Amethyst Star and Harlequin Grey left the town and made their way west together. It had changed from day to evening to night so quickly that Amethyst Star hadn’t even noticed, but now the two sat around a campfire that Harlequin Grey had made in the middle of another forest that bordered the town. A large rock sat next to the both of them, its smooth surface helping trap in the heat. The unicorn had been mostly silent since leaving, a lot was going through her head.
It was so quiet in the forest. She wished it wasn’t. She wished there were sounds of foraging animals, or hooting owls, or something. Without them the only thing there was to do was dwell on what had happened. And watch the fire. That flickering fire just kept reminding her of what she wished she could put out of her head like everything else bad that had happened on this adventure.
“I can tell you’re upset. You shouldn’t be.”
She looked over at him, shadows dancing across his face from the fire. “I just… I don’t think they deserved that. Any of them. I wanted to get back at them, I’ll admit that, but I never wanted to go that far. I wanted to teach them a lesson the same way Princess Twilight would or something. Er, maybe. I was pretty angry.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m just a hypocrite.”
Harlequin Grey blinked at her. Once. Twice. “It doesn’t matter if they deserved it or not, not really.”
“Huh?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you talking about? Of course it matters! I don’t want to just do stuff like that to innocent ponies.”
“If you have the capability to do something then do it. That’s the benefit of power. Of being special, which you desire so much,” he shrugged his shoulders.
“Which I desire?” She frowned at him. “You’ve been saying all this time that I already was special and amazing.”
“That was me lying.”
“What?” Amethyst Star gasped, standing up and glowering at the other unicorn. Had he suddenly just changed? It was like his whole persona was giving off a different feeling. And to think he was just buttering her up the whole time!
Harlequin Grey stood up as well, walking over to stand between the fire and the rock, lighting his horn up with a wispy silver shine. “Let us discuss some things, Miss Amethyst Star.” The flames and shadows on the rock started changing shape under the influence of his magic, a performance of shadow puppets was being put on as Harlequin Grey made a shadow Amethyst Star on the smooth stone surface. “What I just did, was give you a taste of what being strong felt like. Of being capable to get what you want. Of having the ability to actually achieve your goals instead of just telling yourself you can like you’ve been doing over the course of your silly adventure.”
Amethyst Star watched as her shadow self hopped around, first she jumped onto a train that sped away with even little shadow puffs of smoke to accompany it, then the train melted and formed into a mountain range that little Amethyst Star was walking through. On and on Amethyst Star watch this shadow replay of her adventure. Meeting Birdseed and being given the box that she had completely forgotten about until now. The struggle up the hill. The tournament that ended before it began. All of her failures were plain for her to see all over again, finally culminating in the shadow memory of being ran out of town by an angry mob throwing a volley of fruit and rocks at her. She didn’t want to watch but her eyes couldn’t look away.
Her shadow self then grew and grew until it took up the entire face of the rock. And somehow Amethyst Star knew it was crying.
And she was crying along with it.
“A history of failure. How unfortunate. But that is what happens when a pony tries to be something they’re not. Do something they can’t. You might as well have tried to get a different Cutie Mark,” Harlequin Grey said to her.
“Why?” Amethyst Star spoke through her tears, not turning to look at him.
“I do not say it to be cruel. But it is the truth,” he unlit his horn and let the shadows and fire return to normal. “And because you have been lying to yourself for far too long. Now you must confront reality. You failed to be a fighter. You failed to be a hero. You failed in the swamp. You failed at the tournament. You failed in the temple. You are a failure and you were not prepared for this.”
“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Amethyst Star collapsed to the ground, covering her ears. “I’m not a failure!”
The shadow puppets returned, but this time showing off Princess Twilight and all her friends. Their victory over Nightmare Moon and redemption of Luna, the conflict with the changelings, Tirek, all of their grand accomplishments were played out like a film reel for Amethyst Star to watch. And in the corner of it all a small Amethyst Star sat alone, looking on in envy.
“Do you really think you can be just as amazing as Twilight Sparkle and her friends?”
“Yes! I can be! I’m… I’m sick of being overshadowed. I’m sick of feeling like a background character in my own life,” she dropped her hooves from her ears and sat there as tears fell to the ground. “This is my adventure and I can do it. They’re not better than me, I can do anything they can do… I-I know it.”
“You are correct.”
Amethyst Star looked up at him now, confusion written plainly on her face.
He still didn’t smile, simply regarded her with his same empty expression and white eyes. “But you have to do things my way. Otherwise failure will continue to be all that awaits you.”
“Your way?”
“Yes, my way. The same way I showed you back in that town. Where you do what you want to whoever you want. Where you have the power to eradicate doubt. The way that allows you to conquer anything on your adventure as if you were Twilight Sparkle herself. That way,” Harlequin Grey told her. “No one would ever insult or talk down to you again. And if they dared then they face your wrath.”
Amethyst Star stood up, her eyes searching around for an answer. “I-I don’t-”
“You will have respect. Respect comes with power. Your friends wont mock you anymore for dreaming big. Finally you truly will be able to do anything just like you’ve been telling yourself. It’s what you’ve always wanted. You know this.”
It was.
Amethyst Star gulped, finally finding the courage to look deep into his purple eyes. “How?”
He raised his hoof out towards her. “Take my hoof. That’s it.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. And you will be the mare you always wanted to be. At the forefront. Strong. The best,” he reassured her.
Amethyst Star looked at his outstretched hoof. It was really that simple? She could finally convince her friends and everyone else that she was the amazing pony she believed herself to be? She could do what she wanted, have that epic adventure she dreamed of, and actually succeed at it? No more ponies doubting her, no more ponies laughing at her, no more ponies blaming her for things that weren’t her fault. All she had to do was take that hoof.
She stepped forward and reached out her own shaking hoof, her breath hitched in her throat, her heart beating like a jackhammer in her chest. It’s what she wanted. This was the way to get what she wanted.
The crying family in front of their burning home flashed through her mind.
Amethyst Star stopped, looking at her hoof only an inch away from grasping Harlequin Grey’s. Slowly she looked up at him. “I… I have a sister.”
For the first time since meeting him, Harlequin Grey showed emotion on his face. He frowned. “Yes, I’m well aware that you do.”
“I was just thinking,” Amethyst Star said to him. “What would my sister think if she saw what we had done back there? What would my friends think? Or Twilight Sparkle and the ponies I’m trying to emulate. What would any of them think about that or the way you want me to be?”
“Who cares? It’s irrelevant,” his frown deepened.
“No! No it’s not!” Amethyst Stat yelled at him. “I may have had my screw-ups out here and I may not have handled everything the best and it’s true that I want ponies to respect me and see that I’m as great as I know I am. But I don’t want to do it like that. I don’t want to be like that or do things your way.”
Harlequin Grey’s lip quivered and his eyes narrowed at her. “Are you sure? Failure and insecurity will be a thing of the past to you if you go my way. Take my hoof.”
Amethyst Star looked down at it as she grit her teeth. Her brow furrowed and she finally slapped away his hoof. “No! I’m not that kind of pony! I’m a good pony. And I’m going to do things the right way.”
“Feh,” Harlequin Grey dismissively spat, rolling his eyes at her little speech. “Fine.”
She glared at him, angrier than she had ever been so far on her adventure. “I’d like you to go away.”
He regarded her for a cold few seconds before responding.
“You ponies-” he began with an irritated lilt. “Are all so annoying. It’s just trouble after trouble when it comes to you. Well so be it then.” The pegasus spread his wings and flapped them a few times, rising into the air. “I was hoping you could deal with some problems of mine but if you’re so adamant on continuing your stupid little failure of an adventure then be my guest. You’ll regret it but don’t come crying to me. I have something far more important to deal with to the south right now anyways.”
And without another word he gave a last powerful flap of his wings and sped off into the dark sky.
“Yeah you better run, jerk!” Amethyst Star yelled and shook her hoof after him. “You’re not turning me into another selfish jerk, I’ve met way too many of those out here already!”
Amethyst Star had some mixed feelings about what had just occurred. Here and back in the town. But what she knew for sure was how good she felt about swatting his hoof away and rejecting that offer. That was at least one thing she knew she could be proud of on this adventure. After all the things that had gone wrong, that was most assuredly something that had gone right.