//------------------------------// // A Brand New Home Is In The Works // Story: Ask Discorded Scootaloo // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// The Doctor sat in his Jacuzzi, trying to figure out what the hell happened last night. Normally, he doesn’t really care about someone else’s issues, but looking at a pony that was just as broken as him, he felt obligated to help. Not to mention he had no clue why he had sung that lullaby. For The Doctor: Why so much Butter? The Doctor snapped out of his state of confusion long enough to answer the question. “Have you ever actually had butter before? It’s like heaven in the form of food! Pfft. Why so much butter; what kind of question is that?” Doctor, does it make you feel better or worse when you recite that beautiful piece? Why? The Doctor sighed. “Figured this would come up sooner or later. I remembered that song from before…before I saw The Truth. Ananta helped me through a bad time in my depression by reciting it in the form of one of these text blocks. Personally, reciting it myself reminded me of…” The Doctor started to stutter before some tears started to come to his eyes. “...I’d rather not talk about it.” He mumbled. To The Doctor: What was the low point that the song came from? The Doctor got out of his hot tub, grabbed a towel, and started to dry off his mane. “The Master was controlling somebody…er, somepony (damn pony grammar) that I loved. I swore to hunt him down and shoot his brains out for what he had done to me. I took out my gun and to be frank, I was scaring Ananta to death. I must’ve looked completely soulless to her in that one moment. But when I found The Master, I hesitated, and I missed my mark. After that, I was losing it. Bad. I had gone into a fit of hysteric laughter and insanity, which only scared Ananta even more. After seeing the way she looked at me, I broke down crying, begging for her to forgive me. And that’s when she sang me that song to help calm me down. To this day I have no idea how she knew that song. That was something only…she…knew.” For The Doctor, how did you meet Ananta? “In short terms, Ananta is the TARDIS taking on a pony form. She was an hourglass that I had kept in here that my regenerative energy empties into every time it comes out of me. Ananta first came around when I was drunk off my ass and I opened up the heart of the TARDIS. It turns out the TARDIS didn’t like what I had become and it released an extreme amount of energy into the hourglass, and she used it to take on pony form to let her help me. Ever since then, she’s been trying to get me back on my feet…er hooves in my case.” The Doctor explained. The Doctor plopped himself down on the couch in his living room and sighed, Ananta sitting next to him on her haunches looking at him with curious eyes. For The Doctor: That was a beautiful song you sang to Scootaloo. I bet you Ananta is proud. You're really opening up, and that's something good for you. What do you plan to do with the little bugger? I mean, it's not safe to keep her on the TARDIS, what with Daleks and such, but there isn't really a dimension she can go to. The Doctor looked over at Ananta, who had her eyes closed and was nodding her head as a sign that she was indeed proud of what he was doing. “You’re right. Feels…pretty good actually. But I can’t keep her on the TARDIS forever. Not a good place to keep a filly as mind-fucked as her, and I think she’s suffered enough. And that’s part of the problem. Finding a good place to keep her safe. Sure Discord won’t be able to find her, but the world needs to be suitable for raising a filly, and with all the misery I’ve seen, that’s going to be a tough job.” he said. To Doctor: Well, I'm not going to insult your intellect by reiterating the problem with Scootaloo to you, or ask what you are going to do since you have made it clear that you don't know, but I am going to make a suggestion. Send her to someone who will care. She obviously has issues from months of torture, and blames her friends for not helping her. She needs love and affection, but also needs to work out her rage at the world. She hasn't even mentioned her parents, what does that tell you? We don't know for sure, and I'm not a big enough douchbag to ask. All I'm saying is that she's been through a lot and needs comfort, and I'm sure that during your travels, you've met at least one person who is like that. Please, even if you haven't just... look. The Doctor nodded in understanding. Seeing just how messed up being Discord’s prisoner had made her, he somehow felt that he could relate; what with Derpy leaving him and being alone for the most part. He didn’t want Scootaloo to suffer as badly as he had. “You’re right. That filly is an emotional wreck. And come to think of it, I may just know a good place to send her, but I’m afraid that sending her to this particular universe could severely damage time and space…but maybe…could the Scootaloos be so differentiated that it wouldn’t affect anything? Only one way to find out I guess…” Scootaloo yawned as she awoke from the first decent sleep she had gotten in what felt like forever. Beds were definitely an improvement over dirty hay that she had to also use as her bathroom. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked lazily around the room. No nightmares this time Scootaloo? “Oh my Celestia I just woke up. You guys can’t wait till maybe the afternoon to start this crap?...Uggh. Fine. No nightmare after last night’s fit. As a matter of fact the last thing I remember was something about rainbows, smiles, and teddy bears…wait a second.” Scootaloo had remembered the lullaby that The Doctor had sung her the previous night after her usual recurring nightmare. For a minute, color started to come back into her coat, and she looked like she was smiling. Isnt there a chance Discord made it so no one could find you, or made a duplicate of you and had it take your place? And then her greyness returned and her color had once again diminished. “Again, too early for this shit. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past Discord to do something like that just for the shits and giggles, but I’m absolutely positive that that isn’t the case. You know, I had thought about that too at first. I didn’t want to believe what was happening right in front of my face. But after a while, I realized that I was just in denial. None of them ever really cared. And why would they anyway? I’m pathetic.” she mumbled. To Scootaloo: Well, it seems you are finally out of Discord’s clutches, but keep your guard up. Your dreams could either be a sign of trauma, or an omen for the future. Considering how you saw the TARDIS in your dreams it seems quite possible that you have gained the ability to see( or dream in you're case) into the future. Whether it be through exposure to chaos magic, or some type of cosmic circumstance I am unsure. Why don't you ask the Doctor about you're apparent ability to see the future, and also about the dreams themselves? “…Maybe I should ask him about my dreams. Seems like the kind of thing The Doctor would understand. But honestly, I’m surprised Moonbutt hasn’t wormed her way into my head yet. What, am I not even worth stalking now, is that it?” Scootaloo do said. Scootaloo kicked the covers off of her and jumped out of bed, and grabbed Little Scootaloo off of it. “You know, you listen pretty good, but you never talk back. Only so much comfort a doll can bring I suppose.” Scootaloo said to the miniature pony toy before heading into the living room where she found The Doctor sitting on the couch with a large hourglass sitting next to him. He appeared to be talking to it before he noticed Scootaloo come in. “Uhh Doc? You know that thing isn’t…you know…alive. Right?” Scootaloo asked. “Sorry, but aren’t you the one that’s always talking to a doll?” The Doctor asked. Scootaloo’s eyes rolled over to the toy sitting on its side on her back. “Touche. Anyway, mind if I ask you something?” Scootaloo asked, making her way over to the couch and taking a seat on the other side of The Doctor. “What? Something troubling you?” he asked. Scootaloo, this is your brain speaking. We’ve detected an insane amount of stupid question entering into the eardrums. Do we proceed with usual procedure and launch “Smartass Remark?” Over. Negative. Just get to the point of the conversation. Over. “Kind of. You remember why I was crying last night don’t you?” Scootaloo asked. “Yes yes. Something about a nightmare. Kind of hard to make out through all the panicked screaming.” The Doctor said. “Funny. Anyway, I’ve been having that same dream for a while now. I think they might be trying to tell me something.” She said. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “How? Have you seen or heard anything particularly strange?” The Doctor asked. “It starts out with me floating in a giant, swirling vortex. And then the TARDIS flies past me. After that I hear what sounds like a foal crying. And lastly…Discord’s wicked laughter.” Upon hearing about Scootaloo’s dream, and that his TARDIS had been seen by her before he even arrived, The Doctor was speechless. “…That certainly is strange. My guess is that either you’re just terribly traumatized, which should really go without saying, or overexposure to Discord’s magic somehow gave you the ability to dream about the future.” The Doctor said. “I guess that makes about as much sense as everything else that’s happened to me. First I’m the plaything of an evil Chaos deity, and now I’m in a time machine…weird.” Scootaloo said. The Doctor got up from his seat and trotted over to the TARDIS’ main console and started to prepare it for travel. “By the way Scootaloo, I think I might have found somewhere for you to stay while you recover. Now I’ll say some things about this universe though. A few things are going to seem slightly…different than what you were used to. You may be a little bit confused when you see what I mean.” The Doctor said. Scootaloo looked slightly surprised. She hadn’t expected The Doctor to find somewhere for her to recover so quickly. “Strange huh? Whatever. Just as long as I don’t have to go back to The Coop, I’m fine.” Scootaloo said. The Doctor was just about to pull the switch, but then he thought of something. ‘Pleeease don’t send me to the Puniverse again. I don’t think my head can take any more of that.’ He thought to himself before pulling the switch… The TARDIS had stopped rumbling and both Scootaloo and The Doctor headed for the door. When they opened it, Scootaloo didn’t seem to understand what The Doctor was talking about. “I don’t see what the confusion was about. It’s only Ponyville.” She said. “It is, but at the same time, it isn’t. At least, not the Ponyville YOU knew. Some ponies around her could be slightly different, and there are some you’ve never seen before in you’re life. Come with me. I know where we’re going.” The Doctor responded before trotting off with Scootaloo trailing not too far behind. Eventually, they stopped in front of a small, average looking house, where The Doctor knocked on its door. Both of them heard somepony on the other side yelling. “Don’t worry Sandy, I’ll get it!” ‘Hold on. That was MY voice! What the Tartarus is going on?!’ Scootaloo was internally freaking out. But she was even less prepared for what was on the other side of the door. Standing in front of her, appeared to be a near-perfect duplicate of herself, but with a few changes made to her appearance. She had the same orange coat, purple mane and eyes, but this Scootaloo was wearing a grey hoodie, was wearing her mane down, and had a lightning bolt hair clip in it. It also looked like this Scootaloo had not been prepared to see the grey one, as both of them stared blankly at each other. “…Uhhh…Who the heck are you?” the other Scootaloo asked. “…Scootaloo.” Discorded Scootaloo responded. The other Scootaloo looked more confused than she had before. “Well that can’t be right, because I’M Scootaloo.” She said. Suddenly, a brown earth pony mare came into the doorway alongside the other Scootaloo. “Scootaloo honey, who was…Doctor? What are you doing back here?” The mare asked. “Miss Sandy, may I come in? We need to talk.” The Doctor said.