MLPU: The Amazing Spider-Mare

Chapters

Prologue
Meet the Family
Finding Answers
Change
Unfair
The Lizard
Great Power
Great Responsibility
First Encounter
Becoming a Hero
Revelations
Head Games
The Lizard's Last Stand
Unspoken Farewells
Epilogue
10 Years Later

Prologue

“7… 8… 9… 10! Ready or not here I come!” Scootaloo shouted, as she uncovered her eyes and turned around to view her home. She immediately began scanning the small home for any signs of life, knowing her father was hiding somewhere nearby. It was a modest house considering her father was a highly renowned Biochemist.

She checked behind the curtains when she saw the fabric moving as though concealing a body. Behind the couch and in the hall closet, thinking she had seen stallion shaped shadows. As she walked down the hall she heard a door slam in her father’s office. She pushed the door open to a scene of chaos.

Papers littered the usually clean floor and desk, each one depicting diagrams of animals her father was studying or complex equations. Drawers were pulled completely out of the desk and tossed haphazardly, their contents thrown around the room without care. The glass door behind the desk was smashed in, the small shards littering the floor. Scootaloo walked behind the desk to see if anything obvious was missing from her father’s study.

“Dad,” Scootaloo called. “Dad!” she shouted. Footsteps were heard down the hall headed for the office. Her father, Gene Splice, a navy blue Pegasus with a DNA strand on his flank, entered and surveyed the scene, but only for a moment. He quickly grabbed Scootaloo and placed her near the door. “Stay there sweetheart, don’t touch anything,” Gene told his daughter. “Firefly!” he called as he grabbed a drawer off of the floor and pushed a hidden switch on the back revealing a secret compartment. He pulled a folder out of the compartment and rummaged through it to make sure everything was where it should be.

Scootaloo’s Mother, Firefly, walked in at that moment. Her expression grew worried as her husband started grabbing items and placing them in a leather bag. “Come on Scootaloo,” she mumbled distractedly. She grabbed Scootaloo and left the room to pack their bags. Gene erased most of a complex equation from a chalkboard in the corner of the room before he followed his family out. Scootaloo didn’t know what had scared her parents so much, but she didn’t understand why no one was calling the police. That’s what everyone told her to do if something like this happened.

A half hour later found the family at Scootaloo’s aunt and uncle Cake’s house. They weren’t related by blood, but her father and Mr. Cake had been friends since grade school. Her mother cried and stroked her hair as she spoke to the family’s long time friends.

“She likes to sleep with a light on and she hates having crust on her sandwiches,” she explained through a heartbroken sob. She tore herself away so that her husband could have a few words with their daughter before they left.

“You’re gonna stay with your aunt and uncle for a while,” he began.

“But I wanna go with you,” Scootaloo pleaded, almost in tears.

“Hey, we’re only gonna be gone a few weeks,” He said pulling his daughter into a tight hug. “You be good while we’re gone, okay,” he told her.

“Why?” Scootaloo asked. “Did I do something wrong? I’m really sorry if-“

“Hey now, none of that,” her father interrupted. “You didn’t do anything wrong okay. There’s just something your mother and I have to take care of and then we’ll be back, okay kiddo?”

“Okay,” the little filly mumbled.

Gene then turned to the Cakes. “I’m sorry we’re asking for so much on short notice like this, but-“

“We know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely important,” Scootaloo’s Aunt Cup interrupted.

“Just be sure you don’t keep us waiting. We want you to be there for the delivery,” Uncle Carrot, said nodding at his wife’s swollen belly.

“Of course. This won’t be a long trip,” Gene told his best friend, pulling him and his wife in for a hug. “Take care sweetheart,” Gene said turning to his daughter and giving her kiss on the forehead. Scootaloo’s mother repeated the action and then they departed.

Scootaloo looked out the glass door as her parents got into the rented carriage and rode off into the night. She jumped slightly as a hoof rested on her shoulder. She turned to look at her uncle. “Come on kiddo. Let’s go watch some cartoons,” he said hoping to distract her. Her broad smile told him it worked.

The next morning Scootaloo woke to the sound of voices from downstairs. She left the room her aunt and uncle always had set up for her and walked down the stairs. She looked in the kitchen and saw that her uncle was talking with two policestallions and holding Aunt Cup who had tears staining her cheeks. One of the officers turned in her direction, causing everyone else to look up as well.

“What’s going on?” the orange filly asked wearily.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry,” her aunt said, as she got up and walked over to Scootaloo pulling her into tight embrace. Worry gripped Scootaloo’s heart as she looked at her uncle who wouldn’t make eye contact, instead he chose to look at the floor.

The officers decided this would be a good time to leave. “Thank you for your time Mr. Cake and once again we’re very sorry for your loss,” one of the stallions in blue said as he and his partner made their way to the door.

“No problem,” Uncle Carrot said solemnly, as he shut the door behind them.

Scootaloo’s mind finished processing what she had heard and tears formed in her eyes.

“No,” she said pleadingly, looking from her aunt to her uncle. “No it’s not true. It’s not true is it Uncle Carrot?” the distraught filly asked looking to the stallion.

“I’m so sorry Scootaloo,” he said as he joined his wife in the hug.

Words could no longer form in Scootaloo’s mind. All she could do was cry and hope that she wouldn’t live with this pain forever.

Meet the Family

Scootaloo made her way back to class, Babs Seed’s insult still ringing in the back of her mind.

Chicken.

Scootaloo hated the name, as it served as a constant reminder of her inability to fly.

Her mind wandered, thinking back to the day when she had doomed herself to being ground bound for the rest of her days.

/////////////////////////

Several Years Earlier:

An eleven year old Scootaloo looked down the hill a few blocks from the bakery. She had set up a ramp at the bottom; it was rather flimsy looking, made from spare plywood that the young filly had found next to dumpster.

A few of the foals from her school were gathered to witness her stunt on the street corner to her right, including Babs.

“She ain’t gonna do it,” Babs told the other foals confidently, a smug grin on her face. Some of them murmured their agreement; others simply shrugged and voiced their disagreement.

Scootaloo had never been the most adventurous of her classmates, but she wasn’t a scaredy-cat either. In fact, the week before she had finally earned her cutie mark by pulling a rather complex series of stunts on the very scooter she was getting ready to ride down the hill. Upon earning said mark, her confidence felt limitless. After all, what’s the point of having a scooter cutie mark if you never do any crazy stunts, she would tell herself.

Scootaloo tried to shrug off the presence of the others, instead trying to focus on the ramp at the bottom of the hill.

“You can do this,” she muttered to herself for the thousandth time since she came up with this idea. She was confident that she could handle any stunt on her scooter, especially since fate had decided that it would be her greatest talent.

Scootaloo pushed her back hoof against the asphalt, propelling herself forward. She caught the collective gasp from the group and smiled her confidence boosting. Her mane whipped in the wind as she picked up speed. She felt like she was in her element, like nothing the world threw at her would be able to stop her.

By the time she hit the ramp at the bottom of the hill, something her uncle had told her about playing in the street came to mind. “Don’t play in the street, you might get run over or something.”

As if the universe was hell bent on reminding her of this rule, a carriage rounded the corner and started up the street perpendicular to the hill. Scootaloo’s eyes widened.

Oh snap, was her first thought. She knew it was too late to stop, she had too much speed. Instead Scootaloo figured she’d risk it and waited until she hit the top of the ramp before she yanked up on the handle bars. She smiled. “I’m gonna make it!”

That’s when the sound of a loud clang told Scootaloo that something had gone horribly wrong. She was suddenly pitched forward, flipping over her handle bars. She slammed into the street bouncing and tumbling like a rag doll. An incredibly sharp and excruciating pain shot up her back.

“Let’s get out of here,” she thought she heard Babs shout, panic in her voice. Screeching tires told her that at least the driver had been kind enough to stop.

“Oh Celestia, Are you okay kid?!” shouted a grey unicorn, who Scootaloo guessed had been steering the vehicle.

The extreme pain proved too much for the young filly, however, as a black curtain fell over her eyes and she fell unconscious.

/////////////////////////

Scootaloo awoke to a soft beeping noise. She slowly opened her eyes and saw plain white walls.

Am I in the hospital?

“Is she going to wake up soon,” A voice, dripping with worry, said outside Scootaloo’s room. She instantly recognized it to be her aunt’s.

“She should be awake soon.” Another, less recognizable voice replied. “The main problem is the nerve endings in her wings. They were severely damaged in the impact,” Scootaloo guessed that it was her doctor. “I can’t say for sure, but it’s unlikely she’ll be able to fly after this. I’m very sorry,” the doctor finished.

Scootaloo felt her heart sink. I’m not going to be able to fly? She thought. What kind of pegasus can’t fly?

“If you’d like you can go see her,” The doctor continued, but Scootaloo ignored it, too wrapped up in the thought of never being able to fly again.

“Thank you,” the voice of Uncle Carrot replied. The door to the room opened and Scootaloo turned towards it, her eyes watery. Her aunt and uncle looked in, accompanied by the twins. The twins and Aunt Cup looked like they’d been crying quite a lot, their eyes slightly puffy. Uncle Carrot also looked concerned, but there was also a glint of anger in his eyes. No doubt because he had explicitly told her that morning not to attempt such a crazy stunt. The family gathered around Scootaloo’s bed.

Her uncle Carrot opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it, instead taking a breath. He then unexpectedly pulled Scootaloo’s head towards him so that their foreheads were touching. “Its gonna be okay kiddo,” he told her as he wiped away tears from Scootaloo’s eyes.

Scootaloo wrapped her arms around her uncle’s neck and started weeping into his shoulder. The rest of the Cakes quietly joined the embrace, with the twins clambering onto the bed to join their family.

/////////////////////////

Scootaloo sighed and shrugged off her bad memories, instead focusing on just getting the school day over with.

The rest of her day went by relatively without incident. Whatever strange power Featherweight had over Babs seemed to work, as the larger mare didn’t so much as approach Scootaloo for the rest of the day.

The bell eventually rang, indicating it was time to go home. Scootaloo gathered up her books and made for the door, hoping back on her scooter and making her way toward home.

The trip was uneventful as always. Since Scootaloo only lived a few blocks from the school the trip was a relatively quick one, usually less then fifteen minuets. Her home quickly came into view, The Cakes Bakery, a humble three story building on a remote street corner only a little bit outside city limits.

The exterior was decorated with a rather attention grabbing paint job consisting of bright shades of blue and pink. The windows displayed all sorts of baked confections, from cupcakes of various sizes and flavors, to layered cakes stacked so high it was a wonder they didn’t topple over.

Scootaloo was quite used to the sight, and she pushed the front door open, the bell attached at the top jingling loudly, alarming anyone inside of her entry. The inside of the bakery was colored the same bright color palette as the outside was.

Tables and chairs were spread out in the main room for customers to sit at and enjoy their treats. At the back of the store a silver register sat on top of a pink wooden counter next to a display case filled with a variety of colorful scones.

A rather plump light blue mare popped out of the kitchen in the back, smiling as she saw who had entered. “Scootaloo how was school, dear?” She asked, cheerfully.

Scootaloo shrugged. “Oh, you know, Auntie, same old same old; Science, math and English. All that boring stuff,” She answered awkwardly, trying to avoid the question.

Aunt Cup opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but was distracted by the sound of hooves scampering down from upstairs.

“Scootaloo!” the twins shouted joyfully as they appeared on the stairs. The duo, Pumpkin Cake, a unicorn filly, and Pound Cake, a Pegasus colt, launched themselves at their surrogate sister like a pair of heat guided missiles. Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she tried to move out of the way to avoid getting tackled, but found herself knocked over by the twins combined effort.

“Hey come on guys. It’s two on one here. At least let me clone myself before you ambush me,” Scootaloo giggled as she playfully pushed the two overeager foals away.

“You can do that?” Pound Cake asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Scootaloo chuckled as she tousled the young colt’s mane. “Give me a few years, I’ll figure it out,” she said winking. The two foals looked at each other, eyes wide.

“Hey Scootaloo,” Scootaloo looked up from the foals to see a light orange earth-pony stallion who was covered in black smudges that looked like soot, enter from the kitchen. “How was your day?” he asked, mimicking his wife’s cheerfulness.

“Oh hi Uncle,” Scootaloo replied, standing up, “You know, just boring school stuff,” she shrugged, once again avoiding the question. Her uncle gave her a quizzical look. Before he could press the issue Scootaloo asked, “So where’s the fire.” She smiled knowingly as Uncle Carrot gave his dirtied coat a once over.

He nodded. “Follow me,” he motioned towards the kitchen as he walked back into the kitchen.

“Seriously?” Scootaloo asked. She had just assumed her uncle had maybe burned some pastries again, not actually lit a fire. She was a little alarmed at the thought of an actual fire, but her uncle seemed pretty calm, as always. She quickly made her way to the kitchen behind the counter.

Once she got to the kitchen she saw one of the ovens billowing clouds of smoke, which, of course, set the fire alarm off. Uncle Carrot sighed, opened a window and started waving the smoke towards it. Once most of the smoke cleared, he turned towards Scootaloo. “So what’s the damage?”

The orange Pegasus grabbed a towel as she walked over to the dysfunctional machine. She held the cloth to her mouth as she waved away as much of the smoke as she could. She peeked inside for a few moments.

The inside of the oven was covered in black soot and ash, and a shriveled up pile of what Scootaloo assumed was whatever had been in the oven was lying on the rack. She scanned the back of the oven, looking for a potential cause of the problem.

“Ah, here we are…” she said, backing away. “Whatever you were baking in there gunked up the pilot light with batter, cleaning it probably isn’t gonna help much. You’ll probably have to replace it.” She placed the towel on the counter. “I would do it now, but I’ve got homework to get to, but I can pick up what you need tomorrow after school.”

Her uncle smiled, “Well damn. And here I thought we were gonna have to call a mechanic to come take care of it.” he said, rather impressed.

Scootaloo shrugged. “Well, okay then, if that’s all, I’d better get to my homework.” Scootaloo said as she made for the door.

“Hey wait, I want to talk to you for a minute,” he said halting Scootaloo’s escape. Scootaloo paused in the doorway and turned around, avoiding looking at her uncle. “What happened at school that you don’t want to tell me or your aunt about, huh?” he walked over and looked Scootaloo in the eye.

Scootaloo looked up at her uncle. He wore an expression of sincere concern that Scootaloo just couldn’t lie to. She hesitated, biting her lip. “A mare at school called me…” she trailed off, not wanting to continue.

“Called you what?” her uncle asked, gently pressing the issue.

“She called me a chicken,” Scootaloo sighed, her shoulders slumping. Her gaze fell to the ground at her hooves.

Uncle Carrot’s expression softened. He walked up to his niece and pulled her into a tight embrace. Scootaloo held back the tears she felt coming as the memories came flooding back for the second time today. She pulled away from her uncle, shaking her head slightly to clear the memories from her mind.

“You gonna be okay?” Uncle Carrot asked.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, holding back a few tears. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to go up to the attic, check my tools see what I might need to fix the oven,” she rambled gesturing to the broken appliance.

“Alright, but be careful up there. And wash your hooves before you came back down, we’re gonna eat in about an hour,” Her uncle said as she nodded and made her way out of the kitchen.

Scootaloo snuck past the twins, who were now distracted attempting to raid a cookie jar, as Aunt Cup Cake attempted to save the cookies.

She quickly made her way up the staircase to the attic, climbing the small collapsible latter that lead to the attic. Once inside the attic, she pulled a string and a rather old light bulb lit up, illuminating the room.

She started shifting around stacks of boxes to check behind them, trying to find her toolbox. “This is the last time I let Aunt Cup put my stuff up here,” she muttered, a little annoyed as she gave an extra hard tug on a heavier stack. The pile of boxes immediately toppled over, causing a large cloud of dust and smoke to billow, giving Scootaloo a coughing fit. Once the smoke cleared and Scootaloo stopped coughing, she let out a frustrated sigh. The contents of the boxes lay scattered across the floor. She leaned down and started to toss them into the various empty boxes rather haphazardly.

However, just as she was about to close the first box and move on to the next one, something caught her attention.

There sitting in a pile of her uncle’s old bake-off trophies sat a worn leather bag. Scootaloo reached for the bag, lifting it gingerly from the mess of trophies. She dusted off the thin layer of dust that had accumulated over time and examined it for a minute, scanning every side of it. There on the flap at the top was a name: Gene Splice.

Scootaloo's eyes widened at the sight. Is this dad's? she thought as she deftly opened the bag and peaked inside. It was packed with various folders and papers. This really caught Scootaloo's attention. I wonder what these notes are... She quickly closed the bag and tucked it under her shoulder, scampering down the ladder and towards her room.

She had a feeling that whatever those documents contained, it might hold the answers to a question that had plagued Scootaloo for as long as she could remember.

Whatever happened to mom and dad.

Finding Answers

Scootaloo scampered into her room and dropped the bag onto her bed.

“Okay, let’s find out what’s in here…” she said to no one in particular as she reached for the bag.

“Scootaloo! Time for dinner!” her Aunt Cup’s voice called from downstairs.

Oh no not now! Scootaloo groaned to herself. She eyed the bag and hesitated. Maybe I can just give it a quick look before …

“Scootaloo! Dinner!” Her aunt called out again, sounding a tad bit more demanding then before.

Scootaloo facehoofed and called out towards her aunt. “Coming Aunt Cup!” and with that she quickly stuffed the bag under her bed and darted down the stairs.

////////////////////////

Scootaloo now sat at the dinner table, not really focusing on her food. Her eyes kept darting to the stairs and the possibilities of what exactly the folders inside the bag contained. Her aunt and uncle where discussing…something, but honestly Scootaloo couldn’t care less. Her mind was totally absorbed with what secrets the bag held. She barely noticed her aunt talking to her.

“Scootaloo?” Aunt Cup asked once more, snapping Scootaloo back into the real world.

“Sorry Auntie, what did you say?” she asked, whipping her head around to face Aunt Cup.

“I was asking you if you could pick up the twins from school Friday? You’re uncle and I are going to be in the city running some errands,” Aunt Cup explained.

“Oh. Uh… Sure, I can do that,” Scootaloo nodded still somewhat distracted by what might be in the bag.

“You okay, you seem distracted?” Uncle Carrot asked, looking at her with concern.

Scootaloo thought for a moment. They never mentioned anything about that bag…why should I tell them that I found it?

“I just didn’t get to my homework yet,” she finally said, lying. She felt a little guilty about lying, but pushed the thought out of her mind. After all, it’s my dad’s bag. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Well, okay then,” her uncle replied, “Just finish eating first.”

Scootaloo nodded and set about quickly finishing the last of her meal. “Good night everypony,” she said as she stood up from the table.

“Good night Scootaloo,” her aunt replied as Scootaloo gave her and Uncle Carrot a quick hug and each of the twins a quick peck on the cheek, before rushing up the stairs to her room.

////////////////////////

Once Scootaloo was sure she was alone in her room she quietly closed the door and locked it nice and tight in case anyone tried to walk in without her permission. The lock was mostly there to keep the twins out, mainly because they almost NEVER knocked on the door.

“Okay…” she poured the contents of the bag onto her desk. “Let’s see what’s in here.”

The bags contents consisted of some newspaper clippings and articles that focus almost entirely on her father. She skimmed through the articles for anything that seemed important. Most of the articles went on and on about her father’s research, pertaining mostly to spiders. In one of the pictures in the article, color slightly faded because of time, stood a smiling purple mare next to her father. Scootaloo had no idea who this mare was; since there was no mention of her anywhere else in the article, and the picture was simply labeled “Professor Gene Splice and a colleague”

“Who are you?” she thought aloud, staring at the picture. Deciding to check the other trinkets in the bag, she set the clippings aside and continued to rummage through the bag.

She found a security badge for BlueCorp, she checked the expiration date. It had long ago expired, making it useless. She set the security badge aside and moved on. Next, she picked up a folder, opening it to reveal incredibly detailed color diagrams of several species of spiders.

Alongside the diagrams where labels that showed which species of spider they were. Some names she recognized from school, and others she only had a vague notion as to their identity.

She flipped through the folder, eager to find something besides just spiders. Landing on the last page, Scootaloo’s attention was piqued. On the page was a dark blue and with red highlights. The diagram had no species name; instead, it was simply labeled “Experiment A113”.

Apparently, if Scootaloo was reading the notes surrounding the diagram correctly, the specimen had been put together using the best traits of the various other arachnids in the folder.

“Okay that’s just weird,” she muttered, setting the folder aside and reaching into the bag for whatever else might be inside. Her eyes widened when her hoof made contact with the leather interior of the bag. “That’s it?” she thought aloud. No way there’s gotta be more, this can’t be it!

She started to desperately dig around in the bag, desperately hoping that there was still something inside. Her search proved fruitless and she threw the bag against the wall above her desk in frustration. Groaning in frustration, she dropped her head down on the desk. The bag, meanwhile, landed in front of her, its opening facing her. Begrudgingly, she peeked towards the bag, her forehead still on the wooden surface.

“Stupid bag…” she grumbled.

A small glimmer on the front of the bag caught her attention however. “What is that?” she wondered, as she pulled the bag closer for a better look. The glint of light had come from a small clasp hidden behind the name plate on the front of the bag. Curious, Scootaloo opened the hidden compartment and pulled out a small slip of paper, only a few inches long. Scribbled on the paper was a complex equation. The young Pegasus smiled slightly at this hopeful development. Something about the equation was strangely familiar to her, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before at all. Her eyes drifted from the equation to the photo of her father with the strange purple mare.

“What were two you up to?” she wondered aloud.

The orange mare took a deep breath, a sudden feeling of tiredness washing over her.

Jeez, what time is it? She thought as she glanced at the alarm clock on her dresser. It read 11:30 PM. “Ugh, it’s late…I’ll do some more digging in the morning.” She got up from her desk and flopped into bed, drifting off to sleep.

//////////////////

The next day Scootaloo went to school with a pit in her stomach. Her dreams all night long had been oriented towards the mysterious identity of that mare, but every dream ended with her unable to discover the mysterious mare’s identity.

She knew that the mare was more than just “a colleague”. She could feel it. Something about the mare told Scootaloo that she might have some answers. She pulled the picture out of her pocket. Her basic plan was simple: Go to one of the science teachers, and ask if they knew the mare in the picture. If they did, then Scootaloo would be one step closer to finding out what happened to her father. If they didn’t know…well then Scootaloo had no idea what to do next.

She arrived at home room and sat at her usual seat near the back of the room. She set the picture on the desk and just sat there staring at it. She felt a little better having found the picture, however. It didn’t exactly answer all her questions, but having something that had belonged to her father gave her the feeling that not everything in the world was bad. Also, it was a lead, something to go on. Unfortunately, the universe decided that now was the perfect moment to totally ruin her day.

A dark orange hoof shot out of nowhere and snatched the picture off of Scootaloo’s desk. “What is this, an invitation to a nerd convention,” Sneered an all too familiar voice. Scootaloo followed the hoof and saw that it was attached to Babs, who looked at the picture as though it were poisonous or something. “This is just an old news clipping. Didn’t your aunt and uncle ever tell you where trash goes?” Babs asked as she started walking towards the trash can.

“Give it back!” Scootaloo shouted as she got up to stop Babs. She didn’t even notice Diamond Tiara stick a hoof in front of her. She felt the distinct feeling of falling and was greeted by the ground, directly into her face. She looked up just in time to see Babs drop the piece of paper in the trash. Everything seemed to shift into slow motion for just a few seconds before a gray hoof unexpectedly caught the picture before it hit the rest of the garbage.

Everyone turned in unison and looked at Dinky, who was holding the picture close to her chest. The look of shook on Babs’ face subsided quickly, replaced by rage at the tiny unicorn’s interruption. Just as Babs was about to lay into the smaller mare, the teacher walked in and blinked at the scene before her, before slowly shaking her head in frustration.

“All of you to your seats now,” the teacher ordered, obviously trying to keep her anger in check.

Dinky seized the chance to dart past Babs and made her way to Scootaloo, helping her off the ground. “Here you go,” Dinky said offering the picture to Scootaloo.

“Um… Thank you,” Scootaloo said, accepting the picture. She felt a little awkward, having twice now been saved from Babs by somebody else. She wondered if she was being nice enough, having not exactly been kind to Featherweight when he had offered his help.

Scootaloo trotted back to her desk and sat down. Her eyebrows rose when she saw Dinky take the seat next to her. “I didn’t know we had the same homeroom,” She said, keeping her voice low as not to attract the attention of the teacher.

“Well, I usually try to stay inconspicuous, because well,” Dinky trailed off, her eyes wandering to the far side of the room. Scootaloo followed her gaze. Babs was staring at the pair from a seat near the door, glaring at them as if she had heat vision or something.

“I know how you feel.” Scootaloo nodded. “She’s been tormenting me since first grade.”

“Why do you put up with her? Couldn’t you have just gone for help?” Dinky asked turning to look at Scootaloo.

“Well sure I could, but that wouldn’t stop Babs, it’d just make her want to get back at me,” Scootaloo said bitterly. She set the picture back on her desk, letting that soothing feeling from before wash over her again.

Dinky leaned over to get a better look at the photo. “Who’s the stallion? I’ve never seen him with Dr. Cheerilee before.”

“Huh? Oh, that’s my dad Gene Splice,” Scootaloo replied. Her brain took a moment to register what Dinky had said. “Wait, you know who this is?” she asked eagerly, picking the picture up and nearly shoving it Dinky’s face.

Dinky flinched at the sudden burst of movement. “Y-Yeah,” she stuttered. “I’m an intern at the company she works at. BlueCorp,” Dinky said, eyebrow slightly raised. “I’m actually her assistant.”

Scootaloo stared at Dinky in disbelief. She could swear an angelic choir was now singing Dinky’s praises for giving Scootaloo a solution to her problem.

“Can I meet her?” Scootaloo asked her voice thick with excitement.

Dinky blinked. “What do you mean meet her? She’s almost always too busy. She only ever really meets with strangers when she’s interviewing new interns,” she shrugged.

“Oh…” Scootaloo calmed down and sat in thought for a moment. “Is she looking for any new interns now? I really need to meet her,” Scootaloo said, turning towards Dinky with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“I-I don’t know. She’s not really supposed to talk to me about that sort of thing,” Dinky said, shrugging slightly.

Scootaloo’s face fell. “Okay then…I tried…” she muttered aloud.

There was an awkward pause between the two before Dinky spoke up, “But I think there’s going to be a tour for anyone who’s thinking of interning,”

Scootaloo instantly cheered up. “Seriously?!” she nearly shouted, nearly forgetting she was in homeroom. “When?” she whispered, lowering her voice.

“Today, actually. After school,” Dinky said a funny look on her face. “It’d be kind of short notice, but I think I can get you in. Meet me after school at the front entrance,” The bell then rung, announcing the beginning of the school day.

Before Scootaloo got the chance to reply Dinky had gotten up and left, making her way towards her respective classes.

Scootaloo smiled brightly, her day restored. She picked up the photo and gave it one last look. “Soon…” she whispered, looking directly at the purple mare.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic, as usual. Scootaloo took the long way to most of her classes in an attempt to avoid Babs and her cronies, whom she was sure was on the hunt for her. The day might have started rough at first, but now things were looking up. She finally had a name for the mare in the picture, and, not only that, but a chance to actually meet the mysterious Dr. Cheerilee. I might finally get some answers! she giggled to herself. She was so excited she couldn’t even pay attention in English.

The teacher rambled on and on about pronouns and sentence structure, but Scootaloo couldn’t care less. She was still too excited over all this new information she had.

“You look happy,” a voice whispered from behind her, causing her to jump. Scootaloo turned around to be greeted by the big brown eyes of Featherweight. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” he asked, smiling at her.

Scootaloo paused. A part of her wanted to thank him for yesterday and standing up for her, but the other part was wary. She barely knew him after all. “Oh just gonna be spending some mare time with Dinky after school,” she replied, turning back to the book she was supposed to be reading, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

“Oh? You two got pretty close,” he commented, curiosity in his voice.

“We have a lot in common,” Scootaloo replied, hoping that would end the sudden out of the blue interrogation.

“Like what?” Featherweight asked smirking.

Scootaloo froze for a second. What did she have in common with Dinky?

“We’ve both been bullied by Babs, I guess” she finally answered. “By the way, how did you get her to back down yesterday?” she asked, deciding to change the subject.

“Oh, I’m her tutor. She isn’t exactly proud of the fact that she needs somepony else’s help understanding math she should’ve learned last year,” he said, looking back to his own work. “You know I still feel like I should take you out to eat. Dinky seemed to enjoyed my company. If you two have so much in common, maybe you will too,” he pressed, smiling warmly.

Scootaloo thought about for a second. Why was this colt suddenly so interested in her? Was he some kind of creepy weirdo stalker? “Maybe some other time,” she said rather flatly. She glanced back over her shoulder to see him looking a little disappointed. “Sorry but I’m pretty booked this week. I’ll definitely take a rain check though,” Scootaloo said, hoping he’d stop pouting.

He smiled at her. “I’ll be holding you to that.”

//////////////////

Scootaloo waited out by the front entrance of the school after the last class. She’d been fortunate enough to avoid Babs all day. Along with that, the sun was out and the sky was clear. Things were starting to look up.

Scootaloo tapped a hoof impatiently, hoping that Dinky didn’t forget or get into any kind of trouble. Her fears were calmed once she caught sight of the grey mare sprinting out of the school. Scootaloo waved her over and Dinky trotted up, smiling.

“You ready?” Scootaloo asked, secretly wondering if what she had asked of Dinky might get Dinky into some sort of trouble.

“Yeah.” Dinky nodded. “We’ll need to take the train into the city. Its going to take a while though, BlueCorp tower is across town after all. I hope you didn’t have anything else planned,”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Good, then let’s get going. The tour starts in about an hour and Cheerilee is only going to be there for the beginning before she has to get back to work.”

//////////////////

The two mares didn’t talk much on the way downtown, instead spending most of their time looking out the window as the city whizzed by. Every so often either Scootaloo or Dinky would point out any particular buildings of note, but for the most part, the trip was quiet.

The silence was broken however when the bell rung and the conductor’s voice came over the PA system. “BlueCorp Tower ahead.”

“Oh here’s our stop.” Dinky said, getting up and beckoning for Scootaloo to follow. They got off the train and walked towards a tall building that Scootaloo guessed was at least sixty stories. “This is it,” Dinky said, “BlueCorp tower.”

Saying the tower was tall was an understatement. It climbed higher then Scootaloo could see its top seemingly miles away.

Scootaloo whistled. “You work here?” she asked Dinky, her voice filled with wonder as she took in the full scope of the massive building.

“Yup,” Dinky replied, a hint of pride in her voice. “This building is the center of some of the most advanced scientific and medical research around” Dinky continued as they passed through the front doors.

“Really? What does Dr. Cheerilee do here?” Scootaloo asked curiously as her eyes roamed the inside of the building. It was full of ponies walking around each other to get to unknown destinations. From the ceiling hung half a dozen screens. Each one was transparent and seemed to be advertising some new gadget or gizmo that the company was producing.

“Oh you probably couldn’t see it in your picture, but she lost a leg in an accident a long time ago, and she’s…” Dinky’s voice faded as Scootaloo’s attention was diverted towards a large screen displaying what looked like a flying skateboard. “Scootaloo! Over here!” Dinky’s voice suddenly snapped Scootaloo back into reality.

“Wha? Oh, sorry Dinky got distracted.” Scootaloo replied, galloping up along side Dinky.

“That’s okay…just stay close, it’s easy to get lost in here.” Dinky said, as they walked towards the receptionist’s desk.

“I’m sorry, but the dead line was yesterday. We aren’t accepting any more applicants,” the receptionist said as the two fillies walked up.

“Hi Keypad.” Dinky said, seemingly unfazed. “And I know, but I wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t absolutely important,” she continued. “My friend here is a huge fan of Dr. Cheerilee.” She motioned towards Scootaloo, who stood the side. “All she wants is the chance to meet her idol. It would crush her to have come this far just to be sent home empty hooved,” Dinky shifted into puppy dog eyes and stared at the receptionist.

The receptionist sized up Scootaloo for a moment, as Scootaloo attempted to look as pitiful as possible. Dinky continued her assault of puppy dog eyes as well. The receptionist let out a bedraggled sigh.

“Name?” she asked.

“Scootaloo,” Dinky said, smiling broadly. Scootaloo felt a surge of excitement go through her. She almost leapt and shouted for joy before a quick nudge from Dinky brought her back down to reality.

“Thank you so much,” Scootaloo said to the mare behind the desk, a grin spread across her face.

“Just stay out of trouble kid,” the mare grumbled in response.

Scootaloo felt like making a witty retort, but was pulled towards an escalator by Dinky.

“Come on Scootaloo tours this way.”

They stepped aboard the escalator which was headed towards the next floor up.

“Dinky you were saying about Dr. Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked, returning to the subject they were on.

“Oh yeah, where was I?” Dinky asked.

“She lost a leg in an accident.” Scootaloo said.

Dinky nodded. “Right, so since she lost her leg, she does research in ways to help amputees.”

Scootaloo nodded. “That sounds pretty cool.”

Dinky smiled. “Yeah it is. Well, here we are.” They stepped off the escalator and made their way to large group of ponies, most of them were around their age, but there were a few older ones.

“I’m going to have to leave you here Scootaloo. I have to lead the tour,” Dinky said. “You going to be fine?” she asked, raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Scootaloo nodded, reassuring her. Dinky smiled and nodded and started towards the group. “Oh, and Dinky,” Scootaloo called out before Dinky got too far away. “Thank you. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

“No problem. What are friends for?” Dinky asked rhetorically as she walked to the front of the group.

“Friends,” Scootaloo repeated, Dinky’s answer ringing in her ears. A smile played on Scootaloo’s lips. Meanwhile, Dinky started giving an opening speech to the crowd of ponies that probably had everyone else riveted about what they would be shown today, whether they got the internship or not. Scootaloo’s mind was elsewhere though, more concerned with what Dr. Cheerilee might know about her father.

“Now if you’ll all follow me we can begin the tour in the genetics lab,” Dinky instructed, leading the group down the hall. Scootaloo took the sight of everyone else moving as a sign that the tour had begun. She scampered up behind the crowd, keeping an eye out for Dr. Cheerilee.

“In this department brilliant minds work every day trying to find cures for many ailments that have hindered pony kind for generations.” Dinky continued, obviously having rehearsed this speech many times before. Scootaloo scanned the labs surrounding them. Various ponies dressed in white lab coats scampered about, some gazing into microscopes and others helping move various vials filled with liquids around the labs. “Some such as Dr. Cheerilee have even been working on a way to re grow lost limbs,” That caught Scootaloo’s attention.

She caught sight of a purple mare walking out of an office to the left. “Speak of the devil and she shall appear,” the mare spoke in a bright voice. It was Cheerilee. The first thing Scootaloo noticed about the older mare was the prosthetic leg where her left foreleg should have been. It seemed the others in the group had noticed as well. Some of the students looked at it blatantly, whispering amongst themselves. Others tried their best to avoid looking at Cheerilee altogether, looking away awkwardly at random things.

“For those of you wondering, I am Dr. Cheerilee,” the mare introduced herself. “And yes my leg is fake,” she said lifting the metal limb for emphasis. “Because of this, I’ve been trying to find a way to bring back lost limbs. With that information, a soldier who lost a leg in battle could live normally. A mare, paralyzed by a carriage crash could walk again.” Scootaloo noticed that Cheerilee was swiftly becoming emotional at her own words. “And,” she visibly straightened out and regained her composer. “It is my belief that the key to this cure lies in the DNA of lizards,” Cheerilee informed the group, most of whom had set about taking notes. Scootaloo, however thought back to the notes on the spiders in her dad’s bag.

“But what does that have to do with dad’s spiders?” she said softly, slightly confused.

A young colt suddenly appeared and whispered into Cheerilee’s ear. Cheerilee paused and listened closely to whatever the colt was saying. She then nodded and the colt walked off. She turned back towards the group. “Well as much as I’d love to explain further, duty calls. I must return to my office. I’ll leave you with my assistant Dinky,” Cheerilee said as she turned to leave, returning to her office.

Dinky began to explain what the next department did, leading the group in that direction. Scootaloo meanwhile, decided to use this chance to sneak away and talk to Cheerilee, her curiosity piqued. She walked up to the door the older mare had gone through and poked her head in.

Cheerilee, who had been looking at a file on her desk, looked at the door to see Scootaloo. “Can I help you?” she asked, eyebrow raised, looking a little miffed at being interrupted.

Scootaloo bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck. “I… I came with the tour group…” she began, but was cut off.

“Well you’d better catch up to them,” Cheerilee said, pointing in the direction Dinky had gone and turning back to her work, muttering something under her breath.

Scootaloo’s shoulders sank and started towards the door, before stopping. Was she just going to give up when she was so close to finding a solution? No. She decided to take a chance. She turned back towards Cheerilee, taking a deep breath. “Ten years ago, you worked with a stallion named Gene Splice,” she began.

Cheerilee’s head shot up at the mention of her old colleague, her previous miffed expression changing into one of curiosity. “Yes…what of it?”

Scootaloo once more rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly feeling very awkward. “I’m his daughter.”

“Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked looking at the younger mare with more interest. “By Celestia. It is you.” She sat up, seemingly very interested for some reason. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

“Um, yeah…how’d you know?” Scootaloo asked.

“Your father never stopped showing off pictures of you,” Cheerilee replied, beckoning towards Scootaloo. “Please come in,” she continued, realizing Scootaloo hadn’t fully entered the room yet.

Scootaloo smiled and darted in, closing the door behind her. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but I was wondering what you knew about my father?” Scootaloo inquired, sitting on the opposite side of the desk from the purple mare.

Cheerilee leaned back, a smile on her face. “Your father was a very eccentric stallion. He was constantly questioning the boundaries that previous generations of researchers had laid down. He was actually helping me with my research in Cross species genetics before he died.” She paused, seemingly running through the memories in her mind. “His area of expertise was with spiders, he mixed and matched various different species until he was able to breed something new.” A big smile spread across Cheerilee’s face, as if the very memory of their work made her excited. “It was a huge breakthrough and would have secured any future projects we wanted to explore.” The smile on her face unexpectedly faded. There was a long pause.

“And then what happened?” Scootaloo asked.

Cheerilee sighed. “Fate decided to step in. Almost as though telling us we weren’t meant to discover what we did,” Cheerilee looked past Scootaloo, a sad, distant look in her eyes. “He was gone, taking all of his research with him.” She looked down at her desk. “Along the algorithm I would need to continue our experiments,” she concluded.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. She grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen from the scientist’s desk and started scribbling out the equation she had found in the hidden compartment on the bag. Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at the young mare’s urgency. “Do you mean this?” Scootaloo asked sliding the finished product across the desk. Cheerilee pulled the paper closer and began looking it over, her eyes slowly widening.

“Where did you get this?” she asked, her voice filled with wonder.

“I read some of your books. It just sort of came to me,” Scootaloo saying, mentally wincing at the lie. Not that she didn’t trust Cheerilee, but she didn’t want to risk revealing too much. Just in case.

“Remarkable. Simply remarkable,” Cheerilee whispered, staring at the equation as if it were written in pure gold. “Do you mind if I take this?” Cheerilee asked. “I won’t use it without your permission, but I’d like to go over it. See if there are any flaws before it’s put to use,” Cheerilee said, her voice sounding urgent. Scootaloo paused and looked the mare in the eye, searching for some sign that she might be untrustworthy. The mare’s eyes seemed pleading and desperate, as if her life were on the line.

“Um…sure,” Scootaloo answered.

“Thank you so much!” Cheerilee said, reaching out her hoof as if she wanted to shake Scootaloo’s hoof. “And if you’d like, you can come by sometime and help me test it,” she offered.

“That’d be awesome,” Scootaloo beamed, shaking Cheerilee’s hoof adamantly.

“Alright then. Just leave me your number and I’ll let you know when I’m ready. In the mean time you should probably catch up with the rest of the tour.” Cheerilee said, motioning towards the door.

“Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo said excitedly, jotting down her cell phone number on the piece of paper with the equation. “It was great to meet you,” She said as she trotted over to the door.

“Likewise,” Cheerilee said as the Pegasus left.

//////////////////

Scootaloo was having trouble containing herself, she was so ecstatic. She finally had a connection that could help her find out what happened to her parents. Sure she still needed to find all the information, but at least she was heading in the right direction.

She suddenly bumped into a random stallion, which was carrying several files. “Hey watch it!” he shouted as the files spilled across the floor.

“Oops. Sorry,” Scootaloo said sheepishly as she tried to help him pick up the scattered papers. She glanced down at the files and froze. On one of them was a name. Gene Splice. Before she had a chance to properly inquire as to why her father’s name was on this seemingly random file, the stallion snatched it away from her and stuffed it back into the folder.

“Bug off kid.” The stallion grumbled, turning away and trotting off down a random hall. Scootaloo instantly started after him. Whatever reason that file had her father’s name on it, it could hold some answers.

Scootaloo followed the stallion through the facility, dodging and weaving through the various other scientists, making sure to stay out of the stallion’s sight. The mystery stallion suddenly stopped in front of a door. Before Scootaloo could react the door opened from the other side, revealing several ponies in lab coats that walked out. Scootaloo dodged behind a corner. She heard them greet the mysterious stallion, who chatted with them for a moment before they all started down the hall. Scootaloo darted around the corner.

She quietly slipped across the hallway and into the room, narrowly missing getting squished between the door and the door jam. She held the door open long enough to slip a coin into the space between the door and the door jam, so that it wouldn’t lock her in. She then turned to investigate the room.

“Sweet Celestia,” Scootaloo said quietly. The room was full of complex machines all working busily as Scootaloo wandered through the room. Each one seemed to be packing large amounts of thin, clear fibers into tiny pellets. The pellets were being placed in small containers, which were in turn packed into large crates by the dozens. Scootaloo picked up one of the containers that was about to be packed. Each one looked to hold about twenty pellets. Scootaloo was about to put the container back, but hesitated.

Better keep a hold of this…might be useful. She thought as she stuffed it into her pocket.

“I wonder what this stuff is?” she asked herself as she trotted over to a door on the far side of the room. She tinkered with the knob.

“Maybe it’s a closet…” she muttered, when the door unexpectedly opened and Scootaloo fell forward, her eyes widening at the sight before her. Inside was one of the largest and most complex spider webs Scootaloo had ever seen. Possibly the largest in the world. Standing up and taking a closer look at the walls of the room, she could see that the web was being maintained by hundreds, if not thousands, of spiders. And these weren’t your ordinary, every day spiders. They were a very familiar shade of blue and red. They were the spiders from the files Scootaloo had found the night before.

Being in this room almost brought tears to Scootaloo’s eyes. Being so close to what just might be her father’s magnum opus. It was positively poetic.

However, that’s when the universe saw fit to once more to try and ruin her life. Unbeknownst to Scootaloo, a particularly large spider silently clambered down its silk line and ever so gently, landed on the pegasus’ neck.

Scootaloo felt a tickling sensation on her neck before it suddenly erupted into a searing pain. “OW!” Scootaloo shouted swiping a hoof at the back of her neck. She looked at her hoof to see the crushed remains of one of the spiders. “Oh no…” she whispered, quickly beginning to panic. Were the spiders poisonous? She didn’t remember seeing anything about venom in her father’s notes, but they were genetically altered. The mental image of her suddenly sprouting four extra legs flashed through her mind.

Scootaloo started towards the doorway and stumbled out of the room, grabbing the coin out from the door jam, slamming the door behind her, and bolted down the halls.

//////////////////

Dinky was growing worried. She scanned the halls, searching for Scootaloo. It had been almost an hour since she had last seen her. Dinky was sure her friend would have rejoined the group by now.

“Where are you?” she muttered under her breath, before continuing to address the departing group of students. “Well that’s all we have for today. I encourage all of you to consider a career here, in order to help our society better itself,” she said, trying to sound as happy and upbeat as she could. She continued to scan the crowd, hoping that Scootaloo would appear. Her prayers were answered when Scootaloo reappeared at the back of the group, acting as if she had been there the whole time. The group dispersed, everyone talking excitedly as they made their way to the exit.

Dinky trotted up to Scootaloo, instantly noticing the pegasus’ oddly worried expression. “Are you okay? Did you get to talk to Cheerilee?”

“What?” Scootaloo said, jumping at Dinky’s appearance. “Um yeah, yeah, it went great. She actually wants to meet again soon,” Scootaloo replied, her voice sounding strangely panicked.

“That’s great,” Dinky smiled, but noticed that Scootaloo had a funny look on her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. Scootaloo nodded rapidly. “Come on we better hurry or we’ll miss our train.” She said, heading towards the exit. Dinky shrugged and followed after her.

//////////////////

Scootaloo kept rubbing her neck during the entire train ride. Dinky couldn’t help but notice. “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem nervous,” she asked, eyebrow raised.

Scootaloo gave her a funny look. “Oh, I’m just a little jittery is all,” Scootaloo replied absent mindedly, turning to look out the window as the city flew by.

Dinky decided not to pursue the question any further and joined Scootaloo in watching the city fly by the windows of the train. Neither them noticed the looks a group of shady looking older stallions were giving them from the other end of the car. One of them whispered to another. The one who been whispering then stood up and walked over to the pair of mares smiling. “You ladies lost?” he asked, flashing them a big grin. “I could show you around if you want.”

Scootaloo jumped at the intrusion. “Uh…no thanks. We’re almost home,” she replied, turning away again to look out the window, hoping weird stallion would go away.

The stallion persisted. “Oh don’t be that way. I just wanna show ya a good time, that’s all…” he said, making to put his hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder.

Before anyone could react Scootaloo grabbed the hoof and shoved it away, causing the stallion to land on his back. The stallion’s friends all looked at him in shock. They then looked towards Scootaloo, joined by Dinky.

“How did you do that?” Dinky asked, utterly shocked.

Scootaloo simply stuttered, not quite sure what happened either, when the stallion jumped back up and ran at her. “You are gonna pay for that bitch!” he snarled. He lunged towards Scootaloo.

Suddenly, everything shifted into slow motion for Scootaloo. She deftly hopped out of her seat and landed on the other side of the stallion. The train car grew deathly quiet as everyone looked at Scootaloo, mouths agape in shock.

“Well don’t just stand there catch her!” the stallion barked towards his friends. One of them moved behind the Pegasus, and tried to tackle her like a hoofball linebacker. Scootaloo flipped herself forward, the larger stallion still holding onto her legs. In mid flip she saw another one moving at her and kicked her backhooves out, catching him in the chest and knocking him into two more of the gang. She wound up landing on top of the one who grabbed her the first time, knocking the wind out of him, causing his grip to go slack and let go.

Scootaloo jumped to her hooves and looked the first stallion in the eyes. He looked at his buddies fearfully. The train slowed and stopped at a station and the doors slid open. The colts all shot each other panicked glances and scurried out of the car.

Scootaloo simply watched them leave, completely baffled as to what had just happened. One minute she was sitting in the chair, the next, she had somehow fought off three colts twice her size.

“What just happened?” Dinky asked an expression of complete and utter bewilderment on her face.

Scootaloo simply shook her head, her expression mirroring Dinky. “I have no bucking clue.”

Change

Scootaloo and Dinky walked along the dimly lit city street in silence, towards the bakery. Neither really knew where to start, both quietly wondering what had just happened on the subway.

“What in Equestria happened back there Scootaloo?” Dinky finally asked, stopping in her tracks and giving Scootaloo a questioning look.

“I told you, I don’t know,” Scootaloo replied somewhat sharply. She was eager to get home at this point. She had been sweating bullets for the remainder of the train ride and had been having strange hot and cold flashes and the distinct feeling in her stomach that she might vomit.

“Maybe you don’t know, but you have to have some clue.” Dinky said, pressing the issue. “I mean, seriously Scootaloo, ponies don’t just up and karate ponies like that on the subway. Have you been secretly been taking karate lessons to get back at Babs or something?”

Scootaloo didn’t say anything; she just averted her eyes, looking at the ground instead; her mind slightly foggy for some reason. She thought back to the spider bite. The thought of suddenly dropping dead of poisoning flew past her mind’s eye.

“Scootaloo!” Dinky said, sternly, snapping the orange Pegasus back into reality.

Scootaloo looked at Dinky. Dinky had a concerned look on her face. “You’re in a cold sweat.” She said, motioning towards Scootaloo.

“What? Really?” Scootaloo wiped her head and looked at her forehoof. It was totally soaked.

“Are you okay Scootaloo? You look a little green.” Dinky said.

Scootaloo’s vision went fuzzy for a second, but snapped back into focus when she shook her head. “Yeah, this walk was just more of a work out than I’m used to,” Scootaloo said, shaking the sweat off her hoof. “I’m fine I swear.” She smiled awkwardly.

Dinky didn’t look convinced. “You sure? Maybe your sick.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Nah, I’m fine…I’m fine…don’t need to worry yourself. Look,” she paused as they arrived at the bakery. “I think I’ve just had a long day you know? Talk tomorrow?”

Dinky looked somewhat apprehensive. “Okay then, just stay safe okay? You look a little piqued.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Of course don’t worry about it. I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning. Just need some rest.” She gave Dinky her best reassuring smile, which wasn’t much, considering that Scootaloo felt as if she had been run over by a herd of buffalo.

“Okay, see ya then,” Dinky replied waving goodbye, a somewhat worried look on her face. “But we aren’t done talking about this,” she trotted off down the street, before fading into the night.

Scootaloo sighed as she walked up the stairs. “Wow. My first friend and she practically a clone of Aunt Cup,” she chuckled as she entered the house.

//////////////////

The Cake family patiently sat at the dinner table, waiting for Scootaloo.

“Momma can we eat yet? I’m hungry!” Pound complained, making an overdramatic sad puppy face. Cup Cake shook her head.

“Not yet Pound, you know we have to wait for Scootaloo. Now please, be quiet, I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

As if on cue, Scootaloo walked into the dining room, looking strangely tired and sweaty.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late…” she murmured, looking a little light headed.

“Are you okay honey? You look a little sick,” Cup Cake asked, concerned.

Scootaloo shrugged. “Just a little tired that’s all…” she wiped her noticeably wet forehead, causing her hoof to become soaking wet.

“Wow Scoots you look green!” Pound said from the table, before being quickly shushed by his mother.

“Pound, that was rude. Say you’re sorry.” She motioned towards Scootaloo. Pound hung his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry Scoots…” he said, looking quite dejected.

Scootaloo smiled. “That’s okay sport, I’m just feeling a little tired is all…” she shook her head as if to clear it. “Um…Uncle Carrot…is it okay if I just skip dinner tonight? I honestly just don’t feel well.”

Carrot Cake nodded. “Of course Scootaloo. You’re excused.”

Scootaloo gave him an exhausted smile and started up the stairs. “Thanks…”

There was an awkward pause as the four ponies watched Scootaloo go up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Pumpkin spoke up.

“What’s wrong with Scootaloo momma?” she raised an eyebrow.

Carrot Cake shrugged. “I’m not sure, but she’s probably just tired after a good, long day of school. Now eat your dinner or you can’t have desert okay?”

//////////////////

Scootaloo flopped onto her bed unable to move. She didn’t even bother to close the door she was so exhausted. Her whole body was now completely soaked from her cold sweat, causing her mane to stick to her forehead like a greasy mop. Her sheets were soaked as soon as she lay down, and now stuck to her body like glue. The nauseous feelings showed no signs of disappearing. It almost felt like someone was trying to twist her stomach in a pretzel knot. Her whole body ached and the back of her neck had a burning sensation, as if someone had dropped acid on it. She tried to fall asleep, but her own body seemingly fought against it.

Her stomach twisted once more, the disgusting feeling of her stomach contents making a reappearance welling up in her throat. Scootaloo darted toward the bathroom as fast as she could. She got there just in time, empting her stomach into the toilet.

“Ugh….” Was the only sound she could muster as she dragged herself to her hooves and dragged herself back to her room, only stopping to wash out the gross taste in her mouth and at least try to freshen up.

As she dragged herself back to her bed she noticed a slip of paper on the floor. It was the algorithm. She picked the paper up off the floor and looked at it. Suddenly she felt her stomach twist and she gagged and dropped the slip of paper, doing her best to avoid vomiting all over the floor. She eventually brought herself under control and picked up the slip of paper again. She was about to set it on her desk when she noticed a sentence written on the backside that was now facing up.

NOTE: Do not use magic to mix. Outcome may be unpredictable.

“I’ll have to let Dr. Cheerilee know tomorrow,” Scootaloo muttered as she flopped back to her bed and collapsed, surrendering to the forces of exhaustion.

//////////////////

Cheerilee sat at her desk. She glanced up at the clock. It was 11:30 at night. Most of her research team had gone home, but she stayed behind, completely enraptured in discovering the secrets of the algorithm that Scootaloo had brought her that afternoon. That morning, Cheerilee had felt that she had reached the end of the line, that there was no answer to her dilemma, no freedom from the strange stares, the constant snickers, and mockery she had endured since the accident. She glanced down at her prosthetic leg. It was clunky and uncomfortable. It chaffed and had attracted more then its fare share of awkward stares and gawking. Not anymore.

She turned attention to the notepad that was now completely covered in dozens of mathematical algorithms and equations. She had written the algorithm that Scootaloo gave her backwards and forwards and now, she knew it by heart. She glanced up at the clock. It was almost midnight.

“Alright, well that should do for now,” she muttered to herself as she made her way to the door. She paused in the threshold. She glanced back at her desk, her eyes fixed on the scrap of paper. The scrap of paper that held the key to untold medical miracles, it almost seemed as if it where calling out to her, begging her to test it and unlock its hidden potential.

I could test it. Make sure that it work, she thought. She walked over to the paper and was about to pick it up when the phone number in the corner of the paper caught her eye. You should wait Cheerilee, She thought. After all, you promised that filly that you’d wait. It’s as much hers as yours. Her father made it after all….

“Oh what the hay,” she finally said aloud. “I’ve been waiting ten years for this, I’m sure she’ll understand,” Cheerilee said to herself, trying to reason with herself. “After all,” she chuckled, “it’s not like if the filly was in my hooves she wouldn’t do the same…” she sat at her computer and started to eagerly type away.

She set about running several simulations with the algorithm, testing to see how it would change or react to any of her own serums that she had made. Most of the time, it would barely change anything, but she finally hit the jack pot when she got around to using her lizard DNA serum. A broad smile crossed her face. “Okay then, now we’re in business!” she printed out the formula and eagerly made her way towards the lab, skipping like a school filly.

She entered the lab and started collecting the chemicals needed to craft the formula. She then took the various vials of chemicals and mixed them as carefully as possible, keeping careful track of her progress. Once she felt she had the proper mixture, which was a soft reddish color that bubbled slightly, she gingerly poured the mixture into a large machine that hummed. The machine’s purpose was to mix various chemical compounds as thoroughly as possible. The machine ran on a specially grafted synthetic gem that stored a unicorn’s magic so that non-magic users could wield it to go about various jobs that needed large amounts of magic to work.

In this case, the machine’s job was to magically mix compounds and cast minor spells over them, in case a unicorn was not available for the task.

Cheerilee waited impatiently, watching the little progress bar move along slowly.

“Please…come on…come on…” she whispered, as if her pleading would somehow speed the machine’s mixing process. A small sonar like ping announced that the machine had finished its mixing project.

She gingerly removed the glass vial, smiling eagerly and placed it into a syringe.

She held the syringe in her hooves and eyed it with wonder. “There it is Cheerilee…the key to your freedom.” She removed her prosthetic leg in order to be a tad more comfortable. She then moved the needle to the shoulder of her missing leg and took a deep breath, hesitating slightly.

Oh come on, what are you waiting for? A voice in her head told her. You’ve waited long enough. Just do it. She took a deep breath and pushed the needle through her skin. She winced at the slight pinch. She slowly injected the serum into her arm, biting her lip in expectation. Once the syringe was empty, she gently removed it and placed it in a biohazard box.

“Okay,” she sighed in relief. “That wasn’t so bad…so far no wild mutations…now all I have to do is take a blood sample and- AHG!” she cut off by a piercing pain shot through her, originating from where she had injected herself. Before she had a chance to properly react, another stab of pain caused her to drop to the floor. It felt as though her shoulder was being burned by both hot acid and fire at the same time. Cheerilee’s vision became fuzzy as he pain quickly grew to be too much and overcame her, causing her to pass out.

////////////////

When sleep finally did claim Scootaloo, she was plagued by strange nightmares. She tried to move only to find her hooves were stuck to her sides, a gross, sticky feeling enveloping her body. She struggled against whatever was preventing her from moving, only to discover she was trapped in a thick cocoon of webs. Panicking, she tried to struggle, her movements pulling on the strands of the truly tremendous web around her. A shadow appeared over her and Scootaloo looked up, her eyes widening in terror. Standing over her was a mammoth spider easily three times her size. The monstrous creature began to move towards the young Pegasus, slowly and deliberately. Scootaloo started to struggle wildly, her survival instincts kicking in. The spider marched towards her, its jaws widening, its fangs dripping venom. It finally reached her and opened its jaws wide and it let out a deafening sound.

////////////////

Scootaloo bolted awake with the sound of her alarm clock screaming in her ears. She tried to locate it through her blurry vision, but gave up, instead reaching for her glasses. Her hoof reached out to the spot on her nightstand where she usually put them before going to bed, but felt empty space instead. Oh come on… she thought. Most likely the twins were playing a joke on her. She put a hoof to her face. “Uhhh…it’s too early for…this,” she grumbled, her sentence trailing off as she felt her muzzle. Her hoof traced the rim of her lenses. Then it dawned on her. She hadn’t taken her glasses off last night. She slowly lowered the lenses from her eyes and her vision cleared immediately.

“What?” Scootaloo muttered, completely confused. She sorted through all the potential causes for the sudden change in the quality of her vision. She absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck, her mind still very much confused. Her woof however, felt a small welt on her neck and her eyes widened in realization. “The spider bite?” she said aloud, more of a question then a statement. She then laughed. “No way…I mean, that’s just crazy!” she chuckled to herself, trying to calm herself. That only happened in comic books right?

She climbed out of bed, making sure to stop the dreaded alarm that was still honking like a car horn directly in her ear. The first thing she noted that she was feeling considerably better than she had been the night before. Her nausea had faded along with the dizziness and she was no longer drenched in sticky sweat.

A hopeful smile crossed her face. This wasn’t exactly the best thing to happen in the last twenty-four hours, but it was in the top five for sure. Certainly better then ending up dead from the bite or something.

“Hmm, I should probably tell somepony about this, just in case,” she muttered to herself as she started searching for everything she’d need for school. As she packed her backpack, making sure to take the algorithm as well, she felt a strange tingling sensation and before she even had a chance to properly process it, spun around and caught a foam dart an inch from her face. She looked for the source of the dart and saw Pound sitting in her doorway with a dart gun pointing at her, a confused look on his face.

“How did you get so fast?” he asked, his voice a mix of shock and awe.

Scootaloo simply blinked for a second, just as confused as he was. “That’s my secret kid,” she replied, her confusion quickly replaced by pride as she finished packing her bag, and trotted past him. She grabbed her scooter from its spot by the stairs and cantered down to the bakery.

“Morning Auntie,” she said cheerily as she gave her aunt, who was setting some muffins out for breakfast, a peck on the cheek.

“Oh, good morning Scootaloo. Feeling any better?” Aunt Cup Cake asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek in response.

“To put it mildly, yeah,” Scootaloo replied, smiling. She quickly grabbed a muffin and started for the door. She got the tingling sensation again and dodged to the right, a foam dart stuck to the door. She turned to look at Pound, sitting on the stairs with the dart gun, his face the very portrait of shock.

“Better luck next time short stuff,” Scootaloo winked as she walked out the door. She flipped her scooter open and began the journey to school.

Her Aunt looked at the door in bewilderment. “Did she forget her glasses?” she asked looking at the colt on the stairs.

/////////////

Cheerilee slowly awoke in a daze. She slowly opened her eyes, wearily scanning the room. Her head felt as if it was in a vice. “What the hay just happened…” she asked herself as her eyes drifted to her amputated leg, expecting to see her prosthetic leg. It was strangely vacant. “What? Where’s my leg?” she asked as she looked for it. Her eyes widened as she finally realized where she actually was.

She was lying on the floor of her living room, which was completely and utterly decimated. Her couch was ripped in several places, with the stuffing pulled out and littering the floor. The coffee table that usually sat in the middle of the room was obliterated, reduced to a pile of broken glass and splinters. “What is…what?” she asked no one in particular, completely dumbfounded by the sight before her. She noticed something else too. A strange smell reached her nose. It smelled like something died. Her eyes drifted down towards the ground. She was overcome with a sudden queasiness at the horrifying sight before her.

Surrounding her were several dozen piles of blood stained feathers, tufts of fur and scattered bones that seemed to have come from some kind of small animal. She finally noticed the strange metallic taste in her mouth. It tasted like blood. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to vomit and she bolted to her feet, staggering as best she could over the debris of the room and towards the bathroom, emptying her stomach into the toilet. She let out a groan and looked down at the disgusting sight before her. Floating amongst the rest of her stomach contents were bits of bone, feathers and fur. “W-what in Equestria?” she croaked, fear overcoming her as the realization that she had just eaten a living thing dawned on her.

She once more emptied her stomach into the toilet, slumping next to it and groaning. She dragged herself to her hooves, wobbling slightly due to the missing leg and started to wash her mouth out over and over again, in an attempt to purge the horrible taste from her mouth. After about twenty rinses, she flushed the toilet and hobbled over to her closet, pulling out another prosthetic limb.

“What in Equestria happened in here?” she wondered aloud, as she started to clean up the debris as fast as she could. She didn’t know what could have possibly caused this damage, but the sight of various small animals ripped to shreds was simply unbearable.

Before she had a chance to clean the disgusting sight up, however, her phone began ringing, causing her to jump in fright. She looked around for her phone, since it wasn’t anywhere on her body. She rummaged through the remains of the couch and found it, inexplicitly stuffed between what was left of the cushions. She fumbled with the phone for a few seconds, and finally managed to answer it.

“Hello?” she asked hesitantly, not knowing who was on the other end.

“Dr. Cheerilee, where have you been? We’ve been trying to reach you all morning!” A voice on the other end asked, his voice panicked.

“I… I slept in,” Cheerilee said, not sure what else to say as she scanned the room again.

“Well you’d better get here quick.” The voice on the other end said.

“Why?” Cheerilee replied, rubbing her head to try to alleviate her headache. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, there was a break in last night and the boss is out for blood.” the other voice replied.

“Oh okay then. I’ll be there soon,” Cheerilee said, attempting to assure her coworker. She hanged up the phone and looked around the room.

I can’t leave the house looking like this… she thought as she dragged herself to her feet and started to clean up the mess as best as she could. She wiped up the blood, bones and fur, sure to use as much bleach and floor cleaner as possible to purge away the disgusting sight. She then went about attempting to make the room look at least moderately presentable, ending up piling most stuff into a rather sloppy pile in the corner of the room.

She flopped down on the destroyed couch, completely exhausted and incredibly confused. Her headache only seemed to get worst as time passed.

She let out a heavy sigh and started to get ready for work. She took a quick shower, dried herself off, and took a pain killer to at least try to alleviate the massive headache. And was about to leave when she caught sight of something jammed into the door frame.

Reaching over, she pulled out the object. It looked like a scale. And not just any normal scale, but rather a massive scale, as if it where off of a dragon. It was a dark emerald color and it glinted in the sunlight, only managing to add to her confusion.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on?”

Unfair

“Well this sucks,” Scootaloo grumbled as she walked through the halls of school. Her day had started out great, she didn’t feel like vomiting, her vision had somehow cleared up and her reflexes improved exponentially, all of this overnight. It had been somewhat jarring at first, but she’d been slowly getting used to it, deciding not to freak out and ruin a potentially good thing. No, the actual reason she was feeling frustrated was because she had searched high and low for Dinky, and hadn’t seen her anywhere. The unicorn had been completely absent through homeroom and even though Scootaloo went to Dinky’s locker between classes, she still couldn’t find her. “Where did you go?” she muttered to herself, as she made her way to the courtyard for lunch.

She paused in the doorway, scanning the courtyard for any signs of the missing unicorn. Her eyes brightened when she caught sight of Dinky sitting at a table on the far side, a large book open in front of her. Scootaloo trotted up behind her and leaned in. “What are you reading?” she asked.

Dinky jumped in fright at the sound of her friend’s voice. “Don’t do that,” she said swatting Scootaloo away rather harshly.

“What’s wrong Dinky? Where were you all day?” Scootaloo asked, sitting next to Dinky.

Dinky turned to answer but instead blinked in shock. “Wait, where are your glasses?” Dinky asked confusion in her face.

“Oh I don’t need them anymore,” Scootaloo said, smirking at her friend’s reaction.

Dinky raised an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that your vision improved so well you no longer need prescription glasses? And this improvement took place overnight?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Now, are you going to answer my question?” Scootaloo asked as she pulled a lunch bag out of her backpack.

“What question?”

“The question about where you were all morning, I looked all over the place.” Scootaloo said as she rummaged through the lunch bag.

“I was avoiding you.” Dinky said rather bluntly, causing Scootaloo to look up, eyebrow raised.

“Why?”

“Because, Scootaloo, you could have gotten the both of us into an incredible amount of trouble yesterday!” Dinky said, sounding quite angry. Some of the students nearby turned to stare. Dinky noticed them and blushed slightly, sitting back down rather awkwardly.

Scootaloo put a leg around Dinky’s shoulders. “Relax, Dinky, I’m pretty sure nopony noticed me. Look,” she leaned in towards Dinky. “I’m sorry that I got you worried, honest. I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I get a little too curious for my own good. Are you sure you didn’t get in trouble?”

Dinky shrugged her anger fading. “I don’t know yet. I’ll probably find out tomorrow,”

“And what might that be,” A disturbingly familiar voice sneered from behind them.

“What do you want Babs?” Scootaloo groaned, not even bothering to turn around.

“Oh nothing. Just wanted to check up on my two best pals is all,” Babs replied, giving Dinky a noogie.

“Hey stop!” Dinky shouted, trying to escape the unwanted contact.

“So make me,” Babs challenged, undeterred by the unicorn’s efforts at escape.

Scootaloo jumped out of her seat and shoved Babs away from the grey mare, sending the slightly bulkier mare stumbling away. “Fine. I’ll make you,” Scootaloo said glaring at Babs.

“Scootaloo don’t,” Dinky said, putting a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “She’s not worth it, trust me.”

Babs meanwhile, had stood back up, a scowl on her face. “Oh so you wanna play now, huh Scoots? Fine,” She growled, charging at the smaller mare.

Scootaloo waited until Babs was right in front of her before she sprang from the ground, spinning in the air and landing behind Babs, sweeping her back hoof out behind her as she did, causing Babs to trip and skid across the ground.

Babs got up, shaking herself off, and looked at Scootaloo in confusion. Then she heard a familiar sound. Laughter. A crowd had begun to form around her and Scootaloo. But the other students weren’t laughing at Scootaloo this time, they were laughing at Babs.

“Shut up!” Babs shouted. The group instantly fell silent, the laughter dying away. Babs then turned towards Scootaloo, who was standing at the opposite edge of the ring the mob had formed. Babs’ eyes narrowed. “That’s it. I’m sending you home in a body cast!” she roared as she once more changed towards the small pegasus.

Scootaloo once again waited patiently. As soon as Babs was a foot away from her, Scootaloo side stepped the charge. She then grabbed Babs around the neck and swung the earth pony around. Babs flew through the air towards an occupied lunch table. She slid across the metal surface, trays of food getting knocked aside as she passed. She fell off the table with a loud thump.

Everyone turned in unison towards the table where Babs had fallen, all smiling. Babs stood up, completely covered in various bits of lunch food. There was a long awkward silence, before the crowd burst into a fit of laugher, all pointing their hooves towards the now humiliated pony.

“No, shut up!” Babs yelled, quickly becoming overcome by the shame. The crowd continued laughing, causing Babs to turn tail and bolt towards the school house, tears in her eyes.

As soon as she Babs was out of sight, the crowd started cheering for Scootaloo.

“Way to go,” one colt said as he walked past, giving Scootaloo a pat on the back.

“We knew you had it in you,” Another cheered, also giving her a pat on the back.

Various other ponies all passed by, giving her congratulations on her victory. Scootaloo had done it. She’d finally beaten Babs at her own game. Knocked her down a few pegs and shown everypony how vulnerable the bigger mare really was.

Then why, she wondered, did she feel so empty inside?

She noticed Dinky giving her a displeased look.

“What?” She asked, looking towards Dinky.

“That was an awful thing to do,” Dinky replied. Scootaloo looked at Dinky in shock.

“What do you mean ‘awful’, you saw what happened, she deserved it,” Scootaloo replied, not really believing her own words.

“Maybe…” Dinky said. “But when she ran I saw something familiar. I saw myself the first time she picked on me. Congratulations, Scootaloo, you’re on her level now,” And with that, Dinky walked away.

Scootaloo started after her, but a loud voice distracted her.

“Scootaloo!” the voice shouted. Scootaloo turned in the direction of the voice to see her math teacher standing in the doorway, a grim look on her face.

“Buck me,” Scootaloo mumbled.

//////////////////////////

Scootaloo sat waiting in the main office, feeling quite frustrated with herself. The principle had called her uncle who was undoubtedly on the way. “How did I get into this?” she muttered herself, twiddling her hooves. The clock ticked slowly, time passing at a snails pace.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only five minuets, her uncle stormed into the office. Without a word he stepped into the principal’s office and had a quick word. Before Scootaloo had a chance to figure out what had been said behind the closed door, Uncle Carrot walked out of the office and towards her. “Come on. Get your stuff and let’s go,” he told her forcefully.

“But there’s still an hour of school left,” Scootaloo said, confused.

“Not for you. Congratulations, you just got suspended for a week. I hope you’re proud,” he said angrily. “We’ll talk more when we get home,” he grumbled turning towards the door. Scootaloo followed closely her head hanging in shame.

As they walked towards the front doors Scootaloo heard familiar voices chattering down the hall. She stopped and looked to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon standing near a very depressed looking Babs.

“I can’t believe you let her make a fool of you like that,” Diamond said sneering at the dark orange mare. “I mean she’s like half your size. You must be really pathetic to lose to her.”

“I know,” Silver Spoon chimed in. “I mean even I could have probably beaten her. But you just ran away with your tail between your legs crying,” she laughed as her and Diamond walked away, giggling and laughing amongst themselves, leaving Babs standing there alone, sniffing and crying quietly.

Scootaloo simply stared at Babs, her mind a blank. Where was the mean, tough Babs that terrified the school? The Babs she saw here was a sad, pitiful pony, bullied by those two rich jerks. Why hadn’t Babs punched those two, instead of cowering in front of them and letting them demean her in such a way?

“Scootaloo.” Her uncle called out to her, still looking quite angry at her, snapping Scootaloo out of her thoughts. She turned to follow after her uncle, her mind focused on one thought.

I’m just as bad as them.

//////////////////

Cheerilee stood in the elevator, still trying to patch together what had happened the night before. The last thing she remembered was being her lab and injecting the serum. Then, an extreme pain in her missing leg and blackness. Then she woke up in her own living room and surrounded by dead animals.

The elevator dinged, announcing her arrival on the floor where she worked. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and walked out of the elevator, heading to her office. When she got there, her eyes immediately widened at the sight before her.

“Oh dear Celestia…”

Broken glass littered the floor outside the research area, along with bits of broken off drywall.

“Oh good you’re finally here,” a voice that Cheerilee recognized as the coworker she had spoken to on the phone. It was a rather thin sky blue unicorn with a grey mane.

“What…Uh…What happened?” Cheerilee asked a feeling in the pit her stomach already giving her an idea of what might have happened.

The unicorn shook her head. “Like I said over the phone; it looks like someone tried to break in. It doesn’t look like anything was actually taken, but a lot of our equipment was destroyed. To be honest I didn’t even know anypony could do that much damage,” the other mare said, an edge of confusion in her voice.

“Oh my,” Cheerilee replied, only half paying attention. She walked into the lab, being careful to avoid what few shards of glass had fallen inside. She almost felt like fainting. The scene displayed before her was in many ways identical to the one she had awoken to that morning.

She wandered over to the spot she had mixed the serum the previous night. The table the mixer was on looked like it had been fed halfway into a wood chipper. The machine itself was smashed on the other side of the room. The chemicals were spilled on the floor, forming an ugly mess of colors on the floor. That’s when Cheerilee’s eye caught sight of something strangely familiar in the mixed liquids. She reached out and picked up the object. It was a scale, almost identical to the one she had found back at her home.

“What is happening?” she muttered to herself.

“Um…Doctor Cheerilee?”

She spun around and suddenly felt very awkward. The other researchers were all staring at her with eyebrows raised.

“Um, sorry…” she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck with her good leg and started towards the door, discreetly shoving the scale in her lab coat pocket.

“Do you have any idea what might have caused this?” one of the researchers asked.

Cheerilee shook her head.

“No, no I don’t…”

//////////////////

“What were you thinking?!” Uncle Carrot shouted as he followed Scootaloo into the family room above the bakery.

“I… I don’t know,” Scootaloo mumbled, not meeting his gaze.

“You don’t know? How do you not know?” Carrot asked in disbelief. “You humiliated that girl at school and for what? Payback?”

“No!” Scootaloo said forcefully, still refusing to look at her uncle. “She was picking on me and my friend and I stood up to her. I figured that’d be a good thing.” Her shoulders sagged and she looked down at the floor, her own foolish and selfish actions becoming apparent.

There was a long pause between the two, as Uncle Carrot walked over and sat next to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo,” he said, “You must understand that standing up for your friend is a good thing, but the way you handled it isn’t.”

“Then why am I in trouble?” Scootaloo moaned feeling quite frustrated. “I finally find it in me to defend myself and I get suspended? That’s not fair,” she stamped a hoof.

“What’s not fair is you using this new found courage to settle a grudge.” Uncle Carrot stated matter of factly. “I know that was the girl who’s been picking on you; your principal told me everything. He seemed shocked I didn’t know,” there was a pause. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” he asked, turning to look Scootaloo in the eyes, looking rather worried.

“Because I didn’t need the help. I’m fine on my own. I think I proved that today,” Scootaloo said, shifting on her hooves, feeling more and more conflicted.

“That’s no excuse. Just because you can do something doesn’t always make it right,” Uncle Carrot interjected. “With great power comes great responsibility. I know that may be difficult to understand right now, but-”

“Oh no, I get it,” Scootaloo interrupted. “It’s a great excuse for why you never told me you still had my dad’s bag!” she shouted, now on the verge of tears.

Carrot’s raised an eyebrow. “Bag? What bag?” he asked perplexed.

“What do you mean ‘what bag’? The bag my dad left you! The one I found in the attic yesterday!”

Her uncle’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh…that bag…”

Scootaloo nodded angrily. “Yeah, that bag! Why didn’t you just tell me about it?! Something like ‘Oh Scootaloo did we ever tell you that some of your dad’s old things are up in the attic buried under dust and old baking trophies,’” she said, doing a fairly poor imitation of her uncle’s voice.

There was another long pause between the two, as Uncle Carrot seemed to regretful. “Look, Scootaloo, I’m sorry, but your father asked me to keep his notes hidden. He didn’t really go into much more detail than that, but he said it was important. So, I just up and stuffed it in the attic. After the first few years I just forgot about it. I really am sor-”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” Scootaloo responded still feeling frustrated. “If it was so important there’s no way you could just forget!”

Before her uncle had a chance to react, the voice of Aunt Cup called out to them as she climbed up the stairs.

“What’s going on?” She asked, leaning into the door way, concern in her eyes. “Your shouting is scaring away the customers.”

Scootaloo sighed and shook her head. “Nothing, I’m just gonna go for a walk,” she said darkly as she made her way down stairs. Uncle Carrot didn’t even try to stop her.

Once outside Scootaloo started walking aimlessly. She didn’t know where she was going and, quite honestly, she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away from her uncle’s lecture, to sort things out herself.

////////////////

Scootaloo wandered for quite awhile, eventually heading back towards her school. Just in time to see all of the other students getting let out for the day.

She noticed a few of them heading for carriages, presumably driven by their parents. Scootaloo felt herself grow bitter at the smiles of happy dad’s greeting her classmates who mostly just looked mortified.

“Don’t know how good they have it,” she muttered to herself.

“Hey, someone stop that guy!” someone shouted. Scootaloo looked in the direction of the commotion to see an unknown stallion running away from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with what looked like one of the two mares’ purse. The stallion skidded to a halt as he almost ran into Scootaloo.

The stallion stared at Scootaloo for a brief moment.

“Just go. They kinda have it coming,” Scootaloo said. The stallion wasted no time and bolted down the street.

Diamond and Silver Spoon ran up to Scootaloo, their faces red with indignation. “Why didn’t you do anything? Now he’s gonna get away,” she spat towards Scootaloo.

“You don’t deserve my help,” Scootaloo said curtly and turned to walk away. Before she got too far a white hoof landed on her shoulder, and she stopped to look at the pony attached to it.

“I think we should talk,” said Featherweight, his voice laced with disappointment.

///////////////////

Scootaloo and Featherweight sat in a small café, sharing an order of hayfries. A television in the corner of the room held Scootaloo’s attention.

“It’s unclear whether she’s alive or dead, but military police assure us that well known business tycoon and inventor Rainbow Dash has most likely been taken captive by a Diamond Dog terrorist group that has been wreaking havoc in that section of Northern Equestria,” the news stallion droned, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.

“You wanna tell me what happened with Babs?” Featherweight asked, breaking the silence between them.

Scootaloo groaned in frustration. “For Faust’s sake, why do I have to keep defending what I did? I stood up to Babs and everyone’s acting like I did something wrong,”

Featherweight shrugged. “It’s because that’s just not like you at all. I didn’t even know you could move like that. I mean I’d have been admiring it if you weren’t the one tossing Babs over a table,” he said, taking a sip of his cola.

Scootaloo groaned. “But that’s what I don’t get. Babs is a bitch. Why is everyone getting mad I fought back?” she asked, looking towards Featherweight. “I mean, seriously Featherweight. You know her tell me why everypony is angry at me for standing up for myself.”

Featherweight paused, leaning back slightly. “Do you want me to be dead honest?”

Scootaloo nodded, feeling somewhat exasperated. Why couldn’t someone just come clean and tell her the truth, no strings attached? “Yes. I want you to be dead honest.”

Featherweight sighed. “Okay then. Truth is, Babs is a lot like you,” Featherweight said rather matter-of-factly. “She isn’t really friends with Diamond or Silver Spoon. She hates them. The only reason you ever see her with them is because they just hang around her so no one messes with them, they bully her just as much as she bullies all the other fillies.”

Scootaloo simply blinked in shock. She had caught a glimpse of that before, but honestly, deep down, thought that maybe it was just an isolated incident.

“And that brings me to my second point,” Featherweight continued. “Why didn’t you stop that stallion that snatched Diamond’s purse?”

Featherweight’s words snapped Scootaloo back into reality. “What do you mean ‘why didn’t I stop him?’” she asked, once more angry that she had to explain her actions for the second time today. “Featherweight, you just gave me a good reason why she doesn’t deserve help. I figure it’ll teach Diamond a lesson,” she shifted in her seat, feeling guiltier for her actions each passing second.

“I know, but you could have done it another way. Sure, someponies might say you were obligated to, since Diamond has been so mean to you in the past, but be honest, you’re more of the selfless type, aren’t you?” he asked, smiling.

Scootaloo sighed. This was almost exactly what her uncle had been saying, just worded differently. She slumped down onto the table. “I know. It was wrong what I did back there. I should have done something. It’s just…” she paused, wondering how to properly word what she wanted to say. “It’s just that I had an argument with my uncle earlier and I was still angry I guess.” She confessed, a sense of relief coming over her.

“And so you took your anger out on Diamond,” Featherweight finished. “Well I can’t say it was right, but I understand.” There was a pause.

Scootaloo then broke the silence. “You know what? To tell you the truth, you kinda just gave me the same advice my Uncle did.” She paused, her smile fading as she replayed the fight with her uncle in her head. “Except I threw it back in his face,” she said, starting to feel guilty.

Featherweight said nothing, instead looking at Scootaloo thoughtfully. “Sounds like you owe him an apology,” he finally said, simply.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied. She fiddled with her hayfries, afraid to ask her next question. It was getting late and she was feeling that strange tingling sensation from before. “Could…could you, maybe walk me home?” she asked, blushing slightly. “I don’t wanna be alone right now.”

Featherweights eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. “Sure,” he said.

Scootaloo smiled back rather awkwardly and the two got up and started walking towards Scootaloo’s home.

////////////////////

The strange tingling sensation Scootaloo was feeling only grew stronger as the two of them made their way towards home. She and Featherweight hadn’t talked much, both feeling that enough had been said already.

“You, okay?” Featherweight asked. “You seem nervous.”

“I don’t know. I just feel a little off. Like something isn’t the way it should be,” Scootaloo answered, shaking off the strange feeling of foreboding she felt. As they neared the house Scootaloo began to sweat. Something was horribly wrong, she could feel it. But what?

As if to answer her question, her eyes caught sight of bright flashing lights as they reached the corner.

“Oh no,” Scootaloo whispered as she broke out into a gallop, rounding the corner with Featherweight scampering behind her.

“Hey wait up!” he shouted, bolting after Scootaloo.

Scootaloo came to a dead halt as her worst fears were confirmed. She was greeted with the sight of two police carriages parked outside the bakery, alongside an ambulance. A small crowd of ponies, consisting mostly of on-lookers were gathered around in a ring outside the police tape, all gawking at the scene before them.

Scootaloo once again broke into a gallop. She had to find her family. To see if they were alright. She shoved her way through the growing crowd, ducking under the police tape and making a beeline towards the front of the bakery.

“Did you see what he looked like?” she heard an officer say and spun around almost instantly, looking for where the officer was standing. She saw him standing in front of Aunt Cup, who was sobbing.

“He was a little taller than me and he had a white mane and a black coat,” Her aunt choked out between sobs, dabbing her eyes with a cloth every so often in a futile attempt to wipe away the tears.

“Aunt Cup?” Scootaloo said her voice laced with concern. The older mare turned to look towards her, her eyes red and puffy from sobbing.

“Oh Scootaloo, he shot him,” she cried hysterically, pulling Scootaloo into a tight hug.

“Who did he shot?” Scootaloo asked, quickly becoming overwhelmed with confusion.

“He took Carrot from us,” Aunt Cup wailed, collapsing to the ground, completely overwhelmed with emotion.

“What?” Scootaloo asked, still trying to process what was happening. Aunt Cup could do nothing but cry though, unable to explain further.

“Are you Mr. Cake’s daughter?” one of the police stallions asked Scootaloo.

Scootaloo couldn’t answer, as the full scope of what had just happened dawning on her. She collapsed to the ground, tears pouring out of her eyes.

“No she’s his niece. They raised her,” another, much younger voice to her side explained. Scootaloo turned towards the source of the voice to see that Featherweight had caught up with her.

“What happened exactly?” he asked the officer, seemingly knowing that Scootaloo wanted to know.

The police officer bit his lip, obviously apprehensive. “Um, well, the perpetrator came into the bakery and threatened the Cakes at gun point.” He paused, giving the three a worried look.

“And?” Featherweight asked again.

The police officer bit his lip again, sighed and continued. “When Mr. Cake didn’t give him the money he wanted the perp shot him at close range.”

At the officer’s words, Aunt Cup exploded into another series of heaving sobs. Scootaloo meanwhile just stared ahead blankly. She honestly didn’t know what to feel at this point. A part of her felt an immense sadness for her loss. Another part of her felt an incredible seething rage for what the killer had done. He had taken away the only pony that came close to being her father. And yet, yet another part of her felt an incredible sense of guilt. It was her that caused the fight with her uncle. Her and her own selfishness.

Then, a thought passed through her mind. “Where are the twins?” she asked, still in a daze.

“They’re over there, next to our carriage,” The officer’s replied, motioning towards the ambulance.

“You two should go see to them. I’ll stay here,” Featherweight said gently, motioning towards the twins. Scootaloo nodded and lead her aunt to the carriage. She saw that the twins were safe, sitting outside, their faces masks of fear as a paramedic checked them over.

“Scootaloo!” They shouted as they caught sight of Scootaloo. Scootaloo ran up to them and hugged them tightly.

“Hey guys…” she said, just happy to see them okay.

“Daddy won’t wake up,” Pound said, on the verge of tears.

“But he will, won’t he?” Pumpkin asked trying to be hopeful.

Aunt Cup suddenly pulled her children and niece in for a hug. “No, Pumpkin. Dads not going to wake up sweetheart,” she said, trying to stay calm for her children.

Scootaloo didn’t try to back away, instead gratefully excepting the comfort her family gave her.

At that moment Featherweight walked up to them, an unsure look on his face. Scootaloo looked at him in the hope he’d try to comfort her. She opened her mouth to ask him what he’d been told when she noticed a piece of paper in his hoof. Featherweight apparently noticed that she saw what he had and tried to hide it, but Scootaloo’s hoof darted out at lightning speed and snatched it from him.

What she saw amplified her rage and guilt tenfold. It was a sketch of the killer. It was the stallion that had stolen Diamond’s purse. The stallion Scootaloo had let walk away.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to do anything crazy.” Featherweight said, sounding quite sincere.

Scootaloo thought for a moment, a plan formulating in her mind. She slowly looked up at Featherweight, her eyes burning with anger. “Meet me at that café tomorrow after school and bring Dinky,” she said her voice tight and determined. Featherweight nodded and trotted away, apparently using that as a queue for him to leave.

Scootaloo buried herself into her aunt’s tight embrace, her mind focused on one thing and one thing only.

She would find that pony, and once she did, she would make sure he would pay.

The Lizard

Dinky stared open mouthed at what remained of Dr. Cheerilee’s lab. She had been working here for only about a year, but never in her life had she seen something like this. The only words she could think of to describe the sheer scope of destruction before her was as if an atomic bomb had been set off inside. Glass covered the floor, the desks and tables where shattered and any machines or computers in the room looked as if they had lost a fight with a wood chipper. Dozens of vials and beakers lay shattered on the ground, their contents mixing into pools of various sizes and colors. Surrounding the lab was a veritable spider-web of caution tape, and two security ponies stood guard, idly discussing the results of the latest hoof ball game.

Dinky wracked her brain for an answer to explain the strange sight before her. She saw another intern who was also staring at the remains of the laboratory and walked over to them. “Hey, Flicker,” she asked him. “What happened here?” she asked pointing at what remained of the laboratory.

Flicker, a slightly older unicorn stallion with gray mane and black coat, turned to face her. “I’m not really sure. I was told it was a break in, but nothing was taken so that doesn’t really make any sense,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking just as confused.

“Seriously? That’s odd,” Dinky commented, gazing at the lab. “Is Dr. Cheerilee around?” she asked.

“She was here earlier, but I think she got called upstairs to talk to the board. They’re pretty damned pissed right now, I’ll tell you that.” Flicker said.

Dinky bit her lip, becoming worried for the older mare. She’d hate to see her get into trouble for something that couldn’t have been her fault. “Okay, thanks,” she said as she made her way to the elevator down the hall.

“Sure thing Dinks.” Flicker replied, turning to handle his own internship duties.

/////////////////////

Dr. Cheerilee sat at the end of the hugeoak wood table where the board of directors sat. She was sweating slightly, this being the first time she’d ever been called up to the conference room. The grim faces of at least twelve stallions, all looking quite angry, stared back at her.The past hour had been incredibly stressful for her, with a constant barrage of questions directed towards her, all concerning the events of the night before and what Cheerilee might have had to do with them.

She herself didn’t even have a proper clue. She only had a vague series of foggy memories, images of sewers and claws and scales.

“Dr. Cheerliee,” One thin stallion with a high voice and an incredibly expensive suit asked. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for us to believe that anyone could have gotten past our security?”

“I understand that it isn’t plausible, but I assure you I locked my lab when I left last night,” Cheerilee said, internally wincing at the lie. She hadn’t been able to figure out why she had blacked out last night, but whatever the reason, they’d most likely be furious to learn that she had been experimenting past closing time. “Besides the window was broken.That’s probably how they got in,” she suggested, hoping to lessen their suspicion.

“The glass was outside the lab though. Whoever broke it was already on the inside when they did it,” pointed out the only mare, an incredibly mean looking individual with a slicked back mane.

Cheerilee gulped. What would she tell them? That she had somehow managed to transform into a giant lizard and destroy the lab? Oh yeah, they’d accept that right off. Probably fire her on the spot and black list her name.

“Sir, what do you make of all this?” another stallion sitting at the end of the table closest to Cheerilee, huffed.

Everyone looked to the white unicorn sitting at the far end of the table. He hadn’t said a word throughout the entire meeting. He had only been listening, absorbing what everyone else was saying. It was Blueblood, head of the board of directors, and founder of BlueCorp.

“What do I think?” he asked incredulously. “I think that this entire meeting was a waste of time and therefore money. All the evidence we need is in the security office in the monitor room. Someone call them and tell them to start going over the tapes from last night. Then we can figure out exactly what happened and take proper action afterwards,” he told them, his voice terse. It was obvious that he was holding back any anger he felt at having what he must have thought was an incredibly trivial matter.

“What about the lab?” Asked an earth pony on the left side of the table, a worried look on his face. “It was an important one.”

“We buy a new one,” Blueblood stated nonchalantly. “It’s not exactly going to bankrupt us is it? We would have gone out of business a long time ago if one destroyed room were enough to put us under,” he said rising from his seat. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have more important things to worry about,” he said walking through a set of doors behind the table, into his office. “Meeting adjourned,” he stated as he closed the doors behind himself.

The rest of the board began discussing other business and Cheerilee noticed that they were no longer paying any attention to her.

“Um…am I excused?” she asked, hoping that this was her chance to leave. She was starting to feel odd, like something was gnawing at her missing leg and a dull headache was starting to form. One of the ponies waved his hoof dismissively, not even bothering to look at her as he discussed something with the other board members. Taking this as a sign that she was dismissed, she quietly got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” she asked herself as she looked out one of the windows at the city below. She knew that as soon as security went through the tapes they’d see whatever happened in there. Although her memories were foggy as to what had happened after the injection, she knew whatever happened, she’d probably be fired or worse jailed. Not that it would matter. She’d be barred from any job involving genetics for the rest of her life.

Get the tapes, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. She shook her mind to clear it, a strange wave of dizziness suddenly overtaking her. Once her head cleared, she sat down, pondering what to do next. The idea of stealing the security tapes was quickly becoming all the more attractive by the second. But how? She thought. How do I get the tapes without getting caught?

The answer to her question came in the form of a familiar voice calling to her from down the hall. Cheerilee looked in the direction the voice came from to see Dinky trotting up towards her, looking rather worried. “Dr. Cheerilee! What’s going on? I just showed up and saw the lab,” she said, looking at Cheerilee as if the older mare might have the answers.

Cheerilee looked down at Dinky, wondering what to tell the young filly. An idea starting to form in her mind.

“Somepony tore up the lab. They aren’t sure who, but I’m under suspicion since I was the last pony to leave last night,” she told her.

“But that’s crazy!” Dinky said, stamping a hoof on the ground. “Why would you tear up the lab? That’s your life’s work in there!”

Cheerilee nervously held up her hoof to calm Dinky. “I know Dinky, but, as strange as it sounds, there’s a chance they’re onto something.”

“What? How?” Dinky asked, confused. “You didn’t do anything did you?” she asked, her voice filled with worry.

Cheerilee shook her head, started to feel just as confused as Dinky must have been. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I can’t explain everything right now, but I do need your help,” she said, quickly becoming more determined by the second.

Dinky looked puzzled for a moment, as if Cheerilee had just spoken in another language. However, after a long pause, her expression changed to a determined look. “What do you need me to do?”

A small smile crossed Cheerilee’s face. There was a light at the end of tunnel at last. “Okay, Dinky, I need you to go to the security office and get the tapes from last night and bring them to me. But, whatever you do, don’t watch them. Understand?” Cheerilee said.

Dinky looked a tad worried at this. “Um, are you absolutely sure about this? What if I get caught?”

“Then say that Blueblood asked you to do it.” Cheerilee quickly answered.

Dinky nodded, her worry fading slightly. “Okay. Where do you want me to bring them to you?”

“Bring it to my house. We can’t risk anyone here catching us.” Cheerilee replied, her headache slowly returning.

Dinky nodded and began to walk away. She stopped part way to the elevator. “Everything’s going to turn out okay right?” sheasked, looking for some reassurance.

“I don’t know,” Cheerilee said, unable to meet her protégé’s eyes, the headache becoming more and more prevalent.

Dinky looked noticeably worried as she stepped into the elevator and closed the doors behind her.

/////////////////////////

Dinky walked through the main security office, carrying a cup of coffee. Cheerilee had been acting very strange upstairs, and had asked her to do something that sounded awfully risky.

Nonsense, she thought. Dr. Cheerilee would never put me in danger. If she asked me to do it, most likely she really needs me to do it. Get a hold of yourself Dinky.

Nonetheless, she was barely able to stop herself from shaking, the coffee vibrating her aura.

“Can I help you young filly?” a deep voice asked. Dinky nearly jumped as an older stallion dressed in a black security uniform addressed her.

“Oh, sorry if I’m getting in your way.” Dinky said, quickly calming herself down. “I was looking for the monitor room. One of my coworkers in the genetics lab wanted me to bring this,” she levitated the coffee mug. “To the stallion who works there,” she said, kicking herself over the horribly flimsy excuse.

The security officer gave her a long, hard look before he responded. “If you want I can bring it to him,” he offered.

Dinky gulped. “Oh thank you, that’d be awesome,” she said levitating the beverage to the stallion. The stallion took the cup in his own magic and started walking down the hall. Dinky waited until he was around the corner at the end of the hall before following after him. She peeked around the corner and saw him arrive at a door and punch in a code. 79654. She repeated the code to herself as the stallion walked in.

“Hey, your friend in the genetics lab sent someone to give you this,” he said as he walked in.

“I don’t know anyone from genetics. Who brought it?” Asked another voice from inside the room.

“A gray unicorn.Didn’t get her name, she just told me this was for you,” The first stallion answered.

“Where is she?” Asked the second security officer.

“I left her down the hall,” Answered the first stallion.

“Seriously!Get her out of here! No unauthorized personnel are even supposed to be on this floor!” Shouted the stallion in the monitor room.

“Okay fine, relax…” the first stallion answered, turning around and walking out of the room. Dinky’s eyes widened and she dodged around the corner as fast as her hooves could carry her and darted inside a nearby maintenance closet. Just as she closed the door the stallion came around the corner and looked down the hall.

“Huh. Guess she left,” he said, walking away.

Dinky breathed a sigh of relief. She peeked out of the closet. The hallway was completely deserted. Taking a deep breath, she slowly started to walk towards the door. Chanting the code to herself, she quickly typed it in, hoping that she remembered it correctly. The door popped open and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“What do you want? I’m busy,” said the stallion inside, who was staring intently at a set of monitors, each one displaying a different part of the tower. He didn’t bother looking up from the monitors to see who had come in. Dinky took the chance and charged up her horn. A silvery mist wafted from her horn and drifted to the stallion.

“Hey, what the hay?” he said becoming alert at the disturbance. Just as he started to sit up the spell took effect and he slumped onto the floor, unconscious.

“Sorry,” Dinky whispered apologetically as she closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it. Just in case.

After double checking the door was locked, she started going through the room looking for the tapesDr. Cheerilee wanted. She found them sitting on the desk in front of the unconscious stallion. He had apparently began to go through them by the time Dinky had come.

Hoping he hadn’t already seen Cheerilee doing whatever she had done, Dinky started searching for the correct times on the tapes labels. The janitorial staff was usually the last to leave each night at midnight so, whatever happened last night had to have been between midnight and five in the morning. That was when the reception staff opened the front doors. Dinky found four tapes between those times and stuffed them in her bag. She was just about to leave when something on one of the monitors caught her eye.

It was recording of the spider room on the genetics floor. A very familiar pegasus was standing in the room, looking around in wonder.It was Scootaloo and judging by the time, it was during the tour when she was supposed to be meeting Cheerilee. “Damn it Scoots!” Dinky groaned, still watching, the angle changing as Scootaloo tripped motion sensors inside the room.Her eyes widened when she saw Scootaloo smack the back of her neck as if she had been bitten by something.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” she whispered angrily as she ejected the tape from the monitor. She stuffed that one in the bag along with Cheerilee’s, deciding she would have some very choice words with Scootaloo about what she saw later.

////////////////////////////

Cheerilee had left work as soon as she could, feeling terrible. She felt as if something were trying to explode out of her stomach, twisting it and stretching it. On top of that, her headache was getting even worse. It felt as if her head was in a vice. Nobody really paid attention to her leaving, and she made a beeline straight towards home. She arrived home just as the sun was setting. She was about to take a seat in her living room, groaning in frustration at the sight before her.

It was still completely decimated, the shredded remains of the couch scattered around the room. She was about to start cleaning the mess when the phone rang. The ringing sound was like a nail being hammered into her aching skull. She staggered over to her kitchen and answered.

“Hello?” Cheerilee groaned, her own voice sounding like nails against a chalk board to her.

“Dr. Cheerilee? It’s Dinky. I’ve got the tapes and I’m on my way. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Let you know everything went okay,” Dinky said sounding a bit out of breath.

Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief. At least that went well. She thought.

“Thank you Dinky.Thank you very much.” She said, terribly relived.

“It’s not a problem. I’ll see you soon,” the young unicorn said before hanging up.

Cheerilee let out a long happy sigh of relief. Once she got her hooves on those tapes, she could finally figure out what had happened the night before and rule out that preposterous theory about the giant lizard.

And, once that’s figured out, she thought. I can figure out my next move.

I think you should let me dessside what to do, a demonic voice hissed in Cheerilee’s ear.

Cheerilee nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice. She spun around looking for the intruder. The house of was completely empty. It was just her. “Who’s there?” she called out hesitantly, her fear returning.

Your greatessst creation, the voice hissed, sounding quite pleased with itself.

Then it dawned on Cheerilee. The voice wasn’t from anywhere in the house…it was in her head. She began to feel a strange tingling sensation in her left shoulder. She looked at it trying to discern the cause only to discover her shoulder was turning from a light purple to a deep green that seemed to shine in the light.

Panicking, she quickly pulled off her prosthetic leg and brushed her good hoof along her shoulder, staring in bewildered fear. Her hoof caught on something and she plucked whatever it was off of her shoulder and looked at it. It was a scale. Just like the ones she had found that morning and in the lab.

“Dear Celestia,” she said in shock. “What have I done?” Then she had a thought. Dinky was on her way here right now.

Oh that’sss right! You’re preciousss little asssissstant. We shall make a meal of her, the demonic voice cackled in her head.

Cheerilee tried to scream for help, but all she heard was a deafening roar as her vision faded out.

////////////////////////////////////

It was night time by the time Dinky arrived at Dr. Cheerilee’s house. Traffic had been unexpectedly awful today, so it took much longer then usual to get there. Dinky walked up to the door and knocked. The door creaked open at her touch. Dinky blinked at the oddity. Dr. Cheerilee always locked her door. “Dr. Cheerilee? Are you home?” she called out, walking into the house slowly. Not hearing an answer she made her way into the living room. The lights were off, which was strange. Dinky flicked the light on and her eyes widened.

The room was completely decimated. All along the walls and floor were dozens of gouges and scratches, as if a tiger or a dragon had gone on a wild rampage inside. The sliding glass door facing the backyard was completely shattered, covering the floor with shards of glass. The couch was noticeably absent from the living room. Dinky looked out in the backyard and saw what she assumed was the couch lying scattered around the backyard, torn to shreds.

“What the hay happened here?” she whispered to herself. A strange scraping sound greeted her ears. She turned to look in the direction of the sound but saw nothing but the empty living room.

“Okay this is getting weird.” She said, quickly starting to panic. This wasn’t normal, it looked as if a monster of some kind had attacked the house and destroyed everything. Suddenly the sound of scraping caught her attention again. She could have sworn she saw a giant green tail pass through the corner of her eye.

That’s it! I’m out of here! Dinky thought, bolting to the door in a frenzied panic, ignoring the fact that her backpack had fallen off her body in the rush and was now laying on the floor. She darted down the street and into the night, not even thinking of looking back.

As soon as she was gone a pair of emerald green eyes peered out of the shadows and followed the filly as she ran off.

It ssseemsss you ssstill have sssome control over usss, a reptilian voice hissed as the creature revealed itself. A massive lizard stepped out of the darkness, crawling to look out the window. The tattered remains of Cheerilee’s lab coat clung to its body.

No matter. We will ressst for tonight and by tomorrow you will no longer have any control. Then I can find my prey, hissed the reptile, smiling evilly as it turned back into the shadows and disappeared.

/////////////////////////////////////////

Scootaloo and Cup Cake sat at the kitchen table in silence. The twins had cried themselves to sleep hours ago. Neither knew what they could say. Nothing could change what had happened. The silence slowly became overwhelming to Scootaloo. All it mangled to do was highlight the scope of their lost. Never again would they hear Uncle Carrot’s voice in the house. Instead, where his voice would normally be, there would always be an absence. Scootaloo let out shuttering sigh, rubbing her hooves together. She had to say something.

“It’s my fault,” she finally admitted, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Cup Cake’s widened as she turned to look at her niece.

“Sweetheart, how could you possibly think that?” the older mare asked concerned, her voice sounding like she would start crying as well.

Scootaloo hesitated for a moment, unsure how her aunt might react if she told her about the events earlier that day. She thought about what Uncle Carrot would have wanted to say. That only made her feel more guilty. Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke.

“I-I-I could have stopped that stallion. When I left I wound up at the school and he stole this other filly’s purse,” she started to cry a little more now. “She was a bully so I thought she deserved to have something bad happen to her. So I let the stallion go,” she finished, a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes.

Cup Cake was silent for a moment before getting up from her seat and walking over to Scootaloo. “Don’t you ever say this was your fault again,” she said sternly as she pulled the young pony into a tight embrace. “You could never have known where that stallion was going when he left. On top of that, he made the choice to pull the trigger, not you. You cannot blame yourself for the mistakes of others, only except the consequences for your own actions. Do you understand?” the blue pony lectured.

Scootaloo listened to every word, feeling conflicted inside. “But I-”

“No, it wasn’t your fault,” Cup Cake said cutting her niece off. “It was that stallion. He made his choices and when the police catch him he’ll pay the price for it.” She paused, taking a moment to wipe away some stray tears. “I know this hurts, but we have to think past the blame. I’ll need help with the twins while we prepare the funeral. I need you to be strong,” Cup Cake said as she released Scootaloo. “Can you do that for me?” she looked Scootaloo directly in the eyes.

Scootaloo wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded weakly. “Yeah, I-I guess…” she said.

“Okay then,” Cup Cake said as she stood up. “You get to bed and be up early. I have a few calls to make,” she looked tired and her eyes were puffy from her own share of crying. She walked over to an end table and picked up the phone sitting on it.

Scootaloo nodded quietly and started out of the kitchen. She paused in the doorway and turned to her aunt. “Th-thank you Auntie,” she said. she could tell her mom had done her best to comfort her, but she herself still felt bitter towards that stallion.

“No problem,” Cup Cake replied, as she started dialing a number, smiling at her niece. Scootaloo noticed that even though Aunt Cup was smiling there was a sadness in the smile.

She didn’t wait to see who she called, instead simply nodding in response and making her way upstairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, making a beeline towards her desk. Her eyes immediately locked onto the police sketch of the killer she had gotten from Featherweight.

“Auntie was right when she said you’d pay, but the police won’t have much to do with it,” she said darkly. She then walked over to her bed and collapsed into a fitful slumber.

Great Power