My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 114: A Time Paradox!

It may have been just a minute, but for Shining Armor and Spike it was the longest minute of their lives. But soon enough, the time bubble opened up and they tumbled out.

"Whew! What a ride!" Spike remarked, stumbling to his feet.

Shining Armor found himself feeling a little disoriented. "Ugh! I know I get airsick on long zepplin cruises, but that's the first time I've ever gotten motion sick. Never again!"

"Hey, you gonna be okay?" Spike asked with concern. "Want me to rub your back for you? That usually does the trick for me when I get stomach sick."

But Shining shook his head, and slowly stood up. "It's okay, Spike. I think I can manage now. Let's just figure out where the hay we are, and how to get back and put a stop to whatever crazy scheme Starlight's cooked up. And when this is all over, I think I'm gonna have to look into getting some castle security. Funny how I never seemed to even consider that idea before now."

"Well, that might have to wait, because it looks like we're a long way from home." Spike suggested, waving a claw towards the horizon.

Shining lifted his head, and finally he got a good look at his surroundings. He recognized them at once, the tall spires and elegantly colored (and decorated) buildings were an obvious giveaway. "Canterlot?! But how did we end up all the way back here from Ponyville?" He wondered. "Something's not right here."

As if in answer to that question, Shining and Spike witnessed a group of unicorn fillies rushing past, laughing and giggling to themselves. "Hey, come on, Lemon Hearts. Moondancer says her parents got to rent out the whole Canterlot ballroom for an afternoon of fun! We're gonna be late!" One of them called.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Another voice called back. "I was just looking to see if Twilight's gonna follow us. Seems she'd rather spend all her days with her nose stuck in the books."

"Yeah, she's such an egghead. But she always helps us with our homework, so it's our turn to do something nice for her." The initial voice called, before the fillies disappeared over the horizon.

"Wait a second, I recognize those names!" Shining Armor thought to himself. And then all of a sudden, it hit him! "Spike, we haven't just been sent back to Canterlot! We've been sent back in time! This is the day I got my cutie mark!"

"You think so?" Spike asked.

"I know so!" Shining firmly nodded. "If my memory of this day is correct, any minute now, Twily's gonna trotting down this path. And that's when she's gonna be picked on by some of my comrades in the royal guard. Defending my sister against them, causes me to get my cutie mark, and subsequently enables my friends to get theirs."

"And you think Starlight Glimmer's going to somehow prevent that from happening?" Spike wondered. "I mean no offense, but as crazy as you say Starlight is, surely she knows the dangers of messing with time."

"We can't take that chance! We've got to find her and stop her before she causes irreparable damage to the flow of time!" Shining said firmly, as he then took off at full speed! "Come on, we need to find a good vantage spot to hide and scour the location!"

"Why not stay here?" Spike suggested. "I mean, maybe not on this exact spot or anything, but we could easily spot Starlight and the bullies from around here. Right?"

"Not if my past self also happens to show up here!" Shining protested quite seriously.

Spike seemed to be confused, if the look on his face was any indication. "Exactly how this is that a bad thing?"

Shining groaned, he couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "You read comics, right? Haven't any of them ever dealt with time travel?"

"No, I only ever read Power Ponies. They've never dealt with time travel, and I'm their number one fan, so I'd know if they had!" Spike boasted, proudly puffing out his chest.

"You kids today," Shining muttered under his breath. Then he explained. "Growing up, my folks introduced me to a lot of science fiction stuff, even more so once Twilight came on the scene. Many of the stories I read dealt with time travel, and they always said the golden rule of time travel was: If you travel back to any time you already exist, don't meet or make contact with your past self. Doing so could rip the very fabric of time apart."

"Oh come on! You can't seriously tell me you believe that stuff!" Spike snorted. "Next I suppose you'll be telling me that Doctor Whooves guy is an actual time traveler, and all those crazy fictional creatures he babbles about are real too, and that somehow he can travel through time in a strange blue box! Even I know a tall tale when I hear it."

"I can't afford to take that risk! Besides, just meeting my past self has the chance to damage the time line beyond repair!" Shining firmly vowed, before he grabbed Spike with his magic and took off for the roof tops of a nearby building.

---

"Keep a sharp eye out, Spike," Shining advised, as his eyes scanned down to the ground below. "There's no telling what Starlight's up to, but as soon as we spot her we need to be ready to pounce. No way is she getting away for a third time, I won't allow it!"

"Well, I haven't seen Starlight yet, but it looks like those bullies you mentioned just walked onto the scene." Spike remarked with noticeable anger, pointing a claw to the street corner he and Shining had been on just moments ago.

Shining looked, and sure enough there were the royal guards that would inadvertently be responsible for him getting his cutie mark. It burned him up inside, to watch his sister (still a blank flank filly at this point) walk down the street with a book pressed up to her snout and her trusty study buddy Smarty Pants resting on her back, blissfully unaware of the two older ponies that she was about to meet. But every ounce of his being told him he couldn't get involved, no matter what. All of what was to happen, needed to take place in order for time to be preserved.

Twilight payed absolutely no attention to where she was going. She'd been told by her classmates to meet in the castle ballroom in an hour, and having gotten so absorbed in reading about old pony tales like the Mare in the Moon, she'd lost track of time. But in order to please her nagging classmates (hard to really say you were friends when Twilight barely remembered their names, and only attended their birthday parties at the request of her parents), she'd given her word to be there. "If only I could teleport like I've seen Mommy, Daddy, and B.B.B.F.F do, I could go to and from the library whenever I wanted, instead of always needing a grown-up." She thought to herself, right before she felt herself bump into something, or rather someone.

Twilight looked up, spotting two royal guards with matching coats of white. Good, maybe she could ask them for directions. "Excuse me, sirs," She spoke in her high pitched voice. "I'm a little bit lost. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the castle ballroom, please."

But the royal guards just looked down at Twilight, and exchanged mischevious glances, right before one of them snatched up Smarty Pants with their magic. "Oh my my, what have we here? Is the little filly still playing with her dollies?" The first guard teased.

"Smarty Pants isn't a doll, she's my study buddy!" Twilight protested, stomping her hoof down in anger. She attempted to make her horn spark and grab Smarty Pants, but alas she didn't have the magical power she would come to have in just a few short years. "Give Smarty Pants back, she's not yours!"

"She is now, kiddo!" The other royal guard taunted. "After all, we're bigger than you, so what we say goes. Kids like you should respect your elders. You wouldn't want your parents to find out you disrespected royal guards, do you?"

"You guys are big meanies! Just wait til I tell my big brother on you!" Twilight warned! "He'll kick your sorry plots from here to Vanhoover and back!"

But the royal guards just laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about your brother if I were you. He's at the bottom of the totem pole, and he only got that position because our captain felt sorry for him. We got in because we earned our positions, not because we're making goo-goo eyes at the princess' niece." One taunted.

The other then warned. "Besides, you don't wanna find out what we do to snitches around here."

"Please give me back Smarty Pants, she's my only friend." Twilight pleaded in desperation!

"Sorry kid. Finders keepers, losers weepers." The first guard snickered, as he continued to hold his prize out of reach of the defenseless filly.

---

Suddenly, without warning, who should emerge onto the scene but Starlight Glimmer?! She effortlessly picked up both royal guards, throwing them about as if they were match sticks or pieces of paper. "Such terrible behavior. To think that this is what young ponies around here aspire to be when they grow up." She declared in a serious but sweet tone.

"W-who are you?!" One of the guards shuddered in fear. "How are you this strong?! You're just some punkish looking unicorn, we don't have to take this kind of horseapples from you!"

Starlight only shook her head and tsked. "Kiss your mother with that filthy mouth of yours? And in the presence of an innocent little filly no less," Then, her eyes narrowing and the faint traces of a sadistic smile forming, she said to the guards. "I think it's time somepony put you in your place. Luckily, I know just the place for trash like you."

"H-hey! Put us down! We're warning you! Captain Gleaming Shield will not tolerate this act of aggression!" The second guard shouted, before he and his comrade were thrown into a dumpster, which had the added effect of freeing Smarty Pants from his magical grasp.

Starlight easily retrieved the doll with her magic, and offered it to the young Twilight with a now innocent smile on her face. "Here you go, little filly. It's such a shame, to think that other ponies believe their special talent in life, gives them the privilege to pick on those who can't fight back," She said in that sweet tone of hers. "If only we all lived in a world where everypony's equal, then maybe we wouldn't have such bullies."

Twilight didn't really care much for what this mysterious mare was telling her, but she was glad to have Smarty Pants back. "Yay, Smarty Pants! Thank you SO much!" She cheered, hugging Starlight close. "Wait til I tell Shiny about you."

"Tell me what, Twily?" The past version of Shining Armor asked, as he came trotting up on the scene. "I heard a commotion."

"Shiny, this nice mare stood up for me against your dumb dumb stinky head friends in the royal guard," Twilight explained as she pointed a hoof to Starlight. "And she got Smarty Pants back from them."

"It was my pleasure," Starlight replied with an innocent smile. "But I'm sure you would've done the same had you gotten here first."

"Perhaps I would've," Past Shining agreed. "All the same, I owe you a great debt of thanks."

"Oh, think nothing of it," Starlight said as she waved a hoof. "You two go ahead and have fun together. And don't you ever worry about those bullies. I'm sure they've learned their lesson about picking on others." And she watched as Past Shining and Twilight trotted off a second later.

---

Present Shining was in Starlight's face not even a minute later! Needless to say, he was quite furious. "Do you even realize what you've just done, Starlight?!"

"What? Are you questioning my motives now, prince?" Starlight taunted, as she bobbed her head back and forth. "I only convinced them not to be bullies because everypony should be equal. Stopping you and your friends from getting your cutie marks is just a nice little bonus."

"So that's what this is about!" Shining gasped in realization. "You're so petty that you'd rewrite history, just to keep my friends and I from exposing you for the fraud you are?!"

"Such harsh words, I like to think of it as making sure nosy do gooders know their place," Starlight snarled in a bitter tone. "But now that you know what you do, I'm afraid I can't just have you around to try and foil my plans. I want you and your meddling dragon out of the picture, for good!"

"Well too bad, because I'm not going anywhere!" Shining firmly protested as he stomped his hooves down on the ground. "And for the record, Spike did nothing to you! So you leave him out of this!"

Starlight only sighed. "It's a shame you're forcing me to play my best card so soon, prince. Oh well, it can't be helped," Adopting the same sadistic expression from earlier, she then added. "I've spent a lot of time getting to know you personally, prince. Even seeing you draw close to the one pony who abandoned me because of a cutie mark."

"What are you playing at, Starlight?! I'm in no mood for your games!" Shining warned, his horn sparking ominously.

Starlight's sadistic smile only grew wider. "I know you're a family stallion at heart. You care a lot about your sister, Twilight. And of course your wife, Cadence. It'd be a real shame if anything bad were to happen to them in the past."

"You wouldn't!" Shining glared at Starlight.

"Maybe, but can you afford to take that chance?!" Starlight taunted. "Think about it, prince. You've got nothing to gain, and everything to lose from calling my bluff," Then, as if on cue, another time bubble suddenly appeared. "But it seems I don't need to worry about whether you believe me or not. I did what I set out to do. So, enjoy your fate! Next time you see me, all of Equestria will be freed from the evils of cutie marks, and they'll be worshipping me like the next Starswirl the Bearded!" And with that, she pushed both Shining and Spike into the time bubble, which disappeared as soon as they were sent through it. "Starlight 1, Shining Armor 0." She thought to herself, rubbing her hooves together in delight.

Author's Note:

If you read My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Tales From The Stallion Six, you'll know why Shining Armor instead of Soarin is the key to Starlight's plan in the past.

Thanks to comickook for a few bits of dialogue on Starlight.

I'll only be doing one alternate timeline here, but I won't spoil which one it is. Come back on Tuesday to find out.

Comments

[Comickook]

Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up AND for liking one of my dialogue ideas enough to use a modified version of it. I really appreciate you going to the effort on BOTH fronts. Once again, excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Anyway, I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this (especially since I'm curious as to which alternate time line you will be using), but I will also be very willing to respect the fact I might need to be patient.

[Starlight Nova]

This story will end eventually, right? I'm not saying it's bad or anything, I'm just not exactly keen on have a story in my favorites that'll go on forever.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

8540902 Yes. I'm thinking it'll probably go on until the end of Season 7 in this universe, which should be covered by the end of next year, or 2019.

[Comickook]

8541043
So, you will basically be ignoring the movie and Season 8? Mind you, that's not a complaint; just curious one way or the other.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

8551773 No, the movie will its own separate fic. Season 8 actually, it will depend on whether or not Chrysalis is returning. If she is, that will be where this series ends.

[Yoshifan30]

But Shining shook his head, and slowly stood up. "It's okay, Spike. I think I can manage now. Let's just figure out where the hay we are, and how to get back and put a stop to whatever crazy scheme Starlight's cooked up. And when this is all over, I think I'm gonna have to look into getting some castle security. Funny how I never seemed to even consider that idea before now."

I know seriously You would think to have one guard at least at the castle of friendship i mean come on

[Yoshifan30]

"Oh come on! You can't seriously tell me you believe that stuff!" Spike snorted. "Next I suppose you'll be telling me that Doctor Whooves guy is an actual time traveler, and all those crazy fictional creatures he babbles about are real too, and that somehow he can travel through time in a strange blue box! Even I know a tall tale when I hear it."

Yeah about that spike lol you have no idea buddy

[Yoshifan30]

"She is now, kiddo!" The other royal guard taunted. "After all, we're bigger than you, so what we say goes. Kids like you should respect your elders. You wouldn't want your parents to find out you disrespected royal guards, do you?"

Seriously how in the world those guys become the royal guard is beyond me I felt like there's some corruption in the royal guard

[Yoshifan30]

Suddenly, without warning, who should emerge onto the scene but Starlight Glimmer?! She effortlessly picked up both royal guards, throwing them about as if they were match sticks or pieces of paper. "Such terrible behavior. To think that this is what young ponies around here aspire to be when they grow up." She declared in a serious but sweet tone.

Yup she using our friendship lesson against on us specially in the past time line

[Yoshifan30]

Oh boy looks like we are going to found out how terrible the time-line is 😰