Darkness Scoots

~So we look at the mind, and find out that it is merely a mirror of the world around us. Everything we have ever seen or done is reflected back upon our memory like the pane of glass situated in the frame. Forever embedded in its placeholder, the mind serves as not only the home of our subconscious, but of our very essence itself. The spirit of who we've made of our own self.

And in the mind lies two worlds in which our subconscious truly live in. The one perceived, and the one experienced. As we experience the world through our eyes, the subconscious perception of our inner world changes to fit that of our daily lives. So if you find yourself having nightmares...you really are the source of them, and the only one at fault for these hellish visions. You have no greater enemy than that which you make of yourself.

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

===D.W.===

"Soul Weaver huh?" Scootaloo asked of the Pegasus before her. He seemed every bit as much the same as Dream Catcher, except he wasn't him either. So now there were three psychotic Pegasus Ponies running around in an already crazy, mixed up version of Ponyville. Great.

"Don't take my name with such familiarity young one. I still know you not, and as such, before I begin to play with you I think proper introductions are in order." The other pony replied.

"You're gonna play with me? Sorry, I don't think I want any part in the kind of games you like." She looked around the room, still noting the pony strung up by its insides hanging across the space like some sick drying line.

"You still haven't introduced yourself. Are you trying to ruin my good mood?" Soul Weaver stamped a hoof impatiently.

"Oh, what does it matter?"

"It matters a lot, young one. How can I tell anypony about the great times we're about to enjoy if I don't have a name to put to the stories?" He seemed genuinely serious about it.

Scoot took him in. He looked like Dream Catcher. His wings were busted. His eyes were two different colors. And for all intents and purposes, he was the dim-witted Pegasus she knew. Everything except that vehement, displeasing stare he kept giving her; like he was standing amongst common filth to his perceived royalty or something.

She began to think of ways to try and outsmart him.

"Okay...so you want my name. I'm Scootaloo. Happy?" She snapped back.

"Scootaloo, hmm? Excellent! The stories are always Much better when I have names for faces. You see, I like telling stories. I find them to be a most amusing way to pass the time, especially the good ones. When you've got so much to talk about, the stories just seem to flow and you can entertain hundreds for hours if you do it just right."

Scoot shrugged.

"Not like I care about any story you've got."

"Oh? But I think you'd find my stories most entertaining. Like the one about this pony." He walked over to the corner where the upper half of the wash-line pony was hanging. "He was a great sport. He even bet me that he could wake up, as if everything around him was a dream. He was so sure he was dreaming that he bet his life on it. Unfortunately for him..." Soul Weaver smirked.

"Yeah, I kinda got the idea by now. You finished?" Scootaloo asked, the heat and surrounding environment making it extremely hard to think, let alone the presence of this ill tempered creature before her.

He shook his head.

"Oh heavens no. I've got a really great tale I think you'd be interested in hearing!" Soul Weaver practically beamed. "It's the story of a young filly who became separated from her friends and got lost in the world of her nightmares." He grinned with cold, calculating eyes, drawing closer to her.

"All right...I'll bite." Scoot nodded, knowing from his look that he had to be talking about her.

"Excellent! You see, this little pony thought that she was the greatest thing to hit Equestria since her hero. She had the gall to believe that she could be just as good. She even went so far as to frequently shun her friends attempts to help her...just to be more like her hero. And then one day...she hit her head and fell asleep. But it was so much more than just a dream. For in the world that she found herself...her worst nightmares had come to life. The things she once loved and cherished...were now out to destroy her. And the only way for her to get out..." He left off.

"Yeah? You're not gonna finish?"

Soul Weaver chuckled, though his eyes continued to bore icicle daggers into her.

"Well...that'd be giving away a perfectly good ending. I'm not one for spoiling the last few chapters of a good read."

"Some story teller you are. Can't even finish his own story." Scoot mocked, the first idea that popped into her head. She hoped...just maybe, that this pony would be as easily offended as Not Dream Catcher.

He merely rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm aware of all the possible endings, young Scootaloo. However, it isn't for me to decide which ending the tale has."

"Then what is your job, goofy-eyes?" She sighed, her ploy lost.

Soul Weaver picked up a hoof, running it down the side of her face gently, earning himself a satisfied sigh when Scootaloo shuddered at his touch.

"My dear...I am just another character in the tale. I cannot decide the ending that the story has...I am merely here to make sure that it's as unpleasant as possible."

Scoot backed away from him, still feeling his cold hoof against her muzzle. For all her bravado, this pony was genuinely beginning to terrify her, that righteous fury at Dream Catcher freezing up under this pony's icy stare and dead cold touch.

He saw his chance in her eyes, leaning down close to her.

"So then, now that we've got the plot and the characters...how about the play, hmm? I think I've got the perfect game for you." He whispered, barely audible over the groaning of the miles of metal beneath them.

Scoot gulped.

"What kind of game?"

"Oh...just a simple game of Pin the Tail on the Pony." He replied, holding out what looked like a tail from the game. Upon closer inspection, the hair turned up to be real, a small chunk of flesh still attached at one end with a nail pierced through it. "And here's your target." Soul Weaver pointed up to the lower half of the wash-line pony, it's tail now missing. "All you have to do is walk across the room from the stairs to our friend here, and give him his tail back. Sound fun?"

Scootaloo backed away from the tail, only to find herself up against the mirror with no where else to go. Soul Weaver stood over her, the tail held up in one hoof, his polychromatic gaze staring down at her with such an intensity that Scoot almost forgot about the sweltering heat, the chill from his eyes freezing her to the core.

"And if it doesn't sound fun? If I don't want to play?"

"My dear, you have no choice." His grin spread wider.

Scoot almost sighed in resignation when she remembered his starting point. The Stairs. If she could get over there, she might get out.

"All right. I guess I'll play." She nodded, reaching up for the disgusting left over of the poor pony that had been Soul Weaver's last game partner. A grimace spread wide over her features, her eyes closed as she felt the strands of hair touch her hooves. It sent a chill down her spine to accompany the growing ball of ice in her gut, but she gathered what little courage she could muster under Soul Weaver's intense scrutiny, slowly making her way over to the stairs.

As she neared the bottom though, she could feel her heart sink even deeper, if it was possible. From the middle of the staircase, a plume of black smoke wafted up from a hole where a pair of golden eyes glimmered menacingly out at her. So much for that plan.

"Oh! One last rule." Soul Weaver called out.

"And that is?" Scootaloo turned to face her captor.

"Since we don't really have any blindfolds here, you're going to have to do this game in the dark." He nodded, happy with his pronouncement as he brought a hoof down upon the section of floor he was standing on. As he did, the world around them seemed to black out into complete shadow.

"But how will I see the holes in the floor?" Scoot cried out. "This isn't fair!"

Soul Weaver laughed.

"It'd be no different than if you had a blind fold on, am I wrong?" He retorted.

She had to admit...he did have a point.

So, slowly...and with painstaking care, Scootaloo felt her way across the metal mesh, inching closer and closer to where she'd last seen the poor pony's carcass hanging from the ceiling. The darkness wasn't what scared her as she moved, no. It was knowing that the abyss still lie deep beneath her if she moved to the wrong spot on the floor. Just as she felt the first hole in her projected path, Scootaloo felt the section she was standing on starting to buckle and give way. In a complete blind leap of panic, Scoot jumped.

And felt nothing beneath her.

By some chance of pure luck, her front hooves found purchase on the next section of floor as she fell through the hole. It was still jagged and sharp from where the floor pieces had separated earlier, and it cut deep into the soft flesh around her hooves, but she held on. Flapping her one good wing as hard as she could while ignoring the pain from the other trying to move, Scootaloo pulled herself up onto the metal grating, panting hard at her near miss.

"Oh, good job little filly! That was a close one. Did I forget to mention that the floor isn't all that stable? Silly me, I've really let this place go. It's in such a state of disrepair that I should really be ashamed of myself." He seemed to be mocking her with each word, knowing full well that she'd most likely fall. "Anyway, do continue on! You're providing me with much entertainment! I can't wait to tell everypony about this story. They're going to love it!"

Scootaloo did her best to avoid the holes as they materialized in the darkness beneath her hooves, and more than once had to make a blind leap into the complete shadow. But she slowly made her way across the metal floor until at last, she could feel the wet blood of the deceased pony dripping down from above her. Without so much as another thought, Scootaloo jumped up, driving the nail in the disgusting tail into the corpse, hitting the floor again with a rather frightening shake as it felt ready to give way beneath her.

"Well done! Well done indeed, Scootaloo!" Soul Weaver chimed in from the darkness. "You've pinned it right good, you have!"

Slowly, the inky blackness around her lifted. With a start, Scoot looked around to see the veritable mine-field of holes she'd made as she crossed the room. There was barely one-quarter of the floor left to stand on, counting the holes that had already been there.

"Excellent, my little filly. Well played. Now, look down at your hooves to find your prize!" The black Pegasus slowly came into view across the room.

With a bit of trepidation, Scootaloo looked down to find a few rainbow colored follicles of hair littering the mesh beneath her. She jumped back quickly, bringing her eyes up to see that the pony from before had been replaced, the hindquarters of a skyblue Pegasus with a multicolored tail hanging instead in its place. On its flanks, a familiar rainbow colored lightning bolt seemed to be charred into the flesh and fur.

"No!" Scoot cried, ducking her head down, covering her eyes. "That can't be!"

A hollow laugh resounded from Soul Weaver.

"Ah, but do your eyes lie to you? Is that not the pony you most want to be like? To idolize? Now that she's out of the way Scootaloo, your prize for pinning the tail perfectly is your one shot at becoming number one! Isn't that what you want?"

"Not like this!" Scoot shouted, not sure which emotion was stronger at that point. Rage...or sorrow.

"Hey, take it easy kiddo. Everything's all right."

Scoot almost didn't want to believe her ears.

"Rainbow Dash?" She called out, still keeping her eyes covered.

"Don't worry lil'Scoot! You're gonna be fine!"

"Where are you?!"

"Open your eyes, squirt. I'm right here."

It took a few seconds to muster up the courage, but Scootaloo gradually removed her hooves from her eyes...instantly wishing she hadn't. From the other corner of the room, the upper half of Dash was talking to her. She backpedaled, screaming...and caught herself right before she fell into one of the many holes in the floor.

"What's wrong? Ain'tcha happy to see me?" The corpse mocked.

"You're not Rainbow Dash! You're just some...monster!"

"Hey, who're you callin a monster, kid?" Corpse-Dash shot back. "I ain't no monster!"

"Ah...what a touching reunion." Soul Weaver sighed happily, wiping away a mock tear. "Oh! And if that was good, I've got another friend for you Scootaloo! This way, we can keep playing games! Isn't this rather fun?" He asked, tapping his hoof lightly on the ground. As he did, the vortex reappeared in the mirror to Scoot's right.

Out stepped a dark gray Pegasus Pony, her hair and mane done up in varying shades of silver. On her rump, a dark splotch was surrounded by a glowing vortex of energy.

"Scootaloo, meet my dear friend: Singularity."

"This can't be happening." Scoot shook her head, backing even further away from this new arrival.

"Oh, but it is. Singularity, say hello to Scootaloo, our guest for this evening."

The Anti-Dash looked over at Scoot, a dark, menacing smile appearing on her muzzle.

"Well hello there twerp. Wish I could say it's nice ta meetcha, but...well it ain't." She smirked.

"No! This isn't real! You're not real!" Scoot denied to the very last ends of her last nerve, feeling what was left of her resolve fading faster than you could say cupcakes.

Soul Weaver laughed heartily.

"That's exactly what my last guest kept saying! Oh, the irony. This is just too good. That line never gets old, I swear." He could barely contain the twisted joy hidden behind those cold, uncaring eyes. "Well then...I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Singularity, would you be so kind as to instigate our next game? I've got some things to do, but I'll be back shortly."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Anti-Dash waved her hoof in dismissal. "I got this."

"Excellent! Now Scootaloo, you play nice with Singularity here. I went to a lot of trouble to find you a playmate." With that, the black Pegasus seemingly melded into the wall behind him, as if he'd never been there at all.

Scoot's full attention now came to the blasphemy standing before her.

"So then twerp...how's about a game of tag?" Anti-Dash squared herself off, lowering her head close to the ground as if preparing to charge.

Scootaloo looked around.

"You've gotta be kidding! We can't run around in here! What if I fall through?" She continued backing up until her rump met the wall behind her.

"Not my problem kiddo. I can fly." As if to accentuate her point, Singularity spread her wings, flapping them once.

Scoot couldn't see any way out of the situation. Smoke continued to pour out of the staircase...that exit was still barricaded by the staircase pony. There were too many holes in the floor to move about safely. The mirror would be all that could stand between her and this reverse world Rainbow Dash.

The Mirror! It had shown Rarity's Boutique earlier! Scoot hesitantly glanced over to see that the vortex was still swirling behind the glass. If this Dash had come out of it...maybe...

The Anti-Dash made her move. She took off at lightning speed, aiming straight for the filly. Scootaloo barely had time to register the fact before she dove out of the way, landing behind the mirror. Singularity arced just in time to avoid hitting the wall and dove down underneath the floor through a hole, zooming back around to come up through another.

This was her chance.

Scootaloo rolled out from behind the mirror and threw herself at it with all of her strength.

She was met with a dull, resounding thud as her head hid the glass. Nothing happened.

"No!" She began to beat on it with her hooves again, trying to get to her last bid for freedom.

The Anti-Dash wasted no time, rushing her again. This time, Scoot couldn't move out of the way as they both collided, hitting the framed glass. It shattered into a million pieces...and Scootaloo's world went black once more.

===D.W.===

There was a slight ringing in her ears. She was sore all over, her busted wing throbbing intensely as she tried to sit up.

It had worked.

Scootaloo took a look around to find herself in the Boutique. Well...what looked like it might have once been the Boutique. All around, the skins of dead ponies hung on the mannequins like they were being used to design clothing. Marks had been made in the flesh in the shapes of sleeves and dresses. The stench was nigh unbearable, causing Scoot to almost lose her stomach again. But she shook it off, focusing on the pain in her wing. It hurt to high heaven, but it kept her mind clear enough.

Quickly surveying the area, she noted with some satisfaction that Singularity was gone, at least for the moment. She also took inventory of her things. They were all still in their places, though the music box had been thoroughly smashed. Any pieces of its remains lie broken on the floor. So much for that.

Her skates had fared well, thankfully, as she drew them onto her hooves. If this was going to be a game of speed, she'd need every bit of leeway she could get. Her hooves ached, her head throbbed and her wing was quite literally pounding in its socket, but there would be no time to worry about that if the Anti-Dash came back for her.

"Hey! Pipsqueak! Come on out! We aren't done playing yet!"

Scoot quickly ducked under a decrepit looking metal table, one that Rarity's sewing machine was almost always perched on. She looked out from under it to see a shadow go flying past the window outside.

"Dang...this just keeps going from bad to worse..." She thought out loud. Scootaloo waited there for what seemed like forever before moving. As she was about to get out from under the table, a light red cloth fell down across her face.

Scoot pulled it down, finding herself staring at Sweetie Bell's Cutie Mark Crusader's cape. It was in poor shape, much like everything else in this world had been, but it was still recognizable. The initials S.B. were hoof-stitched into the collar with obvious TLC, giving away Sweetie Bell's handiwork. Scoot took the cape, snuggling it gently for a moment.

'Man I wish I was home right now...'

With little else to go on, Scootaloo packed it away into her already stuffed saddlebag, slowly edging her way to the door. It didn't seem like Singularity was still hanging around, but to be safe, she peeked her head around outside before exiting the building.

If Ponyville had ever been in a fit state of war, Scootaloo imagined it would've looked much like this.

Buildings were up and gone in some places. In others, they had collapsed in on themselves or were full of holes, steel beams and crossbars interweaving intricate patterns throughout the town. It was almost as if Ponyville had become the site of some post-war construction zone...except without all the typical safety measures in place.

There were more bottomless chasms in the streets. The roads themselves had turned back into their solid metal plate remnants of the old-time Ponyville. All around, the smells of smoke, fire and ash permeated the air, and the sky itself was once again pitch black, save for the hazy red glow cast up from the pits.

"Just great." Scoot sighed, pushing herself off on her skates. As she rolled, she pulled out the map that Dream Catcher had left for her, noting now with some surprise that Rarity's Boutique had been magically erased from the map. The library and Sugar Cube Corner were gone too. Town Square was a large black spot and most of the stores had large X's through them. All that remained untouched now were Sweet Apple Acres and the poorly drawn image of the Crusader's tree house.

"Sweet Apple Acres it is then." She nodded, setting out for the south road out of town. The roads remained mostly clear, though occasionally, there was the thunderous beat of the Boiling Pony's hoofsteps. Thankfully, none of the large beasts made an appearance.

That is, until the bridge across the river. Just as Scootaloo was about to cross into the pasture lands where the cows grazed, there came a sickening crunch of bending metal. A boiling monstrosity meandered slowly out of the shadows on the opposite side, staring down Scootaloo with a fierce intensity.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" She moaned, almost forgetting her weapon. With determination set into her, she reached around for the table leg, only to feel herself lifted up quickly, then dropped back to the ground flat on her stomach. Her wing put out another horrid jolt of pain as she landed, knocking the wind out of her.

"I'll be taking that!" the familiar voice of Singularity echoed in the darkness above her. As Scoot regained what little composure she could muster, she reached back only to feel that the weapon was missing. Looking up, she could see the gray pony cackling maniacally to herself, holding the table leg. With a quick toss, she chucked it into the river beneath the bridge, watching it wash away in the blood red waters.

"You Jerk!" Scootaloo shouted up at her.

"Hey, life's tough twerp. Gotta learn somehow!" She smiled that wicked, sick smile of hers before popping a black cloud seemingly out of nowhere. The malicious Anti-Dash flopped down on it, getting comfortable. "Time to enjoy the show!"

Scoot's attention was brought back to the bridge as it shook again violently, the Boiling Pony rearing up as if to crush her beneath its front hooves.

Scootaloo dodged out of the way, back off the bridge towards town before spinning around. Without a weapon, there was little she could do to fend off the monster. She had to think quick, the large grotesque thing was getting closer by the second.

And then, she saw her window of opportunity.

Right between the legs of the monster.

A gap had opened up as it shifted its weight to try and remove some of the boiling cutie marks, leaving a space just wide enough, Scoot hoped, to squeeze through. Just as the monster turned around to begin gnawing at its hide, Scootaloo took her shot and pushed forward, powering herself along on her one good wing while the other throbbed painfully. Just as she reached the Boiling Pony's front hooves however, the beast reared up with a section of its hide in its mouth.

Scootaloo had seen first hand what those bubbling cutie marks could do and drove herself forward for all she was worth. She ducked under the behemoth just as it dropped the sloughed skin onto the bridge, feeling the intense heat of the marks eating through the metal behind her. Just as she made it over the bridge, the structure collapsed, taking the monstrosity with it into the water.

"Not bad pint-size. Should try out for the Shadow Bolts." Anti-Dash called down. "Not that you'd ever stand a chance. They're only like, the best fliers in all of the Everfree Forest. Gonna be one myself someday."

"I wouldn't join you or the Shadow Bolts if my life depended on it!" Scoot shot back, not slowing her momentum as she raced for Sweet Apple Acres.

"Hey, you can't talk to me like that!" Singularity called back angrily. "Just for that, I'm gonna pull out my best trick for ya!" If Scootaloo had been looking, she'd have seen the most insidious smile to ever have fallen on Equestria.

Singularity left her cloud, racing into the sky at breakneck speeds, pulling a complete U-turn once she'd reached optimum height. She folded her wings down against her gray body, both hooves forward as she plummeted towards the surface. Before her, a conical build up of energy began to flow out and round the evil Pegasus' body, turning into a slip-stream around her.

Scootaloo could hear the signature whistle of something moving incredibly fast through the air behind her. Daring a look over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Anti-Dash mid-fall, somehow knowing what was coming in the pit of her gut.

"One Black Hole Blast, just for you, ya little brat!" Singularity cried out into the night as she broke the sound barrier, angling off at the ground to come parallel to it. The energy shock wave burst out into the sky as a white hot ring, a black trail rocketing behind the pony. But as she soared closer and closer to Scootaloo, two things happened simultaneously.

The shock wave began to collapse back in on itself, a swirling vortex at the center of it sucking in everything around a singularity left behind in the wake of so much energy being released at once. To add to that, the trail of shadow that Anti-Dash was leaving behind...seemed to disintegrate everything it touched, the entire countryside vanishing into a black void even as Scootaloo did her best to outrun it.

"You're mine now, pip-squeak!" She bellowed, quickly gaining ground on the orange filly.

Her mind was racing. There was no way she could outrun the coming pony. No where to hide from that expanding shadow...no place to escape from that swirling portal that was devouring everything. She had one option.

In a last ditch effort to stop the oncoming pony, Scootaloo reached over into her saddlebag at the risk of her precarious balance, pulling out Grandma Blankie's blanket.

'I've only got one shot at this...gotta make it count...'

Singularity was getting closer by the split-second...

Scootaloo risked another look over her shoulder...

'NOW!'

She left go of the blanket, the cloth covering fluttering backwards in her wake. It landed smack dab on Anti-Dash's face, causing the Pegasus to go into a mid-air tumble. The shadow-trail behind her died out and the vortex too began to fade, its outward source of power lacking enough strength to keep it rotating. The singularity slowly collapsed upon itself, closing up in a bright flash of light.

'YES!' Scoot could barely contain her happiness. It had worked. A one in a million shot...and it had worked.

Overhead, the grey hued pegasus went careening out of control, running headlong into a tree with a sickening crunch of bones. The tree itself fell over from the force of the impact, taking the limp pony with it to the ground, her face covered by the bright blue rainbow maker on the blanket. Scootaloo slowed herself down, skating over to where the Anti-Dash had crashed, picking up the cloth.

There was no life to be seen in Singularity's vacant gaze. The crash had killed her.

"That's what you get for trying to imitate the best!" Scootaloo yelled triumphantly, tucking the blanket back into her bag. She sat down to catch her breath quickly, noting with dismay that the shadow-trail, while no longer a threat, had completely cut off any road back into Ponyville. The entire countryside had either fallen victim to it, or the black hole left behind in its wake.

"Well...guess I'm not going back That way." Scootaloo shrugged, wincing when her wing came back to haunt her with its incessant pulsating. The escape had taken more out of her than she'd thought. She did her best to once again push the pain aside, steeling her resolve. Sweet Apple Acres was just ahead. And hopefully...so was the end of this nightmare.