Camp
Scootaloo’s first clear memory was that of shouting. She cracked an eye open and found herself in what appeared to be a hastily-constructed tent. She heard more than saw the tent’s other occupants breathing slowly in the darkness, and after a moment of listening and letting her head clear, she realized four things things: it was night, the other ponies around her were asleep, she had no idea where she was, and there were at least two ponies arguing outside.
Keen on finding an answer to the question posed by her third realization, and knowing that the first two weren’t going to help, Scootaloo pushed herself slowly to her hooves. The tent spun ever so slightly, but she was still able to walk slowly towards the door without bumping into anypony.
The night was cool and calm, standing in stark contrast to what she could remember from Ponyville. She could just make out a faint purple dome surrounding the camp, blurring the stars a little. A fire blazed in the center of a ring of tents similar to the one Scootaloo had half -exited. By that fire stood a lavender unicorn and a sky-blue pegasus, and it only took a moment for her to realize that they were the source of the arguing that had drawn her from her uneasy sleep.
“I’m telling you, Twilight, we can’t afford to wait,” the pegasus was saying. “She has Fluttershy and Rarity. If we don’t go after them soon—”
“And you think charging into her territory will do us any good?” Twilight interrupted. “Rainbow Dash, you know as well as I that Nightmare Moon’s fortress, wherever it is, is too well-guarded for—”
“You’re thinking about it all wrong,” Dash said, stomping her hoof on the ground. “We’ve tried getting to that old castle as a group, but we’ve never tried sending just one pony. If I went by myself, I could slip past Nightmare Moon’s defenses and—”
“And what?” Twilight demanded. “Rescue Fluttershy and Rarity all on your own? Assuming you were fast enough to get to the castle without getting killed—assuming you could even find the castle in the first place—how are you going to escape with them in tow? Fluttershy’s not nearly as strong a flier as you, and Rarity can’t fly at all.”
“I don’t know, okay?” Dash snapped. “All I know is my friends are in trouble, and I’m not going to just stand here and do nothing!”
Scootaloo crept along the edge of the fire’s light until she reached the next tent over. She peeked inside and saw four more sleeping ponies, all of them much bigger than her. She moved to the next one and saw five more. One of them looked about her age, but she couldn’t tell who it could be in the gloom.
“Look, I know you’re angry,” Twilight said. “We all are. But we can’t just go charging in without some kind of plan.”
“You and your plans,” Dash replied. Scootaloo could practically hear the eye roll in her tone. “What about my plans? I’ve been telling you for weeks to let me search for the Elements alone while the rest of you keep her busy with distractions. If you had just listened to me, we might have been able to beat her!”
“I listened to your plan,” Twilight answered. “I just didn’t like it. It was too dangerous then, and it’s even more dangerous now.”
Rainbow Dash groaned and began pacing around the fire. Scootaloo ducked inside the nearest tent as she drew near. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she’d get in trouble if they caught her. “So what do you want to do, huh?” Dash asked. “Sit around in the middle of nowhere? Wait for Nightmare Moon to take over the rest of Equestria?”
“I want to wait until we’ve had a chance to think,” Twilight replied. “Nightmare Moon captured them for a reason. She’s not going to kill them tonight.”
“And what’s she going to do in the meantime?” Dash asked, rising off the ground with a flap of her wings. “Torture them? Pry out their secrets until they’re begging her to kill them?”
“You don’t know that!”
“I do know that!” Dash shouted, propelling herself across the fire so her face was an inch from Twilight’s. “I saw what she did to Applejack and the royal guards. Of course, you were probably too busy teleporting all over the place to notice!”
“How dare you.” Twilight’s voice was soft, but the anger behind it made Rainbow Dash recoil. “I was out there saving lives, just like you and Applejack and everypony else. Shining Armor and Applejack died to give us a fighting chance, and I am not going to throw that chance away on half-baked plans based more on anger and fear than logic and reason.”
Scootaloo felt her chest tighten and remembered to breathe a moment later. Dash landed and stared at the ground, kicking a rock with a hoof. “Sorry.”
Twilight’s glare softened to a frown, and she sighed. “Me, too.”
Scootaloo backed into the tent and stifled a scream when she bumped into something warm and soft. She whirled around to see a pink mare lying on the ground, apparently oblivious to Scootaloo’s presence. At first, the filly assumed she was asleep, but as she stepped carefully around her, she saw her blue eyes staring at nothing. “Pinkie Pie?” Scootaloo whispered. “What’s going on? Where are we?”
Pinkie didn’t even acknowledge her presence, even when Scootaloo poked her shoulder. “Pinkie? Are you okay?”
“Squirt?” The filly turned to see Rainbow Dash standing in the entrance. “What are you doing in here?”
“I-I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said quickly. “It’s just—well, I woke up and heard you and Twilight arguing and I didn’t know what was going on, so I—”
“You heard that, huh?” Rainbow Dash sighed and walked inside. “Yeah, I guess we were being pretty loud.”
“What’s going on?” Scootaloo asked. “What’s wrong with Pinkie?”
“I wish I could tell you,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s just say Pinkie’s taking all of this a lot harder than everypony else.”
“Will she be okay?”
“Will any of us?” asked Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo didn’t answer. She didn't feel the question was really directed at her. “Come on, squirt. Let’s get you back to your tent.”
Scootaloo shot another glance at Pinkie Pie, who hadn’t moved a muscle that wasn’t necessary to blink. She and Dash crossed the camp just as Twilight put out the fire. It took Scootaloo’s eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden darkness. “I’ll take the first watch,” Twilight said. “Get some sleep, Dash.”
“Will do,” Dash replied. “And keep an ear out for Pinkie.”
“Of course.”
Dash opened the tent flap so Scootaloo could enter. “You need anything?”
Scootaloo shook her head before she remembered that Dash probably couldn’t see her. “No, I’m fine.” Dash was just about to walk away when Scootaloo changed her mind. “Actually, would you mind… I mean, do you think you could stay here with me?”
Dash’s silhouette entered the tent, and a moment later, Scootaloo felt her warm body lie down beside her. “Sure,” Dash said with a yawn. “No problem.” A moment later, Dash’s snores filled the tent. Scootaloo stared at the blackness for a while before she too succumbed to exhaustion.