Starlight Glimmer Regrets Her Mistakes

by MagicS

The Snowball Effect

Through the mess of swirling colors, patterns, and constantly changing scenery, Starlight, Spike, Glimmer, Moonlight and Sunset all traveled through the corridor between space and time. Fell would be more accurate for some as Moonlight and Sunset were orbiting the other three in a figure-eight pattern, unable to stop themselves. Moonlight just looked annoyed while Sunset was considerably more stressed out.

“I need a cigarette so badly right now...” Sunset whined.

“No. Get over it, you’re definitely not having any until you go back home,” Starlight frowned.

“Can one of you please stop me from floating around like this? I don’t like it,” Moonlight said. “What’s the secret to staying still?”

“You just have to get used to it. It’s only my second time too,” Glimmer said.

“It won’t be that long before we get to the next world, just try and land on your hooves when you come back out. At least neither of you are upside-down right now either,” Spike said.

“Speaking of... I honestly have no idea what’s coming next,” Starlight said. “I don’t even remember what things we got up to that could’ve led to extra chaos in the space-time continuum. It seems like we’ve already done the big stuff, right?”

“I dunno,” Spike shrugged.

“What other things did I do that could’ve led to the creation of new timelines?” Starlight wondered, speaking mostly to herself.

“I don’t think I really trust you to be a reliable source of information on your past adventure in time,” Sunset snorted.

“Me neither,” Moonlight said.

“Oh, the mentally teenagers agree with each other. What a shock,” Starlight rolled her eyes.

Glimmer actually giggled at that.

“As if you’re so mature,” Moonlight said.

“I’m not sure if any of you are mature,” Spike muttered.

“Look—we need to stop arguing. Even if we don’t get along perfectly there’s still no telling what we might have to fix or go through next. We don’t need to make things worse by being at each other’s throats when we should be the ones fixing problems in other worlds. So let’s at least be civil,” Starlight said.

“Fine,” Moonlight frowned but agreed.

“I swear if I can just find a cigarette I’ll be able to relax,” Sunset said.

“No!”

Glimmer bit her lip. “I-I think we’re going to have some extra work cut out for us... aside from just saving the world.”

Spike silently agreed with her—finding it funny how much easier it was to get along with the mare who had previously tortured him than it was his own manic Starlight. It helped that after visiting her world again it was plain to see how much more sensible and reserved she had become. The other three ponies he was with were certainly a bit more rowdy. And Discord was Discord and not awake as much. Glimmer was much more willing and likely to listen to Spike and not do anything insane, preferring things to be done quietly and smartly. He appreciated having another pony around that didn’t want to do anything crazy.

The light in front of them suddenly got brighter and they realized the portal through space and time was about to dump them off again...

---

Starlight landed on her hooves. Spike landed on his feet. Glimmer landed on her hooves and stumbled a bit. Moonlight and Sunset landed on top of Starlight.

“Agh!” Starlight yelped as two ponies collapsed on top of her and she fell to the ground, at the bottom of an unfortunate ponypile.

“Ooohhhh… how do you get used to that?” Moonlight moaned as she rubbed her head.

“Seriously, that’s a million times worse than the mirror portal. Aside from not changing forms,” Sunset said. She was the first of the three to pick herself up, getting off of the doubles and wiping any dirt and dust off herself.

“Your stupid spiked necklace is poking into me!” Starlight growled at Moonlight.

“It’s a collar and it’s not stupid!” Moonlight glared and pushed herself off of Starlight. “It’s a fashion statement.”

“And it’s not a phase either...” Glimmer quietly whispered out of earshot of everyone but Spike, making him snicker lightly.

“Whatever… let’s just figure out where we are,” Starlight said as she stood up too.

“Looks like some alley,” Sunset shrugged.

It was an alley. A very dirty and cluttered alley with numerous overflowing dumpsters and trashcans filling it up. Even the few places where the stone ground wasn’t covered by trash receptacles was covered by trashbags or other pieces of refuse. Not a good look, wherever they were. Normally the alley would’ve been wide enough for the five of them to easily stand inside it but all the trash was crowding them out from the sides. The smell at least wasn’t the worst for them but it definitely wasn’t pleasant either. It was dark too, wherever they had gone to it had switched to night once more, without any lights in here they couldn’t really see anything notable or see outside onto the street.

“The rest of you are a little unfamiliar with this kind of thing, so let me tell you it could also be when are we,” Spike said, puffing out his chest as he talked to Glimmer, Moonlight, and Sunset. “We might’ve gone back years from where we left.”

“You don’t normally get to be the expert on things, do you?” Sunset raised an eyebrow at him.

Spike frowned. “Uhhh…”

“He doesn’t. I know the Spike from our world,” Moonlight smirked.

“Stop being mean to Spike,” Starlight frowned at the both of them. “Only I’m allowed to argue with him. Now come on—we still need to find where we are.”

She lit up her horn and moved some of the trash out of the way so they could get through the alley, walking towards its exit while the others followed her. The unstable towers she was creating by placing bags and cans atop one another would probably fall in at most a minute after they left.

“I already don’t like the look of this place,” Glimmer said. “Where in Equestria have ponies ever let things get so dirty?”

“It’s possible we aren’t in Equestria anymore,” Starlight said.

She pushed the last few bags aside and the whole group was able to step out from between the buildings and take a look around.

Immediately, Spike shook his head. “Nope, we’re definitely still in Equestria.”

In front of them the streets of Canterlot opened up into a wide plaza with many ponies trotting through it despite the later hour. Though the city of Canterlot was now recognizable through the architecture of its building and the mountain it rested on, not much else about the city was familiar. Or even the ponies. The classy and hoity-toity ponies common to Canterlot were replaced by those in dime-store suits and gowns, fake jewelry, cheap hats, and carefree expressions. Raucous laughter came from the plaza along with the sounds of playful shouting and hollering. Looking up, neon signs and billboards covered the once beautiful buildings, their high-class domains replaced by loudly advertised lounges, nightclubs, dives, gambling dens, and pubs. On the sides of the streets and nestled up against buildings, plenty of ponies sat around boxes and sheets of cardboard shooting dice and shuffling money around while a few beggars held out empty cans and continued to be ignored. Quite a few ponies who looked of ill-repute had their eyes on the crowd or stood as door watchers. The very few guards that could be seen also hardly looked to be taking their jobs seriously, genially talking to a few pretty mares or even chatting with some of the ponies running dice games.

The five newcomers were stupefied by what they saw—a Canterlot so far removed from what they knew it was like a madness had overtaken the city.

“Well I think we know what’s wrong here,” Moonlight snorted.

“Now we just have to figure out why it’s gotten like this,” Starlight said.

“Any idea on what you could’ve done that might’ve resulted in this?” Sunset asked her.

Starlight looked around, dismay evident on her face. “Not a clue. This isn’t a conquered or destroyed Canterlot, the character of the entire city has changed.”

“It makes me wonder what the rest of Equestria looks like,” Glimmer said.

“Yeah. Not even Las Pegasus is as wild as this,” Spike said.

“So what do we actually do now?” Sunset asked.

Starlight shrugged. “We wander around until we figure things out.”

Sunset and Moonlight both raised an eyebrow and sent a sidelong glance at her.

“Is that how you’ve been doing things?” Moonlight asked.

“Usually the problem ends up finding us just as often,” Spike said.

“I know it sounds dumb-” Starlight started.

“It doesn’t sound dumb, it is dumb,” Sunset interrupted.

“But. Think of it as fate or destiny. We’ll figure things out quickly enough or something will happen that gives us a clue. To begin with, Discord is able to zero in on the source of the chaos, so the answer has to be somewhere relatively close by,” Starlight finished.

“Whatever then, time to search through Canterlot’s debauchery timeline,” Sunset said. “You know right now this actually looks a lot like some of the cities I’ve seen in history books back in the human world.

“Why would it be in the history books?” Moonlight asked.

“Because Equestria is… a bit all over the place when it comes to technology and development compared to the human world. Some places only look a few decades behind, others a few centuries,” Sunset answered.

“There are way too many ponies around right now, and it’s too loud for my tastes,” Glimmer said.

“We can just keep to ourselves, a place like this we should be able to find more and more things out of place easily just by walking,” Starlight said and ushered them to follow her as they walked through the plaza.

Though Starlight didn’t think the small group would really draw much attention in this noisy crowd, she was proven wrong pretty quickly. Whether it was because three of them looked like triplets, they had a dragon, or Sunset was recognized as Celestia’s student, quite a few heads turned their way. However there was quite the mix of reactions too. Some stared in awe, surprise, plain confusion, others smiled widely and some still looked afraid or concerned. What was it about their group that could bring such a wide range of feelings out from a crowd that moments ago had been so drunken on their own fun?

“I’m not used to being stared at this much,” Moonlight said. “Back home most ponies in Canterlot had no idea who I was.”

“I’m used to stares but, um, usually a lot meaner ones than this. So this isn’t so bad,” Glimmer said.

Spike though noticed something pretty quickly, following the eyes of the crowd and where exactly they were looking. “It’s not either of you they’re really staring at though—it’s Sunset.”

“Why me though?” Sunset raised an eyebrow as she looked around at the crowd—many faces not so discreetly looking away the moment she made direct eye-contact. “Is there something special about me in this world?”

“I get the feeling that figuring that out is probably going to be tied to fixing the problem here. Call it a hunch,” Starlight said.

“Can we maybe get out of this huge crowd soon? Shouldn’t we go straight to the castle if we want answers?” Moonlight suggested.

“Probably,” Starlight said. “Usually seems like the safe bet. Honestly the stares are getting to be a little too much for me too.”

They slowly had to make their way across the plaza, loud jazz music pouring out from many of the buildings around them the entire time and the smells of all sorts of food and drinks and other things creating an intoxicating aroma. None of the ponies who had noticed them and had their eyes on Sunset actually came up to talk to them—for whatever reason. Though all the new signs and the facades of many buildings were different and more than a little confusing, especially at night like this, the actual streets and buildings themselves were more or less the same. Because of that, Spike realized something else when the five of them started to walk down one of the less busy streets.

“Hey, Donut Joe’s shop is just up ahead!” He said. “Man I could go for some donuts right now…”

“If it’s still the same shop. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s changed into something else too,” Starlight said.

“The dragon reminds me though, I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch. Can we try and find a place to stop?” Sunset said.

“It’s Spike. Not “the dragon”, got it?” Starlight glared at her while Spike folded his arms and nodded.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Sorry. But can we still eat somewhere? When was the last time you all ate?”

“Princess Celestia had food for the rest of us when Starlight and Spike went looking for you earlier today. Is today the right word?” Moonlight said, scrunching her face up in thought.

“Best not to think about it,” Starlight said. “But Spike and I haven’t eaten for a while either. If there are donuts ahead we might as well eat…”

“Without any money?” Glimmer raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll figure something out,” Starlight shrugged.

“You say that too much…” Glimmer muttered.

Starlight grinned at her. “And I know from experience that it works out.”

“Wish I could have your confidence on life bending to your will,” Moonlight said.

“I’d say it’s more like stumbling onto the right path by chance than that,” Starlight said.

“That’s closer at least. I’d say it’s more like the world laughing at us, me in particular, until finally throwing us a bone,” Spike said. “At least that’s how I felt on our first trip back through time, being dragged around by Starlight everywhere without anyone else to help.”

“What are friends for?” Starlight just rolled her eyes in amusement, knowing it would get on Spike’s nerves more than to argue—and knowing in the end it was all in good fun.

They only had to walk a little further to see their next additional destination. Or at least what it was now, since it indeed was not a donut shop. The streets and sidewalks out in front of it weren’t crowded with easygoing pleasure-seekers, instead it was nearly the opposite with several clearly homeless ponies in rags with cardboard “dwellings” at best covering them. Donut Joe’s shop had been turned into some sketchy bar or den without even a name on it, just a neon sign flashing open and several broken and boarded up windows on its outside. It didn’t look like a place they wanted to stop and eat at.

“Well that’s disappointing,” Spike frowned.

“Hope he’s still doing okay if that’s what happened to his shop,” Starlight said.

Sunset meanwhile noticed that all the homeless ponies around the street had started to stare at her. She walked up behind Starlight with a grimace. “Er, can we keep moving? I’m getting a little uncomfortable.”

“Hey!” A loud voice yelled from the row of homeless encampments.

The group of five stood together as a single pony rose from the refuse and the other poor panhandlers. He stumbled out onto the street towards them, dirty rags hanging off his body and stubble on his face. His eyes were half-lidded and glassy, the pony clearly inebriated. But he still managed to stumble forth with a purpose as he kept his focus on Sunset Shimmer.

“You!” He pointed at her.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at him, a little perturbed, but she didn’t step back. “Do I know you?”

Spike’s eyes widened. “Donut Joe?”

“T-That’s what they call me,” Donut Joe wavered as he stood, body listing back and forth. “Even with the shop gone, that’s my name.” His eyes narrowed at Sunset. “So no, you didn’t know me, but I sure as Celestia know you.”

“What happened to you?” Starlight asked.

“She did,” Donut Joe pointed at Sunset. “She’s what happened to everything. To me, to Canterlot, to all of Equestria!”

“Uhhh...” Sunset frowned as her eyes shifted back and forth.

“What’s the matter, Queenie? Not used to ponies talking to you this way? Telling you just what you deserve?” Donut Joe continued to list and slur his words.

“Well no, but not for the reason you think,” Sunset answered.

“Queenie?” Starlight and Spike shared a look.

“You… you think you can… you think you can...” Donut Joe stumbled and belched. “You think you can just depose Princess Celestia and do this? Think you can let those rich nobles do whatever they want and trample all over ponies like me?”

Starlight, Spike, Glimmer, and Moonlight all slowly turned their faces to Sunset.

“Hehe...” Sunset nervously chuckled. “Sounds like the me from here isn’t too nice of a pony.”

Glimmer offered her a joyless smile. “Don’t worry, that’s nothing new for us.”

“Ahem,” Starlight cleared her throat and stood in front of Donut Joe. “Joe? Would you mind telling me exactly what happened and what Sunset did?”

If Donut Joe wasn’t so inebriated he might have been able to notice several strange things about the situation and that question. However at the moment he couldn’t even tell that three of the mares in front of him looked exactly the same. “Y-Years back now… Celestia’s own dang student here!” He pointed angrily at Sunset. “She did something… used some sort of magic book… to take Princess Celestia’s magic and started calling herself the Queen… and the Princess got locked up somewhere. She had been… she had been colluding or something with a bunch of rich noble ponies before that… getting chummy with them and telling them they’d be on top and get a ton of favors from her if they helped her out.”

“I can’t believe that even the worst ponies in Equestria would help someone do that though—much less a bunch of rich jerks from Canterlot,” Starlight said.

“You’ve never personally met Blueblood, have you?” Spike raised an eyebrow at her.

“They had… they’d all been angry at Celestia already… over something or another. A Grand Galloping Gala that had been ruined… and a mansion set on fire by some important guest of hers… a lot of big ponies were secretly upset with the Princess...” Donut Joe continued.

Starlight gulped. “Oops.”

Moonlight shot her a sidelong glance. “Your doing?”

“Ehehe… heh,” Starlight shrugged.

“Because of them… they tricked ponies into thinking it was okay… that nothing was wrong until it was too late to do anything. A-And our new Queen was the only one who could move the sun and the moon… t-that’s what everyone said at least… so we couldn’t do nothing about that,” Donut Joe’s stumbling got a little worse. “Those rich ponies that supported her… she let them do everything. They could take whatever property they wanted, do anything to Canterlot and Equestria. T-They turned it all into this.”

He wobbled a bit, glaring at Sunset. “They took my shop, took the shops and homes of so many others… they don’t care… and neither does she. Without the Princess… everything’s gone straight to the gutter...”

Donut Joe finally couldn’t take standing anymore and slumped down to the ground, grumbling and mumbling before finally falling asleep.

“See?” Starlight said as she looked at the others. “We always stumble onto things eventually. Wandering around worked out fine—now we know everything.”

“I’m not giving you any credit whatsoever for that,” Moonlight frowned.

“So uh… what now exactly?” Sunset asked. “Are we going to have to confront the evil me here who’s taken over Equestria and ran it into the ground?” She winced, upset, and looked down at the ground. “W-Was I really ever the type of pony who would do something like that?”

“Well we definitely have to fix this place so… it’s guaranteed that we have to do something about her,” Glimmer said.

“I think this is a timeline that must have branched off earlier than the last. After we had met you and done a few things here last time but before I threw you into the mirror portal,” Starlight said. “Sunset… maybe you made some bad choices here, but you wanted to learn how your life wanted to turn out, didn’t you? It might be a dark mirror of what you expected but I think this could give you some perspective on your life.”

Sunset frowned, angrily shooting Starlight a brief glare, but not speaking up otherwise.

“You have the capacity to be a lot better than this though,” Spike said. “I know what it looks like when you’re the best and the worst you can be. We’ll help you learn for yourself.”

Sunset looked at him, surprised by the encouraging words from the companion she had disparaged more than once already. If he was forgiving enough to show her that kindness then she could at least be a little mature too. She nodded. “Alright. I’ll see what the me here is really like.”

“Does that mean we’re going straight to the castle? Like we should have been doing?” Moonlight asked.

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Yes, that’s right, not like anyone didn’t see that coming. The problem needs to be fixed in Canterlot Castle.” She started walking back down the street, ignoring the former donut shop. “Come on everyone—let’s bring some harmony to this Equestria and then get something to eat.”

Comments

[redmar]

This is definitely going to be a difficult one to solve.

[RoboRed]

...Perhaps it was a good thing that Sunset came along in this case?