//------------------------------// // Precarious Predicament // Story: My Little Pony: Red Version // by FaelaArts //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash snoozed quietly on a cloud over Ponyville. She was going to get up in a few hours to practice some moves, but for the time being her only objective was to sleep. Her eye twitched when she heard Scootaloo, “Look, Rainbow Dash, I’m flying!” She liked Scootaloo quite a bit, but found that she didn’t understand personal space. Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively in the direction of the sound, “Yeah yeah, nice work, Kid” As the silence thickened, Rainbow slowly drifted back off into sleep, until… “Wait…” Rainbow’s eyes snapped open, “Scootaloo can’t fly” She sat up and rubbed her eyes, letting out a yawn as she scanned the ground for a little orange spot. Rainbow scratched her head when she noticed that the filly wasn’t there. “I could’ve sworn I heard her…” Rainbow whispered before she noticed somepony hovering behind her. She spun around and gasped in shock at what she saw. The mare’s bright orange coat shined in the sunlight, and her dazzling hair seemed to radiate light, forcing Rainbow to squint. Her hair had grown, resembling Rainbow’s more than her old self’s, and her tail seemed luminous and slightly hypnotic in its beauty. What struck Rainbow the most, however, was that Scootaloo looked about twice as old as she had been before, and that her wings were fully grown and developed. Despite all these changes, however, the filly still had a blank flank, oddly enough. “What do you think Rainbow Dash!? Now we can fly together like proper sisters. Isn’t this great!?” the mare asked Rainbow hopefully. Rainbow finally blinked after what seemed like an eternity, “Uh, you look great, Kid, but how’d you grow up so fast?” Scootaloo flinched slightly when she heard ‘kid,’ but she decided to touch on that later. She motioned to the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse with a smile, “Red’s candy! He took away the other two, but he didn’t see the last one!” Rainbow fought back a shudder at the kind of candy that could do that much to a filly, “Uh, that’s great and all, Kid, but-” Scootaloo cut her off quickly, “Don’t call me kid anymore. I’m a grown mare now” The two locked eyes, showing Rainbow what was making her so uneasy. Her purple eyes normally held the depth of her childish innocence, but now held a stern look of power and confidence. Now that the little filly mastered flight, she wanted more. Much, much more. She wanted power over all else, and she seemed like she would do anything to achieve it. Rainbow sighed and rubbed her temples, worried for her little sister’s mental state, “Look, Scootaloo, it’s great that you can fly and all, but I don’t think you can-” Scootaloo interrupted again, “Don’t worry, Dash, I can handle myself just fine. I am a grown mare now, after all” Before Rainbow could speak again, Scootaloo continued, “Besides, if one of those candies did this to me, imagine what two or three or ten could do to me! I could become faster than you, even during one of your Sonic Rainbooms!” Rainbow nervously took to the sky without a word, approaching her sister slowly and cautiously. Scootaloo backed up furiously in response, “What, you want to stop me from becoming the best I can be!?” “Nothing like that, Scoot,” Rainbow said as she reached a hoof out to try to reconnect herself with Scootaloo, “I just think that the easy way might not be the right way” Despite this, she watched in terror as the bond the two had molded for so long snapped in front of her. Rainbow could only watch numbly as the filly she once knew knocked her hoof away angrily, “My name is Scootaloo. I’ve tried and tried and tried some more to fly, but it just didn’t happen! I’m through doing things the right way and getting no results!” Scootaloo glared at Rainbow with hatred, “I guess big sisters have never liked being eclipsed by their little sisters. Maybe that’s why Luna was banished. I don’t wanna see your stupid face in front of me ever again! We’re done here, ‘Sister’” Rainbow made a grab for her, but it was too late; she had already sped off into the clouds and vanished without a trace. Red and Lyra walked down the street, noticing a strangled air around the town. Right before Lyra was about to comment on it, however, both Twilight and Rainbow made a beeline toward them, signifying that there was a problem. “Red, watch out!” Twilight yelled as Rainbow made and move to grab Red by the collar. He made no attempt to resist the mare, who hovered in the air in front of his face so as to be eye level. “What did you do to Scootaloo!?” Rainbow yelled as she shook him back and forth angrily. Lyra tilted her head, “Uh, I think you’re going to have to be a little more specific, Rainbow” Rainbow glanced to Lyra before returning her gaze to Red’s, “YOU gave Scootaloo some kind of candy that made her grow! Now she’s completely off her rocker!” Red blinked, then looked to Lyra with a hint of seriousness in his eyes. Lyra cleared her throat, “I think he says either ‘oh crap’ or ‘this is not good,’ take your pick” She seemed proud of her translation skills, but quickly frowned as what she said seeped in. Twilight opened her eyes in disbelief, “Oh crap…” Rainbow released Red, who quickly swung his backpack around and hastily counted all of his rare candies. His eyes narrowed and he swallowed hard, which the three took as confirmation of Lyra’s translation from earlier. After a moment of silence, Rainbow spoke up, “Alright, then, have a problem on our hooves. How do we reverse it?” Red turned to her and shook his head silently, confusing her. Lyra and Twilight threw each other worried glances as Red put his backpack on again. “There’s…there’s no way to reverse it?” Twilight whispered her question, afraid of the answer. Red nodded as he avoided eye contact. “No way to reverse it!? How could you bring anything here that would do…THAT without knowing how to reverse it!?” Rainbow screamed at him. Before he could be scolded more, his body stiffened, and he clamped his grip on his bag as an unseen force swooped in and attempted to wrench his bag from his grasp. “Scootaloo! What are you doing!?” Rainbow screamed as she watched in horror at the orange blur that was Scootaloo was forced to a sudden halt. Red’s grip was strong, and his stance immediately took one that would give the most resistance. Even so, he was being dragged by his feet by the mare who was pulling with all her might to take his bag. The backpack, tired of being pulled and not used to that amount of abuse, made a unanimous decision. The handle that Red desperately held onto was ripped clean off. The three ponies had already dived for Scootaloo, but were too slow as the bag and the pegasus rocketed down the street before crashing into a house. Red was the first to recover, glancing at the tatters of fabric in his hand and giving a whistle. He quickly helped Lyra up, and Twilight and Rainbow were already making dashes for the bag. Rainbow was easily the fastest, being halfway there in the first second, but Scootaloo was faster, grabbing all of the blue candies in the bag and stuffing them into her mouth, wrappers and all. Rainbow tackled Scootaloo to the ground and squeezed her cheeks in an attempt to push some of the candies out, “Spit those out right now or else!” Scootaloo glared at her defiantly and kicked her off as several half-dissolved candies were pushed out of her mouth. Twilight and Lyra held her down and squeezed her cheeks as well with their magic, releasing even more of the candies. “No!” came Rainbow’s strangled cry as she saw in horror that they hadn’t gotten nearly enough of them out. The mare began to swallow them, but Red tickled her throat and caused her to cough out the remaining candies that she had yet to swallow into Red’s face, who ignored it. Suddenly, Scootaloo kicked all of them off with unseen strength, and got back onto all fours. They all took a step back from the mare-turned-monster with awe. The candies that she had gotten down her throat started to take effect immediately, and Scootaloo began to shine more than before. Lyra looked to Red and became sick with worry. They were blinded momentarily from a bright flash of light, then immediately looked around for any signs of Scootaloo. Far above, a bird too high up to pick out any features soared on the wind. A shrill cry toward the front of the group sparked their attention, and they all looked forwards at the form in front of them. Its shrill sound began to grow in volume, before light erupted once more and the creature approached. “I…am…SCOOTALORD!” It called out angrily.