As time progressed, more and more entities that had been trapped within the former Outer God made themselves known - ranging from mortals to immortals alike. Crimson energies continued to rain down all across the planet, and each one represented a freed individual or entity.

However, a sense of uneasiness also accompanied this phenomenon which haunted the far backsides of many minds. And the reason for this was made all too clear by the Dryad: many seals and bindings throughout Terraria are becoming undone.

Harmony, having been freed from the Outer God along with her biome and subjects, takes a deep breath of fresh air and freedom, one that she hasn’t had in an untold amount of years. All while Terraria’s version of Blueblood dumbfounds Celestia and Luna.

“At last,” Harmony starts with closed eyes and a content smile as her body begins to illuminate. “To finally stand here after all these years. Truly, it is-” Suddenly, the Empress could feel a disturbance before her eyes shoot wide open and towards Starlight Glimmer in the short distance.

“By the light! She’s in danger!” The Empress roars out as she kicks off in a sudden burst of speed.

Starlight’s left forehoof is currently covering her muzzle with a teary yet disbelieving expression as Shadow Thunder is positioned before her. But the stallion’s current posture and the item he held in his forelimb caused this.

“Starlight Glimmer,” The dark pegasus says as he’s lowered to the ground and looking up to the unicorn mare with a vibrant wedding ring held within his grasp. “I know I asked this already, but I want to do it properly now.”

Starlight’s forelimb lowers to her chest and rests on her heart, and a sob escapes from her muzzle with a river of tears strolling down her face.

“Will you marry me, Starlight Glimmer?” Shadow Thunder inquires.

Although Starlight had heard those words during Nyarlathotep’s demise, their current circumstances had carried the cadence of the dark pegasus’s words with much more effect. They had just defeated a great threat from Terraria, and all who the abomination had imprisoned had been set free. This was a time for celebration, and a marriage proposal spelled a promising future for the unicorn mare and her soon-to-be betrothed.

“Sh… Shadow Thunder…” She said while crying. “I… I love-” Suddenly, a black void opens up behind the unicorn mare, one that causes Shadow Thunder’s eyes to widen in horror. A black tendril escapes the anomaly and wraps itself around Starlight’s neck region, which cuts off her words.

A series of laughter escapes the anomaly before a large equine entity comprised entirely of shadows half breaches the dark void.

“Hellooooo again, Starlight Glimmer,” The shadow behemoth said, his tone deep with an australian accent. “It’s been a long time now, hasn’t it?”

Starlight looks back strugglingly towards the familiar past foe. “P… Pony of… Shadows?!”

“In the flesh, my dear step-sister,” The shadow equine responds before turning to Shadow Thunder. “Oh! But, of course, I could never forget my traitorous little brother.”

Those words snap Shadow Thunder out of his stupor. “B-brother!” He roars out with desperation in his tone. “Please! Let her go!”

“Oh, come now, brother,” The shadow goliath replies with an eye roll. “When has that line ever worked?” The entity chuckles. “What an interesting turn of events, wouldn’t you say? To think that the same mare who ruined my plans on Equus would become your eventual lover. Hah! What a delicious opportunity for me to kill two birds with one stone.”

“GrimDark!” Harmony roars out during her rapid approach before stopping beside Shadow Thunder. In addition, and from nearby, Mena jumps in front of Pinkie Pie to shield her sibling while others began to prepare themselves for yet another conflict.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the Empress of Light herself,” The Pony of Shadows said in mockery. “Now, isn’t this one big family reunion. It’s nice of you to stop by, but you can - as Cupcakes would put it - fuck off, now.”

“Release her at once, Stygian,” The Empress demanded with narrowed features. “I won’t ask you again.”

“Ooh~ How frightening! But after careful consideration, I think I’ll go with: NO.”

Harmony’s horn alights. “So be it.” The Empress rears back and prepares to fire off her next attack as a series of multicolored energy gathers above her horn, but a sudden realization causes her to stop instantly.

There before them, the Pony of Shadows lifts Starlight into the air and dangles her before him as a living meat shield.

“Now, now. You wouldn’t want to hurt Shadow Thunder’s fiance, right… mom?”

Overhearing this, Mena and several others turn their gaze to the Empress with questionable expressions.

“When the fuck did that happen…?” Mena inquires.

“The Empress had adopted both Shadow Thunder and Stygian many years ago and long after Oblivion took you and your sister away from Terraria,” Blueblood answered as he approached the commotion. “They are true Sons of Abaddon - born directly from the dark lord’s essence. But unlike Shadow Thunder, who defied his dark origins, Stygian always embraced the fowl darkness within. Just as any GrimDark bent on death and destruction would.”

“This is absolutely low, even for you, Stygian!” Harmony scolds. “Such cowardly actions for a GrimDark! Let Starlight go and face me head-on!”

“Ah, but, see, we GrimDarks will do anything to win,” Stygian responds. “I could care less about honorable combat or anything else of the sort. I am the embodiment of darkness, wench. As such, I strike from the darkness! What you call cowardly, I call being my natural self. It is simply in my nature, but I don’t expect you to understand.”

The shadow equine starts to retreat into the dark anomaly with Starlight in tow. Shadow Thunder attempts to run towards the breach to save his beloved, but the Empress of Light holds him in place as a multi-colored aura surrounds the pegasus’s body.

“Let me go!” He roars out. “Please, Empress! Starlight needs me!”

“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Mena responds as she and Silence approach the scenario. “That’s not just any shadowy edge-lord portal… that’s a breach that’s connected straight to the GrimDark. If you go hopping in there all dramatically like some romance novel, you won’t get a happy ending.”

“I’m sorry, Shadow Thunder,” Silence comments in regret. “But as we are now, there’s nothing we can do at this time.”

“So, we’re supposed to just stand here and let this happen?!” Rarity exclaims from nearby.

“In this case, yeah,” Tzana comments, standing alongside Rarity with Tempest Shadow beside them. “Unless you’re willing to jump into a black void with absolutely no knowledge of what you’d be going up against? In which case, feel free to jump in.”

Rarity could only look toward Starlight’s disappearing form with absolute confliction. On one hoof, her friend was in danger, and it was only natural for Rarity to jump to Starlight’s aid. But on the other, the fashionista would effectively be jumping into a realm that is entirely alien to her, and although Silence had given them a brief explanation of the GrimDark, it was a wholly different affair actually to experience that realm.

But any further action became irrelevant as, during this time, Starlight’s form had all but vanished into the dark anomaly, as does the Pony of Shadows. And as the breach sizzles away into a black mist, Harmony finally released Shadow Thunder’s form as her aura fades away from his body.

The dark stallion wobblingly gets back onto his hooves, a look of sadness and pain etched onto his features. And as a river of tears drapes down his cheeks, the pegasus raises his head high and roars out:

“STARLIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!”

The dark pegasus’s pained words echo all across the landscape, garnering several sympathetic expressions from those in attendance. However, there is another pegasus who felt Shadow Thunder’s pain as Rainbow Dash turns skyward and mutters:

“Applejack…”

---

-TERRARIA, HOMETOWN: HELENA’S HOUSE AND HOSPITAL-

Positioned towards the epicenter of Hometown rests the abode of Helena, the Nurse. The building is made of sturdy material resembling gray bricks while also sporting a large red crosshair at its forefront.

A loud series of activities can be heard just outside of this building as several life forms from Equus traverse the town - with Ponyville’s remnants positioned just beside it. Despite this, Helena tends to the forms of Twilight, Oblivion, and Applejack from within.

“Oblivion is stabilizing, and Twilight is still unconscious,” Helena comments, turning to Applejack, “But Applejack… oh, sweet Terra… I’m so sorr-”

The doors to the building are suddenly thrown open as a white earth pony mare can be seen trying to stop a large red earth pony stallion.

“Please, Sir. Macintosh!” Nurse Redheart exclaims. “You must let Helena-”

“Where is she?!” Big mac exclaims, looking around the building as several assortments of beds are positioned in two rows of five with white sheets and pillows. “Where is mah sis… ter…”

The Apple stallion’s words die down in his throat, and absolute sadness overtakes his form as he finally takes notice of Applejack’s deceased body. There she laid on her back with her forelimbs crossed and her hind legs stretched out. But her scorched features are easily noticeable, and as Big Mac approaches, another set of hooves can be heard entering the building.

“Big Mac, please!” Sugar Belle shouts with worry as the pink unicorn mare runs in. “We can’t be… oh, sweet Celestia…” Her words also die down, and she stops in place as she fully absorbs the situation before her.

Big Mac finally reached the bed that Applejack laid upon, and no words could be found. Just absolute sadness and pain grew within his chest with every passing second as he gazed upon his dead sibling.

He extends a shaking hoof with a look of disbelief plastered on his features before collapsing his face directly into Applejack’s chest region.

“Ah-ah’m so sorry, Applejack…!” His words are slightly muffled due to being buried within the cowmare’s chest and fur. “Ah failed ya…! Mah baby sister, please, fergive me…!”

As he wails into Applejack's form, the stallion’s muffled sobs can be heard by those in attendance. As Helena and Nurse Redheart look on in sympathy, even concluding to remove themselves to allow the Apple stallion to mourn, Sugar Belle places her right forehoof onto her lover and rubs her cheek against him with tears of her own.

“I’m so sorry, Big Mac,” She said. “I… I’m so sorry…”

The red stallion raises his head, his cheeks dampened by his tears, as he looks at Applejack in sorrow.

“Ah’ promised mah’ and pa’ that ah’d protect her and Apple Bloom,” He comments, placing his right forehoof on Applejack’s left cheek and scorched features. “Ah failed them, Sugar Belle…”

“You didn’t fail anypony, Big Mac,” Sugar Belle responds.

“That’s darn tootin’ right, Sugar,” An elderly feminine voice chimes in from behind the duo, causing them to turn towards the entrance where Granny Smith stood.

“G-Granny…” Big Mac said through another set of fresh tears.

“Wipe them tears off of yer face, Macintosh,” Granny Smith comments as she approaches, albeit with sadness mixed into her stern tone. “Granny promises to make everyth’n alright.”

“A-alright…?!” Big Mac questions in disbelief. “Granny, there ain’ noth’n right about-”

A claw suddenly rests itself upon the red stallion’s shoulder. “You’d best shut that mouth of yours, kiddo.” Oblivion comments from his bed. “Granny Smith isn’t an old-timer you’d want to talk back to.”

“Heh. Finally woke up from your nap, bone head?” Granny Smith inquires with laughter. “Quit nappin’ on the job and come greet yer granny properly, bone head.”

Oblivion salutes. “No more fuckery from me, ma’am.”

The two stare at each other for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

“Haha! How I missed you, Granny!” Oblivion exclaims before scooping up the old mare into his grasp. “Cm’ere, you!”

“Hey!” Granny Smith exclaims. “Warn me next time before you go swoopin’ ol’ granny off of ‘er feet, dog breath.”

“‘Dog breath’ is Anubis’s nickname, for one. And, shiiiit, If I weren’t married to Harmony at the time, I’d swoop you into my arms back when you were still in your pri- ouch!”

“Ah’m still in mah prime, wolf boy!” The old mare exclaims as she hits Oblivion in the stomach with a forelimb.

“Ouch, dammit, I meant when you were younger,” The skull wolf replies through gritted teeth.

During this time, both Sugar Belle and Big Mac looked upon the duo in shock and confusion.

“G-Granny,” Big Mac starts. “How in dah hay do yah know this feller?”

“I’ll answer that,” Oblivion responds. “This mare, right here? She’s a fucking force of nature, and I mean that literally. Seriously, red, you’ve got no fucking idea how much of a badass your grandmare is.” Oblivion comes to a realization, “Speaking of which, Granny… are you going to do, well, that?”

Granny Smith looks down and sighs sadly. “All good things come to an en’ ‘ventually, and this ol’ timer dun lived fer long enough.”

Those words naturally cause a large number of questions to arise within Big Mac and Sugar Belle, but these inquiries are silenced as Oblivion gently places Granny Smith onto the floor of the structure.

“Thank you, dearie,” Granny expresses in gratitude. “It’s been a long ride, Genesis. But it’s time fer me to get off of this here rodeo. So you keep that chin up, an’ quit belittlin’ yerself for ‘failing.’ Ya ain’t no failure, and you need to stop it, or else I’ll find a way to come back just to slap the sense into ya.”

Oblivion chuckles. “Yeah, you’d definitely do that.” He closes his eyes and lowers his gaze. “I’m gonna miss you, Granny.”

“W-wait, what…?” Big Mac questions. “What does he mean by that, Granny?”

Granny Smith looks down upon Applejack’s body and plants a loving kiss on the cowmare’s right cheek.

“Ah ain’t gonna sugar coat it, Macintosh. But ah also want to apologize fer hiding this truth from y’all.”

“T-truth?” Sugar belle inquires.

Suddenly, the answer literally presents itself as Granny Smith’s form begins to change before their very eyes. A series of vines and pink thorns begin to wrap all around the old mare’s body after surrounding herself with green energy, and in essence: she is the ponified version of a dryad.

As both Big Mac and Sugar Belle stared on in shock, Granny Smith completed her transformation and took a breath.

“Our family has ties to them dryads, and it dates back to even before the Empress had ever conceived Equus. However, our bloodline, our family heritage, comes from a very special entity altogether.”

A pink aura is released from Granny Smith’s form and makes contact with Applejack.

“Who was this entity? Well, shoot. Ah’ never got to meet her, but ah just wish she didn’t do what she did back then. But in the end, she’s still family, and y’all are gonna have ta deal with her in time.”

Applejack’s form begins to repair itself as her scorched features slowly rejuvenate, much to the absolute shock of Big Mac and Sugar Belle. But in tandem, Granny Smith’s form starts to fade with leaves manifesting alongside her transparent state. These leaves starts to dance all around Applejack’s body, and Granny Smith falls to the floor as she progressively becomes weaker.

“Granny!” Big Mac shouts in concern, but before he can run to his elder’s aid, Oblivion’s words stop him:

“Don’t interfere, red. What your granny has started can not be undone.”

Big Mac turns his gaze towards Oblivion. “What do ya mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Oblivion responds. “She’s trading her life… for Applejack’s. It’s something any dryad can do for another one of their kind, even half-breeds.”

Granny Smith suddenly falls silent, but with her very last few breaths, she manages to force out:

“B… Big M-Mac…”

“Granny…” The red stallion responds somberly.

“C’mere, mah gran’baby… I… I n-need you to pass this onto yer… sisters.”

Big Mac swallows his sorrow and lowers his head closer to Granny Smith’s muzzle. The red stallion flickers his ears with sadness still present on his features. And with one final effort, the old mare before him mutters into his left ear:

“P… Plantera…”

With those final words, Granny Smith’s body vanishes in a set of leaves and green energy. And where one life met its end, another is brought into being as a surge of air rushes into Applejack’s lungs.

“What in tarnation?!” The orange mare roars out as she bolts onto her hooves and stands on the bed. “W-what happened?! Where am I?!”

The Element of Honesty has returned.

---

-UNKNOWN UNIVERSE-

Within the vastness of space, a large assortment of stars illuminates the outskirts of a giant purple planet with several moons orbiting the planetary sphere. Each and every one of these moons possessed a ring similar to Saturn, and some even had a smaller moon orbiting them in turn.

This was a sight to behold if one were to gaze upon it as a newcomer, but for a race of very particular alien life forms with advanced technologies, this was just another night in their lavender world as one, in particular, gazed up to the sky from within a grand city.

“--, ---. ---- - -------- -----.” The alien biped said in its language, donned in armor specifically designed for its race.

The entity seemed ready to turn in for the night as they stood upon one of the buildings of the grand city all around them. But then, a horrifying event takes place, which garners this being’s attention as the sky above the alien tears itself apart, and a large eldritch of incredible proportions exits the breach.

“As you gaze at the midnight sky,
My new servants, obey or die.
The Lord of the Moon appears before thee.
All shall bow to the great Razeem.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 96 - Therase. Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 60 Minutes