//------------------------------// // Answers // Story: Depression // by ZombieBrony22 //------------------------------// The sun hit Sky hard as his eyes slowly opened a day after the encounter with Hoops and Dumb-Bell. Flutterfly was still gone since last night, and Sky got impatient. He forced himself out of bed, grabbed his jacket, and headed out into town, hoping to find her. He made it to the local park before seeing a crowd formed in an alley. Sky decided to see what happened and rushed to the massive herd. Sky saw a familiar face in the crowd. "Oh, my God, that's my sister!" He turned to the voice and saw Zephyr Breeze bolting through the crowd. Sister... Sky put the pieces together and followed Zephyr to the front of the crowd where police were keeping people back. "Stay back, people! Police officers only!" "Please, you don't understand. That's my sister!" I finally caught up with Breeze and the barrier. "And who the hell are you?" The officer asked me. "I'm her roommate." Sky simply explained. "Go." The officer sighed, lifting the barrier slightly. "Alright, no press! Any one who does not wish to cooperate will be charged." The officer called out as Sky and Zephyr paced to the scene. They managed to find a pool of blood, guns laid out all around, and-- "Flutterfly?" Sky whispered. Indeed, Flutterfly was almost lifeless on a stretcher, donning the Mare-Do-Well costume, her mask torn up and her leg clearly broken. Medics were surrounding her and nursing her back to health. "I'm guessing you're family?" A medic asked. "Yeah, what happened?" Zephyr asked. "We have no idea. She wouldn't tell us, and the station called us here for an operation." "What's with the police?" Sky stupidly asked. "They don't want press revealing Mare-Do-Well's identity." The medic said. "But... why? She's a vigilante, and..." Sky froze as it all came to him. Flutterfly-- known to others as Fluttershy-- was the ruthless and merciless Mare-Do-Well, and according to the scene, there was more to the story. "Flutterfly's an undercover agent, she's been one of ours for the past 4 years. I'm shocked she didn't tell you." "What?! Flutterfly, is this..." Sky saw her face, beaten, bloodied, and her left eye swelling. "She took one hell of a beating. They were ready for her, it was our fault for underestimating the gang's hide--" Shining Armor, acting captain of CCPD, was unable to finish his statement as Sky pinned him against the wall. "You let an innocent, 17-year-old girl into this war alone?! That is not only morally questioning, but to my knowledge, highly illegal!" Sky cried. "She didn't tell you? Flutterfly's been wishing to join us since the... incident." "What? What incident?!" Sky asked loudly. "Did she tell you anything?" Zephyr asked Sky, pulling him off Shining. Sky turned to Flutterfly, or rather Mare-Do-Well. "I guess not." A few hours passed since the encounter. Flutterfly was given a replacement mask for her medivac to the local hospital, listed as Jane Doe. Sky was with her as she was finally able to speak again. "How much haven't you told me? What else have you lied to me about, huh? Did you even lose your voice, or was that an act too?" Sky asked her. "One... question at a time." Flutterfly answered. "What happened at Cloudsdale with Hoops and Dumb-Bell?" Sky asked. Zephyr left the room as soon as he asked that. "I was 12. It was before I lost my voice, back at CDA. It was testing day, and Hoops wanted answers since he didn't study. I froze, and he failed the test." Fluttershy took a moment to recompose herself. Sky prepared for whatever would come out of her broken voice. "After school ended, I found a letter on my locker. It said to meet whoever wrote it in the locker room after school or they'd hunt me down and make me wish I did. So I arrived a few minutes after school. Hoops, Dumb-Bell, and Score. They locked the door and said they paid the janitor to leave his shift. The things they did to me... First, they stripped me and took pictures of me, threatened to post them all over the school if I resisted. Then, they tied me to a chair, and... shocked me, whipped me, rap--" "Okay, okay, that's... e-enough." Sky's voice started cracking, he couldn't hear this. "I'm not done. After it all, I fought back, so they were about to post them, but cops caught the janitor and locked down the school. Hoops and Dumb-Bell went out to distract them, Score holding a knife to my throat, threatening to kill me if I made a sound. Something just... woke up in me. I decided to pretend I liked what happened, and said I'd give him more if he untied me. He cut my bindings and I was quick-- I broke his hand and hit him with the back of the knife. I could've stopped, but I couldn't. One of the lockers were open, I guess it's where they stashed their equipment. I grabbed him by the hair and placed his head in the locker." Sky braced himself for what she said afterward. "I slammed the door, over and over again, screaming the entire time. Score dropped his phone untying me, which had all the things they did to me. Cops ran in and the first thing they saw was the pictures. Then me, on my knees, covered in both my blood and Score's, horrified over what I just did... Before the cops could make a move, Hoops jumped me, grabbed the closest thing he could find-- a board, and slammed my neck with it, breaking my already sore voice box... I couldn't breathe, I almost died." "How... how didn't you?" Sky had tears of anger pouring down his face. "Luck, or maybe God wanted me to live. Shortly after that, the FBI contacted me, asked if I wanted to take the fight back to them. Not then, but they wanted to start training me to fight back against the monsters in the world. I did, and soon I wanted to help others who were like I was that night, defenseless. Then, more recently, Twilight from Equestria told us one of her stories about how she and her friends donned the Mare-Do-Well to top their Rainbow Dash." Sky chuckled slightly at that. "After that, I knew what I had to do. I asked Twilight what she looked like, wanting to talk to Rarity about it. When I pitched it to my trainers, they agreed and gave me the green light. I talked to Rarity and she accepted the offer. That's how Mare-Do-Well was born." Flutterfly finished, her voice starting to crack either from the trauma of mentioning her past or the failure of her voice. Either way, the truth was out. "So, what happens now?" Sky asked. "Now, we need your written consent that you would never speak to anyone else about what you just heard." Shining said as he entered behind the two. "Does Rarity count?" Sky asked. "Anyone who is on the team doesn't count. You can talk to them." Shining said. "Who's on the team?" Sky asked. "Sign and you'll find out." Sky made it to the Carousel Boutique to speak to Rarity. He reached the door and knocked. "Yes?" Rarity asked. "It's Sky. We need to talk. About Flutterfly." Rarity nearly ripped the door open when she heard that. "I know everything. I just wanna talk about it." "...Come in." Rarity said.