I had knocked on the door to the library and it had been answered by Spike. “Twilight, she’s here!” he had yelled.
“Thanks, Spike. What’d Twilight want?” I had asked.
“Oh, she’ll explain it in a second, Scootaloo,” Spike had replied. “Have a seat.”
He led me to a table that had cookies on it. I began helping myself to them and even drank some of the tea she had put out. I would have preferred some milk instead, but my Aunt didn’t always remember to feed me, so I ate whenever I could.
After a couple of minutes, Twilight trotted down the stairs and saw me licking chocolate chips off the plate.
“Scootaloo, I’m glad you came.” Twilight smiled and sat down across the table, refilling my cup and warming the tea with her magic.
“Yeah, I found your letter when I checked the mail. I uh—thanks for not knocking and coming inside.” I looked at my hooves and shook a few crumbs off them.
“It’s okay. I want to talk to you about Dash.”
I choked back a knot in my throat so that I wouldn’t cry. She’d been unconscious for weeks, and it had happened shortly after she promised to take me under her wing. “Yeah?” I asked.
“You’d do anything to help her, wouldn’t you?”
I looked up at her. “Of course I would! Why, is she getting better?”
“Sadly, no.” Twilight took a drink and then smiled. “I think I know how you can save her though, Scootaloo.”
“How? Tell me and I’ll do it!”
“She’s gone brain dead, Scootaloo. Do you know what that is?”
“Is it like my aunt?” I wondered if she was doing okay at home. I had left her sitting in front of the window.
“No, she has Alzheimer’s disease. Dash has no brain activity at all, and we can’t give her a new brain. However, there is something else I can do.”
“What?”
“I can use magic to transfer you into Dash, you’ll save your hero and everypony will love you!”
I gasped and felt conflicted. I had often wished to be Rainbow Dash for a day, but did I really want to take her body? “It’ll save her?”
“Yes, I can restore her memories to you. You’ll get to live happily as Dash, the elements of harmony will be protected, and I promise to take care of your Aunt.”
“I can take care of her myself, as Dash.” I began to fidget my hooves wondering if it was going to hurt.
“No, Scootaloo, you’ll have to make everypony think you’re Dash. It’s the only way this will work, but your Aunt will be transferred to a retirement home in Cloudsdale. You won’t see her again, but she’ll live her last years happily.”
“What about me? Does that mean I die?”
“No, you’ll be inside Dash.”
“I mean my body,” I replied.
“I don’t know. You’ll be Dash. It’s possible your body will go into a coma or die, but I’ll take care of you.”
I yawned and stretched out my small wings. “She would do it for me, so I’ll do it for her. Okay, Twilight, I’ll do it.”
Twilight smiled and gestured over to her couch. “Why don’t you take a nap, you must be feeling tired.”
“Will your magic hurt?” I asked.
“No, when you wake up you’ll be Dash, and your Aunt will be taken care of.”
I walked over to the couch, already feeling very tired. She helped me onto it, and I quickly passed out.
“That’s the truth, Dash!” Twilight pleaded.
I could still hear the girls shouting, and Applejack was trying to pull me off Twilight with Rarity’s help. I had her pinned to the ground by her mane, with a hoof on each side of her neck. My body weight had her pinned down, and though she could have used her magic to throw me off she hadn’t.
“You’d say anything to get out of this after all the lies you told me! If I were Scootaloo, I think I’d remember that!” I yelled in her face.
“Sugar cube, come on an’ let go!” Applejack said. She changed her tactic from pulling my tail to twisting a wing.
“Stop it!” I shouted, slapping her hoof away. “She had no right to do this!” I stomped my hoof, narrowly missing her face.
“P-please, Dash. I thought it would work!”
I looked back down at Twilight, and no longer saw the cocky mare I thought was trying to ruin my life. She had dried blood on her cheek from when I struck her, and at some point during her story had begun crying. Her forelegs were shaking against me while I loomed over her with an angry grimace on my face.
Beating my wings, I launched myself up into the air above the girls. Fluttershy managed to be the first one to reach Twilight, curling the crying mare up in her wings. Pinkie and Rarity walked up to comfort her, and I landed next to the kitchen.
Walking in, I took a look around until I found something solid. The nearby wall looked suitable, and I took my anger out by bucking it a few times.
“Are ya okay sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
“How the hell am I supposed to know that?” I asked. “I’m not even me, apparently she put Squirt in me but I’d never have let her do that if I knew!”
She walked and smiled. “Come on, sit down.” She waited for me to sit down next to the wall, and then sat on my other side. “Now what do ya mean ‘if I knew’? She said ya volunteered.”
“Scootaloo volunteered, but I’m not her. All I can remember is being Dash, except for the last couple weeks when it all messed up. And I—Dash would never have asked Scootaloo to do this!”
I flinched when Applejack began to rub between my wings. Having the tension relieved by her rubbing felt good and calmed me down a little, despite my initial impulse to lash out at her.
“What she did was wrong, a filly shouldn’t make that kind o’ decision. That’s almost manipulation, but what can we do ‘bout that now?” she asked.
“I don’t know. What would Dash do?” I sighed, and then moaned as she pushed her hoof down into a particularly sore muscle.
“Dash was loyal, and ah reckon ya know now how often we fought, but she was the best friend ah ever had.”
We sat there for a while as I pondered my options. I decided the only thing Dash would do was protect Scootaloo. Since I was Scootaloo, then that must mean I want to protect myself and make Twilight restore me to my old body. To do that, however, would be to voluntarily kill Dash.
“I think she should reverse whatever she did.”
“Ah reckon that’s what Dash would have wanted. She wouldn’t have asked Scootaloo to die for her,” Applejack said.
“She said it might have left her in a coma, I think it’s time to find out.”
I got up and walked back into the main room of the library. Twilight was looking better now, and Rarity was still running a comb through her mane. Fluttershy was giggling quietly with her at some joke they had shared.
“Twilight,” I said. The ponies stopped giggling and looked at me with somber expressions. “What happened to Scootaloo after the surgery?”
Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled. “She survived, but she was brain dead. I had to transfer her to a hospital to take care of her, but she’ll never recover.”
“Because she’s in me, so I want you to put her back.”
Twilight stood up and shook her head. “No, you can’t! Not only could it kill you, but what if Chrysalis comes back? Do you think Discord will stay reformed when your element is gone?”
Fluttershy let out a small gasp in shock. I saw her open her mouth to correct Twilight, then close it, wisely choosing to stay out of the argument.
“That’s not your choice to make, it’s mine. You did a good job turning me into Dash, so I know she would never have let you sacrifice Scootaloo for her.”
“I won’t do it, Dash! I can’t lose you again. It was so hard, so tiring trying to keep you happy! You deserved to get on the Wonderbolts, to have a family, a good life. Nopony should have to die so young!”
“And didn’t Scootaloo deserve the same things?” I asked.
“Sure, not like you cared! Leaving her alone to crusade and go home every night to her invalid Aunt! I wanted to make her life better, and it saved you at the same time!” Twilight looked directly at me and furrowed her brow. “I’m not putting you back!”
“Damn it!” I stomped my hooves on the ground loudly. “You may have saved Dash but you’ve ruined our friendship! I’m outta here.”
I turned around, threw the door to the library open, and flew off. I was beginning to cry and didn’t want them to see it. After flying off I scanned the skies until I found my house and flew back. Before long I landed and went in, collapsing on my couch.
I hadn’t felt this insecure since the Best Young Flier’s contest. Yet that memory wasn’t really mine. I remember each number I switched, and how I had saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts. The feelings and memories seemed real enough, but now that I knew they weren’t, they felt hollow.
I could see the sun setting when I heard the whooshing sound of hooves walking into the house. I looked up and saw Fluttershy and Thunderlane walk in to check on me. “Go away,” I said.
“We’re worried about you, and I told the girls it probably wasn’t a good time to bring the hot air balloon up,” Fluttershy explained.
“She ran into me on her way to ask the weather team to come check on you, and told us everything,” Thunderlane said. “I’m sorry for being angry at you, and we wanted you to know you can take as much time off as you need.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine. Just go.” I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes, hoping it would somehow hide how pathetic I must look.
I felt the familiar touch of Fluttershy’s wings as she climbed onto the couch next to me. Usually I had to comfort her, but on occasion I would let myself be vulnerable around her.
She lifted my head onto her lap and draped a wing over me, and began rubbing my back. I sat there letting her comfort me until I could finally ask the question I feared the most. “Why are you my friend? I’m not Dash, I’m a fake.”
Fluttershy stopped stroking my mane. “I like you for who you are now. It wouldn’t matter who you were or who you are, you’re a wonderful pegasus, Dash. It hurt so much to lose you the first time. The only pony at your bedside more than me was Twilight. I can’t tell you how happy we were when you recovered. It made us very happy, but the most important thing is: are you happy?”
I thought about the question. Aside from the constant fears that I was a changeling or doppelganger or even a zombie, I had been happy. My friends all loved me, and I loved them. Ponies looked up to me, and I had everything a mare could ever want. A part of me knew there was more I didn’t know.
What had Scootaloo been like? Was she happy? What was her Aunt like?
“I am happy, but I can’t remember if Scootaloo was. What if she was happy and I took that from her?”
“Maybe she can give you some of Scootaloo’s memories? She could prove she’s telling the truth, and then you can decide if you still want to switch back,” Fluttershy said.
I glanced up and saw Thunderlane still watching like a typical stallion. He was a tad awkward, but stuck around in his desire to comfort me.
“What about you, Thunderlane? You asked me out to dinner, and now you know I’m just a fraud,” I asked.
He shifted hooves and glanced around. “Yeah well. . .” Thunderlane took a deep breath. “I always had a crush on you, but I noticed something different after your accident. You were more optimistic, less reckless. You lost a little of that macho attitude and started hanging out with the weather team more. We used to see you run off with your friends all the time, but never with us.”
Thunderlane inched himself over to the couch and sat down. “I like you for who you became, and as much as I’d miss you, the whole weather team will support your choice.”
I yawned and nuzzled against Fluttershy. “Thanks, both of you, but I’m really tired. Fluttershy, will you stay until I fall asleep?”
“Of course I will,” Fluttershy said.
“I’ll go now, and if you ever want me to cook you dinner, you know where to find me. Just promise to get better soon. We’ll all miss you,” Thunderlane said.
I heard him flap his wings and vanish from the front porch.
As I lay there with my head in Fluttershy’s lap, I felt a strange sensation. A part of me felt the déjà vu of being put to bed by Fluttershy, safe with my friends.
“Can you sing me ‘Hush Now, Quiet Now’?” I asked.
She glanced down and smiled, “Of course.”
I closed my eyes and fell asleep before she’d finished singing the first verse.
kaiden do you have a knack for writing dark stories? I absolutely love your stories. Are you going to do a dark story for each one of the mane 6 because you've done twi and dash so that leaves four more stories?
I am enjoying this story.
Choices choices, heh... love seeing how this has gone.
All in. It's up to you
okay, this is the stupidest premise ever.
What possibly could be gained by making Scootaloo think she was Dash? The REAL Dash would still be DEAD. Were they hoping to FOOL the element of Loyalty into bonding with Scootaloo? Even Twilight isn't bonkers enough to think that turning Scootaloo into Dash would be bringing the real Dash back.
Scootaloo. Don't you die on me! Could you please make up something where either Scootaloo lives or they both live because seeing Scoots die is nothing short of horrendous. I'll... support any decision you come up with...
*scootaloo dies* NOOOOOOOO!
I feel that this would go well here.
Jeeze I hope it'll be okay. I mean it's messed up, okay but just think...ultimate Scootadash XD And honestly she can't be TOO much unlike the original Dash. She seems to have a lot of her real memories, thoughts and feelings. Maybe there could be some way to restore Scoots too. Maybe somehow...copy Dash into Scoots. I dunno. It doesn't seem TOO bleak really.
That was a whole lot of fucked up.
...
Also fun to read.
So Twilight manipulates, brainwashes and possibly (if she doesn't restore scootaloo) murders a child, and Thunderlane doesn't report this right away?
you’ll save your hero and everypony will love you!”
Liar. No one will even know.
and I promise to take care of your Aunt.”
Why do I not trust that statement at all now?
I walked over to the couch, already feeling very tired.
She ALREADY drugged her!?
“That’s the truth, Dash!” Twilight pleaded.
You've lied so many times Twilight that Dash has no reason to believe you. Congrats, you destroyed the Elements YOURSELF.
I—Dash would never have asked Scootaloo to do this!”
She's right. She'd never ask another pony to give up her life to save her own hide.
but what can we do ‘bout that now?” she asked.
LIFE IS ABOUT HAVING CONSEQUENCES!! After Twilight did something like that, YOU CAN NOT JUST FREAKIN' SAY 'all is forgiven and forgotten tra la la!' This is a betrayal!!!
I'd be DONE with her.
“Dash was loyal,
And Twilight betrayed her.
Plus Twilight needs to learn as an Alicorn TO LET GO OF OTHERS!!!
I can’t lose you again.
So what happens when she dies of old age miss immortal Alicorn.
“Sure, not like you cared! Leaving her alone to crusade and go home every night to her invalid Aunt!
She doesn't know does she? Or was that a fantasy of Scoot's before she was changed into RD?
“I’m not putting you back!”
COWARD!
HERE'S A QUESTION!!!
AND ONE THAT SHOULD BE ASKED TO THE ELEMENTS!!!
What happens if something like this happened to Rarity and Applejack? What's to keep her from doing this to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle? SHE HAS TO BE STOPPED HERE AND NOW!!!!!
I'm serious, that above question, HAS to be addressed. Otherwise Twilight will think she's justified in all her actions and see no prob in doing them again to others she refuses to let go of!
AND HOW DO APPLEBLOOM AND SWEETIE BELLE FEEL?!
THEY THINK THEIR FRIEND MOVED TO ANOTHER CITY . .. ONE WHERE APPLEBLOOM HAS A COUSIN! AND YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE-NIT THE APPLES ARE!!!
THEY DESERVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO SCOOTALOO!
THIS ISN'T SOME PET ANIMAL THAT YOU LIE ABOUT BEING SENT TO LIVE ON A FARM!
2901131
Grief makes us dumb things, and TS was faced with a reality she didn't want to yet.
2901131
She just wants as close a copy as she can get, and she got a pretty good one. With all of Dash's memories and none of Scootaloo's own, she acts almost exactly like Rainbow Dash, and that's good enough for Twilight. I don't really think that Twilight cares about the Element, she's just using it as an excuse to not change Scootaloo back. It's a completely selfish choice, but that's what you get when power falls into the wrong hooves. Personally, I think it's really interesting to see a story where the dilemma is that the character has too many memories. Usually the problem is losing them.
I totally liked this story - But now you messed it up. Totally. But I can't leave right now - your wirting is too good o.o
2901309
Applejack = Element of Honesty. Always does the right thing.
Celestia = Twilight's boss.
Yep, don't worry, there will surely be a reckoning soon.
(And yeah, Twilight was going to take her by force if she didn't volunteer. Who else lives alone with a senile Aunt and wouldn't be missed? Everyone else has too many friends and family.)
2901289
It's more like that game 'phone' as the rumor spreads it changes lightly. All but the mane six are mostly hearing "she volunteered and got put in Dash." The elements, on the other hoof, will probably be writing some very strongly worded letter soon.
2901131
if your cat/dog dies you don't want another cat/dog, you want your cat/dog back. So aside from making her compatible with the element, she wanted her Dash back, and not just "some filly" in Dash's body.
2901105
That's an excellent idea. I do have another dark Twi and Dash story (sequel/spin-off) but I'll have to think of which one to corrupt next.
I think at the very least they should give Dashaloo (that's what I'm calling her fer now) Scoots memories back. Then it'll have been the equivalent of body and memory transfer... that's technically not murder... right?
2901111 The emote doesn't seem appropriate.
I uh, err... umm...
Let's just say my jaw stayed slanted and dropped, starting right from 'I can use magic...' to the last sentence. The shock's surely been delivered.
Welp, what Twilight is doing is extremely wrong, if she refuses to switch Scoots back, they should take it to Celestia and work something out from there.
And take Twilight to a psychologist or something, she convinced herself that she's doing the right thing. And for someone with such power, that's extremely dangerous, killing a little child because you need a replacement for your dead friend? Yup, this mare needs help. Not to mention all of her "arguments" are nothing more than excuses. She made her life better? She needs the elements to work? Accusing Dash of not even caring about Scootaloo? She probably doesn't even believe in these things.
Can't freaking wait for the next part.
Also, Thunderlane started liking Dash after she was possessed by a little filly? Eeeeeewwwwwwww. =P
I'm somewhat forced to agree with RealityCheck here. When it looked like this story was about a mentally-broken Rainbow Dash who appeared to be suffering hallucinations and having trouble telling fantasy from reality, a Dash who might just only be a copy of the original, it was an interesting character study of someone who wasn't sure if they were losing their mind or not, or whether their mind was even "theirs" to begin with. (And with the whole story told from her own perspective, even the audience can't be sure which parts of Dash's narrative are real and which parts are hallucinatory.)
But now it feels like it's going off the rails. At the end of the last chapter, I could just about buy into the idea of Scootaloo giving up her memories of Dash to help restore Dash's mind and memories, then going off to live somewhere else so as not to be reminded of what she gave up, or to have to deal with Dash and everyone around her remembering Scootaloo as Dash's biggest fan when she doesn't remember her at all.
But this just doesn't gel. Twilight has just admitted to drugging a child and putting her into a brain-dead state, effectively killing her. Too many other ponies would have had to know about it and go along with this for her to have ever gotten away with it, and surely Spike would have alerted Princess Celestia that her student is going nuts again long before it got to that point. (For that matter, given that we're talking about one of the Element Bearers being in a coma here, this situation should already have been one being closely monitored by Celestia and Luna.)
I'm not normally one to advocate "it was all a dream"-type endings, but I find myself rather hoping all of this turns out to be hallucinatory, because this story is really starting to veer off into "dream logic."
Celestia: "TWILIGHT SPARKLE! I BANISH THEE TO THY SUN!"
This is the stuff.
2901568 THIS MUST HAPPEN!
CAPS MUST HAPPEN!
CAAAAAAAAAAPS!
2901361 you need to corrupt Sweetie Belle. but Rarity seems like a likely canidate.
2901568 Not thy. that would imply It was Twilight's sun.
The*
2901816
I want to corrupt Sweetie Belle. I've now narrowed my "To-Do" list down to four long stories:
CMC Serial Killers Yay!
Twilight's Dollhouse II
An HiE
Elements of Failure.
So the odds are good Sweetie will be looking for her doctor cutie mark by experimenting on live ponies soon.
So, in summation: RD put herself in a coma doing a dangerous stunt: something that I would expect more from Fractured Loyalty than the real RD. She was brain dead, so Twilight, being the slightly power mad embodiment of magic alicorn she is, decided to take matters into her own hooves. Using the "Plot Device" spell, she uses Scootaloo's mind into RD's, altering all of her memories so that she has all of Rainbow's and none of Scoot's. Scootadash learns about that in the last chapter, and in this chapter wants Twilight to turn her back into Scoots. Twilight refuses because something something something plot.
Never once did I ever say that Twilight was worthy of redemption. If anything, the things I said should mean the chances of her being redeemed are even LOWER than before. I'm evil, but not evil enough to essentially MURDER a child to bring one of my friends back from the dead.
In summation: congrats, Sparkle! You singlehoofedly destroyed the Elements when you were trying to save them! Not even I could do that.
i have no words best.story.EVER!!!! and i dont know whos side im on but wow i sit here waiting for next part
See, now I don't know how to feel about this story, because you're doing so well with the actual writing, even if I'm not all that big on the new reveal.
Maybe I'm just sore because I wasn't on board with the Scootaloo brain-transfer thing from the start, when it was just a theory in the comments. I preferred to think that this was the same Dashie we'd always known.
Tell you what, I think I'm going through the same thing that ScootaDash is
Can't help but feel cheated, because it's not the 'real' Dash.
If I were "Dash" I would probably make sure that Twilight was punished fairly and justly under the equestrian legal system (which I personally know nothing about other than the possibility of life imprisonment in the moon or petrification) to preserve the memory of Scootaloo . Then I would probably go somewhere where nopony knows me, to find out who I am now...
But regardless of my personal decision making process, this is a great fic. Still a bit disappointed that you compromised your artistic vision on this Kaidan but that is your choice to make as the writer. I will be quite satisfied with however you chose to continue this.
Wonderful story, but it needs a little more development. So many of the scenes would go from good to fantastic if a there was a bit more to the scene development and dialog.
2901661 CAAAAAAPPPPPPSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2902906 Please don't do that. It's funny to an extent, but when I have to scroll down 10 pages to get past your one word post it's well past the funny threshold.
2902988
._.
I sorry...
2901905 denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw352_8959%20-%20twilight_sparkle%20yes.png this pleases me
2902988 It's only funny on Kaidan's blog when it's five pages away.
2901361 applejack needs a good story
2901924
That pretty much sums it up, but in a blind case all Twilight was thinking about was the elements and Equestria's safety.
2902626 Lets see, an alicorn, who also happens to be the faithful student of another alicorn, the latter of which happening to be the diarch of Equestria, who was for 1000 years the monarch instead of diarch, and the former of the 2 alicorns being the weilder of one of the elements of harmony, the most powerful defense system in the entirety of Equestria... I don't think much would happen to her in a court of law, considering law in what appears to be similar in many aspects to a pre-Renaissance monarchy is not as well organized as that in a modern democracy (presuming you live in the U.S.)
I feel this is kinda like Driver: San Francisco...
Great game, by the way.
Poor scootaloo, the idea that you could die, even if it's for the better is a tragedy.
2902626 Then making all of her illegal activities public would have to serve as justice. Last time I checked Equestrian society frowns on drugging ponies, memory erasure, cohesion of minors, ponyslaughter, and tampering with public and private records. It would ruin her reputation, she could even be dethroned by public opinion. Then again Twilight might just try to erase my memories again; but it would be worth a shot.
i wish for twilight to be sent to the moon
THAT BITCH!!!!!
ill kill her
2901361
IMHO, she underestimated the CMC. Considering Applebloom has a COUSIN in Manehatten.
2903231 Yes, but by not taking into account the fact that RD wouldn't WANT anypony to give up their lives to save hers, she's destroyed the bond between the Elements and essentially doomed Equestria.
Yikes
Oh my gawd the chapters never last long enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This story kinda falls apart here. Had an interesting premise but now its floundering a bit.
Dawwwwww