//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine: Memories // Story: Reflection of Nightmares // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// Scootaloo glanced around with a bit of trepidation and nervousness. Of all the places she could have ended up. She had been assigned to the Shining Dreadnaught, the Shining Phoenix’s last remaining airship still in operation. It was not the ideal situation to find oneself in for the Dreadnaught rarely stayed in one place for very long. She and several other foals and young recruits had been placed in the ship’s cargo hold for the better part of the last hour. Just waiting for instructions. Glancing around, the massive room had certainly seen better days. With dirty, rotten looking metal littered about and several massive holes on the flooring which seemed to just be rotting away. There was, thankfully, a bit of light in the place with several flickering candles and the odd assortment of enchanted magical lights which shone over the massive room. Luna’s dull glowing moon wasn’t doing them any favors anyway. The cold, unforgiving metal had been grating on her coat the whole time and some of the other foals had started to shiver and shake from the temperature. Enough of this! she thought and snorted. Without warning, the pegasus stood up and started banging on a large set of double doors. A loud clang echoed in the back of the room. The other ponies staring at her like she was crazy. “Hey! You gonna tell us why we’re here or are we just gonna freeze to death?!” Scootaloo screamed. She waited for a few moments but nopony came. So she went right back to making noise. “Hello! Anypony here or is the whole ship dead or something?!” Click. A very ominous-sounding click noise was suddenly heard from both doors and the first door was slowly brought open from somepony on the other side. Thinking fast, Scootaloo ran back to the center of the room and patiently waited. Hoping that nopony would rat her out. A large pegasus stallion with a tan coat stepped forward. He scowled down at the fillies and colts, looking at them all like they were a disgusting sight. Said stallion said nothing, though judging from his mannerisms and the way he carried himself, it was clear the big colt hadn’t had much in the way of rest or sleep. “So, it would seem one among you deemed it necessary to make a bit of noise.” He narrowed his eyes and surveyed the entire lot. A few ponies gulped, but all remained silent. “Anypony here care to explain why?” While nopony seemed to point to Scootaloo in particular, there was a gentle murmuring followed by everypony slowly moving away from orange pegasus. By the time Scootaloo realized what was going on, it was too late. The stallion in question nodded then slowly walked over to the orange filly. Scootaloo stood her ground and narrowed her eyes rather suspiciously at the stallion. Suddenly, the creepy looking Stallion smiled rather wickedly down at her then turned to face the crowd. “All of you, march to the top deck to accept your orders!” They stayed perfectly still while some foals merely shook in fear. The stallion sighed. “Get! Now!” he screamed which had the desired effect. Everypony scrambled onto their hooves and darted upstairs. All but Scootaloo who merely stood up rather slowly and started walking rather calmly. “You know,” the stallion began, “that was rather brave of you. Knocking like that.” Scootaloo froze but simply nodded and tried to leave, but soon the strange pony stood in her way. “What’s your name, young filly?” Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo took a seat and actually yawned which elicited a raised eyebrow from the earth pony. “Scootaloo,” she said. He nodded and went to continue, but the filly beat him to it. “Not Scoots or Schrootaloo or Scootsaloo. Just Scootaloo, got it?” she asked rather irritably. The stallion chuckled. “Oh yes, I most certainly do. Scootaloo it is. My name is Master Arrow, the captain’s lieutenant on this vessel,” he declared while casually brushing the dust off of his coat. The filly nodded while looking none too impressed. “I’d say you should treat me with more respect, but I think we both know that’s not going to happen.” Scootaloo tilted her head to the side. “What do you want from me? You didn’t make me go up there, so why am I still here?” The silence was broken up by the ship’s massive engines roaring along at a steady pace while the room they resided in would occasionally creak and shake. Upon hearing the filly’s question, however, the stallion smiled. “Scootaloo, I am well aware of your history in this army. This… pitiful excuse for an army,” he stated. A rare thing to admit among the mares and stallions in control. “You were one of the first young recruits and, well, you can see that we need younger ponies more and more. That’s no secret.” “...” “I am also well aware of your inability to fly,” he continued which caused her to gasp slightly. “Surprised? While this army isn’t exactly the most organized, I’d like to think we keep tabs on certain things. But, now tell me, what would you give for the ability of flight? Anything? Your undying loyalty to the cause? Phoenix feathers? Hmm?” Scootaloo chuckled a bit. “You’re starting to sound crazy, you know that. R- right?” The stallion backed off a bit and nodded. “My apologies. Why don’t we suspend with the theatrics and I can get right to the point? Do you wish to fly? Yes or no?” The filly gulped while glancing behind the stallion. She could make a run for it and then maybe the weird stallion would just drop the whole thing. But there was something alluring about flight. Even if it sounded incredibly crazy. “I guess so, yeah…” Arrow smiled and nodded. “Excellent. Come with me, Scootaloo. We have much to discuss.” A few hours later, Scootaloo had been briefed and brought up to the ship’s hospital wing. Though given the small size and dirty interior, it wasn’t so much a wing as it was a hastily put together place to treat injured ponies. She was sitting on a hospital bed, staring off at a nearby dirty window, waiting. A few moments later, the door to the place opened and in walked a unicorn stallion which made her eyes widen in shock. Sure, they still existed and fought in their army, but they were becoming a rare sight. The unicorn in question wore doctor’s garbs which covered up his cutie mark, but there was something rather striking about him. His horn had been neatly cut in half with the pointy like protrusion that you would normally find missing and filed down to a flat stump. “Scootaloo, correct?” He spoke and she nodded. “Excellent. My name is Doctor Prickle. I see you’re interested in our… experimental program?” “...Yeah. I guess. Hmm…” she sighed and nodded while looking down at her hooves. “I would like to apologize for my appearance. Given the nature of--” “You don’t have to explain,” she said while waving her hooves. “I know what she can do to unicorns. I- I get it.” “Erm, right. Of course. A-anyway,” he stated and gently shut the door. “It should come as no surprise that what we are about to do to you is top secret. Only the top most trusted ponies in our army have been privy to the information on these experiments, with even fewer still able to go through with them. That is… if you still want to?” “Arrow told me all of the risks and stuff. Yes, I still want to.” “Are you certain? I mean--” “I don’t want to die. If… if this will help me get stronger. Then, yeah, I’m certain.” He nodded. “Well, there are still risks. But, as far as we know, nopony has ever died upon receiving their injections,” he quickly clarified. She narrowed her eyes and scoffed. “That’s not what I meant.” “Right. Of course not.” She waited rather patiently while the stallion gathered up some supplies and got to work. As he did this, she started to talk. “Um, h- have you ever used this before on a, well… You know, somepony like me?” “A child? That’s a negative, Scootaloo. You’d be the first. We’re not fully sure what the effects would be, though we are certain it should counteract your, erm, magical illness. Shall we call it?” The filly glanced back at her wings and nodded rather solemnly. “Illness. Yeah, that.” “That being said, there will be side effects. Most common of which are occasional headaches and mood swings. The serum works by enhancing any and all aspects of the pony in question. Muscles, memory, magic… anger and so on.” “Uh, then why do they get headaches?” “...We’re not fully sure. As I’m sure Arrow has pointed out to you, our serum has yet to be fully tested. It changes a pony, down to their very being.” Scootaloo gulped and nodded. She had grown quite used to putting on a brave face at the sight of danger, but she couldn’t deny that she felt rather terrified the more the doctor paddled on about his precious serum. “You would be the first to receive it who still has yet to earn their cutie mark. It might even change how that functions,” he noted out loud, though he seemed to be speaking more to himself than her. “W- what does that mean?” she squeaked. Doctor Prickel remained silent as he finished mixing in the correct ingredients and pouring them into a rather intimidating looking vial with a needle on the end. “It means if you still wish to accept this--” “I do.” “If you do, then whatever your cutie mark would have been might change. As I said before, we have very little in terms of research. We only know that this works as intended. More… trials are needed before we mass adopt it. You would be our first child experiment. The… data we can glean from this might help turn the war in our favor. And you’re very brave for wishing to go through with it.” My cutie mark…? she thought. The filly glanced to her blank flank and almost chuckled. She had barely thought of the stupid thing in ages. It was rather difficult to focus on such childish things when you had a war to fight.  It might change… do I even care? Sighing, she nodded and held out her hoof rather submissively. “I- I’m ready, Doctor. L- Let’s do this,” she stuttered nervously. He smiled and slowly shook his head. “Sorry, filly, I gotta, um, administer it somewhere else,” he said. She tilted her head to the side but saw that he was nervously glancing at her flank, of all places. Sighing, she slowly positioned her body to face him before closing her eyes. “J- just do it.” The memories quickly vanished and she sighed. The thought of that awful vessel sickened her and so she quickly took to the skies, not bothering to look back. There, no pony could bother her. The skies were clear with very little in the way of dark rain clouds or any other pegasus flying. It was just her and various clouds. Wind flowed through her mane and brushed along the tips of her feathers and the fresh air up there felt good coursing through her lungs. But despite the clear pleasure of it all, something about flying just felt empty. For so long she had just wanted to fly. She was a pegasus, after all, so why shouldn’t she have that right? What was so wrong with taking what should have been hers in the first place?! She moaned as her vision seemed to double over a bit. Without thinking, she quickly landed on a nearby cloud to rest for a few minutes. Flapping her wings, she could sense one of them aching horribly in pain. Though, thankfully, her little patch job hadn’t torn just yet. She panted for air and thought back to the moment when her life really had changed forever. Scootaloo groaned on the examination table. The shot had been administered not ten minutes ago and she was already regretting it. “Easy, easy, Scootaloo. It will take a little while for your body to adjust. Your core and very being… even your genetics are being rewritten.” She doubled over in pain and had to force back some vomit. Her insides felt like they were on fire and everything started to hurt. “Wonderful for them,” she quipped, sounding rather annoyed. “Why does it hurt so much?!” The doctor backed up while the filly kicked and writhed in pain. “It’s likely your immune system is trying to fight off the drug as some sort of infection. But we accounted for that. A separate serum should be working right now at adapting everything. Erm, it’s probably best if you rest though.” She coughed a few times and started laughing. The pain was getting close to unbearable levels and the mad doctor wanted her to sleep?! “H- how? Are you nuts?” “Right, of course. I’ll just get you a sedative for now.” The pain seemed to double in the span of a few seconds and she began to cry. She couldn’t help it; the pain was really that bad. “H- hurry…” she whimpered. Before she could even blink, a small injection had been administered to her spine and she was out like a light. Even thinking back to it was unpleasant and she could feel the same pain creeping up her spine. In the end, it had paid off, but apparently, the fact that she could even fly had struck a nerve with Scootaloo and Pale. “Not my fault she can’t fly…” she mumbled to herself. After resting for a few minutes, she figured it would be best if she stuck to the ground for a while. Her wing was still aching pretty badly, so she took a deep breath and soared over to the most secluded spot she could find: somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres. After landing, Phoenix trudged over to a secluded looking lake and took a seat to rest again. “Mighty quiet out here, yogin’” Phoenix glanced behind her and spotted Applejack. The filly nodded and glanced away, deep in thought. “Strange for a filly to be out ah class so early. Care to explain?” Phoenix scoffed. “Care to explain why I’m being spied on?” The mare’s eyes widened in shock while the filly smiled at her. “What? Surprised that I know?” Applejack tilted her head and slowly nodded. “Well… maybe a little, but I can explain all of it. Here and now, if you want.” “...That’s it? You’re not gonna try and deny it or anything?” The farm pony chortled a tad. “Deny it? Ah, don’t think I'd be a very good “Element of Honesty” by being so dishonest, with a filly no less. No, Phoenix, you deserve the truth. Ah must admit, I didn’t think you’d confront me like this, but I had planned on telling you. Today.” Phoenix, of course, already knew this, but kept that little bit of information to herself. She straightened up and crossed her front hooves and waited. “Right. Well, truth be told,  err, Phoenix,” she started. “Ah didn’t trust ya from the start,” she stated very bluntly. The filly blinked and then blinked again. “Oh. Well, I… that makes sense.” “Look, ah’m sorry, but you popped out of that mirror and let’s just say that I and the other girls have a bad habit of running into trouble. Especially when it comes to Twi’s cooky experiments. And when I saw you and Sweetie laying there with--” “I get it. I do. So you all kept an eye on me.” “At first, yes. But you never did anything bad or nuffin’. In fact, I wanted to find out more about you more than anything. Not because I thought you were dangerous. I was… well, worried about ya.” The filly gave her an awkward stare back, not sure how to even respond. “Now don’t go lookin’ at me like that.” the mare said and then snorted. “Despite some of my friend’s more boneheaded ideas on what to do with you… including one mare who shall remain nameless! Well… we were all worried about ya. And that’s no lie.” Phoenix turned around and resisted the urge to scoff again. “Right.” “Well, you’re free to think what ya want to. I can't say I'm one hundred percent for not sending you home, but ah think you already knew that, huh?” “...” “Nevermind that, I'll forgive you for spying if you can forgive me. Deal?” The filly swallowed and slowly nodded. “But ah still have to ask, why are you out of class?” She shrugged. “Diamond Tiara was being a brat--” “And the sky is blue,” Applejack interrupted. Phoenix chuckled and then slowly sighed. She quickly delved into what she remembered happening, all the while the farm pony listened in silence. When she finished, the farm pony merely nodded. “Can’t imagine what’s going through that filly’s mind. Ah, don’t think there’s been a single day where she hasn’t bothered them three. Ugly thing, bullying.” “Hmm, yeah…”  Applejack chewed on the inside of her lip before continuing. “You know, ah’ve been meaning to ask ya.” “What?” “Could you… well, ah guess I’ll just right out and say it. Could you always fly?” Phoenix blinked. “...No.” “So then, how did you… I mean. Ah, shoot.” Applejack muttered while Phoenix tilted her head in confusion. “Ah guess I can’t pretend to understand just why Scootaloo lacks that, erm, ability. But if you’re anything like her, then ah’m guessing it must be a similar issue.” “I guess. I wouldn’t know.” From this, the mare narrowed her eyes. “Wouldn’t ya?” “W- what do you mean?” The mare backed up a bit and looked slightly apologetic. “Ah don’t mean to pry, I’m just trying to understand what makes you different, Phoenix. From the sound of things, you’ve got quite the tale to tell,” she said while Phoenix could feel her eyes widen. “Not that you have to. Nopony is gonna make ya if keeping it to yourself is that important. But it sounds like to me that maybe a bit of understanding could help put things into perspective for Scootaloo.” She went to walk away but said something else. “That is if you feel obliged to help the filly.” Applejack then stood up and tipped her hat to her before walking off. “Just somethin’ to think ‘bout.” Phoenix wasn’t sure how long she laid there, unmoving from the same spot. Possibly minutes or maybe hours. Time was a fickle thing, after all. The drug in the canister had already worn off, but headaches were normal for her. She felt exhausted in more ways than one. “I- I guess I shouldn’t have kicked her so hard,” she finally admitted. She shoved you! You big dope! she reminded herself, but she knew the shove hadn’t been that bad. “Scootaloo’s mom is not gonna like this,” she mumbled. Feeling like her wings were on fire, the filly finally decided to get back to class and in a hurry. The trek there was uneventful, though once she got near the school, she knew that there would be trouble. Cheerilee’s class had been dismissed however Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, Pale and what Phoenix presumed to be Diamond’s father had been gathered into Cheerilee's class. Immediately all eyes were on Phoenix though Diamond herself backed up a bit in fear. Pale stood up and narrowed her eyes at her. “Phoenix, just what do you have to say for yourself?!” “I’m sorry Diamond Tiara. Nopony deserves to be bucked like that,” Phoenix said with utmost sincerity. Everypony’s eyes widened in surprise, most of all Diamond’s. The filly in question blushed, pouted and looked away in apparent shame. Diamond’s father was the first to recover. He stood up and snorted. “Be that as it may, young filly, there is never an excuse to use violent force to solve your issues. E- especially on my Diamond.” Phoenix resisted the urge to snort herself. But merely nodded; Pale kept looking at her like she was some sort of anomaly and she didn’t feel like escalating things even further. “Ahem, very good,” Cheerilee started and then turned to Diamond. “Now, Diamond, do you have anything else to say?” The filly sputtered a few times, “M- me? I already apologized!” “Yes, you did to Scootaloo, but several others on the playground noted that your behavior with Phoenix wasn’t exactly kind, either.” Everypony stared down at Diamond and the filly sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry Phoenix for- for saying mean things to you.” “Excellent!” Cheerilee exclaimed. “Now, there is the matter of yours and Phoenix’s, ahem, punishment.” Some complaining and arguing later, it was decided that Diamond Tiara would not be allowed to attend recess for a week and would instead be kept in the school to study. Phoenix, however, got a far more severe punishment. “She’s suspended for a week! How is that a punishment?!” Scootaloo asked. “No school for a week sounds fun to me!” “You know I still have work to catch up on,” Phoenix noted with a hint of irritation. “Still! No school for a weeeeeeeeeeeek. So lucky…” Pale, for her part, had remained silent throughout their trek back to their home. Phoenix wasn’t sure what to think, but something about a mother’s disappointed stare made her feel sick in the pit of her stomach. Once they reached the house, Pale glanced over at her daughter. “Scoots, I need to speak with Phoenix, alone, please. Why don’t you head upstairs.” The mirror filly tilted her head in confusion while Scootaloo merely nodded. “K. Heh, nice knowing you,” Scootaloo joked and waved to Phoenix before darting up their stairs. Phoenix had faced evil beings and unspeakable horrors. She had fought and killed ponies just for the privilege of staying alive another day, but none of them seemed as terrifying as a silent mother staring her down with heavy disappointment. “Phoenix… what is it that you’re hiding from us?” The filly blinked. She of course knew and it was a lot, quite a lot. And she had very, very good reasons not to talk. “You know I wasn’t sure when to bring this up or how much to tell you, but it’s not fair to any of us to keep things this way, Phoenix. Not to us and especially not to you.” “...” Pale waited very patiently while Phoenix looked away, deep in thought. “Nothing? Nothing to say?” They waited for minutes at a time, but Phoenix felt far too afraid to speak. Thoughts of being kicked out Pale’s home swirled around in the filly’s head, deep down wondering if she had gone too far. Stupid brat, Phoenix thought rather bitterly. “Maybe… maybe I’m not being fair to you, Phoenix. I was going to wait to say this, but I’m not quite sure keeping it a secret will accomplish. The truth will come out eventually and you need to hear it.” “H- hear what?” “To hear what Princess Twilight explained to me this morning. You were still resting and we didn’t feel it right to wake you.” Phoenix gulped, but she already knew what Pale was going to tell her, but it didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking to hear, somehow. Even if it was still good news to her, in a way. “Twilight has explained a great deal to me and I’m not sure how to feel. But, I guess we can just get right to the point: She will not be sending you home, Phoenix. She, along with the other Princesses of Equestria, have concluded that activating that mirror is far too dangerous. I… don’t quite understand all of it, but their logic seems to check out.” Phoenix, for her part, still stayed silent. Not really sure what to say or do in response. The situation was quite delicate, after all. “However,” Pale started, which got the first real response from the filly in a good twenty minutes since her ears perked up. “You can repeal this decision, or attempt to, by speaking with Twilight who will relay what you tell her to the princesses. Ahem, do you understand this?” “Y- yeah. I do.” “Do… do you have anything to say to me? Anything at all? None of us will be angry or upset, I promise. We really just want what’s best for you, Phoenix,” Pale said with a slight smile. It looked warm and comforting, something any honest mother would give to their children. “Trust no one, kid. No one, you got me?” “N- not even you?” Scootaloo asked curiously. The stallion in question didn’t respond immediately; he simply stared off into the horizon. A dark swirling form of storm clouds had been gathering near Canterlot, among other places and everypony was on edge. Finally, the stallion smirked. “And here I thought you weren’t listening. Heh, trust me as far as I’ll take you, Scoots. Nothing more and nothing less. Trust can change, allies can change, the battlefield can certainly change. But do you know one thing that never does?” “Uh, hope?” she guessed quite lamely. “No. Your instincts. Your gut, child. That’s the one thing you can always trust to stay safe. The only thing.” Phoenix would have kept going with the oddly vivid memory, but she knew it only lead to dark thoughts and bitter outcomes. But, Pale was different. Her new world was different, right? “Sweetie…” Pale leaned in and cupped one of her hooves under the filly’s chin then slowly tilted her head so their eyes were locked. “There’s no need to hide things. You can trust me, you can trust us. Please, say something.” That had done it. Whatever reserve and patience Phoenix had snapped and crumbled away into dust. Phoenix gently shoved Pale backward and stood up. “Do you want me here?” The question was spoken so quietly that Pale could hardly claim to have heard it at all. “I don’t under--” “Do you want me to live with you, m- Pale?” The mare tilted her head, seemingly unsure how to respond. “I- it’s okay if you don’t,” Phoenix stated rather seriously while Pale’s eyes widened in shock. “I’m used to going out on my own, Pale. But I don’t want a pretend life and I don’t want to be lied to,” she said. At that point, Phoenix knew she wasn’t fully being fair, but she was long past the point of caring. Pale slowly closed her eyes and nodded. “How… help me understand something, please. How used to it are you?” Phoenix wracked her brain to try and come up with a reply, something Pale would find acceptable.  “No, Phoenix. I know that look!” Phoenix looked on in shock. What did she mean? “You're trying to decide how much to tell me. Or… or if you should stretch the truth,” Pale declared in an angered tone. Before she knew it, Phoenix felt her cheeks grow hot and, as if by pure instinct, her ears flopped down nervously. She didn't need to say a thing, Pale already knew she was right on the money. “Phoenix, enough of this. You're hiding secrets, bad ones. The kind nopony should be holding in, especially somepony so young. Please… please tell me what's wrong.” “I…” As the filly trailed off, the front door to their home suddenly slammed open. “Honey, I’m home!” “Hey, Sweetie!” the stallion said and quickly planted a kiss on Pale’s cheek before smiling down at Phoenix. “What’s up?” The filly stared up at what was supposed to be her father, but the sight merely sickened her. Her so-called dad had barely spoken to her in the last few days. Fuming, Phoenix shook her head and replied in a bored and angry sounding tone, “Nothing,” she said and slowly marched upstairs with Pale and her husband merely watching in shock. Pale moaned angrily and stared at her husband, feeling rather annoyed. “You really know how to make an entrance, Feather.” He backed up while shaking his head. “What? What I do?!” She sighed and took a seat on a nearby couch while shaking her head. “Nothing direct, but that could have gone better with Phoenix.” Suddenly Feather looked rather serious while staring back at where the filly had just stood. “Oh? What about her? Any news on that, uh, mirror thing?” At that, the mare gave a hesitant smile and nod. “Uh, yes. As a matter of fact, Princess Twilight stopped by while you were at work to explain a few things. You’re probably gonna want to sit down for this one.” Feather slowly shook his head. “Honey…” he started in a warning tone. Going for broke, the mare dove into the explanation of everything. From Twilight’s decision to not activate the mirror and why then ending on Phoenix’s outburst about her home. Feather, for his part, had remained silent throughout. Though one could tell something was quite wrong as he seemed to stare off into an endless void while his mind tried to reboot and consider the implications of all of this. “S- she’s stuck here?” he finally said, the fear obvious in his voice. “I- it would appear so, yes. What are we going to do? Just adopt her? Just like that?” “I can’t- I don’t- I-” Feather stuttered and tried to get out a real response, but all he managed to do was slowly sink further into the comfort of their living room couch and sigh. One daughter was crazy enough, but could they even afford to feed two? Though they knew that deep down that was the least of their worries. “H- how much have you spoken with her? I’m curious,” Pale asked while Feather groaned. “Uh, not a whole lot. Basically none, why?” “Well, she may not be our actual daughter… however, that works. Ahem, I think she needs somepony to talk to and, right now, that pony isn’t me.” It took quite a bit of convincing, but Feather eventually agreed to the awkward deed of talking to Phoenix. “Alright, alright. She up in Scoots’ room?” “I’d imagine so. Just… try not to provoke her too much. She’s keeping things in, but I don’t think that filly needs to be yelled at. She needs… guidance.” He stood up, nodded and gave a final kiss to his wife before quickly flying upstairs. “Scoots, are you home?” “Dad!” A quick hug and snuggle, which Scootaloo would always deny doing, and soon the two had collapsed into a snuggling pile with a giggling filly bucking and kicking her hooves, while Feather kept trying to pin her. “Gonna get ya!” he exclaimed. “Daaaaaad stop!” the filly responded between a few giggling fits. But the fun was not to last, as Pale cleared her throat from downstairs rather loudly. Feather sighed.  “Hey, um, kiddo. Seen your clone anywhere?” he asked, making her laugh again.  Scootaloo shook her head with a smile. “Wasn't she down with mom?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.  “Uh… wait, you didn't see her come up here?” The filly stood up and shook her head. “Nope. Hey, dad, I'm gonna go crusading with my friends. That okay?” He quickly nodded without thinking and the filly zoomed off at a speed that would have made Rainbow Dash jealous. Feather gulped and hastily started rummaging around upstairs. He checked the bathrooms, spare rooms and everywhere else. “Where the hay did she go? She can't even fly!” he argued in annoyance.  “You really haven't been paying attention to my ramblings at night, have you?” Pale said in a rather annoyed tone. She walked by him and pointed to the obviously open window. “Phoenix is not like our Daughter, honey bun. She can fly, and her bag is missing…” Phoenix ran into Scootaloo’s room and looked around. A quick glance behind her let the filly know that her counterpart was likely in the bathroom. Thinking quickly, she slammed everything she owned into her bag and zipped it closed. “Guess I should have taken Sweetie’s gift. Gross…” even for her the bag was fairly messed up with bits of blood and even old feathers which had been practically mended into the bag's surface. Sighing, she donned the thing and opened Scootaloo's window before quickly slipping out and taking to the air. “Stupid headaches…” she moaned in pain and tried to focus her vision while it doubled again and again. She grew quite alarmed when her eyes clouded over and blinking or rubbing them did nothing to clear her vision. Panting and breathing to calm down, she landed on the ground and started taking deep, shuddering breaths. Her vision still hadn't cleared and Phoenix had been at it for nearly two minutes.  When her vision finally did clear she was shocked to see a lone Diamond Tiara standing on the cobblestone pathway, just staring at her. Phoenix sniffed the cold night air and nodded to her before slowly walking away.  “Where are you going? Isn't the blank flank’s place that way?” There was a small hint or a bratty tone laced under her kind sounding demeanor. Phoenix sighed. “Do you always have to be so rude? What did those three do to you? Let me guess, nothing!” Diamond’s face turned red with apparent shame while Phoenix marched up to her. Their heads butted and the pink filly tried to back up but Phoenix wasn’t having it. “You know the world is dark enough, we don’t need stupid bullies making it worse!” “Dark? What are you talking about?” “What am I-- Are you stupid? The nightmare…” Phoenix slowly trailed off and looked around. She had spent so much time in her world, knowing that the sun would never rise that her new plane of existence still felt unreal to her. She could spot the setting celestial body off in the distance, calming her and so she slowly shook her head. “Just, nevermind and stay out of our way. Got it?” The diamond-clad filly stared at her for a good while but said nothing in response. Phoenix bristled a bit and stomped off. “When are you going back? To where you’re from?” Diamond demanded. The pegasus stopped and smiled. “Why? Sick of me already? Worried your popularity is slipping in school?” she asked in a mocking tone. More blushing and pouting which made Phoenix smirk. She couldn’t help herself as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She marched back up and smirked down at the bully. “You keep calling them blank flanks, well what’s so good about your cutie mark? Hmm?” Diamond glanced at her mark and went to retort, but Phoenix was too fast. “A tiara? That’s all you got? What does it even mean? What makes you so special?” “Shut up! I never said I was special!” Diamond screamed and shoved Phoenix to the ground who was quick to get back up. “I never once said that!” “But you think it, don’t you? You think you’re better and more special than everypony else. You think because Scootaloo can’t fly that she’s worthless and nopony cares for her. Don’t you!” At this point, Diamond had started to tear up slightly and seemed to be trying to hold it together, but the Phoenix Soldier was far from caring. “L- look I--” “Just because you’re rich doesn’t give you the right to be rotten and spoiled to everypony else!” “Jus- just because--” Again Diamond tried to speak, but Phoenix was on a roll and absolutely would not stop; it felt too good. “I’ve had enough crap from everypony and been through a living Tartarus to get here. If you think I’m going home after all of this, you got another thing coming you big brat! Now, are you gonna leave us be or what?” The spoiled filly was on the verge of outright crying and tried to say something, but all that came out were soft hiccups so she merely nodded. She had been defeated. “Just… just leave me be,” Phoenix finally said and cantered off in a random direction into town, not bothering to look back. Diamond watched Phoenix canter off into town and let out a shuddering breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She tried to quell her tears, but it took a good minute or two of crying before it finally died down to quiet sniffles and more hiccups. Never in her life had anypony, except for perhaps her mother, had made her feel so low. And deep down, she knew that Phoenix was right. She often got her way and had the school playground all to herself with everypony waiting on her every whim and command. It’s just how her mother would prefer, but Diamond wasn’t her mother and she never wanted to be anything like her. So why do I keep acting this way? It was a question that often haunted her and what Phoenix said brought everything about it to the surface. She was a brat and a bully and acted like she was better than everypony else. But I’m not… I’m not better. She sniffled a bit and went to turn around but yelped in shock and tripped over something. Looking around she quickly spotted a large hardbound book just laying on the floor. She blinked and started to gently rub the dust off of it before gasping in shock. Scootaloo's Journal The tome in question had certainly seen better days. With scuff marks and even a few drops of blood on the cover. She knew what the right thing to do was to return it to Scootaloo's house so Phoenix could have it back. But that's not where Phoenix is, she reminded herself. Diamond bit her lip and looked around while her mind tried to think which way Phoenix had gone. She was no stranger to avoiding home when she felt it was too much. She'd spent many a night at Silver Spoons place and it was almost like a second home. “But where would Phoenix go?” Then she considered that the book may hold a clue or two about the strange filly. But reading another ponies personal diary was incredibly deceiving and downright mean. She had learned that the hard way when she once stumbled on Silver Spoon's. “Still… I don't have any other ideas.” Moaning over another bad deed, one in a million that she had committed, Diamond took a seat on the edge of a small bridge and brought the book up to start reading.