My Friend's a Murderer and I'm OK with it [Scint, Shade, Scrapper]

Year 4
December 26

Scint took a deep breath, and an even deeper sigh, before turning the key on the cell door that held his friend.

a few short hours ago, Silvern told him Scrapper was under voluntary arrest for mass murder. that didn't sound right at all. thankfully he had his permission to see Scrapper, so he didn't have to deal with the guards again. Lance would've smirked at them on the way in, but instead, a grim sorrow had clearly occupied his face. a part of Scint wanted to believe this was Scrapper's idea of a joke... but getting past Prism and Silve with a joke like this, just seemed unreal. that, or he had underestimated their humour, in which case he is very proud of them.

that thought bought a hint of a smile to his muzzle, and brought just a little bit of light to his eyes, as he worked the strength to open the door and trot in.

he had his eyes closed as the door behind him did the same, and he spoke, "If this is a joke, I'm very impressed. But please tell me this is a joke." Scint opened his eyes to realize Shade's in the room. "Oh. Hi."

If Lance had listened closely, he would have heard a silent curse and some quick shuffling after unlocking the door. When he finally looked, Scrapper and Shade were lying next to each other in the bed, with their usual clothes discarded on the floor. Nothing unusual for sleeping, but the fact that they both appeared slightly sweaty and Shade was looking at Lance with a considerable amount of annoyance suggested that he had not actually interrupted their sleep. It also showed in her voice. "How about you knock the next time and wait for us to call you in?"

Scrapper was also annoyed at the interruption, but chilled out a little after he realised who it was who made the mistake in the first place. It wasn't even surprising.
"Did you miss me? You wanker." he said in a tone of mild annoyance after Shade had spoke.

now that he realized what he walked into, Scint instantly turned around as fast as he turned red, the hoof he just face-hoofed with covering his eyes S-SORRY! Lance rushed out the door behind him and closed it. he then face-walled, and emitted a cry of pain as he remembered why unicorns don't face-wall.

The door opened again, and Shade sticked her head out. "It's not like we'll just continue now," she said with unchanged tone of voice, and walked back to the bed. "Let's just get this talk over with."

Scrapper spoke loud enough for Lance to hear, "You already wrecked the moment you Twat! Just get in here already!" he said that amused at Lance's reaction to walking in on them.

Still considerably red, Scint reluctantly trotted in. "Sorry to interrupt... that... I came as soon as I could when I was told you're under arrest for... murder? not that you don't do that anyway, but, I'm pretty sure you don't normally aim for ponies that have nothing to do with you. Or... do you..? it's a joke, right? Lance really couldn't picture Scrapper going out of his way to kill ponies. he might have only known him for a little while, but it felt much longer than that (wonder why). It just didn't make sense to him. even now, Scrapper is the same old Scrapper.

Shade finally let her annoyance fall as she lied down again, and then looked at Scrapper, asking if he wanted to tell it or if she should.

Scrapper sighed, "You're right. I'm not one to do that kind of thing." he said bluntly. Seemingly reluctant to continue, because even he didn't really know what's happening to himself.

Scint forgot to breathe for a moment, frozen. he had a hard time looking Scrapper in the eye, suddenly, so he turned his gaze to the floor. "at... at least tell me that's not just it. there's more to it, right? you're not just... doing that out of the blue?

"Remember that time when your boss did mental surgery on Scrapper? The problem is back, and this time as full blown second personality," Shade answered darkly. "I've dubbed him Feral. Describes him pretty well."

"Yeah, so as it looks now, I am now a We." Scrapper said calmly.
"We're not sure what kind of things cause Feral to show up, but going on how he liked acting, I'll call it unwise for anybody to piss me off."

"Oh thank goodness!" so it wasn't scrapper's fault, it's Scint's for failing to fix scrapper with Silvern before. he sat down, sighing with relief. Aaaand then his eyes shot open realizing, wait that's NOT good, this makes it my fault! couldn't fix your head! and come to think of it, that spell did seem to have a mind of its own... Scint rubbed his temple, trying to piece whatever he could together. So that spell, which reacted violently when tampered with, is now latched onto your head, and made you act very, very violently. and we're giving it a name. you're absolutely certain this is a second personality all on its own? Lance then realized he was starting to sound cold. not the best thing for him now. "I mean, I'm just trying to get the facts to make sense here, maybe we can figure something out.

"Well, I'm no psychologist, but that what it seems to be to me. Fortunately, one thing that Feral has in common with Scrapper, is apparently that he loves me. He stopped the killing when I caught his attention and seemed very determined to get me to safety." Shade sighed. "And him being stuck in this cell is not the worst about it."

"Eh, it could be worse Las. Lance might ask to join in." Scrapper said with an evil sounding chuckle.

Scint shook his head, Rest assured I will definately not ask to join in. Scint startled scribbling on his sticky notes every detail he'd need about... 'feral.' he's not without care for his friend, of course. any idea how long you're in here for?

Shade lit her horn before answering. "As long as we need to make preperations for leaving Manehatten," she said. "If Silver Lining had her will, Scrapper wouldn't get out again, but luckily Silvern has made it easy for us to break him out. Afterwards, the rebellion likely won't like us anymore."

"Oh, a breakout! It's been a long time since I had to do one of those!" Scrapper said, seeming quite happy about it even though he wanted to be here.

"But I get the feeling we aren't quite done here yet." He said shortly after, in a more serious tone.

Lance was having a hard time coming to terms with what Shade's telling him. "you're not seriously suggesting... no, you're being serious. " Scint tried to keep his voice down, a guard could still be outside. it would be ridiculous if there wasn't. he decided to make a few extra precautions; Scint pulled an extra pencil out and a sticky note, hovering the two items over to shade after writing (rather messily) "Guard outside. anything I need 2 know 2 help?"
He then spoke, "No, I'd assume we're not. Scraps... any idea what 'triggered' Feral? or did you just go all Saddlerager, get mad get crazy."

"You can talk normally, they won't understand anything as long as you don't start shouting. I've dampened the sound", Shade said, pointing at her glowing horn, after taking a look at the note.

"First, we don't have a plan yet, but we still have a lot of time to come up with one. Secondly, this time the trigger seems to have been I getting into some trouble. But we don't know what else might trigger it. And third..." She paused a moment for dramatic effect (and because she found it somewhat embarassing that she had been so careless). "...I'm pregnant."

"I was pretty pissed off at the time, felt like killing anything that dared even slow me down for a moment." He said dully.
"And yeah, we were stupider than you for once." He said to Lance.

Lance squinted his eyes and opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it after a pause. he raised a hoof, and dropped it. Spare me the details, he finally said, "I don't think I want to hear about it. at all. don't wanna think about it, not interested, just, no. Scint shook his head, "changing the subject before I start thinking, um... oh still need to know more on Scrapper; clue how it 'wore off?' you just stopped being angry?

Shade snorted in amusement. "The usual treatment from before the surgery. I kissed him."

"Actually... That isn't the case. It was just convenient timing." Scrapper said.

"I was to busy choking on blood that wasn't mine, but i know it took me a long time to get a hold of myself." He said later, still lost in thought.

mixed response. "so, not so certain. I'd assume your eyes were glowing red, like before, then, but did anything else change? fangs? fluffy ears? the only thing Scint recalled with glowing red eyes other than scrapper was that weird bat spell he remembered stumbling across in one of Silve's books. could be relevant. probably not.

"Nothing that I noticed, other than the eyes. I'm pretty sure he's no vampony", said with a shake of her head. "So, no comment about me getting a foal?" she added grinningly.

"I have one." Scrapper said with a grin.
"*Ahem* You were casting a little sound bubble this whole time? No wonder you were so oblivious to the fact that guards would hear You for miles, didn't seem right at all!" He said while holding in his own immature chuckling.

Lance tilted his head, uncertain as to what scrapper was talking about. then he realized he wasn't referring to the lightbulb in the room. He turned his gaze to Shade, and his pupils shrunk, even the furs on his coat seemed to stand on edge. Lance's hoof found its place in his face once more. "Scrapper, please, no. Keep this up and I'll probably get a migraine. And Shade, I'm trying very hard not to comment. In fact I think it's best I keep my comments to myself until after I can get over... this. Scrapper's in Jail, you're pregnant, the whole of Equestria's at war after war, and all I got for hearth's warming is a blood bath. That you caused, Scrapper. let's not hear my opinion on things, shall we?

"I wasn't that loud!" Shade protested, though she had to admit to herself, that the guards likely would have noticed what had been going on in the cell without the spell. Not that it was of any importance. "Anyway Lance, if you need time to collect yourself, why don't you skitter off and give us some more private time? No point in continueing this conversation if we can't talk about the important topics."

Scint gave Shade something of a glare; largely because he's being told to leave the two to their 'private time' when he's trying to help. "the important topics? listen to yourself, shade, how loud you are is not an important topic. I'm trying to figure out how to fix Scrapper's head, and where we're supposed to go from here, and right now all you two seem to care about is shrugging it all off and... never-mind. maybe I'll just leave. Scint turned towards the door and opened it, half stepping through, and not looking back, When you need me, you seem to know where to find me. Scint closed the door slowly, in case any pony had any last words for him.

"What makes you think this can be fixed, mate?" Scrapper said just before Lance shut the door.
"I can remember everything now, the pony who made this knew what they were doing, I wasn't even the only one to have this done to me. And pre-war scientists are hard to come by. I highly doubt anything can fix this now, let alone you." He said, very calm for the situation.

"It doesn't help us to talk about a single topic that probably won't lead us anywhere" Shade added. "And apparently, the other topics are currently a little too awkward for you, so take some time to grow up and then come back."

Another blow to his maturity. Scint shut the door, and left no more words behind him.

"I have a feeling we were a little unfair right now," "I'll go talk to him later." "Where were we?"

-------------

Later

The door to Silvern's shop expectedly opened up on its own when Shade arrived, though this wasn't the front entrance. She had taken the tunnel directly connecting the Rebellion Headquarters with The Magic Eye, but it seems Sil was just as aware about arivals there as she was at her front door.

The mare in question was just coming down the Stairs. "Hello Shadowstrike. Are you here to see me or Scintillance?"

"Scintillance. Work time is over for him soon, right?"

"Yes, he should be with you soon," the enchantress answered as she motioned Shade to follow her upwards. "He seems a little upset since he went to visit Scrapper."

"That's why I'm here." Arriving in the lobby, Shade grabbed two cushions and laid down at a low table.

"Can I offer you something while you wait?"

Shade shook her head. "No, thanks."

With that, Sil went away to tell Lance that he had a visitor - as soon as he was done with his work.

Lance entered the room a short while later, his mane a little ruffled, but otherwise he looked like his regular self. except for his melancholic greeting; he gave Shade a quick look, and offered "Hey." He made his way and planted his flank on the remaining cushion. He held back the urge to apologize, heck he didn't even know what to apologize for. for wanting to help scrapper? for being angry with the two making pregnancy mistakes during a time of strife? he stopped his train of thought before he'd lose himself and barge out on Shade again. "Not done, then? it wasn't his best response, but it was better than what he wanted to say.

Shade was glad that she had some time more to think about what she was going to say, sitting quietly with her eyes closed, as if she was just a statue of herself. Only when Lance approached, her ears finally twitched and she looked at him apologetically. "First of all, sorry about earlier", she began. "You admittedly caught us at an inconvenient time, but I fear that's not the only reason I didn't want to talk about how we could possibly help Scrapper." She made a short pause. "It scares me to think about it, so I just wanted to inform you about it and be done with it. But you're right that, even though we might end up running into nothing but dead ends, we shouldn't just accept it." SHe slightly bowed her head to him. "So, sorry for telling you off."

Oh... nah, it's fine, I guess I was overreacting, to be fair. now there's something to apologize about. hard to hide, Lance did get caught a little off guard hearing this from Shade. actually that's been happening a lot lately, and Lance is slowly realizing just how much he needs to redefine his view on Shade. "As for Scrapper, I'm gonna keep working on a way to fix his head. though now that we know... "feral' might be listening, I'll have to keep my findings between us. the spell's pretty sentient for sure, so I'd rather not give it any ideas.


Also, you asked for my opinion on your being pregnant? I have to be honest, brutal as it sounds, you picked a bad time. but a gift is only a curse so long as you treat it that way; you can still do well in raising a filly. er, foal. um... am I allowed to ask?

Shade shook her head, smiling for a short moment. "I don't know, and I'm not sure if Silvern could tell, since it's only six weeks old. And yes, it was incredibly stupid to let myself get pregnant now, but what's done is done." Talking about the foal was easy. Even though she had no clue how she would be able to take care of it, it was an adventure she was willing to take on.

Feral was not so easy to talk about, as she preferred to keep him out of her mind. He would only be reason for worry, and she didn't know how to even begin to get rid of him. "If you keep working on a way to fix Scrapper, that would mean you have at least something to start with", she started hopefully, though she continued glumly. "If even Silvern doesn't dare to try again, magic seems to be out of question, and quite honestly... Even if she was willing, I don't know if I would want her to. The risk of losing Scrapper in the process is too large."

Scint offered Shade his more reassuring smile, "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't dare trying anything on Scrapper unless I'm almost completely certan it'll work, which presently doesn't seem to be any time soon. Lance's eye seemed to sparkle for a moment; he didn't look it, but Lance was a lot more interested in magic than he suggested. "But yes, I'm not completely off to a bad start, despite so far having only theories that seem appropriate. Scrapper seems to be taken over by Feral when he is angered, suggesting the spell is cast on the part of Scrap's brain that directly ties with his emotions, already opening a field of spells I can focus my search within. Red being the color of rage in the spectrum, and Scrapper's iris glowing red despite clearly being purple-y only further confirms this theory. Scint readjusted his glasses, and the light shined off the glass, seemingly hiding his eyes. "and subsequently the next convenient proposal is the incongruous conjecture that whomever fabricated the hex by which Scrapper is presently challenged might have been stimulated by the rage-affected oriented power pony in that aged comic, which I just might want to explore- Scint was starting to speak much less in his casual tone and more like an excited foal. oh wait that's kinda like his casual tone. think more excited than that.

-about a few seconds later-

-and let's not overlook the transitory cure of an effect you appear to have on him each time you kiss him. categorically a supplementary confirmation on the emotional hypothesis, but I'm wondering if we could investigate the magic of "love" more thoroughly and develop a cure based on counteracting his rage. or perhaps nullify his rage completely... no no no that's a terrible idea, extracting an emotion from a pony's mind might have the similar effect or removing a part of his brain, that cannot be allowed to occur." Lance had already buried the blackboard with his sticky notes, and definitely was upset that he had run out of room. He was then startled, realizing something he had not considered when he started putting down his theories on paper.

"I, uh... how much can you still remember from CSM?

Shade listened with far greater attention than she had ever given her teachers at Celestia's school. Though she considered herself by no means an expert in magic, and had so far mostly only interested in her own speicific branches, which didn't involve emotion at all. Still, despite his fast talking speed, she managed to follow. "I don't remember that much from CMS itself, but I spent some time studying magic in the yeas after", she said. "You're most likely right that Feral is triggered by certain emotion, rage being a big candidate. I'm actually already working on making him generally calmer, but I don't know how much of a success that will be. Either way, Feral won't be gone because of that, only surpressed.

"As for the magic of love..." She mulled it over for a moment, but didn't look very optimistic. "I don't think it would work. Remember what I said earlier? Feral loves me. I believe the reason he broke out was because of that very fact. He murdered innocent ponies because he loves me. He's not just a being of hate, he's just very emotional and protective of me, which isn't really bad in itself. Blasting him with positive emotional magic might not do as intended.

"However, if we found out who actually did this to Scrapper, that might give us some answers, even if they're not alive anymore."

Lance gave himseslf a cross between a facehoof and a slap. "How could I cross out finding whoever did this to Scrapper! Lance then dropped into his back and stared at the cieling. "Scrapper got his memories back when we "fixed" his head, right? my only present concern about asking him is the possibility of pulling up some bad emotions in Scrapps and calling out Feral again. I'd assume Feral doesn't like me very much. Lance got back up to sitting on his flank. "So, the 'safer' alternative is for you to ask him, unless it's a good idea for me to meet feral which it isn't but probably is going to happen because fate is a cruel maiden that likes seeing us suffer for the sake of making a good story. and once we got a name, that name's next on the- Lance paused, quickly pulling out a sticky note from one of his pockets, and reading something off of it, "Darklight's list of suspicious characters to hunt down.

"Darklight?" Shade asked sceptically, but then suddenly dropped into mournful remembrance, saying nothing more. Only when Silvern appeared in the lobby she quickly pulled herself together again, even though the other mare couldn't even see her expression. Sil didn't pay much attention to them and quickly left again through another door. "Could we please go back to the hideout? We need more privacy."

Scint smirked, "Casually distanced Shade." Lance got up from his seat and called out to Silvern, "Alright, Sil, we're heading out! Anything that needs doing before we leave? it was the usual routine, Lance would always double-check if he's needed for anything else before leaving Silve in the store. while waiting for a response, Scint addressed Shade's confusion, . "Darklight. figured you wouldn't like it. just thought, we have the weirdest little group ever; My light magic, your shadow magic, and Scrapper... apparently having a lot more magic than we thought going into a blood rage. besides being some grade-A cliché, it's almost neat. in any case, I've just sorta jotted down a couple group names. Heck, we might turn it into something of a code word on its own, since you have such a hard time talking openly around others."

Silvern momentarily poked her head in again to answer Lance' question without needing to shout. "No, you're free to go. Just be sure to be on time tomorrow. See you then!"

Shadowstrike stayed silent until they had left the shop, walking the dark tunnels to the place that came closest to being home in Manehatten. She soon let her expression fall into gloom again and her voice was lifeless when she finally said something. "It's not that I don't like the name," she began, but stopped herself, shaking her head. "Okay, I don't like it, but more importantly it has reminded me of my old friends. You're not the first who thought a circle of friends needed a name."

Scint recalled Shade's meltdown just a few nights ago, mentioning losing all of her friends... ""...oh... well, I'm pretty sure, every once in a while someone wants to put up a group name, so it doesn't have to pull back any bad memories specifically about that friend. Or, uh, might bring back good memories, sounds like this friend had enough fun in 'im to want a titled circle-of-friends?" he played around with his pack of stickey notes like a hackey-sack. "How's, Eclipse?"

Shade stopped to give him a deadpan glare. "...Better, but let's just talk about something else, alright?" She continued walking, and forcefully brought her voice to factual neutrality again. "Thanks to my and Scrapper's foalishnes, we're on a schedule now. I won't be fit for action for much longer, and soon after we'll need to leave Manehatten entirely. At least I and Scrapper will have to, you can make your own choice. But if you want to stay, you can't be involved with breaking Scrapper out."

"OK, that's it. Scintillance whipped out a light blue sticky note. and scribbled onto it. "I have a job assisting an important member of the rebellion, the captain of the guard so to speak is finally warming up to me, ponies are actually starting to not give me wierd looks every time I trot past them, and I'm about to leave that all behind to keep a closer eye on you and Scrapper because y'all are totes awesomer. The "unnamed ragtag group of ponies cliche sins" starts here. That aside, I'm in. what would you have me do? Lance had two sticky notes hovering before him. the regular yellow colored note was hovering on the left, yet to the right of it Lance was writing intently.

Shade smiled softly. "Thank you. But it's not time to act in this regard just yet. First we need to finish our other business in Manehatten." She positively snarled as she added, "I'm not giving up on Blackwing."

"unfinished buisiness cliche, check. Lance was clearly excited about what a head start his list of cliches is already getting. "you sure sound certain you'll find him here. caught a good rumor?

"More than a rumor, I know for certain. He's in Manehatten, he's searching for me, and he has no clue about me," She summarized her knowledge with a mix of determination and sorrow, that was explained by the next bit. "Apollo died delivering that information. I have to make it count."