Scootaloo tossed and turned on the couch. Her eyes tightly shut as the blankets shook violently under her. Sweat damped the fur on her head. Her hooves gripped the blankets tightly and her head tossed back and forth.
The soft tapping of hooves sounded as thunder in the sky, echoing in her ears. Her eyes snapped open as she heard a the sky erupting, her body jerking upright. She rubbed her eyes sound and saw Applejack with guilty look on her face as she was caught red hoofed with a glass of milk and a cookie. “You had a bad dream?” Unable to speak a word with a dried throat, a simple nod would have to do.
Applejack walked over to the couch and sat down. “Milk?” she asked as she turned and held the glass in front of her.
Scootaloo nodded again and Applejack gave her the glass, which she placed upon her lips without second thought and drank. Applejack watched in awe as the liquid washed down in her throat in a flash. She pushed it away as she exhaled to catch her breath. “Thanks, Applejack.” She noticed Applejack staring at her with wide eyes. “What?”
“Just never saw nopony drank a glass of milk so fast…” Applejack looked up as she tapped her chin. “Never mind, Pinkie Pie did that once.” She chuckled at the memory of Pinkie Pie downing a whole carton of milk in seconds. She stopped laughing however as she caught Scootaloo staring at something. “Scootaloo, what are you looking at?”
Scootaloo must have not heard her as she continued to stare in her direction. Applejack looked down at her plate then back at Scootaloo, the sound of a lock unlocking opened her eyes to realize she wanted the cookie. She sighed and hoofed Scootaloo the brown circle-shaped sugar who thanked her with a nod. “Wanna talk about it?”
Scootaloo stopped chewing the cookie and gulped.
Applejack frowned as Scootaloo faced the floor as she hung her head low. She continued to look at the filly staring down at the floor, cowed by the angry glare from the farmer pony. She continued to do this until Scootaloo looked up at her. “It’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me.”
Scootaloo looked down and mumbled a couple of words that Applejack only caught half of.
“Pardon?”
Applejack sighed and decided to lean back in a comfortable position, waiting until Scootaloo was ready to respond. Her head slightly tilted to side as she felt a pain in her neck. The sound of the rain hitting the ground brought her a calm sensation, washing away her problems. Applejack would have fallen asleep right then if it were not for the boom of thunder clashing outside. “I’m up!” she shouted with her eyes shooting open. She turned to see Scootaloo with her eyes tightly shut and a look of grimace plastering her face. “You okay? Should I get Twilight?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “I’m fin—” The thunder erupted again, she shielded her ears with her hooves and closed her eyes. She lowered her hooves again as the sound faded away. “I just hate thunder.”
Applejack saw the way the filly shook in the chair when the thunder erupted in the skies once more, flashing the room with light for but a moment before they sat in the dark again. “Are you afraid of thunderstorms, Scoots?” Applejack noticed Scootaloo tense up, urging her to continue. “It’s okay, when I was yer age I used to be afraid of storms.”
Scootaloo looked at her. “Y-y-you were?”
“Was the thunderstorm part of your nightmare?”
Scootaloo hesitated, but nodded.
Applejack chuckled much to Scootaloo’s surprise. “I would always run in Ma’s and Pa’s room when something scared me. You know what happened?”
Scootaloo shrugged.
Applejack smirked.“I caught them cuddling.”
Scootaloo snickered. “Oh man,” she said, wiping a tear away. “You ran into them cuddling! What did they make you do?”
Applejack smiled as she remembered bucking apples the whole morning. “They made me buck a couple apple trees since I loved doing chores they hoped I would forget about it.”
“Did it work?”
Applejack blushed. “Nah, that image still stuck in my noggin to this day.”
Scootaloo laughed. “Oh ho man, this is too rich!”
Applejack smiled. “Yeah, they would always let me sleep in with them no matter the circumstance. They said….” Her voice cracked as tears formed in her eyes. “We always have time for our little girl.”
“Do you… miss ‘em?” asked Scootaloo as she noticed Applejack’s smile dropping.
Applejack wiped away her tear with a foreleg. “Everyday.”
An uncomfortable silence reigned over them. They would occasionally cast glances at each other, flash a smile, then turn the other way to avoid the awkwardness the room seemed to exude.
Applejack sighed, but forced a smile. “We should head to bed. Got a long day ahead of us.”
Scootaloo leaned her head back and let out a groan. “Can I stay up a little longer?”
Applejack groaned. “Well other ponies have to sleep, remember.”
“I’ll be quiet I promise.” Scootaloo placed both her hooves together as if she was praying and fell to her hind legs, scooting next to Applejack. “Please, please let me stay up!”
Applejack sighed. “Scootaloo—”
“Please!” Scootaloo's eyes grew larger as she looked at Applejack. Applejack cringed as Scootaloo gave her those big, adorable catlike eyes, making her heart increase speed.
“Fine!” She said, prompting Scootaloo to jump up and do a happy dance. “But you have to be quiet!” She stopped as the filly continued to dance.“That means stop dancing!”
Scootaloo stopped shuffling her hooves on the floor as she turned to Applejack with a nervous smile. “Right, sorry.”
“Don’t go bothering Twilight either, ya hear?”
Scootaloo smiled, tipping an imaginary hat at Applejack. “Sure thing, partner.” She watched as Applejack closed her eyes and let out a sigh at the time she pulled the blankets over her. She waited until she was really sure that Applejack was asleep. A light snore revealed her answer. “Yes!”
She froze as Applejack mumbled something, but turned around. She sighed in relief and walked over to the door. She hated how, when trying to be sneaky, the smallest movement sounded loud. She cringed as her hooves stomped against the floor, echoing through the library.
She smiled as she made it to the door, her hoof seconds away from grabbing the gold. All the muscle in her body froze as a southern voice reached her. She turned around to see Applejack, eyes opened, staring at her with a frown. “Uh, no running off again.”
Scootaloo groaned as she let her hooves hung low. “What can I do?”
“How about a book or something?”
Scootaloo gasped. “Applejack, cool rule, number one states: books are for eggheads, not cool ponies.”
Applejack continued to stare. “Yeah and where did this rule came from?”
Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “A book.” She scrunched up her muzzle as Applejack smirked. “Hey I didn’t say what type of book it has to be!”
“Whatever you say sugarcube,” Applejack said, closing her eyes. “Whatever you say.”
“Whatever I say is true because….I said it?” Scootaloo stopped. “Ugh, whatever!” Scootaloo mumbled as she walked over to the tower of books, its height almost touching the ceiling. She could not even begin to imagine how Twilight read all these books, one by one without a break. It just seemed insane to her. Just like Pinkie Pie, Twilight did things a normal pony like herself would question. “Alright, let’s see whatcha got.”
She ran a hoof across the books as she walked, muttering each title as she passed by. “Boring, boring, children’s book, boring, too scary…” She stopped and chuckled. “I mean, too boring. Bo—“ She stopped as my hoof stopped at one practical book. “Hello, what’s this?”
“Fear of the Unknown?” Scootaloo said as she pulled out the book and flipped to its cover. The cover art had a Thestral’s fangs on front of it. “Cool.”Scootaloo placed the book down as she flopped her rump to the floor, cracking the book open with a hoof. “Fear of the Unknown.” She snickered at how she pronounced it, like a dramatic actor. “Fear of the—” she paused for a drama effect. “Unknown!”
“Scootaloo, what are ya doing now?”
“Nothing just… talking to myself.” Scootaloo mumbled to herself and finally turned the page away from the first. The minute her sight hit the words on the page alongside a picture of a Thestral just standing, her eyes drooped down in a bored fashion and her mouth hung as she tried to read, but could not as boredom took over. “Ugh, where are the interesting parts!”
She kept turning the pages quickly, skipping some images she could have sworn shown a Thestral hissing, but she couldn’t tell, passing many words until she heard a tearing sound stopped her. “Crap.” She looked at the page that had a little tear it. “Twilight’s going to kill me for this!” She panicked, her eyes darted back and forth, her heart beating against her chest. She walked over to Applejack and nudged her. “Hey, Applejack, you know where the tape is?”
Applejack grumbled something, but pointed over to a small desk near the door. She walked over and pulled the drawer opened. She fished through until she pulled out a circle shaped grey tape. She smiled and walked over to the book laid on the floor, the ripped page opened for all to see. She stretched out a long length before ripping it off with her teeth.
She placed it on the rest of the page, making it almost look good as new. “There. She wouldn’t notice… I hope.” She almost closed the book if it were not for a certain sentence in the book that caught her eye. She opened it back up and ran a hoof through the page, mumbling the words as she searched for the part. “Here,” she said, tapping a particular spot. “Have you ever wondered the danger when angering a Thestral? Huh?” She jerked her back in puzzlement, but shook off the confusion and read on.
She read on and on about how the stallion went on about the danger of riling the anger of a bat pony. Many paragraphs had scenarios that could happen when threatening a Thestral, and some of those scenarios could happen with her! Scootaloo’s heartbeat increased as her eyes ate every word, sucking in any information her mind took in. Her breathing quickened as she flipped the page after page, pictures of the Thestrals fang haunted her.
Images of the Thestral battling with a pegasi, its mouth opened wide for its opponent to see its sharp fangs. Everything seemed to become silent as she reached the last page. The last part of the book, the conclusion haunted her, the image. She saw her, fangs tainted in blood, standing over a limpless Applejack. “Ah!” She closed the door and pushed it away.
Scootaloo sat still, staring at the book. What will happen when her anger causes her to harm some pony she cared about or even her enemies! She had to a weapon in her mouth capable of harming another living thing just with one quick bite. Her eyes fluttered lower before they shot wide open again when she realized she was falling asleep.
However, it did not stop them from closing a second time again and this time, she kept them closed.
She did not even notice Applejack had walked over until she felt something hit her shoulder. “Huh?”
“You okay, hon?” Scootaloo looked at the book then at Applejack who had blood seeping from the two holes on her neck. Scootaloo blinked and rubbed her eyes, the holes were gone and was replaced with a worried looked. “Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo blinked then shook her head. “Yeah uh...I’m fine. Yeah just read too much I guess,” she said with a chuckle.
Applejack smiled. “What happened to books not being cool?”
Scootaloo eyes widened as she trapped herself. “Oh uh, I meant that because this book is this!” She lifted in the air and showed the cover to Applejack. “See? Fear of the Unknown!”
“Oh?” Applejack crossed her forelegs. “What’s it about?”
“Oh it’s about...” Scootaloo looked at Applejack smirking the entire time. She opened the book and mumbled words as she quickly read. “Yeah it’s about some bad—”
“Language.”
“I was going to say stallion.” Scootaloo closed the book. “Anyway, he hunts down creatures and beats them up!”
Applejack arched an eyebrow. Scootaloo gulped and focused more on the cover of the book as she tried to avoid Applejack’s stare. “Alright,” she said finally. “Well I’ma be outta yer hair. Go back to reading that… er… book.”
“Actually I think Imma head to bed now.” Scootaloo lifted herself from the ground and walked over to the couch. She laid down on her spot and pulled some blankets over her body with Applejack doing the same. She sighed as she laid there with her eyes opened. This made the sound of the rain hitting the ground relaxing. “Applejack?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do you think….” Scootaloo bit her lip before she continued. “Do you think everything's okay between us?”
"Of course I do," Applejack said. “What make you say that?”
Scootaloo shrugged, but then remembered Applejack wouldn’t be able to see it and said, “Just asking.” She felt her heart beating as Applejack did not respond. She gripped on the blankets as the thought of Applejack catching onto what she was trying to say scared her.
Applejack yawned as she said, “Try not to think about okay, sugarcube?”
Scootaloo sighed in relief. “I will….thanks Applejack.” She couldn’t wait for Applejack to respond as she continued. “Good night.”
“Good night, Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo closed her eyes and sighed, but as her eyes were closed, images of the Thestral’s fangs piercing a pony’s skin flashed in her mouth, the look of horror on the victim screaming as the sharp teeth dug into her skin. Her eyes shot opened as the images kept flashing. Scootaloo grumbled and flipped to the other side the blankets along. She resisted the urge to scream when Applejack bit down on the blankets and pulled them from her body.
She shivered as the cool, ambient air in the room brushed against her fur. “Huh?” She lifted her body enough to see almost all the blankets on Applejack. “Applejack!”
Applejack smiled all snuggled up in the blankets, but her smile vanished as Scootaloo yanked the blankets from her body. She groaned and lifted her head to see them on Scootaloo. She bit down on the blankets and jerked her head back as she yanked the blankets from her body. She laid her head down and smiled, letting out a sigh. Her eyes shot opened when she heard Scootaloo shout, “That’s it!”
Applejack looked up in time for the wind knocked out of her as Scootaloo tackled her and pinned her down on the floor. Applejack gripped Scootaloo by the forelegs and with her strength pinned her down while she was distracted. Scootaloo tried to kick Applejack off, but she managed to dodge her attacks. “Get off of me!”
Applejack grunted as Scootaloo managed to kick her in the stomach. “Hey watch it, you could knock a tooth out kicking like that!”
Scootaloo struggled to push Applejack off, but to no avail. Her Earth Pony strength outmatched her own. That made her angry, no, pissed off. She hated the feeling of being defeated, the fact she had lose told she was not going to survive out in the world for long. In the world, there are two type of species: ones that are on the top of the food chain and food.
Scootaloo opened her mouth wide as the orange foreleg pinned her down.
Just like a bat, Scootaloo was a predator.
She shut her mouth down on Applejack’s foreleg, punching two holes in her skin. The warm taste of blood touched her tongue. When she released her mouth from Applejack’s foreleg, her teeth tainted crimson. She huffed and puffed as she lifted herself from the ground, her eyes filled with red.
However, her moment of rage vanished as she saw Applejack grabbing her wounded foreleg, staring at her with wide eyes. Twilight had rushed to Applejack’s side, hugging her and joining the farmer in staring at the batpony before in disbelief, shocked by her actions. Scootaloo looked down at her hooves, shaking violently.
Scootaloo looked. Then blinked.
“You okay, Scootaloo?” Applejack asked as she lifted her head from the pillow.
Scootaloo blinked again and rubbed her eyes to see if they were working right. She removed her hooves and could not believe what she was seeing. Applejack, sitting like a normal pony, looked at her with a smirk on her face. Not that scared look on her face or blood trailing from her foreleg. Nothing.
“Scootaloo?” Applejack asked for a second time as she noticed the filly’s frozen state. Scootaloo didn’t respond as she kept looking at her. Applejack threw her blankets side and scooted over to where the filly sat, nudging her on the foreleg. “Scootaloo, you alright?” Fear took over Applejack as she grabbed the filly’s head and made her turn so they could make eye contact. “Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo made no effort to blink, only stared.
Applejack shook Scootaloo again, but with a little more forced put into it. “Scootaloo!”
Scootaloo blinked a couple times before she turned to see Applejack who sighed in relief. “Applejack?”
“Yes, I’m here, Scootaloo.” Applejack offered a smile. “I’m here.”
She did not say a word as Applejack hugged her, both sitting up on the couch. They didn’t say anything as the sound of the thunder spoke for them. It did not take long for her to actually drift off to sleep after long hours of looking at nothing.
Scootaloo’s eyes shot opened after her body had bolted from the couch as it felt like lighting shocked her nerves. Never before had she thought the sight of bookshelves would bring her such a relief. Her smile disappeared as the noise continued. She groaned and used the pillow to cover head to block out the noise, but the noise proved better and she still could hear the ringing. “Shut up!” She removed the pillow from her head and looked up to the clock ringing inside Applejack’s hoof.
“It’s just the alarm clock,” said Applejack just as she turned it off.
Scootaloo grumbled in response as she clutched her head.
“How ya feeling?” Applejack asked.
Scootaloo whimpered. “Like something just screamed in my ears.”
“You scared me last night what got you all worked up like that?”
Images of her fangs piercing through Applejack’s foreleg came to mind. “I told you… it was the thunderstorm.”
Applejack looked unconvinced. “Really?”
Scootaloo looked away as Applejack’s stare pressed on her. Luckily her stomach growled. “I could go for some pancakes.”
Applejack sighed. “Well we’re going to have it at home, so get ready!” Applejack said as she walked off. Scootaloo sighed in relief. “We’re not done talking about this though!”
Scootaloo closed her eyes and flopped back down on the pillow after the door closed. She lifted her head from her comfort and dragged her body to the floor. Her eyes shot opened when a sensation rose from the lower parts of her body.
“I have to go to the bathroom!” She ran all the way up the stairs and saw the half-lit hallway. She gulped and took her first step out the room. It felt like any minute Applejack or Twilight would jump out with a bunch of questions about her condition. Honestly, she was starting to think this transformation had caused her to gain attention from them unlike before she was…
Scootaloo shook the thoughts out of her head as she faced the bathroom door. She knocked a couple times, but she pushed it opened when nopony answered. Scootaloo walked to the sink and turned the water on, running it on her hooves. She turned it off once her hooves were cleaned and stopped as she looked up her reflection bearing two sharp teeth hung from where her normal teeth used to been.
They looked like they could pierce through somepony’s skin, somepony she cared about’s skin. She was afraid to even bite her lip when she get nervous because it might make her bleed. She frowned and growled at the mirror like a bear, two long sharp fangs finally out. She spent some minutes growling at her reflection until she finally stopped. A thought had popped in her mind as she stared at her fangs. “I can’t hurt anypony…I won’t hurt anypony.” She opened her mouth and dug her hooves in her mouth, grasping the two fangs. She closed her eyes and exhaled before she tugged on them. An tense pain shot through her gums as a result made her eyes open wide. “Ow!”
“Scootaloo, you okay in there?” Applejack called from the other side.
“Yeah just washing my hooves.” Scootaloo pushed the bathroom door open and walked downstairs where Applejack and Twilight stood at the door.
“Are you sure she should walk out like this? What if somepony sees her and tries to—”Applejack stopped and turned around with a smile. Scootaloo wanted to say she knew she was faking it, but decided to keep her mouth shut. “Are you ready to go?”
“What you two talking about?” Scootaloo asked as she walked down the steps.
“Nothing, sounded like you were having fun in there.” Applejack smirked.
Even though Scootaloo hated to admit it, every time she eavesdropped on Applejack’s conversations she always would change the subject or say it’s nothing. Wasn’t she the one always saying they should share everything together? Why does she get to lie and hide secrets behind her back. If Applejack can lie, then she can too.
Scootaloo broke out of her thoughts as Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder, flashing her smile. She forced a smile to hide her anger.
“You two be safe out there,” Twilight said and pulled Applejack into a hug.
While they were hugging it out, Scootaloo looked out the window. The outside during the time, was vacant. Nopony around to enjoy this beautiful sunny day, birds chirped a song as they bask under the warm skies and even a pony outside. Scootaloo turned to back Applejack and Twilight who broke the embrace, smiling at each other. “Visit if her hearing causes problems.” Twilight smiled. “My door is always open.” Scootaloo was about to open her mouth until Twilight beat her to the punch. “You be safe out there too, Scootaloo.”
“I will.”
Twilight crouched down to the filly’s level and looked her straight into those catlike eyes. “Remember never push those who care about you away. Remember this is a shock to them that doesn’t mean they will disown you, okay?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Okay.” She jerked in surprise as Twilight pulled her into a hug. Her cheeks became red, as she stood there with Twilight’s hooves wrapped around her for minutes. Finally, Twilight pulled away and stepped back. “Thanks, Twilight.”
“It was my pleasure.” Twilight smiled and levitated the door opened. As Scootaloo was about to walk out, a magical force pulled her back inside. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it as a pair of shades hovered onto her eyes. “Forgot about these.”
Scootaloo groaned and walked outside, catching up to Applejack. She looked behind her and saw the door close. For the first time since she went to the library, she kind of did not want to leave. She inhaled then exhaled. She spent a couple minutes staring at the ground as she breathed. She could already picture the confused look on Apple Bloom’s face when she sees her. She kept her eyes down on the ground the entire time she walked home. She could feel their eyes staring down at her eyes as she walked. She could hear their lips yapping on about their day, the whispered questions of how or why she was looking like that. She winced as she heard a squeaky noise, probably from a mother pushing a baby stroller around. She grind her teeth as all the sounds of the bustling town attacked her at once.
The noises faded away as something smashed into her. “Oof!” She heard a surprised “Eep!” as she bumped into the object. Scootaloo rubbed her head as she recovered from the collision. “Ugh, sorry about—” She paused as the mare showed her face; strands of pink hair blocked half her eyes. Scootaloo’s eyes widening matched the mare on the ground as as they made eye contact. Her heart froze for a minute as she recognized those blue eyes and pink mane anywhere.
She didn’t know if it was because the wind or the realization that made her shiver. Scootaloo finally blinked out of her froze state and spoke, “Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy cowered under the figure’s shadow, two purple eyes glowing within the in the shadow. She never thought she would see the familiar sight again, she was cured. Twilight performed the spell and everything was well in the air, this couldn’t be her former self. She was still in control. “Fluttershy?”
The voice brought her back to reality, the shadowy face replaced with a child, looking at her with concern in her eyes. “S-S-Scootaloo?”