//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Immortality and Change 
// by mines5 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6



If the door to her room could have an emotional response at the moment it would probably be surprised. One moment it was on the hinges the other it was on the opposite wall. The mood in the room at the moment could also be felt changing just as quickly as the door.
“What now?” Scootaloo exclaimed angrily.
She leaped up out of bed as the four cloaked ponies rushed around her. Before they could get close enough to attack she jumped straight up through the ceiling and into the room above. She shook her head, trying to eliminate the daze caused by impacting through the wooden floor and looked around. Two ponies stared at her from their bed.
“What-” the stallion started to say but was cut off by the four ponies jumping up through the hole Scootaloo had made.
She charged the nearest window and dove out into the cold desert air, plunging 3 stories before impacting the ground with a thud. The four ponies watched her run away, knowing they could keep up. They went back down into her room and found her saddlebag. They rummaged through her possessions before coming across her diary. One of the ponies started to read it but the leader stopped him.
“Don’t read that!” He growled, snatching the book away.
“Why?”
The leader put the book back into the bag. “Don’t risk getting attached to the monster.”
“Then what are we going to do with it?” a mare asked.
The leader smiled. “Maybe we could use it as bait. Vampires are very protective of sentimental objects from their old life.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” another asked.
“Then we will use the hound.”



Scootaloo laid in a desert cave. It was not the first time she had hidden in there. Two years ago she had lost control of her hunger and attacked a storekeeper on his way to work. Ponies had pursued her but she had escaped easily. Now she found herself hiding yet again but this time from a more dangerous foe.
She only had a few options open to her at the moment and some of them were less pleasant than others. But one thing was sure, she needed to retrieve her possessions and kill the ponies who took them.
She dwelt on it for the rest of the day and slowly a plan formed in her mind. The sun was setting when Scootaloo left the cave and headed back towards Dodge Junction. Her tongue already anticipating the taste of blood.


°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

The cloaked ponies situated themselves around their camp. To an outside observer it appeared that they were casually camping out for the night. But they were far more alert than anypony could have realised. No movement in the surrounding desert went unnoticed.
The youngest of the Shadow Trackers absentmindedly tossed a stick into the fire as he looked at the surrounding countryside. They believed that anyone sneaking up on the camp would be seen and they were correct in believing that. The vampire they had been hunting appeared and was making her way towards them. What surprised the cloaked ponies the most though was that she wasn’t trying to sneak up to them. She was in a full blown run!
“Here she comes!” He screamed.
The others jumped to their hooves. But too late. By the time they were completely ready, Scootaloo was already among them. But to their surprise she was not trying to kill them. She snatched up her possessions and quickly took off back into the darkness of the desert. 
“I am growing weary of this one,” stated the group’s’ leader. “Release the hound and let us be done with her.”
“Yes sir,” the youngest said as he unhinged a cage.



Scootaloo didn’t stop running for two days until she reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Only then did she stop and pull herself together. She stopped by a small stream and looked wearily at her reflection.
"What did I do to deserve this?" she whispered tears starting to form in her eyes.
Unbenounced to her, a black pony like figure with blue eyes and bug like wings stood watching wondering what could have gotten this pony so disturbed. This stealthiness was not to last though as he stepped on a twig.
“Who’s there?!” Scootaloo screamed flipping around to face where the sound had come from baring her fangs in a loud hissing predatory stance.
“Don’t hurt me!” screamed the thing that looked like a pony as it cowered in fear.
“Who are you?” she inquired after backing down her stance to a more normal one, and taking a closer look, “what are you?”
Realizing that he was no longer under threat of impending doom he poked head out from underneath his ‘hoof’ finding the pony, or at least what looked like one, standing there waiting for an answer.
“I’m an outcast... and a... changeling...,” he said hiding his head back under his hooves, “please don’t hurt me!”
“Why shouldn’t I eat you now, the last changelings we ran into were evil and tried to take over Canterlot during the wedding,” she said moving her head back to the stream, “its not like you're any different.”
This was the perfect way to prove to her that he was a better changeling than the rest. He had a different philosophy for his consumption of love.
“Thats where you’re wrong, I consume love only the true love from actually getting to know somepony. It may seem weird to hear but its what has driven my brothers to forcibly remove me from the hive.” the outcast explained standing back up.
“So what brought you to me then?”
“I could only describe it as a hole, you are its epicenter.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“What I meant, was that you have less love in your life than anyone I’ve ever met, and thats saying something.”
“Are you saying I’m lonely?!” Scootaloo stated becoming indignant and flustered, “its not as if anyone would care to be with me, most who see who I really am run screaming, which ends with me having them for a snack.”
“What could be so terrifying that they’d run in fear,” Outcast said donning a confused look, “I have yet to meet a pony that can actually scare other species, aren’t you all cute and cuddly?”
“This would be why.” Scootaloo said as she approached opening her mouth enough for the changeling to see the inside of her mouth.
“I don’t see how some pointy teeth get people all worked up...”
“Stay here for a moment, I’ll show you a reason,” she said as she trotted off to go find some kind of animal in the brush. The changeling just stood there and waited, he was too dumbfounded to move anyways.

A few moments later Scootaloo popped out from behind a tree holding a squirrel in her mouth. It didn’t appear to be moving, and her face was slightly more red than when the changeling first met her.
“Oh...” Outcast’s face blanched.