Lost Lily of the Valley

When Lily awoke, it was raining.

She had been covered with a blanket, though she was still outdoors. And though the sun was low, it was still visible through the low-hanging clouds. The fog had lifted, and as she glanced around, she could see the tree had been planted and Fish Head was gone.

She couldn’t blame Fish Head for just giving her a blanket. The mare was old. She probably couldn’t have done anything more than drag Lily back home, and that would have hurt both of them.

Lily pulled herself up and folded up the damp blanket, then placed it on her back. She patted the soft dirt beneath the tree Fish Head had planted and thought about what had knocked her out in the first place.

Was that really a skull? The image was burned into her mind. She remembered the broken horn, the tiny patch of fur still attached to the bone, and the shard…

Lily looked around. The shard of bone that Fish Head had pulled off was still laying on the ground where she had dropped it. She picked it up and looked at her. Her breaths came quick and panicked as she felt revulsion rising up within her once again. She threw it away and looked at the sky, waiting to calm down.

As she calmed down, Lily found herself looking uphill at Fish Head’s husband’s grave at the peak of the bluff. She started wondering about whether Fish Head had killed her husband or not. She’d said he wasn’t a nice stallion, and knowing what she did for her livelihood made Lily wonder if perhaps Fish Head hadn’t waited for the pony to die of natural causes. What if she had taken matters into her own hooves?

Lily turned away and looked down the road back to the shack. The sun was setting, the area was untraveled, and it was rainy. She couldn’t do it now, and when she did, Fish Head would surely know. She visited the spot every week, so she could only do it when it was time to leave.

…but would she be allowed to leave?

Lily knew more about Fish Head than anypony else, and the secrets she had been privy to would break any normal pony. But Lily wasn’t a normal pony. Not anymore. She was resolved to be the best, and to be the best, even if it meant learning dark secrets, she was resolved to do it. She’d get everything she could from Fish Head and watch her back… or neck, as the case may be. She was ready.

She returned to Fish Head’s house and walked right in. The door was unlocked and a fire was lit. She wordlessly stepped inside and walked up to the fire, then hung the blanket on the back of a chair nearby. She sat down and doled herself up a bowl of soup. Fish Head waited until she was done before she spoke.

“Good morning, girl. Did you sleep well?”

“It was raining and the ground was cold and hard. No.”

“Maybe you’ll have a stronger stomach next time.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Your best needs to change, girl. Your best so far wasn’t enough to keep you awake. Are you trying to grow the best flowers possible, or are you content being an amateur.”

“I’m trying to grow the best possible flowers.”

“Then stop falling over when you see something gruesome.”

Lily pursed her lips but said nothing. She wanted to ask where Fish Head got a pony’s head, but she didn’t. She could guess, and she suspected if she stuck around, she’d know. For now, she kept her mouth shut and ate her soup.

“You’re awfully quiet, girl,” Fish Head eventually said. “Thinking about what you’ve learned?”

“Yes,” was all Lily said.

“To be perfectly honest, I expected you to run off.”

“Well, I didn’t.”

“And that’s good. I’m proud of you for that.”

Lily didn’t want to admit it, but getting praise like that made her feel better about herself. Roseluck and Daisy wouldn’t have been able to handle it, she was sure. She was miles ahead of them in that regard, and she intended to stay there.

“So what will we be doing now?”

“Now, we’re going to look into procuring more planters.”

“Isn’t there a potter in town?”

“Not those kind, girl.”

Lily looked at Fish Head. The old mare just grinned. Madly—Lily noticed for the first time.

“You mean, like…?”

“You’re thinking poorly of me. We aren’t going to be the ones to do it. We’re just going to steal one.”

“Steal…?”

“On the morrow, girl. You’ll understand on the morrow.”

Lily slept with her head covered that night. She didn’t think Fish Head would take her head just yet, but she was still frightened. Her dreams were full of strange imagery. Things like floating heads, headless bodies, and the sounds of screaming, both silent and loud. She didn’t understand upon waking how a silent scream sounded, but it was present. She slept fitfully when she did, but she woke up with Fish Head and ate upon request. She was just literally and figuratively going to keep her head down for now. There was no telling when a pony like Fish Head might change her mind.

She did, however, begin to feel a bit foolish about it all. If Fish Head had wanted her dead, she could have done it much earlier, before Lily even know what her plans were. She wasn’t attacked in her sleep, and Fish Head woke her up to eat breakfast and head out without so much as a threatening word.

When they went out, Fish Head was carrying a bag on her back. Lily both wanted to ask and didn’t at the same time. She had the feeling she knew what was in it, and she couldn’t believe she was going to be a part of this. Still, she was following Fish Head, she was carrying her things, and she was headed off into the wilderness with her.

“Where are we going?” Lily asked.

“Outside of town, where ponies frequently disappear.”

“Oh… okay.”

“You sound distressed.”

“I’ve never done anything like this before. Is it really necessary?”

“Necessary? No. Useful? Yes.”

“But why?”

“Because plants grow best in rich soil, and soil enriched with everything that makes a pony live is the best. Unicorns even give it a little magic, I believe, which helps to give you the greatest greenery you can imagine.”

“So we want a unicorn?”

“We’ll take what we can get, which will likely be an earth pony, but a unicorn would be best.”

Lily swallowed hard. “And… how are we going to go about ‘procuring’ one of these?”

“I shall show you. Come.”

Lily followed her along the path out of town until they reached the outside edge of the pass where the road forked three different directions. One road traveled back to town, another turned north up to Vanhoover, and the other turned south to go through White Tail woods. Fish Head took her down the road to White Tail woods a short distance and disappeared into the trees. They walked through bushes, brambles, until they hit a small clearing.

“Damn,” Fish Head said.

“What?”

“No bodies.”

Lily immediately relaxed. She had worried Fish Head was the one doing the killing, but it was more like a delivery. She was probably just waiting for highwayponies or—

“Put this on.” Fish Head held out a mask for Lily.

“…what?”

“The bandits haven’t killed anypony for me, yet. We’re going to see if we can get one ourselves, since you’re young and strong.”

Lily panicked. “Wait, what?”

Fish Head pressed the mask into Lily’s chest. “I said, put the mask on. I think I hear somepony. Now hurry!”

Lily obeyed. She took the mask, slipped it on, and followed Fish Head back out of the trail. They stopped at the edge of the road, and Fish Head looked up the gravel path. There was a single earth pony singing to himself as he traveled down the road, merrily dancing back and forth in the early-morning sunlight.

“Okay, so take this.” Fish Head shoved a knife into Lily’s hoof. She looked back at Lily’s flank and quickly draped a blanket over her back to mask her cutie mark. “When he gets close, jump out and use your earth pony strength to overpower him, and cut his throat. I’ll help you drag the body into the trees when you’ve got him.”

“I can’t do this!” Lily said, hyperventilating.

“You can do this!”

“I can’t! I’ve never killed anypony before.”

“You’ll do this because you need to! This is how you’ll grow the best plants! You need to do this!”

Lily shook her head, tears starting to fall from her eyes. Fish Head grabbed her by the ears.

“You will do this, and then you’ll learn the best way to make any plant grow. That’s what you want isn’t it?”

Lily nodded.

“That’s why you came to me, isn’t it?”

Lily nodded again with a sob.

“Then you’re going to do this, and you’ll do this quick, and quiet, and then we’ll have soup, understood?”

Lily nodded, gulping in huge breaths. Fish Head patted her on the withers and pointed at the stallion. He was prancing down the road, kicking gravel back and forth in a stepdance as he sang about somepony named Bonnie Jean and how he was going to go home with her. Lily watched him get close. Shadows began to gather at the edge of her vision as she thought about what she was planning.

What in Equestria was she doing? This was horrible! This was monstrous! She was going to murder this random stallion who was just out for a walk to the coast. He was singing and dancing and having the best time, and she was going to jump out of the woods and senselessly murder him so she could use his skull as a planter pot?

Lily’s vision tunneled. The stallion suddenly seemed so far away. Her breath was immensely loud in her own ears. She watched, dumbstruck, as the stallion danced his way past, within two ponies’ lengths from her and her knife. She felt something pushing on her flank, and she turned to look at what it was.

There was an old mare with an angry look on her face pushing her, trying to get her to go out into the road and kill that poor stallion. Lily stared at her. The old mare started speaking, and she looked angry. She looked livid, in fact. She struck Lily upside the head with her hoof and began berating her. Lily said nothing, but just stared and breathed. The old mare hit her again, and before she knew it, Lily’s hoof swung out and her knife sliced across the old mare’s neck.

Fish Head gasped and choked. Lily felt like she should have been shocked or surprised, but she felt nothing. Fish head stumbled forward, and Lily backed away to avoid getting blood on herself. Fish Head stumbled back and forth, cracking through the trees. Lily was afraid she might alert the stallion, but he just pranced on down the road, unaware how close he had come to getting murdered.

“Buh… glk!” Fish head choked. She fell to the ground, the light slowly leaving her eyes. She eventually stopped moving, her own blood soaking the front of her clothes and her scarf.

Lily stared down at her as she died. When Fish Head stopped moving, she again felt like she should panic or be more shocked, but she was disturbed to find that she was filled with an eerie calm. She knew she couldn’t leave the body where it was. She’d have to dispose of it.

Lily grabbed Fish Head by the ears and dragged her back through the trees to the copse they had gone to before. Fish Head had said this was where some brigands or somepony left bodies for her to use, so it seemed fitting her own body should stay here.

But… that wouldn’t solve the problem of somepony eventually finding her. The brigands wouldn’t care, but they might wonder who had killed one of their sources of income. Not to mention the townsfolk might wonder where she’d gone. With Lily having been the last pony to enter the shop, and living there, she would be the first pony taken to task about it. But she couldn’t just abandon her journal! That had all her notes from talking to Fish Head! She wasn’t going to leave empty-hooved!

Lily fished around in Fish Head’s pockets for her keys. She yanked them out and looked down at herself. There were a few spots of blood, but she could get by. Nopony would notice without looking really closely, and she wasn’t on good terms with anypony except the griffins by the docks. She took the keys, and started away.

She stopped walking as another thought hit her. Fish Head going missing was one thing, but Fish Head being found dead… they’d know the pony who did it if it looked like a murder! They could track her down to Ponyville, and they’d find her. She was the most likely culprit if she, herself wasn’t found dead, too! She was in trouble!

Unless… she could dispose of the evidence somehow.

…somehow… Lily would need to dispose of everything.

And she knew how.

She raced back to Fish Head’s little hut and pulled out a big clay pot. She tested it by sticking her head in it, and was satisfied when her head fit inside, with a little room to spare. She gathered a bunch of sacks and shoved them inside, then hurried back to the copse where Fish Head lay. Her body was still there when Lily got back. Undisturbed, exactly as she had left it. She knelt next to it with her pot, her sacks, and her knife, and tried to psych herself up for the next part.

Lily took a deep breath and placed a hoof carefully on Fish Head’s neck. She adjusted the knife in her hoof, inhaled, then brought the knife down to her skin. She touched it there once, twice, then dug it in. It made a horrible, meaty, slicing sound as it cut through Fish Head’s fur and muscle. When she reached the spine she flinched, but sawed at it until it finally gave way and the whole head came off.

Lily felt bile rising up her throat, but having spent so much time with Fish Head, performing strange works to make fertilizer, this wasn’t that much different. She’d ground up pony bones before. This wasn’t that different, right?

The head went straight into the clay pot, and she covered it with a cloth. The rest of the body was the hard part, and it was unavoidable getting blood on herself. She undressed Fish Head and placed her clothes to the side, then chopped off the limbs, removed the dock, segmented the torso and shoved them all into sacks. She double-sacked it all, trying to prevent the blood from seeping too far through, then slung it all over her back. She hurried back to Fish Head’s cabin, carrying every part of Fish Head and her clothes.

Thankfully, nopony questioned her when she came running past. They knew her well enough as Fish Head’s apprentice, and most of them wouldn’t even talk to Fish Head, so why ask questions of the apprentice, especially when she had drops of blood on her in broad daylight. Who would possibly be stupid enough to be transporting a murdered pony in the middle of the morning? Lily was hyperventilating when she scurried inside and locked the door. She took a moment to breathe and thought about what she had just done.

She had just murdered her mentor and carved her body into pieces. And now she was going to grind her up for fertilizer. What in tartarus was she even doing? What was she thinking? What was she even doing!?

She stopped herself from thinking about it too long. She needed to focus. She needed to remove her own implication in this, and the best way to do that was to dispose of the body, and fast.

First was the matter of the skull. Everything she needed to handle that was taken care of already. She double-checked the head to be sure all jewelry was removed, and dumped soil into the pot on top of the head. She added a good amount of fertilizer to help with the decay of the flesh, then took one of the saplings Fish head had been growing inside the hut and transplanted it into the pot. She covered it all with a thin layer of sand, then gave it a little water.

Satisfied that one was taken care of, she turned to the remaining parts of Fish Head and began her work of processing it all into fertilizer. She boiled off the flesh, began drying the bones, processed the blood and viscera, and burned all the clothing. It took her a full day’s worth of work to get rid of it all, all while trapped inside the stinking, smoky house. She dared not leave without Fish Head, for fear of somepony asking questions. Customers came by, and she gave them their supplies, citing that Fish Head was upstairs sleeping and not well. That would help to deflect any questions when the mare was finally discovered as being missing. Lily would still be somewhat implicated, but she hoped to be long gone by the time anypony suspected Fish Head was dead.

Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be that easy. The bones didn’t dry fast enough. The fatty tissues didn’t render quickly enough. The blood didn’t congeal and powder soon enough. Lily had to go down to the docks to collect Fish Head’s daily supply of fish heads, and she went to speak to Deep Six about more bones. She did everything she could to make it seem like Fish Head was still in the business.

The third day of waiting on Fish Head’s remaining body parts to turn had her going to sleep in frustration that she still had to be here. She had regular customers coming by now, since the cantankerous old Fish Head had stopped handling customer sales, Lily had regulars coming back just to flirt with her. While it was flattering, it was getting in the way of her work. Nopony asked about the bones dangling from the ceiling near the window. She’d made sure they didn’t look particlulary pony-ish. The hooves and head were missing, and most ponies didn’t want to think about it, but it was getting in the way.

The worst part of it all was that nopony asked about Fish Head anymore. A full week went by with Lily trying to decide what she should do to leave, and how she might take care of the plants, and not a single pony had asked about Fish Head’s whereabouts. She almost felt sorry for the old mare, but every time she looked at the pot with Fish Head’s skull in it, she lost all remorse for her actions. The mare was crazy. Clearly crazy, and she had needed to be stopped. Lily had just been the pony to do it.

Still, she completed her work, but remained for another week because there was this rather attractive stallion who kept coming by to talk. It was the pegasus who spent time with the griffins. Once he’d realized Fish Head wasn’t there anymore, he’d taken the opportunity to flirt with her, and she had to admit she rather liked him. So she stayed.

And she kept staying.

Nopony asked about Fish Head. Nopony missed her. The broken lamp in front of her shop was fixed.

Yes. Her shop.

Nopony missed Fish Head. She had gotten away with it, and she hadn’t even needed to leave. She stayed longer. Her work improved. Her plants did, too. The tree planted on Fish Head’s skull grew straight, strong, and beautiful. It was the most beautiful plant she had ever seen.

Too beautiful.

She planted it with the others during a cold, misty morning near the graves. She didn’t sleep well that night. She married the stallion from the docks. He was lovely. But after the tree, her work was incomplete. Nothing grew as well as it should have. It wasn’t nearly as beautiful.

For the first time in a long time, she thought about Ponyville. She thought about showing off her plants to her sisters. They were probably worried about her. Her new husband didn’t want to leave. He started asking too many questions about her work. He was trying to be helpful, but she hadn’t told him how she grew such lovely plants.

She’d gotten better at her work by then.

It was a cold, wintry night, one when the fishing-griffins wouldn’t go out to work that her husband disappeared. Her wagon left in the middle of the next night, with steam flowing out of the back flaps, and a lovely new tree-planter loaded on it. She arrived in Ponyville some weeks after, and her sisters rushed out to greet her upon news of her arrival.

“I love your tree,” they both said. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“I can teach you how to grow like me,” she said with a satisfied smile.

The End.