//------------------------------// // 4. "The Glass" (Alternate Title "Exaggerated and Wasted") // Story: How Cruel Is The Golden Rule? // by TLC //------------------------------// 4 The Glass Golden sat on her haunches as she watched the sunset atop the cliff that almost claimed her life. She was over it now, nopony, no problems, nothing could get her down in this moment of pure bliss. No, because she wasn't alone. She looked around the area to see ponies sitting with her, watching the sun glaze across the view of Everfree. She saw Twilight and Fluttershy, nuzzling together like they should be. Golden smiled to see they had gotten over the incident at the library between her and Twilight. She glanced to the other side of her to see Applejack, leaning and sleeping, up against Rarity, who played with her hair as she watched her sleep. To their left, was Lyra and Bon-Bon, each enjoying a piece of cake, leaning into each other. 'Such cute couples.' Golden thought as she turned back towards the sunset. A figure entered her view, though. It glided over the edge of the sunset. It was shaped as a pony riding atop pegasus, but with a rainbow following it. 'Even Pinkie seems to have somepony...' The sun finally was no longer in the sky, causing there to be no light for a matter of seconds. Until stars began to fill the sky and the moon raised from it's hiding place in the sky. Everypony gazed in awe as the stars twinkled and the moon lit the small cliff. Golden had tears in her eyes. Not from the beauty of the sky, but from the fact she had nopony to share it with. All the feelings from the past two weeks, and the last few days, slowly over flowed her mind. Everything, from her suicide attempted, to Cherilee, to Twilight... She fell back till her body faced the sky, her tears sliding down the side of her her head and vanishing into the many curls of her mane. She closed her hurting eyes and wept silently. Hoping somepony would be still be there, Golden sat up and turned...To find nothing but herself, the moon, the stars, and the cliff. Golden got up to her hooves and slowly approached the edge, watching as small clods of dirt and rock fall. She took another step forward, then another, and another until her forelegs were just at the tip of the end, watching as small clods of dirt and rock fall. She stared passed them down into the dark abyss, where nothing awaited her but jagged rocks and a steep drop into the edge of the Everfree Forest. Golden inhaled, standing to her hind legs and stared up into the night sky, reaching her fore hooves up to the stars paying witness to herself destruction. 'Why? Why must it come to this?' Her final thought as she slowly tipped herself over. Before she could feel gravity take its hold on her, Golden heard a scream behind her and she was jerked back. Her flank hit the ground and she was dragged far from the life taking dive. When she tried to look up, a hoof struck her across the face. She hit the ground hard and spat out rich blood, the taste seemed all too real. Again, a hoof hit her. And again, until she was being savagely beaten. It was an unforgiving one, seeing how she probably deserved it. She was lifted up by her mane, and another hoof went into her stomach. The pain was unbearable. She lurched and dropped to the ground. She laid there in a fit of continuous waves agony, bring her legs into her torso, feeling what she thought was the blood of her internal wounds filling her. Her swollen black eye opened and glanced up to the pony who had been beating the hell from her for what seemed like an eternity. She stood on her hind legs, looking down at the wayward pony. Tears dropped from her face as she came closer to Golden. A hoof wrapped around her and lifted her neck up. The stranger pony wrapped her arms around Golden's body in a light hug, but grew tighter as she cried for Golden. She nuzzled her and kissed her cheek. The stranger pony pulled away and looked Golden in her green eyes. "I love you, Golden." ___________________________________________________________ "Lee?....." I groaned from the floor beside my bed, sliding a hoof across the hardwood floor and bring it to my stinging cheek. I guess I rolled out of bed and hit my face on a broken cider bottle. I pulled my hoof away to find more then enough blood to require a bandage for the cut. "Ugh....Cherilee...." I got up from the floor and looked out the window, seeing my garden full of half dead plants and wilted flowers. "...I love you, too." The night before had been filled with binge drinking, crying and writing. The papers were scattered across my bed. All of them started the same way: Dear Cherilee, I'm sorry, I... Not making much progress, I decided to take out a bottle of apple cider to numb my nerves and help let the ideas flow out easier, when all it really did was depress me and make writing an apology a lost cause. After staying up till about three in the morning, I collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling, slowly drifting off into that bliss filled, lonely dream which turned out to be a beautiful and painful nightmare. What a wake up call, right? I walked into the bathroom holding my new beauty mark and opened the first aid kit I kept by the bathtub. I placed a small cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol against the slash, which felt like I just took a lit match and pressed it into my cheek. After thoroughly cleaning the wound, I placed a bandage on it. It took up a good section of my cheek, Making me look like I got the shit kicked out of me, my mane didn't help either. I can hear them all now... I thought to myself, looking in the mirror. Oh my Celestia! Carrot Top, what happened to your cheek?! I thought in Twilight's worried voice. Twilight. *sigh* This was going to be a long day. Leaving the bathroom, and not grabbing breakfast or looking at the clock, I left home for the library, where Twilight and I would break down the incident between us to the shy mare. I felt chills crawl up my spine. Fluttershy could be as angry as Gilda after Pinkie pranked her out of town or as depressed as Pinkie when she thought her friends abandoned her. But what worried me the most about, was how she would react to Twilight. Could she really leave her? I neared the tree house ahead. Would she actually dump Twilight? I wouldn't really blame her, but it was a simple mistake, and it's not like she's trying to keep it as a secret. Because that would be much worse!...Right? I walked up to the door. I was able to calm myself a bit on the walk over, but still hesitated to knock. Before I could muster up courage, the door swung open lightly, and Twilight stood behind it, a nervous smile growing on her face. "Oh, uh, Hey, Golden." She said slightly exhausted. I blinked a couple of times before replying. "Uh, Hi. Is she-" "Yeah." She cut me off. "Uh...What happened to your-" "Long story and no, I don't want to talk about it." I said coldly. I really didn't want this and have talk to her of last night of me killing my liver and failing at writing Cherilee a much needed apology. She lead me in, closing the door behind us and locking it. That didn't bring me any comfort what's-so-ever. We walked into the room to find the light yellow pegasus, sitting quietly on the couch while enjoying a cup of tea. She noticed us walk in and smiled. If she's this cheerful, Twilight hadn't told her yet...Ugh. I sat in the chair now facing Fluttershy, fighting back the fear behind my expression. I wanted out of here so badly, I needed a drink. Or if 'Shy doesn't take this lying down, a coffin. Twilight stood awkwardly for a moment before sitting next to Fluttershy. Fluttershy leaned in and nuzzled her, making Twilight jump a little. She looked at her confused. "What's wrong, Twi?" She moved closer to kiss Twilight on the cheek. She blushed a little bit now, but was still worried. "What did you two want to talk to me about?" _______________________________________________________ Cherilee laid in bed, having barely slept over the past couple of days since the incident at the school. She stared at the ceiling, tears now drying from her face, but soaked her pillow. She wanted to get out of bed, find Golden, apologize, and perhaps... "Ugh!" She couldn't think straight enough to even comprehend doing that, even if it ate her up inside. She wanted to get it off her chest now. Through out the whole night with out sleep, she recalled all the time she had spent with Golden. She remembered all the fun they had as fillies all leading up to a few days ago, before she blew it. Groaning, Cherilee got up out of bed, stretched, and head towards the bathroom. In there, she brushed her teeth, getting rid of the smell of morning and sorrow. She brushed her mane and went towards her door. She took one last glance around and saw the clock. Eight o' three. She sighed and exited her home. She wasn't going to the school today, and if she does what her heart wants her to do, she probably won't come home later either. And if she did, she'd make sure the matters were taken care of. I hope I'm not making a huge mistake... ______________________________________________________ After the third attempt, ending in Twilight breaking down again, I sat and watched as Fluttershy hugged her and tried to calm her once again without question. It was adorable, really. Watching these two, but it sickened me knowing that this could all end in a simple phrase or sentence. Fluttershy would be angry or sad, or both, dump Twilight, probably kill me, and then leave. But it didn't really seem like Fluttershy would really be that upset. She'd be distraught, of course. Betrayed, definitely. Hurt, no doubt. But would she really hate Twi? Suddenly, Twilight gathered all the courage she could and told her. "Golden came over last night...." She began. I sat, quietly biting my hoof. "....She's been really down, lately and....and I wanted to help her..." She was full on crying as she continued. "One thing led to another...a-and....and I kissed her!" She buried her face into the couch and sobbed even louder. "It started to get more intense, but she stopped me! Please, Fluttershy, I'm so, so, sorry!..." She cried into the couch's arm, facing away from Fluttershy, who sat there, eyes wide and frozen. I felt an urge to jump up and leave, but her face didn't change. Same confused look. She shook the bit of mane that was in her face and stood up. She didn't say a word, she just walked towards the door. When she was opening it, with out turning, Fluttershy spoke very calmly. "Twilight. Will you please come with me?" Twilight, who recovered from her crying fit, had her eyes wide. She got up from the couch and joined Fluttershy at the door. Before leaving with Twilight, Fluttershy turned to me and smiled. "Bye, Golden. I hope you feel better." And they left. I sat in the chair, staring where Twi and Shy sat on the couch, dumbfounded, surprised, baffled, if I knew any other words that had the same meaning, I'd being doing them. They just left me here! Where were they going?! What do I do? I sat back in the chair relived, but I didn't know whether or not to leave. Was Spike going to be back soon? I got up and headed towards the cupboard. To my surprise, Twi had a pretty impressive selection of drinks. I pulled out the first bottle that grabbed my attention and closed the fridge. "Neighgermeister?" Sounds a little much, but I need something to shut my stomach up. I took a big swig of the drink and immediately regretted it. I almost threw up on the floor from the taste, and did throw up at the feeling my gut felt as the liquid got there. I rushed to the bathroom up stairs and continued emptying my belly of that Celestia forsaken beverage.. ____________________________________________________ Cherilee walked at a steady pace, not rushing over too quickly to Golden's. She wanted to make sure she knew what she was going to say. If only it were that easy. "Golden..." She spoke to herself. "...I'm sorry about telling Twilight about the cliff. I made a promise to you and I broke it...And I shouldn't have done that since...You're my best friend. And I never meant to hurt you....A-and..." She didn't realized as she said her apology, she began to cry. "...And I love you. More than I realized....It hurts me to see you so hurt and alone the way you do...Please forgive-" She looked up and saw she was face to face with Golden's door, which had been left wide open. Cherilee ran in assuming the worst.