Season 3
53 & 54. The Crystal Empire
After receiving news from Northern Equestria that the Crystal Empire had returned, Princess Celestia sent for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor to be sent to protect it. When they arrived, however, the Empire seemed fine. The citizens were bright-eyed and gleeful. The fearsome King Sombra that they had been warned about was nowhere to be seen. They made their way to the palace, past the Crystal Heart, spinning in place beneath it. They headed up to the throne room.
"Ah, there you are!" Starlight Glimmer greeted from her seat on the throne. Spike stood nearby. "Don't mind me, I was just keeping the seat warm for you, Cadance."
"What's going on?" Cadance asked.
"Well, it's a long story," Starlight said. Spike gave her a dubious look. "Actually, it's a not-so-long story."
~ 30 seconds earlier ~
In a flash of purple light, Starlight appeared in Twilight's library.
"Hey Twi, can I borrow Spike for a minute?" Starlight asked rhetorically before grabbing Spike in her magic.
"What!? No!" Twilight objected.
"Kay-thanks-bye!" Starlight said as they both vanished again. They reappeared an instant later in the Crystal Empire. "Here Spike, take this," Starlight said, giving him the Crystal Heart that she had managed to pilfer with her fore-knowledge from Sombra's trap. Spike held the Crystal Heart in his hands as Starlight shouted, "Citizens, behold! Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious has returned with the Crystal Heart!"
"I did what with the what now?" Spike asked, utterly confused as the entire population of the city poured out of their homes and gathered around them.
"Just bring it over there," Starlight said, pointing over towards the center of the courtyard beneath the palace. Spike took a few steps and the Heart leaped out of his hands and took it's place hovering between the crystal spires. The crystal ponies were so filled with love and joy to see it returned that they powered the Heart, sending out a blast of magical energy, utterly incinerating the shadowy fiend Sombra before he could even reach the Empire.
~ 30 seconds later ~
"... and that was how Spike one-shot King Sombra and saved the Empire," Starlight said before she vanished in a flash.
"Wow Spike, you're a hero!" Cadance said.
"I walked like, ten feet," Spike grumbled.
55. Too Many Pinkie Pies
A large flash of light appeared inside a cave near Ponyville, this caved housed the mirror pool, which caused the next friendship problem on Starlight's list. Looking at a small pocket watch, she smiled.
"Right on time!" Starlight said as she started charging up a spell, with a flash of cyan light, all of the water in the enchanted pond disappeared, and was replaced with water from the mareiterranean sea, and with one final flash, the unicorn disappeared
Later...
Pinkie Pie came into an opening, looking around she noticed a small pond, bouncing up to it, she slowly stopped to remember what she had to say, after reminding herself of the little rhyme, she aporoached the mirror pool
And into her own reflection she stared, uh, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared! she said, walking into the body of water, waiting a few moments, the pink pony stood up "hey what gives?" She asked to no one.
After getting out of the 'mirror pool' Pinkie Pie noticed a small sign that read "Out of Order, to anyone reading this, the mirror pool is permanently out of order to everyone (especially pink party ponies) and can no longer be used, we are sorry for any inconvenience
Signed
ACME
"No! Not ACME!!!" Pinkie said, very randomly, however she is always random, so you can definitely ignore this sentence and not worry about any conspiracy theories
56. One Bad Apple
“Suppose you’re going to join their little club? What’s it called, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Silver Spoon asked the unfamiliar pony, her voice mocking.
There was a long pause. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked expectantly at Babs, waiting for her confirmation.
Babs blew her hair out of her eyes and opened her mouth. “More like-“
The was a puff of magic from the middle of the room. “I’m going to stop you right there,” Starlight announced, a cheery smile on her face. She turned to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Look, I’m calling a ban on this one. She’s off limits. Mess with her, and not only will she make you regret it, I will happily inform your parents that you were here to sabotage this float, and trust me when I say I will make sure they believe me. Now scram.”
Diamond Tiara looked like she was almost indignant enough to object, but her mind was made for her when a glow of aquamarine magic pushed her and Silver Spoon out the door.
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Apple Bloom interjected. “Why are you even here?”
Starlight turned and smiled at her. “You’ll thank me later. Now, Babs has been going through some rough stuff in Manehatten, and she has bullies of her own there. You take good care of her, alright? She’s here to make friends, after all.”
Finally, she turned to Babs. “Those two,” she gestured with a hoof out the barn door, “Are not your friends. You’ll be much better off dealing with your bullies than becoming one. Now enjoy your float.”
With another puff of magic, she vanished. After a long moment, Babs turned to Apple Bloom. “Who the hay was that?”
“Uhh… Long story,” was the only answer she got.
57. Magic Duel
The Great and Powerful Trixie leaned back in her golden chariot and listened to Snips and Snails struggle to pull it. Life was good. Finally she was getting the respect and the luxury she deserved.
So engrossed in her victory was Trixie that she didn’t even notice the burst of air, lightning, and magic that signaled the arrival of a teleporting unicorn.
“Trixie! It’s so good to see you!”
“Twilight, how did you get back—“ Trixie cut herself off as she looked twice. “You’re not Twilight. Who are you? You greeted Trixie awfully familiarly. Does Trixie know you?”
“Not yet, but you will. That’s time travel, which is a spell you can’t do even wearing your amulet, so I win our magic duel.”
“Trixie never agreed to a magic duel with you!”
“Not yet, but you will,” Starlight repeated. “Then you’ll admit defeat, I’ll turn the town back over to the residents, and then I’ll buy you some of those roasted nuts that you like. How does that sound?”
Leaping off the chariot, Trixie drew power from the Alicorn Amulet and prepared to blast the interloper with some devastating spell. “Don’t speak to Trixie that way, Not-Twilight!”
“Call me Starlight Glimmer. Oh, and by the way, you’ve done a terrible job with the place.”
“What?!” She let fly with a red beam, summoning ancient power from beyond the plane of existence to sever this Starlight limb from limb.
Starlight popped a paper bag into existence, caught the beam with it, crumpled it up, tossed it over her shoulder, and yawned. “I mean, a glass dome? What’s going to happen on a sunny day when the grass catches fire? Not to mention running out of air.”
“ARRRRGH!” Trixie continued to blast Starlight with spells, only to watch them deflect, pass through, or curve right around her.
“But I don’t blame you. It’s the first village you’ve taken over, right? Stick with me, Trixie. By the sixth or seventh one, you’ll have everything down pat. Remind me to show you one I ruled. I had all the houses in a row.”
“You can’t defeat Trixie, Starlight! I will draw magic from the amulet until it overpowers you!”
“Ha, you said ‘I,’ I’m getting to you. Anyway, nah, just power down, take the amulet off, and we’ll go have fun.”
Several Hours Later
“Welcome back, Twilight!” Starlight said. “How was your little sabbatical with Zecora?”
“It was…restful, I suppose. And I’m glad to be back. Spike told me about the Alicorn Amulet and what Trixie did while I was gone. But how did you ever defeat her?”
“I asked her nicely to take the Amulet off.”
“Starlight!”
Starlight flashed a toothy grin. “Oh, all right. I simply pointed out to her that while the magical lock prevented me from removing the amulet from around her neck…”
“Yes?”
“It didn’t prevent me from removing her neck from within the Amulet.”
58. Sleepless in Ponyville
Scootaloo checked the sky nervously. “But what about Rainbow Dash? Isn't Rainbow Dash coming?” she said.
“Course she is, sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “She's gonna meet us up at our first campsite.”
“Oh.”
“Alright, y'all, let's move 'em out!”
The others started trotting away, and just as Scootaloo turned to follow, she heard something from the bushes. “Psst!”
Scootaloo stared at the bush curiously.
“Psst! Yeah, you!”
Scootaloo poked her head in the bushes, and found a strangely familiar pink unicorn. “Haven’t I seen you before?” she asked.
“That’s not important,” Starlight Glimmer said. “I’m here to tell you a scary story.”
“A scary story?”
“Yes. There’s this old mare, and she keeps asking ponies if they have her rusty horseshoe.”
“That’s not very scary,” Scootaloo noted.
“Yeah, I’m terrible at telling scary stories,” Starlight Glimmer admitted. “But you know who’s great at telling scary stories? Rainbow Dash!”
“She is? I mean, of course she is!” Scootaloo said.
“She's so good, she might even scare you,” Starlight Glimmer warned.
Scootaloo gulped. She didn’t want to be scared in front of the most fearless pony in Ponyville!
“But you know what? This was Rainbow Dash, the night after she heard that olden pony story for the first time.” She pulled out a photograph.
Scootaloo grabbed the photograph and looked at it. It showed a filly Rainbow Dash sitting up in her cloud bed, looking like she had just woken up; her short rainbow mane was sticking up in every direction. She had a look of horror on her face as she stared at a yellow stain on the cloud bed.
“So, if you can hear Rainbow Dash’s scary story and not pee your bedroll, then you’re already tons braver than her,” Starlight Glimmer said.
Scootaloo smiled. She could do that. As long as somepony didn’t stick her hoof in a bowl of warm water... again.
“Oh, and if you’re tired, eat these before going out on your scooter,” Starlight Glimmer said, passing Scootaloo a bag.
“What are these?”
“Roasted espresso beans.”
~
The strange unicorn spoke the truth. Rainbow Dash was a great scary storyteller. But after waking up to a dry bedroll, she knew she had nothing to fear. She was braver than Rainbow Dash, and her idol was definitely going to take her under her wing.
The day after returning from their camping trip, Scootaloo rediscovered the bag of espresso beans she had received from the strange unicorn, and shared them with her Crusader friends.
The resulting damages to Ponyville took two days, seven songs, and four montages to repair.
59. Wonderbolt Academy
Spitfire's office door swung open smoothly as a teal pegasus walked in.
"Cadet Dust," Spitfire looked up from signing photographs for the next fundraiser — they would need the money after the press got ahold of this fiasco. "Would you take a seat?"
"Yes, ma'am. Why did you call me in? I need to be at Oatis in 20."
"Do you think I don't know that? You're not going to Oatis, or anywhere for that matter."
Lightning Dust's hopeful eyes were crushed as Spitfire brought out a large white trash bag.
"Now, let's see what we have here..." Spitfire started rummaging through the bag and started bringing out items. "Several boxes of cigarettes, lighter, bottles of booze — ooh, Buck Daniels — and all of this."
Spitfire then upended the bag, pouring out lots of clear bags filled with various pills, powders, and syringes.
"We found all of this hidden in your bunk and in your locker. One of these would be enough to bust you for using, but with all of these? I say you're planning to sell. Tartarus, even the cigarettes are hallucinogens."
"But—but—but—THEY'RE NOT MINE! Somepony planted them!"
"Cadet Dust, who on equus would plant this much contraband on you and why?"
"I don't know, but they want to sabotage me!"
"Cadet, thousands run this program a year. Targeting you out of the crowd is... unlikely."
Lighting Dust straightened up and smirked. "It's perfectly likely when nopony can fly like me!"
"Actually, 20% of the cadets in the program can fly like you. 6.5 seconds on the Dizzitron is nothing to boast about. If anypony here is a target for sabotage, it's Cadet Dash. And we checked, she's clean. Hoof over your badge, and go with the nice officer from the DEA. It's a shame, though — you did have potential."
Across the base, a pair of binoculars slipped back into a cloud, which vanished in an aquamarine burst, leaving only a pizza box attached to a parachute.
60. Apple Family Reunion
“Granny Smith handed me the reins of their reunion and I’m going to make the most of it. Apple Bloom, I’ve got so many things planned you won’t even have a minute of -”
Before Applejack could finish that sentence, a bright flash enveloped the room and a loud bang accompanied it as Starlight appeared in the middle of the room. Almost immediately, Apple Bloom sat up, looking quite alarmed after having only fell asleep for less than a minute. “Wha, what?!”
“Sorry!” Starlight chimed in, looking over at the dazed filly who was now blinking blearily at her. “Didn’t think you’d be sleeping when I teleported in. And I probably would have made less of a show of things if I’d known...” She waved a hoof in Apple Bloom’s direction vaguely. “Oh well! Now what you were saying?”
“That I… have a lot of things planned out?” Applejack said, just staring tiredly at Starlight. At this point, she just wasn’t even surprised by Starlight’s appearance - though she couldn’t help but wonder what could be next.
“And what came after that?” Starlight said, her smile widening as of she was talking to a foal, and gesturing for Applejack to continue on.
“That Apple Bloom won’t get even a moment of rest?”
“Bingo!” And with that, a sharp blast came from Starlight’s horn, and hitting the stand where all of Applejack’s plans had been, igniting the small wooden frame and paper on fire.
Having jumped back to avoid such a blast initially, now Applejack stood, horrified as the fire quickly destroyed the paper on it - though she was trying to save the board also, hastily trying to beat down the flames.
“What the hay was that for?!” Apple Bloom said, having stood up on the bed, and looking quite alarmed by the whole display.
“I’m saving your whole family from a lot of trouble, I can assure you now!” Starlight said, looking proud of her work.
“But… But I’ve been working on these plans for weeks!” Applejack weakly protested. Well, her drawn up plans were gone, but she did still have-
Nope. Another blast was shot from Starlight’s horn, hitting the stack of notes she had. A second later, only cinders and ash remained atop the table, making Applejack only stare horrified. All of her hard work gone down the drain…
“You should have just let Granny Smith take care of things as normal,” Starlight said smoothly, now staring at Applejack’s dejected face. “Or do you remember the last… couple of times this happened to you? Including the jam incident?”
Applejack blinked at the last sentence, her face finally breaking from the dejectedness to surprise. “How do you know abo-”
“Not important! Plus, that’s a story for another time,” Starlight reassured Applejack - though it clearly did nothing to calm the mare’s nerves. “Now, you can do this thing! Just keep it simple, sweet, and make sure you avoid the fruit bats. Bye!” With one more hoof wave, Starlight disappeared with another flash and a bang.
“... Applejack, are things going to be okay?” A worried look was given to the older mare from Apple Bloom.
“I… guess I’m staying up the rest of the night to rework things," Applejack said before sighing afterwards. Great.
61. Spike At Your Service
A gentle breeze from an open window carried the faint scent of cooking pizza all throughout Golden Oaks library, and for a moment displaced even its usual all-pervasive smells of pine sap and aging paper.
Nopony was there to enjoy it, though. A solitary lavender unicorn was technically present, but she’d already spent long hours with her muzzle pressed close to one particularly bewitching tome out of the dozen she’d set out to read, and her senses were engrossed. Her lips occasionally quirked upward as she absorbed line after line of effervescent prose. And the only scent that reached her was the weathered old tome’s earthy musk.
The pony—Twilight Sparkle—lit her horn and carefully turned a page with her magic.
Suddenly there was a huge *BANG!* from behind her. Twilight leapt up off her rump, shouting involuntarily and jerking her head about to see—
—she made a slight choking sound as she realized she’d kept her magical grip on the page she’d been turning, and had ripped it from the book in the process. “No,” Twilight croaked through a dry throat. “No, nononono, what have I done?!”
“You haven’t done anything yet!” said another purplish unicorn who was suddenly standing before her amid a scorched circle on the floor. Twilight recoiled with shock at the unexpected arrival, much less the evidence that they’d arrived via some kind of high-level spell. “Don’t start,” the pony said, raising a foreleg and then cursing at her watch. “Okay, twenty-five seconds left. Twilight—”
“I recognize you,” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “You’re that… mare… who fixes things?”
“I said there’s no time!” The pony set her jaw and blew a strand of mane out of her eyes. “Twilight, what does Spike mean to you?”
“Spike…”
“Ugh!” The mare pressed a hoof to her eyes. “Come on, are we talking… brother? Son? Indentured servant?”
“Indentured…!” Twilight shook her head. “N…no, Spike is my friend, first and foremost!”
The mare nodded once. “Friend. Perfect. Okay, so what’s the best way to respond to a friend who comes to you in confidence about something big that they’re trying to work through?”
Twilight lowered the paper. “What do you mean?”
“Twilight…” The pony checked her watch again, and bit her lip. “You listen, Twilight. You give him your undividedattention for at least the minute or two it takes to figure out what kind of conversation you’re dealing with.”
“Well of course I would.” Twilight frowned deeply. “I know that’s how friends treat each other.”
“You say that, but I’m pretty sure—” The mare’s watch started ringing, and she gritted her teeth. “Just remember! Oh, and if he starts going on about some kind of ‘dragon code,’ ask him if he’s read the newer commentaries by Ember the Younger about—”
She vanished in a burst of white light and a sound like clocks exploding. In her place were fresh scorch-marks on the wood floor.
A solitary pizza box lay in their center.
As Twilight worked her jaw in a halting effort to think of what to say, she heard a soft rap at the library’s door. A moment later, its knob turned, and Spike poked his head in.
“Hey, Twilight. Got a minute to talk?”
Twilight glanced back at the book, then down at the page she’d inadvertently ripped out of it, before greeting her friend with a smile.
“Of course, Spike; I’ve always got time for my number one assistant… and my oldest friend. Want some pizza?”
62. Keep Calm and Flutter On
Twilight’s ear twitched as she heard the now familiar sound of a time travel spell. Her eye twitched when she thought of the only pony who could be responsible. She let out a sigh as she closed the tome she was studying to go see what Starlight was up to this time.
“Really Starlight? Isn’t there a better time than 3 in the morning?” She asked as soon as she saw the pink culprit, who was hastily writing something on a scrap piece of parchment.
“Oh, I’m just putting a little something together that will help you out tomorrow.” Starlight said as she put the last finishing touches on the parchment. “Er- later today, technically.” she amended.
Having finally had enough of Starlight’s tomfoolery, Twilight made a plan. 1, chain starlight to a heavy object. 2, immediately incenerate whatever was on that parchment. 3, tell Pinkie Pie that Starlight was wondering about cherry chongas.
Making a plan has many benefits: it allows you to organise everything you need in the most logical manner, and it can make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything. The one downside is that it can occasionally allow time traveling nuisances to escape.
Twilight resisted the urge to curse at the unfortunate turn of events in case Spike was awake, and lit up her horn to throw the cursed bit of parchment in the recycling bin.
Instead Twilight levitated the piece of parchment over to herself so she could see what Starlight had written. Seeing what it was she just rolled her eyes and went back to her tome.
“Why would I ever need to know a reforming spell?”
63. Just for Sidekicks
"I have no jewels, I have no cake."
In the middle of the Golden Oaks Library, Spike lamented the loss of the main ingredients to his disgustingly mineral-rich cake recipe -ingredients that he had eaten- while Owlicious watched the greedy, self-pitying drake from the mantle of the library's frighteningly flammable fireplace, wishing for all the world that he could get the drake to stop singing.
"I'm a sad little dragon, with nothing to-"
Thankfully, a knock at the door interrupted the mulberry reptile before he could continue, and Owlowiscious gave a hoot of relief that once again made the Number One Assistant think he had said 'Who'.
"-is it?"
Owlowiscious could only shake his head. 'Assistant' indeed.
Spike stood up from the floor and moved depressingly over to the door, swinging it open to reveal Fluttershy and her demonic bunny, the latter perched lazily upon her pink mane while a pair of saddlebags rested on her withers. The moment she saw the frilly pink apron and the measuring cup perched on Spike's head, however, she quickly began to have second thoughts, "Oh! Oh goodness, I- I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Spike turned towards the bowl of cake batter in his claw, "Well, I do have this cake to not bake."
"Oh, sorry, it's a bad time..."
"Ehh, inside joke. Talk to me."
Spike gestured for the shy pegasus to enter as he walked back inside, uselessly mixing the batter in his mixer bowl as he took a seat on the library's stairs.
"It's just that, Princess Cadence needs us to do a great job welcoming the head of the Equestria Games when she visits the Crystal Empire tomorrow-"
"Oh, I know all about that," the drake interrupted, allowing an unseen audience to breathe a sigh of relief, "As if I wouldn't be any help at welcoming."
"Oh, I don't know what I was thinking! Of course you might be upset for not being invited, and here I am coming to ask you for a favor." Fluttershy turned shamefully towards the door and started trotting back out, "You were probably going to say no anyway; all I had to offer you in exchange was one little jewel."
"What was that?"
Fluttershy leaped into the air with a scream, latching onto Owlowiscious in fear of the drake as he practically teleported in front of her. Realizing what she'd just done, the pegasus quickly let go of the owl and gave him an apologetic smile before landing back on the floor and pulling a large green jewel from her saddlebags, "All I have is this jewel."
The jewel gleamed in Celestia's sunlight as it filtered through the windows, making it look all the more enticing for bookhorse's Number One Assistant as he shamelessly drooled onto the floor, "That's a really big one!"
Just as Fluttershy was about to put it away, a mulberry blur snatched it from her hoof and took the form of Spike, bouncing on his tail and hugging the looted treasure, "A really big, juicy, perfect for a cake-topper jewel."
"I agree, thanks Fluttershy."
A turquoise glow surrounded the green jewel, floating it over to a familiar, heliotrope unicorn, who was currently laboring over Spike's mixing bowl as she read the recipe for the gem cake, her friendship journal rested on the opposite side of the bowl, closed to protect its pages, "I'll take the job."
"Starlight?!" Angel Bunny immediately hopped down from his perch in Fluttershy's mane and bounded across the library towards the only other pony he could actually love to be around, "No, I couldn't ask you to- I mean, you've probably got more important things to do than watch my bunny."
"And my gem!" Spike said angrily before realizing his mistake, "Uh- I mean, her gem." Spike chuckled bashfully.
Starlight Glimmer offered Fluttershy a smile before turning back to her work, eagerly running a hoof over Angel's belly as he laid down on the counter, "It's no trouble at all, in fact, it'd be my pleasure to take care of this adorable widdle guy." Angel could only offer a series of happy squeaks as Starlight spoiled the furry little demon, which only made the unicorn smile even more as she suddenly pulled hundreds of gem shards from Spike's mouth and merged them back into their original wholes.
Spike's reaction was instantaneous, gagging and coughing as he fell to the floor, but Starlight was heedless of her future castlemate's plight as she cleaned the gems off and put them into the mixing bowl, "Besides, I'm almost done solving this friendship problem. Taking care of Angel for you is just a bonus."
Once the gems were in place, a flash of light and heat transformed the cake into its full, diabetic glory, which was swiftly placed in front of a now heavily drooling Spike.
Angel Bunny hopped into Starlight's purple mane as the mare trotted out of the library next to Fluttershy, the day's crisis successfully averted, "So I was wondering if I could try and style Angel's tail for Tuesday instead of just fluffing it, give it a bit more flair and make it stand out y'know?"
"Oh, that sounds just wonderful, Starlight! What styles did you have in mind?"
The sounds of Spike's ravenous hunger were all that followed the two mares and bunny as they left the library, and as icing and gem shards began to fling about the room, an owl followed soon after.
It wasn't until the cake was gone and Spike had rested a claw on his swollen belly that a flash of light announced the arrival of Twilight Sparkle. The purple unicorn looked frantically around the library before galloping over to her Number One Assistant and shouting at him, "Where is she?! Where's Starlight?! I know she was here, I know it."
Spike couldn't answer, having entered an intense food coma that would leave him regretting his life decisions the following morning. At least he got to have his cake, and eat it.
64. Games Ponies Play
Everything was proceeding splendidly for one Ms Peachbottom as she moved slowly through the line that lead towards the customs officer at the Canterlot Grand Central Station where she was hoping to make her connecting train to the Crystal Empire on time. With a strained smile, she looked up at the clock that was suspended in the air with unseen magic, then to her left where she saw a sign for the little filly's room, which is when she felt it.
She needed to pee.
"Ooo..." she groaned as quietly as she could, trying to hold it. "Nope, can't." Ms Peachbottom said aloud, then looked behind her, finding a smiling unicorn with a pale, light greyish heliotrope coat and a purple mane with green streaks that she swore she didn't see behind her a few minutes earlier. "Ummm... Excuse me, miss...?"
"Oh? yes?" The mare said.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you possibly hold my place in line," Ms Peachbottom asked. "Nature calls," she explained needlessly.
"Oh, I'd be happy too," The smiling mare responded.
"Oh, thank you so much." Ms Peachbottom said before bolting from the line towards the bathroom, leaving her flower motif covered luggage behind.
Once she was out of sight, Starlight concentrated magic through her horn and teleported a small, unassuming package wrapped in brown paper from her 'luggage' into that of Ms Peachbottom's. Once that was completed, she dispelled her specialized 'notice-me-not' spell, turned to the stallion behind her, who was understandably startled that somepony other than the green-maned lady was in front of him, offered him ten bits to watch Ms Peachbottom's luggage, then left the line.
Rounding a corner, she held up her stopwatch.
"26.. 27... Oh, I'm good at this." She said to herself, then popped out of existence.
Earlier (Relatively)
In a dark alley behind Sugarcube Corner, Starlight Glimmer waited patiently. She didn't need to wait long, as the mare she had contacted earlier stepped out of the shadows for a moment before walking towards Starlight.
"You got the bits?" Tree Hugger asked, in her characteristic aloof manner.
"Of course, you got the package?"
"Does Fluttershy love animals?"
They both laughed at the awkwardness of the exchange, then Starlight proffered the bag of bits, which Tree Hugger reached for, only to grab Starlight's foreleg and pulled her close.
"Now listen here," Tree Hugger started, the 'aloofness' of her voice replaced with a steely edge. "This much marejuana is enough for an intent to distribute conviction, that's 5-15 in the slammer." She continued, reaching up into her dreadlocked mane and pulling a rather sharp looking and quite large hair pin. "You get caught with this, you don't know me. Rat me out and I'll shank you in prison my first day. Got it?"
"Yes." Starlight croaked.
"Awesome," Tree Hugger responded, her entire demeanour changing back to her normal self as she replaced the pin in her mane, then tossed her what looked like a brick wrapped in brown paper. "Have fun!"
"Yeah... Sure..." Starlight said nervously once Tree Hugger was out of earshot.
65. Magical Mystery Cure
Starlight took a deep breath to even herself out. She flipped through the pages of her (now heavily annotated) copy of the Friendship Journal, sharing space in her saddlebag with a horn-written journal of her own. She'd been keeping notes of her travels, and had purposely skipped around, leaving this particular lesson for her last journey.
She smiled softly as she met the gaze of her mentor. "See you six years ago. Back in thirty seconds."
"Or the pizza's free."
~
Twilight was having a tremendously awful day. She'd broken her friends, swapped their destinies- their cutie marks around, and left all of them unfulfilled in their new lives. Her head was hidden under her forelegs, with a pillow absorbing her tears.
The room brightened for a moment in a flickering flash. Starlight's heart broke when she saw her mentor lying there like a puppet with cut strings. She gently smoothed the mane from that pretty face and smiled crookedly.
"Starlight... please. I can't do this myself."
Starlight took a deep breath and tried to squeeze together the fragments of her heart.
"You're right. You can't help your friends. But they can help one another. You teach me that. I could just go out there and swap all the cutie marks back but..."
She shook her head.
"Fluttershy is getting ready to leave and move back to Cloudsdale, an absolute failure of an entertainer. You need to take her to her cottage to go help Rainbow Dash. It'll work itself out from there."
She planted a soft kiss on Twilight's cheek.
"Wish I could stay for the song, or to hear Celestia's voice crack when... well. Time waits for no mare, and your destiny's calling Twilight. Time to answer."
~
Twilight embraced Starlight when she exited the temporal anomaly. There were tears, but happy ones.
Starlight jotted down the notes of her last ever jaunt through time, and the nib of the pen cracked on the full stop.
The book glowed brilliantly, and both of them disappeared in a flash of octarine lightning.
~
Destiny's calling.
Twilight watched in awe as her student's magic surrounded her. They floated in the Void Space, Starlight closing her eyes in mute acceptance.
Her mane flared and flickered, erupting into a smoky haze of tachyons and Cherenkov radiation as wings exploded from her back.
~
"Friends, ponies, Equestrians... M-may I present t-to you for the very first time...
"Princess Starlight Glimmer, the Princess of Time."
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Oh dear. This won't have repercussions or anything.
Nah, Long Story is in a different fanfic entirely.
9138480
No more than it being the cover picture of the story, anyway.
I guess she took her time with Trixie.
9138494
giggity
Okay I'm lost on what happened there at the end after MMC was set on course, did it switch back to the present?
Finishes reading Season 2 and refreshes the story page only to find Season 3 has appeared while I was reading.
Well, that was unexpected.
Sweet, though.
The End.
9138466
Fuck you it's canon.
9138539
The end of MMC is the present, yes.
9138545
Thank you, I try.
I need a princess of limited bumper to bumper warranties.
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9138561
See? This is what I was talking about when you first wrote it.
soooo... does that mean twilight doesnt become an alicorn?
I presume just a few moment before she drove sword through Sombra's back, while he frantically kept screaming "enslave them all"?
9138593
Well you should have said so!
I thought you were just being funny. 6^9
9138643
MMC still happens as normal. It pretty explicitly states that Starlight returns to the present, files down her last entry, and then Princesses.
I just realized that Starlight could be a potential companion of the Doctor.
Guess she wanted to save the best for last. Either that or some other timey wimey reasons.
So, when we finish season eight, are we just going to wait until season nine or do some weird stuff that has nothing to do with the canon of the show
"Ring ring. ... Destiny? ... I've been expecting your call."
- Rhino
Starlight's an Alicorn & Twilight isn't no more!
9138724
Maybe? There's something there.
9138750
Saving the best for last.
9138796
Mostly based on the way Twilight's reaction to getting vaporized by the Elements is quiet acceptance. Starlight inferred that something would happen.
9138918
Not sure where this keeps coming from. She pretty explicitly returns to the present.
9138971
Huh?
9138972
She doesn't prevent Twilight from becoming an alicorn. She in fact helps that along a tiny bit.
Twilight's coronation / presentation was in Canterlot. Starlight's is in Ponyville, from the Friendship Castle. She returns to the present, and finishing her time travel journal is what causes her to alicorn.
9138978
Ahhh I see
So, just like in the original timeline? Good job preserving that Starlight.
When one says anyone can be a hero; it is true, because a hero does not have to do much to make someone's life better.
Oof, my episode seems super out of place in terms of style.
A goddamn princess I can get behind. She gets shit done!
in thirty seconds or less, evidently
9139246
Thank you.
9139107
Tone and quality bounces all over the place. You're fine.
9139246
Or the Pizza's free.
I suspect someone is a fan of DWK.
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9139382
I never claimed he was correct.
9139382
Someone skipped MMC. It all happened, for her. And she didn't tackle the lessons in order.
9138492
I should have seen that coming.
9139026
Good of Starlight to help her pal Spike keep his fan club.
9133714
Oh no, I do.
I was just thinking of what could happen if you did not give a f*ck and changed everything and then some how turned Equestria into Soviet Russia.
Starlight becoming an alicorn in the actually series is one of two things that have yet to happen that I really want to see.
The other being Scoots actually flying.
While most of these were hilarious as usual, I'm afraid I don't quite get how what she did for Games Ponies Play fixed anything.
So Starlight Glimmer is MLP version of The Doctor now?
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9142076
She planted drugs on Ms. Peachbottom to prevent her from going to the Crystal Empire. Thereby avoiding the mix-up with Ms. Harshwhinny.
9142138
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Disappointed about the Wonderbolts Academy. Instead of the drug route how about Starlight approaching Lightning Dust with a you will improve or else rant? It just seems like Starlight in these are awfully selective on who will get redeemed and who won't....
9143390
But if she did that, The Washouts episode would have never happened.
Starlight, you could change Peachbottom's luggage to look different instead of ruining that innocent mare's life.
Yeah, not to impressed with some of these. Framing characters for drug possession? That's just lazy.
Started off strong but fell apart with Seasons 2 & 3.
9142129
She's the Bad Wolf.
It’s going to get really interesting when Starlight is appearing in her own timeline to correct herself!
OH, NOW YOU'VE DONE IT.
I AM GOING TO EITHER MAKE A GIANT FOOL OF MYSELF, RUIN MY CHANCES OF EVER GETTING INTO COLLEGE, OR BOTH, BUT I WILL PROVE TO YOU THAT CHERENKOV RADIATION DOESN'T FUCKING WORK THAT WAY!
DEPLOY THE PHYSICS BRIGADE!
9149637
Are you absolutely positively sure it doesn't work that way when disputably ungodly amount of raw, not so raw and hard boiled magic emitted backward and forward through space-time from the point of ascension?
9149637
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