Starlight Returns to Town
That train ride lasted an eternity.
In the history of train rides, I would deem this one not pleasant. Sitting near me was the Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, of all ponies, and accompanying us were her five friends. I wholeheartedly did not want to be sitting on this seat, waiting around as the train chugged along to our inevitable destination. It was only the seven of us on this train, six willing, passionate, caring ponies sitting in the cabin. Then there was me: Starlight Glimmer.
Never before had I felt this anxious about an upcoming event. There was a pit the size of Equestria in my stomach. The unknown reception of me was slowly driving me insane. My mind raced a million miles an hour as it threw every single horrible scenario at me. My back hoof tapped nervously out of control.
This all started yesterday after I had foolishly tried to change the future of Equestria. It had seemed like a good plan on my part, albeit a bit mean. I wanted revenge on Twilight for what her and her friends had done to me in my town. That white-hot anger fueled my motivations and clouded my judgement. I believed that if I could not have friends, then Twilight could not either.
How wrong I was.
Naturally, Twilight proved her worth. She stopped me. She saved her future, but after witnessing other terrible outcomes. Twilight convinced me to stop my machinations. True, I was conflicted, but I gave in to her wishes. Something about her words moved me.
Then, I had to deal with the aftermath. I made a terrible mistake, I knew. Playing with time and other ponies’ futures was a horrible thing that I did. The moment we came back to reality, I just wanted to fall into a pit and die. I felt so much regret. I did my best to anticipate the wrath of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
The next hour or so dragged on as I paced back and forth in front of the doors of the Map Room while Twilight and her friends discussed things. I knew deep down in my heart that they were going to punish me hard. I thought I was going to be thrown into Tartarus.
Instead, she forgave me.
I could not believe my ears. She FORGAVE me. Why? Why me? Did she not remember the horrible futures she had witnessed? Did she forget about being imprisoned by me in my town?
Instead, she wanted me by her side. She wanted to teach me the magic of friendship. It was surreal. I did not deserve this. This seemed more like a reward than a punishment. She did have another condition for my forgiveness. She wanted me to visit my old town and apologize to everypony. The worry did not immediately set in until later that day when we left Ponyville.
Now, I sat on this bench while I waited for the train to reach my old town. My thoughts had caught up to the present, which brought back that sinking feel in my gut. How would I deal with the ponies of the town I had essentially enslaved?
I had fled from the town with Twilight’s and her friends’ cutie marks. At the time, there was absolutely no plan for me to return there. I just knew those ponies were furious with me for locking their cutie marks away and brainwashing them into believing that being special was worthless. Some of them even knew the wrongness that the sameness I had forced upon them was bad. Yet, I persisted. It seemed to me like the only way I could make friends. In doing that, I changed who they were to fit me. I was selfish.
Would they forgive me?
“Ten minutes to the next stop!” the train conductor announced from the overhead speakers.
Hearing that announcement heightened my heart rate. Soon. Soon, I would be face to face with those ponies I had hurt. I was not prepared.
What was I going to say anyways? I’m sorry for taking away your cutie marks and forcing you all to be same?! I didn’t think you would be friends with me? I thought if everypony was special, they would argue with me or leave me?
I shook my head. This was hopeless. It would be better if everypony just forgot about me. Maybe I should just go crawl into a hole and die… everypony would be better off without me anyways. It’s not like I had any friends anyways. Twilight was only taking me in as an apprentice because she felt sorry for me, and her friends were only being nice to me because she had told them to. They did not actually care about me. They…
“Starlight? Are you okay?” Twilight asked me, breaking me out of my miserable thoughts. She tilted her head slightly while gazing at me from her bench across from me.
“Oh! Uh… yeah, of course! Fine! I’m fine!” I replied quickly. I chuckled nervously and absentmindedly scratched the back of my neck with my right hoof as I stared off into space.
“Hmm, are you sure? You look a little worried,” Twilight frowned.
“Oh, psh! Nah…,” I laughed anxiously again while waving my right hoof dismissively. “I’m just… nervous, I guess. I didn’t exactly leave on a good note. I’m not sure what they’re going to say to me.” I let out a heavy side.
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Twilight tried to reassure me. “I’m sure they’ll forgive you if you are truly sorry.”
“Maybe,” I sighed again. “I just… don’t know. I’m not sure we were really friends. I forced them to give up their cutie marks and their lives. I don’t think that’s easy to forgive.” I bowed my head, closing my eyes and forcing the tears to stay at bay.
There was a lull in the conversation. Neither of us knew exactly what to say. I wanted to keep my mouth shut in case I said anything more stupid.
“Well, there’s nothing you can do about the past, now,” Twilight broke the silence. “All you can really do is apologize and hope they accept it.” She nodded and gave me a reassuring smile.
I halfheartedly smiled back. Twilight was optimistic. I was pessimistic. I guess only time would tell the outcome of my reunion.
The train stopped. My heart raced faster than before. The time was near. No more waiting. No more hiding. Time to face my old town.
The two of us stepped off the train and into barren desert. We walked together to the hill that overlooked the town.
“You ready, Starlight?” Twilight turned to me and asked.
I let out a deep breath “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
The two of us walked down the hill. We followed the road to the entrance of the town. I could see four very familiar ponies congregating nearby. I reluctantly took the lead while Twilight followed a step behind me. Slowly, ever so slowly, I walked forward to the huddled ponies.
Sugar Belle was the first one to spot me. Her, Party Favor, and Night Glider were facing my way. Double Diamond turned around once he saw the look on the faces of his friends.
I meekly stepped forward, bowing my head in shame. I couldn’t meet their eyes. I just new they were silently judging me for everything I had done. Any second, they would be yelling at me. They were surely going to call me names, verbally assault me, or disown me for all of my bad behavior.
Instead, they hugged me.
All my worries, fears, and doubts melted away with the hugs. No words had needed to be said. They could see that I was sorry, and they had forgiven me.
Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.
The End.