What Happened Last Week

What Happened Last Week

By Mist

Segment 2

Shooter made me sit through the longest photo session I had in months. He kept going on about how my “figure and form has inspired him to try something new and exciting”, just another bullshit way of saying that he wanted to waste a few more rolls of film before letting me get back to my life outside of the studio.

The new clothing line that they wanted me to try out was mostly just formal wear; dresses, suits for women, and piles of shoes. There was a button up blouse every now and then, but I spent most of the day sweating in enough garments to make 3 more coats for myself. I must have drunk more water in one day than I had all week.

Shooter was as aggravating as usual with his overly peppy attitude, and willingness to take my degrading insults on command. I don’t know why he pisses me off really; he pisses me off when he’s being miserable, and he pisses me off when he’s being positive. I suppose Shooter is just a very unlikable pony. Every day with him was just another challenge on my attempts to quit smoking and to not buck a photographer.

“Business sexy! That’s what you are! You don’t know the meaning of casual; you’re always coming to the office with everypony’s attention!” Shooter exclaimed while stealing a few more shots.

“Shooter, for the love of Celestia, knock that shit off. I can do without the commentary.” I scolded.

As expected he responded with a smile and more stupidity spewing out of his mouth. I liked to imagine it as vomit just pouring out like a facet.

“I’m sorry, love. You know how excited I get when I’m making art; it’s just in my nature.” He smiled.

I sighed and gave up arguing with him, it was like arguing with a brick wall. Instead I just kept posing for him in the hopes that if I remained silent he would eventually tire himself out from his own cheesy lines. Listening to him sometimes made me feel like my profession was standing here getting hit on by the biggest loser in Equestria then turning him down.

“Let’s see some more anger, you just had a bad day at work, and now you’re quite pissed off about it.” Shooter instructed.

I didn’t even need to fake that one. I gave the nastiest scowl I could possibly give in his direction. He soaked it up with joy, too bad he didn’t know that was a real one. Members of the crew approached and roughed up my hair a good deal and gestured for me to keep going. Sure enough Shooter thought this was brilliant as well.

“I love it!” He shouted.

I seriously wanted to shove my whole hind hoof up his asshole right then.

Shooter had just taken a roll of film out and magicked another into the camera when I noticed something I had seen before. For just a brief fraction of a second, I saw it again; the ominous red glow in his eyes. It only stayed for an instant, but I was certain that it was the same phenomenon I had witnessed at the Carousel Boutique with Rarity. I had gotten a better look at it this time though, so I was certain that what I saw before wasn’t just my eyes playing tricks on me. Something definitely happened with Rarity’s eyes yesterday, and now the same just happened to Shooter.

Something was certainly a miss; I couldn’t just mark it off as coincidence this time. The only problem is how I should proceed.

“Dash, stay focused.” Shooter snapped.

I obeyed and continued to pose for the annoying colt.

Should I say something? If I did, how would he react? Would he think I was just seeing things, or would he actually acknowledge that something was odd? No, it’s safe to assume that he won’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about.

My mind was dancing around the subject. I didn’t know how I should be reacting to the situation, or rather if I was over analyzing it or not.

“Is something bothering you Dash? You’re acting exceptionally distracted today.” Shooter questioned.

“Yeah I’m-“, I paused.

They did it again. His pupils lit right up, then returned to their normal color. I wasn’t seeing things.

“Fine…” I finished.

I got out of work much later than I anticipated. Walking out into the lobby I noticed the café out front. I recalled the phone call with the familiar stranger requesting I meet her outside of that same café. I was several hours later than what she probably originally thought I would arrive. Chances are she was already gone by now.

I allowed the concern to shed off of me as I walked towards my limousine to head home. My brain told me to stop only a few feet away and look back at the café.

She wouldn’t still be there… Would she?

Curiosity got the better of me. I approached my driver and leaned into the window to give him instructions.

“Circle the block; I’m going to be about ten minutes. I have something I need to attend to.” I said.

He nodded and rolled up the black tinted window. Before I knew it he was out of sight. Part of me was regretting this decision, but it was too late to turn back now.

The alley near the café reeked of molding food. It was an extremely pungent smell and difficult to ignore. What kind of pony would want to meet in a place like this? The smell was more than likely the result of not having the dumpster dumped in a good amount of time.

It didn’t appear as though anypony was there, more than likely either went home or never showed up in the first place. I had a feeling that it may have just been a prank call the day before anyways.

Taking this chance to feed my addiction I drew a cigarette from my bag and lit it up with haste. I wanted to finish before my driver returned after all. The first inhale was very relaxing; I could feel my whole body limber up.

“You know smoking is bad for you?” A voice behind me called out.

I was so startled that I choked on the smoke during the exhale. Having a fit of coughs and wheezes I attempted to reply.

“I think that’s the least of my concerns,” I managed to get out.

“I wouldn’t say that, after all you only get one you. Why ruin it with a little lung cancer?” They questioned.

Their face, it was dreadfully familiar. She had a rather wild mane that looked like no amount of sculpting gel, shampoo, moose or hair spray could control. It was almost like cotton candy really, and hung well over her left eye. She had so much mane that it was doubtful she could even see. It was wavy, and long, and pink. The entire creature was coated in pink from head to hoof, with the exception of her crystal blue eyes.

It appeared as though she was wearing a rather gothic style dress. It consisted of a black top with a small red bowtie and fishnet down her front hooves. Her backside was heavily exposed from beyond her short red skirt.

“Live fast, die fun.” I replied with a smirk.

“Interesting philosophy, where’d you pick that one up?” She responded.

I took another drag before answering.

“My father, probably the only useful lesson he ever taught me. I could go on all day about what a worthless piece of shit he is, but I’m assuming we’re not here to talk about my personal life. What did you want?” I said.

She took a few steps closer.

“I’m a little surprised you showed up. Your curiosity got the better of you didn’t it?” She smiled.

Her smile made me feel awkward. There was something off about this mare. I decided to answer her with silence.

“You haven’t changed.” She added.

“So we know each other then?” I asked.

“Pinkie Pie,” She gestured towards herself in an over exaggerated manner.

“You look… Different.” I said.

“Likewise,” She smiled.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you and all Pinkie, but why exactly are we both here right now? If you wanted to get together you didn’t need to be so creepy about it. We’re friends; you don’t need to trick me to get me to come see you.” I smiled back.

Pinkie nodded awkwardly and trotted around me slowly in a circular motion.

“I apologize… I didn’t mean to frighten you on the phone… I just wanted to make sure you’d show up…” She bowed her head in a polite gesture.

“It’s fine, but do you think we could reschedule this meeting to another time, and perhaps somewhere more appropriate?” I asked.

“I’ve already waited for you long enough,” She said.

“Were you waiting here the whole time I was at work?” I asked curiously.

She didn’t answer; instead she just kept walking around me in the same circle repeatedly. Her eyes studied every part of me as she orbited around me again and again.

“You’re starting to creep me out Pinkie; I’m going to go home. If you want to talk then I request you do so at a more appropriate location.” I started walking away.

“Don’t you want to know about the red eyes?” She asked.

I stopped.

“So I was right, you can see them then?” She grew a devious grin.

“What do you know about them…?” I asked.

“More than I’d like to,” She said.

I continued to listen.

“They aren’t natural that’s for sure. The fact that you can see them means you have the same gift that I do; which means that you have the ability to do something about them before it’s too late…” She rambled.

Do something about them? What is this girl talking about?

“Forget it, I’m not interested. The less I know the better.” I continued walking out of the alley.

“Fine,” She walked past me and started to head towards the sidewalk.

That was it? I just needed to say I wasn’t interested and she’d give up that easily? No, it’s too easy…

“I’m sure you’ll change your mind, when that happens, here’s my number.” She tossed a scrap of paper at me and walked around the bend.

I heard the sound of a vehicle engine pull around the corner. When I looked up I saw my driver honking his horn to get my attention. I turned back to the scrap of paper on the ground. I wanted to just leave it there and be done with it, but for some reason I couldn’t just abandon the thought of taking it with it. Scooping it up, I slid it into my bag without another thought towards it and headed back to my ride home.

“Welcome home Rainbow Dash!” Called out the excited voice of a young orange pegasus.

Scootaloo, she occasionally would drop by unannounced. She lives with her nanny not too far from where I live, and visits on a regular basis. Her sister died in an accident about two years ago, so she is essentially all alone in the world. I may have had father issues, but Scootaloo had entire family issues. Her parents had been dead since she was just a young filly, and her sister took care of her for a majority of her life. After her sister passed though she was left an orphan with not a soul to care for her but her nanny.

I sort of watched after the kid from time to time. I had taken a liking to her and found her personality to be very similar to my own. It was pretty clear that my little filly friend saw me as her hero, and for some reason, the fact that she looked up to me made me feel better than any other pony doing so. I was an icon on television and a star in Equestria with millions wishing to be like me, but none of them felt as important as Scootaloo.

“What’s up, Scoot?” I asked.

She didn’t seem to mind that pet name for some reason. It sort of became her nickname over time, and not just by me. I’ve caught just about everypony in town using it to refer to her, even though I thought of it first.

“Not much, I just came over and figured I’d clean up a bit while you were out. I even made you some food.” She grinned.

“Thanks. I was a bit hungry actually… Did you finish your homework yet?” I teased.

She lowered her head.

“I’m kind of stuck on algebra… I think I’m the only one in my class that doesn’t get it…” She sighed.

I laughed softly. She was too adorable at times.

“Bring your stuff into my room and I’ll help you,” I smiled.

“Really!? Thanks Rainbow Dash! You’re the best!” She hopped up and down.

Not too much time later the two of us were laying on our stomachs with our heads hunched over an old math book with a mess of papers laying all over the bed we laid on.

“Alright, so in algebra it can be a little confusing because you’ve got letters and not just numbers. It’s important to remember that x is no longer used as the multiplication symbol but as a variable. Think of x as a blank space, you’re trying to figure out what goes in that blank space to solve the problem.” I explained.

Scootaloo scratched her chin in deep thought.

“What about the other letters?” She asked.

“Same thing, though commonly they’ll use x when there isn’t any other variables, do you understand?” I elaborated.

She leaned into the paper closely.

“I think so… So what you’re saying is… Instead of trying to figure out what the answer to the question is, I need to figure out what x is?” She asked.

“Exactly; so in the question 10 – x = 2, what number could be put in place of x to make 2 the outcome?” I asked.

“Eight?” She said.

I nodded and smiled at her.

“Hey this makes perfect sense now! Why can’t my teacher just have said it like you did? I swear I think she’s out to get me or something…” Scootaloo complained.

“Or perhaps you should spend more time paying attention and less drawing dragons in your notebook?” I smirked.

I held up the back cover of her green notebook. It was decorated with enough dragons that one would almost believe Scoot was a dragon. They were fairly detailed likenesses which lead me to believe she spent a large chunk of her class time illustrating them.

“Yeah… Well… Did you pay attention in school?” Scoot changed the subject.

“Hardly, I spent a majority of my time skipping classes and hanging out with my friend Gilda. I had been threatened to be expelled probably once every three months, if I wasn’t on the flying team I’d have probably been kicked out though.” I laughed.

Scootaloo joined me in laughing.

“You were such a badass back then!” She complimented.

“Yeah, I got into fights a lot though, and walked away with my fair share of bruises…” I said.

“It’s amazing that you can put up with being a model and stuff now really,” Scoot commented.

I took another bite of the dinner we had brought with us.

“Yeah, well everypony has to grow up sometime I suppose. I still like to have more fun than I should though.” I placed my hoof onto the filly’s head and roughed up her hair playfully.

She responded with laughter.

“Alright squirt, I think it’s time for you to head to bed. I need some sleep because I had a pretty long day. I’ll take you to school tomorrow morning before I go to work.” I instructed.

“Alright, I hope you sleep well!” Scoot replied as she gathered up her school supplies that were scattered all over my bed.

After the filly vanished from my room I let out a sigh of relief. She was such a delightful little kid; I couldn’t believe how much she looked up to me sometimes. I did everything I could to make sure I was something worth looking up to; as a result I had to keep my lessor habits hidden from her, smoking being one of them.

Sighing I walked into my bathroom and shed off my clothing. This wasn’t exactly my favorite time of the day, but I had become so used to it at this point that I didn’t think much of it anymore.

I leaned my head over the toilet and pressed a hoof into my mouth. I reached as far back into my throat as I could. Before I knew it I was gagging relentlessly until finally a brown and green slime exited my body through my mouth. I had become so numb to the feeling at this point that I just let it pass through me without much thought. Before I knew it the two minutes of wrecking and gagging were over.

I had eaten too much today, and it’s as Stitch always says, “The life of fashion and success doesn’t come without sacrifices, we all have to look our best after all.” I had always had trouble maintaining the diet needed to be a model from the start. When I first started working I would be two to four pounds over the desired weight range every monthly weigh in. I had grown up as a tomboy who ate like one of the guys, so it was difficult adjusting to such strict diet.

I had tried exercising more, but after I got my job I didn’t have as much time to exercise as I used to. When I got home I was always too exhausted to do my usual routines, and the only time I had to work out was on weekends, and that was only enough to stay in shape. With work, Scootaloo and everything else in my life I just didn’t have the time to go and stretch my wings like I used to.

It was after the third or fourth month that I had grown tired of getting scolded about my weight, and finally decided there was only one solution to the problem; so almost every night I would “throw away”, one meal. At first I was disgusted with myself, but in time I started to realize the truth in Stitch’s world. We all really did have to make sacrifices, and the last thing I needed was to lose my job. I was far from unhealthy anyways, and it was just one less meal a day.

One day I’d retire and I’d take Scootaloo away from all of the chaos of the model world. I had always fantasized about moving back to Cloudsdale and getting a place to ourselves. Scootaloo didn’t deserve to become a model, she’s better than that. I enjoyed what I did for a living, but I have accepted that I’m not helping anypony with what I do. Sure I donate money to charities and give speeches for advocacy groups in my off time, but Scootaloo has what it takes to actually be out there helping ponies for real. I’ve always been an entertainer, even before I got this job. All my life I wanted to be a Wonderbolt, an entertainer, it’s what I’ve always been good at.

A tall muscular stallion took the seat next to me at the local Star-Buck down the street from the studio. His mane was rugged and untamed, and appeared as though it hadn’t been washed today which was probably a safe guess.

He reeked of alcohol, which was typical of him. It figures he would ask me to meet him somewhere then show up either drunk or hung over. There wasn’t a shred of decency in him, and I knew it. The sick part is that I am pretty sure he knew it too.

I couldn’t stand looking at his dirty turquoise coat anymore than I could stand looking at his disgusting jet black filthy mane.

“How’s work?” He grunted.

“Fine, you’ve been drinking I see.” I remarked rudely.

“I may have had a few…” He managed to get out.

“I’ve heard that one before,” I rolled my eyes.

“Working on fucking another liver up I see, trying to set a world record? Good for you, great to see you’ve actually got some ambition towards something.” I added.

He took a sip of a coffee that he had ordered and sighed.

“Why are we here dad? I’d like to get this over with and get back to my life.” I said.

“Well… You know I don’t like asking you for anything…” He started.

I could already see where this was going, we had been down this road before, and I already knew what was at the end of it: empty promises.

“The feeling is mutual,” I turned away from him.

“I got fired last month and well…” He began.

“And let me guess, your worthless ass can’t keep a room over your own head right?” I replied rolling my eyes again.

I had struck a chord. He finally started to retaliate, just as expected.

“Hey, I don’t wanna hear it! I paid child support for you for thirteen years. I had to work two jobs just to afford that.” He growled.

“Awww, poor Storm he has to work to pay child support for a child that he up and ABANDONED THIRTEEN FUCKING YEARS AGO AND DIDN’T EVEN SEND THEM A FUCKING BIRTHDAY CARD OR RETURN ANY OF THEIR FUCKING PHONE CALLS!” I started gathering the attention of the whole store.

He stood up and got in my face this time.

“Before you judge me, why not try being a father?” He challenged.

“You know what…” I sighed.

With great haste I scribbled a few numbers on a blank check and signed it promptly. I ripped the scrap of paper out of the book and threw it in his direction.

“Here’s a thousand bits, go spend it on some booze and poison yourself some more. While you’re at it, why not disappear for another thirteen years?” I hissed.

I fled towards the exit before I heard him call out to me.

“Rainbow!”

I turned back to his direction.

“Thanks for being a sperm donor. Have a nice day, Storm.” I replied.

“At least I’m not some tramp strutting myself across a runway for all the horny stallions to see.” He retaliated.

It was at that moment that it happened again. His eyes, they turned a shade of red, then back. This time I heard something though, like a voice whispering in my ear. I could just barely make out what it was saying, “sloth.”

“Good bye, Storm.” I turned around and ran out the door.

All the emotion and tension built up from the meeting had been completely dumped from my mind when I saw his eyes. This wasn’t just coincidence anymore.

I dug through my bag and managed to find the scrap of paper that Pinkie Pie had dropped and my cell phone. When I started dialing I repressed my urge to stop and stick to my promise of not getting involved any further with Pinkie Pie; I had to know now.

“I knew I’d be hearing from you soon.” A familiar voice replied on the phone.

“I need to talk to you, right now.” I cut right to the point.

“Meet me at the Green Cousine on Mane Street. Ask for table number four, I look forward to seeing you.” She hung up after that statement.

Pinkie Pie was dressed as unusual as she was before. Still strictly gothic, but now she had gone the extra length with eye shadow and some interesting black hair pins shaped like hearts. This time around she was wearing a black silky corset and a matching jacket with many belts hanging off of it. It wasn’t exactly practical for keeping warm, but was obviously meant to be a fashion statement, just not one that I would choose.

The mare gave an uninterested look as she bit down into her meal in front of her. I wasn’t particularly hungry so I only ordered a salad.

“So, are you going to tell me what the hell is with this eye thing? Why do I keep seeing these red eyes?” I asked.

She didn’t even look up at me. She kept chewing and started talking with her mouth full in such an irritatingly nonchalant voice.

“They’re demons. They’ve overtaken the bodies of the ponies you see and they’re only visible to you and me.” She replied.

“Horseshit,” I responded.

“Dead serious,” She spoke between bites, still not even looking at me when she spoke.

“Not that I wouldn’t like to believe my father is a demon, as it’d sure explain a lot, but you’re telling me that all these ponies with red eyes are demons?” I raised a brow in question.

“Not exactly, see the demons are actually inside of them. Have you started hearing them yet?” She asked.

“Yeah… I heard one that sounded like my father when I saw his eyes… It said sloth…” I answered.

Pinkie Pie nodded before taking another bite. She had some of the worst manners I had ever seen.

“The demon is telling you what created it. See these demons are created from misery. When you live a life of sin and hold your negative feelings inside it becomes strong enough for the demons to be created inside you. They then feed off of that sin and misery. Once the demon has you, then you’re just going to keep doing the things that make you miserable. It’s like brainwashing really.” She explained.

I hesitated before asking anything.

“What do they want?” I asked.

“Souls, they feed off of the soul. The more negative feelings and sin you let them have, the more of your soul they’re able to steal. The sins make them stronger and they eventually get strong enough to suck your soul out of you. Once that happens you can’t go to heaven or hell when you die. You just cease to exist upon death.” Pinkie answered.

Cease to exist?

“Why can I see them?” I changed the subject.

“No clue. To be honest, I’m not even sure why I can see them. I just started being able to one day, and eventually my power grew strong enough to where I could sense others with the gift, and that’s how I found you. As far as I know, we’re the only ones who can see them. Everypony else is oblivious and ignorant to their existence.” She swallowed after she finished talking.

This was a great deal to take in at once.

“So, why do you need me? What can we do about it?” I asked.

“I need you to help me save them from their demons.” She said.

“How?” I asked.

“We need to free them,” She replied.

“And how would we do something like that?” I asked.

She took a sip from her glass of water and looked up at me for the first time. Her eye contact was powerful.

“We kill them.”