Convergence

by Masterweaver

Dawn of Ages, Part 1

Starlight Glimmer kept her eyes closed.

As long as she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend she was still asleep. She could pretend that everything she'd been through was some horrible nightmare. She could pretend that the crushing weight enveloping her was merely a collection of blankets and sheets, not a mixture of listlessness and guilt. She could pretend... she could pretend that she was back home. Back with the ponies she considered her friends, back... back in the village they had built together.

She could pretend that she wasn't a monster.

The door creaked open. "Hey Starlight! Breakfast is ready!"

Her illusion was shattered by the young voice. True, there had been foals in the village, using stencils to eagerly paint their flanks, and they did on occasion walk into her home to tell her that yes, breakfast was ready.

This voice wasn't one of those.

She lifted her sheets with her magic, straightening them absently as she slipped out of bed. "Alright, Spike. I'll... be there in a moment." It was hard for her to smile these days, but she did manage a small one; behind her, the pillows lifted as each sheet was placed precisely, before descending in an even arrangement. "I just need to clean myself up."

Spike's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to try to run off, are you?"

Starlight let out a small, measured laugh. "Where would I go Spike?" She turned to look at the drooping eyes reflected in the vanity mirror. "Where would I go..."

"Well... alright, I guess." The dragon frowned as she automatically levitated a comb and a few hair clips. "Just... try to get out here before Twilight starts worrying, alright?"

"Alright. Sure." Starlight nodded absently, shooing Spike away with a half-hearted hoof. "I'll be out there momentarily..."

After a moment, she heard him walk away.

The comb maneuvered through her mane in the usual, even strokes, each lock carefully put into its place before she bound it up. It was rote, routine, regular... comforting. And yet... despite how well groomed she looked, there was something about the pony in the mirror that felt ragged and... wrong.

Maybe it was because it was the face of a lie. The promise of love and care, founded on hate and rage.

Starlight Glimmer shook her head, turning away from the mirror. She would change. She had to change. The princess had, explicitly, told her she was to be her new student; she would follow her tenants with the same zealous vigor she had followed her own. Otherwise... well, there would be no point to it all.

Hooves weighted by the guilt of her own ignorance and stubbornness, she trotted out of the room and down the hall.

Starlight didn't break stride, walking quickly down a series of staircases to the ground floor; it didn't take her long to reach the dining room. With a steadying breath, she knocked on the door.

After a few moments, Spike opened it and rolled his eyes. "You're living here now, you know. You don't need to knock."

Starlight winced. "...Sorry..."

"Nah, it's fine. Come on in." He stepped back, waving her toward an empty seat with a plate of... waffles. Not crepes or other high class pastries, but waffles. It was honestly quite incongruous with the golden table, golden chairs, and fancy decorations everywhere. At least Spike seemed comfortable, hopping up to his own seat easily enough...

...his own seat, on Twilight Sparkle's right.

Starlight stepped cautiously into the room, walking to the empty chair--set to Twilight's left. Twilight herself was giving her a casual smile. With a motion somewhere between a nod and a bow, she took her assigned position, levitating the fork and knife.

"So, Starlight." Twilight idly cut up her own waffles. "Did you sleep well?"

The unicorn sighed. "...well enough. Your beds are... comfortable."

"I'll have to tell Davenport about that stunning review." The alicorn brought her fork up to her mouth. "Mmmmmm! Pinkie Pie is an excellent baker. I'll have to remember to to thank her for making these."

"It wasn't a problem at all!" said the pink pony suddenly at Starlight's left.

"GAH!" Starlight jumped in her seat. "What in the name of Celestia?!"

"Pinkie does that sometimes," Twilight explained simply. "It's just... Pinkie being Pinkie."

"Wait, you mean that an earth pony has linked their magic to the aetherial plane instead of the material one, and you just pass it off as normal?"

Pinkie gasped a gasp that took ten whole seconds to run through its tune. "THAT'S what's been going on?! Hokey smokes, I had no idea!"

Twilight blinked. "Wait, what?! How did you figure that out?!"

Starlight bit her lip. "Well... my, uh...." She flinched, eyes darting to her flank for a moment. "My special is in alteration of magic. It's easy for me to see when a pony has their own magical field different from... normal..."

An awkward silence descended on table.

"Well!" Twilight managed. "That's... impressive!"

Starlight fidgeted in her seat.

"No really, it is!" the princess insisted. "I mean, my special talent is magic in general, but I know how difficult it is to study new spells to cast. Being able to adapt as easily as you can, that's amazing."

"...yeah, sure." Starlight prodded at her waffles. "Amazing."

Twilight Sparkle frowned, looking at her for a long while.

"So!" She clapped her hooves together. "Friendship lessons. Now, I could subject you to a series of lectures and study books, but from my personal experience the best way to learn about friendship is out in the field." She levitated up a scroll with a checklist. "For today, we'll be running a generalized overview with my own friends, discussing their own views on what friendship is and how it should be applied."

"OOO! OOO!" Pinkie waved her hoof eagerly in the air. "Can I go first? Can I can I can I pleeeeeeeeeeease?!"

Spike rolled his eyes. "I don't think she's going to take no for an answer, Twilight."

"Alright, Pinkie," Twilight acceded with an indulgent chuckle. "You can go first."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Pinkie jumped in glee, hanging in the air for just a moment too long before darting out of the room. Mere seconds later, the lights went out. And then a spotlight shone on the table, where the pink mare stood in a labcoat and goggles next to a projection screen.

"Friendship," she said seriously, "is the application of mutual interest in another's wellbeing to a long-term relationship." She pointed to the image of two smiling faces on the screen. "It exists within all species capable of observing separate identities in other individuals, and will generally form the bedrock of all group activities and interactions for that species. The level of friendship varies between relationships, from merely giving a polite nod to outright marrying a pony, but the defining aspect is choosing to care for a self that is not the self of oneself with no outside force enforcing the engagement. This results in appreciation from the other self, and generally ensures a like-minded reaction in the other self to the original self, resulting in a positive feedback loop that can best be described as 'tons of fun'."

The lights suddenly snapped back on, and Pinkie pulled her goggles up with a grin. "So OBVIOUSLY the best way to apply friendship is to just go out and make friends! You'll figure out the rest on the way."

Twilight blinked, partially out of surprise, and partially to adjust to the suddenly changed light level. "Wow, that's... actually a well thought out definition. How long did it take you to come up with?"

"Eh, half a minute, give or take." Pinkie kicked at the projection screen, and it folded up into a simple rod. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to friendship over at Sugarcube Corner for my day job. TTFN!" She jumped off the table and tail-hopped out the door.

Twilight shook her head with a grin. "There we go, then. Oh, Spike!" she said suddenly, turning to her number one assistant. "Do you want to give any friendship advice?"

The dragon shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out where Pinkie got the spotlight. If I come up with anything I'll tell you."

"Alright." Twilight pulled a quill out. "Pinkie Pie, CHECK!"

Starlight blinked at her. "You eat breakfast with a scroll and quill next to you?"

"...yes?"

"...huh."

"Speaking of which, as soon as you're done we can head out to talk to the other four bearers!" Twilight grinned. "It'll be great!"

"Yeah...." Starlight poked at her waffles again. "Great...."

---------------------

"Hyah! Yah! And hiya!" Rainbow Dash bucked her last cloud, brushing off her chest with a smirk. "That's all of them. Cloudkicker, what's the number?"

"You managed to get it down to eight point five seconds."

"What? Only eight point five?" Rainbow shook her head. "It was eight point two last time...."

"You win some, you lose some." The purple pegasus put her stopwatch down. "And after that big storm Sunday, getting the sky clear at all is impressive. Look, it's been fun, but I've gotta go check on my lil sis, you know?"

"Right, right." Rainbow waved her off, smiling. "Guess I'll just have to work myself harder next time."

Cloudkicker rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Dash." She unfolded her wings and took to the air. "Oh, hey princess."

"Hello Cloudkicker. Am I interrupting or...?"

"Nah, we just got done. I'll leave you to it."

Rainbow grinned, coming down for a landing as Cloudkicker took off. "Twilight! What's up?" She frowned, tilting her head to look behind her friend. "And, uh, why'd you bring her?"

Twilight glanced back at Spike and Starlight. "Oh, well, I figured I'd start Starlight's friendship lessons with a general overview."

The blue pegasus frowned. "Really. I kind of figured 'don't use magic ever again' would cover the basics."

"That's... pretty unreasonable, Rainbow. Magic is part of her special talent." Twilight gave her a pointed look. "It'd be like asking you never to fly again."

"Well, yeah, but I'm an awesome hero."

The purple alicorn sighed. "Look, Dash, she's really sorry and she's not going to do that again. Can't you have have a little trust in her?

"Trust her? Twilight, she stole our cutie marks and nearly destroyed Equestria, like, seven times!"

"Those are alternate timelines," Twilight pointed out. "None of that happened in any reality we can readily access, and furthermore Starlight was not made aware of the results of her actions until the very end."

"Well... yeah, but still--!"

"Rainbow, if we don't help her, who will?"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, shut it, narrowed her eyes... and finally kicked at the ground. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I figured you could tell Starlight what you think friendship is and how you apply it."

"Yeah, sure. Hey Glim!"

Starlight Glimmer looked up from her conversation with Spike as Rainbow flew over. "Ah... hello, Rainbow Dash. I like what you've done with the sky today--"

"Yeah, sure whatever. Look, the friendship thing? That's when a pony is willing to drop what they've got going and do stuff with you, like go on a big adventure or watch sports or stuff. Flipside is you've gotta be willing to do the same for them when they need it. Got it? Good. I'm out."

Twilight sighed as Rainbow zipped into the sky. "I'm sorry about that. She... might have taken the whole 'stop my first rainboom' thing a little too personally."

Starlight sighed, folding her ears back. "Well... it's not like I don't deserve it."

---------------------

"You're not the first pony who's made mistakes that hurt others, Starlight," Twilight assured her. "Nightmare Moon, Coco Pommel, Silver Shill... heck, you were spying on me for my reunion with Moondancer, you know how I messed that one up! As a matter of fact, all of us have made big mistakes sometimes." She gave the unicorn a gentle smile. "What matters is that you're trying to become a better pony."

Starlight Glimmer kept her eyes on the ground as she walked.

"Uh, Twi?" Spike gave her a look. "Might not have been best to mention the whole spying thing."

"Oh! Right. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply--"

"It happened," Starlight said flatly.

"...right. Uh, well, this is Fluttershy's cottage!" Twilight waved a hoof at the grass-covered building across the footbridge. "She's probably inside, taking care of her animal friends. I'll just go get her." She trotted up to the door and knocked, her eyes darting back to the unicorn.

The door opened just enough for a yellow pony to stick her head out. "Oh! Hello Twilight. And... Starlight, Spike." She opened the door a bit wider, stepping aside. "Would you like to come in?"

"We're not staying long," Twilight explained. "I just brought Starlight here so you could explain what you think friendship is and how it should be applied to day to day living."

Fluttershy rose an eyebrow. "Well... I'm sure you know what you're doing. You're the princess of friendship after all. I just wonder... do you really think friendship is something that can be, well, taught?"

"...Yes? I mean, I did make all those friendship reports, and there's the friendship journal."

"Oh. Right."

Starlight cleared her throat from beyond the footbridge. "If this is a bad time, we can go."

"Oh, it's not a problem, really. I was just... well." Fluttershy stepped out. "I suppose I was gathering my thoughts, is all. Now, friendship..." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I suppose a friend is somepony who... accepts you for who you are, maybe tries to help you work through your flaws but not to the point of trying to change you completely. So friendship is sharing kindness, just... talking, and helping others, and... well, being willing to listen, I suppose." Her feathers ruffled. "I'm sorry, I... well, I don't make many pony friends, but I treasure the ones I have."

The unicorn nodded. "That's... quite understandable. I think I'm the same way, really. Very... possessive, isolated."

Fluttershy frowned. "That's not how I would put it."

"Sorry, you're right, that's not what you're like." Starlight rubbed the back of her head. "I... wow. Just talking?"

"And listening. I find listening is more important."

"...yeah."

Twilight smiled broadly. "See? This is good, this is friendship happening right here!"

Starlight gave her a long look.

"...what?"

"Nothing." Starlight shook her head. "It's nothing."

---------------------

"And here we have Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight swung her hoof in a wide gesture that encompassed an enormous number of apple trees. "This is where my friend Applejack lives and works. It's been in her family since... well, since Ponyville was founded actually." She shot Starlight a sly glance. "Her Granny Smith was actually present for that. And she's still alive!"

Starlight looked up, startled. "Wait... seriously? I thought this town was at least a century old."

"It might be older! I've never asked how old Granny Smith is, though."

The unicorn stared at her. Then she rolled her eyes. "You want me to check her magic for anything weird."

"It's for science Starlight! Please?"

"Aren't we here to talk about friendship, though?"

"Well..." Twilight sighed. "Yes. I'm sorry, I just thought, after Pinkie... I'm just curious, you know?"

Starlight opened her mouth... and shut it, suddenly, looking at the ground. "...if you really want me to--"

"I don't want to force it. You shouldn't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

They stood in silence for a few awkward moments.

"Oh hey! There's Applejack!" Spike jumped up and started waving. "AJ! OVER HERE!"

Twilight grinned as the orange mare trotted up, wiping sweat off her brow and trotting up to them. "Hey Spike. Hey Twi. Hey... Starlight." Her smile wavered, but didn't disappear. "How are ya?"

"Oh, we're good, mostly. There was this... thing with Rainbow earlier," Twilight mentioned with a grumble. "But I think beside that we're doing alright."

Starlight flicked her tail and kicked at the ground. Applejack glanced at her. "Really."

"Yes." Twilight's eyes flicked toward Starlight, and she stepped forward. "I just want to give her a chance to learn what friendship means," she whispered to Applejack. "Can you not make a scene?"

"Ah'll give her a chance, Twi, but she's the one that has to decide what tah do with it."

"Thanks." Twilight leaned back and cleared her throat. "So! We were wondering what you thought of friendship. Specifically, what it is and how to apply it."

"Huh. Let me think... Well, Ah know a good friend is faithful and strong, willin' tah stick with ya through thick and thin. It's all about... well, friends and family are basically the same thing. You lean on them, and they lean on ya. Ya support each other, no matter what comes up. Least that's how Ah always thought of it."

"...Well." Starlight Glimmer nodded. "That's something I agree with, at least..."

Twilight beamed.

"...So..." Applejack glanced around. "Did ya need anything else? Not to be rude, but Ah'm in the middle of checkin' mah trees for bark rot. Kind of want ta get that done afor' sunset."

"Oh! Right." Twilight chuckled. "Sorry for taking your time like that--"

"Not a prob, Twi. Anythin' fer a friend." With a friendly wave, Applejack returned to her duties.

"And that's AJ done," Spike commented. "Only one more to go." A starstruck smile grew on his face. "Saved the best for last..."

---------------------

"Oh come in, darlings, please!" Rarity led the group into her botique, levitating various scraps of paper. "Do excuse the mess. The Canterlot Carousel has gotten quite popular, you see, so I have to handle quite a number of commissions and other logistics. Speaking of, Twilight darling, do you have any idea what a 'N-180 form' is? Apparently I haven't filed one, which means I'm being taxed on some fabrics I bring up from Ponyville--"

Spike cleared his throat. "Technically speaking, the N-180 form was phased out fifteen years ago, but the infrastructure still exists so some nobles will try to take advantage of new businesses by upping the price of 'low-class' imports. Just report that to the guard, you'll get your bits back."

"Ah, I see. Thank you." The white unicorn took one of the papers and placed it in a red bin. "Honestly, with what some of these ponies try to pull I'm sometimes amazed that Canterlot is still standing."

"You're telling me. You know, some ponies tried to take me to court when I was five for 'vandalizing private property' because I ate a few gems that Twilight gave me in public?"

Twilight rolled her eyes with a small grin. "That was a fiasco."

"Mmm, yes." Rarity let her eyes drift to Starlight Glimmer for a brief moment. "We seem to attract those, don't we?"

The smile left Twilight's face. "Rarity, please. She's trying to become a better pony."

"Oh, I'm not going to deny that. She did cast a spell on the cutie map, though." Rarity sighed. "I'm not a magical prodigy like you, darling, but if there's one thing I've learned it's that messing with magical artifacts can be dangerous. Still, you're right, the past is in the past." She turned to Starlight and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm terribly sorry if I offended you."

"No, you're right. I nearly doomed Equestria just because a childhood friend moved away." Starlight's head drooped. "That has to be the most petty reason for trying to doom the world I've ever heard."

"Not really," Spike commented. "Nightmare Moon tried to bring about eternal night out of jealousy, I'm pretty sure Discord did everything he did because he was just plain bored, Tirek and Sombra both wanted power for power's sake I think... oh, and Chrysalis claimed to be doing her invasion for the good of her people, but I kind of think she just wanted to throw her weight around or something." He shrugged. "Really, losing a friend is kind of the most sympathetic of the bunch."

Starlight stared at him, wide eyed. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm pretty serious."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Yes, well. Past exploits aside, might I ask why you've deigned to visit moi this fine morning?"

"Well," Twilight explained, "I decided to take Starlight around and ask you girls what you thought the definition of friendship is and how it should be applied. We've already talked to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack." She gave Rarity a broad, eager grin.

"I suppose I can induge you for a moment," Rarity replied, giving Twilight a small smile before turning back to Starlight. "Let me be frank: friendship is many things, depending on the pony. All ponies have a beautiful heart of their own, a unique identity which might shine brightly or be almost lost among the crowd. What matters is what you give and how you give it, be it material things like dresses or the immaterial like care." She flicked a hoof toward Spike. "Or legal advice, as the case may be."

Starlight Glimmer nodded, biting her lip. "I... well. I guess you have a point. I just--"

All of them jumped when a ringing noise started to reverberate through the room. Twilight and Rarity looked at their shimmering cutie marks; Spike winced and clutched his vibrating ear-spines.

"Uh..." Starlight held up her hoof. "What's going on?"

Twilight looked at her with an expression of utmost seriousness. "The Map is summoning us."

---------------------

The doors to the map room burst wide, seven sets of hooves and one set of scaly feet pounding against the crystal floor. They all skidded to a stop in front of the table, eyes widening at the seven images spiraling above the scale replica of their homeland.

Pinkie Pie gasped. "OHMYGOSH! The map called us all! It hasn't done that since it sent us to Starlight's village!" She blinked, turning to Starlight Glimmer. "I still haven't learned the name of that place by the way. You're going to have to tell me later."

"Let's not go off on tangents," Twilight insisted, looking at the detached images of their cutie marks and Spike's earspines hovering above the table. "We need to figure out where the map is sending us."

"And how are you going to do that?" Starlight asked.

"Well, the image will shrink down and hover over the location we need to go to spread friendship!"

The hovering symbols suddenly vanished in a flash of light.

"...or not," Twilight managed. "I... guess it was a false alarm?"

Applejack shook her head. "Ah dunno, Twi. Something about this seems off."

"Did somepony cast a spell on the map again?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

Starlight backed up. "I swear, I haven't been in this room since Twilight made me her student!"

"Let's not start pointing hooves," Fluttershy suggested. "I really don't want to have a fight--"

Rarity gasped. "Look, the map!"

Rings of white light were rising from the edge of the map, gathering above it and spinning in many different directions. With a sudden flash they coalesced into a translucent sphere, the outlines of stars and pentagrams rotating across the surface bound by great circles. One oriented itself to the ground, twisted, and widened; an impossible tunnel of pale green energy was visible for but a moment.

And then something fell out, landing on the Map with a loud CRUNCH.

The great sphere flashed out of existence, leaving the group to focus on the being that had appeared in their private sanctum. For a moment, it seemed as though it would not move, would remain standing in a still position for all eternity. And then the strange portent of doom snapped its head up, looked over them all, and giggled.

"HEYUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Comments

[Emotional Flight]

This sounds awesome.

Portent of doom indeed.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Nice use of the theme song in how each pony defines friendship. Equally good diversity (heh) in the reactions to Starlight, and there's a potential explanation for Pinkie Pie that I don't believe I've ever seen.

In all, I am most definitely intrigued. Not sure where you're going with this, but I look forward to finding out.

[TripleOscillator]

Consider me intrigued! I can't wait to see what this builds up to!

[B_Munro]

Interesting start. My first guess for the uninvited guest is Discord...

[QueenMoriarty]

Consider me hooked like a big fat fish.

With that out of the way, all aboard the NITPICK TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!

And after that big storm sunday

I think it's Sunday.

I justwonder...

There are many words that doublespeak merges. This is not an example of such.

Rings of whit light

Hi, I'm here at Whit's End, covering the news as it turns out light isn't white after all!

Cookies if you catch the reference in that last one.

[HiddenMaster]

Okay, this looks promising. Can't say all that terribly much considering it's the first chapter, but the flow of the writing is smooth, grammar seems good, dialogue feels very much natural and in character.

Now, I will say that I very much like how you're portraying Starlight here who, in my opinion, should very much so be rather depressed after nearly destroying her homeland and species for one of the pettiest reasons imaginable.

Now, Spike's comment about the past villains was pretty funny, but it was generalized a bit much. Then again, it was magnificent snark that fit his character perfectly, so it works out I suppose.

So, this I can say with certainty has got me hooked. Can't wait to see the next chapter.

[Tangent]

On the possible name of Starlight's village, I personally use the name Equity for it. It's nice, simple, and actually stands for the values she was trying to promote, even if her application was severely flawed.

[djthomp]

Fun enough so far. That bit about Pinkie and the aetherial plane was an interesting detail.

Twilight sighed as Rainbow zipped into the sky. "I'm sorry about that. She... might have taken the whole 'stop my first rainboom' thing a little too personally."

That's fairly understandable, honestly.

[Ellington]

MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!

[remnants]

Steve? is that you?

vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/borderlands/images/6/6a/Steve_Heyo.png/revision/latest?cb=20130812064006

[ArDee]

6867266 Best comment.

[fallen starr]

I'm calling Pinkie Pie.

Anyway, this seems like it's going to be one stupendous story. I'm already hooked with this first chapter. I don't have any criticisms at all. Well, except, I would really like to see what Starlight says about Granny Smith. I really loved what Spike said about the other bad guys. I actually giggled, out loud. I look forward to the update, whenever it happens to come, and until then I'll try to think of something more constructive to say, at a time when I haven't been awake the entire night.

[krazykidfannumber2]

Is this BORDERLANDS?!?! Get Teh Earworm!

[Proper Prose]

Screwball?

[Unanimous]

So far so good. I am in the process of writing a fanfiction myself. Still have a long way to go

[JohnIsOffline]

See Title
Read Description
Read First Chapter
derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/12/14/182342__safe_animated_image+macro_spitfire_wonderbolts+academy_spoiler-colon-s03e07_spitfire%27s+eyebrows.gif

[Alondro]

"Really, losing a friend is kind of the most sympathetic of the bunch."

Or the most pathetic of the bunch.

There's making a mountain out of a molehill... and then there's making a whole bunch of mountains out of a molehill and then smashing them together into a giant asteroid that you then use to wipe out all life on an inhabited planet. Kinda the scale in this case.

Well, I suppose I'll read for now... however, this is entering the realm of crossing time travel AND parallel universes simultaneously. That tends to result in continuity turning into a giant ball of knotted yarn.

[nobody dreamer]

Huh, so maybe everything wasn't conveniently magically reset after all those time travel shenanigans? Hm, not sure who that visitor at the end could be. The "greeting" doesn't really seem like a Time-Turner/Doctor thing. My random guess is Minuette (ran into her character recently in some other fics I've been reading).

Good first chapter, I like the greater development of Starlight's redemption. My issues with her character aside, a quick song and dance isn't exactly a great way to redeem a character, coming off really, really rushed, so I like seeing the rest of the Mane Six interact with her more, better than the show's montage. Great way to list off a bunch of different definitions/POVs of friendship, that will probably be important later. Looking forward to the next chapter, whenever that is.

[CCC]

Alternate Pinkie Pie? Sounds like an alternate Pinkie Pie. Or maybe an alternate Starlight Glimmer? She should be able to reproduce the time travel spell, after all.

Or... the Discord who won?

[Prawo Jazdy]

Okay, I'm tracking this.
Two more tiny things: Starlight picking up "a come" early in the chapter, and the map showing "seven images." Unless Starlight's cutie mark is included there for some reason, those are both errors.

[Masterweaver]

6874310

Spike's ears.

[Prawo Jazdy]

6874847 I checked the throne room. Spike's throne has no symbols. This isn't a problem; it's just that you invented something, and that means we don't already know about it. Nor, I suspect, did Spike until just now.

[Erised the ink-moth]

I like how this is starting out.

Including the lines from the show's theme in the mane 6's descriptions of friendship was a nice touch, and I'm pretty sure I'll be reciting them in my head whenever I listen to that theme now. Pinkie going in depth while wearing a labcoat threw me a bit, as it's not really something I could see her doing, but then again... she's Pinkie, and random Pinkie is fun Pinkie.

The other thing I like is how, as a reader, I can feel Starlight's despondence and guilt. She can clearly see how far overboard she went with her revenge plotting, and the consequences of if she had succeeded. The attutude Twilight's friends had towards her, slightly cold but willing to give her a chance for Twilight's sake, really reinforced how far she has to go in redeeming herself (And Spike was a great release for all the gloomyness with his witty comment on all the other villain's motives).

Not sure what you're planning, but if this is a story where they all have to jump between alternate worlds, and solve the problems in order to stop the time stream from collapsing in on itself (or something equally apocalyptic), that would be epic. It would be especially interesting to see how Starlight reacts to actually seeing the alternate worlds she caused, and to see her try to fix everything to atone for her past mistakes. All the while, the mane 6 are right beside her to help save the worlds taken over by their old foes, and getting to meet the alternate versions of themselves!

I'm sorry, I'm rambling now. Just let me say I'm looking forward to the next chapters.

[Norad2]

Spike cleared his throat. "Technically speaking, the N-180 form was phased out fifteen years ago, but the infrastructure still exists so some nobles will try to take advantage of new businesses by upping the price of 'low-class' imports. Just report that to the guard, you'll get your bits back."

Spike is at his best when he's written as a sarcastic Radar O'Riley.

This chapter was artfully done.

[Inertial]

she would follow her tenants with the same zealous vigor she had followed her own.

Tenets.

[NobodieZ]

Great start on this story. I wonder who drop in? Pun not intended.

6869934

Or the most pathetic of the bunch.
There's making a mountain out of a molehill... and then there's making a whole bunch of mountains out of a molehill and then smashing them together into a giant asteroid that you then use to wipe out all life on an inhabited planet. Kinda the scale in this case.

[erictheblue]

"Huh. Let me think... Well, Ah know a good friend is faithful and strong, willin' tah stick with ya through thick and thin. It's all about... well, friends and family are basically the same thing. You lean on them, and they lean on ya. Ya support each other, no matter what comes up. Least that's how Ah always thought of it."

"friends are the family you choose."