Lost and Found

Angel

Angel was exhausted. The month had been a torturous one. The first and foremost thing that Angel had to face was his owner. Fluttershy had stayed calm for the first couple weeks because Pinkie was there. However, as the end of the month approached and there was still no sign of Joy, she started getting jumpy and restless. As the month waned in to the next, it was all she seemed to focus on. Joy this, Joy that, where is Joy, et cetera, et cetera. It had taken a toll on everypony, even young Summer Blossom (she had told everypony her name over dinner the day she arrived). Nopony was fed up with her really, it was just the stress of keeping her sane and happy and not delusional.

To add to that, Angel had also taken it upon himself to be Summer's guardian. Everywhere she went, he went. He kept her calm. He had learned that she had social problems, and that having him around soothed her. She whispered all of her secrets to him at night, as they lay together on the couch. She told him how she hated being around a lot of ponies, and how she could barely keep herself together around Pinkie and Fluttershy. She had admitted that they were wonderful, and that should things continue the way they were (Summer's parents had never once showed up, nor had they been seen in town looking for Summer), that she was prepared to call them foster parents. However, she also admitted that she was worried about them. She said that was worried that she would one day lose it with one of them, and then be sent out onto the street again. Angel had tried to wordlessly dispel that thought, but there was only so much he could do.

And now, he was tired. It was late. Everypony was asleep. Nestling against Summer's warm fur, he closed his eyes and prepared to sleep for a long time. Well, at least until the morning came and somepony finally forced him to get up. How he loathed that moment that he knew would come.

Joy woke up staring at the ceiling. The candle he had fallen asleep near was gone, but light still alighted on the ceiling. Joy found Sun at it's source. She had a new candle near her, it's flickering flame sending dancing shadows across a wall.

"Hey Joy...", she said softly. Joy got up and stretched. He found his cloak and hood and put them on, and then walked over to his sister. He sat in front of her, and though she could have feared what he could have done to her, she was steadfast.

"What do you want?", Joy asked, a continuous glare focused on Sun.

"I wanted to ask how you are."

"I am wonderful."

"Why do I doubt that?"

"Because I am obviously lying. Would I be anything but miserable?"

"Well..."

"My own sister betrayed me. She helped the one pony I hate trap me. I have sat down here for a month with barely enough to sustain myself. That same month has been spent away from the mare that I love. I have been beat, starved, dehydrated, allowed to grow filthy. Plus, your sick lover raped me earlier today. Yeah, I am sure I am wonderful."

"My "sick" lover is sitting right outside. You touch me-"

"You don't deserve to be harmed by my hooves, no matter how much I want to do it. One day, you will realize what you have done, and you will drown in your own misery, or at least I hope you will. I hate saying that, especially to my sister, but you have done everything to have such a horrible fate fall upon you."

"I have done nothing wrong." Joy let out an incredulous laugh.

"Really? Really!? You put a roofie in my damn muffin! You put me to sleep so you could let Rain do everything he has done! You have distanced me, and you have participated in his acts of starving and dehydrating me! I am pretty sure you are partially at fault here!"

"Rain put the roofie in the muffin..."

"What?"

"Rain was there the whole time. I told him not to do it, but he did it anyway. The only reason I have continued with this is because I fear him as much as I...as much as I love him."

"So this was a setup? You wrote that letter just to bring me here so Rain could do these things to me. You didn't even care to see me again. Your heart was occupied by a serpent, and everything that you did that convinced me that you still loved me like before was just a ruse, a lie to pull me into his strangling hold." Sun looked down.

"Yes..."

"How long have you loved him?"

"I met him about four months ago. I was on a walk, and I bumped into him when I was spaced out. I gotta admit I was a little stoned that day, got my hooves on a little Green...but that doesn't really matter..." Sun looked down, seemingly ashamed of breaking her good girl personality (disregarding the incest she had shared with her brother for nearly thirteen years, and the filly that resulted from it). With a sigh, she looked back up at Joy. "So...I bumped into him, and he offered to keep me company. I happily agreed, and we became fast friends. Soon, it was more than that. We were soul mates."

"The good that did...", Joy muttered. Sun ignored her brother's snide comment.

"No matter how it changes your opinion of me, that's the truth. I stuck by him too. I fell so fast into his hooves, everything was a blur. But, I liked that blur. It just gave me that much more time to love him."

"It's not true love. It never will be."

"Rain was and still is truthful to me. I was in Ponyville the whole time that he was with Fluttershy. It was then that I was introduced to his true self, but by that point, I didn't care. In fact, he had told me what he was going to do even before he did it. I could have left him right there. But I didn't."

"Bad move." At this point, Sun didn't care what her brother thought about her or her actions. She continued to tell her side of the story.

"After that whole thing, he promised me that he would never pull something like that on me. He told me that he truly loved me. I believed him, and still do."

"Why do you believe him? He will just go behind your back."

"You don't know him like I do."

"Maybe not, but I know scum like him. I guarantee that he is just using you. I will say it again: he WILL go behind your back."

"If that happens, then it is my own damn fault that I went with him."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want her to get hurt either.", Rain said as he walked in the room. His eyes burned with a soft fire, one that showed compassion at the same time that it showed contempt. "And if you do anything that even remotely endangers her, I will kill you." Joy snarled and grabbed Sun, quickly pulling her into a choke. She fought as his hooves tightened around her throat.

"Go ahead. Kill me. Do it now. Might as well just kill me. I'd rather die than let you do this to me. At least in death I will be in a place where I can watch over Fluttershy, even if I can do nothing to stop you from there.", Joy said with an eerie calm.

"You won't suffocate her.", Rain replied, ignoring basically everything Joy had said.

"I won't, but I can hurt her. I am not afraid to hurt a stranger." Rain scowled for a second, a hint of hilarity entering his eyes.

"If she's a stranger, I am a good pony."

"Well then you are a good pony." Rain sighed.

"Do I have to do this?"

"You don't really have a choice, now do you? One must assume the worst in a case like this, so they must take the most appropriate action."

"Rain, don't do this.", Sun said weakly.

"I have to."

"He's tricking you. Listen to me, dear."

"Am I tricking him though?", Joy said devilishly.

"Rain, don't let him get to you."

"You need to shut the hell up.", Joy hissed, and began to really choke Sun. She flailed her hooves up at him, attempting to get him to let go, but to no avail.

"I made my move Rain. It's your turn now. Are you going to take it or pass? My next turn in this game we are playing is going to be a knockout either way." Rain let out a sound that was somewhere between a pained scream and a battle cry, and launched himself at Joy. Joy threw Sun to the side, where she tumbled and came to stop.

"RAIN, NO!" Rain didn't listen. Sun could only watch helplessly as Rain pounded Joy to a pulp. His hooves flew quickly, each blow succeeded by a low cry or groan, or even worse, a dry crunch. Every-time a hoof pulled back, it was covered in more and more blood. When Rain was finally finished with Joy, his face was covered with blood that was not his own. As for Joy, well, it was probably better that his cloak covered the ground meat that his body had become.

"Dare challenge me you piece of sh-" Rain cut himself off and looked at Sun. "Idiot..." Sun got up and ran over to Joy, pulling back his hood. What she saw almost sickened her, and she had to look away. Joy's snout was bent at an odd angle, and blood spilled from a million open wounds. His eyes were swollen. One of his ears was almost torn off. A deep gash that was the result of multiple strikes ran across his forehead.

"Rain...what have you done?", she cried softly.

"What I needed to do."

"He played you, Rain. He wanted you to beat him. And he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"He showed me what a real monster you are."

"I did what was necessary, no more."

"Nearly killing my brother was not necessary!"

"I got a little carried away sure, but he isn't dead."

"He is bleeding out, Rain! He might bleed to death!"

"His fault." At this point, Sun lost it.

"NO! IT IS NOT HIS FAULT! HE DID NOTHING WRONG!", she screamed.

"He was choking you."

"HE ADMITTED THAT HE WOULDN'T KILL ME!"

"You don't know that."

"HE IS MY BROTHER, RAIN! HE WOULD NEVER-!"

"That is where you would be wrong.", Rain interrupted. Sun breathed a little bit, gaining her composure. Then, she fixed a cold stare on Rain.

"No. You are wrong." She ran to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere where you are not. I can't love anypony who would go so far as to nearly murder my brother." Sun disappeared, and Rain heard the front door swing open. A look of sad shock entered his eyes.

"Sun!? Wait! Come back!", he cried, and raced after her. All the while, Joy smiled. He smiled so wide as to reveal his broken teeth and destroyed mouth. Should there have been anypony there to see that smile, they would have wondered how he did not yelp in pain from the effort of smiling so wide with his broken snout.

"I win...", he whispered to the dirt, and let the darkness overtake him.

A Pause...

Rain is in mid stride, a look of sorrow on his face. Sun is ahead of him, her tears frozen and glistening on her face.

Pinkie and Fluttershy are locked in a passionate kiss. The covers are rumpled, and their hair is in disarray. Summer is below, and her mouth is open next to Angel's ear, stopped in mid-sentence.

Spike is alone at home, staring at the ceiling. He holds a picture of him and Twilight in his hands, close to his heart.

Rarity is laying down on her couch, Vinyl just above her. Their muzzles are together, and each is blushing and smiling.

Soarin is on the floor of Rainbow Dash's home, tangled in string and cloth. Dash's lips are on his cheek, and his eyes are wide with surprise.

Applejack is looking down at the table. She is smiling. Applebloom is on the floor, curled around herself, laughing. Big Mac is looking at his two sisters with a what-did-I-say? kind of look on his face.

Everything seems to be going one way. However, it can be nothing but one simple action that throws everything off balance.

...Un-Pause

In The Mo(u)rning

Fluttershy sat on the couch, troubled. There was one thought and one thought only that remained in her mind. She turned it over and over, looking at it from all angles, as if it were a three-dimensional shape. The only other thought that could have joined this one was of Summer's safety, but Summer was in the care of Rarity all day, so this thought was unimportant. She considered, stopped considering, pondered, but it wasn't enough. The thought would be better quelled with the help of somepony else. Finally, she broke her silence.

"Pinkie?" Pinkie, sitting in the doorway and staring out at the day (Oh Joy, where have you gone?), turned and looked at her friend.

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk. It's...important."

"O..kay?" Pinkie was not quite sure what could be so important that it had caused her friend to silently brood ever since she woke up. Except maybe Joy, wherever that lying dirt bag is... Pinkie fully believed that Joy had skipped town. Maybe the letter was real, maybe he was just in some really far away place watching a dying sibling waste away, or at least trying to save her, or maybe just with her, reliving childhood. At this point, however, Pinkie doubted that. A month without a single letter to tell why he was absent so long, or anything. It was too suspicious to be what things had said they were.

"I think it's time to make the big decision...", Fluttershy said when Pinkie sat down.

"And what is that?"

"Well, Joy's been gone for a long time. We have gotten nothing explaining why. Either, you are right, and Joy left me, or he's dead, and I don't really believe the latter. Now, the question comes down to me: Is it time to move on?" This genuinely surprised Pinkie, and she sat up in anticipation of what came next. "I mean, we have something. I don't know how it started so quickly, or why I let it start so quickly, especially with Joy still fresh in my mind, but it did. If I move on, I have you." Pinkie smiled.

"I'll always be here for you Fluttershy, in love or not." Fluttershy cringed.

"I feel so ashamed now..."

"Why?"

"You said in love...the one thing I have tried to deny ever since this started. I mean, I was devoted to Joy. To be in love with you at the same time with him..."

"But...isn't that what we are?"

"Yes...admittedly so. I really wish that wasn't the phrase to describe us, but it is." Fluttershy sighed. "Why did I get myself into this mess...?" Pinkie felt guilty. She was originally the one who had introduced Fluttershy to the concept of sharing a lover, and furthermore, she had been the one to kiss Fluttershy that morning that "this" all started. She was going to say something to help soothe her friend, but a loud rap on the door frame startled both mares. They looked, and saw Derpy, a haunted and angry look in her eyes. The anger seemed to be pointed at herself, however, as she kept uttering profanities using her name that would make a proper mare faint.

"Derpy?", Pinkie and Fluttershy asked in unison.

"He's not dead."

"What? How long ha-?", Fluttershy began.

"I have been sitting outside since Pinkie came out. I had a gut feeling something was going to happen today."

"Gut feeling?", Pinkie asked.

"It's a long story. What you have to know is that I have been watching you two ever since he left." Pinkie and Fluttershy exchanged equal glances of confusion before looking back at Derpy.

"Watching us?", Fluttershy asked in a way that sounded almost as if she were saying it incredulously.

"Yes, watching you." Derpy saw the blank stares that met hers, and continued. "Joy and I are friends. We have been so for a long time. When we met, I was just a young filly..." Derpy told the whole story of Joy and the group of troublemakers. The other two mares absorbed every word. "The reason I have been watching you both is because of what he whispered in my ear that day. He said, 'Should I ever have to leave ever, or should I die, or should I ever be in a situation where I might not return, watch over everypony close to me. Make sure they are doing fine. Make sure they never stop doing fine.' I never forgot those words."

"Okay, now that you have explained why you have been watching us, can you tell us how you know Joy isn't dead? What, have you been stalking him, little creep?", Pinkie asked rudely.

"Pinkie!", Fluttershy scolded. Pinkie took no notice.

"The funny thing is that what you said is basically true. Being a friend of Joy from childhood, I also knew his sister. It just so happened that I met him on the way to his sister's house. Naturally, I went with him. I saw him hug his sister when they saw each other again, even stayed the night just to engage in festivities that I can admittedly say that we all got drunk for. I have gone back a few times, but he was always gone for a walk. At least, that's what Sun told me. With Joy, you never really know what is on his mind." Pinkie seemed like she wanted to keep arguing, but Derpy had brought up logical answers for both questions, and had also answered any others that might have come up.

"You know the way to the house...", Fluttershy said.

"Yes?"

"Could you bring us to him?" Derpy scowled in thought.

"It's about a two day's walk. However, it's only a couple hours by wing." Fluttershy looked at Pinkie. Pinkie, who knew that her days in a love that should have never existed with Fluttershy were over, smiled.

"Go on. I'll stay here for Angel and Summer." Fluttershy smiled back, and wrapped her hooves around Pinkie in a hug. "Stay safe, will you?" Fluttershy pulled away.

"I will." She got up and walked towards Derpy. "Lead the way."

"Homeward bound again!", Derpy said with a hint of excitement, before spreading her wings and taking off, Fluttershy right behind her.

Joy heard sounds above him. The scuffing of hooves on floor, the sound of one voice in conversation with itself. It was Sun, that much he could tell, but Joy didn't know why his sister was that way. One thing he knew for sure was that her and Rain had made up, somehow. They had come back together, and sat and argued quietly close to Joy. He didn't remember what they said, for he had still been unconscious, but he knew they had come in. Sun had bandaged him up pretty well, and Joy thought that most of the bleeding had nearly stopped. This morning, he had heard Sun and Rain talking quietly above, and then the door opening and closing.

And so begins my day of fasting., he thought to himself. Then another thought occurred to him. How was he going to eat, when the food finally did come, with his snout all jacked up? Perhaps I can push it back into place so it can heal? Joy raised a hoof to his hood and slipped it inside. He tenderly touched his broken snout. Pain instantly shot through his body, and he brought his hoof back. Just then, he heard knocking on the upstairs door. Oh great...he's back... He heard Sun greet Rain with a happy tone. A female voice replied to her in an equally happy voice. Is that Derpy? Oh Celestia, please, give me a miracle. Have her find me. Then another voice spoke up, a voice that Joy was all too familiar with. Fluttershy... He tried to get up, to pound on the door, to do whatever, but he couldn't. He got lightheaded, and promptly threw up with the attempt. What's she doing here? What did Derpy say? And what about Pinkie? Where is she? Too much thinking. Joy got even more lightheaded, and he struggled not to gag. I might die before I ever see her face again... Another blackness quickly swept over him, but passed after a short while. He looked around groggily, just as the door opened. Three forms sat in the light, two of which cried out. Derpy and Fluttershy ran in and rushed to Joy.

"Joy!? Dear Celestia..." Fluttershy fortunately did not see Joy's face or head due to the hood, but she did see all the pools of dried and fresh blood that were near him. She turned on Sun, glaring full-force. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"

"Things I wish I had never done."

"All the blood...", Derpy breathed, and swayed as if to faint.

"You...you monster!", Fluttershy cried out angrily.

"Take him to a hospital. Now. Before Rain returns." Fluttershy seized up, and began to tremble.

"R-Rain?"

"Yes, Rain. Rain Watcher. I know what he has done to you. This is what he has done to Joy. This is what he is going to do to me. But, he will have done it to me because I let Joy go. Now take him." Fluttershy was speechless. She grabbed one side of Joy, and with a quick gesture, had Derpy pick up his other side. Joy groaned softly.

"Why have you let Rain do this?"

"I love him." An expression of genuine sympathy entered Fluttershy's eyes.

"He doesn't love you."

"I don't know for sure if he does or not. But you need to go. The longer you're in my sight, the more I realize that you are never going to forgive for this. So please, leave. For your safety and for Joy's." Fluttershy nodded, and began to move. Derpy moved with her, supporting Joy between them. "Derpy, take the side roads. Avoid the main road back to Ponyville until you get there. Stay safe."

"I will.", Derpy called back. Once outside, she led Fluttershy to a side road. "I know a hospital near here with somepony we can trust."

"Trust?"

"Somepony who knows what Joy looks like."

"What could he possibly look like that makes him want to wear a cloak and hood to cover most of his body?" Derpy looked at Fluttershy with a look that was almost terrifying.

"Love is a precious thing Fluttershy. The slightest thing can break it. Obviously, because Joy truly loves you, he hasn't shown you what he looks like."

"Why?"

"Because appearance changes everything, and Joy...well he..." Derpy trailed off. "Nothing you would ever expect. Ever."

Night had fallen. Sun lay in her bed, wondering what was to become of her. A knife lay on the bedside stand, but not because she was going to use it. Finally, she heard the door open.

"Sun?", Rain called.

"Up here!", she replied. She heard Rain walk up the steps and across to the floor to their bedroom. He walked through the door and smiled.

"Hey. I have good news!"

"I let Joy go. Derpy and Fluttershy came, and I couldn't take it anymore. By now, they are halfway to Ponyville." Rain's smile had disappeared off his face, and slowly melted into a snarl.

"You...did...what!?", he asked viciously, and crossed the room over to her. He jumped on her and pinned her down. "Tell me that again, this time to my face."

"Joy is gone with Fluttershy and Derpy. I let him go."

"You...I trusted you...", Rain hissed, and began to beat Sun. Like she had predicted, it was much the same as what happened to Joy, except she had no hood or cloak to absorb some of the impact. Rain even began to strangle her at one point. Then, he saw the knife and grabbed it. "One cut for everyday that you lied to me..." Rain began a mad slash at Sun, cutting her once for every day that Joy had been in the basement. Bleeding, beaten, nearly lifeless, Sun still looked at Rain with a courage that most would have by then lost.

"Go ahead. Do it. You never loved me anyway." Rain smiled, and brought the knife up.

"Finally, I get to really satisfy myself." Sun waited for the inevitable impact of the knife burying into her, and the darkness that would follow.

It never came.