Scootaloo smashed the door open and looked around and felt her heart sink when she saw her destroyed kingdom. The buildings were all shaking and the creatures down below were crying after losing their homes.
The airship was nowhere in sight but that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t return. From what she could tell, a few were still hiding just in case.
The orange-coated filly looked towards the bombed streets and saw piles of rubble and debris all over the place and in big piles like a junkyard. The creatures who were hiding looked to the skies, furthering Scootaloo's theory that the airship might come back and attack.
She started breathing heavily and felt her anger resurfacing. She couldn’t even enjoy fresh air because smoke was the first thing that attacked her nostrils, meaning that something somewhere was burning to ash which made her worried that creatures could be seriously hurt.
On the rooftop that she stood were a few bricks laying around that belonged to builders who must have used this building as a storage facility and it made more sense when she started seeing pipes, iron of different kinds, water pumps, saws, and different tools for building. Looking around, she saw that the rooftop she was on had a bridge that connected to another rooftop.
She would investigate that later if she ever got the time.
Walking to the other side of the rooftop, she sat down on the stone ground and closed her eyes while letting out a big sigh at her failed attempt at a coup. She should have seen it coming. This is Storm King’s turf, of course, the old cot would know when some creature tried to overthrow him. She was a fool to believe she could have taken him on. She never stood a chance against a fully grown adult who had decades of experience in battle and ruling, their defences were stronger and prepared.
Sure, her attack might have been out of the blue, Storm King knew the possibility that some creatures would try to rebel at the strangest of times which was why the defences were so high. To her, it looked like nothing and she honestly believed she would succeed because it looked like nothing when in reality, the Storm King was always prepared for a coup no matter how big or small.
The thought made Scootaloo grit her teeth.
Of course, a fool of a king would have something like that prepared. Arrogance at its finest. He believes he is so high and mighty, doesn’t he? He thinks he can rule over anyone because of the fact he captured Badlands and is ruling it in such a disgusting manner. Does he think he can rule over Scootaloo, the greatest ruler of all time? Well, she would have her revenge.
Scootaloo laughed to herself as she realised that her ego was becoming bigger than Rainbow Dash’s head. She shouldn’t think about her won self-proclaimed greatness even if it is indeed true.
Before the young pegasus could get further into her thoughts, one of her lieutenants stepped onto the roof and looked for her before his eyes landed on the pony he was looking for.
Scootaloo didn’t need to see who it was because she already knew the creature would come to find her.
“What is it, Spike?” The supreme leader of Badlands and in the future, Equestria, asked with a raised brow as she continued to look at the ground with a neutral expression but was slowly turning into a scowl.
Spike the Dragon, the lieutenant of Crusaders Democratics Party bowed in respect to his leader before he began to speak.
“Supreme leader, I apologise for disturbing you in this distressful manner. I just came to tell you that because of the attempted coup, the Storm King is most likely going to be looking for us, how do you wish to proceed?” Spike asked with a blank look on his face his eyes showed great devotion to his leader but there was something else as well hidden behind those eyes…
Scootaloo scoffed before looking at her lieutenant with a mirthful stare as if she found the situation to be funny. She stood up and looked directly into Spike’s eyes.
“I don’t know,” she replied with a giggle that didn’t hold any warmth. Spike’s blank look persisted.
“Supreme leader, with all due respect, I do believe something we can do. I know that you know it too,” Spike said, his eyes showing that he had a plan. Scootaloo looked intrigued.
“Oh? And what idea do you have?” Scootaloo asked, adopting the same look Spike had.
The purple-scaled dragon felt shivers go down his spine. He knew he might regret it later, but when he accepted Luna’s mission, he knew he would do risky moves. What he hadn’t anticipated would be that he would willingly with his own conviction, defect over to Scootaloo’s side of the conflict.
Well, there’s no going back now.
“The coup here in Badlands was unsuccessful, but we could always…” he trailed off as he thought more about the opportunity that he was giving Scootaloo. He wasn’t sure if she could succeed, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.
“Always?” Scootaloo irritably asked with her face getting closer by each second to scowl.
“...Always try to invade Ponyville.” Spike finished with a look that let the filly know that he was serious and wasn’t pulling her leg.
The air around them turned ice cold and Spike almost shivered, this type of cold didn’t feel natural but he didn’t dare look away from his supreme leader knowing that the consequences wouldn’t be pretty if he did.
Scootaloo’s face resembled a stone. No emotion whatsoever on her face. Her movement was non-existent and her eyes seemed to be drilling into Spike’s soul which made him highly uncomfortable. The aura around her felt dangerous as if it would attack any second if you weren’t careful.
Scootaloo licked her lips.
“Why would you recommend me this for, is this a secret ploy so you can arrest me? Have you become a traitor?” Scootaloo asked with no fury in her voice but there was an edge that made Spike gulp.
“No, supreme leader, I recommend this because you speak of revenge and you have plans to invade Ponyville anyways. If we retreat now and take Ponyville by force, we will be able to build a better, stronger army and we can then try to retake Badlands to which you can rule with the love you have for your subjects.” Spike explained with a bow at the end of his little speech.
The air around them grew thick and Spike struggled to breathe but he persisted with his blank face that he had mastered. He became nervous when he saw Scootaloo’s eye looking for any lies being told.
The greatest leader to have ever walked the planet looked at her lieutenant for lies but found none but that didn’t mean that she believed anything he told before. She had a feeling that he would betray her soon but she had no concrete proof.
Maybe if she does invade Ponyville, she could lock him up in prison and then beat the answers out of him. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. But how to convince her soldiers to invade Ponyville after Storm King’s refusal to give her the power that she rightfully deserves?
Scootaloo shook her head, getting rid of her hypocritical thinking.
“Okay, lieutenant, I accept this idea, but I will have to convince them to fight for Ponyville,” Scootaloo spoke with thoughts filling her head. Thoughts about the best approaches but none of them were good enough to be convincing.
The supreme leader looked all over the place as if the environment around her held the answer. But all she found was smoke coming out of a building and what looked to be a few of her soldiers patrolling the streets of the area she managed to conquer.
“You’re dismissed,” Scootaloo said and turned around to look in the direction where she and her friends walked from Ponyville and Equestria altogether. It felt weird looking in that direction. It was as if something was calling her to come back. She would go back, of course, she had to save Sweetie Belle from the torture the poor filly must have gone through.
The orange-coated filly slammed her hoof into the ground and looked around in fury at the thought of her friend being tortured in multiple ways. She knew that Twilight was not to be trusted, that book-loving mare was probably manipulating Sweetie Belle.
“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle, I will make sure that you won’t be hurt anymore by their filthy lies,” she muttered to no one.
With those words being spoken, she turned around and walked inside the building and walked down the staircase leading to the door she had slammed open that flew off its hinges. She sighed at the sight and knew she owed her commanders an apology each. That was the first thing she was going to do, apologise to them.
When she walked inside, she saw the storm soldier, Capper and Spike drinking coffee and having breakfast. They didn’t speak much, enjoying the silence after the battle that took place.
The filly made her way inside without being noticed by the trio.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” Scootaloo said, causing the three to jump slightly and froze when they saw their commander there. “I was way out of line, calling my subjects useless when in reality; I’m the useless one. I promised you freedom and look what happened, the Storm King wiped the floor with us. I feel ashamed that I promised you so much and I couldn’t even hold my end of the bargain when you did yours.”
She chuckled at that.
“It’s sort of funny. I promise you freedom and the only way we could go about it was a coup that never would have worked. If the Storm King wasn’t tyrannical before, then he certainly is now after the stunt I attempted. Don’t worry, I don’t have any creature to blame other than myself,”
Her captain, lieutenant and soldier seemed unsure where this was going. Not even Spike knew where she was going with it, but it sounded sort of like she was giving up.
Scootaloo sighed. “However, I will succeed no matter the consequences,”
The three Crusaders Democratic Party loyalists felt their backs straighten up. Spike wanted to grin but he had to keep it from reaching his face. So she was going to take Ponyville?
“I grew up together with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in a town called Ponyville in Equestria. It’s a small town with not so many ponies that live there, but it has been a year since I last stepped inside that country. But I know for a fact that there isn’t any form of defence other than the Elements of Harmony. But we don’t have to worry, I know for a fact that they would never use it on any of us. I have heard rumours that they want to take us back and ‘apologise’ for what they did to us but I highly doubt that. They captured Sweetie Belle and are torturing her, I just know it. Because of that…”
The three braced themselves for the order she would give, the order they knew would come. The one that would change their lives and maybe the world.
“...I want you to round up every soldier that we have and march them to Ponyville. We will create the greatest country the world has ever seen, we will have power, money and most importantly; freedom and revenge. When we gain enough power, we will overtake the Storm King. We will fight for our freedom to our last dying breath! So… round them up!”
They bowed and rushed out of the house, forgetting about their breakfast and leaving Scootaloo alone inside the apartment.
The filly smiled but there was no warmth in it.
“Long live the dictator,”