The filly in the basement.
Stormy walked down into the basement, holding the bucket of gruel, which smelt horrible. He wanted to get this over and done with. He was terrified of the basement. To make matters worse, he had to walk through the basement by memory, this was because the lights had to be kept off at all times, why? Stormy didn’t know.
Looking around her noticed the outlines of two separate cages, one empty and one that contained a small, pegasus filly. He stared at the empty cage, knowing full well that it was for him if he ever went bad. Then he turned to the other cage, where he could see a pair of sad looking eyes staring back at him.
Placing the grub down, he mentally prepared himself for this next part. He pulled out a cattle prod and pointed it towards the prisoner, he pressed the button, causing a spark to briefly lit up the room revealing the skinny, orange pegasus that occupied the cage. “Keep back!” He warned her, as he opened the cage and quickly grabbed two dog bowls. Quickly locking the cage back up again. He took one of the bowls to a tap in the wall and filled it with cold water. Keeping his back towards the cage he filled the other bowl up with the gruel, the smell, making him gip.
Turning back towards the cage, he nearly jumped out of his skin. The filly was right up against the bars. Panicking the colt looked around for the cattle prod, only to have his black tail pulled between the bars. “HE - MMMMPH!” He tried to scream for help but only to have two hooves grab him from behind. One hoof was wrapped around his neck tight enough to keep him pinned but not too tight that his air would be cut of. The other hoof was covering his mouth, silencing him.
He felt the filly’s breath, ice cold on the back of his neck. He then heard a scratchy and croaky voice whisper into his ear “Unlock the cage.”
Stormy shook his head, knowing full well that his parents would murder him if he let the filly go. Suddenly, to his horror he felt the hoof around his throat tighten, cutting off his airflow and choking him, while the other hoof covered his nose along with his mouth, smothering him. He couldn’t breathe.
The colt desperately tried to pry the hooves of but as time passed he felt himself grow weaker. The voice spoke again, this time with desperation “Please let me go. Let me go and the you can breathe. Please, I don’t want to kill you” the filly could feel her jailer’s tears rolling down onto her hooves.
The colt started to slip to the floor as his vision began to fade. That was when the door burst open and his father stared at them, his face full of rage. This however was the last thing he remembered seeing before blacking out.
***
Stormy woke up in a hospital bed to find an oxygen mask covering his muzzle. Looking around he could see his parents talking to a police stallion. He took his mask to call to his parent “Mum, Dad” he tried to say however his words were to faint to hear.
Suddenly a nurse placed the oxygen mask back onto his muzzle saying “You need to keep that on sweetie. You still don’t have enough oxygen circulating around your body” she explained.
That was when his parents noticed that he was awake. His mother instantly rushed to his side and started swooning over him, his father however looked at him with a disappointed expression, he was clearly not happy about the fact that he had let the secret get close to him.
After that all of his vitals were okay, she gave him the all clear but told him not to over exert himself. Just then the officer stepped in and asked “Can I ask you some questions?”
Before he could even answer his mother stepped in and gave the officer a harsh glare angrily saying “No you cannot, my son has just survived, such a terrible ordeal and you want to overload him with questions!”
The officer looked flustered before saying “Of course not, but please do come into the station when you are ready to make a statement.” Stormy’s eyes lowered in confusion as he wondered what cock and bull story had his parents fed the authorities.
***
When they arrived home his mother had dropped the whole protective act while his father instantly got in his face, “How could you be so foolish!”
Before he could answer his mother said “If anypony asks, you was out on a walk when a gang of thugs attacked you and mugged you”
His father wasn’t finished with him yet. He grabbed his son by his mane and dragged him down to the basement, ignoring his protests he took him to the cage that contained Secret.
Secret was what they called the filly in the basement. He didn’t know why they had her locked up. According to his parents she was a bad pony who had gotten possessed by a demon and went on a rampage, his parents had stopped her and locked her up. They always told him that she was dangerous and would willingly kill him if gotten the chance which turned out to be true.
He started to shake as his father took him closer to the cage before forcing him to look at the so called demon. His father then turned on a torch and shone it towards Secret. Before this point, Stormy had only caught glimpses of the filly but now he could see her in all her glory. Taking in the detail, Secret was a small, orange, pegasus filly with a tattered purple mane and tail. Her eyes, which were both swollen, were light purple. She had no cutie mark but she was covered in bruises, which looked recent. She was so skinny that her bones were showing. Surprisingly to Stormy she looked like a normal filly, who was around the same age as him. He expected to see a demonic monster, not a helpless filly. This made him doubt his parents story even more.
To his horror, his father opened the cage before shoving him inside and locking the door behind him. Immediately, he began to go into full blown panic mode as he shook the bars. “Dad, what are you doing let me out!” He pleaded, this however woke Secret up.
“Maybe this will teach you to be more careful around her” he scolded before shutting the flashlight of, plunging the basement into complete darkness. To his horror his father left the basement slamming the door shut.
Secret’s eyes glowed like beacons as they stared at him curiously. She then began to stumble towards him as Stormy flattened himself against the bars. He clenched his eyes shut in terror, silently wishing for somepony to rescue him from this living nightmare.
Stormy felt the filly’s horrible breath against his face as she stood right in front of him. He froze as he felt her put her hoof on his chin and forced him to point his head in her direction, however he kept his eyes firmly shut. “Open your eyes.” She whispered.
Using her other hoof, she forced his eyelids open. She watched his blue eyes turn to pinpricks in fear. “You have beautiful eyes” she said before letting go of his chin and walking back to the other side of the cage.
They kept in silence with Stormy keeping as far away from Secret as possible. She suddenly broke the silence “Lets introduce ourselves to each other. You go first.”
Stormy was at first very reluctant to tell her anything but ultimately agreed. “My name is Stormy Cloud. I am ten years old and I was born in the city of Cloudsdale. I like to go flying and I hate spiders”
Secret smiled before introducing herself “My name is Scootaloo. I was abandoned by my parents at the orphanage in the town of Ponyville. I had two best friends and I loved riding my scooter. My life was going great until I met her. Her name was Rainbow Dash, she was my idol, she performed the most amazing stunts I have ever seen. Then she found out that I couldn’t fly. She changed, she grew more cold and distant then out of nowhere she said she was going to teach me how to fly. I was ecstatic. If I had used my brain I would’ve probably seen it as suspicious and probably wouldn’t have gone with her. But on one night, she told me to follow her to a clearing in the forest. When we arrived, she turned and muttered ‘sorry’ before flying away thay was when I realised that she had lured me into an ambush. Several ponies had been waiting for me and had rushed me before knocking me out. That brings me to where I am now.”
Stormy was speechless, his own parents had lied their face of.
The filly in the basement.
After Stormy was let out of the basement, he went to his room to think. He sat in front of his mirror, where he likes to stare at himself and think, pondering over what Scootaloo had said. He looked into his cyan face and stared at his light blue eyes. Scootaloo had commented that they looked beautiful, a statement that creeped him out.
He also wanted answers, Rainbow Dash was an old family friend who occasionally foalsat him when his parents had to attend business trips. He knew that Rainbow Dash lived in the town of Ponyville, which wasn't far from where he lived. Leaving the house was going to be a problem as his parents never let him leave.
He had no friends and his parents had always homeschooled him. They might let him leave if he played his cards right. Walking into the living room, his parents didn't acknowledge him as he entered.
“Mum, Dad, can I ask a question?” he asked, shuffling his hooves in nervousness.
“What is it colt?” his father asked, not looking up from his newspaper that he was reading, while his mother acted as if she didn't hear him.
“Can I go and visit, Rainbow Dash?”
Both his parents looked up, giving him a suspicious glance, his father asking “Why?”
“I heard that she got into the Wonderbolt Academy and I want to hear what it's like.” he explained innocently.
“Why can you not wait until she comes to foalsat you?” he countered.
“I want to see what Ponyville is like. I like listening to her stories. Please let me go.” he begged.
His parents looked like they were mulling it over with his father biting his lip in thought, a habit that Stormy sometimes copied. Suddenly his mother spoke up “Maybe it's about time that the colt saw some fresh air, it could do him some good.”
His father finally relented saying “Fine, but on several conditions: You will let me take you there, you will not leave Rainbow Dash’s supervision and you do not tell anypony about the secret.”
Stormy nodded, his father getting up, he told his son to get ready. Five minutes later they were leaving the house and flying over the treetops towards Ponyville.
***
During the entire flight, his father didn't say anything. Stormy had always loved hearing Rainbow Dash’s stories but he had never heard her talk anypony named Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash had known his father from when they went to flight camp together and had the same ideas about Pegasus supremacy.
When they arrived at Ponyville, they didn't land in the town proper, instead heading towards a large, cloud mansion on the outskirts of town.
It had taken five minutes of his father’s knocking before a very annoyed-looking Pegasus to finally answer the door, however when she did, her face shifted from annoyed to surprised in the space of five seconds before she composed herself.
She invited the duo in before saying “What's my favourite colt doing here?”
His father answered for him “He wanted to visit you and ask you about your time in the Wonderbolt Academy.”
“Really, well first let's give you a tour of the house,” Rainbow said, his father then explained the same rules that he had told Stormy before leaving. Rainbow merely rolled her eyes before telling him “He never gives you any freedom.”
She then took him on a tour of the house where he stared in wonder at the Rainbow fountains with Dash explaining “That is pure spectra, straight from the Rainbow Factory” Then to his excitement, she took out a glass jar before filling it up with the rainbow liquid, giving it to Stormy saying “Here, you might be able to start your own rainbow fountain. He held the jar as if it was a precious treasure.
He then started in amazement at all the trophies that adjourned the shelves. That was when he noticed a photo of Rainbow Dash sitting next to a familiar orange Pegasus filly. However, before he could ask about it, Rainbow steered him towards the living room before saying “So you want to know what I did at the Wonderbolts Academy?”
Stormy nodded and Rainbow immediately started to explain how she got chosen to go to the Academy. Stormy couldn't concentrate on the story, too distracted by the picture, he had seen. Rainbow noticed and asked “Hey is something bothering you, you seem to be a lot quieter than your usual self?” she asked softly.
Stormy asked her “Do you know anypony called Scootaloo?”
This made Rainbow’s cyan fur go pale as she started to fidget uncomfortably. Rainbow didn't know how to respond, she had Both questions and excuses rolling through her mind.
“No,” she said, looking extremely guilty.
Stormy knew she was lying, however, he decided not to push it for now. Instead, he asked, “Can we go out?”
Rainbow looked relieved at the change in subject “Yeah, let's go to Suger Cube Corner.” she suggested.
They then flew into town, where Rainbow showed him a large house that had a Cupcake as a roof. Leading him inside she told him “What do you want?”
Stormy peered through the display, his mouth watering at all the sugary treats. His eyes found a very delicious-looking cake, that had chocolate icing on with marshmallows and a flake adorning it. He pointed to it when all of a sudden, a pink mare with the puffiest mane he had ever seen, burst out of nowhere “Excellent choice, those are new but I've never seen you before, which is weird because I knew everypony…” Stormy slowly backed away from the hyperactive mare all the while Rainbow was trying to stop herself from laughing.
Stormy then heard the sound of crying coming from the corner of the room, turning towards the noise, he noticed a white, unicorn filly being comforted by a yellow, earth pony filly with a red mane and bow. Walking over he asked, “What's up?”
The unicorn kept on crying while the earth pony answered “It's our friend, Scootaloo she’s gone missing, today's the day that we all met each other.” she explained, Stormy was shocked however the yellow filly then asked with desperation “Have you seen her?” pushing a poster in front of him.
MISSING
SCOOTALOO
Race: Pegasus
Gender: Female
Age: 10 yrs old
description: Orange Fur, Purple, Spikey mane and tail, Light purple eyes
Last seen leaving the Ponyville Orphanage.
If you have any information regarding Scootaloo's disappearance, please contact the Equestrian Royal Police Service, the Ponyville Police Station, The Royal Investigation Service's Missing Ponies Unit, or the National Centre for Missing Foals
Reward: 10,000 Bits
Stormy stared in shock at the poster, he asked the two fillies “Can I keep it?” They reluctantly agreed, nodding their heads.
He stuffed the poster behind inside of his wings, not wanting Dash to see, who brought the cakes over. The cakes tasted very delicious.
He was now deeply suspicious of both his parents and Rainbow Dash, the one pony whom he had trusted.
When they arrived back at the mansion, they found his father waiting for them. Father asked how Stormy had been, to which Dash replied “He's been fine but we need to talk, now.” she pulled his father into the kitchen.
Stormy snuck over to the door and listened through the crack.
“What are you going to do with her?”
“I haven't decided yet. If you had let me kill her we wouldn't be in this mess.”
“You can't kill her, she's just a filly.”
“She’s a failure, it is pegasi like her that bring shame upon our race.”
“That's not the only problem, Stormy knows.”
“How?”
“He asked me If I knew anypony named Scootaloo.”
“Shit, what did you tell him?”
“Nothing, that I didn't know anypony named Scootaloo”
“Good keep it that way”
Suddenly Stormy backed away from the door as he heard hoofsteps, his father indicated for him to come. Stormy waved goodbye to Rainbow Dash before flying off with his father.
Rainbow Dash watched the pair fly away, deep with worry. She walked over to the picture of herself and Scootaloo. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was scootaloo's look of hurt and betrayal. She closed these out and reminded herself that it was for the good of the flock…