//------------------------------//
// Chapter IV: The Party 
// Story: Regret 
// by I Am The Night 
//------------------------------//


Chapter IV: The Party



Your house wasn't quite far from where the party was taking place, so it didn't take too long for you and Twilight to get there. The short walk there mostly consisted of looking at nothing but empty streets. You didn't think a birthday party would be so important that an entire town is gathered about in one place, but nonetheless, the parts of town you walked in were completely empty.

When you did arrive to the party, you were greeted with all assortments of games and activities: Apple Bobbing, Horseshoe Toss, Pin The Tail on the Pony, balloons, cheese fountain, and so much more that it would take forever for you to even list them out.

As you both ventured forward and observed everything that was here to offer, you were blown back slightly as Rainbow Dash, the birthday girl herself, landed in front of the both of you, a look of sheer joy on her face.





"Hey, there you two are! We were wondering when you were gonna get here!" she exclaimed, "What took ya so long?"

Before you could answer, Twilight answered first.

"Sorry, Dash. We were just wrapping up the last of your gifts. Isn't that right?" With somewhat of a legit face of happiness, Twilight looks towards you, clearly expecting an answer to come out of your mouth by now.

While you weren't exactly in the happiest attitude at the moment, you at least had the strength to crack a smile, no matter how fake it was.

"That's right," you reply to Twilight and Rainbow after a few seconds of silence. Opening your own satchel, you gently pulled out one single gift, being careful not to rip any of the wrapping. Why a single gift, exactly?

Well, you did think it would be nice to put the book in the satchel, to give it more of a surprise. To you, it was more of a last minute decision, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, not to mention it would be easier to carry.

"Where do you want me to put this?" you ask.

Pointing her hoof in a direction, she replies, "Over there, with the others."

Looking the way she pointed, you noticed what seemed to be quite a large pile of presents. There had to be more than a hundred presents, all put in one place, all for Rainbow.

Rather than question on where she would put them all, you thanked her instead before she exclaimed that she had to go, and that she would see us later; with a swift push of her wings, she was gone, already having flown elsewhere.

Once she had left, Twilight looked towards you, this time not with a fake smile, but a real smile, as well as a look of concern, but there was never a frown to be seen.

Walking up to you, she once more put a hoof on your shoulder, an attempt to comfort you.

"Try not to think about it...have fun...okay?"

For a few seconds, you were simply staring at her, your mouth a blank state. But slowly, that true smile of yours came to be, and gently, you nodded 'okay' to her.

With the same smile, she wrapped her arms around you and pulled you into a hug. It lasted for a few seconds before she pulled away, waving you goodbye for now, and heading off into the mass array of party-ponies, possibly to find the other girls, leaving you all alone.

Gift in one hoof, you began to make your way to the pile of gifts. From far away, the pile looked quite small, but up close, it was like a mountain compared to a house, but you didn't pay too much attention to it. Making sure your gift was properly labeled and wrapped, you placed the gift down alongside everypony else's.

No longer did you think about the gifts for now. You were relieved, soluted, and relaxed that everything you had gotten, everything you needed, was finally where it should be, and soon enough, Rainbow would open it up and be happy and glad, and she would hug you and thank you for a long while, or maybe she'll thank you and make fun of you in front of everyone, calling you names, joking about with you, insulting you...

Or maybe, maybe, you're simply overreacting and need to calm down and stop thinking about what happened earlier.

That was before, you say to yourself, This is now.

At first, when you think that, you aren't as relaxed as you aimed to be. But as you think it again in your head, and again and again, you feel yourself easing quite a bit; already, you're feeling calm and steady.

And so you keep thinking it in your head. Over and over, you keep that looping in your mind like a record, and the more you do, the further relaxed you are.

Walking away from the gifts, you begin to walk to any of the many games that there are to choose, all while continuing to think. Even while talking to other ponies, you still didn't stop thinking.

But as the hours passed and you kept playing game after game while occasionally chatting with others, including the girls, eventually you stopped thinking that thought, but by then, you were quite relaxed and honestly...happy.

Every time somepony would tell you something funny, you were always laughing along, replying with your own jokes, and they would laugh in return. Every time somepony told a story, you listened in and were intrigued, ready to hear more. Every time somepony complimented you, you smiled at them with happiness, and they would smile back.

By then, all of your troubles of the day were lifted off your shoulders, and you felt relieved for the first time all day.

And while you did think that what Rainbow said wasn't the best thing you heard from her, you felt that you had the confidence to change the way she saw you. You felt that you could show her just how much of a good pony you were, how dedicated you were to making everyone happy, to making her happy.

You felt that amends would be made and dates would be planned.

It was a cheesy thought, of course, but it was what you felt---no...what you wanted to happen tonight.

You wanted something to happen between you and Rainbow Dash, and despite what happened today, you think it could still happen.

You know it will happen.

You just know.

And you were proud.







A few hours had passed since you arrived at the party, and by then, the fun was beginning to die down, which---on some occasions---meant it was the final part of the party: The gifts.

Gathered around the mass pile of gifts, nearly everypony in town watched as Rainbow sat down on a chair that looked towards the crowd, the pile hovering behind her. Rainbow, being the party gal, thanked everyone for coming, as well as thanking everyone for the gifts, unable to contain her excitement as to what lay inside them.

However, the way the gifts were hoofed to her were a bit different. A few select ponies from the crowd would come up beside her, grab a few gifts, and hoof them to the pony next to them, one by one, until that gift reached her.

You, along with a few other ponies, volunteered to be the gift givers. Walking up, standing next to Rainbow in somewhat of a straight line, you each picked up a gift and hoofed one to Dash every time she opened a gift, and every time she got a new gift, her face would continuously beam with joy. You always thought that sheer look on her face was so cute.

A few minutes in, it was a steady pattern; grab a gift, pass it on. Five minutes in, only a fourth of the gifts had been opened, a lot of them from Pinkie Pie. You had assumptions that most of the gifts were special types of desserts for her to try out. Of course, they were just assumptions.

And to be honest...some of those assumptions were true. A few cakes and cupcakes here and there, all of which had rainbow frosting on them. Rainbow did try a few of them out upon first opening them, but eventually promised to finish them off later, deciding to continue onward with the gifts.

Within about ten minutes, half of the gifts had been opened---and saved for later---and already, some ponies had already begun to head home, possibly from boredom or exhaustion.

Gift after gift, Rainbow never lost that cute smile of hers every time she opened one. Everypony all around her kept up their own smiles, some welcoming Rainbow after being thanked for their generous gifts.

However, your gifts were still yet to be opened, being all the way at the very end of the slowly shrinking pile. Sure, you weren't impatient about it not being carried forward, but you were still quite excited for when it would be opened.

As fifteen minutes tick by, the pile is no more than twenty-five presents to be opened, and yours was finally visible. As you continue to carry the gifts passed to you over to the next pony, you watched in surprise as your present was finally, after a long time waiting, picked up from the pile and being passed down to you.

You could feel the excitement building up within you; you were thoughtful on how Rainbow would feel when she got your present, and you could barely wait to see her face.

That very excitement was almost too much for you.

And so you stumbled.

Upon carrying a gift, you miss your hoofing, and as a result, you tumbled. As you tumbled, the gift fell out of your hooves and flew into the air. As you nearly faceplanted onto the ground, you listen to ponies awe in shock as they watch the gift fly through the sky, and with a crash and bang, crash into one of the many lanterns that hung above the party.

And as that unknown gift crashes into said lantern, a spark begins to ignite, and as that fire begins to burn, it singes the wires holding it together, and as a result, it comes burning down to the ground, or rather, one of the many refreshment tables nearby.

Almost immediately, the table, along with its sheets and many other flammable objects, bursts into flames, the smell of smoke and flame filling the air. Nearby tables begin to catch aflame as well, and by the time most of the ponies had realized what was happening, several of the tables were aflame, smoking into the air.

As the ponies caught sight of the situation, many scrambled for safety, while others attempted to gather whatever water they could to put the fires out, but as they tried to douse the flames, the flames were faster; there was already a great fear of the flames catching onto the nearby homes.

But what could you do?

What did you do?

Nothing.

You did absolutely nothing.

While ponies near and far scrambled for safety or defense against the fires, you did absolutely nothing but watch.

Looking to your right, Rainbow Dash was no longer sitting on her royal chair, but you had managed to catch a glimps of her having flown off, into the air, and into the clouds, and as you looked at the sky, you could see those very clouds begin to swirl and twist about, a speedy rainbow ring forming around them.

And as they swirled about, you heard what must have been thunder, though no lightning had ever struck or even appeared through the clouds, likely having formed within the clouds themselves, but never striking through their thickness.

Moments later, as the thunder faded away, a drop of water fell to the ground, just in front of you, followed by a bombardment of smaller and larger droplets, all coming from the same place. As the rain poured, everypony exposed was immediately drenched, including you, and the exposed scorching fires were quickly, though not immediately, doused and put out before all that much serious damage was caused, to everypony's relief.

Even though the fire was somewhat quickly put out, the rain had lasted for several more moments, before it slowly began to calm and eventually stop falling. The fog that came with the weather quickly faded away, and you were given once more a clear view of the area before you.

And something within your stomach churned as you saw the devastation before you.

Now you had thought that the fire had only spread to the tables, maybe scorched the side of a house, not too much to worry about.

But as you looked, thoroughly looked, at the damage that the fire had truly caused, you and many others had discovered, to your disbelief and shock, that the fire was worse than normally thought.

It wasn't just refreshment tables that suffered damages; it was market stables, a party stage, and the side of a family's home. They were fired, burnt, destroyed. The damage was unbelievable...fast.

You didn't think such a fire would spread and cause this amount of destruction in such a short time span. But nonetheless, here you were, staring at a scorched market street, a collapsed party stage, and a damaged househoold.

And you couldn't believe that this was because of you.

Berfore you could think any further of it, Rainbow Dash shoots down to the ground, landing just in front of you and nearly cracking the ground in front of you. The impact shook the ground below you, fumbling your hoofing, but you managed to keep your balance.

But falling over was not what worried you.

It was Rainbow's face.

And the way she---looked...at you.

This was not just anger that came from her eyes.

It was pure, full-blown fury.





"Y-You...! Y...You....!"

Rainbow could barely contain what you knew was anger. As she stared directly into your eyes, her very own began to twitch as you found her stomping her way towards you, the ground slightly shaking with each step as she got closer and closer, until she was face to face with you, the anger now clear at you.

And at the top of her lungs, she screamed right into your face, startling you in fear.




	

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Her angered yell caused you to step back a hoof or two, and you nearly stumbled once more. You were afraid of Dash almost immediately; you couldn't even manage to get a full sentence out.

"I...I d-didn't mean to..."

"Rainbow!" You hear Twilight shout her name a moment later, and only for a few short seconds does she look away from you and to the princess herself.

Twilight added, "Leave him alone! It was an accident!"

And as Rainbow stared at Twilight for those few brief seconds, you swore you could see her twitch slightly, and it honestly scared you. You had never seen Dash this angry in your life, and seeing her as she is now worried you.

"An accident...? AN ACCIDENT?"

Rainbow gritted and ground her teeth together in complete anger. Whipping her head back towards you, she screamed into your face again.

"EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS AN ACCIDENT TO HIM! IT'S ALWAYS HIS FAULT BECAUSE HE CAN'T LEARN TO WATCH WHERE HE'S GOING FOR ONCE IN HIS DAMN LIFE!"

At this point, you were frozen. You wanted to turn away, run away even, but no matter how much, how hard, you tried, you couldn't seem to just leave. You wanted to resort to attempting to calm her down, but you feared that it would make the situation worse than it already was.

As you looked at your surroundings, you noticed that everypony was staring at the scene unfolding between you and Rainbow. While half of the majority were staring at you, angry eyes stabbing at your body, clearly enraged at what you had done, the other half had looks of sorrow and sadness; a mare held a hoof up to her mouth, unable to really comprehend what you were going through at the moment. A mother covered her child's ears as Rainbow cursed at you.

Looking towards the girls, Twilight could only stare at you with a sorrowful face; Fluttershy hid in her mane, clearly afraid; Pinkie Pie stared in what appeared to be disbelief and shock; Rarity somewhat did the same as Pinkie.

But Applejack? She was clearly looking just as angry at the other townfolk, taking their sides against you. It wasn't a surprise, judging from her talk earlier today. It was also as if she was even agreeing with what Rainbow was saying to you, seeing her nod at each poke at your mentality.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE NORMAL FOR ONCE?!"

It was a hit to your emotions, but you didn't show any. At least, not now.

Rainbow stopped talking for a moment, turned around, walked a few hooves away from you and looked at everypony that stared at you both. If you really listened closely, you could hear the mare breathing heavily, clearly out of breath from yelling so much.

When she turned back around, she was no longer yelling at you, but talking to you in a normal manner.






"Do you know why nopony ever wants to be around you?"

You didn't respond to that question. You didn't have anything to even say.

You do nothing but let her answer her own question.

"It's because they can't stand you. It's because every time you are around them...every time you try to help...you always---ALWAYS---manage to ruin their day. You think you're so great and helpful and everypony is so grateful that you're helping...well, guess what? They're NOT!"

She stomps her hoof onto the ground. You flinch slightly, and you try to say something, anything, back to her, but nothing ever comes out.

So she continues to speak. And as she does, she slowly begins to walk towards you again.

"They think you're nothing but trouble! And that's exactly what you are. You are nothing but an erratic piece of work who causes nothing but devastation everywhere you go. Every time you walk out your front door, you're either burning down a house or putting somepony in the hospital... And me? You really think I'd want to put up with that my whole life?"

She stops for a short moment, but does not stop moving towards you. Every single thing she spoke was only putting more pressure on the dam of emotions and tears in your head, and sooner or later, it was bound to break. And she knew it...or maybe she did.

"Nobody deserves that torture."

She did.

After a moment of silence, she continued.

"So get this through your head. I don't love you. I don't like you. I can't bucking stand you. You are nothing but a worthless, pathetic little parasite destroying everything good that anypony has ever deserved in life. This town would be better off without your help."

Rainbow paused as she stood face to face once more with you. She seemed as if she was trying to find the right words.

And when she did find those right words to say to you, she said them out loud, for all to hear.

"Equestria is better off without you."

And as those six words left her mouth and reached your ears, you swore you could hear not only the sound of your heart shattering into what must have been thousands of pieces, but the sound of that dam in your mind breaking, emotions and salty tears flowing through.

You froze like an icicle. You couldn't let out a single word, you couldn't move a single muscle. All you could do was blink and quiver your lips, trying to get at least one word out.

Every time you blinked your eyes, they would slowly begin to water. You tried to hold the tears back, at least until you were home. But alas, your attempts faltered, and your eyes became wet with salty water, which began to quickly stream down your face. However, this did not change Rainbow's expression, not even in the slightest. Or maybe it did. You could never tell through your blurred vision.

After seconds of silence, you were able to get only two words out, but they were quiet. But Rainbow could hear.

She could hear it loud and clear.

"...I'm sorry..."

Rainbow's face still didn't change from that anger, and it really made you think if she even listened to what you said.

As the tears continued to slowly fall down your face, you heard the sound of movement to your left, but you didn't look. You only closed your eyes, hoping the tears would come down less. It seemed to work, but not as much as you hoped.

The moving noise got closer and closer, eventually slowing down as it got closer to you.

And you heard Twilight question your name, a worrying tone obvious to it.

But you didn't stay to listen to a single thing she said.               

As quick as you could, you turned an entire 180 degrees around, unfurled your wings and flew away as fast as you could, even managing to grab your satchel of gifts, and without any hesitation, you began to make your way home. 

You heard cheers, and you flew faster.

It didn't take very long for you to reach your house. With a key in your hoof, you unlocked the door, walked inside, closed and locked said door, and threw the satchel down to the floor.

You flew all around your home, pulled down the blinds of every window---shielding you from the outside world. You turned off all the lights you could; you didn't want to be in the light right now.

Once you were sure you were completely isolated, you began to make your way to your bedroom. Closing the door behind you, you sluggishly flew over to your bed. Covering up completely in bedsheets, you buried your head into your pillows.

Without shame, you let the tears flow free---and you cried until there were no more tears left to lose.

And you waited to grow tired and forget it all in dreamland.

But that opportunity never came.

For you, tonight was sleepless.