The Mettle of Friendship

by Solace Sojourn

Arc 1: Violet Sunset, final chapter

“No!” she yelled, slamming her hoof onto the stretcher again and again. She was taken from him and the sheer force of her struggling and exhaustion compounded, and she fainted. Petal watched as she was placed on another stretcher and taken away, fighting the urge to race to and comfort her. As it was, all Violet could dream about was Quill, how she had left him, and how he had died. She correlated the two unconsciously. It just made sense to her; all that made sense.

He was gone. No more security. No more belonging. No more love. Quill was dead and all she could do about it was relive the fact, imagining a million ways and more in which he could have died, each more painful and gruesome than the last; but there was one fact that remained constant throughout all of them. She would leave him and then he would die.

I left him… It’s my fault… If I had been there, maybe I could’ve saved him! But no… I had to leave because I was tired… pathetic!

Violet awoke screaming to the image of Quill burning alive. She threw aside the covers, wanting to dash to the bathroom, and gasped. There, on her flanks, was her cutie mark. It was a violet kite shield with a broken heart sigil, bathed in sunlight. The sight disturbed her. Why would, should she get her cutie mark after such a tragedy? Why did she deserve it? What, is my talent letting other ponies die? She spent much of her time pondering it sprawled over the toilet, vomiting. As soon as she could, she called a nursepony and asked how Quill had been burned. She didn’t let her escape, either. She would not be denied this.

“How did it happen?”

“Umm, well, Violet… he jumped through a burning doorway to try to rescue some fillies from a different class and…”

“Yes?”

“…after seeing the fillies through the fire, he tried to jump back through, only…”

“Tell me, nurse.”

“…Violet, sweetie—”

“Tell me!”

“…a section of the ceiling collapsed. Pinned him. He burned... the fillies kept on wailing about how they could hear his screams even on the other side of the school, but they couldn’t go back. They were too scared…”

Violet threw up more than she thought she had and returned to her bed, suddenly quite lethargic. Her parents visited her, much to her displeasure. They didn’t say much, just remained by her side, stroking her face with all the gentleness they could muster. It was when Starly spoke that Violet couldn’t stand their presence.

“If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know. We’re just so glad you’re alive.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

Earthcrest gasped, “Violet!” Starly just put her hoof to her muzzle and turned away, burying her face in Earthcrest’s chest.

“Why don’t you two just go?” Violet asked. “If you want to help, leave me be.”

Seeing no other option, they did leave, though they kept their gazes on their daughter the entire time. She didn’t meet their eyes, but she knew they were watching. “Keep going. Nobody wants you here.”

A subdued cry from Starly could be heard as they left. Not too long afterward, Petal and Juniper surprised her by visiting, not that she was pleased. In fact, she wished they had stayed home.

“Hey Violet,” Petal said at little more than a whisper. “How’re you doing?”

“I’ve only been better.”

Petal nodded and reached over to hug her. Violet wanted to but couldn’t push her away, she was too weak. She didn’t return the hug, either, though. All she did was look to the side, out the window. After pulling away, Petal studied Violet’s indifference and looked to Juniper. She shrugged and trotted forward.

“Violet, Quill—”

“Don’t bring him up,” Violet interjected, snapping her gaze to Juniper. “Please… just go. I want to be left alone.” When neither of them made a move to leave, she raised her voice and nearly shouted, “Go!” The two of them gasped and stifled tears as they left their friend. After she ushered Juniper out the door but before she herself left, Petal looked back to Violet.

“Violet, your cutie mark—”

“—shows how much of a failure I am? Yeah, go on.”

“You got it before Quill died.” Petal left before Violet could say anything. If she had waited, Violet still wouldn’t have known what to say. She pushed it away, finding it hurt her to think about.

I probably got it just for letting him go, anyway...

While she was recovering, food had no taste, liquid wasn’t refreshing, and she saw less and less reason to get out of bed. However, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to return to her work. It was all she could see herself doing. She would be by herself and nobody would be put in danger except herself; even then, if she were to have an accident, only she would have it. Not anybody else. Never anybody else. After about five weeks of drug-induced numbness she wished would stay, she returned home. She could hardly look her reflection in the eye, much less her parents.

“Violet?” they asked in unison when they brought her home and closed the door behind the three of them.

“Just don’t, Mom. Dad. I don’t want to talk about it.” Violet trotted to her room and shut the door behind her. She only left so she could work, eat, and go to the bathroom. Otherwise, she could always be found there. A few times, her parents peeked in on her and regretted doing so the instant they did. Every time. They found their daughter staring out the window most of the time, tears all too often on her face. Other times, she was poking a hoof at the floorboards. Still other times, she was just sleeping, tossing and turning, mumbling about Quill and fire and leaving. Leaving the school. Leaving the other foals. Leaving him.

Immediately, Violet dove into work on the root farm; only, this time, the pain didn’t leave her. It followed her wherever she went with at least as much determination as Quill had.

She returned to school. She didn’t care, going about her schoolwork and homework with more fervor than ever. Petal grew worried and tried everything she could to cheer her up, even surprising her with more than one birthday party in which Juniper helped put together fervently.

“Surprise!” and “Happy Birthday!” they and Violet’s parents all shouted on her seventh, eighth, and ninth birthdays as they leapt from hastily manufactured perches that allowed them to hide near the ceiling, landing with practiced ease in the grasps of her parents’ hooves, posing on their hind legs and hoisting the fillies up above their heads. Confetti shot out from almost every direction and they panted for a moment before Violet trotted out without a word. Every time. They didn’t try it again on the tenth birthday, or the eleventh, or any after.

The only thing Violet cared about was her work but even then… she started to see Quill wherever she went. In the reflection of the mirror, in the dirt she dug up, in the picture she had been given. She burned the picture in the hopes of removing the memory but it only elicited images of Quill’s burned corpse. It brought her to tears and she couldn’t return to school for a week after that.

Even afterward, she worked. It was all she could do to have any chance of diluting the ache she had forgotten she could live without. She talked with Omni less and less who watched as the brightest filly she had ever known slowly dimmed. Dimmed… and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Violet?” Omni asked on the first day of Violet’s return to school. All Violet gave in response was eye contact.

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

Omni recoiled somewhat and narrowed her eyes, staring into Violet’s. What she found disturbed her. There was loneliness deeper than when she had first met Violet, a pain that was rooted too deep to even scratch the surface of, and a detachedness that allowed her to “live” with both the former.

Omni descended to embrace Violet but she backed away. “Don’t.” Then she turned, returned to the seat in which she had sat on the first day of school, and stared at the front of the room, at Omni, and saw none of it. All she saw was fire, death, and his misshapen face. Omni didn’t try to breach the walls Violet had erected anymore.

Violet became increasingly distanced from them all, even her parents, and preferred time with herself, the only pony that, as far as she knew, could understand her. What had been days turned into weeks, months, years.

For ten years, this perpetuated—until she was sixteen years old.

Otherwise known as old enough to be on my own.

Besides, she believed if she spent another day on that farm, she’d drive herself insane with images of the love she knew wasn’t there and yet couldn’t help but imagine. It was a cycle that ripped her from the inside out… and she was running out of blood. On the eve of that birthday, she approached her parents. They were lounging on the cool, soft grass against a tree some distance from their home, under the night sky. They had been talking but quickly hushed when they heard Violet coming and then stopped altogether when she entered earshot.

“Mom, Dad,” she said. “I’m leaving.”

Starlight inhaled sharply, but Earthcrest merely kept his gaze level and said, “Is that so?”

“It is,” Violet said. “I’ve stayed here for far too long. You were right about me needing a life outside here so I’m taking matters into my own hooves. I’m leaving.”

“And just where do you think you will you go?” her father asked. “What will you do? Have you thought this through at all, Violet?”

“That doesn’t make a difference to me. I just need to leave. Please…”

Her parents kept their gazes level, though it was an effort for Starlight Tread. One line of tears streamed from her… then another… and a third. She started towards her daughter but Violet backed away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“You’ll always be our little ‘Vivi’ no matter what…”

“No, Mother…” she said, forcing the lump in her throat down. “Don’t call me that anymore. It’s just another reminder of Qui—” she stopped, unable to continue, and looked away, tears streaming rather fast. They fell to the ground and began to form a puddle.

“Just let me go… can you guys help me gather my things or do I need to get them myself…?”

Earthcrest stood and spoke just above a whisper, “Fine, Violet. If that’s what you want.” Nodding, Violet followed her father, not even trying to stem the flow from her eyes. She kept her gaze on the ground as much as she could, lest she spot another trinket that reminded her of him and maybe relapse. It wasn’t long before she had everything, thankfully, and stood once again in front of both her parents.

“Goodbye,” she said. “I hope, one day, that I’ll be able to come back and say that there are three ponies in this family that love me.” She turned and departed slowly. Starly watched her go and opened her mouth to speak but no words came. Instead, she turned to Earthcrest to tell him to get their daughter back but halted, froze, gasped. Earthcrest’s face was marred, if only just a little bit, by tears.

“You never cry…” Starly whispered, embracing him to try to both alleviate his pain and to have something to hold onto, without which, she believed she would fall. Her legs were becoming jelly.

“I’ve never felt so hopelessly powerless and yet so wrong at the same time… Starly.” Earthcrest was able to maintain his stance and allow Starly to use him to help herself stand, but had Violet stayed for much longer… he didn’t believe that would’ve been the case.

Violet never heard the words, never saw the tears, and never looked back. The only thing on her mind was escape. Isolation. Not anybody else. Never anybody else…

I don’t care where I go. I don’t care what I do. Just, please, whoever I meet… leave before you die, too…

Comments

[-Brutus]

Sad ending :(

[Solace Sojourn]

2687580 Yeah, I did, lol. This way, I can update it more often with little tidbits instead of writing whole entire arcs. And trust me, it's far from over

[Solace Sojourn]

2687609 Mhm. But it ain't over yet ^^