//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Another Time // by master18 //------------------------------// “Starlight? Starlight, where are you?” Twilight walked slowly down the hall of her castle, looking in the doors of each room, looking for Starlight Glimmer. “Starlight? The girls and I were going to go watch the meteor shower! We wanted to see if you’d join us!” Twilight noticed the door to the map room was ajar and trotted forward. “Starlight?” she asked, pushing the door open slowly. Starlight was standing at the map with her back to the door, her hooves gripping the edge of the table as her horn glowed intensely. When the door opened, she turned her head. “Twilight? What do you want?” she asked quickly, her magic not fading. Twilight stepped into the room carefully and walked slowly towards Starlight. “The girls and I are going to watch the meteor shower. We wanted to see if you’d come with us. What are you doing?” Starlight bit her lip. “I’m sorry about this, Twilight,” she said as her horn flashed and a blast of magic knocked Twilight to the ground at the foot of the door. Twilight winced as she crashed into the door but stood quickly, preparing a spell of her own. “Starlight, what are you doing!” she cried as Starlight finished her spell. The familiar runes of Starswirl the Bearded’s time travel spell surrounded the map as the air hummed with power and Starlight began lifting herself into the air. Twilight fired a blast of magic, but Starlight deflected it with a shield spell as the portal opened. “I’m sorry Twilight, but I need to do this!” she called down as she levitated herself up and through the portal. Twilight extended her wings and took to the air quickly as the portal began to close. She raced towards it and made it through just as the portal closed, leaving the present behind. Twilight groaned and pulled herself up from the grass where the portal had dropped her. “Ugh, where am I?” she wondered aloud, shaking herself to dislodge the clods of dirt that had stuck to her when she fell. “Or rather, when am I? “This is the Royal Gardens Park in Canterlot.” she realized, recognizing the well-manicured grounds. She turned and confirmed that when she saw the clock tower in the front of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. “Excuse me, could you tell me what day it is?” she asked, trotting towards a tan pony she noticed sitting on a park bench. “It’s Monday,” he replied without looking up from the book he was reading. “I’m sorry, I meant the date,” she asked, smiling at him. He lowered his book slightly and gave her an odd look. “September 28th?” Her smile became slightly forced as she worked up the nerve to say “And the year?” He lowered the book and continued his odd stare. “Miss, are you feeling alright?” “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m just a little lost.” she said with a nervous chuckle. He started at her for a full three seconds before saying “1523?” “Thank you!” she said cheerfully before trotting away quickly. She could feel the stallion’s gaze following her curiously, but she adamantly refused to look back. Why would Starlight come back 15 years? This is the year before the girls and I got our cutie marks! she thought to herself, looking for clues as to where Starlight had gone. The clock tower struck four and she watched as fillies and colts poured out of the school, excited to go back to their dormitories after a long day of school. As she watched, she noticed somepony she recognized. “Sunburst?” she asked herself quietly. Sunburst walked out of the school with a filly and a colt Twilight didn’t recognize. They were laughing about something as Sunburst put a book into his saddlebags and closed it. Twilight smiled as she watched the three friends talking, remembering her years at the school fondly. A fourth filly walked towards them and Twilight gasped as she recognized a young Starlight. She was slightly older than the time Starlight had shown her losing her friend and Twilight realized this must have been a year or so after. Sunburst looked excited to see her and raced forward to hug Starlight. Twilight trotted closer, staying out of sight as she watched Starlight return the hug cautiously. The two separated and Sunburst waved his other two friends on. “I’ll catch up with you!” Twilight heard him say as he turned back to Starlight. “I’ve missed you so much! What brings you to Canterlot?” “I was in the city and I wanted to come see if you remembered me!” young Starlight replied, smiling. “Of course I remember you! You’re my best friend!” he bumped her shoulder with a hoof. “Come on, let’s go to Donut Joe’s and catch up!” “Actually, I was hoping you could show me the school,” Starlight replied, smiling nervously. “I was thinking about applying next year, and I thought maybe you could show me what it’s like.?” “That would be so cool!” Sunburst exclaimed. He turned and they walked back towards the school. Twilight followed the pair into the school, keeping her distance so they wouldn’t know she was following them. Sunburst talked all about the school and how great it was to be learning advanced magic and Twilight smiled as she watched them. Finally, they stopped at the fountain in the courtyard at the back of the school. Twilight hid in one of the bushes surrounding the courtyard and continued watching. “It’s really great to see you, Starlight. I’ve missed you a lot,” he said, smiling at her. “I saw you made some new friends,” Starlight said, smiling back, but her smile looked forced. “I’m sure they’re pretty great too.” “Oh yeah, Moonbeam is in an alchemy class and she was telling us about how-“ he broke off as Starlight scowled. “Sounds like you don’t need me anymore, now that you’ve got you cutie mark and new, better friends!” she said menacingly, her horn lighting up as she took a step forward. Sunburst took a nervous step backward. “Starlight? It’s not like that, I don’t think I’m better than you!” “Sure, you don’t think you’re better than me!” she said mockingly, gripping him with her magic and lifting him into the air. “You just have your cutie mark, so you are better than me.” Twilight watched, horrified, as Sunburst twisted and groaned in pain while Starlight’s magic began peeling away his cutie mark. Suddenly, a blast of magic struck Starlight in the side and she was knocked to the ground, the spell dissipating. Sunburst fell to his knees but recovered quickly and ran towards the school, calling for help. Twilight followed the line of magic back to where it had come from and saw the Starlight from her time standing in front of the bushes, her horn smoking from the spell she just cast. “Starlight!” she cried out, stepping out the bushes and running towards her. Both Starlights looked at her. “W-who?” asked young Starlight, her eyes widening slightly when she saw her older self. “Twilight? You shouldn’t have come!“ said older Starlight as Twilight tackled her to the ground. “What have you done?” shouted Twilight, pinning Starlight beneath her. “I- I had to fix it!” she cried defensively as the time spell opened the portal above them and began pulling them both up. “Starlight, you don’t know what this could do to the future!” she shouted as they passed through the portal to their own time.