Scootaloo's grandfather gently nudged her towards the entrance of a bright, colourful building with a smiling group of animals on the sign. The six year old looked up at it in wonder as her burly red haired grandfather smiled down at her and led her inside.
The colours of pictures and toys made her eyes bug out in surprise as the young child watched other children play on the plush blue carpet while the grown ups watched on. Scootaloo looked up at her grandfather for reassurance and upon receiving a nod, raced off into the fray. She almost seemed to bound from one activity to the next as movement or light captured her attention and soon she had roped a few other kids in a game of tag.
She saw her grandfather talking with a young woman with white skin and orange hair that was tied up in a what her grandmother called a ponytail. The woman adjusted the name tag pinned to her long, blue coat and smiled as she talked.
Dreamer Prose listened politely to heavily muscled man with dusty brown skin, dark red hair and matching beard as he looked over at the small, purple haired girl he brought in with kind green eyes before turning his attention back to the daycare worker.
"Are you sure Scootaloo will be... Alright?" he asked. "It has been many years since we let one of our own spend time outside the community."
"I know, not since I worked with your daughter," Dreamer replied. "Star Fire handled it well and she was a lot older than Scootaloo and from the looks of it, the kid is definitely her mothers daughter."
"That is what worries me," the man grunted. "My Little Star would always find a way to get into trouble."
"I promise the kid will be fine Redwood, I'll keep an eye on her myself. I have experience with this, trust me." Dreamer stated.
Some children dashed between the two adults, laughing and squealing with Scootaloo right behind them. Dreamer gave Redwood a sheepish smile and quickly walked over to calm the group down before one of them tripped and hurt themselves.
"She started it." One of the boys said and pointed at Scootaloo.
Dreamer sighed and guided the children over to other, less dangerous activities. She was about to tend to some the other parents that still lingered round near the entrance when she felt a tug on her coat. She looked down to see the young girl Redwood had brought in staring up at her in a mix of sadness and fear.
"I'm sorry." Scootaloo whimpered and Dreamer swore she saw little brown, fluffy wolf ears splayed down over the child's purple hair.
"Hey it's ok," Dreamer replied comfortingly and scooped the sniffing girl into her arms. "You're new and didn't know the rules, c'mon I'll show you the big, shiny poster we keep all the rules on and then we can play catch or something alright?"
"Ok." Scootaloo replied and managed a weak smile.
She's adorable Dreamer cooed inwardly.
The day ended and Dreamer trudged into her barely furnished apartment, flicked on the light and dumped her satchel and coat on the blue, three seater couch and made her way over to the small kitchen. She quickly prepared frozen meal for dinner, as she ate her gaze drifted to the tack board hung up next a nearby window and her eyes focused on a laminated news article.
Five Dead In Gang Shooting
Five familiar fave looked back at her from their pictures in the news paper clipping, she sighed and threw her half eaten meal in the bin and flopped onto the couch. She picked up a tablet that sat on a small coffee table by the couch and switched it on. Idly she flickered through the displays of various security camera footage of the underground base she was supposed to be in, upon noticing no changes and a quick check to make sure her pet was fed, Dreamer checked her emails.
Spam, Junk, ad, click bait and- Oh HQ has a job for me...Weird energy readings near a pizza place? eh not my problem, I'll check it out in a week or two if it turns out to be something serious.
She sent a reply back, switched off the tablet and lounged around for the rest of the night.
After that first day of introductions, Scootaloo was glued to Dreamer's side and the daycare worker was more than happy to have a small, playful shadow running around after her during work hours. They wiled away the day by drawing, playing and when nap time came around, reading. Fight's, another issue Scootaloo's grandfather was worried about, were never an issue as his granddaughter had fun mimicking Dreamer's casual, yet stern approach to less than friendly children.
The weekend before the new school year came sooner than expected and as a treat, the daycare had planned a field trip to a local family friendly pizzeria. The sign above the entrance was decorated the same smiling quartet of animals as the daycare, the inside a loud, bustling place full of noisy children, costumed workers and slightly tired parents chatting away while their offspring ran to one of the many entertainment areas the place had to offer.
Dreamer and Scootaloo were drawn to a small play area in a room to the left of the entrance, a massive wooden pirate ship atop a sea of foam blocks greeted them and near the center of the back wall was a stage are concealed by a purple, star patterned curtain. Scootaloo's eyes lit up and she made a dive towards the foam blocks while Dreamer hovered near the stage.
"Miss Prose, come play with me!" Scootaloo called out as she rolled around on a pile of foam.
"Sorry Scoots, grownups aren't allowed in there." Dreamer replied as she walked over towards the ship.
"Aye lass, the foamy waters be no place fer a land lover." a voice stated as a cartoonish looking fox head poked out from behind the stage curtain.
"Oi who are you calling a land lover?" Dreamer countered and after a moment, face palmed. "I'm talking to a robot...."
"Ye not be talking to any old automaton lass, I be Foxy The Pirate!" the animatronic fox replied and swept back the stage curtain. "The most advanced artificial intelligence this side of the seven seas"
"Uh huh" Dreamer deadpanned.
"Cool, a real pirate!" Scootaloo said excitedly and bounded over to the stage. "Have you stolen any treasure?"
'Well I have me fair share of buried doubloons little lass, I much prefer sailing the seas and fighting nature herself!" Foxy crowed. "Why don't ye take a seat and ol' Foxy can tell ye a tale or two?"
With Scootaloo occupied for the moment, Dreamer headed out into other parts of the restaurant to help the rest of the day care workers look after the other children. She broke up an argument in the arcade ("You all know the rules, take turns or no one plays it."), rescued a lost doll belonging to one of the older kids from the ball pit ("Alright, who threw Miss Smarty Pants into the ball pit? Starlight, go apologize.") and prevented a near accident over at the main stage. {Get off the stage Trixie! It's dangerous up there!").
Lunch didn't come soon enough for Dreamer. Once the kids had been rounded up and Scootaloo had said goodbye to Foxy, everyone was seated at a large table with several different kinds of pizza and fizzy, sugary drinks set out for the group. The children watched excitedly as three animatronics onstage were switched out with a yellow furred bear that sang folk songs and told stories while they ate.
Dreamer tuned it out and munched on her fourth slice of pizza. A scream ripped out across the room, Dreamer looked up to see a small group of older children holding a toddler towards the jaws of the singing gold bear onstage. She and many others rushed to stop them as the crying child's head was held in the metal mouth of the robot, which attempted to close but the young boy's head was in the way. The older model, lacking any safeguards, didn't stop and kept applying pressure until-
Staff rushed in as parents and daycare staff hurried to calm the hysteria that gripped the pizzeria. So focused on helping the frightened children under her care that Dreamer didn't notice an employee in a golden rabbit costume herd six children into a room past the stage. Once the children were calmed down and Dreamer did a headcount and noticed that Scootaloo wasn't present. She excused herself and notified her fellow workers that she'd meet up with everyone later.
Dreamer had searched the entire restaurant multiple times, the staff had done their best to help, but Scootloo and five others were still missing. Closing time was fast approaching and as Dreamer was doing one last round of the place, she heard a noise coming an area near the back of the main stage. She looked around to find the staff were busy elsewhere in the establishment and casually wandered past the stage towards an off limits area of the pizzeria. She prodded walls and looked for any concealed areas until she heard the noise again, it sounded like something whimpering.
The sound came from an old, boarded up section at the end of a corridor beyond the main area. The boards hadn't been tampered with but more sounds echoed from beyond the door. Dreamer checked more to see if anyone was nearby and reached into the inside of her coat and pulled out a small energy detector of some kind. She flicked it on and pointed it at the boarded up area, the meter beeped and went up as it sensed something.
Another whimper, followed by whine came from behind the boarded up door. Dreamer stowed the detector back in her coat walked back a few steps. "I really hope I don't get in trouble for this..." she grumbled and charged forward, a closed fist glowing with golden energy. She punched the door, the impact smashing through the wooden boards and sent the door itself crashing to the ground with an obvious dent from the point of impact.
A purple humanoid thing stood in the middle of the room with its back facing her, scattered around the room were five blood soaked corpses of the other missing children, and cowering beneath a dusty table was a small light brown wolf cub with purple eyes. The humanoid creature whirled round and snarled at Dreamer, who recoiled at the sight of it's empty eye sockets and the black, teeth filled void that was the creature's mouth.
It rushed forward and swiped at her with long, clawed hands.She sidestepped it's attack and danced round it to put herself between the wolf cub and the beast hunting it.
"So, we got ourselves a Boogeyman, huh?" Dreamer commented and reached into a pocket on her pants to pull out a silver, pistol covered in blue, glowing runes. She aimed the gun and fired before the boogeyman could attack again, a white glowing ball of magic exited from the barrel and expanded into a curved wall of energy that pinned the beast to the wall behind it with a metallic 'clang'. It snarled and thrashed, trying to escape. Dreamer watched it warily s it suddenly bagn to shift and morph into a tall, bulky yellow rabbit animatronic, it's new mass shattering its bonds.
It lunged again and Dreamer got a metal fist to the side of her face, she rolled side and staggered to her feet. With a flick of her left hand a two handed clay more with a blue hilt and a glowing white blade etched with runes materialized before her. she grasped the hilt with her left hand and lifted the sword with ease to parry another swipe from the boogeyman. Deftly, she stepped behind it and thrust the blade it the torso of the creature, it phased through, a rune circle appearing around the blade and Dreamer twisted the sword as if it were a key.
The Boogeyman let out a terrifying screech and attempted to shift forms once more, only for it to snap back into the shape of the robotic rabbit. Dreamer pulled her weapon out and aimed her gun at the creature's head.
"I would say a one liner, but you don't have the intelligence to appreciate it." She stated and fired. The boogeyman vanished and the gun's projectile smacked harmlessly into the wall.
"And of course it can teleport, because why the hell not..." Dreamer grumbled and sent her weapons back into the ether. "At lest it'll be easy to track down."
She turned her attention to the wolf pup string wide eyed at her from underneath the table. "hey it's ok, the big bad boogeyman's gone now." she cooed and the pup rushed out bolted into her arms. it whined and before her very eyes, the young wolf shifted into a crying, terrified Scootaloo.
"Shh, you're safe. Let's get you home now kid, your pack must be worried sick...And you start school next week, can't have you missing that can we?" Dreamer said warmly and carried the girl outside.
By the time Dreamer had hiked her way into the depths of the Everfree Woods outside town, night had fallen. Scootaloo was sound asleep in her arms while her carrier kept an ear out for any strange noises. A howl pierced the silence of the night, followed by dozens more as a pack of wolves descended upon Dreamer. Scootaloo woke up, wriggled her way out of the young woman's grasp and shifted into a wolf to yip and nuzzle the gathered canines.
A large, reddish brown wolf approached Dreamer and motioned for her to follow as the pack headed into the woods. They led to small village with log houses and carefully maintained dirt paths that led to a large pond in the middle of a forest clearing. From here, the wolves separated and walked off, some shifting into human form before doing so.
Scootaloo ran up to a white wolf, whose fur glowed in the moonlight, the young pup shifted back into human form to hug the animal before rushing back over to Dreamer and dragging the girl towards the wolf.
"Alpha look, Miss prose saved me from a monster!" the girl babbled excitedly. "it was so cool!"
"Did she now?" the white wolf replied. "Why don't you go find your grandfather, little one, I'm sure he'd love to hear all about while I talk to your new friend."
"Come, I make us some tea." The wolf said to Dreamer and led her into one of the houses while Scootaloo rushed off to find her grandfather.
"Do make yourself at home, I'll only be just a moment." the white wolf said as Dreamer took a seat on one of the cushions placed around a low table in the Japanese-style log house. The wolf shifted into a middle aged woman with long white hair and dressed in a simple white robe.
"It's been quite some time since you graced the pack with your presence, Lady Prose." the woman commented as she poured water into a teapot.
"Yeah, well I've been kind busy Amy, sorry about that." Dreamer replied sheepishly.
"By busy, you mean throwing yourself into every reckless situation the world can throw at you?" Amy countered as she set out tea cups. "Just because you don't visit any more doesn't mean the pack won't stop looking out for you."
"I stopped doing that two years ago, I'm fine now, no more suicide missions, I swear." Dreamer stated.
"Hm, yes, you only did so after your superiors beat you over the head enough times to get you to stop."
"Amy..." Dreamer grumbled.
Amy smiled, "That's not what I wanted to talk about though," the white haired woman poured the tea and added a plentiful amount of sugar to Dreamer's serve. "I've been meaning to contact you about Scootaloo, her parents requested that she'd be integrated into human society, much like her mother before her, to better relations between Humans and Lycans and since both of her parents have passed on..."
"No, I'll keep an eye out for the kid, but I'm not adopting her, she needs to at least learn from her own kind-" Dreamer began.
"She will," Amy interrupted and took a sip of tea. "She can spend some days here with the pack, and some days with you. She needs a mother figure and as an honorary member of this clan, it is your duty to help us when we ask."
"Rrright," Dreamer drawled. "The answer's still no, and don't interrupt me, you know I don't like that."
"How is this any different than when you took in Star Fire?" Amy asked.
"Star was a teenager and you lot had just moved here from the other side of the world, it's my job to make sure things between magical entities and humans run smoothly," Dreamer stated. "And now you're asking me to raise a child? Nope, no way."
"You've adopted young ones before," Amy stated calmly. "How is this any different?"
"Well-I-just, look," Dreamer said seriously. "Immortals like me see things differently. Six years isn't enough to get over...what happened to my team, to Star Fire. Plus my job is dangerous, at least my old group were trained and stuff."
"You could train Scootaloo, she shows promise even at this age." Amy countered.
"And if people find out I have a kid...look since you're not going to let up, how about this? She stays with me for a bit, like you suggested, and legally I adopt her. But to Scootaloo, I'm just a friend of the family, maybe in a few years, I'll tell her about my work and start training her, for now though? That kid deserves a chance to be a kid." Dreamer said.
"I find that agreeable, I'll see you tomorrow to fill out the paperwork." Amy stated.
"You've been planning this for a while haven't you?" Dreamer deadpanned.
"It wasn't my idea, I assure you. Star Fire's husband came up with it the moment the two found out they were having a child." Amy replied.
Three years later...
Scootaloo, now nine years old, looked around the pizzaria as local children and their parents walked in for the same reason she did.
A large banner that read Happy Birthday Diamond Tiara hung over one of larger tables in the dinning area near the stage and the birthday girl in question was overseeing the seating arrangements while she barked orders at the family servant that had undoubtedly been paid to attend.
Scootaloo decided to wander around the establishment and headed to the arcade. With the pockets of her shorts filled with coins, she made a beeline for a fighting game and began her quest to beat her current high score. As she deftly defeated the game's final boss for the third time, Scootaloo's immersion was suddenly broken.
"That was so cool!" a high pitched voice squeaked.
"Yeah, I've never seen anyone that good!" an equally excited southern accented voice added.
Scootaloo turned around to find two girls around her age watching her play.
"Thanks, I've never had an audience before. I'm Scootaloo."
"I'm Sweetie Belle." The white skinned, green eyed girl with curly pink and purple hair replied.
"It was a real treat watching you play, I'm Apple Bloom," The yellow skinned, amber eyed girl with a large pink bow tied into her curly red hair. "Did your family drag you here too?"
"My babysitter works here, so usually I'm here because she gives me a ton of coins for the arcade but I'm here because her boss called her in and there wasn't time to find someone else to watch me," Scootaloo explained. "On the plus side we get free food."
The other two agreed that it was a plus to the whole ordeal and the trio began to pass the time taking turns trying to beat each other at the various multiplayer arcade games. Sometime later, after cake, pizza and the tedious endeavor of listening to Diamond Tiara prattle on about how great she was, Scootaloo Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat on cushions in one of the quieter areas in Pirate's Cove. They in their fourth game of rock-paper-scissors when a shadow descended upon.
"Well what do we have here?" Diamond Tiara sneered and adjusted her paper crown as started to slide down over her face. "What are you three losers doing here, you should be paying attention to me, I am the birthday girl."
"I'm just here for the food," Scootaloo said simply and everyone gawked at her. "What? My babysitter brought me here 'cause she has to work today, It's not her fault this place didn't have enough people working to get that big party all set up, happy birthday by the way."
"What-you-you're just here for the food!" Diamond spluttered.
"Yeah, pretty much." Scootaloo replied and Apple Bloom face palmed.
"Hmph, you're just a loser anyway," Diamond retorted. "I bet you couldn't last a night in here when the place is closed, The three of you will just get eaten by the monster."
"You don't believe in that old legend do you?" Apple Bloom asked.
"If there was a monster locked up in the back room it would be on the news right" Sweetie Belle added.
"Then why don't you prove it," Diamond said with a smirk. "I dare you to sneak in tonight, stay until opening tomorrow and if you come back alive, then there's no monster."
"This doesn't seem like a good idea..." Sweetie Belle stated as the three of them tiptoed around the dark and empty dinning area with a torch that appeared to only offer a small beam of light instead of how it should have eorked almost as soon the trio snuck into the pizzaria. The girls jumped at every shadow and trick of the light as they made their way backstage past the deactivated animatronics.
"Ok on the count of three," Scootaloo said as she reached up to open the door. "One, two, three-"
A roar belted out from behind the door, it swung open and tattered, faded yellow rabbit animatronic shambled out towards them. At the sight of the creature, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fainted. Scootaloo scrambled to drag her friends as far away from the monster as possible and when she tried to open the front doors she found them locked.
Scootaloo trembled in fear and tried her not to cry as she looked at the monster and back at her friends.
With a shaky breath and all the courage she could muster she ran past the golden bunny and shouted "H-hey ugly, you stink!"
That caught the beasts attention and Scootaloo bolted towards the security office as fast as her legs could carry her while lumbering steps of the monster rang in her ears as if to sound her doom. The door to the security office slid and much to Scootaloo's surprise she was yanked inside and shoved under the desk. The glint of a greatsword's blade caught her eye as the night guard stepped forward to face the monster.
"Just wait here Scoots, it'll all be ok." the familiar voice of Dreamer Prose said.
"Why are you here?" Scootaloo blurted out and she couldn't see Dreamer's face, Scootaloo got the impression that her family friend and babysitter was smiling.
"I'm the night guard, duh."
The monster was quickly taken down with little flair and fanfare, a quick slash of a blade and the beast crumpled to the ground with a heavy thud s a final roar of protest shook the room. With the danger gone, Scootaloo crept out from under the desk and watched as Dreamer glowed with a golden aura and hauled the beast out of the room and into the main area.
"You were pretty brave tonight," Dreamer said as she went over to check on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle/ "It was a stupid idea to come here, but you did the right thing in defending your friends."
"Are they going to be ok?" Scootaloo asked.
"They just fainted, I'll scout the area to make sure there are no other surprises tonight, call me when they wake up kay?'
When Scootaloo's friends awoke, the trio were told that they had accidentally activated a malfunctioning animatronic and were quickly dropped off to their worried families. Scootaloo didn't see Dreamer until a few days later, conversing with the pack Alpha and going over some form of paperwork.
The week passed in a blur and the young lycan found herself growing ever closer to her new friends, she was especially proud of how the three of them told the tale of their adventure in the pizzaria to a excited group of fellow classmates and one irritated Diamond Tiara. On Friday Scootaloo found Dreamer waiting for at the end of the day and the pair talked as they walked down the street.
"I uh, wanted to thank you for saving us back at the pizza place..." Scootaloo said.
"You know you could've just asked me about the rumors about that place, I would've told you what was really going on." Dreamer replied.
"I know but that monster...It wasn't a robot was it?" the child asked.
"What gave it away?"
"It smelled like rotting blood...And I've been having nightmares and stuff..."
"Well you're right it's not a robot but I'll tell you when we get to my apartment, there's something I've been meaning to show you." Dreamer explained.
When they reached her apartment, Dreamer fiddled with the keypad by the door for a few seconds before the door slid up to reveal a long tunnel.
"Fun fact; I own this entire apartment building and I'm the only person living in it," Dreamer stated as she led Scootaloo down the tunnel. "Right now where underneath the complex in a kind of really big bunker that can't be detected by any form of technology or magic, it's air tight to prevent flooding, resistant to nuclear explosions and radiation and here's the fun it, it's all part of a secret organisation designed to ensure coexistence between humans and non-humans."
"What? That can't be true." Scootaloo replied.
"Just take a look for yourself." Dreamer said with a grin, opened a giant metal door and stepped aside to let the young lycan enter first.
Scootaloo's jaw dropped at the sight before her; the massive room was divided into several sections all organised around a giant glass tube filled with a strange glowing liquid that went from the floor to the impossibly high ceiling. over to the right was a leisure area with a large flat screen TV top a cabinet that displayed DVD's, video tapes and a large variety of gaming consoles. a few plush chairs, cushions and beanbags were scattered in front of the television and the floor around that area was covered in soft blue carpet as opposed to the white tiles that made up the floor everywhere else.
Off to the left of the leisure area was a large spiraling staircase that led to a second floor and behind the stairs was a tunnel that led to another part of the base. Another tunnel off to the left side of the room was situated just behind a large office like are with computer desks, chairs and state of the art technology as well as a series of computers and a couple of printers.
There was small kitchen area t the back of the room that seemed optimized to be as efficient with the space provided without skipping out on any kind of device one could need to prepare a meal.
Finally, attached the glass tube t the center of the room, facing the entrance was something Scootaloo could only describe as 'A giant, cartoon like super computer.' that seemed to come straight out of one of those sci-fi action shows she watched on weekends.
Scootaloo's nose tickled and with the awe and wonder winding down, she noticed that, save for the kitchen and the super computer, everything else was covered in a fine layer of dust and she saw several areas with personal effects that also looked like they hadn't been touched in a long time, photos still sat at desk, coffee mugs left unused on the kitchen self and other small details that suggested other people should e here, but they weren't.
"Where is everyone?" she asked and Dreamer hesitated before she sat down on a chair in front of the large computer and sighed.
"Some time ago I had a team working with me, including your parents, nowadays, it's...just me.." Dreamer explained quietly. "I just haven't really bothered recruiting anyone else and until your little stunt at Fazbear's, I wasn't planning to."
"What happened?" Scootaloo asked.
"I'll tell you some other time alright?" Dreamer replied. "I uh, don't think I can right now..."
Dreamer gestured to the area and calmly said "This is Timberwolf, beyond the government, above the police. cross the country are bases like this run by groups of people from all walks of life, some magical, others not. Out job is to monitor rifts in space time that appear across the country and ensure a safe and prosperous environment for the various entities that fall through as well work towards a world where humans and other intelligent life can coexist peacefully."
The adult in the room struggled to find the right words for a second and quietly added. "I was wondering if you wanted to join as a junior member..."
"What will I do?" Scootaloo asked.
"Your parents left some stuff behind in case you wanted to join, training programs and some simulations and stuff over in the training area, you'd go through those and learn to be an effective support for me while I'm in the field, monitoring stuff on the net, learning how to spot people who aren't really human, diplomacy and a lot of technical know-how," Dreamer explained. "When you get older you'll learn how to fight without causing serious harm or killing and maybe I'll teach you some magic here and there if you have the aptitude, you free to say no at any time and just walk out, I just wanted to let you know I'll help you find other options when you turn eighteen and stuff if you're not interested."
"Can I think about it?" Scootaloo asked "...And you're not going to wipe my memory or anything if I say no are you?"
"Why would I? Unless you're going to turn into a super villain, yes those are real by the way, then no, I'm not going to erase your memory," Dreamer stated. "Come on, let's get you home, you can talk it out with your family if you're not entirely sure, try asking for some stories about the stuff your parents would get up to."
Next Time on Timberwolf...
"That was another lycan right?" Scootaloo asked as she and Dreamer bolted through the woods.
"No, it's a werewolf, it's full moon out now and that guy was more humanoid than wolf, looks like my hunch was right." Dreamer replied and they leapt over a fallen log as howls pierced the night air.
"We have to warn the pack!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
There was a crash as several trees fell and blocked their path just a multitude of werewolves and unfamiliar lycanthropes stalked out into the moonlight led by a young woman with orange skin, dark purple, almost black hair, matching dark purple eyes and wearing a black one piece outfit.
"Long time no see Prose, how's my little sister's pup doing?" the woman asked with a sly grin.