Ghosts of Skeleton's Past

by Valorousspectre

Judgement

Chapter five: Judgement

I find lots of ponies are afraid of the dark. Afraid of what they cannot see, what they cannot explain. I’ve found that many are afraid of change, any change. Even if it’s for the better, they still fear it. It is the nature of those with small minds I suppose, to fear that which is new. I went to many places in my youth, all over Equestria. I’ve even seen the sea. Few ponies ever get to see it. It is a wondrous place, so vast and uncaring. It doesn’t care if you’re pony, dragon or otherwise. For a while I stayed on an island off the western coast. It was a small island, barely even large enough for me. Despite what’s been speculated, Sea ponies do exist. They took pity on me, I think. Unfortunately, I don’t like seaweed, which is what they were giving me to eat, being what they ate. I thanked them anyway. They deserved my thanks.

But after a time, it was too much. I thanked them for all their help and I left. There wasn’t anything but seaweed, and even then I may as well have been taking all their food. I flew for a long time, I remember. I passed by a few towns, stealing what I needed to survive. I always felt bad about it afterwards, but I had to do something to survive.

But after a while, even the most wayward adventurer needs to find a place to rest for a while. I found an old, abandoned building on the outskirts of town. It was pleasant enough, and it had an overgrown flowergarden. Whole vines of thorny roses of different colours. Red and white were most prominent . But as I got closer to the house, I found a small area completely dedicated to my favourite rose. The black ones. There were quite a few to be truthful. It didn’t take me long to ingratiate myself in the place.

It was quite beautiful to be honest. Heavy beams of oak I think. Shingled roof, wooden floors. It looked like it’d been abandoned for decades. I guess I figured I could stay there. Of course, eventually I needed supplies. Roses are pretty things, but I never enjoyed eating them. Some ponies think them a delicacy, but I can’t stand the taste. The small town the cottage was on the outskirts of was a quaint sort of place. Lots of ponies. Many of them nice. Most of them accepted me. I thought I’d finally found a place to stay. I stayed in that cottage for a long time. I sold my roses to make money. This was about the time I found out about Soarin. He was about my age still, but he’d filled out. He was very handsome and very skilled. He was standing next to Spitfire when I saw him first. I asked one of the older mares who it was, because I told her he looked familiar and she told me. I knew they were the Wonderbolts, to be sure. But I didn’t know who he was. It had been several years after all.

I developed a crush on him. Every chance I got, I bought a newspaper just to see what news there was of Soarin. The village thought it amusing, and some of the ponies encouraged me to seek you out. Of course, there were some who laughed at me. But that is also in the nature of ponies. To find such things silly and amusing. Magazines had a curious way of ending up on my doorstep without my purchasing them sometimes and nopony knew anything about it. Or, so they said. I knew it was a lie, but they seemed happy, so why would I bother them about it?

Then a stranger came to town.

He claimed he was a doctor, come searching for a place to settle down He had a big bag full of things. A stethoscope, tweasers. The unicorn honestly seemed like a doctor. He had all the relevant knowledge, everything. But..

He took a very special interest in me. He was constantly trying to talk to me, catch me alone. He thought me as fascinating. I think it might have been my more… unique? Physiology. Either way. He kept asking me questions and such things, How my teeth got so sharp, why, what I ate, why my eyes seem to glow in the dark, why my wings were silent. I didn’t know how to answer him. I answered as best I could but… Well, He didn’t seem satisfied with the answers. I tried to tell him I was merely born that way, I didn’t know why. He asked me if any other members of my family were like me. I told him the truth. Nopony that I know of in my family was like me in any way. Is like me in any way. That didn’t seem to be enough for him.

I was at home on day. It was a bright day. He came knocking at my door. He wanted answers, and he was willing to get violent to get them. He forced himself in and cornered me in the kitchen. I was scared of him. I tried to tell him again and again that I didn’t know the answers to his questions. I really did. But he didn’t seem to believe me. He hit me a lot. Every time I did something he didn’t like, or said something he didn’t like, he’d hit me pretty hard. I remember having cuts on my face and bruises on my chest and forelegs. I kept telling him I didn’t have the answer to his questions, and still he refused to listen to me, telling me I must be lying. I got really scared. His eyes were deranged, crazy. I don’t think he was all there. I tried to reason with him, tried to make him see sense. He wouldn’t though. I… I didn’t know what else to do. I reached for one of my kitchen knives to defend myself with. He batted it out of my hoof and hit me, hard. I hit the floor and fell into unconsciousness.

When I woke up… I’m not sure if I should tell you girls any of this...

~*~

“It could give you nightmares. I’m sorry, but… I don’t think…”

Spitfire, sitting in rapt attention, groaned.

“Awwwww, come on!”

Fleetfoot clouted her on the back of the head and Spitfire flinched.

“Ow! Hey, that hurt!”

“Be quiet. It’s Skeleton’s house, she decides what happens.”

Spitfire glared at Fleetfoot and just as she opened her mouth to speak, Fleetfoot silenced her with a hoof.

“No Spitfire, you can’t order me around here, you’re team captain, not my superior.”

Pouting, Spitfire clammed up and frowned petulantly. Skeleton giggled softly at her antics and Soarin nudged his wife gently.

“It’s alright, they’re asleep anyway. Come on dear, let us leave them to sleep.”

Skeleton nodded slowly and followed Soarin out of the room, tailed by the petulant Spitfire and rather smug Fleetfoot. As the two reached the ‘guest’ room of the house, the third bedroom on the second floor, also rather large with a double bed, Fleetfoot dragged Spitfire in by her ear after a forced goodnight. Soarin snuffed a laugh, leading Skeleton back into their room where he closed the door and turned back to her.

“Alright, bed then?”

She looked at the floor nervously.

“Soarin I…”

One brow raised.

“Skeleton?”

She gestured him to follow her and, curious, he did so. She rolled out onto the bed onto her back and, hind legs firmly crossed, rubbed at the long, jagged scar running up her stomach to her sternum. Soarin felt his heart drop. He’d seen the scar before, obviously, but had never considered the implications of nor the source of the terrible thing. He gulped and shook his head.

“Skeleton, you don’t have to tell me, it’s a-“

“No, I really do Soarin…”

He squirmed uncomfortably.

“Skeleton…”

“No buts Soarin… but I couldn’t tell this part to the girls… Come here please…”

Hesitantly, but not wanting to let her down or disappoint her, he climbed onto the bed after her. The cloud, normally so soft, warm and beautiful hardly felt adequate now, like something carved from raw stone itself. He sat beside her and she took one of his hooves and brought it to the scar.

“He… He kept me like a lab rat for three months…”

~*~

I didn’t like him. He was rude, bossy and seemed to get increasingly more insane every time I saw him. Like, incrementally. Each day more insane than the last. At first he seemed happy merely taking blood samples. Although these often hurt, I could bear them. He kept me in a tiny little cage, big enough for me to half stand in, but small enough that I couldn’t quite stand or lie all the way down. It was… torturous. He didn’t seem to care. The food he gave me wasn’t always fresh, or edible. I eventually learned to eat it anyway or starve.

Then he wanted feathers. For a while I felt I had no choice, giving them to him freely. He wanted to know why my feathers were as they were, what purpose they served. He seemed to think he could find this out by studying my feathers. Through use of magic and machines, he tried to puzzle out the reason I could fly silently. For almost two months he ended up throwing a fit and normally throwing something at me. Never anything large or harmful, but he threw things all the same.

On the third month… He stopped coming.

I waited, I slowly began to starve. I have felt the true power of hunger. I know what it’ll make you do. I held off eating myself. I gave it very serious thought, but I decide I’d rather rot than turn into a monster like that. Eventually he came down. He came down with a tray of food I snapped up very quickly. I wasn’t going to let him take it back, I wasn’t going to let it get cold. No, I wanted that food more than anything at that point in time. It was a novel experience. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relieved than when he brought that food to me.

But… He had decided that there was only one way to figure out why I was how I was.

He wanted genetic material.

That is to say, he wanted parts of me. Tissue from my stomach, lungs, heart, brain, everything. No organ was going to be spared. He was going to study it closely, hoping it held answers. For a long while he deliberated upon whether or not he should take my wings as well and when to do it. He eventually decided that he’d take them along with my teeth after he’d killed me, so I wouldn’t struggle. He was already certain I wouldn’t.

He strapped me to a big table and brought his bag over to it. I remember trying to get out, but to no avail. Eventually he finished bringing out what he wanted and…

I didn’t know they made scalpels that big.

Or maybe it was all in my mind, I’m not sure. But it was a big scalpel. I screamed as he cut into me, I felt the tip of the blade slicing through my flesh, the blood welling up and over my stomach and up to my chest. I felt the blade slice across the bones making up my ribcage as he finished. I never let him go any further.

Have… Have you ever felt fight or flight reflexes? The adrenaline rush that clouds your mind and makes you do whatever is needed to survive, to save yourself regardless of the consequences? I have. This was the first time I’d felt it though. He came up to cut through my ribcage with a bone saw and… He got too close to my head…

~*~

Skeleton sniffled, unable to look at her partner anymore, whilst Soarin stared at her in absolute shock.

“I… I didn’t even realise I was doing it until I heard his screams. The taste was horrible, metallic. I killed him Soarin… I killed him…”

She rolled onto her side, back to Soarin. In her head replayed that moment, followed by the horrifying fear that Soarin was about to leave her forever, to see her as a monster, a freak.

“After that… I gnawed through my restraints, but that wouldn’t help. I couldn’t move or I’d die. I was resigned to the idea that I was about to perish when… When the unicorn from before, Splintered Dreams, came in. He told me I’d be okay and… I blacked out. When I came to I had this scar, and nothing more.”

Tears were openly streaming down her face now and she curled up tightly.

“I left as soon as I could. The doctor’s body was gone and I didn’t think to where. I couldn’t stay there, too many bad memories. Please… Don’t hate me Soarin.”

Soarin just stared at her in abject shock and horror, as she saw when she glanced back at him. She winced and looked away, eyes downcast.

“I’m sorry…”

There was a moment of silence, void of all movement. Then a pair of hooves wrapped their way around the grieving mare’s midsection and drew her close to a warm, blue body.

“My love…” Soarin whispered gently, “I could never hate you. You did what you had to. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t nice. But he was going to kill you, and self defence is not a crime in Equestria.”

He nuzzled her gently.

“But I would like to have a talk with this Splintered Dreams fellow. Sounds like he’s been watching you for a long time. I have to thank him for that. Because without him, I never would have met you.”

Skeleton choked back tears, quivering in the arms of her love.

“Y…You know what kept me going… all that time in that cage?”

“No, what?”

She turned around in his grasp and nuzzled under his chin adoringly.

“Thoughts of you, flying through the air and, maybe one day, flying with me.”

---

I did warn you all that this wasn't a pretty fairy story right? Because it's not. I hope I'm not freaking out too many of you. On the real note, I'm sorry this took a while. It's slow going now that my work is finally picking up. I will update when I can okay? Thanks for understanding.

Comments

[Grell Sutclif]

these storys don't make me feel like this they make me feel like this keep up the good work

(i have a sick and twisted mind btw )

[azednew]

If anyone has ever seen Tower Prep, which was the best (cancelled) show ever, they would know what I'm talking about.

The creepy doctor part that's gonna give me nightmares, reminds me of Dr. Specs, who was responsible for wiping the sttudent's memories of how they got to the school. Now I can only hear Dr. Spec's voice. Great, two fucking creepy doctor parts stuck in my head.

[Qussar]

Keep up the good work
And please don't make one her girls turn crazy, take for an example

[Reggie the Griffon]

Wow really didn't see that coming

And the last lines (author notes) was WAY too bright

[Vinyl Scratch Jr.]

Why can't i jump through this screen to go hug Grin!!!!

[frapers]

Is good I was waiting for something like this to come along. When I think scars I dont think bites I thing Rape, Torture and the worst possible outcomes.

[bigchibz110]

I think i know who splintered dreams is...

[Lars]

Grin: 1
Crazy Doctors: 0

[Evening Storm]

OH. MY. GAWD.

That is so startling
I feel so sorry she had to go through that

[llw88]

once on youtube I saw a video called cupcakes and I saw pinkie dissecting rainbow dash and making her organs into cupcakes

[llw88]

alive

[Radio_Crash]

11w88 ive read that,along with rainbow factory,rocket to insanity,both silent ponyvilles,and the expirements of twilight sparkle,beat that