Scootaloo lay in her bed eyes wide open as the sun’s morning rays spread through her room. The previous night’s events kept playing in the back of her mind, keeping her from getting any sleep at all. The face of the stallion she killed seemed to have burned itself in her mind.
Somepony knocking on her door caught Scootaloo’s attention. “Hey Scoots, time to get out of bed!” came the cheerful voice of Pinkie Pie through the door.
“I’ll be out soon,” Scootaloo said, stalling. She hadn’t come home until after midnight and she knew that Aunt Cup Cake and Pinkie Pie were going to ask what kept her. She had absolutely no idea what she should tell them. She had a strong feeling they might not react well to the idea of her accidentally killing a pony.
Pinkie’s voice snapped Scootaloo out of her thoughts. “Alrighty then, don’t take too long. I’m making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast,” Pinkie said excitedly, hoofsteps indicating her departure.
Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. She could always count on Pinkie not to be too nosy. But what am I gonna tell them? She thought. There were only two options. One was to continue on as if nothing was wrong. The distinct feeling of guilt over that pony’s death ruined that idea.
Deciding to face the music Scootaloo left her room and made her way downstairs. Her nose was greeted with the scent of chocolate and she could hear the sizzle of dough in a frying pan. She entered the kitchen to find Pinkie standing at the stove while Cup Cake and the twins sat at the table. A plate of already prepared pancakes sat in the center of the table next to a jug of orange juice and another with milk. A bowl of fruit was placed between the twins, all of its contents arranged in a colorful spiral.
“Wow Pinkie, you really went all out,” Scootaloo commented, observing the spread.
“Well duh. This is how ponies should eat every morning,” Pinkie Pie smiled, as she expertly flipped the pancake she was working on and caught them without really paying attention to what she was doing. “It’d be a good reason for ponies to get up early, right Scoots?” Pinkie asked, looking towards Scootaloo.
Scootaloo gave a sheepish grin. “Right, sorry I was just really tired. I had a hard time getting to sleep,” she said, secretly hoping that was good enough excuse to avoid any suspicion as she made her way towards the breakfast table.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. “Did you have a nightmare?” she asked, glancing towards Scootaloo with a touch of concern in her voice.
Scootaloo froze. Thoughts of what she’d done last night came to mind. “Something like that,” she mumbled, looking down at the ground as she sat at the table.
“Scootaloo why didn’t you say something?” Aunt Cup asked, joining the conversation.
“It was nothing, trust me. Just teenager stuff,” she said rubbing her neck in embarrassment, hoping that she wasn’t questioned too much.
“Oh you mean you have a crush,” Pinkie guessed as she continued flipping pancakes on the grill.
Scootaloo did a double take just as she was putting food on her own plate. “Wh-What? No, it’s nothing like that,” she said hurriedly. This conversation had taken an unexpected turn, but then most did if Pinkie was involved.
“Scootaloo has a crush?” Pound asked a devious smile spreading across his face.
“No I don’t,” Scootaloo said again.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Aunt Cup reassured the young pegasus, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “So what’s the colt’s name?”
“Feath- I mean, no I- I don’t have a crush,” Scootaloo said, a blush starting to appear on her cheeks.
“Are you gonna get cooties?” Pumpkin asked teasingly.
“Okay guys let’s leave her and her coltfriend alone,” Pinkie said as she finished with the baking and joined the others at the table. “Oh by the way Scoots I was going to go out later to pick up the flowers for the funeral. Why don’t you come with me? We can have a little mare time,” Pinkie suggested.
Scootaloo looked at the Pinkie quizzically. “Uh… sure if you want,” she answered, unsure why Pinkie would pick now for bonding time.
“Awesome, we’ll leave after breakfast,” Pinkie said as she dug into her meal.
//////////////////////////////////
Dinky walked through the halls of her school, one thing on her mind. Finding Scootaloo and giving the pegasus a piece of her mind. She had been trying to find the orange mare all day with no luck. She had scoured the halls and the pavilion during lunch, but no luck. Of course between classes the halls were filled with dozens and dozens of students, so it was almost impossible to find anypony. Such was the present situation as Dinky did her best to squeeze her way through the crowd.
“Hey Dinky,” a voice called out. Dinky turned to see Featherweight trotting up to her through the crowd. “You okay? You kinda look a little miffed.” he asked as he caught up with her.
Dinky simply shook her head. “It’s nothing, just something I need to talk to Scootaloo about. Do you know where she is, I’ve been looking everywhere?” she asked determined to find the target of her frustration.
Featherweight paused for a second, looking a little apprehensive. “Well, she got suspended because of that fight with Babs the other day, she won’t be back until next week,” he explained. “Did you guys get in a fight or something?” he asked, sounding concerned.
“Not yet, but she has a little explaining to do,” Dinky said rather vaguely.
“Well try not to be too hard on her okay. Her families going through a lot right now,” Featherweight said.
Dinky looked at the pegasus colt with confusion. “What happened?” she asked curiously.
“You didn’t hear?” Featherweight asked a look of surprise on his face. Dinky shook her head. “The other night a robber showed up at her aunt and uncle’s bakery and when they wouldn’t give him any money he…” Featherweight trailed off.
“What did he do?” Dinky questioned worry taking the place of her anger.
Featherweight said nothing for a moment, looking rather worried. “He shot Scootaloo’s uncle and took off. As far as I know he’s still at large,” Featherweight finished, keeping his voice down in case anypony was eavesdropping.
“Oh my Celestia, is she okay?” Dinky asked, her anger completely forgotten at this point. Her thoughts were only focusing on her friend’s troubles now.
“She’s fine… well sort of. She feels guilty I think. She ran into the colt that did it after he stole Diamond Tiara’s purse and she didn’t stop him,” Featherweight explained.
“We need to see if she’s okay,” Dinky said with finality. “I’m gonna go to the bakery after school. Where is it?” Dinky asked eager to do anything she could to help her friend.
“It’s just a few blocks from here, towards the city. It’s called Sugar Cube Corner,” he told her. “Tell her I said hi. I’d go with you, but I have a tutoring thing after school.”
“I’ll let her know,” Dinky assured him as the bell rang for their next class to start. They parted ways as the crowd dispersed. Once the halls were clear a lone mare stood at her locker not far from where Dinky and Featherweight had been talking. Babs had heard everything. She looked at the contents of her locker forlornly. A plan formed in her mind involving lots of apologizing as she closed her locker.
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Pinkie and Scootaloo stood in the flower shop, looking at dozens upon dozens of flowers. There was a rather awkward silence between them.
“So,” Pinkie all of a sudden said, seemingly in an attempt to break the tension, “where were ya last night? You didn’t come home until well after midnight,” she asked, her eyes still focused on the flowers.
Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the sudden inquiry. “Oh… Umm… I was just hanging out with friends,” she said nervously, cringing at the obvious lie.
“Really? So why were you all panicked when you came back?” she asked.
“Well- wait,” Scootaloo caught herself and looked towards Pinkie, eyebrow raised, “How did you know I was panicking?” she asked. She didn’t recall seeing Pinkie when she had gotten home the previous night.
“Oh I was sitting in the dark waiting for you to get home. I told Cup Cake I’d wait up for you and sent her to bed,” Pinkie explained. “I didn’t tell her you came home late and I picked up the eggs you forgot to get.”
Scootaloo simply blinked. “Wow thanks Pinkie. Umm… Why are you covering for me though?” She asked, baffled as to Pinkie’s motives.
“Because your aunt is really stressed out right now and the last thing she needs is to think you’re staying out late getting into trouble,” Pinkie said simply. “On top of that it’s the fun part of my job. It’s like hide and seek, but with words,” she said happily.
Scootaloo stopped for a second. “Okay what does keeping secrets have to do with being a travel agent?” she asked, the pink mare’s behavior confusing her to no end.
“Oh some clients just need to think they got the best seat on a flight and they believe it,” Pinkie said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Um…Right,” Scootaloo said, abandoning trying to make sense of Pinkie.
“Oh these would be perfect don’t you think?” Pinkie asked holding up a bouquet of flowers.
“Yeah sure,” Scootaloo agreed, bringing her attention back to the flowers.
/////////////////////////////////
Pinkie and Scootaloo arrived home. Pinkie had insisted that they buy flowers of just about every variety and when Scootaloo was sure they wouldn’t be able to afford such a varied display, Pinkie used a credit card and said not to worry about it. Scootaloo decided not to question it.
“We’re back!” Pinkie shouted in a sing song voice as the two stepped inside the house.
“Oh good, did you two buy enough flowers?” Aunt Cup asked. “Oh and Scootaloo, your friend is here. She’s upstairs, you better go save her from the twins,” Cup Cake added off handedly before returning her attention back to the flowers.
Scootaloo made her way up the stairs as Pinkie went over the long list of flowers that she’d purchased. The only filly she was friends with was Dinky so she wasn’t surprised to see her getting pestered by Pumpkin and Pound, bombarding her with questions.
“We’ve never seen you around here before. How do we know you’re not just a bully that goes to school with her?” Pumpkin asked accusingly.
“Now sis, be nice. If she says she’s Scootaloo’s friend than I believe her,” Pound said jumping to the gray unicorn’s defense.
“You just have a crush on her,” Pumpkin stated, crossing her forelegs.
“I do not,” Pound retorted angrily, but with a noticeable blush.
“Would you guys quit torturing my friend,” Scootaoo said in a playful tone after she felt the spectacle had gone on long enough.
“Scootaloo!” they shouted, big smiles on their faces.
“Wait so you she is your friend?” Pumpkin asked.
“Yes, now go help your mom downstairs, she’ll be making dinner soon,” Scootaloo told them. The twins made their way downstairs, mumbling in protest.
Scootaloo waited until they were gone before she turned to Dinky. “So does Pound really have a crush on you?” she asked teasingly, a smile on her face.
“I hope not. I never saw myself as the heartbreaker type,” Dinky said, looking as if she was actually worried about it.
“So what’s up?” Scootaloo asked, sitting down next to Dinky.
“Featherweight told me what happened,” Dinky said matter of factly. “He says hi by the way,” she added. Scootaloo’s smile faded at this news. Honestly, she had been distracted with Pinkie for most of the day, so the events of the past few days had had a chance to fade. “How are you holding up?” Dinky asked, looking at Scootaloo with concern.
Scootaloo sighed and let her shoulders sag. “About as well as anypony else would I guess. It’s still a pretty fresh wound, but having Pinkie around helps,” Scootaloo replied as sadness crept into her voice.
“Pinkie? Who’s Pinkie?” Dinky asked, raising an eyebrow, obviously drawing a blank.
“Oh she’s an old family friend,” Scootaloo replied, idly twiddling her forehooves. “She’s downstairs now if you want to meet her.”
There was a pause between the two for a moment, neither exactly sure what to do next. Dinky was the first to speak. “Yeah sure, I guess I’d like to meet Pinkie.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah okay.” Secretly she was happy to move on to a subject other when what happened the night before, but she didn’t show it. The pair went downstairs where the twins were setting the table.
“Hey Pinkie,” Scootaloo called out.
“What’s up Scoots?” Pinkie asked poking her head out of the kitchen.
“This is my friend Dinky, from School. Dinky this is an unsolvable mystery, sorry, I mean this Pinkie Pie,” Scootaloo said, jokingly, happy to finally relax a little.
Pinkie perked up at the newcomer. “Hi Dinky, great to meet you,” Pinkie said walking up to the unicorn and shaking her hand vigorously.
“You too,” Dinky said slightly surprised as the handshake finished. “So what do you do for a living?” Dinky asked, shaking her hand to rid it of the numbness one would often encounter after a handshake with Pinkie.
“I’m an assassin for a world peace keeping organization,” Pinkie Pie said happily smiling. Dinky looked at Scootaloo, slightly alarmed, unsure if this was the truth or not.
“She’s just pulling your leg. She’s a travel agent,” Scootaloo said, shrugging.
“Oh Dinky, do you know who Scootaloo’s coltfriend is? She won’t tell us,” Pinkie asked out of the blue.
Scootaloo’s eyes went wide with shock.
Dinky herself raised an eyebrow. “Coltfriend? Do you mean Featherweight?” she asked, looking at Scootaloo with confusion. “I thought you guys just met.”
“Awww…Love at first sight. How romantic,” Pinkie cooed, smiling warmly.
By now, Scootaloo was blushing furiously. “He’s not my coltfriend. He’s just a friend,” she insisted, starting towards the door. “Come on Dinky let’s go. I don’t want to stick around here if everyone’s just going to tease me about my non-existent love life,” she grumbled as she and Dinky made their way out.
“Where are you going?” Aunt Cup asked coming out of the Kitchen. “We’re about to have dinner.”
“We’ll grab a bite out,” Scootaloo said as she pulled Dinky out the door.
“Don’t stay out too late,” Pinkie called after them.
“Kay,” Scootaloo called out as she closed the door.
The two fillies started walking down the street. “Come on we’ll go get some hay fries at this café Featherweight took me to,” Scootaloo said, relieved to be away from the heckling.
“I thought you weren’t dating him,” Dinky teased, a smug grin on her face.
“It wasn’t a date.” Scootaloo insisted, “He spent most of it lecturing me for the fight with Babs.”
Dinky was about to retort, but she froze when something further down the street caught her eye.
“What’s up with you?” Scootaloo asked turning to see what her friend was staring at. Babs was standing at the corner looking at the pair, an unsure look in her eyes. Scootaloo approached her hesitantly, Dinky following close behind. “What do you want?” Scootaloo asked.
“I-I don’t know,” Babs said, sounding meek and somewhat dejected. “I came here to-to say something, but I can’t think of anything,” she said.
Scootaloo started walking towards the earth pony, a determined look in her eyes. She began raising a hand towards Babs, causing the larger pony to flinch. When she wasn’t struck, Babs opened her eyes to see Scootaloo extending her hoof as if to shake.
“How about we just call a truce,” Scootaloo suggested. “We’re both guilty of being a bully. Abusing our own strength,” she said looking Babs in the eyes. “My suspension ends Monday. Why don’t you sit with us at lunch?” she offered, a sincere look in her eyes.
Babs was shocked. This was the perfect chance for Scootaloo to humiliate her and she had passed it up. Instead, here she was, extending a hand in friendship. Babs took Scootaloo’s hand in her own and gave it a firm shake. “Sounds good to me,” she said, her confidence returning. She turned and began walking away, feeling lighter than ever.
Dinky had watched the exchange silently. “Wow. That was a major step from the other day,” she commented. “What brought that on?”
Scootaloo thought about that for a second. “I guess I’m just sick of all the conflict,” she said, as she started walking towards the café a few blocks away. “You coming to eat or what? I’m starving,” she called back at Dinky, who quickly caught up.
///////////////////////////////////////
The two had shared an order of hay fries in silence. Dinky wanted to talk to Scootaloo about what she’d seen on the tape, but was unsure how to approach the subject.
“Something on your mind?” Scootaloo asked, ending the silence.
“Sort of, but I’m not sure this is the right time to talk about it,” Dinky explained hesitantly.
“It can’t be that bad. What’s up?” Scootaloo pressed, an expectant look on her face.
Dinky took a sip of her cola and cleared her throat. “Well, that day I took you to see Cheerilee; did you go anywhere else in the tower?” she asked hoping Scootaloo would just come clean.
Scootaloo almost choked on the food she had been chewing on. She took a large gulp of her cola to clear her throat before responding. “I- I uh…may have gotten a little lost trying to catch up with the tour,” she said, her voice obviously not convinced at to what she was saying.
Dinky scowled, fed up with all of Scootaloo’s obvious lying. “Just tell me the truth,” she demanded, disappointed her friend hadn’t come clean.
Scootaloo didn’t know what to do other than tell the truth. So she told Dinky about the stallion with her father’s research and how she’d followed him to the spider room. “You should have seen it in there, it was amazing,” she said picturing the scene in her head again.
“I did see it,” Dinky said. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide. “You were caught on camera. Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d have been in if somepony other than me had seen it?” she asked.
“Did anypony else see it?” Scootaloo asked fearfully.
“No. I took the tape before the guard saw it. At least I think I did,” Dinky assured her. Scootaloo sighed in relief. Her relief was short lived though. “So I guess the spiders weren’t poisonous then,” she stated.
Scootaloo looked at her in shock. “Oh… uh, right. It’s fine better than fine actually,” Scootaloo answered hoping that was the end of the questioning.
Dinky looked at her confused, wondering how a bite from a genetically altered spider hadn’t had an effect, then realization hit her. Scootaloo’s vision clearing up overnight, beating Babs in that fight and those thugs on the train. “Oh my Celestia you have super powers?” she asked in shock.
Scootaloo looked sheepish. “Maybe… I’m not sure. If I do it might not be such a good thing,” she said in shame. The face of the stallion she’d killed came to her mind.
Dinky gave her friend a stern look. “Scootaloo you abused these powers when you first got them. You used them to get back at Babs and refused to use them to help Diamond,” Dinky reprimanded. “You owe it to them to make up for that.”
Scootaloo looked down, unable to meet her friends eyes. “Dinky I can’t.”
“Why not?” Dinky asked, growing angry.
“I can’t control this. I-I killed somepony,” She admitted quietly even though the diner was empty, save for one waitress reading a magazine behind the counter. Dinky gasped.
“What are you talking about?” she asked not believing the pegasus.
“Last night I tracked down my uncle’s killer. I wanted to make him pay and I started hitting him,” Scootaloo’s eyes began to tear up. “And I just lost it. By the time I stopped he wasn’t breathing or moving. I killed him,” she said guiltily.
Dinky didn’t know what to say. She knew what Scootaloo did was wrong, but at the same time she had taken down the bad guy, if maybe for the wrong reasons. Then it hit her. “You feel guilty,” she said. Scootaloo looked at her confused. “You did something wrong and you know it. Scootaloo you can’t let this destroy you. Use it as a reminder never to let revenge be your focus,” Dinky told her.
Scootaloo blinked the tears from her eyes. Dinky was right. Besides if she didn’t try to control her power, she might have another accident in the future. “Are we talking about what I think we’re talking about?” the pegasus asked.
“You’re going to be a Super Hero,” Dinky said with confidence. "You’ll need a name though. Like Captain Arachnid or something.”
“Yeah no thanks,” Scootaloo said, thinking for a minute. “How about something simple?”
“Like what?” Dinky asked quizzically.
Scootaloo rubbed her chin in thought before inspiration struck. “Spider Mare.”