Anon in Equestria: Chapter 6: Retribution(WiP)

        But, while she tries to come up with a battle plan, you come up with one of your own. A devious smirk appears upon your lips. If what she says is true, then these creatures won’t discriminate between you and her. They’ll eat whatever they can get, and you start to think that you could help them with that. Right before you is the bug that took advantage of you, who did nothing more but toy with your emotions. You’ll give her the karma she deserves.

 

        When she feels your shin shift upon her flanks she looks up to you in question. She’s answered by your wide grin and your shoe hanging just a foot above her. Duplicate opens her mouth in protest, but you don’t give her the opportunity. With all of the might you can muster you bring your foot down on what you hope is her back. When you make impact the sound of a satisfying crunch fills the air, it’s followed by the shrill screaming of your victim, music to your ears.

 

        She crumples upon the ground in a twitching heap. You don’t know if these things have vertebrae but whatever you did damaged it; enough so that she’s left twitching and crying at your feet. To her the pain is indescribable, much more so than the swift kick you gave her just a few days ago. Everything hurts; with each little movement she furthers her agony. As tears stream down her cheeks she looks up to you, and for the first time in her life she’s scared of something other than her Queen.

 

        She squirms a little bit in your arms when you pick her up, but she knows that her attempts at escape are fruitless. You’ve killed her, she just hasn’t died yet. She whimpers in a combination of agony and fear at what it is you intend on doing.

 

        “Y-you monster,” she sobs.

 

        “Heh, you’re one to talk little bug,” you turn your head to the source of the snarling, “Hey guys you hungry, of course you are. Dinner time.” You casually toss Duplicate in their direction. She screams as they converge upon her helpless form.

 

        While you feel a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that she’ll die, you can’t help but cringe as you hear them tear into her. It isn’t long before her yelling start to die down as the damage becomes worse. The squelching of her innards as they’re crushed in their unforgiving jaws. Or the gargled moans that seem to come from her as her final breaths are uttered. You feel blessed to be unable to see the site that you’re sure is before you.

 

        After a few moments Duplicate mutters weakly before finally passing. The only sounds you can hear are the timber wolves as they feast upon their free meal. Each sickening crack of her carapace and the smell of her organs are starting to upset your stomach. It’s a strong stench that causes you to double over and keep the bile back that you believe is piling up in your throat.

 

        Thankfully there isn’t anything in your stomach to vomit. You can’t even remember the last time you’ve eaten, and that scares you. You assume that the reasons why you’re not experiencing hunger pains would have to be the water you consumed a few hours ago, and the fear that still looms in the back of your mind.

 

        These timber wolves will be done with their meal soon, and you’re certain they won’t be full from Duplicate alone. There’s a good chance they’ll go for you after they’re done with her corpse. That assumption causes you to start backing away from the loud, enthusiastic noises coming from the wolves.

 

        You have no idea where to go. As far as you know, you’re in the center of the woods. There’s no way of knowing where any path could be, or how far away you are from the hut. The only thing you do know is the general direction you came from.

 

        You don’t even know how far you were walking; it could have been miles, or a hundred yards. You’re lost in the woods with no way out now, and that’s when you start to regret your choice. If you didn’t tire Duplicate out then she would have taken you to see her Queen. You’ve no idea if that meant your death; you just assumed that’s what would happen. But at least with her you had some semblance of safety.

 

        Now, you’re at the mercy of the forest and animals around you. That’s safe to say that there is no mercy. You’re going to die alone in these woods, and there’s a good chance your friends won’t even find your body. You find yourself curling into a small ball, afraid for your life, and what you’re unable to see. Dread fills your very being when you hear the wolves finish what they want of that little insect.

 

        They lick their chops before turning their attention to you. What you can’t see is that they’re lowly growling among themselves. The one that appears to be their leader is looking between his pack mates before motioning to you with his head. The other wolves look between each other silently before one seems gets to his feet.

 

        As he makes his way over to you, you cringe thinking one of them is about to take a big meaty chunk out of you. But when it does nothing more than pull on the sleeve of your shirt you look to it in utter confusion. When you make not motion to move it growls and pulls harder, you can hear your sleeve start to rip. In order to keep it from getting worse you get to your feet.

 

        “W-what are you doing?” You unwittingly ask. The wolf answers you back with a soft growl, you turn your head in the direction it’s walking, and then nearly fall flat on your face when it gets behind you and starts pushing with its head. The others pick up on its actions.

 

        Within a minute the six timber wolves are walking on both sides of you; three are to your left and three are to your right. They force you to walk in whatever direction they’re trying to lead you. If you try to move to your left or right they snap at you. If you fall too far behind they snap at you.

 

        Needless to say you have no idea how to respond to this other than letting them take you wherever it is they’re going. You’re not as fearful as you were before, but your confusion has soared to heights you didn’t even know existed.

 

        As far as you knew this kind of thing never happened, from what Twilight told you these wolves do show some signs of intelligence, but they listen to their stomachs more than anything else. Looks like they do more than that, at least that’s what you’ve come to believe given the situation you’re in.

 

        You wish they would have taken a path though; the thorns and broken sticks that are in these woods are doing a number on your legs. The fabric of your jeans are long since ruined from the walk you’ve been forced to go on, and you can feel the heat from your blood as it trails down your legs in thin little lines.

 

        Finally, after what feels like an eternity, you’re no longer being cut up. That’s when your little group decides to stop. The two in front of you let out a howl that echoes throughout the area. They do so for a few seconds before you hear them take off into the thicket, leaving you to your fate.

 

        “Hey wait a minute!” you call back to them, “Where the hell did you leave me?!” No sooner did those words leave your mouth did you hear a large multitude of animals lose their cool. Possums, dogs, chickens, and many others start voicing their displeasure at knowing predators are nearby. You quickly realize though that there’s only one place you know that has a large amount of animals.

 

        “You leave my babies alone!” the familiar voice of Fluttershy fills your senses, and you couldn’t feel any happier. Those things led you out of the woods and to familiar territory. It seem as though in exchange for the meal they saved you from the fate of being lost in the woods. You cry out with joy before jumping in the air a bit. You are free, you are safe… or are you?

 

        That Duplicate was able to mimic Zecora easily; does that mean that there are others among the populace? What if Twilight, or Spike, or even Fluttershy could be a fake? The beating wings of the Pegasus in question do little to sate your sudden bout of paranoia.

 

        “Wait Anon, is that you? Oh my we need to get you inside, there are timber wolves around! Didn’t you hear them howl?!” She tries to grab hold of you when she gets close, but as soon as you feel her hoof on your arm you pull away and turn in her direction. “What’s the matter Anon?” she stops once she sees the frown your sporting.

 

        “Fluttershy, when you broke into Twilight’s library on my first day, what did do to hurt me?” Fluttershy’s confusion is palpable; she doesn’t realize why you’re asking such a question. It was something she wanted to put behind her.

 

        “W-why are you—“you interrupt her with a bit more force than you intended.

 

        “ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!” you snap. She shrinks away at your yelling and starts to whimper out of fright. Her eyes are already starting to well up with tears.

 

        “What’s wrong Anon, what happened to you?” when her gaze turns down to your feet she sees the severed head of your captor. “And what’s that thing by y-your feet?” Queasiness wells within her when she sees the state it’s in.

 

        Judging from the strings of meat that are still along the neck, she could tell that it was gnawed off the body. A single eye was missing from its socket, and only half of a horn remained on its head, the upper portion was undoubtedly chewed off.

 

        “If you answer right I’ll gladly tell you. But so help you if you don’t give me the right one.” While you wait for her answer she shakily gets to her hooves. She takes a deep breath in order to try to calm down; it’s a lot for her to take in. Seeing the body of a critter, coupled with your anger, is doing nothing to help.

 

        “I-I, I think I tried to break your back. I barely remember as it is I’m sorry,” her answer causes you to breathe a sigh of relief. Now that you know that you’re in good company you squat down to what you believe to be her level.

 

        “Okay, you got it right Fluttershy. I’m sorry I snapped, I’ve had a horrible night. As far as what’s next to me, it’s probably something I fed to the timber wolves.” Fluttershy takes to the air in fright.

 

        “Y-y-you were with them, and you gave them food?!” You nod.

 

        “Yes,” as you get to your feet you continue, “If you could get me out of the open I’d be more than happy to tell you what happened. Also, what exactly is next to me?”

 

        “It looks like it used to be a bug of some kind. It’s what’s left of the head.”

 

        “I’m going to need that for proof. There’s a lot going on that neither of us knows about Fluttershy. I barely scratched the surface of it tonight; let’s just say you need to make sure you lock up alright?”

 

        “Okay,” a moment of silence falls between the two of you, “a-are you—“your stomach answers the question for her before she has a chance to finish. “O-oh my, you are hungry. Here, let’s get you inside and get you something to eat alright?” You nod wordlessly, relieved to finally have a place to stay.

 

        With a helping hoof not only are you able to find and grab the rather nasty, slimy feeling head, but she’s able to lead you into her rather warm cottage. You grimace when you feel your fingers slip into the empty socket.

 

        “Ugh, Fluttershy do you have a bag or something I can put this thing in?” She flutters off without saying a word. Within a minute she comes back with a brown paper one, and soon you don’t have to deal with carrying the dismembered part by hand anymore. And Fluttershy is kind enough to clean off the gathered dirt, blood, and leaves from them.

 

        After a few moments of washing up and getting your bread and butter you take a seat upon her rather small couch and get to eating. It isn’t surprising when you finish the meager meal and politely ask for another plate. Thankfully, Fluttershy complies, though she’s eying you wearily due to having eaten like a malnourished critter.

 

        Another two plates of bread, butter, and milk fills the empty void you call your stomach. When you feel that you’ve finally had enough you breathe a sigh of relief before reclining. Once Fluttershy takes away the plates she joins you on her couch, though she’s sure to keep some distance.

 

        You’ve arrived on her property with a severed head so she’ll be nervous around you. The only reason you’re here now is because of her kind nature. With everything seemingly settled you take a deep breath, and explain everything to Fluttershy.

 

        Twilight bringing you to Zecora’s, you drinking the healing potion, the hot and heavy moment that almost occurred in the bed, and the time that Duplicate revealed herself after. Then you describe to Fluttershy how the little bug tried to take you somewhere in the Everfree before you fed her to the timber wolves that came to your area.

 

        When you finish, silence hangs in the air like a heavy blanket. You can even feel yourself begin to sweat. Why isn’t Fluttershy talking? You swallow the nervous lump in your throat before turning her way. Finally she decides to speak.

 

        “Anonymous, I believe you. It sounds so crazy, and scary, but I do.” You wipe the sweat from your brow and smile.

 

        “Phew! Thanks Fluttershy, I just wish she  told me where we were going. I could tell you guys and we could get Zecora back.”

 

        “I know, but with the way things are, I don’t think anypony would go in there. It’s way too dangerous.”

 

        You grit your teeth, “I know I would if I could see. I told her I owed her. And what better way to repay her than to save her?”