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Nightmare Night and Nyx

by RealityCheck

Chapter 27

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Chapter 27

Not all the ponies were clustered together in the ballroom that night, or strolling the winding gardens and hallways. Some few had reason to seek solitude, to reflect on what they had all gone through.

If one sought solitude, the Castle of the Night had room to spare for it. It was an enormous construction, honeycombed with passages and rooms and chambers, layered, arched and towered like a cross between one of Mad Ludwig's castles and a runaway wedding cake. Luna was still in the process of moving her court and servants into the palace, and there was a fair chance she would be hiring on just to fill in all the spare space. The party taking place that night was in only one of several ball rooms, just for starters.

It was into one of the extra ballrooms that a furtive figure now slipped. The chamber was claimed only by the decorative pillars along the walls, and only lit by the moonlight. The music of the party was completely muffled out by the thick walls and the sound-deadening spells cast by the Princesses.

It was perfect for a little filly who wanted to be alone.

Scootaloo closed the doors behind her and tiptoed across the checkered marble floor, the clicking of her hooves on the tile making her self-conscious. It took her a few minutes to convince herself that she really was alone, that there weren't other ponies watching her from the shadows behind the pillars, their hooves clip-clopping along with hers.She sat down in the moonlight and sighed, peeling off her costume eyepatch and throwing it over her shoulder.

It had been a crazy night. The trick or treating, that weird lady in the nursery downstairs, the party, then those crazy ponies had zapped everyone with a bubble-trap spell, and then they'd tried to evaporate Nyx or something. And the Cutie Mark Crusaders--- the whole gang--- had freed everyone, and they'd all gone to save Nyx. Except they hadn't. Or they had, and the bad guys still pulled it off. That wasn't how it was supposed to work, was it? In all the movies the good guys stopped the bad guys right in the nick of time.

Not that it mattered, because it turned out the super-evil Doom Spell they used on Nyx hadn't worked. Or it had, but it didn't work right or something, and now everyone knew Nyx was a real pony....?

Scootaloo shook her head. She was glad she wasn't a unicorn, she'd never understand all that weird egg-head-y magic stuff.

That wasn't what was dwelling on Scootaloo's mind, though. She was the sort of filly who just let any crazy stuff that happened roll off her, and just be something in the past. It was kind of a necessity when you were a Cutie Mark Crusader. No, she was brooding about what happened after.

The Princesses made a bunch of announcements and stuff, then the party had started again. And then Applebloom had pulled her prank on SweetieBelle. Her sneaky, funny, absolutely brilliant prank. And it had worked. SweetieBelle had gotten over her stage fright (and sung with Sapphire Shores. So. Awesome!) And Boom, there was her cutie mark. And then while everyone was celebrating, and Applebloom was talking about how she'd rigged up the sound system to pull it off and Boom, there was Applebloom's cutie mark!

Two Cutie Mark Crusaders with their cutie marks, in the same night.

Scootaloo hadn't been jealous. Not really. Well, maybe a little. But it wasn't really all she was feeling. She was so happy for Applebloom and SweetieBelle. But at the same time, she felt a little left behind. Just like everypony else she knew, their cutie marks had just popped in out of nowhere, out of the blue. And here she still was, still a Blank Flank.

It was kind of frustrating too. All that talk grownups made about "knowing who you are" and "finding what you want to be" and junk. Scootaloo knew who she wanted to be. She wanted to be like a certain somepony special, in every way she could... wanted it with all her heart.

But at the same time... Ugh, she hated sitting and thinking. She had to move.

Scootaloo fluttered over to the windows. With a little fiddling she got the catch undone and swung the windows open to the night.The strains of the classical quartet out in the gardens below wafted through the tall open windows, streaming in with the moonlight.

The music from outside swelled to fill the room. It was lilting and sweet and Scootaloo found herself moving her hooves to it. In a few steps she was dancing to it, gliding and twirling and using her wings to lift off the ground, just a bit, stretching out her pirouettes. It wasn't the sort of music she normally danced to when anypony was watching. No way. But when she was alone, and full up with feelings, it was the best kind. If anypony had caught her at it, she would have died. But she was alone, so it was okay---

The door rattled. Light spilled into the room from the hallway as somepony entered. Stifling a squeak of panic, Scootaloo galloped for the shadows, ducking behind a pillar. She peeked around the base, heart racing.

It was Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash! They tiptoed in, carefully closing the door behind them. Rainbow Dash trying to look cool, but nervously peering into every corner. Scootaloo ducked out of sight. pressing her back to the pillar. Thunderlane chuckled; Dash shushed him urgently. "Stop it, somepony will hear you," she rasped.

"Calm down; everypony is down in the ball room, remember? The soundproofed ballroom. And nobody else is up on this floor."

"Hey, I don't want anypony walking in on us--"

There was the sound of something scraping across the floor. "There, I braced a chair against the door," Thunderlane said. "Happy?"

"Don't tease," Scootaloo heard Rainbow Dash mumble. She sounded nervous. Nervous? Rainbow Dash was too cool to be nervous.

"Hey, take it easy." Scootaloo heard him trot across the floor to Dash. "Well... it's quiet. We're alone, in a nice empty room, nothing but the music keeping us company. And you promised...."

"Look, maybe I'm just not in the mood," Dash said.

"Hey, you'll be in the mood once you warm up..." Thunderlane wheedled. "Come on..."

Rainbow Dash gave a defeated groan. "All right, I did say---"

"...You did..."

"Okay, just this once... but you better not brag about this to your friends...."

Scootaloo's eyes grew rounder and rounder as she listened. It was sounding like this room was getting WAY more NFA(1) than she had expected. No. They weren't about to.... No. But it sure sounded like--

Carefully, she peeked around the pillar she was hidden behind. They were standing in the middle of the floor, facing each other (whew!). Thunderlane was close, nickering something in Rainbow Dash's ear. He had discarded most of his costume armor in favor of freedom of movement. Rainbow Dash was looking away, biting her lip and blushing and looking way more girly than Scootaloo had ever seen her looking in her life. The quartet outside ended their number, and picked up a new one; one that was made with love and care by hooves long gone.

As Scootaloo watched, Thunderlane stepped up; Rainbow Dash rested her forelegs on his shoulders, and with wings spread... they began to dance.

The filly could have swept the floor with her chin. She watched as they spun in a slow circle around the floor in a close embrace. Nature wouldn't be denied; within a few steps, his feathered wings fluttered and her gossamer ones trilled, and they floated up off the floor.

This was a gag, right? A trick. Did Rainbow Dash lose a bet or something.... Scootaloo stepped out from behind the pillar, daring a better look. No, it was for real; Dash was resting her chin on his shoulder as they drifted in time to the music, a contented smile on her face and, oh my gosh, was she blushing?

Scootaloo was so befuddled she forgot herself and stepped all the way out into the light. A moment later, Rainbow Dash happened to glance down and saw, where she had THOUGHT was only empty moonlight and shadow, a familiar orange face staring up at her and her dance partner.

"AAAGH!"

Thunderlane was a fairly good dancer, but even he couldn't stay airborne when his dance partner decided to rupture his eardrum with a primal scream. Startled, his wings stalled out, and he and Dash, limbs tangled together, tumbled to the floor.

Thunderlane groaned in pain and sat up. "Good grief, Dash, what--" He looked over and spotted an orange filly who had apparently been spying on them. "Oh. Whups."

Scootaloo stared at her idol, disbelieving. "Dash...??" was all she could say.

Dash got to her hooves, head lowered, glaring in every direction. "All right, you didn't see nuthin'! Nuthin'!" she shouted at the shadows. "Nobody saw nuthin' here, especially not me slow dancing with Thunderlane! Y'hear?" She was trying to sound tough, but the panic on her face was plain as a neon sign.

Thunderlane stood up, directing a disgruntled look at the mare. "You know, I'm starting to take this personally," he groused.

Dash ignored him. She whipped around and glared at Scootaloo, making the filly cringe back in surprise. "You! Why were you spying on us? Are you trying to catch me doing something weird? Is it that Gabby Gums thing again?"

"Back off, Dash, you're scaring the kid," Thunderlane said. "And what was weird? We were just dancing!"

"Hey, I don't want her blabbing to all her little friends that she saw me doing anything as weak and wussy and- and girly as dancing..."

"Oh, so I suppose I'm 'weak and wussy' for wanting one slow dance, then?" Thunderlane rolled his eyes.  "Filly, you are messed up. You got more issues than a cut-rate magazine, and I--- oop, there she goes." There was a clatter of tiny hooves and the slam of a door.

"Kid, wait, come back! Aw man--" Dash started after her, then stopped and turned back. "--And whattayou mean, 'I got issues?'"

Thunderlane snorted. "'Oh I don't want anyone to see me being all girly,'" he mimicked. "Maybe you missed it, sister, but you happen to be a girl. And I'm kind of tired of spending the night with a girl who treats being feminine like it was some sort of disease." He trotted for the door. "Forget it. You got your hooves full. Go deal with your little hero-worshipper." He pulled the door open and stepped out, then stuck his head back in. "Feel free to look me up when you decide you're not ashamed to be female. Till then... whatever." The door shut behind him with a hollow boom.

"Humph," Dash snorted, blowing a lock of her mane out of her face. "...Well--- you're a jerk. So there." Forget him. She'd better go find Scootaloo.... she clomped her way out of the room, slamming the door behind her, and made a point of going the opposite of the way she saw Thunderlane going.


It took Dash a while to find Scootaloo. After half an hour of randomly buzzing around, asking ponies if they'd seen an orange and purple filly "dressed like a ninja or something," she'd resorted to the painful process of sitting down and trying to think it out. It occurred to her that whenever she felt down, she always tried to go up-- up to a higher cloud, or a higher perch, or just a higher altitude. Maybe it was just a pegasus thing. If so, then that was more than likely what Scootaloo did.

From there, it was a quick search. She found the filly at the top of the highest minaret in the castle, perched on the crenelations, looking down on the countryside and as blue as a foal could be. Dash edged out next to her, careful not to startle her. "Hey," she said quietly.

Scootaloo's chin was on her forehooves. She looked up at Dash briefly, then went back to staring out into the dark.

Dash cleared her throat awkwardly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," she started. "I was sorta startled." Scootaloo mumbled something, then fell still. "I'm not mad at ya or anything," Dash went on. "It's just that.... okay, I'm real nervous about this sort of stuff. You know. Dancing, and dressing up, and stuff like that."

"I thought you hated that stuff," Scootaloo said bluntly. Her eyes never left the horizon.

"Well yeah I---" Dash puffed out her cheeks and blew a puff of air. This wasn't going well. It was time to be honest. "Welllll, maybe I like them a little." She held out her hooves, spaced apart an inch. "Just a little tiny teeny bit. Or at least I wanted to try them. Just a little bit." She looked up at the sky. "You know, dancing and dressing up and... being... pretty." She blushed a little as she remembered how Thunderlane's face had lit up when he'd first seen her all dressed to the nines.

It'd been... nice. Real nice.

"You said all that stuff was girly," Scootaloo said in an accusatory tone.

"Well, yeah, it is," Rainbow Dash said. She smiled a little. "But I guess Thunderlane is sorta right; we do happen to be girls. I think we're allowed to be girly if we want." She elbowed Scootaloo a little, grinning.

Dash then got serious. "Its... okay, with me--- I acted the way I did because I was nervous. I'm not used to people seeing me like this; it's still a little new for me." She raised a hoof. "I just don't want you thinking-- you know-- that there's anything wrong with it or weird or any stuff like that..." jeez, this was weird territory. Was she getting through?

There was a long silence. Rainbow Dash idly tapped her hooves against the crenellation, risking her hooficure (and hadn't getting that been an adventure in its own right). "I like dancing," Scootaloo burst out suddenly.

"Hunh?"

"I like dancing," Scootaloo repeated, as if the admission had been wrested out of her.

"Well yeah, I saw you tearing up the floor back there--"

"I mean, not just that cool stuff." Scootaloo rubbed her forehooves over each other, obviously trying to find the words. "I mean, like... ballet. And ballroom dance. And modern dance. And the real pretty folk dances... " she shrugged and looked down. "All the uncool ones, I guess."

"Who says they're uncool?" Dash asked.

"Well YOU do!"

Dash bit her lip. "Ungh." She probably had said something along those lines at some point somewhere, hadn't she? "Look, just because I said something --"

"But I like sports too!" Scootaloo said, not even looking at Dash, just gesturing out into space. "I like doing stunts on my scooter, and wall-climbing, and bungee jumping, and sledding, and gymnastics, and...."  She stopped, frustrated. "Why do I have to choose?"

Dash was rapidly getting lost. "Choose?"

"For my cutie mark!" Scootaloo said impatiently. "If I get a cutie mark, that's it. Forever.  I don't  get to do all those other things anymore. I'm stuck." She shifted uncomfortably.

"Well... what do you want?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I want to be like you!" Scootaloo exploded. "I want to be brave and daring and athletic and super cool!" She looked down. "But now I'm finding all these other things... these dumb, sissy, girly things. Like dancing...and I kind of like them, too." Her chin rested on the ledge between her hooves. "I wanna be like you. But if I'm like you, then I'll never get to do all those other things. But if I get into those other non-Dash things, then I can never be cool like you."

Rainbow Dash finally started to get an inkling. "Boy, squirt," she said finally. "I really screwed you up, didn't I."

"Huh?" Scootaloo raised her head and looked at her, brow furrowed.

"Kid, who told you that you had to absolutely totally be like me?" Dash said. "And who the heck told you that you weren't allowed to like anything I didn't like?"

"Nnnoone," Scootaloo admitted, her eyes dipping, "but-- "

"Anyway, who wants to be a copy? Do your own thing, whether it's being an ultra cool flyer like me or, a dancer, or a bookworm like Twilight, or or or--- I dunno, beekeeping. It doesn't matter."

"But... I still wanna be like you," Scootaloo said, her voice muted. "I can't do both."

"Says who?" Dash chuckled. "Come on, just because you have a Cutie Mark doesn't mean you have to do just one thing." At Scootaloo's skeptical expression, she said, "Well? Think about it. Does Applejack do nothing but grow apples?"

"Pretty much," Scootaloo said dryly.

Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement. "No, she does all sorts of stuff. She's an athlete, and she bakes, and she helps out Rarity and Twilight with stuff. Twilight does more stuff than just do magic, right? She loves books, and doing experiments, and she runs the Winter Wrap-Up. And what about Pinkie Pie? Her talent is parties, but-- jeez. She plays ten musical instruments, and she does practical jokes--" almost on cue, there was a distant camera flash and the sound of a booby trap going off, followed by a pony's startled yelp---"heh. And she does baking, and she raises a pet alligator, and--- well I could go all day listing all the different things Pinkie Pie does." She gave Scootaloo's shoulder a poke. "Just because you get a cutie mark doesn't mean you're just one thing."

Scootaloo blinked, speechless.

"Dash?" She said finally. "If I.... If I get a cutie mark in something girly.... you'll still think I'm cool, right?"

Dash gave her a noogie. "Hey, always. No matter what you get, you'll make it cool." She paused. "Look, I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea from me. I mean, I know I'm not really fru fru like Rarity or Fluttershy, but there's nothing wrong with it..."

"Eh, It's not you," Scootaloo said. Her forehead furrowed. "I'm just worried I'll end up like my cousin."

"What about her?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes heavenward. "She got her cutie mark a while ago. It's a really fru-fru thing, all pink hearts and lacy frills and junk. And ever since she got it she's--- all FOOFY."

"Bad as Rarity?"

"Worse. She's like Rarity times a hundred. All she talks about is--" Scootaloo reared up and planted one forehoof on her hip and dangled the other in front of her. "Makeup and boys and perfume and hair and  frilly dresses and makeoverrrrrrrrs and 'Ew like did you hear, she said that he said, he said that she said, did she say, blah blah blah,' barf barf barf...." the filly stuck her tongue out and mimed sticking a hoof down her throat.

Dash nearly double over from  laughter. "Don't worry, kid," she finally said, wiping her eyes. "I don't think it was her cutie mark that caused that. It's just something that lots of fillies go through when they get to a certain age."

"You didn't, did you?" Scootaloo said doubtfully.

".... More than you think," Dash said with a grin.  "But I survived. you will too.

"You know, all those things you like-- they have more in common than you think."

"Really?" Scootaloo said, curious.

"Yeah. Stunt-boarding, and surfing, and gymnastics, and rock climbing.... they're all physical stuff. Athlete stuff....  you know? Dancers are athletes too."

"Really?" Scootaloo repeated.

"Sure. Haven't you ever seen those ballet ponies jumping around and lifting each other in the air and junk? Ya gotta be in good shape to be a dancer..."

"Huh. Yeah, I guess so."

".... so maybe all the things you like are tied together."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll do 'em all!" Scootaloo rolled that idea over in her head. "... what would a cutie mark for that even look like?"

Dash snorted with laughter. "ALL the cutie marks. You'd end up looking like a NASCAR(2) chariot." Scootaloo giggled. "Oh, and hey," Dash added. "Don't worry about all that mushy girly stuff either. Not all of it's bad."

"Then why'd you freak out when I caught you being all girly with Thunderlane?" Scootaloo wanted to know.

Dash's smile grew thoughtful. "You know what? Good question. I think I'll go find him and figure it out...." She turned to go back into the tower. "And Scoot?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be afraid to try everything. Even the 'uncool' stuff. okay?" Scootaloo nodded. Dash grinned. "You know, squirt, I get the feeling, no matter what cutie mark you get, you're always gonna follow your own star." With that she descended the staircase.

Scootaloo sat there for a while, smiling up at the stars. She felt light inside, like a heavy lead weight had been sitting in her stomach for ages and had finally been taken out. Just on a whim, she stood on her hind hooves and pirouetted. Once, twice, three times.

I can do anything I want.

I can try everything in the world.

I can be anything I want to be.

I can be everything I want to be.

And I will!

Just because I can.

There was a glimmering of starlight on her hip, and a sensation like ice water trickling on her skin. She yipped and dropped to all fours. Startled, she pulled at her unitard, pulling one of the rips open till her flank was exposed....

There it was. A violet streak curving up her hip, topped with a white, five pointed star...

For the next five minutes, the highest tower in the Castle of the Moon was host to a one-pony victory dance.


1)Rated NFA, No Foals Allowed

2)National Association for Stock Chariot Action Racing

Next Chapter: Chapter 28 Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes
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