The Past of a Shy Mare

by Songbrony

Painful Memories

"Are you ever going to get that thing fixed?" I asked as the pain subsided.

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with it. The pain is just a side effect of using it." he said as he cracked his neck.

"But can't you make it less painful?"

"Sorry, I'm not the Doctor. And he hates this thing so he refuses to fix it." he said.

I should talk to the Doctor about that then. I thought. "So where are we?" I asked as I looked around the city we appeared in.

"B Street. Or somewhere close to it. Look for a giant clock. We can use that to figure out where we are exactly." Jack said as he walked down the street. "Come on!"

I ran up to him and he pointed to a giant clock tower. "So we're pretty close to where we need to be. Should only be a few blocks down." he said.

"Who is this pony you want me to meet?" I asked as I followed him down the street.

"He's a friend. Or as close to a friend as you can be with him. He's a little...weird." Jack said.

"I've been seeing a lot of weird things lately." I said.

"Yeah, but this guy...he's beyond weird. He's a psychopath."

"And you're taking me to meet him?" I asked shocked.

"He's not the bad psychopath. He's the good kind. The type who wants to help you." he said.

"Umm, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with being in the same room as a psychopath." I said nervously.

"You'll be fine. You got me, strong, big, handsome Captain Jack." he said with a smile.

We walked down the streets and I couldn't help but get a bad feeling in my stomach. I don't know what it was about, but something was just off. "Is there anything I should know about him?"

"Not really. Other than don't be too alarmed when he starts talking. He doesn't really have a sense of what's normal. Some would even say he's void of all human emotion, at least to a fault. He's very observant, so don't be too shocked by anything he says." he explained as we walked up to a door. "Oh, and stay out his fridge. Might find a severed head." he said as he knocked on the door.

"A what?" I exclaimed.

The door opened and an older pony stood there, her red mane a slight grey. "Jack! How you been deary?" she asked.

"Doing well, Mrs. Hudson, yourself?"

"Wonderful since you showed up last week." she said with a smile.

"Well sadly I'm here for official business. Maybe later." he said with a wink. "Is he home?" There was a loud noise coming from upstairs and a shout. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Go right ahead." she said as we walked up the stairs.

"What was that noise?" I asked Jack.

"He's probably bored and experimenting with something." he said. He stopped in front of the doorway as another loud crash, which sounded like glass breaking, was followed by a shout. "I see the experiments are going well."

"Experiments?" the Unicorn said at the table. He had clips attached to his hooves and chest, with wires leading to a red box with a bolt on it.

"Yes. Experiments. By the looks of it, it involves a battery and heavy drinking. Didn't know you were into that sort of foreplay." Jack said with a smile.

"It's not foreplay. And it's not an experiment." he said, flipping a switch and shouting again.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"Boredom."

"This is Fluttershy." Jack said as we walked into the room.

"How long ago was it?" he asked me.

"Was what?" I asked confused.

"Your parents abuse."

I looked to Jack who just nodded toward the Unicorn. "Umm, back when I was a filly." I said.

"And your friend, does she know? About your feelings?"

My mouth opened a little. "My feelings about what?"

"That you like her. Your stance shows that you are shy, timid, vulnerable, you cover your face, mainly your left eye, probably a defense mechanism to hide parental abuse, which you confirmed. You're reluctant to talk, avoid eye contact with others if possible, another sign of abuse, you're afraid to say the wrong thing and you don't want to look at the one who caused it, most likely a father or father like figure. You have emotional detachment from your mother, a sign that she wasn't supportive of you but of your father. You lean to the left, only slightly, usually a sign of an unshared love from a friend, but it's more than that, you're afraid to lose her, something that will eventually happen. Outside you walked behind Jack, a sign that you are afraid to take leadership and are used to going with the flow. You look at Jack with a look of fear yet respect, which you yourself don't truly understand as he's helped you through a lot of events and is close to someone you trust completely, again for an unknown reason but because he helped your friend that you have feelings for, so I'll ask again, does she know?" he said.

I looked to Jack who was only smiling. "Told you." he said.

I looked back to the Unicorn. "How...how did you know all that." I said shocked.

"It was obvious." he said, unhooking the clips. "Now, for the third time, does she know?"

"Um, no. At least I don't think so." I said. My head began to hurt slightly as I thought of Rainbow Dash.

"Good. Then we've got time." he said, walking into the kitchen.

"The Doctor said that you knew where we could find her." Jack said as he followed him.

I stayed back in the room and looked around. There was a skull on the shelf above the fireplace, a violin in the chair that sat next to it, and a smily face on the wall. I looked back into the kitchen and saw them open the fridge. Sure enough there was a head just sitting in there. "Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed and ran to the bathroom, trying to not vomit on the floor.

"Is she okay? It's just an experiment." I heard the Unicorn say.

"You're a psychopath!" I exclaimed, vomiting into the bathtub.

"Oh, do you're research. I'm a high functioning sociopath." he said.

"And that's an excuse to have a head in your kitchen?!"

"Doesn't everyone?"

I hurled again into the tub. I was in there for about ten minutes trying to regain myself. When I walked out I saw an Earth pony sitting in the rocking chair across from the Unicorn. "Fluttershy, this is my assistant Watson." he said.

"He hates calling me a friend." Watson said as he stood up from the chair. "Nice to meet you. I see you've found one of his...hobbies."

"Does he always have something like that in his kitchen." I asked.

"Yeah. He doesn't get out much. Unless there's a case, which I think he just found." he said. "Cool necklace by the way."

I walked next to Jake, who was the only pony here I felt comfortable next to, and put my hoof on the necklace I had, just in case. "So...what does all this have to do with me?" I asked. "Jack said you told him you could help me."

"I can. But only with time. We have to wait for her to make a move first." he said.

"Wait for who?" I asked.

"Clar-" the Unicorn was about to say before being interrupted by Jack.

"Someone who is looking to harm both you and Rainbow." he said.

"Who would want to hurt us though?" I asked.

"The Shadows." the Unicorn said.

"What are The Shadows?" I asked.

"Nightmare Moon's followers. Deadly and vicious. Dumb, but smart enough to start a coup."

"But they disbanded after Nightmare Moon was defeated. Why are they back now?" Watson asked.

"Precisely, why now? Why after all this time are they becoming active once again? And who's their leader?"

"They can't have just one leader. They're all too power hungry." Jack said.

"Yes but they're too small of a group now to have multiple leaders. Someone must have changed their rules and morals when they took power. But who? Who could have that much authority to change an entire regiment from being power hungry to obedient?"

"An ex leader perhaps? Someone who knows how the old system works and how to get around it?" Watson suggested.

"It would have to be her most trusted servant. Think, who was the most trusted in The Shadows?"

"One of her generals?" I suggested.

"Don't be stupid, generals are too power hungry for a group to want to follow." the Unicorn said.

"You do remember that I was in the military right?" Watson said.

"Yes, but the military now isn't trying to overthrow a goddess."

"What about her?" Jack said.

"Her? After what happened with the Doctor-" the Unicorn stopped suddenly. "Oh! Yes! She's the one! She's the one who's leading them! But how? She could easily be overpowered if someone didn't like her new way of running the group, especially the radicals of the group who hated change and killed most of the leaders who tried to change things."

"Mind control?" Jack suggested again.

"Possible but how? Watson do a search for her and any of her last purchases."

"How do you expect me to do that?" he asked. The Unicorn tossed a chip at him.

"Plug that into the database over there and see what you find."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a chip that allows me to find locate her and her last 20 coordinates with just a pinch of her DNA." the Unicorn said.

"And what good would that do?" Watson asked. "We still wouldn't know what she purchased, we'd only have her location."

"Yes, but we can narrow down what she was searching for based on those locations."

Watson sighed and plugged the chip into a machine. "Let's see. Okay it says she was at the bakery, the pharmacist, the gift shop-"

"Which gift shop?" the Unicorn asked.

"Umm, that weird one with all the odd ins and ends. The Galaxy's Most Bizarre Thrift Shop." Watson said.

"Oh! I've been there! They had this Amulet thing that the Doctor was interested in. Something about 'her' using it while she wasn't a Unicorn and that Luna's other form needed helped her take it to Buckingham Palace." I said.

"That's where she is. She must have shown them the Alicorn Amulet and had Nightmare Moon prove to them that she could be trusted." the Unicorn said.

"But Nightmare Moon was defeated. I was there with my friends when we stopped her." I said.

"But at what time did she do it? It's possible she travelled through time a little bit and showed them it in the past before now so that way she could get a group to follow her." Jack said.

"But how? She doesn't have a TARDIS or a Vortex Manipulator like you do. So how could she have time travelled?"

"No, it's possible she does have one." he said.

"How?"

"I've been known to show this thing off in the past. So I may have met her, not knowing who she was, and then, well you know, spent the night with her and she could have used it." he said carefully.

"Bit of an awkward situation considering who we're dealing with and who she's related to." the Unicorn said.

"That's not important!" Jack exclaimed. "Let's just get the Doctor and head over there and stop her."

"Wait a moment...there's something else. Did you grab someone else's DNA too?" Watson asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, they're appearing here too. Firefly? Who's that?" Watson asked.

"Oh no." Jack said. "We need to hurry. She could be in trouble."

"Why?" I asked. Firefly sounded familiar, I just wasn't sure where I had heard it from.

"Firefly was the one who helped the Doctor escape when The Shadows captured him remember? You and I were there." Jack said.

My eye's widened. "Why is Rainbow's mom in trouble? What happened?"

"Don't know, it's why we need the Doctor. Let's go!" Jack said as he ran down the stairs.

I looked back to the two in the room and saw the Unicorn sitting in his chair thinking hard.

"What was your name?" I asked him.

"Hm?" he said turning to me, breaking his train of thought.

"Your name?" I repeated.

"Sherlock Holmes." he said and returned to his thoughts.

"That's all you're going to get from him. He's in his 'mind palace.'" Watson said.

"What's that?"

"His little place where he goes when he needs to do some heavy thinking." he said.

"Oh. Well it was nice to meet you two." I said with a smile and walked back down the stairs.

"I'm going to look for the Doctor. When you get back don't mention anything to Rainbow Dash." he said.

"Why?"

"Chances are that she will have already experienced this by the time you get back." he explained.

"Time Travel?" I asked him.

"Exactly. Get ready." he said. I placed my hoof on the device and I felt that unmistakeable pain reappear.

We appeared in front of the others, who were still frozen. "Okay, remember not to say anything about this to Rainbow." Jack said.

"Are you sure? If her mom is in danger she should know and be able to help." I said.

"But not this time. Please. Don't say a word." he insisted.

I stared at him. "Okay. I'll let you and the Doctor do whatever it is you need to do." I said. I wasn't happy with it, but I trusted Jack. He wouldn't keep it secret from Rainbow Dash unless it was to protect her.

"Great. Have fun with your friends now." he said with a smile.

"Jack, wait." I said. "Why did you bring me there? I thought you said he could help me."

"He will. Just give him some time." he replied.

"But how?"

He hesitated before answering. "You'll find out in time." he said, and disappeared.

"Great..." I sighed. I looked back to the Princess as she started to slowly move again.

"I'm so sorry! I missed you so much big sister!" Luna exclaimed as she started to cry.

"I missed you too." the Princess said.

I looked to Pinkie Pie who seemed to have been crying a lot. That quickly stopped though. "Hey! You know what this calls for?"

"A party?" Twilight said.

"A PARTY!!" Pinkie exclaimed. We laughed and began to walk out of the forest. I was ahead of Rainbow Dash for the most part. I really didn't want to look at her because I wasn't sure I could keep it secret from her for very long that her mother was in danger due to a deadly group of Nightmare Moon's followers. I looked back to her when we were about halfway through the forest and realized that she wasn't there.

Where did she go? I thought. Then I remembered what Jack said. She may know about it now and the Doctor or Jack took her someplace. I hope she's okay and that they took her somewhere safe.

When we reached the entrance I checked behind me again to see if she was there, and she was. But something was off about her. Like something was bothering her. But what? I'd ask her about it later when we were alone. She shouldn't be bothered. We were with friends.

There was a party that didn't end until really late at night. It took my mind off of everything that happened. When it ended, Rainbow and I walked Twilight back to her library. She passed out as soon as she got home and Rainbow tucked Spike into bed as well.

"I can't believe I saw a baby dragon today." I whispered to her.

"Yeah. It's amazing all the stuff we've seen today." she replied.

"I know. A manticore, a sea serpent, and an evil princess. It was frightening." I said as we left.

"I don't mean-" she started but cut herself off. "Can I show you something?" she asked.

"What is it?"

She took a picture out from under her wing and showed it to me. It was a picture of a Pegasus with a pink mane. "Do you recognize this pony?" she asked me.

"No. At least I don't think so." I said. Should I remember who she is?

"Try harder. As hard as you possibly can." she pleaded with me.

"I'm sorry Rainbow. I don't know that pony." I said.

She sighed. "How about you come by to my house? I have something else I want to show you." she said.

"Um, okay. Are they more pictures?" I asked. I wasn't sure what she could have that she would want to show me.

"You'll see." she said and flew up into the sky. I followed her, unsure of what I was going to see.

We flew into her room through the window. When we entered she made me sit down on her bed by the dressers. She pulled something out from one of the drawers and knelt in front of me. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

I looked at it. "A journal?" I felt a tingle in the back of my head.

"Yes, but do you know who's?" she asked me.

"Wouldn't it be yours? I asked confused.

She shook her head. "Open it." she said as she placed it in front of me.

I opened it up, the tingling in my head growing stronger. I flipped through a few pages and recognized the writing. "It's mine. But how? I don't remember writing this down."

"Read some of the entries. Maybe it'll help jog your memory." she said.

I turned to the first entry. "Today was my birthday. My parents did something amazing today. They only hit me once! I was happy when they said I could go to my room. It meant I could fly the next morning." I read. I felt a pain in my left temple. Why did I write this. I don't remember my parents hitting me. I thought.

"Rainbow, why would I write this?" I asked her.

"Because your parents did that. At least your dad did. You told me your mom only shouted at you." she said.

I rubbed my head as I flipped forward a large portion of the journal. Maybe I'll remember something that was recent? I thought.

"Well, tomorrow's the dance. I really want to ask Rainbow to the dance, but I'm afraid how she'll react. I guess I could play it off as us going as friends, but I want to be more than that. I may just be a love struck filly, but I hope that someday we can go places together as more than friends." I read aloud.

An image flashed in my head. Rainbow. She was wearing a beautiful dress. It flashed to her telling me she didn't want to be with me, that I made her uncool. I saw my dad hitting me, my mom laughing, everyone in school making fun of me.

"You wrote that. You wanted to be with me. I wanted to be with you. Remember when we were fillies? You and me went on our first Nightmare Night. We went to that concert and I spent the night at your cottage. Your parents were throwing pictures and hitting them with sticks." she said. That night flashed before my eyes. I heard the sound of glass breaking and the sound of drunken laughter. My head throbbed.

"We went to a dance and I blew you off because of that jerk Long Horn. I came home early and found you crying. We slept on the same bed that night. It was the first time I had decided that I knew for a fact that I loved you. I didn't say anything because I was afraid. You found out about my parents and where they've been because of the Doctor. Do you remember the Doctor?" she asked me.

I shook my head as the pain in my head became close to unbearable.

"After Hearts Warming, you and I kissed. We began dating, we went to the Wonderbolts air show, which you got us both tickets to, so we could see it together. But then your mom showed up and caused a storm of some sort. You left with Applejack and ended up with her in the forest. You sided with her and she was about to kill me, but you stopped her. You tackled her and saved my life." she exclaimed.

More images flashed in my head. This time my mom stood over Rainbow Dash. I was running towards her though and I slammed into her, knocking her away from Rainbow. I looked up to her saw her through my tears that had started to stream down my face. My head felt like it was going to explode.

I wanted to tell her how I felt. That I loved her. That I didn't want anything to happen between us again. But I couldn't manage it. My head was causing me too much pain. "My head...." I whimpered.

"Please remember. Fluttershy, please remember everything!" she pleaded. "I need you! I need you with me, I need you to love me!"

I heard her but couldn't speak. Images kept flashing through my eyes and across my head. I needed to say something to her, but I couldn't. My mom was laughing at me, my dad was beating me, the bullies at school were shouting at me. It was too much. I could feel every smack that my dad had thrown at me, every day that he had beaten me, all of it was passing through my head at the same time.

"Rainbow! Help!" I exclaimed, the pain becoming more than I could handle. "My head....it feels like...." I started to say, but everything became a bright gold followed by blackness and silence.

Comments

[WolfSpirit]

Horse apples!! I can't believe I caught up!! I've been reading the other one since it first came out but stopped half way though cause I couldn't find the website till recently (and my log in for that matter) I love your story so far and can't wait to read more!