Chapter 12: A hurt Diamond
With Starlight ready to face the villagers of "Our Town" again, we were walking to the borders of the village. Four ponies by the two houses closest to us were standing, walking, talking, or something else. More ponies deeper in the village were doing the same thing.
Once we reached the village's borders, all the ponies stopped whatever they were doing, turned to us, and gasped. Obviously, they weren’t expecting a visit from Starlight.
“Uh, hi, everybody, uh, everypony! We’re back!” Twilight greeted in a nervous but cute voice, smiling just as nervously.
The ponies deeper in the village walked closer to stand beside the four nearest us in a group. But the villagers’ attention wasn’t on Starlight. Their eyes locked on me.
A female pink unicorn with a purple mane asked, “What--I mean, who are you?”
“I have never seen anything like you in all of Equestria! Are you even from Equestria?” a male light-blue unicorn with a dark-blue mane asked.
Guess these ponies didn’t hear about me, though I wasn't sure why I expected them to. Though, this could work in my favor: they wouldn't know about me calling ponies cute.
Okay, Sam, do NOT call any of these ponies cute.
I rubbed my hands as I said, “Uh, hey there. My name’s Sam. It’s...kinda a long story, but I come from a whole different world, and I'm what’s called a ‘human’.”
“And he’s completely harmless, so don’t be scared of him,” Starlight assured, not sounding the least bit anxious. After a moment, she gasped, rubbed the ground with a hoof, and nervously said, “Hi,” with a cute grin. Starlight apparently lost her uneasiness when she felt the need to explain I wasn't a threat, but it returned when she was fully aware of where she was.
The ponies in the village now truly noticed Starlight had returned. Their gaze went from me to her, but no one said anything. At least I have grown a little used to these moments of awkward silences.
Rarity stepped forward and asked, “I-It’s, um, a beautiful day, is it not?”
Rainbow agreed, “Yeah, it is. Right guys?”
“Yep, a mighty-too-dily beautiful day!” Pinkie said. Pretty sure "mighty-too-dily" isn't a real word.
The irony that Rainbow attempted to ease the mood the same way as the rest of us relaxed me some. It was how the rest of us acted when Starlight struggled to apologize to her.
A female dark-blue pegasus with a striped white and gray mane, in an angry voice, asked, “Oh, Starlight, what are you doing here? Did you come to steal our Cutie Marks again for ‘equality’?”
The same male light-blue unicorn that previously asked if I was even from Equestria shouted, “Because we don’t want to give up our special talents again!”
More ponies shouted that they would refuse to give up their Cutie Marks and special talents. However, a male white earth pony with a striped white mane stayed quiet, but was frowning.
Twilight said, “Please, everypony, try to calm down. Starlight Glimmer is not here to take your Cutie Marks again. She just has something to tell you.”
The villagers ceased their yelling and scowling and stayed still. With them quiet, Twilight leaned to Starlight, laid a hoof on her back, and nodded her head.
Starlight nodded in return, gulped, and stepped forward. “Uh, hi, everypony. First, I know taking away all of your Cutie Marks was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that, or made you believe that you were better off without them. I never wanted to hurt anypony, but was just terribly misguided. I am so sorry, and I hope you have it in your hearts to forgive and give me a second chance to be your friend. But, I will understand if you don't.” Starlight bowed her head in shame.
The group of ponies turned their heads at one another. Some whispered to each other, though the white earth pony that stayed quiet from the start barely moved compared to the other ponies. Even so, Starlight seemed to at least have his attention.
A male brown pegasus with a dark-brown mane asked, “Really? You don’t want to steal our Cutie Marks again?”
“No.”
“And we all promise that she’s now a very different pony,” Applejack said.
“Yeah, she’s way better now!” Rainbow echoed.
“And I give you my word as the Princess of Friendship that Starlight has learned the error of her ways. All she wishes for now is to be friends with you.”
I wanted to say something too, but stayed quiet. These ponies knew nothing about me, so I doubted that my words would have done much good.
The ponies again looked at one another, talking between themselves.
Once their little discussions with each other ended, one of them, the male light-blue unicorn with the dark-blue mane, said, “Well...if Princess Twilight says we can trust you...then I will.”
The dark-blue pegasus that spoke before said, “Me too. It wasn’t like you were mean to us.”
“And for a while, I kinda thought your vision was for the best...until I saw how you kept your Cutie Mark,” a male brown pegasus with a dark-brown mane commented.
“Yeah...and I’m sorry about that too.”
All the ponies stepped closer, all saying it was okay or otherwise showing they forgave Starlight. They even joined in a group hug with her. After they broke it up, they introduced themselves to me.
Except the earth pony with the white mane. He shook his head at Starlight’s apologies, refused to join the group hug, and walked inside one of the houses.
Starlight sighed deeply. “I was afraid of that. Double Diamond was hurt the most.”
She answered the question I was about to ask: who was the stallion that left.
Rarity said, “I suppose that you will just have to work a little harder for his forgiveness, just like with Rainbow.”
“But we’ll let you decide. Do you want to explain your reasons to him or just leave him alone?” I asked.
“Uh...I want to at least try to talk to him and tell him my reasons.”
The female pink unicorn, whose name I now knew was Sugar Belle, said, “I think that can work. He’s hurt, but Double Diamond is the friendliest out of all of us.” she gasped and asked, “But what were your reasons, anyway?”
Starlight explained what happened during her fillyhood. Apparently, she had already told them about Sunburst, but never talked about how bad her relationship was with her parents. During the more painful parts of her story, her eyes grew watery, but the tears didn’t quite flow. Perhaps by not breaking out in tears like before, it’s a sign that she’s beginning to heal from her past.
It also helped that my hand and Twilight’s and Rainbow’s hooves were on Starlight's back the whole time. Hearing the story again made me even angrier at her parents, but I hid it.
After her story, Twilight, Rainbow, and I lifted our hands/hooves off Starlight's back. As for the villagers, they stood still. Their mouths were wide open.
The light-blue unicorn, Party Favor, said, “Oh my Celestia. Why didn’t you ever tell us about that? You told us how a Cutie Mark destroyed your friendship with that ‘Sunburst’ colt and not having them would give us ‘true friendship’, but you never talked about your parents.”
“That was because it was just...too painful to talk about. Until I made friends with Sam, Twilight, and the others, even with my magic, thinking about my parents made me feel worthless. I just couldn’t bear talking about them.”
Night Glider, the dark-blue pegasus, said, “Oh. Wow, I’m impressed that you still wanted to help other ponies. Plus, as I said before, you weren’t really ‘bad’ to us, save for having the rest of us being...Cutie Markless.”
Party Favor confessed, “We had no idea making sure we had everything the village needed was so tough until you...left. We even had to scramble to get more food and water last week, because you always took care of that!”
Starlight rubbed her head in bashful fashion. “Yeah, guess I should have told you about those kinds of things. I couldn’t tell you everything that I did to maintain the village when I...had to go two weeks ago.”
"Really? I didn't know you took care of the ponies here like that, Starlight," Rarity said. "I thought all you did was tell them what to think and what they could and couldn't do."
"I thought it would further help them be happy, even if it didn't work like I hoped." Starlight took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go see Double Diamond."
Starlight, our friends, and I walked through the crowd and toward the house Double Diamond went in. It was the third house to our right. I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be easy.
Starlight knocked on the door and asked, “Hey, Double Diamond, can we talk?”
All we heard was the wind blowing by us.
“Please? At least let me explain why I did what I did.”
After about three more seconds, the door slowly opened, revealing Double Diamond. He wore a frown, but I couldn’t tell if he was really mad, really hurt, or both. Inside the house was a bed by one of the walls, a chair by the bed, and a table in the middle of the room.
“I don’t have anything to say to you, Starlight Glimmer,” he spoke in an icy voice, answering my question of if he was still mad.
Rainbow Dash said, “I get that you’re mad, believe me, but could you at least hear her out? You may be surprised by what she says.”
“I know it was because that ‘Sunburst’ colt she was close with left, making her think Cutie Marks ruined friendships.”
Starlight started, “That’s true, but there--”
“But after all you claimed about Cutie Marks” -- Double Diamond pointed a hoof at Starlight -- “you didn’t give up your own!”
“I-I know I didn’t, but--”
Double Diamond set his hoof back on the ground. After a sigh, his angry frown weakened to a sadder one. “Starlight, out of all of us in the village, I trusted you the most. The way you claimed Cutie Marks ‘made some ponies think they were better than others', I thought that you were on to something. I thought you were somepony that saw there was more to us than our Cutie Marks. I thought you made us all equal, each as important as the other.” His frown intensified and he formed a scowl. “Yet all you really did was make yourself better than the rest of us! Hypocrite!”
Starlight’s ears flopped down. “W-Well, yeah, put like that, I did, but Dou--”
“You lied to us! To me! How do I know you’re not just lying again and won’t take them again once our guard is down?”
Starlight looked down, but stayed quiet. I truly believed that Starlight was telling the truth, but this Double Diamond wasn’t sold. Anger can make you believe what you want to believe, and I couldn't prove Starlight was telling the truth. I wondered if it would be best for Starlight to just back off.
However, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack stepped forward.
“Double Diamond, I can’t make you forgive Starlight: that needs to be your choice. That said, I can at least vouch for her when I say that she’s telling you the truth,” Twilight said.
Rainbow echoed, “And so will the rest of us.”
Spike, the rest of the gang, and I nodded our heads or just repeated that Starlight’s not lying.
“How do you know? She could just have you all fooled!”
Applejack took off her cowboy hat and held it over her chest. “That’s because I’m the Element of Honesty. I won't claim to be perfect, but when Starlight was tellin' us how she really felt, I knew she was serious. I had hardly ever felt such a strong feelin’ of sincerity when she told me she was sorry and wanted to turn over a new leaf.”
Twilight slightly raised her head. The way she held it made the air about her scream leadership, making her feel like a...well, princess. Her voice oozed both leadership and trustworthiness when she said, “On my honor as the Princess of Friendship, I promise that Starlight Glimmer meant every word she said.”
Double Diamond set a hoof on his cheek, looking down. It wasn’t the time to joke to myself how it’s something that just about every pony does.
After a moment, he raised his head. “Well, you’re an alicorn and said you are the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight. I have heard about the Elements of Harmony, so if you represent the Element of Honesty, Applejack, I think I can believe that Starlight’s telling the truth.” A second later, Double Diamond’s more understanding face grew to an angry one again, but not as angry as before. “Still, that doesn’t change how she made herself better than the rest of us, yet told us we were all equal! The more I think about it, the more it hurts!”
“That really wasn’t my intent, I promise! I would have lost my ability to cast spells by getting rid of my own Cutie Mark, making me unable to take more. Plus, I would have felt like nothing without my magic!”
“Then why didn’t you just explain all of that from the start, not lie about that ‘sameness staff’?”
Starlight made circles on the ground with a hoof. Compared to the ear droops, it’s something I don’t see ponies do as often when nervous. “Uh, well, maybe I was worried that you would think...well, what you are thinking. But I REALLY didn’t mean to hurt you or anypony!”
“Well...*sigh*...I understand. But even if you had meant every word you said, how do I know you won’t lie to us like that again? It still feels like you’re hiding something.”
“Well, it's true that I haven’t told you everything, but that's why I'm here now. I want to tell you the full story, but if it’s not good enough for you, I'll leave and you'll never see me again.”
After a second, Diamond again rested a hoof on his cheek as he raised his head. This time, he stayed in deep thought longer. When he set his hoof back on the ground and lowered his head to Starlight once again, he still wore a serious frown, but he said, “Okay. Go ahead and tell me this ‘full story’. I don’t have anything to lose.”
Double Diamond stayed by the door in his house as Starlight told him about how her parents treated her. How alone it made her feel and why losing her magic would have made her feel worthless. This time, Starlight didn’t need Twilight, Rainbow, or me to lay a hand/hoof on her since her eyes never got watery.
During the story, Double Diamond’s serious frown softened.
“...After I saw how strong my magic had grown, I left home, later learned the Cutie Mark stealing spell, and...you know the rest.”
We waited for Diamond to say something, but he remained silent at first. When he broke the silence, he said, “Oh, so that’s why. Part of me always thought there was more to why you were so against Cutie Marks. I also had the feeling that we weren’t too unlike each other. Now, I see I was right.”
Starlight asked, “What do you mean?”
Double Diamond sighed, his ears drooped, and tapped his hoof on the floor a couple of times. “I didn’t quite go through what you did, but my parents were a bit too busy for my liking too.”
“Oh, my. Really?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah.” Diamond walked deeper in his house to sit on a chair beside the house's bed by the wall. “I hardly got to see them as a colt. I had friends, so it wasn’t too bad, but if they had left like how Sunburst left you, Starlight, then...I might have wished to join your plan for ‘equality’ more than I did, or even do more to help you do it. The thought of ponies not being better than me was also...appealing. I’m an earth pony, so I don’t have magic like unicorns or can fly and control the weather like pegasi, so being more equal to them did sound good.”
I stared at Twilight, thinking she would say something about how earth ponies aren’t inferior to other ponies. It was practically her cue to give a friendship speech; this time I wouldn't have minded her laying on the corn with them. Yet instead of giving a speech, she just looked at her wings. Twilight had told me how alicorns possess the traits of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi so maybe, as an alicorn herself, she didn't think she was in a position to talk.
But while an alicorn might not be able to truly understand Double Diamond’s feelings, an earth pony could. We had brought two of them with us.
One of them, Applejack, said, “Double Diamond, as a fellow earth pony, ah can understand ya feelin’ that way. But we earth ponies have our own strengths: we’re connected to nature and have more physical strength than unicorns and pegasi. I know it might not feel like much compared to fancy spells and flight, but it’s more than ya might think.”
The other earth pony, Pinkie, hopped in place as she agreed, “Yeah, being an earth pony can be super, duper fun!"
“And before I became an alicorn, I once tried to run a one-pony snow plow in Ponyville to help with its Winter Wrap Up without magic. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even budge the snow plow through the snow without magic. In fact, I was a little jealous of how earth ponies made it look so easy,” Twilight said. Guess Applejack's previous words gave Twilight an idea of what to say.
“I see. After hearing that, I feel better about my earth pony skills and strengths.” Double Diamond looked directly at Starlight with a frown. This one didn’t seem to have anger, but there was still a lot of hurt in them. “But, anyway, Starlight, I can understand your reasons. Even so, you lied to the whole village when I thought you had some trust in us.”
Starlight sighed and looked down. “I know, and I am so sorry.” Starlight lifted her head and added, “I’m glad you heard me out. As I said before, if my story wasn’t enough for you to stop hating me, I will leave and never ret--”
“W-Wait, Starlight. I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t?” Starlight asked, wearing a puzzled frown. I’m sure she was relieved, but just caught off-guard. We all were.
Double Diamond shook his head, standing up from his chair. “No. I don’t have it in me to hate anypony. Plus, I do forgive you, but just not sure if I can trust you enough yet to be friends, even if Princess Twilight said I can. I’m going to need some time.”
That was enough for Starlight to give a small smile. “Okay. I’ll take that.”
With that, we walked away from the house and back to the other ponies, who were still grouped together. Double Diamond was more hurt than I thought.
“What did he say?” Party Favor asked.
Starlight answered, “He said that he forgave me, but will need some time before he’ll want to be my friend.”
Sugar Belle said, “I see. Double Diamond was really hurt, but he’s not the type of pony to want to feel that way.”
“Yeah, that’s what he said too. To be honest, I’m happy it went this well. I got Double Diamond to believe what I said about Cutie Marks almost as much as I did, so I can understand why learning I was a fraud the whole time hurt him so much.”
I said, “Well, as he said, let’s just give him some time.”
“So what now?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight rolled her eyes up for a moment. “The last time we were here, well most of us, we left without getting to know each other. So, how about we do it now?”
We all agreed and stuck around. The ponies in the village asked a bunch of questions about my old world, so it felt like how it was when I talked with Lyra. Though, they weren’t as curious as Lyra was.
We even chose to spend the night at the villager's request, since by the time we got to the village, Princess Luna was about two hours away from lowering the moon. I think most of the gang anticipated that we would have been asked to stay, because they acted like we might be gone longer than a day, such as by Twilight freeing up three days for this, not just one.
The next day, after we had all woken up, my friends and I left the village to take the train back to Ponyville.
However, when we took a look back, Double Diamond was in front of his house, facing us. Whether it was a sign that he was closer to wanting to be Starlight’s friend than we thought, or was just seeing the rest of us all off, I have no idea.
I felt bad for Starlight that Double Diamond didn’t befriend her like all the other ponies did, even after hearing her story. But it showed me that not every pony in Equestria is as capable of letting things go like the rest of our friends are, if you really hurt them.
If so, maybe it was for the best that Starlight learned that now.
At least, that’s what my father would have said. He taught me nearly every life lesson I know.
Back in Ponyville, after we had all gotten off the train, we all split off to do our own thing.
Except Starlight and me. We stuck together and went to my house.
Once we went through the door, with Starlight behind me, I went right to the couch and sat down, as I often do when I get in the house. Starlight hopped on the couch as well and lay beside me. However, she was looking up at me with a frown.
"Hm? What's wrong?" I asked.
"Do you remember when you asked if I knew where I wanted to go, after Twilight took the magic suppression ring off my horn?"
"Yeah?" I answered. I was dreading this moment. Starlight has grown on me, so I really didn't want her to leave, but I would have to let her go if she was ready. "Have you decided where you want to go?"
"Yes."
I couldn't risk making her sad, so I sighed in my head. It wasn't easy to force myself to not frown. "Where?"
Starlight's ears drooped. While tapping the couch with a hoof, in a lower voice, she answered, "Here."
"Huh? Did you say, 'here'?" I asked. I hoped her answer would be the one I was hoping for.
Starlight nodded her head. "Yeah, here. Sam, you're the first friend I've made in years and I...want to stay here. I know I might get in your way, so if you don't want me to stay, I can move out soon. Could you just give me some time?"
I couldn't resist smiling. We both wanted her to stay! I leaned toward to embrace her in a big hug. "Of course you can stay, Starlight, and I was even hoping you would!"
"You do?!" Starlight asked in a voice full of happiness.
"Yeah! I love having you as a roommate, but I didn't want to keep you here if you didn't want to stay."
Starlight wrapped her forelegs around me. As usual with our hugs, her coat felt great against me. "Then I'll stay and be your permanent roommate! If I had known you wanted me to stick around, I would have told you how I felt after Twilight took the suppression ring off my horn!"
So that was what she had on her mind soon after that ring was taken off her horn! I thought she wanted to say that she wanted to leave, not the other way around! We kept our hug going for a few more seconds before we broke it up. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but I felt better knowing that Starlight Glimmer didn't want to leave any time soon.
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Sweet chapter all around, a little intrigued about what the next chapter's all about with that name though!
Aww! I really loved the ending between Starlight and Sam!
You have peaked my interest with that chapter 13 title.
Star’s prolly gonna empty his fridge every week.
10164205
10164237
The name of chapter 13 caught your attention I see. I'll go ahead and say that I had a lot of fun writing chapter 13. Or am, since I'm still editing it.
10164488
Lol! Nah, she'll be good. She hasn't eaten everything out of Sam's fridge yet.
*Story ends*
Here's the next chapter's title!
Me: Yay, no cliffhanger!
You:
Me: NO!
10164873
Aw, she must be starving!
10164873
If he has access to a butcher, then he won't likely starve.
10164997 It’s season 5, right? At this point in time, it’s mostly ponies and I’m pretty sure that Sam would have to acquire a license just to eat meat in Equestria legally.
10164916 Not that kind of starving.
10165086
Huh?
10165107 I deleted the last one because it would less trouble if I replied to multiple people on the same post.
10164914
Had to give something for those that liked the cliffhangers or any teasers, but made this one optional, since you'll have to read the spoiler tag in the author's notes.
10164997
What HB_DS2013 said.
10165086
10165219
That's a bit oppressive. You'd think that as long as he's been there, they'd accommodate his necessities. Besides, they have carnivorous pets: Winona, Opal, and Owlowiscious. Even Twilight should catch on to the fact that he probably needs meat just from seeing his teeth.
10165163
I mean, what do you mean, "Not that kind of starving"?
10165219
I still read it, though.
10165657
Now that you bring it up, neither Don nor I ever stated if Sam's a vegetarian or not.
I've heard some people say humans have to eat meat, but we really don't and can live without it, as long as we eat enough foods that has enough protein for us, such as eggs, nuts, milk, etc. I think the idea that humans need meat came from the idea that we may be facultative carnivores, not omnivores, but from what I can find out, we're omnivores.
If he really wanted to eat meat, at least Twilight would help with that.
10165723
That might make for an interesting chapter.
One thing I will say, you can't deny that real bacon is awesome.
10165657 Owls don’t have teeth, though.
10165910
Missing the point.
10165723
Yes but to get by on just eggs and nuts you would have to eat eggs and nuts with every single meal.
This is Equestria so there is no artificial protein substitutes here.
Anyway to get round the problem most writers just let the human catch fish or purchase fish from a griffon town.
10166365
How did this go from talking about the cliffhanger to talking about whether or not Sam eats meat?
10166836
We can blame Heartland Picker for that one.
10166836
10166871
I REGRET NOTHING!!!!