//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Celestine // by n3k1dsk1llz //------------------------------// Starlight awoke in the map room of Twilight’s castle. “How the hay did I get here?” She heard a sound in the hall and went to check it out. It was…her. Except different. She was carrying herself completely differently. Her hair was her old style. From back… “You gotta be bucking kidding me” Her suspicions were confirmed as her past self walked right through her without a care. As if she were just a shadow. She turned to watch herself walk up to the table. Memories of past emotions began flooding her mind as she watched herself doing what she did. She had been so angry, so filled with rage, that she had completely given into her evil. She didn’t even recognize this pony sitting smugly at the table. Sure she still had some anger issues, but nothing would ever push her this far again. Then she heard Twilight coming. She knew what was going to happen. She knew this whole story. Why was it playing out in front of her? She watched helplessly as her past self mocked Twilight. She watched as Starswirl’s scroll was produced and activated. She watched the magic of the scroll and her spell activate the map and open a portal through time. She watched as her past self flew up into the portal with pure malice in her heart. She felt something on her cheek and brought her hoof up to brush it away, but instead of brushing off, it smeared. She looked at her hoof and saw the small indication of moisture. She was crying. She watched as Twilight and Spike were sucked up into the spell she had created, and the room became quiet again. And she was still there. She heard hoofsteps and went out to check the hall. It was her past self again. Walking on the same path. Walking to the table. Waiting for Twilight. Starlight watched the whole scene play out for a second time. Mocking Twilight. Activating the spell which activated the map and opened the portal. And then soon, the room was empty again. And she was still there. And then again. She walked in. Sat down. Twilight walked in. Got mocked. Spell activated. Table activated to create portal. Everyone gets sucked out. Starlight watched the scene play out over and over and over. Why? Why was she seeing this over and over? Was she dead? Was this her eternal punishment? To witness the most horrible thing that she had ever done in her life over and over again for all eternity? She was oddly at peace with that. She deserved worse, probably. She was going to miss her friends, of course, but at least she was paying her penance. She would just sit there, watching her past self activate the most amazing spell for the worst possible reason for all time. She would watch herself invade the castle of friendship with the sole purpose of destroying it. She would watch herself sit at that table, put up her hooves, and… “Ho. Ly. Buck.” ******************** When Starlight woke up, she was being carried in a very warm and comforting aura of magic. She could just make out a slightly yellow glow to it. She heard many panicked voices yelling back and forth, none of them very clear. She then heard Celestia’s voice right beside her, strong, caring, commanding. “You will help her. Between everypony here, you know all there is to know about that scroll and how it affects ponies. Find out what happened and get her back.” Without missing a beat, Starlight replied, “I’m back.” Celestia swung the pink unicorn up in front of her face. She turned Starlight around and around, inspecting every inch of her, much like a mother would her young foal. She then set Starlight down gently on the ground and pulled her into an all-encompassing hug, “Are you all right, Starlight?” “Yes, Celestia. I’m fine. I was just…learning…I guess?” Celestia released Starlight and commanded everyone in the room to leave. Everyone did as they were told and soon it was just Starlight and Celestia. After getting as comfortable as they could in the medical examination room, Starlight began telling Celestia what she had seen. How her memory kept playing in front of her eyes like an extremely well produced play. How every word her past self spoke felt like knives raking her skin. How she shuddered every time she saw her past self sit in Twilight’s chair and kick her hooves up on the “TABLE!” Starlight’s sudden outburst startled Celestia. “Table?” “YES! Twilight’s table with the map! That’s the connection. I activated the spell. The spell that opened a portal through time. The spell that needed the power of the table to fully work. The table that is an integral part of the castle!” Starlight stood and turned to face a moderately confused Celestia, “Thank you so much for all your help. I’ll explain everything better after I get back to Twilight's castle and fix this. With her help, of course.” In a flash, Starlight was gone. A moment later, she was in the map room of Twilight's castle. She was woozy from the distance. She had pushed just a tad too hard. "Starlight!" She heard three friends. Then she felt them wrap their hooves around her. Purple hooves, blue hooves, and grey hooves. All of them glad to see her and more than willing to offer her their love. Oh no. They released her and let her get her bearings. Twilight was smiling, happy to see her student. But her two marefriends were ecstatic. Even Maud had a medium sized smile. Trixie, of course, couldn't stop herself from jumping on Starlight and smothering her with kisses. Maud picked them both up off the ground and held them in her strong embrace. Starlight couldn't stop kissing them. Some for Maud, some for Trixie, back and forth. Her relief and joy at finally being reunited was completely overwhelming. After a few minutes, the group calmed down and settled into a nice comfortable snuggle on the ground. Starlight looked to her two friends and smiled once more, except they weren't smiling anymore. Trixie was looking slightly annoyed with a flush to her cheeks. Maud's eyes were wide as they could be, her blushing face nearly the same color as her younger sister. Starlight facehoofed, "It happened again, didn't it?" Twilight answered with a nervous chuckle, "Um, yeah. But I think we figured it out!" Twilight began a small prance in place. "Between Maud's expertise and my research, we've determined the castle is dealing with residual magical energy laced with malice. Though we haven't been able to determine-" "It was me, Twilight." The interruption ripped Twilight out of her train of thought. "I caused this. It's probably why it's affecting only me." "But what did you-Ooohhh. Right. Right...But wait. If it's because of the time spell, does that mean it's residual time magic? If it is, then you're probably getting visions of parallel worlds! Like where Sunset is, but a bit more closer to home. Oooh we could take notes of everything you see and then compare the visions . And then we can see if there's a way to make a bridge just like with the mirror to-" The glares from three separate ponies caused Twilight to stop once more. "Right, let's go figure out how to stop these visions."