Deepest Desiresby RuinQueenofOblivionChaptersComfortChoicesHomeSecretsComfortRainbow Dash's POV It was a few months after I had officially adopted Scootaloo, I had taken her in for a routine checkup at the Doctor's office. I had been concerned for awhile now, Scootaloo had never been able to fly, but she was old enough by now that she should be able to, so I asked the Doctor to check her wings. I just hoped that whatever the Doctor said was good news. "Ms. Dash?" The Doctor's voice said from the door and I turned to look at him. "Is my daughter okay, Doc?" I asked nervously. "Well, I've got good news and bad news," the Doctor said, taking a deep breath. "The good news is that for the most part, Scootaloo is a healthy Pegasus filly." I breathed a sigh of relief, that was something at least, maybe it was even good news for her. If she was healthy filly, then maybe she just wasn't ready to fly yet, right? "The bad news..." The Doctor said, hesitating a moment. "Scootaloo has a, rare condition called Pegasus Magical Deficiency Syndrome, her body can't produce enough magic to sustain a prolonged flight..." I had been afraid of that, I had heard of it before in Cloudsdale, it was rare and tended to run in families. It was probably on her father's side but... this meant that Scootaloo would never be able to fly." "I'm sorry Ms. Dash, I know this can't be easy for you," the Doctor said. "There are Ponies looking into it, but its so rare that it's hard to study." "Have you told her yet?" I asked him. "No, not yet, the nurse is in there with her now," the Doctor replied. "Do you want to be the one to tell her?" "I should, yes," I replied. "She's my daughter, it'll be better if she hears it from me." The Doctor nodded and ushered me through the door. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. I always hated going to the Doctor, it seemed like they were always poking me with needles or using magic to scan me or whatever. Today's visit was no different, but mom had insisted so, yeah. Actually it was kind of weird, in addition to all the usual things, the doc had run some sort of device over my wings, that had been new. I wasn't sure what to think of that, but maybe mom had requested it. "Hey Squirt," I heard mom say as she came inside. "Mom!" I said excitedly, I had gotten used to calling her mom by now at least over the last few months. She looked nervous all of a sudden as I hopped off the table. "Is everything okay?" "I'm sorry Scootaloo... there's something I need to tell you..." Mom said. "The doctor said you'll never be able to fly more than just at a hover." I felt like my world went crashing down, I had never been able to fly of course, but I had always held out the hope that I would be able to fly someday. "But its going to be okay," mom continued as she wrapped her forelegs around me in a gentle hug. "Do you remember what I told you before the Equestria Games?" "Of course, how can I forget?" I said with a nod. "You said that whether or not I could fly, I'd always be awesome." "And its true," mom said. "You're awesome, no matter what. Sure you can't fly, but that doesn't change who you are." "Thank you," I said softly as I hugged back and mom nuzzled me gently. "Come on, lets go get checked out and you can go see your friends," mom said as we headed back out of the room. 00000 I hopped off my scooter at the clubhouse where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were, I ran up the stairs and went inside. "Oh hey Scootaloo, how'd it go at tha doctor's?" Apple Bloom asked as I closed the door behind me. I paused a moment, I might as well tell them the truth right, they were my best friends in all of Equestria, I shouldn't keep any secrets from them. I'd have expected them to do the same with me of course. "I... can't fly..." I said, looking down at my hooves. "Uh, yeah, isn't that why you've been taking lessons from Rainbow Dash... I mean your mom?" Sweetie Belle asked, they were still getting used to it after a few months, but I let it pass. "The Doctor said that I can't fly because of some medical condition," I said with a sigh, I was surprised when the two of them hugged me. "Hey, what have I said about hugs?" "Come on Scoots, you know you need a hug right now," Sweetie Belle said. "Yeah, flyin' has been yer dream fer as long as we've known yah," Apple Bloom said with a smile. "Come on, don't let yerself get all down about it, yah will always be our friend Scootaloo." "That's right, you're an awesome Pony no matter what," Sweetie Belle added. "And an even better friend." "Thanks you guys, that means a lot," I said, trying not to cry as we finally broke the hug. "So what's the plan for today?" I really did have the best friends, no the best family anypony could ask for. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had always been there for me, they were almost like my sisters, even though I had always only seen Rainbow Dash as my sister before learning she was my mom. It was days like this I felt like the luckiest Pony in the world. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Hey Rainbow, how can I help you?" Twilight asked me as I walked into the library in her castle. "I was wondering if you made any progress on figuring out what that thing was that attacked Scootaloo in the Castle a few months ago?" I asked, it had been bugging me since that day, and I just hoped that she could give me some sort of answer. "I'm sorry, no," Twilight said. "At least not a definite identity, I even tried talking to Celestia and Luna because of what Luna told Scootaloo, but they haven't given me a straight answer either." I paused at that, you'd think at least Celestia would be willing to tell Twilight, something about this was really weird. Why would they not want to talk about these, things? "What about what Luna said, about creatures that terrorized Equestria?" I asked her. "Well, I did find a book," Twilight continued, that figured, but at least it made sense, she levitated a book off a shelf. "Abnormalities and Abominations of the Old World, it didn't give anything that matched the description of what you saw, but it had an interesting chapter." She levitated it over to me and opened it up to a bookmarked page. Chapter 4: The Eldritch Horrors In the old days of Equestria, when our world was still in a state of chaos and disharmony, great monstrosities walked the land. These beings were of pure magical energy that terrorized and struck fear into even the bravest of ponies. These creatures, the Eldritch Horrors as they came to be known, had the power of a god, and some say would even step upon worlds like Ponies would step on ants. Many of them were destroyed in the early days of Equestria, but many more were too powerful to even kill. The Draconqui progenitor Anarchy, the terror from beyond the stars Nightmare, the Silent Killer of the North, and many more. Beings of such terrifying power that not even the Princesses would dare utter their name for fear of bringing them down on Equestria. Some were imprisoned using the Elements of Harmony, but still others are out there, biding their time as they wait for a chance to unleash their evil upon Equestria once more. What can stop these creatures once and for all is always unique to each one, and to figure out what their weakness is hard to determine. If you are to face off against one of these Horrors, tread with extreme caution. "You think, whatever we encountered was one of these Eldritch Horrors?" I asked, looking at Twilight. "Well, it fits what we do know about it so far," Twilight said with a shrug. "How's Scootaloo holding up by the way?" "She's fine, though... we found out today that she won't ever be able to fly," I said with a sigh. "Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight said, I knew she was being genuine about that. "Is there anything else?" "No, that's all I needed to know," I said with a weak smile. "Thanks for your help." "Don't worry, I'll keep looking into this," Twilight said. "But if it is imprisoned, shouldn't we be okay?" "Hopefully," I said with a shrug before I headed back out of the Castle and towards my cloud mansion. 00000 As I landed in front of my mansion, checking to make sure the steps I had made for Scootaloo (that ladder wasn't very practical if she was living here) was still stable when I saw Derpy flying towards me. "Hey Derpy," I said with a smile as she landed next to me. "What's up?' "I have a letter for you, Rainbow Dash," she said as she took a letter out and gave it to me. "Have a good day!" She took off again as I went inside and looked at the envelope. It was for me alright, but the return address was from Las Pegasus. Did my parents maybe go there and forget to tell me or something? I shrugged and got it open, taking out the piece of paper inside and unfolding it carefully. Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry for being out of your life for so long, but after I learned that you were pregnant I couldn't take the pressure and had to run away. I was a coward for doing this, and I shouldn't have abandoned you and our child. I'm currently on a train to Ponyville, I don't care what you think of me, but I want to at least see my child once. If you'll give me a chance that is. Sincerely, Stratosphere. I had to read it several times to make sure that I read it right, I couldn't believe it... Stratosphere, Scootaloo's father, was on his way to Ponyville right now. Author's Note Huh, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to come up with, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. ChoicesRainbow Dash's POV. What the heck, why was he suddenly coming here after almost eleven years? Oh Celestia, what was I going to tell Scootaloo? I told her that he had run out on me, but if he was coming to town... No, I couldn't trust him, something was weird about this timing, and he couldn't just appear out of the blue like this without expecting me to become somewhat suspicious. Stratosphere, years ago he had been my coltfriend while I lived in Manehattan for a little over a year. He had skipped out on me before Scootaloo was even born, I couldn't believe he had the gall to come back now! I had to clear my head, Scootaloo was out with her friends and probably wouldn't be back for awhile so I had time to go for a flight. I opened the front door and took off so I could do some thinking. It was hard to believe that 4 months had passed since Scootaloo moved in, sure things had been a bit rocky at the beginning, but things had gotten a lot better. "Hey Rainbow," Twilight called out to me, I looked to see her flying up to me. "I'm glad I ran into you, I had an idea of who we could talk to." "Oh, who's that?" I asked curiously. "Well, the book mentioned a creature called Anarchy," Twilight reminded me as we flew along. "The Progenitor of the Dragonequi." "Sounds like a fun guy," I said sarcastically. "And I thought dealing with Discord alone was... oh, you want to talk to Discord don't you?" "Hey, if we need to find out about a Dragonequues, who bettter to ask than Discord?" Twilight pointed out, I hated to admit it, but I couldn't argue with that logic. "Are you up for it?" "Yeah, if he can tell us anything about that, thing, it might at least be worth trying," I said. "There's something else I want to talk to you about though, I received a letter today, from Scootaloo's father." "I thought you said you hadn't heard from him since before she was born," Twilight said, she sounded just as confused as I felt. "Why now?" "I don't know, and he's on his way to Ponyville," I said. "What should I do, Twilight?" "I, honestly don't know," Twilight admitted. "On one hoof, he might be trying to reconcile and genuinely wants to be part of Scootaloo's life. On the other hoof, he spent the last decade shirking his responsibilities as her father. Honestly Rainbow, you're going to have to decide what to do on your own." I hated to admit it, but while she was right, I had no idea what to do. I had hoped that Twilight would know what to do, she always knew what to do, the egghead. "I spent most of the last decade shirking my responsibilites as her mother..." I pointed out, I hated to admit that was true, but it was. "But you were there for her when it counted," Twilight pointed out. "Ultimately, that's what she's going to remember, that her mom was there for her when she really needed her." "Yeah, you're right," I finally said. "But I still don't know what to do about Stratosphere." "Scootaloo's a smart filly, maybe you should give her the option to meet him, and she'll make the decision for herself," Twilight said with a reassuring smile. "I think she'll be just fine." "Okay, I'll talk to her later, right now we gotta talk to Discord," I said with a nod, we had reached Fluttershy's cottage and came in for a landing. Twilight knocked on the door and Fluttershy answered it. "Oh, hi Twilight, Rainbow Dash," she said in that sweetly soft voice of her's. "Can I help you?" "Uh, yeah, we were hoping to talk to Discord, is he here?" Twilight asked. "Oh yes, he's here for tea," Fluttershy said. "Come on in." We followed her inside, Discord was inside seated at the table and sipping tea. He gave us both that weird smile of his as he set the cup down. "Why, Rainbow Dash its been forever," Discord said with a grin. "How's motherhood going?" "Uh, fine, we're doing really well," I said with a nod. "Uh, we wanted to talk to you about something." "Yes, we were reading up on ancient Equestria and we came across a mention of something called Anarchy," Twilight said, making Discord pause. "The, Progenitor of the Dragonequi? Do you know anything about it?" "Why of course I do, I helped seal him away after all," Discord said with a grin. "And I'm the reason why he's still trapped." We exchanged glances, this was going to be quite the story. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. "Here you go, three milkshakes!" Pinkie Pie said happily as she set them down in front of us. "Enjoy." "Thanks Pinkie Pie," I said as I took a drink of my milkshake, I was about to say something when Pinkie Pie suddenly started twitching. "Huh, that was a new one, I wonder what it meant," she said, then bounced off. "Well, nothin' is fallin' from tha sky right now," Apple Bloom said with a giggle. "What do ya'll think that was about?" "I dunno, I think it was just Pinkie being Pinkie," I said with a shrug. "Who knows why that crazy pony does anything?" "Something tells me we don't really want to know," Sweetie Belle said. I couldn't help but chuckle at that, I had known Pinkie Pie ever since I had first arrived in Ponyville, and honestly I had never really wanted to figure out what went on in that crazy pony's head. Come to think of it, I think Twilight tried once, I'm amazed she came out of that sane. "Well, it was probably nothin' big," Apple Bloom said as she set down her glass. "Hey, come on, Ah heard there's gonna be a train arrivin' from Las Pegasus today." "So, trains arrive all the time," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "Yeah, but we almost never get one from Las Pegasus," Apple Bloom countered. "Come on, it'll be fun, maybe we can find somepony ta help aboard." "Sure, lets go," I said as we all got up and headed outside. I grabbed my scooter and we headed for the train station just as the train was starting to unload. "Aww, looks like nothin' special," Apple Bloom said with a sigh, there wasn't very many Ponies getting off today I guessed. That's when I saw it, a shadowy figure emerge, it looked like a Pony at first glance, but it wasn't... natural. It seemed to be surrounded by an aura, and looked around with deep, almost sunken eyes. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't want to find out. "Uh, I just remembered, I have to... ummm... wax Tank's shell, yeah, that's it," I said and hopped on my scooter and took off. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "You know, none of you ponies these days know what it means to face a true Eldritch Horror," Discord said as he casually examined his claw. "Well, at least most ponies don't, you two and your little friends know all to well don't you?" "You mean Nightmare Moon," Twilight said, that's when it clicked, the book had referred to something called the Nightmare. "Nightmare Moon was one of the horrors wasn't she?" "Yes, well, she certainly was, but she's not around anymore," Discord said. "So, tell me, what do you want to know about Anarchy?" "Well, you know, what it was, how it was stopped, that kind of thing," I said. "Anarchy was an ancient horror, a being born of pure chaos," Discord said. "Horrors are always born of either chaos or order, there is no middle ground." "Order doesn't sound so bad," Twilight said, getting a laugh from Discord. "What's so funny?" "You are my dear Twilight, you don't get just how dangerous Order is," Discord said. "Do you ever wonder why Celestia and Luna didn't kill me when they had the chance? End the threat to Equestria once and for all." "Because they're above such things of course, you're a danger, but killing is still wrong," Twilight protested. "Not when the situation calls for it, it was war my dear Princess, and in my experience, war never changes," Discord said taking a drink of tea. "Oh wait, wrong universe, I really need to stop getting them mixed up." "Uh, what are you talking about?" I asked, looking at Discord strangely, he was acting weirder than usual. "Don't worry about that, anyway, I wasn't killed because the "harmony" you live in is created by balance," Discord said. "Balance between order and chaos, and the Eldritch Horrors exist to destroy that balance and push it all the way to their side. Which is why I was created along with my species, to spread chaos." "I thought you'd enjoy that," Twilight pointed out. "You love chaos." "Of course I do, but a world devoid of order just isn't as much fun," Discord said. "Without order, you don't know what chaos is. So we turned on him, locked him away, and as long as there is a single Dragonequues left in this world, he remains trapped." That's when it hit me, Discord was still alive to keep Anarchy sealed away, it was the only thing that made sense. That must've been part of the reason Celestia pushed to get him redeemed too. "So, why don't you tell me about this creature that you encountered?" Discord asked. "Well, it had a lot of tentacles," I said. "And Scootaloo said that it had this feeling of... longing to it, like it wanted something." Discord looked thoughtful for a long moment and shook his head. "I can't help you, sorry," he said. "But you might want to talk to someone else, I do remember hearing about that from someone." "Who's that?" Twilight asked. "Tirek," Discord said. "Or perhaps look into the writings of Love Craft, I'm sure that you can find them easily." And with that he vanished with a snap of his claw. "Okay, that, wasn't incredibly helpful," I groaned. "Well, we did learn some things," Twilight said. "You go talk to Scootaloo, I'm going to see about getting into Tartarus to talk to Tirek." "Okay," I said and headed out after saying good-bye to Fluttershy. I just had to hope that whatever we had seen wasn't going to come back. HomeScootaloo's POV. I made it back to the Cloud Mansion without any problem, I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. That, thing back at the train station... I have no idea what it was, but still it frightened me. It reminded me of that, thing that had gone after me back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, it was unnatural, and dangerous. I normally wasn't so scared by things, but that thing... what was weirder was that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom didn't seem to notice anything odd. It was like they only saw a normal Pony. Come to think of it, I had felt that same feeling once before, well, almost the same, when Nightmare Moon had attacked. But this one was different, I just had to hope that everything would be okay. "Hey squirt, where are you?" Mom's voice said from the other room. "In the kitchen," I called to her as she came in with a smile, but she looked nervous at the same time. "Hey mom, is everything okay?" "Scootaloo, I need to talk to you about something," mom said, taking a deep breath. "I received a letter today, from your father." "My father?" I asked, I remembered that mom had told me that he had left her before I was even born, why would he suddenly be sending a letter to her? "Why did he send you a letter?" "He said he wants to meet you," mom said. "He says he really wants to make up for being gone so long, I'm leaving it up to you if you want to meet him." I paused at that, I couldn't believe it... its not like I didn't wonder what my father was like, but if he had left us, then should I really do this? Something about this felt incredibly weird. Then again, mom had deserved a second chance, wouldn't it be fair to give the same to my Dad? "I'll, at least meet him," I finally said. "If you think it'll be okay." Mom paused at that, she seemed to be hesitating as if she wasn't sure what to say or do before nodding. "Alright Scootaloo, I'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll get it arranged." I just hoped that I had made the right choice by agreeing to this. "There is, something else I want to talk to you about," I said. "Oh, what's that?" Mom asked. "Earlier, there was a train that arrived from Las Pegasus," I said, starting to explain what happened. "There was a... Pony that got off that was weird, I got a feeling from it, like when we were attacked before in the castle." "It got off in Ponyville?" Mom asked. "I, think so," I said. "I, kind of ran off before I could see what happened to it." Mom had a long pause at that and took a deep breath. "Well, now we know that something might be here in town," she said and wrapped her foreleg around me. "Don't worry Scoots, you're going to be okay, I promise." I gave her a hug, taking a deep breath, that had really helped. "Thanks mom..." I said with a smile. She nuzzled me gently, I just hoped that everything really would be okay. "Now come on, lets get everything ready for Fluttershy's visit tonight," Rainbow said. "What do you mean, we were just going to order Pizza because neither of us can cook," I said with a giggle, getting a laugh out of mom. 00000 Twilight Sparkle's POV. "You're kidding right? You want me to send a message to Celestia requesting for you to get to visit Tartarus?" Spike asked as he held the pen in his claw. "And not for just any reason, you want to see Lord Tirek?" "I know it sounds crazy," I said. "But Tirek might know something about what attacked Scootaloo in the castle." This really did sound crazy now that I thought about it, going to see Tirek because on the off chance he knew something about it? But we had to learn more about that thing if we were going to deal with it if it ever came back. "Okay, I'll send it, but I don't know how she'll respond," Spike said as he started writing on the piece of paper and then sent it to Celestia. While we waited for an answer, I turned my attention to the shelves of books. The only other name that Discord had mentioned was Love Craft, I could've sworn I had seen that name around here somewhere. "Where's Pinkie when you need her..." I muttered, I wasn't quite sure what I was even looking for at this point, I finally stopped and used my telekinesis to pull out a book, The Weird and Bizarre World of Love Craft. "Found it!" "Oh, you were looking for this guy's writing?" Spike asked. "I remember there were a few comic books based on his work. Why are we looking for him?" "Discord said that he might have answers," I said, but I wasn't actually sure about it now that I flipped through it. It felt more like a collection of old Mare's tales, like it wasn't anything that should be taken seriously. I stopped on a page and read part of it out loud. "The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age. Take these words written with caution, the truth is what exists beyond these pages." "What's that even supposed to mean?" Spike asked, scratching his head. "Honestly, I don't know," I admitted, that had confused me a lot. I kept reading through it out of curiosity, it wasn't giving me a lot of answers, but there at least seemed to be some basic information here. There was a knock on the door downstairs, we went down to find Princess Celestia outside waiting for us. She had a concerned look on her face. "Princess, is everything okay?" I asked. "Twilight, I wanted to talk to you in person after your request," Celestia said. "Why do you want to talk to Lord Tirek?" "Yes, there's a chance he might be able to tell us more about what attacked Scootaloo," I said. "Is there a chance it might come back?" Celestia asked, she was now looking even more worried, she knew, something. "I honestly don't know, I just want to make sure we have all the possibilities covered," I said. "I know its a strange request." "Very well," Celestia said. "Just be careful, there are things in Tartarus even more dangerous than Tirek. And you'll have to talk to the Queen of Tartarus before she'll let you talk to anyone" I didn't like the way she said that as she returned to her carriage to leave. I just hoped I wasn't getting in over my head. I went back inside to get ready for tomorrow. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Okay, Scootaloo's in bed," I said, coming into the living room where Fluttershy was waiting for me on the couch. "Thanks for coming by tonight." "Of course," Fluttershy said, giving me a smile. "Thank you for inviting me over." I sat down next to Fluttershy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm always happy to have my marefriend over, and Scootaloo is always happy to see you," I said, nuzzling her gently. "I've been worried lately though." "About what?" Fluttershy asked curiously. "Different things, but I got a letter today, from Stratosphere," I said. "He, wants to see Scootaloo, she agreed to talk to him, but, honestly I don't know..." "Rainbow, do you think Scootaloo will be able to handle it?" Fluttershy asked. "I think so," I said with a nod. "She's a strong kid, if anypony can handle it, she can." "You're not sure though, are you?" Fluttershy asked. "Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. "Stratosphere left us behind for Las Pegasus, its kind of weird that he's suddenly so willing to be here for Scootaloo now." "I know, but you should have faith in her, and if you need anything, I'm here for both of you," Fluttershy said. "I love you, Dashie." "I love you too, Flutters," I said, wrapping a wing around my marefriend. "Thank you, Fluttershy, for being there for me when I need you." "Anything for you, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said and kissed me softly on the lips. 00000 Twilight Sparkle's POV. It was the next day, I had been directed towards a portal that lead to Tartarus. I gulped a little as I entered through the gates, trying to figure out what to do now. On the other side of the gate, there was a group of guards dressed in steel shining black armor that are watching me carefully. A brown colored Pegasus with a black mane and tail came out between them. "Well, well, if it isn't the Princess of Friendship," the Pegasus said as she looked me over. "What brings you to Tartarus?" "I'm here to talk to the Queen of Tartarus," I said, staying confident as this Pegasus stared me down. "I need to talk to one of the, uh, prisoners." "I'll talk to her, you'll have to convince her though," the Pegasus said before going back through the door. I looked nervously around, Tartarus was like nothing I had ever seen before, it looked like a city at first glance, but it was feeling like it was something I had never seen before. I took a deep breath as the doors started to open again and I turned to speak to the Queen. Standing before me was a towering black Alicorn with a wild white mane as flames started to swirl around her. "WHO DARETH COME BEFORE MORNING STAR, THE GREAT QUEEN OF TARTARUS!" She said in the booming Royal Canterlot voice. SecretsTwilight Sparkle's POV. I didn't know what to think right now, I was looking at an Alicorn, while I had heard the name Morning Star in reference to Tartarus, I had always assumed she was a Unicorn. In fact, all the information we had on the subject said that she was a Unicorn, why would that be wrong? "Uh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, I'm here to try and get information from one of the, inhabitants of Tartarus," I said, trying not to be intimidated, I mean she was just an Alicorn right? Even if she was the ruler of Tartarus "Sorry, Ponies expect a certain level of, theatricality from the Queen of Tartarus," Morning Star said in a normal voice with a Trottingham accent. "And well, I don't believe in disappointing them." Okay, I hadn't expected that. "So who do you want to talk to?" Morning Star asked, folding her wings against her side. "Lord Tirek," I said, getting a strange look from the Alicorn. "I know that I sealed him away, but its possible that he's the only one who knows what I need to know." "I see, well, before you can see him, I want to know why," Morning Star said and looked at the dark Pegasus briefly. "If your answer satisfies me, then Windswept will ready the prisoner." "A few months ago, a friend of mine and her daughter were attacked by a, creature," I said and I told her everything that I knew about the creature that had attacked Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Morning Star looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to look at the Pegasus. "Windswept, go to Tirek's cell and prepare him for guests." "Yes ma'am," Windswept said as she went back through the gates. "I'm guessing that my old teacher hasn't exactly been forthcoming with information," Morning Star said, she saw the confused look on my face so she clarified. "Over a thousand years ago, like yourself I was Celestia's student until I was made the Queen of Tartarus." Right, Morning Star's rebellion, she had tried to overthrow Celestia, but something had happened that stopped it and she became the ruler of Tartarus. Though, that's really all I knew, not a lot of information was known about her. "Do you know anything about it?" I asked. "I've been trying to find out any information, but other than a few things, I haven't found any real information on what it was that was sealed under the Castle of the Two Sisters." "I cannot tell you more than you already know," Morning Star said. "I encountered a few Eldritch Horrors in my day, but not that one in particular." "Then maybe you can tell me what you do know about the Horrors," I said. "If one is threatening Equestria, then we need to know everything we can." "Very well, come with me and I'll tell you," Morning Star said as she walked through the gate, I paused a moment and then followed her. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Hey Rainbow, what brings you here today?" Pinkie Pie asked as I came into Sugarcube Corner. "I'm looking for a Pegasus Stallion named Stratosphere," I said and looked around the place for him. "Have you seen anypony new around?" "A few Ponies got off that train yesterday, but no Pegasus Stallions that I saw at least," Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. "Wait, isn't that the name of..." "Yeah," I said, frowning a little bit, I had hoped that Pinkie Pie had seen him. "He came into town recently, and I had hoped that you seen him." "Hey is that him there?" Pinkie asked and I turned to see a Pegasus Stallion with an orange coat walk inside. "Rainbow Dash, is that you?" He asked, I really wished that I could turn invisible right now. "Yeah, that's me," I said, I recognized him alright, Stratosphere, the stallion I had honestly never wanted to see again after he abandoned me and Scootaloo. "Look... she wants to meet you, but you owe me some answers first." "I know, I know," Stratosphere said as he shook his head. "Look, Dashie..." "Don't call me that, its Rainbow Dash," I said angrily. "Fine, Rainbow Dash," Stratosphere said. "I know there's nothing that will excuse my actions 10 years ago. Ever since I left, I regretted that I wasn't in our child's life, I just want to meet her, just once." "I've moved on with my life," I said. "But Scootaloo... she wants to give you a chance and at least meet you. Consider this your last chance, am I clear?" "Crystal clear," Stratosphere said nervously. "Good," I said. "I'll go get her." I took a deep breath and got to my hooves. I had managed to stay restrained, but I was worried, and a little bit angry. I couldn't believe he had just come back in my life like this, at least he wasn't trying to get back together with me. I took a deep breath, I had to do this for Scootaloo. 00000 Twilight's POV. I glanced at the prisoner areas as we went past for a moment, but I couldn't focus on them for too long. Honestly this whole place gave me the creeps, I just had to focus on the towering Alicorn ahead of me. "This place is... interesting," I said, trying not to think about what was going on. "Tartarus is the realm of the damned, you don't have to lie on my account," Morning Star said. "The Eldritch Horrors plagued Equestria for centuries, when I was still in Celestia's service I came into conflict with one called Ivas the Reaper of Souls. While I managed to stop him, fighting a Horror enacts a heavy toll on you." That worried me, if one was coming to Ponyville and was threatening Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash would want to get involved. If fighting an Eldritch Horror was so dangerous, then what would happen to her? Would she still be the same old Rainbow Dash? "Are all Ponies affected like, this?" I asked, glancing around, I had to wonder if she was always like this. "It depends on the Horror, when Sombra beat the Silent Killer... well, you know what happened with him," Morning Star replied. "Some descend into madness, others depression... they usually don't last long. The Horror often gets the last laugh." That figured, I was now really worried and I didn't even know about the creature we were up against yet. "How many are there?" I asked, I was afraid of the answer. "Honestly, I don't know, nopony does," Morning Star answered. "I fought a few and Celestia and Luna fought more but, the truth is that we don't know if there are any more out there." We finally stopped in front of a cell, I glanced at Morning Star as her horn glowed red and the door slid open. "Do not worry, he is contained," the Queen of Tartarus said and I moved forward. Contained within the room was Lord Tirek, but he was withered, he looked almost elderly compared to the terrifying monster I had fought before. He looked at me with hatred in his eyes. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," he said in a raspy voice that dripped with sarcasm. "How kind of you to grace me with your presence." "Lord Tirek, I'm not really in the mood for this, but you may have some information that could be of use to Equestria," I said, I was trying not to sound nervous. "There was a creature under the Castle of Two Sisters and..." To my surprise he actually listened intently as I told him about the creature, when I finished he looked at me for a long moment before speaking up. "I know of the being you speak of," he said. "You seek the Mother, a being of great and terrible power. You are in grave danger." That sent a chill running along my spine. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. I was suddenly very nervous, mom had said she'd come to get me from home when everything was ready. I had never even known my father, I mean mom I had known for a few years ever since I had first moved to Ponyville, but I had never even met Dad. What if he didn't like me? What if he was embarrassed? What if he was really mean? I honestly had no idea what to do, was I really ready to meet my Dad after all these years? "Scootaloo, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked as she came inside, I guessed that mom had sent her to check on me. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about, you know..." I said sheepishly, Fluttershy nodded. "What should I do?" "Well, what are you worried about?" Fluttershy asked. "What if he doesn't like me? I mean, I've never met him before and..." I said, trailing off nervously. "I'm scared, Fluttershy." "Scootaloo, you have nothing to be worried about," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "Your father reached out because he wants to get to know you, you've got nothing to worry about I promise." I smiled a little at that, Fluttershy really did know how to help you cheer up. "Thanks Fluttershy, I can do this," I said with a nod. "I just have to wait for mom to get back I guess." "You're a great filly, he'd be crazy not to like you," she said with a smile, I nodded and went back to waiting. I just hoped that everything would be okay. "Hey squirt!" Mom said as she trotted into the room with a weak smile. "Are you ready to meet your dad?" "I, guess," I said, I admitted I wasn't sure about it yet, but I smiled. "Lets go." I climbed on her back and we took off, flying towards Sugarcube Corner. Author's Note Two cliffhangers for the price of one, I'm evil aren't I?
ComfortRainbow Dash's POV It was a few months after I had officially adopted Scootaloo, I had taken her in for a routine checkup at the Doctor's office. I had been concerned for awhile now, Scootaloo had never been able to fly, but she was old enough by now that she should be able to, so I asked the Doctor to check her wings. I just hoped that whatever the Doctor said was good news. "Ms. Dash?" The Doctor's voice said from the door and I turned to look at him. "Is my daughter okay, Doc?" I asked nervously. "Well, I've got good news and bad news," the Doctor said, taking a deep breath. "The good news is that for the most part, Scootaloo is a healthy Pegasus filly." I breathed a sigh of relief, that was something at least, maybe it was even good news for her. If she was healthy filly, then maybe she just wasn't ready to fly yet, right? "The bad news..." The Doctor said, hesitating a moment. "Scootaloo has a, rare condition called Pegasus Magical Deficiency Syndrome, her body can't produce enough magic to sustain a prolonged flight..." I had been afraid of that, I had heard of it before in Cloudsdale, it was rare and tended to run in families. It was probably on her father's side but... this meant that Scootaloo would never be able to fly." "I'm sorry Ms. Dash, I know this can't be easy for you," the Doctor said. "There are Ponies looking into it, but its so rare that it's hard to study." "Have you told her yet?" I asked him. "No, not yet, the nurse is in there with her now," the Doctor replied. "Do you want to be the one to tell her?" "I should, yes," I replied. "She's my daughter, it'll be better if she hears it from me." The Doctor nodded and ushered me through the door. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. I always hated going to the Doctor, it seemed like they were always poking me with needles or using magic to scan me or whatever. Today's visit was no different, but mom had insisted so, yeah. Actually it was kind of weird, in addition to all the usual things, the doc had run some sort of device over my wings, that had been new. I wasn't sure what to think of that, but maybe mom had requested it. "Hey Squirt," I heard mom say as she came inside. "Mom!" I said excitedly, I had gotten used to calling her mom by now at least over the last few months. She looked nervous all of a sudden as I hopped off the table. "Is everything okay?" "I'm sorry Scootaloo... there's something I need to tell you..." Mom said. "The doctor said you'll never be able to fly more than just at a hover." I felt like my world went crashing down, I had never been able to fly of course, but I had always held out the hope that I would be able to fly someday. "But its going to be okay," mom continued as she wrapped her forelegs around me in a gentle hug. "Do you remember what I told you before the Equestria Games?" "Of course, how can I forget?" I said with a nod. "You said that whether or not I could fly, I'd always be awesome." "And its true," mom said. "You're awesome, no matter what. Sure you can't fly, but that doesn't change who you are." "Thank you," I said softly as I hugged back and mom nuzzled me gently. "Come on, lets go get checked out and you can go see your friends," mom said as we headed back out of the room. 00000 I hopped off my scooter at the clubhouse where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were, I ran up the stairs and went inside. "Oh hey Scootaloo, how'd it go at tha doctor's?" Apple Bloom asked as I closed the door behind me. I paused a moment, I might as well tell them the truth right, they were my best friends in all of Equestria, I shouldn't keep any secrets from them. I'd have expected them to do the same with me of course. "I... can't fly..." I said, looking down at my hooves. "Uh, yeah, isn't that why you've been taking lessons from Rainbow Dash... I mean your mom?" Sweetie Belle asked, they were still getting used to it after a few months, but I let it pass. "The Doctor said that I can't fly because of some medical condition," I said with a sigh, I was surprised when the two of them hugged me. "Hey, what have I said about hugs?" "Come on Scoots, you know you need a hug right now," Sweetie Belle said. "Yeah, flyin' has been yer dream fer as long as we've known yah," Apple Bloom said with a smile. "Come on, don't let yerself get all down about it, yah will always be our friend Scootaloo." "That's right, you're an awesome Pony no matter what," Sweetie Belle added. "And an even better friend." "Thanks you guys, that means a lot," I said, trying not to cry as we finally broke the hug. "So what's the plan for today?" I really did have the best friends, no the best family anypony could ask for. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had always been there for me, they were almost like my sisters, even though I had always only seen Rainbow Dash as my sister before learning she was my mom. It was days like this I felt like the luckiest Pony in the world. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Hey Rainbow, how can I help you?" Twilight asked me as I walked into the library in her castle. "I was wondering if you made any progress on figuring out what that thing was that attacked Scootaloo in the Castle a few months ago?" I asked, it had been bugging me since that day, and I just hoped that she could give me some sort of answer. "I'm sorry, no," Twilight said. "At least not a definite identity, I even tried talking to Celestia and Luna because of what Luna told Scootaloo, but they haven't given me a straight answer either." I paused at that, you'd think at least Celestia would be willing to tell Twilight, something about this was really weird. Why would they not want to talk about these, things? "What about what Luna said, about creatures that terrorized Equestria?" I asked her. "Well, I did find a book," Twilight continued, that figured, but at least it made sense, she levitated a book off a shelf. "Abnormalities and Abominations of the Old World, it didn't give anything that matched the description of what you saw, but it had an interesting chapter." She levitated it over to me and opened it up to a bookmarked page. Chapter 4: The Eldritch Horrors In the old days of Equestria, when our world was still in a state of chaos and disharmony, great monstrosities walked the land. These beings were of pure magical energy that terrorized and struck fear into even the bravest of ponies. These creatures, the Eldritch Horrors as they came to be known, had the power of a god, and some say would even step upon worlds like Ponies would step on ants. Many of them were destroyed in the early days of Equestria, but many more were too powerful to even kill. The Draconqui progenitor Anarchy, the terror from beyond the stars Nightmare, the Silent Killer of the North, and many more. Beings of such terrifying power that not even the Princesses would dare utter their name for fear of bringing them down on Equestria. Some were imprisoned using the Elements of Harmony, but still others are out there, biding their time as they wait for a chance to unleash their evil upon Equestria once more. What can stop these creatures once and for all is always unique to each one, and to figure out what their weakness is hard to determine. If you are to face off against one of these Horrors, tread with extreme caution. "You think, whatever we encountered was one of these Eldritch Horrors?" I asked, looking at Twilight. "Well, it fits what we do know about it so far," Twilight said with a shrug. "How's Scootaloo holding up by the way?" "She's fine, though... we found out today that she won't ever be able to fly," I said with a sigh. "Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight said, I knew she was being genuine about that. "Is there anything else?" "No, that's all I needed to know," I said with a weak smile. "Thanks for your help." "Don't worry, I'll keep looking into this," Twilight said. "But if it is imprisoned, shouldn't we be okay?" "Hopefully," I said with a shrug before I headed back out of the Castle and towards my cloud mansion. 00000 As I landed in front of my mansion, checking to make sure the steps I had made for Scootaloo (that ladder wasn't very practical if she was living here) was still stable when I saw Derpy flying towards me. "Hey Derpy," I said with a smile as she landed next to me. "What's up?' "I have a letter for you, Rainbow Dash," she said as she took a letter out and gave it to me. "Have a good day!" She took off again as I went inside and looked at the envelope. It was for me alright, but the return address was from Las Pegasus. Did my parents maybe go there and forget to tell me or something? I shrugged and got it open, taking out the piece of paper inside and unfolding it carefully. Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry for being out of your life for so long, but after I learned that you were pregnant I couldn't take the pressure and had to run away. I was a coward for doing this, and I shouldn't have abandoned you and our child. I'm currently on a train to Ponyville, I don't care what you think of me, but I want to at least see my child once. If you'll give me a chance that is. Sincerely, Stratosphere. I had to read it several times to make sure that I read it right, I couldn't believe it... Stratosphere, Scootaloo's father, was on his way to Ponyville right now. Author's Note Huh, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to come up with, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
ChoicesRainbow Dash's POV. What the heck, why was he suddenly coming here after almost eleven years? Oh Celestia, what was I going to tell Scootaloo? I told her that he had run out on me, but if he was coming to town... No, I couldn't trust him, something was weird about this timing, and he couldn't just appear out of the blue like this without expecting me to become somewhat suspicious. Stratosphere, years ago he had been my coltfriend while I lived in Manehattan for a little over a year. He had skipped out on me before Scootaloo was even born, I couldn't believe he had the gall to come back now! I had to clear my head, Scootaloo was out with her friends and probably wouldn't be back for awhile so I had time to go for a flight. I opened the front door and took off so I could do some thinking. It was hard to believe that 4 months had passed since Scootaloo moved in, sure things had been a bit rocky at the beginning, but things had gotten a lot better. "Hey Rainbow," Twilight called out to me, I looked to see her flying up to me. "I'm glad I ran into you, I had an idea of who we could talk to." "Oh, who's that?" I asked curiously. "Well, the book mentioned a creature called Anarchy," Twilight reminded me as we flew along. "The Progenitor of the Dragonequi." "Sounds like a fun guy," I said sarcastically. "And I thought dealing with Discord alone was... oh, you want to talk to Discord don't you?" "Hey, if we need to find out about a Dragonequues, who bettter to ask than Discord?" Twilight pointed out, I hated to admit it, but I couldn't argue with that logic. "Are you up for it?" "Yeah, if he can tell us anything about that, thing, it might at least be worth trying," I said. "There's something else I want to talk to you about though, I received a letter today, from Scootaloo's father." "I thought you said you hadn't heard from him since before she was born," Twilight said, she sounded just as confused as I felt. "Why now?" "I don't know, and he's on his way to Ponyville," I said. "What should I do, Twilight?" "I, honestly don't know," Twilight admitted. "On one hoof, he might be trying to reconcile and genuinely wants to be part of Scootaloo's life. On the other hoof, he spent the last decade shirking his responsibilities as her father. Honestly Rainbow, you're going to have to decide what to do on your own." I hated to admit it, but while she was right, I had no idea what to do. I had hoped that Twilight would know what to do, she always knew what to do, the egghead. "I spent most of the last decade shirking my responsibilites as her mother..." I pointed out, I hated to admit that was true, but it was. "But you were there for her when it counted," Twilight pointed out. "Ultimately, that's what she's going to remember, that her mom was there for her when she really needed her." "Yeah, you're right," I finally said. "But I still don't know what to do about Stratosphere." "Scootaloo's a smart filly, maybe you should give her the option to meet him, and she'll make the decision for herself," Twilight said with a reassuring smile. "I think she'll be just fine." "Okay, I'll talk to her later, right now we gotta talk to Discord," I said with a nod, we had reached Fluttershy's cottage and came in for a landing. Twilight knocked on the door and Fluttershy answered it. "Oh, hi Twilight, Rainbow Dash," she said in that sweetly soft voice of her's. "Can I help you?" "Uh, yeah, we were hoping to talk to Discord, is he here?" Twilight asked. "Oh yes, he's here for tea," Fluttershy said. "Come on in." We followed her inside, Discord was inside seated at the table and sipping tea. He gave us both that weird smile of his as he set the cup down. "Why, Rainbow Dash its been forever," Discord said with a grin. "How's motherhood going?" "Uh, fine, we're doing really well," I said with a nod. "Uh, we wanted to talk to you about something." "Yes, we were reading up on ancient Equestria and we came across a mention of something called Anarchy," Twilight said, making Discord pause. "The, Progenitor of the Dragonequi? Do you know anything about it?" "Why of course I do, I helped seal him away after all," Discord said with a grin. "And I'm the reason why he's still trapped." We exchanged glances, this was going to be quite the story. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. "Here you go, three milkshakes!" Pinkie Pie said happily as she set them down in front of us. "Enjoy." "Thanks Pinkie Pie," I said as I took a drink of my milkshake, I was about to say something when Pinkie Pie suddenly started twitching. "Huh, that was a new one, I wonder what it meant," she said, then bounced off. "Well, nothin' is fallin' from tha sky right now," Apple Bloom said with a giggle. "What do ya'll think that was about?" "I dunno, I think it was just Pinkie being Pinkie," I said with a shrug. "Who knows why that crazy pony does anything?" "Something tells me we don't really want to know," Sweetie Belle said. I couldn't help but chuckle at that, I had known Pinkie Pie ever since I had first arrived in Ponyville, and honestly I had never really wanted to figure out what went on in that crazy pony's head. Come to think of it, I think Twilight tried once, I'm amazed she came out of that sane. "Well, it was probably nothin' big," Apple Bloom said as she set down her glass. "Hey, come on, Ah heard there's gonna be a train arrivin' from Las Pegasus today." "So, trains arrive all the time," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "Yeah, but we almost never get one from Las Pegasus," Apple Bloom countered. "Come on, it'll be fun, maybe we can find somepony ta help aboard." "Sure, lets go," I said as we all got up and headed outside. I grabbed my scooter and we headed for the train station just as the train was starting to unload. "Aww, looks like nothin' special," Apple Bloom said with a sigh, there wasn't very many Ponies getting off today I guessed. That's when I saw it, a shadowy figure emerge, it looked like a Pony at first glance, but it wasn't... natural. It seemed to be surrounded by an aura, and looked around with deep, almost sunken eyes. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't want to find out. "Uh, I just remembered, I have to... ummm... wax Tank's shell, yeah, that's it," I said and hopped on my scooter and took off. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "You know, none of you ponies these days know what it means to face a true Eldritch Horror," Discord said as he casually examined his claw. "Well, at least most ponies don't, you two and your little friends know all to well don't you?" "You mean Nightmare Moon," Twilight said, that's when it clicked, the book had referred to something called the Nightmare. "Nightmare Moon was one of the horrors wasn't she?" "Yes, well, she certainly was, but she's not around anymore," Discord said. "So, tell me, what do you want to know about Anarchy?" "Well, you know, what it was, how it was stopped, that kind of thing," I said. "Anarchy was an ancient horror, a being born of pure chaos," Discord said. "Horrors are always born of either chaos or order, there is no middle ground." "Order doesn't sound so bad," Twilight said, getting a laugh from Discord. "What's so funny?" "You are my dear Twilight, you don't get just how dangerous Order is," Discord said. "Do you ever wonder why Celestia and Luna didn't kill me when they had the chance? End the threat to Equestria once and for all." "Because they're above such things of course, you're a danger, but killing is still wrong," Twilight protested. "Not when the situation calls for it, it was war my dear Princess, and in my experience, war never changes," Discord said taking a drink of tea. "Oh wait, wrong universe, I really need to stop getting them mixed up." "Uh, what are you talking about?" I asked, looking at Discord strangely, he was acting weirder than usual. "Don't worry about that, anyway, I wasn't killed because the "harmony" you live in is created by balance," Discord said. "Balance between order and chaos, and the Eldritch Horrors exist to destroy that balance and push it all the way to their side. Which is why I was created along with my species, to spread chaos." "I thought you'd enjoy that," Twilight pointed out. "You love chaos." "Of course I do, but a world devoid of order just isn't as much fun," Discord said. "Without order, you don't know what chaos is. So we turned on him, locked him away, and as long as there is a single Dragonequues left in this world, he remains trapped." That's when it hit me, Discord was still alive to keep Anarchy sealed away, it was the only thing that made sense. That must've been part of the reason Celestia pushed to get him redeemed too. "So, why don't you tell me about this creature that you encountered?" Discord asked. "Well, it had a lot of tentacles," I said. "And Scootaloo said that it had this feeling of... longing to it, like it wanted something." Discord looked thoughtful for a long moment and shook his head. "I can't help you, sorry," he said. "But you might want to talk to someone else, I do remember hearing about that from someone." "Who's that?" Twilight asked. "Tirek," Discord said. "Or perhaps look into the writings of Love Craft, I'm sure that you can find them easily." And with that he vanished with a snap of his claw. "Okay, that, wasn't incredibly helpful," I groaned. "Well, we did learn some things," Twilight said. "You go talk to Scootaloo, I'm going to see about getting into Tartarus to talk to Tirek." "Okay," I said and headed out after saying good-bye to Fluttershy. I just had to hope that whatever we had seen wasn't going to come back.
HomeScootaloo's POV. I made it back to the Cloud Mansion without any problem, I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. That, thing back at the train station... I have no idea what it was, but still it frightened me. It reminded me of that, thing that had gone after me back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, it was unnatural, and dangerous. I normally wasn't so scared by things, but that thing... what was weirder was that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom didn't seem to notice anything odd. It was like they only saw a normal Pony. Come to think of it, I had felt that same feeling once before, well, almost the same, when Nightmare Moon had attacked. But this one was different, I just had to hope that everything would be okay. "Hey squirt, where are you?" Mom's voice said from the other room. "In the kitchen," I called to her as she came in with a smile, but she looked nervous at the same time. "Hey mom, is everything okay?" "Scootaloo, I need to talk to you about something," mom said, taking a deep breath. "I received a letter today, from your father." "My father?" I asked, I remembered that mom had told me that he had left her before I was even born, why would he suddenly be sending a letter to her? "Why did he send you a letter?" "He said he wants to meet you," mom said. "He says he really wants to make up for being gone so long, I'm leaving it up to you if you want to meet him." I paused at that, I couldn't believe it... its not like I didn't wonder what my father was like, but if he had left us, then should I really do this? Something about this felt incredibly weird. Then again, mom had deserved a second chance, wouldn't it be fair to give the same to my Dad? "I'll, at least meet him," I finally said. "If you think it'll be okay." Mom paused at that, she seemed to be hesitating as if she wasn't sure what to say or do before nodding. "Alright Scootaloo, I'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll get it arranged." I just hoped that I had made the right choice by agreeing to this. "There is, something else I want to talk to you about," I said. "Oh, what's that?" Mom asked. "Earlier, there was a train that arrived from Las Pegasus," I said, starting to explain what happened. "There was a... Pony that got off that was weird, I got a feeling from it, like when we were attacked before in the castle." "It got off in Ponyville?" Mom asked. "I, think so," I said. "I, kind of ran off before I could see what happened to it." Mom had a long pause at that and took a deep breath. "Well, now we know that something might be here in town," she said and wrapped her foreleg around me. "Don't worry Scoots, you're going to be okay, I promise." I gave her a hug, taking a deep breath, that had really helped. "Thanks mom..." I said with a smile. She nuzzled me gently, I just hoped that everything really would be okay. "Now come on, lets get everything ready for Fluttershy's visit tonight," Rainbow said. "What do you mean, we were just going to order Pizza because neither of us can cook," I said with a giggle, getting a laugh out of mom. 00000 Twilight Sparkle's POV. "You're kidding right? You want me to send a message to Celestia requesting for you to get to visit Tartarus?" Spike asked as he held the pen in his claw. "And not for just any reason, you want to see Lord Tirek?" "I know it sounds crazy," I said. "But Tirek might know something about what attacked Scootaloo in the castle." This really did sound crazy now that I thought about it, going to see Tirek because on the off chance he knew something about it? But we had to learn more about that thing if we were going to deal with it if it ever came back. "Okay, I'll send it, but I don't know how she'll respond," Spike said as he started writing on the piece of paper and then sent it to Celestia. While we waited for an answer, I turned my attention to the shelves of books. The only other name that Discord had mentioned was Love Craft, I could've sworn I had seen that name around here somewhere. "Where's Pinkie when you need her..." I muttered, I wasn't quite sure what I was even looking for at this point, I finally stopped and used my telekinesis to pull out a book, The Weird and Bizarre World of Love Craft. "Found it!" "Oh, you were looking for this guy's writing?" Spike asked. "I remember there were a few comic books based on his work. Why are we looking for him?" "Discord said that he might have answers," I said, but I wasn't actually sure about it now that I flipped through it. It felt more like a collection of old Mare's tales, like it wasn't anything that should be taken seriously. I stopped on a page and read part of it out loud. "The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age. Take these words written with caution, the truth is what exists beyond these pages." "What's that even supposed to mean?" Spike asked, scratching his head. "Honestly, I don't know," I admitted, that had confused me a lot. I kept reading through it out of curiosity, it wasn't giving me a lot of answers, but there at least seemed to be some basic information here. There was a knock on the door downstairs, we went down to find Princess Celestia outside waiting for us. She had a concerned look on her face. "Princess, is everything okay?" I asked. "Twilight, I wanted to talk to you in person after your request," Celestia said. "Why do you want to talk to Lord Tirek?" "Yes, there's a chance he might be able to tell us more about what attacked Scootaloo," I said. "Is there a chance it might come back?" Celestia asked, she was now looking even more worried, she knew, something. "I honestly don't know, I just want to make sure we have all the possibilities covered," I said. "I know its a strange request." "Very well," Celestia said. "Just be careful, there are things in Tartarus even more dangerous than Tirek. And you'll have to talk to the Queen of Tartarus before she'll let you talk to anyone" I didn't like the way she said that as she returned to her carriage to leave. I just hoped I wasn't getting in over my head. I went back inside to get ready for tomorrow. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Okay, Scootaloo's in bed," I said, coming into the living room where Fluttershy was waiting for me on the couch. "Thanks for coming by tonight." "Of course," Fluttershy said, giving me a smile. "Thank you for inviting me over." I sat down next to Fluttershy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm always happy to have my marefriend over, and Scootaloo is always happy to see you," I said, nuzzling her gently. "I've been worried lately though." "About what?" Fluttershy asked curiously. "Different things, but I got a letter today, from Stratosphere," I said. "He, wants to see Scootaloo, she agreed to talk to him, but, honestly I don't know..." "Rainbow, do you think Scootaloo will be able to handle it?" Fluttershy asked. "I think so," I said with a nod. "She's a strong kid, if anypony can handle it, she can." "You're not sure though, are you?" Fluttershy asked. "Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. "Stratosphere left us behind for Las Pegasus, its kind of weird that he's suddenly so willing to be here for Scootaloo now." "I know, but you should have faith in her, and if you need anything, I'm here for both of you," Fluttershy said. "I love you, Dashie." "I love you too, Flutters," I said, wrapping a wing around my marefriend. "Thank you, Fluttershy, for being there for me when I need you." "Anything for you, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said and kissed me softly on the lips. 00000 Twilight Sparkle's POV. It was the next day, I had been directed towards a portal that lead to Tartarus. I gulped a little as I entered through the gates, trying to figure out what to do now. On the other side of the gate, there was a group of guards dressed in steel shining black armor that are watching me carefully. A brown colored Pegasus with a black mane and tail came out between them. "Well, well, if it isn't the Princess of Friendship," the Pegasus said as she looked me over. "What brings you to Tartarus?" "I'm here to talk to the Queen of Tartarus," I said, staying confident as this Pegasus stared me down. "I need to talk to one of the, uh, prisoners." "I'll talk to her, you'll have to convince her though," the Pegasus said before going back through the door. I looked nervously around, Tartarus was like nothing I had ever seen before, it looked like a city at first glance, but it was feeling like it was something I had never seen before. I took a deep breath as the doors started to open again and I turned to speak to the Queen. Standing before me was a towering black Alicorn with a wild white mane as flames started to swirl around her. "WHO DARETH COME BEFORE MORNING STAR, THE GREAT QUEEN OF TARTARUS!" She said in the booming Royal Canterlot voice.
SecretsTwilight Sparkle's POV. I didn't know what to think right now, I was looking at an Alicorn, while I had heard the name Morning Star in reference to Tartarus, I had always assumed she was a Unicorn. In fact, all the information we had on the subject said that she was a Unicorn, why would that be wrong? "Uh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, I'm here to try and get information from one of the, inhabitants of Tartarus," I said, trying not to be intimidated, I mean she was just an Alicorn right? Even if she was the ruler of Tartarus "Sorry, Ponies expect a certain level of, theatricality from the Queen of Tartarus," Morning Star said in a normal voice with a Trottingham accent. "And well, I don't believe in disappointing them." Okay, I hadn't expected that. "So who do you want to talk to?" Morning Star asked, folding her wings against her side. "Lord Tirek," I said, getting a strange look from the Alicorn. "I know that I sealed him away, but its possible that he's the only one who knows what I need to know." "I see, well, before you can see him, I want to know why," Morning Star said and looked at the dark Pegasus briefly. "If your answer satisfies me, then Windswept will ready the prisoner." "A few months ago, a friend of mine and her daughter were attacked by a, creature," I said and I told her everything that I knew about the creature that had attacked Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Morning Star looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to look at the Pegasus. "Windswept, go to Tirek's cell and prepare him for guests." "Yes ma'am," Windswept said as she went back through the gates. "I'm guessing that my old teacher hasn't exactly been forthcoming with information," Morning Star said, she saw the confused look on my face so she clarified. "Over a thousand years ago, like yourself I was Celestia's student until I was made the Queen of Tartarus." Right, Morning Star's rebellion, she had tried to overthrow Celestia, but something had happened that stopped it and she became the ruler of Tartarus. Though, that's really all I knew, not a lot of information was known about her. "Do you know anything about it?" I asked. "I've been trying to find out any information, but other than a few things, I haven't found any real information on what it was that was sealed under the Castle of the Two Sisters." "I cannot tell you more than you already know," Morning Star said. "I encountered a few Eldritch Horrors in my day, but not that one in particular." "Then maybe you can tell me what you do know about the Horrors," I said. "If one is threatening Equestria, then we need to know everything we can." "Very well, come with me and I'll tell you," Morning Star said as she walked through the gate, I paused a moment and then followed her. 00000 Rainbow Dash's POV. "Hey Rainbow, what brings you here today?" Pinkie Pie asked as I came into Sugarcube Corner. "I'm looking for a Pegasus Stallion named Stratosphere," I said and looked around the place for him. "Have you seen anypony new around?" "A few Ponies got off that train yesterday, but no Pegasus Stallions that I saw at least," Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. "Wait, isn't that the name of..." "Yeah," I said, frowning a little bit, I had hoped that Pinkie Pie had seen him. "He came into town recently, and I had hoped that you seen him." "Hey is that him there?" Pinkie asked and I turned to see a Pegasus Stallion with an orange coat walk inside. "Rainbow Dash, is that you?" He asked, I really wished that I could turn invisible right now. "Yeah, that's me," I said, I recognized him alright, Stratosphere, the stallion I had honestly never wanted to see again after he abandoned me and Scootaloo. "Look... she wants to meet you, but you owe me some answers first." "I know, I know," Stratosphere said as he shook his head. "Look, Dashie..." "Don't call me that, its Rainbow Dash," I said angrily. "Fine, Rainbow Dash," Stratosphere said. "I know there's nothing that will excuse my actions 10 years ago. Ever since I left, I regretted that I wasn't in our child's life, I just want to meet her, just once." "I've moved on with my life," I said. "But Scootaloo... she wants to give you a chance and at least meet you. Consider this your last chance, am I clear?" "Crystal clear," Stratosphere said nervously. "Good," I said. "I'll go get her." I took a deep breath and got to my hooves. I had managed to stay restrained, but I was worried, and a little bit angry. I couldn't believe he had just come back in my life like this, at least he wasn't trying to get back together with me. I took a deep breath, I had to do this for Scootaloo. 00000 Twilight's POV. I glanced at the prisoner areas as we went past for a moment, but I couldn't focus on them for too long. Honestly this whole place gave me the creeps, I just had to focus on the towering Alicorn ahead of me. "This place is... interesting," I said, trying not to think about what was going on. "Tartarus is the realm of the damned, you don't have to lie on my account," Morning Star said. "The Eldritch Horrors plagued Equestria for centuries, when I was still in Celestia's service I came into conflict with one called Ivas the Reaper of Souls. While I managed to stop him, fighting a Horror enacts a heavy toll on you." That worried me, if one was coming to Ponyville and was threatening Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash would want to get involved. If fighting an Eldritch Horror was so dangerous, then what would happen to her? Would she still be the same old Rainbow Dash? "Are all Ponies affected like, this?" I asked, glancing around, I had to wonder if she was always like this. "It depends on the Horror, when Sombra beat the Silent Killer... well, you know what happened with him," Morning Star replied. "Some descend into madness, others depression... they usually don't last long. The Horror often gets the last laugh." That figured, I was now really worried and I didn't even know about the creature we were up against yet. "How many are there?" I asked, I was afraid of the answer. "Honestly, I don't know, nopony does," Morning Star answered. "I fought a few and Celestia and Luna fought more but, the truth is that we don't know if there are any more out there." We finally stopped in front of a cell, I glanced at Morning Star as her horn glowed red and the door slid open. "Do not worry, he is contained," the Queen of Tartarus said and I moved forward. Contained within the room was Lord Tirek, but he was withered, he looked almost elderly compared to the terrifying monster I had fought before. He looked at me with hatred in his eyes. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," he said in a raspy voice that dripped with sarcasm. "How kind of you to grace me with your presence." "Lord Tirek, I'm not really in the mood for this, but you may have some information that could be of use to Equestria," I said, I was trying not to sound nervous. "There was a creature under the Castle of Two Sisters and..." To my surprise he actually listened intently as I told him about the creature, when I finished he looked at me for a long moment before speaking up. "I know of the being you speak of," he said. "You seek the Mother, a being of great and terrible power. You are in grave danger." That sent a chill running along my spine. 00000 Scootaloo's POV. I was suddenly very nervous, mom had said she'd come to get me from home when everything was ready. I had never even known my father, I mean mom I had known for a few years ever since I had first moved to Ponyville, but I had never even met Dad. What if he didn't like me? What if he was embarrassed? What if he was really mean? I honestly had no idea what to do, was I really ready to meet my Dad after all these years? "Scootaloo, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked as she came inside, I guessed that mom had sent her to check on me. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about, you know..." I said sheepishly, Fluttershy nodded. "What should I do?" "Well, what are you worried about?" Fluttershy asked. "What if he doesn't like me? I mean, I've never met him before and..." I said, trailing off nervously. "I'm scared, Fluttershy." "Scootaloo, you have nothing to be worried about," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "Your father reached out because he wants to get to know you, you've got nothing to worry about I promise." I smiled a little at that, Fluttershy really did know how to help you cheer up. "Thanks Fluttershy, I can do this," I said with a nod. "I just have to wait for mom to get back I guess." "You're a great filly, he'd be crazy not to like you," she said with a smile, I nodded and went back to waiting. I just hoped that everything would be okay. "Hey squirt!" Mom said as she trotted into the room with a weak smile. "Are you ready to meet your dad?" "I, guess," I said, I admitted I wasn't sure about it yet, but I smiled. "Lets go." I climbed on her back and we took off, flying towards Sugarcube Corner. Author's Note Two cliffhangers for the price of one, I'm evil aren't I?
