The Princess Escapes

by adorablesmiles

Chapter 2 (Edited)

"I thought you'd be in here." I said, as I walked in to the room where Sunset and Rarity were in. But it looked like Sunset was the only one who wasn't distracted right now.
"Let me guess, Rarity got caught up in her thoughts in the middle of making a dress again." I said.
Sunset nodded.
"Figures. There's not a time that I know of that she hasn't gotten like this when she's making a dress for somebody."
The redhead that I was talking to sat down on the couch. "So this is normal for her?"
I nodded as I sat down on the couch that was on facing the one that Sunset was sitting on.
We talked for a little bit longer until there was another knock on the door.
"That's strange. I didn't expect anyone else to come here right now. I'm pretty sure the others don't have they're free periods yet." I said, as I approached the door.
I admit that I was slightly cautious about whether or not to open the door, but I didn't wanna be rude either.
That was probably the reason why I opened it slowly, just to be safe.
But when I did open the door, I felt my eyes practically bug out of my head at the sight of who was standing there.
It was.... Twilight!
"Hi... Applejack."

---

I was surprised that I had managed to make it to this room. The first person that I had gone to was Pinkie Pie, and she wasn't much help at first. All she did when she first saw me here was hug me endlessly. I'm not saying that I didn't understand it, because I had been away in another world for so long and she hadn't seen me in several months, but I thought that this Pinkie Pie would have been able to control herself a little better than she did.
And now here I was, standing in front of Applejack, and let me tell you, she sure looked like she was shocked. She didn't even respond when I talked to her.
And that was when Sunset came up and grabbed Applejack by the shoulders and guided her into the room safely. I found it weird that she wasn't surprised to see me here. I didn't say anything about coming here to her, or anypony for that matter.
"You can come in, Twilight. I'm sure Rarity wouldn't mind if you came in, you are a close friend after all."
I hesitated for a bit. "What do you mean you're sure?"
She walked back over to the door. "Well I'm not quite sure how to explain it. But if you come inside, I'll try to get Applejack to get with it again so she can tell you." And she walked over to the couch that she had sat Applejack down on.
I slowly walked in, and I knew that I hadn't been in this room before. There was rolls of fabric laying everywhere around the room. And there was two tables, they were standing side by side on the left side of the room. And those tables had all sorts of sewing stuff on them. And it looked like the excess stuff that the tables didn't have any room for was sat on some shelves nearby. And on the right side of the room, conveniently cut off from the very cluttered left side, was two couches and a table to set drinks on.
I was amazed at how well this room was sectioned off. Although, I didn't expect anything less from Rarity. She was good with this kind of thing after all.
"Twilight, don't you wanna sit down?" I heard.
"Uhh... yeah. I was just lost in thought for a minute."
When I sat down, I was once again amazed. The couches that had been brought in here felt like they would be perfect for sleeping on. But I wasn't here to sleep. I was here to get my mind off things.
"I'm guessing this one wasn't expecting your visit." Sunset said, as she started pinching Applejack's cheeks in an effort to wake her up.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting it either."
Sunset looked at me confused. "Wait... Equestria isn't in serious danger and you didn't come here to avoid it did you? Because that doesn't sound very princessy if you ask me."
I shook my head. "No. I would never do that."
"Is... is something troubling you?"
How in the world did she figure it out?
I could only stare at her. "How did you know that?"
She shrugged. "Oh... I just figure that being a princess is really hard. From your letters, it sure sounds like it is."
I was already sitting on the other couch by now. "You don't know the half of it, Sunset."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
I wasn't sure at first. "I guess so."
"Well, I've got nothing but time."
"Fine." I started. "It's my princess duties. I don't know why, but they're really getting to me."
She looked at me again. "Why's that?"
"I literally don't know! They just get so stressful sometimes!" I said, as I put my head in my hoo- I mean... Hands.
And then I felt a gentle hand land on my shoulder. "I may not understand what's it's like living with the pressures of royal life, but I do understand having lots of stress. It's not royal stress, but it's just regular stress. But I still can't understand why you came here." By now, I had gotten used to actually hearing Sunset being sweet and caring instead of cold and menacing. And, if you asked me, I liked nice Sunset much better than mean Sunset. But I never would have said that to her face. I think if I did, she would probably find it really offensive considering how much she's changed since the.... erm... little incident with my crown. But I knew that she was fully changed now. She didn't even sound like the kind of person that would manipulate anyone anymore. It was almost hard to believe she was the same person.
"Are you distracted now, too?"
I shook my head. "Um... no." I said.
"Then can I ask why you came here?" I could tell that she anxious to know the reason I was here. The tone of her voice made it sound like she wanted me to be back in Equestria.
And that's when old memories came flooding back all at once. "Are you trying to tell me I don't belong here like you did before?!" I jumped up as I said this.
"What? Twilight... I wouldn't. That was a long time ago."
Even though she said that, I was still on edge. "Well I wasn't here at all was I? I was in Equestria where everypony's problems rest on my shoulders! And it's stressful for me! And there's so many problems that I have issues with solving them because I get confused when I try because there's just too many ponies!" I didn't realize it, but I had raised my voice just a little too much there.
I leaned up against the wall and slid down. "I... I didn't mean to lash out at you. I'm so sorry." I hid my face in my hands once again. I was ashamed of myself now. And that was the last thing I planned on doing when I came back in the first place.
Maybe... maybe I should just run out now. Maybe I should run out of Canterlot and go where no one will ever find me so I don't hurt anyone's feelings again. Yeah.
I got back up on my feet and walked out of the room, quickly and quietly.

---

I could barely believe what had just happened. Things were going well, but before I knew what was going on, Twilight exploded. And I was sure that I hadn't done anything wrong.
And the strangest thing was that Twilight walked out immediately after that happened. She didn't say where she went or anything.
It was a few minutes after that happened that Rarity and Applejack both came to.
"Sunset, darling, are you okay?! You look like you saw a ghost!"
The only thing I could manage to do was shake my head. "I'm not okay Rarity. Something really bad just happened and I'm not even sure I understand it."
Applejack stood up. "Well could you explain it?"
Right when she said that, the bell rang. I knew that wasn't good news, because it meant that we had to get back in class and we wouldn't get another free period for the rest of the day.
"I guess I'll have to tell you once school lets out."

---

I didn't know where I wanted to go yet, but I knew that I wasn't going back home. Not now.
I honestly didn't care if I had to hide out from everyone here for a while. I was determined to not hurt anymore feelings starting now.
But even so, I still felt like I stuck out too much with these clothes.
I need to change. But there isn't a store anywhere near me.
But that was when I ran right into a pole. And then I fell.
There wasn't very many people around at the time, so I massaged my head and then stood up again.
And just my luck, I turned around and I was at the same place I wanted to be at. A clothing store! Perfect!

---------

I had forgotten that the next period was lunch.

But that actually worked out really well with the current situation. It was probably the only way that I could have gotten everyone's attention without getting in trouble.

"Can you please tell us what happened with Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Wait?! Twilight came back and no one told me?! I COULD HAVE THROWN A WELCOME BACK PARTY!"

Pinkie yelling like that really drew some unnecessary attention to our table. I knew that we didn't need it quite yet.

And she got hushed by all of us.

"Okay, well, it started out like this. I was talking to Applejack and--"

"I REMEMBER NOW!" Pinkie shouted.

"Shhhhhh!!!" Was the only thing that came from our table.

"Now if I can explain without being interrupted," I started. "This whole thing started when I was invited to the secret place with Rarity, and then she got distracted like she always does, and then Applejack came along and we talked for... I don't know how long. And then Twilight came, and Applejack got all surprised and then she became just like Rarity was at the time, which I didn't think anything of it at the time but now it seems a bit odd to me... But that's besides the point. I welcomed her inside, and we started talking. And that went well until I started getting nosy about why she was here. And then Twilight got all defensive about her reasons, and she said she thought I was trying to say that she didn't belong here, which I wasn't, and then she started ranting about her problems... very loudly. And then she got upset. I don't know what could have been going on in that mind of hers, but after that she walked off after she apologized for lashing out at me. And now I don't know what to make of what happened."

Pinkie was the first one to speak up.

"Okay. First of all, talking in super long paragraphs and talking about stuff that has happened or has yet to happen is my thing!" She started. "Secondly, I can't believe that happened! That doesn't sound like Twilight at all!"

I nodded.

"Are ya sure that really happened?" I swear, it sounded like Applejack was doubting me.

"Yes, it did. I don't know if you remember it, but you were there." I said.

"I can't say I do. You've got me there. I do remember coming to the room and talking to you though, but after that it gets gray."

"But I want to give a little announcement, if you girls would be willing to help. It's for Princess Twilight after all."

I could tell that all of them didn't know how we could find her. They all stayed quiet.

"Come on! This is our friend I'm talking about." I started. I thought back on all the nice things she had done for me in the past. "I know she's been a really good friend to all of you, and there's no question that I'm very grateful for being so nice to me. If she hadn't come back here to get her crown, I don't know what might've happened to me. I would probably still be cold and bitter." I stood up on the table, not caring if I knocked my friends plates off the table. I was determined to get the point across.

But no one noticed. They were all too busy eating.

"Oh... I'll help Sunset." Fluttershy said. I knew that if she was helping, it would probably take forever, and I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted to while everyone was in one room.

And then, Rainbow Dash blew a whistle, as if she knew that would do it. And let me tell you, that thing was loud. So loud the sound of it bounced off the walls. It was really bad for me especially, because I was so close to it.

"Um now that we have your--"

"Everyone! My friend has something important to tell all of you! So quit stuffing your mouths with yummy food and listen for a second!"

I sighed. That wasn't really the way I wanted to get people's attention. Sure, the whistle thing was nice. But she didn't have to be so rude about it.

"Okay. Have any of you seen Princess Twilight?"

Five or six, maybe seven, hands raised up. And then a few more. Apparently people don't think having a pony princess from another dimension is such a big deal anymore.

"Well, I was talking to her during my free period, and that ended in her running out because of stress. Did anyone see where she ran off to?"

There was silence for a few minutes.

"I saw her run out of the front doors. It looked like she was crying." It sounded like that came from a guy, but I couldn't tell who because the table he was sitting at was really far away.

She was crying? I made her cry? That's awful.

That was the only thing I could think of, but I did hide my face in shame. I really thought this whole thing was my fault.