Reflection of Nightmares

by Cold Spike

Chapter Five: Hiding

“We’re here!” Scootaloo announced. The filly glanced back and rolled her eyes. Sweetie Belle’s mane was completely frazzled, while Apple Bloom was giving her a death glare.

“Scoots! You don’t always hafta go that fast, you know!”

Her counterpart shook her head and glanced around. The memories of that mission seemed so vivid, it was as though she was back there. Waking up from such a vision was unsettling, to say the least.

“Yeah, yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Come on up, Phoenix! We’ll show ya around!”

Phoenix really didn’t have time to inspect anything in their clubhouse from earlier, but now she could plainly see that they were each insane in their own unique way.

Scootaloo had tried to initiate her by using a set of drums and some odd ritual until Phoenix carefully explained that she had a massive headache and wasn’t really in the mood to make it worse. There was also the matter of the crazy amount of parchment plastered on the walls, detailing their failed crusades and what they learned. Some of them baffled her to no end.

“So… you tried all of these? All of them?!”

The three fillies nodded their heads, looking downcast and forlorn. Phoenix inspected a few of them while silently shaking her head in bewilderment. She held up one which showed the picture of a chicken, but all she got was silence.

“Uh, well did you try, uh… researching stuff in a library?”

“We tried that plenty of times, Phoenix,” Apple Bloom muttered. “Ah guess we haven’t done it recently. Maybe Twi has some new books?”

Scootaloo groaned and smacked her head. “Ugh, reading…”

“Rainbow Dash reads all the time, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Knowing full well the rainbow pegasus loved to read.

“To the library!” Scootaloo screamed, pointing off to the distance.

“Uh, Scoots? Library burned down, it’s in Twilight’s castle now.”

“To the castle!”

So much noise… Scootaloo’s counterpart bit her lip again through her ears perked upon hearing the words castle. She smirked. “I guess we could see how Twilight’s doing on the mirror, right?” Phoenix suggested.

“Heya, Crusaders. How was your day?” Applejack asked, appearing at their doorstep.

“Oh, hey, Applejack! It was okay, we were just gonna head over to Twilight’s an’ get some research done,” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

Phoenix blinked while she examined the mare. She found a kind, caring smile about her features, but her memories of Honesty were far from kind.

“You know, ah gotta admit, yougin’, that,” the mare said while gesturing to the now unconscious guard at her hooves, “that was mighty stupid of ya.”

Scootaloo’s hooves had been encased in a strong magical field, forced to bow to Honesty in the most uncomfortable and unnatural way possible. She clenched her teeth in pain while doing her best to look at her surroundings. She was definitely in a fortress of some kind. Large stone walls and cobblestone flooring were enough to tip that bit of information off to her. She couldn’t see much from her position, but Scootaloo knew enough that she could sense several guards seated behind her.

“Ah mean, ah’ve seen some dumb ponies in my past. That rainbow pest the queen loves so much. A failure of a mail mare, but you, you my dear, really take the cake.”

The filly groaned in place but said nothing in response.

“Ah think she’s had enough bowing. Let her head up, hurry on now,” she commanded.

Suddenly the immense pressure which had been directed on her spine let up and finally, she could look around. She glanced up into the mare’s wild eyes while doing her best now to cower in fear. It wasn’t necessarily how she looked, but what Honesty represented in the queen’s arsenal. The thing she’d heard her do were nothing short of sickening.

The mare took her Stenson hat off and pretended to examine the thing before cantering forward. “Just what is your name, little filly?”

Scootaloo smirked. “Firehen.”

“Wrong!” The mare screamed, causing the filly to flinch. The crazy earth pony ran forward, stopping short of her muzzle. “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!” she yelled and then smacked the yougin’ straight in the face. Blood broke on her skin, but her assailant didn’t seem to care. Honesty grabbed the filly from the magical imprisonment and forcefully tossed her against a nearby wall.

“You break into my fortress and have the gall to lie to me! Me!” she said, stomping her forehooves on the filly’s chest over and over. Eventually, the little pegasus began coughing up blood on the floor until the assault ceased. The mare leaned down and whispered. “Now, what is your real name and I want the truth…”

“Sco- Scootaloo,” she said truthfully. She began breathing heavily. Now free from the unicorn guard’s spell, she used her free hoof to wipe away some of the blood. “My name is Scootaloo.”

“Hmm, quite the strong little filly, Scootaloo. Shame you’re not one of us.”

“Huh?”

“A true Equestrian. An Earth Pony. Pegasi may have their place, too, ah suppose. But the true strength of an Equestrian can only be in us deemed worthy enough to connect with the planet itself.”

“Y- you’re insane.”

She chuckled at this. “Ah’m not the one that broke in here without so much as ah bit of backup, youngin’.”

“Wh- what h- happens now?” she asked, clenching her jaw and seething in more pain. She didn’t think anything was broken, but she wasn’t about to risk getting on her hooves.”

“That all depends on you, Scootaloo. Kindly follow my guards to initiation and we’ll see from there,” she muttered and waved her off like the whole thing was nothing. Scootaloo wondered just how many she had initiated in her time serving the queen.

“W- wait!” Scootaloo said, just as the guards had appeared at her sides. “Yo- you have to answer me something, please. You’re Honesty, right? Ju… just, please answer me one thing.”

The mare stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. “Ah suppose. Just make it quick.”

“I he- heard that my parents m- may have come through here. Th-ey they look a lot like me and were in our army. Do you know what happened to them?”

The mare stared down at her for a good, long while. Contemplating what to say. Scootaloo didn’t trust any of the queen’s army, but she knew that this one, in particular, could at least be trustworthy enough to let loose a nugget of truth here and there, it was in her nature, after all.

Surprisingly, the mare bowed while taking her hat off. “Are you sure you wish to know their fate?”

The filly’s heart lurched, already forming the smallest hint on what may have happened to them. Slowly, she nodded.

“Heh. Ah’m not proud of those first experiments. It took some doin’, but eventually, we figured a… cleaner way of doin’ it. But ah’m afraid there were quite a few mistakes back in the beginnin’.”

“Wh- what are you saying?!” Scootaloo asked, her voice squeaking slightly.

“You really wanna know the truth?”

“Y- yes.”

She chuckled quite darkly and leaned in, her muzzle as close as possible to the filly’s face. “We needed more strength in our army, more earth ponies. Ah can’t remember everypony we tried it on, but ah believe a mare that goes by Pale was one of the first…” Scootaloo’s eyes widened in shock, catching the mare by surprise. “Well ah’ll be. Ah guess it makes sense that her daughter got away and all, funny how you ended up back here.”

Honesty paused and watched for a reaction. “She didn’t last long, though she wasn’t helping things by struggling.”

Scootaloo stood still in shock, her mind slowly shutting down as she put the pieces together.

“Now don’t worry none, we’ve since perfected the procedure.” She leaned in and ruffled Scootaloo’s feathers. “You won't even feel ah thing.”

Scootaloo felt dizzy, like the world was spinning despite remaining so perfectly still. She teetered on her hooves, trying to remain steady. Slowly the world started to fade, but in the back of her head, she heard a massive explosion. Stone and rocks spilling everywhere. The last thing that she remembered before blacking out was the shouts of Honesty, and her guards readying their weapons for a long fight.

“Hmm, that so? Doin’ some gentle crusadin’ today?” she asked with a giggle.

Phoenix blinked and looked around in confusion. Hadn’t she just been scouting on a mission? She’d been caught and heard something horrible, a terrible fate for her mother and father. She groaned and rubbed her head in tiny circles, trying to dispel the strong illusions of her nightmares. Already she was craving the itch for another canister.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and nodded. “I guess. Ugh, I thought this would be more exciting with two of me around…” she muttered and huffed a bit in frustration.

“And how you holding up, Phoenix?” Applejack asked her, point blank.

The filly slowly shrugged. “Uh, not bad I guess. Just, um… yeah, not bad,” she said, trying to sound cool and casual.

“Uh huh. Well, ya seem fairly tired, Sugarcube. Didn’t get much sleep?”

“...Yeah, pretty much,” Phoenix muttered while looking away. The three crusaders awkwardly glanced at one another before turning to Applejack, hoping for her to make sense of Phoenix brash attitude.

“Why don’t you three get onto Twilight’s place? I wanna say somethin’ to Phoenix here.”

The Crusaders didn’t have much to argue with, so they left but not before waving to Phoenix who gave a weak nod in response.

The two sat across from one another by quite the distance, each staring off at other trees. It took a while but eventually, the mare spoke.

“Look,” she started and Phoenix looked back to her, “ah don’t know what’s different from where you’re from. And ah just sort of assumed a few things…”

The filly tilted her head in confusion, not understanding. Without warning, Applejack stood up and walked a few paces until she was right in front of her. “My name’s Applejack, it’s a pleasure to meet ya,” she said and offered her outstretched hoof. She smiled nervously down to Phoenix and waited rather patiently. “Twi explained a few things to us, she said it’s possible that you don’t even know everypony that our Scootaloo does since you tread different paths. A- ah’m ah wrong, Phoenix?”

“No, you’re not wrong,” she said truthfully. Applejack did take note when Phoenix backed up rather fearfully, however. The mare backed up herself and grabbed her hat.

“Ah don’t know you like ah know our Scootaloo. And… hmm, ah don’t know why you’re so afraid of me--”

“I’m not afraid!” she hastily interrupted, though this just raised further suspicions.

“Sugarcube, ah think you are,” she stated and then held her hoof out when the filly tried to object. “I don’t know why, and… and if you want to keep that to yourself then that’s your business. But, just please don’t be afraid to come see me or Twilight or even Miss Cheerilee if you need help. And… ah’m gonna say this from the bottom of my heart, Scootaloo,” she said, the filly’s eyes widened in shock while her ears perked. “Don’t give into yer fears, don’t keep bottled up and to yourself. Friendship, true friendship conquers all fears. So, lil’ Scootaloo, will you be my friend?”

It was like a cannon had gone off and struck her heart dead on. She didn’t feel her insomnia or the coming darkness. She didn’t see Honesty or what she had done to her parents. She wanted to say yes more than anything, but something kept pulling her back. An older memory, back when the whole of Equestria, her Equestria, had fallen.

It had been months since Canterlot fell. Scootaloo had eventually broken free from the queen’s wretched initiation school and had sought the military resistance, The Shining Phoenix. When she finally found the place, she had to admit that it was rather underwhelming. The place had an allure of a hastily constructed series of tents and a few buildings. The only good thing she could say about it was that the place was well hidden, deep within one of the darkest and most secluded forests known to pony kind: The Dread Timbers. The place was most definitely off the beaten path; Scootaloo only thanked Celestia that the Nightmare’s soldiers hadn’t reached there yet.

Despite her young age, they didn’t exactly turn her away of course, but her new list of jobs was less than satisfactory. Not that she actually wanted to be out there, going on missions and fighting crazy Nightmare Guards, but she had to admit that the prospect of doing something exciting did have an allure to it.

It was her fifth day in the compound and already she was sick of her duties. She was basically ordered to do anything and everything that the head of the command needed of her, so long as it stayed on their property. Safe from Nightmare Moon. In exchange, she got shelter, a place to sleep and food, though not a ton of food. Without the sun, growing plants had become tricky and the trees and flora that were natural to The Dread Timbers forest were largely dying and fading away into nothing.

They had various scientists (the ones that were not under Nightmare’s control) working around the clock to come up with strategies to grow food without Celestia’s shining sun to aid them. So far all they had come up with were strange artificial lights which could, at best, mimic the sun's rays. It made for some incredibly bland and stunted fruits and veggies.

“S- stupid commander,” Scootaloo muttered. She had been tasked with cleaning out various tents for the morning and making sure that everypony had fresh water and their rations for the day. This included hers, of course, but it always seemed like far too little.

“Always telling me what to do and then she j- just storms off,” she muttered and started filling another pitcher with water. “Why I oughta--”

“Hey, kid?”

Scootaloo broke out into a fake smile and whirled around, giving whoever it was a salute. “Ready to se- serve! The sun will rise again!”

To her astonishment, it wasn’t another commander but one of their soldiers. A pegasus pony who was chuckling in her direction. “Heh, that’s good to hear, miss…?”

“Scootaloo.”

“Right. How’d you like to earn some extra phoenix feathers?”

The young filly’s eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly. Bits were no longer used. The new “queen” had forbidden them since were a representation of Celestia’s might over her kingdom. But more than that, “Sun Bits” were all cursed by an extremely powerful spell and, as it turned out, The Shining Phoenix learned this the hard way by losing a few of their soldiers to the Nightmare’s curse. Lunar currency did exist, but after watching some of their comrades literally descend into madness, they weren’t about to risk using them. As such, phoenix feathers were invented. Brilliant bird shaped feathers crafted from silver.

“Yes! Y- you have a bunch?” Scootaloo asked nervously.

The mare chuckled and jingled a little baggy in her forehoof. “Sure do. Us soldiers probably get a bit more than somepony of your, well, stature,” she explained, trying not to insult her.

“Ugh, tell me about it. I think I have, uh, one so far.”

“One? Now that won't do… tell you what, Scootaloo, I need to get settled out on another mission for the Shining Phoenix, secret stuff, you understand. But I have a few chores that need doing around this place. Do everything on this list and I’ll pay ya in full, five feathers. Deal?”

“F- five? It took me two weeks to earn just one! Deal!” she practically screamed, her little wings buzzed excitedly. The mare chuckled again and dropped off a long list in front of her. “O- oh wow, thi- this is a lot of stuff…”

“Mhm, get it done in two days!”

“Two days, got it!” she said. “I’ll just… meet you back at your tent when you return?”

“Sure kid, sure,” she said rather dismissively. “Just get them done and you’ll be rollin’ in feathers.”

“Right…” she said, licking her lips. She could already taste some of the things she was gonna buy. Treats, bread, milk! Sure, some of that was allowed in her daily rations, but owning excess of it was always a plus in her book!

---

“F- finally done,” Scootaloo muttered while she drifted in and out of consciousness. While not needed, she crossed off the final chore of her ridiculous list and sighed. She’d been at it practically all night, but eventually, the mare’s list was conquered. “Time for my reward…”

She felt woozy on her hooves and several times she accidentally stumbled into the wrong tent, but eventually, she made it back to the same spot as the day before. She looked around for the strange mare, she didn’t see here but she hear her off in the distance. Following her voice, it started to become much clearer.

“Excellent work, private. Your rations and feathers for the week and extra for all that work you put in last night.”

“Uh, heh, right. Thank you!”

The mare whistled to herself and quickly exited the tent.

“Uh, I finished,” Scootaloo said and the pegasus froze in her tracks. “Do you have my reward?”

The mare slowly turned to face Scootaloo with a slight frown. “Scootsaloo, heh, right?”

“It- it’s erm, Scootaloo,” she replied rather nervously.

“Right, right. So you finish up the list?”

The filly smirked and tossed over the parchment, every single item checked off. “Yep, everyone! So, uh, got those feathers?”

“No. Not for you, anyway.”

“...What?” she muttered, her eyes widening in surprise. “B- but yo- you said…”

The mare simply shook her head. “Filly, you need to wise up to how things are done around here. You wanna survive and make it through this war?”

Scootaloo gritted her teeth, anger swelling up to rise above her curiosity, though she said nothing in response.

The strange mare’s wings expanded as she was about to take to the air. “The only trust yourself, it’ll get ya a lot farther.”

“I’ll tell the general on you! I- I’ll have you arrested!”

Right before flapping, she began to break down and chuckle, she even giggled a few times.

“What? What’s so funny?!”

“You don’t even know my name and I was wearing this armor anytime you saw me, you silly filly,” she said while gesturing to the Shining Phoenix standard issue white plated armor. “General, this random pegasus promised me phoenix feathers if I did chores for her, I don’t know her name or her cutie mark, but you have to find her!” she said rather mockingly. She probably went too far with how much Scootaloo began to tear up.

She sighed and shook her head. “Look, just do what the Phoenix leaders tell you and trust nopony else. This was… well, a lesson for you, filly. Do your jobs, do your missions to stay alive and trust nopony else,” she stated and then took to the skies, leaving her to sniffle to herself, confused, sad, bitter and angry.

“What do you say, sugarcube?”

Scootaloo’s entire body began to shake with obvious signs of intense sweating around her hooves. Her wings ruffled a few times, but her hooves remained rooted to the ground while her eyes continued to stare, unblinking.

“Ah, look ah understand if you’re scared and--” It took Applejack a few seconds to realize what had happened.

She was trying to reach out with her hoof, just to give the little filly a pat on the back (obviously away from her injury), but the filly ran. Not on her hooves, by but taking to the sky. She almost didn’t see the little one move, but she certainly heard something rip, like a bandage. Gasping, with the wind and dust that Phoenix had gathered up, she looked around for her but could only see a small orange dot way off in the distance. She knew for a fact that Scootaloo, their Scootaloo, lacked the ability for flight and, somehow, Phoenix could. It just piled on more evidence that Phoenix's realm, world or wherever she came from was very, very different.

The mare glanced down at the discarded and bloodied bandage on the ground and sighed heavily.

“Phoenix… what are you hiding? What are you afraid of?” AJ muttered to herself.

She sighed and went on to her daily duties on the farm, all the while a certain orange pegasus filly never leaving her thoughts alone.

---

Run!

That was the only thing that she could think to do. Run and hide, just run and hide. The single thought was dominate, echoing throughout her mind while her flight or fight response kicked into overdrive. Applejack had sounded so nice and so sincere like she had her best interests at heart. This was exactly why Phoenix felt it was necessary to fly as far and fast as her wings would carry her.

She flew for a few minutes until a painful strain on her injured wing caused her to gently float down until she was resting on a small cloud. Phoenix gritted her teeth and looked behind her to inspect the damage. There wasn’t too much blood, but it did itch like crazy and, already, splashes of it were soaking into her bag.

Grunting in pain, she quickly soared down to the ground below and got to work. She wasn’t paying attention to anypony or anything beyond her freshly torn wound and her first aid kit.

After a while and a few dozen calming breathes, her work eventually slowed to a crawl. Next, she wiped the excess blood from her bag (or what little that hadn’t dried) and finally collapsed on the ground. The bandaged filly glanced at her surroundings and let loose a series of laughs. Everything looked pristine while her coat shined a bright hue in Celestia’s gleaming sun. She eventually began to look to her surroundings and noticed that she was on a path which leads out of Ponyville. Godlike rays washed over everything, leading her back into town. Everything looked peaceful and majestic, alien to her. Scootaloo could hardly fathom a time when things were just like it, all of her memories tainted by a dark queen and her nightmare like realm.

The filly tried to comprehend what had happened with vivid daydreams of night’s long past popping up like some sort of virus. Everypony around her just seemed to want to help, with even the world itself inviting her to stay and live. To be happy and prosper, to be free. She could do it without a second’s thought. She’d be away from all the confusion and horrible flashbacks. Away from the so-called Elements of Harmony. Away from school. Away from missions and rules and restrictions. Away from the wretched mirror and the prospect of going back. Smiling and liking all of that very much, the filly began to walk along the path away from Ponyville.

Away from mom and dad.

Phoenix froze in her tracks while gritting her teeth. Slowly, the itching came back, the world was cast into cold darkness from which there was no escape.

“N- no… no, no, no, no, no, no, no! No!” she screamed and pounded her hoof into the dirt. Her head pounded with extreme agony. The itch to reach for another capsule grew while her vision darkened, blurring from a full day’s exhaustion and lack of sleep.

A sickening laugh echoed through the trees surrounding the pathway. She looked around as her heart rate increased with her eyes shrinking to pinpricks.

“Sh- she’s not here… she can’t be here.”

The haunting laugh only increased in volume while Scootaloo began to hastily rummage through her bag, looking for her case of capsules. The first attempt to lift the case out went quite poorly with how much her hooves shook. Already she could sense the dark queen’s presence, seeping into Equestria and heading for Ponyville. Heading for the two ponies she cared about most. She could swear a vision of the mare herself began to appear before her very eyes.

I’ll care for you like you were my own; I promise…

It all stopped. Her anguish, the dark laughing, the cold and darkening world ceased to exist. She blinked and glanced down at the case, staring it at for a good minute before tossing it back into her bag. She wanted another one, desperately, but somehow just the thought of seeing Pale again brought her back from the brink of insanity. Slowly, she stood up and began limping back into Ponyville.

Author's Note:

Comments are always welcome.
...Please?

Comments

[Yosh-E-O]

Ooh! Now that was deep. Very, very deep. You had my full attention from start-to-finish.

I do hope you keep working on this story. It's quite brilliant in how it tells of a world where Scootaloo has tried so hard to survive while not knowing how to transition to a world without terror filling each day of her life.

The moment with 'Honesty' was definitely a scene I'd love to have seen animated. The way 'Honesty' snapped back at Scoots for lying was certainly intense and quite scary. You could feel Scoots really trying to be strong and brave despite the pounding she took at the hooves of 'Honesty'. You also got a ton of feels by how she got to hear of the distirubing experiments 'Honesty' was doing to those she captured... including Scootaloo's parents.

It really makes you think of what a truly corrupt Mane 6 would be like. We've seen them 'Discorded' and 'Mean Six' but that's nothing compared to what you show here. The twisted variations that Nightmare Moon made out of the Mane 6 are frightening. Thinking on how three were genuinely killed before Scoots escaped with Zecora's help really shows how powerful Zecora is. One of tainted elements is scary enough... let alone three of them.

Now, at some point, I can see learning of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. I'd guess Fluttershy would be making chimeras. Perhaps Pinkie Pie would be in her full 'Cupcakes' mode, Rarity would come up with how to rearrange the parts, and Fluttershy would master the 'creations' that were once allies of The shining Phoenix.

You also did well in showing just why 'Phoenix' would have next to trust with any pony. The mare who took advantage of her at camp would definitely leave a scar.

Now... What will happen when Scootaloo learns of how this other Scootaloo can fly? I'm sure it will be a bittersweet moment if any explaining is done.

[Cold Spike]

9438574
Thank you for such kind replies. I plan on finishing this story just like my others.

The idea mainly stemmed from a what if. What if the Mane6 had failed. And we've already seen from the show just how lucky they were to be in their current predicament. Just the slightest change and BOOM apocalypse.

"Now, at some point, I can see learning of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. I'd guess Fluttershy would be making chimeras. Perhaps Pinkie Pie would be in her full 'Cupcakes' mode, Rarity would come up with how to rearrange the parts, and Fluttershy would master the 'creations' that were once allies of The shining Phoenix."

While it's tempting to go down that path, what became of them in flashbacks is likely not gonna be portrayed in that kind of way.

"Now... What will happen when Scootaloo learns of how this other Scootaloo can fly? I'm sure it will be a bittersweet moment if any explaining is done."

You'll see...

[hawthornbunny]

“No. Not for you, anyway.”

That's so cruel

[Cold Spike]

9441933

But, yeah, the ponies of Phoenix's world are quite desperate to stay out on top. They've lost so much and it's not unheard of for the mares and stallions in charge to take advantage of the remaining foals. Especially those which lack a family.