1 Am I getting danger pay for this?
"Fine. You win."
Much to the shock of everyone around her, Sunset Shimmer dropped the sledgehammer she'd been threatening the portal with, causing the two boys behind her to scamper a bit to avoid it landing on their toes. The other girls involved in the short stand-off piled around the one wearing a golden crown, all of them seeming to talk at once. Each line seemed to cause the redhead's fury to double. She knew that if she could keep it together for just a little while longer...
"You are so awesome!"
"I can't believe you were going to do that for us."
"No wonder you're a real live Princess."
By now, Sunset's rage wasn't doubling, it was on a logarithmic scale approaching infinity. And it only took three of them yammering their platitudes to make an already stressed Sunset erupt like Mount Vihoovious.
“Oh yeah, because she’s SO special!”
The cluster of girls watched in shock as Sunset Shimmer launched herself through their midst, tackling one of their members with a furious yell. For a moment, all were stunned by the struggle as the golden tiara the tackle victim had been wearing rolled back along the concrete path from the Wonderbolts statue towards the school. The shock wore off fastest for a small dog, who immediately began to chase the tumbling crown whilst red- and lavender-tressed girls struggled against each other to make headway towards where the circlet had rolled to a stop.
Breaking free, Sunset seemed to be poised to reach the crown before the dog did, but then the sidewalk reared up and struck her in the face again as the lavender girl managed to wrap her arms awkwardly around the other girl's boots and pull. Twilight Sparkle then lost her grip, but grinned with satisfaction when she saw that Spike now had the crown and was running for the school doors.
“Get him, you fools!”
Two teenage boys blinked in surprise, finally snapping out of their own shock at the sudden turn of events and chasing the fleeing dog. Despite the head start, Snips and Snails were overtaken and nearly trampled by Sunset, even as Spike began to paw frantically at the door to the school. He looked back to see that he was in trouble – but one of the other five girls out there was wide open, waving her hands over her multi-colored mop of hair and yelling at him.
With a full spin to get some momentum, Spike heaved the tiara towards Rainbow Dash. For the next several seconds there was a tense game of keep away, even as other students poured out of the school to witness the insane spectacle. Sunset grinned as she saw Twilight blindly pitch the crown away to keep Snips and Snails from tackling her again, and ran under it, looking over her shoulder and reaching up to catch it.
It would have been a perfect catch, too, if she hadn’t crashed into someone else, a boy’s hand in a tuxedo sleeve hitting the crown at the same moment her fingertips brushed the six-pointed star it was inlayed with. As Sunset and whatever new obstacle she’d collided with went tumbling along the grass, she watched with horror as the crown arced high, bounced once, and headed for the marble surface of the statue’s plinth.
Lurching free of her entanglements, she ran for the crown, only for her expression to shift to fury as it struck the statue’s base and sunk in with a ripple, as if it had never existed. She dropped to the ground herself, sliding painfully on the concrete to prevent the same fate from happening to her. Her expression of rage began to morph into fear, for she had a very good idea what would happen if she didn’t stop.
As she finally skidded to a stop, Sunset stared at the statue base, only inches from her face. She painfully dragged herself to her feet, ignoring the scrapes, bruises and road rash that had a very angry little unicorn in the back of her mind preoccupied with cursing skirts and this horrid place’s obsession with them. Groans and complaints echoed across the lawn, along with some of the school staff barking questions and trying to restore order.
As Sunset and everyone else began to get to their feet, the ‘dog’ bounded into Twilight’s arms. After giving his ‘owner’ a lick or two purely out of canine instinct, he looked around, and much to everyone’s surprise, spoke clearly. “I’ll go on ahead and let them know you’re alright. Just, don’t stay too late. You only have an hour.”
Nearby, another student blinked, “Hey, did that dog just talk?”
Spike just rolled his eyes and cantered through the portal, even as Celestia and Luna walked through the now-orderly mob of students. Sunset aimed a feeble kick at him (a villain tradition), but missed by a mile. The portal rippled again as Sunset used the edge of the frame to regain her balance.
Meanwhile, Twilight’s friends were clustered around her in a group hug, while Celestia went on about courage and friendship. It managed to fuel Sunset’s increasing rage, and then, her face went completely neutral, her eyes fixed on something.
"A true princess in any world leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her. We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight." Celestia’s patronizing voice grated in Sunset’s ears, but it had proven a useful diversion. Now, she was ready. She steeled herself, and took a deep breath.
“ENOUGH!”
The crowd froze, and everyone present looked at Sunset Shimmer… and the sledgehammer she’d retrieved from where she’d dropped it earlier.
“I made you such a simple offer, ‘Princess’, and you didn’t listen,” the redhead growled out, too tired to give the statement the saccharine coating she usually would. Though it hurt, Sunset stood proudly right where this whole debacle had begun when she’d first threatened to destroy the portal, and wound up to swing.
“So, this is all on you! I hope you grow to hate this world as much as I do, because you’re NEVER leaving it! No friends! No family! No Equestria! Let’s see how YOU like it here, ‘Princess’! Because I think this place is the WORST!”
The villainously dramatic moment was somewhat ruined when someone grabbed the hammer from behind her and gave it a yank, pulling her off balance. For what had to be the third time this evening (or was it the fifth?), she found herself on her rump, looking up and back in shock.
Holding the sledgehammer awkwardly by the head, his tux covered in grass stains, Flash Sentry gazed down on Sunset. It wasn’t anger, though, in his gaze as he shouldered the tool and began to walk away from her. It finally dawned on her just how badly things had gone, and the enormity of her failure. It began to twist her inside the way anger wouldn’t.
It was pity.
Author's Note
Well, that was a thing. I have only the vaguest idea where I am going with this but it changes a lot.
I bet this has been done before, here's hoping I don't make a mess of it.
