The Edge of Eternity

Scootaloo trotted down the streets of Ponyville, humming a happy tune to herself as she kept her eyes peeled for her friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Nine years ago they had carried the taunting stature of 'Blank Flank' for not having yet earned their respective Cutie Marks, but that fact had changed almost seven years ago. The three of them had been a part of a club they had created for the sole purpose of finding their destinies; the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They even had Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, open up a station in Manehatten after she had visited them, which she had then used to help other fillies find their place in the world.

During their first year together she, Sweetie, and Apple Bloom had gotten into some rather mischievous predicaments to earn a Cutie Mark that was related to whatever they happened to be doing. Most of the time they ended up covered head to hoof in tree sap and, even when there wasn't any trees around, they still ended up covered in the sticky substance. Their antics had gotten out of hoof when they had argued in front of Discord's statue, unintentionally releasing the Spirit of Disharmony from his prison. The three of them had even gotten in trouble in the Everfree Forest, forcing their older siblings and their friends to come to their immediate rescue.

Scootaloo sighed, remembering the good old days before the three of them had earned their Cutie Marks and finally embracing what their destinies were supposed to be. She had always enjoyed racing others on the ground, during the time when her wings were too small to support her weight and made it nearly impossible for her to fly. A wheel surrounded by fire hung on her flank, representing her need for speed and the competitive nature she had grown to enjoy over the years. She had taken part of the Running of the Leaves at long last and had put everything she had into her speed, somehow managing to pull off a first place victory and earning her Cutie Mark at the same time.

Thanks to several mechanical advances, brought to the public's attention by one mare named Copper Sprocket, her scooter was no longer the tiny roller it had been when she was a foal. It still had two wheels, but they were larger in size and were covered by protectors so rocks didn't fly up and ruin any of the mechanical bits. Instead of standing on a long piece of metal and holding onto a piece that allowed her to direct the scooter she could now lay her body against the large body of the scooter and controlled it all with her front hooves. All the pieces of it were powered by a crystal power source in the center of the mechanics and it turned on by her touch when she wanted to go for a ride.

Copper had called it a cycle of some kind, but Scootaloo called it the 'Duster'. In her heart she was still the same filly that had done some stupid stunts, but now she was fully grown and felt like she could take on the world.

"Hey Scoots," a voice called, causing her to turn and find a very pretty white coated mare coming her way, "how have you been doing lately?"

The mare was none other then her friend Sweetie Belle, the younger sister of the seamstress Rarity and one of the original members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. While Rarity supplied all of Equestria with her dresses and accessories Sweetie had taken to the musical arts and was quite the songstress. She was among the highest rated artists across Equestria, with only Vinyl Scratch and Tick Tock hanging somewhere above her in the ratings. Still, she had time to take a break and visit her friends and family before her work dragged her back to Manehatten. And, like most of the artists in Equestria, her Cutie Mark was a musical note.

"Not too bad Sweetie," Scootaloo replied, casting her eyes around as she looked for her other friend, "I take it that Apple Bloom is around here somewhere just waiting to pounce on me?"

"Not exactly," Sweetie answered, picking up a rose with her magic and bringing it up to her nose, "Mayor Mare wanted an update to the town hall, so she contacted Apple Bloom and drew up a contract with her. I bet we'll be seeing her when she takes her break for lunch for when she stops for the afternoon."

Apple Bloom was the younger sister of Applejack, the current owner of Sweet Apple Acres, but instead of falling into the farm business like the rest of her family she took up the mantle of a contractor. Her Cutie Mark was a toolbox, which was accurate since she now spent a good deal of her time moving boards around and building houses for ponies. Some of the money and extra materials she accumulated during her contracts went to fixing the buildings of her family's farm and giving them some extra money if things were tight. It was Apple Bloom's way of repaying her family for all the years they had spent raising her and spending whatever they had so she could go to school and the other holidays that they had.

"Come on Sweetie Belle, you know I'd never miss meeting up with Scoots," came a second voice as a tan coated mare, wearing a tool belt and sporting a beautiful pink bow, stepped out on Scootaloo's left, "We were supposed to spend the day together and I even got Mayor Mare to let me take the day off. She said that I was doing a good job with the timeline of our work that I could take TWO days off if I wanted, but I let her know that I'd be back to work tomorrow."

Scootaloo smiled as the three of them were reunited for the first time in almost a year. The reason they had been separated for so long was because they had branched out and established the basics for their new lives after the collapse of the Changeling Empire. The changelings had retreated from almost every corner of Equestria, choosing to rebuild the vast amount of tunnels that used to exist below the Badlands. They only surfaced when they needed to gather supplies that would keep them going, but other than that nopony had seen a changeling in almost six months.

Before Scootaloo could say a word the sky suddenly grew darker as large black clouds began to dot the skyline, causing a bunch of the ponies around them to gasp in surprise. The weather team must have been slacking if such a vast amount of black clouds had appeared in the sky like they had. The strange thing about the sudden cloud cover was the fact that the temperature suddenly began to drop to a temperature that was suitable for winter. Scootaloo could even see her breath with as cold as it was getting. And, for the first time in forever, she heard the clock tower finally chime.

The air in front of them shimmered and Scootaloo jumped back reflectively, glad her wings were fully grown in case she needed to fly away at some point. A stallion appeared before them, but when she looked at him her eyes widened in horror as she discovered exactly who was standing before them. Where a normal pony's hooves would be resided a pair of rather nasty looking claws that could tear through anything around them. The wings, ones that she assumed used to be large pegasus wings, were now large bat wings that were bunched up against the stallion's back. The rest of his body was covered by an eerie black robe, one that the ends seemed to move around like wisps of smoke, and covered most of his head in darkness, but what she saw startled her even more.

Blood red eyes and a pair of vicious pair of fangs stared back at her.

"No...No way," Scootaloo nervously said, taking another step back as ponies began to disappear all around her, "You...Your supposed to be dead."

The stallion before her was none other than King Eclipse, the previous ruler of the Changeling Empire who had died in the epic battle between himself and another stallion named Nexus. The evil stallion had declared war on all of Equestria, choosing to target Eclipse and his changeling before attacking the Princesses, but that lead to his doom. According to Eclipse's daughter, the new Queen Northern Sky, both Nexus and Eclipse had dealt the other a killing blow, causing the both of them to fall. In about a week it would be the anniversary of his death, but what did that mean when he was standing before her now.

Even now his body was buried outside the Changeling Hive, yet he was also in Ponyville at the same time.

The stallion tilted his head, seeming to stare at her like she was the only pony around and when she looked she found that she was all alone with him. It was almost as if this was all a dream, a pleasant dream that was quickly becoming one of the worst nightmares of her life. He took a step towards her, just the one, and the instant his leg touched the ground the grass around him began to shrivel up and die as if the life was sucked out of all the blades. Scootaloo knew that hadn't been one of his powers before his death and now she was even more scared than she had been a few moments ago.

"Go back...go back to your grave," she said loudly, hoping that if this was a dream then he would disappear by her command, "Leave me alone."

The shadow of Eclipse held a claw right up and pointed it at her, eerie energy pooling together to form the same dreaded attack he had commanded in life. Just as the energy was released Scootaloo bolted awake, finding herself back in the safety of her bed. She was sweating as she realized just how close her dream self was to being destroyed and forcing her to wake up regardless. Once morning came around she was going to have to go up to Canterlot castle and tell Princess Luna, or Celestia, about what she had experienced. Maybe then they could figure out what was happening, if anything was happening.

As she laid her head back on her pillow she seriously hoped that nothing else happened to her before morning peeked its head at her in a few hours. She closed her eyes and hoped for the best.