Spike's spines.
"Starlight, you're right! I don't know what you went through!" Twilight said in a panic. "But I do know you can't do this! I've seen where this leads, and so have you!"
"I only saw what you showed me! Who knows what'll really happen?" Starlight replied.
Twilight, again, tried to reason with Starlight. "I've seen it a dozen times! Things don't turn out well in Equestria without our friends!" She explained.
"Ugh!" Starlight Glimmer said in disgust. She already heard enough about Star Twinkle, Twilight, and the rest of their friends. "What's so special about your friends?! How can a group of ponies that are so different be so important?!" She asked angrily.
Star Twinkle slowly took another step forward. "I used to think that as well. But being different is what makes our friendship strong!"
Starlight Glimmer started frowning. "I thought Sunburst and I were the same. But we turned out different, and it tore our friendship apart!" She said with tears running down her cheeks before she ripped the scroll a little bit further. It was only inches away from being completely ripped apart now.
"So try again! Make new friends! And if something that you can't control happens that changes things, work through it together! That's what friendship is!" Twilight said. "And it's not just our friendships that are important to Equestria! Everypony's are! When yours ended, it led us here. But just imagine all the others that are out there waiting for you if you just give them a chance!"
Starlight Glimmer started to look a little bit more unsure about going through with her plans. Those words got the mare thinking. "How do I know they won't all end the same way?" She asked helplessly.
"Because you will make sure they don't," Star Twinkle replied. "If friendship is important to you then you will hold on to it and make sure that it lasts. Maybe you were not able to do that back then but with some help I know you can do it now," the stallion explained.
"And we are ready to help you," Twilight said before she offered her hoof to Starlight Glimmer.
The mare was looking at the two ponies in front of her, they both had sincere smiles on their faces. She knew they were not trying to trick her or anything. They were offering their help to Starlight Glimmer who was desperately wishing for things to go back they were they were with her old friend Sunburst.
Starlight Glimmer looked back at Rainbow Dash who was in the middle of her race. This was her last chance to interrupt it and change the future one more time. But that is not what she did. She was hesitant but eventually, she reached out her hoof to Twilight and accepted it. Fittingly, the Sonic Rainboom happened a few seconds later just how it was supposed to be.
Everyone looked at the beautiful Rainbow colors spreading across all of Equestria. Twilight already saw it when she was little but seeing it this close up was a whole different experience. Star Twinkle looked up at the Rainboom as well and a strange sense of Deja Vu was hitting him.
The picture of him, Summershine, and those other five ponies was appearing in front of his eyes again. They were all looking up at the sky to watch a Sonic Rainboom, which Star Twinkle suspected to be the same one that was happening in front of him. Does that mean that somewhere in Equestria, right now, Star Twinkle was watching the Sonic Rainboom with those ponies? Did it change his life as well?
Those were questions that he had to answer another time because the time portal was appearing above the heads of everyone again. They were sucked in and brought back to the future again which hopefully was still the same because nobody was interfering this time.
Back in the future...
The four appeared back in what looked like inside Twilight's castle. After yet another hard landing, the portal closed itself again but not without sucking in Star Swirl's scroll. With the scroll gone now, there was no way to go back to the past anymore, much to everyone's delight. After the portal closed a big blinding light emerged from the map and spread all around Ponyville. A good sign that things returned to normal again.
Spike immediately kissed the ground that he was standing on. "One Castle of Friendship – check!"
A second later, the door to the throne room opened and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie stood in the doorway. And all of them looked how they were supposed to as well.
"What in Equestria was that?!" Rarity asked.
"Is everypony okay?" Fluttershy asked in worry.
"Can you do it again?" Pinkie Pie asked in excitement.
They also acted how they were supposed to. "One group of amazing friends – check!" Spike confirmed.
"So...we are home?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Yeah, Star Twinkle. It looks like we're home!" Twilight replied.
Things returned to normal it seems. With Starlight not preventing Rainbow Dash to pull off her Sonic Rainboom nothing was changed in the future. Starlight Glimmer would have probably been really upset if that was the case.
This is when Applejack actually pointed out Starlight. "Uh... what's she doin' here?" She asked with her eyes locked on Starlight Glimmer in distrust.
Starlight Glimmer had a hard time looking at everyone so Twilight decided to speak up for her. "Actually, it's kind of a long story," she simply said, causing Starlight Glimmer to smile uncomfortably.
A little later...
Outside the throne room, a very nervous Starlight Glimmer was walking up and down the hallway waiting for what Twilight had in mind for her. She began to shriek as soon as she heard the door opening and saw Star Twinkle walking towards the mare.
"Are they done? What is going to happen to me? Am I gonna be exiled from Equestria?!" She asked in a panic.
Star Twinkle simply walked up to the mare in order to comfort her. "They are still talking. I just figured that I should join you here so that you don't get too worried," he explained. "Looks like I'm a little late though..."
Starlight Glimmer avoided eye contact with the stallion. She seemed to be too ashamed to even look at him. "That's nice of you considering what I've done to you and your friends. If I were you, I would not even speak to me anymore," she admitted.
Star Twinkle looked towards the throne room door. "I'm not sure what exactly Twilight has planned for you but I know it will be something that will be in your best interest," he explained.
"Why?" Starlight Glimmer asked confused. "I enslaved a whole village, took away your Cutie Marks, and almost changed the future of all of 'Equestria for the worst! How can she ever forgive me for that?!"
By now, Star Twinkle, as well as the rest of his friends, have dealt with a lot of stuff, including ponies or other creatures taking over Equestria like Nightmare Moon and Discord. All of them were forgiven and Starlight Glimmer, who wanted to change, was no exception. And Star Twinkle wanted to make sure that Starlight Glimmer had nothing to fear.
"It'll be fine," he just said with a smile on his face.
Starlight Glimmer didn't even have enough time to take in those words because the door opened next to her. Spike waved her over to him and Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath before following him inside. Star Twinkle also went back inside and walked next to Starlight Glimmer. When she entered the room again, she felt as if she was under a trail and felt really nervous and scared about what was coming towards her.
"I know there's no excuse for what I did, but I want you all to know that I'm ready for whatever punishment you think is fair," Starlight Glimmer said in a heavy tone.
Twilight explained. "I've been thinking a lot about how badly Equestria fared without just one group of friends. Because even when one friendship dies, the results can be disastrous."
"I know first-hoof how true that can be," Starlight Glimmer replied with her head hanging down and a frown on her face.
"And that's why I've asked you here. If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach you what I know," Twilight offered much to Starlight Glimmer's surprise. "I've seen you magic talent first-hoof and I'm sure with some guidance and help, you'll have the power to make Equestria an even better place," she assured confidently.
Starlight Glimmer looked at Twilight with an unsure expression on her face. "How do I start?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"Starting is easy!" Twilight assured. "All you have to do is make a friend! And you've got eight of them right here," she said before she invited everyone to a big group hug with Starlight Glimmer in the middle.
The mare who once enslaved a village and attempted to ruin Twilight's future was now crying in happiness. "Thank you so much!" She said while sobbing heavily. "I promise I will not throw away that chance you're giving me," she said happily.
The change would not come tomorrow but instead would take some time. Twilight figured the best thing to do was to get Starlight Glimmer accustomed to the concept of Friendship again. For that, the mare started spending time with each one of her new friends. She also needed to apologize to everyone in her village for what she put them through. This all could be archived one step at a time with some help from her new friends.
But for today, Star Twinkle, Twilight, Spike and Starlight had enough adventures for today and decided to work on all of this starting from tomorrow. Twilight offered Starlight Glimmer to stay in a room inside her castle and Star Twinkle was going home to rest.
It was crazy to think that just a few hours ago he was traveling through multiple timelines. But somehow, as always, everything turned out fine. Still, some events from today got the stallion thinking as he laid in his bed looking up at the ceiling. He could not stop thinking about the Sonic Rainboom and how it was the thing that connected Twilight with every single one of her closest friends except Star Twinkle.
That is what he thought until now but those images that he saw earlier today got him thinking that this might not be entirely true. Judging from what his memory showed him earlier, he seemed to have seen the Sonic Rainboom as well when he was younger. Whenever he tried to remember more details, his head started to hurt so he just stopped. This was the case for a long time now. His memories were a complete mess and from what he knew, it was all because of Summershine.
The last time he saw him, Summershine explained that he used a memory erase spell on him for some unknown reason. Star Twinkle's memories were telling him though that Summershine was a close friend of him. There was no telling how much he could believe that though because of how messed up it was. How many things could he believe were true that Summershine told him or what he saw in his memories? It was frustrating. By now Star Twinkle just pushed those questions aside because he had little hope to ever get answers. There were more important things to take care of than what was going on inside his head. One of those things was getting some sleep after this exhausting day.
So the stallion closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.