My Little Pony: Floppy's Story

Floppy visited Ruby every night from that day on and despite their friendship growing, Floppy couldn’t shake the fact that it was sad others didn’t accept her. Ruby shrugged it off like it was nothing Floppy had known suffering long enough to know it was all a guise. The more she visited her, the more it pained her she couldn’t just live with alongside her like every other pony in Ponyville. The one real friend she had and it just felt like perfection was so slightly out of reach.

Surely her other friends would understand. Surely Twilight at least. Twilight was always understanding of her even when everyone else seemed to doubt her. She HAD to understand! But even so, the fear bit at her heart just as harshly as the guilt of not doing it. She had been afraid her whole life and this wasn’t going to change that but nothing was going to change unless she did something. There was no-one responsible for this other than her.

So, in the end, Floppy decided to arrange introducing Ruby to her other friends. She had conversation after conversation with Ruby to make sure she was aware and mentally ready for the consequences. Floppy reassured her that she would NEVER abandon her over them and if anything went wrong then they would leave together. So it was settled. Ruby was still very uneasy about the idea and to be honest so was Floppy but they had to try. It was now or never.

Floppy slowly approached Twilight’s house on her own. Ruby hid behind the bushes for her signal to appear. They would try Twilight first. This would be the best chance and it would help weigh up the issues with trying the others. Floppy knocked lightly on the door with her hoof and it didn’t take long for Twilights head to pop round the doorway.

“Oh Floppy. How nice to see you” Twilight greeted her with cheer

“Are you here for a visit? Do you want to come in?” Twilight enquired eagerly while moving aside to make room for her. Floppy came in and Twilight closed the door behind her.

“So! Anything you would like to discuss?” Twilight asked, knowing full well Floppy always had a specific purpose for a visit however small.

“Well, you see. I have a new friend I would like to show you” Floppy said, trying not to look too nervous but still fiddling with her ear and fringe.

“Oh that’s great news!” Twilight responded with excitement.

“Why not show her to me then?” Twilight said with a big smile on her face waiting in anticipation

“Well...” Floppy hesitated and Twilight stayed quiet but her face changed from excitable to inquisitive and curious. Something was up.

“Well what?” Twilight said, urging her to continue.

“She is a little...different then most ponies. I have to admit I’m not sure you will like her” Floppy said with all honesty but couldn’t easily look straight at Twilight when she said it

“Oh Floppy” Twilight chuckled as if the notion was ridiculous

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it will be fine. Even if I don’t like her. It doesn’t mean I will force you to stop being friends with her if that is what you really like” Twilight reasoned

“Well OK” Floppy said with a little nervous laugh that suggested ‘It’s your fault if you don’t like it. Don’t blame me’ before opening the door and calling out to Ruby

“You can come in now. Slowly OK?” Floppy said with particular emphasis on the word slowly as if it had to be specified as great importance.

“Oh f-” Ruby called before Floppy gestured for her to shut up.

Meanwhile Twilight edged her head to the side to try and see round the doorway to see if she could get a closer look at whatever the frantic gesturing was about but before she could, Floppy had already started wandering back into the room. Ruby slowly walked in after Floppy. Twilight saw the ponies head and started to think how interesting it was that the pony had blood red eyes. They were rather beautiful and shining in the light of the room as she came in. Twilight also soon noticed the pitch black and red colouring of the ponies fur which was a combination Twilight had never seen in a pony. Well not in a friendly one anyway.

Then next was the realisation that Ruby had bat wings. Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise but in seeing Floppy’s concerned face Twilight tried to stay calm and keep her composure. She certainly wasn’t expecting this when she said the pony was ‘different’. Then she didn’t really need to see the tail to get the idea of who this pony was. Twilight had enough knowledge from her books to identify any fantastical creature in all of Equestria and this was a commonly discussed one at that. She had expected her to be perhaps a bit physically or mentally disabled perhaps and a little awkward in conversation but not actually a different species! ‘Trust Floppy to find the one demon pony around Ponyville and make friends with her’ Twilight thought to herself with a deep sigh.

“I know what you must be thinking. She isn’t evil! OK? She is just misunderstood” Floppy tried to explain

“Je-” Floppy gave her a stare and Ruby cleared her throat “don’t you think that is a little cheesy way to put it?” Ruby said, trying to sound as well-spoken as possible

“You don’t have to talk like a politician you know” Floppy responded

“Well what the fuck am I supposed to do?! I don’t know how to talk to these ponies! They think I’m a fucking freak!” Ruby yelled under her breath but it was not very quiet.

Twilight just stood at the other end of the room observing them both and smiled to herself when she saw how much they tried to be civil but failed miserably. The way they spoke to each other was like a an old married couple, completely comfortable with each other to the point that they even yelled at each other with no fear of any breaking of the relationship. If that wasn’t true friendship, she didn’t know what was and this is the princess of friendship we are talking about here.

“Alright, alright settle down” Twilight said amongst the whispering but not really whispering chaos.

“I’m sorry. Ruby isn’t very good at not using those words. She has lived on her own a long time so” Floppy tried to explain but Twilight put her hoof up to silence her.

“It’s OK. No long-winded explanations are needed. I can tell you two are good friends just by seeing how you talk and I don’t mind the swearing as long as she tries to cut it down” Twilight said softly

Floppy gave a deep sigh of relief and Ruby smiled and bounced on the spot a little with joy. It was clear Ruby was finding it hard to contain her happiness at the news she was accepted by a normal pony for once.
It wasn’t long before Ruby lost her self-control and yelled out loud “FUCKING YES! IN YOUR FUCKING FACE SOCIETY! WOOOOOOO!!”

Floppy panicked and tried to stop her but soon relaxed when she saw Twilight actually covering her face a little with her hoof to hold back some laughter. Floppy smiled with content. Things were finally looking up. A new friend which she could really trust and understood the deepest part of her feelings and the other friends who trusted her enough so this not be a problem. Perhaps things weren’t so bad after all. It just took a little courage and patience.
It was more difficult to get her to be introduced to her other friends. Not that the others were less understanding but let’s just say some were a little taken aback by one thing or another. Rarity found it hard to accept her species while Applejack found it difficult to accept her frequent bursts of foul language. Rainbow was surprisingly OK with this as she thought it would be awesome to hang out with a demon. She even offered her to join in on her practice flights because demons are known for their great flying skills apparently and it was clear Rainbow wanted to earn a few tips and tricks. It doesn’t really matter in the end though. As long as Ruby is happy and accepted, she didn’t mind...except...one thing worried her.

What if Ruby liked them too much? She felt awful for thinking it. The very thought of being JELOUS of her best friend being happy with someone else is just selfish and absurd but she still couldn’t shake the feeling. It wasn’t really jealousy if you weren’t angry and planning to do something about it, right? Floppy would never do something to get in the way of Ruby’s only dream but...as she spent more time with the others it meant less time with her and it hurt...a lot.

What was even worse was that she couldn’t even tell her. Despite being her best friend and thinking at one point she could tell her anything. This...was just too much. She would surely shun her and call her a bad friend and never speak to her again but then if she thought that...would that be OK? Would it still be the right thing to do? After all, then it would be her choice and hers alone. She wouldn’t be part of it but then again...is that just passing on the blame. She didn’t want to make her unhappy and she could perhaps be unhappy either way. What was she going to do? Although, she already knew what would happen. She would probably just let it worry her so much she would never end up making a decision and Ruby would be oblivious to her inner struggles and, in the end, maybe that would be best. Maybe...just maybe...

Floppy decided to give herself more time to think about it. There was no harm in delaying right now as it wasn’t harming anyone and she only just met her friends. It would definitely seem desperate if she mentioned it so soon so the only option was to see how things go for now. Floppy had been learning more and more about reading from Twilight’s lessons and she was excited to try reading a book all by herself and not a fillies book either. A real one! Obviously, it would have to be something for a teenage pony perhaps and not an adult one or an artistic one. Oh no! But even so this would be a great achievement. Floppy asked if she could try and Twilight was delighted to let her.

“Pick anything you want from the teenage section over there and don’t try to pick anything too difficult alright. Don’t pressure yourself” Twilight reminded her but Floppy was only half listening as she was too excited to get started.

Floppy rummaged through the books on the shelves and sampled a few first chapters of the ones that seemed interesting but most of them were either confusing, weird, romance novels BLEH or too awkward to read but then she came upon something that caught her eye. It was a darker looking book than the others and so stood out like a sore hoof. When she took it out, the cover had a dark leafless tree silhouette with various bits and bobs hanging from its branches including toys and even lit lanterns. There was also an eerie glow around the tree making it stand out a little more among the pitch black background. The book title read ‘Mr Simmonhymer’s stories of terror’.
Perhaps not the book that anyone else would pick first but this intrigued Floppy straight away. Finally something more serious and adult. She was so fed up of seeing romance novels and stupid teenage drama books around it was entirely refreshing to have a book with such a different tone. Floppy was so excited she dashed out the door before Twilight could see what she had.

Days passed and Floppy got straight to reading the book. The first chapter was amazing! Full of interesting suspense and great fantasy horror story telling. The book was split into mini stories per chapter and they were even based off some creatures and myths of legend Twilight had told her about. Floppy was completely invested and couldn’t wait to rave about how different and interesting this book was to Twilight and the others. Floppy showed Ruby first since she was her most trusted friend.

Ruby was taken into the book even faster than Floppy and soon they were reading it together. Well I say together but Ruby couldn’t read so Floppy read it the best she could for her. There were some words they both didn’t know but most words which were missed didn’t matter in the scheme of the story. Then Twilight decided one day as Floppy was telling her how much she loved the book that they could all have a friendly story telling sleep over. Floppy wasn’t so sure at first as she wasn’t comfortable in large groups, even if they were her friends but Ruby was so excited to show them the book that she didn’t want to let her down.

Floppy hesitated in reading the next chapter so they could read it to the group on the day of the sleepover. It seemed like the day couldn’t come soon enough for Ruby but for Floppy the day came faster than she expected. The meet up was a little awkward at first with two new ponies in the mix but things got on well when they all worked to create a bed sheet tent or fort as Ruby called it. It was Ruby’s idea and she wanted to make a huge one but in the end they had to settle on just a bed sheet tent roof over some chairs. The library didn’t have much furniture anyway so there wasn’t much to work with. Ruby was a little peeved about the lack of awesome in the tent and had even got Rainbow riving over the same thing but she soon got over it when the stories started to be read.

Rainbow insisted on starting and, of course, she chose to read the daring do book she had read a million times over. She knew it so off by heart she barely needed the book to read it. This made for good opportunities to pull faces and exaggerate the story every now and then as Rainbow was so good at doing. Everyone was psyched after Rainbows performance for the next story but they were a little disappointed when it came to Rarity’s turn and she started to read a book on a period drama which mostly consisted of tea party etiquette.

Then Ruby couldn’t hold her excitement any longer and it was then Floppy and Ruby’s turn. Everyone was patient with her as she read the story with her slow reading skills. However, Floppy looked up from the book only to see rather concerned and stunned looking faces.

“Well that was certainly...interesting” Rarity said while trying not to look bothered by the material.

“It was fucking awesome right?” Ruby exclaimed with pride. Ruby was often oblivious to people’s feelings. Either that or she didn’t care.

“Don’t you think that book is a little...harsh, Sugarcube?” Applejack tried to explain

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?” Floppy asked with genuine confusion and concern

“I think the material in that book seems a little too strong for you, Floppy” Twilight agreed

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Ruby exploded in her usual protesting fashion

“It’s fucking fine. She has already read a couple chapters! She can take it! Right, Floppy?” Ruby said with confidence as she turned to Floppy. Floppy agreed.

To think they would treat her like she was a child just because she is disabled! It wasn’t that she would completely reject the idea. She admitted she was young minded at times but this is ridiculous and frankly rather insulting. She had thought more of her friends than that, especially Twilight and she was rather taken aback by the notion. Surely not! Floppy didn’t quite react until Twilight tried to move the book away from her while she was distracted. Now THAT was NOT OK!

“Excuse me but I think I can handle a bit of violence and gore, thank you very much!” Floppy said with frustration as she put her hoof on the book and slid it back towards her chest as she knelt on the floor.

“You fucking tell them, Floppy!” Ruby cheered her on. That made her smile. It was nice to have some actual moral support for once in one of her decisions.

“But Floppy. We are not trying to control you. We just want what is best for you. We are looking out for you. Trust us” Twilight said in earnest to get them to listen but Ruby was having none of it.

“Like fuck you are! Taking a book from her like she is fucking 1 years old is NOT what I call looking out for someone! She can read what the hell she likes!” Ruby yelled

“Yes I can” Floppy agreed but with little words to try and avoid getting too worked up.

“Come on, Floppy. Let’s read this next chapter properly. In peace!” Ruby said as she got up in protest. Floppy didn’t stop to think this was a little strong for the situation as she was too angry from being insulted by her only friends. Floppy looked at Twilight’s concerned face as she started to follow Ruby out the door and found herself feel a spike of sadness. ‘I trusted you’ she thought to herself before she turned and left quietly.

The next few days she kept away from Twilight and the others as much as she could, to let herself calm down at least. Ruby was happy to be spending more time with Floppy and was all in favour for abandoning them completely. Floppy never agreed to it but she never denied it either. She wasn’t sure what to do really. This was the first proper fall out she had had with a friend and it just felt so awkward and wrong. Luckily, she still had Ruby’s support but unfortunately Ruby does have her faults and it can be hard spending lots of time with her as she can be a little overbearing at times. This is even more the case after what had just transpired as it was hard to see Ruby without her randomly bringing it up again.

Floppy tried to ease her mind with more reading but she made a terrible discovery. She tried to read more of the book on her own to get more of a feel for it as was sometimes more pleasant. She liked to think about the details which Ruby didn’t even notice. Ruby always wanted to know the next creepy creature but Floppy knew about where the creatures came from and found this sort of thing more interesting. So Floppy spent one dark night lying on her bed and just reading the next chapter, a chapter after the one she read in the sleepover. Then Floppy’s face fell.

As she read she became more and more uncomfortable as she read of the terrible events transpiring to a little boy. Then the boy went on to create strange structures and worship evil. Last but not least, the boy did the unthinkable and murdered his cat. Floppy found herself much more scared than she had before. It wasn’t the fact he had tried to kill the cat or the satanic subject matter as that was tame really but the fact he was forced to do it against his will and how he cried and pleaded for mercy struck a chord. Floppy knew the book was meant to make you feel uneasy but surely not THIS uneasy. She found her eyes welling with tears and she stopped reading, afraid of what would come next. What was worse was when it dawned on her that all her friends were actually right.

Ruby seemed to find the arguement difficult to drop and Floppy ended up feeling more and more apart from Ruby despite being right next to her for most nights. Floppy had hoped it would never happen but it seemed even her best friend had things she didn’t like and not just a little, a LOT! It really bothered her how much Ruby went on and it became increasingly difficult to handle her feelings while she was around but she didn’t feel like she could talk to anyone else either. She couldn’t just admit she was wrong after all they went through to prove the point that she was above this. Surprisingly, despite all she had been through, this felt like one of the worst things she had ever experienced.

Floppy just couldn’t pluck up the courage to tell Ruby how she felt but keeping everything inside was even worse. She felt more and more fizzy like a firework ready to explode day by day. Sleeping hours became shorter and more restless. She found herself dreaming and dreaming and yet she couldn’t remember anything other than weird shapes and shadows that seemed to attack her mind. Floppy also found it harder to sleep at night without listening to every sound of the local wildlife and checking it wasn’t a demon of some sort.

Ruby had noticed Floppy wasn’t acting the same as usual and she kept prodding her for information but she stayed quiet. Ruby didn’t think about it too long thought as she shifted her thoughts to the book. She seemed very suspicious as soon as Floppy told her she didn’t want to read the book. Ruby soon noticed there were way too many different excuses and she became impatient.

“Why won’t you just read the godamn book, huh?” Ruby cried one night as Floppy rejected the idea yet again.
“I just need a little break. It’s difficult for me to-”

“NO! That’s bullshit and you know it!” Ruby yelled getting increasingly agitated. Floppy just hung her head in shame, not knowing what to say.

“What is it? Am I not good enough for you anymore? Is that it?!” Ruby cried out loud so hard it scared the birds away nearby

“NO! no! Of course not!” Floppy pleaded with her. She never would think that! She never saw this line of conversation coming at all!

“Then why are you avoiding me, HUH?! Tell me why!” Ruby yelled with frustration. Floppy curled up further into herself and started to shake anxiously.

“FUCKING LOOK AT ME!!” Ruby screeched. Floppy then finally cracked.

“I’M FUCKING SCARED! OK?!” Floppy screamed at the top of her lungs. Ruby was taken aback for a second with the volume and suddenness of this outburst. She wasn’t expecting that at all. Floppy then started to weep as all the feelings of the past weeks seeped out of her from every part of her body.

“I read the book and I’m scared. I don’t want to read anymore. They were right” Floppy sobbed with such a trembling voice it was hard to make out her words. Ruby’s face fell and she tried to turn away but ended up not able to take her face away from her sight.

“I’m a fucking pathetic child. I’m so sorry” Floppy cried as if frustrated with her own existence. Ruby couldn’t take her eyes off her and she just stood there staring and sweating. What is she supposed to do?! She has never had friends before and now this?! Ruby tried desperately to think of a solution but she had none but one option in her head. Eventually, Floppy felt a warm creature’s wings quickly wrap themselves around her and a head lean on her face. Floppy looked up and was surprised to see Ruby holding on tight with hooves and wings and tail and in the night sky, she swore she could see a sparkle of moonlight on a water stream down a dark shadowed face.

“You know I am no fucking good at these kinds of things you little bitch” Ruby said but with a quivering voice and warmth emanating from her that she had never felt before. Floppy stared down at her, unbelieving in what she was seeing. Ruby rubbed her cheek against hers, rubbing her dribbling tears away.

“There! I’ll be your fucking tissue!” Ruby said sounding a little more recovered.

Floppy couldn’t help but laugh and Ruby looked up and smiled.

“Don’t you laugh at me you little bitch!” Ruby cried before pouncing on Floppy playfully. They rolled around for a little while before both getting tired and laying on the ground, trying to catch their breath.

“You know what Ruby?” Floppy eventually said to break the silence

“what?”

“You are a fucking grade A liar. You aren’t bad at these things” Floppy turned to Ruby with a content smile

“You’re a fucking genius!”

“Damn right!” Ruby agreed

So they both looked up at the night sky and gave a sigh of relief.

“What the hell were we fighting about anyway?”

“You know what? I don’t even know”