Nighty Night Scootaloo

by Lord King Cocoon

Chapter 3: Subconscious

“…And after we convinced her that she could use her talent for good, we realized that helping others is what we’re good at, and we got our cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle squeaked as she retold the story of how she and the CMC got their cutie marks.

“I’ve heard about how your sister and the other element bearers got their cutie marks from the same event,” Nightshade explained, a bit surprised by the story, “But I’ve never heard of ponies who got their cutie marks at the exact same time with the same cutie mark! And being a royal guard, I tend to over-hear strange things. When Luna is talking to herself at night…”

“Princess Luna talks to herself too?!” Pinkie exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere right next to Nightshade. They were at his welcome party after all. And he realized why the realtor ‘warned’ him about her, “I don’t meet many other ponies who talk to themselves on a regular basis! Maybe Luna and me can get together sometime and talk to ourselves together!”

Nightshade was about to protest Pinkie’s…Pinkieness. But a thought came to him. Being part of the Lunar guard, he knows about how lonely the lunar princess gets at night when there’s nopony to talk to.

“I’m sure she’d enjoy the company,” Nightshade said, “And while the two of you are talking with yourselves together, maybe you could even try talking with each other.”

“Oooo! That sounds like fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, “And maybe ourselves that we talk to can talk to each other too! I’ll make sure to tell me and myself to talk with Luna and herself!” With that said, Pinkie bounced away, leaving the group to their own devices.

“Is she always like that?” Nightshade asked.

“Yes,” was all Rarity said. Nightshade took that as a cue to change the topic.

“Wait until we tell ya about how we got a griffon a cutie mark!” Apple Bloom said.

Nightshade was beginning to understand why Luna had such a fascination with Ponyville. What goes on here can hardly be differentiated from the strangeness that goes on in dreams. If he hears a story about somepony getting transformed into a vampire or something, he was gonna call to Luna and ask her to wake him up from this dream.

“How about we talk about when Apple Bloom got the cutie pox?” Scootaloo asked.

“We don’t talk about that!” Apple Bloom growled.

Meh, close enough, “Okay, Luna. I’m pretty sure this is a dream,” Nightshade said to nopony in particular, “I’m ready to wake up now!”

Rarity had to suppress a chuckle, “I assure you that this is not a dream,” Rarity said.

“Considering what goes on in this town, you’d think it’d be difficult to tell the difference,” Nightshade said, “I’m surprised I haven’t heard about somepony turning into a vampire at this point.”

“…Well… There was this one case when Flu-”

“Not now!” Nightshade groaned, “I’m starting to understand why I got my house for as cheap as I did.”

---

After a little while of partying, Nightshade had a chance to speak with Sweetie Belle alone, “About a week ago, I was coming out of Quills and Sofas, and I heard your friend over there talking,” Nightshade said quietly to Sweetie Belle, pointing to Scootaloo, “I heard her say that you called her a jerk.”

“Wait, she said I called her a jerk?!” Sweetie asked angrily, “I know we had an argument. But why would she go around telling ponies I’m called her a jerk? I mean, I did say she had an attitude problem. But she’s got some nerve-”

“I overheard her talking to herself,” Nightshade said, stopping Sweetie’s rant, “She seemed to be admitting it to herself. She wasn’t telling others. She was upset apparently.”

“Oh,” Sweetie sighed, her demeanor relaxing, “Like I said, we had an argument. I told her that she had an attitude problem. And it’s only because…no, I can’t. It’s personal to her.”

“Talking about your home life when you live in an orphanage can be a touchy subject after all,” Nightshade said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sweetie Belle agreed before sitting straight up, “I mean, how did you…I mean, what makes you think she’s an orphan?”

Sweetie Belle wasn’t fooling anypony with her eyes shifting back and forth and her nervous laugh.

“It was an estimated guess,” Nightshade admitted, “I could be wrong after all. But I recognize the look in her eyes. So, am I wrong?”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell anypony,” Sweetie said softly, “If you want to know…whatever it is you want to know, you should talk to her about it.”

Sweetie’s eyes wanted to look anywhere but at her cousin, feeling ashamed of letting a secret slip like that. Nightshade lifted her head to look her straight in the eyes, “As far as anypony is concerned, this conversation never happened.”

A small smile formed on Sweetie’s lips at this, “Right…thanks Nighty Night.” With that said, they returned to the festivities.

---

After a long day of festivities, the ponies began heading back to their homes. Scootaloo made sure nopony was following her before heading towards the orphanage. As she crept from shadow to shadow, she was unaware of another shadow that was following.

As she ran and turned another corner, she bumped into something. Startled, she was knocked to a sitting position.

“You know, a filly your age shouldn’t be wandering the streets at night,” the figure standing in front of her said, “Little fillies could get hurt, or run into somepony who would want to hurt you.”

“W-Who are you?” Scootaloo asked fearfully as she looked into the blank white eyes and the sinister grin of the creature standing in front of her.

“I’m the truth,” the figure said, “Or rather, I’m your truth. I’m the truth about you. The reason you will never be anypony’s daughter. The reason you will never be anycreature’s daughter.

“What d-do you mean?” Scootaloo began to panic as she backed up. But she was stopped when she backed up into something. She quickly turned around to see the same figure as before.

Suddenly, the moonlight seemed to shift positions, illuminating the shadows and dispersing the figure that was there. Beyond where the shadowy figure once stood, the moon glowed fiercely. It was bright - too bright. Scootaloo became dimly aware of how surreal the whole scene felt.

“It appears you once again have a rather troubled mind, young one,” the ethereal voice of Luna said before the shadows began to form into that of the dreamwalking princess, “It’s rare that a nightmare can call out to me so strongly in such a short amount of time dreaming.”

"Princess Luna! So it is just a dream," Scootaloo said to herself, “But what was… Wait, a short time dreaming?”

“You will have your answers when you wake up,” Luna said, “As for what you saw, it depends on your own perspective. But I believe it was a manifestation of your fears.”

“But how can I fear something when I don’t know what it is that I’m afraid of?” Scootaloo asked.

“Fear is a strange emotion. Often it is the lack of knowledge that we fear more than knowledge,” Luna explained, “I’d like you to be honest with me to prove a point. But have you ever been afraid of the Boogie Mare?”

“Well, when I was little, I guess I was kinda afraid,” Scootaloo said, trying to sound confident.

“Then can you tell me, what does the Boogie Mare look like?” Luna asked.

“Well, it looks like…I mean, I guess I don’t remember,” Scootaloo said.

“Is it your memory that is the problem?” Luna asked hypothetically, “Or is it that you never knew in the first place? Or let me put it another way. Out of all the fairy tale monsters of little ponies fears, so many of them have a shape and form. So why is it that there are no actual artistic renderings of the Boogie Mare?”

“Because…nopony actually has an idea of what it looks like?” Scootaloo answered.

“And yet the Boogie Mare tends to be one of the most feared creatures,” Luna said, noticing a light bulb go on in Scootaloo’s head…literally, because of the dream environment.

“It’s the most feared because ponies don’t know what it looks like,” Scootaloo answered.

“The Boogie Mare is the manifestation of that lack of knowledge,” Luna explained, “Most fairy tale monsters originate from stories, or scary looking animals. But the Boogie Mare is the one monster that ponies fear that truly has no origin. It’s simply what could be in the shadows. And once you shine a light in those shadows do you realize that whatever could’ve been there was never there to begin with.”

“But why would it say it was the truth about me? Is there something about myself that I don’t know about?”

“Perhaps there is something in your subconscious mind that knows something that either you don’t remember, or you actively suppressed something,” Luna then looked perplexed, “But it is strange. If your fears were to manifest in your mind as some hidden knowledge about yourself, it should take the form of you. Perhaps a more demonic form of you. But you should recognized it as you.”

Suddenly, there was what could only be described as a rumbling before everything around Scootaloo began to dissolve away.

“It is time for you to wake up,” Luna explained, “Remember, you are in good hooves.”

Then there was nothingness…

---

The first thing that came to Scootaloo’s senses was a pounding sensation in her head, followed by pain. Next, was the feeling of warmth radiating in front of her, and something soft on her side…no she was laying down. There was something soft underneath her. Next came her hearing and sense of smell. The crackling of a fireplace and smoke came to her senses. The fire explains the sense of warmth. But there was something cold too.

As she stirred and opened her eyes, the stirring allowed her to feel something soft on top of her too. A blanket. And she regretted opening her eyes, since the fire light cause her head to pound.

“Careful. You hit your head pretty hard.”

Scootaloo turned to the voice to see Nightshade laying down next to her. She lifted her hoof to her forehead, feeling an ice pack, “What happened?”

“After you left the party, I followed you because I wanted to talk to you in private. And considering the topic, you probably would want that too,” Nightshade said, “But before I could catch up to you, you turned a corner and ran right into a parked cart. And the speed you were going at was enough that it knocked you out. You can stay here for the night. And tomorrow, I’ll take you to the orphanage and explain everything.”

Scootaloo froze up when he mentioned the orphanage, “How did-”

“I’ve seen that look in the mirror so many times that I’d recognize it anywhere,” Nightshade interrupted, “Earlier, during my little family reunion, I saw you give a genuine smile. But your eyes held a sadness and longing. It’s a look that you can’t hide no matter how happy you are.”

Scootaloo wanted to argue… Or at least she thought she did. But for whatever reason, she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. Maybe it was because what he said was too accurate to deny. But rather than admit to it, she changed the subject, “so, is that what you followed me to talk to me about?” She asked, though sounding angrier than intended.

“No. But I have a suspicion that it may be related to some extent,” Nightshade explained, “About a week ago, I was leaving Quills and Sofas when I heard you. You said something about Sweetie Belle being right about you being a jerk. I was thinking that it didn’t sound like Sweetie Belle to say something like that. But I wanted to get your side of the story.”

“Oh, you heard that?” Scootaloo asked, receiving a nod, “Well, she didn’t exactly say that. It’s just that recently, I’ve been getting angry really quickly, and I don’t even know what I’m getting angry about… And it’s been getting worse. Sweetie said that it’s my attitude that’s the reason I can’t get adopted. It was an argument that happened because when I got mad, I forgot what she said about you, which would’ve proved my argument wrong.”

“Have you considered that there’s more to it than just an anger issue?”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes, emotional issues are more than just that. And they can lead to even bigger problems down the road. Then again, maybe you’re just growing up, and your hormones are making you moody.”

“WHAT?!”

Nightshade just laughed at Scootaloo’s reaction. Though she was getting to be that age, he was only just teasing. Thought her outburst did make her head throb.

“Here, let me get you a new ice pack,” Nightshade said, taking the old, now water pack to replace the ice, “And I promise I won’t tell anyone about your little accident.”

“I get bumps and bruises all the time. I’m not embarrassed about a bump to the head.”

“That’s not the accident I was talking about,” Nightshade said, “Simply put, you may have had a bit too much punch at the party.”

Scootaloo didn’t know what he meant by that. Sure, she had a lot of punch. But what was that supposed to do with anything? Then it occurred to her, and she took off the blanket that was on her. And she saw that the cushion she was on was wet at her hind legs. A small “Eep” was all it took for Nightshade to know she had figured it out.

“To be honest, I was hoping I’d have that sofa for at least a month before I had to thoroughly clean clean it.”

“Is it alright if I…you know…take a bath?” Scootaloo asked, trying to sound as small as she could.

“Of course. Do you need any help?”

Scootaloo got up and could already feel her head spinning. Though her balance was a little wobbly, she’d be fine if she took a slow pace. Even so, Nightshade lead her to the bathroom, if nothing more than to show her where it was.

“I don’t know how bad your bump to the head was,” Nightshade said with concern, “Could you perhaps not fill the tub too far? I’d rather not find out you went unconscious and drowned in the bath water.”

“I may be a little light headed,” Scootaloo said as she entered the bathroom and turned on the water, “But do you really think I’m in such a bad condition that I’d drown if I’m not careful?”

“You never know.”

The way Nightshade said that seemed to bother Scootaloo. She wasn’t sure what it was. But when he left, she watched the water, and stopped at a relatively shallow level before getting in.

---

After the bath, Scootaloo stifled several yawns, clearly ready to get some more sleep. Nightshade had offered her the bed and he’d sleep on the sofa. But when she saw the missing cushion on the sofa from her…accident, she suggested that her smaller size would allow her to feel more comfortable on the sofa than he would.

As Nightshade got ready to retire to his own room, he checked on Scootaloo, “Is it alright if I turn off the light?” he asked, “Or do you need a nightlight?”

“I don’t need a-” Scootaloo was cut off by a yawn in her attempted act of brave defiance.

Nightshade smiled at the cute display, though he chose not to say anything and let her keep her pride, “And you remember where the bathroom is, right?” The subtle hint was hopefully enough to not embarrass her.

After a confirmation from the filly, Nightshade headed to his room. A few moments later, he heard the sound of the bathroom door click.

Author's Note:

There's a reason why I used that description for Scootaloo's smile. You see, it's canon... Or at least, that's my interpretation of what would otherwise be one of Scootaloo's most proud moments. You know that final scene in Parental Glidance?

To most people, they see this as one of Scootaloo's most heartwarming moments. But to me, the look on her face breaks my heart. When I look at her eyes, I can't help but see sadness, even though I know that's a moment of pure joy for her.

So how many of you will never see that scene the same way again?

And special thanks to HMXTaylorLee for prereading.