Spoilers. This story takes place during Season 5's ending episode, "The Cutie Re-mark".
Starlight can't be defeated. But then again, she can't win either. Both she and Twilight and trapped in an eternal time loop. After realizing this, Starlight alters her spell to transport Twilight and Spike beyond time itself. Unfortunately she's dragged in as well and taken to the place where time ends. In that endless nothingness where even time is meaningless and realities merge she and Twilight find...
Celestia, Discord, and Chrysalis playing cards and betting on the lives of mortals. And it's not as funny as it sounds.
Chapters (1)
This is so meta at times and I love it!
Wow. This actually makes Starlight the hero.
I see what you did there.
And there.
Eh. That was crap. Mildly interesting at times, but otherwise worthless.
Genuinely semi-terrifying.
Starlight Glimmer does bring up a good point at the end though, all she has to do is wait for Twilight to die in one of the alternate timelines. I guess Starlight here at least is moral enough not to try killing Twilight herself.
Celestia also brings up a point I've thought about from time to time too, that Twilight may have been made a Princess but that emotionally, she's not ready; given Lesson Zero was by some fan estimates less than a year before Twilight became a Princess. Gee, putting lots of power in somebody who could go off at a moment's notice? That certainly won't end well
I want to read a sequel of this. Please tell me one exists.
7017599
I'm sorry. Not that you liked it, but I always intended this as a one-shot. Mind you, if Starlight gives us new material in Season 6 it might happen. I'd love to see other people's take on this, though.
7018799 Hm... Well... Hmm... Maybe I could try my hand at a sequel. I'm not the greatest author, but it couldn't hurt to at least explore the idea myself.
7019738
If you've got the passion, don't let me stop you! Consider this story officially open-season for anyone wanting to write sequels, prequels, or zequels. Zequels are like ze sequels and prequels, but with more of ze accent.
7020540 Yay! Ze accent iz ze bezt accent of course.
I actually really liked the premise and execution of this story, especially with the Starlight hero thing towards the end. I believe this may warrant a sequel, sir.
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That was heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure and I have no idea how I feel right now
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7017599
You got your wish.
7126497 Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Can't believe no one thought of this.
7129253
Hm~! Thanks for sharing that! I think it might apply just as well to the sequel, though. Although compared to the plots of these stories that song is downright cheerful.
7129276 It could always be darker.
Personally, I think this is someone who is aware and got bored of the game of life as it was. He/she watches as lives after lives was decided.
Would love a longer more drawn out sequel with Starlight as the hero.
This is now added to my list of phrases that will haunt me until I die.
You should make a blog post with this story tagged to alert readers of the sequel. Anyone who has this in a bookshelf will see it in their blog feed.
7158499
You speak words of sense. It will be done!
Damn, dis was really really good. Well done.
One thing that gets to me about this though is the issue regarding Tirek.
Tirek is a being who can absorb magic (he's basically the Kevin Levin/ Sponge of Equestria). If he can take a magical attack turn it into a ball and straight up eat it, isn't it just as likely to say he'd be just as likely to be in there with Chrysalis, Discord, & Luna? I mean all he has to do is open his mouth or turn an attack into nothing but a snack without having to open his mouth to begin with. He did it with Shining Armor who Celestia had as a captain of her royal guard, and while he may not be an important piece in their bets it is something to take notice of.
As for Sombra I have my own thoughts on but well done.
Finally that last bit which the three were deciding the next villain, "inept with magic", greatly reminded me of the first story I ever made when I first got here, and ironically enough relates greatly to my first villain as well.
Hopefully if the comments have said anything there will be a sequel, keep up the splendid work.
7196747
There is a sequel! Because She Can is the next part of this series, and I understand your reasoning with Tirek and Sombra -- but perhaps part of the issue is that Tirek was a thief in the first place. Despite his potential, he's rather like a sponge. He can absorb lots of magic, but eventually he's going to use it all up and not have any more.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Well, that was a fun ride of a story. Loved it! The entire time that I read it, I kept remembering the dark tag that I saw at the beginning of the story. So alright then. This was good.
Easily one of the darkest stories I ever read.
And I have read some seriously dark shit.
Good.
She almost remembered there and has a way to beat them. Good lord they are pure evil, not even Gods should be playing with lives like that.
I need an alternate ending to this. I'm waiting... waiting... still waiting.
Okay screw it I'm writing my own.
As the smoke from Twilight’s attack cleared, Starlight was greeted with the beautiful image of Celestia slumped across the table, clearly dead. Discord and Chrysalis could only watch in shock as Twilight turned to them and shot two more magic bombs. The smoke cleared and all three Gods were dead. Twilight and Starlight went back to their world and celebrated with a party. The rest of the Mane 6 show up and things get awkward. They get even more awkward when news of Celestia's death spreads. Twilight and Star live awkwardly ever after in a world where they are Gods.
That was fun
This is one of the best stories I have read so far. There may have been some grammar errors, but they don't really distract me from the story. So, good job!
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Ooh, mind messaging me where you found them? I'm going to try to fix this one and the sequel since they're so short. Might as well have two stories which are 90% clear of my usual rampart abuse of the English language.
Moat pls
Silly writer. You fell into the Real World Trap. You should know better than to assume magical worlds work on the same principles as ours, especially when it's rather obvious they do not.
For example, in our world, every month the Sun and Moon share the sky for a period of each day; yet never is the sky half-light and half-dark. Also, the Moon in our world cannot shine next to the Sun, since it has no light of its own and can only reflect the Sun's light. At such times when the Moon is relatively close to the Sun in the sky, it's completely invisible and is the 'new moon' phase.
The new Moon is so completely obscured by the Sun's light that ancient peoples had no idea it was the Moon causing eclipses because the only time any of the dark disc became visible is when it passed across the face of the Sun, and even then it was only a pitch-black silhouette.
Frankly, it is most logical to assume that Equestria's Sun and Moon are both smaller than the planet and both luminescent via magical mechanisms rather than conventional physics principles. Then, it doesn't take as much power to move either and many questionable things about the show suddenly become a tad more reasonable. Not COMPLETELY reasonable, understandably, since the world-building is quite a mess and rife with plot holes of every variety, but a bit more at least.
I could go on, about how Celestia herself clearly is not immortal to this extent and how Discord could very well be trapped as he's a Aspect Entity, and in various legends world-wide, it is a commonplace convention for such beings to possess a weakness inherent to their aspect by which they can be imprisoned indefinitely. But it's not needed. I have what I need.
And, as per how my incredible Deus Ex Self-Insert powers function, the glaring logical flaw has opened up a hole into this universe which I enter... comme si!
(God Douches Chrysalis, Celestia and Discord stare in horror as the Troll King Alondro leers at them) Why hello there. It's time to show you how real gods play. (An eternity later, the withered shells of the trio of tarts drag themselves back, after promising to play more nicely with their pony toys.)
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This is prime for sequel material...