Starlight Glimmer Regrets Her Mistakes

by MagicS

All the Predictions of Mice and Ponies

“Well this is just great. What do we do now?” Moonlight asked as she walked around the small hill she and Glimmer were on that overlooked the sleepy town of Ponyville.

“I don’t know. Starlight and Spike always took charge,” Glimmer shrugged. She was watching Ponyville too, trying to see if any ponies were out this late at night but the town looked mostly asleep. Only a few windows had lights in them at all.

Which meant it would probably be the most peaceful trip she ever had through Ponyville if the two of them went down there.

“You’ve been with them longer than me, do you not have any ideas?” Moonlight asked.

“Not really… just like you and Sunset I tagged along for other reasons. It’s only them and Discord who really know much. And um, the last time I had any sort of leadership role… it wasn’t exactly a good time in my life,” Glimmer said.

Moonlight snorted. “Oh yeah. Right. Well I guess I have to lead the way then, even though of all three of us I have way less life experience.” Without even asking if Glimmer was coming along, Moonlight started walking towards Ponyville. “If you ever feel like contributing to anything—please hesitate to speak up.”

“Okay,” Glimmer said, without any sarcasm, as she followed behind.

Moonlight stopped, frowning, and turned her head to Glimmer. “I don’t like you.”

Glimmer shrugged. “That’s okay, I don’t like me either.”

“Tch,” Moonlight clicked her tongue and walked up to Glimmer, poking her in the chest. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you? Have some pride! Have some backbone! So what if you made mistakes? At least you did something with your life! You know powerful magic just like Starlight too, unlike me! You’re so annoying, I spent my whole life feeling worthless and I finally find a me who’s actually important and it’s you.”

“Y-You shouldn’t feel jealous of me… I’m the one who really feels jealous of you,” Glimmer said, eyes downcast. “You don’t know how good a boring life is until you’ve lived a life like mine. I wish my relationship with Sunburst was even half as friendly as yours...”

Moonlight rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand you. I wouldn’t just sulk like you if I was in your horseshoes.”

Glimmer frowned and looked up at her. “You can’t say that without having experienced it yourself.”

“Oh? So there’s enough fire in you to talk back a little?” Moonlight grinned.

“If I could, and if we didn’t have more important things to do, I’d teach you a lesson. You remind me too much of myself at a certain point in my life,” Glimmer said.

“If you’re going to teach me any lesson I’d like a lesson in magic. I want to be able to perform awesome spells like you and Starlight. I never bothered to get too into magic… never saw the point. But knowing what you can do and what potential I have now? It’s driving me crazy!” Moonlight nearly yelled.

“I-I can’t teach you that...” Glimmer looked away in shame.

“Why? Because you can’t trust me with magic?” Moonlight questioned, her eyes narrowing.

“No, it’s not that,” Glimmer shook her head. “Haven’t you noticed that I haven’t used any magic on this journey yet? Did you ever wonder why?” She reached down her shawl and pulled out her necklace with her Cutie Mark contained inside it. “Look… this is why I can’t help you right now.”

Moonlight’s eyes widened. “Wait, your Cutie Mark, it’s like… did Starlight do that to you too?”

“No!” Glimmer shouted. “I did it to myself! I can’t be trusted with my magic, it’s a punishment I’ve bestowed on myself.” She hid her Cutie Mark necklace back within her shawl but turned to her side and showed off the equal sign on her flank after pulling the dress up slightly. “Don’t be jealous of any life I’ve led.”

Moonlight now had an uncomfortable frown on her face, her eyes shifting back and forth as she thought, not willing to look Glimmer in the eyes. “I’m sorry. About being mean to you. I didn’t know you were being that tough on yourself.”

“It’s fine,” Glimmer shrugged and put her shawl down. “No matter what you or anyone says I feel like I deserve it anyways.”

“Okay, hold on again,” Moonlight frowned and walked up to Glimmer, putting her hooves on the mare’s shoulders and staring directly into her eyes. “I still hate that. I hate you saying things like that, regardless of what you did. It’s pathetic and you need to get over it. You’ve been punished, you lost and now you’ve faced the consequences. But it’s time for you to move on already. Stop saying things like that and learn to respect yourself.”

“Um… I’ll try,” Glimmer chewed on her lip and looked away.

Moonlight rolled her eyes. “It’s a start I guess...”

She let Glimmer go and the two of them looked at the small town of Ponyville again.

“Of course there’s still the big problem to deal with,” Moonlight sighed.

“Um… actually after thinking about it I have a couple of ideas,” Glimmer said.

“Thought of something, huh?” Moonlight raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t know anything.”

“I can still make guesses about what I know…” Glimmer muttered.

Moonlight rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, so what is it then?”

“Discord is supposed to bring us out to near wherever the problem that needs to be fixed is. Whatever the source of chaos or the reason for the lack of harmony in this world. Assuming nothing else went wrong besides us being separated, the problem has to be pretty close to Ponyville. And there are a few very important things about or near Ponyville. I think if we investigate those things we might find what’s wrong—or at least come across Starlight, Spike and Sunset again,” Glimmer said.

“Better idea than just randomly wandering through town I guess,” Moonlight shrugged. “Where should we investigate? I don’t know about any of this stuff.”

“Well when it comes to chaos and harmony… the biggest thing I can think of is the Tree of Harmony. Which is deep inside the Everfree Forest,” Glimmer said, looking over to the dark forest on the far side of Ponyville. It was even more imposing in the dead of night.

“Oh,” Moonlight flatly stared at it. “Fantastic.”

“I um, I think we should get going as soon as possible…” Glimmer said.

Moonlight sighed and started trudging on in the direction of the forest. “Way ahead of you.”

---

“What? But that doesn’t make any sense? The castle is just ruins—Celestia told me all about it,” Sunset said.

Spike rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but that was in a different world. And even back in your world I bet most of the castle still stood.”

Sunset frowned. “Okay, fair point. So we’re here alone in the castle and we know the annoying triplets are somewhere else. What do we actually do?”

“Umm...” Spike looked down the dark hallway. “Find a way out of here? Cause I may know what castle this is but I’m still totally lost.”

Sunset groaned. “Ugh! Great!”

“There are lit torches though… which is kind of weird. Who would be living here now?” Spike wondered.

“Maybe the Celestia in this world moved back in,” Sunset half-seriously suggested.

“Maybe,” Spike shrugged. “Also… I think you were right about this being a dungeon. It really gives off that feeling.”

“It’s claustrophobic enough… and the stone is actually black and not gray like stone typically used in construction,” Sunset rubbed her chin. “Which way do you think we should walk?”

“Umm...” Spike thought for a second before getting a bright idea—he spun around in a circle for a moment and then stopped—pointing ahead where Sunset was already facing. “That way!”

“Riiiight...” Sunset shook her head but started walking. Fifty-fifty chance they were going the right direction after all.

The sound of their hooves and feet clicking on the stone floor was the only sound as they continued to walk further into the castle’s dungeon. Whenever they weren’t talking it became evident that this dungeon was normally as quiet as the grave. The black hallway was only barely lit up by the torches, making Spike wish he could see in the dark and Sunset remember how to use a simple light spell. Why couldn’t one of the unicorns who actually knew how to use magic be here with them? It frustrated Sunset immensely—she used to be Princess Celestia’s student! But she couldn’t even really remember simple spells anymore after so long without magic. That was something she’d have to talk about Starlight with when she saw her next…

In another few minutes, the two of them finally saw the hallway end ahead. And realized they had probably been walking in the wrong direction. Lit up by two torches on either side of it was a heavy steel door that blocked off access to whatever was behind it.

And there was a guard in front of it.

Sort of. He was asleep at his post and leaning up against the wall.

But Spike recognized something about the armor the pegasus stallion wore and it made his stomach drop. That was armor he recognized from a previous trip through time. “Uh oh… I know why we’re here in this castle.”

“Why?” Sunset raised an eyebrow at him.

“Did you know that Princess Celestia has a sister called Princess Luna? And 1,000 years ago she kind of turned evil a little bit and became Nightmare Moon? Well it looks like in this world she’s back from being imprisoned on the moon and has taken over Equestria. Just guessing by the look of it,” Spike said.

“That… is a lot to take in. And none of it sounds good for us,” Sunset said.

“Nope,” Spike shook his head.

Their conversation though also happened to wake up the guard, he blinked a few times before standing up straight and noticing he wasn’t alone. “Wha… huh? Who goes there? Is that you again, Lightning?”

He finally noticed that the two in front of him were not people he recognized.

“W-Wait a minute… who are you and how did you get down here?” The guard asked, his eyes shifting nervously between them. “Uh oh… I’m gonna be in trouble again, aren’t I?”

“N-No, don’t worry about it,” Spike chuckled and shook his head. “We’re uh… we’re friends of Nightmare Moon. Don’t worry about us.”

“Nightmare Moon doesn’t have any friends,” the guard said and then blanched. “Oh crud… don’t tell her I said that.”

“Wait...” Sunset said as she realized something the more she listened to the guard speak. “Flash? Flash Sentry, is that you?”

Flash’s eyebrows shot up and he took off his helmet, revealing his yellow face and blue mane. “How do you know who I am? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before.”

“Wow, it really is you… I’ve never seen you as a pony before,” Sunset said.

“Uhh…” Flash just tilted his head quizzically.

“Er, sorry, this must be confusing. I know you, but a different version of you, that also isn’t a pony. Or from this timeline, or-” she continued to blather until Spike stopped her.

“Sunset. Enough. It’s not helping,” he then looked up at Flash Sentry too. “I actually know him too though—this is kind of a surprise. But I guess you become a royal guard no matter what?”

“Actually I used to be a Wonderbolt before this,” Flash shrugged. “Now could the two of you explain what’s going on here? I really don’t want to have to get Nightmare Moon or anyone else involved, but it’s clear that you shouldn’t be down here.”

“Doesn’t sound like you really care too much about being a guard for her,” Sunset raised an eyebrow.

Flash scoffed. “Hardly anyone does. I just didn’t want to get imprisoned or worse, but I really hate working for her. I miss Princess Celestia…” he paled. “Wait, you two aren’t like secret police right? Testing me on my loyalty?”

“No, Flash,” Sunset rolled her eyes.

“We’re literally just lost,” Spike shrugged.

“Oh… well it’s not like it would matter at this point if you’re telling the truth or not. Why don’t you just turn around and leave? I won’t say anything,” Flash said.

“Well the problem is we’re looking for some friends of ours. And we’re trying to figure out what’s going on in this world too. We’re kind of deep in some important business,” Spike said.

“This world?” Flash asked, confused.

“You don’t need to believe us but we’re from an entirely different Equestria. We’ve traveled here to help fix things and make it better. Could you maybe fill us in on how all this started? What happened to Princess Celestia and how did Nightmare Moon take over?” Sunset asked.

Flash Sentry sighed and stared ahead wistfully. “Well it was only about a year ago now. I had just become a Wonderbolt and we were getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. I don’t really know the details on a lot of things, but Princess Celestia had told us that this celebration would be special. I don’t think she quite meant it the way it turned out though. Something happened with her personal student, Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess never even showed up. No one ever saw her again. Instead Nightmare Moon appeared there and when Twilight Sparkle tried to stop her she failed. I don’t know why exactly but Twilight Sparkle and five other mares from Ponyville ended up being imprisoned in the dungeon here. And Nightmare Moon says she imprisoned Celestia in the moon… no one could really do anything about it.” He sighed. “Anyways, Nightmare Moon turned most of the Wonderbolts into her guards. The ones who refused, well, I don’t want to know what happened to them.”

“Why’d she care so much about the Wonderbolts?” Spike asked.

“She said Lightning helped her out on the night of her return so she wanted to reward the others who were willing to be loyal. Lightning Dust—she’s the current head of Nightmare Moon’s royal guard,” Flash coughed and looked away in embarrassment. “And, uh, my ex.”

“Well that answers some things,” Sunset said. “This Lightning Dust can’t be a good pony either—I know from personal experience that Flash has bad luck when it comes to getting tangled up with the wrong girls.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Spike nodded and then his eyes shot wide open. “Wait. Hold on. You said Twilight and her friends were imprisoned in the dungeon here? As in right here? As in right behind this door you’re guarding?”

“Uhhh…” Flash hesitantly looked between the two of them. “Maybe?”

Spike and Sunset shared a knowing glance with each other.

---

“Well this is unexpected...” Starlight said as she stared back at Nightmare Moon.

“Oh?” Nightmare Moon raised an unamused eyebrow, her voice reverberating through the hall. “From the way you speak it sounds as if you did not intend to barge into my castle. Is that true or are you merely trying to backpedal knowing how doomed you are?”

Starlight gulped. “Look… this really was just a mistake, I’m not from around here and-”

“You had best cut to the chase. Now,” Nightmare Moon commanded as her horn lit up.

“I’m from a different dimension! I traveled here without knowing that you were in charge and I didn’t know I would drop directly into your throne room!” Starlight quickly shouted.

Nightmare Moon was surprised enough to not immediately attack, although it seemed like she didn’t fully believe Starlight. “Really now? And how could a simple unicorn perform magic like that? Things like traveling through dimensions, between worlds, through space and time? Even an Alicorn can not easily do any of this.”

“Well I didn’t use my own magic to use it. I had Discord,” Starlight said.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened as her already narrow pupils turned to slits. “Discord. Is that fiend free?”

“H-He’s not here with me,” Starlight half lied, shaking her head. “He just made the portal.”

“Indeed? You had best be telling the truth. If you had brought Discord into my domain your punishment would be legendary,” Nightmare Moon threatened.

“Hehe… good thing I’m definitely telling the truth...” Starlight rubbed the back of her neck.

“But I do have another question for you,” Nightmare Moon said. “Why are you traveling through dimensions? What brought you here specifically?”

“Well to put it as simply as possible… friendship and harmony?” Starlight shrugged.

“Excuse me?” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes.

“Um…” Starlight began to explain. “Thanks to some… prior incidents with time-travel, there’s a lot of chaos in the space-time continuum that’s kind of messing everything up. It’s putting all of reality in danger of being destroyed. So I’m trying to fix things by going to a bunch of worlds and getting rid of their chaos—and making things more friendly and harmonic. Yep.”

Nightmare Moon continued to stoically stare at Starlight upon her throne. Not moving. “And I believe I can guess what you mean by making things more harmonic here.”

“Uhhh...”

“Using the Elements of Harmony to destroy me and restore my sister to Equestria. Am I right?” Nightmare Moon growled.

“Well maybe you and Celestia could get along and rule together? That might work too,” Starlight grinned awkwardly and shrugged.

“Absolutely not,” Nightmare Moon huffed, an amused smirk actually briefly coming to her face. “Though it is now apparent that whether you meant it or otherwise—I can’t exactly let you go free. What you know, your mission, if it’s all true then you are a danger to my world.” Her eyes narrowed and she stood up on her throne. “Guards!”

The six armored guards flew in to surround Starlight, pointing their spears at her.

Starlight momentarily stood her ground—unsure about how well picking a fight with Nightmare Moon would actually go. “You don’t need to do this.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “Spare me your pleas for mercy and lenience. Lightning Dust? Take her bag and bring it to me, I want to see if she’s hiding anything. Perhaps she has a journal or magical tome aiding her on this suppose mission.”

“Yes, Nightmare Moon,” one of the pegasus guards said with a grin on her face, momentarily putting down her spear and walking towards Starlight. “Now you better not do anything stupid now.”

She paused as she stood now directly in front of Starlight and actually got a good look at her. Starlight as well ended up staring into this “Lightning Dust’s” eyes and got a strangely familiar feeling.

“What is the matter, Lightning Dust?” Nightmare Moon shouted from her throne.

Lightning Dust gasped and turned back to look at her monarch. “I recognize this mare! I met her back in Canterlot years ago, Nightmare Moon!”

Nightmare Moon raised a single unamused eyebrow. “And so what if you did? Surely it was just her from our own world.”

“No,” Lightning Dust shook her head. “She’s the exact same age—I’m sure of it!” Lightning grinned and turned around to face Starlight. “That was you, wasn’t it? The mare I met in Canterlot, who took me to that Wonderbolts show where Wind Rider made his world record?”

“Oh yeah…” Starlight thought back to that day. “You were just a filly but yeah, that’s why you’re so familiar.”

Lightning Dust’s grin was downright vicious as she laughed. “Nightmare Moon, this is the mare who inspired me to really push myself even harder to become a Wonderbolt! It’s thanks to her that I became the youngest Wonderbolt in history and was there to help you that night!”

A smile appeared on Nightmare Moon’s face as she briefly chuckled as well. “Really? Is that true? Well the world certainly has a sense of humor.”

Starlight meanwhile just looked between the two of them. “I feel lost here.”

“Heh,” Lightning Dust wiped a tear from her eye. “I’ve been hoping I could meet you again one day to thank you for everything. Although after the past year I don’t think you’d be happy to have my thanks. See, thanks to you I became a Wonderbolt for Princess Celestia, and she was having me watch over her student Twilight Sparkle and Ponyville during the Summer Sun Celebration. But then Nightmare Moon came down—and I couldn’t believe it. Sure, Princess Celestia was always amazing and powerful, but when I saw Nightmare Moon I saw a real ruler right there. I saw the Alicorn that deserved to be in charge of Equestria.”

“Oh no…” Starlight put a hoof to her face and groaned.

“Uh-huh,” Lightning Dust eagerly nodded. “I tailed Twilight and those new friends of hers straight to this castle! When they were trying to use those weird Element thingies I stopped them so Nightmare Moon could take her rightful place as ruler of Equestria!”

“That’s insane. You’re insane,” Starlight flatly stared at her.

“Eh,” Lightning Dust just shrugged.

Starlight shook her head. “Spike will never let me hear the end of this…”

Nightmare Moon laughed at the story. “Ah, that truly was a miraculous day. And if you are to thank for it—well then it seems I’ve been far too unfair to you, Starlight. I suppose now instead of obliterating you I’ll merely throw you in my dungeon.”

“Uh, thanks,” Starlight frowned.

“Now, Lightning Dust, I still wish to examine her belongings. We have to make sure she isn’t lying or hiding anything,” Nightmare Moon commanded.

“On it,” Lightning Dust saluted and smirked as she stalked towards Starlight.

“Fine—take my bag, there’s nothing important in it anyways,” Starlight said and lit up her horn, removing her bag and levitating it over to Lightning Dust.

“We’ll be the judge of that,” Lightning Dust said as she took it and flew over to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon smiled. “Thank you, Lightning Dust. Now let’s see if we can find anything you didn’t want me to see.” She said as she used her magic to open up the bag, one by one removing its contents. “A small blank journal… a half-eaten sandwich… an empty beer bottle-“

Starlight coughed

“-a broken pencil… a cough drop with lint on it… and—what’s this?” Nightmare Moon’s eyebrow raised as she pulled out a smaller bag and opened it up, looking inside. “A bag of green crystals?”

“They’re just for decorating,” Starlight shrugged.

“Well I suppose you weren’t lying then. But everything else you know I’ll get from you later. Whether it was your power or Discord’s that’s allowed you to travel between worlds, you must have quite the exquisite library of knowledge inside you,” Nightmare Moon began to darkly chuckle. “After a few months in my dungeon I’ll have you telling me everything. If there is any greater power for me to discover then I must have it!”

“Yeah… you can try but that’s not gonna work out for you,” Starlight defiantly stared up at Nightmare Moon. “Time to repeat myself but villains like you never get what they want. I’m here to fix the mistakes in this world and bring back friendship and harmony and there’s no way you’re stopping that.” A sly smirk pulled up her mouth. “And by the way that bag of crystals you’re holding is about to explode.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened as she looked at the crystals—right in time for them to shine brightly with intense magical power. A second later a powerful “KABOOM” exploded in the throne room that shook the entire castle.

Comments

[RoboRed]

Suddenly: bag-o'-boom.

At least Sunset and Spike were fortunate enough to run into Flash Sentry. And that he doesn't care.

I'm getting the feeling that extended time with Moonlight will turn out to be very beneficial in resolving Glimmer's issues.

[redmar]

Those exploding crystals were a nice distraction. Lightning Dust will probably get the short end of the stcik when harmony is finally restored.
Also the butterfly of doom must have been working overtime to get this outcome.