Chapter 14: The Heart Of A Filly
When Josh woke up, he found himself in a dark room. He frowned in annoyance and tried to crane his head to take a better look at his surroundings, but his head was held fast by some heavy rope. He attempted to move, but braces around his chest and limbs glued his to a rack formed from a series of sturdy planks, which spread his legs wide apart. Josh’s wings were the only part of him not tied down, but they weren’t moving at all, since Josh still wasn’t really used to them. As the annoyed boy tried to figure out just what was going on, a certain pony suddenly jumped into his line of sight. He groaned when he saw just who it was.
“Good, yer awake…now we can get started,” Applejack smirked, licking her lips excitedly as she began pushing a cart over towards the trapped former human. A heavy cloth was draped over the top.
“Wow…Applejack, really?” Josh sighed, rolling his eyes, “I never expected this from YOU. Possibly from that insane Pinkie Pie, but you? I’m disappointed.”
“Shut it!” Applejack snarled, pulling the cloth off the cart to reveal a series of deadly-looking instruments, “How the hay do ya’ll even know where you are?”
“It’s kinda obvious,” Josh pointed out, still not really bothering to struggle, “You have me tied down inside a dark and foreboding cellar-like room…with my legs spread apart. Either you’re a psycho killer who’s about to torture me for your own sick pleasure…or you’re a severe sadist who has a crush on me and is preparing to inflict sexual pain onto me also for your own sick pleasure.”
“Well, there goes mah dramatic revealin’,” Applejack grumbled, clopping her hooves as the lights flashed on, “See fer yerself, Joshy boy; one of yer statements you just made was quite accurate.” The rest of the room was revealed and Josh couldn’t help but snicker.
“Two points for me,” he laughed, using his pupils to scan the room, since his head couldn’t move. The human smirked in amusement at the image presented to him. The room was decorated in a typical but twisted Applejack flair. Pony skeletons hung from the ceiling with rope wrapped around their bony necks, pieces of apple pie were tossed here and there with pieces of pony poking out the crusts, and barrels of apples with intriguing skins were placed around the room. Up in the rafters, Josh narrowed his eyes and tried to make out the makeshift message attached to a patchwork banner. Made from several tanned pony hides, the words “All Work And No Flair Makes AJ A Dull Mare” were scrawled on it in blood red.
“Ya’ll like the room?” Applejack grinned, “Ah created it just fer you, Joshy boy. Most of what ya’ll see here was just practice; yer mah MAIN ingredient.” Josh noticed that Applejack was now wearing a dull cowboy outfit that was also crafted from other ponies, but since Josh was getting tired of seeing everything in the room having to do with murdered ponies, he didn’t bother examining exactly what was ON the disgusting outfit itself.
“Don’t you think this is a bit…much?” Josh complained, staring down at the psychotic farmer pony from his prison, “Just to teach me a lesson?”
“Nah, ah think it’s perfectly rational,” Applejack sniffed, giving another wicked grin as she lowered her pony-skinned cowboy hat even more menacingly over her eyes, “Now, Joshy boy, since ya’ll think it’s SO funny to continue to hurt me and mah friends, yer gonna get to see what AH think is funny! Can ya’ll wager a guess on just what that might be?”
“Hmm…give me a moment, I just LOVE brainteasers,” Josh mocked, glancing around the room some more and looking for clues. His eyes fell upon the multi-colored apples and then the apple pies with pony pieces sticking out of the filling and crusts. The answer was pretty obvious. “I got it! AJ, I’d like to solve the puzzle.”
“Uh…that wasn’t really a puzzle, Joshy,” Applejack frowned, “Yer supposed to be scared; ah was mocking ya and tryin’ to make you guess how yer gonna meet yer doom.”
“DUH! I’m not an idiot, you stupid pony,” Josh sneered, “I just prefer turning things into puzzles because I’m very good at them. Now, my guess is that you’re gonna use these cliché torture devices to cut me up and turn me into apples, and then apple pie. Am I close?”
“Nope, yer right on the money, Joshy,” Applejack sighed, looking a bit disappointed that she didn’t get to reveal her evil intentions herself, “So, ya’ll have any last words before ah get to decapitatin’ ya?”
“Yeah…this is the stupidest, most cliché, most overused, and most pathetic attempt at torture and murder that I have ever seen,” Josh snapped, glaring down at Applejack, “First of all, you tie me up in a basement where the scenery is nothing short of murderous to show off just what a psycho you are? Wow, SO original; not like that hasn’t been doing a million times before. Second, back on my world, this has already been done in the movies; Sweeney Todd, as a matter of fact. It was a horrible movie, too. Third, you’re going to completely drop all your morals and values just because you’re unstable and instead of trying to seek help, you decide to walk down the path of evil that will eventually lead to your own death and not accomplish anything in the process besides making you the most hated and vilified pony in all of existence? Do you evildoers EVER think things through before you attempt them? Seriously, this makes no freaking sense and you’re a retarded idiot for even WANTING to try this! Applejack, I’m seriously ashamed of you. THIS is how you want to kill me?”
“Uh…but…but…” Applejack gulped, taking a step back as she was thoroughly ripped apart.
“Oh, and another thing!” Josh continued, frowning as he glanced down at his spread legs, “This is seriously disgusting! Since I’m a pony now, that means I don’t even wear clothes. Why the HELL do you have my legs spread? It looks like you’re about to rape me, you sick pervert! It’s so obvious that you have a crush on me from how much you keep wanting to kick my ass, but this is ridiculous! So, you’re not only a serial killer, but you’re also a rapist? Are you kidding me?”
“That’s…not why…ah did that…” Applejack argued, but once again found herself at a loss at Josh’s rant.
“Applejack, bottom line, this is a failure if I’ve ever seen one,” Josh concluded, shaking his head in dismay, “You obviously are gonna get caught doing this, so I doubt you planned this out very well; it make sense, since you’re a retarded farmer to begin with. But, this whole thing is such a pathetic cliché that it makes me sick to my stomach, and not from fear; it’s from how lame this is. Not only that, but this doesn’t even SEEM like something you would do if you WERE to become a killer. This is seriously too ‘planned’ and too ‘neat’ to work for you; this simply isn’t your style. This is more like Twilight’s style, if you ask me; SHE’S the nerd who likes to be neat. Hell, even Rarity seems like the type to do this.”
“THAT DOES IT! AH CAN’T TAKE THIS ANY LONGER!” Applejack roared, angrily kicking aside her cart of deadly instruments and throwing down her pony-skinned clothing, “JOSHY BOY, YOU CAN’T EVEN DIE WITHOUT TICKIN’ ME OFF! GAH! YER SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE! AH DON’T EVEN WANT TO KILL YOU ANY MORE; AH JUST WANT TO GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!” The orange earth pony continued her rage by kicking over the barrels of apples and stomping on any pony-filled apple pie she saw, all the while continuing to curse up a storm and berate Josh, who was left shaking his head in dismay back on his prison of a table. When Applejack finally stomped out of the room, the lights went out and Josh was left in the darkness.
“Hey, wait a minute! Applejack, get your smelly ass back here!” Josh yelled, finally thrashing as he tried to pull out of his restraints, “You can’t just leave me here! APPLEJACK, GET BACK HERE! APPLEJACK! APPLEJACK! APPLEJACK!”
“…Applejack…Applejack…Applejack…”
Josh moaned as he twitched in his sleep, muttering Applejack’s name over and over again while the Cutie Mark Crusaders all looked on in amusement. They hadn’t realized that they had been boring Josh to death with their excessive planning on what was going to happen during the slumber party. It had bored the stallion so much that he had fallen asleep on Applejack’s sofa and proceeded to have a very unique dream. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were currently giggling while listening to Josh call out the name of his biggest enemy, wondering if they should wake him or not.
“I think he likes your sister, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo teased, nudging her filly friend’s shoulder, “He’s totally dreaming about her!”
“He’s probably dreaming about something so romantic and adorable,” Sweetie Belle giggled.
“Ah thought mah big sis was givin’ Joshy some weird looks,” Apple Bloom admitted, “Ah…didn’t really think they were romantic looks, though…usually, those are the looks she gives trees that are bein’ too stubborn to drop their apples.”
“So…Applejack likes to imagine that Josh is an apple tree that she can kick with her hind legs?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow, “That doesn’t sound very romantic at all! Blah, why are we talking about romance anyway? This is disgusting! Sweetie Belle, go wake him up so we can get this sleepover on the road; he can’t be sleeping when we have so much stuff to do BEFORE we go to sleep!”
“Not to mention ah went out and got Joshy some snacks from the fridge,” Apple Bloom smiled, glancing at the tray of food that the little filly had brought in a while back before the group had unceremoniously begun talking about sleepover activities. Sweetie Belle slowly trotted up to Josh a moment later and began to softly nudge him with her nose, trying to wake him up from his dream. Since Josh was a heavy sleeper, however, she wasn’t getting anywhere.
“Oh, for the love of…here, let me do it,” Scootaloo sighed, trotting over and gently nudging Sweetie Belle aside, “Rainbow Dash taught me the perfect way to wake somepony up. All you do is…” She eased her head in towards Josh’s slumbering face, softly placing her lips right up close to his ear. “…SCREAM REAL LOUD RIGHT IN THEIR EAR!”
Almost instantly, Josh shrieked like a little girl and flew out of his seat and into the air. He thrashed his legs around frantically, his head whipping around in a panic as he tried to come to his senses, just before he crashed down onto the hard wood floor a moment later and got an even harsher wakeup call. As the former human lay there in a daze, Scootaloo giggled and playfully walked back to the annoyed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, proud that she had woken him up so efficiently.
“What?” the little Pegasus filly asked when she noticed the looks she was getting from her fellow crusaders. When Apple Bloom said nothing but roll her eyes, Sweetie Belle gently helped the annoyed Josh to his hooves and attempted to snuggle up to him to make sure he didn’t murder Scootaloo.
“Sorry about Scootaloo, Josh,” Sweetie Belle said, giving the stallion a look similar to the ones that Fluttershy had been giving him before, “Please forgive her; we just wanted to get you up so that you could enjoy the sleepover with us.”
“Ugh…it’s not like I was really enjoying that nightmare anyway,” Josh responded, stifling a yawn as he gave Sweetie Belle a pat on the head, “Say, Apple Bloom? Could you tell your stupid sister to please stay the heck out of my dreams? It’s bad enough I have to put up with her here; I don’t need her annoying me when I’m snoozing, too!”
“Ah, so you WERE dreamin’ about her,” Apple Bloom grinned, sitting down and looking very interested, “What was it about?”
“Nothing too special,” Josh shrugged, doing a few stretches and giving another yawn, “She was just trying to torture me in such a cliché and boring way that I had to give her a scolding, which sent the silly pony stomping away. Kinda a weird dream…hopefully I won’t ever have it again.”
“Oh…well, that sounds…uh…well, anyway, we brought you some food,” Apple Bloom said, moving the tray of goodies towards the ravenous Josh, “Ah hope ya don’t mind more apple treats; it’s kinda all we have in our fridge, ya see.”
“I think my stomach can put up with them, don’t fret,” Josh chuckled, licking his lips as he admired the tray of food. There were apple fritters, apple strudel, a cup of apple juice, and a piece of apple pie all aligned nicely on the metal tray. Despite his recent nightmare, Josh wasn’t even fazed by the apple pie, and he even made it his first victim when he took a big bite out of the pastry. The feeling of food finally going down his throat and into his stomach really soothed some of Josh’s built-up anger, but not much. He still hated Equestria and everything in it.
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders watched Josh gorge himself on the apple food, admiring him and seemingly very interested in him. They had never really been around an older male before, and Josh certainly wasn’t somepony they expected when they thought of one. He was funny, he wasn’t always trying to talk down to them, he was actually very nice to them, he was more than willing to do this sleepover as far as they knew, and he wasn’t really that big at all. He was the same size as Applejack, despite his age. It made more sense if he would be Big Macintosh’s size, but yet he wasn’t.
“So, Josh…why do you have blank flanks?” Scootaloo asked, “And why do you like not having cutie marks? Why do you like feeling so different? How does it feel to be an alicorn? Tell us, tell us!”
“While you do, I’ll work on your hair!” Sweetie Belle giggled, eagerly trotting up behind Josh while pulling out a tray of mane supplies, “I’ve never worked on a stallion’s mane before; this is gonna be so super fun! Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are the only two that I’ve worked on.”
“…please, just not pink,” Josh begged, giving a sigh and downing a gulp of apple juice, “And not red; I HATE the color. If you’re gonna scar me for life by fixing up my hair…or mane, whatever…just don’t do red or pink…I beg of you.”
“Aww…well, okay, if you say so,” Sweetie Belle shrugged, picking up a spray bottle and comb and beginning to prepare Josh’s mane, “Now, hold still; this is gonna be really fun. I’m gonna use what my big sister Rarity taught me to make sure this goes perfectly!”
“Oh joy, Rarity…yeah, this is gonna be good,” Josh said sarcastically, shivering at the cold water being sprayed against the back of his neck, “Now…before we get into this…ugh, sleepover…you three fillies want some answers, right?”
“Yes, please,” Apple Bloom smiled, sitting down on a cushion next to Scootaloo and giving Josh their full attention, “But, only what ya don’t mind sharin’.”
“Well…okay, fair enough,” Josh sighed, closing his eyes and putting a hoof to his chin, “Where to begin, where to begin…OW! Sweetie Belle, watch the hair! My sleek black hair is one of my most valuable assets, you know.”
“Sorry!” Sweetie Belle giggled, “There’s some knots in your mane; I’m just trying to work them out.”
“Humph…you’re lucky you’re cute,” Josh grumbled, before starting with his explanations again, “But, okay, let me get started. As I said before, I was once a human, but I apparently had an allergic reaction to that stupid flower known as poison joke and this is what happened to me. I came from another world called Earth, a world filled with humans. It’s a horrible place that I really don’t wish to go into, since the things I could reveal would scar little brains for life.”
“Oh, come on!” Scootaloo whined, but didn’t press the issue as Josh continued.
“Back on my world, let’s just say that my past was…not so pretty,” Josh went on, “I don’t want to bore you with the details, since I don’t crave attention with always wanting to spew my painful past to get sympathy from others. However, let’s just say that, thanks to what I’ve experienced, it taught me an important lesson, which is that love and friendship are both fake and evil and I don’t believe in either. Those that spout such nonsense are just lying to themselves and wanting to live in a fantasy world that doesn’t exist.”
“W-w-w-what?!?!” Apple Bloom cried, looking stunned at what Josh just revealed to them.
“It’s the truth, sweetheart,” Josh said flatly, “The sooner you learn it, the better off you’ll be. You three fillies…you’re special. I can’t get myself to hate you lot because you…well…because you’re all just like me, in so many ways. My…flanks, as you’d call them…are blank, much like my heart. What talent do I have that is so worth mentioning that it should be tattooed on my butt for all to see? What a ridiculous notion. I was like you all when I was young, too…even though I don’t consider myself old at all. You three haven’t experienced the pain that I have…you haven’t had to suffer through misery that you just wanted to kill yourself over…you haven’t been backstabbed by friends and family that you thought you could love and trust with all your heart. That’s why…that’s why I like you girls. You’re…you’re all just like me.”
Silence filled the room, with Sweetie Belle having stopped work on Josh’s mane after the stallion finished speaking. Outside of the shut room, the floorboards creaked slightly, as though someone was listening in the entire time. Josh hung his head as he stared down at the floor, feeling somewhat ashamed for having said such serious things to these fillies. But, he only spoke the truth, and the sooner they heard the truth, the sooner they’d be prepared for the real world. Not this fake world where all the ponies thought you could solve problems with hugs and kisses and songs and friendship lessons.
Josh knew that he was gonna get the fillies crying before long, and he was almost confident that he had scared the daylights out of them with his seriousness. The former human figured that they had never heard anything like what he said before; they DID live in this world called Equestria, after all. Josh felt slightly guilty at possibly scaring the little fillies’ minds so early in life, but they had asked him to share his thoughts, and that’s precisely what he had done. So, when he was suddenly hugged by all three Cutie Mark Crusaders, he was beyond stunned.
“That’s…that’s so horrible…man, it’s worse than horrible…it plain sucks!” Scootaloo grumbled, cuddling up to Josh’s left, “Why did that have to happen to you? It’s not fair!”
“Yeah, really!” Sweetie Belle agreed, snuggling Josh from behind, “But, don’t worry, we’ll be your friends and we’ll make sure you never have to be sad again.”
“Wait, what?!?!” Josh cried, “No, that’s not what you’re supposed to do! I don’t WANT friends! I don’t BELIEVE in friends! Weren’t you listening to me? It’s all fake! You’re just gonna get hurt!”
“So what if we do?” Apple Bloom shrugged, smiling weakly up at Josh, “Mah big sister always says to live your life the way you want to and enjoy it whatever way ya can. She says ah shouldn’t rush to get mah cutie mark, too. So what if there’s bumps in the road of life?”
“I don’t want you to go through what I did!” Josh snapped, trying to push the fillies away, “You’re all still innocent and young; you don’t WANT to be friends with a guy like me. And you know what? The truth is that your sister HATES me, Apple Bloom! I pushed her off a cliff and flattened her to Rainbow Dash because she was angering me to no end! And I hate all her friends, too! Plus, I HATE THIS WHOLE WORLD!” He was confident that the Cutie Mark Crusaders would surely let him go now and realize that he wasn’t someone to be friends with. He was further horrified and shocked when they just increased their hugs on him.
“Hate it all you want and hate us all you want, but we don’t hate YOU,” Sweetie Belle whispered, closing her eyes and resting her head on Josh’s shoulder, “And no matter what you say, we’re not gonna start hating you, either.”
“Totally,” Scootaloo agreed.
“Well said, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom echoed, “And…mah sister probably deserved it; she has a temper at times. Believe me, ah know. She was just fine when ah saw her a few minutes ago, so ah really don’t think it makes much of a difference; she’s been through worse.”
Josh was now at a complete loss. He had told the fillies about his past, he had told them about why he hated love and friendship, he had told them what he had done to Applejack, he had told them flat out he hated their world and he hated everything in it, and yet they were STILL hugging him and saying that they wanted to be his friends. This seriously made no sense to him. The only thing left to do was physical assault them and push them away, but any thoughts of doing such a heinous act were scrubbed clean from his mind almost the instant he considered them.
“G-g-g-girls…p-p-please…let me g-g-g-go…” Josh sobbed, actual tears starting to appear in his eyes as all three fillies kept holding him lovingly, “I…I don’t w-w-want this…I deserve nothing…I’m a loner…I-I-I don’t believe in this…I’ll just h-h-hurt you…this isn’t my world…let me go…” But, nothing he said was taken seriously, and before long, the stallion finally broke down and started to cry. He wrapped his arms around the three little fillies and held them all close to his heart.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders felt warm and their little bodies were like little teddy bears that Josh had cuddled with when he was younger. The more they cuddled him, the more the former human continued to bawl his eyes out. He tried to choke out more disparaging words now and then to get them to let him go, but it would never work. The three fillies wasn’t about to let Josh go when he needed them most. Eventually, he stopped trying to protest altogether and just closed his eyes. He let himself cry on and on into the night, all three fillies never letting him go.
Outside the door, Applejack gave a weak little smile. She had a lot of things to think about, not to mention convey to her friends. But, for now, she gave a silent chuckle and slowly began trotting away from the door to give the group inside some privacy.
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CMC for the win.
Well, that was unexpected. Still, it is a quite a well written chapter by my standards. 'Specially the ending segment with him and the three fillies.
A seriously good chapter! I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to read more! SUPERB!
This is awesome! I had to make a profile just to track this. Keep updating everyday or else...
For the second time in my existence (first was with Past Sins)
D'awwwww
Brilliant I love thw qay you did the torture thing and then she just walked if pinkie pie tried it he'd live.
Brilliant, superb!
CMC CRUSADERS WEAKNESS FINDERS YAY
ANOTHER WIN FOR:
MOAR OR:
&
Called it.
Well Josh isn't very tactfull is he, trying to scare little fillies like that.
But despite him being a ginormous douche most of the time I still can't get myself to hate him ...
What have you done to me Tailslover13 ... WITCHCRAFT
Bring me a duck and a weighing scale !
Josh is so sweet
Lol'd
This Josh is best Josh. I hope this isn't another one of his tricks. But since you had him actually bawling his eyes out, I hope you don't play the same card you played with AJ and RD. But then again, I partially expected it there.
Anyway, OMGLOL! THAT DREAM SEQUENCE! HAHAHAHA!
Finally! A breakthrough!
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS JERKASS DESTROYERS! YAAAAAY!
(are those seriously the only CMC emoticons we're ever gonna get?)
I seriously hope Josh finally changes a little bit. We've just had an amazingly heartwarming scene; don't throw it away just for status quo!
I sill want him to be a jerk....though really restrained around the crusaders of course....gotta keep the leash on.
Whew! scared me for a sec, thought you ruined the story by going cupcakes on us
And I agree with the others, keep him being a asshole, seeing someone corrupt equestria is what ive been looking for in a story for awhile
Yay! CMC to the rescue!
NOOOOOOOOOOO Well, this story just got about 20% less interesting, thanks for writing though, I thoroughly enjoyed the previous 13 chapters. Hopefully he can maintain some dignity.
89003
Have you not even noticed the Mane Six and their "I don't give a damn about your problems" attitude?
I loled at the cupcakes parody... I actually avoid grimdark like plague, but this was too fun ^^
also CMC FTW
He is criticizing his own nightmare!?
This, people, is COMEDY!
-Glassed
Daww CMC FTW!!!
88831 Ducks? OMG I LOVE DUCKS we must be related somehow because i only randomly exclaim things about ducks
For a second there, I was disappointed that AJ HADN'T snapped and gone cupcakes on him. But FINALLY we make some headway. Should have seen this coming really, since the CMCs were the only ones he wasn't a complete ass to.
D'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww...
That was so sweet...
Ffs I almost cryed good job sir.
The Cupcakes scene reminds me of Deadpool for some reason...
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3539-1331408010099.jpg
2382679 In that picture Applejack doesn't look empathetic and sad and more like she just looked up her name and went to google images.
4763783
I agree.
The Internet is a cruel, dark, and unforgiving place.