The caricature of a pony’s face leaned over the front of the desk, a wheeled chair squeaking away as its chin bumped a cup filled with bones, sending them rolling. “Well, hello there. Don’t often see a young one like yerself visiting the old Tar-tar-us, Miss…” He grabbed a notebook and flipped through it. “…Scoo-tah-loo,” he enunciated, the thick string of ichor dangling from his cheek quivering like a goober would from Applebloom’s nose when she got hayfever. He stuck out a hoof. “You can call me Reek.”

She warily shook it, making sure to wipe the slime onto the floor after. Steeling her resolve, she looked at the desk’s occupant dead in his single eye and said, “I want to buy a dream.”

What followed was something that didn’t so much sound like a laugh as it did the wet wheezing of a fish out of water. “Don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Reek retreated to the other side of the desk. “If I might say so, you look like manure, Miss Scootaloo.”

She found herself suddenly self-conscious about her coat being matted with sweat and her wind-frizzed mane. Half a day of buzzing along on her scooter to reach Tartarus had taken its toll.

The tortured squeal of a drawer opening echoed through the gloomy cavern. “Not that I’m one to speak, of course,” he said as a chunk of flesh sloughed off his face.

The sound of papers shuffling reached Scootaloo’s ears. “Just that, for one that still gots blood in the veins and air in the lungs, you look like you got on the wrong end of a chariot crash.” A throaty chuckle escaped through the holes in his neck as he closed the drawer and placed a thick wad of documents onto the desk.

“What are these for?” Scootaloo asked, staring at the stack like it could come alive and bite her at any given moment

“Standard pro-seed-durr. Needed to keep track of claims and the like, plus it covers what remains of our asses if things don’t go hunky-dorky.” He lowered himself into the ratty chair behind the desk. “We make opportunities, not miracles, after all. Folks upstairs handle that sort of mystical stuff. Now, just so you know, we’ve gots to balance the scales. Give a dream, get a dream. Simple enough stuff.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I know all about that, just give me it.”

The decaying stallion flipped through the pages until reaching one with a blank section. “Put your request here, sign your name and we’ll be done like a heretic at the stake.” He pushed the paper to her, along with a pen. “Oh, and a word to the wise; need before greed tends to leave you better off.”

She nodded, bit the pen and put it down on the paper before something pricked her in the mouth.

“Pay that no mind,” Reek said. “We use blood for ink down here. Adds to the atmosphere, according to the big wigs.”

Gritting her teeth, Scootaloo ignored the pinch wrote down the request before adding her name at the bottom.

Reek snatched the sheet from her the moment the pen dropped from her mouth. “Hmm, not a bad one at all. Rainbow Dash, eh?” He barked a laugh. “Yeah, she’s real popular down here. Always teasing the other gate keepers with those Dᴇᴀᴛʜ-defying stunts of hers. Actually, he rather enjoys watching her, something about the ‘Thrill of the hunt’.”

The paper went into a manila folder half-eaten by mold. “Well, that’s everything.” Reek cracked open a tin and threw some powder into Scootaloo’s face.” You have a good life. Don’t worry about me, we’ll meet again some day, heh.”

She hit the floor before he’d even finished talking.



Beep

Scootaloo cracked open an eye.

Beep

“Ugh…”

Beep

She felt something hug her, practically squeezing her sides. “Scootaloo, oh thank Celestia you’re awake!” a familiar voice said.

Beep

“R-Rainbow Dash? Where… where am I? What happened?” she croaked.

Beep

“You were on a chariot from Cloudsdale, coming back from your foster parent’s house.”

Beep

“A young dragon decided it wanted add the chariot to its horde and…”

Beep

Her voice cracked. “Don’t worry, Scootaloo. I’m here for you. I put in the adoption request, already got a new house near Fluttershy’s…”

Beep

“Wait, why did you get a new house?”

Beep

“Because you… you can’t…”

Beep

Scootaloo finally noticed why she could feel Rainbow’s legs on her side.