Chapter 1 - Return
“Princess Twilight and her friends have arrived. Are you ready to see them?” a guard asked Luna and Celestia.
“Yes, send them in,” answered Luna. The guard bowed and left. A few minutes later, Twilight, her friends, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle walked in. “You may be wondering why I called you here. I was finally able to complete the spell!” Luna yelled, clearly excited.
“That’s great princess, but what spell are you talking about?” asked Twilight. Luna noticed all of the ponies in the room looked extremely confused, except for Celestia, who was trying to keep a straight face, and failing.
“Luna, you really didn’t tell them why you called them here, did you? I’m curious what this spell is myself,” said Celestia as she started chuckling. Luna blushed, but then quickly regained her composure.
“I’ve finally finished the spell to bring Scootaloo back,” Luna answered. The room suddenly went silent. No one in the room could believe the news. Over a year ago, after the crusaders won the flag carrying competition, Scootaloo disappeared while riding her scooter just outside the Crystal Empire. After a week of searching, Luna contacted Twilight, telling her that she found Scootaloo through her dreams, but she wasn’t on the same planet anymore. Unfortunately, even though that meant she was still alive, they had no way of bringing her back to Equestria. No pony’s magic could reach past the sun, let alone a different planet. After waiting for a few moments, Luna decided to explain, “After Scootaloo disappeared, I started working on a spell to try and bring her back through her dreams. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. Next, we tried using runes, but the distance stopped those from working as well. There was only one method that we know of that allows magic to travel any distance. Twilight, do you know what it is?”
“The only way I can think of is having two ponies link their magic. If that’s done, than one pony could cast a spell as though they were where the other pony was,” answered Twilight.
“Or, the first pony could cast a spell on the second as if they were casting one on themselves.”
“Yes, but how does that help. Scootaloo is a pegasus, so she shouldn’t be able to pull it off. Besides, it’s an extremely dangerous method. Not only is it excruciatingly painful, but it could seriously injure the ponies linking. Forcing your magic into a pony that isn’t ready could cause permanent damage. Plus, the two ponies have to be near each other to link their magic.”
“My spell allows me to link my magic through any kind of magical connection, like through my dream magic.”
Celestia decided to stop Luna before she started to get the ponies hopes up. “Luna, stop this. You’re just getting their hopes up for nothing. Even if you could somehow start the linking process, Scootaloo wouldn’t be able to finish it,” she explained. When she finished, the room was completely silent. Luna could see just how disappointed everyone was.
“It’s okay princess,” Twilight started, “We weren’t expecting-”
“Enough!” Luna said sternly as she got up. She took a few steps forward and her horn started glowing. After a few seconds, she released the spell, followed by a bright flash. When everyone in the room recovered and saw what Luna did, they couldn’t believe it. Standing a few feet in front of Luna was a pony, a changeling, and a set of lockers with runes on them. The changeling didn’t look like the ones that invaded Canterlot, instead it had a red mane and tail and slitted green eyes, like a dragon’s. It was wearing a strange black suit that covered its entire body except for the head, since that piece was pulled back like a hood. It had a pair of saddlebags with runes similar to the lockers on them, a sheathed sword attached to its left hip, and a strange L-shaped metallic object on its right hip. Also, its face was covered with quite a few scars. The pony was a was an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane wearing a strange green chest piece (with her wings and forelegs exposed) and pants, both with some kind of plating on them. She also had a pair of saddlebags with runes on them. On her shoulders, she had two different L-shaped metallic objects, neither matching the changelings. She also had a much longer one across her back. Lastly, she had a very large amount of scars on every exposed part of her. Both of them were wearing some kind of bulky metallic bracelets on their left forelegs.
Scootaloo and the changeling just stood there for half a minute smirking before anyone in the room recovered. The first were the other two crusaders, who decided that the best way to greet their long lost friend was by tackling her into a hug. Or at least that’s what they attempted to do. When they collided with her, trying to knock her down, they couldn’t even move her, instead they ended up hanging off of her in a very awkward hug. Looking at the two very confused but happy fillies and a slightly embarrassed Scootaloo, the changeling burst out laughing, earning itself a glare from Celestia. Scootaloo shook off the other two crusaders and pulled them into a hug as soon as they landed. “I really missed you,” she whispered into their ears, tearing up slightly. At this the changeling stopped laughing and gave the three some space.
“We missed you too, Scoots. But where were you? Luna wouldn’t tell us anything except that you were alive and on another world,” Sweetie Belle asked after they ended the hug.
“I’d like to know that too Scoots. I searched all over Equestria for you before Luna told us she found you. Welcome back, Squirt,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to Scootaloo and wrapped her up in a hug. Scootaloo felt a few drops hit her head and realised that Rainbow was crying but decided not to say anything and instead hugged her back.
The others stood back, letting the four enjoy their reunion, though Twilight just realised that this meant Scootaloo managed to link her magic with Luna. “Scootaloo, how did you link your magic with Luna? I tried linking with Celestia when I was fourteen, but I failed, and my talent is in magic. I could probably do it today without too much trouble, but I still find it a bit strange, especially since I’ve never heard of a pegasus being able to control their magic like that.”
“The world I was in had no external magic, for the most part at least, so I felt my magic pushing out. I learned how to grip and manipulate it after a little bit of practice, and I’m sure anyone else here can learn to do the same if they had no external magic around them. As for a trick, you’ll have to ask Luna, because I have no clue.”
“I have just the spell to do that! We are definitely going to have to try that later. Wait, did you say you were in a world without magic!?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How does that even begin to work? How did they move their sun and moon, how did they control their weather, how did they grow food, how did- mphm,” Twilight yelled in a panic until Pinkie stuck a hoof into her mouth.
“She’ll tell later. For now, let her enjoy her time back, okay,” Pinkie said when she notice how uncomfortable Scootaloo was getting.
Twilight, realising now how uncomfortable Scootaloo was getting, blushed and said, “Sorry Scootaloo, I didn’t mean to get so panicked. It’s just the entire idea of a world without magic is so strange. I can’t even begin to imagine how it works. I’ll ask you about it later.”
At this point, something that had been bothering Rarity finally clicked into place. “Scootaloo, why are you wearing armor?” she asked, realising that what Scootaloo was wearing was in fact armor.
“What makes you think that’s armor?” asked Twilight, “It, doesn’t look like anything the guards wear.”
“Look at the design, the entire thing is covered in plates, and those plates are made from some very sturdy material. They look like they’ve been through Tartarus, but there’s not a single dent on them.”
“Yeah, it’s armor,” answered Scootaloo, “It saved my life plenty of times, but I guess I could take it off for now.” As she said that, one of the runes on the armor flashed and the armor vanished. Each pony in the room gasped in shock. There were scars covering her body that made the ones on her head look like paper cuts. There was an especially nasty scar across her stomach that looked like a chainsaw ran through it. And then there was her cutie mark. It was a proud phoenix flaring it’s wings in defiance.
Everyone in the room except the changeling and Luna let out a shocked gasp. When they saw Scootaloo’s other scars, they had assumed they were recent injuries that would quickly heal, which tended to happen quite often after accidents from their crusades. Now, however, there was no doubt that those were all scars. Fluttershy seemed ready to cry, Pinkie’s mane deflated, Rarity almost fainted, Twilight nearly lost her lunch, and Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle could only stare in shock. Celestia in particular looked very disturbed, but she was staring at Scootaloo’s cutie mark. “Luna, is that mark what I think it is?” Celestia asked. Luna just nodded in response.
“So Scoots, mind telling us why there’s a changeling here?” Rainbow Dash asked, trying to sound casual and to not bring any more attention to all of Scootaloo’s scars.
“And why doesn’t it look like a regular changeling?” added Twilight.
“To answer the first part, Ruby’s saved my ass more times than I can count,” Scootaloo answered, eliciting yet another gasp from all of the ponies except Luna.
“Scootaloo, Watch your language!” Twilight attempted to scold, though Scootaloo, Ruby, and Luna all burst out laughing.
“So coming back from another world after linking magic with an alicorn, wearing armor, covered in scars with a changeling and a cutie mark that scares Celestia, and a little swearing is what sets you off?” Ruby managed to squeeze in between her laughs.
“If you think that’s bad, you should hear her when she’s angry,” added Luna.
“Luna, why are you allowing her to use such language!?” Celestia shouted. At this, they just started laughing even more. It took them a full minute to calm down.
Twilight, however, was not amused in the slightest, “Sooo, Scootaloo,” she began, her tone much colder than before, “Can you tell us the real reason there’s a changeling here?” Her curiosity and initial shock from the scene having worn off, her strong dislike of changelings resurfaced.
Noticing Twilight’s attitude, Scootaloo summoned her armor, crouched, and spread her wings. “Because she’s my friend. If you try to hurt her, I’ll rip your horn right off your head,” Scootaloo threatened in a low voice.
“But Scootaloo, it’s a changeling, she’s probably brainwashing you right now!”
“That’s real fucking cute, coming from the pony who uses brainwashes on a regular basis. Remember the parasprites? What about the time you made the entire town go crazy over a doll? Or maybe you remember the memory spell you used on your friends? Oh, I know, what about the time you casually switched your friends cutie marks and altered their minds to make them think their lives were always like that? Hell, you became an alicorn for the last one. Besides, mind control is unicorn magic. Changelings only natural magic is transforming, flying, and linking minds. Any other magic they do, they learned from transformations.”
“Than what about what Chrysalis did to my brother?!”
“Hmm, I wonder, who could possibly know a spell that forces ponies to fall in love? Maybe, just maybe, Chrysalis was using Cadence’s love spell to control him? Nah, Cadence doesn’t know any spells that force other ponies to love each other, that would be a very depraved kind of magic, just like forcing someone else into your moral code, taking away a creature's ability to eat, or forcing an entire town to start fighting with each other so that you can do your homework. I guess it’s okay because you can find those spells in a public library, where anyone can access them,” Scootaloo replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Those situations were different, we weren’t trying to hurt anypony” Twilight whispered, sounding very unsure of herself.
“Really? How is it that you playing with a pony’s free will isn’t trying to hurt anyone, but if Discord, Chrysalis, or Sombra do the same thing, it’s wrong?”
At this point, Twilight had no more responses. She just stared at the ground, her eyes clouding up.
“Scootaloo! How dare you say such horrid things about Twilight! You know she’s a better pony than that. She didn’t deserve any of that!” yelled Celestia in the Royal Canterlot voice, her mane bellowing out and eyes glowing white with sheer rage. All of the other ponies backed away in fear except for Scootaloo, who just started laughing with Ruby. Then Scootaloo suddenly stopped and glared at Celestia.
“Neither did Ruby, but if Twilight decides to act like a hypocritical bitch, then I’ll treat her like one. She unjustifiably attacked one of my friends.”
“What she did was perfectly justifiable, and Twilight and her friends would never do something like that!”
“So being racist is justifiable now? What gives her the right? Has she met any changelings other than an insane, starving queen? Did you notice how the other changelings acted almost mindless? Those were all shed skins being manipulated by Chrysalis.”
“Even if that’s true, it was our only experience with changelings.”
“So it would be okay for other races to judge ponies based off of Nightmare Moon and Sombra? Great example of friendship, shunning an entire race based on the actions of one, then accusing them of something you do on a regular basis.”
“...”
“Now, would you please stop attacking my friend?”
Silence reigned across the room. Scootaloo had just argued with Princess Celestia and won. Twilight finally looked up, with tears in her eyes. She slowly walked towards the changeling, “I’m so sorry! I really shouldn’t have of said any of that, it wasn’t fair of me. The entire experience with with the invasion was horrible, having my brother mind controlled and all of my friends and my mentor turn against me, so I let my anger and fear control me. Can you ever forgive me?” sobbed Twilight.
“Sure,” Ruby answered with a shrug.
“ Wait really, just like that?”
“Yeah, just like that. I understand what my mom did was extremely painful for you. I’m actually surprised you’re willing to give me a chance so easily.”
“I was extremely out of line with the way I treated you earlier...Wait, you said Chrysalis is your mom?!”
“Yes, she was,” Ruby whispered, her mood suddenly dropping.
“Was? What do you mean was?” Twilight asked, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity flinching at Twilight’s careless question.
“She died shortly after the ‘invasion’. The changeling capital had been having a shortage on emotional energy, so Chrysalis wouldn’t take in a drop of it. After a few months of starvation, she started losing her sanity. A few more months later, she heard of about the royal wedding, so she decided to absorb as much emotional energy as she could from the event. She animated a large supply of shed skins to use as gatherers and storage sacks. After the massive love shield, she was mortally wounded, so she spread the energy through the colony and after she was certain every drop was spread, she finally gave into her injuries.”
Silence once again reigned through the room. Scootaloo walked to Ruby and wrapped a wing around her. After a few moments, Ruby recovered and thanked Scootaloo.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know and I shouldn’t have of asked,” said Twilight feeling guilty for how she’s been treating Ruby.
“It’s okay, there’s no way you could’ve known,” Ruby replied. She was about to say something more but was interrupted by a loud growl coming from Scootaloo’s stomach, causing everyone to look at her.
“Jeez Scoots, when was the last time you ate?” asked Applebloom.
“Hmmm, good question. Probably about two days ago,” Scootaloo answered.
“Two whole days! How are you still standing?”
“Yeah Scootaloo, we need to get some food in you,” Sweetie said in a near panic.
“Relax girls, this isn’t the first time. I didn’t even really notice until stomach growled,” Scootaloo said, trying to wave off their concerns.
“Wait, you’re used to going days without food!? Where exactly were you Squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“How about we talked over lunch?” Celestia suggested.
After Luna teleported the lockers, everyone in the room agreed and left to the dining room, excited but nervous to hear Scootaloo’s story.