//------------------------------// // Mixed Feelings // Story: Friendship is tough // by Jos0511 //------------------------------// Hey, Thanks for being so patient. I wont waste much time with this so thank my editors for this chapter, I got some help from them (If you dont know who they are then look on my other chapters, I name them there) I don’t remember much of what happened next. I remember hitting my head on the ground, it hurt so much. I kept hearing that person yelling my name, but they sounded far away. I had no idea what was happening until I cracked open my eyes. Everything was so blurry I couldn’t see anything properly. I blinked hard but it was still too ffuzzy The back of my head hurt like hell… wait… I fell forward, so if anything my face should be crushed. Why was the back of my head hurting instead? Maybe I flipped while falling or- “Seethe! Are you ok?” That voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t figure out who it was. I heard footsteps pounding off to my right. More familiar voices were coming into earshot. “Seethe!” they all yelled. My eyes got heavier, I couldn’t stay conscious. The last thing I saw was a shadowy figure looming over me. “Seethe, don’t go to -“ - - - I was in the hospital, sitting down in the waiting room with Rarity. We sat there in silence. I know that Rarity had no idea who Seethe was, and if anything she was just confused instead of sad. I, however, was still upset that he hadn’t said anything to any of us. He kept it all a secret? Hearing that our life was being watched felt… creepy. Who knows if we were being watched now for that matter. I saw Rarity looking at me, concerned. “Twilight, are you ok? You look a little upset,” she asked me. She didn’t know what Steve meant when he told us Seethe’s secret, so I understood that she wasn’t angry like me. I didn’t want to explain it to her, so I put on a fake smile and nodded. “I’m ok Rarity. I’m just thinking.” “Was he a good friend of yours?” she asked. I nodded, this time not answering her. I was hoping she would take it that I was upset about his condition, rather than being upset about what he hid from us. She bought it as she nodded, looking away. Now don’t get me wrong, I am worried about Seethe right now. The fact that he had just tried to kill himself made me assume that a lot of bad things had happened to him. Another hint of that was how we saw Steve passed out on the ground with blood pouring out of his face. If Kevin didn’t catch him when he did, Seethe might have died. Although if he caught him properly, then we wouldn’t have been here now. I saw Kevin and Caroline walk over to us. I jumped to my feet and ran to meet them, waiting to hear the news. “Seethe is going to be fine,” Kevin assured us. “Although that blow to the back of his head knocked him out. He is resting right now,” Caroline said. She looked at me weird, like she was analyzing me. I ignored her and looked directly at Kevin. “How long?” I asked him. He looked a little puzzled. “Uh, he’s going to be up in a few hours?” he told me a bit unsure. I shook my head. “No, about the other thing. How long have you guys known?” He understood now what I was trying to say, but he still looked unsure. “Since he met you. It took awhile for me because I didn’t believe it.” “What are you guys talking about? And you still haven’t explained to me who they are,” Caroline interjected. “It’s a long story Caroline,” Kevin tried to explain. “Rarity and I are going back for the others. They are probably worrying about us,” I said. Kevin looked at me. “You're not going to wait till he wakes up?” I shook my head. Kevin knew why I wanted to leave, though. “Are you still mad?” “No,” was all I said. He could tell that was a lie though. “Twilight, he didn’t want you to know because he thought you wouldn’t believe him.” “Kevin, I don’t want to do this now. The others are probably worried,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I should trust Kevin after hearing that he had known aswell. I began to feel guilty thinking that way, these guys just wanted to help, right? Great, now I had mixed feeling. I couldn’t deal with this now, I needed to get to Seethe’s house and tell everyone what had happened. - - - When Rarity and I arrived, the first one to see us was Rainbow Dash. She ran to meet us, right behind her was Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “What took you guys so long?” She stood there with her arms crossed. She looked at both of us, nonchalantly saying hi to Rarity before waiting for an answer. Rarity walked over to the others who hugged her and started asking her how she was. I didn’t know how to start, should I say what happened at school or the bridge? Dash seemed to notice that something was missing. “Hold on, where is Seethe?” She tried to look out the window beside the door to see if he was coming in. I put my head down, I guess I knew where to start. “Seethe… isn’t coming home for a while.” I said. At this the others joined in with Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow. “Not coming? What happened? Did Steve get to him again?” she asked. “He isn’t hurt, is he?” Fluttershy asked, she put her hands up to her mouth. I wanted to say what happened, but I had a feeling that they wouldn’t be able to take the news all too well. I heard about Seethe spending some time with both of them, and he made them feel better in this world. If they heard that he had tried to kill himself… I didn’t know what would happen. Thankfully, Rarity thought of something. He’s ok, He’s doing something at the school with Kevin right now. Hey Pinkie Pie, can you show me around the house?” Pinkie Pie nodded happily and brought Fluttershy with them as they took Rarity on a tour of the house. I needed some air, so I stepped back outside. I sat on the steps leading to Seethe’s front door. What was I going to do now? “Twilight, what happened to Seethe?” I turned to see Rainbow Dash. She must’ve followed me. I gestured for her to sit down beside me, and I started to tell her what really happened. “Seethe wasn’t having a good day today,” It sounded lame when it came out of my mouth then when I heard it in my head, but I stayed with that. “I’m not sure what triggered this, but…” I looked right at Dash. “He tried to…” Why couldn’t I say it? She sat there waiting to hear what I was going to say next, but the words didn’t want to come out of my mouth. “He tried to what?” She waited. Out of the other girls, she probably could take the news. So why couldn’t I say it? “He tried to –“ I tried again, but this time I was interrupted. “Woof!” That was something I wasn’t expecting to hear. I looked at Rainbow Dash, wondering if she made that noise. She looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I bark like a dog?” she said. We heard it again, but this time it was closer. In the distance across the street was a dog. As it got closer I saw its brown and white fur, and it looked strangely familiar. Dash and I both stood up and looked at each other. “Is that?” we both said to each other. We looked back at the dog and smiled brightly. “Winona!” we both cheered as the dog ran at us. How did she get to this world, and why is she still an animal while we were humans? Winona stayed at a distance but kept barking at us. We tried to get closer, but she started to run back the way she came, only to stop when she realized that we had stopped following. “Does she want us to follow her?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think so,” I said. “I wonder if she knows where Applejack is.” “Well we’re not going to find out by standing here,” Rainbow Dash said, she started to go after Winona. “Come on Twilight, if she does bring us to Applejack then the whole gang is back together!” Dash seemed really excited about this. Of course I was too; finally our group of friends would be whole again. I started to chase Rainbow Dash. - - - After a good fifteen minutes of running, Winona decided to speed up. I was starting to lose my breath, but Rainbow Dash kept me going - trying to encourage me and saying that we’re almost there, even though she had no idea where they were going. I was glad that she was looking out for me, and that made my mind wander over to Seethe. He was looking after me too. “Not this again,” I mumbled to myself. My mind was confused. On one hand I should be mad at Seethe for leaving out that crucial piece of information that he was basically watching our lives. But on the other hand, he had been there for us. He gave us a place to live, he became a good friend who would stick up for you, and he was one of the few people in this world that seemed like a good guy. I didn’t know what to think of this situation anymore. I wasn’t paying attention because I ran into Rainbow Dash. “Twilight!” she cried as she was pushed forward. “Sorry,” I said quickly. I realized we stumbled into an open field. In the distance where Winona was running was what looked like a barn. It used to be red, but because it was pretty old the paint had started to shed, and the barn looked more brown than red. Despite it being an old building though, we saw people still working there. I looked over at Rainbow Dash, who grinned widely. “How much do you want to bet that she is there?” She pointed to the barn. I smirked. That barn did seem like a likely choice, and the fact that Winona was running towards it made it even more likely. Before I was able to say anything though someone else was talking. “Winona, ah thought ah told you to not do that again. Where do you go?” Winona started to bark and ran towards a girl with blonde hair, but on top of her head was a brown cowboy hat. It was definitely her. “AppleJack!” we both yelled at her. She was startled a bit when she heard people yell her name, but when she saw us she had the largest grin imaginable. “Twilight! Rainbow Dash!” She started to run over to us, and we did the same for her. When we were close, we hugged each other. Finally, we had found everyone. I was so happy that I could’ve cried. After a few minutes of chatting and explaining to Applejack what happened to us we finally settled down. “This is amazing!” Applejack said. “So everyone is safe?” “Yeah, we were all separated, but we all found each other later,” Rainbow Dash said. “I think you got lucky Applejack. You found a place where you fit in almost perfectly. Did you have any trouble around people?” I asked. “Ah had some trouble, but there wasn’t a lot of teasing. Here at the farm though, no one did any of that. Ah was glad,” she said. “Lucky you,” Rainbow Dash said. “I had to hide my hair from everyone so I wouldn’t get made fun of.” “Oh. Dash I’m sorry, Ah didn’t mean to brag,” Applejack quickly apologized. “That’s ok. Anyway, the trip here wasn’t entirely bad. sure I may have gotten teased a lot, but we met some really nice guys that helped us out.” Dash explained, she smiled a bit when she said that last part. “Who are they?” Applejack asked. I had no idea why, she probably didn’t know anyone here. “One is Kevin, he’s a really tough guy, but he’s really nice when you get to know him,” I said. “The other is Seethe. He was the first one we met, and he’s always looking out for us. I guess he understands what it’s like getting teased for being different,” Dash said. Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Seethe?” “It’s a weird name,” I said, smiling. “No, well yeah, but that’s not what ah was going to say,” Applejack said, “I’ve heard that name before.” “What, really?” Dash and I said, shocked. “Yeah. There is a kid who lives here named Sid, he told me that Seethe was trying to help a girl out when some guy named Steve was going to bully her,” Applejack explained. Hearing this I looked at Rainbow Dash. She was that girl that would’ve been bullied if Seethe hadn’t jumped in. I never thanked him for that, he didn’t have to stick his neck out like that, but he did. “Yeah, I forgot about that,” I said, feeling guiltier than before. I’m such an idiot, I got mad at Seethe for hiding that secret. I bet he was going to tell us when the time was right. He really was just trying to look out for us, and I yelled at him and caused him to… “Twilight, are you crying?” I heard Applejack ask. I didn’t say anything, but the tears that were flowing down my cheek probably told them that I was hurt or something. I had to finish telling Rainbow Dash what happened to Seethe. “Hey Dash…” I saw her looking at me. “I think I can tell you what happened to Seethe now.” - - - I told them everything, well not everything. I left out what Steve said to us, but I told them everything else. I started with Seethe having a really bad day, and went all the way to what we saw at the bridge. I saw their expressions change as I told the story. Mostly it was surprise and shock, but sometimes they were sad. When I finished the story, I waited to see what they were going to say. “Seethe is in the hospital right now?” Rainbow Dash asked, her voice was shaking a bit. “Yes. Kevin accidentally knocked him over and he hit his head on the concrete,” I explained. “Wonder what type of misery he had to be in to make him want to do that in the first place,” Applejack said. Dash and I had little clues to what that misery was, but we never got the whole thing. “Maybe we should go see him,” Dash said. Before I could say anything I heard Rarity’s voice yelling my name in the distance. “Twilight!” every few seconds she would yell, and every time that happened she sounded closer. Finally we saw her and she began running towards us. “Rarity?” Applejack asked, confused. “You don’t recognize her?” Dash asked. “Ah do, ah’m just wondering why she’s running through a dirt patch and not trying to avoid it.” When she was in front of us, she was exhausted. “Twilight…” She gasped for air. ”Call from Kevin.” Another gasp. ”Seethe is waking up.” At the sound of that I felt a wave of happiness rush through me. I looked at Applejack. “Do you want to meet Seethe?” She raised her eyebrows at me. “Now why in tarnation would ah not want to do that?” I looked back at Rarity. “You want us to wait while you catch your breath?” “Oh please…*gasp* would you kindly?” - - - My eyes slowly opened, I must’ve been tired, because it took a while to open them. I slowly realized that I was not on the bridge anymore, nor was I in my room. A hospital was my guess because I also saw that I was in a hospital bed. I blinked as I looked around the room. I noticed Kevin listening to his ipod in the corner of the room… Wait that’s my ipod he’s listening to! “Dude, if you’re going to take my stuff, just ask first.” My throat felt funny as I spoke, but some water would help that. He widened his eyes when he saw me. “Holy crap! You woke up faster then what the doctor said!” He ran over to me as I slowly got out of the bed. “Whoa! Are you sure you should be doing that?” I looked at him as I stood straight up and stretched. “Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good. Now why do you have my ipod?” “Oh, well I got bored so I wanted to listen to some music. What is this one song?” He stuck an ear bud in my ear. “Nightmare night, now give it back!” I grabbed it right out of his hands. He laughed as I rolled up my headphones but he stopped when he saw my hands. “Do they hurt?” I was confused by what he meant. I looked down at my hands and saw them bruised and scabbed. I remembered the bridge, and me walking over to Steve, really mad… “Oh god… Steve.” I felt a little woozy and almost fell over, but Kevin caught me. “Whoa there. He’s ok, but he won’t come out of the hospital for a few days.” I felt better knowing that, but still I put him in here. “Kevin I- “ I started to say before he stopped me. “You had a bad day, its ok man.” He smiled at me. I smiled back. I was glad I had a friend like him. He helped me straighten up, and then I looked around the room. “You’re the only one here?” I asked, wondering if anyone else would show up. “Naw. Caroline was going to stay, but her parents called her back and she had to go.” Hearing that I didn’t know if I should feel glad that she would’ve stayed or glad that she was gone. Kevin continued, “Twilight and rarity were here.” I looked at Kevin. “Is she mad?” I was hoping that she wasn’t, but Kevin gave me a small nod. I couldn’t believe she found out. She must be pissed at me right now, how can I face her again? My shoulders slumped. “I called them to come see you, but I don’t know if they are going to come.” I nodded, I didn’t know if they were still going to stay with me after all this. My thoughts were interrupted when we heard a nurse call for me. “Seethe, you have some visitors.” I looked at Kevin, a bit hopeful. “Do you think they got your message?” He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” He shoved me through the door. I stumbled into the hallway, at the end of it stood the visitors. I saw Rainbow Dash, who smiled when she saw me. Rarity followed behind, she was looking back at the blonde behind her. She pointed towards me and said something that I couldn’t hear, but I could only guess that she was telling her who I was. There was a dog next to the blonde, It looked familiar. A nurse saw teh dog and started shouting at the girls to get rid of it. In the back was Twilight, she wouldn’t look directly at me, which pained me a lot. “I knew you were going to be ok,” Rainbow Dash said to me. She gave me a quick hug, which I was surprised about considering that I never got one from her before. Rarity walked up to me. “Seethe, this is Applejack.” She pointed to the blonde behind her. I was shocked, they found her? They found everyone now? Applejack looked me up and down, then smiled. “Howdy,” she greeted me. I smiled back. “Hey, glad to finally meet you.” “We found her on a farm,” Rainbow Dash said to me. I suppressed a chuckle, I wasn’t surprised they found her there. I guessed the dog with her was Winona, but I’m not quite sure why she is here with them. My attention was fixed on Twilight, who still looked away. I felt so bad and guilty that I looked away too. There was silence, everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen next. I couldn’t take it anymore, I opened my mouth. “Twilight, I’m sorry tha- “ I was cut off when I felt something hit my chest. Twilight ran at me and gave me a huge hug, burying her head in my shirt. I was so confused right then and there that I started to stutter. “Seethe,” she said, her voice was shaky and I had a feeling that she was crying now, “I’m sorry. I know why you were keeping that a secret, and I feel terrible that I thought so wrongly of you.” She looked up at me. Tears were at the corner of her eyes, waiting to fall. She held me tight and she didn’t want to let go. “When I yelled at you and you were going to jump, I thought that I caused that. Please Seethe, don’t do that again.” I wrapped my arms around her, my eyes started to water up too. “I promise Twilight.” She wasn’t mad at me anymore, but why was she was blaming herself? “What I did had nothing to do with you, but I’m sorry I caused you to think like that.” I felt her hug tighter, like she was afraid I was going to disappear on her. “I think she’s attached to you Seethe,” Kevin said, he probably had a smile on his face. I notice that everyone else was smiling. They all stayed quite. Finally after a long time, Twilight let me go. I felt like a huge burden was now off my chest, now she knows and she isn’t mad. “So…” Kevin said, probably feeling a bit awkward standing there. “Want to go check up on everyone else?” I put my arm around Twilight’s shoulders, feeling like an older brother. I looked down at her. She was smiling up at me, and I smiled back. “Yeah, lets go do that.”