Darkness Scoots

~Just when you think you understand how the mind works, something throws a wrench in the works and you're left pondering for hours on end: Will the pieces of the puzzle ever fit together?

-An excerpt from the Book of Fillysophical Studies, by: Dr. Rhindquarters

===D.W.===

Scootaloo flopped down on her soft bed with a sigh, ignoring the complaint that her side and wing gave out when she landed. It felt good to lie down on something so familiar. She had to admit that while it had taken forever, and now that she could remember the truth; the last family to adopt her had been really outgoing and generous. She actually liked this one, and had in fact taken to calling the nice mare 'mother', though she couldn't quite call the stallion her father, no matter how hard he tried to act like it.

The sounds of clanking pots and pans rose from the kitchen as her 'mom' busied herself making dinner. It was such an odd sound at first compared to the deafening silence of the strange Ponyville that Scoot found herself questioning the validity of it. But it made no matter. She was here, her mom was downstairs. It had been a long, arduous trip, but thank Celestia it was over.

"Scootaloo dear, why don't you come downstairs? Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom will be over for dinner soon. Do you want to get the living room cleaned up so you can all set your sleeping bags up a while?" A voice called up.

A sleep over? She hadn't remembered anything about that. Then again, it didn't matter. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were never gonna believe this story. She'd been so angry and frustrated with that crazy mixed up Ponyville that she'd nearly almost believed that she'd never see them again.

"Yeah! I'm coming!" She shouted back happily.

And her side twinged again as her lungs pushed out when she breathed in.

The injuries! How was she going to explain that to her mom? Better yet...she needed to tell her about it. The sleep over could wait. Scoot wasn't sure where to begin, but she knew she had to.

"Mom, could you come here quick?" She asked, opening the door to her room.

"Sure thing honey. One minute."

Scootaloo sighed and rubbed her head, the goose-egg still there as well. Boy if she ever saw that Dream Catcher again, she was gonna...

But no. The monster had got him.

Her heart sank at that little notion. Sure, he hadn't been anything Scoot would dare call close to a friend intentionally. But he had seemed genuinely concerned for her safety. He took on that staircase monster for her.

She'd just have to do her best to remember the pony in a good light. For that matter, she was still wearing the saddlebag he gave her, and the music box, broken though it might be, was still in there. And so was the blanket.

That thought got her mind going. Scootaloo began tearing her room apart. Surely, if she had the blanket with her now, it wouldn't be anywhere in her room. She opened up dresser drawers, looked under her bed, opened up her closet.

It wasn't there.

That in itself kind of unnerved her again. If it wasn't here, that would mean that she never got it in the first place. Had she somehow altered time? The effort of thinking about the ramifications of that made her head hurt all over again.

No. It was over and done with. She was back home. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were on their way over for a sleep over.

Right?

For the first time since she'd arrived back home, Scootaloo really started to take a good look around her. Sure, her bedroom seemed the same. She'd just ripped it apart. Everything was where it should have been. Her scooter and helmet were gone, but they wouldn't be there naturally. They were probably still outside lying in the alleyway from when she hit Dream Catcher.

Come to think of it, they hadn't been there when she'd woke up, so maybe somepony came along and took them. But that didn't make any sense either. She'd have seen said pony...or at least been woken up by them. Had Dream Catcher done something with them?

There were the sound of hoofsteps coming up the staircase. Her mom would help her figure this out. When she knocked on the door, Scootaloo ran over to open it, ignorant of the grinding melody beginning to emit from her saddlebag...

Only to find herself looking at the black Pegasus pony who Wasn't Dream Catcher. His muzzle still bore a mark from where she'd clobbered him good with the plank of wood.

"What did you want to talk about, my dear?" He asked, his voice mimicking her mothers so well.

"You!"

Dream Catcher who wasn't Dream Catcher laughed hard and loud.

"What, you thought your little adventure was over? You've gotta be kidding me!" He dropped his false-tone, his voice coming back clear as day as his own. "You're not done yet, little Scootaloo. You've still got a lot to learn about the way things work here if you honestly thought you had come home."

Lightning quick, his hoof shot out and smacked her across the face, sending her flying across the room.

"That was for earlier."

Scootaloo hit the floor, sliding into the wall by her bed. She slowly sat up, rubbing her muzzle as she looked up at him.

"So where's your better half? Did he really get eaten by a monster? Or was that another one of your bad tricks?" She scowled hard at him.

"My friend Dreamy? Oh, I can safely assure that you won't be seeing him again, rest assured." The pony's eyes glimmered with a sick joy at those words. "I've put his meddling to rest. And now, since you're so close to it...I might as well put you to bed too."

"Really? Lame, pony. Lame." Scoot smirked, pulling out her table leg pipe. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

"I've never been one to know my own limits." He remarked casually, careful not to take his eyes off her. "I find that limitations are so cliché. Why put yourself in a bind by being constricted by simple things such as physicality...when you can have the powers of a God and more at your disposal?"

Scoot laughed.

"You don't look like a god...and you're pretty solid if both of us can hit each other. So what's say we get down to it then, huh?" She asked, removing the skates from around her neck so they didn't cause her any further damage by swinging wildly around. With determination firing up inside, Scoot charged at him head long.

Not Dream Catcher didn't even bother to duck out of the way. He merely lifted his front hooves and brought them together with a loud clack.

Scoot screeched to a halt as the room around her dropped into shadows instantly. Already, various plumes of smoke had begun to rise from the walls in different places, a scythe or two visible where the monsters were trying to come through. She could count between smoke clouds and sickles five of the wall ponies, on top of Fake Dream Catcher himself. Those were odds she knew she couldn't handle.

"What's the matter child? Afraid of the monsters in the dark?" He chuckled.

"What about you? Afraid to take on one little filly by yourself?" She shot back angrily.

He shrugged.

"I prefer not to get my hooves dirty if I can help it. After all, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing your job done for you by ponies who are more than willing."

"Willing or forced?" She asked.

"Willing, forced, free workers, slave laborers...all the same thing if you ask me." He grinned.

This pony was making her sick.

"I'll wipe that smug look off your face!"

"Oooo...big words from such a small...drastically outnumbered pony."

He had a point there. One Scootaloo was angry to admit. She began to look around for any means of escape. He stood in front of the door still, blocking that way. Quickly, she jumped up onto her bed and looked out the window.

Her whole house sat precariously perched atop a massive stone column amidst a black sea of nothing. She was trapped. Even if she could get past him, there'd be no where to run. She had to think quick.

"Okay...okay. You want me so bad...why not just fight me, pony to pony? If you're so tough, you're sure to beat me." She spoke, trying an old ploy that Rainbow Dash had tried on her once as she returned to the floor. Granted, Rainbow had been nicer about it, and it was just a race...not a fight for her life.

"You think me weak, little filly? I assure you that our last meeting was nothing more than a fluke."

Yes. It was working.

"Yeah. I do. I beat you once, I can do it again. No problem." She brandished her weapon like a sword, swinging it back and forth before striking a pose.

Not Dream Catcher's eye twitched ever so slightly. She was definitely getting to him.

"And what, pray tell, do you think that flimsy little stick of yours is going to do? You're going to have a hard time hitting me with it...injured as you are." He noted with no small amount of sick pleasure in his voice.

"I don't need to be at one-hundred percent to whup your flank! Weakling, weakling, weak little pony." She taunted. "Gotta have someone else fight his fights cuz he lost to a little filly."

He stomped a hoof, and immediately the monsters recoiled back into the walls.

"Very well then. Let's see what you've got. I'll even give you the first strike." He mocked, pointing to the side of his face where she'd hit him before.

Scoot nodded.

"All right. Here it comes!" She yelled past the pipe, winding back as she ran for him. Instead of whacking him in the head though, Scootaloo feinted left, prepared to swing...and then dove between his front legs. She swung hard, taking him out at the knees. His backside hit the floor as his rear legs gave out, a look of shock washing over his face.

"Oh Why You Little Brat!" He grumbled, striking out with a fore-hoof.

Scoot dodged it easy enough, having already cleared some space between them as she swung again, catching him on the knuckle. He winced and withdrew his foreleg back, getting his legs under himself again. But Scoot wasn't done there. She came back around, clubbing him over the backside, causing him to fall off his back hooves in pain again.

This pony was slow. Too slow for her. He'd taken her by surprise the first time, but not again.

With a dull thwack, her weapon connected with the back of his head, dropping the pony. He was out cold once more.

"That is what you get for messing with the best!" She shouted at him...before thinking it over. "Well, Second Best anyway." She nodded at that.

As she stood there, the darkness receded from her room, returning it to its state as it had been before the dolt of a pony dared to set hoof inside. Placing her pipe on her bed, she went out into the hallway, stepping on him with a little bit of extra pressure as she crossed, before she latched onto his tail, slowly but surely dragging him out of her room. With the unconscious pony now resting on the landing atop the stairs, Scootaloo went back inside and locked her door. She was safe for the moment at least.

She crawled back onto her bed to look out her window, finding that while the black abyss was gone, Ponyville and the surrounding countryside was still covered in fog. But at least from this angle, it looked decently enough like the Ponyville she was familiar with.

It was time to get moving again. Carefully unhitching her saddlebag, Scoot undid the broken lantern and the pole from it and tossed them aside. They would be of no further use for the moment. The wooden pole wasn't even strong enough to be used as a weapon itself.

Rummaging around inside the bag, she undid the bandage on her side and put new wrappings on it, even though it was screaming at her every step of the way. But her mother had always said that if you didn't keep a cut clean, it would get infected. That wasn't something she was willing to test at the moment. With that done, Scoot went around and collected some things that she thought might prove useful.

A coat, her umbrella hat and her rain boots for if it started raining again. A scarf too, just in case. The candle and holder from her nightstand, and some matches she'd snuck from her mom a while ago. The spare key to the house, in case she had to come back. And lastly, her Cutie Mark Crusaders cape...for good luck. She held up the red fabric, eying the yellow insignia. Just holding it somehow made her feel better.

With care, she packed the boots in first, followed by her coat, hat and scarf. With a bit of pushing, she fit the blanket and the cape inside. Then, she placed the music box on top, and adding a bit of string, put the key on a make-shift necklace around her neck. Once everything was secured, she strapped the pack back on, feeling the sheer difference in weight as its straps squeezed against the muscles under her injured wing. It shifted around uncomfortably at first until it settled into place.

Nodding satisfactorily, Scootaloo scooped up the skates and slung them over her neck with the key.

But now that she was packed and ready...she felt the urge to stay put. She'd been so fired up to get going again, but now it felt like she wanted nothing more than to stay right where she was. Scootaloo couldn't bring a hoof to move towards the door.

"That's right dear. You just stay here for now." A voice called out to her.

Scoot's head swiveled slowly towards her closet door. It was propped open just a bit from her searching earlier, but something about it was off.

Behind it, she could see that familiar red glow, the sound of mournful cries and rushing wind growing slowly as the door pushed open.

"You're safe and sound. Nothing can get you now."

The cages were still speeding by in the darkness, but one stayed where it was, hanging open. The faceless pony inside of it was reaching out to her.

"Don't you worry, my little darling. We won't let them hurt you anymore."

"Back off!" Scoot shouted at the monster. "You're not getting me again!" Looking around, Scootaloo grabbed the table leg from her bed and held it at the ready.

"What ever do you mean? We just want to keep you safe." It replied with a mouth that didn't exist.

"No! You were going to throw me to the monsters! You don't care if I'm safe or not. You just want me in that cage so I can't do anything anymore!"

The pony's cage slowly crept towards the closet opening, its inhabitant stepping out of the cage, out of the closet, and into the room.

"Do you even know what it is you're trying to do, little one?"

Scoot only thought about that for a moment.

"Yeah! I'm trying to find my friends." She shot back.

The faceless pony shook its head.

"Your friends left you Scootaloo. You're all by yourself, safe and sound with us now. See? You're home. You don't need friends who leave you alone."

She knew it wasn't true. But it still hurt a bit.

"You come near me again and I'll clobber you good." The little filly threatened.

"How can you speak to me like that? All I want to do is help. Now just...come with me." It moved closer.

"Back OFF!" Scootaloo swung the leg, smacking the pony clear in the face. It fell over, not moving.

"I don't need your help. So go back to where you came from or so help me, I'll hit you again."

The pony on the floor dissipated, evaporating into thin air as the scene in the closet faded to black. The door shut with a thunderous slam, all other sounds dying off to leave Scootaloo by herself. But not just the pony had vanished. Her room now stood bare and empty. Her bed was gone, the desk was missing. It almost looked like nopony had ever lived there.

"See? Everything, everypony...even you, eventually leaves. So what good are you?" She asked with a down turned gaze, staring at the spot where the faceless pony had been. The lump in her chest from before returned, growing colder.

Any resolve to stay had vanished with the monster. Scootaloo opened her door, ready to strike at Not Dream Catcher, only to find that he too was gone.

"Everypony leaves at some point." She repeated, noting his absence.

She took her time going down the stairs as every awkward step made her side burn, but she made it down without too much trouble. Looking around, there was no one home. It wasn't even the home she knew. All the furniture was gone or covered by cloth. The kitchen was empty, as were the living room and dining rooms. The whole thing had been false. Not that she'd expected anything less by this point. That much was almost painfully obvious the moment Not Dream Catcher showed up in her doorway.

None of it surprised her now. When she opened the front door to leave, she half expected some blood thirsty monster to be there, ready to try and tear her apart. All she found was a for-sale sign in the front lawn.

And there was another flash.

'That's right...I remember now...'

Scoot's heart sank even further if it was possible as she remembered the events of not that long ago. It couldn't have even been more than a few weeks since they had moved out, leaving her there.

===D.W.===

"Why? What would make you do something like this?" The stallion bellowed out, enraged.

"I don't know! I really don't!" Scoot backed into the closet, still holding her bat like it was her last line to life.

"Dear Luna Child, all we asked is that you go to your room! And what do you do? You club your mother like some barbarian?" He hissed vehemently through gritted teeth.

"Please! I'm sorry! I really am!"

"No. That's the last straw. We've been nothing but nice to you, and all you do is push us away. And now you've gone and broken her jaw. Why, I still don't understand. I've half a mind to throttle you myself!"

Scootaloo swung at him too as he advanced on her, though the stallion was smart enough to duck out of the way. That was her opening. She bolted out of the closet beneath him, running out of her bedroom.

Her mind was racing as she left the house behind, pushing hard on her scooter to get as far away from them as possible. She couldn't go back to the orphanage. Not now that she'd done what she did. They'd never take her back after this.

She couldn't go stay with Sweetie Belle and Rarity...or Applejack and Apple Bloom. They'd just turn her back over to the family.

No, there was only one place left for her to go now...

===D.W.===

Not even three days later, the house had gone up for sale...including most of her things in it. She had gone back to retrieve what she could, breaking in through one of the downstairs windows, just so she could have fortifications and supplies for when she moved into...

Where had she gone to? That part was still blank, for some reason.

She shook her head and cleared the thought. If things kept up the way they had been, she'd figure it out soon enough.

When nothing else made itself apparent, Scootaloo walked outside into the fog choked air, glad she packed her coat when a chill wind swept through the town and past her house. She looked up, seeing heavy dark clouds forming. The temperature dropped sharply, causing the little filly's breath to start smoking in the air before her.

Without hesitation, she reached around into her bag, past the blanket and the music box, rummaging for her coat. It came out without too much hassle, and while it was a bit awkward to don with the bag and her busted wing, she made due. At least the coat provided her with a bit of warmth against the chill.

As Scoot moved along into town, things indeed seemed to be back to their normal state. The buildings all looked familiar, the streets were back to their cobblestone appearance in places, the bright colors had returned to the shops and houses.

It was as if the Weather Team hadn't cleared up the clouds and the fog. Just a typical cold, fall morning.

Scootaloo wandered about for a bit, the town deathly quiet as she roamed the streets. The wind blowing through barely made a sound. It was literally quiet enough to hear a pin drop at times. All of Ponyville, it seemed, had been deserted. For half a moment, Scoot stopped and turned towards the direction of Dream Catcher's house. It wasn't hard to remember where it had been. The thought of going there only seemed to depress her further though, almost as much as when she'd wandered down the alley where they'd met up rather forcibly to find her Scooter still missing.

Still, he had proved somewhat useful, and without any other clue as to what she was going to do, Scoot made her way over.

When she got there, nothing seemed out of place. The door was closed and the windows were shuttered. No visible light source gleamed through the cracks in the doorway or between the shutters. The building was dark and just as quiet as the rest of Ponyville. When she tried opening the door, she found it unlocked and easily pushed her way inside.

The place was surprisingly clean compared to how it had looked when she'd last entered. There were no broken music boxes lying around, no tools or parts. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except for one rolled up piece of paper on the workbench in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, Scoot found her name written on it. Sort of.

"He messed it up again." She sighed, looking down at 'Skootarloo' scrawled in poor hoofwriting across the roll.

But wait. If this was here...maybe he was all right after all?

That warranted investigating.

First though, Scootaloo unrolled the paper to find that it was a hoofdrawn map of Ponyville. Here and there were marks on the paper, few of which made any sense at all. Most of them were just circles around random buildings. Two or three caught her attention though.

Rarity's Boutique.

Sweet Apple Acres.

And a hastily drawn box with a triangle on top of it out in the middle of the Apple Orchards. The Clubhouse. How did he know about the Crusader's Clubhouse?

That, she decided, she'd ask him when she found him again. Scoot took off, searching every room of the house. It was a lot bigger on the inside than it seemed outdoors, the single story home with a loft actually providing a lot of space. She started her search in the bedrooms. Multiple. There were four of them all cramped together in the back of the building. Each one was big enough though to be at least as big as the upper floor of Twilight's Library where she slept.

Scoot turned up a few black and white pictures in her search. One showed Dream Catcher and a whole bunch of foals standing outside of the Orphanage. She could see Grandma Blankie and Dream standing close to one another, along with a white Unicorn right beside them surrounded by all the young ponies.

One turned up another picture of the odd-eyed pony and the Unicorn side by side in a bright room, though they both looked to be considerably younger than in the first picture.

In the last photo, she saw Dream standing next to an Earth Pony. The image was blurred as if whoever had taken the picture kept moving the camera so it was hard to tell, but if the pony's build had been any indication though, it was definitely a mare. The background of the image looked vaguely familiar too. The surrounding landscape was covered in snow.

Something about the images pressed further into her mind, especially the last one, more so than the little Pegasus wanted to admit. She found it hard to believe that she was actually becoming interested in Dream Catcher. She'd met a figure from his past. She'd seen where he grew up. Why, if this was something she had to do...did his life keep interfering in her 'nightmare' as he'd called it?

Yet another question she resolved to ask him when she found him.

With nothing left to search for in the back of the house, Scoot took herself into the kitchen. Here, things seemed a bit lived in. Dishes lie in the sink and strainer covered in dust, a tribute to how long it'd been since anypony had ventured into the house. But that didn't make any...

"Stop trying to make sense of this stuff..." She scolded herself. Scoot knew it was useless. Everything in this place had made little headway towards the direction of common modes of thinking. She took another brief glance around...

When her eyes fell on a cellar door, partially open.

She swung the door the wide, peering down into the basement. A soft, hazy red glow cast deep shadows on the walls that were visible, and what could only be described as an otherworldly wind could be heard.

Nodding to herself as much for reassurance as for a decision, the little Pegasus descended the stairs slowly.

It was dark, dank and musty, but the light provided just enough light to see the horrors that lie strewn about the room.

Bodies of ponies hung from the walls, stripped of their skins. Piles of skeletons littered the corners of the room save from the foot of the staircase. Dark spatters stained the floor all around her as she took in the nightmarish sights. At one corner of the room, it looked as though a Pony had been sliced in half and then literally hung by his own insides...which then strung across the room to his lower half. Along the way, clothing and various assortments of cloth were attached by pins, as if they were hanging from a wash-line to dry.

She tried, but there was only so much Scootaloo could do to keep her tiny insides from flip-flopping. She found the nearest empty spot on the floor, since finding a clean one would've been impossible anyway, and left out a few heaving coughs, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of the massacre. She more than felt like she was going to be sick, but somehow Scoot managed to keep most of it down, peering around through the pain the hacking had caused to her side.

Her eyes settled on an ornate golden floor style mirror, a red vortex of light and sound swirling around in the glass. Below it, Scootaloo was able to pick out a small plaque with some writing on it. Gathering herself up off the floor, she moved closer to it.

Behind the eyes in the darkness of the void,

Beyond the lies in the heart of the truth.

Hidden in shadows never brought to light,

Enter now and forever know your place.

Scoot was beyond words at this point, unable to even try to comprehend what it meant. But she could feel it in her gut. This mirror had something to do not only with Dream and the horrible scene around her...but also with whatever was going on period.

Just as she was about to take a step away from the eery looking portal, the siren began its droning wail, just barely audible over the sound of the vortex. All around, the impossible began happened.

What she thought had been the most horrifying, most disgusting thing in her life...seemed to be getting one hundred times as bad. The walls appeared to be flaking and peeling away, leaving rusted steel mesh in its place. There was a harsh sound like sheering metal, as the floor beneath her began to flake like the walls had, parts of it dropping away into an immeasurable abyss full of chains and iron girders. Some of the bodies and skeletons had been lying on pieces that plummeted out, echoing with dull thuds, cracks and splintering sounds as they bounced off of the metal on the way down.

As the building around her collapsed, the siren increased in pitch, leaving Scoot's ears ringing. It was beginning to make her head pound just trying to block out the noise until at last, the warning mercifully stopped on a long, mournful note.

Once she'd taken her hooves out of her ears, Scootaloo looked around again.

The basement had transformed into a charnel house of blood and corpses. Three massive holes had opened up into the abyss below, presumably without any foundation at the bottom. They gaped wide, suggesting a straight drop to which there would be no coming back from. If that wasn't enough; the heat now wafting up from the pit was almost unbearable. Scoot could feel the sweat breaking out on her brow, streaming down her face to fall through the diamond-shaped cutouts in the mesh.

And then there was the mirror. The vortex has vanished, and a now quiet, almost beautiful scene lie on the other side. It was Rarity's Boutique. The white Unicorn could be seen busying herself behind one of her sewing machines as she worked on some new fashion breakthrough. Sweetie Belle was there too, situating some of the dressing dummies like they were all joining her for a tea party.

"Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo cried out, pounding against the glass. "Sweetie Belle, Over Here!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

For whatever reason, neither the little unicorn nor her older sister seemed to hear her. Both carried on like there was nothing wrong with the world.

"Guys, come on! It's me!" She punched the mirror harder, trying to break through it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Scootaloo froze, mid-swing. She backed away from the glass, unsure of whether or not she wanted to know who was behind her...or how they'd gotten there.

"That's right. Step back from the mirror, little filly."

"You?" Scoot turned, seeing Dream Catcher standing across the room from her, seeming unphased from his ordeal with the stair pony.

"Do I know you?" He asked, brows furrowed as he studied her intently.

"What do you mean, do you know me? You're the reason I'm here in the first place!" She shouted angrily, any relief at his appearance waning away in the wake of his stupidity and forgetfulness.

He simply shook his head.

"No, I can't say that we're acquainted. Though I am glad you're here. I've been feeling the need to have a bit of fun." He replied, stone faced.

"How can anyone have fun in a place like this? What happened to these ponies? And why are they in your basement, Dream?" She asked.

"What did you just call me?" He seemed taken aback at that.

"Your name? Dream Catcher?"

With this, the Pegasus burst out into an uproarious laughter.

"So THAT'S what's going on. You think he's me. How quaint."

"Wait...you're not Dream? Just how many of you crazy ponies are there?" Scoot beat her forehead with a hoof in exasperated aggravation. "There's Dream Catcher...there's Not Dream Catcher...just who are you if you aren't Dream Catcher?"

The pony chuckled lightly as he took a step closer to her, his hoofs clanging menacingly on the metal.

"Well, I suppose it would be wrong of me to say that I'm not Dream Catcher in a way. You see...he and I are one in the same."

Scoot wanted to scream.

"You mean he's not just stupid-crazy, but he's got voices in his head too?! What gives? When will anything make sense here? Who the Hay are you?"

"Why...I am Soul Weaver, my little pony...and this is my domain."