Reflection of Nightmares

by Cold Spike

Chapter Eight: Nothing Will Ever Change That

Phoenix groaned, feeling a gentle pressure over on her stomach.

“Phoenix? It’s time to get up…”

Whoever was hovering above her was fairly patient while the filly slowly wiped her face with her hoof. She could already feel it before her eyes fluttered open: a massive headache. Likely the worst one yet.

Did I even sleep at all last night?

She couldn’t really remember.

Again, the pressure continued, and her body was pushed from left to right.

“You really need to get up, you’re late.”

That got her eyes to crack open. Something about being late and the consequences of it having been drilled into her mind from the army.

Pale looked at her in shock and concern. “Phoenix… have you been sleeping at all? I couldn’t get you to wake up. Scootaloo’s already at school and it’s nearly lunchtime.”

And that got her attention. The filly rolled over onto her back and stared up at the distraught mother with a hint of shame. “Seriously?! I’m so sorry!” She flapped her wings and stood at attention. “I- I- I didn’t mean to sleep in!”

Pale looked her over and tilted her head in various directions which made the filly a bit nervous. “Hmm. Did you sleep at all?”

Phoenix sighed while looking away. “...I don’t even know.”

The mare took a seat on Scootaloo’s bed and glanced down at her. “Has it really been that rough for you?”

“I don’t… I dunno, M- M- Pale,” she stuttered. “I’m not…” Phoenix closed her eyes as she trailed off and took a very deep breath. “I’m not used to this place. It’s weird.”

Pale nodded. “Is it a bad weird? Good weird? Scary weird?”

“N- normal weird?”

Pale giggled and gently patted her on the head. “Well, it won’t be for much longer,” she replied.

Phoenix had grown quite used to holding in her emotions, and so she simply nodded.

"Now then, how about we get you to class?" Pale said. "I'm sure a bit of normal will help counteract all this strangeness. Hmm?"

---

"Oh, I understand perfectly, dearie. If I was ripped away from my home, I doubt I'd be getting much sleep if any," Miss Cheerilee explained with an honest shrug.

Pale nodded while Phoenix glanced at both of them with a blush.

"Thank you for explaining, Miss Pale," Miss Cheerilee continued. "Phoenix? Lunch has just started so why don't you run along and join your classmates?"

The filly shrugged and nodded. Before she left, Pale gently patted her head, causing a warm, comforting feeling of euphoria to wash over her mind. She felt peaceful for the first time since she could remember.

“Uh, thanks,” she mumbled and quickly left to go grab her bag while the two grownups talked. It didn’t take the filly long to find the Crusaders munching away on their lunch on a separate bench from the other foals.

“There you are!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “What’s with you and sleeping? I tried shaking you awake and nothing!”

Phoenix rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Sweetie Belle while Apple Bloom sat on the other side with Scoots. “I dunno. At least I don’t have a headache or anything,” she replied without thinking.

The three fillies blinked.

“You been gettin’ headaches a ton?” Apple Bloom queried as she stuffed her face with a sandwich.

Phoenix rubbed the side of her head self-consciously and nodded, figuring there was no harm in sharing that little bit of info.

“Aww, ah’m sorry to hear that. You know when Big Mac and AJ get all roughed up, they’ll visit ol’ Zecora for ah quick fix.”

Phoenix’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh huh… w- where does she live?”

“She comes into town a lot,” Sweetie Belle piped in.

“Yeah, but she lives in the Everfree Forest,” Scootaloo mumbled through bite-fulls of her lunch.

“The Everfree…” Phoenix glanced behind them, staring at the dense foliage of trees way off in the distance. “Why live there?”

“Ish cause she specializes in all sorts ah potions! All of the ingredients she needs ta grow in that forest.”

Phoenix nodded while glancing back at Apple Bloom. “I guess it makes sense.”

“Oh! Phoenix, wait right there! I got something for ya!”

They all watched Sweetie Belle dash off in a hurry.

“Uh, should I be worried?” Phoenix asked, while finally digging into her lunch.

“If she cooked somethin’ for ya? Yesum,” the farm filly replied with a nod.

Phoenix glanced around and noticed that a good majority of the classroom were seated over with Diamond Tiara. The brat in question was currently busy prattling on about something, every pony listening with rapt attention.

Daddy bought it for me. And blah blah blah…

Blinking in astonishment, she forced her eyes to turn away while Sweetie Belle re-joined them. Something was levitating behind her back, a bag if she wasn't mistaken. The unicorn quickly took a seat and floated the strange object over toward Phoenix.

“Surprise!”

She tilted her head in confusion. There, laying on the bench was a pristine looking saddlebag complete with a nice looking emblem of a feather on both sides.

A phoenix feather…?

“D- do you like it? Rarity helped me put it together for ya.”

Phoenix blinked in confusion. She felt around the side and noticed that the little feathers weren’t just sewn in, they were crafted from polished metal.

“Woah, where’d she find the cool looking feathers and stuff, Sweetie?” Scoots asked as the sides of the bag glistened in the sunlight.

The unicorn shrugged. “Rarity said she was saving them for a “special occasion” but never got around to using them.”

While the fillies kept chatting about Rarity’s clothing line and her process, Phoenix couldn’t help but gaze into the casted feathers with a look of pure disgust. Sure, on the surface the elegant detailing of the feathers looked finely crafted. They seemed nice, but for her, there were deeply rooted feelings about such things.

Glancing around, she felt rather nervous while the other ponies were merely talking and playing as if nothing was wrong. Then she saw him. He was a grey coated pegasus pony walking beside what appeared to be his guardian into the classroom. The colt in question coughed and sneezed quite audibly before disappearing out of sight.

Phoenix felt back to the metal feather and scowled. She could feel every pony she had ever wronged. Every living being she and her fellow Phoenix members had been forced to fight and murder just to stay alive. Shakingly, she glanced around and noticed all of the fillies and colts had vanished without a trace. She turned back to the picnic table and gasped. There was a colt just laying there, dead for the world to see. His body was covered in cuts and bruises along with several small patches of blood.

She reached out and could feel very real fur and hair on the unmoving body. He had a grey coat with a very familiar looking mane and tail.

No… this can’t be real…

Oh, how tragic…

Phoenix shut her eyes tight while her body started to shake. “Shut up…”

Suddenly the body of the colt rolled over on its own and Phoenix reared back in surprise.

“S- stop…” she whimpered.

I’m afraid he had quite the little accident. Show her… show her what happened, young one…

The sickening voice of the dark queen echoed in the fillies mind while she grabbed at her skull and tried to drown it out. She was vaguely aware of somepony shaking her body, speaking soothing words to her, but it was not but a vague sensation when compared to the strong hallucination of the dead colt.

Suddenly the colt stood up and opened his eyes. Phoenix saw them for a second before shutting her own. There had been blood etched all around them along with patches of skin and fur missing from around his muzzle.

“You let me die, Scootaloo. You failed me.”

“No…” she squeaked while on the verge of tears. “I- it w- wasn’t my--”

“YOU FAILED HIM! HIS DEATH- HIS BLOOD IS ON YOU!”

Suddenly the vision broke apart, the colt vanished and all that was left in her vision were three little fillies staring at her with great concern. One of which had just smacked her in the side of the head.

“Told ya that would work…” Scootaloo mumbled.

Phoenix slowly brought her hoof to her face and wiped away all of the stray tears that she knew were there. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had their hooves placed on her back rather awkwardly and a few of the other students were staring at her as if she had just gone nuts.

“Are you ok--”

“Excuse me,” she interrupted and shoved Sweetie to the side. Phoenix ignored their shouts of concern, grabbed her bag from the classroom and before Miss Cheerilee or the other students could even blink, she had run off past the bathrooms and out of sight.

---

Sweetie Belle could only blink in shock. Just what had they witnessed.

“Golly, ah don’t think ah’ve ever seen somepony freak out so much. What’s her deal?”

Scootaloo went back to munching on her lunch and shrugged. “I really couldn’t tell ya. What was she saying, anyway? Sounded like gibberish to me.”

“Rumble…?”

Apple Bloom and Scoots narrowed their eyes together while tilting their heads in confusion.

“What about him? Ah, think he’s been sick the last few days.”

“No, that’s what she said. I think she was crying about Rumble,” Sweetie clarified.

Apple Bloom scratched behind her bow, trying to figure out the little mystery. “Do… do you think somethin’ happened to, uh, Phoenix’s Rumble? Wait… how does that even work?”

Scootaloo quickly finished what remained of her meal and belched while patting her stomach satisfyingly. “Ya got me. She didn’t know us where she’s from. She didn’t even know Diamond Tiara. I’m kind of shocked she knows of anypony from our class.”

Apple Bloom nodded.

Sweetie pushed her lunch aside and stood up. “I’m gonna go see if she’s okay.”

She started walking off but Scootaloo called out other. “Wait, what about your lunch?!”

“I’m not hungry anymore,” she yelled back. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice, but Sweetie Belle walked off before they could say anything else.

She quickly cantered over to Miss Cheerilee and looked up. “Miss Cheerilee?”

“Oh, yes? What is it?”

“Did ya see where Phoenix ran off to? She was just in here.”

The teacher slowly shook her head. “No, she ran off in quite the hurry though. I- is she still not on the playground?”

“Uh, no she’s not. Hmmm, I’ll check the bathroom.”

“Alright, please let me know if you find her. She is alright I take it?”

Sweetie paled a bit and slowly shook her head. “I’m not so sure. I’ll be right back, though.”

She could sense the teacher wanting to join her, but she held off and Sweetie was able to slink away on her own.

Please be in here… She glanced into the stalls but didn’t find any hint of the filly. Grunting in annoyance, she started snooping around the back of the bathroom building only to come up empty. The school was surrounded on all sides by a light fence which any filly could easily ‘escape’ from; it was entirely possible that her friend just ran off.

“Where are you--” she stopped talking and listened in off in the distance as her ears swiveled in place.

“It- it’s not real…”

The voice was quite faint, but it was unmistakenly that of Phoenix speaking. It took her a little while, but eventually, she found Phoenix curled up behind the school auditorium. Her body was shaking and her eyes were sealed shut. Hesitantly, Sweetie Belle took a seat next to Phoenix’s bag and waited.

“What--” Sweetie tried to get out but Phoenix flinched and started whining. WIthout thinking, the unicorn started gently petting the back of her friend’s mane in gentle motions. She hated seeing her this way, but what else could she do?

The whimpering and crying was a terrifying sight for the unicorn.

“What happened to Rumble, Phoenix?”

Phoenix got really quiet and, for a while, both fillies could only hear their collective breath and the sound of wind off in the distance.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Sweetie Belle, Phoenix mumbled something and wiped away her tears.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t… I don’t know why I even care. He’s gone and it happened a long time ago.”

“G- gone where?” Sweetie asked, tilting her head very innocently.

Phoenix dared to close her eyes for just a moment but a flash of Rumble’s decrepit body passed by in her memories and she began to shake in fear again.

“Phoenix?”

“J- just gone, okay? I don’t…” she trailed off and took a few deep breaths, though she shuttered on the last one. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The unicorn furrowed her muzzle in concentration. “I… okay. Do you wanna get back to class?” she asked and offered her hoof to her.

Hesitantly, Phoenix grabbed on and stood up while her bag fell over the side of her body. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Erm, right.”

They walked in silence with Phoenix taking the lead. She trudged along with her head down and an immense frown on her face while Sweetie hung back.

Phoenix had started to calm down, but the sudden itch returned and it made her feel rather ravenous. Food, in this case, would never be enough to sustain her.
You don’t need it… she tried to remind herself, though she couldn’t help but occasionally glance at her saddlebag rather guiltily.

The itching, the awful itching would not let up no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. Nerve ends on her body felt irritated and it took all of her remaining willpower to not break down and scratch like a wild dog.

You don’t… you…

She took one last look at her bag and sighed. Her head was getting worse and worse and she could feel the onset of sudden exhaustion. She had to do it. She had no other choice.

“Um, I gotta go use the restroom, I’ll be right back,” Phoenix mumbled and darted off in a hurry.

“...Okay,” Sweetie called back, though her voice was obviously laced with concern.

The distraught filly darted into a stall and slammed the door shut before hastily peeking into her bag and rummaging around.

“T- three left,” she said while panting for air. “Just three.”

Hesitantly, she held up a canister and revolved it in her hoof several times.

“Just three,” she said, already knowing that it was about to be two. As she forced the can up to her muzzle, she could already feel the air pressure lighten around her skull, and the hues and colors of her vision returning to a far more comfortable manner. Moaning and whimpering in pain, she pushed the canister forward and took a very deep huff.

Suddenly, everything became so much clearer. Her focus and attention were heightened to brand new levels of normalcy and Phoenix no longer felt like taking a nap or two. The headache lightened up and she finally could think with an air of efficiency that she hadn’t felt in hours.

“Two left,” she said and tossed the can in the garbage.

She thought back to what the apple filly had said about Zecora and smirked a bit. “Makes potions, huh? Will have to look into that for later,” she said and rubbed her head in tiny little circles, hoping to stave off her headaches for just a tad longer.

“Right then,” she said and grabbed her bag before rinsing her face off and darting out of the restroom to go finish her lunch.

As she neared the playground, she could already sense something was very wrong.

You’re just a flightless little chicken. Not like anypony would ever want you for anything. I mean, honestly, what kind of pegasus are you, dodo brain?!

What followed next was a round of snorts, giggles and laughs at the expense of one little filly who was now on the verge of crying her eyes out.

When Phoenix finally got into the playground, she found Diamond Tiara and her lackey bullying Scootaloo and the other Crusaders, with nopony in sight to stop her.

The pegasus had broken out in a fit of tears while her friends seemed to be trying to console her.

“S- s- shud up!” Scootaloo exclaimed through fits of tears. A few of the other students chuckled.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you. All I hear is a big flightless chicken!”

Phoenix cracked her neck and stepped forward while her eyes were narrowed on the pink filly herself. The drugged canister was now working at full capacity, pumping her system full of adrenaline and a few endorphins as well.

“Oh ho, and what’s this? Her flightless freak of a clone ready to defend her worthless counterpart.”

Phoenix quirked a brow at this and glanced back at her wings with a hint of curiosity. Sure, they were injured but would hardly consider herself flightless.

“Got nothing to say? Hmm, doesn’t surprise me. You look about as stupid as a chicken and I bet they could fly better than you.”

More laughter, though Phoenix merely cracked her neck again and closed her eyes. Deep in thought.

“Hey! I’m talking to you, bird brain! Oh, what? Can’t understand us? Figures, chickens don’t talk anyway.”

What happened next took everypony by surprise. Phoenix dropped her bag and soared high into the air then did a few twirls while stretching her wings in several places.

Diamond Tiara started stuttering in confusion while the other children merely gasped.

“Chicken huh? Funny,” she said and started hovering just above Diamond’s little tiara. “I see some chickens, a funny looking pink one and an ugly lackey chicken.”

“Y- y- you can fly?!” Diamond screamed in shock. She backed up a few paces but Phoenix merely hovered forward with ease.

“You know,” she started and suddenly grabbed at Diamond’s jewel-encrusted tiara, “there’s something a bit odd about this,” she said rather casually.

“Hey! Give that back you stupid freak!”

“Ah, that’s it,” Phoenix replied with a giggle. “These diamonds are fake. Here, let me get rid of it for ya. Free of charge!”

Phoenix flipped around and flew up to the top of the school roof and carefully placed it at the highest point. She giggled and landed near the Crusaders rather gracefully.

“There, all better! Don’t worry about that old dusty thing, Diamond. You look a little richer without it anyway.”

Suddenly the shock had started to wear off and the other students had turned on the pink filly, giggling with Phoenix like it was all some grand joke.

“Give it back! Give it back right now!” Diamond barked and pushed into Phoenix’s body with a harsh shove. “Now!”

“Buzz off!”

Phoenix then turned around bucked Diamond Tiara square in the chest. The other colts and fillies gasped as she went tumbling head first into a pile of dirt. After she landed, the little brat started to look rather dazed and out of breath. The other students remained silent but Phoenix didn’t care, she’d had enough of the brat’s crap for a whole lifetime.

“Is she… where’s she going?”

They all watched Scootaloo run off in tears. Far away from the school grounds until she was out of sight. Without thinking, Phoenix flew into the air to follow, ignoring the shouts of the Crusaders and other students.

---

Phoenix had been flying for close to ten minutes when her wing started to cramp rather badly. Sighing, she took a sudden emergency style landing in a dense bush just as Scootaloo had gone out of sight, again.

Moaning in pain and ignoring her bleeding injury, she darted off from the bush and started looking around. It didn’t take her very long to notice just how familiar everything looked.

“Did she run back home…?”

As it turned out, that was exactly what the filly had done. The front door had been hastily shoved open followed by the sudden cries and screams of a very distraught little filly.

Curious, Phoenix leaned up against an open window and listened in.

“S-s-s-sh-” Scootaloo tried to say but simply broke down into a fit of crying and tears.

“Shh… shhh. Calm down, little one. Deep breathes. Deep,” Pale said.

Phoenix swallowed a little with a large gulp. What did she do now? All she did was fly! She had defended them from the brat and even put her in her place. What was the big deal?!

“Y- you won’t want me! S- she can fly!”

What followed next was Scootaloo screaming and crying, muffled by Pale’s coat, presumably due to the two hugging.

“Shh, who can fly? What happened?”

“P- Phoenix,” she whimpered and went right back to crying. “I- I’m just a loser pegasus… nopony cares about a--”

Pale put a stop to it right there and shushed her by physically placing her hoof on her daughter's muzzle. Phoenix didn’t know what to think.

“I’m not hearing any of that talk, young filly. I want you to listen to me, okay?”

Scootaloo sniffed rather loudly but seemed to nod.

“B- but, she’s basically me only better. Better in every way,” she replied rather bitterly.

“Scootaloo, Phoenix isn’t you,” she reminded her. Scootaloo glanced up and her mother sighed. “You’re my Scootaloo and I love you just like you are. And I bet you bits to baked goods that Phoenix's mother, whatever universe or world or however it works, would say the exact same thing about her."

The other filly watched the two hug while bitter feelings started to bubble up, compounded by the strange drugged canister from earlier.

Buck this, she thought and swiftly took to the air while ignoring her aching wings. She didn’t care. Pain was par for the course in her life and the drugs pumping through her system helped dull the pain a little. As she flew, in a random direction, her mind started to wander.

I hate thinking about that day…

But it was no use, the memories flowed rather freely. And with nothing to distract her and nopony to talk to, they came into her vision as if they had only happened yesterday.

Author's Note:

Comments are always welcome.
...Please?

Comments

[Replica Knight]

Yay

[Kichi]

If only Scootaloo knew the problems of Phoenix, she could not want to be her

[Yosh-E-O]

It makes me so happy to read a new chapter in this series. It's extremely enjoyable and you've certainly set us up for a good meeting with the alternate version of Phoenxi's Zecora.

One thing that Zecora has proven is how she can see beyond the veils of reality. I imagine that, upon meeting Phoenix, Zecora would definitely pick up on lingering elements of her alternate self and quickly figure out all in which Phoenix is hiding.

This series is very enjoyable as it is super-ultra visual. I look forward to the next part. :)

[Cold Spike]

9619227
More Scoots is always good. ^^

[Cold Spike]

9619475
Thank you again for the kind comments and the read. Zecora is so tough to write for though. Ugh, lol

[Cold Spike]

9619272
No way lol

[Replica Knight]

9619598
Aye I enjoy this story very much