//------------------------------// // Mediation // Story: An Equestrian Element // by Quillion9000 //------------------------------// Domino City: Evening… Flash was currently sitting on a couch within the lobby of a hotel, the one he and the other eight students decided to stay at while in Domino City. For a while now, he’s been mulling over one question. “How did I get here?” The Destiny Hero user questioned himself. Flash hadn’t suddenly developed amnesia mind you. It was more of a spiritual ‘how’ than a physical ‘how’ that he was asking himself now. Sunset finding him had not gone how he expected, but looking back at it now allowed him to see the dots. He could trace the events that transpired, from the day he met Sunset to this moment, and they made a logical throughline. That was a strange thought when magic, card games, and Mystable were part of that throughline. It was almost as weird as where Flash found himself now. As he saw it, the CMC and Rainbooms just hadn’t/weren’t really talking about what happened. Given past instances, that seemed par for the course, but those same instances showed that simply didn’t work. At times like these, they tended to need someone. That someone seemed to rally them, weather they saw it or not. At first, it was Twilight before that task was unofficially passed to Sunset. Both did a good job until the former had to return home and the later was made out to be Anon-a-Miss. Those were invaluable instances to learn from because Flash realized that, by default, the role kind of fell to him. Granted, he could choose to ignore this, but that isn’t who he was. It wasn’t the kind of guy he wanted to be. This all only brought it back to his question. “How did I get here?” The Destiny Hero user thought. How did a guy like him end up in this situation? If he wanted to take it back to the inciting incident, it was dating Sunset. Even with how that ended up, he didn’t regret the time they had together, so Flash supposed he couldn’t exactly go throwing blame that way. Regardless of all these thoughts, he couldn’t really put it off. At this point, he was practically going around in circles just to avoid what had to be done. Despite how things were slowly improving back home, they wouldn’t truly get better until the people at the center did. “Well, best to get a move on, but I’m going to the CMC first.” Flash thought. Despite being the main ones behind Anon-a-Miss, Flash had noted Sunset focused more on the Rainbooms over them. Given everything, he could guess it was because she understood the three younger girls on some level. It all essentially boiled down to pettiness. When Sunset did it, she wanted power and to prove her mentor wrong. When the CMC did it, they wanted to punish Sunset and get more time with their sisters. No matter the result of their actions, it all came back to pettiness. As Flash entered the elevator and took it up, he could just feel the CMC would be easier to deal with than the problems of the Rainbooms. He also figured that attending to the easier problem might give him more confidence to deal with the messier problem. Before spending time contemplating the lot in life he wanted, Flash had the forethought to text and ask where people were. The CMC were in Apple Blom’s room while the Rainbooms were in Rainbow’s. He had also checked in on them, hence knowing their current states. Perhaps it said something that they at least wanted to be in the same room, but without any conversation, nothing would be resolved. Part of Flash was now wishing for things to go back to normal, but he knew they now had to redefine a new normal. Apple Bloom’s Room Upon entering Apple Bloom’s room, he saw Scootaloo looking out the window while Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom played a silent game of highest monster. They were taking turns drawing cards, it looked like Apple Bloom’s deck, and the highest AT won. Within the room there was a desk, chair, and bed. Flash lept right into the deep end by grabbing the chair, turning it around, and plopping down in it. The CMC did spare him looks, but they were quick to get back to whatever they were doing. “Rough day, huh?” Flash broached. It seemed words had an impact given the girls now gave him their full attention. “Rough day…” Scootaloo scoffed. “Nothing was fixed with Sunset, I think our sisters might hate us now, and I ended up blowing the lid on everything to someone who is effectively a stranger. No, telling me she’s technically not does not fix anything.” “What she said.” Sweetie Bell voiced. “Well, minus the telling a stranger about everything bit.” Apple Bloom added. “Sunset was fixed.” Flash stated. “What?” The girls asked. “Look, I’m not going to sugar coat this.” Flash sighed. “Right now, you three are being selfish, and it validates what Sunset was saying. All you want is for everything to go back to a normal that can never be. Even if it could, it’d be falsified for your benefit. The simple fact is, Sunset is content, and that’s something I haven’t seen since the early days of our relationship. Given what little we understand about her life prior, her being genuinely happy was a rare. Yeah, things didn’t turn out how you wanted, but they ended well enough. “I suppose that does make sense.” Sweetie Bell voiced. “Perhaps we are being selfish, and that’s not really going to pan out in the long run.” Apple Bloom sighed as she rested her head on her heads. “Heck, being selfish is what brought us to this point anyways.” “As for your sisters, or sister figure, hating you, I know you think that.” Flash voiced. “Honestly, they are doing the bare minimum to dissuade such thoughts. That’s something I’ll have a chat with them about when I go see them next. Let me just say, you’ve seen how they treat someone they hate.” He was alluding to Sunset. “I think the fact that they could stand to be around you on this trip and at the park today tells me that, at minimum, they still like you.” The girls shared a look at that as it seemed to make sense, but it was clear to Flash he wasn’t going to have much luck truly convincing them. To be fair, it wasn’t really his place to convince them. That was AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity’s job. “As for you bearing everything to this world’s Twilight, Scootaloo, that was a mistake.” Flash shook his head. “There’s no easy way to say it, and it doesn’t matter what justification you try to give.” “I bet it on a duel.” Scootaloo voiced weakly. “Duelist pride is important, but there are some things you just don’t wager.” Flash voiced. “The fact you did is just another breach of trust you’ll need to work to earn back. Ultiamately, that’s the biggest thing between you and your sisters. Despite what I said, I genuinely think your sisters do love you. That’s not the issue here. It’s all a matter of breaking their trust. Look, we’ve clearly reached the end of attempting to fix things with Sunset; however, you can start working to repair things with your sisters. The first step towards that will be accepting that what was normal no longer applies. Whatever fantasy any of us has of Sunset coming back needs to end, if for nothing else than her sake. I think we at least owe her that much.” The girls hung their heads as they were in deep contemplation over everything Flash laid out. “At the end of the day, my word isn’t law.” He stood and walked to the door. “Right now, communicate. Lean on each other and decide for yourselves how to proceed.” With that, Flash left the girls to hopefully talk things out. Rainbow’s Room As Flash entered the room where the Rainbooms were, it was seemingly worse off than the CMC. At least two of them were wordlessly playing a game together. Here, not a single member was interacting in any way. Rainbow was staring out a window, AJ sat on the desk chair with her hat tipped over her eyes, Pinkie was laying on the ground while Fluttershy was on the bed and both were staring at the ceiling, and Rarity sat against the wall with her mascara running from crying. “Alright, none of you are talking, so I’m going to get it started.” Flash clapped his hands as he walked into the room. “What I want is for all of you to speak the truth.” “The truth?” Applejack asked confused. “I want all of you to honestly tell all of us how you really felt about Sunset.” Flash declared. “The reason you are all refusing to speak is because her words cut deep. Now, start speaking up and don’t sugar coat it. Getting everything out there is the only way you’ll move past this.” At first, no one seemed up to saying a word, but AJ already spoke once. “The truth is, I did hate Sunset.” The other girls gasped at Applejack’s confession. “Let her finish, and I’ll expect to hear you all out to.” Flash declared. “She ruined my bake sale and tricked us into cutting off contact.” Tears welled up in AJ’s eyes. “She manipulated us like puppets and stabbed us in the back. I wished every day for someone to finally put her in her place, and I was happy when it happened at the Fall Formal. After that, I started to get to know her. She volunteered to help me with my chores and homework. Little by little, I started to see how honest and hardworking she was. I thought we were becoming friends, but I couldn’t forget the things she did. In the back of my head, I feared she was pretending to be my friend to get me to lower my guard. Then, she’d hurt me and my friends even worse. When Anon-A-Miss happened, it seemed to validate my fear, so I was all too happy to cut her out before she could hurt us again.” Applejack was sobbing, unable to continue. “The night of the Spring Fling was supposed to be my debut.” Rarity took this opportunity to go. “They would marvel at my beauty and sense of style. Everyone would remember my name, but instead of being the best night of my life, she made it my absolute worst. My dress came apart as I walked on stage, and I was humiliated with everyone laughing at me. Then, she went onto win the Spring Fling. I cried myself to sleep the first few nights after that. Things only grew worse when she separated us, and I didn’t have the support of all my friends.” She started crying again. “When Twilight came to our school, and I noticed she was doing to her what was done to me, I vowed to do everything in my power to help her. I admit that seeing Sunset look defeated and humiliated made me feel vindicated. Not long, she volunteered to be a model for my latest fashion line. I always see the beauty in everything, and the more time we spent together, the more her beauty began to shine. She generously offered to help me complete orders. She would also watch Sweetie Bell whenever I had a last-minute invite to a fashion gala while none of the girls were available.” She smiled slightly, but it quickly vanished. “Then, the trouble with Anon-A-Miss began. Once again, I was humiliated. This time, my friends would be humiliated as well. I thought she was showing her ‘true’ colors again, so I struck first before she had the chance. I left her humiliated in the hallway, but it turns out I was the ugly one all along.” Rarity began sobbing. “I was fully committed to welcoming her as our newest friend.” Pinkie sat up. “When I threw her a welcome party, I was happy to see her smiling.” She wiped away a stray tear. “Sunset then began working hard to prove how much she changed. At one point, I wanted to make sure she always had that smile.” The tears were flowing on her end now as well. “Then, I ended up taking her smile away. I was mad that she seemingly lied to the point I didn’t care about her happiness anymore. I just wanted her to feel miserable.” Pinkie began to break down, so Fluttershy came to her side before hugging her. “I hated you Sunset, too. She would always pick on me because I was too shy to fight back, so I was glad when I learned what we did brought out her sympathy in full force.” A waterfall of tears began spilling from her eyes. “When I thought she was being mean again, I didn’t want to stand by and watch as she made my friends suffer. In the end, I was wrong. I began to feel terrible for making her suffer, but I realized too late. Even if she betrayed us, I never should have yelled at her. I began to have doubts as to whether she was guilty, but I was too much of a coward to act against the others. To avoid them being angry with me, I kept up my prior feelings and let her suffer alone.” Fluttershy continued to sob which left only Rainbow. “I honestly think I hated Sunset the most.” Rainbow spat with venom as memories of the old Sunset flooded her mind. “She messed with my friends and turned us against each other. She did the same to everyone. We were nothing but playthings to her.” Tears began to spill from her eyes. “When Twilight told us to teach her about friendship, I had my doubts, but she started to show how committed she was to making things right. I slowly started to warm up to her after seeing her endure CHS. She wouldn’t give up on making things right with everyone, and I soon began to see her as a friend. In fact, she was steadily becoming someone I could have called my best friend. Then, Anon-a-Miss… I was enraged that she seemed to be faking our friendship the whole time. It seemed like she was messing with my friends again. That she only got close to us, so it’d really hurt. Then, the CMC came forward, and I realized I’d been an idiot.” Flash looked on as the Rainbooms broke down in tears with each painful confession, but now wasn’t the time to simply back off. “If Twilight hadn’t asked you, would you have ever reached out to her?” “I would have.” Pinkie answered softly. “Not even who she was deserved no one.” The other girls hesitated before answering in unison. “No.” Even with one of them saying they would have, Flash did believe Pinkie since that’s just who she was, the Destiny Hero user realized Equestrian Twilight had made a mistake. That’s not to pin the blame on her. Everyone is responsible for their own actions. In the end, she’d asked teenagers to look after their tormentor, and they did it out of some form of obligation. Honestly, it was kind of working, but the first major road bump could/did derail everything to the point they were here now. “Okay, this doesn’t change anything Sunset said because everyone’s view is valid.” Flash stated. “I’d also like to point out that no matter her prior mistakes, Sunset was working on or had fixed them with you. By all accounts, you five forgiving her should have been it. In the end, whatever you thought the relationship was, it’s evident none of you were truly her friend. No one at CHS was. Honestly, I probably don’t have much of a leg to stand on myself, but I’m the best you got, so I’m going to keep talking. No matter what you thought your intentions were, the truth is all of you simply wanted things to go back to normal, but you lost that opportunity a long time ago. To think, for even a second, it’s possible to go back is just plain selfish. Right now, Sunset is happy and content with the life she has. If any of you think I’m wrong about you being selfish, if even a little bit, then latch onto that feeling and let Sunset thrive. Perhaps one day she’ll be ready to define a new normal with all of you or maybe she won’t. Regardless, that will be her decision, and I suggest you all shift focus to what you still have before losing that to. AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow, your sisters are darn near convinced you hate them at this point.” That seemed to really grab their attention as a level of fear entered all their eyes. Clearly, while they have paid mind to their respective siblings, they hadn’t gone beyond that. Hearing this, they realized they were close to losing their sisters too. Beyond that, all of you still have family back home, and I’m certain they’d love to have their daughters, granddaughters, and/or siblings back.” Flash held up his hands. “For me, I’m taking what closure I got and will move forward. What I want is to see how far I can go in Battle City. I’ll admit, maybe my words are hollow considering Sunset did forgive me, but I implore you all to at least heed some of it because Sunset’s right. We won’t be in high school forever, so I’m going to do my growing. The first step for me is getting some rest since today was exhausting.” With that, Flash took his leave hoping anything he said stuck with someone. That hope would quickly come to pass as Apple Jack, Rarity, and Rainbow rushed from the room. Flash breathed a sigh of relief as he continued walking, content to leave it in their hands. Café Shining sat across from Spike who just finished detailing his first duel. The Noble Knights user flinched. “That’s rough buddy.” “Yeah, but I don’t regret it.” Spike stated. “Better to lose against the strong than coast along against those less so.” “I hear that.” Shining voiced. “Kind of wish I’d run into Arctic since we both placed in the Top 12 at Duelist Kingdom.” He then noticed their sister approaching and smiled. “Hey Twilight, how…” She wasn’t smiling. “Did you lose all your locator cards to?” “No, I actually ran into someone who really opened my opened my eyes to a lot.” Twilight voiced as she sat down. “Uh, you want to talk about it?” Spike questioned. “It’s not really my place to share, but there is something I’d like to talk about.” Twilight looked at her older brother. “Shining, I can’t keep attending Crystal Prep.” “Huh?” Shining questioned, stunned yet concerned. “What brought this on?” “Self-reflection based on what I saw.” Twilight sighed. “Shining, I don’t know entirely what it was like while you were there, but I realized Crystal Prep is stifling, even with the perks. Dean Sombra is manipulative, and the students aren’t exactly great to me…” From what Twilight gleamed today, Sunset had left her old school and found something better. Hearing what Canterlot High was like had her revaluating Crystal Prep to the point she was no longer concerned with maintaining a place there. The perks were no longer worth it. Despite how much Shining loved his time there, Twilight knew her brother would hear her out. As she spoke, Shining and Spike were both appalled to learn how Sombra had been running things. She knew it was safe to say Shining would have her back on this. Muto Residence Yugi, Sunset, Joey, Tea, and Tristan sat in the living room where the prior three recounted everything that happened today. This was done to explain their duels and their various encounters with the CHS group, plus 1. “Things have gone downhill more than I thought.” Sunset shook her head. “For Trixie of all people to willingly take orders and wish for that on everyone else.” “Sunset, you’re not blaming…” Tea began. “Nah, at this point I know whatever choices they make are on them.” Sunset voiced. “They can try to use me as justification all they want, but it doesn’t change who made the decision in the end. Though, the next time any of us runs into the others, we should tell them about this.” “Agreed.” Yugi nodded. “No matter how we may view them, no one deserves Marik dictating their actions.” “Beyond that, to think you’d end up in that mess not long after Mr. Muto and I parted from you.” Tristan voiced. “Despite how it turned out, I wish I’d been there.” “Hey, all of you were.” Sunset declared. “As we’ve learned, it doesn’t matter the distance. The bonds we forge mean we’re there in spirit when we can’t be there physically. The fact is, without you guys, I wouldn’t have been able to say half the things I did.” “Still, Tristan nor I got to say our piece to any of them like Joey and Yugi did.” Tea voiced. “I mean, you are right Sunset, but I’d have liked to give one of them a piece of my mind.” “Well, don’t stress about it.” Sunset sat back with a content smile. “At this point, it’s over, so all you’d really be doing is letting them live rent free in your minds. I know I’m going to stop after I say…” She nodded at Yugi and Joey. “…thanks for sticking up for me.” “Eh, not sure how well we did since you were willin’ to talk, but it’s no problem.” Joey voiced. “Yeah, you went through enough.” Yugi began. “Now, Sunset is right… “Yugi, pizzas are here!” Solomon called from the shop downstairs. “Coming grandpa!” Yugi called out as he stood before looking at everyone. “Sunset put it to rest, so we should do the same.” “There we go.” Sunset cheered. “Let’s move onto celebrating the fact Yugi, Joey, and I are closer to the next round!” “Good point.” Joey stood. “Here, let me help you with the pizzas Yugs.” “You mean you’ll eat one of them before you two even get up the stairs.” Tristan got the guy in a headlock. “Quick Sunset, go help Yugi while I hold him off.” “Eh, let go Tristan!” Joey voiced, struggling against his grasp. Sunset played along as she ran over to join Yugi. “You’re one brave soul Tristan.” Tea giggled happy to see Sunset in such high spirits. Of course, the students from CHS weren’t much of a problem compared to the darkness within this tournament. After hearing of today, she was confident their group would come out of this fine, just like with Duelist Kingdom. Domino City: Rooftop, Night… Helios has been keeping an eye out over the city, just as he knew Hope and Soren were. As things stood, the first day of Battle City was pretty much over, yet he saw nothing that potentially hinted at his mother having a hand in this. “Perhaps we’ve been wrong in our assumptions.” Helios mused as he stared outward. “Heh, so you’re Golden’s lame son.” A gruff, female voice called out. Helios turned to see a younger female, possibly a teen, who wouldn’t look out of place going up against him in the ring. She certainly had the muscle for it. She also had white hair, which was short in the back yet long enough in the front to form a pompadour that looked feather esc. She also had yellow eyes and a tan complexion. Her attire consisted of a white shirt that showed her midriff, a brown leather jacket, and yellow pants. She wore a duel disk, like the one Soren got for him. Given what she said, he figured this was no Battle City competitor. “So, mother finally sent someone.” Helios voiced. “Not going to lie, figured it’d have been a lot sooner. Despite how conflicting she could be, she did seem to try and hold on tightly to me.” “Honestly, not really sure what she sees in you either, but I don’t get paid to ask.” The girl shrugged. “I get paid well to do my job, and at present, that means taking you to her.” “Ah, you must be from the Card Professor Guld.” Helios nodded. “Well, I don’t feel like going anywhere. We can settle this with a rooftop scrap or duel for it. If you win, I’ll come along. If I win, you leave empty handed and tell my mother I’ll come back on my own terms.” “Sounds fair.” The girl activated her duel disk. “Name’s Gilda, and I’ll be dragging you along shortly.” “I believe there’s an old saying about assumptions, but rather than get crass, I’ll merely prove it through action.” Helios declared, activating his duel disk.