//------------------------------//
// The Beginning Of The End pt 2 
// Story: Star-Crossed School Days 
// by mechafone 
//------------------------------//

Rich made his way into the bar. It was actually the last place he'd think to look for Cherry. She was a serious lightweight when it came to liqour, so it wasn't really that surprising to see Cherry lightly swaying in her chair when he found her.

In front of her were at least five empty shot glasses. Cherry's sight was blurred and she felt a little sick, but she didn't really care. Her relationship with her daughter kept her constantly stressed lately. The drink was actually helping her. It dulled her senses and freed up her stress.

"Cherry..." he reached to take the glass she had in her hooves, resulting in a possessive slap on the hoof. "Mine. Get yer if...if yer gonna drink wiff me," she mumbled, slurring her words. "Now. Yer probably wond'rin why I..." she down the glass in one gulp and slammed the glass down on the bar table. "...why I called you here."

Rich frowned as he felt anxiety reach down into his heart and start to squeeze. He had a pretty good idea of what she was going to say. "...Go on, Cherry. I'm listening." She cast a sideways glance at him, then continued and ordered another drink. The bartender cut her off, though, telling her she'd drank to her limit.

With no more liqour to drown her sorrows, Cherry turned in her seat to face Rich. She fought to keep her eyes straight, until she managed to look into his eyes. He looked so sad...She reached forward and rested her hooves on his shoulders. 

"Rich...I'm sho shorry. I-can't keep fighting with Cheerilee. Ish'not about jusht me. I have to think about the happinesh of my children, too, and thish jusht ishn't working out for them. It...we have to call it off, Rich..."

Rich sighed quietly. Somehow he had seen this coming. He just felt that if they could be together, their families would stop fighting. Instead, their union had made things worse. He'd heard about the attack, and perhaps this was for the best. Maybe he could get Rich transferred to Canterlot, or something, until things cooled down.

"I guess I understand, Cherry. I..." He looked into her eyes, into the deep redness of her face. She really needed to get home. "Cherry, let me take you home. You need to rest." Cherry nodded drunkenly. "Yeah...resht."

After personally paying for Cherry's drinks, Rich lead Cherry home, with her stumbling against his shoulder. Upon reaching her door, Cherry turned to him, a little wibbly wobbly on her hooves. "I'm...I'm shorry thish couldn't work out, Rich."

Rich was just sorry he couldn't have this conversation while she was sober. "I'm sure I'll get over it, Cherry. I just hope that we can still be friends after this."

Cherry eyed him a moment, actully unsure about that. But her head was swimming, and she needed to sleep this off and talk with Cheerilee later about her decision. "I gueshh...we'll shee..." she sighed and fumbled with her key and stumbled inside. She could barely see, her vision wouldn't stay clear. She made it up the stairs, then fumbled with her door.

Why in the world did she close her door? She never closed the door, that was just silly. She got the door open and stepped in, closing the door behind her. The door caught on her hind leg, but this didn't register. She pulled forward, then tripped and stumbled onto the floor, knocking herself clean out.



River paced back and forth in front of his cousin. He was fuming, and he had taken too much abuse from Cheerilee these last few months. Today had been the last straw.

"Mint! Today's the day. Today's the day we get rid of them, make them go away. They don't belong in this town. I'll make them go away, I'll make them pay..." River had been practically chanting this over and over for the last 20 minutes. 

Finally, he grabbed Mint and told him to follow. He knew what he had to do now.

Mint looked back at River as he pulled himself into the window. Mint was standing guard, making sure nopony was watching as River broke into Cheerilee's living room. "Stop looking at me, fool! Somepony will see!" Mint looked away again. He was feeling really, really nervous.

"Now get out of here." Mint dared to look back at River, who was no longer looking at him. "Wait, what? River, why-" "Because I'm going to do something bad, Mint. Very, very bad. I'll break up my brother and that witch somehow, and if this is what it takes...so be it. Now get lost, I don't want you getting caught. Go!" 

Mint took off, not daring once to look back.

River made his way through the townhouse. He'd never been in here before, and he was sure never to step foot in here again, either. He went upstairs after failing to find a room downstairs. Here, he found three bedrooms.

Checking them all to make sure there wasn't anypony home, he found Cheerilee's room. He wasn't sure how he was going to pull this off without getting caught until he found Cheerilee's incense. It had only recently been put out. This was perfect.

He lit it back up, then lit more and more and put them all together in the same bowl. Then, he sprinkled some butane from one of the lighters in her room in different spots, and made sure that each spot had a stick of incense near it. The ashes would fall, starting a fire.

His mission complete, River slipped quietly back out of the house. He had gone unseen, as much as he had missed the door of the closet in the upstairs hallway that was slightly ajar.

As River headed back home, he saw Spark Storm and his friends headed off to the edge of the Everfree, ever the daring adventurers. River thought to himself that it was high time Cheerilee's little brother suffered the same as River did at Cheerilee's hooves. 

He went off to claim some favors from some Pegasi he knew.



Spark Storm sailed through the air. His heart was in his throat, much like the same time he'd broken into Sapphire Snow's window. The air flowing through his fur and his open wings was the most exhilarating feeling he'd ever experienced!

He landed on the branch just under him, holding on to it tightly as it wobbled under his weight. He looked down at Pinkie Pie, who was staring up at him in wonder. "Wow! That one had a lot of air, Sparky!"

Spark Storm grinned down at Pinkie, then gasped as Rainbow Dash flew up beside him and then landed next to him. "Dude! You were kinda flying just now!" Spark's heart felt like he was flying again at this comment. 

Since he'd learned he could never fly, the possibility of flying had always seemed like a dream that would never change.

When Dash had suggested at least trying, he'd thought, 'Hey, it couldn't hurt to try." So, he had come to the Everfree, climbed a tree (which he was exceptionally good at) and jumped to a different tree.

His speed was nothing to laugh at. When he had a lot of space, he could get moving about as fast as his cousin. The two of them often raced, something he looked forward to, as Dash didn't come down to the surface often.

After a couple hours of tree hopping, Dash had to go home. Spark waved, and then, getting an idea, slipped into the inner workings of the tree and popped out at the bottom, scaring Pinkie Pie. 

She fell over onto her butt and giggle/snorted. Spark found it adorable, and sometimes, he found Pinkie Pie adorable. It was times like these that he really felt guilty for thinking of another mare like that.

There was a moment where Spark stared at Pinkie, and Pinkie stared back. Spark wondered for brief moment if she could read his mind, and she looked like she was going to ask him a question when she suddenly shot into the forest, head over feet like she was doing cartwheels.

It took a moment to realize that she'd been thrown. Spark looked behind him to see River, Mint, Score, Hoops and Dumb-Bell. They looked ready to rumble. And it was about time too, River was a little overdue for some payback.



Pinkie Pie got up slowly after she stopped rolling down that hill. She hadn't expected the sudden trip, and she was so dizzy that she didn't see the Shadow Breed suddenly rise from the ground.

She smelled, it though. She was about to let out a scream when she was picked up by a strong pair of black forelegs and lifted into the air.

The air rushing by, Pinkie got a glimpse of a handsome black-furred Pegasis stallion. His mane was long and blue, and it made Pinkie think of a male Rarity Pegasus. Finally, he landed and set Pinkie to the ground and stood back, readying his wings for flight.

"Wait!" she hopped up to him, eying him carefully. The stallion looked down at her, a gentle smile on his face. "Stay away from the woods today, kiddo. It's dangerous. Now you need to go and help your friend out." Pinkie frowned and held a hoof to his. "You look just like him."

The tall stallion looked sadly down at Pinkie Pie. "Yeah...we do, don't we." He took off again, flying deeper into the woods. Pinkie Pie didn't have time to think about this as she ran towards the sounds of fighting.

As soon as Spark realized that he couldn't win this fight directly, he took the trees, leaving River and Mint on the ground. They preferred to leave this fight to the Pegasi, and just watched.

Spark dove in and out among the trees. And since he could see through the branches, while the three could not due to his dark coloring, he had the advantage. 

Spark struck out at them from the shadows, catapulting himself from the trees and smashing them into the tree trunks.

It'd been a while since he'd fought with these three. He had grown since then, and become just as strong and resilant as they had, if not more. A one-on-one fight was out of the question for them, and even together they were losing.

River and Mint were watching expectantly, when suddenly they felt two taps on their shoulders. They turned to see Pinkie Pie, 'putting up her dukes'. The two glanced at each other, then smirked.

Spark was still running around in the trees, avoiding the Pegasi trio. So far, his hit and run tactics were working, they were getting tired out while he still had plenty of stamina. Suddenly, he heard a loud, feminine shriek. Oh no...Pinkie!

Spark sprang from the tree he was hiding in, and landed on the ground after slowing his descent. He was suddenly set upon by the Pegasi hunting him. He was beaten, shoved and stomped on, and then finally dropped in front of River and Mint, with the latter sitting on Pinkie Pie.

Hoops and Dumb-Bell landed next to Spark Storm and held him down as River started to pace in front of him. "This has been a long time coming, you little prick..." he said, kicking dirt in Spark's face. "Did you know..." He paused, looking down at dark Pegasus, "That my brother and your mother are dating? They're...sleeping together."

Spark looked up at River. This sudden statement was both unexpected and untrue. It had to be..."Liar! My mother would never touch your brother with a ten hoof pole!" River laughed with so much irony in his voice.

"Yes, wouldn't it be nice if our families never had never met? What if..." He mused quietly for a moment, then looked back at Spark with a dangerous glint in his eye. "What if...you never existed? I'm a little curious. What would happen if you never existed?"

Spark stared at him. River's words were unsettling, almost as unsettling as the tone in his voice. "I think I'll find out. But first...I'm going to make you pay for all the humilation you and your entire family has made me endure all these years."

The trio of Pegasus looked at each other. Did they really want to be a part of this? River was making his way to Pinkie Pie. He struck her once in the face, making her cry out. They could feel Spark struggle under them.

Mint backed off of Pinkie Pie and held his cousin back. "Are you crazy! I thought we were gonna beat up on Spark!" River shoved Mint out of his way and pounced on Pinkie Pie, shoving her back down on the ground and hitting her once more in the face.

Pinkie Pie was openly crying now as she suffered under River's hooves. Her whole world was crashing down around her, and her hair deflated, flat and dead, around her. 

River didn't get a chance to notice this as he felt a sudden burning on his back that propelled him ten feet through the air, then sprawling on the ground.

Pinkie Pie looked up to see Spark Storm standing with his wings splayed. The three Pegasi holding him down had fled when River had gone violent on Pinkie. But what really caught her attention was Spark's wings. They were twitching as if they were alive, and she could hear a distinct buzzing noise coming from them. 

That's what she saw it: Electricity. It was buzzing inbetween Spark's feathers, charging and dancing as if the little blue lines themselves were alive.

She didn't know what to do, or what to say. Spark ran after River, who was slowly getting to his hooves. He felt dazed, and his back still burned. He cleared his head just as Spark Storm ran into him head first, sprawling him out once again.

Spark glared down at River with an uncaring glare. Making his life miserable. Attacking him, Insult matches with his sister. All those he could tolerate. 

But hitting his friends, especially when they couldn't defend themselves, had pushed Spark over the limits of his tolerance and awoken something withing Spark, something hidden, something dark.

River looked up at Spark with horrified eyes as he noticed the Pegasi's wings. They danced with threatening blue lines of electrity. Suddenly, River feared for his life. 

He tried to run, but he was instantly brought down again as Spark threw a line of electricity that raced up River's back, starting from his hindquarters and ending at his shoulder, leaving zig-zagging burn marks.

River let out a scream of pain. He balled up defensively, making himself as small as possible. Spark Storm was about to continue with his attacks when he felt a presence next to him. He turned, his wings flaring, when he saw Pinkie staring at him and his wings. She backed away slowly, horror in her eyes.

As Spark looked at Pinkie, his rage slowly died. His wings slowly lowered themselves against his back, and he finally out let a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He frowned as he looked at Pinkie. Had he blown it, and destroyed their friendship by hurting River?

Instead of running away from him, however, Pinkie stepped tentatively to him and pressed against him, sniffling quietly. He wrapped his forelegs around her and held her comfortingly.

Suddenly, Spark looked up as he heard approaching hoofsteps. Filthy Rich was staring at his brother, knocked out from pain, covered in thick threads of burn marks. He didn't know what had happened here, and it would have to wait. 

"Spark...you really need to come with me. Please...something terrible has happened."

Spark shuddered at Rich's words. There was something terrible and sad in the tone in his voice. It was only then that he looked out towards the village, and noticed the column of smoke rising into the air.