The Friendship Initiative

by Jatheus

Truths

‘Dear Scootaloo, I received your letter and am still quite alarmed by the events that unfolded. Ash Eater and Seta are our guests for the time being. I would have sent for you immediately, had things here in Canterlot not been thrown into total chaos. It’s been all we can do to keep everypony calm, and to that end, Princess Celestia imposed the travel ban and curfew on every creature until things cool down. You are to accompany the guards that brought this letter and report to me in Canterlot. I’d prefer to discuss your part in all of this in person. Have a safe journey, Princess Twilight Sparkle.’

Ash Eater stood over the gray mare. Chained to the floor, she was at his mercy. He grinned as she lied to him. If it was pain she wanted, all she had to do was keep lying. But why not just tell the truth and it could all be over? He nodded to the others, and they kicked her, beat her.

She lied again.

He signaled the others and they grabbed her. The stag climbed on top, whispered in her ear, threatened a heinous act. As he looked down upon her, he saw no longer the mare, but his own flesh and blood.

Ash Eater awoke with a start, a slight shriek escaping him as he threw off the bedsheets, soaked with sweat. He gasped for air, trying to catch his breath. In all of his thrashing, the stag fell to the floor. The jolt of crashing to the ground made him pause, and he was able to take in air again.

The trappings of the guest suites in Canterlot Castle were certainly accommodating and well furnished. The changeling took a deep breath and strode to the window, looking out over the night.

The days that had passed since Queen Chrysalis ended the rebellion were dull, and Ash Eater had plenty of time alone to think. He had hardly slept and eaten less. Even though he had been offered company, he had refused them all, even Seta. Was this his life now? Equality with ponies? The thought of it made him sick.

...

Scootaloo arrived at the castle in Canterlot just two hours after sunrise. Her escort of guards were singleminded in their business. As much of a comfort as it was to be among soldiers again, she was dreading the meetings that were coming. Likely she would have a great deal for which to answer.

They led her down the halls of the castle, quite familiar since she had visited almost every other week in recent months. That would probably all be changing soon. They arrived in a regal study, and Princess Twilight Sparkle sat behind a desk with a haphazard pile of books and scrolls. The only thing deeper than the worry lines in her face were the bags under her eyes. She had the look of a mare who hadn’t slept for days.

“Your highness,” the leader of the guards announced, “Scootaloo is here as requested.”

Twilight Sparkle looked up, her expression melting into a more pleasant one, “You can go. Thank you.”

Scootaloo approached the mess.

“Tea?” the Princess offered an empty pot.

“No, thank you,” Scootaloo said uncertainty.

The lavender alicorn’s purple eyes returned to her exhausting study. Scootaloo stood in silence, uncertain whether she should say anything.

“History,” the princess said.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ve been looking through history. That has to be the key. Of course we’re trying something that has never been done before, but there are always patterns, always similarities.”

“History of what?” Scootaloo asked, unsure she wanted the answer.

It was then that she realized that there was no desk. The mountainous pile of books and scrolls was simply so high that it had appeared that they were resting upon something at first glance. The bottom layer was on the floor.

“Everything!” The princess’ eye twitched. “I started with my friendship journal and letters to Princess Celestia from years ago, but then I realized that’s not going to do at all. We’re not dealing with friendships exactly, so I’m cross referencing with every war that has ever been fought in Equestria, ever.”

Scootaloo felt herself recoil a little at the expression on Twilight’s face. It bordered on maniacal. The princess made to dive back into her paperwork, but was interrupted by the orange unicorn speaking.

“I’m still not sure what exactly happened.”

In a flash, the alicorn vaulted over the stack of research and was nose to nose with the pegasus, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking, a wild look in her eyes as purple irises shrank pupils to pinpricks.

“Where have you been? How could you not know? Everything I’ve been building is falling apart!”

Scootaloo’s latent combat instincts kicked in and she wrested herself from the frantic embrace.

“Easy,” she said, dropping into a battle stance.

The princess held her gaze, the light of recognition finally coming to her. It seemed that she was returning to a more normal state of mind. The former soldier relaxed into a more peaceful posture.

“Scootaloo, I’m so sorry. I’ve just been so caught up with this that I have...” she collected her thoughts and looked about the pile she had created, “I may have lost perspective a little.”

The pegasus made a disarming smile, which seemed to be effective. Princess Twilight Sparkle took a breath and steadied herself.

“It’s been a long,” she looked at the grandfather clock, ”couple of days.”

“I did hear the official statement that has been passed around, that there was an attempted changeling rebellion led by Ash Eater’s friend, Klixis, and that Queen Chrysalis helped you stop it. After that, rumors have been going crazy all over Ponyville.”

“What we were unable to say, is that Chrysalis stopped the uprising on her own, without our help.”

“Oh my...” Scootaloo didn’t finish the statement, she was so surprised by the news.

That meant that Queen Chrysalis had intentionally foiled an uprising against the ponies. The implications were astounding. Scootaloo was so taken aback that she didn’t even know what to ask next as she processed the news.

Twilight continued, “As it turns out, Ash Eater and another changeling, Seta, also worked with her to prevent the uprising before it had a chance to get started.”

Scootaloo felt herself grow light, as if a great weight had been lifted from her heart. She had been mortified to discover that both Ash Eater and Seta were missing. Initially, she felt stupid and had suspected they wanted a little more privacy than they’d been offered, but when the lockdown happened her fears only grew with the announcement of the attempted rebellion. The relief she now experienced was wondrous bliss for a moment, but then a doubt crept back in. Why hadn’t Ash Eater simply told her what was going on? She’d have certainly dropped everything to help with something so important.

“I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is,” she finally said.

“That’s one part of this that I don’t understand,” the alicorn continued, “Queen Chrysalis was vague on some of the details about Ash Eater’s involvement. I was hoping you would know more.”

Scootaloo shrugged, “I honestly didn’t know anything until the lockdown was announced.”

“So he and Seta snuck out?”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel like a school-filly being scolded for not turning in her homework, “Yeah, they had claimed they wanted privacy. Pacer and I were in the apartment, but they managed to pick the lock and go out his bedroom window.”

“Privacy?” the princess tilted her head curiously.

“Don’t ask,” the pegasus felt her face flush, “they had indicated that they wanted to be... intimate.”

“Oh... oh! I see, well, we don’t have to talk about that right now. Would you like to see him?”

“Yes, please.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle nodded for Scootaloo to follow and walked to the door. The pair of them, escorted by the half-dozen guards that had been stationed in the hallway, navigated the corridors until they returned to the wing of the castle that was home to the guest suites. It had been quite nicely refurbished since the war had ended, with new carpets and tapestries expertly designed and placed to create the elegance befitting the area. The alicorn knocked when they came to the last door on the left.

There was no reply. Twilight seemed undeterred by this and proceeded to open the door. Ash Eater’s room was obscured in darkness, the curtains still covering the windows. There was just enough light to make out his form, laying on the bed. He did not react to the pair of visitors that had just entered.

“Ash Eater? It’s me and Scootaloo,” the Princess announced their presence.

He didn’t reply as she walked to the window to open the shades and allow daylight to breach the sanctum. Scootaloo stood in the center of the room.

“I heard you were in the middle of all the excitement.”

Ash Eater groaned and turned away from the piercing light. He seemed to be taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep at all odd hours of the day.

“I have to say, you had us pretty worried when Pacer and I noticed you and Seta had gone,” the pegasus continued.

Ash Eater slowly sat up as Twilight Sparkle crossed the room to finish opening the windows. The changeling had a hard expression, as if annoyed or awakened from a deep slumber. Scootaloo felt that silence would be more awkward than her continuing to speak, and so she did just that.

“I can’t tell you how relieved I was to find out why you left the way that you did,” she padded forward on the plush rug, closing the distance between them. “Why didn’t you let me know you were helping Queen Chrysalis with things? I’d have helped out if I could have.”

His eyes seemed to somehow come alive at that last statement, and the changeling looked up as the princess returned to Scootaloo’s side, “Are you stupid?”

The pegasus felt her jaw drop even as Twilight Sparkle let out a gasp.

“Don’t you get it?” Ash Eater asked, still remaining on the bed, unmoving.

Scootaloo would have felt far more at ease had he leapt into her face and shouted, but the stone-like resolve with which he glared back was unnerving.

“Helping ponies prevent a war? Is that what you thought I was doing?”

If his words could have manifested themselves as objects, they’d have been daggers of ice.

“I didn’t know my queen was going to stop our revolt. I took her from the castle so she could lead us again,” his brow furrowed in a violent calm. “I wanted the rebellion; I wanted a second war, if for no other reason than to finally be rid of you.”

Scootaloo felt deeply cut. She was caught somewhere between anger and hurt. As she tried to form words, it was Princess Twilight Sparkle’s hoof on her shoulder that made the pegasus realize that she had again dropped into a combat stance. Her every muscle was tensed, and she was ready to strike. Coming to her senses, she relaxed slightly but maintained the pose.

“You ponies and your insipid need to meddle with everyone you don’t understand. You can’t even comprehend that someone wouldn’t want to be your friend, and why would I? My people are broken, subjugated, and that’s your fault. We had a way of life that is now gone, and that is your fault,” his venomous words issued freely through teeth clenched like iron. “You’re desperate to make friends because deep down you know you’re not good enough to have them. You are an inferior race of children compared to us.”

A single hot tear leaked out before Scootaloo could stop it. She felt far more enraged than sad as blood surged through her veins, her every fiber begging to retaliate against the onslaught she was enduring.

“I am disgusted by the lot of you. Now get out of here before I say something unkind,” Ash Eater shifted, turning his back to the pair.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to reply, but the princess tugged against her gently. Both mares turned and retreated without a word, closing the door behind them as they left. The air in the corridor felt somehow cool against the orange pegasus’ skin. Her breaths became heavy and fast as the pair walked past guards and to an empty room that was nearby.

Scootaloo wanted to destroy something, anything, but all of the furnishings looked rather expensive, and she was just enough in command of her faculties to realize this as her anger was forced remain unsatisfied. With no acceptable alternative, she let out an enraged scream, much like a battle cry that had been the last sound heard by many timberwolves and more than one changeling.

She turned to face the princess, whose face was stained with freely running tears. Scootaloo hadn’t realized that she was in the same condition. Burning wet tracks traced down her cheeks and fell to the floor despite her efforts to hold them in.

Why? Why had all of her efforts failed so horribly? She had done everything she could to be agreeable with Ash Eater, and still he spat in her face. Why? With no answers coming, she released the dam on her emotions so they could flow. Princess Twilight Sparkle reached out, and Scootaloo melted into her embrace for a time.

Once they were able to compose themselves, the two sat upon a sofa that was by the window. The view toward New Cloudsdale was quite spectacular, but it felt empty to the pegasus. It was she who eventually broke the silence between the pair.

“I can’t do this.”

“I know it’s hard,” the princess agreed, “far harder than either of us thought it would be, but it’s like you said back when I first asked you to do this. ‘We can’t ever know what’s going to happen. All we can do is keep moving.’”

The pegasus stared at the floor, letting the words roll around in the air for a a moment before letting out a sigh.

“I was an idiot,” she concluded.

“Whatever else may be true, that just isn’t.”

Scootaloo looked up and met Twilight Sparkle’s gaze. Her face was wet with tears, but there was a spark of hope in her eyes. From what deep reserve it had been drawn, the pegasus could only guess.

“I took it for granted that things would work out. I hadn’t even considered failure a possibility. You knew from the beginning that we had a low chance to succeed, and you’ve been so diligent to make things work out. I’d call that brave.”

Scootaloo snorted, “Only if there was actually some hope. From where I’m sitting now, it looks like there never was. That makes me a fool.”

“No more than I,” came the counter, “As relieved as I am that she stopped the rebellion and brought the ringleader in, Chrysalis didn’t trust me enough to let me help. Like you, I had thought we were closer than that, that we had made more progress by now.”

Scootaloo let silence fill the room for a few minutes while she collected her thoughts. She didn’t like where they were leading, but she couldn’t see any alternative at this point. She had failed. Perhaps the larger plan might succeed, but for her to continue with Ash Eater would be fruitless. As much as she’d not been fond of the idea of taking on the assignment, she found no comfort in it ending so disastrously. She took a breath.

“I think it would be best if you reassign Ash Eater to somepony else.”

Twilight bowed her head solemnly, “If you’re sure that’s what you want...”

“I... yes, it is. I just don’t see any way for this to work out.”

“It will be a few weeks before we release any more prisoners. We’ll need to review things a bit more closely going forward.”

“I don’t want another changeling. I want out.”

“I understand,” the princess nodded somberly. “I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you, and I’m sorry I have to ask a little more from you first.”

She met Scootaloo’s gaze once more.

“If you can make it one more week with Ash Eater to let the news of the conspiracy die down a little, that would help. I can assign you guards if you need them.”

The younger mare didn’t like the sound of that at all. Her own confidence hadn’t even begun to recover in the wake of the outburst from before, but she knew if it was just a matter of babysitting the stag, she could manage that a little longer. There would be no pressure to try and make friends or to teach him anything. The pegasus took a deep breath.

“One week... I can make it one more week.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle made a somber smile, “Thank you.”

Scootaloo nodded, picking up the demolished remnants of her emotional well-being and steeling her resolve. Just one more week, that’s all she had to endure.

...

Ash Eater seethed in a pool of impotent rage as Scootaloo and Princess Twilight Sparkle fled, the door easing shut behind them. Hot tears burned his cheeks as they streamed freely down. He hated them, hated all of them, and there was nothing he could do about it. The queen had spoken, and her word was law.

The stag didn’t turn when he heard the door open, assuming it was one of the kitchen staff again trying to convince him to eat something.

“Are you okay?” Seta asked.

Ash Eater was annoyed that the stupid doe couldn’t take a hint and leave him alone, “What are you doing here?”

She planted her hooves as if preparing to defend the ground upon which she stood, “Even if I didn’t have a changeling’s heightened sensitivity to emotions, yours are plain for all to see.”

“If you have that much insight, leave me alone!”

“You can hide behind anger and lie to the others, but I know you too well. You’re hurting, but you don’t know why.”

He turned to face her, glaring at the gall of the young doe.

“You’ll never be right again if you don’t figure out what hurt you,” she added.

The stag sprang from the bed, closing the distance as he spoke hotly, “I’m crippled because a lesser life form didn’t have the decency to die when they were supposed to. Now we’re subjugated and I’m supposed to be happy?”

“Of course not,” the doe spoke coolly, unmoving. “Angry? Sure. Confused? Why not? But that’s not what I’m sensing from you mostly. You’re in pain.”

“Broken eggs! Will you leave if I agree with you?” he stomped back to the bed and sat down.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, but I’ll be gone soon enough. I’m going to see if I can get Pacer to take me to see my parents for a few days. Like most of the non-combatants, they’ve taken up residence in the caves underneath Canterlot. But before I go, I wanted to know one thing.”

“What?” he spat.

Seta took a breath, “You’ve got a strong spirit, true honor, and I like you. Is there any reason for me to come back?”

Ash Eater looked up at the doe. There was a hope in her eyes that was visible just behind her self-confidence. Perhaps she was genuinely interested in him as a potential mate. It was a sentiment he did not share.

“No...” he said slowly.

Seta smiled, “In that case, this is goodbye. I’m sorry I misjudged you when we first met.”

She turned to walk away. If there was any deep disappointment, she didn’t let it show. Ash Eater thought it more likely that she hadn’t become that attached. As he watched her pristine figure leave, Seta stopped, turning her head just enough that Ash Eater could see a grin form.

“You know you love to watch me go,” she said.

He snorted, “Yeah, don’t let it go to your head.”

The doe walked away, swaying her hindquarters provocatively. Ash Eater laughed quietly to himself, but all too quickly that feeling was gone. The despair and confusion returned. He’d been set on revenge ever since that day in the forest when he’d been crippled. Queen Chrysalis had effectively taken that away; it was never going to happen. What was he to do now?