The hole in time opened, disgorging Twilight Sparkle and Spike flying to the rescue of the future yet again. The former flared her wings, halting her advance just before being struck by a beam of blue magic, which drew her attention to the villain of the week.

“Up for another race-ending fight, Twilight?” Starlight Glimmer goaded from atop a nearby cloud. Regardless of what the princess tried, Starlight’s plan hadn’t failed once yet; the race between Rainbow Dash and the pair of colts bullying Fluttershy had been halted before the rainboom each time.

“No, you’re right; I can’t stop you.” Twilight admitted, pausing to block another beam with a brief shield before she went on, “But you can’t stop me from trying, and we could be stuck doing this for all eternity!”

“If that's what it takes to keep you and your friends from getting your cutie mark connection, then I'm game!” was the snide response, followed by another spell to be blocked by Twilight’s shield.

A moment passed before the response came: “No, you’re not.” The princess spoke in a tone of quiet revelation, the same one she used every time she’d finally noticed an obvious answer to a particularly prickly problem. Spike raised an eyebrow, peeking out from behind the safety of Twilight’s mane in confusion.

“What do you mean I’m not? I just said I am.” Curiosity and indignation held back the next zap.

“You’re not an alicorn. I’m an alicorn, and you’re not.” A smile began to grow on Twilight’s features.

“I don’t see why that’s important; it hasn’t helped you defeat me.” As if to demonstrate the point, Starlight’s horn sent forth another beam of magic off to the side, roughly knocking the approaching Rainbow Dash off-course with a cry of surprise and pain.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but before she could she was whisked away by the Map’s portal, dropped into yet another hellish alternative to the Equestria she knew. This time the landscape was bleak and blasted, dusty brown sky and dusty brown land parted only by the horizon, whipped together by a howling wind. Dead trees, rocks, and the occasional bit of bramble dotted the desert, no landmarks other than distant hills and the Map itself to distract attention. Nothing at all suggested Ponyville had once stood there. Both she and Spike stared wide-eyed; every other time they had returned, there had been villains and horrors, but there had been ponies. Never had they seen Equestria just…gone.

Twilight’s surprise faded first, eyes narrowing as resolve took its place. Soon, her grim expression gave way to an equally grim smile. “Perfect.”

That was enough to snap Spike free of his awe. “What? Perfect?” He turned to look her in the eye. “How can this be perfect? Everything’s gone!”

What threatened to become anger faded back to confusion when he noticed the look she wore. Her horn lit up, surrounding them and the Map in a bubble of pink energy, blocking out the dust and the wind. With its constant howl quelled, she began casting a series of cantrips, simple spells that she could manage during conversation.

“No changelings swarming, no timberwolves attacking, no rampaging Tirek. No immediate threat; we can take a moment to think here.”

“But every moment we waste is another moment Starlight has in…the past…wait, how does that work if she already did it?”

“That’s the first thing to test once we go back. I’ve already cast a ‘What Time Is It?’ spell to make sure I’m right. Now all that’s left is making sure there’s no way for her to beat us, and facing her down again.”

“Whoa, whoa, Twilight, we know…er…when we are; this is the future. Present. You know what I mean.”

“Yes, but now I know exactly what time it is in this version.”

“You mean…?”

“One thirty-four in the afternoon.”

“…How does that help us?”

“I’ll tell you the next time we wind up here. Get out the scroll; I’m going to cast some heavy defensive magic on it, you, and your bag. Starlight’s good enough that it won’t hold forever, but it doesn’t have to; just a few minutes at a time.”

Spike wanted to argue, but then he’d seen Twilight in this state before, and he knew that he wasn’t going to get more answers from her until she’d tested whatever she was going to test. And besides, more protection wasn’t a bad idea. Several minutes later the wards were active; the scroll would be protected from most forms of harm, the bag only accessible by the two of them, and Spike even more durable than his draconic nature already rendered him.

“Okay! Now we’ve got to confront her one more time…”

The scroll was withdrawn, and in a flash of light the vortex opened above them once more, sweeping the pair back to the past. Flying free into the skies of Cloudsdale, she brought up a shield to deflect the opening shots as Spike stowed the scroll. This time, the ray flashed across the rear of her shield, revealing Starlight crouched against a cloud and readying a further assault. Twilight swept in, landing nearby as more shields caught blast after blast directed at her.

Starlight’s irritation was plain on her face, horn sizzling as she considered the next move. “And here we are again. See? You still can’t beat me.”

Twilight just smirked.

Starlight glared, but a quick twist of her head let her land another blast on a distant Rainbow Dash, who was sent careening into a bank of clouds after her wings locked up.

Twilight continued to smirk.

“What’s wrong? You didn’t even try and stop me this time.” Starlight focused her gaze upon the defiant alicorn, only briefly breaking her attention to look for unexpected threats to either side. “What are you happy about?”

Twilight kept on smirking as the vortex reopened above her, sweeping her off to another time and place.

The world was very strange. Brown grass crunched underhoof as a sweltering heat beat down on the pair. Withered trees with feeble green leaves dotting them stretched around them. The lake in the distance looked nearly dry; the orchards of Sweet Apple Acers had seen better days. In the distance, Canterlot Castle glistened on the mountainside under the fierce sunlight. Ponyville was present, but not a soul moved in it, neither pony nor critter.

Magic washed over Twilight’s horn as she trotted up to the Map once more, and a grin returned to her features after the spell gave her the answer. “I was right.”

Spike, having spotted the languishing boutique in the distance, was eager to move on. “Right about what?”

“It’s one thirty-one right now – earlier than it was when we left. Every time we come back to the present, we’re coming back at the exact same time we originally left. Whatever time we experience elsewhere, the moment we come back is the same.”

“Okay…? How does that help us?” Spike noticed movement off towards Canterlot, worry creeping into his tone.

“It means that we don’t have anything to lose. Listen…”

The alicorn explained her plan.

The dragon began to grin.

They left before Nightmare Sun arrived.

Twilight and Spike landed on a patch of cloud, and watched as Starlight Glimmer explained to the group of pegasi bullies why differences were bad. She smirked when she saw them, daring them to try and do something.

They smirked back.

Twilight and Spike flew through the sky, shield spells and teleports deflecting and avoiding the magic that Starlight threw at them as foals watched in wonder.

All the while, the alicorn and dragon smirked at her.

Twilight and Spike sat behind a barrier as Starlight focused powerful magics against it, pausing only to knock aside the racing pegasi approaching.

The pair kept smirking.

Twilight and Spike emerged from the portal, pink magic turning aside an incoming spell before they dove towards Starlight once more.

Starlight held back as the pair landed, keeping her glowing horn fixed on them. “Why? It’s been five more times and you haven’t tried anything; no attack, no cajoling the foals, not even a silly attempt to convince me to stop. Why do you keep smiling like that? You’re not winning!”

“Neither are you.”

“What?”

“Winning. So long as I keep coming back, you haven’t won.”

“I’ve won every time!”

“No, I haven’t been able to stop you.”

Starlight grit her teeth. “That’s the same thing. If you can’t stop me, I’ve won.”

“But that’s just it; I can do this forever. You can’t.” Two grins widened as they faced her down.

“What are you talking about? I already told you, if this is what I have to do to keep your cutie marks from ruining everything, I’ll do it.”

“Starlight, you’re powerful. So much so that I can’t stop you now. But unlike you, I can wait. And I only need to win once.”

Starlight continued to glare, her expression narrowing as the princess continued her lecture.

“The spell doesn’t reset our personal timelines. You and I aren’t being affected by the future, and what we do under the influence of the spell sticks with us. If I return from the present exhausted, I’m still exhausted when I get here. Time is still passing for us, no matter where we spend it.

“You’re strong, but you can make mistakes. Even if you don’t, you’re going to tire. Even if you find ways to rest, you’re still going to age. You’ll weaken. But me? I’m an alicorn princess; as time passes, I’m only going to get stronger as my alicorn magic matures. For all intents and purposes, I’m immortal. It’s the same for dragons, so that goes double for Spike."

A burst of blue magic interrupted the pair, but it only washed off yet another shield, leaving the smirking alicorn untouched.

“You’re powerful, but we’re eternal. We can literally do this forever. You can’t.”

A silence fell between them, little pegasi cheering the only sound. Starlight broke it first.

“What about your friends? Are you willing to spend all that time alone?”

“First, I have Spike; I am not alone.” A firm nod from the dragon. “Second, as soon as I win, everything returns to normal and I get them back; the spell returns us to the moment we left. Third, you’re trying to take them from me; if I let you win, I lose them forever. I’m willing to spend years fighting you to get them back. Are you willing to spend your youth trying and failing to tear us apart?”

“…”