//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Project Ascension // by TheMyth //------------------------------// “Why did we wait for this dragon to escort us?” Black mumbled to his partner as Spike led them up to the library. “If we act accommodating, there’s less of a chance they’ll put up a fight to keep her. We’ve finally cornered the foal, we don’t want to botch this up.” The other agent nodded in agreement as Spike pushed open the door with one claw, careful not to tip the stack of scrolls in his other arm. “Mom? We have some ponies here who want to talk to you.” “Tell them to come in here, Spike,” Twilight called from the other room, “I’m kind of in the middle of something.” The two agents looked at each other with some amusement that a dragon considered a pony its mother, but hid it when he turned to face them. “Sorry, my mom can get caught up in her work. Just gone on in.” With mumbled “Thank yous” the two ponies did so. They found Twilight surrounded by books, all floating around her in a half circle. She was constantly checking the pages while scribbling notes on a piece of parchment sitting on her desk. She only glanced up at them briefly. “Hello there. Sorry about my manners, I’m a bit anxious to finish this report.” “It’s not a problem, Miss Sparkle,” Blue assured. “We’re here from the Department of Foal Services. We understand that you keep the town records here?” At this, Twilight actually took a closer look at them. “You need the mayor’s permission to...” At this, Black produced a scroll with the mayor’s signature. Twilight took it and skimmed it through, before nodding. “It looks legitimate. What do you need to look up?” “We came here looking for a runaway filly,” Blue explained as Black pulled out her photograph for her to see. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. All her books fell to the ground, but she paid them no mind. “It can’t be... Scootaloo?” “You know her?” Black asked, sounding concerned. “Well, yes. Spike spends time with her sometimes, and my friends’ sisters are her friends,” she explained. “Where is she living?” Twilight shook her head, “That I don’t know, much more than that, I’m afraid. Sometimes they come in here for school work or come to play with my boy but other than that I don’t see them much.” Blue looked down on Spike, who was becoming more nervous by the second and fled to his mother’s side. “A bit unusual wouldn’t you say?” Twilight blinked her eyes, “I beg your pardon?” Blue looked into the mare’s eyes, “It’s rather unusual for a mare to have a dragon whelp as her son. Especially a mare of your status.” Twilight simply smiled and reached out her hoof to hold Spike near her, “Well being the Princess’s student has led me to many interesting and wonderful things. My boy here is by far the most wonderful thing I have discovered.” she answered to them, with Spike looking up at her in awe at her words. Black and Blue just stood there, showing no emotion to her words. “We’ll take your word for it. On a more urgent matter, do you know of anypony who might lead us to Scootaloo?” Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin, “Well there is one pony I know, but I-” “HI TWILIGHT!” All the ponies jumped slightly and gasp at the sudden call that came from the door. Blue and Black immediately turned to the source only to be greeted by a hyperactive pink earth pony and a very energetic cyan pegasus. Pinkie Pie bounced past the two stoic earth ponies with Rainbow right behind her and hugged her unicorn friend. “How you been? Did anything today? Did you do something with your boy? How’s Spike by the way? How are your studies going? Do you need a party? Huh? Huh? Huh-” “PINKIE!” Twilight shouted at her friend, with a deafening silence surrounding the room. “Pinkie, everything is ok. Spike is good as well,” she told assured her hyperactive friend, who had stopped bouncing all over the library. “Now. is there any reason you came here to visit me, other than trying to throw a party?” Pinkie opened her mouth to speak but Rainbow pushed her out of the way, “Twilight, Pinkie says there’s spies roaming Ponyville.” she said bluntly to her unicorn friend, who withheld a giggle with her hoof to the mouth. “Uh, Rainbow Dash, there aren’t any spies. Pinkie was probably talking about these two,” Twilight said, motioning to Black and Blue, who were looking a little nonplussed at the interruption. “Oh, heh, heh,” the cyan pegasus blushed, suddenly feeling awkward. “Ooh, ooh, are you spying for Celestia? The changelings? Dis...” Pinkie was cut off by Twilight magically sealing her mouth shut. “Pinkie, that’s enough.” “Wait, you’re Rainbow Dash?” Black asked. “The winner of the Young Flyers Competition last year?” Hearing praise, the pegasus puffed out her chest. “The one and only. Are you a fan?” “I have a relative who keeps an eye on the best flyers in Equestria. He tends to go on about you.” “Well, he has good taste,” the mare answered smugly. “Anyway,” Blue said through gritted teeth, “Could you be on your way? We were just asking Miss Sparkle about...” “Actually, Rainbow Dash was the mare I was talking about. She knows about Scootaloo.” At this, the pegasus’ ears perked up. She looked at the two agents with concern. “What do you want with Scootaloo?” “Ma’am, we’re with the Department of Foal Services,” Black explained. “The one you call Scootaloo ran off from an orphanage nearly two years ago.” Hearing this caused the three mares and Spike’s mouths to drop open. Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead with one hoof. “I don’t believe it. She lied to me,” she said softly. Black arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” “Well, one of the school bullies accused her of being homeless just this morning. She told me it wasn’t true, though.” “Well, she is. She ran off because she refused to follow the rules of where she was kept. She was a little troublemaker,” Blue said, a tinge of regret in his voice. “Aw, that poor filly,” Pinkie said. Black cleared his throat with a light cough. “It is imperative that we find her and return her to the orphanage before she gets into serious trouble,” he told the other ponies in the room, with Rainbow frowning a bit at this. “Where exactly is the orphanage?” she asked Black, who just blinked at her without changing his expression at all. “Back in Canterlot, Miss,” he answered her dismissively, though Rainbow’s expression became crestfallen as this news. “But-but-but she has friends here in Ponyville! Can’t she just get a transfer to here instead?!” she asked the two ponies, though their expressions did not change in the slightest. “Regulations for a transfer takes months to process, even for special cases like her,” Blue explained to Rainbow, though with the word ‘special’, Black smirked slightly but was not noticed as Rainbow began to breath heavily and blinked extensively. “W-what about adoption? I could adopt the little filly and she could-” “Miss Dash,” Blue explained to her, “That can only be done with the consensus of the Department of Foal Welfare and you have to go through countless interviews to gain special status as a legal guardian, not to mention you must also be of legal age to adopt a foal and be responsible for the foal’s welfare.” Rainbow was becoming livid at these two always finding a way to keep Scootaloo away from her friends. Meanwhile, Twilight’s mind was going through some extensive thinking as both Blue and Black spoke to Rainbow about laws of adoption. Spike just remained silent as he leaned in closer to his mother, with him becoming more afraid of these two ponies. Rainbow Dash huffed and crossed her hooves as she hovered in front of them, “So no matter what I suggest, there’s no way to keep Scootaloo here in Ponyville at all?!” Blue shook his head with his eyes closed, “You are twisting our words, we told you that legal actions need to be taken before proper adoption can be done. She will first have to return to Canterlot before we can arrange proper guardians for her and-” “What exactly you mean ‘proper guardians’?!” Rainbow asked them as she flew dangerously close to Blue’s face, though he never flinched at all to her interrogating stare. “Quite simply, we are talking about responsible ponies who have experience with raising foals and are not a hazard to the foal’s welfare.” Black told her nonchalantly, though this only fueled Rainbow’s growing anger at these two for telling her indirectly she was not a responsible mare. Rainbow was still for a few seconds before something popped inside her head, “Can I see your identification cards?” “Right here,” Blue informed before his muzzle dipped into his pocket. A few seconds later he fished out an ID card and showed it to her. Seeing this, the pegasus’s wings drooped. “That’s real, alright,” she sighed. Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other. “Rainbow Dash, how do you know...” “Look,” the pegasus cut her friend off, “Scootaloo will probably listen to me. The kid practically idolizes me. Why don’t you just let me go get her and bring her to you?” The two agents looked at each other. “Well... if you think it will work...” Blue said slowly. “We believe you should know, the filly was known to exaggerate things about how bad the orphanage was. If she tells you anything, I’d advise just blocking it out.” “Alright,” Rainbow Dash answered half heartedly. “Give me about an hour. I can find her by then.” It took only twenty minutes for Rainbow Dash to find her number one fan. She was in a cave just to the north of where she had found her crying earlier that morning. Luckily, she had caught sight of the little filly entering the cave, looking nervous. Flying to the cave entrance, she saw what looked to be a lived-in area. A sleeping bag with a stuffed animal beside it, and a slab which had a few berries and apples on it, as well as a cookie that she must have gotten as a gift from Sugarcube Corner. A canteen was next to them, presumably filled with water. Another slab held a school notebook and some pencils, obviously used as a desk of some kind. Scootaloo herself was currently setting several berries into a bindle sack, looking scared. “Scoots?” The orange filly jumped nearly three feet in the air before turning. “R-Rainbow Dash?” “Kid... do you live here?” “No,” Scootaloo said immediately, looking even more frightened than she before. “Really? Because there’s two stallions at Twilight’s library who say differently.” Scootaloo’s fur became pale and her eyes shrank at the mention of those two ponies, “No... I won’t return... I won’t. I can’t!” she jumped out and tried to make it to the exit of the cave, but was stopped as Rainbow held onto her with all her might as Scootaloo screamed and squirmed in her forelegs. Rainbow was shocked to see her number one fan look so frightened or drastic in the years she has known her. The sight of Scootaloo at the moment was making her eyes moist as she was reliving a few childhood memories. “Listen Scoots, I know the orphanage is not a great place, but I will talk to Celestia about all this, okay?” she tried to calm the little filly down, which worked if only for a few moments. “I’ll talk to her to get you back at Ponyville and be-” “They’re not from the orphanage, Rainbow.” “What?” Rainbow asked Scootaloo, who looked up at Rainbow with bloodshot eyes. “What do you mean, they’re not from the orphanage? I saw their Identification cards myself and they look legit to me and-” “They’re fakes! They’re gonna take me back ‘there’,” she said the last word with venom dripping from her muzzle, as absolute terror was somehow related to that word. Rainbow remembered what those two ponies said and simply shook her head, “Look, I don’t know what you playing at, but you need to go back.” Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow in disbelief, and glared at her with her moist eyes. “So, you’re gonna believe those two liars instead of your number one fan?!” Rainbow backed her head away slightly at these words as she was still holding onto Scootaloo, but then frowned upon the little filly. “Well you lied to me now, so that doesn’t exactly help you, does it?” she told her as she continued looking down on the little filly with disappointment. Scootaloo felt like her heart had been ripped apart, her role model and inspiration was siding with the two ponies who would return her to the place she escaped from. She realized that her words would fall on deaf ears even if she told Rainbow the truth. She glared at the rainbow mare, shaking slightly in anger as she lowered her head and mumbled something. Rainbow raised her eyebrow and lowered her head, “What’s that you said?” she asked Scootaloo innocently. Scootaloo mumbled again, though a bit louder as she shook more in Rainbow’s forelegs. “Scootaloo, what are you sayi-” “I hate you!” “...You don’t mean that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Yes, I do! You want to send me back... there!” “I’m telling you, I’m sure an orphanage...” “It’s not an orphanage!” she yelled. Rainbow Dash sighed. “Alright, I’ll bite. Where are they going to take you, if not to an orphanage?” Scootaloo was quiet for a moment. “...This might sound crazy, but you have to believe me.” “I’m listening,” the elder mare said. Scootaloo kicked at the ground a bit before continuing. “Those two aren’t with the DFS. They work for a guy called Doctor Bloodwing.” “Doctor Bloodwing?” Rainbow Dash asked, arching an eyebrow. “Yes,” the younger filly said, annoyed. “He’s a scientist, and he’s... well, he’s crazy. He wants... he wants to make an alicorn.” At this, the cyan pegasus’s eyes actually widened. “What?” “I told you, he’s crazy. He kidnapped a lot of ponies and experimented on them. He’s trying to recreate an earth pony’s strength, a pegasus’s wings, a unicorn horn and put it all into one pony!” “Uh-huh. And he kidnapped you?” “He had to have! I... I don’t remember anything from before. I just woke up one day in that cage he put me in. I finally escaped two years ago, and I’m not going back!” There was silence for a few moments. “...See, this is why you need some adult supervision. You read way too many comic books.” With that, Rainbow Dash grabbed Scootaloo and began pulling her towards the outside. “What? No... let me go!” “Kid, you honestly expected me to believe all that? I’m not an egghead like Twilight is, but I’m not an idiot.” Scootaloo was crushed. She had just told Rainbow her darkest secret but even now, the rainbow mare scoffed it off as mere foal’s imagination. She glared at Rainbow with all the anger she could muster. “I don’t idolize you anymore, Rainbow Crash!” she yelled at the pegasus and spat on her face. Rainbow flinched at this, trying to remove the phlegm from her eyes with her hooves. At that moment, Scootaloo bucked Rainbow hard with her hind legs and made a run for it. Though she felt bad at injuring Rainbow Dash slightly, she had no choice but to try and get as far away as possible. She thought she was a safe distance away, but horror struck her when she felt hooves reaching for her. She turned to see a very angry-looking Rainbow Dash behind her and tried to increase her running speed, but she was no match for the rainbow pegasus’s flying speed. She was soon lifted from the ground, with Scootaloo flailing in the air as she was held in Rainbow Dash’s forelegs and flying towards Ponyville, albeit slower than expected. “No! Let me go! please!” Rainbow Dash sighed sadly, “Listen Scoots, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I promise you that-” “I don’t wanna go back to that place! Please, Rainbow, let me go! Just please don’t let them take me there!” Scootaloo pleaded with Rainbow, whose eyes became moist as she was in moral turmoil at the sight of her number one fan. One part of her mind told her this was wrong and to let Scootaloo go, whilst the other part told her that she was fooling her and she needed to return for her safety. “Squirt, I know the orphanage is not a fun place, but know that I will visit you and I will get you back to Ponyville faster than you can say Sonic Rainboom,” she told the little filly who was squirming in her forelegs. Scootaloo sniffed as tears fell from her eyes, “Just kill me already please.” Rainbow Dash abruptly stopped at these words and looked at Scootaloo with horrified eyes. “What did you just say?!” “I said just kill me!” she repeated those dreadful words to Rainbow, who just stared in absolute shock at the little filly. “They are gonna do worse things to me, I just know it! If you really care for me, let me go or just kill me here... I don’t want to head back to that place!” Rainbow was staring at Scootaloo like as if she spoke the most insane words ever. This filly, just turning ten years old, was pleading for euthanasia from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow could not help but release a dam of tears as she was held Scoots close to her, her image of bravado cast away in the process. “I don’t know what happened to you back there to make you think that way, but know that I will come back for you Scoots... I promise you.” Scootaloo remained silent until one word was spoken from her, “Liar.” “...What?” “You’re giving me to him! I can’t trust you! You won’t protect me!” “Scoots... please...” “No! Let me go!” Sighing, Rainbow Dash kept flying forward. Twilight’s library was nearly in sight. “Look, it won’t be so bad, and you’ll be back here in Ponyville before you know it. I know the Princess, remember? She can help me cut through any red tape those agents can try and...” “They’re not agents!” Scootaloo screamed. She then gave a gasp of horror when she saw the two agents. Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie were still there, looking awkward. “No, no, no!” Black held what appeared to be a straitjacket with a handle on its back. “What on earth is that?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Restraint belt for unruly foals,” Blue said coldly. “That... seems a bit abrasive,” she said slowly. “With all due respect, Miss Dash, not all ponies are gifted with flight or levitation like you or Miss Sparkle. We must make do, and the child brought this on herself.” Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, who nodded at her friend. “I double checked, it’s a legitimate piece of equipment, at least for earth pony agents.” Rainbow looked back at the agents. Blue softened a bit. “It’ll just be until we get her to our carriage. Strap her in.” It was no contest. Scootaloo bucked and shouted, but Black and Blue restrained her with such efficiency that Spike found himself hiding behind Twilight. Scootaloo now hung at Black’s mouth, still bucking and screaming. “We thank you for your cooperation Miss Sparkle, and your help, Miss Dash.” “Yeah, well, don’t get attached to her,” the pegasus warned. “I’ll get her back sooner or later.” “I don’t want to see you again! You gave me back to them!” “You best be quiet now, little one. You’re in plenty of trouble as it is,” Blue gently chastised. He then turned to Rainbow Dash. “Well, we look forward to seeing you again. Come on, Black.” As he said those words, Blue trotted outside followed by Black who was holding a squirming Scootaloo in the restraint. As the door closed, Rainbow could not help but cry with her hooves to her face, trying to stop the flow of tears that were escaping her eyes. Twilight came over and held onto her, patting her head and stroking her hair to calm her down, though it didn’t work very well. “Don’t worry Rainbow, I’ll write to Princess Celestia now and get her counsel to get Scootaloo back. I promise,” she assured Rainbow, whose head was buried in Twilight shoulders as she gave a nod. Spike, who was quiet the whole time, came with scroll and quill and started writing as Twilight spoke her letter out. One thought was in his mind those this whole time, “I got a bad feeling about this...” Just outside Ponyville, a lone grayish carriage was parked outside near the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Blue and Black walked towards it, with Scootaloo screaming and flailing in the air as she was bounded by the jacket. “Let me go, you creeps!” Blue and Black ignored her screams as they approached the carriage, “Finally, mission accomplished, after two years.” Blue commented to Black who nodded his head as he held Scootaloo in the jacket. “When I get loose you’re gonna-” With a swift hoof colliding into her gut, her eyes rolled over as she coughed a little blood out before falling unconscious. Blue shook his head to his partner. “You didn't have to do that,” he told him as he gagged Scootaloo with cloth tied around her muzzle and chucked her inside the carriage, locking the door in the process. “She was bucking annoying. Any more of her blasted voice and I might just have to kill her,” Black told Blue, who frowned at his partner now. “Our orders are to bring her back alive!” Black sneered at Blue, “Nopony said she had to be bruise-free.” he snickered sickly at this as they hooked the carriage to their frames and made their way away from Ponyville. As they left, an orange earth pony came from behind an apple tree with petrified eyes at what just happened. She gulped and shook her head vigorously, readjusting her stetson hat. “Ah gotta tell the others about this!” She galloped towards the library, hoping Twilight was present, as Applejack had just witnessed an act of foalnapping.