Random Oneshotsby Error403HRDChaptersQuietApplesFillyNightmareQuietAuthor's Note WARNINGS: Major character death, unspecified mental health issues, implied trauma, implied murder and violence. So, yeah. I'd like feedback on this one, the first part is most definitely my talent, then it gets into actual story writing, which I suck at.... Quiet One. Two. Three. Quiet. Stay quiet. The stumbling. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it ignore it ignore it. Four. Five. Six. Don't make any noise. Wait. Wait wait wait. She'll come for you. You weren't forgotten. Seven. Eight. Nine. Shh. Quiet. Calm. Calm calm calm. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Hush now quiet now, it's time to lay-no, no do not fall asleep. Ignore it, ignore the noise. You're safe. She wouldn't forget you. Thirteen. Fourteen. Six....teen? Shh. Quiet. Just stay put. Stay safe. You're safe. You've made it this far. Shh. Quiet. Whatever you do- Do Not Cry CALM DOWN. Silence your breathing! Do not make noise! No no no, stay quiet! "Ahahhhaaaa-" No nonononononono Run She isn't coming back! Run run run! Run! Don't let them catch you! Scootaloo ran like her life depended on it....because it did. It really really did. She was so stupid. Stupid emotions. Why? Why did she have to start crying! Now there was almost no chance that Rainbow would find her. Scootaloo wiped the tears away, dodging the things as they lunged at her. Trying to attack her. She didn't know what was going on, all she knew was that they were dangerous. That Rainbow told her to be quiet. That if she was caught or touched she was as good as dead. She wished that she could fly. But she didn't even attempt to look at the darkened sky, knowing that they were up there too. Maybe Rainbow had been caught. Maybe....maybe she should just give up- NO. No no no! Rainbow woke her up, in the middle of the night, to warn her! To get her to safety! There was no way her efforts were going to waste. She tripped but quickly recovered, before her worst nightmare happened. Magic. They could use magic. No nononononono- "Scootaloo! Can you hear me!" She stopped struggling, all of a sudden everything went back to normal. The sky was sunny. The horrifying creatures replaced by normal everyday ponies. It wasn't some monster that was holding her....it was Twilight. Scootaloo wilted and Twilight brought her into an embrace. It was early morning....she had woken up in the middle of the night... "It...it happened again....didn't it?" Twilight nodded and Scootaloo felt pathetic for the tears rolling down her cheeks. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, "Can you tell me what happened this time?" Scootaloo nodded into the princess's coat. "I....Rainbow had woken me up in the middle of the night and told me that these creatures would kill me if I touched them, and sound drew them. She dumped me at a cottage, said something about getting supplies, a hoard of those things walked by and I started crying, attracting them. So I ran." Twilight gave a sigh, "We'll have to go back to-" "Miss Mind...yeah..." Twilight plopped the young filly onto her back and took a detoured route to Ponyville's Mental Hospital. It was the only route Scootaloo was familiar with, which was good, since it avoided both the cemetary, and.... Twilight opened the door sighing as Scootaloo made herself smaller upon entering. She couldn't blame the orange filly, Twilight hated this place too. But it was a necessary evil she supposed. The secretary looked up and formed a sad smile on his face, noting Scootaloo down for an appointment. She was one of the few patients of the hospital, and the only one who showed up enough for Gentle Hoof to recognize both her name and face immediately. "I'll notify Doctor Mind of your arrival Scoots, how about you two sit down over there, actually here, go get yourself a snack from the vending machine." Scootaloo accepted the bit from the stallion and reluctantly got off Twilight's back. She looked at the machine for a good while before selecting her snack. Calm Mind walked in to see Scootaloo eating a bag of hay fry crisps. She gave a sad sigh and walked into the waiting room, not even bothering to hide behind a smile, Scootaloo would see through it anyway, "Hey Scootaloo." Scootaloo got up, handing the bag of crisps to Twilight, who gave a sad nod and headed out the door. Scootaloo followed Calm Mind into her office, it had two couches and a warm color scheme, it almost looked like a living room. Twilight sighed, lingering outside the hospital for a second or so longer than she should have. It pained her immensely to see Scootaloo like this....but....life happens....and all you can do is do your best to move past it. She walked up to a flower booth and decided to buy a bouquet, she didn't know what they meant, but they were pretty. A bunch of pretty colors. She handed over the money and took an alternative route back to the library. She paused at the cemetary. She could see Applejack sitting there. Looking at the bouquet she'd bought, she sighed and trotted over. Silently she layed the flowers down, sitting herself beside the earth pony. No words were exchanged as they stared at the headstone. "It isn't fair Twah." Twilight looked at her friend and sighed, nodding. "She didn't deserve it. And ta see what happened ta poor Scootahloo, it just ain't fair!" Twilight saw the rage and despair in Applejack's eyes, she nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks now too. "At least....at least...." "At least Dash's in a bettah place now, is that what yer gonna say!? Or that at least she brought them down with her!? It don't change the fact that Scootahloo's permanently scarred! It don't change the fact that Dash's gone! It....it don't change...." Twilight let her collapse into her arms, wrapping her wings around Applejack in an attempt to comfort them both as they sobbed violently. ApplesVinyl didn't know what she expected. The "Mane Six", as the town called them, were up to something, if that burst of magic from earlier in the day had been any indication. After the Parasprite Incident, they were all rather hesitant to let Twilight preform spells... Maybe she was a complete idiot for not calling in sick, but she'd gotten used to the relative peace that Ponyville had been in for a while. So used to it that she ignored the Mane Six's odd behavior. Octavia was probably going to kill her now that she thought of it, but how was she supposed to know that some sort of magical creature was going to infest itself in her!? All she knew was that six glowing white bat things had attacked her on her way home. Well....not attacked....more like....absorbed into her? She didn't know what happened, but now she had an odd craving for apples and her teeth were sharper. It was concerning, and Octavia was most certainly going to move her to the couch for at least the next several days.... When she opened the door, Octavia was lightly playing her music, as always. She never minded staying up to greet Vinyl when she got home. One of the many reasons Vinyl knew she was absolutely smitten with the Canterlot mare. She stopped playing, placing her bow and cello in their case and sitting on the couch, not bothering to prepare tea since they'd both be in bed shortly, "How was your day Vinyl?" Oh how she wished she could keep it a secret, but....Octavia always saw right through her. It would just lengthen her time away from their bed, "Normal, until five minutes ago." Octavia raised a brow and Vinyl decided to take the easy route and show her the new fangs. Octavia stared, before sighing lightly, "Is there a craving for blood?" Vinyl shook her head, "Nope, but apples are sounding really nice right about now." Octavia looked at her in disbelief, "Vinyl dear....apples?" Vinyl nodded, completely serious, even taking off her glasses. Octavia paused, before sighing once more, "Look now you have the red eyes too....how did it happen?" Vinyl was amazed that Octavia didn't even seem slightly frazzled. Then again, Canterlot ponies were good at hiding their emotions. Aside from disgust. "I was walking down the street and what I can only assume was magic in the form of bats kinda absorbed into me with no warning." Octavia sighed once more, "Well then. We'll have to inquire about what happened with Twilight and her cohorts tonight, I'm sure Pinkie will be willing to explain it. That's perhaps the only plausible explanation for....this." She waved her hoof over Vinyl's form and stood up from her place on the couch, "Since there was no way to avoid it, you aren't being moved to the couch. I do, however, recommend not trying to nuzzle me tonight or I might throw you out the window." How that mare could say something so violent and yet remain beautifully proper, Vinyl would never know. What she did know was that Octavia was not kicking her out of the bed, which was nice. Author's Note Hehe one of my favorite ships. Yes this is based on the theory that the six white bats that left Fluttershy at the end of "Bats!" went on to find a new host. I got the idea from the "Bats!" Review on FOB Equestria's channel. As for why I chose Vinyl: it was night time, she's a DJ, and there was a headcanon floating around about her being a vampire a long while back, so she was perfect. Any and all criticism is welcome! FillyScootaloo was having a good day. She was having a great day. Everything was just peachy, but someone had to go and ruin it. "Young stallion! You should mind your manners and hold open the door for a lady!" Scootaloo didn't believe it, had she just been mistaken for a colt? "Um, sorry miss, but I'm a filly..." The mare huffed and shook her head, "No amount of growing out your tail will fool me. Speaking of, you should really get that cut, it's quite long for a colt your age." Scootaloo just stared in shock. Did she really look that much like a colt? Time to find a mirror. She decided not to follow the mare into the restaurant, like she'd planned, and instead went to go find a body of water, since she didn't have a mirror and there was no way she was going to go around town to look for one. Upon reaching the pond that Rainbow relaxed at sometimes, Scootaloo looked at her reflection and almost jumped when Rainbow's appeared beside her's immediately after she'd sat down, "Whatcha doin' squirt?" Scootaloo blushed a deep red at being caught, but she wasn't going to lie to her idol/sister, "Oh um, some mare mistook me for a colt and....I don't look that much like a colt, do I?" Rainbow went silent, observing her, "Well, you do, but you'll grow out of it. It shouldn't bother you though, being mistaken for a colt can grant you a few privileges, take advantage of it while you can squirt." They sat there in silence for a little while, but Rainbow eventually huffed and shoved Scootaloo in the water, jumping in herself not a second later. ♡ Scootaloo didn't know what went through her mind when she let a mare, the same one that yelled at her in the restaurant, usher her into her house. And proceed to cut her tail. It worked for passing as a colt.....but what else was a shorter tail good for? "There, now you look like a proper young stallion. Off you go." She was ushered out of the house as quickly as she was brought in. She looked back at her tail dubiously before hopping back onto her scooter, and....noticed that it was easier to ride since she didn't have to accommodate for the longer tail. It wouldn't get stuck in random branches, nor would it risk tangling up in the scooter's wheels if she fell. Maybe she should keep it short, after all, only earth ponies could use their tails as actual useful appendages. ♡ Scootaloo should've known this was what she was signing up for when Sweetie Belle said Rarity gave her money for a shopping trip. Applebloom wisely ducked out, saying that Applejack needed her help back at the farm since Big Mac had gone off to see his fillyfriend. Scootaloo decided that she didn't have anything more important to do and decided to tag along. Now, she was Sweetie Belle's personal porter. An old stallion saw her predicament and gave a chuckle. He caught his wife's attention and she had a chuckle at her expense too. They walked over as Sweetie Belle darted away to look at some more expensive jewelry. The old women cooed at her, "Aw dear, already a delegated bag carrier, better get used to it, your fillyfriend seems to enjoy shopping." The old stallion patted her on the shoulder before Scootaloo could protest, "Mares are insane son, it don't get better with age, I can tell you that! Good luck." And they were trotting away, making light hearted conversation about "young love", ew. Scootaloo decided that their deteriorating vision was to blame and went over to where Sweetie Belle was struggling to choose between two necklaces. ♡ Scootaloo saw Trixie's wagon and gave slight pause, it'd been a while since she'd seen it, "The Great and Powerful Trixie wonders what this young colt is doing, staring at her wagon?" Scootaloo turned and saw a suspicious Trixie trotting up behind her. She was so done with correcting people and decided to just take it in stride, so she shrugged, "I was wondering why you parked it all the way over here, since you're friends with Starlight and she lives in the castle." Trixie let out a scoff, as if she were offended, "The Great and Powerful Trixie would not be welcomed if she parked too close to the castle. It seems Twilight still doesn't trust her." Scootaloo raised a brow, "Okay then. I thought she forgave you?" Trixie looked so done with the conversation, so her next statement was a bit of a shock, "Shouldn't you be oggling Rainbow Dash somewhere?" Scootaloo's eye twitched and she raised a brow, "She's not here, I've looked, besides, my friends are all busy and I'd rather not go home just yet." Something flashed in Trixie's eye and she gave a small smirk, "Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie supposes that she could spare the time to grant you a free show. Nothing too grand of course." Scootaloo proceeded to sit down and smiled at her, "Sure, your shows are cool." That seemed to kick Trixie's ego into gear and so started a chaotic night of light shows and illusions. Scootaloo could bet no one else was having such a great night. ♡ Diamond Tiara was a bitch. There was no looking past it, she was a bitch. Scootaloo could understand her teasing them for being blank flanks, she could handle the teasing about her appearance, even the teasing about her being a pegasus. But Diamond Tiara crossed the line. Scootaloo was bawling her eyes out near the lake that she and Rainbow hung out at. She wanted to kill Diamond Tiara with every fiber of her being. She couldn't take the senseless bullying anymore. It wasn't the first time that Diamond Tiara had crossed the line, or Silver Spoon for that matter, but it was the most extreme circumstance. Somepony put a wing around her and Scootaloo took the opportunity to bury her face in the pony's coat. An unfamiliar scent flooded her senses, it smelled vaguely like muffins and lightning. "Would you mind telling me what happened?" Scootaloo looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face, it was Dinky's mother, and she might've been Rainbow's coworker. She seemed trustworthy, and nice.... Scootaloo looked down and scooted closer to the friendly mare, "I....Diamond Tiara was making fun of me being flightless....I can take that, but she was being so mean about it, and I don't even know if I'll ever be able to fly since I've never been to the doctor's." Scootaloo could tell that the mare knew that wasn't the whole story, so she resisted letting the tears burst out again and decided not to lie to the kind stranger, "A-And she was making fun of me for being an orphan. Rubbing it in at every possible opportunity. Saying that my parents gave me up, or that they killed themselves because I was that horrible. She said that I probably lived under a bridge or in some alleyway. I-I don't, not now, but at one point I did and that makes this so much worse." Scootaloo couldn't hold back the waterworks as the nice mare held her, stroking her mane and holding her close. "You're a wonderful colt. Nothing will ever change that. No matter what Diamond Tiara says, you've made it this far, and I have faith that you're strong enough to make it to the very end. You'll change the world. You have everything you need. All you need to do, is have faith in yourself, and believe in yourself, even if no one stands behind you, or even if everyone in Equestria supports you, you should always be your strongest supporter, because only you can make yourself grow and change and ultimately achieve your goals, whatever they may be." Scootaloo didn't respond. Mulling over her words. The rest of the afternoon was spent in relative silence, until the grey pegasus noticed the sun starting to set, "You're welcome to stay in my home if you want?" Scootaloo shook her head, knowing this mare had at least one other pony living with her and wouldn't want to disrupt, "No thank you, the orphanage is enough." The mare gave a small smile, ruffling her mane, "Okay then, my name is Derpy if you ever need me. My door is always open." Scootaloo gave a smile and the mare flew off, likely to get back home and start dinner. She wasted the next few hours staring at the pond, before begrudgingly remembering that she had school tomorrow, and headed home. ♡ After Derpy's pep talk, Scootaloo examined herself. She noted down everything she liked and disliked about herself, and strove to improve as much as possible. The issue? She had no qualms with being called a colt. And it worried her. Especially when she realized that she preferred it! She was not-He was not telling anybody. He did not want another reason for Diamond Tiara to insult him. He didn't want Rainbow Dash to think differently of him. It was just something that he had to keep to himself. He wished that it had started out slowly. He wished that he had only gradually come to realize that he had to tell his friends. No, that very very first day, the day when he overanalyzed everything about himself, that was the day when he noticed everything. The annoying pronouns, the grating comments that "she" was too masculine. Even the offhand remarks of him possibly being a lesbian! He couldn't take it. His friends noticed, but he couldn't bring himself to tell them, and he was most definitely not annoying Derpy so soon after the pep talk. But Rainbow was also off the table for obvious reasons, so who did he turn to!? Luckily, a very very fortunate thing happened, Derpy told her daughter to keep an eye out for Scootaloo. He didn't count on the unicorn filly approaching him out of concern, nor him deciding to tell her. After dragging her to a more private area, he nervously let out his greatest secret, "I....I don't think I'm a filly." Author's Note This might be a copout, I don't know. I personally don't identify with this since mine was more of a "holy shit why the fuck don't I care" than the "why the hell do i like this" sort of thing. Hopefully I did y'all justice, feel free to destroy me if i did an absolutely shit job! NightmareNightmare looked out at her beautiful moon. Her citizens were at peace. Everyone loved her, what more could she ask for? When she first returned, she thought her sister would have been at least competent in ruling, but her weak nature stopped her from protecting her citizens at all cost. Luna saw that she had made no preparations for Sombra's return, she didn't even guard the borders that she knew were shared with a being who'd most definitely attack at the soonest sign of weakness when she and her army were ready. The worst part was her utter gall to keep Discord's statue even after the years and years of Luna asking, begging, her to destroy it. Discord was a threat to their entire world, and Celestia was too soft to even keep the thing in Tartarus! She kept it in the castle court yard, the worst possible place to put it aside from her throne room. Nightmare's initial take over didn't go over too well, but as soon as it was established that she knew what she was doing, most opposition disappeared. Of course, Mi Amore Cadenzia was the only real threat to her rule, since the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were unable to locate the actual stones. Of course, murdering a fellow alicorn would not go over well, so Nightmare simply brought her on as a relationship counselor. The mare was happy, and thus had less reason to oppose her. It helped that Nightmare worked to be as friendly as possible, since she needed them to love her to not only stay in power, but to stay happy. The whole reason for becoming Nightmare Moon in the first place was just to be seen as a benevolent ruler like her sister. Having unhappy citizens would lead to her unhappiness. She repaired the castle in the Everfree very quickly and had to go over everything. First was food, she decided to put her top researchers in charge of looking for a sunlight spell to grow crops, it turned out that the threat of actual starvation made them work faster and more efficiently. Next was the matter of Celestia's poorly trained military. The Wonderbolts were little more than stunt fliers and not the aerial patrol they were supposed to be. And they were, for lack of a better word, complete bitches. They were mean and condescending, yet the moment that someone insulted them they got offended. She kept only the most talented fliers and straightened out their attitudes. She looked for amazing fliers elsewhere and found several contenders, one even being the Element of Loyalty, who was hesitant to accept, worried that it would count as the easy way in. Nightmare Moon assured her that she'd have to work for an actual rank and she was at best accepted into the training program. It didn't take much effort after that, and the Element of Kindness giving her blessing. With those sorry excuses for a flight patrol ironed out, she had to turn her attention to Celestia's Royal Guard. They were utter disappointments and she fired every one of them except for a few salvageable captains and trainees. She retrained all of them and even joined her Lunar Guard with them so there'd be some batponies, and because they were much better at their job. Because she trained her guards. When she tracked down the families that were loyal to her a thousand years ago, most didn't hesitate to serve her once more. A few declined, not wanting to lose their bloodline, but Nightmare understood their reasoning and didn't push her luck. With the military retrained and her borders sufficiently guraded, she had to turn to the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, one of them had already been taken care of, since she'd join the Wonderbolts. Unfortunately, the wielder of Magic was horribly loyal to Celestia, and not even her brother siding with Nightmare would sway her until the peer pressure inevitably got to be too much for her. Nightmare decided to just occasionally drop in on her library and walk around like a commoner, it let the citizens fear her less, and hopefully it would eventually calm the magic happy filly down around her. She was talented, but her stubbornness would undoubtedly get in the way of progress as a top researcher. Nightmare would have to wait for that mindset to wear itself out because she couldn't risk the Element of Magic becoming more powerful and pretending to change, only to overthrow her and return Celestia to power. Luckily it wasn't all bad news; her baby dragon was fond of Nightmare, and she didn't mind him snatching rides on her back at every opportunity, he was a child after all. She was disgusted with how little care she saw Magic give Spike, she treated him like a slave with a few more rights. Nightmare considered kidnapping him many times, but the dragon was unfortunately loyal to Magic, so she decided she'd just check up on him more and read some books with him while she was at it. When he got older he'd be a very fitting option for ambassador, or just moral support. The other Elements didn't appear too disturbed. The wielder of Honesty was a bit pissy until she realized her crops and livelihood wouldn't be damaged. Kindness was a bit fearful at first, until Nightmare Moon sat down and started asking questions about her animal friends, the mare was a lovely pony and it was no wonder Loyalty was so against leaving her behind for her dream without permission. Laughter was glad that she still got to throw parties, just for different holidays, which she didn't mind at all, oddly enough, and Generosity was in her pocket as soon as she showed interest in the mare's line of work. And coincidentally got herself a few ballgowns and accessories out of it. Nightmare slowly became more blue over time and eventually completely shifted back into Luna, but she didn't mind since her citizens still seemed to love her and she wasn't as intimidating in the dream world in her Luna form. Ah, dreams. Sometimes working an around the clock job would be hard, if she didn't actually sleep when she did her night time job. She had to have clocks put in everypony's home so they got a healthy amount of rest, but it was worth it. She didn't know how much she'd missed dream walking. She loved playing with foals and helping her beloved citizens, especially those who didn't understand why they were in such turmoil in the first place. She didn't regret sealing her sister away, maybe she'd eventually break her out, but her sister was an unfit ruler on the protection front. Luna had no regrets; it didn't hurt that her selfishness led to the avoidance of many threats. And the dragons and griffins were afraid to reject her diplomacy, so that was another plus. She couldn't find anything wrong with her decision, she wasn't alone, and once she realized what was happening, quickly got professional help for her forming depression. She smiled softly, letting her eyes close as she fell asleep for another night of dream walking. Author's Note No regrets. I love this AU where Nightmare Moon wins because she would certainly be a competent ruler. Perhaps even more benevolent than Celestia, just better at protecting her fucking country. I'm pretty sure that Luna is way stronger than both Cadence and Celestia, and she's probably stronger than Twilight too. She is amazing potential wrapped up in a beautiful design, and it got fucked up because no one understands how badly she needs mental help and doesn't get it. So forgive me for wanting to prevent those mental issues from happening, or just resolving themselves, because I fucking love Luna and the potential she had. Also, Nightmare Moon didn't appear to have fucked up ruling when Starlight was trying to fuck up the timeline, so clearly she was doing something right. Forgive me for my rant, but I don't take any of it back because it's been a shit day and I fucking love Luna fucking fight me. This is not my style of writing and I personally find the chapter boring, but I don't have time to fix it nor the skill to make it better, if you want to take this and run with it, just credit me in an Author's Note or the Summary or something.
QuietAuthor's Note WARNINGS: Major character death, unspecified mental health issues, implied trauma, implied murder and violence. So, yeah. I'd like feedback on this one, the first part is most definitely my talent, then it gets into actual story writing, which I suck at.... Quiet One. Two. Three. Quiet. Stay quiet. The stumbling. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it ignore it ignore it. Four. Five. Six. Don't make any noise. Wait. Wait wait wait. She'll come for you. You weren't forgotten. Seven. Eight. Nine. Shh. Quiet. Calm. Calm calm calm. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Hush now quiet now, it's time to lay-no, no do not fall asleep. Ignore it, ignore the noise. You're safe. She wouldn't forget you. Thirteen. Fourteen. Six....teen? Shh. Quiet. Just stay put. Stay safe. You're safe. You've made it this far. Shh. Quiet. Whatever you do- Do Not Cry CALM DOWN. Silence your breathing! Do not make noise! No no no, stay quiet! "Ahahhhaaaa-" No nonononononono Run She isn't coming back! Run run run! Run! Don't let them catch you! Scootaloo ran like her life depended on it....because it did. It really really did. She was so stupid. Stupid emotions. Why? Why did she have to start crying! Now there was almost no chance that Rainbow would find her. Scootaloo wiped the tears away, dodging the things as they lunged at her. Trying to attack her. She didn't know what was going on, all she knew was that they were dangerous. That Rainbow told her to be quiet. That if she was caught or touched she was as good as dead. She wished that she could fly. But she didn't even attempt to look at the darkened sky, knowing that they were up there too. Maybe Rainbow had been caught. Maybe....maybe she should just give up- NO. No no no! Rainbow woke her up, in the middle of the night, to warn her! To get her to safety! There was no way her efforts were going to waste. She tripped but quickly recovered, before her worst nightmare happened. Magic. They could use magic. No nononononono- "Scootaloo! Can you hear me!" She stopped struggling, all of a sudden everything went back to normal. The sky was sunny. The horrifying creatures replaced by normal everyday ponies. It wasn't some monster that was holding her....it was Twilight. Scootaloo wilted and Twilight brought her into an embrace. It was early morning....she had woken up in the middle of the night... "It...it happened again....didn't it?" Twilight nodded and Scootaloo felt pathetic for the tears rolling down her cheeks. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, "Can you tell me what happened this time?" Scootaloo nodded into the princess's coat. "I....Rainbow had woken me up in the middle of the night and told me that these creatures would kill me if I touched them, and sound drew them. She dumped me at a cottage, said something about getting supplies, a hoard of those things walked by and I started crying, attracting them. So I ran." Twilight gave a sigh, "We'll have to go back to-" "Miss Mind...yeah..." Twilight plopped the young filly onto her back and took a detoured route to Ponyville's Mental Hospital. It was the only route Scootaloo was familiar with, which was good, since it avoided both the cemetary, and.... Twilight opened the door sighing as Scootaloo made herself smaller upon entering. She couldn't blame the orange filly, Twilight hated this place too. But it was a necessary evil she supposed. The secretary looked up and formed a sad smile on his face, noting Scootaloo down for an appointment. She was one of the few patients of the hospital, and the only one who showed up enough for Gentle Hoof to recognize both her name and face immediately. "I'll notify Doctor Mind of your arrival Scoots, how about you two sit down over there, actually here, go get yourself a snack from the vending machine." Scootaloo accepted the bit from the stallion and reluctantly got off Twilight's back. She looked at the machine for a good while before selecting her snack. Calm Mind walked in to see Scootaloo eating a bag of hay fry crisps. She gave a sad sigh and walked into the waiting room, not even bothering to hide behind a smile, Scootaloo would see through it anyway, "Hey Scootaloo." Scootaloo got up, handing the bag of crisps to Twilight, who gave a sad nod and headed out the door. Scootaloo followed Calm Mind into her office, it had two couches and a warm color scheme, it almost looked like a living room. Twilight sighed, lingering outside the hospital for a second or so longer than she should have. It pained her immensely to see Scootaloo like this....but....life happens....and all you can do is do your best to move past it. She walked up to a flower booth and decided to buy a bouquet, she didn't know what they meant, but they were pretty. A bunch of pretty colors. She handed over the money and took an alternative route back to the library. She paused at the cemetary. She could see Applejack sitting there. Looking at the bouquet she'd bought, she sighed and trotted over. Silently she layed the flowers down, sitting herself beside the earth pony. No words were exchanged as they stared at the headstone. "It isn't fair Twah." Twilight looked at her friend and sighed, nodding. "She didn't deserve it. And ta see what happened ta poor Scootahloo, it just ain't fair!" Twilight saw the rage and despair in Applejack's eyes, she nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks now too. "At least....at least...." "At least Dash's in a bettah place now, is that what yer gonna say!? Or that at least she brought them down with her!? It don't change the fact that Scootahloo's permanently scarred! It don't change the fact that Dash's gone! It....it don't change...." Twilight let her collapse into her arms, wrapping her wings around Applejack in an attempt to comfort them both as they sobbed violently.
ApplesVinyl didn't know what she expected. The "Mane Six", as the town called them, were up to something, if that burst of magic from earlier in the day had been any indication. After the Parasprite Incident, they were all rather hesitant to let Twilight preform spells... Maybe she was a complete idiot for not calling in sick, but she'd gotten used to the relative peace that Ponyville had been in for a while. So used to it that she ignored the Mane Six's odd behavior. Octavia was probably going to kill her now that she thought of it, but how was she supposed to know that some sort of magical creature was going to infest itself in her!? All she knew was that six glowing white bat things had attacked her on her way home. Well....not attacked....more like....absorbed into her? She didn't know what happened, but now she had an odd craving for apples and her teeth were sharper. It was concerning, and Octavia was most certainly going to move her to the couch for at least the next several days.... When she opened the door, Octavia was lightly playing her music, as always. She never minded staying up to greet Vinyl when she got home. One of the many reasons Vinyl knew she was absolutely smitten with the Canterlot mare. She stopped playing, placing her bow and cello in their case and sitting on the couch, not bothering to prepare tea since they'd both be in bed shortly, "How was your day Vinyl?" Oh how she wished she could keep it a secret, but....Octavia always saw right through her. It would just lengthen her time away from their bed, "Normal, until five minutes ago." Octavia raised a brow and Vinyl decided to take the easy route and show her the new fangs. Octavia stared, before sighing lightly, "Is there a craving for blood?" Vinyl shook her head, "Nope, but apples are sounding really nice right about now." Octavia looked at her in disbelief, "Vinyl dear....apples?" Vinyl nodded, completely serious, even taking off her glasses. Octavia paused, before sighing once more, "Look now you have the red eyes too....how did it happen?" Vinyl was amazed that Octavia didn't even seem slightly frazzled. Then again, Canterlot ponies were good at hiding their emotions. Aside from disgust. "I was walking down the street and what I can only assume was magic in the form of bats kinda absorbed into me with no warning." Octavia sighed once more, "Well then. We'll have to inquire about what happened with Twilight and her cohorts tonight, I'm sure Pinkie will be willing to explain it. That's perhaps the only plausible explanation for....this." She waved her hoof over Vinyl's form and stood up from her place on the couch, "Since there was no way to avoid it, you aren't being moved to the couch. I do, however, recommend not trying to nuzzle me tonight or I might throw you out the window." How that mare could say something so violent and yet remain beautifully proper, Vinyl would never know. What she did know was that Octavia was not kicking her out of the bed, which was nice. Author's Note Hehe one of my favorite ships. Yes this is based on the theory that the six white bats that left Fluttershy at the end of "Bats!" went on to find a new host. I got the idea from the "Bats!" Review on FOB Equestria's channel. As for why I chose Vinyl: it was night time, she's a DJ, and there was a headcanon floating around about her being a vampire a long while back, so she was perfect. Any and all criticism is welcome!
FillyScootaloo was having a good day. She was having a great day. Everything was just peachy, but someone had to go and ruin it. "Young stallion! You should mind your manners and hold open the door for a lady!" Scootaloo didn't believe it, had she just been mistaken for a colt? "Um, sorry miss, but I'm a filly..." The mare huffed and shook her head, "No amount of growing out your tail will fool me. Speaking of, you should really get that cut, it's quite long for a colt your age." Scootaloo just stared in shock. Did she really look that much like a colt? Time to find a mirror. She decided not to follow the mare into the restaurant, like she'd planned, and instead went to go find a body of water, since she didn't have a mirror and there was no way she was going to go around town to look for one. Upon reaching the pond that Rainbow relaxed at sometimes, Scootaloo looked at her reflection and almost jumped when Rainbow's appeared beside her's immediately after she'd sat down, "Whatcha doin' squirt?" Scootaloo blushed a deep red at being caught, but she wasn't going to lie to her idol/sister, "Oh um, some mare mistook me for a colt and....I don't look that much like a colt, do I?" Rainbow went silent, observing her, "Well, you do, but you'll grow out of it. It shouldn't bother you though, being mistaken for a colt can grant you a few privileges, take advantage of it while you can squirt." They sat there in silence for a little while, but Rainbow eventually huffed and shoved Scootaloo in the water, jumping in herself not a second later. ♡ Scootaloo didn't know what went through her mind when she let a mare, the same one that yelled at her in the restaurant, usher her into her house. And proceed to cut her tail. It worked for passing as a colt.....but what else was a shorter tail good for? "There, now you look like a proper young stallion. Off you go." She was ushered out of the house as quickly as she was brought in. She looked back at her tail dubiously before hopping back onto her scooter, and....noticed that it was easier to ride since she didn't have to accommodate for the longer tail. It wouldn't get stuck in random branches, nor would it risk tangling up in the scooter's wheels if she fell. Maybe she should keep it short, after all, only earth ponies could use their tails as actual useful appendages. ♡ Scootaloo should've known this was what she was signing up for when Sweetie Belle said Rarity gave her money for a shopping trip. Applebloom wisely ducked out, saying that Applejack needed her help back at the farm since Big Mac had gone off to see his fillyfriend. Scootaloo decided that she didn't have anything more important to do and decided to tag along. Now, she was Sweetie Belle's personal porter. An old stallion saw her predicament and gave a chuckle. He caught his wife's attention and she had a chuckle at her expense too. They walked over as Sweetie Belle darted away to look at some more expensive jewelry. The old women cooed at her, "Aw dear, already a delegated bag carrier, better get used to it, your fillyfriend seems to enjoy shopping." The old stallion patted her on the shoulder before Scootaloo could protest, "Mares are insane son, it don't get better with age, I can tell you that! Good luck." And they were trotting away, making light hearted conversation about "young love", ew. Scootaloo decided that their deteriorating vision was to blame and went over to where Sweetie Belle was struggling to choose between two necklaces. ♡ Scootaloo saw Trixie's wagon and gave slight pause, it'd been a while since she'd seen it, "The Great and Powerful Trixie wonders what this young colt is doing, staring at her wagon?" Scootaloo turned and saw a suspicious Trixie trotting up behind her. She was so done with correcting people and decided to just take it in stride, so she shrugged, "I was wondering why you parked it all the way over here, since you're friends with Starlight and she lives in the castle." Trixie let out a scoff, as if she were offended, "The Great and Powerful Trixie would not be welcomed if she parked too close to the castle. It seems Twilight still doesn't trust her." Scootaloo raised a brow, "Okay then. I thought she forgave you?" Trixie looked so done with the conversation, so her next statement was a bit of a shock, "Shouldn't you be oggling Rainbow Dash somewhere?" Scootaloo's eye twitched and she raised a brow, "She's not here, I've looked, besides, my friends are all busy and I'd rather not go home just yet." Something flashed in Trixie's eye and she gave a small smirk, "Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie supposes that she could spare the time to grant you a free show. Nothing too grand of course." Scootaloo proceeded to sit down and smiled at her, "Sure, your shows are cool." That seemed to kick Trixie's ego into gear and so started a chaotic night of light shows and illusions. Scootaloo could bet no one else was having such a great night. ♡ Diamond Tiara was a bitch. There was no looking past it, she was a bitch. Scootaloo could understand her teasing them for being blank flanks, she could handle the teasing about her appearance, even the teasing about her being a pegasus. But Diamond Tiara crossed the line. Scootaloo was bawling her eyes out near the lake that she and Rainbow hung out at. She wanted to kill Diamond Tiara with every fiber of her being. She couldn't take the senseless bullying anymore. It wasn't the first time that Diamond Tiara had crossed the line, or Silver Spoon for that matter, but it was the most extreme circumstance. Somepony put a wing around her and Scootaloo took the opportunity to bury her face in the pony's coat. An unfamiliar scent flooded her senses, it smelled vaguely like muffins and lightning. "Would you mind telling me what happened?" Scootaloo looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face, it was Dinky's mother, and she might've been Rainbow's coworker. She seemed trustworthy, and nice.... Scootaloo looked down and scooted closer to the friendly mare, "I....Diamond Tiara was making fun of me being flightless....I can take that, but she was being so mean about it, and I don't even know if I'll ever be able to fly since I've never been to the doctor's." Scootaloo could tell that the mare knew that wasn't the whole story, so she resisted letting the tears burst out again and decided not to lie to the kind stranger, "A-And she was making fun of me for being an orphan. Rubbing it in at every possible opportunity. Saying that my parents gave me up, or that they killed themselves because I was that horrible. She said that I probably lived under a bridge or in some alleyway. I-I don't, not now, but at one point I did and that makes this so much worse." Scootaloo couldn't hold back the waterworks as the nice mare held her, stroking her mane and holding her close. "You're a wonderful colt. Nothing will ever change that. No matter what Diamond Tiara says, you've made it this far, and I have faith that you're strong enough to make it to the very end. You'll change the world. You have everything you need. All you need to do, is have faith in yourself, and believe in yourself, even if no one stands behind you, or even if everyone in Equestria supports you, you should always be your strongest supporter, because only you can make yourself grow and change and ultimately achieve your goals, whatever they may be." Scootaloo didn't respond. Mulling over her words. The rest of the afternoon was spent in relative silence, until the grey pegasus noticed the sun starting to set, "You're welcome to stay in my home if you want?" Scootaloo shook her head, knowing this mare had at least one other pony living with her and wouldn't want to disrupt, "No thank you, the orphanage is enough." The mare gave a small smile, ruffling her mane, "Okay then, my name is Derpy if you ever need me. My door is always open." Scootaloo gave a smile and the mare flew off, likely to get back home and start dinner. She wasted the next few hours staring at the pond, before begrudgingly remembering that she had school tomorrow, and headed home. ♡ After Derpy's pep talk, Scootaloo examined herself. She noted down everything she liked and disliked about herself, and strove to improve as much as possible. The issue? She had no qualms with being called a colt. And it worried her. Especially when she realized that she preferred it! She was not-He was not telling anybody. He did not want another reason for Diamond Tiara to insult him. He didn't want Rainbow Dash to think differently of him. It was just something that he had to keep to himself. He wished that it had started out slowly. He wished that he had only gradually come to realize that he had to tell his friends. No, that very very first day, the day when he overanalyzed everything about himself, that was the day when he noticed everything. The annoying pronouns, the grating comments that "she" was too masculine. Even the offhand remarks of him possibly being a lesbian! He couldn't take it. His friends noticed, but he couldn't bring himself to tell them, and he was most definitely not annoying Derpy so soon after the pep talk. But Rainbow was also off the table for obvious reasons, so who did he turn to!? Luckily, a very very fortunate thing happened, Derpy told her daughter to keep an eye out for Scootaloo. He didn't count on the unicorn filly approaching him out of concern, nor him deciding to tell her. After dragging her to a more private area, he nervously let out his greatest secret, "I....I don't think I'm a filly." Author's Note This might be a copout, I don't know. I personally don't identify with this since mine was more of a "holy shit why the fuck don't I care" than the "why the hell do i like this" sort of thing. Hopefully I did y'all justice, feel free to destroy me if i did an absolutely shit job!
NightmareNightmare looked out at her beautiful moon. Her citizens were at peace. Everyone loved her, what more could she ask for? When she first returned, she thought her sister would have been at least competent in ruling, but her weak nature stopped her from protecting her citizens at all cost. Luna saw that she had made no preparations for Sombra's return, she didn't even guard the borders that she knew were shared with a being who'd most definitely attack at the soonest sign of weakness when she and her army were ready. The worst part was her utter gall to keep Discord's statue even after the years and years of Luna asking, begging, her to destroy it. Discord was a threat to their entire world, and Celestia was too soft to even keep the thing in Tartarus! She kept it in the castle court yard, the worst possible place to put it aside from her throne room. Nightmare's initial take over didn't go over too well, but as soon as it was established that she knew what she was doing, most opposition disappeared. Of course, Mi Amore Cadenzia was the only real threat to her rule, since the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were unable to locate the actual stones. Of course, murdering a fellow alicorn would not go over well, so Nightmare simply brought her on as a relationship counselor. The mare was happy, and thus had less reason to oppose her. It helped that Nightmare worked to be as friendly as possible, since she needed them to love her to not only stay in power, but to stay happy. The whole reason for becoming Nightmare Moon in the first place was just to be seen as a benevolent ruler like her sister. Having unhappy citizens would lead to her unhappiness. She repaired the castle in the Everfree very quickly and had to go over everything. First was food, she decided to put her top researchers in charge of looking for a sunlight spell to grow crops, it turned out that the threat of actual starvation made them work faster and more efficiently. Next was the matter of Celestia's poorly trained military. The Wonderbolts were little more than stunt fliers and not the aerial patrol they were supposed to be. And they were, for lack of a better word, complete bitches. They were mean and condescending, yet the moment that someone insulted them they got offended. She kept only the most talented fliers and straightened out their attitudes. She looked for amazing fliers elsewhere and found several contenders, one even being the Element of Loyalty, who was hesitant to accept, worried that it would count as the easy way in. Nightmare Moon assured her that she'd have to work for an actual rank and she was at best accepted into the training program. It didn't take much effort after that, and the Element of Kindness giving her blessing. With those sorry excuses for a flight patrol ironed out, she had to turn her attention to Celestia's Royal Guard. They were utter disappointments and she fired every one of them except for a few salvageable captains and trainees. She retrained all of them and even joined her Lunar Guard with them so there'd be some batponies, and because they were much better at their job. Because she trained her guards. When she tracked down the families that were loyal to her a thousand years ago, most didn't hesitate to serve her once more. A few declined, not wanting to lose their bloodline, but Nightmare understood their reasoning and didn't push her luck. With the military retrained and her borders sufficiently guraded, she had to turn to the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, one of them had already been taken care of, since she'd join the Wonderbolts. Unfortunately, the wielder of Magic was horribly loyal to Celestia, and not even her brother siding with Nightmare would sway her until the peer pressure inevitably got to be too much for her. Nightmare decided to just occasionally drop in on her library and walk around like a commoner, it let the citizens fear her less, and hopefully it would eventually calm the magic happy filly down around her. She was talented, but her stubbornness would undoubtedly get in the way of progress as a top researcher. Nightmare would have to wait for that mindset to wear itself out because she couldn't risk the Element of Magic becoming more powerful and pretending to change, only to overthrow her and return Celestia to power. Luckily it wasn't all bad news; her baby dragon was fond of Nightmare, and she didn't mind him snatching rides on her back at every opportunity, he was a child after all. She was disgusted with how little care she saw Magic give Spike, she treated him like a slave with a few more rights. Nightmare considered kidnapping him many times, but the dragon was unfortunately loyal to Magic, so she decided she'd just check up on him more and read some books with him while she was at it. When he got older he'd be a very fitting option for ambassador, or just moral support. The other Elements didn't appear too disturbed. The wielder of Honesty was a bit pissy until she realized her crops and livelihood wouldn't be damaged. Kindness was a bit fearful at first, until Nightmare Moon sat down and started asking questions about her animal friends, the mare was a lovely pony and it was no wonder Loyalty was so against leaving her behind for her dream without permission. Laughter was glad that she still got to throw parties, just for different holidays, which she didn't mind at all, oddly enough, and Generosity was in her pocket as soon as she showed interest in the mare's line of work. And coincidentally got herself a few ballgowns and accessories out of it. Nightmare slowly became more blue over time and eventually completely shifted back into Luna, but she didn't mind since her citizens still seemed to love her and she wasn't as intimidating in the dream world in her Luna form. Ah, dreams. Sometimes working an around the clock job would be hard, if she didn't actually sleep when she did her night time job. She had to have clocks put in everypony's home so they got a healthy amount of rest, but it was worth it. She didn't know how much she'd missed dream walking. She loved playing with foals and helping her beloved citizens, especially those who didn't understand why they were in such turmoil in the first place. She didn't regret sealing her sister away, maybe she'd eventually break her out, but her sister was an unfit ruler on the protection front. Luna had no regrets; it didn't hurt that her selfishness led to the avoidance of many threats. And the dragons and griffins were afraid to reject her diplomacy, so that was another plus. She couldn't find anything wrong with her decision, she wasn't alone, and once she realized what was happening, quickly got professional help for her forming depression. She smiled softly, letting her eyes close as she fell asleep for another night of dream walking. Author's Note No regrets. I love this AU where Nightmare Moon wins because she would certainly be a competent ruler. Perhaps even more benevolent than Celestia, just better at protecting her fucking country. I'm pretty sure that Luna is way stronger than both Cadence and Celestia, and she's probably stronger than Twilight too. She is amazing potential wrapped up in a beautiful design, and it got fucked up because no one understands how badly she needs mental help and doesn't get it. So forgive me for wanting to prevent those mental issues from happening, or just resolving themselves, because I fucking love Luna and the potential she had. Also, Nightmare Moon didn't appear to have fucked up ruling when Starlight was trying to fuck up the timeline, so clearly she was doing something right. Forgive me for my rant, but I don't take any of it back because it's been a shit day and I fucking love Luna fucking fight me. This is not my style of writing and I personally find the chapter boring, but I don't have time to fix it nor the skill to make it better, if you want to take this and run with it, just credit me in an Author's Note or the Summary or something.
