Scootaloo's POV.
I made it back to the Cloud Mansion without any problem, I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts.
That, thing back at the train station... I have no idea what it was, but still it frightened me. It reminded me of that, thing that had gone after me back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, it was unnatural, and dangerous.
I normally wasn't so scared by things, but that thing... what was weirder was that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom didn't seem to notice anything odd. It was like they only saw a normal Pony.
Come to think of it, I had felt that same feeling once before, well, almost the same, when Nightmare Moon had attacked. But this one was different, I just had to hope that everything would be okay.
"Hey squirt, where are you?" Mom's voice said from the other room.
"In the kitchen," I called to her as she came in with a smile, but she looked nervous at the same time. "Hey mom, is everything okay?"
"Scootaloo, I need to talk to you about something," mom said, taking a deep breath. "I received a letter today, from your father."
"My father?" I asked, I remembered that mom had told me that he had left her before I was even born, why would he suddenly be sending a letter to her? "Why did he send you a letter?"
"He said he wants to meet you," mom said. "He says he really wants to make up for being gone so long, I'm leaving it up to you if you want to meet him."
I paused at that, I couldn't believe it... its not like I didn't wonder what my father was like, but if he had left us, then should I really do this? Something about this felt incredibly weird.
Then again, mom had deserved a second chance, wouldn't it be fair to give the same to my Dad?
"I'll, at least meet him," I finally said. "If you think it'll be okay."
Mom paused at that, she seemed to be hesitating as if she wasn't sure what to say or do before nodding. "Alright Scootaloo, I'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll get it arranged."
I just hoped that I had made the right choice by agreeing to this.
"There is, something else I want to talk to you about," I said.
"Oh, what's that?" Mom asked.
"Earlier, there was a train that arrived from Las Pegasus," I said, starting to explain what happened. "There was a... Pony that got off that was weird, I got a feeling from it, like when we were attacked before in the castle."
"It got off in Ponyville?" Mom asked.
"I, think so," I said. "I, kind of ran off before I could see what happened to it."
Mom had a long pause at that and took a deep breath. "Well, now we know that something might be here in town," she said and wrapped her foreleg around me. "Don't worry Scoots, you're going to be okay, I promise."
I gave her a hug, taking a deep breath, that had really helped.
"Thanks mom..." I said with a smile.
She nuzzled me gently, I just hoped that everything really would be okay.
"Now come on, lets get everything ready for Fluttershy's visit tonight," Rainbow said.
"What do you mean, we were just going to order Pizza because neither of us can cook," I said with a giggle, getting a laugh out of mom.
00000
Twilight Sparkle's POV.
"You're kidding right? You want me to send a message to Celestia requesting for you to get to visit Tartarus?" Spike asked as he held the pen in his claw. "And not for just any reason, you want to see Lord Tirek?"
"I know it sounds crazy," I said. "But Tirek might know something about what attacked Scootaloo in the castle."
This really did sound crazy now that I thought about it, going to see Tirek because on the off chance he knew something about it? But we had to learn more about that thing if we were going to deal with it if it ever came back.
"Okay, I'll send it, but I don't know how she'll respond," Spike said as he started writing on the piece of paper and then sent it to Celestia.
While we waited for an answer, I turned my attention to the shelves of books. The only other name that Discord had mentioned was Love Craft, I could've sworn I had seen that name around here somewhere.
"Where's Pinkie when you need her..." I muttered, I wasn't quite sure what I was even looking for at this point, I finally stopped and used my telekinesis to pull out a book, The Weird and Bizarre World of Love Craft. "Found it!"
"Oh, you were looking for this guy's writing?" Spike asked. "I remember there were a few comic books based on his work. Why are we looking for him?"
"Discord said that he might have answers," I said, but I wasn't actually sure about it now that I flipped through it. It felt more like a collection of old Mare's tales, like it wasn't anything that should be taken seriously.
I stopped on a page and read part of it out loud.
"The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
Take these words written with caution, the truth is what exists beyond these pages."
"What's that even supposed to mean?" Spike asked, scratching his head.
"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted, that had confused me a lot. I kept reading through it out of curiosity, it wasn't giving me a lot of answers, but there at least seemed to be some basic information here.
There was a knock on the door downstairs, we went down to find Princess Celestia outside waiting for us. She had a concerned look on her face.
"Princess, is everything okay?" I asked.
"Twilight, I wanted to talk to you in person after your request," Celestia said. "Why do you want to talk to Lord Tirek?"
"Yes, there's a chance he might be able to tell us more about what attacked Scootaloo," I said.
"Is there a chance it might come back?" Celestia asked, she was now looking even more worried, she knew, something.
"I honestly don't know, I just want to make sure we have all the possibilities covered," I said. "I know its a strange request."
"Very well," Celestia said. "Just be careful, there are things in Tartarus even more dangerous than Tirek. And you'll have to talk to the Queen of Tartarus before she'll let you talk to anyone"
I didn't like the way she said that as she returned to her carriage to leave. I just hoped I wasn't getting in over my head.
I went back inside to get ready for tomorrow.
00000
Rainbow Dash's POV.
"Okay, Scootaloo's in bed," I said, coming into the living room where Fluttershy was waiting for me on the couch. "Thanks for coming by tonight."
"Of course," Fluttershy said, giving me a smile. "Thank you for inviting me over."
I sat down next to Fluttershy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm always happy to have my marefriend over, and Scootaloo is always happy to see you," I said, nuzzling her gently. "I've been worried lately though."
"About what?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"Different things, but I got a letter today, from Stratosphere," I said. "He, wants to see Scootaloo, she agreed to talk to him, but, honestly I don't know..."
"Rainbow, do you think Scootaloo will be able to handle it?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think so," I said with a nod. "She's a strong kid, if anypony can handle it, she can."
"You're not sure though, are you?" Fluttershy asked.
"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. "Stratosphere left us behind for Las Pegasus, its kind of weird that he's suddenly so willing to be here for Scootaloo now."
"I know, but you should have faith in her, and if you need anything, I'm here for both of you," Fluttershy said. "I love you, Dashie."
"I love you too, Flutters," I said, wrapping a wing around my marefriend. "Thank you, Fluttershy, for being there for me when I need you."
"Anything for you, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said and kissed me softly on the lips.
00000
Twilight Sparkle's POV.
It was the next day, I had been directed towards a portal that lead to Tartarus. I gulped a little as I entered through the gates, trying to figure out what to do now.
On the other side of the gate, there was a group of guards dressed in steel shining black armor that are watching me carefully. A brown colored Pegasus with a black mane and tail came out between them.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Princess of Friendship," the Pegasus said as she looked me over. "What brings you to Tartarus?"
"I'm here to talk to the Queen of Tartarus," I said, staying confident as this Pegasus stared me down. "I need to talk to one of the, uh, prisoners."
"I'll talk to her, you'll have to convince her though," the Pegasus said before going back through the door.
I looked nervously around, Tartarus was like nothing I had ever seen before, it looked like a city at first glance, but it was feeling like it was something I had never seen before. I took a deep breath as the doors started to open again and I turned to speak to the Queen.
Standing before me was a towering black Alicorn with a wild white mane as flames started to swirl around her.
"WHO DARETH COME BEFORE MORNING STAR, THE GREAT QUEEN OF TARTARUS!" She said in the booming Royal Canterlot voice.