Scootaloo's Shadow. Book 1: Return

Drinks with miss Pinks

"I didn't believe it,"    'Tis was all I could say, I didn't have a follow up.  Rainbow Dash was sitting on the couch with a blank expression.  I chuckled, uhh, proof time!  I motioned for them to look at my mouth, flexing it open as physically (Ponily) possible.  My teeth were fine, however, on my command, my canines grew to a point.  They were bone white and sharp as the spears Celestia's guards would no-doubt point at me if I wasn't careful.

"Cool..."  Rainbow Dash broke the silence, and she seemed to be taking this better than Twilight was, whom was having her whole 'Monsters-don't-exist' crisis,  "So four years ago this happened?  How?"

"Yes, I'm interested too,"

"Well,"  I began my tale, reveling in the fact that they didn't immediately turn their backs on me calling me a 'monster'.  It's the small things,  "Four years ago we, my fellow Crusaders and I, were in search of our cutie-mark in the Everfree forest.  If I remember correctly, which I did, it was about mid-day on a summer afternoon, we slipped in the Everfree forest via pathway behind Fluttershy's house.  It got cold and dark quickly, the vines and trees seemed to be trying to split us up; they eventually succeeded and I found myself alone, in a clearing, the clouds overhead were dark, and seemed to bear rain.  I heard laughing and something cooing, calling me a 'poor defenseless filly, far from home,' and it was right.  'It' soon showed itself being a Draconequus,"

"Dragon 'Q's?"  Rainbow Dash looked skeptical, thinking this was a joke, or that I was delirious.

"No, a Draconequus, like Discord.  You know evil spirit of disharmony,"  Twilight corrected.

"Actually he was Discord,"  I had lost her, err, them actually.

"But he was encased in stone..."

"Well, technically, he was a sprite of disharmony, known as suffering, being slightly translucent and smaller than Discord himself.  The sprite, Suffering, told me he was going to give me a gift, saying it was fit for a princess of night.  You can guess were I go from here..."

"Well you are not wallowing in self-pity so I guess it didn't succeed,"  Thanks Rainbow Dash, you always see the bright side.

"Rainbow, please.  Don't be so insensitive,"

"No, she's right.  Although I did go through a period of a week were I was depressed beyond belief,"  I chuckled slash snorted,  "Good thing I don't need to eat, because I didn't,"  I smiled.

"Excuse me but, I am fascinated, so you don't need to, you know, feed,"  It took me a second to process what she said.

"Wha?  Oh Feed, yeah, that's kinda weird.  I could go into detail, unless you're squeamish,"

"Well..."

"What, no not at all.  The Dash can take anything,"  Hmph!

"Twilight?"  I asked not sure if I should go into detail or into 'Detail'.

"Oh fine, but if I look green then stop,"

"OK, well, blood isn't needed by Vampires to live, but we do need it to keep from going absolutely berserk around you 'warm fleshies'.  It keeps us calm, I can go about a week and a half without my eyes going red with hunger, and I wish that was a figure of speech!  The longer one goes without blood the stronger their inherited powers become and more powers become available,"

"If you don't mind the interruption, but, how long has it been since your last, um, 'feeding',"  She danced around the word.  How long has it been?

"Oh I'd say about yesterday,"  I glanced at Rainbow Dash, who's face had just dropped, a hoof raised to her neck.  I chuckled, Twilight looked lost,  "I just messing with you, it was a week ago, in Manehatten,"  Rainbow's face flushed with a light pink before glaring at me.

"Never. Joke about something like that,"  I laughed, it felt good I had done that in a while, of course, it has been awhile since I had friends I could joke like that with.

"Yeah, and if you forget the last time you did feed, a headache that could kill a manticore twice over, casually reminds you,"

"Okay, so changing the subject, where did you stay at for four years?"

"Yeah, and who's that friend you told me about?"

"Oh, well about two weeks into being the 'new' me, I was abducted by a member of the group in the slums of Manehatten known as the 'Kabal',"

"Oh, I've heard of them, they're like an organization for criminals.  Their head-quarters is a safe-haven for undesirables,"  Twilight explained.

"Thanks,"  I said sullenly.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean you,"

"No Twilight, it's alright,"

"So let me get this straight,"  Rainbow Dash need to pull her thoughts together,  "You were abducted into some criminal organization, which happened to be accepting vampire applicants at the time.  What?  Did you do odd-jobs for them for four years?

"Well I did have to earn my keep, don't worry, everything I did wasn't too terribly illegal.  Plus, I did have to learn to harness my abilities, and control my hunger,"

"Oh, I see, your 'friend' you told me about was also a vampire,"  Rainbow Dash knew exactly where I was going with 'this',  "And you lied when you told me that you came back because you 'missed us all',"

"That's not, completely, true.  I did miss you, but that wasn't what prompted me to return home.  My mentor directly ordered me to return to 'wince I came' and join my friends again, telling me that 'I learned enough to take care of myself, and that I needed to go as soon as possible.'  I, of course, was suspicious of the situation, but soon left.  It's funny, this all seems so long ago but 'this' was only one-or-two weeks ago,"

"So, if I may be so blunt, why are you telling me all this?  Are you not afraid that I'l go and tell Princess Celestia that I know the location of a vampire, or that I may slip up, and whom so ever hears, rats you out?"  Blunt?  That's pretty blunt!

"Well it's a lot better having somepony you can slip-up around than living in seclusion hoping I don't slip-up and have to lie to Every. One. Of. You.  Are you going to, like you said, 'Rat me out'?"

"I wouldn't Scootaloo, I wouldn't do that to my number-one-fan,  Twilight?"

"Well, not that I would, but it seems that if I did I would be out one life and a friend, sooooo..."  Twilight smiled sheepishly,  "What do you plan on doing next?  I mean, are you going to tell anypony else or let anypony else know you exist again?"

"I suppose I should tell my fellow crusaders that I'm back,"  I smiled inwardly,  "But I don't want them to have to keep my preexisting condition a secret; it can take a toll on someponies,"

"Well, Scootaloo, because of you I lost out on lunch and a nap, so I'm going to Sugarcube Corner.  You two are welcome to accompany me, but I imagine you don't want to be out in public?"

"Actually, I'd like to go, it has been four years since I had good Ponyville food, plus I'm good at keeping quiet,"

"Wait, I thought you had to 'feed' for sustenance,"  Why must you question me Twilight?

"I can still eat, It just will not prevent me from murdering everypony," Great Big Smile.

"Well since it's after noon we shouldn't have to worry about a large crowd, but that'l mean Pinkie is going to , most likely, be our waitress,"

"It had to come sooner or later, knowing her,"

_____________________________________

We had soon made our way to Sugarcube Corner and sat outside. I saw Pinkie Pie reach the door, and promptly began to brace myself for the gasp then...

"Oh, hey Twilight and Rainbow Dash, oh and,"  Here it comes,  "Scootaloo.  Do you guys know what you want to drink?"  She said it like it was a normal day.

"Wait, how did you know I am Scootaloo?"

"Ugh, silly, it was my 'Pinkie Sense™',"  OH, Pinkie Sense™, I should have guessed.  Curse you, you Pink sorceress, my brain can't comprehend you powers.

Hey, thanks.  That means a lot!

What?  Stay out of my head.

OK, bye!

Wow, that was weird, what, oh they're looking at me.

"Equestria to Scootaloo, Scootaloo come in.  Sorry captain I think we lost her,"

"What?  Sorry I zoned out,"

"Yeah silly, what do you want?"

"Don't you know?"

"Well duh!  Of course, I mean you keep your noggin wide open!  I'll be back with those in a bit,"

"What was that?"

"Twilight, you must, and I mean Must study her, she has some untapped power that this world needs,"

"Already tried.  The results were inconclusive,"