//------------------------------// // Ready to Rumble // Story: You aren't a bully // by Angrywritingskills //------------------------------// “So this Rumbler,” Sunset yawned, “is the pinnacle of what bullies stood for.” She rubbed her eyes and blinked, trying to get them to feel less heavy. “Tired?” Twilight asked. It was almost eleven at night. They were the only two left in the bakery. Pinkie had left them a key after they promised to lock the door for her so she could go home and get some sleep. “Yeah,” Sunset replied, yawning again. “But I don’t want to fall asleep. I get nightmares if I go to bed thinking about this.” “I see,” Twilight nodded her head. “Well, it ends tonight,” Twilight put a finger on the table. “All the fear, pain, and guilt. It’s done.” Sunset frowned. “I doubt that. It’ll always be with me at some level. I just hope I can at least put the whole thing behind me and looked to a brighter future. But I’ll never forget what I’ve done.” “That bad, huh,” Twilight said. “Even worse than the fall formal.” “Don’t get me wrong, Twilight,” Sunset put her hand over her chest. “What I did at the fall formal and the events leading up to it was bad. But when I turned into that thing, I lost control. I regret everything that happened that night but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed someone to stop me, and that person was you.” She smiled at Twilight who smiled back. The smile only lasted a couple seconds however, as Sunset resumed a shameful expression. “But with the bullies, I had full control of what was going on. I could have shown restraint but I instead showed complete cruelty. And there were no pony princesses or elements of harmony back then to stop me. The school was at my mercy and I showed none. I hope you don’t expect a happy ending here.” Sunset looked down at the table. “Please don’t expect a happy ending.” “Hmmm,” Twilight looked at Sunset. “So, tell me more about this Rumbler.” “Let’s get ready to rumble,” Sunset chuckled, looking back up. “The Rumbler is a mass beat down. Bullies from CHS and all the neighboring communities come together to participate in a massive fight. The fight is an enclosed battle to the land man standing. More kids get hurt that night than in the entire year combined.” “What?” Twilight exclaimed in shock. “Did you expect something nicer?” Sunset raised her eyebrow. “You said it yourself, they’re a warrior subculture.” Sunset put her hand on her chin. “But maybe you don’t understand their value of tradition.” “Could you explain a little bit more?” Twilight asked. “I don’t understand this. Everyone around here seems so docile. Well when they’re not under siren mind control, anyways.” “Yeah most people are,” Sunset agreed. “Bullies were a different breed. They follow by examples set by their forbearers. The Rumbler was going on for countless years before I arrived. A bully’s way of thinking was to always do what their predecessors did before them. Each generation looked up to their previous generation for guidance so nothing really changed much. That’s why the Rumbler continued every year. Nobody came up with anything else.” “But why did they do it?” Twilight inquired. “There must be a good reason they would want to put themselves through that every year.” Sunset shrugged. “If I could I would ask them. The way I figure, bullies follow their leaders obediently. Remember, the Rumbler is to decide who will be the next leader of the bullies. It’s a kind of meaningless title, leader of the bullies, but I’ll elaborate later. Point is bullies are unoriginal. The Rumbler is just an idea that never got an update. A little bit of the past still living in the present.” “Poetic,” Twilight remarked, shifting her eyebrows up while maintaining a stock expression. She shifted in her chair a bit to find a more comfortable position. “What was the crucible like?” Twilight asked, innocently. Sunset sat up straight. “So imagine this,” Sunset held her hands out, “at least a hundred, maybe more, bullies all crowded in a confined place. Now imagine at least a crowd three times that size around the place watching these kids brawl it out. The volume from it all is so overpowering that it can be heard several blocks down. And it isn’t like it’s just a blare of random noise. It’s the screams of encouragement from the crowd, yelps of pain from participants, and people crying their hearts out!” Sunset stopped and held herself, shivering slightly. “Sunset,” Twilight said softly, “what happened? What did you see?” “After I went to one, I saw,” she gulped, “I saw war for the first time.” Her misty eyes blinked to stop herself from crying. “Maybe I’m being too dramatic but that’s the best way to describe the Rumbler. It’s a battlefield where the worst of bullying comes to life. All the anger, hate, and pain is displayed in this one showdown. And it’s all just to decide who is next to walk around with the stupid title of leader.” Sunset exhaled in frustration. Even after the fact, she still couldn’t understand the logic behind what she saw. Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Do you think an election would have worked?” Sunset squinted her eyes. “This was an election. It’s the closest thing to a fair deal that was ever enforced at Canterlot High. It gave some people a chance to be leaders instead of followers.” Sunset looked to the side. “I officially disbanded it when I took control.” “Was that a good thing?” Twilight asked, sensing more regret from Sunset. “I ended unneeded violence, but I also started a new chapter of it.” She shook her head. “Let me just get on with this part before I get ahead of myself.” *** Ten o’ clock and the night had full dominion of the sky. Lights from the town were the only thing stopping the darkness from completely taking over the landscape. Though, in pockets of the town and far away from the more populated areas, the darkness crept in to make the environment a bit more threatening. What made the pockets of darkness so threatening was how mysterious they were, anything could emerge from them at any moment. As fate would have it, in a pocket alongside a fence, two figures did emerge from the darkness. One was a tall and slender young man while the other was a girl with fiery hair easily identifiable in the night. The girl walked behind the boy with her arms crossed while the boy walked with a confident swagger. “Do you even know where you’re going?” Sunset asked Badger as she stomped on behind him. “Hmm,” Badger looked over his shoulder to Sunset. He had met here about ten minutes ago at the intersection where they split apart. After school Sunset had ordered him to bring her to the crucible to which Badger complied. Although he never attended, he did know where it was held. Every bully knew how to get to the Rumbler; it was just came with the occupation. “Yeah I know where I’m going. We’re going to get there on time, don’t worry.” He turned around to face Sunset. “Hey listen, I’ve been working on my growling.” “Oh, not now,” Sunset said under her breath. “Grrrrrrrr! Ragrrrrrrrrarr! Grrrrr.” “Badger,” Sunset interrupted. She held up her hand to Badger’s mouth. “Please do not do that when we get to where ever we are going. There will be other people present.” Sunset realized she regretted giving Badger the idea when they had first met. She made a mental note to never encourage anyone ever again. “Okay, right. I have to get better at it,” Badger said, bowing his head. He understood that eventually his practice would pay off. It was his hope that one day he could impress Sunset. Then they would go out. Badger quickly covered his mouth and grinned to himself. They continued walking. Sunset’s boot thumped against the concrete sidewalk, broadcasting her frustration. “Do you even know what this place looks like?” she asked, impatiently. “Uuuuh,” Badger stopped and looked around at his surroundings. “I’ve never been to the place before, but I know where it is.” “Great!” Sunset yelled, stopping in her tracks. “We’re lost.” “No,” Badger protested. “It’s around here somewhere, I just know it.” “Of all the rotten things,” Sunset exclaimed, holding her hands in the air. “I could be doing a thousand different things right now, but instead I’m at the end of nowhere with an idiot that can’t follow basic directions. If it wasn’t for you I could be conquering the school right now. In fact, I don’t even need your help. I don’t know why I’ve bothered with you for so long. You’re a little bi” “Hey!” Badger turned around suddenly. His voice shocked Sunset out of her rant, causing her to jump back. “We’re here.” Badger pointed in front of him. Where he pointed was to a large wooden fence that ran down the edge of the sidewalk. The fence went along until it ended at an intersection in the distance. Over the fence, towering high enough for it to be spotted from the sidewalk, were piles of junk. A bunch of assorted metals, plastics, and parts all heaped together. Sunset scrounged her nose. “A landfill? The Rumbler is at a landfill?” “A junkyard,” Badger clarified. “This is the place.” He began walking forward. “Are you kidding me?” Sunset raced to catch up to him. “You bullies hang out in a junkyard? That’s got to be the dumbest place to hand out ever.” Badger spun around and stopped. Sunset couldn’t react quickly enough and bumped into Badger. She staggered back a few steps and found herself in Badger’s shadow. “Show some respect,” he said in a low tone. “This place is sacred.” Badger turned back around. “Bullying goes back farther than anything else I know. It’s got its place in history, you know.” “Really?” Sunset rolled her eyes, stepping forward so she was in front of Badger. “How so?” Badger looked Sunset in the eye. “When the first caveman found out he was bigger and stronger than his neighbor. Then he went to his neighbor and took his stuff and left the neighbor with nothing. It evolved from there.” “Wow,” Sunset said, unimpressed, instantly disbelieving the logic the story told. “You come up with that by yourself?” “No,” Badger replied, trudging forward. “It was taught to me.” Badger’s words stuck in Sunset’s head for a second as she analyzed them. If he was taught then there must have been a teacher. For Sunset, this presented an opportunity. Maybe Badger’s teacher could teach her too. Then she could have the knowledge of bullying that Badger yields. Plus she has the brains to use it properly. It was a sound plan. Sunset saw great potential to harness the power of bullying. However, she didn’t know how to obtain the power. Sunset raced to catch up with Badger. She found him in the light of a street lamp. He stood in front of a sign that read “The Junk Trunk”. To the left of the sign was a door in the fence that swept around the perimeter of the junkyard. Badger seemed to be giggling. Sunset went over to the door. “What do we do now?” Sunset asked, looking at the sign. “What?” Badger smiled. “You don’t know what you’re going to do?” “Do what?” “Do with all that junk,” Badger replied. “All that junk inside your trunk.” Badger burst out laughing, holding his stomach and bellowing loudly. Sunset didn’t seem to get it and quickly got annoyed. “What’s so funny?” she snarled, stomping her foot on the ground. “What, you don’t get it?” Badger wiped a tear from his eye. “Junk in the trunk. What are you going to do with all of it?” Badger rolled his eyes. “It’s a metaphor.” “For what?” Sunset narrowed her eyes. Badger hesitated for a moment, wondering what he should do. Finally he just turned around and stuck his back end out. “Trunk,” he said and wiggled around a bit. Something clicked in Sunset mind and she quickly looked at her posterior before abruptly turning away. Blood rushed to her face as she came to realize what she hadn’t understood. While she was turned Badger took a moment to admire Sunset’s “trunk”. “You’re really a difficult person to hang out with, you know that Sunset?” Badger said. He looked down at her. At least she was hot. “Hmph,” Sunset turned to face him again. She looked aggravated to which Badger just shrugged in response. “What are you going to do,” he said. “With all that junk. All that junk inside your trunk.” Suddenly, the door, of which Sunset and Badger had been next to, swung open. Standing in the doorway was what looked like a guy that was halfway into adulthood but still had a teenage persona. He crossed his arms. Badger sensed hostility and he steeled himself. Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin at the surprise. “I heard someone say the password,” the teenage man spoke in a hoarse, gruff voice. “Password?” Badger turned to the stranger. “What, junk in the trunk?” The teenager man shook his head. “The whole phrase. You guys were getting close but weren’t directly on.” He looked at the two that had arrived at his door. “Are you bullies?” “I am,” Badger pointed to himself, proudly. “She’s tagging along.” The two looked at Sunset. The teenage man’s face changed all of a sudden. He smiled. “Well, hello there,” he slicked his hair back. “What’s going on with you?” Badger noticed the stranger wasn’t talking to him. This meant only one thing. Badger turned his lip up into a snarl. “Hey buddy,” he took a step towards the teenage man, “she’s with me. So back off.” The teenage man returned the snarl. “What grade are you two in?” “Freshies,” Badger responded. This seemed to have an effect on the strange teenage man. He stepped to the side. “Go in,” he commanded with a sweeping motion of his arm. Badger glanced at Sunset before he too stood to the side. “Ladies first,” Badger said. Sunset, although hesitating at first, briskly walked through the door. Badger gave the teenage man a dirty look before following close to Sunset. They emerge to something none of them have ever seen before. Instantly, they were changed forever. *** “The first thing I saw was a boy, about our age, getting dragged by his legs,” Sunset stated grimly. The events of the day flashed in her mind. “His face was a bloody mess. Both of his eyes were purple and shut tight while his lip was dripping blood over his chin.” She paused. “I only saw him for a couple seconds but I remember everything. Two other boys were the ones dragging him and they disappeared into the crowd. I never figured out what happened buy I assume the worst.” Sunset shook. “Sometimes I think about it. That was the first thing I saw and it only gets worst from there. I feared for my life that night. I’ve never been more scared in my life. There was so much evil.” Twilight reached to the center of the table and took a napkin from a dispenser. She handed it to Sunset who took it. She dabbed her eyes with it. “That sounds awful, Sunset,” Twilight consoled. “What do you know about evil, Twilight?” Sunset asked, still drying her tears. “Back in Equestria the bad guys were just legends. And the ones that did exist were so harmless in comparison.” “I’ve actually had first hand experiences with bad guys,” Twilight commented. “Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek to name a few. They came back and with the help of my friends I stopped them. They’re not legends anymore.” “I’ve read about them,” Sunset put the napkin down. “They were always bigger than life and so overpowering. I always thought that they couldn’t be real.” “Want to know what I learned from facing them?” Twilight asked. She looked into Sunset’s eyes. “At first villains may seem unstoppable and there may be no hope left. But just when everything seems lost, you can have friends to pull you out of the darkness.” Sunset looked unimpressed. Something that Twilight said had struck a nerve in her and it was having a bad effect. She cleared her throat. “First off, I didn’t have friends back then.” She glared at Twilight with cold, unnerving eyes. Twilight in turn shrunk back in her chair. “Second, these villains weren’t monsters from the past or demons with supernatural powers. They were people like you and I except they followed a life of intimidation and fear.” Sunset stood up and leaned over the table, suddenly intensely furious. Something was setting her off. “And as for darkness, Twilight Sparkle. I didn’t fight the darkness. I became it!” It took a while but Sunset quickly realized what she was doing. Her body was leaning as far as it could over the table, angled so she looked ready to jump across and attack. She felt her knuckles start to ache and noticed they were driving straight down into the tabletop. She slowly released her grip and put her hands back to her sides. “Oh no,” Sunset softly spoke and retreated back to her seat. She raised her hands to her eyes and began crying rivers of tears. Soft sobs escaped from her lips as she tried to get herself back together, but failed. “Sunset?” Twilight sat up rigid in her seat, now over Sunset’s intimidation and concerned for her friend’s wellbeing . Sunset continued to sob into her hands. “The… the bullies,” she said in between snivels. “They… they h-hate c-crying.” A couple more tears streamed down her face. “To them, crying is to show w-weakness. Crying is the equivalent to becoming what the bullies persecuting. Those who couldn’t stand up for themselves were the ones that fell to the bullies. Because they showed emotion. Because they were w-weak.” Sunset continued to cry. Twilight was on the verge of crying with her. It tore her heart apart to see a girl that seemed to be trying so hard to change, be caught up on lies she learned at a younger age. In the conversation, Twilight had quickly pieced together that maybe Sunset had become the bully she once was through a learned response instead of her own merit. Twilight hypothesized that there was something or someone significant in Sunset’s past that turned her into what she became. While the past is something Twilight can’t change, she could do something. She could convince Sunset that the past mustn’t define her. “Sunset,” Twilight held out another napkin to which Sunset gently took, again drying her eyes. “Crying or showing emotion isn’t a weakness. It’s strength. It shows that you’re alive and compassionate. If we all walked around not showing emotion or crying, what would we be? We’d be a bunch of savage creatures, destined to live lives of pain, hate, and intolerance. Is that what you want?” Sunset sniveled and shook, but she heard Twilight. Though how her body racketed and her voice stammered, she heard Twilight. “N-no,” Sunset responded. She didn’t look Twilight in the eye and instead looked down at her hands. “At the Rumbler, I never saw any of the bullies cry. Even when they were beaten and bloodied, they never showed weakness. Some looked like they would never recover from their injuries. Yet they never once showed if they were scared and sad.” “This seems hard for you,” Twilight said. “Do you want to stop?” “Never give up, never surrender,” Sunset blurted out, and then continued to sob. “Hmmm?” Twilight looked at Sunset, leaning in closer. Sunset looked back at Twilight. “Never give up, never surrender,” she repeated. “If there was one good thing, one lesson I could take away from the Rumbler that was actually good. It would be to never ever give up and never ever let yourself be defeated.” Twilight smiled. “That is a good lesson.” “Yeah well,” Sunset shifted a bit in her seat. “It was actually a mantra that bullies followed with a devoted conviction. They believed that defeat should only come after they literally can’t fight anymore. At the Rumbler, I saw a boy get ganged upon by bigger, older boys. They beat him into the ground, burying him under dirt, and finally had him down. But he never gave up. In the last moment he raised his hand as if to strike back. Then one of the boys stomped on his hand and broke it. The boy passed out from the pain later.” Twilight stared at Sunset with wide eyes. “Never give up, never surrender,” Sunset shrugged. “That’s what it meant to the bullies.” “What does it mean for you?” Twilight asked. Sunset put her hand on her chin, done crying but still feeling blue. “It means what it says. Never give up, never surrender. The bullies always thought that if you tried your hardest and never gave up, then there could be no regrets. One admirable thing about the bullies was their resolve. They truly believed in never giving up no matter how impossible something may seem. It’s why they participated in the Rumbler. Other than it being tradition they participated because they thought they had a chance to take it all. Despite the numerical improbability they fought because they had a chance to have everything they ever wanted. That’s really why they had the Rumbler.” Sunset finished drying her eyes and found she had made a break through. In all her years after the Rumbler she could never figure out exactly why the bullies did it. Then it had come to her and she understood something that had plagued her for weeks. It brought a little bit of pressure of her chest and calmed her mind a little bit. She smiled at the resolved and Twilight, upon noticed this, beamed. “So, what happened at the Rumbler?” Twilight leaned forward. Now sensing the tension was over. “Well,” Sunset began, “I got a great viewpoint of the whole thing. It’s also where I began to learn how I could take over the school.”