//------------------------------// // No Room For Pleasure // Story: Unforgettable and Unforgivable // by Catpaw616 //------------------------------// Starlight helped Twilight clean out her bookshelves by stacking the books that they carried out. And while Starlight did the heavy lifting, Twilight was dusting the bookshelves with her sweeper. And with the dust going into her nose, Twilight let out tiny sneezes a few times, which made Starlight chuckle by how cute the Princess's sneezes sounded like. "For someone who likes cleaning, you are not exactly good at keeping the bookshelves so pristine." Starlight said jokingly. "I tend to let a few things slide." Twilight shrugged. "I'm not the Princess of Cleaning after all." "No, but you act like it." Starlight rolled her eyes playfully as she continued sweeping the dust off the books and stacking them in organized piles. As she continued to help Twilight, a question struck Starlight's mind. "Is there a reason Spike isn't joining us? The job would be done a lot quicker if we had another hoof, or claw, in this." "I've had Spike do many things for so long, he deserves a day off." the alicorn answered her before turning her head to face her. "And since you're staying here now, you can be his replacement!" Twilight smiled. Starlight immediately looked alarmed. "Oh, uh, I don't know about that one, Princess." Twilight's smile faded away. "It was a joke, Starlight. And..." she stopped when she touched Starlight's chest with her hoof. "You don't have to keep calling me Princess." "But it feels like I should." Starlight retorted. "After all, I get to stay here? Rent free?" she pushed Twilight's hoof away and continued. "After what I did to you and your friends? It makes me feel like a-" "You're doing it again." Twilight interrupted her quickly. Starlight opened her mouth to continue, but she eventually stopped and hung her head. "Yeah, I guess I did." she said sadly as her ears lowered. "Starlight, I know what you did was wrong, but you could've made things a lot worse if you ripped that scroll." Twilight started explaining. "But you didn't." "What does that mean anything?" Starlight started getting a little frustrated. "You were just lucky I had a change of heart." "Exactly!" Starlight was startled by Twilight's excited loud voice. "You had goodness in your heart and you accepted my hoof instead of easily ripping the scroll." Starlight remained silent. "What matters now is that you are being taught the valuable ways of friendship, and you have me, and my friends as your teachers." she soothed her student. She extended her hoof to Straight but she pushed it away. "I don't know." Starlight said. She started rubbing her head. She looked at Twilight with a sorrow expression. "I think I need to be alone for a little while." Before Twilight could respond, Starlight exited the room and slammed the doors behind her as Twilight watched with pity. Oh Starlight. Twilight thought as she saw her student go. She hated seeing her pupil once again getting guilt-tripped by her past; and she now started to wonder if Starlight will ever truly get go of the pain. All I can do is try. After walking around the castle aimlessly, she finally found her room. She sighed in exhaustion and her expression turned angry and she slammed her door. She has been here for at least a few months yet she can't find her way around Twilight's castle still. She figured the best way to let out some steam for her is if she gotten some shut-eye. Maybe a good rest will calm her down. But that task was a lot harder than it sounded. I'm throwing a fit over my stupid past. she said in her mind angrily. Makes me wonder more if I deserve to stay here if I pout and cry over everything. After long minutes of battling herself in her mind, she decided to finally rest, and she closed her eyes bitterly, and slowly drifted off to sleep. Starlight slowly opened her eyes and she was startled by the fluffy substance she felt on her hooves. She gasped when she saw that she was standing on a cloud. She wasn't even casting here cloud-standing spell. How was she standing here and not falling? Oh, I'm dreaming. Starlight realized but she was surprised that she was actually dreaming, when all she intended was to shut her eyes to calm her feelings. Was I really that tired? "I thought Sunburst and I were the same. But we turned out different, and it tore our friendship apart!" Starlight gasped when she heard the sound of her own voice. Caked with anger and sadness. She looked up and saw her standing on a cloud, with Twilight and Spike at the other side. She also saw the scroll that she used to time travel, inches away from being completely split open. Why am I being reminded of this now? Now it was present Starlight's turn to be angry. Not even in her dreams can she escape the guilt that she had let herself attach too. And her dreams were usually her way of escape. As she saw the scroll rip, Twilight immediately descended in the air. "So try again! Make new friends!" she pleaded. "And if something that you can't control happens that changes things, work through it together! That's what friendship is!" Present Starlight now saw her Starlight start to reconsider her actions. "And it's not just my friendships that are important to Equestria! Everypony's are!" Twilight continued her speech. "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!" "How do I know they won't all end the same way?" Starlight asked her as tears started coming out of her eyes. "I guess its up to you to make sure they don't." Twilight concluded as she landed on a cloud and extended her hoof to her, as an offering. Present Starlight knew how this would turn out. After hesitation, she would accept her words and her offer to friendship, and while her mental state might never be fixed, at least the timeline will be safe- "No." Starlight felt a pang of alarm when she heard past Starlight deny her offer to friendship. She looked to see that her eyes were only filled with anger. "You're lying!" "But Starlight, I'm not!" Twilight said to her in desperation. It was finally present Starlight's turn to speak. "Listen to her, please!" she wailed. But it seemed like she was talking to deaf ears. But it was too late. Past Starlight immediately tore the scroll. "No!" Present Starlight screamed. This wasn't a dream. This was a full-on nightmare! "What did you do?!" Spike screamed at her. "If I can't have a friendship." Starlight said as she lifted herself off from the cloud. "Then no one can!" "You're insane!" Twilight was about to speak more, but she slowly started fading away. "What is happening?!" "If what you say is true, then the future shouldn't have another alicorn." Starlight stated. "And eventually, you and Spike will fade away." "Ugh." The others heard Spike groan and saw that he was fading away too. "I don't feel good." "Spike!" Twilight screamed. She immediately turned to Starlight. "What about you? Won't you fade away too? Huh?!" But Starlight just simply shrugged. "I wouldn't care anyways." And with that, she teleported away. Past Starlight wanted to get out of this nightmare, very badly. But all she could do was watch, and stare at the aftermath. Twilight and Spike were hugging each other as they both faded away. Not a single trace of them was left behind. "Twilight! Spike!" Starlight screamed for them. And when she extended her hoof, she saw that parts of it was completely gone. I'm fading away?! she panicked. Just then a white orb appeared from the sky. And before anything happened, her vision immediately turned black. Starlight quickly woke up from her bed. She was panting deeply. And she put her hoof in front of her face. It was there as a whole. It's not real. she told herself. It wasn't real. It was all fake, an illusion. But what terrified her more was that it would've been real. And it would all happen if Starlight wanted to rip the scroll, which was so easy to do at the moment. And worst of all, she would've easily killed Twilight and Spike, and maybe herself in the process. I would've been a murderer. Of so many ponies. Starlight started shaking. If she wasn't completely drenched with guilt for her past actions, the guilt raised higher when she saw the process of what would've happened in the aftermath. And... she caused the world to go haywire, and as she stated to herself before, would've ruined so many lives. And she was supposed to be roaming around happily in Twilight's castle? Then I don't deserve happiness then. Starlight concluded. And it should've stayed like that in the first place.