Crimson Petal Facade
They tore at her flesh, leaving gaping sores in their wake. The holes never fully emptied, allowing the intrusions to continue endlessly. They clawed and they stole from her, only ever returning her flesh in the guise of comfort.
They had sallow, fetid flesh that hang limply from their bodies, decayed and decimated as her. Eyes hollow and gaping, they endlessly stared. Whispers crept forth from the corners of the room, guilt and blame cloying closer to bid for her attention. The food so freshly bought from the market that very day was rotten, mold and dirt crusting what collapsed edges dared to remain.
Fluttershy blinked.
The Truth receded, returning the room to normal. The animals were once again whole, happily munching away on the food she had procured. Sores no longer cratered her flesh, leaving behind untainted stretches. The voices so carefully edging inwards upon her were absent, leaving a silence far louder than before.
The Truth hadn't always been with her. In her youth, she had been subject to the same lies as all around her. Forced to see the world in the rose tinted light. Unable to see the lies for what they were. She was content then, in her ignorance.
Ignorance, it turned out was indeed a quintessential bliss.
She could not claim to be happier now that she could see the Truth. The Truth was not an aspect of beauty, not a rose kissed dream of honey and sunshine. It was horrific, peeling back the lies that life shoved down her throat with such veracity. Often the Truth was revealed in roundabout, subjective ways that were not always clear at first glance.
They always however, were stark in their blatant disregard of the overlying veneer.
"I'm sorry, what did you say Spike?"
The young Drake had invited himself inside slightly after she had started the animals daily feeding. Not even so much as a knock. It wasn't that he wasn't welcome in her home, but she wished he had the slightest politeness to at the very least ask for permission. It wasn't even really his fault. He was just a baby dragon, after all. It fell squarely on Twilights shoulders to properly train and nurture him as his proxy guardian.
That being said, his manners roughly seemed to mirror Twilights own fairly closely. She also had a certain habit of barging in unannounced.
Fluttershy blinked, the Truth of the Other Place quickly flickering in front of her eyes before returning to normal. Spike was the same as their last meeting, no improvements had been made. He didn't look any worse, but still.
In the light of the Truth, his already diminished size wilted ever further, his shoulders slouching in tired resignation. His glossy scales so patiently buffed turned dull, their luster lost under a coat of tarnished grime. Spines and nails groomed to attract a certain white coated unicorn (in all honesty, the only one in town who still thought his crush was a secret was himself...) were cracked, if not outright shattered and missing.
Chains pierced his flesh, their weight making his slouch yet more pronounced. His wings, not present outside of the light of the Truth sagged, leaving them dragging their weight through the dust behind him. His eyes were untouched, looking at the world around him in unbound wonder, still blind to the truth binding his world. Innocent, naive. Untouched, unfettered, but still blind in his ignorance.
"I was just asking if you had any ideas on anything that Rarity might like? I mean, if I was to do them. If she wanted me to do them in the first place? Things that she'd appreciate..." Spike asked, his posture begging where the tone of his voice could not.
Fluttershy cocked her head to the side, regarding the young drake in profile. He had come so far, grown to such lengths in his understanding of pony culture and their ways. Even from the first time she had met him, he had definitely grown beyond the child he had been.
"...Maybe you could ask if she needs any help around her shop?" she offered. It was a hollow suggestion, knowing full well the drakes desired intentions.
"I'm already doing that," he snapped. Fluttershy blinked through the Truth, watching the sparks of barely restrained anger arc through her friends eyes. His tongue lolled lasciviously, betraying his innermost thoughts. Another blink and the facade fell, showing naught more than a concerned front. "I just... I want to do something more, you know?"
Fluttershy was well aware 'what' young Spike wanted to 'do', with all the illicit connotations that came along with such an assertion. It was unlikely to ever happen, his appearance denoted him at little more than another foal in Raritys eyes. Even if his outward appearance mirrored Raritys own age...
The Truth showed all.
She gave away so much of herself, day in and day out. Great swathes of her flesh taken, lost, or simply gone. She gave as her element demanded of her, falling before its callous desire. She danced to the tune she couldn't even hear, losing herself piece by piece.
She'd never be able to take Spikes love. She didn't know how. That was the Truth.
"Have you tried taking a step back and looking at the situation from another angle?" she droned on leadingly. "Maybe there's something obvious there you just aren't seeing because you're too close to it all..."
It was unlikely he would rise to the bait. He was simply too stuck in his own delusions, too drowned by his empty ambitions.
"Like..." he trailed off, smacking a closed claw into his other open palm. "Of course! I could get Rainbow to come in for Rarity, to help out! Thanks Fluttershy!"
The drake left, a hand waving over his head in retreat.
She stared at his back through the Truth, watching as he slunk off down the sunken and overgrown path. His shoulders shook with perverse glee, his two sets of claws wringing unpleasantly against each other.
Fluttershy sighed.
If he could only see the Truth. If only he could peer at the world through her rose tinted view.