Meanwhile, at Ponyville Asylum...

XXXXXX

I sat there as still as possible, my eyes closed and my ears listening to the crackling sound of the lit torches around my room that the warden's crew hadn't even considered to put out yet. Y'know, it's amazing what you can understand if you just listen. My first month here, I had understood my surroundings by simply listening to them. I grew to actually like these sounds, as they were very calming for me.

My thoughts were cut off when a male Pegasus pony I had never seen before in my life entered my cell. The warden's crew had turned my chair so I would face the door. Kind of pointless to me at first, but it allowed me to see if a pony was friend or foe. Judging by the look in his eyes and the smile plastered on his face, he definitely not the former. His coat was blue and his mane was white, long and straight, and the robe he wore was black. For some reason... I feared this stallion. A mare like myself, somepony who nearly burned down half of Ponyville, being afraid? Ludicrous! But, it wasn't his appearance that scared me... it was his heart. It felt as black as night, almost as if he had no remorse for anything he may have done in the past.

"Well, well, well..." said the pony with a smile that looked as if he used it so much, it was practically painted on his face "If it isn't the fallen maniac herself: Scootaloo..."

"You mind telling me who the hay are you?" I asked with a glare.

"Ah, she speaks" the pony smiled further in a way that made me uncomfortable "They told me that you weren't exactly one to talk..."

"I won't ask again" I grumbled "Who are you, and what the hay are you doing in my cell. I thought they didn't allow public visits besides Applebloom and Sweetie Belle."

"Well you could say I persuaded them pretty well..." the pony grinned in the most maniacal way, which made me cringe a bit on the inside.

"As for why I'm here, well," he began again "I thought you could use some company. It must be hard living in here for Celestia knows how long, right?"

"I don't want anypony in here" I said "You can leave now."

"Oh, but why leave?" the stallion asked slyly "The party's only just begun!"

The stallion extended his wings and let off a bright light. Soon after, the doors shut behind him with a loud boom. He then slowly began walking around me, still with a smile.

"A certain acquaintance of mine is just too stupid to be true friends with" explained the pony "Join me, and you can burn down as many things as you want."

"Tempting offer..." I said "But how do I know you won't betray me later? Besides, my burning days are over. Two of my greatest and only friends taught me that."

"N-No more burning?" the blue stallion's smile faded away in shock, only to quickly reappear again "Well, that's too bad. For you, that is. Such a young and beautiful young mare..." he began caressing my face with his right hoof, forcing me to turn away from it in disgust "I'm honestly shocked how you managed to stay like this after more than eighteen years locked up in a dingy old cell. Mind you a large, dingy old cell, but a dingy old cell nonetheless..."

"You sick creep" I grumbled.

"Hmm... It's too bad, my dearest Scootaloo, that you're all bark and no bite" laughed the stallion before he turned around and began walking away "Well, I suppose I'll see you later..."

"Wait, you're leaving now? So then, what was the point of your visit?" I asked, still with a cross look on my face "You ask me to join you, I decline, and then you leave? That doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Oh my dearest Scootaloo" chuckled the stallion as he turned his head to face me "You didn't actually think I didn't have a back-up plan, did you?" he turned back and stallion opened up the doors to with his front hooves to leave. He then slammed the doors behind him. As he did, I began to smell something burning, more so than the torches around me. I looked around and saw that the room had begun to catch fire. The faint smell of oil also resonated within my cell.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I yelled.

XXXXXX

Midnight's P.O.V.

XXXXXX

"The as-s-s-sylum?" shuddered Ribbon "You c-c-can't possibly m-m-mean we have t-t-to speak with..."

"That's exactly what I mean!" I smiled "She's really not all that bad once you get to know her. C'mon, even Blitz managed to go and see her, and he was absolutely terrified of her!"

"Midnight, let's not bring that up, okay?" requested Blitz, who's power was now gone from his now slightly longer but still red mane.

"Fair enough buddy..." I chuckled.

"Hey, uh..." spoke Little Mac "Do y'all smell burnin'?"

"As a matter of fact, I do indeed smell something quite foul..." said Thread.

"Forget smelling! Look at the asylum!" shouted Spring. We all looked at where our tomboy friend was pointing. There we saw that the entire asylum was emanating smoke from it.

"Holy Moly!" shouted Bubblegum "Something's going all smokey!"

"We must go post-haste!" said Rage Quit "Come on!"

XXXXXX

As soon as we reached the front of the asylum, a robed Pegasus exited from the smoke. Some of the smoke cleared and it revealed his coat and mane colour. All of us knew exactly who it was.

"Oberon!" we all said, save for Rage Quit and Spring Blossom.

"Dad?" the latter asked "Is that... is that really you? Y-You're still alive?"

"*sigh*... I really can't get rid of you, can I?" he asked much to his daughter's surprise "Stupid experiment. I should've left Fluttershy with you when I had the chance! But she always watched you, always cared for you... like you were actually somepony who had a life worth living!"

"Experiment?" I think B nearly broke down "Somepony who... had a life... worth living?"

"Oberon, how low can you possibly get?!" I yelled.

"As far as limbo bar will let me go" Oberon laughed.

"You horrid creature!" yelled Ribbon "And here I thought Rage Quit was despicable. You're just a black-hearted ruffian!"

"Well, as much as I would love to stick around and chat, I need to report back to the high mistress Order. Ta, ta!" the white-mane Pegasus laughed as he flew away. As soon as he left, four of Oberon's guard ponies exited the asylum as well.

"We will not allow you eight to pass this door!" said one of them.

"By orders of commander Oberon, you will leave immediately or perish!" ordered another.

"Rage, Blitz," I sighed with a smile "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" nodded my best friend.

"Let us begin" agreed Rage Quit.

I turned to Spring who was now being held by Bubblegum in comfort whilst she cried a bit. However, in her tears she looked up at me and said "I'm coming too. There's nothing you can do or say to stop me."

"Spring, I-" I began before she shook her head, stopping me from continuing.

"Midnight, no" she said "I'm okay. I can do this."

"Alright... Just don't push yourself, okay?" I asked the cream yellow Pegasus, to which she nodded and smiled a bit. I then turned my attention back to the four guards blocking our path

"Alright you four..." I said with a grin "Let's go!"

XXXXXX

Scootaloo's P.O.V.

XXXXXX

Me having the ability to control fire, I didn't feel hot in the slightest. However, I wasn't fully fire-proof, and the flames were inching closer and closer to my demise. To my luck, a few minutes ago the flames burned off a bit of the shackles binding me to the chair, so I was granted free roam around the room. The very first thing I tried was to open the doors, but it was unsurprisingly locked.

"Ugh... the one day I actually care that the door is locked!" I shouted over the sounds of the fire in my cell "Well, I suppose there are other ways out. Maybe one of the vents? Then again, they could all be blocked off by fire." I thought long and hard "Am I just supposed to sit here and wait for somepony to come and save me? UGH! I can't STAND that!"

As I shouted that, I kicked my back legs against the doors in anger. To my surprise, the doors flew open.

"Huh..." I said "Well, let's go then!"

"H-help..." I heard a voice say before I had a chance to escape. Hearing the voice, I immediately stopped and looked around the hallway. To my left was none other than none other than Nurse Blueheart, her back legs trapped underneath a pile of rubble caused by the fire.

"Blueheart?" I asked.

"Oh, it's y-you..." she said with a bit of hatred in her voice "Why d-don't you just l-leave now? You're basically free. B-But I swear, the royal g-guard will-"

Before she could continue, I walked toward her. Being terrified of me, she covered her eyes and waited for her death to come. But it never did. Instead, she felt a releasing sensation in the back half of her body. She opened her eyes to see that I was lifting the rubble off of her. Once that was completed, I picked her up and put her on my back. I then continued to flee the asylum.

"Why d-did you..." she began to speak rather weakly.

"I had a change of heart" I answered her as I ran through the hallway "Just try to rest and we'll be out as soon as possible."

XXXXXX

Midnight's P.O.V.

XXXXXX

Spring had insisted that we take the keys from the front desk and free as many sane prisoners as we could. She unlocked the doors as fast as she could while Rage Quit, Blitz and I went on ahead. We managed to reach the third floor when I heard a familiar voice.

"Midnight!" shouted Scootaloo as she got closer to us "Get moving! This place won't last much longer!"

"Okay!" I shouted back before turning back to my friend and partner "Let's go you two!"

"Yes... that's right... run!" spoke a prisoner, him too far into his cell to see what he looked like, even with the fire lighting up the place "This place is gonna fall, and everypony inside is gonna die! AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"Yeah, Springy? Don't unlock this one, kay?" I shouted at my yellow Pegasus friend.

"Yes! Kill me!" the prisoner said as I felt a grin slowly appear on his face "Do what he wants! Kill! KILL!!"

"Right, I'm outta here!" I flew out along with my friends. Behind me, I could hear the prisoner laugh like a madpony as he was engulfed into the flames.

XXXXXX

Scootaloo, Rage Quit, Spring, Blitz and I all collapsed on the ground as my friends who didn't join me and the prisoners Spring managed to save all looked around us. We had since run about a kilometer away from the now burning asylum.

As we all panted from exhaustion, I heard somepony begin to chuckle, which eventually turned into a laugh. But it wasn't a maniacal laugh, but more of a laugh of relief. Blitz and Spring joined in as well, and eventually even Scootaloo. Heck, I think even Rage Quit had a chuckle or two. Soon enough, everypony fell onto the ground laughing, and we all just looked like laughing maniacs. Finally, I began to laugh with them as well. I mean, we just survived a burning and crumbling asylum falling on our heads.

"Um, are you guys okay?" asked Bubblegum confusingly before cracking a smile "Oh wait, I get it!" our bubbly friend then joined us in laughter with a laugh she picked up from her mother.

Eventually the laughing died down and everypony got up from the grass. Scootaloo then looked over to where Nurse Blueheart, the only one not exactly laughing, was laying. I watched as she walked toward the injured nurse.

"Hey there..." she said "I saw you weren't exactly laughing with us. You okay?"

"Besides the fact my back legs are broken?" Nurse Blueheart said with a raised eyebrow "Yeah, I'm just dandy. However, I just wanted to... thank you for... well, you know..."

"Saving you?" I asked.

"Y-yeah..." the nurse almost hated the idea of thanking the infamous Scootaloo "Thanks... if it wasn't for you, I'd be... well... dead. But hey, now you're free after eighteen years! What's it like? The world I mean."

Scootaloo paused. She then closed her eyes and just listened. She heard the sound of the birds chirping, the wind blowing against her ears and through her mane. She took a deep breath in and, for the first time in forever, she breathed in fresh, clean air. I saw a tear drip down her cheek as she just embraced the nature around her. Honestly though, I didn't blame her. I'd be crying to after being cooped up in a cell for eighteen years.

She then turned to me like she already knew I was watching and smiled. Something told me she wasn't going to be burning any houses down anytime soon. The real Scootaloo was back. However, there was something I had to tell Spring first.

"Spring?" I said as I approached her.

"Hmm? Yes, Midnight?" she turned her head from speaking with a recently reformed prisoner.

"There's... something I better tell you about..." I told her "It's about your dad ad why he called you an experiment."

My friend's eyes went wide. I knew she didn't want this, but I also knew that she wanted to know.

"Well then," Spring finally said "Tell me everything..."

XXXXXX

Since the now free prisoners couldn't go back into Ponyville, I assigned hiding spots for them around my hometown so they could at least feel close to civilization. Scootaloo, however, decided to come with me back to my castle. There was nothing I could do to persuade her otherwise. All my friends went back home with smiles on their faces save for Spring. She was REALLY upset now that I told her what Oberon planed on doing with her. She walked back home with her head hung low. Seeing this, I approached her and proceeded to hug her. She had no objections either, and even began to hug me back.

"Midnight," she whispered in my ear "thanks..."

"B..." I said "Don't let him get to you..."

Spring stopped hugging me, looked me in the eyes and said "The moment I get the chance, I'll do whatever I can to make him pay for all the things he's ever done to me and my family! I swear it!"

"Then I won't stop you if we see him again" I said with a smile. We sort of just stood there for a moment or two, staring into each others eyes. As we began to blush, we pulled in closer and closer to each other. However, just as our lips were about to meet, we pulled away from each other awkwardly.

"Well, goodnight!"

"Yep, you too!"

"Never speak of this again?"

"Nope!"

We walked back to our own houses by ourselves after that.

XXXXXX

Ribbon's P.O.V. (Later that night...)

XXXXXX

"Dearest brother!" I shouted from my room, which was filled with yarn, ribbon and string for my creations "Where ever is my new silk red ribbon I bought not a few days ago?!"

"I believe it's in the closet downstairs!" shouted Thread back from his room.

"Thank you!" I shouted again. I walked out of my room and headed downstairs. But before I could go for the closet, I saw mother racing into the kitchen.

"Fancy! Where are the pineapple's?!" said my mother as she grabbed father's face and squished it.

"Drr in thh frigge, drling..." he said as calmly as possible as his face was being squished by my mother's two front hooves.

"Thank you!" she said before she let go of my father's face and opened up the fridge, pulling out a pineapple, some milk and two tomatoes. She then pulled out a cutting knife with her magic, sliced the tomatoes into slices and the pineapple into two halves. She then poured the milk into one of the pineapple halves and put the tomatoes in as well, then began eating it. I just stood there, not knowing what to say...

"Um... mother?" I asked "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh yes Darling, I'm just okay!" she stopped eating to speak with me "But you know how I get when I crave pineapples, tomatoes and milk!"

I couldn't even speak. What was my mother thinking eating such a vile collaboration of fruits and dairy? I looked over to where my father was standing, still with a disgusted expression on my face, only to see that he was actually smiling. He then turned to me, push a hoof up to his lips and shushed me. What did he know that I didn't?

Author's Notes:

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