Author's Note

As If We Weren't Fucked Enough Already...

XVIII - The Shatter

"Ah shit!"

"What?! What?!"

"Pinkie!?"

"Hi!"

Noah awoke in a cold sweat. His back laid against one of the corners of the ring. In front of him was Pinkie Pie. She'd supposedly gotten him off the floor, face flat, and attempted to wake him up. Though she succeeded, Noah appeared shaken.

"Why are ya screaming?" She asked

"Why are you so close to my face?!" He replied.

Pinkie Pie shrugged, "I dunno. It looked like you got knocked out, so I helped ya!"

"Okay... where are the others?" Pinkie Pie grabbed his face, stood him up, and pointed him to the others. "Don't worry, you were only out for like five minutes. And your friends for some reason went to the girls without you! Isn't that exciting!?"

"Well yeah, but I'd prefer if those jackoffs came to help me first." Pinkie Pie let go of Noah's face and he vaulted over the ringside, Pinkie Pie following cheerfully behind.

"So you were the one on the walkie talkie?" Noah heard Rainbow Dash ask for confirmation. As he got closer to his friends, his original friends came into his sight, and Jain stood before Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, and you're welcome too. Otherwise, you would've lost these stupid games and died. And nobody wants to see a pretty rainbow mix with blood. It's pretty damn disturbing."

"So you were worried about me dying on the track, huh?"

Jain reddened, "Don't get it twisted."

"Hey! What the hell guys?!" Noah spoke up as he approached his friends, both old and new. "I fall unconscious in front of some negro named Firecracker, and y'all just leave me there? That's how it is?"

Rarity took off her helmet, "Well Noah darling, we would've been there in no time at all without a doubt, but your friends approached us first. It's quite different from the norm considering it's usually only you who approaches."

"Okay negro, is everybody all right though? While I was boxing, I heard that some weird plant tentacle monster had shot out of a portal out from Twilight's compass thing."

Rainbow Dash grinned, "Hah, we're better than all right! We won!" Sunset removed her helmet, "Yeah, we won, but somebody could've been seriously hurt, or have been killed! The magic is going haywire, and we still don't know how to fix it!"

"Kid, relax about the magic crap. All we have to do is finish the games, remember?" Sunset crossed her arms, "I know, but we shouldn't have to! If Twilight was here, this would've been solved already!"

"Um, excuse me." The Rainbooms and the Black Five turned to face said voice who'd spoken and was met with Twilight. She looked terribly remorseful and thrilled, but not in a good way.

"I-I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn't know it was magic or how it works."

Rainbow Dash stepped forward, "That's okay, neither do we." As Rainbow Dash reached to put an arm on Twilight's shoulder, Noah noticed the compass around her device begin to glow. Before he could utter anything, the compass rose, opened, and began draining all of Rainbow Dash's magic.

"Goddamn it!" Noah shouted as he and Sunset together hurried over to Rainbow Dash and attempted to pull her from the device's grasp. All the while, Twilight was yanking at the chains of her device and Rainbow Dash seemed to be crying in agony. Like it was draining more than just her magic.

"I-I'm sorry! I-It just started absorbing energy on its own! B-But I'm not sure how!" While Noah continued to tug on Rainbow Dash along with being assisted by the others shortly after, Sunset’s eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean you don't know how!?"

Sunset snatched the device from Twilight's hands and attempted to seal it forcefully. But instead of it sealing, the tension and pressure upon the device caused it to shoot out a crackling beam of energy that connected with the sky. But as Noah let go of Rainbow Dash and followed the beam, his eyes dilated.

It was the moon. But not his moon.

The beam had opened a vast dimensional rift above everyone and revealed Equestria's moon. It was enormous. Possibly larger than the sun in Noah's world, but it didn't seem to be a mistake.

The moon should've been hurling towards the planet at that size, but it wasn't. However, that's impossible. If the moon was that large, it would've collided with the planet eons ago.

Noah felt his head begin to spin and the pounding of his heart filled his eardrums. He'd known enough about Equestria from Sunset and Adagio, but simply witnessing it was breathtaking. Right above him was a dimensional portal to a new world. A new everything. It couldn't exist, there was no way. There was just no possible way.

"That's... that's impossible... that's not real... there's no... there's no way..."

Twilight continued, "It also causes these corresponding portals to appear. I-I don't know how that works either-"

"Is there anything you do know?! Like how to get our magic back?! Or how to fix the portal to Equestria?!"

Twilight stuttered and staggered as Sunset's face continued to contort and grow with great enmity. "E-Equestria?" Sunset gripped Twilight by her collar and pulled her close.

"You're supposed to be so smart, but did you ever think, for one fucking second, that you shouldn't be messing around with things you can barely understand?!"

"But I wanna understand!"

"But you don't! And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger, all because you want to mess around with magic! Two of my friends have bandages around their heads, one has a bump, and another nearly got hit by a fucking roller skate!"

Noah held his head tight and closed both of his eyes. He tried to erase the image of a new world from his mind before he began to lose his sanity. Sure, it wasn't truly hurting him, but the sight only made his eyesight pulse.

He returned to his friends to find Sunset furiously shouting at Twilight as she attempted to step back, but Sunset only pulled her closer. Noah could even see tears well up in her eyes.

"Sunset... calm... calm the hell down..."

"Calm down!? Are you kidding me?! Applejack almost died out there! I almost died out there! All because she wanted to go poking around things she doesn't understand for shit!"

Sunset pushed Twilight to the ground as she let go of her collar. Like a waterfall, tears began to stream down Twilight's face as she slightly struggled to stand back up. She whispered, quiet as a mouse, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

Before anybody could reply, Twilight swooped up Spike and began running away like she was just kicked out of her own home. Her sniffles hastily turned to wails as she grew smaller in the distance.

Noah ran a hand through his hair as he finally returned to his senses and remembered where he was. He questioned, slightly angry, "Sunset, what in the everloving fuck was that?"

Sunset crossed her arms as she faced him, "She could've gotten us killed! Everyone in this field could've been dead! Every student could've been dead! Everyone outside the school; could've been fucking dead!"

"But they weren't! And they wouldn't of! We had a plan! Jain was up there talking to Dash through a walkie talkie so everyone didn't fuckin' die! And even if that didn't work, I still could've taken it down myself!"

"And how long will that be an option?!"

Noah took a small step back as he repeated her words through his head. It didn't take long for him to realize what she was talking about, and instead of reacting quiet, his face turned red with fury.

"That's what this stupid fuckin' hissy fit is about?!"

"Well pardon me for giving a flying fuck about my best friend!"

"Sunset, why is this so goddamn hard for you to accept!? It's not up for discussion! I've said it twice, No Ifs, Ands, or Buts! They got the idea, so why is it so hard for you!?"

"Because they don't care as much as I do! I've been through fucking hell getting to where I am today! And no, I haven't lost my family to a building because of some fucking sirens, but I haven't had anything close to a family outside my own for my entire life!

"They were all asked to be my friend because of the thieving shitshow named Princess Twilight, who can't seem to get over here and help us stop the end of the galaxy! If she didn't ask, they'd all tell me to go fuck myself with that dildo from the janitor's closet!

"You are the only true friend I've ever had in my life! We've been everywhere together! We've been to the theaters, lakes and rivers, carnivals, theme parks, forest trails, the mall, stores, your house, my house! We spent Christmas Eve in a motherfucking arcade, while they were busy watching Applejack fuck the living shit out of Rarity!

"I've never felt happier in my life because of you! Then not even a year later, you decide to pack everything up and set sail all because you seemingly don't belong, when nobody gave or gives a shit! Bye-bye, Sunset Shimmer! I hope you burn in hell for all eternity!"

"Sunset I-"

"No! Just go! To hell with you! We finish these games, then you can take your retarded dog, all your stupid fucking suits and ties, your piece of shit friends, and go back home!"

"Sunset no, I-"

"Fucking go!"

"I-"

"And join your family while you're at it!"

Noah felt his heart hit a train and go off the edge of the universe. As he looked into Sunset's eyes, he'd seen something he'd never seen before. She wasn't just irritated, or even angry. She was unconditionally infuriated, like all care for him had just vanished without a trace.

Noah looked down to the side before inhaling and sighing. He then began towards the nearest exit off the field, not even acknowledging his friends, new and old alike.

Knowing they were needed, regardless of whatever excuse Noah may come up with, Fall and the others gradually began after him before rapidly picking up their pace. Leaving Sunset with her own friends, or whatever she truly dubbed them.

Jain lingered just for a short bit and faced Rainbow Dash. He raised a finger and opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't bring himself to speak, or even think straight. Once he realized it was pointless, he turned on his heels and awkwardly speed-walked to catch up with his friends.

Sunset's eyes widened almost instantaneously when she realized what she'd just done. She'd just driven what made her happiest away, and what she said to him last. She felt heartless, like during the Fall Formal, yet somehow nastier.

Sunset kept her eyes off her friends as she sat down. One knee standing up while another laid flat on the ground. She let an elbow rest on her knee that stood up and ran a hand through her hair.

The tears didn't take long to fall after that.

"So... I don't wanna be that guy and say I told you so, but... I told you so."

After ten long minutes of driving in Manex's truck, Jain had decided to clear up the uncomfortable silence and get a conversation going. Though the only one affected by what happened earlier was Noah, nobody chose to reply.

He sat in the back to the right. His head resting on the window as he thought to himself. Jain sighed, "Guys, you know we can't just sit here and act like what just happened didn't happen."

As he was sitting in the passenger seat, Jain turned around to face his friends, but was still greeted with silence. But though they didn't reply, he could see that they weren't trying to repudiate his words. Especially Noah, who simply sniffled.

"Fine, if y'all don't wanna talk, then I'll just talk for the Hell of it. I think that Rainbow-haired girl likes me-"

"Jain, I swear to God," Manex began, "I will drive this truck off a fuckin' cliff if you start going on about how another girl supposedly likes your ass." Jain scoffed, "Oh, so now your stupid-ass wants to talk! And what do you mean supposedly nigga?"

"Jain, every time a girl says anything remotely flirty or funny to you, you instantly think, "Oh shit, that girl's down to fuck." And they never are! You go on and on about how they like you, and they don't even recognize you in the hall! And that's not even the worse part!"

"Oh do tell asshat, what's the worse part!?"

"The worse part is that you never even talk to the girls after that! You become a fuckin' deer in headlights whenever they look at you or say a single word! Do you remember the absolute bullshit that occurred last year with Octavia?!"

”Okay, and?! Who do you have shitlord?! I haven't seen you so much as look at a girl your age for the life of me! What's up with that nigga?! You homo or something?!"

"No! I just don't have any interest in these girls, they're all... weird. Like, they all have some sort of quirk! They're not like the girls back home. Those girls were normal!"

"What's wrong with a little weirdness?!"

"Everything!"

"I messed up..."

Both Jain and Manex fell silent promptly as Noah spoke up. He'd turned from the window and faced them. Despite fighting the urge for so very long, Noah had let several tears roll down his cheeks. His eyes were now bloodshot, and his nose was red, likely from his sniffling.

"I should've been better. I should've thought about her... I never should've brought up leaving. I never should've planned it or suggested it. Now we're gonna leave, and she's only gonna never remember me because she thinks I hate her."

"But I don't hate her. I love her. I should've just calmed her down and comforted her. She was obviously doleful at the news and I just kept shrugging it off. Like she never mattered. How can I save the galaxy knowing she abhors me?"

"How can I get her back before I'm gone forever?"