The next morning, the Apples and their guests rose bright and early, greeting the day with another substantial breakfast and quickly finishing the day’s chores. With Granny and Macintosh heading over to Manehatten to visit relatives, and Apple Bloom off to a movie marathon at the cineplex with the other two members of the Canterlot Movie Club, the seven girls and their guests would have the farm to themselves for most of the day.
The other girls arrived around mid-morning, eager to get in a few rounds of soccer before they settled down for their own movie binge. They solved the uneven number of players issue by Twi’ and Twilight volunteering to takes turns being referee, trading off each half, while Spike and Mission cheered from the sidelines.
The game quickly descended into a series of mad scrambles, the ball constantly changing hands as the two teams struggled for control. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow Dash, captain of the soccer team, pushed her team to an early lead as she zipped around the field.
Catching a pass from Pinkie, Rainbow sent the ball careering towards the goal, and right into Fluttershy, bowling the pink-haired girl over. A few anxious seconds later, Fluttershy rose to her feet, the ball clutched in her hands and a proud smile on her face.
“Good goin’ ‘Shy!” Applejack cheered her teammate as Twilight declared a time-out, so everyone could catch their breath.
“That was a great bwock, Auntie Fwuttershy,” Mission praised the older girl, “It was just wike when you pwayed against the Coltstown Champions!”
“Fluttershy is the star defensive player for Ponyville’s buckball team, the Ponyville Punsters,” Twi’ explained.
“I am? I-I mean, she is?”
“Way to go, ‘Shy!” Rainbow said as she gave her dumbfounded friend a gentle slap on the shoulder, “’Course, with me leading the team, it’s no wonder that we’re doing good.”
“Actually,” Revan spoke up, a small smile curling her lips at the teenage athlete’s ego, “Pinkie Pie is the star offensive player, Applejack and Rainbow are the reserve players.”
The polychromatic-haired girl blinked as she absorbed this tidbit, “Pony-AJ and pony-me are the reserve players … and pony-Pinkie and pony-Fluttershy are the team stars … they must be awesome at this buckball game!”
Returning to their game, Rainbow’s and Applejack’s competitive natures began to get the better of them, and the (admittedly, unspoken) “no powers” rule eventually fell to the wayside, forcing Twi’ to end the game, both out of fairness to those players who lacked an applicable magical ability, and to limit the damage the girls could do to the farm in their enthusiasm, especially after a particularly energetic kick, combined with an equally eager attempt to block, put a pair of holes in the barn, but at least Pinkie had refrained (barely) from “kersploding” anything.
Less than an hour later, the four Equestrians were watching as the ‘space opera’ (as Twilight insisted on calling it) unfold before them with rapt fascination, while the other seven girls often tossed in their own comments or bits of trivia.
****
“Mommy, can we get a giant riding wizard?”
“I don’t think that there are any in Equestria, honey.”
“Aww, phooey.”
*****
“‘We’re completely unarmed’?” Revan stared at the screen in disbelief, “Leia’s ship had cannons and soldiers aboard, how is that unarmed?”
Applejack rubbed her forehead, “Ah think ya’re missin’ tha point here, sugarcube.”
****
“Hey, why didn’t Chewbacca get a medal?”
“That is one of the unanswered mysteries of Star Wars, Spike,” Sunset grinned down at the transformed drake sprawled out on the floor, “There’s been a couple of theories, but no, official, explanation that I know of.”
*****
“Go Wuke! Go save your friends, even if the wittle green man says not too!”
“You tell him, squirt,” Rainbow chuckled as she ruffled Mission’s hair.
****
“Wait, Darth Vader is Luke’s father? But Kenobi said he’d murdered Luke’s dad! I’m so confused ….”
Rarity patted the princess’ shoulder consolingly, “They’ll get into that in the next movie, darling, don’t fret about it right now.”
****
“Wook, Momma, she’s a twi’wek wike you!”
“And a slave, dancing for a Hutt,” the Jedi sighed, “Some things never change.”
****
“‘From a certain point of view’?” Revan groaned, “They’re using that garbage? It’s crap like that that makes people assuming every word coming out of a Jedi’s mouth is a self-serving lie,” the older woman shook her head in disgust.
****
“The strike team only left the village a few hours ago at most, how did the Ewoks get all of this set up?”
“Ah think ya’re over thinkin’ things again, Twi’.”
“Yea,” Pinkie added, “It’s only a movie, just sit back and relax.”
****
After putting Mission and Spike to bed for a short nap (Twi’ theorized that something about being transformed into a dog made Spike sleepier than normal), the nine girls returned to the living room to talk some more before they got to work on dinner.
“I’m glad you’re getting along so well with Sunset,” Twi’ murmured as she snuggled up against her wife.
“Yeah, Sunny’s a good sort, if rather rough around the edges,” the Jedi smiled down at her, “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
The scholarly alicorn giggled and pulled her closer, “I hope this means you’ll also make peace with Starlight when we get back.”
“Maybe,” Revan replied, her voice going hard as she stiffened inside Twi’ embrace, “We’ll see.”
“‘Maybe’!” the princess retorted, her eye twitching, “You have every right to be angry with Starlight, Revan, but you have to let this go! This rancor of yours is twisting up your mind, and poor Starlight is constantly afraid that you’ll decided she’s irredeemable and execute her!”
“You and the younglings are the only reason I haven’t already!” the Jedi snapped back.
Both women ignored Fluttershy’s horrified squeak, as the seven teens stared in dismayed confusion at the argument that had suddenly erupted in their midst. It was clearly a private matter, but they were too shocked to leave and grant the couple their privacy.
“Please, Revan,” Twi continued in a softer tone, “Starlight made a mistake, she didn’t realize what would happen. Please understand.”
“Nerfshit! She deliberately and intentionally screwed with time to unmake your friendship with our vod, a friendship that she knew was essential to defeating Nightmare Moon, Discord and Tirek! She just didn’t care about the consequences to everyone else, so long as she ‘won’!” the Jedi ground out, each word falling as cold and sharp as a blade on the neck, “And each time, instead of returning to her proper time and place, she hid in the past so she wouldn’t have to face the results of her actions! Starlight may not have killed anyone with her own hooves, but she’s still guilty of mass genocide!”
Revan and Twi’ glared at each other for a moment, then the princess took a deep breath and tried, yet again, to reason with her hot-tempered wife, “Luna, Discord, Sunset, even you. You all did horrible things, things that some ponies said could never be forgiven. That you didn’t deserve to have a second chance. But those ponies were wrong! Give Starlight her second chance.”
“What about Amber Moonlight?”
Twi’s brow furrowed in bewilderment, “I don’t understand.”
“Amber only set fire to several house with the intent to murder those inside. She only tortured and murdered a stallion and five foals. She only tried to murder me, three of my students and a member of the Guard when we tracked the deaths back to her. But nobody cried out for her second chance when I executed her. Where was Honey Grace’s second chance, for that matter? Or Sombra’s? Or Tirek’s?” Revan closed her eye, “My heart wants you to be right pika, to believe that Starlight deserves the chance you’re giving her, that she won’t throw it away, and that our younglings and vod are right to give her their trust. But my head can’t understand how Starlight gets to be forgiven when so many others weren’t. It insists that there must be some line that there is no coming back from if you cross it, and if there is that line, then Starlight should be on the wrong side of it. And my gut is still burning that she caused the suffering and deaths of all of our family and friends, of the entire world, over and over again, and she gets to just walk away like it never happened!”
“Wait,” Sunset broke in, her confusion and intellectual curiosity overriding her manners, “How could Starlight have possibly caused the same ponies to die multiple times?”
“She used a time travel spell to alter the past,” the princess explained distractedly, “Repeatedly.”
“Ah, that would … what?! Time travel like that is impossible!”
Twi’ shook her head, “That’s what we thought too, it turns out it’s just very difficult, and extremely risky.”
Seeing that the quarreling couple had been distracted for the moment, Fulttershy piped up, “Umh, I realize this is a personal issue, b-but it sounds like your anger, however justified, isn’t really helping anything, and is only making everyone, including you, unhappy.”
“And just forgiving the murdering little schutta will make everything better?” Revan growled, turning to glare at the timid girl, “What about her victims? What about justice?”
Applejack wrapped a comforting arm around Fluttershy’s shoulder as the pink-haired girl shrank back from the fury blazing in the Jedi’s eye, “But if ya’ll managed ta fix everythin’ after this Starlight gal went an’ broke time (Ah can’t believe Ah said that), then Ah’m not sure that she, actually, hurt anyone, since, well, it never happened,” she argued.
The one-eyed woman scowled at the farmer, “Twi’ and Spike remember the horrors and suffering Starlight caused. I remember all of it. Those people were real, and you want me to just … let it all go? Forget about it?!”
“No, of course you shouldn’t forget,” Twilight said firmly, “But if you can’t find it in your heart to forgive Starlight, you need to try and at least let go of this anger, before it does irreparable harm to you or your family.”
Rainbow scratched her head uncomfortably, “I don’t know, girls, if everything Starlight did is as bad as Revan is saying, then I don’t think I’d be all that willing to forgive her either, especially if the judge only gave her a slap on the wrist when she finally got caught.”
“What do you expect them to do, Rainbow, darling?” Rarity asked pointedly, “AJ is quite right, aside from Revan’s, Twi’s and Spike’s paradoxical memories, as far as Starlight, the law, and even her ‘victims’ are concerned, she hasn’t done anything criminal. Punishing her for the actions of her … alternates, I guess we should call them, would make no more sense than condemning you for the crimes of your twin sister.”
“Dashie has a twin sister? Why didn’t you tell me?” Pinkie Pie demanded of the athlete, “Why haven’t we seen her at school? Oh, oh, is she part of a super-secret organization of teen spies that regularly save the world from mad scientists?”
“No, Pinkie,” the fashionista sighed, “Rainbow does not have a twin sister, you’re getting distracted again, dear.”
“Aw, phooey,” the party girl pouted, before turning back to Revan, her face unnaturally serious as her hair deflated slightly, “You said the only reason you hadn’t killed Starlight was because it would upset Twi-Twi and the kiddies. Do you really think that killing Starlight would make things right, Revan?”
“Right?” the Jedi snarled, her eye suddenly burning a poisonous yellow, “I could kill the schutta and drag her back a million times, ten million, a hundred million, and it wouldn’t come close to paying for what she’s done!” Revan paused as her eye darkened back to its normal green, “Bones of the Emperors, what am I turning into ….”
Sunset rose from her seat to clasp the older woman’s shoulder, “Remember, redemption isn’t just for those who actually did wrong, it also keeps the victims from turning into new monsters in their pain and anger.”
Catching her friends’ eyes, AJ nodded towards the kitchen, and the seven teens slipped out, giving the spouses some privacy. “I know Revan has a temper, but to hold on to that kind of sheer rage,” Rarity said with a slight shiver, “At least she seems to have realized it now. I hope her and Twi’ will be able to work everything out.”
“Do you think Revan will make friends with Starlight?” Pinkie wondered as she started going through cabinets for dinner fixings.
“I don’t think so, Pinkie,” Fluttershy sighed sadly, “But we can always hope.”
A small cough drew everyone’s attention Twi’ and Revan in the door, “Sorry you got dragged into all that,” the older woman apologized sheepishly.
“It’s a’right, sugarcube, sometimes ya jus’ need ta talk with folks what ain’t involved in order ta clear yer head.”
“So, let’s get cooking,” Revan said cheerfully, although her smile was rather brittle, apparently eager to put the recent quarrel behind them all, “Where do you need us?”
“How about you and Rainbow start prepping the vegetables?” Twi’ suggested quickly.
“Hey, my cooking is getting better,” pouted the Jedi.
“Of course it is, honey,” the princess assured her wife, but as soon as Revan’s back was turned, she turned to her friends and shook her head emphatically, triggering a spate of poorly concealed chuckles.
When the other Apples returned home, and Spike and Mission got up from their nap, they were greeted by the, rather large, meal that the girls had waiting for them. “Well, looky here, dinner’s waitin’ on tha table when Ah get home, an old woman could get used ta this,” Granny Smith grinned, taking her seat, “Thank ya, dearie,” she added, as Fluttershy handed her a cup of tea, “So, did ya young’uns all have fun today?” the elder Apple’s question sparked a lively banter around the table.
Later, as empty plates were pushed back and Pinkie and Applejack brought desert to the table, Rarity leaned over to tease Mission, “You know, darling, if you keep cuddling Spikey-wikey like that, he may forget how to walk.”
“But I have to give him wots of hugs, Auntie Rarity.”
“Why is that, Mission?” Flutershy asked, one eyebrow raised at the child’s odd declaration.
“Because Spikey’s my big brother and I wove him,” the two Apple sisters smiled at Macintosh as Mission continued, “But dragons get reawwy, reawwy big, and, one day, Spikey wiww be too big for me to hug anymore.”
“Don’t worry, kido,” Spike said as he shoved his nose into the giggling girl’s ear, “I’ll never be to big for you to hug, promise.”
The adults and teens at the table exchanged amused, happy looks at the scene before them, when it was interrupted by the doorbell.
“I’ww get it!” Mission eagerly volunteered, putting down Spike and rushing off to answer the door, “Hi, Auntie Caddy, Uncwe Shiny!”
Personally I am a firm believer that any villain can be redeemed, heck Sombra even gets redeemed in the comics, it's just a matter of willingness on the villains part. Tirek, Cozy and Chrysalis are completely unrepentant of their actions, but if they showed a willingness to change they would get a second chance. The fact that Starlight didn't get punished shouldn't make her unworthy of forgiveness or a second chance.
9359436
Redemption is fine and beautiful as an idea, but crimes must have fitting punishment or you raise the risk of relapse or someone else trying to copy the crime. Criminals being punished is not just to punish them but also a deterrent for others. By letting Starlight off so easily, The princesses basically told everyone who hears of it, that it's fine as long as twilight can fix it and rest of the victims can be memory wiped, that it's fine and you won't be punished as long as you can pretend to feel remorse well enough.
Crime and punishment is always a delicate balancing act, but slap to the wrist for willful and repeated endangerment of every single living being on the planet, for no other reason than your miss guided pride, is something I personally find disgusting.
9359585
Punishment is only a requirement if someone actually demands it. The only ones who could actually demand punishment are Twilight, her friends and the residents of Our Town. They all accepted her apology and were willing to give Starlight a second chance. To punish her at that point would simply be an act of vengeance and since ponies aren't vengeful dicks there was no punishment.
Honestly, you never hear about people getting upset about how Discord and Luna got let off lightly for what they did. The fact that they had been imprisoned before shouldn't give them a pass for what they did after they were released. Not to mention each of the main 6 have escaped punishment after doing something truly worthy of it, such as the want it need it spell or when Applejack poisoned the town due to her exhaustion, or Rainbow blowing up the weather factory just to name a few.
Also, Starlight is not responsible for what happened in those other timelines as she had no control over what the residents of those other timelines did.
9359647
I'll give you couple of points when it comes to Luna and Discord getting off easy. Though in case of Discord, he seems to be on probation and indefinite community service. When it comes to mane 6, you have actually hit one of my long time gripes with the show. In case of Twilight in Lesson Zero, (in my opinion at least) Celestia shoulders a lot of responsibility also as Twilight's long term teacher. Considering their close relationship and Celestia's long experience, she should have seen the issues years ago and arranged therapy for Twilight. As much as I like Twilight, that adorkable little genius has some rather clear unresolved psychological issues, that should have been noticed by others long ago. Heck, unless my memory has betrayed me again, Spike has basically told Celestia that Twilight needs help. Then again Celestia seems to be the reason Twilight has some of those issues in the first place. Hero worship combined with clear anxiety is nasty combination and Celestia hasn't been seen doing anything about in the show.
Starlight intentionally screwed with time, and as far as I'm concerned that is something so volatile that it alone should see the perpetrator serving some kind of punishment. And yes I'm aware that Twilight needs a punishment for her own actions with time magic, though at least she used stable loop spell that doesn't risk breaking causation that much, though that is again debatable. Do you have any idea what happens when something like the flow of time is broken? Me neither, but considering time is one of the things that keep reality together, I don't think any should be allowed to mess with it.
As for punishment requiring someone to demand it. I don't buy it. Especially when you try to break one of the fundamental building blocks of reality. The possible consequences of it Starlights actions are far too terrifying to think for me. That alone should have everyone with a modicum of knowledge of the situation demanding some consequences for her. Honestly. If I ever do something even half as stupid as that, hope to be shot to death long before the damage gets irreparable.
I think it might be best for me not try debating this with anyone. I'm starting to see, that I have my own set of issues at work and seem to be getting a bit too heated up.
Have a pleasant holiday period and I hope I didn't seem too aggressive.
9359865
Nah it's fine I get where people come from with this but for me, Starlight is clearly repentant and guilt-ridden over what she did. She wants to make up for what she did and become a better person and has no interest in repeating what she did in the past. So at that point what does punishment accomplish except making a few individuals feel better? Now if her actions were widely known then yeah she would have to be punished that's just unavoidable but it was always implied that it was only a small group of ponies who knew about what she did and none of them had any interest in making her suffer over it when they could clearly see that she wanted to make amends.
9359869 9359865 Just thought I'd throw in my $0.02. IMHO Luna, Discord and Sunset earned their forgiveness, even if most folks don't know about it:
Sunset was a pariah until after she risked her neck fighting the Dazzlings, if not longer (I don't know where Anon-a-miss falls in the timeline).
Discord was put on long-term (possibly lifetime) community service with the threat of both the Elements of Harmony and "rehabilitation spells" hanging over his head the entire time.
Luna literally tortured herself every single day for about a year because she felt that she had been forgiven too easily.
But for Chrysalis, Tirek and Sombra, redemption and forgiveness were never on the table, the only response was "blast them". (Although Sombra apparently got another chance later.)
Starlight was rewarded for her crimes and continues to default to messing with ponies minds or cutie marks whenever she runs into the least bit of trouble. (I admit, I am prejudice against Starlight, so my view of her actions is definitely biased.)
As for the other time lines, while Starlight had no control over what people did after she created the time line, she did deliberately create time lines where mad gods or similar entities would be unopposed in the first place, and she did so with full knowledge of what she was doing, what the general results would be (i.e., no mane six to stop Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra or Tirek ... the Flim/Flam time line still confuses me, I'll admit) and did so with malicious intent.
And for Revan, being the only person left with full knowledge and experience in what actually happened in all those other time lines, I honestly don't know if it would even be possible for her to not have a heavily biased view of Starlight and her actions. While her hatred of Starlight and desire for a real punishment may not be the moral choice for some folks -- and certainly doesn't match the general "redemption/forgiveness" vibe FiM often goes for, I just don't see her reacting any other way until the message finally manages to get pounded through her rage and desire for justice (or vengeance, depending on how you view things).
So....MUCH...CUTENESS.