Scootaloo watched the rest of Trixie's magic show until the unicorn wrapped it up and the audience cheered. Once Trixie left the stage, Scootaloo followed her to see that she was leaving the palace and heading to the village. Scootaloo used her wings to fly after her. Questions were running through her head, including why Rumble didn't want to tell her anything when something was clearly up with him.
Up ahead, she could see the show pony stopping at a dock and next to that dock was a building. Scootaloo went in to land and see where she went to until she got jumped by a couple of stallions.
"Well, well… what have we here?" a sleazy-looking stallion came up to her and behind him was Trixie, who was now wearing a black cloak and a strange amulet around her neck. She looked more menacing than she did at the talent show.
"I told you I could get her here if not the boy…" Trixie spoke.
Boy…?
"At least we know he will come. He wouldn't want to get his precious marefriend hurt now, would he?"
She knew then that they were talking about Rumble, "You're wrong!" Scootaloo retorted, "He's gone! He left this morning! You won't see him again!"
"Aw…" the stallion touched her chin, "how sweet of you to cover his tracks like that… where exactly did he find you, my dear?"
"He didn't find me. I found him."
"How long have you been together?"
"A week."
"Hmm… how close are you?"
"We're just friends." she lied.
"I do not believe that for one second. You were flying with him a few days ago in the moonlight and no pegasi would go flying in the middle of night unless it was a date."
"Like how would you know?!" she demanded, "You don't have wings!"
"True… but I know love when I see it… And you, my dear, are head over hooves…"
"He'll never come! He won't fall for any of your tricks!"
"Hey! Caballeron!" a voice shouted in the distance which Scootaloo recognized.
Rumble, you idiot… I'm trying to save your sorry hide with this creep, whoever he is…
"Ah… you were saying…?"
Rumble flew down and faced the stallion. He looked over to Scootaloo, who was still pinned down. "Let her go. It's me you want… She has no idea what this is about…"
"Then tell me!" Scoots yelled.
"Yes, Rumble… Do tell her… I'm sure your marefriend will find it interesting that her coltfriend is nothing than a common thief…" he smirked.
"Ha! The joke's on you! I already know that for a fact!"
"Yes, Caballeron, Scootaloo already knows I'm a thief… but what she doesn't know is…" he turned to her and looked straight into her eyes, "…that I have something that rogues and villains will stop at nothing to get… It is dangerous if used in the wrong hooves. And I can't give it away…"
"But now he must if he ever wishes to see you again!" Trixie declared.
"Don't do it, Rumble! If it as dangerous as you say it is, then don't hand it over! I'm not worth it if every pony becomes in danger!"
He gave an expressionless face and started going through his satchel. He handed over an object wrapped in a piece of cloth.
Caballeron chuckled upon receiving the item and said to his hench-ponies, "Take them to the sea cave and make sure they don't come out…"
"WHAT?!" both Rumble and Scootaloo and even Trixie said in shock.
"We had a deal!" Rumble hollered.
"Yes, but I can't let you go and warn every pony, now can I?"
The hench-ponies took hold of Rumble and they were dragged to a sea cave and were tied-up.
"Now, seal the cave." Caballeron ordered Trixie.
"But surely there has to be a better way than this…"
"Just do it!"
Trixie used the power of the amulet to move rocks and seal the cave entrance.
"Good… when the tide comes in, that's the last we'll see of them…" he turned to go and with his henchies. Trixie gave a look of guilt before following behind them.
In the cave, there was silence between the two until Rumble said quietly, "I'm sorry…"
"About what?"
"For not telling you about Caballeron and Trixie… The thing is, I did a lot of criminal work for them. I wasn't sure if I was doing right or not, but as long it got me by, then I had to live with it… One day, Caballeron heard of a magical item he wanted. The place that had the item, however, only had enough room for a small pony to fit in, and since I was the right size at the time, I got to go find it. Once I found the room where it was kept, I started going for it until writing appeared on it."
"What did it say?"
"It said to protect this amulet at all costs because there was evil in the hearts of those who would stop at nothing to get to it. And then the strangest thing happened: the item glowed and found myself staring into it. It was like it gave me a clue on where to go next in my life. I got away from Caballeron and I hoped I wouldn't have had to see him again. That worked for a while until today…"
"What was that magical item?"
"The Amulet of Amethyst. I'm still not sure what powers it has, but at least it's not in Caballeron's hooves."
"What do you mean? You gave it to him, didn't you?"
"That's what I wanted him to think…"
"You mean…?"
"Yup, I still have it."
"Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"
"Well, if I'm so brilliant, how come I didn't foresee your little stunt?"
"Because I cared about you too much to see you getting hurt?"
"And I cared about you too much by keeping you in the dark…"
"We could have come up with something if you had just told me…"
"I know… But I didn't want to risk losing you, Scootaloo… You're the one good thing that's happened in my life in a very long time… I lost my parents, I lost my brother… I've been living on my own… but when we met, I felt hope again… I couldn't lose you, not now, not ever…" There was nothing but silence, "Scoots?"
Suddenly, his lips came in contact with hers.
"But how did you…?"
"While you were confessing, I was cutting the ropes to get loose. Am I still your hope?"
"Yes…" he kissed her again, "By the way, when you were on that stage tonight, I couldn't take my eyes off of you."
"Oh, you liked what you saw, did you?" she wrapped her hooves around his neck.
"You were the only thing I saw…"
She sighed, "As sweet as this is, but we have to get out of here."
He gave a serious face, "You're right. We have to get out before the tide comes in." They started moving rocks, but it seemed more rocks just took their place. By then, the water started coming in.
"Hurry!"
They kept digging, but more rocks trapped them.
Rumble panted and grunted when he threw a rock that splashed in the water. "Scootaloo, stop… It's… It's not going to work… I'm so sorry, Scootaloo… but we can't get out…" He put his hooves over his eyes.
She stood silent, with only the water rushing in making a sound until she suddenly said while grabbing for his hoof, "I, Princess Scootaloo of Canterlot, take you, Rumble, as my husband-"
"Whoa! Whoa! What?! Scootaloo, do you realize what you're doing?!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing. If we're going to die, I want to at least have the pleasure of what it was like to be married, even if it's for a short time… Because let's face it: if I had to be married, I rather it'd be with you…"
He gave no emotion, and then he took her hooves and nodded, "Do it."
"I, Scootaloo, take you, Rumble, to be my husband…"
"I, Rumble, take you Scootaloo to be my wife…"
"To love…"
"To cherish…"
"For as long as we both shall live…" She looked down at the rising water, "…for the next few minutes…"
He took out the amulet and smashed it against the rocks. When he did, it split in half. She held one half while he held the other half.
He said as they exchanged pieces, "With this token, I thee wed…"
"With this token, I thee wed…"
Once the exchange was done, she proclaimed, "I now pronounce us husband and wife…" She smirked, "You may kiss the bride…"
He didn't waste a second, knowing it was the last kiss they would ever enjoy. Without their notice, the amulet pieces glowed and the rocks that trapped them were moved. When an opening was made, a light shone on the couple and they saw a means to escape. They popped out of there and landed in the ocean.
When taking a breath, they cheered, "We're alive! We're alive!" They embraced each other until they remembered what they did, "And… married?" They exchanged unsure looks.
When reaching the shoreline, she shook off the water.
Rumble rubbed his neck, "So, um… what do we next?"
"I don't know… To be honest, I'm not sure if we are truly married. As a princess, I have the authority, but at the same time… I'm an adopted princess, so I don't even know my power was enough to wed us."
"So until you know for sure, we'll just act as we did before our sudden wedding."
"I guess…"
"You don't sound happy about that…"
"It's just…" she did a small laugh, "I was planning on being single for the rest of my life, not even thinking for once that there someone out there for me…" she turned to face him, "but you changed that… I meant what I said back in the cave. If I had to marry, I wanted it to be you…"
He smirked and wrapped his wing around her, "How's this? We'll do what any married couple do except take it to the next level."
"Oh…" she blushed, "I haven't even thought that far…"
"That's okay. It works out that way."
Then a thought occurred to her, "But what about my sisters? What do I tell them?!"
"I don't know. Do you want to tell them you were almost killed and decided to get married because you weren't sure you if you were going to live or not?"
She grimaced, "When you put it that way…"
"It's your choice, Scoots. Do you want to keep them in the dark? You saw how well that worked for us…"
"I don't want to… but Sweetie Belle's already got a lot on her mind trying to pass the tests to help Button, and Apple Bloom would fret over me…" she sighed, "It's best they don't know…"
He gave a small nod.
"We better get back to the castle now." She spread out her wings.
He did the same and they took off. They landed on her balcony like they did on their first flight together.
"So…" he said.
"So…" she echoed.
Then he swept her off her feet, "It's traditional for a groom to carry his bride over the threshold, right?"
"As far as I know." she shrugged.
He carried her in and set her on the bed. She got under the sheets as he crawled in to join her. He wrapped his arm around her as they stared up to the ceiling.
"You know, when I woke up this morning, I didn't think I was going to get married later tonight…" she said.
He chuckled, "Me, too…"
"Sure was a crazy day…"
"Uh-huh…"
She rested her head on top of his arm, whispering, "Well, good night…"
He smiled and replied while kissing her cheek, "Good night, my love…" He then rested his head against the pillows.