I heard a whole lot of commotion on the other side of the wall. A lot of ponies shouting, and a whole lot of noise in general. It wasn't until a few minutes after I heard Twilight scream that I was able to make out another pony's voice.
"Rainbow! What are you doing?!" screamed Varsity.
"Rainbow! Calm down!" Applejack shouted I heard some more commotion, and some more struggling. I heard some more ponies shout and scream things.
"Dashi... You..." Field sounded messed up... REALLY messed up.
"That's what you get, YOU JERK!" Screamed Pumpkin.
"Hey! Your little Colt friend is the one who ruined everything, you little floozy! Maybe you could like to share a hospital bed!"
"DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER!" When I heard pound scream that, I was up, and running. I made a full gallop out of the room and down the hall. I could tell that it was happening in the throne room. I burst through the doors.
Looking back on it, I think my assumption about the whole town being present was somewhat right. There were a LOT of ponies in that room, though they elected to keep their distance.
I looked around and saw Varsity. Pound had him in a headlock and didn't look like he was going to let go anytime soon. But when I bust into the door, all eyes were on me.
"Let him go, Pound!"
"Astral?.." was all he muttered.
"I SAID LET HIM GO!"
In hindsight, I feel bad for distracting him like that. Varsity was able to get the upper hoof and pushed hard, causing Pound to let go.
"You! You've ruined everything! You..."
"SHUT UP, GOOD FOR NOTHING MACEDONIAN WHEELWRIGHT! YOU AND YOUR SCUMBAG FATHER CAN SUCK EGGS IN TARTARUS!" I shouted.
Silence.
"How far do you to have to go? How much do you have to hurt me? You've taken everything. You and your dad both. My books, my things, my childhood, my mom. You guys are turned ninety percent of the Town against me. Now you're going to hurt Pumpkin?!" At this point, tears were streaming down my face. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the absolute horror on Mom's face.
"Heh, well. I can always just hurt you, instead.
He said this as he walked towards me slowly. In a rage, I ran at him full gallop. I don't think anybody was expecting it, not even me. I rammed into the guy shoulder first and we both went tumbling. Unfortunately, Varsity was able to recover quicker than I was so he got on top of me and started wailing on me again like he did all those years ago.
"Somepony stop them!" I heard someone shout.
I grabbed him with my magic and began shaking him. And I shook him hard. At this point I was seething with rage.
"HOW YOU LIKE IT?! How do you like to get bullied and beat up! How do you like being tormented all the time, to be the victim? HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!"
"Astral, that's enough!" I felt myself being grabbed by a force. It was Twilight's magical aura. I was able to burst out of it using my own Magic. It shocked more than a few ponies. Like I said before, though, practicing magic was about the only thing I had time for.
As I landed, I set my sights on Varsity, again. Before I could do anything, Mom jumped in front of me.
"Astral, stop!" We stared at one another, not saying anything. I was panting heavily, trying to catch my breath. I can only imagine the rage the others saw in my face. Mom, on the other hoof, had a look of pure guilt, and despair.
"Astral..." she reached her hoof out towards me.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Her ears flattened and she backed up immediately.
"Come on, buddy. There's no need to be like that." I could tell Mom was hurting inside, but I still lashed out.
"YOU DON'T LOVE ME! YOU NEVER DID! THAT'S WHY YOU REPLACED ME!.."
"Astral, no. It's not..."
"I heard what you said! 'At least you'll make us proud', like I wouldn't catch that! You must think I'm really stupid, don't you?!"
I looked around. A large chunk of Ponyville residence certainly were still in the room. All of them looked at me with a mixture of shock and guilt.
"None of you care! YOU ALL HATE ME AND WANT ME GONE! WELL YOU GET YOUR WISH!" I ran towards the door as fast as I could. I heard the familiar flap of my mother's wings as she called out to me.
"Astral, wait! Come back!" I could feel her getting closer, so I charged my horn and teleported out of the castle. When I found myself outside, I kept running. I knew where I had to go.
I teleported again. Since I could see where I was going, I could teleport a lot farther. I charged my horn and ended up right outside the Ponyville train station.
For anyone wondering how a fourteen-year-old became this good at something like teleportation, it was because I practiced it more than any other spell. I practiced it so much because I wanted to be able to leave Mom's house at will, rather than depend on somepony else.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any Bits. I didn't have anything, really. So I looked at the arrival in destination of the next train. I felt so relieved. The next train to come in was going straight to the Crystal Empire. I took a closer look to see when the train would be in Ponyville.
Three hours...
What?! Okay, okay. I don't know any invisibility spells. But I do know one that can make me blend in. You know, change my color and all that? And it wasn't a terribly hard spell to do, either. All I had to do just wait and cast the spell whenever anypony came looking for me.
Simple enough, right?
Well, I didn't have to wait for too terribly long. While I sat there thinking about how I was actually going to make it onto the train, I heard my name being called.
"Astral! ASTRAL!" Mom called
"Astral, darling! Come now, sweetness." Called Rarity.
The others were out there and calling out my name to. I went around to the other side of the train station and cast my spell. I was able to blend in fairly well oh, well enough to keep from being seen.
"Oh my gosh, WHERE IS HE?! ASTRAL!"
"It's all right, Rainbow Dash. We'll find him." Twilight assured. They left the train station, continuing to look for me. When I was sure they were gone, I released my spell, and presumed waiting.
I continue to wait, having to cast my spell again whenever someone from town would show up. Eventually, the train did show up... twenty minutes early, lucky me.
Another fortunate thing was the fact that train tickets weren't very much. There were only a few ponies getting off at this train station, all of whom were Ponyville residents.
I approached two of them, Time Turner and Ditzy, and I hoped one of them might be able to help me out. They were among the few that didn't completely dislike me. Then again, neither Field nor Mom associated with them at all.
"Excuse me?" I said as I tried to get their attention.
"Oh, um... Hello?" Said Time Turner. Ditzy looked at me with a smile and waved.
"Hi guys, do either of you think you could help me?"
"Help with what?" He asked.
"I need to go to the Crystal Empire, but I left my bits at home, and I didn't realize until just now. Unfortunately, I don't think the train will wait for me long enough for me retrieve them."
"Oh my. I'm terribly sorry, but I don't think I have what you need." As he said this, I noticed Ditzy digging into one of her saddle bags.
"Oh, I have it. Here, you can use these." She gave me the bits. I was ecstatic.
"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this has helped me."
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just glad I can help." She said, blushing.
"You have. I wish I could talk longer, but I need to catch this train." We wave goodbye, and I bought my ticket. I boarded the train, and took my seat, waiting for the conductor.
As I sat there, mulling over everything that happened that day, a single thought came to mind.
"What now?"