//------------------------------// // Human Nature // Story: The Fabrication in The Shadows // by RainbowSparkle3 //------------------------------// The heat was already starting to boil my body, and I shut my eyes in pain for a millisecond, before I concentrated again and teleported over to Twilight. I was just about to grab her hand, when all of a sudden, I was surrounded in a magical bubble that I couldn’t get out of, and I saw Shadow holding up a magically engulfed hand from the corner of my eye. We kept falling into the deadly pool of lava, and I racked my brain for something that could get us out of here alive. I was drawing a blank. If only I could break the bubble prison. I tested its strength with a few quick attacks, but it wasn’t even fazed. Despite the protection of the bubble, I could feel the heat of the lava I was falling into, and it was giving me a splitting headache. I looked at Twilight as I panted heavily, and a few tears fell out of my eyes before being thrown up into the air by our rapid descent. I knew these would be our final moments. I shut my eyes, resigning myself to my fate. This probably sounds really stupid and cliche, but my life literally flashed before my eyes...Okay, so it was more like I made a conscious effort to think about all the important parts of my life, but you get the point. I thought about my abusive parents, my time in foster care, the good and bad years I’d had as Celestia’s student, and my time as a tyrannical ruler at Canterlot High. Then I thought of Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, the girl who had changed my life so much, and the love of my life. I thought back to our fateful encounter outside Canterlot High, the moment I’d let light into my heart after her desperate speech, us bonding over the time of the magic course we’d taken together, and when we finally confessed our feelings to each other. I opened my eyes. No, I won’t let it end like this.. I knew Twilight couldn’t help me due to her being unconscious, so I had to find a way out of the bubble alone. I kept attacking the circular prison with all the spells I could think of and even some I just did by instinct, but none of them were doing anything. It seemed futile. Was Shadow right? Was I really helpless to stop him, no matter what I did? I started crying again, like a helpless baby. My love for Twilight and all the fiery emotions that came with it suddenly coursed through my veins like magical blood, to my great shock. A surge of incredible power born out of my great love burst from my heart. I pushed back my tears and yelled at the top of my lungs, “NO!!! I WON’T LET YOU WIN!!!” I pulled back my hand, clenching it tightly. Then, I let all my intense, raw emotions flow into my fist, and I slammed it into the bubble with all of my power while shouting, instantly shattering it. I could see Shadow, stunned at what I’d just done. I was just as surprised as him, if not more so, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that. Me and Twilight were moments away from being burnt to a crisp. Twilight was a few meters to my right, so I blasted the air behind me with my fists to propel me to her. My eyes were still blazing as I grabbed Twilight’s hand, but the mere feel of her skin instantly cooled the burning emotions whirling around within me. I was so relieved when I felt Twilight's faint pulse. I quickly used a teleportation spell and in the instant before we escaped our doom, I lifted her up and held Twilight by her back and legs. We appeared several meters behind Shadow. At that moment, Twilight awoke, and she slowly lifted her eyelids. “Sunset?” she asked weakly. I looked down and smiled at her. She returned the gesture. “Thank you. You saved my life.” My smile widened and tears flowed openly out of my eyes. I realized then that everything was okay. But I had forgotten about a certain bitter boy. “You,” Shadow said menacingly, turning around to glare at me. “You’ve ruined everything! You’ve ruined my dream, you’ve ruined my plan, you’ve ruined me! Now, because of your heroics, I can’t even get over you!!” I was confused at his last words. He couldn’t get over me? Did that mean what I thought it did? As he continued speaking, his villainous tone slowly turned into what I recognized as his old voice. No, not a heroic, silly one, but the whiny, bratty voice of a pathetic crybaby (gee, Sunset, a bit harsh? No, not really. Consider all that he'd done. Really think about it. And then think about why he did it...yeah, I bet you see my point now. Unconditional kindness isn't always the way, especially if the person you want to be nice to isn't deserving of it. I kinda only realized this in hindsight, and you'll see why). “None of this was supposed to happen! You shouldn’t have escaped, I shouldn’t have developed feelings for you over the months of spying! You shouldn’t have even started this in the first place! It’s all your fault! I thought I could get rid of my stupid emotions for you if you died, but now I can never do it! Sunset Shimmer,” he spat. “You’re always a demon, even if you’re not trying! And you always will be, no matter what you do-,” his tantrum was cut off as he wobbled from his crazy anger and fell backwards into the volcano. By all means, I should’ve watched gleefully as this man who had almost taken everything away from me fell to his death; but whether by instinct, or because I could see what I could have become in him, I quickly and carefully put Twilight on the ground and rushed to the edge of the volcano. I lifted Shadow back up to safety with my magic. He had panicked, and it looked like he wouldn’t have survived if I hadn’t save him at the last minute. When I placed Shadow onto the ground a little ways in front of me, he looked at me silently for a minute. He looked extremely conflicted. He shut his eyes tight while countless emotions played out on his face. Then, out of nowhere, he opened his eyes, clenched his teeth, and teleported far away. I stared at the spot where Shadow had escaped from for a long time, until Twilight got up and walked toward me. She grasped my hand and stared too. I decided right there and then that I wouldn’t feel bad about rumours anymore. The people behind them weren’t worth worrying about. If they couldn’t forgive me after so long, even though they could clearly see that I had changed, I didn’t think it really mattered if they liked me or not. Especially if they couldn’t forgive me after I saved their life. Twilight squeezed my hand and solemnly said, “We should head back.” I was silent momentarily, then I replied. “Yeah.” Without another word, we turned around and walked away, our hands locked together.