//------------------------------// // Chapter 48: To Approach A Broken Person // Story: A Search for Something More // by HAKDurbin //------------------------------// Third person P.O.V. It's been two weeks now since Sunset Shimmer returned to Equestria. Because it's early May, many students prepare and study hard for their finals that are coming at the end of the month while the seniors, in particular, eagerly wait for graduation in early June. But while many students worry about finals, nine students have trouble focusing on what's happening in the world. With Sunset Shimmer back in Equestria with no chance of coming back and her now ex-boyfriend shunning himself from his friends, Caramel, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Sonat, and Twilight have been depressed from losing one of their dear friends and be shunned by another. Just like his break up with Octavia and later finding out about her new boyfriend, Rough Draft has refused to talk to any of his friends and instead stays in his room at home the moment school is over. Soarin and Caramel see him in history, science, and P.E., but he refuses to talk to them. At lunch, he sits at a different lunch table by himself and coldly asks to be left alone whenever his friends ask him to eat lunch with them. The most his friends have seen him apart from school is went they went to the hearing for Adagio and Aria, where Caramel, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity testified against them. But even then, he refused to say a word apart from his testimony about what happened, leaving out the magic stuff and the E.M.R.'s weapons. It's currently Tuesday, and the Rainbooms, Soarin, Caramel, and Sonata are in the music room, studying for finals together. But as they study, Rough Draft continues to be on their minds. "AJ, do you think Rough Draft will get better in time for finals?" Sonata asks in the middle of her study session with Applejack and Caramel. "I don't know, Sonny," Applejack answers sadly. "For all we know, he's just staying in his room listening to music dealing with Sunset leaving us." Caramel groans before he says, "This is ridiculous. He should know better than to shut us out like this again. Doesn't he remember what happened during his break up with Octavia and when he found out that she's dating another guy?" "Honestly, darlin', I think he's still too brokenhearted to care," Applejack says gently. "It must be tough to have your heart broken so many times in a matter of months." "Yeah, but do you'd think he'd care to think about how we're feeling about this," Rainbow Dash ridicules, overhearing their conversation. "We're all sad that Sunset just up and left. Who says he gets to be more mopey than the rest of us just because he was her boyfriend?" "Agreed," Rarity says. "The five of us girls excluding Twilight and Sonata have been with her since the Fall Formal - Anon-a-Miss incident aside. We helped her change to the person she became after we helped Princess Twilight defeat her. It just isn't fair that she would leave us with nothing but a few letters and no way of going back for a long time." "Yeah," Pinkie Pie says sadly. "It just isn't right," Twilight says. "I thought she was going to be here through the rest of the school year and beyond with me, helping me understand friendship with all of you. I can't say I don't understand why Sunset did what she did, but still, I thought..." Rarity puts her hand on Twilight's shoulder sympathetically and says, "We all did, darling. We all did. But we need to face the facts however horrible they are; Sunset's gone, and we need to help Rough Draft." "But how?" Fluttershy asks. "He doesn't want to talk to any of us. Every time we try, he just brushes us off." Soarin scratches his chin and says, "We need to think of a plan." "I might have a plan." All nine of them turn around to see Octavia Melody standing at the door to the music room. She walks over to them with a crestfallen look on her face." "We don't want you here," Rainbow Dash says coldly. "Go back to plotting with your buddies." "I'm not here as a member of the E.M.R.," Octavia says. "I've come to help the boy I love." "Oh yeah? Well last I heard, he's still in Prance," Caramel says. "I mean Rough Draft," Octavia clarifies. "Treble Cleft and I were only an item because Vinyl made me. I only care about my darling and his well-being." "Oh please, you care about his well-being?" Soarin ridicules. "As far as we're concerned, you planned to have Sunset Shimmer leave him with the help of Lyra and Bon Bon." Octavia's face changes from serious to confused as she looks at Soarin. "What are you talking about?" She asks. "Oh please, like you don't know," Rarity says. "No, I don't," Octavia says. "Oh, come on!" Soarin barks. "Don't tell me you didn't know how they -" ******************************************************************************************** Upstairs in her second-floor office, Vice-Principal Luna reluctantly stacks piles of folders as she sorts out her papers. "Ugh, why hasn't everything been digitized yet?" She complains to herself. "This is getting more and more ridiculous each year." Suddenly, the ground shakes, and Luna holds on to her desk for support as a booming voice shakes the entire building. "THEY DID WWWWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT!?!?!?!" The voice shakes the ground so much that the tower of folders falls, resulting in papers covering the floor. Vice-Principal Luna stares in disbelief and growls in annoyance. Then she takes a deep breath and bluntly says, "Nope," before she stands up, grabs her purse and leaves for home early. *************************************************************************************** Once again, Octavia grinds her teeth and veins are showing around her angry eyes. Fluttershy hides behind Rarity, Caramel, and Sonata hide behind Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight stare in shock while Rainbow Dash facepalms as her boyfriend cowardly hides behind her. "Seriously?" She ridicules Soarin. "Sorry, Rainbow," Soarin replies, chuckling nervously. "I kinda forgot that she can act like that." Octavia keeps glaring at all nine of them until she takes a deep breath and looks at them sadly. "My apologies," she says calmly. "It seems that I need to have a proper talk with some certain individuals who did several things they should not have done." "T-t-then you really had nothing to do with Sunset leaving?" Fluttershy asks, still hiding behind Rarity. Octavia turns to face Fluttershy with her face covered in shame and grief. "If I dared to intentionally destroy my darling emotionally again just for a chance to get him back, then we wouldn't be having this conversation, Fluttershy," Octavia says calmly and sincerely. "My heart has been yearning to come back to him all this time, but I knew how much Sunset Shimmer made him happy, so long as they were together, I wouldn't make any attempts. I've broken his heart once already, and I've been regretting it ever since, even when I didn't want to admit it. Lord help me if I did it again." "That's a lot of big empty, romantic talk coming from you, Octavia," Rainbow Dash says, glaring at Octavia. "Even if you had nothing to do with Sunset leaving, why should we believe you suddenly really want him back? How do we know that you finally accepted that he was telling the truth when you dumped him?" Octavia stares at Rainbow Dash, unfazed with her words. Then, she uncuffs her bow tie, undoes the top button of her shirt, reaches under it, and reveals a heart-shaped sapphire hanging on a silver chain around Octavia's neck. Sonata gasps sharply, and Caramel and Soarin stare at the jewel in shock while the Rainbooms look at it in confusion. "I don't understand," says Twilight. "This necklace was meant to be my Christmas present from Rough Draft before I broke up with him," Octavia says sadly. "I told him not to worry about giving me any gifts, but that boy decided to secretly get me a necklace similar to the one my grandfather gave to my grandmother as a way of expressing his love to me." "Then you did get the presents he left at your front door," Sonata says. "My father did," Octavia corrects. "He knew I was acting foolishly, so he waited until I came to my senses to give them to me, and that's when I knew I made a mistake. After that, I went to the mall to give him a gift in return to apologize, but when I got to his house I saw him talking to Sunset Shimmer and later kissing her. That's when I knew that I was too late. But, I've been secretly wearing this ever since in hopes that maybe someday we will be together again." "Wait, how long ago was this?" Pinkie Pie asks curiously. "I think it was back in mid-March, why?" Octavia asks. Rarity gasps as she understands what Pinkie Pie is thinking. "That means you were there what they got together on his birthday," she says. "Oh," Octavia says sadly, looking down at the floor. "Now I really wish I came to my senses sooner just in time to - WHAT?! His birthday? He never told me when his birthday is." "Yeah, don't take that personally, Tavi," Caramel says sympathetically. "It turns out Rough Draft doesn't think highly of his birthday, so he never told anyone when it is. We only know because Pinkie Pie does." "Seriously?" Octavia says in disbelief, turning to Pinkie Pie. "How could you just know when his birthday is?" "Ah, what can I say, Octavia?" Pinkie Pie says proudly. "When it comes to knowing everything about my friends, I'm good at what I do." Octavia stares at the pink girl in bewildered before she shakes her head. "You know what? I'll worry about that later," she says. "The point is I've seen the error of my ways, and I want to help Rough Draft out of his depressed state and get back together with him." "Who says we want you back together with him?" Rainbow Dash says, glaring at Octavia. "Our best friend just left him, but you're no better after everything you did to him." All the other Rainbooms and Soarin, Caramel, and Sonata say words of agreement. Octavia frowns and hangs her head sadly. "I know," she says, regret filling her voice. "And I wouldn't put it past him to despise me even if he's not grieving over Sunset Shimmer. In fact, I'd be lying if I said I've forgiven myself completely for breaking up with him. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to give it my all. No matter what he does or what he says, I still love him. Every day it kills me to wake up in the morning knowing that he's not there to text me just to say he misses me or smile before he gives me a good morning kiss whenever we meet in the halls or hold me in his arms every night after school. I don't know if I will get him back, but I know his love for me is still there, and I will work hard to see it reignite whether you help me or not." Everyone looks at Octavia skeptically until Sonata suddenly stands up and walks over to her with her face looking sad and desperate. "Tavi, I'm not going to sugarcoat it; you hurt my buddy really bad," she says. "But do you mean it when you say you still love him and want to help him?" "I do," Octavia says. "I will pursue him for as long as it takes." "And do you promise to never break up with him again if you two get back together?" Sonata asks. "If I get him back, I will never let him go for as long as I live," Octavia promises. Sonata looks deep into Octavia's deep violet eyes and accepts that she means it before she turns to her group. "I think we should give her a chance, guys," she says. "What?!" Everyone but Octavia shouts. "Sonny, she's the girl who dumped Rough Draft and replaced him with another guy," Caramel says. "So?" Sonata questions. "That doesn't excuse Sunset for pretending everything's okay before abruptly leaving all of us. Besides, we had just decided that we need to do something to get Rough Draft out of his depressed state again, and this is the only thing we haven't tried. If Tavi loves him as much as she says she does, maybe that will give us our cheery friend back." The Rainbooms and Caramel frown at her argument and try to think of a way to counter it when Soarin speaks. "She's right." "Soarin!" Rainbow Dash rebukes. "I'm sorry, Rainbow," Soarin says sympathetically. "I may not agree with Sonata completely, but she's right when she says that we don't have a lot of options left. Besides, for all her faults, Octavia did save my best friend's life from Adagio and Aria, and I can't forget that." "But wouldn't you rather Sunset somehow comes back and reunite with Rough Draft?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Of course, I would, Rainbow, we all would," Soarin says. "But she can't, and she isn't. Think of it this way; would Sunset Shimmer want Rough Draft to live life alone, never to love again?" Rainbow Dash tries to find words to counter her boyfriend's argument, but she ultimately friended and lowers her head in defeat. "No," she says, "She would want someone to make him happy." Soarin nods in approval before turning to the others and asks, "Anyone else?" No one says a word until Fluttershy sighs. "Well, if that is what Sunset Shimmer would have wanted, then, of course, we should help Octavia Melody," she says. "Yeah," Pinkie Pie says sadly. "She would want all of us to be happy even if she's not there to be happy with us." "Agreed," Rarity says. "Then it's settled," Applejack says. "As long as we bring my best friend out of this terrible state again, that suits me just fine," Caramel says. Octavia lets out a small smile as she gives all of them an appreciative look. "Thank you, everyone," she says. "Save your thanks until you make things right with Rough Draft," Soarin says. "We're going to help you, but we still haven't forgiven you for everything you did." "Fair enough," Octavia replies. "Now, do you know where he is right now?" "I just texted his mom," Pinkie Pie says bubbly, much to everyone's surprise. "And it turns out he's not at home." "He's not? Octavia asks, confused. "Then where is he?" ****************************************************************************** Rough Draft's P.O.V. Alone. That's all I've wanted to be ever since Sunset Shimmer left me: alone to wallow in my misery having lost my girlfriend all because she's worried that she couldn't protect me. She didn't want to talk about it or try to figure something out together, she just up and left our friends and me thinking life would be better without her. Could she not understand what she has done only made things worse? Does she not understand that by leaving, she may as well have done the job for Adagio and Aria and whatever enemies of magic we could have come across? It doesn't matter now. Sunset Shimmer is gone. The girl who tore my heart apart and then put it back together has destroyed it again. I'm usually in my room around this time after school to stay in my room and wallow in my misery, but my mother forced me to stay outside until dinner, thinking that would help with my depressed mood. She even took my phone so that I wouldn't listen to my sad music while thinking about Sunset Shimmer. But that doesn't help me. Since I have no desire to visit any of my friends or be anywhere else, I just took a walk to the park to sit on the very bench Sunset Shimmer, and I sat on two days before the Friendship Games. My frown deepens as I miss that time where her biggest worry about magic was the mystery behind the Rainbooms' transformation, and she would talk to me about it before she would sit on my lap and snuggle on my chest, and we would hold each other lovingly before she brings up the story I was writing. Of course, that story hasn't been touched since she left. There's no point in figuring out an ending for it now when the only person I wanted to read it was my sunshine. Regardless, I'm through with love. All it's ever done for me ever since I came to this stupid town is give me some love before that very thing smashes my heart without trying. Sunset Shimmer at the Spring Fling, Octavia during the Anon-a-Miss incident, and then Sunset again. At this point, all this has taught me that love is not worth having. It's not worth the emptiness that I'm stuck with in the end. From now on, I'm back to my original plan to go to college so that I can get away from all of this. There's nothing left for me in this town anymore. Nothing. "Rough Draft?" My eyes widen as a soft voice rings in my ears. I look around until I see Octavia standing in front of me. She has her hands behind her back as she looks at me with a sad smile on her beautiful, gray face. Her incredible violet eyes pierce through me with looks of hope, but I'm disgusted to see her after she replaced me and only appearing again to save my life and testify against my captors. With my frown of grief turned into one of anger, I stand up and begin to storm away until she says the last two words I expected her to say together. "Darling, wait!" I stop immediately as those words echo in my ear. I turn around and look at her coldly as I say, "Darling? You're calling me darling again?" Regret fills Octavia's face, and she runs over to me until we are face to face. "I never wanted to stop," she says. "Even when I doubted you, it's all I've ever wanted to call you. "Heh, you had a lousy way of showing it when you walked away from me," I say coldly. "Besides, you have a new boyfriend in Prance to call by that name." "No, I don't," Octavia hisses. "Treble Clef and I only dated because Vinyl made me in an attempt to help me get over you. But even when we dated, all I would talk about was how I miss you even though I still thought you cheated on me." "Well, bully for you," I rudely say. "Took you long enough to figure out the truth." "I know it did," Octavia says sadly. "And I'm sorry for not listening to you, Rough Draft. I should have known better than to doubt how much you love me. I should have -" "Did, I did love you," I snap. "But you're too late, Octavia. You took too long to realize your mistake, and there's nothing you can do to fix things. I don't love you anymore." I can see in her eyes that my words cut through her, but the rest of her face looks unfazed and determined. "Yes, you do," she claims. "I know you think you don't, but I know deep in your heart that you still love me, and you just don't know it." "Ha, really?" I ask mockingly. "Yes, really," she claims. "If you stopped loving me, you wouldn't have reached out to me when I called you darling when I kept saved you from falling into that portal. And if you wanted nothing more to do with me, than why did you calm down when you looked into my eyes and smiled when I was trying to stop the bleeding from your bullet wound?" "Coincidence," I say bluntly. "No. It. Isn't," she says. "Yes, it is," I counter "And it doesn't matter what you say. I don't care about what you or anyone else thinks. All it's ever brought me, in the end, is pain and feeling of helplessness. The more you care, the greater the pain, and after a while, it's just better to abandon hope." Octavia looks at me, worried. "What are you saying?" She asks. "I don't want to love anymore," I say. "I've lived my life in a fairytale land long enough. What I wanted all my life, whether it was with you or Sunset Shimmer was a silly dream. I've decided to lay it to rest and live on without it." "I don't believe you," Octavia says. "You are lying to yourself." "Oh, really?" I challenge. "And why do you think so?" "Because you are the biggest believer in love that I have ever met, Rough Muriel Draft," she says, her voice filled with determination. "Because when I moved here from Manehattan, I never even considered to find real love after what happened with Blueblood until you came into my life. You, a shy, nervous boy who, at the end of that night at Pinkie Pie's party, made me laugh for the first time since my grandfather died. You who danced ridiculously that night out of hopes that he might find that special companionship that he always wanted. You who looked for things we had in common, worried about me when things were looking bad, always greeted me with a smile and a kiss in the morning and gave it his all day by day to make me happy. That's the kind of person you are, Rough Draft. That's who I fell in love with, who I'm still in love with, and I know he's still there no matter what you say." "Prove it," I say, glaring. Without missing a beat, Octavia grabs my shirt with both hands and smashes her lips together with mine. Angry at her approach, I try to break free by pushing her away, but her grip is too strong. My mind is determined to break the kiss, but my heart is leaping for joy to feel her soft, gray lips again. Finally, I close my eyes and give in to what my heart wants and wrap my arms around her to deepen the kiss.bKnowing that she won, Octavia starts kissing me more passionately, and I can feel her express how much she's sorry, how much she misses me, how much she wants me back, and above all how much she truly loves me in every kiss. Her hands let go of my shirt and move up to my cheeks, and she starts caressing them as she moans in pleasure, happy to press her lips against mine again. I stand there, holding her tight as I kiss her back, not even thinking about everything that's happened between us as if the five months we spent apart never happened. Finally, we break away, and Octavia looks at me sweetly before she hugs me tightly and snuggles her head on my left shoulder for the first time in months. I hug her back, and a smile dares to escape my face. I hear Octavia sighing deeply in bliss. She proved me wrong, and we both know it. I've been living a lie these past couple weeks all because Sunset Shimmer left me, and it was Octavia who helped me see that. But then my smile turns into a frown, knowing what I have to say next. "This doesn't mean everything is okay between us," I say. "I know," Octavia says sadly, tightening her hug as if she's afraid I'll disappear as soon as she said those two words. "But I would never forgive myself if I couldn't at least have this moment. I missed you so much, Rough Draft, and I know you missed me too." My frown deepens and reluctantly admit to myself that I did miss her all this time. It's as if this moment made me realize how part of me still missed Octavia even though I was happier than I ever thought I could be without her when I was with Sunset Shimmer. "Oh, and by the way," Octavia begins as she pulls back to look at me with a sweet smile. "If you want more proof that I still love you..." She uncuffs her bow tie, undoes the top two buttons on her shirt, and reaches under it to take out the last thing I expected to see: the heart-shaped sapphire necklace I left on her front porch five months ago. I stare at it in shock while Octavia proudly lifts the jewel up to show that it's there hanging around her neck. "You went out of your way to find the same kind of necklace my dear grandfather gave to his wife," she says sweetly. "I would never have dreamed that anyone would have thought to do the same thing he did all those years ago. I'd give anything to stop myself from breaking your heart that day just so you could have given me this in person, and show you how happy I am that you have my heart." "You...you have it," I say in disbelief. "I thought you threw it away along with our story the moment you looked at the bag." "I didn't even know that you left them on my front porch until months later," Octavia explains. "It turns out my father hid them from my mother and me, knowing we would have done something to them out of anger. When I finally accepted I couldn't get you out of my mind and ended things with Treble Clef, father came to talk to me and then gave the bag to me knowing that I was coming back to my senses. After that, I ran to the mall to get you a gift, but when I came to your house, I only came just in time to see you and Sunset Shimmer confess your love for each other in the middle of your birthday party." "Wait, how did you know that's what was happening?" I ask. "I had a little talk with the Rainbooms and Sonata, Caramel, and Soarin, who helped me to find you here," Octavia explains. "When I told them about coming to your house, they explained how you didn't tell anyone about your birthday because of your life in Applelosa." "That makes sense," I say before it hits me. "Wait, if you were there, does that mean you were the one who left that gift under the bushes?" "That's right," Octavia says with a bright smile. "I didn't leave a note or anything because I wanted to tell you everything I wanted to say in person before giving it to you." "So you're the one behind the Jedi Order necklace this whole time," "Of course I am, silly," she says, chuckling. "I would think the back of the necklace would have made it obvious." I look at her, confused and ask, "What do you mean the back of the necklace?" Octavia looks at me equally, confused and asks, "Did you not see the back of it?" "No, I just saw the symbol, and that's it," I explain. "I haven't worn it because I was wearing the locket Sunset Shimmer got me for my birthday." Octavia takes the information in surprise and mumbles, "So she was the girl the clerk was talking about," before she shakes her head and gives me a flirty smile. "You might want to give it another look then, Mr. Draft," She says. "It might have given you a clue." I can already feel my cheeks turning red, and I chuckle nervously before I say, "I'll be sure to do that when I get home then." Both of us smile at each other before our smiles turn into frowns. "So, what do we do now?" Octavia asks. I look away from her sadly before I say, "I don't know. All of this is a lot to take in. I can't deny that you proved me wrong and that there's a part of me that wants you back, but another part of me isn't sure that I'm ready to forgive you for everything yet." "I understand," Octavia says. "Either way, things aren't going to be easy between us. I knew that long before I came to your house on your birthday. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to stop trying. Our relationship had its rocky moments from the start, but we prevailed and fell in love just the same, and I believe we can do it again." "Heh, now look who's the hopeless romantic," I tease. "Well, maybe it comes from always 'exchanging saliva' with you as Vinyl used to put it," Octavia counters resulting in both of us chuckling as we both think back to those days before we simultaneously let out a sigh. "Anyway," I begin. "I think this is something that I need to think about before having a genuine answer. After all, I'm still going through another breakup." "Of course," Octavia says as she starts caressing my cheek. "Whatever the case may be, I will be waiting for you, Rough Draft, and you have my love now and forever." I flinch at these words, which Octavia quickly notices. "What?" She asks. "What's wrong?" I hesitate to answer for a moment before I answer. "It's just that Sunset Shimmer said something similar before she left me," I say. Octavia frowns before she places both of her hands on my cheeks. "Look at me," she commands. "I am not going away. I'm staying right here in Canterlot, where I want to be. I will never say those words as a way of saying goodbye. You understand?" "Promise?" I ask. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Octavia says without hesitating. I can't help but smile, knowing that she's saying that aware of the risk of breaking a Pinkie Pie promise. "Well played, Ms. Melody," I say. "Thank you kindly, Mr. Draft," Octavia says pleased. We chuckle again for a moment before we frown again. "I need to get back," I say. "My mom will want me home for dinner soon." Octavia nods before she asks, "Can I kiss you good night, please?" I hesitate, feeling like maybe it's best not to, but my heart refuses to say no. I nod with a small smile, and Octavia immediately goes in for a kiss. This one is much softer than the kiss before, but she's kissing me more slowly to make the moment last for as long as it can. When she reluctantly breaks the kiss, she looks at me sweetly and whispers, "Thank you, darling." I smile back as a way of saying, "You're welcome," before she hugs me with all her might. I hug her back, unable to help but feel happy to hold her. When we break apart, we stare into each other's eyes for a moment before we slowly walk away in opposite directions. ********************************************************************************* When I get home, I eat dinner with my parents and pretend nothing happened. When I go to my room afterward, however, it's all I can think about. I don't know if it's just my heart playing tricks on me or if I'm not thinking straight since this all happened out of nowhere while I'm still grieving over Sunset Shimmer, but I want to take Octavia up on her offer. I feel I should be telling myself that this is a bad idea, but she did prove that she does regret dumping me, and it's clear from the way she kissed and the way she looked at me that she loves me. But then I remember that she still took a long time to come to me like this and ask for forgiveness. I look at my locket from Sunset Shimmer, which is still lying on the ground where I threw it. A part of my mind starts thinking that I would be betraying my relationship with Sunset Shimmer if I do this. I know she ended it herself by leaving, but some part of me also wants to believe that she will come back even though the portal is closed. I frown, thinking that if she did come back, it would be too late. I would be in college by the time the portal reopens naturally, and only God knows how much time will have passed in Equestria by the time that happens. Then I remember Octavia saying something about the back of the Jedi necklace, and I walk over to my desk and take it out of the box. I turn to the back, and to my surprise, I see my and Octavia's personal marks inscribed. I can't help but smile as it hits me that she used something I love to express her feelings just like I did with her grandfather. "Okay, Love," I say, my smile growing after hearing myself say her nickname again. "It looks like you are getting your chance." With those words said, I put on the Jedi necklace.