> MLPU: The Amazing Spider-Mare > by TheInvincibleIronBrony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “7… 8… 9… 10! Ready or not here I come!” Scootaloo shouted, as she uncovered her eyes and turned around to view her home. She immediately began scanning the small home for any signs of life, knowing her father was hiding somewhere nearby. It was a modest house considering her father was a highly renowned Biochemist. She checked behind the curtains when she saw the fabric moving as though concealing a body. Behind the couch and in the hall closet, thinking she had seen stallion shaped shadows. As she walked down the hall she heard a door slam in her father’s office. She pushed the door open to a scene of chaos. Papers littered the usually clean floor and desk, each one depicting diagrams of animals her father was studying or complex equations. Drawers were pulled completely out of the desk and tossed haphazardly, their contents thrown around the room without care. The glass door behind the desk was smashed in, the small shards littering the floor. Scootaloo walked behind the desk to see if anything obvious was missing from her father’s study. “Dad,” Scootaloo called. “Dad!” she shouted. Footsteps were heard down the hall headed for the office. Her father, Gene Splice, a navy blue Pegasus with a DNA strand on his flank and wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt, entered and surveyed the scene, but only for a moment. He quickly grabbed Scootaloo and placed her near the door. “Stay there sweetheart, don’t touch anything,” Gene told his daughter. “Firefly!” he called as he grabbed a drawer off of the floor and pushed a hidden switch on the back revealing a secret compartment. He pulled a folder out of the compartment and rummaged through it to make sure everything was where it should be. Scootaloo’s Mother, Firefly, walked in at that moment. Her expression grew worried as her husband started grabbing items and placing them in a leather bag. “Come on Scootaloo,” she mumbled distractedly. She grabbed Scootaloo and left the room to pack their bags. Gene erased most of a complex equation from a chalkboard in the corner of the room before he followed his family out. Scootaloo didn’t know what had scared her parents so much, but she didn’t understand why no one was calling the police. That’s what everyone told her to do if something like this happened. ////////////////////// A half hour later found the family at Scootaloo’s aunt and uncle Cake’s house. They weren’t related by blood, but her father and Mr. Cake had been friends since grade school. Her mother cried and stroked her hair as she spoke to the family’s long time friends. “She likes to sleep with a light on and she hates having crust on her sandwiches,” she explained through a heartbroken sob. She tore herself away so that her husband could have a few words with their daughter before they left. “You’re gonna stay with your aunt and uncle for a while,” he began. “But I wanna go with you,” Scootaloo pleaded, almost in tears. “Hey, we’re only gonna be gone a few weeks,” He said pulling his daughter into a tight hug. “You be good while we’re gone, okay,” he told her. “Why?” Scootaloo asked. “Did I do something wrong? I’m really sorry if-“ “Hey now, none of that,” her father interrupted. “You didn’t do anything wrong okay. There’s just something your mother and I have to take care of and then we’ll be back, okay kiddo?” “Okay,” the little filly mumbled. Gene then turned to the Cakes. “I’m sorry we’re asking for so much on short notice like this, but-“ “We know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely important,” Scootaloo’s Aunt Cup interrupted. “Just be sure you don’t keep us waiting. We want you to be there for the delivery,” Uncle Carrot, said nodding at his wife’s swollen belly. “Of course. This won’t be a long trip,” Gene told his friend, pulling him and his wife in for a hug. “Take care sweetheart,” Gene said turning to his daughter and giving her kiss on the forehead. Scootaloo’s mother repeated the action and then they departed. Scootaloo looked out the glass door as her parents got into the rented car and drove off into the night. She jumped slightly as a hand rested on her shoulder. She turned to look at her uncle. “Come on kiddo. Let’s go watch some cartoons,” he said hoping to distract her. Her broad smile told him it worked. /////////////////////////////// The next morning Scootaloo woke to the sound of voices from downstairs. She left the room her aunt and uncle always had set up for her and walked down the stairs. She looked in the kitchen and saw that her uncle was talking with two policestallions and holding Aunt Cup who had tears staining her cheeks. One of the officers turned in her direction, causing everyone else to look up as well. “What’s going on?” the orange filly asked wearily. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry,” her aunt said, as she got up and walked over to Scootaloo pulling her into a tight embrace. Worry gripped Scootaloo’s heart as she looked at her uncle who wouldn’t make eye contact, instead he chose to look at the floor. The officers decided this would be a good time to leave. “Thank you for your time Mr. Cake and once again we’re very sorry for your loss,” one of the stallions in blue said as he and his partner made their way to the door. “No problem,” Uncle Carrot said solemnly, as he shut the door behind them. Scootaloo’s mind finished processing what she had heard and tears formed in her eyes. “No,” she said pleadingly, looking from her aunt to her uncle. “No it’s not true. It’s not true is it Uncle Carrot?” the distraught filly asked looking to the stallion. “I’m so sorry Scootaloo,” he said as he joined his wife in the hug. Words could no longer form in Scootaloo’s mind. All she could do was cry and hope that she wouldn’t live with this pain forever. > 10 Years Later > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo was rolling through the halls of her school when a basketball appeared out of nowhere and collided with her head, causing her to fall off her scooter and send her glasses off her face making her vision go blurry. “Morning Babs,” she said sarcastically, picking herself up off the ground as the darker orange mare walked by her, her friends Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon following close behind. “Good morning Scoots,” Babs sneered. Suddenly Babs lunged at Scootaloo making the smaller mare jump. Scootaloo shook off her shock but said nothing as her tormentor and her cronies strode away, laughing amongst themselves. Scootaloo let out a sigh, dusting herself off from her fall. “Every day,” she muttered to herself. She picked her glasses up off the floor and checked them for damage before putting them back on. Scootaloo set her scooter against the wall and looked at her reflection in a nearby trophy case to see if she had a bruise. Her reflection stared back at her from the mostly transparent surface. She had a messy purple mane and an orange coat. On her face was perched a pair of glasses. She didn’t really like the glasses, but without them she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. She was wearing her usual attire, an orange T-shirt, jeans and a faded pair of sneakers. Her morning encounters with Babs Seed were, unfortunately, a ritual. It had all started back in fifth grade. Scootaloo had been the only foal in her class not to earn her cutie mark. Babs Seed and her friends immediately took advantage of this and would constantly ridicule her, calling her a blank flank. However, fate had decided to smile on Scootaloo and she eventually did earn her cutie mark, which was a small red scooter. At first, Scootaloo hoped that this would bring Babs’ bullying to an end, but, Babs just found some new way to torment her. Scootaloo sighed and grabbed the small red scooter from against the wall the wheels gliding across the white and blue linoleum. “Scootaloo!” a teacher shouted her name, just as she was getting up to speed. Scootaloo jumped off her scooter and lifted it off the ground. “Um, yes sir?” she asked, hoping that she wasn’t in any kind of major trouble. “You wanna keep those wheels?” The older stallion asked, glancing down at the scooter. Scootaloo looked down at the scooter. “Um, yes sir.” She answered as she walked by. “Then keep em off the ground,” her teacher said sternly. “You got it sir,” Scootaloo said as she rounded a corner. She jumped back on her scooter as soon as the teacher was out of sight. She made her way outside to the open courtyard where most of Ponyville High alumni went to eat lunch or catch up on homework.There wasn’t a whole lot to look at. A grassy hill covered the far side, students spread out along its length studying or horsing around. In front of the school was a concrete walkway that led to the eating area. There were only about twenty tables outside, the main cafeteria being indoors. However it seemed most people liked to eat outside and would sit on the ground and eat as opposed to just having an indoor meal. As Scootaloo scanned the area her eyes fell on a yellowish-grey pegasus colt with a brown mane that was reading a text book and writing in a notebook. He seemed oblivious to everything around him. Which maybe wasn't the best thing at that moment. A commotion on the other side of the courtyard however, caught her attention and she turned to look in the direction of the noise. A crowd of students were bunched up in a circle, all focused on one of the tables. Scootaloo couldn’t see what was happening over the crowd, but she had a good guess that the center of attention was. Scootaloo sighed and pushed her way through the growing crowd. She felt anger well up inside of her at the sight in front of her. “Come on Dinky, eat your sandwich,” Babs sneered as she shoved a smaller light purple mare’s face into a plate of what looked like brown mush, staining her face and clothes in the mess. “Babs, let Dinky go,” Scootaloo demanded, doing her best to sound authoritative. Everyone gathered around the spectacle turned to look at her. “Hey Scoots,” Babs said regarding the smaller pony. “You want a bite too?” Babs sneered. The unicorn below struggled again, only to get her face shoved down again by Babs, who was still looking at Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked at Dinky. Dinky looked like she was almost in tears from the humiliation. Scootaloo felt her heart harden a little in anger at the sight of the innocent filly being humiliated in one of the worst ways imaginable. “No Babs, just let her up,” Scootaloo said in as commanding of a voice as she could manage. “Just take a bite and I'll let her up,” Babs said, smiling, her voice now impatient. Scootaloo tersely shook her head. “No. Now please let her go,” Scootaloo hesitated, doubting her own sanity over what she was about to say next, “Barbra.” Everyone went silent at Scootaloo’s words. In the background, someone could be heard whispering “Oh she’s gonna get it now.” Babs smile disappeared, morphing into a look of blazing fury. She shoved the unicorn onto the ground. She then made her way towards Scootaloo who was trying to get around Babs to check if Dinky was okay. Before Scootaloo could take three steps however, Babs swiped a fist at her, sending her sprawling to the ground. Babs then gave her a sharp kick to the side, her face a boiling rage. “You think you’re so funny Scoots?” Babs asked rhetorically. “Come on make a joke. Say something funny chicken!” She emphasized her shouts with a series of sharp kicks to Scootaloo’s side. “Babs!” a voice shouted from the crowd. Babs looked up and stopped kicking Scootaloo. Scootaloo groaned and looked up. She was surprised to see that Babs’ expression suddenly changed to an almost frightened look. Scootaloo turned to see who had interrupted her beating. It surprisingly turned out to be the Pegasus colt she had been watching before. The unknown colt looked at Dinky and then Scootaloo, a disappointed look on his face. “So, what did one of them say they wouldn’t do your homework for you?” he asked. Babs was about to respond before the colt continued. “The same homework I showed you how to do last weekend, because your parents thought you needed a tutor?” Babs shrugged and chuckled uneasily. “Um, well…” The colt shook his head. “Babs, am I going to have to tell your parents again? I mean seriously?” Babs bit her lip. “Um…. no, no you don’t.” Scootaloo noticed that Babs’ cheeks were crimson with embarrassment. “Then leave them alone and let’s get to class,” The colt said, his voice confident, a total opposite compared to his tiny frame. “And I mean everypony,” he continued turning to the crowd. “Come on, shows over, nopony wants the principle right? Then we’re all going to have detention,” That last sentence seemed to do the trick, as the mob suddenly dispersed along with a grumbling Babs Seed, who shot Scootaloo a dirty look as if to say “This isn’t over.” Once the group disappeared, the colt turned towards Scootaloo and Dinky and smiled sympathetically. “You guys alright?” he asked, leaning down to help Scootaloo up. “Oh of course. Why do you ask?” Scootaloo asked a little sarcastically, as she took his hand. The colt shrugged and rolled his eyes, turning to Dinky. “What about you? You okay?” he asked helping the unicorn up. “I’m okay, I guess,” Dinky said, sniffling as tears threatened to escape her eyes. “Hey come on. I’ll take you to get some hay fries after school,” He offered, smiling. “Both of you,” he said looking to Scootaloo. “Okay,” Dinky said timidly a small smile crossing her face. “I have to go to Biology now, but can you meet me after school?” “Sure thing,” he said, nodding at the unicorn. “And you?” he turned towards Scootaloo, eyebrow raised. “I’d love to, but I gotta help my aunt and uncle out with their little ones after school. Uncle Carrot has trouble helping them with homework these days,” Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her neck out of reflex. Technically, that was true, but honestly Scootaloo mostly just didn’t want this guy asking her why she jumped in. She herself wasn’t even sure of why she had gotten involved. She just did. “You sure?” the colt asked. “Well besides my own responsibilities, I’m not really supposed to go anywhere with strangers,” Scootaloo told him. The colt’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh sorry, I’m Featherweight,” he said introducing himself, laughing nervously at his mistake. He held out a hand to Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked at the hand cautiously. This Featherweight seemed nice, but Scootaloo had had her share of false friends over the years. “And I’m Scootaloo.” she said simply, shaking his hoof after a brief hesitation. Both of the Pegasi looked at Dinky expectantly. Dinky looked back a little confused before a look of sudden realization crossed her face. “Oh…uh, I’m Dinky. Dinky Hooves,” she finally replied, blushing slightly. “Well it was really nice to meet you both. Dinky, I’ll see you after class,” he said smiling at the unicorn. “And I’ll see you around I guess,” he said, tipping his head at Scootaloo before he turned to go back to class. Scootaloo was about to follow his example, but Dinky fidgeting in the corner of her eye caught her attention. “You alright?” she asked, feeling rather concerned. “Umm… Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you. For stepping in when you did,” Dinky said nervously, biting her lip and twiddling her thumbs. “Oh… uh sure, no problem. I’m sure anyone else would have done the same thing,” Scootaloo replied, modestly, smiling rather self-consciously. “But they didn’t,” Dinky pointed out. “They just watched and laughed,” she sighed, tears once more welling up in her eyes and threatening to stain her cheeks. Scootaloo didn’t know what to say. “Then you showed up. I don’t know why Babs thinks you’re a chicken when you’re the only pony around here willing to stand up to her alone,” Dinky finished, now smiling faintly. Scootaloo’s smile faded at that last compliment. “She calls me that because chickens don’t fly,” She said, as she hopped back on her scooter and rode away, not giving Dinky a chance to put the pieces together. > Meet the Family > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo made her way back to class, Babs Seed’s insult still ringing in the back of her mind. Chicken. Scootaloo hated the name, as it served as a constant reminder of her inability to fly. Her mind wandered, thinking back to the day when she had doomed herself to being ground bound for the rest of her days. ///////////////////////// An eleven year old Scootaloo looked down the hill a few blocks from the bakery. She had set up a ramp at the bottom; it was rather flimsy looking, made from spare plywood that the young filly had found next to a dumpster. A few of the foals from her school were gathered to witness her stunt on the street corner to her right, including Babs. “She ain’t gonna do it,” Babs told the other foals confidently, a smug grin on her face. Some of them murmured their agreement; others simply shrugged and voiced their disagreement. Scootaloo had never been the most adventurous of her classmates, but she wasn’t a scaredy-cat either. In fact, the week before she had finally earned her cutie mark by pulling a rather complex series of stunts on the very scooter she was getting ready to ride down the hill. Upon earning said mark, her confidence felt limitless. After all, what’s the point of having a scooter cutie mark if you never do any crazy stunts, she would tell herself. Scootaloo tried to shrug off the presence of the others, instead trying to focus on the ramp at the bottom of the hill. “You can do this,” she muttered to herself for the thousandth time since she came up with this idea. She was confident that she could handle any stunt on her scooter, especially since fate had decided that it would be her greatest talent. Scootaloo pushed her foot against the asphalt, propelling herself forward. She caught the collective gasp from the group and smiled her confidence boosting. Her mane whipped in the wind as she picked up speed. She felt like she was in her element, like nothing the world threw at her would be able to stop her. By the time she hit the ramp at the bottom of the hill, something her uncle had told her about playing in the street came to mind. “Don’t play in the street, you might get run over or something.” As if the universe was hell bent on reminding her of this rule, a car rounded the corner and started up the street perpendicular to the hill. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. Oh snap, was her first thought. She knew it was too late to stop, she had too much speed. Instead Scootaloo figured she’d risk it and waited until she hit the top of the ramp before she yanked up on the handle bars. She smiled. “I’m gonna make it!” That’s when the sound of a loud clang told Scootaloo that something had gone horribly wrong. She was suddenly pitched forward, flipping over her handle bars. She slammed into the street bouncing and tumbling like a rag doll. An incredibly sharp and excruciating pain shot up her back. “Let’s get out of here,” she thought she heard Babs shout, panic in her voice. Screeching tires told her that at least the driver had been kind enough to stop. “Oh Celestia, Are you okay kid?!” shouted a grey unicorn in a suit, who Scootaloo guessed had been driving the vehicle. The extreme pain proved too much for the young filly, however, as a black curtain fell over her eyes and she fell unconscious. ///////////////////////// Scootaloo awoke to a soft beeping noise. She slowly opened her eyes and saw plain white walls. Am I in the hospital? “Is she going to wake up soon,” A voice, dripping with worry, said outside Scootaloo’s room. She instantly recognized it to be her aunt’s. “She should be awake soon.” Another, less recognizable voice replied. “The main problem is the nerve endings in her wings. They were severely damaged in the impact,” Scootaloo guessed that it was her doctor. “I can’t say for sure, but it’s unlikely she’ll be able to fly after this. I’m very sorry,” the doctor finished. Scootaloo felt her heart sink. I’m not going to be able to fly? She thought. What kind of pegasus can’t fly? “If you’d like you can go see her,” The doctor continued, but Scootaloo ignored it, too wrapped up in the thought of never being able to fly again. “Thank you,” the voice of Uncle Carrot replied. The door to the room opened and Scootaloo turned towards it, her eyes watery. Her aunt and uncle looked in, accompanied by the twins. The twins and Aunt Cup looked like they’d been crying quite a lot, their eyes slightly puffy. Uncle Carrot also looked concerned, but there was also a glint of anger in his eyes. No doubt because he had explicitly told her that morning not to attempt such a crazy stunt. The family gathered around Scootaloo’s bed. Her uncle Carrot opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it, instead taking a breath. He then unexpectedly pulled Scootaloo’s head towards him so that their foreheads were touching. “Its gonna be okay kiddo,” he told her as he wiped away tears from Scootaloo’s eyes. Scootaloo wrapped her arms around her uncle’s neck and started weeping into his shoulder. The rest of the Cakes quietly joined the embrace, with the twins clambering onto the bed to join their family. ///////////////////////// Scootaloo sighed and shrugged off her bad memories, instead focusing on just getting the school day over with. The rest of her day went by relatively without incident. Whatever strange power Featherweight had over Babs seemed to work, as the larger mare didn’t so much as approach Scootaloo for the rest of the day. The bell eventually rang, indicating it was time to go home. Scootaloo gathered up her books and made for the door, hoping back on her scooter and making her way toward home. The trip was uneventful as always. Since Scootaloo only lived a few blocks from the school the trip was a relatively quick one, usually less then fifteen minuets. Her home quickly came into view, The Cakes Bakery, a humble three story building on a remote street corner only a little bit outside city limits. The exterior was decorated with a rather attention grabbing paint job consisting of bright shades of blue and pink. The windows displayed all sorts of baked confections, from cupcakes of various sizes and flavors, to layered cakes stacked so high it was a wonder they didn’t topple over. Scootaloo was quite used to the sight, and she pushed the front door open, the bell attached at the top jingling loudly, alarming anyone inside of her entry. The inside of the bakery was colored the same bright color palette as the outside was. Tables and chairs were spread out in the main room for customers to sit at and enjoy their treats. At the back of the store a silver register sat on top of a pink wooden counter next to a display case filled with a variety of colorful scones. A rather plump light blue mare popped out of the kitchen in the back, smiling as she saw who had entered. “Scootaloo how was school, dear?” She asked, cheerfully. Scootaloo shrugged. “Oh, you know, Auntie, same old same old; Science, math and English. All that boring stuff,” She answered awkwardly, trying to avoid the question. Aunt Cup opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but was distracted by the sound of hooves scampering down from upstairs. “Scootaloo!” the twins shouted joyfully as they appeared on the stairs. The duo, Pumpkin Cake, a unicorn filly, and Pound Cake, a Pegasus colt, launched themselves at their surrogate sister like a pair of heat guided missiles. Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she tried to move out of the way to avoid getting tackled, but found herself knocked over by the twins combined effort. “Hey come on guys. It’s two on one here. At least let me clone myself before you ambush me,” Scootaloo giggled as she playfully pushed the two overeager foals away. “You can do that?” Pound Cake asked, his eyes wide in disbelief. Scootaloo chuckled as she tousled the young colt’s mane. “Give me a few years, I’ll figure it out,” she said winking. The two foals looked at each other, eyes wide. “Hey Scootaloo,” Scootaloo looked up from the foals to see a light orange earth-pony stallionin an apron and a chef's hat, who was covered in black smudges that looked like soot, enter from the kitchen. “How was your day?” he asked, mimicking his wife’s cheerfulness. “Oh hi Uncle,” Scootaloo replied, standing up, “You know, just boring school stuff,” she shrugged, once again avoiding the question. Her uncle gave her a quizzical look. Before he could press the issue Scootaloo asked, “So where’s the fire.” She smiled knowingly as Uncle Carrot gave his dirtied coat a once over. He nodded. “Follow me,” he motioned towards the kitchen as he walked back into the kitchen. “Seriously?” Scootaloo asked. She had just assumed her uncle had maybe burned some pastries again, not actually lit a fire. She was a little alarmed at the thought of an actual fire, but her uncle seemed pretty calm, as always. She quickly made her way to the kitchen behind the counter. Once she got to the kitchen she saw one of the ovens billowing clouds of smoke, which, of course, set the fire alarm off. Uncle Carrot sighed, opened a window and started waving the smoke towards it. Once most of the smoke cleared, he turned towards Scootaloo. “So what’s the damage?” The orange Pegasus grabbed a towel as she walked over to the dysfunctional machine. She held the cloth to her mouth as she waved away as much of the smoke as she could. She peeked inside for a few moments. The inside of the oven was covered in black soot and ash, and a shriveled up pile of what Scootaloo assumed was whatever had been in the oven was lying on the rack. She scanned the back of the oven, looking for a potential cause of the problem. “Ah, here we are…” she said, backing away. “Whatever you were baking in there gunked up the pilot light with batter, cleaning it probably isn’t gonna help much. You’ll probably have to replace it.” She placed the towel on the counter. “I would do it now, but I’ve got homework to get to, but I can pick up what you need tomorrow after school.” Her uncle smiled, “Well damn. And here I thought we were gonna have to call a mechanic to come take care of it.” he said, rather impressed. Scootaloo shrugged. “Well, okay then, if that’s all, I’d better get to my homework.” Scootaloo said as she made for the door. “Hey wait, I want to talk to you for a minute,” he said halting Scootaloo’s escape. Scootaloo paused in the doorway and turned around, avoiding looking at her uncle. “What happened at school that you don’t want to tell me or your aunt about, huh?” he walked over and looked Scootaloo in the eye. Scootaloo looked up at her uncle. He wore an expression of sincere concern that Scootaloo just couldn’t lie to. She hesitated, biting her lip. “A mare at school called me…” she trailed off, not wanting to continue. “Called you what?” her uncle asked, gently pressing the issue. “She called me a chicken,” Scootaloo sighed, her shoulders slumping. Her gaze fell to the ground at her feet. Uncle Carrot’s expression softened. He walked up to his niece and pulled her into a tight embrace. Scootaloo held back the tears she felt coming as the memories came flooding back for the second time today. She pulled away from her uncle, shaking her head slightly to clear the memories from her mind. “You gonna be okay?” Uncle Carrot asked. “Yeah,” Scootaloo said, holding back a few tears. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to go up to the attic, check my tools see what I might need to fix the oven,” she rambled gesturing to the broken appliance. “Alright, but be careful up there. And wash your hands before you came back down, we’re gonna eat in about an hour,” Her uncle said as she nodded and made her way out of the kitchen. Scootaloo snuck past the twins, who were now distracted attempting to raid a cookie jar, as Aunt Cup Cake attempted to save the cookies. She quickly made her way up the staircase to the attic, climbing the small collapsible latter that lead to the attic. Once inside the attic, she pulled a string and a rather old light bulb lit up, illuminating the room. She started shifting around stacks of boxes to check behind them, trying to find her toolbox. “This is the last time I let Aunt Cup put my stuff up here,” she muttered, a little annoyed as she gave an extra hard tug on a heavier stack. The pile of boxes immediately toppled over, causing a large cloud of dust and smoke to billow, giving Scootaloo a coughing fit. Once the smoke cleared and Scootaloo stopped coughing, she let out a frustrated sigh as she dusted off her clothes. The contents of the boxes lay scattered across the floor. She leaned down and started to toss them into the various empty boxes rather haphazardly. However, just as she was about to close the first box and move on to the next one, something caught her attention. There sitting in a pile of her uncle’s old bake-off trophies sat a worn leather bag. Scootaloo reached for the bag, lifting it gingerly from the mess of trophies. She dusted off the thin layer of dust that had accumulated over time and examined it for a minute, scanning every side of it. There on the flap at the top was a name: Gene Splice. Scootaloo's eyes widened at the sight. Is this dad's? she thought as she deftly opened the bag and peaked inside. It was packed with various folders and papers. This really caught Scootaloo's attention. I wonder what these notes are... She quickly closed the bag and tucked it under her shoulder, scampering down the ladder and towards her room. She had a feeling that whatever those documents contained, it might hold the answers to a question that had plagued Scootaloo for as long as she could remember. Whatever happened to mom and dad. > Finding Answers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo scampered into her room and dropped the bag onto her bed. “Okay, let’s find out what’s in here…” she said to herself as she reached for the bag. “Scootaloo! Time for dinner!” her Aunt Cup’s voice called from downstairs. Oh no not now! Scootaloo groaned to herself. She eyed the bag and hesitated. Maybe I can just give it a quick look before … “Scootaloo! Dinner!” Her aunt called out again, sounding a tad bit more demanding then before. Scootaloo facepalmed and called out towards her aunt. “Coming Aunt Cup!” and with that she quickly stuffed the bag under her bed and darted down the stairs. //////////////////////// Scootaloo now sat at the dinner table, not really focusing on her food. Her eyes kept darting to the stairs and the possibilities of what exactly the folders inside the bag contained. Her aunt and uncle where discussing…something, but honestly Scootaloo couldn’t care less. Her mind was totally absorbed with what secrets the bag held. She barely noticed her aunt talking to her. “Scootaloo?” Aunt Cup asked once more, snapping Scootaloo back into the real world. “Sorry Auntie, what did you say?” she asked, whipping her head around to face Aunt Cup. “I was asking you if you could pick up the twins from school Friday? You’re uncle and I are going to be in the city running some errands,” Aunt Cup explained. “Oh. Uh… Sure, I can do that,” Scootaloo nodded still somewhat distracted by what might be in the bag. “You okay, you seem distracted?” Uncle Carrot asked, looking at her with concern. Scootaloo thought for a moment. They never mentioned anything about that bag…why should I tell them that I found it? “I just didn’t get to my homework yet,” she finally said, lying. She felt a little guilty about lying, but pushed the thought out of her mind. After all, it’s my dad’s bag. What’s the worst that could happen? “Well, okay then,” her uncle replied, “Just finish eating first.” Scootaloo nodded and set about quickly finishing the last of her meal. “Good night everypony,” she said as she stood up from the table. “Good night Scootaloo,” her aunt replied as Scootaloo gave her and Uncle Carrot a quick hug and each of the twins a quick peck on the cheek, before rushing up the stairs to her room. //////////////////////// Once Scootaloo was sure she was alone in her room she quietly closed the door and locked it nice and tight in case anyone tried to walk in without her permission. The lock was mostly there to keep the twins out, mainly because they almost NEVER knocked on the door. “Okay…” she poured the contents of the bag onto her desk. “Let’s see what’s in here.” The bags contents consisted of some newspaper clippings and articles that focus almost entirely on her father. She skimmed through the articles for anything that seemed important. Most of the articles went on and on about her father’s research, pertaining mostly to spiders. In one of the pictures in the article, color slightly faded because of time, stood a smiling purple mare next to her father. Scootaloo had no idea who this mare was; since there was no mention of her anywhere else in the article, and the picture was simply labeled “Professor Gene Splice and a colleague” “Who are you?” she thought aloud, staring at the picture. Deciding to check the other trinkets in the bag, she set the clippings aside and continued to rummage through the bag. She found a security badge for BlueCorp, she checked the expiration date. It had long ago expired, making it useless. She set the security badge aside and moved on. Next, she picked up a folder, opening it to reveal incredibly detailed color diagrams of several species of spiders. Alongside the diagrams where labels that showed which species of spider they were. Some names she recognized from school, and others she only had a vague notion as to their identity. She flipped through the folder, eager to find something besides just spiders. Landing on the last page, Scootaloo’s attention was piqued. On the page was a dark blue and with red highlights. The diagram had no species name; instead, it was simply labeled “Experiment A113”. Apparently, if Scootaloo was reading the notes surrounding the diagram correctly, the specimen had been put together using the best traits of the various other arachnids in the folder. “Okay that’s just weird,” she muttered, setting the folder aside and reaching into the bag for whatever else might be inside. Her eyes widened when her hand made contact with the leather interior of the bag. “That’s it?” she thought aloud, as she peered into the bag. No way there’s gotta be more, this can’t be it! She started to desperately dig around in the bag, desperately hoping that there was still something inside. Her search proved fruitless and she threw the bag against the wall above her desk in frustration. Groaning in frustration, she dropped her head down on the desk. The bag, meanwhile, landed in front of her, its opening facing her. Begrudgingly, she peeked towards the bag, her forehead still on the wooden surface. “Stupid bag…” she grumbled. A small glimmer on the front of the bag caught her attention however. “What is that?” she wondered, as she pulled the bag closer for a better look. The glint of light had come from a small clasp hidden behind the name plate on the front of the bag. Curious, Scootaloo opened the hidden compartment and pulled out a small slip of paper, only a few inches long. Scribbled on the paper was a complex equation. The young Pegasus smiled slightly at this hopeful development. Something about the equation was strangely familiar to her, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before at all. Her eyes drifted from the equation to the photo of her father with the strange purple mare. “What were two you up to?” she wondered aloud. The orange mare took a deep breath, a sudden feeling of tiredness washing over her. Jeez, what time is it? She thought as she glanced at the alarm clock on her dresser. It read 11:30 PM. “Ugh, it’s late…I’ll do some more digging in the morning.” She got up from her desk and flopped into bed, drifting off to sleep. ////////////////// The next day Scootaloo went to school with a pit in her stomach. Her dreams all night long had been oriented towards the mysterious identity of that mare, but every dream ended with her unable to discover the mysterious mare’s identity. She knew that the mare was more than just “a colleague”. She could feel it. Something about the mare told Scootaloo that she might have some answers. She pulled the picture out of her pocket. Her basic plan was simple: Go to one of the science teachers, and ask if they knew the mare in the picture. If they did, then Scootaloo would be one step closer to finding out what happened to her father. If they didn’t know…well then Scootaloo had no idea what to do next. She arrived at home room and sat at her usual seat near the back of the room. She set the picture on the desk and just sat there staring at it. She felt a little better having found the picture, however. It didn’t exactly answer all her questions, but having something that had belonged to her father gave her the feeling that not everything in the world was bad. Also, it was a lead, something to go on. Unfortunately, the universe decided that now was the perfect moment to totally ruin her day. A dark orange hand shot out of nowhere and snatched the picture off of Scootaloo’s desk. “What is this, an invitation to a nerd convention,” sneered an all too familiar voice. Scootaloo followed the hand and saw that it was attached to Babs, who looked at the picture as though it were poisonous or something. “This is just an old news clipping. Didn’t your aunt and uncle ever tell you where trash goes?” Babs asked as she started walking towards the trash can. “Give it back!” Scootaloo shouted as she got up to stop Babs. She didn’t even notice Diamond Tiara stick a foot in front of her. She felt the distinct feeling of falling and was greeted by the ground, directly into her face. She looked up just in time to see Babs drop the piece of paper in the trash. Everything seemed to shift into slow motion for just a few seconds before a gray hand unexpectedly caught the picture before it hit the rest of the garbage. Everyone turned in unison and looked at Dinky, who was holding the picture close to her chest. The look of shook on Babs’ face subsided quickly, replaced by rage at the tiny unicorn’s interruption. Just as Babs was about to lay into the smaller mare, the teacher walked in and blinked at the scene before her, before slowly shaking her head in frustration. “All of you to your seats now,” the teacher ordered, obviously trying to keep her anger in check. Dinky seized the chance to dart past Babs and made her way to Scootaloo, helping her off the ground. “Here you go,” Dinky said offering the picture to Scootaloo. “Um… Thank you,” Scootaloo said, accepting the picture. She felt a little awkward, having twice now been saved from Babs by somebody else. She wondered if she was being nice enough, having not exactly been kind to Featherweight when he had offered his help. Scootaloo trotted back to her desk and sat down. Her eyebrows rose when she saw Dinky take the seat next to her. “I didn’t know we had the same homeroom,” She said, keeping her voice low as not to attract the attention of the teacher. “Well, I usually try to stay inconspicuous, because well,” Dinky trailed off, her eyes wandering to the far side of the room. Scootaloo followed her gaze. Babs was staring at the pair from a seat near the door, glaring at them as if she had heat vision or something. “I know how you feel.” Scootaloo nodded. “She’s been tormenting me since fifth grade.” “Why do you put up with her? Couldn’t you have just gone for help?” Dinky asked turning to look at Scootaloo. “Well sure I could, but that wouldn’t stop Babs, it’d just make her want to get back at me,” Scootaloo said bitterly. She set the picture back on her desk, letting that soothing feeling from before wash over her again. Dinky leaned over to get a better look at the photo. “Who’s the stallion? I’ve never seen him with Dr. Cheerilee before.” “Huh? Oh, that’s my dad Gene Splice,” Scootaloo replied. Her brain took a moment to register what Dinky had said. “Wait, you know who this is?” she asked eagerly, picking the picture up and nearly shoving it Dinky’s face. Dinky flinched at the sudden burst of movement. “Y-Yeah,” she stuttered. “I’m an intern at the company she works at. BlueCorp,” Dinky said, eyebrow slightly raised. “I’m actually her assistant.” Scootaloo stared at Dinky in disbelief. She could swear an angelic choir was now singing Dinky’s praises for giving Scootaloo a solution to her problem. “Can I meet her?” Scootaloo asked her voice thick with excitement. Dinky blinked. “What do you mean meet her? She’s almost always too busy. She only ever really meets with strangers when she’s interviewing new interns,” she shrugged. “Oh…” Scootaloo calmed down and sat in thought for a moment. “Is she looking for any new interns now? I really need to meet her,” Scootaloo said, turning towards Dinky with a hopeful look in her eyes. “I-I don’t know. She’s not really supposed to talk to me about that sort of thing,” Dinky said, shrugging slightly. Scootaloo’s face fell. “Okay then…I tried…” she muttered aloud. There was an awkward pause between the two before Dinky spoke up, “But I think there’s going to be a tour for anyone who’s thinking of interning,” Scootaloo instantly cheered up. “Seriously?!” she nearly shouted, nearly forgetting she was in homeroom. “When?” she whispered, lowering her voice. “Today, actually. After school,” Dinky said a funny look on her face. “It’d be kind of short notice, but I think I can get you in. Meet me after school at the front entrance,” The bell then rung, announcing the beginning of the school day. Before Scootaloo got the chance to reply Dinky had gotten up and left, making her way towards her respective classes. Scootaloo smiled brightly, her day restored. She picked up the photo and gave it one last look. “Soon…” she whispered, looking directly at the purple mare. The rest of the day was pretty hectic, as usual. Scootaloo took the long way to most of her classes in an attempt to avoid Babs and her cronies, whom she was sure was on the hunt for her. The day might have started rough at first, but now things were looking up. She finally had a name for the mare in the picture, and, not only that, but a chance to actually meet the mysterious Dr. Cheerilee. I might finally get some answers! she giggled to herself. She was so excited she couldn’t even pay attention in English. The teacher rambled on and on about pronouns and sentence structure, but Scootaloo couldn’t care less. She was still too excited over all this new information she had. “You look happy,” a voice whispered from behind her, causing her to jump. Scootaloo turned around to be greeted by the big brown eyes of Featherweight. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” he asked, smiling at her. Scootaloo paused. A part of her wanted to thank him for yesterday and standing up for her, but the other part was wary. She barely knew him after all. “Oh just gonna be spending some mare time with Dinky after school,” she replied, turning back to the book she was supposed to be reading, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “Oh? You two got pretty close,” he commented, curiosity in his voice. “We have a lot in common,” Scootaloo replied, hoping that would end the sudden out of the blue interrogation. “Like what?” Featherweight asked smirking. Scootaloo froze for a second. What did she have in common with Dinky? “We’ve both been bullied by Babs, I guess” she finally answered. “By the way, how did you get her to back down yesterday?” she asked, deciding to change the subject. “Oh, I’m her tutor. She isn’t exactly proud of the fact that she needs somepony else’s help understanding math she should’ve learned last year,” he said, looking back to his own work. “You know I still feel like I should take you out to eat. Dinky seemed to enjoyed my company. If you two have so much in common, maybe you will too,” he pressed, smiling warmly. Scootaloo thought about for a second. Why was this colt suddenly so interested in her? Was he some kind of creepy weirdo stalker? “Maybe some other time,” she said rather flatly. She glanced back over her shoulder to see him looking a little disappointed. “Sorry but I’m pretty booked this week. I’ll definitely take a rain check though,” Scootaloo said, hoping he’d stop pouting. He smiled at her. “I’ll be holding you to that.” ////////////////// Scootaloo waited out by the front entrance of the school after the last class. She’d been fortunate enough to avoid Babs all day. Along with that, the sun was out and the sky was clear. Things were starting to look up. Scootaloo tapped her foot impatiently, hoping that Dinky didn’t forget or get into any kind of trouble. Her fears were calmed once she caught sight of the grey mare sprinting out of the school. Scootaloo waved her over and Dinky trotted up, smiling. “You ready?” Scootaloo asked, secretly wondering if what she had asked of Dinky might get Dinky into some sort of trouble. “Yeah.” Dinky nodded. “We’ll need to take the train into the city. Its going to take a while though, BlueCorp tower is across town after all. I hope you didn’t have anything else planned.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Good, then let’s get going. The tour starts in about an hour and Cheerilee is only going to be there for the beginning before she has to get back to work.” ////////////////// The two mares didn’t talk much on the way downtown, instead spending most of their time looking out the window as the city whizzed by. Every so often either Scootaloo or Dinky would point out any particular buildings of note, but for the most part, the trip was quiet. The silence was broken however when the bell rung and the conductor’s voice came over the PA system. “BlueCorp Tower ahead.” “Oh here’s our stop.” Dinky said, getting up and beckoning for Scootaloo to follow. They got off the train and walked towards a tall building that Scootaloo guessed was at least sixty stories. “This is it,” Dinky said, “BlueCorp tower.” Saying the tower was tall was an understatement. It climbed higher then Scootaloo could see its top seemingly miles away. Scootaloo whistled. “You work here?” she asked Dinky, her voice filled with wonder as she took in the full scope of the massive building. “Yup,” Dinky replied, a hint of pride in her voice. “This building is the center of some of the most advanced scientific and medical research around” Dinky continued as they passed through the front doors. “Really? What does Dr. Cheerilee do here?” Scootaloo asked curiously as her eyes roamed the inside of the building. It was full of ponies walking around each other to get to unknown destinations. From the ceiling hung half a dozen screens. Each one was transparent and seemed to be advertising some new gadget or gizmo that the company was producing. “Oh you probably couldn’t see it in your picture, but she lost an arm in an accident a long time ago, and she’s…” Dinky’s voice faded as Scootaloo’s attention was diverted towards a large screen displaying what looked like a flying skateboard. “Scootaloo! Over here!” Dinky’s voice suddenly snapped Scootaloo back into reality. “Wha? Oh, sorry Dinky got distracted.” Scootaloo replied, galloping up along side Dinky. “That’s okay…just stay close, it’s easy to get lost in here.” Dinky said, as they walked towards the receptionist’s desk. “I’m sorry, but the dead line was yesterday. We aren’t accepting any more applicants,” the receptionist said as the two fillies walked up. “Hi Keypad.” Dinky said, seemingly unfazed. “And I know, but I wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t absolutely important,” she continued. “My friend here is a huge fan of Dr. Cheerilee.” She motioned towards Scootaloo, who stood the side. “All she wants is the chance to meet her idol. It would crush her to have come this far just to be sent home empty handed,” Dinky shifted into puppy dog eyes and stared at the receptionist. The receptionist sized up Scootaloo for a moment, as Scootaloo attempted to look as pitiful as possible. Dinky continued her assault of puppy dog eyes as well. The receptionist let out a bedraggled sigh. “Name?” she asked. “Scootaloo,” Dinky said, smiling broadly. Scootaloo felt a surge of excitement go through her. She almost leapt and shouted for joy before a quick nudge from Dinky brought her back down to reality. “Thank you so much,” Scootaloo said to the mare behind the desk, a grin spread across her face. “Just stay out of trouble kid,” the mare grumbled in response. Scootaloo felt like making a witty retort, but was pulled towards an escalator by Dinky. “Come on Scootaloo tours this way,” Dinky said as they jumped on the moving stairs. They stepped aboard the escalator which was headed towards the next floor up. “Dinky you were saying about Dr. Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked, returning to the subject they were on. “Oh yeah, where was I?” Dinky asked. “She lost an arm in an accident.” Scootaloo said. Dinky nodded. “Right, so since she lost her leg, she does research in ways to help amputees.” Scootaloo nodded. “That sounds pretty cool.” Dinky smiled. “Yeah it is. Well, here we are.” They stepped off the escalator and made their way to large group of ponies, most of them were around their age, but there were a few older ones. “I’m going to have to leave you here Scootaloo. I have to lead the tour,” Dinky said. “You going to be fine?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Scootaloo nodded, reassuring her. Dinky smiled and nodded and started towards the group. “Oh, and Dinky,” Scootaloo called out before Dinky got too far away. “Thank you. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you.” “No problem. What are friends for?” Dinky asked rhetorically as she walked to the front of the group. “Friends,” Scootaloo repeated, Dinky’s answer ringing in her ears. A smile played on Scootaloo’s lips. Meanwhile, Dinky started giving an opening speech to the crowd of ponies that probably had everyone else riveted about what they would be shown today, whether they got the internship or not. Scootaloo’s mind was elsewhere though, more concerned with what Dr. Cheerilee might know about her father. “Now if you’ll all follow me we can begin the tour in the genetics lab,” Dinky instructed, leading the group down the hall. Scootaloo took the sight of everyone else moving as a sign that the tour had begun. She scampered up behind the crowd, keeping an eye out for Dr. Cheerilee. “In this department brilliant minds work every day trying to find cures for many ailments that have hindered pony kind for generations.” Dinky continued, obviously having rehearsed this speech many times before. Scootaloo scanned the labs surrounding them. Various ponies dressed in white lab coats scampered about, some gazing into microscopes and others helping move various vials filled with liquids around the labs. “Some such as Dr. Cheerilee have even been working on a way to re grow lost limbs,” That caught Scootaloo’s attention. She caught sight of a purple mare walking out of an office to the left. “Speak of the devil and she shall appear,” the mare spoke in a bright voice. It was Cheerilee. The first thing Scootaloo noticed about the older mare was her missing left arm. It seemed the others in the group had noticed as well. Some of the students looked at it blatantly, whispering amongst themselves. Others tried their best to avoid looking at Cheerilee altogether, looking away awkwardly at random things. “For those of you wondering, I am Dr. Cheerilee,” the mare introduced herself. “And yes I am right handed,” she said gesturing at the missing limb with the hand she still had. “Because of this, I’ve been trying to find a way to bring back lost limbs. With that information, a soldier who lost a leg in battle could live normally. A mare, paralyzed by a car crash could walk again.” Scootaloo noticed that Cheerilee was swiftly becoming emotional at her own words. “And,” she visibly straightened out and regained her composer. “It is my belief that the key to this cure lies in the DNA of lizards,” Cheerilee informed the group, most of whom had set about taking notes. Scootaloo, however thought back to the notes on the spiders in her dad’s bag. “But what does that have to do with dad’s spiders?” she said softly, slightly confused. A young colt suddenly appeared and whispered into Cheerilee’s ear. Cheerilee paused and listened closely to whatever the colt was saying. She then nodded and the colt walked off. She turned back towards the group. “Well as much as I’d love to explain further, duty calls. I must return to my office. I’ll leave you with my assistant Dinky,” Cheerilee said as she turned to leave, returning to her office. Dinky began to explain what the next department did, leading the group in that direction. Scootaloo meanwhile, decided to use this chance to sneak away and talk to Cheerilee, her curiosity piqued. She walked up to the door the older mare had gone through and poked her head in. Cheerilee, who had been looking at a file on her desk, looked at the door to see Scootaloo. “Can I help you?” she asked, eyebrow raised, looking a little miffed at being interrupted. Scootaloo bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck. “I… I came with the tour group…” she began, but was cut off. “Well you’d better catch up to them,” Cheerilee said, pointing in the direction Dinky had gone and turning back to her work, muttering something under her breath. Scootaloo’s shoulders sank and started towards the door, before stopping. Was she just going to give up when she was so close to finding a solution? No. She decided to take a chance. She turned back towards Cheerilee, taking a deep breath. “Ten years ago, you worked with a stallion named Gene Splice,” she began. Cheerilee’s head shot up at the mention of her old colleague, her previous miffed expression changing into one of curiosity. “Yes…what of it?” Scootaloo once more rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly feeling very awkward. “I’m his daughter.” “Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked looking at the younger mare with more interest. “By Celestia. It is you.” She sat up, seemingly very interested for some reason. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Um, yeah…how’d you know?” Scootaloo asked. “Your father never stopped showing off pictures of you,” Cheerilee replied, beckoning towards Scootaloo. “Please come in,” she continued, realizing Scootaloo hadn’t fully entered the room yet. Scootaloo smiled and darted in, closing the door behind her. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but I was wondering what you knew about my father?” Scootaloo inquired, sitting on the opposite side of the desk from the purple mare. Cheerilee leaned back, a smile on her face. “Your father was a very eccentric stallion. He was constantly questioning the boundaries that previous generations of researchers had laid down. He was actually helping me with my research in Cross species genetics before he died.” She paused, seemingly running through the memories in her mind. “His area of expertise was with spiders, he mixed and matched various different species until he was able to breed something new.” A big smile spread across Cheerilee’s face, as if the very memory of their work made her excited. “It was a huge breakthrough and would have secured any future projects we wanted to explore.” The smile on her face unexpectedly faded. There was a long pause. “And then what happened?” Scootaloo asked. Cheerilee sighed. “Fate decided to step in. Almost as though telling us we weren’t meant to discover what we did,” Cheerilee looked past Scootaloo, a sad, distant look in her eyes. “He was gone, taking all of his research with him.” She looked down at her desk. “Along the algorithm I would need to continue our experiments,” she concluded. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. She grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen from the scientist’s desk and started scribbling out the equation she had found in the hidden compartment on the bag. Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at the young mare’s urgency. “Do you mean this?” Scootaloo asked sliding the finished product across the desk. Cheerilee pulled the paper closer and began looking it over, her eyes slowly widening. “Where did you get this?” she asked, her voice filled with wonder. “I read some of your books. It just sort of came to me,” Scootaloo said, mentally wincing at the lie. Not that she didn’t trust Cheerilee, but she didn’t want to risk revealing too much. Just in case. “Remarkable. Simply remarkable,” Cheerilee whispered, staring at the equation as if it were written in pure gold. “Do you mind if I take this?” Cheerilee asked. “I won’t use it without your permission, but I’d like to go over it. See if there are any flaws before it’s put to use,” Cheerilee said, her voice sounding urgent. Scootaloo paused and looked the mare in the eye, searching for some sign that she might be untrustworthy. The mare’s eyes seemed pleading and desperate, as if her life were on the line. “Um…sure,” Scootaloo answered. “Thank you so much!” Cheerilee said, reaching out her hoof as if she wanted to shake Scootaloo’s hoof. “And if you’d like, you can come by sometime and help me test it,” she offered. “That’d be awesome,” Scootaloo beamed, shaking Cheerilee’s hoof adamantly. “Alright then. Just leave me your number and I’ll let you know when I’m ready. In the mean time you should probably catch up with the rest of the tour.” Cheerilee said, motioning towards the door. “Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo said excitedly, jotting down her cell phone number on the piece of paper with the equation. “It was great to meet you,” She said as she walked over to the door. “Likewise,” Cheerilee said as the Pegasus left. ////////////////// Scootaloo was having trouble containing herself, she was so ecstatic. She finally had a connection that could help her find out what happened to her parents. Sure she still needed to find all the information, but at least she was heading in the right direction. She suddenly bumped into a random stallion, which was carrying several files. “Hey watch it!” he shouted as the files spilled across the floor. “Oops. Sorry,” Scootaloo said sheepishly as she tried to help him pick up the scattered papers. She glanced down at the files and froze. On one of them was a name. Gene Splice. Before she had a chance to properly inquire as to why her father’s name was on this seemingly random file, the stallion snatched it away from her and stuffed it back into the folder. “Bug off kid.” The stallion grumbled, turning away and trotting off down a random hall. Scootaloo instantly started after him. Whatever reason that file had her father’s name on it, it could hold some answers. Scootaloo followed the stallion through the facility, dodging and weaving through the various other scientists, making sure to stay out of the stallion’s sight. The mystery stallion suddenly stopped in front of a door. Before Scootaloo could react the door opened from the other side, revealing several ponies in lab coats that walked out. Scootaloo dodged behind a corner. She heard them greet the mysterious stallion, who chatted with them for a moment before they all started down the hall. Scootaloo darted around the corner. She quietly slipped across the hallway and into the room, narrowly missing getting squished between the door and the door jam. She held the door open long enough to slip a coin into the space between the door and the door jam, so that it wouldn’t lock her in. She then turned to investigate the room. “Sweet Celestia,” Scootaloo said quietly. The room was full of complex machines all working busily as Scootaloo wandered through the room. Each one seemed to be packing large amounts of thin, clear fibers into tiny pellets. The pellets were being placed in small containers, which were in turn packed into large crates by the dozens. Scootaloo picked up one of the containers that was about to be packed. Each one looked to hold about twenty pellets. “I wonder what this stuff is?” she asked herself as she trotted over to a door on the far side of the room. She tinkered with the knob. “Maybe it’s a closet…” she muttered, when the door unexpectedly opened and Scootaloo fell forward, her eyes widening at the sight before her. Inside was one of the largest and most complex spider webs Scootaloo had ever seen. Possibly the largest in the world. Standing up and taking a closer look at the walls of the room, she could see that the web was being maintained by hundreds, if not thousands, of spiders. And these weren’t your ordinary, every day spiders. They were a very familiar shade of blue and red. They were the spiders from the files Scootaloo had found the night before. Being in this room almost brought tears to Scootaloo’s eyes. Being so close to what just might be her father’s magnum opus. It was positively poetic. However, that’s when the universe saw fit to once more to try and ruin her life. Unbeknownst to Scootaloo, a particularly large spider silently clambered down its silk line and ever so gently, landed on the pegasus’ neck. Scootaloo felt a tickling sensation on her neck before it suddenly erupted into a searing pain. “OW!” Scootaloo shouted swiping a hoof at the back of her neck. She looked at her hand to see the crushed remains of one of the spiders. “Oh no…” she whispered, quickly beginning to panic. Were the spiders poisonous? She didn’t remember seeing anything about venom in her father’s notes, but they were genetically altered. The mental image of her suddenly sprouting four extra legs flashed through her mind. Scootaloo started towards the doorway and stumbled out of the room, grabbing the coin out from the door jam, slamming the door behind her, and bolted down the halls. ////////////////// Dinky was growing worried. She scanned the halls, searching for Scootaloo. It had been almost an hour since she had last seen her. Dinky was sure her friend would have rejoined the group by now. “Where are you?” she muttered under her breath, before continuing to address the departing group of students. “Well that’s all we have for today. I encourage all of you to consider a career here, in order to help our society better itself,” she said, trying to sound as happy and upbeat as she could. She continued to scan the crowd, hoping that Scootaloo would appear. Her prayers were answered when Scootaloo reappeared at the back of the group, acting as if she had been there the whole time. The group dispersed, everyone talking excitedly as they made their way to the exit. Dinky trotted up to Scootaloo, instantly noticing the pegasus’ oddly worried expression. “Are you okay? Did you get to talk to Cheerilee?” “What?” Scootaloo said, jumping at Dinky’s appearance. “Um yeah, yeah, it went great. She actually wants to meet again soon,” Scootaloo replied, her voice sounding strangely panicked. “That’s great,” Dinky smiled, but noticed that Scootaloo had a funny look on her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. Scootaloo nodded rapidly. “Come on we better hurry or we’ll miss our train.” She said, heading towards the exit. Dinky shrugged and followed after her. ////////////////// Scootaloo kept rubbing her neck during the entire train ride. Dinky couldn’t help but notice. “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem nervous,” she asked, eyebrow raised. Scootaloo gave her a funny look. “Oh, I’m just a little jittery is all,” Scootaloo replied absent mindedly, turning to look out the window as the city flew by. Dinky decided not to pursue the question any further and joined Scootaloo in watching the city fly by the windows of the train. Neither them noticed the looks a group of shady looking older stallions were giving them from the other end of the car. One of them whispered to another. The one who been whispering then stood up and walked over to the pair of mares smiling. “You ladies lost?” he asked, flashing them a big grin. “I could show you around if you want.” Scootaloo jumped at the intrusion. “Uh…no thanks. We’re almost home,” she replied, turning away again to look out the window, hoping weird stallion would go away. The stallion persisted. “Oh don’t be that way. I just wanna show ya a good time, that’s all…” he said, making to put his hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder. Before anyone could react Scootaloo grabbed the hand and shoved it away, causing the stallion to land on his back. The stallion’s friends all looked at him in shock. They then looked towards Scootaloo, joined by Dinky. “How did you do that?” Dinky asked, utterly shocked. Scootaloo simply stuttered, not quite sure what happened either, when the stallion jumped back up and ran at her. “You are gonna pay for that bitch!” he snarled. He lunged towards Scootaloo. Suddenly, everything shifted into slow motion for Scootaloo. She deftly hopped out of her seat and landed on the other side of the stallion. The train car grew deathly quiet as everyone looked at Scootaloo, mouths agape in shock. “Well don’t just stand there catch her!” the stallion barked towards his friends. One of them moved behind the Pegasus, and tried to tackle her like a football linebacker. Scootaloo flipped herself forward, the larger stallion still holding her arms down. In mid flip she saw another one moving at her and kicked her legs out, catching him in the chest and knocking him into two more of the gang. She wound up landing on top of the one who grabbed her the first time, knocking the wind out of him, causing his grip to go slack and let go. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves and looked the first stallion in the eyes. He looked at his buddies fearfully. The train slowed and stopped at a station and the doors slid open. The colts all shot each other panicked glances and scurried out of the car. Scootaloo simply watched them leave, completely baffled as to what had just happened. One minute she was sitting in the chair, the next, she had somehow fought off three colts twice her size. “What just happened?” Dinky asked an expression of complete and utter bewilderment on her face. Scootaloo simply shook her head, her expression mirroring Dinky. “I have no bucking clue.” > Change > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo and Dinky walked along the dimly lit city street in silence, towards the bakery. Neither really knew where to start, both quietly wondering what had just happened on the subway. “What in Equestria happened back there Scootaloo?” Dinky finally asked, stopping in her tracks and giving Scootaloo a questioning look. “I told you, I don’t know,” Scootaloo replied somewhat sharply. She was eager to get home at this point. She had been sweating bullets for the remainder of the train ride and had been having strange hot and cold flashes and the distinct feeling in her stomach that she might vomit. “Maybe you don’t know, but you have to have some clue.” Dinky said, pressing the issue. “I mean, seriously Scootaloo, ponies don’t just up and karate ponies like that on the subway. Have you been secretly been taking karate lessons to get back at Babs or something?” Scootaloo didn’t say anything; she just averted her eyes, looking at the ground instead; her mind slightly foggy for some reason. She thought back to the spider bite. The thought of suddenly dropping dead of poisoning flew past her mind’s eye. “Scootaloo!” Dinky said, sternly, snapping the orange Pegasus back into reality. Scootaloo looked at Dinky. Dinky had a concerned look on her face. “You’re in a cold sweat.” She said, motioning towards Scootaloo. “What? Really?” Scootaloo wiped her head and looked at her hand. It was totally soaked. “Are you okay Scootaloo? You look a little green.” Dinky said. Scootaloo’s vision went fuzzy for a second, but snapped back into focus when she shook her head. “Yeah, this walk was just more of a work out than I’m used to,” Scootaloo said, shaking the sweat off her hand. “I’m fine I swear.” She smiled awkwardly. Dinky didn’t look convinced. “You sure? Maybe your sick.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Nah, I’m fine…I’m fine…don’t need to worry yourself. Look,” she paused as they arrived at the bakery. “I think I’ve just had a long day you know? Talk tomorrow?” Dinky looked somewhat apprehensive. “Okay then, just stay safe okay? You look a little piqued.” Scootaloo nodded. “Of course don’t worry about it. I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning. Just need some rest.” She gave Dinky her best reassuring smile, which wasn’t much, considering that Scootaloo felt as if she had been run over by a herd of buffalo. “Okay, see ya then,” Dinky replied waving goodbye, a somewhat worried look on her face. “But we aren’t done talking about this,” she trotted off down the street, before fading into the night. Scootaloo sighed as she walked up the stairs. “Wow. My first friend and she's practically a clone of Aunt Cup,” she chuckled as she entered the house. ////////////////// The Cake family patiently sat at the dinner table, waiting for Scootaloo. “Momma can we eat yet? I’m hungry!” Pound complained, making an overdramatic sad puppy face. Cup Cake shook her head. “Not yet Pound, you know we have to wait for Scootaloo. Now please, be quiet, I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” Cup Cake said, sounding slightly impatient as she looked at the clock on the wall behind her. As if on cue, Scootaloo walked into the dining room, looking strangely tired and sweaty. “Hey guys, sorry I’m late…” she murmured, looking a little light headed. “Are you okay honey? You look a little sick,” Cup Cake asked, concerned. Scootaloo shrugged. “Just a little tired that’s all…” she wiped her noticeably wet forehead, causing her hand to become soaking wet. “Wow Scoots you look green!” Pound said from the table, before being quickly shushed by his mother. “Pound, that was rude. Say you’re sorry.” She motioned towards Scootaloo. Pound hung his head in embarrassment. “Sorry Scoots…” he said, looking quite dejected. Scootaloo smiled. “That’s okay sport, I’m just feeling a little tired is all…” she shook her head as if to clear it. “Um…Uncle Carrot…is it okay if I just skip dinner tonight? I honestly just don’t feel well.” Carrot Cake nodded. “Of course Scootaloo. You’re excused.” Scootaloo gave him an exhausted smile and started up the stairs. “Thanks…” There was an awkward pause as the four ponies watched Scootaloo go up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Pumpkin spoke up. “What’s wrong with Scootaloo momma?” she raised an eyebrow. Carrot Cake shrugged. “I’m not sure, but she’s probably just tired after a good, long day of school. Now eat your dinner or you can’t have desert okay?” ////////////////// Scootaloo flopped onto her bed unable to move. She didn’t even bother to close the door she was so exhausted and she was too sick to bother changing her clothes. Her whole body was now completely soaked from her cold sweat, causing her mane to stick to her forehead like a greasy mop. Her sheets were soaked as soon as she lay down, and now stuck to her body like glue. The nauseous feelings showed no signs of disappearing. It almost felt like someone was trying to twist her stomach in a pretzel knot. Her whole body ached and the back of her neck had a burning sensation, as if someone had dropped acid on it. She tried to fall asleep, but her own body seemingly fought against it. Her stomach twisted once more, the disgusting feeling of her stomach contents making a reappearance welling up in her throat. Scootaloo darted toward the bathroom as fast as she could. She got there just in time, empting her stomach into the toilet. “Ugh….” Was the only sound she could muster as she dragged herself to her feet and dragged herself back to her room, only stopping to wash out the gross taste in her mouth and at least try to freshen up. As she dragged herself back to her bed she noticed a slip of paper on the floor. It was the algorithm. She picked the paper up off the floor and looked at it. Suddenly she felt her stomach twist and she gagged and dropped the slip of paper, doing her best to avoid vomiting all over the floor. She eventually brought herself under control and picked up the slip of paper again. She was about to set it on her desk when she noticed a sentence written on the backside that was now facing up. NOTE: Do not use magic to mix. Outcome may be unpredictable. “I’ll have to let Dr. Cheerilee know tomorrow,” Scootaloo muttered as she flopped back to her bed and collapsed, surrendering to the forces of exhaustion. ////////////////// Cheerilee sat at her desk. She glanced up at the clock. It was 11:30 at night. Most of her research team had gone home, but she stayed behind, completely enraptured in discovering the secrets of the algorithm that Scootaloo had brought her that afternoon. That morning, Cheerilee had felt that she had reached the end of the line, that there was no answer to her dilemma, no freedom from the strange stares, the constant snickers, and mockery she had endured since the accident. She glanced down at her shoulder stump. It had brought more then its fare share of awkward stares and gawking. Not anymore. She turned attention to the notepad that was now completely covered in dozens of mathematical algorithms and equations. She had written the algorithm that Scootaloo gave her backwards and forwards and now, she knew it by heart. She glanced up at the clock. It was almost midnight. “Alright, well that should do for now,” she muttered to herself as she made her way to the door. She paused in the threshold. She glanced back at her desk, her eyes fixed on the scrap of paper. The scrap of paper that held the key to untold medical miracles, it almost seemed as if it where calling out to her, begging her to test it and unlock its hidden potential. I could test it. Make sure that it works, she thought. She walked over to the paper and was about to pick it up when the phone number in the corner of the paper caught her eye. You should wait Cheerilee, She thought. After all, you promised that filly that you’d wait. It’s as much hers as yours. Her father made it after all…. “Oh what the hay,” she finally said aloud. “I’ve been waiting ten years for this, I’m sure she’ll understand,” Cheerilee said to herself, trying to reason with herself. “After all,” she chuckled, “it’s not like if the filly was in my shoes she wouldn’t do the same…” she sat at her computer and started to eagerly type away. She set about running several simulations with the algorithm, testing to see how it would change or react to any of her own serums that she had made. Most of the time, it would barely change anything, but she finally hit the jack pot when she got around to using her lizard DNA serum. A broad smile crossed her face. “Okay then, now we’re in business!” she printed out the formula and eagerly made her way towards the lab, skipping like a school filly. She entered the lab and started collecting the chemicals needed to craft the formula. She then took the various vials of chemicals and mixed them as carefully as possible, keeping careful track of her progress. Once she felt she had the proper mixture, which was a soft reddish color that bubbled slightly, she gingerly poured the mixture into a large machine that hummed. The machine’s purpose was to mix various chemical compounds as thoroughly as possible through the use of magic stored in a synthetic crystal, allowing earth pony and pegasi scientists to get the same results as unicorns. In this case, the machine’s job was to magically mix compounds and cast minor spells over them, in case a unicorn was not available for the task. Cheerilee waited impatiently, watching the little progress bar move along slowly. “Please…come on…come on…” she whispered, as if her pleading would somehow speed the machine’s mixing process. A small sonar like ping announced that the machine had finished its mixing project. She gingerly removed the glass vial, smiling eagerly and placed it into a syringe. She held the syringe in her hands and eyed it with wonder. “There it is Cheerilee…the key to your freedom.” She moved the needle to the shoulder of her missing arm and took a deep breath, hesitating slightly. Oh come on, what are you waiting for? A voice in her head told her. You’ve waited long enough. Just do it. She took a deep breath and pushed the needle through her skin. She winced at the slight pinch. She slowly injected the serum into her arm, biting her lip in expectation. Once the syringe was empty, she gently removed it and placed it in a biohazard box. “Okay,” she sighed in relief. “That wasn’t so bad…so far no wild mutations…now all I have to do is take a blood sample and- AHG!” she cut off by a piercing pain shot through her, originating from where she had injected herself. Before she had a chance to properly react, another stab of pain caused her to drop to the floor. It felt as though her shoulder was being burned by both hot acid and fire at the same time. Cheerilee’s vision became fuzzy as the pain quickly grew to be too much and overcame her, causing her to pass out. //////////////// When sleep finally did claim Scootaloo, she was plagued by strange nightmares. She tried to move only to find her arms were stuck to her sides, a gross, sticky feeling enveloping her body. She struggled against whatever was preventing her from moving, only to discover she was trapped in a thick cocoon of webs. Panicking, she tried to struggle, her movements pulling on the strands of the truly tremendous web around her. A shadow appeared over her and Scootaloo looked up, her eyes widening in terror. Standing over her was a mammoth spider easily three times her size. The monstrous creature began to move towards the young Pegasus, slowly and deliberately. Scootaloo started to struggle wildly, her survival instincts kicking in. The spider marched towards her, its jaws widening, its fangs dripping venom. It finally reached her and opened its jaws wide and it let out a deafening sound. //////////////// Scootaloo bolted awake with the sound of her alarm clock screaming in her ears. She tried to locate it through her blurry vision, but gave up, instead reaching for her glasses. Her hand reached out to the spot on her nightstand where she usually put them before going to bed, but felt empty space instead. Oh come on… she thought. Most likely the twins were playing a joke on her. She put a hand to her face. “Uhhh…it’s too early for…this,” she grumbled, her sentence trailing off as she felt her muzzle. Her hand traced the rim of her lenses. Then it dawned on her. She hadn’t taken her glasses off last night. She slowly lowered the lenses from her eyes and her vision cleared immediately. “What?” Scootaloo muttered, completely confused. She sorted through all the potential causes for the sudden change in the quality of her vision. She absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck, her mind still very much confused. Her hand however, felt a small welt on her neck and her eyes widened in realization. “The spider bite?” she said aloud, more of a question then a statement. She then laughed. “No way…I mean, that’s just crazy!” she chuckled to herself, trying to calm herself. That only happened in comic books right? She climbed out of bed, making sure to stop the dreaded alarm that was still honking like a car horn directly in her ear. The first thing she noted that she was feeling considerably better than she had been the night before. Her nausea had faded along with the dizziness and she was no longer drenched in sticky sweat, although her clothes were still a bit damp. A hopeful smile crossed her face. This wasn’t exactly the best thing to happen in the last twenty-four hours, but it was in the top five for sure. Certainly better then ending up dead from the bite or something. “Hmm, I should probably tell somepony about this, just in case,” she muttered to herself as she started changing into clean clothes and searched for everything she’d need for school. As she packed her backpack, making sure to take the algorithm as well, she felt a strange tingling sensation and before she even had a chance to properly process it, spun around and caught a foam dart an inch from her face. She looked for the source of the dart and saw Pound sitting in her doorway with a dart gun pointing at her, a confused look on his face. “How did you get so fast?” he asked, his voice a mix of shock and awe. Scootaloo simply blinked for a second, just as confused as he was. “That’s my secret kid,” she replied, her confusion quickly replaced by pride as she finished packing her bag, and trotted past him. She grabbed her scooter from its spot by the stairs and walked down to the bakery. “Morning Auntie,” she said cheerily as she gave her aunt, who was setting some muffins out for breakfast, a peck on the cheek. “Oh, good morning Scootaloo. Feeling any better?” Aunt Cup Cake asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek in response. “To put it mildly, yeah,” Scootaloo replied, smiling. She quickly grabbed a muffin and started for the door. She got the tingling sensation again and dodged to the right, a foam dart stuck to the door. She turned to look at Pound, sitting on the stairs with the dart gun, his face the very portrait of shock. “Better luck next time short stuff,” Scootaloo winked as she walked out the door. She flipped her scooter open and began the journey to school. Her Aunt looked at the door in bewilderment. “Did she forget her glasses?” she asked looking at the colt on the stairs. ///////////// Cheerilee slowly awoke in a daze. She slowly opened her eyes, wearily scanning the room. Her head felt as if it was in a vice. “What the hay just happened…” she asked herself as her eyes drifted to her amputated arm, a dull pain throbbing in it. “What? Where’s this coming from?” she asked, confused by the phantom pain. She'd stopped having them years ago. She was lying on the floor of her living room, which was completely and utterly decimated. Her couch was ripped in several places, with the stuffing pulled out and littering the floor. The coffee table that usually sat in the middle of the room was obliterated, reduced to a pile of broken glass and splinters. “What is…what?” she asked no one in particular, completely dumbfounded by the sight before her. She noticed something else too. A strange smell reached her nose. It smelled like something died. Her eyes drifted down towards the ground. She was overcome with a sudden queasiness at the horrifying sight before her. Surrounding her were several dozen piles of blood stained feathers, tufts of fur and scattered bones that seemed to have come from some kind of small animal. She finally noticed the strange metallic taste in her mouth. It tasted like blood. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to vomit and she bolted to her feet, staggering as best she could over the debris of the room and towards the bathroom, emptying her stomach into the toilet. She let out a groan and looked down at the disgusting sight before her. Floating amongst the rest of her stomach contents were bits of bone, feathers and fur. “W-what in Equestria?” she croaked, fear overcoming her as the realization that she had just eaten a living thing dawned on her. She once more emptied her stomach into the toilet, slumping next to it and groaning. She dragged herself to her feet and started to wash her mouth out over and over again, in an attempt to purge the horrible taste from her mouth. After about twenty rinses, she flushed the toilet and reentered the living room “What in Equestria happened in here?” she wondered aloud, as she started to clean up the debris as fast as she could. She didn’t know what could have possibly caused this damage, but the sight of various small animals ripped to shreds was simply unbearable. Before she had a chance to clean the disgusting sight up, however, her phone began ringing, causing her to jump in fright. She looked around for her phone, since it wasn’t anywhere on her body. She rummaged through the remains of the couch and found it, inexplicitly stuffed between what was left of the cushions. She fumbled with the phone for a few seconds, and finally managed to answer it. “Hello?” she asked hesitantly, not knowing who was on the other end. “Dr. Cheerilee, where have you been? We’ve been trying to reach you all morning!” A voice on the other end asked, his voice panicked. “I… I slept in,” Cheerilee said, not sure what else to say as she scanned the room again. “Well you’d better get here quick.” The voice on the other end said. “Why?” Cheerilee replied, rubbing her head to try to alleviate her headache. “Is something wrong?” “Yeah, there was a break in last night and the boss is out for blood.” the other voice replied. “Oh okay then. I’ll be there soon,” Cheerilee said, attempting to assure her coworker. She hanged up the phone and looked around the room. I can’t leave the house looking like this, she thought as she dragged herself to her feet and started to clean up the mess as best as she could. She wiped up the blood, bones and fur, sure to use as much bleach and floor cleaner as possible to purge away the disgusting sight. She then went about attempting to make the room look at least moderately presentable, ending up piling most stuff into a rather sloppy pile in the corner of the room. She flopped down on the destroyed couch, completely exhausted and incredibly confused. Her headache only seemed to get worst as time passed. She let out a heavy sigh and started to get ready for work. She took a quick shower, dried herself off, and took a pain killer to at least try to alleviate the massive headache. And was about to leave when she caught sight of something jammed into the door frame. Reaching over, she pulled out the object. It looked like a scale. And not just any normal scale, but rather a massive scale, as if it were off of a dragon. It was a dark emerald color and it glinted in the sunlight, only managing to add to her confusion. “What in Celestia’s name is going on?” > Unfair > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Well this sucks,” Scootaloo grumbled as she walked through the halls of school. Her day had started out great, she didn’t feel like vomiting, her vision had somehow cleared up and her reflexes improved exponentially, all of this overnight. It had been somewhat jarring at first, but she’d been slowly getting used to it, deciding not to freak out and ruin a potentially good thing. No, the actual reason she was feeling frustrated was because she had searched high and low for Dinky, and hadn’t seen her anywhere. The unicorn had been completely absent through homeroom and even though Scootaloo went to Dinky’s locker between classes, she still couldn’t find her. “Where did you go?” she muttered to herself, as she made her way to the courtyard for lunch. She paused in the doorway, scanning the courtyard for any signs of the missing unicorn. Her eyes brightened when she caught sight of Dinky sitting at a table on the far side, a large book open in front of her. Scootaloo trotted up behind her and leaned in. “What are you reading?” she asked. Dinky jumped in fright at the sound of her friend’s voice. “Don’t do that,” she said swatting Scootaloo away rather harshly. “What’s wrong Dinky? Where were you all day?” Scootaloo asked, sitting next to Dinky. Dinky turned to answer but instead blinked in shock. “Wait, where are your glasses?” Dinky asked confusion in her face. “Oh I don’t need them anymore,” Scootaloo said, smirking at her friend’s reaction. Dinky raised an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that your vision improved so well you no longer need prescription glasses? And this improvement took place overnight?” “Yeah, pretty much. Now, are you going to answer my question?” Scootaloo asked as she pulled a lunch bag out of her backpack. “What question?” “The question about where you were all morning, I looked all over the place.” Scootaloo said as she rummaged through the lunch bag. “I was avoiding you.” Dinky said rather bluntly, causing Scootaloo to look up, eyebrow raised. “Why?” “Because, Scootaloo, you could have gotten the both of us into an incredible amount of trouble yesterday!” Dinky said, sounding quite angry. Some of the students nearby turned to stare. Dinky noticed them and blushed slightly, sitting back down rather awkwardly. Scootaloo put an arm around Dinky’s shoulders. “Relax, Dinky, I’m pretty sure nopony noticed me. Look,” she leaned in towards Dinky. “I’m sorry that I got you worried, honest. I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I get a little too curious for my own good. Are you sure you didn’t get in trouble?” Dinky shrugged her anger fading. “I don’t know yet. I’ll probably find out tomorrow,” “And what might that be,” A disturbingly familiar voice sneered from behind them. “What do you want Babs?” Scootaloo groaned, not even bothering to turn around. “Oh nothing. Just wanted to check up on my two best pals is all,” Babs replied, giving Dinky a noogie. “Hey stop!” Dinky shouted, trying to escape the unwanted contact. “So make me,” Babs challenged, undeterred by the unicorn’s efforts at escape. Scootaloo jumped out of her seat and shoved Babs away from the grey mare, sending the slightly bulkier mare stumbling away. “Fine. I’ll make you,” Scootaloo said glaring at Babs. “Scootaloo don’t,” Dinky said, putting a hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “She’s not worth it, trust me.” Babs meanwhile, had stood back up, a scowl on her face. “Oh so you wanna play now, huh Scoots? Fine,” She growled, charging at the smaller mare. Scootaloo waited until Babs was right in front of her before she sprang from the ground, spinning in the air and landing behind Babs, sweeping her leg out behind her as she did, causing Babs to trip and skid across the ground. Babs got up, shaking herself off, and looked at Scootaloo in confusion. Then she heard a familiar sound. Laughter. A crowd had begun to form around her and Scootaloo. But the other students weren’t laughing at Scootaloo this time, they were laughing at Babs. “Shut up!” Babs shouted. The group instantly fell silent, the laughter dying away. Babs then turned towards Scootaloo, who was standing at the opposite edge of the ring the mob had formed. Babs’ eyes narrowed. “That’s it. I’m sending you home in a body cast!” she roared as she once more charged towards the small pegasus. Scootaloo once again waited patiently. As soon as Babs was a foot away from her, Scootaloo side stepped the charge. She then grabbed Babs around the waist and swung the earth pony around. Babs flew through the air towards an occupied lunch table. She slid across the metal surface, trays of food getting knocked aside as she passed. She fell off the table with a loud thump. Everyone turned in unison towards the table where Babs had fallen, all smiling. Babs stood up, completely covered in various bits of lunch food. There was a long awkward silence, before the crowd burst into a fit of laugher, all pointing their fingers towards the now humiliated pony. “No, shut up!” Babs yelled, quickly becoming overcome by the shame. The crowd continued laughing, causing Babs to turn tail and bolt towards the school house, tears in her eyes. As soon as she Babs was out of sight, the crowd started cheering for Scootaloo. “Way to go,” one colt said as he walked past, giving Scootaloo a pat on the back. “We knew you had it in you,” Another cheered, also giving her a pat on the back. Various other ponies all passed by, giving her congratulations on her victory. Scootaloo had done it. She’d finally beaten Babs at her own game. Knocked her down a few pegs and shown everypony how vulnerable the bigger mare really was. Then why, she wondered, did she feel so empty inside? She noticed Dinky giving her a displeased look. “What?” She asked, looking towards Dinky. “That was an awful thing to do,” Dinky replied. Scootaloo looked at Dinky in shock. “What do you mean ‘awful’, you saw what happened, she deserved it,” Scootaloo replied, not really believing her own words. “Maybe…” Dinky said. “But when she ran I saw something familiar. I saw myself the first time she picked on me. Congratulations, Scootaloo, you’re on her level now,” And with that, Dinky walked away. Scootaloo started after her, but a loud voice distracted her. “Scootaloo!” the voice shouted. Scootaloo turned in the direction of the voice to see her math teacher standing in the doorway, a grim look on her face. “Buck me,” Scootaloo mumbled. ////////////////////////// Scootaloo sat waiting in the main office, feeling quite frustrated with herself. The principle had called her uncle who was undoubtedly on the way. “How did I get into this?” she muttered herself, twiddling her thumbs. The clock ticked slowly, time passing at a snails pace. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only five minutes, her uncle stormed into the office. Without a word he stepped into the principal’s office and had a quick word. Before Scootaloo had a chance to figure out what had been said behind the closed door, Uncle Carrot walked out of the office and towards her. “Come on. Get your stuff and let’s go,” he told her forcefully. “But there’s still an hour of school left,” Scootaloo said, confused. “Not for you. Congratulations, you just got suspended for a week. I hope you’re proud,” he said angrily. “We’ll talk more when we get home,” he grumbled turning towards the door. Scootaloo followed closely her head hanging in shame. As they walked towards the front doors Scootaloo heard familiar voices chattering down the hall. She stopped and looked to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon standing near a very depressed looking Babs. “I can’t believe you let her make a fool of you like that,” Diamond said sneering at the dark orange mare. “I mean she’s like half your size. You must be really pathetic to lose to her.” “I know,” Silver Spoon chimed in. “I mean even I could have probably beaten her. But you just ran away with your tail between your legs crying,” she laughed as her and Diamond walked away, giggling and laughing amongst themselves, leaving Babs standing there alone, sniffing and crying quietly. Scootaloo simply stared at Babs, her mind a blank. Where was the mean, tough Babs that terrified the school? The Babs she saw here was a sad, pitiful pony, bullied by those two rich jerks. Why hadn’t Babs punched those two, instead of cowering in front of them and letting them demean her in such a way? “Scootaloo.” Her uncle called out to her, still looking quite angry at her, snapping Scootaloo out of her thoughts. She turned to follow after her uncle, her mind focused on one thought. I’m just as bad as them. ////////////////// Cheerilee stood in the elevator, still trying to patch together what had happened the night before. The last thing she remembered was being her lab and injecting the serum. Then, an extreme pain in her missing leg and blackness. Then she woke up in her own living room and surrounded by dead animals. The elevator dinged, announcing her arrival on the floor where she worked. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and walked out of the elevator, heading to her office. When she got there, her eyes immediately widened at the sight before her. “Oh dear Celestia…” Broken glass littered the floor outside the research area, along with bits of broken off drywall. “Oh good you’re finally here,” a voice that Cheerilee recognized as the coworker she had spoken to on the phone. It was a rather thin sky blue unicorn with a grey mane. “What…Uh…What happened?” Cheerilee asked a feeling in the pit her stomach already giving her an idea of what might have happened. The unicorn shook her head. “Like I said over the phone; it looks like someone tried to break in. It doesn’t look like anything was actually taken, but a lot of our equipment was destroyed. To be honest I didn’t even know anypony could do that much damage,” the other mare said, an edge of confusion in her voice. “Oh my,” Cheerilee replied, only half paying attention. She walked into the lab, being careful to avoid what few shards of glass had fallen inside. She almost felt like fainting. The scene displayed before her was in many ways identical to the one she had awoken to that morning. She wandered over to the spot she had mixed the serum the previous night. The table the mixer was on looked like it had been fed halfway into a wood chipper. The machine itself was smashed on the other side of the room. The chemicals were spilled on the floor, forming an ugly mess of colors on the floor. That’s when Cheerilee’s eye caught sight of something strangely familiar in the mixed liquids. She reached out and picked up the object. It was a scale, almost identical to the one she had found back at her home. “What is happening?” she muttered to herself. “Um…Doctor Cheerilee?” She spun around and suddenly felt very awkward. The other researchers were all staring at her with eyebrows raised. “Um, sorry…” she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and started towards the door, discreetly shoving the scale in her lab coat pocket. “Do you have any idea what might have caused this?” one of the researchers asked. Cheerilee shook her head. “No, no I don’t…” ////////////////// “What were you thinking?!” Uncle Carrot shouted as he followed Scootaloo into the family room above the bakery. “I… I don’t know,” Scootaloo mumbled, not meeting his gaze. “You don’t know? How do you not know?” Carrot asked in disbelief. “You humiliated that girl at school and for what? Payback?” “No!” Scootaloo said forcefully, still refusing to look at her uncle. “She was picking on me and my friend and I stood up to her. I figured that’d be a good thing.” Her shoulders sagged and she looked down at the floor, her own foolish and selfish actions becoming apparent. There was a long pause between the two, as Uncle Carrot walked over and sat next to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo,” he said, “You must understand that standing up for your friend is a good thing, but the way you handled it isn’t.” “Then why am I in trouble?” Scootaloo moaned feeling quite frustrated. “I finally find it in me to defend myself and I get suspended? That’s not fair,” she stamped a hoof. “What’s not fair is you using this new found courage to settle a grudge.” Uncle Carrot stated matter of factly. “I know that was the girl who’s been picking on you; your principal told me everything. He seemed shocked I didn’t know,” there was a pause. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” he asked, turning to look Scootaloo in the eyes, looking rather worried. “Because I didn’t need the help. I’m fine on my own. I think I proved that today,” Scootaloo said, shifting on her feet, feeling more and more conflicted. “That’s no excuse. Just because you can do something doesn’t always make it right,” Uncle Carrot interjected. “With great power comes great responsibility. I know that may be difficult to understand right now, but-” “Oh no, I get it,” Scootaloo interrupted. “It’s a great excuse for why you never told me you still had my dad’s bag!” she shouted, now on the verge of tears. Carrot’s raised an eyebrow. “Bag? What bag?” he asked perplexed. “What do you mean ‘what bag’? The bag my dad left you! The one I found in the attic yesterday!” Her uncle’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh…that bag…” Scootaloo nodded angrily. “Yeah, that bag! Why didn’t you just tell me about it?! Something like ‘Oh Scootaloo did we ever tell you that some of your dad’s old things are up in the attic buried under dust and old baking trophies,’” she said, doing a fairly poor imitation of her uncle’s voice. There was another long pause between the two, as Uncle Carrot seemed to regretful. “Look, Scootaloo, I’m sorry, but your father asked me to keep his notes hidden. He didn’t really go into much more detail than that, but he said it was important. So, I just up and stuffed it in the attic. After the first few years I just forgot about it. I really am sor-” “Sorry doesn’t cut it!” Scootaloo responded still feeling frustrated. “If it was so important there’s no way you could just forget!” Before her uncle had a chance to react, the voice of Aunt Cup called out to them as she climbed up the stairs. “What’s going on?” She asked, leaning into the door way, concern in her eyes. “Your shouting is scaring away the customers.” Scootaloo sighed and shook her head. “Nothing, I’m just gonna go for a walk,” she said darkly as she made her way down stairs. Uncle Carrot didn’t even try to stop her. Once outside Scootaloo started walking aimlessly. She didn’t know where she was going and, quite honestly, she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away from her uncle’s lecture, to sort things out herself. //////////////// Scootaloo wandered for quite awhile, eventually heading back towards her school. Just in time to see all of the other students getting let out for the day. She noticed a few of them heading for carriages, presumably driven by their parents. Scootaloo felt herself grow bitter at the smiles of happy dad’s greeting her classmates who mostly just looked mortified. “Don’t know how good they have it,” she muttered to herself. “Hey, someone stop that guy!” someone shouted. Scootaloo looked in the direction of the commotion to see an unknown stallion running away from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with what looked like one of the two mares’ purse. The stallion skidded to a halt as he almost ran into Scootaloo. The stallion stared at Scootaloo for a brief moment. “Just go. They kinda have it coming,” Scootaloo said. The stallion wasted no time and bolted down the street. Diamond and Silver Spoon ran up to Scootaloo, their faces red with indignation. “Why didn’t you do anything? Now he’s gonna get away,” she spat towards Scootaloo. “You don’t deserve my help,” Scootaloo said curtly and turned to walk away. Before she got too far a white hoof landed on her shoulder, and she stopped to look at the pony attached to it. “I think we should talk,” said Featherweight, his voice laced with disappointment. /////////////////// Scootaloo and Featherweight sat in a small café, sharing an order of hayfries. A television in the corner of the room held Scootaloo’s attention. “It’s unclear whether she’s alive or dead, but military police assure us that well known business tycoon and inventor Comet Dash and his daughter Rainbow have most likely been taken captive by a Diamond Dog terrorist group that has been wreaking havoc in that section of Northern Equestria,” the news stallion droned, his voice utterly devoid of emotion. “You wanna tell me what happened with Babs?” Featherweight asked, breaking the silence between them. Scootaloo groaned in frustration. “For Faust’s sake, why do I have to keep defending what I did? I stood up to Babs and everyone’s acting like I did something wrong,” She said, seething at the accusation. Featherweight shrugged. “It’s because that’s just not like you at all. I didn’t even know you could move like that. I mean I’d have been admiring it if you weren’t the one tossing Babs over a table,” he said, taking a sip of his cola. Scootaloo groaned. “But that’s what I don’t get. Babs is a bitch. Why is everyone getting mad I fought back?” she asked, looking towards Featherweight. “I mean, seriously Featherweight. You know her tell me why everypony is angry at me for standing up for myself.” Featherweight paused, leaning back slightly. “Do you want me to be dead honest?” Scootaloo nodded, feeling somewhat exasperated. Why couldn’t someone just come clean and tell her the truth, no strings attached? “Yes. I want you to be dead honest.” Featherweight sighed. “Okay then. Truth is, Babs is a lot like you,” Featherweight said rather matter-of-factly. “She isn’t really friends with Diamond or Silver Spoon. She hates them. The only reason you ever see her with them is because they just hang around her so no one messes with them, they bully her just as much as she bullies all the other fillies,” Featherweight explained. Scootaloo simply blinked in shock. She had caught a glimpse of that before, but honestly, deep down, thought that maybe it was just an isolated incident. “And that brings me to my second point,” Featherweight continued. “Why didn’t you stop that stallion that snatched Diamond’s purse?” Featherweight’s words snapped Scootaloo back into reality. “What do you mean ‘why didn’t I stop him?’” she asked, once more angry that she had to explain her actions for the second time today. “Featherweight, you just gave me a good reason why she doesn’t deserve help. I figure it’ll teach Diamond a lesson,” she shifted in her seat, feeling guiltier for her actions each passing second. “I know, but you could have done it another way. Sure, someponies might say you were obligated to, since Diamond has been so mean to you in the past, but be honest, you’re more of the selfless type, aren’t you?” he asked, smiling. Scootaloo sighed. This was almost exactly what her uncle had been saying, just worded differently. She slumped down onto the table. “I know. It was wrong what I did back there. I should have done something. It’s just…” she paused, wondering how to properly word what she wanted to say. “It’s just that I had an argument with my uncle earlier and I was still angry I guess.” She confessed, a sense of relief coming over her. “And so you took your anger out on Diamond,” Featherweight finished. “Well I can’t say it was right, but I understand.” There was a pause. Scootaloo then broke the silence. “You know what? To tell you the truth, you kinda just gave me the same advice my Uncle did.” She paused, her smile fading as she replayed the fight with her uncle in her head. “Except I threw it back in his face,” she said, starting to feel guilty. Featherweight said nothing, instead looking at Scootaloo thoughtfully. “Sounds like you owe him an apology,” he finally said, simply. “Yeah,” Scootaloo replied. She fiddled with her hayfries, afraid to ask her next question. It was getting late and she was feeling that strange tingling sensation from before. “Could…could you, maybe walk me home?” she asked, blushing slightly. “I don’t wanna be alone right now.” Featherweights eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. “Sure,” he said. Scootaloo smiled back rather awkwardly and the two got up and started walking towards Scootaloo’s home. //////////////////// The strange tingling sensation Scootaloo was feeling only grew stronger as the two of them made their way towards home. She and Featherweight hadn’t talked much, both feeling that enough had been said already. “You, okay?” Featherweight asked. “You seem nervous.” “I don’t know. I just feel a little off. Like something isn’t the way it should be,” Scootaloo answered, shaking off the strange feeling of foreboding she felt. As they neared the house Scootaloo began to sweat. Something was horribly wrong, she could feel it. But what? As if to answer her question, her eyes caught sight of bright flashing lights as they reached the corner. “Oh no,” Scootaloo whispered as she broke out into a run, rounding the corner with Featherweight scampering behind her. “Hey wait up!” he shouted, bolting after Scootaloo. Scootaloo came to a dead halt as her worst fears were confirmed. She was greeted with the sight of two police cars parked outside the bakery, alongside an ambulance. A small crowd of ponies, consisting mostly of on-lookers were gathered around in a ring outside the police tape, all gawking at the scene before them. Scootaloo once again broke into a gallop. She had to find her family. To see if they were alright. She shoved her way through the growing crowd, ducking under the police tape and making a beeline towards the front of the bakery. “Did you see what he looked like?” she heard an officer say and spun around almost instantly, looking for where the officer was standing. She saw him standing in front of Aunt Cup, who was sobbing. “He was a little taller than me and he had a white mane and a black coat,” Her aunt choked out between sobs, dabbing her eyes with a cloth every so often in a futile attempt to wipe away the tears. “Aunt Cup?” Scootaloo said her voice laced with concern. The older mare turned to look towards her, her eyes red and puffy from sobbing. “Oh Scootaloo, he shot him,” she cried hysterically, pulling Scootaloo into a tight hug. “Who did he shot?” Scootaloo asked, quickly becoming overwhelmed with confusion. “He took Carrot from us,” Aunt Cup wailed, collapsing to the ground, completely overwhelmed with emotion. “What?” Scootaloo asked, still trying to process what was happening. Aunt Cup could do nothing but cry though, unable to explain further. “Are you Mr. Cake’s daughter?” one of the police stallions asked Scootaloo. Scootaloo couldn’t answer, as the full scope of what had just happened dawning on her. She collapsed to the ground, tears pouring out of her eyes. “No she’s his niece. They raised her,” another, much younger voice to her side explained. Scootaloo turned towards the source of the voice to see that Featherweight had caught up with her. “What happened exactly?” he asked the officer, seemingly knowing that Scootaloo wanted to know. The police officer bit his lip, obviously apprehensive. “Um, well, the perpetrator came into the bakery and threatened the Cakes at gun point.” He paused, giving the three a worried look. “And?” Featherweight asked again. The police officer bit his lip again, sighed and continued. “When Mr. Cake didn’t give him the money he wanted the perp shot him at close range.” At the officer’s words, Aunt Cup exploded into another series of heaving sobs. Scootaloo meanwhile just stared ahead blankly. She honestly didn’t know what to feel at this point. A part of her felt an immense sadness for her loss. Another part of her felt an incredible seething rage for what the killer had done. He had taken away the only pony that came close to being her father. And yet, yet another part of her felt an incredible sense of guilt. It was her that caused the fight with her uncle. Her and her own selfishness. Then, a thought passed through her mind. “Where are the twins?” she asked, still in a daze. “They’re over there, next to our car,” The officer’s replied, motioning towards the ambulance. “You two should go see to them. I’ll stay here,” Featherweight said gently, motioning towards the twins. Scootaloo nodded and lead her aunt to the car. She saw that the twins were safe, sitting outside, their faces masks of fear as a paramedic checked them over. “Scootaloo!” They shouted as they caught sight of Scootaloo. Scootaloo ran up to them and hugged them tightly. “Hey guys…” she said, just happy to see them okay. “Daddy won’t wake up,” Pound said, on the verge of tears. “But he will, won’t he?” Pumpkin asked trying to be hopeful. Aunt Cup suddenly pulled her children and niece in for a hug. “No, Pumpkin. Dads not going to wake up sweetheart,” she said, trying to stay calm for her children. Scootaloo didn’t try to back away, instead gratefully excepting the comfort her family gave her. At that moment Featherweight walked up to them, an unsure look on his face. Scootaloo looked at him in the hope he’d try to comfort her. She opened her mouth to ask him what he’d been told when she noticed a piece of paper in his hoof. Featherweight apparently noticed that she saw what he had and tried to hide it, but Scootaloo’s hoof darted out at lightning speed and snatched it from him. What she saw amplified her rage and guilt tenfold. It was a sketch of the killer. It was the stallion that had stolen Diamond’s purse. The stallion Scootaloo had let walk away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to do anything crazy.” Featherweight said, sounding quite sincere. Scootaloo thought for a moment, a plan formulating in her mind. She slowly looked up at Featherweight, her eyes burning with anger. Scootaloo buried herself into her aunt’s tight embrace, her mind focused on one thing and one thing only. She would find that pony, and once she did, she would make him pay. > The Lizard > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dinky stared open mouthed at what remained of Dr. Cheerilee’s lab. She had been working here for only about a year, but never in her life had she seen something like this. The only words she could think of to describe the sheer scope of destruction before her was as if an atomic bomb had been set off inside. Glass covered the floor, the desks and tables where shattered and any machines or computers in the room looked as if they had lost a fight with a wood chipper. Dozens of vials and beakers lay shattered on the ground, their contents mixing into pools of various sizes and colors. Surrounding the lab was a veritable spider-web of caution tape, and two security ponies stood guard, idly discussing the results of the latest football game. Dinky wracked her brain for an answer to explain the strange sight before her. She saw another intern who was also staring at the remains of the laboratory and walked over to them. “Hey, Flicker,” she asked him. “What happened here?” she asked pointing at what remained of the laboratory. Flicker, a slightly older unicorn stallion with gray mane and black coat, turned to face her. “I’m not really sure. I was told it was a break in, but nothing was taken so that doesn’t really make any sense,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking just as confused. “Seriously? That’s odd,” Dinky commented, gazing at the lab. “Is Dr. Cheerilee around?” she asked. “She was here earlier, but I think she got called upstairs to talk to the board. They’re pretty damned pissed right now, I’ll tell you that.” Flicker said. Dinky bit her lip, becoming worried for the older mare. She’d hate to see her get into trouble for something that couldn’t have been her fault. “Okay, thanks,” she said as she made her way to the elevator down the hall. “Sure thing Dinks.” Flicker replied, turning to handle his own internship duties. ///////////////////// Dr. Cheerilee sat at the end of the huge oak wood table where the board of directors sat. She was sweating slightly, this being the first time she’d ever been called up to the conference room. The grim faces of at least twelve stallions, all looking quite angry, stared back at her.The past hour had been incredibly stressful for her, with a constant barrage of questions directed towards her, all concerning the events of the night before and what Cheerilee might have had to do with them. She herself didn’t even have a proper clue. She only had a vague series of foggy memories, images of sewers and claws and scales. “Dr. Cheerliee,” One thin stallion with a high voice and an incredibly expensive suit asked. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for us to believe that anyone could have gotten past our security?” “I understand that it isn’t plausible, but I assure you I locked my lab when I left last night,” Cheerilee said, internally wincing at the lie. She hadn’t been able to figure out why she had blacked out last night, but whatever the reason, they’d most likely be furious to learn that she had been experimenting past closing time. “Besides the window was broken.That’s probably how they got in,” she suggested, hoping to lessen their suspicion. “The glass was outside the lab though. Whoever broke it was already on the inside when they did it,” pointed out the only mare, an incredibly mean looking individual with a slicked back mane. Cheerilee gulped. What would she tell them? That she had somehow managed to transform into a giant lizard and destroy the lab? Oh yeah, they’d accept that right off. Probably fire her on the spot and black list her name. “Sir, what do you make of all this?” another stallion sitting at the end of the table closest to Cheerilee, huffed. Everyone looked to the white unicorn sitting at the far end of the table. He hadn’t said a word throughout the entire meeting. He had only been listening, absorbing what everyone else was saying. It was Blueblood, head of the board of directors, and founder of BlueCorp. “What do I think?” he asked incredulously. “I think that this entire meeting was a waste of time and therefore money. All the evidence we need is in the security office in the monitor room. Someone call them and tell them to start going over the tapes from last night. Then we can figure out exactly what happened and take proper action afterwards,” he told them, his voice terse. It was obvious that he was holding back any anger he felt at having what he must have thought was an incredibly trivial matter. “What about the lab?” Asked an earth pony on the left side of the table, a worried look on his face. “It was an important one.” “We buy a new one,” Blueblood stated nonchalantly. “It’s not exactly going to bankrupt us is it? We would have gone out of business a long time ago if one destroyed room were enough to put us under,” he said rising from his seat. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have more important things to worry about,” he said walking through a set of doors behind the table, into his office. “Meeting adjourned,” he stated as he closed the doors behind himself. The rest of the board began discussing other business and Cheerilee noticed that they were no longer paying any attention to her. “Um…am I excused?” she asked, hoping that this was her chance to leave. She was starting to feel odd, like something was gnawing at her missing arm and a dull headache was starting to form. One of the ponies waved his hand dismissively, not even bothering to look at her as he discussed something with the other board members. Taking this as a sign that she was dismissed, she quietly got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. “Oh, what am I going to do?” she asked herself as she looked out one of the windows at the city below. She knew that as soon as security went through the tapes they’d see whatever happened in there. Although her memories were foggy as to what had happened after the injection, she knew whatever happened, she’d probably be fired or worse jailed. Not that it would matter. She’d be barred from any job involving genetics for the rest of her life. Get the tapes, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. She shook her mind to clear it, a strange wave of dizziness suddenly overtaking her. Once her head cleared, she sat down, pondering what to do next. The idea of stealing the security tapes was quickly becoming all the more attractive by the second. But how? She thought. How do I get the tapes without getting caught? The answer to her question came in the form of a familiar voice calling to her from down the hall. Cheerilee looked in the direction the voice came from to see Dinky trotting up towards her, looking rather worried. “Dr. Cheerilee! What’s going on? I just showed up and saw the lab,” she said, looking at Cheerilee as if the older mare might have the answers. Cheerilee looked down at Dinky, wondering what to tell the young filly. An idea starting to form in her mind. “Somepony tore up the lab. They aren’t sure who, but I’m under suspicion since I was the last pony to leave last night,” she told her. “But that’s crazy!” Dinky said, stamping a hoof on the ground. “Why would you tear up the lab? That’s your life’s work in there!” Cheerilee nervously held up her hoof to calm Dinky. “I know Dinky, but, as strange as it sounds, there’s a chance they’re onto something.” “What? How?” Dinky asked, confused. “You didn’t do anything did you?” she asked, her voice filled with worry. Cheerilee shook her head, started to feel just as confused as Dinky must have been. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I can’t explain everything right now, but I do need your help,” she said, quickly becoming more determined by the second. Dinky looked puzzled for a moment, as if Cheerilee had just spoken in another language. However, after a long pause, her expression changed to a determined look. “What do you need me to do?” A small smile crossed Cheerilee’s face. There was a light at the end of tunnel at last. “Okay, Dinky, I need you to go to the security office and get the tapes from last night and bring them to me. But, whatever you do, don’t watch them. Understand?” Cheerilee said. Dinky looked a tad worried at this. “Um, are you absolutely sure about this? What if I get caught?” “Then say that Blueblood asked you to do it,” Cheerilee quickly answered. Dinky nodded, her worry fading slightly. “Okay. Where do you want me to bring them to you?” “Bring it to my house. We can’t risk anyone here catching us,” Cheerilee replied, her headache slowly returning. Dinky nodded and began to walk away. She stopped part way to the elevator. “Everything’s going to turn out okay right?” she asked, looking for some reassurance. “I don’t know,” Cheerilee said, unable to meet her protégé’s eyes, the headache becoming more and more prevalent. Dinky looked noticeably worried as she stepped into the elevator and closed the doors behind her. ///////////////////////// Dinky walked through the main security office, carrying a cup of coffee. Cheerilee had been acting very strange upstairs, and had asked her to do something that sounded awfully risky. Nonsense, she thought. Dr. Cheerilee would never put me in danger. If she asked me to do it, most likely she really needs me to do it. Get a hold of yourself Dinky. Nonetheless, she was barely able to stop herself from shaking, the coffee vibrating her aura. “Can I help you young filly?” a deep voice asked. Dinky nearly jumped as an older stallion dressed in a black security uniform addressed her. “Oh, sorry if I’m getting in your way.” Dinky said, quickly calming herself down. “I was looking for the monitor room. One of my coworkers in the genetics lab wanted me to bring this,” she levitated the coffee mug. “To the stallion who works there,” she said, kicking herself over the horribly flimsy excuse. The security officer gave her a long, hard look before he responded. “If you want I can bring it to him,” he offered. Dinky gulped. “Oh thank you, that’d be awesome,” she said levitating the beverage to the stallion. The stallion took the cup in his own magic and started walking down the hall. Dinky waited until he was around the corner at the end of the hall before following after him. She peeked around the corner and saw him arrive at a door and punch in a code. 79654. She repeated the code to herself as the stallion walked in. “Hey, your friend in the genetics lab sent someone to give you this,” he said as he walked in. “I don’t know anyone from genetics. Who brought it?” Asked another voice from inside the room. “A gray unicorn.Didn’t get her name, she just told me this was for you,” The first stallion answered. “Where is she?” Asked the second security officer. “I left her down the hall,” Answered the first stallion. “Seriously! Get her out of here! No unauthorized personnel are even supposed to be on this floor!” Shouted the stallion in the monitor room. “Okay fine, relax…” the first stallion answered, turning around and walking out of the room. Dinky’s eyes widened and she dodged around the corner as fast as her feet could carry her and darted inside a nearby maintenance closet. Just as she closed the door the stallion came around the corner and looked down the hall. “Huh. Guess she left,” he said, walking away. Dinky breathed a sigh of relief. She peeked out of the closet. The hallway was completely deserted. Taking a deep breath, she slowly started to walk towards the door. Chanting the code to herself, she quickly typed it in, hoping that she remembered it correctly. The door popped open and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “What do you want? I’m busy,” said the stallion inside, who was staring intently at a set of monitors, each one displaying a different part of the tower. He didn’t bother looking up from the monitors to see who had come in. Dinky took the chance and charged up her horn. A silvery mist wafted from her horn and drifted to the stallion. “Hey, what the hay?” he said becoming alert at the disturbance. Just as he started to sit up the spell took effect and he slumped onto the floor, unconscious. “Sorry,” Dinky whispered apologetically as she closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it. Just in case. After double checking the door was locked, she started going through the room looking for the tapes Dr. Cheerilee wanted. She found them sitting on the desk in front of the unconscious stallion. He had apparently began to go through them by the time Dinky had come. Hoping he hadn’t already seen Cheerilee doing whatever she had done, Dinky started searching for the correct times on the tapes labels. The janitorial staff was usually the last to leave each night at midnight so, whatever happened last night had to have been between midnight and five in the morning. That was when the reception staff opened the front doors. Dinky found four tapes between those times and stuffed them in her bag. She was just about to leave when something on one of the monitors caught her eye. It was recording of the spider room on the genetics floor. A very familiar pegasus was standing in the room, looking around in wonder.It was Scootaloo and judging by the time, it was during the tour when she was supposed to be meeting Cheerilee. “Damn it Scoots!” Dinky groaned, still watching, the angle changing as Scootaloo tripped motion sensors inside the room.Her eyes widened when she saw Scootaloo smack the back of her neck as if she had been bitten by something. “Oh you have got to be kidding me,” she whispered angrily as she ejected the tape from the monitor. She stuffed that one in the bag along with Cheerilee’s, deciding she would have some very choice words with Scootaloo about what she saw later. //////////////////////////// Cheerilee had left work as soon as she could, feeling terrible. She felt as if something were trying to explode out of her stomach, twisting it and stretching it. On top of that, her headache was getting even worse. It felt as if her head was in a vice. Nobody really paid attention to her leaving, and she made a beeline straight towards home. She arrived home just as the sun was setting. She was about to take a seat in her living room, groaning in frustration at the sight before her. It was still completely decimated, the shredded remains of the couch scattered around the room. She was about to start cleaning the mess when the phone rang. The ringing sound was like a nail being hammered into her aching skull. She staggered over to her kitchen and answered. “Hello?” Cheerilee groaned, her own voice sounding like nails against a chalk board to her. “Dr. Cheerilee? It’s Dinky. I’ve got the tapes and I’m on my way. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Let you know everything went okay,” Dinky said sounding a bit out of breath. Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief. At least that went well. She thought. “Thank you Dinky.Thank you very much.” She said, terribly relived. “It’s not a problem. I’ll see you soon,” the young unicorn said before hanging up. Cheerilee let out a long happy sigh of relief. Once she got her hands on those tapes, she could finally figure out what had happened the night before and rule out that preposterous theory about the giant lizard. And, once that’s figured out, she thought. I can figure out my next move. I think you should let me dessside what to do, a demonic voice hissed in Cheerilee’s ear. Cheerilee nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice. She spun around looking for the intruder. The house of was completely empty. It was just her. “Who’s there?” she called out hesitantly, her fear returning. Your greatessst creation, the voice hissed, sounding quite pleased with itself. Then it dawned on Cheerilee. The voice wasn’t from anywhere in the house…it was in her head. She began to feel a strange tingling sensation in her left shoulder. She looked at it trying to discern the cause only to discover her shoulder was turning from a light purple to a deep green that seemed to shine in the light. Panicking, she quickly brushed her good arm along her shoulder, staring in bewildered fear. Her hoof caught on something and she plucked whatever it was off of her shoulder and looked at it. It was a scale. Just like the ones she had found that morning and in the lab. “Dear Celestia,” she said in shock. “What have I done?” Then she had a thought. Dinky was on her way here right now. Oh that’sss right! You’re preciousss little asssissstant. We shall make a meal of her, the demonic voice cackled in her head. Cheerilee tried to scream for help, but all she heard was a deafening roar as her vision faded out. //////////////////////////////////// It was night time by the time Dinky arrived at Dr. Cheerilee’s house. Traffic had been unexpectedly awful today, so it took much longer then usual to get there. Dinky walked up to the door and knocked. The door creaked open at her touch. Dinky blinked at the oddity. Dr. Cheerilee always locked her door. “Dr. Cheerilee? Are you home?” she called out, walking into the house slowly. Not hearing an answer she made her way into the living room. The lights were off, which was strange. Dinky flicked the light on and her eyes widened. The room was completely decimated. All along the walls and floor were dozens of gouges and scratches, as if a tiger or a dragon had gone on a wild rampage inside. The sliding glass door facing the backyard was completely shattered, covering the floor with shards of glass. The couch was noticeably absent from the living room. Dinky looked out in the backyard and saw what she assumed was the couch lying scattered around the backyard, torn to shreds. “What the hay happened here?” she whispered to herself. A strange scraping sound greeted her ears. She turned to look in the direction of the sound but saw nothing but the empty living room. “Okay this is getting weird.” She said, quickly starting to panic. This wasn’t normal, it looked as if a monster of some kind had attacked the house and destroyed everything. Suddenly the sound of scraping caught her attention again. She could have sworn she saw a giant green tail pass through the corner of her eye. That’s it! I’m out of here! Dinky thought, bolting to the door in a frenzied panic, ignoring the fact that her backpack had fallen off her body in the rush and was now laying on the floor. She darted down the street and into the night, not even thinking of looking back. As soon as she was gone a pair of emerald green eyes peered out of the shadows and followed the filly as she ran off. It ssseemsss you ssstill have sssome control over usss, a reptilian voice hissed as the creature revealed itself. A massive lizard stepped out of the darkness, crawling to look out the window. The tattered remains of Cheerilee’s lab coat clung to its body. No matter. We will ressst for tonight and by tomorrow you will no longer have any control. Then I can find my prey, hissed the reptile, smiling evilly as it turned back into the shadows and disappeared. ///////////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo and Cup Cake sat at the kitchen table in silence. The twins had cried themselves to sleep hours ago. Neither knew what they could say. Nothing could change what had happened. The silence slowly became overwhelming to Scootaloo. All it managed to do was highlight the scope of their loss. Never again would they hear Uncle Carrot’s voice in the house. Instead, where his voice would normally be, there would always be an absence. Scootaloo let out shuttering sigh, rubbing her hands together. She had to say something. “It’s my fault,” she finally admitted, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Cup Cake’s widened as she turned to look at her niece. “Sweetheart, how could you possibly think that?” the older mare asked concerned, her voice sounding like she would start crying as well. Scootaloo hesitated for a moment, unsure how her aunt might react if she told her about the events earlier that day. She thought about what Uncle Carrot would have wanted to say. That only made her feel more guilty. Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke. “I-I-I could have stopped that stallion. When I left I wound up at the school and he stole this other filly’s purse,” she started to cry a little more now. “She was a bully so I thought she deserved to have something bad happen to her. So I let the stallion go,” she finished, a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes. Cup Cake was silent for a moment before getting up from her seat and walking over to Scootaloo. “Don’t you ever say this was your fault again,” she said sternly as she pulled the young pony into a tight embrace. “You could never have known where that stallion was going when he left. On top of that, he made the choice to pull the trigger, not you. You cannot blame yourself for the mistakes of others, only except the consequences for your own actions. Do you understand?” the blue pony lectured. Scootaloo listened to every word, feeling conflicted inside. “But I-” “No, it wasn’t your fault,” Cup Cake said cutting her niece off. “It was that stallion. He made his choices and when the police catch him he’ll pay the price for it.” She paused, taking a moment to wipe away some stray tears. “I know this hurts, but we have to think past the blame. I’ll need help with the twins while we prepare the funeral. I need you to be strong,” Cup Cake said as she released Scootaloo. “Can you do that for me?” she looked Scootaloo directly in the eyes. Scootaloo wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded weakly. “Yeah, I-I guess…” she said. “Okay then,” Cup Cake said as she stood up. “You get to bed and be up early. I have a few calls to make,” she looked tired and her eyes were puffy from her own share of crying. She walked over to an end table and picked up the phone sitting on it. Scootaloo nodded quietly and started out of the kitchen. She paused in the doorway and turned to her aunt. “Th-thank you Auntie,” she said. She could tell her aunt had done her best to comfort her, but she herself still felt bitter towards that stallion. “No problem,” Cup Cake replied, as she started dialing a number, smiling at her niece. Scootaloo noticed that even though Aunt Cup was smiling there was a sadness in the smile. She didn’t wait to see who she called, instead simply nodding in response and making her way upstairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, making a beeline towards her desk. Her eyes immediately locked onto the police sketch of the killer she had gotten from Featherweight. “Auntie was right when she said you’d pay, but the police won’t have much to do with it,” she said darkly. She then walked over to her bed and collapsed into a fitful slumber. > Great Power > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo woke up the next morning, feeling just as tired as she was the night before. Nightmares had kept her from having a restful sleep, with each one revolving around Uncle Carrot and that stallion. Today was the first day of Scootaloo’s suspension, so she had the whole day to ruminate and plan for her revenge. Already a plan was formulating in her mind. She felt a vague tingly sensation in her wrists, but dismissed it as just another random tingle. Of course, she hadn’t had breakfast yet, so she headed down stairs to pour herself a bowl of cereal or something. She arrived in the kitchen and saw the twins giggling at the table while Aunt Cup was frying something on the stove in the kitchen. The twins’ laughter caught her off guard. “What are you two laughing abou-” it was at that moment Scootaloo got that strange tingling sensation. She quickly darted to the left and grabbed the pony trying to sneak up on her by the wrist, flipping them onto their back. Aunt Cup and the twins looked at the display in shock. Although nopony was more shocked than the pink mare on the ground, whose expression could best be described as baffled. “Not exactly how I expected this to go. Have you been working out Scoots?” Pinkie Pie asked from the floor, raising an eyebrow and smiling confusedly. Scootaloo’s brain stopped for a minute, trying to process what she had just done. Pinkie was at least twice her size, and yet she had flipped her as if she were made of paper. “Holy crap Pinkie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you and I just sort of acted on reflex. Did I hurt you?” she said quickly, reaching to help the pink mare to her feet. Pinkie Pie simply giggled in response, seemingly perfectly okay with being judo flipped onto the floor. “Don’t worry about it. If that’s all it took to put me down I’d have quit my job a long time ago,” she brushed herself off, seemingly none the worse for wear. “What does being tossed around have to do with being a travel agent?” Cup Cake asked, raising an eyebrow at the pink pony’s statement. Pinkie Pie simply shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh some clients hate being told first class is booked on their flight,” she replied. “Uh….Okay then,” Scootaloo said quizzically. The twins were too distracted by Pinkie making faces at them to really care that she wasn’t making any sense. “Anyway, so what have you been up to?” Scootaloo asked as she walked up to the table. “Oh not much. My work keeps me pretty busy,” she replied. “What about you guys? What’s new?” she asked innocently. Scootaloo froze as she was about to take a seat at the table next to Pinkie. The twins stopped laughing and Cup Cake stopped stirring what looked like pancake batter. There was a tense pause as Pinkie seemingly realized her mistake, biting her lip. She had been one of the first ponies Cup Cake had called the night before and had come as soon as she could. The pink pony took a deep breath and sighed. “Oh guys, come on. Carrot wouldn’t want to see you guys like this,” she reasoned, trying to cheer them up. “I’m gonna be in town for a while and Carrot wouldn’t have wanted you to stay a bunch of depressed lumps.” she said sternly. “When the funeral is going we’re not going mourn his death. Instead, we’ll celebrate his life and all the wonderful things he showed us. Like the time he took us fishing and wound up wrestling that bass out of the water,” she said, her eyes had a faraway look in them as she reminisced. “He wound up making fish cakes out of it because I said he couldn’t make a cake out of anything,” Cup Cake added, smiling wistfully. “We ate them around a campfire by the lake that night and he told us ghost stories,” Scootaloo added nostalgically. “And then we couldn’t sleep cause we thought we heard the headless horse outside the tent,” Pumpkin piped up. “That was one of my favorite summers,” Pound added. Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement. “See guys. We can’t be sad that he’s gone because we have to remember him as he was,” Pinkie said smiling. “He was one of my best friends and gave me my first job working at his carnival stand way back when I was your age Scoots,” she said. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Uncle Carrot worked at a carnival?” she asked. “I don’t remember him mentioning that,” Pound said confused. “Oh it was before your time,” Cup Cake explained. “It was just a few years before we got married actually. Your mother and Pinkie were my brides maids and your father was Carrot’s best man,” Cup Cake told them, sighing as she remembered her wedding day. Pinkie noticing the faraway look in her friend’s eyes decided to get everyone moving in their day. “Okay, you two,” she began looking at Pumpkin and Pound, “still have to go to school.” The twins groaned. “What about Scootaloo?” they asked, questioning whether it was fair that the orange Pegasus got to stay home today. “I got suspended for the week. So I have to stay home and help out with chores and errands,” Scootaloo explained, the twins began to look relieved they weren’t staying home too. “That’s what happens when you get in trouble at school, so you guys better behave yourselves,” Pinkie told them as they got up from the table and grabbed their school bags. “I’ll get them to school. You two just take it easy for today, okay?” she told Scootaloo and Cup Cake. They nodded, but didn’t respond. Pinkie led the twins out the door and down the street. There was a quiet pause between the two ponies as the sound of Pinkie Pie and the kids faded away, leaving the two ponies sitting at the kitchen table. “Scootaloo, do you think you could run and get me some eggs?” Cup Cake asked off handedly. Scootaloo looked up from the table, where she had been studying the random patterns in the wood. “Sure thing Auntie.” She replied distractedly as she stood up and trotted towards the door. “I have some other stuff I gotta take care of anyways…. I’ll be back later,” and with that she grabbed her scooter and disappeared out the front door. ////////////////////////////// Scootaloo drove her scooter down the street as fast as she could. She was angry. Pinkie’s words, while probably well intentioned, only managed to rub salt into Scootaloo’s injury as it where. All they managed to do was remind Scootaloo of the massive hole that her uncle had left. The hole that monster had caused. At first, she felt that maybe she just need to get outdoors and think some things over, and try to do what Pinkie Pie had said, remember the good times and don’t focus on the fact that her uncle, the pony she was closest with, was now dead. The feelings of anger and hate towards that stallion that had killed Uncle Carrot only seemed to grow with each passing moment, making her angrier and angrier. Whatever it takes, she thought as she pulled up to the empty warehouse, that colt’s going to pay… She ground to a halt, stomping off the scooter and into the warehouse. She needed to vent. To get all the anger out in some way, and what better place to do it then an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. It was far from any prying eyes or ears, so she could be as loud and angry as she wanted without judgment. Rather, it was filled with random pieces of old equipment, and chains that hung from the ceiling. The dreary atmosphere only managing to add to her frustration. There was one or two tables still standing around, now cluttered and covered with a mix of old out of date blueprints and a healthy coating of dust. Still fuming, Scootaloo made a beeline towards one of the tables, surrendering to her anger. In a rage-fueled burst of energy, she slammed her fists into the table, causing it to snap in half. Scootaloo however, was too angry to notice and instead moved to punch a wall, mentally picturing the stallion that had killed Uncle Carrot in its place. She only got one or two punches in however, as her fists all of a sudden stuck to the wall as if they were covered in glue. Scootaloo tugged as hard as she could, her anger now being directed at the wall. “Stupid wall!” she grumbled, tugging and yanking at her arms as hard as she could. All of a sudden, like the flip of a switch, her hands came loose and she went stumbling backwards. Her arms flailed about wildly as she tried to regain her balance. All of a sudden, she felt that same odd tingling sensation from her wrists and a strange thwip noise reached her ears. Her arms were suddenly yanked hard and she stopped stumbling, her eyes looking at her hands in shock. Extending from her wrists were two long white ropes, one for each wrist, that extended towards the wall, attaching themselves close to the ceiling. Scootaloo gently tugged at them, pulling herself in a more upright position. The two ropes had detached themselves from her wrists and Scootaloo eyed them with wonder. Just like the spider room at Bluecorp, she thought, reaching up to touch one of the ropes with her hooves. It was sticky like a spider-web. "No freakin’ way…I have webs now?!" She glanced back at the wall. She slowly trotted towards it, lifting up a forehoof. She paused, looking closely at the surface. The bottom of her hoof was now covered in hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny black specks. All of a sudden, a plan started to form in her mind. She slowly set her hand on the concrete surface of the wall and gently pushed. She tried to lift her hand off. It wouldn’t budge. Just like before. She thought. Like glue, she looked up at the wall again. Taking a deep breath, she slowly placed her other handforeleg on the wall, followed by her feet. Before she knew it, she was tentatively crawling up the wall. About half-way up, she paused, glancing back down at the floor. Yeah, She thought, a grim smile crossing his face as she eyed the broken table, putting two-and-two together. This is going to work out nicely… /////////////////////// By the time Scootaloo found her target, the sun had begun to set behind the city’s many skyscrapers. She had spent a little more time at the warehouse, testing her powers a little more. She had then quickly set about learning how to properly swing from her webs, nearly hitting a building more than once. However, she had quickly gotten the hang of it, and was now crouched at the top of a streetlamp, waiting for any news of Uncle Carrot’s killer. Her target was a pair of police officers, one a stallion, the other a mare, sitting in their squad car, sipping coffee. Scootaloo’s plan was simple. The police were going to find that stallion eventually, that was inevitable. Once they did they’d send out a message over the radio’s they kept in their cars to communicate and then she’d just have to get to him before the ponies in blue did. Simple. For the first hour or so, nothing happened, except the cops making small talk. “So Hoofcuff, whadda think about the new quarterback the Canterlot Alicorns hired?” the stallion, a dark brown earth pony asked the mare. The mare, a slate grey unicorn with a dark brown mane let out a groan. “Ugh, Danno, I told you I hate footbalI. I don’t care.” The stallion seemed somewhat offended by this, giving the mare a funny look. “Fine be that way.” He muttered, returning to sip his coffee. There was a long pause between the two, with the stallion pulling out a sports magazine and the mare reading a book while Scootaloo watched impatiently. Scootaloo’s legs had started to cramp, having been in a rather awkward crouching position for quite some time now. “Ugh… come on somepony’s gotta be able to find that stallion soon,” she grumbled, growing tired of the conversation in the car. It didn’t help that she didn’t care for football either, since she was more of a air racing fan. As if to answer her prayers the radio crackled to life. “We’ve got the suspect from the Cake murder heading down Third Street towards Eighth. We are in pursuit, but we need somepony to head him off before we lose him,” the voice on the radio told the officers below. The two ponies in the car snapped to attention, the mare quickly grabbing the receiver. “Copy that, backup is on the way,” the mare said, nudging the stallion, who flicked the siren on and the car sped off. Scootaloo smiled. “Bingo!” she whispered, quickly flicking out a web line and following after the car. ////////////////////////// Pick Pocket had never felt this scared before in his life. Sirens blared on the streets outside the alley he was in. Running out of options he started climbing the nearest fire escape. “Oh Celestia, why is this happening?” he whined to himself as he clambered up the fire escape. “I just wanted the bits, why did that guy have to get brave?” he continued, blaming the baker he had shot the day before for his current misfortune. “There he is!” a police pony shouted from below. Pick jumped through a window on the fourth floor into an apparently abandoned building. “No, no, what do I do?” he asked trying to find an escape. A creaking floor board behind him alerted him that he was not alone, but when he turned to look at where the sound had come from nopony was there. “Hello,” he called out, a plan forming in his mind involving a hostage. “Pick Pocket!” An electronic voice flared into existence. “We have the building surrounded. Come out now or we’re coming in!” a police pony shouted into a mega phone outside. Pick looked out the window and saw a group of several cops climbing up the fire escape he had used. “Oh crap,” he whispered as he ran into the hallway outside, deeper into the building. He kept hearing footsteps that sounded like they were following him and he thought he saw another pony’s shadow at one point, but every time he tried to investigate he found himself alone. Pick heard stomping hooves climbing stairs ahead of him and flashlight beams around the corner told him the police had entered the building. “Buck,” he cursed under his breath as he ducked into a room and closed the door. He heard the police outside as he backed into the room. It was mostly empty, the only noticeable feature being a gaping hole in the ceiling, near the back wall and the window leading to another fire escape. A banging on the door made the felon jump. “We know you’re in there, just give up,” a cop said from outside. Pick didn’t move, hoping against hope that they would just leave. A heavy impact on the other side of the door told him it was hopeless. He was about to start crying when he heard a soft thwipp and felt something sticky hit his back. “What th-” he began, but was cut off as the floor was yanked away from him. Something had just pulled him through the hole in the ceiling. He was about to shout when a hand covered his mouth and he heard somepony shushing him. The police finally broke the door down and barged into the room. “Where’d he go?” one asked. “Damn he went through the window!” another shouted, the stomping of feet indicating their departure. Once the police were gone the hoof was removed from Pick Pocket’s mouth. “Thanks,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Who are you though?” he asked his rescuer. Pick Pocket then felt a fist collide with his stomach knocking the wind out of him. “We met before, but I’m not gonna let you walk away this time,” An orange filly said stepping into his line of sight. “You,” Pick pocket said weakly, recognizing the orange filly. It was the one who had let him escape when he snatched that purse from that little brat the day before. “Quiet,” the filly hissed, slamming a fist into the stallion’s face. She was incredibly strong for a pony of her size. “You aren’t going to talk. You’re only going to feel as much of the pain as I’ve felt as you can,” she said rage seething from her as she stomped on his back legs. An audible snap was heard and Pick screamed in agony for a second before he heard that thwipping noise again and his mouth was covered in some kind of goo. “It’s not fun is it? Being on the receiving end?” the pony asked as she picked the stallion up and threw him across the room, head first. Pick Pocket slammed into the opposite wall leaving a hole in the shape of his head. He was bleeding from his nose and several other cuts on his face when the filly picked him up again. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was consumed in an incredible rage. Everything about this pony made her angry. She hauled him up by the neck with one hand and flicked the other at his left arm, sticking it to the wall. She repeated this action with his other limbs until he was suspended from the wall unable to move. It felt so good, to see the stallion suffer that way…just like she had suffered. She then proceeded to swing her for fists at him as hard as she could at his face, and chest, hitting everything she could reach, finally able to take all of her anger and sadness out on the stallion that had destroyed the very pony that was most important in her life. She eventually stopped to catch her breath. Once she stopped she was able to see that Pick was unconscious. “Jeeze, getting hit by a filly too much for you?” she asked rhetorically as she ripped the web off of his face and slapped him a few times trying to wake him up. She raised an eyebrow when he didn’t open his eyes. Now that she got a good look he didn’t seem to be moving at all. Not even the steady rising and falling if his chest that signified breathing. Scootaloo hesitantly held up two fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. She began to panic when she didn’t feel anything, her anger quickly being replaced by fear and panic. “What have I done?” she asked as realization began to dawn on her. “I-I killed him,” she told herself, her eyes growing wide. She began to hyperventilate as her actions caught up with her. She had taken a life. As her brain began to start processing this information she heard hooves running down the hall towards the room she was in. The police had heard the racket she had made. “I have to get out of here,” she told herself, as she dropped down into the hole in the floor and opened the window exiting the building onto the fire escape. She jumped onto the wall of the building on the other side of the alley and started climbing. ////////////////////////////////// Once Scootaloo was a few blocks from the abandoned building she stopped, panting for breath and collecting her thoughts. “I killed him,” she repeated, looking at her hands. “I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to scare him,” she cried. Her hands still had a thin coating of a red liquid that she assumed was the stallion’s blood, but she couldn’t be sure. But that didn’t matter. She had become the thing she most loathed. A killer. This is too much, she thought. I can’t handle this power…can I? she thought as she started to run again, tears welling up in her eyes. What have I done? She thought. > Great Responsibility > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo lay in her bed eyes wide open as the sun’s morning rays spread through her room. The previous night’s events kept playing in the back of her mind, keeping her from getting any sleep at all. The face of the stallion she killed seemed to have burned itself in her mind. Somepony knocking on her door caught Scootaloo’s attention. “Hey Scoots, time to get out of bed!” came the cheerful voice of Pinkie Pie through the door. “I’ll be out soon,” Scootaloo said, stalling. She hadn’t come home until after midnight and she knew that Aunt Cup Cake and Pinkie Pie were going to ask what kept her. She had absolutely no idea what she should tell them. She had a strong feeling they might not react well to the idea of her accidentally killing a pony. Pinkie’s voice snapped Scootaloo out of her thoughts. “Alrighty then, don’t take too long. I’m making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast,” Pinkie said excitedly, hoofsteps indicating her departure. Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. She could always count on Pinkie not to be too nosy. But what am I gonna tell them? She thought. There were only two options. One was to continue on as if nothing was wrong. The distinct feeling of guilt over that pony’s death ruined that idea. Deciding to face the music Scootaloo left her room and made her way downstairs. Her nose was greeted with the scent of chocolate and she could hear the sizzle of dough in a frying pan. She entered the kitchen to find Pinkie standing at the stove while Cup Cake and the twins sat at the table. A plate of already prepared pancakes sat in the center of the table next to a jug of orange juice and another with milk. A bowl of fruit was placed between the twins, all of its contents arranged in a colorful spiral. “Wow Pinkie, you really went all out,” Scootaloo commented, observing the spread. “Well duh. This is how ponies should eat every morning,” Pinkie Pie smiled, as she expertly flipped the pancake she was working on and caught them without really paying attention to what she was doing. “It’d be a good reason for ponies to get up early, right Scoots?” Pinkie asked, looking towards Scootaloo. Scootaloo gave a sheepish grin. “Right, sorry I was just really tired. I had a hard time getting to sleep,” she said, secretly hoping that was good enough excuse to avoid any suspicion as she made her way towards the breakfast table. Pinkie raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. “Did you have a nightmare?” she asked, glancing towards Scootaloo with a touch of concern in her voice. Scootaloo froze. Thoughts of what she’d done last night came to mind. “Something like that,” she mumbled, looking down at the ground as she sat at the table. “Scootaloo why didn’t you say something?” Aunt Cup asked, joining the conversation. “It was nothing, trust me. Just teenager stuff,” she said rubbing her neck in embarrassment, hoping that she wasn’t questioned too much. “Oh you mean you have a crush,” Pinkie guessed as she continued flipping pancakes on the grill. Scootaloo did a double take just as she was putting food on her own plate. “Wh-What? No, it’s nothing like that,” she said hurriedly. This conversation had taken an unexpected turn, but then most did if Pinkie was involved. “Scootaloo has a crush?” Pound asked a devious smile spreading across his face. “No I don’t,” Scootaloo said again. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Aunt Cup reassured the young pegasus, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “So what’s the colt’s name?” “Feath- I mean, no I- I don’t have a crush,” Scootaloo said, a blush starting to appear on her cheeks. “Are you gonna get cooties?” Pumpkin asked teasingly. “Okay guys let’s leave her and her coltfriend alone,” Pinkie said as she finished with the baking and joined the others at the table. “Oh by the way Scoots I was going to go out later to pick up the flowers for the funeral. Why don’t you come with me? We can have a little mare time,” Pinkie suggested. Scootaloo looked at the Pinkie quizzically. “Uh… sure if you want,” she answered, unsure why Pinkie would pick now for bonding time. “Awesome, we’ll leave after breakfast,” Pinkie said as she dug into her meal. ////////////////////////////////// Dinky walked through the halls of her school, one thing on her mind. Finding Scootaloo and giving the pegasus a piece of her mind. She had been trying to find the orange mare all day with no luck. She had scoured the halls and the pavilion during lunch, but no luck. Of course between classes the halls were filled with dozens and dozens of students, so it was almost impossible to find anypony. Such was the present situation as Dinky did her best to squeeze her way through the crowd. “Hey Dinky,” a voice called out. Dinky turned to see Featherweight trotting up to her through the crowd. “You okay? You kinda look a little miffed.” he asked as he caught up with her. Dinky simply shook her head. “It’s nothing, just something I need to talk to Scootaloo about. Do you know where she is, I’ve been looking everywhere?” she asked determined to find the target of her frustration. Featherweight paused for a second, looking a little apprehensive. “Well, she got suspended because of that fight with Babs the other day, she won’t be back until next week,” he explained. “Did you guys get in a fight or something?” he asked, sounding concerned. “Not yet, but she has a little explaining to do,” Dinky said rather vaguely. “Well try not to be too hard on her okay. Her families going through a lot right now,” Featherweight said. Dinky looked at the pegasus colt with confusion. “What happened?” she asked curiously. “You didn’t hear?” Featherweight asked a look of surprise on his face. Dinky shook her head. “The other night a robber showed up at her aunt and uncle’s bakery and when they wouldn’t give him any money he…” Featherweight trailed off. “What did he do?” Dinky questioned worry taking the place of her anger. Featherweight said nothing for a moment, looking rather worried. “He shot Scootaloo’s uncle and took off. As far as I know he’s still at large,” Featherweight finished, keeping his voice down in case anypony was eavesdropping. “Oh my Celestia, is she okay?” Dinky asked, her anger completely forgotten at this point. Her thoughts were only focusing on her friend’s troubles now. “She’s fine… well sort of. She feels guilty I think. She ran into the colt that did it after he stole Diamond Tiara’s purse and she didn’t stop him,” Featherweight explained. “We need to see if she’s okay,” Dinky said with finality. “I’m gonna go to the bakery after school. Where is it?” Dinky asked eager to do anything she could to help her friend. “It’s just a few blocks from here, towards the city. It’s called Sugar Cube Corner,” he told her. “Tell her I said hi. I’d go with you, but I have a tutoring thing after school.” “I’ll let her know,” Dinky assured him as the bell rang for their next class to start. They parted ways as the crowd dispersed. Once the halls were clear a lone mare stood at her locker not far from where Dinky and Featherweight had been talking. Babs had heard everything. She looked at the contents of her locker forlornly. A plan formed in her mind involving lots of apologizing as she closed her locker. //////////////////////////////// Pinkie and Scootaloo stood in the flower shop, looking at dozens upon dozens of flowers. There was a rather awkward silence between them. “So,” Pinkie all of a sudden said, seemingly in an attempt to break the tension, “where were ya last night? You didn’t come home until well after midnight,” she asked, her eyes still focused on the flowers. Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the sudden inquiry. “Oh… Umm… I was just hanging out with friends,” she said nervously, cringing at the obvious lie. “Really? So why were you all panicked when you came back?” she asked. “Well- wait,” Scootaloo caught herself and looked towards Pinkie, eyebrow raised, “How did you know I was panicking?” she asked. She didn’t recall seeing Pinkie when she had gotten home the previous night. “Oh I was sitting in the dark waiting for you to get home. I told Cup Cake I’d wait up for you and sent her to bed,” Pinkie explained. “I didn’t tell her you came home late and I picked up the eggs you forgot to get.” Scootaloo simply blinked. “Wow thanks Pinkie. Umm… Why are you covering for me though?” She asked, baffled as to Pinkie’s motives. “Because your aunt is really stressed out right now and the last thing she needs is to think you’re staying out late getting into trouble,” Pinkie said simply. “On top of that it’s the fun part of my job. It’s like hide and seek, but with words,” she said happily. Scootaloo stopped for a second. “Okay what does keeping secrets have to do with being a travel agent?” she asked, the pink mare’s behavior confusing her to no end. “Oh some clients just need to think they got the best seat on a flight and they believe it,” Pinkie said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Um…Right,” Scootaloo said, abandoning trying to make sense of Pinkie. “Oh these would be perfect don’t you think?” Pinkie asked holding up a bouquet of flowers. “Yeah sure,” Scootaloo agreed, bringing her attention back to the flowers. ///////////////////////////////// Pinkie and Scootaloo arrived home. Pinkie had insisted that they buy flowers of just about every variety and when Scootaloo was sure they wouldn’t be able to afford such a varied display, Pinkie used a credit card and said not to worry about it. Scootaloo decided not to question it. “We’re back!” Pinkie shouted in a sing song voice as the two stepped inside the house. “Oh good, did you two buy enough flowers?” Aunt Cup asked. “Oh and Scootaloo, your friend is here. She’s upstairs, you better go save her from the twins,” Cup Cake added off handedly before returning her attention back to the flowers. Scootaloo made her way up the stairs as Pinkie went over the long list of flowers that she’d purchased. The only filly she was friends with was Dinky so she wasn’t surprised to see her getting pestered by Pumpkin and Pound, bombarding her with questions. “We’ve never seen you around here before. How do we know you’re not just a bully that goes to school with her?” Pumpkin asked accusingly. “Now sis, be nice. If she says she’s Scootaloo’s friend than I believe her,” Pound said jumping to the gray unicorn’s defense. “You just have a crush on her,” Pumpkin stated, crossing her forelegs. “I do not,” Pound retorted angrily, but with a noticeable blush. “Would you guys quit torturing my friend,” Scootaoo said in a playful tone after she felt the spectacle had gone on long enough. “Scootaloo!” they shouted, big smiles on their faces. “Wait so you she is your friend?” Pumpkin asked. “Yes, now go help your mom downstairs, she’ll be making dinner soon,” Scootaloo told them. The twins made their way downstairs, mumbling in protest. Scootaloo waited until they were gone before she turned to Dinky. “So does Pound really have a crush on you?” she asked teasingly, a smile on her face. “I hope not. I never saw myself as the heartbreaker type,” Dinky said, looking as if she was actually worried about it. “So what’s up?” Scootaloo asked, sitting down next to Dinky. “Featherweight told me what happened,” Dinky said matter of factly. “He says hi by the way,” she added. Scootaloo’s smile faded at this news. Honestly, she had been distracted with Pinkie for most of the day, so the events of the past few days had had a chance to fade. “How are you holding up?” Dinky asked, looking at Scootaloo with concern. Scootaloo sighed and let her shoulders sag. “About as well as anypony else would I guess. It’s still a pretty fresh wound, but having Pinkie around helps,” Scootaloo replied as sadness crept into her voice. “Pinkie? Who’s Pinkie?” Dinky asked, raising an eyebrow, obviously drawing a blank. “Oh she’s an old family friend,” Scootaloo replied, idly twiddling her forehooves. “She’s downstairs now if you want to meet her.” There was a pause between the two for a moment, neither exactly sure what to do next. Dinky was the first to speak. “Yeah sure, I guess I’d like to meet Pinkie.” Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah okay.” Secretly she was happy to move on to a subject other when what happened the night before, but she didn’t show it. The pair went downstairs where the twins were setting the table. “Hey Pinkie,” Scootaloo called out. “What’s up Scoots?” Pinkie asked poking her head out of the kitchen. “This is my friend Dinky, from School. Dinky this is an unsolvable mystery, sorry, I mean this Pinkie Pie,” Scootaloo said, jokingly, happy to finally relax a little. Pinkie perked up at the newcomer. “Hi Dinky, great to meet you,” Pinkie said walking up to the unicorn and shaking her hand vigorously. “You too,” Dinky said slightly surprised as the handshake finished. “So what do you do for a living?” Dinky asked, shaking her hand to rid it of the numbness one would often encounter after a handshake with Pinkie. “I’m an assassin for a world peace keeping organization,” Pinkie Pie said happily smiling. Dinky looked at Scootaloo, slightly alarmed, unsure if this was the truth or not. “She’s just pulling your leg. She’s a travel agent,” Scootaloo said, shrugging. “Oh Dinky, do you know who Scootaloo’s coltfriend is? She won’t tell us,” Pinkie asked out of the blue. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide with shock. Dinky herself raised an eyebrow. “Coltfriend? Do you mean Featherweight?” she asked, looking at Scootaloo with confusion. “I thought you guys just met.” “Awww…Love at first sight. How romantic,” Pinkie cooed, smiling warmly. By now, Scootaloo was blushing furiously. “He’s not my coltfriend. He’s just a friend,” she insisted, starting towards the door. “Come on Dinky let’s go. I don’t want to stick around here if everyone’s just going to tease me about my non-existent love life,” she grumbled as she and Dinky made their way out. “Where are you going?” Aunt Cup asked coming out of the Kitchen. “We’re about to have dinner.” “We’ll grab a bite out,” Scootaloo said as she pulled Dinky out the door. “Don’t stay out too late,” Pinkie called after them. “Kay,” Scootaloo called out as she closed the door. The two fillies started walking down the street. “Come on we’ll go get some hay fries at this café Featherweight took me to,” Scootaloo said, relieved to be away from the heckling. “I thought you weren’t dating him,” Dinky teased, a smug grin on her face. “It wasn’t a date.” Scootaloo insisted, “He spent most of it lecturing me for the fight with Babs.” Dinky was about to retort, but she froze when something further down the street caught her eye. “What’s up with you?” Scootaloo asked turning to see what her friend was staring at. Babs was standing at the corner looking at the pair, an unsure look in her eyes. Scootaloo approached her hesitantly, Dinky following close behind. “What do you want?” Scootaloo asked. “I-I don’t know,” Babs said, sounding meek and somewhat dejected. “I came here to-to say something, but I can’t think of anything,” she said. Scootaloo started walking towards the earth pony, a determined look in her eyes. She began raising a hand towards Babs, causing the larger pony to flinch. When she wasn’t struck, Babs opened her eyes to see Scootaloo extending her hoof as if to shake. “How about we just call a truce,” Scootaloo suggested. “We’re both guilty of being a bully. Abusing our own strength,” she said looking Babs in the eyes. “My suspension ends Monday. Why don’t you sit with us at lunch?” she offered, a sincere look in her eyes. Babs was shocked. This was the perfect chance for Scootaloo to humiliate her and she had passed it up. Instead, here she was, extending a hand in friendship. Babs took Scootaloo’s hand in her own and gave it a firm shake. “Sounds good to me,” she said, her confidence returning. She turned and began walking away, feeling lighter than ever. Dinky had watched the exchange silently. “Wow. That was a major step from the other day,” she commented. “What brought that on?” Scootaloo thought about that for a second. “I guess I’m just sick of all the conflict,” she said, as she started walking towards the café a few blocks away. “You coming to eat or what? I’m starving,” she called back at Dinky, who quickly caught up. /////////////////////////////////////// The two had shared an order of hay fries in silence. Dinky wanted to talk to Scootaloo about what she’d seen on the tape, but was unsure how to approach the subject. “Something on your mind?” Scootaloo asked, ending the silence. “Sort of, but I’m not sure this is the right time to talk about it,” Dinky explained hesitantly. “It can’t be that bad. What’s up?” Scootaloo pressed, an expectant look on her face. Dinky took a sip of her cola and cleared her throat. “Well, that day I took you to see Cheerilee; did you go anywhere else in the tower?” she asked hoping Scootaloo would just come clean. Scootaloo almost choked on the food she had been chewing on. She took a large gulp of her cola to clear her throat before responding. “I- I uh…may have gotten a little lost trying to catch up with the tour,” she said, her voice obviously not convinced at to what she was saying. Dinky scowled, fed up with all of Scootaloo’s obvious lying. “Just tell me the truth,” she demanded, disappointed her friend hadn’t come clean. Scootaloo didn’t know what to do other than tell the truth. So she told Dinky about the stallion with her father’s research and how she’d followed him to the spider room. “You should have seen it in there, it was amazing,” she said picturing the scene in her head again. “I did see it,” Dinky said. Scootaloo’s eyes went wide. “You were caught on camera. Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d have been in if somepony other than me had seen it?” she asked. “Did anypony else see it?” Scootaloo asked fearfully. “No. I took the tape before the guard saw it. At least I think I did,” Dinky assured her. Scootaloo sighed in relief. Her relief was short lived though. “So I guess the spiders weren’t poisonous then,” she stated. Scootaloo looked at her in shock. “Oh… uh, right. It’s fine better than fine actually,” Scootaloo answered hoping that was the end of the questioning. Dinky looked at her confused, wondering how a bite from a genetically altered spider hadn’t had an effect, then realization hit her. Scootaloo’s vision clearing up overnight, beating Babs in that fight and those thugs on the train. “Oh my Celestia you have super powers?” she asked in shock. Scootaloo looked sheepish. “Maybe… I’m not sure. If I do it might not be such a good thing,” she said in shame. The face of the stallion she’d killed came to her mind. Dinky gave her friend a stern look. “Scootaloo you abused these powers when you first got them. You used them to get back at Babs and refused to use them to help Diamond,” Dinky reprimanded. “You owe it to them to make up for that.” Scootaloo looked down, unable to meet her friends eyes. “Dinky I can’t.” “Why not?” Dinky asked, growing angry. “I can’t control this. I-I killed somepony,” She admitted quietly even though the diner was empty, save for one waitress reading a magazine behind the counter. Dinky gasped. “What are you talking about?” she asked not believing the pegasus. “Last night I tracked down my uncle’s killer. I wanted to make him pay and I started hitting him,” Scootaloo’s eyes began to tear up. “And I just lost it. By the time I stopped he wasn’t breathing or moving. I killed him,” she said guiltily. Dinky didn’t know what to say. She knew what Scootaloo did was wrong, but at the same time she had taken down the bad guy, if maybe for the wrong reasons. Then it hit her. “You feel guilty,” she said. Scootaloo looked at her confused. “You did something wrong and you know it. Scootaloo you can’t let this destroy you. Use it as a reminder never to let revenge be your focus,” Dinky told her. Scootaloo blinked the tears from her eyes. Dinky was right. Besides if she didn’t try to control her power, she might have another accident in the future. “Are we talking about what I think we’re talking about?” the pegasus asked. “You’re going to be a Super Hero,” Dinky said with confidence. "You’ll need a name though. Like Captain Arachnid or something.” “Yeah no thanks,” Scootaloo said, thinking for a minute. “How about something simple?” “Like what?” Dinky asked quizzically. Scootaloo rubbed her chin in thought before inspiration struck. “Spider Mare.” > First Encounter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheerilee awoke with an incredible headache. Her eyes drifted in her sockets as she groaned. Her body ached all over and she felt as if she had been stretched like a rubber band. She didn’t have the slightest idea where she was, but the first thing she noticed was the incredibly wretched smell that made her stomach twist like a pretzel. It smelled like rotting meat. There was an unsettling metallic taste in her mouth that Cheerilee couldn't quite identify, but was still vaguely familiar to her. She slowly craned her head around in an attempt to take in her surroundings, the dingy lighting making it difficult to see any real details. It slowly dawned on her that she was someplace underground. along the walls she could barely make out some old graffiti. Where am I? she wondered, as she slowly pulled herself to her feet, trying her best to orient herself. A large clump of...something caught her eye. She slowly hobbled towards it, Doing her best to keep her balance despite the fact that she was dizzy. The smell seemed to be emanating from it, as it became stronger the closer she got. She could barely make out that it was some kind of dead body, but she couldn't be sure, given the dingy lighting making it nigh on impossible to make out any details. Cheerilee felt her stomach twist when it finally dawned on her what it what it was she was looking at. It was a pony. She let out a silent scream, too overwhelmed by the horrifying sight of the half-eaten pony in front of her to make a sound. She put a hand to her mouth reflexively. Her eyes grew wide with abject terror when she felt something crusty and sticky around her mouth. She finally understood what the horrid metallic taste in her mouth was. It was blood. She pulled her hand away to see what it was coated in a thin layer of dried blood. “Oh dear Celestia,” she whimpered, her voice a mix of shock and terror as the memories from last night came trickling back in fragments, but they weren’t hers. They belonged to that creature that dwelled deep within her. She sat there crying, unsure of what to do, her mind seized with the fear that if she tried to move, the monster she knew lurked inside of her might break free. Hello... A voice whispered in her ear. Cheerilee whipped her head around in the direction of the voice, only to see empty air. “W-who’s there?” she croaked, scared and confused as to where the sound was coming from. Over here... the voice hissed again. Cheerilee once more looked in the direction of the voice. Nothing. Just more of the deserted train station. Cheerilee curled up tighter, her eyes darting about wildly as the voice started to snicker. Sssilly mammal... the voice chuckled, sounding like some sort of dragon. Ssso weak and helplesss. Just like the ressst of them. Only good for eating. “L-leave me alone...please...” Cheerilee whimpered, covering her right ear with her hand in an attempt to block out the sound of the laughing voice. However, instead of muffling the tortuous sound, covering her ears only seemed to make it louder. “It’s in my head!” she whimpered, only to be greeted by more laughter. Oh of course I am. Asssss I sssaid before, I’m your greatesst creation, The voice cackled, seemingly taking glee from watching her suffer. Now, time to ssseee me in all my glory yesss? All of a sudden, Cheerilee’s legs started to jerk of their own accord, and she found herself stumbling over towards a puddle of filthy water. Now take a look and sssee the wonderful thing you have created, the demonic voice ordered, and Cheerilee fell forward, landing on her hand and knees as her head looking down at the puddle. She closed her eyes tightly in an effort to regain some of her lost control. She felt one of her eyes being pried open and next thing she knew, she was staring at the reflected image of a massive Komodo Dragon like monster smiling back at her. “Oh...” Cheerilee choked, reaching a hand up to her face to make sure she was still a pony. She felt the soft, albeit blood stained fur of her face and felt a slight sense of relief. The reflected image repeated the motion, albeit with a malevolent smile on it’s face. “Sstill trying to fight me aren’t you?” The reflection laughed, seemingly amused by her suffering. “P-please...l-leave me alone...you’re a m-monster...” Cheerilee replied, her voice nothing more than a barely audible whisper. The lizard monster rolled its eyes before looking back at Cheerilee. “No. Don’t you get it? We’re one and the ssame. Ssame body, ssame mind...except I am the better, ssstronger creature. Sssoon, I’ll have full control...and then...all you sssilly little mammals will be nothing more than dinner for me and my kind. Won’t that be fun?” “Shut up!” Cheerilee cried, slamming a hand into the puddle and causing the reflected monster to disappear in a splash. Panting, Cheerilee stumbled back away from the puddle, once more in control of her body. Dragging herself as far from the puddle as possible, she hunkered down in the corner again, rocking herself back and forth gently. She noticed that the voice was no longer whispering in her head, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. Her eyes drifted back down to look at her hooves again. They were still caked with dried blood. She looked back towards one of the dirty puddles that littered the inside of the station. I have to wash this off...now... she thought, hobbling over to one of the puddles and started to scrub the dried blood off her hand and off her face. After some half-hearted scrubbing, she dragged herself back to the corner again with the sound of the splashing and shouting getting louder. Her exhausted body went slack and she felt herself slowly slipping away. Sleep...I need....sleep... was her only thought as her eyes finally closed and everything went quiet. Unbeknownst to her, the sound of splashing feet and shouting could be heard coming down the tunnel. /////////////////////////////// Scootaloo looked at her friend in the eye with a deadpan look. "No,” she said simply. “Oh come on Scootaloo. It’s not that bad,” Dinky said, taking the piece of paper that she considered a masterpiece. “I’m not wearing that. I’ll look like a disco ball,” Scootaloo argued, pointing at the drawing. The drawing in question was something Dinky had drafted up the night before, after she had gotten home. It looked like somepony strapped on a random costume, swam in glue and then rolled in glitter. Scootaloo had taken one look and thought it was a joke. “Well then what are you going to wear?” the unicorn huffed, looking somewhat dejected. “Look, Dinky, why do I have to have a costume?” Scootaloo asked. Ever since last night at the diner Dinky had become obsessed with going all out. Costumes, secret identities, catch phrases and she was even talking about a Spider Cave. Scootaloo had shot down the last one as soon as it had come up. “Because you have to keep your family safe. If every crook in Manehattan just knew who you were your aunt and the twins would be in a lot of danger,” Dinky explained, her expression serious. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Ya know, maybe you should have gotten the powers. You’re having way more fun with this than I am,” Scootaloo said, shaking her head and leaning back slightly. Dinky gave her a pouting look that made her cringe. “Okay fine I’ll wear a mask, but that’s it alright?” she relented. “But you have to cover your fur too. It’s a dead give away,” Dinky said, pointing at the orange coat covering Scootaloo. Scootaloo groaned and flopped onto her bed in frustration. “Okay, fine, I’ll wear a costume,” she conceded. Dinky smiled. “But not that one,” Scootaloo added, pointing at the paper in Dinky’s hand. “What does glitter even have to do with spiders anyway?” she asked. “Well some tropical spiders are very colorful,” Dinky explained, crossing her arms. “Colorful and glowing like the sun aren’t the same thing,” Scootaloo replied wryly. Dinky simply glared at her. Scootaloo was about to retort when the door to her room burst open, making both fillies jump, as Pinkie Pie let herself in. “Hey girls! If you get hungry let me know, I’ll bring something up for you,” she told them, seemingly oblivious to their shock. “Holy crap Pinkie, you gotta knock,” Scootaloo said, quickly recovering from the pink mare’s unexpected appearance. “You scared the hay out of us.” “Oopsy. I’ll be sure to...” Pinkie’s voice trailed off as she caught sight of something on the floor. In her fright Dinky had dropped her costume design. Pinkie picked it up before Scootaloo or Dinky could grab it. She raised an eyebrow, obviously curious as to what the design was for. “Wow that’s a lot of sparkles...” she said, “What’s it for?” she looked towards Dinky and Scootaloo expectantly. “Uh... that’s a design for a Nightmare Night costume,” Dinky said weakly. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the lame explanation. Pinkie eyed the unicorn for a minute. “Isn’t it a little early in the year for making Nightmare Night costumes?” she asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing slightly. Dinky started to fidget, her nerves obviously starting to fail her. “Oh well ya know, if you don’t start planning early a good costume won’t get done in time,” she explained. Pinkie gave her a hard look for a minute, eyes narrowing even more, causing Dinky to sweat. “Makes sense to me,” Pinkie all of a sudden sang, smiling broadly. “If you guys need costumes though, I’m pretty sure there’s some old carny stuff in the attic somewhere,” she said, exiting the room. Dinky stared at the door way in bewilderment. “Is she always like that?” she asked, turning to Scootaloo. Scootaloo was silent for a moment, her face just as confused as Dinky’s. “Kinda,” she answered finally. “Now let’s go check out that carny stuff,” she said making her way to the door. “Seriously? You’ll wear carnival costumes from, like, twenty years ago, but you won’t even consider my idea?” Dinky asked, obviously annoyed. “Pretty much,” Scootaloo replied. “Now come on. Let’s get this over with,” she said begrudgingly as she led her friend up to the attic. “So which box is it?” Dinky asked, looking around the clutter that surrounded them. “Not sure. I don’t really come up here too often. Just to get my tools when something needs fixing,” Scootaloo explained. Dinky looked at her impressed. “You’re a repairpony?” she asked amused. “Well yeah, there wasn’t anyone I could go to to fix my scooter when it needed new wheels or something, so I figured out how to do it myself,” Scootaloo explained as the pair started going through boxes. “Next thing I know Uncle Carrot has me fixing the kitchen appliances whenever something got weird,” she finished. “Wow. That’s pretty cool. Wish I could fix electronics. That’d make things alot easier whenever the mixer breaks down at the lab,” Dinky commented. “Maybe I should take a look at it,” Scootaloo suggested jokingly. “That’d be awesome actually if you think you can figure out the mechanics in a crystal mixer. Not exactly a household oven,” Dinky teased. “Well if it’s just having trouble mixing chemicals properly you might need to replace the synthetic crystal. However it could also be a chemical leak. If any of the mixes got into the interior circuitry it could mimic a dying crystal,” Scootaloo rattled off while pushing more boxes aside. Dinky looked at Scootaloo in shock, ignoring the box in front of her. “Wait where did you learn that?” she asked. “Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo answered. Dinky’s jaw dropped. “The Rainbow Dash? Of Dash Industries?” Dinky asked, her eyes wide. Scootaloo shook her head. “Well, not directly, I just kinda followed a lot of the stuff she invented,” she explained. “Why?” Dinky pressed. Scootaloo stopped searching for a second. “Because she lost her wings too,” she said bitterly, before turning back to the boxes. “Oh. Umm... sorry,” Dinky apologized. She hadn’t meant to strike a nerve like that. She resumed their search until she saw a box marked Carnival stuff. “Hey I think I found it,” she called out. She started opening the box as Scootaloo came to join her. “Yeah that’s it,” Scootaloo said as they looked at the contents. It was full of clothes in every color. There was a rainbow colored clown costume and another that looked like it was supposed to be a giant green bird of some kind. “Woah,” Scootaloo said as one outfit caught her eye. “That’s not bad,” she commented, pulling out a stretchy red shirt with blue sleeves. She kept digging around and eventually found a pair of matching blue pants and a set of red booties. She stood up straight and held the outfit over her body. “What do you think?” she asked Dinky. “I’ve seen worse, but what about a mask,” she said as she started digging through the box. “Oh, here we go,” she chimed, pulling out a red mask. It looked like it was made from a different material, but Scootaloo smiled and took the mask. “This’ll do. Let’s see how I look in it,” she said as she began to get dressed. ////////////////////////////////////////// Featherweight whistled as he walked down the street in the direction of the bakery. As he entered he heard a bell tingle above his head. “Pinkie can you go see who’s here,” Featherweight heard a voice say from where the kitchen was. “Okie Dokie Loki,” a much cheerier voice replied. A moment later a bright pink mare with a poofy mane and tail came bouncing out of the kitchen. “Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, how may I help you?” she greeted happily, grinning from ear to ear and leaning uncomfortably close to him. “Umm... I’m actually looking for Scootaloo,” he replied, somewhat taken aback by the excited pony behind the counter. “I’m a friend from school. Featherweight,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand to shake. Pinkie’s eyes lit up at the introduction. She grabbed the young stallion’s hand and shook it violently. “It is great to finally meet you Featherweight!” She shouted loud enough for the whole house to hear. In that moment chaos reigned. Cup Cake appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, a curious look in her eyes. Next the twins appeared at the top of the stairs leading to the actual house area. They were giving Featherweight a questioning gaze. The pegasus was beginning to feel uncomfortable. He was about to speak up when he heard a loud thud from further up in the house. “OW!” he heard a familiar voice shout in pain. “Scootaloo be careful,” he heard Dinky’s voice join in, as the two young mare’s footsteps drew closer. Dinky and Scootaloo came down the stairs in a hurry just a few moments later. “Hey Featherweight,” Scootaloo said rather awkwardly, waving at the colt. “Scootaloo,” Dinky hissed at her friend, jabbing a finger at Scootaloo’s hand, where she wore a red glove. Scootaloo’s eyes widened and removed the glove and set it on a table. “Anyway, what’s up?” she asked, looking at Featherweight. “Uh... I was just coming by to hang out,” he said, still trying to shake his nervousness. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention and it was a little off putting. “So what are you guys up to?” he asked, hoping to move somewhere a little less... watched. “Oh we were just thinking up costume ideas for Nightmare Night,” Dinky answered. “Isn’t it a little early in the year for that? Like six months too early?” he inquired. “We’re just getting an early start,” Scootaloo said. Pinkie all of a sudden interjected. “Scootaloo are you going to model some costumes for your-” she was interrupted by the glove Scootaloo had been wearing a second ago smacking her in the face. The twins and Dinky giggled while Aunt Cup rolled her eyes at Scootaloo. Featherweight looked a little alarmed as he gave Scootaloo a quizzical look. “It’s a mare thing,” she answered, looking at Featherweight. Pinkie glared at the pegasus mare. “You didn’t have to throw anything at me,” she said throwing the glove back at Scootaloo playfully. “Anyway, me and Dinky sort of have plans for today,” Scootaloo said, awkwardly, taking the glove and setting it on the table. “Sorry,” she said apologetically. “It’s cool,” Featherweight reassured her, waving a hand. “I’m happy to see you moving around,” he said smiling. There was another awkward pause between the group of ponies, with the twins still staring at him intently. Pinkie Pie and Aunt Cup looked at him as well. Featherweight shifted in his seat slightly before getting up. “Well I guess I better get going,” he said making his way to the door. “Oh and if your costume needs any repairs, let me know. I’m pretty good with a needle,” he told Scootaloo as he exited, the bell of the door tingling again. “He’s cute,” Pinkie teased once the door closed again. “You want me to throw this at you again don’t you?” Scootaloo asked threateningly, holding up the glove. “Oh no, the glove of doom,” Pinkie mocked, feigning fear. “Alright, that’s enough,” Dinky interjected. “Come on let’s go get ready,” she said pushing Scootaloo towards the stairs. “Where are you two going?” asked Cup Cake curiously. “We were gonna go check out a movie,” Scootaloo said as she followed Dinky upstairs. “Alright, but try to be back before dinner,” Cup Cake called after her niece. “Sure thing Auntie,” the young pegasus responded. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Cheerilee awoke with the same headache from before. Her body still ached and she felt as if somepony had used her for boxing practice. As she sat up she noticed she was no longer In the abandoned train station, but rather on a very uncomfortable cot in what looked like a prison cell. She didn’t know how she’d gotten there and her pulse began to quicken as panic set in again, her mind concocting all sorts of terrifying scenarios, all involving that lizard like monster. She curled up into a fetal position atop the cot, hoping against hope that none of what she had imagined had actually happened. The sound of footsteps once more caught her ears and she tensed up, fearing the worst. "Hello?” she called out meekly. "Is anypony there?” she asked desperately. "Please...stay away...I'm d-dangerous..." She whimpered. A unicorn police mare appeared, trotting towards her apprehensively. "Please remain seated where you are ma'am,” the officer requested. Cheerilee simply nodded in response, curling a little tighter as she watched closely as the mare pulled out a set of keys from her belt and made to put them in the lock. Cheerilee's eyes widened when she realized what was going on. "No stop, you have to leave me in here!” She pleaded, rushing to the cell door to push the officer away. The unicorn jumped back at the sudden act and grabbed her gun off her belt with her magic. “Ma'am, step back, now!” she demanded. “Please just listen. I’m dangerous. You need to keep me in here,” Cheerilee begged, a frighteningly familiar tingling sensation starting to become evident in the stub of her left arm. “You need to be processed, ma'am, now step back!” the mare repeated. “No, no, no, just leave me in here. I don’t want to hurt anypony else. I-I...” Cheerilee began to hyperventilate, falling to the ground as her vision began to swim. Her world began to fade out to the sound of the police mare’s panicked shouting and the cell door bursting open. Thought you could contain me did you? The Lizard hissed in her mind, a hint of demented pleasure in its voice. A futile effort. The hunt will be good tonight. Cheerilee felt the familiar sensation of the transformation stretching and warping her body as the world around her faded out and she felt herself lose control of her body. //////////////////////////////////////////// “Stop running!” Scootaloo shouted after the stallion who was bolting down the alley in front of her. “NO!” the stallion shouted towards her. Great, the first crook I run into in my hero career and he’s a damn track star, she thought as she swung on a web after the culprit. The reason she was in this alleyway chasing after the stallion was because Dinky had talked her into a trial run a few hours ago. They were just supposed to go to a part of town that had a higher than usual amount of crime, find a bad guy and catch him. So far it wasn’t going well. The stallion she was chasing knew this area better than her and kept taking short cuts to avoid her. Scootaloo glared at her target as he ran towards the end of the alley. Further ahead she noticed a trash can next to one of the buildings she was swinging from. She swung as high as she could and at the top of her swing she flicked her hand, aiming at the trash can. At the last moment, just before the stallion ran by it, Scootaloo yanked the web sending the trash can crashing into the stallion, knocking him over. Scootaloo swung down, just as the stallion was getting up and put her foot on his back, pinning him down. “Please just give up. I can go a lot longer than you can pal,” she said, panting slightly. The stallion gave a defeated sigh and slumped to the ground. Scootaloo wrapped her catch in webbing and proceeded to drag him out of the alley. “What are you anyway?” the stallion asked. Ponies walking down the street started staring at Scootaloo as she passed them, confused expressions on their faces. Scootaloo thought about what to tell the stallion. “I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Mare,” she told him, mentally patting herself on the back at the catch phrase. Scootaloo didn’t get much further before she heard police sirens. She looked down the street to see squad carriage making it’s way in her direction. “Hey over here,” Scootaloo called out trying to get their attention. The car stopped at the curb next to her and two officers stepped out. “Here ya go officers, all nice and gift wrapped for you,” she said happily, pointing a foot at the thief. “Ma’am step away from the stallion and get down on the ground,” the first officer, an earth pony stallion, said, one hand hovering over his belt where his gun was. Scootaloo looked at the colt confused. “Umm... sorry, what?” she asked trying to understand what was going on. “Just do what he says,” the stallion’s partner, a pegasus, told her, mimicking the other officer’s posture. “Seriously?” Scootaloo asked angrily. “I’m doing you guys a favor here and you’re trying to arrest me?” The earth pony was about to respond when the radio in the car went off, somepony speaking rather frantically over it. “Would you get that?” the earth pony asked his partner. The pegasus walked over to the carriage and began talking to whoever was on the other end. “Now you get on the ground,” the earth pony said, returning his attention to Scootaloo. Scootaloo glared at him through the eye holes on her mask. “No. I spent a good hour chasing this idiot through alleys. I’d like a little appreciation for nabbing him,” she replied, crossing her arms. The earth pony was about to retort when his partner interrupted. “Nightwatch, we need to get to the eighth precinct!” the pegasus shouted urgently. “For what?” Nightwatch asked concerned. “I don’t know, they got attacked or something. All units are being called down there now,” he informed. Nightwatch turned back to Scootaloo and the crook. Scootaloo had been listening and she was getting that odd tingling sensation from before. “Dammit,” the cop cursed as he grabbed the stallion Scootaloo had caught and put him in the back of the car. “I’m letting you off with a warning. Don’t let me catch you out here again,” he told her sternly as he joined his partner and their car took off. “Well that was kinda rude,” Dinky spoke up, appearing out of nowhere. Scootaloo jumped at the interruption. “Where did you come from?” she asked the unicorn. “I was the one who told the cops where to find you,” Dinky told her. “Anyway, not a bad first day. You wanna call it a night?” she asked, pleased with the results of the trial run. “What?” Scootaloo asked distractedly. She had been thinking about what the pegasus officer had said. Somepony is attacking a police station? she thought. “Hey Scootaloo you in there?” Dinky asked, waving a hand in front of her friends face. “Huh? Yeah, I was just thinking,” Scootaloo said, snapping back into reality. “Okay, well I was asking if you wanna call it a night,” Dinky said. “It’s starting to get dark and I don’t wanna be out here then. Besides you need to get home for dinner,” she said as she began fishing into her backpack looking for something. “Uh... yeah, I just wanted to check something out. I’ll head back home in a bit,” Scootaloo replied, the tingling feeling growing stronger. Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Alright, just don’t stay out too late. I don’t want your aunt grounding you,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her bag. She dialed a number and started walking away. “Hey mom, I’m on my way home, okay,” she said, nodding her head slightly as the mare on the phone walked off. Dinky’s voice began to fade out as Scootaloo tried to remember where the eighth precinct would be. Once she figured out which way to go she took a step and felt something stick to her foot. She lifted her foot and picked the object from it by hand to see Dinky’s smiling face on a student I.D. Must have dropped it when she went to get her phone... She thought as she scanned the crowd around her for Dinky, but the unicorn had already disappeared into the crowd. “I’ll just give it back to her tomorrow,” she said, stuffing the I.D. into one of the pockets on her costume. She then flicked a forehoof at the top of a building, pulled herself up, and started swinging towards the precinct. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo landed on top of a building just a few blocks from the precinct. The streets below were in utter chaos. Traffic was gridlocked and ponies were scrambling over carriages to flee whatever was causing the choas. Sirens blared further ahead and Scootaloo could hear gunshots too. “What the hay is going on,” she asked herself, as she jumped off the roof and started web swinging closer to the action. Just a block from the precinct Scootaloo heard a mare screaming frantically in the crowd as a pair of officers tried to force her away. “No, let me go! My babies still in the car!” she shouted, tears streaming from her eyes, Scootaloo’s eyes darted in the direction in which the mare was pointing to see a dark blue car several yards away. The doors were blocked by more cars on either side and Scootaloo could see a filly through the window in the back of the vehicle. Just as Scootaloo was about to swing down and get the foal out she got that feeling in the back of her mind again and looked up to see a car flying through the air on a path that would land right on the foal. “NOOO!” came the heart wrenching screech of the foal’s mother, who could only watch in horror. Scootaloo changed the trajectory of her swing, aiming at the car and delivered a powerful kick, knocking it off course. The car landed on top of another car with a deafening crash as Scootaloo landed just a few yards away from the wreck. Taking a second to regain her bearings, she stood upright and was about to turn back to the foal when a shadow fell over her and she turned around to see the most shocking thing she’d ever laid eyes on. An enormous lizard stood over her preparing to strike out with one of it’s clawed hands. Scootaloo rolled out of the way just as the massive claw slammed into the pavement. Scootaloo took one last look at the monster before she remembered the foal. She dodged another swipe from the beast and jumped on top of the car the foal was in. She pushed on the car to the left until there was enough space to open the door. She ripped the door off of it’s hinges, freeing the filly. “Come on kid let’s-” Scootaloo felt the tingle. “MINE!” a rumbling, vaguely reptilian voice hissed above her head. Scootaloo looked upward to see the reptile looming over her. Scootaloo launched forward, pushing the foal further into the car and jumped in next to her, just as a scaled hand impaled the ground just outside. Scootaloo moved to the other side of the back seat of the car on the other side of the filly and kicked the door as hard as she could, sending it and the car blocking it sliding several feet. Scootaloo grabbed the filly and exited the vehicle. However, the lizard was apparently quite fast, as it was already waiting for them outside. It swung its tail at them. Scootaloo had to vault over the appendage and leaped away from the attacker. Scootaloo looked at her surroundings and noticed she had put the beast between herself and the filly’s mom. “Oh for crying out loud,” she mumbled as the giant lizard grabbed the car it’s prey had just been in and threw it at the pair of ponies. Scootaloo jumped to the left, falling to the ground when she landed. The foal rolled a few feet away from her, grunting in pain. Scootaloo began to pick herself up when she got that sensation again and whipped around. The lizard was right on top of her, clawed foot raised, preparing to strike. A gunshot went off somewhere behind Scootaloo and the reptile visibly flinched. Scootaloo turned to see a police mare on the sidewalk, gun drawn and aiming at the beast. The officer fired a few more shots at the monster. The creature turned it’s attention away from Scootaloo and roared at its new attacker. Scootaloo took that moment to shoot a glob of webbing into it’s mouth, causing it to sputter and choke. Scootaloo jumped and grabbed the filly and bolted toward the cop. “Get this kid outta here,” she told the officer. “I’ll keep it distracted,” she added, leaving the mare and foal before they could object the young pegasus turned back to the beast. The lizard was about to go after them, but Scootaloo shot a web in its path, tripping it. The lizard quickly recovered and turned to Scootaloo again, roaring at her as it swiped it’s tail at the young mare. Scootaloo slid under it and shot another web at the reptile’s feet, sticking it to the road. She repeated this process with the rest of the creature’s limbs and then jumped on it’s back. The creature roared in protest, tugging as hard at it could at the webbing, struggling to break free. Scootaloo meanwhile, ran up to it’s head and started webbing it’s mouth shut. Confident that her webbing would hold, the young mare jumped off of her opponent triumphantly. Before she could celebrate though she felt that tingle in the back of her mind. She heard a tearing sound and turned just in time to see a scaly hand come down on her. The lizard pinned its enemy to the ground, lowering it’s face down to Scootaloo’s. “You lossse,” it hissed, a disturbing smile crossing it’s face. “You are prey.” It’s jaws opened wide, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. Just as it was about to bite Scootaloo’s head off she heard gunshots again and the beast roared to the right. The police mare from before was standing behind a car firing on the monster, the filly was cowering in another car behind her. “Why doesss the food fight back?” the lizard growled enraged. It gripped Scootaloo tighter, squeezing the air out of her lungs and throwing her body to the side like a rag doll. Scootaloo hit the ground hard and bounced a few yards, groaning as she looked up. Further away the lizard was approaching her aggressor menacingly. It swiped the first car away. The officer with the gun meanwhile, jumped into the second car with the foal, placing herself between the reptile and the child protectively. Scootaloo looked up from where she lay to see the monster raise its clawed hand, preparing to tear off the top of the car. She could see the officer’s face between the lizard’s legs and was shocked to see not fear, but determination. The cop looked like she was ready to die in protection of a foal she probably hadn’t even met before. In a moment of realization, it dawned on Scootaloo exactly what it meant to be a hero. It meant being a shield to protect the innocent from pain and suffering. Time seemed to slow down as Scootaloo acted with little thought behind her movements. She shot a web from both wrists attaching it to the asphalt several feet in front of her and yanked as hard as she could, pulling herself across the ground. She slid across the street and between the lizard’s legs as it swiped at the vehicle. At the last possible moment Scootaloo jumped onto her feet and used her hands to push the car as hard as she could, and sent it outside of the beast’s reach. However now Scootaloo was in the path of the creature’s swipe. The clawed hand sliced open her costume and skin as it collided with her. She was sent flying off of the street and impacted a wall, hard. She had three long gashes where she had been struck and she was sore from hitting the wall, but overall she thought a blow like that would do more damage. She picked herself up, despite her injuries and called out, “That all you got scale face? I’ve been hit harder by grannies!” Her taunts only angered the animal as it charged at her. The lizard started wildly swiping at her with it’s claws. Scootaloo dodged each blow and got under her opponent’s body where she kicked with her legs as hard as she could, sending the beast onto it’s back. Scootaloo wasted no time jumping on the creature and began punching it in the face. She continued her physical assault, slamming her fists into the beast’s face. Just as she was starting to lose control, Pick Pocket’s face flashed in her eyes and she hesitated, a pang of guilt suddenly shooting through her. The Lizard used this hesitation to knock Scootaloo off of her. “You will regret that pony,” it hissed as it retreated into an alley. Scootaloo got to her feet and ran after it, but the beast had somehow disappeared. “What was that?” Scootaloo asked herself, searching the empty alley for the unknown creature. Completely baffled as to where the monster had gone, she returned to the street and was greeted by dozens of ponies cheering. Her eyes widened when one stallion actually asked her to sign his chest. Before Scootaloo could say no a familiar face pushed it’s way to the front of the crowd. “I thought I told you to leave the crime fighting to police,” Officer Nightwatch said as he approached the masked mare. “Ya know the law says I have to take you in,” he told her. The crowd began to boo him and another pony started pushing her way to the front. “Wait you can’t arrest her,” said the mare from before. The foal Scootaloo assumed was the mare’s child was now being held very close by her mother. “She’s a hero,” the mare continued. She then turned to Scootaloo. “Thank you so much,” she said tears almost forming in her eyes as she shook Scootaloo's hand. “I have to agree Nightwatch,” said the police mare that had shot the beast, joining her fellow officer. The crowd howled it’s agreement. Scootaloo and Nightwatch looked each other in the eye. “I’m game for whatever you decide,” Scootaloo said, smiling awkwardly under her mask. Nightwatch chuckled. “I aint got the energy for you right now kid. Get outta here,” he said waving her away, the ponies around them roaring their approval. Scootaloo smiled and jumped on top of the nearest lightpost. “Hey kid wait,” he called out before Scootaloo went any further. She turned to look at Nightwatch. “Who are you?” he asked. The crowd turned to her, eagerly awaiting her response. Scootaloo smiled under her mask. “I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Mare,” she said before leaping off of the street light and swinging away into the night, the crowds cheers ringing in her ears. ////////////////////////////////////// The Lizard crawled back into it’s layer, seething at it’s defeat. It had been bested by a mammal, an inferior creature. And on top of that, it had obviously been a child. Growling in frustration in anger, it began to attack the walls with fury, gouging deep scratches in them. It roared and kicked, slamming itself into the nearby wall in anger. Eventually, it came to a stop, panting heavily, with one hand planted firmly on the wall in front of it. A small object attached to the claw caught its eye. It pulled the item closer for inspection. It appeared to be a card of some kind and it had a picture on it of a gray unicorn mare smiling happily. “Dinky,” the Lizard hissed, it’s scaly lips parting to mimic the young unicorn’s smile. > Becoming a Hero > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo climbed through the window of her room exhausted after fighting...whatever that was. She grunted in pain as she squeezed through her window. Her sides ached in pain from the swipe that lizard monster managed to score on her. It didn't help that she had also hit several walls and cars during the fight, so suffice to say that her body was in quite some pain. "This hero thing is going to be harder than I thought,” she muttered to herself as she sat on her bed, grunting slightly in pain. She started to peel off her costume, wincing as the fabric was pulled over her wounds. She looked down at the claw marks on her side to inspect them. Not as bad as it feels, she thought, taking notice of the scabs that were already forming. If she hadn't known better, she'd sworn that she had gotten the injury months ago. She picked up her costume, inspecting the damage. It looked as if it had been run through a shredder, probably from the swipe she took. Great. One night and I need a new costume, she thought, throwing the suit across the room. She then flopped onto her bed, grunting in pain a little as her injury hit the sheets. Knock, knock.... The sound coming from the door caught her attention. Scootaloo quickly pulled the covers over her body in order to cover her injury before responding. “Doors open,” she called out, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Cup Cake walked in, a look of concern on her face. “Oh thank Celestia you’re okay,” she said rushing over to her niece, throwing her arms around the filly. “I was so worried. We were watching the news and there was a giant lizard or something attacking downtown and you and Dinky were-” She was interrupted by Scootaloo’s hoof on her mouth. “I’m fine Auntie. So is Dinky. We weren’t even around that part of town,” she lied, returning her aunt’s embrace. She noticed a figure in the doorway and looked up. Pinkie stood just outside the room, giving Scootaloo an almost piercing stare, as if she could see through the lie. “Ummm... Anyway, I’m a little tired,” she said stretching in exhaustion. “Sure get some rest,” Cup said releasing the pegasus and making her way to the doorway. She paused, and looked back at Scootaloo. "Honey, why is your window open?" Cup asked, pointing towards the open window. Scootaloo looked towards the opened window, her mind wildly searching for an excuse as she mentally kicked herself for leaving it open. "Uh...for the fresh air." Scootaloo finally said, smiling broadly. "You know how stuffy it gets in the summer." Cup smiled, apparently believing Scootaloo. "Alright then. I would prefer you close it at night. Just in case." She said, stepping out through the now empty doorway. Where did Pinkie go? Scootaloo thought, wondering if she had imagined the pink mare’s presence. That look certainly didn’t seem very Pinkieish. “I’m just tired,” she muttered to herself as the door closed. It didn’t take long for her eyes to close, as she drifted off to sleep, letting herself surrender to exhaustion, her dreams filled with the images of her earlier battle. /////////////////////////////////////////////// The Lizard slinked along the rooftops of a quiet corner of Manehattan, searching carefully for her target. She had already memorized the scent and was now tracing it through the air, smiling slightly as it became stronger and stronger as she neared one of the many brownstone apartments. In her head, she heard the voice of her other, mammalian personality shouting and protesting. Please, leave her alone! She’s done nothing wrong! Just leave her be! The Lizard shook her head, “Ssshut up...” she grumbled, her eyes focusing on her target with pride as she caught sight of the young unicorn through her bedroom window. She was lying in her bed fast asleep, a content smile on her face. “Time to ssstrike,” the creature chuckled aloud. Now was the best chance she could take out her target without being noticed. It was almost two in the morning and the entire street was dark and quiet. She could easily sneak in, and eat the filly in one bite, and then slink out again, content that she’d be unnoticed. Please! Leave her alone! I’ll give you anything you want, just leave Dinky alone, Cheerilee shouted in the monster’s mind. The Lizard simply rolled her eyes. “You have no power over me anymore mammal,” she replied nonchalantly, blocking out the rest of her other half’s pleas. “Now where wasss I?” she asked herself turning her attention back to the window. She crouched low and prepared to pounce when a sudden noise caught her attention, causing her to hesitate. The window directly to the left of Dinky’s window burst open to reveal a lighter gray pegasus peering into the darkness, obviously looking for something. “WHO”S OUT THERE?!” she shouted angrily, her eyes narrowing as she searched the darkness. A light clicked on in the apartment below Dinky’s home. A reddish-brown stallion leaned out the open window. “Derpy! Will you shut up?! It’s two in the morning!” he shouted angrily. Derpy? The Lizard thought, quickly rummaging through her mammalian alter ego’s memories in order to identify the mare. Cheerilee’s memories told her that the mare was Dinky’s mother. The Lizard crouched lower, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention as she watched the pegasus closely. Derpy meanwhile, looked down at the stallion in the apartment below angrily for a second, before unexpectedly slamming a fist down on the fire escape that was hanging next to her with a deafening clang. The ladder on the side of it slide out of place, narrowly missing the stallion. “Whoa! Crazy mare!” he shouted before retreating into his apartment and slamming the window shut. Derpy meanwhile, returned to staring into the darkness for a few more moments before returning to her own home. Lizard stared at the spot the pegasus had struck. She didn’t need enhanced night vision to see the abnormally large dent. “Perhapsss a change of plan isss in order,” she told herself, not in the mood to fight two ponies, let alone one who seemingly had enhanced strength of some kind. Letting out a low growl, she retreated into the night. ////////////////////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo awoke the next morning feeling incredibly well rested. In fact, she felt more rested than she had in weeks. She yawned, stretching her forelegs wide. The pain in her side was almost completely gone. Curious, she put a hand to her side, where the Lizard had tried cut her open. Her eyes widened when she realized the injury had almost completely healed. Other than a little soreness that came when her hand touched the area, there was no indication that she’d nearly been filleted by car sized gecko. That's odd... She thought, quickly clambering out of bed and getting ready for the day. After she brushed her teeth she sat on her bed. She reached behind her bed and pulled her costume out. “Great gotta get this fixed. I guess it was too much to ask that this thing would fix itself over night,” she grumbled. Wait Featherweight said he’s pretty good at sewing, she thought, recalling his visit the previous day. “I’ll be meeting him somewhere other than my house though,” she muttered to herself as she left her room and trotted down the stairs. Scootaloo entered the dining room to find Aunt Cup and Pinkie quietly eating bowls of cereal. Pinkie looked up from her bowl and gave her an almost disappointed, piercing look, as if she had seen Scootaloo doing something terrible. Scootaloo averted her gaze. It appeared that the twins had already been taken to school, since the kitchen was vacant asides from Aunt Cup, Pinkie and herself. That probably meant that the high school would be letting students out in just a few hours. “Good morning,” Aunt Cup smiled as Scootaloo reached the bottom of the stairs. “Sleep well?” “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in awhile,” Scootaloo replied, smiling as she grabbed a bowl out of the kitchen and sat next to Pinkie on the right side of the table. “Um, I’ll be heading out a little later Auntie,” Scootaloo said, busily pouring herself some cereal. “Anything you need me to do before I leave?” Aunt Cup shrugged slightly. “Not here, but Pinkie’s breakfast the other day has left us dry on eggs. Do you mind fetching some more from the store on your way home?” By now Aunt Cup had finished her breakfast and was already starting to clear off the table. “Sure thing Auntie,” Scootaloo replied as she lifted her bowl of cereal to allow Aunt Cup to wipe up some of the milk that had spilled. “So where are you and Dinky going today, the movies again?” Pinkie asked without looking away from her bowl, her usual cheeriness strangely absent. Instead, her voice carried with it an air of disinterest. Scootaloo gave Pinkie a quizzical look. “Umm...I’m not really sure. I kinda figured I’d just meet her after school and we’d go from there,” She replied, “You know, stuff, things...” To be honest, she was a tad weirded out by the way Pinkie was acting. It was totally different from her normal, happy and hyper self. “Are you going to be back in time for dinner?” Pinkie asked again, almost as if she were interrogating Scootaloo. “Probably...” Scootaloo trailed off as she realized that she hadn’t actually made it home for dinner in several days. On top of that, she had promised several times to be home in time for dinner, only to get distracted and miss it or arrive late. “Okay Pinkie, leave her alone. Honestly, did you think she was going on a date with that Featherweight colt?” Aunt Cup asked, rolling her eyes at Pinkie with a bemused expression. At that, a switch seemed to flip and Pinkie perked up immediately. “Oh darn it Cup Cake you ruined it!” she playfully pouted. She then looked at Scootaloo with a wry grin. “I had her this close to fessing up.” Scootaloo let out an inward sigh of relief and rolled her eyes. “Seriously Pinkie, Featherweight’s not my coltfriend. He’s just a regular friend who happens to be a colt,” She said, trying to not let her own mild annoyance at Pinkie’s intrusiveness show. Of course I am planning on seeing him later, but I’m not telling Pinkie that. “So you say,” Pinkie teasingly accused, grinning broadly. “Oh whatever,” Scootaloo said rather grumpily as she finished her cereal and grabbed her scooter and backpack, heading for the door. “If you need anything call me Auntie. I’ll be out practicing tricks,” she said as she left. “Be careful!” Aunt Cup called after her. Nopony noticed, however, as Pinkie’s expression shifted back from the wry grin from a few seconds ago to one of silent disappointment. Scootaloo herself only made it a few feet out the front door when she remembered an important detail she had forgotten. She had forgotten her costume. She glanced back at the front door, hesitant to go back in, lest Aunt Cup and Pinkie see the costume. She instead made her way around to her window and climbed the wall like she had the night before. She smiled at the feeling of being disconnected from solid ground. I wonder if this is what flying feels like, she thought absentmindedly, as she grabbed the tattered clothing from behind her bed and jumped back out the open window, swinging away on a strand of webbing. /////////////////////////////////////// Dinky sighed happily as the final bell rang, finally freeing her from school for the day. Now I can talk to Scootaloo about that fight. I wonder if she’s seen the videos yet, she pondered, as she packed up her things and left the classroom. The events of the day before had caused quite a bit of viral videos to show up on the internet, so Dinky was eager to talk to Scootaloo and plan their next move. As Dinky walked through the halls, the rest of the students also poured out of the front doors. Dinky weaved through the crowd expertly and reached the front steps, quickly spotting Scootaloo waving towards her. “So you had an eventful night,” Dinky quipped as she walked up to Scootaloo. Scootaloo shrugged. “Well, that’s one way put it. To be honest I feel like I got hit by truck,” she emphasized her words by stretching slightly. “It did throw a little perspective on this whole hero thing,” Scootaloo continued looking over the crowd of students as they got into cars with their parents or started walking home. Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Really? How?” she asked as they made their own way down the street. “Well, At first I just wanted revenge, but when I got it, I felt guilty.” Scootaloo said plainly, “Then, thanks to you, I tried helping others. I can’t say that it was my destiny or anything, but it’s what my powers were meant for,” She said the last sentence with determination, as if she really meant it. “Wow that was pretty deep,” a voice behind them said, startling them. They turned to see Featherweight standing there, a knowing smile on his face. “We were... talking about... Scootaloo helping her Aunt in the bakery,” Dinky said awkwardly, trying to cover up their flub. Scootaloo sighed and looked at Dinky flatly. “Could you be a worse liar?” “Well I don’t see you coming up with anything better,” Dinky countered, looking at Scootaloo. “Hey, let’s not start a catfight here fillies. I’m a smart colt, I probably would have figured things out pretty quick either way,” Featherweight interjected, apparently trying to calm things before they got too heated. “Well, that does remind me,” Scootaloo said as she reached into her bag and pulled out the tattered costume. “I took a few heavy hits last night and my costume could use some repairs. You said you were good at sewing, I was hoping you could fix it.” Featherweight looked at the remains of fabric. “What is this a clown costume?” he asked as he inspected the workmanship. Scootaloo and Dinky shared a look, but remained silent. “I mean, I’ll take a look at it, but why don’t we talk about improvements?” he suggested. Dinky gave him a quizzical look. “Improvements? Like what?” “Well, this looks like it’s a little loose and oversized so we could make it a little more form fitting. We could also add like a web pattern or something. If you want we can go to my house and talk some more. My parents won’t be getting back from work until later so we won’t be getting bugged.” Featherweight replied. “Sounds good to me,” Scootaloo said, smiling. “You in?” she asked, turning and looking at Dinky expectantly. Dinky’s eyes widened. “Ummm... I actually should get some homework or something done. I’ll see you guys later,” she said as she started backing away. “Oh wait before I forget, we need to be able to get in contact with each other in case of emergency. So can you guys give me your cell numbers and I’ll shoot you both a text later with my number in it?” she asked as she fished her phone from her bag. Scootaloo nodded, “Yeah, that sounds good. Oh hey you dropped your school I.D. yesterday I put it in the costume’s pocket,” she said as she took the tattered outfit back from Featherweight and reached for the pocket. She met open air though, mainly due to a massive hole in the bottom of the pocket. “Oh crap.” she muttered, looking rather disappointed. “Oh don’t worry about it, I can get a new one, just give me your number,” Dinky said reassuringly. Scootaloo nodded. “Okay then. Mine’s 212-196-7466, and Featherweight?” “Mine’s 212-196-9470.” he added. Dinky nodded. “Okay then, you guys should get the text with my number in a few minutes. I’ll see ya later,” she said as she walked away, leaving Scootaloo and Featherweight alone. “Alright then let’s talk about that costume. I was thinking we could add some more blue, like on the the side of the shirt,” Featherweight said, causing Scootaloo to giggle a little. Featherweight raised an eyebrow. “And what, might I ask is so funny?” he asked. “You’re acting like the fillies in the sewing club,” Scootaloo said, unable to contain her giggles. “I am in the sewing club. It’s not just for fillies,” Featherweight defended, as he started walking towards his home. “Oh, of course not,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. /////////////////////////////////////////// Dinky arrived home about an hour after leaving Scootaloo and Featherweight alone. “I hope they do something romantic,” she giggled to herself as she walked in the door of her and her mother’s apartment. “Who’s being romantic?” a voice said from the kitchen. “Probably no one,” Dinky replied as she sat on the living room couch. A grey coated pegasus walked in carrying a sandwich on a plate. “Well did you have a good day at school?” Derpy asked as she offered the plate to her daughter. “Yeah it was okay I guess,” Dinky replied as she accepted the plate, holding it aloft with her magic. “I mean I still hate math though and biology is a breeze,” she gave her mom a quick hug as she made her way towards the staircase. “Thanks for dinner. I hate to leave you by yourself, but I have a little studying I have to do.” Derpy smiled, “Alright then, but make sure you get to bed on time muffin. I don’t want you falling asleep in class.” “Sure thing!” Dinky replied as she made her way up the staircase. She quietly opened the door to her room and closed the door quietly behind her. She then walked over to her desk and turned on her computer. She quickly pulled up the videos of Scootaloo’s fight that had been floating around on the internet and watched it for a minute, paying close attention to the features of the oversized reptile. She set the sandwich down on her desk next to the computer and looked up to the shelf above her head. It was crammed with biology encyclopedias she had gathered over the years, mostly for school, but a few were of her own choosing. She used her magic to pull down one Cheerilee had gotten her for her last birthday that held information on every known reptile in the world and even a few mythical ones. She started flipping through the heavy tome, marking off anything that had similar features to the beast in the videos she was playing. After a few hours she had hit the back of the book and started flipping to the pages she’d marked. “Why do all of these seem so familiar?” she muttered herself. She lost her concentration and the pages flipped closed, leaving the hardcover front of the book open. On the front page was a small message jotted down in elegant writing: To an amazing student and a great friend - Dr. Cheerilee Dinky stared at the message in shock, the name setting the gears in her head in motion. She quickly flipped through the marked pages to confirm her suspicions. All of the reptiles she had marked were ones that Cheerilee had experimented with while trying to discover the cure for lost limbs. Dinky looked at the monster on her computer screen as it threw a car at Scootaloo. Memories of the damage to Cheerilee’s home and her mentor’s strange behaviour the last time they had spoken flashed through her mind. “Oh, Celestia. Doctor what have you done?” Dinky asked, as the video finished, her eyes wide in both concern and fear. > Revelations > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Well these look way better than most of Dinky’s designs, I’ll give you that,” Scootaloo said as she looked at several drawings Featherweight had made over the past hour. “Yeah, well I figured if I can’t help directly with the superhero thing, I could at least make you look good,” Featherweight replied. Once he and Scootaloo had found the design that Scootaloo had liked the most, he had set about to stitching a web-like pattern onto the suit. “Hey, I looked awesome last night,” Scootaloo was quick to reply, smirking. “Are you kidding me? This looks like something Captain Equestria used to wear,” Featherweight laughed. “I’ll have you know that was a keepsake of my uncle’s from his glory days as a carny,” Scootaloo informed him in an over dramatic tone. Featherweight simply rolled his eyes as he moved the fabric through the sewing machine. “Well it may not have been what it was supposed to be for, but I’m sure he’d be proud of how you’re using it,” he said. Scootaloo’s grin faded somewhat. “Yeah... yeah he’d probably be worried sick, but still proud,” she said, barely noticing that tears had started to form in her eyes. Featherweight noticed this and stopped sewing. “Hey, look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he began, but Scootaloo raised a hand to silence him. “No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault, really,” she said, shaking her head and wiping away the stray tear. “It’s... I don’t know, I guess I’m just a little too cocky, I guess I just need to remember to keep myself in check not let the power go to my head,” Scootaloo said. Featherweight smiled. “Hey, don’t worry about that. You’ve got me and Dinky to keep your ego in check,” he joked. Scootaloo responded with a gentle punch in the shoulder. “Thanks, you’re a real hero,” she replied sarcastically. Featherweight returned to his work. There was a brief silence between them, really only broken by the faint sound of music coming from the radio in the corner. “So what is it like? The power I mean.” Featherweight piped up all of a sudden, his attention still focused on the sewing machine. Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow at him. “Well, It’s a little overbearing mostly,” she answered, looking down at the floor. “I’ve made some pretty big mistakes because I didn’t know how to control this,” she said, idly twirling her thumbs. “But thanks to Dinky though, that’s hopefully going to be less of a problem. She’s had me practicing for the last couple of days now after school. Improving my control and aim with the webs and all.” “Where do those come from anyway?” Featherweight asked. “How does it work, well,” Scootaloo showed him her left forehoof. “Right here,” she said, pointing to the barely perceptible slit in her wrist. “It’s as much a part of me as the strength, speed and agility,” she turned, spotting an empty soda can on the other side of the room. She shot a web at it and pulled the can into her hand, catching it with ease. Featherweight’s eyes widened. “That’s amazing,” he said, “I suppose the wall crawling comes with the package?” Scootaloo grinned, dropping the can. She flipped into the air, her hooves touching the ceiling. Featherweight winced, but Scootaloo stuck firm. His eyes were now the size of dinner plates. “And my strength makes it easy to support my body weight up here too,” Scootaloo added with pride as she started walking on Featherweight’s ceiling. “Wow,” the stallion commented, as his gaze fell to the can. He silently picked it up and lightly tossed it up towards Scootaloo from behind. Scootaloo once again felt that strange tingle at the back of her skull and dropped off of the ceiling. She caught the can mid fall and tossed it back at Featherweight. The can bounced off of Featherweight’s head, his eyes wide in shock, barely noticing the impact. “How did you do that?” he asked awestruck. Scootaloo shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I think Dinky said some spider’s can predict danger or something. She called it my ‘Spider Sense’ when I explained it to her,” Scootaloo chuckled. “I’m not so good with biology stuff though. I’d much rather tinker with a toaster.” Featherweight laughed. “You know, I noticed you tend to make more jokes the more you’re put on the spot,” he added smiling. Scootaloo just stared at him for a second, a bead of sweat rolling down her neck at his observation. “So these two ponies walk into a bar-” she started, but Featherweight was quick to wave a hoof, interrupting her. “Okay, let’s not turn my bedroom into open mic night,” he said chuckling as he returned to working on the costume. “So tell me about that thing you fought last night.” Scootaloo paused. She hadn’t really thought about that all that much, being more focused on her costume. “I don’t know what to say about it. It was giant freaking lizard,” she said, “I mean it could lift a car for Celestia’s sake,” she explained. “And it could talk too.” Featherweight just stopped to look at her as if she were crazy. “Seriously?” he asked, perplexed. Scootaloo nodded. “Seriously. I’m not kidding. It was pissed off and kept referring to me and the other ponies there as food. It must have been really hungry to attack a police station,” Scootaloo said, still perplexed by the creature's behavior. “Attack?” Featherweight asked confused. “Um, yeah what else would you call it when someone throws a car at you?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. “You haven’t watched any of the videos have you?” Featherweight asked. Scootaloo simply shook her head as Featherweight got up from his chair and pulled his bag out from under the desk. He unzipped the bag and pulled out a laptop, which he set on his bed. After a few minutes of booting up and clicking links he’d pulled up a video titled The Lizard Creature Theories. A blurry outline of a pony appeared as the video started. “Okay so nopony knows where this creature came from, but it and the masked vigilante that fought it off are easily the biggest news anywhere right now,” a distorted voice spoke. Scootaloo guessed that the pony on the screen was trying to be on camera and remain anonymous at the same time. “First thing I want to clear up though is the actual attack on the precinct. It was not an attack,” the unknown pony continued. The picture faded into a street camera view of the outside of the police station. “Hey, how did he get that footage?” Scootaloo asked, furrowing her eyebrow. Featherweight just shrugged and shushed her. Returning her attention to the screen, Scootaloo watched as a few ponies started running out of the building in a panic and not far behind them the creature came bursting through the front doors, knocking them off of their hinges. “See,” the voice returned as the picture faded back to the speaker. “I personally checked the rest of the footage from that camera and there was no monster going in. So how did it get in the building?” he asked. After a short pause he continued. “Simple it walked in, just not in it’s lizard form. That’s right, the beast has the ability to transform into a regular pony or maybe the other way around. I don’t have any evidence yet, but I’ll keep searching. Tune in next week when I breakdown the hero of the hour Spider-Mare. See ya folks.” With that farewell the screen went black for a moment before the replay option appeared. Scootaloo just sat on the floor trying to make sense of what she’d seen. “I don’t know about a transforming reptile-pony hybrid, but the guy does have a point. There’s something weird going on here,” Featherweight said as he returned to the sewing machine and the costume. Scootaloo simply scrolled through a few more videos from the fight hoping to see where it had gone afterwards. She wasn’t able to find any more about the creature, instead just finding dozens of videos spouting various conspiracy theories. Sighing, she simply sat next to Featherweight and pondered this new information as she watched him work on her new outfit. //////////////////////////////////////// Cup Cake walked into the living room after closing the bakery, her eyes drawn to three ponies sitting on the floor. “What’s going on here?” she asked smiling. Pinkie Pie looked up from the paper Pound Cake had been writing on. “I’m helping them with their homework,” she chirped. “Okay I think you have to divide now,” she told the colt. Pound gave the mare a quizzical look. “This is my spelling homework,” he said, pointing at the page. Pinkie looked closely at the paper, squinting her eyes. “Oh yeah, good point. Are you doing math?” she asked turning to Pumpkin. “No this is Science,” Pumpkin answered. “I see. I guess I just couldn’t put two and two together,” Pinkie joked, laughing at herself. Everyone else in the room just gave her a flat look. “That was a lame joke,” Pumpkin said, returning to her homework. Pinkie simply scowled at Pumpkin. “You two never did have a sense of humor,” she grumbled crossing her forehooves dramatically. “They might laugh if you ever told a good joke,” Cup told her, smiling gently. Pinkie was about to respond when she heard a familiar ringtone. She turned to the coffee table where she’d left her phone. “This conversation will continue,” Pinkie said as she picked up the phone to answer the call. “Hello, this is Pinkie,” she said cheerily. After a short pause her attitude became more solemn. “Uh... Give me just a second,” she said to whomever was calling her. “It’s a business call. I’ll be back in a bit,” she told Cup Cake as she made her way to the stairs. Cup Cake nodded. “Sure thing Pinkie.” Pinkie smiled and nodded and stepped into the deserted bakery. She put the phone to her ear again. “Okay I’m alone go ahead.” “We need you to look into the incident at the eighth precinct in Manehattan. That’s an order straight from the Director,” The pony on the other end said in a very dry and official sounding tone. “I’m on leave right now. I’m only in town for a friends funeral,” Pinkie explained, secretly hoping somepony else would be assigned the task. “We don’t have any other agents close by. You’re all we’ve got. It shouldn’t take you too long to complete the assignment.” Pinkie sighed in defeat. There goes my vacation. she thought. “Fine. What are my orders upon contact with subjects?” she asked, taking on the same tone as the pony on the phone. “Subject Lizard is to be taken into custody or eliminated if necessary,” the voice said as though it were reading the orders off of a script. “And Spider-Mare?” “Recon only. She’s being considered for recruitment.” Pinkie’s eye widened. “Seriously. Have you seen the footage she can’t be out of High School yet,” Pinkie protested. “Early recruitment has yielded better results in most cases. For example Agent Belle’s younger sister will be graduating from the Academy top of her class very soon,” the voice said, sounding slightly bored. “Ugh fine..I accept the assignment. I’ll report back tomorrow,” Pinkie answered. “Looking forward to it,” the other pony said before hanging up. Pinkie set the phone down on a table, sighing. “There goes my weekend,” she told herself as she walked back up the stairs. “Everything okay?” Cup Cake asked as Pinkie emerged from downstairs. “Yeah, I just gotta square off a client’s travel expenses before I go to bed tonight. I shouldn’t be up too long,” Pinkie said nonchalantly. “No biggie.” “I thought you got off work for the week,” Cup pointed out, frowning at the news. “So did I, but some ponies just can’t wait.” Pinkie said shrugging. “Speaking of which when’s dinner I’m starved. I was thinking we could have some cupcakes and ice cream,” Pinkie said, licking her lips. “That’s not a proper meal,” Cup said as she rolled her eyes in amusement, walking over to the phone. “Plus I don’t feel like cooking tonight. What do you guys say we order a pizza?” she asked. Pumpkin and Pound Cake both beamed, nodding adamantly. Pinkie, however, frowned at the idea. “Nah. I’m in the need for a sugar rush. I’m gonna to head out, maybe get something from a drive through,” she said, grinning as she moved towards the stairs. “I’ll bring back some ice cream for you guys,” she called down. “Awesome!” the twins cheered, causing Pinkie’s grin to grow a little larger. Pinkie made her way to the guest room she was using and shut the door behind her, being sure to lock it. She then pulled her suitcase out from under her bed and opened it. Inside was a bow, a quiver of arrows with different arrowheads and a black suit with a tactical belt. “I was kinda hoping to keep you away for the week, but duty calls,” she said as she put on the clothing and slung the quiver and then the bow around her neck. She then opened the window on the opposite wall from the bed and jumped into the alley below. ///////////////////////////////////// Dinky frantically ran through the information she’d just finished triple checking, but the evidence kept pointing to the same impossible conclusion. Her mentor and close friend Dr. Cheerilee was the Lizard that Scootaloo had fought the previous night. “How is this even possible?” She asked out loud, her mind unable to comprehend the possibility. She took a breath and rubbed her head in an attempt to keep herself calm. Then as though a light had flicked on, she had an idea. "I need to tell Scootaloo.” She pulled her phone out of her bag and dialed the number. Dinky sat there for a minute, drumming her fingers on the desk before she heard the beep that informed her that she had no signal. But I’ve never had this problem in my room. Weird, she thought as she stuffed the phone back in her bag. Dinky paused. Maybe I'm rushing into this, she thought for just a moment, Maybe I should wait until tomorrow? But then I might not have another chance. “I’ll just have to go to her,” she told herself as she grabbed her bag. She left her room and made her way to the front door. “Where are you going?” a stern voice asked, causing Dinky to freeze in place. She turned around to see her mother giving her a glare. “I have to go see a friend about something. It’s really important mom,” Dinky said, hoping that would be enough and she would be allowed to leave. “I was just getting ready to make dinner. What’s so important you can’t call your friend?” Derpy asked, eyebrow raised. “I would but I’m not getting any reception here,” Dinky said, and Derpy gave her a disbelieving look. “I know we usually have one, but we don’t right now,” she continued, pulling out her phone. “See?” she held out the phone so her mother could get a good look at the glowing screen. Derpy glanced at the device and sighed. "Okay, but be back before midnight,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Thanks mom,” Dinky smiled as she embraced her mother tightly. "I shouldn’t be long. I’m gonna take the subway to save time,” she said as she opened the door. “Okay just be careful,” Derpy called out after her. Dinky was out the door before she heard the warning and running down the stairs as fast as she could. About halfway down she passed a stallion with a tool box trotting by, an annoyed look on his face. “Stupid foals messin with the cell towers,” he grumbled, eyeing Dinky angrily. Dinky stopped almost confused. Did he say towers? As in more than one? What the hay is going on? she wondered as she continued to the front doors of her building. As she walked towards the subway, Dinky had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. She kept looking over her shoulder the entire way, but as far as she could tell no one on the busy sidewalk was following her. She picked up her pace out of paranoia and was able to get to the subway in half the time it usually took her. Once she saw the stairway leading underneath the busy streets she smiled in quiet relief. The station wasn’t very busy most of the time, mainly because it was in a rather rough part of town and thugs would often harass passengers. Even so, there were still a few train operators that stopped by, despite the offending youths. Thankfully the station appeared to be hooligan free today, but Dinky still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. The station was covered in graffiti and the lights flickered on and off as though they were about to go out at any moment. Dinky quietly sat on a bench and waited for the train. To pass the time she pulled her phone out of her bag to play some music and noticed that she had a weak signal. “Perfect,” she said happily as she called Scootaloo. After a few short rings there was a click. “Hello?” came Scootaloo's voice. “Scootaloo, hey it’s Dinky. I’ve got something important to say so just listen,” Dinky said before her friend could reply. “Can you say that again? You’re not coming through clear. Are you in a tunnel?” Scootaloo asked, her voice distorted by static. “I’m at the subway near my home. That’s not important right now, just listen,” Dinky persisted. “Alright I’m listening,” Scootaloo replied. There was some muffled voice in the background. "It’s Dinky, you just finish the costume there, this is hero talk,” Scootaloo said to whoever was on the other end. Featherweight most likely. Dinky thought. “When I got home earlier I started watching those videos from last night trying to figure out what you were fighting," Dinky continued. "I found out that several species of reptile we had experimented on in the lab at Bluecorp had similar traits to the Lizard you fought,” She explained, praying the signal was clear enough that Scootaloo had heard most of what she had said. “So how does that help me nab the beast?” Scootaloo asked, starting to sound a little impatient. “I’m-” Dinky was about to reply when a shadow on the floor in front of her appeared in the flickering light. She whipped around, only to see empty space. “Dinky you there?” Scootaloo asked, now sounding slightly concerned. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Dinky replied, sitting back down. “Anyways, I was saying that the night when you went to see Cheerilee at Bluecorp, there was a break in, except nothing was stolen,” she explained. “Dinky what does this have to do with the Lizard?” Scootaloo asked. Dinky was about to tell Scootaloo to be patient when she heard a scraping noise from further in the station. She stopped and looked around, scanning what she could see. Nothing. Come on Dinky...its just your imagination. She thought as she returned to her conversation. “D-Dr. Cheerilee was a-acting strange the next day,” she stuttered, her confidence returning as she spoke. “She was under suspicion for the destroyed equipment in the lab and didn’t seem sure it wasn’t her fault. She had me grab the tapes from that night before, before anypony else saw them and I took them to her house, which was also trashed,” she rambled nervously. “It didn’t make any sense before, but now that this creature showed up it’s become clear.” “What’s clear Dinky? This doesn’t make any sense,” Scootaloo replied confused. Now Dinky could hear the tell tale signs of a train coming up the tunnel. “Don’t you see. It’s not some monster that showed up out of the blue, it’s Dr....” Dinky trailed off as the trains lights lit up the ceiling above the tracks directly in front of her. Hanging there by it’s claws was the creature from the previous night. It’s yellow eyes, over sized fangs and claws paralyzed Dinky with fear. In her terror, Dinky dropped the phone, Scootaloo’s voice fading as it left her ear. After a short pause the train finally passed through the station without stopping. As soon as it had passed the creature dropped from the ceiling with a loud thud and climbed up into the station. It stared it’s shaking prey down for a full minute before it lunged forward with an earsplitting roar. > Head Games > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Dinky? Dinky?!” Scootaloo shouted into the phone. The last thing she heard was a distorted roar and then the line went dead. Scootaloo whipped around to Featherweight, who was staring at her in worry. “I think Dinky’s in trouble, is the costume done yet?" she asked urgently “Not quite, but it doesn’t matter,” he said as he pulled the half finished costume off of his desk. Scootaloo could already tell the costume would fit her a little better just from looking and the added blue and Spider web patterns, were very appealing to her. “Thanks,” she said as she took the costume and started putting it on over her clothes. “I’ll give you a call, later,” she said as she opened the window on the far side of the room and jumped out. The colt simply stared out of the open window, perplexed. “I’m not sure I can get used to that.” /////////////////////////////////////////////////// Dinky dodged behind a pillar as the Lizard lunged at her. “Wait, Doctor! It’s me! It’s Dinky!” she shouted, ducking as a the beast raked it’s claws into the cement Dinky had been hiding behind. “The Doctor can’t talk right now,” the creature spoke. “Besssidesss you’re ssstrong enough to fight back,” it taunted as it prepared to strike again. Dinky just barely escaped her tormentor’s clutches as she rolled away. What is she talking about? Dinky thought. “Come on mammal fight back. You’re probably the mossst difficult prey to catch in thisss cccity. I want to remember the moment I caught you. Fight me like you did lassst night,” the creature hissed. Dinky’s eyes widened. Last night? She thinks I’m Spider-Mare! Dinky thought as the stairs leading to the street above came to mind. “I’m not who you think I am!” she shouted as she dashed for the escape. A scaled foot slammed into the floor, blocking her path. Dinky looked up and saw the yellow eyes of the Lizard staring her down. “Please, Cheerilee. You don’t want to do this,” Dinky pleaded as the beast raised it’s clawed foot. Dinky flinched when the beast struck the ground next to her. The young mare looked at the creature in surprise, wondering why it hadn’t killed her. “R...Ru-Run,” it said, struggling to get the words out. Dinky’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Cheerilee was fighting for control. Dinky jumped up and darted to the other end of the station. The Lizard was blocking the only exit to the streets, so Dinky only had one way to go. Onto the train tracks and down the tunnel. Dinky briefly looked back at the Lizard as it started to slowly move towards her, obviously being hindered by Cheerilee. Dinky leaped onto the ground below and started running down the tunnel as fast as she could. Behind her she could hear the angry roaring of the Lizard and the thud of heavy footsteps as it gave chase. It didn’t take very long for the unicorn to get lost though. All she knew was that if she stopped Cheerilee may not be able to hold the beast back a second time. “RAAAHHHH! I AM IN CONTROL NOW!” roared the reptile, in anger. Dinky could tell from the volume that it wasn’t far behind either. She started running as fast as she could away from the roaring beast while keeping an eye out for an escape in the darkness. “Oh come on, there has to be an emergency exit here somewhere,” she told herself, her legs starting to burn from exhaustion. She wasn’t used to this much running. “I really need to start working out.” Just then she noticed another tunnel further up ahead that seemed to branch off of the main tunnel. Dinky guessed that it was where extra subway cars were stored until they were needed. Lighting up her horn Dinky ran into the darkness hoping she could at least find a better place to hide. The first thing Dinky found was a couple of rusty train cars that looked they’d been abandoned here years ago. “Better than nothing,” she whispered as she started trying to pry open the doors to the first car by magic. A roar from the end of the tunnel made her stop for a second before redoubling her efforts. After about a minute the doors snapped apart with a loud clang. Dinky heard a low growling behind her and snapped around and put out the light her horn was producing. “Don’t bother hiding Dinky. I can sssmell you,” the Lizard hissed as it lumbered down the passageway, mouth open to taste the air. Dinky hurriedly climbed into the train car and slid her body underneath the seats furthest from the door. Dinky could hear the footsteps of the creature as it lumbered down the tunnel and towards her hiding spot. She stuffed a hand in her mouth in an effort to make less noise. “Come out, come out Dinky,” the reptile called. “You don’t seem to have as much fight in you as you did last night,” it taunted. Dinky guessed it was trying to provoke her, but she wouldn’t try to take it on even if she could. I need a plan. Okay so the Lizard and Cheerilee seem to be separate personalities or I’d be dead by now. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk her down, but a blow to the head might give Cheerilee enough control to stop this. Dinky was so absorbed in her thoughts that she nearly screamed in fear when the creature ripped the doors off of their tracks and threw them aside. “Enough gamesss. Faccce me Dinky or I’ll go after your mother inssstead,” the Lizard threatened as it entered the train car and bent the seats and bars out of it’s way. Dinky’s eyes widened at the mention of her mother. She didn’t want anypony else to get involved if they didn’t have to. She slowly slid out from under the seat she was under and revealed herself, the beast immediately taking notice. “Please. You don’t have to do this,” Dinky said, her voice shaking as the creature stalked closer to her. “I know I don’t have to, but I want to ssso badly,” the Lizard hissed as it lunged, slowed down by the cramped space. Dinky took advantage of her small size and charged at the creature, sliding under it as she got within its reach. She got back to her feet and jumped back out of the train, making a dash for the other end of the tunnel. The sound of metal twisting and tearing caught Dinky’s attention and she looked back to see the Lizard ripping it’s way through the top of the car. Once it was free it jumped off of the destroyed car and started chasing Dinky and was quickly catching up. “You can not essscape me that easssily!” the monster roared as it jumped over Dinky and blocked her exit. “Gaahh!” Dinky screamed as she skidded to a stop and fell to the ground. She quickly picked herself up. The Lizard began slowly walking towards her and Dinky started trying to back away when the Lizard grabbed her by one of her legs and pulled her close, pinning her down with one hand. “Thisss isss you lassst chanccce. Fight back or die,” the creature hissed, leaning down so it was almost nose to nose with Dinky. Dinky didn’t say or do anything. “Have it your way then,” the Lizard said as it raised it’s other foreleg, preparing to strike. Dinky closed her eyes preparing for the inevitable. When the blow never came she opened her eyes to see the Lizard seemingly paralyzed. Dinky wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, but she decided it would be best if she got out of the monster’s grip while she could. However she quickly discovered just how strong the beast was. The more she struggled the tighter it gripped her. Dinky looked at the creature’s face and was shocked. It seemed as though it would cry at any moment and had a sadness in it’s eyes. It reminded her of Cheerilee. “Doctor?” she asked quietly. As though switch had been flipped the anger of the Lizard returned and it brought it’s claws down on Dinky. The young mare only barely heard a faint thwipp over her own fearful scream, and a second later the beast was launched over Dinky like it had been fired from a catapult. Bewildered Dinky jumped up to see what had attacked the Lizard and saw Scootaloo standing at the end of the tunnel. “Are you okay?” the costumed pony asked as she walked over to Dinky. “No! I just got chased through a subway tunnel by a gian-” “Heads up!” Scootaloo interrupted as the Lizard charged at them. Scootaloo grabbed Dinky and jumped out of the way. Dinky grabbed onto Scootaloo tightly as the pegasus shot a web at the end of the tunnel, swinging away from the danger. “You need to get out of here. I’ll hold it off,” Scootaloo told her friend, turning to face the monster. “Wait you don’t understand. It’s Cheerilee!” Dinky shouted. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Wait what? You can’t be serious,” Scootaloo began, but was quickly interrupted as her enemy emerged from the tunnel, it’s face contorted in rage. “We’ll talk later just get out of here and call for help,” Scootaloo told Dinky. “Be careful,” Dinky said as she turned and started running for the platform. Scootaloo turned to face her opponent. “Well you wanted me right?” she asked the beast. “Well thisss isss perplexssing. If you’re not the gray one then who are you?” the Lizard replied. “No matter I’ll be feasssting on you sssoon,” It said as it lunged across the tunnel. “Tell you what,” Scootaloo said as she jumped up on the wall behind her. “If you stop trying to kill ponies I’ll let you in on the secret,” she said. The Lizard responded by leaping at her claws first and then chasing Scootaloo a few yards across the wall. “No deal then? Oh well your loss,” Scootaloo joked as she leaped off of the wall and shot a web at the reptile, yanking it off of the wall and slamming it into the opposite side of the tunnel. With a roar the beast got up and lunged at Scootaloo again, swiping at Scootaloo’s left side. Scootaloo jumped over the swipe and latched onto the leg as it swung under her. The creature attempted to shake her off, but Scootaloo shot a web at the creature’s right leg as she climbed onto it’s back and dropped off on the other side behind the leg. She then started yanking on the web, slamming the clawed foot into her enemies face repeatedly. “Stop hitting yourself,” the mare taunted. Scootaloo let go of the web as she got that feeling again and jumped the Lizard’s tail passing harmlessly beneath her. The Lizard then swung its tail back to catch the masked pony on the rebound. Scootaloo tries to shoot a web and swing away, but the appendage came to fast and the blow sent her flying across the tunnel and into the wall. Scootaloo stuck to the wall and shot webs at the opposite side just above the beasts back and pulled herself at it. The Lizard turned and opened it’s mouth to try and catch the aggravating hero. “I’ve got you now!” the monster roared. Scootaloo planted her feet on either jaw to keep the beast’s mouth open and slammed a forehoof right in the back of it’s throat. The Lizard coughed and sputtered. “What’s the matter spider got your tongue?” Scootaloo mocked as she somersaulted out of the powerful jaws and landed on the ground with a soft thud. The Lizard threw itself at the super hero bodily. Scootaloo dropped onto her back and launched herself upwards, delivering a powerful kick to the monster’s stomach and sending it crashing into the wall, where she started letting shooting enough webs at it to stop a semi truck, covering the creature’s entire body in the sticky ropes. “I swear to Celestia if that’s not enough to hold you…” Scootaloo trailed off as she heard the beast strain against the webs quickly freeing itself and pulling chunks of the wall down with it. “You will not capture me mammal. You can only be eaten. Accept your fate,” the creature said as it started swiping it’s claws at Scootaloo from every direction. Scootaloo did her best to dodge the the strikes, but had an idea after the first couple of cuts. She started shooting webs at the claws after each strike. After almost five minutes of this process the Lizard finally hit Scootaloo across the face, sending the mare several yards further down the tunnel. The Lizard growled in victory. Scootaloo picked herself up with a groan and felt her face. “Ha! Jokes on you scale face,” she shouted back. Curiously the Lizard looked at it’s claws and saw that each one was wrapped in webs. There was even something stuck to it’s left foot. “What’s this now?” it asked itself in triumph holding up it’s prize. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. My mask! “Can I have that back if I ask nicely?” she joked. The Lizard stared at her enemy for a moment before grinning. “Scootaloo right?” it asked. Scootaloo nearly had a heart attack at this point. “How did you know my name?” “You met with the doctor just before she created me. I must thank you for giving her the last piece of the puzzle,” the creature taunted. That struck the young mare like a rocket. The algorithm. This is all my fault, she thought. She then noticed the Lizard charging at her once again. “Whoa,” she gasped as she narrowly escaped being trampled. Scootaloo whipped around expecting the Lizard to attempt another attack, but the reptile simply kept running until it disappeared into the darkness. “Oh buck me,” Scootaloo cursed as she realized the monster had escaped again. Scootaloo quickly made her way back to the platform where she found Dinky waiting for her. “Scootaloo! Are you okay?” she asked worriedly. “Where’s your mask?” “The Lizard took it,” she said in a defeated tone. “So not only does it know who I am now, turns out I had a hand in making it,” Scootaloo said angrily. “What are you talking about? I was trying to tell you that you were attacking Dr. Cheerilee. How could you be responsible?” Dinky asked, confused. “I gave Cheerilee an equation that was in a bag of my dad’s old stuff,” she explained. “I’m guessing she used it to make a serum to get her arm back and used Lizard DNA as a base.” “Okay, but how did that turn her into a giant reptile?” Dinky asked. “She probably used one of your lab’s crystal mixers. If the serum is mixed with magic the results become unpredictable because the magic changes the mix or something,” Scootaloo finished as she stood up. “So how do we save Cheerilee?” Dinky asked. Scootaloo stopped. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure we can. I can’t let that monster roam around the city. I may have to take it out,” Scootaloo concluded. Dinky’s expression became angry at these words. She walked over to Scootaloo and whacked her in the head, shocking the pegasus. “I thought you didn’t want to use your powers to kill. That it made you feel guilty,” Dinky said. “She’s too far gone Dinky. How am I supposed to save her if she’s eating ponies,” Scootaloo shot back. “No. Cheerilee is still in there. She had me pinned down for almost five minutes before you swung in. She could have killed me before that too, but she didn’t. She was fighting for control. She and the Lizard aren’t the same mind,” Dinky explained. Scootaloo’s jaw fell open at this information. “That changes things,” she said in shock. “Okay so how do I help Cheerilee fight?” Dinky smiled at the question. “I was thinking head trauma could shake the Lizard’s control,” Dinky suggested. “Okay that makes this even easier then. Now I just have to figure out where it went, fight it and get my damn mask back,” Scootaloo said smiling. Dinky however went pale at the mention of the mask. “What is it?” Scootaloo asked. “It has your mask?” Dinky asked quietly. “Yeah I said-” Scootaloo was cut off. “Scootaloo, a lot of the reptiles Cheerilee studied tracked their prey by scent,” Dinky explained. Scootaloo gave her a blank look. “Some would even follow an old scent trail back to the prey’s nest and wait for it to come back,” the unicorn finished. Scootaloo froze. “Oh no.” She then tore up the stairs leading to the street with Dinky close behind. They quickly found an empty alley and Scootaloo started climbing the wall. “Wait here,” she told Dinky. “Okay just don’t die,” Dinky said fearfully. “Not part of the plan,” Scootaloo quipped as she grabbed a sock off of a clothes line, disappearing over the side of the roof. > The Lizard's Last Stand > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Lizard moved quickly, tracking the scent of it’s target. It opened it’s mouth to taste the air outside of a red brick house a few blocks outside if the main city. “Not this one,” it said as it moved quickly back through the alley unaware of the shadowy figure following it from the rooftops. “Target acquired,” Pinkie whispered into her earpiece. “Moving in.” “Acknowledged. Proceed with caution,” a voice replied back, as Pinkie leaped to the next roof to keep track of her quarry. Where is it going? Pinkie thought as she checked the area they were in almost instantly recognizing it. We’re near the bakery! Why are we here? The Lizard opened it’s mouth to taste the air again. “The Ssspider’sss web isss clossse,” it hissed to itself. Turning to a brightly colored building down the street. Pinkie followed it’s gaze. Didn’t see that coming, she thought as she caught sight of the bakery the Lizard was moving towards. Without another thought Pinkie pulled the bow off of her back and notched an arrow. Taking careful aim she shot the arrow at the beast’s back. The Lizard growled as the arrow stuck in it’s back. Looking around the Lizard spotted it’s attacker. Pinkie stood on the roof another arrow ready, this one with a cylindrical tip. “If you’re here for the cupcakes you’ll have to come back later. The bakery closed hours ago,” she said as she shot the arrow. The Lizard swiped the arrow to the side. “You ca-” the creature began as the tip of the arrow ignited in a blast of white light, blinding the Lizard. “Yuca? Is that some kind of cryptic lizard word? Does it mean you surrender, cause that would be really helpful,” Pinkie babbled as she jumped off the roof, rolling and readying another normal arrow as she hit the ground. As soon as she had the reptile in her sights she fired, aiming at the knees this time. The Lizard roared in annoyance as the arrow struck its target. “Your an annoying mammal,” she growled as her vision returned. However her attacker was nowhere to be seen. “Why do mammalsss alwaysss hide,” the creature said as it opened it’s mouth, tasting the air and immediately catching wind of Pinkie sneaking up from behind. The Lizard whipped it’s tail at the assassin, knocking the mare aside. “You can’t kill me. You are the food. I kill you,” the monster snarled as it lunged at it’s prey. Pinkie just barely rolled out of the way. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You might get diabetes,” she said as she fired another flash bang arrow, blinding the monster, followed by several regular arrows targeting joints and pressure points. The Lizard roared in annoyance. Seconds later lights began flicking on in the homes and shops around them, curious ponies looking out of their windows to see what the commotion was. Great just what I need. Cops and reporters will probably be here soon, Pinkie thought as she watched the Lizard start to recover, Pinkie’s arrows popping out as the wounds healed. “I told you, you can’t kill me,” the monster hissed with a triumphant grin. “Oh snap. I might need the cops here after all,” Pinkie commented in surprise as the Lizard charged at her. She ran at the Lizard, dropping and sliding beneath it as it swung it’s claws at her. Pinkie jabbed an arrow with a much larger point into the belly of the beast before she got back to her feet and ran. The Lizard turned to attack again when she heard a faint beeping sound and noticed a red blinking light coming from the arrow. The Lizards eyes widened when she realized she had a bomb stuck to her stomach. She swiped a hand at the arrow, knocking it loose and then began to scramble away as the explosive detonated, the blast throwing the Lizard several yards down the street. Pinkie readied another arrow as she observed the smoke from the explosion. “If that didn’t kill it I’m calling bull shit,” Pinkie said as she began moving closer at a steady pace. Just as she got within spitting distance of the crater her arrow made the Lizard’s tail swung out of the smoke and caught Pinkie in the midsection, sending her flying into a wall. Pinkie slumped to the ground unconscious. ////////////////////////////////////////////////// Cup Cake stared out of the second floor window at the spectacle below. “Mommy, what’s all that noise?” a tired voice asked from behind her. Cup Cake turned around to see her children rubbing the sleep from their eyes. “Umm…Nothing, but we’re gonna go on a little adventure,” she told them as she started pushing them towards the stairs leading downstairs. “Come on we can go to the toy store,” she continued. “But it’s late. The toy store isn’t even open is it?” Pound asked confused at the sudden trip. “I know, but if we get there first we get the pick of the litter, now come on pick up the pace,” Cup encouraged as she got the twins moving downstairs. “Can’t we get some breakfast first?” Pumpkin asked with a yawn. “We’ll get something out okay,” Cup said as she became more nervous, ushering the twins down the stairs. “We’ll get some pancakes or something,” she offered as she pushed her children down the stairs. Then the front of the bakery exploded inward as the creature from the streets invaded their home. Cup pushed her children behind her protectively as they shrieked in fear of the beast. The Lizard grinned at the family. “Sssnacksss,” it said simply as Cup got the twins moving back up the stairs the monster following slowly, certain that it’s new prey would not escape. //////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo swung towards her home as fast as she could wearing the oversized sock as a mask. “Come on,” she chided herself as she tried to get more speed in her swings. The sound of sirens caught her attention and she looked to the streets below to see several emergency vehicles headed in the same direction as her. “Please don’t let me be too late. Not again,” Scootaloo told herself as she followed the same path as the police. ///////////////////////////////////// Cup Cake pushed her children into her room and slammed the door behind them, just as the Lizard appeared at the top of the stairs. “Go for the fire escape now!” she shouted at her children. “But what about you?” Pumpkin asked, teary eyed. “I’ll be right behind you, just go!” their mother shouted at them, holding herself against the door in a desperate effort to keep the monster outside the room. Pound pushed his sister towards the window and opened it. “Let’s go,” the colt told his sister pushing her out of the window and onto the metal platform outside. Seeing that her children were headed for safety, Cup moved away from the door as it was knocked inwards with great force pinning Cup under it. Cup tried to lift her body and slide the door off of her body, but a tremendous weight pushed her back down. A scaly hand landed next to her a few inches from the door and the Lizard lowered it’s head to get a look at it’s trapped prey. “Like a rat,” it growled, breathing heavily on the earth pony under the door. Cup’s eyes watered at the stench of it’s breath. “Please just let my children go,” Cup pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. “But they looked ssso tasssty,” the Lizard replied, grinning. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to mess with kids?” a familiar voice spoke, drawing the beast’s attention. Pinkie stood in the window, arrow at the ready, a knot on her head from where she hit the wall. The Lizard growled in frustration. “I kil-” the creature began, but was interrupted by an arrow lodging itself in the back of her throat. As the beast coughed up blood it stumbled backwards, freeing Cup. “Cup come on!” Pinkie shouted urgently. Cup stared at Pinkie in confusion for a moment before she remembered the danger she was in and making a dash for the window. “Get to the ground, the twins are waiting on the other side of the street,” Pinkie informed. “Okay.” Cup said as she climbed out of the house and started down the fire escape, stopping for just a second. “You aren’t a travel agent are you?” she asked. “It’s complicated, now get to your kids,” Pinkie instructed, readying another arrow as her enemy recovered. Cup nodded and continued down the stairs and out of danger. The Lizard finally spit the arrow out of it’s mouth and turned to the archer, rage in it’s eyes. “Why do you mammalsss alwaysss attack me in the throat?!” it roared in anger. “We want you to keep your mouth shut. Your breath reeks,” Pinkie replied as she fired again, this time aiming for the Lizard’s eye. “I am curious though, why attack a bakery? Didn’t you start off taking on an entire police force?” she asked, hoping to get a little of the beast’s motives. “I only followed the ssscent of my greatessst challenge,” it replied, approaching Pinkie slowly. The Lizard had no intention of being stuck with another bomb. Pinkie leaped into the building and past the Lizard, her intention to keep herself from getting on T.V. when the press showed up. The Lizard swiped at Pinkie, narrowly missing cleaving off the mare’s head. She then charged through the wrecked doorway and back into the house. “Follow the leader scaly,” she called as she fired another flashbang. The Lizard followed Pinkie out of the room to avoid being blinded again. “Annoying mammal,” the beast growled as it lunged at Pinkie. Pinkie dodged to the right and stabbed a regular arrow into the Lizard’s foot. “RAAAAHHHH!” the Lizard roared in annoyance, swiping it’s injured foot at the offending mare, pinning her against the floor and severing the strap to her quiver, scattering the arrows. “Now die!” Pinkie struggled as the Lizard applied more pressure to her throat. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flashbang arrow within reach and grabbed at it. By the time Pinkie was able to get a grip on the shaft of the arrow, she was turning blue from a lack of air. Acting fast she jammed the end of the arrow against the reptile’s arm. The tip of the arrow ignited, blinding both combatants. The Lizard stumbled again, falling backwards down the stairs. Pinkie stumbled blindly, gasping for air. The Lizards flailing tail swept her off of her feet and down the stairs after the Lizard. They landed in a heap in the bakery. The Lizard was the first to recover, grunting in discomfort as the sound of sirens arrived outside of the bakery. Pinkie was stumbling to get up, still disoriented from the flash bang. Her sight seemed to be returning, but she still had a loud ringing in her ears, distracting her from the shadow looming over her. The Lizard swung its claws at the disoriented mare, just as she heard the window to the front of the store shatter. Whipping around the beast came face to foot with Spider-Mare as the hero kicked the beast over the counter of the bakery. “You picked the wrong bakery,” Scootaloo said threateningly, her voice slightly muffled by the sock over her head. Her line of sight was drawn to the pony the Lizard had been attacking. Pinkie? What the hay is she doing here? Pinkie shook her head and looked to her rescuer. “Thanks for the save,” the earth pony said thankfully as she picked herself up, rubbing her ears in discomfort. “Not a problem,” Scootaloo said in a slightly deeper voice. “I’ll take it from here.” Pinkie gave the younger mare a quizzical look. “You sick or something your voice sounds weird. And why are you wearing a sock on your head?” the pink pony questioned. “I-” before Scootaloo could explain the Lizard started picking itself up. “I’ve got this, just get out,” she told Pinkie. “Hey your the civilian. I’m supposed to tell you that,” she complained, as the Lizard began to recover. “I might need you on this though. Keep it distracted while I get my bow. Hope I didn’t use my last incendiary arrow,” Pinkie commented before taking off for the stairs. “I… ummm… Incendiary?” Scootaloo asked, bewildered by the change in her friends personality. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the reptile moving towards Pinkie. “Hey, this is our fight,” she said as she shot a pair of webs at it's legs and leaped over the reptile, yanking the lines and tripping the Lizard. Scootaloo landed on the wall separating the kitchen and the dining room and prepared for the Lizard’s attack. The Lizard growled in annoyance. “Annoying mammalsss,” it hissed as it turned on Spider-Mare. Swiping one of the tables at the wall crawler. Scootaloo leaped over the table and was caught in mid air by the Lizards tail sending her through the wall and into the kitchen. Scootaloo landed on one of the ovens with a loud bang and grunted in pain. The Lizard approached it’s prey with caution. “Isss that all?” it asked, grinning at the thought of victory. “Isss thisss the end of Ssspider-Mare?” Scootaloo then leaped off of the stove and shot webs at the beast’s mouth covering it. She held onto the ends of the lines, forming a makeshift harness. “Anyone ever tell you your breath reeks?” Scootaloo asked as she started pulling up on her handmade reigns. The Lizard let out a muffled roar of rage as it threw itself against the ovens to try and dislodge it’s passenger. Scootaloo held on as long as she could before she was tossed against the oven in the back corner. As the reptile approached Scootaloo saw Pinkie appear in the hole in the wall, bow in hoof and an arrow with a red glow aimed at the beast. That won’t be enough, Scootaloo thought as the Lizard placed a foot on the oven causing it to bend under the weight. The door popped open and Scootaloo saw the gunked up pilot light she’d forgotten to fix. “Thank Celestia for a distracting week,” Scootaloo said. She punched the pilot light, just as the Lizard was about to take a bite out of her. The broken pipe started spewing out the flammable gas it contained. The Lizard’s sensitive glands picked up the smell and it started coughing trying to rid itself of the foul taste. Scootaloo rolled under the reptile. “Do it now!” she shouted at Pinkie as the wall crawler jumped at her. Pinkie let the arrow go and was immediately tackled away from the kitchen be Scootaloo. The Lizard had just gotten away from the oven as the arrow stuck to the inside of the oven. The reptile’s eyes widened in fear as it caught on. Before it could do more than stumble an inch backwards the arrow exploded igniting the gas and creating a bigger blast. Scootaloo and Pinkie dove to the ground in the dining room. Fire had begun to spread as the last of the flames spread to the wood in the walls. Scootaloo picked herself up and stared at the fire in the kitchen. “That could have gone better,” she said as she watched the fire spread over her home. Scootaloo heard Pinkie groaning on the ground. “Okay time to go then. Are you okay to walk?” Scootaloo asked, concerned. Pinkie rubbed her head as she sat up. “What?” she asked, rubbing her ears. “I said we need to go,” Scootaloo repeated. “Holy crap this place is on fire. We gotta get outta here,” the pink mare said looking at Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked at Pinkie annoyed. “That’s what I- Nevermind,” she said as she helped Pinkie to her feet and towards the door. Scootaloo walked over to the busted out window as the fire spread around them. She tossed Pinkie out and was about to follow when she heard a heavy footstep behind her. Scootaloo whipped around to see a very angry and very burnt Lizard charging at her. Scootaloo jumped and stuck to the ceiling as the reptile slid to a stop beneath her and started swiping at her, gouging the roof as Scootaloo avoided the attacks. “Wow, you are persistent,” Scootaloo commented as she leaped at her opponent and punched the beast in the face. The Lizard recovered quickly and grabbed Scootaloo in midair, slamming her onto the floor. “I don’t suppose we can take this outside, where we won’t burn alive?” she asked. “RAAAAHHHH!” The Lizard roared in Scootaloo’s face. “Didn’t think so,” Scootaloo said as she started searching for an escape. She noticed a support beam above the Lizard, weakened by the fire. Scootaloo pushed against the Lizard as hard as she could and got a hand loose. She shot a web at the beam and pulled it down on top of the Lizard’s head. The rest of the ceiling caved in along with some of the furniture from the living room upstairs. The reptile roared in pain as it clutched it’s head. ///////////////////////////////// The Lizard’s control had been shaken by the blow to the head. It could feel Cheerilee starting to fight for control, but disoriented like this she was starting to overcome the Lizard. I won’t let you hurt anypony else. This stops now, the mare said as she started backing away from Scootaloo. “Doctor Cheerilee?” the younger mare called. Noticing the uncharacteristic retreat of the reptile, while it was winning. “Is that you?” “N-Nooo. I will not be contained,” the Lizard said in a pained voice. “I hope you can forgive me for the headache doc,” Scootaloo said as she jumped at the Lizard kicking it in the face. The reptile tried to swipe her claws at the hero, but Cheerilee started fighting again and distracted the creature. Scootaloo attacked again, easily dodging the beast’s counterattack thanks to Cheerilee. Scootaloo kept punching and kicking the the Lizard until it was against a wall. Scootaloo delivered one last punch, sending the Lizard into the wall with force. The impact caused the ceiling above them to collapse. Scootaloo prepared to catch the weight, but was surprised when the Lizard caught it first, holding it up higher. “Doc?” Scootaloo asked. “Y-Yesss, but I’m ssstarting to change back. We have to move,” Cheerilee hissed in the Lizard’s voice. NOOOOOOO!!! the reptile roared in the back of her mind. Scootaloo started moving towards the exit and looked back at Cheerilee. “Come on!” she shouted. Cheerilee dropped the weight off of her shoulders and started running towards Scootaloo, her body already shrinking. Scootaloo grabbed onto the half sized Lizard and jumped through the fire covering the Window she’d come in through. Once outside Scootaloo flopped onto her back exhausted. Next to her Cheerilee finished reverting back to her pony form, the screams of the Lizard pushed to the back of her mind as she breathed calmly. Once she was done, Cheeilee opened her eyes and a shocked look appeared on her face. Curious Scootaloo turned to see what was so surprising. Everypony who lived nearby, as well as dozens of cops with their weapons drawn stared back at them, bewildered. A few of the police approached with their weapons on Cheerilee. “Hey wa-” Scootaloo began. “It’s okay,” Cheerilee interrupted. “I’m only containing the Lizard. It’s still in me and still a threat. This is for the best Sc- uh… Spider-Mare,” Cheerilee corrected herself. Scootaloo looked from the cops to Cheerilee, but said nothing as they pulled her up off of the ground and started reading her rights. //////////////////////////////////////// Dinky arrived at a scene of chaos completely out of breath. The first thing she saw was Spider Mare talking to the cops. Then her eyes were drawn to the smoking bakery and the fire fighters putting out the remaining embers. “What did I miss?” she asked herself. She noticed the police ponies walking away with Cheerilee towards a squad car and walked up to them. “Cheerilee?” she asked, hoping she could finally see her teacher again. Cheerilee turned as much as she could from the grip of the stallion guiding her to the squad car. The purple mare smiled at her student. “Yeah it’s me,” she answered. The cop looked between the two mares. “We can spare one minute,” he said, keeping a hand on Cheerilee’s arm. Dinky nodded and looked at her former teacher. “Is it… gone?” she asked, unsure how to word her question. “No, but I’m keeping it caged now. It does take most of my concentration,” Cheerilee explained. “I’m going to miss working with you Dinky,” she continued, a tear rolling down her cheek. Dinky blinked back a few tears of her own. “But you’ll get out eventually right?” she asked. “Maybe, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I’d have to be cured before I’m fit to live among the rest of the population,” the doctor said. Dinky choked back a sob. “Hey don’t cry now. This is a good ending. Plus there’s a superhero that I think you should thank,” Cheerilee tilted her head towards Spider-Mare. “Take care Dinky,” Cheerilee said, nodding to the officer who returned the nod and led Cheerilee to his squad car. Dinky looked at Scootaloo as the cops walked away and approached. Dinky took out a notebook from her bag and shoved it into her friends hooves. “Sign that so I just look like a fan,” she said, pulling out a pen as well. “Uh right, so who’s this for,” Scootaloo said loud enough for anypony nearby to hear. “I don’t care. So are you okay?” Dinky asked. Scootaloo just tilted her head to the left, towards Cheerilee. Next to the police car a pair of cops were talking with a pair of stallions who looked like secret agents and seemed to be very annoyed. But Dinky was paying more attention to the mare in the back of the car. “It doesn’t feel like I changed anything,” Scootaloo said sadly. Cheerilee sat in the car, smiling as though she had just won the lottery. As though sensing she was being watched she turned to Dinky and waved. “You did though. You stopped the Lizard without hurting Cheerilee. You’re definitely a hero,” Dinky argued, waving back at her teacher. “Why is she being arrested though?” “Because it’s what she wanted. She said the Lizard is still a danger and needs to be locked up,” Scootaloo explained sadly. “But you’re right. We did beat the Lizard and I should be proud of that,” Scootaloo reminded herself. “We?” Dinky asked. Scootaloo looked at Pinkie in the back of an ambulance, being treated by a paramedic. “I got a little help,” she explained, figuring Pinkie wanted her secret agent status to stay secret. “So that’s it then. The Lizard got beaten and Cheerilee is still going to jail,” Dinky said, more to herself. “I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said. “I wanted to help her, but it’s what she wanted.” “Then it’s probably for the best,” Dinky said smiling softly as the suited ponies the cops had been talking to commandeered the squad car and drove off. Dinky raised an eyebrow at this. “Hey did you-” “I think I heard someone say they’re from the C.I.A.,” a cheery voice said. Pinkie joined Dinky and the super hero. Dinky became flustered at being caught talking to Scootaloo in costume. “Thank you for the autograph,” Dinky said a bit louder than necessary as she trotted away, intending to talk to Scootaloo later. “No… problem…” Scootaloo trailed off. Turning to Pinkie she opened her mouth to say thank you, but was interrupted. “Save the thanks. I was just doing my job. You on the other hoof are a civilian and should leave this to the professionals,” Pinkie reprimanded, doing a bad job of being serious. “Sorry no can do,” Scootaloo replied. Pinkie gave the masked mare a hard look. “Meh, I tried,” she said immediately giving up. Scootaloo looked at the knot on Pinkie’s forehead and winced. “You gonna be okay?” “Oh I’ll be fine. Might need hearing aids from all those explosions, but it was worth it to save the day right?” She asked, recalling that she was supposed to try to recruit Spider-Mare. “Ummm… yeah so…” Pinkie began unsure how to ask. “Yeah?” Scootaloo pressed. Pinkie thought for a moment before answering. “Nevermind. It can wait for another time. Stay safe,” she said as she turned around to walk away. “Soooo, see ya around I guess?” Scootaloo called after her. Pinkie turned. “I’ll see ya at breakfast kiddo. Meet me and the Cakes at that all day breakfast place on fifth,” the mare said happily as she continued walking. Scootaloo just stood there stunned. How the buck did she figure out who I am? > Unspoken Farewells > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo looked in the mirror of her bedroom. Inspecting the black dress she was going to be wearing for the funeral. Her eyes were drawn to the small smile on her face. “Didn’t think I’d see a sincere smile from you again.” Scootaloo turned around to see Cup Cake standing in her doorway. “Sorry. I guess smiling is a little inappropriate for today,” Scootaloo said apologetically. “Nonsense. Your uncle would have loved to see you smile,” Cup said comforting her niece. “Now come on. Your friends are waiting downstairs.” Scootaloo nodded and followed her Aunt downstairs. Dinky was wearing a dress similar to Scootaloo’s, but a bit frillier and Featherweight was wearing a black suit. “It’s about time. Didn’t figure you’d be the kinda mare who takes an hour to get ready,” Featherweight joked, smiling. “Oh, funny. Just cause I’m not girly doesn’t mean I can’t look pretty,” Scootaloo replied, pretending to be insulted. Dinky rolled her eyes at the pair. “And doesn’t she look pretty,” the unicorn said, nudging Featherweight. “What?” he asked confused. “Don’t bother. It’s hopeless.” Everyone turned to see Pinkie walk into the room also dressed in formal wear, followed by the twins. Pound kept messing with the tie he’d been made to wear. “Yeah I know,” Dinky said in defeat. “What are you talking about?” Featherweight asked quirking an eyebrow. “It’s mare stuff don’t worry about it,” Cup Cake said. She’d been quiet up until now, surveying the damage to the bakery. “Don’t worry. We’ll rebuild it. I’ll help pay,” Pinkie said laying a hoof on her friends shoulder. “Right. With your travel agent money,” Scootaloo said, giving Pinkie an accusing look. Pinkie rolled her eyes at the young hero. “We’ll discuss it later. Come on the cab’s waiting outside,” she said, corralling everypony to the door. Cup gave the dining room one last look before following the others out. /////////////////////////////////////////// The ride to the funeral home was uneventful and Scootaloo was antsy through most of the preacher's eulogy, but it finally came time for those close to Carrot to say their final goodbyes. Cup led her children to the front of the room and laid a hand on her husbands body, a single tear rolling down her face. The twins went next and Scootaloo could swear she saw Pound slip one of his favorite toys into the casket. Pinkie followed after them. She simply looked down at the stallion who’d been like a father to her and smiled, probably recalling some happy memory. Finally Scootaloo went up to the coffin and looked down at the stallion who’d raised her. He looks at peace, she thought. Scootaloo glanced around to make sure no one was paying too close attention to her and pulled down the neckline of her dress, revealing the red shirt she was wearing underneath. “I’m gonna make you proud,” she said as she let go of the fabric and made sure it was covering her shirt, before walking back to her seat. //////////////////////////////////////////// The service came to an end and Carrot was buried in the cemetery outside. No one said a word as the coffin was lowered into the ground, but everyone who knew Carrot seemed incapable of recalling a bad memory of him. Even Scootaloo hardly remembered the fight they’d had just a few days ago. It all seemed irrelevant now. “So what’s next?” Dinky asked the pegasus mare. “More of the same, I guess. Find the crooks and put em away,” Scootaloo replied. “Which reminds me,” she said turning to Featherweight. “I need a new mask. The other one sorta got lost.” “Sure. I can already think of some improvements to make,” he replied in a hushed tone. Scootaloo smiled. “Not much to improve. I rocked that mask,” she said confidently. “Yeah and then lost it,” Dinky pointed out. “It’s no big deal. I think I could make a living making costumes for heroes,” Featherweight defended. “Except I’m the only superhero in Manehattan,” Scootaloo countered. “For now,” Dinky replied. “More will come. Just wait.” “I’m actually more worried. More heroes means more villians,” Featherweight said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now let’s just enjoy the calm,” Scootaloo said as she relaxed in her seat. She surveyed the crowd and noticed Pinkie was missing. Where’d she get to? ///////////////////////////////////////// Pinkie watched the rest of the funeral from a distance.She knew command was going to have her head and she’d be asked to return soon. She didn’t regard the suited mare who approached her from the left. “Hello Rarity. What brings you to Manehattan?” she asked not looking at the white unicorn. “Oh the usual. The fashion shows and high society events,” Rarity replied. “Also the director wants me to bring you back for your debriefing. He is not very happy with the way this assignment played out,” she informed. Pinkie sighed. “Ya know I remember just a few years ago when this job could still be fun,” Pinkie replied sadly. “The director also wants your notes on Spider-Mare. Do you think she’s ready for recruitment?” Rarity asked as a police car drove by sirens blaring. Pinkie looked back at where she’d last seen Scootaloo sitting, the seat now empty. “No. She’s new to the game. Let’s give her a few years,” Pinkie said as she started walking away from the cemetery, Rarity close behind. /////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo followed the squad car downtown, where a group of thugs was hold up in a bank with hostages. “Well, it’s showtime,” she told herself as she swung down. > Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie sat at the table in the mostly empty rooms. The only noticeable feature being the two way mirror to her left. After almost an hour of sitting there doing nothing the door finally opened and a white unicorn mare with a pink mane walked in carrying a single file. “Hi Fleur. Can I go now I’m starving?” Pinkie complained, as her fellow agent sat down across from her. “No Agent Pie. We have to go over your debriefing and then if I’m satisfied you can go,” Fleur explained, opening the folder. “Who is Spider-Mare?” she asked without showing any emotion or looking away from the file. Pinkie’s heart skipped a beat. “I don’t know,” she said simply, shrugging. Fleur closed the file and looked at Pinkie. “Our agents who arrived at the scene to pick up Cheerilee reported that they saw you conversing with Spider Mare as though you were close friends,” she said, looking Pinkie in the eye. “Oh come on. We fought a giant reptile together. That’s a pretty unique experience. Ponies bond over this kinda thing,” Pinkie said very defensively. “Agent Pie, whether you tell us what we want to know or not, we will find out the identity of Spider-Mare,” Fleur assured. “Good luck then,” Pinkie said looking away from Fleur. “Fine. In that case you are to receive disciplinary action. Do you accept or will you cooperate?” Fleur asked tonelessly. “Hit me with your best shot,” Pinkie challenged. “Very well. You are being assigned to Appleoosa. The locals have been reporting strange weather outside of town and we need someone to make sure it is just strange weather. You will be there for two weeks and you are to send all field reports to my office. Is that clear?” Fleur explained. “Crystal mam,” Pinkie replied, giving the other agent a lazy salute. “I’d like to request a partner for the assignment.” Fleur considered this. “Very well. Who would you like?” “Agent Belle,” Pinkie said leaning back in her chair. “I’m afraid Agent Belle is currently prepping for her own assignment. She is being tasked to handle Rainbow Dash. We’re curious about the details of her escape,” Fleur explained. “No not Rarity, Sweetie,” Pinkie replied. “She isn’t cleared for field work,” Fleur countered. “I know, but we’re just gonna be watching weather. I’ll show her the ropes and tell her about all the ways I’ve discovered to get punished around here. Consider it practice,” Pinkie elaborated. Fleur considered Pinkie’s proposal for a few minutes. “Okay. You are to inform her and head for Appleoosa as soon as possible,” Fleur said as she got up and walked towards the door. “And try to abide by protocol. I don’t want you setting a bad example for Sweetie,” she finished exiting the room. Pinkie relaxed in her chair. “Not a problem. I needed a real vacation anyway.”