One Small Secret

by MyLittleChangeling

Chapter 6

"Hey, Scootaloo!" The filly in question turned towards the sound, and smiled in relief.
"Applebloom! Sweetie! You made it!"
"Of course we did! What kind of friends would we be if we missed something as important to you as this? Right, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle, none too subtly, trod hard on her friend's hoof.
"Hey!" Pouring her wounded feelings into a single cry, Applebloom glared at the beaming filly next to her, who glared straight back. Fearing another attack, she grudgingly nodded.
Oblivious to the tensions around her, Scootaloo waved her friends over to the back gate. "Great! Okay, I've set up the track at the edge of the woods, but I couldn't quite get the springboard in place. Applebloom, could you give me a hoof?"
"Er- Ah, um, need to ... use the little fillies' room?"
Looking sympathetic, Scootaloo directed the anxious filly to the downstairs bathroom. Applebloom dashed off, nodding gratefully at the orange pegasus.
Once inside, Applebloom headed straight past her apparent destination, and made for the bookcase she knew presided in the living room. Remembering the letter Sweetie had retrieved from Spike, she grinned maliciously. "Recipe for the change, huh? If this doesn't prove that you're a monster, nothing will ..." The filly scoured the creaking wooden shelves, overloaded with battered old copies belonging to the monster's parents.

---

Half an hour later and with no recipe in sight, Applebloom was ready to give up. She had checked the entire bookcase four times, and found books on horticulture, flying, woodland creatures, several of Scootaloo's parent's old foalhood fairy tales, and a how-to guide for preparing fish, but not even a glimpse of anything vaguely resembling a potion to reveal monsters. The farm filly slumped to the floor, sighing loudly.
She had lain on the cool wooden floor for quite some time when the muffled laughter of her friends reached her through the walls. The realisation hit her suddenly - if it wasn't here, then it must be in Scootaloo's room! Her hooves carried her up the worn stairs, leaping two at a time in eagerness.
"Applebloom? Where are you?" The call came from downstairs, and with a jolt Applebloom realised she had been missing for far too long. Diving into Scootaloo's room, she eased the door shut and turned to face the mess with a groan. The filly desperately shuffled
through the collective remnants of two weeks with no parents, hoping against hope she would spot the recipe before her friends discovered her.
Hearing hoofsteps on the stairs, she glanced up, and found herself staring at Scootaloo's personal bookshelf. With no other possibilities left to her, she scanned it, and spotted a small crumpled piece of parchment lying precariously on the very edge of the shelf. 'It can't be ...' she thought, already praying to Celestia that it was. As the door handle jiggled, she grabbed it, stuffing it quickly in her tail and staring studiously at the shelf.
Not half a second later, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle burst through the door, assuming positions Applebloom guessed were meant to scare off the 'intruder'. "Oh. It's just you." Scootaloo stared, astonished, at her friend. "I thought you had been kidnapped!"
"Thank goodness you weren't!" Sweetie swept the confused filly into a warm embrace, squeezing her tightly.
"Where were you? We were worried when you didn't come back!"
Applebloom struggled for words, partly because a pearl unicorn filly was squeezing the living daylights out of her, but mostly because she simply could not think of an excuse. "Um ... Ah was checking out your books?" she tried with a sheepish grin.

***

The Everfree Forest, normally silent save for the occasional whisperings of the wind, was filled with the sound of arguing. A pair of fillies stared fiercely at each other, neither wanting to back down.
"Ah told you so, didn't Ah? Ah told ya she was a monster!"
"That doesn't prove anything! Maybe she just believes she's a, um ..."
"Werepony."
"Whatever. For all we know, Princess Luna's humouring her!"
"Ah know what Ah saw. And ya will, too, when we give her the potion."
"Fine. We'll make your stupid potion, and I'll watch you apologise when you end up wrong!"
"Fine!"
Applebloom watched her friend stalk off, before removing the precious recipe from her tail. She scanned the ingredients, silently thanking Celestia that the ingredients were relatively normal - the recipe seemed to suggest mixing the potion into cupcake mix for easy consumption.
She sighed in relief. This would all be over soon. Someday everypony would thank her for revealing the beast that lurked within their society. They'd congratulate her for sticking to her belief when everypony around her turned against her. Someday ...

***

Sweetie -

Ah've made the cupcakes. They'll be outside ya locker in the morning, so make sure nopony else gets them first. Offer one to the monster before assembly tomorrow. Good luck.

- AB
Sweetie Belle sighed. She sympathised with Scootaloo, knowing how it felt to hide a terrible secret. Once she had pondered sharing her differences with her friends, but Applebloom had made her see that could never be possible.
The pearl unicorn didn't really want to hurt Scootaloo, but she hoped that by helping Applebloom, she could keep repercussions to a minimum.

When did life get so hard?

***

The pegasus filly checked back over her notes from the papers she had discovered in her parents' room. Closing her eyes and letting a feeling of calm wash over her, she willed the change to come.
Nothing. No furry legs, no fluffy tail, no pointed fangs.
She knew Luna had told her the key was practise. Practise, practise, practise. It was all she ever talked about. But she didn't have the patience - or the time - to wait for it to happen naturally. Scootaloo wanted it to happen now!
Nevertheless, she willed it over and over, practising the change until her legs were stiff and her head throbbed painfully.
Resigning herself to forever be a shifter who couldn't shift, she turned back towards home.
Change is from your core, young Scootaloo. Change your core and you change yourself. The words of her mother echoed in her mind, as she remembered her saying them years before.
"Oh well ..." She mumbled. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, right?"
She closed her eyes once more, and imagined a warm sphere of light wriggling around inside of her. It was filled with all her strongest emotions: anger at her parents, for deserting her, love for her friends, for staying beside her no matter what, awe and gratefulness towards Princess Luna, for helping her when she was lost ... The ball grew larger and larger, until it fully encased her, and she felt its warmth tickle at her fur.
Her eyes shot open. Fur. The light faded, and as she gazed down upon her silvery paws, she grinned.

***

Scootaloo snuggled into the soft fabric of her sofa, smiling in her sleep. As daylight slowly filled the room, forcing out the darkness of night, her eyes flickered open. Yawning, the filly shuffled into her bathroom, already imagining sinking into the relaxing bubbles of her deep bath.
Glancing into the mirror, she spotted a fleck of brown disrupting the even orange tones of her flank. She rubbed it absent-mindedly, remembering her adventures of the previous night, which had probably been the source of the mud now splattered over her coat. The patch on her flank, however, remained quite stubbornly.
The pegasus moved closer to the mirror, her sleep-addled mind wondering vaguely why the mud would not come off. This mud was conveniently placed, she noticed, smiling. In the right area for a cutie mark ..., she mused. And what about the shape? That was by far the strangest feature.
It looked almost like a paw print ...

Author's Note:

I had actually decided to leave this fic for a few months and thought about ditching it, but I came back to it thanks to a comment from flyinggirl. So thank you flyinggirl, it's always nice to know people appreciate your work, even when you've given up on it.
As always, comments on improvements welcome :D

Comments

[blaid23]

I must say I really do enjoy your story. I hope you'll keep it up.

[flyinggirl]

I'm glad it did! This story is great, well written, with almost no grammar mistakes, and a new and interesting take on Scootaloo's backstory! So excited for more of your great storytelling!

[MyLittleChangeling]

3792624 3792788 Aw thank you guys It means a lot to know people are enjoying this!

[burbl]

awesome story! you seemed to have improved a lot since chapter 1!

[Icefrost12]

This is really good so far. I feel bad for Scootaloo her friends turned on her without her knowing...

[rainbowscoot677]

Keep this going! I MUST HAVE MORE!!!!!!