Twilight carefully tilted the vial at an exact forty-two degree angle and sloshed the greenish liquid around three times before putting it back over the candle on the table. She picked up one of several beakers with her magic and began to very carefully pour the dark purple contents into the vial.
“What exactly is it you’re doing, again?” Spike asked from his chair, looking up from the comic book he was reading. He had already placed a mop, a cloth rag and a bucket of water within easy reach for when Twilight’s experiment inevitably blew up in her face and made a mess of the library.
“It's supposed to be a mane-growing tonic. I thought it might be something Rarity would want. You know, because of her little, uhm, accident with Sweetie Belle and all,” Twilight replied absently, not taking her eyes off the mixing process.
“Yeah, I get that, but didn’t you offer to help her out once already, and she said no?”
“Well, yes, but… maybe it would change her mind if I offered a non-magical solution like this, where she doesn’t have to have others around watching while her mane grows back.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “You just wanted an excuse to dig out your chemistry set again, didn’t you?”
“No,” Twilight said furtively after a few moments. “That’s not it at all. Now hush, Spike. It’s vital that I get the mixture exactly right.”
“Hey, Twilight! What are you doing?” a bright voice called out from above. Twilight and Spike both jumped, the unicorn only just managing to avoid spilling the contents of the glass containers. Pinkie Pie was standing at the top of the stairs leading to Twilight’s room, looking down at the chemistry set with curious blue eyes.
“Gah! Pinkie! Where did you come from?” Twilight spluttered. She glanced over at the library’s front door, which was definitely still closed. She did not recall hearing it open.
“Your balcony, of course!” Pinkie announced happily as she leapt from the top of the stairs, carrying the momentum into a bounce that brought her next to Twilight in two jumps.
“Why did you—” Twilight began, before shaking her head. “Look, I’ll be with you in just a moment, Pinkie, but it’s very important that I finish this first.”
“Okie dokie! I’ll just stand here and watch real quiet-like!” Pinkie said with a smile, leaning forward to stare at the bubbling liquids with a faint ooh-ing sound. Twilight shook her head a bit and refocused her attention on the beakers. Hopefully the tonic was still salvageable.
She had scarcely begun to tilt the beaker again when the door to the library was kicked open with great force, causing her to drop the glass containers onto the table and spill the precious contents over its surface. She was about to admonish the interloper, but was cut short by an extremely irate-looking Applejack.
“Twilight! We need to talk right now,” the farmpony said brusquely.
“Did you have to make an entrance like that, though?” Spike muttered, but a look from Applejack quickly silenced him and caused him to take cover behind his comic book.
“Applejack, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked with worry. She could barely remember the last time she had seen her friend this upset.
“What’s wrong?” Applejack echoed, then took off her hat and flicked out a piece of paper that she had kept under it. The letter drifted to a stop in front of Twilight. She looked down and read it.
Dear big sister,
I promised to tell you if I went somewhere, so I’ll tell you now. I’ve gone with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to find that old traveller, Tincoat, and to help a golem (that’s a pony made of clay, like Big Mac but bigger. Ask Twilight, she’s probably heard of it).
I’m sorry for not telling you earlier, but I didn’t think you’d let us go if I did. I promise we’ll be back soon and we’ll be able to tell everypony about what we found. Maybe we’ll even have our Cutie Marks, and we aren’t going to get hurt, so don’t worry! Tell Granny Smith and Big Mac that I’m okay. See you soon!
Love,
Apple Bloom
“Oh. Oh dear,” Twilight muttered in a thin voice.
“She’s been actin’ all weird for days ever since she got back from yer library with her bags full o’ books, an’ then she came back from that trip to Canterlot with another one,” Applejack said through gritted teeth. “That book just happened to be the diary written by somepony with the same name as the one those three silly fillies have gone lookin’ for now. Apple Bloom promised she wasn’t gonna go nowhere without tellin’ me, but now Ah find out she’s gone ahead anyway. It don’t matter that she tells me now, she lied to me! Straight to mah face!”
Twilight looked at the farmpony with wide eyes. “Applejack, I didn’t know—”
“She got those darn books from you!” Applejack took several deep breaths and calmed herself a little with visible effort. “Ah’m not sayin’ Ah’m blamin’ ya, Twilight, but Ah’m blamin’ ya!”
“Hey hey, easy, I’m sure Twilight didn’t do any of that stuff intentionally,” Pinkie said quickly, looking from one pony to the other with concern. Applejack was about to make another reply, but all three ponies stopped to listen to a strange wailing sound that was rapidly rising in volume. It was accompanied moments later by Rarity running in through the still-open front door, looking beside herself with tears. A terrified-looking Fluttershy was clinging to her neck, which did not seem to slow down the unicorn in the slightest.
“Rarity, please calm down! Oh no, watch the doorframe! Rarity, stop!” the pegasus squeaked.
“She’s goooone!” Rarity cried out in a grief-stricken voice. “My little Sweetie Belle is gone! She left!” She collapsed on the floor and broke into heart-wrenching sobs. Fluttershy tried to stroke Rarity’s back, then gave her friends a helpless shrug. She took out a letter that she had been clutching under her left wing.
“I was having tea with Rarity when a mailpony arrived with this. It’s from Sweetie Belle, and… Oh, I don’t even know what to think,” she said sadly, before resuming her futile attempts to soothe Rarity. Twilight picked up the letter with her magic and gulped slightly, already guessing what the letter would contain. She read it aloud for the benefit of those around her.
“‘Dear Rarity, I’m so sorry for disappearing like this after all the talks we’ve had, but I hope you trust me enough to know that I’ll be careful. I’ve gone together with Scootaloo to help Apple Bloom solve a really big and old mystery. We’re writing from a town called Sunny Hill, which is funny because it’s not very sunny right now, but we’re not here for long. We’re travelling with a pony made of clay who doesn’t say very much, but it looks strong, so we aren’t going to be in danger. Please don’t tell Mom and Dad, I don’t want them to think it’s somehow your fault. I really miss you, but we’ll be back soon.’” Twilight bit her lip as she lowered the letter and looked over at the other unicorn. “Oh, Rarity…”
“What do ya have ta say ’bout this, Twilight?” Applejack asked with a glare.
“Twilight? And what about yourself, Applejack? It’s your sister who led mine astray! Again!” Rarity snapped with sudden hostility at the farmpony. Applejack turned to look at her with surprise.
“Me? Ah didn’t ask Apple Bloom ta go wanderin’ off like that! In fact, Ah told her the opposite!” she retorted defensively. “It’s Twilight an’ her darn books that made AB do this!”
“I swear to you, Applejack, I had no idea about any of this! I’ve only heard references to golems in old myths and stories! I didn’t even know they existed!” Twilight pleaded desperately.
“Actually… I’m kind of the one who kind of gave Apple Bloom those books to begin with. Kind of,” Spike muttered nervously, instantly wilting again under the baleful glare he got from Applejack. “Owlowiscious was in on it, too!”
“No! Stop it, all of you! This isn’t at all how friends are supposed to act!” Pinkie yelled before Applejack could say anything. Everyone in the library stopped and looked at the pink earth pony, who looked distraught and on the brink of despair. It occurred to Twilight how used they all were to her cheerful and bubbly personality and how plain wrong it was to see her upset and unsmiling like this.
“What in Equestria are you all yelling about?” Rainbow Dash asked from the doorway, shifting the attention of the entire room once more. The pegasus looked at her friends with puzzlement. Behind her, a small crowd of other townsponies had gathered, keeping a respectful distance from the entrance, but clearly too curious to just ignore the commotion.
“Oh no, you don’t think anypony heard this, do you?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“Ponies at the other end of Ponyville heard you,” Rainbow Dash replied as she stepped into the library and unceremoniously closed the door in the face of the onlookers outside. “I just heard a big racket and a lot of yelling. What’s going on? What’s happened?” she demanded, looking around.
Somewhat surprisingly, Fluttershy was the first to speak up. “Oh, Dashie, it’s just terrible. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have all gone off somewhere, and now everypony is arguing about who’s to blame.”
“Ah ain’t arguin’, Ah’m just statin’—”
“Applejack, please be quiet!” Fluttershy snapped. Everyone blinked in surprise, and Applejack went quiet, seemingly more from shock than anything else. Fluttershy blushed and looked down, scuffing a hoof against the floor. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you. It’s just… we don’t need more arguing right now. It’s not helping anypony. Please?”
“What do you mean, ‘they’re gone’? Gone where? When?” Dash demanded.
“We’re not sure. According to Sweetie Belle’s message and the envelopes the letters were sent in, they were around some place called Sunny Hill,” said Twilight, looking over her shoulder. “Spike, can you get us a local map? They can’t have gone that far.” Her assistant nodded and sprang to his feet, seeming to be grateful for having something to busy himself with.
“We only got the letters less than half an hour ago,” Rarity added. She seemed to have composed herself somewhat again, at least in her voice. She looked over at Applejack, who nodded in confirmation.
“Were any of the letters from Scootaloo?” Dash asked before she could stop herself. “Uh, I mean—”
“Ah reckon her family would’ve gotten her letter, not any of us,” Applejack pointed out.
“Right, I was just, uhm…” Dash muttered, glancing around.
“Worried about Scootaloo?” Rarity asked.
“No! I mean, yes! I mean… kind of?”
“Dash, we all know you care about her,” Fluttershy said softly. The other pegasus blinked at her.
“What? Since when?” she stammered, looking around somewhat frantically.
“Well, it’s not exactly a secret, silly,” Pinkie said with a little giggle. She seemed to be slowly regaining her usual perkiness now that her friends were no longer yelling at each other.
“Look, as nice at it is that Dash ain’t gonna have ta come up with excuses no more for why she likes havin’ Scoots around, we still gotta find those fillies ’fore they go an’ get themselves in trouble,” Applejack said before Dash could muster a reply.
“You’re right. Spike, did you find that map yet?” Twilight glanced over her shoulder moments before Spike put down a large map showing Canterlot and its surroundings.
“This should do,” he said as the ponies gathered around the map on the floor. “We’ve got Ponyville right here”—he pointed helpfully at a stylized couple of houses representing a village—“and Sunny Hill is here, on the other side of the Everfree Forest,” he continued, pointing to another stylized cluster of houses to the east.
“That’s some distance away. Reckon ya can use yer fancy magic to get us there, Twilight?” Applejack inquired, looking at Twilight expectantly, but the unicorn shook her head.
“I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that. Without having seen the area with my own eyes, I have no frame of reference for a safe teleportation spot. I could end up materializing us inside a rock, or halfway into the earth.”
“Can that really happen?” Fluttershy asked, wide-eyed. Twilight nodded.
“Oh yes. There are plenty of recorded examples of such things that serve as a warning of the spell’s dangers. It’s far too risky to teleport blindly without knowing exactly where you want to arrive.”
“Well, that’s a load of hooey!” Applejack cursed. “What good is magic if ya can’t use it when it really counts?”
Twilight frowned. “Applejack, magic isn’t—”
“We don’t need magic. I’ll go find them,” Dash said quickly. “It doesn’t look like it's that far away. I could be there faster than you can say ‘best flier ever.’”
“But they might not even be at the town anymore. Are you sure you can find them on your own, Rainbow?” Rarity asked with concern.
Dash looked at the baby dragon still poring over the map. “Hey, Spike, what’s the landscape around that place like?”
“Well, from what I can tell, mostly hills and grassland,” Spike replied somewhat uncertainly, furrowing his brow.
“Right! How long can it take to check something like that out from the air? Remember that you’re talking to the fastest pegasus in—”
“We get it, sugar,” Applejack said, not unkindly. “Well, short of walkin’ there on our own, Ah guess it’s our best bet for now. But ya make sure ya come back with them, ya hear?”
“Don’t worry, AJ, I’ll find them,” Dash assured her, putting a hoof reassuringly on her shoulder for a moment.
“Do you want to bring the map?” Spike asked, looking over at the pegasus.
“Nah. Due east, right? I can find it easily enough,” Dash replied dismissively, grinning a bit. “Pegasi are good at navigation, you know.”
“This means we’re all friends again, right?” Pinkie asked the others as Rainbow Dash got up and headed for the door.
“We were never not friends, sugarcube,” Applejack assured her. “An’ Ah’m mighty sorry Ah yelled at ya like that, Twi’. Mah mouth went ahead o’ mah brain back there…”
Rainbow Dash had just stepped outside—where the crowd of curious ponies had thankfully disbanded—when a soft voice spoke up behind her.
“Hey, uhm, Dashie? Can I talk to you for a moment?” Fluttershy stepped outside to join the other pegasus.
“Sure, what is it, ‘Shy?” Dash replied, already stretching her wings in preparation for the flight.
“Are you going to tell her?”
“Who?”
“Scootaloo. Are you going to tell her that she matters to you?” Fluttershy asked, looking directly into Dash’s eyes. The other pegasus hesitated a bit, her instinctive response of an airy, joking dismissal about anything regarding personal matters crumbling under the intense scrutiny of her kind-hearted old friend. What was the point in trying to deny anything now, anyway?
“Yeah, I am,” she said at length, nodding. “Maybe not right in front of her friends, but… yeah. I’ll tell her, like I probably should have done in the first place.”
Fluttershy nodded, seemingly satisfied with this answer. “You should probably also consider speaking with her father. I imagine he would like to know about it, too. If nothing else, you should tell him that you’re going to go find her. I think he would like that. He must be as worried as poor Applejack and Rarity.” She cast a concerned backward glance towards the library.
“Were they really fighting?” Dash asked quietly, following Fluttershy’s look. “I mean, I could hear some yelling and shouting, but…”
The others were still inside the library, huddled around the map and talking. Fluttershy’s worried gaze lingered on Rarity for a few moments before she looked back at Dash and nodded again.
“They were. It was awful seeing them like that. Pinkie Pie stopped them, but I’m not sure if it’ll flare up again. Applejack in particular seems to be on edge, but I think it’s just because she feels scared and helpless. I can tell,” Fluttershy said softly, to which Dash nodded quietly in agreement. They stood in silence for a moment, before Dash flapped her wings slightly.
“I better get going. No time like the present, right?” she said with a little smile.
“I know you’ll find them, Dashie, but please hurry, for everypony’s sake.”
She did not head immediately for her destination, instead flying to the crossroads where Scootaloo and Gusting Ember’s house lay. This time, she knocked on the door and waited until it was opened, revealing the crippled pegasus who seemed to be distinctly unsurprised to find Rainbow Dash on his doorstep.
“Ah, I was wondering when you’d show up,” he said by way of greeting, heading back inside. He looked over his shoulder briefly. “You can come in this time, by the way,” he added.
“Uh… you were expecting me to come here?” Dash asked somewhat uncertainly, stepping inside the house. The stallion moved over to the table, upon which lay a piece of paper.
“I got a letter from Scootaloo earlier. It said she’d gone away together with her two friends, which I guessed meant they’d also sent letters to their own families. Since you know their siblings, I assumed you’d also know about it,” he explained calmly, looking over at Dash with one eye.
“Well, yeah, I did hear, but I still don’t really know why they’re gone,” Dash replied. The older stallion seemed remarkably composed for someone whose daughter had just gone missing.
“I’ll admit that I don’t understand much of it myself. Have a look at her letter yourself. It’s partially addressed to you, anyway.”
“It… is?” Dash hesitantly moved over to the table. Ember pushed the letter towards her.
Hey Dad,
Gone off for a while to find old pony from 1,000 years ago with AB and SB. We’re going with a pony we made out of clay, which is kind of cool. Will tell you all about it when I get back.
If you see Rainbow Dash, tell her I’m sorry for yelling at her earlier.
—Scoots
Dash reread the letter twice before looking over at Ember, who shrugged lightly.
“Funny how quickly they grow up, eh? One moment you’re putting band-aids on their knees when they fall off their scooter, the next they’re out in the world doing… well, that,” he said conversationally.
“Yeah, uh… funny. Heh. I was actually on my way to find them right now,” Dash replied, opting for the confident grin that felt a little harder to muster than usual.
“Indeed? Then what are you doing here?”
“Well… I wanted to let you know, to tell you not to worry. You know, in case you were worried. Which you don’t seem to be. So, uh…”
The other pegasus chewed on his cheek for a bit while looking at Rainbow Dash carefully. “Well, I’m glad you did come by,” he said at length. The stallion walked over to the windowsill, where the unfinished game of Battlecloud still stood.
“To be honest with you, Miss Dash, I am worried about my daughter, but I’m not terribly surprised that she’s gone away like this. If the stories are to be believed, you and your friends did save Equestria from certain doom, what is it, three times now?” He looked down at the boardgame for a moment and replaced a few of the pieces that were slightly askew.
“Three times, yeah,” Dash confirmed, somewhat uncertain about where the other pegasus was going with this.
“Rather impressive, I’d say. It’s no wonder an energetic filly like Scootaloo adores you so much. I can’t help but think this is an attempt on her part to emulate you.” Ember turned to face Dash again, giving her another scrutinizing look.
“I don’t know. Maybe? I guess I can ask her when I find her,” Dash replied, feeling an edge of impatience creeping on.
“Maybe,” Ember agreed. Silence fell between them for a bit. Dash shifted restlessly from hoof to hoof, while the stallion looked up at the portraits on the wall.
“She really looks up to you, you know. More than anypony else. You read that article she keeps at the back of her collage of you, right?” the older pegasus inquired.
“Uh, well… yeah,” Dash admitted. “I know about… about her mother, uhm—”
Ember closed his eyes and nodded a bit. “It’s true what it said. All of it. She was Scoots’ hero from the moment she was old enough to understand what happened. That’s changed a bit now, as you probably know.”
“What, are you upset about that?” Dash tried and failed to keep the irritation out of her voice. The conversation was getting on her nerves for some reason, and she was not entirely sure why. Ember shook his head.
“No. I think it’s good for my Scoots that she has somepony around to look up to. I believe her mother would’ve wanted her to grow up to be courageous as well.” The stallion became quiet and looked away for a moment, before continuing in the same unfazed tone. “I believe there are worse ponies that my daughter could’ve chosen as her role model, and the fact that you’re here proves to me that you at least care about her on some level.”
“Worse ponies? I’m the best—” Dash blurted angrily, before she stopped herself. “No, you’re right. I’m not perfect. It took me a while to even dare admit this, but Scoots is like a little sister to me, and you can bet your eyes I’ll do my best to live up to her admiration! There, I said it!” Dash looked at Ember, daring him to try and disprove her, but the older pegasus merely nodded.
“I believe you. Scootaloo trusts you, and to be honest, that’s enough for me. That’s why I also trust you when you say you’ll find her and her friends, and that you’ll tell her what you told me. Correct?”
“Yeah. I’m done pretending otherwise,” Dash said, feeling as if a burden was being lifted from her, though not entirely.
“Good.” Ember nodded towards the door. “Now get going, you’re wasting time you should be spending on Scootaloo.”
For once, the brusque tone of the stallion did not bother Rainbow Dash. She could spot the concern that lay beneath, and she merely nodded before heading outside. For the time being, there was nothing left to say.