Twilight emerged from the portal with magical shield already up, easily deflecting Starlight's opening salvo of pink-blue beams. And then she responded; the alicorn's horn lit with blinding power, spells firing in the unicorn's direction.

Starlight was definitely a prodigy, and it showed. Her magic was flawless as she combined advanced spells and fired them with power greater than the average veteran of the royal guard. Twilight had to grudgingly admit that if she was still a unicorn, she would lose this battle; Celestia never wanted her to learn combat magic, wanting to spare her apprentice the horror of battle.

However, Tirek and his rampage proved that sometimes it was necessary to fight. Equestria's youngest Princess requested and read books on the art of magical combat, and learned ancient spells barely used in the modern age. Still, she did not have any natural talent for them, and her techniques were far less polished then Starlight's.

However, Twilight was still an alicorn. She had great reserves of energy, her spells were more powerful and she could cast them faster, one after another, a deluge of magic that colored the sky in all the colors of a rainbow. Everypony around stopped what they were doing, hypnotized by the lightshow. Some of the more concerned parents noticed the missing blasts of power punching holes in the clouds, snapping out of it and quickly taking their children to safety. Some of the pegasi guards in the area also started to evacuate everypony they could. They had no doubts that trying to stop the two fighters would be suicidal – the blasts of magic would vaporize them as easily as they just vaporized entire, fortunately empty, building.

Princess Celestia would be alarmed quickly, but it would still take time before she arrived. None of the unicorns in the area had enough power to intervene, and at best some were able to create small shields, protecting the foals from the rain of deadly magic.

Neither Starlight or Twilight noticed it, both focused only on their duel; one fueled by obsessive hatred, another by traumatic memories. Only a small dragon, holding for his life as the combatants battled, noticed the destruction below them with sadness and worry. He didn't see anypony dying… but he could barely see the clouds sometimes during the high-speed aerial duel. He could only hope that everypony managed to escape to safety.

Finally, Starlight slipped. It was a minor mistake; she was exhausted, her reserves running low under Twilight's constant attacks. The unicorn was forced to limit her offensive spells and focus on defense, but even that wasn't enough to save her. Her shield broke under the relentless assault, and one of Twilight's spells hit her, eliciting a sound of breaking bones and a scream of pain. Starlight fell down, but the furious alicorn encased her in a floating bubble, both saving her from the fall and trapping her.

Not that Starlight was in any shape to fight. The spell impacted her from the front, barely missing the head or neck. It still broke something inside, and she could only lay down and wheeze weakly, a tiny amount of blood tickling down her snout.

Twilight flew next to the bubble, shaking with barely-held fury. "It's over, Starlight! Now undo your spell!" She demanded angrily, her horn still lit. Spike looked at his friend with worry, but remained silent. "I will not allow you to destroy Equestria!"

"Destroy… Equestria?" Starlight laughed weakly, the laughter devolving into coughing fit. She was wounded, much more seriously than Twilight originally thought; but the alicorn didn't care right now. "I am… saving it… from you!"

"What?" Twilight seemed to grow, her might and power manifesting in from of the dying pony. "WHAT? How DARE you! You, you monster! Undo your spell right now, or…"

"Or what?" Starlight challenged, too weak to even move away from the furious Princess. She coughed, blood splatting on the inside of a pink bubble.

"Twilight, she's… really, really wounded." Spike couldn't bring himself to say 'dying'. Even after all these horrible futures they witnessed. "Maybe we should help her, first?"

"Help her? Spike, she did this! All this!" Twilight answered, and for a split second Spike felt like the sun above them grew just a tiny bit dimmer. "Starlight, undo your magic this instant!"

The unicorn smiled with satisfaction, despite all her pain. "I can't."

"…What?" Twilight asked, shaking. "You are lying! Break the spell, right now!"

"I cannot. See, Twilight, when you came here with me, the spell… it changed, and I don't know how." The dying mare slowly lifted her head and looked at Twilight with an evil smile. "You broke it, Princess. It's all your fault. You destroyed my town, my future, and now you broke the spell. You will never return to your friends. Never!"

Twilight wanted to scream, shout at Starlight, accuse her of lying again… but she couldn't. She could feel it herself, now that she knew where to look. The spell changed, it was different then when Starlight cast it for the first time.

But maybe, a small but growing part of her suggested, maybe, killing her would fix it? But no, Twilight would still anchor the spell…
But what if both of them died? Would it return the world to normal?

This dark train of thoughts was halted suddenly, as the time portal opened above her. She looked around, and realized that everyone run away… no Rainbow Dash in sight…

She flew up, through the portal, and her spell bubble popped. Starlight fell down, accelerating quickly, breaking through clouds. She would die. She tried to use her magic, but she was too wounded and exhausted. Her blood fell alongside her, like a bloody rain. She would die. She… she didn't want to.
She was scared.

"Mommy… Sunburst…" She whispered quietly, as her eyes closed. She hoped she won't see the ground as she hits it. Hoped it would be painless.

And then, somepony managed to grab her, slow her down.

"She's badly wounded! We need a medic here!" One of pegasus security shouted. Starlight smiled as she slowly lost consciousness. She would live. She would say nothing, she would be imprisoned, but she won in the end. Even if she had to spent years in the dungeons, she did it. She would be free sooner or later, and she would create Our Town, this time without interruptions from Twilight and her friends.

And if Princess comes back again… Starlight will just be taken back in time alongside her. And she had a plan to stop her; she would not be one dying next time. She smiled still as she finally lost consciousness, her last thought being the satisfaction of victory.

And she did her best to ignore the small spark of fear inside her.

She didn't want to die.

Twilight once again appeared in the future Equestria, but this time she was too shocked to cast a shield or prepare any spells. She just landed hard on the Crystal Map, and then fell down on it, Spike rolling off her.

"Twilight?" The dragon asked, worried.

"How can I fix it?" Twilight said to herself, not even getting up and visibly on the verge of tears. "There must be a way! I refuse to believe there isn't!"

Spike tried to shake her out of it, but she was lost in magical theory, sometimes mumbling quietly something about 'cross-field resonance' and 'applying overlapping scissor fields'. Seeing as they weren't in obvious danger right now, he decided to let her focus on her magic for a moment, and he looked around, trying to spot what was wrong in this timeline.

The sky was similar, but slightly different. It looked less managed, less perfectly aligned. Clouds were definitely herded in the right place, but nopony cared about precision or size. At least it wasn't raining; it was a cold day, but the sun was still visible, if partially covered.

No eternal night, no dark forest, no smell of smoke. Spike slowly walked on top of a nearby hill, and looked at Ponyville. He blinked, and then looked at Ponyville again with disbelief. Oh no.
Twilight will not be happy. It will make it easy for them to find Starlight… but he could already see his best friend freaking out. Or worse.

She already scared him in her last fight with Starlight, and he shivered imagining how much worse her reaction to this horrible future will be.

"I have it!" Twilight declared happily as the stunned dragon came back. She seemed to feel much better then when he left her, although he still felt that something was wrong. He shrugged, unsuccessfully trying to ignore this feeling. "If both me and original Starlight combine our powers, we can cancel the spell. Make Equestria be the way it was supposed to be!"

"That's good." Spike answered, trying to think of a way to break the news delicately. He found none. "But we may have a small problem, first."

"What is it? Is Ponyville covered in trees? Destroyed by Tirek?" Spike shook his head. Twilight grew worried. "Something even worse?"

"Maybe?" Spike desperately tried to find a way to deliver the bad news without Twilight suffering a breakdown.

"What do you mean…"

"Hey!" A different voice shouted from above them. A pegasus with rainbow mane dropped from the sky, landing in front of them. Rainbow Dash, her colors muted but still present, looked at them with surprise. "What are you doing…" Only then he recognized Twilight. "You! How do you have wings? Wait, you have your cutie mark?!"

The rainbow mare jumped into the sky and flew away at her top speed. Twilight instinctively tried to use her magic, but it was no use, she knew Rainbow Dash was way too fast… and then, to her surprise, she actually managed to catch her in a bubble. Somehow, the lightning fast pegasus was just too slow.

Her friend – at least in a different future – tried to fight, kicking the bubble, bucking it with her full strength, but it was no use. Even after her fight with Starlight moments ago, the alicorn's power was too great to be easily broken. The bubble lazily landed in front of Twilight and Spike, and only then did the Princess notice the cutie mark.

Or rather, the lack of it.

"Rainbow! What, how?" Twilight pointed at the equality sign cutie mark with shock. "Your cutie mark!"

"Yeah, what about it?" The rainbow-mane pegasus asked angrily. "What, you got yours back and now you want to gloat?"

"Gloat? No!" Twilight shook her head vigorously. "I just don't understand, what happened? Did Starlight force you to give up your cutie mark? How come no one stopped her?"

"Starlight saved me, you arrogant… what are you talking about?" Seeing complete lack of understanding on Twilight's face, Rainbow facehooved. "Did you hit your head so hard you suddenly have wings AND amnesia? Serves you right, now let me out!" She once again bucked her temporary prison, once again to no effect. The ball deformed for a moment, only to return to its natural shape moment later.

"What do you mean, she saved you?" Twilight tried to inquire, but the pegasus ignored her, instead kicking and punching the ball relentlessly. "Rainbow!" Still no reaction, and Twilight started to consider less nice ways to make the Pegasus talk.

Spike cleared his throat, and this got both mare's attention. "Look, Rainbow, she's not the Twilight you knew. We're not from here, and we're confused and tired. Can you just tell us what happened? Just.. assume we don't know anything that happened for the last ten years." Or even a little more.

"Woah, a dragon? That… could be cool." Rainbow answered emotionlessly, the equality cutie mark flashing as it suppressed her words, turning the exclamation mark to mere surprise, and then indifference. "So you're what, from future or something?"

"More or less." Spike answered, as it was technically true.

"… whatever. So, you wanna know what happened? It's not some sick joke?" Both Twilight and her assistant shook their heads. "Alright, then I'll tell you what you did, how you screwed everything up, and then you will let me out, right?"

"I didn't…" Twilight started, but she stopped herself. Obviously, she couldn't be responsible for this situation, it must have been another one of Starlight's lies. But her friend was clearly indoctrinated into believing it. "Yes, I will let you out. Just tell us what happened."

"You." Rainbow said with disgust. "You happened. You just had to do it, didn't you?"

"What did I even do?!" Twilight was growing more frustrated with every passing moment.

"You were supposed to be smart." Rainbow Dash answered angrily. "A second coming of Star Bearded or whatever…"

"Star Swirl the Bearded." Twilight corrected automatically.

"Yeah, whatever. You were studying some old magic or other shit, straight out of Daring Do. You read 'Daring Do and the Ponydora Box', the spin-off?" Twilight nodded. It seems this future was at least similar enough to have some of the same books. "Well, guess what. It's real, and Princess gave it to you to research."

"Wait, it's real? I thought it's just a myth!" Twilight, forgetting where they are, interrupted the annoyed pegasus. "I read all about it, Star Swirl's unfinished cutie mark spell was even supposedly based upon it. Amazing!"

"Really?" Rainbow bitterly asked. "If you ask me, it's not amazing at all. Not. At. All."

"What happened?" Spike worryingly asked, already imagining it. Twilight, all giggly and happy, and impatient. No dragon assistant to stop her, judging by Rainbow's surprise. And then, disaster.

"What do you think happened? She opened it." Twilight gasped, and Rainbow continued. "That's right. And guess what happened?"

"… It switched your cutie mark." Twilight realized. How could local her be so stupid? Not that she herself didn't also try an unfinished spell… but she ignored it for now, she had to focus on saving Equestria first. She managed to fix her mistake once, she could do it again.
Right?

"My cutie mark?" Rainbow laughed bitterly. "Try EVERPONY's cutie marks!"

"No…" Twilight took a step back in shock, the bubble dissipating as she lost focus, but Rainbow didn't even notice. "How many?"

"Are you deaf? Everypony! It spread like a plague, but even worse! Before we knew what was going on, entire Equestria was in chaos! Doctor's couldn't heal, weather pegasi couldn't control weather, royal guard was unable to fight!"

"But Princess…"

"Couldn't stop it either. Couldn't do anything! And then SHE lost her cutie mark as well, and guess how well a random cook from the Palace could control the sun and moon! That's right, she couldn't!"

"Princess… lost her cutie mark?" Twilight sat down, the vision of Celestia being unable to control the heavens just too much to bear. That's impossible. She was a Princess, a real one, not like Twilight! She lived for over a thousand years!

"Everypony." Rainbow bitterly answered. "If not for Starlight, we would all be gone."

"What did she do?" Spike asked this time, with Twilight still in shock.

"She had a powerful artifact, staff of something. She took away everypony's cutie marks."

"But that would be horrible! Everypony would lose their special talent!" The dragon protested.

"Do you have any idea how it felt, knowing that your life is a lie? That your destiny is wrong?" Rainbow answered, shutting down the protest. "Part of me knew I was supposed to be clearing the sky, but I wanted to take care of animals, and I couldn't do any of it!" Rainbow took a deep breath, and continued. "A lot of ponies couldn't take. Some just… ended it." Twilight gasped. "In the end, everypony got their marks taken away."

"But what about the sun?" The alicorn protested. "Somepony has to take care of it!"

"Starlight can use the staff to move it. Not the easiest thing to do, but she does it every day now. Without her, we would all be gone." Rainbow looked away. "We almost were, when griffons realized we lost most of our magic. They invaded us, and it got really bad before Starlight managed to stop them."

"… and how did she do that?" Twilight whispered.

It took a long time before Rainbow answered. "There is no Griffonstone anymore."

Twilight silently teleported inside her library… or at least, the local version of it.

After talking with Rainbw, she was too shocked to do anything. The weather mare – still doing her old job, although no longer 20% cooler – returned to her cloud. In the end, her former friend decided not to send guards after her… for now. But she warned her to stay quiet and not cause trouble, and find her way home, especially if it's any better than this place.

Twilight decided to talk with her local equivalent, to try and learn what happened. After all, she wasn't going to believe something that Starlight was spreading around as 'truth'.

To her surprise, this version of her worked in the library nowadays, not that anypony wanted any books from her. She was forgotten and hated, and only Starlight's direct order saved her from lynching. Twilight suspected a foul play; perhaps Starlight opened the Box, and did all this, blaming somepony else? And then left her to be hated by everypony while she was a savior of Equestria. There must have been an explanation.
There had to be.

As she teleported inside the library, she expected having to silence the unicorn Twilight, prevent her from screaming or calling for help. To her surprise, there was no sound, barely any reaction. The library was dusty, scientific equipment once pristine now had signs of intensive use, and books looked to be untouched for years.

The unicorn Twilight slowly lifted her head off her bed, barely reacting to a sudden teleport. "Oh. Are you from the future?" The equality sign on her flank lit up, suppressing her natural talent for magic. "Tried that, too. Never worked." She was a mess, with mane unkempt and far from healthy hue it normally had. But even worse was the complete apathy in her voice.

"What are you doing?" The alicorn asked, looking around. There were mountains of paper, research notes, whiteboards written on and then erased many, many times… signs of work, years of hard work. But now all was dusty and long abandoned. "You're trying to fix the spell, aren't you?"

"… Not anymore." The unicorn whispered. "It never worked. It never will."

"Come on, Twilight! You're me! I know I would never give up so easily!" Twilight barely stopped himself from a quite rude comment on that. "You can't let Starlight win!"

"… Win? She saved me." Local Twilight answered, her voice quiet and resigned. "She took away the curse… she told everypony not to kill me, not to punish me… but I deserved it. I did it."

"No you didn't! It's a trick!" Twilight protested." She, she tricked you into opening it! Or maybe she opened it herself, and blamed you! What happened? Tell me!" Somehow, the alicorn was standing next to the bed, screaming at the helpless unicorn. "TELL ME!"

"Twilight!" Spike tried to hold her back. "Snap out of it! What are you doing?!"

"I did it. I deserve it." The small, helpless unicorn answered. No tears were shed; her eyes were dry, for the tears run out years ago. "She told me to wait for her, to only check it from the outside, and we would go over it together. But… I couldn't wait.. I opened it. My fault."

The alicorn looked at the unicorn. Twilight looked at Twilight. For a moment, there was a brief hope of understanding. But then, it ended. The unicorn gave up, and returned to just lying down in her bed.

While the alicorn… "Come on, Spike. I heard enough." She turned around and left, walking down the stairs she knew so well.

"Go? But where?" Spike asked with worry, glancing at the resigned unicorn still in her bed. "Shouldn't we…"

"She is in the Royal Palace." Twilight interrupted; or, more accurately, wasn't really listening. "I will force her to tell me what happened. How she did this. All of this!"

A flash of teleportation interrupted Spike, and when it passed, only a unicorn remained in the library. And she just lay there, waiting for the mercy of death.

Alicorns.

There are many theories about their power. Their strength. Some say they are a peak of what each race could be. Other say that their true power is more than triple of any living non-alicorn pony, since they are the combination of the three.

No matter which version a pony believed, everypony knew that a sight of angry Princess is something they could never forget.

Which is why, when Twilight approached the main gate of Canterlot, there was panic. "Halt!" A pegasus shouted from the top of the wall, holding a shaking bow in their hooves. "I said halt!"

There were more of them, most ready to attack her if she came closer. She could not be a Princess, it had to be an illusion, and wasn't that Sparkle herself? It was! And she had her cutie mark!

As nervousness of the verge of panic spread, Twilight trotted forwards. Spike failed to stop her, to make her consider other options; and he tried. But his oldest friend was now focused on a single goal, a single solution to all of her problems, and nothing would stop her.
She was scaring him.

A guard let go of an arrow. It was mostly an accident, a slip of a hoof from fear. It wouldn't even hit. But Twilight reacted instantly. A power blast of magic threw the guards off the walls. Another broke open the gates, and she trotted inside, not even slowing down as she walked among stunned and scared ponies.

It was a painfully one-sided fight. Most of the guard was station at the borders, or trying to deal with monsters and any other dangers now roaring Equestria. Only a small number remained, and without their cutie mark and tired from being constantly overworked, they could not stop the attacker from breaking through.

A single blast of magic dispersed pegasi firing lightning at her. Earth ponies were levitated, not gently, on top of buildings where they couldn't even reached her. Unicorn magic was countered, and the attackers couldn't even touch her, their magic fizzling out or deflecting off the unbreakable shield.

She reached the gate to the palace, and broke them inwards with a single thought. The royal guard, fearless as always, flew and run at her to fight. She had no time for it. She just PUSHED.

A massive wave of magic swept forward. It blasted apart magic shields, threw pegasi into the wall, and broke the earth ponies formation. Nopony could stand in her way, the remains of the door were pushed inside the palace among the unconscious bodies.

But one guard stood still, and tried to stop her. A shaking pegasi, with one wing broken, stood in the doorway, traying to block her passage. "You… will not pass." She said, fighting her own body to stay up. Tears flew from her eyes, but they were like steel. "I swore to protect her with my life, and I will!"

"You will not stop me. She is an impostor on the throne!" Twilight shouted, and the might of her voice was enough to crack all remaining windows. Remaining ponies around her screamed in pain and fear, covering their ears.

"The royal guard… faced Nightmare Moon herself!" The pegasi answered, blood slowly pooling under her as she tried to stay upright. "If you think…we will give up so easily!" She fell on the ground, but forced herself to at least sit, to move her one working wing aside, to block the door as much as she could. "Then you are mistaken!"

Others slowly tried to get up, as well. Horns sparked, their owners trying to force one more bit of magic. Earth ponies, hardy by nature, helped other up as pegasi did their best to fly. Spike grabbed Twilight's head, shouting next to her ear. "Twilight! Stop it! You don't need to hurt them!"

The alicorn hesitated. Looked around, at the wounded and unconscious. Bleeding. Were some of them dead? No, she wouldn't put that much power into her spell… would she? Was there something wrong with her? She gently enveloped the pegasi in front of her in her telekinesis, and despite protests moved her away, making sure not to make her wounds even worse. "Please take care of the wounded, everpony." Twilight said, not looking back. She could feel it, the fear, the hatred in the eyes of everypony behind her. Maybe in the entire Canterlot. But without their cute marks, they could not defeat her, they couldn't even slow her down.

She walked through the Palace, through the halls she knew so much. The corridor leading to the throne room had a new stained glass window, she noticed absentmindedly. This one was showing that monster… Starlight… taking away cutie marks. Above her was the fake staff, and it's magic was slowly moving the sun and moon.

Twilight broke it with a single spell. Pieces of colored glass fell, Spike shaking as the razor sharp pieces fell upon them; but she created a shield, and it was nothing more than a colored rain, swept to the sides.

The door to the throne room broke inwards, and Twilight walked into it, horn lit up and spells ready.

"Whoever you are, a shapeshifter, or a demon who possessed her." Starlight Glimmer declared from her throne – the throne she STOLE, Twilight knew it, it did not belong to her. "Know that you will not succeed. I will defend my ponies!"

"Your… you STOLE THEM!" Twilight roared, Spike hiding behind her with a whimper. "It is not your throne, not your ponies!"

The alicorn's power increased, and the throne room grew darker. Twilight fell upon the day in Canterlot, and Starlight's rule was coming to an end. "You broke time." The Element of Magic took a step forward, easily blocking Starlight's attack. "You broke Equestria." The Princess took another step, with shaking Starlight firing another ineffective spell. "You stole her throne!" Twilight shouted through tears, as she took another step, shaking with fury, her magic barely kept under control.

It was Starlight's nightmare made manifest. Some rational part of her mind thought to herself that this is how Celestia must have felt when Nightmare Moon attacked. Nothing could stop this monster. She could not win, and this time there were no Elements to save the day. But she had to try.

"Stay back!" Starlight screamed in fear, using all the magic she could muster. But it was no use. She was too weak; most of her additional power – that she was desperately extracting from Celestia's mark every day - was used to move the sun and moon (and even that wasn't enough, she had to add lots of her own power to it as well). Despite trying again and again, no amount of unicorns could help her. She only had her own diminished strength, and this alicorn was too much for it. This… monster… easily blocked all her spells, even her special cutie mark based magic was of no use.

"You will fix what you broke, Starlight Glimmer!" The nightmare demanded, her spell easily breaking through the shield the unicorn hastily brought up. "You will return me to the past, so that I can end this!"

"You're insane! I don't even know what you're talking about!" Starlight shouted in answer, desperately trying to think of something. Was that the end? She could feel tears slowly pooling in her eyes.

The next spell broke her remaining defenses. Her body was thrown through her throne, and she whimpered helplessly on the floor as the Nightmare approached. That was it. The end. None could stop this monster. Everypony will now suffer the eternal twilight.

"I'm sorry, everypony." Starlight said quietly, tears flowing freely. She had no strength to fight back anymore, no trick up her sleeve. "I have failed you." She closed her eyes, waiting for the killing blow.

But it didn't come. Instead, the monster stood above her, motionless. "What did you say?" Eternal Twilight asked, her voice commanding and unyielding. Starlight didn't answer; there was no point in delaying the inevitable. "I asked what did you say. Answer me!"

"Twilight!" A different voice… not a pony? Starlight heard tiny feet running. "Twilight, stop it! Can't you see how scared she is? Twilight, please, this isn't you!" The voice begged. Who was that?

To her surprise, the killing blow did not materialize. Instead, silence, and then a sound of a bag being open. Somepony… someone came close to her, and she whimpered in fear, but to her surprise that creature just dried her tears with something, slowly, delicately. "Hey, Starlight. Can you talk? What hurts?" He asked.

"Everything." She answered quietly, slowly opening her eyes. Next to her stood… a dragon with a tissue in his claw? Very young one, perhaps just a child. He… was crying as well? He seemed scared, too. Starlight very slowly touched him with her hoof.

"Why… are you afraid?" She quietly asked. "Are you… her slave?"

"What? No!" He shook his head, and dried his tears with his arm. "I'm her friend! She's just… under a lot of pressure…"

"Spike, what are you doing?" The Nightmare asked, but it felt different. The lights inside the throne room grew brighter, and in front of Starlight was a normal alicorn… mostly. Her eyes still shone with power, and anger, but it was no longer a promise of ending her and everything she ever loved. "It's Starlight! Step away from her!"

"She's scared, and wounded! Can't you see?! You're scaring her!" The dragon – Spike, was that his name? – shook a little, and she could see he was holding back tears. "Twilight, you're scaring me…"

There were noises. Guards, many limping or needing help of others to walk, spilled into the throne room. "Stand back!" Starlight tried to order them, her voice barely audible; but they did hesitate. "I order you, stand back. She wants me, and only me. Do not add more bloodshed then it is necessary."

The guards stopped. Their sense of duty fought the order she gave them, but for now it was enough. Starlight turned towards her executioner, trying to show a brave face. "What will it be, then?"

"What? What do you mean?" The alicorn asked, taking a step back. She now seemed unsure of herself, anger slowly passing and changing into… fear?

"Will you send me to the moon? To the sun?" Starlight swallowed. "Will you kill me?"

"What?! No, I just…" The monster took a step back, her eyes now wide open. "How can you say that, you are… you did… this!"

"What did I do?" Starlight asked quietly.

She felt telekinetic field grabbing her – the dragon gasped, guards readied weapons, some averted their eyes expecting the worst – but she was just moved, slowly and delicately, between the alicorn and the guards. Was she a hostage? But that made no sense.

Then she felt strands of magic washing over her, moving alongside her flank… ah, of course, she wanted to uncover her real mark.

"There you go! She lied to you! The staff has no powers, it's all her!" The monster grabbed the staff, broke it into pieces and threw it on the floor next to Starlight. "She lied to you, deceived you!"

"…is it true?" One of the guards asked, her eyes glued to the remains of the staff.

Starlight nodded slowly, avoiding eye contact in shame. "Yes. I am sorry, my ponies. I lied to you, and I… I was afraid. Afraid what happens if I tell you. Afraid that.. that there will be no one to move the sun anymore."

"You could have just did whatever you did to you own cutie mark to help Celestia!" The Nightmare demanded.

"I can't." Starlight whispered.

"What?"

"I can't… protect anypony." Starlight explained slowly, avoiding eye contact with anypony around her. "I wanted to. I wanted it so much. With all the wars, invasions, and moving the sun… I was so tired. But I cannot. I tried teaching her this spell, but it didn't work. It never works, nopony can cast it. Even she couldn't."

"Princess… Celestia?" Starlight slowly nodded her head as Nightmare – no, Twilight – looked at her. "She allowed this? She, she gave you the throne?"

"She said… I need to protect her little ponies. Somepony needs to." Starlight answered, tears pooling in her eyes again. "I… I wanted it, but now, it's… it's all so horrible."

Twilight didn't answer for a long, long moment, but then she moved. Guards jumped forward, but it was too late… and then the alicorn hugged Starlight. She was crying, too.

Both of them cried, and Spike joined them. And soon, even guards did.

They cried for Celestia, who could no longer protect them. For the world, growing darker and sadder with every passing they. And they even cried for Starlight, who won and did not enjoy it at all.

There are only two tragedies in life, some say: one is not getting what one wants… and the other is getting it.

On the next day, they met in one of many rooms in the palace. One Celestia barely used; Starlight explained it felt wrong, using the rooms once taken by the alicorn ruler, and as a result most of them remained unused. Twilight appreciate that.

They talked over tea, with guards no longer present (although they were stationed outside the doors, just in case; the guards were much less trusting then Starlight was right now) and Spike mulching on some high-quality games.

There was a lot of apologizing. Twilight (the alicorn; unicorn sadly refused to leave her library) apologized to Starlight many times. She then apologized to each and every single one of the guards. Twice. And then apologized to Starfire, again.

And in the meantime, she apologized to Spike, as well. She scared him horribly, and her little assistant was worried still. Twilight seemed to almost lose control of herself… in ways that reminded him of Nightmare Moon.

He wished Celestia could be here, but as it turned out she moved far away from Canterlot. It was left unspoken, but Spike had a suspicion that a sudden lack of power, and being forced to watch as Equestria collapses on itself, was too much for her and she needed to leave it all behind for a time.

There was a different alternative, and he did his best to not think about why no one had any contact with her for over a year. He tried not to think about it.
He failed.

But in the meantime, they finally had time to rest a little. And eat actual, tasty food. These gems, Spike decided, were one of the tastiest he ever ate. Part of it was definitely the fact that he could finally relax and rest, and he also slept surprisingly well. Probably because he was exhausted.

He looked at Twilight warily, but his best friend seemed back to her normal self, mostly. She swapped advanced theories of spellcraft with Starlight, and if there was something that both of these mares appreciated, it was magic. Most of the discussion was way above his understanding, but it was nice seeing both of them relax a little.

"… it's a real shame Princess Celestia isn't here." Starlight looked at her teacup sadly. The bruises left by Twilight's assault were still visible, even more then yesterday, and she was sitting on multiple pillows.

"I know." Twilight answered, no sign left of yesterday's rage. The Princess of Friendship was back to being herself, fortunately for her and everyone around her. "I wanted to see her, too."

"Maybe… together we could save everypony." Starlight wistfully said.

"Why can't you?" Spike asked once the discussion became more tangible.

"How? I spent years trying to find a way, and Twilight… our Twilight… did so as well." Starlight looked at Spike. "I don't think it's even possible."

"But Twilight… my Twilight… she did it! She fixed the spell!"

There was a moment of stunned silence. Spike faceclawed. "Did you girls seriously just spent hours talking about magic… and not even once tried to talk about that?"

"No, that's not…"

"I was just…" Both of them tried to talk at the same timer, and then both stopped.

Spike smiled. "See, told ya you're very much alike."

"What? No I'm not…"

"I would never…"

This time, Spike couldn't hold it. He laughed for a moment at the sight of two stuttering totally-not-Twilights, both growing quite red on their faces and sputtering protests.

They did it next to the map.

Her friends weren't here; or rather, the ones who were around weren't her friends. In time, she could probably rebuild the bonds of friendship with them, but it would take time. She didn't want to risk the time spell destabilizing in the meantime.

She had to go. But she was going to do one more thing before leaving, one last act. Possibly meaningless, and there was a high chance it wouldn't even work.
But she couldn't just left all these ponies like this.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, stood in front of the Map, spell ready. Spike and Starlight stood next to her, both hopeful, as she slowly recited the spell.

"From all of us together, together we're friends."

Spike stood proudly next to his best friend. In the end, she managed to see through her anger, and saw a scared, exhausted pony. Twilight once again proved worthy of her title. It required some help from him, but hey, that's what friends are for, right? No one needs to be perfect. That's what friends are for.

"With the marks of our destinies made one…"

Starlight was smiling, for the first time in years. She already forgave Twilight, and she could only pray for success. Both with the spell and in returning to her home. The years of ruling were not kind to her, but in the end they made her learn empathy. She made up with Sunburst, even.

"…there is magic without end!"

Twilight changed, since the last time she cast this spell. She could understand Fluttershy better, now. Behind many 'monsters' were just… suffering people, ponies or not. Not everyone could be redeemed – Chrysalis was still out there, and Tirek was a definition of 'evil' personified – but many could be.

Was Discord actually happy when he ruled? Or was there something more even to the God of Chaos, Twilight thought to herself as her spell took shape. What did Fluttershy see, deep within him? Twilight only now realized she never actually asked Fluttershy that. She would definitely do this once they return home.

She learned a lot in the past hours. She saw many ponies at their best, and at their worst. It was like seeing Discord warp them again… but this time without any magic. Just a simple change in their lives.

They all could change so much. Even Starlight herself. And, as much as it annoyed her, even herself. The unicorn Twilight just giving up was definitely something she never wanted to witness again.
At least she knew she could never be a villain.

For some reason, the magic seemed to hesitate for a split second. Twilight could suddenly feel it slipping away. No! She can't fail, she can't! She tried her best to grab it, but it wasn't enough…

And then Starlight joined her, her magic delicate, almost hesitant. But it worked; the spell stabilized, and then, in an explosion of rainbow light, triggered.

Twilight wouldn't see the result of it, but she knew it worked, even as she drifted upwards towards the opening time portal. She could feel it. The last thing she and Spike saw was smiling face of Starlight Glimmer.

And then, the moment the two travellers were gone, the cutie mark vault exploded outwards. At first, ponies looked at the rain of magic falling on them with confusion, then with fear. Memories of the last time they had their cute marks were still fresh, and some tried to defend themselves or run away.

But soon, everypony could feel it. It was the way it was supposed to be. They regained their destiny, and there was rejoicing. Pinkie Pie promising the greatest party EVER, Rarity instantly getting back to work on some better clothing – 'I cannot bear to look at these unsightly things anymore!' – while Applejack bucked a tree with joy and happiness as apples fell perfectly into baskets. Even Rainbow Dash left her home, still grumpy and annoyed, but now back to being cool.

Fluttershy spoke with her friends in her cottage, and there was much rejoicing. Many of them did not live to see this day – their lives much shorter then hers – but she treasured those who were left, and new friendships were already being made.

And for two ponies, the wave of light came at the best possible time.

In her bed, Twilight could feel it. Magic. She couldn't feel it for so long… she slowly stood up, looking at her flank. Then, she looked outside, and cried tears of happiness. Plans of ending it all disappeared; they would still return, sometimes, but never for long. And for now, she was just happy.

And far in the frozen north, an alicorn stopped on her way, and looked south. Her power returned, and with it, the warmth that dispelled the deathly cold outside… and the chilling thoughts inside.
Celestia spread her wings and flew, the sun shining above her as she broke through the clouds.

And next to the Map, Starlight looked at the place her newfound friend disappeared.

There was still hope.

Did you now that Magical Mystery Cure had a much different plot originally? M.A. Larson described it years ago in an interview, and I found it very interesting. This alternate future is partially based on that original script, and it was in fact one of three moments that inspired me to write this story and were most crucial to it.