Starlight was surprised when she suddenly found herself awake in The Castle of Friendship. She felt she was making some real progress in understanding all that had lead up to her brainwashing the ponies she and Double Diamond had gathered in the valley below the mountains where the pair had first met.
“Perhaps,” she thought while climbing out of bed. “Princess Luna wanted me to have some time to fully understand all that Glim-Glim and I were going through?”
The periwinkle Unicorn used her magic to comb her mane as a sudden realization came over her.
“Wait…,” she gasped. “Why was Glim-Glim with me? Why did she seem so determined to make friends with my unpleasant self as a filly?”
***
Night came and Starlight was excited to see Princess Luna greeting her immediately upon entering into the dream world.
“How was last night?” asked Luna.
“I think I am starting to understand what you’re trying to do,” replied Starlight.
“Oh!” grinned the Princes of the Night. “Do tell.”
“You’re showing me how making friends with my past selves can make my present self more open to friendship and foregiveness.”
Princes Luna nodded as her mane flowed against the night sky.
“You are indeed as wise as my sister and Princess Twilight have told me,” she stated. “You should have no trouble with tonight’s session.”
FWOOM!
KA-CLICK!
“As before,” continued Luna. “You need only mention that you’re ready to move past anything you may encounter on your journeys this evening.”
FWOOM!
KA-CLICK!
“I now must bid you farewell,” the Alicorn Princess stated. “Other ponies need my services.”
***
As Princess Luna and her door vanished, Starlight was surprised to see her foal self, Glim-Glim, reappear on her back.
“Yay!” Glim-Glim cheered. “I’m so happy to see you again!”
“Me, too,” beamed Starlight. “Let’s see what’s beyond this door.”
“Whee!” Glim-Glim exclaimed as the pair entered into the door Princess Luna had opened for them.
***
“That’s you!” called out Glim-Glim upon noticing a fully-grown, Starlight Glimmer using a paintbrush and can of paint to place an equal sign upon her flanks.
“Who’s there!” growled mare Starlight. “State your business!”
“She doesn’t recognize me?” wondered Starlight.
“Of course not!” snapped filly Starlight upon appearing from behind mare Starlight. “You’ve abandoned her and all she fought for!”
Glim-Glim narrowed her eyes and pawed her front hoof upon the wooden floor of Starlight’s house within ‘Equal town’.
“She wouldn’t abandon anybody!” squeaked the foal.
“Oh, please!” waved off filly Starlight. “She thinks things are better now that she’s a subordinate to some princess.”
“Friends with a princess!” squeaked Glim-Glim. “And we’ve got more friends than that!”
“Who needs friends when you control a whole town!” growled the filly.
***
Starlight Glimmer felt pain in her chest along with a pounding in her head as her foal and filly selves argued.
“It hurts,” she moaned. “Why does it hurt.”
“Is this true?” the mare version of herself asked.
“Is what true?” struggled Starlight.
“That you’ve abandoned all we worked so hard to achieve?” she asked while spotting the exposed cutie mark. “That you gave up on all I’ve built?”
“This,” groaned Starlight while wincing in pain. “It was a mistake.”
“You’re calling years of neglect, loneliness, and misery finally paying off with power, compliance, and devotion of an entire town wrong?” she growled. “You call building an entire town based on equality where no pony ever feels the pain of losing a friend to a cutie mark a mistake?”
“But, you, have, yours,” struggled Starlight.
“And soon you won’t,” sneared mare Starlight as she evoked the cutie mark removal spell.
“NO!” protested Glim-Glim as she ran in front of the struggling Starlight. “Please! Stop!”
“What does a foal know of adult matters!” snarled mare Starlight. “You don’t know the pain of losing your best friend to a cutie mark! You don’t know the agony of having every accomplishment you make being treated as nothing!”
“And you forgot what it is to be a friend,” sobbed Glim-Glim. “Real friends don’t say angry things to other ponies!”
“That’s enough out of you!” shrieked filly Starlight as she darted with her horn poised to force Glim-Glim out of the way.
Starlight felt herself filled with a strong desire to protect Glim-Glim. So, with all she had, she conjured a levitation spell that lifted filly Starlight over Glim-Glim. This caused the anger-driven filly to smash into the wall and become stuck into it by her horn.
“I may not be able to stop you,” struggled Starlight as she rose to her hooves. “But I can keep you from ruining the best part of yourself.”
“That foal?” wondered mare Starlight. “How is this foal ‘the best part of me’?”
“You’ll find out soon enough!” replied Starlight as she made her way for the door of her former home in ‘Equal Town’.
“Is that a threat?” challenged mare Starlight.
“No,” said Starlight as she opened the door. “It’s a promise.”
***
FWOO
The scene changed to that of a cavern that was dimly lit by an ethereal torch.
“All I built…,” sobbed mare Starlight. “Taken away just like that…”
Starlight remembered where she was. This was a secret place she had set up within the maze-like caverns that made up the mountain outside of ‘Equal Town’.
“See what you’ve done?” asked filly Starlight while walking out from the shadows. “You made her drop her guard and allowed us to be hurt again.”
“What do you mean?” asked Starlight.
“That friend of Twilight Sparkle! Ssnarled the filly. “You should’ve never let her out. You should’ve never allowed her to trick you into allowing Twilight to expose our secret!”
“Hey!” Glim-Glim protested from atop Starlight’s back. “That’s not fair!”
“You again,” growled the filly. “You’re the reason we lost the town. You’re the reason we let our guard down. You’re the reason we’re stuck in this cave!”
Starlight felt numerous emotions flowing throughout her body. Her foal self was scared while her filly self was very angry. She imagined these may be what her mare self was feeling while working by candlelight on a makeshift table.
“Starlight…?” she asked while approaching the mare.
“Go away!” snapped the mare without even turning away. “Leave me alone!”
“See?” spat filly Starlight. “You ruined everything by lowering your guard! Why should anything ever change after all we’ve been through!”
“What about Sunburst?” asked Glim-Glim meakly. “He was a good friend.”
“Was,” emphasized the filly. “And he left us without so much as a goodbye!”
“And we’re still friends!” countered Starlight. “He now lives in The Crystal Empire and is the official Crystaler of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor!”
“I don’t believe you!” snapped filly Starlight. “It’s that weaker, foal-side of yours that is making up more preposterous stories to take you away from what really matters!”
“And what’s that?” asked Starlight.
Mare Starlight turned away from her reading. Her eyes bloodshot from sobbing and lack of sleep.
“Revenge,” she said. “Once I gather the right materials, I’ll be able to take from Princess Twilight Sparkle what she took away from me.”
Glim-Glim yelped as she hid behind Starlight’s neck and mane.
“We can’t keep doing this,” stated Starlight. “Forcing respect and exacting revenge does nothing but cause more hurt and pain.”
“Hurt and pain that Princess Twilight Sparkle has never known in her entire privledged life!” cried the mare. “Pain I’m more than happy to give her once I have all the information and magical spells to fully execute!”
“Yeah!” proclaimed the filly while stomping her hoof. “It’s about time we showed that pony the misery she’s never known! The anguish we’ve suffered! The solitude of never having a friend, or loved one!”
“What about Sunburst?” whispered Glim-Glim. “What about Double Diamond?”
Starlight felt the rage she was being subjected to subside as her mind flickered with memories of Sunburst, Double Diamond, and other ponies she had met over the years.
“Ms. Cuddles?” giggled Glim-Glim. “Wasn’t she nice?”
More memories came to Starlight. Memories of those who did show her love, care, and genuine friendship. Positives that she never thought much on as a result of being so clouded with how her life seemed filled with nothing more than negativity.
“All our magic, too!” chirped Glim-Glim. “We learned a lot and got really good at it!”
The periwinkle Unicorn smiled while looking towards her filly self.
“Revenge is not the answer,” she said. “Dwelling on negative emotions only gives way for more negative outcomes.”
“Fine!” stomped the filly as she turned pitch-black, formed into a cloud, and merged with mare Starlight.
“Nobody can stop our revenge!” mare Starlight boomed. “Not you! NOT ANY PONY!”
“I may not be able to stop you,” stated Starlight. “However, you will be stopped and will see the error of your ways.”
Starlight turned away from her furious, mare self who had been possessed by her disgruntled, filly self.
“I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!” growled mare Starlight while casting an attack spell.
SHING
PA-SHOO
FIZZLE
“What?” wondered mare Starlight as her magic deflected off her present day self.
“Do what you must,” stated Starlight while trotting off. “But know that darkness in your heart will only continue to bring you pain until you learn to let it go.”
Mare Starlight furiously went about casting attack spells. However, each deflected harmlessly off of Starlight as she used Princess Luna’s magic to summon the door, walk through it, and wake up in her bed within The Castle of Friendship.