Starlight Glimmer huffed, trying to get her panic under control. If there was one thing the year she had spent living in Griffonstone had taught her, it was how to override the natural instincts of a pony to curl up and hide when exposed to pressure. Now more than ever she needed that learned skill. Rapid breathing and a spiked heart rate were counterproductive, and she needed a calm state of mind.
Beside her, a white hoof touch her on the shoulder, squeezing her gently. The body contact was good. It was a sensation Starlight could concentrate on. Focusing on the hoof and the stallion who it was attached to, basking in the warmth of familiarity, Starlight Glimmer managed to pace her breaths. Within minutes, she was able to calm herself down. Her heart still beat quickly, a product of the nervous energy that flowed through her, but now she could think.
“What’s the situation out there, Diamond?” She asked her fellow Element of Harmony and coltfriend, hoping he would never retract his grip.
“Not good,” Double Diamond said with a grim face upon his pale features. “I took a patrol outside just a few minutes ago, and I could barely see five hoof-lengths in front of me. Sunburst and Sugar Belle went out a few hours ago for a supply run and haven’t come back yet.” He hesitated, then added, “They were supposed to be back by now.”
Starlight chanced a glance out the nearby window. It wasn’t good. Dense thickets of fog prevented her from even seeing the sun. Her hooves turned to lead as Starlight got the feeling their mutual breakfast this morning was the last time she would ever see her childhood friend and his marefriend.
“Hey, listen up Starlight,” Double Diamond brought his other front limb up, pulling Starlight in for a hug, “You can do it, mmkay? I believe in you.”
Starlight felt secure in his grasp, even as the warm feelings his words gave her turned to ash. It was all her fault. Every community she had visited had boosted her spirits more and more, as the revitalisation efforts she had put in place had rejuvenated hollowed-out farming towns and given life to dying mining villages. Griffonstone had been restored to its seat as the home of the proud Griffon kingdom, and the Changelings had finally been reconciled with Equestria. The buffalo herd and Appleoosa were one of the fastest-growing communities in the land.
But Starlight had gotten arrogant following the reformation of Discord and the thawing of relations between the nations resulting in the Grand Accord. Night Glider and Starlight had both had poor childhoods, and they had both been too proud to seek psychological help. After that disastrous affair in the Crystal Empire with the door that had nearly cost them the Crystal Heart, Starlight and Night Glider had each withdrawn in on herself for several months. It was only careful coaxing by Double Diamond and Party Favor that had brought the two mares out of their shells, but the damage had been done. That was what had allowed Grogar, the Necromancer Goat King of several thousand years past, to return from the grave and possess Starlight.
Starlight wished to blame the Element of Magic for failing to protect her, but knew that would just be shifting the blame. She had attempted to appear strong even in front of Princess Celestia, her teacher, but hiding her weaknesses had caused the deaths of many. Only the timely intervention of six Canterlot unicorns had driven Grogar away from Starlight, but the consequences were already permanent: the mad necromancer was now able to easily exert his will over the living realm.
The six Element Bearers had attempted to use the Elements once more to defeat Grogar, only for them to fizzle. Most of the magical spells Starlight had invented over the years didn’t even lay a dent on the exertion of his will over the realm. Ever since then, it had all gone downhill. Discord was unable to stop him. The Princesses had been unable to stop him. The other countries had been unable to stop him. The fog that permeated the outdoors was a sign of his increasing presence in the world. It was sheer luck that Starlight Glimmer had made a breakthrough with a spell that slowed its growth, but even that was only a stopgap measure.
“Where are Night and Party?” Starlight asked as she slumped into Diamond’s hooves, feeling exhausted. Following the exorcism of Grogar from her own body, Starlight had had too many panic episodes to count. Only some of the mental training she had undergone in the past and trial and error with her episodes had prevented her from completely breaking down so far; that, and the presence of her friends. Being in the same room as two other Element Bearers was practically a security blanket for her. She needed to be able to think, and with more ponies around, she might be able to actualise the plan that had been fermenting in her head.
“We’re here,” Party Favor spoke aloud, gently escorting Night Glider into the room. The pegasus mare hadn’t been possessed like Starlight had been, but she was still suffering from the ordeal, her midnight blue fur colour having lost a few shades over the last week and her rib cage beginning to show. The relative remoteness of their location close to the Everfree Forest had prevented her depression from getting worse. Starlight Glimmer was at least able to look the victims of Grogar’s initial spree in the eye and stand. Night Glider was unable to even do that. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony had been able to stop many a threat, but they had failed just once, and even that was eating away at her. “What did you need, Starlight?”
Starlight fidgeted under the attention of the other two and a half ponies in the room, but managed to rally herself, “I told you about my contingency plan before,” Starlight said, drawing wide eyes as all three realised instantly what she meant to do, “Do you think there’s any chance we can still win against Grogar?”
Diamond grimaced. Starlight’s plan was insane even if it was feasible. He had wanted to exhaust all other options possible, but even as he racked his brain for one last hope, he knew he was grasping for straws. “No,” He said, as honest as he had ever been. “Nothing except for your plan, to make it so the fight never even started.”
Starlight began to tear up, and Diamond felt as if his heart would fracture in two. “Hey,” Diamond said, pulling her in even tighter so blue eyes peered into purple, “I promise you, even in the next world, we’ll still meet and become friends once again.” Bending down, he kissed her.
The mare melted into the kiss. If she felt this warm and secure all the time then Grogar would have never stood a chance. She wished things had gone differently and that the six Element Bearers could have retired to live their own lives. Unfortunately, Equestria and the world at large’s ultimate fate depending on her being strong enough to finally break it off after seconds. Double Diamond’s firm blue eyes gave her the strength to go through with it.
Starlight stood at the table, a map which displayed all of Equestria. That it was a feature which updated in real-time had been disconcerting, as they could see towns being wiped out by the day since this had all began. Now, this same table was the last chance they had to stop this all from even happening.
She had had a keen eye for chronomancy as Princess Celestia’s student, the first unicorn since Star Swirl the Bearded to be able to truly understand time magic and create new spells. This, however, was something beyond anything she had ever done, and it was only desperation that was leading her to do this. Ironically, that same desperation was perhaps the only thing that would allow her to pull this off. Starlight’s study of the Elements of Harmony had yielded little headway, and she still had no idea if it was ‘destiny’ that had chosen the Element Bearers, or random chance. What she did believe was that her desperation would resonate with the Element of Magic to overcome the sheer audacity of her plan: to pass the mantle of the Elements off to another group of six ponies in a new timeline, using the ‘Cutie Map’ table as a catalyst.
The only question was who would become the new Element of Magic and Friendship. Starlight had narrowed it down to two potential candidates, the leaders of the band of six mares from Canterlot who had torn Grogar from her body and then fought him for seven days and seven nights before falling. The two leaders who had rallied their friends around them were both well-read unicorns. They had both been raised in loving, stable environments in Canterlot. Either of them would be able to rally their friends to stop the same threats Starlight Glimmer and her own cohort had faced, but also be able to stop Grogar.
In the end, there really was no question. One of them had been babysat by a Princess, and her brother had eventually wed that same Princess, while the other mare had lost a parent just under a year ago. Starlight Glimmer had no idea if those events would stay the same in a new timeline, but she wasn’t willing to risk it. If Moon Dancer’s father was to die at the same point in time, and Grogar came along a short time later, it was all too possible Moon Dancer might not have the strength of heart and will to repel him.
Her choice made up, Starlight unfurled the large scroll she had penned and modified, and cast her magic on the scroll. The table reacted in time with her magic, and her heart soared as she saw a vertex of time and space open above her. If the part of her theory about using the table to create a time rift had been correct, then hopefully the rest of the plan to change time would also work.
Starlight summoned the rest of her magic to feed the spell. Loose papers scattered everywhere from the pressure vacuum created by the vertex. Starlight held her hooves to the floor, attempting to wring every last drop of power possible from her horn even as the vertex greedily sucked it all up. She had been a broken mare, but in this, she determined that she would not fail.
Suddenly, the vertex closed. Papers floating in the air dropped to the ground at once. Starlight drooped against the floor, resting her head on the surface as she panted. It had worked. Just in time too, Starlight thought to herself as she looked out the window one last time. Dense fog threatened to bathe the world in absolute darkness, and it was beginning to seep indoors.
“It’s all up to you now, Twilight Sparkle,” Starlight Glimmer whispered.
Snow fell from the heavens, dotting the sky with spots of white. The clouds had usurped the sun, whose rays failed to pierce the planet below. Even as the light of day was repelled, giving the impression of night, layers of snow and ice were beginning to build up around the peak of the mountaintop. That the mountain was host to an active caldera did little to repel the blistering cold. Only an ethereal green flame kept two creatures on the summit from freezing, one a pony and one a dragon.