//------------------------------// // Flashpoint Paradox // Story: Student of Friendship // by zalla661 //------------------------------// Young Starlight arrived in Twilight's Castle floating down onto the Cutie Map. Her tiny body never made contact with the map for she flew off before having readied her flight spell mid transport. As she flew out of the portal Starlight took to the skies flying over Ponyville in the middle of the day. Though the spell would most likely have gone unnoticed at this time she quickly flew through the skies landing on a tall building near the school. She looked around for any sign of herself. She knew she'd be passing by at some point but had to wait for it. Not ten seconds later did Starlight's tiny ears home in on the sounds of screaming and shouts with heavy hooves stampeding below her. Glancing over the side Starlight saw her older self, or rather younger self so to speak, running away from the angry mob lead by Amber Anvil. having a clear line of sight she heard the nasty vulgarities the mare was saying chasing after Starlight's past self. It made her mad hearing such things. She watched as her past self ran down the alley ways trying to escape from the angry mob chasing her down. She flew after the mob and watched as the past her came to a halt and became surrounded. "This is it Starlight Glimmer. You're surrounded. Surrender now and we might go easy on you." she heard Amber cal lout to her. Filly Starlight scanned the area where she knew Trixie would be. "Oh come on, Amber Anvil! What's your problem?" Down about four streets Starlight saw the unicorn walking down a bust street being as inconspicuous as possible. Her black cloak hung around her and she held her head low glancing around occasionally. Starlight immediately took action and not a moment too soon. For just as she took off the chase began anew with Starlight running to her inevitable fate with Trixie. Or so it would have been. Quickly she took flight flying just above Trixie and with a precise shot of magical energy she took out the rear most wheel of her wagon making the former magician stop dead in her tracks. Quickly Starlight shifted herself around the corner of a nearby building as Starlight's past self ran past Trixie along with the mob and far off to the other side of town. Trixie watched as the chase went by and then returned her frustrations on her unfortunate circumstance with her wagon wheel> "Yes!" Starlight cheered with a hoof pump flying up into the air. "Now all I need to do is go back home and-" BZZZT! The time portal shot open sucking up Starlight's tiny body up in it and left the past behind. The time stream was blinding everytime she past through it but she could feel a change to her body. As she exited the time stream she landed on the ground with a thud. A smell dust cloud formed around the area where she impacted the ground with her face first. Getting up she dusted herself off and looked at herself. Same old Starlight but with her adult body. She grinned at her success hoof pumping in the air in a very anime style cheer. "Alright! I did it!" she cheered in the middle of the street. ....... She opened her eyes expecting to see a bunch of ponies staring at her sudden outburst. What she saw was not what she was expecting. The town of Ponyville was in ruins. Every building was badly damaged and all the plants had withered and died. The sky was a deep red, something she didn't recognize due to the time travel distortion. Now that she could clearly see what was around her, panic gripped her heart. She quickly ran around looking for anypony calling to her friends. No answer came. Down one street and up another she ran looking for anypony only to find more ruins. Finally after not seeing anyone she looked to the horizon to see the crystal castle still standing albeit damaged but still standing all the same. "Twilight. She'll know what to do!" Starlight said galloping to the castle. After a good five minute run Starlight ran up to the doors pushing them open with her magic to find a horrifying sight. Before her in the hallway was a badly batterd mare in armor she had come to know so well half buried in a section of the crystal castle roof. "THUNDERCLAP!" She cried out the mares name as she slid close to her lifting up the guradsmares head and rested it on her lap. "Thunderclap please talk to me." she cooed at the mare patting her cheek. Thunderclap's eyes opened weakly. They scanned around trying to find the source of the voice that called to her. Finally she felt a hoof rest on her cheek and directed her head upwards. "Thunderclap. Please, hic, talk to me. What happened?" she heard a sobbing voice of a familiar pony. "St-starlight? Is that you?" she gasped reaching up finding the mares face with her hoof. "I-I can't believe it. You came back." The guard unicorn smiled weakly rubbing the cheek of the mare. She was resting on a red carpet with white spots on it her lower body covered in the crystal shards from her pelvis down. Starlight stood up resting the mares head on the carpet. "Hang on. I'll get you out-" She stopped as her magic covered the shard and chunks of crystal lifting it up. What she saw made her sick to her stomach. She then remembered Twilight didn't have red carpets in her castle. They were white. She remembered clearly Rarity ranting about how red would clash with the blue hues of the castle when she hung out with the fashion pony. She was staring wide eyed at the devastation before her and quickly and gently she lowered the debris back onto the injured pony as her tears fell from her eyes. She rushed beside the unicorn mare lifting her head and resting it on her lap again. Thunderclap smiled shifted herself to rest her face sideways on Starlight's lap. She rubbed the soft pink fur rubbing her nose on it making Starlight blush from the intimate contact. "I'm so sorry Thunderclap. Please, what happened?" Starlight asked trying not to cry. Thunderclap shifted with a grunt as a wave of pain shot through her lower body. "GH! ahhhh... Oh. Heh, guess no foals for me, huh, Star?" "You, you called me, Star?" Thunderclap smiled nodding. "Yeah, after you left town the citizens stormed the castle. They demanded the Princess take action against ponies with criminal backgrounds. *Cough* That's when she came in." "Who? Who came?" Starlight asked fearing what was coming next. "Thunderclap who did all this?!" "*Cough* It was, gah, Trixie. She destroyed everything. Everypony. All gone. I was the last one." she said trying to reach for Starlight. "Wait, Trixie did this?! But she's our friend! Why would she do this-" The mare stopped thinking about what she did in the past. She changed a very crucial point in Trixie's journey to Ponyville. why the unicorn magician came back in the first place. Combined with the angry mob that formed just after her arrival couldn't be a coincidence. That and the dread item she sought to get back at Twilight and her friends. "Trixie... found the Alicorn Amulet, didn't she?" Starlight asked looking down at Thunderclap. The guradsmare nodded breathing heavy now. "She... she found the amulet... gave her untold power and destroyed every.... so tired." "No, NO! Thunderclap you have to stay awake! Please don't leave me! I need you!" Starlight screamed down at the tired looking mare shaking her. "Please you can't! I- I don't know what to do!" She then paused looking around before she realized the answer was with her. "The spell! I can fix this! I can fix it Thunderclap!" "The mare looked weakly up at the pink unicorn. "You can?" "Yes, I memorized a spell that allows me to time travel. I can go back and stop this from happening." Starlight reached for her mane to pull out the scroll from her bangs. A habit she picked up from Pinkie. Unusual but very useful to keep personal effects on ones self. As fate would have it though the world distorted around her and as she reached for her mane she forgot what she was looking for. Suddenly she fell to the ground rolling from under Thunderclap as her body began to convulse. Old memories of her past collided with new ones as she tried to comprehend what was happening to herself. She could literally feel the changes to the timeline as events altered in her mind. She saw vague images. First was stone fragments with cutie marks on them she recognized were from her friends, then an uras major roaring and smashing the castle roof, then Trixie on Twilight's throne laughing like a maniac. While she lay there as her body shook it became engulfed in a deep red aura. Her body lifted up as her convulsions ceased and she turned in the magical hold to see Trixie at the end of the hall. "Welcome little pony." she sneered. "Welcome to your doom."