Looping Over Feeling

“I deserve this!” Sunset declared through hot tears.

The Princess looked at her with a mixture of complex emotions that she could not even begin to decipher. It was like an abstract painting, a bleeding mess of colours muddled together and impossible to discern individually.

“Sunset, no,” Celestia said. There was a hint of helplessness to the sound. “That is not your future. It's not—”

“Don’t tell me what my future is or isn’t!” Sunset stomped a hoof. “The mirror showed that I would become an alicorn! You told me it shows me my potential!”

“Alicorns aren’t—” A pause. A wave of different emotions. Her face settled on a stern line. “The mirror is not absolute. You cannot solely rely on it.”

“Then why would—”

“To get you to let go of this… this nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!”

“Sunset—”

“No! It’s not! I’ll become an alicorn! I’ll be powerful! I’ll never be looked down on again! I’ll inherit the throne from you so you can rest! So I can be with Cadance! So…!”

There was a look in Celestia’s eyes. It was how the nobles looked at her when she tried to participate in day court. It was how the doctors had looked at her when her parents had passed. It was how the staff looked at her when she followed after Celestia.

Pity.

“...I’m done,” Sunset whispered, voice hoarse.

“Sunset—” A wing outstretched.

She smacked it away. “No! Don’t touch me! I’m done. I’m done! I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. I—!”

A pause. She knew the next words to come. Celestia had tensed, braced for the words to spill out of her mouth. Two more words. She’d never be able to take them back. She’d been so close to saying them. Too close. It filled her with self-revulsion.

Sunset galloped away.

“Sunset—!”

“Don’t come after me!” Sunset yelled back.

She tackled her way through the door and raced through the halls holding back bitter tears.