“I just don’t know what to do, Mom,” Scootaloo said somberly, “It’s like none of this is real, like I’m still asleep up in Canner Canyon and haven’t been able to wake up. I was alone for so long, and I was content. Life wasn’t easy, but it was so simple. I always knew what I was doing, and I was always in control. Now… I can’t help but think I’ve been pulled into something big. I’ve been all around Equestria, I’ve met so many ponies and seen so many things… and yet…” She stared up at the sky, at the waning sun that was falling behind Canterlot in the far distance. “Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon, Snails, Sweetie Belle, even Fluttershy. The worlds a big place. Too big for them to have all just come back into my life like that. What was I doing wrong, Mom? Why did I have to be alone for so many years? Why couldn’t I have found them sooner?” Scootaloo wrapped her scarf around her hoof to dab the tears dangling from her good eye, and patted the jacket she had been given. “And even that stallion. You never told me anything about my father, and I always assumed it was because he was a bad man or something. He was nice to me, and I know deep down he wasn’t my father, except… with all the other ponies that have just fallen back into my life, it’s like he almost could be. It doesn’t really matter though, does it? I… I just…” she couldn’t finish her sentence and instead only sighed, “I guess I’ll never know. I don’t even know his name. All I know, is there must have been a good reason you never told me anything about him, right Mom?” She had more to say, but found her desire to do so fading as if everything was becoming clearer to her. “In the end, no matter what, I’ll just do what you, and I guess his ex, used to say. I’ll be who I am, and hopefully I’ll find the way. I love you, Mom. I just wish I had said it more often back when I had the chance.”
Scootaloo lowered her head and closed her eye, sitting motionless in front of her mother’s grave in a silent prayer. She reached into her jacket, her father’s jacket as she had unwillingly dubbed the dark article of clothing, and took out the small bundle of flowers she had picked to lay at the base of the small pile of rocks that served as a monument to her mother. Once it had been an example of the most her little filly hooves could manage to construct and something she had always meant to return to and properly remake, but now as she stared at it through the eye of an adult it somehow felt wrong to dismantle and rebuild it. Not a single rock had so much as moved since she had made it all those years ago, and her mother’s silver chain remained untouched and tucked beneath the same piece of slate she had pinned it under. That is exactly how it would stay. “If things don’t go sour, Mom, I’ll make sure to visit more often. I promise.”
She straightened the necklace and started making her way to the place where she would meet the thing in rags that masqueraded as a pony, still lost in the almost dream-like reality that came from losing one’s self in the past. It helped to put her at peace with where she was; she had promised she would never go into what was left of Ponyville ever again, and even being this close to the once happy little hamlet made her uncomfortable. Everypony in Equestria seemed to share this sentiment: other than survivors and kin, such as herself, who had returned to bury their loved ones and lay them to rest, nopony had ever returned to the town. The buildings had been left untouched by hooves since that night, only worn down by the slow and diligent touch of nature that had no respect for the taboos of ponykind. Personal belongings, valuables, and even unfinished dinners still remained exactly where they had been left the day the city was shaken by tragedy, as it seemed even the lowest and most uncaring of looters and vandals couldn’t bring themselves to enter. Scootaloo wouldn’t even dare cut through the town as a shortcut; although she knew otherwise she was still haunted by the thought that the bodies of those not lucky enough to escape still lay right where they fell, now whittled down to nothing but bone and skulls…
Bones and skulls that stand and walk about when the night falls… Bones and skulls that would sorrowfully ask intruders why they are disturbing their final resting place…
Scootaloo shook the macabre fantasy out of her mind and focused on the river she followed. It served as the border that decided how far away she could get from the ghost town without swimming, and although it seemed calm enough to easily paddle across, she was too afraid of the water to even try. On the best of days she was hardly willing to enter water higher than knee deep, and there was no way she’d ever enter the same river that had tried to whisk her half-dead self away all those years ago. She just had to hope her meeting place with the scorpion mare was on her side of the river which, if memory served correct, it was. She didn’t know why that eerie thing had wanted to meet here of all places, and if she had her way she’d never come back here again, but if there was even a chance that Fluttershy was still alive she would jump at the opportunity.
She slowed to a stop as a horrifyingly familiar landscape loomed in front of her. It didn’t look the way she remembered it, as nightmares and time had twisted her memory of it into something far more ominous, but she knew it. She instantly recognized the hill Rainbow Dash’s murderer had called down to them from. The memories that returned to her were almost too much to take: sights and sounds she had long-since blocked out came back to her in chilling clarity and were almost enough to make her collapse. The blasts and sounds of screams in the distance, and even the feel of Fluttershy’s fur when she hugged tightly against the yellow mare’s leg, were all so frighteningly clear that she wanted to cry out.
“Good…” said a familiar and almost lustful tone, “You’ve come…”
On impulse Scootaloo’s eye shot to the hill expecting to see the golden-maned murderer leering down at her. She swallowed and stood up straight, bracing herself against her sorrow and determined to take control of this meeting. Every fiber of her being was warning her to be wary of this cloaked mare and she trusted her instincts: until she knew who or what this thing was, she was going to be on guard and extremely careful of what she said and did.
“Don’t bother trying to hide it,” the voice scolded, “I can sense the sorrow and loss in your heart. The emptiness that comes from losing everything you ever held dear. It is why I brought you here, so I could see it in you first-hoof for myself.”
Scootaloo felt thoroughly disgusted by the self-satisfied pleasure that dripped from this thing’s voice and turned to find her watching from the distance. The thing in rags stood like a half-collapsing brown pop-tent left out for too long in the weather, having the same appeal as an oversized spider nestled in a funnel web in the corner of a darkened bedroom. “Why are you so interested in what I’m feeling? If you want what I think you want, why do you care how I feel?”
“I don’t care,” said the cloaked mare as she covered her mouth and tittered, “well, maybe just a little. I suppose I have something of a soft spot in my heart for lost, wayward souls. I know what it feels like to not be loved by even a single pony. No family. No friends. It is a cruel fate indeed, isn’t it?”
“I have friends! AND family!” snapped Scootaloo. “Her name is Apple Bloom!”
The scorpion mare cackled like she had been given a particularly cruel and funny punch line. “Oh, yes. She shows it well by knocking you out and leaving you for dead. Don’t worry; I’m sure she’ll come back for you any day now. Just come trotting right back into your life and the two of you can just skip off down a rainbow straight into friendship.”
“She did that to protect me! I’m sure of it!”
“She’s not very good at it, is she? What if that complete stranger hadn’t been the helpful charitable type? Just think of all the terrible fates that could have befallen poor helpless little Scootaloo thanks to her friend’s ‘protection,’” said the mare, making a point of adding as much poison as she could to her final word.
Scootaloo bit down on her tongue hard enough to taste blood, hoping the pain would keep her from ripping across the field and attacking this thing. She spat a small red spatter on the ground, “If the only reason you dragged me out here is to spit all over the only friend I’ve got, then I’m done here!”
“As you wish,” the scorpion mare said passively as she lurched toward Scootaloo. “You already know why I’m here and what I want.”
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo coldly as she stared into the soulless mask, “The element of loyalty. Rainbow Dash’s element. Why’d you drag me all the way out here to ask me? We could have talked where we met last.”
“I wanted you to hate,” the masked mare hissed. “I wanted you to remember the one who hurt you, the one who is my enemy, and hate her with all of your heart. So you would understand we have a common interest in this. I wanted you to imagine the one who hurt you dying at my hooves and savor the knowledge that it was thanks in part to your efforts. Does that not sound absolutely delicious?”
“Sounds like wishful thinking,” said Scootaloo, “and a real good way to get ourselves killed.”
“While I do appreciate you so passive-aggressively volunteering to help, and of course you are more than welcome to come along for the ride should you choose to, admittedly I do not need anything from you beyond information. It’s a fair trade, I think: tell me where the element is, and I tell you where Fluttershy is. Once that is done, you can go your separate way and it won’t be your problem anymore. Now tell me. Where is it?”
“I can’t…”
“Why not?”
“I made a promise…”
Many Years Ago
The highest peak of Winsome Falls
“Rainbow Dash…” said Scootaloo nervously as she peered over the edge of the mountain and down at the abyss, the ground being so far below it was covered by a blanket of white clouds. “Are we really going to train to fly here?”
“Of course!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly, “It’s how my dad taught me to fly and look how I turned out!” She scooped Scootaloo up and held her tight as she flew her a few feet out over the abyss and hovered on the spot. “You want to be awesome like me, right? This is how you do it! Now when I let go, you’ll have about five seconds to get flying before you’re falling too fast to get airborne. You ready, Squirt?!”
Scootaloo whimpered and buried her face into Rainbow Dash’s chest. Her whole body began to quake and she couldn’t help but clamp her hooves around Rainbow Dash’s body to hold on for dear life. She held her eyes shut as her friend peeled her grip off and held her at hooves length, counted to three, and let go. Scootaloo threw her mouth open to scream, but before sound could even come out she landed harmlessly on the ground.
Rainbow Dash’s near-hysterical laughter coaxed Scootaloo to finally open her eyes to find herself back on the mountain, where she had been before being picked up, and she glared at her blue friend. “G-gotcha!” laughed Rainbow Dash as she collapsed to her back and violently kicked her legs in uncontrollable laughter. “You should have seen your face!” she sputtered as tears streamed down her cheeks, “I thought you were going to pee!” Her laughter slowed to a stop as she saw the sour look she was being given, and she soared over and clamped Scootaloo in a headlock and gave her a noogie. “Aw c’mon, I’m just teasing you! My dad? He did the exact same thing to me. Called it ‘The Rainbow Way To Fly.’” She leaned in close to whisper, even though there was nopony around to hear, “And between you and me, I did pee.”
Scootaloo gagged and threw a hoof over her mouth, giggling furiously as the two of them lay together in the grass beneath the sun. All things considered, she should have seen that one coming; there’s no way Rainbow Dash would ever actually put her in harm’s way.
“Now the real reason we’re here,” said Rainbow Dash contently, “this high up, is to get some well-deserved R and R.” She yawned and stretched her wings and legs, and closed her eyes. “This is the perfect place for it, Squirt. Nothing this high up but the warmth of the sun above and the soft grass beneath our butts. Other ponies only ever bother to climb as high as the falls.”
“Hey!” protested Scootaloo, “You said we were doing flight training! Dashie, you promised!”
Rainbow Dash lazily looked over and smiled. “That’s the best part; this is training, Squirt. Live-high, train-low,” she said matter-of-factly, “You see, oxygen gives us energy. So if your body gets used to living in an area with less oxygen, it gets better at using it.”
“So we have more energy when we go lower?” chirped Scootaloo.
“Now you’re getting it!” said Rainbow Dash proudly. “It’s why I sleep on clouds, Squirt. And we’ve got the whooooole day to ourselves to do it: I’m supposed to be at work, you’re supposed to be at school, and nopony will ever think to look for us up here except maybe Pinkie Pie and she’s busy foalsitting today.”
Scootaloo rested her head back in the grass. She would have never imagined that just relaxing could be training. While she did have her suspicions that Dashie may just be making the whole thing up as an excuse to spend the day lying about, even then at least she got to spend the day just chilling with her idol. She took a slow deep breath and felt Rainbow Dash nudge her.
“Short, quick breaths, Squirt,” said Rainbow Dash, “And if you start to get a headache, tell me right away and we’ll go back down.”
“Gotcha,” said Scootaloo as she stared up at the sky. She had never been this high up before, and it made her feel like a real pegasus; even if Rainbow Dash was lying about training, it was worth it just for this feeling. She felt ready to fly around the planet and back.
“Yeah, it’s the little things, Squirt. Sometimes you have to sit back and relax. Throw work or school right out the window, and just chill. And that’s the trick. I watch you try to fly, Squirt, and you just try way too hard.”
Scootaloo perked up. “What do you mean?”
“You flap too fast,” said Rainbow Dash knowingly. “You just need to learn to relax. Find your place. Me? This is my special little place; I come here whenever I’m stressed out.” She rolled over onto her belly and reached for the large rock above their heads. “Can you keep a secret?” she whispered as she slid the deceptively light rock out of the way to reveal a small hiding place built into the ground. “You have to promise not to tell anypony about this ever, okay?”
“Promise.”
Rainbow Dash reached into the hiding place and pulled out her element of loyalty, holding it to Scootaloo and letting the red lightning-bolt stone and gold necklace shimmer in the bright sunlight. “Promise not to laugh? When I get worried I come up here, all by myself, and I put this on. I don’t really know why, but it always helps. Here,” she said as she reached around Scootaloo’s neck and snapped the element’s clasp into place, “Go ahead, and try it on.”
Scootaloo hopped to her hooves and stood proudly with the oversized necklace dangling around her neck. Like Rainbow Dash had said, she felt different when she wore it. Not bad or good, or any feeling she could describe, but simply different.
“When I’m stressed, wearing that always makes me feel better,” said Rainbow Dash as she rolled onto her back once more. “Seems like I’ve been doing it a lot lately.”
“I can’t believe you get stressed out,” said Scootaloo as she laid down beside her friend, still wearing the necklace.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky. “Ever since Princess Celestia gave those to us and asked us to hold onto them,” she said as she tapped the red stone in the center of the element, “Twilight’s been acting different. I just can’t put my hoof on it; you know when you can just tell something’s wrong?”
“I thought you guys shared everything.”
“That’s why I’m worried, Squirt. She won’t talk about it. Not to any of us. All she’s been doing lately is hanging out in her library. I’m worried about her, Squirt, and I don’t know what to do.” She glanced over at Scootaloo and smiled warmly, “But don’t you worry, okay? Everything will be fine.”
Scootaloo nodded back, and the two laid together in silence relaxing beneath the warm early morning sunlight.
Present Day
“You’re quite the loyal little friend, aren’t you?” said the scorpion mare in a way that made it impossible to tell if it was mockery or a genuine compliment. She approached and rested her cloaked hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Like I said, I know exactly what it’s like to be all alone. To be afraid. It must have been so hard… growing up and living all by yourself for so long. Rainbow Dash would be proud of you for being so strong, but she would also understand if you broke your promise.” She pulled Scootaloo close and cuddled her the way a mother would comfort her foal, making the pegasus shudder at how eerily cool to the touch the filthy coarse fabric was, and shushed her gently. “She loved you, and she wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone like this. If she were here, she would want you to tell me just so you could find your friend Fluttershy.” The scorpion mare rested her muzzle right against Scootaloo’s ear and whispered so close that her breath could be felt through her mask. “I’ll take the element, and you can go to your friend and be happy… just like Rainbow Dash would want. So what do you say…?”
Scootaloo felt tears rolling down her cheek. “Alright…” she said weakly, “You win… I’ll show you where it is…”