Back Corner

by MONSTERmama

The Human Who Killed

The first action she took was shakily breathing. The shallow, laborious breaths turned into screams of horrors leftover from another life. The newborn blindly looked around, limbs reaching out to protect things which were not there. The girl’s hands groped for a knife that was no longer with her.

“Calm down,” a voice giggled.

The girl stilled, fearfully following the sound. The puddle she lay in was warmer than the blood coursing through the girl’s body. She weakly stood up, vision fuzzy and numerous aches along her body. Her form, short but not extraordinarily good nor bad, bent over in pain. If there had been something in her stomach, she would have wretched out of instinct.

A pink, four pillared form appeared from the darkness around the creature. Humid air made the back crest of the creature prickly looking.

The girl shied back, slipping and falling, as the pink thing approached.

“Here,” the pink cooed. The massive beast touched its velvety muzzle to the girl’s eyes and her vision was suddenly so much… better. “That should do the trick! Hi, my name is Screwball!”

“I’m… Shirley,” the girl finally said. She winced, mentally reliving some horror in a white hall with gunshots and screams. “Where am I?”

“Home.” The pink thing—Shirley’s mind told her that this was a horse but it was definitely not registering as a normal horse—had a voice which betrayed no lies. Shirley would have to trust her.

“Where is home?”

“Tartus,” Screwball supplemented. She lifted a hoof in the manner a thousand pound beast shouldn’t be able to, sweepingly gesturing to the whole womb-like cavern they were in.

Shirley stood up, taking in the view. She blinked. “Oh,” she muttered. Somehow, her brain told her that this was very bad, but she accepted it. “Um… what are you?”

“Your sister!” Screwball cried out excitedly. “Well, half-sister. You were born from these rocks. My mom was a pony.”

“So, you must be a pony then.” Screwball nodded. Shirley put a finger to her lips. “Um, am I a rock, then?”

Screwball giggled. “Nope! You’re, uh, what did Daddy call you? Uh, you’re kind of a golem. But soft. You… the other you died so Daddy saved you.”

Shirley smiled. “That was nice.” Screwball floated, going forward. Shirley somehow knew that she could not float like her sister did. “Where is Daddy?”

“Oh, see, that’s the problem!” Screwball noted. “Some really selfish ponies sealed Daddy up and he can’t get out if we don’t help him!”

“No!” Shirley fearfully cried. “How?! What can I do?”

Screwball grinned, swirling eyes betraying a hint of maliciousness. “Well, I have to stay here and take care of Tartus and our doggy, Cerberus. You, though, can kill the keys keeping Daddy imprisoned.”

“Kill?” Shirley asked tremblingly. Her mind flashed the image of a hand wielding a knife (her hand?), digging into the fleshy throat of a person. A crack of thunder and light was wielded by the person she attacked and suddenly she was in reality again. “Uh…”

Screwball frowned. “Daddy saved you because you can kill.”

“But,” Shirley argued, “I don’t like to. I think.”

The pink pony snorted. “Fine. Daddy said not to force you.”

The human chewed her lip. “Aw, okay. Who are the keys?”

Screwball cheered. “You’ll feel them when you see them! However, you only need to kill one—you have a brother waiting on you who will kill the other! The one you need to kill is named Twilight Sparkle—she’s a very powerful unicorn.”

“Unicorn…?” Shirley asked. A show drifted by her eyes; she vaguely imagined the image of a protective sun over the purple blobby form she attached to the name Twilight. Not understanding, Shirley let it go. “Alright. Where are they?”

Screwball drifted up, grabbing something behind a rock. “No one else speaks like you except me, Daddy, and your brother. You’ll need this to understand everyone else,” Screwball cooed. She dropped a necklace into Shirley’s hands.

The human instinctively put the pendant around her neck. Its jewel looked like the scale of a huge fish. “Where…?”

“Patience!” Screwball shouted. The pink pony landed on the ground, hooves making a pleasant clicking sound against the stone floors. She motioned for Shirley to get on her back. The human did so, finding the motion natural. She had a flash back of life—she saw a cherry bay horse below her, English tack. The duo trotted through the dark, humid air of Tartus until a loose crescent of light appeared. The darkness in the center of the light growled.

“Cerberus!” Screwball chided in a whinny. “This is our baby! Be nice to the baby!”

The three headed monstrous dog whined before sliding out of Screwball’s way.

Screwball helped Shirley get down. The human noticed then that she was naked, almost pleasantly so. Screwball mumbled something before loose, Grecian styled robes appeared. They were short but they did the job of hiding what was normally not visible on ponies.

“Do you see the clock tower in the distance?”

Shirley scanned the endless forest of trees. “Um, yes.”

“Okay,” Screwball muttered before whirling on her sister. Shirley shielded herself. Red aura covered the girl. A dragon stood where she had been seconds previous. Screwball nickered as Shirley confusedly considered her new form. “Take off your clothes; keep them.”

The now-dragon obliged. She stretched her wings.

“Do not fly there. Go through the Everfree Forest. Don’t let anyone see you in this form. To turn back human, just eat. Your body will reset. You’ll turn into a dragon if you fear death.” The pink pony frowned. “That means be brave. If you change, they will know. And if they know, Daddy will stay stone.”

Shirley nodded, clothes tied around her neck as a kind of scarf. The dragon slithered down the side of the peak leading to Tartus. Soon, the forest engulfed her form.

Screwball returned to her work. Both halves were in place; now she had to prepare the key to Daddy’s freedom.

Her dragon form was surprisingly free. While Screwball had warned against flying, Shirley found herself gliding short distances, especially over ravines. Soon, she saw the clock tower more clearly. There were even other buildings visible between the branches of the trees.

Suddenly, the dragon slammed into something huge and heavy. Shirley slid away, skidding from her momentum. She shook her head, confused. Before her was a zebra wearing gold. Shirley was not surprised; her sister wore a beanie. However, the zebra looked dead at her. Shirley let out a huge hiss of displeasure. Screwball had warned not to be seen!

“Oh my, a dragon large and mean. Surely a meal of me would not be too keen?” the zebra asked fearfully.

Shirley fanned out her wings, pouncing toward the zebra.

As the zebra was more used to her form than Shirley was to hers, the zebra easily got away. “No how, no way—I will not be a meal this day!”

Shirley angrily coursed after the zebra, spitting weak flames. The zebra ran through the forest recklessly, knowing if she could make it to her hut she had something to fight the dragon with. The zebra could see her hut in the distance. She put on a final burst of speed, slamming the door open just as Shirley vainly snapped at her heels.

The zebra landed in a heap, but pushed herself to her hooves. She saw it, then. It was a thin, curved silver sword. She took it in her muzzle, turning to face the dragon which had slithered into her home. “Leave now or face this blade of mine! I have no desire yet to meet things divine!”

Shirley wasted no works, charging the zebra. The dragon was surprised to feel the blade pass through part of her cheek and nip her shoulder, but Shirley pushed the zebra down, claws cutting into the equine’s flesh. Shirley plunged her head down and into the zebra’s throat as the zebra sliced into her arm, down to the bone. Shirley ripped her head back and forth, causing the zebra to bleed out quickly.

The dragon fell then, spent of energy. She licked her lips, eying the body of the zebra. She needed to eat…

Applebloom cheerfully trotted through the forest to the trail which led to Zecora’s hut. She had a basket of apples. The zebra had paid for a delivery and Applebloom had begged to be the one to deliver. As the filly reached the door, she saw it slammed open.

“Zecora?” she fearfully asked. She heard an agonized grunt in return. “I’m comin’, Zecora! Don’t worry none!” Applebloom ran into the room, only to find half of Zecora’s carcass. Another injured creature was there. It looked like a hairless chimp, faceless round and more angular. Applebloom assumed it was Zecora’s new pet. Fluttershy had found one the other day, so Applebloom wasn’t ignorant about them. Applebloom cried, “Zecora!” The filly pushed on the upper half of Zecora’s body, the mare’s blue eyes disturbingly blank. The yellow filly sat down, sniffing pitifully. She looked over to Zecora’s pet.

Even if Zecora couldn’t be saved, that was no reason to let her pet starve and suffer with those injures. It looked like something fierce had come through. Applebloom looked over the ‘chimp’. There were lacerations on her arms. Zecora was eaten… what ate pony-things and not monkeys?

“Ah! Griffon attack!” Applebloom noted. She scurried in place, trying to figure out what to do. She formulated a scene. Zecora must have just gotten back from picking up her pet, which explained why she needed food dropped off and why the chimp was so well dressed. Maybe Zecora had even been preparing to show off her new creature to Applebloom—then a griffon swooped in! Maybe it was aware that it couldn’t attack a whole town and get away, but this uncultured creature still gave into urges most griffons turned away. It tracked down Zecora…

And maybe it was still here.

The filly looked around the hut, shivering in fear. “I better go…” She couldn’t carry the pet. However, a crew of ponies could come back for the creature and save it.

Shirley groaned. She tried to stretch, but cried out in pain once she did. “My arm!”

“Ah told ya’ Fluttershy told us they weren’t no animals! They’re smart!”

“But darling, dragons are the only two legged things that can talk.”

“Well, she said ‘my arm’ pretty clearly.”

“See, Twi’s got mah back, ain’t cha Twi?”

“I’m just stating facts.”

“Oh, if she’s intelligent, she going to have to pay rent.”

Shirley sat up; aware she had been laying on a large cushion and soft blanket. She looked around, then startled. In the back of her mind, the name ‘Twilight’ blazoned brightly upon glancing over the purple unicorn.

“Hi,” Applejack said, approaching Shirley. The orange mare extended a hoof in greeting. “We’ve got a visitor for ya’. Figured nothin’ would cheer a hurt patient up more than some more of their own kind. ‘Course, he’s kinda banged up, too…”

Fluttershy entered the main room of Carousel Boutique, wheeling in a human male. At once, Shirley noted the scale necklace she sported. So, this was her brother. Whereas she was had very dark features and tanned skin, he was even darker though his hair was artificially wine red.

“Hello,” he called. He had bandages over his body as well.

“Hello,” she called back.

“Well, we’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” Twilight more or less purred before herding her friends out of the room.

Frank wheeled himself over as soon as the ponies left the room. Shirley stood up, moving to meet him half way.

“Are you… Sister?”

“Yes,” she responded automatically. She frowned, wringing her hands. “I… messed up.”

“That was you?” he asked.

“That was me.”

He paused, noting. “It’s okay. We won’t be here long enough for it to matter.”

“We won’t?”

“No,” he responded. “I’ve got a plan. After I’m better, I’m going to work with Applejack. I’ll use money to gather things. You need to gather things, too.”

“I don’t have a job,” she noted.

“Rarity could use some help.”

“Okay.”

“Pinkie Pie will probably be here soon.”

“Who’s?”

“HI, EVERYPONY!” shouted the party pony. She looked over the two humans, having appeared from behind a mirror. “Well, you’re not really ponies, are you? Nope, you’re not!” She bounced over. “Well, I know his name is Happy Place! What’s your name?”

“Uh…” the girl shied away.

“Her name is Spindle Gold.”

“Okey dokey lokey!” the pink pony practical purred. “Well, I’m gonna throw you two a welcome to Ponyville party soon, okay?”

“Alright, Pinkie,” ‘Happy Place’ said. Pinkie was satisfied by this and left, earning an angered grunt from Twilight on the outside of the Boutique. “My real name is Frank. They’re coming.”

The ponies came back in, very cheerful.

“Well, if it isn’t rude of me,” Rarity began, “may I offer you a job? I’m in need of someone to sort through my orders and payments, and you look like your hands could hold a pencil. It’s pretty easy, just matching names. You can do that in exchange for room and boarding. Of course, other ponies will offer you odd jobs in exchange for actual pay…”

Shirley looked to Frank, who nodded. She grinned. “I’d be glad to work for you! I can’t wait to get better and be of help!”