Can Make a New Whole Again
Marble always thought that things would get better when Sunset came home. From ‘73 to ‘77, every Friday, Sunset had kept sending letters from the front lines. Much had changed through the years, the fighting always seemed to get worse and worse. Everyday, the news kept talking about how horrific the fighting was how the bombing was going up as quick as the death rate. Every night images of mangled men, women, and ponies alike filled the black and white screen, names kept being announced time and time again of those who would never come home.
Everynight that happened, she felt compelled to shut off the television that her sisters were watching, run up the stairs, and read intently from the bible, reading again and again passage after passage to ease herself. She kept repeating to herself, in her mind, again and again, It won’t be Sunset, she’s too smart to die, God will protect her in that forsaken land, miles away from home.
She kept herself busy of course, she spent much of her time catching up in school and then once she had her GED she continued to study even more. Even with all of the chaos in her life, there was one path of clarity she felt, one where she was compelled to follow, now free from the confines of her community. And in the times where she wasn’t studying, she was with Pinkie working at the Sweet Shoppe, tending to the customers and at times being behind the scenes doing the baking.
She tensed up everytime the news came on the radio however. When that happened Mrs. Cake with a quiet nod sympathetically allowed Marble to take a little breather if she needed it. Most days she’d just push through it, trying to shut out the news like blinkers on a horse.
After a while, Marble got lost in the flow of time, and years began to melt away, she’d wake up, pray, get dressed, go to school, work, go home, eat, read any letters that arrived, then go to bed. Along the way, Sunset’s friends, she guessed they were her friends as well at this point, supported her along the way. She rejected it at first, God gave her this challenge for a reason. As the months wore on and the dread and stress nearly overwhelmed her however, she finally allowed Sunset’s friends to help her in her time of need. And so the years went by, Marble lived her life, and Sunset seemed to face and overcome challenge after challenge in the crazy war.
Until she got a letter, one autumn day in 1977.
Sunset was coming home.
Four long years of anxiously waiting, and Sunset had survived, the war was over, and Sunset, by either sheer luck or the helping hand of God, had survived long enough to see it to the end and go home. And so Marble waited some more, anxiously counting the days until she could have her beloved once again.
The day finally arrived, she, Pinkie, Maude, and all of their friends had decided to go with her to give the largest homecoming to end all homecomings. Marble waited with bated breath as she started to see men and women in different styles of clothing come through the gate. Marble could hardly even make out a single person in the giant mass of humanity.
Suddenly, a flash of light blue appeared in the crowd, accompanied by red and golden hair. A thrill rushed through Marble, what started out as butterflies in her stomach turned into tingling stars which shot out from her heart to her toes as she everything went silent around her, and she ran towards the light blue and ginger mass.
She barely registered a yelp as she gripped her beloved tightly. She was finally safe in her arms. “Sunset!” Marble squeaked out, leaning in and nuzzling into the warmth of her neck, “You’re finally home!” She felt Sunset tense up, refusing to relax. Mable let go and looked back up, Sunset looked different somehow. She was blushing sure, that was to be expected now that Marble realized she was doing something intimate in such a public space. But something was off, she was pale as a sheet, as if she was terrified, frightened.
Marble unclasped her hands around Sunset’s torso and stuttered, “O-Oh, S-Sorry Sunset. I-It’s just been so long, a-and I couldn’t help myself and… and…”
Sunset simply stood there, frozen in seeming thought before she shook her head and said, “M-Marble?” she croaked out. “Marble is that you? What are you doing out here? Pinkie said-”
“That we were going to pick you up.” Marble finished for her, “She invited me and all of our friends to come along as well.”
Sunset looked past Marble to look at the large group of people behind Pinkie, all of them smiling in recognition and giving little waves. A beat or two passed, Sunset’s gaze returned to Marble, who slunk back, staring at her shoes and digging the toes into the carpet. “L-Like I said, I got too carried away and-”
Marble felt the tight warmth of a hug as Sunset wrapped her arms around Marble, returning the hug, “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Sunset whispered into Marble’s ear, “It’s great to be back home.” She let go of Marble, “Now let’s go to the welcoming party, I didn’t realize I’d have a ticker tape parade and everything.” Marble giggled at Sunsets jest as they walked back to the group, sunset’s duffle in Marble’s hand.
In a true Pinkie fashion, a large party was held to celebrate Sunset’s return. The sheer size and scale of the party would’ve had anyone assume that Pinkie invited the entire town. The festivities had went well into the night, as music and dancing and sweets galore were handed out by the score, one of the many perks of being a part of an ex-Amish family.
Despite the tingling activity and warmth though, the main guest of honor herself seemed to keep to herself for most of the night as Marble noticed. Sunset had for most of the night kept to herself to a corner, taking a sip from the same bottle of cider that hours before, she had jokingly proclaimed it was one of the most treasured things she missed. She kept turning down offers to dance, or to talk, and when she had questions like, “What was Equestria like?” She simply replied, “It was its same, sunny self.”
Though it certainly brought the mood of the party down, Marble simply shrugged it off as she went off to get another tray of cookies. She’s probably just tired. Marble thought, I heard from friends it takes 18 hours for people to travel across the sea. And so Marble went on with her night, letting Sunset get some time alone and some much needed rest.
Sunset began to settle down into normal life as the week passed. All of the experience she had organizing and pushing papers enticed the Cakes to hire her on to take care of their records and booking, much to Marble’s secret delight. And for the most part, it seemed like Sunset had finally warmed back up to being closed to her her friends again. She and Sunset still went on the occasional date.
Under all of the surface level small talk however, were various mannerisms which Marble found odd. Though Sunset talked to people, she didn’t talk to them. She tried to give the minimum and then end any further talk. At times she focused on doing her work alone. When they were out on their dates, or working Sunset would also be extra cautious, looking behind her, looking at both ways on the street intently, staring intently at customers who were loitering too long in the Sweet Shoppe.
Though Marble found it a little rude, she chalked up Sunset’s adversity to socializing as simply a want to get back to work to get things done. Marble herself could empathize with that since she was brought up to have a good work ethic. It still put her off that she would keep to herself during breaks as well, but perhaps she was just that into her work. The latter cautiousness Marble concluded was just Sunset’s desire to keep everyone safe, Marble, Pinkie, the Cakes, maybe even the Sweet Shoppe itself.
As the months progressed though, Marble began to notice more oddities Sunset had picked up since she came back from Equestria. Oftentimes she found the bed shaking as Sunset left the bed, claiming she just needed to take a walk, coming back a few minutes later to the encompassing warmth of Marble’s arms, only to leave again for different reasons. Marble simply concluded that Sunset was just restless, certainly there were a lot more fantastic and amazing things over in Equestria compared to the monotony of Canterlot. She’ll probably settle down into the ‘slow life’ in a few months or so. Marble thought or so.
Sunset seemed to have a sort of aversion of enclosed spaces as well. She would always freeze up when she had to take inventory of the ingredients and baking supplies they had left over, almost hesitant to go in there. Marble agreed to go in there for her to count the stocks while Sunset kept record of how much of what they had. It became more of a problem when she avoided specifically going through underpasses and tunnels, oftentimes when she and Marble rode on her motorcycle she would take a detour if she ever encountered a tunnel. Although Marble found it odd, she didn’t question it, she just assumed it came with the territory of being cautious.
And though Marble initially thought that things would change when Sunset came back, things rather went back to the routine she had before Sunset returned, with the exception of the odd date or two. However, even that seemed to have become a rarity, Sunset just seemed to be more quiet, more distant, as if she was off in her own little world, reminding Marble of Pinkie when she was younger, growing up in an Amish household where she was constantly admonished for dazing out while working.
Then came one winter night, Marble was curled up against her lover under the covers as snow fell outside the window. Nothing stirred for the most part when Marble fell asleep in Sunset’s arms. But just as she was beginning to dream of the Christmas they would be spending together as lovers, a shrill, loud scream tore through her unconsciousness. Immediately she jolted back awake, Marble sat up on the bed and turned to face a crying Sunset, whimpering and hidden behind layers of arm and pajama sleeves. “I’m sorry.” She croaked out, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Marble froze up, her joints felt rusted as she tried to comprehend what was happening and what she should do. She didn’t have to deal with things like this before. When she was with Sunset, she was often at her best, a happy go-lucky girl who had the resilience of David against Goliath. She never saw such despair coming from anyone, not from someone as stoic as Maud or as happy as Pinkie, or as aggressive as Limestone, nor from her parents. And she was already an outcast to begin with when she was still in the order. A quiet little girl who only came out during mass and who seldom hung out with the rest of the children. After a few beats of pause, Marble took a leap of faith, she didn’t know what was happening to Sunset, or why it was happening to her, or how to even cope with it, but she still had to do something.
Tentatively, Marble reached out with a shaking hand and moved to touch her shoulder. Sunset flinched and turned violently towards Marble, staring wide eyed at her, as if she was analyzing her. “S-Sunset? It’s me, Marble.”
Sunset looked up and down at Marble, her eyes squinted, as if she was scrutinizing every little detail, as if one wrong hair or one crinkle, and she wasn’t the Amish girl she fell in love with. After a few tense minutes, Sunset broke down again, and collapsed into Marble’s arms. By the time Pinkie and Maud came bursting through the bedroom door, armed to the teeth with pans, rolling pins, and party cannons, Sunset herself jolting fear, but was still being held close to Marble’s chest, as she stroked her hair and stared at her sisters, eyes wide with fear at what she could not comprehend. It’s was just a nightmare right? Just one nightmare.
It didn’t let up. Sunset kept getting up at odd hours of the night, often times she’d claim to be doing something, she’d often walk around their home, and at times around their yard, claiming she heard something. She kept her distance from anyone, especially from anyone she didn’t know, and much to her worry, Sunset kept having night terrors, she kept waking up abruptly, sometimes screaming, sometimes crying. Though all of those things made Marble begin to worry as time went on, what hurt her was the fact that she didn’t know. She didn’t know what was going on, why this was happening, how to stop it, or what happened over there that made Sunset act like this. When Marble tried to broach the subject the day after her first nightmare, Sunset simply said it was just something she remembered during the war, and it was nothing to worry about.
She felt helpless. Sunset was hurting, but she didn’t want to admit it, she didn’t know what to do. And so, Marble did what she thought best, she took out her Bible and prayed. If she couldn’t know the answers, God will give her the answers, in some shape or form.
At least, she hoped so.
Sunset had become more distant as time went on. She hardly spoke to anyone. When they had friends come over, she barely spoke to them, especially if they asked for any particular details about her time back in Equestria. She hardly even spoke to Marble or her sisters. Though it still gave her comfort that Sunset still saw her as a person to turn to, she still felt her heart strings tug at her as Sunset kept quiet about the things she had done to make her act this way.
At times she’d go and talk with Applejack, one of their friends. Though Applejack admitted they mainly sat there, drinking cider and taking a look at the view the orchard provided them, Applejack also added the fact that she was a no-nonsense type of girl who spoke the truth when she needed to might’ve been the appeal Sunset felt to compel her to go to Sweet Apple Acres. Even then though, she still voiced out that Sunset was just as closed up about her time in Equestria as ever. “She may trust me, Marble, but it looks like even that ain’t enough for her to open up.” Applejack said as she took a bite from an apple fritter that Marble had handed to her as she was baking as they always did on the few times Marble visited. “Probably thinks I wouldn’t understand any of it if I tried.”
“What do ya mean?” Marble asked, as she set the tray of apple fritters aside, giving a stringent glare at an encroaching Apple Bloom as a warning not to touch the hot pastry before looking back at her older sister. “She’s already told me a few things about Equestria, about the ponies and creatures who lived there. Wouldn’t she have said anything about it to you?”
Applejack shook her head, “Sunset didn’t really talk much about her past before she came here, we did get the one odd visitor from Equestria though from time to time, someone named, Starfright Glitter or someone like that? Even then she didn’t really say much other than she was Princess Twilight’s student, same as Sunset.” Applejack replied as she stowed away some of the dry ingredients into the cupboards.
Marble’s heart sank. She really did think Sunset had really found someone to talk to, even if it wasn’t her. Applejack walked up to Marble and clapped her shoulder, causing Marble to jolt back up to look at the earnest apple farmer. “Look sugarcube, I’m as worried about Sunset as you are. And we both agree that it has something to with what she did in Equestria. War does that to people sometimes. What she may have told you about Equestria may have changed by the time she got there.” She let go of Marble’s shoulder and sighed, “Trouble is, she needs her time an’ space to figure things out until she feels comfortable to talk about it. You understand that, sugarcube?”
“J-Ja… I guess.” Marble whispered as she dug her shoe clad tow against the floorboards. “I-It’s just, I feel so useless when she’s hurting like this. She’s been there for me when I was growing and finding herself, I can’t I do the same for her? She can’t keep going like this.”
Applejack nipped her lip and looked to the side as she lost herself in thought. “Maybe you could find someone who also went to Equestria. Then she might trust ‘em enough because they’ve been through similar hooey and open up a little more a little sooner.”
“Ya think that would work?” Marble asked as she glanced at the clock, checking to see if the apple fritters were good enough to eat yet. “S-Sunset’s been keeping to herself a lot more lately, she doesn’t seem to trust anyone.”
Applejack sighed, “Maybe, maybe not. The bottom line is sugarcube, that it’s at least somethin’.”
Applejack was right, Sunset wasn’t going to open up anytime soon. And she still kept getting nightmares. Something happened to her, and Marble needed to know. If not maybe at least find an outing before she does something to herself that’ll not only hurt her, but Marble as well.
And so Marble left the door of Sweet Apple Acres with a new set of determination to find someone for Sunset to talk to.
Try as she might, finding someone for Sunset to talk to was easier said than done. Although there were a lot of people that had left to go to fight, no that many of them were quite open to saying they were.
The nearest Veteran’s Affairs hospital was an hour away, too much time to put aside with balancing work and school. Besides, Sunset was adamant about not going. “There’s nothing wrong with me, I don’t have a broken back or anything.” she said as her main line of reasoning. Marble’s voice caught in her throat as she hesitated to counter Sunset’s reassurances with her concerns regarding her nightmares.
She’d tried the Veterans of Foreign Wars club that was downtown, but she was a little nervous about going in herself. Mainly because of the fact that she didn’t know what she would be getting herself into and how it would turn out. Marble was quickly running out of options as quickly as Pinkie’s Marzipan Madness that one time at a baking contest.
She was at her wit’s end by the end of the week, and decided to clear her mind by going to mass on sunday. She walked into the simple, white building with quiet gait and sat at one of the few pews left open. For the next few hours, Marble followed along with the prayers and chants, focusing intently on what she should do next, and blocking out the background noise both in her head, and around her.
She looked over the other parishioners as she stood up when mass ended and a rush a familiarity and at the same time, a rush of hope surged through her as she recognized one of the parishioners and remembered a certain facet about them. Twilight mentioned she had a big brother, and from what Marble could gather with the few interactions she had with him, he was an upstanding man, someone who went to church to set an example for his baby daughter and who was one of the best police sergeants on the Canterlot City Police force.
What clicked for her was the fact that Twilight had mentioned she had similar twinge of longing when Marble opened up about her anxiety when Sunset was still in Equestria. “My brother decided to join the Army when he was young.” Twilight explained. “When he went to Vietnam, I was so worried for him, Cadence was too for a point, but he was someone I looked up to when I was growing up, I wouldn’t know what to if he never made it home.”
This must be god’s plan, Marble thought, For me to know someone who might be able to understand Sunset’s suffering and end it. She quickly resolved herself to gather her courage, and with the confidence of a christian crusader, she approached Shining Armor. The man in question of course, brightened his face as he saw one of his little sister’s friends walk up to her. “Marble, what a pleasant surprise. You look like you’re on a mission.”
Marble shyly glanced to her left, a little flustered. She calmed herself down with a quiet sigh and looked up to Shining. “Y-You could say that.” She played with her fingers as she addressed the elephant in her room. “U-Um, is it okay if we talk in private, Mr. Armor? I-It’s something rather personal that I don’t want the other parishioners to know.”
Shining Armor nodded, “Of course, I’m all ears, especially if it’s for one of Twily’s friends.” And so the two ambled their way off to near the edge of the forest. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? Is it a friendship problem? Did Twily come up with another crazy experiment again? Did Spike burn one of my comic books?”
Marble’s eyes widened in apt confusion at the oddly specific situations.
Shining Armor chuckled, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” he regained his serious composure, “It looks to be more serious than that, what’s wrong Marble?”
“U-Umm… well…” Marble trailed off, “Twilight mentioned you were in Vietnam for a time.” Shining Armor nodded solemnly. “What was it like when you went home?” Marble blurted out without any thought. Blushing at how blunt she asked. She knew the subject was a touchy one at best with most people, but she needed answers.
Though Shining was a little taken aback with Marble’s question, he paused to think for a bit before he replied. “The homecoming wasn’t exactly a warm one, I kinda had to change out of my uniform in the airport bathroom when I arrived since the war was so unpopular at the time.” He picked up a stone and took a good look around it as he continued, “You probably wouldn’t believe this, but I felt an extreme sense of relief and guilt at the same time as I flew back home.”
“Hmm?”
Shining paused for a bit, almost hesitant to say whatever he wanted to say to Marble. “I made a lot of good friends while I was over there. Even though I had their addresses and everything if we wanted to stay in touch, I felt like I didn’t do as much as I should’ve over there. I began to worry for them, I got to go home while they had to stay there, risking their lives in a strange land, it just didn’t seem right.” He stared at a particular spot on the stone, “Are you sure you want to know some more of this?” Marble nodded. And so Shining Armor bit his lip as he began to formulate a response, before he uttered his own accounts,
“A lot of crazy stuff happened while I was there, and I lost as many friends as I gained. It was worse as I climbed up the ranks, people’s lives were in my hands. When there were reports of casualties, it was just more blood on my hands.” he sighed, “Kinda the reason why I hated to write the casualty reports to be honest. All of that baggage followed me home. I started to feel restless, I’d even patrol the house once or twice.” He gave a bitter chuckle “Kinda scared my wife when that first happened.” Shining looked over to Marble, “What made you want to ask something like that?”
Marble flushed as she looked down at the ground. “Promise you won’t tell anyone about this if you don’t need to?”
Shining Armor nodded, “Anything for my little sister’s friend.”
Marble took a deep breath and sighed, “S-Sunset’s been acting strange since she came home.”
Shining Armor raised his eyebrows in curiosity, “Oh?”
Marble nodded, “Some of the things you mentioned, she does sometimes, she also has nightmares, and she seems to act paranoid around other people.”
Shining nodded in understanding, “She just came home from Equestria, right?”
Another nod.
“There was pretty intense fighting out there if I remember correctly, especially near the end of it.”
“But Sunset always wrote to me saying she was safe and nothing had hurt her… why would she be acting like this.”
Shining paused to think for a bit, “Based from what I saw on the news quite often, Equestria isn’t too different from Vietnam, there isn’t a set frontline in many cases. Could be she was writing what she wrote to keep you from getting worried.”
“B-But, why? I-I’m Sunset’s lo-” Marble paused to rephrase what would’ve been a Freudian slip. “Closest friend, wouldn’t she be able to trust me with everything?”
“You know how sometimes some of the letters you received were blacked out in some parts?” Marble nodded.
“Oftentimes the army would leave out some parts for security reasons or because it might disturb whoever reads it. Even if Sunset wanted to, she probably couldn’t.” Shining tossed the stone further into the woods. “Or maybe she thought you just wouldn’t understand what was going on over there. Have you watched the news about what happened in Equestria?”
“I…” Marble paused, “I tried to, but it looked too gruesome, and it made me worry about Sunset even more, I just eventually stopped watching because I was afraid of what was going to happen.”
Shining nodded, “Seeing it in black and white behind a screen is one thing, actually experiencing it is another.”
“B-But I want to understand!” Marble exclaimed, tears starting to form around her eyes, it wasn’t louder than a half tried shout, but it was something, “Sunset’s hurting and it’s getting worse and I don’t know what to do.” Marble broke down crying as her heart sank into the deep, dark bowels of despair. Shining wrapped his arms around Marble, and rubbed her back if it worked for Twilight, it worked for Marble.
“Tell you what,” Shining started, “Let me talk to Sunset, she’ll probably open herself more if she knows the person she’s talking to went through the same things, right?”
Marble nodded as she hiccupped. “A-Applejack said something similar, i-it was why I thought of asking you.”
Shining Armor nodded, “I see.” Shining Armor let go of Marble momentarily, dug his right hand through his left breast pocket, and handed her a CCPD business card, “When Sunset’s ready, you can call me through here, and I can talk to her about anything, does that sound good?” Marble nodded, sniffing as she tried to recompose herself.
“Th-Thank you.”
Shining Armor smiled, “Don’t mention it, us veterans have to stick together you know.” Marble nodded.
By the time Sunset came back to pick Marble up, she felt relieved with a piece of mind, and a plan. Just like that, she didn’t feel so helpless anymore.
“You did what!?” Sunset yelled, causing Marble to jerk back in absolute fear.
“I-I’m sorry! I just wanted to help! I-I thought… I thought-”
“You thought. You thought!? Marble! This is my own problem! I can deal with it myself!” Sunset paced around their room angrily and with increased tempo, as if she was a tiger trapped in a small cage.
It might as well be one at this point.
“I-I know…” Marble whimpered, “I-it’s just, you’ve been having nightmares every night, I-I didn’t know what to do, I felt so helpless and-”
“And that made you want to talk to the cops!?” Marble flinched and cringed internally.
“Sh-Shining Armor is more than that and you know it!”
“The hell he is! He’ll just think I’m crazy and send me to the loony bin! Do you know what they do to crazies Marble!?” Sunset exclaimed as she inched closer to Marble to the point where she was shouting straight in her face.
“I-It won’t be like that Sunset!” Marble whimpered out, she felt her eyes water at this point.
Sunset’s face darkened, and a cold chill ran down Marble’s spine, “No, no it won’t be.” Time slowed down for Marble as everything passed by in a blur, and soon she found herself in the dark. A-Am I dead? Is this purgatory? Marble felt around, and soon her fingertips were met with the familiar, soft warmth of one of her wool shawls that she knitted one winter’s afternoon No… just my closet. Marble concluded. She turned towards where she thought the door would be, and tried to push it open, only for it to not budge. Her heart began to race as she struggled to open the door. “H-Help! Someone open up!” Marble yelled. She banged on the door with her fists in a desperate attempt to be heard. Why would Sunset do this? Marble thought, Sunset wasn’t this paranoid, not with anyone, ever. She then remembered the dark stare Sunset gave her, as if she was a barnyard cat cornering a mouse.
Something wasn’t right with Sunset, she wasn’t the same, warm girl she got to know in the months leading up to her deployment. This Sunset was cold, fearful, cautious. Beautiful, fierce, unstoppable. Marble began to break down, crying, My god, what if she gets herself hurt? Why did I ask for help? Why am I so useless? Marble shook as she cried, shivering and a multitude of scenarios ran through her mind. I-I can’t let her keep going like this, she needs help. She thought. She clasped her hands, and shakily began to pray.
Suddenly, she heard some furniture moving, and light temporarily blinded her before she met the familiar, curly hair of her sister. “M-Marble what-” before Pinkie could finish her question, Marble bolted off and ran to the rotary phone that was sitting in the hallway, she knew what to do. As much as it tore her heart to do so, she knew what she needed to do.
It was a tense two hours as the Pie sisters, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy waited in the living room. To everyone’s relief, Sunset came back with Shining Armor, unharmed. Shining Explained to Marble what had happened, about how he and Sunset had a little talk about their experiences. Marble, for the most part, was right. Sunset needed help, and now she was getting it. Even if it wasn’t necessarily from her.
Things returned to normal relatively, but with one key difference that caused Marble to ache even more, even with Sunset’s slow healing. More and more Sunset had begun to hang out more with Shining and his group of friends, all veterans either from Vietnam or from Equestria, or at times even both.
While Marble still calmed Sunset down or woke her up whenever she had nightmares, and she continued to whisper sweet nothings to make Sunset feel better, or kissed her to let her know she was still there, it hurt her the fact that she was starting to feel a growing distance between herself and Sunset.
It was to be expected when Marble walked into their room months later to find Sunset packing up her belongings.
“S-Sunset?”
“Mmmh?” Sunset looked up from her boxes and gave a tired smile, “Oh, hey Marble.”
“Hallo.” Marble said, blushing, she never was able to fully get rid of her Pennsylvanian Dutch accent. She looked over the assortment of clothing spread out from Sunset’s rucksack. “What are you doing?”
Sunset’s smile fell into a frown as she sighed. “Can we talk?”
Marble nodded, “I’ve always been open to you, nothing’s changed.”
Sunset nodded, she leaned against the wall, and slid down until she sat firmly on the ground. She patted the spot next to her and gave a small smile, as if she was halfheartedly trying to reassure both herself, and Marble. Marble obliged, walking over to Sunset and leaning into her, resting her head onto her lap.
“I… I haven’t been honest with you….” Sunset began. “There were a lot of things I saw over there… Stuff I wanted to forget” Sunset paused only for Marble to nod into her lap to let her know to go on. “I-I’ve heard other guys had it before, back in the states, but I always thought that it wouldn’t be me, that I’ve already been through enough of tartarus to not be fazed by any of it anymore. Boy was I wrong”
Sunset sighed, “I-I think you’ve noticed, but I haven’t been the same person I was since I came back here… I don’t think I ever will.” Marble nodded, and Sunset continued, “And to top off all the baggage I brought along, you had to suffer seeing me go through all of this, knowing something’s wrong, but not knowing what. Even when I denied it and thought I could take care of it.” She stroked marble’s smooth hair, “And yet you never gave up, you tried to find any sort of help, at all costs, even when I could've… could’ve... “ Sunset paused, leaving any implications unsaid.
A few beats of silence ran until Sunset broke it again, “You saved me you know?”
“Mmf?” Marble mumbled, as she looked up at Sunset, taking in the radiant glow of her red hair.
“If you didn’t reach out to anyone like you did I… I… well, let’s just say I felt alone and my mind wandered to some dark places.”
Sunset paused and sighed. “Marble, there were a lot of things I saw and went through, some of it I don’t believe myself much less someone so sheltered like you.”
A pang of guilt ran through Marble’s heart, as the message she’s heard over and over again was uttered once more, “I-I know, but…”
“But?” Sunset asked, waiting for Marble to finish her sentence.
Marble sat up and leaned into Sunset, wrapping her arms around her tightly and nuzzling into her, “I-I still want to try to understand at least. I know that you’ve changed, and you probably won’t be the same person after what you’ve been through, but I want to try to know why. I hate it when you get hurt, Sunset…” Marble whispered. “I-It just makes me feel so… so useless.”
Sunset shakily sighed, “I know, Marble, I know…” Sunset began to tear up, “Which is why I feel like I need to go.”
“But why?” Marble asked, feeling her heart begin to tug at her very soul as she felt her eyes begin to flood. “Why do you need to go? I don’t care about what changed, I want to be with you, I want to help you, to stop hurting.” Marble struggled not to cry on Sunset’s jeans, “I already said I wanted to try to understand.”
Sunset’s heart broke as she saw Marble struggling not to cry, she was still being strong despite what was going to happen. “I-I know Marble, and it just makes me feel even more guilty that I still feel like I can’t talk about it to you. I-I don’t even know where I stand anymore…” Sunset felt hot, wet tears begin to fall from her cheeks, she tried in futility to stem them. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from talking to Shining and some of the other vets, it’s that you need to find yourself, and be at peace with yourself before you can move on, and right now, I need to find myself before I can be at peace.”
“But why can’t you do it with me?” Marble asked as more tears began to overwhelm her.
“I-It’s just, I think I need some space right now. It’s bad enough I felt like I couldn’t be honest with you, even after all you’ve done to help me... I feel like I can’t continue being with you before I get my bearings before I set things right.”
Marble nodded “I-I understand.” she knew it was going to happen, the distance between Sunset and her had grown since she came home.
It still didn’t stop it from hurting.
Sunset held Marble tighter, “I just need to take a break from things for now I still want to be with you, and I’ll come back to you when I’ve finally figured things out.”
Marble began to sob, “I know Sunset, I know.” her sobbing turned into crying as the full weight of the situation hit her. “I-I’ll miss you so much.”
“I know Marble… I’ll miss you too.”
It was hot and humid the day Sunset got ready to leave. She wasn’t taking everything with her, she decided that she would leave many of the things she didn’t need for the time being in Marble’s room. She did promise to come back after all. The Pie sisters, the Cakes, the Apples, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Cadence, Shining Armor, Rarity, and Fluttershy crowded around Sunset, giving her hugs and well wishes. After all was said and done, Sunset led Marble away from the group. “So…” Sunset started.
“Jah…”
“This is goodbye…” Sunset continued.
Marble nodded, tears started to well up again, the Amish girl abruptly wrapped her arms around Sunset. “We’ll see each other again, won’t we?”
“I promise.”
“Cross your heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?” Marble whimpered.
Sunset nodded. “I-It won’t be forever you know… I just need space… for the time being.”
“I know…” Marble choked up, “But it doesn’t make it hurt any less…" Marble looked Sunset over, "D-do you have our phone number?”
Sunset patted her breast pocket.
Marble looked back up to Sunset for a moment, staring at her blue eyes, they were different somehow, they weren’t filled with laughter anymore, but they weren’t filled with sadness either, they were just a dull shade of blue. Sunset needed this, she knew. And even when Sunset reassured her she’ll do her best not to get herself hurt, she was still a little worried, but she knew writing on the wall when she knew it, and if Sunset needed to find herself so she could feel confident to be with her again, she’ll give her that chance.
She leaned in and locked lips with the redhead one final time, dragging it out as long as possible so she could savor it, remember it. After they broke off for air, Marble hiccupped again. “May God guide you to what you seek, and may we hope to see each other again.”
Sunset nodded “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
It was hot, and humid the day Sunset left. Her Honda roared as it drove down the street, into the great beyond. Nearby, a dove begins to leave her nest, her mother perched in it as she leaves the nest for the first time, flying off into the distance, into the wild blue yonder. A half may not be its old whole again, but a half can build a new whole.
Author's Note
And so here I am, once again... It's been a long while since I posted a story here. Anyways, this is then end of the Sunset/Marble series I've got going on... for now. I'm currently busy with college and as you can expect, not a lot of stories will be churned out anytime soon. But rest assured, I'll still be here even when the show ends.
Many thanks to Oroboro for giving us many years of Sunset shipping goodness, and three good competitions for us to show our love for Sunset. I also thank our judges for taking the time to read each of our stories.
Also many thanks for the people who've supported me along the way. I hope you guys enjoy the many stories to come.
