Rarity had taken it upon herself to visit Scootaloo’s and her little sisters classmates in hope that the missing filly might have gone to one of them. Sweetie Belle had insisted to come with her. The pair had no luck thus far and were now standing in front of the entrance of a mansion belonging to Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara’s father.
“I am telling you this is the last place she would come to.”
“Now, now Sweetie Belle. It’s still a possibility and we must leave no stone unturned.” Rarity pressed the doorbell once and after a few minutes pressed it again.
“See? Nopony there. Let’s just go and ask Featherweight if he has seen Scootaloo.”
Rarity was just about to tell her sister to be more patient as the front door opened. Diamond Tiara looked puzzled at the fashionista at first, but then frowned as she saw Sweetie Belle.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. The question clearly being directed at the other filly.
Somewhat taken aback by the rather rude tone of Diamond Tiara, Rarity took a moment to clear her throat before politely asking if Scootaloo had been seen here.
“Her? What makes you think she would come here?”
“See, Rarity? I told you this would be the last place Scootaloo would come to.”
Rarity was just about to respond when Diamond Tiara cut her off before she could say the first word.
“The likes of her would not even be allowed on the property. I would have the staff throw her blank flank out before she could do any damage.”
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle took an angry step forwards. Rarity meanwhile tried to keep her own temper in check. If there ever was a definition of spoiled brat, she was sure it would have a picture of that filly next to it. Money does not buy manners, she thought to herself and refused to stoop to the level of the filly in front of her.
“May we speak to your parents?” she asked instead as politely as possible.
“I am already here.” A fourth voice said and Filthy Rich came walking up to his daughter standing in the doorway. “May I help you?”
“They just came here looking for their chicken.” Diamond Tiara explained with a smirk while looking at Sweetie Belle.
The young unicorn found herself speaking before thinking. “Better a chicken than a polished horseapple like you!”
A few seconds passed where neither one of the ponies could react to the outburst.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity slung a leg around her sister and pulled her away from the other filly and her now rather angry looking father. Then Diamond Tiara began wailing.
“D-did you hear what that mean pony c-called me? S-she is always d-doing that to meeee.”
She even managed to squeeze a few crocodile tears out before burying her head in her father’s chest. Rarity preventively held her sister’s mouth shut before any other outburst could take place.
“I am so sorry about that. She was simply reacting to some rather unrefined remarks your daughter made.” Rarity tried to somewhat defuse the situation, but felt she could not let the rudeness of Diamond Tiara go unmentioned.
“My daughter has the best manners and upbringing possible. I will not forget the rude behavior your sister has displayed. Good day to you both.” Filthy Rich slammed the door shut after saying his mind.
With a “Hrmph!” Rarity turned around and led her sister away from the house. Only after they had passed the front gate did she speak up again.
“You were right. I believe Scootaloo would never voluntarily step a single hoof in a house with THAT filly. And you must refrain from voicing your opinions like that without thinking first of the consequences, my Dear. Even as appropriate as they might have been.” She playfully nudged Sweetie Belle in the side causing her to giggle. The filly fell silent soon again and they made their way to the next schoolmate’s house in silence.
“I’m in trouble aren’t I?”
“Yes. I do believe that Filthy Rich will want to have words with our parents concerning your little outburst. Do not fret little sister, for I will have your back in this matter. Once mother and father know what’s going on and why you said that I believe they will simply laugh it off.” Her words made the filly smile thankfully at her, but it soon died down again.
After a few minutes Sweetie Belle stopped. Rarity looked at her puzzled.
“Is Scootaloo going to be ok?” The question had a pleading undertone.
“Do not worry. We will find her.” Rarity hoped to avoid any further questions about Scootaloo. She had not told her about the helmet that Fluttershy had fished out of the river and had chosen to simply say that she had merely run away.
“That’s not what I asked.” Sweetie Belle looked up to her sister. “Did something happen that you didn’t tell me about?”
“I… I am sure that she is fine.” Rarity said it with a smile, but her heart was not into it. Deep down she was fearing the worst. Sweetie Belle looked down at the ground again hiding her face from her big sister.
“It’s my fault. I should have followed her immediately when she left Sugarcube Corner and made sure she was ok.” A small sniffle punctuated the statement.
“What if something bad has happened to her? What if she is lying somewhere hurt and nopony can find her?” She tried to say more, but all that came out were sobs as she began crying. Instantly Rarity was beside her and pulled her into a hug.
“Calm down my Dear. We don’t know anything yet and maybe she will turn up later as if nothing had happened. Do not blame yourself.” She held her tight and patiently waited for her to calm down.
Rarity herself fought back the tears that stung her eyes. Every image that crept into her mind of young Scootaloo lying somewhere hurt or worse was swatted away like an annoying insect. Thinking like that would not help anypony, least of all the one they were looking for. The sobbing stopped eventually and Rarity waited a few more moments.
“Should we continue onwards or should I take you home?” she asked quietly.
Sweetie Belle stepped out of the hug and wiped her eyes free of any remaining tears.
“Let’s go on. She might need me.”
Rarity smiled at her younger sister and let her lead the way.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Scootaloo?” the cyan pegasus called, hoping in vain for an answer. She tried it a few more times each louder than the first, but nothing answered her back. Rainbow Dash gulped down the fear rising in her throat as she approached the crash site for a closer look.
After a quick scan of the area she let out the breath she was holding. Apart from the remnants of the scooter nothing else could be seen that would have been out of the ordinary in a forest. That meant Scootaloo had not crashed or at least not here. Rainbow Dash carefully inspected the mess before her.
The handlebar was bent in several ways and was firmly stuck in the ground. The wooden board was effectively no more than many splinters, the largest not much bigger than a pencil, and strewn all over the ground. After searching she could only locate two wheels. Maybe the other two had come off earlier or had rolled away out of sight.
Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as her inspection revealed no hair, nor feather or even blood from the missing filly. She took a few steps back and looked again at the whole picture. It took a while for her to realize what seemed off. There was no impact crater. If anything it seemed as if the scooter had hit something first and only then finally came to rest in this small clearing. She glanced about directing her gaze slowly all over the area.
She facehoofed when she noticed that the answer to her question was all around her and strewn in parts over the ground amongst the remnants. Branches! Trees! Scootaloo must have crashed in the trees first. With powerful strokes she launched herself above the treetops and slowly hovered along.
While keeping her eyes open for any damages to the treetops she flew towards the mountain. It did not take long to find the gaping hole amongst the branches of a large oak tree. With a quick flap of her wings she turned around and carefully landed on a branch inside the tree that would support her weight.
The branch itself had fresh damage to the bark, but was sturdy enough to withstand a falling scooter. She had found the first impact site and looked around, fearing to see the mangled remains of a filly that called her a hero impaled in the branches. To her initial relief nothing of the kind could be seen.
Rainbow Dash found more of the scooter a few branches down. The scooter must have snapped in two after hitting the big branch, after which the front part flew onwards into the clearing and this back part remained wedged in between other branches. The back wheels were still attached to it.
“Scootaloo?” she called again hoping for an answer. She rose up above the treetops again trying to think of what might have happened. She might have bounced. Violently shaking her head at that thought, she dismissed it for lack of feather and fur at the sites. The image stuck in her mind however causing the bile to rise up in her throat.
With a whimper she flew back towards the ledge on the mountainside. It’s all my fault. Had I maybe spent more time with her this wouldn’t have happened. Twilight is right. I caused this. Her vision was blurry by the time she reached the ledge and she angrily wiped the emerging tears away.
“Stop it! This isn’t helping!” she shouted to herself. With a deep breath she turned towards the forest below once again.
Now that she knew where the scooter had landed she could narrow her searching area down. Since Scootaloo was nowhere to be found there she must have done something to maybe extend her flight. Rainbow Dash toyed with the hopeful idea that she had managed to fly after all, but if she had done that then no doubt she would have flown back to Ponyville. Most likely coming straight to Rainbow Dash asking for lessons. The pit in her stomach grew larger at that thought. From what she had seen she knew that the filly could not yet fly on her own, let alone gain the ability over night. At most she could hover for a bit or maybe glide.
The pegasus mind clung to that thought. If the filly had managed to glide down she would have to extend her searching area by a large amount. Still it filled her with hope that she would find her alive. Her mind once again filled with images of the filly lying dead down below.
“No, no, NO!” Rainbow Dash shook her head again. Those thoughts she would not allow herself, not until she knew that they were true. Until then she would cling to the thought of Scootaloo gliding to safety down below, like a drowning pony to a straw. She took off again after deciding where to begin her search.
As she looked around before diving down she noticed a dark speck of clouds off in the far distance. Being a trained weatherpony Rainbow Dash knew that the small speck was in fact a large bank of stormclouds. The last thing she would need interfering with her search was a storm.
After observing it for a few minutes she was relieved to see that they were drifting further away from her. There were no towns or other settlements in the area the storm was heading so she wasted no more thoughts on it and began her search.