Chapter One: Scootaloo's Sorrow
Life has a way of affecting a pony, for it is always uncertain what could happen next. Whether it was gods or just fate, it didn't matter. Some ponies were gifted with wealth and happiness, others have to struggle, but find their way and their bliss. And yet others... others received nothing but torment and ridicule. Those were the ponies that society condemned. They were the damned. Both life and ponies created a living Tartarus for them. Every decision, every thought and every thing they wanted in life they had to fight for. When things would seem like it couldn't get worse, it did. Even as a filly, and this was no exception.
The day was black. Large thunderheads loomed in the sky like a plague, bringing down rain and wind in their wake. Jagged lightning tore at the sky, and thunder boomed like a manticore's roar. Standing alone in the angry weather stood a pegasus mare upon a hilltop, under a large oak tree. Not the safest place to be. But she didn't care.
Scootaloo stood resolute as the wind ripped through her mane and the long black leather jacket she was wearing, and as the rain pelted her relentlessly. Her eyes were heavy lidded and downcast, staring at a small tombstone at the base of the large oak. It had been may years since she had visited this place. She was now a fully grown mare, but she wasn't too mature to keep from crying, although the rain masked it. The tombstone before her bore no name, but a painted picture of a cloud with a jagged red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt erupting from it. This was the resting place of her foalhood idol, Rainbow Dash, who was found murdered all those years ago, but nopony found the killer.
"I-I miss you so much..." She spoke in a quiet, choked voice. Sobs racked the orange and purple pegasus. "I miss you, Dashie..."
The only thing that answered her was a loud clap of thunder. She sat on the soaked grass as she continued to cry. Not only was Rainbow Dash her idol, but she was her mentor and like an older sister to Scootaloo. Dash had taught the young pegasus how to fly and how to be confident.
Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked into a puddle just in front of the grave. She winced at her reflection. On the right side of her face were three vertical scars over her eye. Her left eye was magenta, but her right was red. Blood red. Like an albino's, But luckily the dead owner of the eye was a normal pony. She trembled in fear as she remembered how she had lost her original eye.
She was practicing her flying without Dash, but she had forgotten about the thermal air pillars that caused updrafts. She flew straight through one, and her small filly body was too weak to remain control. She crashed in the near by Everfree, and lay on the ground, stunned. When she could move again, there was a timber wolf eyeing her and it lunged. She jumped back, but the creature's claws connected with her face, shredding her eye. The wolf would have killed her, but Dash had saved her and flew her to the hospital, where she woke, confused and scared.
The pegasus sighed at the memory and she slowly stood. Ever since her injury everypony treated her differently. From the left she was a normal, and a fairly attractive mare. But they cringed at her scars, stallions and mares alike. She still talked to her friends from school, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, as well the five remaining Elements of Harmony. But she didn't know what it was to love. She never experienced it. Never gave or received. Love always eluded her, because she was scarred for life. Ponies were too shallow and only looked at outer beauty.
She cast a glance over her shoulder in a last look at the memorial before descending the hill, her steps slow and heavy. Scootaloo made her way back to Ponyville, clinging to the shadows as she walked the streets and allies. She kept her eyes to the ground, not wanting to look at the other ponies.
"Hey look, there's Scootaloo."
"She seems so depressed, she must have gone to visit Rainbow's grave."
"I still remember when she was attacked, poor filly."
"It must be hard to live with those scars."
She shook her head and pinned her ears back against her skull. She hated how other ponies talked about her. She didn't want their pity. She just wanted them to accept her fully. She continued to trudge on, her already horrible mood deteriorating even more. Damn it all. I'm sick of all this. All everypony does is feel sorry, and they don't even try to be friends. She thought with a sigh.
It stopped raining when she arrived at her house at the edge of town, close to the Everfree. It was a simple two story house. She shook herself and entered, closing the door behind her. "I'm home!" She called. She was greeted by a bone chilling laugh as a pink mare walked from the shadows. The Element of Laughter smiled at her.
"Welcome home, Scoots." Pinkamena said. Her voice was low and methodical, unlike how lively and energetic it used to be years ago. "You look cold. Go and sit by the fire."
Scootaloo nodded and lied down in front of the hearth of the fireplace, reveling in it's warmth. She watched as the pink mare disappeared into the kitchen. She had lived with Pinkamena Diane Pie ever since Rainbow had died. And after all these years, the Element of Laughter still looked as young as she did. She wasn't old by any stretch of the imagination, but she's middle aged. Pinkamena had been like a mother to Scootaloo. She always looked out for her and always listened to what she had to say. But the Pinkie Pie Equestria knows and the Pinkamena she knows are two different ponies.
Pinkamena was a butcher. Paid by the Canterlot Underground, a secret organization even the Princesses knew nothing about, her job was to slaughter. Kill ponies. The Canterlot Underground found her from when Rainbow Dash had been murdered. She had gone out and found that loud-mouth Trixie, who was laughing at the death of Pinkamena's long time friend. When the Royal Guard arrived, Trixie was barely identifiable, and Pinkamena was gone without a trace. She shuttered at the story. Scootaloo had helped for a time when she was younger, granted the ponies they were assigned Pinkamena had already killed, her job had been to drain the blood and prepare them to be skinned. Their coats would be made into fabric that the Canterlot nobles unknowingly wore. She had quit a few years back.
Scootaloo opened her eyes as Pinkamena lay beside her. "I'm guessing you went to Rainbow's grave." She said solemnly. She felt a pink forehoof on her orange one. She closed her eyes as Pinkamena nuzzled her cheek affectionately. "Are you alright, Scoots?"
"I'm fine," she whispered, "I just miss her."
"I do too, dear. And I'm sure she misses you, too."
That brought tears to her eyes. Damn Pinkamena. Even though she was a killer she could wrench the emotions from your soul. She buried her face in the mare's long, straight, dark pink mane and cried like a school filly. She felt the mare's foreleg wrap around her neck in an embrace. She cried for what seemed to be an eternity before her tears ran out and she broke Pinkamena's hold. "I miss her so much. She was the sister I never had. I loved her." Her voice was shaky and it cracked like a filly's.
"You should rest, Scoots." Pinkamena's voice was a soft whisper. "Only time can mend what you have lost, though only to a degree."
Scootaloo nodded and bid her goodnight before slowly walking up the stairs and into her room, where she collapsed on her bed. She closed her eyes and let sleep take her.