-TERRARIA-
Two ponies were currently sitting upon their own chairs on opposite sides of a table. In addition, both they and the furniture were placed in a beautiful meadow with blades of grass flickering in the wind.
Having finished her tale of her past mistakes, Starlight was now on the verge of tears as she looked down upon her side of the table with both shame and regret filling the unicorn mare’s heart. She then raises her gaze and meets the eyes of Shadow Thunder, who sits adjacent to her with a look of sympathy. The unicorn’s tears starts to flow like a river as she says:
“That, Shadow Thunder… is the story of the monster that’s sitting in front of you. The mare that you foolishly call ‘beautiful’. Now you see that there’s nothing beautiful about me.”
The dark pegasus was simply stunned by this; wearing an expression to match it. However, unbeknownst to Starlight, Shadow Thunder wasn’t at all shocked by her story. Not entirely. No, it was the fact that he couldn’t believe that she thought so lowly of herself even after she told him about her role in saving Equestria from Queen Chrysalis, teleporting ponies to safety during The Storm King’s invasion, facing off against The Moon Lord in order to banish him, and every deed she and her friends from Equus had performed, during their time in Terraria.
With a content smile and his features morphing into pleasantness, shadow thunder simply chuckles as he then says:
“Is that it?” This of course shocks the unicorn mare, with tears still flowing down her cheeks, as she stares at him for a moment before saying:
“W-what?”
“Is that it?” The dark pegasus repeats. “Is that story supposed to convince me that you’re a so-called monster? Because, from where I’m sitting, I see a beautiful mare who’s torturing herself for something that she’s already been forgiven for. I mean, your friends do nothing but speak highly of you; not to mention all of your heroic exploits,” The pegasus then raises a forehoof to his chin as he comments: “Hmmm, doesn’t sound like a monster to me.”
Starlight was now absolutely stunned and stared at the pegasus with disbelief. However, she then grits her teeth as she exclaims:
“Are you an absolute fool?! After everything I just told you, after the way I stole cutie marks and even altered time itself, thus endangering all of Equestria, hay, all of reality, you still think that I’m not a monster?!”
“Nope. In fact, now I’m certain that you’re a great pony. Oh, and beautiful too.”
Grunting in frustration, and with her tears still flowing, the unicorn mare gets off of her seat and stars to draw near pegasus while saying in an angered tone:
“I created alternate timelines, possibly even other universes, because of my stupidity. All of which got worse and worse; every single time I made a change to Twilight and her friend’s past!”
“Still don’t see a monster.” Shadow Thunder responds with shrugged shoulders. Starlight was now standing before the pegasus with an angered expression, but her tears still ever flowing, as she roars out:
“I practically mind controlled ponies in a small town, out in the middle of nowhere, and stole their destinies from them! I lied to them! All under a fake facade of ‘equality’. I simply hated cutie marks and wanted to erase them from existence!”
“Again, I see no monster he-”
“Rah!” Starlight roars out and cuts off the dark pegasus’s words as she literally tackles him off of his seat which results in the two ponies rolling down the hill. Grains of grass and even a few flower pedals were being tossed up into the air as the two continued to roll down to the hill’s base until finally, both ponies let out a “Oomph!” as they land on top of each other, both of their eyes closed as a result. Shadow Thunder was currently on his back all while Starlight was on top of the stallion, their bodies in full contact with each other.
Starlight regains her composure as she rises up to her hooves and now stands over the dark pegasus, rubbing her head with a forehoof soon after. In tandem, Shadow Thunder simply looks up towards the mare as he says:
“You still look amazing, even from down here. Also, if you wanted a hug, all you had to do was ask me.”
“I wasn’t trying to hug you! I was trying to forcefully engrave into that skull of yours that I am-”
“Beautiful.”
“Stop that!”
“Stop what?” Shadow inquires as he feigns ignorance.
“Stop saying it!”
“What did I say?”
“I’m beautiful!”
“Yep! And I couldn’t agree more, Starlight.”
The unicorn mare was momentarily thrown off by this and upon realizing what she said, she exclaims with reddenned features:
“N-no! You made me walk into that!”
“I made you tell the truth,” The stallion replies as he then disappears into his own shadow, phasing through the earth that was below Starlight. He then re-emerges right next to the unicorn mare as the darkness practically spits him out, causing him to float in place before he lowers himself to ground level.
“Why won’t you just accept it, Shadow?” Starlight inquires with a saddened tone as she then lowers herself onto her flank and takes her gaze away from the dark pegasus, now focusing it towards the ground. However, one thing still remained prevalent as small droplets of liquid started to fall onto the blades of grass that were positioned below the unicorn’s lowered head: Starlight’s tears.
“Because the evidence is so clear that even you don’t seem to realize it,” Shadow Thunder responds as he then approaches Starlight. Using his left forehoof, he places it under her chin and raises her head, gently guiding it towards him as he comments: “The proof is right there, streaming down your cheeks.”
This causes the unicorn mare’s eyes to open wide in shock as she questions:
“W-what?”
“Your tears, Starlight. You shed them because you are genuinely sorry for what you’ve done in your past. Not to insult you or anything, but you allow your brain to do the talking instead of your heart,” Shadow Thunder states factually. “You convinced yourself that you are a monster, even going so far as to allow that to blind you from the truth.” The pegasus removes his hoof, the unicorn still keeping her head held high, as Shadow Thunder then conjures forth a normal mirror from his inventory.
Passing the mirror along to the unicorn, the pegasus then gestures for her to look into it. Heeding to his request, Starlight performs the action and sees herself. The mirror reflected something that, surprisingly, even she was ignorant to which caused her to take on an expression of realization. There, staring back at Starlight, was a mare whose cheeks were currently damped all while new tears started to retrace the wet lines of fur.
“You see that beautiful mare covered in tears, Starlight? She’s hurting right now. Not because of what you did in your past but what you refuse to do now,” Upon hearing those words, a small smile was starting to form onto the unicorn’s muzzle as Shadow Thunder continues: “She wants you to move on, to bury the past forever and go forge a life for yourself. Not one that’s filled with regret and self loathing, but happiness and hope.” The smile that was forming onto Starlight’s muzzle was now prominent all while new feelings entered her heart: Hope, forgiveness, and if she didn’t know any better, love.
“So tell me, Starlight Glimmer, what will you do now? Will you listen to the truth that I’ve been speaking? Will you become the mare that you see in that mirror or will you continue to harm yourself as you are now?” Shadow Thunder inquires as he awaits for her response.
Starlight’s tears were beginning to cease as she used her left forehoof to wipe the tears away. She then hugs the mirror, as if trying to embrace the mare within, and says:
“I… I want to become… her.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Shadow Thunder comments as he places a forehoof onto the unicorn’s shoulders. “Now, instead of wanting to be her. Just. Be. Her. You are one in the same, after all.”
With wobbly legs and on the verge of a new wave of tears, Starlight finally gets back on to her hooves and surprises Shadow Thunder by what she does next. She rears up and hugs him dearly as she cries into his chest region, letting out sobs during the process. However, unlike the previous tears that were shed out of pain and regret, these were brought into being by pure joy and the relief of finally being able to let go of her past.
The dark pegasus chuckles lightly as he happily returns the gesture by wrapping his wings around her along with his forehooves. Still buried into his chest, Starlight manages to let out a heartful:
“T-thank you.”
“It’s no problem at all, beautiful.”
……….
Unbeknownst to both Starlight and Shadow Thunder, a group of onlookers were spying on them from afar as Pinkie Pie was currently wielding a pair of binoculars.
“Ooh! Ooh! They’re hugging, I think Shadow Thunder managed to make Glim Glam all happy again!” The party pony exclaims happily.
“Yaaaay!” Candy The Party Girl shouts in agreement. “Oh! Let’s go prepare a surprise party for them!”
“You’re speaking my lingo, Candy!” Pinkie Pie responds as the two party lovers zoom off in a blur; leaving behind yet another pair of onlookers: Rarity and Steven The Clothier.
“I knew that my faith in Shadow Thunder was going to be well rewarded. Thank you, darling.”
“Rarity, I suggest we start fashioning clothing fit for a date. I get the feeling that Starlight might have second thoughts about Shadow’s dinner proposal.”
-EQUUS, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, ROYAL COUPLE’S BEDCHAMBERS-
“Hmmm, there’s that feeling again,” Princess Cadence comments. “My senses have been going crazy lately, but I can’t triangulate where these feelings are coming from. Not exactly,” The alicorn then turns her gaze towards Shining Armor, who in turn was overlooking multiple sheets of papers. “Shiny? Are you ok?”
Catching his attention, the unicorn prince then turns away from the papers and looks towards his dearly beloved. All the while, Flurry Heart remains asleep in her cradle.
“I’m fine, Cady. I’m just thinking about the events that happened almost a week ago,” Shining Armor responds as he then turns back to the sheets of papers. “I can’t believe that Tempest betrayed us… I thought that she truly changed. And then, there’s the madness with Blueblood. These forms actually pertain to that traitor.”
“Wait a second, what’s on those forms?” Cadence inquires.
“Wait, Princess Luna didn’t tell you?”
“I wasn’t there when she announced Blueblood’s betrayal. I was helping your parents collect some of Twilight’s belongings from her castle. They’re really torn up about her disappearance.”
“As am I,” Shining Armor responds with a saddened tone. “Ever since she and the others disappeared that day, I never stopped thinking about her well being.” Cadence was now positioned besides the unicorn as she places a forehoof onto his shoulder and says:
“Spike feels the same way too. He’s growing more mature with every passing day. Did you know that he and Dragon Lord Ember were getting rather close?” Cadence then giggles as Shining Armor reponds:
“Woah oh, really? Huh, then again, those two have been overseeing Ponyville together ever since it got purified. Even Discord helps them from time to time,” The unicorn prince then sighs sadly and says: “I miss my baby sister so much, Cady.”
“We’ll see her again, I know we will. She and the others are fine in that other world, Terraria. I just know it, Shiny,” Cadence reassures as she then looks over the forms. What she sees instantly catches her attention and with a shocked gasp, she comments: “E-execution? A-aunt Luna is going to-”
“Yes, it's going to take place in three days. She wants me to personally overlook... the execution of Blueblood.”