Badlands 4 months later
Scootaloo was looking around nervously as she waited inside a dark alley with a bag filled with weapons. A regular client had asked her if she would do a drop to which she agreed. What the filly had learned quickly was that the dealers would earn more money for doing deals outside the blacksmith forge would make her earn more money.
The problem was that she had learned that a creature by the name of ‘Storm King’ ruled the entirety of the Badlands. Because of this; there were specific laws and rules in place that everyone there had to follow.
One of those laws was that certain swords, axes, spears, bows and arrows weren’t allowed to be created or sold or be in possession. This meant, that the weapons she was building at the forge were highly illegal goods that were worth thousands of bits.
Now, this wasn’t a problem per see, but if she was caught, Celestia knows what would happen to her.
But she could care less. She needed the money so she could set forth her plan. It was a good plan. She would try to somehow overthrow the Storm King. It would be easy. It certainly would be. A Buffon like him couldn’t possibly rule a kingdom, only she fit that category.
Before she could continue her musings, she heard hoof steps come closer, or rather, steps of some kind. She turned to look and saw that it was a creature wearing a trench coat that had green scleras instead of the traditional white and dark green pupils. He wore a dark red trenchcoat. Or she thought it was, it was almost pitch black outside. Finally, he wore a black fedora hat.
“You the blacksmith?” He asked with a charismatic voice. There was a smile that didn’t feel... sinister. It felt warm and welcoming.
He was a potential enemy so she wouldn’t be persuaded.
“Yes, you got the bits?” Scootaloo asked curtly not once looking away from him.
Scootaloo heard metal hitting metal coming from a bag he was holding. The creature opened the bag to reveal several thousands of gold bits and gave one of them to Scootaloo who bit into it and checked the gold with the little light there was and saw no bite marks. She smiled.
“Here you go, have fun,” She snickered as they exchanged bags and went their separate ways. But before she was out of earshot, the creature asked;
“What are you doing out here?”
The orange-coated filly stopped in her tracks.
“Excuse me?”
“What made you come out here?” The creature rephrased using his free arm to show the almost run-down kingdom. “This isn’t a place for children of any kind to be out here. This place is dangerous; crawling with criminals and gangsters running around the place along with his majesty Storm King.”
Scootaloo hesitated only for a moment. She saw the light at the end of the alley where a dumpster filled with trash and rats ran around. Without looking back, she gave him the response;
“I was betrayed by the creatures I thought I could trust. That’s why we’re out here.”
With that, she left the creature in the alley who only watched as she left. Slowly he turned around and walked back to his home.
When Scootaloo got back from her deal, she made her way to the apartment and was thinking about ways of lying about the bits. She didn’t have to, but she had noticed the look Sweetie Belle had been giving the former Apple whenever she came home.
She couldn’t blame them. There were so many things she thought she would be doing with her life, but she never expected to become a blacksmith.
But then again, life has a funny way of tricking creatures.
Opening the door, she noticed that her two friends weren’t in the kitchen or living room, insinuating that they were either outside or in their rooms. The pegasus sighed in relief, made her way to her room, and closed the door behind her, locking it.
Making her way to a gold-coloured chest that was at the end of the bed, she opened it and revealed the hundreds of stacks of bits she had made the last few weeks. She knew she was rich, but she knew that it wasn’t enough, she needed more bits, more weapons.
That was just one of her many problems, she needed to figure out where she could find loyal creatures that would support her in the future.
The pegasus had tried.
She had tried to forgive them, tried to move on, but she just couldn’t. She just... there was so much pain in her heart. She could never forgive anypony in Ponyville. She had no choice. She had to do what she needed to do.
Throwing in the bits and closing the chest, she made her way to the desk that was beside a full-body mirror. She opened the drawer on the desk, revealing a journal with her name on it. She opened the journal and took out an ink and quill while wondering what she should write.
‘This is harder than any creatures think. I’m not good with my emotions,’ She thought with a bitter sigh.
Finally, she decided to just write down the things at the top of her head.
Badlands, four months since exile, night.
I managed to sell the weapons to some creature that needed them for Celestia knows what. I don’t care, as long as I earn enough bits for weapons and soldiers for the future. I feel the sorrow in my heart grow and I know what I must do. I must take over Ponyville and punish them for what they did to me.
That Is the only way they will ever realise their criminal act of injustice did to me and my friends. Yes, I spread secrets, and yes it was wrong, but to drive out three fillies over some secrets is low, especially after we tried to apologise. They will all suffer for their actions.
I have an idea of how to dethrone the Storm King. However, I must somehow find a weakness within his military that could somehow work in my favour which is a very slim possibility. But not to worry, I will find a way to defeat him and make him wish for mercy.
The creatures here in Kludgetown don’t seem to care much about the King, but that could be because the Badlands don’t care much for rulers that they could care less about. To them; Storm King is nothing more but a pest who acts as if he’s the ruler when in reality; he doesn’t even control a simple market.
I found this to be interesting. Storm King doesn’t care much for taxes in Badlands, that most likely comes from somewhere else. So I wonder, where is the source of his income? If I can somehow stop the flow, I can make his ‘empire’ fall and I in turn will humiliate him beyond understanding.
But first things first; I will need to study the military as much as possible to make a strategic take-over of Ponyville.
Scootaloo, future ruler of Ponyville.
She closed her journal and let out a content sigh. She loved writing down her plans so she could easily remember her goal. Whenever she felt unsure of what she was doing, she would open her journal, read the last few entries and have the same vigour she had before if not more.
Getting up from her chair, she trotted over to the window and saw one of Storm King’s ships hovering above the town with such an eerie aura, that it made her neck coat rise. She swore to Celestia that there was something or some creature on that ship that had evil intentions, which is what she needed.
But the orange-coated pegasus she could trust no creature but herself and her friends. Her friends would never understand fully, and she did not blame them, but she knew that they would accept it. She knew it. All she needed to do was convince them that it was the right thing; that the ponies of Ponyville needed to be punished for their crimes against them.
Oh, how she longed for the day she would stand on top of the hill overlooking everypony who would only stare in shock as the three fillies they had driven away were back seeking vengeance.
Scootaloo’s mouth twitched slightly, and her voice let out a small giggle, the giggle turned into a chuckle, and the chuckle turned into a burst of full-blown laughter at the mere thought of the faces she would see when she would return to her former home gave her a certain rush that she’d never felt before. It made her feel giddy.
Glancing at the ship, she could not help but feel her inner darkness nearly consume her like a bite. It was covering her as if to protect her from the light of day. Her face turned into a maniacal grin.