Blade

It goes without saying of course, that the location of the ‘missing’ field manager had been documented. At first, they thought it was an accident. Kanker could have very easily accidentally slipped off the cliff and plummeted down the chasm. But what puzzled those assigned to the case was why there was a gaping hole in his eye socket.

Rarity sat in the stool and stared off into space as her grasp on the shot glass shook vigorously.

It was late, but only so late. Mel hadn’t closed yet, but there were close to no patrons left sitting around. Berry was unconscious on the other side of the bar and Lyra was having a romantic evening with her girlfriend, Bonbon elsewhere.

Tension grew in Mel as he stopped cleaning glasses and stared at Rarity, concerned. She had been in the same position for hours and not said a word. Her lip was still quivering and the scotch had made a ring around the glass from the droplets that had been shaken out from her shivering.

It was fairly warm in the bar, but Mel couldn’t really judge since he was wearing a sweater. He had turned up the heat to see if it would help, but Rarity continued her gaze into nothingness as she shook and trembled.

He waited another moment, and then spoke to her.

“You’ve uh… been sitting there for a couple hours now, R. You alright?” He asked even though he knew she wasn’t.

Of course, Rarity didn’t respond. She didn’t even hear him. All she could hear were her screams echoing in her mind and the only image she could see was the mess; the bloody, disgusting, messy mess.

Mel had guessed that wouldn’t have helped, so he said another really stupid thing.

“You know, I saw a guy’s eye pop out once. It was really nasty, I tell ya.”

The eye

Without warning, Rarity twitched violently and drew in a sharp breath, making Mel leap a bit. After this, she finally broke her stare into nothingness and started shifting her eyes from Berry to Mel. She was breathing quickly.

“Scare the hell outta me, R!” Mel said cautiously. “I have to know, man. Are you good?” He asked earnestly.

Rarity bolted up and looked Mel dead in the eye. He saw fear in her eyes. She was scared. That however, confused Mel. He couldn’t understand why someone would be scared instead of just off put. It was only a dead body. How bad could it have been?

Mel asked his friend just that.

“Jeeze, was it that bad? It was just a stiff, kid.”

Rarity spoke.

“No.”

Her voice was low and raspy. Mel could also hear it was slow and careful, like she was making sure she said what she meant. It was fear. It matched her eyes.

“It wasn’t just a body, Melvin.”

Mel raised his brow as if he still couldn’t understand. Of course he didn’t. He hadn’t seen that awful mess. Oh god what a mess. Rarity felt fur rise on her neck just thinking about it. She wished it had never happened and she had just gotten the bulldozer like she wanted. And why wouldn’t she wish it hadn’t happened? What sicko would have wanted to see what she did?

Rarity finally drank her shot down and then slowly put it back on the bar.

“It wasn’t just a body.” She repeated without looking at Mel.

“That’s what the papers is saying!” Mel assured her, as if he was the one who had seen the body. “They say it were that field manager guy. You know, that Kanker fuck?”

“It WASN’T JUST A FUCKING BODY!” Rarity abruptly roared.

All those left in the bar turned their heads and looked at their favorite guest as she threw her head down and broke into sobs. Mel froze from shock, his hooves held up in surprise. Berry had stirred for a moment and looked up herself to see what the ruckus was. Everyone fell silent except for Rarity as she blubbered and wailed.

“Oh god, his guts were all over. It was a mess!” She screamed. “It was a fucking mess! A blood-gutted atrocity, oh god it was everywhere!” She rambled on.

Mel was dumb, but only enough. He knew it would be good to leave her be. So, all he did was listen. Maybe he’d understand if he did long enough. Maybe he’d understand what it was like to see such an awful, awful mess.

Dashclad had reached the motel’s entrance. She turned back and saw Derpy’s smiling face as it always was. Dashclad couldn’t help but return it like always.

“Thanks for tonight, Derpy. The whole time was just awesome.” She said to the grey mare.

Derpy’s grin got wider.

“Thanks, Dash! I had a great-…” She paused. “T…t-t-..tiiiime too.” She finished after a moment.

“Bowling kicks ass! We didn’t have it back at the mount-“ Dashclad stopped herself. “Uh… I mean back in the city.”

“When are you av-…aailab-ble next time, Dash!?” Derpy asked excitedly. “I can h-harrrdly wait!”

Dashclad looked at her friend and knew that her enthusiasm was honest. She had been so friendly to her, even when she was no more than a stranger from the horizon. Looking at the way her bottom eyelids were being pushed up by her smile made Dashclad want to just hug her tightly. She had no idea why. She never felt this way about anybody. It wasn’t romantic either; it was a genuine care for her new friend. She had just accepted her, and she hadn’t even known her name at the time. Dashclad had never met somebody so kind. Dashclad couldn’t help but let out a giggle at her question.

“I already told you, I’m completely free. I’m game whenever you’re ready.” She replied warmly.

“Oh. Well I’ve got w-ork tomorrow, but I g-get of-ff around f-ffourrr…” She managed to finish. “I guess I’ll see y-you then!”

“Sounds great!” Dashclad smiled back.

Dash looked toward the motel.

“Listen” She said. “I’ve gotta catch some z’s. I’ll be here. Don’t you worry.”

“I won’t worry! I have no reason t-to.” Derpy chirped back.

“Great! Until tomorrow then, right?”

“Right!”

Derpy turned around and flew off toward her house, leaving Dashclad behind. Dashclad turned around as well and headed into the motel Derpy had checked her into. She and her husband and were poor, but they were kind enough to scrap up enough money to help Dashclad find a place to sleep. Dashclad had insisted that they shouldn’t, but they insisted more. After all, there wasn’t enough space in their home for her to stay anyway.

Dashclad was so grateful of her new friend. She couldn’t have been luckier that she was who she just happened to bump into.

Dashclad stood for a moment and thought about how off the odds were that she’d meet exactly the opposite of what she’d expected from her people. Derpy was enough to convince what she’d been told about ponies was the biggest lie in all history.

Dashclad then realized how tired she was. It was late, and the chirp of the crickets made her want to sleep even more so, so she went through the double doors and went up to her rented room, where she slept cozily.

A couple miles away, Pinkamena lied awake in her own bed, staring at the ceiling and remembering Ariel; her baby sister, the only pony who ever really loved her. And then she remembered Cherry, whom she liked to believe was truthful about his worry for her.

And then there was little Scootaloo. She lied awake in her bed, freezing, praying that she could sleep just a little bit. Scootaloo wasn’t thinking about friends. She never had any. She just wanted to sleep so that maybe she could dream. And she knew it was probably hopeless, but she wanted more than anything for it to be a dream about her father.