Scootaloo and the School of Ghouls

Scootaloo stood in the teleportation hub, glancing about to make sure noghoul was near. And after a moment or so, finally satisfied, she stepped through the orb labeled 'Northern Tower', and soon felt the familiar sensation of having her senses jolted by the sudden shift of scenery.

She now stood atop the lonely tower, a full view of the surrounding, strikingly beautiful fields of ice and snow now available to her. A frigid breeze grazed her bat-like wings, and soon enough, she actually gave a shiver.

The storm blowing through the Southern Pass was starting to show its teeth. She saw Rainbow Dash in the distance, and despite the efforts of the tiny blue dot, the billowing clouds of white were still barreling towards the castle.

Smiling at the sight of her sister-figure, she began making her way down the tower, and eventually stood at its base. The Proloquor Orb was there, waiting for her, and all she would need to do was draw close and whisper a few simple words.

She made her way over to it.

"What was it again?" she questioned herself, wracking her memory, before smiling. "Oh right... volo contact Captain Jack Harness... uh... Equestria."

She stood motionless for a moment, listening to the eerie, howling winds outside, and for a brief second, she was starting to wonder if Jack was going to pick up at all. Perhaps he was sleeping, or was busy…

However, soon enough, his face made itself known in the orb, followed by his care-free voice:

"Hey kiddo!” he chirped. “Wow, didn't expect to hear from you so soon. How's it hanging?"

"Uh- good," Scootaloo beamed. "Wait- you were expecting to hear from me?"

Jack gave a quick smirk. "Yeah, Twilight the Good Lich of the South told me she was working on a special project, a modified Proloquor Orb, right?"

"Jack... who are you talking to?" a voice called in a Dr. Whoovenstein accent.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, hang on Scoots, I'm with an old friend," Jack said, before turning his head to the side. "Check it out, Doc. They actually managed to make their radio work!"

"You mean... oh my! That's brilliant! She actually managed to modify it for cross-dimensional usage!"

"Well, if she's anything like this dimension's Twilight... it makes sense,” Jack smirked. “She's almost as smart as you, Doc."

"Hehe, look at you hanging around all these clever people, Jack. You've got yourself quite the friendly rogue gallery, don't you? Liches, vampires, what's next, friendly Daleks?"

"Yuh huh..."

"Uh, Captain," Scootaloo said, her face still laced with curiosity. "Who are you talking to? That sounds like- like-"

"Mhm, I believe you already know the Doctor,” he said. “He's an old friend of mine; and we go back further than you'll ever believe."

Scootaloo smiled slightly. She knew of the Doctor, and she also knew he was a sort of time traveler, as strange as that sounded. But she had never imagined that the Captain and him were friends.

"Tell Scootaloo I said hi!" the Doctor chirped. "And that I suppose I was wrong about her being a creature of the night after all, not that that matters of course!"

"Doc… she can hear you," the captain stated, before turning back Scootaloo's way. “Yeah, I sought him out a week ago to get his help with finding your old man. Unfortunately, he's just as in the dark about his possible location as I am, though."

Scootaloo sighed. "Yeah... that's actually what I called about. I was wondering... how much do you know about him?"

A beat. The captain stood motionless.

He then took a deep breath, apparently gathering his thoughts, before continuing with, "Well… not much, to be honest... his history I know through Blackfire. The two were pretty close back in the day. Apparently, they fought together in the Battle of Icecrown, as she called it, a huge climatic end of a ghoul civil war." He gave a shiver. "Glad I wasn't there. But yeah, she's the one who tipped me off he was in Equestria in the first place. This was back when Horsehood was actually somewhat honorable and not a merry band of misfits. It was our job to deal with interdimensional threats to Equestria, per instruction of Princess Celestia, and from what Blackfire was saying, he was an interdimensional threat."

"But how? How was he a threat?" Scootaloo asked, her curiosity giving way to worry.

The captain paused, before continuing with, "Scootaloo, before I go on, I just want to say that... what she told me was only a theory of hers. Or at least a very good hypothesis..."

"I'll take anything I can get," Scootaloo said firmly.

The captain chuckled, smiling. "You sound like me back when I was in Horsehood. Leaping for any leads I could get. Hard to do when your potential 'enemies' keep to the shadows. And that's the funny thing, really: your father turned out to be the exact opposite of that. When I talked to him, in the guise of a regular ole government official who thought he might have been an illegal immigrant, he seemed like the nicest guy in the world. And when we kept tabs on him, like for over ten years, he never gave anyone any trouble. And he definitely never drank anyone's blood. He had a supply he brought from the Nightmare Realm. I became worried when he met your mother, however..."

He sighed nostalgically, and Scootaloo gazed at him longingly.

"You probably want to know about her, don’t you? Well, her name was Desert Rose. A beautiful mare, and the nicest thing you could ever meet. I dated her for about five months…” He closed his eyes, smiling sorrowfully. “-But in the end, I had to give up the relationship. Being in Horsehood, it wasn't... smart to keep connections like that, connections that could be used against you. And when your enemies know you and death don’t get along, they’d take anything they could get. So, I let her go. And eventually, as if some great cosmic irony were occurring, she met your father, and the two hit it off."

"And she knew he was a vampire?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh yes, but she wasn't shallow by any stretch of the imagination." He gave another chuckle. "I guess he had a thing for stallions with... odd abilities, I guess you could say?"

"You still view that whole 'not dying' thing as a superpower, don't you, Jack?"

"Pfffft, somewhat, except when Rainbow Death scolds me every time I wind up at the pearly gates," he chuckled, before turning back towards Scootaloo. "I think I'm getting off topic... you want to know Blackfire's theory about him, right?"

Scootaloo nodded, though somewhat apprehensively.

"Well, alright... she didn't really go into detail, though. All she told me was he had made direct contact with someone called 'Artharius of Winter'. You know about him, right?"

"Yeah... Twilight told me about him..." Scootaloo whispered.

Jack nodded, before continuing with, "Well... apparently Mr. Winters was..."

A chuckle came from the Doctor. "Mr. Winters?"

"Shut up, Doc," Jack groaned, before continuing with, "Anyway, from what she said, this 'direct contact' with Artharius... it… allowed a part of him to latch onto your father… and it… did something to your father’s mind.” He paused a beat, before saying in a sorrowful tone, “I-I'm sorry Scootaloo, I know this-"

"It's alright, captain, I'd rather know than not know," Scootaloo said firmly.

Jack took a deep breath. "Alright... well... they say before he came to the regular world, he wasn't in tip-top shape mentally speaking. But then... something changed. He somehow regained his sanity when he came over here. Blackfire said it was probably just a ruse..."

"S-So what happened?"

At that, Jack gave a shiver and glanced away from her. Scootaloo tapped a hoof in annoyance.

"Jack... you need to tell her."

"Does she really need to know this?" he growled.

"She'll find out eventually. It’s best if it comes from you."

Jack took a deep breath. "Yeah... you're right, you're right..." he sighed, before turning back towards Scootaloo. "Did... Soulshard tell you how your mother... passed, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo slowly shook her head. "All she said was that... she had died. I really haven't had time to think about it, I guess..."

"Well...yes… but… she didn’t say how, did she? I was there at the scene of the crime... I examined your mother and..." He closed his eyes. "All indications show that it was caused by a vampire..."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "You mean to say..."

Jack slowly nodded. "I know... I'm sorry, kid..."

Scootaloo felt her heart plummet. Her father... her 'great' father, a hero to the world of ghouls... a murderer? How could it be possible? Immediately, all her interest in the conversation evaporated. Everything about Artharius… she no longer cared about. All she wanted to do right now was end the call and lie down in bed... to think about this new revelation. But she needed more information. She had to know all she could... there had to be more to the story than just that.

"C-Captain… you’re sure it was him?" Scootaloo squeaked.

Jack paused for a second, before continuing with, "I-I don't know, Scoots... I'm not an expert on vampires, but I can tell you what Blackfire said: that your father had been biding his time, hiding his insanity, and for a brief moment let it slip... and at that moment his instincts took control."

"S-So he didn't do it intentionally?"

Jack quickly shook his head. "No, I don't believe so. I'd bet money that if he was responsible for the murder, he didn't mean it. He probably ran from the scene more out of shame more than out of fear from Horsehood."

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, a sudden bit of hope leaping at her. "So... you're not entirely sure that it was him?"

"No, I’m not. You see, your father wasn't the only rogue vampire in Equestria at the time. We had reported sightings and... incidents involving them. Some even near where your father lived in Sleepy Hallow. There's a small possibility it was another vampire."

"Then that must have been it!" Scootaloo proclaimed.

"Like I said, it's possible," Jack said, nodding. "And it would make sense, too: your father would have known what danger she was putting your mother in if he felt he couldn't keep it together."

"That's true!" Scootaloo chirped. "He was one of the most powerful vampires there were… he would have known if his instincts were going out of control!”

"It's still all very ambiguous, kid..." Jack sighed. "But once the Doctor and I track him down, we'll get some answers. I promise."

"Thanks, Jack..." Scootaloo said. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm putting you through."

"Who wants muffins?!" the voice of Derpy Hooves suddenly chirped.

Jack momentarily glanced away from her, and then looked back. "No trouble at all, kid. It gave me an excuse to hang out with my Doctor again. And Derpy- those muffins look amazing!"

"They'd better be! They're practically all that I make!"

"Oh, and I get free muffins," Jack added. "That's a plus. Especially when they're your muffins, Derpy..." he said, winking to the side.

"Jack..."

"What?! Can't I give compliments anymore?!" he grunted.

"Not to Derpy... especially if you're using your patented formula."

"Seriously?!"

"Patented- what?" Scootaloo smirked.

Jack quickly sweat-dropped, looking sheepish. "Ahem! Mind if we not talk about this in front of the kid, Doctor?!" ‘

“You started it.”

He then took a deep breath, smiling at Scootaloo. "Anyway, you said things are working out over there, right? Are the ponies in Bogmorts giving you an easy time?"

Scootaloo nodded. "They're honestly very nice... well, most of them."

"That’s good, and - heh, you must be quite the celebrity too, considering what your dad means to them, right?" Jack beamed.

"More than you could imagine," Scootaloo sighed.

"Good... good..." Jack nodded, before his expression became serious once again. "But anyway, Scootaloo... since I've got you on the line, though I haven't heard anything about your father, I have heard a few things about Horsehood..."

"Horsehood?” Scootaloo said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought they were finished!”

Jack quickly shook his head. "We only cut off one head of the hydra. They've got bases everywhere, and some that I didn't even know about... Blackfire must have started them up behind my back," he growled. "They're working on something, too. Something called 'Project Fargate.' I don't know much about it, but it can't be anything good. Can you tell Twilight I want to talk with her, later? Lichy Twilight. Oh, and regular Twilight too, actually."

Scootaloo nodded.

"Alright... I'll tell them," she said in a somewhat disappointed tone.

Why couldn't she know?

"Anyway, kid... me and the Doctor have a lot of time and space to cover. We're trying to piece together a few things. But I'd be happy to chat a little longer if you want."

"No... it's fine," Scootaloo said. "I know you're probably really busy."

Jack quickly gave a nod, an approachable smile spreading across his face. "We are, but... listen, if you ever need to talk to anypony, just give me a call, OK? Or the Doctor. He's a really good listener."

"I'm touched, Jack..."

"When he's not being sarcastic..." he groaned, glaring to the side. "But yeah, I'll talk to you later, and, heh, it's been a while since I've said this, soooo: Captain Harness: signing off!"

Scootaloo smirked, throwing him a quick salute, before the Proloquor Orb blinked off.

However, soon enough, she was lost in the forest of her own mind, Jack’s words swimming through it… Horsehood... her father…

She shook her head, grunting. There was no possible way he had anything to do with his mother's murder. Nothing about it made sense. Captain Harness was right... he would have known if something was wrong with him. He wouldn't have put his wife in danger if he knew he couldn’t keep his instincts under control. He was one of the most powerful vampires there were! He would have known…

She then winced. Yet still, she didn't know exactly what had happened on Icecrown. Why her father was considered 'tainted.' And if so, how was that taint passed on. How could him being tainted lead to Artharius of Winter inhabiting her?

And suddenly, it hit her, her eyes widening with the thought.

She knew how she could find out… There was only one person who would know the answer.

"Artharius..." she whispered.

Nothing responded.

"Artharius, can you hear me? I know who you are, Arthur... I just want to talk..."

And again, there was no response. Was it possible 'Arthur' had fled when he knew they were onto him? It would make sense... maybe his spirit was invisible. It was possible she didn't even see him leave…

"Arthur..." she whispered again. "Please... I just want to know a few things. Twilight said that you were alone for millions of years. Is that why you came to me? Because you knew my father? Did you want someone to talk to?" She closed her eyes. "She said you weren't evil... so why would you drive my father crazy? I wouldn't be angry at you if you didn't mean to... Please, I just want to know... I want answers..."

Only the wind answered her... nevermore.

Her mood suddenly took a turn for the better. Perhaps there was nothing to worry about, though a small part of her wished he was still there. He could give her the answers she sought if he was willing to talk. But still, on the other hoof, she was glad he seemed to be gone; if everything wasn't some huge coincidence and he wasn't just her imagination... maybe her transformation into a vampire was doing something to her mind?

Smiling slightly, she made her way from the Proloquor Orb and toward the stairs of the tower. Even with the news she had just received, she was going to try her best to enjoy the rest of her day. Bogmorts was starting to intrigue her... and there was so much about it to explore.