The Stallion Who Can Never Die

Purple, blue, green, red. Purple, blue, green, red. Looks like there was a pattern in the light show flashing on the dozens and dozens of dancing ponies on the stage set. Standing on a podium above them, bobbing his head to the beats, stood one of the many DJ-P0N3 wannabes, who took  one of the famous DJ's tracks, added a few different spins to it, and claimed it as his own. Sitting in a dark corner on a wide table, holding a tall glass of liquid warmth in her hooves, sat Scootaloo. The orange Pegasus leaned back in her seat, watching the dancing crowd with a sly smile on her face. Today had been a good day. A tough one, but a good day nonetheless.

After all the hard work she did today, she felt she deserved a reward, and one of the biggest raves in the city, where shyness and self-restraint was flung aside like useless clothing, was just the place. The smells of alcohol, sweat, and raw carnal lust brought the adrenaline to course through her bloodstream like no life-or-death situation could ever hope to accomplish. She took a long swig from her glass as she saw a stallion and mare going at it amongst the crowd, not caring about the numerous ponies who watched them approvingly. No doubt there were others having their own fun, and why should she miss out on hers?

She sat up from her seat, and prepared to search for a stallion or mare (she wasn't picky) for some good rutting, when she noticed a couple of rose petals on the table.

"Aw, come on!" She cried out as she stared at the petals angrily. "Seriously!? Luna damnit..." Taking a final swig from her glass, she made her way not to the dancing and rutting crowd, but towards the exit.

Outside on the quiet and empty street, Scootaloo spotted the cream-coloured mare and deep red mane standing elegantly on the street. Her form of coloured rose petals shifting slightly from the small breeze.

"Alright, Roseluck..." Scootaloo muttered angrily as she approached the form, who turned and glared at her. "Why the hell did you bother me? Couldn't this wait until morning?"

"And speak to you with a terrible hangover?" The mare replied sternly, her voice echoing. "I think not."

Scootaloo scoffed. "What the hay do you want?"

"I wanted to ask you something...." Roseluck stepped towards the Pegasus, whose eyebrows raised, perplexed. The pony made of rose petals stopped only inches away from her. "What in the name of Luna were you thinking!?"

Scootaloo stumbled back from the sudden outburst. "Aww," she said in a disappointed tone. "And here I was thinking you wanted company in bed."

"Damnit, Scootaloo, I'm serious!"

"So am I..." The Pegasus replied, smiling deviously. Roseluck sighed in frustration before the Pegasus rolled her eyes. "Look, I saw an opportunity to buck up their plans and I seized it."

"Do you not remember all the trouble I went through to convince them you had escaped all the way to the Gryphon Kingdom!?" Roseluck shouted. "Now that they know you're back, they'll do whatever it takes to take you down."

"Pfft, so?" The Pegasus asked. "At least I messed with their big bad, evil plan, right?"

Roseluck sighed. "You don't even know what it is."

"I know it's bad, it endangers the city, possibly the whole kingdom, and that hot stallion is the key for them to accomplish it. I don't need details, just the gist of it."

"And how, pray tell, does trying to bring back his memories mess with their plans?"

Scootaloo began to chuckle, her sides quivering, then her chuckle turned into a laugh, and then she collapsed from the intensity of her laughter. "Oh dear Luna, you didn't think this through, did you?"

"What do you mean? I've manage to learn a few things about him, he's worked with this organization before, if he gets his memories back, he may just side with them."

Scootaloo stared in genuine surprise at Roseluck. "Wow, I know you can be dense sometimes Rose but, come on! Even you have to see the problems with this."

"Then please, oh great Pegasus, enlighten me with your vast, infinite knowledge of recklessness and bold stupidity." The Earth Pony asked, the sarcasm dripping from her echoing voice.

Scootaloo shook her head slowly, grinning. "Okay, just think about it for a moment, if this guy is their ally and will sign up with them when his memories come back, why are they being so secretive with him? And why are they trying to keep his memories from coming back, hmm? If I were one of you guys, and not just a secret operative doing a piss-poor job at sabotaging them but an actual member, I would try to get the guy's memories back... unless, he isn't an ally but potentially an enemy who could threaten the whole operation should he remember who he was."

Roseluck opened her mouth to retort, but closed it when she could think of no way to counter Scootaloo's argument, Luna curse it, she was right!

"Besides," the Pegasus continued. "I knew the moment I saw that stallion that he was going to be mine, so I had to help him."

Roseluck shook her head. "Damnit, Scootaloo, can't you think of anything besides sex?"

The orange mare shrugged. "You only live once, Rose."

The Earth Pony sighed. "I can't believe that you're the same pony as the little filly who goes all around my hometown trying to gain her Cutie Mark with her friends."

"That reminds me... What was the latest scheme you saw me and the other Crusaders try?"

"I'm not sure, I heard it had something to do with blow torches, though."

Scootaloo chuckled from the pleasant memory, "Oh yeah, I remember that one..."

Roseluck looked at the Pegasus, concern on her face. "You devoted your childhood to finding your Cutie Mark, in a sense you still are, what happened?"

The smile on Scootaloo's face wavered and slowly dropped, looking to her flank, which was completely devoid of a Cutie Mark. "I saw something nopony, certainly a filly that young, should never ever see... and after I got sent back in time, it made me realize how pointless finding my Mark was, how useless it was in the grand scheme of things."

"But your Cutie Mark defines who you are, what your destiny is, it is you, in a sense."

Scootaloo looked back and stared at Roseluck intently, her signature smile gone and a hard look on her face. "Exactly..."

Roseluck stared in shock at the young mare, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"It wasn't just what I saw, or what I will see in a few years from now, but falling back in time, being a prisoner to you people while you did your experiments on me, eventually escaping and living on the run, with no family or friends to turn to, and seeing all the horrors your organization has seen and done and recorded. I realized that life is ultimately pointless and that you should make the most of what you've got." Her hard look vanished and she grinned once again.

"So you live recklessly, doing stupid things that could end your life far sooner than if you don't?"

Scootaloo shook her head, and turned back towards the building where the rave was taking place. "Whether I live a fun life or a boring life will change absolutely nothing about how soon I die, because-"

"Hold it right there!" A voice called out. Instantly, Roseluck disintegrated, the numerous petals blowing away. Scootaloo turned and saw two stallions, one a Unicorn, in white and black camouflage armour and helmets, wielding two black objects around their hooves. The Pegasus smirked, and raised a hoof in surrender.

"Wow, that was quick." She said as the two soldiers approached. "Like the guns, by the way, are those semi-automatic, were they stolen from some ship you shot down, or did you actually make these?"

They didn't answer as they stepped closer, one of them levitated a pair of cuffs, holding them in a blue aura in front of the Pegasus.

"Just hold still and things won't get ugly..." The Unicorn ordered as he moved to the side. Then, before either of them could react, Scootaloo grappled the Unicorn and sent him sprawling to the ground, then flared her wings and jumped, diving down on the other soldier just as he was raising his rifle. It was too late from him to fire, as the Pegasus slammed her hooves into his chest, then recovered from her dive, grabbed the stallion's neck, and snapped it. As the Unicorn got back to his hooves and his vision came back into focus, he found himself staring into the small barrel of the gun.

Scootaloo smiled as she idly examined the weapon, nodding in approval. "Ahh, an SMG, you guys are improving, I wonder how much the Griffon Kingdom would pay to get their claws on these."

The soldier stared wide-eyed at the Pegasus. "Y-you shoot that, you'll attract half of the city."

Scootaloo nodded slowly. "True, guns are never quiet things, so I guess I can't-" She gasped quietly and sarcastically as she pretended to make a discovery. "Wait a minute, what is this on the barrel? A magical enchantment? Perhaps a silencer spell? Otherwise, what would be the point in bringing these if you couldn't use them, since you're all trying to be so secretive and quiet..."

The Unicorn's eyes widened and he began shaking. "P-please, don't kill me... You can't!"

"Oh, I can..." Scootaloo replied, her smile dropping as she gave the soldier a hard look. "And I will." With a twitch of her hoof, she fired a short burst, only a quiet, rapid tinging the only indication that she had fired. Oh, and the bloody corpse no lying in front of the Pegasus.

Breathing a sigh, the orange mare dropped the gun and turned back to the building, Roseluck reforming by the entrance. Scootaloo saw her staring at the bodies disapprovingly and sighed.

"They almost certainly saw you, do you want your cover blown?"

"This will only make them more determined to catch you, or they won't even bother. You keep this up, and you'll be dead in a few days."

Scootaloo shook her head, walking pass the pony made of rose petals. "I've got a lot more then a few days, Rose... I know when I'm going to die... I've seen it... Now leave me alone and go back to your useless spying in Ponyville."

Roseluck sighed and looked down at the bodies, they'd be retrieved before anypony found them, like all the times before, how could the little orange filly she saw in Ponyville grow up to be a cold, reckless, killer? Then again, if what she heard about the Pegasus was true, if those experiments were as brutal as she had explained they were... and if she had seen her own death... then it was no wonder she was called 'The Broken Pegasus'. She sighed again, her Majesty would be ashamed of how far this organization had fallen, and it was her duty to stop them, in whatever way she could. As her form fell apart, she thought over Scootaloo's words about the stallion, maybe she was right, maybe he wasn't on their side, and maybe he could help... but he's already got the items he was found with, if those don't bring back his memory, she didn't know what else would.