//------------------------------// // Fate at the Wheel // Story: Times Of Their Lives // by Emotional Flight //------------------------------// Fate At The Wheel (Random) Starlight glared at Twilight. “Won’t be needing that anymore.” She tossed her sheet of paper, the spell written on it away. Her aura surrounded her, and she floated upwards. Above her, the green dome crackled. Twilight looked at her, and Starlight gave a grin... ...and vanished. ~{^}~ Starlight popped out of the green transportation construct with a pop, landing on the hard surface of concrete held up by pegasus magic. She shook her head, standing up on all four hooves. She glanced around. The sights and sounds of Cloudsdale assaulted her senses, and she smiled. “Okay, I got here. Now…” She looked around for a moment and saw a pair of colts who seemed slightly bored. She walked towards them. “Hello!” She put on her smile she reserved for convincing someone of something. “Do you have a moment?” The two colts looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure,” said the one on the left, a chocolate brown one with a barbell cutie mark. “What’s up?” “I’m looking for a pegasus filly. Do you think you could help me locate her?” “I guess, lady,” The beige one on the right shrugged. “Which one?” “Have you heard of Rainbow Dash?” Starlight continued her cultured smile. The colts snorted. “Uh… yeah. Why?” “I just need to find her. Do you know where she is?” “Sure, I guess. She should be coming out of school about now.” The colt rolled his eyes. “Not that I’m sure why you’d want her.” Starlight shrugged. “It’s not really important.” She turned, walking down the concrete pad. The colts turned and looked at each other. “Why does Rainbow Dash get all the attention?” groused one. “I don’t know.” The other colt gave a predatory grin. “But she’s gonna regret it.” ~{^}~ Starlight grinned, her hooves tapping on the concrete. As she approached the end, she formed a cloudwalking spell over her hooves and walked off the edge and onto the cloudy platform. She leaped towards the school with vigor. She was halfway up when behind her, she felt a suction. Looking over her shoulder, she saw something she hadn’t expected to see - the time traveling construct. “What?” It began to pull at her harder, and she gripped the cloud, but it simply tore off of its foundation. She screamed as she was sucked back into the green void. ~{^}~ Her head crashed into stone, and she groaned. “Urgh…” She forced her eyes open through the bright light. On the other side sat Twilight Sparkle, looking very unamused. “What exactly were you expecting to accomplish?” Starlight shook her head for a moment before her brain processed what she was seeing. Then, she flailed back. “Wha- what are you doing here?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Did you even bother trying to figure out how the spell worked?” Starlight was still stuttering. “But- I- You- augh!” She stomped her hoof. “Why are you still here?” Twilight applied her hoof to her face. “Starswirl’s spell doesn’t change the past, Starlight.” There was a moment of pause during which Starlight’s mouth fell open. Then, she shut it. “What?” “All Starswirl’s spell does is let the user create a stable time loop.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Did you even bother to read this?” She held up the sheet. “But… I modified it! Your table allows the user to-” Starlight was halted as Twilight began to talk over her. “I know what you tried to do, but all you really did was increase the time length you could go back.” Twilight pointed somewhere in the middle of the spell. “I know you tried to alter it so that it ran off the harmonic energy, but you can’t harness harmonic energy quite like that without the Elements of Harmony.” “That’s what the table was for!” Starlight was fuming slightly. “The table isn’t a harmonic resonator. The only thing you could possibly use for that would be the Tree of Harmony, and that doesn’t have the integral part of the table you needed - the connection.” Twilight put the piece of paper on the table again. “As much as I enjoy discussing spell theory, you need to come with me.” “And why would I do that?” Starlight glared at the alicorn in front of her, charging up the energy for a spell. “Well, it may have to do with the anti-teleport ward in the castle.” Twilight smiled. “So you don’t really have a choice.” Starlight immediately cut off her spell, trying not to wince. Getting caught in an anti-teleport ward was nasty business. “I thought you were supposed to be the Princess of Friendship.” Twilight smiled. “I am! What, did you think you were going to jail?” ~{^}~ “This was not what I signed up for.” Starlight glared at the three fillies in front of her. “Who are you?” “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” The orange pegasus tilted her head. “Hey Twilight? Why is she looking after us?” Twilight gave a small smile. “Well, her community service has to start somewhere, right? Besides,” - she gave a conspiritorial wink at Starlight - “I think you can help each other.” Starlight simply grumbled under her breath. "The things I have to put up with for revenge..."