Scootaloo planned to stay at the abandoned cottage for the rest of the night. Her body was itching to destroy everything, fight anything, just do something, but she held herself back. She couldn't mess this up. She couldn't risk hurting everyone because she couldn't control herself. She would not. mess. this. up. Rainbow Dash was trusting her. She just needed to wait for daytime and everything will be fine. Unfortunately, daytime was forever away.
It's going to be a long night...
The pegasus was sitting cross legged on the floor in the center of the almost empty room, taking in her surroundings. There was a mirror with a long crack running diagonally through it, a small teddy bear presumably left behind from the last family that lived in the cottage, and a wooden coffee table. Dust collected wherever it could; some took the form of the powdery dust found everywhere and the rest collected in corners to string itself from furniture to furniture, looking like spider webs. Wind lightly blew through the tiny cracks and holes in the brown walls and brought out the hollowness of the room. The lack of life would put any trespasser on edge, but Scootaloo was too afraid to care about the atmosphere. She was afraid of losing control. She was afraid of everything she could do. She was afraid of herself.
Her stomach growled.
I'm not going to look for food. I have to stay here. Scootaloo crossed her arms and pouted at nothing in particular. I'm not moving!
Her stomach growled louder.
Not happening, stomach! You'll just have to starve! Her stomach seemed to growl as a response to her thoughts. No! We had food, but then you lost it when you tore your- Scootaloo's eyes widened as she looked down at her torso. Only her shirt with the back torn for her wings was there.
Crap! What am I going to do now?
Her stomach growled.
SHUT UP!
A sudden brightness filled the barren room and Scootaloo stood up quickly, ready for any attacker. She searched the room and noticed that the light came from the holes in the walls. The light was not the sunlight or moonlight she was used to seeing. The artificial light had caught her off guard, and since Scootaloo had no idea what or who the fake light came from, she didn't trust it. The light was accompanied by multiple footsteps running towards the direction of the forest.
If I go I might lose control...
Scootaloo was about to go back to sitting down in the center of the room, but flew into a different room as soon as she heard someone about to open the door. They slammed the door shut after they entered and had very uneven, heavy breathing.
After a moment of catching their breath, the intruders spoke.
"Scootaloo?" one of them whispered. "It's us, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Are ya here?"
Scootaloo was about to reveal herself, but then realized that she was in her demon form. She stayed silent.
"Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, walking towards the room that Scootaloo was currently hiding in. The floor creaked with each step, irritating Scootaloo.
Just...Stay in control and don't hurt them...Please! Scootaloo begged herself. "D-Don't move! Don't get any closer!"
The creaking abruptly stopped. "Why? Is everything okay?" Apple Bloom unsurely asked.
"You just...shouldn't be near me right now, okay? Go back home..."
"But we can't!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, "There were guards that went into the forest to find your friends! Our sisters said that they attacked them!" Scootaloo gasped.
"W-What?! Are they insane! The guards aren't going to go far into the forest, are they?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well...to be honest, we aren't too sure, but hurting one person the way your friends did wouldn't be taken lightly, so attacking all four of them would result in a huge chase. Especially since Twilight is Princess Celestia's student and they are all the bearers of the elements...Yeah, I'm guessing that the guards won't be giving up on them any time soon," Sweetie Belle explained.
Scootaloo sighed and muttered, "All we wanted to do was just-UGH!" Forgetting about control, Scootaloo threw the nearest object- which happened to be a piece of wood from a broken bookshelf- at the wall opposite to her. There was a burn mark from where she held the plank of wood and a burn mark on the wall from the wood not cooling down quick enough.
"U-Um...S-Scootaloo? W-What was that?" Apple Bloom asked as she and Sweetie Belle entered the room and saw a giant, smoking dent in the wall. They then turned to the demon in the corner, who stared right back at them with her glowing purple eyes.
Scootaloo looked down and turned her head. She tried to form words, but she didn't know what to say. They were scared of her, she knew it. They would hate her an chase her back into the forest. She still couldn't bring herself to hurt them, though. Not even if they gave the secret away. Who cared anymore?
"I should just-" Scootaloo was interrupted by both of her hands being held.
"We'll help you and your friends, okay? Besides...It's our fault that this happened..." Apple Bloom started.
"Yeah, if we hadn't been so focused on trying to rat you guys out then we would have probably realized that we were really messing things up for you when you didn't do anything to us really. We're sorry..." Sweetie Belle finished as they took Scootaloo to the front door. The three of them stood facing the door. "It's still night," Sweetie Belle said. "If we run, we can make it to the clubhouse. It's in the apple orchard and further away from any guards or people. You can hide there and not have to worry about running out of food so quickly. Then, we can plan how to get everyone to stop chasing your friends..."
Scootaloo nodded and Apple Bloom cautiously opened the door, checking for guards. They quietly snuck out of the cottage, hiding behind walls, bales of hay, garbage cans, you name it. The girls hid behind any type of cover they could find. Soon, they found themselves in the center of Ponyville, only half way to their destination on the other side of the town.
"Guys, I don't know if you'll be safe around me." They moved closer towards their destination as they hid in another hiding spot. "I mean, just look at me!" Scootaloo gestured to herself before they moved forward. "If the guards knew that you helped me-"
"Listen, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle interrupted. "We helped you because we chose to. Don't worry about how you look because we know that you're not an evil person." They were almost at Sweet Apple Acres and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle faced Scootaloo.
"We know who you really are and we can cover for you or maybe even prove you innocent!" Apple Bloom whisper-yelled encouragingly. Scootaloo simply smiled before they continued to make their way to the clubhouse. After a few minutes of walking (and holding back the urge to destroy everything in Scootaloo's case) the girls finally made it to the clubhouse. Once they walked in and locked the doors, Scootaloo sat down and held her head, groaning and growling.
"What's wrong? Do you have a headache? I could go get some ice for you to make it better," Apple Bloom suggested.
"Not that type of headache-" Scootaloo let out a small growl. "I'm holding....myself...back." I can't lose control! I won't let Dash down and I won't hurt my...aquaintances!
"Is there anything we can get to help with that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Something nonflammable or-agh!- something that can't be broken easily."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and thought about what they had that was nonflammable or seemingly indestructible. After a moment or two of thinking, they both thought of something to give the suffering pegasus. They dug through a pile in a corner and took out a container. They handed Scootaloo the container and she just looked at it questioningly.
"Open it!" they exclaimed excitedly.
Scootaloo crushed the container and tore it open to reveal a large amount of some weird goo. "What is this supposed to be?"
"It's fire proof goo! We made it as a science project for show and tell!" Apple Bloom said.
"Although, it was supposed to be able to stay up like clay so we could mold it into a statue..." Sweetie Belle muttered, "but this will have to do!"
Scootaloo held the weird substance in her hands. It felt liquidy yet it succeeded to stay in one piece. She tried stretching it out and when she let it go it went back to it's original blob shape. Then her headache reminded her of why she needed the goo in the first place. So Scootaloo tested it out and made her hands heat up. Soon, the blob was on fire, but it didn't burn. It just let the light purple flame engulf itself and Scootaloo felt herself be as calm as the blob in the fire. No worries, no headache, no pain.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were a bit wary of how big their pegasus friend was going to let the fire be. It grew and grew until it was mere centimeters away from the ceiling of the clubhouse, but the wood luckily didn't catch on fire like the two fillies thought it would.
Scootaloo seemed a bit calmer than before, so the two crusaders knew that they did something right. When the fire started to die down, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom saw that Scootaloo's eyes weren't glowing as much and didn't have to hold her head anymore.
"Thank you." Scootaloo kept the failed science project in her hand so that she could crush it or stretch it as much as she wanted. It acted as a stress ball that doesn't really have too much of a shape, and the pegasus was happy that she found some alternative to burning everything to the ground (even if it didn't completely take away the pain of suppressing her powers).
"N-No problem! We're glad you feel better..." Sweetie Belle said with a forced smile.
"But, uh...what was that all about?" Apple Bloom asked slowly. "Ya didn't really mention being able to set things on fire like that."
Scootaloo sighed. She didn't like to talk about herself or her powers, but she isn't the one in charge here. She's still unsure if these two were actually here to help her or turn her in. "Well, I-um. You see, it's just my, uh, my power to do that..." Scootaloo stumbled over her words and then shut her eyes and prepared for physical or verbal backlash.
The other two girls noticed her fear. "Hey, it's okay," Apple Bloom said, moving closer. "We're here to help you, remember? We won't hurt you." Scootaloo opened her eyes and saw them coming closer. She almost backed away, but realized that she was up against a wall. When they came closer and didn't get burned, she knew that they wouldn't be a threat.
Her powers always detected threats.
"Hey, look! The sun's rising!" Scootaloo turned around as Sweetie Belle said this and smiled. She felt herself become lighter and saw herself glow. Her hair turned back to it's regular purple, her nails became shorter, and various other parts of her that grew or changed because of the night time had reversed back to their original state. All except her fangs, which merely became shorter instead of completely hidden.
"Finally." Scootaloo sighed. "Now, I just have to wait for Dash and Fluttershy for the next few days."
"Why do you have to wait that long?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"It's because last night Fluttershy couldn't control herself and tried going back to...the forest...and Rainbow Dash went after her. Fluttershy is amazing at hiding and she always does it in her demon form if she isn't fighting. Having said that, it will probably take Dash a whole day to find her. Plus, they have to figure out how to find me and get me out of here with them without getting recognized."
"Why? You all did just fine yesterday," Sweetie Belle asked.
"You're sisters and their friends found out the hard way that Dash and Fluttershy are pegasi, but they don't know that I am. I'm sure they'll suspect it, but they don't have proof." Scootaloo looked at her wings. "Except for the fact that I ripped my only cover up for my wings." She facepalmed. "Now what am I going to do?"
"You can borrow some of our clothes! Or we can go get you new ones!" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Rarity has all kinds of clothes lying around that she hasn't given to anyone yet. I'm sure taking one or two wouldn't hurt."
"Alright then," Scootaloo said. "But I don't know if I should stay here alone. What if someone comes and finds me?"
"Ah'll stay with you while Sweetie Belle gets the clothes!" Apple Bloom offered. "It shouldn't take her too long so Ah can tell you more about Ponyville and then we'll take it from there." Scootaloo nodded.
"Sounds good to me."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle smirked and shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PEG-"
"GUYS SHUT UP! Do you want to get us caught? Not to mention you're killing my ears!" Scootaloo said as she glared at them and covered her ears. The crusaders smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry." Then they whispered, "Cutie Mark Crusader Pegasus Helpers! Yay!"