//------------------------------// // Four // Story: What if... // by Sunset Awesomness17 //------------------------------// I sobbed, and wept, I just couldn't stop. I don’t cry often, but when I do, it takes a bit for me to stop. Then I hear a knock at the door. “Sunset? Can you let me in?” I knew who it was. But I want sure if I was ready o face her yet, especially with me still crying. I laid there, trying to let all the tears finish, to finish washing away what hurt was in my heart. I know it’s not all of it, but at least some of it. “Sunset?” Came a gentle knock on my door. Her voice becoming a little wobbly. “Please, I.....I did not mean to make you so angry.” I didn’t want her to see me this way, so I grab one of those Asian fans that you see in restaurants or a few Asian people hold with their outfits. I hold it in front of my eyes, and I go to finally unlock the door. I did not open it, but I backed away, and onto my bed. Adagio walked in, “Suns.....Sunset? Why are you holding that...” Her voice trails off as she goes to touch my wet face, and I turn to the side. She sighs and removes the fan away from my face. I immediately look away from her. Unfortunately for me and my pride, she gently grabbed my chin and forced me to face her. Maybe it was just the water in my eyes, but it looked as if she had been crying too. “Oh my gosh, I......I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry, Sunset. I’m so sorry. I overstepped my boundaries, I shouldn’t have done that!” She wipes the tears that just kept running down my face, then she pulled me close. This......this cause me to cry harder. I don’t know what it is about hugs, but lately they have all made me want to cry, and almost always a few tears will escape moments afterwards. These were just flowing like river. She ran her hand up and down my back as I cried my eyes out. I cried and cried, and I finally was somehow able to get a hold on myself. As the tears slowed down and I started to calm down. I spoke. “I’m sorry.” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if she heard, but that was quickly answered. “What? What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything.” “I-I’m sorry for my outbreak, and I’m sorry for not being strong, but I just can’t tell you what I saw. I-I am just not ready to tell you.” I say, looking up at her. She nodded. “That’s fine, I should have listened the first time, you don’t need to apologize. If you are not ready, than I should be able to understand.” Then her expression changed. “And who said you were not strong? You were so brave for even telling me as much as you could. For even being honest with me instead of lying to me.” She rubbed my back. “You are such an amazing person, Sunset. I can’t tell you how much others would love to be you because you are just so incredible.” My face got a little heated again, this time not from anger, but from her kind words. Feeling really tired after my crying, I decide I should go to bed. “I am really tired. I think I am going to go to bed.” She nods, and gets up to leave. “Alright. Again, I am so sorry for everything, if you need me or any of us, just let us know.” As I prepare to get myself under my covers, I then remember about Ruffle. “Oh I need to put Ruffle in his kennel.” I try to get up, but Adagio stops me. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it.” I look up at her, “Are.....are you sure? I-I....” I take another deep breathe, “I can do it.” She shook her head. “No, you’ve been through a lot. You should get some rest.” She goes to turn off the light, but the pauses and looks back. “Oh, and thank you for letting us stay here. And thank you for everything you’ve done for us so far.” Then she flicked off the light and closes the door. Honey somehow slipping into the room just before the door closes. I lay there with Honey laying on my side purring her little motorbox as she sleeps. Slowly, as my eyelids grew heavy, the darkness enveloped me in its welcoming arms. Running, that’s what I was doing. I was running again, as soon as that ugly black shadow showed itself to me again. I had forgotten what Sally had told me, and I just was unable to be strong enough. Then the ugly thing said something that sparked something in my instincts. At least that’s what I’m calling it. “You’re such a pathetic little wimp. No body cares about you.” I stood up from the death blow that She had tried to give me. I gave her a nasty look and a little growl escaped my lips. “THAT IS NOT TRUE!” She laughed, “Oh did I hit a nerve? It’s true. Your Nana has her grandchildren to love. She doesn’t love you.” Suddenly my fire went out. But it was somehow replaced with a hint if eere calmness. “Oh you’re wrong. I am loved.” It was brave, and it was enough to make Her angry. She roared in my face, snatched my off the ground and tossed my high into the sky, where there was no oxygen. My lungs burned as I tried to scream, but nothing came out, my voice already scratchy from lack of oxygen and from me running for so long. Everything went black. I suddenly felt hands grab my shoulders and I screamed which ended in a horrid wrenching cough. It burned the back of my throat. My hands flew up to the pair of hands that were placed on me, but they pushed mine away. “Shhhhh! Hey, it’s okay, it’s just me!” I opened my eyes to see Adagio had her hands on me. I took three deep calming breaths and then put a hand to my chest which was still burning. I could still feel heart raising. Calming down I plopped back down on my bed and sighed. I tried. But still that shadow won. “Sorry.” I whispered. Adagio grabs my hand and forces me to look at her. “Look I know you said you didn’t want to, but can you please just tell me what it was. I promise that I will not tell. I will not judge you, I just want to help you.” I shook my head no. “I can’t.” Then she grabbed my hand and pulled it to her. “Look, I know it’s hard, but can you at least tell me just a little bit? I just want to help you.” I looked away, but then she brought my face to hers and forced me to look at her. “Please? I won’t push anymore if you do.” I nodded. I thought about it for a little bit, and then decide that at the very least I can tell her the main thing of what it was. “I......I had a nightmare....” I said, but I was so embarrassed for even saying it that it came out more of a squeak. I hated it. So I cleared my throat and tried again. “I had a nightmare.” It did come out much clearer this time and she nodded. “How bad was it?” I thought for a moment. “It was pretty bad.” “What happened in your nightmare?” She asks. But I was not ready for this part. Would she understood me if I told her that my past self is haunting me? I shook my head. “No. No. I’m sorry but I cannot tell you that part.” She opens her mouth to speak but I beat her to it. “I can not tell you yet. You have given me no reason to tell you, nor have you given me any valid reason for me to to trust you so.” She opened her mouth, then closed it again, releasing a heavy sigh. “Okay, fine. If you don’t want to tell me right now. Then that’s okay.” “Thank you.” I said. She puts a finger against my lips, “But if you have another nightmare, you must promise me to tell me everything.” I opened my mouth to argue against that, but she shook her head. “No, no, promise me that you will. I’ll tell you one of my secrets if you tell me everything.” I don’t know why, but I nodded. Then she did something that tied my down to it. An unbreakable promise......the Pinkie Pie promise. “I remember one of you little friends doing this. I remember her saying you can’t ever break it because then you’ll have to deal with her, so......” She said all the words and did the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise. Shit. Now I’m doomed, because I can’t back down after saying yes. I did the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise, knowing full well what this meant. “Good. Now go back to sleep. I’ll sit here until you do.” I opened my mouth to protest but she beat me to it. “I’m not leaving.” I rolled my eyes. “Well I’m not going back to sleep.” Then she adopted that signature smirk of hers. “If you don’t go to sleep I will tell Sonata to tickle you until you pee yourself.” My eyes went big, because if Sonata is anything like Pinkie Pie, she would tickle me until my lungs burst. So of course I plopped back down and closed my eyes. “Good girl.” She said. “What? I am not a good girl.” I said with my eyes closed. I could practically hear the amusement dropping from her lips. “Oh really? What kind of bad things have you done?” I knew what she meant, and I groaned loudly making her laugh at my expanse. But I did feel back asleep, and falling into a cloud of pitch blackness, no nightmares for the rest of my sleep. When I awoke she was gone. I figured she was in her own bed asleep, so I thought nothing of it. I get up and I stretch my arms, enjoying the morning sun light dancing around my room. Then I get up, and head downstairs to go feed Honey and to check on Ruffle. When I get downstairs I could still hear the faint sounds of snoring down the hall as I cross toward the kitchen to feed Honey. “Alright, Honey, here you go.” After I took care of her, I then go to attend to Ruffle. When I get there he is awake and ready to come out of his kennel. I could see that Adagio had kept her word about putting him in his place. I let him outside to do his business out there and then I bring him inside for his breakfast. Once he is settled in I spend a few minutes petting him and playing with him. After that, I wash my hands and start to fix breakfast. I gather up some ingredients and start making some banana pancakes. I first, peeled a few bananas and smashed them, then I add in 6 eggs and milk. I even add in a little bit of cinnamon for flavor. Then I poured the first pancake on to the grill and wait a minute and half, then flip it and then do the same for the other side. I repeat this for a dozen more times until he batter is all gone. Then I turn of the grill, get the plate of pancakes put them on the table, then I set four sets of eating ares and set some berries and bananas on the table as well. I even add milk and apple juice to the table. I wiped my forehead, admiring my hard work. “Finally. Now just one more thing.” “BREAKFAST IS READY!” I announce, and not long after I hear some footsteps nearing the kitchen. Then all three sirens rushed through the door, getting stuck at the doorway. Adagio pushing to be first, Sonata butted her out to the side and Aria yanking Sonata it of the way and pulling Adagio’s puffy hair and yeeting her backwards and somehow getting through the doorway and almost to the table. Until a yellow hands shots out, wraps around her ankle, yanking her to the side and finally reaching the table and sitting down. I looked at all of them with wide eyes. “Did you washed your hands?” They look at me and then they all race to the kitchen sink to wash up. Adagio getting to the sink and pumping some soap into her hands, Aria and Sonata doing the same. But as Adagio goes to wash her hands, Aria butts her to the side, grabs some soap and switches on the water, but before she could put them into the water, Sonata snatched the soap bottle, squirted some on her hand and then knocked Aria to the side and threw her hands into the water, managing to rinse them off enough just as Adagio ripped her away from the faucet. I could not help but giggle at the scene, then I notice that he meal was missing something. I look on the counter to find that I still had some cooked sausage left up there. I quickly grab it and put it with the rest of the food. Now it was ready. Once the three sirens settled down and got in their chairs, I then washed my hands once more and joined them. “HMMMMPH!!! ISSS IS SSSO OOD!” (This is so good) Sonata says through a mouthful of pancake. “Yes, I don’t know how you do it, but this is so good.” Adagio put in. Aria didn’t even look up, she was too busy stuffing pancakes and sausage into her mouth. “Slow down, Aria, no need to choke.” She looked up at me with a slight glare, picked up a sausage and slowly shoved it into her mouth while keeping eye contact with me. “Okay, nevermind, hehehe!” I laughed it off. I start to cut into my pancake when my phone decided to ring. At first I ignored it and turned it off. Which seemed to work for a little bit, so I take a few bites of my pancake. But as I get to my final piece, it rings again. Stuffing the last piece into my mouth, I wait a moment, chewing quickly and swallowing it. Then I get up from the table and answer it. “Hello?” “SUNSET! I need your help...” Rainbow Dash. Just about as dramatic as Rarity when it comes to sports. She is the athlete of the group. She is an interesting girl who was born with Rainbow hair. It is a very VERY unusual trait to have, but she just had the genes for it. She is also the fastest runner of the school. Anyway, it made me raise an eyebrow at this. But I listened anyways, just to make sure I wasn’t wrong and it was something else. “Hey, Rainbow, what’s up?” I ask. That’s when I heard the sadness in her voice, now I was serious. You see, there are two toughies in our little girl group. Applejack, one of my other friends, and Rainbow Dash. The other three not so much. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are all super sensitive. Rarity will have a melt down if you dare called any one of her dresses......okay. Fluttershy? The most sensitive one of the group, she’s not weak, but she is the easiest to make cry. Pinkie Pie? You don’t EVER want to see her cry. It’s the weirdest thing, but when she is sad, the whole world becomes black and loses its color. Applejack? She is pretty damn tough, you have to have done some pretty bad stuff to make her cry. Rainbow Dash? Is a lot like me, sadness feels like a weakness, and it is social suicide for either one of us to allow others to see that side of us. She is tough, and it takes a lot to make her cry as well. So I knew this was not good. “I....I just need a friend right now.” She says. “Say no more, I’ll be on my way. Where you are at?” “The track field.” “Alright, I’m on my way.” “Thank you Sunset.” Then she hung up. I ran upstairs to slip into some better clothes, shrugging on some jeans, a pink off the shoulder shirt, and my leather jacket. The one that was torn up from my night in the crater. She’s pretty worn out, but I can’t part from her. Then I put on some black and white tennis shoes, grabbed my keys. Then I rush back down the stairs and it I the kitchen. “Hey Girls, I have to go meet up with one of my friends and then I’ll be heading into work later on. You are free to do what you please. Please try not to burn down the house, and there is a tablet in my room. It has a Food Hub app where you can order food from there if you get hungry. There is ONLY 50 bucks in my card. Don’t go over that budget.” I squinted my eyes at them. “And I mean, DONT GO OVER THE BUDGET!” Then I returned to my normal face. “Oh and there is some cake in the fridge if you’d like any. Please try not to eat the whole fridge though. I will get some food later on tonight, but that’s out good for the week. There’s a list on the fridge on things that you can dig into and things that I want to save for later on. Now I got to go so I’ll see you guys later.” I start to walk off but then I paused. “Sonata, I know this might be a little much to ask, but can you watch over Ruffle? Just take him out to do his business, and then put him in her playpen. Do not leave him out of your site, I don’t want to have to look for him in the dark. He should have plenty of clean puppy pads and toys to help keep him occupied. You can also throw in a different toy in there if you want. And you can take him out to the living room for a little bit. Okay?” I said, going through all of the important things for her to know before I leave. She nods. “Of course, Mom.” “I am not. I am just saying what I think should be said.” I reasoned. Aria and Adagio laughed. “Yeah, you kinda are.” Aria commented. “Yes, I must agree. Now hurry on. We got it covered here.” Adagio said. I nodded and rushed out the door.