The Cutie Mark Crusaders met at their usual place, their renovated treehouse in Sweet Apple Acres.
“Alright,” Scootaloo began. “Welcome to another meeting of the C.M.C.! Today we have some announcements, am I correct?”
Sweetie Belle enthusiastically raised her hoof.
“Yes, you may speak.” Scootaloo said.
“Well, Twilight gave me this book so I could learn some more information on the Night of Fear. Every twelve years there is a meteor that flies by our world and emits some form of radiation that gives ponies bad dreams. And...”
“Stop right there!” Apple Bloom interrupted, “What are you? A dictionary?”
“No!” she protested. “I’m really more of an encyclopedia, but thanks for asking!”
“I agree...” Scootaloo added, “this stuff really isn’t important right now. But do you have anything to say Apple Bloom?”
“Oh yes, I think you’ll find this very interesting.” She pulled out a large scroll from nowhere, unrolled it, and taped it to the wall. It was a complex presentation. “As you can see,” she began, pointing to the different diagrams with a long stick, “the number of ‘blank flanks’ has risen significantly in urban areas suck as Manehattan and Fillydelphia. It led me to believe that they could do with some more friends, such as us, to find out what they’re good at.”
Scootaloo sighed. “That would be nice, but how would we be able to meet with them? Do you think we’re supposed to take a trip all around Equestria?”
“Nope!” Apple Bloom beamed. “Because I already invited them here!”
Seconds later the treehouse began filling up with dozens of fillies and colts. No matter how hard Scootaloo tried, she couldn’t stop them from chatting, giggling or asking questions. Eventually she screamed.
“QUIET!”
Everypony suddenly became quiet and sat down to listen.
“Okay... thank you Apple Bloom. I now see that we have quite a few of you visiting today.”
“Visiting?” a small pegasus colt piped up, “We’re here to stay! Go Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Scootaloo groaned. “Well I guess it can’t be that bad to have them around for just for a little while. Let me show you all around town.”
The ponies left the treehouse and marched into the center of Ponyville with Scootaloo in the lead. “As you can see, there are plenty of places right here in Ponyville to provide ponies the opportunities to find out who they really are.” Many of the new foals began to ooh and ah at each of the different shops in town, wondering which of them may be the key to earning their cutie mark. A strange feeling of satisfaction crept into Scootaloo’s mind.
“Whoa! Where did all these come from?” a familiar voice asked from above. It was Rainbow Dash, looking puzzled as to why so many young ponies were crowding the streets of Ponyville.
“Oh, they’re our new recruits.” Scootaloo smiled.
“But how did you find so many without cutie marks?”
“Oh, it wasn’t easy.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Hey, I did most of the work! It took me forever to...”
Scootaloo shushed her. “Can’t you just at least let me have this for today? They’re loving me!”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and walked back to Sweetie Belle. Rainbow Dash flew away excitedly although nopony knew where she was going in such a hurry. It only took a few minutes, however, before she returned with a camera crew.
Scootaloo was live on camera before she could comprehend what was going on. Rainbow dash slid into view with a smug grin. “Hi! My friend Scootaloo here has achieved an amazing feat. She has gathered over one hundred blank flanks together here in Ponyville to join her Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
Scootaloo couldn’t do anything but smile wearily. On the other hand, the looks on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s faces were ones of shock.
“Also,” Rainbow Dash continued, “I would like to challenge any other ponies who need their cutie marks to come and join them!”
“Indeed.” A news reporter mare responded. “We will continue to follow the story of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which looks like it may, in time, become the largest organization of young ponies in the history of Equestria.”
As the cameras flashed in Scootaloo’s eyes, the strange feeling of satisfaction grew stronger. She wasn’t sure if it was a feeling that she liked. Because it felt wrong. It made her want this more and more and she didn’t even feel guilty for not mentioning the help of her friends. But she continued to let it fill her up. There was much more work to be done if they were to become the largest group of young ponies in history.
Several days has passed since the meeting in the treehouse. Hundreds of ponies had joined the crusaders. Scootaloo sat on her throne in a large abandoned warehouse that they had made their new headquarters. The strange feeling she had felt that first day continued to bother her, and it was only growing stronger. Ponies stood in groups around the large room decorating the ugly place and talking and singing their theme song. So far everypony was happy, everyone, that was, except Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They approached Scootaloo with looks of disgust.
“We need to talk.” the young unicorn demanded.
“Later...” Scootaloo replied drearily from behind a book. She was looking oddly sick today.
“No... NOW!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Whatever happened to our friendship? Why have you abandoned us for these random ponies? And why do they worship you like a god?”
Scootaloo snorted and turned a page.
“We did everything for you! We gathered this group, we found this building, we decorated it, and we even built that throne that you’re sitting on! But now we’re going to quit. Friendship is worth fighting for, but not this long! We’re sick of you! What have you been doing for us this time?”
Scootaloo sighed and set her book down. “Actually, if you must know, I’ve been doing some excellent reading. Do you recognize it?”
Neither of the other two responded.
“This is that book Sweetie Belle was reading at our last meeting. It’s full of the most scientific yet strange things of our world. I never thought there was anything useful in it, but now I think I have our solution.”
“What? The solution to our friendship?” Sweetie Belle inquired.
“You’ll see.” Scootaloo grinned. Her mane was becoming a darker color and she was feeling more and more sick all of the time. But the strange feeling inside her kept telling her to keep going. “Follow me.”
The two others reluctantly followed her out of the building and into an old run-down shed. A wave of nausea came to Scootaloo, but the madness urged her forward to go inside. The interior was dark and ominous. The only light came from small cracks in the walls.
“Stand over there.” Scootaloo commanded.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
The two of them did as they were told but they were terribly frightened. When they stood near the wall that Scootaloo told them to stand by, she pulled a rope and there was a loud clinking of metal. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s legs were trapped in cuffs and they were hoisted by their front legs into the air.
“Maybe I just wasn’t good enough for you.” Scootaloo said calmly as she reached a hoof into a drawer. “Maybe we were never actually real friends. But whatever it was, it is now about to stop.” She pulled a large knife from the drawer.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Apple Bloom gasped.
Scootaloo chuckled. “It’s amazing what you can find in books...”
After a couple seconds, Sweetie Belle understood what she meant. “OH NO! YOU CAN’T MEAN THAT! AND IT’S ONLY THEORETICAL!”
“Oh, it will work!” Scootaloo spat, taking a step closer to the terrified unicorn. “It will work for me because I have an army of stupid unicorns to finish up my work.
“Sweetie, what is it?” Apple Bloom cried. “What is she doing?”
Scootaloo was standing right next to Sweetie Belle now wearing an evil grin. She held the knife at the unicorn’s face. “Oh, Apple Bloom, you’ll find out soon enough.”
There was a short terrible shriek from the unicorn and a flash of crimson. Then only seconds later there was even a more terrible scream. Apple Bloom cried in terror, looking at the unconscious Sweetie Belle, her coat was no longer pure white. It was an awful sound that Scootaloo had never heard before. The horrendous scream of fear burned in her chest, but she ignored it. The feeling of madness was appeased, for now.
“But she’ll die! No unicorn can live without her horn!”
Scootaloo looked up at the sobbing Apple Bloom. She felt no more guilt. “We’ll that’s really... sad. Now I’ll just have one fewer slave.”
“SLAVE?”
Scootaloo wrapped the bloody horn in a cloth and put it in a pocket of her robe. Then she left, slamming the shed door shut and locking it.
The other ponies greeted Scootaloo as she returned to the warehouse. No one seemed to notice that the other two were missing.
“We finished those decorations you wanted, Scootaloo.” some filly announced.
“Oh, that’s... nice. But I actually have something more important I want to tell you all.”
Everypony became silent and turned their attention to their leader.
“I will need to speak privately to all of the unicorns. The rest of you will take a break.”
All the earth ponies and pegasi exited the warehouse while Scootaloo walked into the middle of the room. She noticed that she still had a bit of blood on her hooves. Panicking, she wiped it away before anypony would notice it.
“What do you want to talk to us about?” one of the unicorns asked.
“Get in a circle around me.”
The ponies obeyed.
“Now close your eyes.”
The young unicorns closed their eyes. Scootaloo removed the horn from her pocket and held it above her head.
“Now I’ll need you to repeat after me exactly.” Scootaloo said as patiently as she could. Then she spoke an ancient incantation.
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then a unicorn finally spoke up. “Do we really need to say it?”
“Yes!”
“Because that doesn’t sound like a good word.”
“Just say it!” Scootaloo growled, trying to control her temper.
The unicorns obeyed and all spoke the incantation at once. Sparks flew from each of their horns and flew in circles around Sweetie’s Belle’s horn. It glowed for a moment and then dropped out of Scootaloo’s hoof, fusing to her forehead.
“Ta-da!”
The unicorns opened their eyes and gasped.
“Wow,” one of them said. “That’s... interesting. You sort of look likeone of the princesses.”
“Thanks.” Scootaloo smiled weakly. “I want to see how it looks. Someone bring me a mirror.” A unicorn ran away, and in less than a minute, she came back, rolling an old mirror into the room.
Scootaloo almost didn’t recognize herself at first. She looked more sick than ever before and her coat and mane were even darker than this morning. The bright white horn stood in high contrast against her body.
“Go get the others so they can see.” she ordered.
All of the other unicorns left except for one who stayed behind.
“What do you want?”
“Oh, I just wanted to say... it looks nice.” the small pink filly said softly.
“Hmm, I actually thought it would be a bit longer.” Scootaloo said sadly.
“No,” the filly protested, “not the horn. I was talking about your cutie mark, Scootaloo. I wanted to congratulate you.”
Scootaloo’s eyes instantly darted down to her flank. Indeed there was now a cutie mark there, but it wasn’t cute at all. It was a skull with a silver knife through the top. The mad feeling in her body was happy. Her mouth opened, but at first no words came out. “There’s one more thing...” she finally said. “Don’t call me Scootaloo. I would like you to call me the Scootalord.”
It was late at night and the warehouse was full of young ponies. The Scootalord was sitting on her throne again, looking out upon her slaves. When she stood up, she shot a bright burst of light through her horn that silenced the ponies and turned their attention to her.
“Now I know many of you may have some questions. Why does she have a horn? Why does she have a cutie mark? Why has she kept us here this late? Why does she want us to call her the Scootalord? Well, before I answer those questions, I have one of my own. What does the face of evil look like?”
She looked out upon the foals, just daring one of them to answer her rhetorical question. But nobody spoke so she continued.
“It is this face.” she concluded, pointing to a large picture of Princess Celestia pinned to the wall behind her.
“I see in that face a tyrant. I see the wickedest equine that has ever stood on this world. Now tell me, do we like tyrants ruling Equestria?”
“No...” a few ponies in the crowd murmured.
“I can’t hear you? Did you say you want a tyrant to oppress us?”
“No!” they said a little stronger.
“The song says we are ‘on a quest to find out who we are.’ But I can already tell you who we are! We’re warriors!”
“Yeah!” the crowd cheered.
“We will show them who we are!”
“YEAH!”
“We will show the world what we blank flanks can do!”
“YEAH!!”
“For tonight is Celestia’s final night. Our crusade begins now. And she is going down!”
“YEAH!!!”
“This is the final crusade FOR EQUESTRIA!”
“YEAHHHHHHH!!!”
Using the Scootalord’s instructions, the foals, filled with anger for no particular reason, quickly began building their weapons. Outside, however, a spy had finished recording everything he needed to hear. He snuck away into the night with the stars sparkling the impending doom to Equestria.
It struck midnight on the large clock in Canterlot Castle. Many prominent ponies had silently and solemnly gathered around the royal dining table. The Princesses Celestia and Luna were the last to arrive. They quietly took their places at each end of the table.
Celestia’s voice broke the silence. “You all must surely know why I have called you here tonight. The filly named Scootaloo has used dark magic to control over one thousand of Equestria’s foals to follow her. At the moment, we can’t be sure what has caused this, but I personally believe she is under the influence of some evil curse. There has already been one death, the young unicorn named Sweetie Belle. The only reason that we haven’t done anything about it was because of our fear of hurting them. But tonight, we have received even worse news. A spy has collected information that leads us to believe that they will attack Canterlot tonight. Now I know that you are friends, parents and teachers, but you need to understand. With their current numbers, they have the potential to destroy much of the city and possibly others. They cannot be underestimated. They will have to be stopped somehow.
“Luna has reminded me that the Elements of Harmony are useless against ponies of their age. They refuse to work because they consider the foals to be unconditionally innocent. So I am left with only one alternative.
“I have a spell that I can use to stop them, but I am afraid. I am so very afraid. Because... I can’t promise that nopony will be hurt... or killed.” She hesitated for a moment. “It is either that or we will have to endure whatever destruction they may cause. It is now time to vote on what we should do. All in favor...”
Nopony moved for a minute, but then all at once, they each raised a hoof.
The Scootalord stood at the front of her army. They were just outside the city. The mad feeling inside her was very excited. She raised her nose to the cool evening wind and sniffed the air. Then she growled menacingly. “Do you know what that scent is? That is the smell of our enemy. And the monster knows that we’re here.”
The army growled in reply, under the strange effect that the Scootalord had on them. They were carrying their custom-made weapons on their backs and wearing black paint on their bodies. But the Scootalord was the darkest one of all, and she wasn’t wearing even a single drop of paint. She was filled with a fury that had never touched her mind before. The mad voice in her head was screaming with delight. “Celestia will fall... AND I WILL RISE!”
She turned to her army and they nodded to her that they were ready. With a deep breath she screamed and charged towards the city. A thousand others charged with her. They made the ground shake and the city of Canterlot awaited its doom.
Using her new dark magic, the Scootalord made the large metal gate explode into tiny pieces. She made the glass windows break and the fountain spill over.
The citizens of Canterlot screamed and fled as the crusaders fired hundreds of flaming arrows into the city. Large holes were torn through the walls of buildings as their catapults hurled large rocks through the air.
It wasn’t long before the Scootalord had found her prey. She and Celestia looked each other in the eyes. The feeling in Scootalord’s body exploded with evil joy. “You will die!” she screamed, charging at the princess with all her might.
“I don’t think so.”
There was a tremendous blast of light throughout the city and the Scootalord was blasted off her feet. She landed on something sharp. A spire on one of the buildings had stabbed her. She suddenly felt a warm and sticky feeling all over her body and she knew what that meant.
The mad little feeling was all gone. The anger was gone. There was no more curse. She was confused for a moment. Then she saw the destruction of the city beneath her, and she saw the buildings collapsing, and heard the people shouting. Then her eyes opened wide with horror. She remembered how she had killed Sweetie Belle and was now wearing her horn. And now over a thousand foals who had followed her to battle lay unconscious on the ground.
“WHAT HAVE I DONE?” she cried. She had no idea how she did this and she wished with all of her strength that it could be undone. She didn’t understand how she could have betrayed her friends and turned these innocent young ponies into ferocious warriors. Her life was slowly fading away and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.
Princess Celestia soared over to the roof and hovered over her.
“It’s over Scootalord.” the Princess said.
Scootaloo gasped and agonizingly tried to lift a hoof for help. Then she was gone.
It was warm and cozy and silent. Scootaloo opened her eyes. She appeared to be in her own bedroom back in Ponyville. Her coat was the same normal color as it was before. She had no horn and, fortunately, no cutie mark. Was it possible that all of it has just been a bad dream when it felt so real?
Her mother entered the room. “Are you alright? I hope you didn’t have any bad dreams.”
Scootaloo couldn’t speak at first.
“I’m sorry, but it happens to a lot of ponies on the Night of Fear. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine mom. It was just a bad dream like you said.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me about it before you go to to school? Maybe that will make you feel better.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it.” Scootaloo insisted. “It’s not that important.”