Improbable Truth

by Charon the Chronicler

Chapter 6: The Corpse

Lunchtime in the cafeteria was always a bit chaotic. The incessant chatter was a constant in the old room, and Windell could feel the slightly sticky floors grabbing at his shoes. He had brought his lunch money and a couple dollars extra, having had to skip buying lunch meats this week. Normally, he wouldn’t buy lunches in these cases, but Amadeus insisted. So, ignoring the occasional insult from some of the students, he set himself in line. Those that tried to skip him were gently pushed out and glared at. After a long enough wait, Windell bought his lasagna and energy bar to a secluded table. It was as good a time as any to read a little.

Setting himself down, the teen took out his book and began to read while absentmindedly eating his lasagna. The table shuddered slightly as Ferris sat in front of him, two trays full of food, and he grumbled a hello. Windell nodded, twirling his fork in one hand, ignoring Ferris’ massacre on the food he had brought. Windell noticed he had gotten heavier over the months he’d known Ferris, but decided it wasn’t rightful of him to judge. It wasn’t his problem.

“You going to eat that?” Windell heard Ferris mumble. He looked down from his book to see Ferris’ two plates devoid of food. He looked back to Ferris’ expectant eyes. Windell had promised his father he’d eat, and if he kept skipping meals, it would only hurt him.

“Sorry, Ferris. I have to eat eventually.” Windell shrugged and went back to reading, occasionally taking a bite of his meal. He saw Ferris shift tirelessly in his peripheral vision, but kept his gaze on the novel. It was only when he tried to grab another bite that his fork hit the table, and Windell finally set down his book. He looked up to see Ferris cleaning out the dish with his finger. Windell dropped his hands down on the table with a loud ‘THUMP!’

“Ferris! What the hell, man!”

“But…I needed it more!” He blubbered as he reached for Windell’s energy bar. Windell batted his hand away.

“No,” Windell scowled, “you didn’t! You just don’t know how it feels to be hungry!”

“Yeah I do!” Ferris exclaimed, “Which is why I need it more! I need it to keep up my muscle!” Windell facepalmed violently enough for him to leave a red mark on his face. He took a deep breath and shook his head.

“Just…whatever, Ferris. Don’t steal my food.” There was a pause as Windell pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Can I still have your energy bar?”

Windell glared at him, unwrapped the Cliff Bar, and,all while maintaining eye contact, ate it in front of him.

“No need to be such an asshole about it.” Huffed Ferris. “You stupid prick. Whatever. Just know that for that, I vow to screw you over. I'm not friends with selfish asshats.” He stuck his nose in the air, turned around, and waddled away.

Windell sat there for a minute, mind attempting to wrap around what just happened.

He's got to be kidding. Right? Did I lose a friend and start a feud because I wouldn’t let him steal from me? He shook his head. Should I have let him?

<><><>

I’ve never really had the time (or money) for tea. Some may think tea is ‘unmanly’, but I find a cup of tea to be nice enough to help pass the time. I never realized how much I enjoyed it until the day I met Fluttershy at her cottage as we sat and waited for the others to drop by. It was actually pleasant to stop and relax, rather than fetch things for Zecora or spend time and energy building my house. The bunny seemed to be glaring at me, but I suspected that was because I told Fluttershy that he seemed in dire need of a hug. Squeezed between the mare’s forelegs, he gave me a look that said ‘I don’t know who you are, but you will pay for this’.

If he was the real Angel, then I may have been intimidated. Then again, if he is really the psycho bunny, I’d probably threaten to eat him…Yeah, I can’t help but think of the consequences whether or not what I see is real.

After a half hour of chatting, I spotted the small crowd of ponies led by a cyan pegasus from the cottage window, chatting among themselves while they crossed the bridge to Ponyville.

“Come on, slowpokes!” Yelled Rainbow “We’re not going to explore the Everfree at this pace!” After I grabbed my satchel, Fluttershy and I walked outside to meet them, and Rainbow zoomed towards me, hovering inches away from my muzzle. “Hey! You’re…um…Windy? No, Windell! You’re coming with?”

“Of course.” I replied. “I’d like to learn more about it, after all.” Rainbow nodded and flew up in the air above the crowd of ponies. A few noticed her and went silent, but the majority kept talking.

“HEY!”

That got their attention. The crowd’s hubbub quieted down and they all looked up to the mare expectantly.

“Listen up guys!” She yelled despite the quiet, “We’re going on an adventure through the Everfree. Some of you want to explore it to see danger and awesomeness. Although,” She grinned arrogantly, “You could just watch me for awesomeness.” The ponies in the crowd rolled their eyes and a few chuckled. “Others,” Rainbow continued with a passive expression, “the eggheads, want to learn about it. But, it’s still dangerous in there, so we stay in a group. Stick to me or Fluttershy-” said mare crouched nervously so she wouldn’t be seen “-if you want to stay safe. Now who’s ready to kick some monster flank?”

“Actually,” Fluttershy spoke up, but quickly receded when she noticed all the eyes directed in her direction. “Eeep!” Rolling my eyes, I stepped forwards. For many of them, this was the first time they’ve seen me, and a few cocked their heads quizzically.

“I think what Effie is trying to say,” I started as the ponies looked at me inquisitively at the nickname, “Is that we should try not to disturb the wildlife, from something as simple as aggravating the animals for no reason, to messing with the various plants. If you need some herbs, I could properly pick them for you.” Fluttershy nodded, hiding behind her mane.

“Thanks for clearing that up, Windell.” Rainbow turned back to the ponies below her. “You heard him, guys. Any questions before we go in?”

A tan stallion with a brown mane rose his hoof up in the air.

“Caramel?”

“Yeah,” he began, “Who is this guy? I’ve never seen him around Ponyville or the farms.”

“Oh! Oh!” a gray pegasus mare exclaimed waving her hoof in the air, “I know him! He visited Carrot Top’s farm. She said he smelled nice,” That lady needs her nose checked. “Then, he bought a bunch of carrots for more bits than they cost, and called her ‘Ginny’. And I saw him visit Rarity’s yesterday while I was delivering mail.” The ponies looked at her, then back to me.

“What can I say?” I shrugged. “I like seclusion and nicknames.” The group seemed to accept this. I looked over the ponies, and of the dozen, I recognized a few from the show. Ditzy, Caramel, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Minuette, Cherilee, Roseluck, and what seemed to be an oddly shaped pony in an overcoat, hat, and sunglasses. Wait a second…Really?

I moved closer to the mysterious figure as we began to walk towards the Everfree and discretely poked the middle. There was a muffled giggle, some shaking, and the pony just…fell apart. The rest of the group turned around to see the figure land in the dirt in three separate pieces. Roseluck gasped and fainted, Rainbow zoomed over, and the rest just stood there, gaping. The lumps began to move, only for three little heads to pop up underneath the discarded overcoat. Of course. The Crusaders.

“You three?” Fluttershy trotted over. “Don’t you girls know it’s dangerous to go in the Everfree?”

“Yeah, but ̶ ” began Scootaloo

“Don’t make excuses girls.” Interrupted Fluttershy. “Don’t you remember what happened when we ran into that cockatrice?”

The three fillies looked dejectedly to the ground, avoiding her gaze.

“Sorry, Fluttershy” they mumbled.

“Now run on home, girls. You could actually get really hurt in the Everfree”

They nodded and walked away. Heads hung low. I turned around to see Caramel prodding the comatose Roseluck.

“Nice to see you’re good at dealing with all sorts of small creatures, Effie.”

“Oh…well, they’re nice girls, they’re just a bit…”

“Curious, rambunctious, hyper, prone to make trouble despite their best intentions?” I put in.

Fluttershy hid behind her mane and nodded.

Caramel and Rainbow were both trying to gently shake Roseluck awake. I walked to their side and looked down to the cream coated mare.

“Let me try, Skittles, Carambar.” I said as I grabbed her with my forelegs and began to shake her violently while yelling “SOMEONE SAYS THAT ROSES ARE THE INFERIOR FLOWER!” Almost immediately, her eyes shot open and she frantically got on her hooves.

“Who!?” she cried “Where?” She shook her head violently. I let her go and turned to the rest of the group.

“Alright, let’s go.” Stunned, they followed me into the forest. Rainbow flew by me as we walked deeper into the forest.

“How did you know that it would work?” she asked as we followed the beaten path.

“I didn’t.” I answered. “I just had a crazy idea that it would.” I looked behind me to see the group looking around the forest in a mixture of awe and fear. And Roseluck was glaring at me. Whoops.

<><><>

His prey was going into the dark forest, followed by a large group of its own kind. It was odd that they would go somewhere where there were so many predators, and he wondered why they would put themselves in such needless danger.

Perhaps the same reason I followed the smell of smoke a few days ago, he mused, curiosity. We aren’t so different…but it will soon be time. He narrowed his eyes. Tomorrow, I will eat hi ̶ it. I will eat it. But after…? What will I eat? How could I survive, if my own existence means death? Am I a coward for choosing my own life over those of other sapient creatures? Do I have a choice? Why must I be forced to feel these things? If I had a packmate to talk to, I would feel better. But I am alone. Alone in a…realm, yes, a realm, similar, yet different to my own. More solitude and sorrow is a price for sapience, and even if I could return it, I do not think I would. No matter how much it…hurts.

He shook his head. Save those thoughts for later. I must make sure my prey comes out alive. I would like it fresh.

<><><>

I neatly picked a few leaves from the Bui-Bui plant and put them in my satchel. The neat thing about these plants is it takes forever to decompose, so they would stay nice and soft in my makeshift mattress for months to come before they even began to rot. Every now and then, when the group passed a particular patch of plants, a pony or two would ask me to pick a few for them. I mostly kept to myself during the trek through the Everfree, nodding and smiling to the ponies that looked at me. And since nobody said anything when I flew over the patch of Poison Joke, I assumed whatever I did when I thought I flew was perfectly normal. Once I had brought back the indigo cubes, I concentrated on diverting the flow to my legs, the branches being too low and tangled for an unskilled flyer like me to go through, so it was best that energy went somewhere useful. It felt very convincing.

Or this is actually real. The errant thought bubbled to the surface of my conscious. I don’t think what I did would normally wake a passed out person, and these people seem generally accepting, even when I do things in which I don’t know what I’m actually doing, like flying. It’s possible that I ended up in an idyllic small town, but I’ve either been walking around in the nude, or bathing in the river with my clothes on. Despite all the misguided senses, logic is starting to override probability. And that means ̶

“It’s really unnatural here.” A voice interrupted my thoughts. Jumping at the opportunity to escape my thoughts, I decided to cut in.

“Unnatural is a matter of perspective.” I responded. The three mares deep in a conversation turned to look at me.

“What do you mean?” asked the one I recognized as Bon-Bon.

“Well,” I began, “This forest has been around longer than the town, and I think it used to be a lot bigger a long time ago. Therefore, it is far more natural than the town.”

“But…the weather, the animals, the plants, they all go about, without any help from ponies!” Interjected Minuette. “It just isn’t the right way.”

“Well, I’m sorry, Colgate,” I shook my head as Lyra chuckled and prodded Minuette, whispering ‘Colgate.’ “But that’s how it worked before, and how it works now, here. There is order to what you think is chaos. The herbivores eat the plants, the predators hunt and eat the herbivores, and the apex predators hunt and eat them. The saprotrophs and the detritovores eat dead organic matter, and their waste feeds the plants. All the while, the weak die, the strong survive. A beautiful cycle.”

Fluttershy and couple ponies turned to look at me during my lecture, and Cherilee seemed particularly interested. Lyra started waving her hoof in the air with a wide grin. Deciding to let her ask her question, I pointed at her with a wing.

“Yes, Mint, you have a question?” I heard her squee and she hopped in place.

“Yes!” she beamed, “Do you know why everything here is so deadly, and why they won’t attack us?” A few of the ponies looked around and paced nervously.

“Easy,” I answered, “because over time, predators who were deadlier were more successful in their hunting, so they had more offspring. And the herbivores had to develop defenses over time so they would survive to have offspring, so anything ranging from poison to claws were developed in animals over time to either attack prey or defend themselves. More favorable traits survive and change over time, while the less savory traits disappear. For example, if an animal with small wings could glide, over time, those that could glide longer distances would become more predominant, and eventually, gliding would become flying.”

The crowd had actually stopped to listen what I had to say midway through, and a couple actually sat down. Several ponies actually paled at my example. Rainbow hovered about, gazing into the distance, probably imagining an aerial battle with a manticore, if the grin on her face meant anything.

“So,” a stallion asked “Manticores will eventually be able to fly?”

Not knowing what he actually said ̶ If he actually said anything different ̶ I quashed the thought quickly and answered him.

“Sure,” I shrugged and many of the ponies trembled at the thought, “In a couple hundred thousand years. It’s a very slow process.” They relaxed once more, a few releasing their breaths. “As for why predators don’t attack groups, they know it would be more trouble than it’s worth. It takes energy, and thus food, to heal, so it would be easier to hunt for stragglers, where there’s less of a chance for the rest of a group to team up on a predator. And we’re not exempt from change over time. Heck, the reason we’re around is because we’re smarter, and we have the tools to prove it. There’s only so much claws, fangs, poison, and wings can do at the end of a spear. Anybody else have any questions?”

Bon-Bon rose her hoof, and I nodded in her direction.

“Why do you say ‘anyone’ and ‘anybody’ instead of ‘anypony’? It sounds a bit odd.” Shit. Thankfully, Cherilee came to my rescue.

“Bon-Bon, he obviously is well traveled. The term ‘anypony’ just doesn’t apply to minotaurs, mules, or any of the other races.”

Rainbow nodded, and looked at me.

“Yeah, Gilda talked like that. I guess it’s a hard habit to kick for someone who wanders around.”

“Pretty much” I affirmed. I paused, and I noticed something. The usual sounds of the forest had fallen into silence. The chirping of birds. The unseen movement in the branches. The distant growls…all gone. “Speak of the devil,” I muttered as the others tensed up, “And he shall appear” I moved closer to Lyra and Bon-Bon. We needed to bunch up. We would be safer together so-

Something big lunged out of the bushes, roaring. It swiped its paw at Ditzy, which sent her flying into me, knocking Lyra and I far away, down the hill. There is physics involved in billiards, people. The sounds of conflict and roaring faded into the distance as we tumbled over one another, until we came to a standstill at the bottom, tangled in one another’s hooves. Shaking myself and dusting myself off, I got up and looked in the direction we had been thrown from. This seemed like the cliff Nightmare Moon had made in episode two. I turned to look at Lyra to see if she was okay, but she was transfixed on something.

“What…is that?” She pointed a hoof at a rotting collection of bones. As I approached them, I recognized the form. Impossible. A skeleton. A human skeleton. It still had tattered, loose-fitting clothes on, and bits of decomposing flesh stuck to both the clothes and the carcass. It was leaning against a tree, a visible hole from a puncture wound visible on the shirt. From what I see, they managed to escape the manticore after it had poisoned them. Couldn’t have happened more than a few months ago.

I walked over to it, and with some effort, took the skull off, ligaments tearing easily. Lyra looked on, eyes wide. I looked at the teeth.

“No need to be scared, they’re dead.” I said as I turned the skull around, looking for clues. It’s obvious now that I’m hallucinating. The odds are just too much against a real human being here. And me not being one. There is probability, and then there’s bullshit. This is the latter. So…Who was it?

“What is it?” she approached, looking at the skull. I guess she wasn’t squeamish.

“Length of the tibia, the jaw structure, blunt orbits, temporal lines, thick skull, all of them point towards a human male.”

“A…what?” Curious one, aren’t you? She looked at the skull, eyes flicking between it and the body repeatedly. Ignoring the obviously ‘manipulated’ question, I decided to talk about anatomy to calm myself down.

“Location of the foramen magnum indicates bipedal structure, being parallel to the ground. Dentition, optimal for an omnivorous diet. Large cranium indicates advanced intellect.” I took a few deep breaths to slow my labored breathing. I am in a delusion, and I may have a murder victim on my hands. With my record, I’m so screwed. Lyra walked over to the corpse and poked the clothes.

“He was wearing clothes, so he was definitely civilized.” She remarked. “And he has hands like a minotaur, except with an extra metacarpal, so unless he was dropped here, randomly, he should have a weapon to protect himself.” Lyra bounced in the air with a giddy smile. “An intelligent species I’ve never heard of! Full of legends of a faraway lad! This is so awesome!” She stopped. “Except that he’s dead. But there’s gotta be more somewhere!” The unicorn looked around, and spotted me holding the skull in one hoof, staring into the holes where his eyes once were. “I’m going to get the others! Protect the bones!” She started scampering up the cliff, calling for Bon-Bon.

People are going to be coming soon. They may think I killed him. Wait. He’s already mostly decomposed. And I have a witness. There was a slight prickling along my spine. Or the corpse is fresh, and I actually killed him, but I don’t remember it. And Lyra is part of my imagination. Her going to get ‘help’ is probably my subconscious picking up on cues of the authorities approaching. I’m so screwed. The prickling flared up, becoming uncomfortable. Unless…unless I get rid of the evidence. Destroy the body. But I can’t do that. It’s someone’s corpse. It’s…wrong. The prickling increased, starting to cause pain. It’s him or me. Him or me. And he’s dead. But what about his loved ones? The pain increased tenfold, almost bringing me to my knees, but through some unknown strength, I still stood. It’s wrong. He shouldn’t be here. HE’S WRONG. HE SHOULDN’T BE HERE. A red haze descended over my eyes. I threw the skull against the tree with all of my might, shattering it into pieces. I tore the clothes off in fury, stomped the bones underfoot, tore apart the ribcage, I crushed bones to dust. I kicked the remains around, spreading them so nobody could find all of it. I scattered dirt, plants, anything to hide the bones.

And when I was done, I was panting, standing amidst some torn clothes and a few visible bits of bone. Why did I do that? Why was I so…enraged? I’ve never experienced something like this. Is this another aspect of my disorder? I looked to the torn clothes strewn about. I already ruined the crime scene. They’re going to think it’s me for sure. I should at least finish the job. I carefully gathered the clothes and tightly bundled them up. I would come back for it later, to get rid of it properly. I threw it in the air, making sure it got caught in the densest branches. Okay, the evidence is gone…and I’m a witness. Shit! I don’t have a cover story! I heard voices getting closer.

“What did you find, Lyra?”

“The skeleton of an intelligent species I’ve never even heard of before! Windell decided to call it a ‘human!’”

I’m such a bumbling moron. My hoof met my forehead. And that was all I remembered for a while.

<><><>

“Okay, he’s waking up.” I heard a familiar voice say as I came to. “I need you all to leave please, while I tell him why he’s in here…again.” Crap…did I get arrested? Wait. Again? And that voice…I struggled to open my eyes, and when I did, I found myself in a very familiar situation.

“Hey, Doc.” I greeted the tan stallion. “Ever heard of déjà vu?”

The doctor chuckled and picked up my chart.

“Hopefully I won’t have to reserve this room for you in the future.” He joked. “Anyways, your friends tell me you got knocked out by some creature in the Everfree.” Friends? I guess they enjoyed my company on that walk. And knocked out? What the hell happened? “Now, it seems you are suffering blunt force trauma to the head, we’ll need to keep you here for a couple days. The blunt force trauma is reminiscent of a well-placed earth pony punch.” I wonder…I felt within for my flow, and it was still flowing towards my legs. Holy crap. I’ve managed to keep it while unconscious. And that explains how I knocked myself out. “Normally, a mere punch would only daze a healthy pegasus…which brings me to my second diagnosis. You seem to be calcium deficient.”

“I knew I forgot to buy something.” I groaned, holding my head in my hooves. “The damn milk.”

Comments

[Charon the Chronicler]

Okay, this chapter would have been twice as long, but it felt right ending a chapter like that, rather than stuffing as much as I could in it. By my calculations, this marks about 12% of the story. Don't quote me on that. I'm sure the more literature savvy among you can see what I'm doing with the flashbacks. And don't worry, over time, the chapters will include more characters, this one is so Windell heavy because it was only the first part of two chapters, which still had more Windell than I am comfortable with.

So, what's in this episode? One HiE where the manticore kicks the human's ass! Fluttershy saving the Everfree from the CMC! Silly shenanigans that make Windell start to believe, and then morbid stuff that crushes that belief! A wolf that is trying to live with morals! And Windell forgetting that humans can survive solely on potatoes and milk!

Do leave me a comment, rating, etc, and enjoy the words that leak out of my brain tissue onto the web.

Cheers,
Charon.

DISCLAIMER: I do not believe fat people are arseholes. I know some very fun chubby people, but I also met one guy who was a glutton and an ass. If you haven't noticed, Veronica represents Lust, and Ferris represents Gluttony. Having someone portray gluttony and not be fat would be counter-intuative.

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

This is a fascinating take on HiE, I love the execution of it thus far. I wish there were more creative takes on that genre (and ponies on Earth), they really can go places.

[zooba]

This story has officially intrigued me. I especially like how the void-moster-god-thing-that-is-stronger-than-Chthulu is more of a dimensional gardener and clinically curious than it is malevolent.

[Veniyum]

Now i want to see greed pride and wrath, damn you! Oh well more reading

[Gotland]

Philosophy!

[FreedomFiend]

Fun chapter. I like how you characterized Lyra; you managed to find a way for her to be obsessed with humans without actually having her seem like a conspiracy theorist.

I figured that finding human remains would make the improbable seem closer to likelihood (after all, it's been mentioned how complete his hallucinations are, so if there's a discrepancy in its completeness, then it must not be a hallucination). As Sherlock Holmes would say, once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.*

With that being said, I'd like to believe that he really is insane, and that the reason he tore the skeleton apart was nothing more than a fit of insanity. A story about someone who's actually crazy isn't common, and so it is something I look forward to.

5670017
One can be a thin glutton. Gluttony is defined as a fixation that is so strong that it leads to waste of the object of fixation. While this is most commonly found in the form of gluttony of excess for food, but it can take many forms. For instance, when someone wastes perfectly edible food simply because it didn't meet their high expectations of quality, then they are a glutton of delicacy. One can even be a glutton for things that aren't food; a glutton for attention may waste other people's time with incessant talk, or a glutton for convenience may waste foolish amounts of fuel, energy, and money to make their lives just a modicum easier.

*EDIT: You know, I'd quite forgotten the name of this story until I hit the "next chapter" button and saw it at the top of the page.

[KingOfDerp]

You know what they say, there is no use cry8ng over the un bought milk

[FridayPie]

6276971
Well, original was that much. Except she was a human but didn't remember that.