Fluttershy had gone through several manuscripts of several times from several perspectives of the real Discordian Era. Each adding a bevvy of equally intriguing and terrifying tales. I was getting late now and the pegasus had finally left the comfortable and desolate confines of the small reading room in the retired portion of the Cloudsdale Library.

She also brushed up on modern law and Council etiquette. Fluttershy figured she was going alone so she needed all the preparation she could get. Learning was easy, it was mustering up the copurage to put one hoof in front of the other that was the most distant and daunting.

“I can't let my friends down.” She continued to say to herself as she made her way from the library and to her hotel room.

Downtown Cloudsdale was not the place to be at night. The main thoroughfare was well lit and teaming with well meaning mares and stallions, however the back-roads, the only route the Library open at night were teaming with an opposite class of pony.

Fluttershy had always recalled as a foal being wanted to never going back this way, it was a bragging right and social badge of honor to “survive” there, let alone stroll through alone. Thoguh the thoughts of the trip, her friends, and other things seemed to obscure any fear or caution she would normally have.

“And just where do you think you're goin' sweet thing?” Came a gravely voice. The stallion dawned a hood and a crooked smile that screamed deviancy.

Fluttershy tried to ignore the stallion and continue on he way though that was impeded son ennough. The stallion's hot, stinky breath was in her face. He licked his lips longingly.

“Damn youse a pretty little thing. Why don't you come with me and I'll get you all sorts of comfortable.”

“No, really...I'm fine I just need to be on my way now please.” Fluttershy did her best to not become frantic as she tried to go around her tormentor but no luck.

“Hey now I wasn't askin' for an attitude little Ms, as a matter of fact, I wasn't askin' you anything...I'm tellin' you...”

A posse of stallions with equally wicked demeanors surrounded her.

“You're commin' with me, and I ain't takin' 'No' for an answer.”

The stallions closed in on her and the lead one grabbed her. Flutterhsy squealed and kicked with all of her might but it was no use. Her attempts to scream were...well...pathetic. She was soon blinded by a burlap sack or tarp she was covered in.

When she could see again she was sprawled on a bed. They had yet to do anything but given the surroundings and their crooked laughter in the next room, they had every intention to do something.

Syringes, condom wrappers, some guns and ammo, pornographic literature, all tossed about in a tattered, dilapidated room caked in cigarette deposits, grime, dirt, and who knows what else. The room reeked of rather unfortunate aromas, it was humid and far too warm for comfort.

Fluttershy had to escape. Her eyes darted around to try and mentally map out an esvape route. She found one and noticed a door to the outside. Just as she was prepping to bolt for it, the gang of goons entered the room.

“Heyy rise n shine sleepin' beauty!” The lead stallion cackled, “We was gonna do you in earlier but you know, we think you'd be a fun one when you're up and movin'”

The gang of stallions laughed.

“Please..Please let me go! I won't tell anypony about any of this...please just let me go!” Fluttershy was shushed with a dirty hoof.

“Now, now princess, no need to be like dis, we can be gentlecolts and have a gay old time, or we can be jerks and mess up your pretty little face. And for a doll like you that'd be a damn shame.”

The stallions continued laughing and saying various slanderous things. The were clearly intoxicated at this juncture and had no intent of doing as she wished. Fluttershy was apparently going to have to fight her way out.

The first stallion hopped on the bed and lay beside her. Fluttershy flinched as he bgan to stroke her seductively.

“Mmmmm damn fine little diamond we got here boys, she's a gentle one too. She's a keepa!”

“Yeeeeaaaaah!” The gang roared in unison.

Fluttershy was unsure as what to do, her thoughts raced back to Twilight's Treehouse following Spike's attack. Applebloom's face, the tears and the pain in the fillys eyes. She could only imagine what the filly had to endure and compared to what she herself was dealing with it was tame.

This wasn't happening.

“No.” Fluttershy hissed.

“Excuse me Ms? You say somethin'?” They cocky stallion was oblivious to what she had said.

“I....said...NO!” Fluttershy growled as the found the strength to throw the stallion off the bed. She quickly scampered into the kitchen as the ghouls were right behind her. One managed to grab her tail bt she merely bucked him in the face sending him like a bowling ball into the group though they were quick to recover.

Out on the street now it was very dark, the moon was obviously below the city now. She couldn't see, she made her way blindly out of the fenced compound and, aside from having to slam trash-can lids into hooded faces or send a hoof into their stomach, she managed to make it into the main street.

She kept running with all her might, she heard no pursuit but she continued with all the speed she had in her to the safety of her hotel room. Stumbling some and easily bruising herself in the process she finally made it inside and locked the door behind her.

She flopped onto the bed and sobbed hysterically.

What began as a disappointing and frustrating day could have easily been a complete nightmare.

Rainbow Dash sat high above the forest upon a simple cloud. She lay on her stomach, arms crossed beneath her chin. Ears flat, tail the same she was less than pleased with the days events. Between belittlement and everything else she wasn't sure what to do. What she did know is that she didn't want to deal with anypony at the moment. She felt that everypony had a grudge against her for no good reason.

“Who do these foals think they are?” Rainbow pouted to herself, “After all the things I've done for them!”

She had a scowl on her face as she surveyed the area within her view: Canterlot was clear, high in the sky, as was Cloudsdale.

“Stupid Fluttershy.”

Turning around so as not to face that, she could then see a thin colum of smoke from the endless reign of foliage, likely a campfire at the cave where Twilight and company were.

“Stupid...all of them.”

She was tired of looking at this. Every landmark she spotted was another reminded or all the ponies she hated.

“If I catch any of these pricks they're as good as dead.” She growled. She pushed the cloud down under the tops of the trees and near the ground. Enough to give her ample time to escape whatever adversary might interrupt her sleep. She then surrendered to a fitful, angry sleep.

Back at the settlement the exact opposite was taking place. Twilight and Rarity were asleep. As were Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle who had now made comfortable with Twilight and Rarity respectively.

Scootaloo however was by herself in the center of the cave and did not like that one bit. Her injuries were pretty much a thing of the past, her eye was still swollen a bit but her fur didn't show any signs of the madness from earlier that day. One of the benefits of being a filly.

She trotted out to a smoldering campfire and tried to light it, no luck. She looked up at the clouds and the stars as the sound of crickets drowned the silence of before.

Scootaloo had recalled that Rainbow Dash had been here but she had left. She still had no clear answer as to why her idol hated her so. She wanted to make amends, maybe she had forgotten about it and they could be friends again?

Another thing had wracked around the fillies brain. During the Manticore attack, she thought of the million ways her wings, had she known how to use the things, could have made the whole ordeal that much less of a problem. She envisioned a fully airborne Scootaloo soaring into the sky and diving into the beast, creating a Scootaloo-Rainboom of sorts, incinerating the monster in its tracks and being the hero of the day.

She had thought of all the times her wings could have made a whole host of things easier and deasable.

She wanted to fly.

Frankly though she had no idea how if she could, and nopony there was capable of teaching her. It wasn't as if Twilight could perform the same spell she did when they went to see the Best Flyer Competition a few months back, she was a pegasus already and had to learn herself.

Or maybe somepony could help her. But who? Fluttershy was in Cloudsdale and Rainbow Dash....

She couldn't be that far. Scootaloo concluded, she's the element of loyalty! She wouldn't leave her friends behind! Completely forgetting, or placing ignorance upon the fact that Fluttershy was by herself, Scootaloo decided to go look for the pegasus.

The filly checked to make sure everypony else was asleep as to not get in her way. When that was taken care of, she made her way into the forest. She looked up through the tree-tops to try and spot Rainbow. She then noticed a lone piece of a cloud floating up in the sky, a good mile from where she was.

“That must be her!” The filly said to herself with excitement, a smile growing on her face. She'd like to be up in a cloud right now, with Rainbow Dash no less, sure would beat the worn and insect-laden excuse for beds they were sleeping on now.

Though she was bouncing with anticipatory excitement a part of her remained vigilant. She took great care to make a mental note of landmarks to help aide her way out if danger arose. She didn't seem to worry though. Rainbow Dash saved her before and she'd do it again.

Scootaloo's thoughts raced around of all the fun things that could happen. She'd find Rainbow Dash, they'd apologize, then she'd be up in the safety of a fluffy cloud with the most awesome pegasus—on pony in all of Equestria. She'd go through rough and tumble flying drills but would ace it because she's Scootaloo and that's how things happen.

She began to somewhat struggle now in her journey, the brush was getting thick and mud was beginning to cake her hooves but she could care less, the cloud was getting closer! Close enough to where she thought the following would be a grand idea:

“Rainbow Dash!” The filly hollered enthusiastically. “Hey Rainbow Dash!”

She kept trudging on for awhile, listening for her mentor, but no response. She tried again.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! It's me, Scootaloo!”  Still nothing. She continued on for a few more minutes. Looking from the ground to the cloud to track her progress. There was no way her idol couldn't hear her now.

“Sorry about what I said earlier! I still think you're the coolest pony in Equestria!”

No response still. Though she could've swore she heard some foliage disturbance.  She paused to confirm, heard nothing more and moved on.

“I was wondering if you could teach me some of your tricks! I think it'd be pretty neat if we had more than two pegusai on this trip, 'cause you know..Fluttershy is kind of a whump. Hehe.”

She was kind of nervous at this point. That last bit was more appeasment than anything. Still though, nothing.

The cloud was right above her...or at least a peace of it. It now glowed lightly as the moon struck it directly. She was fixated on it. Sure that Rainbow Dash was up there.

Scootaloo decided this time she was going to be a bit louder. Maybe she's just so high up she can't hear?

“Hey Rainbow Das--”

She had started to announce her presence once again but a hoof had stopped her. Rather briskly at that. Scootaloo saw the color of it some and was relived. She looked up at Rainbow Dash and her smile quickly faded as she noticed her friend was less than pleased about something.

“I was jus--” She tried again.

“Shut up.” Rainbow Dash hissed. “Shut the fuck up!”

Scootaloo fell cold, her warmth and happiness drained out of her.  She just wanted to apologize, maybe then things would be okay.

“I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, I--” Again she was interrupted, this time a bit more harshly. Out of somewhere a hoof slammed into her stomach sending the filly on her back a few feet. There was no restraint, it hurt pretty bad.

“Ow! Hey what'd you do that for!?” Scootaloo was half-whining though the last thing she wanted to do was project vulnerability. Rainbow has seen enough of that from her.

The filly didn't get it however, she figured maybe Rainbow was rough-housing. No other ponies were around so the profanity made sense in her mind.

“That kind of hurt.” Scootaloo grimaced, “Could you--”

Scootaloo was rather tired of being interrupted like this. This time she was roughly yanked up by a hoof and slammed into a tree. This managed to hurt even worse than the previous hit. A slight fear was finally creeping into her mind: She might have picked the wrong time to “find” her.

“Rainbow Dash, why are you hurting me? I came her to ap--”

“Shut the fuck up you little brat!” Rainbow Dash hissed.

She was up against a tree, the pressure was painful and there were splinters of bark and wood pressing into her back, she was sore and in pain and scared.  Against her will tears began to swell in her eyes.

“Please don't hurt me.” The filly whined. Her eyes were wide and fogged.

“Aw look, the little bitch finally gets it!” Rainbow howled, “I have no intent on listening to you you little shit.”

Scootaloo received another brutal smash, this time in the face. She was righted and her already swollen eye was throbbing. Some cuts from earlier in the say were opened and began bleeding freely.

“Please, please stop! I'm sorry!” The filly bawled, barely able to speak.

“Please stop?..PLEASE STOP?” Rainbow was furious, she yanked the filly and threw her into another tree, head-first. Fortunately this didn't fracture or split anything however it did hurt and the filly wad disoriented and nauseous for a few seconds. Given her hazy vision she could've swore she coughed up blood as well.

Before she could move though she was pinned again. An angry, haeteful face lorded over her.

“All the times you would bug me about ehe STUPIDEST SHIT!” Rainbow continued, “All those fucking times I tried to put up with you and your crap!”

Scootaloo was sobbing uncontrollably, its all she knew how to do at this point.

“'Hey look, Rainbow Dash is asleep!'” Rainbow said mockingly, that tinge of fury and hatred still very sharp. “'I bet she had a long day working, but I don't know what that's like because I'm a spoiled little fuck!'” She took her knee and slammed it into the filly's stromach, summoning a loud squeal and amplified whailing from her victim.

She responded to this by smacking Scootaloo upside the face.

“Shut up you little foal! You fucking foal!” The pegasus barked. “After a long fucking day I try to get some god damn sleep, and of course, who might show up and wreck it for me? With all her stupid fucking questions?!”

“I..I didn't mean too...” The filly whimpered.

“Oh you didn't?” Rainbow mocked, “Oh well that makes it all better than doesn't it!”

The picked up the filly and tossed her to the ground like she was but a toy. She then pinned her up to a tree again and used one hoof to align her bleeding, tear matted face with its quivering lips to hers.

“'Teach me to fly Rainbow Dash!' 'You're the best pony ever Rainbow Dash!'” The mocking continued. And as far as Scootaloo was concerned, this hurt more than the pain she was enduring in the physical realm.

“It's always ass-kissing and demands from you isn't it? Didn't you parents ever-- Oh wait, that's right, you don't HAVE ANY!” The mare mockingly laughed at her, which made the filly's crying worse.

Rainbow pushed that much harder on the filly.

“You better stop the crying you little punk. It's very rude to interrupt me. And I'm not in the mood to put up with a crying little bitch.”

Scootaloo did her best to suppress the whimpering, the coughing, tears, and shaking. It didn't work too well. She was overwhelmed with untold amounts of emotion.

“You wanna know why your family is gone Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked rhetorically, “Because, nopony wants a stupid, useless pile of fur and shit like you.” The delivery was cold, and it struck the filly to the core. It literally hurt her to suppress her feelings in order to avoid physical retaliation. Scootaloo closed her eyes tight and clenched her teeth, she shook violently.

“Awww did I hurt your wittle feewings? Rainbow Dash mocked again. “What did you expect to do when you came here? Wait, Wait—don't tell me: You wanted something from me right? Flying lessons? Forget about it! Teaching you would be a waste of time!”  Rainbow places a hoof to prop up one of Scootaloo's wings.

“Look at these tiny things! I've nevber seen such puny fucking wings in my whole life!” She howled with laughter. “Might was well take these off and call you an Earth pony!”

Rainbow Dash wasn't quite done here. She took the wing she had propped over her hoof and began to bend it against its normal direction (downward). As once could image this hurt very, very badly.

Scootaloo couldn't keep it in any longer she was in serious pain. All of her pent up fear and dread let out in a violent fit of howling and sobbing.

“PLEASE STOP! PLEASE STOP!” She cried desperately. “I'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE FOREVER JUST PLEASE STOP HURTING ME!” She deflated to another fit of sobbing. Rainbow released her wing and propped the filly back up to face-level.

“Alright, I'll let you off, but....” A sly smile crept on the mare's face. “You have to do a little favor for me first.”

“ANYTHING! PLEASE LET ME GO!” The filly was at the mercy of her emotions which were exploding from all sides.

“Now see squirt? Wasn't that hard to listen to me for once huh?” Rainbow continued her hateful tirade. “I want you to repeat what I say, nice and loud so everpony can hear you.”

The filly nodded frantically.

“Good.  Alright... 'I am useless, I am nothing. Nopony loves me because I a waste of a life and not worth a damn thing.'”  Rainbow Dash was going to enjoy this.

While Scootaloo's facade had been broken long beforehand she still wasn't fully willing to say those things, as in her immature mind that only made them true. Though a hoof started bending her wing again and she had no choice.

“I am....useless..” she began.

“LOUDER.” Rainbow Dash barked.

Scootaloo chocked up, “I am useless, I am nothing..n—nopony loves me...be—because I am a waste of life and not worth a....damn thing!” She began sobbing again. She was let go and dropped with a thud face-first into the ground. Rainbow bent down and whispered into the filly's exposed right ear.

“You're never going to fly, you will always be a stupid Earth pony, a disgrace to your kind..... I never want to see your stupid face again understand? I do, and next time I won't be so merciful. Now FUCK OFF!”

With that the filly scrambled to her feet, loosing her balance initially, drawing cruel laughter from Rainbow Dash as the filly stumbled and staggered through the woods at insane speeds.

Rainbow Dash simply hovered and stared in the direction the filly had gone. She waited until the sound of the scampering and the sobbing faded into the distance. Her high wore down, her adrenaline depleted and her brain began functioning again.

She then realized what she just did.

She lost her control and fell to the ground. She was shaking with fear. The memories of what just took place were now clear and free of the proponetive bias that has ruled before.

“You don't mean those things..” Flutterhy's voice echoed through her head.

“PLEASE! LET ME GO!” The screaming filly, her eyes, the pain in her heart and her mind.

These thoughts echoed through her head as she stared blankly into the forest.

“Oh god....what have I done?” The pegasus herself broke down, never in a million years did she ever see herself capable of even conceiving of doing such a thing to anypony—espescially the one that always had her back, nativity or not Scootaloo was always on her side. The little filly's infectious smile, thrill for adventure, love of everything—love of her.

She smacked herself. Maybe this was just a sick nightmare, a random dumping of her angst piling to create a sadistic scene of horror. She could wake up, she'd be on the cloud and everything would be fine.

This was real. There was no going back.

Rainbow Dash let herself fall to the ground and began to whail. Shame is too light of a word to describe how she felt.

Next Chapter: Recovery Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 45 Minutes