Chapter 10: Rise of Disharmony
I managed to get another chapter done since yesterday, so I hope it doesn't seem too rushed.
This is probably the most emotion so far, and I hope it doesn't get too schmultzy for your tastes.
So please read, review and enjoy.
And as I say before every chapter, I own nothing except my OC's.
Carl's House
The neighborhood was dead silent. Dogs weren't barking, cars weren't driving up and down the street, and even the sounds of little kids playing was absent . This was, however, until four vehicles turned into the neighborhood at top speed, causing loud screeches with the sharp turn that each car made. Still unsure if they were being followed or not, the Elements didn't take a risk by slowing down, even for the turn, and instead kept going at a relatively fast speed.
In Carl's car, Twilight was staring out the window with a nervous look while her body gave small shakes from the adrenaline that was still coursing through her veins. When Carl looked over at her and noticed this, he became concerned.
"Twi are you all right?"
Twilight nodded weakly, "Yeah…yeah I'm all right."
"Are you sure? You seem jittery."
Twilight looked directly at Carl, "That's because I am, Carl; I was almost killed." She said, a tear falling down her face.
"Well listen, we're almost home; you're safe now." Carl said as he reached over and wiped the tear off of her cheek. He then turned his attention back to the road and sighed, not wanting Twilight to see his own fear, "We're safe now." He muttered as he pulled into his driveway. The other three cars parked on the side of the road.
Once his car stopped and the engine was off, Carl closed his eyes let out a deep sigh and tightly gripped the steering-wheel to relieve some of the stress that he felt. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective.
And how could it be? They were almost chased down by Discord's minions, who now had an even better identification of them. Before it was just the one police officer who got a visual of Carl, Ryan and James, but now a large group of Discord's men knew what they looked like. One of whom seemed to be a "top dog" in the group who probably would tell Discord exactly what Carl looked like because of his close-up view of his face while he ranted to him in the video store.
Though they still didn't know their exact identities, Carl knew at that moment that he and the others were in more danger than they had been before their trip to the mall. Then Ryan saving him came to his mind, but it didn't give him a feeling of gratitude, rather it made him angry. As he got out of the car; his worried expression changed into concealed rage. He went around the car to help Twilight out, as she was still shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. He looked over at the black SUV that Ryan and Rainbow Dash were getting out of, mind filled with hatred for Ryan at that moment.
"This is all Ryan's fault." He thought in a hiss, "If he stayed home this would never have happened."
Once Twilight was out of the car, Carl slammed the door angrily, which made Twilight jump in fear. She looked up at Carl's anger-filled eyes with worry, knowing that something was wrong with him. She took a cautious step towards him.
"Carl, are you okay?"
Carl didn't answer with words; he just shook his head slowly when he heard Alex call him.
"Carl is your mom home?" Alex asked as they approached the door.
"No, but she will be at five, so you guys can't stay too long." Carl muttered as he continued to glare at Ryan, who was too busy talking with Pete to notice. Carl went over to the door and opened it to let the rest of the group into the house. Once inside, Carl shut the door and turned to Twilight.
"You can remove your spell now Twi."
Twilight nodded, but she was still worried about Carl. She then closed her eyes and her horn glowed. A few seconds later, the glowing stopped and Louis, who was the only one in the house that was still in denial about of the girls' claims, stood in complete shock as the five girls revealed their pony selves to him. His mouth hung open and he was speechless.
"See, Louis, we weren't lying to you." Rarity said as she took a step towards him and flashed a big smile. "We really are ponies, and you and I are both the Elements of Generosity."
Louis stood still for a few more seconds before he shook his head.
"No, no I am not. I can't be …." He then looked over at Carl and pointed at him, "what did you do to me? Did you drug me? Or brainwashed me? Or hypnotize me?"
"Nothing! Louis I didn't do any of that, this is all real." Carl said. Louis, who was still in a state of disbelief, shook his head and went to go sit down on the nearby sofa. He buried his head in his hands and let out a sigh so deep that everyone in the room could hear it. Rarity and Twilight both went over to talk with Louis some more.
Meanwhile, Carl listened to the others as they discussed the incident at the mall.
"So she thought you and Pinkie were…?" Alex asked and Pete, who was blushing like crazy, nodded. Alex laughed. "That's just brilliant."
"What about you Alex, what happened with you and AJ?" Ryan asked.
"Me, oh nothing." he said in fake apathy, "I just used some kind of magic on a guy that was trying to drown her in a fountain. I lifted him into the air like it was nothing." Alex bragged.
"That's pretty badass." Ryan said with a grin.
"Yeah, it is isn't it? What about you and Rainbow Dash?"
"We hid in a sport's store and then when the time was right, we beat the crap out of those bastards." he then turned around to Rainbow Dash to address her, "didn't we Dashie?"
"Huh? Oh yeah Ryan, we sure did! Sorry I was talking with AJ over here about how Alex levitated some guy."
When Twilight heard that she turned her attention from Louis and Rarity to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, "Wait, what happened with you and Alex?"
"Ah was just sayin' how Alex lifted some guy off o' me and ah got ta buck him," Applejack said with a prideful smile, "ah sent him flyin' to the ground like a sack o' apples."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Rainbow Dash said with a big grin before turning to Ryan. "Ryan you've got to learn how to do that!"
Ryan laughed, "I'll work on it Dashie."
Carl closed his eyes, swearing like mad in his mind. Each mental curse was hurled at Ryan for the danger he put the group in. He never felt rage like that before, and for some reason, whenever Ryan talked affectionately with Rainbow Dash, he only got angrier, and he really wasn't sure why. His eyes then lay on an old family picture that was on a small table in front of a mirror. He slowly walked over to it and picked it up, looking at his family, complete with his father but missing the yet-to-be-born Anna. Everyone in the picture had such happy smiles. Normally this picture would bring Carl a mixture of happiness and sadness. Right now, however, it only made him angrier than he already was. Especially when he looked at the smiling faces of his mother and father, the relationship that ruined his own views on love.
Carl turned his attention back to the conversation between Ryan and the others.
What Ryan said next put Carl over the edge. "Yeah so we got out of there and on the way out I heard this idiot ranting monologues. It turned out that he was holding Twilight hostage and confronting Carl, so me and Rainbow Dash went in and saved them."
"From a situation you caused." Carl mumbled, causing the other three to look his way.
"Sorry?" Ryan asked.
"I said," Carl said as he put the picture back onto the small table with some force that made a small "bang" noise before he turned to stare Ryan down with coldness, "I wouldn't have even been in that predicament if it weren't for you, hell, none of us would have."
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked somewhat confused.
"If you and Rainbow Dash stayed at your house today like I asked you too, instead of coming with us none of this shit would have happened!" Carl yelled, now drawing everyone's attention to the conversation. Even Louis, who was in the process of listening to Rarity explain what he was chosen to do, looked over in Carl's direction.
Twilight turned slowly around and gulped, knowing that the building rage that she saw in Carl's eyes was now revealing itself in the most horrifying way.
Carl continued, "If you listened to me when I told you to lay low, we wouldn't have been in any danger. Do you realize what could have happened because of your stupidity? They could have captured us and killed the girls!" Carl hissed.
Ryan took a step back, "L-look Carl, I'm sorry I…"
"Just shut up, Ryan. Shut up." Carl hissed.
Behind him, Twilight and Applejack were both doing everything in their power to keep a struggling Rainbow Dash from attacking Carl. "Let go of me! He just insulted my coltfriend! Carl you jerk; stop yelling at Ryan! He didn't do anything!"
Carl just ignored her and continued his verbal assault on Ryan.
"You're selfish," Carl hissed, "all you care about is yourself, admit it."
"Carl I don't…."
"ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOURSELF!" Carl roared, making Ryan flinch back in fear like a young puppy being yelled at by his owner, "But it's not just what happened at the mall that shows this, oh no. Let me ask you, did you even think about your parents when you and Rainbow Dash hooked up? What about Rainbow Dash, hm, did you think of her? Did you think about what this relationship could do to her reputation?"
"Carl!" Twilight yelled as she continued to struggle with the angry cyan Pegasus, whose eyes were now filled with pure, protective rage. Alex looked like he wanted to punch Carl in the face, Pete was just scared silent, and Ryan looked like he was on the brink of breaking out into tears.
"That's just it, Ryan. You didn't. You represent loyalty, yet all you care about is your own wants and desires."
"Carl, stop it." Alex hissed.
"Hang on Alex let me just bring my point home," Carl said with his hand out to silence his friend. He then turned to Ryan, who looked like he was one insult or criticism away from breaking down. "Ryan, next time think of what's best for the group rather than what's best for you. And then maybe think about what's best for Rainbow Dash and your parents by finding a human girl to date instead of a pony you fucking sick deviant freak."
Those last five words; hissed with the venom and pure hatred that Carl put behind them; was all Ryan could take before he slowly started to walk backwards to the door. Tears formed in his eyes as he looked from Carl to Rainbow Dash, who had a worried expression on her face as she looked at Ryan.
He then looked back at Carl and shook his head before he turned and stormed out of the house, making sure not to let Carl see his tears. Applejack and Twilight let go of Rainbow Dash, who flew up and started to follow Ryan out to his car. But before she left, she stopped and turned to glare at Carl with pure hatred.
"Carl you're a jerk!" she hissed. Carl looked at her without emotion as she flew out of the house after Ryan.
Alex walked over to Carl and stared him down, "I never thought you'd be the type of person to say something like that to one of your friends."
Carl gave Alex an equally hate-filled look "You mean two of my friends, that deviant comment applied to you too dick-wad."
"Go fuck yourself." Alex muttered. He then shook his head and pushed by Carl and started for the door. Applejack sighed and bade Twilight good-bye before running after Alex, but not before taking a quick, hate-filled glance back at Carl.
"Pete, come on you need a ride home don't you?" Alex called from outside.
Pete, who was frozen in shock up until this moment, slowly followed Alex with a very depressed Pinkie Pie by his side. Her eyes had tears forming and her mane was deflated into its "sad" state.
Pete turned to Carl and whispered uneasily, "See you later."
With that, they all headed out after Alex and Applejack to leave.
Just as Alex left the house and started his way to his car, Louis stood up, "I'm fucking out of here."
As he began to leave, Twilight and Rarity went over to stop him, "Wait! Louis where are you going?"
"Home," he said coldly before looking at Rarity and Twilight with defiance, "and I am not the Element of Generosity."
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not! I didn't ask for this shit! Unlike your fucking idiot friends over there I have a future!" he said, motioning to the door where everyone was walking out, "My destiny is to be an all-star soccer player at a Division one university and maybe make it to the pros! I can't risk that by fighting this bullshit battle!"
"But we need you to stop Discord!" Twilight yelled. "If you don't accept your responsibilities he won't just bring chaos to Wilmont, he'll bring chaos to this world!"
Louis chuckled at this and shook his head, "Twilight, sweetie, in case you haven't noticed our world is already chaos, with or without Discord's presence. And these idiots that you're partnered with aren't exactly the best representation of harmony." He looked at Carl as if he was referring to him, but he still spoke to Twilight, "They bitch and complain over the simplest things and yet you expect them to get along well enough to represent the Elements of Harmony? Dream on."
Louis finally stormed out of the house with Rarity closely following him, pleading for him to stop and be reasonable.
"Louis please don't leave, we need you! I need you!"
This got him to stop for a minute; his mind began to question his defiance. However, his stubborn nature won out over his conscience and continued to his car.
Once he got into his car and sped off, a desperate Rarity shouted after him, "Louis! Come back! Please!" As she watched his car turn and drive off, she buried her face into the ground and cried hard, so upset that she didn't care how much dirt got into her fur or well-groomed mane.
Twilight ran outside to help Rarity while Carl just looked at the floor, mulling over what he just did, and how terribly he treated Ryan and the others. He was so upset and into his own thoughts about what happened that he didn't notice Anna, Lisa and Spike all peering over the railing of the upstairs balcony just above Carl's head, looking down to see what the commotion was all about.
"What's Carl's problem?" Anna whispered to Lisa, who just shrugged.
"I don't know."
"He's a jerk." Spike whispered.
"I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment." Lisa answered. "But something tells me it's more than just that."
"You're right, it's not just because he's a jerk. It's because he's a big jerk." Spike said flatly.
"No Spike, I think there's something wrong with him mentally, I just don't know what it is." Lisa muttered.
"Yeah, being a jerk is a mental problem." Spike said, still with the same, flat expression.
Downstairs, Twilight came back into the house with Rarity under her foreleg. She was whispering to her in an attempt to calm her down, which did seem to work as Rarity's crying began to slow down and, eventually, cease.
"It's okay Rarity, he'll come around." Twilight muttered before she looked up at Carl, whose face was directed at the ground, his eyes misty as he obviously was on the brink of tears himself. Twilight was initially going to scold him, but when she saw his face her anger dissipated and was replaced by concern.
"Carl?" she asked softly.
"Twilight take Rarity upstairs and go into my room." Carl whispered.
"But Carl I…"
"Please…Twilight." Carl said with sad desperation, pointing up the stairs without ever looking up.
Twilight sighed, "Come on Rarity." She said, helping guide her sad friend upstairs. Carl looked up for a second, his eyes falling on the family portrait from before. His eyes suddenly became filled with a new rage as he saw his father and mother's smiling faces.
Once the girls reached the top of the stairs, they were met by Anna, Lisa and Spike, all of whom looked worried.
Spike ran over to Rarity and put his hand onto her shoulder, "Rarity, are you okay?"
"Not really."
"What in Celestia's name happened down there?"
"Louis left." Rarity whispered sadly. "He didn't want to be the Element of Generosity. That or he didn't believe it…or both. Either way I'm simply devastated, I feel like I've been dumped."
"What's wrong with Carl?" Anna asked Twilight.
"I don't know Anna he…" Twilight began when there was a sudden "CRASH" heard from the living rom.
Everyone jumped in surprise when they heard the noise. Twilight and the others walked over to the balcony and slowly peered over the ledge to see Carl standing, a broken picture frame and glass on the other side of the living room. Among the shrapnel was the family picture itself torn up from the impact and sharp pieces of glass. He stood with his hands on his head, breathing heavily, eyes red from crying. He didn't sob or let out any audible sign of his distress other than his heavy breathing and small grunts of frustration.
But even though his back was turned to the group, Twilight could tell that he was crying.
"Oh Carl…" she thought sadly.
City Hall- 4:00
Mayor Drocsid stood in front of the large window in his office that overlooked downtown. He could see people heading home for the night as businesses began to close. Some people fought each other for taxis, others honked their horns in anger as they were stuck in the long line of traffic. The sun shone through the window and hit the mayor in a way that made him look almost empowered. It didn't hurt that he was beaming, his smile was both full of glee, and sadistic intentions.
He felt the disharmony grow between the human elements. He knew that something had happened between them that threatened their friendship. Because of this, he could bide his time and grow stronger until he could finally unleash more hell over Wilmont than anyone had ever seen before.
And then he would turn his attention to the rest of the world, and then Equestria.
The longer that the elements remained in disarray, the stronger Drocsid could become until he would finally be able to reveal his true form to this dimension.
Until then, he was just enjoying the ride.
Ryan's House
After getting home and have a quick word with his parents, Ryan went up to his room and let Rainbow Dash in through the window as he always did. They then both lay on Ryan's bed and looked up at the ceiling, not saying much to each other for a few minutes. Ryan's hand was tightly holding onto Rainbow Dash's hoof, as she pressed her body against his arm. Even if he was upset, knowing that she was there helped him feel better.
Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Ryan, please talk to me, why are you letting Carl get to you?"
Ryan sighed and shook his head, "Because I'm wondering if what I'm doing is wrong. I don't want people to call you a freak because you're dating me, Dashie."
Rainbow Dash turned to look at Ryan, "Ryan look at me."
Ryan slowly turned to his side, his eyes still red from crying. Some stray, dry tear streaks ran down his face from his eyes to his chin. They began to kiss and wrap their arms around each other. When they broke the hug, Rainbow Dash looked directly into Ryan's eyes.
"Ryan, I love you, and I don't care what others say about me…about us. All I care about is the love we share." She said, looking down at her hooves before muttering, "But it also matter what you want."
Ryan leaned in closer to her and kissed her forehead, "And I want you." He whispered, "I never want to be with anyone or anypony else in my life."
Rainbow Dash gave Ryan a comforting smile, "Then why should you care what your jerk friend thinks of us?"
"You're right, it's just….painful to hear those words coming from someone like Carl, who I've always considered a close friend of mine. But he was right that we shouldn't have left the house today; that was my fault."
"Hey! He still didn't deserve to say what he did to you. Besides, I begged him to let us leave as well, so it was just as much my fault as it was yours." Rainbow Dash said.
"No it wasn't Dashie, don't say that."
"We're a couple Ryan," she said with a warm smile that continued to improve Ryan's mood, "We share everything, both the good and the bad."
Ryan was amazed at how much better he felt talking with Rainbow Dash. She was like his personal stress-ball for the shit life hurled at him, much like she was when he watched the show.
"That's comforting to hear," he said, "You know we're going to have to leave the house. After today I seriously doubt they're going to just observe our house. No, they're gonna try to get us. So tomorrow I'm going to have to reveal you to my parents and convince them to evacuate."
Rainbow Dash nodded, "Okay, but you don't want to tell them about our relationship yet, right?"
Ryan shook his head slowly; his eyes showed great disappointment because he really did want to introduce this wonderful girl to his parents, but he knew it wouldn't end well. He loved Rainbow Dash, but if Carl reacted in the manner that he did, Ryan had a feeling that his parents would be just as bad, if not worse, in their response.
"My parents wouldn't get it," Ryan said sadly, "They're great people and always are there for me, but, this would be too much for them, at least for right now."
Rainbow Dash smiled at Ryan and, as she did the past two nights, she nuzzled into his chest.
"I understand."
"Thank you."
"Ryan! Dinner's ready!" shouted Ryan's mom from downstairs.
Ryan and Rainbow Dash broke their embrace and Ryan got up and started for the staircase when he stopped and turned to her. She was sitting up, looking at him with a smile.
"Thanks for making me feel better…again." Ryan said.
Rainbow Dash gave an even bigger grin, "No problem Ryan."
Ryan smiled back at her one more time and headed downstairs to eat, leaving Rainbow Dash upstairs to contemplate how they both would break the news to Ryan's parents when Ryan felt like the time was right.
Pete's House
"Pinkie Pie, come on. Everything will be fine" Pete pleaded as Pinkie sat on his bed with her eyes still full of misery. Her mane was flat against her head just as it had been since they left Carl's house and, as Pete found out, when Pinkie Pie was sad, the atmosphere of the entire area surrounding her became sad.
"How could Carl be so mean to Ryan?" she asked gloomily.
"He just has some problems." Pete said before he sat at his desk and opened his laptop. "Don't worry too much about it, it'll work out." He added as he heard Pinkie let out a deep sigh.
"I wish I could cheer her up." Pete thought as he went online. As he clicked away at his computer, Pinkie looked up in his direction with curiosity.
"Pete, what are you doing?" Pinkie asked still sort of depressed. Pete turned around and looked at her.
"Oh nothing I'm just checking out Facebook." He said as he turned back to his computer screen.
"Facebook? What's that?"
"It's a social networking site that most teenagers use to talk with friends...and procrastinate from schoolwork." he added with a small chuckle.
"Oh! You can talk to friends on there?" She asked, her hair becoming puffy again and her sad face becoming happier as she gave a great, big, excited smile.
"Wow, really? It's that easy to cheer her up? Damn." Pete thought as he nodded, "Yep, come here I'll show you."
She ran over to him so quickly that it seemed as if she had flown. She stopped right next to Pete and grinned as she looked at him and then to the computer the screen.
She leaned towards the screen to get a closer look. "Hmmmmm, Jason Hill "likes" Reservoir Dogs. Claire Sanders "shared" a photo. "Aaron Vaughn is "in a relationship"." she read off of the computer screen.
"That's my news-feed. All of my Facebook friends' activity is put on here."
"Wow, there are a lot of people on here! How many friends do you have?"
"On Facebook? Um…" he clicked on his profile and checked the number, "uh it looks like…423." He said before clicking the "home" link and going back to the news-feed that had a gained a couple of new addition in the millisecond that Pete had left to check his profile.
Pinkie gasped and turnsed to give Pete a big smile, "Wow that's a LOT of friends!"
"Yeah, but those are Facebook friends." Pete corrected.
"What's the difference?"
"I don't really have 423 friends; hell I only have talked to, like 100 people that I'm "friends with" on here."
"Oh! Then why does it say that you're friends?"
"Because I accepted their invites; or because they accepted my invites."
"Oh, so requests are like party invitations?"
"No, they're just confirmations to send to people to ask if they accept their friendship, it makes the site safer." Pete said, "No I don't have this many friends. Honestly, I didn't really have any friends before I met you."
Pinkie Pie chuckled, "Pete, how can you not have friends? You're smart, kind, funny, sweet. But not too sweet, more like cake sweet, or maybe cookie sweet. Actually, they're almost the same thing. I work in a bakery, so I notice tiny differences in the sweetness levels of different foods. "
Pete began to laugh at Pinkie's antics again, loving every minute that he was spending with her.
"You know you really are random, right?"
Pinkie Pie nodded, "Yep! That's what they tell me, especially Rainbow Dash, she thinks I'm super random." She then leaned closer to the computer again, "Can I see some more of these "newsfeeds"."
Pete shrugged, "By all means."
She gave an excited grin and leaned forward towards the computer, her eyes the size of dinner plates, "Hey Pete?"
"Yeah?"
"What's Farmville?"
Pete thought for a second before laughing, "You know, honestly, I have no idea. All I know is that a lot of my Facebook friends use it."
"Anne Leigh has a new calf on her farm, awwwwwww that cow is sooooo cute!" She said as she pointed at the small image of an animated cow, and gave such an adorable face that Pete melted a little bit on the inside.
"This world needs more people like you Pinkie." he thought happily.
Carl's House
Carl sat in his bed with his back against his pillows and the wall behind him, staring blankly at the all across from his bed. It was late, and after a half-hour or dinner and four hours of apologizing to his mother for breaking the picture, he retreated to his room, completely exhausted from the day he had. Twilight and Rarity decided to give him privacy and chose to sleep in Anna's room, while Spike, once again, chose to sleep in Lisa's room.
In the past few hours, Carl had gotten over his rage towards Ryan and now was only filled with a huge amount of guilt. He felt terrible about how he treated his friends, both Alex and Ryan, and he knew that he had to apologize to them. But he wasn't sure how. After what he called Ryan, he wasn't sure if he even deserved forgiveness.
He was thinking about what compelled him to call Ryan a deviant freak when he heard the door to his room open and saw Twilight's head peek inside, her face was still full of the same concern that it was during the incident.
"Carl? Can I come in?"
Carl nodded, "You know that you don't have to ask Twilight."
She nodded and slowly trotted over to Carl's bedside. "Carl we need to talk."
"No we don't." Carl muttered, "I know how I acted was terrible and I plan on apologizing to Ryan and Alex tomorrow, there's nothing else that can be done right now."
"That's great, Carl. But that's not why I'm here." Twilight said before she climbed onto Carl's bed and moved right next to him. She lay down on her stomach so her face was directly in line with Carl's, as he turned away from staring at the opposite wall and gave his attention to her. He was mere inches away from her face, her big, violet eyes that had so often before made him filled with joy.
Twilight spoke with compete seriousness, "I want to know something, and be honest. Do you like me?"
Carl gulped, "Twi…I….of course, you're my friend and…"
Twilight shook her head, "You know that I don't mean as a friend. I mean are you attracted to me?"
Carl was scared now, "W-what makes you say that."
"Carl it's so obvious," Twilight said, "and the way you yelled at Ryan today showed your insecurities."
"I thought you promised that we weren't going to talk about this anymore." Carl grumbled.
"We weren't, and I was going to wait to see if you came around. But based on how you treated Ryan today, I know that I can't wait, I have to get you to open up to me before you ruin any more friendships."
"Twilight I…I don't want to talk about it." Carl said with pleading eyes.
Twilight nodded, "All right, you want to drop it. Fine, I'll make a deal with you. If you can look into my eyes and tell me that you don't have romantic feelings for me…that you're not attracted to me; then I won't ever bring it up again and we can move on."
Carl sighed and looked at Twilight, who just kept staring at him.
Carl looked down at his hands to avoid her glare, "Twilight, I…"
"My eyes are up here Carl." Twilight muttered.
"Goddamn it."
Carl sighed and looked directly into Twilight's eyes, they eyes that he loved so much, the eyes that matched his own in color, but were more innocent and pure then he could ever hope his could be. Her beautiful face; and her concern for him began to gnaw at his heartstrings.
"Twi…." Slowly, Carl began to lean closer to Twilight, "I….I don't….I…" she began to move in as well. Finally, their lips met. Carl suddenly felt as if his heart and soul were free of some invisible vice grip that had held onto it for years, the grip of his over-analyzing brain. Slowly, they both opened their mouths and began to use their tongues as they hugged each other in a way that Ryan and Rainbow Dash had for the past few days. The feelings that Carl had at this moment was the single happiest that he had in a long time. He felt like all of the worries that he had were insignificant as he held onto the girl of his dreams. The girl who was always there for him, even when she was nothing more to him than a drawing ona cartoon.
As they broke the kiss, Carl and Twilight looked at each other, pure love in both of their eyes.
"Was that so hard Carl?" Twilight asked with a smile.
Carl smiled back and shook his head, "No…no it…it wasn't."
"You know, ever since I saw you at that party, I've had a crush on you." Twilight said with a smile accompanied by bedroom eyes.
"R-really?"
She nodded, "And based on Alex and Ryan's own stories, I assume you had a crush on me when I was still just a fictional character to you?" she muttered as she "drew" circles in the bed-sheets with her hoof.
Carl nodded. "Yeah I did."
Twilight smiled and kissed Carl on the forehead before she drew back and looked at him straight in the eyes again, making his heart melt as he looked into her own.
"I know that a pony human relationship wasn't the only reason you were freaked out about this. It didn't help, but there was more, wasn't there?" she asked.
Carl slowly nodded his head; since he now knew why he had felt the way he did, especially after throwing the family picture in his anger.
"I've been wondering myself. But after mulling over what how I treated Carl, I think I know. I told you the story of my father, and you remember when I said he was killed right as he was getting back together with me mom, right?"
Twilight nodded.
"Well, two years before that day, when I was ten my parents filed for divorce. Now, this didn't really have much of an impact on either Anna or Lisa because Lisa was only two and Anna wasn't even born yet. But for me…." Carl sighed and shook his head, "If you asked me to give an example of the perfect couple, of the perfect marriage, a week before the divorce, I would have said my parents' marriage. They were always so happy around us, so affectionate for one another. When they divorced, it crushed me. But what made it worse was that it came out of nowhere. That completely changed my outlook on love because after that day, I became convinced that a perfect romance was impossible to achieve."
"Ever since that day whenever I'd see a couple holding hands or kissing, especially classmates, I would just think of how their relationship wasn't going to last. Even today I always think of the negatives about getting into a relationship, which is why I've never really formally dated anyone. If there was a cheerleader I wanted to date, I thought she would cheat on me with one of the football players because I was not cool enough. If it was a really smart girl, like you, I thought I would be too stupid for her and she would dump me becuase of that. I didn't just have doubts for a relationship because of how unorthodox it would be, but also because I felt like you would get bored with me, or…you'd think I wasn't smart enough for you."
Twilight seemed to be taken aback by this statement. "Carl how could you think that?"
"Face it; I'm not the braniac like you are. I'm not into reading or learning or any of that stuff that fascinates you. Hell, I lost faith in magic, and that's what you study."
"So what?" she asked, "Carl I love you for the person that you are, not what activities that you're interested in. Besides, I know you like me for more than just my interest in magic."
"You're right," Carl said, "You're the kind of person I wish I could be. You're always there for your friends, you're beautiful, you're kind, you….you would never betray me."
Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Carl again, "You're right; I won't."
Carl nodded, "I know you won't, but my skepticism fought my heart so much that I couldn't tell you how I felt. And I was mad at myself for thinking such things because you're…well…"
"A pony." She completed his thought, and Carl nodded. "And that's why you snapped at Ryan, you weren't really calling him a freak…you were calling yourself one."
Carl nodded again.
Twilight inched closer to him so they were mere centimeters away from each other.
"You aren't a freak Carl, you're a great person, even if you made a mistake today. And I've never had someone admire me like you do. I wasn't kidding when I said how flattered I was that you considered me your favorite out of us six. I really am grateful. "
"And I'm grateful that I mean so much to you, Twi." Carl said, stroking her mane a bit.
She pressed into his hand and rubbed her neck against it before she looked back at Carl, "You are going to apologize to Ryan and Alex tomorrow, right?"
"Oh without question." Carl said before turning back to Twilight, who was smiling at him. They both kissed one last time before Carl turned the light off and he turned back to her. They both closed their eyes when Carl heart Twilight whisper, "Good night Carl, I love you."
Carl hesitated for a second; gulping as his brain gave his heart one last brawl for control. Finally, his mind surrendered the battle and his heart felt relaxed and free. He sighed as he was finally able to mutter the words, "I love you too Twi."
Hope that chapter worked for you guys.
Like I said in the last Chapter, my schedule is pretty unpredictable with finals and papers but hopefully I'll get lucky like I did today.
Go Giants! go Rainbow Dash!