//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Lingering Doubts 
// Story: Normalcy Is Overrated 
// by Starlight Fan 
//------------------------------//

Despite how Starlight turned back to the way she was. Twilight still felt tremendously guilty about the whole affair.

Twilight had been treading more lightly around Starlight, always giving short replies to whenever Starlight speaks to her or just sometimes distancing herself from the unicorn in general. Not because she wanted to, but because she felt she didn’t deserve to be in the same room as Starlight.

Twilight sighed as she laid on her bed, silently tearing up,How could she even stand to be around me? Because of me, Starlight nearly cast a spell on herself to turn into a shell of herself. What kind of friend am I?

Twilight then heard the door open, and was surprised to see Starlight at the entrance. Though given everything that’s happened, she probably shouldn’t be.

“Twilight, I think we need to talk.” Starlight said sheepishly, “Ever since I turned back to myself, you’ve been a lot more distant lately.”

Twilight sighed as she sat in an upright position, “Is it that obvious?” She asked sadly.

“Yeah it is.” Starlight said as she sat on the bed and put a hoof around Twilight’s back tenderly, “Twilight. I’m not mad at you for what happened. I’m the one who cast the stupid spell.”

“No Starlight, don’t blame yourself.” Twilight immediately spoke up, “I’m the one who said you should become normal, and I shouldn’t have said that. All it did was make you feel like garbage and make you try to be somepony you’re not. And all to please me, a pony who just lashed out at you because she can’t control her temper.”

“Twilight. You were justified in being upset.” Starlight said reassuringly, “I was being reckless and yes, you shouldn’t have said what you did but I also should have talked to you instead of using that spell. We both screwed up here but we can learn from this.”

“I’m not sure I can Starlight.” Twilight admitted, “I…I hurt you with my actions. This isn’t like any normal or abnormal issue I have with my friends, I genuinely hurt you. I said out of anger that you should be normal, aka turn into a completely different pony despite knowing how sensitive you can be. Even without the spell you cast, I can see it still affecting you badly and I should have thought before speaking.”

Twilight began bursting into tears, but she was still brought into a hug by Starlight, “You have a point, you should have thought more before speaking but that doesn’t mean you can just distance yourself from me. You still want to be my friend right?”

“Well yeah. Obviously.” Twilight wiped her eyes with a sigh.

“Well we still can. We can slowly move past this. I’m aware we’re both gonna take a while to recover from this Twilight. It took a while for Thorax to fully forgive me after the Maulwurf thing.” Starlight explained to the Princess.

“I still don’t get how you thought Pharynx could defeat the Maulwurf alone.” Twilight giggled a bit sheepishly.

“In my defense, he’s a shapeshifter with a ton of combat experience.” Starlight smirked, just as playful.

Twilight laughed before smiling hopefully, “So… you really think we can work through this.” 

“If you were able to get me back to normal, well, my actual self that is. I think we have a good chance at getting past this.” Starlight answered confidently.

Soon Twilight embraced the unicorn for a hug, which Starlight returned.

Twilight knew that she’d have to work on her temper from now on, just like Starlight was planning to work on her impulsive behavior, but in the end, they still had each other, and that is all she needed right now.