“Another glass of tea with lemon?”
Twilight nodded and the waiter darted away to get another cup for the unicorn. All along the table empty glasses stood like noble soldiers and Twilight was anxious to add to their ranks. Her throat burned from the nearly 15 minutes of screaming back at Fluttershy’s cottage and Twilight found it so painful to talk that she had resorted to nods and written notes in order to let the waiter at the Ponyville Café know what she wanted.
She had chosen tea with lemon to help ease the pain…and to get the taste of Fluttershy out of her mouth (whoever had taught Fluttershy that CPR involved the tongue was going to get such a beating…).
Spike had went running back to the library as soon as Fluttershy had managed to find the strength to get off the bed, crying that he was afraid he “was next to be assaulted”. Fluttershy, for her part, had asked Twilight if she needed to make her breakfast (as according to Rainbow Dash, that is what one did after a night of lovemaking) and Twilight simply didn’t have the strength to inform her friend that misguided CPR was not a sex act.
Twilight, for her part, was debating sending threatening letters to Princess Celestia in the hope of getting banished or locked in a dungeon. At this point she was sure that either option was her only hope for keeping her sanity.
“Hello, Twilight,” Lyra said, happily trotting over to the unicorn. Twilight raised an eyebrow, and Lyra’s smile fell. “Yeah…I didn’t get a chance to apologize after the wedding…sorry about, you know…helping that evil changeling queen capture you and then trying to kill you. If it makes you feel better, I was so sick once they cured me that I couldn’t get out of bed for a week.”
Twilight sighed and quickly scribbled a note down: ‘Don’t worry, I don’t blame you.’
“I’m glad to hear that, Twilight.” Lyra suddenly got a strange smile on her face. “Sooooooo I hear you are joining our team.”
Twilight shot her a confused look.
“You know…once you go filly you’ll know stallions are silly? Rainbow Dash AND Fluttershy…when you try something new you certainly don’t take any chances!”
Twilight rapidly shook her head, scribbling another note: ‘I am not dating Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash!’
“Twilight, who said anything about dating?” Lyra gave her a long, leisurely look. “If Bon Bon and I weren’t exclusive…”
Twilight frantically tried to write another message but her haste caused it to come out as ‘Glarba globba Smooze.’
“Smooze? Twilight, even I don’t swing that way.” Lyra waved over the waiter (missing Twilight’s furious pantomiming of her strangling the teal-colored pony) and ordered herself some apple juice. Twilight, for her part, focused on drinking and ordering another glass of tea. “So I’ve been hearing through the grapevine…and by that I mean Mrs. Cake…that you want to know more about that orange filly, Scootaloo.” Lyra pressed a hoof to her chest. “Well, I happen to know her secret origin and I would be happy to share it with you!”
Twilight rapidly shook her head ‘no’.
“No…no, you can’t believe I know the story of Scootaloo? Well, I do, as hard as it is to believe. I should warn you that it is a very sad, tragic tale and you will cry for hours after hearing it…much like you are now!” Twilight sniffed, sobbing and silently pleading for Celestia to strike her down and save her from hearing yet ANOTHER Scootaloo story. “Alright, our story begins in a magical land called…London.”
~New Years Eve, 2 years ago~
8 year old Rebecca Scoots shivered in the cold, pressing herself tighter against the barren brick wall in hopes of keeping the cold from seeping through the thin jacket she wore. The dark sky was unleashing a flurry of snow that the young girl was constantly brushing off her head and shoulders. She watched, amazed that such pure white fluff could become so dark and dirty from coming into contact with the ground. People walked past, their shoes grinding the fresh snow into muddy puddles that splashed against her, soaking her ripped pants. They were too busy to worry about one homeless girl.
She knew it was foolish to be out in this kind of weather but there simply wasn’t anyplace for her to go. She had left home a week ago, unable to stand being around her father for another moment. The man was either wallowing in depression or striking her in a drunken rage. She might have managed to live with such treatment, if it weren’t for the cruel words he was forever hurling her direction: about how stupid she was, how she was good for nothing…how she should be dead instead of her moth-
She could even get the thought out without crying, lowering her head and whimpering over and over, “Mommy…mommy.”
Her mother had been dead for 4 years now and Rebecca clung to the memories of the brash, adventurous woman that had loved to run through the park and never faced a challenge she wasn’t ready to tackle head-on. She was like the storm and the rainbow rolled into one and every day since that night long ago, when her mother had been caught in that car explosion…Rebecca had clung to the memory of the woman that meant more to her than anything.
She could still hear her voice calling out to her, “Scootaloo…” that was her nickname, the one only her mother knew, “Scootaloo…”
The streets grew darker and the world a bit emptier as the passerbys hurried off to their parties and get-togethers. None of them gave a second glance at the little girl shivering in a doorway. Rebecca reached into her pocket and pulled out a book of matches, her fingers trembling as she struck the first-
“…f…fingers?”
~MC~MC~MC~
Lyra looked at Twilight in disgust. “Didn’t your mother teach you it is rude to interrupt someone when they are talking?”
“Why would…a pony have… fingers?” Twilight croaked.
“Oh….OH! I forgot to mention that! Duh! Sorry about that, Twilight, I just got wrapped up in telling my tragic Scootaloo story. She had fingers because she’s human.”
Twilight just gave the mare a blank look. “H-h-human?” she wheezed, her throat feeling as if she had gargled with rocks.
“Yes, human. You know what a human is, right?” Lyra clasped her hooves together and sighed dreamily. “They are simply the most beautiful and magic of creatures…with their hairless bodies and their big feet and their flat faces and exposed reproductive organs. But…most of all…” Lyra sighed, “the hands…the hands, Twilight, the hands!” She glanced down at her hooves in disgust. “To have fingers instead of these…nubs…it would be a dream come true.”
Twilight suddenly had a vision of Lyra with hands like Spike’s and shivered…mostly because, judging from the manic look in her eye when she spoke of them, Twilight was sure Lyra would use said hands to strangle ponies while laughing like a supervillain.
“Now, then, back to the tragic tale…”
~MC~MC~MC~
Rebecca was ready to give up.
Her body was consumed by shivers. The falling snow was burying her and she no longer had the strength to brush it away. Little burnt matches lay like dead twigs about her as she struck another one, her last one, trying to gather warmth from the tiny flame. It was an impossible task...there simply wasn't enough light from that tiny spark to chase away the darkness that threatened to swallow her whole.
It didn’t matter…nothing mattered…Rebecca was ready to go. Her eyes felt heavy and sleep was calling her. She wondered…would she dream? She hoped so…she hoped she dreamed of her mommy…
But as the last match burn away and she felt her heart slow to a near stop…Rebecca saw that the light had not dimmed but instead was growing all the more brighter. She held up her hand, trying to shielding her eyes and found, to her amazement that she was…warm! Steam hissed from her clothing as it was dried out and the shivers left her body as she felt the glorious warmth fill her limbs. The snow melted away as the alley was illuminated by the intense flare.
“Am…am I dead? Is this Heaven?" she whispered softly. "Mommy?"
“I am sorry, child, but I am not your mother. And this is not Heaven.”
Rebecca blinked against the bright light, her eyes adjusting and allowing her to see the most blessed of sights: an angel.
For what else could the woman be but an angel? Two great white wings stretched from her back, each feather looking softer than anything the child had ever touched in her short, sad life. The figure’s white dress was as pure as the falling snow and Rebecca suddenly felt ashamed of her dirty, ratty clothes. But when she turned away a dainty hand touched her cheek and drew her eyes back. The angel wore a grand golden crown that ended in a single white spike…no…a horn. And her hair was the color of the sky at sunrise, constantly swirling about her.
“Who…who are you?” Rebecca whispered.
The angel smiled sadly. “I am Celestia…and I am so sorry I could not come sooner. I saw the pain you were in and hurried but…but I was almost too late.” The angel moved her hand down to Rebecca’s shoulder and with a touch the child felt every ache and pain leave her. “But I am here now.”
“What…what is happening?” Rebecca shifted, her whole body tingling from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair.
“I come from a special place…a wonderful place. It is a land full of magic and joy and friendship. And whenever I find a person who has been hurt and dying…who has been abandoned by those that should love them…I come to them and I take them home.”
“Home?” The little girl asked, looking down at her hands to see that they were beginning to glow.
“Yes…home.” The angel smiled as the girl’s body was engulfed in a wondrous light. It consumed the two of them and the alley…until there was nothing but it and Rebecca felt as if she had become the light as well, and it her, and never would the two of them be separated.
And then, as soon as it had come…it was gone.
Rebecca looked about, stunned. The dark and filthy alley had been replaced by a kingdom of clouds, each one fluffy and white framed by a beautiful blue sky. The sun shone down on them and Rebecca let out gasp as she looked towards her angel, who was now no longer an angel at all but a beautiful and regal winged unicorn.
“You…you changed!” Rebecca gasped.
“So have you,” Celestia said. Rebecca looked down, eyes wide as she looked over herself. She had turned into a pegasus as well! Her little wings buzzed as she looked over her orange skin and used her hooves to pull a tuff of her purple mane close enough for her to see it. She began to trot around Celestia, marveling at all she saw. For the first time since her mother had died she felt strong and healthy and…and there were no words to describe it! “ Here you will be safe...you will never grow hungry or cold. My little ponies will-“
Rebecca raced over and hugged Celestia tightly. “Thank you…thank you thank you thank you!”
Celestia returned the hug. “I think there is someone else who wants to say hello to you.” Celestia pointed behind Rebecca and the little girl…filly…turned and stared at the new arrival: A cyan colored pegasus with a mane the color of the rainbow.
“HI Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said softly.
“M…mommy?” Rebecca whispered, tears in her eyes. Rainbow Dash merely nodded and Rebecca raced to her, hugging the mare and sobbing and nuzzling her, never wanting to let go. Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around the filly, tears rolled down her checks as she held her shivering child to her chest.
“It’s ok, baby …mommy’s here…and she is never going to leave you again.”
~MC~MC~MC~
Twilight sniffed, body racked with sobs. The waiter, who had come by to collect her glasses, handed her a tissue then used one himself to dab away the tears. Lyra too was welling up, trying desperately to fight the sobs that threatened to come bursting from her.
“So…so sad,” Lyra whispered.
“But…at least it had a happy ending,” Twilight said, her throat feeling well enough for her to actually talk. “I mean, I know that story isn’t true but…if it were at least Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were united-“
“That isn’t a happy ending!” Lyra suddenly shouted, startling the unicorn.
“W-what?”
“She was a human! And that horrible Celestia turned her into a pony and took away her beloved hands!”
Twilight’s tears disappeared in an instant, sadness and joy replaced by an emotion she knew all to well: annoyance. “She…was…going…to…die.”
“As…a…human!” Lyra snarled.
“…you’ve got problems, Lyra.”
The teal-colored unicorn lunged at Twilight, shaking her violently. “Yes, one problem! I DON’T HAVE HANDS! And all my problems would go away if I had them, why don’t I have them, I deserve to have them! Give them to me! You have magic, so magic me up some hands right now or I’ll-“
SLAM!
Lyra’s eyes rolled back, a large bump forming on her forehead from where her skull had met the table. With a groan she collapsed onto the ground, leaving a spooked Twilight looking at her.
“Huh…kinda weird to see it from the other side.” She glanced up to thank her savior, only for her jaw to drop. “Princess Luna?”
“No one shakes the daughter I just found out about 3 hours ago,” Luna said coolly, before hurrying over and scooping Twilight up, cradling her like a baby. “Don’t worry, mommy’s here and she is never going to leave you again.”
“…Lyra…help!” Twilight squeaked as Luna’s wings unfurled and she took to the sky, Twilight wrapped up in her forelegs.
Everyone assumes all I can write is comedy.
Don't feel bad if you thought that way too...my first stories in any new genre always have a comedic element. But I know how to write angst and sadness (I did write 'The Son Becomes the Father', one of the most popular 'Justice League Unlimited' stories about the Justice Lords...bragging for the win!) and when i want to I can turn on the angst.
The reason I DON'T do it is the same reason i don't normally read sad stories...I read stories for the happy endings. My favorite stories are the ones where the main character is sad and at their lowest and fights to win their happy ending. To have dark, downer endings aren't fun.
Not much to talk about with process or writing for this chapter, so I will leave you only with this thought: I have created alot of origins and alternate universes...but if I were given one wish...only one...I would hope that this origin were real. Not for Scootaloo...but for all lost children, to find a place where they would be safe.
...heh, emotional softy.
As always, find an error, let me know
Next time, Princess Luna's chapter.
As always, the stories are amazing. And this story...I think I have read similar stuff, about a girl who sells matches and see her grandmother as she burns the last match. Then people discover her dead, covered in snow. Don't know what the English title is, but if it is translated into a foreign language it must be popuar.
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The Little Matchstick Girl, a Danish story written many years ago, which has been adopted by many, many people. Yes, this was based off it, but I wanted to see if anyone would get the reference.
Ok, the "Twilight's actually Princess Luna's daughter subplot" is officially great and amazing and I can't wait to see its resolution next chapter :-P
1258211 Oh yes, now I remember! The most famous version I think is that by Andersen. And I too love the subplot you're making.
While I'm no fan of the Matchstick Girl and rips of it, I enjoyed this story since it was a least a happy one. Yay for Luna finally showing up and this chapter once more just confirms why I love Lyra. She's crazy as hell.
This has to end with a maternity test, and the outcome of the test has to say that Luna or a close relative gave birth to Twilight. Oh, I got it, even better, Luna is Twilight's father as the result of kinky spells plus time travel.
If I could, I would give this story another thumb up.
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I'll be frank. When I read the second-last paragraph, it took me a few minutes to stop laughing.
YOU SIR, ARE A GOD OF COMEDIC LITERATURE.
Have an angel as a sacrifice
(appreciate the irony... now)
Words cannot describe the love I have for each chapter . Like omg a Lyra chapter!!!!!!!! Story of hers was so sweet and sad
Twilight is in for a one heck of a headache next chapter.
Little Match Girl Scootaloo, eh? It actually kind of works, but also makes the sudden mood swing after Lyra's done telling it all the more hilariously abrupt.
I also liked the hints of a Fluttercrush, though it's probably a good thing Twilight hasn't noticed yet. She's got bigger things to worry about now, anyway. Next chapter's gonna be GOOD.
Funny thing is I had an idea for an angst-ish chapter that I wanted to suggest this morning. Basically, Scootaloo is a centuries-old immortal (maybe Highlander or Baccano-style) who has to keep moving from town to town to hide the fact that she never ages. Of course, as you showed in this chapter, you could do something like that without making it depressing.
Oh, the chapter was great, the ending was great, the amount of win and crushed dreams T.T the next chapter is ought to encompass - overwhelming.
This is impossible of course, but Nightmare Moon chapter would have been like a dream come true (or in this case, nightmare come true ^^).
"Fluttershy, for her part, had asked Twilight if she needed to make her breakfast (as according to Rainbow Dash, that is one did after a night of lovemaking)"
Doesn't quite make sense as written. Perhaps you mean "that is what one did after a night of lovemaking."?
Sorry I haven't really been giving any edits up to this point. I just sort of skipped over them back in the beginning when I was trying to decide if I liked this story or not. But it won me over.
Bwuh that was rly gud, sum purts wur furny, while other purts were cute... but no sadness or joy over Lyra's story.... Scootamom should be RD.
The bit about supervillain Lyra strangling ponies...glorious.
This was both ridiculously hilarious and very moving. Well played.
To Twilight and everypony else this story was a hearthwernching story about a mother and child reuniting in a new afterlife thanks to Celstia...
on other hoof to Lyra... IT WAS THE FIRST VICTIMS OF WHAT IN THE FUTURE(Acording to her...) WILL BE THE CONVERSION BUREAU!
and now Twilight is now traped in the unbreakable grasp of Luna... all what we need now is that Luna continues Tydal's tale about Scootaloo saying that there are other three "riders of the apocalypse" aside from scootaloo and were named Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Ruby Pinch and the fate of Equestria depends that the four never meet (and little did she know is that they've already meet) those three would ride a red wagon
Also I would like that in the subplot, that Twilight makes a Magic Paternity test and the ressults show that Luna is her and Shining Armor´s real Father and Celestia is their mother, reveals that Cadance is actually Celestia Luna and Tydal's, little sister
but I still insist that you should put one chapter where the rummors says that Fluttershy and Rarity are Smooze worshipers, that Rarity and Applejack fought a war that's being censored as it never happened and they commited many warcrimes, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are actually robots sent to protect Applebloom from the Robot Apocalypse created by Twilight Sparkle's robot army when she agresively took over Equestria beating to the punch Fluttershy and her army of darkness
1258430
And lo, I saw a red scooter...and its rider was Death.
It is very rare for a story to actually make me laugh out loud.
Great job!
Ye Gods, even Princess Luna herself bought the story about Twilight being her daughter.
1258436 and following right behind it... was a blood red wagon that was rided by Famine, Conquest, and War
1258448
The way I write the Princesses is that they have led a sheltered life. They were raised by Tydal, a king himself, and protected by the capricorn army until they came of age (I actually have a story I'd love to tell about the Pegasus forces coming to Tydal's keep to kidnap filly Celestia and foal Luna and Tydal showing them just how stupid it is the take on the god of the sea), then they were rulers...but they've never really been ordinary ponies. As such, they are a tad naive: Luna is overly emotional and that makes her unable to see when things don't make sense, and Celestia has no concept of sarcasm so she takes everything at face value.
And Cadence...well, let's just say in a few chapters we learn that being imprisoned by a crazy bug-pony causes PTSD.
1258183
1258282
Oh crap, that was supposed to be sad?
I uh, I laughed at the while Rebecca part. Wow, now I feel like an asshole
So, good writing... I'm just going to sit over here and be quiet.
I love this chapter. Poor little Scootamatch (Matchaloo?), but at least Celestia helped her find her mother again. And yeah, I love the stories where Scoots ends up with Dash.
And now watch, the first episode of the new season will show us Scootaloo has a perfectly happy family in Cloudsdale living right next door to Dash's parents.
1258430
: You will be assimilated into the herd! Resistance is futile! I will take your hands and keep them all to myself!
1258508 And Shining Armor being the only rational pony and the voice of reason of their little group, will have to deal with all these issues, juggling between conforting his wife from traumatic experiences, dealing with a very naïve Trollestia the First, a overly emotional naïve Luna(and sometimes Trolluna the First), and a Tydal who will keep saying that he had comited incest every chance he have... I guess Twilight got it lightly after all
As an European i get the Little matchstick girl reference and im loving it. Also heres some music for the part when Celestia arrives
Trust me its bittersweet
1258563 :YOU CAN'T ASSIMILATE WHAT WAS ASSIMILATED BEFORE, WARNING!, WARNIG!, ENEMY UNIT DETECTED, ASERTING THREAT LEVEL... THREAT LEVEL: HIGH, INITATING ACTIVATION OF COMBAT MODE, FULL POWER... *Sweetie Bot transform herself into Gundam Unicorn!*
GUNDAM UNICORN, SWEETIE BOT SYSTEM UNIT DESTROY MODE ACTIVATED!, ENGAGING EMENY UNIT
Oh geez, Twilights getting kidnapped by Luna now... This just keeps getting better and better- ignore my earlier comment about just the best stories getting animated, someone should animate this entire fiction when its complete!
1258610
Trust me, if anyone ever wanted to do a cast reading of this fic, not only would they have my support but I would help however I could.
Poor Twilight, just... poor Twilight. I'd say she's going to explode at this rate but, welp, we're already passed that little threshold!
And Lyra... for some reason, when she was talking about hands, all I could see was this
null
1258211
I like the way you did it. Even though that story is not likely Scootaloo's actual story, it is still quite nice to read.
I love this story. It just keeps getting better and better. Lyra's hand obsession always cracks me up.
Since you first brought it up in earlier stories, the notion of Twilight being the daughter of Nightmare Moon is actually pretty interesting. It would be funny if that, of all the tall tales told in this story, turns out to be the one that's actually true.
I should have known that Lyra's story would feature humans in some way...
Loving it... keep it coming!
The Little Matchstick Girl was a tragic tale when I read it back when I was younger. *shrugs*
Nonetheless, every time I read one of the crazy implications of everyone's story I -literally- out loud say, "What the BUCK?" Though I do wonder if you're going to, at the end, 'piece' together everyone's story for Scootaloo's "real backstory." (AKA take a piece of story from everyone elses, to create Scoot's "true story.") ... and then Celestia comes in and says that Luna's not her daughter. And that's She's Faust's. And then she's an alicorn in hiding.
Then she wakes up again.
Dunno how it would be expressed as a cutie mark, but Scootaloo's special talent is obviously indirectly causing chaos through lack of official origin story.
Actually, I find this and the tydal to be the weakest chapters so far, weighed down by (in tydal's case) dark mythology and (in Lyra's case) a super sad backstory.
Stream of consciousness time!
*Huh. Lyra. Okay, how are humans going to be involved?
*Do... do I even want to know what Smooze is a euphemism for?
*Ah, that's how. Now how will Twilight react...
*"Exposed reproductive organs"? Huh. Quite similar to my headcanon, namely that a pony has an innate illusion power placed over his or her crotch when the various bits aren't needed.
*Oh, Lyra, you silly filly. You're a unicorn, go mess with the natural order yourself!
*Oh boy. I hope Spike can send letters to ponies other than Celestia, because Twilight needs to get one to her actual mother ASAP.
An interesting twist on the "homeless Scootaloo" meme, combined with the resident anthropophile's pet obsession and just a dash of Conversion Bureau. Most enjoyable. And now we have the opportunity to hear royal discourse on the origin of the Scoot! (Well, more royal discourse.) Looking forward to it.
1258249
I think it would be far funnier if a maternity test showed that Luna was Twilight's daughter, what with all the time-travel spec'ing going on.
well twilight should be evolving into a rapidash agian at any moment. time to get the fire proof bunker ready. anyway great story and well shining may remember twilight as a foal she did note there are no pictures of her so who knows what the truth is.
1258508 Especially when the evil bug pony raeps you 1 zillion times!
Oh wait... that was that clopfic... Never mind!
1258183
This origin would make a great full story!
1258864:
Or, even worse, Scootaloo is both Twilight's and Luna's mother! But, since she's not there at her timestream yet, she's completely unaware of it! I'm brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Brilliant, I say!
Mama Luna smash!
Oh my god, this really does keep getting better every chapter.
The subversion of the little matchstick girl story with Scootaloo surviving was great, and the re-subversion with Lyra thinking it was a tragedy was fantastic.
Mommy Luna to the rescue!
Hands...
img593.imageshack.us/img593/5954/i99tfkfj.jpg
I thought I recognized a Little Matchstick Girl reference in there. Good chapter. Touching ending. Also I agree with Twilight. Lyra may be one of my favorite background ponies, but she might need to see somepony about her hands problem...
Yeah, I got the little matchstick girl reference. Honestly it's only because of Suikoden 3 though
As always, awesome chapter, and oh Celestia, Woona chapter next. This could go badly. Using anti troll tactics by just going with it. Bah, rambling, looking forward to next chapter. Doom. Why aren't there any Luna emotes?
Wow.
Lyra has issues.
So does Twilight, but wow, Lyra has issues.
So does Luna.
and Celestia.
and, well... EVERYPONY IN THAT TOWN (either visiting, or living there) IS CRAZY!
Right when I was on the verge of tears, you had to make me laugh again. You, sir, are a GENIUS!
Love especially the ending but it SOOOO sad