Judgement

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She smiled warmly at the mare before her — Daisy. A curly, lime green mane, bright emerald eyes, and a coat the shade of rose petals. A cutie mark of three daisies adorned her flank; yes, indeed, she was well known in the town. In her mouth was the handle of a woven basket, no doubt her own hoof-work; she set it down upon the doorstep of her cottage, the flowers within the basket swaying lightly in the breeze. Soon, they'd be planted safe within the soil of her garden, hopefully attracting bees, butterflies, and anything else that wanted to visit them.

Fluttershy placed three bits in the mare's patiently waiting hoof, watching her drop them into her saddlebag. With the coins safely by her side, Daisy turned her gaze back to meet the pegasus, smiling, "Always a pleasure to do business with you, Shy!"

Fluttershy flashed a sweet smile, her own long mane drifting in front of her face in the light breeze before she lifted a hoof, pushing it out of her face. She spoke softly, her voice just barely louder than the breeze, "Thank you again, so much.. I really appreciate you coming all the way over here to get these to me, I know it's a little bit of a walk.." Her face flashed a hint of regret, realizing the florist had probably taken a portion of her work day just to deliver them.

Daisy scoffed, grinning, "Oh, hardly! Plus, it's always good to find a reason to stretch my legs; standing behind a flower cart all day is no joke!"

Fluttershy smiled, relieved the mare was so accommodating — she lightly gasped, remembering she was at home, and stepped aside the doorframe. Gesturing inside, she exclaimed, "Oh! Daisy, would you like to come in for tea? As a 'thank you'.."

Daisy gasped, "Oh yeah, I'd love to! I forgot to bring my water bottle with me, and gosh I could use a drink. Almost got into a coughing fit a little while back — of course, that's what I get for shoving my face into the flowers a couple times though, ugh.." She explained as she stepped in before grabbing the flower basket in her mouth quickly, the door closing gently behind her.

The pegasus quickly got to work making a pot of tea, sorting through the kitchen to get everything in order while Daisy sat at the table, plopping the basket down with her before explaining how the pollen can irritate her allergies, but she makes sure to bring extra tissues with her just in case.. Fluttershy politely 'mhm'd throughout the somewhat one-sided conversation so she knew she was listening, which seemed to be good enough for Daisy. By the time the tea was ready, a cup placed in front of the pink mare, she had explained the events of her entire week — not that Fluttershy was complaining, she was happy enough to give Daisy a chance to vent.

Oh, look..! Fluttershy's gaze shifted from the florist to the table in front of her; an aphid. It was rather large for the tiny insects' usual size, obviously very healthy and happy. It strolled across the table, it's little transparent wings accenting it's plump green body as it made its way across; she figured it must've come from the new plants, probably as a stowaway under a leaf, hidden beyond Daisy's careful eyes. The more she watched, though, it looked like the aphid ended up here by happenstance. Maybe it came in on her mane, the basket, or just the breeze, but it seemed to be trying to get away from the flowers quicker than normal.

Oh well, who knows, they do what they want. In any case, Fluttershy knew exactly what to do with aphids; if there were no predators like ladybugs to eat them, she'd use her smallest paintbrush to delicately remove them from the leaves, brushing them into a cup she'd take outside, before flying over to the edge of the woods to release them safely. Was it work? Absolutely — but she enjoyed it all the same. She was always astounded how tough the little guys were, always able to pick themselves right back up and form their little family groups — even after getting moved halfway across their world!

Their world — her yard probably was an aphid's entire world, imagine the journey this little one must've been on! Practically from one planet to the next, all under the leaf of a flower she just happened to buy — it probably didn't even know how far it had just traveled.

Taking a breath finally, Daisy sighed, and sipped her tea, "Well anyway, enough about me — how have you been? How are the animals and all that?"

Fluttershy stared into nothing for a second as Daisy's voice registered in her head, now talking to her instead of continuing to energetically monologue. She stuttered, "O-oh, me? I, um, I've been — "

"Eugh!" Her sentence was cut off as Daisy let out a groan of disgust, her eyes locking on the little traveler. Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something, to quickly brush the topic aside and move on before Daisy could get started, but no words were faster than the mare's hoof on the table.

Slam

Before she could even form a 'stop', Daisy was wiping her hoof on a napkin, rolling her eyes, "I swear, if that thing came from my plants, I'll give you a discount — so it better not have!" She huffed a little before chuckling at her own joke, immediately lightening the mood.. as if she didn't just kill something. Fluttershy's eyes were locked on the.. smear. Was it even a smear? It was more of a stain, hardly anything left..

Daisy suddenly gasped a little, "Oh Gosh, sorry Fluttershy, that probably freaked you out a little. I should've been a little less forceful, hah.." She laughed softly, a bit nervously as she looked over the vacant expression on the pegasus. "Y-yeah, no, I usually don't like, go after them so aggressively, but aphids have been terrible on my flowers this year. Little monsters end up everywhere, and as soon as you see one, I swear, you'll see fifty more!" Fluttershy watched her get up to drop the napkin into the trashcan.. The napkin, with stains. Stains that used to be a life. Stains that —

"Fluttershy, honey..? I-.. I'm very sorry to have scared you."

The yellow pegasus blinked, her eyes refocusing on the mare as she forced a smile, "N-no, it... It's nothing, it's fine.. I'm fine." She tried her best to put on a reassuring mask, not wanting to make an even bigger scene.

Apparently that's all the florist needed, sighing in relief and smiling wide, "Gosh, you had me going for a second! Thought my little aphid incident gave you a heart attack or something." She laughed softly to herself, sitting back down to finish her tea. Fluttershy's eyes glistened as they began to well with tears, tears she desperately tried to keep inside her. She didn't need this mare knowing how much it hurt.. to watch something violently die.. directly in front of her..

"Anyway, yeah, aphids have been pretty harsh this year on all the girls down at the shops, plants have been dropping left and right. Honestly I'm glad I took the precautions I did this year, or I might not have any stock left to sell — "

"Precautions..?" Fluttershy interjected softly, their eyes meeting.

She half-heartedly smiled, "Yeah, no.. I usually wouldn't, but I wanted to be safe this year."

Fluttershy nodded, her smile wavering, keeping the frustration inside her, "Y-yes, sorry, I meant what kind of precautions did you take..?"

Daisy smiled, "Oh, you know, fungicide, insecticide, stuff like that."

"In-.. Insecticide?"

"Yeah, gotta keep the pests off." She paused, smiling, "I've seen little piles of dead bugs under my flowers, it's been working super well!" She laughed softly, "It wasn't even aphids, just other stuff that tried to mess up my flowers I guess. I don't even know what they were, but they sure won't be killing any plants this year!" She smiled, poking proudly at the flower basket with her hoof.

Fluttershy's eyelid twitched lightly, her gaze locked with the oblivious mare. Her smile was strained, her voice lowered and colder, though it was so subtle it was impossible to notice, "You never told me your plants had.. pesticides."

Daisy suddenly looked a bit nervous, her own smile becoming a bit forced, "Y-yeah, I guess I didn't, huh..? Um.. I totally meant to, just slipped my mind this year, I guess.." She paused, waiting for the yellow mare's expression to lighten and cut her some slack, but it never did. She just.. watched her. Chuckling nervously, Daisy continued, digging herself deeper into the grave she'd just made, "W-well, you know, uh.. Other ponies are usually fine with it, so like, I thought it's like doing them a favor, hah.. Like, they won't have to worry about bugs with my plants at all, and this just.. kinda makes sure of that.."

She cleared her throat, "Um, quality and.. all that.." The florist looked increasingly uncomfortable as the pegasus' gaze bored into her skull, her eyes still locked on her. On her.. through her? Her eyes, though technically in her direction, didn't feel totally focused on anything anymore.

Finally, Fluttershy broke the silence, "Piles of corpses.. under the flowers..?" Daisy slowly nodded, regretting having said anything.

"Y-yeah, a few — "

"Corpses of what?"

Daisy was becoming more and more disturbed by the mare's lack of expression and flat tone of her voice, but tried to power through, "Well, I said before, I'm not really sure.. I saw some bees, some, I dunno.. What, caterpillars? Those little worm guys with legs that eat all the leaves — "

"You even kill bees?"

She took a sip of her now cold tea, wetting her increasingly dry throat, "Well.. Not like, on purpose — I know bees are pollinators, but.. there's gonna be some casualties with these kinds of chemicals, y'know? B-but it's for the greater good! So, it's.. worth it.."

Silence. Dead silence — that was all that greeted her. She bit her lip, aware she had made a very big mistake. Lingering for a second, she quickly added, "Look, Shy, I know I should've disclosed the pesticides on my plants, but I've never had a problem with it before. Nopony but you seems to mind — "

Fluttershy quietly interrupted, "You mean, nopony besides me seems to.. know?"

The mare's face suddenly paled, her smile dropping entirely as the facade began to slip, "Um.. Maybe.."

Fluttershy continued, her unblinking eyes locked with the 'florist', "You've never told anypony about the chemicals on your plants, have you?" She slowly shook her head, her mane shrouding her eyes for a second as it swayed. Fluttershy's hooves were lightly trembling, and she added through almost gritted teeth, "You've never told anypony you're selling death-trap plants, have you?"

Daisy exclaimed, "It's harmless to ponies! Just like, bugs and.. uh, it said it.. might.. be a little bit.. bad.. for really small animals.." She quickly added, "Like, mouse small! Smaller than like, pets and stuff, just other pests that'll mess up gardens — you know, like a, uh.."

"Rabbit?"

Daisy nodded, "Yeah, like rabbits and stuff that would eat the flowers! But like, it shouldn't be deadly to them, it can just make 'em sick if they eat too much of it.. I, uh.. I think, at least. Nopony has reported dead animals on their lawns, so it's probably fine."

Fluttershy nearly whispered, "You're waiting for reports of dead animals before you stop using it?"

Daisy quickly spoke, "No, I'll keep using it, but like, I'll start putting the warning on my labels and stuff." She looked to Fluttershy, who sat stone still across the table from her, pale as a sheet. If she didn't know better, she'd think the mare had snorted the pesticide herself for how sick she looked. Daisy slowly stood, feeling unwelcome in the house, and began to back towards the door, "Well, anyway, it's been good talking to you, Shy. I'll uh, see you around, yeah?" 'Shy' didn't respond.

The mare was going to leave. She was going to leave, and keep selling deadly, chemical coated flowers. She wasn't going to warn anyone unless they complained, she wasn't going to change, she wasn't even going to offer her a refund — no, she was just going to leave.

"Um, so.. Sorry about the plants, but it really should be fine for your pets..!"

She was waiting for numbers. Numbers of deaths. How many creatures had to die before she'd listen? How many piles of corpses had to show up before she'd do something? Before she'd even tell anypony? How many —

"So.. I'll see ya.. H-have a good day." The mare turned, walking towards the door.

She was leaving. Leaving Fluttershy with poisoned plants that could kill nearly every living thing in her home. In her yard. In her sanctuary. And she didn't care.

Fluttershy stood slowly, her limbs trembling uncontrollably.. This mare. She was a killer. Heartless. Cold. She wouldn't stop because she didn't care. Hundreds of lives, hundreds of creatures, hundreds of corpses, gallons of chemicals, and not one single warning to anypony. Not even a casual mention, not even an acknowledgement. All for her poisoned flowers to cash in poisoned bits, poisoned money for her poisoned business.

Fluttershy's wide, unfocused eyes slowly came to rest on the handle sitting on her cutting board by the sink. The handle to a sharp, cold, metal blade. Usually used to slice vegetables to feed her animals, most recently fresh cucumber for some slugs, but it could be used to slice many things. Many, many, many, many, many things..

Daisy was to the door now. She was leaving.

Her eyes focused on the knife. The voice, her conscience, made it very clear: You have one chance. If you don't, she will kill countless others.

The mare's hoofsteps had reached the outside.

Do it now, do it now, do it now, do it —

She picked up the knife between her two front hooves, clasping its cold form tightly, getting a solid grip even as she shook. Her eyes, pinpricks of color, beginning to pour hot tears, focused on the heartless mare. Something within Fluttershy had long ago began to crack, a part of her soul maybe, or of her sanity — something had been bent too far, reaching the breaking point. Something important. It now splintered, until finally, with images of her dead animals at this mare's uncaring hooves plaguing her mind, it finally happened.

Snap

Daisy didn't do much but let out a startled gasp, the hint of a sound escaping her lips. The knife slid easily into her flesh, scraping roughly against her ribs as it plunged into her back. The angle, down from behind, slightly to the side, sent the blade directly through her left lung. The knife easily pierced through her, the tip ripping a deep hole, puncturing what supplied her next breath.

Maybe a part of Fluttershy stopped. Maybe it said, this was insane. This was wrong, this wasn't how a sane pony would stop a crime. A sane pony would go to the authorities. A sane pony wouldn't —

Daisy gurgled a scream, staggering forward, blood beginning to quickly fill her lung, not to mention pouring out around the knife still embedded in her ribs. Her hoof frantically lifted from the ground, reaching around behind her to feel for the wound.

Whatever part of Fluttershy still opposed had relented to the overwhelming fact that she had already done it — she couldn't go back now. She would be imprisoned, she would lose everything if anypony found out. Everything, everything, everything, everything, everything — if anypony found out. If, if, if, if... Only if.

There was no going back now.

Blood droplets sprayed from her mouth, dripping down her chin as Daisy choked on her wheezing gasp. The knife was yanked out of her flesh, leaving a clean puncture wound — it made an awful sound, the air of her breath hissing out from the hole through her body.. but not for long. Fluttershy held her breath, forcing the knife back down into the mare with all her strength, sinking the blade up to the handle into her back. She didn't stop to assess the injury; she pulled the knife back out before thrusting it in, again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again —

Panting, Fluttershy stood over the bloody, mangled heap that was once Daisy. Once.. not anymore. Daisy had long ago taken her final breath, now just a body. A cooling body laying in a growing pool of her own blood. Her back looked like a torn pincushion, her flesh splayed out around the innumerable stab wounds, pouring dark blood, staining her pink coat. If she looked close, she could see the white glint of bone peaking out through a few of the deeper wounds. The knife handle was still sticking out from between her shoulders, growing like a flower from the pony's corpse, the sharp roots keeping it deeply anchored.

Fluttershy sat down in the floor — well, more of a 'collapsed' than a 'sat'. Strands of her long, pink mane were plastered across her sweaty face, the rest hanging limp in front of her eyes. She lifted a trembling, stained hoof to her face, pushing her mane out of the way, leaving a bright red smear across her pale yellow forehead, mixing with her sweat and running down her skin.

Daisy didn't move — of course she didn't, she was dead. As dead as countless other creatures would have been if she had lived. Yes, that's it.. She was the real killer, not Fluttershy. Fluttershy merely stopped a murderer. Yes, yes that's what happened.

The pegasus took a deep breath — the kind Daisy would never have again — and stared at the red mess before her. She placed a shaking hoof on the knife handle, pulling it from her body — it took a bit of force, having been lodged firmly into.. something.. Now free from her flesh, she bled even more — so, so much blood..

She took another breath. Now.. It didn't matter if she was right or wrong. It didn't matter if she wished she'd have done something different. It didn't matter if she regretted it. It didn't matter if it was a mistake. None of that mattered because it was already done. Now, all that mattered was making sure nopony ever knew.

She nodded — nopony could ever know. Nopony. Tears fell freely down her pale face, and she let herself release a shaking sob. Breaking down, she finally wept. She cried for the aphid. She cried for the animals. She cried for the poisoned casualties. She cried for the flowers themselves. She cried for what could have been. She cried for what had broken inside her. She cried for what she had to live with, what she had to do. She cried for the dark secret she would carry within her for the rest of her life.

She didn't cry for Daisy.

Nopony

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It had been done. She had gone through with it, and the deed itself was done; the ordeal, however, was far from over. As much as she'd like to leave her house and go for a walk to forget what just happened, she knew it was unrealistic while the crumpled heap of pony lay bleeding in her door frame. A heap of pony she desperately needed to be rid of. But how.. Well, first things first. Just take it one step at a time, that's all.

Fluttershy took a look around the room, her eyes first focusing on the tea towels — towels! She rushed from her kitchen to the bathroom, gathering every towel in the house, racing back to the door frame. Not thinking twice, she dumped her towels on top of the corpse, frantically pressing them into the floor — into the growing pool of blood. She quickly had a mess of crimson-stained towels, absolutely soaked, but it did stop the pool from expanding at the very least. It would do until she could properly clean it up later; after all, the stains were a bit less pressing of an issue than the corpse creating them.

At least the next question already had an answer — where to put the mare? The Everfree, of course. Nopony would go looking there, and even if they did, it was normal for there to be casualties of the forest. It was a terribly dangerous and mysterious place, after all — but luckily for the pegasus, it was also nearest her house. And the nearer the better, as the less distance she had to travel with her.. cargo.. the better. She nodded, her mind made up — she would take the remains to the Everfree, as deep as she could safely go.

She looked back down, her determined look quickly fading as she realized what she was truly tasked with: moving the corpse. No, worse: flying the corpse to the Everfree Forest. Why flying? Well, once she reached the treeline, it would be nearly impossible to make her way through the bushes and vines with her hooves full — well, impossible to make good time, anyway. Yes, she had to fly. But that begs the question: how much can she carry?

Her expression drooped farther as she realized the corpse was an adult earth pony — notoriously stronger than pegasi, she weighed more than Fluttershy too. But that was being generous, assuming she could carry her if only she weighed the same — no, Fluttershy was no heavy-lifter. She could move the birdseed bags and the water buckets, but as for a whole pony? No way. So.. what now?

Fluttershy sighed, looking over the pile before her, soaking in a cold, crimson pool, the once pink coat faded to a sickly pale. Pile, heap, thing, object — Fluttershy sat down heavily, shaking her head, "No, no.. As much as I'd like to pretend.. You're still a pony. You're still Daisy." She lingered, "Or.. What's left.." She bit her trembling lip — no time for that, she had more important things to deal with than existential questions. Things like how to move an entire pony. An entire pony...

Her eyes lit up as she realized the answer, before immediately widening in horror as it sunk it. Yes, she could move a pony. But.. not an entire one. Just.. one piece at a time. She let out a shaking breath, "Oh, Goddess, forgive me.." Forcing herself to look into the mare's once-green, glazed, dead eyes, she added, "I'm so sorry Daisy.."

Just to try before she admitted defeat, she wrapped her forelegs around Daisy's cold, stiffening limbs, attempting to lift her up off the floor — gritting her teeth, she managed to scoot the mare towards her a few inches as a reward for her effort. A few inches would normally be a great accomplishment for the weight, but the circumstances really removed any positive from the action.

Well, at the very least, she could pull her inside enough to close the door. It would mean getting more of the mess in her house, but it was a price worth paying if it kept her a bit more hidden in case anypony was to pass by.

Groaning in effort, she hauled the mare's body inside by her foreleg, scooting it roughly across the door threshold and against her wooden floor. The floor creaked under her straining hooves before she let the pony fall limply from her grasp, thudding hard against the ground. She suddenly gasped, remembering the tarp she'd used to cover the chicken coop during that one particularly harsh winter — she rushed to her hooves, racing to her closet to rummage through boxes of old housewares until she came to her prize. Pulling it from the depths of the storage space, she spread it out across the floor, getting a look at what she was dealing with. It was nothing special, just a plastic tarp, not terribly big — but it would do to keep the mess mostly contained. At least, she really hoped it would.

Fluttershy quickly rolled up and moved her rug out of the way, laying out the tarp closest to Daisy. Now, she just has to move her one more time. Well, one more time all at once, that is. Standing on the tarp to keep it in place, she awkwardly lifted the corpse from the ground, her forelegs under the mare's, and began to slowly shuffle backwards, dragging the body onto the tarp with her. Unfortunately for the pegasus, the flayed back of the corpse ended up pressed to her chest as she moved, squishing wetly against her in a way that made her want to vomit her own stomach out. In fact, on second thought, she would — rushing to the sink, letting the body thud once more against the floor, she leaned over the basin, immediately losing her stomach contents. All she had eaten was some bread and tea, so after the first few retches, she was just painfully dry-heaving over the sink.

It didn't help that when she finally felt internally stable, she looked down at herself, realizing her entire front was smeared in blood — she gagged for a few more unpleasant minutes before shakily catching her breath, a cold sweat dripping down her sickly, pale face. She took another moment to just breathe and regain composure, getting a drink of water to wash out her mouth and wiping off her face with a few napkins. It was almost cathartic to wash her hooves under the stream, the red swirling down the drain and off of her.

Still, her body was wracked with deep shivers, in some numb state of shock as her adrenaline faded, but she mentally pushed it all to the side as best she could. Finally ready to again face the corpse, she turned back — as expected, it was limp on the ground. As she hadn't expected, however, she had managed to move it much farther than she thought, far enough onto the tarp she could just shift the rest.

Fluttershy closed her exhausted eyes, breathing a sigh of relief knowing she wouldn't have to feel the mare's cold, blood-wet body against hers again. She took a few trembling steps around the pony, making sure it was contained to the tarp, adjusting places where it hadn't quite made it. There. Now, it was..

Ready.

Her stomach dropped again, her vision wavering for a second as she realized it was time to progress. She took a breath, determination on her face as she looked under the sink for gloves — she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. She found them fast, often used for cleanup around the bigger animals, and pulled the blue latex gloves over her shaking hooves, giving her a much needed shield from the feeling of slick, cold flesh. Now, though, she had to face another question.

She almost laughed at how absurd it was for her to be the one in this situation — certainly not out of amusement, but more out of utter broken disbelief. Yes, the question Fluttershy had to ask herself was how to best go about dismembering a pony. The idea was so insane she wondered for a moment if she had just imagined it all, her real body sitting in the corner of a padded cell of some asylum, her mind completely broken. It was a comforting thought, that she hadn't really hurt somepony — but even if it was true, she still had to to deal with the horrors her own mind gave her. It seemed there was no easy out of this situation.

She thought for a moment — let's be realistic here. Trying to cut through bone was no simple task, and she didn't even know if she had the tools for that kind of job.. So she wouldn't cut through them. She could cut between them. With a sharp enough knife, she figured she'd be able to saw through the connection ligaments, muscles, and flesh to fully separate the limbs. Good, so she had a plan. She smiled in disbelief, purely out of painful irony — the plan was for Fluttershy to carefully dismember a pony with her knife. It didn't sound real. It didn't feel real. But yet, here she stood, her eyes on a stiffening corpse bleeding on a tarp in her living room, her hooves gloved and ready to surgically deconstruct it.

Well.. now or never, she supposed.

She picked up her knife from the floor, patiently waiting for her to use it again it seemed. She didn't like how it felt to touch it again, but she had no other options. Once this whole thing is done, she could bury the knife itself in the Everfree — that would help.

Turning back to the mare sprawled on the tarp, she closed her eyes, taking one more deep breath before committing, stepping over and sitting down beside the corpse.. Daisy had once been a very pretty mare, but now her mane hung limp down her blood-smeared face, her open eyes cloudy and unseeing — in fact, a few strands of hair had made their way into her eyes, just stuck there on the surface.. Fluttershy shuddered a bit, somehow even more unnerved. Her tail was dragged out behind her, caked in blood, leaving a long, wet smear across the wooden floor. She lay on her stomach, her head tilted, with her limbs pushed near her body to fit the tarp, but still splayed out unnaturally. It looked uncomfortable at the very least.. Well, it would've been uncomfortable if she were alive to feel it.

Right. Well, enough stalling. Fluttershy hesitantly pulled one of the mare's forelegs towards her, extending it to lay straight out.. "Oh, Celestia.. Please, please forgive me.." She moved closer to the body's back, moving a bit of the mane out of the way to expose her whole shoulder.. This'll work. She didn't need to dissect the poor thing, just.. just take it apart a little bit. She gently pressed the blade of her knife behind the pony's shoulder, hoping to get an angle that would let her take the entire foreleg off cleanly. If she hit bone, she'd cut around it, and one way or another the leg would come off. Right. Now, she just needed to do it.

In it went.. The blade punctured her cold skin easily, almost too easily — she kept her knives in good condition to avoid injuries from improper use, but it seems to have been more than just a little sharp. A bead of dark red blood pooled at the incision site before rolling down the mare's skin, dripping softly onto the plastic tarp.

She pushed the knife down as far as she reasonably could, still being a bit delicate and struggling with the tougher parts. Still, her knife sawed steadily down the pony's back, outlining her shoulder, planning to take the foreleg off at the very base. She cut through flesh, muscle, fat, anything in her way — tendons were the hardest, almost like rope to saw away at. Still, though, still, everything cut. Everything would cut if she just tried hard enough. Her blade scraped against bone a few times, dragging roughly across it, but she just focused on separating the shoulder from the socket. "Socket" being the only term she knew, anyway — the place where the shoulder was supposed to be.. but wouldn't be anymore. So.. it would be empty. An empty socket.

She grit her teeth; it was supposed to be an empty socket now, but the bucking thing just wouldn't —

Riiip

Fluttershy found herself holding the roughly severed limb, bone protruding sharply from the end, ripped, torn tissue and flesh dangling in messy chunks from the area. Blood pooled around the body on the tarp, dripping down her stained gloves, splattered up across her legs and chest. No matter — she had accomplished the task. Only four more to go.

She wasn't nearly as careful as she shifted to the other side of the body, hastily repositioning the corpse for the process. The knife seemed to go in much easier this time, gliding through the skin and flesh.. Maybe she was just getting better at it. Regardless, it didn't matter. Within a few moments of concentration and sawing work, she had the limb nearly removed, only the ligaments and bone connecting it. What she figured were ligaments, anyway — a bloody red, stringy mess of meat and tissue connected to the socket, a bone inside it somewhere. She didn't know what else to call it, just simply more she had to cut through. But this knife.. This knife was having issues with the tougher meat. This knife wasn't going to work for this. No, no it wouldn't..

She stood, quickly opening drawers, searching for her biggest, heaviest knife — there! She felt her lips unconsciously pull up into a smile as her hooves found their prize: her cleaver. Why on earth would she have a cleaver? Simple! Tough, large vegetables. You try cutting through a gigantic squash to feed a lot of animals with just a utility knife — it's not easy! Yes, this knife had never tasted flesh.. but it was going to now. It was going to taste flesh, bone, and anything else that got in her way.

Because of the heft, this knife had a strap attachment fit for the hoof, as you certainly wouldn't want this thing slipping from your grasp. She buckled the belts, the handle firmly in her right hoof, strapped on for extra protection. She nodded, unaware that the smile hadn't left her face — she was ready to proceed.

Sitting down, she loomed over the disfigured corpse, her eyes focused on the meaty connection point of the shoulder. Simple, simple.. She pressed the knife down to where it looked thinnest, getting a feel for it, stabilizing her posture. She took a breath, holding it, closing her eyes — she pushed the knife down with all her weight!

Oh..

Oh, the sound.

There wasn't a word for the sound it made. Crunching? No, no, much more than that. Popping? Maybe part of it. The cleaver — meat cleaver — cut easily through the connections, slipping between bones to give her the nicest cut, hitting the tarp. She was thankful for that luck, as she only guessed where the anatomy was after she had mangled it.

Two forelegs — almost there! She piled the discarded limbs at the corner of the tarp, to be taken care of later. Never mind the pool of blood coating the tarp, seeping down into her gloves as she worked, she could deal with that later too. Now, now was time for the hind legs. She moved down to the lower half of the now two-legged mare, sprawled out before her. Now, the pelvis, the hips, the flank.. Where to cut? She tapped the knife on her hoof, biting her lip.. Definitely the hips. She could cut out around the femur — that's what would work best.

She pulled one leg out, extending it as far as she could, feeling around her flank to see where would be easiest to cut.. Here. Right where the.. cutie mark.. is.

Huh..

She thought for a moment, her empty eyes staring at the two faded daisies, looking more like wilted flower pedals than a vibrant bouquet. How sad, but how fitting.. Much like her flowers, when immersed in poison, she too would wither and die. Poison she accepted with open hooves, but still, the point remains. She shared the same fate as her namesake.. Poetic.

The cleaver was pushed through the center of the two daisies diagonally, splitting skin and flesh, sinking deeper as it was worked through the muscle and tougher tissue. Perfect! It had been right on the mark, severing the femur from her pelvis, her flank splitting apart as she pulled the leg from its socket, the flesh wetly separating as she forced it away. Oh, hey, would you look at that — there's Daisy's colon.

She took one good look at the mangled, partly dismembered corpse, her own hoofwork, and promptly turned around to retch and heave, although the only result she could muster was to spit on the floor. She shook her head — she can't stop now. Get it together, and keep pushing through.

Breathing deep for a moment, she regained her composure, facing the corpse again as she moved to the other side, ignoring how she could see intestines peeking out of her lower abdomen from the hole where her leg was, and just lined up her knife with the flower petals on her flank. Pushing down as though it was natural, the wet sound it made as her blade slid through the flesh was still terribly uncomfortable. Soon enough, however, she had grasped the leg, pulling as flesh ripped, strings of red connecting the meat of her leg to her hip — only for a moment though, then it too was torn free.

She had a pile of limbs. Pony limbs. Dismembered, bloody pony limbs.

She blinked.

Yes, in the corner of the tarp there was a pile of body parts now. Of course there was — what else could she have expected? One thing left to remove, however.

She moved up to Daisy's head, and gently brushed her mane away from her neck, making access.. This. This would be the biggest challenge yet. Not out of physical difficulty, but pure mental strain.

She lined the blade up with her neck, unintentionally making small cuts in the pale skin where the blade was moved. It barely bled anymore, the vast majority of blood already having made its way into the floor. Simple, simple and quick and easy and —

Her hooves trembled, tears welling at her eyes again — that surprised her most, she thought she had already cried out her entire reservoir. The pegasus breathed, focusing and steadying herself, and fought her own hooves to keep them from shaking. She lined up the blade, her other hoof on top of it, the cold metal coated in dark crimson.

Fluttershy took one more breath, holding it in her fragile chest as she pushed down hard, the knife sliding into Daisy's neck — now that..

That was a sound.

The knife briefly caught against her vertebrae, but slipped between them quick enough not to cause a problem.

Popping and crunching, the blade severed muscle, fleshy tubes, and meat, slicing through the esophagus, trachea, and everything else in its path. It took a few extra pushes to get the knife worked all the way through, definitely pushing her physical limits.. but she did get it through. She got it through. She had.. decapitated..

She didn't have anything left to vomit, but her stomach sure as buck tried to empty itself anyway. She was getting tired of the dry heaving, getting a drink of water from the sink every so often to help ease her aching throat. The mare had deep bags under her eyes, her pale face looking worn and empty, blood splattered unknowingly across her pale yellow coat. She had the indentation of a knife's blade in her left hoof from pushing down so hard so often, but it would fade with time. Nothing to worry about.

The pegasus stood, her own limbs numb and cold, and it was a bit difficult to steady herself — specifically, it was hard to feel the blood dripping off her body where she had been sitting in it. Mentally and emotionally hard, that is. She could feel it very clearly, it wasn't lacking there.

Transport. That's the next problem. She took one look around before her eyes set on a bag of birdseed; she always kept the cloth bags, just in case she needed them, and now she was quite glad she did! As glad as one could be while disposing of a body, of course. So.. not terribly glad. Glad enough though.

She made her way to the closet again, red hoofprints left in her wake, and quickly sorted through to find her spare bags. Easily enough she had retrieved them — they were neatly near the top, on a shelf — and she made her way back to the scene, her bloody hoofprints making a clean loop to follow her. She sat down with a sigh, and began gathering the parts — two forelegs in one bag, two hind legs in another, one for the torso, and a separate bag for the head. That wouldn't be too much, would it? No, not at all, she'd certainly be able to carry that.

She was relieved when the pieces fit relatively okay in the bags she had picked out, not perfect by any means, but good enough. Not having to look at the remains also helped an awful lot for her lingering nausea.

Soon enough, she had the parts all packaged up and ready to go. She stood on wobbling legs, sweat dripping from her face, turned pink with blood — it seemed the worst was finally past her. She still sighed when thinking about flying everything to the Everfree, though.. She worried about falling asleep digging a grave with how exhausted she was.. Maybe it would be best to take a small break..? She looked over her mess, the bags lumpy and full, turning steadily red with oozing blood, a bit of pale green mane or tail sticking out the openings of a few.. The tarp over the floor, which ended up being a laughable attempt at keeping the blood contained...

She shook herself back awake, blinking firmly. She sighed in defeat — she definitely needed to rest.

On trembling hooves, Fluttershy meandered over to her couch. She was still caked in drying blood, tracking it wherever she went, her wet gloves having slipped from her hooves and her mind at some point, but she didn't care. Not right now. Now, she just wanted to lay down, close her eyes, and forget...

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Mental fog is a strange thing — it can make a pony believe, if only for a moment, that their sins were just terrible dreams. Unfortunately, the fog of sleep didn't last long as Fluttershy opened her eyes, quickly remembering where she was, and who she was with.. or whose parts she was with, anyway. She thought for a moment.. it was time to address it. She nearly laughed — she was going to think of it as the 'elephant in the room', but her thoughts quickly replaced it with 'the mangled corpse in the room'. Yes, that was much more uncomfortable than any simple elephant.

It was time to start removing the bags from her home, and begin relocating them into the forest. She sighed; she had no time to waste. Standing from the red-smeared green couch, she began lifting bags — luckily, she could carry both the foreleg bag and the head bag, easing her mind as the trip was cut a little bit shorter. She dragged the two bags outside, tying a rope firmly around them, securing them into one package. This would be much easier to carry — not to mention, she'd rather have the taste of old rope in her mouth than blood stained linen..
Right. She sighed, picking up the rope in her teeth, and began to flap her sore wings, attempting flight. Sore — it must've been from the muscles she used to.. take things apart earlier. Oh well, she'd just have to power through it. Gritting her teeth in determination, she flapped her wings through the deep ache, taking to the air as she began her journey.

She wouldn't have to go very far, that was for sure — nopony would go more than five hooves into the Everfree, unless they were heading to Zecora.. That's what she'd need to be wary of. She turned away from the direction of the zebra's hut, instead going towards the deepest part of the dark expanse of twisted trees. Sweat was already rolling down her stained forehead, and she knew she didn't have the time to linger hovering above the trees, debating where to go — she just had to go. Settling on her direction, she flew briskly over the treetops, just watching the various discernible landmarks — a tall rock shaped like a pony sitting down, an old tree that seemed to have been struck by lightning, a little pond full of unnaturally dark water.. Yes, she'd be able to find her way there and back again, no doubt.

She stopped by a small clearing, and decided to walk ahead a bit to cover her trail for good — it was now easily dusk, the sun making its way down the sky at a surprisingly quick pace. Time felt foreign to her, stopping and starting erratically, her mind perceiving minutes as days and hours as seconds. She didn't want to stay long enough to hear the Timberwolves, but it didn't seem like she quite had a choice. Laying the bags on the rocky dirt ground, she took a few deep breaths from her strain, regaining what little composure she had left. Her tired wings drooped as she accepted reality — now, she had to make the trip two more times.

The second trip went about as well as the first, carrying the hind leg bag, but with the added trouble of being even more worn out. It had been a long, long time since the frail pegasus had flown such distance with such weight. If she hadn't felt as if it was life or death to do so, she wouldn't even be attempting it.

She was a panting, sweating mess by the time she returned for the final parts — the shovel, and the torso bag. She sighed, closing her eyes a moment as she prepared to drag the contents outside so she could secure them. Reaching down, she bit the cleanest edge of the bag she could find, pulling hard — oh.. Oh, no. She pulled harder, frantically dragging it across the floor. Tears of frustration quickly welled in her exhausted eyes, and she spat the bag out as she grasped the whole lumpy package in her hooves, pulling as hard as she could, grunting and straining in effort — the best she could do was scoot it across the floor, leaving a massive bloody streak, flopping unceremoniously out the door in a heap. It was heavy. It was too heavy. She couldn't fly with all that weight.

She cried out softly in frustration and anger, sobbing, hissing out silent screams from her dry throat. The world just couldn't let her have this. No, that would be too easy. She had to dive back in one more time to finish this, cruel life ignoring all her cursing and pleading.

It was a good few moments before she had regained control of herself, forcing herself back to reality, her mind spinning — would she have to use a cart? Pull the bucking thing into the forest? No, a cart could never make it past the treeline. Drag it by hoof? No, no, that would take days. She'd surely be eaten by Timberwolves before getting even halfway. No, despite her anguish, she knew deep down there was only one solution — break up the weight. The weight of the corpse's torso. The weight which was only flesh, bone.. and organs.

At least the horrors she was forced to endure kept her hunger at bay — it had been an entire day now she'd been at this. Daisy had come in the morning, and now it was evening, getting darker by the minute. She didn't have the time to linger. Sighing, closing her eyes, she bit down on the bag — the pegasus winced as the sharp, cold, bitter taste of blood hit her mouth instantly, flooding her senses. She hadn't looked where she bit down, and now all she could taste was cold death. It didn't matter though, not now, not anymore. She dragged the bag slowly back into the silent house, her body numb and unfeeling as she once again resigned to something she never once in her life imagined.

The bag was heaved over the side of the bathtub, thudding into the white basin, streams of red beginning to trickle towards the drain — she opened the cloth cover, gripping it in her now off-colored teeth, yanking it hard from the tub. As she expected, the torso flopped out of the bag, thudding to the white ground, the tail now a horrible mess of green and red, caked in blood, both dry and new. She dropped the bag to the floor, ignoring the stains now throughout her entire house — she could worry about that later — and grabbed what she had brought. The knife's handle fit comfortably, familiarly back into her hooves, the feeling somehow comforting, as if it was waiting for her to pick it back up. Well.. she wasn't going to be using it for precision this time.

She shoved a hoof into the torso, flipping it onto its back, exposing the underside — it looked as though the poor pony had dyed her coat dark red, only a faint hint of her vibrant pink color still visible. She remembered for just a moment the mare it had once been.. Kind, for the most part, just ignorant. If she had just explained it to her, then maybe she wouldn't have...

No. No time for that. She blinked the tired tears from her eyes, taking one last breath, resigning herself to her fate.

She began cutting. The knife's blade slid easily into the cold flesh, splitting the corpse down the center. She could feel the metal drag across the sternum, scraping bone, but she didn't stop. Her hooves mechanically drove the knife down, through skin and meat, until the entire midsection had a clean line sliced through it. Blood was pooling at the bottom of the now crimson bathtub, steadily headed for the drain.. Her yellow hooves were stained the same color as well, all the way up her limbs, dried on her coat. The only clean, yellow spots still visible of her skin now were the streaks her tears left on her cheeks.

She began dragging the blade diagonally, slicing two shorter cuts, one at the top and bottom of the first slice, making openable flaps out of the flesh. When she had finished, her knife plopped softly into the pool of blood, the sound muffled by the thick liquid — now, she just had to..

Her stained hooves squelched as they began to push into the cuts, the feeling of the wet, cold flesh against her touch enough to make a pony lose their mind, but she couldn't stop. She slipped her hoof into the body cavity, under the skin, and began peeling back the flaps, opening it up like peeling a terrible, nightmarish orange.

It all happened at once.

With the sound of wet suction releasing, the flap split wide open, and into her hooves spilled the contents of the pony. It was so, so wet sounding, making her skin crawl, a scream wanting so desperately to escape her dry lips, though it somehow didn't. The organs.. there were so many. No, she knew how many ponies had, but seeing it there in front of her.. leaving a nearly hollow abdominal cavity, bloody and gaping.. She retracted her hooves from the.. flesh pile, staring blankly at the bathtub in front of her. A dead, disembodied torso was split open, all the organs spilling out like sugar cubes from a torn bag. They glistened and shined in the evening glow, cold and unforgiving, daring her to touch them again as she knew she had to, to finish what she started.

A part of her soul was gone. Gone forever. Dead, so very dead. The Fluttershy that had once existed was no more, a piece of her soul escaping her mortal being forever as she shoveled organs into a bloody bag with her bare hooves. Her eyes were vacant, empty, emotionless as she cut the last connections with her knife, severing both intestines and bowels alike. Soon enough, her bathtub was consistently draining blood, an empty, hollowed out carcass sitting by its lonesome in the center. The organs were all scooped up into a linen bag, filling it with soft, lumpy, dripping contents. She leaned over the side of the tub, picking up the meaty rib cage, feeling how light it now was in her hooves. Not terribly light by any means, but light enough to carry. She shoved it inside a bag, forcing the tail in as much as she could, though matted strands still stuck out the top — it was good enough.

She drug the two bags down the hallway, back outside, the moonlight now shining down on them. Slowly, her pinprick pupils drifted upwards to the moon — it was night now. It would be more dangerous.. She didn't care. She hefted the torso bag with her teeth and took flight, her burning, aching wings numbed from the mental trauma.

She dumped the bag with the others, but before she turned to retrieve the final piece, she noticed movement in the corners of her eyes.. Large movement. Large, looming, hungry movement.. She felt she was being watched by quite a few eyes, though.. it was strange. She didn't feel threatened. She felt as if they were hungry, yes, but not for her.. They felt curious. Expectant. Impatient. She flew quickly to the sky, and then to her once innocent cottage.

The organ bag had quite a few flies buzzing around it, trying so hard to find a way in, to make the slowly rotting flesh their new home, but she had tied it slightly too well for them. They'd just have to wait. Before the Pegasus flew, she remembered the burial she'd have to make, and turned her gaze to the shovel.. Yet.. she didn't feel as though she'd need it. There wouldn't be a true burial. At least, not by her hooves. She felt as if her part was at its end, and the rest wasn't for her to interfere with. The bag tasted like death, and the flies buzzed around her face, landing on her blood encrusted skin, keeping her company as she ascended for her final trip.

The sky was empty, the moon and stars clear above her. It made navigating a bit easier, but still cloaked her to any curious eyes — she couldn't have been luckier with her timing. As she flew closer to the clearing, she felt.. odd. Something was different, she could tell. As her red hooves landed on the gritty dirt, and she began walking to her clearing, she could finally tell what it was. It was the sound. The sound of beasts feasting on pony flesh. The sound of teeth ripping and tearing through bloodied skin and broken bone.

She numbly stepped forward, her legs carrying her almost against her will, to the center. Her hooves stopped just a few feet from the pile of bags, now torn open, the contents being picked over by three ravenous Timberwolves — the three monsters stopped their frenzy, turning their bloodied muzzles to face their unwitting provider. Their eyes shone in the darkness, cutting straight into her very being, yet she wasn't afraid. How could she be afraid now that she was no better than them, murderers out of instinct. She took calm, monotonous steps towards them, to the center of the gore heap, directly before all three wolves.. and dropped her last contribution. The bag popped open, the organs spilling from the damp sack, and immediately the hounds shoved their snouts into the pile, as if they had been starved until she arrived. They were enamored with their fresh offering, tearing gluttonously into the meat, hardly noticing as she turned to leave — her work was done, besides collecting the remains of her bags later. Now, if anypony did go searching and find the mess, they would simply assume the poor mare was ravaged by the beasts. It was as if the forest was giving back what she had given to it all these years, taking a weight from her shoulders she couldn't have ever imagined carrying. Walking back through the trees, the shadows swallowing her form, obscuring her movements and hiding her presence, she felt.. peaceful. The forest felt safe, like it knew her. Like it welcomed her — like she had given it the sacrifice it desired, thus proving herself to its tangled depths.

She flew mindlessly back home, her wings struggling with pain and exhaustion, yet she still made it, stumbling to the ground outside her home. The cottage loomed in the night sky, casting a shadow over her.. but it was her shadow. This house was forever tainted, corrupted, darkened.. but it was her own doing. She stood before the prison she had built, accepting her place, and slowly stepped back into her home, closing the door and looking ahead — blood.. Everywhere, blood. Everywhere..

Her legs ached. Her body ached. Her mind ached. Her soul ached. Her legs carried her upstairs, and soon enough she stood before her bed. What mattered most was that the body was out of her hooves — all that remained was superficial cleaning. Her time with Daisy was finally over.

It was with that one last thought that she collapsed into her bed, sleep quickly enveloping her exhausted being.

Weeks had gone by, nearly a month now. Fluttershy cared for her animals, helped her friends when they asked, and tried to live as though she was herself, unburdened, unbroken. The papers quickly noticed Daisy's absence, and the town made sure not a soul was unaware of her missing status. Twilight even made a few announcements about it.. Those were difficult to sit through, but she managed. She would have to manage.

They had just found the body. Some brave soul had gathered a search party and scoured the Everfree — it wasn't long before they reached the clearing. Yet, when all seemed lost.. the forest heard her plea, and the forest had answered. They found only a few bones left, the rest gone to the beastly animals that lurked the dark of the trees. It was quickly and immediately determined to be a terrible accident.

The story goes that as she went to deliver the flowers to Fluttershy, she got lost, ending up in the forest, where she was unfortunately victim to a brutal Timberwolf attack. The only thing that changed was the way ponies marked the path, adding more warning signs. That was it. They held a small funeral, ponies grieved, and then moved on. They continued living, and they would slowly forget.

Well.. all but one.

One pony could never forget.