Starlight and Twilight tumbled in a heap onto the grass of the Royal Gardens Park.
“All we need to do now is make sure that the past happens like it’s supposed to,” said Twilight, pulling herself up and starting walking towards the school.
“Twilight, wait! We can stop me before I even get to him. We can still prevent this!”
“Starlight,” said Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You have to let this happen. I know it’s hard, but nopony can change what’s happened in the past.”
Starlight hung her head. “You’re right… I just hoped I could make things right.”
“You will somehow, Starlight, just not like this.”
Starlight nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”
The two of them took a few steps towards the school when they heard the portal opening behind them. They turned and watched in horror as it deposited an angry Sunburst in a heap on the ground. The clock struck four and they heard the chatter of fillies and colts leaving the school.
“We have to get him away from here!” shouted Twilight, blasting him backwards with a quick spell. “We can’t fight him here or we might alter the future!”
The two of them took off as fast as they could, Twilight flying and Starlight galloping full tilt. They heard Sunburst shout behind them and turned in time to see him take off after them and dodge a spell he fired at them. The two of them raced out of sight of the school just as young Starburst left the school with his friends.
The three of them raced through the back alleys and streets of Canterlot, occasionally pausing to exchange a flurry of spells before continuing their chase.
“It’s nearly 4:30!” shouted Twilight to Starlight as they ran past a clock tower. “We need to put him out of action to get back and make sure the past happens so we know when we’re safe to leave!” Starlight simply nodded, too out of breath to respond with words.
The two of them turned a corner into an alley and ran about halfway down before turning, Twilight raising a shield as Starlight prepared a spell.
Sunburst turned into the alley and Starlight fired, catching him in the shoulder and taking away the momentum of his charge. He returned fire, but Twilight’s shield reflected it and Starlight knocked him down with another spell.
The two of them approached the fallen alicorn, wary for tricks, but he didn’t move. Twilight cast a spell to create some rope and they tied him up the best they could. Starlight shot one last spell at him to make sure he’d stay down, and the two of them hurried back towards the school.
A few minutes later, they arrived and hurried around back. As they neared the courtyard, they heard young Starlight’s voice shouting “Sure you don’t think you’re better than me!” The two of them crept to the corner of the building and peered around at the edge to see Starlight holding Sunburst in the air and shouting “You just have your cutie mark, and so you are better than me.”
Starlight buried her face in Twilight’s shoulder and she put a hoof around her, comforting her as young Starlight’s magic peeled Sunburst’s cutie mark off of him like an old sticker. She was smiling nastily as she dropped Sunburst to the ground in a heap and levitated a jar out of her saddlebags. She unscrewed the top and put the cutie mark inside, securing the lid on top after she did so.
“Now we’re equal,” she said, standing over his crying form. “Now neither of us is better than the other! Now we can go back to the way things were!”
She stomped her front hooves with the last word. Suddenly, soft white light surrounded Starlight and lifted her into the air. “W- what’s happening?” she asked nervously, looking around with fear. The intensity of the light grew brighter and brighter until she was invisible behind it. After a few seconds, the light faded and she settled back on the ground. On her flanks were her cutie mark.
“N- no! This isn’t right!” she cried out, stepping backwards. “We’re supposed to be equal now!” She turned in circles a few times, staring at her cutie mark before breaking off and running.
The present Starlight lifted her head off of Twilight’s shoulder and Twilight could feel tears where it had been. “So now you know,” she said quietly, sounding as though she were still holding back tears. “I never found out what happened to him. I threw the jar in a stream and I don’t know if it ever broke open. If he ever got it back.”
Twilight hugged her. “Starlight, thank you. I know it was hard, but you had to let it happen again. Nopony can change the past.”
“I know,” whispered Starlight, her face buried in Twilight’s shoulder.
Twilight pulled back and looked Starlight in the eyes. “But we can change the future.”
Starlight wiped the tears out of her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“You never found out if his cutie mark ever got back to him or not. What if we could use the map to find where you left it?”
“And bring it back to him!” Starlight finished, hope glimmering in her eyes. “Do you really think we could do that?”
“I know there’s nothing we can’t do if we do it together,” Twilight said definitely.
Together, the two of them cast the spell and flew up in the air towards it to return to their own time.