The Burdens We Carry

by LateToTheParty

Ch 3: Secrets Like The Dark

“Chrysy, you can’t keep doing this.”

The woman felt the car lurch, the intoxicating smell of burnt rubber filling her nostrils as she left dark skid marks on the concrete.

It slid to the right until Chrysalis could feel the familiar sensation of her car moving sideways across the empty lot. She released her e-brake with a whoop, and a growl from her engine. She quickly picked up speed across the faded lines and cracked cement.

“Just pay and leave. Please.”

She yanked the steering wheel and the back slid. The vibrations traveled across her body, through her hands and legs. Her grip tightened while her vision spun.

The image of Sunset’s pleading face, sad beyond all measure, flittered across her thoughts.

A loud crack caught her attention, the vehicle oversteering into a light pole and causing a dent in the front fender. It halted her momentum instantly with her donut of black tracks stoping just short of its full revolution.

Enraged, she slammed the horn. “GOD DAMN FUCK!” She bellowed, the smoke from her tires wafting past her side windows and covering the car in wispy tendrils. “FUCK THIS SHIT! FUCK YOU SHIMMER! FUCK YOU AND YOUR WIMP-ASS BROTHER!” She grabbed the wheel and began shaking it with all her might, rattling the car’s frame.

A creak of metal made Chrysalis look up, seeing the towering pole above her. With a squint she regarded it through the top of her cracked windshield. Was it leaning?

She got her answer as it collapsed on the hood of her car. It deployed the airbags in her face and she sat back, panting and stunned. Her anger flared and bubbled, building on the hysteria that overtook her moments before, until she was full circle, back to a bone crushing sadness. Without her adrenalin and rage to mask it, she couldn’t help but shriek into the dark. She kept yelling until her throat felt hoarse and she found herself with damp cheeks and sobs. She didn’t know when she’d started crying and swiped at her face to clear the moisture.

“Fuck you, Shimmer…,” she cursed, her words coming as a whimper as she sunk in her seat.

Her chest felt heavy again, like it usually did after she thought about the redhead, though she still couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like Sunset was the first person to break her heart.

Just the one that she never thought would.

Her chest heaved. She hated that girl.

Another look at her car, the lamp post still precariously leaned against its side and she chuckled to herself, a sound drained of its humor. Despite it all, her heart still leapt at another chance to see her again. “Fuck me.”

Another tear trickled down her face. With a sniff, she turned the ignition, making it roar to life. Though she’d need a thorough examination later, for the moment at least it seemed like the only noticeable damages were to the body work.

After a steadying breath she took a moment to flipped down her visor mirror. The person she saw in the mirror looked disgustingly unkempt, face a greasy mess of depression and stress. Her hair didn’t seem to fair much better. “I look gross,” she concluded.

As she fiddled with her face, she failed to notice the dark mist that seeped into her vehicle. It wasn’t swayed by winds like the smoke of her tire tracks. The mist seemed to stare at her, examining her, approaching her with calculated paces. The first traces began licking her skin, making her jump with its chill.

“What the f—,” she cut herself off. There was nobody there, she knew, but all around her was a sudden darkness that she hadn’t noticed before.

“What do you desire?”

The chill was suddenly accompanied by a hot burst of panic, colliding in her body like a nuclear blast in the middle of an ocean. Where had that come from? Did she hear that? Or did she…think it? Why would she think something like that?

“W-what?”

The darkness crept closer, encasing her in its bulk until she could no longer see the interior of her car. It was like she’d been transported into a dark hole.

She felt for the door handle, startled when she extended her full arm length into empty space. Her heart leapt into her throat and she squeaked. “What’s going on?”

“What do you desire?”

There it was again! Chrysalis turned her head in every direction, looking for the possible source.

“What do you desire?”

The words pushed further. It melted into her skull, violating her thoughts as it ransacked her memories. Images of Sunset began excavating themselves into the forefront of her mind like a film being forcefully yanked out of an old tape.

“Do you need help with that?” The red-headed woman with curious yellow streaks smirked with that unique combination of a head tilt, a slightly raised brow, and soft lidded eyes.

Chrysalis threw her head back and shrugged. “Good luck. It won’t even turn over.”

The woman took a moment to examine under the hood and pulled out her utility knife to poke into the engine bay. Tentatively, she reached down under the bulk of the machine. A spark of electricity crackled followed by the loud growl of the engine.

“Just the starter. Probably need to tighten a few bolts.”

Chrysalis blinked. “Thanks.”

The woman smirked again, adjusting her glasses. “It’s no problem. My name’s Sunset Shimmer, by the way.”

Reaching out to shake, she gave a smirk of her own. “Chrysalis.”

Sunset’s hand was rough with calluses but had a pleasant warmth in her grasp. She was messy. Her hair was tangled and windswept, with smudges on her glasses and oil splatters littering her navy blue jumpsuit. She wore no make up, and seemed to radiate a far too easy casualness, but Chrysalis couldn’t help the gravitational pull that sucked her in with that smile. She had a confidence that made Chrysalis grip the hand long enough to draw the curious teal eyes down toward their connected appendages.

“Would you like to go out sometime?” Chrysalis heard herself say.

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened by a fraction before she laughed. “I was actually gonna ask first.”

The scene changed abruptly and she was thrown into another memory. She pressed on her temples until the nails of her fingers dug into her scalp. “NO!”

Skin brushing against skin, slick with sweat from their exertion, panting as their hearts slowed. They pulled apart and laid together, staring up at the darkened ceiling, cigarette smoke and empty space between them.

“This is the last time Chrys,” Sunset stated.

Chrysalis took a drag, puffing out the smoke, coating the room in a white cloud. “You’ve said that before.”

Autumn silence filled the room, periodically broken by the winds that battered the window pane and whistled through the branches. Yet, Chrysalis’s room still felt warm.

“My mom died today, you know.”

The world seemed to still, the white cloud dispersing into oblivion while a shift in the breeze caused the room to hush. “Oh.” She felt her heart rhythmically beating into her ear. "Why does that have to change us?"

“I’m all my brother has now.” Sunset finished the last of her own cigaret and swung her legs out of the bed, picking up her discarded clothes in silence. “I can't play around anymore. This really is the end."

“But I...”

"But?" She'd reached the door now, illuminated by a tiny sliver of light from the hall.

It fell on one of Chrysalis's eyes, making a deep contrast between her usual forest green and a the lighter peridot. She hardened both like a stone, looking away until her ebony backside was to the other woman. "Nothing that matters to you. Don't forget any of your shit.

Sunset began to close the door, pausing and opening her mouth, her words remaining as soundless intentions, before Chrysalis was answered by a soft click of the door.

The grip on her head loosened and her eyes began to fog. Her lip quivered and she uttered out a name. “S-sunset…”

The darkness seemed to smile. It pressed against her and seized into her open maw.

Author's Note:

This was only suppose to be one scene in a whole chapter but I'm not sure when I'll get that done. I just moved and it's really kicking my butt in terms of getting enough time to gather focus and what-not.

It should calm down soon. For now, here's what I got.