Our Girl Scootaloo

Part 3 of 3

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With a sigh Twilight leaned back in her chair and stretched. “Well, that pretty much wraps up everything that happened before we got here.”

Scootaloo finished the last page that was new to her and handed the computer back to Twilight with her prosthetic right hand. “This is wonderful, you're every bit the author Celestia made you out to be.”

“I'm glad you like it, and a little surprised too. I still can't believe you wanted me to include all those... details... about David and yourself. Most couples back in Equestira generally don't reveal that much about their married life.”

Scootaloo just smirked. “Really? I would have though after that prank Pinkie and Rainbow pulled on you, you would have learned that what people imagine is always much worse than reality. The truth you've been writing is positively boring compared to what some of the stories the tabloids have run about my husband and I.”

“So why did you call me here late at night like this? We've been meeting three and four times a week to talk shop and work on this. What did you need so urgently it couldn't wait for morning?”

Twilight's uneasy expression returned and she found herself scratching the back of her head with a hoof. “Well... It's about the next section. Everything we've written up till now has been very much the unvarnished truth. I understand why you don't want to sugar coat anything but... so far this has been pretty tame.”

Twilight looked embarrassed, but didn't back off the topic. “Okay, maybe not tame, but... you led a pretty good life. I... I don't know if I feel comfortable writing what comes next in that same voice.”

“Oh, come on Twi, so things didn't get off to the best start. You came here expecting a repeat of what happened with Dashie at best, or to have to rescue me from a laboratory at worst. You didn’t know I had already made a life for myself, earned a doctorate of medicine, married and had two foals... But we both know nopony got hurt and we're all still here today to write this.”

“Well, that's true...” She conceded, “But after what happened to poor Fluttershy? Do you really want to put that all on the page just as it happened? She still has nightmares about those first few days...”

“Twilight...” Scootaloo answered in surprise, and then her face fell as she realized. “She hasn't told you, has she?”

“It's... It's not my place to say. But you'll find out when you do the interviews for this section. Suffice it to say that Fluttershy asked that her part in this be included exactly as it happened.”

“But!... She asked for that? After everything that happened to her and Applejack, she asked to have it included?!”

Scootaloo actually cringed as Twilight said this, then looked her in the eye and nodded.
“Haven't you noticed the locket she carries with her now?”

Twilight shook her head to try to clear this strange line of questioning. “Well, even if she does want her part in this included, you have to concede that you can't just write in exactly what happened! This book is supposed to be something teenagers can read! You're going to lose readers if you don't candy coat this.”

“Twilight, you're making it sound like someone raped her! We both know no one touched any of you. Hell, no one even did anything malicious! Almost everyone you met had nothing but good will towards you guys.”

“ But...” Twilight stopped and took a moment to calm herself. A deep breath. Two.

“I know this isn't easy for you, Twi, and I can help when you need it, but even you have to admit things could have gone so much worse. It was pure dumb luck that Celestia even survived that first night, especially given that Dashie and Rainbow were too broken up to tell her what high voltage power lines look like.” She shuddered at the memory. “Why don't you just start with the basics? That time in the three worlds flows at the same pace, so while it had only been three weeks since the accident that took Rainbow and I from Equestria in 2033, Rainbow had been blasted fifteen years into the past on her world, and I was shot back twenty years here.”

The change of topic seemed to be helping, and Twilight sat up with a puzzled look. “Doesn’t everypony already know that?”

“Not everyone: From your perspective it had been three weeks, from Rainbow’s it had been fifteen years and I experienced twenty years between my arrival in 2013 your ‘rescue mission’ in 2033. Time travel can be confusing enough even with a full explanation.”

“Well, I could get into the theory of how that worked; some of the equations are complicated enough they don’t fit on a single sheet of paper!” Twilight answered, her eyes taking on a certain gleam. “I’m only beginning to understand what the scientists figured out, but I bet if explain it carefully-“

Scootaloo put her hand gently over Twilights mouth and shook her head slowly, trying to hide her mirth. “Please don’t. You know what? Let me write that part. Why don’t you start with what you know best; your departure from Canterlot Castle in Equestria?”

“Hmf. Talk about an inauspicious beginning. We expected to show up at your front door, just like we did with Dashie. The Princess set the spell to take us to ‘Scootaloo’s location’, and the spell did the best it could.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know about the twins, and it probably didn’t help that I was doing two hundred miles an hour in the medevac helicopter at the time…” Scootaloo added rubbing the back of her head with her prosthetic hand.

“You think?! The spell scattered the seven of us in a line from the center of the city out into the boonies! The trip was less than a minute old, and we were already in trouble, some of us more than others…”

“Remember girls, we don't know what we will find once we arrive. We could come through in a laboratory, or worse...”

All the assembled ponies shared a look of grim determination and nodded. It had been almost three weeks now since the accident that sent Rainbow Dash to a different world, and a week since they had returned. They had all needed a few days to recover after that ordeal, and Rainbow was still learning to live with two personalities in one body after Twilight had re-loaded her memories. Dashie and Rainbow usually spoke as one pony now, but they still had arguments from time to time, especially when Rainbow had to explain some quirk of Equestrian society to Dashie who wouldn't know, having grown up on earth.

But now the Princess had found the right world, and homed in on where Scootaloo was, or had been. They were as ready as they could be. Though they had kept their grim suspicions to themselves, it was still obvious to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom that something was very wrong as they watched with worried expressions from the edge of the room.

“And take care of yourself big Sister!” Sniff, “You come right back okay?!”

The assembled ponies nodded, took a deep breath, and a bright white light began to glow around them. With a yellow flash Fluttershy was the first to go, followed moments later by Applejack in a flash of orange, then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash followed by Pinkie Pie and Twilight. With a final glance at the foals, Celestia flashed white and was gone.

Light shone from the windows of sorority house as the sisters got ready for some time off from school and a night on the town.
“Okay girls, are you ready?” shouted a redhead who seemed to be in charge.

“You got that right,” another voice chimed in “so don't go crying to her for help when your ankles give out in a couple of hours.”

As the chorus of rowdy voices gathered by the door they were interrupted by a flash of blinding purple light coming from the den. For the first time in hours, the house knew silence.

The group exchanged confused looks, then went to investigate. As they filled the den, Twighlight stood her ground in the center of the small room.

The girls looked around the room occupied by the purple pony. “Uh, what friends?”

Twilight looked around and noticed for the first time she was the only pony in the room. Panic flashed across her features, but she seemed to get control of herself and pressed ahead. “I came here looking for an orange and purple pony called Scootaloo. I should have arrived very close to her. Are you her caretakers?”

“Sister, this is a college town, and I got enough trouble taking care of the girls under this roof.” One of the resident assistants chimed in: “You think I have time to care for children?”

Twilight seemed to sag at that; “You mean you've never seen another pony like me?”

A pounding of footsteps coming down the stairs behind her announced the arrival of another sister; “Hey guys, I finally found that other shoe, are you still here...” She surveyed the den for a moment, then asked flatly. “Is this some kind of joke?”

Caught off guard, again, Twilight turned and raised an eyebrow, “Uh, hello?”

Comprehension seemed to dawn on the new girl, followed quickly by a huge smile. “Oh my God, you're really real aren't you! You came to find Scootaloo!”

“Of course! Well, by reputation at least. I'm Joyce, and these are my sisters.”

Twilight counted at least thirty girls at a glance and looked confused again. “All of them?”

“... Oh! Sorry, no, think sisters as in roommates that go to college together.”

Joyce sighed in exasperation. “Jeez, didn't you guys take any bio or engineering classes? This is another pony, you know, same species as Scootaloo? Goes to school here, bright orange coat?”

Rachel from the engineering school got the reference “Oh that Scootaloo! We're going to study her Electro Magnetic Field Repultion drive next semester in one of my aerospace and electrical classes!”

“Scootaloo is alive? She's okay?” Twilight asked and got two nods in reply, “Oh thank
Celestia, I was so worried! Where is she?”

“I would guess she's on duty tonight, she's working on her residency, and usually pulls a shift with the paramedics after school.”

“She's training to be a doctor, and she's working with the paramedics to help pay for school. That could have been her in the helicopter that flew over a few minutes ago.”

Rachel had produced a tablet computer and pulled up a documentary on Scootaloo. As the introduction played she showed it to Twilight. “Yeah, she was found, like, 20 years ago and she's a hero to a lot of people. Still makes the news from time to time, I can't believe I didn't recognize you. It's Twilight isn't it?” She asked extending a hand.

Twilight shook the offered hand. “Why yes, I... Wait, I didn't tell you my name. Does that mean Scootaloo remembered me” she asked hopefully?

“Huh? No, Scootaloo arrived here as a baby, she didn't remember anything.” Joyce replied.

The 'My Little Pony' theme song played from the tablet as it was again presented to her. Twilight stared wide eyed as the episode jumped forward depicting her and her friends. “Dashie told me, but I didn't really believe her...”

“We call it dimensional bleed through – some of us dreamed about you in enough detail to produce this. We don't really understand how it works yet, but now that you're here we can finally check the accuracy and figure it out!”

Twilight was looking increasingly overwhelmed when their second RA stepped in; “Not tonight she won't.”

“Nope. Twilight, your friend is safe and well, we can help you catch up with her tomorrow, but tonight...” She turned to the assembled group “Tonight, Twilight is our guest of honor, so let’s take her out for a night on the town!”

Twilight soon found herself walking into town with Rachel, Joyce and the rest of the girls as she tried to deal with the strangeness of this world full of monkeys. The first thing she noticed as they went out the door was the cluster of blindingly bright starts scattered across the night sky. Rachel confirmed that it was indeed night, but the city was still as light as a dark cloudy day despite the sun having already set! As she watched, the tiny points of blinding light slowly moved across the sky.

“Oh, that's right, you don't have Sunbeam. They're just big foil reflectors that light up the city at night. Saves a fortune on street lights and junk.” She finished in a disinterested tone.

Shaking off the strangeness of all this, Twilight attempted to beg off several times, but Joyce pointed out that even if she did snub them and leave, Scootaloo was on the job and probably wouldn't be done until late at night. Deprived of a good reason, and too polite to turn down an invitation, Twilight was soon waiting in line for a club across from what looked like a movie theater.

“Yeah, for about 100 years now. That one's an art house theater that plays cult classics and old movies they can show cheaply.”

“Um, not quite... Do you know what a computer is? A calculating machine that can do many different jobs based on what software you feed it?”

Before she could respond, a bright pink pony came bounding out the doors of the theater, looked frantically around and found a trash can into which she became violently ill.

They ducked around traffic and were both at her side in moments. “Pinkie, what's wrong?”

Pinkie shakily pulled her head from the can and saw her friend. “Twilight! Oh I'm so glad I found you!” She still looked a little shaky as she seemed to be fighting back nausea.

Twilight and Rachel exchanged worried glances. “Pinkie, are you okay? What happened to you?”

“I don't know, when I got here I was in a dark closet full of mops and stuff and all of you were gone! I peeked out the door and they were showing a scary movie, like a campfire story but a movie, and I didn't want to get caught, so I watched and waited for the movie to be over so I could sneak out and... and...” She suddenly grabbed Twilight's shoulders and looked her square in the face. “Twilight, what did you have for lunch?!”

A moment ago she would have sworn she couldn’t be any more confused. “What? Uh.. I had some grain and garlic with a side of chick peas and beans, why?”

Twilight was rapidly becoming worried. “What in the world is the matter with her?” She asked Rachel.

For her part, Rachel had taken a moment to read the movie listings, and was staring fixedly at an entry half way down the board with a mortified look on her face. Not hearing a response, Twilight looked up and followed her gaze. “What's a 'human centipede'?”

Rachel was looking almost white as she turned back to the pair. “You don't want to know. Really. Lets just say it’s a work of pure fiction and... leave it at that.”

Not at all satisfied, Twilight pressed the issue “You're saying a movie did this to Pinkie? What in Equestria was it about?”

“Look, just trust me okay? You don’t want to know. There are some stories so revolting that just hearing the concept will cause... well that.” She gestured to Pinkie who was resting her head on the trash can and panting.

“You seriously expect me to believe there is a concept so disgusting, so vile, that just seeing a few moments of it will cause...” She looked at Pinkie, then back to Rachel and Joyce who had joined them.

“Yes, some information is really that nasty.” Rachel replied as she tried to explain the concept. “I'm sure you know people... ponies... that do things you don't enjoy, eat food you wouldn't eat right? Well there are some people who watch movies the rest of us don't like.”

Twilight squinted suspiciously at the two girls while Joyce fiddled with her tablet. “Why should I believe you?”

Joyce motioned her over to a corner out of view and propped her tablet against the wall. “If you don't believe us, if you really want to know, this is the... short version. Now I'm warning you, you really, really don't want to see this, but if you think you know better, press the screen here and video will play.”

Twilight looked suspiciously from Rachel to Joyce, then back to the video. “Two girls one cup?”

“I told you not to watch.” Joyce chastised “But someone thought all knowledge was good and useful for something.”

Joyce put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don't you both join us in the club, they have... drinks that will help you both forget all this.”

Both ponies nodded weakly and the group of four walked across the street to the bar.

Our Girl Scootaloo 3 of 3

by Cozy Mark IV

Ch 3.1: The Rescue Mission