Chapter 1
It was a normal day for Scootaloo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They went to school like every other day and they were waiting for Miss Cheerilee to finish her class.
“Well class, don't forget to turn in the assignment I gave you last week. It's due tomorrow,” Cheerilee said as the foals rose from their seats and headed towards the door, “Oh! Scootaloo, don't forget that tomorrow you have to bring your parents to Family Appreciation Day.”
Scootaloo froze mid-step and winced. This wasn't the first time that she was asked to bring a relative and she knew it wouldn't be the last. “Erm... Miss Cheerilee... I... Well, my parents will not be able to attend, because...” She said while she tried to think of an excuse.
Cheerilee slightly frowned. “Scootaloo, this is the third time that your parents can not attend,” she said in a strict tone.
“I know,” Scootaloo flinched slightly, feeling a little intimidated by her teacher, “they are busy... traveling... yes! They are busy traveling all the time,” Scootaloo said as she took a few steps toward the door.
Cheerilee sighed. She knew something was going on, but the little filly refused to talk about it. “Well, if your parents really are unable to attend I suppose somepony else will have to take a turn,” she said as she looked down at the list of students at her desk, “The next on the list is... Applebloom.”
“Oh shoot! Not again!” shouted Applebloom from outside the classroom.
“Thanks Miss Cheerilee,” Scootaloo said with a sad voice. She turned and walked toward the door.
Scootaloo shook her head, trying to think about anything else, and walked to her friends with a smile on her face. As soon as she drew near to her friends, she noticed something was wrong.
Applebloom frowned as she glanced at Scootaloo. “Thanks, Scoot! Now Ah gotta bring Granny Smith again!”
“I thought that you had learned that it wasn't a bad thing last time,” Sweetie Belle said, standing beside Applebloom.
“Ah know she's got some good stories, and those're fine. But it don't make her any less embarrassin' sometimes.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, it can’t be worse than when I brought Rarity. She made me wear a huge and overdone dress. A. DRESS. WITH. A LOT. OF. FEATHERS!”
Scootaloo struggled to keep from laughing, a battle that she lost. “I... I'm sorry, Applebloom,” she said as she caught breath. After she calmed down a bit, she asked, “Well, what are we going to do to get our cutie mark today?”
“Let's go to the clubhouse,” Applebloom said as she began to walk, “We'll think better there.”
The three fillies began their way to Sweet Apple Acres, toward their clubhouse. They made a stop at Sugarcube Corner to pick up some snacks. They barely escaped Pinkie Pie's random song, then they continued their journey. But just a couple of minutes after leaving Sugarcube Corner, they found an unexpected and annoying couple of ponies.
“Oh, look what we got here. The blank flanks,” said Diamond Tiara, standing next to Silver Spoon blocking the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Are you going to try, in vain, to get your cutie marks? Why don't you give up already? It's obvious that you will never get them.”
“Yeah! You will never get them,” Silver Spoon echoed.
“A unicorn that can't do magic, a useless earth pony that... that... plays in the mud,” Diamond Tiara said teasing, “Oh, and how could I forget the pegasus that can't fly. Seriously Scootaloo, I even heard that the Cakes' baby foal can fly, and is a lot smaller than you.”
Applebloom frowned at the annoying filly. “We ain't got time for this again, Diamond Tiara,” she said as she walked beside her, “Come on, Crusaders! We got better things ta'do then waste our time here.”
“Oh, no! You're not going to ignore me and go just like that,” snarled Diamond Tiara, but it was too late. The Crusaders continued their journey, completely ignoring her. “Agrh! Come on Silver Spoon, we have better things to do too.”
They walked for a couple of minutes towards their clubhouse, but one of them wasn't as lively as the other. Unlike Applebloom and Sweetie Belle that only ignored Diamond Tiara's comments, Scootaloo couldn't stop thinking about what she said.
You will never get your cutie marks. A pegasus that can't fly, Scootaloo heard Diamond Tiara saying that over and over again in her head. But what bothered her wasn't that Diamond Tiara said that. No, what bothered her was something else.
“Come on, Scoot. Don't tell me yer upset about what Diamond Tiara said,” said Applebloom, “Ya'know she's just tryin'ta bother us.”
“I know,” said Scootaloo. I know she says it to bother us, but... what I really hate is that even though I try to think otherwise, I know she's right, she thought. She usually didn't think about that, but sometimes she couldn't help doing it.
They began to walk again towards their clubhouse. Applebloom walked in front while Scootaloo walked behind them. The thought about her parents and the Family Appreciation Day mixed with what Diamond Tiara said about her, making her feel like she hadn't in years. Alone. Even though she had her friends, she couldn't suppress a familiar feeling of loneliness and helplessness in her heart.
She was simply following her friends while her head kept thinking. Should I tell them? Scootaloo thought. No, I don't think that's a good idea, especially after 'that' happened.
Scootaloo was lost in thought when she felt something. It was a strange but familiar feeling, something in her head, like a voice. She looked sideways for the cause, then she felt that something was calling her into an alley to the right. She started walking towards the alley when she felt a hoof on her shoulder.
“Scoot, are you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked as she placed a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder.
“Oh, yes. I...” Scootaloo said as she tried to think of what to say. She felt that she had to go to that alley, but she didn't want to worry her friends. “It's just that... Well, I just remembered that I have to do something,” she said as she took a few steps back to the alley, “You guys go ahead, I'll meet you at the clubhouse in a few minutes.”
“Emm, okey...” Sweetie Belle said as she turned around to see Applebloom standing behind her.
Scootaloo turned and trotted towards to the alley, leaving behind two confused fillies. “What do'ya think she's gonna do?” Applebloom asked as she looked at Sweetie Belle.
“I don't know...” Sweetie Belle answered, “Come on, let's go to our clubhouse.”
While the other Crusaders began to walk again, Scootaloo went on her way toward the alley. When she stood just a few feet from the alley, she realized who was calling her and got excited. Now she knew the source of the voice and that strange feeling.
She started to gallop and stepped into the alley. Once inside, she stopped and faced someone that she had hoped to see again. But after a certain wedding, she had given up hope of ever finding again.
“How are you, my dear Scootaloo? Been a long time,” said Chrysalis, taking a couple steps toward the filly but staying in the darkness of the alley.
A normal pony would have terrified at having a changeling in front, far more the Queen of the Changelings, but not Scootaloo. “Three years!” she shouted with a frown on her face, “Three years have passed since the last time I saw you!”
Chrysalis stepped back but kept looking at the filly's eyes. “Sorry, but–”
“And now you attack Canterlot and don't even care about me! You know, I was there!” Scootaloo shouted, but she then hung her head and continued in a softer tone, “I... I just... I thought you were dead...” she said as tears fell from her eyes.
Slowly, Chrysalis walked to Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug. “I'm sorry... I'm so sorry,” she said as she tightened the embrace, “I'm sorry I abandoned you.”
For a while, Scootaloo stood between Chrysalis' legs, venting. “I just... I missed you a lot... mom.”
“I know, dear. I missed you too,” Chrysalis said while smiling at Scootaloo. She tightened the embrace as a tear went down her cheek. “I'm sorry I abandoned you, but... you know that I had no choice. The other queens–”
“I don't care about the other queens! I just want to be with you.”
“Scootaloo, you would be dead if you had stayed!” Chrysalis said as she parted their embrace and looked straight into Scootaloo's eyes. “I don't want that to happen.”
Scootaloo sighed and closed her eyes as she calmed down. She opened her eyes again, but something changed, she now head two sets of irises and her pupils were now vertical slits. They were just like Chrysalis' eyes, except that they were purple. “I know, but... that doesn't explain why you stopped visiting me,” she said looking back at her mother.
“Many things are happening in the land of the Changelings,” Chrysalis said stroking Scootaloo's mane with a foreleg, “I couldn't risk having them find you. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“Well, at least you're here now. I'm so glad to see you again!” Scootaloo said with a smile.
“I'm really glad to see you again too,” Chrysalis said as she wiped the tears from Scootaloo's cheek with her foreleg. “Although for a moment I thought you weren't going to realize that I was here.”
Scootaloo rubbed behind her head with her foreleg. “Well, I still can't get used to the hive mind, and living so long separated from it made me forget what it feels like,” she said with a giggle.
“It's okay, you never were very strong with the hive mind, so I'm glad at least you could feel it,” Chrysalis said, brushing Scootaloo's hair with a hoof. She sat on the floor and looked out of the alley for a second. “So... I see you have friends now.”
“Oh, yeah! When you... left, I decided to stop being so shy and make some friends at school,” Scootaloo said as she sat down beside her mother. “I first met Sweetie Belle, the unicorn. I met her when I was hiding under a table because I didn't want a pair of ponies to made fun of me.”
“Making fun of you? Why would anyone want to make fun of you?” asked Chrysalis, a scowl on her face by the idea that someone bothered her daughter.
Scootaloo noticed some murderous rage begin forming in her mother. “Oh, it's nothing important. It's just that there are a couple of ponies who mock others for not having cutie mark. Not that it bothers me, it's just that I prefer to avoid it.”
Chrysalis breathed and calmed down a bit. “If you say so. Well, you were saying how you met this filly, Sweetie Belle.”
“Oh, right. Well, one of the popular ponies had organized a party to celebrate her cutie mark and invited all ponies from the school. I, as I was saying, was under a table because I didn't want the pair of ponies making fun of me. After a few minutes another pony crawled under the table. That was Sweetie Belle. We both noticed that neither of us had cutie mark and started talking.”
“And that was when you became friends?”
“Well, not really. Mostly we just talked about how annoying Diamond Tiara was,” Scootaloo said. Chrysalis arched an eyebrow and was about to ask who she was, but then figured it was the filly that was bothering her. “I didn't even knew her name at that moment.”
“So when did you become friends?”
Scootaloo thought for a moment. She was trying to remember exactly how it happened. “It was when another pony with no cutie mark, Applebloom, arrived and the others ponies began to bother her. Sweetie Belle and I couldn't resist and went over to defend her. After that we three became best friends!” Scootaloo said with a big smile and a glint in her eye.
Chrysalis was silent for a few seconds, enjoying her young daughter's smile. Then she pulled her back into a hug and said, “I'm happy for you. And I'm sure your father would be proud of the pony you've become.”
Scootaloo gladly accepted the hug, but she felt a pain in her heart by the mention of her father. “I wish I could hear him telling me that...” she said with a sad voice.
“If I hadn't been so stubborn, he could be here with us,” said Chrysalis sadly. She noticed the sadness in Scootaloo and tried to cheer her up by changing the conversation to a more joyful subject. “So what have you been doing all this time? Have you been having fun?”
Scootaloo was silent for a few seconds, but as she remembered, the smile returned to her face. “Yeah! We have a lot of fun!”
For nearly an hour Scootaloo told Chrysalis about all the adventures she had as a Cutie Mark Crusader. She told her about the attempts to get her cutie mark, even all the strange things that have happened in Ponyville.
Chrysalis listened in awe to all of the adventures that her daughter had while she was in Ponyville. She was also surprised to discover that Scootaloo had become close to the Element of Loyalty, and that her friends' older sisters bore Elements as well. She was happy that Scootaloo was healthy and had fun, but she kept worrying that she would have a difficult time being alone. Although, something that she said worried Chrysalis.
“Scootaloo, I'm glad you have fun, but... I don't think it's good that you try so hard to get a cutie mark,” Chrysalis said, not looking at Scootaloo's face, “I know you want to spend time with your friends, but what if you don't get one?”
Scootaloo's smile slowly decreased as the thought going through her head. She had already considered this before, but she really wanted to enjoy time with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. And deep down she also wanted to have a cutie mark.
“I know I'm different,” Scootaloo said as she stared at her hooves on the ground. “I can't fly like a normal pegasus. Neither I can do magic and shapeshift as you or my sibling changelings. But... I hope that at least I can get a cutie mark, to know where I belong.”
“I know you will,” Chrysalis said with an air of pride, “you're not a changeling nor a pony. You are the best of both.” She fell silent for a few seconds and then continued with a rueful tone, “I hope you can fix the mistakes I've made.”
Scootaloo was happy to hear the words of support from her mother, but then she fell thoughtful. She still didn't understand why she attacked Canterlot? Why attack the capital of Equestria and come to light after the Changelings lived so many years in the shadows? She was about to ask her why, but decided against it.
Chrysalis seemed to know what Scootaloo thought. She gave a big sigh and said, “I can't tell you why we attacked Canterlot. I will not say that I didn't enjoy it, but sometimes I wish I hadn't done it. And now it's more difficult than before to come and visit you.
For nearly a minute they remained silent. Scootaloo said nothing. She knew her mother wasn't a monster, but she also knew that she wasn't very kind sometimes. She shook her head, no matter what happens, she will always be my mother and I'll never stop loving her.
After nearly two minutes of awkward silence, Chrysalis decided to change the subject, “So... have you been eating well? I guess so, now that you have friends.”
Scootaloo didn't immediately answered, still with the wedding in mind. “Uh... oh yeah, I've eaten well,” she said with a smile, “Sweetie Belle and Applebloom give me lots of love and also the others, everypony love me in their own way.”
“Good,” Chrysalis said with a smile. She pulled Scootaloo into another hug and the two remained together for a long time.
“Mom...” Scootaloo said tightening the hug. She hesitated for a few seconds, worried about how her mother would respond. She looked down at her hooves on the ground and then looked up to the mouth of the alley.
Chrysalis noticed the insecurity in her daughter and knew that something was bothering her. “Yes, dear?” she asked as she looked at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo bit her lip while she thought about what she would say. She turned her head and looked straight into Chrysalis's eyes with a hopeful smile on her face. “You are going to stay with me this time, right?”
Chrysalis's heart sank when she saw those eyes, begging her to stay. That innocent smile slowly faded as time passed and Chrysalis didn't respond. She knew that what she was going to say wasn't going to be easy, especially for the little filly. “I'm sorry...” Her heart broke in half when she saw small tears leaving Scootaloo's eyes. “I can't stay.”
Chrysalis felt as if she had kicked a little filly, which normally doesn't affect her, but this time was her little filly. She knew that whatever she said about why she had to go would be ignored by Scootaloo.
“I... I don't want... you leave me,” Scootaloo said between sobs, “I want you to stay by my side...”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. This was one of the hardest things she had done. Even beating the powerful Celestia was nothing compared to seeing her little daughter heartbroken.
Just at that precise moment a mustard unicorn entered the alley and knelt in front of Chrysalis, ignoring the sobs of the little filly. “Your Highness, it's time,” he said.
With a sigh Chrysalis looked at the disguised drone. “Give me a moment,” she said as she tried to stand up.
“NO!” Scootaloo yelled, clinging to one of Chrysalis's legs, “I don't want you to go and leave me!”
“Sorry, honey,” Chrysalis said as her horn glowed. With an acid green aura, she separated Scootaloo from her foreleg and placed her on the floor of the alley. “You have no idea how much it hurts, but I must go,” she said as she turned and took a couple of steps toward the unicorn, “I promise that I will come to visit you.”
“No! please, Mom, don't go!” Scootaloo said, sitting on the floor, “Don't leave me!”
Chrysalis stopped in front of the unicorn and closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek as her horn began to glow again. “I love you!” was the last thing she said before being swallowed up by green flames and disappearing completely.
“MOM!” Scootaloo shouted towards the small flames remaining in the air before they vanished. The only sound left in the alley were the cries of a small filly, who lost her mother again.