CHAPTER 34
"Oh, it feels so good to be home..." Rainbow landed the balloon, and we all stepped out, and I felt burning all through my legs.
"Shadow... We need to get you to a hospital." Pinks' hair drooped a bit as she stared at the holes left in my legs from the nails.
"I'll... I'll be fine..." The truth was, I really wasn't going to be. I felt really dizzy, and lightheaded. I guess everything I'd been through was catching up to me. "I just need some gauze... And some rest."
Pinks gave me a very serious look, but then shook her head, smiling. "Alright, fine. You win. But if that doesn't work, promise me you'll go to the hospital?"
I pulled Pinks into a hug. "I Pinkie Pie Promise." I heard her giggle a little bit, but then Rainbow flew in between us.
"Sorry to break you two lovebirds up, but I think we need to talk about this. Shadow, what the heck happened back there? Why are you all banged up? And why were you foalnapped for that matter?"
I hung my head, feeling guilty that I had everypony so worried. "It was... Remember the gang I told you about?"
Rainbow furrowed her brow. "So it was them... I'll buck their heads off."
I put my hooves on her shoulders, and stared into her eyes. "Rainbow. You need to stay out of this." I cast a glance to everypony else. "That goes for all of you. Don't get involved. You'll get hurt, or even killed. I don't want to be the one responsible for that. I love you all, and you're all too important to me to get into this mess." I let go of Rainbow, and looked over all of my friends. They looked terrified and worried at the same time. "I know you all want me to be safe, but that's just not possible. That's why I was so evasive when I first arrived in town. I didn't want to get close to anypony, because they would get mixed up in all of this... But you guys wouldn't let up, and I eventually gave in, and befriended you all."
AJ stomped on the ground, and glared at me. "Ya' mean t' tell me that ya' think bein' friends with us 's jus' 'cause we wouldn't leave ya' alone?"
I snorted, and glared back at her. "Actually, yes, I do! You girls just wouldn't let up! It's like you think everypony has to have friends and be social all the time! It was so annoying!"
Fluttershy cowered on the ground from all the yelling, and looked like she was about to cry, and Rainbow Dash had anger burning in her eyes.
"Oh, so we try to be nice to you, and you think it's annoying? Who do you think you are, bub?" She jabbed me in the chest with her hoof.
"I'm a stallion who doesn't want anypony getting hurt because he bucked up his entire life! I just... I just wanted to be left alone. Why couldn't you all understand that?" I lowered my head, and clenched my eyes closed as tight as I could to stop the tears. I was ruining what little friendship I had, but it felt strangely good to let all my emotions out.
Rarity stepped up to me, and didn't say anything, and just stared at me angrily for a few seconds.
SMACK
"You... You... Dirty, low-down, filthy, rude... UGH! What's wrong with you?! How could you say this to all of us?" I just stared at her, rubbing my cheek for a moment. Then, I turned around, and started walking away. "Where are you going?! Get back here!"
Pinks just stared at me blankly the entire time, as did Hot. I didn't know what to think anymore. My mind was going a million miles a second. Nopony seemed to be following me, so I headed into the park, and planted myself on a bench to think.
"Why do I always end up messing everything up? I just trashed everything I had..." I let out a sigh, and leaned my head back, and I felt tears beginning to form at the corners of my eyes. "I just can't do anything right..." Then, my hind legs started burning again, and I felt something running down their sides. I looked, and the wounds from the nails were bleeding again. "Whatever... I don't care anymore..."
A puddle of blood and tears slowly collected below me.
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(Third Person)
Everypony returned to their respective homes, and Pinks led Hot to her room in Sugarcube Corner. Hot said nothing, and just went to bed, as did Pinks. However, Pinks couldn't just go to sleep. Not after what just happened.
"He seemed so mad... What did we do wrong? Did he really become friends with all of us just because he wanted us to stop bugging him...?" A single tear fell from Pinks' eye. Then another. And another, until they became a steady stream on her cheeks. "He loved me... But did he really? What am I supposed to think after that?"
Meanwhile, on a park bench, Shadow was crying his eyes out from a mixture of guilt, grief, and pain.
"I've done everything wrong... I didn't just become friends with them to make them stop bugging me... And Pinks... She must hate me now. I can't believe myself... I wish she were with me, so I could tell her that I still love her." He wiped his eyes, but the tears kept coming. "Who am I kidding? If she were here now, I wouldn't even be able to face her, and she'd probably just slap me. I deserve it... I'm horrible. I took one of the most precious things a pony could have, and destroyed it. I destroyed my only friendships that I had..."
Pinks crawled to the side of her bed, and picked up a picture of her and Shadow. Pinks looked like she'd finally found something she'd been looking for for a long time. Shadow looked genuinely happy, but there was a glimmer of fear in his eyes. Pinks held the picture to her chest with both hooves, and kept on sobbing.
"We had something wonderful... And now he's gone. Why didn't I stop him? Why didn't I chase him?"
Shadow tried to get up, but his hind legs hurt too badly when he stood, so he stayed on the park bench.
"Great, I can't even go apologize... It's as if Celestia herself doesn't want me to be happy... No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, everything I have is always taken away from me by one thing or another. When I was little, it was my parents doing the taking, then it was the gangs or other bad ponies I associated with... Now it's myself. I've ruined everything. I had everything somepony could wish for, and I lost it all over a little bout between me and my friends that I blew out of proportion. Dang it, Shadow... You can't do anything right..."
Pinks finally managed to stop crying, and put the picture back on her nightstand. She let out a long, pained sigh, and laid down, hoping to get at least a little sleep.
"I can't do anything about it now. I need to sleep. In the morning, I can go look for him. I just hope he doesn't leave town."
Shadow finally managed to get past the pain in his hind legs when he stood up, and he hobbled back onto the streets, and into an alleyway.
"I guess this is where I'll be staying for the night... And in the morning, I'm getting out of here. Nopony around here can stand me anymore, and the gang knows I'm here now. It's not safe... I'm sorry, Pinks. I stole your heart, and I've stomped it into the ground... I hope you can forgive me one day."
That night, both Pinks and Shadow had horrible nightmares. One dreamt of losing the one pony she truly loved, and the other dreamt of hurting his lover even worse than he already had.