Farmhand

by MLP-person

Rubyshade

Author's Note:

If I'm not mistaken, this clears up a thing or two. Not enough, maybe.

"Fluttershy, can I talk to you, please?" Quill was sitting at the table with the buttery yellow mare, looking apprehensively down at the salad she had put before him. He had helped her with the animals, and now she had time to sit down for a meal. Still, though, he was nervous about what he had to ask her. It wasn't the sort of thing that you just asked, really.

"Oh of course, Quill!" She said in her usual soft-spoken tone, smiling across the table at him.

"What you did for me, you can't do for everypony." Fluttershy nodded, narrowing her eyes curiously.

"That's true, this place is crowded with all the animals, so we don't even usually hold my birthday parties here." Quill felt his heart sink a little bit when she said that, but he had to at least try, he knew.

"I have a friend, possibly two, who are from similar backgrounds as me. And...and I was wondering if you'd be willing to let her stay here. Possibly them." Fluttershy went deathly quiet for all of a moment, her face a mask of pure neutrality.

"What do you mean by it might be them, instead of her?" She asked at last.

"We have a third friend who's on her own, and we think we might know where to find her. If we can, we want her to stick with us. It...used to be the three of us, but we got all split up and...well, yeah." He said lamely, laughing at how stupid he sounded. Fluttershy, still, was silent. This time it was a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Quill...what you're asking...there isn't room in the house, and..."

"I can share the guest room with them. They take the bed, I take the floor with a pillow. I...I know this is a lot to ask, Fluttershy, but they're just like I was in every way except for bleeding on the floor. The first I know for sure, the second might be..." He didn't even realize it until he had started to say it. "-might even be dead by now. But let's hope not, right?"

"Tell me about them, Quill." Fluttershy spoke sternly. "I'm not running a foster home, so tell me why I should let them share your room and live here with me."

"Well, for one, we can get jobs. Weekends, after school, summers. Pay for our own food, and stuff, so you won't have to worry about paying for us to stay." Fluttershy nodded and asked him; "Who are they?"

"The first, who I know is okay? Her name is Rubyshade. Ruby filly, black and gray mane, and dark blue eyes." He told her quickly. "She um...pretty nice, I think she'd be twelve now, she was two years younger than me."

"Okay, Quill. So tell me, why did you two know each other? And who's the third?"

"She's...Tainted."

"She's tainted?"

"Her name. Tainted Diamond. Really it's just diamond, but she always says it's Tainted Diamond, it's a dark story as to why." Fluttershy nodded. "She's charcoal, mane's brown with blonde streaks, and her eyes are a strangely light blue."

"What do they do? Special talents, I mean?"

"I'm not really clear on Rubyshade's, her cutie mark is a diamond with a heart in it that's been cracked down the center. Tainted writes, like me, her mark's a little blue quill." He looked down at his own stately black quill that adorned each flank. Fluttershy took this in for only a moment.

"I asked how you two met?" Though it came out as a question, Quill knew he had no chance unless he were to explain, just from the tone of her voice and the look in her aquamarine eyes when she repeated it. He sighed, then sucked in a breath and let it out in a long puff of air.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"To tell you that, I have to tell you where I came from, so...here goes." Fluttershy nodded and settled down to listen impassively, her head resting on her hooves, her empty salad plate forgotten.

"I was in the mental hospital, Fluttershy." She blinked but remained silent. "I met Rubyshade and Tainted in there, as it turns out. They were too. I still don't know why they were there, but I know I didn't need to be there." She listened, her eyes gleaming curiously and her muzzle twisted into a sympathetic frown. "We were very, very close. We were in there for months, and we spent as much time as possible together."

"I thought they kept the fillies and colts separated?" He nodded.

"They did, but for some reason I kept getting switched between the colt's and filly's sides. Rubyshade said she overheard the doctors saying that they wanted to see how I responded to both sides, or something like that. Anyway, we were super close, but I was so...so disgusted by everything that had happened in that city, that I just ran and never looked back, as soon as I got out." Contrary to what he might have expected, he felt an enormous relief at saying all of this.

"What city was that, Quill?"

"Manehattan." She nodded again and stayed silent so that he could continue.

"I regret it, Fluttershy. I should have waited for them...then we could have stuck together all this time, and two more ponies would have made it to safety. Now, I know Ruby's doing alright, but I have no idea about Tainted or whether we'll be able to find her."

"Why were you in, Quill? Can you tell me that? You said you shouldn't have been there." Anger surged through Quill so suddenly, so strongly, that his wings snapped up to an impressive wingspan for his age, and his eyes narrowed with a look of hate so pure and unfettered that Fluttershy actually winced.

"The official story is that I was hallucinating like a psychopath." Fluttershy seemed to sense, on some level, that he needed to go ahead and spit this out, but for the moment he stopped talking, so she prodded at him.

"Quill? Were you hallucinating?"

"Remember how I told Twilight that she wouldn't find me in the books, because I hadn't been birthed at a hospital?" Fluttershy nodded, and her eyes widened.

"Do you have a brother, then, or a sister, or...?"

"I had a sister, but she was never in the records either." Fluttershy nodded, her gut wrenching as she started to gather where this was going.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't just cut. You may recall I had a lot of bruises. A l-lot." He swallowed, his wings slowly folding back down. Most are faded by now, but there's still a few. Remember?" Fluttershy nodded, trying to keep her face blank.

"Mhm. That, Fluttershy, was my parents. And they did it to her, too." Though obviously upset, he kept his voice even and steady. "We were close, though, and we had each other for years. She was eight, and I was twelve. One day...one day, they went to far." Fluttershy's heart felt like it was twisting around.

"She was laying there, her face smeared in her own blood." Actually, the deathly calm that had stolen over him was worrying her. "Blood all over the floor, too, looked like that had beaten her until she couldn't even stand. And, she lay there...and I flopped down next to her, and pressed my muzzle to her shoulder, it came away bloody. She...I told her to stand up, said we'd go get help, but she said that it was to late for that. She told me that I had to go, to run." He could feel a tear cut it's way through the fur on his cheek at that.

"I didn't want to, I wanted to stay with her, to do something. Anything. But it really was to late, and my little sister was dying bloodstained. And...what did I do? I didn't take her outside, I didn't bury her, like I should have. I left, just before she died-why didn't I wait until she was dead? Why didn't I stay with her until the end??" His calm demeanor was faltering.

"Couldn't answer that, I was a stupid twelve year old. Anyway, I ran to the police, because that's what foals were supposed to do, right? Friendly neighborhood police? But when I got an officer to come back with me, they'd...t-they'd..." He swallowed, struggling to compose himself. "They had done something with her body, and cleaned the blood, and it was like nothing had ever happened. They acted concerned for me, and they said that I didn't even have a sister, that she was just my...imaginary friend, or something like that. When the police looked into it, there was no record of either of us in any documents, especially since we hadn't been allowed to attend school by our parents...

"I would sneak into the school with her, we'd fly in and get our way into the air ducts, listen, learn what we could. Stole books and smuggled them home, taught ourselves. It wasn't easy, but we were smart for our age." He sucked in another huge breath and let it out slowly in a long puff. "Anyway...

"When they couldn't find proof of anything, they deemed me crazy-who would believe a terrified colt over the calm and collected adults? They threw me into that mental hospital without a second thought, and that was the end of it. When I met Tainted and Ruby, they listened and they believed every word I said, even if they weren't ready to tell their own stories to me, yet. Now...I want those two friends back, but neither of them has an exactly healthy relationship with adults either, and certainly not a happy family. I just...I want them to be able to have somewhere safe, and their next meal guaranteed, like I do, now. Please, Fluttershy?" Fluttershy's eyes were welled up with tears at the story, and yet she still found herself sure that there were details he had left out. He could see it in the way he was trying to stay calm, the way his wings hung limp and defeated at his sides, the way that he was sitting there like a pathetic rag doll...she believed his story.

"T-That's a lot to take in, Quill. You can bring your Rubyshade friend here, but let's wait on Tainted until we know whether you can actually get her here..." Quill nodded, not feeling the particular need to say thank you out of the feelings of regret coursing through him. Of course, he wasn't going to follow that feeling.

"Thank you a ton, Fluttershy, means a lot to me."

"I...think I can understand what it's like to want your closest friends back, Quill. I won't pretend to understand it all, but I can imagine that. You can bring her back after school tomorrow...are you okay?"

"Just...tired." He gave her an excuse to leave the table and got off his chair. "Good night, Fluttershy?"

"Good night, Quill." She sighed. He turned and walked to his room, while Fluttershy looked down at the untouched salad he had left behind.

#~#

"So she actually agreed to that?" Rubyshade asked him, walking beside him and trying to look as presentable as possible in spite of the dirt in her coat and her messy mane.

"Yeah, surprisingly." Quill felt none of the anger from the day before, now, he had pushed it as far to the back of his mind as he could. He was so overjoyed to have Rubyshade back, and a genuine plan as to how and get Tainted back, that it dominated his mind for the moment. They both understood that Tainted had wanted to attend the Quillcon that happened yearly, and this year it would be in Ponyville. That didn't mean that she would be there, but maybe some of the ponies who attended yearly could point them in the right direction. plus, if they did get lucky, then they would see her and explain everything to her.

"I'm surprised, but if you're sure..."

"I've told you a million and three times," Quill quipped, "she's that kind of pony. I'm not saying I'd take advantage of her, but if anypony was going to help you and or tainted, it was her." Rubyshade nodded thoughtfully in answer to this.

"I'm glad. Don't suppose I could use a shower? Usually I just clean in the stream and that's clean but it's freezing cold."

"Of course you can use the shower." He rolled his eyes. "If you're staying there, you can have a warm place to sleep and a shower first and foremost."

"Hm, just be careful, I might pull you in with me." She shot back playfully. His cheeks turned red and he walked on quietly without answering her. She was thirteen, so a few years above the age where ponies usually started thinking about things like that, but it still made him quiet, embarrassed and usually red.

"You don't wanna make a mess, do you?" He finally shot back.

"I can get dirtier before I get cleaner." She winked at him and then gave an innocent smile, cluing him in to the double meaning. He felt his face go a thousand shades darker and walked a tad faster.

"Well, we'll see." was all he could manage to say. Rubyshade smirked and walked after him, watching as they came into sight of the small cottage. Fluttershy was out front, tossing tiny kernels of corn down to the chickens in their pen. She looked up, though, at the sound of the approaching footsteps.

"Quill? Is this Rubyshade?" Fluttershy's eyes roamed the small red filly, took in her scraped but not seriously injured figure. Quill, coming to know the buttery mare, could see the signs of worry already showing on her face, and in the depths of her eyes.

"Yes, this is Rubyshade." Rubyshade nodded, her wings half open in a nervous stance, as though worried she would have to take flight in but a moment. Her eyes, the would-be-brilliant sapphire, were dull and almost lifeless, only alight with the fire of fear. Somehow, though, she held her composure and spoke steadily.

"If this isn't a trap." She spit on the grass, rather than swallow the saliva that was building on her tongue. "Or a trick." She scuffed the ground with her right hoof, looking at Fluttershy from behind a curtain of her raven locks. "Then...then thank you, Fluttershy."

"Why would this be a trick or a trap?" Fluttershy spoke in that voice that one usually reserved for the sick-but then, Ruby was sick, in a sense, and so was he, if they weren't really 'cured'.

"Let's just say that I'm not used to ponies doing something out of the kindness of their hearts for me. It's always been that they wanted something in return."

"That's how it is in the cities Fluttershy. All you and your friends know about is the class, the money, the fancy and the wonderful. You don't know about the-" but he stopped himself, knowing that it wasn't the time nor the place.

"Well, this isn't the cities." Fluttershy said firmly. "This is my cottage, and I don't want anything in return, not at all. What I want is to help." That was all she said before she turned and walked back to the cottage, having previously decided that it would be better for her to be shown around by Quill, whom she was comfortable with.

Aware of this decision, Quill wrapped a wing around her and led her up the path and into the cottage. He had gone to get her after school, and now it was probably nearing dinnertime. Rubyshade let him lead her, though had it been almost anyone else she would have had them pinned do the ground and, depending on her mood, stamped between their hind legs or ripped their throat with her teeth. Not that anyone else needed to know that.

For just a second, she wasn't in that cottage. For just a second, she was standing in the filthy alley behind the Manehattan bowling alley, blood around her mouth, the taste of blood and sinew on her tongue, staring down at the stallion who no longer had a throat, or rather, who's throat was on the ground at her hooves and who's blood would stain her teeth if she didn't clean them. He had tried to rape her, and she hadn't been in the mood to fuck around. Literally. The rain that was falling had her fur plastered to her sides, her mane hanging in wet strands. She probably looked like a scene from a horror novel, the body below only tying it all together.

Then she was back, and she was in a bathroom with Quill. Why was she in a bathroom with Quill? He was talking. Maybe she should listen.

"-r. I'll be in the next room."

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Damn, she would swear she could still taste the coppery blood on her tongue. She glanced in the mirror, but her teeth were clean and white. The advantage of living on clouds.

"-ext room."

"One more time, sorry. I'm um...distracted."

"Listen, Rubyshade." She nodded and focused her attention undivided unto him.

"I said, I know you probably want a hot shower. I'll go find something to do, and let you enjoy the shower. I'll be in the next room."

"Yeah, o-okay. Thanks." She nodded and pulled back the curtain, getting in the shower. "I was serious though, one of these days I'm going to get you in here with me." He blushed and turned to go, and she blurted; "Wait!"

"Yes?" He looked back, watching as she turned the water on, jumping at the shock of warmth. In the sky, surrounded by clouds, and wind, warmth probably wasn't a creature comfort. She relaxed quickly, though, and let her wings fall open.

"Where am I going to sleep? I'm so tired Quill..."

"We're gonna get some food in you, then you can take the bed in the last room. I'll take a sleeping bag."

"Don't be stupid, we can share the bed. We always used to sleep together in the day room, the only difference is Tainted won't be there and we'll be on something soft." She spat that out casually, looking like her mind was other places. "When Quillcon rolls around, we'll hopefully be able to get a clue of Tainted." Quill nodded-that was, obviously, desirable. She was washing her chest and shoulders, and she gave off a tiny little moan from the warm water that she hadn't known in so long.

"Seeya soon." He left, understanding that she had forgotten he was there. Vaguely, he wondered what she was thinking about.

Comments

[Rainwalker12]

Whoah, a good story with a fair amount of chapters and only 9 likes? That's odd... this is a really good story though!