//------------------------------// // Rage (fixed) // Story: Element Breakers // by Iamsorry //------------------------------// Mrs. and Mr. Cake watched on. The cafe had suddenly gotten much colder. The customers, as if sensing something was wrong, kept ordering their food to go, each passing a glance at the table where a group of girls talked. Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship sat at the table. The warm friendly aura she usually radiated now laid dead. In its place was something that was anything but friendly or warm. She sat there petting her assistant. Spike didn't mind. He could sense how she felt. He guessed he was the reason she hadn't jumped the table and throttled the girls in front of them, though he was tempted to go bite them himself, even his dear Rarity. Twilight continued to pet the purple dog, her body tensing more and more as the story went on.  She swore her teeth were starting to crack with how hard her jaw was clenching. Shock was one of the things she felt. Disappointment was another. But above all else, she felt rage. Pure. Unadulterated. Rage. Twilight sat there listening to them, hearing them out, but part of her wanted to tune them out. She wanted to leave, to do anything but be there. The princess wanted nothing more than to just cut them out of her life, but if she did that, then she was no better than them. The girls only stared as Twilight stared back at them with a glazed over look. The silence was unbearable. Pinkie and Fluttershy fidgeted in their seats, while Rarity kept running her fingers through her hair. Applejack and Rainbow Dash only tensed up every time it looked like Twilight was about to speak.  She took a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before exhaling slowly. “Twilight?” Applejack asked trying to break the tension.  Twilight opened her mouth again but nothing came out. She closed it and took another deep breath before exhaling again. She put her hand on her head and started to rub. The girls watched with bated breath, waiting eagerly for what the princess had to say. The silence grew so thick Spike swore he could play with it like putty. “Come on dear. Please say something,” Rarity said, trying to break the tension in the room. Twilight only took another deep breath. “What can I say?” Twilight asked not making eye contact with anyone. She just sat there wide-eyed and flabbergasted. “Why?” she asked looking up. Not one of them wanted to look her in the eye. She took another deep breath running her hands through her hair. She was clearly distressed with how often she needed to take a deep breath. “Why?” she asked again, only this time hitting the table with her fist. “Why?!” she repeated, only much louder, her whole body starting to shake. “Why?! Why?! Why?!” Twilight yelled, each time she asked slamming her fist into the table. She finally stopped, the girls having backed off from her outburst. She sat there panting, but she couldn't care less about the scene she was making and by the looks of it the Cakes were not dumb enough to intervene. Spike yelped and quickly jumped out of her lap. She quickly stood up knocking the chair over. She braced herself on the table feeling her legs shaking. Applejack reached for Twilight. “Twilight calm--” “Don't you dare tell me to calm down!” Twilight yelled angrily and, much to Applejack's surprise, smacked her hand away, the sudden action causing Applejack to jump back a bit. The other girls stood shocked, but dared not speak out of turn. “Calm down!? How can I calm down when the people-the 'friends' I left in charge to show my other friend Sunset Shimmer about the magic of friendship!” Twilight yelled as she got more and more worked up. “Oh! And who might I add is new to the whole friendship thing,” she said, breathing heavily. The girls hoped that she was done, but by the look in her eyes told them they were dead wrong. “Just abandoned her when she needed them the most!?” Twilight finished, smacking the table again. Spike stepped up holding his paw out and gently started to rub her arm. “Calm down Twilight, your hair is getting all frizzy” the pup said trying to sooth her, but she ignored him, hell bent to continue to let out some of her frustrations. “Sunset was basically and might as well as literally been stabbed in the back by those same friends because someone made something called a Mystable account and said, 'Hey look, I'm totally Sunset shimmer!'.” Twilight said in a mock strained voice, the girls sinking lower in their seats. “Oh! And let's not forget if she was still evil, you girls remember that Sunset, right? Manipulative, ruthless, oh and let's not forget the most important thing, smart!” she yelled, huffing loudly as she continued to shake with anger. “If she made it, it would be damn near impossible for you lot to know it was her in the first place!” she yelled, calming down a bit before taking quick sip of her cocoa. Spike nodded, crossing his paws over his chest. “Yeah! The old Sunset may have been every bad word in the book and then some, but the one thing she wasn't was stupid,” he said sipping his own tiny cup of coco the Mrs. Cake had brought him. He put his cup down and grabbed the smart phone with his paws and started scrolling through the messages with said paws. “This is amateur at best. The old Sunset had the whole school in her pocket before. So why make something...well so lame?” he asked scrolling through the phone. “If she wanted to do something like this, why would she leave so many obvious clues pointing right at her? This screams set up,” Spike said, making the girls shift uncomfortably in their seats. “Heck this sounds like something straight out of a comic book or movie. I just hope this doesn't end with Sunset going commando,” Spike said shuddering a bit. Twilight scoffed rubbing her head a bit. Spike seemed to have caught onto the fact what he said was a bit silly he quickly cleared his throat. “Sunset was reformed. She degraded herself so much to make up for what she did. So why would she do something that would screw up everything she's worked so hard for?” Spike asked tapping his chin, frowning slightly, not noticing the girls sinking lower into their seats. Twilight only continued to try to burn holes into the girls with nothing but her glare. Still, none of them could look her in the eye. Spike seemed oblivious to the tension, or more than likely didn't care. “I mean if this was Sunset she would have totally framed someone else. Heck she’d make it seem like Fluttershy or Twilight was Anon-a-miss,” he said shaking his head in disappointment. Normally the girls loved Spike, enjoying his wittiness and kind heart, but right now nearly all of them wished he was muzzled. “Spikes right. I mean what if someone came up to you and said ‘Rarity ate mah writtle doggy,’” Twilight mocked in an over the top hillbilly accent, Applejack tensed up a bit, feeling like she was aiming that at her. “Would you automatically be like ‘oh welp I guess she's guilty huh girls?!” Twilight said in a loud mocking tone, Spike put his paw on her hand calming her down a bit. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Why? Her life was a living nightmare after the Fall Formal. Everyone that held back when she was in power had no issue telling her what was on their minds,” Twilight said shaking her head as she took another deep breath trying to calm down. “The whispers. The glares. The passive shoves, she got through it and begged me not to get involved. I guess it was my mistake for not getting involved sooner,” Twilight said rubbing her temple. “Maybe if I had stepped up and said something back then we could have avoided this whole mess,” she lamented, shaking her head in shame. Rainbow Dash’s jaw clenched tighter, her temper starting to boil. “Twilight, it's not your fault,” Spike said firmly. She only gave a bitter chuckle. “Isn't it? I should have thought something like this would happen. Maybe---” “Twilight. It's not your fault. You can't be responsible for other pony’s actions,” Spike said firmly making her sigh. “You're right, but I still should have done something more. Like not leaving Sunset in their care. I should have gone with my gut and asked the prince--principles to watch out for her,” Twilight said, once again giving the girls a stink eye. Rainbow Dash slammed her hand on the table nearly knocking over the cups of cocoa. “Come on Twilight! You’ve got to see it from our end! She made our lives fucking hell for 3 years!” Rainbow Dash yelled pointing at Twilight giving her a glare of her own. “You don't get to judge us! Not after what we went through!” she yelled angrily, rubbing her eyes as a few tears were shed. Twilight only crossed her arms. “You're right,” Twilight said calmly, killing any rant Rainbow Dash was about to unleash. “What really?” Rainbow dash asked clearly confused. The other girls equally confused. Twilight only nodded. “Yeah. I should have taken that into account but I didn't and for that I'm sorry. I guess we’re just too different,” Twilight said giving a sigh. “What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked wiping a few stray tears away. “Well many things to be honest. For one, we don't have the death penalty in Equestria. We never really needed it,” Twilight said as she started tapping her chin. “Our laws are much different. Ours are made with forgiveness in mind. Yours are made for punishment,” she said as she continued. “On my first day here, I saw how barbaric you humans are. I learned that you're not 5 or 10 times more violent than us but 70 times more violent,” she said clearly shocked. “Wars. Genocide. Revolutions. You even had a civil war between your fellow states!” Twilight said angrily shaking her head in disgust. “Equestria has only had 1 war since its formation. Even then we barely resorted to lethal force. Humans shoot first and ask questions almost never, and don't even get me started on these barbaric things you call guns,” she said getting worked up, Spike put a paw on her hand making her stop. She took a deep breath. “What I'm saying is, ponies are much more peaceful than humans. We forgive and forget while humans hold grudges for generations. I've read stories about entire families hating each other for something that happened 2 generations back,” she said once again feeling Spike’s paw on her hand. “I know I couldn't have known but I should have made a backup plan for this. I should have stepped in during the Battle of the Bands when I saw how everyone was treating Sunset. Especially you girls,” Twilight said in disgust. “Twilight please---” “Only my friends can call me by my first name.” Twilight said cutting off Rarity who looked like she was just struck. “What? But Twilight---” “That is Princess Twilight to you,” Twilight said firmly, the sentence left an awful taste in her mouth. Each of the girls looked on in shock, Fluttershy clearly heartbroken by the statement. “Twilight please let’s not---” “I wonder how many times Sunset said please. Begged you to listen,” Twilight said coldly shutting up what Rarity was about say. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. “What kills me girls is if you had taken one, just one second to ask ‘Why?’, this whole thing might have been avoided,” Twilight said sighing sadly, looking down for a moment before looking back up at her friends. “Why would she do that? I mean it's like if I robbed a bank and before leaving I left a note with my name and address on it.” Spike said putting the phone down. The girls just sat there taking it all in. She was right, they knew it. Applejack felt sick to her stomach, she was the element of freaking Honesty, and she couldn't tell Sunset was telling the truth. Maybe she did, but she chose to take the easier option. Rainbow clutched her arms hugging herself, she was the element of Loyalty. She felt like dying on the spot, especially after what she did. She started to silently cry. Rarity didn't feel like a lady much less like the element of Generosity. The moment the finger was pointed at Sunset, she practically threw her into the gutter. Pinkie Pie's hair couldn't go any straighter even if she it wanted to. She had effectively uninvited Sunset to all of her future parties and even had planned to have the Christmas get together without Sunset even though it was made specifically for her. Some element of Laughter she was, she took the smile of one of her best friends. Fluttershy was practically burying herself into the table. Her sobs filling the room as she pictured Sunset’s destroyed look on her face. She was not the element of Kindness. If she really was she would have run to her and held her the moment Sunset started sobbing on the floor. Each of the girls remembered what they had said to Sunset. ‘You're not our friend!’ ‘You secret stealer!’ ‘How could you do this? After all we’ve been through together?!’ ‘Ah’m sorry, but you did this to us. Tell whatever secrets you want. But we don’t have to listen.” ‘She-Demon.’ Rainbow Dash dashed out of her seat vaulting over the table and her friends and ran into the bathroom slamming it shut. Twilight ignored her, she had been silently tapping at the table glaring daggers at her friends. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I need to ask something. And I need to ask all of you to do a Pinkie Promise before you answer it,” she said firmly as she crossed her arms. She tapped her feet making the girls feel a bit uncomfortable. “Well ah guess if you feel it's necessary.” Applejack said doing the motions for a pinkie promise. The others followed suit doing the same motions. Once Twilight was satisfied she sighed. “Would you have been Sunset’s friends if I didn't ask you to be?” Twilight asked in the most serious tone anyone had heard her speak in. “What? Shoot Twilight—ermm princess, of course we would, she's our friend!” Applejack said sounding offended. Twilight gave her a cold look. “Really? After this, can you all really call yourself her friends?” Twilight asked crossing her arms again, this effectively silenced the farmer. Spike wanted to say something but was silenced by Twilight leaning forward placing both her hands on the table. She was getting heated up again. “OK! Let's see, if I was the one that was blamed for that account would you all have piled on me the way you piled on Sunset?” she asked firmly looking down at the table, her hair hiding her eyes from the girls. She knew the answer already sadly so there was no need to look the girls in the eyes. The girls stayed silent, one by one trying to answer the question but no one could find the words. Slowly one by one they lowered their heads in shame, Fluttershy and Rarity covering their faces while weeping quietly. Applejack putting her hat down covering her face while Pinkie Pie tried her hardest to hold in tears and failing miserably. “.... That's what I thought. I cannot even begin to tell you how disappointed I am in you. In the school,” she said chuckling bitterly. With another sigh she stood upright and grabbed her coat and put it on. “I have so many things I want to say. But I don't have time,” Twilight said zipping up her jacket while Spike downed the rest of his cocoa. “I need to find Sunset and talk to her. Beg for her forgiveness,” Twilight said dropping her book bag on the table with a thud making the whole table shake. “You girls can help me look for her, but if I'm being honest, I doubt she would want to see you, much less talk to you,” she said huffing, making the girls cringe in their seats. Twilight looks out the window at the snowy city. A bit of snow starting to fall. “She's...alone and scared out there...and I ignored her,” she said sniffing a bit, she wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I’m in Canterlot...enjoying myself. Partying with my friends.  Having the time of my life,” she said letting out another bitter chuckle, her voice cracking a bit. “While she's here having her whole life fall apart!” she said angrily, shame mixed in with the anger she felt. She grabbed something out of her book bag and tossed it on the table. The girls immediately recognized the journal she used to communicate through worlds. “See look! This is what she has been dealing with!” Twilight yelled as she opened the journal to a random page. --------- Dear Twilight       I just don't know what to do anymore... I'm losing everything! My friends. The only family I've ever known. I can't take it anymore! I just want it all the end. But then what? What happens when another Anon-a-Miss comes along? The same crap all over again? I thought I was at my lowest at the Fall Formal... I was wrong. I had hope...now I don't know what I have, and it scares me. Please...please message me. I could really use a friend right now. Sunset shimmer ------------ The girls stared at the page dead silent Fluttershy clutched her chest as if someone had just ripped out her heart. A second later she let out a loud cry of despair. “Ooh...Sunset. I'm so sorry,” Fluttershy said crying loudly as she buried her face in her hands and started to wail loudly. Her sobs barely being muffled by her hands. Spike frowned and walked over to her and started nuzzling her. Out of all her friends she seemed to be the most heart broken. Twilight sighed wanting to comfort her, but this needed to be done. Just like the want it need it spell incident, this needed to be nipped at the butt. Hopefully after this, if Sunset wants to that is, they can get to be better friends. Though if she was honest with herself she severely doubted that. Rainbow Dash still hadn't come back out but Twilight swore she could hear muffled thuds coming from inside the bathroom. Twilight watched the girls go into their own distress. Applejack only laid her head down burying her head in her hat. Rarity rubbed her eyes as she tried her hardest not to let the tears ruin her freshly applied Mascara and failing at it. Pinkie Pie just laid her head down not moving, her hair straight as uncooked spaghetti. Her normally bright pink color a much darker tone. Twilight would have thought she died on the spot from grief, but the soft sniffles coming from her proved otherwise. Twilight both hated seeing them this miserable but a part of her sort of enjoyed it. She hated feeling that, why was she glad at their misery? They messed up, royally, and in the end, it may have cost them not one but two friends. She shook her head as she stood up. “I don't really have much else to say other than to continue looking for Sunset. Will she want to talk to you? No. She will likely not want anything to do with any of you after what you girls did,” Twilight said firmly. making the girls flinch as if Twilight had just smacked them. “I can't blame her. I really can't after this. All I care about right now is finding her and bringing her back safe and sound,” Twilight said hugging her jacket. She had debated if she should share her plan with them, at first, she thought no. Yet she just couldn't bring herself to lie to them regarding what she wanted to do with Sunset. She took a deep breath. “.... I’m planning, if the gods will let me, on taking her back to Equestria,” Twilight said looking out the window again, the entire city seemed to have gotten a lot duller. She didn't bother to tear her eyes away from the city when she heard the girls gasp. “What?! You can't!” Rarity yelled practically jumping out of her shoes. She quickly regretted this action the moment Twilight locked eyes with her. “After what you girls put her through don't be surprised if she jumps into the portal with an eager skip. Don't feel surprised if she doesn't come back either,” Twilight said shaking her head as she finished off her hot cocoa. She turned and started walking out. “Twilight wait!” Applejack yelled, but Twilight ignored her as she walked over to the bathroom and gave it a few firm knocks. “You and I will have words Rainbow. I can assure you it will not be pleasant.” Twilight said loud enough that she was sure her cyan friend heard her. She heard what she assumed was a muffled cry, Twilight didn't really care if Dash was on the floor crying her eyes out. The things Sunset spoke about her made her blood boil. She turned once again ignoring the girls as they tried to follow her, Fluttershy using Applejack as a crutch. Her devastated sobs and shaking legs made it nearly impossible to keep up with the princess. Twilight walked with purpose. She had to find Sunset. She had to find her and try to fix everything. She didn't know how she would but by Starswirl’s beard she was going to try!  She heard someone drive up honking loudly. The group turned to see a bright blue sports car driving up, Flash Sentry waving at them. “Girls! We--Twilight? When did you get here?” Flash asked parking next to them. Twilight under any other situation would have smiled and waved at the boy happily. Maybe ask him to talk more about this band called Linkin Park he was a bit of a fanboy of it. Instead she pinched the bridge of her nose taking a deep breath. “Flash not now. I need to go find Sunset after what all of you idiots did to her I need to pick up the pieces!” Twilight said sharply, she huffed and stormed off, the boy flinched feeling like he was just punched in the gut. He quickly shook it off. “Shit! Yeah school!” Flash said suddenly pulling up closer to Twilight, waving at her making her and the girls stop. “Come again darling?” Rarity said giving Flash a look. He groaned finally stopping the car. “The school!  We found something at the school! Principal Celestia said it might have something to do with Sunset!” Flash said practically bouncing in his seat as he opened the door. Twilight without a moment's hesitation shoved her way past the girls and sat on the front seat quickly buckling herself up. She quickly turned and glared at the girls. “Well!? Get your flanks in here!” she yelled angrily, the girls only took a moment to register the command before piling into the backseat of Flashs’ car. Everyone but Fluttershy and Applejack. Fluttershy looked like she was about to faint, Applejack was carrying most of her weight now. She turned to the girls and shook her head knowing what needed to be done. “You guys head to the school. Ah’ll be there soon. Ah need to get Shy home,” Applejack said looking over at the devastated animal lover who was crying quietly now. It was almost as if she was in her own little world. Twilight wanted to comment on where this kindness was for Sunset, but she held her tongue as she turned to Flash without another word to the farmer. “Move it Sentry!” Twilight said firmly as Spike got comfortable on her lap, the rest of the girls doing the same. Some having to sit on each other’s laps. “Yes ma'am!” Flash said in a no-nonsense tone as he sped off, Twilight looking off into the distance leaving Fluttershy and Applejack behind. Twilight watched the city sped by her she clutched at her chest. “Sunset...where are you?” she asked sinking into her seat, placing a hand on her heart feeling it beat. She hoped her friend was OK, she just had to be. ------------------- Nothing. That's what it felt like, nothing. Sunset opened her eyes, looking around the clear water. It was beautiful, the pale moonlight casting everything in a surreal beauty. She felt her body sinking lower and lower. She felt at peace, truly at peace. Sunset felt like she was floating in an infinite nothingness. They always said that your life flashed before your eyes when you die. Sunset saw everything. Her birth, her childhood, the loneliness. Her being taken in by Celestia. The fight. She wished she could take it back, she wondered what would have happened if she just listened to Celestia, if she would’ve said sorry. She watched her arrival in the human world. Her rise to power. She felt shame at the scenes playing before her. The horrible things she's done. She shook her head smiling. At least she was stopped. She saw how her life turned around for what she thought was the best. She had worked so hard to redeem herself. How she nearly lost herself to the temptation of the sirens. How it all came full circle now. Anon-A-Miss. She wanted to curse whoever it was, but she didn't have the strength. She felt the endless void grabbing at her. She leaned back. ‘Twilight. Celestia.... I'm sorry.’ she thought as she readied to give herself to the void feeling its many hands grabbing at her. She felt the water shift and looked up.  Her eyes widened a bit at what she saw. ‘An angel? Why? I'm not worthy.’ Sunset thought as she saw the silhouette of a beautiful woman swimming towards her. The light from the moon showing off her every detail. Her hair swaying like many tentacles. The clothes she wore, Sunset found it odd the angel would be wearing a gold top and purple pants. What stood out the most was her eyes. Her bright frantic purple eyes. Sunsets eyes felt heavy as she started closing them letting the angel take her. Who knows, maybe she would get to see her parents. At the edge of infinity, she felt something she didn't think she would feel. Peace. She felt something grab her wrist and pull. She opened her eyes again and saw she was getting farther and farther away from the bottom. Sunset looked up and saw the light of the moon getting brighter and brighter. ----- Sunset coughed feeling the water violently expelled from her body. Coughing violently, taking in much-needed breaths of fresh cool air. she wheezed loudly, clinging onto something. That something held her gently into its embrace. “Holy Celestia's lactating tits that water is cold!” A voice yelled angrily. That was no angel. Sunset continued to cough feeling something warm draped over her body. “Shh. Shh, Shh it's OK. Just calm down,” a voice said as a gentle hand stroked Sunsets head. Sunset shivered as her body suddenly felt the bitter freezing weather. “What the hell was she thinking!? Was she trying to kill herself!?” Another voice said, this one sounding familiar. “... I think she was. I mean look, I found her backpack.” Another voice said following by something being shaken and sloshed. “Will you 2 shut up. Air head bring me some booze. She's going to need it!” the voice closest to Sunset said. She slowly opened her eyes to see who it was. She gasped, suddenly feeling like she was seeing things. “.... You.” She said weakly at the figure above her. The figure looked down at her as she continued to stroke Sunsets head. “Damn right it’s me! You have a lot of fucking explaining to do!” The girl said angrily frowning down at Sunset. “Or we could just throw her back in the river. Though I’m interested why little miss perfect was taking a dive.” The other voice said, Sunset turned and blinked at the other person. Sunset felt light-headed, the women only grinned down at her, that predatory grin is something she will never forget. She kept that grin even as she wrapped herself in a blue blanket. “That's mean! We should at least see why she was swimming. Is that a normal human thing?” Another voice asked, Sunset groaned weakly as she looked back at the third person. She looked down at her worriedly, tilting her head a bit. “Sunset. Are you OK? Why were you swimming?” She asked innocently making the others groan in annoyance. Sunset stared for a moment before laying her head down on the one who was holding her lap, closing her eyes as she went limp. “... Did I just kill her!? I thought curiosity only killed cats not people!” the blue haired female yelled looking panicked. The other two sighed as they face palmed.