There were a few details about Ponyville that made it unique… not the fact that Celestia’s own personal student moved there and suddenly became an alicorn a year latter… or how it was placed next to the Everfree Forest and all of it’s unique and strange creatures as the forest had a mind of it’s own.
Those were the bigger details that were meant to catch everypony’s attention and have them focus on them… instead of the secrets hidden in the background. If one wanted to step closer and actually look to see the real oddities in Ponyville all one has to do is look at the citizens… except Pinkie Pie. She’s also a distraction or probably a dark curse made manifest built to distract everyone when a secret was about to be discovered or uncovered.
For our sakes we have tossed a bunch of cup cake into a pit and buried them underneath a pile of pancakes. Hopefully that should buy us a few hours for us to get into this tale.
My name is Myth Chaser and this is… Search for the Unknown!
In this episode we look into Scootaloo… the filly that everypony knows, but nopony knows about.
The flightless pegasus is seen countless times around ponyville on her scooter at breakneck speeds. Like any good foal she attends class each day learning about Equestria and trying to find her cutie mark… or what to do with her cutie mark now that she has obtained it with the help of her two friends.
For family event where she was suppose to build a racecar with her family… she was assisted by Rainbow Dash as none of her parents were seen. When asked for her place of residence the townsfolk always claim it’s somewhere up in the clouds… a flightless pegasus rest in the clouds. Obviously there is something wrong with that story.
We had looked into her past history with the school local teacher as we asked her a few questions.
******
Cheerilee glanced at the camera “Why do you have a camera inside this classroom?”
“Now Miss Cheerilee.” The black stallion with a brown goatee replied “What can you tell us about Scootaloo?”
Cheerilee kept glancing at the camera “She’s a pegasus who’s friends with Applebloom and Sweetie Bell. Now why do you have a camera pointed at me.”
The stallion sighed “Focus on me. Not the camera crew. When did Scootaloo become friends with these two?”
“Shortly after the Nightmare Moon incident…” Cheerilee replied “Are you recording this? Why are you even recording this conversation?”
“But what about before Twilight’s arrival?” the stallion continued “Was she seen in Ponyville? Did she associate with anypony before Princess Twilight came to Ponyville?”
Cheerilee huffed in annoyance. “She attended my class. Seriously why are you asking about a foal and recording everything I say with a camera?”
The stallion groaned “Just focus alright… Have you ever for once seen Scootaloo with her parents? Have you ever seen where her house is located?”
“Of course I have.” Cheerilee replied in annoyance “And for your information they had let Rainbow Dash help her out since Scootaloo looks up to Rainbow Dash so much.”
“Then what are the names of her parents or where her house is located?” The stallion shouted.
Cheerilee took a deep breath and walked over to the windows. She opened them up and suddenly shouted “GUARDS!! I’ve got some creeps asking about the location of a filly’s home!”
******
Was this the shout of a mare thinking our camera crew were possibly stalkers or less than reputable ponies or did some dark force cause her to shout for help least she mistakenly tell us the cold hard truth by mistake?
Still Forth Wrong and Camera Shot were taken into questioning where the Royal Guard were then promptly bribed to overlook this incident with a piece of chocolate cake as we moved on to our next pony to interrogate.
******
Rainbow looked at the camera “Let me get this straight… you are doing a video… on Scootaloo.”
“In a manner of speaking.” as the dark stallion named Forth Wrong replied as he adjusted his tie “What can you tell us about Scootaloo’s parents.”
Rainbow rubbed her chin “Their cool folks. I mean not as cool as me, but Nopony is as cool as me!”
Forth nodded his head “But who scootaloo’s parents? What are they?”
Rainbow blinked as she stared at him in confusion “What type of question is that? I mean their ponies.”
Forth gritted his teeth “Pegasus, unicorn, earth pony or maybe Therstal?”
Rainbow glanced at the camera “Is this some sort of joke? Did Pinkie Pie hire you to prank me or something?”
“Nope!” Pinkie Pie replied as her head popped out of the floor
“Ponyfeathers!” Forth Wrong shouted in panic “Run Shot Run!”
Pinkie pushed herself through the floor before standing on the floor grinning “Ooh this is one of those shaky camera moments! Can I be in the movie!”
“Throw the cupcake Shot!” The sounds of hoof against cloud and heaving breathing filled the background as Forth Wrong screamed once again “Throw the cupcake!”
Pinkie roared as she lunged at the camera pony as he screamed in horror. The picture suddenly turned white… before it switched to an image of the ground that was rapidly approaching.
******
Forth managed to make it out before anything happened to him. Sadly Camera Shot went missing shortly afterwards. Rumors claim he is working in the Sugar Treat Corner to pay off a large tab of sixty four cupcakes, but nopony has yet to see him. All that was left was a small smear of cherry frosting stain on Rainbow Dash’s front cloud porch.
Still this line of work can be rough as not everypony is cut out for it. That is why we make sure we have plenty of disposable interns… I mean assistants to help us in our search for the truth. Still with every trip into Ponyville we always seem to lose one of our numbers due to the pink menace.
Camera Shot… we knew thee well.
(a moment of small silence)
Anyway with Rainbow Dash having been locked off by Pinkie Pie we had to go to the next best source of information.
******
Fluttershy glanced at the camera “Are you sure they are trustworthy?”
Discord laughed as he slapped his leg “Of course not! If they were trustworthy they wouldn’t have come to me for help!”
Forth wrong adjusted his tie as he was surrounded by small animals who currently were staring at him with suspicion. The bear stood beside Fluttershy ready to protect her as dozens of small spiders, snakes, and other creepy crawly insects swarmed around the stallion’s chair as the camera pony didn’t have a firm grip on the camera… That and a python had temporarily obscured the screen.
Still the stallion talked without a hint of fear as the strange… what do you mean Discord isn’t responsible for this madness?
No you can’t be serious… that is a wild bear and last time I checked bears don’t listen to smaller creatures that they can eat! Even then the small army of insects, the python… you have to at least admit of a little bit of chaos magic tampering to the rabbit! He nearly tore Hidden Cover’s ear off when Forth Wrong opened up the door!
…well fine… apparently the next issue is going to be about fluttershy… or is she one of the distractions that is meant to hide the other secrets of this town?
The camera went back to revealing Forth as he stood in a dignified manner… while dressed as a clown with makeup on his face and big red clown shoes on his hooves. Fluttershy was covering her face with her hooves as Discord was wearing a suit and sipping a small cup of tea pretending as if he didn’t do anything wrong.
“What do you know about Scootaloo?” Forth Wrong calmly replied “Do you know her parents… or any members of her family?”
Discord put down the cup of tea and softly replied “Scootaloo remains a mystery to everyone around her. She is an existence in which your minds can barely comprehend. She has seen things… events, moments of history… things that you would refuse to believe and yet you would know is true despite your greatest protests.”
He looked deeply into the camera “To look as her as a filly is to see a filly on a scooter. To look at her as a mystery that needs to be uncovered… one would have to look into a mirror and ask ‘Am I crazy? Am I actually insane to ask such a question or is the world around me that is actually insane?’ before one truly asks that question out loud.”
Fluttershy glanced at Discord “Are you calling them crazy on camera?”
The former spirit of chaos chuckled “Please don’t say that as I’m sure they don’t need to be asked that question. They already know the answer.”
Forth grunted “Still we’ve asked around and nopony has given us a definitive answer. Before Twilight Scootaloo was in Ponyville… but she just was… no detail, actions, or history other than being a fan of Rainbow Dash. No mark of history or her family. None knows where she lives or where she goes as some just think she is simply an orphan.”
Discord slowly nodded his head “And you wish to see what has been denied… to show the world the truth before those who hide the truth strikes you down.”
Forth nodded his head “Well can you tell us?”
Discord chuckled “Just as long as you remember… to look, but don’t look to hard otherwise you fall to the madness that you have sought.”
******
It was late at night as we continued our work. Each question asked only seemed to give us more half answers… more half truths. One pony even claimed they had a telephone to answer before disappearing into a blue box… we never saw what happened to him or the box when we turned our back on it.
Still we found the lair of Scootaloo after tracking her locations and marking down which direction she usually heads towards late at night. Once again we bribed the local members of the Royal Guard except this time we used apple pie.
Seriously next time of The Search for the Unknown… Royal Guards? Are they just eye candy for our solar princess or have they actually done anything of use? I mean Shining Armor technically doesn’t count since he is now a prince in charge of a foreign nation that was lost one thousand years ago or does it still count… but as an exception to the rule?
I’m getting off topic here. Anyway we promised not to disclose the location or information about Scootaloo’s home as we sent our team to investigate this unholy sight.
******
Hidden Cover turned on the light as he muttered “We shouldn’t be here…”
“The public has a right to know.” Forth Wrong hissed “We finally found her home and we are not leaving until we find an answer! Look a picture! It must be the family portrait.”
Forth used his unicorn magic to pull it over to them as Hidden Cover muttered “It’s just a picture of Scootaloo.”
Forth shook his head “Look at the cutie mark Mr Cover.”
The picture was of a mare similar to Scootaloo except the mare was an earth pony with a pink highlight in her mane and tail as her cutie mark was a butterfly with two smaller butterflies near the bottom of the larger one. The name was still listed as Scootaloo as the filly seemed to be about the same age… but the picture was old.
There was another picture with a pink bunny and a scooter as the background of Ponyville seemed to be much older. The two stallions walked through the house carefully as they cringed when the floorboards creaked as if they were ready for something to jump out and attack.
More pictures filled the hallways as each one seemed to be of a similar filly except each one had a small change… sometimes the filly was wearing a dress covering up the cutie mark. Other times the filly was interacting with other ponies that didn’t exist in Ponyville.
The camera focused on one such picture revealing a filly version of cheerilee using a firefly to read a book in the dark with the small filly that looked similar to Scootaloo. Another picture revealed a pony with bug antae and insect wings helping set up decorations with another similarly colored filly… expect with a different cutie mark.
“We shouldn’t be here.” Hidden Cover whispered in fear “We shouldn’t be here…”
Forth Wrong turned around and hissed “Look Rainbow Dash was able to find and visit this place on her own. Since she was able to come back obviously we should be also be able to leave.”
There was a creaking sound as one of the doors slid partly open. The camera pony moved back only to be slowly be dragged forward as the unicorn grunted. The light from the room shined as if it was the middle of the dark despite it being night outside the house.
Forth Wrong opened up the door and spoke in a mixture of awe and horror “Celestia forgive me… we have treaded upon that which should never have been seen by mortal eyes.”
The camera fell to the ground just out of the light as Hidden Cover spoke in disbelief “Such a thing can’t be possible… it has to be a fake… it can’t be real.”
An unholy giggle came from the door as Forth Wrong slammed the door shut “Bolt it… bolt the door shut!”
The door shook as Hidden Camera shouted “The eyes… the eyes… the unnatural eyes and the heads… how could they have been created so… wrong?”
The door shook “Tea time? Play Tea with us?”
The door shook as Forth Wrong was sweating. He used his magic grab a nearby chair and brace it against the door as it shook. In a brief moment the door cracked open revealing a large set of eyes that seemed to take up an entire head as a pair of diapers seemed to block the rest of the image.
“Celestia give me strength!” Forth shouted as he shoved the door back into place before bolting a piece of wood over the door “Let’s get out of here quick before…”
“What are you doing in my house?” Scootaloo replied off camera “Did you break anything or…”
“We didn’t see anything!” Hidden Camera shouted in panic.
There was a soft sigh as the camera slowly turned around revealing a small Pegasus… who looked rather annoyed. The camera was quickly lifted off the ground as the pegasus shouted “What were you doing with a camera inside my house!”
Hidden Camera ran only to trip as he shouted “Help me!” The sounds of hooves echoed across the room “You said no pony is left behind!”
“The truth thanks you for your sacrifice!” Forth shouted.
The sound of a scooter bell rang across the hallway before the camera was suddenly jerked for a moment before being tossed out a window. A nearby pegasus quickly swooped down catching the camera before flying away as screams could be heard in the background.
******
Who knows what happened within the house or to our two brave explorers. No reports have been left as nopony within ponyville has seen or heard of them after that unfaithful night. Maybe they were tossed inside the room they had only seen… forced to face whatever unseen horror lurked behind those walls or maybe the Royal Guard caught them without anything for our crew to bribe them with?
As for the pictures… who was that pony? Who where those ponies she interacted with? What was she doing and does she have any relationship to the town’s resident filly… or perhaps the filly in the photo is the same filly that exists today.
Next time of Search of the Unknown…
(the sound of a door being broken in)
No… No… I was never in ponyville! You couldn’t have possibly known that I was here! I never… oh Sweet Celestia I told my pen name at the start of the episode! You tracked down my pen name!
(sound of objects crashing to the floor)
No! No! Nooooo!
Smile Smile Smile
******
Twilight stared at the screen and rubbed her eyes “What… what did I just watch?”
Rainbow shook her head “I… I don’t know.”
Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash “Didn’t they interview you Rainbow Dash? How come you didn’t recognize any of this… show if you were in it?”
Rainbow shrugged “I just thought they were odd. I mean… do you remember every pony that happens to ask about a library book?”
Spike grunted “You wouldn’t think so, but she does.”
Pinkie chuckled “I liked how silly they were. Acting as if Ponyville is some sort of eldritch secret place hidden in secrets that warped reality around to torture those who come here with a twisted version of their own hopes, fears, and a mockery of reality itself... When in reality it just a boring old town that decided to settle near the Everfree Forest because the Zap Apples can’t be grown too far away from it.”
Twilight yawned “Well it’s late girls… any idea what happened to that weird narrator pony near the end?”
Pinkie chuckled as she cheerfully replied “He’s certainly not in a patch of cupcakes!”