Sparkle

by Inactive Pone

14.Tears

Author's Note:

Warning: This chapter is Teen-Rated for Violence.

If you’re uncomfortable with it, I highly recommend you don’t read this chapter.

A week passes with absolutely no sign of her returning.

That day, when you did return to Equestria, might just be the worst day of your life. You lost one of your closest friends since you were a teenager. You still couldn’t make up your mind why she said those things to you, or why you fought and argued with Twilight.

All you wanted to say was... I’m Sorry.

But it’s too late.

The rumor spread extremely quickly of the “Facts” about you betraying Twilight and what you truly loved her for. Everypony despised you. You have no idea why this was happening- You loved her with all of your heart. But hardly anypony believed your story, overshadowed by what you would call a made-up story.

The rest of the mane six were still here. Twilight ran off to stay with her brother, Shining Armor, in the Crystal Empire, as well as with Princess Cadance.

Every day, you wish you can just go up and apologize to her. But since the news was leaked, even the royal guard would not allow it. So most of the time, you would cry yourself to bed, missing your best friend. The feeling of petting her, the comfort of her wings, the joy of every kiss you share...

All that, gone.

You were again, taking a walk down the street after hitting the pub. After she ran away, you didn’t really have anything to do in the evening. On the way back to the portal, you run into Twilight’s friend, Starlight, in her human form.

“Starlight?”

“Oh, uh hey!” She chuckles. “So that’s why I couldn’t find you back home! You were out and about?”

“*sigh* Yes, Yes, going to hit the pub, again.”

You walk alongside her.

“Why are you in human form? Don’t you usually just use your pony form?”

She hesitates a bit before answering.

“Well... I just wanted to mix things up, nothing special.” Starlight replies. “So... Loosing her, it was... Painful, huh? I haven’t talked to you in a while so I don’t really know the full picture.”

You turn to her.

“*sigh* I don’t want to talk about it.”

You hear a relieving sigh. This makes you feel suspicious that something wasn’t right. But you move on anyway.

“If you do want to know,” You say, “The gist was that I got stuck in the portal tunnel for seemingly... I don’t know, days? It’s still confusing. And the next thing, was that I was arguing with my best friend. Then she left me without a word and she didn’t decide to take my gift at all.”

“Oh, that’s sad,” Starlight says with her head down. “I understand your feeling.”

“*sigh* I don’t even know why she suddenly changed. It was like... She’s different. She would never say words like, You’re so annoying! or You’re such a cheater! And surely, *sniff* she would never say she wouldn’t ever want to see me again...”

You bury your head in your hands and start crying.

“I would love to help you,” Starlight comforts you, “But I’m not sure Twilight would like it. Though, if she really loves you... She wouldn’t just run away and break up with you, right?”

“Well, apparently it’s the case now.”

You turn the corner of the street. Now, on your left, on the opposite side of the road, was the park where you confessed your feelings to Twilight. You give a sigh, but soon gasped with surprise as you see somepony familiar, down across the street with her familiar brother. You want to go up to her and apologize for everything you’ve said to her.

But then... Adversity strikes.

As Twilight crosses the road with no idea what’s happening around her, probably because she was wandering off about you, a speeding car was charging right at her and had no intent on stopping nor honking whatsoever. Without even thinking of the consequences, you immediately Dash over ASAP to alert her.

“Twilight!”

She turns to you, then finally realizes what was going on. Before she knew it, you pushed her out of the way immediately, and in turn, you were severely hurt in the car accident. It didn’t completely hit you, only the right side did, but it was going so fast that it still dealt a crazy amount of knockback. You fell onto the road with a loud grunt and a yell of pain. Blood is leaking out and everyone around the area screamed in horror. Some are running away, even.

Twilight sees you, and gasps. Suddenly, two men from the car that crashed into you exited the vehicle.

“We’ll take it from here,” One says. “Go.”

“Wh-What?” She says. “You... You didn’t tell me this was going to be the plan!”

He gives Twilight a punch in the face, sending her collapsing on the car. You did not like that one bit.

“*gasp* Twi!”

Though bleeding terribly from your head and arm, you get up with all your strength and punched one of the men. They retaliate and pin you to the ground. You felt another slap right across the face, and you were picked up and thrown into a bush in the park.

The men quickly dashed in and threw you out, before stomping on your chest. You can’t bear to see Twilight get potentially harmed by them afterwards, so you clench the terrorist’s neck. But that wasn’t long until Starlight just kicked you in the head again.

“Ow! What the- *gasp* You!”

She takes off her mask. She wasn’t Starlight. Apparently, you do recognize these people. They were seemingly bullies from your teenage years. You had no idea why they came, but they did. The man disguised as a friend of yours takes out a dagger once he takes off his disguise.

He puts it near your throat as two of his comrades pull your arms so you can’t fight back.

“Say it.”

“Wh-What!?”

“Give. Her. Up.” He says. “You don’t deserve her.”

“*grunt* Why? Tell me one reason, Richard. Why would I cheat on her?”

Richard gives you a punch right in the stomach before threatening you once more.

“I don’t have all day, Ash. You realize that.” He tells you. “If you resist, for every ten seconds, my comrades Link and Jack will pull your arms even more. It’s best if you let her go.”

“I won’t.”

“Hmph, this is bittersweet indeed. Why so? She already told you she doesn’t love you anymore. She left you crying like a baby every night. I don’t understand why you are still so devoted to retrieving the one you once called friend.”

You struggle a bit.

“You’re wrong. I know something happened to her. You did it. You want me to give her up just because she’s a princess? Just because you think I don’t deserve her? I love her with all my heart. We have been through so many things together. I am willing to sacrifice myself for her safety. Is that not what love is about? To sacrifice your personal goals for each other?”

Twilight watches from aside. You realize- She’s still on their side. She didn’t change. However, once you say that, you notice her expression changing.

“I understand she loves me back dearly. We may not be from the same race. She’s royalty and I’m not. You think an isolated person like me doesn’t deserve to be the love of anyone’s life, let alone her. If you think that way, you can go kill yourself. Love comes from the most unbelievable ways. No one should tell someone they can’t love another because the two of them are different. So who’s the pathetic and heartless one, that doesn’t care about others?”

He gasps a little, and his friends are slowly backing off.

“Tell me, You idiot.”

Richard seemed to have no excuses to give. He backed off, and you sighed in relief.

But then he gave a smile.

“It’s you.”

He takes out his gun and points it toward Twilight.

“*screams* NO YOU DON’T!”

You quickly got lose and repositioned the target of the pistol. You proceeded to kick his private parts, punch him, kick him, pin him to the ground, all while you unleash your fury on the others as well. Twilight gasps, and steps back from the action. Once more, her expression changes.

“You heartless beasts,” You say, strangling Link’s neck. “You think that bullying me for being her friend wasn’t enough. You want to hurt her, and I will do everything I can to bring the real Twilight back!”

You give Jack a slash on the arm and punched him fiercely several times. When he surrenders, Richard kicks you from the back, as you land on the ground with a thud. You can feel the scars getting bigger and bigger, it’s numbers increasing. You do know if this continues, you won’t be alive any longer.

He passes the gun to Twilight.

“Shoot him.”

She gasps, and a look of uncertainty spreads across her face.

“It’s you or him,” He warns. “Your majesty, you have to trust me. Leave him to die. He only knows to use violence to solve everything. He doesn’t use his head. I’ve told you this before. I’m doing this for your own good- Do you want him to ruin your life? He will only be a burden to you. You really want that?”

Twilight remains silent.

“*sigh* Why are you resisting?” He asks, annoyed. “Here, I’ll help you.”

He gives a tap on her horn. It flickers and Twilight becomes forced to grab the weapon, since Richard has it pointed at her. If she resists, she dies. If she doesn’t, you die. You see her trembling with her magic in fear- Does she choose you, or does she fall to the wrong hands? You can even see her, with the weapon, walking towards you.

She points it at you.

“*cries* Twilight...” You beg, “Don’t do this... I love you...”

She breathes in heavily, then exhales.

“Honestly,” Twilight says, “Why must you make me like this? You never did. You’re a person that wants attention. You are jealous of others trying to be friends with me. *cold chuckle* Humans really are a curse for Ponykind. Hungry to do whatever to be noticed. And now, you pay the price, for hurting me and my heart.”

You start to cry. As the tears roll down to your uncovered bruises, you yell in pain. It’s like nothing in this world likes you anymore- And no one cares about you. It’s the old days of your life all over again- When Richard and his gang beats you up and everyone isolates you. You’re a nobody then- And now.

“*crying* If you kill me... You’ll regret it, I’m warning you... *sniff* Don’t make my death be a guilt you have to carry when you realize your mistake!”

But then, to everyone’s surprise...

“*smiles* I wasn’t talking to you, Ash.”

She turns around, drops the gun, and starts shooting magic at everyone. Richard stands in horror- He just got backfired!

He calls for his friends to take action. The princess steps back, and even tries to escape, but the two tackle her and start to beat her up instead. You pull their shirts from the back before they could hurt her. You knew- They weren’t here for her. They were here for you.

So you gave it to them- In exchange for Twilight’s safety.

You try to fight back- But now you are no match for all three of them ganging up on you with absolute brutal force. You can’t even do much. All you can feel, is them punching your stomach, slapping your face, and even trying to break your bones. The excruciating pain is hard to describe- And you haven’t shouted in pain like this in your life.

Even though you are on the brink of passing out, the more you try to defend Twilight, the worse you are hurting yourself. You have completely lost hope, but something in your heart tells you to keep standing strong.

You won’t give up. Even if your body is already in ruins.

“*screaming* No!!! NO!!! STOP IT!!!”

Twilight cries in horror and wants to help, but Shining Armor comes behind her.

“Don’t do it, Twilly!” He drags his sister away from the crime scene. “You’ll hurt yourself too!”

“*crying* No... Ash... Don’t die! Please!!”

As she gets dragged by her brother, Twilight continues to cry at the sight of you getting hurt. You are already feeling extremely dizzy and are about to pass out. The good news is that someone called the cops and they finally show up just in time. The three finally got arrested, but Richard did struggle a lot before being captured. With hardly any strength left in you, you wish you could at least stand on your feet.

You try with everything you have to get up. You don’t want to die. With hardly anything left, you attempt several times to support yourself and get up with your bruised hands and scarred legs. Blood trickled down your legs and dripped onto the ground as you do so. Your eyesight starts to become a blur, and you faintly see the struggling trio by the hands of the cops. You give a tiny smile, knowing that even if you do seize to exist, Twilight will be safe.

You try to stand up- But with major difficulty without anyone’s help since the forces were focussed on the others. You tremble and feel light-headed. You can’t even walk properly. Tears in your eyes, you fully regret what you said to Twilight merely a week ago. Your blood-stained hands wiped the constant tears from your eyes.

You put your hand to your weakened heart- Thinking about her. You sigh, and close your eyes, oblivious to what’s happening.

**Bang**

A second later, a bullet pierces you from the back by Richard in the struggle.

All of a sudden, it felt as if everything around you was going downhill. Your breakup with Twilight made you lose pretty much your everything. Now, you even lose your life. The moment you were shot, a pale, shocked look can be seen on your face. You immediately lose your balance, and start to trail off from all process of thinking. Your eyes shut down, and you could feel nothing.

Though only a brief moment, you give yourself one last positive statement. At the very least, you protected someone dear to you. Though costly, and heartbreaking, you took the hit for her- And you sacrificed yourself for her safety. You did not care if you’re badly hurt like this. You don’t care if you’re dying like now. All you wanted, was her to be happy and move on.

You know- We always have to move on. Even love has to move on. You know Twilight can’t lament about you forever, no matter how much she loves you. Sad, but true. You hope this will remind her never to make the same mistake again.

At the end of the day, you lay dormant on the grass. Stagnant, unconscious, hurt. Scars filled every corner of your arm. Bruises were visible everywhere. But, it never meant anything to you, how much you were hurt. Because it will never compare to the hurt brought by a fallout with your best friend.

**thud**

”I love you, Twilight Sparkle...”