//------------------------------// // The Crazy Thing About The Heart // Story: Jokers Wild // by blowngasket //------------------------------// Chapter 10: The Crazy Thing About The Heart Even though there was a monstrous demon of a creature quickly on their trail, none of that mattered at the moment. Even though they were under the threat of eminent death, time almost felt like it wasn't even moving to Fluttershy. Her heart was racing, staring Perry in the eyes. His eyes, not the mask he wore, but his actual eyes. She could see what he meant when he told her he was different. The way he looked at her, obviously nervous yet remaining strong, made her blush. His face was slightly pale from lack of light hitting it, but it wasn't ugly. It was a subtle attractiveness that made her gaze hard to remove. His eyes though...his left eye glowed with a hue of blue almost similar to hers. However, his right eye was a blood red where it should have been white. His iris was a simple black lined ring, leading into the red pupil. His stare left her breathless, not sure of how to act or what to even think. Perry, satisfied that he had her undivided attention, handed Fluttershy his mask and spoke to her gently. "Take this and go...I will be back to retrieve it, so I need you to keep it safe. Please do this for me?" he spoke with a simple sincerity, and a calm yet strong voice. She nodded to Perry and, the shock of seeing him snapping her slightly out of her fright, started to finally run. Perry trusted her enough with this task as to do something that she knew must have been terrifying for him, so she needed to succeed. She had to keep his mask safe for him so he can return for it. She thought back to his face, to his eye. Even though it was as terrifying as the eye of the damned beast that made chase, it managed to reassured her as well. He would come back alive. ---------- ---------- ---------- Perry watched Fluttershy run away. He was happy about this, for many reasons. She would be safe from the Nuckelavee, and he would be sure to keep it that way. She would also be safe from him, which made it all the easier for him to cut loose. Oh cut loose he did plan on doing. This was a long time coming, and with all the stress that had built up from everything going on, he needed to relax, even though to others it would be an odd way to go about it. This thing was looking like the perfect stress ball, as no one would miss it. The fact that it looked slightly human made it so much more fun to kill than an animal too. He heard the footsteps racing forward, and smiled. It was a sick and twisted smile, born from years of bloodshed and slaughter. As the beast tried to run by the rock to make chase for Fluttershy, he let out a swift kick, managing to strike it in the side, toppling it over. The Nuckelavee, caught completely unaware, had begun rolling across the ground before coming to a stop. Perry simply walked, wanting to take his time with this one. "Oh come on!" Perry said in frustration. "Please tell me you're not going to be that easy," he gave a fake frown down towards the infuriated creature, its one eye glowing red with anger. It got up quickly for a beast of its size, letting out a shrill bellow. The dark cry from the monster had caused plant life around it to start to wither, using this approach in a show of power to try to intimidate its enemy. Perry laughed at it. "Oh oh, I can do that too!" Perry yelled as he swallowed some air, and let out a loud belch. He giggled happily at his own antics, the Nuckelavee obviously not amused. "Ahh you're no fun. Lighten up!" the beast simply ran at Perry, ready to kill him and quickly. Perry did the same, the smile never leaving his face. As the Nuckelavee took a swing at Perry, he bent down and did a power slide between its front legs and out from behind it. The beast was clearly confused at where he went, before hearing Perry speak. "Oh thank you all! You're a wonderful audience!" it turned around, staring Perry down. "Aww...ish my little vee vee angwy?" Perry mocked. His obvious attempt at pissing it off working, the Nuckelavee let out a loud roar. As monstrous as it sounded, it only succeeded in causing Perry to grin. "Well, as much as I want to play with you, I have to kill you now," he sighed as he looked at it, a frown forming on his face. The Nuckelavee, if it could speak, would probably be shouting out several profanities as it once again began charging quickly. Perry simply stood there, awaiting its attack. As it took a swing, he ducked. Using his crouched position, he quickly countered with an uppercut onto the horse head, connecting with a sickening thud. It quickly regained its composure, attempting to slash at Perry by swinging its arms wildly at him. Perry grinned with glee, dodging back and forth, the beast's quickness no match for Perry's. "You would think that something as wicked as you would be dangerous. You're barely an afternoon stretch..." he smiled at the beast; it became more enraged by his comments. It jumped back, leaving Perry a bit saddened. "What is wrong, vee vee? Don't you wanna play with me? I swear it will be loads of fun! Blood will shower when I am done!" Perry giggled lightly at his own rhyme. The Nuckelavee held its clawed arms out, preparing another charge assault. "You know, for a demonic hell spawn looking horse thingy, you're not very smart. I mean, all you seem to do is run at me, I dodge, hurt you, rinse and repeat! Let's face it. With that kind of strategy, I might as well make it easier for you," Perry said to the Nuckelavee, holding his arms behind his back. It just ignoring him, not listening to his insults anymore. It dashed towards him with more speed than before, leaving very little room to get out of the way. Jump left and right and get shredded. Stay where he was and he would get trampled by the beast. Perry had his own idea in mind. He raised his leg, and with rock crushing force, dropped his heel into the beast's head when it was just inches away. He proceeded to drive its head into the ground, smashing its lower jaw on a rock below. The Nuckelavee fell over onto its side. Its jaw flopping about, broken and crushed. Perry looked at the foul beast, grinning like a fool. "So what color do you bleed, I wonder?" he said to the beast as it was trying to rise from where it laid. swinging its arms in a flailing motion to keep Perry from getting anywhere near it. "I hope it is a pretty color! They are so pretty and make me so happy!" he licked his lips in anticipation. Anyone watching the encounter would surely be unsure of who would be the monster now. "Hold down that which soars..." he started to chant. "Bind down to the land in which we walk..." he started to glow from casting the spell. "Give way to all that resides, granting a swift entrance. Hide away the light, and pull darkness in, where angels dare not fly..." he raised his hand and grinned at the beast. It is almost as it could tell its time was near an end, and looked on at Perry for mercy, but saw none. "Gravity Crush!" the area around the Nuckelavee grew heavy, rapidly. All the branches in the trees above it started to give way. Sure he could have straight out targeted the beast, but it wasn't going to be as much fun as what he had in store. At a sudden influx, all the branches gave way, breaking off and flying towards the ground at the Nuckelavee, skewering it like a bushel of spears. It bellowed in pain, its blood squirting everywhere, covering Perry in a good amount. He took his hand and gently smeared it across his face. "Oh so warm! It feels so good!" the beast stopped its cries as its glowing red eye began to close for the last time. "I am going to miss you, vee vee, but you will always hold a special place in my heart. Hmm...right next to the guy whose skin I ripped off. I never knew a skull could look so cool when the owner was still alive, that guy will always be my favorite...but you do come in a close second," he chuckled. He walked towards it and stared up into the darkening sky. "Funny, such a nice hole leading up, doubt that's where you went, though," he bent down and gave the corpse a playful nudge on the cheek. "Cheer up, sport. At least you made me feel better, and that is all that counts, am I right...oh yeah you're dead. Can't tell me," he grabbed the jaw and made mock motions with it as if it was speaking. "You're right, Pierriot, making you feel better does make becoming a pin cushion so much more appealing," he continued his antics with the dead beast for another minute before getting bored and preparing to leave. Not before he stomped its skulls in to be on the safe side. That. and he wanted to see which one had the brains. ---------- ---------- ---------- Fluttershy made it to the river. Quickly, she lifted the back of her sweater to let out her elegant wings she kept hidden. She struggled to use them, as she flew over to the other side as quickly as she could. Landing on the other side, she pulled her sweater back over them and huddled against a tree and waited, staring at the mask for comfort. "He will come back for it...he has to..." she told herself. She remembered hearing the wails that the Nuckelavee made. Its unearthly cry unlike anything she ever heard. She couldn't do anything, just sat there and prayed that he would return alive. "He will come back...he will come back...he promised..." she kept telling herself, her tears falling on the mask she held. Its goofy grin looking at her, like Perry did. His laughing, the stories he told. She thought back on it, and imagined all the events without the mask, it being his face that smiled at her, grinned as he told his stories, and that look of determination as he stood against those men. It was subtle, but helped bring her comfort in this dark moment. She knew he only removed it for her, to help her. When he returned, if he returned, he would probably go back to wearing it all the time. It didn't matter, though, because it was a moment she could only hope to keep with her for as long as possible. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, as a red figure made its way through the forest towards her. She feared for the worst, thinking that Perry managed to fail. She was afraid that she would never be able to return the mask she safe guarded to its proper owner. After an agonizing walk, the figure finally came into focus. "PERRY!" she yelled, louder than any yell she had ever released. He was covered in blood, terrifying her to no end. He looked fine, but what if most of it was his own. On the other side of the river, he gave a slight wave to Fluttershy before jumping in. He was underwater now, as Fluttershy waited for him, hoping that he would rise out of the water soon. After about a minute of panic and worry, she saw his hand arise from the side, pulling his now cleaned up self, minus a few red stains, out of the water. She watched him as he got out. He looked at her and smiled. "A true gentleman always keeps his promise," Perry told her, gently removing a tear from her face. Fluttershy, staring at him nervously, was hesitant to ask, but she needed to know. "A...are you ok? I saw all that blood...is it..." "Dead? Yes. I did what I had to do. There would be no reasoning with it, and it would only hurt people," he looked at her, and could tell she was bothered by the thought of anyone taking a life. "Was there really no other way?" Fluttershy looked at him sadly. "I doubt it...I am sorry if what I did bothered you..." he looked down, genuine sadness in his eyes. He felt wrong, seeing her sad like this. Even worse was that he knew he enjoyed making it suffer. He could never bear to tell her the truth, seeing her like this. She looked at him, and after some time to think about what had occurred, did her best to smile for him. "It's fine...I understand. Thank you for saving me twice now," she blushed slightly and hugged him. He winced as he felt her hands on the claw marks, causing her to quickly pull away. She looked at her hands, seeing a dark crimson red on them. "Are you ok?!" she asked quickly. He nodded, still wincing slightly. "I should be. The thing got me good, but nothing I will die from," he chuckled lightly, giving Fluttershy his best reassuring smile. She shook her head and glared at him. "Take off your shirt," he stared, tilting his head to the side and giving her a confused look. "I know I am good looking, but I doubt this is the time and place to be admiring me," Perry said, giving a cocky smile. She blushed heavily and shook her head. "I..I am sorry! I mean...take it off... so I can treat the wound," he laughed and looked at her. "I know. It is just so much fun to tease you," he grinned, causing her to blush even more. He took his shirt off, the thing not being in the best of shape anyways. "Promise you won't laugh at me..." Perry looked at Fluttershy. "Why do you ask that?" Perry asked. Fluttershy tried to speak, but only managed to fidget around nervously. "Never the less, I promise. You don't have to be embarrassed around me," she smiled slightly at his comment. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she removed her sweater, causing Perry's jaw to drop slightly. He could see her thin looking undershirt showing off her figure. It was like a hidden treasure, but what he was looking at was almost the crown gem. She had wings, soft looking and beautiful, with a golden hue to them. She folded them over her front in embarrassment, looking towards the ground. She tried to distract her thoughts, not wanting to look up, as she tried to rip her sweater into strips. He gently grabbed her slightly shaking hand, causing her to look up at him, and could see a blush in Perry's face. Those eyes, scary as the one was, were also so soft looking. Perry didn't know what to think either, really. He woke up today thinking it would be another day, now he was lost in the Everfree Forest, having defeated a mythical demonic creature, and looking at someone without his mask on, and strangely not caring. He helped her with the sweater, feeling kind of bad for ripping her clothing up. "Fluttershy, I don't see why you would be embarrassed..." Perry spoke softly to her, continuing to help her. She took a sleeve from the thing and dabbed it into the river. Wringing it out, she gently cleaned up the wound on his back. He winced slightly, but he maintained his composure so she wouldn't get upset. "It's...just..." she started as she used the other sleeve to dry his back off, dabbing it lightly on the injured parts. "...I am one of the winged ones, yet I can't fly well at all. People where I live often made fun of me...calling me useless...and..." she stopped, causing Perry to turn his head to look at her. She was ready to cry. Perry got up and hugged her gently. He didn't understand why, he just needed to do this. It was wrong. "Fluttershy, don't worry about what others say about you. You're not useless, you're unique..." Perry told Fluttershy looking at her. It was so wrong. She was so much more different than him. "You're special, you didn't let what people said make you bitter and hateful...in that sense you're better than I could ever be," she blushed as he spoke to her like this, holding her tightly against his chest and looking down at her. He felt like this entire situation was wrong, and it should not happen. "You're a beautiful woman. You're kind and caring, someone deserving of all the happiness in the world," he couldn't believe himself right now. He never felt so off in his life, so many emotions he believed he had killed a long time ago. He wasn't even sure if those were his words and these were his thoughts. Sure, he could easily act, make people think he was genuine, but everything coming from him was how he truly felt, scaring him almost more than an army of those damned monsters ever could. "I can't give you happiness and comfort like that...but I can try and comfort you..." Perry bent his head down and gently kissed Fluttershy, her teary eyes getting wide, filled with shock and confusion. It was wrong of him, and he knew it. It was wrong, and stupid, and downright twisted of him, but he couldn't help but love her. Fluttershy responded to kiss, wrapping her arms around Perry's neck, only causing him to tighten the embrace he had on her. The moment could have lasted an eternity, but sadly, eternity wasn't long enough. They broke off the kiss slowly, Perry looking into Fluttershy's eyes. She smiled lightly still holding him around the neck. Never has Perry felt so comfortable without the mask, almost even forgetting it exists at all. The moment was so perfect and so peaceful so... "THERE THEY ARE!!!" A loud yell caused both Perry and Fluttershy to jump. Perry could see Twilight along with the rest of the group heading on the riverbank towards them quickly. Perry, now suddenly completely self conscious about his face, quickly and frantically looked around. "Fluttershy! My mask! Where is it?!" he spoke quickly, nerves flaring in alarm. She quickly picked it up from her belongings and with almost inhuman speeds he stuck it to his face. He casually started whistling as the girls finally got to them. They all stared awkwardly at the two of them. Fluttershy was standing there blushing heavily, her sweater torn to shreds, and Perry sweating nervously, his shirt tossed to the side, and obviously whistling like someone who was hiding something. Twilight was the first to move forward with what looked like a small fire burning in her eyes. "Dark clouds send forth your emissary, show judgment to those deemed unworthy..." "Twilight, wait! This isn't what it looks like!" Perry yelled out, realizing the implications of how everything looked. "Lightning!" a bolt struck Perry, causing him to twitch slightly, and fall to the ground face first. All of the girls gasped slightly when they noticed the huge claw mark on his bare back. "Fluttershy, what happened?" "umm...well...you see..." she fumbled on her words, still embarrassed with everything that has happened in the last two minutes. Perry graciously raised his hand, showing he was still alive. "Now don't you think...you should ask that...before zapping me?" Perry said slowly as he got up. Twilight glared at him. "Lightning!" a smaller bolt came out of the cloud, hitting him again, and causing him to twitch about. "So...cruel..." ---------- ---------- ---------- Perry spent a good portion of the trip back to Ponyville recounting the tale of the Nuckelavee, sparing them all the gory parts in which he was responsible for. Fluttershy added in her account, with both of them avoiding the more intimate details between the two. Perry was wrapped up in Fluttershy's old sweater now, the blood finally stopping. "Wow...I didn't even think that those were in Equestria," Twilight said as Perry and Fluttershy finished the story. "Yeah, me neither," Perry responded. "It was a shock, to think that there was something like that in this forest." "It sounds like that knucklehead fella caused one heck of a ruckus. It was lucky you two made it out alive," Applejack said to Perry and Fluttershy. "I'm sure Perry had everything all under control!" Rainbow gently nudged him. "He earned my seal of coolness, and I only give those to people who are just as great as me!" Perry chuckled at the odd, but nice compliment. "I say we have a party!" Pinkie exclaimed, everyone turned to look at her. "Pinkie...a party? I think those two should get rest more than anything, sweetie..." Rarity said to Pinkie with a raised eyebrow. "What? It is a 'I am glad you're not horse chow' party!" she said happily. "I second the motion to party!" Perry exclaimed. "No party, at least not today!" Twilight yelled. She then pointed to Perry. "You! Hospital! You need to get treated," Perry whimpered like a little dog while looking at Twilight. "But...I don't like hospitals...they bore me..." he said slowly "Fine. I will have to play amateur surgeon then," Twilight grinned at Perry "On second thought a hospital doesn't sound all that bad...please don't ever do that again!" he said quickly. All the girls laughed at his response. ---------- ---------- ---------- Finally making it out of the forest, everyone took a breath of relief. The night sky was more visible now. Everyone made their way to Ponyville Hospital to have Perry and Fluttershy checked out. Perry was still upset about going to the hospital, but it was better than Twilight testing new methods of medicine on him. He figured that a hospital bed and some rest might be nice to get his mind cleared up from the madness that is the day, and his heart. He did things today that he didn't know he would, or even could. His thoughts drifted to Fluttershy, and the moment they shared together at the river bank. He wanted to enjoy it so badly, but it wasn't fair to someone as sweet and kind as her to be with someone like him. These thoughts continued to eat at him. Everyone noticed the silence, occasionally asking if he was alright. Perry nodded and gave his usual laugh. This made all of them feel a bit better, but they still couldn't help but look on with concern, considering what occurred. He kept looking at Fluttershy from out of the corner of his eye. Her wings were still used to cover herself, as she hasn't really moved them since showing Perry. It didn't make them any less stunning. He chuckled to himself, thinking she almost resembled an angel. His next thought was simple, yet it did nothing but cause him pain, hurt him, and leave him feeling shallow and empty. 'Could an angel ever fall in love with a demon?'