//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Trying To Turn Mud Into Gold // by I Like Pie //------------------------------// Starlight Glimmer stands on the top of a large and grassy hill. It's freezing cold and windy. The wind makes the grass seem to dance and it also moves Starlight's mane to and fro. Bellow the hill there is a rundown and small village. After Starlight left the town she once led she came to this village. Starlight hates living in this place. Many of the ponies here give her weird looks or stay away from her. She wants her philosophy to flourish. She wants to lead others. She wants to fix her past mistakes. She has a plan where she can do this. Her plan is time travel. She points her horn at the sky. Her horn starts to glow. She's preforming the time travel spell. Sweat forms on Starlight's face. She grunts and moans. I can do this. I can do this. Twilight won't stop me. She won't even see this coming, she thinks with an ignorant, pained, and teeny tiny grin She then disappears out of out of thin air with a loud popping sound. *** Starlight appears in the Cutie Vault. She lifts her hooves up in air and smiles broadly. She feels like dancing about or collapsing onto the floor. She has been planing this for a long time. She takes in a deep breath. She wants to calm down. "Starlight, may I enter?" A familiar voice asks from outside the Cutie Vault. Starlight assumes the pony outside is Double Diamond. It sounds like him. She wipes sweat from her head and stares at her flank. Before she preformed the time travel spell she covered up her cutie mark with some makeup. "Go ahead." Starlight says. She uses her magic to pick up the Staff of Sameness which is by her side. The pony who spoke (who is Double Diamond) enters the vault with Sugar Belle by his side. Sugar Belle has her cupcake cutie mark but Double Diamond doesn't have his flowers cutie mark. "Ms. Belle wants her cutie mark to be removed." Double Diamond says. "Great! I'm glad she's joining our cause." Starlight responds as she gives Sugar Belle a small smile. Starlight uses her magic to point the staff at Sugar Belle. She flinches and takes a small step backwards. "Are you ready for the cutie unmarking?" Sugar Belle nods. She starts to do the spell. Sugar Belle stares at Starlight with wide eyes. Sugar Belle's cupcake mark soars away from her. The mark enters a slot on the wall. Starlight smirks. Starlight feels extremely weak. Doing two powerful spell back to back isn't a great idea. She falls to the ground with a thud. Double Diamond runs to her side. "Are you okay?" She lifts herself off the ground. "I'm fine." Double Diamond smiles and gives a sigh of relief. She turns to stare at Sugar Belle. "Are you fine?" "I think I'm fine. I feel nervous and exited at the exact same time." She stares sheepishly at the ground and blushes. Starlight wraps a leg around her. "Just know that in my town everypony is equal. Nopony should be nervous!" She moves her leg away from Sugar Belle and slams a hoof against the ground. "Okay." "Ms. Belle, let's talk about your purpose in my town. I would like you to be a cook in my town. Not because you're a better cook than anypony else. I just want you to be a cook because you had a cupcake mark on your flank. Will you be a cook like I want?" "I'll pick up the job. Thank you!" She gives Starlight a hoof bump. Starlight nods and then pulls her own hoof away. Starlight looks at Double Diamond. "I want you to get somepony to put Ms. Belle's hair in a bun." Sugar Belle stares at her poofy and purple mane. "What about my tail?" Starlight stares at Sugar Belle like she's crazy. "Isn't it obvious? We need to straighten it out! Nopony in my town should have such a fancy mane! A fancy mane would ruin my entire philosophy!" She waves her forelegs about dramatically. "Starlight, there's no need to rant and rave. I think Ms. Belle gets the idea." Double Diamond stares angrily at the powerful unicorn. Starlight laughs. "Nopony get's to tell me what I should do! Everypony is equal!" Double Diamond is blushing. He then smiles. "Yes, we better get going, see you later." The two of them start to leave the room. Sugar Belle then shoots the other unicorn a look of wondering. They then leave the room. Starlight then lets herself go crazy. She bucks like a filly or foal on his/her birthday. "Oh Twilight, this is a much better solution. Nopony will get hurt. This'll be amazing! I just need to find my past self and negotiate with her. She'll listen. I know that for a fact." *** Starlight walks up to her past self. "Why hello my previous self!" Starlight touches the unicorn's chin. "We need to talk. Now." The Starlight from the future smiles. "T-that's just what I assumed.. Who in all of Equestria are you?" The other Starlight says in a extremely nervous tone of voice. She's making a desperate attempt to sound threatening. Future Starlight laughs. "Wonderful, this should be spectacular! To answer your question, I'm just your future self. I'm just fixing a mess that happened in the future." "Future me?" Starlight wraps an foreleg around her other self. "I'll tell you all of it, please just corporate with me. It's a lot more simpler than you think it would be." "Okay. Great." She lets out a sigh.