Twilight Sparkle was glad to have things working out without any complications for once. Scootaloo, though reluctant to follow her initially, was not trying to flee or find excuses to separate to avoid confrontation with Apple Bloom. Far from it as they approached the Acres, Scootaloo stayed closer to Twilight, looking around nervously when she thought neither of them was watching. Twilight suspected Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were best friends, if the mere suggestion of reconciliation was enough to firm Scootaloo’s resolve. That, and Rainbow Dash’s telling her it would be fine, practically put a spring in Scootaloo’s step. It was a bit unnerving how much that filly trusted Rainbow, especially with how Rainbow... was. But whatever it was, Scootaloo was taken care of for now.
Cheerilee was already part of Twilight’s mental checklist, the schoolteacher an invaluable source of support and care. She earned her students’ trust several times over and surely Apple Bloom was no exception. Her presence alone should calm the filly, and keep her from doing something rash or folding her ears to the evidence right in front of her nose, or saying something that might make Scootaloo not want to reconcile their friendship.
Plus Twilight considered Cheerilee a true friend; not only was she a fellow bibliophile, but she was quite possibly the sanest pony in this crazy town. Twilight didn’t like to admit it, but Cheerilee was right in chaperoning her. This hadn’t been the first time Twilight had seen no way in which this could possibly go wrong, and then woken up in a trough in Saddledale with a lampshade over her head and a new tattoo, with no recollection of the past two days. If not for her school duties, Cheerilee could practically have been an Element of Harmony, a thirteenth element if you will, perhaps the Element of Sanity. But of course, there was nothing sane about the Elements of Harmony.
Nothing. Sane.
They were walking down the road that led to Sweet Apple Acres, the family farm house that served as command central for the whole Apple Family operation. The day was still bright and sunny, and the apple trees’ leaves were tinged with gold as they started to turn for the fall. There was a frost scheduled soon that would send the trees into full glorious color, but for now just a bit of the summer was hanging on. While Twilight listened passively, Cheerilee and Scootaloo were having an... interesting conversation.
“Scootaloo, fighting is wrong,” Cheerilee admonished, “You shouldn’t be proud of that.”
“Oh yeah totally,” Scootaloo agreed, “But you should have seen it! I was like pow, and Apple Bloom was like bam, and then she just flipped onto her feet and it was crazy!”
“I’m sure you’ll apologize to Apple Bloom when you see her,” Cheerilee suggested encouragingly giving Scootaloo a queasy smile.
“Yeah I will,” said Scootaloo inattentively, “I didn’t think I was gonna walk away from that. I jumped on my scooter, and she totally took part of my tail off!”
“Oh?” Cheerilee said with a wince. She steeled herself to glance back, but said in a surprised note, “Your tail seems fine, though.”
Scootaloo puffed her chest as she walked saying, “Heh, it was no problem. I’m too tough to let it get to me. Sort of like Supermare! Or maybe Wolverine.”
“So, your leg was broken too?” Cheerilee said uneasily, “And you just got better from that?”
Scootaloo nodded, adding, “I couldn’t even walk on it, and the knee was all swollen, but one trip through Archer and I was fine again!”
“And I broke a rib,” Scootaloo added cheekily, “And Apple Bloom tore the blue blazes out of my shoulder.”
Cheerilee stumbled at that point, having to catch up a few steps to them. She looked with a guilty concern at Scootaloo, before saying, “...please don’t use that language, I beg of you.”
Scootaloo just gave a toothy grin.
As for the matter of Apple Bloom, Twilight wasn’t too worried about that filly’s reaction. She would surely never have a chance to do... that to Scootaloo again. Twilight was pretty sure she could handle anything a filly could dish out, even a panicked one. The only complication might be Apple Bloom’s family, which is to say a large, threatening and terribly strong earth pony, and Big Macintosh too, who might prevent reconciliation in a misguided attempt to protect their sister. Granny Smith could be reasoned with, or at least fooled, but Twilight really didn’t want to butt heads with Applejack. She wanted at the very least to save Applejack the remorse, when Applejack realizes that her stubborn tendency to refuse to accept new evidence from what she’s already known, has harmed her sister’s friendship.
So imagine her delight, when Twilight found that neither Big Macintosh nor Applejack, nor Granny Smith was in the farm house! To be fair, she wasn’t initially delighted since she thought the farm house was entirely empty, but when she got the key from under the doormat to unlock the front door, calling out inside for anypony who might be around, Twilight heard a shifting and a thump upstairs.
And then Twilight was pretty delighted. Not inappropriately so but, well, you know.
“Hello?” Twilight said walking into the living room, “Granny Smith? Applejack? Big Macintosh? Oh, what’s that?” Her ear turned up the stairs at the thump. Since Cheerilee had stayed outside with Scootaloo for now, the indoors was quiet enough to hear the clatter of hooves moving around upstairs. Twilight called up there, “Is anypony home?” but there was no response. A guilty Apple Bloom perhaps? That would be just perfect. Twilight ventured up the stairs cautiously. She really did hate intruding on Apple Bloom like this, but a friendship was at stake here! Twilight was sure things would work out somehow, if they could just get these two to really talk things out.
It was obvious which room belonged to Apple Bloom, by the big chest full of plush animals oh no wait that was Big Macintosh’s room, whoops. The room at the end of the hall was Apple Bloom’s though, judging by the filly sized bed. There was a partially melted bag of ice fallen over on the floor beside the bed, and the blankets were dissheveled and tossed aside. The sheets were entirely missing. It didn’t look like Apple Bloom was here, and Twilight made to go check the bathroom, but then she noticed where the sheets had gone. One of the sheets was tied by its corner to the bedpost nearest the open window, twisted like a rope and stretching tensely toward the window, outside and down.
Twilight dashed to the window, sticking her head out to find a rather bruised looking Apple Bloom already halfway down the wall, looking up at her in terror. “Ohh, no.” Twilight said right at the moment Apple Bloom shrieked “Oh no!” Twilight grabbed the bedsheet in her magic, reeling it in saying, “You’re not getting out of this , little filly!” In response, Apple Bloom jumped.
Apple Bloom jumped. Twilight’s heart stopped.
She caught the filly entirely in her magic. You don’t lift ponies like that in your magic, it just does not work. You grab a hoof or a tail or an ear and you don’t try to hold them high off the ground, but Twilight panicked and now she had Apple Bloom in a slippery unstable cushion of aura far away from the solid earth, and nothing else. It was like trying to hold a cork underwater from ten feet away with only a pole in your mouth to push it down with. A cork that was struggling. “What are you doing Apple Bloom?! You’ll fall!” Twilight shouted when Apple Bloom fought against her unnatural grasp, losing the filly who plummeted, before Twilight caught her again.
“Falling is better than dying !” Apple Bloom shouted at Twilight in a strangely familiar tone. Twilight was losing her again! The filly could break her leg at this height, or worse! Twilight didn’t have the time or concentration to summon a pillow or increase her air resistance, and she just didn’t have the reflexes to grab Apple Bloom’s thrashing tail while the filly was falling .
There would be only a split second to protect her from—protect! That’s it! Twilight lost Apple Bloom, who plummeted again, but with a practiced twist, Twilight turned her aura into a force bubble which popped into existence around the falling filly, right at the moment that Cheerilee and Scootaloo ran around the corner of the farm house. Then, Apple Bloom dropped like a stone.
Then Apple Bloom bounced.
Twilight watched with a peculiar sense of detachment, from the second story window as the other two chased after Apple Bloom. She hadn’t thought that the force bubble spell would be so ...elastic. It sure had a lot of momentum going. Sensible since it appeared during freefall, where a filly’s velocity increases very, very quickly. Twilight made a mental note that force bubbles apparantly only remain geosynchronized when created at zero velocity. Not very much friction either, or attenuation. She couldn’t exactly cancel it without the filly getting more hurt, and she certainly couldn’t control its rapid motions. It was too far away for conventional telekinesis, as Twilight’s horn was already in use, and she only had limited success with layering spells post-casting. Surely there was a spell that could help this situation though. Twilight just had to think.
Cheerilee solved the situation the earth pony way, by jumping bodily on the force bubble, and rolling with it to drag it to a halt. At the sight of that, Twilight left her horn running but retreated immediately from the window, and jumped down the stairs. She charged out of the farm house like a madmare, running around the corner to where the three of them were clustered beneath Apple Bloom’s window.
“What do you mean, ‘not me too’?” Cheerilee asked the bubbled Apple Bloom suspiciously.
“Please Miss Cheerilee!” Apple Bloom shouted from within the force bubble, “You gotta help me! Twilight is gonna kill me!”
“If I was going to kill you,” Twilight said as she calmly walked up to the three of them, “Then why would I save you from falling to your death?”
There was a peculiar whitish blob floating in the force bubble with Apple Bloom, one that the filly was avoiding touching at all costs. It almost looked like... oh. Ew. But that aside, Apple Bloom manuvered herself to look at Twilight with pleading eyes and said, “Please you gotta fight it! Don’t let it get you in its thrall!”
“Let– ...what?” Twilight asked the alarmed filly, feeling somewhat alarmed herself at such an extreme reaction. Why was Apple Bloom afraid for her ? Apple Bloom was supposed to be disgusted at Scootaloo, but nothing more serious than that!
“Ah mean Scoota—that!” Apple Bloom said pointing an accusing hoof at Scootaloo.
“Why does everypony think I can hypnotize ponies?” Scootaloo complained exasperatedly.
“Because that’s what you do!” Apple Bloom shouted, “Nopony would let you live if they weren’t enchanted!”
“Scootaloo tells me you told her she should ...die,” Cheerilee cut in. “Why would you say such a thing? What happened between you two?”
Apple Bloom’s face twisted in anger and grief, and she said very emphatically, “That ain’t Scootaloo.”
There was a silence.
The wind whispered through the trees.
“That thing ate Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom said in a broken voice, “An’ it ate Archer! An’ now it’s gonna eat me !”
Scootaloo fell back on her haunches unseeing, muttering, “That can’t be... I can’t... could I? That’s the stupidest... that’s the craziest thing I ever heard...”
Apple Bloom saw Scootaloo’s doubt and that she caught the adult’s attention, so she continued to entreaty them. “It’s just pretending to be Scootaloo to get your guard down. It stole her memories and now you cain’t even tell! But I can see the signs! Just like Pinkie said!”
Twilight’s ears went flat.
Both Twilight and Cheerilee turned to look at Scootaloo with varying reactions, and Scootaloo looked back at them with a horrified recognition in her eyes, like she was familiar with being looked at like this. Twilight couldn’t help her disgust from softening at the sadness in that filly’s face. “I-I didn’t,” Scootaloo sniffled, “I didn’t do anything! It’s a lie!” her voice growing shrill.
“Alright, I think I know what to do here,” Twilight said shortly. She used her trick of summoning the magic in her horn before cancelling the spell to eliminate the warm-up time, thus the moment that Apple Bloom’s desynchronized force bubble faded, another one popped up around Scootaloo. A kinetic tap ensured the vomit plummeted harmlessly away from Apple Bloom to the ground, and when Apple Bloom landed, she immediately started to run away. Scootaloo’s face was a war of rage and denial, what looked like the bitterest tears rising in her eyes as she slumped there defeated. Ignoring her completely, Twilight called out to Apple Bloom.
“Apple Bloom!” Twilight shouted. “Scootaloo cannot escape this force bubble! I promise she can’t hurt you as long as I’m here! Please don’t run away!” She was about to whisper to Cheerilee, to ask if she would give chase, but Apple Bloom did stop running mid-step, and her hoof wavered in the air. “I need to know the signs!” Twilight continued to shout to her entreatingly, “I need to know what Pinkie Pie told you! Please Apple Bloom this is very important!”
Apple Bloom approached them sideways, never coming any closer than a couple strides. Now that Apple Bloom was outside of the bubble’s pink glow, it was plain to see how much she was beat up. Her eye was swollen shut and she was limping, if not badly, on one leg. Her chest and side looked pretty badly bruised. One of her ears was entirely wrapped against her head in a bandage.
“I-if you were in its thrall, then I’d already be eatin’ already, so I’m trusting you,” she said in a tense voice keeping her distance, “But ah just wanna be careful, so”
“It’s perfectly alright, Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee said encouragingly. Twilight nodded weakly. The filly remained standing that far away not a step closer. It would have to do.
“So Pi–” “What did–” the filly and Twilight both began at once. Twilight blushed, and said, “Go ahead.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Pinkie Pie didn’t exactly tell me specific, but ah know what ah overheard,” Apple Bloom said resolutely. “She was bein’ real loud so even though she was talkin’ to Applejack there weren’t no way I could mishear, so ah know she really did said it.”
Twilight nodded eagerly, “And?” Cheerilee shushed her.
“And ah thought she was bein’ crazy like usual,” Apple Bloom continued, “She said there was a monster called the Fillysprite, and that it ate Scootaloo and she was gone forever. And Applejack laughed at that sayin’ she seen Scootaloo just the other day, but Pinkie said it was like a parasprite except that it didn’t turn food into parasprites, it turned foals by devouring them and spitting out a copy, like a parasprite. It replaces the foals one after another until there aren’t no more foals left in town. And she had to stop it with the uh, Apple Family banjo.”
Apple Bloom blushed and added hastily, “A-ah didn’t believe her ah mean, it was a crazy ghost story! And neither did Applejack, until Pinkie said that you could tell when a foal had got replaced, because of the signs. They started bein’ friends with strangers for no reason, stopped eating as much and they got wings that didn’t work and that they enchanted adults into thinking it was okay to eat foals, and Rainbow Dash saw it happen for real but the Fillysprite had her in its thrall, so Rainbow Dash just got all weird and started tryin’ to adopt it.”
Apple Bloom shuddered. “Ah still didn’t believe her, and neither did nopony, so Pinkie ran off all angry sayin’ we’d regret it. A-and Scootaloo was actin’ all weird at school that day and I kept tellin’ mahself it was a lie but before I could tell Sweetie Belle about it, Scoot–the thing snuck up on us when we were all alone, and... and then that Archer filly ganged up on us too, and they were acting like they were best friends all of a sudden, just like Pinkie said. And Scootaloo, she was talking like bein’ swallowed up an’ spit out was no big thing and she was gonna do it to us a-and ah knew... Pinkie had to be right...”
“Is this true , Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked incredulously, looking at the despondent filly still trapped in Twilight’s handy pink foal trap.
“I-it–” Scootaloo stammered, shouting, “No, it’s not true!”
“You liar!” Apple Bloom accused angrily.
“No, Apple Bloom, it,” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed in agitation, “It is true but it’s not what you think it just... it just sounds really bad!”
“See?” Apple Bloom said looking at the adults pleadingly, “It’s tryin to make it sound alright to get eaten!”
“Wow!” Twilight exclaimed, coming out of her shock induced trance with a bang. “Wow, Apple Bloom,” she repeated in a stunned voice, “It, wow. You, you have every right to think that Scootaloo is an evil monster bent on wiping out Ponyville’s foal population.”
“I’m not!” protested Scootaloo, kicking hopelessly at the bubble’s edge.
“So... you believe me?” Apple Bloom asked hesitantly.
“Well, that’s just it,” Twilight said, letting the idle lock of hair fall out of her mouth, waving a hoof as she explained, “You have every right to think that, because your emotional state ensures that you won’t be able to see the subtle flaws in your own argument, that make everything you said totally and completely wrong.”
“Ah know what ah saw!” Apple Bloom said hotly.
“Just like the wedding!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly, “You knew without a doubt that it was the real Cadance getting married, even though you were totally wrong!”
Apple Bloom’s pupils narrowed a bit as she said, “I– what?”
“Scootaloo hasn’t been deceiving us all this time,” Twilight announced, “Pinkie Pie has!”
While everyone stared in amazement, “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight continued in a triumphant tone, “Carefully worded her story so that everything that was true about Scootaloo would seem evil!”
“What?” exclaimed the three ponies to her with varying degrees of confusion and disbelief.
“Scootaloo,” Twilight continued undaunted, facing the imprisoned filly, “Why did you bring Archer to see Apple Bloom?”
Scootaloo blinked then said disappointedly, “I wanted my friends to be friends with Archer because she doesn’t have any, and I thought we could be ...friends.”
“And why didn’t you do that months ago? Or last year?”
“Because I could have slipped up,” Scootaloo answered readily enough, “And said something only Archer would have known, and then our secret would be out.”
“Why did you stop keeping it secret this morning?” Twilight pressed. “Why change things and tell Apple Bloom now?”
Scootaloo looked at Twilight directly saying, “Everypony was finding out so I didn’t want my friends to find out before I could tell them!”
“But was there somepony specific who may have I dunno, recommended you speak with Apple Bloom?”
“You did, Miss Twilight!” Scootaloo said stomping hotly. “What were you think—”
“You’re right, Scootaloo!” Twilight cheered, “As recall, I told you that Apple Bloom was the only pony who saw Zecora for the pony she is, when everypony else thought she was a monster.”
“Yeah well,” Apple Bloom fussed. Oh, Twilight noticed that Cheerilee went to sit with her. Good idea, in hindsight. “Zecora didn’t eat mah friends!” the fussy filly protested.
“So Scootaloo,” Twilight continued ignoring Apple Bloom’s statement, “You were being friendly with Archer at school.” Twilight began to pace sedately alongside the farm house as she spoke, “Because you no longer had a secret to keep, not because you had been suddenly replaced by an evil monster.”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo protested woundedly.
Twilight had to chuckle when she asked, “Are you a, heh, a parasprite Scootaloo?”
“No!” Scootaloo protested ardently.
“She’s just lyin’!” Apple Bloom said stubbornly, “Why should ah trust anything that comes out of her mouth?”
“Apple Bloom,” Twilight said now addressing the yellow filly, who startled at the sudden intense attention despite asking for it, “You’ve known Scootaloo for what, 2 years?”
“Y-yeah,” Apple Bloom said hesitantly, “Almost two.”
“Did she have normal pegasus wings when you first met her?”
“Course not!” Apple Bloom said, “How else could she have pulled us around on that scooter of hers?”
“Wasn’t that one of the signs?” Twilight asked leadingly, “Having ‘wings that don’t work’?”
“They worked!” Apple Bloom said defensively, “Ah mean her scooter, and—”
“And she wasn’t using her scooter all of a sudden today?”
Apple Bloom frowned. Yes, got her! Twilight tried not to outwardly dance with glee, simply moving onto the next checkpoint. “What were the other signs?” Twilight asked, “Something about the monster eating less than other fillies?”
“B-because it ate fillies so it didn’t need to eat!” Apple Bloom said in a desperately speculative tone.
“And has Scootaloo ever eaten what you’d call a full meal for a filly?”
“She eats like a freakin’ bird,” Apple Bloom said reflexively. Then stopped herself looking contemplative.
Twilight pawed the ground eagerly, saying “Did she ever eat too much and then, I don’t know, have to leave suddenly? Maybe at a party?”
“Well there was the party where we met, but...” Apple Bloom stopped cold again.
“Just how long has Scootaloo been this way?” Twilight asked whimsically. “And all that time she never had a single chance to devour you and replace you with an evil clone?”
Apple Bloom looked up and there were tears in her eyes. Twilight hoped they were the good tears. “B-b-b-but P-pinkie,” she whimpered thickly.
“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said flatly.
Apple Bloom looked like she wanted to cry, but she was silent. Composing herself she stood on her hooves and walked over to the magenta bubble in which Scootaloo and part of the ground was encased. Scootaloo was crouched defensively looking up at Apple Bloom, using her wings to keep herself from drifting off the ground, but Apple Bloom just looked at her with her good eye, and touched the force bubble with a hoof. “Scootaloo?” she said in a tiny voice.
Twilight canceled her horn at that moment, and the force bubble faded out with a slight hum. Now or never. Apple Bloom leapt at Scootaloo and tackled her in a choking hug saying, “Oh Scootaloo, ah thought you were gone forever! Pinkie Pie said you were dead!” Scootaloo backpedalled, but didn’t fight back too hard, gasping out, “Apple Bloom...!”
“Ah’m so sorry,” Apple Bloom wept, “Ah don’t ever want you to be dead, ever!” Scootaloo stopped struggling when she said that, and got this haunted look on her face. She hesitantly extended her hooves around Apple Bloom’s back and hugged her, then hugged her tighter. It wasn’t long before Scootaloo was crying harder than Apple Bloom holding onto her like a drowning mare.
“Um...” came Apple Bloom’s voice eventually. “Can you leggo Scootaloo? This actually really hurts.”
Scootaloo separated hurriedly, wiping at her eyes and stuttering, “O-oh sorry I-I really didn’t think, wow Apple Bloom you look like cra...” she glanced at Cheerilee, “...really bad.”
Apple Bloom half grinned, “It’s mostly just ugly,” she said. “Ah should put some ice on it but, ain’t anything like what I did to you .” She seemed guilty about it, but confused at the same time, saying “But... you’re all better now! How did you recover so fast?”
“Same way I always do,” Scootaloo said easily. “Went inside Archer for a while, and when I came out I was good as new!”
Apple Bloom gave her a confused look. “Went inside Archer?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah, you know,” Scootaloo hinted, “She uh, de-voured me and spit me out?”
Apple Bloom was silent, took back a step, then shouted, “You just said that was a lie!”
Scootaloo shook her head frantically saying, “No I didn’t! When did I say that?”
“You did!” exclaimed Apple Bloom backing up further, “Ah don’t want you to eat me!” Uh oh. Twilight lit her horn at the two, undecided who was most dangerous or in the most danger at this point.
“I’m not going to!” Scootaloo shouted back at Apple Bloom. “Why would I ever eat you?”
“Because Archer ate you!” Apple Bloom shouted matter-of-factly. A very peculiar way to shout, but she managed it somehow.
“No, it’s not—” Scootaloo shoved a hoof against her own brow. “It’s only because Archer is the same as me!” she declared.
“Well yeah,” Apple Bloom said leadingly, “After she ate you, and replaced you with a copy of herself!”
“I’ve always been this way!” Scootaloo said staring at Apple Bloom challengingly.
Apple Bloom just huffed, sneering, “How could you have been this way before Archer devoured you an’ made you one of them?!”
“Because I made Archer!” Scootaloo explained pleadingly, at her wit’s end.
“Then how did—wait,” Apple Bloom stopped her retort and looked down, touching a fetlock to her mouth.
“Okay, okay,” Scootaloo waved her hoof, “This is how it is. I was eating um, something. Normal food . And then I had to throw up, and Archer came out. And I was just keeping her around as a backup, but then I kind of started to like her. So I kept her out until she was ready to go to school, and... and it didn’t work out so well. But we were both going to school, and then I got hurt, and then Archer ate me, and spitted me out again.”
Scootaloo enunciated very clearly when she said, “I’ve N E V E R been any different than this, and N O T H I N G changed me into a... a me .”
“Fillysprite,” Apple Bloom prompted.
“That sounds stupid,” Scootaloo grumbled. It looked like things were still simmering below a boil so Twilight released the grasp on her magic. Twilight was starting to get the impression that these two really butted heads together a lot.
“So I’ve never ...eaten another filly,” Scootaloo said struggling with her words, “Just a filly....... sprite, and only just regular food besides that. I don’t even know what would happ...I don’t even know how I’d eat a filly!”
Apple Bloom heaved a shuddering sigh, and still looked askance at Scootaloo saying, “This is a lot to take in. All this time, you never even... ah mean we never even... ah mean, what’s that even like ?”
“It’s um...... filling,” Scootaloo said looking away, “And kind of scary I mean not that I’m scared or anything but I just can’t move when I’m all stretched out like that, so it’s kinda dangerous.”
“Stretched out?”
Scootaloo laughed dryly, “Yeah, what do you think I shrink the fillies first?”
Apple Bloom’s eyes crossed and her tail went down. “Buh...” she said dumbly, “How do they fit ?”
“It’s really not that hard,” Scootaloo said scratching at her nape with a nervous hoof. “I just go like this.”
Twilight jumped up as fast as she could and said “I really don’t think—” but Scootaloo had already unhinged her jaw and expanded her mouth cavity, yawning like a gateway into fleshy oblivion. As soon as she spread open like ...that, Scootaloo closed her mouth, returning to her original proportions with a practiced ease.
“...and they just get in,” Scootaloo concluded. Apple Bloom had in the meantime skittered backwards so fast she fell on her rear end, hyperventilating on the spot. Scootaloo seemed to perceive that she’d made a ...social faux pas, and winced, rubbing her foreleg. “I mean, it’s nothing special,” she backpedalled verbally, “I mean, s-sorry it’s weird I know I just I mean it isn’t that bad is it?”
“For future reference Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said in a detached tone, “It’s considered rude to open your mouth in front of another pony without their permission.”
Scootaloo’s ear twitched irritably, “Oh so this is like that tail lifting thing,” she said grumpily.
“Scootaloo... you aren’t living at the orphanage, right?” Cheerilee asked in a slightly stronger voice.
“Yeah I... I was faking that...” Scootaloo mumbled, casting her gaze downward. “They’d find out, if I was.”
“Do you have any parental figures in your life at all?”
“Well I–” Scootaloo frowned saying somewhat defensively, “I have Rainbow Dash now! She’s my new sister!”
“As of when?” Cheerilee asked with a note of vexation.
“As of...” Scootaloo hesitated before proudly claiming, “As of last month!”
Cheerilee facehooved. “I’m beginning to understand why you’ve been so difficult to discipline,” she mumbled darkly.
“I never knew you were so ...stretchy,” came Apple Bloom’s quiet voice. She was still sitting where she’d fallen but her breath had reduced to a normal rate.
“Yeah I guess I am pretty stretchy,” Scootaloo said looking at her own hoof and pulling on it sort of like a rubber band. “Sorry I really didn’t know it would spook you so bad... I just never had somepony to show before. I mean, you can understand why I wouldn’t show anypony.” Her ears went down a bit as she muttered, “I never asked to be like this; it just happens.”
Apple Bloom looked at her silently one more moment then said, “Ah meant it when I said ah don’t want you to die. If you really have been this way all this time... ah thought something killed you and took your place an’ it was gonna get me next, and then Sweetie Belle.”
“If something like that ever exists,” Scootaloo said dryly, “I hope you kill it before it gets me.”
“Land Sakes Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom laughed, “You know I would!” And that seemed to do it.
Twilight felt her heart swell with joy as the two fillies touched noses. Apple Bloom a bit hesitant at that, but only from the remnants of a bloody nose. Twilight had been so worried when Apple Bloom was acting so strangely, that something had happened to her or something sinister was going on, and now it all was starting to make sense. Everything was starting to make sense, except why Pinkie was deceiving them. It was just too much to attribute that to Pinkie being Pinkie.
“Ah’m just glad ya came all the way out here to see me Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said encouragingly. “Mah sister’s gonna be awful mad when she finds out though!”
“What, because we were fighting again?” Scootaloo said with an eye roll.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “No, because after ah came home all beat up, Applejack went with Pinkie to the library to ‘destroy the monster.’ Ah’d be real worried if you were still there!”
Twilight teleported so hard that her ears popped.
She appeared in the library foyer to the terrible sound of perfect silence. “Archer?” she shouted. “Rainbow Dash?” The front door was hanging open. She ran outside, casting her gaze around frantically. Her “CAUTION: IMPORTANT MAGICAL EXPERIMENT sign was gone, and in fact the entire wooden engraved signpost was gone, broken off at the base and thrown to the ground. And what had broken it off was...
“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said her ears focused at the sounds outside the library, “Something on the other side of the square. Sounds like a marching band.”
“A marching band?!” Archer exclaimed excitedly jumping up and running to the door, “Oh can we see it? Can we go see it?”
Rainbow Dash winced, saying, “I dunno, it’s I mean, you’re not supposed to leave the library and all, so we’d better not–” Archer had already opened the door and walked outside.
“Hey, kid! Come back!” Rainbow Dash ran outside the tree house after the eager filly. That’s why Dash didn’t see it until the movement out of the corner of her eye contacted with her side, knocking her over so hard that she broke the library sign as she crashed against it. Rainbow Dash tried to confront, or even face her attacker, but her body was just not responding to her demands. “Wh...?” she slurred numbly. She even didn’t have to turn her face though, because a familiar voice sounded in her ears.
“Ah’m sorry, sugarcube, but we’ll have you fixed up once you’re yourself again.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, running up to the fallen pony. Rainbow lay there on top of the broken sign in a boneless pile of fur and feathers, one wing splayed up in the air with the other limp and caught underneath her. The worst part is, Rainbow appeared to be fully conscious , and was trying to lurch around to face Twilight. “Twilligh!” Dash shouted out in a drunken slur.
“What happened, Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight asked drawing up in alarm as Rainbow Dash flapped her only good wing. The pegasus didn’t have any apparant bruises or abrasions, and her face showed alarm, but no pain.
“’jack did something!” she said with difficulty one eye heavily dilated and unseeing. “Can’t... move!”
“Ohh, stay there Rainbow Dash I’ll be right back!” Twilight exclaimed worriedly. She ran into the library and summoned out a host of books. Everypony’s Enigmatic Enervations had what looked like the right disorder, but implied that it was viral so she had to check Curing Curious Clinical Conditions to suggest an alternative treatment option—
“Archer!” shouted Rainbow Dash. She’d somehow managed to pull herself by one hoof half through the doorway to get Twilight’s attention.
“Archer!” Twilight repeated dropping her books heedlessly. “Where is she?” she asked bending over Dash. “Is she okay?!”
“Followed...” Dash bit out in a grimace of concentration, “Pinkie!”
“Where? Where did they go?” Twilight asked shrilly.
“Dnghtnphbt,” Rainbow Dash said slumping in defeat. She paused at that, then lay her head on the ground and carefully spat out, “Don’t... know.”
Twilight paced back and forth saying, “Why aren’t they here ? Where is the angry mob? Where would they go? Why would Archer follow them?”
“Mghrbl,” Rainbow Dash said informatively.
Twilight cradled Dash’s head in her hooves saying, “What? What is it, Rainbow Dash?”
“MMm,” Dash said flapping her wing again, “Marching... band.”
“Pinkie was collecting instruments,” Twilight admitted, “But why would Archer ...”
There are giant colossi roaming an unending dark plane of rubble, debris, various and sundry. Now and then they mature, the light fails in their massive single eye and they too fall, collapsing to pieces as they descend heavily to the ground. Occasionally a small creature scampering about the ruins manages to rescue their darkened core. They may fight over it jealously ruining it as it shatters to pieces, or one might escape the rabble, descending through a nightmare machine that fills their journey with deadly traps and impassible barriers. But somehow one will make it through and descend to the room of the keystone, with its walls glowing in what might be arcane runes or incredibly complex technical components. If the final guardian can not destroy the creature before it slots the eye into place, making it and the room light up with information and awareness, then a pony will have an inspiration.
Twilight leapt to her hooves shouting, “Holy bucking shit they are parasprites!”
Rainbow Dash’s head hit the floor with a clunk and an inarticulate curse.
“Wait here, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said hurriedly lighting up her horn, “I think I know where they are!”
Twilight’s triumphant cry was followed by her horrified one, “I think I know where they are !”
As fast as she could, Twilight winked out again, appearing at a familiar entrance to the boundary of the Everfree forest. She was sorely tempted to teleport into the Everfree forest, but nopony ever did that if they didn’t want to end up deconstructed, divised or spliced. She didn’t hesitate from galloping into the murky forest though, leaving her home behind for this lawless expanse. If Pinkie passed by the library, then this would be the quickest river access outside of pony territory. This is where Pinkie went last time. Twilight could only hope she wasn’t too late!
Fortunately by the sound of a marching band ahead, Twilight could tell she wasn’t too late. She could see the river already, though! Why had she never asked Pinkie how she knew that song, or why it had such power? How could Twilight have not have seen this coming? She redoubled her pace, her legs burning as she caught up with the thankfully small retinue travelling at a thankfully stately pace. Applejack and Granny Smith were reluctantly following along at the rear. Ahead of them were Twilight’s neighbors, the three probably just there for the spectacle as usual. Next was Licky, then Archer who were just hopping along without a care in the world, big smiles on their faces. Taking the lead was Pinkie Pie already standing on the river bank wrapped in 12 different instruments and somehow playing them all at once.
Cursing herself for not having practiced a sound cancellation spell, Twilight instead used her element of surprise to catch Applejack in the strongest force bubble she could come up with. That should hold her for a while. “Pinkie, stop this!!” Twilight cried out. Granny Smith stopped short at the pink barrier appearing around her daughter and Applejack immediately hurled herself against it hooves coming down with a wavering thunk.
“They’re controlling you, Twilight!” Applejack shouted earnestly, “These ain’t real fillies!”
“They’re not controlling me!” Twilight shouted, “You can’t kill them, Pinkie! What you’re doing is wrong!” Archer was already splashing into the river without hesitation. Pinkie didn’t even miss a beat though, the bouncy pleasant song she was playing contrasting sharply with the grim expression on her harmonica entrenched face. Twilight was quickly losing control of the situation. Even the flower trio were looking at Twilight with a grim certainty, surrounding her in a semicircle and blocking her against the river.
“These things eat fillies, Twilight!” Applejack shouted, “Look at them, they’re bucking parasprites !”
“That’s not—” Twilight stomped looking between her friends in a wide eyed panic, “You’re wrong , Applejack! Pinkie is deceiving you!” Archer’s head disappered under the water.
Several things happened very quickly at that point. As the energy peeled off the barrier surrounding Applejack, and directed itself into a lethal bolt of arcane force heading straight for Pinkie Pie, Applejack’s hooves struck again, the thinned barrier shattering like candy glass, sending her face forward in the dirt. The flower trio were screaming their heads off and charging Twilight, as accompanying Pinkie Pie’s stunned expression, there was a huge smoking hole going right through her accordion. And Twilight threw herself bodily into the river.
There was the sound of an accordion deflating.
The river was murky and swift, easy to lose your hooves on the slippery muck of the bottom. Twilight lit up her horn just using its glow to sweep around seeking out Archer. She didn’t know if Archer was just staying under, or if she was getting swept away with the current or if she was compelled to inhale or anything about this. She hadn’t even thought about Pinkie’s way of dealing with parasprites. It didn’t matter how it happened; it was supposed to be just... destroying a bunch of parasprites! Twilight had to find Archer and fast. She couldn’t lose hope! She—she found Archer.
The dim silouette of the filly came into her vision. Archer was rocking slowly there under the water, like she was going to sleep. Twilight grabbed around her waist and pulled as hard as she could, forcing Archer to the surface. Twilight surfaced shortly thereafter, scrambling for the river bank and swiftly finding out how hard it is to swim with a filly in your hoof. Archer wasn’t struggling, just moving weakly against Twilight in a peculiar rhythm. Twilight felt her gut drop out when she realized that Archer was still dancing.
With Archer held in her forelimb, Twilight’s other hooves caught on the slippery dirt and pulled herself up the riverbank, bit by bit. She was far downstream from where they’d jumped in, but the ponies had followed Twilight down the bank, to stand over her sodden figure. Twilight looked defeat in the eye, as Applejack loomed over her, hoof upraised.
“Please Applejack, just listen!” Twilight spluttered water dripping down her face. “Just listen! Please!” Applejack didn’t answer, so Twilight forced herself out of the water heedlessly, pulling the still twitching Archer to safety. The blow to spiraling unconsciousness never came, so Twilight assumed that Applejack was giving her a chance.
Archer stopped moving, thankfully and worryingly, once out of the water. As soon as Twilight had her footing, she snagged Archer’s tail, pulling her up into the air through sheer force of will (literally because she’s a magic unicorn). Water poured out of Archer’s mouth then, as she went completely limp.
Only after Twilight had deposited Archer on the riverbank did she spare a glance at Applejack. Applejack didn’t look angry or furious though. She looked terrified! “What have they done to ya, Twilight?” she asked in muted horror.
“Nothing has done anything ,” Twilight asserted. “There are no enchantments, no compulsions, no possessions, tricks, deceptions, suggestions or pony snatchers!”
“A likely story!” shouted Pinkie Pie butting up beside Applejack. “They’ve had you in their eyeballs for days!” she accused Twilight giving her the old Pinkie eyeballing.
Archer started to cough, and Pinkie shouted, “No!” diving frantically at the little filly and dragging her back into the water before anypony could react.
“Pinkie, no!” Twilight cried, yanking Archer back with her magic.
“I’ll put it in the water myself!!” Pinkie shouted back resolutely.
Pinkie pulled and Twilight pulled harder, and as the earth pony’s natural connection to the land was currently a slimy watery sludge under her hooves, there was just no way Pinkie was going to get even one hair on Archer’s head in the water again.
“Something ain’t right here,” Granny said making her contribution to the situation count hobbling up behind them.
“You bet there isn’t!” Twilight shouted. Archer had her eyes open now and was staring at Twilight in abject terror, her tiny wings buzzing frantically but uselessly. “If you would all just slow down and listen to me!”
“Hold on a sec, Pinkie,” Applejack said a lot calmer than she looked. “Granny’s right. Something ain’t right here!”
“No!” Pinkie shouted and, and there were actually tears running down her eyes, “If I hold on a sec it’ll get me! And then all the foals will die! And nothing will ever be happy again!”
“Pinkie!” Twilight snapped, “Why are you lying to everypony?! How could you say those things? Do you even understand the consequences of what you’re doing?!”
“I’m lying?” Pinkie shouted shrilly, “I’m lying??”
Applejack tipped her hat down and charged Pinkie butting her forehead into her chest, making Archer fly forward freely in Twilight’s magic for a hair raising instant. Then Archer slipped out of Twilight’s aura again, and fell to the shallows where Twilight was standing. Twilight bent down and pulled Archer back to the shore. Archer was shivering now, staring forward blankly, mumbling to herself, “I... I just... I almost...”
“There was a pony who told me to slow down and listen to her when the parasprites invaded,” Applejack said, putting herself in between them and the quivering Pinkie Pie. “Ah didn’t listen to her, and we almost lost the farm. We almost lost Ponyville to a terrible famine.”
Pinkie couldn’t possibly have gotten any more pale. “T-t-they’ve got you all!” she protested in sheer denial, “They’ll kill us! They’ll take all the foals away! P-parents will— it’s not worth living without them!” Her hoof sank deeper into the muck as she backed up from the four ponies. There just didn’t seem to be any consoling her!
“Pinkie...” Twilight started, but Pinkie shouted “No!” again and turned, leaping entirely across the river, splashing up the bank on the other side. Pinkie only turned back once to shout, “She was a hero!!” before charging into the forest with abandon.
“Ah’ll go get her,” Applejack said bleakly, readying herself but Twilight said, “No, let her go. She... we need to find out what’s wrong with Pinkie Pie, but the ponies most in danger of her are right here. We need to protect Archer, and... um...”
Twilight looked around at the four ponies, Applejack, Archer, Granny Smith and herself. The Flower Trio were long gone, of course. Twilight’s heart plummeted again, and she looked at the river’s deceptively smooth surface in horror and said, “Where’s... where’s the other filly?!”
“She ran off as soon as the music stopped,” Applejack said casually