“Wanted”
Chapter 1
By max_viars
August 21st, 2011. Ponyville, Equestria.
The sun rose to the middle of the bright, blue, Equestrian sky. It was half-past noon on a beautiful summer day, and everypony was enjoying the warm, golden rays of sunlight, so graciously given to them through the effort of the great Princess Celestia. How magnificent it was! Everything was perfect. The sun beamed, the clouds were nice and soft, the sky was blue, and a slight breeze blew by ever so often, as to cool down and ease the lives of the ponies on that hot, hot day. Amongst the beautiful summer weather, Rainbow Dash lay high in the clouds, taking her typical afternoon nap. She was so peaceful, nothing in the world could disturb her. She was in a state of “faux-sleep”, almost as if she was in a dazed, yet conscious, full connection with the magnificent nature around her. It was in this peaceful quiet time of day that she really got to thinking about things. She thought and thought about questions, that, in all actuality, nopony could answer. Such ponderings included “How did we come into existence?”, “What is infinity?”, “What is nothing?”. Though she really couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around these things, it still entertained her to consider all the possibilities. Fortunately for her, it would be a hobby that she could retain for many, many years, as one will never be able to reach a maximum level of possibilities about, well, anything. As she thought on and on, the sun continued to move, eventually reaching a position that was absolutely perfect to shine right in her face. It goes without saying that she soon “woke up” due to this nuisance. She sat up in the cloud, yawned, and then promptly cracked her neck, a bad habit that she had been doing for years on end now. She leaned very slightly over the side of the cloud she was resting on to look at the ground below. She spotted the dirt path that led back to Ponyville, and quickly jumped down. She made no effort to fly in this jump, seeing it as pointless, she was Rainbow Dash after all, fastest in all of Equestria! How could a small jump like this hurt her? Fatal mistake. She landed hard on her hooves and immediately they cramped up and stung. She suddenly fell to the ground and quietly wallowed in pain for a few seconds. She abruptly ended her act of self-pity by jumping back on her hooves and trotting off towards town. She didn’t really have any particular tasks today. It was a clear day, so weather ponies would have no clouds to remove. She figured that she might as well just sit around and watch television, play pc games, or possibly read, as she had many a Daring Do novels to get through. All of these ideas came off as typical to her though, as they were her typical “day-off” activities. No, today she was going to do something new, if it killed her! How about Pinkie Pie? She was always full of fun things to do! The could do more pranking! With this thought in mind the rainbow-colored pony sped up and trotted fast towards Sugar Cube Corner. As she ran, she passed many Ponyville buildings such as Twilight’s Library, Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy’s Cottage, and Rarity’s boutique, and Rarity! Ouch! She slammed right into the pretty white unicorn as she passed by. Rarity was carrying a good bit of fabric at the time as well, and when Dash went by in a speeding Rainbow blur, the dresses and skirts went flying everywhere. Rarity moaned in discomfort as she fell to the ground in pain. Rainbow Dash quickly turned around to help out her friend, who was sprawled out all over the ground and crying. Rainbow Dash handed her a hoof, only to be bucked away by the wildly flailing hooves of the crazy unicorn. “Why, Rainbow Dash, why?” she cried in her whining voice. “I’m really sorry”, apologized Rainbow Dash “let me help you with this-”, she was cut off by a hoof coming into contact with her face. Rarity got up and exclaimed “Why can’t you watch were your going Dash?” in her most haughty accent. “I mean really, you crash into my shop so often with all of your crazy flip and tricks, and now you’re crashing into me?” she continued to question “This is of the most rude manors I’ve ever seen in a pony”. Rainbow Dash picked herself back up, recovering from Rarity’s attack. “Look, I’m sorry”, she said “I’ll be more “careful” around you from here on out, okay?” as she sprinted off towards Sugar Cube Corner again. “What is that supposed to mean?” beckoned the unicorn, “Are you implying that I’m weak?”. Rainbow Dash payed no attention as she continued to run into town. “Hmmph” murmured Rarity as she proceeded to pick up her fabrics.
Rainbow Dash sped faster, both for the rush and out of her own impatience for the excitement that she was about to share with her close friend Pinkie Pie. Sugar Cube Corner was now in sight as she sped faster and faster into town, dodging threw ponies everywhere, barely managing to evade a group of little fillies congregating around fruit stand. As she went even faster and faster towards Sugar Cube Corner, she began to loose traction, and eventually lost control. She was a hurling mass of speeding Pegasi, about to make a huge mess. She was hoping she would be able to stop before she got there, slowly but surely putting more pressure on her hooves in order to catch her traction back. She was then shot with the memory of how she so stupidly jumped from the cloud she was resting on earlier that morning, not 10 minutes ago, causing her to once again feel an intense stinging pain in her hooves. She all the sudden couldn’t walk, and instantaneously stopped. Her momentum, however, screwed her over. She went flying through the window of Sugar Cube Corner, sending cakes and pies, and even tables a fly! She went through the shop all the way to the second wall, where she hit her face and body hard against a solid wooden wall. “Ouch!” she screamed in pain. She put a hoof to her nose and saw it was bleeding, and it felt as if it was broken. She then turned around to see that the whole store-full of guests was starring at her. “Umm, I’m sorry?” she stated in her now-nasally voice with wavering confidence. No response was given except for the departing of 3 guests. Dash felt the rush of embarrassment come over her, and her face turned red. Then suddenly, she heard a giggle from across the floor. She turned her head and inevitably found her pink friend, covered from head to toe in the sticky, sugary, blue goo from the inside of a blueberry pie. The pink one bounced around the counter and over to her friend, all the while licking her face and thus cleaning it of the sweet heavenly substance splattered all over her face. “Hey Dashie” she said, “What’re ya up to?” “Besides scaring of my customers of course” she said with a giggle. “I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out” replied Dashie, wearing a sinister smile and raising her eyebrows as to imply what “hanging out” actually meant. “NO!” Pinkie Pie retorted, with a scared look in her face. “Why not Dash replied” looking both sad and confused. “If you go both ways, or like mares that’s fine, but I don’t” said the pink one “I really don’t want to-” “What are you talking about!?” screamed Rainbow Dash, “I just wanted to know if you wanted to go pranking!”. “Oh” said Pinkie Pie, with a look of sudden clarity. “Sorry” she said to a furious Rainbow Dash, ticked off by the fact that she just publicly exposed her biggest secret. “Anyways, Dashie, I don’t have time today, sorry” said Pinkie Pie, with a look of sadness that was not typical of her. “Well, I’ll leave you to your baking” said Dashie, now smiling as to provide Pinkie with comfort, for she had realized how cold she had come off before. “Well alright then, Dashie” Pinkie said as she winked and returned to her work. Rainbow Dash slowly walked out of Sugar Cube Corner, walking around the helter-skelter mass of tables and chairs. She managed to dodge everything save for a smashed cake on the ground which cause her to slide across the rest of the floor and out of the shop. The sliding made an abrupt stop at the steps, and she went flying out onto the ground, once again damaging her already begrudged body.
“What to do now?” she thought to herself. She thought for a second on anything that could possibly be more or even equal to the amount of fun that she could have with Pinkie Pie. She couldn’t come to anything, then all of the sudden a voice called out to her. “You okay, Rainbow?” said the voice. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Twilight standing right before her. Before she had a chance to respond, Twilight let out a huge gasp. “Oh my Dash!” she said “your nose is bleeding!”. “Yeah, I know” said Rainbow Dash, appearing somewhat down. “Let me take you in, we’ll get you all fixed up” said the endearing purple unicorn. Rainbow Dash followed suit as Twilight led her to her library. “Alright, let me take a looksee” said Twilight, whilst applying to her own face a pair of bug-eyed goggles. Rainbow Dash tried to keep herself calm, but she couldn’t, she let out a bellowing laugh that shook the table she was seated on. Twilight’s goggles were quite possibly the most stupid apparatus she had ever seen anybody put on their face, yet, they were SO Twilight. “What is it?” questioned Twilight, as she leaned in closer, distorting her eyes even more. Rainbow Dash let out yet another fit of silly laughter. Twilight turned around to another table and picked up a pad. She started taking note of Dashie’s laughing whilst talking to herself; “Subject appears to be in a fit of uncontrollable laughter”. The fact that Twilight was so mystified by the laughter itself yet so naive led Rainbow Dash into yet another session of the giggles. “Is something REALLY wrong, Dashie?” said Twi, looking very concerned. “Just give me a tissue and I’ll be fine you egghead” said a very giggly Rainbow Dash. “Well, okay then” said Twilight, looking very confused. “You’re a laugh Twilight Sparkle” said Rainbow, who was just then given a highly nostalgic thought about when they first met, and when she had said that exact line. It was a rather weird moment, as they both looked at each other, both knowingly remembering the moment, but not acknowledging it. “So, that bandaid” said Twilight, effectively breaking the silence. “Yeah” said Rainbow. Twilight handed it over. “Are you sure you don’t want some rubbing alcohol or-” her statement was interrupted by another one of Dash’s audible laughs. Twilight rolled her eyes and said “Okay then”. Rainbow Dash walked out continuing to laugh. Twilight shut the door and Rainbow Dash was once again faced with her problem of “what to do”. She once again took a good long look at the ground as she contemplated all of her options. “I know!” she said aloud. Everypony around her turned around and stared at her. Blushing with embarrassment for the second time today, she turned once again to the ground and went back to thinking.
“I’ll go to Fluttershy’s” she shamefully whispered, as everypony started to return to what they were doing. Rainbow Dash once again took up speed and headed for her quiet friends little cottage on the outskirts of town. She was sure that Fluttershy would be free, I mean, after all, she was Fluttershy. She wasn’t the type to go into town and party, study, shop, talk, or anything really. She just played with her “animal friends” and picked flowers, and sometimes went for walks, that was it really. Its not that she didn’t like visitors or anything, that was actually quite the opposite of the truth, Fluttershy loved other ponies, she just wouldn’t go out and be aggressive in finding them. Nonetheless, Dash was sure she would be happy to have a guest. She was picking up speed again, dodging ponies left and right, trying to get to her dear friend’s house. As she arrived she managed to stop, for breaking something of Pinkie Pie’s could go off as a mistake, but breaking something of Fluttershy’s would be absolutely saddening for her soft, sappy, soul. “Fluttershy?” cried out Rainbow Dash as she walked up. The yellow pegasus swung open her door in excitement and cried out in her soft, cute voice “Oh, hey Rainbow!”. “You wanna hang out?” said a cool, confident Rainbow Dash. “Um, well you see”, said the meek one known as Fluttershy “I, um, have to, you know, teach the ducks, um, swimming today” she said, letting out her trademark squeals that she noised when she was scared. She was scared of nothing that could hurt her, but only scared of losing her friend’s love. “Oh”,said a dumbfounded Dash “I’ll just go”. Fluttershy deeply apologized, as Rainbow looked very sad about not being able to “hang out”. “Nah, that’s okay” said the rainbow-colored pegasus, trying to smile in an effort to make Fluttershy feel better about her unavailability. “I’ll just be on my way” continued Rainbow Dash. “Alright, see you then” responded the cute yellow one at the doorstep. As Rainbow Dash walked away, she let out a long sigh. Rainbow Dash legitimately loved her friends, ALL of them, even if she didn’t always show it. Once again, she was faced with the problem of extreme boredom. “I could go visit Scoots at the orphanage” she thought to herself. Scootaloo was, as many know, very close to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow would adopt her if it weren’t for the fact that she was insecure about her parenting skills. Not to mention the fact that she would be burdened with Scootaloo while all her friends had fun. After all, Sweetie Belle lived with her parents and only visited Rarity, and Apple Bloom was under the supervision of Granny Smith most of the time, so its not like anypony else is busy with kids all the time. In addition, Scootaloo pretty much thought of Rainbow Dash as a sister more than anything else, and making the transition from “Big Sister” to “Mom” would be quite a weird experience. Nonetheless, the cute little drop of sunshine that was Scootaloo brightened Rainbow’s day every time she thought of her. Oh how she loved her. “If only she didn’t have mortality” Rainbow Dash thought to herself jokingly “then I wouldn’t have to be responsible and could take her in”. She laughed to herself as she thought of such ridiculousness. “Alright, I’m gonna go visit her” she said happily aloud, yet to herself. She picked up speed once again, as the formulaic schedule of going from friend to friend would demand, and headed for the orphanage on the other side of down. Her heart was reaching the threshold of beating potential, as both her physical and emotional limits were tested as she sprinted to her faux-sister yet in a weird way daughter. She was halfway there in no time, when she suddenly stopped. “Weren’t they going on a field trip today?” she thought to herself. She thought to herself about her last discussion with Scootaloo. “What did that little filly say?” she asked herself in her head. “Field trip on the 21st!” screamed an excited young voice in her head. Rainbow Dash sighed once more. The one day she had off, there was nopony to hang out with. “Well, I’m sure AJ will have farm chores, but I could hang with Rar-” “Nevermind” she thought to herself. “Guess I’ll just go home and play on the pc or something”
She started her slow, long walk back to her cloud home in the sky. This time she didn’t run, for she had not the energy to do so. She kicked up dust and nearly choked herself as she dragged her hooves on the ground. She passed by a few familiar faces as she traveled, not acknowledging a single one. When she finally reached her home an hour later, it was already three o’clock. She stood for a second before flapping her wings with what little energy she had and leaping into the air. She flew rather gracefully upwards to her house being as tired as she was. She made it to the door, bucked it open, and fell onto the floor. She sighed once more as she rested in the foyer for a few brief seconds. She stood back up and made her way to her “office”. In said “office” she kept her desktop computer. She leaned in and turned on the device. She sat back and waited for it to boot as she contemplated the day, well, daydreamed really, about how the day could have been. She imagined pranking with Pinkie, chatting with Fluttershy, and playing with Scootaloo. Oh how she wanted to be with other ponies! A small tune played, signaling that her computer had loaded up. She had been sitting back with her head in the air, eyes closed, but the loud violin solo played by her computer made her shoot up, surprised, startled, and scared. She immediately set her monitor on “mute”, but not before the little voice on it voiced “You have mail!”. At this, Rainbow Dash decided it would be best to check her e-mail, as she had been receiving some rather important messages from Cloudsdale recently. She was surprised to find three emails from Scootaloo’s orphanage. She opened up the first one, and found nothing but jumbled up letters. She looked on in confusion as she opened up the second email. Once again, nothing but jumbled letters, nothing. Just as she was about to close it and open the third one, a word caught her eye. It was plain and simple, just sitting there in the midst of a line of o’s and d’s; “help”. This word deeply concerned her. She jumped back in fear, hesitant to open the third. Once again, jumbled letters. She scoured through the letter, hoping, just hoping, that the word “help” was not intentional, and that Scootaloo was “trolling” or something. Fortunate for her, nothing notable was coming up. Then, all of the sudden, two very distinct words appeared; “taking me”. Now this, this could not be a coincidence. Rainbow’s heart nearly leaped out of her body. She thought she was going to die of fear. She collected herself quickly and kept scanning the email. She found nothing but the word “orphanage”. This was bad. “Scoots” was in danger. All of the sudden, every repressed motherly and womanly instinct hidden deep inside of the enigma of Rainbow Dash caught fire. She exploded in a tears and rolled on the floor in fear. She was on the floor for nearly an hour just wallowing in her own tears when she finally got up and started out the door to tell somebody about Scootaloo’s emails. Somepony, Anypony. Just as she was opening the door her phone rang. She went over to it to see if whoever was calling knew something. “Hello?” she said in her “was just crying” voice, a distinct voice with a drop of sad emotion and nasal blockage. “Good Evening” said a stallion’s voice on the other side. “Are you, by chance, Rainbow Dash” questioned the deep-voiced bloke. “Yes, yes!” she said, clearly crying. “Do you know what has happened to Scootaloo?” she questioned with extreme grief, the mere mention of the name challenged her emotional strength. “Yes, we have become very acquainted to this little one” said the stallion. Rainbow’s mood suddenly changed. She went from sad to defensive and immediately asked; “What have you done to her?”. “Now we’re talking”, said the stallion, “We haven’t done anything to her yet, but our demands must be met for her to stay safe”. “What have you done to my baby?” continued a very angry Rainbow Dash. “Your...baby?” questioned the interested stallion. “Um, sorry, friend” said Rainbow Dash, still with a flash of anger. “Look, let’s talk sense and be rational here” said the assailant. Rainbow agreed and stepped down from her defensive stance. “We haven’t done anything to your, umm, friend” said the stallion criminal “we just want our demands to be met and we will give you back your, umm, baby, safe”. “Your demands?” questioned Dash. “Yes”, said the stallion “we want 1 million bits” Rainbow Dash immediately retorted “Where do you expect a mare like me to get 1 million bits?” “You’re Rainbow Dash, right?” questioned the criminal again. “Yes, we have established that” spat Rainbow Dash. “Your sarcasm is not going to get you anywhere sweetheart”, said the stallion, “now, since you ARE Rainbow Dash, isn’t it true that you have a rather, well, close relationship with Spitfire, from the Wonderbolts?” “You don’t expect me to-” “Precisely”, interrupted the stallion “Ask your, err, beneficial friend for some cash, she IS a wonderbolt after all, she must have some change laying around” “But how do we expect me to get-” “Not my problem!” chuckled the stallion, once again interrupting her. “But I-” “Nope!” interrupted the stallion once again, “Take me very seriously, if you don’t bring us our money in a week’s time, I will cut this little slut’s throat myself”. Scootaloo screamed in the background, thus proving that the men actually had her in their possession. Rainbow Dash was just about to cry again when the stallion spoke up once more; “We will send our location via email tomorrow, after then you will have a week. Tell the cops and we mirk your baby. Oh, and one more thing. Good Luck” said the cruel criminal with a audible chuckle. Rainbow Dash was sent into another session of weeping as she cried out “Oh Scootaloo, oh my baby! Why did I take you for granted? Let it be known that I will find you, and I will bring you to safety, if it is the last thing I do!”. She layed to the floor and continued to cry as she murmured to herself “My poor Scootaloo...”