Monster

She glared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her nostrils flaring as hellfire burned in her glowing yellow eyes. Her pupils had changed from the rounds of an earth pony to the slits of a batpony. Her pale orchidish-gray coat looked even paler in the fluorescent lighting, and her knuckles were bruised and bloodied. She gripped the sides of the bathroom sink and screamed incoherently at the mare in the mirror, baring her fangs as spittle flew from her mouth. Hot tears of rage and pain filled her eyes as her screams faded into sobs. She curled up in the corner of the bathroom and cried into her knees until a gentle knock at the door made her head snap up.

“Um… I’m sorry to bother you,” a soft voice said from the other side of the locked door, “but would you be so kind as to unlock the door? That is, if you don’t mind.”

Puzzling Insanity wiped her eyes with her hoodie sleeve and slowly got up. She listened to the little click as she watched herself turn the lock on the bathroom door and open it, revealing the owner of the voice to be a pale yellow pegasus mare.

The pegasus gently brushed a lock of pink hair away from her cyan eyes and gasped in shock at the sight of the earth pony. After taking some breaths to steady herself, she cleared her throat and said, “My name is Fluttershy. What’s yours?”

Puzzling Insanity produced an ID card from her pocket and handed it to Fluttershy, still not feeling like talking.

“That’s an… interesting name,” Fluttershy said hesitantly. “What’s wrong, Puzzling? I heard screams coming from this bathroom.”

Puzzling simply made a gesture like she was an Everfree beast about to attack and pointed to herself, then turned around and went back to the corner of the bathroom, hugging her legs as fresh tears spilled from her eyes and her shoulders heaved.

The concerned pegasus entered the bathroom and sat down beside the distraught earth pony. “You’re not a monster,” she said softly.

Puzzling sniffed and looked away. “Yes I am,” she finally said, her voice as hoarse as a raven’s croak. “If I wasn’t a monster, others wouldn’t hate me.”

“Why do you think others hate you?”

“Because every time I try to meet somecreature they react with horror or disgust, or they pretend to like me out of pity and then abandon me once they get tired of me.

“And then I get stuck with my thoughts, and I feel like I’m at a never-ending rave where somecreature injected me with a mixture of liquid cocaine, ecstasy, steroids and embalming fluid. My mood changes every five minutes and I feel feelings so intensely that it’s physically painful and I end up hurting everycreature I care about because I hold on too tight because I’m terrified of being abandoned!”

Fluttershy looked on as Puzzling Insanity let her soul bleed out, her own eyes welling up. “You poor, poor thing,” she said, her voice breaking as she reached for some toilet paper to dab at her eyes.

Puzzling looked up at Fluttershy, her eyes red and swollen as she opened her arms. A whimper escaped her as she wordlessly asked for a hug. Fluttershy obliged, shifting so she was in front of the earth pony and hugging her gently. Puzzling buried her face in the crook of Fluttershy’s neck and wept openly. She was so tired of being in pain.

Fluttershy knelt there for Faust knew how long, time seeming to stop as she attempted to comfort this total stranger. Eventually, Puzzling let go of the pegasus and fished into her hoodie pocket, pulling out her phone.

“Can you please call my mom for me?”

The question took Fluttershy by surprise, but she agreed, looking through the contacts on the phone and finding the correct one. After a couple rings, somecreature picked up. She cleared her throat.

“Hello? Is this Puzzling Insanity’s mother? I’m sorry to bother you at this time of night. Oh, uh, my name is Fluttershy. No, I’m not a foalnapper; she wanted me to call you. Well, she’s, um, having a meltdown right now and doesn’t really feel like talking. Her knuckles are all bruised up and she’s really upset. She was telling me about how she thinks she’s a monster. Uh, we’re in the bathroom at Barnyard Bargains. Oh, my, you don’t have to come if you don’t want t- okay. I guess we’ll see you in a bit, then. I’m so sorry.”

Puzzling looked at the floor as Fluttershy handed her phone back. Fluttershy gently placed her hand on Puzzling’s knuckles. “She’s gonna be upset because I ruined her night by being stupid again,” the earth pony said, her eyes welling up again.

Fluttershy thought about everything Puzzling had said for a moment, putting the pieces together in her head before it dawned on her. Rapid-fire mood swings, fear of abandonment, painfully intense emotions. She gently asked, “I don’t mean to insinuate anything, but is it possible that you might have borderline personality disorder?”

“I got diagnosed a few months ago,” Puzzling said, wiping her eyes. “Why aren’t you scared of me?”

“Well, if I were scared of you, that wouldn’t do any good, would it?”

Puzzling nodded. “Valid point,” she said. She slowly got to her hooves and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her pupils had returned to their usual round shape, and her irises had finally stopped glowing. And then she heard it.

A slap rang out from the main part of the store, loud and clear. The screeching of a mare followed.

“How dare you show your ugly face in public and desecrate my husband’s shop with your disgusting presence! In my day, uglies were locked away so us normal ponies didn’t have to see such hideous creatures like you!”

Puzzling ran out of the bathroom and into the main area of the store. Spoiled Rich was berating a mauve-coated middle-aged earth pony mare with thin graying brown hair. The mare stood there in shock, a handprint beginning to color her cheek. A scream of pure rage made both of the older mares turn.

“GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!” Puzzling Insanity roared, her eyes glowing bright yellow and her pupils narrow black slits. She charged toward the mares and stood in front of her mother, her chest heaving as sheer hatred thundered through her veins and her heart threatened to burst from her chest.

“LISTEN HERE, YOU ROTTEN CUNT!” Puzzling screamed, getting dangerously close to Spoiled Rich’s face. “MY MOTHER HAS BELL’S PALSY! SHE ALREADY DEALS WITH A VOICE IN HER HEAD TELLING HER SHE’S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH AND SHE SURE AS FUCK DOESN’T NEED SOME BALLBUSTING GOLD DIGGER HARPY BITCH WITH FUCKING EAGLE’S CLAWS TELLING HER SHE’S UGLY!”

“Why, you little-”

“SHUT UP! I’M NOT FINISHED! YES, MY MOM’S FACE IS PARALYZED ON ONE SIDE, AND YES, SHE CAN’T SMILE LIKE SHE USED TO, BUT FAUST DAMN IT, SHE’S A THOUSAND TIMES MORE FUCKING BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU’LL EVER BE BECAUSE HER HEART AND SOUL ARE BEAUTIFUL ENOUGH TO SET FIRE TO THE SUN! YOU CAN HAVE ALL THE PROCEDURES YOU CAN BUY TO KEEP YOURSELF LOOKING YOUNG, BUT YOUR INSIDES ARE ABSOLUTELY VILE, AND THAT MAKES YOU THE MOST HIDEOUS CREATURE IN EQUESTRIA!”

Heart Guardian just looked at her daughter as tears filled her eyes. Puzzling took a deep breath and calmed down before grabbing a fistful of Spoiled Rich’s shirt collar and once again getting in her face.

“And if I ever hear or see you insulting anycreature again, or I hear about it, I will not be held accountable for whatever I may do to you. Am I understood?” Puzzling Insanity bared her fangs threateningly and snarled.

Spoiled Rich huffed indignantly, enraging the younger mare again.

“I SAID AM I UNDERSTOOD?! YOU GIVE ME A FAUST DAMN ANSWER RIGHT NOW!”

The older mare nodded frantically, grimacing as she felt Puzzling spit on her face. The young pony let go of her collar, leaving her to scuttle away, grumbling about respecting one’s elders and something about whales and breath mints.

A school-aged earth pony filly with a pale magenta coat and white-streaked violet hair slowly approached the mother and daughter, pocketing her phone. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said.

“You recorded the whole thing, didn’t you?” Puzzling deadpanned.

Diamond Tiara beamed and nodded. “I didn’t think anycreature besides me had the chutzpah to stand up to my mother! Please, let me upload it!”

Heart Guardian hesitantly looked at the filly and said, “I don’t want anypony to think I’m okay with my daughter saying those things.”

“Let her,” the fanged mare said, shrugging. “Nocreature hurts my mom. I heard the slap. Everycreature did. If the video is uploaded, then maybe Spoiled will be arrested. Trust me, incarceration will be fucking Elysium compared to what I plan on doing to her next time she decides to be a bitch.”

“Puzzling! I thought I raised you to not use that language in front of foals.”

Diamond shrugged and said, “I’ve heard worse on the playground.”

Heart Guardian hung her head and sighed, “Faust help the future generations.”

After a few minutes on her phone, Diamond Tiara’s smile grew wider as she said, “And done! This is gonna be epic!”

Puzzling looked around, cocking an eyebrow. “Where’s Fluttershy? Hold on, I’m going to look for her.”

Slowly stepping into the bathroom, she saw no trace of the pegasus, but a note had been left behind.

Dear Puzzling,

I hope our talk helped earlier. Please take care of your mother. You seem like you love her very much. And please remember, you’re not a monster.

Warm regards,

Fluttershy