//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Second Round (FG Part 2) // Story: Tears of Sunlight // by JWolfSilver //------------------------------// When she saw the plant stretch out in front of her, one of Chrysalis's most valuable lessons kicked in: how to minimise damage in an accident. Sunset had good enough reflexes to bail off of her bike rather than run right into the plant though she smacked her head off the ground hard enough that she started to see spots.  What are Equestrian plants doing on the field? Sunset thought as she got to her knees.  Celestia had never had genuine fear as she did when she saw one of the monsters poise over Sunset who didn’t seem to notice. There was no way she would make it there in time, all she could do was watch in horror as it lunged straight towards her daughter. After the fear came the relief as she saw, almost in slow motion, mere seconds before it chomped down on Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Celestia’s new favorite of Sunset’s friends, swooped in and pulled her out.  “Tia.” Luna said, worriedly. It was then that Celestia realized she had shed a few tears and she whipped them away. “You should go to check on the students.” She suggested, giving her a look that told Celestia all she needed to know             Sunset watched Rainbow defend the other contestants and could feel her anger and worry grow. I knew someone would get hurt!             She sped through the course, dodging plants and holes just wanting the race to be over already before someone got really hurt. She was surprised that no one stopped it yet.             Sunset raced down the track until she and the other Crystal Prep rider were neck in neck. It wasn’t until the last second when she pulled ahead through the finish line.             Canterlot High cheered at the victory. Dean Cadence then told all the students to proceed to the gym as the plants retreated back to where they came from.              Finally, all the plants disappeared and the field was silent.             “Is everybody all right?” Applejack asked as she, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity ran over to Sunset.             Sunset was sore and was ninety percent sure she had painful road rash on her back but fine over all. She was angry though. She knew that because of this, four of her friends and six of the Crystal preppers had been stuck in the center of the arena, Rainbow risked her life protecting everyone, and she almost died! Again! Sunset was far from ‘OK’ in her head.             “Better than alright,” Rainbow said as she landed, “We won!”             Sunset ripped her helmet off, “Yeah we won, but someone could have been seriously hurt!” Sunset yelled “The magic is going haywire and I have no idea how to fix it!”             “Um, Excuse me.” The group turned to see Twilight shifting nervously, staring at the ground, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn’t know it was magic or how it works.”             Of course, you didn’t. Sunset thought, trying her best to control her anger.             Rainbow Dash walked up to her with a smile, “It’s OK, neither do we.”             They watched as her pendant lifted into the air and opened on its own. “Oh, no!” Twilight cried, “No, no, no! Not again!”             They watched at the pendant sucked the magical energy out of Rainbow Dash. Sunset ran to her friend and eased her to the ground.             “I’m sorry!” Twilight said, struggling to close the pendant. “It just started absorbing energy on its own but I don’t know how!”             Sunset was starting to lose what little patience she had left, “What do you mean ‘you don’t know how’?” She growled.             Suddenly, a small spark escaped creating what looked like a tear in the dimensional space between the human world and Equestria.             “It also causes these corresponding rips to appear!” Twilight said, panicking. “I don’t know how that works either.”             Sunset looked at the slowly growing rip, she couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened. She could have been killed, her friends could have gotten hurt, this Twilight could have gotten hurt or worse messing with this. Sunset wasn’t mad that this girl was tampering with magic, she was angry that this Twilight didn’t consider how dangerous what she was doing is.             “Is there anything you do know?” Sunset snapped, “Like how to get our magic back? Or how to fix the portal to Equestria?”             “Equestria?” The purple girl asked.             Sunset ignored her, “You're supposed to be so smart, but did you ever think that you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand?” Sunset yelled angrily, closing the pendant and, in turn, closed the rip.             “But I want to understand!” Twilight said, looking fearfully at Sunset.             “But you don’t!” Sunset almost screamed, “And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends and everyone here in danger!”             “I’m sorry.” Twilight said with tears in her eyes, “I didn’t mean to.”             The girl ran off followed by her dog, Spike called after her but Sunset was too enraged to care that the dog talked, she’d deal with that later.             After a moment, the realization of what she’d done clicked as Rainbow gave her a concerned look. Sunset face palmed.          I can’t believe I just did that. What is wrong with me? Sunset thought before she heard arguing form across the field.             She turned and saw Cinch talking, or arguing, with Celestia while Luna and Dean Cadence stood off to the side, the former not looking too happy.              “Was this your strategy all along?” Cinch said as Sunset and her friends approached, “To force us into accepting you as equals? I think not! The games will continue, and Crystal Prep will prevail despite your antics and whatever performance enhancing regimen your students are on!”             Principal Cinch stormed off and Sunset spoke, “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop all this from happening.”             “It’s not your fault, Sunset.” Celestia said.             “Isn’t it?” Sunset pressed, “I should know how to control the magic I brought here, but I don’t! I let everybody down. And now Principal Cinch thinks we’re cheating!”             Celestia met Sunset’s eyes, “It doesn’t matter what Principal Cinch thinks.”             “But it does.” Sunset argued, “The students here at CHS don't just want to win. They want to beat Crystal Prep! It isn't gonna count if the other side doesn't really think they lost. Crystal Prep is never gonna believe we won fair and square if there's magic around. And that magic is only around because of me.”             Celestia looked at Sunset’s frown and glanced around then gave Cadence a small smile.             “Why don’t you girls go get changed.” Celestia said to Sunset’s friends, “Sunset and I need to talk.”             The girls all left, giving Sunset a pat on the back or a hug that Sunset was too distracted with her own thoughts to return.             Now, only Sunset and the three educators remained in the field.             Celestia leaned down to Sunset’s height, “Come here.” She said and Sunset understood, stepping forward so Celestia could envelop her in a hug, one Sunset didn’t hesitate to return. “Are you alright?” Celestia asked, looking her over.             Sunset nodded, “I think I just have a little road rash.”             Celestia gave a relieved sigh, “I was so worried, I thought that plant thing was going to…” she sighed, “Sunset you could have been seriously hurt or worse.”             Sunset gave her a small smile, “But I wasn’t. I’m fine.” She sighed with a frown, “I think I scared Twilight.”             Celestia gave her a questioning look.             “I lost it. I screamed at her and, yes, she was tampering with something she didn’t understand but she didn’t deserve that.” Sunset said, “I just got so angry, I couldn’t control what was coming out of my mouth.”             “Sunset, it’s alright. You were upset, it’s perfectly normal.” Celestia tried to assure her.             “No, it’s not alright!” Sunset said, “I upset her. What if she tires something that she’ll regret?”             Celestia kissed the top of her head, “It will all work itself out. You can’t blame yourself for this. Now, go get changed before the last event starts and we’ll talk about this more later.       With that Sunset ran off and past Luna and Cadence. Sunset knew that if Celestia actually let it be known that she was her mom in front of another teacher, said teacher could be trusted. Besides, Luna hadn’t shut up about seeing Cadence since the friendship games was announced.             Once Sunset disappeared inside the school, Cadence and Luna approached Celestia.             “So, you adopted a teenager?” Cadence questioned.             “Yes, I did.” Celestia smiled.             “It took her forever too.” Luna said, “First she destroyed the front of the school, then she had a panic attack, then a student gave her a concussion while the entire student body hated her, then there was the earthquake which neither of them likes to talk about, and that’s just what happened in order to get her to move in!”             “What happened to her parents?” Cadence asked.             “Her birth-parents? Not even she knows.” Celestia said, “And she hasn’t seen her previous family since she was ten.”             Cadence nodded, “So, what was with the giant plants?”             Luna sighed, “At this point, only Sunset really knows.”             “What have you two gotten yourselves into?” Cadence questioned.             “You have no idea.” Luna said.             Celestia cleared her throat, “Why don’t we just head over to the front of the school.”