It took a while for everyone to get over to the school, which was where I told everyone to meet. I knew that we all lived kinda far from each other,but that the school would be a good meet place, considering we were all considerably close to it. Pineh was my neighbor so catching up with him wasn’t really a problem. He came over the very next day from the day I had called up everyone and Rainbow Dash, Pineh, and I came outside and met in between our yards. We kinda just stood there for a moment, staring at each other, and then Pineh broke the silence by asking, "So, what’s going down now? You told me, as well as the others I’m guessing, that we have to go look for Scootaloo, but I need to know details, and I’m sure everyone else will want to too.”
It was about to start then Rainbow Dash said, “Well, here’s what I think happened. Apparently,since Scootaloo adored both myself and ol’ Dash here, she had nopony to look up to. She has no family, or so I’ve been told, so the only ponies she really had as constant members of her everyday life were Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but they just weren’t enough for her, so now she’s getting us to come back by hiding in some elaborate hiding place, and now we have to go back there and draw her out that way Princess Celestia, or if she or anypony else won’t, I can smack some sense into her.”
“Ya, I had the same thoughts too. It’s just that, while she and I were imprisoned in the Rainbow Factory,” Rainbow Dash cringed at hearing ‘Rainbow Factory’. “She didn’t seemlike the pony that would just run off and hide herself just because the two most important people in her life left her. She seemed like she would go to lengths to find new friends or embrace the ones that were still around her. The fact that she’s gone missing is very bizarre.”
Pineh took that for what it was, and we were about to start walking off when Pineh’s grandmother came out and did what she usually does: Starts talking to me like I’m a superstar and Pineh is just a stalker,and she asks me to come in and have some of her traditional drinks. Now I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to have some of Ol’ Granny Chama’s Raspberry Tombo, so I stepped in with Rainbow Dash and Pineh, who looked annoyed as ever with the treatment I was getting. Now Granny Chama can’t make traditional tombo for me because it’s alcoholic, but she gets close most of the time, and I know because she let me try traditional, real-deal tombo and it was crazy. I tried the non-alcoholic version and it tasted like liquid heaven; it was like somebody had taken fruit of some garden in paradise, gave it to Granny Chama, and gave her a recipe for awesome tombo. Anyway I give some of my tombo to Rainbow Dash so that she could try it and see if she liked it and when that stuff touched her tongue, she looked like I did when I first tried it: In awe and taken away to heaven. It seemed like we could have stayed there for at least the night, but Pineh, along with my subconscious, told me it was time to go, so I thanked Granny Chama for the delicious tombo, took Rainbow Dash by the hand, and her, Pineh, and myself started to the door, and behind us, we heard Ol’ Granny Chama saying, “Have a good time, and Pinkroluei, don’t act weird around Dash-rafiki. I want him to come back and not have to feel uncomfortable.” Pineh only nodded and looked at me like I was his tormentor.
“Hey man, I can’t control who your grandmother likes or doesn’t like. I’m just glad she likes me, instead of being very strongly disliked like Raferty.”
“Well,you have to admit;the time my granny spilled tombo on him was absolutely hysterical.”
Rainbow Dash seemed confused. “Why? What happened when she spilt that stuff, which by the way is delicious, on Raferty?”
Pineh snickered a bit and said, “Well, you see, my grandmother isn’t really the most coordinated of people. She has barely enough coordination to make her tombo. I asked the guys if they would like to come over to my house and have one of our hang outs there. They all thought it was cool, and when they all came over, my granny and I had made tombo for everyone. Well, my granny was bringing Raferty his glass, when she slipped and tripped. Now, she wasn’t hurt by it because she is a very strong woman, but the tombo spilled all over Raferty and he acted like Rarity would if anything liquid and colored got of her: Absolutely outraged. He started calling her klutz and making fun of her and just as I was about to slap him silly for making fun of my granny for a simple mistake, she did my job for me and b-slapped him in front of everyone. I couldn’t stop laughing, it was so funny. Raferty held his tongue after that and just sat in silence. I felt sorry for him but he had it coming.”
“Well, I guess that’s why he and Rarity share such a deep bond; they both have a freakish obsession with being prim and neat.”
It was about that time that I got a text from Malisty. It read,” Um… not to sound too pushy or anything, but can you please hurry up…I mean, if you wouldn’t mind?” Talk about representation. I texted him back that I had a tombo hold up. Anyone who knows me and Pineh knows that means that Granny Chama had held me back for some of her delicious tombo. He replied with a simple smiley face and “K.” I thought of something that I hadn’t tried since I got back from Equestria. I tried thinking of flying and as if I was a pro, I was flying in the air. Rainbow Dash saw me in the air and decided to join suite.
“Hey, you flying, little lovebirds. I know this might be a touching moment, realizing that you can both fly now, but it would be nice if you could, oh I don’t know, STAY ON THE GROUND SO I CAN KEEP UP?”
We laughed, but then I had a kinda jacked up idea. I went over to tell Rainbow Dash, but she seemed to have the same crazy idea. We both went at full speed and snatched Pineh off the ground, holding him by his arms. He started screaming all sorts of exclamations of surprise and anger and resentment but soon he calmed down and he just went along for the ride. It took us about 5 minutes to get to the school and by that time it was getting to be really dark outside.
We saw the gang just chilling on the school steps, and when we arrived it was the normal old welcoming party, saying hi, how are you, how have you been, the usual catch up stuff, but then, as Pineh had predicted, they all started asking for details about what exactly we were going to do in Equestria this time.
“Well, you see. Scootaloo has hidden herself from everypony in Equestria, and now Princess Celestia wants me and Rainbow Dash to come back so as to lure her out and be able to talk some sense into her.”
Twymond asked, “Wait, I had heard from Twilight that there we a lot of missing ponies because of what was happening at the Rainbow Factory, but I never heard of any search parties for them. Dash, do you have any idea why Scootaloo of all ponies would become a sudden search craze?”
I thought for a bit but the only idea I had was kinda farfetched. “I think I might be because of the fact that A. she was my fellow victim in the Rainbow Factory, and keeping her in safety would mean she could better testify against the Rainbow Factory’s closure and B. she was my second hand flier besides Rainbow Dash and having her around would be of great importance because of the fact that without her, I would probably still be in the Rainbow Factory and Rainbow Dash would still be under Discord’s control.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and when all seemed quiet, Jack came straight out and said, “Well, what are we waiting on? We got us a filly to find.” I nodded and told everyone to join hands. As soon as everyone was together in holding hands, I thought of my amulet and Rainbow Dash’s and once I found the magic, I felt both myself as well as those around me lift off the ground and we then vanished in a cloud of smoke. The process of getting to Equestria was amazing because it felt like every little part of my body was being tickled and it felt really weird.
We had arrived in Equestria in the same place I did the first time I came here, except this time, I, along with my friends, would not freak out when a pony talked to us because we had gotten that whole experience last time we were here. It seemed weird though because the park didn’t seem as vibrant as it once was, but I overlooked it because I had more important things to do. We got our legs working after that little experience of getting here, and we started straight off to Twilight’s place, because if anyone knows what Princess Celestia had in mind for us to do, it was Twilight. We got to visit all of the ponies we represented on the way there, which gave some new happiness to all of my friends. After each visit, however, each pony visited will follow along and keep the person they represented on their backs. Right before we got to Twilight’s, Applejack asked,” So, do you guys know what’s been hap’nin ‘round these parts? ”
I replied,” Ya we do, and it’s just so strange that Scootaloo has gone missing just because of me and Rainbow Dash leaving. It doesn’t make sense. Did Applebloom or Sweetie Belle say something to her that might have offended her or hurt her feelings?”
Rarity looked offended and said,” Mr. Dash, if may call you that, I myself am offended that you would even suggest such a thing. My sister, along with Applebloom, are very good friends with Scootaloo and they would never be that crude towards each other.”
Applejack nodded and said, “She’s right Dash. Those little fillies have a very deep connection. Ever since they met at Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera, they had the bond of being the only fillies in their class to not have their cutie marks. The fact that she has gone missin has left my little sis down in the dumps. She is sad all the time now since the Cutie Mark Crusaders lost their pegasus member, and I’m sure Sweetie Belle isn’t doing too good, now is she Rarity?”
“No, she fairs the same as Applebloom; depressed and unwilling to go anywhere or do anything. It’s really sad to see her like this, and I hope through both yours and Rainbow Dash’s reappearance, Mr. Dash, that she will come to her senses.” I nodded and Pinkie Pie had a really good idea.
“Well, I know that we should look for Scootaloo for as long as we should, but I think a good welcome back party is in order so I’m gonna go set up at Sugar Cube Corner. Meet you there after you finish talking with Twilight.”
“Ok will do Pinkie.” I called after her.
We went walking along and since Twilight’s house wasn’t that far away, we didn’t have to deal with an extensive period of silence. When we arrived at Twilight’s house, Twymond was the first one to say hello to her and hug her and talk to her and then Spike came in and, him being the only real “boy” of everypony, went to him first. He told me that ever since Scootaloo had gone missing, nopony wanted to send anything to either me or Rainbow Dash because they were too busy looking for her. I could understand this and once we finished, everyone seemed ready to go and meet at Sugar Cube Corner.
“We can get a full catch up session there.” Twilight remarked. I agreed with the notion because I felt that a party would be a good way to break some ice. However, on the way to Sugar Cube Corner, I overheard Rainbow Dash and Twilight talking about Rainbow Dash’s experience with being a human and how it was different from being a pony. I thought it was a nice sentiment because Rainbow Dash frequently mentioned my name, and most of the time it was compliments. There were a few insults thrown in there, but it was all in good fun, as I could easily assume. I felt like, from a reminiscent standpoint, I could see Rainbow Dash as her old pony form and it was a really huge eye opening experience because I had to officially accept the fact that, through not only myself, but most of the ponies in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was the beautiful human being she was. It almost brought a tear to my eye,but right before it flowed, we arrived at Sugar Cube Corner. As we stepped inside, we saw how Pinkie Pie had been taking my advice and turned it into a style of party;punch bowls were everywhere and by everywhere, I mean absolutely everywhere: On the tables, on the chairs, on the floor, and even hanging out of the wall. It was crazy and all I could say was, “Dash approves.” Pinkie Pie could only smile, and I told her that the party was very cool,but I also told her that we needed a place to talk and catch up. She looked a little less happy, but none the less, she smiled and took us up to her room. I asked if I could help with cleaning up and she said she would take care of it after we talked. I couldn’t leave the mess as it was, so I told Pinkie Pie that I felt compelled to clean the mess, and she just nodded and we all started picking up most of the bowls, but I kept one because, hey, if Pinkie Pie throws a party, the least I can do is take part in it.
As we moved upstairs, Mrs. Cake came out to take her shift for the late night cake buyers. We simply gave her our salutations and went upstairs to Pinkie Pie’s room. We all settled down and started talking about what happened since me and Rainbow Dash left the scene, and most of the talk was of Scootaloo. It was, as put by Twilight, like right after the dust had cleared from my little stunt with turning Rainbow Dash human; she just vanished into thin air. Nopony saw her or has seen her, and nopony has heard anything from her. Everypony was talking about what they thought had happened and what they think would happen now that me and Rainbow Dash were back and just as we were going to start talking about something other than Scootaloo, we heard the doorbell ring and the opening of a door. Pinkie Pie pulled out her little tin can line and started listening to the exchange happening. I only heard a little gasp and some talking and as I heard hooves coming up the stairs, Pinkie Pie looked us and said, “We got a visitor.” As she finished her sentence, we heard a knock. I opened the door and before me stood the filly of the hour, Scootaloo.