So Called Heroes
After lunch was over, the rest of the school day passed by uneventfully, though Warhawk did catch the occasional student whispering to another. Undoubtedly talking about him helping up Sonata when she fell. It was annoying, but he held his tongue.
"Well this has been quite the day. New school, new teachers, and new annoyances. Oh, and I forgot one thing, I am now officially marked by everyone in the school, simply by being a decent human being, ain't that a kick in the head. Still, I suppose not all is bad. I mean, Sonata is nice depite how I treated her at first. Not to mention that Adagio and Aria seem fun to hang out with. "
Finally Warhawk reached the front door of the school and eagerly exited outside, "Ah finally, now that school is done I can go home and....... get ready for work................. Bullocks!"
Feeling dejected about having to work at his part time job, and thus being denied his video game time, Warhawk continued his journey to his car. He was just about to pass by the horse statue that stood in front of the school, a loud , raspy voice shouted, "HEY NEW GUY!"
Warhawk turned around to find none other than Rainbow Dash and her friends. Rainbow looked at him with a challenging stare. Applejack and Rarity did the same, though theirs were softer. Sunset and Fluttershy looked more concerned than anything else; and Pinkie kept looking at him with the same smile when they first met. Yes, Warhawk knew exactly who they were, 'The Heroes of Harmony' or something stupid like that. The same girls, along with their pony princess friend Twilight Sparkle, were the ones who destroyed the Sirens gems that rendered them unable to sing.
"Oh fuck me, I knew this was going to happen. Lets get this over with."
"Yes may I help you?"
Before Rainbow could respond, Sunset spoke first, "Hey Warhawk, how was your first day at CHS?"
"It was okay," Warhawk responded politely.
"Great..... so did you make any new friends?"
"A few I think."
"Ugh, enough tiptoeing around Sunset, ask him about the Dazzlings!" Rainbow brazenly said.
"Ahem, while I don't approve of Rainbow Dash's tone, I do believe she has a point darling. The sooner we ask him, the better," reasoned Rarity.
Sunset sighed as many of the other students began to take notice of the conversation, including Soul and his friends, Artemis and the other new guys, and finally Sonata and her siblings, "Warhawk, we saw what you did for Sonata in the cafeteria, and we saw that you were siting with her, Adagio and Aria."
"Wasn't just me siting with them, but yes," answered Warhawk.
The girls looked at each other before turning back to Warhawk with Sunset saying, "Look Warhawk, since your new here, you probably don't know the truth about them, or about what happened here recently. You see those three-"
"Are sirens from another world that once tried to get everyone here to adore them. Yes I know who they are, I know who you and your friends are, and I know about Twilight Sparkle."
Taken off guard by Warhawk's interruption, the girls again looked to each other, as the students now formed a crowd around them, wondering how this will turn out.
"If you already know who they are and what they've done, why are you hanging out with them?" Sunset asked.
Warhawk sighed before responding, "Look I know this is big, but can we please have this conversation another day, I have to work after school and I really must be going."
Warhakw turned and was about to leave with Rainbow seeming like she was about ready to shout to get his attention again, but Pinkie beat him to it, "Are you under their spell?"
Warhawk stopped and turned around immediately asking, "What?!"
"Did they sing to you and put you under their spell so that you and the other new guys could start fighting, then get the school involved in another battle of the bands where we would have to use the Magic of Friendship to save the day again?" Pinkie asked in a quick voice ending with a smile.
That smile, that taunting, shit eating smile, made Warhawk's blood boil as the students began to glare at the Dazzlings, making them nervous, especially Sonata.
"No," Warhawk responded with an edge in his voice, "I'm not under any spell."
"So why are you hanging out with them after all they did?" demanded Rainbow.
"Indeed darling, those three have caused a lot of hearts to be broken," said Rarity, remembering her breakup with Clyde.
"They were pretty mean," whispered Fluttershy.
"Y'all seem like a descent person Warhawk, so why in the hay would you be associating with them?" asked Applejack.
"Why the hell are you hanging out with her?!" Warhawk demanded as he pointed to Sunset Shimmer, surprising her and the crowd.
"Sunset Shimmer?" Pinkie asked innocently.
"No, the fucking doors to the school, yes Sunset Shimmer!" Warhawk responded with a more aggressive tone, shocking the girls and the crowd.
Before the girls could respond, Warhawk bet them to it, "You know, Sunset Shimmer? The Queen Bee, the Alpha Diva, the Raging She Demon, Sunset Satan, Bloody Shimmer? Need I go on?" Each of those names seemed to hurt Sunset, as they name she was known by in her past. It was also shocking hearing these things from him, this was not the same quiet Warhawk she remembered giving a tour with.
"Hey that's our friend your talking about!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
"The same friend who tricked you into never speaking with each other?" That got Rainbow to flinch, "Again, I ask why are you hanging out with her? Because it seems to me that she has done more personal harm to you five girls, and this school I might add, than those three have ever done. So answer me, why?!"
Applejack took a breath before stepping in front of the group, "It's true, Sunset has done terrible things to us in the past, and we have more reason than most to hate her." Those words cause Sunset to lower her head in shame, causing Fluttershy to put her hand on her shoulder as the others gathered closer to comfort her. "But after she was shown the monster she was, she did everything in her power to make things right. She sacrificed and struggled to make amends. Heck, she even saved our friendship when those three varmints tried to split us up."
The Dazzlings could practically feel glares the students were giving them.
"She has done so much for us and the school, and I am proud to call her friend," said Applejack as she turned to smile at Sunset, who in turn smiled at her. Then Applejack turned back to the unimpressed Warhawk to resume her speech, "Those three on the other hand haven't so much as said 'I'm sorry' to anyone. Adagio still acts all high and mighty, as if we don't matter, Aria gets into fights on a regular basis, and Sonata is completely oblivious to the pain she's caused."
The student's glares only intensified towards the Dazzlings.
"Until those three take responsibility for the harm they've done like Sunset has, than I would be willing to let bygones be bygones."
When Applejack finished her speech, the rest of her friends and student's looked at her approvingly, even Zero, Treble, and Straight Edge, though Damien and Artemis looked undecided on how to feel.
Warhawk didn't say anything for a while, he was trying to process what he had heard. Then, surprising everyone, he chuckled, "My God, you really don't see the irony, or the hypocrisy."
"Hypocrisy? What are you taking about?" asked Applejack.
"I just can't believe that you all are supposed to have 'magic' that comes from friendship, and yet it is because of people like you, who think like you do, that we still have so much evil in the world, like killing over six million people in the name of social improvement."
"WHAT!" shouted the group of friends. The crowd were confused as well.
Warhawk just pinched his nose and said, "You know, I would love to go into how I see that this relates to the history of World War II and all the shit that came with like the Holocaust; but to avoid a lengthy discussion, I'll just get right down to the point of how I know your philosophy is wrong, and how you are hypocrites for believing your actions are justified."
"You say that they need to take responsibility for their misdeed's; but tell me, why should they take responsibility for their actions, when you won't take responsibility for your actions."
"Our actions?" asked Rarity.
"You destroyed their pendants and took away their ability to sing!"
"They were trying to brainwash the school!" said Rainbow.
"Yes, they were, I get that. It still doesn't change the fact that in order to stop them, you had to hurt them, wound them, and instead of helping to heal the wounds you've caused, you've only allowed them to fester, and when wounds like that fester, bad shit always happens."
"Like what?" asked Sunset.
"Xenophobic bigotry, mass shootings, riots, fucking wars!"
"Don't you think that's a bit extreme?" asked Rarity.
Warhawk looked at her in disbelief, "My God woman, you must have your head buried in the fucking sand if you honestly believe that."
Clyde, Rarity's boyfriend, looked like he was ready to jump at Warhawk for what he said, however, he was held back by Soul and Swift.
"Stop insulting my friends you jerk!" shouted Rainbow.
"Sure, as soon as you actually start to actually live up to what your magic represents you fucking hypocritical whores!!"
That caused the crowd to gasp and got Rainbow mad enough to grab Warhawk his shirt and shout in his face," THOSE THREE ARE EVIL MONSTER WHO DESERVE WHAT THEY GOT!"
Silence fell amongst the crowd after Rainbows display. Warhawk himself felt surprise and fear after getting grabbed so suddenly. But he found his courage again and started to dig into his pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper and held it out in front of Rainbow's face. She looked at it briefly before letting go of Warhawk and snatching it from his hands.
"What is this?" Rainbow said spitefully.
"A letter written by one of the student's you saved through friendship. It was found in Sonata's locker" Warhawk responded bitterly, and surprising Sonata at the same time.
Rainbow started to read through the letter, and as she read, her scowling eyes began to give way to shock and disbelief. Her friends, seeing this, went over and started to read the letter as well. They too couldn't believe what the were reading, Applejack looked ashamed, Rarity looked aghast, Pinkie's hair went flat, (which shocked and disturbed Warhawk) Sunset looked guilty, and Fluttershy looked like she was fighting back some tears.
The crowd began to whisper to each other, curious about what the letter had said. Sonata however looked down in despair, she remembered exactly what that nasty letter had said, and it still pained her.
"Well go on, read it."
The girls looked up in surprise at what Warhawk had asked them to do.
"What's the matter read it, that's the result of you saving this school and teaching everyone here the value of friendship. Aren't you proud of your accomplishment?"
The girls were hesitant to even speak, they may have even felt sick to themselves. Still, Warhawk mercilessly kept challenging them, "I mean that's what you wanted right? It's what Sonata and the other's deserve according to Rainbow correct?"
Rainbow started to go pale.
Having had enough waiting around, Warhawk walked up and snatched the letter from them and said, "Cat got your tongues huh; fine, I'll read it myself. So that all of the students here may understand what friendship means through your actions."
Warhawk cleared his throat and proceeded to read, "You worthless, fucking, cunt. Why are you still here? Don't you know that no one here want's you here. That you are a waste of breath, that you never should have been born. You are a slutty whore who deserves to fucking die and burn in hell! you worthless piece of shit. Why don't you just do us all a favor and just-"
Warhawk stopped himself for a moment to look at Sonata, who looked like she was about ready to break down in tears. It pained him to see her like this, but he had to make his point. So he carried on, "- kill yourself. Hang yourself, slit your wrists, drown your self, burn yourself, fucking throw yourself out a fucking ten story window. Hell shooting yourself will work. Just. Fucking. Die already. You are not wanted here, so just kill yourself, and your bitch sisters too."
After Warhawk finished reading, he took the time to observe the crowd, they were clearly shocked by this, all except one student he recognized, Axis. Indeed he almost seemed pleased with what he had heard. It sickened him, and gave him a pretty good idea on who wrote the letter in the first place.
But the girls took this revelation the hardest, Fluttershy especially. None of them dared to say anything. So Warhawk spoke again, "Well what's the matter? This is what you wanted right? This is what friendship is supposed to be about. You wanted this, they deserve this right?" Their was a pause before he asked again, "Right?!"
"NO!" shouted Fluttershy, "We never wanted any of this to happen!"
"Then why did you let it come to this?"
The girls looked like they were trying to find an answer, but couldn't find the words.
"How could you let it come to this? How can you do something as being able to help someone overcome her past an be a better person, yet not give others the same courtesy! Is it really because you needed an apology first, are you really that shallow?"
Those words seemed to hurt the girls in mores ways than one.
"I mean, I guess I can expect this from you five given your track record, but you?" He said while looking towards Sunset, "After all the shit you've been put through, I would at least expect you to understand the value of second chance. I mean for fucks sake, you gave them a second chance after they all accused you of stealing their secrets and putting them online despite saving them at the Battle of the Bands; and yes, I know about the Anon-A-Miss incident."
That brought up some painful memories for the girls and the crowd, especially for a certain trio of friends.
"Are you all really this stupid? Have you really not learned a damn thing? Is this-" he said while holding up the note, "-really what it takes for you to see horror you've caused?" He continued to say with an almost pleading look on his face, "Were you really okay with just standing by and allowing this kind of crap to happen? I don't even..."
Warhawk stopped and looked down. He took a couple of breaths before looking back up with his serious expression retuning.
"You want to know why I did what I did? Why I helped Sonata? And why I'm standing up for them know? Their are three reasons why."
"First, helping someone who is hurt or in trouble is the right thing to do. Their is no debating that, it doesn't matter who they are, it doesn't matter what they've done in the past; helping our fellow man is the morally justified, non-debatable, right thing to do."
"Second," he said while pointing to the crowd, "these people weren't going to do anything to help them. They would rather let them squirm and suffer and thing their the good guys for doing so!"
Many of the students looked ashamed of themselves after hearing Warhawk's words.
"And third, its because its what you, the 'Elements of Harmony' or whatever the fuck you call yourselves, should have done. You should have owned up to your responsibilities and help show these girls a better way of life, but you're just too fucking petty to do so."
Warhawk stopped his rant as he let his words sink in. Then he pulled out his phone and said to himself, "Crap now I'm gonna have to rush to get home and get ready to work." Then he took another look at the girls and said, "Go ahead and keep doing what your doing, just know that you're FUCKING US ALL in the long run!"
And with that, he turned and started to walk away. But suddenly he stopped and turned, "You know I do have one more question, if Twilight hadn't asked you to, would you really have given Sunset a second chance?"
He then turned and continued on his way, leaving the crowd speechless. Sunset and her friends looked at each other with sadness in their eyes. As for Adagio, Aria and Sonata, they looked at the departing Warhawk with surprise and awe. They looked at each other nodded, and went after him.
Warhawk had finally got to his car and was about to open the door when he heard Adagio say,"Hey Warhawk."
"I assume this is about what happened?"
The three girls looked at each other and then said, "Yes, it was... impressive."
"Impressive?" Aria said in a tone that didn't sound bored, "I don't usually say things like this, but that was pretty hardcore."
Warhawk scratched the back of his head a bit before responding, "Yes, well I'm pretty sure that I just painted a target on my back, so you know, fuck me right?"
"You painted a target on your back?" asked Sonata, which caught Warhawk off guard and caused Adagio to facepalm and Aria to roll her eyes. "Because I didn't see it when we were walking up to you; is it white so it blend in with your shirt?"
"What? No, I didn't mean a literal target I just meant that now I'm likely going to be hated by the school now for basically pissing on their heroes."
"Eww!" grimaced Sonata as she stuck out her tongue.
With a panicked and slightly embarrassed look, Warhawk quickly said, "Not literally urinating on them I just meant that-" "You're wasting your time." Adagio interrupted, "Expressions go over Sonata's head."
With that said, Sonata looked up to see if anything was going over her head, causing both Adagio and Aria to facepalm. Warhawk looked in disbelief but shook his head, "Okay, as amusing as this conversation is, I really need to get going now."
Warhawk got into his car and started the engine, then Adagio said, "You didn't have to do that."
He looked up to see her and the others with, almost humbled looks on their faces, "It would have been easier for you to just join the crowd."
Warhawk paused before replying, "Life would be so much easier if we could just choose our obligations, but we can't. We shouldn't, and Sonata?"
Sonata paid utmost attention when she heard her name and saw the sympathy in Warhawks eyes, "I'm sorry about reading the note, you deserve to live and be happy," then he looked at the others briefly, "All of you do. I see you tomorrow."
With that, he closed the car door and drove off, leaving the girls to ponder on his words and for the first time in a long time, felt a small spark of happiness that didn't come from causing others pain.