Scootaloo was speeding by everything on her little, blue scooter. She barely noticed the countryside blow by as she sped towards the Everfree Forest. She had been by there earlier and heard something peculiar. She had decided to go back to Rainbow’s cloud home to get a flashlight. Ever since that night when Rainbow had agreed to take Scootaloo under her wing, she had been living with her.
Scootaloo was a very…unique pegasus. She had been orphaned as a young foal when her parents found out she was handicapped. It was a rare condition, but very unfortunate. Pegasi with this condition would never be able to fly. She had excepted this, though she longed to do otherwise.
As she reached the forest, she heard the sound again. This time she distinguished it as the sound of brier scratching against flesh and the voice of mare. Scootaloo ran through the forest and found the source of the noise. A mare, indeed, ad been caught in brier and was fighting her way out.
“Do you need some…help? Whoa!”
The mare looked at this filly who stood star-struck before her.
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just I’ve never seen a mane like that except on my ‘sister’.”
She raised her hoof and bent it up and down when she said the word. The mare did the same as she said, “Your ‘sister’?”
“Yeah. You see, I was orphaned when I was only a few weeks old. I’m…handicapped.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, little one. I know how that feels.”
She raised her hoof to her face and brushed back her back to reveal a large scar with stitches where her left eye should be. Scootaloo stared only for a short time for she could tell she was making this mare uncomfortable.
“Do you need help?”
“Yes, please. I’ve been stuck here for over an hour.”
Scootaloo set to work and after a few minutes untangled the thorny plants.
“There. What were you doing out here anyway?”
“I’m trying to get to Ponyville. I’ve been away for years.”
Scootaloo looked at her with a questioning expression.
“Oh-I’m in the army, or was. I was relieved of field work a few months ago. My general was hesitant about letting me go, but agreed in the end. I’ve served Equestria for four years. Enough of my rambling, can you show me the way to Ponyville?”
“Oh yeah, sure! Hope you can keep up!”
“Believe me, I will.”
And so, the race to Ponyville began. Scootaloo pushed her limits as she sped along on her scooter. When they reached the middle of town, they stopped.
“Ha! I beat you!”
“Hey now, I’ve been flying and walking for a week, I’m tired—I never got your name.”
“Name’s Scootaloo. What’s yours?”
“Spectra. Nice to meet you, Scootaloo.”
~~~
Rainbow Dash walked into the library where Twilight lived. She was surprised to find her friend’s workspace messier than usual. She looked closer at the scattered papers and saw they were all notes on her story.
“Huh, she actually is going to write this thing.”
Just that moment Twilight walked in with an orange juice. When she saw Rainbow, she smiled. When she saw the mess on her desk, she frowned and immediately straightened up her papers.
“Sorry about this mess. I’ve never written a full biography before. I wanted to base it on as many hard facts as possible. What brings you here?”
“You sent me a letter saying you wanted me to read your first draft.”
“Oh, yes! I had almost forgotten to bring it down. Here.”
She levitated a decent size stack of manuscripts onto the table.
“Wow! I knew my story was a bit long, but I didn’t know it would take up this many papers.”
“Things seem shorter when spoken than when written down on paper.”
They talked for a while after Rainbow had skimmed over the rough draft. Twilight had said she started to cry while writing it. She remembered after the fire. She had woken in a military camp near on the other side of the forest and the soldiers there said that Spectra had bent sent to Zebrica to help with some terrorists. She never saw her again. She felt deep down that Spectra was still alive…somewhere. Though she had received a ‘missing in action’ letter, she had never received one saying that Spectra had been killed.
As she and Twilight talked, the doorbell rang. Rainbow flew to get it. She opened it to find Scootaloo standing there.
“You know you can just walk in, right? This is a library.”
“Yeah, I know. I just like to ring the doorbell. Also, somepony wanted to see you.”
“Where are they?”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped open as Spectra stepped into view. Her once beautiful, white coat was smudged with dirt and full of scratches. Her missing eye was partially what made Rainbow tear up. She ran out to her and hugged her. Spectra muttered into her ear.
“Didn’t I say I’d never let you go?”
“Yeah.”
She buried her face in her sister's mane and sat there for a while.
“So I’m guessing that you guys know each other,”
Scootaloo said plainly.
Rainbow laughed as she wiped tears away.
“Scoots, meet my big sister.”
Scootaloo beamed. Suddenly, she thought of something.
“Spectra, are you going to live with us?”
“Only if it’s okay with Rainbow.”
“It’s absolutely fine with me. Come on in, let’s tell Twilight.”
The three mares made there way inside to tell the lavender unicorn the good news.
That night was the first in many years that those three pegasi could spend with family.
Family and friendship are the most important things in Equestria. That night, they found them.