A classroom full of fillies and colts sat whispering to one another as they awaited their teacher, Miss Cheerilee, to start the day’s lessons. Among them was an orange pegasus filly with a violet mane, named Scootaloo. While her classmates chatted away their last few moments of freedom, Scootaloo sat in silence and her purple eyes fell to the two empty seats nearby, normally occupied by her friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.
Somewhere in the back of her mind the chain of events leading to her friends' absence played out once again.
How Apple Bloom’s big sister, Applejack, wanted her younger sister’s help with a delivery to Las Pegasus, and when she asked Cheerilee to excuse Apple Bloom the next day for it, she promised to take the filly to the Hoofer Dam so there’d be something educational on the trip. And how Cheerilee had taken the moment to offer an extra-credit assignment for all three of the cutie mark crusaders, especially since Bloom and Scootaloo could use something to bring their grades up. How their teacher insisted that they do some library research on the dam. Or how when Applejack realized there wouldn’t be time to stop at a library on the trip, so one of the crusaders would have to stay in Ponyville to do the research part of the ‘research paper.’ And finally how Scootaloo had lost the coin toss to decide whether it would be her or Sweetie Belle that had to sit in a library while their friends were off adventuring around another city and touring a dam.
Scootaloo’s mind snapped back to the here and now when her teacher finally entered the room, and on seeing the pegasus of the crusader trio flashed a sinister grin (that was actually an innocent chuckle.) at her.
The dark pink schoolteacher with two lighter shades of pink for her mane didn’t linger her gaze on the unfortunate crusader. Instead the earth pony mare turned to the class and said, “Good morning class. If I recall we were on the last chapter of the Equestrian Civil War.” With that the teacher gave her class a moment to pull out their books before launching into the lesson.
“…The final battle was fought about fifty miles west of Baltimare, near what is now Iris Lake. While supported logistically by earth ponies, the defending force was primarily made up of pegasi. The battle was swift and decisive, and when the dust settled the unicorn separatists surrendered, ending the war. Never again have unicorns claimed that their magic was superior to the magic of the other races, and so harmony was restored to Equestria.”
With her lecture finished, Cheerilee looked to her class and raised an eyebrow at the sight of an orange hoof signaling a question.
“Yes, Scootaloo?”
“What actually happened in the final battle?”
Tilting her head to the side the teacher asked, “What do you mean?”
“All of the other war battles have those maps with all the rectangles and arrows and stuff that show what units moved where and who flanked who and all that. But every time the last battle of the Civil War comes up it’s always just ‘the good ponies stood up for what was right and the bad ponies surrendered.’ Why is that? What actually happened?”
Looking to her book, Cheerilee flipped the pages back and forth a few times. “That’s… actually… a good question,” she concluded. “I’m sorry but ‘the battle was swift and decisive’ is all the book says. If you weren’t already doing an extra-credit assignment I’d suggest you try a history book dedicated to Equestria’s Civil War, instead of a general history book like this. In fact, if you want an ace-in-the-hole for the next time you get a C in something, you’re still more than welcome to find the answer to that and write me a paper on it.”
“Forget it. I’m not that curious,” Scootaloo said with a frown, dropping her gaze back down to her book, and drawing some giggles from her classmates. Just because she had all day to sit in a library researching stuff didn’t mean she wanted to spend any more time doing so then absolutely necessary.
“And don’t forget that you have until Wednesday to get those permission slips signed if you want to come on the museum fieldtrip,” Cheerilee reminded her students at the end of class.
* * * * * * *
With Ponyville’s town library still in ruins the town made use of the library at the new crystal-tree-house castle as a substitute for the time being. Princess Twilight Sparkle didn’t seem to mind, as it gave average ponies an excuse to visit the otherwise underused building.
Although the princess seemed to be out and about today that didn’t stop her assistant, Spike the dragon, from running the castle just the same as the library that the two previously lived in. The youthful dragon in question stood no taller than the filly he was leading into the castle library. His purple scales stood out among the predominately green crystal of the castle. Although the green spikes along his spine blended in nicely.
Pointing a clawed hand toward the third row of shelves from the left wall Spike said, “I think we put the architectural books over there. I’d bet that any of the ones that talk about dams would have a section on the Hoofer Dam. Since it’s the biggest dam in all of Equestria and all.”
With a forced smile Scootaloo thanked Spike, not that she wasn’t grateful for the help. It was just that library research was way too boring for the young pegasus. That and she’d rather be out doing something than stuck sitting around reading a book.
* * * * * * *
Much to her dismay it ended up taking the majority of the day to find what she was looking for. It might not have helped that Scootaloo had spent half of that time daydreaming about what she’d do tomorrow, since that would be Saturday and even though her friends wouldn’t be back in town until Sunday she’d still have the day to devote to fun.
The sun was low on the horizon when Scootaloo rolled through the front door of her house, grumbling to the wind about what a waste of a day today had been. Setting aside her signature blue scooter with red wheels and hanging her purple helmet with two white stripes on its handlebars, her tummy gave an impatient grumble of its own, reminding her that it was dinner time.
After setting her saddlebags by the coffee table by the couch, she made her way into the kitchen, where she tore off a large chunk from a loaf of bread. Returning to the coffee table she pulled the piece of paper out of her saddlebags that had the facts and figures about Hoofer Dam that she’d written down.
Now that she’d sat down to look over her work, she used her front hooves to take the bread out of her mouth and started biting off smaller more manageable portions from the loaf.
The report paper before her wasn’t so much a report as it was a collection of facts and figures tied together in a loosely coherent string of sentences. She’d even left an empty section in the middle where her friends could add whatever they’d learned from the tour. Not that it mattered. Scootaloo had yet to write a joint report for the crusaders that Sweetie Belle hadn’t completely rewritten (just to make it better of course.) before they turned it in, and the pegasus had little reason to believe that this time would be any different.
She gave a cynical laugh at the thought that all those numbers that she really didn’t care anything about would likely be the only parts of her original report to survive to the version they gave Cheerilee. Pushing her own work aside, Scootaloo pulled out the other loose paper in her saddlebags.
Before her return, the lone inkwell and orange quill had been the only things differentiating the top of the coffee table from the generally equally barren dinner table. That and the fact that Scootaloo didn’t need to sit in a chair to be chest high to the coffee table. The quill was one of her feathers that she’d shed weeks ago. Or was it months now? It didn’t matter, either way she shed good feathers around the house more often than she broke quills so she was never in want of writing supplies.
Uncapping the inkwell and taking the quill, she dipped it in the ink and quickly scrawled her father’s signature on the permission slip without so much as a second thought. Sure, he’d probably be back in the next day or two. But he wasn’t always around to sign those things in time, and he’d never complained about the times she’d signed for him before. So why bother him with this one?
Even as those thoughts filtered through the filly’s mind she heard a creak come from above. Not a wind-making-the-house-shift kind of creak, but a creature-heavier-than-herself-shifting-its-weight-on-the-floorboards kind of creak.
Setting down the quill and stuffing the last of her bread in her mouth, Scootaloo made her way up the stairs. “Dad? That you?” she asked as soon as she’d swallowed the last of her dinner.
Only silence answered her.
Poking her head into her father’s room she found that the room was as empty of ponies as usual. The years’ worth of dust coating everything that wasn’t the master bed hadn’t changed. Judging from the hoofprints in the dust on the floor, her father hadn’t been here in at least six days. A perfectly normal thing for her father to do given the nature of his work for the royal guard.
But if her dad wasn’t here then what made that sound? It’s not like anypony else came and went from this house like they owned the place. Had she imagined the noise? Was it really just the house shifting in the wind?
Closing her eyes, Scootaloo listened and was met with silence, not just within the house but the silence that declared that there was no wind outside either. For a brief moment she wondered if she’d ever given Rainbow Dash standing permission to come into her house. For a slightly longer moment she wondered if Dash even thought she needed permission to go wherever she pleased. A glimmer of hope flickered in the filly’s heart at the idea that her hero might have noticed how bad a day she’d had and snuck into her house to give her a pleasant surprise, and she certainly could use a pick-me-up about now.
Regardless there wasn’t exactly much of the upstairs left to check, so she set her sights on the door to her own room.
Scootaloo entered her room hoping to find the one friendly face she knew was in town, who might be willing to sneak into her house unannounced. Instead she found a face she’d never imagined would ever willing set hoof in her house.
“Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo said with a voice that could only be called dumbfounded. “What are you doing in my house?” she added, mixing anger into her voice.
“What I’m doing, is called revenge,” the pink earth pony filly with a purple and white mane said.
At the same time Tiara tapped a hoof against the side of her saddlebags, causing a chicken to poke its head out from under the flap of the bag.
“Wha-huh?” was all Scootaloo could say as a million questions raced through her mind. Why in creation did Diamond Tiara have a chicken in her saddlebag? How did bringing it here count as revenge? Where did she even get a chicken anyway? Did she steal it from Sweet Apple Acres? No wait, Applejack ran the farm not Apple Bloom, so stealing the chicken from there wouldn’t really be revenge against the crusaders… Oh hey are that chicken’s eyes glowing?
Right as that last thought passed through Scootaloo’s mind a bolt of white light shot from the chicken’s eyes, flashed across the room and struck the pegasus in the chest. A strange sensation passed through her body and seemed to settle in her hind hooves. A quick glance revealed that her hind hooves were turning into gray stone.
A cockatrice! The revelation flashed in Scootaloo’s mind, as she suddenly understood what the creature in Diamond Tiara’s saddlebag truly was. Fear and rage fought each other for command of the filly’s response. In that moment anger won the internal argument, causing her to slide her hooves apart slightly, lowering herself a little to match the widened combat stance.
With rage burning in her voice, the pegasus demanded, “Why are you doing this?!”
“Consider this payback for the Equestria Games,” Diamond Tiara said, contempt oozing from every word.
The Equestria Games? Scootaloo and her friends had won the contest and carried the flag for Ponyville at the games ages ago! Ages to a filly anyway. Even knowing that Diamond Tiara was evil, Scootaloo couldn’t fathom that anypony could hold a grudge that long.
“I know you hate our guts, but you’ve gone way too far this time!” Scootaloo shouted, slamming a front hoof on the floor and flaring her wings in anger.
Truth was the self-styled crusader was angry enough to smack that smug look right off the face of the mansion-dwelling brat, cockatrice in her saddlebags or not. Pretty much the only thing stopping her was the fact that the back half of her body was now stone. Heck even her front knees had gone numb by now.
Diamond Tiara never really responded to that last shout, except to keep looking at the petrifying pegasus with a sinister smugness.
A fleeting thought that maybe she should look away from Tiara, and more importantly the cockatrice, flashed in Scootaloo’s mind. But now that her neck had gone numb that wasn’t going to happen, so she did the only thing she could do. Narrow her eyes and glare angrily at Diamond Tiara.
Glaring at her foe didn’t do much, but it did allow Scootaloo to catch a glimpse of her own muzzle as it turned to stone just before the cockatrice’s magic washed over her eyes and she blacked out.