Home Sweet Home

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the Ninth story in the series started by The Kindness of Strangers!

Please read The Kindness of Strangers first!
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/

The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/

The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/

The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/

The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/

The sixith part of the story is Imperfect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/

The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/

This story is the direct sequel to Broken Record found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/

Home Sweet Home
Chapter 1

Scootaloo had not always been homeless. No actually this had just been a more recent development. As she lie on her back, staring up at the ceiling of the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, which was empty save for her.

She’d been homeless for only a month and a half at this point, which was likely why nopony had noticed yet. She’d been good at hiding it for the most part, taking careful steps to not be seen when she needed basic amenities. Scootaloo’s natural grace and agility served her well, it translated into making the small, unassuming Pegasus filly into a thief. Usually late at night, the young filly would raid an unlocked cellar for food, or dig through some random pony’s garbage, looking for anything useful. Unlike most thieves, she only took what she needed to survive, which was very little, small things like a can of peas, or a single potato. Small things that an average towns-pony wouldn’t notice were missing.

Digging through garbage almost always revealed something useful to the filly, she looked over at her bulging saddlebag, which contained her Crusader Machine Carbine. She’d thought she’d been clever upon naming it. Scootaloo was a CMC with a CMC. Most of the things she’d gotten to make it useable by her she’d dug out of the garbage.

She was always sure to take a bath in the river outside town before dawn. She didn’t want anypony to know what she’d been doing. She knew it wasn’t going to last. Her friends and their older sisters were perceptive; they’d notice something off about her sooner or later. Until then, Scootaloo was going to have to be more careful, lest she end up in a foster home.

Scootaloo felt her heart pang at the thought of her friend’s older sisters. Apple Bloom had Applejack, and Sweetie Bell had Rarity. Both her friends had family that loved them. It wasn’t fair! Why not her? Why couldn’t Scootaloo have a mother and father, or even an older sister or brother that loved her? It just wasn’t fair.

Scootaloo idolised Rainbow Dash because she was everything that the young filly wanted in a parent. Rainbow Dash was cool, loyal, and dependable, she cared about her friends. Where Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo sisters, Rainbow would love her and take care of her. Scootaloo would have a proper home, with food to eat. She wouldn’t have to steal and salvage, she wouldn’t have to bathe in the river before the sun came up so that nopony would notice.

It was three in the morning. Scootaloo wouldn’t be sleeping tonight; her mind was in twenty different places. She got up out of her bed roll and dumped out the contents of her Saddlebag.

She’d recently snagged a few items to improve the Crusader Machine Carbine. She wrenched out the metal stock and replaced it with a bent up wire coat hanger using a bottle of superglue, now she could stick her foreleg through the coat hanger and it would rest upon her shoulder for better control. She’d cut the frame in two and attached them to a hinge she’d taken off an old door. The wire frame stock folded in so that she could better hide it in her saddlebag.

She looked at the Crusader Machine Carbine. It didn’t look pretty; Apple Bloom could have done a better job at that. But Scootaloo didn’t care how it looked, she only cared that it worked.

...

Scootaloo quickly and quietly snuck out of Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple family got up well before dawn to get started on farm work. While Sweet Apple Acres was large, she couldn’t take the chance that the day’s work would take them close to the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse, where they would almost certainly notice Scootaloo. It was four in the morning; she had time to raid for food. She’d decided not to dig through garbage this night, no need to, since the entire town was going to be cleaning up the aftermath of the gryphon attack today. Scootaloo was certain to find useful bits on the burnt out tanks.

She’d been walking through town, lost in thoughts that she didn’t notice that she’d bumped into somepony. She jumped and let out a scream in surprise. After which she considered herself lucky that she wasn’t Sweetie Bell, or the entire town would have woken up.

“Aw, come on! I’m not that scary!” said the pony she’d walked into.

Scootaloo looked up to see a off-white, goggle clad, unicorn pony with a blue mane looking down at her and grinning insanely. Scootaloo had only met Vinyl Scratch once before in Whitetail Wood. Scootaloo had found Vinyl’s goggles lying around on the ground, and had picked them up and worn them for a time before returning them to her.

“It’s a little early for somepony as young as you to be out isn’t it?” Vinyl asked with a grin.

Scootaloo gulped, afraid that the unicorn had her made. Vinyl Scratch was a madmare, that grin of hers made it impossible for Scootaloo to tell what she was really thinking.

“It’s a little early for somepony as old as you to be out isn’t it?” Scootaloo said, grinning back.

Vinyl Scratch chuckled. “You know something kid? You remind me of me when I was your age... and I like me. I like me a lot. So that means I like you too! Come on! Walk with me.”

Scootaloo nodded and followed.

Vinyl turned to her and grinned widely. “Tell me kid, how long have you been living on your own?”

Scootaloo froze, she’d been made. “You... you can’t tell! If they find out they’ll take me away! Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell are the only friends I’ve ever had! They’ll take me away from them.”

Vinyl Scratch sat down on the ground in front of the flustered filly, and put her hoof on her shoulder. “Take it easy Scootaloo! I’m not going to tell. I was homeless too when I was your age, I know what it’s like, I never went into foster care, but I know ponies who did. Sometimes you get lucky and get a good family that’ll love you... other times, they’re worse than your original family.”

Scootaloo nodded, that’s exactly what she was afraid of.

“How about you tell me what you were running away from?” Vinyl asked with a smile.

...

Scootaloo hadn’t always been homeless, it was a recent event that she’d run away from home. Away from parents who didn’t love her.

Scootaloo was born to two pegasi that were both about the age of Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had been an accident, her birth the culmination of bad choices made by zap addicts. When her mother discovered she was pregnant with her, she’d quit her habits, apart from that, and giving her the name of Scootaloo. It was all her mother had ever done for her.

After she was born, Scootaloo became a nuisance to her parents. They viewed her as a bottomless pit, sapping away all their money that they would rather be spending on alcohol or drugs.

In truth, Scootaloo was lucky to have survived as a baby at all. She’d been a heavy crier, and her father had a nasty temper, as she would discover.

By the time Scootaloo was five, abuse was a fact of life. Every day when she came home from school, she hoped and prayed that her father would leave her alone.

A few days, he did. Most however, he did not. It was almost as if he waited by the door to hit her as soon as she came in. Scootaloo was his punching bag to take his frustrations out upon.

She’d gone to the hospital plenty of times. Attributing most of the injuries to sports, of which Scootaloo heavily participated in. Doctors had occasionally wondered if abuse was possible, but Scootaloo insisted that her injuries came from being an overenthusiastic tackler on the football pitch.

She’d hoped that keeping quiet would make her home life easier. It did not; her parents discovered crash and became more aggressive towards her. Her beatings became more frequent, which was really saying something. It became difficult for Scootaloo to hide the injuries from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell.

And then, a month and a half ago, she’d decided that enough was enough. She couldn’t stay at home any longer. She packed a saddlebag full of a bedroll and some food and departed from her home forever.

It was the first night that she’d spent in the CMC clubhouse alone. She didn’t sleep a wink, afraid that her parents would come after her and beat her within a millimetre of her life for running away.

They never came, they were either too strung out on crash to have noticed, or maybe they just didn’t care. Scootaloo intended never to return, and she made steps to insure that she wouldn’t get caught. She couldn’t think of anything worse than being caught and forced to return to her life at home... or worse, being put into foster care with a family that made hers look like saints.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vinyl Scratch had listened intently to Scootaloo’s story; she smiled at the filly and gave her a hug. Scootaloo had broken down into tears at this point. Vinyl let her cry on her shoulder, the filly needed to.

After a few minutes, Scootaloo stopped crying, wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked up at Vinyl and smiled.

“Fell better?” Vinyl asked. Scootaloo nodded in affirmation, causing Vinyl to smile brightly. “You hungry kid? Let’s get you a good meal!”

The unicorn and Pegasus rose from their spot and walked towards the Ponyvile Library, where Vinyl lived alongside Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. They talked about things as random from weather to music. Halfway there, Scootaloo stopped in her tracks, her eyes darting to an object lying on the ground.

It was a kangaroo Emerald Rifle, the standard bolt action rifle of the South Island Army. This one was special, because it had a scope attached to it.

Scootaloo wanted that scope, and there it was, just sitting there, without an owner. Scootaloo couldn’t help but think about how badly she wanted that scope for her Crusader Machine Carbine.

“You want it, don’t you?” Vinyl asked.

“I don’t care about the gun, I just want that telescope!” Scootaloo said. She looked at Vinyl, waiting for the unicorn to scold her that stealing was wrong, but surprised when she did not. “Aren’t you going to tell me that stealing is wrong?”

“Well, first off, you haven’t stolen it yet,” Vinyl said. This was actually a good point. “Second off? Is it wrong?”

Scootaloo looked at Vinyl in surprise; she had never expected anyone older to even suggest that stealing might be okay.

“Let me explain,” Vinyl said. “Sometimes, ponies in our position don’t have the luxury of right and wrong, you steal food because you need to in order to survive, but you never take more than you need, because you know that while what your doing is wrong, taking more than you need is even worse. The kangaroos aren’t going to miss that scope, nobody is using it, but I know that if you take it you’re going to put it to a good use. It’s what Equestria needs right now.”

Scootaloo wasn’t sure she understood, but she had decided that she was taking the scope anyway. She went over and unscrewed it from the rifle, and dropping it in her saddlebag. She left the rifle there; a kangaroo would likely be picking it up later the morning during the clean up. It was still usable, that was what was important.

“Listen kid,” Vinyl said. Her face had formed from her playful smile to one of deadly seriousness. “Don’t let my smiling fool you, I am not a good role model. Twilight in particular would hate me for telling you what I did... but she doesn’t understand. She didn’t grow up like we did. Twilight and her friends are good ponies, but they don’t know that we don’t always have the luxury of right and wrong.”

“So, you don’t want me to tell her?” Scootaloo asked. “Isn’t that lying?”

Vinyl shook her head at the young filly. “It’s not lying... but it’s not telling the truth either. Twilight wouldn’t understand. I don’t want her scolding you for something I did. If she’s going to get mad at somepony, it should be me and not you. Understand?”

Scootaloo really didn’t, but she nodded anyway. She’d discovered that she really liked Vinyl. Vinyl treated her like she was an adult, unlike Twilight and the rest of her friends that treated her and her friends like they were kids. Never mind the fact that Scootaloo was a kid.

They had entered the library and Vinyl had begun to work her magic in the kitchen, within moments, the entire library began to smell of pure deliciousness. Clearly the smell had awoken Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they trotted down the stairs a few minutes later.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! Hi Twilight!” Scootaloo said cheerfully greeting the two older ponies.

Twilight and Rainbow jumped slightly in surprise, not expecting the filly to be sitting at the table.

“Scootaloo?” Twilight asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Vinyl Scratch is making me breakfast!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“Technically, I’m making breakfast for everypony... it’ll be ready in a minute!” Vinyl said, poking her head out of the kitchen and then withdrawing it just as quickly.

Scootaloo sat up quickly in anticipation, causing her saddlebags to slip, dumping their contents onto the floor.

The Crusader Machine Carbine clattered onto the floor, catching the eye of Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

“Scootaloo...” Twilight began, but was quickly interrupted by Vinyl poking her head out.

“Twilight, Rainbow, could you come here for a minute.” Vinyl said.

Scootaloo listened to Vinyl speak, it sounded odd, those words would ordinarily be formed into a question, but Vinyl’s voice wasn’t asking, she was telling.

The two mares did as they were told and into the kitchen, shutting a door behind them.

Scootaloo quickly pressed her ear up against the door to listen.

“You aren’t taking it from her,” Vinyl said plainly.

“Vinyl Scratch. Do you have any idea how blatantly irresponsible it would be to let her keep that?” Twilight cried out. Scootaloo understood now what Vinyl had been talking about earlier when she said that Twilight was going to have reason to yell at her.

“Scootaloo worked hard to make that, I’m not letting you take it away from her. She knows how dangerous it is, she’s seen guns up close, and she knows what happens if you don’t respect them. She’ll treat it with more respect than we ever will,” Vinyl said. “It’s not like you both don’t have one.”

“We aren’t fillies!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“Aren’t you?” Vinyl asked. “Rainbow, I’m six years older than you are.”

“Being older doesn’t make you more responsible!” Twilight cried out.

“Ahah! You just made my point for me,” Vinyl Scratch said. Scootaloo might not have been able to see her, but she knew that the unicorn was grinning brightly. “Scootaloo is more responsible than I am, and I carry a gun.”

“Fine,” Twilight said in a huff. “I swear Vinyl, if you do this again...”

Scootaloo heard them approaching the door; she quietly darted back to her seat, picking up her Crusader. The three mares exited the kitchen; Vinyl Scratch was levitating a tray of Blueberry muffins.

“Breakfast is served!” Vinyl said cheerfully. Twilight and Rainbow were faking smiles, pretending that they hadn’t just been arguing. Scootaloo pretended that she hadn’t heard any of it.

...

After breakfast, Scootaloo waved Vinyl, Twilight, and Rainbow goodbye and departed. The sun was up by this point. It was time to go fetch Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom. They were going to help clean up town today.

Scootaloo walked to Carousel Boutique first, and knocked on the door.

Rarity opened the door to find a brightly smiling Scootaloo on her doorstep.

“Ah, hello Scootaloo,” Rarity said. “Sweetie Bell is still asleep, but I’ll wake her and send her out after she has some breakfast.”

“Oh... sorry. I got an early start this morning, and I kind of forgot how early it was,” Scootaloo said.

“Early? Why Scootaloo, it’s not early!” Rarity said. “It’s eight o’clock! Sweetie Bell is just being a... sleepy head. I’ll wake her and have her out in a half hour.”

Scootaloo could tell that Rarity was lying. Obviously, Sweetie Bell was having a “bad” morning, but she pretended to fall for it and thanked Rarity, she departed from the shop and went over to Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack was busy doing her morning rounds, but she took notice of the young Pegasus filly quickly.

“Well good mornin’ to ya Scootaloo! Apple Bloom’s around here somewheres,” Applejack said.

“Hi Applejack! We’re going to get our Cutie Marks cleaning up the town! I know it!” Scootaloo said, knowing full well that it wasn’t going to happen, but she needed to keep up appearances that it was a legitimate idea, if mostly to fool Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom.

“Are ya now?” Applejack said coldly. “Seems like ev’ry pony wants to shirk their responsibilities on tha farm and clean up fer those kangaroos.”

“Applejack? What do you have against kangaroos?” Scootaloo asked.

“Ah don’t got nothin’ against kangaroos!” Applejack said defensively. “Ah jus’ don’ like wha’ they brought with ‘em. Now go on! Ah actually got real work ta do.”

Apple Bloom came around the corner a few moments later, and the two of them went back into town to find Sweetie Bell, who was standing absentmindedly in the centre of the High Street, looking blankly at the side of a wall.

“Cutie Mark Crusader Street Cleaners! YAY!” Apple Bloom called out.

“Yeah...” Scootaloo said. “Yay.”

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“This is the last place I want to be Monty.”

Pinkie Pie sat on a ridge overlooking her childhood home, oh so aptly named “rock farm.” Farming rocks, how stupid an idea that was. What Pinkie Pie’s parents had called rock farming was called prospecting by most. They were looking for gemstones.

The problem was that Pinkie Pies parents were uneducated, and actually believed that gems would grow inside the rocks if they were tended to properly. Pinkie Pie’s childhood had been wasted on pointless manual labour which rarely yielded a profit. Busting up rocks averaged 1 and half gemstones a year. Mind you, the money made from selling off one of those gems made the Pie family enough money to last them a year. Still, most of the time, it was wasted efforts. The Pie family farm was not far from the gemstone rich Splendid Valley, far enough that they had no significant finds, but close enough allowing one or two to be found a year.

“I know, Pinkie Pie. I know,” said the spectral pony sitting next to her. The ghost of Montana Ulhan, her deceased friend, had guided her here on a search for Limestone, something that the Pie family had a lot of. Clyde Pie, her father, was however not educated enough to realise that the Limestone on his property was worth far more in the long run than the occasional gemstone he and his family might find. When Pinkie was a child, Clyde had dismissed the limestone as useless, not realising it was well sought to make concrete and the Pie family had a lot of it.

“Home Sweet Home,” Pinkie Pie said sarcastically, brushing her straightened mane out of her eyes. Pinkie had been kicked off the farm years ago because she wanted to throw parties all the time instead of work. She hadn’t talked to her father, her mother, or either of her sisters, Inkie and Blinkie in several years.

“Don’t worry,” Monty said with a reassuring smile. “Nopony can see me except for you, and I will be with you every step of the way.”

Pinkie gave the spectral pony a shrug, and made her way down the road towards her childhood home. Inkie and Blinkie were loading rocks into a small pull cart to be taken over to the barn for inspection, but both of them stopped working, and watched as their sister approached them.

“Inkie, Blinkie, where’s pa?” Pinkie Pie asked coldly.

The two older Pie sisters pointed towards the house, and Pinkie trotted off without another word. She didn’t want to be here any longer.

Pinkie Pie opened the door to the farm house; her mother and father were looking over papers that looked to have been sent over by the local bank. Pointless, neither of them could read.

“Ma. Pa,” Pinkie Pie said coldly to her parents.

“Pinkie?” Clyde Pie asked in surprise.

“You named me Pinkamena, Pa, the least you can do is use it,” Pinkie Pie said catching her parents off guard with the bitterness in her voice.

“What do ya want?” Clyde asked.

Typical, no “How are you Pinkamena, we only haven’t seen or talked to you in years.”

“Limestone,” Pinkie Pie said simply. “I want all the Limestone on the farm.”

Clyde raised an eyebrow at his daughter in confusion; he thought it was worthless, he didn’t know why his daughter would want it. “Take it,” he said simply.

Oh, and she gladly would. “I’ll need you to sign this,” Pinkie Pie said, producing a small scroll from her saddlebag.

“What is it?” Clyde asked.

“Documentation that gives me the legal right to one hundred per cent of all Limestone found on this property. Sign it,” Pinkie Pie said, practically stuffing the document into Clyde’s face.

Clyde took a pen in his mouth and made a small scribble on the dotted line. It passed as the pony’s signature, and he handed it back to her. Pinkie Pie gave him a sadistic smile. “Thank you so much for signing the farm over to me Pa. It might just be the best thing you ever did for me!”

“Wha? I thought I was givin’ you rights to that useless Limestone!?” Clyde proclaimed.

“Oh. You did. You gave me rights to one hundred percent of the land. There is a lot of Limestone on the land Pa, and it’s not useless,” Pinkie Pie said, grinning sadistically at her father.

“You... you swindled me!” Clyde proclaimed in shock.

“Yep! I sure did... what are you going to do about it? Take me to court? You can’t even read,” Pinkie Pie said coldly, she pushed open the door. “You’ve got forty eight hours to get off my property. Otherwise I’ll be back with the Canterlot Police Service to force you off.”

...

Destroyed tanks smelled bad.

Despite being told to keep away from them. It was what the actual thing keeping the Cutie Mark Crusaders away from them. They didn’t realise the smell had come from the burnt up bodies of their crewmembers.

Scootaloo was mildly disappointed, but only because looking over the burnt out husks revealed nothing that she could find a use for. Though some of the markings on them did look cool. The Crusaders spent most of their day helping Big Macintosh and Braeburn pick up sandbags. They were heavy, but the fillies didn’t complain... much.

They were kids, of course they were going to complain, but it was in good spirit, they complained that the bags were heavy, not because they had to move them. In all actuality, they really didn’t have to help at all, and most of the town ponies weren’t. Derpy Hooves, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Trixie, Lyra, Bon Bon, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Vinyl Scratch were the only ponies actually helping the kangaroos clean up. Everypony else went on about their business.

“Vinyl Scratch?” Scootaloo asked. “How come nopony else is helping?”

“‘Cause they think if they ignore the kangaroos they’ll go away,” Vinyl said.

“What? Really? That is so stupid! Do they actually think that?” Scootaloo asked in shock.

“Some of them really do,” Vinyl said, she was mostly thinking of Applejack and Rarity, but didn’t point them out specifically.

Applejack and Rarity had started to become a problem. Applejack was getting increasingly aggressive; it was only a matter of time before she actively tried to get the kangaroos out. Rarity had become a passive sycophant, blindly going along with whatever racist nonsense Applejack had begun to spew. Vinyl blamed the influence of the Siblings Nightmare. Whatever they had done, it was working. Applejack was the sort of pony that other ponies listened to, when they were actually on speaking terms, Applejack had pretty much been Twilight Sparkle’s second in command. She had a lot of influence, and her irrational spite towards the kangaroos was going to be nothing but trouble.

Vinyl had put a gun to the earth ponies’ head and told her to back off. She’d hoped it would have been enough, but clearly it wasn’t. Applejack probably had figured that Vinyl didn’t have the guts to have pulled the trigger.

Vinyl didn’t know what was worse, the fact that Applejack had been willing to take that risk, or the fact that Vinyl had been completely willing to pull the trigger.

Vinyl Scratch thought it through, was she really willing to take a life? She’d been in combat with gryphons before, she carried a gun, but she’d never killed anyone, and the way things were going in the world right now, she wouldn’t have the luxury of not having killed anyone for much longer.

But the more she thought about it, she realised that when it really came down to it, if there was a choice between the life of one of her friends, and the life of a gryphon who was trying to hurt them, then the choice was easy. She couldn’t afford to show hesitation at the thought of killing. Because no gryphon was going to show the same hesitation.

Vinyl Scratch looked over at Scootaloo. There was a filly worth fighting for. She and Vinyl had much in common, she wanted the best for the kid, and the best way to ensure that she got the best, was to ensure that she actually had a country to grow up in.

Choices were easy when it really came down to it.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Scootaloo didn’t know what it was about a pile of unused rifles that made her heart race. She didn’t want one of them. Trying to work the bolt would be next to impossible for anypony but a mature unicorn. Then she remembered the scope that she’d taken from one of them. Now she felt guilty. What if it was worth more on one of these?

Scootaloo looked around to see if anyone was looking in her direction, she opened her saddlebag and removed the scope she’d taken yesterday, and placed it in the pile of unused rifles. It wasn’t fair for her to have taken it. Besides, she could always just find a regular small telescope and tape it to her Crusader Machine Carbine. She didn’t necessarily need this one.

It was nice, sure, but Scootaloo found herself falling back on her “take only what you need” rule. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she realised that taking the scope had bothered her much more than she thought it did.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

Scootaloo looked to her left. Vinyl Scratch was sitting several metres to her left, clapping her hooves together in slow applause. Scootaloo felt horribly embarrassed.

Vinyl rose and trotted over to the young Pegasus filly, smiling brightly at her. “I’m proud of you kid!” she said.

Scootaloo understood now, Vinyl didn’t tell her that stealing was wrong because she wanted Scootaloo to make the choice for herself. Clearly, she had passed. Scootaloo smiled back, and gave the off white unicorn a hug.

She looked up to Vinyl because she treated her like she was an adult. She let her make her own choices and face the consequences. Scootaloo liked that, Twilight or Rainbow Dash would have just told her that it was wrong and Scootaloo would have made the bad choice anyway.

She was happy to have Vinyl. She was like the older sister that Scootaloo had always wanted.

...

Vinyl was afraid that Scootaloo had begun to look up to her. She smiled for the Pegasus filly. But the thought of her as a role model scared her to no end. Vinyl Scratch was a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, the way she saw it, that was only one step removed from Scootaloo’s parents... a very small step removed. She grew up on the streets. She sold drugs for a greedy diamond dog. She didn’t finish school. The majority of her adult life revolved around drugs, alcohol, and sex.

How could Vinyl Scratch possibly be a good role model?

No. That wasn’t the way to think about it. Scootaloo needed her, and frankly, Vinyl needed Scootaloo. Maybe Vinyl hadn’t been a good role model in the past, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t become one. She wanted to be, not only for Scootaloo’s sake, but her own. The world had its temptations, and Vinyl Scratch wasn’t always sure that she was strong enough to resist them.

At least until now, Scootaloo was just a filly, and she’d been though a lot. If she could remain strong, then so could Vinyl Scratch.

“Find anything else interesting today?” Vinyl asked with a grin.

“Not really, some of the stuff painted on the tanks look pretty cool though... they smell real bad though,” Scootaloo said.

“Oh yeah, tell me about it! I hosed those suckers out. Smell was terrible!” Vinyl said with a small chuckle. “Come on kid, let’s get some dinner, I’ll make you my onion soup!”

Scootaloo smiled brightly at Vinyl, and the two walked off towards the library.

...

Sweetie Bell had stopped again.

Apple Bloom had volunteered to walk her home and stopped too. “Sweetie Bell, you spacin’ out again?” she asked.

“No,” Sweetie Bell said. “Just looking.”

Apple Bloom approached her friend and looked at what she was looking at. It was one of the Kangaroo VC Firefly tanks, just sitting there.

Sweetie Bell found it interesting and began to approach it.

“Sweetie Bell!” Apple Bloom called out.

“What? I’m just lookin’!” Sweetie Bell said as she crossed the street to where the Firefly was parked at. She went around back and climbed up onto the hull. She looked over the turret and smiled brightly. “Yar! Ah be a Pirate!” She called out, “Cap’n Sweetie Bell ta poopdeck! Full speed ahead!”

Apple Bloom didn’t get it, until she spotted the name printed on the side of the tank. Shiver Me Timbers!

“Yar! Firs’ Mate Apple Bloom! Where ye be?” Sweetie Bell called out. Apple Bloom wasted no time, and ran around the back and climbed up.

The engine of the tank started, and the top hatch opened up, a kangaroo poked his head out from the inside, startling the two fillies.

“Yar! Ye be havin’ a course for me Cap’n?” The kangaroo driver said, taking on a funny sounding pirate accent.

Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom looked at each other with a huge grin forming on their faces.

“Yar! Thattaway!” Sweetie Bell said pointing along the south-western road.

“Aye Aye Cap’n!” the kangaroo driver said, pulling himself back inside the hatch and throwing the tank into gear. The Firefly moved slowly, turning towards the southwest and picking up speed to about 10 kilometres an hour.

“Cutie Mark Crusader Tank Pirates! YAY!”

The VC Firefly continued to roll down the road, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell continued to shout various pirate phrases as loud as they could over the Firefly’s engine, they didn’t notice when they passed Sweet Apple Acres.

“Apple Bloom! What in tarnation do ya think yer doin?” Applejack called out.

Apple Bloom turned around to see Applejack was galloping behind the tank, looking incredibly angry at her.

“We’re Cutie Mark Crusader Tank Pirates!” Apple Bloom called out.

“Yar!” Sweetie Bell called out. “Ye be walkin’ the plank!”

The Firefly stopped; apparently, the driver had noticed they had a follower, causing Applejack to slam head on into the back of the tank.

“Consarn it!” Applejack cried out in pain as she rubbed her head with her hoof.

The turret hatch opened up and the kangaroo poked his head out. “Is there a problem miss? He asked.”

“Is there a...” Applejack said. “You! Yer name! What is it?”

“Corporal Elliot Southerland, 1st Royal South Island Tank Regiment,” Southerland said plainly.

“And what do ya think yer doing? With mah sister?” Applejack asked.

Elliot looked at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell and smiled. “Yar! Cutie Mark Crusader Tank Pirates!” he called out in a pirate accent and popped inside the tank and threw it in gear, driving off at high speed amongst the children’s cheers.

Applejack looked angrily at the Firefly tank as it drove off. Elliot Southerland had just made the list.

...

Pinkie Pie sat on the ridge above her childhood home, looking through a pair of binoculars, forty-eight hours had passed, and her family was still working the farm, just as suspected.

“I appreciate you coming out here...” Pinkie Pie began, looking at the uniformed police pony sitting next to her.

“Inspector Butterscotch Sundae,” The uniformed mare said.

“I appreciate you coming out here Inspector Sundae; these squatters won’t leave my land!” Pinkie Pie said.

“No trouble at all ma’am. Sergeant Apple Cider and PC Sandy will be making the arrest; we’ve got plenty of back up though in case they get violent,” Inspector Sundae said.

The two police ponies approached the Pie farm. Clyde Pie looked up and watched as they approached.

“Clyde Pie?” Sergeant Apple Cider asked.

“Yes?” Clyde asked in return.

“I’m arresting you for squatting on the land of Pinkamena Diane Pie. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence,” the Sergeant said.

“Ya’ll are joking,” Clyde Pie said. “This is my land!”

“Do we look like we’re joking sir?” Constable Sandy asked.

Clyde knew that they were serious. While Clyde didn’t know much about the law, he did know that if the Police had to get involved with somepony squatting on the land, then it meant jail time.

He charged at the two Police Officers, and lunged at them with the intention to kick. The police were faster, however and quickly subdued the man before restraining him. The backup was quick to rush in, and within a few moments, Inkie, Blinkie, Clyde, and Sue Pie were all being dragged back up the hill.

“They never want to make it easy...” Butterscotch Sundae said shaking her head.

“You are no daughter of mine Pinkamena!” Clyde called as Sergeant Apple Cider pulled him by.

“You can’t disown me again Pa, you already did that when you sent me to live in Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie said.

Her ‘family’ was gone. Now it was time to get to work.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Corporal Elliot Southerland dropped Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell of in front of Carousel Boutique, He popped his head out of the tank to wave the children goodbye, giving them a “yar!” as he drove the VC Firefly back to where he was supposed to be parked. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell waved back. It had been the most fun that they’d had in a very long time.

Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom stepped inside, giggling loudly.

“Sweetie Bell? Is that you?” Rarity called out from another room.

“Yeah! Apple Bloom is here too!” Sweetie Bell said, she crossed over to the kitchen sink and got herself a glass of water. “You want some water Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Yes please!” Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Bell got her friend one too.

Sweetie Bell picked up a small plastic bottle and unscrewed the lid, dumping a single pill out and popping it into her mouth when Apple Bloom had her head turned, followed by a drink of water, when she quickly tucked the bottle away. A bright smile formed on Sweetie Bells face as she went over and gave Apple Bloom a hug.

“I missed spending time with you and Scootaloo when I was in the hospital,” Sweetie Bell said. “Promise me we’re gonna be best friends forever?”

“Uh duh!” Apple Bloom said hugging her friend back. “‘Course we are! Well ah gotta go home befer Applejack gets mad at me fer bein’ out late. Ah’ll see ya tomorrow.”

“Bye bye Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Bell called out as Apple Bloom went out the front door.

Rarity walked into the room and smiled at her younger sister. “How was your day today Sweetie?” she asked.

“It was super! I had so much fun!” Sweetie Bell called out.

“I’m so glad to hear it!” Rarity said. “See? I told you that you would be fine without your medicine.”

“Yeah... you were right!” Sweetie Bell said with a grin.

“Well, I’m glad you had fun, but I need to get back to work, there are leftovers in the refrigerator if you get hungry,” Rarity said as she went back into the other room.

Sweetie Bell had been lying through her teeth.

...

Clink!

Princess Luna opened her eyes, and was somewhat surprised to find that it was dark. Dark as in the absence of light, not dark as in night time, worse still, when she tried to move, she discovered that she couldn’t move more than a metre from her position. She was chained to a wall.

Chains? Really? She thought to herself as she used her magic to bust the shackles open. They popped off without effort.

Well, problem solved. Now onto the next one, why was she here?

And then she remembered.

Tia!

Luna snorted in anger. How dare her sister try and lock her up! Celestia had been acting like a selfish little filly when Luna defied her, allowing the kangaroo XX Corps to retreat into Equestria rather than face utter annihilation. Luna’s horn lit up the room; she was definitely in the dungeons of the Canterlot palace.

Something was wrong though. Celestia knew that these dungeons couldn’t hold her. There were no magic dampening fields to keep her in, and even then, Luna had other tricks that she could try to get out. Clearly, Celestia wasn’t concerned with keeping her in here.

Luna burst through the door into a torch lit hallway. No guards, clearly not trying to keep her in... unless of course, that nopony had to try and keep her in.

Luna knew that the dungeon complex of the castle was extremely large, and the exits were not marked, a pony could spend a very long time trying to get out. She was worried about the others. Particularly Ambassador Goyle, Luna assumed that Celestia would leave him alone, harming him would bring the full wraith of South Island down upon them, which was exactly the opposite of what Celestia wanted, but then again, that was assuming that Celestia would be acting rationally.

Luna decided that she wasn’t going to worry about it right now. Her primary focus was escaping. She cast a compass spell, which pointed north out to her, she turned to the north and ran along the corridors, hoping that if she could maintain a northerly direction, she would eventually find an exit. This however proved to be difficult, as there were many forking hallways, many of them dead ended abruptly, whoever had designed this place had wanted to make escape a futile attempt.

Luna continued to run down hallways, and startled herself upon tripping over the skeletal remains of a prisoner who had escaped his cell, only to be lost in the endless maze until he or she starved to death.

Luna examined the skeleton closely. It had been here for a very, very long time as all the flesh had been stripped away. Around the skeletons neck was a pendant. Luna removed it from their neck and looked at it closely. It was incredibly dusty, but after wiping the dust off, it revealed an inscription.

Long Live Cromwell!

Cromwell... Luna had heard that name before, but she wasn’t sure where.

Not important right now. Escape.

Luna turned down the hallway and continued along the path, she was moving in a westerly direction, and hoped that she’d find a pathway that would take her to the north.

She rounded the corner, only to find a dead end.

Now she was getting angry. This was ridiculous and she’d had enough of it. Luna let out a scream in frustration and found herself unlocking a special ability that she’d forgotten that she had.

Anypony locked in the dungeons would have heard a loud howl and an angry clicking noise.

Tacka-tacka-tacka-tacka-tacka-tacka!

A cloud of purple smoke funnelled itself through the cracks between bricks flowing upwards through levels of the dungeon.

The purple smoke found itself in hallway in the castle proper, and it soon reformed into Princess Luna, dropping her down onto the floor, she was exhausted, panting heavily as she lay on the floor.

No, couldn’t afford to stop now, had to keep going. Luna forced herself to her hooves and dashed along the hallway for an open window. With a strong leap, she dived out the window and opened her wings. Luna was flying out above Canterlot. She pointed herself towards Ponyville and hoped she had the energy to make it there.

She was halfway through Whitetail Wood when she couldn’t go any further. She lost consciousness and fell.

...

Rainbow Dash was flying several hundred metres above town, with a pair of binoculars, looking to the northwest. Making sure that nothing was on its way here that they didn’t want.

“Rainbow Dash?!” called a voice from down below. Rainbow Dash looked to see Sergeant Percy Tebbs, the tank commander of the M3 Light Tank, Lord Stuart. Sergeant Tebbs was practically their closest kangaroo friend. Rainbow Dash flew to the ground to meet the kangaroo.

“Sup Perce?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Got a present for ya!” Tebbs said. He produced a pistol out from behind him. Rainbow Dash recognised it immediately. It was the 10mm Pistol that she’d carried during her flash forwards, but had never actually fired.

“Thank you!” Rainbow Dash said accepting the pistol, biting down on the hand grip and taking it in her teeth.

“You’re welcome!” Tebbs said. “Took a bit of work getting that for you, Revolvers are standard issue for the South Island Army, but I figured you’d appreciate something with a higher ammunition capacity.”

Rainbow Dash smiled at the kangaroo for the gift, nearly dropping the pistol in the process.

That was when they heard a loud crash from the direction of Whitetail Wood. Sound carried very well from that forest, as they had found out before.

Rainbow Dash leapt into the air to investigate.

“Wait! Rainbow! We’ll come with you!” Tebbs called out after her, but Rainbow hadn’t heard.

Rainbow flew at high speed towards the source of the crash, it had been easy to find from the air, and Rainbow had good eyes. She dived down towards the source and landed softly on the ground.

“Prinphses Loorah?” Rainbow Dash said with a mouth full of gun. Indeed, lying before her was the unconscious form of Equestria’s younger princess. Rainbow Dash slipped her 10mm pistol into her saddlebag and picked up the princess and put her on her back and turned to walk back towards Ponyville.

A few minutes later, the Lord Stuart rolled up along the path; Tebbs had his head out of the hatch, looking at her. “Crazy pony! Haven’t you learned not to run off anywhere without support?”

Rainbow shrugged, and Tebbs hopped out of the tank to help load the unconscious princess onto the back of the tank. Rainbow Dash crawled up with her and set in for the ride back to Ponyville.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The sun had gone down by this point; Vinyl Scratch and Scootaloo were walking down the high street away from the Ponyville Library.

“Where did you learn to cook like that Vinyl?” Scootaloo asked, the delicious taste of Vinyl Scratch’s onion soup still tickling her mouth.

“Trial and error!” Vinyl said with a grin. “I remember the first time I made something. Almost caught an entire city block on fire.”

Scootaloo looked at Vinyl widely, unsure if she was being serious or not.

“What? The buildings were old! Old stuff burns more!” Vinyl said, still grinning like the madmare she was.

Scootaloo smiled and laughed lightly at the unicorn, she stopped and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much, I’ve never had anypony treat me as good as you do!” she said, Scootaloo was starting to cry. This was the happiest she had ever been in her entire life.

Vinyl looked down at the Pegasus filly before her and was very glad she had her goggles on. Because she was starting to cry too, she embraced the filly, doing her best to hold back the sniffles.

“I love you Vinyl Scratch,” Scootaloo said. Vinyl couldn’t take it anymore; she broke down and removed her goggles, tears streamed down her muzzle as she looked the filly in the eyes.

“I love you too Scootaloo.”

They were to each other, the loving family that neither of them had ever had.

Then came the hard part, Scootaloo was still a kid, and if somepony figured out that Scootaloo was living on her own and reported it to social services, Scootaloo would be taken away, likely to never see Ponyville ever again.

Scootaloo was afraid of that more than anything else, she could imagine what life without Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and now her de facto sister Vinyl Scratch, would be like. Scootaloo had even more of a reason not to get caught. She was going to have to be more careful than she ever had before.

What happened to childhood being simple? Vinyl and Scootaloo made their way towards Sweet Apple Acres; the CMC clubhouse was located in the northern most part of the Apple farm, and easy to get to from here for most ponies that would be able to get over the fence. Vinyl helped Scootaloo climb it; after a quick wave goodbye, she took off into the apple farm towards her temporary home.

Temporary is what it needed to be. Vinyl Scratch knew that Applejack was going to be a problem, she had visibly become increasingly hostile to Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch, and it was only a matter of time before she would start to use violence against them.

This Applejack was not the one that Twilight had described to Vinyl as the reliable, dependable, hard working earth pony who would do anything for her friends. Something had happened to Applejack, Vinyl simply couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t try to hurt Scootaloo to get at them when she discovered how much the Pegasus filly meant to Vinyl.

Vinyl had already decided that if Applejack did harm even a hair upon Scootaloo’s head, she would end her.

...

The light tank stopped in front of the Ponyville Library, Rainbow Dash and Sergeant Tebbs both struggled to carry the night princess inside. Twilight was quietly reading a book, A Complete History of the Kingdom of United Welara, 1170 SE Edition, when she looked up to see Rainbow and Tebbs carrying Luna inside.

“Rainbow? What happened to her?” she called out frantically.

“I don’t know! I found her like this!” Rainbow said.

Twilight checked over her friend closely, checking to make sure she was actually breathing, which she was, however faintly.

“What’s this?” Rainbow asked as she looked at the pendant around her neck. “Long live Cromwell?”

“Cromwell again huh?” Twilight said quietly.

Rainbow Dash looked at her to explain.

Twilight looked up at Rainbow and Tebbs, “I finally got around to looking at that book that you gave me Sergeant. Back when you were driving us home from the Hoofson Bay? Well I’ve discovered something quite interesting. Listen to this Rainbow.”

Twilight crossed back over to where her book was lying and turned to a page at the front of a book she was reading.

“In the year negative one SE (Since exodus), Equestrian politician Oberlander Cromwell faced his greatest challenge yet, gaining political freedom for the earth ponies in the unicorn dominated society of the Principality of Equestria. His campaign to install a parliamentary government in Equestria however was cut short when the unicorn guard arrested him on charges of sedition, on the explicit orders of Princess Celestia the terrible. He was to be locked in the dungeons of the royal castle indefinitely, where he would be held without trial until his death. However this did not spell the end for Oberlander Cromwell, as thousands of earth ponies raided the prison convoy from Everfree plains to Canterlot, killing every single of the guardsmen and liberated Cromwell from his captors. Cromwell lead these ponies to Fillydelphia Province, burning everything as they went along, upon reaching the Fillydelphia harbour, Cromwell lead a popular uprising of the town’s earth ponies, overthrowing the oppressive unicorn minority.

Cromwell, fearing for the safety of those who followed him, announced that the earth ponies under his leadership could not stay in Equestria, instead, they promptly stole every vessel in the harbour, and set sail on a mass exodus away from Equestria forever, after months of sailing, they landed on the island of Welara, at the city known today as Hoofsmouth. Cromwell personally lead his people inland, and founded several settlements across Welara, and establishing a representative government, which is still serving today. Interrupted only by brief periods of civil war, and the establishment of the monarchy of Welara, (see chapter 8).

Cromwell proclaimed himself Lord Protector of Welara, but soon after mysteriously disappeared with no trace. Several theories have been formed over the years, but the most accepted one was that he was assassinated by an Equestrian agent...”

Twilight stopped reading, Rainbow had her mouth open. Tebbs however looked unsurprised.

“You’d never heard any of that?” he asked. “Welera got really powerful really quickly. Within two hundred years, they’d colonised everybody, Kangaroo, Wallaby, Dingo and Zebra. Only been recent that they’ve all gotten their independence.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned with,” Twilight said, plopping the book down and opening to an illustration of Oberlander Cromwell. Cromwell was a pitch black pony with an equally black mane, his flank was without a Cutie Mark, and his eyes were glowing amber.

“You’re kidding,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Oberlander Cromwell and the Siblings Nightmare are one and the same.”

...

Apple Bloom took a step into Sweet Apple Acres, and no sooner than that was she bombarded by a shrill, angry sounding voice.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack called out to her.

Oh boy.

Apple Bloom walked slowly towards her older sister, trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible. It was not enough.

“Apple Bloom...” Applejack repeated. Anger swarmed through the earth pony’s face. “What. Did. Ah. Tell. Ya. ‘Bout. Kangaroos?”

Apple Bloom swallowed hard. “Ya know wha’? Ah don’ care what ya said! Ah actually talked ta them kangaroos! They’s nice folk! Ya’ll jus’ bein’ stupid!”

Apple Bloom was as much shocked that she’d said that to Applejack as Applejack was to have heard it from her sister’s mouth. Apple Bloom hadn’t the slightest idea where that came from, but she knew she was right. Applejack was being ridiculous.

“What did you say to me?” Applejack said with deadly seriousness, she spoke slowly, enunciating every word as perfectly as the standard accent for Canterlot Province.

“Ah said! Ya’ll are bein’ stupid!” Apple Bloom said again. In the back of her mind, Apple Bloom was asking herself where this other Apple Bloom came from, she was scared, but for some reason, she found herself unable to do anything but stand up to her sister.

“Why ya little...” Applejack said; she was nearly foaming with anger. She raised a hoof and struck Apple Bloom hard, sending the filly scattering to the ground.

“Ah feed ya!” Applejack said, striking Apple Bloom again. “Ah make sure ya have a place ta sleep!” she struck again. “Ah provide for ya!” she struck again. Then again. Then again. Then again. Then again.

“Applejack!”

Applejack had raised her hoof to strike again, but stopped half way, Big Macintosh had called out to her. He was standing, looking down at Applejack’s hooves.

Applejack looked down. “A... Apple Bloom?” she asked weakly.

Apple Bloom struggled to open her blackened eyes, blood was dripping from her nose and mouth, her legs were all broken, and likely were several of her ribs.

“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked again.

No response.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack cried frantically.

No response.

“APPLE BLOOM!”

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Applejack stood in horror of the sight before her, the mangled body of her younger sister lying at her hooves was not something that she was prepared to see.

“Apple Bloom! Ah... ah gotta git ya to a hospital!” Applejack called out.

Big Macintosh appeared at her side, pushing her out of the way. “Ah reckon ya did enough,” The draught pony said coldly, he gingerly lifted Apple Bloom onto his back and trotted off gently towards the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, trying not to rattle her around.

Big Macintosh entered town, and quickly came across the crews of the VC Fireflies leaning against their tanks.

“Ya’ll there! Ah need ya help!” Big Macintosh called out, the tank crew’s attention was caught, they looked at the broken body of Apple Bloom on the draught ponies back, they needed no further explanation; both crews climbed into their tanks and started up.

“Just point the way to hospital!” the commander of VC Firefly God Save The King said as they helped Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom onto the back of the tank.

Big Macintosh pointed what road they needed to follow, and with that, God Save The King took off at high speed with Shiver Me Timbers! in close second. The tanks barrelled through Whitetail Wood and up the mountain pass towards Canterlot. Big Macintosh held onto Apple Bloom for dear life.

The Canterlot city ponies panicked on the sight of the VC Firefly tanks rolling through their street.

“Out of tha way!” Big Macintosh called out. “Git outta tha way! It’s an emergency!”

Most ponies had the sense to do so. More of them panicked, calling out for someone to summon the royal guard. Big Macintosh wasn’t about to let anypony get in the way of getting his sister to the Royal Hospital, even if they had to roll over a detachment of the guard to do it.

The Fireflies’ speed however proved it to be unnecessary to worry; they arrived in front of the Royal Hospital in record timing.

Big Macintosh climbed off the back and with the help of several of the kangaroo crew, gently lowered Apple Bloom down to his back. He quickly trotted inside.

“Ah need a doctor! Right now or mah lil’ sister is gonna die!” Big Macintosh called out as he entered the room.

The medical ponies took noticed of the badly hurt Apple Bloom and they all leapt up. The medical ponies took Apple Bloom back. Her life was in their hooves now.

...

Big Macintosh and Corporal Elliot Southerland waited outside the room that they’d taken Apple Bloom to. They waited in silence for hours while the doctors did everything that they could for the filly.

Elliot turned to Big Macintosh and broke the silence. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

Big Macintosh did not reply. He just kept going over what had happened.

“I met her; she and her friend rode on my tank pretending to be pirates,” Elliot said. “Then this happens not an hour later.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said simply.

Elliot frowned. “I’m going to go find the canteen. See if I can’t get a cup of tea... You want me to bring you back anything?”

“No,” Big Macintosh said.

“All right, I’ll be back in a little while,” Elliot said solemnly, hopping off down the corridor.

Big Macintosh went over it in his head; it didn’t make sense to him, but he did know one thing. Applejack had a lot to answer for.

...

Applejack knocked on the door to the Ponyville Library. It swung open to reveal Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway.

“Hi... Rainbow,” Applejack said nervously.

Rainbow was not pleased to see the earth pony mare before her. “What do you want, Applejack?”

“Ah... Ah need ya’lls help. Ah... Ah did somethin’ Ah shouldn’ have,” Applejack said.

Rainbow squinted angrily at Applejack, causing the earth pony to bite her lip.

“I get it now, when we come to you and ask for help, it’s totally okay for you to say no and walk away, but when you need help, it’s totally okay for you to come crawling to us!” Rainbow Dash said angrily. “Go home Applejack.”

Rainbow Dash slammed the door in her face and locked it tightly behind her.

Applejack’s mouth fell open, and she looked down at the ground in shame. Rainbow Dash was right, and she knew it. Applejack had screwed up royally, and now she had nopony to help her with what she’d done.

Unless... Rarity had supported her during the confrontation with Twilight & Co. Maybe she would help.

Applejack walked to the other end of town towards Rarity’s shop and knocked on the door.

Rarity opened the door, looking at the distraught earth pony in front of her.

“Applejack? It’s getting rather late...”

“Ah know... Ah... Ah need your help,” Applejack said in shame. “Can... ah come in?”

“Yes! Of course, please! Come right in!” Rarity said, allowing Applejack passage. “Poor dear, tell me what’s wrong!”

“Ah... got mad,” Applejack said. “At Apple Bloom fer not listin’ ta me... an’ ah hit her, Ah couldn’ stop! Ah hit her, an’ hit her, an’ hit her! Ah... Ah woulda killed her if Big Macintosh hadn’t stopped me!”

“What?” called another voice from the room. Sweetie Bell was standing not five metres from the older mares, standing with her mouth open wide in shock. “Apple Bloom is... you did...”

Sweetie Bell’s eyes filled with anger and she gritted her teeth, she galloped across the room and kicked Applejack as hard as her tiny body could muster, the blow landing just at Applejack’s knee, sending the earth pony toppling to the ground.

Applejack’s anger flared. “Why ya little...!” Applejack raised a hoof into the air, causing Sweetie Bell to cringe back in fear.

“Applejack!” Rarity called out to her. “What are you doing?”

Applejack snapped back to reality, discovering her hoof floating in the air, she put it down. “Ah... ah...”

“Applejack, I am still your friend,” Rarity said quietly. “But what you just did is unforgiveable. I think you need to go home Applejack.”

Applejack rose to her hooves and departed from the shop without another word.

...

Rainbow slammed the door in Applejack’s face, turning the lock loudly, and storming back upstairs. She pulled the bed sheets back and climbed into bed, still fuming.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked, rolling over from the other side of the bed to look at her. “Who was it?”

“Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said coldly. “You would not believe her! After what she did when we asked her for her help, she comes crawling back here, and actually has the nerve to ask us for our help! I told her to go home and I shut the door in her face.”

“Rainbow...” Twilight said with a frown, “You shouldn’t have done that! We should have listened to what she had to say! We’re supposed to be the better ponies remember?”

“I don’t care! Applejack can’t treat us like that without consequences!” Rainbow said. “Well there they are!”

“I guess you’re right” Twilight said with a frown. “I have to wonder what she wanted though...”

Rainbow pulled Twilight close to her, planting a small kiss on her muzzle. “It doesn’t matter. Just go back to sleep, you’re adorable when you sleep.”

Twilight smiled, and closed her eyes, soon enough, she and Rainbow both drifted off to sleep.

...

Applejack staggered haphazardly into the barn, the earth pony was drunk off her arse, she’d spent the last hour washing her sorrows in alcohol, but to no avail. No matter how much she drank, she knew that the pain caused by what she had done to Apple Bloom could not go away. She had staggered up the stairs to the barn’s rafters, plopping herself down.

And there it was, sitting next to her; almost beckoning to her was a coil of rope. Applejack picked it up and fashioned one end into a loop. Tears streamed down her face as she drunkenly struggled to tie it. When she was satisfied with it, nearly an hour later and what seemed like endless drunken attempts, she placed the loop around her neck and spent the next hour attempting to tie the other end to the rafter.

Applejack was satisfied with her work she gave the end tied to the rafter a quick tug, it held fast, perfect for its last duty.

“Ah’m sorry Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, tears streaming down the earth pony’s muzzle. “Ah promise ya, Ah’m gonna make up fer it!”

Applejack stood up slowly, nearly falling down again from the drink in her. She looked over the edge of the rafter, took her last deep breath, and jumped.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Scootaloo awoke as she always did just before dawn. Had to be up and out of the clubhouse before the Apple Family awoke for their morning chores, lest Applejack or Big Macintosh discover her living here.

Scootaloo quickly and tidied up the clubhouse, within a few moments, it looked as if it had been unoccupied for the entire night. Satisfied with this, Scootaloo walked down the ramp and took off dashing towards the entrance to the apple farm. She wasn’t even going to try going over the fence, she was too small to make it over, and her wings hadn’t finished growing yet.

Scootaloo neared the barn and stopped dead in her tracks. The barn door was open, which means somepony had opened it. Scootaloo panicked, was the Apple family already awake? She couldn’t afford to be seen by any of them. She quickly and quietly darted towards the side of the barn, pressing herself up against the side of it and tip-hoofing around to take a quick peek inside to make sure it was empty.

It wasn’t.

Scootaloo screamed as loud as she could at the sight before her and took off running.

Applejack was dangling from the barn’s rafters, swaying back and forth gently.

Scootaloo didn’t stop running until she passed the Ponyville public library; she banged on the door loudly.

Vinyl was quick to open the door, as she slept on the sofa in the main room; she was the closest to it.

“Scootaloo?” Vinyl asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I... I.... you have to see!” Scootaloo said frantically.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash had come down the stairs at this point. “Vinyl? Is something going on?” Twilight asked sleepily.

“I got it! Don’t worry! Just go back to bed you two!” Vinyl said, flashing a reassuring grin at the two mares behind her,

Vinyl followed Scootaloo out the door and galloped after her towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Vinyl’s mouth fell open upon seeing what Scootaloo had brought her hear for. Applejack’s body was suspended several metres off the ground... and it looked as if she’d been there a while. Vinyl looked at Scootaloo, who was shaking in fear of what she had seen. Vinyl frowned, why did it have to be Scootaloo? They were going to have to call the Canterlot Police Service, and they were going to want to talk to whoever found the body... and then Scootaloo would have to explain what she was doing out here. If the police talked to Scootaloo, they were going to find out that she was a runaway, and they were legally obligated to call Social Services.

If they did that, then Vinyl would likely not be allowed to see her de facto sister again. She couldn’t allow that, for both of their sakes.

“Scootaloo? Listen to me; this is very, very important. You were not here. You were never here. You didn’t find Applejack like this. I did. I like to go on early morning walks, as many ponies in town will attest to; I walked by, noticed something odd about the Apple family barn, and found the body... You were at home asleep in the warm bed provided for you by your loving family,” Vinyl said.

Scootaloo was beginning to understand what Vinyl meant.

“So you need to go hide somewhere for the next couple of hours, I’ll come find you when it’s safe to come out. Move quickly and quietly, and try not to be seen!” Vinyl said.

Scootaloo nodded, and galloped away from the farm.

Vinyl looked at the swinging earth pony and frowned, she hadn’t actually wanted harm to come to Applejack. Vinyl reached out with magic, taking Applejack’s body in hold and severing the rope holding her to the rafters, lying her down gently on the ground below. The least she could do was give the mare a little dignity.

And with that, Vinyl galloped away to get the police.

...

Applejack’s body lay still on the ground, it was quiet, still, and unassuming. The mare finally looked at peace with her death, and at peace she was, but it was not meant to be.

A faint noise could be heard from just outside the barn, and where Applejack alive to hear it, she would likely have jumped.

Docka-docka-docka- docka-docka.

The insidious cloud of grey smoke rolled into the barn, it had other ideas for Applejack.

It swarmed around her, enveloping her body fully, and after a few seconds. It retreated. Going out the door and leaving the mare’s body alone.

Applejack’s eyes opened and she sat up, gasping for air. “What in tarnation...?”

Applejack looked at her surroundings. She was in the barn... and then she remembered what she had been doing, she looked at the rafters, she had failed.

Applejack’s ears drooped in disappointment, but this was a farm, there were many tools that she could use here.

Applejack stood up and went over to the tool shed, taking out a pitch fork; she stabbed herself in the chest with it, pulling it out just as quickly as it went in.

Applejack smiled, she collapsed as she bled out onto the floor, this was sure to do it; the mare closed her eyes, and drifted off again.

...

Applejack’s eyes opened and she gasped for air, she was lying in her own blood, but the wounds that she’d made with the pitch fork had closed. Applejack was okay.

This was the exact opposite of what she wanted to be, this shouldn’t have been possible. Yet here she was, still alive and dandy. The sun had risen by this point, but Applejack wasn’t discouraged. She walked outside and began to climb up to the roof of the barn; she was standing at the highest point on the rooftop, looking down at the ground before her... it was a long way down.

Vinyl Scratch had returned with the police by this point, two detectives, and a dozen or so uniformed plods. Vinyl’s mouth fell wide open upon seeing Applejack standing at the top of her barn.

“We’ve got a jumper!” one of the detectives called out and approached towards the barn. “Hey! Let’s take it easy okay! You don’t need to jump!”

Applejack looked down at the detective. “Yeah Ah do!” she said, taking a step towards the edge.

“Whoa! Hey! Hold on a moment! Talk to me! Talk to me for a minute, help me understand why you need to, can you tell me your name?”

“Applejack.”

“Okay Applejack, I’m Detective Sergeant Lucky!” the stallion said, DS Lucky was a stallion with a blue coat, blue eyes, a spiky black mane, and a four leaf clover for a cutie mark. Lucky needed all the luck he could get. “How about you tell me what lead you to this?”

“Ah hurt mah sister!” Applejack said, tears beginning to flow from her face. “Ah tried to kill mahself twice so far! Didn’t work, third time’s tha charm!”

“Applejack! Listen to me, you don’t have to do this, how is your sister going to feel when she finds out you’re dead?” Lucky asked her.

“Ah hope she’ll be happy!” Applejack said. “Ah been a bad sister!”

“I don’t think you’re bad, obviously family is important to you. Your sister is going to need you! You can’t abandon her like this!” Lucky said.

Applejack thought about it. Applejack had been a bad sister, yes; she’d been a bad friend, yes. But she didn’t have to be any longer. Ponyville needed her and she needed to be there for her family and friends.

“All right! Ah’m gonna climb down now!” Applejack said, and then it hit her, as if a wind of clarity had breezed over the pony. Applejack didn’t know it, but she’d broken the Siblings Nightmare’s influence over her. Applejack climbed down from the roof of the barn and looked at Detective Sergeant Lucky, giving him a smile. “Ah’m sorry ya’ll had ta come out here for somethin’ as stupid as this.”

“Well what’s important is that you’re okay,” Lucky said.

Vinyl was still standing with her mouth open in shock. Applejack had been dead when she had last been here.

“Going to catch flies that way miss,” DS lucky said. “All right, let’s pack this up!”

Soon enough, the police had gone, leaving only Vinyl Scratch, still standing with her mouth open looking at Applejack in disbelief. Applejack looked back at her and shrugged.

“Ah don’t understand it either, ah should be dead, but ah’m not,” Applejack said. “Ah owe ya an apology though. Ah wasn’t polite to ya when ya came ta town. Let’s start over, Ah’m Applejack.”

Applejack extended a hoof, Vinyl Scratch was hesitant to take it at first, but decided it was better to make amends. Ponyville was going to need her in the time to come.

“Vinyl Scratch,” Vinyl said, accepting her shake.

“Pleased to meetcha,” Applejack said. “Now if ya’ll excuse me, Ah got a bunch o’ ponies Ah need ta apologise ta.”

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Applejack knocked on the door to the Ponyville Library; it swung open to reveal Rainbow Dash standing in the opening.

“Go away Applejack,” Rainbow said flatly.

“Rainbow, wait. Ah know yer mad at me, and ya’ll got every reason ta be. Ah been a jerk, Ah been actin’ stupid. Ah know tha’ now, and Ah came ta apologise.”

Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway staring at Applejack with a neutral expression on her face for about thirty seconds before finally stepping aside. “Come in,” she said.

Applejack stepped inside the Library; Twilight looked up from A Complete History of the Kingdom of United Welara, 1170 SE Edition, and towards Applejack, surprised to see the earth pony at all.

Applejack closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Ah wanted ta say, Ah’m sorry fer mah behaviour. Ah been stupid, an’ Ah see tha’ now.”

Applejack opened her eyes and looked at Rainbow Dash and Twilight. “Ah hope ya’ll can forgive me.”

Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight gasped loudly, their mouths dropped open.

“What?” Applejack asked.

“Applejack... your eyes,” Twilight said, levitating a small mirror for Applejack to look at.

Applejack looked at her reflection in the mirror, she gasped. Her irises were blood red.

...

Pinkie Pie rolled a spool of wires away from the Pie farm house as the spectral Monty Ulhan watched from the side.

“I have to ask...”

“Where did I get dynamite?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Puh-lease! I used to use nitro-glycerine to bake cupcakes! Mister and Missus Cake made me stop.”

“One has to wonder how your baking has yet to kill anypony,” Monty said.

“Beats me, I liked to experiment,” Pinkie Pie said as she finished unspooling the wires, connecting them to a detonator.

“Is this wise?” Monty asked.

“I know how to work with explosives Monty,” Pinkie Pie assured him. “I may have acted silly all the time in public... but when I was by myself...”

Pinkie Pie’s voice trailed off as she finished the connections. They were nearly eight hundred metres from the house.

“Is there a reason why we’re this far back?” Monty asked.

“Pinkamena Pie doesn’t do small,” Pinkie said, grinning like a madmare and throwing the switch on the detonator.

The Pie farmhouse, silo, and barn, exploded brilliantly. Causing Pinkie Pie to smile, the physical evidence of a rotten childhood was gone. Now the real work could begin.

Pinkie Pie had yet to notice that her eyes had changed. The irises were blood red.

“Montana Ulhan” allowed himself to smile at his handiwork; he’d succeeded in turning Pinkie Pie to his cause. She could return to Ponyville in triumph, bringing with her a valuable resource they needed for the upcoming war. Concrete.

His enemies, the siblings Nightmare had manipulated her into revealing her true self, driving her to misery and self-imposed exile away from Ponyville and her friends. Now with the Siblings hold on all but one of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony broken, he was one step closer to stamping out the influence of the Herald of Chaos forever. Equestria would soon be subjugated to his world without strife, without conflict, a society of pure order, with him at the helm.

The current leadership be damned.

...

Scootaloo had found herself hiding in the Cave that she and Apple Bloom had found in Whitetail Wood. She was standing the in room with the ashes on the floor, though they had been scuffed about by the Cutie Mark Crusader’s last visit.

Scootaloo had wished that she had told Vinyl that this was where she was coming, she was afraid that her hiding place was too good, and her de facto sister wouldn’t find her here. Scootaloo was tired, she was hungry, and she really wanted somepony to talk to.

“Scootaloo? Is that you?” called a stallion’s voice from the open end of the cave.

Scootaloo looked up; it was Nightshadow, the kind unicorn apothecary that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had befriended. Scootaloo nodded in affirmation, and the unicorn approached her. He was looking at the ashes on the ground, and noticing that ring was broken, smiled and stepped over them.

He walked over towards the filly and sat down next to her.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing here all by yourself?” Nightshadow asked.

“I... I’m hiding,” Scootaloo said. “So that they won’t take me away.”

“Who won’t take you away?” Nightshadow asked.

“Social Services!” Scootaloo cried out.

“Why would they take you away?” Nightshadow asked.

“Because... they...” Scootaloo realised that she’d backed herself into a corner; she didn’t want to take the risk that Nightshadow would turn her in. She didn’t know the unicorn that well, what if he wasn’t trustworthy? “I can’t tell you.”

Nightshadow deadpanned the filly, but said nothing, eventually giving her a small shrug and standing up. “Fair enough,” he said finally.

“You won’t tell anyone I’m here, will you?” Scootaloo asked.

“Where is here?” Nightshadow asked with a smile. “Goodbye,” he said, and trotted off casually towards the exit.

Scootaloo didn’t get it.

...

Vinyl Scratch had spent the last hour searching for Scootaloo in Whitetail Wood, she wished that she had suggested somewhere for Scootaloo to go. Off in the distance, she saw the last pony that she wanted to see trotting along a pathway away from a place that was obstructed from Vinyl’s few.

She hit the deck as quickly as she could, trying to avoid being seen by Nightshadow. Unlike most ponies in Ponyville who had encountered him, Vinyl knew him for what he truly was, a Sibling Nightmare, and frankly, while they were all bad, Vinyl considered him to be the worst. He had tricked Twilight Sparkle into falling in love with him. Twilight had shared many of her first intimate experiences with him, and that was unforgiveable. Nightshadow however went the other direction, likely never realising that Vinyl was even in the woods at all. Vinyl had decided that she needed to figure out where he had been, and quietly moved to where he had originated from.

Vinyl recognised it, it was the cave that she, Trixie, Lyra, Bon Bon, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Derpy, and Trooper Willoughby had been snowed into on their way to Manehattan... the cave where they had been trapped inside... by the Black Smoke.

It hit her hard like someone had tossed a brick. She’d finally put two and two together. The Siblings Nightmare and the black smoke were the same, and the black smoke was the same cloud that had blocked their path before Derpy Hooves had talked to it.

“I remember you, you helped me,” Derpy had said. “You helped Pinkie Pie, she was sick and you made her better.”

Damn it! Why had she not figured this out before? It was obvious! It was right in front of her nose! Other seemingly more important events had happened, and it had been all but pushed out of her mind. Vinyl was swearing at herself, how could she be so stupid?

She trotted inside the cave, continuing to swear at herself in anger, but was relieved to discover that Scootaloo was inside.

Scootaloo looked up and smiled brightly; she ran towards Vinyl and leapt into the air, hugging her de-facto sister as best she could. Vinyl hugged back, and put off berating herself. It wasn’t important right now, Scootaloo was.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t find me here!” Scootaloo said.

“I’m more shocked that you found this place! I spent the night here during the winter when me, Big Macintosh and all them went to Manehattan,” Vinyl said.

“Did you put the ashes down on the floor?” Scootaloo asked.

The ashes? Then Vinyl remembered, she turned and look to the ashen line that covered the floor, it was broken. It had been able to keep the black smoke out of these caves when Vinyl had been here last, but if it was broken...

Vinyl panicked. “Scootaloo? We need to get out of here, right now.”

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Nightcaller stood at the very edge of the Everfree forest, watch Fluttershy’s cottage intensely. The Paragon of Order had broken their hold over Applejack, which was most unfortunate, Applejack had been the most useful pony that they had influenced, and she displayed just the right amount of hostility, just the right amount of xenophobia, just the right amount of everything to sow chaos in the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.

The Siblings Nightmare had every reason to want to keep the bearers in conflict with each other, the more of them at odds the better. That was self preservation; the Elements of Harmony were the only bit of magic that could be used to stamp them out forever. Harmony after all, was a synonym of order.

Truly speaking, as long as one of the bearers was at odds with the other, then they were fine. They only worked when they were all together, having five of them were useless. The only problem was who they still had under their influence. Rarity.

Influence was a fickle thing; it didn’t always give the results that were desired. The Siblings didn’t want to control them directly, that kind of defeated the purpose. They were chaos, controlling them directly would establish a hierarchy, a concept of order. Since they didn’t want to control them directly, what actually happened was up in the air. Some became angry, some began to doubt themselves, some became jealous of others, and some became passive all together.

Rarity was “suffering” from the last one, which was frankly the weakest of all. Somepony had to breathe in her direction and it would break their influence over her. This left the siblings with few options.

Nightcaller had observed Fluttershy while posing as a psychiatrist at the Royal Hospital, Fluttershy had been his patient; he had discovered quickly that Fluttershy was not suitable for their purposes. She was too unpredictable.

Oh how the irony stung. Fluttershy was too chaotic to be useful to their purposes. The Siblings Nightmare did not want somepony who had an equal chance of becoming either a homicidal psychopath or an individual suffering from an extreme case of agoraphobia... and in Fluttershy’s case, the former was more likely, considering what she had suffered from during her time at the Royal Hospital.

The Siblings were out of options, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had become resistant to their influence, Applejack and Pinkie Pie had fallen to Overdrive’s control, and Rarity was useless. Fluttershy was their only option.

“Having fun brother?” Nightshadow asked as he appeared at his brother’s side.

“You are late,” Nightcaller said.

“You will like my reason why,” Nightshadow said. “And I am still here before Nightsinger.”

“Spill,” Nightcaller said.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders broke the ashen ring in the caves in Whitetail Wood,” Nightshadow reported.

“Did they?” Nightcaller said, a sadistic grin appearing on his face. “Well, now that certainly is good news. Your tardiness is forgiven... Nightsinger on the other hoof...”

“I am here, brothers,” Nightsinger said, landing softly on the ground in front of them. “Forgive me, the other matter presented itself, I took time to investigate.”

“Very well,” Nightcaller said. “Are we ready?”

“Ready as ever,” Nightsinger said.

The Siblings Nightmare formed into the Black Smoke, howling and approaching Fluttershy’s cottage.

Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka!

The Black Smoke smashed through Fluttershy’s chicken coup, ripping the chickens inside to pieces and tossing their bodies about everywhere. Finishing the task, the black smoke went away, back towards the Everfree forest.

Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka!

Fluttershy opened her front door, shaking with fear at the loud noises that had just torn through the area. She looked around, her eyes widening in shock, the bodies of all her chickens lay, mostly dismembered, about the entirety of her front garden. Tears formed in the Pegasus mare’s eyes. She dropped to her knees and began to cry. After a few moments she looked up, anger had filled her eyes, and she let out a scream of rage.

...

Applejack had turned tail and ran from the Library, she was frightened, and she didn’t know what was happening to her.

Twilight and Rainbow had gone after her, but she was sure she had lost them at this point. Applejack was sitting in the cellar of a random house in town that she had ducked into, crying. She didn’t understand what was happening to her.

“Is everything all right Applejack?” said a voice that she had not heard in quite some time.

Applejack’s eyes snapped forward, and her mouth fell open in shock. Sitting before her was the spectral form of Monty Ulhan.

“Yer... yer dead!” Applejack said.

Monty said nothing. “You’ve been given the gift to be able to see me,” he finally added.

Applejack looked at him; she was confused as to what he meant. He simply pointed at his eyes; they too, were blood red. Just like her’s.

“Ah don’t want ‘em!” Applejack called out.

“That is most... unfortunate,” Monty said, “However, the times when you made choices for yourself are over. You will do what I tell you to do; otherwise I will murder all of your friends.”

“Monty Ulhan would never harm mah friends! ‘Cuz they’re his friends too!” Applejack snapped at him. “Ah don’ know who ya’ll are, but ya ain’t him!”

Monty said nothing, he formed into a cloud of grey smoke, and then reformed again, with a flash of light, Overdrive, the Paragon of Order was standing before her.

“Quite correct,” Overdrive said in his monotone, emotionless voice. “I, however, have no such reservation.”

Applejack began to tremble with fear, she backed herself up into the corner; the spectral Alicorn approached her.

“All right! Ah’ll do whatever ya want! Just don’t hurt mah friends!” Applejack cried out.

Overdrive allowed himself to smile. “Excellent.”

...

Vinyl Scratch and Scootaloo had run from the caves in Whitetail Wood all the way to Ponyville, not stopping until they reached the Library, throwing open the door and slamming it behind them.

Vinyl and Scootaloo were breathing hard, slumping down to the ground in exhaustion.

“Scootaloo...” Vinyl managed between pants. “Those caves... you can’t... ever go there... they’re not... safe... not anymore.”

“I don’t understand,” Scootaloo said.

Vinyl didn’t either to be perfectly honest, she didn’t know what those caves were about, but she did know that the ashen ring was able to keep the Siblings Nightmare out, which had to mean that there was something being kept in those caves that they wanted. What it was, and who had put it there was anypony’s guess.

They heard loud groaning from another room, and out trotted Princess Luna, finally awake from after her escape from the Canterlot dungeons. Luna blinked and looked at the two mares before her.

“Hey... it’s you! The Pips Domino fan!” Luna said, having forgotten Vinyl’s name in the confusion.

“Vinyl Scratch,” Vinyl said. “This little pipsqueak here is Scootaloo,” Vinyl added with a grin, playfully ruffling Scootaloo’s mane.

“Where is Twilight Sparkle?”

...

Big Macintosh and Elliot Southerland hadn’t moved from their spot the entire night, save Elliot tea run. His tea cup sat full on a table cold from a night of not being touched.

The door opened, and a very tired looking unicorn surgeon walked towards them.

“Doctor?” Big Macintosh asked him.

“It’s Mister, actually, surgeons are called ‘mister’ comes from a time long ago when surgeries were performed by barbers,” the Surgeon said. “I’m Mister Yorrick; I’ve come to talk to you about Apple Bloom.”

Big Macintosh’s eyes widened. “Is she okay?”

Mister Yorrick sighed, “Well we’re doing everything we can... but I’m not going to lie to her, her injuries were... extensive. There is a good chance that she might never walk again... there is another matter, a child brought in with extensive injuries... requires us to notify the police and social services about the possibility of abuse... the police are already here, and they’re going to want to talk to you...”

“Ah’ll talk ta them,” Big Macintosh said. Almost on cue, two earth ponies clad in coats walked around the corner towards the draught pony and his kangaroo companion.

“I’m DS Lucky,” the blue coated, black maned earth pony stallion said. “This is DC Banana Crème,” he added, gesturing towards the unicorn mare with a yellow coated, and crème coloured mane.

“Ah’m Big Macintosh,” Big Macintosh said plainly. “This is mah friend Elliot,” he added, gesturing towards the kangaroo beside him.

“Right... well mister Macintosh, where exactly do you and your sister reside?”

“Sweet Apple Acres, it’s an Apple farm in Ponyville,” Big Macintosh said.

“Lucky? Isn’t that where we were this morning?” Banana Crème asked.

“Why were ya at Sweet Apple Acres?” Big Macintosh asked.

“This mare by the name of Applejack had climbed up on top of the barn, she was ready to jump off... because...” Lucky said. His voice trailed off. “Because she had hurt her sister...”

Lucky and Banana Crème looked at each other, realising the connection.

“Thank you Mister Macintosh, you’ve been a great help!” Lucky said, the detective ponies turned and walked away, leaving Big Macintosh and Elliot Southerland standing there confused.

“Wait! Wha’ happen ta Applejack!” Big Macintosh called out after them.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Twilight and Rainbow Dash had returned to the Library after unsuccessfully chasing after Applejack, they had been so close, but their friend eluded them, she was frightened of what had happened, and they were too.

Twilight and Rainbow wanted to help, but it seemed that help would not come. They pushed open the door; Princess Luna, Vinyl Scratch, and Scootaloo were sitting quietly, listening to a record of Pips Domino singing Blue Moon.

The song ended and Luna pulled the needle off the record.

“We have a problem,” Luna said plainly. “My sister.”

“What?” Twilight asked in confusion. “Luna, what happened between you and Celestia after you told Goyle that the kangaroo forces could cross?”

“Tia was not happy with me, to say the least, but she wasn’t going to do anything about it, she figured it wasn’t my fault... but it was the fault of South Island, which was when she started amplifying solar activity. She’s building up for a massive solar flare to cripple South Island, the initial flares have already hit, South Island can’t reach anybody else, and they can’t call for help because the solar flares are interfering with their Wireless broadcasts... worst of all, they can’t get the word out to evacuate,” Luna said.

“What... why would Princess Celestia do this?” Twilight said gasping in surprise.

“Tia blames them for Equestria’s recent problems... and she’s not willing to do anything about the ones who are actually responsible. The Siblings Nightmare,” Luna said sadly.

“Why not!? She’s Princess Celestia! She’s all powerful! Can’t she just banish them to the moon or something like last time?” Rainbow Dash cried out in frustration.

Luna shook her head, “She used the Elements of Harmony to do it last time... and she can’t use them anymore because the true bearers claimed them... and to be honest, even if she could, I don’t think she would. The Siblings Nightmare are keeping another threat to her busy, The Paragon of Order.”

“So what do we do?” Twilight asked.

“It’s simple; we have to remove Celestia from power before she turns South Island into an irradiated wasteland!” Luna paused, and then gave the group before her a frown. “I have a plan,” she said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

...

“Do you remember when you asked me what the worst plan you’d ever had was Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said. “And I told you that you hadn’t done it yet? Well, this was it... turns out it wasn’t your plan though, sorry I blamed you for it.”

“It’s all right Rainbow, I agree that this is the last thing I actually want to do... but I don’t think we have any other options. If we’re going to save South Island, then we need to do this, and we need to do it now,” Twilight said.

“You know me,” Vinyl added. “You two have my hooves until you decide that you don’t need them.”

“And mine too!” Scootaloo added at the last moment.

Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, Scootaloo and Twilight were standing at the edge of the Everfree forest.

“Scootaloo, I really don’t think you should come with us...” Twilight said, looking at the filly.

Scootaloo frowned. “This is important! More important than Cutie Marks! I can’t just sit at home and wait for you all to come back!”

Twilight frowned, looking to Vinyl to try and dissuade her.

“Scootaloo might be young,” Vinyl said, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane with her hoof. “But she is old enough to make her own decisions. She wants to help? She comes along and helps.”

“Fine,” Twilight said giving in. The sun was setting in Equestria, soon it would be rising over South Island and the solar activity would start to become worse. If they were going to do something it needed to be sooner rather than later.

The four ponies trotted into the Everfree forest, on what was possibly, the worst idea ever had.

They walked several hundred metres inward, along the path that was laid before them, and after several minutes of walking, Rainbow Dash stopped them. “Here, this is the place we need to be,” she said.

They did not wait long. Out of the trees, they heard a faint ticking noise.

Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka!

The Black Smoke rolled from the trees and out into their view, forming into the Siblings Nightmare and trotting casually towards them.

“You are brave to seek us out,” Nightcaller said plainly. “Why have you come, my little ponies?”

“We’ve come to make a deal,” Twilight said.

The three Siblings Nightmare gave each other a quick glance, and turned back to the group before them.

“You have our undivided attention.”

…

Twilight walked through the throne room in Canterlot towards her beloved mentor. But she didn’t see her as she had in the past. Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne, watching her as she approached, but she’d ceased to be the Princess that Twilight had known her as. She wasn’t the kind, brave, and gentile ruler that she would have them believe. Celestia was cold, calculating, and was frankly willing to sacrifice South Island to keep war from Equestrian soil. She would kill hundreds of thousands of kangaroos without a single thought, and that was wrong.

Celestia was smiling at her. “Twilight! To what do I owe this visit from my star pupil?”

“The solar flares,” Twilight said simply.

Celestia frowned. “I had a feeling that’s what this was about… when I learned that Luna had escaped, I knew that she would seek you out. Let me explain to you why this has to be done.”

Twilight was looking forward to finally having answers.

“Appeasing the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms will put an end to the threat that they pose! They’re mad about the kangaroos in Equestria, they’re mad about the ambassador here. They’re mad about everything! And they’re on our doorsteps Twilight. Equestria hasn’t fought a war in a thousand years. We couldn’t win, and even if we could… so many would die in the process… I can’t let that happen, my subjects look to me to rule them! I can’t send them to their deaths!” Celestia said, she was rationalising, and it was making Twilight sick.

“So then it’s okay to kill a million of kangaroos to keep a million ponies safe?” Twilight harked at her angrily. “I’ve come to stop you, Princess, you’re my mentor, and I loved you as if you were my own mother... but I can’t let you do this. It’s wrong!”

“And what, pray tell, are you planning to do about it?” Celestia asked. “I am a goddess! You’re a just a single unicorn, even as the bearer of the Element of Magic, your power pales in comparison to mine.”

“True,” Twilight said. “But not theirs.”

“What?” Princess Celestia asked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“NOW!” Twilight called towards the door. Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash pushed it open from the other side, and bursting through the door was a cloud of thick Black Smoke.

The cloud howled loudly, and charged towards the Princess, ticking angrily.

Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka!

“What have you done?” Celestia asked, but did not wait for a response, instead, her body changed, forming into a cloud of White Smoke.

The White Smoke roared and charged the black smoke.

Racka-racka-racka-racka-racka-racka!

The smoke clouds collided with each other, electricity burst from them upon contact; Princess Celestia and the Siblings Nightmare were locked in combat the likes of which they had never seen before.

The electricity being emitted by the two had started to grow more violent, arcing between every bit of metal in the room.

“Twilight!” Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, and Scootaloo called to her. The fighting had become too violent for them to stay any closer.

Twilight ran towards the exit, and with a loud boom and a flash of light, Twilight was throne towards her friends.

They all covered their eyes, lest they go blind to the huge display of light behind them.

And then with a flash, the light was gone.

The group opened their eyes and looked at what they saw, both Black and White Smoke Monsters were gone, and lying on the floor in their place was a white Alicorn filly with a pink mane and a sun cutie mark, huddled up in a little ball, her eyes shut tight.

Princess Luna approached the filly, whose head snapped up in reaction. “Momma?” the filly asked. “You’re not momma!”

“No… I’m not; I’m your… big sister! Luna, don’t you remember?” Luna asked the filly.

“Un-uh,” the filly said, shaking her head no. “Where’s momma?”

“I don’t know,” Luna said truthfully, they had to have had parents, but Luna was unable to remember what had become of them. “But I promise you that we’ll find her!”

“What’s my name?” the filly asked.

“You’re Tia!” Luna said with a smile. “I’m Luna, and these are my friends, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, and Scootaloo!”

Tia found herself trying to hide behind Luna, fearful of the other ponies in the room.

“You don’t need to be afraid!” Twilight said. “We’re all good ponies… Even Vinyl Scratch!”

“Hey!” Vinyl called out.

Twilight merely grinned at her.

…

Twilight, Luna, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch and Tia had since returned to Ponyville, and were standing in the Library. Tia gasped at all the books that she saw.

“Do you like books?” Twilight asked her.

“Yes…” the Alicorn filly said timidly.

“Tell you what! This is a public library, so you can borrow any of the books that you want, and read them as you like!” Twilight said cheerfully.

“I… can?” Tia asked, her eyes lighting up in the process. “Is that okay big sister?”

“Of course it is!” Luna said with a smile.

“Yay!” Tia called out and quickly crossed the room to look for a book.

“Twilight? I have a favour to ask of you,” Luna said. “My sister needs somepony to watch her, make sure that things happen right this time. Ponyville seems to be the best place for it to happen… I’ll be taking up her duties from here on out, but that leaves me with no time to devote to her. I need you to make sure that she turns out all right. Can you do that?”

Twilight smiled. “I can do that,” she said softly.

“Thank you,” Luna said, and went over to her sister to say goodbye.

Vinyl approached Twilight next. “Seems as good a time to tell you as any, I’m moving out. I’ve sold my flats in Fillydelphia and Canterlot, and gotten a place here in town! Vinyl Scratch is officially a resident of Ponyville!”

“I hope you’re not moving out because you feel obligated to! Because that’s so not the case Vinyl! We love having you here!” Twilight said.

“Nah, it’s time to get my own place… besides, I think you and Rainbow will appreciate being able to have snuggle time without worrying about me hearing you… which I do, ever time. You’re quite loud Twilight,” Vinyl said with a grin, causing Twilight to blush horribly.

Vinyl laughed hugging the mare before her, and with that, she and Scootaloo departed. Luna following shortly after.

Tia, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were the only ones left in the Library. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other uneasily, they would be raising Princess Celestia from the ground up, but as they looked at the smiling filly, who was absorbed in the book she was reading. They both smiled.

They could manage.

Epilogue

Epilogue

Nightly was an odd pony. He was a wanderer, a dreamer, he dabbled in a bit of everything and wasn’t particularly skilled at any of it. He lived in Canterlot, if you could call it living, he didn’t actually live anywhere, and he wandered around the poorer districts doing odd jobs for anypony who needed them.

Nightly was a unicorn. That made him more useful than most, the one thing he did seem, to be good at was heavy lifting. He would use his magic to lift a box to a high shelf and receive a bit in payment. One would have expected Nightly to have a floor jack or maybe a crane for a Cutie Mark, but alas, he didn’t have one at all. That wasn’t what made the unicorn odd though.

He’d been wandering around the poorer districts for nearly a month, or at least, that was when ponies had started noticing him, they supposed that he could have been around a lot longer, but what had made him odd was that he couldn’t remember anything before that. Nightly wasn’t really his name. At first, he had been known as “the helpful pony that came around at the end of the day to help with anything that needed doing.”

As one could likely imagine, that was too hard to use in conversation, so it was eventually shortened to “that helpful nightly pony,” and again to Nightly.

Nightly liked the name, it fit him well, as both his mane and coat were both jet black. The poorer ponies of Canterlot could have very easily come up with a much less nicer name than that. Nightly worked all night and slept most of the day, so he had a bit of a regrettable habit of startling ponies when approaching them as he blended in with the darkness a little too well. Often times, just before dawn, all you could see of him was his glowing amber eyes, which were his most notable trait.

Despite the initial misgivings for the unicorn vagabond, the ponies of the poorer districts were happy to have him around. He was after all, a loyal and dependable worker to all of them; he worked to better the poorer districts, even going so far as to dumping most of his small earnings into the local charity to help give food to underclass children.

Nightly had evolved into the pillar of the community, he was the role model of the young children, he taught that they should all work hard and help the less fortunate, and everypony loved him for it.

Nightly was only slightly bothered by his lack of memory. He wanted to remember who he’d been before, sure, but the more he thought about it, he figured that the past didn’t matter. Who he was now did. The pitch black unicorn with amber eyes was happy just as he was.