The Equestrian Venture

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Fifteen: Broken Pieces

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Fifteen: Broken Pieces
Written by TheCrimsonDM

That afternoon Rita stomped through the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage and slammed the door shut behind herself. Fluttershy who was sitting peacefully on the couch and knitting jumped into the air and hovered there with a shocked expression. Rita gave her a quick glance but she was too frustrated to really care if Fluttershy was mad at her for the rude entrance. Rita walked past Fluttershy at a brisk pace and continued up the stairs without saying a word.

Upstairs Rita walked into the room she shared with Fluttershy and went straight to the dresser. She dug around for a moment before she finally found the item she was looking for; a long nightgown. The nightgown was green with images of pink flowers sowed throughout, Rita let out a sigh. She had gotten this from Fluttershy along with the other articles of clothing she had received from Rarity, but she hadn’t really worn this much. For some reason Fluttershy had been getting more insistent that she wear this, and tonight she felt like wearing something relaxing and light.

Rita marched out of the bedroom and straight into the bathroom and saw the old tub that she had gotten so used to. She closed the door quietly and quickly undressed, all she wanted to do at this point was wash the filth that she felt off of her body. The long hike wasn’t the only thing that was making her feel dirty, fighting with those diamond dogs had left a horrible filthy feeling crawling over her skin.

All she could think about was how she had attacked those diamond dogs, and what she wanted to do them still. She felt the red hot rage building up inside, her hands began trembling with fury, and she could imagine all the wonderful ways she could kill them. She hated everything about feeling this way.

The bath she took lasted about a half hour before she decided it was time to get out and dress into something nice. Rita was beginning to wonder why Fluttershy had not approached her about the door being slammed shut, it had obviously startled her, but Rita had assumed that Fluttershy would have gotten angry about it by now. Everything in the house seemed quiet, too quiet.

Rita looked into the mirror, she stared at the wet naked, and horribly scarred figure that was reflected back at her. Rita’s hands were still shaking with violent intent, but even more so Rita hated herself. She was damaged, broken, and ruined beyond hope, she knew it, anyone who saw her knew it, the only person who didn’t care was Estella but even she eventually left Rita. They all left her after eventually; sometimes they had to get to know her, before realizing how broken she was.

Rita’s shaking slowed down as she stared at the mirror, she wondered if Estella was looking at a mirror at the same time, if somehow they could be connected with each other through something so simple as a mirror. With gentle movements Rita placed her hand against the mirror, she could imagine Estella’s pink hair, with streaks of green, purple, and blue running through it. Estella’s perfect purple eyes, and her tall, goddess like body these were things Rita always admired.

Until the kiss that is. The painful memories of Rita kissing Estella, and Rita confessing her love for her, only to be pushed away forever afterwards. It hurt even more when Rita remembered that she only confessed to Estella after losing her family, and friends in that finally battle. Tears began to build up at the edges of Rita’s eyes, threatening to spill over.

She knew that after that kiss, things had never been the same between her and Estella, but now everything was so dark and lonely. She just wanted to take it all back, to make Estella forget about what had happened. Sadly life didn’t work out like that, so instead she decided to find something that would help her forget. That’s when she started her project to build something impossible, a teleport. It wasn’t intended to be a portal to another world, but maybe this was for the best; at least now Rita didn’t have to be a shameful burden for Estella.

Instead Rita would just come to a peaceful little world and rage all over it, ruining the local population’s innocence when she finally snapped and started killing things. After all Rita was a soldier, a killer, trained to fight and die, there was nothing else for her to do. That feeling of anger began building up inside her chest again, and this time when she looked at herself in the mirror all she could see; was the monster that she had slowly become over the years of conflict.

There was no thought to it, there was only anger when she pulled her arm back. There was no intention, only disgust when her arm shot forward towards the reflection of her face. There was no understanding her own actions, when the mirror cracked under the weight of her fist. For a second Rita stared at the mirror in anger, she hated it for breaking when she hit it, and then suddenly the pain shot through her hand and she crouched down screaming.

The bathroom door swung open only a few seconds later and Fluttershy was standing at the doorway with a determined expression. Rita looked at Fluttershy, then at the bleeding hand she was holding tightly, and then she looked at the mirror that was cracked, finally she settled on closing her eyes tightly and sobbing.

Rita heard the door close gently and after few hoof steps before Fluttershy laid down in front of her. Rita felt a pair of warm feathery wings wrap themselves around her and pull her into a close embrace against Fluttershy’s chest. Rita continued sobbing relentlessly for a long time with Fluttershy whispering gentle words and petting Rita’s hair. Finally Rita slowed down her sobbing enough to actually hear Fluttershy speaking.

“It’s okay, shhh, Rita. I’m here for you, I’m right here, shh,” Fluttershy whispered gently.

Rita sucked in a breath and whimpered for a moment before managing to say, “I screwed up everything, I ruined my friendship with the one person that I truly loved. Now I’m nothing but a horrible monster, who fights, and kills, and breaks stuff.”

“You are not a monster,” Fluttershy promised.

Rita pushed Fluttershy’s wings away gently and made a gesture with her arm to make Fluttershy look at her naked body. Specifically Rita wanted Fluttershy to see the scars, and when Fluttershy looked down at Rita’s tiny wet form Rita said, “Just look at me, I even look like a monster. How can you tell me that I’m anything else?”

Fluttershy looked Rita in the eyes, smiled, and said gently, “You’re beautiful, Rita. You are not a monster.”

Rita shivered a little while saying, “It’s easy to say that when you look at the one place that isn’t all messed up, you couldn’t say that if you were looking at my horrible, disgusting body.”

Fluttershy looked down and her smile only grew as she said, “You are absolutely beautiful, Rita. I know you don’t think so, but you really are.” Fluttershy wrapped her wings around Rita again and pulled her into another embrace. Rita couldn’t help but sob some more into Fluttershy’s chest.

“Everyone I’ve ever known and cared for has left me, they either die, or they leave because I’m wrong. Please don’t leave me,” Rita begged while simultaneously wrapping her arms around Fluttershy’s neck and hugging her tightly.

“I will never leave you, Rita. I promise, that no matter what, you will always have a place here with me,” Fluttershy assured her with a gentle tone.

“And don’t let me leave you either. Please don’t let me ruin our friendship when I do something stupid. I know I will. One day I’m going to get angry at you, or I’ll scare you, or something, but please don’t let that ruin us, I… I won’t mean any of it,” Rita begged into Fluttershy’s warm, soft chest.

Fluttershy was quiet for a second before saying quietly, “I promise. So no matter what you do, I’ll always be here for you… just don’t hurt yourself anymore, please.”

Rita looked again at her hand, the crimson blood had been smeared into Fluttershy’s fur, and was covering the entire back of Rita’s hand by now. Rita looked up into Fluttershy’s big, round eyes and said, “I’m sorry. I messed up your fur.”

“It’s okay, now let me take care of your hand and you can tell me all about what’s bothering you, okay?” Fluttershy offered. Rita simply nodded knowing that tonight was going to be a long night, but at least Fluttershy was here to take care of her.