The Bluestar Element

Chapter 6: Broken

Just another day.

The image of the filly in mirror faded, blending from the filly Skate, to the mare Skate. The flashback was ending, but Skate was still crying. She was still on the floor, looking in the mirror. Even though the visual flashback was over, there was still the last bit. The part of these attacks that shook Skate to her core. The voice. That horrifying voice. Deep and filled with anger, Skate heard it nearly everyday as a filly. When she heard it, she knew her night was about to become a whole lot worse. Her fathers voice haunted Skate's mind for hours after flashbacks. It was always the same drunken, deep, rage filled voice. Always loud, always tormenting.

You pathetic weakling. STOP CRYING!

"No! P-please, make it stop!" Skate pleaded to nothing. Sobbing loudly, Skate tried to stand up, only to fall again when the voice shot through her head again.

LEARN YOUR PLACE! He screamed again.

"N-no. Why? Why me?" Skate continued to cry. Her sobs drowned out the loud music coming from the room to her right. Skate knew if she didn't force herself to stand up, and leave that bathroom, she would be there for hours until she cried herself to sleep in the middle of the night. Skate shakily stood up, and started to slowly move toward to door. Her dizziness was gone, and her vision returned to normal. The voice grew fainter and fainter, until it completely stopped when Skate pushed through the bathroom door and into the room outside. The party room was to the right, but Skate couldn't go back in there. She couldn't. Skate sat on the floor, staring into nothing in the dark room. Memories started flooding into her mind all at once, causing silent tears to roll down her face.

Meanwhile, the all element bearers, except for Rarity, who was at the Boutique working on an extremely important order, were very concerned for Skate.

"What do y'all reckon got into her? She looked like she was 'bout ready to burst inta tears." Applejack said.

"I don't know, but we really should go check on her." Twilight worryingly replied.

"Yeah, the kid looked really upset." Rainbow added. Fluttershy didn't saying anything, which wasn't surprising, however Pinkie was unusually silent, and looking at the ground with her mane covering her face . Applejack noticed this and turned to her.

"Pinkie, why are y'all bein' so quiet? You're usually also buzzin' bout somethin'."

Pinkie looked up at her friends with tears in her eyes. "I'm supposed to bring ponies smiles at my parties, not make them run off to the bathroom and cry." Pinkie was fighting back her tears, and her mane deflated, becoming flat and straight.

"Come on girls, we need to go check on Skate." Twilight told her friends. The five of them made their way through the room, trotting around the dancing ponies. After pushing through the large group of ponies, they finally got to the door. Twilight stopped in front of the door and turned to her friends. They nodded to her, telling her to open the door. Twilight pushed the door open and the five ponies trotted into the dark room. They couldn't see anything, but they heard the soft, quiet sobs of a mare. Applejack flipped the magic light switch, causing light to flood into the room. The five ponies gasped when they saw Skate, who was quietly crying into her hooves in the corner of them room. Her face was covered by her mane, and her chest was soaked from tears. Skate's wings were twitching slightly, and jolted every other minute.

Fluttershy teared up at the sight, and Pinkie refused to look at Skate, guilt washing over her. Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged a nervous glance, as Twilight started to slowly trot to Skate. She stopped a few feet away from Skate and opened her mouth to speak. But she closed it, not sure what to say. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Twilight put a hoof to her chin and tried to think of something to say. She finally managed to speak.

"Skate, what happened?" Twilight asked with much worry in her voice. Skate pulled her hooves away from her face, and blew her mane to the side, fully exposing both her eyes and her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her face was soaked with tears. Skate looked up at Twilight with a grim, dark expression.

Skate sniffled and wiped the tears away from her eyes with her hooves. "N-n-nothing. I'm f-fine." She lied while stuttering. Twilight was not convinced at all. Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to finally trot to the two mares, but Fluttershy was still fighting back tears and Pinkie Pie was still silent, looking at the ground next to Fluttershy.

"Y'all were just crying yer eyes out. Seriously, whats wrong sugar cube?" Applejack asked Skate. Skate stood up, her legs wobbly.

"I'm fine!" Skate blurted out, raising her voice. She saw a slight look of hurt come across Applejack's face and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm..." She paused, trying to figure out what she wanted to say.

I can't tell them, I just can't. Not now. Skate thought to herself.

"I'm not fine, but I can't talk about it." Skate paused again, fighting back her need to cry again. "I just can't. Please, just respect me when I say its too painful to talk about. Can we just forget about it?"

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight eyed their new friend worryingly. They knew something was seriously wrong with Skate, but as much as they wanted to protest, they decided to respect her request.

"Okay, but we're taking you out to dinner. No buts." Rainbow Dash firmly said. Skate wanted to say no, but she was really hungry. Dancing and crying her insides out made her pretty hungry. Her stomach agreed as it growled loudly.

"Okay. But I do not want to talk about this, understood? Its just....its just too h-hard." Skate struggled to say. The three mares walked over to Pinkie and Fluttershy and informed them of the dinner plan. Fluttershy managed to snap out of her state, however Pinkie was still uncharacteristically quiet.

"Y'all wait here, Ah'll go tell th' guests the party's over." Applejack told the five ponies. Applejack trotted into the next room, and a few moments later she came back out as the music stopped and it grew very quiet.

"Lets go." And with that, the five mares silently walked out of Sugar Cube Corner, and down the street to one of Ponyville's cafes. On their way, Skate started to softly cry again, and Rainbow Dash attempted to comfortingly wrap her wing around Skate. However, Skate flew out of Rainbow Dash's grip, and said nothing as she forced her tears back. Rainbow was slightly hurt by Skate's reaction, but quickly put her confident, cocky face back on. As they were approaching the cafe, they ran into Rarity, walking in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner.

"Oh hello girls! I just finished my recent project and was making my way to Sugar Cube Cor-" Rarity stopped as she looked at Skate. "Oh my! Darling, whats wrong with you?" Rarity gasped.

When Skate continued to stare at the ground without saying a word, Twilight informed Rarity. "When Pinkie brought out alcohol to put in the punch, something happened with Skate. She ran to the bathroom and we found her in the front room of Sugar Cube Corner crying. When we asked what was wrong, she said it was too painful to talk about, so we, er, Rainbow decided we were going to take Skate out to dinner."

Rarity nodded, indicating she understood. They continued to walk toward the cafe, still not saying anything. They eventually arrived at the cafe and took a seat at one of the tables. Rarity attempted to start a conversation, but failed when Skate didn't say anything. She hid her face behind her mane, and said nothing. The seven ponies sat in awkward silence, waiting for the waitress to come take their order. When the waitress asked Skate what she wanted, she said "A hay sandwich" in a barely audible whisper.

The pony's food arrived, and they slowly ate their food. Skate didn't touch her sandwich, she didn't even look up the entire time they were in the cafe. After a few minutes of silent eating, Twilight gulped and decided to ask Skate the question all the element bearers wanted to ask.

"Skate, please tell us whats bothering you." Twilight pleaded.

Skate, without looking up, replied with more malice than she intended. "Nothing."

"Come on Skate, we can't help ya if ya don't tell us whats th' matter." Applejack said.

"Yeah, come on we can help you." Rainbow Dash added. Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded in agreement.

Skate finally looked up, and revealed her wet, red face. "I SAID NOTHING! JUST STOP ASKING!" She hissed in anger. She stood up and galloped out of the cafe towards her home. The six ponies still there sat in shock with their mouths wide open. They were completely taken back by Skate's outburst. Pinkie Pie started to softly cry, her guilt finally getting the best of her.

Skate ran down the streets of Ponyville. On the way, Lyra and Bon Bon were walking back to their home while looking up at the gorgeous night sky. Luna had created a very beautiful night, trillions of stars dotted the sky making it already bright without the full moon. Skate and the two mares didn't see each other and Skate slammed right into Lyra, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Sorry." Skate muttered and she quickly got up and continued to gallop to her house, ignoring the stinging pain in her chest. Bon Bon helped Lyra get up and brush off the dust from the ground.

"Are you okay Lyra?" Bon Bon asked her marefriend while helping her up.

"Yeah, but I don't think Skate is. She looked like she was crying." Lyra answered. "Lets just go home, she probably wants to be alone. We'll most likely just piss her off if we go to her." Bon Bon reluctantly agreed as the couple continued to walk home.

Skate rushed down the rest of the street, and ran up the steps of her porch. She nearly knocked her door off of its hinges as she pushed through the door and slammed it closed behind her, locking it. She put her back against the door, and slowly slid down the door. When her rear end hit the ground, Skate let all her emotion out. Bawling, screaming, and shaking in a horrible mix of anger, sadness, and depression, Skate drained it all out. The memory from the flashback replayed in her mind, and her fathers voice haunted her ears again. Eventually she weakly stood up, and walked to her desk in her bedroom where a blank piece of paper and a quill and ink well were waiting for her. Skate quickly wrote a letter for Princess Silver Dream, not caring that her tears were getting all over the letter. She quickly rolled it up and tied it, then ran to the post office. She threw the scroll and bits on the counter and galloped back to her home.

She arrived back and jumped into her bed. She got under the covers and curled up into a ball, and she eventually cried herself to sleep, and horrible nightmares invaded her already restless sleep.

I'm broken.