Scarecrow: The story of a hero.

Downtown Manehatten

7:47 P.M.

The police scanner's blinking light shone brightly within the small, dim hotel room. Within, Scootaloo sat at a desk, looking over her mask. With her, within the room, was Braeburn, lying in the large king sized bed, watching the television across the room. Both were silent, just as a knock sounded on the door. Scootaloo began to stand, only for the door to open on its own, with a light orange aura around it. On the other side was Vinyl, carrying a white plastic bag. Instantly, as the bag was set onto the small bedside table, the scent of Griffonian food filled the air.

"So, remind me why were here again?" Braeburn said, sitting up and looking to vinyl, to tossed a bag of potato chips to Scootaloo.

"I don't know. Derpy said to meet her here, and that's what were doing." Vinyl said, seeming a bit annoyed.  Scootaloo remained silent, but seemed equally confused. Suddenly, the police scanner came to life, screaming into the room.

"ALL UNITS, 10-32V, 10-34WS, LEVEL FOUR. ALL UNITS RESPOND. SUSPECT IS HEADING SOUTH ON 14TH STREET IN AN ARMORED VEHICLE." With those words, the three shot into action.

The large, armored truck barreled down the busy street, pushing vehicle after vehicle aside, shoving them aside like toys. Inside, a gunman was loading a heavy machine gun, before leaning out of the passenger window to fire  at the police cars chasing it. As the bullets were flung through the air, sparks flashed from the police cars they would hit. The police car nearest to the truck picked up speed, before a bullet smashed through the windshield, forcing a large amount of blood and grey matter from the officer driving the vehicle to splash onto the windshield. The car veered hard to the left, smashing into a row of parked vehicles, forcing the car to flip several times. Not far behind, the roar of a small jet engine filled the air as Vinyl began to close in from the air, using her fighter jet inspired wings. Behind her, in a trail of black smoke, was Scootaloo, ready to fight at a moments notice. The truck's engine grumbled loudly down the busy stretch of road as Vinyl began closing in, landing on the roof of the truck. Suddenly, however, something rammed her off of its roof and to the side, almost throwing her off. Now, instead of Vinyl, there a very large, muscular stallion, wearing a suit of armor made completely of...sand? Scootaloo's radio buzzed loudly in her ear as Trixie suddenly delivered a message.

"Scarecrow, do you copy?" she asked with a loud tone of voice.

"Loud and clear." Scootaloo replied, waiting for her orders.

"The one you see before you would be Miner 9, one of our strongest enemies. He has the ability to use sand and other minerals to his advantage. We'll be here for backup."

"Backup? What do you mean?"

"This is your first test, Scoots. Don't let us down. Out."

"Trixie? TRIXIE?" she sighed after receiving no reply, throwing her earpiece to the ground below, before moving in towards the stallion. Suddenly, a massive stone pillar shot up from underneath her, sending her flying high into the air. As she was thrown by the pillar, she began to turn and twist midair , losing concentration and forcing her powers to shut down. Now, she was falling, with no was of stopping. She began to panic, yelling as she tried to think. The ground was getting closer and closer now, gaining quickly. Just before she hit the ground, her abilities kicked in once more, sending her forward at an alarming rate once again.

Another pillar shot up near her, but missed, allowing her to continue. A third and fourth pillar, even closer this time, but still leaving her unscathed. Again and again, Miner sent pillars of concrete and asphalt up, with more force for each time. The pillars soon turned to spikes, and began shooting for her in all directions, sending cars and sewer grates flying in the process. The closer she got to the truck, the more spikes seemed to appear, and the closer they became, until she got a risky idea. With a smirk, she shot forward as fast as she could fly, and slid underneath the truck, giving her a bit more room to think. Then, yet another idea sparked into her mind. Dirt and water makes mud, and she knew well how to make such a thing happen. as she truck passed over a manhole, she slid to a halt, lifting its lid and began to swing it with her chain of shadows, round and round, faster and faster, until suddenly, she released, sending the lid flying at the truck like a bullet. Without warning, it slammed into the trucks rear wheel, knocking it clean off and sending the truck into a slide, which soon turned into a violent roll, before skidding to a halt against a line of parked cars. The air became quiet. Scarecrow launched herself to the trucks resting place and slid to a halt as well, the quiet air suddenly breaking at the sound of bending metal. Suddenly, the rear door popped off their hinges as the massive stallion known as Miner 9 jumped out in a fit of rage, grunting like an angry gorilla.

Suddenly, something slammed into Scarecrow's side, sending her into a nearby storefront, filled with ponies who had run inside to avoid the carnage outside. Scarecrow impacted the counter, back first, and an audible crack was heard throughout the store, forcing her to whimper in pain, falling to the tile floor below. The stallion trotted into the storefront, the ground shaking under his hooves, before grabbing the wounded scarecrow and, without hesitation, threw her out of the store and across the road, into yet another parked car, destroying it. The stallion dragged his hooves along the ground like a bull, ready to charge. With a roar, he did so, charging towards her.

However, suddenly, just as she neared the car, his eyes locked on something else. A large metal bar, being swung like a baseball bat, right at his face. With a loud, metallic bang, which resonated in the air for a few moments, he was sent flying back into a streetlight pole. Where he was before now stood Scarecrow, her forehead, snout, and front leg bleeding a strange black substance. Miner began to stand, but it was in vain, as Scarecrow launched towards him once again, using her chain to grab the manhole cover from before and swing it hard, slamming it into his face.

Miner 9 was slammed with the cover and sent flying down the road, hitting several parked cars, before coming to a rest against a totaled police car, limp and unconscious. Scarecrow stood motionless, her poisonous green eyes staring at the assailant's motionless body. Soon, one after another, police cars began to slide and stop nearby, surrounding Scarecrow and pointing their guns. The yelled, commanding her to stay where she was. In a panic, as well as confusion, she flew off down an alley, leaving the police officers with the Miner's body and puzzled looks.

Nearly a mile away, Scarecrow landed on the roof of a rather old, seemingly abandoned building, panting as she landed, taking her mask off and dropping it, before collapsing, out of breath. She coughed, trying hard to stand by now, only to collapse, shivering as she began convulsing, a black, oily substance now dripping from her mouth like vomit. Her body was incredibly numb, her head and legs aching, as if she had finished running after several hours. Her stomach and throat burned, begging for the attention of the mask once more. She couldn't stop shaking, nor could she even stand.

"Scootaloo!" a shout was heard as Lyra began galloping towards her, dropping her bow and getting close to her, having seen the filly's condition. Soon, the rest of the team had arrived, each with a different reaction to the day's events. Vinyl was tending to Scootaloo, who had fainted at this point, with her built in medical equipment. Derpy and Trixie held a rather heated conversation.

"Trixie, she almost KILLED the guy! We don't need that kind of violen-"

"And he would have done the same thing to her if she hadn't done what she did!" Trixie interrupted, shooting a killer glare to Derpy.

"She could have figured out a better route to take than that, and you know it!" Derpy yelled in response.

"Better route!? That WAS the better route! What was she supposed to do, let him kill her!? Besides, I know damn well that you, Vinyl, or even Braeburn would've done the same!"

There was an eerie silence following her loud retort, as Lyra, Braeburn, Vinyl, De Lis, and Derpy stared, some looking away in guilt, others sighing in defeat. Trixie spoke once again, her voice quiet.

"Scootaloo had no other choice to do that...And I know damn well she wont be taking it too well in the future. She isn't like us....She thought on reaction, not on strategy, because she thought her life was on the line...and judging by it, it may have been. Vinyl, I want you to take her back to base, let her rest. Braeburn, Lyra, Fluer, you've done great tonight, go and find yourselves something for dinner, and be sure to bring extra for us. Derpy....you too. I'll assist Vinyl with Scootaloo. Meet back at base tomorrow morning."

With mixed responses, the team separated.

The sun set slowly between the streets of Manehatten, as Braeburn, Lyra, Fluer De Lis, and Derpy trotted down the paved sidewalks of the city, towards a small cafe, the group laughing and joking around after yet another successful night. Lyra soon spoke up above the rest, walking backwards, infront of the group.

"Can you even believe she managed that? I mean, a damn sewer grate! that was so VIOLENT!" She hopped excitedly, as Braeburn spoke.

"Yeah, but in all honesty, ya'll...Ah think ah gotta agree with Derpy on this. Ah mean, she did kill the guy...that's pretty damn scary." He spoke, his voice's volume lowering quite a bit as the group passed the Cafe. Derpy sighed softly as she began to speak, in reply to Braeburn.

"Thank you, Braeburn, but in honesty...she was doing what she needed to survive. Trixie was right...you would have done the same." she suddenly stops, looking down the road, as well as the rest of the group, as a faint ringing was heard within the air, before something ripped down the road in bright flash of neon yellow light, similar to that of a firefly's glow. The force of the object's speed forced car alarms to go off, windows to crack, and even the street lamps to flicker. As the object left, if left behind a trail of bright neon yellow in its path, before that faded away as well, like a dying lightbulb. The air became silent, as the object evacuated. Braeburn and the group looked to each other, then in the direction it had gone, before Lyra spoke.

"Was that a...?" She looked to the group, as De Lis spoke quietly.

"Lets hope so...or even, lets hope not." The air became silent after she spoke, as police sirens were heard in the distance.