//------------------------------// // Seven: Another Explanation // Story: Her Broken Childhood // by girasol //------------------------------// Twilight and Flash stepped out the main entrance of the ice cream shop, the afternoon sun warming up their skin from inside the chilly parlor. Both teenagers turned to their left, finding an empty table outside. Flash pulled out the plastic red seat from under the white round table and offered the pony princess to sit. Twilight kindly accepted the offer and couldn’t help but blush at the sweat gesture. “So uh...” Flash put a hand to the back of his head as he sat down on the red seat across from Twilight, “W-what happened to her?” Twilight sighed, “It’s kind of a long story. Well, when we used the elements on her, they changed her back into a child. She doesn’t remember anything past when she was six years old.” Twilight blushed a little, realizing that the story wasn’t all that long. “Oh,” Was all he could say. Flash then thought for a moment, processing the information just given to him. He shifted nervously in his seat, “So what did you tell her parents?” Twilight flinched at the question, “H-her parents...” Twilight sighed, “She wasn’t by raised them. She was raised by our mentor, Princess Celestia.” The blue haired boy furrowed his brows in confusion, “Her parents didn’t raise her? Why?” Twilight sighed once more, mentally preparing herself to reveal Sunset’s dark past, “They... they were uh, um...” Not being able to finish her sentence, Twilight closed her eyes. Flash analyzed the girl before him for a while, trying to piece together what his crush was trying to tell him. What could have happened to make Sunset that way? Suddenly he got it, remembering how the now younger girl disquietly watched him as he came closer to Twilight. Wait a minute... It makes sense. When we would go out, she would sometimes get like that. She would try to control her tremors... it’s almost as if she was abused in her past... “Did... did they, abuse her?” Tears started to spill from Twilight’s lavender eyes. She sadly nodded, “Yeah. They did.” The blue haired boy did not know what to do, or what to say for that matter. It all made sense in that moment. The blue haired teenager ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a long sigh. “How did you know?” Twilight asked, nervously fidgeting with her hair. Flash blinked at the question, “What?” “How did you figure it out? Did she tell you?” Twilight asked, trying to figure out how he understood what was going on so quickly. Flash blinked again, “Well, when I was going out with her, she would sometimes act weird. Like... I would try to hold her hand and... she would just flinch away from me. After we broke up, I thought it was because she didn’t like me from the very beginning. But now...” He sighed, “And there was this one time I wanted to surprise her by hugging her from behind, and it didn’t turn out well,” The teenager looked down at his lap and shrugged, “It just made sense... she would get panic attacks, even though she tried to hid them, I saw them...” He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Twilight got up from her seat to put a hand to his shoulder, “Hey, it’s not your fault... you didn’t know.” Flash looked up at her and smiled sadly, “I know. I wish I could’ve though. I should’ve known. When I first met her, I saw that she had the same scars that she had. She would cover them up everyday since. She just didn’t cover them up so well that specific day.” Flash sighed, looking down at his feet, “I asked her about it one day and she told me she was attacked by a dog when she was younger,” Flash wilted at the memory, “I wish she trusted me or anyone at least to talk about it. She never talked about her family. If I would ask her about them, she would start acting weird or she’ll change the subject,” He sighed again, “Does she get like that all the time?” Twilight looked down at her lap, “Y-yeah, around new people. She’s... scared all the time. I’m not even exactly sure what or how her parents...” Twilight let out a frustrated sigh, “How can they do that to their own child? How can they treat them so badly that they... last night, she woke up screaming from a nightmare. Only I don’t think it was exactly a nightmare. She started... h-having flashbacks...” Flash sadly sighed, “Yeah... I... there would times... once when she came over to my house for a school project, she just got panicked all of a sudden,” Flash scratched the back of his head, shrugging, “I’m not even sure what really happened.” “Sunset? Hey what’s wrong? Sunset!” “Leave me alone! D-don’t touch me!” “Sunset, tell me what’s wrong!” “I said get away!” Flash shuttered at the memory, “Looking back at it now, I’m pretty sure that was a flashback. I didn’t know what to do. Especially the first times few times we went out. And as we went out more, I became familiar with her panic attacks. I thought it was just stress or something,” Flash smiled a little, “When she would have a panic attack, I would play a song on my guitar to calm her down. It always worked.” Twilight smiled at the memory then looked back towards the entrance of the ice cream parlor, “I think I should be getting back to the girls. I promised Sunset that I wouldn’t be gone long.” Twilight promised she’ll come back. She said she’ll be out for a couple of minutes. Sunset repeated those words in her mind as Fluttershy gently stroked her red and gold hair. She’ll be back... she won’t leave you... you’re safe here with Fluttershy... Sunset looked up at Fluttershy who smiled back down at her. The other girls were softly talking amongst themselves, only quickly glancing at Sunset every couple of seconds. It made her a little uneasy. Every time they looked at her, it made her feel like she did something wrong. An unwanted thought came into Sunset’s head. What if Twilight lied? What if she got sick of her and left her? What if she’s going to Equestria to bring her parents? What if they take her back to that house... and they hurt her again? This made the red haired child’s anxiety soar. Fluttershy sensed the child becoming more uneasy. Gently, she took the girl’s face in her yellow hands. “What’s wrong, Sunset?” At that question, the whole table went silent, observing the anxious girl. The girl looked down at her hands, willing herself to ask her question, “Fluttershy? Is... is Twilight sick of me?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened, taken aback by the question, “No. No, sweetie. Twilight isn’t sick of you,” She embraced the girl, hoping it will calm her down a little, “Why would you ask that sweetie?” Despite the comforting embrace, Sunset teared up a bit, “W-why would she want me with her? P-Princess Celestia s-sent me away... a-and soon... Twilight will get sick of me and-and she’ll leave me! She won’t c-care about me anymore!” The girl couldn’t help but become more hysterical. Tears started to fall from her cyan eyes as her breathing became more labored. Fluttershy hugged the girl tighter, “No. Sunset please look at me,” She gently lifted the girl’s chin. Sunset looked up at her with heart stricken eyes, making Fluttershy more determined to get her point across. “You know that Princess Celestia didn’t want to leave you. She had to go do something. You know that if she could, she’d take you with her. But she couldn’t, and that’s why she wanted you to stay with Twilight. Twilight will never leave you. I promise. Nobody will. Not Princess Celestia, and not Twilight. Nobody.” The sobbing girl was still trembling with tears and she embraced her again. “Shh... it’s okay. You’re safe here.” The animal lover glanced around the table at her friends, who had the same woeful expression on their faces. Just then, Twilight and Flash came back from talking outside. As the purple girl approached, her eyes widened at the scene, “What happened?” At the sound of her voice, Sunset turned to look at Twilight. She whimpered a little as the purple girl knelt down beside her, and turned her whole body away from the purple girl. “Sunset... what’s wrong sweetie?” Twilight asked the trembling girl, a little upset that Sunset turned away from her. She quickly glanced at her friends in hope they will give her an explanation. Fluttershy sighed, “Twilight... she thinks that one day you will get sick of her and that you’ll leave her.” Twilight looked up at her pink haired friend who was still gently running her hand through the smaller girl’s red hair. Twilight then fixated her gaze at Sunset, “Honey... I’m never going to leave you. Why... why would you think that sweetie?” The small girl finally looked at Twilight again, “B-because Princess Celestia d-didn’t wanna be w-with me... and then... and t-then you won’t wanna be wi-with me either!” The girl began to sob as she looked up at Twilight. Twilight slowly grabbed the small girl’s amber hands, “Sunset... Princess Celestia wanted to be with you... you know that. You know that she wanted to be with you... she just couldn’t take you with her to The Crystal Empire. And Sunset...” Twilight gently put a hand under the still-crying girl’s face, “I’ll never abandon you... I’ll never leave you... I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to make you worry... shhh it’s okay... I’m here now. I won’t leave you. I promise.” Sunset gazed up at her with hopeful cyan eyes, “Promise?” Twilight nodded as she embraced the small child, “Promise.”