//------------------------------// // Chapter 107 - Unveiling. // Story: Terraria: Friendship Is Magic // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// -TERRARIA, THE DUNGEON- The group was currently making their way through a large chamber that was chaotically formatted in a way that would make even Discord feel right at home. The sounds of grunting and various exclamations echoes throughout the depths of The Dungeon as everyone was currently fighting undead monstrosities and avoiding death inducing traps. “This place is simply just horrid!” Rarity roars out as the unicorn teleports away in an effort to avoid a flame wheel that somehow managed to travel on any surface. “Now I understand what you meant by us being safe within those cells, Steven.” “Those cells are indeed the safest place to be in this horrible dungeon!” Steven shouts as The Clothier avoids a dark-blue magical projectile from a skeletal mage. He was about to retaliate, but Shadow Thunder appears from within the skeletal mage’s shadow and cuts down their foe with a blade composed entirely of darkness. Shadow Thunder then slips back into a ball of shadows as he traverses within the walls of The Dungeon; on route to a certain unicorn mare: Starlight Glimmer. “Steven, you used to be a sort of master of this place,” Katelyn The Mechanic comments as she and Gorglock, The Goblin Tinkerer, were currently trying to traverse over a spike pit via their grappling hooks. “Why the hell did you create so many of these traps?!” “This was Skeletron’s doing, not mine!” Steven responds as he was currently engaged in combat with skeletal undead. ………. Both Fluttershy and her miniature slime god companions were currently contending with flying skulls that could literally phase through any surface of The Dungeon. Crimulan stood by Fluttershy’s side in order to protect her while Ebonian went forth to combat any and all of their encroaching enemies. In addition, Fluttershy conjured forth her new ranged weapon: Overloaded Blaster, and unleashed an ever consuming wave of slime ooze which acidically burnt away any foe that the substance made contact with. Suddenly, a skeletal mage teleports behind Fluttershy and is about to fire off a blue blast of energy before Crimulan leaps forth and actually consumes them whole, letting out a small burp afterwards. ………. “Rah!” Starlight roars out as she blasts away a skeletal entity who tried to slice at her with a rusted iron broadsword. Suddenly, a trio of skeletal mages teleports all around the unicorn mare and fires off a series of dark-blue magical projectiles. In response, Starlight enacts a barrier which effectively protects her from the attacks. She was about to fire off her newly acquired spell book: The Book Of Skulls, but much like what happened with Steven, Shadow Thunder suddenly appears out of the darkness and conjures forth a series of dark tendrils which effortlessly tears apart the skeletal mages. “I guess that’s two for me now, beautiful.” Shadow Thunder comments with a wink. “Stop calling me beautiful…” Starlight mutters with a small hint of annoyance. Suddenly, she takes notice of a skull that possessed the ability to phase through any surface, which was currently about to attack Shadow Thunder from behind. Starlight fires up her horn and teleports behind Shadow Thunder, intercepting the skull entity. She then fires off a flaming skull in response from her spell book which collides with the other skull and explodes on impact. Noticing this, the dark pegasus smirks as he comments: “I guess that’s a save for you, beauti-” “Just, please… stop that,” Starlight interjects which catches Shadow Thunder by surprise. “You’re a nice stallion and I owe you for saving my life, but, just stop calling me that,” She then takes a deep breath before she continues: “Come on, we’ve still got some undead to deal with and the others could use our help.” The unicorn mare then teleports away; leaving behind the dark pegasus who comments: “Starlight… I know why you keep pushing me away.” FLASHBACK: -CANDY CANE CORNER- “Hey, uh, Twilight?” “Yes, Shadow Thunder?” “Do you have a moment before we all head our separate ways?” “Sure! What’s on your mind? Oh! Did you want to know more about the ponies from our world?” Shadow Thunder lets out a small chuckle before saying: “In a manner of speaking. You see, it’s about Starlight,” Shadow’s words causes Twilight to tilt her head sideways in confusion which prompts him to continue: “Is there something that’s bothering her? Every time we talk, I can see that she’s very happy and enjoys all of my stories about The Hallow but whenever I ask her about her past, she suddenly, how can I put this... changes?” As if catching onto his meaning, Twilight’s ears flops downwards as she responds in a sorrowful tone: “She hasn’t truly forgiven herself for what she’s done in the past. She thinks that she’s undeserving of any form of happiness. I mean, sure, she’ll make new friends and what not. But, anything beyond that just makes her push them away; especially when ponies ask her about her past.” “I didn’t insult her in any way, did I? Like I said before, I sometimes ask her about her past but once I see that change in her mood, I try to derail the subject. I’m not trying to pry her for it, not at all, it’s just that I enjoy talking to her that I want to know more about her.” “Don’t worry, Shadow. I doubt very highly that Starlight was insulted by you in any way. In fact, you’re probably the first stallion she’s ever been close to. Sure, there’s Sunburst, but they’re more like siblings.” “Wait, what?” “Didn’t you notice something about us?” Twilight inquires which causes Shadow to wait for her to continue. “Most of her friends are all mares. And the only males that she is friends with happen to be other species like Thorax, Discord, and even my son, Spike.” “You have a son?!” Shadow Thunder exclaims in shock which causes Twilight’s face to go red. “Oh, no! Well, not an actual son that I gave birth to! I was the one who hatched and raised him,” Twilight says proudly before she then takes on a saddened expression and says: “My only regret is that I didn’t tell him that, enough. It took some monster from another world for us to reveal our true feelings. Granted, we’ve always sort of known, but to hear the words themselves was all the better,” Twilight then laughs sheepishly before she continues: “I’m just rambling now. The point is, I suspect that Starlight rejects stallions who try to get close to her simply because she doesn’t want it to turn into something more. It’s complicated...” Shadow Thunder was now even more confused while also slightly understanding the unicorn mare’s intentions. “So, If I understand you correctly, she’s basically punishing herself? But, that’s not right, nopony should cut themselves off like that.” “I know,” Twilight comments with a saddened expression. “I don’t entirely understand it myself, and she’s my own student! What kind of teacher am I to have failed her like that?” Twilight inquires rhetorically as the two ponies sit momentarily in silence. Suddenly, Twilight gets an epiphany as her expression lifts itself while she says: “I’ve got it!” Shadow Thunder looks at her quizzically which prompts her to continue: “Shadow Thunder, I’d like to make a request of you.” “Hmm? A request?” “Yuup! I would like for you to bring Starlight out of her shell.” Shadow Thunder’s face goes absolutely red in response as he waves his forehooves around frantically and says: “Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, w-what are you getting at?” “Oh come on, me and my friends see how much you two enjoy talking to each other.” Twilight responds as she wiggles her brows. “B-but, I-I m-mean...” Shadow Thunder studders before the pegasus then sighs in an effort to recover his composure. He then lets out a chuckle before saying: “You’re right, I enjoy her company more than I’d like to admit out loud,” He suddenly falls under a trance as he goes on to say: “That beautiful light-purple mane of hers…” “Shadow Thunder.” Twilight comments. “...those eyes…” Shadow Thunder compliments as he seems to be unintentionally ignoring the lavender mare’s words. “Hello?” Twilight inquires while she waves her left front hoof in front of him. “...she’s easily the most beautiful mare I’ve ever seen in my life.” “Shadow Thunder!” Twilight exclaims as she finally manages to break him out of his trance, to which he says: “Wait, who? What?” Twilight simply giggles in response before she says: “You were daydreaming about Starlight just now.” “Ehehe, um... my bad?” the dark pegasus replies as he laughs nervously. END OF FLASHBACK After recalling those past events, Shadow Thunder shakes his head from left to right before saying: “Come on, Shadow. You can think about that stuff later on.” The dark pony then disappears within his own darkness and goes to reunite with the others. As this was going on, Loganic made it seem as if he disappeared during the fighting but was in fact watching these events play out from his pocket dimension, which happened to be the same one that he dragged The Bandit into. A mystical orb shaped object was floating in front of him as he watched everyone continue their struggle within The Dungeon. “I think it’s time to end this little game of ours,” Loganic comments as he snaps his fingers which causes the orb he was watching the events play out on to focus on a certain individual: Fluttershy. “In mere moments, you and The Slime Gods will be mine.” “There’s too many of them!” Katelyn The Mechanic roars out as everyone was currently gathered together back to back; fighting off the various undead forces that closed in upon them. “Something seems off,” Steven comments as he fires a pistol that was given to him by The Arms Dealer. “These undead are reforming themselves way too quickly.” “What do you mean, darling?” Rarity inquires as she fires off various spells and even conjures forth a small skeletal ally to assist the group via its appropriate staff: Staff Of Necrosteocytes. “I can’t explain it, dear Rarity,” Steven responds. “But something seems to be aggravating them even more than-” “Here I come to save the day, mortals!” A familiar voice interjects as it echoes throughout the depths of The Dungeon. “Wait a second… is that, Loganic?” Gorglock inquires. “It certainly sounds like him,” Katelyn responds. Both Shadow Thunder and Starlight Glimmer were at first happy to hear Loganic’s voice, however, that soon turned into a mixture of concern and foreboding. “You feeling what I’m feeling?” Starlight inquires as she turns towards the dark pegasus. “Yeah… I don’t like this one bit.” Shadow Thunder responds. In a powerful display, all of the undead in the large chamber suddenly starts to erupt as their bones falls to the floors of The Dungeon. However, Steven’s eyes were widened in horrific realization when he sees what happens next: All of the blue candles that were present throughout The Dungeon were now put out by a mysterious force, to which he comments: “No… you son of a bitch!” “My word, Steven!” Rarity exclaims in shock. “Such foul language-” “I see you’ve figured it out, old man,” Loganic’s echoing voice responds as the ‘terrarian’ himself starts to come into being and floats above them all. “Didn’t you find it strange that there was suddenly a bunch of blue candles littering The Dungeon?” “I was a fool, I thought that they were always here when we first entered The Dungeon.” Steven comments with a hint of frustration. “Wait a second,” Starlight comments. “You mean all of those blue candles affected the undead?!” “Ding ding ding, my little pony,” Loganic responds happily as the ‘terrarian’ lowers himself to the floor and now stands before them. He then conjures forth a small number of the candles and floats them before him. “These are candles that were created from the undead scourge itself: Polterghast. And yes, it reeeeeally pisses the undead off.”