A low-hanging sun bathed the apple orchards below with a pleasant warmth, but its invigorating rays did little to cheer up one specific pegasus.
“Is something wrong, Scootaloo?”
Turning her frown away from the lowering sun, Scootaloo tried her best to give Applebloom a reassuring smile.
“It’s nothing Applebloom, I’m just…” she quickly searched her mind for something to say that wouldn’t arouse any further suspicion. “I’m just really sad that I’m going to have to go home soon. We haven’t even finished our space rocket yet.”
Both of them looked over towards the pile of wood they had ‘liberated’ from the side of one of the old apple barns, in particular to the long wooden cylinder they had spent most of the day constructing. The tube was wobbling back and forth on one end, with a pair of kicking white hind legs sticking out of the other.
“I’m all right!” Sweetie Belle’s muffled voice called out from inside. “Everything is under control!”
Applebloom shook her head from side to side at the sight, a small sigh escaping from her.
“Ah, I don’t think we’re going to get out rocket finished for a while there, Scootaloo.”
“Are you sure Applebloom? We’ve already got the main parts done.”
Applebloom gave a pointed glance towards Sweetie Belle once again, Scootaloo sighing in agreement.
“Alright, alright, point taken.” Huffing, she ruffled her tiny wings. “It’s getting late anyway, I should probably get back home for dinner.” Despite the fun day that she had enjoyed with her friends, and the admittedly comical sight of Sweetie Belle stuck in a wooden tube, Scootaloo couldn’t help but frown once more as she was reminded of her house.
‘It’s just not the same without mom around anymore.’
Turning away from Applebloom, who had once again furrowed her eyes in confusion, Scootaloo waved a forehoof behind her. “Bye guys, see you tomorrow at school.”
“Okay. Bye then,” Applebloom replied after a brief hesitation.
“Goodbye Scootaloo!” Sweetie called out from her cylinder prison. “Don’t forget to bring in your homework tomorrow again!”
Trotting away with a roll of her eyes, Scootaloo left her two friends behind in the orchard as she made her way back into town.
‘Yeah, homework…’
Applebloom watched Scootaloo leave down the dirt path with her head down, the youngest member of the Apple family tilting her head to the side.
“I wonder what’s bugging her all of a sudden,” she mumbled to herself.
“Hey, Applebloom?”
She turned around. “Yeah, Sweetie?”
Sweetie continued to kick her legs, and it continued to do nothing. “I actually changed my mind. Do you mind maybe giving me a little bit of a push?”
Applebloom trotted up to the cylinder, and promptly gave it a shove with her flank. Toppling over, the wood tube hit the grass and Sweetie Belle popped out from inside. tumbling head over hooves, she rolled twice before coming to a stop on her back.
“Thanks, Applebloom.”
“Don’t mention it,” she replied, watching while Sweetie Belle rolled over to get to her hooves. “Hey, Sweetie, have you noticed that Scootaloo’s been acting a little strange?”
“Strange?” Sweetie Belle started to carefully brush all of the grass and dirt off of herself. “You mean the way she always gets real sad when she has to go home?”
Applebloom nodded. “Yeah.”
“And how she always gets real quiet whenever anypony mentions their family?”
“Yeah.”
“And how we’ve never been over for a sleepover at her house, only at yours or mine?”
“Uh… yeah?”
‘Boy, Sweetie’s sure thought about this a lot,’ Applebloom realised.
“Also,” Sweetie Belle continued on all the while. “It’s pretty strange that when we’re in class, she’s always drawing really sad-looking pictures of a family then ripping them up and eating them so Miss Cheerilee doesn’t see them, and writing all of that sad poetry about ‘blackened hearts floating in an endless lightless void at the pinnacle of her soul’ during maths that she then sticks to top of her desk so that she can stare at it constantly until the school day has finished.”
“That’s…” Applebloom stopped, before staring down at her own hooves. “Huh, now that you mention it… yeah, I do actually remember her doing those things. Gosh darn, why did I only notice her acting weird now?”
Sweetie Belle, finished with removing the sticks from her tails, gave an innocent shrug. “I dunno, we’ve been her best friends for ages now. But do you really think it’s weird? I mean, she always smiles around us after all. Rarity told me that ponies all have different interests, maybe Scootaloo is interested in looking sad and writing bad poetry?”
Applebloom really couldn’t fault Sweetie’s logic, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. “I guess…”
“Great!” Sweetie beamed. “Trust me, Applebloom, Scootaloo is fine. She’s a Cutie Mark Crusader, after all.” She turned, ready to leave. “I’ve got to get back before it’s dark, so Rarity doesn’t get mad at me again. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Bye!”
“Bye.”
Returning Sweetie’s wave and watching her friend skip down the path back towards town, Applebloom shook her head from side to side.
“Ah, who am I kidding?” she laughed softly to herself. “Sweetie Belle’s right, of course there’s nothing wrong.” Turning around, Applebloom started to make her way back the farmhouse.
“If Scootaloo was feeling sad, we’d be the first ones that she would tell.”
Scootaloo trudged towards the lone cottage sitting on the hill, a frown crossing her face when she looked up to see that the kitchen chimney was completely bare of any smoke.
“Great,” she muttered to herself. “No dinner means that there’s going to be punishment later tonight.”
Reaching the front door just as the sun slipped down below the horizon and the moon likewise rose, Scootaloo placed a hoof on the red painted wood and pushed it open.
“Dad?” she called out into the miserable atmosphere of the darkened house. “I’m home now.”
The classroom buzzed with the early morning noise of Ponyville’s children as they slowly filtered in to take their seats. Applebloom was impatiently tapping her forehooves on the top of her desk, her two friends yet to show up to class.
‘I bet Sweetie’s going to be late… again.’ Her hoof tapping paused for a moment. ‘Scootaloo’s usually on time though.’
Her mind went back to the pervious evening’s goodbyes, before she shook it off.
‘Nah, she’s probably just met up with Sweetie Belle and they’re taking their sweet time, that’s all.’
Her hoof tapping resumed, Applebloom returning her attention to the front of the class. The seats around her slowly filled up, the one to her left soon taken by its usual occupant.
“Hey Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle greeted while she put her frilly saddlebag under her desk.
“Hi Sweetie.” Applebloom tilted her head. “Scootaloo’s not with you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I thought you two would have come in together.”
Sweetie Belle at first shook her head, but then stopped and pointed towards the door. “There she is! Good morning Scootaloo, I really like your sneakers.”
Applebloom turned in her desk as the seat to her right was filled, her eyes immediately going to the large white shoes that Scootaloo had on all four legs.
“Morning guys,” Scootaloo mumbled softly.
“What’s with the shoes?” Applebloom straight out asked. “I thought you didn’t like wearing anything if you could avoid it.” She didn’t miss the way Scootaloo tried to hide her hooves under the desk at the query.
“I just felt like wearing some today,” Scootaloo answered with a nervous chuckled at the end. “You know, trying new things is always interesting.”
Applebloom didn’t notice the last part, as her attention was fixated on the black and blue blotch covering Scootaloo’s foreleg that was just barely concealed by the top of one shoe. Scootaloo noticed the attention, and she laughed again.
“Sheesh, what’s with all the questions this morning? I mean, it’s not like it’s anything that interesting at all.”
“I just like shoes,” Sweetie Belle explained with a sagely nod.
Applebloom found Scoot’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t quite think of anything to say.
“Yeah… well…” Scootaloo stammered, before leaping from her desk. “I gotta go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.”
Quick as a flash, Scootaloo dodged their fellow classmates and rushed into the side room, the door to the school restrooms closing quickly behind her.
“I guess she really had to go.”
Applebloom shot Sweetie Belle a glance, before sliding out from her chair and dropping down onto all four hooves.
“I gotta go too,” she told Sweetie, not giving the oblivious unicorn a chance to reply before she was off retracing Scoot’s steps. Pushing open the bathroom door, the four white shoes resting upon the basin was the first thing Applebloom noticed.
The second thing was the voice coming from the locked toilet stall.
“Ah! Stupid bruises…”
Applebloom took a step forwards.
“…Scootaloo?”
Dead silence.
“Scootaloo, I came to see what was wrong.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Applebloom, nothing’s wrong.”
Applebloom at first wondered whether she should just let the whole thing go, but then her stubborn family genes kicked in. Trotting up to the toilet stall door, she knocked on the front.
“Come out of there, Scootaloo, you can’t hide in there for ever.” There was more silence, Applebloom frowning after a few moments. “If you ain’t gonna come out of there, then I’m going to have to come in.”
Her threat was rewarded with a sigh, and the sound of the lock unlatching. Slowly the stall door opened, and Scootaloo looked out at her.
“Scoots… what in tarnation happened!?”
Fresh bruises dotted Scootaloo’s forelegs like holes in a changeling. The welts ranged in size from a pencil end to an orange, and one spot near Scootaloo’s hoof was so blackened that it almost caused Applebloom to retch.
“It was just my dad, that’s all,” Scootaloo told her. Leaving the closed seat, she passed by Applebloom and headed for her shoes. Slowly putting each one on, wincing all the while, Scootaloo continued to downplay the situation. “Dinner last night was late, so there was punishment.”
“P-punishment?” Applebloom’s eyes widened. “You mean... your dad-“
“Applebloom, just leave it alone.” Scootaloo looked at her with pleading eyes. “Please? I’m fine, I really am.”
With that, Scootaloo pushed open the bathroom door and trotted out, leaving a stunned Applebloom to wonder at what she had just learned.
“Applebloom, didn’t Scootaloo ask us to leave it alone?”
“Shh! Sweetie, keep your voice down,” Applebloom hissed as she shifted in her spot. “And stop hogging all of the bush, we can’t be seen until we have solid evidence that Scootaloo’s dad is up to no good.”
Sweetie Belle crouched lower, her previous question forgotten while she fixed her eyes on the front door of Scootaloo’s house. “Do you really think that what Scootaloo said about her dad is true?”
“Of course I do,” Applebloom answered. “You saw those bruises of hers after school.”
“She said…” Sweetie started, then hesitated. “She said that she got those falling off of her scooter.”
“And you believe her?”
Sweetie Belle went unusually silent, Applebloom nodding.
“See, we have to help here whether she wants us to or not. That’s what friends do for each other.” Applebloom glanced back towards the path leading back to town at the sound of approaching hoofsteps, her foreleg pulling Sweetie Belle further into the bush when she spotted the cause. “Get down and stay quiet, Scoots is coming.”
If Scootaloo had looked closely at the bushs they were in, she would have seen two pairs of nervous eyes staring out at her. Thankfully for Applebloom and sweetie Belle however, Scootaloo was far more interested in looking at her hooves as she trotted home.
Both of them waited for Scootaloo to reach the house with baited breath, and they leaned forward with ears perked up when their friend pushed open the door to her home.
“Dad?” Scootaloo called, right before the door shut behind her.
There was silence for a few moments, Sweetie Belle asking her question with a whisper. “Applebloom… what do we do now?”
Applebloom gulped, the next step of the plan being a dangerous one. “We have to sneak in real close, and… and see if it’s true.”
“Are… are you sure we have to?”
Nodding, Applebloom placed a forehoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Yeah, we have to do it for Scootaloo.”
“Okay,” Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “For Scootaloo.”
Preparing to leave the safety of the bushes to slink towards the house, the two were halted by a spine-chilling wail. The cry of pain and anguish originated from Scootaloo’s house, and it was swiftly followed up by angry muffled yelling.
The shrill, high voice of a filly in distress and the harsh guttural shouts in a deep voice betrayed what was going on inside of the isolated cottage.
“Scootaloo is in trouble!” Applebloom said with a stamp of her hooves. “We’ve got to do something!”
Sweetie Belle had sunken down at the continuing noises, and her ears were folded down. “W-w-what do we d-do? If we try and stop him, he might… he might do the same thing to us.”
As the yells and the cries continued, Applebloom glared at the lone house.
“Sweetie Belle, we need to get some help.”
“The Royal Guard?”
“No, that’ll take too long.” Applebloom narrowed her eyes. “We need to get somepony else.”
“Applebloom, are you sure that you heard-“
“I know what I heard, Applejack!”
Applebloom fumed while she frowned at her big sister, the two having stopped halfway up the path to Scootaloo’s house. Luna’s moon had just risen into the sky a few minutes ago, and they were still waiting on Sweetie Belle to return with Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
“Me and Sweetie were watching the house, and we saw Scootaloo go inside and then there was this screaming and yelling…” she sniffled, pausing to wipe her nose with the back of her foreleg. “Scootaloo has been acting all weird for a while now, and today she came in with some really bad bruises and… and…” Sitting down on her rump, Applebloom looked up at her sister. “I’m really worried about her, Applejack. We didn’t know if the guards would believe us, but me and Sweetie both knew that you and Rainbow Dash would.”
Applejack stared down at her. “This all true, Applebloom?”
“Yes sis.”
“Right then,” Applejack raised a hoof to adjust her hat. “I believe you Applebloom. A soon as Dash and Twilight get here, we’re going to go and sort this all out.”
Applebloom stamped a hoof. “I’m going too.”
“Bloom, I don’t think you should see-“
“Scootaloo’s my friend, Applejack.” She stared down her sister. “I’m going in as well.”
Applejack sighed, her head giving a nod. “Alright, I can tell there’s going to be no convincing you otherwise. You stay behind us though, you hear? Things could get dangerous in there.”
“Okay.”
“What’s this about dangerous?”
Both Applejack and Applebloom turned as Rainbow Dash spoke, the pegasus and Sweetie Belle trotting up towards them with a fast pace.
“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack asked, pointing a hoof towards a strange object on Rainbow’s back. “What in tarnation is that?”
They all watched as Rainbow Dash lifted the object up with her wings to show it off.
It was made out of a mix of black metal and wood, with the metal end tapering into some kind of cylinder. Underneath it was another long piece of metal, this one shaped slightly like a banana.
“Oh, this,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Well, Twilight can’t come and help us. Something about Spike running away from home because he thinks he’s a slave or something and becoming the ‘Dragon of Legend who will overthrow tyrannical pony-kind and finally fulfil his destiny’… again.”
“Third time this month,” Applebloom muttered under her breath.
“Since she couldn’t help us kick this dirtbag’s flank,” Dash continued. “She managed to, uh, ‘borrow’ this AK-47 off of her parents and teleport it to us.” She turned the automatic firearm over in her wings. “Twilight said that they keep it in their house in Canterlot, to protect their stuff from ‘undesirables’.” Dash shot Applejack a sheepish sideways glance.
“What?”
“Uh, nothing,” Rainbow coughed into a hoof before refocusing on the AK. “Anyway, from the sounds of it this might come in handy in case this guy gets any ideas. Not that I can’t handle some cowardly child-basher by myself, though.”
“I…” Applejack shook her head. “I’m not too fond of this ‘AK’ business…”
“Hey!”
The three turned to look at Applebloom.
“Scoots Is in trouble!” she reminded them. “We’re just sitting here, and she could be getting more and more hurt every minute! Who cares about Dash’s ‘AK’, we gotta go help!”
“You’re right,” Dash nodded, before looking at Applejack. “Applebloom’s right, let’s teach this abusive Cloudstain a lesson about beating up foals.”
Applebloom saw her sister’s face harden at the reminder of why they were there. “Right, let’s go and save Scootaloo.”
“Everypony follow me,” instructed Rainbow Dash. “Let’s kick some flank.”
Their trots turned into gallops, the four of them racing up the path towards the house with determination burning in their hearts. They all knew what they had to do, and Applebloom glared as they reached the house.
‘We’re coming Scootaloo, hold on.’
Rainbow Dash reached the front door first. Coming to a stop and pushing the unlocked door open gently, she glanced back with a wince at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle as soft cries could be heard coming from inside the house.
“Are you guys-?”
“We’re not leaving Scootaloo,” Applebloom confirmed with a no-nonsense tone, Sweetie Belle giving a far more hesitant nod.
“Okay then…” Dash muttered, gripping the AK with her wings. “We all ready?”
“Darn right I’m ready,” Applejack said as a particularly loud sob reached their ears.
Applebloom nodded as she took up position behind Applejack. “So am I.”
“Me too, I-I guess,” Sweetie squeaked up from the very rear.
Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack shared and look with each other, before Rainbow Dash rushed into the house the lead the charge. The rest of them followed with Applejack right behind Dash, Applebloom gritting her teeth. As she passed through the door and into a narrow blue-painted hallway, a gruff and deep voice called out from up ahead.
“Little Bitch, I told you I expected dinner by sundown! You’re useless!”
Applebloom slowed slightly.
‘Wait… that voice sounds…’
She had the thought at the same time that Applejack kicked in the first door to the right, Rainbow Dash rushing into the room with AK in wing before all of the splinters of wood had even hit the white tiled floor.
“Freeze! Hooves in the air, Dirtbag! Wait… Scoots!?”
Applebloom rushed up to Applejack, who was standing frozen in the doorway, and peeked in to see what they had stumbled upon.
Her jaw dropped open.
A bruised and bloodied grey pegasus stallion, who Applebloom could only assume was Scootaloo’s father, was lying helplessly on the floor with his welt-covered forelegs shielding his head. He was moaning softly, and his entire body was shaking.
Standing over him, with a bloodied rolling pin raised over her head mid-strike, was…
“S-scootaloo?” Applebloom managed to say, the wide eyes of her friend staring back at her in complete and utter shock.
“Oh, hey guys…” Scootaloo greeted slowly.
There was a loud thump from behind Applebloom, Sweetie Belle toppling over backwards.
All eyes (save for the unconscious Sweetie Belle) went to the bloodied rolling pin nestled in the pair of equally blood-covered hooves.
Scootaloo, eyeing Rainbow Dash and Applejack in particular, chuckled nervously. “This, ah… this isn’t what it looks like.”
The stallion on the floor looked up at them through swollen black eyes, a choking cough coming from his throat before he managed to speak in a raspy voice. “Kill me.”
“Quiet you!” Scootaloo ordered with a hissing whisper, before she turned back to them and winced. “This is, um, Steve. Yeah, Steve. Me and him are making a movie about… horror stuff, and we’re just practicing our rehearsal.”
“She’s a monster,” ‘Steve’ coughed once more. “My wife hanged herself because of her. You have to- ah!”
The rolling pin dropped from Scootaloo’s hooves and smacked her father in the head. “Haha, ah Steve,” Scootaloo hesitantly chuckled. “Such a joker, am I right?”
“You have to stop her,” Scootaloo’s father repeated once more, his voice growing stronger. “Before she kills again! Please!” An orange hoof nailed him in the side, making him wince, but it didn’t stop him from speaking. “If you can’t do that, then… then at least-“
Another kick, harder this time. Scootaloo was starting to look more and more anxious.
“-then at least grant me the sweet release of death. I’ve been treated like this for years and I just want to Die!”
“Oh you’ll fucking die all right,” Scootaloo muttered under her breath, before resuming her fake smiling.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash, Applejack,” Scootaloo’s eyes turned to her. “My best friend Applebloom.”
Applebloom had never really noticed it before, but now she realised just how lifeless Scoot’s eyes were.
“There’s no need for this to get out of hoof,” Scoots chuckled. “How about we all just all walk away and forget this ever happened?”
Applebloom found herself unable to move, unable to speak. Her whole mind was blank, the scene before her playing out like a twisted horror movie that only the most depraved of ponies could stand to watch. Watching Scootaloo act the way that was… it was like icy claws squeezing her heart.
Sweetie Belle was out for the count and Applejack was still frozen in place, her face ashen white.
That left Rainbow Dash, looking like she was trying to go for the record of ‘most flies caught with one’s open mouth’.
Then, when Scootaloo took a step forward on her hind legs, Applebloom saw a change in Dash.
Rainbow Dash’s mouth closed and an odd look crossed her face, almost as if a wave of calmness had cleared away the fear and confusion. Both Applebloom’s and Scootaloo’s eyes widened when the cold metal barrel of the AK was lowered to point directly at the orange-feathered filly psychopath.
Cyan feathers racked the slide with a clunk, as if they were guided by a higher power.
“I take that as a no, then,” Scootaloo said with a sigh. “Fuck it.”
She met Rainbow Dash’s glazed-over look with her own cold, dead eyes.
“I always hated your ridiculous rainbow hair.”
Applebloom’s ears instinctively folded over as the kitchen filled with the harsh cracks of automatic gunfire. The AK-47 kicked wildly in Dash’s feathered grip as it spat out its payload of leaden death, Dash’s expression not changing even as rounds sparked off of the metal pipes of the sink. Stray bullets punched clean through the kitchen wall, splinters of wood and plaster dust going everywhere.
Scootaloo didn’t fare much better, the young orange pegasus taking the brunt of the assault.
Still standing on her hind legs, she stumbled backwards as each 7.62mm round punched its way into her yielding flesh, the force of the gunfire keeping her aloft and moving despite the fact that she was already dead. Blood splatted the wall and floor beside her, painting the wood with her gore as ragged holes were ripped into her. Even when her lifeless movement was halted by the blood-soaked wood, Dash still continued to hold her feathers down on the trigger of the gun.
Applebloom’s ears were long past the point of ringing, yet she was still standing motionless as her former friend was turned into an unrecognisable bloody pulp of orange fur and feathers.
Then, the cacophony of gunfire stopped, to be replaced with a repeated clicking sound.
Dash had fired off all sixty rounds.
The smoking, bullet-ravaged corpse of what used to be Scootaloo rested in the remains of the wall, never to abuse another father again. Said father was passed out motionless on the floor, a shard of wood in his flank bleeding steadily.
The glaze faded from Rainbow Dash’s eyes, the red-hot barrel of the AK lowering to the ground.
“Applebloom!”
Tears started to fall from Applebloom’s eyes as an already-crying Applejack tackled her into a firm embrace, the two Apple sisters collapsing onto the floor as they both began to weep.
“Oh shit,” Rainbow Dash softly cursed as she beheld the ruined kitchen.
“I’m so going to prison for this.”
Author's Note
Because it needed to be done.
