//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Secrets of Everfree // by RDDash //------------------------------// About 3 years before season 1. 11: 10 pm 50 minutes before midnight. Rainbow Dash is about to start her night shift on the weather duty. Today was especially rainy, lightning flashed outside. Weather ponies did have a very special code name for this type of situation: "Twilight." All ponies of Poniville are forbidden from entering the Everfree Forest, and it's been Wheathermare duty to make sure that nothing came out. 11: 20 pm, 40 minutes before midnight. "So, what you've got for me?" Asked Rainbow, she was once again in. "Well, may I recommend today's special, 10 mm pistol, 12 round crackerjack" tungsten bullets?" Sweetie Belle responded, small pause, "Or would you prefer 12.7 mm pistol, 7 round knockdrop depleted uranium bullets?" "Sold!, I think I'll take both of them. "Oh, very well, enjoy it." Sweetie Belle materialized two pistols in front of her, plus five mags for each gun. 11:30 pm, 30 minutes until midnight. Rainbow gliding at about 120 m/s, there's no reason to go above and beyond Mach speeds. flying assistant spell wouldn't allow it, plus Rainbow Dash would have to brute force it with a sheer will power, and then pray while she would be flying to her doom as a fiery comet. Yes, Rainbow flew into space under her own wing power. it took a carefully woven matrix of spells, that made sure she would breathe and then survive during reentry. Sweetie Belle was watching and would have saved Rainbow at any sign of trouble, but it was still fun. In fact, Rainbow could glide as slow as 60 m/s, and she liked it. The thrill of going as slow as possible, and as low as possible, barely touching the water with her wing tips. Other ponies would just make fun of her if they knew that speedster Rainbow Dash liked to fly at slower speeds. She would be ripped to shreds. 11:40 pm, 20 minutes until midnight. It was too normal, way too normal, not that Rainbow complained. Few wing flaps to accelerate, she titled 45° to the left and pulled up. Instantly she felt air trying to rip her apart. Satisfied with the perfect maneuver execution she leveled and flew as usual while scanning for trouble. Lightning flashed, rain continued pouring from a sky. 11: 50 pm 10 minutes from midnight. The weather seemed to be worsening, winds blowing faster and faster. It was starting to get more and more difficult to fly. Zero hours. Lightning cracked in the sky, next moment the strong gust of wind swept Rainbow and being knocked over she took a nose dive right into the ground. Her body crashed, the sound of mirror shuttering could be heard. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep............ "Ugh, what happened? Where am I? " Rainbow groaned, her body was in pain. Feeling blood with her mane, she licked, yet salty. Rainbow forced herself on the side, she might as well take a small rest. With the final effort, she flipped herself on the back. Her wings are bent and bloody so flying was out of the question, at least for awhile. Self-healing would take time, Rainbow closed her eyes. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.......... "Help, please somepony help!" Rainbow's eyes snapped open, her body jumped, freshly healed wings flapped rapidly three times. She did burst in a random direction. With her enhanced vision, she already could see a small orange filly pegasus, with a light pink mane being chased by a pack of timberwolves. Rainbow flipped in the air, she pulled 12.7 mm pistol and squeezed a trigger. Gun barked until it was dry, Timberwolves yelped and dropped dead. Rainbow flipped back and landed on the ground. She then took spare mag and reloaded. "Kid, talk to me, are you alright?" The filly was breathing hard, her eyes slightly widen. Seeing as danger passed, she was forcing herself to relax. "I.... Um...I am," she swallowed hard, "I am alright." Her mind registered that their somepony was in front of her. "Who are you?" "My name is Rainbow Dash, and I am a Weatherman. Everything is going to be okay." Rainbow reassured a small filly. "I need you to tell me, what's your name?" "My name is Scootaloo, just Scootaloo." Rainbow brain froze over, there were no Scootaloo in Poniville, there never was any Scootaloo in Poniville. It would seem that shock was clearly visible on Rainbow's face because Scootaloo dashed towards Rainbow's legs. "Please! Please don't leave me here! I...I'll do anything, just... Please! Rainbow swallowed, the filly was an abomination produced by the forest on that cursed night. The Weathermare guide book was very clear, the protocol demanded that she needs to dispose of the filly. 10 mm pistol would do the job just fine. However. "I can't! I can't! Damn the guide book! Damn it! Damn it all!" Tears had been dropping from her face. "I...I am!" She pulled Scootaloo in the hug. "Everything is going to be just fine." "Can I, can I live with you?" "Yes....We are going to be together, and I am going to teach you everything I know. I even going to teach you how to fly." "Fly? But the test, what if I fail!" The test? The flying test had been practiced in Pegasopolis education system. It served its purpose then, but now in modern Equestria, this test was extremely outdated, and laughable at best. "Who cares if you are going to fail some stupid test. Listen, I will personally go there and kick those uptight pegasi flank." Scootaloo giggled. "Now let's go we need a lot of ground to cover." Sunrise at Sweet Apple Acres. Farm pony was preparing to start a day. At that particular moment she was outside, so she never needs to miss a rainbow maned pegasus and another orange filly who was following her. "Consarnit Rainbow what happened to you." "I feel," replied Rainbow only to meet AppleJack hard glare. "Listen Jackie can you do me a tiny winy little favor. This is Scootaloo, and um would you please just look for her for a day. I promise to get her from your hooves." AppleJack knew about Rainbow's fancy space ship. She still can't get used to the fact that Rarity's sister was a highly intelligent robot, and was part of that rust bucket that's been orbiting the Moon for Celestia knows how long. "That kid, she isn't one of those." "No! No, she is different." "Oh, alright, only for a day you hear." "Thanks, Jackie, that's all I need. About 1 year before season 1. Today was the day Scootaloo would do the flying test, and even if she is going fail. It's like Rainbow said it's not a big deal. The only problem was when the time came for Scootaloo to come back home, Scootaloo didn't show up. Rainbow took a 10 mm gun with her. Would she need 12.7 mm this time? Better safe than sorry. She then took magical locator charm, it softly beeped indicating Scootaloo's location. Rainbow took flight, she flew and flew until she landed right in front of an innocently looking rainbow factory. Charm was producing a solid beep indicating that Scootaloo somewhere here. She quickly silenced the charm and dispatched the two guards, 10 mm barked twice, two ponies fell. She then took their access key cards and moved on.