Ask Discorded Scootaloo: Chamber of Zerum

Ask Discorded Scootaloo: Chamber of Zerum

...Nothing.

Nothing was in the thick, blank, darkness that was the void. The void is a terrifying place. There may be nothing actually there, but it preys on a different kind of fear…A feeling of intense isolation, knowing that once you’re there, you’re there for good. Trapped completely. And may Celestia have mercy on any poor, unfortunate soul that somehow gets trapped in this piece of Tartarus…

No.

It was much worse here.

At least in Tartarus other souls burned with you.

But in the eternal blackness lay a small, grey figure that appeared to have passed out, breathing soft, shallow breaths. If you looked at it closer, you could see that it was similar to a pony. A younger pony that appeared to be in-between the years of still being a filly, and being a young mare. Her coat appeared to be a faded grey and her black mane slicked to the front of her head. She had a pair of wings on her back, the feathers also grey as her coat. This filly was Scootaloo. Formerly a Cutie Mark Crusader, and former prisoner of the chaotic tyrant known as Discord.

Scootaloo’s eyes shot open as she awoke from her slumber. Her grogginess still taking effect after being asleep for what felt like an eternity.  She took a moment to allow her eyes to scan her surroundings.

“Ugggh…Dear Celestia. What happened? Where am I?” She mumbled. Scootaloo struggled to get to her hooves, her entire body shaking as she did so. Her legs as well as her torso felt intensely sore.

“OW! Why does it hurt so bad?!...Let’s see, I was in that alternate dimension with another me in it, and then I randomly turned into a teenager while I was sleeping because of the universe screwing with my body or some shit. I left to gather my thoughts and then…that carriage hit me when I was crossing the road.” Scootaloo was nearly mute at the end of her statement, and she threw up her forelegs in anger.

“Great. That carriage bucking killed me. I’m in bucking purgatory. And just when things were looking my way too…life always ends up hurting me that way.” Scootaloo said, her eyes starting to water. She remembered everything from that universe The Doctor had left her in. The other Scootaloo there, and how they had become such good friends. How that Scootaloo had a foal at only fourteen, Lightning Blitz, if she could remember right.

But now what was left for her? She had finally found ponies that gave a buck that she existed, and now that had been taken from her too. This hit her like a shit-ton of bricks, and tears started to free-flow from her eyes.

“W-Why? Why can’t I ever just be happy for once in my life?! My best friends abandoned me, my parents, and now I’M BUCKING DEAD!” She screamed. Scootaloo all of a sudden felt a sharp pain in her flank area and she looked down to see what it was.

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner-plates.

On her flank was what appeared to be a Cutie-Mark. It was the outline of a golden apple, if it could even be called golden, considering how dull the yellow looked.

“That’s weird. When did I get a Cutie-Mark. I don’t remember having this before, and I don’t feel like I really did anything since then. So what’s this about?” She asked herself.

All of a sudden, Scootaloo heard something echo through the emptiness of the void. It sounded like somepony singing, but the voice sounded very scratchy and upset, with a bit of an accent to it.

“S-Stars and Moons and air balloons. Fluffy clouds to the h-horizon. I-I’ll wrap you in rainbows, and rock you t-to sleep again.”

“…That song.” Scootaloo had heard that song only once before. A good friend of hers, a Time Lord to be exact, had sung that to her after a night fit to get her to calm down.

“Who’s singing that song?” She asked herself. She galloped toward the source of the noise and could hear it getting louder with every step she took, and it sounded like the voice was sniffling and stuttering between verses.

“Teddy bears of pink. Ducks and lambs of white. D-Don’t you cry dear I’m here now. I-I’ll be your nightlight.”

Scootaloo was starting to get legitimately creeped out. In sharp contrast to what The Doctor had sung her, this sounded just sad and menacing, as if it pained the singer to even recite it.

“Smiles to cure the frowns, t-twirling and tumbling in laughter. Someday life will always be happily ever after.”

“Stars and m-moons and air balloons. F-Fluffy clouds to the horizon. I-I'll wrap you in rainbows, and rock you to sleep a-again.”

On that last verse, Scootaloo had finally approached the source of the singing, which appeared to be the only bit of intelligent life in this wasteland. He was what appeared to be a Pegasus stallion laying inside a dog bed, very scrawny and thin in body structure, so skinny that Scootaloo could see his ribcage. His mane had been combed to the front of his forehead, and his wings were about the size of a newborn foal’s. A single sharp tooth protruded from his upper mouth, and he had a collar and leash clamped around his neck. The most defining feature of this stallion was his Cutie Mark…A golden apple.

The same one Scootaloo had.

Looking closer at this pony, Scootaloo noticed that he was turned away from her, crying hysterically the lyrics to the lullaby. It looked like he hadn’t noticed her come forth yet. Scootaloo wasn’t what you would call a patient filly, so she decided to make the first move.

“Umm…Hello?” Scootaloo asked.

The stallion shot up almost immediately and turned to face her, obvious fear in his eyes as well as the tears.

“W-Who are you?! How did you get here?! Nobody else is supposed to be in the void!” He screamed, getting out of his bed and hiding under it.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

‘Wow, this guy is a pretty pathetic sight.’ She thought to herself.

“The void? Is that what this place is called?” She asked.

The pony was still extremely scared  as he appeared to hold his tongue. This annoyed Scootaloo incredibly, seeing as how she had awoken in a new place and kind of wanted answers.

“Look, you’d better give me answers right now. If you don’t, I’ll just have to beat em’ out of you.” Scootaloo growled, looking him straight in the eyes.

The pony quickly flinched backwards to try and get away from the filly.

“P-Please don’t hurt me! I-I haven’t done anything! I’ve been a good pony, I swear!” he yelled.

Scootaloo then saw something in this pony’s eyes she had seen somewhere before. It was a look of true fear and sadness. The eyes of a truly tortured soul.

Only when she saw it in this stallion, it was a LOT worse.

Those eyes. The sound of his voice.

“…Doctor?”