I stood there for a while, thinking about what my mother just said. Was she talking about THE Scootaloo, the most notorious villain in Equestrian history? I had only heard that name a few times in my life, but all mention of her was of her was either that of anger and hatred towards her. What could she have done that was so despicable that the mere mention of her name received a scoff? My mom took a huge sigh and began to explain.

"Year 1006, C.E.," she started "A little 12-year-old Pegasus filly by the name Scootaloo was told by her doctor that her wing's bone structure was deformed whilst still in the womb and that she would never be able to fly. She... didn't take this news too lightly..."

"What happened?" I asked, feeling terrified about what the answer was going to be.

"She... I... she was..." was all my mother could say. Slowly, she walked over to Fluttershy's bookshelf and looked through it before pulling out a book titled 'Equestrian History up to 1020 C.E.'. She flicked on the lights and levitated the book over to me. I opened up to where my mother said I'd find my answer.

"1006, Celestian Era..." I began reading "...The Scooter Massacre. Committed by: Scootaloo, age 12, no identified parental figures. Duration: One week. Injury count: 256 injured, 34 dead. The Scooter Massacre will forever go down as one of the most horrible incidents to occur in Equestria, next to the Sombra Slavery Act. The massacre was halted by the Bearers of the Elements."

"I still remember that day, Midnight!" my mother suddenly shouted at me "I still remember the cries for help from every stallion, mare and foal! I watched them burn, until I could watch no longer. My friends and I had to stop Scootaloo. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life, Midnight! It was so hard... but... at least good came from it... I met your father in the middle of all this, and he helped in tracking her down."

"Did you... know her personally?" I asked, now feeling a little sad myself.

"Yes..." she answered "She was part of a group with two girls named Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I think they were the saddest when they had to witness Scootaloo's destructive rampage."

"I suppose now we have to go and talk to her now?" I asked with a pit in my stomach "I think, however, I should go alone. I don't want you at wherever Scootaloo's being held. I don't want you feeling uncomfortable during the meeting."

I think my mother hesitated for a moment after hearing my suggestion, as shown from a sudden twitch from her body. However, after a few more seconds, she nodded in agreement.

I guess it was time to meet this oh so terrible Scootaloo.

XXXXXX

I was about to head out the door when Discord stopped me.

"Nighty?" he asked in his usual sly voice "I have something for you~!" he poofed up an odd ball-shaped object out from nowhere "It's a special device I created for something like this, only I made it to aid me in taking over Equestria. Never got around to using it... Well, may it guide you well! HA, HA, HA!"

"What does it do?" I asked the Draconequus.

"That's for you to decide!" he said with a grin "Now get outta here! Don't you have a mare to talk to?"

"Right, thanks!"

"She 'lives' on Alcatraz Street!" he yelled out as I was running out the door.

"I know where the Asylum is!" I yelled back.

XXXXXX

"Ah jeez, I don't know where the Asylum is" I said as I paced back and forth "I know Discord said it was on Alcatraz Street, but I don't even know where THAT is..."

"Alcatraz Street?" asked a familiar voice. I looked up and saw none other than Blitz Wing walking with a book under his wing.

"Blitz?" I asked curiously "Why are you here?"

"This is my walk and read trail" he explained "I usually do this on Wednesdays after my mom says she's able to take care of Whirlwind at home. Anyway, Alcatraz Street is on such a path."

"Oh, that's coo- wait, it is?" I said in a confused voice "Why would you choose something like that as a reading path?"

"Um... pineapples?" he lied.

"Agh, never mind that! Tell me where the street is!" I shouted in a rather loud voice.

"Okay, okay! Jeez!" Blitz motioned his hooves, signalling me to calm down "Follow me. It's actually not too far from here..."

XXXXXX

We both looked up at the giant and somewhat creepy-looking building that was always shrouded in thick fog and covered by dark clouds which usually rained, which thankfully they weren't right now. I guess some Pegasus pony wanted to make this place creepy. The rotted wood sign overhead the entrance of the steel gate said 'Ponyville Asylum'.

"Well, this is the place..." stated Blitz "Why do you need to be here though?"

"There's somepony in here that I need to meet with" I said honestly "You can come with me, but know that this is very dangerous."

"Mom always said I had to be more daring and full of life, I guess" my friend recalled his mother stating something he didn't exactly like the sound of "Sure, why not. But you can do all the talking... I'll just... not talk..."

I nodded before we entered the creepy and totally nonthreatening Asylum.

XXXXXX

We approached the mare at the front desk. She looked like Nurse Redheart, only she was slightly older and had a dust blue mane. Her eyes were green with a pair of librarian glasses over her muzzle, and her cutie mark was a red cross with a skull in it. Reassuring, I know. She looked down and she read a book lazily, as if this was the only thing to do to pass time.

"Yes?" she asked in a monotone voice, never once looking up at us "Can I help you?"

"Um, we're here to visit somepony named Scootaloo" I stated confidently "We need her to-"

"What!" the desk pony shouted suddenly, finally looking up at me and my friend "Nopony but Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are allowed to- Oh!" she saw who I was at that moment "Y-Your highness! Um, terribly sorry for my rudeness... P-Please, by all means, go and have a talk with her!"

"Thank you, fair lady" I said as I extended my wings to show her the royal greeting "Your cooperation is deeply obliged. Now, which room is she?"

"Um... I guess it's best if I lead you" she said "Your friend can come too, if he wants."

During this whole thing, I never looked over to my friend. When I finally did to make sure he was okay with this, I saw pure fear within his eyes as he shook slightly. I guess he knew about the whole 'Scooter Massacre' thing. Figures; he's an Egghead. But why didn't he ask who we were seeing first?

"Um... why d-d-don't you g-g-go on ahead..." he stuttered as he spoke "I'll just stay r-r-right here, n-n-nice and s-s-safe!"

"What's the matter Colonel Sanders? Chicken?" I joked "Nah, just kidding. But you can't back out now!"

"Oh, um, your Majesty," the desk mare got my attention"I would advise you not to say that in front of Scootaloo. She doesn't get too happy when you do."

"You can't back out now?" I asked.

"No, to call her a chicken" she answered "We don't know why, but it makes her extraordinarily angry when you call her that."

"Can do" I nodded.

"Okay. Now, follow me..." she said as she began walking down the imprisonment hallway.

"Be... right... there!" I shouted as I pulled my desperately struggling friend through the hall "Sweet Celestia. You weigh a TON!"

"No, I'm just desperately clawing at the ground to escape my fate!" yelled Blitz Wing "I don't wanna die young!!"

"Ugh..." facehoofed the desk pony.

XXXXXX

We were walking through the fourth hallway downstairs as of currently. I had finally convinced Blitz to come along, although he still hesitated from time to time. Passing us were countless rehab rooms, washrooms, and most importantly, cells, filled to the brim with psychopaths of different varieties. Each hallway, except for the main floor one, was long, grey and had stairs at the ends of them. Etchings were everywhere along the walls, but what was more eye-catching were the stains of blood, which were not as common as the previously mentioned etchings, but still plentiful.

"These stains are from the truly insane; who we keep in lower levels of the building" explained the desk pony, who revealed her name to be Nurse Blueheart "The less fortunate couldn't take it and killed themselves on the spot, resulting in these... accidents..."

"How far does this go down?" Blitz asked, cringing at what the answer might be.

"I thought you said you've been here before" I pointed out.

"Only at the main section! Never in the basement..."

"To answer your question, Blitz Wing," Nurse Blueheart began "these go down three more levels, each level storing slightly more insane mares and stallions than the last."

I looked over at the cells whilst walking. Some ponies were sitting silently, scratching at the walls or laughing uncontrollably. I'll admit; this place scared me a bit.

"We're coming up to level five" stated Blueheart "Brace yourselves..."

XXXXXX

We were now on the final level. The place was the smallest, and it was actually slightly downhill. There were even more etchings, cobwebs and bloodstains. But that's not what scared me. No, what scared me was that it was quiet. I looked in a few of the cells; they did indeed have ponies within them, but they were all absolutely silent. Some had had huge grins on their faces, some were standing up and not moving at all and some were watching our every movement. Some even did all three at the same time!

Eventually, we all reached a large concrete door covered by cobwebs, small cracks and even moss, as if it hadn't been opened in a long time. I figured twenty years tops.

"We're here" stated Blueheart "You can speak to her with this phone system" she pointed over at the rusty red phone next to the wall "I can't let you in, however. Even for royalty. We can't risk a breach of security."

"I have to talk to her personally!" I shouted "She might be the only one who can tell me why ponies are trying to kill me!"

"I'm truly sorry, but I can't allow you to enter the-"

Without thinking, I cast a knock-out spell on her, making her fall asleep on the spot. I then cast a memory spell on her to prevent her from remembering me knocking her out.

"Midnight! Why'd you do that?!" yelled Blitz.

"She wasn't going to let us through!" I argued "Besides, I hadn't gotten a chance to use those spells outside the castle..." a small smile appeared on my face.

"*sigh*... fine, fine. Let's just get this over with..." he rolled his eyes.

I pulled down a lever next to the door, which slowly opened the giant door to a giant room lit only by a single over-head light shining down. In that light was a chair facing the opposite way as us. It was brown with four large ropes tied around each of the legs.

"Is that her?" asked Blitz, who was now hiding behind me.

"I think so..." I said "And stop hiding behind me!"

"Sorry..." he said as he slowly came around next to me.

We walked forward a single step and the door behind us closed. I turned only to see Blitz shuddering in place, frozen in fear. I rolled my eyes and headed forward toward the chair. Going around it, I saw an orange Pegasus mare with a purple mane. Her cutie mark was a blazing fire, and nothing more. Her head was pointed downwards, so her eyes were lost to me in the shadows of the room. All her limbs were strapped to the chair, and her head was strapped in as well via a band connected to the chair.

"Um, hello?" I asked the mare.

She said nothing. She only continued to look down.

"Are you... really her?" I asked "The one who was behind the Scooter Massacre?"

This apparently got her attention, for she slowly looked up at me. I saw them. Her bright magenta eyes. Not only were they filled with a mixture of anger, hate and destruction, but they also had sorrow, and loneliness. It was horrific.

"I need to ask you questions about the mare who-" I began before I was interrupted.

"You're not Apple Bloom..." she said in a dark tone of voice "You're not Sweetie Belle either... who are you?"

"My name is Midnight Sparkle, son of-"

"Twilight Sparkle..." she smiled "that name has rung in my head for eighteen years, never stopping, never ceasing to taught me..."

"Moving away from that, I really need to ask you some questions..." I stated "They're about the mare trying to kill me."

"Hahaha..." she began laughing quietly "That's why you sought me out? To learn of your fate? Pathetic..."

"Look who's talking" I said "You are in no position to talk back to me. Especially to a prince!" I never liked to pull rank on somepony, but now it seems I had no choice.

"Is that any way to talk to your interviewee?" Scootaloo asked, a grin now plastered her face "You should try to at least be nice to little old me..."

That was it. I really couldn't take much more of her talking, so I decided to pull out my secret weapon. No, not a spell or a gun, rather a sentence. This sentence was none other than:

"Stop being a chicken and tell me!" I said, determined to get the answer out of her.

Scootaloo's smile wiped right off her face. She began to clench her hooves, and in response I slowly backed away. Somehow, someway, she managed to rip one of the braces holding her front hooves down, soon after the other one, and then the two holding her hind legs down. She then used her hooves to tear her head strap off. She slowly got up from her chair and stared at me, fire in her eyes and a look of hatred on her face.

"Nopony... calls me... A CHICKEN!" her yell echoed around the entire room. By some crazy means, she summoned up some fire in her front hooves and shot it right at the chair in the centre of the room. It began to burn, along with the four ropes attached to it. Torches must've been connected to the ropes, for as soon as the ropes disappeared in the flames, four torches were lit, illuminating the large room.

"Midnight, what did you do?!" yelled Blitz from the other side of the room.

"I called her a chicken!" I shouted back.

"Midnight, you're an idiot..." deadpanned my friend "You had one job!"

"Now, you will have the honour of being burned by me!" yelled Scootaloo, who now had a look of pure insanity on her face "Burn! BURN! Burn straight to Tartarus! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Sweet Luna, this mare is insane" I noted "Well, I've dealt with Bass Drop countless times, so here goes!"

XXXXXX

Apple Bloom's P.O.V. (Two minutes earlier...)

XXXXXX

Today was the day of the month when Sweetie Belle and I went to talk with Scootaloo. I know she did some terrible and horrible things in the past, but I know the friend we all once knew and loved is still in her. We just had to find it, no matter the cost.

"Here we are..." my friend Sweetie Belle said with a bored expression on her face "Ponyville Asylum. Time to talk with Scoots again..."

From our childhood, Sweetie Belle had grown into a natural singer. She learned she had a talent for singing in all sorts of styles: Country, Pop, Classic, Rock, you name it! She goes on tours all the time either singing herself or getting a few band players to help her. Her cutie mark is that of a microphone with music notes around it.

"Must we speak to her again, Apple Bloom?" Sweetie asked suddenly as she quickly turned her head toward me, a sad look in her eyes "We've already done this countless times before, all with either her asking us to leave or her saying nothing!"

"Sweetie, don't say thins' like 'at!" I shouted "Ah know the Scoots we know is still in 'at murderous husk she's in now... she's jus' gotta be..."

I learned my talent not soon after the Scooter Massacre, where I helped in the repair of houses all over town. After the job was done, I saw that a wrench crossed with a screwdriver cutie mark had appeared on my flank. I was so happy I nearly forgot one of my only friends was just sentenced to a nuthouse.

"Apple Bloom, I am in full support of what you're trying to accomplish," said Sweetie somberly "but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up..."

"What's at' supposed ta mean?" I asked Sweetie with an eyebrow raised.

"I mean, you can continue trying to reason with her," my friend reasoned with me "But I think this is the last time I'll accompany you. I'm sorry Apple Bloom, but I just don't see any point in it anymore..."

I felt absolutely heart-broken that my best friend would say something like that. I was about to yell at her, until I realized that would be pointless and would only cause more tension to rise. The more I thought, however, the more she sounded right. So far all our efforts to talk with her have been fruitless, and

"Ah... ah..." I began "Ah understand. Maybe after this, we won't come back an' jus' let Scoots live er' life in exile. It's probably fer the better..." I began to tear up a bit.

"I know, Apple Bloom" my friend then proceeded to hug me "I know..."

After a few more seconds of embrace, Sweetie Belle let go of me and we headed toward the Asylum entrance. We entered only to see that nopony was at the front desk.

"Hello?" called out Sweetie Belle "Is anypony here?"

"Sweetie, the basement entrance is open" I pointed out "Y'all don't think..."

She took a small whiff of the air around the room and nearly gagged at the impurity of it.

"Smoke" she said simply "Like, from a fire!"

"C'mon Sweetie Belle, let's go!" I shouted as we ran toward the basement entrance.

XXXXXX

Midnight's P.O.V. (Right now)

XXXXXX

"*pant*... Is that... *pant*... all you got?!" I shouted at Scootaloo, who clearly had the upper hand. Her flaming attacks left us burned, tattered and tired. Frankly, I've had just about enough of it. Scootaloo on the other hoof was having a blast.

"Have you still not burned away?!" shouted the insane mare "Why?! It's no fun when I have to WORK toward burning you! Now be a good little colt and DIE!"

Scootaloo then charged up a multitude of fireballs that began surrounding her.

"Blitz, NOW!" I shouted to my friend. Hearing me, he flew upwards before diving straight into Scootaloo. Dust shot up from where Blitz landed, and it wasn't until the dust cleared that I saw Blitz standing on top of the knocked out mare.

"Is it over?" asked Blitz "Did we win?"

"I think so..." I said, still hurt and slightly burned in some places of my body "Although, I did most of the work, so top billing goes to me!"

"Hey, but I finished her off!" shouted Blitz "So I should be the one rewarded!"

As we were bickering, we failed to see Scootaloo's eyes shoot wide open. Without warning, she threw Blitz off her back and began charging another attack, but this one was different. Her eyes began glowing fire-red and above her formed a giant fire sword.

"Sweet Celestia..." was all I could say as I looked up at the giant blade of flames.

"Now, DIE!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Wait!" I heard an unfamiliar voice call out "Scootaloo, don't do it!"

Scootaloo stopped what she was doing the second she heard the voice. The fire sword slowly faded away as two mares, one of which was the world famous Sweetie Belle and the other I didn't quite know, ran into the room to aid her. Scootaloo looked at the two mares intently.

"Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie Belle "Are you alright?"

"Sweetie?" she asked "Is that you?"

The yellow mare I didn't know turned her head to where Blitz and I were standing "What did y'all do ta tick 'er off like 'at?" she asked "'At aside, why are y'all ere' anyway?"

"We came seeking answers" I explained "We were told that Scootaloo here knew something we needed to know about-"

"Ya know what, never mind..." said the yellow mare "Ah jus' realised how much ah dun wanna hear all this exposition. Jus' tell me why she attacked y'all."

I leaned closer to the yellow mare's ear and whispered "I called her a chicken..."

"Ya did what?" the mare deadpanned.

"Oooookaaaay... moving away from this conversation..." Blitz tried to stop the argument before it began "I guess we have to tell you the whole story before anypony makes assumptions..."

"We're listening..." deadpanned the mare and Sweetie Belle at the same time.

Author's Notes:

So this is the new year! Yay! That means back to school for me and everyone else! Yay! Seriously though, school will take a lot of my time away, so I might not get back to you guys for a while, what with exams coming up and all.

Be sure to comment and like!

Until then, I'll see ya later Scraggsters!