The Girl Under the Tombstone
It’s been six years since she came to our world. Six years since she was diagnosed with a condition no doctor has named, calling it an ‘unknown string of cancer, leading to the planting of the gravestone just five miles away from where I’m sitting. By myself, in this darkening bedroom. This lamp by my side is the only source of light besides the glowing laptop screen right here, lighting my fingers as they type on the keyboard below these words.
So who is it I speak of? It’s the name many of you have been wishing to hear: Twilight Sparkle, a girl who was shy, yet as vibrant as any other. A woman whose glance alone could boost your heart rate to a speed matching the rays of light, stealing your attention as her eyes narrowed in on you. For several days, they trapped mine, never letting a word flow from my mouth. Even when our eyes connected.
Yet if our story is one you don’t know, you’ve at least heard bits and pieces of it in the news: The girl who headlined newspapers not long after society first picked up her traces. Myself and six others have been pestered ever since with the nation wanting to know exactly who she was. How exactly did this one girl grow wings that one night? How did she empower her friends with their own, lengthening their hair, letting them shine so brilliantly as they did that night? How was she able to walk away into that statue, never to be seen again?
How was I, Flash Sentry, the boy who had the deepest crush on her, able to find someone so otherworldly so entrancing that I write about her to this day?
I have received floods of e-mails, phone calls, and letters since these questions broke out. It hasn’t stopped, though I put it all off, but with the recent passing of Twilight Sparkle, the rest of us have finally decided to share the secrets we’ve kept. We’ve reserved writing this book for so long because neither I, Twilight, nor everyone else felt comfortable revealing them. But now that some of the curtain has been lifted, we know what we can no longer hide. We have a deeper story to tell beyond what you already know. I have a deeper story to share, one that reduces me to shakes every time I think of it. Since they knew this, they decided I was the one who should write this book. I was the one who experienced the most, so everyone picked me, and I agreed to take on the job. From this point on, I have forever felt more inclined to write down what I can remember. My memories have changed me, and I am sure they will have the same effect on you as I share everything that happened. Everything that was much grander than anything history has recorded ever before, so I will begin with just a few days after the infamous dance occurred. The one I know in my heart the school has never forgotten.
I was seventeen years old at the time, walking to school on a sidewalk one cloudy morning as I held an umbrella above my head. Streams of water poured down, sliding down the edges of my coat, obscuring my vision as I walked down a path through the quiet neighborhoods. I never glanced at my neighbors, instead staring at the concrete. Events raced through my mind, mostly the ones from the previous week. They never left me as I tried so hard to push them away. Memories of the school’s fiery red-headed girl, a malicious woman who fooled the entire campus into believing she was the queen above everyone else for three years. A demon whose unrelenting stare petrified you with her seething anger or feigned beauty before she used a crown’s magic to transform into a monster. She masterfully manipulated me with a series of smiles and cold shoulders, all the while looking into my pupils with her narrowing eyes whenever I returned her glances, staring right into what that flamboyant swagger of hers convinced me could only be such a beautifully gifted person underneath. The personality that told me no one in this world was could be evil.
The rush of emotions panged in my head for that entire morning. I finally looked up in an attempt to clear my mind, and I saw directly uphill from me, beyond the long two-way street and double rows of houses, the red twin brick wall on the back of my high school’s bleachers.
‘Another day,’ I thought, stepping up. ‘Hopefully people won’t pester me for more answers - they’ve done enough of that already. Please, just let me talk to my friends in peace…’
The rain pushed down. No one spoke as I walked. Only one or two other people were outside – adults, who, with their years of knowledge, perceived my attitude with just a passing glance. A couple cars drove past as kids inside looked out through their windows at me in total confusion: their way of informing me how stupid I was to trudge alone in this downpour. I, too, had parents who could drive me as my car got its oil changed, but I didn’t see them that morning. It was likely my punishment for arguing with them as I did. They really had no idea why I dated a ‘magical girl’ after breaking up with the most twisted one on this planet.
After I crossed the street, I listened to the bustle of students chatting with their friends, waving goodbye to their parents, and walking alone as they blasted music through their iPods and CD players. We all ignored each other as we usually had during that week, save for one or two girls who flirted with me. A couple of them were even there that day, two of the few who remained free from the emotions the dance and repair work around campus had induced. They stared at me with that ‘hello again’ face while tilting their heads, excitedly coming up to my side as as they typically did. It made me remember how much fun all of us had under the disco ball that night as we danced until we couldn’t move anymore. It was all fun and excitement until we left the room and thought about what had actually happened only minutes before. Most of us could barely move our lips. Just seeing these girls right now reminded me what of incredible people they were to even function like human beings.
I glanced back at them, smiling as I waved and said ‘hello.’ A blush rushed across their faces, and I chuckled to myself. They were actually happy, making me feel the same. As we spoke and complimented each other, the five-minute bell rang, and I told them my class was on the far side of campus - I couldn’t follow them wherever they were going. They looked at each other before staring back at me, and we nodded before splitting.
I continued walking towards the main buildings, looking around at some of the kids walking past me. I wanted to see if they were just as happy, and only Derpy was as she sat a table by herself holding a muffin in her hands, eyeing it with the largest, most childish smile as she always had. She was ecstatic, but it was because with those eyes, the world twisted itself into something unimaginable to the rest of us. She thought and understood things differently, I assure you, as if she saw a drawing by Van Gogh in such a tiny dessert.
Vinyl passed by her, wearing her sunglasses so typically as she bobbed her head to the music playing through her earbuds, telling all of us still completely conscious that only those with unique characteristics, to the extent they were diagnosable by a psychologist, felt any joy. Everyone else still looked towards the broken front entrance with depression, the one same one Sunset Shimmer tore off just a week before. They watched the repairmen share sketches of how it needed to look once completed. It was a truly magnificent sight for the photographers, kids with cell phones, media outlets, and was also an area I tried my best to avoid. I cringed while looking at some of the men and women in raincoats, talking into cameras. They twisted their heads before just barely missing me. They knew who I was. They knew I might know something about Twilight Sparkle. They’d seen me twice before, interviewing me until my eyes spun.
The rest of the walk to my building was uneventful - none of my friends were there, because we didn’t share first period. Everybody I saw on the way was just an acquaintance. It wasn’t until I entered it that I finally saw someone familiar; a pale white-skinned girl with blue eyes and purple hair curling with a bang to the side, and strands reaching down her waist, walking down the opposite direction from me with her hands on her backpack’s straps. She was a girl I’d only ever seen on a few past occasions as she hosted a small fashion show or went on a date with me.
She spotted me, loosening her hands, locking her eyes on. She stopped where she was. So did I as I noticed her suddenness, curious as to what she was thinking. Both of us stood facing each other, blocking the hallway as other students groaned before walking around. I received a stare with the most mixed emotions: confusion, intrigue, and wonder all in one. Why?
I slumped my shoulders, focusing less on her eyes and more on everything else around me while still watching her: my way of giving up on the staredown as others continued to pass, obscuring her image. I continued walking forward, looking around them to see if she was still tracking me, and the same white face hovered right where it remained. Those same eyes twitched towards me every time I took a step. What was her problem?
Her side budged, and she raised an arm slowly, trembling as an index finger pointed.
She yelled my name.
“Flash!”
And boy, was I ever alerted! I paused again, tensing my muscles, and swallowing my breath. It was never a good sign when Rarity announced your name. Not while giving a presentation, not while in the hallways, not while calling you on the phone, not anywhere. It is wise for me to say you were about to be denounced with the most passionate outburst you’ve ever heard, about to witness the harshest, most ear-piercingest judgement of the campus model’s words. She meant business, even if it was truly impersonal in nature. She had something to say, regardless of whether you accepted it or not.
So I twisted my head to look at her, letting go of my facial muscles. “Oh, hey there, Rare,” I greeted. She didn’t say anything. Now students turned their heads to look at us. Another public freakout session from Rarity? With Flash Sentry? In a hallway? The wheels of gossip were twisting in their heads!
I raised my eyebrow. She was speechless, radiating the most intense air of disturbance from her I’d ever sensed. Her brow shifted. She changed from confusion to shock, as if comprehending several concepts at once.
Two seconds passed, and she budged again before looking around at everyone in the hallway, seeing each of their intrigued stares. The awkwardness of the situation was finally processing.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” she exclaimed in a tone that resembled cursing, her face turning apologetic before looking back at me. My own still looked the same.
“Sorry,” she said again, placing a fist over her mouth before coughing. “I’m just…caught up in the moment.”
“Go figure, I guess.” I pulled my backpack up a bit. “Is…something the matter?”
“Something the matter? Oh, ummm…” She looked down at the ground, darting her eyes from speck of dust to speck of dust, as if they were chasing a cricket. Stuck in deep thought, trying to piece together exactly what needed to be said. “Well, yes, actually. It’s the reason why I’m here. You see…”
She walked up to my chest, stopping just a foot away from it while still looking down. I couldn’t tell if she was about to place her hand on my shoulder, or if this was an insincere gesture of trying to comprehend something. There had been word going around that she spoke about me a lot, and this seemed like the perfect moment for all the truths of her world to come out, to blast into my face.
And one certainly did. One that helped spur this writing.
“I…met this girl named Twilight yesterday. She looked a lot like the girl we all met last week. I saw her in front of a house downhill as I was walking home, playing with her pet dog alone. You know, the one that speaks, although I didn’t hear him. God, I just paused where I was - I couldn’t help but look at her until she looked back at me. Then I got nervous, and just continued walking, like it didn’t mean anything. I mean, I didn’t want to run onto her lawn right then and there and hug her, especially since she seemed…different.”
She paused there, looking right into my frozen eyes. The words after ‘Twilight’ almost went right over me, each one taking a minute to process. Those minutes felt like years while each syllable repeated in my head. Did she just mention a girl who looked like Twilight? Down to her purple pet dog? These couldn’t be clones or something, could they? That technology didn’t exist yet, other than what scientists had done with lambs and sheep. Was there more to that girl’s magic than I could conceive? So out-of-this-world in its nature that she could travel between here and her home at will? Her ability to grow wings and slay demons explained enough, but I realized there had to be something else, something that I, as I heard each letter in my mind again, felt a growing urge to discover for myself.
“…Really?” was all I could muster up as I regained awareness of my surroundings. I had demonstrated how easily a boy’s world could change with the single mention of a girl. A sacred girl.
“Yes…and I knew that, since you liked her, you’d probably wish to come along so I can show you?” she asked inquisitively, slightly leaning forward with her hands behind her. “I’m helping you out, Flash.”
An opportunity for a golden moment was all I could think about, building up into several different layers of excitement within me, each intermingling with intrigue and fear. My arms, legs, and chest began to jitter, as much as a guy like me who valued his alpha male image. A chance to unravel a mystery, to re-join with someone who had held this school’s crown with so much more of a gloriously beautiful power and radiance than the one before her. I instantly knew there was no way I could pass this over.
“Of course!” I nearly shouted.
So Rarity and I smiled weakly at each other again. I still had her number in my phone. She still had mine. The bell rang again, and we slowly began to separate as I had with the girls before.
“After school today, then? In the quad?” she asked. I nodded.
We both started walking the opposite ways, looking away after she nodded back. We were already late to class, so we didn’t wish to push any boundaries.
“I’ll see you then,” I ended the conversation, heading back in the direction of my class. Another range of thoughts surged, completely similar to the previous. The ones I remember so vividly so many years later.
So you can believe me when I say my world had changed, and was going to change even more. As far as I knew at the time, something out-of-this-world had occurred, and something beyond all I could have ever hoped for would happen when I would met her at her house.
