Hatred Knows No Boundaries

Scootaloo was running around in circles in front of the train. Her parents were lagging behind as they dragged along the filly's suitcases. She flapped her wings excitedly as she explained how she was going to be the best flier in the school. When her parents finally caught up with her, they all entered the train. There were still some empty seats up front, so they decided to sit in those. Scootaloo continued jabbering while her parents put the suitcases in the overhead compartment. They all sat down and waited for the train to depart.

The train departed smoothly and normally and the outside scenery changed from a bustling city of commerce to quiet open fields. Scootaloo took the window seat and watched excitedly as trees and grasses rushed by her window in a pastel flurry of colors. After getting bored of looking around, she decided to put on the complimentary headphones and listen to the radio. She found a good music station and sat contentedly as she listened to the latest popular music.

After a few songs played in succession, the station took a small break and started broadcasting news. Unwilling to take off her headphones because of the loud noises of the train, Scootaloo sat bored as the announcer read off the bulletins. Something had happened in Canterlot, something had happened in Fillydelphia, and something had happened in Las Pegasus, but Scootaloo didn't care. When the radio mentioned Manehattan, though, Scootaloo became interested. The announcer said something about increased hate crimes against pegasi in the Manehattan area. She didn't want to hear any more about that subject, so she decided to change the station to one playing music.

The orange pegasus sat happily listening to her music for an hour or so before something around her caught her attention. She took of her headphones and heard some commotion. It sounded as if it was coming from the front of the train, but she couldn't be sure. She put her headphones back on and paid no attention. Only when a loud bang echoed through the train did she once again take off her headphones.

"Mom, what was that noise?"

"It was just something outside. Don't worry about it."

The filly turned her attention back to her music.

Scootaloo had fallen asleep to her music when her mother shook her awake. The filly's eyes followed her mother's hoof and saw that they were almost at Cloudsdale. Her eyes widened at the beautiful floating city. The entire city was floating on a series of huge clouds, and every single piece of architecture in the city was also made of clouds. Thousands of pegasus ponies flew between floating buildings with beautiful sculpted columns. The rainbow factory was constantly spewing liquid rainbow, and waterfalls streamed over the edges of the city. Scootaloo had never seen such a beautiful sight. She pushed her face against the window and was able to see ahead of the train. The intersection that would lead into Cloudsdale was coming up. She began to count the remaining seconds out of anticipation. Ten seconds left. Nine seconds before heaven. Eight seconds, seven seconds, six seconds until she began her new life. Five, four, three, two, one second remained! They were upon the intersection.

Just like that, the train passed the turn into Cloudsdale. Scootaloo just stared out the window for a few seconds, unable to think of a reason that the train would've skipped the turn. She looked at her parents quizzically, and they returned the look. She could hear some anxious conversation behind her and knew that the other pegasi on the train had noticed the problem, too. A few minutes passed, but the train continued on past Cloudsdale. The orange filly's father bent close to his wife's ear and whispered something inaudible. He then stood up and walked into the aisle.

"I need to go see if there's something wrong up front. I'll be right back." The blue stallion then walked up towards the conductor car with a rather annoyed look on his face. A few seconds of silence passed in the car as everypony waited for the report. A blood-chilling scream suddenly resounded from the front of the train, and a loud bang could be heard.

“Nimbus!” Scootaloo’s mother screamed. She stared towards the door to their door, but nothing happened. Horrible silence was the only thing that followed. When nopony came out of the conductor car, Scootaloo hugged her mother tightly for protection. She could feel her mother shaking in her seat and felt a few tears drop from her eyes. Scootaloo began sniffling and sobbing as her mother hugged her tighter and tighter. Nopony in the train talked for the rest of the train ride.

After another half hour went by on the train, it was apparent that they were never headed to Cloudsdale in the first place. They eventually entered a thick forest of menacing looking trees. Scootaloo looked up and was shocked to see clouds moving by themselves. Such a thing was unheard of! She decided to stop looking out the window.

The train eventually came to a stop. Scootaloo looked back out the window and saw that they were now in the middle of the forest. There appeared to be some sort of walled structure nearby, but the pegasus couldn't make out what it was. She could hear nervous chattering behind her and knew that everpony was as apprehensive as her. The train remained still for a minute or two before the door to the conductor's car opened. A large red earth pony stepped into the car. He looked around at everypony with a look of contempt on his face. Without saying a word, he continued to the other carts to relay the same message of obvious hatred.

"Mom, where are we?" Scootaloo looked up at her mother with an expression of confusion and terror in her face.

The yellow mare looked down at Scootaloo with a similar expression. "I'm not sure, baby."

After a few more minutes, the red stallion from earlier returned to the cart. He kept his eyes completely forward and said absolutely nothing. In a few seconds, he had vanished back into the conductor's car. Soon after, a loud click echoed through the cart and the train doors opened. Nopony was extremely anxious to step hoof in the strange territory outside, but pegasi soon began to file out of the train. Scootaloo and her mother were the last out of the train.

Once all of the pegasi had left the train, the red stallion exited the conductor's car. He was now toting a large gun. His black mane flowing behind him, he galloped over to the mass of pegasi from the train. A loud whistle was then heard, and the train slowly began to depart, leaving a few hundred pegasi stranded in the forest with a strange stallion. Scootaloo shifted nervously from hoof to hoof, still unsure of what was happening.

"All right, everypony, calm down." The stallion smirked. "There will be plenty of time for freaking out later." He started walking towards the building in the distance. "Now, if you'll all just follow me, I won't have to kill you on the spot." He continued walking towards the building with a certain arrogant gait about him.

Scootaloo didn't want to follow the strange man, but her mother dragged her along behind the stallion. A few hundred other pegasi trailed behind them.

Out of nowhere, a whoosh of purple swept through the sky as a pegasus tried to escape. The red stallion turned around and pulled out a gun with lightning speed. He pulled the trigger, and a loud thump was heard as the dead pegasus hit the ground. Scootaloo stared at the body, terrified by the sheer brutality of the earth pony.

“Let’s keep moving,” said the stallion. He turned around and continued on his merry way as if nothing had happened.

As the orange filly neared the structure, she could see that its walls were at least five stories high and were made of smooth granite. Barbed wire adorned the top of the wall like tinsel. The wall had a huge painting on it that looked like the signs from Manehattan. It was a huge black pegasus wing with a red cross through it. The red cross appeared to be painted with blood.

The red stallion led the pegasi to a barred gateway. He said something inaudible to a stallion inside the gate, and the gate was lifted up for the pegasi to enter. Scootaloo, her mother, and about ten other pegasi were led through the gate and into a narrow tunnel by a stallion very similar looking to the one from the train. The snaking tunnel eventually ended in a small room with five jail cells connected to it. Scootaloo and her mother were led into one cell, and the remaining eight ponies were grouped into twos and put into the other four cells. The escort then left the ten ponies and went to attend to other business.

A very frightened Scootaloo looked around. She hadn't done anything wrong, so she shouldn't be locked in a jail cell. Her mother certainly hadn't done anything wrong. The other ponies in the room seemed just as innocent and just as terrified, so the justification for their incarceration mystified the filly. She considered the possibility of the entire thing being some kind of Flight School test, but dismissed the idea. If something like this was supposed to happen, her parents would've surely known about it beforehand. The thought of her parents brought a tear to Scootaloo's eye. She knew her father was probably dead, and she came to the realization that the savage brutes that had taken them could just as easily kill her mother. She walked over to her mother with tears streaming down her face and embraced her tightly. The two cried together for the rest of the night before falling asleep in each other's forelegs.