Dead on Arrival

I walked into my room to find it exactly how I left it this morning: with an incredibly unpleasant task to do. The covers were thrown almost completely off the bed, piss and shit stains all over the sheets, and- what's that in the corner?

There was something small, white and furry lying in a pool of reddish brown in the corner of my room. I approached it with curiosity. Step by step it became more clear as to what it was.

"Is- is that a dead animal?" I asked myself. My question was answered when I finally arrived at the oddity. Yes. It was a rabbit. A very small rabbit, a bunny perhaps. I was mildly perplexed as to how a rabbit got in my house in the first place, but it snapped in my head almost instantly.

"Angel?" Looks like Fluttershy didn't come alone; it was definitely him. Small, bratty old Angel. But he didn't look bratty, he looked dead. The rust coloured puddle was most definitely dried blood. It was trailing out of his ears and nose and in a puddle under his head, where it aired and crusted into his fur and on my floor. He looked pretty gross. I wondered how he died until leaned in and took a closer look at his corpse.

He was lying on his back with a strange dent imprinted in his forehead. Must've been head trauma that did him in, but how did he get it? His chest cavity was a little bit squashed down, looks like some broken ribs. Maybe Fluttershy tried to revive him but there wouldn't be much hope in that. He's got a dent in his head. He was resting much like Fluttershy was, forelegs flopped and hind legs spread. His jet black eyes were wide open in shock, almost like someone bopped him on the head, and his tongue was comically flopped out of his mouth and dangling on his bottom right lip. His whiskers were bent and twisted, and the fur under his head was stained brown with his own blood. But what chilled me was the trail of crusty brown blood trailing from his nose down to the floor and his ears doing the same. That must've caused the puddle.

"Oh, jeez," I commented, staring down at his corpse in disgust. "I'll need some paper towels for this."

I left the room to retrieve some paper towels, a shopping bag, and wood floor cleaner. I came back into the room, looking at the carcass with frustration.

"I have to clean up this jerk, too? One corpse is enough, thanks," I growled to myself. What's the point in getting angry over it, anyway? It's here, and I guess I just have to deal with it.

I walked back over to the carcass and ripped off a sheet of paper towel. I laid it over Angel's hind legs and widened the plastic bag with my other hand. After I got a good grip on his legs, I lifted him up like game. His body was stiff and rigid like Fluttershy's. His tongue flopped around to his nose as I lifted him off the ground. I carefully plopped him into the opaque shopping bag along with the paper towel. Now for the blood.

I sprayed some floor cleaner onto the rusty blood. It moistened up a little, and I ripped off a sizable wad of paper towels. I crouched down over the mess and wiped it up. It spread it around more than soaked up, so I sprayed more cleaner to mop it up easier. It seemed to work, as the blood was wiping off nicer than before. The current sheets I were using became too saturated, and lost their absorbent properties. They started dripping off blood instead. I threw the thick sopping wad of paper towel into the bag, blanketing Angel's corpse with his own bloody rags. As I was grabbing some more paper towels, I heard a strange noise that sounded like some kind of twinkling, almost like the sound effect pixie dust makes in movies, or possibly even wind chimes. It was extremely faint, but my ears still picked it up.

I turned around in curiosity to be met by the most peculiar shimmer in the top right corner of my room opposite to me, just hovering in the air. I stared at it for a while, trying to make sense of what it could be. There was an eerie figure in the shimmering light, shifting and floating with the waves of light. It made a quick motion once I think it noticed my looking, and kept still since. I kept staring at this strange oddity, until suddenly it just vanished, like a circle just shut around it with incredible speed. I felt a pang of curiosity and confusion from this event. Could it be related to Fluttershy somehow? Oh well. Strange shimmering lights in my room isn't at the top of my list. Cleaning up Fluttershy's mess was. I got back to it, I can look into it later.

The blood was almost entirely mopped up now. I threw another bloody wad of paper towels into the bag, relieved that I was almost done with Angel. There was still a little red stain where his head used to be, so I sprayed another few squirts on the stain and wiped it around, but there was still a faint mark of red. I sprayed it again and wiped harder, but nothing changed. It was soaked into the wood, I can't get it out. I shrugged it off, figuring it was good enough for now. The bed was my next priority.

I stood back up and grabbed the plastic bag full of bloody paper towels and dead rabbit carcass and made my way outside to the trash bin. I walked out of the room and into the hallway. I was just about to head out the back door when I saw the bathroom door, open just a creak. I walked over to the bathroom door to close it when I peered inside. I didn't know what I expected. Fluttershy was still there, bathing in bloody water. Thankfully her dead eye was aimed at the ceiling this time, spraying it with dead, negative vibes. I smelled something a little bit off when I was shutting the door again. It wasn't the smell of death, no, this was the aroma of ... vanilla? Is that what pony corpses smell like? Vanilla?

I finished my visit and shut the door all the way, clicking it in place. Giving the little mare some privacy while she bathed. I continued out the back door, still in my socks and pyjamas. I stepped out of the house and onto the concrete steps, they were as cool on my feet as was the air on my skin. I stepped down, careful to avoid any rocks, and made my way down the sidewalk through my backyard to the black trash bin. I flipped the lid open and lifted the bag over it, ready to drop it, until I hesitated. With Fluttershy's face in my mind, I thought about what she would've wanted.

Would this be what Fluttershy would want? Just have her beloved pet she cherished for who knows how long thrown in the garbage? I hovered the plastic bag over the bin, contemplating if I should bury him instead. After a few minutes of fighting it over, I decided against it and released my grip. Angel and his blood rags fell in with a satisfying THUNK! Fluttershy wasn't here. Fluttershy's dead. She can't care, can she? I'm already spending enough of my free time cleaning up after her, I'll be damned if I have to dig a hole for some bratty cunt, too. I flipped the lid back down and walked back inside to finish my maid-work.

As I came inside, I stopped in the kitchen to wash my hands before I tackled the sheets and bed. The garbage can has a lot of germs on it, I can't get sick now. I dried my hands and made my way back to the bedroom, excited to get the sheets and blanket over with. I made a passing glance at the closed bathroom door as I walked by.

I made my way back into the room, shifting my attention to the bed. The gush of shit and piss puddle was still there, as expected. I made my way to the scene of the crime and was about to pull of the sheets when I saw something again that made me remember something of interest I saw before I started this whole cleanup operation.

I usually keep the sheets nice and tight so it'd be more comfortable, but there was a flap on the side that was pulled out. Upon closer inspection I saw that it had teeth marks and saliva on it as well. I took a second glance at the sheet on the mattress itself, specifically where her body would've rested. There were very subtle, but noticeable scratch marks. Worn, whitish grooves in the fabric where her midsection would've been. It's almost like she was trying to claw her way through. It looks like Fluttershy was trying to get something or to something from under here before she died, fairly desperately it seems. I shuddered at what must've been a horrible death to drive somepony to claw in desperation, images of being buried alive come to mind, but my curiosity was piqued. I walked to the top left corner of the bed, threw the pillows on the floor, lifted the top mattress, and pulled the sheet off two of the corners. I let the mattress fall back down on top of the other, flipped off the sheet on her side, and saw something curious.

There was an oval of burned fabric in my mattress, right beneath where I found Fluttershy in my bed. "Woah," I mumbled with inquiry to myself. Is this where she got in? From where? Why? So many questions popped in my head. Is it still open?

I cautiously reached my and down to the centre of the burnt fabric and pressed down. Nothing but a slightly damp pee stain and burnt fabric. "How peculiar," I mumbled to myself, noting the ashes that rubbed off on my fingers. I rubbed my thumb and middle finger together, the ashes dissolved in the urine, making a char-black paste in my fingers. I inspected the burn mark for a while, pondering my questions, when I remembered my priorities. I had to throw out this sheet. It was already half off the bed, but I needed a garbage bag to put it in.

I went back into the kitchen to get one, washing my hands to clean my fingers, made a passing glance to the bathroom, and came back. I pulled the rest of the sheet off, stuffed it in the garbage bag, and tied it up. I turned my attention back to the mattress and noticed that it had a pretty big splotch of urine on it, along with the singed mattress and suggestive brown mark. I bent down, took hold of the underside, and flipped it over, effectively banishing the singed mark and foul stains to the dark side of the bed.

With the mattress sorted out, I grabbed the knot on the garbage bag and carried it out to the bin, compulsively glancing at the bathroom door again. I lifted the lid and peered inside. Angel's shopping bag coffin was still there of course. The bloody rags were clearly visible as the bag was slightly open, but the rabbit couldn't be seen under them. I threw the bag containing the putrid sheets in the bin, burying Angel in a way. Burying him with Fluttershy's soiled shit rag. A part of me found that poetic in some strange, ironic way. I flipped the lid back down and walked back inside to wash my hands again. Now to take care of the blanket. I walked back into the room and picked up the stained covers, rolled it into a more manageable ball, and carried it to the basement washing machine.

Walking back down the hallway, again glancing at the bathroom door out of habit now, I descended the creaky steps to the basement. It always gave me the creeps and awful memories, I hardly go down there unless I had to do the laundry or something, like now for instance. I finished walking down the steps and quickly turned left to the washer and dryer, averting my gaze to the door leading into the rec room and temporarily holding my breath, releasing it when I entered the laundry room. It had very little furnishing and hardly any paint. It had wooden walls, cold floors of concrete, and tubes and air ducts running across the ceiling and to the boiler and furnace, which was opposite of the washer and dryer, and a laundry chute from the bathroom into a basket next to the washing machine. It heavily reminded me of a bomb shelter.

I opened up the washing machine. It was old to say the least. The corners were rusting and it made a really weird rattling noise when you turned it on. I opened up the top and threw the blanket ball in. It wouldn't quite fit, so I pushed it down with my hands to compress it. I reached down to the floor for the detergent and picked it up. I cracked it open and smelled the fresh, intoxicating scent of laundry detergent. I poured the lid full of it and transferred the thick blue soap in the machine, right on top of some crusty feces. I shut the washer, turned it to "Bulk", and pressed the start button. While I was down there I picked up a new sheet and carried it upstairs.

I was excited to finally finish cleaning and put this whole thing to rest for now. I walked back into my room, breathing a sigh of relief, when I noticed something yellow and something else off white lying on the floor that caught my eye, just in front of the dresser. I stopped for a moment, furrowed my eyebrows, and curiously approached them. It was a feather. A single yellow, birdlike feather and a piece of what looked like bone.

"What the?" I mumbled to myself in curiosity. I tossed the sheet on my bed and bent down to get a closer look. Upon closer inspection, the bone was instead a tooth. I picked it up and inspected it. It wasn't a whole tooth, just the chipped tip of what looked like one of the two top incisors. I shifted my eyes to the butter yellow feather and picked it up with my other hand to inspect it as well. Its barbs were ruffled and agitated. As I was pondering the use of this as evidence and how freaked out the people at the party would be, I realized a vital flaw in my plan while eyeing two of Fluttershy's remains.

How would I know they'd want to come with me when the party's over? It'd be pretty late. People'd probably just want to go home, and I can't just say 'Hey, I got the REAL Fluttershy in my bathtub, dudes! Come to my place!' They'd think I was crazy. But if I show them these they might be curious.

I put the proof in my pocket for safekeeping.

I returned to the bed to put on the sheets and finish my work. I stood at the foot of the bed and took two corners of the folded sheet and snapped them upwards. The sheet unfurled into its rectangular form in midair and floated to the mattress, waving like a flag all the way down until the sheet settled to the bare mattress. I took one corner of the sheet and lifted the matching one on the mattress, stretching its elastic in place. I did the same with the other 3 corners, working my way around the sides with my fingers to ensure the tautness I preferred. I took the pillows off the floor and threw them back on the bed, finishing my job for now. The blanket would take about another 40 minutes to wash, and another 30 to dry, so my work was done for now, thank God.

I walked over to the dresser and turned on the TV and grabbed my laptop and killed time. Now without things to clean, I was busying myself with trying to get the image of Fluttershy out of my conscious mind until it was time. Pony wouldn't work anymore like it did before.