ENDING A (HERO):
“Cozyheart!” Flitterheart whispers. She kisses her little sister’s forehead as she sleeps. Starbeam recognizes ‘Cozyheart’ as the infamous villain Cozy Glow, but resists the urge to murder the foal in her sleep. That would only make her the monster instead.
She nudges her patron, and Flitterheart turns her attention to the other room, where her younger self is coughing. It’s time that the two Flitterhearts talk. Starbeam follows along, but stays silent.
“Hi, uh, me.” Flitterheart’s greeting could have used some practice, but it’s too late for that now. There’s a limited amount of time they can spend in the past, and the clock’s ticking.
The younger Flitterheart stares at her older self, jaw agape.
“I don’t have much time, so I need you to listen to me and promise that you’ll do your best to help change the future. Cozyheart is going to… do some very naughty things when she’s older. The princesses are going to punish her in a very mean way, and she will be lost to us forever. Whatever you do, don’t let Cozy go to the School of Friendship.”
The younger Flitterheart just nods, awestruck to be having a conversation with her older self. Her eyes keep glancing to her future cutie mark, a pair of hearts.
Catching note of where her younger self’s eyes keep drifting, the older Flitterheart turns to present the mark for her younger self’s approval. “We get this mark because of Cozy. One of these hearts is ours, the other is Cozy’s. The mark symbolizes a desire to help foals reach their destinies. It’s what I, we, should be doing…” She sighs. “I still love her as much as you do, even though she’s done unspeakably bad things. Life is…difficult in the future because of what Cozy did. Our family is in hiding and Cozy is dead.”
Starbeam’s horn starts glowing and that’s all the time they have. “Stop her any way you can…” are the last words she gets out as they wink back to their own time.
Returning to the present, Flitterheart collapses to the floor in tears. Starbeam pats her on the withers. Emotional support is something the unicorn isn’t used to providing, but she can relate to the scars the mare is carrying with her on her heart and psyche.
“It’s okay. We’re home now. Let’s go visit the statue garden. Maybe she’s not there.”
“Okay.”
And if she is… maybe she'll do something about that, too. Starbeam’s still undecided, but this mare is hurting and there’s an easy way to solve her problem… while giving them both a whole set of new problems.