Chapter 13 CMC Forewer Yaaaay!
So, finally I'm coming back to writing. Yes... its been a while but better late then never I hope. Alright then, 4 extra chapters for your enjoyment. It will show what happens with the CmC, Cadence and Shining Armor. I'm not going to show Luna and Celestia because that's where I'm starting in the next part of this story... if I ever get to it 
In the Twilight of Harmony’s End
Chapter 13 (Bonus 1/4)
CMC Forewer Yaaaay!
****
Sweetie Belle’s hooves thundered up the gangway leading to the CMC clubhouse. It had been three days since Scootaloo ran off into the Everfree forest with her sister Rarity and her friends in tow. With a final rush of speed, Sweetie Bell burst through the door, hoping against hope to find Scootaloo waiting there as she usually did. The only thing that greeted her was a very surprised-looking Apple Bloom.
“So they’re not back yet?” Sweetie squeaked disappointedly.
“No…” Apple Bloom answered solemnly. “Granny and Big Mac tell me not to worry any, that Applejack knows how to take care of herself, but I can tell that they are starting to get worried as well.”
“Yeah... same with Mom and Dad. They’re telling me everything will be fine, and then they start whispering to each other when they think I can't hear them.”
“So what should we do?” Apple Bloom asked no one in particular. “We have to do something!”
“But aren't we still forbidden from seeing Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked, perplexed. “It's pretty hard finding somepony that you're not allowed to see…”
“Oh come on Sweetie Bell, you're not letting something like that stop us! Are you?” Apple Bloom said with a big grin.
“Well no.” Sweetie answered matter-of-factly.
“Right! Because it doesn't matter if it's Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis or even”--a shudder went through Apple Bloom's body--“Diamond Tiara who has our friend captive in a dark dungeon somewhere, we're going to bring Scootaloo back no ma-”
“Hey girls! Are you up there?” a very familiar voice called out from almost underneath the clubhouse.
“SCOOTALOO!” Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell cried out in joy as they almost flung themselves out of the small window to look down below.
Standing below the treehouse was their friend, looking no worse for wear. With all the haste two exuberantly happy little fillies could muster, Apple Bloom and Sweetie tumbled over each other as they made for the door. With a mighty crash they were through, and, as soon as they got to the bottom of the gangway, they flung themselves into a tackle hug with Scootaloo, ending up in a laughing and giggling heap.
“Where were you, you big Dodo! We've been worried sick about you!” Sweetie Bell cried out while she tried to hold back tears.
“Yeah you big chicken! Why did you have to run off like that?!” Apple Bloom yelled while similarly trying to keep her tears back and giving Scootaloo the fiercest hug she had ever given anypony. As a matter of fact, the little orange Pegasus was quite certain that if this particular body hadn't been a shadow clone, her ribs and most likely her spine would have been crushed by now.
“Breathe… need… to… breathe…” Scootaloo gasped, while she thought about not simulating this body's responses quite so accurately as to actually feel her body being crushed in the future.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Apple Bloom said as she quickly let go of her friend, Sweetie Bell already having extracted herself from the former pile of fillies.
“Well now, ain't that just adorable.” Applejack said from where she stood a few meters away together with Rarity.
“Oh, darling! That was just so precious!” Rarity cooed while gushing at the cuteness of it all. “Can you three do that again once I’ve retrieved my camera?”
“No way!” Sweetie Bell squeaked embarrassedly, before both she and Apple Bloom realized that both their sisters were standing in front of them.
“Oh no!” Apple Bloom gasped, and jumped out in front of Scootaloo, pulling Sweetie Bell with her so that they both were now blocking the view of their friend.
“Hi, Sis!” Apple Bloom said with a very big fake smile, “When did you guys get back? We haven't seen Scootaloo anywhere! Nope! Hehe… Not that all, definitely not anywhere near Sweet Apple Acres.”
Sweetie Bell looked perplexedly at Apple Bloom before turning to look at Scootaloo, who was still quite visible behind the two of them, and then back to her yellow and red friend.
“Really…” Sweetie said with a baffled look, “I don't even think Snips and Snails would have bought this.”
“Don't worry, AB; me and Scootaloo fixed things up between us. As a matter of fact, I'm still real sorry for what I did to you, Scoots,” Applejack said, looking ashamed.
“Don't worry Applejack; everything is fine now,” Scootaloo answered without really looking towards the orange earth pony.
“Well, guess I better get to bucking some apple trees!” Applejack stated in an overly cheerful voice.
“But…” Apple Bloom said looking surprised, “Apple bucking season is still weeks off, isn't it?”
The shadow clone of Applejack went completely still, while the bigger part of Nightmare’s conscience back in the Castle of the two sisters put her horn against the unconscious head of the real Applejack. A few seconds of dreaming later, and the knowledge needed became available to the Applejack shadow clone.
“Oh, that's right…” the orange clone said with a cheesy smile as it came to life again. “I must be more tuckered out then I realized. Still, I'll go see what Big Mac is up to. I think there were a few things he needed help with maintaining around the acres.”
With that, the clone of Applejack scampered off to find a secluded place where it could receive all the information it would need to run the acres efficiently, so as not to raise any suspicion in the future.
“Well my little darlings, I'm off to the spa for some much-needed relaxation and rejuvenation,” the clone of Rarity said while poofing her mane up with a forehoof. The spa would also be a very good place for it to receive any information it would need from the real Rarity to maintain its own cover. “Have fun you three! Ta-ta!”
“Did Applejack seem weird to you?” Apple Bloom wondered.
“What? No… but Rarity… she seemed off somehow.” Sweetie Bell murmured.
Realizing that the two younger sisters had already seen that something was off about their older siblings, Scootaloo immediately set about distracting them from their misgivings.
“It's really been a rough couple of days.” Scootaloo said gaining both of her friends’ attention. “Let's go up to the clubhouse and I'll tell you all about it…”
****
Several hours later, Scootaloo had told them everything, or at least a version of everything that they could handle. She had left out some key parts, like the fact that it was her action that ultimately killed Miss Harsh Winnie, and that she and Nightmare were now one, and that the clones that came back were not their sisters and their friends. But other than that she had told them everything… sort of.
“… So that's when I found you two in the clubhouse when we came out of the Everfree, and now here we are… I guess that's it really.” Scootaloo said with a shrug as she ended her story.
“Wow…” Apple Bloom said completely stumped before looking away, “I… I know Applejack can be stubborn and… pigheaded sometimes. But I'm really sorry she hit you like that. We had heard some rumors but… neither me, Big Mac nor Granny wanted to believe it.”
“It's okay AB; none of this is your fault.” Scootaloo said reassuringly while placing a hoof on her shoulder. “It's finally over now, and I really don't want to think about it anymore, so please… can we just move on from here?” Scootaloo asked in a pleading voice.
“But… why didn't you ever tell us Scoots?” Sweetie Bell wondered in a quivering voice while she wiped some more tears from her eyes. “We could have helped, if we’d known how bad you had it… I would've asked mom and dad to come get you in an instant!”
“I… I didn't think of that… I had sort of given up the thought of leaving the orphanage by now.” Scootaloo said honestly and smiled a bit sadly towards Sweetie Bell, “I just didn't want to burden you guys with any of my problems.”
Then, as if on cue, three little bellies grumbled loudly, voicing their displeasure at being ignored for so long.
“Looks like we all need a little bit of food in our bellies.” Apple Bloom said while blushing a bit along with her two friends, and then a stray thought crossed her mind. “Scootaloo, where are you off to now? You're not heading back to the orphanage are you?”
Scootaloo hadn't actually thought about that.
Go with Sweetie Belle. The Nightmares voice said soothingly in Scootaloo’s mind. I'll make Rarity's shadow clone start cooking dinner for the two of you; it should be done by the time you get there.
“No. I’ll go back with Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo announced quickly. “She offered to let me stay with her until everything is settled around here, so your idea about us being sisters will sort of happen. We'll at least be living together for a little while.”
In a squeal of delight, Sweetie Bell immediately tackled Scootaloo in yet another hug – Scootaloo had long ago lost count of how many she’d received this evening.
“Well I reckon that's settled then. See you girls back here tomorrow?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully.
“Absolutely!” Sweetie Bell piped up.
“Like you even have to ask.” Scootaloo stated with a grin.
****
It was late now and it had been a nice dinner, the shadow clone of Rarity having performed much better now that it had received more memories and particular quirks that the real Rarity possessed. Still, Sweetie Bell continued to notice that something was off about her sister… forcing Scootaloo to cover for the clone on several occasions.
But now, finally, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were lying in bed, and it didn't take long for the white unicorn to fall asleep, even with the excitement of a sleepover.
With a final check to see that her friend was truly sleeping, Scootaloo let the majority of her conscience retreat from controlling the shadow clone of her former self.
Slowly, she refocused on her actual body, which she now shared with the Nightmare back in the Castle of the two sisters. She left only enough of herself to alert her if somepony was trying to wake the now mostly empty body.
“I see we will have to work on the shadow clones’ personalities a bit more…” Nightmare’s soothing voice greeted in her mind as Scootaloo fully returned.
“Yeah, both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell noticed something was different about them,” Scootaloo answered with a frown which disappeared when she happily flexed her large wings.
“We needn’t worry too much; a few days of extracting memories and characteristics from the originals, and no pony will be able to tell the difference.” Nightmare reassured.
“I guess…” Scootaloo murmured.
“While siphoning through the memories of these six, I have also found another in need of help in Ponyville,” Nightmare informed bitterly.
“Really?” At that moment, the memories in question became available to Scootaloo’s side of their shared conscience, “…wow, he works even harder than I do.”
“Yes… It is quite ironic how they call him a baby, but still leave him a workload an adult pony would have a hard time handling.” Nightmare growled, “For Twilight to call him little brother… and still not even treat him with the dignity afforded to a servant. Spike is belittled and berated by them all, especially Twilight and Rarity.” Scootaloo can feel how Nightmare’s mood soured even more, “Twilight treating Spike like nothing more than a thrall is appalling… but what Rarity puts him through is pure evil. Using his feelings for her as she does, and not even for a second thinking of returning them, he's quite frankly nothing more than a slave to her. And the truly horrifying thing is they didn't even realize they were doing it, because they were so caught up in their own little worlds, where only their needs or the needs of ponies are important.”
“So what do we do?” Scootaloo wondered. “I don't think Spike will react very well to us showing up and telling him how badly he's being treated, and he definitely won't like what happened to the six originals.”
“First of all, we need to get him eating what he should. Just like you, there is a reason why hasn't grown like he's supposed to.” Nightmare explained.
“Really? What…” More knowledge and memories flooded into Scootaloo’s consciousness. “Oh… He needs meat.”
“Of course he needs meat; he is primarily a carnivore, just like a griffin, even though he can survive on more or less anything. Meat is the only food source which can fully fuel a growing dragon.” Nightmare affirmed.
“So that’s why Spike hasn't grown at all since he got here,” Scootaloo said as her eyes went wide when she realized Spike was in almost the exact same position as herself. He hadn't grown correctly, because someone was denying him the nourishment he needed.
“I see you understand now,” Nightmare said darkly.
“I do…” Scootaloo answered with new anger as she looked over towards Twilight and Rarity, both lying on the floor held in magical unconsciousness while experiencing horrific nightmares. “They really are oblivious to their own shortcomings aren't they? They do deserve their comeuppance; you can do what you want with them, I won't stop you.”
“Thank you; it will be a pleasure to educate them in their failings.” Nightmare chuckled darkly.
“Although… leave Rainbow to me, she's mine.” Scootaloo added as an afterthought.
“Very well, if that is what you wish, then I will respect that,” came Nightmare’s answer.
Then followed a somewhat oppressive silence. Scootaloo could feel that Nightmare was holding something back something she wanted to bring up but was afraid of, wondering how Scootaloo would react to it.
“Nightmare?” Scootaloo pressured lightly, “What are you thinking about?”
“Something that would keep your friends safely with you for a long time, but the price for it is high I'm afraid.” Nightmare admitted as the method of turning a pony into a Dread flooded Scootaloo’s mind.
Her eyes went wide with delight at the idea of keeping her friends with her for thousands of years, putting almost a complete stop to their aging process. But as the memories kept coming, showing how Nightmare had turned ponies before, it became more and more obvious just how unimaginably painful the transformation was.
With a final gasp, the memories stopped, leaving Scootaloo panting as she tried to comprehend what Nightmare intended to do with this knowledge.
“When do you want to turn your friends?” Nightmare inquired carefully.
“WHAT!” Scootaloo yelled out. “You… you can't be serious! You know how much that hurts! I can't put them through that!”
“Yes it does hurt… But consider the alternative. Your friends are going to die in the blink of an eye,” Nightmare said with a mournful voice. “Trust me, the more we merge, the more you will realize how true this fact is.”
Scootaloo shook her head in denial, appalled by the thought of putting her friends through the painful process of becoming a Dread. Surely there had to be another way. Could she truly ask her friends to go through that?
“No! No! I won't allow it!” Scootaloo shouted defiantly while stomping her front hoof into the ground, cracking the stone beneath.
“Very well, it's obviously too early for this discussion,” Nightmare said gently. “But mark my words; you will come to the same conclusion as I before too long.”
“Yeah right. Don't hold your breath.” Scootaloo countered.
“Let's continue this discussion at a more opportune time; things will begin to stir soon, and we need to keep ahead of the princesses. We should move against the Crystal Empire to take care of Cadence and Shining Armor while everypony is still ignorant about what is happening.” The Nightmare advised.
“Very well…” Scootaloo huffed, “let's be off then!”
With that Scootaloo spread her new wonderful wings and shot out the shattered windows and headed north towards her first real test as a growing Nightmare.
****
Thanks to Cyanhyde - pre-reader/editor
Thanks to Syvvak - pre-reader/editor
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A new chapter, which seems like it would be a good lead-in to a sequel or a side story? I'll have to keep an eye out for any new stories you come out with!
5417601
There will be a total of four bonus chapters to this story. Then maybe I will do a continuation down the line. I do hope you'll enjoy this little Christmas extras. They will be coming out quite rapidly, one a day or so.
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Way thank you for the uplifting words, and how doesn't know how Judge Dredd is???
Why did you write Forewer rather than Forever? IS that a style choice or a typo?
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never
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what is sines?
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continue
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I'm glad this story got updated. I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel. Can you PM me when you make it please?
Wait a second, I thought this story was finished months ago.
Well, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
That made this all fall flat for me. No attempt to tell the adults before the caretaker died, and she didn't even tell her friends? This went way past dark, to caricature, Warhammer 40K levels.
People almost never just offer help, you need to actually ask, tell them somethings wrong.
I hide my depression. Feel nobody actually WANTS to know how I really feel when they ask, "How are you?" Hell, people are shocked when I admit to having been suicidal. Yet, I don't begrudge them that.
Maybe if she had told her friends, made the first move I could have swallowed it.