I was standing in my office, facing away from the door, and looking out of the window, to the city far below. My hands were clasped behind me, and I was doing all I could to appear intimidating, with good reason too.
The long search for Starlight was at an end. Believe it or not she was turning herself in. Twilight had come with her and had told me what happened. Apparently, Starlight, after being forced out of her Equality village, had turned all of her displeasure against Twilight Sparkle. She blamed her for everything that had happened, not even acknowledging the trauma she put the ponies of that town through.
I had known she had been planning something drastic since I encountered her in Luna’s dream. Stealing a highly secret and forbidden spell did not bode well. It transpired that Starlight had broken into Twilight’s castle in Ponyville, after secretly sitting in on a lecture she gave in Canterlot on the subject of friendship.
Using the map as what my son referred to as a ‘focal point’ she used the time travel spell she had stolen to go to Cloudsdale, the home of Rainbow Dash, when she was just a filly. The six mares who would come to wield the Elements of Harmony met due to a singular event; namely Rainbow Dash inadvertently performing a sonic rainboom while in a race. It was seen by the other five, allowed them to gain their cutie marks, and set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately unite them in Ponyville on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration.
Travelling back, and dragging Twilight and Spike with her, she stopped Rainbow Dash from performing her stunt, thus altering the past. The spell she was using, one of Starswirl’s, slightly modified, compensated for the ensuing paradox and forced the alteration to the timeline.
This led to near disaster, spawning several alternate timelines in which some of Equestria’s most dangerous foes emerged victorious. Despite Twilight’s attempts to warn her, Starlight refused to listen and battled with her every time she attempted to repair the damage Starlight had caused.
Ultimately though, their conflict ended in a draw, with neither pony being able to soundly defeat the other. It was this that got a reluctant Starlight to show why she did what she did.
Her reason for altering the timeline was to ensure Twilight never met her friends. Just that. She didn’t intend to create the hostile alternate realities, which she was ignorant of. And her reason for doing this you ask? Because Twilight and Co. destroyed her Equality cult.
She then took Twilight back to her own childhood and explained her reason for despising cutie marks. It was rather…pathetic honestly. A friend of hers gained his cutie mark in magic, and consequently left for Canterlot to study at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Starlight evidently had some abandonment issues, for this one incident made her bitter and resentful, despite her gaining her own mark not long after. It was this alone that gave rise to her Equality philosophy and resulted in her every action since.
It completely stumped me. Nightmare Moon acted due to jealousy toward Celestia and sought power for herself. Discord wished to cause chaos across the world, because that is his role as the embodiment of chaos. Chrysalis wanted to use ponies to feed her species, and elected to take things by force. Sombra sought to reign over the Crystal Empire due to his own mad lust for power and greed brought on by corrupting dark magic. And Tirek viewed ponies as beneath him, and merely a source for him to achieve world domination. All of these villains, tyrants, and despots had grand ambitions.
Starlight though…she sought to undo Equestria itself, in order to get back at Twilight, due to a friend once leaving her. I think I ought to retract my earlier judgment of her; Starlight is quite clearly insane. Or at least she was. Somehow, some way, Twilight had been able to talk her down and offered to teach her the ways of friendship.
I’ll be honest, that annoyed me. She forgave her, overrode my arrest warrant, and dismissed my case summarily. Then, she effectively rewarded this madmare by making her a student. She had kept ponies, without their marks, their souls, for years. It bordered on psychological torture. She had attacked a princess in her own home. For God’s sake, she had almost destroyed Equestria in her quest for vengeance. She needed to be punished!
Luckily, after much arguing, haranguing, and bartering with both Twilight and Celestia, I had managed to reach a compromise. I would be allowed to speak with Starlight for half an hour; taking the opportunity to explain a few things to her.
This brings me back to the present; with me standing looking out over Canterlot. I heard a knock at the door. I prepared myself, psyching up for the occasion, and hardened my tone.
“Enter!” I barked out in gruff voice.
The latch lifted and Buttercup entered. He stood stiffly at attention and reported, his armour clanking slightly as he moved.
“Sir, I’ve brought Starlight Glimmer to see you.” I didn’t turn around to face him and kept my voice hard.
“Very well, Buttercup. You can wait outside.” My tone left no doubt that this was an order to be followed.
“Respectfully, sir, I shall have to lock you in,” he replied, shakily.
“Then do it!” I snapped back. Buttercup quickly backed off
I heard him order Starlight in and then heard him close the door behind him, locking it. That left just me and Starlight.
I caught her image in the reflection from the window. She was a fairly normal looking unicorn mare, and matched the image I grown used to seeing in photographs. She looked quite scared, remaining right by the door and looking around warily. Still not turning to face her, I gestured to the chair opposite my desk.
“Sit,” I ordered sternly. Starlight, however, didn’t move.
“We can do this the hard way if you prefer,” I continued. Snapping my fingers, two menacing thestrals, on loan from Princess Luna’s guard, emerged from the shadows and flanked Starlight on either side.
The mare slowly moved to take a seat on the chair. She curled her tail around herself, perhaps in a comforting mechanism. The thestrals meanwhile, retreated to the shadows again, and stood at their parade rest. I paused for a moment, letting her own fear build up a little, and then began.
“Do you know why you are here, Starlight Glimmer?” I asked, looking out at the view.
“Princess Twilight…said you wanted to speak to me…about what I did,” the mare replied shakily. I allowed myself a smile, but still didn’t face her.
“In a way,” I replied. “I’m going to tell you what could happen next. Tell me, Starlight; do you understand how much trouble you are in?” I looked in the window’s reflection again. Starlight was looking down at her hooves and didn’t reply. I walked over to my wall lining bookcase and retrieved a few texts, flicking through the pages as I spoke.
“Well, let’s start with the biggie, shall we?” I continued. “Assaulting a royal, namely, Princess Twilight Sparkle. In days gone by, that alone would be enough for me to have a noose wrapped around your neck.” I heard Starlight gasp. “However, today, it is merely a sentence of twenty years.
“Then there is the matter of your time travelling. Under the Restriction Against Dangerous Magic Act, time travel is forbidden outside of research and theoretical study. That is another thirty years.
“After that, your little stunt breaking into the Canterlot Archives and stealing a rare and possibly priceless ancient scroll, now destroyed. I’d say that’s at least another five years.” Starlight now looked visibly worried.
“And that doesn’t even begin to cover your earlier actions. Theft of cutie marks, wrongful imprisonment, assault. That pushes your sentence over the one hundred mark, my dear. Now normally, this would mean banishment from Equestria, for life. However, given your abilities with magic, and the continued risk you pose to the safety of Equestria, I would not recommend such an action to her majesty. Instead, I would suggest life imprisonment, here in Canterlot.”
“What?!” Starlight exclaimed. “But…”
“You’re lucky you’re not in Tartarus right now!” I snapped back angrily, compelling her to silence. I walked back to the window, my hands clasped behind my back, and continued.
“You almost destroyed Equestria. In fact, you did. You still have in other realities. You have caused untold misery to millions of ponies, griffons, dragons, minotaurs, diamond dogs, and changelings.” At this, Starlight cut me off.
“But Twilight undid all of that. She repaired the timeline so she and her friends would meet and stop all those evil ponies.” I smiled. Time for a demonstration.
Before this talk, I had met with Time Turner and asked him a few questions about time travel and the risks involved. He told me quite a few interesting things that can happen when you prevent a paradox from manifesting properly. He was even kind enough to lend me his ship’s owner’s manual, which has quite a few sections on the intricacies of fifth dimensional flight.
“Starlight,” I said. “Try and remember, think carefully. What did you do today?” The mare seemed stumped by my question.
“Well, I got into a fight with Twilight. I…” All of a sudden, she trailed off. Putting a hoof to her forehead, she groaned in pain. “I was fighting the Crystal soldiers. Ooh. We were hiding from the changelings; they were going to find us. Argh. We were all so cold, why was there no sun anymore? I…I…I…Oh, dear Celestia!” I decided that was enough.
“Starlight,” I called out, this time a little more softly. She looked up at the window; her muzzle was now covered in light red blood. I turned to face her for the first time and offered her a handkerchief. “You’re bleeding.”
The mare quickly placed it to her snout and cast a spell to stem the bleeding from her nose. She then looked at me, seeming deeply frightened.
“What the hay was that?” she demanded. “What did you do to me?” I shook my head.
“I did nothing; that was all you.” She tilted her head curiously. “You remembered. The other timelines; you remembered existing in them. You remembered being a soldier, a slave, even being dead. The mind cannot cope with the paradox. Dwell on it too long and it will eventually drive you mad.” I took a seat at my desk again, resting my clasped hands on its surface.
“I think by now you understand my concern. Whether or not your actions were ultimately ‘undone’, they still pose a risk. You still pose a risk. I don’t trust you, Starlight Glimmer, and I probably never will. However, higher powers have compelled me to release you. So, I will give you one final warning.” Reaching into my desk drawer, I brought out a small stack of papers. Some of them had a CPS seal, one had a Royal Guard one, and another had the emblem of Ponyville hospital.
“What is all that stuff?” Starlight asked curiously. I looked up from arranging the papers.
“Insurance,” I replied. “Here’s what’s going to happen Starlight. In a minute, you are, much to my annoyance, going to walk out of that door a free mare. Twilight believes that you have changed, I do not. Thus, I intend to keep a close eye on you for the foreseeable future.
“At the first hint of you stepping out of line, I will submit these.” I turned the papers around and passed them to her. “The first is a fresh arrest warrant to bring you in post haste. The other document is a hospital order. Given your actions earlier today, I doubt I would have any trouble finding a doctor to declare you mentally unfit. Step out of line, screw up just once, and I will have you thrown in the looney bin for the rest of your days.”
Starlight was understandably taken aback at my threat. However, crazies usually tend to be more scared of the psyche ward than they are of prison. It would mean exposing Twilight somewhat, and there would undoubtedly be questions, but it would work. Given my past experience, reformation was something of a hit and miss, and I had no desire to see Starlight standing next to Equestria’s next foe a year or so down the line. Eventually, the mare spoke up.
“I understand, sir,” she muttered, looking over the documents with some concern. I leaned back in my chair, assured that my warning would be heeded.
“Good,” I replied. “You can go now then.” Starlight got up and headed for the door.
“Starlight,” I called out, causing her to stop and turn to me. “I will be watching you.” I then called out to Buttercup on the other side of the door to unlock it and let her out. Once she was gone, I dismissed the two thestral guards as well.
The whole thing had gone as well as I had hoped. Starlight was definitely scared of me and that ought to keep her in line. Plus, it brought home to her just how lucky she had been when it came to deciding her fate. Punishment on its own is all well and good, but to know that the Sword of Damocles is dangling just above her head…I think, it will make her a model student for Twilight.
On the other hand, who knows? I have been wrong before. It may be that Starlight is truly reformed, or at least on the path. By the same token, I may soon be compelled to release Trixie on good behaviour. While she still possesses something of a deep loathing toward Twilight Sparkle, she doesn’t seem to be a threat to society at large. I even heard she’s planning a sort of ‘apology tour’ all around Equestria.
But, if you ask me, people don’t really change. Nor do people forget, nothing can ever be entirely forgiven, certainly not creating an insane cult that goes directly against pony nature and forces ponies to remain there without their very souls. Perhaps it is just the nature of ponies to be more forgiving. Does that make them better than humans, or just naive?
I was startled from my deep, philosophical thoughts by a sudden flash of white directly in front of my desk. Discord appeared right in the seat Starlight had been sitting in moments ago. It was fortunate; I needed somepony to talk to.
“Hey, Discord,” I greeted, collecting the papers from my desk. “What brings you this way?” The draconequus leaned back in the chair he sat in, talons forming together into a steeple.
“I just saw Twilight’s most recent nemesis out in the hall. I thought I might collect my pay.” I barked out a short laugh.
“You know you have to find her before she turns herself in, you know that, right?” I replied. “Sorry, old man. Better luck next time on that front.”
“Why was she here anyway?” Discord went on. “I was under the impression that Twilight was taking her under her wing. A case of the blind leading the blind if I ever saw one. Or, crazy unicorn leading crazy unicorn, whichever you prefer.”
“I just brought her in to put a shot across her bow, just in case this is some feint or something. It was the only thing Celestia would let me do after Twilight let her off. This whole change of heart was very sudden.” The draconequus before me shrugged his shoulders.
“So was mine,” Discord replied. Snapping his talons, he produced a projector and a stopwatch. Whirring into life, the projector showed a brief film from the time he officially began to reform; the moment he realised that if he didn’t, he’d lose Fluttershy as a friend. The stopwatch merely timed it.
“I think you’ll find,” he said when the short film finished. “That I reformed in just under three minutes. Over a thousand years of chaos and disharmony down the drain in three minutes. By that ratio, Starlight took an age.”
“Yeah, and look what happened a few months later,” I replied. I quickly caught, and mentally kicked myself for the snap reaction. Discord took on an expression of genuine hurt. I know for a fact he is still ashamed of what happened, despite his efforts to put the whole matter of Tirek behind him. I cursed under my breath at my insensitiveness.
“Sorry, Discord. I didn’t mean that.” Discord shook his head.
“It’s alright,” he replied simply. “And you could be right, too. Starlight doesn’t have much more experience than I do when it comes to making friends. All it would take is the wrong pony to lead her astray. Still, if you want to use my case as an example, the reason she may go off the rails is if she feels that she’s being led like the proverbial pony to water. At some point, you’ll have to take a chance.” My eyebrows went up at that.
“Since when did you become all wise and learned?” I asked, smiling. Discord laughed a little.
“Well, dear boy, I am over a thousand years old. When you’ve been around as long as I have, you pick up a few things. Though I must admit, I stole that particular line from an old bearded idiot who used to hang around with Tia and little Woona.”
“So come on then,” I went on, gesturing toward him. “What should I do; she still needs to be punished. Do I watch her like a hawk, or sit back and let her loose for a while and then pop out when she least expects it?”
“Well,” Discord replied. “Given that she’s going to have pretty much everypony except Twilight against her, I’d say that’s punishment enough. She’s always going to have that black mark on her record. Everypony will know her as ‘that crazy equality mare’. I like to think that that is punishment enough. Twilight took her to that odd town before she brought her here anyway. They seemed to forgive her.” He then softened his tone a bit.
“I think it might help to start on the road to reformation, to have somepony in her corner. And it might help if that somepony was one of her severest detractors.” He made a fair point.
“Well, we aren’t going to find out sitting here talking. I’m just about to head off to the station anyway. Fancy riding the train back home with me?” Discord thought for a moment.
“Sure. Why not.”
Discord stayed the night. We got into town not long after Twilight had introduced Starlight to everypony. They seemed to react pretty well, by and large, but then Twilight at that point hadn’t told everypony about her time travelling escapades. Starlight seemed, embarrassed if anything, feeling out of place in the warm and friendly atmosphere of Ponyville. For the moment, she would be staying in Twilight’s castle along with Spike. I figured though tomorrow would be the day she gets a proper introduction.
As we walked towards my house, I was suddenly set upon by a pony. With no warning, an unsettlingly large pair of baby blue eyes filled my vision. I stopped dead where I was, well knowing who this was, and that any sudden movement might set her off.
“Pinkie,” I said calmly, keeping quite still. “Remember that little talk we had about personal space?” Equestria’s premier party planner nodded, but didn’t back off.
“Yah-huh,” she replied, nodding. “You were really shouty.” I did my upmost to remind myself that she meant well. “I was just wondering if you and Discord might want to come to Starlight Glimmer’s Welcome to Ponyville party tomorrow.” Off to the side, I heard Discord desperately whispering ‘nooooo’ and waving his talon and paw about in a similar gesture. Well, what are friends for?
“Sure, I suppose we could come, Pinkie,” I agreed. I heard Discord facepalming and groaning in annoyance. “I’d like to have a word with her anyway.”
Satisfied with our verbal RSVP, Pinkie withdrew and bounced off to ambush the next pony she came across. Discord meanwhile, gave me a punch on the arm.
Heading along the road, we soon found ourselves at my house. Fishing the keys out of my pocket, I let Discord in. The wife wasn’t best pleased about having him in again, but since I insisted that he was here by invitation, she relented and set a place for him.
Since it was a Friday and I didn’t have anything to do tomorrow, the two of us stayed up late. For once his magic proved quite useful, as he was kind enough to cast a sound proofing spell around the living room, so we didn’t disturb Margaret.
The two of us decided to just let our hair down. I grabbed a couple bottles of cider from the fridge and stuck Con Air (which thankfully came through the portal along with about a hundred other films) on the projector. I’d just been so busy these past couple months. Aside from Starlight, there’d been all sorts going on, with one thing following pretty much on the heels of the other. Hopefully now I’d have something of a break.
By the time the credits rolled around I was…nicely drunk, while Discord was just his usual self.
Actually, I’m not even certain it’s possible for Discord to get drunk.
More to the point, do you really want to be around a drunken demigod? No tar.
Anyway, eventually. Sometime around three, well after our little soiree had crossed over into ‘that bit from Apocalypse Now’ territory, we decided to turn in for the night. Discord took the sofa again, and I tiptoed upstairs and did my best to sneak into bed next to my wife.
Pinkie Pie had scheduled Starlight’s little shindig for just before lunch the next day. While Discord feigned gastro-intestinal distress and locked himself in my bathroom to avoid going, the wife and I both decided to head out. I wasn’t planning on talking to Starlight just yet; I’d made my point perfectly clear in Canterlot. However, it would be an opportunity to test her reactions, and see if she really was attempting to change.
The party was being held over in Sweet Apple Acres. Since the Apples’ have a large, and at present empty, barn at their disposal, Pinkie liked to commandeer it for parties. It was a bit of a walk, but no more than I was used to, and at least there weren’t any hills. Heading along the dirt road we soon found ourselves in front of the odd barn/house that was both the Apples’ home, as well as their largest storage barn for their harvests. Bones was outside the large barn doors, presumably taking a break. Busy parties, particularly loud ones, tended to wear him out quite quickly.
“Hey, Bones!” I called out, waving as we walked up. The cowpony looked up from his thoughts and trotted over.
“Pinkie caught you two as well did she?” he asked.
“In her usual way,” I replied. “Why, did she do the same to you and Applejack?” Bones nodded.
“Ah still can’t make out how she got into my room. Never mind how she managed to hide herself under my bed.” At that particular memory, he shuddered.
“So who’s in there at the moment?” my wife asked. Bones thought for a moment, pushing his hat back on his head.
“Well, Twilight and her friends are there, along with Starlight. Big Macintosh is there too, so are AB and the Crusaders.” He did his best to recall a few more names. “Er, Cheerilee, Milano, Lyra and Bon Bon, Derpy, The Doc, Bulk Biceps, pretty much everypony in town really. Lizzie too, I think she came with Fluttershy. C’mon, you know how Pinkie gets when it comes to parties.” With that, he turned around and beckoned us inside.
Walking into the barn, we found it to be pretty busy. The place was all but packed, and the party was beginning to spill out the side doors and back outside the barn again. The setup was your usual Pinkie Pie fare; balloons absolutely everywhere, along with lots of confetti from her party cannon, a couple of tables with drinks and snacks for everypony, and a record player blasting out some high tempo party music. The music though, was pretty much covered up by the hubbub of conversations going on.
I picked out Starlight fairly quickly. She’d changed a little since I saw her last. She’d redone her mane, letting one side of it fall across her face a little. She still looked a little nervous and out of her depth. However, with Twilight standing next to her and chatting with her, she seemed to be doing alright.
For the moment, I think I have to agree with Discord. Either she’s a brilliant actress, or she is actually trying to change. Still, a bit late in the day if you ask me. The two of us quickly started mingling, picking out Lizzie and Fluttershy amongst the crowd. The shy yellow pegasus was actually not attached to the nearest wall and Lizzie was standing by the punch bowl talking to…Dewdrop, I think his name is. He and Lizzie seem to have become good friends. We quickly headed over to the trio.
“Lizzie!” my wife called out, quickly wrapping the navy blue pegasus in a hug.
“Yeah. Hi, Mom,” she managed to reply with her dwindling air supply. “Enjoying the party?” Luckily, at that point, she was released and dropped back onto all fours.
“Yes, fine,” my wife replied. “Though we haven’t seen Starlight yet.” Fluttershy now jumped in a pointed off with a hoof.
“I think she’s just over there with Twilight,” she said, actually sounding audible over the noise.
Now, since Margaret didn’t know about my previous meeting, she dragged me along too, despite my protests. She insisted that I meet and greet with the ex-political fruitcake and megalomaniac. After pausing for a moment to grab a glass of punch or two, we both headed over to the pair.
Twilight seemed to have positioned Starlight smack bang in the middle of the party. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d actually worked out, through some complicated formula, the perfect position to achieve optimal visibility to party-goers…or something like that. The wife seems to come down on Twilight’s side of the fence in regards to Starlight and wants to give her a second chance. Twilight spotted us approaching and quickly introduced us to Starlight. When the poor mare saw me, she almost went white.
“Hello, Starlight,” I greeted, after my wife had shook hooves and so forth. “Enjoying your party?” The mare paused for a moment, clearly a little rattled, but eventually nodded.
“Oh, er, yes. Thank you for asking,” she replied a little hesitantly.
Having seen her reaction, I left her Twilight and my wife and went to again search out Bones and talk with him. I found him talking with Octavia of all ponies. In his younger days, my boy played the violin, and the pair were now talking music.
“Hey, Bones,” I called out as I walked up. The pair stopped their talk for a moment and turned to face me. “Any chance I could steal you away from Octavia for a minute?”
“Er, sure, Dad,” the grey unicorn replied. “Ma’am.” He nodded to Octavia. We walked to a quieter area of the party, away from listening ears. I quickly answered my son’s questioning look.
“So. What do you make of Starlight, Bones?” I asked, Bones thought for a moment.
“Well, Ah heard what happened. Ah actually wouldn’t mind talking to her a bit later; see how she changed that spell of Starswirl’s. But at the moment she seems alright. A little off perhaps, but not evil.
“She kinda reminds me of a pony called Snowfall Frost; she tried to cast a spell to remove Hearth’s Warming Eve. Misguided, but enlightened. Ah’d say she’s just as smart as Twilight is, and is about as powerful as she was when she was a unicorn. Trouble is, her value system is all messed up. She puts power and control above friendship. That’s a dangerous road to walk. Given time though, Ah reckon Twilight can help her.”
I’d asked Bones since I figured, with more experience of ponies, he might a better judge of character. After all, I remember when Discord had first reformed, he’d written a good page and a half of reasons on a blog on why he’d go off the rails within a year. I let him continue.
“Don’t get me wrong, the mare was clearly nuts not too long ago. But Ah reckon she’s willin’ to try friendship again. Anyway, if y’all will excuse me, Ah’ve been meanin’ to go ask her a favour, and it’ll be a good chance for her to meet somepony new.”
He then trotted off towards the pink unicorn. I was actually quite surprised. Bones wasn’t exactly Pinkie Pie when it came to meeting new ponies. Perhaps their shared curiosity of magic had encouraged him.
I saw him walk over to Twilight and her new apprentice, while the party was for her, more than a few ponies were giving her a wide berth. He shook hooves with her and began to chat with her about magic. I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the hubbub, but Starlight seemed interested, while Twilight was more anxious. As they headed for the barn door, I picked up Twilight’s voice.
“Blade Star, no!” she exclaimed. “I know you have an interest in dark magic, but I’m not letting you use Starlight as a test subject.”
“Ah’m not, Twilight,” the cowpony replied. “Ah just need somepony to practice it with. Come on, Starlight.”
At this point, the discussion had garnered the attention of more than a few ponies, and a small crowd had gathered to follow them out. They headed outside into the farmyard where Bones and Starlight stood at dueling positions. I was by now pretty curious myself as to what Bones was up to.
“Right, Starlight,” he called to the unicorn. “Ah want ya to hit me with a spell; any old spell will do. If Ah’m right, it should stop and dissipate. But just be ready for a feedback loop.” Starlight nodded. Twilight meanwhile looked on with a mixture of scientific fascination and severe concern. “Alright, kid. Let’s see what ya got.”
Starlight let loose a spell from her horn. I expected my son to either dodge, or put up a shield. Given his cutie mark, he specialises in defensive magic, a bit like Shining. However, instead of doing that, he did something far more unexpected.
Tapping into what limited dark magic he had, he cast some sort of spell and reached out with a hoof. With his horn glowing black, I looked for a result. Twilight’s and Starlight’s jaws dropped.
The spell, now in the form of a bolt of energy, hovered between the two ponies. It just hung in the air, occasionally juddering back and forth a little, like a paused video tape. Opening his eyes, my son looked at his work, though still concentrating and struggling to maintain the spell.
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “Now let’s see ya try and steal my magic, Tirek!” He stepped to one side and then deactivated his spell. The magic quickly started up again, and Starlight’s spell shot by him, impacting a tree not too far away.
“How did you do that?” Starlight asked in amazement.
The two ponies, along with Twilight, soon fell into discussion of magic that went well beyond my meagre knowledge. While Starlight seemed to lack more than a few social graces, and at times still seemed a bit unhinged, my son seemed more than willing to talk magic with her and Twilight, particularly on the alterations she made to Starswirl’s spell.
In any case, it seemed as if my concerns were unwarranted. Still, I resolved to step lightly, just in case. I was glad to finally have her off my plate though. I heard the name Starlight Glimmer enough to last me a lifetime. Hopefully, I would not need to follow up my threat.
I now had a couple other more pressing matters to attend to.