Chapter 4
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“But you can’t just barge in like this!”
Twilight turned her head, blinking in confusion as she saw a unicorn she honestly never expected to even set hoof in Ponyville stomping down the halls towards the room she had just left.
The usually sleaked-back blonde mane of Prince Blueblood was ragged and his eyes were narrowed in a way that warned any not to get in his way.
Twilight’s expression of sadness over her niece still not talking to her immediately changed to irritation at the stuck-up noble her becoming an Alicorn, and thus and member of the Royal Family, had unfortunately made her related to.
Just as he was nearing the door, a purple barrier shot up around the door, preventing him access.
“Open this door at once, Twilight Sparkle and give me passage!” he snapped, whirling his head to glare at the Alicorn, who horn was glowing with its lavender aura.
She returned his glare without missing a beat. “Not unless you calm done first and explain yourself. Why were you about to barge into Scootaloo’s hospital room? Surely you’ve heard she’s in no emotional condition to be with anypony save her mother right now.”
“I could care less about the emotional condition of a pathetic excuse for royalty that filly represents!” Blueblood shot back, shaking his head. “I am here to talk finally talk some sense into my cousin to leave the foal and return to the Crystal Empire this moment!”
Twilight paused, her brain trying to wrap itself around his words, as well as confirm he had actually spoken them and their implications. When it finally registered, his nostrils flared and her eyes shot daggers at the unicorn stallion.
“You mean you intend to tell Cadance to abandon her only child?!” she all but screamed, her right eye twitching.
Blueblood nodded, his expression disgusted as he closed his eyes. “As if keeping the news that that poor excuse for a Pegasus is Cadance’s offspring isn’t hard enough with her regular visits with the brat, whether they be in Ponyville, the Empire or Canterlot. Do you realize how difficult it is to keep the press from learning that filly's origins with Cadance remaining with her day in and day out? It’s a nightmare. If she doesn’t come to her senses soon, the press are sure to find out and then the shame it will bring upon the Royal Family... I dare not even think about it.”
Twilight’s body twitched with the effort of keeping herself from launching in a rage at the pony before her. “You mean to tell me...” she said, her voice cold and dangerous, “that you think Scootaloo’s birth was an accident that should have never happened and that you intend to make sure that Equestria doesn’t find out she’s Cadance’s daughter... all because of your pride?!”
He answered with a sniff and upturned nose. “I’d have thought you would want the same, would you not? I’d hate to have the ponies of my kingdom learn I had a niece born out of wedlock.”
Everypony else, even those in rooms next to Scootaloo’s, had made the wise decision and left the area, moving to a safer part of the hospital. Only a complete and utter idiot would continue to stay when Twilight Sparkle was so close to losing her temper that you could feel the magic radiating off of her. Blueblood, sadly was one such idiot and was oblivious to the danger standing in front of him as he continued his tirade.
“Not only that, but the child can’t fly. If the public ever found out there a Pegasus with royal blood, yet is unable to fly... again, I dare not think of the horrible shame that will fall upon our family.” He brushed a hoof against his chest. “Best rid ourselves of the nuisance before she causes anymore more trouble. I’ve heard she would likely die without Cadnace? Let that be. One less useless pony means a better Equestria. It’s not like anypony will miss her. Nopony actually cares about the little—”
“I CARE ABOUT HER, YOU SELF-CENTRED, EGOTISTICAL HEARTLESS, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING RETCH OF A PONY!” Twilight bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, causing the whole hospital to shudder under the intensity. “SCOOTALOO IS MY NIECE AND I CARE FOR HER JUST LIKE ANY AUNT WOULD; LIKE HOW CELESTIA CARES ABOUT YOU, THOUGH I HONESTLY DON’T SEE WHY! CADANCE CARES ABOUT HER; SHE’S SCOOTALOO’S MOTHER AND HAD TO BRING HER TO PONYVILLE SO SHE COULD BE RAISED IN A PLACE WHERE PONIES LIKE YOU WOULDN’T HURT HER! ”
Blueblood slowly backed away as the mare before him advanced closer. Her whole body was glowing, taking on the form she had when the box from the Tree of Harmony that became her castle had infused Twilight and the other Bearers to their Elements in ways none save Celestia surely knew.
“YOU DARE TO CALL MY NIECE USELESS! SHE AT LEAST TRIES, BLUEBLOOD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO DESERVE YOUR TITLE AS PRINCE, HMM?! YOU DARE TO SUGGEST THAT CADANCE CARES ABOUT YOUR IMAGE MORE THAN THE HAPPINESS OF HER OWN CHILD?! YOU DARE TO SUGGEST WE JUST CAST SCOOTALOO ASIDE WHEN SHE NEEDS HER FAMILY THE MOST, TO ACT LIKE WE DON’T LOVE HER?”
The stallion whimpered as he bumped into the wall behind him, for it meant he could no longer back away from the approaching being pulsating with magic he could never even begin to fathom the depth of.
“YOU SAY SCOOTALOO IS AN INSULT TO THE ROYAL FAMILY? ON WHAT REASON? THAT SHE WAS BIRTHED OUT OF WEDLOCK? NEWS FLASH, SHE ISN’T MY BROTHER’S BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER! CADANCE MARRIED ANOTHER STALLION AND BECAME PREGNANT WITH SCOOTALOO AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE! SCOOTALOO IS ALL SHE HAS LEFT OF LIGHTNING AFTER HIS DEATH, AND YOU DARE TO SAY SHE SHOULD JUST CAST HER ASIDE LIKE A PIECE OF TRASH!?”
Twilight’s eyes were pure white as she loomed over the taller stallion, who felt as small as an insect under a magnifying glass.
“LEAVE!” Twilight screamed, thrusting her hoof down the hallway. “GET OUT OF PONYVILLE AND NEVER RETURN OR I SHALL SEE TO IT YOU LEARN JUST WHAT DISCORD FELT DURING HIS THOUSAND YEARS IN STONE! OR MAYBE I SHOULD BANISH YOU TO MOON!”
“No,” he whimpered, quivering in the Alicorn’s shadow.
“THEN I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE IN PONYVILLE EVER AGAIN!” she screeched, her eyes promising suffering in ways no living being to comprehend. “IF I EVER SEE YOU IN PONYILLE OR THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, OR EVEN HEAR OF YOU BEING IN EITHER, OR IF YOU CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS FOR SCOOTALOO, CADANCE OR MY BROTHER, EVEN THE TINIEST HINDRANCE, YOU WILL WISH YOU WERE WITH TIREK IN TARTARUS! UNDERSTAND?!”
Blueblood gave several frantic, terrified nods, before he bolted down the hall, not wanting to incur the wrath of the mare who’d stood against him.
For several long moments, Twilight stood in the middle of the hallway, breathing heavily as she slowly calmed down, her form returning to normal and her magic no longer radiating from her body, the spell around the door fading away.
After what felt like an hour, Twilight was calm enough that she could think clearly.
“That may come back to bite me in the flank someday,” she murmured, moving over to one of the seats along the walls, opening her saddlebag with her magic and pulling out some parchment and a pen. “But he will not threaten my family like that, not for some stupid pride. Nor will I let him forget this any time soon.”
Sitting down, she moved the pen to the paper and began to write.
“Dear Princess Celestia...”
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“Scoots?”
I move my head a fraction to see the yellow filly standing on the side of my bed. Next to her is a white unicorn.
I know them both. They are my best friends... but at the same time... they’re not. They are Scootaloo’s friends and, no matter what anypony tells me, I’m not and never will be Scootaloo. I’m just... me. I’m me and nothing more... and I don’t even know what that is.
A sudden knock on the door causes us all to jerk and I bury myself deeper into Mum’s fur.
The door slowly opens and the head of a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane pops in. “Cadance?”
“Yes, Shiny?” she asks quietly, holding me close.
“I’m... I’m really sorry, but can you come out here for a bit,” he looks down, as if trying not to meet Mum’s eyes. “I... you really need to hear this.”
I tighten my grip on Mum. I don’t want her to go. If she goes, I might never see her again. I need her with me. She’s all I have. I can’t lose her.
“Scootaloo,” Mum murmurs, nuzzling my mane.
“Don’t go,” I whisper, trying to bury myself deeper into her fur. “Don’t leave me, please.”
“I promise I won’t, honey,” she replies gently, still nuzzling me. It feels so good and calming when she does that. “But I am the Crystal Princess, remember? Some things I need to handle... and I have a feeling this might be one of them. Shining wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t, you know that, right?”
I sniffle, shaking my head. I did know. While I feel as scared to be around Shining Armour as I do everypony aside from Mum, he had been kind enough to keep away and not make Mum leave... until now.
After what felt like an eternity, I slowly, reluctantly, ease my grip on Mum, letting her slide away from me.
As soon as she’s moved away and I lose the feeling of her body heat, I curl up on the bed, wrapping my tail around myself.
I feel a nuzzle against my wrapped-in-my-tail head. “I won’t be long this time, sweetie. I promise. And you know I’ll be back.”
I nod, sniffling. I listen to the sound of Mum’s hoofsteps on the floor moving away, then the door closing and the room goes quiet.
At once I feel everything closing in around me. Mum’s gone, I’m on my own. I don’t want to be alone. I want somepony to hold me, need somepony there for me. I don’t want to be alone.
“Scoots?”
I wince at the voice and the sudden feeling of a small hoof against my hidden-behind-my-tail shoulder.
Slowly, very slowly, I peek my eyes through my purple hairs. Before is the yellow filly with red hair, the unicorn standing next to her. They’re both looking at me with sadness and worry.
“Scoots, we miss you,” the unicorn says, her eyes shimmering. “We miss our friend.”
“I’m not her,” I murmur, covering my eyes again. “I’ll never be her. I can’t be, even if I wanted to.”
“Tha’ ain’t true,” the other filly says, sounding hurt. “Yer still Scootaloo, no matter what’s happened. Ya’ll always be our best friend. Nothing in Equestria’s ever gonna change that.”
“But I’m not from on Equestria,” I whisper, whimpering. “I came from somewhere else. I’m not even sure where that is anymore.”
Why am I talking to them? Don’t they see it only hurts me more when they do? When they talk to who they think is their friend, even though that same friend is dead and can never come back.
I’m not their friend. I’m just the cheap cut and paste replacement and I’m a shoddy one at that.
I feel movement and new weight coming onto the bed close to me, before I feel two small warms bodies, one on either side, pressing against me.
“But you are our friend,” the unicorn says, nuzzling my face through my tail. “We care about you because you’re our friend, not who you are.”
“That’s right,” the other says from my right. “I’ don’ matter ta us if yer Scoots, that human, both ’r whatever. The fact is yer our friend and we wan’ ta help ya, Scoots. Please, let us.”
I shut my eyes tight, whimpering.
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They’re my friends and I want to be with them! the young orange filly shouts, glaring at the human male standing in front of her in the black void.
He snarls back at his, his eyes fierce. No! I’m not you! I’m just the human that got stuck merged with you! I lost my whole life because of you! This is my body now and I shouldn’t have to worry about your problems!
I whimper as I sit huddled on the ground between them, my hangs over my head. I’m the in between of them. I’m female and covered in orange fur, with purple hair and a tail... but I have the body of a human. I’m stuck in between.
It's not fair. I don’t want to be in between anymore. I’ve been this way from the moment Discord unlocked the human part of me.
She’s me and I’m going to live my life with my friends! the Pegasus screams, stomping a hoof as if ready to charge. She’s me and you can do anything about that!
I feel otherwise, the human growls, cracking his knuckles. If I have to fight you for control of this body and mind, I will, filly. Being a brony doesn’t mean I won’t hold back if you’re going to interfere with my life!
The Pegasus opens her mouth again to control as I tried to make myself smaller.
ENOUGH! The booming voice seems to make the whole void shake, and I cry out in fear while the other two look around angrily for the source.
There is a flash of dark-blue light and a dark-blue equine with wings and a horn and a mane and tail made of stars moving in an ethereal wind is standing between them, standing over me.
You are both one and the same, Princess Luna says sternly, looking from one of them to the other. This is not a debate about who owns this form. You are both now one and the same. This one is proof of that, but your constant denial keeps her trapped between you both.
The two look at me, their faces turning into a scowl.
I’m not her! The human points at the filly.
And I’m not him! she shouts back, pointing in return.
Princess Luna growls, leaning over me like a lioness protecting her cub. You are right. Neither of you are the other. You are both the same being now. There is no longer the human, Mike Johns, nor the filly, Scootaloo. They are now both one and the same being. It is time you accepted that, so that she may move on.
Those are my friends trying to comfort me! the filly yells, glaring the Alicorn. My friends, not his! I shouldn’t have to share my friends!
Speak for yourself, pony! the human growls, taking a step forward. I shouldn’t have to deal with your friends thinking of me as you! I never asked for this, so stop acting like I did!
ENOUGH! Luna glared from one to the other. Neither of you are whom you think you are. You are the fragments of both, still fighting to remain as you once were. For this being, this pony, for Scootaloo to live, you must both accept what and who you are.
I’m not letting her take my mom away! the filly screamed, stepping forward.
I don’t want her! the human replies.
Mum, I whisper, shuddering. I want my mummy. Please.
Both growl. She’s not your mummy!
She is! I wail, tears streaming from my face. I want my mum! I want my mum! GIVE ME MY MUM!
Suddenly they both glow with a white light, before shooting forward. I scream, trying to move, but Luna standing over me make it too slow for me to get out.
The lights slam into me and I freeze, my body falling.
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I gasp loudly, my eyes going wide as I stare up at the ceiling, yet don’t see it. My mind is on fire as two sets of memories coalesce within me, merging, solidifying, becoming one.
I slump back on the bed, breathing heavily as everything is clear to me for what feels like an eternity. I am Scootaloo, but I am also Matt Johns. We are one and the same, or spirits entangled forever as one being to keep each other alive.
My human life was not for nothing. It saved my life, my current life. My pony life.
“Scoots?” I look up weakly at the anxious faces of the unicorn and yellow filly... no. the anxious faces of my best friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
I pull the both of them closer, wrapping a foreleg around each of their necks and holding pulling them to me and cry.
They both seem startled at first, but, eventually, they return my hug, holding me tightly.
Their embrace is warm. I can practically feel their love and care for me and it makes me happy. Happy for the first time in a long while. My tears continue, but these are no longer tears of sadness and lose. These are tears of joy.
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“He said what?!” Cadance’s eyes widened, yet narrowed at the same time. It was a sight no mortal being should see. Thankfully, Twilight was the only one with the view, as Shining Armour was speaking with a male nurse at the time.
Twilight nodded. “His only concern is the family pride.”
“That arrogant...” the pink Alicorn hissed, glaring at the ground, though she didn’t finish, unable to find a word to fit her feelings of Blueblood at the moment.
Originally Shining had asked her own to help deal with a few of their advisors, some of whom where arrogant enough, since they’d moved to the Empire from Canterlot, to question her whether she wanted Scootaloo registered as her official heir, or if she was just to be seen as a substitute in the event one could not be found.
Shining had let her speak to them due to this being a matter he technically didn’t have a right to decide on, even though he knew her decision within the second the question had been posed to him.
However, despite being Cadance’s husband, he was not Scootaloo’s biological father and therefore, such a matter was Cadance’s to deal with, much as he’d have rather handle it himself due to his not caring if Scootaloo was his daughter by birth or not, for he cared for her all the same, and if only so Cadance didn’t have to listen to the pointless garbage they’d spewed from their mouths.
Cadance had warned the advisors that their job was not to dictate her family life, only to advisor her on matter of running her fiefdom and sent them back to the Empire with severe warnings to remember their place, lest they wish to end up on the streets.
However, despite it being bad timing, Twilight had taken her aside and informed her of the events regarding Blueblood’s intended visit for which she’d stopped and his reasons for coming in the first place.
Twilight shook her head, a clear effort to push her emotions aside being made from the look on her face. “I’ve warned him never to set hoof in Ponyville or the Empire again. I've even let Princess Celestia know about this. He's not going to be able to skip around this one.”
“Still, the fact that he... Gah!” Cadance thrust her head to the side, her teeth clenched. “Scootaloo is my daughter, not his. He has no right to tell me what I can or can’t do when it regards my own child. If he had children of his own, maybe he’d understand.”
Twilight snorted. “Have you met Blueblood? I doubt he’d even acknowledged their existence, shoving them off to palace stuff or just dumping them... anywhere, knowing him.”
Cadance opened her mouth to say further, but was halted when she felt something. Being the Princess of Love, she was attuned to the emotions regarding love around her and, just then, she had felt a shift nearby, in the room behind her. Scootaloo had been giving off a pained love ever since after she’d woken up from her coma. Now, however, she could feel free-flowing love coming from the room behind her, the love of a pony who has realized just how many care about her and that she cares about in turn.
Hurrying to the door, she went in, to see Scootaloo holding onto Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, tears running down her face... but the warmest smile she had seen in a long time on her lips.