When Anarchy Strikes

It was a cold night in a bed Scootaloo wasn't used to. She normally cuddled into the pink mane that was now in a medical cot recovering from a wolf attack, but the near white coat and light blue mane were close enough. Scootaloo slipped out of the embrace, not disturbing her. Coco really slept like a rock. Either that, or she was an early riser. When the sun still existed, she always was. Then, something nearly made her fall over. The moon was almost under the horizon, and the very slightest hue of blue was showing. She began stumbling to the door, only to fall clumsily and wake Coco in the process.

"Uh, you're up early."

She couldn't keep her voice steady to save her life. "L-look out the w-window." A loud gasp, followed by a thud from a falling Coco pursued. This was taking her entire life and changing it back to that was living hell, and it would be even worse now. She had to tell Pinkamena, but somepony beat her to the door. Rarity burst through the door, slamming it open.

"The sun's back!!"

That hurt her ear, being right in it. "Agh! We know. We have to go. If the military comes back, both Pinkamena and I are dead."

"Oh, I highly doubt that. If Celestia is really back, she is a just leader and wouldn't punish anypony for what they did in the dark." Scootaloo could tell that obviously even Rarity didn't even believe herself.

"Sure, I gotta go check on Pinkamena, you just keep saying that." She brushed past Rarity and to the living room. where hung a very bandaged pink mare in a hammock by the couch. It was good to see the blood didn't seep through the bandage. It would be bad to wake her up now, she's still healing. The rising sun disagreed, as the rays hitting her face awoke her. A pained moan was the first sound,

"Uh, what is that?" Scootaloo was now on the side of the hammock away from the window, and stopped Pinkamena from falling off.

"Yep, that's the sun. Long time, no see, right?"

"Heh, too long. I would have been fine if it was just a few days sooner."

"What now?"

"We go pay the princess a visit, and we never did anything during the anarchy. You should put on a saddlebag, or something." Of course, Rairty sprung into the conversation.

"Stay right here, I'll be back in a second." In what was surprisingly less than a second, she zoomed into the giant closet, and back out with an unnerving amount of clothes. Just like old times.

After hours of trying on everything that might fit her, she was now in a simple saddlebag, aside from the blue and white flower fabric pattern around the edges, and a similarly themed checker pattern along the rest. On each side was also a blue rose. Of course the term "simple" didn't compute for Rarity when it came to clothes, but she did the best she could.Trains obviously didn't work, so they walked. Pinkamena had to be pulled along in a cart, sadly. Nothing attacked, aside from the son and their eyes. It took absurdly long to adjust, as they had been darkness for a few years. After said grueling walk, they arrived at the city. The city managed to sustain itself, it appeared, as it was still in decent shape. There was a farm some to the left, where they might have built another residential area, but it was colossal. Apples, all apples, the workers and product. They took a detour, Scootaloo looking forward to furniture.

"Hey, scoots, where are we going?"

"Just wanna stop by and say hi to Applebloom."

"Sure, No rush, I could use a visit from Applejack. I hope she has something for this pain." It was a short trip, and luckily the farmhouse was close. It might be an hour to the middle of the farm. She knocked, and was met with a familiar face, but not the exact one she wanted. It was a miracle, but Granny Smith was still alive. How in tartarus? She decided questioning it was a bad idea. She wouldn't get anywhere.

"Oh, hello, little one. It's been a long time, are you here to see Applebloom?"

"More or less. I just wanted to stop by, we were in the neighborhood because of the whole sun thing."

"Well, come on in, dearie. We're makin' apple pie!" She entered, the wonderful smell of apple pie filling her nose, then the cart followed just barely fitting.

"Oh! What happened?!"

Pinkamena responded. "A dog had the nerve to attack me, I managed to snap it's neck, but Scoots had to patch me up."

"Well, she aint bad at it. Actually, if she could do this, you two came at a perfect time." Scoots had her eyebrows raised, waiting for her to continue. "Caramel bucked his leg out, and I think he broke somethin. Could you take a look?"

"Sure, but where can I leave her."

Applejack had made her way into the room unnoticed, and chose now to make her presence known. "Leave 'er there, I'll take care of it." She nodded, and unhooked the saddle. She followed Granny through a maze of rooms to a room with an open door and occupied bed. There was a bandage and a stick around a leg.

"Uh, hey. We haven't met, have we?"

"No, but I'm gonna try my hoof at your leg."

"Go 'head. It's not getting any worse, at least I don't think."

"Don't temp me, please." She made her way to the leg, and ran her hoof down it. It was broken in several places, definitely from the hoof. "Wow, what'dya do? Fall a hundred feet and lan on only this leg?"

"Felt like it. Bucked a Steelbarrel tree, missed the sweet spot."

"Ow. I'll see what I can do. Just don't move." She got to work revising the bandage, and using much more from the bedside table, and braced both sides of the leg. "This might hurt, a lot. Brace yourself. Really." She pushed the bones back into place, a small grinding and loud scream of pain filling her ears. Anyway, she put a brace on the front and back of the leg, bandaged everything together, and was kind of sure she did it right. "Okay, stay off this leg or else I'll have to do the bone thing again. And I will." Caramel nodded, trembling, and Scootaloo left to rejoin Applejack and Pinkamena, to be nearly tackled halfway back by Applebloom. Normally, she would have definetely fal,len, but she had gotten way stronger since they last talked.

Applebloom had an extremely exited look on her face, mirroring her own, but it slipped for a second. "Hey, where's Sweetie?"

She put on the absolutely saddest face she could, looking down. "Oh. She- well, got caught by the batpony gang a few days ago. She didn't make it out." She just stayed frozen, waiting for the response.

The response seemed distant, emotionless. "Oh, ah see. Well, there's a bright side at least."

"Heh, you see one?"

"Ah, nevermind. You'd think it was mean."

"You're one of my only friends left. Rainbow left me, and died later. I never really liked Rarity that much, and everypony else left after the dark. If I think it's that mean, I'll live with it."

"Okay, but don't you be mad, y'hear?" Scoots nodded, and AB looked up to make eye contact. "She was always the one that didn't want to do anything, and I always liked you more." That wasn't the most surprising thing she could have said, but wasn't the most expected either. They were locked in each other's gaze, so Scoots made the move.

"She really did hold us back, now that I think about it. And you were always cooler too, you know. Actually, thinking about it, she might have just hung with us because she didn't have her cutie mark."

"Oh, hey! That reminds me, look at this!" She spun, and had a cool cup of apple cider on her flank.

"Yeah, mine takes a bit of explaining." She used a hoof to pull the bag off to reveal what looked like a cut without the blood coming out. "Turns out, I'm good with injuries. I just fixed Caramel up."

"Really? He was messed up somethin' bad."

"I've fixed up some of the worst injuries you could think up. Try me."

"Missin' an arm"

"Missing an arm, shoulder, amnesiac concussion, and impaled through the spine and a lung. She's still alive." She fixed up Pinkamena more than once, but that was the worst. The amnesia was surprising.

"Ama-ne-she-ac?"

"Amnesiac. Means she got amnesia, didn't remember."

"Ah. Who was it?"

"Pinkamena. She's gotten to some pretty bad shapes through the night. Now, she got herself in a fight with some dog or something, and I had to fix her again."

"Really? You're pretty darn good."

"Yeah. Wonder how Applejack's doing with Pinkamena."

"Also, your talkin' bout Pinkie, right?"

"Oh, yeah. she doesn't like to be called that since the darkness, though. Force of habit." There was a long silence, both contemplating their time without the sun. It permanently changed the world, and everypony got used to it. Now, everypony has to readjust to a new/old life.

"Uh, hey. The sun's gettin low, again. You wanna sleepover, like we used to?"

"It's a good way to start again." They went to the living room, and Applejack was locked in a similar conversation.

Applejack was currently speaking. "-wanna stay here t'night?"

"Sure, but I can't leave the cart. Doctor's orders."

Scootaloo's turn. "That's right. You get up, the bandages get slightly loose, you bleed half to death in your sleep and I won't be able to do anything. It won't be good."

This apparently startled Applejack, who nearly fell back. She forgot about her ghostly effect she sometimes had with her silence. "Oh, ah didn't see ya there. Anyway, you wanna stay here ta'night?"

"Sure." She followed Applebloom to her room, and was amazed how big the house is. 3 hallways, and 2 rooms, and AB's room door. She wouldn't be able to find her way out by herself. Once inside, she smelt the slightest hint of something only a veteran cannibal would ever notice. It was definitely blood. That caught her off guard, so much so that she just stood there stunned. Blood in Applebloom's room?

"What?"

"Okay, this might sound weird, but do I smell blood here?" That sent her into a panic state of motionless. There was something going on.

She talked so fast, its a wonder she caught it all. "ItwasFulthyRichandweowedmoneyandIdidn'tknowwhattodosohe'sinmyclosetand-"

"Geez! Calm down, we all did stupid stuff during the darkness. Now explain, slowly. You won't scary no matter what."

"Okay. You see, ever since we moved here Filthy Rich has been using his power to take most our money, and we were starving tryin' to keep up. All of us knew what we had to do, but no one did anythin'. I had to, we were gonna die. It was us or him." She was tearing up at this point. Scootaloo went over to comfort her. Now sitting side-by-side, she put a hoof around her friend's neck, pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, it's cool. I would have done it as soon as we started going hungry. You were lucky, you know. Pinkamena and I had to deal with a raid a week from a gang of batponies. She always sent me into our room, and when I came out there were bloody bits everywhere. Worst part is, it didn't phase me. I eye-witnessed my dad get stabbed to death, and my mom died of cancer before I even met you. I lived on the street all my life until I met rainbow, and after a year she tries to kill me and turn me into a rainbow. I escape, then the darkness comes in. My life is one obstacle after another. I've tried to kill myself twice, and I've cut myself more times than a reverse porcupine, then I meet Pinkamena. Not Pinkie, Pinkamena. I met her when I killed my abusive foster parents, and I've been draining people of blood so she can turn them into cupcakes so we can eat." Scoots decided to tiptoe around the whole Sweetie Belle incident. " So, no matter what, I've been through worse. I've done worse. I'm a murderer, you just killed in self defense, survival, because you had no other choice. I've killed for sport, and I'm pretty darn good. Nothing you do could do to scare me off, Applebloom." They let a silence wash over them for a while, then Scoots sparked up conversation again. "So, on a lighter note, you find that special somepony yet?"

"Of course you'd ask that of all things, y'all just had to. No, a haven't,"

"You know, 2 thirds of the population are still mares, and-"

"Before you imply anything, I like colts. I ain't got nuthin 'gainst lesbians, but I ain't one."

"Ah, it was worth a shot. So, I haven't eaten all day, and I pulled a cart all the way from Ponyville. I'm absolutely starving."

"Dinner should be ready any minute now, were havin' apple pie!"

"Oh, it's been SOOOO long since I tasted any apple pie, last time I had it you were there. You remember that?"

"Of course! I also remember the first time, before you knew Rainbow. Somehow, you ate more than Big Mac, and that's sayin' sumthin. Plus, y'all didn't leave any mess left! How'd you even do that?"

"Wasn't sure I'd ever eat anything again, just like every time before I met Rainbow, then she tried to turn me into a rainbow, I escaped to see the darkness roll in, I kill my foster parents, I go home with Pinks. Just a recap in case you missed anything."

"Well, 'parently ah missed a lot. You sure you ain't magic?"

"Maybe in the head." A really loud bell rang outside, but it still hurt her ears slightly.

"Uhp, dinner's ready. And trust me, no way you're gonna eat the most. Some of my cousins make Mac look like Blueblood at a dinner wit' the princess."

"Now that's a title I'm not gonna lose." She went over to get her saddlebbag, and followed AB to a large, standard red and white barn, large for barn standards, anyway. When she opened the door, it contained 2 tables from one end to the other, one with chairs and plates and one with the buffet. They were the first ones there, followed closely by Big Mac and a large green stallion with a red mane and apple tree cutie mark. The 2 stallions each took 3 whole pies, and Scootaloo did the same. Applebloom took 3 slices, looking like she wasn't going to get seconds, but Scootaloo's stomach has in tremendous hunger pain and began getting too weak to grumble when they came out of Trottingham. They each took their seats as the family began pouring in, and it looked like they were all one hive mind to not be bumping into eachother. Overall, the table had only half it's food missing once everypony was sitting. She dug in, and was met with the best thing she had ever tasted in her life. It was a flash, and all the 3 pies were gone before anypony else even finished one. She was like a lightning bolt from the table and back with 5 pies, and just skipped the seasoning. It was much better without, and she was back at the table with the green stallion. She took another three while he took eight stacked. They finished around the same time that time, mainly because they were competing for best eater right now. A few others were doing the same, and there was much more than enough pies. It was a blur of eating before both Scootaloo and the green stallion had each eaten 30, leading by far the table in pies eaten. Scootaloo was still slightly hungry, and the stallion was obviously reaching his limits, and he ended at 47 while she went up to 56 before being full. She could tell the only noise was from utenils, and not a single word.

"Y'all can eat, little filly. Orchard Harvest, and y'all are?"

"Scootaloo. It's not really fair, though. I pulled a cart with a full grown injured mare in it all the way from Ponyville, and didn't even have time to stop and eat. My stomach was too tired to make a peep after the halfway point."

"All that way? Now, that's hard to believe."

Applejack found her way to an empty pie tin near the end of the table, where the cart was. "It's true. I reckon that filly should'a collapsed from exhaustion, but she's tough as an Apple. She's been through alot, from what I hear."

"Oh really?"

"You really don't wanna know. The darkness in what used to be ponyville was a breeze for her, and it's chock full of creepy crawlies. My friend Pinkie here was the one in the cart, almost had her head taken off by a dog 'o'sorts. Scoots patched her up nicely."

"I have a cutie mark for it."

Applebloom found her way into one of the many growing conversations. "It's true. It looks like a cut, but she's really good at surgery 'n stuff. She fixed Caramel up when she got here."

"I've done things that make that look like a nap in a cloud." Bad choice of words. As a result, it brought back memories of a certain somepony she used to love, who you could always find napping in a cloud somewhere during the day, or in a factory at night. Her thoughts were luckily interrupted.

Orchard Harvest broke the pause. "Y'all look like y'seen a ghost. What's up?"

"Ah, I just remembered something. Let's move on. How's the farm?"

AB. "It's great! I'm learnin' to buck, but I can't shake a ladybug off one of them steelbarrel trees. That's how Caramel messed himself up."

"He told me. Apparently he missed the sweet spot, and it shattered his leg into 4 pieces. Now, that's gotta hurt."

Harvest had seen it. "Y'all shoulda seen him. He definitely broke sumthin' and it weren't no tree."

"We might be staying until the trains are up again, so I'll help around if I can."

"You already helped out Caramel, and narrowed leftovers down so nuthin's gonna go bad."

"It was nothing. We mainly came here to see if the princesses were back, because the sun definitely is."

"Nope. Celestia's gone for good, but the princess Cadence, who kept the city runnin, learned how to rise the sun. Also, there's a prince Shining Armor, if ya didn't know. We can take a trip there, if ya like."

"Ah, I'd have to run it by Pinkie, and-"

A certain, high-pitched tone of voice from a now cheery pink mare that Scoots hadn't heard since yesterday interrupted them. "Sure! I remember Cadence! We met once before!" Scoots looked over to the cart, but there was no bouncing. That was good, at least. She'd reopen her wounds if she bounced. That was definitely Pinkie Pie.

"So, were staying the night. I'm full." She followed AB to her room, through an immense maze of rooms, and they were both in bed before they knew it. Force of habit, but she rolled over into AB, initiating a pause, and was met with an unexpected response.

"Woah, you're coat's so soft."

"Taking my baths in blood, then rinsing in water. That's how I keep it so soft."

"However disturbing that is, it works like a charm. Hey, would you mind if I-"

"Go ahead." AB began resettling, then Scootaloo did the same to bring the two into a mutual embrace. Slowly, they drift into sleep.