//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 - Bright's Mourn 
// Story: The Scoota Finale 
// by thedarktome 
//------------------------------//

Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Gabby, and Babs quickly trotted out of the boutique and made their way towards the large Castle of Friendship in the distance. The sun was shining bright. And hot. The group walked by Sugarcube Corner then turned onto the walkway that led towards the front doors.

"Are you sure, Applebloom?" Sweetie croaked out. She turned to her girlfriend and gave her a serious look. "This better not be one of your jokes."

Applebloom chuckled and blew her long mane out of her eyes. "Babs and Gabby sounded really serious," she responded. "I don't think it was a joke, Lavender." Babs and Gabby shared a confused glance from behind. What they hay was up with them? Before Babs could ask, Applebloom rushed forward and pulled open the castles front doors for Sweetie Belle, who smiled sweetly at her. Once she was in, Applebloom followed along, completely forgetting about the others.

The door closed before Babs ran smack into it. "Ow! Consarn it, Apple Bloom!" She yelled, going back to her Appleloosan roots for a moment. Groaning in annoyance, she swung the door back open, gasping at what she saw. The two fillies were walking down the hall but were smiling and nuzzling each other deeply with their tails entwined. Gabby and Applebloom stared at them from the doorway, frozen in shock. The two lovers continued along their way, soon disappearing around a corner. Babs blinked and then glanced to Gabby, who was stuck in the same situation. Shaking her head, she ran after them to catch up, followed by Gabby.

Twilight was in the castle, holding an intervention with Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and herself for Rainbow Dash. She was sitting on her throne, looking more pale than before. She was leaning over the side, looking at the ground while the others were giving her a sad look from across. Twilight sighed and said, "How do you feel about all of this, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow closed her eyes and sniffed. Then opened them back up towards Twilight. "Must you ask?" She croaked out.

Fluttershy nodded, "We want you to express how you feel."

"Look at my wings and you'll get an excellent understanding."

"Rainbow," Twilight whispered. "You need to talk about how you feel. It would help."

"I don't need to talk about it, Twilight," she clarified rather rudely. "Everypony here knows what happened. We laughed at Scootaloo, she ran away, fell in a river, and we never saw her again. What. Else. Is. There. To understand? She's gone, and I'm part of the reason."

Somepony impatiently knocked on the door, causing Twilight to groan and stand up. "Why doesn't anypony read anymore?!" She exclaimed while making her way towards the door. She threw the door open and glared at.... Nopony?

"Down here!" Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

"Oh, hey girls. How's your throat, Sweetie?" Twilight greeted. Sweetie sighed and shrugged. "You'll be okay. Listen, I'm in the middle of—"

"Scootaloo's alive!" Applebloom interrupted.

Twilight blinked at her and asked, "What are you talking about?" Gabby and Babs quickly walked over and told her what they learned. Afterwards, Twilight opened the door and gestured them inside. The second they trotted in, Sweetie and Applebloom stopped when they spotted Rainbow Dash's form.

"...whoa," Applebloom muttered. "You fell hard, huh?" Rainbow glanced to her then groaned and rolled her eyes.

Twilight tapped Babs and said, "Tell them what you told me." Babs rolled her eyes but did as requested. Pinkie and Fluttershy gasped and turned to each other before everyone turned to Rainbow Dash. They were expecting a change. Something happy. A smile of some sort. Instead, she was still sitting there depressed. Nothing had changed.

"Did you hear that, Rainbow?" Fluttershy whispered from across the table. "Scootaloo made it."

"And she will never be the same again," Rainbow assumed. She sniffed and added, "We all know that. Why are we lying to ourselves?"

"Rainbow, Scootaloo is alive!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Isn't that enough?"

"Yes." Rainbow sat up and gave her an icy glare. "But will she ever be the same? Will she ever fly? No! I had to pick up her wings and attend her memorial service! Even if she is alive..." Rainbow looked back down and covered her eyes. "She will hate me forever. As well as anypony in Ponyville."



Quick Hooves orphanage had calmed down by that evening. Room 126 was empty, save for Magenta's light snoring. Her dreams were still the same like when she first arrived. Red carpet, signing notepads, all that stuff. She really didn't get it, but she only rolled with it.

While she snored near soundlessly, the door to the room was pushed open slowly. Bright Snow poked her head nonchalantly inside and smiled warmly at Magenta's snoring face. At least she was happy. She trotted into the room and climbed onto her bed. Then settled down to think about everything that had happened. Both of them don't have parents. One couldn't remember her parents, the other's died to save her. She missed them. She missed them a lot.

After a while, a bunch of sniffling stirred Magenta from her slumber. She cracked open her eyes and glanced around for a moment. Then not too soon spotted Bright Snow wiping her face. Magenta sat up and yawned a little getting Bright's eyes. After her exhale, she smiled warmly at Bright. "Hey," she greeted. "Wassup?"

When Bright bit her lip and looked away, Magenta knew something was up. "Bright... what's wrong?"

Bright shook her head and lied down, placing her head on her hooves. Magenta rolled her eyes and rose up on her own. If Bright wasn't talking, then there was a big problem. Ignoring the aches and pains, Magenta made her way across the bed towards the stairs set up for her and took them one at a time. After thirty seconds of climbing down, she slowly walked over to Bright's steps and began to climb those. Bright Snow watched her get over the last step, obviously a little winded, then trot over and settle down right next to her.

"What's wrong Bright?" She whispered. Bright glanced over before Magenta lifted her hoof and wiped away one of her tears. "Seeing you cry... is hurting me."

Bright sighed and sat up. Then laid her head on Magenta's arm. "I... I miss mommy and Daddy," she admitted, sniffling and wiping away more tears. "The way... The way we'd go to sleep as a family, go out on trips, take flights around the city, even the scolding I'd get for breaking something. I just... I miss mommy and daddy so much.'

She whimpered before Magenta sat up and pulled her into a hug. Bright buried her face into Magenta's chest and sobbed while she hugged her close and tight, stroking her silver mane. Seeing Bright cry was like someone turned her world upside down. It was unnatural.

Magenta nuzzled her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Bright," she whispered. "I know nopony will ever replace them. But hey you got some family right here. Me." Bright stopped sniffling and pulled back to look in Magenta's eyes with tear filled eyes, breaking Magenta's heart. "Okay, one? You have got to smile or something, because I'm about to cry now and it will not be pretty."

Bright smiled shyly and laughed quietly at Magenta's admittance. "That's much better. You crying breaks me hard. Now listen." She calmly wrapped a hoof around Bright Snow. "I know you miss your parents. Who wouldn't? But now it's time to start new memories with your big sister, Magenta Streak! I mean... I know we can't do a lot right now because of... y'know..." She gestured to her wrapped up body. "But in the future we are doing everything together."

Bright smiled and looked down. "But what about—"

"I am never leaving you, Bright," Magenta interrupted. She gave her little sister a determined look. "If someone wants to adopt me, they have to adopt you too. Because I'm never leaving you. Never. I love you Bright. You're there for me when I need help, now it's my turn."

Bright smiled then quickly wrapped her hooves around the neck of the taller pony. Magenta squeaked a little bit but smiled. "Thank you, Magenta," she whispered happily.

Magenta closed her eye and nuzzled Bright Snow's cheek. "You're welcome, sis." Bright held her a little more before she pulled back, grinning happily. Magenta gave her a look of desperation and pleaded, "But please, please, please never cry again. It almost made me cry. Okay?"

Bright giggle and nodded. "Okay, Maggy! As long as you keep to your promise to sing in front of other ponies, okay?"

Magenta chuckled and nodded. "Okay, Bright. I promised, right? So I'll do it."

"Yay!"

"Now let's go get a snack, okay?" Magenta grunted as she stood up and turned towards the wretched stairs next to the bed. She glared at them and growled, "You think you can stop me? I'm Magenta Streak! Greatest pony in...er...Equestria right?" Bright nodded with a grin. "I'm Magenta Streak! Greatest pony in Equestria! Take this!" She lifted a hoof and slowly began to make her way down the stairs. Bright was with her the whole time and soon the two arrived at the bottom after a minute. Magenta grinned with closed eyes and said, "Boom! in your face!"

"Stairs don't have faces."

Magenta snapped her eyes open and looked towards the door at Bluebell. She pushed her glasses up on her face and motioned towards the stairs. "And they don't talk."

"Good!" Magenta replied. "If they did I'd probably bash their face in. Like wham—ow ow ow, okay. Bad idea." Magenta pulled in her rear hooves and slowly made her way to the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Right!" Bluebell cleared her throat and asked, "Do you want to watch Lightning Dust try and do an obstacle course? It's going to be....eh. Probably awesome. She's trying to imitate some pony named Rainbow Dash and will more than likely crash into 'The wall of pain'. Wanna watch?"

Magenta and Bright Snow shared a look. Then shrugged and slowly made their way out the door, interested.



Twilight and the others inside the castle were staring at Rainbow Dash in disbelief. She curled up into a little ball on her throne, trying to keep herself out of sight. Ignoring it for now, Twilight sighed and turned back to the foals.

"Well that's good news," she responded. "Now all we have to do is find her. Which is unfortunately out of my jurisdiction."

Sweetie Belle shot her a confused look. And asked in a hoarse voice, "But aren't you a Princess?"

"I am. However, I only have a few powers. The one you'd want to speak to would be Cadance. Celestia holds the powers of a majority of the organizations while the rest of us hold a small amount. I can let her know what you discovered. But if that is her, it would still take a while to locate her." Twilight walked out of the room and gestured for the fillies to follow her. "Rainbow, we're continuing this conversation. Don't leave. Fluttershy watch her please."

Fluttershy nodded before the five walked out of the room. Apple Bloom trotted beside Sweetie Belle and asked, "What do ya' mean it would take a long time?"

Twilight sighed and looked down at the hopeless fillies with a sad gaze. "For one? All we have is a name and description that she doesn't match anymore," she answered. "I theorize that Scootaloo may have lost most of her memories. Including her own name. She used to have wings and is messed up by unrepairable cuts and gashes, I'm sure. If somepony did see her, they can't just call out Scootaloo.

"Not to mention. The Equestrian Police Force don't really take missing foals seriously. Reason why is because it is extremely rare for a foal to go missing and stay missing for more than twenty-four hours. The last record of that was ten years old when a filly ran away and was found earlier this year as a teenager. You can't miss a cutie mark. Yes, I know they may be able to spot her by her cutie mark. But I want you to see this from Scootaloo's point of view. If you had plenty of gashes and cuts, and they hurt your appearance, what would you do?"

"Ah'd... Cover up," Apple Bloom answered.

"Yep. And I bet my bits that's what Scootaloo's done. Covered up her flanks. And it's illegal for law enforcement to ask a pony to show their cutie mark. Why? I'm not sure. But they can't. So the only thing we can really go off of is the name we learned and description that is not entirely solid. Magenta. Orange pony with a purple mane and tail. Eleven years old."

Twilight opened a door and walked inside. The girls followed in and looked around, making it out to be Twilight's office, based off the trophies and such. Digging around for a bit, Twilight grabbed a scroll and quill. Then wrote down the news. Once done, she folded the paper into thirds and slid it through a slot inside her desk. It flashed while Twilight walked back from around and over to them. "The letter's sent out! Now all we can do is wait and hope for a quick retrieval."

"I'm tired of waiting!" Babs yelled, obviously frustrated. "We've been waitin' for months! And she still ain't turn up! Why can't we just go out and look for her ourselves?"

Twilight sat down in front of her and said sorrowfully, "Because at that rate, we'd go even slower. Scootaloo was kept in Manehattan and can possibly still be in Manehattan. But if not, we'd still have to search all of Equestria. It'd be hard to find a filly that doesn't even know her own name."

The four looked at each other. Then sighed in defeat. They knew Twilight was right. If Scootaloo was released from the hospital, everything would become much harder. Because the hospital was small like an ant compared to Manehattan, let alone Equestria.

"I'm sorry girls," Twilight whispered. She leaned down and pulled the four into a hug. "But this is all we can do right now. Hopefully she'll turn up soon."

Apple Bloom pulled Sweetie Belle into a much needed hug, letting her tears fall into her coat. They needed all the help they could get. All of it.