//------------------------------//
// Confrontation 
// Story: A Shadow Hangs Overhead 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

Rarity's breath caught in her throat, and her grip tightened on Sweetie Belle. She felt Sweetie Belle moving in her grasp, trying to see who had come into the clearing, but Rarity's grip meant that she could not move. Annie and Rarity's eyes were locked on each other, and Rarity's mind worked furiously to think of what to do or say. After a few minutes of silence, the expression of shock on Annie's face twisted into a snarl, and she took a couple of steps forwards. 

"How dare you?" she growled. "How dare you come back here? How dare you desecrate this place by being here?"

Rarity blinked away the first traces of tears, and her jaw began quivering. "Annie, I--"

"Shut up, you evil little bitch!" Annie stomped a few steps closer to Rarity and swept aside a previous line of white roses. "You don't get to talk to me! You don't get to be here! You don't get to say anything! If Princess Celestia was fair, you would be dead by now!"

Rarity's ear flicked when she heard Sweetie Belle whimper, and she began gently stroking her mane. "It's okay, Sweetie Belle," Rarity whispered. "Just hold on to big--"

"I said shut up!" Annie screeched. "You should be grateful that you're even breathing! I wrote to her, you know, I looked up every single law on what you did that I could find, and every single one of them said that you had to be executed, so I wrote to Princess Celestia probably a dozen times begging her to put you down like the animal you are!" 

"I... I'm sorry," Rarity whimpered as two tears streaked down her face. "I didn't mean for it to go so far."

"You forfeited the right to be sorry once Dug stopped moving!" Annie spat. "You are worthless! You do not deserve to be alive after what you did to me, after what you did to them, you rotten cu--"

Annie's words were cut off when Sweetie Belle whimpered again, and a little of the fire in her eyes died down. Her gaze flickered to Sweetie Belle, and her eyes narrowed. She pointed at Sweetie Belle and looked back up at Rarity. "Who is that? What's she doing here?"

Rarity turned her body to shield Sweetie Belle from Annie's gaze, and returned it with a slight glare of her own. "She's my sister."

"Sister." Annie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course it's your sister. What, did you bring it here to gloat over what you did? To tell it what its big sister did, so the two of you could have a big laugh about it?"

Rarity's eyes widened, but once Annie's words fully clicked, they narrowed, and her mouth twisted into a snarl. She gently set Sweetie Belle down behind her, then shot to her hooves and stomped forward until she stood mere inches away from her tormentor. 

"How dare you speak of my sister like that? How dare you speak to me like that?" Rarity stomped her hoof on the ground, and felt a slight bit of satisfaction when Annie flinched back. "Do you think that I have not been suffering for what I did? I have been suffering almost every single day for the past eleven years because of what I did!"

"Well then Celestia lopping off your head would have been the best thing for the both of us, wouldn't it?" Annie retorted. "Do you have any idea what I've gone through in the past eleven years? I woke up screaming almost every night for nearly two years! We had to move out of town a month after it happened because reporters kept coming to me to ask about what you had done! Even after we moved to Baltimare, everypony knew who I was because of everything that had happened! I had nopony growing up! Everything was about what you had done! Every new teacher I had gave me condescending special attention, every new school I went to, I had mandatory counseling sessions from day one, and all of my classmates stared at me! They stared at me like I was some kind of freak because I survived! I survived what you did! Every single day I was forced to be reminded of what happened, and every single night I replayed what you did to Kicker over and over in my mind because I didn't know what else to do!" 

"Oh, is that all?" Rarity snarled. "Oh how positively awful for you to have that happen to you! To have to see a school counselor every once in a while! Why don't you try being locked up every night for six years? Oh, and do you think that I never get chased by reporters either? Eleven years later and one will still come by every once in a while to try to get the whole story because they know that if I ever decide to spill, the newspaper that got the story would be sold out in seconds! When you left the forest, you got to go home to sympathetic ears and your parents! I was dragged out hoofcuffed, gagged, covered in blood and with my horn blocked, all the while wondering what was going to happen to me, knowing that my life was never going to be the same! I sat in a jail cell like that before being psychologically tormented by Dug's uncle! You got to go outside whenever you wanted! I got to go outside with a horn blocker and escorted by orderlies for an hour or two a day!" 

"The law said that you should have been executed for what you did!" Annie snapped. "You should be appreciative for what you got! You were lucky for it! It was a mercy for you! Meanwhile I did nothing, and I became just a victim for eleven years!"

"N-nothing?" Rarity's furious expression faded, and her left eye twitched. "Nothing? Did you really...?" Rarity's fiery glare returned full force, and she leaned forward until she touched foreheads with Annie. "Did you say that you did nothing? How can you be so deluded? How can you be so blind? Do you think that I did what I did to Dug and Kicker because I decided it might be interesting? Because I was bored? You tormented me every day in school! I came to this creek to get away from you, and you followed me here! Dug told the three of you to beat me within an inch of my life! How can you say that you did nothing?"

"I was eight! Do you think that an eight year old deserves what the three of us got? Do you think that anypony deserves what the three of us got?"

"Of course not!" Once again, the fire in Rarity faded away, and she let out a single sob, flattening her ears and collapsing on her haunches. When she spoke next, her voice came out as a whimper. "I wish I could take it all back. I want to take it all back. I want to go back in time and stop everything from happening; to erase that awful day. I wish that it had never happened."

"Rarity."

The word came out as a whimper from behind Rarity, and Rarity's eyes widened, she shot to her hooves and wheeled around to see Sweetie Belle behind her, curled up in a ball and shivering like it was ten below in the creek. Tears streamed down her face, and even when she reached up a hoof to wipe her eyes, more came, staining her face. 

"Sweetie Belle." Rarity rushed over to her sister and scooped her up, holding her tight and rubbing her back. "Shh," she soothed. "It's okay, big sister has you. Don't be afraid."

Sweetie Belle's sobs became more audible, and she leaned into her sister's shoulder. "R-Rarity, I d-don't understand!"

"I know, Sweetie Belle. We're going home now, okay?"

"She doesn't understand?" Rarity's gaze flickered over to Annie, who stared contemplatively at the pair. "She... she doesn't know, does she?"

Rarity glowered at Annie and shook her head. "No, she doesn't."

"Well, then..." Annie took a step toward the two. "Tell her. Right here and now. Tell her what you did. Tell her who I am and why I wish more than anything to see Celestia standing over a chopping block, holding your severed head."

"Absolutely not!" Rarity snarled. "I'm taking her home this instant!" Rarity stood up and gently levitated Sweetie Belle onto her back. "You stay away from her. She does not belong in this. This is not her burden to bear, and you know it."

Annie stared blankly at Rarity for a few moments before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry to Sweetie Belle too. Sorry that she had to see this. I'm also sorry that her big sister is a murderer, and eleven years ago today she purposefully beat my two best friends to death with a rock and enjoyed doing it, and would have killed me if I hadn't gotten away!" 

Rarity gasped, as Sweetie Belle squeaked on her back, and stomped on the ground, her anger rising with Annie's smug, satisfied smile. "You heinous bitch!" she screeched. "This was between you and me, and you involved my five year old sister just to hurt me?"

Annie snorted and began walking towards her fallen flowers. "Yes, I did, because it's no less than you deserve. You're a murderer, and you deserve every little bit of pain and misery you get, because we both know that no matter how much you get, it will never match up to the pain and misery you inflicted." 

"I have been trying to atone! I want forgiveness for what I did!" Rarity's hoof snapped out to the four white roses. "Those are for us! One for each of us! I'm trying to atone for what I did to all of us, not just them!" Annie grunted and walked over to the flowers, gently laying hers down next to the one for Dug. "I just want forgiveness, Annie! From somepony!"

Annie quietly sighed and picked up the rose Rarity had laid down to represent herself. With one swift motion, she snapped it in half and tossed the pieces aside. "No. Not now, not in the future, not ever, do you understand me? You don't deserve it. You never did."

Rarity glared at Annie as she laid down in front of the roses. "Well, then, I'll leave you to wallow in your hate."

"Please do."

Rarity gave a grunt of disgust, and turned around, walking out of the creek and away from Annie. Just as she reached the edge of the woods, she heard the sounds of her tormentor's hysterical sobbing coming from inside. Rarity sighed and flattened her ears, but shook her head and made her way towards home, being careful not to dislodge Sweetie Belle from her back.

The walk back to her home went quickly, and Rarity found herself grateful for how uneventful it was. She opened the door and went straight up to her room, where she pulled back the covers on her bed and gently laid Sweetie Belle down before tucking her in. She kissed her forehead and made to exit her room, but she stopped when she heard her sister call out her name. She turned back and put a hoof on Sweetie Belle's head. 

"Rarity... she was lying, right?" Sweetie Belle rolled over and stared at Rarity with wide, watery eyes. "You never hurt anypony. You didn't kill anypony. You did something else, right?"

Rarity took a deep breath and lowered her head before shaking her head. "Sweetie Belle... no, she was not lying. I... I did kill two of my classmates eleven years ago today."

Rarity heard Sweetie Belle whimper again, and she felt Sweetie Belle move out from under her hoof. She looked up to see her sister curled up in a ball once more. "She said that if she didn't get away, you were gonna kill her too. Was she lying about that?"

Once again Rarity shook her head. "No, Sweetie Belle, I'm sorry, but she wasn't lying about that either."

"Why?" Sweetie Belle sniffled and wiped her eyes with her forelegs. "Why would you ever wanna hurt ponies so bad that they died on purpose?"

Rarity exhaled and ran a hoof through her mane. "I... I know it excuses nothing, but when I was eight years old, that mare and two other classmates were extremely cruel to me. That creek we were just at was the only place where I felt that I could be safe. One day they followed me there and told me that they were going to hurt me. So, I hit one of them with a rock to prevent that. I didn't mean to kill him, but I did. In a rush, I killed the second classmate, but before I could do anything else, that mare had already run away."

"Have... have you ever killed anypony else?"

Rarity's eyes widened, and she grasped one of Sweetie Belle's hooves in her own. "No! Absolutely not! That feeling is gone forever, Sweetie Belle, I promise! Even when that mare was being mean to the both of us, I never even considered hurting her! I don't hurt ponies anymore, Sweetie Belle, that's not who I am! I would especially never hurt you! That is a promise I shall never break!" 

Sweetie Belle sniffled again. "Okay. I don't want you to hurt anymore ponies either."

"And I won't, Sweetie Belle. I don't hurt ponies, I promise you." Rarity took a deep breath and straightened up. "But for now, I think we both need some time to relax, yes?" Sweetie Belle nodded, and Rarity returned it. "Good. You try to get some sleep, Sweetie Belle, and I'll try to do the same." 

Rarity kissed Sweetie Belle's forehead once more, then left the room, shutting the door behind her. With nothing else to do for the moment, she trotted down to her basement, where she had a small mattress and blanket set up in case she needed to work long nights, and sat down on her bed. All at once the rush of emotion from everything that the day had brought hit her, and before she could stop herself, Rarity began weeping.