> Meanwhile... > by WatchMeShadow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > At The Ponyville Library > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville, a small town founded about sixty years ago by traveling farmers looking for a place to settle. Whether by providence or its convenient location, it's now a thriving community. Although, it still pales in comparison to much older places like Manehattan, the wandering city of Cloudsdale, Canterlot which is the capital of Equestria, and several others. Most Ponyville houses were made from blueprints bought from the architect Flawless Design. These houses had deceivingly hay looking rooftops with the classic upside down V shape. The wooden roofs actually had a unique moss grown on them that appears very similar to hay. It spreads incredibly slowly, unless somepony provided it flour. It's naturally resistant to the elements and prevents leaks from ever happening. The downside of this moss was that it takes some effort to remove and Celestia forbid a bag of flour was ever dumped on it. Outside of that, it grows so slowly that it only needs to be done once every two years. At any rate, most of the houses are two to three stories near town hall. Thanks to Flawless Design’s design they could have a total of three stories basement excluded. Their exterior displayed classic four-panel windows with pink frames and pink doors. They were painted light yellow and had brown frames which provided structural integrity while also adding a nice contrast in color. The streets of Ponyville are very spacious and usually filled during the morning setup and evening take-down of Ponyville’s marketplace. The library of Ponyville is one of the few unique buildings that follow the theme of a quaint little village. It was carved out of a huge oak tree with several homely windows and a welcoming red door. The inside has bookshelves along the walls, stairs following the curve of the tree, and circular counter with a wooden pony head sculpture as a centerpiece. There's a doorway right before the stairs that lead to the basement. At the moment, four ponies were present inside the library. A light purple alicorn mare with a purple mane and tail with a pink stripe, light purple eyes, and a starburst type cutie mark. An orange pegasus filly with small wings, slightly rough purple mane and tail, and purple eyes. A white unicorn filly with a puffy light purple and pink mane and tail with green eyes. The final pony was a yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and tail, a light red bow tied atop her mane, and orange eyes. “Alright girls I think you’ve had enough for today,” the alicorn said in a pleasant but commanding tone of voice. As the earth pony filly got a sunflower seed to mature half way by using a drop of potion she had recently made. While the unicorn filly struggled to levitate a pen and paper. Finally, The pegasus filly was currently looking at a bunch of gears, that came from a grandfather clock, with an annoyed frown. “Ugh, thank you Twilight I think I was gonna go insane if something didn’t happen,” said the pegasus filly with a tomboyish voice; while making a circular gesture to the side of her head with one of her forehooves at the appropriate time. “Don’t you mean crazy Scootaloo? Insane is when you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result,” said the unicorn filly in a somewhat high pitched squeak. “Why by that definition you already are insane Scootaloo. What with the way you fiddled with those two pieces right there for half our time here,” said the yellow earth pony filly with a slight country accent while pointing at said machine parts. Scootaloo glared at her with annoyance. “Applebloom! That’s not nice,” said the white unicorn filly. “But it’s true,” Applebloom defended. “Yeah, well whatever,” Scootaloo dismissed. “Ok girls, that’s enough. You did a good job today, Sweetie Belle I’m so proud you can now levitate two objects,” Sweetie Belle gave a proud smile, “Applebloom I think you may want to consider learning from Zecora. If you wish to learn more about potion making because I only know what you’re learning from Potions 101,” Applebloom blushed, “and Scootaloo please don’t give up. I know what you’re learning is hard, but if you continue you will be able to not only assemble things but fix things, and I promise I’ll help you a little more,” Twilight said and Scootaloo let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks Twilight,” they all replied and made their way for the door. Feeling better with the promise Twilight gave her, Scootaloo asked her best friends, “So you girls have any idea on what we’re gonna try and get our cutie marks in today?” while they left the library and closed the door. Twilight heard this as she went back to her thick book of equestrian laws. She does not know what her role as princess entails and it's giving her a nagging feeling that she just can’t ignore so instead of asking her mentor she decided to go through all the laws Equestria has made over the thousand years of Celestia’s rain, also she figured she ought to know the laws anyway. “Oh-oh-oh I do,” said Sweetie Belle while they wandered around aimlessly, passing similar houses, “You remember when Spike gave my sister that book that made her go crazy and turn the town into a mock Crystal Empire?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Yeah, what about it?” replied Scootaloo. Spike is Twilights assistant, he has a crush on Sweeties sister so when a chance to help her out came by, he took it. It ended up corrupting Sweeties sister for a little bit. “Spike ate that book, and I don’t think I want to know where it is now, also I don’t think we should mess with something that made Rarity more asserative on fashion then she already is.” “What?...” Sweetie fell behind as her friends kept walking along the street. She quickly ran back to her place by there side, “Ew no, and the word is assertive not whatever that was. What I mean is we could get our explorers cutie marks for finding secrets from the Castle of the Two Sisters, kind of like Daring Do,” Sweetie Belle said rather proud of her idea. They knew Daring Doo as a fictional character from a well-written book series. Rainbow Dash of all ponies introduced it to them. Rainbow is not known for liking to read books, so they didn’t take long to check it out. Scootaloo heard this and immediately stopped walking and imagined her sister and herself exploring the world, fighting bad guys, and going through dungeons filled with traps. Scootaloo believed Rainbow Dash to be her sister after an incident last summer where she almost died from a huge waterfall drop. Though Rainbow never did seem to treat her any different from how she had previously she was slightly more involved, which was more than Scootaloo could ask for. Applebloom finally spoke up, “Well, Ah for one like that idea.” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stopped and stared at Scootaloo as she fantasized about her future awesome life, but she quickly regained her cool and inhaled. Knowing what's coming next, Sweetie and Applebloom prepared for their own yell. They jumped up bumped their right hooves together, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER EXPLORERS YAY!” This is something the locales of Ponyville to some degree feared as usually they always turn something simple into something complicated and disastrous even if completely unintentionally. Ever since they started their club last year and a half ago or so; they’ve managed to utterly disorganize the library, poison their teacher and Appleblooms brother with a love ‘potion,’ reveal several ponies embarrassing secrets in a school newspaper, and cause general havoc. Sweetie made capes using her sister's materials to wear when they went out on crusades. They quickly decided against using them when on actual crusades after some incidents. They instead used their capes for ‘official crusader meetings.’ Their goal is to get their cutie marks. A mark that appears on a pony after discovering something they’re good at that makes them unique from anypony else. Sweetie stared straight ahead for half a second then blinked twice, “I need to tell my sister that we’re going there first.” “Wait just a second Sweetie, if you do that she will never let us go unless some pony comes with us,” replied Applebloom. “Yeah and if we’re gonna be explorers, we need to be able to make it on our own,” added Scootaloo. “Fine, but we should leave a note somewhere. So they know where we are. I don’t think Applejack would ever let you out of her sight again if we don’t show some responsibility.” replied Sweetie, referring to an incident where Applejack could not stand the fact that Applebloom will one day grow up and went into super over protective sister mode. “That’s a good point Sweetie,” agreed Scootaloo after having watched it. “Was she really that bad?” asked Applebloom. “Every. Five. Seconds,” Sweetie replied, trying to block those memories out of her head. “Okay, okay, ah get it. Though ah did learn a lot when ah went to deliver those pies, and that’s to be prepared. So Ah’m gonna go get a rope, compass, map, and canteens. Sweetie you can go get us snacks. Scootaloo ah want you to leave a note on the clubhouse door that says we’re going to the castle of the two sisters and we will be back before dark. We will meet each other at the edge the Everfree in twenty minutes,” said Applebloom confidently. Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom like she just saved the world. “How did you come up with that so fast Applebloom that was incredible,” said Sweetie. Applebloom smiled shyly, “It just came to me, it seemed like the logical thing to do.” “Okay that’s enough talk, let's do this already,” said Scootaloo excitedly. With a dash, the three fillies ran their separate ways to accomplish the tasks they had given themselves. Twenty minutes later, at the edge of the Everfree forest near a cottage that had many animals of various species around it. Applebloom, now carrying a saddle bag with three canteens latched to the saddle bag a map and compass in the right side pocket with a rope in the left side pocket, darted across a grass field from behind a tree to the forest and dived into one of the many bushes near the edge. Quickly recovering she looked around but could not find what she was looking for until she heard somepony whisper, “Hey Applebloom over here, were you spotted at all?” Finding the orange pegasus who spoke, she looked behind her at the field she just crossed then intensely at the cottage for a few seconds and responded, “No ah think we’re in the clear is Sweetie here?” “I’m here,” responded Sweetie. “Let's get going already,” said Scootaloo impatiently. Before they left the cover that the bushes provided, Applebloom and Sweetie handed out canteens and snacks respectively. Sweetie brought them carrots, celery, and to the relief of Scootaloo and Applebloom some candy bars. They sneaked their way to the entrance of the Everfree which left them exposed to the cottage once they made it. They broke into a gallop until they couldn't see the cottage anymore, which didn't take long. Armed with a map, compass, and stories their sisters had told them about their trials to the Castle of the Two Sisters they had a good idea on how to get there. Thanks to Spike, they also had a good idea of how long it should take to get there. Spike got there in about two hours and since it was currently around 9:30 A.M., that gave them about five hours to explore the castle and leave before it starts to get dark. They all agreed to this, even though Applebloom and Scootaloo won’t admit it, Sweetie knows it’s because of the cockatrice incident, in which they all the stayed the night at Fluttershy’s or in other words the cottage they just ran from. They chased after a chicken that'd ran off during the night, encountered a cockatrice and got a first look at how dangerous they can be. They saw the chicken they went to recover turn into stone before the cockatrice went after them. Fluttershy ended up saving them. At any rate, they knew not to be in there during the night. “Ah almost want to go show Zecora how much Ah’ve improved on my alchemy,” Applebloom said just thinking out loud. Applebloom was one of the first ponies to actually to try and get to know Zecora a zebra who ponies once believed her akin to a witch. That changed because of Applebloom in part. Zecora peeked Appleblooms interest in alchemy and helped cure her of the cutie pox when she tried to experiment with what she learned. “It can wait until tomorrow. When you will be able to show her your brand new cutie mark,” said Scootaloo while they continued down the trail. Appleblooms biggest problems in the world as far as she saw it was her lack of a cutie mark and something else she decided was a kind of trade that she’d have to live with, “Ah reckon that sounds a might better,” she responded. “And now you sound like your sister,” Scootaloo remarked. Applebloom laughed at that, “You’re right, ah guess ah did sound like her just then.” “Shhhhh,” Sweetie hissed. “I don’t want to get eaten by a monster because you two needed to talk,” Sweetie whispered loudly. Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other came to a silent agreement then back at Sweetie and nodded. Sweetie is easily the kindest of their group. The only ponies to truly receive any kind of ire from her is her family. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who bully them relentlessly wouldn’t get any kind of ill will from Sweetie. Once, a year ago she tried to disown her sister and replace her with Appleblooms sister. Scootaloo didn’t stay along for that, but it is where she got the idea that maybe she could make Rainbow Dash her sister. Recently, Sweetie tried to sabotage her sister's business out of jealousy and they had to go to Canterlot to fix it. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they came across a ledge that they recognized from their sister's stories and let out a sigh of relief now knowing they were on the right trail. They walked down the ledge with the rope ready for a moments notice. It wasn't needed, fortunately. They checked their compass and map then kept going east. They were walking silently in the hot and humid forest for about eighty minutes as it neared noon. They continued, wary of any monsters they might come across. Until they finally came across their second recognizable landmark, not from the map but their sister's stories. The trees suddenly looked like they had creepy faces. This freaked out Scootaloo quite a bit as she remembered her nightmares from last summer that helped lead her to that before mentioned waterfall. Putting on her best-winning smile she croaked “Hahaha, looks like we just need to make it past these, not at all scary looking trees.” “You’re right they’re just trees, though ah admit they do creep me out let’s just get this over with,” Applebloom responded. Applebloom began walking and Sweetie followed soon after; while, Scootaloo remained and tried to keep her composure. After some walking Sweetie realized Scootaloo wasn’t with them. She looked back to see Scootaloo looking down and shaking slightly, or at least that’s what she thought she saw. She was too far away to be sure. Scootaloo looked up and saw Sweetie watching her intently; while Applebloom walked up from behind Sweetie to investigate. Scootaloo quickly galloped to them and let out a nervous laugh, “Sorry about that girls. I thought I heard something, but I was wrong. It’s safe.” Just as Scootaloo got in front of them the ground below them disappeared. They had no clue what they felt for a moment until they saw the edge of a circular hole that just appeared. They naturally looked down, but all they saw below them was darkness. “Ah~!” They screamed; until they landed on something fairly soft with an “Oof.” Whatever it was quickly caved in and threw them across a harder surface, earning them couple minor bruises along the way. Before they could even recover from their fall and find out what happened, they all suddenly felt like they were in the bottom of a deep lake with pressure compressing every part of their body but with a lack of any moisture. They were surprised to find out that they actually could breathe with how oppressive it felt. Slowly Scootaloo opened her eyes after she calmed herself by breathing. She looked around. The first thing she saw was thick brown roots and lush green leaves going upwards. Her eyes followed them up and saw something confusing to her. It was a huge gray sword with a golden hilt and crossguard that curved upwards, and a black coin shaped pommel with a swirl like a whirlpool. The pommel held a big glowing light blue gem embedded in its center. It was held by the vines but looked like it could easily fall off given the right push. It was easily out of her reach. She shook her head in a failed attempt to get rid of the awful pressure, “is everypony okay?” she asked while looking for her friends. “I’m fine. I think,” replied Sweetie bringing a hoof to her head. “Ugh, Ah’ll be fine once this horrible feelin’ goes away,” Applebloom complained. No longer worried about her friends Scootaloo slowly got up and took a better look at the area they now occupied. First, she looked at where they landed and saw skid marks from crushed leave stems leading up to what appeared to be a giant lily pad. It was slowly but noticeable recovering from the trauma that the three fillies had dealt to it. She watched this with interest for a little while. There were glowing blue flowers surrounding the lilypad in a large circle that lit up the whole area. Two weird but totally cool looking glowing translucent bulb plants. One was pink and the other was green. The circular wall, ceiling, and floor seemed to be covered in leafy vines. After a while of mesmerized staring at everything around them and trying to ignore the constant pressure, Sweetie finally asked, “Where are we?” “Ah don’t know but ah bet that there book will give us a clue,” Applebloom responded pointing at a plain blue book far below and to the side of the sword. It rested on a huge leaf. Scootaloo now standing up, looked to where Applebloom pointed and was surprised to see the book right in front of her face ‘How did I miss that,’ she thought as she went to open it. The first page had several sketches of a lily pad and a hoof hitting a leaf that sprouted above the lily pad, then several sketches of the lily pad rising, and some weird symbols below each picture. The next page was nothing but those same weird symbols that she could not hope to understand. “Eh, I can’t read this it’s not Equestrian,” she said as Applebloom and Sweetie crowded around to get a look at it. “Uh, ah think it’s showing us how to get out of here, ugh, through that lily pad in the book. It must be one of those we just landed on,” Applebloom weakly replied as she fought the sickening pressure. “Well let’s go give it a try. This place makes me feel like I used all my magic and I have a headache,” Sweetie said rubbing her head. “Ah agree, let’s get out of here. Ah can’t take this feeling much longer,” Applebloom said as she picked up the journal and walked to the lily pad as Sweetie followed close behind. Scootaloo began to make her way over to them until she remembered the sword she first saw when they got there. “Wait! We have to bring that sword with us, I mean look at it, that’s exactly what can get us our explorer's cutie mark!” Applebloom was reluctant but had to admit that sword was pretty awesome, “Okay, but if we can’t carry it or you can’t safely get it off those vines then we’re leaving it here. Ah really can’t stand this feeling much longer,” Applebloom said seriously. “Just watch me,” Scootaloo said as she backed away from the sword, took aim and threw her canteen. It sailed across the room and hit the glowing gem in the pommel. The canteen vaporized and turned into dust that promptly fell to the ground in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They stared at this with huge fearful eyes as the gem began to glow and get brighter. Three balls of magic shot out of the gem then hovered in place, and quickly expanded in size. As they got bigger a wild wind manifested in the room that threatened to throw the fillies around so they latched onto each other for dear life. Any attention to the strange pressure that plagued them since they entered was long forgotten and they failed to notice as it disappeared. The wind stopped and everything calmed down just as quickly as it picked up. They slowly separated from each other and fearfully stared at the now huge three orbs of magic. The orbs slowly began to spiral with magic headed towards them, kind of like water going down a drain or a tornado. They backed up. The ends of the orbs grew more intense and sharp as they almost lazily elongated towards them. They backed up even more, unknowingly separating from each other in their fear. The ends of each orb seemed to stalk their movements individually like they had their own targets. Without warning the tail end of the magical vortexes shot at them. Everything went black. End Chapter 1 > In The Distant Past (Optional) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a tall dense forest with creepy trees there lay an opening. It was a little after noon and the sun was bearing down on the trees making the forest unpleasantly warm and humid. Not many creatures were out and about at this time of day preferring to rest in cooler places, making it eerily quiet. With a pop and a flash of light three ponies appear in the gap. One was a male Pegasus in black armor and helmet trimmed with gold he had a grey coat, a sunny yellow mane and tail and light blue eyes that looked ready to strike at any moment kind of like lightning. He was holding a sword's hilt in his mouth when he said, "Hat ose wose." (“That was close”). Another was a male earth pony with a ridiculous helmet for the current situation: A flat straw weave hat with a large bowl of chocolate pudding on top. He had a shiny brown coat, a dark brown mane, and brown eyes.He looked at the sword carrying Pegasus and said, "Well at least I could have survived that, though not what would have came after." No sooner after he said that, a distant explosion shook the earth beneath their hooves. The Pegasus gave his attention to the earth pony and opened his mouth as if to respond but the third pony a female unicorn with a purple coat, white mane and tail, dark green eyes, and wearing a tattered fancy white and purple cloak interrupted, "We need to think of a way to beat her, and now. I don't have it in me to teleport another whole village to safety." "But Platinum you didn't teleport an entire village to safety you only teleported the villagers," responded the Earth pony. "oi ink oi oww ow oo opp er, ut ou ont ik it," the Pegasus said before Platinum could respond. Platinum gave out an exaggerated sigh and said, “For the love of everything please talk without your sword in your mouth Hurricane." Hurricane looked at Platinum blankly then sheathed his sword across his back. "Sorry, I do think I know how to stop her, but you're not gonna like it. Also I could have survived that if I had time to react Puddinghead," Hurricane said with a neutral tone. "Anyways what's your idea another surprise attack but with a bigger attack?" Puddinghead said somewhat serious. “Yes to both of those, but again you’re not going to like this plan…” Hurricane responded. … … … … “WHAT!?” Platinum and Puddinghead yelled at the same time. “You have to be out of your mind! If we do that how can we possibly survive in this new land? Then again, if we don’t do something she will completely wipe us out,” Puddinghead continued while appearing to be in thought. Platinum huffed, “Well Hurricane, you're right. I do not 'like' this plan of yours, but I see no other option. It's this or face extinction, though I can't help but feel we have somehow failed in resorting to this.” “Alright Platinum you've convinced me, I also can’t think of any other way to kill her. We just have to be extra careful in how we go about doing it,” Puddinghead said while rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. Platinum brought up a major flaw that all present shuddered at. The possibility of another famine because of an irregular sun cycle was not something they wanted to live through again. Hurricane and Platinum then began to talk more in detail about the plan. While Hurricane and Platinum were talking Puddinghead began to think ahead of time and how they were going to have an incredible powerful weapon that could easily fall into the wrong hooves. "Here is a good spot yes here is good," said Puddinghead while looking around him. "What do you mean?" asked Platinum. “After this is done we will need to hide the weapon. Some pony evil with evil intentions could take it and then they would do their evil deeds with nopony to stop them. fifteen feet directly under us is a good spot to hide it after we’ve killed her. We also must make sure nopony knows we ever did this,” Puddinghead answered. "Yes... and our subjects would probably execute us if they learned we had to resort to this to beat her." Said Platinum in a conspiratorial manner. "Ok Hurricane make us a hole and decent sized cave about fifteen feet below the surface,” Said Puddinghead. Hurricane looked at Puddinghead with a blank face and then shot up into the air but still well below the tree line and dived headfirst into the ground. The ground exploded outward and dirt flew all over the area where Hurricane went through the ground. Puddinghead and Platinum were already backing out of the radius of the dirt debris when Hurricane was giving them the blank look having seen him tunnel through the ground enough times. After about sixteen seconds Hurricane came out of the hole he just made landed next to them "Okay it's done." Puddinghead jumped in the hole. Just before he reached the bottom he threw three big green seeds below him, small dark blue seeds around them in a circle, and then he threw three golden seeds in the middle of them. Puddinghead landed on all four hooves but quickly got on his hind legs and pounded his front hooves on the ground. Vines exploded from the green seeds, rushing past the blue seeds which then sprouted into glowing flowers that lit up the area. The vines consumed all of the dirt around the cave and replaced it with lush green leaves and bark. Paying little mind to this Puddinghead focused on the three golden seeds he threw down for they were his most important task at the moment. While Platinum watched Puddinghead jump in, she began to think of a weapon they could use to bestow their collective races powers on. She immediately thought of the sword on Hurricane’s back. ‘A large broadsword that easily weighs forty pounds. However; do to pegasi magic it weighs next to nothing to most pegasi.’ Platinum shook her head ‘What was it I was thinking about? Oh yeah We could use the gem on the hilt of his sword it is a very very nice gem after all.’ She cleared her throat and asked “Commander Hurricane would it be ok if we use the gem on the hilt of your weapon to bestow the power to?” Hurricane looked back at his sword blankly for a second then smiled with a child like face that was kind of creepy for a pretty much always serious pony. “You mean I get to say I owned the worlds strongest weapon ever created?” he asked hopefully. “No” Platinum replied flatly as Hurricane frowned and went back to his neutral stare. “If you do that ponies will know it exists and that’s exactly what we don’t want them to find out, think of the scandal and the outrage, not to mention the possibility nefarious pony’s getting their hooves on it... it’d be a nightmare.” Platinum said in a I’m annoyed lecture way. “Got it.” replied Hurricane, “how will we convince our subjects we lost the life force and magic they bestowed upon us?” Hurricane asked while looking at Platinum. Hurricane asked while looking at Platinum. “Bah if we can’t think of anything better then she hexed us which then hexed every pony as a result of us being in possession of every ponies power right before we killed her, then we will use that excuse, anyways lets go see what Puddinghead has done down there.” She said looking at Hurricane expectantly. Hurricane stared back. “If you want me to teleport us out of that hole you will fly me down there I need to conserve as much energy as I can if you want me to be a good distraction during our surprise attack...” Platinum said finally. “You know...” Hurricane said before being interrupted by Platinum. “Yes I know, and no I’m not going to stop being a princess to become a hardened military dog, I may be excellent in battle strategy’s but it is a brutish profession that I only know of intimately because of necessity not because I like it.” Platinum responded quickly. “Now lets get down there time is wasting.” Puddinghead heard them on their way down but didn’t pay attention he was focused on his task with the golden seeds. It took a dozen earth ponies to make one of them after a year of much dedication to a plant that seems to want to die in any environment after a month. Not many earth ponies would volunteer their time into making them even if they got paid a nice sum for the work if it made it the whole year. Somepony could mess up and on the last month and the others will have wasted their time. At any rate Puddinghead was using these last three he had to make a magic suppressing aura plant which will stop most magic from leaking out or being spotted by outside searching spells. A undetectable plant that will detect anything around the cave and send a signal provided certain requirements are met to the final seed. It’s undetectable because it’ll flawlessly mimic the ambient immediately around it and beyond. The final seed will be a near indestructible trap door disguised as plain ground that will only open and close if it gets a signal from the previous seed along with a soft lily pad elevator to the top and bottom that will go up on request and down as soon as nothing is on it. Now he just needed to think of who he should allow in here. “Woah you’re pulling out all the stops on this, using those of all things?” Platinum said as she got off Hurricanes back while looking at the three golden seeds. “Ok so I have a magic suppressor aura plant, an undetectable detection plant, and a near indestructible trap door plant with a lily pad elevator, I currently have it enchanted to allow only the three of us in once and that’s after we kill her. So I need to know who should we allow in here once the weapon leaks enough of its power?” Puddinghead asked quickly. Hurricane looked at Platinum and said “Sounds like you won’t need to teleport us out.” Ignoring Hurricane Platinum looked at Puddinghead and tried not to laugh as she said, “well can you put a time on it? Because I think it’s going to take at least a thousand and a half years of magic decay before it can no longer be claimed as the worlds strongest weapon,” as she briefed a smirk at Hurricane. Hurricane remained neutral. As Puddinghead responded “Actually yes I can do that though that is a long time I’ll have to use power from the weapon to power my enchanted plants, but that still leaves us with who we can allow in here once those years are up.” “We should only allow three colts, filly’s or a combination thereof into here because if you think about it they’re less likely to be evil.” Hurricane said objectively. “Hmm, yes and if there’s a filly or colt of each tribe all the more likely they won’t have evil intentions.” Puddinghead said agreeing with Hurricane. “Ok I’m going to do that. One more time; when she’s dead, a thousand and a half years of no entry, and three fillies or colts or a combination thereof of all three races and~ done.” Puddinghead said as he brought up his front hooves and down again. When he did a small pink translucent bulb plant came out of the followed by a green translucent bulb plant and then a giant lily pad appeared before them and unseen by them the trap door was slowly being made at the entrance of the cave. “Ok we have an ambush to plan” Puddinghead said as they got on the giant lily pad. End Chapter 2 > On a Cloud Somewhere Above Ponyville part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- Down below ponies were going every which way to accomplish one thing or another. The weather had been rather nice lately for them and nothing unusual happened either. Both of these facts posed a problem for a certain cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, and a white puffy cloud shooting a rainbow themed lighting bolt for a cutie mark. Rainbow Dash had a couple days off of work. The weather from the Everfree had been rather calm. Ponyville was scheduled for partially cloudy tomorrow, but that left her with no work today. She already spent her time practising some new flying tricks for the wonderbolts, pranking ponies with her friend Pinkie, and reading the latest edition of the Daring Do series. She had nothing to do, sure she could always go practise some more flying tricks but she had work tomorrow and she didn’t want to pull anything. It happened before and it was an annoyance she didn’t want to deal with if she didn’t have to. “Soo~ bored” she exclaimed on her comfy cloud. Her mind raced as she thought about something to do. A brilliant idea came to her. She got up and eagerly flew to the town's library. She got there fast enough and knocked on the red door twice, “I’m coming. Give me a second,” came the muffled voice of Spike. The door opened to reveal a purple bipedal baby dragon half her size with green spikes, and green reptile eyes. “Hey Rainbow Dash, how's it going?” asked Spike. “Hey Spike, I’m here to teach Twilight how to be half as awesome as me,” she responded posing confidently. It wasn't long ago Twilight sprouted wings and became an alicorn princess. Being the best flyer in Equastria and Twilight's friend, she naturally made it her goal to show the newly minted alicorn the ropes. That was put on the way side after the vine infestation two months ago. Then she found out Daring Doo was real. Needless to say, it took her some time to get out of that stupor and by then she forgot all about Twilight's flying lessons, until now that is. She was looking forward to having a friend who she can fly around with and maybe even race. The time Twilight got fifth in the Running of the Leaves event, came to mind. She'd flown around with Twilight a couple times, but it was clear she needed more practice. Her other pegasus friend Fluttershy was too timid for races or competition in general. Rainbow really valued her friendships with the ponies who ended up becoming the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They found the Elements two years ago in the Castle of the Two Sisters in a quest to stop eternal night from Nightmare Moon. It was one of the first times in her life she truly felt like she belonged somewhere. Recently, they had to give the Elements up to the Tree of Harmony. After everything they’ve been through within the span of about two years it would be silly for them to stop hanging out with each other. Sure, she’s had several friends over her lifetime and some good times with them, but they just seemed to fade into history. Her friend Gilda was the closest she got to a true friend before she met them, but that ended in disaster. She knows they actually care about her and it’s a nice feeling to have, even though she’d never actually admit it. It also doesn’t hurt that they’ve been on a couple awesome adventures, and helped save Equestria a couple times. Spike gave a toothy smile, “I’m glad to hear that, Twilight has been studying like crazy the last couple days,” as he got out of Rainbows way and gestured for her to come in. She saw Twilight at a pedestal on the other side of the room reading something. 'Such an egghead,’ she thought walking up to her. She found it funny that Twilight became a princess, but behaved like it didn’t even happen. She lightly banged on the book with her forehoof, “Ha," Rainbow exclaimed, causing Twilight jump a little, "what’re you reading that’s so interesting that you didn’t notice me come in?” “Rainbow Dash? When did you get here? Nevermind, I'm reading the laws of Equestria, did you know there’s a law in Canterlot that says ponies can’t throw away watermelons in the parks? It doesn’t say why though. Why are you here?” Twilight asked looking anywhere but at her. She held back her laughter at her friends little jump scare, “You're such an egghead Twilight. I’m here to get you out of here and get some flight practice in. I mean you're a princess now, you need to be able to fly better than most ponies, and Spike thinks you need to get out of the house? Library? You need to get out.” “Wha- Why do I need to be able to fly better than most ponies? Just because I’m a princess, it's not like I will be doing more than sitting on a throne signing papers, hearing ponies cases in court, and being a prop for events!” Twilight said in a fast but clearly irritated. “Calm down Twilight," Rainbow requested backing up, "jeez think about everything that's happened with Princess Cadence. You remember how she needed to fly to get the Crystal Heart and save Spike and the Crystal Empire?" After a moment of what looked like contemplation, Twilight perked up, “Oh yeah, and that time in the crystal mines below Canterlot when she needed to fly to the other side of a seemingly bottomless pit before we fell in.” Rainbow was a little shocked she never heard about this before, then again there was a lot going on at the time. “Okay, you're right. I do like to be prepared for anything and flight will assuredly help me out,” Twilight said while putting a book marker in the huge book and closing it. Rainbow made a mental note to ask her about the caverns below Canterlot later, but for now she wanted Twilight to be at least half as awesome a flyer she is, “Alright let's do this!” “Spike I am gonna be practicing flying, I’ll see you when I’m done!” Twilight yelled before they went out the door. While they practiced Twilight managed to wipe out six times. This is because Rainbow Dash decided to have Twilight practice landing, before anything that would actually hurt her if she didn’t know how to do so. Twilight was getting better pretty fast, and Rainbow had to up the difficulty, and it was at this point she began to wipe out. Rainbow noticed Twilight getting pretty tired after about an hour so she suggested they take a breather on a cloud. ------------------- Applejack ------------------- Next to a nice looking wooden display cart was an orange mare with a blonde mane and tail, green eyes, dawned a cowboy hat, and white apron with a pocket. “Ya’ll come back now ya hear!” she yelled with a heavy country accent as her last customer of the day left. She took a look around and saw other ponies from the market place closing down for the day. ‘Just in time,’ she thought as she gathered her things and stacked them on the cart before saddling herself to it. She walked to Ponyvilles library. ‘Now all Ah need ta do is find Applebloom and the rest of ma day will be free,’ she thought while walking. She passed several houses and took one turn, an easy enough route. She approached the library while deep in thought, looking down to watch her step. “Hey Applejack! How come you got your display cart with you?” asked somepony she instantly recognized as Twilight. She looked around but couldn't find Twilight. She was really confused by this, but then she heard the snickering of another pony she recognized as Rainbow Dash. She looked up and saw them flying above her to the side. “Bwahahahahaha-" Rainbow laughed as she held her chest with her fore hooves while her wings flapped unaffected, "y-you should have seen the look on your face it was priceless!” exclaimed Rainbow in a tomboyish voice as she slowly landed. “Gosh darn it, Ah’m still not use to ya being an alicorn, Twilight. The fact that ya sprouted wings and can now fly completely slipped mah mind.” Applejack said apologetically, as Twilight landed surprisingly well next to Rainbow Dash. “That’s okay Applejack, if anything I prefer it that way. By the way, Applebloom has been doing very well with her alchemy studies. I think she might have to go to Zecora, if she wants to learn more.” Twilight said with a smile. “That’s nice to hear but speaking about Applebloom ya happen ta know where she is? Ah need ta ask her something,” Applejack replied. Rainbow looked a little disappointed at the quick subject change. She imagined Rainbow wanted to hear how Scootaloo was doing. “I don’t know where she is right now, but I do know she was going to go crusading when she left. What do you need to ask her?” Twilight asked. Rainbow's smirked at her in mirth. They all knew what that meant. Applejack decided to give Rainbow a show, “oh great! She could be anywhere by now!" She sighed, she never was good at acting, "Anyways, Ah’m gonna ask her if she wants ta go on vacation with me next month to Manehattan for a week." Applebloom and her friends had caused quite a bit of havoc since they formed their club. They were all over the place in their quest to get their cutie marks and now she had to find them. She glanced at Rainbow and found her holding back laughs, maybe she wasn't too bad an actor after all. Twilight on the other hoof looked deep in thought. “Oh, could I come with you? That sounds like a lot of fun... I bet Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy would love to come along as well. I bet Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo would want to come too.” Twilight asked. “Well, ah was planning it on being just me and Applebloom, but if you got the time for a week vacation being a princess and all, of course ya can come.” Applejack said sourly. She didn't like that a whole lot, she wanted it to be just her and Applebloom. Applebloom was growing up and the thought that her sister may one day change scared her. She figured Twilight or anypony else for that matter would ruin their quality time together. There also was something she wanted to tell her sister, but always lacked the courage to do so. As she thought about it, the camping trip last summer came to mind. It went by smoothly and she had plenty of time with her little sister. Coming to a conclusion, she noticed Twilight was no longer smiling. “Sorry Twilight, Ah know you don’t have any royal duties or anything. Ah was really just looking forward to it being just me and Applebloom," Twilight looked crestfallen at that, "but Ah gave it some thought and Ah actually wouldn’t mind if ya gals tagged along.” “Awesome, I’m so going. I can’t wait to see the Mare of Liberty.” Rainbow Dash jumped in the conversion while Twilight smiled. Applejack was beginning to fancy the idea of having them tag along. The last time she went to Manehattan with her friends, it was only for two days. All they did was help Rarity holed up in a mediocre hotel room and watch a play before they headed home. They had a lot more planned but Rarity really took up their time. A week with her sister although nice would get boring even with all the things to do in Manehattan. “Hey Rainbow Dash can ya go ta Rarity's and ask her if she wants ta come on the vacation also if ya see Applebloom tell her Ah want her ta go home please?” Applejack asked nicely. She hoped to run into her sister sooner than later. “Hey sure thing Applejack. I was done teaching the rookie here anyways,” Rainbow said while patting Twilight on the back, “I’ll even go ask Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, laters” she waved and took off towards Rarity’s. Applejack brought her attention back to Twilight. “It’s okay Applejack. I know you didn't mean anything by it. Anyways, I need to get back to studying Equestria’s laws because I think I should know them better.” Twilight said. “Alright Twilight, Ah’ll see ya later then.” Applejack replied before they went their separate ways. It was about a quarter an hour walk home for Applejack. Her first stop was a huge red barn to drop off her display cart. She then went home which looks like a barn but a little smaller and slightly more like a house. It has windows and a door on what would normally be the side of a barn. She entered in the front door right into the living room. It had a rocking chair occupied by an old green mare with a white mane and tail, orange eyes. The elderly mare wore a large orange handkerchief with apple spots and a white half circle outer lining. “Didja ask Applebloom if she wanted to go on your little trip?” Asked the green mare while rocking back and forth on her chair. Her voice was old and high pitched. “Ah haven’t seen neither mane nor coat of her since she took off like Winona after a stick. Have ya seen her since she left Granny?” Applejack asked back. “Can’t say I've seen the little whippersnapper since she left either,” Granny Smith replied. “Well Ah’m gonna go see if she’s at the clubhouse. Ah know she went crusading today thanks to Twilight,” she said as she went outside. “Okay,” Granny Smith yelled as the door was closed. The clubhouse was a pretty big tree house surrounded by apple trees. It's about a five minute walk from her house. The clubhouse itself looks like a mini house atop a tree painted in a peach color with a platform and railings along the outside to prevent anypony from falling down. It also has two retractable studded ramps as the way to get to it. As Applejack went up the ramps, she saw a white piece of paper with writing on it taped to the door’s handle. Once she got to the door she took the paper and read it: Hey were going to the castle of the two sisters to get our explorers cutie marks we will be back befor dark Scootaloo P.S. this was Sweetie’s idea She reread the note, making sure she didn't misread it, 'Gosh darn it what in tarnation are those fillies thinking. Don’t they know the Everfree is dangerous.' Alarmed she quickly ran to the one pony she knows could help the most. ------------------- Twilight ------------------- After Rainbow Dash went to ask Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie if they were gonna come on vacation and Applejack left to put away her display cart Twilight went back in the library to continue reading her book titled ‘Equestrian Laws ... Most of Them.' After reading for about half an hour the library door slammed open followed by Applejack yelling, “Twilight!” Alert, She turned around to Applejack panting and holding out a piece of paper to her. She took the paper with a levitation spell and read it. It was in Scootaloo’s writing style and she had to reread it before she realized what it said. They went into the Everfree Forest by themselves, it made her worry about them. Twilight kept looking at the note as Rainbow Dash seemingly came out of nowhere and asked what was going on. She looked up when Applejack responded, “Rainbow we ain’t got time ta talk. We got ta get ta the Castle of the Two Sisters now!” Twilight followed Applejack as they began to run towards the Everfree. “What? Why? What’s going on?” Rainbow asked as they ran by houses and Rainbow flew. “Apparently the crusaders decided to get their explorers cutie marks by going to the Castle of the Two Sisters.” Twilight answered, thinking of effective ways to resolve the issue. First they would have to stop at Fluttershy’s and see if she has seen them leave or enter the Everfree. Then they would have to stop and see if Zecora has seen them and to keep an eye out for them. As they ran Twilight told them her plan and they agreed with this plan of action. After making it through the forest and searching the castle for an hour they met near the entrance. “Well where in Equestria could they be! They’re supposed to be here!” Applejack said on the verge of tears. “Hey we don’t know that, they could have been in the Ponyville movie theater for all we know. I’ve seen no sign that anypony has been here since Spike and Owlowiscious, I mean we didn’t look everywhere in Ponyville we just ran straight here. Even Fluttershy and Zecora hasn’t seen them,” Twilight said trying to comfort her. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll keep looking in the forest around the castle for any signs of them throughout the night while you go back to Ponyville and see if they’re there,” Twilight said partly because she didn’t want to see Applejack in such distress but their was another reason and it caught her by surprise. Twilight had been teaching the crusaders for about two months now and she just now realised that she basically has the same type of relationship with them as Princess Celestia did/does with her. There are some major differences but the basic concept was the same. She was so concerned with what her role as a Princess is and soo irritated over some ponies special treatment of her that this fact had completely slipped her mind. Before she could think more on this new discovery Rainbow Dash said “Sounds like a plan to me, hey Twilight if we do find them back in Ponyville I’ll come get you, if not I hope you find them.” “Okay, well there’s no time like the present to get started I’ll see you later.” Twilight said and began to walk in the forest to the left of the castle. Rainbow Dash and Applejack began make their way back to Ponyville. ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- Rainbow and Applejack went to see if maybe the fillies were somewhere in Ponyville. They checked on Zecora and Fluttershy first. Neither had seen them. They split up to cover more ground. They met back at the Library after asking around; unfortunately, nopony has seen them. “What happened ta them, where are they? She is so grounded when ah see her!” Applejack said in extreme distress. Rainbow didn’t understand why Applejack was so worried. They’ve proven themselves to be capable and resourceful several times in the past. “I don’t know but they will be fine, I mean they’ve been in the Everfree plenty of times to visit Zecora or at least Applebloom has, and also that time she survived that encounter with that tiger, goat, snake monster you talked about.” Rainbow said trying to comfort Applejack. Applejack took a calming breath, “Yer right ah need to stop panicking, ah’m gonna go tell Spike that Twilight won’t be back ‘til tomorrow, then Rarity’s parents what's going on, then Big Mac and Granny Smith, ya think ya could tell Rarity and Scootaloo’s parents what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash quickly responded, “Sure thing” and took off but then was unable to recall where her number one fan lived so she came right back, “umm," she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "I don’t know where Scootaloo lives... Mind telling me where that is?” Applejack looked like she was about to answer then closed her mouth as if deep in thought for a while. “Ah don’t rightly know where she lives,” Applejack said intrigued then flatly continued, “Ya should know where she lives though being her big sister and all.” “What are you...” Rainbow started to say, until a night last year she could never forget ran through her head. During the night in the Whitetail woods which consist of mostly long slender trees. They were near the top of a waterfall that Scootaloo almost died from and she just got done silently crying about to respond to Rainbows question. “I’m so so sorry Rainbow Dash I just wanted you to hangout with me and see how cool I was so you’d take me under your wing teach me everything you know and become like my big sister.” She couldn’t remember her response exactly but she knows she didn’t say she would become her big sister. So why did Applejack think that. “Ah mean Applebloom has mentioned it a couple times how Scootaloo likes ta talk about her awesome big sister,” Applejack continued without acknowledging Rainbows first response. Rainbow felt a little guilty for the misunderstanding they had back then. However, She was a cool filly and her number one fan so this made Rainbow feel appreciated? She wasn’t quite sure what she felt about somepony wanting her to be their big sister. She tried to think about any time Scootaloo called her sister but couldn’t recall any. It was kind of a shock that Applejack of all ponies would think Scootaloo was her sister. Applejack was big on family and she would have thought Applejack would have higher standards for somepony to be family like being related via blood or at least the possibility of it in the case of Pinkie Pie. “Yeah, well I never said I was, I mean I like the squirt, but... Why don’t you know where she lives? Your little sister has been best friends with her for at least a year and a half now.” Rainbow replied trying to avoid that issue altogether. “Bah, it’s not important right now, Rarity probably knows go ask her,” Applejack said a little flustered at her lack of knowledge of something so important. Rainbow agreed and went to Rarity’s so she could inform her on what’s going on and ask her where Scootaloo lived. Rainbow Dash arrived at Rarity’s boutique. It is a tall circular building painted blue, with pink roof, round windows, and very frilly looking. *Knock* *Knock* “I’m coming,” responded a mare with a muffled voice on the other side. The purple door opened, “Oh, what brings you here at this dreadful hour Rainbow Dash? You’re interrupting my beauty sleep,” A white unicorn mare with a stylized purple mane, and saggy blue eyes wearing a purple robe said tiredly. “Rarity! Sweetie Belle and the other Crusaders went to the Castle of the Two Sisters today and we have no clue where they are at the moment,” Rainbow Dash blurted out not sure how else to say it. Rarity gave a confused look then a very worried look. Before Rarity could do anything however she continued, “It’s okay though, Twilight volunteered to search the forest around the castle tonight, also I need you to tell me where Scootaloo lives so I can inform her parents.” “Oh dear oh dear oh dear I hope they’re Okay, and what do you mean I need to tell you where Scootaloo lives? You’re her big sister are you not?” Rarity said likely trying to keep herself from thinking about the worst possible scenario. Another vivid memory hit Rainbow. This one answered a question she wanted to ask Applejack and now Rarity. It was now daytime and they were at the end of their hike through the Whitetail woods. “I call sister teams, last pair to make to the falls is a moldy carrot,” Sweetie yelled while looking back at everypony else. Soon Applebloom, Applejack, Rarity, and Sweetie were running towards the falls. Rainbow Dash accepted that challenge and flew Scootaloo to the falls. Scootaloo seemed so very happy with a wide smile that Rainbow couldn’t help but feel great about. Rainbow really began to feel guilty about the miscommunication they had, after that memory. Even Rarity thought them as sisters, how long has this been going on? It had to have started at the falls last year. How come she was the only one who didn’t know about it? She couldn’t think about this right now, “Well I don’t know so are you gonna tell me where she lives or not?” she said, irritated for some reason. Rarity scrunched up her nose then gave a blank stare and said, “I don't know where she lives, how has that slipped my notice? Maybe you should ask Applejack she’s pretty responsible.” Rainbow Dash stared at Rarity for a while in shock, before she finally said, “Yeah, I’ll do that, Well I’ll see ya later Rarity. If Twilight doesn’t return with them by ten A.M. tomorrow we will have a real problem on our hooves,” she said before taking off to her cloud home. On her way there she couldn’t help but wonder why neither Applejack nor Rarity knew where Scootaloo lived. This was a mystery she would have to solve tomorrow morning whilst she goes and ask everypony in and around Ponyville if they know where Scootaloo lives. Rainbow was a little shocked at how little she knew about Scootaloo. She should have known where Scootaloo lived, especially after she made that fanclub for her. Instead she’s now learning that Scootaloo has considered her a sister and other ponies thought it to? Just about every morning for about the last year and a half or so Scootaloo has shown up to the park to watch her workout and practise flying stunts. She first thought it a little creepy, but quickly thought otherwise once she got to know her a little better. Rainbow wasn’t sure what to think. She eventually got to sleep. ------------------- Twilight Sparkle ------------------- Twilight had nothing but time to think while she observed her surroundings for any sign of the three fillies. What she thought about was how she was now basically their mentor kind of how Celestia is/was to her. She knows they respect her or else they wouldn’t show up for their “Twilight Time.” She felt a little guilty though, she could have helped them out a little more than she has been. So she decided she would get some lectures set up and ask Zecora for some help with alchemy lessons. She enjoyed watching them get better at what they were learning. She quickly lost track of time and the excitement of the day was finally catching up to her after she did a complete search of the woods immediately around the castle but saw no signs of the fillies. It was too dark to see at this point and although she was confident she could take on anything in the forest she decided to go to the castle and sleep for the night then go to Ponyville in the morning so they can get a proper search party going. When she awoke the sun was already high in the sky and providing base ambient light from a broken window on the side of the castles wall. She was in a small room that she thought would help her wake up in the early morning when the sun shined on her as Celestia began to raise it. She was wrong and if she had to guess she’d say it was nearly noon. She had no time to feel tired so she got up, shook her head, and began to run out the castle. She kept running when she made it across the bridge, and then the creepy forest with trees that look like creepy faces that she hasn’t been able to disenchant. Laughing at them temporarily disabled the enchantment but that’s all. It wasn’t much further after that when she saw three figures walking the way she was running up ahead of her. ------------------- The CMC ------------------- Applebloom was the first to get up from whatever just happened to them. She no longer felt that horrible pressure that made her feel like she could pass out at any moment. She looked around for Scootaloo and Sweetie and saw them on the ground as their chests slowly rose and fell. Looking around the room revealed it was still covered in leaves and vines. The blue glowing flowers didn’t seem to take damage from the wind that was going on minutes earlier, and the lily pad looked like it completely recovered from the damage they caused it when they first entered. The only difference was the sword now laying on the ground near the vine pedestal. The Sword was one and one half the size of any of the fillies in length and it was three hooves in width. It wasn’t much sooner Scootaloo and Sweetie got up. “What just happened?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Ah have no clue but one thing’s for sure we’re getting out of here, Ah think we passed out for a couple minutes.” Applebloom said and walked off to the lily pad while Sweetie and Scootaloo looked around some more. While looking around Scootaloo saw the sword on the ground, “Ha!" she exclaimed in victory, "see?" she pointed to it, "I told you I’d get that sword down. Now I just have to carry it,” She said as she began to run to it to Sweeties horror and Applebloom’s alarm. “STOP!” they yelled in unison a little too late as Scootaloo picked the sword up and turned to face them. “Wah?” Scootaloo asked. As Applebloom and Sweetie Belle slowly began to calm down. “Why’d you go an’ do that Scootaloo? You saw what happened to the canteen you threw, and I know you saw the three orb things that came out after that. Who knows what else it could have done,” Applebloom said. Sweetie knew exactly what could have happened and it was a terrifying thought. Scootaloo saw Sweetie Belle begin to look down and spat out the sword and said, “You’re right. I’m sorry girls. I wasn’t thinking... but don’t I look awesome with this sword?” She then picked up the sword again and struck a few poses. This seemed to get her best friends minds off what could have happened. Sweetie Belle got an awestruck look as Scootaloo started posing and squealed, “You do look awesome with that sword!” Applebloom was still a little worried something weird would happen but she noticed the gem in the pommel of the sword was now grey and cracked and no longer glowing so she assumed that it broke or ran out of power or something. She then noticed how huge the sword was and the fact that Scootaloo made it seem like it weighed nothing. “Hey Scootaloo how’re you carrying that, isn’t it heavy?” Scootaloo looked at Applebloom for a while and then set the sword down and said, “Good question, this doesn’t seem too heavy to me how about you give it a try?” Applebloom walked to the sword while Scootaloo backed away. She bent her head to bite on the golden hilt then struggled to lift her head. She eventually did but the weight of the sword was too much for her to hold too long so she dropped it. It was almost like picking up a full round of apples, except the gold hilt kind of hurt her teeth. After Applebloom dropped the sword, Sweetie ran over to it excitedly yelling, “My turn! My turn!” while Applebloom got knocked aside by Sweetie. Scootaloo and Applebloom saw Sweetie lower herself and bite on the hilt and remain still for a little bit, then her legs began to shake, then paw the ground in a vain effort to lift up the sword. She let go of the sword brought a hoof to her jaw and said “Ow, That’s not fair, you make it look like it weighs nothing Scootaloo,” she said with a pout. Scootaloo smiled, “Hey, that’s just because I’m awesome like that!” Applebloom knew there was more going on but had no clue what that was, “Well ah agree that is cool, but lets get out of here already we probably need to go see Twilight and find out what’s in this book," she said gesturing to the book in her saddlebag, "and what those three magic orbs did to us.” She said, walking to the giant lily pad again. Sweetie followed close behind, while Scootaloo picked up the sword and went after. Now on the fully healed lily pad, Applebloom took out the book and looked at the picture again. She hit the leaf that sprouted out of the lily pad. To their mild surprise, it actually began ascending. “This is a pretty cool elevator,” Applebloom said as they went up. Sweetie and Scootaloo agreed. Soon they found themselves outside. They swiftly got off the lily pad before it had any chance to go back down. Looking back they saw plain ground root out to cover where the lily pad was as the lily pad began to make its descent. “Well... that happened, did ah get one!?” Applebloom said excitedly while they turned to look at their flanks for a cutie mark. To their disappointment they didn’t get one. They agreed to go tell Twilight what happened and cancel their plans to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters for today. “Girls!" They jumped like cats and landed, hearts racing, "I’m so so so glad to see you! You had everypony so worried," said a familiar voice of Twilight. Sweetie was the first to run up to Twilight while she was staring at Scootaloo and the huge sword she was carrying. “Twilight, how’d you get here? We were just on our way to see you! and why was everypony so worried we haven’t been gone two hours, ugh my sister can be so overly dramatic sometimes,” Sweetie said with annoyance at the end. Twilight brought her attention to Sweetie who was in front of her, “Sweetie what are you talking about? You girls have been missing for one whole day! We’ve searched the castle three times over and I have been out looking for you since last night.” Scootaloo put down the sword, “What!?" she yelled, "I thought you said we were out only a couple minutes Applebloom!” very upset about this news. “That makes no sense how could we possibly have been out for an entire day? It didn’t seem like more than a few minutes,” Applebloom half defended half questioned. “Girls calm down and tell me what happened, and why Scootaloo is carrying that sword,” Twilight said getting their attention. Sweetie began to explain how they got trapped. Then Applebloom continued their story with what was in the cave and the horrible feeling she got. Scootaloo then told Twilight about the sword and the three balls of magic. They somehow forgot to mention the book. “Well I hope you don’t mind Scootaloo but I will be carrying that sword back to Ponyville,” Twilight said as she began to lift the sword up with her magic and this gave her a question she would need to find answers for later. For now she looked at the three fillies, “Okay girls we will talk more once we’re safe in Ponyville, I know Applejack and Rarity are probably getting ready to send the whole town on a search party by now.” Twilight was right. As they walked out of the Everfree they saw several ponies by the entrance getting in groups of three. A mare spotted them coming out while everypony was getting ready and loudly asked, “Is that them?” There was a loud cheer followed by Rarity and Applejack running towards them. Rainbow Dash left a rainbow trail already three quarters the way to them. Rainbow swept Scootaloo up and kept going. Scootaloo didn’t know what was going on at first but quickly realized it was Rainbow and hugged her. The hug didn’t last as Rainbow quickly put her down and backed up a step. Rarity and Applejack were hugging their sisters by this point and telling them not to do something like that again. While Applejack and Applebloom were talking; Applebloom remembered something they completely forgot to show or even tell Twilight about. It was the book that she now had in her saddle bag. Twilight thanked everypony there for offering to help them find the fillies and said they could get back to anything they were gonna do otherwise. Ponies then began to disperse back into Ponyville. Applebloom approached Twilight and presented the book. Applebloom then opened it up to the first page and said that was the how they knew the lily pad would go up. Twilight took it and looked at the texts. She recognized it as Old Equestrian. She never really learned how to read or write in Old Equestrian, but she did recognize some of the symbols. Twilight then thought about the pressing matter of what happened to the girls when they were gone and why they don’t remember it. Her first idea was to use the memory spell on them but decided against it. She figured the next best thing would be to bring them to the Ponyville hospital. Scootaloo now mostly alone with Rainbow Dash, well at least out of hearing distance of everypony else, noticed that Rainbow wore an annoyed frown, “H-Hey Rainbow Dash did you see the awesome sword we found in a dungeon? Well it was more like a cave,” she questioned. “Where do you live?” Rainbow Dash asked, though it felt more like a demand to Scootaloo. Scootaloo felt shocked by the question, even though she knew it was probably coming. She recovered though, “Oh aah ha ha, didn’t Applejack or Rarity tell you?” She needed to fish for details see what kind of trouble she's in. “No, it seems neither of them know where you live and I’ve asked around town…" Rainbow frowned, "I..." she looked down briefly, before looking back to Scootaloo, "we needed to tell your parents that you went missing but had no clue who they were or where to find them." She spent all morning asking around to find out where Scootaloo lived and the only pony who knew anything also wouldn't say anything. Pinkie Pie said she was bound by a Pinkie Promise. Pinkie did say she would make sure to, 'inform the ponies who need to know that Scootaloo is missing.' Then asked who all knew. Any attempts at following Pinkie were completely fruitless. “Oh, my bad I could have sworn I told them where I live, but I’ll gladly show you-” Scootaloo responded but was interrupted by Twilight. Sweetie Belle was in the middle of excitedly telling Rarity everything she remembered about their failed trip to the castle. While describing what happened with the canteen she couldn’t help but notice Rarity’s look of horror. “and then three orbs of magic came out of the gem and it got really windy then it wasn’t windy but the orbs of magic were huge! Then they began to spiral at us like a tornado or something and then I blacked out. Then I woke up and…” Sweetie stopped there as she remembered what had happened earlier today. She was utterly helpless, there was nothing she could do but watch as her first true friend ran and picked up a sword that earlier had turned a canteen to ash. Tears began to form at her eyes as she continued down this road of thought. Before she could actually cry Twilight snapped her out of it. “Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo I need you girls to go to the hospital so we can figure out if anything happened to you after you passed out…” Twilight yelled pretty loudly. Twilight looked around to see Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and the scattered Crusaders staring at her. She got embarrassed and said, “sorry,” in a less loud voice and continued with, “Anyways let’s start heading to the hospital because something happened to them and we need to figure out what, because when I first talked to them they said they’ve only been gone not even two hours.” So they made their way to the hospital. End Chapter 3 > In the Distant Past part 2 (Optional) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Platinum got off the lily pad and saw vines that looked like the ground cover up the hole they were in she teleported herself, Hurricane, and Puddinghead to the outskirts of a town that was most likely to be hit next. *Pop* They were now on a dirt road surrounded by a few trees, and a grass field on both sides. “We don’t have time to dally around. I already got a plan.” Platinum said with urgency. “Let’s hear it.” Hurricane said as neutral as ever. Puddinghead however was looking with some interest. “No time, let’s get this gem powered up...” Platinum said as she began to concentrate on the gem while her horn soon lit up like the sun. Puddinghead smiled, and began to concentrate on the gem. Hurricane frowned, he would have preferred to know what the plan was before they did this. He decided he might as well get to it, but realized that his sword was still sheathed and Platinum and Puddinghead were about to transfer a huge amount of magic and life force into the gem in the pommel. He quickly unsheathed it and stuck it in the ground. Then backed away, and began to concentrate on what he had to give up as well. After three separate but similar brilliant light shows the gem in the sword was now glowing a bright white with a hint of blue. Three ponies lay on the ground panting and looking at the gem as it glowed. They rested for a little bit before somepony said something. To them it felt like they were drowning and needed air, a side effect to losing a lot of magic but not enough to cause a burn out. “So *ha* what’s *ha* the plan,” Hurricane said still recovering from his sudden loss of magic while looking at Platinum. Platinum took a deep breath shook her head and asked, “What?” unable to hear him because of her own breathing. Hurricane looked at her and repeated what he said though with a little less heavy breathing. “Oh, Me and Puddinghead *ha* are gonna be in the open waiting for *ha* her and I’ll cast an invisibility spell on you *ha*, all you need to do is attack at the right time.” She said trying to control her urge to gasp for air. Puddinghead looked at her got up and said, “I can see how that would work, she does not seem to care that we ambush her at all. The last time she basically laughed at us while building up magic to destroy the village which is odd because the first time she just destroyed the village.” Hurricane looked at Platinum took a deep breath and said, “Okay, just make sure I can do it.” He got up and walked to the sword and picked it up with his mouth. A tingle shot through his body and soon turned into a burning pain. He closed his eyes in pain trying to keep hold of it as his eye began to water, but it was too much and he let go. “That was painful,” was all he could say as the pain quickly evaporated. Puddinghead was watching with amusement as tears began to run down Hurricane’s face. “Well at least it didn’t obliterate you on contact... I don’t think any of us truly know what that sword is now capable of... Or for that matter what exactly is gonna happen to our races now that we have given up essentially part of our collective souls to this weapon. Anyways, let’s get ready.” Puddinghead said as he looked off into the distance. They all agreed with this and soon Platinum was concentrating on an invisibility spell. It was partially effective. He could be seen by what’s distorted directly behind him in a distinct outline. It was only really noticeable if somepony was looking around a little bit more than a glance. Once this was done he went to pick up the sword again preparing for intense pain like last time only to be confused when nothing seemingly out of the ordinary happened. Platinum didn’t suggest he find a good spot to hide out so he remained there. Both Platinum and Puddinghead noticed right away that Hurricane could not be seen in any way once his view distorting figure reached the sword. They were not sure what was going on because they all knew the unicorns could never truly make an invisibility spell that good do to several incidents before the Great Migration. They both looked at each other and silently agreed not to say anything. They then walked backwards a few steps and waited. They waited long enough for them to feel like they just woke up in the morning and stayed up slightly later than usual. Until they saw her in the distance laughing like the maniac she has proven herself to be. She is a Windigo. A being that appears as frozen light blue mist in pony form and preys off any negative emotions while making them stronger by chilling the environment. She was about twice the size of an average pony. She’s the queen of the windigos and was using a gem that was the centerpiece of a light blue chest piece she was wearing. This gem is void black, all light seems to get sucked in. She noticed them with her clear white eyes waiting and laughed harder and walked close enough for a conversation. “Ahahahahahaha you three again, I’m surprised you survived that last attack. I must say having some resistance is even more fun, but it looks like whatever you did to survive took a lot out of you,” The windigo queen said in a very seductive voice as she took a quick glance around looking for the Pegasus of the group. Platinum and Puddinghead where almost not prepared for the emotional roller-coaster the gem in her chest piece emitted as the previous two times they were much more resistant to such ambient effects. They felt hatred, fear, anger, sadness, and like they were losing their minds at the same time. They did the only thing they could do and suppress their feelings altogether. “So where’s he gonna come from now, the air again? The ground again? Not like it matters, you’re all going to die eventually,” the windigo said putting an empathize on the word again while looking around. Platinum was first to regain her mind from the mix of emotions, though not completely and asked, “Why are you doing this!?” With anger. “You want to know my intentions? But I just told you my dear it’s to kill everypony I think I’ll save you three for last we’ll have lots of fun playing impossible to get,” the windigo said then laughed and continued, “Maybe not,” she said giving Puddinghead a wink. Puddinghead felt sickened by this but thanks to her gem much more so and threw up. This just made him feel worse but the taste of puke took him mostly out of that vortex of emotions and allowed him to focus on that horrible taste. He raised his head and said, “Ugh, that does not answer why you’re doing this, what did we do to your race.” She let another laugh and then looked at him and said, “You’re so cute. Nothing. It’s really simple in fact, I just want everypony to die,” she said then laughed some more then suddenly stopped. Hurricane had waited where he picked up the sword. Eventually he saw her in the distance getting closer. A trial of ice and frost was left on the ground in her wake. She stopped right in striking distance and then talked. He was a little surprised when she started actually talking his two previous encounters would have suggested she was incapable of caring to speak at all. He almost went for the killing blow when she asked where he was, but noticed that she glanced around the area while she asked. Another thing he noticed after Platinum spoke for the first time was that he didn’t feel the emotions he felt the first two times he encountered her and also noticed it seemed to be affecting Platinum quite a bit judging by her tone. He kept his attention on the monster in front of him not daring to look back, but kept his ears open to anything he could hear. Eventually he figured his window of opportunity was closing and heard everything he needed to and attacked while she was laughing. He stabbed through the gem in her chest piece to where her heart would be if she was a pony. She stopped laughing and slowly looked down then laughed some more. Then she quickly turned into ash which promptly fell to the ground. Her chest piece and the pierced gem however remained in the air and stuck to the sword. Both gems from the sword and chest piece began to glow. Hurricane no longer felt safe holding the sword let go of it and backed away quickly. They stayed in the air though. The black gem was now emitting a black glow while the blue gem emitted a white light blue glow. The black gem quickly got cracks around it then shot off black volley of magic towards the blue gem while the blue gem did the same but with a pink volley of magic. The volleys hit their mark and the black gem exploded and left six magic balls shooting across the sky in mostly various directions. When the blue gem got hit it let out three volleys of magic two headed in the same direction while one went a different way. After that the chest piece also turned to ash and fell to the ground with the sword. They waited a while looking at the sword till, Hurricane who was no longer invisible went and picked it up, sheathed it, and said, “lets go.” They made their way back to their hiding place for the sword. It was quite the long walk. Hurricane unsheathed then placed the sword on vine pedestal with a little effort. They planned out excuses for the missing magic and life force. Then left to see what they could accomplish. Forty Years Later Puddinghead walked through the forest during night on constant watch. He was not worried about the wild life, well maybe a little, but more so about somepony seeing him. He eventually made it to the entrance of the hidden sword and went in. Little did Platinum and Hurricane know he enchanted the plant to let him in one last time after they placed the sword. He knew a journal would come in handy for the foals that dropped in, which is why he made one starting with several pictures of how to get out. He spent a lot of time preparing this journal. Having gone through many rough drafts. All of which he destroyed before leaving for here. He had them all enchanted with a still time spell. This spell basically prevents any deterioration from happening when not in active use. He placed it on a large leaf below the sword checked all the plants, then left. End Chapter 4 > At The Ponyville Hospital part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville hospital is a large three story building with several windows. The entrance is two glass doors with a wooden frame. Immediately inside is a waiting room with several chairs and a couple tables with magazines of various subjects on it in the middle. Near the end was a counter that was often occupied by a nurse ready for any emergencies. A nurse left a room on the second floor leaving two pegasi alone. A little after she left, when the young adult of the pair felt they could talk in private questioned the filly, “Okay squirt, you heard the nurse, everything's fine. Physically at least. Now, are you going to tell me where you live?” then cringed immediately afterwards as she said that a little more harsher than intended. Rainbow found it frustrating and odd that everypony except Pinkie Pie had no clue where Scootaloo lived. It was almost impossible how that could happen, surely somepony had to find her parents to complain about her at one point or another, and/or lived next to them. She knew Pinkie would never tell. So what better pony to ask than the filly herself? Scootaloo took a calming breath. She had plenty of time to prepare for this and prepare she did. “Like I was saying before we were rushed here, I’ll be happy to show you where I live.” This was something Scootaloo had somehow managed avoid for two years. She suspects Pinkie had helped her out a lot to make that true, but could never be sure. “Okay… but why can’t you just, you know tell me where you live? ” Rainbow Dash asked confused and annoyed. She didn't see what the big deal was. She couldn't think of any good reason why Scootaloo couldn't just tell her. It made no since. It intrigued her though and she wasn't about to let this go. The fact Applejack, Rarity, and herself didn't know where she lived nagged at her. Pinkie knew and that put her mind at ease if only slightly. “I... I just got to show you ok, and please don’t tell anypony else my... I just got to show you ok?” Scootaloo responded acting like she wanted to tell her something but couldn't, which happened to be how she felt. Scootaloo hated lying because she knew exactly the kind of anguish it can cause. However, she got use to it and became a pretty good liar, a fact that she hated. Her biggest fear was that her friends and Rainbow would find out the truth and she would lose them. She has no doubt that’s what would happen. Rainbow reluctantly agreed feeling a little on edge and they left for the waiting room. On their way they saw Rarity accompanying Sweetie for her checkup with the same nurse leading. It didn’t take long for Rainbow and Scootaloo to get back to the waiting room. They settled in with Applejack, Applebloom and Twilight who were waiting around one of the tables. The sword was under the table by Twilight as she blankly looked at the book. Applejack and Applebloom, who already got a check up, were talking. “Ah’m sorry sis’ Ah made sure we were prepared. Ah got a rope, compass, map, canteens, Ah had Sweetie get the snacks, and Scootaloo leave the note,” Applebloom said compromising and pleading at the same time while taking out and showing the items as she said them from her saddlebag and motioning to Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled at that, she found it clever. “Ah see that ya did, and Ah’m mighty proud ya did, but yall ain’t getting off cause ya were smart about it,” Applejack replied then sighed, “Applebloom, Ah was wondering if ya would like to join me on a week vacation to Manehatten?” Rainbow, and Scootaloo looked at Applebloom who went in deep thought not expecting this. Applebloom had been raised on their farm all her life. Sure she’s been to Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and several other places but she hasn‘t really been anywhere outside of Ponyville for longer than a day if the train, camping, and royal wedding is excluded. She also would surely be able to meet up with her cousin Babs and finally get to meet the new-ish crusaders. The more she thought about it the more she liked it, “that sounds like tons fun. Of course ah’ll go,” she said enthusiastically, getting a smile from Applejack. “Ugh, what about our crusading Applebloom? Summer doesn’t last forever,” Scootaloo complained. She just didn’t want Applebloom to be gone for a week. Before Applebloom could respond Rainbow Dash jumped in, “Hey, don’t worry squirt. I’ll be going as well and that means you can come to.” “It’s true." Applejack confirmed, as Scootaloo shot a questioning look, "Rainbow Dash and Twilight will be coming along as well. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie can’t make it and Ah’m not sure if Sweetie will be coming or not Ah was gonna ask her parents when we get out of here,” Applejack said gesturing to the ponies and location in question. Applejack was glad to see that Applebloom was looking forward to this vacation as much as she was, but Applebloom was still grounded. Throughout that whole time Twilight had been lost in thought until she heard her name. “What? Yeah, I can’t wait to go on that vacation it’s going to be so much fun!” she said getting her mind off all the possibilities running through her head. “Ya okay there Twi? Ya seem a little spaced out.” Applejack asked. Twilight gave a fake smile, “Oh yes, I’m fine. I was just thinking about what caused them to pass out and what could have happened to them. Well, we will find out soon enough when I test them with my equipment in the libraries basement,” she ended in a slightly hectic voice. She couldn’t stop worrying about her students. She felt so much pride with the idea that they’re her students even if it’s not official yet. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In one of the second floor rooms three ponies got done finishing several tests. “Well everything checks out here,” the nurse said looking at Rarity. The doctor already got a blood sample and X-ray and left to examine them for anything out of the ordinary. He had to mail Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight his findings once he got them. “That’s a relief to hear,” Rarity responded and relaxed, while the nurse got a sucker and gave it to Sweetie Belle who gladly took it and thanked her. “Do... do you know what possibly could have knocked my poor little sister out for a day?” she asked curious. “Unfortunately, I have no clue what spell caused that... Princess Twilight would probably have a better idea than me,” the nurse responded trying to be as helpful as possible. The staff of the hospital was made aware of the large magic orbs but had never heard anything like it before. With that the nurse left to check on other patients while Rarity and Sweetie Bell headed to the waiting room. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When Rarity and Sweetie arrived in the waiting room all except Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Applejack left for the library. Rainbow and Scootaloo said that they’d meet them back there soon but had something to do first. Rainbow asked Scootaloo to lead the way once they left the hospital. Scootaloo did so and took her to the outskirts of town near the Everfree. There were three, one story, houses there. Two of which Rainbow had visited earlier in her attempts to discover Scootaloo home. One of the houses had a pony that just moved in across the street from the other two and didn't know much. The one closest to the town was occupied by one of the flower ponies that freak out easily. The last house was abandoned according to her. Rainbow Dash followed as Scootaloo went up to the flower ponies house and knocked. After a couple seconds a pale magenta earth pony with a lime green mane, dark green eyes, and two daisies for a cutie mark opened the door and looked at Scootaloo then Rainbow Dash a little scared and said, “Oh oh, h-hi Scootaloo. I didn’t say anything I swear,” quickly, shaking like a leaf. Scootaloo smiled, brightly at her fearful behavior, “That’s okay Miss Daisy, I know you didn’t. I’m just here to let you know it’s okay to tell her.” Daisy lightened up at that. “Tell me what? What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash questioned, a little confused by Daisy’s behavior. “Oh, um okay, you um Rainbow Dash I didn’t tell you she lives next door to me earlier today because her parents don’t want me telling anypony where she lives because they fear that she will get foal-naped to hold her for ransom because of how rich they are,” Daisy said leaving out details of how it seemed much more like a threat. She remembered the overly buff looking pegasus guard looking at her unemotionally from across the street and not responding to Scootaloo’s wave. “Yeah, my parents are really overprotective like that... and they also didn’t want to spoil me which is why my house doesn’t look too good on the outside, or inside for that matter,” She said a little quickly. “Well, thank you for clearing things up Miss Daisy but we have ponies waiting for us at the library,” Scootaloo said walking away and waving goodbye. Rainbow followed Scootaloo as they made their way to the library. She felt something was off, but wasn’t sure what. She looked back to the building one last time, noting it for future reference. She took her mind off that and remembered that she still had to tell Scootaloo about the misunderstanding they had last year. After a little walking she spoke up, “Squirt, I need to talk to you about something,” she said stopping and looking at Scootaloo who did the same. Scootaloo panicked on the inside what did she do wrong? Did she know before even coming here? “A-about what?” she replied as she began to shake slightly. “I-I think, I mislead you and I didn’t mean to. It’s just, I’m not your sister. Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re a cool filly and fun to hang around but we’re not related...” Rainbow Dash watched her carefully as she said this, while mentally hitting herself for being so bad with words. Scootaloo was completely taken off guard by this she had believed Rainbow agreed to being her sister, and began to question as such. “But I thought you said...” Memory hit Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo like a brick and they knew exactly what she said that night. “I said, that I would take you under my wing, and I meant that.” Scootaloo’s world shattered. The first time this happened she cried till she felt she would no longer need to cry again, ever. Deep down she knew this could happen. She knew Rainbow never actually said she’d be her sister, but it was close enough that she could believe that’s what she said. It’s the reason why she never called Rainbow sister in front of her, only around her friends did she do that. It was a lie she desperately wanted to be true. It opened up old wounds. It hurt. Even then, this wasn’t a total betrayal like last time. It wasn’t even a betrayal and she knew it, but that didn’t stop it from hurting just as bad. She was so off guard that she didn’t feel much of anything at the moment outside of what lingered from that initial jolt of shock, “Oh, that’s, that’s fine as... I guess, I misheard you back then didn’t I? Ehehehe,” she ended with a high pitched laugh to cover up the cry she was about to make as what just happened began to settle in. Rainbow felt strange at the moment. She didn't like this feeling too much but at least Scootaloo seemed to be taking this better than she feared. “I guess you did," she answered, just now realizing what Scootaloo thought, "but don’t feel too bad even I forgot exactly what I said that night till just now. You’re still the coolest filly I know,” she said ruffling the squirts mane playfully. Scootaloo closed her eyes breathed in to calm herself. She forced a smile, “Of course I am and you're the best flyer in Equestria,” she said as chipper as she could. Rainbow smiled at that, “You know I am! Now, let's go see what Twilight has in store for you.” The whole walk to the library was like torture for Scootaloo because all felt like doing was crying. She kept a happy appearance the whole walk. She hated that she could lie about her feelings so easily. Rainbow on the other hoof felt mixed about the situation. She’s not sure why either, but at least Scootaloo seemed to take it well. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At the library four ponies entered starting with Twilight carrying the sword and blue book in her purple magic field, followed by Apple Bloom, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle. “Spike! I’m back!” Twilight yelled loud enough to be heard throughout the library. It wasn’t sooner after Spike came running downstairs and gave Twilight a hug which she returned. Spike had been worried sick over Twilight. “Spike take a letter,” she said while separating. Spike got a paper and pen. At this point Spike wasn’t really needed to send letters to Celestia but Twilight wanted to save such occasions for emergencies. She went over everything that happened today and asked for a translation book of old Equestrian. They didn’t have to wait long before Spike burped out a flame that constructed a scroll in front of them. Spike took it and read it out loud. Dear Twilight, I am pleased to hear that you found the three fillies and I am also concerned over what happened to them. I will send the archaeologist Fossil Records to retrieve the sword and bring you a translation book within two days. I’m interested in the contents of that book and look forward to receiving your findings on it. I ask you to exercise caution and not cast any spells it may hold. Your friend Celestia After that Twilight got them all downstairs in the basement. The basement was filled with lab equipment from vials/flask to a full body magic sensor. Twilight asked Rarity if she could test Sweetie first since she didn’t want to start with Apple Bloom until Applejack got back. Rarity agreed and she began to hook Sweetie up to a newer version of the machine that failed to help her out with Pinkie Pie. It had several sensors that read magical output in key parts of the body. When everything was hooked up she flipped the switch. It turned on and began writing readings on paper which she studied. “Hmmm that’s odd I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary. This makes no sense something magic related definitely happened to Sweetie Belle but I’m not seeing any unique magic readings.” The readings in question are a set of waves that are similar to a lie detector on someponies pulse. If there’s a sudden large spike or lack of spike that is out of a normal pattern then that’d mean something is different. The size of the pattern determined how much magic a pony had and Sweeties seemed about right maybe slightly larger than average. Depending on the race, ponies have a unique magical pattern that only strays from said pattern if inflicted by something magical. She got an idea and levitated a table and a coin in front of Sweetie Bell. “Okay Sweetie Belle I want you to levitate this bit for one minute keep it in place and don’t move it.” She figured she might as well see if the casting pattern is any different. The casting pattern for unicorns is the same regardless of the spell that’s being cast and that’s a mystery that researchers at Canterlot are trying to solve. The only times it’s been recorded as different is when the caster has a magical effect that’ll at least affect their casting like Rarity did when she got corrupted. “Okay, Twilight I’ll do my best.” Sweetie replied. Sweetie didn’t like being hooked up to this thing, it’s uncomfortable. She looked at the coin and began to concentrate on it. The coin was engulfed in a light green glow as she imagined reaching out to it while her horn glowed rather bright. Just as she tried to rise it she saw it disappear. At that same moment she felt what could only be described as a full body jolt/explosion followed by numbness. She couldn’t hear anything and her vision began to get blurry as she began to think about chores for some reason. Rarity, Applebloom, and Spike yelled Sweeties name as soon as they saw her light up like a hearth's warming tree. Twilight jumped to the sound of something exploding and Sweeties name being yelled. She quickly turned to see what happened. Twilight saw smoke coming from the equipment on Sweetie and immediately used her magic to take all the equipment off her. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Twilight asked with worry riddling her voice as she moved close. She got a look at Sweetie and saw some charred marks left from the equipment all around her and even more so on her head and mane. Luckily it looked more like residue from the equipment more so than her fur being burnt. Sweetie wobbled around a little and said, “But Rarity I can’t take out the trash with my magic like you can yet,” and fell to the ground in unconsciousness. Applejack just entered the library when she heard the commotion in the basement. She quickly ran down the stairs and came in to see Rarity and Apple Bloom dusting the soot off of an unconscious Sweetie, Twilight looking at a long piece of paper and Spike picking up the burnt equipment. “What in tarnation happened down here?” Applejack questioned. Applebloom looked up and said, “Apparently Sweetie blew up Twilights machine.” Twilight was just staring at the piece of paper not hardly aware Applejack arrived. Spike was still picking up burnt parts of the machine while looking at the soot on the ground in annoyance and complained, “And I just got done sweeping this place yesterday.” By this point Sweetie Belle began to stir. She opened her eyes and brought a hoof to her head, “Oh my head what happened?” Rarity gave her a quick hug and said how worried she was. Applebloom told her how she saw all the equipment on her suddenly light up with a loud noise that sounded kind of like thunder. Applejack walked over to Twilight while saying her name a couple times. She didn’t respond still staring at the paper. Applejack put her hoof on Twilight and she was a little surprised by that. “Oh sorry Applejack, I guess I got lost in thought again,” she said while looking towards Applejack and continued, "I'm just concerned about what these readings suggest, it's actually pretty scary." Before Applejack could respond Sweetie interrupted them. Sweetie was still recovering from the mock explosion the equipment created. She didn’t like what Applebloom was telling her. It sounds like she broke Twilights machine and she knows it was going to be used to test Applebloom and Scootaloo. She began to feel bad because this equipment had to be super expensive. She felt like she was a horrible pony. Twilight had always been nice to her. She even was helping her learn to use her magic even though she didn’t need to. Sweetie filled with guilt quickly ran to Twilight tears almost in her eyes, “I’m sorry Twilight I didn’t mean to break your machine! I’ll help you pay for it... somehow!” Twilight gave her a quick hug and assured her it was not her fault and not to worry about it. Sweetie felt a little better with that. Twilight also said she had to tell everypony something when Rainbow and Scootaloo arrived. While waiting Applejack told Sweetie that she could go on vacation with them. Sweetie was confused because she had no clue what Applejack was talking about but Applebloom seemed excited and that made her excited as well. During their celebration Sweetie suddenly stared into space for a second before asking where they were going. Applejack was quick to answer before Applebloom as she had to tell both Rarity and Sweetie that their parents where going on vacation tomorrow. Sweetie frowned at this, they just got back from a vacation like a week ago and they didn’t say anything about another one. Rarity questioned/complained to Applejack about just that and apparently one of their friends had two tickets for an airboat cruise set to leave from Canterlot tomorrow and they couldn’t make it so they gave it to their parents. Sweetie couldn’t help but wonder why they almost never take her on vacations but instead leave her with Rarity. She knew they loved her and Rarity. They were very caring and supportive but they were just constantly gone for weeks at a time sometimes, even missing her birthday. It was frustrating to Sweetie how it seemed she practically lived with her sister at times. She often found herself complaining about them to Scootaloo who, as far as she knew, had some grievances about her own parents. Twilight was unsure what to think. The amount of magic the paper suggested Sweetie has is more than even Celestia and Luna combined. The equipment burnt out which means the reading could be wrong. It still burnt out which means Sweetie definitely has a lot of magic or something else happened. She didn’t even understand why it burnt out like it did. Sweetie didn’t lose complete control of her magic like she did when she was a filly. She wondered why it couldn’t detect the magic before she used it. Maybe whatever was suppressing the magic couldn’t stop it from expanding to the sensors and frying them? As far as she knew only dragons were capable of concealing their magical potential from sensors and she only knew this because of Spike. It was another mystery that she’d have to solve. Once Scootaloo and Rainbow got back most of the burnt machine attachments were scrapped and set aside. Twilight asked that Sweetie not use her magic for anything unless she was around. Sweetie agreed still feeling bad about the machine and a little scared about the fate of the bit that disappeared. Twilight was unable to determine what, if anything, happened to Scootaloo and Applebloom magically. If she could then Princess Celestia would have known not to challenge Queen Chrysalis in a duel of pure magic power, and she’s not aware of any spell that can examine a ponies magic. It's partly why there's so many different devices to research magic. She asked them to keep an eye out for anything unusual and used Scootaloo picking up the sword like it was nothing as an example. Rainbow Dash wanted a better look at the sword, so Twilight let her do just that. Twilight also sent another letter to Celestia to inform her on the new situation and press for the translation book. She got a swift reply and will be seeing Fossil by tomorrow morning. There was nothing else she could do till she reads that book or gets replacement parts for the machine. So they each went about their Tuesday except Sweetie and Applebloom who got grounded for the next couple days. End Chapter 5 > At The Ponyville Library part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Twilight Sparkle ------------------- Wednesday morning Twilight got up bright and early and was already eager to get that translation book. She crept downstairs so as to not wake up Spike. She made him worry with that stunt she pulled and felt he could use the extra rest. Prepared a cup of tea and waited. While waiting for both the tea and translation book she browsed the book that needed translating to try and get an idea its layout. She has not really looked at it before now, just the first page that Applebloom showed her. As she looked it over she noticed that it was definitely not a printed book, it was more like a very detailed journal. As she flipped through the pages she came across several drawn pictures of a pony getting a cutie mark along with a lot of writing. With a loud hiss the tea kettle went off. She put the book down and got her tea. Once she finished her tea there was a knock on the door. Twilight quickly got to the door and opened it to see a light brown stallion earth pony wearing tan saddle bags, “Do you happen to be Fossil Records?” she asked happily. The stallion has light blue eyes, his mane and tail is light red, and his cutie mark is a stone-slab hieroglyph. Much to her annoyance he bowed to her. “Yes I am, your highness,” he said still bowing. Twilight actually kind of hated that, or at the very least was very frustrated by that action. She was no better than him in any way. She knew of him because she has read some of his brilliant research papers about ancient Zebra civilizations. She read those shortly after she met Zecora. Seeing him bowing like that just wasn’t right. Sighing on the inside, “You may rise Fossil Records you needn't be so formal with me. Twilight is just fine. Now I believe you have a translation book for me?” Twilight asked. He soon pulled out the book in question after digging through his saddle bags. Twilight quickly levitated it to a podium in the library and was about to thank him before he asked, “and the sword Pri... Twilight?" Twilight blushed slightly in embarrassment, “Oh right, one moment please," as she quickly went up stairs. Quietly she got the sword that she completely forgot about. She didn’t want to wake up Spike. “Here you go," she said as she laid it down in front of him. “Thank you for bringing this book, I’m sure it will help me find out what happened to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” she said in a chipper tone. “Not a problem yo… I mean Twilight, I shall be on my way then,” he replied before he picked up the sword. He didn’t have to struggle too much to find a safe place to attach the sword to his saddlebags; after all, as an archeologist he is use to carrying various ancient objects. When the door closed Twilight quickly went to begin translating. She couldn’t wait to find out what was in this journal. After a while she began to get a headache. It was such an overly complicated language system. Needlessly complicated even. So many words can mean completely different things based on a word or two before/after it; like, a word for, “potato” could mean “paper” or “love.” That’s right a word for “potato” that means there’s at least one more word for it. She spent pretty much her whole time there that day getting a very loose grasp on the language. The alphabet symbols were completely different than the current ones but were mostly easy to understand. She started with the first page of the journal that had the pictures of the lily pad. At least she had a context into what the text probable said under each sketch. She did manage to translate it with little issue, but even then she had to recheck the translation book several times to make sure it was right. It was very time consuming. She took some breaks to eat and read more equestrian laws when it got too frustrating. Before she knew it, it was time to go to sleep. ------------------- Scootaloo ------------------- Surreal is the only word that could describe how Scootaloo felt. Rainbow Dash isn’t her sister. The last two years of her life have been her best up till yesterday. She allowed herself to believe a lie ever since the camping trip last year. She tried to rationalize it as the self-deception it was, but it only reminded her of things she’d rather forget about. She knew better than to put the blame on Rainbow for how she felt, but the thought of seeing her idol hurt too much to even consider. She stayed inside most of the day, only going out to get something to eat. Both Sweetie and Applebloom were grounded, so she had little to do except stew in her world altering thoughts. She considered talking to Pinkie about it but decided against it; this was her own problem. She had a hard time getting to sleep Wednesday night. Thursday the feeling was gone briefly and when she got up in the morning she almost went to the park to watch Rainbow practice out of habit. She came to her senses before she did though. Putting herself through that wasn’t something she felt like doing. She was also feeling incredibly bored without Sweetie or Applebloom to hangout with. With nothing else to do she decided to go to a field in the outskirts of Ponyville where no pony is likely to be. It was a nice clear day and she was trying to make herself feel rebellious. Well anything other than what she has been feeling recently. She even prefered the mind numbness that came with being sleep deprived. She already knew what was going to happen but she hasn’t tried it in a while. She really wanted to try anything to get her mind off Rainbow Dash. “Okay I got this! I’ll prove them all wrong!” Scootaloo said to herself as she tried to psych herself up, then immediately looked everywhere to make sure nopony was around. Nothing but grass, a few bushes, and a couple trees was in sight. Nopony was present except for her. She took a calming breath, closed her eyes, spread her wings, jumped into the air, and flapped them with all her might. After some flaps, she noticed something off. She's only experienced this feeling the few times Rainbow has given her a ride. The fun feeling of weightlessness. She opened her eyes to a near endless blue expanse. Confusion set in for a second before she looked down. Directly below her she could see Canterlot, Ponyville, The Everfree, and a whole lot more. She was amazed breathless, she saw so much. Everything was so small. Eventually, she had to breath and when she did it was cold and like breathing through a small straw. She wondered how she got up here, as far as she knew flying for her is suppose to be impossible. It’s something she has struggled to accept, but learned to live with. She quickly looked above her to see if somepony was carrying her, and to her horror nopony was there. She quickly looked everywhere only to see clear sky and some clouds far below her. Nopony in sight. Falling she was starting to fall. She’s never been this high before let alone in the sky without somepony she trusted carrying her. She was completely unprepared for this. The ground was slowly getting closer and no pony was there to save her. Terror filled her veins and she hyperventilated in panic. She felt light headed. She couldn't breath, as air whistled by. Everything got blurry and quickly went black. Scootaloo felt chilly and a constant wind as she regained consciousness. ‘Why’s it so windy? Is the window open?’ she thought just before she opened her eyes. The Everfree and Ponyville presented themselves much closer to her then last she saw them, while Canterlot was clear in view. She panicked. “Ahh~,” she screamed at the top of her lungs while getting closer to the ground, uselessly kicking her legs. She ran out of breath, forcing her to think and breath. She came up with a plan, her only salvation. Gliding was the only thing that came to mind, ‘Okay, okay just spread my wings and don’t flap them,’ relief washed over her the second she stretched them out, because she slowed down significantly. That relief vanished as she realized she passed out while falling. Lazily, she descended to the ground. Her wings ached from keeping them open for as long as she has, but fear kept them petrified in place. After the terror induced slow fall she finally made it to the ground. It was a somewhat rough landing but she's had much worse crusading. She simply curled up into a ball and laid there in shock. Everything happened so fast she didn’t know what to think, outside of not wanting that to happen ever again. After an unknown amount of time she went to go get something to eat. Luckily Pinkie had good news that she would be able to see her friends in a meeting at Twilights. Pinkie insisted that she finish eating before heading over to the meeting. She just wanted to see her friends; after all, too much has happened recently. ------------------- Twilight Sparkle ------------------- Thursday morning she began to translate the second page. It took her almost all day but she got it done before nighttime. It was an incredible annoying task, but she was ecstatic to put it lightly at what it said. The writer had written things in such a way that wasn’t exactly meant for Old Equestrian, it was such that he would throw some words out there but leave it to the reader to determine which word it really was, as words in Old Equestrian often meant more than one thing. It was doable as some words usually made no sense within the building context. It did prove to Twilight that his portrayals in hearth's warming plays were maybe on to something. She was translating a journal from none other than Chancellor Puddinghead: I Chancellor Puddinghead of the earth pony tribe leave this journal as an account of ponykinds biggest cover-up known by me to ponykind in all of the history that I’m aware of. Perpetrated by me, Commander Hurricane, and Princess Platinum. I will go over every change that I’m aware of happening to the pony races as of forty years after the cover-up. I first would like to point out the sword that was on the pedestal above this journal. It was used to slay the Windigo Queen. The gem in its pommel was at one time a normal gem one that’s close to perfect as perfect can get but a normal gem none-the-less. So if these last forty years have told me anything this might be a world shattering discovery. At the time she “the Windigo Queen” had wiped several towns off the map using a powerful gem so we gathered every pony into a meeting. It was agreed that me, Hurricane, and Platinum would be granted half of every ponies magic and life force to defeat her since our first attempt was utterly hopeless. I think the Windigos collected our negative feelings/energy and put it into a gem during all the years we spent at war with each other before The Great Migration. That is most likely what happened, we were never really sure what gave her gem such power. Anyways, We tried to defeat her with this new power, but only managed to save the townsponies while their towns got destroyed. We knew defeating her this way was impossible so we made the hide-out this journal should be found in. Then we put half of our magic/life force and all of our borrowed magic/life force into the gem of Hurricanes sword. It worked and we were able to slay her. When we did the gem the Windigo Queen used was destroyed, but before that happened the gems traded magical blows. When it was destroyed it shot off six fragments in various directions. While the gem in the pommel of the sword shot off three bolts of magic. Then we hid the sword away so no pony of ill intent could get their muzzle on it, which by the way was our main reason for covering this up. I made it so only three colts and/or fillies of the three tribes could enter; after, I dropped this journal off, but don’t tell Hurricane and Platinum I did that. That’s basically it. Oh, If you’re wondering how I was able to make specific requirements to even enter this hiding spot then feel free to consult page three. Now some of the basics of what happened to the three tribes after half their magic and life force disappeared. Earth Ponies Earth ponies have lost much of their strength, healing, and plant growth abilities. Most gave away these attributes to help in the fight against the Windigo Queen for obvious reasons. I will go more into detail on this in the next page. Pegasi Almost all Pegasi have lost their ground magic in favor of keeping their air magic. Even after everything we have been through it saddens me to write that it has been forty years and the few pegasi that kept their ground magic are treated like outsiders to the ones who kept their air magic. I will go into more detail on page four. Unicorns Unicorns for the most part are weaker now. Instead of two to three ponies to bring night and day it now takes about fifteen. They also will have more trouble learning new spells but they can still do them all if they got the power. Page five The Marks Marks began to appear on the young soon after the defeat of the queen. This caused quite a bit of tragedy. My only guess as to why they suddenly started appearing is because of the missing life force. Pages seven to twelve. History We rewrote a lot of history to make this cover up work. We were fortunately able to use the tragedies caused by the ponies reactions to The Marks to get support from enough ponies to change most of our history so as to prevent them from happening again. Due to The Great Migration that wasn’t too hard a task since we abandoned a lot of books. What little we did have I committed to memory what I found to be important and wrote down in the rest of this journal. Pages thirteen to thirty-five. Page 2 That evening Twilight had Spike send a letter to Celestia detailing her findings. Then she had Spike gather the crusaders, Rarity, and Applejack in the library to tell them what she discovered. While waiting she had some time to think about what Puddinghead wrote. In that time she formed a couple plausible theories around them. Scootaloo was the last to show up. “Thank you all for showing up on such short notice,” Twilight said as an introduction with a wide smile, “I believe I have some answers to some questions. To start I believe what the CMC first felt when they entered the cave was ambient magic from magic decay of the gem in Hurricanes sword...” Twilight got interrupted. “Hurricane? As in Commander Hurricane from the hearths warming play?” Sweetie asked. It amazed Twilight how Sweetie could be so on spot sometimes and other times be so utterly clueless. Twilight smiled at that, “Yes! that is correct Sweetie,” as everypony suddenly looked a lot more interested. “Woo nelly Rainbow would get a kick out of this, what makes you so sure it was Commander Hurricanes?” Applejack questioned. Twilight was amused with that. She could only imagine how Rainbow would react. “It says so in Chancellor Puddingheads Journal!” Twilight responded hovering said journal in front of everypony to see. “Well now, things seem to be getting even better. Please tell me they found something of Princess Platinum's as well!” Rarity exclaimed. “Nope all we found was the journal and the sword, the rest of the place was vines, leaves, some glowing flowers, and a lily pad elevator,” Applebloom said to a now disappointed Rarity. Twilight was just so excited she forgot what she was even doing for a second, “To think you literally fell into... ahem, Now as I was saying. I believe what they felt basically was ambient magic over-saturation. I don’t know why it didn’t cast random spells to disperse but I believe it has something to do with this life force Puddinghead mentioned... Oh,” Twilight noticed everyponys confused look and quickly gave them a brief summary of Puddingheads summary. She left out what happened to the defeated Windigo Queen. “As I was saying I believe this life force kept the magic stable somehow. I also believe that the three magic orbs that made you fillies pass out was the magic and life force put in the gem returning to their rightful owners as it were. Though I can’t be certain. In any event Puddinghead suggest that pegisi had something called ground magic which could explain the sword? Earth ponies apparently had the ability to heal and grow things…” before she could continue she got interrupted. “Wait, are you saying I can grow plants like my potions can?” Applebloom questioned. Twilight had time to consider that question before they got there, “I’m not sure if you can or not Applebloom.” For some reason Twilight thought it would have been Scootaloo to be the one to interrupt her. A glance at Scootaloo told a different story. She looked tired, but at ease. Well it was getting late Twilight reasoned. Sweetie and Applebloom however looked excited. “It certainly would be neat,” Applejack added quickly, while giving Twilight the go ahead to continue her speech. “Right…” Twilight was forgetting something, but couldn’t remember what, “anyways; Sweetie, you might have more magic than me right now. I’m going to have a test to confirm my theory for you three. Meet me tomorrow at noon, and please, don’t try anything until then, especially you Sweetie. I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is for you to try anything with your magic. Anyways, It’s getting late and I still have some work to do, I’ll see you all tomorrow at noon,” Twilight finished. They said their goodbyes and went home. She began to brainstorm on how to make these test. End Chapter 6 > At Sweet Apple Acres > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Applebloom ------------------- Applebloom wasn’t too happy; after all, she just got grounded for two days and had a ton of chores to do. She was a little surprised it was only for two days and not the whole week. She was glad Applejack provided her a chore list to check things off; regardless, of how dauntingly long it was. Applebloom had little time to realize each new task she started, was as if she started after a refreshing nap. It’s currently Friday morning and she was no longer grounded. She was glad she got to see Sweetie and Scootaloo yesterday during Twilights meeting, even if it was brief. Twilight had some pretty exciting things to share. Applebloom found it interesting that she could have the ability to grow plants like her potions do and heal things. Having finished her usual chores, Applebloom now had some free time before the test/experiment that was arranged last night. She decided to look for her friends. Since Sweetie was still grounded, Applebloom went off to find Scootaloo. She headed to the Ponyville Park. Once she got there she noticed it was mostly empty like it usually is this early in the morning. A lovely green field of grass expanded out with scattered trees and picnic tables could be seen. She was on a firm stone walkway going throughout it with benches neatly spaced out, offering a respite for those who may need one. Scootaloo wasn’t there, but Rainbow Dash was above doing her morning routine. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” she yelled. Rainbow looked down and came to her and did a loop before landing. “Hey Applebloom, what’s up?” Rainbow asked. “Have you seen Scootaloo? Ah got nothing to do till later today and Sweetie is still grounded.” Applebloom asked. Applebloom was a little surprised not to see Scootaloo here, as Scootaloo has often invited Applebloom and Sweetie to watch Rainbow practise. They of course, weren’t as into it as Scootaloo was. After a while, they offered to do something else, but Scootaloo refused to miss it. They’d go if Rainbow was gonna try any new stunts. Outside of that, Applebloom usually had chores in the morning and Sweetie would just switch between who she’d see when she didn’t have her own chores. Rainbow looked around and shrugged, “I don’t know where she is. I think she’s still grounded.” Applebloom was confused for a second before she recognized the keyword ‘think’ in Rainbows words, “No, she didn’t get grounded at all, she said so yesterday. If she’s not here then she must be at Sugarcube Corner. Well ah’ll see ya later Rainbow Dash.” Applebloom said leaving a confused Rainbow Dash behind. Once Applebloom made it to Sugarcube corner and entered she was disappointed to not find Scootaloo there. So she decided to go home and wait till Twilights experiment. As soon as Applebloom entered her front door she got knocked down by something and then briefly smothered. She looked up and saw Scootaloo rolling off her and looking away, “Oh! hey Applebloom sorry about that, where have you been?” If Applebloom didn’t know any better she would have thought Scootaloo hugged her. She also knew Scootaloo would deny it, and had a good excuse to fall on, no pun intended. So she chose to ignore it, “Ah’ve been looking for you, but come on we got stuff to talk about,” she said as she got up, and began to walk to her room with Scootaloo beside her. Once they got there Applebloom asked, “So you have any idea what ground magic is?” as she closed the door. “Not in the slightest,” Scootaloo replied, “but can you believe it? We found Commander Hurricanes sword! And we maybe got super powers in the process!” Scootaloo said a little too excitedly. Applebloom began to make her way to the bottom left drawer of her desk, “It would have been nice if we got our cutie marks, but finding ancient weapons is one heck of a runner up, Ah don’t think we got super powers Scootaloo. What even gave you that idea?” She stopped looking through its contents to look at Scootaloo who looked tired and afraid for a brief moment. It was soon replaced with excitement, though she still looked tired. She could tell something wasn’t right but decided to ignore it, for now at least. Scootaloo snapped out of her thoughts and quickly responded, “What do you mean what gave me that idea? Did you not hear Twilight yesterday?” Scootaloo asked with shock. “Yes Ah did and she wasn’t going around talking about us gaining super powers” Applebloom responded, as she went back to digging through the drawer. Applebloom began to wonder how a game they played recently could be buried under a bunch of other stuff. It was kind of ridiculous at this point. “Says the pony who gained super healing and plant growing abilities. If those aren't super powers then I don’t know what is!” Scootaloo responded in a knowing fashion. Applebloom finally found the box she was looking for called “Bungee Jump” with a picture of two foals happily jumping off a bridge with proper equipment on. She grabbed it with her mouth and went to place it in an open area of ground that wasn’t cluttered, “Yeah, okay Scootaloo. Anyways, how come you weren’t watching Rainbow workout?” Applebloom asked as she got out the board-game and set it up. Scootaloo stopped smiling and looked like she was thinking as, “oh, uh, umm, well I uh, YES! I mean... I decided to sleep in while I still can before school starts again, and I figured since you and Sweetie were grounded and my…” if Applebloom wasn’t busy setting up the board game she would have noticed Scootaloos face droop, “since Rainbow Dash works out every morning I figured I might as well.” “Well Ah can’t say Ah blame you on that, there’s been more than one occasion Ah wouldn’t have minded sleeping in,” Applebloom said with a sigh, “Now lets see what we can get our cutie marks in!” Applebloom got a game piece and put it on the first square that said “Start” along with Scootaloo. “Bungee Jump” was an old game Applejack brought back from Manehatten when she left as a filly, though Applebloom didn’t know that. She found it in the attic one day and they found it to be a fun game. It had one main goal and that was to bungee jump off a bridge; however, to do this they had to pass three incredible detailed set of test. Passing them was mostly luck based from dice, but chances did improve greatly if correct actions were taken. They first rolled for six random attributes to use in their quest to bungee jump. After that they take turns doing a test. The test consist of detailed events that needs to be solved with at least three of the traits they got at the start. There were one-hundred tests per set and each set centered around different objectives they needed to achieve this goal. The first set involved convincing their unwilling parents to take them bungee jumping. Since the parents in this game are always unwilling to get them the equipment to make it possible for one reason or another, it’s up to them to find the funds in the next test. The next test contains real accounting and good examples of how to do it. It also has a bunch of interesting things to do that Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie never would’ve thought of to get their cutie marks. They didn’t want to ruin such a good game so they agreed to not just ‘steal’ the ideas but instead get them as they played. This is also how Sweetie got the idea to write, direct, and act in her own play. The last test basically consisted of one-hundred actual bridges across Equestria and all the local, city, and national laws/regulations they had for bungee jumping. These were sorted into three piles from hardest to easiest. The traits gained at the start were no longer needed in this third test. The goal was to find out the proper process to make it so they could legally bungee jump or find the loophole. Needless to say those loopholes don’t exist anymore. To make a long but mostly fun four hours short; they came across the idea of holding an ultimate obstacle course race, for a racing cutie mark. They also came across fortune telling, baking, and mane styling but they already tried those. After that, they had lunch. Before they knew it, it was time to go to Twilight’s. As they came to the library they saw Sweetie making her way to the door and galloped to her. “Sweetie!” they both yelled as they approached. “We got a great idea to get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically. Sweetie forgot about opening the door and smiled as she saw them, “Oh! Hey girls I would like to try it, but I’m still grounded,” Sweetie ended with a sad frown. Applebloom was about to respond but Scootaloo beat her to it, and hugged Sweetie, “Hey we wouldn’t crusade without you, besides we have super powers now!” This seemed to cheer up and confuse her. Sweetie hugged back which caused Scootaloo to back off soon after. Applebloom face-hoofed, “No we don’t!” she replied, "and why have you been acting all huggy lately?" Applebloom said more to get on Scootaloos nerves, and maybe to try to find out what was wrong. She had no doubt something was up; between, her suddenly deciding to sleep-in, the brief face of fear, and hugging of all things. Before Scootaloo could respond the door opened with Twilight and Rarity on the other side. “Girls there you are. I’m glad you made it. Come in, come in, we have some test to do,” Twilight said while gesturing them to come in. They quickly walked inside. “Okay girls, first I believe I forgot to mention that Applebloom might have gained strength as well. Now, If you will direct your attention to over there that’s what you will be testing on,” Twilight said after closing the door and walking ahead towards the test. On the ground in front of them were the test objects in question. The test consisted of a rock as big as any of the fillies, a pile of dirt, a purple flower in a pot, a pot and seed, and three bits. “Wow Twilight you reeealy outdid yourself,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. Twilights proud smile disappeared as she looked at her test again. Applebloom couldn’t help but voice her agreement, “Yeah Twilight, Ah mean it almost looks like you started gathering these things ten minutes ago,” Twilight flushed in embarrassment. Rarity was watching the whole scene in un-amusement, “Now now girls, I’m sure Twilight has a good explanation for each and everyone of these test items,” tossing Twilight a lifeline. This was a lifeline Twilight gladly took, “Yes, I in-fact do have a good reason for each item there, but instead of explaining them now I’ll wait till after a test. Scootaloo let us start the tests with you. First I would like you to see if you can pick up that rock.” Applebloom watched as Scootaloo picked up a rock her size with little effort. Scootaloo then proceeded to hold it with one hoof before setting it down. Twilight had a quill and paper out and was writing on a note-pad. “What is this some kind of paper mache rock?” Scootaloo asked while poking at it. “No that’s a real rock, and I believe that ‘ground magic’ is why you’re able to lift it with such ease. Now see that pile of dirt?” Twilight asked pointing to said pile of dirt, “I want you to make a snow pony out of it.” Applebloom watched as Scootaloo tried and failed to make a dirt pony. During that brief display and Twilight took some quick notes. “Well, I figured you might be able to control it like pegasi can control clouds because of ‘ground magic.’ I wonder if gravel would make any difference... Anyways, Applebloom what I want you to do is see if you can grow that seed. I don’t know how this would work, but I imagine it’d be like Unicorn magic and all you have to do is focus on what you want to happen in your mind’s eye,” Twilight said as Scootaloo made her way back. “Alright Twilight ah’ll give it a shot,” Applebloom replied while walking up to the pot and seed. She looked at the seed and then began thinking about getting it to grow. This didn’t work so she concentrated harder and it still didn’t work. She decided maybe she needed to touch it for it to work. She tried that for a while and she was really getting frustrated at this point. She really wanted to be able to grow plants like her potions could. “Come on,” as frustration grew and she concentrated some more with nothing happening, “Grow,” she almost yelled lightly pounding her hoof on the seed and dirt around it to get out her frustration. She felt something strange and removed her hoof to see the seed was now a sprout. “Oh my gosh ah did it!” she was ecstatic with this fact. Sweetie and Scootaloo quickly ran up to get a look. “Wow Applebloom that’s really cool!” beamed Sweetie just happy to see Applebloom happy. Scootaloo smirked, “It’s okay but I’ve seen your potions do better.” Before Applebloom could reply Twilight announced, “Okay girls settle down, we still got two more test for you Applebloom,” She walked up to the flower and then slowly ripped a leaf of the flower halfway through with magic. “Okay Apple Bloom try to heal that leaf,” she said. Applebloom walked up to the flower put her hoof on the leaf since that seemed to work with growing the seed and concentrated on healing it. After what just happened she felt like she could definitely heal this leaf like it never even happened. Before her very eyes she watched as it very slowly put itself back together. Much like the lily pad in the cave but it was slower than that. A couple of times it seemed to stop healing and she had to concentrate harder to get it going again. After about five minutes the leaf was finally fully healed. “Wow Ah can’t believe I just healed a leaf like that,” Applebloom said excitedly. “Maybe you were right Applebloom a healing superpower wouldn’t be that lame, but it’s still an awesome thing to be able to do!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically at the end. “Yeah, it did take a long time to heal didn’t it? Still, I wish I could do something like that,” Sweetie replied while looking closely at the leaf. Twilight jumped in, “Okay Applebloom for this next test I want you to lift up the same rock Scootaloo did.” Applebloom went to the rock and discovered that it's not as heavy as she thought it would be. Still, it wasn’t nearly as light as Scootaloo made it look. She put it down once she got tired. After taking some notes Twilight said, “Okay Sweetie, this next test affects all of you. I want you to levitate one bit for up to two minutes. If you can do this without making the bit disappear or something else happening I will give you that bit and an additional five bits each to you, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. You have three tries. Don’t forget to concentrate, and exercise control,” Twilight said rather proud of her reward system. To Appleblooms and Scootaloos disappointment Sweetie failed all three tries. She almost got the third one when it began to lift up on one side but then disappeared like the other two. They could have used those bits to get stuff for some future cutie mark ideas they might have. They were done for today and they would see Twilight tomorrow for “Twilight Time.” Scootaloo stayed behind. Applebloom almost wanted to stay and see what was bothering Scootaloo, but she figured Twilight could handle it, whatever it was. Sweetie, still grounded, went home with Rarity. That left Applebloom to go home do chores and find something to do to pass the time. She quickly decided to find a secret training ground so she could practise growing plants, and healing them. That ended up taking quite a bit of time but she did eventually find such a place on their huge farm. The path was old, underused, and full of trip hazards for those not paying attention. She had some trouble getting to sleep because the thought of instantly growing an apple tree full of apples was just thrilling to her, and she’d finally get back to crusading tomorrow. End Chapter 7 > At The Fortress of Solitude! (Optional?) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Muhahahahaha, you’ll never escape me now! And your little hero, Princess Gum Drops, will never make it past the traps I set up!” Said a sinister looking gryphon with an eye scar. “You monster! I can’t believe I ever thought otherwise!” Stated the caged and beat up cow, otherwise known as Prince Bavarian future king of the cows. “Just think all it’ll take is one slip, one fall, one misstep and your fortune will be mine! Why I bet Princess Gum Drops fell into the first trap, too bad she doesn’t have wings like I do!” The gryphon mocked while smirking at the Prince. “It’s a shame your parents are so vehemently opposed to setting up an army. I’ve been able to foal-nap you four times now because of their foolishness!” The mad gryphon went into another fit of laughter. “I thought you changed! I guess a monster is always a monster!” Prince Bavarian exclaimed. The gryphon looked hurt for a moment before replying, “Me a monster? Oh please, I’m not some mindless beast that’ll attack anything in sight. I just take initiative and soon I’ll be a king!” “Mother and father would never hoof the kingdom over to you! They’ll find a way to stop you!” Yelled the Prince. “Oh no you’re right! I need to prepare! Guards!” The gryphon yelled getting the attention of two guards that were also in the throne room, who quickly straightened up and looked at the gryphon. Once he had their attention he began, “Guards it seems we will have an army upon us by nightfall! Prepare for battle! ...Oh wait! nevermind! I was mistaken. It seems that their kingdom doesn’t have an army.” The gryphon mocked while walking up to the cage, then laughed hard enough to fall to the floor. “You’ll never be king! Princess Gum Drops and her fiends will stop you like they did in the Caves of Illusion! The Temple of Despair! And the Brown Sugar Bogs!” The Prince argued. “Oh, please flying is a requirement to even get here! I laid out traps specifically for her. She’ll never make it!” The gryphon said with all certainty. Suddenly the double doors burst open with a loud bang, and smoke filled the room. As the smoke cleared it revealed none other than Princess Gum Drops, “I might not be able to fly! But I got something you’ll never have!” “And praytell what would that be?” asked the now fearful but resolute gryphon. *Knock, Knock* “I have great friends!” Princess Gum Drops Proclaimed with no ‘friends’ in sight. “You say that, but the only one I see here is you... Ahahahahahaahaha! You left them behind in my traps just to save your coltfriend? Too bad your friends never realised how bad a friend you were to them! Guards take her to the dungeons,” The gryphon said victoriously. Just as the guards got close enough to grab Princess Gum Drops they got knocked out by a pegasus who flew in quickly, and a unicorn who teleported in. *Knock, Knock, Knock* “One Minute!” “What is the meaning of this! Guards!” the gryphon yelled at the top of his lungs with no response. Apparently all the ‘guards’ he had make all those hasty traps were still resting, “It would seem I’ll have to deal with you three…” *KNOCK, KNOCK* “Fine! I get it I can’t have fun, because I’m grounded!” Sweetie yelled as she approached her door and unlocked it. It was then gently opened by Rarity, who poked her head in, “Sorry Sweetie, I didn’t want to interrupt what little fun you could get while being grounded, but it’s just you’re too loud and disturbing some of my customers,” Rarity said while looking embarrassed for some reason. “Sorry Rarity. It’s just so boring! Why’d I get grounded longer than Applebloom?” Sweetie questioned. Sweetie doesn’t get grounded too often, and when she does it’s always CMC related. “If you really must know. It’s because the note Scootaloo left said it was your idea. Honestly, I would have thought Scootaloo would think up that kind of dangerous activity…” Rarity stared into space for a second, “It was your idea right?” Sweetie sighed, “Yes it was my idea, it just seemed like it would be cool to be like Daring Doo.” “I don’t know about that… well she certainly is quite a capable mare,” Rarity said while in thought. “What?” Sweetie wasn’t sure why Rarity would say that, she thought for sure Rarity would be berating her for trying to follow a fictional character. Rarity snapped out of her musings and brought her attention back to Sweetie with an awkward smile, “Nothing, nothing you need to be concerned about darling. In any event, sorry for interrupting your play just please keep it down at least until after I close up shop,” then she gently closed the door and left Sweetie alone again. This was the first full day of her being grounded. She should have been at home with her parents, not at Rarity's. Instead her parents had to accept a last minute vacation their friends practically threw on them. Heck, if they weren’t on another vacation right now she would have been spending some quality time with them. They just got back from a vacation to, like a week ago. She thought she’d have more time with them than a week, but that was proven wrong. She went crusading with her friends, instead of going shopping with her mom or fishing with her dad. She should have known better, they even missed her fifth birthday party. It was frustrating, and it just wasn’t fair. She loved them though; they have always been very supportive and caring. She just wishes they weren’t always going on vacations or work trips like Scootaloo's own parents seem to do. Her room has a round window, bed, desk, and toy box. The furniture and walls have a white with purple outlines theme to it. She had dolls currently on the ground, in and around a pillow fort. She hasn’t played with these dolls in a long time, at least not until a little after she met Scootaloo. She never really had any friends before then. After the debacle of her fifth birthday party she kind of just shut out everypony at school and focused on learning. The game she was playing would have to wait till Rarity closed, because she was just getting to the interesting part. Trying to not vocalize what was to come next would just ruin it for her. So she moved to her bed to sulk and look outside. It’s a bright sunny day, and she was stuck inside. There wasn’t much to look at, as her window looked out at an open field and some tents. Tents would get set up every once in awhile for new business prospects but they’d usually leave, as Ponyville's marketplace supplied most of What ponies needed/wanted. Rarity was able to make a more permanent fixture in Ponyville's least traveled business zone, because she supplied a unique service and product that Ponyville didn’t really have. That and their parents helped her out with the initial cost. Time slowly went by for Sweetie, until she could finally continue where she left off. The next day Sweetie got to see her friends at the library because Twilight had an announcement. They didn’t get much room to talk though as they were technically still grounded. It was nice to see Applebloom and Scootaloo though, and apparently Scootaloo wasn’t grounded. She kind of felt bad for Scootaloo; if there was ever a time to ground them, she would have to agree that they earned it this time. That didn’t mean she liked it, far from it. She should be out crusading with her friends, not trapped inside. The meeting with Twilight was very interesting, if brief. She couldn’t help but feel as thrilled as Rarity in going to the Gala. They found a sword and journal left behind by Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead! She has grown up celebrating Hearth Warming Eve every winter with her family, and heard the story of them several times. Now she’s learning that she and her friends stumbled on something that those famous ponies hid from ponykind, well she couldn’t help but feel great. She felt like she shouldn’t be grounded, but she should be rewarded. Sadly, Rarity didn’t change her stance on the subject. Luckily, Sweetie would get to see her friends again tomorrow thanks to Twilight. Twilight had a test planned for them. The next day Sweetie totally failed to earn herself and the her friends some bits. Her stupid magic was now on the fritz and it could be very dangerous at that. It reminded her of Twilight's cutie mark story. She was actually kind of scared of her horn, she didn’t want to accidently turn Rarity into a lawn ornament. She at least got to somewhat hang out with her friends. Still it wasn’t crusading, and it’s been so boring without being able to do stuff with them. It was cool watching Scootaloo pick up a large rock like it was “paper mache” as Scootaloo put it. Applebloom could heal things. Sweetie wished she could do that. She just hated seeing anypony or anything really in pain or sick. The sapling Applebloom grew was also pretty neat. After the test she went straight back to the Carousel Boutique with Rarity. Rarity has been too busy to do more than make meals and give commands ‘like brush your teeth,’ and ‘go to bed,’ even though she’s been in her bedroom pretty much all day. The day was at a close and she spent it drawing pictures and sulking. She would no longer be grounded tomorrow. Finally. End Chapter 8 > At The Ponyville Library part 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Scootaloo ------------------- Scootaloo waited patiently trying not to fall asleep as Twilight cleaned what remained of the test they just went through. Sweetie, Rarity, and Applebloom had already left. Spike had some errands to run for Twilight and some new issues of comics to get or something. “Oh," Twilight said, drawing her out of her sleepy daze as she shot up at attention, "hey Scootaloo did you want to talk about something?” “Yeah,” she answered before yawning. She was so tired. Nightmares plagued her. She'd found herself waking up screaming more than a couple times the night before. Not only that but she couldn't get Rainbow out of her mind as it reminded her of the bitter past. “Oh? What about?” asked Twilight, while sweeping up the dirt that Scootaloo couldn’t make a dirt pony out of. "I just wanted to tell you that I’m...” she froze, ‘I’m a coward, a weakling, not even worth... worth... I, I can’t let her know I’m scared of flying.’ She noticed Twilight staring at her in concern, “I mean..." her mind raced, "I-I wanted to get a look at that machine you have in the basement and maybe help you fix it.” It was a quick excuse that she came up with on the spot. Did she just sign herself up for work on summer break? She was more tired than she realized. Twilight contemplated the idea for a little bit then clapped her hooves together and gave an excited squee, “Oh my gosh Scootaloo that’s brilliant, and it sounds like lots of fun. It could be our own little project.” She smiled at Twilight's child like enthusiasm. It was a pleasant change that caught her off guard. She latched onto the feeling for dear life, “When can we start?” She asked excitedly. Twilight put a hoof to her chin, “If I recall we shouldn’t be getting some of the replacement parts until Monday, but the rest will take a little longer so we could start on Monday.” “Aww, alright," she resided, "Thanks Twilight!” She gave Twilight a quick hug, without even realizing she had, and quickly ran outside. ------------------- Twilight ------------------- Twilight was getting stressed. She had soo many things to do. First she had planned to spend most her time reading Equestria’s laws this week. She had other things planned like ‘Twilight Time’ and going to the spa with Rarity. Now that she thinks about it, she didn’t have much planned, she just knew reading all those laws would take up more time than she’d given herself. She decided to take a decent break after this week before getting back to Equestria’s laws. In any event, the CMC derailed her plans for this week pretty thoroughly. Not only did she discover a bound with them that they unofficially have, that made her feel nostalgic and just great, they also stumbled on one of the most exciting finds in her lifetime. Sweetie then proceeded to blow her mind figuratively and her machine in a more literal sense by possible having more magic than Celestia and Luna combined. Now she was stuck between wanting to make them her students officially, translating the journal of Chancellor Puddinghead, fixing the machine that got burnt out, or doing what she had planned. Twilight made up her mind when a tired looking Scootaloo asked if she could help fix the machine with her. She was a little surprised when Scootaloo hugged her, but it left her with no doubts. She would begin the process of making them into her students officially, and continue to read Equestria’s laws. As much as she wanted to get that journal translated it was just too frustrating, even the dry text of the Equestrian laws was prefered to the kind of ‘creative’ use of Old Equestrian that Puddinghead used. She also figures that Puddingheads summary of future topics in the journal was good enough for now, as the test she just put the CMC through pretty much proved her theory about what probably happened to them. She spent the rest of her day preparing a lecture for ‘Twilight Time’ after Scootaloo left, then went back to reading Equestrian laws. The next day Twilight got up bright and early and prepared for something a little different than what usually happened during ‘Twilight Time.’ It wasn’t long before the CMC came in and got settled in there spots waiting to be presented their instruments of learning. “Good morning, Applebloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo!” Twilight said cheerfully. “Good morning Twilight!” Sweetie and Applebloom said happily as they waited. Scootaloo brought a hoof to her mouth and yawned, “Good morning.” “Today will start the beginning of something a little different than the other times you’ve been here, because today I got a lecture set-up for each of you should you need it, all you need to do is ask and I will help you solve and understand the problem. This will go for future lessons as well. Now lets begin,” Twilight said as she levitated Alchemy supplies/tools to Applebloom and the grandfather clock still in pieces from last week to Scootaloo. “What about me?” asked a sad looking Sweetie. Everypony focused on Sweetie as whatever she would usually do changed radically, even if the goal remained the same. “Sweetie I would like you to come with me so we don’t disrupt Scootaloo and Applebloom while they begin…” she brought her attention to Scootaloo, “Sorry Scootaloo, I know you need help with that grandfather clock and I promise I’ll help you as soon as I can, just don’t give up yet. I know you can figure it out by yourself. You’re a smart filly,” Twilight then looked at Sweetie briefly and said, “Sweetie if you’ll follow me.” They departed from the rest, and went downstairs into the basement. “Sweetie tell me, what do you think about having as much or more magic than me?” inquired Twilight once they made it to the bottom. “It’s scary.” Sweetie answered while looking down. Twilight's ears perked up, “Really? And what makes you say that?” She thought Sweetie would say it was neat or something along those lines. Sweetie slightly kicked out a foreleg, “Well, it’s just. When I blew up your machine over there,” Sweetie said while pointing to said machine, “that was a shock. When I tried levitating those bits yesterday, they just disappeared and I don’t know what happened to them. Then I remembered what you said when you told your cutie mark story; about how you turned your parents into plants, and how magic bolted out of you randomly, I just don’t want to turn anypony into a lamp or worse,” Sweetie said fearfully with pleading eyes. Twilight was a little impressed by Sweeties forethought. She quickly gave Sweetie a hug, “Hey you don’t need to worry about that… Transmorphing spells are always temporary, and no harm will come to the affected pony.” Sweetie hugged back, “Thanks Twilight.” “No problem,” Twilight backed off and began, “Now, why I brought you down here is so we can talk about magic in general without distracting Applebloom and Scootaloo. So tell me Sweetie how does magic work?” Sweetie looked hopelessly confused, “Um, aren't you the Element of Magic shouldn’t you know that already?” Twilight chuckled, “Yes, I do; well to some degree at least, but I want to know what you know.” “Oh, Well magic requires a lot of concentration and you’ll be able to get it to do all kinds of different things…” Sweetie trailed off as she realized she had no clue how magic worked, just that it did. Twilight was quick to take over, “You’re partially right Sweetie. Concentration is a big part of manipulating magic. Magic is a force of nature, it’s all around us and within us. Unicorns and Alicorns have the unique ability to directly manipulate the magic within ourselves with our horns to accomplish any number of amazing feats. None of that explains how magic works though… Sadly even I can’t explain that, it’s one mystery that even the great Starswirl couldn’t solve.” Before Twilight could continue Sweetie couldn’t help but wonder out loud, “Then why’d you ask me that?” Twilight offered a meek smile, “I was just curious,” she was reusing a joke Celestia once used on her. “um, okay...” Sweetie said with an confused look. Twilight nodded to Sweetie, “It’s alright Sweetie, never be afraid to ask questions if you,” Twilight gestured to herself, “don’t know something,” she finished with a goofy smile. Sweetie noticed this and laughed getting the joke, once she was near done Twilight continued, “As I was saying, no pony knows how magic works. Yet we have several thousands of books dedicated to spells that can be cast using it. Now tell me Sweetie what does your beginners guide to spells say about casting a levitation spell?” “Well, it says the caster must keep focus on the object to be levitated while in a calm state of mind. While doing that the caster must provide a steady stream of magic to their horn and ‘reach’ to the object.” Sweetie answered quickly. Twilight wasn’t surprised with her quick response she knew Sweetie probable read that book three times by now, or at least understood it good enough. She could tell by Sweeties progress last ‘Twilight Time,’ they had, “Correct, now do you know what it says about the night light spell?” “Oh oh oh, it says to think about happy thoughts while imagining your horn lit up, and to send a small stream of magic to your horn,” Sweetie answered proudly. “Correct again, now I’m going to tell you how I cast a teleportation spell. It’s a simple enough concept, it just requires a decent amount of magic and a lot of concentration when you first try it… Not that I’m saying you should try it… I mean,” Twilight just realised she’s telling Sweetie how to do an advanced spell that could backfire horrible. She was now trying to get herself out of the hole she just dug herself; luckily, Sweetie decided to drag her out. “It’s okay Twilight, I don’t have any intention on using my magic without you there. It’s bad enough I can make things disappear just by trying to levitate them. I do not want to find out what would happen if I tried to teleport,” Sweetie stated. Twilight smiled gratefully at her and began anew, “Anyways, to teleport I had to think of a location and every little detail about that location. While doing that I also have to store up a decent amount of magic in my horn and think of things that’re exciting; while trying to remember the details of the location that I’m teleporting to. And let me tell you, unless you’re teleporting to an amusement park, keeping an excited frame of mind is hard while thinking of grass, trees, and a nice relaxing sunny day…” Twilight trailed off, remembering how much she use to struggle with that spell. “My point is, it was pretty hard to do at first. Now the more I teleported the more easier it became, I’m sure you’ve noticed that while you were practising levitation?” Sweetie nodded and Twilight continued, ”A spell is not anymore difficult or easier to cast than it always has, it’s just us getting use to manipulating the magic within ourselves and projecting it a certain way. Kind of like writing. Surely you remember trying to write letters and getting better at it? That’s how our horns work, instead of writing letters to form words, it’s manipulating magic within us to form spells. Now I can cast a teleportation spell without trying to think of those excited thoughts, and with more vague details of the area around me just as long as I’ve been there and I have enough magic for the distance. I can do it pretty easily now.” Twilight finished then walked over to the a desk and pulled a feather out of a drawer with her magic and laid it on the ground next to Sweetie. Sweetie looked astonished, “That must be why Rarity can levitate so many things, because she’s always doing it!” She looked down in thought, “But how am I gonna get better at magic, if I just make things disappear?” Sweetie questioned now looking at the feather by her hooves. Twilight had something mind for just that question, “After I got my cutie mark I was unable to control my magic,” Sweetie looked back up to Twilight forgetting about the feather, “there was one occasion that I set my desk on fire trying to do the night light spell and a couple others that I’d rather not admit to. Celestia was there to help me out,” Twilight gave a fond smile, “and I want to be here to help you out,” it was very cute the rosey smile Sweetie was giving her now. Twilight was definitely glad she decided to make them her official students. Though she still needs to ask them. She was a little worried they’d say no. So for now she’s trying to ‘wow’ them and prove to them that she’s up for the task. “Sweetie, look at the feather before you and concentrate,” as Sweetie did so she continued, “I noticed that you could envelope an item in your magic but when you tried to move it, it disappeared. I didn’t have the same problem with levitation you do, but I think this just might work. I want you to envelope it in your magic but don’t move it, just leave it there.” Soon the feather was covered in a light green glow as was Sweeties horn, “Now Sweetie I want you to maintain hold of the feather and close your eyes then relax,” Sweetie slumped down slightly. “breath in… breath out… breath in… breath out, keep your eyes closed and remain relaxed. Now remember the feather in your magical grasp? I want you to imagine it on the ground next to you just like it is right now. Everything else around you is a dark void. It’s just you, that delicate feather, and my voice. I want you to reach to that fragile feather with your magic like you did not to long ago.” Twilight watched as the glow from Sweeties horn dimmed in brightness, “Now I want you to lift it to eye level so you can see it better as there’s nothing else to look at.” Twilight was glad this was working as well as it did on her as a filly. She saw the feather slowly rise to Sweeties closed eyes. Twilight felt proud, “You know Sweetie before I got my cutie mark I couldn’t even get my magic to work. It was like I had no magic at all. That’s probably why I was so obsessed with learning everything about it that I could get my hooves on. After I got my cutie mark I had problems doing simple things like levitation because I didn’t know how to regulate how much magic to put into a spell it was always full throttle. This is a technique that Celestia has taught me and Zecora improved upon. It helps to regulate the amount of magic put into a spell. It’s something most books don’t bother to mention, because most unicorns simply don’t have enough magic within themselves to not struggle when first learning just about any new spell. Now I want you to open your eyes.” Twilight watched as Sweetie opened her eyes to a floating feather. Sweetie was quick to squeak in excitement. Not soon after that, the feather simple disappeared from sight. Twilight had a feeling something would happen, but she didn’t know what. “I, I... what?” Sweetie questioned and blinked a couple times. “It’s okay Sweetie, we’re making progress. I think we’ve been down here long enough. Let's go check on Scootaloo and Applebloom,” they soon began to make their way upstairs. The rest of ‘Twilight Time’ went smoothly. Scootaloo was able to figure out what was missing with the grandfather clock, but Twilight did need to explain some words to her. Applebloom was only getting closer to making an apple tree sprout out like a zap apple tree with her potions. As they were leaving Twilight couldn’t help but ask Sweetie once again not to use her magic unless she’s present. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sweetie was no longer grounded and the Cutie Mark Crusaders could finally get back to Crusading. After they went to Twilights to for ‘Twilight Time’ of course. They already had an activity in mind to get their cutie marks, thanks to the board game. They drew out a map the Ponyville marketplace and what they had to do to pass each obstacle. At one point they found a way up a building and two jumps to make it to the ground though the last jump was a little high for their taste so they matted the ground with hay. Today they get their extreme racing cutie marks, or at least that’s the plan. They’re going to do the race during a prime shopping time to ensure more obstacles. Once they had the course plotted out and the rules made they practiced some of the obstacles to make sure they’re even doable. Jumping between a couple fences, crawling under a business stand, running between tents, and of course jumping off a roof low enough to just be safe. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dream Catcher is a blue unicorn stallion with a light blue mane and tail. His eyes are yellow and his cutie mark is an Buffalo style dream catcher. He recently quit his first job at the Hay Burger to pursue a food cart enterprise. He had dabbled in various subjects while at college and retained what he learned pretty well. He recently paid off his debt and saved up enough to buy the cart and supplies for his business. The cart itself was made out of poor quality wood that has very little strength. It was however well made and cheap enough to replace the parts for it. The roof is sturdy and slightly slanted for rainwater to fall down. Four rounded pillars made of the same type of wood used for decoration holded the roof up. It gave the sides a nice dream catcher weave look to it. It didn’t have a way for him to go inside which was a major oversight on his part, as being in front of the product he sold but not behind something like a counter just felt odd to him. He could live with it though. Inside were four shelves in the back to hold Cinnamon Rolls, about fifty in total. Just below them was a vat of icing to dip the cinnamon rolls in. He had a nice stylized painting all around the lower half of his cart to make it look good. He also got good wheels. His plan is to travel Equestria and sell cinnamon rolls dipped in an excessive amount of icing. Unfortunately, he choose Ponyville to start out his enterprise. The market place was packed with ponies and he needed to find a place to set up. He found that place next to a building with hay padding the ground. He’s not sure why, but the other shop owners looked at him weirdly. He ignored it. After some time he made some good sales. In fact, he only had twenty left, so he knew things were going well. That is, until he heard a thumping noise on the roof of his cart. He looked up to see an orange filly with a purple mane looking down from the roof of the cart scanning everything below her. Before he could even ask her to get down from there; he heard yet another thump on the cart followed by a crack from somewhere on the cart. He found his voice finally when he saw who made the second noise, “Hey get off that before it breaks, it’s really cheap wood,” The second intruder, a yellow filly with a red mane and pink bowtie responded, “Ah would but Ah’m not seeing a safe way down, and you took our safe way down.” “I told you we should have left a sign saying to keep this spot clear,” the orange filly said. “Yes you did, but how was Ah supposed to know somepony would park their cart right…” *Thump, Crack* The back end of supports for the roof snapped like the third-rate wood it is. The hefty roof swung down, breaking through the inferior wood of the dreamcatcher weave design on both sides. As it did this it began to noticeable tip over and Dream quickly backed up. “Ahhhhh!” He heard three fillies scream as the cart began to fall though that was short lived. *Crash, Splosh* Once the cart hit the ground it basically imploded on itself, but not before the vat of icing exploded outwards. … “ooooo, what happened? what is this stuff?” a filly asked now covered in icing. “Whatever it is it taste good,” another filly responds licking some icing from her face. “Hey you’re right this is good,” yet another responded. Dream Catcher was to put it lightly shocked. He could not handle disasters well at all. His brain basically shut down. He hardly remembers the three fillies finally noticing him and quickly running up in front of him to apologize. He hardly remembers giving them his name and saying it was okay. He began to think about what to do now. He barely recognized the fillies question on what they were covered with, only repeating their description of “white stuff” as his answer. He had more important things to think about. He completely ignored their last attempts to talk to him. As he looked at the ruined cart he noticed the wheels were still good so he could sell those and he still had what he made from his sales. The fillies at one point or another left him alone, after being ignored for long enough. He finally had a plan of action. First, he would salvage and sell what he can, the wheels for sure. Then, he would buy a suit and take the next train out of town. After that, he would find a different profession that doesn’t directly involve carts. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Ah’m pretty sure it’s icing, Ah mean there were cinnamon rolls all around us on the ground,” Applebloom said while in between two other icing covered fillies. They were walking to Sweet Apple Acres to get a bath. “Yeah, well he called it ‘white stuff’ and we should respect that; I mean, we did destroy his cart,” Scootaloo stated. “Oh this is no fair, how come I’m always the one destroying stuff?” Sweetie complained. “He said it was okay Sweetie, besides all of us broke it not just you,” Scootaloo responded looking across Applebloom to her. They already figured that racing wasn’t their special talent. They decided to try and get more ideas from the board game after they took their bath. They did get some ideas for tomorrow. They weren’t as exciting as racing but they had to give them a try. Applebloom noticed Scootaloo hasn’t been on her scooter recently and got curious. Scootaloo already had a lie picked out for this question and said she lost it and not to worry about it. Sweetie and Applebloom of course begrudgingly accepted this. They’d miss being pulled by Scootaloo on Appleblooms red wagon, even if it’s temporary. Eventually, they went their separate ways as it was getting dark. The next day they unsuccessfully tried for their cutie marks again. Everything from mowing the lawn to bush sculpting was not their special talent. The owner of the house would have been perplexed by this as her yard now looked fantastic. That didn’t stop the crusaders from walking away in shame, though they gladly did take her bits. They tried some other things like cleaning chimneys, delivering packages, and even doing the dishes at Sugarcube Corner. They didn’t get the results they were looking for, but for some reason they kept getting bits. Scootaloo was happy more so how today went than the others. She got to spend some quality time with her best friends and earn some bits. She wouldn’t admit it to them but things have been pretty surreal for her lately and not in a good way. It was nice to have some normalcy back even if it was a little different. Once they went their separate ways she figured she’d check in on Twilight to see if things were still good to go for tomorrow, and they were. Scootaloo was still getting nightmares about falling to her doom. At least she knew she had control whether or not they came true, but that didn't stop her from losing sleep among other reasons. Now Monday, Scootaloo was looking forward to getting her head around the machine in Twilight’s basement. Before she could make it though, she had an encounter with Rainbow Dash. ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- When Rainbow Dash was at the hospital she scheduled a physical for next Tuesday. It’s a routine checkup that she thought was pointless but knew the Wonderbolts would consider while looking at their list of reserves. She was still put off by Scootaloo, ‘Me, a sister? Yeah right, I’m not responsible like Applejack or Rarity. I mean they run their own businesses… Besides it’s not like we have the same mother,’ She thought, though she couldn’t help but feel flattered? She still wasn’t sure what she felt. Rainbow never had what she considered to be a family. She was an orphan for as long as she could remember. She was adopted once for about two weeks. At first she was ecstatic and everything seemed great. Then they changed. She quickly realised they were more interested in the fact she did a sonic rainboom to impress other ponies. They pressured her to do it again and when she couldn’t; they hired somepony to train her till she could. Things got pretty bad and they didn’t seem to care one bit. She refused to continue their training and acted out. They were quick to kick her back to the orphanage. After that, she didn’t think too highly of families until she met Applejack. The first two days after the incident, Rainbow did her morning exercise routine and scattered some rain showers around Ponyville and napped. She made sure her team kept up on these as last time she didn’t a tree fell through Twilights place. There was also a lot to clean up after, regardless of their attempts to prevent that. Friday morning while exercising she heard a yell below her and looked down to see Applebloom there. She came down to see what’s up. She quickly learned she was looking for Scootaloo who was grounded or so she assumed. Applebloom told her otherwise which left her confused. How could Scootaloo not be grounded, if her parents are supposed to be overprotective? How come Scootaloo wasn’t here if she wasn’t grounded? Did they ground Scootaloo from her? Scootaloo always watched her exercise every morning. She didn’t think anything of it the last two days she didn’t show up, because she assumed Scootaloo was grounded. She was gonna ask Scootaloo what’s going on next time she gets the chance. The next two days were hectic as she remembered the reason why they had a big storm last summer. She had to scatter and disperse rain showers on a constant schedule, it wasn’t hard to do it just seemed to never stop. No sight of Scootaloo during her morning routines and when she has seen Scootaloo she had a schedule to keep. She had considered going to Scootaloo’s house to find out what’s going on, but really didn’t want to deal with her parents if they did tell Scootaloo to stay away from her. Monday she didn’t have much to do so she flew around Ponyville looking for Scootaloo. As another morning without Scootaloo watching her and not knowing why gave her a nagging feeling she just couldn’t ignore. She eventually spotted her walking along the street and quickly flew down next to her. “Heya squirt where have you been?” She asked while smiling but Scootaloo kept walking a little bit before turning around. “Oh hey Rainbow Dash, I’ve been crusading as usual,” Scootaloo replied somewhat loudly. Rainbow stopped smiling, she didn’t like the way she answered. It sounded fine, but at the same time she found it disturbing and she doesn’t know why. It was missing something. “That’s cool, so this may sound crazy but I was worried for a second that your parents grounded you from me or something crazy like that because I haven’t seen you during any of my morning workouts lately,” she said fishing for any truth to this thought that began to plague her since she talked to Applebloom. Scootaloo blinked a couple times before shaking her head and answering. “What no I wasn’t grounded from you, I just... I just... decided that it’s summer and I might as well sleep in while I can before school starts again.” Rainbow pawed the ground, she just realized that she actually kind of missed Scootaloo. She wanted to prolong their interaction, “Oh, That sounds like a good plan to me... Do you want to fly around for a little bit?” Rainbow asked. There’s no way Scootaloo could resist this offer. Scootaloo’s face lit up for a millisecond; before going to one of fear and sorrow and then back to its previous state. “That sounds like fun, but I got to get to Twilights we are gonna disassemble the machine Sweetie blew up. I’m actually looking forward to this.” Rainbow heard about that incident from Applejack. “Oh... Okay, well I’ll see ya later then,” Rainbow replied and flew off. Rainbow felt something was off and it was driving her crazy. She just realised she could have flown Scootaloo to Twilights, well it was too late now. ------------------- Scootaloo ------------------- Scootaloo was left drained from her encounter with Rainbow. Rainbow had not changed and it was some comfort to know that she did care. It just wasn’t what Scootaloo really wanted and that was something her heart just wouldn’t accept even if her mind already had. She’s glad Pinkie was able to help her understand things about her past better, but she didn’t need Pinkie for this. Once Scootaloo made it to Twilight’s, they went to disassembling the machine. Twilight had already read the manual. She described what each piece of the machines function is to Scootaloo as they went along. It was long and tedious, but Scootaloo enjoyed her time with Twilight. It was pretty much an all day project with how many different parts the machine was made of. Eventually Scootaloo found the courage to confront Twilight about her flying once they were nearly done, “Twilight, can you Pinkie promise to tell no pony this?” Twilight looked at Scootaloo critically for a second before saying, “cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” while making the appropriate gestures. “Now what is so important you don’t want me to tell anypony?” Scootaloo gulped and blurted out, “I’m scared of flying!” She waited to see if Twilight would laugh or worse give her pity then continued, “I tried to fly a couple days ago and when I flapped my wings the next thing I know I was high in the sky, really really high. At first I thought somepony had taken me up there as a joke or something but I saw nopony. I was so scared, I passed out, and when I came to I was much closer to the ground, I thought I was gonna die, luckily I was able to glide... I’m... I’m scared of my wings. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Twilight looked concerned and quickly gave her a hug. Scootaloo half committedly hugged back; it was nice to get a hug, though she wouldn’t admit it. After a couple seconds Twilight detached, “It’s ok Scootaloo we’ll find out why that happened soon enough and I am sure Rainbow Dash wouldn’t mind teaching you how to fly so something like that does not happen again.” Scootaloo previously would have loved that idea, but she just couldn’t face Rainbow, “No, I want you to teach me,” it hurt too much think about, so she didn’t. She also definitely couldn’t let Rainbow know she was afraid of flying, of all things. Twilight looked shocked by Scootaloo’s answer, “Why don’t you want Rainbow to teach you? She’s a great teacher when it comes to flying. I thought you would’ve jumped at the chance for Rainbow to train you.” “Because you’re a good teacher, and who better to teach me to fly then somepony who’s learning to fly themselves?” Scootaloo was pleased with her reseasoning. She didn’t want anypony to know what she’s been going through if she could help it. She didn’t need them questioning why a lack of a sister would make her feel like an empty void was in her, even if she had the perfect excuse for it. She didn’t need Pinkie for this! Twilight looked at Scootaloo questioningly, “Well Scootaloo, if what you say is true and you suddenly rocketed into the air, I don’t trust my flying abilities enough to be able to protect you if anything like that happens again. I would feel much safer if Rainbow Dash was there.” Scootaloo couldn’t think of anything that could argue against that. She didn’t like it, but she relented, “Fine. If she must be there, then she must be there but you’ll be the one teaching me not her.” Twilight looked at her oddly then agreed, and they went back to reassembling the machine. Once they were done they decided that Wednesday would be a good day to start flight training if Rainbow could make it. ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- The next day Rainbow went to visit Twilight and asked if she noticed anything strange with Scootaloo lately. Twilight was quick to answer, “Well besides the fact she can now lift up boulders like they’re pebbles, yes I have noticed her acting a little strange. She has been more eager to learn engineering, even yesterday we took apart the Thaunumatic 6000... She also has been more affectionate. Why? Is there something I should be aware of?” “No,” Rainbow said a little too fast, “I mean, I just think she’s been acting weird lately. I haven’t seen her when I get my morning workout in and she’s always there,” she said more cooly. She can’t be the only who has noticed something off with Scootaloo. Twilight looked at Rainbow with suspicion, “Okay, Rainbow Dash I didn’t want to have to do this but you leave me no choice what is going on with you two? Because yesterday she also asked me if I could teach her how to fly I also set up our first lesson for Wednesday.” Rainbow Dash was shocked but she quickly snapped out of it as the only logical conclusion came to her head, “Oh I see she’s planning on trying to impress me with,” but she was cut off by Twilight. “No,” Twilight said sternly, “I asked her why she wanted me to teach her how to fly instead of you and she said, ‘who better to teach me than somepony who’s also learning to fly?’” Rainbow couldn’t help but panic, ‘She doesn’t want me to teach her how to fly?’ Rainbow thought, ‘But, but why?’ was all she managed to think before Twilight snapped her out of it. “Dash it’s not the end of the world, now tell me what’s going on so I can help you.” Twilight said seriously. “The only thing that happened between us is…” Rainbow stopped. Scootaloo seemed to want to keep where she lives a secret. Mentioning that Scootaloo showed her where she lives might make Twilight seek it out. The only other thing she could think of was, “Well I told her I’m not her sister, but I don’t think that’s it I mean she didn’t seem to take it hard at all heck we even laughed it off as the stupid misunderstanding it was. We’re still good,” Rainbow said probable trying to convince herself more than Twilight. Twilight was looking at Rainbow in shock, “I thought you decided to be Scootaloos sister as well” Rainbow was agitated by this, “But I never said I would be her sister! I just said I would take her under my wing, she didn’t seem to take it hard at all when I told her,” Rainbow said somewhat loud and defensively. After being told the same thing for the third time. She didn’t understand why everypony seemed to suddenly think she’s Scootaloos sister, when she isn’t. Even Applejack, of all ponies thought that they were sisters. “Rainbow. Calm. Down,” Twilight said in an commanding voice, “She obviously took it harder then she let on. She seemed pretty intent on not letting you be any part of the practice.” Rainbow just looked at Twilight. Twilight just lied to her face. There’s no way Scootaloo would ever not want her to be part of her training, right? Before Rainbow could respond Twilight continued. “Think of it this way, Rainbow. Fluttershy is one of your best friends long before you met me right? Well, how would you feel if she came up to you and told you she never thought about you as friend, but just somepony who she knew from flight school?” Twilight asked. This confused and angered Rainbow, “What? Fluttershy has nothing to do with this! She would never do that because we are friends!” Rainbow half yelled. “Rainbow, think about this for a second, If I understand this right, then Scootaloo thought for pretty much a whole year you were her sister, and then you go and tell her you’re not. What do you think that does to somepony?" Twilight tried to explain in a different way. Having never been in a real family and being frustrated that she hasn’t got to say what she thinks happened, Twilights words went in one ear and out the other, “I don’t think that’s why she’s acting different. Something had to happen to her in the cave!” It made sense to her, after the incident in the cave Scootaloo stopped showing up to watch her practise/workout. She had to be possessed with some crazy magic like Rarity had been. Twilight had enough, she would go to Tartarus before she let Rainbow make a huge mistake with one of her students, and the filly who looks up to Rainbow like a hero. She decided to use drastic measures to get her point across. This was going to hurt both their feelings but she felt it had to be done. “You know what Rainbow Dash? I’m done with you. If you want to act like that around everypony you meet, and not listen to reason, then so be it. Good day. We’re no longer friends.” Twilight felt absolutely horrible saying this, but kept the act up as best she could. Rainbow was confused. Why would Twilight lie to her like this? It was almost like she meant it to. "Yeah, okay Twilight, ha ha, very funny, and I'm giving up on my goals of becoming a Wonderbolt. You can't expect me to believe that," Rainbow replied sarcastically, though some nervousness crept through. Twilight looked back at her coldly, and said with deadly seriousness, "Rainbow, if you make me repeat myself one more time, I'll make sure you never join the Wonderbolts. As you may know I’ve been reading the laws of Equestria. Article forty-six, section four gives me as a Princess of Equestria the ability resign and demote military personnel. The Wonderbolts are part of the Equestrian military, you might argue that they’re independent but you’re wrong because article forty-seven section two gives me as a Princess the ability to forbid any citizen from joining the military. In short, I can make it so you’ll never be a Wonderbolt... Come to think of it, that’s a good idea! I should have them teach me how to fly, now get lost, because I AM DONE WITH YOU!" Twilight yelled. Rainbow Dash was beyond shocked. She felt like her whole world just got ripped apart. How could all that time they spent together, all the things they’ve done together mean so little to Twilight? She made to respond but when she looked at Twilight she only saw a serious face just daring her to be sarcastic again. Did she even know who Twilight was? She thought Twilight actually cared about her. She felt this once before with Gilda except it felt far worse now. She felt completely betrayed, “If that’s how you feel, then I’ll see you later or whatever,” She turned around to fly away before the tears she felt welling up in her eyes began to fall, but Twilight put a magical grip on her tail and stopped her just as she tried to take off. “Rainbow tell me how did that make you feel?” Twilight asked while holding Rainbow in her magic. “What do you mean, your highness?” Rainbow responded in a defeated tone as tears begin to fall, not wanted to admit how hurt she felt. That was the last straw for Twilight. She quickly threw herself on Rainbow in a hug and apologized several times and cried a little. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn’t mean it at all. You’re one of my best friends and don’t you ever forget that! I just did that so you might understand what Scootaloo’s going through.” Rainbow felt comforted by this, but that awful feeling lingered. “Jeez, Twilight talk about tough love, I actually thought you… Nevermind, I think I know what Scootaloo is going through,” Rainbow said while getting out of Twilights tear filled hug, “but what do I do about it? I can’t be her sister, we’re not related.” Rainbow questioned as Twilight calmed down. “Well that doesn’t matter, but if you won’t be her sister then have you apologized to her?” Twilight questioned. Rainbow would argue that it does matter whether or not they’re related, but then again even Applejack didn’t seem to think it did, “No, I didn’t think I needed to, but now I can see why I will. Thanks Twilight, and Twilight, NEVER!” Rainbow struck a hoof out to Twilights chest, “Do that again,” she was still feeling the after effects of such a possible revelation. Twilight just smiled even if she technically just got hit, “Fair enough. Just so you know I did manage to get you in on the flight training with Scootaloo, but the rest is up to you.” Twilight said in an informative way. Rainbow thanked Twilight for doing that. Then they talked about other stuff. Apparently Twilight has a spa appointment with Rarity in a few minutes. She told Twilight about the physical examination she has for later today and thanked her again for the help. She asked if Twilight really could make it so she could never be a Wonderbolt. Turns out, that Twilight doesn’t know, and that she made it up, just to get the point across. Twilight once again apologized to Rainbow and said that she’d never do that to her. They finally said their goodbyes as Twilight had a spa appointment. Rainbow went to go get a nap and think about how she was going to apologize to Scootaloo. End Chapter 9 > At The Ponyville Marketplace (Optional) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ponyville marketplace is usually a full of various venders, tents, and carts. Ponies usually can be heard bartering for products and services. Today was more chaotic than usual, thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Just about everypony in town knew about them. It might be a growing community, but it was still small enough where word got around about those three fillies. For today, they accidently destroyed a cart that got them covered in something sticky, which the latter happens to them more often than they would think possible. They apologised to the owner and he technically did say it was ‘okay’ so they left to go get cleaned; after, the owner of said cart didn’t respond much to their further attempts at redemption. On the ground and in sweet sticky ruins. That’s what remained of Dream Catcher’s cart. Once the three fillies left and he snapped out of his stupor, he went to work. First, he separated all the junk from the stuff he could actually sell. The roof, shelves, and wheels were all good, though he did need remove the icing that covered them. Once he cleaned them, he bunched all the wooden scraps, cinnamon rolls, and hay he couldn’t sell together. It wasn’t a difficult task as the icing covering all of those things, to some degree, was beginning to get hard while exposed to air and made them stick together. Though, it was annoying cleaning his hooves afterwards. He left that mess there like he had no part in it, and swiftly went up to one of the merchants across from him. Well as swiftly as he could while carrying four wheels, two shelves, a roof for a cart, and a bag of bits. The merchant could only look at him in amusement as he slowly got closer, then Dream spoke up, “Excuse me sir, sorry to bother you, but do happen to know where I could buy a decent suit by chance?” The merchant, who appeared to sell ‘knick knacks and padded locks’ if the sign is anything go by, put on a huge creepy smile before responding, *snort* “Well, ha…” he quickly breathed in and composed himself, “As a matter of fact I do fine sir! I know for a fact you can get top quality suits, dresses, and just about anything else fashion related at Ponyville's very own ha-ahem, Carousal Boutique. The owner is Rarity and although I’ve never been there myself, word around town is that she’ll give you a nice discount if you have an interesting story to tell about, ha-hmm sorry, how you came to seek her out. So why are you looking for a suit might I ask?” He asked with more composure. Dream felt he had no reason to lie or be secretive. After all, he planned on getting out of this town as soon as he could, “Well, I had planned to go around Equestria selling cinnamon rolls and you saw how that went,” the merchant grinned briefly, but he continued not noticing it, “Anyways, I plan on taking the next train out of here once I sell these cart parts and buy a suit. Then hopefully the suit well help me get a decent job wherever I end up.” The merchant smile was so creepy, “Well then, I HIGHLY recommend you go to the Carousel Boutique as everything I’ve seen come out of there has been great. Do not forget to tell her your story, with as much detail needed to make it interesting. For example, it was three fillies that ruined your dream to be a traveling sales pony,” the merchant frowned, “Wow, that sounds horrible…” he resumed smiling, “but then again, I’m not a storyteller; however, I’m sure your story is worth a good discount.” Dream asked for directions then thanked him and left. As he got farther away he heard an uproarious laughter from where he was, it sounds like he just missed a great joke. He wasn’t much in the mood for jokes and games, so he just kept going. Dream thought this stallion was a little wacky, but figured he’d give this ‘Carousel Boutique’ a try regardless. First, he went to the carpenter where he pretty much bought his cart, to sell the remains. He got a decent amount back, not nearly as much as it costed but he’ll have enough for at least a cheap suit, a train ticket, and then some. He didn’t want to think about what just happened; but apparently, he had to tell his story for a discount, and he really wanted a discount. He had no choice but to think about how to tell it. He thought as he made his way with the directions given to him. He briefly wondered if this ‘Rarity’ would even believe his story. He quickly made it there, or he was so caught up in his thoughts that time flew by. It was a little outside of town and didn’t seem to have much around it. The building itself definitely made it look like it was a dresses exclusive type of business. Without much else to do he entered. A bell rang as he entered. Inside has a couple of mannequins wearing great looking dresses. The spacious circular room has dressing rooms to the right made out of elegant pink curtains, a stand with three mirrors in the far left, a staircase straight ahead, and to the right of him swinging doors. He was about to call out for somepony, but instead didn’t need to. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!” A white mare stated to his right as she approached. She looked at him briefly, “How may I help you? Are you looking to buy your marefriend a nice dress for a date? Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Rarity and you may be?” Rarity questioned. Dream was beginning to think that he wasted his time coming here, but he had to be sure, “Dream Catcher,” was all he could say. ‘gasp’ “What a lovely name. You know darling, I don’t get too many stallions around here looking for my services. So how may I help you?” Rarity asked yet again, but this time gave him time to answer. “Well I was told that you sell suits?” Dream asked, this is all he needed to know at the moment. Rarity brought a hoof to her chin, “Well, I’ll admit it has been awhile since I made a suit and they are always ever so fun to make, but I’ve been rather busy lately. I will be able to make you one. Unfortunately, it might take me about three days before I can get to it. Though, I promise it will be worth the wait, I’ll make sure everything is spectacular! Now, as far as price goes just give me an amount and I’ll make it work. ” Dream thought for a second, did he really want to stay here for three days? No, not really but he did want a good suit and this mare was legit; if those dresses are anything to go by, “Could I maybe pay you more if you prioritized my order?” Rarity looked up in thought, “mmmm, Yeah, I suppose I could. I like to give myself extra time with orders that have no specific deadline to make sure everything is perfect.” Dream had one more issue to bring up, “Alright, sounds good. Thank you. Now I also heard that you give discounts to ponies with an interesting story to tell about why they’re here?” Rarity looked hopelessly confused, “Well, I don’t know where you heard such a thing, darling. I do like a good story, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never made that offer.” “I heard it from a merchant who sells knick knacks and padded locks,” Dream was a little ticked off by this, he was counting on that discount. He began to leave, there’s no way he could afford anything from this place. Rarity once again brought a hoof to her chin, “Well... it’s nopony I know... Hey wait!” she quickly ran in front of him, “Although I’ve never made that offer before, it doesn’t mean I won’t just this once, and I do admit that I’d like to make another suit, it’s a nice change of pace. So tell me your story and we’ll go from there.” Dream figured he might as well; he was just about to head off to ‘Barnyard Bargains’ for a cheap suit that nopony would be impressed by. He figured Rarity for somepony who liked things to be embellished, “Well, I recently paid off my college debt and saved up enough to live out one of my many aspirations in life. I quit my job at the Hay Burger in Hollow Stone just last week. I spent most of my savings on a food cart, it had beautiful decorations with my cutie mark as a theme,” He showed his cutie mark. Rarity seemed to be interested, so far so good. “During my time at the Hay Burger I had perfected my very own cinnamon roll recipe, it’s a good one. My goal was to travel across Equestria and sell cinnamon rolls dipped in an excessive amount of icing. I would get to see so many wonderful sights and meet so many different ponies. Earlier today that, dare I say it?” and Rarity nodded hooked to the story so far, “that dream was proven feasible. Yet, this same day not even three hours ago it was also taken away from me.” “Oh my, what happened? Do go on!” Rarity asked in keen interest. “I’m glad you asked that. At first everything was going great. I was making sales and even managed to earn a profit before it happened. I had just got done making a sale to a happy customer. Apparently word of my cinnamon rolls was travelling. Anyways, After that sale I heard a thumping noise on the roof of my cart. I naturally looked up to see what was going on and soon an an orange filly popped her head over the edge looking all around. Before I could ask her to get off my cart there was another thump and a cracking noise and yet another fillies head popped from the carts edge,” even though he learned that the merchant was lying he did suggest to be specific and he figured ‘why not’, “This other filly was yellow and had a pink bowtie.” If Rarity wasn’t already white, he would have noticed her turn paler, “I asked them get off my cart before they got hurt. The wood I used for most of my cart was weak as I couldn’t afford the tougher stuff, so naturally I was concerned for their safety. Though admittedly, I was more concerned about my cart after I heard that cracking noise. Anyways, The yellow filly answered,” he narrated as Rarity looked at him intensely, but he didn’t notice. He continued, “that they would but they needed a safe way down. Then they argued about a sign or something before there was another thumping noise followed by the roof of my cart ripping and destroying all the decorations. It happened so fast and it began to tip over, I backed out of the way as it fell. The fillies screamed and it sounded like a horrible wagon wreck. The icing I used to dip the cinnamon rolls in exploded and covered a lot more of the debris than I think should have been possible. I was first concerned about the two fillies, and when I looked I saw three of them all covered in the icing. I don’t handle drastic situations very well, I’m happy I was even to able to be mostly be conscious enough to make sure that they were okay. But after that, my mind shut down, I seem to remember them trying to apologize to me and answering at least one question they had, but I was so shocked I could hardly respond to much of anything at the time. It was all a blur. Eventually, they left. After that, I gathered what remained of my cart that I could sell, asked where I can buy a suit from that merchant I mentioned earlier, sold what remained of my cart, and here I am.” He watched as Rarity put on several uniquely expressive facial expressions ranging from anger to sadness, before she settled on curious, “Well then, just to be sure you said the yellow filly had a pink bowtie and that there was three of them?” Dream couldn’t understand why she would ask this, then he remembered what the merchant said about adding details. He might have lied but it seems he did have good advice, “yes she also had a cute country accent and a red mane and yes there was definitely three of them…” he caught up to himself, and began to think maybe she had a different reason for asking this. Before he could think further, Rarity interrupted his thoughts, “might I ask what this suit is for exactly? I don’t see the connection between your tragic story, and needing to buy a suit if you don’t mind my asking?” Once again Dream would have noticed Raritys coat going pale if it wasn’t already white, “Unless… unless you plan on going to court over this incident?” Rarity chuckled nervously, “surely an upstanding stallion such as yourself can see that accidents happen and that there are other ways to deal with problems such as this?” “What? That never even crossed my mind,” Dream brought a hoof to his chin and looked up to think. If he was watching Rarity he would have noticed how panicked she looked, before she regained some composure, “Ahem,” she said loudly before he could think about it, “well if that’s not why you want a suit then might I ask the reason?” “Well, I’m going to need a suit for my next pursuit in life. I don’t know what it’ll be just yet, but I know I need a suit for it. After I get it I’ll take the next train out of town wherever it goes,” Rarity looked relieved for some reason then slightly horrified, “and go from there,” he finished telling his lackluster plan. “Well then, It’s decided!” Rarity proclaimed. “It is?” Dream questioned “It indeed is! I will make you the best suit you’ll ever own, and I’ll have it ready for you by tomorrow!” Rarity stated with gusto. “What about the price?” Dream asked. “I’ll have you pay twentyfive percent of the cost of the materials, your story has really set a fire in me, if you will. Now if you’ll stand still so I can get your measurements, I’ll begin immediately,” She said as she took out a measuring tape and begin to get his measurements. Once done getting measurements, “Now, I’ll see you tomorrow morning at say about eight thirty?” Dream agreed and left. When Dream returned the next morning he was presented with a magnificent black suit with elements the complemented his eyes, coat and mane. He was a little worried, as some of those little details looked expensive. He was shocked by the price, it was so low. He thanked her and tried it on, everything felt great and it actually allowed for a great deal of movement without much resistance at all, if any. His experience with suits has always been that they were restrictive and basically only useful for looking good. It made him look like somepony important, it was nice. He could see himself wearing this suit daily. He paid her, thanked her again, and left with the well wishes of Rarity. He made his way to the train station and bought a train ticket for the next train. Turns out the next train leaves for Manehattan. Looks like he’ll still get to see some sights and he’ll have plenty of ponies to meet in that city. He could certainly find something to do there and the marvelous suit he’s carrying is going to help him. His next lifes goal awaits him in the city! End Chapter 10 > In The Everfree > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- The CMC ------------------- Applebloom had been practicing growing apple trees and other plants in secret, every chance she got. She was getting better at it going from a sprout, to a seedling, to a sapling, and now she can almost make a full grown tree with apples and all. After some experiments, she learned it was much easier to grow seeds than it was to grow anything that had already started to grow. The earlier in its stage of growth it was, the easier it was to make grow. She considered telling ponies about how well she can grow plants, but really wanted to wait until she could make a apple tree with actual apples. She planned on ‘wowing’ everypony. She also on several occasions tried to heal plants. Every time was incredible slow. There was no noticeable improvement with this ability. She eventually gave up on the idea of healing other things. The fact that healing was even a thing a she could do, regardless of it being painfully slow, was nice to know. One time, while running home from her secret training area. She got distracted and tripped on a root, earning herself some nasty scrapes on her forelegs. They stung. She removed any debris from them, knowing that they'd only hurt more if she didn't. She'd gotten plenty of scrapes while crusading with her friends and as such knew exactly how to handle it. Hot water, soap, and then a band aid or three would do the trick. With that in mind she got up and resumed at a slower pace. She barely made it two steps when the pain was gone. Glancing at her forelegs, she saw that they looked like they always did. A second look, revealed that they, in fact, did look like they usually do. She clearly remembered falling down and getting some nasty scrapes. Yet, her forelegs were fine, like nothing had happened. After a little bit of thought she came to the exciting conclusion that she can heal herself. She wondered why she never thought of that before, though she wasn’t eager to test it out. She knew Twilight wanted them telling her if anything weird happens and knew this definitely counted, but Applebloom didn’t want ponies to know about what she’s been practising, not yet at least, so she kept it too herself. It’s currently noon on Tuesday and Applebloom had just got done with lunch. She was pretty excited about today. She was going to go see Zecora and finally show her how much she has improved on alchemy and her new ability to grow plants. With a yell of, “Going to Zecora’s,” she was out the door before anypony could say anything. On her way there she ran into her friends, “Applebloom!” they yelled as they approached. “You ready to do some more crusading?” Scootaloo happily asked once close enough. They all began walking together in the direction Applebloom was going. Passing by rows and rows of apple trees. Applebloom normally would have loved to, but she really wanted to see Zecora, “Maybe later, right now Ah’m going to Zecoras. Ah’m gonna show her how much Ah’ve improved on my alchemy. It’s been a long time since Ah visited her, also Ah want to show her that new plant growing ability Ah got.” Sweetie has been to Zecoras only four times. The first time she was a little freaked out, but those fears were quick to melt away, “Oh! can we come to?” Sweetie didn’t mind not crusading, as long as she was with her best friends. Applebloom didn’t need to think for her answer, “Absolutely!” Sweetie brought up a hoof then elbowed down while yelling/hissing, “Yes,” she quickly got embarrassed as Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at her in amusement, “What? It was so boring being grounded for three days…” This reminded her of an important part of why she was grounded in the first place, “I need to tell Rarity I’m going to Zecoras,” Sweetie began to run towards Raritys then stopped, “I’ll meet you at the entrance!” Sweetie yelled leaving again. Scootaloo hardly got any sleep last night. Her mind felt numb if that made any sense. She just kept getting nightmares about falling and not being able to move. Waking up as soon as she hit whatever nightmarish ground her devious imagination came up with. Sometimes Rainbow Dash would save her then look at her in disappointment and walk away, those nightmares were the worst. Left alone with Applebloom, they decided to wait for Sweetie at the entrance once they got there. Fluttershy stopped them as they approached, no doubt to prevent something like last time from happening. They explained they were waiting on Sweetie who was telling Rarity, before they went to Zecoras. Fluttershy decided, well if Rarity is okay with it than she’d be okay with it. Eventually, Sweetie came back with the green light, figuratively speaking. It was a pretty uneventful walk. Soon they made it to Zecora’s hut. Well, It’s more of a tree with a wicked zebrican witch theme with bottles strung about the branches a tiki face above the door, and one window on both sides of the door. They knocked on the door which posed some nasty scratch marks on it. After a brief wait, the door quickly opened, “Come in fast if you wish for your life to last,” Zecora said urgently. As they entered Applebloom asked, “What’s going on Zecora? You seem spooked.” “The creatures of this forest are naturally frightening. Recently, they’ve acted much more aggressive, worse than lightning.” Zecora answered while closing the door. “Applebloom wanted to show you how much better she got at making potions and something else, and we wanted to come along,” replied Scootaloo, looking around at everything. She thought this was pretty creepy when she first visited last year, but after she got to know Zecora she kind of liked the design. “Yeah, and its been awhile since we seen you,” Sweetie beamed. Sweetie never got to see Zecora as often as Applebloom, as she was never as interested in alchemy as Applebloom is. The one time she did try it they ended up poisoning Appleblooms brother and her teacher. It didn’t give her the best impression of it. Once everypony and zebra was settled in, Zecora got a good look at her unexpected guest before her. Scootaloo looked pretty sleep deprived at the moment, and this gave her an idea. “You leave me with great interest. So I will give young Applebloom here a test,” Zecora said as she went and gathered several ingredients that were around them. She put them on a table along with some tools that might be needed to complete the test. Once she got done she said, “Young Applebloom to complete this test, you must make me something that will help somepony get some much needed rest.” Applebloom was aware of this potion, but she hasn’t actually made it. The instructions in the book were clear, but words are not the real thing. She gathered the tools she knew she needed but paused while looking at the various ingredients. She was missing something but she couldn’t quite remember if it was the tree’s hoof nail, or the tree’s armpit. Both are the same species of brown mushroom that grows on trees the only difference is where they grow therefore changing them enough to have different uses but mostly similar looks. The tree’s armpit grows under a tree’s branch while the trees hoof nail grows on the roots. Applebloom remembered a failed joke Twilight tried to tell about the tree’s hoof nail and foals sucking their hooves while sleeping. Twilight was, at the time, trying to explain why where the mushroom grows can make such a big difference in its uses. Applebloom got the trees hoof nail and moved on. Ultimately the extra tools didn’t confuse her as much as the extra ingredients almost did. Zecora was impressed that Applebloom made no mistakes while completing her task. She congratulated Applebloom on making the potion of rest with no issues then inquired about the other thing Scootaloo mentioned. Applebloom asked for a pot with dirt and a flower seed. Unsure of where this was going she obliged and got those things. Applebloom took the seed and threw it on the dirt in the pot, “Okay, before Ah start, let me just say, Ah’ve gotten better since last you saw me do this,” she explained while looking at Sweetie and Scootaloo. “We’ll see about that,” Scootaloo said skeptically. Applebloom just smirked confidently at her. “Come on, show us already!” Sweetie excitedly exclaimed. Zecora still had no clue what they were talking about, but she assumed she was gonna find out real soon. “Alright, alright,” Applebloom said. She breathed in and brought her hoof down on the seed. With her will she demanded the seed to grow. Zecora then watched in silent amazement as a snowcap daisy quickly popped up before her eyes. Scootaloo on the other hoof said, “Cooool! Ahem, I mean, not bad, not bad.” Sweetie was so excited she hugged Applebloom, who was quick to pry her off in embarrassment. They explained a lot of what happened to them recently. Zecora recalled Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow asking her about them a while ago. Some of the things they told her definitely made her interested in their story, and she planned on visiting Twilight soon. “That is quite the tale, but it is getting late, to Ponyville we must travel without fail,” Zecora said as she went and grabbed a pouch and put it to her side. She also strapped the potion Applebloom made onto the pouch. They existed the treehut and Zecora lead the way to Ponyville. It’s about a twenty minute walk to Zecoras from the edge of the forest. After about ten minutes of walking Sweetie was getting bored. She remembered Twilight mentioning that Zecora helped her improve the technique that let her float that feather, “So Zecora you trained Twilight how to use her magic once right? How could you do that when you’re not even a unicorn?” Just before Zecora could answer there was a loud roar in front of them, but its maker could not be seen thanks to some bushes. The CMC bunched up and Zecora tensed up. Something huge with rage filled eyes pounced at Zecora from behind the bushes. She jumped out of the way and got a good look at her attacker. A manticore. Not just any manticore but one she had encountered two times before among the many other creatures acting unusually aggressive. She reflexively reached in her pouch and threw a white dust at the manticore. The manticore stumbled to the side with its eyes closed allowing Zecora to make a path in the bushes for the fillies to run thru. She motioned for them to run while holding the path open. Sweetie was scared out of her mind, but her friends took the hint and ran ahead. Fear kept Sweetie in place. She involuntarily shook, staring at the huge manticore completely overwhelmed. She didn't want to die. Then its angry blood red eyes opened. She ran. Scootaloo and Applebloom were waiting for them on the other side quite a bit aways from the bushes. Sweetie soon joined them. Just as Zecora took a couple steps on the other side of the bushes she stopped and said, “We must make haste, there is no time to waste” She figured that dust gave her time to do so; unfortunately, the manticore did learn something from it’s last two encounters with her. Right after Sweetie turned to see Zecora speak, she watched in horror as the Manticore jumped out of the bushes again, but this time Zecora was clearly unprepared as a paw plunged downwards. A memory washed over Sweetie's mind. It was one of the many times she felt helpless to prevent a tragedy, but this one was different. This one didn't involve alicorns, gods of chaos, or a changeling army that she couldn't hope to stop. This was one she had a chance at stopping. The sight of Scootaloo running towards a sword that had obliterated a canteen. All she could do was watch as one of her best friends blindly ran towards what she felt at that moment was a public execution. “STOP!” Sweetie yelled at the top of her lungs. She closed her eyes and took some breaths ready to cry. After some waiting she noticed something. Nothing happened, there was no yell in pain and Applebloom and Scootaloo didn’t crowd around her. Confused she opened her eyes to see the manticore did stop, thinking maybe it listened to her, “GO AWAY!” she demanded. It didn’t move. She then looked at Applebloom who looked like she was in the middle of warning Zecora then towards Scootaloo who looked tired but ready to fight. She put her hoof in front of Scootaloos eyes and moved them back and forth to see if they would follow but they didn’t. She noticed her horn glowing. After some more testing, she quickly came to the conclusion she must have stopped time, because everything was still. Sweetie got an idea on how to save Zecora. She ran up to her. She put her fore-legs on Zecoras leg and tried pushing her, but to no avail. She put her head on Zecoras foreleg and tried pushing, but Zecora was still unmoving. She tried pulling Zecoras foreleg with both forelegs then she tried her mouth. She put her back to Zecoras foreleg and tried moving her with her back legs. Every attempt was more desperate than the last. They all failed miserable. She felt tired after about six minutes. She was losing hope. Frustrated with her magic she complained, “Stupid magic, how come you never do what I want you to?” angerly staring at her glowing horn. She began walking back to her friends in defeat. She felt trapped in a situation where all she could do was watch Zecora get hurt badly. Her magic stopped time just before it happened to rub it in her face. She hated it. Tears began to go down her face and she began to sniffle. A thought came to her as she replayed the events that lead up to where she is now. This was her fault, she gave the manticore time to recover from Zecoras powder stuff. If she hadn’t been so scared and ran when her friends did, this wouldn’t have happened. It was her fault. Applebloom was trying to warn Zecora, even though it was clearly too late. Scootaloo looked ready to fight. Something stirred within her at the sight. ‘No’ she thought blinking away tears, ‘I’m a Cutie Mark Crusader and we never give up! and I can’t let somepony or somezebra get hurt when I can do something to stop it,’ determined, she looked back to Zecora who wore a shocked yet somehow sad and accepting expression, ‘Especially when it’s my fault to begin with.’ She ran back to Zecora and thought. She couldn’t use her magic because she already is using it and she has no clue how she is. Plus, she didn’t trust her ability to do anything safely with it. Pushing and pulling didn’t work. She also couldn’t move anything else around them. This was frustrating. “Augh!!” she yelled in anger as she walked away from Zecora to look at things from the side. This was too much for her to take, she was losing it. Thinking was getting her nowhere fast. “WHY!” she yelled, “WHY!” she began to sprint towards Zecora, “WHY!” she got a halfway to her, “WON’T,” she got a quarter way, “YOU,” she got closer then jumped and yelled “MOVE!” Scootaloo was terrified for her friends safety, but ready to distract the manticore for them if it came down to it. Applebloom was busy warning Zecora about the manticore when Scootaloo saw a light in the corner of her eye and heard a pop right next to her. In that instant she saw a horrifying scene in front of her. Another bright light appeared to the side of Zecora and Sweetie rammed Zecora with her body knocking Zecora to the left just enough to avoid the swipe from the manticore which hit Sweetie instead. Sweetie let out a pained scream while she was in the air, but when she hit the ground she was silenced. Everypony and zebra was confused by this. The manticore was blinded by the flash of light next to its face and startled by the loud scream right after, stunning it briefly. Scootaloo could only look at Sweetie as she laid on the ground. Scootaloos mind raced and time seemed to slow down when memories began to flood her fatigued and adrenaline filled mind. She could only whisper, “Sweetie Belle?” before memories took her away from reality completely. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A little over two years ago It was her first week in a new town and she didn’t know anypony. The first couple days were harder than she thought they possible could be. It almost made her want to go back. She was walking in the park with her scooter not really in the mode to ride it and looking down. She accidently bumped into somepony and apologized, and kept walking not bothering to look up. “Hey, I’ve never seen you before,” said the pony she bumped into in a high squeaky voice. Scootaloo looked up to a white unicorn filly with a stylized puffy mane smiling at her, “I would hope not I’m new in town,” Scootaloo responded with a slight hint of anger. “Oh okay,” The unicorn replied oblivious to the anger she just received, “Did you know the summer sun celebration is taking place tomorrow?” “How could I not everypony in town is talking about it,” Scootaloo responded with the same tone. “I know isn’t it great Princess Celestia is gonna be here, and there’s going to food from Sugarcube Corner and Bon Bons,” the unicorn said happily. “Wait there’s gonna be food there?” Scootaloo stopped and asked as she looked at the unicorn. “Of course there is... um, My name is Sweetie Belle by the way. What’s your name?” Sweetie asked. “Scootaloo,” Scootaloo simple replied. “Hey all this talk about food has got me hungry you wanna go to the Hayburger and get something to eat? My treat!” Sweetie asked while smiling. “Um, sure. That sounds cool. I could use something to eat as well,” Scootaloo replied as she followed Sweetie. One week later “I can’t wait till school starts it is gonna be so much fun!” Sweetie said while Scootaloo was busy trying a new trick on her scooter. This tripped Scootaloo up and she spectacularly messed up the trick and rolled on the ground making the fall more comical than anything else. “School?” she said loudly while getting up, “Um, yeah sounds like tons fun,” She said sarcastically. “I know, It’s starting in three days I can’t wait!” Sweetie said completely oblivious to the sarcasm she just received, “We’re gonna have so much fun because Miss Cheerilee is the best teacher ever!” she continued. This gave Scootaloo some pause to consider some things for later, “I guess, but let me finish this trick it’s gonna be awesome once I do it.” Eight days later “When are your parents going to write that letter?” Sweetie asked suddenly while looking confused and sad. Scootaloo previously was just walking along the park not doing much today. Scootaloo took a look and saw Sweeties frown, “Oh I think they’ll have it done for next week like I said they can get very busy." Sweetie smiled at that then continued, “That’s good, I can’t wait to see you in school next week!” “So you said there was gonna be a party today?” Scootaloo asked. “Yeah, but it’s the cutescenera of Diamond Tiara and I do not want her to know I exist if I can help it,” Sweetie said in her squeaky voice. “Well didn’t you say lots of ponies will be there? All we have to do is stay out of her sight and we can enjoy free treats from Sugarcube Corner, just imagine the cupcakes, the cookies, the cake, the punch, the ice cream!” Scootaloo argued back while her mouth began to water in anticipation. “Ok, let’s go you made me hungry,” Sweetie said. Two weeks later They just got done crusading again and had plans to do a talent competition. They were walking away from Appleblooms home for the night. “Oh I can’t wait till the talent show we’re gonna get our cutie marks for sure!” Sweetie squeaked out. “Yeah, I’m totally gonna make our theme song for the talent show, it’s gonna be as awesome as Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said with no clue how hard it was going to be for her. “I got some ideas for the set up to... Hey Scootaloo?” Sweetie stopped and asked out of nowhere. Scootaloo noticed this and stopped after, “Yeah, what’s up?” “Um, I just wanted to thank you for getting me to go to Diamonds Cutescenera,” Sweetie said with a smile. “What? Why? All she does is pick on you now… Well us, but that’s not the point. I know you didn’t want that to happen. But it is! Because of me! I don’t even know why you’re still with me,” Scootaloo said laying her thoughts out there. At the time, she felt pretty guilty about basically being the only reason Sweetie got bullied. She didn’t understand how Sweetie could thank her for that. Sweetie gasped and quickly hugged Scootaloo, “Don’t say that! You’re one of my best friends!” Scootaloo was tempted to hug back but let her hug for a little longer before lightly pushing Sweetie off her. “Okay, okay I get it, enough with the mushy stuff,” as she looked at Sweetie she couldn’t help but notice Sweetie’s eyes were slightly moist. SMACK, ROAR! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Shocked by this, Applebloom stared at Sweetie on the ground. She wasn’t believing this. The manticore soon got in her vision as it slowly lowered its head to Sweetie. Before it could get too close, Zecora bucked its head with her hind hooves which made quite the impact sound followed by a painful roar from the manticore. The manticore moved both its front paws towards Zecora letting Applebloom see its side. The manticore struck its tail at Zecora who jumped back, barely dodging its tail and began running. The manticore began to give chase. Seeing this as an opportunity Applebloom yelled, “Sweetie Belle!” and ran towards her. The manticore noticed her almost immediately, skidded to a halt and went back to Sweetie, though its attention was fully on Applebloom. Applebloom kept running, preparing herself, as the manticore raised the paw that stuck down Sweetie. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Scootaloo was brought back to reality when Zecora hit the manticore, though she didn’t see it. She did however hear and see Applebloom yell Sweetie’s name and start running straight towards Sweetie Belle. She felt so helpless, like she already failed. All she had left was right in front of her and all she was doing was watching. A tear began to fall down her cheek as she still had those memories in mind. Her lack of sleep for the last couple of days and the adrenaline running through her system was scrambling her already fatigued mind. She watched as the manticore raised its now bloodied paw at Applebloom, as she got closer. She just saw that paw strike down Sweetie, and now it aims to do the same with Applebloom? A feeling began to stir within her, one she hasn’t felt since before she met Sweetie. Hatred. Her focus on that paw was the last thing she remembered before blacking out in pure rage. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Applebloom heard a beastial yell behind. She was about to look behind her but something brought her attention upfront. A spiked rock shot from the ground and impaled the manticores raised paw. It happened fast, and the sound of earth crumbling to make way for it was weird. She kept running to Sweetie though. The manticore struggled to get its paw out of the spike making pained roars as it did so. Applebloom made it to Sweetie but kept her attention on the manticore as it got on its hind legs and put its free paw on the spike and raised its trapped paw free. The second that happened an orange blur came into her vision. An explosion of wind expanded where the orange blur made contact with the manticore. The manticore was gone. She looked ahead past the now destroyed bushes and saw it falling down from a tree that took some heavy impact damage. It didn’t move after it hit the ground, and if it did it was too far away to notice. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When Scootaloo came to she saw the manticore falling to the ground a good distance away from her. She quickly looked around confused and saw Sweetie and Applebloom behind herself. “Sweetie Belle!” she yelled, horrified by the pool of blood forming around her. Sweetie had three large gashes on the side of her back. Only one of the gashes looked to be the main reason for the amount of blood. She quickly ran up to Applebloom who was in front of Sweetie staring down at her. “Say something Sweetie!” Applebloom panicked. Sweetie Belle looked up at her friends, weakly she asked, “Di...” cringing in pain, “did I save Ze...cora?” Scootaloo on the verge of tears now responded, “Yes, yes you did,” as she watched Sweeties chest slowly rise and fall. Sweetie gave a weak smile before quietly saying, “Th, that’s good,” as she closed her eyes and went into unconsciousness. “Sweetie, come on, stop it! You’re going to be ok!” Applebloom said with disbelief. She quickly got the idea to try and heal her. She put her hoof on Sweetie’s wound and tried but nothing happened, or if it did it hardly mattered. Zecora unfortunately, misjudged the manticores intentions and thought it was going to give chase after it struck its tail at her. By the time she realized it wasn’t, she was too far away to do anything but watch as Applebloom and Scootaloo ran to Sweeties aid. The stone spike and Scootaloos attack on the manticore was a surprise to her. She was still too far away to help Sweetie but she got there just as Applebloom put her hooves on Sweetie. “Applebloom quick use your bow tie to stop the bleeding, this is no time to be pleading.” Applebloom took off her bow tie and with Zecoras help they wrapped it around Sweeties body two times. It didn’t help much, but then Zecora asked Applebloom to put pressure on Sweeties wound, that helped a bit. Zecora lowered herself for Applebloom and Scootaloo to get Sweetie on her back. Zecora instructed Applebloom to get on her back to keep pressure on her wounds, while they made way to the hospital. Zecora then galloped towards Ponyville Hospital. Scootaloo followed close behind. “You hang in there Sweetie, we’ll get you to the hospital and everything will be okay,” Applebloom said while they made their way to the hospital. As they made their way Applebloom kept saying things like that, trying to make it true by saying it. Scootaloo just ran along side, trying to ignore Appleblooms near constant ramblings, she really wanted to believe they were true. End Chapter 11 > On a Cloud Somewhere Above Ponyville part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash was currently laying on a of comfy cloud, the only cloud in the sky actually. She was trying to get a nap as she usually does this time of day, but she couldn’t get Scootaloo out of her head. Twilight was right, she needed to apologize. She hasn’t seen Scootaloo during her morning workouts and it was actually starting to hurt, the fact that she let her biggest fan down. She practiced apologizing to Scootaloo; after she left Twilight, and got the cloud she's resting on. She thought about how badly she screwed up. So much so in fact, that Scootaloo didn’t want her to teach her how to fly, that thought alone shocked Rainbows world. She wasn’t really sure what she felt when it came to Scootaloo. She felt horrible when Twilight pulled that stunt, a pang of it was still present. She knew Scootaloo as a great filly full of life, hope, and spirit. She felt a new feeling to her, and that’s why she couldn’t get any sleep. It felt like disappointment in herself, irritation with the world, and a great feeling of wrongness. She tried to ignore these feelings and get her nap, but she just couldn’t. Instead, she decided to keep trying to make a worthy apology to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo I’m sorry I lead you on like that, I messed up and I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash continued, “No. No. No. That’s all wrong.” Rainbow tried a couple more times but each time seemed never good enough. ‘I should have asked Twilight to help me come up with an apology,’ She thought, ‘No. I’m the one who did this, I’m the one who has to fix it.’ So she continued playing with words and ideas on how to fix things between them. She's been laying on that cloud for a long while now and she has a physical examination in about half an hour. “Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to lead you on like that. I’m...” Rainbow got cut off by Applejack yelling her name somewhere below her. Rainbows cheeks lit in embarrassment, for talking to herself; even though, she knew Applejack couldn’t have heard her from the ground, unless she yelled. She cleared her throat while getting up to peek below the cloud and yelled, “Oh hey Applejack how’d you find me here?” She saw Applejack chuckle a little before she responded with, “Well Rainbow Dash, it’s not mighty hard to miss the only cloud in the sky and ya’re usually taking a nap on a cloud ‘round this time of day,” as Rainbow glided down to the ground. Rainbow didn’t think she was that predictable, yet here Applejack was. She ignored it and partially lied, “Well I was trying to have a nice nap, so what do you want?” “Sorry for disturbing your piece, but ya happen ta know where Twilight is? Ah was just at the library.” Applejack asked. “She went to the spa with Rairty so they might still be there if you hurry. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some extra rest to catch up on,” Rainbow answered then headed back to the cloud, landing on her back and waving goodbye. Applejack thanked her, and headed to the spa. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight was currently getting a hooficure from a pink earth pony with a blue mane and blue eyes. Rarity was getting a hoof-a-cure from a blue earth pony with a pink mane and blue eyes. They all were inside a room with a huge hot tub/mini-pool, some comfortable chairs, and a very relaxed atmosphere. “So,” Rarity said after much of their time was spent in silence, “How has Sweetie been doing with her magic?” asked worriedly. Twilight knew something was up, Rarity usually has a lot to talk about when they go to the spa. “Well to be honest, I can’t be sure. Her magic is much like mine right after I got my cutie mark, except much more volatile. Everytime she tries to move something with her magic it just disappears without a trace. It’s almost like a teleport, but without the light show and noise. I’m sure Sweetie has told you about the progress we made last ‘Twilight Time?’” “Yes. Yes, she has. I know this already darling, but do you know why or how to fix it? Did you perhaps learn anything more from that journal yet?” Rarity asked while looking patronized at the start. Twilight thought that maybe Rarity had a point. She really should be getting that frustrating journal translated, but she had some trouble finding the replacement parts for her machine, then she wanted to make the CMC her official students, “I’m sorry Rarity, but I’m doing my best. I can’t promise that I can fix the problem, but I can promise that I will try.” Not to mention she didn’t think the journal could provide much more useful information, when the general idea was pretty clear. Well, she was looking forward to reading the history section, as apparently much of their history has been rewritten into false tales or abandoned. By this point the hoof-a-cures were done and so was their time at the spa. They took one step outside the Ponyville spa and came face to face with a visibly distraught light yellow pegasus with a light pink mane and three butterflies as a cutie mark, tears going down her eyes, sniffling every once in awhile. “Oh dear what seems to be the problem Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, hugging Fluttershy soon after out of concern. This only made Fluttershy burst out in cries while whispering something to quiet and interrupted too much by her cries to make out. Twilight needed to know what was going on. Whatever had her friend Fluttershy crying, well it could be almost anything if she was honest, but she didn’t like it none the less, “ Fluttershy please calm down and tell us what has you so upset? What happened?” Fluttershy looked at Twilight and tried to do just that. An image was stuck in her mind though, like a living nightmare. Rarity released her hug and Twilight encouraged her to relax. She looked at the ground and tried to calm herself down as much as she could. She took one final deep breath and said loud enough to barely hear, “Sweetie, hospital, bad,” Rarity asked her to speak up, “Sweetie is at the hospital she was...” a new wave of tears began going down her face as she re-lived that horrifying spectacle. Fluttershy was feeding some of the squirrels outside having a pleasant time. She took notice of two figures swiftly making their way out of the forest. She was not sure what she was seeing until they got close enough. She saw Zecora galloping with Applebloom on her back holding down an unconscious Sweetie Belle. What really got her attention was all the red over Sweeties and Zecoras back and Appleblooms chest and forelegs. She heard Applebloom frantically saying it was going to be okay as they ran by. She did not really understand what she was looking at until Scootaloo poked her for attention told her what happened and to go get Rarity and Twilight. Scootaloo was gone before she even had time to agree. She was mortified but set out to do what Scootaloo asked. “hurt very badly,” Fluttershy continued. Before Rarity could say anything Twilight cut in and said, “Hold on let me teleport us to the Hospital.” “Wait,” Fluttershy said, before Twilight could cast the spell, “I need to go tell Applejack, Applebloom was there to...” Twilight nodded and teleported herself and Rarity to the Hospital's entrance. Instantly they were at the entrance to the hospital. Rarity ran in. It was an awful sight that greeted her. Zecora, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were standing ahead of her a decent distance from the empty front desk looking blankly at a door to the right with a sign above that read ‘Emergency.’ That in of itself wasn’t good, but what really concerned her was the blood on Zecoras back down to the sides and the blood on Appleblooms chest and forelegs. “What? Why’s there so much blood? Where’s Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked in a panic as Twilight followed behind. Zecoras ears pinned to her forehead when she first heard Rarity, but they slowly rose. Zecora let out a sad sigh and faced Rarity, “We encountered a manticore,” Rarity gasped, “I failed to protect your sister," Zecora lowered her head slightly, "Need I say more?” Twilight and Applebloom were listening to her response. Scootaloo seemed out of it, just staring into space. Before anypony else could say anything Applebloom interjected, “Wait just a second here! This wasn’t your fault Zecora! You didn’t make her save you. She did that on her own, she knew you’d be hurt if she didn’t.” Everypony, except Scootaloo, looked at her. “And how would you know that?” asked Twilight. “Well before she passed out, she wanted to know if she saved her, which she did,” Applebloom said pointing to Zecora. “How’d she do that?” Twilight asked, curious about this. Rarity had much bigger concerns and asked, “What happened to Sweetie? Is she okay?” before Applebloom or Zecora could answer Twilights inquire. “In her successful bid to save me from a slash most grievous, she unwittingly took my place. A fate cruelly devious,” Zecora answered. Rarity began to pace around in a panic, how could she not. Just looking at the blood was enough for her imagination to run wild with nightmare possibilities. Twilight tried to calm her down, “Come on we don’t know how bad it is yet Rarity, though I do have to admit this looks pretty bad.” Twilight wasn’t doing a good job. Applebloom couldn’t help but give her own spin on things, “Yeah, she’s at the hospital everything will be fine. Ah know it looks bad, but we’ve been in so much worse situations. This is nothing.” Rarity stopped, “How can you say that? Have you seen yourselves?" she questioned while pointing at Applebloom then Zecora, "I don’t recall any of those ‘worse situations’ involving this much blood.” “She’s going to fine! Wait and you’ll see!” Applebloom exclaimed, ending the conversation there. No pony was up for arguing with her about things they don't know. Rarity began pacing back and forth again. Zecora and Applebloom brought their attention back to the emergency door. Twilight noticed Scootaloo hadn’t said anything and decided to go comfort her, but was interrupted by somepony else barging in through the front entrance. Applejack rushed into a worrisome sight, her sisters forelegs were covered in blood and Zecora's back was as well, “What in tartarus happened?” Everypony except Scootaloo gave her their attention. Applejack took note of her sister's missing her bowtie. “It’s Sweetie Belle,” answered Twilight, “They got attacked by a manticore,” she said gesturing to the present CMC and Zecora, “and it sounds like Sweetie got injured when she saved Zecora.” She really wanted to know more of the specifics, like how they escaped and how Sweetie managed to trade places with Zecora. “That’s right, Sweetie helped out Zecora a lot,” Applebloom said proudly. While Zecora's ears folded down again. “...and now we’re just waiting for somepony to come tell us her condition,” Twilight finished. “Well, Ah for one think you two should get cleaned up, it’s not like we can do anythin’ about it,” Applejack suggested. Everypony except Scootaloo, who was still looking into space, looked shocked, as they didn’t even think to do that. They were just waiting for somepony to come give them the news. “That’s a good idea Applejack,” replied Twilight, “If I recall correctly, there should be rooms with showers over there,” she finished while pointing to a door that leads to several wards. She only knew about those rooms because she asked some questions and did some research when Rainbow injured her wing last year. “Alrighty then, come on Applebloom lets get you cleaned up,” Applejack said while gesturing for Applebloom to follow. Zecora joined Applebloom as they made their way. Applejack and Applebloom looked for a room with a shower while Zecora went to find a separate room with a shower. Luckily, every room has a shower but some rooms were occupied so they had to look a for little bit. Rarity and Twilight watched them leave to get cleaned. Scootaloo still stared at the door blankly. Twilight noticed Scootaloo and went to do what she originally was going to do before Applejack came in. As she did the ‘Emergency’ door opened and out came a doctor. Rarity quickly ran past them and asked if Sweetie was alright. This seemed to waken Scootaloo to the world who was now focusing on the doctor. The doctor had a grave expression on his face, “Ah yes, Rarity right? And Princess Twilight” he said with a bow, “If you’ll follow me I’ll tell you everything we know about Sweeties current condition in a more private area,” while making an obvious gesture to Scootaloo. Scootaloo took notice and offence to this, “Hey, Sweeties my friend. Anything you have to say them you can say to me.” Rarity was in the middle of saying ‘absolutely not’ when Twilight interrupted her, “Yes,” she looked at Rarity determined, “Rarity, she has every right to know.” Rarity reluctantly agreed after some stuttering. The doctor looked sad for a second as he heard this but went back to his grave expression and looked to Rarity for one more acknowledgment. When the doctor got the okay from Rarity he continued, “Very well, Sweetie is suffering from three contusions on her back one of which is severe. We did manage to stop the bleeding. However, she lost too much blood and unfortunately we don’t have her blood type in storage currently…” The doctor looked away for a second and when he looked back he blinked his eyes a couple times, “which means we will have to ask for blood from a different hospital. I’m…” he breathed in, “I’m not certain she’ll make. It’s a miracle that she’s still alive, if I’m being honest with you.” Twilight didn’t like the way he answered but kept that thought to herself. She had much bigger concerns to deal, “What blood type is Sweetie?” she asked, while teleporting a pen and scroll from her home in front of her, then levitating it. He answered and she wrote to Celestia asking for help. Celestia responded after a short wait, with the unfortunate news that Canterlot Hospital didn’t have any of Sweeties blood type either. She did mention that Trottingham does though but it’ll take about a dozen hours to get it to Ponyville via the Pony Express. Throughout it all Scootaloo watched as ponies tried to find a solution and there was only one way she could think to help as things seemed to get worse. “What about my blood? I don’t know what blood type I have, maybe it’s the same as Sweeties?” Scootaloo offered hopefully. “Ah yes, Scootaloo right?, I remember you from last week. Unfortunately, you don’t have the same blood type as Sweetie. Yours is A positive,” he looked up, “Rarity would you like to come with me to visit your sister?” Rarity agreed instantly and they were off leaving Scootaloo and Twilight alone in the waiting room. Twilight couldn’t help but notice Scootaloos downward expression and went to comfort her. Scootaloo wasn’t stupid, she knew why they would even allow anypony to get near Sweetie. She knew it was only to say goodbye, and she didn’t want to say goodbye. Not like this. She’s lied to Sweetie since day one. She’s had several chances and opportunities to tell the truth, but she never took them. It wasn’t right. One of her best friends. Guilt ripped at her, as she fought against the dam of woe that threatened to burst and turn her into a helpless crying foal. Twilight embraced her with a wing. It felt nice, but made it all the harder not to cry. Intense pressure is what she felt, ‘Come on! Don’t cry. not in front of Twilight,’ she thought as memories of times they had in their clubhouse came to her mind poking holes in the dam, a tear began to form, ‘Stop it! she’s not gone yet,’ the royal wedding, that was a great experience. Not many ponies get to say they were flower fillies in one the most awesome royal weddings ever, ‘Please be okay,’ a campout, to help her gain a sister. Her body was betraying her after that memory. She couldn’t be in Twilights embrace any longer because she refused to cry out loud. In a last ditch effort to prevent this, she viciously shaked out of Twilights gentle hold and took a couple steps forward. It was too late though, as she took those steps tears were already running down her cheeks freely. She let out a short wet gasp stopping it from continuing. Fighting the urge to wail, she stood in place as she couldn’t move while she fought the pressure that increased ten fold. Suddenly the little things she liked about Sweetie came to her. The fact that Sweetie would usually correct her when she got a word wrong, or when Sweetie would be so oblivious to things at times, or the times Sweetie would hug her; she could use one of those right now, and so much more, ‘I…’ she thought, as she let out another gasp still trying to fight the tears, ‘I need…’ ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- Rainbow Dash was getting ancy every apologie she could think of just didn’t cut it. She needed to take her mind off this so she can think of something better. She decided to head to the hospital a little earlier maybe that boring place could clear her mind. It didn’t take long to get there. As she stepped inside she saw Twilight bracing a shaking Scootaloo in her right wing. Rainbow was a little shocked by this, what are they doing here? Rainbow was about to ask what's going on, but Scootaloo forcefully shook herself out of Twilights embrace and took a couple steps forward. Rainbow heard Scootaloo gasp wetly before stopping. Was Scootaloo crying? Rainbow knew she messed up horribly when she basically threw away and mocked Scootaloos desire to be sisters like it was nothing, but she didn’t think it was this bad. Then again, Twilight did go to pretty extreme measures to make her point, maybe she really hurt Scootaloos feelings that badly. She felt horrible. No, Scootaloo’s tough, they were at the hospital something had to of happened. Scootaoo let out another wet gasp, it was too much Rainbow had to know what went down, “Hey, what’s going on here?” She saw Scootaloos ears perk up, then Rainbow heard another gasp. Scootaloo slowly turned towards Rainbow. Time seemed to stop for Rainbow, as she saw a face that she knew she would never want to see again. Scootaloo had tears running down her cheeks and her mouth was open in a frown that physically made Rainbow feel ill. The strong positive little filly she got to know over almost two years looked broken. She didn’t like it. "Rai~nbow! Dash!” Scootaloo wailed as she quickly closed the distance between them. Even her voice sounded broken. Before Rainbow knew it Scootaloo had her front hooves hugging her chest tightly using it like a pillow. Rainbow instinctively hugged back as Scootaloo began to wail into her chest. That face she saw and haunting yell, why did they affect her so much, as she began to think about Scootaloo. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Rainbow Dash!” yelled Scootaloo from below, “I wanna ask you something.” Looking down she saw her number one fan waiting patiently, “Heya Scootaloo, what’s up?” “I was wondering if you were gonna watch us at the talent competition, Rarity and Applejack will be there, Me, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie are gonna sing an awesome rock song,” Scootaloo asked nervously. Rainbow smirked, “you bet I’ll be there, I’m sure it’ll be awesome,” and noticed Scootaloo relieved smile before going back to her work out. two months later Inside the Crusaders Clubhouse a meeting was taking place. Rainbow arrived just in time, “Order, Order! *bang* *bang* Today marks the first meeting of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club!” Scootaloo said from a podium as Rainbow peered inside. “Since this is the first meeting I see no better starting point then why we’re a fan of Rainbow Dash! And knowing her the reason has got to be awesome! Who wants to go first?” Rainbow watched the meeting and recounted some of the stories that were told. Scootaloo saved her story for last. “Rainbow Dash is the coolest pony I know, she told me how she and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord which, heh, me and my best friends may or may not have accidently helped set free... Anyways, she did the impossible twice and did two Sonic Rainbooms. Once when she got her cutie mark, and the other time she saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts. She’s my hero-ahem, ahehe, I mean she’s a hero... There will be another meeting on friday, until then this meeting is adjourned,” *bang* *bang* as Scootaloo said that last bit Rainbow bolted away from the clubhouse before she could get spotted. seven months later Scootaloo was looking back at Rainbow as she flew her around Rainbow Falls. Scootaloos smile was infectious and Rainbow couldn’t help but smile as well, while Scootaloo excitedly flapped her wings. That smile remained present in her head when the next memory came. several hours before that In the Whitetail Woods Scootaloo just almost died and was silently crying. Rainbow waited for her reply to her question. “I’m so so sorry Rainbow Dash I just wanted you to hangout with me and see how cool I was so you’d take me under your wing teach me everything you know and become like my big sister.” “ and become like my big sister.” ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rainbow quickly came back to reality and noticed moisture in her eyes. She had an epiphany, she finally realized what Scootaloo made her feel like. She felt loved, and she liked this feeling. She didn’t know what was going on, but she’d go to Tartarus to fix it. She firmed her grip on Scootaloo who was still crying uncontrollable, “Le... let it all out, your big sister is here,” and Scootaloo hugged her even tighter and began anew. Rainbow felt happy about what she just said, even though she knew whatever got her sister to cry like this had to be horrific. Her sister, that's a nice thought. A spike of realization shot through her head at a certain thought. A family. Tears began to run down her face as she suddenly felt something she didn’t even know was missing. She felt like she belonged. Sure she had her friends, but family was different in a way she couldn’t hope to explain. She looked up to see Twilight watching them with a sad smile on her face and asked, “Twilight what happened?” Twilight shook her head with a frown and blinked, “It’s Sweetie Belle. She got hurt real bad and lost a lot of blood,” Before Twilight could continue Rainbow cut in with a gasp, “is she?” “NO!” Twilight responded quickly, “but unfortunately, the nearest hospital with Sweeties blood type is in Trottingham and that won’t make it here till tomorrow morning on the Pony Express.” Scootaloo was beginning to settle as they talked likely because she had something else to focus on. “Can’t you just teleport there and back?” Rainbow asked almost accusingly. “I’ve never been to Trottingham before, and I need to know where I’m teleporting for it to work, also it’s too far away,” Twilight responded sadly. Rainbow had been to Trottingham once before. It was only ten hour flight there and that was when she wasn’t in any real hurry. Her flight back was seven hours and she still wasn’t in any hurry. “Let me get it, I can make it there and back before tomorrow morning,” Rainbow said determination in her eyes, while still hugging Scootaloo. Twilight closed her eyes and teleported another paper and quill to her. “Alright Rainbow. I’ll ask if they can get more blood ready for you to pick up,” she said as she teleported the scroll to Celestia. After about a five seconds Rainbow was getting impatient, “This is taking too long, where did you send the letter anyway?” “I sent it,” Twilight began to say but was interrupted by scroll popping into existence. She quickly took hold of it with her magic and read it. “Ok Rainbow, you better hurry they will have it waiting for you at the Trottingham hospital.” Rainbow looked down at Scootaloo, stopped hugging her and back peddled a couple steps, much to Scootaloos displeasure. Rainbow looked the filly, no her sister in the eyes. Scootaloo was surprised to see Rainbow had tears running freely down her cheeks as she looked at her. “Okay squirt," Rainbow said, "I want you to do something for me while I’m gone. I want you to stay strong and don’t be afraid to cry,” Scootaloo was a little confused by this but didn’t care to think about it or much of anything at the moment. “O-okay,” she said in a raspy voice. Rainbow smiled and ruffled her mane before heading outside and taking off, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. Seconds later a loud boom came from outside in the distance, Scootaloo and Twilight had no doubts to what that was. It made them feel only slightly better. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Applejack waited as Applebloom scrubbed the blood out of her fur in the shower behind a white shower curtain. She couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t seem sad about what happened but more so irritated. “How ya holding up Applebloom?” “Ah’m fine, it’s just who knows how long this will set us back for crusaden,” Applebloom said and in an annoyed tone. “Um, Applebloom don’t ya think that maybe this is a little more serious than ya missing out on some time crusaden? Ain’t ya worried about Sweetie?” Applejack asked. Applebloom opened the shower curtain to look at Applejack, “Of course Ah am, but Ah also know she’s gonna be just fine because she made it here,” then closed the curtain and went back to scrubbing. “Ah wouldn’t be to sure about that Applebloom, Ah mean things didn’t look very good and Ah only saw ya and Zecora,” Applejack pointed out. “That’s because things weren’t good, but like Ah said before she made it here and she will be fine,” Applebloom said as she turned off the shower, “also I’m comin’ out.” Applejack turned and waited as Applebloom dried herself off. Once done they walked back to lobby. As they walked back Applejack asked Applebloom where her bowtie was. Applebloom explained how she used it as an emergency bandage. Applejack couldn’t help but feel proud about that. During their walk back they heard a distant boom from outside but ignored it. They saw Twilight and Scootaloo sitting down and looking down once they got back. “Where’s Rarity?” Applejack asked as she and Applebloom walked up to them. “She’s visiting Sweetie right now,” Twilight answered weakly then continued, “According to the doctor she lost a lot of blood and might not make it, not only that but Sweetie has a rare blood type that is currently not at this hospital for blood transfusion. Rainbow Dash went out to get it from Trottingham, all we can do now is wait and hope,” she finished with a defeated sign. Applebloom sat next to Scootaloo who just keep looking down with her bloodshot eyes. They waited but didn’t have to wait long as Rarity and and a nurse came out into the lobby. Rarity walked out like a zombie just looking straight ahead. Applejack and Twilight noticed this and quickly walked up to her. As they got closer Rarity began, “she just looked so peaceful-ah ha ha,” then gave them a hug and cried. The nurse walked up next to them and asked with a clearly forced upbeat voice, “Okay who would like to visit her next?” Applebloom heard this and instantly volunteered, “We would!” while gesturing to Scootaloo who was still sitting. No pony seemed to object so the nurse gestured for them to follow her. Once in a hallway she began to set some ground rules, “Okay Sweetie is very vulnerable right now so don’t try to move her or anything like that.” “Don’t worry miss we won’t ever do anything to hurt her,” Applebloom replied while they continued to walk past rooms. Thinking about her conversation with Applejack, Applebloom couldn’t help but ask, “By the way, do you still have my bow tie?” Scootaloo looked at Applebloom slightly confused. Scootaloo knew that bowtie was important to her but there was much worse things to worry about. “Um, if you’re referring to the one that was wrapped around Sweetie when she got here then yes we do,” the nurse replied slightly taken aback by this line of questioning. “That’s good, Ah was worried for a second there,” Applebloom replied. Scootaloo felt off put by this conversation so far, but figured Applebloom just might be trying to think about something else. “There’s no need to be worried, I think it should be heading to the laundry room soon enough,” they came to a stop next to an open door, “Okay we’re here. Now I’m gonna stay out here in case I’m needed,” the nurse said while gesturing to the open door next to her. As Applebloom walked in she noticed the room was bright, clean, and mostly white all over. The few exceptions being the equipment in the room on the other side of Sweeties bed, the various tubes and wires connected to them and a chair in front of them. While looking at the bed she saw Sweetie on her back resting. She was more than half covered by a white sheet that her visible foreleg rested on. Just above the sheet she could see bandages wrapped around Sweeties torso no doubt continuing under the sheet. Her head was propped up by some pillows. She had an oxygen mask on her muzzle and some wires near her heart. Her eyes were closed and what could be seen through the oxygen mask she had a contented smile on. Rarity’s description of her looking peaceful was accurate. Applebloom was first to jump up on the chair to get better look at Sweetie followed closely by Scootaloo. For what seemed like forever they just watched her slowly and barely breath in and out. Applebloom didn’t like the silence, “Well, Scootaloo this is going to set crusaden back for a while, and who knows if she’ll be able to come to Manehatten with us,” she said while looking at Sweetie. She wasn’t aware of it but Scootaloo was looking at her with a confused riddled face. She continued, “Ah mean at least we can get a lot of ideas to try out while she’s recovering, we should probably think up some right now to be productive… Have we tried being nurses yet? or what about,” *SLAP* Applebloom just got slapped. She brought her attention to Scootaloo was glaring at her. She opened her mouth to ask what in tartarus that was for, but Scootaloo interrupted that. “Didn’t you hear Twilight back there!?” Scootaloo yelled as tears began to run down her cheeks. This surprised Applebloom as she has never seen her cry once. Even though she knew Scootaloo cried when she went to clean herself; she never saw the actual act. “She said Sweetie might not make it! So stop acting like everything’s okay! becau…” Scootaloo gasped, “because it’s not!” Scootaloo yelled as more angry tears began to run down her face. Applebloom stared at Scootaloo as memory of not even ten minutes ago came to her. Followed by other far older memories that the sight of Scootaloo crying invoked. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ not 10 minutes ago “She’s visiting Sweetie right now,” Twilight answered weakly then continued, “According to the doctor she lost a lot of blood and might not make it, not only that but Sweetie has a rare blood type that is currently not at this hospital for blood transfusion. Rainbow Dash went out to get it from Trottingham, all we can do is wait and hope,” she finished with a sign. unknown time A pink mare happily playing peekaboo while she giggled. unknown time A light brown stallion was lightly tossing her in the air and catching her with a smile with a fun falling sensation. unknown time A dining table full with a young red stallion across from her, a orange filly next to him. The pink mare next to her and a brown stallion at one of the ends. A elderly green mare at the other end. Lots of laughter could be heard and happy faces all around. unknown time A sad elderly green mare looking at two stones with the young orange filly and young red stallion crying near them. unknown time At a table with the red stallion across from her and the elderly green mare eating silently with sad expressions. The orange filly only showing up to put away her dishes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When Applebloom was younger and just starting out in school she learned about parents. She naturally asked Applejack about them and she obliged. She could tell Applejack was hurting when she talked about them but wanted to know all she could. Eventually, Applejack showed Applebloom a picture of them and she suddenly realized she remembered them. She also remembered what everypony was like after they were gone. So she opted to keep her memory of them a secret. She began to make assumptions about how life worked. That losing her parents as a baby meant that fate wouldn’t do anything else horrible to her if she was a good pony. Her assumptions only got proven ‘right’ as time went on. So many crazy things had happened and they always turned out okay in the end that she began to dismiss anything actually going wrong. Seeing Scootaloo like this wasn’t right, they were lying. Sweetie is fine. Sweetie has to be fine. Why would this happen again? Yet, there Scootaloo was. She needed proof, because this couldn’t be happening. Applebloom quickly flung herself halfway onto the bed and reached out to Sweetie's hoof. When she touched it, she was shocked at how it felt. It was cold. She took a long look at Sweetie and her mind went blank. The reality of the situation came crashing down on her harder than an iron beam. She put both her hooves gently around Sweeties hoof as tears began to form in her eyes. She began to have problems breathing, as her breath hitched. She buried her face into the bed, no longer able to see through her bleary eyes and she couldn't stand the sight of Sweetie like this. Scootaloo at one point or another began to tightly hug her as tears could be felt on her back. The nurse checked inside to see what was happening when she heard the slap. She was about to jump in when Scootaloo yelled at Applebloom, but Applebloom just stared at her for a little bit, before leaping at Sweetie. She quickly walked in but stopped when she saw that Applebloom only put her hooves around the Sweeties hoof and began to cry. She decided to let them remain like that once Scootaloo began to hug Applebloom they weren’t harming her. She left the room as it was a depressing sight to see and also so they could have their privacy. She kept her ears open though. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Darkness and pain where the only sensations that she could be aware of. So much pain, it burned, but it began to noticeable fade away. Soon it felt like an itch and then nothing was felt. Even that changed as she began to feel something around her muzzle with an annoying amount of pressure. She breathed in and felt air fill her lungs as she began to hear something. It was a very distant sound but it slowly became louder. Somepony was crying, and no that can’t be right. It sounded like Applebloom. Why would she cry? In the darkness she now smelt the air she was breathing in and it smelt like fresh plastic if that makes any since. She was fully aware now and Applebloom was still crying somewhere beside her for some reason. She quickly opened her eyes and instantly regretted it. She closed them for a second or two and slowly opened them again. The first thing she noticed was an oxygen mask over her muzzle, well that explains that annoying pressure. The next thing she noticed was the room she was in was all white and she was lying on a bed. She turned towards Applebloom and wasn’t prepared to see Scootaloo there crying silently as well. What happened? She felt just fine, in fact she felt like she just came out of a very nice nap, which can feel great by the way. Memory finally hit her and she came to the only logical conclusion. Tears began to run down her face as she realized they couldn’t save her. Those tears were for her friends and not for herself. She never realized how they would feel if something happened to her. Why was she still here though? She thought she would have been with the Eternal Herd. Scootaloo calmed down after a while of hugging Applebloom and she didn’t have much crying left in her after Rainbow. Her eyes were shot and itchy. So when she looked up from Applebloom tear stained back and saw Sweetie silently crying her eyes out while staring at them she stared back. Then she blinked several times. Soon she was rubbing her eyes and yep Sweetie was still there just staring at them. “Sw-Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked in a very raspy voice. Sweetie's face scrunched up in confusion after Scootaloo croaked out her name with a hopeful smile. Confused Sweetie said the first thing the came to mind, “You can see me?” muffled by her mask. Applebloom instantly looked up and then just stared at Sweetie. Scootaloo just nodded to Sweeties question confused by it. Applebloom then proceeded to repeat Scootaloos actions. “Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom questioned while tightening her grip on Sweetie. “You can see me to?” Sweetie asked still muffled by the mask and was really confused now. What else could explain her losing pain, feeling great, and her friends crying next to her other than no longer being alive. Sweetie felt Appleblooms hooves when she tightened her grip and thought maybe that’s what’s going on. She squeezed Appleblooms hoof back as what she thought she had to do next was worse. “I’m sorry, I never wanted this to happen. I don’t want you girls to suffer like this, you know you’re my best friends. Please don’t let my death stop you from living your lives… please tell my family I love them and I will miss you all. Applebloom please let go so I can move on… I’ll be waiting,” Scootaloo and Applebloom just stared at her with confusion as she talked. “Applebloom please let get of my hoof,” she hopes they heard all that through the mask. Instead of letting go of her like she asked Applebloom tightened her grip, “No! Ah won’t let you go!” Sweetie began to move her hoof to try and get Applebloom off her so she could go to the Eternal Herd, “Come on Applebloom! you have to move on don’t make this harder on us than it already is!” Sweetie said as she brought her other hoof to try and pry off Appleblooms hooves. Applebloom fought back briefly before speaking again, “Okay, okay! Just… Just be quick about it,” Sweetie stopped fighting and Applebloom quickly let go and began crying again. Sweetie laid there and nothing happened she wasn’t transported to the heavens like she thought she would have been. Instead she still felt that annoying mask around her muzzle and decided to take it off. After that she had no clue what was going on, “Why am I still here?” she asked, her voice no longer burdened by the mask. Scootaloo just watched this not sure what to think up until Sweetie asked that. A feeling of relief and happiness overcame at such a scale that she couldn’t help herself but to jump on the bed and tightly hug Sweetie. “You’re not dead you dictionary,” as Scootaloo said with a huge smile, as Applebloom joined her in the hug. Sweetie was about to hug back but got interrupted. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The nurse outside the door listened to them crying for all of twenty seconds; until another patient had some problems with malfunctioning equipment in a different room. Everypony in the staff was aware of this problem but didn’t know how to fix it and it was nothing that could potentially be serious. It would give off false alarms every now and then for an unknown reason, but it was too expensive to replace and anypony who tried to fix it always failed. All she had to do was press a button wait about a minute and press another button and it was fixed so to say. She quickly made her way back to the fillies to but didn’t hear crying. She looked inside and to her horror the they were hugging Sweetie who had her mask off and forelegs limply against her side. She was upon them so fast the next couple actions took places in two seconds. She pried Applebloom off them and lightly tossed her to the ground then she pried Scootaloo off Sweetie and then picked her up by her mane and scooped Applebloom up and quickly escorted them out. Then closed the door on them and went to check on the patient. End Chapter 12 > Somewhere Between Trottingham and Ponyville > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- When Rainbow got the blood for Sweetie she took a short rest on a cloud just outside Trottingham, as she was feeling tired. She knew full well what happened next if she continued without that rest. Her wings would start to burn and exhaustion would soon take over; then she would have to significantly reduce her pace or risk getting a wing cramp, which isn’t a good thing to have happen while in the sky. So she rested. She's expecting to be completely wiped out after this was over. She couldn't help but think back to the first and only time she over exerted herself. It wasn't a pleasant experience, it was made worse by the ponies who tried to push her to ignore the pain and soreness all over. They even went as far as firing the pony they hired to train her, because he refused to continue until she recovered. She wasn't sure why she was thinking about this stuff now, of all times, it's been something she gladly forgot about. She ignored those thoughts and focused on the endurance test ahead. She found out that she got to Trottingham in about three hours from the ponies at the Trottingham hospital. She was glad she was making such great time, but knew that time was not on her side in this issue. She hated having to wait, but she knew her limits. She did a sonic rainboom to get here, and she's planning on doing one to get back. After about thirty minutes, Rainbow felt up for the task. She took off fast and hard evaporating the cloud she had been resting on into clear air. She pushed herself to go faster and faster, until for first time ever she accomplished two sonic rainbooms in one day. As she did so, her mind went back to the hospital lobby; where Scootaloo looked like she lost the will to live. Scootaloos cry of her name echoed in her mind, urging her not give in to her bodies complaints. She had tears in her eyes again, but it wasn’t because of the air stinging her eyes as she whizzed past it. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight waited in silence with everypony else currently in the lobby. Zecora came back from washing herself clean, and told them she's going to inform mayor Mare about the state of the Everfree. Fluttershy and Pinkie came to show their support but had things to do and left after a little bit. Twilight requested Fluttershy to make sure no pony entered the Everfree since her cottage is right next to the entrance, before she left. Everything was quiet until Scootaloo and Applebloom walked into the lobby with beaming smiles followed by a frazzled nurse. They were in front of Rarity in a blink of an eye bursting with excitement. When Rarity noticed them she was only given enough time to open her mouth. “SHE’S OKAY!” they happily yelled hopping in place. Their enthusiasm tried to cut through the depressing mood that had slowly been solidifying in the lobby. It only managed to bend it into confusion. Rarity was speechless with a mix of emotions ranging from anger to hope. Twilight noticed this and quickly whisked them away with her magic and set them in front of her, Rarity was clearly in no mind to handle this right now. “Girls, please calm down and tell us what you’re talking about,” she asked gently. After little bit they mostly stopped shaking in excitement but their smiles remained even through their bloodshot eyes they looked happy. “Applebloom saved Sweetie!” Scootaloo yelled as she tightly hugged a shying Applebloom. Twilight brought her attention to the nurse who was standing there awkwardly so she could get some real answers. “Do you know what they’re talking about?” “That’s what we’re looking into right now your highness…” Just as the nurse began to talk Scootaloo stopped hugging Applebloom with an embarrassed smile. The nurse saw Twilight look at her questioningly, “Um right, well in all appearances she seems perfectly fine," the nurse started, "We’re running lots of test on her right now and we plan on making her stay the night to be sure… We don’t really know what happened, but...” “We told you how many times now? Ah healed Sweetie! Ah don’t know why Ah was able to but Ah’m so so glad Ah did,” Applebloom happily interrupted. Healed? Could Applebloom really heal another pony? Twilight considered why she never even thought of that possibility. “Now hold on just a second, Ah thought ya could only barely heal plants what in tarnation makes ya think ya healed Sweetie?” Applejack asked putting a voice to Twilight's thoughts. Applebloom normally would have looked down and ashamed by now, but she was just too happy to care. “Well Ah know Twilight wanted me to tell her if anything weird happened, but Ah wanted to keep it a secret, because Ah’ve been practising growing plants and a couple days ago Ah fell and got a nasty scratch on both my forelegs. Before Ah know it they’re gone like it never even happened. Ah was gonna tell yall after my big reveal because well..." Applebloom rubbed a fore hoof against the other, "Ah wanted it to be a surprise… Sweeties okay and that’s what’s important,” she finished resolutely. Before anypony else could respond the nurse cut-in, “Well, we don’t know that for sure, but things are looking good,” while Applebloom and Scootaloo went to take back their seats. “Mm mmmay I see her please?” Rarity managed to ask while looking at the nurse. She really wanted to believe everything she was hearing. “Sorry but not until we know it’s safe, something like this is unprecedented and we need to treat this situation seriously. It’ll take about an hour or so before we know if things are as good as they appear and then you can visit her; however, even then we would like to keep her over for the night incase we missed something,” the nurse said carefully. Rarity sighed, “That’s perfectly fine darling," She went and hugged the nurse, "and thank you so so so much." The nurse described the test they gave and probable are giving to Sweetie and the ones that they still got to do. She then answered some questions they had. After that she left them to do other stuff that required her attention. So they waited. Twilight was left to ponder the vague abilities her students gained and was mentally kicking herself for not translating more of the journal. Applejack hugged Applebloom as they sat next to each other because it was hard not to miss her bloodshot eyes when she first came in. Applebloom just couldn’t wait to see Sweetie Belle again. Scootaloo felt guilt, she had something to tell her friends and she feared when she did they wouldn’t be her friends anymore. She was kind of okay with that though, she just couldn’t lie to them any longer not after this. Zecora had returned while they waited. Eventually, the nurse came back with good news. Rarity was first to visit Sweetie. Twilight asked Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Zecora exactly how Sweetie 'took' Zecora's place. She didn't like what they had to say, not one iota. They said she teleported while standing still, but also knocked Zecora out of the way. Twilight felt a dark pit of dread in her. She could have chosen any number of advanced spells to explain to Sweetie but she choose teleportation, she felt responsible for what happened. What they said didn't add up. She knows that for Sweetie to be able to knock Zecora out of the way she would have had to of been moving which they said she wasn't. She planned on questioning Sweetie about this before she talked to Rarity about this. Rarity came back looking relieved but still on edge. Applebloom and Scootaloo were quick to volunteer to visit Sweetie next, and took off before anypony else could really have a say. “Sweetie!” They yelled as they ran into the room. Sweetie was hooked to monitoring machines still to give warning to the staff incase something does happen. She smiled and waved at them, “Scootaloo! Applebloom!” she yelled in her squeaky voice. It didn’t take long before they were on a large chair next to the bed, “You have no idea how happy Ah am to see you again. Even though it has been about three hours,” Applebloom happily offered. Scootaloo had a mix of emotions swirling in her head and she had no idea how to say them. “Yeah, me too… Sweetie I…” Scootaloo tried to say but on impulse lept onto the bed and hugged Sweetie who hugged back, Applebloom joined almost instantly. It was short lived and it was Scootaloo who broke it apart, “Okay okay, enough with the sappy stuff. I’ve had my fill for one day, no make that life. I, I do have something I want to tell you guys but not here and not now. It’s very important and I’ll understand if you don’t…" Scootaloo looked down and away, "Anyways, I just can’t keep this from you two anymore so next chance we get to the clubhouse I’ll tell you,” Scootaloo said looking gravely serious near the end. Sweetie observed this and realised she needed to change the subject. She has been wondering since she woke up and realized she’s alive was how she got to the hospital. All she managed to learn was that Zecora took her but she didn’t know the details. “Okay... So what happened with the manticore?” Applebloom and Scootaloo flinched at the unpleasant memories that happened just today that question brought up. Applebloom was the first to answer, “Scootaloo kicked it’s flank to next tuesday, then after you passed out we wrapped you with my bow to try and stop the bleeding,” She got interrupted by Sweetie gasping. Sweetie knew what that bowtie meant to Applebloom. It was one her of parents gifts to her before they passed away. Sweetie knew Applebloom had a soft spot for them even though Applebloom was never really old enough to know them. Sweetie knew this because when they first met, Sweetie would usually complain about her own parents. Who would go on vacations so often at times, she practically felt she lived at Raritys. Applebloom had said it was fine for Sweetie to complain about her own parents when she first learned about it. So she did. Applebloom was okay at first, but soon found it hard to listen to. Sweetie felt horrible when Applebloom asked her to stop. Sweetie made sure not to complain about them infront of Applebloom. “Omygosh I’m so sorry Applebloom,” Sweetie apologised. “It’s okay Sweetie the doctors took good care of it when they removed it, it’s air drying right now,” Applebloom answered and Sweetie relaxed. Applebloom only knew this because Applejack asked the nurse about it, after all other questions about Sweetie were pretty exhausted. “That’s good, how did you manage that Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked. Images of Scootaloo picking up a giant rock and hurling it at the manticore came to mind. Though she was pretty sure there was no giant rocks available at the time. She was able to get a pretty good lay of the land while time had stopped for her, and she didn't recall any rocks nearby. Scootaloo was unable to explain how she accomplished defeating the manticore. She flat out said she couldn’t remember. Applebloom on the other hoof offered a little more detail on what she think happened. Sweetie was a little mortified that it got its paw stabbed. She however did enjoy how Applebloom described Scootaloo's final attack and comparing it to karate. After that they agreed to have a meeting at the clubhouse as soon as they could for whatever important thing Scootaloo had to say. There were other ponies who wanted to visit Sweetie and visiting hours were almost up so Applebloom and Scootaloo left to the lobby at least. While waiting for her next visitor she wondered what Scootaloo had to tell them. That didn’t last long because Twilight came in, “Sweetie Belle. I'm glad to see that you’re okay!” She continued walking in and sat on the chair. “Twilight! it’s good to see you to,” Sweetie smiled. "How are you feeling?" Twilight asked. "Great!" Sweetie answered with excitedly. “That sounds..." Twilight looked down in thought briefly, "well, great!" she said putting on a slightly embarrassed smile, "So I hear you teleported to save Zecora?" Twilight questioned, but continued before Sweetie could respond, "I’m proud you would do that and did do that, but I hope you realize just how reckless that was,” Twilight didn't mean it that way, "I'm sorry, I just don't understand why you teleported." She wants to talk about other things that she’s pretty sure Sweetie would be ecstatic about. Sweetie looked down guiltily, “I know, but I didn’t teleport." "You didn't?" Twilight questioned. "Yes..." Sweetie responded, "I mean yes I did not teleport, I stopped time for like seven minutes. It was horrible. I couldn't move anything,” tears began to fall, “All I could do was watch the moment before Zecora would get hurt badly. and and and it was all my fault!" she practically yelled, "All I had to do was run when she told us to and this never would have happened, but no! I had to stand there like a wimp... I was so scared... I couldn’t let her get it hurt. Not when it was my fault,” she almost whispered, tears going down her cheeks. Twilight was quick to go over and hug Sweetie, “It’s okay Sweetie, no pony blames you or any pony for what happened," Sweetie hugged back, "Do you think you can tell me what happened?” Twilight questioned while backing out of the hug. Sweetie composed herself and nodded. Sweetie went on to explain how she standed still long enough for the manticore to recover from Zecora’s powder and how that makes it her fault. Twilight disagreed with her and maintained it was no ponies fault. Sweetie then explained what she did or at least tried to do when she stopped time and how weird and awful it was. Twilight was sure to ask and take mental notes on every detail Sweetie could provide about the effects of that spell. Before Twilight left she told Sweetie she would be taking a much more active role in training her how to use magic. This was a happy surprise to Sweetie. Applejack and Zecora visited next. Sweetie apologised to Zecora, but Zecora said it wasn’t needed and made an apology to Sweetie. Zecora said that it was no ponies fault but if blame was to be made it would have to go to herself. Applejack agreed with Zecora's assessment. After that visiting hours were closed and Sweetie didn’t have much to do except wait till tomorrow when she can hopefully leave and get those pesky monitoring devices off. ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- Rainbow felt wiped out by the time she made back to Ponyville. It was mostly dark out and the few lights from the various buildings are what she used to not get lost. She glided the rest of the way to the hospital. It was late, the sun was almost set and the moon was rising. All she could hope was that she wasn’t too late, she couldn’t fail her sister and friends. She was definitely going to need a day or five worth of rest after this. The combination of the sonic rainbooms and the long distance left her exhausted. She made it to the hospital door and slowly opened them with what little strength she had, “I made it, I’m just gonna catch some…” before she could finish that sentence she slumped to the ground and slept. Rarity and Scootaloo where the only ones in the lobby besides the nurse. Scootaloo was the first to get to Rainbow Dash. Rarity soon followed then the nurse. The nurse was quick to take the blood packets from Rainbows saddle bags and put them in proper storage. When she came back Rarity helped her bring Rainbow to a room so she could rest more comfortably. Scootaloo and Rarity went back to the lobby to wait for Sweetie and now Rainbow. Rarity tried to get Scootaloo to leave but she insisted on staying, and Rarity wasn’t up to argueing. So they waited and slept in the lobby. Rainbow first came to consciousness with feeling tired. She simply tried to go back to sleep, but was unable to do so. a light was in her eyes and even with her eyes closed it was just too noticeable to ignore. She turned head away from light and boy was she not prepared for the aches of her muscles. They hurt. After she moved, she began to notice soreness in the rest of her body. She slowly opened her eyes and saw she was in a hospital room and the sun was invading the room with an annoying brightness. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep. Her mouth was irritable dry however and that was something she also couldn’t ignore. She was welcomed to the sight of Scootaloo happily curled up on a chair next to the bed she was laying on. She felt joy to see her there. It really cemented her newfound sisterly bond with her. She couldn’t bring herself to disturb Scootaloo after what she has been through yesterday. Scootaloo eventually opened her eyes and noticed Dash staring at her and smiled hopefully, “Heya squirt," Rainbow rasped, "ahem, ack, mind getting me a glass of water?” Scootaloo was quick to retrieve the water and hoof it to her. It actually hurt her to reach out and grab it but she bared it and drank it in one go. She handed it back to Scootaloo who went and got another glass and set on a nightstand next to the bed. She was wondering why Scootaloo hasn’t said anything yet, but she looked happy, “I take it Sweetie made it okay?” Scootaloo smiled and nodded. “I knew she would. She can be tough,” which made Scootaloo giggle, her voice was pretty harsh at the moment so she went for the water and drank half of it. Muscles aching every little movement. Rainbow was able to notice the nervousness in Scootaloo and knew exactly what it was for. She didn’t like it so she began, “Listen Scootaloo I’m sorry,” Scootaloo went from nervous happiness to sad so quickly, but she continued, “I never knew you felt that way about me, I was shocked to learn you felt that way about me for a year I wasn’t prepared for it. Especially, because I learned it from Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight,” She took a break to get a sip of water, “I said I would take you under my wing and I…" guilt filled tears slowly formed around her eyes, "I didn’t even do that. I’ve been treating you so horribly I don’t even know why you ever wanted to be my sister, I mean it’s crazy I’ve only known you for two years! and we’re not related. ‘sniff,’ but I was so so wrong. I would be honored to be your big sister if you’d ever forgive me for being such an,” before she could finish that sentence Scootaloo flung herself at Rainbow in a hug which took what little air out of her and made her body ache in withering pain. Rainbow noticed the huge smile on Scootaloos face and gentle wrapped a foreleg around her all the while her body ached in the pains after a extreme hard workout. “Okay, okay that’s enough mushy stuff, its actually hurting my body. I’m sore all over." Scootaloo gave one last tight squeeze before going back to that chair, “Umm by the way, it turns out you didn’t need to get the blood. Applebloom was able to heal her.” Dash just stared at her for a second or two. She went all the way to Trottingham and back, and that’s all Scootaloo has to say about it? It was just so ridiculous, “Bwahaha oww ahahaahahah~,” she laughed uncontrollably and as she did it hurt her to laugh which only reminded her of how ridiculous it was, which only made her laugh more. She eventually reined herself in more so because her body wasn’t able to keep up, and looked to see Scootaloo watching her slightly confused. After regaining her breath she gave Scootaloo a smile, “Sorry sis I’m just happy things turned out the way they did,” as she weakly reached out and ruffled her mane enduring the stinging pain as she did so. Scootaloo never wanted this moment to end; she called her “sis.” For a second everything in life was great, no it was perfect until she remembered something. Her smile fell replaced with fear and guilt like somepony hit a switch. She couldn’t hide in the shadows any longer. She knew that when she almost lost Sweetie. She already made a commitment to tell her best friends and there’s no way she could leave out her sister. She knew what would happen though she’s been lying to them and they’re gonna hate her. She couldn’t live with the guilt though and she wouldn’t, even if it meant losing them. “Rainbow I...” Before Scootaloo could continue Rainbow interrupted her, “Scootaloo feel free to call me big sis, sister…" she stopped when she saw Scootaloo no longer smiling, "hey what’s wrong?” Rainbow wanted to hug her right now, but that laughing took a lot of her. Scootaloo took some calming breaths, “Big sis," she shuttered, "I have something I need to tell you, but I gotta tell my friends first and then I’ll tell you.” Rainbow wasn’t sure what to make of the sudden mood change, “Hey sure thing sis, I can wait. There’s not much to do, I’m gonna be sore all over for a while heh,” she shrugged, “oww.” “Okay,” Scootaloo simply said, and then they waited in silence. It didn’t take too long before a nurse came in to give Dash food and explain she had to stay at the hospital for a day or two do to magic depletion. Rainbow was expecting something like this to happen it wouldn’t be the first time she overdid herself. It would be the first time she learned that it was mostly magical and not more physical like she thought. She had a couple questions like why everything was sore and not just her wings. Turns out magic is everywhere in the body and is used for task like flying and cloud manipulation in pegasi. Some of this she already knew. Even though it may not improve the body like it does for earth ponies it still is an important form of energy that the body would notice missing. By losing most/all of their magic they’ll feel weakness and out of breath. By using most/all of their magic they’ll feel like they came from a very hard workout, but just like a work out unless it was overdone they will come out stronger once they recover. If it was overdone they may lose most/all their ability to use magic as the system that regulates the magic could burn out. Sure they’d still have magic but limited or no access to it really depending on how severe the damage was. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Scootaloo wanted to stay with Rainbow but the guilt was making her uncomfortable so she excused herself soon after the nurse came in. Sweetie was released from the hospital and although she wasn’t grounded Rarity understandably decided to spend the day with her. Applejack asked Applebloom to show her what she’s been doing in secret exactly and Applebloom had agreed but still wanted it to be surprise to other ponies that included Scootaloo. That didn’t matter much anyways because she decided to wait till Rainbow Dash woke up. Now she had nothing to do. So she decided to go to see what Twilight was up to. Upon entering the library it didn’t take long to locate Twilight at a pedestal scribbling notes and writing while looking at two different books. She recognized one as the one they got from the cave. “Hey Twilight what’s up?” One of Twilights ears swiveled to Scootaloo and she let out a sigh as Scootaloo got closer. Twilight briefly turned her head to look at Scootaloo before going back to her task, “Hello Scootaloo sorry I couldn’t wait with you at the hospital but I’ve been putting this off for too long. This journal has answers and I need to get them before anything else happens.” “Answers to what? And before what happens?” Scootaloo asked a little confused. Twilight stopped what she was doing but didn’t look away, “Answers to questions like how was Sweetie able to stop time? Why were you able to send a fully grown manticore flying? How did Applebloom heal Sweetie? Where did that spike come from? What happened to you three? I don’t know, but things have gotten out of hoof so fast. I need to get answers and this journal has them! I just know it,” Twilight spoke fast and faster. Scootaloo reared back a little from her rant. Twilight sighed and faced Scootaloo, “Sorry Scootaloo I just got a lot on my mind, how’s Rainbow by the way?” “She’s pretty wiped out from that trip but it sounded like she’d be okay after some rest,” Scootaloo answered. “That’s good to hear. So was there something you wanted to talk about?” Twilight asked. Scootaloo shaked her head, “Nah, Sweeties gonna be with Rarity for the rest of the day, and Applebloom apparently still wants to wow us with what she’s been working on secretly but let Applejack watch her practise. As awesome as it would be to spend the rest of the day with my sister. I just don’t think I’d like to stay in that place for another whole day,” she partially lied keeping the real reason from Twilight. Twilight noticed that Scootaloo called Rainbow ‘sister.’ Twilight was honestly hoping this would happen. She had to control her urge to squee in joy. One of her best friends and her student becoming sisters, it felt good. “Well, I won’t be much company because I really need to get this translated, but…” a blank paper appeared in front of her; she scribbled somethings on it then floated it to Scootaloo with her magic, “If you go over to the fiction section over there, you should be able to find some of those books. I think you might like them, also feel free to get a snack from the kitchen,” Twilight said, pointing to the fiction section. Scootaloo smiled, “Thanks Twilight!” She quickly snagged the paper out of the air and trotted to where the books would be. The rest of the day was rather peaceful. Scootaloo did end up visiting Rainbow till visiting hours were closed. Rainbow was asleep most the time, it was still nice. Applebloom impressed Applejack and managed to accomplish what she wanted to show off to everypony. Applebloom plans on doing her presentation tomorrow. Sweetie and Rarity had a nice day out going to the park, shopping, and then the spa. Twilight stayed up late into the night translating the journal, but did have the sense to go to sleep. End Chapter 13 > At Sweet Apple Acres part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day things settled down and were more or less normal. Everypony involved still felt a little on edge by the events of the day before yesterday. Morning passed by a little different for some ponies. Rainbow was released from the hospital and a tired Scootaloo was there to keep her company and help wheel her around. Rainbow didn’t like it as it looked so uncool, but her body still ached too much even for her to walk longer than five minutes and she appreciated Scootaloos help. Applebloom went around requesting everypony to show up to her big reveal that’s about to take place. Sweetie wanted to spend just a little more time with her sister so she made a grand breakfast for her; oddly enough everything wasn’t burnt to a unrecognisable crisp. In fact, that breakfast was pretty decent, just some minor burn marks and not enough seasoning. Needless to say Rarity was pleasantly surprised. It was almost two o’clock and ponies began to show up at Sweet Apple Acres, to honor Appleblooms request. They didn’t all show up at once, but it didn’t take long for everypony to get there in a mostly timely manner. ------------------- Applebloom ------------------- Yesterday when Applebloom got her bowtie back she was a little shocked to see some off color splotches on it. The nurse apologised but Applejack interrupted any thoughts that were going through Appleblooms head. Turns out Applejack would take it to a unicorn, who knew a spell that could remove stains from clothing, anytime it got a stain they couldn’t remove by normal means. Oddly enough it wasn’t Rarity, in any event Applebloom never thought that was ever the case. She had plenty of spare bowties that looked pretty much the same as the one she truly prized to wear, if she felt she was going to do something that could in any way tarnish it. The two things that set it apart from the others is that it has her initials hidden within the knot and it was given to her by deceased parents. She thought about everything that happened and how frivolously she behaved. She didn’t want to be in denial like that again. She was lying to herself, that everything would be okay once they got to the hospital. That nothing could go wrong. That it’d always be okay. She was wrong and she’s glad Scootaloo slapped her out of it. She felt awful about how lightly she took the situation because of a false belief. She asked Applejack to let splotches remain because this was something she never wanted to forget. Today however, she waited nervously beside Applejack as ponies began to show up. She didn’t ask many ponies just her family, Applejacks friends, and her fellow CMC members. She planned on revealing what she'd been working on in secret for the last week and with Applejack yesterday. Granny Smith and Big Mac were already waiting patiently. The first to show up was Pinkie Pie, followed by Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Twilight and Spike teleported in exactly as the clock hit two, or rather when Spike told her it was two o’clock. Fluttershy was seen wheeling in Rainbow with Scootaloo who had some bags under her eyes and Zecora walking on either side of her not soon after that. Zecora had requested to stay at Fluttershys until the creatures of the Everfree calmed down as she decided it was getting too dangerous even for her. Applebloom was quick to invite her to the show when she found out she’d be staying at Fluttershys for however long. Everypony was there and even though she knew she could do it, it would be so embarrassing if she failed. Applejack wished her good luck and went to wait by the others. ‘well here goes nothing, Ah can do this!’ Applebloom thought, psyching herself up for her presentation. “Howdy yall, thank you for showing up on such short notice! Now, Ah know some of you have already seen what Ah can do with these weird powers Ah got,” Applebloom began to pace around, “Sure earth ponies have been known to grow plants slightly faster and overall better than unicorns and pegasi, however, it still takes time to do so,” Applebloom stopped where she started pacing and faced them again, “As you may know Ah’ve been secretly practising on this weird ability ever since Ah learned Ah could do it. Ah’m proud to say that yesterday Ah met my goal and Applejack can confirm it, in the event Ah ehem some how mess this up. Any questions?” Applebloom asked. “I do," Twilight spoke up, "you were being kind of vague. Could you describe this weird power you plan on presenting us?” Applebloom smiled because she was hoping something like this would happen, “You’re right. Ah was being a little too non-descript, though you will soon learn it was intentional. This weird power Ah’m talking about is the ability to turn a flower seed into a full grown healthy flower almost instantly. Ah don't know what such an ability could be called but that’s how it works. Ah won’t have to pay to eat another daisy in my life because Ah can grow one on demand with little effort!” Applebloom watched as understanding began to fill the minds of everypony except Applejack who was now smiling proudly. Before they could make any connections to her ability to grow flower seeds and other seeds she spoke up, “Today Ah’m going to show you the fruits of my labor, literally!” with that she threw an apple seed on ground, reared up and hit the ground around the seed as hard as she could with her forehooves. While doing that she yelled in her mind for the seed to grow while imagining a fully grown apple tree with apples and all because that really seemed like it was needed in some fashion. In front of everypony a fully grown apple tree popped up like a zap apple tree. They watched as leaves and apples quickly covered its branches in shock and awe. Applebloom quickly went around the tree to see everyponys expressions and was pleased. “So what do yall think?” That seemed to set everypony into motion. Sweetie screamed in joy and tackled Applebloom, while Scootaloo ran up to her and excitedly exclaimed, “That was AWESOME!” Granny Smith commented positively and Big Mac agreed. Twilight began asking questions, while Spike and Rainbow exclaimed how cool that was. Fluttershy and Zecora congratulated Applebloom. Pinkie went over to Applebloom soon after Sweetie and Scootaloo settled down. Rarity kind of just happily stared at her sister. Applejack got a round and put it under the tree Applebloom basically just made. Applejack gave it one good buck and enough apples for everypony came down. They all sampled and were pleased to find out that their quality hadn’t gone down because of the way they were made. “Alright everypony thank you for coming! Ah’m sure yall have things to be doing right about now so Ah won’t hold you any longer!” Applebloom yelled to everypony. They said their goodbyes and began to leave. Sweetie and Scootaloo were left with Applebloom as Applejack was just short of dragging Rarity away from them upon Appleblooms request. “Okay, let's go to the clubhouse Ah believe Scootaloo has something she wants to tell us,” she watched as Scootaloo went from happy to dread. Sweetie looked at Scootaloo curiously. So to the clubhouse they went. ------------------- Scootaloo ------------------- Scootaloo was the last to enter the clubhouse with a heavy sigh. She hasn’t gotten much sleep because of this and her nightmares previously. In fact the only night she got a good night's rest within the last five days was the night she stayed at the hospital with Rarity. Last night she couldn’t get any sleep for what she fears is about to happen. Regardless of her lack of rest she feels wide awake with a slight ache. This was something she had to do because she can live with the consequences of what she’s about to do, but not with what she has been doing at least not anymore. Lying is one of the worst things anypony could ever do, and sure she might have done it on several occasions, but this was a serious matter. Lying about serious things like she has been is only for the worst kind of pony, or so that’s what she has been led to believe by tormenting experience. She closed the door behind her slowly, as guilt overtook her mind. She turned around to see Applebloom and Sweetie looking at her slightly concerned. “Before I start I need you to Pinkie Promise me that you won’t tell anypony what I’m about to tell you that includes your sisters,” she sighed, “though I guess it won’t mean much by the end of this… Well...” she looked at them questioningly. They did their pinkie promises and she continued, “I would also like to thank you two. For being the two best friends anypony could wish for…” she smiled at them and looked down, “When I almost lost you Sweetie I was struck by guilt so much guilt. The guilt of not being able to tell you something you should have every right to know, a-and I can’t live with it! I need to get rid of it even i-if..." Scootaloo sighed, and looked at her friends, “I live here,” she said bluntly. Scootaloo dejectedly walked to a large toy box in one of corners near the window and moved it aside. Applebloom looked at her confused as Scootaloo began walking, “What do you mean you live here?" She questioned, "Ah know, Ah’ve never been to your place but you don’t live here. Ah’m pretty sure Applejack, Big Mac, Granny, or even Ah would have noticed that,” Applebloom said, as Scootaloo removed a plank and gathered a helmet, a yellow sleeping bag, her saddlebags, and a sack. “Did you get in a fight with your parents or something?” asked Sweetie. “You wouldn’t notice Applebloom, because I made sure to take the long way to get to the clubhouse at night, and no Sweetie I can’t have a fight with parents I don’t have,” Scootaloo answered as she removed her stuff from her secret hiding place. Sweetie gasped, “Scootaloo don’t talk about your parents like that! You’ve always said they loved you! what did they do?” As Applebloom looked at a loss for words. Scootaloo turned and faced Sweetie once she was done, “You don’t get it Sweetie. I’ve never had parents. I’m an orphan,” Scootaloo said plainly. By this point Scootaloo was just trying to not think about the inevitable conclusion, but saying what she needs to. Sweetie blinked a couple times, “Stop lying. We’ve talked about our parents plenty of times,” she then spared a glance at Applebloom who looked confused and hurt, “THIS ISN’T FUNNY SCOOTALOO!” she yelled. Scootaloo couldn’t get angry at Sweeties outburst even if she tried. She just calmly asked, “Have you ever seen my parents? Have you ever seen where I live? Don’t you find it strange we’ve never had a sleepover at my house? You know when I freaked out that Twilight told us that we were missing for a day and not a couple hours after we got out of that cave?” she looked at them questioningly as Sweetie stared angrily and Applebloom slowly began to look horrified, “Well now you know why. If they had to look for us in the Everfree Forest they would have to tell parents I don’t have that I went missing. They would have found out the truth and they would have taken me away from you guys because Ponyville doesn’t have an orphanage.” “If that was true then how come it hasn’t happened!” Sweetie challenged. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie, “I lied my way out of it, like I lied to you two since I met you. I won’t do that anymore that’s why I’m gonna tell both of you everything…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ six years ago Scootaloo was looking up at potential parents excitedly waving to them as they left her. She might not have done that if Miss Gold didn’t tell her it was a good thing those ponies took some of her friends away from her. That she should seek to be taken by them as well. She didn’t get it but Miss Gold made it sound like a really good thing. They waved back with a false smile, and walked down a hallway into a room. Scootaloo sneaked up to the room out of curiosity. Before she made it they started talking to one of her caretakers Miss Iron as she peaked inside. “I don’t think she’ll work for us Miss Iron, she seems a little too rambunctious.” One of the potential parents said. “We also can’t afford to fly her everywhere, we just wouldn’t be able to take care of her. Sorry,” the other said. “That’s fine I’ve been running across that problem with Scootaloo since day one, it’s like one of those pesky things you want to get rid of but never can, like a bad kidney,” Miss Iron said in a sarcastic voice. They laughed slightly. “So you have any other pegasi we could adopt that can fly?” Scootaloo went back losing interest. four years ago “Miss Gold! Miss Gold! Why haven't I been adopted yet?” Scootaloo asked one of her favorite caretakers. She’s a light red earth pony with a light yellow mane, golden eyes, and a golden heart as a cutie mark. Another foal was adopted recently, which is why she felt the need to ask. Miss Gold looked at Scootaloo, “It’ll happen Scootaloo you will just need to wait, you can’t rush things like that.” “but why do they always look at somepony else after me?” Scootaloo asked on the verge of tears. Miss Gold sighed walked up to Scootaloo and gave her a hug, “I thought you weren’t a baby,” “I AM NOT!” Scootaloo yelled as she tried to get out of the hug. She maintained the hug however, “I know you’re not, and the reason they look at somepony else after you is usually because you can’t fly,” She hugged a little bit tighter, “Now I know that sounds like a stupid reason and you would be right. Adult ponies aren’t always right and if they can’t see that you’re a great filly then they don’t deserve you as a daughter.” “I, I still don’t get it but thanks,” Scootaloo gave quick hug back. three years ago It was hearth's warming and the foals of the orphanage were receiving gifts from their caretakers. There was only one big package amongst the piles of wrapped gifts. Well bigger than the others at least. Every filly and colt wondered who the lucky pony is that’s going to get it. Miss Gold would be the one handing it out. Scootaloo watched as her peers received their gifts. Some were happy. Some were sad. She knew why some of them were sad, because she has helped them live with it. She had dealt with ponies who had something tragic happen with their parents to end up here. She never really liked crying, so she decided to be the tough cool pony that they can feel safe around. She didn’t do it well, but well enough to know some horribly sad things. “Scootaloo here’s your gift,” Miss Gold said as she laid the big gift in front of her. Everything went silent as the fillies and colts looked at her and the gift. Scootaloo went to tearing apart the wrappings quickly and saw what it was. She smiled brightly and almost didn’t scream in joy. It was a scooter. She began to unbox it but Miss Gold set another gift down in front of Scootaloo. As much as she wanted to get at that scooter she had to see what the other gift was. She opened it to find a helmet, no doubt to wear while on the Scooter. It was winter so she couldn’t really play with it now but they did let her get a practise run inside. About two and a half years ago It was spring and Scootaloo was not feeling okay. The scooter was a really nice gift, but what she really wanted was to be adopted. She has met several fillies and colts while at the orphanage but only really made one friend. She was a earth pony filly named Light Wave. She had bright blue eyes, a white coat, and a white mane. She hasn’t seen her in three years but was still her friend. She knew this because every week Light would send a letter to her telling her how things are going. Scootaloo of course replied to her, but not nearly as often. Still she was happy for Light Wave and glad to know she wasn’t forgotten almost instantly after adoption like her other ‘friends.’ She would have liked to visit Light, or Light visit her but it seemed like it would never happen. Some of the orphans turned on her when she got the scooter. Sure she never got along with those particular orphans to start with but they left her alone. They began to call her names, and try to get her in trouble. True Miss Iron and Gold were sure to stop it whenever they saw it but that only seemed to make them worse. Scootaloo just wanted to get out of there and be happy like Light Wave. Scootaloo had just got done practising some tricks on her scooter and quietly walked inside. She didn’t want her tormentors to know she was there if she could help it. She put her stuff away and looked for Miss Gold to see if there were any potential parents coming by. As she looked she heard talking in Miss Irons office. Miss Iron was a grey pegasus with blues eyes, light blue mane, and a iron horseshoe cutie mark. She sneaked up to it. “Well Miss Hoofshine do you think you could describe what you’re looking for?” Miss Iron said slightly muffled through the door. “I’m looking for a foal that has been here the longest, it simply breaks my heart somepony would need to live their foal hood here for any amount of time, I figured why let them keep living here if we have a loving home to offer,” no doubt Miss Hoofshine answered. Scootaloo began to think, and yes she was the one who lived here the longest, her whole life in fact. She began to feel hope rise in her. “You’re right it is a tragedy that any foal would have to live here for any amount of time and I have the perfect colt that fits that criteria,” Miss Ironhoof said, confusing and hurting Scootaloo. The colt she was referring to has been here for only two and a half years. Why would Miss Iron lie like this? She went to her room and waited until they left. She asked Miss Iron if anypony was looking to adopt and she answered like she pretty much always has. For the first time she realized something wasn’t right with Miss Iron. That she could be wrong. She kept it to herself for the time being. Two and a quarter years ago Summer was almost halfway through and all Scootaloo could think about for the last month or so was why Miss Iron would lie like that. They always stressed the importance of telling the truth to her. She got in trouble twice for lying about how something got broken. They made it clear why her punishment was more harsh than it would have been if she told the truth the first time. The second time she did they basically made her understand all the bad things that can happen when somepony lies. She couldn’t bring herself to ask why. She knew she could at least trust Miss Gold but Miss Iron was the boss. She didn’t want Miss Gold to get in trouble. She just got inside quietly again. Even though a few of the foals that have been making fun of her were adopted the ones that weren’t passed it on to some new fillies and colts. Luckily it was nice out and usually all the orphans were outside doing stuff, since there was no school. She still came in quietly as a precaution though. “WHAT!?” She heard Miss Gold yell out loud in what sounded like Miss Irons office. She went to investigate. “Calm down do you want other ponies to hear us, or Celestia forbid Scootaloo?” Miss Iron whispered harshly. This peaked Scootaloos interest so she listened. “I’m gonna go tell the police about this right now! This is wrong,” Miss Gold explained. Scootaloo began to back away from the door so she could hide. She stopped when Miss Iron talked, “Wait! wait, Gold you know I wouldn’t do this unless I had a good reason. Let me explain first, I think you’ll see things my way.” “Fine! But don’t think it’ll get you out of this,” Miss Gold said. “You know the laws around orphanages right? Well there are some laws I conveniently kept you in a dark about,” Miss Iron said. As Scootaloo intensly listened. “And what laws would those be?” Miss Gold asked. “These. Go ahead and read them but I’ll give you the gist of what they do. It’s the only reason this orphanage is as successful as it has been. These laws give support directly from the crown for orphanages that aren’t doing well and have an orphan living there for longer than four years. The support is in the form of extra income to the orphanage. Financial support and a good tax break for those who adopt from this orphanage. It’s the only reason why we’re able to find families for so many fillies and colts,” Miss Iron said. Suddenly things began to make since for Scootaloo and she felt hurt. That’s why she let that colt get adopted but not her because of some laws. Laws that were supposed to help her. Miss Gold was right about adults. “But what about Scootaloo she deserves a family,” Miss Gold protested. This made Scootaloo feel good and smile. She could always count on Miss Gold. “Think about it Gold, Scootaloo has lived here all her life, she probably considers this place her home. You saw how happy she was when she got her scooter. She hasn’t asked about being adopted in a while. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her,” Miss Iron said happily, “Think about all the fillies and colts who would get a second chance to be happy because of this. You know Dusty Rail” Scootaloo knew who that was, he kept to himself and would cry uncontrollably at times, “would have never been adopted if it weren’t for this. He was traumatized and I know you’ve been keeping track of his progress. You know any hoity toity rich family would never be able to understand or even begin to help him. The family he has now only exists because of this law. Tell me if Scootaloo’s already happy why not let her help others be happy?” Miss Iron pleaded. Scootaloo smiled she knew Miss Gold wouldn’t fall for this. “I, I… You’re right. What she doesn’t know doesn’t hurt her,” Miss Gold finally said. Scootaloos world came crashing to a halt , as tears began to freefall from her eyes. She kicked open the door and it slammed hard against the wall. She glared hatefully at both of them. “Scoo... SCOOTALOO!” Miss Gold screamed in shock and horror, as Miss Iron looked on mouth agape.“Scootaloo wait!” Miss Gold cried out as Scootaloo left them. Scootaloo had enough, she quickly ran and got her things and got out of there. Scootaloo was a mess she’d been crying, in an ally for a while. She eventually picked herself up and ended up at a train station. She hitched a ride and ended up in Ponyville and after a week she met Sweetie Belle in the park while she was still struggling with everything that happened. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tears were going down Scootaloos eyes as she relived the first time she ever felt truly betrayed, “And that’s how I ended up here, I’m sorry for lying to you guys for so long,” Scootaloo finished looking down. Applebloom looked dejected. Sweetie looked ready to explode, “STOP LYING!" she glared, "You’ve talked about your parents plenty of times with me. The reason I havn’t seen them is because they’re always busy. The reason I haven't seen your house is because you live on the other side of town and your parents won’t let you have anypony over. just stop, IT’S NOT FUNNY!” Sweetie screeched. Scootaloo wasn’t too shocked by Sweeties unwillingness to accept it. She was a good liar after all. Scootaloo sniffed her runny nose as tears continued down her cheek and looked at Sweetie in the eyes, “I’m not lying right now Sweetie, I’m serious. It’s the truth. I… I’ve, I’ve been lying to you since day one,” sniff, “but I’m telling you the truth right now!” Sweetie stared at Scootaloo angrily for a brief second before she blinked a couple times and got a hurtful expression. “Sweetie wait,” Applebloom yelled as Sweetie quickly ran out the clubhouse slamming the door behind her. Scootaloo was about ready to break down crying right there. Applebloom almost bolted after Sweetie but stopped and turned towards Scootaloo and calmly said, “Scootaloo you better stay right here! Ah mean it,” Then she chased after Sweetie. Scootaloo was alone, just like she always knew would happen. ------------------- Sweetie Belle ------------------- Everything Scootaloo was saying made sense but it had to be a lie. Worse yet, she was lying about her parents to Applebloom who already asked them not to talk about their parents too negatively and/or too often in front of her. Why was Scootaloo lying like this? Why is she apologizing about lying in the past instead of her lying right now? It made no sense. Sweetie saw Scootaloos pain. She couldn't ignore it, it told her that Scootaloo wasn't lying. Then a dastardly thought came to her. Scootaloo was telling the truth? Sweetie blinked a couple times as her eyes felt tears begin to form. If that was true then, Sweetie looked at Scootaloo and couldn’t bare to see her. Memories began to kick in and connect the dots. 'Oh Celestia, it was all true,' she thought. She couldn’t stay there any longer, regret filled every fiber of her being. She bolted out the clubhouse and ran into the orchard as those memories took over and tears began to run down her cheeks. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The first day they met Sweetie decided to take a walk in the park, her parents were on vacation as per usual and her sister was too busy to play with. She had nothing to do and a walk in the park sounded nice. As she walked she was looking up at the sky, it was pretty. Just as she looked down she saw a orange filly about to collide with her she almost managed to get out of the way but not quiet and they bump into each other. “Sorry,” the orange filly with a messy purple mane said. She’s never seen her before, and she knew what all the foals in her class looked like. She wanted to know more. “Hey, I’ve never seen you before,” Sweetie said. “I would hope not, I’m new in town,” responded the orange filly angrily, now that she looks back. Somepony new in town! “Oh okay,” she wondered if this filly knows about the upcoming celebration, “Did you know the summer sun celebration is taking place tomorrow?” “How could I not everypony in town is talking about it,” she responds with the same anger. “I know isn’t it great Princess Celestia is gonna be here, and there’s going to food from Sugarcube Corner and Bon Bons,” Sweetie replys happily. “Wait, there’s gonna be food there?” she asks with interest and no hints of anger. Almost two weeks later Sweetie had been wondering when Scootaloo’s parents would get her into school so they could hang out more often like during recess. Scootaloo said they’d have it done by next week, and she was excited about it. She mentioned a Cutescenera party that Diamond Tiara was going to have and Scootaloo wanted to go to it. If only for the free food. She made such a good argument so they went. three months or so later it was still summer She remembers Scootaloo trying to get sleepovers every chance she got. Anytime either she or Applebloom brought up her place it seemed to always change into another subject that made them forget about it. Eventually, they gave up and stopped thinking about it altogether. By this point Scootaloo had and stopped her Rainbow Dash fan club. More so because Applejack made her. Scootaloo did start to talk about how cool it would be if Rainbow was her sister. She didn’t think much about it at the time other than being very skeptical about the whole idea. About one month later more or less After the camping trip Scootaloo changed. It wasn’t how she acted, or what she said. She just seemed happier, then again she did start to talk about Rainbow Dash as her big sister. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now that she was looking back on those moments and more in a new light she realized just what was going on. She now realized why Scootaloo acted the way she did. It hurt how badly it made sense to her at this moment. No wonder why Scootaloo always jumped at the chance to get food. No wonder why Scootaloo didn’t go to school right away when it started. No wonder why the subject changed or there was an excuse whenever they tried to get a sleepover at Scootaloos. No wonder why Scootaloo wanted Rainbow as her sister. It all made sense and it cut deeply. She couldn’t see through her tears. The clubhouse was far away now. She tripped and couldn’t find the strength or will to get up. One of her best friends has suffered who knows how much right in front of her and she never even had a suspicion something was not right. She felt like a horrible pony for being so blind. She should have known something was wrong. Every memory only paints the picture clearer and makes it that much worse. She remembered all the times she complained to Scootaloo about her sister and her parents for one reason or another. Something that she knew hurt Applebloom dearly, if she complained about her parents. She could only imagine how Scootaloo felt when she complained about having loving parents and sister. How Scootaloo could stand being around her at all for complaining about things that now seemed pointless. She couldn’t face Scootaloo not after all that. She feels like she doesn’t deserve to be her friend. Something poked her side but she didn’t care to look. Next she got embraced by somepony, she figured out it was Applebloom pretty quickly. “Hey Sweetie why’d you go and run off like that?” Applebloom said softly. Sweetie calmed down just enough to barely answer, “be, becau, ‘sniff’ because I should have knooo~wn,” and began anew. “What are you going on about? Come on let's go Scootaloo didn’t look well off when Ah went to get you,” Applebloom began to push Sweetie to her feet. Sweetie soon began walking, as Applebloom nudged her back to the clubhouse. Sweetie still felt terrible, but the hug calmed her down a little. As they walked Applebloom asked again what the big deal was. “I’m a horrible pony, that’s why. You two are the best friends anypony could hope for and all I do is make you feel bad. Oh my parents are on vacation? I’m gonna complain about them to my friends who don’t have parents. One of my best friends is homeless? I’m gonna complain about how I basically have two homes! One of my friends has no sister? Well, well I’m gonna replace my sister! And, and, and worst of all I don’t even take time to even realize just how mu… how mu…” Sweetie answered in a sarcastically angry voice before the tears started falling again. Just the thought of anything Scootaloo might have had to go through made her lose it. Putting it into words was something she couldn’t do right now. Applebloom managed to guide Sweetie back to the clubhouse. She wasn’t crying by the time they got there. Before they even could get inside they could clearly hear sniffles from within the clubhouse. As Sweetie opened the door she was horrified to see Scootaloo curled in a ball tears with running down her cheeks. Sweetie was hugging Scootaloo so fast, Scootaloo was a little shocked. “yo… you forgave me?” Scootaloo asked with a hint of hope. Sweetie didn’t know why she was asking that question, only that it made her hug tighter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she repeated as she hugged Scootaloo for dear life. Applebloom joined the hug soon after. This only confused Scootaloo but she was happy they’re there, “Sorry for what?” Scootaloo finally managed to squeak out. “For being a horrible pony. I should have figured something wasn’t right with your life. It was so obvious. But no, all I could do was complain about my own problems that are nothing compared to yours. I don’t even know why you kept me around,” Sweetie stopped the hug and Applebloom got off as well. She waited for Scootaloo to respond. She watched as Scootaloo soon smiled brightly and laughed uncontrollable. Applebloom and Sweetie stared at her as she laughed almost stopped then laughed some more. This only confused them. “What’s so funny?..." Applebloom asked. Scootaloo failed to compose herself for a answer, "Ah swear if this was a prank or something,” Applebloom began but before she could continue Scootaloo interrupted her. “No, no ahaha, wait, wait It’s just I remember asking pretty much exactly what Sweetie just asked me two years ago. I couldn’t help it. I’m just now realizing I was worrying way too much I thought you would never want to see me again. I thought I would’ve been able to live without you guys but when you left it was like a piece of me was gone… but you came back! You came back! You guys are the best!” Scootaloo pulled them both into a tight hug. Sweetie wasn’t buying it though and still felt guilty, “but didn’t I make you feel bad complaining about how much better my life is than yours? Because I feel horrible that I put you through that, I’m sorry!” Scootaloo gave her a questioning look. “No Sweetie, I was okay with it in fact I liked it,” Scootaloo answered. Sweetie was confused, “How could you possible like me after basically shoving how much better my life is in front of you almost daily?” “Because it made me feel normal. It made me feel like maybe I wasn’t missing out on much,” Scootaloo answered. “...that makes sense I guess,” Sweetie said finally. She still didn’t get it but was glad Scootaloo was okay. They talked about several things after that. Scootaloo explained how Pinkie has been helping her out with food and shelter during the winter. Pinkie did a Pinkie Promise to keep it a secret and has remained faithful to it. Scootaloo apologized about taking several apples from the farm but Applebloom had no problems with it given the circumstance. They asked when or if she was planning on telling anypony else. Scootaloo said she's gonna tell Rainbow Dash next, but is worried about Rainbows reaction. They offered to be there for her and she thanked them, but said this was something she felt she had to do on her own. Scootaloo had a good idea where to find Rainbow. As everypony left after Appleblooms impressive presentation, she saw Pinkie wheel Rainbow off. She had to be at Subercube Corner, and if not then she could find out where she was. So that’s where we went. ------------------- Rainbow Dash ------------------- After Applebloom did one of the most awesome things ever, but still not as awesome as her Sonic Rainboom, Rainbow didn’t have much else to do for the day. Pinkie ended up hi-jacking her wheelchair when Applebloom was done. She wanted to complain and stay with Scootaloo but when she looked she realized that she would see her soon enough as Scootaloo was left alone with her friends. She wondered what Scootaloo wanted to tell her, the possibilities were too many. Pinkie distracted her kind of, talking about a slumber party with her and gummy. She asked what Pinkie was talking about, turns out she failed to realize she can’t really fly to her cloudhouse right now, and Pinkie volunteered to let her crash at her place with the Cakes till she got better. The Cakes, who happen to be Pinkies second family/boss’s, were okay with it. Pinkie had work which left Rainbow with little to do. Well she did get the honor of babysitting Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake, the Cakes twin babies. They were having a nap so there wasn’t much she had to do. Rainbow ended up dosing off. She woke up being wheeled through a hallway. She stretched and yawned only to regret it at the pain she received which woke her up a little more, “huh?” she looked behind her and saw, “Pinkie? where are we going?” “Oops sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you up, well since you asked. I’m taking you to our guest room because you have a guest, wait no that’s not right, I meant because you’re our guest. Yes, and what kind of hostess would I be with letting my guest sleep like a baby next to babies? It’s not at all because you have a guest!” Pinkie covered her mouth at that last bit but Rainbow didn’t see it. "Ahhh, t-that's okay, Pinkie," Rainbow replied, thoroughly confused. "It's cool, I don't mind." Pinkie rapidly rolled Rainbow into the guest room, leaving her disoriented, “Okay Rainbow, I have to get back to work. Bye!” Pinkie shouted, as she quickly shut the door. Rainbow looked behind her to see just as the door closed, “Uhh, okay Pinkie,” she turned back as looking behind her caused an aching pain. She saw a bed with Scootaloo on it looking at her strangely. She blinked a couple times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things and smiled, “Hey sis,” to which Scootaloo smiled as response, “I take it you had Pinkie drag me here?” Scootaloo nodded, “I’m guessing you told Applebloom and Sweetie Belle whatever it is that you wanted to tell us?” to which Scootaloo nodded again, “how’d it go?” “Better than I hoped!” Scootaloo said happily. This calmed some of Rainbow’s nerves perhaps Scootaloo didn’t have something too bad to tell. Rainbow never had a true family and ever since she realized what Scootaloo meant to her, she felt conflicted. She wasn’t too sure how to act around Scootaloo. She only knew what her friends did around their sisters to some extent and she felt a little lost. Still the idea of having a sister, a family, gave her a feeling that she wanted to keep. It was like a part of her that she forgot ever existed came back after being suppressed for far too long. Forgotten hopes and dreams of her childhood became reality when she saw Scootaloo, “That’s great to hear! So what is this secret you wanna tell me? Got a crush on some colt or filly?” Scootaloo made a gagging gesture and replied with a no. “Well as fun as it would be to keep guessing. It sounded like it was important so what is it?” Scootaloo looked down sighed and then back at Rainbow, “Before I tell you, I just want to say, thanks for being my big sister even if for about two days…” Scootaloo happily said, “I’m sorry but I lied to you about where I live,” she finally said gravely. This confused Rainbow as she began to feel dread, “What? You had Miss Daisy lie for you? Why would she lie for you? Is she your mom?” It wasn’t that long ago that Scootaloo introduced Daisy to her as Scootaloo’s neighbor. “What!? No! I mean in a way I had Miss Daisy lie for me, I’m sure you know Bulk Biceps? That crazy pegasus that’s always at the gym? Well I noticed Miss Daisy easily gets scared I mean she fainted because of a bunch of bunnies. I also noticed Bulk happens to jog by her house every once in awhile. So one day while he was jogging by I talked to him and got him to stand still and merely look in my direction while I talked to Miss Daisy. pht ahahaha you should have seen the look on her face when I told her that I moved next door and not to tell anypony or else my bodyguard might do something about it. She told you everything I told her to tell ponies if they asked about me, unless I gave her the okay to tell them, I still can’t believe it worked out as well as it did,” Scootaloo’s spirits were up like nothing serious was being said. Rainbow listened intently. If Scootaloo tricked Miss Daisy into saying she lived next door, then where does she live? She already asked everypony in town, “Where do you live then Scootaloo?” That knocked Scootaloo back to her current situation and she closed her eyes, “I live in the CMC clubhouse,” Rainbow looked at Scootaloo a little shocked. ‘Why would her parents let her live there? Wait does she even have...’ Things began to make sense Rarity and Applejack not knowing where she lives or her parents. She just needed to know one more thing, “Where did you live before you started living in the clubhouse?” She watched as Scootaloo closed her eyes tighter and tears began to form. “...n ...anage in some ..ig cit..” Scootaloo said as she plowed her head into the bed she was laying on. Rainbow couldn’t understand so she asked Scootaloo to repeat. Scootaloo kept her eyes shut but removed her mouth from the bed so Rainbow could hear her. “An orphanage in some big city,” Scootaloo said and put her head back in the bed as tears flowed freely from her eyes. Rainbow blinked a little surprised, she did have some fears this would be the case but she never actually thought it would be the case. She couldn’t stand to see Scootaloo cry. She knew what Scootaloo was going through. She knew the pain of wanting to have a family, it was something she forced herself to forget about throughout time. Scootaloo brought those feelings back when she agreed to become her big sister. Rainbow remembered why she ever wanted to be a Wonderbolt in the first place. She wanted to be somepony who ponies could look up to. A pony who stood as light as things got darker. Somewhere along the way she forgot about this dream, and simple kept the goal of becoming a Wonderbolt. She realizes now, that she doesn't need to be a Wonderbolt to fulfill this dream. Without thinking much she slowly got out of the wheelchair then hopped onto the bed and embraced Scootaloo with her wing. Scootaloo nudged in closer after her shock that Rainbow was still there wore off. They remained like that silently for a while. Rainbow was trying to dig through her emotions, trying to think of something to say. She felt more closer to Scootaloo than she thought she could; now that she knew the truth. As Rainbow thought back about all the things she wished she had, once upon a time. She couldn’t allow Scootaloo to suffer the same bitter pill of having to wonder what it’s like to have a true family. Rainbow wasn’t sure how things would go down but one thing was for sure, “Scootaloo you know, no matter what anypony says I’ll always be your big sister because I… I love you,” Rainbow said softly. Scootaloo pressed herself against Rainbow and responded, “I love you to big sis.” Any conflicting emotions Rainbow once had were blown away. A few tears ran down her cheek because she felt so happy. She has a family. She has a younger sister. She never knew how much she had been missing out on. She now understood why Applejack and Rarity would freak out if anything happened to their sisters. She wouldn’t let Scootaloo have the same lonely childhood she had. She had many things to think about, but she didn’t care to at the moment. She was comfortable and Scootaloo apparently dozed off. It was just as well because Rainbow never got to finish her nap from earlier. Just outside a pink pony happily, bounced away. End Chapter 14 > In The Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Scootaloo ------------------- 　　 　　Scootaloo woke up from one of the best dreams she has ever had, it even rivaled the one Princess Luna visited. She found herself in a familiar room. It was painted light blue, and Scootaloo found herself laying on the one bed; while, the only other furniture presented themselves to her, a nightstand and a dresser, as her eyes settled from their sleepy haze. It was the guest room of the Cake’s, above Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie usually snuck her in here during the winters. It wasn’t winter, so why was she here? She was still groggy from her dream, so she couldn’t remember. Scootaloo tried to get up, but froze when her roaming, sleepy eyes fell on the other side of the bed. There slept Rainbow Dash, her chest slowly rising and falling, a wing draped over Scootaloo like a soft warm blanket. Scootaloo’s mind raced, eradicating any sleepiness she had in an instant. 　　’I-I wasn’t dreaming?’ She thought in disbelief. Tears formed in her eyes. ‘Th-this is real?’ she thought, smiling brightly as tears started to roll down her cheeks. Scootaloo didn’t know why she was crying, she felt the complete opposite of sad right now, in fact she’s never been happier. She rubbed her eyes clear and snuggled closer to Rainbow, eliciting Rainbows wing to briefly hold Scootaloo tighter. She couldn’t sleep. She was too ecstatic. So she closed her eyes and enjoyed the time with her ‘big sis’. 　　 　　*Click* 　　 　　Scootaloo opened her eyes to the brief flash of light that had shone through her eyelids and the sound that had caught her attention. It didn’t take long for her to find the source; Pinkie Pie, holding a camera ad picture. When she noticed she was being watched, she waved with a smile at Scootaloo, then quickly yet quietly backed out of the room. Scootaloo stared at the closed door in confusion shortly, before snuggling closer to Rainbow, who hadn’t woken up. Scootaloo was certain this was the beginning of something awesome. 　　 　　On the other side of the closed door, Pinkie looked at the picture, smiling. This was a memory that would never fade. Her talent was to make ponies happy; and Scootaloo had been one foal who had needed a lot of cheering up. She had done much, and so had her unwitting friends; and now, her job was done. The torch had been passed on to Rainbow Dash. A perfect choice, if her Pinkie Sense had anything to say about it, which it did it. Speaking about jobs, she had one she had to get back to, but she knew this was a great new beginning in their lives. 　 ------------------- Manehatten -------------------　　 　　Manehatten Museum of Magic and Art is a place for ponies to learn and explore their heritage in magic and arts; from the Old Pegasi Guard’s wing blades, to the unbreakable tools and armor who’s origins were lost during the reign of Discord, and even the relics of The Gathering, the unicorns who first raised and lowered the sun and moon when Equestria was first founded. Just these three were naught but the tip of the highest spire of Canterlot Castle. Art and artifacts of every age, even before the Princesses, were exhibited for ponies to learn about. There was so much, that the museum had to rotate what was on exhibition for lack of room in the approved public areas, and even then it loaned out some relics to other museums to save storage space. Of course, with so many ancient relics of power and tools that could be used for many things, whether they be good or evil, it stood to reason that the security of The Museum would be top of the line. Locks, and spell activated runes were placed on every door and window to prevent intrusion, cameras watched every entrance, hall and room, and multiple spells protected the various relics, usually meant to stun would-be thieves and alert the security and the local guard of an attempt at theft. The guards themselves were equipped with specialized armor enchanted with a spell diffusion matrix that prevents magic of any complexity from affecting them. As a final measure, the more dangerous exhibits sat in a caged null box that only the strongest of magic users had an inkling of forcing through. All in all, this building was arguably third in terms of security, behind Canterlot Castle in second, and Canterlot Vault in first. 　　 　　But none of these compared to the true ultimate weapon that the Museum possessed. 　　 　　Misdirection. 　　 　　The relics and artifacts on display were naught but replicas, fakes to stop the power of legends and sudo-gods from coming into the hooves of villains. No one but the Curator and the Princesses were supposed to know. If a Curator were to retire, he or she would sign a magical contract with Celestia alerting her that he or she is breaking the contract. Allowing Celestia to either save, warn, or punish the retired Curator as seen fit.The real artifacts and relics were secured strictly in the storage area of the same museum, in multiple layers of null-metals to prevent their influence, as some actually radiated dark magic. 　 　　Of course, even such measures had weaknesses. 　　 　　It just so happened that the previous Curator had a daughter, a filly named Lotsa Thoughts. The dark gray earth pony filly was always thinking and writing, researching and finding out how things worked. Said filly had noticed that when she and her father had went to a storage area as part of the tour for Father’s day, that boxes with artifacts in there were more protected and more expensive than the entire museums security combined. So, as any good kid, and scientist would do, she asked about the security system, and the guard was all too happy to share, then later she researched them and their flaws from the Manehatten library. All this was written down in a single, plain blue and green journal. One that was lost when Lotsa, or Lotty, as she liked to be called, was cornered by the local bullies, who dumped the entire contents to the wind. The journal fell in a pile of newspapers, and sat there for months, until one particular stallion tripped on a soda bottle and revealed it to him. When he found out what exactly was detailed there, and being that he was low on cash, decided to sell it to the highest bidder. A nice pegasus mare asked him about it interested in what he had. So he gave her slightly more details on what it contained, she looked and sounded so innocent in her reaction to what he had, that he knew she wasn’t interested in buying. He told her to scram, but she didn’t budge. He recently got laid off his job, and his attempts at finding a new one have failed thus far, so he needed bits. She offered him a hug, which surprised him. It felt nice and gave him something that he was losing, hope. She asked him to do the right thing and give it to her so she could return it to its rightful owner. Confused he hesitantly did just that, which she rewarded with another hug and quick pep talk before taking off. It happened so fast he was almost sure he just got swindled, but at the same time she seemed like a pure soul. He decided the latter and went back on the job search, filled with hope. 　　Tonight, the journal would serve it’s current owner well. The cloaked mare grinned, watching from the rooftops as the Curator left the Museum. Her sapphire eyes gleamed with excitement. An hour passed, and that excitement was replaced by boredom, the movies make this much more interesting than it actually is. At moon high, she made her move. 　　Spreading her wings, the mare flew in a zigzag pattern towards the window nestled just underneath the sloping roof of the museum. The window locked from the inside automatically, but was high enough that the Curator wouldn’t have noticed a small stripe of clear tape preventing the locking mechanism from accomplishing its purpose. She pulled out a small nullstone, and prayed it’d be enough to stop a spell from activating a small rune on the outside of the window that would stun her. The rune began to glow slightly, to her horror, as she applied the stone, but it quickly blinked out, to her relief. Flying in, the mare found herself in the main hall, a statue of Celestia and Luna in regal and leader-like poses, marble and onyx respectively, standing tall in the center. The two story tall statue was a gift from a stonemason by the name of Carver, created the masterpiece from a single block, a specialized piece meant to show unity between the two sisters, soon after Lunas return. But, like some of the other pieces in the Museum, it was a fake. It actually served as a magic battery, keeping the spells running, with plenty of backups, and consoles so the guards wouldn’t be affected by them, or trigger the lasers. The cloaked mare grinned, showing pearly white teeth. Flying down, she rummaged in her cloak, pulling out a small, orange gem with a ring around it. Twisting the ring and putting the gem on the neck of the marble Celestia, an orange glow spread over the top of Celestia’s head, and the white marble quickly faded into transparency, revealing the mechanisms and consoles inside. Studying them for some time, the cloaked mare reached out with a bright yellow hoof, and tapped the neck a few times. The spot where she tapped hissed, revealing a flawless white gem. The mare unceremoniously dropped her nullstone in, which, on contact with the gem, flared green, before fading into a dull orange. Then she retrieved the nullstone, and resealed the gem. 　　In the museum's ‘official security room, which really didn’t hold more than the screens for the cameras and a button to call the Guard, a lone stallion sat at the desk, pigging out on a veritable bouquet of fruits and pastries that a bright orange maned mare had been kind enough to give to him. As he chewed on his third jelly filled doughnut, he couldn’t help but think about her. She’s been working here for two weeks now as a tour guide, and has made it her mission to show him that his job is appreciated. Today she did that by giving him something to feast on; while he would otherwise be looking at unchanging screens for hours on end. It was both mind numbing and soul crushing. He was so distracted with his meal that he failed to notice that the screens above beheld some movement. 　　 The mare swiftly darted in and out of various camera's line of sight, hoping her distraction was working. The alarms haven't gone off yet, so she continued on heart racing. She finally made it to a door that said ‘RESTRICTED ACCESS.’ 　　 After fiddling with a lock she pushed the door open, revealing a large room that would otherwise be small thanks to a spatial-displacement spell. Feeling her bought time running thin she strolled in leaving the door barely open behind her. The room was lined with five shelves with signs at the end presenting an alphabetical order. She went to the one on the far left labeled ‘A-F.’ As a final act of defense from thieves Celestia had each magical item enclosed in a box of null metals, while the more mundane but equally important items were encased in a glass box lined with null metals. All of them were chained down by good old iron, and padlocked with null metals. Being a pegasus none of this affected her efforts. After some searching she found what she was looking for, a small null box just a little larger than her hoof. If it wasn’t for that journal she would have never figured out how these locks worked, and wouldn’t have been prepared with the tools needed. They’re a lot more complicated than the door locks, which gave an amateur thief like herself a false sense of accomplishment, only to hit a enchanted brick wall later. Luckily, she brought the figurative pick and literal picklocks needed to deconstruct it piece by piece. It seemed like forever to her, but in reality it hadn’t been more than a few minutes when she finally unlocked the chains, leaving but one more obstacle in her way. Her sense of urgency didn’t waver, making this seem more agonizing than the chains, she was so close. She didn’t need this item, but the story about it; that she’s been repeating for the last two weeks to visitors, really peaked her interest. If it could do what the story suggested, then her life would be so much more easier. With a click, the lid popped open revealing a brown cloth bracelet, with a small black shard, unease instantly washed over her, but that disappeared as soon as it came and she suddenly felt attracted to it. She slowly reached for it, and upon contact felt cold chill go up her spine, crawling unnervingly like a bunch of insects. That to disappeared as a wave of warmth and welcoming replaced it, she felt a kinship to this bracelet as she could tell its original purpose and her life up till now were pretty much one in the same. She knew that with this bracelet she would accomplish great things, for herself at least, and it would be the beginning of an easy life. ------------------ Elsewhere... ------------------ “It’s time to go,” a male voice said quickly. Excitement, urgency, happiness in his voice? *Sigh* “Alright, one moment please,” a female voice responded, “I know you’re there,” the female said. After a moment, I came out of my hiding spot, “Now come here and give me a hug,” I did just that, and hugged tight, I was worried. Something's missing, but I couldn’t figure out what, “Now, don’t fret we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t have a plan. The Queen has everything well in hoof, I won’t have to worry about your future once this is done,” she happily said. Then she bopped my snout, while making a *bop* noise. She giggles and I’m annoyed, but join in soon after. Next we’re walking outside, and I just got done hugging him and I’m waving them goodbye and good luck, as they go off in the distance. It’s been a week, or at least for some reason I know it’s been a week, and it failed. They’ve been filtering in, sometimes in groups other times by their lonesome. Still no sign of them, I’m worried sick. Suddenly there’s excitement, they’re all gathering at the entrance so I do to. I watch as the Queen limps in badly, eyes brimmed with defeat, and head hung low. She keeps going like none of us exist, and we let her pass as she slowly makes her way to the throne room. That’s not who I was looking for, so I go back. A few days pass by, or at least it feels like a few days, and the Queen hasn’t left the throne room; not that I care, I’m still waiting on them, but lots of others have been coming and going. Finally she sends for me, I fear the meeting for some reason, shouldn’t I be happy? I don’t want to accept it, but they urge me to see her, so I do. Next thing I know the Queen is in front of me, “My Queen” I say while bowing. I’ve done this several times before, it’s been awhile, or has it? For some reason I feel the need to get away from here, why does this seem so familiar. “Rise,” she says with a wavering voice, “I have some unsavory news that I must inform you of, it’s about your parents... they didn’t make it.” My fears confirmed, my eyes water and everything goes blurry. I wake up, eyes moist, and lay there. That nightmare has been plaguing me ever since it actually happened, and I’m still waiting to wake up. I never do though, I’m stuck here. I get up and head for the throne room, maybe there will be some hope for the future yet. > Epilogue - By FIMScourge (Optional) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 　　Scootaloo ------------------- 　　 　　Scootaloo woke up from one of the best dreams she had ever had. It could even rival the one where Princes Luna had visited her. She found herself in a familiar room. It was painted light blue, and Scootaloo lay on the one bed, a nightstand and dresser the only pieces of furniture there. It was the guest room of the Cake’s, above Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie sometimes snuck her in here during the winters. It wasn’t winter, so why was she here? She was still groggy from her dream, so she could not remember. Scootaloo tried to get up,but froze when her roaming, sleepy eyes fell on the other side of the bed. There slept Rainbow Dash, mumbling in her sleep, a wing draped over Scootaloo, like a soft warm blanket. Scootaloo could not believe it. 　　I-i wasn’t dreaming? She thought in disbelief. Tears formed in her eyes. This...is all....real? 　　As tears rolled down her cheeks, Scootaloo felt as if she couldn’t be anymore happier than this. She settled back down into the bed, snuggling under Rainbow’s wing, eliciting a murmur from Rainbow as she tucked Scootaloo in tighter. But, she couldn’t sleep. She was too ecstatic. So she closed her eyes and enjoyed the time with her ‘big sis’. 　　 　　Click. 　　 　　Scootaloo opened her eyes to the brief flash of light that had shone through her eyelids and the sound that had caught her attention. It didn’t take long for her to find the source; Pinkie Pie, holding a camera ad picture. She smiled sheepishly, then slowly backed out of the room. Scootaloo stared at her until she had left and closed the door. When she did, Scootaloo continued her snuggling with Rainbow Dash, who had not woken up. Scootaloo was certain this was the beginning of something amazing. 　　 　　On the other side of the closed door, Pinkie looked at the picture, smiling. This was a memory that would never fade. Her talent was to make ponies happy; and Scootlaoo had been one foal who had needed a lot of cheering up. She had done much, and so had her friends; and now, her job was done. The torch had been passed on to Rainbow Dash. A perfect choice, if her Pinkie Sense had anything to say about it, which it did it. 　　 　　Pinkie knew this was the beginning of a new chapter in everyone’s lives. 　　 　　----------------------------------- 　　Meanwhile in Manehatten... 　　----------------------------------- 　　 　　Manehatten Museum of Magic was a place for ponies of all types to learn and explore their heritage in magic; from the Old Pegasi Guard’s wing blades, to the unbreakable tools and armor of The Smithy, a group of Earth Ponies who created the finest magic infused metal works in Equestria; and even the relics of the Gathering, the unicorns who first raised and lowered the Sun and Moon. Just these three were naught but the tip of the highest spire of Canterlot Castle. Ponies and artifacts of every age, even before the Princesses, were exhibited for the ponies of the future to learn about. There was so much, that the museum had to rotate what was on exhibition for lack of room in the approved public areas, and even then it loaned out some relics to other museums to save storage space. Of course, with so many ancient relics of power and tools that could be used for many things, whether they be good or evil, it stood to reason that the security of The Museum would be top of the line. Hexes were placed on every door and window to prevent intrusion, cameras watched every entrance, hall and room, and multiple spells, curses, and the like protected the various relics, meant to stun would-be thieves and alert the security and the local guard corp of an attempt at theft. The guards themselves were equipped with specialized armor which had spell diffusion matrix's so powerful that even the princesses would have a hard time fooling them imprinted into the armor. As a final measure, the exhibits were all sitting on a Singularity Stone, stored in a locked null box. If released, it would drain the magic from a square mile area, and render any and all devices, magic or otherwise, to fail. All in all, this building was arguably third in terms of security, behind Canterlot Castle in second, and Canterlot Vault in first. 　　 　　But none of these compared to the true ultimate weapon that the Museum possessed. 　　 　　Misdirection. 　　 　　The relics and artifacts on display were naught but replicas, fakes to stop the power of legends and gods from coming into the hands of villains. No one but the Curator and the Princesses were supposed to know. If a Curator were to retire, the information would be wiped from their minds and all physical and magical traces destroyed. The real artifacts and relics were secured strictly in the storage area of the same museum, in multiple layers of null-metals to prevent their signatures from being detected. 　　Of course, even such measures had weaknesses. 　　 　　It just so happened that the previous Curator had a daughter, a filly named Lotsa Thoughts. The dark gray earth pony filly was always thinking and writing, researching and finding out how things worked. Said filly had noticed that when she and her father had went to the storage area as part of a tour for Father’s day, that the boxes with artifacts in there were more protected and more expensive than the entire museums security combined. So, as any good kid, and scientist would do, she figured out the secret of said system, and the flaws. All this was written down in a single, plain blue and green journal. One that was lost when Lotsa, or Lotty, as she liked to be called, was cornered by the local bullies, who dumped the entire contents to the wind. The journal fell in a pile of newspapers, and sat there for months, until one particular stallion tripped on a beer bottle and revealed it to him. When he found out what exactly was detailed there, and being that he was low on cash for booze, decided to sell it to the highest bidder. Only one pony, a mare, accepted his terms of five thousand bits. The stallion woke up later with a dislocated shoulder and a pounding headache, a note attached to his face thanking him for the journal. 　　 　　Tonight, the journal would serve it’s current owner well. The cloaked mare grinned, watching from the rooftops as the Curator left the Museum. Her sapphire gleamed with greed. An hour passed, and she did not move. And at moon high, she made history. 　　Spreading her wings, the mare flew in a zigzag pattern towards the window nestled just underneath the sloping roof of the museum. The window glowed with runes, before being snuffed out by the small nullstone produced from inside the cloak. With a quick application of hoof polish on glass, the window had a nice pony sized hole in it. Flying in, the mare found herself in the main hall, a statue of Celestia and Luna in regal and leader-like poses, marble and onyx respectively, standing tall in the center. The two story tall statue was a gift from a stone mason by the name of Carver, created the master piece from a single block, a specialized piece meant to show unity between the two sisters. But, like all the piece in the Musuem, it was a fake. It actually served as a magic battery, keeping the runes and other running, with plenty of backups, and consoles so the guards wouldn’t be affected by the lasers. The cloaked mare grinned, showing pearly white teeth. Flying down, she rummaged in her cloak, pulling out a small, orange gem with a ring around it. Twisting the ring and putting the gem on the neck of the marble Celestia, an orange glow spread over the top of Celestia’s head, and the white marble quickly faded into transparency, revealing the mechanisms and consoles inside. Studying them for some time, the cloaked mare reached out with a bright yellow hoof, and tapped the neck a few times. The spot where she tapped hissed, revealing a flawless white gem in a runic circle. The mare unceremoniously dropped a stone in, which, on contact with the gem, flared green, before fading into a dull orange. 　　 　　In the museums ‘official security room, which really didn’t hold more than the screens for the cameras and a button to call the Guard, a lone stallion sat at the desk, pigging out on the veritable bouquet of fruits and pastries that the bright orange maned mare had given to him. As he chewed on his third jelly filled doughnut, he couldn’t help but think about her. She was a beauty, that was no mistake. The way she moved, and the way she talked sounded oh so amazing. Half-closing his eyes, the guard couldn't help but remember those two sparkling sapphires that the mare called eyes...it was like she was right there... 　　With that, he slumped forward snoring, the potion in the food taking its toll. 　 　　The mare closed the door to the security room. Now that the security was out of commission, the guards wouldn’t be too much of a problem either, as most had fallen victim to the system itself. She walked past multiple still forms of guards before reaching a door that said ‘RESTRICTED ACCESS’ 　 　　She pushed the door open, revealing a warehouse twice the size of the Museum itself, thanks to a spatial-displacement spell. No guards roamed here, not knowing the full extent of the power. 　　Now, the Curator nor the Princesses weren’t stupid. In the extremely rare event someone were to figure it out, wards were placed on the boxes of the relics, though the amount varied on the danger of the object. While the journal barely mentioned that, the mare wasn’t stupid, either. 　　 　　She trotted to the first one she could find, a box roughly the size of her. Putting her hoof on it, she could tell the magic was strong, freshly applied. She did this for multiple boxes, until she found the one with the weakest magic, and had a ward she had prepared for. 　　 　　The box was small, no bigger than a jewelry case. A dull, powerful thrum of magic flowed mutely from it, so faint it sat at the edge of your senses. The mare tapped the metal case of the box, and the front twisted, morphing and moving like a liquid till a indentation of a hoof print was shown. Obviously, one would put in their hoof so the metal could ascertain if the hoof was the Princess’ or not. A supposedly unbreakable lock, unless you had the Princess’ living hoof. 　　 　　This didn’t even faze the mare. First, she took out a needle and bottle filled with a clear, thick liquid. Then, she pulled out a single white hair from the folds of her cloak, and dropped it in the bottle. The potion roiled, then turned an ugly shade of moldy milk. She filled the needle, and applied it to her foreleg. The mare let loose a grunt of agony, as her foreleg twisted, the skin and muscles reassembled until she had a pure alabaster hoof. Inserting it into the indent, and waiting a few seconds, a click echoed through the warehouse, and the lid opened. The mare grinned, greed flashing in her eyes as she gazed at the necklace inside. 　　 　　She knew this was her ticket to a new chapter of life. 　　 ------------------ Meanwhile...... ------------------ 　　 　　“....do you mean, we all have to go!?” A female voice yelled. 　　 　　Anger. Shock. Sadness? 　 　　“We have no choice. She’ll execute you for treason if you don’t. Only those unable to fight, and those who care for them can stay.” A male voice, calmer. 　　 　　Sorrow. Hidden deep. Pain. 　　 　　“But then why must I go!? Am I not a caretaker, and married to the Second in Command of-” The voice is cut off. 　　 　　“Yes, but she wants you because you are our most skilled healer. You and a handful of others are the medics of the attack.” said the male voice. 　　 　　“She’s crazy!” 　　 　　“Maybe she is.” replied the male voice, a hint of irritation rising. “But she isn’t wrong. Food is running low. Even the reserves are depleted. We must put all of our strength into this, or we will not survive for another year.” 　　 　　“....Is it really that bad? That we must risk our existence in this world?” 　　 　　A sigh from the male voice. Defeat? 　　 　　“Yes. If you won’t do it for the Queen...” A shift. A dim light. Two silhouettes. “Do this for our child.” 　　 　　A pause. 　　 　　“....Alright. If we must.” 　　 　　The next day there was no one. I knew they were alive. But the Caring One held me, not Her. She, and He, were both tense, nervous. The Caring One sensed it too, so did the others. 　　 　　And one day, they were gone. A flask of pink, and then pain. Agonizing, excruciating pain, so much that you could do nothing but throw up and curl into a little ball at the sight... 　 　　Then the Queen had come in. She was limping badly, her head hung low. She said nothing, she knew how many were dead; that empty feeling was split against All. But a leader felt it worse, a loss of life, a loss of pride, and a loss of trust. But we all stayed. Death lay beyond our inhospitable safe haven. 　　 　　I asked where He and She were. 　　 　　She said ‘gone’. 　　 　　I did not believe her. I could not. I would not. But then she shared the story; of how He...died, impaled by the only tree for miles around. Most others landed around it. Served as a terrifying effigy. She was crushed to death. Hitting a outcrop, dropping with barely a scratch. then the outcrop collapsed, trapping her under rock as 3 tons of stone pushed down. Slowly. It took three hours. Three. Hours. For her to die. I hear the screams getting louder, the world spins. A shout; green eyes tell me The Queen is now She. The scrams are unbearable. They are coming....coming FOR M- 　　 　　Her eyes opened, a gasping breath was taken. The eyes roamed around the cave She called Her Room. Nothing. A dream...no. A nightmare. The same one, every night. Ever since recovering from the sickness, it plagued Her. A reminder of simpler times, times she could not reach anymore. 　　 　　It was still as bad as ever. 　 　　She turned over, and cried herself to sleep. 　　She wished for a new chapter in her life.