//------------------------------// // Chapter 11- A Lover's Tears // Story: The Thestral With The Golden Halo // by DougtheLoremaster //------------------------------// Hazel stood by the bedside, her brow furrowed in conflict over the current situation. She hated Starshine for visiting Faust without letting her know. She was shattered watching her partner lay unmoving in that bed. Her emotions roiled inside her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. Unable to decide she continued standing there as she had for the past five days. The conversation with Faust echoing in her mind when her sister brought Starshine home on her back. *** "She can't walk in my realm anymore Hazel." Hazel sat at the stone table with a cup of herbal tea in her hooves. She looked concerned. "I forgot to warn her; I'll make sure she understands thestrals don't mix with Celestials." "Hazel, I'm not sure she is a thestral." Hazel gave her sister a teacup and responded calmly. "What are you talking about you high horse? You think she is still yours, an alicorn?" Her sister took a slow, thoughtful sip of her tea. "No, she is yours...Though not entirely." Hazel felt her jealousy and possessive nature begin to rise within her. She snapped back with malice."Whatever you are plotting back off! She is mine!" Faust, quite used to these scenarios with Hazel kept her voice level. "Yes, I agree, she is. Her body and instincts as well as mannerisms are those of...your kind, sister." Hazel sat back down and did her best to keep her anger in check. "Why do I sense a but, Faust?" The next words out of Faust's mouth shocked her. "Because her mind, soul and will are those of an alicorn." *** She stared down at the still sleeping Starshine. A peaceful grin upon her muzzle and her dragon scaled wings fully splayed wide open as if she owned the bed. The way her legs were spread, the position of her well defined hindquarters. That pose would make most stallions and mares swoon with desire. Hazel, quite flustered, angrily turned and slammed her hooves into the two feet thick red stone wall. Of course she is a thestral. How dare my rotten goody two shoes sister dare insinuate otherwise. Still... Hazel couldn't deny it. Starshine had done something no thestral ever had; survived a trip to the Otherside. Thestrals by nature were not pure creatures. Their souls craved depravities, exploiting other's souls with their powers in order to further their ideals. Of the flesh, the mindset of a thestral was anything but that of an alicorn. Any thestral would instinctively avoid that realm, knowing certain destruction lay within should they venture into the light. Yet Starshine lay before her, snoozing happily, having just visited the very realm that should have destroyed her. Standing there, Hazel went over everything she knew about Starshine. The more she thought about the more confused she found herself. No self-respecting thestral would care to redeem another or even care about another. Though no self-respecting alicorn would be caught dead in bed with the likes of me. Your dominant seductive side is thestral, but your desire to fulfill her duty to Faust is definitely an alicorn trait. Your magic can create, yet destroy...I...hate to admit it, but what if Faust is right and you are neither alicorn nor thestral...then I have to wonder. Starshine what are you? "H-Hazy?" Starshine had sat up in bed and was yawning as if nothing happened. "How long was I asleep?" Hazel felt the momentary relief of seeing her wake up fade into almost instantaneous rage. Her normally emerald eyes, turned darker than the void. Her voice was not seductive nor malicious. It was of pure rage. "HOW DARE YOU!" *** The entirety of Equestria in the mortal realm heard it. The nightmarish screams of pain erupting from the ground. The very soul of every living creature was filled with an extreme chilling sensation. Meanwhile, in her crystalline castle, Twilight calmly ignored the chills and sipped a cup of Sweet Apple Acres "special" cider courtesy of Applejack. That daughter of mine... Twilight's horn glowed a rich purple as she sat eyes aglow. Calmly sipping her cider, she smiled. Reminds me of myself when I was younger. *** What seemed like hours later, Starshine, stumbled down the hallway. Her silver flank now a glowing red and keeping her balance was incredibly painful. As she limped towards where Chrysalis and Sombra waited, frozen in time, she thought about what happened earlier. *** "YOU ARE THE WORST!" Smack "OF ALL THE HEARTLESS..." Smack "CRUEL..." smack "THINGS I HAVE EVER DONE..." Smack "YOU MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE PARLOR TRICKS BY COMPARISON!" Smack Smack "DO YOU UNDERSTAND? CAN YOU EVEN FATHOM WHAT YOU'VE DONE?" With tears in her eyes, Hazel had decided to spank Starshine over her knee. Her rage was only overshadowed by her pain. Starshine screamed out in pain as blow after blow hit. Strangely though she wasn't feeling the physical pain. Thestrals by their very nature don't experience physical pain rather, they relish being hit as natural masochists. No matter how hard Hazel had hit Starshine, she would never have been able to hurt her. The two often worked out their anger in this manner. The partner felt pleasure and the punisher got rid of her stress. This time, however, was different. Hazel was crying and those tears were truly causing her pain. This time the pleasure was gone. Starshine's hide looked like it had been sliced open by a sword. "H-Hazy p-p-please...stop..." Starshine's voice was weak, and it seemed to snap Hazel out of her anger. Blinking she looked down at Starshine. The silver fur was matted in crimson dripping from lacerations that now riddled her hide. "Starshine!" Starshine sat up slowly, ignoring her wounds and gave Hazel a kiss. "H-Hazy, I-I'm sorry. Please don't c-cry." *** Pausing in the corridor, Stashine painfully opened her scaly wings to reveal the scarred tissue from those wounds. Slowly she smiled and thought to herself. To think sadness cuts deeper than the sharpest talon. I guess I deserved this, after all she awoke to find me gone. I didn't exactly leave a note for her, either. She knew, though, that wasn't why Hazel was angry. Oh sure, Starshine had caused her sadness at being alone without warning, but her rage came from something else. Starshine had done something horrible and unforgivable. Something in all of eternity had never happened, should never have happened. Starshine had made Hazel care about something other than herself and in doing so, gave the cold, soulless thestral the ability to show compassion and love. Her eyes glowed crimson as her horn once more began to glow perhaps she isn't a lost cause after all, Faust. She painfully limped through the door with a rather content smile on her thestral form as her body began to shimmer until at last she stood an alicorn once more. She would bear the scars with honor, for progress had been made. Soon her plan would bear fruit. Glancing at the two frozen in time beside her, Starshine's grin turned to amusement. Back to work.