//------------------------------//
// From The Top 
// Story: Between 
// by TheMajorTechie 
//------------------------------//

Twilight watched the clock tick backward alongside her many duplicates.

An explosion, but in reverse.

Airships drifted backward at accelerating speeds. Faster, faster.

And then they were gone.

Further and further back.

Backward trains.

Backward ships.

Backward walking, talking, flying.

The world blurred by in its ever-accelerating backwardness.

Twilight turned her head.

All of the other Twilights were gone. The ramshackle hut they'd constructed in the time they spent in the void--gone. The one and only other pony she'd met aside from herself this entire time--

Gone.

All that remained was a... throne?

A brisk tap of a hoof against the polished floor tore her mind back to the present.

The present.

Did time stop reversing?

Why was Starlight Glimmer here? Why was she holding a clipboard? What--

"Equestria to Twilight, hello--" Starlight stamped her hoof on the floor again. "You were saying something about stepping down? You sorta just... spaced out for a while there. I know the disappearance of Fluttershy was hard on you with her being the last of the other Eleme--"

"Wait."

Starlight shifted her gaze with a side-eye toward Twilight.

"Fluttershy disappeared? Didn't Discord transform her--"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Twi," Starlight flipped her clipboard around. "Spike just reported back from Ponyville that her cottage has been abandoned. No sign of Discord anywhere either if you're gonna ask."

"What about Sunset? Where's Suns--"

"Twilight," Starlight cut in again. "Please. One thing at a time. You look like you've seen the end of time itself. I'll get you something to drink. You stay right there."

Starlight cantered off to who-knows-where.

This... Twilight blinked, taking in the sun--the real, actual sun--filtering in through the stained glass windows.

This is her second chance, isn't it?