Chapter 7: The Past That Haunts
One doesn't normally think about regression or pain in the morning. The fresh water river does not simply force itself into the cool water spring. Yet both Swiftfoot and Sunset found themselves at such an impasse before simply walking out the doors of their apartments early in the morning. They had already gotten ready for school, they were ready to leave, but were they ready to see each other after the previous days diabolical? It was then Swiftfoot had decided to take an alternate route to school before jumping out his window and walking away. Sunset however decided to barge out her door expecting Swiftfoot to do the same only to find herself alone in the hall of the apartments, she half sighed but also felt saddened by this as she began to walk the halls of the complex with a small tear in her eye.
"I guess he just doesn't want to talk then." Sunset said to herself as she walked out the door.
"Excuse me miss." A deep voice called out to her.
Sunset looked up to see an old woman wearing a dark colored cloak with her hood up walking toward her.
"I'm looking for a feather and I appear to be lost, tell me does he live in this weather or has he already been missed?" She asked.
"Umm if you're looking for Swiftfoot he's already at school probably, uh I might run into him could I get a name and maybe I can leave him a message?" Sunset suggested.
"Ah yes that would help, but before that why do you whelp?" she asked noticing the tear coming from her eye.
"Oh that, it's nothing really I didn't even notice that was there." Sunset mentioned before wiping the tear from her cheek.
"Well Zecora is my name, I'm sure you know who to blame, but my message I must proclaim, for in this weather must be delivered to Swiftfoot Feather." Zecora said as she handed a small note to Sunset.
Confused about the weather, Sunset reluctantly took the note and just as soon as she did Zecora went walking off. As she walked to school she became curious about the message, when she stopped at her favorite coffee shop and sat down she wanted to open it and read what it said but her better half said it was bad idea. Still she wanted to know what it was, she wanted to know if she could help. She held the message in front of her all the way to school not taking her eyes off of it until she bumped into her locker.
"Um Sunset are you okay?" Twilight asked as she gathered her books.
"Uh yeah just an eventful morning is all." Sunset mentioned as she opened her locker.
"Well I hope it wasn't too eventful remember we have finals this and next week we need all the energy we can get." Twilight said before closing her locker.
"Oh that's right, shoot what was today's final again?" Sunset asked.
"Well let's see it's the first week of May so um I believe that today and tomorrow we have P.E. and after that we have English." Twilight said right before the bell rang.
"Come on if we make it before the second bell we might get extra credit." Twilight said grabbing her best friend's hand before sprinting off.
Swiftfoot was already outside on the track field stretching his legs ready for whatever the day had in store for him. It was then Flash had shown up stretching next to his friend. The two of them had recently become close friends, after the whole incident at Camp Everfree they had agreed to watch out for the group together. Swiftfoot mainly agreed because he knew that he needed someone to keep him in check, but also because he felt unsure of the group still, or if they even wanted him around. Regardless he had a job to do and he wasn't going to let anything stop him from doing it, only now he knew he had to do it a certain way.
"So what's up?" Flash asked as he reached down to his toes.
"You mean besides the sky, nothing really." Swiftfoot said as he stretched his back.
Just then Sunset and Twilight came running through the gym door. One look into the eyes and both Sunset and Swiftfoot looked away from each other, but was it in shame or worry? Sunset just walked away and Swiftfoot kept stretching.
"That tells me otherwise." Flash mentioned before stretching his legs.
"It's just a complication, nothing a little time and space won't fix." Swiftfoot mentioned stretching his arms.
"You know something tells me that's not how that works." Flash mentioned before the gym teacher came out.
"Alright folks gather round, first task of the day will be duel relay racing you and a partner are going to race against another duo and the winner will get ten percent extra credit so go and pick your partners wisely." The Stoic Gym Coach yelled.
"Awe yeah this will be easy!" Rainbow Dash called out.
"And before I forget NO POWERS!" Coach yelled.
"Aw come on." Rainbow complained.
With a blow of the whistle students began rushing around gathering partners like there was no tomorrow. Flash and Swiftfoot just looked at each other and nodded and by the second blow everyone was paired and at their starting points. Swiftfoot looked to his left and saw who he was up against, it was Pinkie, Rainbow, and Sunset. He didn't know why but when he looked at Sunset he felt something like determination build up in him.
"Hey psst." Pinkie Pie whispered grabbing the boy's attention.
"She's not mad at you ya know." Pinkie whispered pointing her thumb back towards Sunset.
Rainbow Dash just winked as his eyes moved back to Sunset who hadn't moved or even motioned to him. He looked back at Rainbow Dash who mouth to him 'You two should talk'. Swiftfoot just rolled his eyes as he got into a running stance.
"Alright rules are simple first person running is going to run two laps before passing the baton to the next runner and they will finish another two laps, first person to cross the finish line will move up to the next round and wait for the rest of the students to finish, READY SET GO!" Coach yelled before blowing his whistle and off they went.
Swiftfoot and Rainbow got the good start, sprinting off as soon as the bell rang with Sunset not too far off leaving Pinkie Pie in the dust. With Swiftfoot and Rainbow in the lead Rainbow took this chance to actually talk to him.
"So why the distance huh, you like isolating yourself or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"That's none of your business!" Swiftfoot yelled before picking up speed. Rainbow just rolled her eyes in response as she easily kept pace with him.
"Look I don't exactly know what's going on with you, but at least give us a chance, maybe we can help you?" Rainbow questioned as they turned the corner.
"With what exactly, I'm no help to you so why even bother?" Swiftfoot asked as he kept pushing himself to go faster.
"Hey don't exert yourself, look this is just an offer take it or leave it." Rainbow said before sprinting off finishing her first lap.
That was the pushing point, that was his limit breaker. As he ran he thought about what he was really running from. He thought about his past, all the pain and the pressure he was put under, all of his fear and sorrow wrapped up inside his head. He wanted out of it, he wanted to be done with the pain, done with the sorrow, with the pressure, and most importantly he wanted to let go of his past. The more he thought about it the faster he started running, soon he caught up to Rainbow who smiled as she picked up speed and ran alongside him. Determination filled his eyes as he held that baton in front of him and there was Flash ready to grab it and go. But as he reached out a thought crossed his mind, he thought to himself about this school, about the people in it, how they were all there for each other, how they all wanted to help each other. He had a question come up in his head he thought to himself 'What's the use in running if there is no direction to run in?'
The whistle blew and Flash was off with Applejack not too far behind. As Swiftfoot came to a stop with Rainbow Dash right next to him he turned his head to her. Out of breath and clean of stubbornness he reached out his hand to her and smiled. He was done holding himself back with his isolation, no more back and forth, no more solo acts, and no more lone wolf. Rainbow Dash smiled as she took his hand shacking with the promise of tomorrow. They both turned the sound of gasping for air as Sunset caught up with Pinkie both leaning on their knees. Swiftfoot looked to Rainbow Dash who nodded and motioned him to approach Sunset with a smile and afterwards he nodded and began to walk.
"So umm, I probably have some explaining to do." Swiftfoot said after he stopped in front of Sunset.
"You really *gasp* want to do this *gasp* right now?" She asked before stretching out her back and reach her hands above her head to help grab more air.
"Yeah actually I do, look I know I can be a real jerk sometimes and I honestly have no excuse for it." Swiftfoot said before they began walking to the benches.
"That's an understatement." Sunset said as they sat down away from everyone else.
"I deserve that I'll say that, what I'm trying to say is that I've never had anyone stick around for too long, mainly cause I never stayed around for too long, so I'm still new to this whole friendship shtick, so I'm sorry if I'm struggle with this and I'm sorry I tried to push you and everyone else away for my own problems that I was struggling with." Swiftfoot explained as he watched the next set of teams get ready.
There was conflict in her mind as she took in the words he had just said. She held her breath as she thought about it and when she released that breath she was at ease. She was mad at his way of just throwing everything aside but she also saw how he was at least trying to make up for it now. She sighed as she turned to the teams when the whistle blew for them to run.
"I-I … I turned into a she demon, three years ago." She mentioned.
"What, why?" Swiftfoot asked as he turned to her.
"It was during a time when I was crazed with power, I turned everyone in the school into mindless zombies and I was ready to send them into a war against my former teacher." Sunset continued. Swiftfoot decided to shut his yap and listen for once as she carried on.
"That's why I say you're not a monster, I was one, I was ready to send hundreds to their death for a goal I could never achieve no matter how hard I tried. It was selfish, naïve, and foolish had it not been for the princess I would've ended up on a path that I could never turn away from, but you still can, you haven't hit that point yet and you can still just turn away and let us help you." Sunset said as she turned to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. Swiftfoot nodded and placed a hand over hers.
"You're right … yeah you're right, I can't do this alone and honestly I don't want to." Swiftfoot said with a smile.
"So does that mean we can form an actual team!?" Pinkie Pie yelled.
"Pinkie dear they're having a moment, let them be." Rarity interjected. Turns out the whole group was there watching them from above.
"Umm I resent that there was no moment going on down here." Swiftfoot yelled up to them.
"No moment my rear, you're holding hands!" Rainbow mentioned as she pointed to their hands.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack yelled before slapping her rival upside the head.
Sunset couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she looked out to Twilight and Fluttershy who were struggling to keep up with the other racers. She saw Flash walk past them giving a thumbs up prompting her to look up to the sky. The sky was clear and the weather was nice and everything just felt perfect. Then she remembered the message Zecora had for Swiftfoot and without thinking twice she pulled it out of her bag and held it out in front of her.
"Umm Swiftfoot." She said grabbing his attention.
"Yeah, what's up?" He asked as she handed him the note.
"This came from someone you might know umm Zecora I think her name was." Sunset said as Swiftfoot took the note.
"That's weird I haven't gotten anything from them since my probation started." Swiftfoot said as he opened the message.
Dearest Brother,
Pepponi needs you yet again, we have come across a young child in need of assistance in the world above. Having lost her sisters she sought shelter down beneath with us. Her name is Aria she seems to be your age only something is off about her, almost like a siren she can sing unlike anything I've heard before. Please meet me down in The Crystal Pub as soon as you can, I fear more is at foot then meets the eye.
Sincerely,
Sombra, King of Shadows
"Umm what is he talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked as she leaned over Swiftfoot's shoulder.
"Well it's not much to go on but I've done jobs with less." Swiftfoot said before standingand walking towards the gym.
"Whoa slow down cowboy we can't just leave right now, we're doing finals today." Applejack stated as she grabbed his arm.
"I know that, I was just about to ask coach when this was over." Swiftfoot admitted.
"Tell you what, when this is over in like three hours we can ditch the afternoon periods and head down to this Crystal Pub together." Sunset suggested as they dragged him back to the bench.
"Alright that sounds fair." Swiftfoot said as he sat down with them.
"Well we can't all go without raising questions, so why not just you and Swiftfoot then Sunset, I'll hang back with everyone else and explain everything to Principle Celestia and Vice Principle Luna." Applejack suggested with a grin.
"Alright I see no harm in that, Rainbow and Pinkie might want to go though." Sunset said.
"Well Duh!" Pinkie stated.
"Are you crazy!?" Rainbow asked.
"Now now girls I think it's best the smaller the numbers the better, for one Swiftfoot is on Probation and two if all of us leave whose gonna get tonight's homework and share it with the rest of us?" Applejack questioned proving once again that she was the sole voice of reason in the group.
"Alright then it's settled, Sunset and I will leave after finals and the rest of you will get tonight's homework and that way we're still caught up." Swiftfoot declared as he sat down and watched the other students.
"You just wanted to get them alone together didn't you?" Rainbow whispered into Applejack's ear.
"Shut up!" Applejack whispered back.
The rest of the school day went just as smooth and as swimmingly as you'd expect, which wasn't at all. When the laps were done they had to do Pole Vaulting, Shot Put, and worst of all a written test. In the end Rainbow Dash and Applejack won First with Sunset and Rarity coming in Second and Twilight and Fluttershy sharing Third. Swiftfoot and Flash were in Fourth and if Swiftfoot was being honest he was a little distraught about it, he was hoping for at least second.
"Man that stinks." Swiftfoot said closing his locker.
"How could you not know anything about the collar bone or any bone for that matter!?" Twilight yelled.
"Look I just know I have them, that's all I need to know." Swiftfoot said as he began walking away.
"Hey we ready to go?" Sunset asked as she caught up.
"Yes thank you, Twilight feel free to lecture me when we get back." Swiftfoot said as he grabbed Sunset by the hand and raced off into the hallways.
"So first thing's first we gotta get to our places pick up a few things then we can head on over to The Crystal Pub." Swiftfoot explained as they walked out of the front doors to the school.
"Right okay umm can I ask for just one small favor." Sunset asked as she followed.
"Um sure what's up?" Swiftfoot asked.
"Can you let go of my hand please?" She asked as she looked down at their conjoined hands.
Swiftfoot to a second to process her request before looking down at said hands. A small blush could be seen on his cheeks as he looked around at the other students looking their way. Quickly he let go of her hand stuffing his hand in his pocket before continuing to walk along whistling as if nothing happened. On the way to the apartments Swiftfoot found himself looking towards Sunset again, only this time curiosity was pecking his mind. He found himself looking back at when he watched Sy reveal Sunset's pony form. It made him question just who she was, where she came from, what was she? Sunset wasn't blind to see she could see him in the corner of her eye. She sighed before decided to turn to him and speak but when she did he quickly turned his gaze elsewhere, almost as if he wanted to avoid any awkward eye contact.
"Equestria." She simply said as she turned her gaze down the sidewalk.
"Um what?" Swiftfoot asked.
"It's where I'm from, it's a whole other world filled with magic and amazing cultures with rich histories, it's a land most here could only dream about." Sunset explained.
"And over there you're a pony… a unicorn to be precise?" Swiftfoot asked remembering when Sy revealed Sunset's pony form to him.
"Yeah, there aren't really any people per say, instead it's all mythical creatures and all kinds of mythology." Sunset mentioned.
"It sounds peaceful, why would you ever come here?" Swiftfoot asked.
"That's … a long story." Sunset mentioned as they came up to the apartments.
"Well I'll wait, after all you guys waited on me to explain my story." Swiftfoot said as they went inside.
Going into their respective apartments they began packing anything they thought they would need for this trip. Snacks, a spare set of clothes, the only difference is Swiftfoot had packed all the weapons. Just as he was about to leave his apartment he took one glance at his kitchen counter where The Staff of Moses was rested. Thinking it over and Magic now confirmed to be in the mix of all this he figured he should have something to combat that, so he took the staff in his hand and walked out the door where he was met with Sunset. Giving each other a smile they walked down to the parking lot where Sunset grabbed the keys to her motorcycle.
"An Indian Chief … fitting." Swiftfoot commented after analyzing her bike.
"Oh and what do you have?" Sunset asked as she raved her engine. Swiftfoot smiled as he walked behind and pulled the tarp off of his bike. After hearing Sunset's engine purr he deicded to be a bit of a show off.
"A Brutus V9." Swiftfoot smiled as he let his engine roar.
"Nice." Sunset said before he tossed her an earpiece.
"Keep this on, if for whatever we get separated we can still communicate, The Cloaks use these all the time so stick to channel five, frequency seven." Swiftfoot explained as he put on his helmet.
"Sounds good to me." Sunset replied as she put the earpiece in before putting on her helmet and hitting the road.
When they reached the first red light Sunset got an idea in her head as she stopped next to Swiftfoot. She crept up to his front wheel and began to rev her engine to get his attention. He turned his head to her and nodded as he smiled under his helmet before revving his engine in response. When the light turned green the race was on with Sunset starting the lead. Having swerved through a set of cars Swiftfoot took the left most lane and watched Sunset swerve in between cars. With his amusement filled he sped up taking the lead getting in front of all the other cars before the turn up ahead. Smiling he leaned his bike to the right with his leg up sliding across the asphalt giving him the desired drift to make the turn. After making the turn he checked his mirror to see if Sunset was behind him but was shocked when he saw her passing him. What was even more shocking was the Semi-Truck rolling in behind them honking it's horn. A black cloaked figure jumped out of the cab and stood on the hood drawing a sword and pointing it at Swiftfoot.
"TRAITOR!" The Cloaked figure yelled as the truck began picking up speed.
"Oh Shit." Swiftfoot said before speeding up as well. Thank goodness they were on a freeway.
"What, who is it?" Sunset asked as she sped up with him.
"My Ex-Boyfriend." Swiftfoot mentioned as a trail of bullets spread in between them.
"Your WHAT!" Sunset yelled as two more cloaked figures jumped out of the trucks cargo with bikes.
"I'll explain later, right now we got company." Swiftfoot said as the two figures caught up.
Without hesitation Swiftfoot kicked the one to his right off the bike and threw a knife at the one left of Sunset popping his tire sending him flying into traffic. Just as he did that four more figures came driving from the entries of the freeway.
"Oh you have got to me kidding me!" Swiftfoot yelled.
"Did you pack any guns?" Sunset asked as another trail of bullets passed them.
"Sadly no my probation doesn't allow guns." Swiftfoot mentioned as he rummaged through his coat pockets.
"Well can we out run them?" Sunset asked as he pulled out a few small canisters.
"No, truck's heavily armed and knowing this guy, he won't stop chasing me, plus The Cloak's don't know about Pepponi, best we keep it that way." Swiftfoot explained as he held out one of the canisters.
"Thankfully my probation said nothing about IEDs." Swiftfoot said as he tossed it behind him.
The Black Cloaked figure saw this and immediately ducked into the cargo of the truck where a heavily armed Quad sat waiting. He revved the engine and reversed out of the cargo before speeding up after them just as the Truck exploded nearly taking the whole thing apart.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Sunset asked before kicking one of the Cloaks off his bike.
"Improvised Explosive Device, very dangerous, very much improvised." Swiftfoot mentioned as he stuck one to another Cloak and knocking him out causing him to drive into a group of three taking them all out in an explosion.
That's when The Black Cloaked Figure caught up firing machine guns from the front. His bullets missing every shot made Swiftfoot question if he really was here to hurt him, or distract him.
"Sunset, drive ahead and lead the rest away, I'll handle mister misses a lot." Swiftfoot ordered before turning into a construction site.
"Got it." Sunset said before speeding up leading the group of Cloaks away. Through her mirror she could see the main guy take the bait and turn into the construction site.
After driving into the site he quickly looked for a parking space and left his bike there. Leaving his helmet and bike he quickly started climbing for the high ground. When he reached the third floor he was back handed by the sword of the cloaked figure chasing him. Swiftfoot quickly stood back up and extended the blades from under his wrists as the cloaked figure let down his hood revealing his slightly bearded face.
"Did you honestly think you could run from us, or were you just hoping to buy yourself some time?" The Figure asked.
"Look Jax I don't know what you heard but none of it is true!" Swiftfoot mentioned trying to bargain.
"You betrayed us Swiftfoot, you gave the police everything we had on The Kruthecs and us, what would your father say?" Jax questioned as they began walking in circles around each other.
"My father, what about Badger, would he approve of this street chase?" Swiftfoot counter just before Jax swung at Swiftfoot only for him to block the attack with his left wrist blade.
"My Father is the one who gave the order for your head!" Jax yelled as he attempted to swing again.
Swiftfoot quickly took an opening when Jax reeled his arm to swing. By quickly grabbing Jax's wrist and twisting his sword out of his hand he put Jax into a headlock before kicking away the sword.
"Go on … do it!" Jax yelled. In this position if Swiftfoot put enough pressure in the grip he would snap Jax's neck, ending him slowly. But could he actually, did he still have the stomach for this.
"… NO!" Swiftfoot yelled before releasing Jax. Swiftfoot backed up a bit before looking down at his hands.
"What happened to the monster who murders hundreds of his own people?" Jax questioned as he slowly stood up and extended the blades from under his wrist.
"I'm not a monster; that was a mistake I will live with the rest of my life Jax!" Swiftfoot yelled turning his attention back to his opponent.
"It was a mistaking loving you." Jax said before charging him.
As they began switching blows on each other Sunset made her way back to the construction site where she saw everything that was going on. She quickly looked for a way up there with her bike and when she found it she didn't hesitate. She saw a ramp that was constructed on a hill not too far away from the building under construction. If she were to go fast enough she could make it in time to pick him up and get out of there. Just as she was doing that Swiftfoot and Jax caught each other in a standing clash.
"Have you forgotten what you've done, what you've become, you will answer to The Cloaks and they will decide your fate!" Jax yelled.
"No Jax I didn't forget, I just chose not to let it consume me." Swiftfoot mentioned.
"So in other words you chose to neglect the many who died that day, all the men and women slaughtered at your command, have you no shame, have you no respect?" Jax countered before they pushed off each other.
Swiftfoot began thinking about them, all those people he had led to their deaths. Jax was right it was his fault, and had to be held responsible for it. In that moment of thought Swiftfoot didn't see Jax charge up to him but he certainly felt the blade pierce just above his liver.
"Recreascate en Pace Bastardo." Jax whispered in Swiftfoot's ear.
"NO!" Sunset yelled as she sped up her engine. Jax quickly let go of Swiftfoot as he jumped away off the third floor. Giving Sunset the opportunity to grab Swiftfoot and drive off.
"Come on Swiftfoot stay with me!" Sunset begged as she quickly drove as fast as the engine of her bike would let her.
"I'm sorry." Swiftfoot whispered as he began to feel the shame rise in him as his body began to numb. He felt everything slowly begin to fade around him.
"I'm sorry." He said just before his eyes went dark and he fell in that darkness.
