//------------------------------// // Is Cruelty // Story: Broken: Kindness // by Knackerman //------------------------------// Adrift in a field of stars, words blossom and die, writ large across the heavens. It is peaceful in the eye of the storm. She sits hunched over the book, eyes wide, glued to each page as they flutter passed. The tome seems incredibly large beneath her, as though it was swelling by the second. The unicorn's horn glows brightly as she manipulates six writing tools at once, inscribing words in rich dark ink upon blank pages. She has been doing this for so long now, she can’t remember when she began, she can’t imagine when she might stop. For her, this is what she has always been. Even so, as she comes to one line of text, she hesitates. Each pen and brush hovers uncertainly, twitching over a page that positively begs for words, yet she feels herself suddenly unable to oblige. A memory stirs in her mind and for a moment brief as the heart beat of a dying child, the swirling madness leaves her eyes. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes tear up as a sudden clarity dawns. She is free to go whenever she wishes...yet she dare not. Being here is necessary for the greater good of all. Even as she stares at the blank page, words begin to appear there that were not of her own making. “You’ve been kind for far too long, my dear. It’s time to be cruel.” The words burn across the page in acidic yellow and pink that chews into the paper, branches of color leaching into the page and spreading through the book like the roots of some invasive and deadly plant. Tears turn to grins as the madness comes back to Twilight’s eyes. Her writing tools move furiously, futilely trying to minimize the damage. But sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. ----------------------------- The first sense to return was her hearing. Sound crashed against her ears in a high pitched whine, the auditory equivalent of a shard of glass in your eye, the noise punctuated by sobbing. It took her a moment to realize the origin of those heart wrenching wails. When she discovered she was the source of the sound, a ceaseless low keening, she tried to stop...but the noise was automatic. Everything hurt. She couldn’t move. Struggle as she might, her muscles did nothing but shudder and spasm, sending waves of hot agony searing through her with every jolt. She had no idea just how lucky she was to be feeling anything at all. Her mind was too clouded with pain to appreciate the fact that she was still alive, though broken. She lay, splayed out in a soft indention of mud, hind legs bent at unnatural angles, one of her wings wedged tight beneath her. Her forelimbs scrabbled uselessly in the muck, but all she managed to do was smear more fully the mixture of filth and blood across her body. Her chest felt like it was on fire as broken ribs shifted with every shuddering breath. Blood pooled beneath impact wounds where her flesh had burst open from the trauma of her sudden, forceful landing. As she sobbed a steady trickle of crimson gushed between her teeth. She’d bitten her tongue. She could feel a chunk she had almost, but not quiet, bitten through. It moved around in her mouth but she could only register it as a terrifying foreign object trapped behind her teeth. She tried to spit it out, but only managed to spew more blood and one or two broken fragments of teeth. She could barely breathe, she could hardly think.Tears came, hard and fast. With a powerful spasm she shifted her weight to one side at last, dragging herself to drier ground and freeing her trapped wing. That was a mistake. The pressure was all that was keeping the ruined appendage in place, keeping it numb and bloodless. As she wrenched herself free of the mud hole, a high sharp scream escaped her lungs as the pulpy mess that had been her wing flopped uselessly at her side. Little more than wet sack of shattered bone and feathers held on only tenuously by a few scraps of flesh and unbroken tendon, her wing suddenly became a beacon of pain that overshadowed all other hurts. The pain was worse, far worse than anything she had ever felt before. Still she struggled, a mad idea in her mind that she could somehow get away from whatever was causing the agony lancing down her back and side. As she drug her broken body along the earth, leaving a trail of blood in the grass, her cries never ceased. The wailing would have been enough to wake the dead. Fluttershy couldn’t have known that all that noise making was the worst thing she could have possibly done. She didn’t know much about the world on the ground, having spent all her short life in the clouds. If the smell of blood didn’t draw predators, her shrill screams would. Most of the other animals hid away from the terrifying sounds she was making. Fortunately for her, at that moment she was the most terrifying thing in the forest. All the other creatures hid out of sight, terrified by the monster that had fallen among them. With the adrenaline from her frenzied panic spent, Fluttershy collapsed beneath a towering oak, its shade little comfort as daggers of pain ceaselessly tore at her. After a time, her cries subsided to a low keening, her throat too hoarse to manage much more than a rattling wheeze. Beneath the sun dappled leaves, she saw shadows moving against the green canopy. What was that above her? She could just barely make out the sound of...wings? They were! Fluttershy was so thankful, so over joyed that someone had at last come for her, she tried to drag herself out into the open. The pain in her wing had subsided...too many of the nerves had been severed by shards of bone for her to truly register the ruined appendage as anything more than a weight on one side of her body now that it had been allowed to bleed out. Her other wing fluttered instinctively, trying to lift a body that would probably never know flight again. Her mane was a mess, streaked with mud and blood, and her eyes were so crusted with salt from crying, they stung too horribly to gaze clearly into the sky. But rescue was here. She could hear them descending now! Soon there would be an end to the agony, to the burning pain. Sharp talons scrabbled over her tender flesh as a heavy weight descended on her. She cried out weakly, not understanding as a warm, wet sensation trickled down her spine. Fresh blood welled up sluggishly from the new wounds as Fluttershy craned her neck to try and see what was going on. Why were her rescuers so silent? Why weren’t they carrying her away? Large black wings brushed the grit from her eyes as she stared into the ugliest face she’d ever seen. The buzzard’s beak was partly open as it stared the shattered pegasus in the eye. It gave a low croaking noise, perhaps surprised that this particular morsel was still alive. Fluttershy was too startled to scream as she looked up to see more black shapes circling above her. The buzzards talons slipped along her back as it repositioned itself on her spine. It had already laid claim to this prize...it could afford to wait for the meat to grow soft with putrefaction before feasting. She shook herself to try and get rid of the scavenger, but only managed to hurt herself in the process, the buzzards talons clamping tight. He couldn’t be budged. She started to cry again, tears almost as thick as blood. About to give up hope, a sudden piercing scream echoed loudly from the undergrowth nearby, shocking her into silence. The buzzard squawked in terror as a shape surged from the brush, all fangs and claws and angry burning red eyes. With a sharp kick it sent the buzzard flying, its form clumsily trying to climb into the air to rejoin its fellows, its claim to the first portion of flesh forgotten in its sudden terror. Blind fear filled Fluttershy’s eyes as she saw this new creature's shape draw nearer. She’d never seen an animal like him before. She struggled to try and rise, but it was no use. When his twitchy nose touched hers, however, she stopped struggling. His fur was so white and soft...just like a cloud. Blinking the tears from her eyes, Fluttershy looked upon the creature...a cute little bunny. She laughed, a thin hysterical sound, but far better than the screaming she had been doing moments before. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she knew the world no more. -------------------------- Something wet and cold pressed against her muzzle, bringing her sputtering back to life. She panicked, not aware of where she was. There was no light. It was so dark and cold, like the heart of a thunder storm, yet she’d never been allowed near one so inky black as this. Slowly, her eyes adjusted and she could just barely make out the ghost of the world around her thanks to a few watery beams of moonlight that danced through a canopy of leaves above her. Leaves...leaves meant trees. She was on the ground! She wasn’t allowed to be on the ground! The thought stirred her into a frenzy of fear once more, but when she tried to stand, all that greeted her effort was a wave of pain. With the anguish, at last, her memory cleared. She had fallen and was now stuck on the ground, barely able to move. She was thankfully no longer in the same amount of agony she had been in before and if she held still the pain was only an angry ache. Somepony had been kind enough to set her bones and bind her wounds. She looked close at the bandages that were used on her and realized that they were actually strands of long grass, the splints nothing more than twigs. It was amazing how well the makeshift first aid seemed to have worked, though tears still stung Fluttershy’s eyes as she gazed at the ruined remnants of her right wing. It was a pulpy mess...she must have landed on it hard, for it was clear every bone in it had been shattered. She couldn’t move it at all, but thankfully she couldn’t feel it either. It was bound tight against her body by the same make shift bandages as her limbs. Suddenly there was another splash of wetness against her muzzle. She looked down into the beady eyes of a baby bunny. His nose twitched impatiently as he shoved a large leaf full of water towards her once again. It was clear he wanted her to drink. “Did you do this for me little guy?” His ears twitched knowingly as he stamped one foot, impatient for her to take a drink. Obliging, she put her mouth into the cold pool and slurped up the scant moisture. It had a funny, earthy taste, very different from the rainwater she was used to, but not at all bad. Once she was finished the bunny hopped away with the leaf and came back with a cluster or two of berries. Understanding immediately, Fluttershy began to eat, carefully at first because her tongue still hurt and one or two chipped teeth were sensitive, but soon she was eating with gusto, surprised at just how hungry she was. When she finished, she looked on the bunny with happy, watery eyes. “Oh thank you so much...your just a little angel, aren’t you?” The pegasus thought for a moment, “Is it okay if that’s what I call you? Angel?” The rabbit cleaned one ear thoughtfully and shrugged. It was clear he didn’t care what she called him so long as she stopped bleeding all over the place and attracting predators. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, took his dismissal as acceptance and smiled brightly. She was still very tired and very hurt though. It was also the middle of the night. She yawned, in spite of the pain the motion caused in her ribs, and the bunny Angel hopped away to return with paws full of leaves. He scattered the mass on top of Fluttershy and went to get more. After he had done this a few times, Fluttershy realized he was creating a make shift blanket for her out of the leaves. Before long she was warm and snug against the night chill, and her eyes drooped in sleep rather than mere unconsciousness. She was hurt and in the middle of nowhere, but she could deal with that in the morning. After all, she had her Angel to watch over her. ----------------------------- Time passed fitfully, in jerks and starts and stops. She’d wake to the light of dawn, the howl of distant wolves, or the dying glimmer of twilight. Always she was alone, save for her Angel. Always she was a broken thing that could barely move, barely even able to work up the energy to speak. Had any pony noticed she was missing? Surely there was a search party, even now, dispatched to find her. Or was there? Though she had fallen far and wasn’t sure where she was, Fluttershy should have still been under the camp...should have still been at least somewhat visible from above. So why then did it seem like weeks had passed without her ever seeing another pony? What about her new friends? Surely they'd notice that she was gone. Was she really awake or was all of this just a fever dream brought on by her injuries? The inability to mark time with anything but hunger and thirst, and other bodily needs, was slowly driving poor Fluttershy up the proverbial wall. She had begun to have waking dreams where her parents would walk out of the forest, pretty as you please, come to scold her for worrying them so...come to take her home. Those moments always ended the same painful way. She would try to stand...to go to them, to join them, to be reassured that everything was going to be alright...only to have broken legs falter beneath her, sometimes with the horrible sound of bone grinding on bone, and watch them fade from her sight in a wave of pain and a sudden surge of despair. Her eyes and ears might be fooled by her dehydration and pain, but it was also that pain that kept her grounded in reality. It was hard to tell if this was a blessing or a curse. Worse, though her injuries were starting to mend, she was sickening as the long days stretched on. She knew it wasn’t just pain from her wounds when she woke one night and coughed up a black lump of...something, that had been lodged in her throat. From that moment forward her throat was too raw for much more than water to pass, and even that had to be sipped gently. If she didn't get out of the elements and back on a more familiar diet soon, chances were it wouldn't be her injuries that did her in. Still, Angel did what he could for her and she appreciate the bunnies administrations. It seemed he didn't really have anyone either. Fluttershy might have wondered more about that if she didn't have her own worries to vex her. It could have been a month or years, she had no way of knowing. She did know it was close to mid-morning when she saw her, however, as the pegasus was a silhouette against the sun. She was flying by so quickly, Fluttershy almost didn’t register what she was seeing until it was too late. She yelled as loud as she could manage, “Down here! I’m down here!” she called...or tried to. It actually came out as little more than a harsh whisper, only the word ‘here’ being all that clear. If she had been older she would have cursed. Her illness may have cost her a rescue. She found herself crying again, softly, lest she wake the rabbit sleeping snugly next to her. It wasn’t all bad...Angel had kept her company through the long hours of her delirium. She was quiet sure she would have died a long time ago, an afternoon snack for a flock of buzzards, if it weren’t for the fearless little guy. She was settling in to try and join him in sleep, when she heard their voices. Not believing for a second that it was anything more than her imagination, she was shocked when instead of her parents or her friends, the image of two pegasus boys came from the underbrush. “I told you I heard it coming from over here...” They stopped as if stunned once they saw her. They seemed almost as shocked as Fluttershy. What new, horrible dream was this? Dumbell was still dumb founded, but Hoops had the most terrible, awful grin spreading across his face that Fluttershy had ever seen. There was no way this could be a figment of her imagination. She could never conceive of a smile like that, it was too evil for words, let alone visions. Without realizing it she began to tremble violently. “Oh me, oh my. Can you believe just how lucky we are Dumbell? Days of searching...and we’re the first to find her! This is just...too...perfect!” Angel woke at Hoops exclamation, rubbing sleep from his eyes with tiny paws and looking up at the two intruders. A flash of anger and fear registered in his eyes as he began to make a soft barking noise in the back of his throat. What the broken pegaus by his side meant to him, who can say, but it was clear he was dedicated to her protection. The sight seemed to snap Dumbell out of his daze and he laughed as the furious little bunny scurried towards him. “What's this? Did you get a little boyfriend while you were down here Cluttershy?” One well placed smack of his hoof sent Angel skidding in the dirt. “No!” The word was little more than a whisper, though she put all her effort into it, “Don’t hurt him...he’s just a baby. He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” The effort to speak left her almost panting. Those were the most words she’d strung together in days. “Did you hear that Dumbell?” Said Hoops, the evil smile on his face never leaving. “Her baby doesn’t know what he’s doing. Just like she didn’t know what she was doing starting trouble with us. Just like her parents didn’t know what they were doing when they sent such a clumsy piece of trash to our flight camp.” He trotted casually over to Angel's prone form. He was just getting up when Hoops slammed his hoof down on the rabbit's hind legs, causing a thin high pitched shriek to explode from the bunny's mouth. “I guess we should teach him the same lesson we’re about to teach her, huh?” Fluttershy didn’t understand what he was talking about until he lifted his hoof again, stomping Angel over and over. Each blow awoke another shriek, a fresh wail of pain and fear from her would be protector. “No...stop it...he didn’t do anything!” She tried to move, to drag herself to intercede on Angel's behalf someway, somehow. How could their be so much blood in his little frame? Hoop didn’t even notice when Angel stopped moving. Indeed, he seemed to be surprised when his friend Dumbell pulled him away, shaking him to get him to come back to his senses. He looked down at the rabbits unmoving form and giggled hysterically. “Is that it? Really? Is that all it took? What a weak, pathetic little animal. Dumbell’s right Fluttercry, he was the perfect boyfriend for you!” His laughter was cut short as he looked into her face. Fluttershy had managed to drag herself to Angels shattered body. She was breathing heavily, but she wasn’t crying. Her words were so quiet, yet it seemed every other sound in the forest had died...as if the world had gone silent just to hear her speak.“Pathetic animal. You call this...stupid, brave little angel a pathetic animal?” She looked up at Hoops, eyes blazing with malice. “The only pathetic animal here IS YOU!” Her words rang throughout the forest, echoing from tree to tree. More than her words, it was the look on her face that chilled the pegasus colts to the bone and froze them in their tracks. She was stained with blood, covered in cuts and bruises, her legs were clearly bent at wrong angles and yet she stood, hatred and rage wafting off of her like wild fire. In a flash she had Dumbell’s throat between her teeth, and with one harsh motion hurled the younger pony away. He didn’t understand what was going on, even as his head slammed into the nearest tree, putting his lights out instantly. If he had a moment to spare a thought for his friend, it would have been to tell him to run, that there was something horribly wrong. But there was no running for Hoops. Fluttershy reared up on hind legs that audibly cracked with the strain and brought her flailing hooves down hard on Hoops head, rattling his teeth and ripping one of his ears open on impact. He tried to run, but she was relentless, pounding him with her hooves as fast and hard as he had the only friend she’d known here on the ground. Her hooves pounded his skull, sending him to his knees, a stream of bloody spittle streaming from his mouth. She didn’t stop until he was prone on the ground, writhing beneath her hooves. His belly literally burst as she stomped him repeatedly in the stomach, rips weeping blood in the tender flesh of his belly. Fluttershy heard his ribs cracking as she slammed her hooves into his chest. “Stop...stop!” He begged, not quite understanding the fury, the rage his actions had unleashed. There was no stopping her now. “Aww...you want me to stop. You want me to show mercy?” She said, smashing the smaller pegasus teeth in with one well placed hoof. “Was that the ‘lesson’ you were going to teach me?” She said through teeth clenched in pain and hatred. “NO...I DON’T THINK IT WAS!” She didn’t let up, shattering his ribcage further as she trampled and stomped him into the ground. Hooves soaked in blood, some of it hers, most of it his, she finally cantered away from the bully to pick something up in her teeth and carry it over to his face so he could see it. What was left of Angel she set gently next to his muzzle. “That’s not the lesson you taught him.” Hoops wings struggled vainly against the dirt, instinctively trying to get him airborne, get him away from the beating he was taking. He was already too far gone. All he managed to do was drag his bloodied body across the unforgiving earth. “Please...” he wheezed through clenched teeth. “Don’t kill me...don’t kill me!” Fluttershy watched him with cold detachment. All the hatred, all the rage she had felt moments before was suddenly gone, replaced by an icy hollowness where a fragile heart had once been. In that moment, there was no pain or sadness for her, only an all consuming numbness. “Why would I bother killing something as pathetic as you?” She sneered. Fluttershy stood over him, watching him struggle, studying his broken and battered body. None of it phased her, she felt nothing. She watched him like that for some time, cold as ice, still as placid water. It was only when the shadows began to circle him that she moved again. She didn’t bother to watch as the scavengers descended. They had been waiting on a meal deferred for so long, it didn’t matter to them that this was a different morsel. They had been patient and that patience had at last paid off. His screams did nothing to change the void in Fluttershy’s heart. She merely whispered as she walked away, "Death is a kindness you don't deserve." ------------------------ Tears spiraled from Twilight Sparkle's eyes, floating globules of sadness and disbelief. This wasn’t right, this was far too cruel. This was not how she remembered Fluttershy’s story of her childhood, how she’d gotten her cutie mark, or what had taken place afterward. It should have been years until she met Angel. It should have been a decade until she would become the monster depicted by these words, and then only at the machinations of the Lord of Chaos. Was this real? Was this really happening? The part of her that was one with magic knew the words of this book to be true on a level more fundamental than reality. Try as she might she could not erase them, she could not write over them, she could barely alter them. She was fighting a losing battle. This wasn’t like with the others...this just didn’t make sense! “Make sense? What fun is there in making sense?” The words blossomed and died beneath her pen, a thin chuckle escaping her own lips. Her color was draining faster now, spiraling out of her in thick lashes of purple and midnight to soak her words....and others into the hungry pages. Twilight was losing herself and she knew it...but just a little longer. She could put things right. She struggled on, but was the book actively resisting her, or was it something else? There was another magic out there, she could sense its presence. There was something about this story that made it unalterable. What monstrous force could withstand the level of magic this ancient book employed? -------------------------- They had been searching for nearly two weeks now. The others were beginning to give up hope, but not Rainbow Dash. She was ashamed that she hadn't been the first to notice Fluttershy missing after the thrill of her sonic-rain-boom, but when Derpy had come to her in tears, unable to find the shy pegasus she'd gone immediately to the camp councilors. While most of the children and a few of the adults had already given up on Fluttershy, thinking her weak and a lost cause likely already dead, Dash just couldn't believe that about the sweet girl who had become her friend. She sensed a strength in Fluttershy, buried deep beneath doubt and uncertainty, but there all the same. If anypony could survive being lost like this, she could. Even with that confidence, however, Dash knew that they were running out of time. The forests of Equestria were fairly gentle, but an injured pony could still die of exposure and the elements if no pony knew where she was. In her desperation, Rainbow Dash had broken off from the others, flying swiftly through a patch of forest that had already been combed several times from the air with no success. She hadn't noticed when Hoop and Dumbell had followed her, nor did she catch a glimpse of Fluttershy when she flew passed her. Just like every other pony, she had completely missed the spot that the young pegasus had fallen and remained since she had disappeared from flight camp. But Rainbow Dash did hear it when Fluttershy cried out, her voice echoing through the forest. Dash did a quick turn in mid-air towards the shout, but almost lost her again...that is until Hoops started crying for his mother. When Rainbow Dash at last landed in the clearing it was to a sight out of a horror show. The ground and trees all around the clearing were splashed with blood, both fresh and old. Hoops himself was busily struggling beneath a pile of feathers and talons as a flock of hungry buzzards attempted to make a meal of him. They weren't used to live prey, but they were hungry enough to give it a try. As much as she may have disliked the bully and his friends, she couldn't stand by and watch him be eaten alive. The birds were stubborn, but a few well placed kicks sent the creeps squawking angrily into the air, though it appeared one had found something else to eat and was struggling away from his fellows with its prize of tender rabbit. "Th-thank you! I thought I was...I thought I was going to die." Hoops was barely conscious. It was no exaggeration to say that Dash had probably saved his life. "What happened to you?" The young chromatic flier looked over the colts wounds. She'd never seen someone so battered and beaten. He couldn't have gotten this way from a few scavengers. He grabbed her and pulled her close. The stink of blood was terrifying, but Dash listened closely. "F-Flutter...shy..." was all he managed before passing out. Laughter, strange and high pitched wafted from the forest, not far away. It was a ghastly, frightening sound devoid of even the slightest traces of humor. Dash was brave, but still very young. She cautiously walked through the woods, following a trail of bloody hoof prints. She had no idea what to expect. Could timid little Fluttershy really have done that to Hoops? She rounded a bend in the path and gasped aloud at what she saw. Fluttershy sat half submerged in a shallow pool of tranquil of water, gazing down at what Dash could only assume was her own reflection. It was clear this is where her legs had given out as they lay at strange angles to her body, turning the clear water cloudy with gore. As Dash drew closer, she found that Fluttershy was cradling a broken tree limb in her hooves, the jagged end pressed hard against her own throat, but it wasn't sharp enough to do more than break the flesh. It seemed as though the little yellow pony had tried to end her own life. Rainbow Dash took a step back as the pegasus that had been her friend turned towards her, tears streaming down her face and blood on her lips. Her eyes were wide and wild as her mane as she smiled and laughed again, bizarrely pitched and guttural from the hole in her throat. "Well if it isn't Rainbow Crash! Long time no see!" She tried to stand but her body wouldn't allow it, so instead she drug herself out of the water towards her friend, mane and tail dragging limply through the mud. "Did you have a good race? Did you win?" She cackled loudly, the words coming confusingly fast as fresh blood pumped from her neck. Rainbow Dash took another step backwards, unsure of what to do. Fluttershy's limbs were moving in strange jerks and twists, bones cracking and popping as a low groan constantly rattled from the wound in her throat "Don't go! You finally came for me. Are you here to teach me a lesson too? I wonder what about? A lesson about friendship? A lesson about kindness? I already learned my lesson." With a surge of manic strength Fluttershy slithered up from the mud fast as a striking viper and slammed the smaller pegasus against an old ash tree, her hooves pressed tight against Rainbow Dash's throat. She leaned in close, her breathing ragged as the harsh words were whispered nightingale sweet into Dashie's ear, "The world is a terrible place....and I owe it all to your stupid race." She brought her face as close to Dash's as she could manage with broken limbs in the slippery mud, staring deep into her eyes as she growled, "And I...hate...everything!" A flash of magic as brilliant as the sun, and Rainbow Dash felt Fluttershy's grip loosen. "That's enough of that I think." Her friend had left streaks of mud and blood across her azure frame, but the young flier didn't notice, too in awe of who stood before her. Princess Celestia's horn glowed brightly as she spread her wings. "Time to put things right."