Scootaloo gave a sigh as she rose from her bed and walked to the window. As she looked out, she noticed it was still hardly after midnight. With another sigh, she made her way to the mirror in her room. Part of it was broken, but enough was still intact to be used. She looked at herself and let out a slight snarl. Her feathers were matted, her mane was an absolute mess, and her eyes had thick, black rings around them.

"You pitiful fucking bitch," she spat at her reflection. With a moment to collect herself having passed, she went to fixing her mane and began fixing her feathers aright on her wings. She picked up a shard of glass, holding it carefully in her hands. She held it to her throat and looked to the mirror, giggling lightly. "There, see? Cute... I wonder how hard I have to press to break the skin."

She thought for a moment and pressed down on her neck slightly, slowly applying more and more pressure until she felt it pierce her skin. She stopped there, feeling the tinge of pain and blinking. She smiled slowly as she slowly, carefully eased up and dragged the shard along her throat just lightly enough not to cut her. She giggled at herself. "That was so silly. Wasn't it? You could've just killed yourself, you know? That would have been bad. Sweetie and AB would've missed you, Scoots. You know that."

She paused for a moment before looking down and idly running the shard over her body. She didn't like pain. It didn't feel good to her, but it was something she found herself being both victim to and cause of at once, well, often. "Why can't you quit doing it? You're already a mess, Scootaloo. Do you want them to leave you for being such a wreck? If you keep cutting yourself up, you're going to be even uglier!"

She paused and lifted the shard so it was a few inches from her muzzle, twirling it idly in her fingers. "But if you stop, then how will you know you're alive? It's not like you can just get in fights or anything. You can't just hurt other ponies. That would be rude, and Sweetie doesn't like rude ponies."

She closed her eyes and slowly brought the shard closer as she licked it over, only slightly wincing as it cuts her tongue a few times. After a few moments, and cuts, she pulls back and sets the shard down as she mulls the blood around in her mouth before swallowing it.

A hint of annoyance shows over her features. "Great. See what you did, you freak? Now you have to wait for it to quit bleeding. Are you that stupid?"

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a knock on the door. She groaned and quickly dressed herself, hiding under her typical dark red hoodie and dark, baggy jeans. Out of her recently spawned habit, she put on her fingerless gloves. She walked to the door, her demeanor instantly becoming bright and peppy, an act she'd become eerily good at putting on without even a single thought.

She opened the door to see somepony she hardly expected at this time of night, but her smile never faltered, even for a moment. "Heya Silver Spoon. What's got you out this way so late?"

The grey mare blinked and took a step back, by no means expecting such a greeting. Unexpected as it was, she quickly settled, as it meant at least this might go some way other than horribly wrong. "Funny you should ask." She let out a nervous giggle. "Um, I kinda need your help with something. You see, Diamond Tiara and I were out walking and we think that somepony like you might be nice to have around."

Though her mind was racing with questions, the pegasus gave a nod, still smiling. "Sure. Just give me a sec." Without waiting for a response, Scootaloo closed the door and grabbed her board. Before returning to the door, however, she noticed something she had been eyeing for some time now. It was a knife that she'd had well since the incident. Since then, however, she'd seen it quite differently. Those thoughts would have to wait for now, however.

She remembered the pony outside and absent-mindedly grabbed the knife before stowing it in her hoodie's pocket. She went to the door with her peppy smile and stepped out before locking the door with her keys and putting them in her jeans pocket. For a moment, her smile fell as she looked to the mare. "Let me just clarify one thing though."

Silver Spoon began to step back. "What would that be?"

"If this is something meant to hurt me or humiliate me, you're both going to wish you'd stayed in tonight." Her expression remained serious, the rings around her eyes showing to Silver Spoon that Scootaloo was definitely not in the mood for the old foalish things that usually happened.

"Oh, goodness, it's nothing like that, I assure you. Diamond is right over there, you see?" She motioned to the side, and sure enough, as Scootaloo followed with her eyes, she noticed the light pink earth pony. "We just feel we would be a bit safer with somepony that knew the streets."

Scootaloo smirked, her usual self coming back to light. "Yeah, and somepony who can handle herself. Let me guess, you two want an escort home now?"

This time Diamond spoke up, her tone softer than the typical arrogance she held. "Actually, yes. If you wouldn't mind, that is."

The pegasus chuckled and shrugged. "Just follow me and I'll have you back to the square in no time. Then you can lead the way back to your place."

The mares sighed in relief and smiled. Scootaloo set off down the street casually, the two earth ponies following close behind. "Thank you. I really hate that we got lost out here."

"It's not exactly tough, you know? These streets are pretty weird. You need to pay attention if you want to get anywhere." She paused for a moment. "By the way, why'd you two suddenly decide to ask me? More to the point, how'd you know where I live? It's not like we hang out or anything."

The pink mare was the one to respond. "Well, we actually asked somepony where you lived a few minutes ago. They'd told us you knew the roads better than most ponies here, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to try."

Scootaloo shrugged and turned down an alleyway, one she typically avoided when she wasn't in a hurry, but right now her mind was more focused on a strange taste in her mouth. She faintly remembered something about her mirror, but decided to simply ignore it for the time. She gathered the taste and spat it out against the wall to her left without much thought or care what it was.

A shriek from behind her caught her attention, bringing her to turn around, and finding herself looking at two very unnerved mares staring at the wall now to her right. "Is, i-is that, blood?!"

The pegasus followed their eyes to find that where she spat there was, indeed, a decent bit of blood mixed with her saliva. She suddenly recalled with full clarity the incident with the shard from her mirror. "Ugh! Are you serious?" She opened her mouth and pressed three fingers on her tongue, hardly noticing the slight sting of her wounds. She pulled them out and groaned almost with disgust. "My freakin' tongue is still bleeding? I knew that I cut it pretty bad, but come on."

The two earth ponies now stared at the pegasus with a mix of confusion and shock. This did not go unnoticed, and prompted Scootaloo to raise an eyebrow. "What? I cut the fuck outta my tongue a bit ago. Why is it such a big deal? I mean, it doesn't really hurt, and it's not like I'm in danger of bleeding out or anything." She paused for a moment when a thought crossed her mind and she facepalmed. "Oh, right, of course, where are my manners?" She looked up with a calm smile. "You two must have wanted a taste. I'm sorry I was so inconsiderate. Though, I'm not sure you could manage it without kissing me." She looked up in sincere thought as she gulped back a bit of the blood.

Silver Spoon wretched slightly at the thought, but Diamond Tiara could hardly keep from speaking up. "Wh-what in Equestria is wrong with you, Scootaloo?! Why would we want to taste your blood?"

Scootaloo was snapped form her thoughts and seemed almost apologetic. "Well, I kinda thought that may have been why you picked on us so much. Mean ponies like the taste of blood, don't they? I just wanted to be polite."

The two froze. They exchanged glances briefly as they realized that Scootaloo wasn't just trying to weird them out. This mare was very much serious. "Wh-what do you mean? Who likes the taste of blood? Isn't it gross?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "I don't know anypony personally, I just figured it made sense. As for being gross, I don't think so. I mean, I don't really like it, but it's not half bad really." She again raised her eyebrow, though only slightly. "You're both sure that you don't want to taste it? It just seems like you'd want to for some reason. I really don't want to seem rude. Sweetie doesn't like rude ponies, so I need to be polite. I don't mind letting you taste, really."

The two stared, almost entranced by the pure eeriness of the situation. Despite herself, Diamond Tiara's curiosity about much of this got the best of her, and she found herself easing closer to the orange pegasus. She was stopped, however, when the three mares heard the creaking of an old gutter. They all looked at each other and seemed to deem it best to continue about their way, as they silently did just that.

For some time, there was no sound except that of six hooves clacking against the ground at seemingly random pace between them all. Nearing the neighborhood of their destination, however, Scootaloo's free hand found its way into her hoodie pocket, and around something cold and, sharp? The pegasus blinked and gripped what she found to be a handle before pulling a knife from the pocket without much subtlety. She cocked her head a bit as she now followed the two mares by a few feet. She looked the blade over curiously before remembering grabbing it before leaving.

Though she was quite unsure why she had pocketed the knife, she tried to think it over, only remembering scarce pieces of her thoughts at the time of leaving, and only knowing that the two mares before her were there, and something else. The thought of using it and them. She looked at them. They'd started talking quietly since they'd taken the lead, and seemed only faintly aware of the pegasus's presence. That was when she felt something. Something in her head seemed to click as she heard a voice, her voice, speaking to her in her head. What she was quite unaware of was that she softly spoke with her own thoughts.

"You remembered that for a reason, Scoots. You know they deserve it. It doesn't have to take long, just one thrust and one swing. That's all it will take. Just do it."

"What?! No way, I can't do that. They were mean, sure, but I can't kill them."

"She's right, you know, if she kills them, then the entirety of Equestria will be looking for their killer. They are not victims she can afford."

"Wait, whoa, what? Who are you? You can't be me, I would never think like this, like that."

"Will you two hush? The poor thing is still barely hanging in there, aren't you, Scootaloo? Don't worry, they can't make you do anything."

After a moment more of the whispered conversation, Silver Spoon looked back to see what was going on and shrieked. "Dear Celestia! Why do you have a knife?!"

Diamond Tiara snapped her head back at this and felt a chill fill her being. "What the? What are you doing with that thing?"

Scootaloo shook her head, her thoughts interrupted. She looked to the mares before her and tilted her head in confusion at first, but soon remembered the knife in her hand. She lifted it and examined it for a moment, which didn't help the mares feel any more safe. "Ya know, I'm not sure. I've kinda been trying to remember for a little while now."

"Y-you're not going to try to use it, are you?"

Scootaloo blinked and looked at Silver Spoon as though she'd suddenly grown tusks. "Why would I do that? That would be so rude. I told you already, I can't be rude or Sweetie will get mad at me."

Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara looked between each other and Diamond spoke up. "Well, uh, it looks like we're here, so, uh, you can head on back now, since it's late, you know?"

The pegasus looked around but quickly shrugged and smiled, stowing the knife. "Okay, well, just be nice and all. Have a good night." With that said, Scootaloo tossed her board to the ground and hopped on, skating off with a wave to the mares. As soon as the orange mare was out of sight, the earth ponies scrambled for the nearest of the two's home for the night.

Scootaloo pulled out her knife some time after leaving Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and was now looking it over, running one hand slowly over the blade as her muscle memory helped her rather effortlessly navigate the roads back home. She'd actually recently learned to make the trek by board, scooter, bike, and on hoof blindfolded. She knew the sounds, every bump and crack of the roads. It was instinct to follow the path home, any path home, and so she had little trouble putting her more conscious focus elsewhere.

Though she was rather occupied with the knife, she heard a noise, soft, but not one she recognized from her path. She looked up from her myriad thoughts concerning the tool just in time to notice a drunken stallion down the alleyway get shoved to the ground by a mare he failed to rob. The mare quickly took off down another street, leaving the drunkard to stumble around. This time something in Scootaloo's mind snapped entirely. She felt herself drift backwards, her body seemingly taking on a mind of its own.

She looked on as she felt herself crouch and her wings silently work the air as she quickly picked up speed. The only noise she made came from the light rattling of the wheels under her. She lifted her hood moments before the stallion looked over at her. She felt a chill as a voice spoke crisply in her mind. "Do it. Kill him. He's filth." Without even a moment to protest, or even truly comprehend the situation, she leapt from her board, her wings carrying her faster than she'd ever remembered going in her life. In what at first seemed to be only a glancing moment, she heard the beginning of a scream silenced before it had even finished forming. She then felt her hooves land perfectly on her board. Finally feeling herself regain control, she flared her wings and stopped quickly. She turned to see what had happened and her eyes shot wide open.

On the ground was a stallion, his throat sliced open and almost off as blood poured from the wound. Seconds, minutes, almost an hour faded by until a few light raindrops broke the pegasus from her daze. Her mind quickly fixed on one thing: Hide him. She rushed forward and gripped the stallion's leg as the slight drizzle became a light rain. As she found herself nearly sprinting with the corpse in tow, the rain quickly became something of a downpour. She was inexpressably relieved that nopony was out to see her, and if it were possible, she felt more relief still to see a sewer drain approaching. She looked around to make sure there were no eyes on her as she set down her board and hurriedly stuffed the body down the drain, hearing a muffled 'thump' as it landed on the concrete below.

Without another thought, the pegasus took to the air and hurried home. She threw open the door the moment it was unlocked, slamming it shut and locking it tight behind her. She nearly tore her clothes as she took them off. She rushed to her shower, getting the water as hot as she could handle before getting in. She panted, her mind still racing with thoughts, voices, so many things she couldn't see anything clearly. After a moment, she began to calm down, and she tried to collect her thoughts. As the gentle pulse of her showerhead sent waves of hot water over her form, she drifted into her inner conversations.

"Did, did I just, kill somepony?"

"Yeah, and it was amazing! Did you feel that rush?"

"I have to admit, it was quite easy."

"Whoa, no fucking way! I couldn't have! I, I'm not that kind of pony!"

"You are now, Scoots. You know the worst part about it?"

"The, the what?"

"What you did back there, was extremely rude."

"Rude... WH-what?! No! No! I'm not a rude pony! I'm not! I can't be! It's not rude if nopony wants them around, right? It can't be. Not if they never find him. Not if nopony cares. Right?"

"Calm down, Scootaloo. It wasn't rude, but it was exciting. Kind of. It was pretty quick. It was sort of hard to tell."

The pegasus stared as the conversation continued in her head. After some time, she blinked and reached to start cleaning up. "I, I have to know... Did I really enjoy it? Would I enjoy it again? No way. That's not right. I can't... maybe..." She thought it over as she slowly finished cleaning up and turned off the water. She stepped out and dried herself off before fixing her mane and looking at the mirror of her bathroom, the only one still perfectly intact in her entire house. "I'll mull it over. Right now, you need to try to sleep." With that, she promptly set off to her bedroom and laid down. As she closed her eyes, she felt something she hadn't in a long time. As she settled in, she felt sleep take her. For the first time in weeks, the first time since Rainbow Dash died, she slept.

Author's Note

This is admittedly a laughable attempt at starting this out, but I figured that having projects of many flavors going on might help me focus better. This way I should be able to write for at least something I've got going regardless of what genre I'm up to.