• Published 9th Apr 2016
  • 10,339 Views, 213 Comments

Loosened Screw - RealityWarper



I was once a human. Now I'm a really strange pony. I think. Ponies don't have weird eyes like mines though.

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Chapter 2

Fluttershy felt a mix of emotions. At first is was relief, relief that the child partially under her care was fine. Even if she couldn't speak well, was barely coherent and drooled all the time, she had been getting better over time. Discord wouldn't tell her, or Filthy Rich how exactly Screwball came into the world, but it was already known by the two of them that she looked exactly like Diamond Tiara, and Discord admitted that Screwball was Filthy Rich's flesh and blood. She was Filthy's second, albeit unexpected, daughter. But with Discord currently under locks due to his nature, Fluttershy felt responsible for the child- She was Discord's only piece of him left besides the statue inside of Celestia's garden. Discord was her friend, and she knew she had to take the child despite her mental afflictions. Unfortunately, Filthy Rich also felt the need to take the child, and Fluttershy could say that technically, it was his child. The problem for Filthy, lied with the fact she also showed signs of being Fluttershy's child as well. She was a few shades lighter than Diamond Tiara, and had many fur patches that showed the baby yellow color blending through. Diamond Tiara didn't like being seen in public with her sister, but when they were alone she was much softer and tried not to hurt her sister's feelings.

Despite being a few lighter shades, the child services weren't sure if she was Fluttershy's spawn. A D.N.A spell confirmed, that she was indeed Fluttershy's child as well as Filthy's and his wife's despite not bearing the child who was made out of magic.

Magic from Discord, no less. Which is proven by the swirls for her eyes, and her goofy behavior. Filthy Rich and her had been going back and forth for awhile over the custody of one Screwball. While Filthy Rich's wife didn't look like she had much to say, she could see the slight hints of trepidation and disgust whenever she so much as glanced in Screwball's direction.

Screwball had never been the smartest, nor the most sane. Most of the time, she was in her room. Which happened to be in an asylum, due to the fact Screwball kept hurting herself and others around her without meaning to. The fact is, Fluttershy wasn't even sure if Screwball had a soul to begin with. Chaos magic wasn't well known, and Discord really just wanted an assistant that reminded him of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She had been showing signs of slight improvement. Improvements that allowed her to briefly let the mentally unstable girl out the asylum to stay for a few weeks before she would go to Filthy where the custody battle would continue. She wasn't sure though, if that was a good or bad sign.

The more time she spent in that hospital, the more... unstable she seemed to become when she came back. It bared looking in to, as it was honestly strange. Along with the history of accidents occurring within the building that took ponies's lives- It was quite strange to put a child in the same building as that. Not to mention, said child is a product of chaos and could cause something terrible to happen which her magic.

Said magic was very rarely used, but when it was Fluttershy liked to think of it as a secret power. Whenever somepony was in some sort of danger and Screwball was near enough to at least see it, impossible things would happen to save that pony. Whether it be them suddenly becoming intangible, teleporting, or even on one occasion- completely utterly unharmed by a building falling on them. Nopony knew it was Screwball's limited doing, but Fluttershy knew.

Screwball had been staying for a few days at Fluttershy's place, and she could honestly say Screwball was a sweet-heart. She was always willing to help, always kind, polite, and always avoided altercations with the animals and never even bothered them. Unfortunately, a few nights in Screwball broke out the house and escaped Ponyville since Fluttershy lived on the outskirts of town. She had gone missing for two days, she had been frantically looking for Screwball, dreadfully worried about her. On several occasions during the search she'd broken down and just cried her heart out for a few minutes before getting back up to look for her. She had been avidly avoiding Filthy up until that point. Finally, she had found the child. She had found her at the cost of her dying, that is. Nearly, anyway. Those reckless ponies had almost killed Screwball, and she wasn't letting them off with a warning. Regrettably, the two had escaped after hearing about the Filly's stable condition.

Unfortunately, that brought her to today.

It was Filthy's turn to take Screwball, and she didn't have her again. She had cried herself to sleep that day when visiting Screwball. It had been a few weeks since she had been unconscious, and she just knew this would count as two strikes to her. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep Screwball now.

The strange thing, was Screwball's sudden ingenuity. Where had it come from? Before, she had been struggling with elementary leveled math due to her magical condition as well as her mental one. Out of nowhere, she was capable of complicated plans that only a grown pony with escape experience should know. She had no idea what to expect. But regardless of what she excepted, it was Filthy Rich's turn, and she would have to tell him she had no idea where Screwball is. Anxiety was an understatement of what she was feeling. She was downright terrified. There would be no avoiding it, as a search team from both Ponyville and Canterlot had been sent out to investigate.

There were some really good perks that came with being one of the famous Elements of Harmony.

But she could only get away with so much, she was not above the law. She would have to inform Filthy Rich of her irresponsibility, who would undoubtedly use that in the court case against her. She just couldn't lose Screwball, she refused to. She had to come up with something, just until they found the filly. And they would find her.

Knock knock knock

It's show time.

***

Filthy Rich and his Daughter stood in front the Element of Kindness, though in Diamond Tiara's opinion if she was really the Element of Kindness she'd just let her have her sister. They didn't get along very well often, but she was the only friend besides Silver Spoon. She was too embarrassed to be seen with her out in public, and it was never released that they were family. Expectantly, Spoiled Rich didn't approve of her being in the family, going so far as to call Screwball a "retard". Never had she seen Screwball so rejected in all the time she knew her. Her sorrow was palpable. Diamond hadn't had the courage to stand up for her sister, but she wish she did. She didn't even tell her Father about the incident, nor Fluttershy. She had a feeling that either Screwball couldn't convey her displeasure through words to her other caretaker due to her mental defection, or that Screwball was too ashamed to tell Fluttershy or Filthy Rich about that. And in that way, it made Diamond Tiara feel ten times worse because she was the only one who could tell about the incident and she didn't have the backbone to snitch about it. She wanted to apologize to Screwball, in hopes that it would make the both of them feel better. Regrettably, it would seem that had to wait.

"Um, there was... An accident." Fluttershy said hesitantly, and Filthy honestly could feel some dread creeping into the pit of his gut as Fluttershy avoided his gaze. Filthy became all business, and threw all pleasantries aside.

"'Accident'?" He sent a smoldering glare at Fluttershy, which caused her to wilt, flinch, and step back. She looked like she was a few seconds away from shutting the door in Filthy's face, but he quickly calmed down, reminding himself exactly who he was dealing with. He had to tread carefully, otherwise he'd have all the Elements breathing down his back. "Apologies, Ms. Shy. But, what... 'accident'?" Fluttershy, seeing Filthy's calmed state allowed herself to open the door a few more inches, but was still hunched over in hesitation.

"Somepony from out of town came in on a strange device, and Screwball was hit with it. Um... Hard." Fluttershy wilted again at Filthy's enraged look. But this time, she knew not all of it was aimed at her. Diamond Tiara looked sorta angry too, but she was much more worried about the grown much larger stallion that could bring serious harm to her, and her animals.

"What!? When!" Filthy demanded, giving an intimidating snort of anger causing Fluttershy to flinch once more. She stood her ground, however.

"Um... About two weeks ago?" Fluttershy squeaked out lamely, not really being able to lie to him in his face. After seeing his dismayed expression, she decided lying was not the best course of option and that she should tell the truth to avoid any further trouble. "She awoke from her coma," She briefly paused, seeing Filthy's eyes bulge out of his head in rage. She could practically see him about to yet 'COMA!?' but continued anyway. "And she made her escape from the hospital, no one knew she would awake." She didn't have to tell him she was there when Screwball escaped, and she sure wasn't going to. Less trouble for her. Now Filthy Rich looked between miffed, and confused. Diamond Tiara too, wore the same expression of puzzlement.

"I think we're going to need to have a talk over what's happened in the past two weeks." Filthy said, seriously and dead calm.

Fluttershy squeaked.

***

Ponyville was where I'd have to stay, I had been about to travel out the town to journey the world to see if I could find my way home. Or find someone to help me. Even, find out the how I'd gotten here. Immediately, I realized the errors in this plan:

A: Even if I were to get outside the town, found food and water the journey would be too tiring. I didn't know what was in this world to begin with, and I don't know the dangers. My body is much too weak and small as a very tiny little girl pony. I was slightly smaller than those trio of girls I saw, and around the same height as that small pony aptly named "Pipsqueak". Here in lied the problem, I'm just as small. I can't do any major travelling. At least not by hoof. I also would need a weapon, which I couldn't carry due to the fact I don't have hands.

B: I'd have to survive off the fat of the land, because I don't have any food. I wouldn't be able to do that, due to the fact I don't know what fruits and vegetables are edible here. I could be eating a highly explosive fruit, or and instant poison one without knowing it until I was a little corpse on the floor. Gross thought.

C: I have no idea where I'm going, and I'd be a wanted pony all of this land since I'm barely out of toddler years, if still not in it, and I'm running away from home with no clue what I'm doing.

D: I don't want to run into a Pony Pedophile.

Conclusion? Stay in this town, and hidden until I can find a suitable way to hold a weapon, save up enough edible food and water for the trip, maybe find a ride to hitch, and preferably stay with a non-pedophile adult pony who would understand my plight. I have no plans on telling anyone I'm an alien from another planet though, that's just the quickest way back to the asylum.

Wait, back to the asylum? I'd never been in one to begin with! But there it was in my memories, me in an asylum. Well, pony me. Was I a mental patient escapee? It would explain how I'd gotten hit on the road. I wonder if they arrested those ponies who hit me, I feel bad for the mare. But not so much for the stallion. Speaking of arresting, those damn golden wearing prancing ponies were swarming the town up and down looking for me.

I-I think... I think I even saw one look under a rock...

I don't think I'm going to be able to hide for very long...

I had been gone for a few hours, and I was starting to get kind of hungry. Kind of, being an understatement. I was getting seriously hungry, and I needed some food stat. Hunting was out of the spectrum, I don't have any weapons, I'm too small, and I'll get tired too often. This body sucks! What the hell could it do that was useful? There had to be something. I had these creepy swirling eyes that when I looked in them for too long, seem to suck my soul out. Luckily, my soul was already in this body so nothing would be getting absorbed.

That was another thing that terrifies me, something I always had took comfort in back at home. The idea of religion. I'm an agnostic atheist, I don't believe in God but I can't disprove of there being a higher power. I could get behind that, yeah. The idea that my soul, me, couldn't be messed with until I died was one of my true comforts in life. Nothing from horror videos games could happen, my soul couldn't be crushed or destroyed and I'd cease to exist.

That was no longer the case.

I'm here, in another body. Should these guys catch me, and find out I'm not who they think I am they can crush my soul, wipe me from existence in only which time travel could undo likely. I'd do whatever it takes to survive, so that I won't fade away. So getting off that topic before I commit suicide so that no one could grab my soul before I could go to the afterlife...

My original topic was "Can this body do something else?". That's a pretty good question, to which I can only say I don't know. The swirly eyes indicated, yes, I can. But I don't know how to do that. What could I even do? That's also, yet another thing. From what I've seen, there are four types of ponies.

Normal ponies, who appeared to be slightly stronger than the other ponies. And could last a lot longer too.

Pegasi, who were capable of moving freaking clouds, flying, and speed.

Unicorns, who seem to be second master race because I'm pretty sure I can fly if I sit in a chair and levitate it because they can do fucking magic! Not the shitty but cool magic you see on stages, actual magic!

Then there were, uh... Unisus? Pegacorn? Though I'm willing to bet they have that Normal Pony strength too. But I'm not that either.

Unfortunately, I don't have a horn, nor do I have wings. This seems to put me in the 'Normal Ponies' category. Which would totally suck, but that's questionable because a single thing.

My eyes.

I'd been secretly watching a lot of the ponies from the town, and not one of them had my eyes. Plus there was what the Doctor said back before my magical operation. Obviously, they'd never seen eyes like mines so that must means I'm in a special pony category. I'm hoping that means I can do magic. All I could do was theorize. But for now, I had the very real serious option of starving to death. I guess that means heading into town to see what I could scavenge.

***

Sneaking through the town while it was full of guards, is not my best idea. But it was the only option, because I'm damn sure as hell am not going into the creepiest looking forest I'd ever seen. When a forest has faces, it's a sign you need to stay away. I'm sure as hell not going to challenge a tree with a face, fuck that shit. I'm more afraid of ghost at this moment than I am these guards after what I saw back in that hospital. Luckily, I had found some stands! Unluckily, somebody was at it. Actually, it was an apple stand and that same pony from earlier was at it! I don't think I actually got her name, for now though let's just call her Apple Butt.

Apple Butt was currently lounging on the stand, but she seemed to be searching for something or someone. She was making sure that no spot was un-swept, except the area I was at. Which was...

In a barrel of apples.

Don't ask me how I got there, because I really do not know. I blinked, and suddenly I was here. That was positive right? That means I can teleport. That sort of counts. And I wasn't craving an apple anyway. I was craving flesh. I need meat! Fish! Anything! But I refuse to eat a bunch of apples and grass for the rest of my time here! Beggars can't be choosers though, but I just didn't feel right taking from this mare from some reason.

What is this? My daughter actually is having coherent thoughts now? It's a miracle!

What the hell?

I look around, gazing frantically trying not moving a muscles besides my eyes to see what the hell just spoke. Apparently I failed, I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I was doing because I shook the barrel some and Apple Butt was looking directly at the barrel I was in with some suspicion. If I didn't know any better, I say she was looking at me. She rose up from her spot, slowly stalking toward the barrel. I held my hoof to my mouth in attempts to muffle my breath. If it wasn't so cold out from the light drizzle of rain that was matting my fur down, I'd say I'd be sweating.

"Is' that you in there, Lil' Filly?..." For a moment, she didn't speak. I was hoping she'd just go away. She just stopped right before the barrel, and pressed her stomach against the ground in a placating manner. "Now, we don't want no trouble okay? Your family, they're worried about you. Y'know. We're all worried about 'ya." I said nothing, in hopes that she'd think that she didn't see a thing. Maybe she'd think she'd just imagined it. "As an Apple, I know what it's like to be worried about mah' family. We got strong bonds, after all." As an Apple? What are you, a fruit now?

"You're not a fruit." I snort. I then freeze as I realize what I'd done. Fuck! Why couldn't I control that urge!? I bet it has something to do with how I got in this damn apple barrel!

At first, Apple Butt looked dumbfounded at me talking, but then right after- Apple Butt gave a small smug smile, but also slightly sheepish. "Well, no. Ah'm not. It's just a family name, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Come on out 'lil filly... We jus' wanna help..." I'd already fucked up, time to go with the flow, just until I could escape again anyway. I crawled my way to the top of the barrel of apples, and pulled myself out. I slid down the side of the barrel, and felt a splash of wetness on the ground as my limbs were spread out in every different direction. I gave a grunt of discomfort. Or, at least that's what it was supposed to be. It came out as a whimper. Apple Butt quickly lifted herself up and wrapped a towel that she had on her back around me with her mouth. How did she do that? And was she prepared to find me? Since I was already caught, I'd let her bring me to wherever they'd take me. I hope it wasn't the hospital. I'd just have to see how this played out, hopefully she wouldn't bring me to a Unicorn, who would immediately soul snatch me.

***

The cute little filly came crawling pitifully out the barrel of Apples. She'd have to wash them off, but that was fine. What was more important, was at the moment the tiny filly had been found and seemed to want to willingly cooperate with her. It seemed she only ran because she was scared. Applejack and been briefly startled by the fact Screwball had actually said something to her!

She spoke! That was something she very rarely did, hearing Screwball talk was as rare as a fire ruby is. One times out of ten, even when you saw it you wouldn't believe it. The poor tiny girl was absolutely slathered with water and sopping wet, she was shivering and even Applejack could see she was soaked to the core and going to catch a cold very soon if she stayed out here. It broke the Farmer's heart to see such a tiny girl in a pitiful state of disrepair. She would need to work quick. After wrapping the towel around her in record time, she picked the filly up by the towel that was wrapped around her and walked over to her stand and flipped the sign to "Closed" while she went and did some work to help the filly. She wasn't sure how the filly got into the barrel, but she wasn't going to question her luck. Bundle in mouth, she quickly ran to the nearest place she would get some help until Fluttershy, The Guard, or Filthy Rich could arrive.

***

After a few moments they finally arrived at the Sugar Cube corner, to her immediate delight the sight of her four friends with the exception of Rarity, and Spike. All of them were sitting around in a tense atmosphere, as Fluttershy looked quite down. Rainbow Dash on the other hand looked absolutely livid, which while it wasn't quite surprising was a little alarming. Twilight held a simple thoughtful frown, as she'd expect from her, while Pinkie was devoid of her usual smile, it was replaced with the same thoughtful from Twilight was baring. Now that was more than surprising, and alarming in itself. All four of them had turned over as soon as they saw her, she had the filly covered up head to toe with the exception of a small crack so she could see where they were going.

"Did 'Ah arrive at a bad time?" She spoke through a mouthful, but it wasn't uncommon to hear any pony speaking with something in their mouth since they'd all done it since they were children. The gang shook their heads, Rainbow Dash though, gave a huff of displeasure.

"No, it's just that jerk Filthy gave Fluttershy a chewing out, for something out of her control! I have half'a mind to sock'em in the face!" To punctuate that, she gave her hoof a firm slam on the counter which startled Fluttershy, causing her to jump. "The Guards have searched the whole town for the kid and haven't found a single thing!" Applejack suddenly gained a smug smile, which caused the others to perk up as they knew that was a challenging smile. It meant Applejack knew where they could find Screwball. They all huddled closer to the farmer. Suddenly, she lowered the cloth in her mouth to the ground very gently. After laying it down, she undid the wraps of the cloth, which revealed a wide swirly eyed seeming Earth Pony filly that was shivering.

Screwball squeaked.