A New Potential

by EnigmaShade

Chapter IX: Victims

“Are you sure about this, Shade,” Twilight said, looking skeptically at the sheet music I gave her, “This doesn’t look like it’ll sound good at all. Not to mention the lyrics are a bit… weird for a birthday party.”
“It’s not for the party,” I said, shelving the returned books pile, “It’s for something else. That sheet there took me a week to remember every lyric and every note.”
“Still looks weird,” She said and lay on a cushion to study the sheet. The room went silent for a few minutes before Twilight seemed to get too nervous by it, “It’s really quiet in here.”
“Don’t you normally love the silence?”
“Well, yes,” She said, looking at the back side of the second sheet, “but with you here, it’s always nice to talk. Unlike most stallions, you are a barrel of knowledge.”
I chuckled and shelved the last book, “Well, what would you like to talk about?”
She put her hoof to her chin in a thinking position, “What about your world?”
“What do you wanna know?”
“What did you do,” She asked, setting the sheet music down, “You said you were police or something like that, but you never said what exactly you did.”
“I was a detective,” I said, sitting in front of her to talk since all of my chores were done, “I investigated crimes.”
“That explains your keen eye,” She said smiling, “What kind of crimes.”
I looked up to the ceiling. I am here four months and my memory is already failing me, “I was in the Special Victims Unit. I would investigate crimes dealing with kids or sexual based crimes.”
“Sexual based crimes,” She repeated almost like a question.
“Things like rape,” I said, the word stinging my tongue, “You know, forcing—“
“I know what you meant,” She said, her words seeming harsher than normal, “It’s actually a little too common here in Equestria…”
“I…” I started without thinking, but I picked up on it right away, “I haven’t heard any cases since co—“
“You haven’t heard any cases since coming here because everypony is too afraid to talk about it,” She said, her eyes no longer focused on me, but into space, and her words were covered in venom, “Whenever you say a word about it, all you feel is shame. Nopony is going to help you, so why say a word? Nopony is going to do anything no matter how hard you cry about it.”
I leaned forward a bit, my interrogating switch flipped on, “Why so bitter?”
Her face changed as she came back to reality, “Oh, sorry about that…”
I smiled, letting her know I wasn’t angry or disappointed, “Don’t worry. Do you want to talk about it?”
“We all have our dirty little secrets we want to keep from showing themselves,” She said, making me more worried, “My older sister…”
She paused a bit, but I didn’t push her to continue, knowing that would shove her away. After a minute, “She was never the same again afterwards. We were best pals until it happened. She was my only friend… Nopony would help her. Nopony wanted to. She was shunned and ignored… She jumped off the Canterlot Castle Garden during my Apprenticeship Ceremony.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, putting my hoof on hers in solace.
“Why apologize? It wasn’t your fault,” Her face twisted in anger again, “It was those sick… freaks.”
“There was more than one,” I asked.
“More than one occasion, too,” She said, “But I got back at them for what they did to her… Nopony listened, but when she cried to me describing every agonizing moment, I listened. I was the only pony who would listen, and I was just a foal.”
“How did you get back at them?”
Her face changed to shame, “Please don’t think less of me if I tell you…”
“Nothing can,” I said, “You are a good sister, and I could never think less of you.”
“Well, Barry helped me,” She began, “We kept it from Sen since he would tell Celestia. Barry says it’s been that way since they started dating and got worse when they married.”
“Ah, so that’s who Celestia is married to,” I said, picking up on the cues to allude to other subjects to help her tell her story.
“Yeah, his birthday is next month,” She smiled for a second and went back to her story, “We kidnapped all seven of them in the middle of the night. The city searched everywhere for them in the morning, but they would never guess we hid them in a cave below Canterlot Castle.”
She stopped, expecting a negative comment. When she received none, she continued, “We had them tied to surgical tables Barry borrowed from the castle’s medical room. I took a pair of surgical scissors, and one by one I…”
I nodded, letting her know she didn’t have to continue, “And how did you keep them from telling?”
“They did,” She said. I couldn’t read the emotions on her face, “But when they told everypony that the Princess’s protégé castrated them, Celestia got offended. Barry came to my aid and told everypony that he was with me and tutoring me on Equestrian holidays the whole time.”
“But wasn’t Barry with you?”
She smiled a sad smile, “Yeah… but nopony dared accuse the Princess’s husband’s brother of wrongdoing with no proof. That’s asking for everypony to hate you.”
I smiled, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Looking back now,” She stared at her hooves, “I feel ashamed of myself for doing it… but I don’t regret it. They took my sister away… and she did nothing to deserve it…”
I stood up and lifted one of my forelegs in a gesture for a hug. She stood up and nuzzled against my chest, “You can’t imagine how often I’ve wanted to do the same. If you ask me, they deserve every agonizing minute of it.”
She smiled at my reference, “You’re the best brother I could ever ask for.”
“You know, if nopony else will listen,” I said, getting an idea for my next letter to Celestia, “Maybe I can be that pony that will take on that job.”
She stepped away and gave me a confused look. I smiled and asked for some parchment and a quill.

On my flight home, Derpy flew past me and circled around me when she noticed she passed me. She matched pace with me and asked me to land using hoof-signals. When we landed she walked up to me with a smile, “Hey, Shade.”
“What’s up, Derpy?”
“Oh! I got a letter for you and one for Fluttershy,” She said pulling a couple scrolls out of her messenger bag, “I saw you flying overhead and thought I’d give it to you now instead of following you home, ‘cause that’d be creepy.”
I smiled, “Ah don’t worry about it, Derpy. Thanks for the mail.”
I turned to head away when she stopped me, “Hey, Shade, I gotta question.”
I turned back to the lazy eyed pony. She blinked and her eyes were straight again, “Yes?”
“Oh, sorry, I blanked again,” She shook her head violently, “Oh, right, my question. You aren’t from Equestria, and rumor says that you weren’t always a pony.”
“Well, I don’t much talk about it, but yeah, that’s true.”
“It may be the unicorn from my Pappi,” She said, blinking to keep her eyes straight, “But I think I see your world when my eyes twist up.”
My attention went all to her, “What makes you think that?”
“Well, it’s a desert land filled with sharp plates of metal and… It kinda looks like a train recycler and junkyard,” She said, “Giant broken buildings with animals that look like they’re from Everfree Forest. Maybe you’ll recognize one if I describe it to you?”
I nodded, my heart in my throat.
“Well this one I see all the time is a creature that stands on two legs,” She looked up at the rooftops thinking, “They got fingers like Spike but not pointy. Some of them have a long nose on their face and really dark glass eyes, but that might be a disguise mask because none of the other ones look like that. Their faces are kinda like a monkey.”
I nodded, shook my head, and nodded again before finding my voice, “Wow, Derpy… That’s quite the gift you have there.”
“Is that your world?”
“Yeah,” I said huffing a singly laugh, “Those creatures… that’s what I was… they’re called humans…”
“Hyooooomaaaaans,” She said, tasting the words, “That’s kinda cool. We gotta do this again sometime. Thanks for talking with me, Shade, but I gotta go get Dinky from school.”
I nodded still shocked. I set the letters I was given in my saddlebag and took off in a slow flight home.

When I got back to the cottage, I finally realized that the letters were from Sapphire in Flight School. I called Fluttershy in from her greenhouse and opened my letter. When Fluttershy got inside, I read the letter out loud.
“Hi Daddy! I’m having a wonderful time here at Flight School! Guess what! I can fly for a full ten minutes now! How’s that for just a month? Don’t worry, I’m staying in line. I haven’t beaten up anypony, and Scootaloo isn’t getting picked on anymore. Sure taught them a lesson they won’t soon forget! I hope you’re taking care of Mommy like you promised. I have so much to say I don’t know what to say next! Anyway, I’ll send an actually organized letter next time, Love you, Daddy. ~Sapphy.”
Fluttershy smiled, “She can’t stay on topic for the life of her, can she?”
“Nope,” I rolled up the letter and set it down and gave Fluttershy her letter, “This one’s yours, so you get the honor.”
She sat down and unrolled the scroll, “Dear Mommy, This letter is between me and you, so if Daddy tries to read it, kick him in the shin.”
She looked up apologetically, so I waved her off with a smile. She trotted off to the couch to finish reading the letter. She sat there for over ten minutes reading the letter, so I started up supper. She rolled up the scroll when I finished slicing up the fruits for the salads and trotted over to me.
“So is she okay,” I asked, worried as to why she would write such a huge letter.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” She said smiling, giving me an apologetic kiss, “She just had some filly issues she wanted to talk to me about”
I nodded, pretending to understand, “I have a question for you, Fluttershy.”
“What is it, Shade,” She said, cutting up some random vegetables for our salads.
“Today, Derpy told me she could see my world,” I said, sitting down, “Do you think that maybe she’s fooling me? You know her better than I do…”
“Well why does it bother you,” Fluttershy asked, “Just saying something doesn’t make it true. Besides, Derpy is a writer. She makes weird stuff up for her stories all the time.”
“But she described my world so perfectly. She described humans and…”
Fluttershy nodded slowly. She set the bowls of salad on the dining table, “Maybe it’s just something we shouldn’t worry about. You’re here. Maybe that’s the way it should be.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I said, sitting down at the table.
We ate in silence as usual. We enjoyed each other’s company even if we weren’t speaking. After I finished my salad and melon slice, I waited for Fluttershy to finish. I had another question on my mind.
“Shy,” I said when she got up to put her bowl in the washbin. When she looked at me I continued, “I know I’m not the most cheery pony in the world. I know I always mention home even when you don’t ask about it. I know I spend more time reading than talking… How did you fall for a twit like me?”
She smiled and sat back down after putting her bowl in the washbin, “When you see all the bad things in you, I see all the good. I see how well you raised your daughter. I see how intelligent you are because of your reading.”
I sat quiet for a minute, and she continued, “There is one trait that you have that other colts who asked me out didn’t have. Maybe one day you will see it.”
I sat back for a couple seconds then gave a whining tone, “You just love to tease me, don’t you?”
She winked and giggled, “Of course, sweetie. Life is no fun if I don’t!”

I lay back in the tub with only my nose above the water. We had the bathtub fixed to fit my large body since it was originally made to fit Fluttershy, who was about half my size. The hot water covering me helped me think and relax. I thought over what Derpy told me yesterday and debated sending a letter to Celestia about it. Of all ponies, she would be the one to know. This thought brought me to thinking of just Celestia. Now that I think about it, she and Luna seemed to be regarded as more than just a leader, but more like a deity. Nopony dared question her or her associates. This must also be the reason Twilight isn’t hanging all over Luna out in the open but only in private.
I felt vibration in the water and jolted up, covering myself. Fluttershy stood in the doorway chuckling. Then I remembered that ponies were normally nude.
“Sorry, Shady,” Fluttershy said, “I forgot you guys were more concerned about privacy than we are.”
I shook my head to clear the water from my ears, “Don’t worry. I need to get used to Equestrian customs sooner or later. Habits are hard to break.”
She nodded, “Well, I’m just reminding you your appointment with Pinkie for baking class is in twenty minutes.”
“Ahhh, dang it,” I said, stepping onto a towel on the floor and taking a couple more to dry myself, “Thanks for reminding me, I totally forgot.”
She nodded and smiled, then asked, “Hey Shady, why is it that humans are so concerned about privacy?”
“Well humans almost always wore clothes,” I said, drying my forelegs, “Since we didn’t have as much fur to keep us warm. Because of this, we became self-conscious whenever we were out of them. It’s a bit more complicated, but that’s the basis.”
She nodded in understanding, “Well that seems silly.”
“It kinda is. The human body became taboo to be seen by anypony else,” I said, putting my vest Rarity made me my second week in Equestria on, “You ask at least one question a day about my world.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” She said, hunching down a bit, “I’ve always been a really curious pony.”
I walked up and pat her on the head then kissed her on the nose, “Don’t worry, hun. I don’t mind.”
She stood a bit straighter and walked past me down the stairs, “Do you want a quick snack? I’m sure you’ll make it in time if you fly.”
“Maybe a bit of steamed broccoli and some cantaloupe.”
She quickly made my meal, and I stuffed it down. After I was done, I kissed Fluttershy goodbye and ran out the door to fly to Pinkie’s place. I made it to her place in about three minutes flying a casual pace.
I knocked on her door and Mr. Cake answered, “Oh, hi Enigma! Pinkie told us you were coming for some lessons?”
I nodded, “Yes, sir. The shop was closed today is what she told me.”
“Yes,” He said, “We have a catering service in a few minutes. And it’s Sunday. Please! Come in! Pinkie is waiting for you in the kitchen.”
I followed him into the kitchen where Pinkie was busy decorating a cake with Mrs. Cake. Mr. Cake quickly ran a cart over to the cake and they slid the large, multi-level cake onto it. Soon they had bags upon bags of goodies filled and on the cart, and they were out the door. Pinkie wiped her dry forehead to display how much work it must have been.
“Whew! That was a lot of work,” She said with a giant grin, “So, ready to learn?”
I nodded and she jumped above me and slipped an apron over my head, “Where’d that come from?”
“What d’ya mean,” Pinkie said, bouncing off before I could ask again.
I shook my head and watched as Pinkie explained how to make cupcakes. Her words slipped from her so quickly I couldn’t keep up, so I tried keeping track of her actions. She added liquid soy and beans half way through the process, which seemed to replace eggs. After about five minutes of forcing me to stir the mixture, she helped me pour the slimy, cream colored mixture into a cupcake pan. She then shoved the pan in the oven and sat on a chair.
“There,” She said with a huge grin, “Not so hard right?”
“Right,” I wiped my forehead, which was actually sweating from the heat in the kitchen.
We sat in silence for a full minute, which seemed to annoy Pinkie because she immediately started talking.
“So how’s it going between you and Fluttershy,” Pinkie asked, “You two look so happy together every time I see you. How’s Sapphire doing in Flight School? Have you heard from her yet?”
“One at a time, Pinkie,” I said laughing, “Fluttershy and I are happy. Never argue about anything, but I never see Fluttershy argue with anypony. I just heard from Sapphire yesterday. She left a secret message for Fluttershy though. I’m wondering if I should be concerned about that.”
“Fluttershy went to Flight School and you didn’t,” Pinkie explained, “Maybe she wanted some advice from a more experienced pegasus. And keeping it secret maybe she’s not wanting to worry you.”
“Well I want to know if she’s in trouble or if she’s worried,” I said, “I want to be able to help if so.”
Pinkie sighed with a soft smile on her face, “Sometimes it feels better to not worry anypony.”
“What do you mean by that,” I asked.
“Well,” She said, her smile no longer there, “I’m not always the happiest pony alive. I’m usually feeling hurt from what happened with June and Big Mac. I don’t mean to complain at you, but it helps me explain. Whenever there’s hurt, I try to smile, but it doesn’t help. When I smile and I see others smile because of me, it makes me feel better. If I hide my pain and smile, and I make others smile, it helps my pain go away. I live to make ponies smile and feel better.”
I nodded, unable to speak for a moment. After a bit of silence, I said, “So that’s why you cheered up really quickly when I walked in here during Sapph and my party.”
“Yes,” She said, her smile slowly returning, “Because I didn’t want to make you frown on your special day. I wanted to make sure you didn’t worry about me. I wanted you and Sapph to smile.”
“But Fluttershy…”
She laughed once, “She is a master at knowing what others feel. She asked what was wrong and I couldn’t keep it in.”
I nodded, “She’s done that to me quite a bit.”
“She’s a wonderful filly,” Pinkie said with a sad smile, “You’re lucky to have such a wonderful fillyfriend.”
“I know that much,” I said smiling myself, “I never doubt it.”
“And whatever you do,” She said, her face turning darker and darker, “Do not ever treat her like June did me.”
I felt something like a stab in my soul at her expression, “And how did he treat you?”
Her normally poofy hair was now straight and covered half her face, which still held the dark expression, “He felt that just because we were dating he could do whatever he wanted with me. One day I got tired of it when he tried to do it during one of our hot air balloon rides… I pushed him away and he slipped… He fell out…”
Her dark expression stayed even as a tear rolled down her cheek, “I had to lie to everypony that he tripped. I still feel guilty even if he was a mean stallion…”
I stayed quiet and she stared at the floor letting the tears roll. I stood up and pulled her into a hug. She flinched and froze up for a second before relaxing again and returning the hug, “I promise, I will never treat anypony like that ever.”
She hugged me back for a few minutes before pushing me away, a smile back on her face and her hair back in a poof, “I don’t doubt it. I think those cupcakes are ready now! C’mon!”
I smiled and followed her. Everypony seemed to have these dark secrets. Celestia was wrong. The last murder was not a century ago. They just stopped accusing ponies of it.

I walked home to think. Pinkie gave me half of everything we made, so I also wanted to keep them warm so Fluttershy and I could share some warm cookies and cupcakes. I had already stopped by the library to have Spike send a letter to the princess about Derpy. I was able to leave quickly since Twilight wasn’t there. I walked up to the forest-side cottage, and Angel hopped up with me and climbed up my saddlebag sniffing for the cookies. I gently nudged him aside and pulled out a cookie and gave it to him, “Don’t tell Shy, okay?”
The bunny got a serious look and saluted before hopping off with his treat. I stepped inside and smiled to see Fluttershy and Twilight chatting on the couch, “Well hello.”
They turned their heads and smiled, greeting me, but I could tell their conversation had involved me by the change in tone the second I walked in, “What’s up?”
Twilight hopped down from the couch, “Just thought I’d pay you two a visit, and Spike got two letters for you. I thought I would use that as an excuse to visit.”
Fluttershy stayed where she was, “Yes, one was from the princess to you and Twilight. She said you should go through with whatever idea you had.”
“Yup,” Twi said, “And she asked me to give you a bit of slack in your job so that you could.”
I waved my hoof at her, “Pff, with three of us there, it’s mostly just goofing off.”
“So what is your project,” Fluttershy asked.
I set my saddlebag on Sapph’s chair, “We’ll talk about that later. You guys want some cookies and cupcakes?”
They both accepted the invitation and sat politely at a table while I dug out the containers of goodies. We dug into them. The two fillies complimented my cooking with every other bite even with me saying that Pinkie did most of the work. All I did was pour and stir with exception of measuring the milk.
After our sugary snack, we went on to discussing the letter from Celestia, “So she actually thought it was a good idea?”
“More than a good idea,” Twilight said, “She thought it was genius. She’s actually surprised she hasn’t done that.”
“What exactly,” Fluttershy asked.
I looked over to Twilight and back then explained, “Twi and I had a conversation yesterday about some of the bad things that happen in Equestria. I was thinking about making a defense force, something like a police station, to help all ponies who are victims of them.”
“How is it a defense force then,” Fluttershy asked, “Seems more like a shrink than anything.”
Twilight took over, “Since most ponies would stop an attack if they saw one, we figured we wouldn’t need a defense force for that, but we would make sure there are repercussions for the terrible things they do.”
“Like what?”
Twi and I shared a glance before I said, “We aren’t sure what the repercussions will be just yet. They will be merciful, yet still make them learn their lesson.”
“Like with rape,” Twilight said, “We would find some sort of punishment that would be equal to the attack. Maybe kick them out of town for a couple seasons, but I’m not sure if we have that kind of power.”
“I don’t think anypony will protest it,” I said, then I stood and found a space and spread my wings, showing my full size, covering most of the room and even having to bend my wings a bit to not knock flower pots down, “And I think power is not what we should be concerned about.”
“Still something to worry about,” Twilight said.
Fluttershy sat quietly for a few minutes before we asked her her thoughts. She looked at us quizzically, “But why would you do bad things too? Two bad things don’t cancel out…”
“What do you mean,” I asked.
She sighed through her nose and looked out of the corner of her eye before meeting mine, “Punishing somepony for something they did doesn’t make their wrong disappear.”
“But it keeps them from doing anything more,” Twilight said when I couldn’t answer.
Fluttershy nodded slowly, “I guess… but some ponies do bad things for a reason.”
“I know that all too well,” I said, thinking back to my conversation with Pinkie, “All too well…”

When Twilight left, I decided it was the best time to read the second letter. It was from Sapphire again. Fluttershy smiled and settled in next to me to read with me. I had a feeling she already knew what was going to be written in it

I read the rest of the message in my head. I looked at Fluttershy, “You knew about this?”
She nodded, “Yeah. She asked me for advice, and I gave it to her. You’re not mad, are you?”
“Mad,” I asked, “Of course not. I’m actually glad.”
“Glad?”
“Yeah, and a little sad,” I said. Sapphire felt safe going to Fluttershy about such a sensitive issue. This made me glad, but Sapphire felt afraid to come to me about the issue. It hurt to know that.
“Well, no matter what, even if she doesn’t know it,” I said, “She’s still my precious little gem.”