“Okay Scootaloo, thank you for that. Are you sure you can’t remember anything after that though?” the nurse had finished listening to Scootaloo’s story of how she had ended up here. It was not much help, and the details were fuzzy, but the nurse had enough to understand generally what had happened to her since she had arrived.
“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said, a crestfallen expression adorning her face as she racked her brain to remember more. “All I remember is falling, and then nothing.”
“Oh, don’t worry sweetie, no harm done. This is all I need.” the nurse got up and began to trot to the door.
“Wait!” Scootaloo called, stopping the nurse in her tracks, right as she was about to exit the room. “I remember something. Who brought me in here?” Scootaloo was practically giddy with excitement that was boiling over into her expression, which now bore a wide, toothy grin that rivaled that of even Pinkie Pie’s smiles. ’Could it have really been Rainbow Dash! Did she actually find me?’
The nurse looked back down at her clipboard that she had picked up and tucked beneath her wing on her way out. “Hmm, it doesn’t say here. I guess he decided not to give his name. This says he seemed to be in a hurry to leave after he dropped you off.”
Scootaloo’s expression dropped at the word “he”. The nurse clearly noticed this and made her way over to the bed to sit beside her. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll find her, and we’ll get you home. Nothing hurts me more than to see a filly separated from her mother. I promise you that we’ll have you back to her before you know it.”
Scootaloo was slightly reassured by this and lifted her head to meet the eyes of the nurse. “What’s your name?” Scootaloo asked nicely.
The nurse gave a calm smile before answering, “Tidal Wave.” Scootaloo liked this mare a lot. She reminded her of Rainbow Dash a lot. She had cyan blue fur, and magenta eyes matching Rainbow Dash’s, and their personalities were very similar. The main difference Scootaloo could spot was the mane. She had a very clean and neatly styled purple mane that curled at the ends. Not nearly as styled as Rarity’s but it was much neater than anything ever seen on Rainbow Dash.
The mare smiled, and gave Scootaloo a careful hug, taking care not to aggravate her injuries, before getting up and walking out of the room. Scootaloo did not see the tears fall from her eyes as she walked out of the room, her mind stuck on the terrible situation this filly was now in. “Whoever this Rainbow Dash is… she’s in for a surprise alright.”
***
Once Rainbow Dash had calmed down enough to walk, most of them had been taken to the police station. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight (of course), and Fluttershy had all come along. Pinkie Pie stayed behind with Applejack to wait for new on Applebloom.
They were sitting in what seemed to be a conference room at the station. The room housed a long black table, lined up and down the sides with chairs and then one more was placed at each end. There were easily over twenty seats. They picked some chairs near the end of the table closest to the exit. Two stallions walked in, with badges hanging on chains from their necks. Twilight did not recognize the badges, but that was to be expected with the new land.
One stallion, who seemed to be older, had a dark brown coat, and his mane was gray from old age, although it seemed to be more of a shiny silver. It was carefully styled and swept off to the right. His chiseled features and steely blue eyes spoke of experience and were a testament to the many years he had been doing this job.
The other stallion was much less noteworthy. He wore a black coat, and dark brown mane with a much younger, though not inexperienced, complexion. He remained standing, while the other stallion took a seat at the table head, clearly indicating who was in charge.
“So,” the older stallion spoke, his voice holding a gravelly texture, that once again spoke of experience and old age. “What brings you all here?”
“We’re… not entirely sure,” Twilight began. “I mean, we came to this land looking for Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash’s daughter, but we haven’t found her. We’re not entirely sure why we’re here though.”
“Well, maybe I can help with that,” this time it was the younger stallion who spoke. His voice much lighter than the older stallion’s, although it was not by any means joyful. “You all said you aren’t from this land?”
He received a nod of affirmation from the ponies gathered around the table. “Well, then I guess we should explain something. It is clear from what we have seen so far that where you come from all three pony races get along, correct?”
Another nod confirmed his suspicions. “Well, to say that tensions between the three races here are high would be putting it lightly. Everyone despises the other races. That is why they are separated… mostly at least.”
“What do you mean… separated?” Twilight asked, growing uneasy with this new development.
“This land is an island, and there are four major cities on it. There’s the cities of Seabreeze, Opeke, and then Zatoka, where you are now. The unicorns live in Opeke, the pegasi in Seabreeze, and earth ponies in Zatoka.”
“I thought you said there were four,” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“There are,” the older stallion spoke again and looked up at his partner. “The last city, Atlas, is the capital city. All of the leaders live there.” There seemed to be an undertone of indignation in his voice as he said this. This was duly noted by Twilight, as she continued to listen intently.
“But how does that work?” Rainbow Dash asked. “If all of the races are separated, then how do all of the leaders live together. Isn’t their leaders from every race?”
“No. That city is also, all pegasi.” He gave a long sigh, one that could only come from someone way beyond his years, who has seen way too much for one lifetime. “Anyways, let’s get back to the matter at hoof.”
The younger stallion took over speaking once again. “This is basically why you were brought here. In this land, there is a lot of hatred between the races, especially towards pegasi. The mare behind the counter noticed your pegasus friend here and assumed that she had harmed the filly. Because of this, we were called. It is clear now, that this is not the case.”
“Which brings us to another subject,” the older stallion was now addressing Twilight specifically. “What is your name?”
“My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, co-ruler of Equestria, and the Princess of Friendship, as well as the bearer of the element of magic… but you can just call me Twilight.” Twilight grinned sheepishly as she finished, realizing that she may have gone a bit overboard with her title.
“Well, that is certainly the lengthy title. I’m going to be completely honest and tell you that I hardly understood much of anything in it, but, I understood as much as I need to. You are a Princess, and a co-ruler of a land, that much is clear. I’m also going to waver a guess that the name of this land is Equestria?” They all nodded “Might I ask, who are the other rulers of this land?”
“Well, I am one of them,” Twilight began. “but then there is Princess Cadence, and then the two sisters, who are the main rulers of Equestria. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.”
Both of the officers froze. Their jaws moved up and down, but no words came out. Their eyes were the size of dinner plates, and they seemed to struggle to find words. They looked at each other. A look that spoke without the use of words. A look that said everything that needed to be said, yet at the same time said nothing at all. The older stallion gulped, before turning back to the group before him. “P-Princess Celestia?” His voice was now shaky and showed uncertainty that was not visible before, although he still hid it well.
Twilight simply nodded, curious as to what was the big deal about Celestia.
The younger officer spoke once again. “S-so… it is true.”
“Umm, excuse me. Four ponies still in the dark here,” Rainbow Dash said, an edge of impatience showing in her voice.
“Right, sorry,” the younger officer brought his attention back to the group as well. “Well, I guess this requires a bit of a story. There is a tale, passed down through many generations, of a time gone by. A time when we were once on a land far away from here. All three pony races lived relatively the same to the way they do here, although the pegasi lived in the clouds. It is said that one fateful evening, the three pony races were united under one flag. The two who were to rule this new land were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“While many thought this was great, there was a small group of ponies who did not want things to change. They liked things the way they were and were not about to cooperate with the other races. It’s kinda ironic, they agreed and cooperated to keep from cooperating with each other.” The officer gave a small chuckle before continuing.
“Anyway, they all got together and decided to leave. They built a boat, and took off from the shore, bound for a new land, where the old traditions could live on. Well, they eventually landed here and started a new land. That was thousands of years ago though, and most ponies don’t even believe the story anymore. Some hold onto hope that there is a land of equality out there, but not many. It’s hard to imagine a land like that when all anyone’s ever known is this.”
Twilight was speechless. “How come I never heard of this? I’ve studied all aspects of known history in Equestria? I would’ve remembered coming across something like that.”
“Well, I can’t imagine you would. The legends say that the ponies who originally came, did so in secrecy. They never told anyone else about it, and I guess no one ever figured it out.”
Twilight was absolutely floored. She had theories about this land’s origin and location, but this was definitely not one of them. She suspected an alternate universe at the most. Not THIS!
“I have to go tell Celestia about this, right now!”
“You’re going to leave us here while you run off to tell Celestia about this?!” Rainbow Dash seemed furious that her friend would just leave the rest of them there at a time like this.
“I have to! Celestia needs to know about this!”
The older officer cut in once again.
“Princess, I understand your concern, but it has already been thousands of years. What are another few days?”
“I-I… but…”
“But nothing Twilight. We need you, I need you, Scootaloo needs you. Stay here, help us. We can tell Celestia when we get back.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay. You got me Rainbow. I’ll stay, but I want to hear more about this place. All of the details.”
The older stallion gave a slight chuckle. “As I would like to hear all about your land, and there will be time for all of that later. Right now, I believe there is a much more pressing issue to discuss.” He faced Rainbow Dash. “Now, tell me about Scootaloo.”