//------------------------------// // Scootaloo's Wish: Part 4 // Story: Make a Wish // by Perpetual Lurker //------------------------------// "You sure this is the place?" Rainbow Dash asked, touching down on the busy cobblestone street. "Yup! I never forget an address!" replied Derpy Hooves, smiling as she landed beside the blue pegasus. "But you don't even work in Canterlot. How do you know where everything is?" "Just trust me." "If you say so..." Rainbow turned to face their destination, a small, unassuming stone building in Canterlot's Market District. So, this is where those tickets came from? She walked toward the doorway for a moment before noticing that Derpy was still following her. "I appreciate the help finding this place, but you don't have to tag along if you don't want to." "I just wanna help out! Besides, I took the day off today, so I'm not missing anything back home." "Alright then. Lets get do this." Dash said, her companion nodding in agreement. The pair of pegasi approached the building and entered. Ever since Scootaloo had gotten out of the hospital, Rainbow Dash had been spending a lot of time investigating the wish event. She needed to know more about what happened, if not for herself, then to make sure Scootaloo would be okay. Even is she didn't know what her sister wished for, she needed to figure out how it could have affected her. If she could figure out that much, then keeping her sister safe would be far easier. Unfortunately, all of this was easier said than done. Rainbow Dash was no good at mysteries. She couldn't even stand to read about them. Too much talking, not enough action. Twilight would have been able to help, but she still wasn't home. Eventually, though, she had figured out her first lead: her own wish. If she could follow the tickets back to where they came from, she might be able to figure out the extent of the magic. Luckily, Derpy had volunteered to help her find the location of the tickets' return address when Dash asked about it at the Ponyville Post Office. She had been a little leery of letting the walleyed mailmare assist her, especially after the Town Hall incident, but so far Derpy had been nothing but helpful. It only took about an hour or two of flying to reach Canterlot, which was much faster than the twisting and turning route the train took up the mountain. Once in the city itself, it had been simple enough for Derpy to track down the address. The inside of the building consisted of a small lobby with a desk, several benches, and what appeared to be several offices behind that. The grey stone walls were adorned with Wonderbolts posters in a token attempt to liven up the suffocating atmosphere of the room. A young, pale green pegasus mare sat behind the desk, staring at the ground out of what appeared to be sheer boredom. "Welcome to the Wonderbolts Promotion Center." The receptionist said in a bored monotone. "If you have any questions about upcoming events or contests, please take a pamphlet for more information. Also, before you ask, no, we are not accepting any applications at this-" "I'm not here for any of that," Rainbow Dash said, interrupting the memorized greeting. The receptionist's ears perked up at the sound of her voice. "Oh, Rainbow Dash! Sorry to give you the standard speech, I wasn't paying attention," the green mare said, any sign of her previous boredom vanishing into a new excited demeanor. "Do... I know you?" "Awww... You didn't forget good ol' Summer Breeze again, did you? You'd think after visiting here every few weeks you'd finally learn my name!" The pony pouted for a moment, before giggling and smiling at Dash again. "You really are laid back, aren't you?" "Yeah, I guess... Sorry about that..." Rainbow Dash played along with the pony, not entirely sure what to make of her. I've never seen this place before in my life, and she thinks I come here all the time? "Anyway, I had a few questions about these." Stuffing her head into her saddlebag, the pegasus produced the envelope with the tickets in it, and tossed it onto the table. "Oh, wow! That's amazing! I never thought you'd actually win when you entered a few months ago." "That's the thing, though. I don't remember entering the contest." "Really? I remember it perfectly! You were so excited about it that you checked back here every week or two to see whether you won or not, as well as to see if the Wonderbolts were holding tryouts. In fact, I think I still have your entry form on file here..." She rummaged around in a filing cabinet behind the desk for a few moments before pulling out a simple sheet of paper. Surely enough, there on the dotted line at the bottom of the page was Rainbow Dash's signature, an incredibly large and stylized "RD" that almost took up the whole line on its own. "I love your signature, Rainbow Dash. It's pretty!" Derpy said, hovering above the blue pegasus. "It's awesome, not pretty. Thanks, though." "Oh, are you here for some Wonderbolt information, too?" Summer Breeze said, looking up at the mailmare. "Nope!" The other two pegasi stared at Derpy, expecting her to continue. This only led to an awkward silence. "Oookay, then..." the receptionist began. "In any case, congratulations on winning the contest. I can safely say that the tickets you have here are genuine, so no need to worry about a scam. Is there anything else I can do for you?" "No, that'll be-" Rainbow Dash said before remembering something. "Well, there is one thing I want to ask you." The green pony perked up at the words. "Has anything really strange been happening around Canterlot the last few days?" "Oh... Anything strange?" Summer Breeze replied, a look of disappointment appearing on her face. "No, nothing in particular, though I heard rumors of some really weird stuff happening in Ponyville. That's where you're from, right? Is everything okay back there?" "Well, things are settling down now, but some strange things did happen a few days ago," Rainbow Dash replied. "Nothing here, though?" "Not that I'm aware of." "Thanks anyway. See ya later, then." The blue pegasus waved goodbye and began walking toward the exit. "You too, Derpy. Let's go." The grey mare was still near the back of the building, staring a poster on the wall, or possibly two at once. It was hard to tell. She spent a few more moments studying the poster before waving at Summer Breeze and following Dash out the door. "Come back any time!" the receptionist called after them. "It's always nice to have company..." Sighing heavily once the pair was out the door, Summer Breeze resumed staring off into space, now a little bit happier than before. "Well, I definitely wasn't expecting things to be getting even more confusing." Rainbow Dash sighed, resting her head on her front hooves. After leaving the Promotion Center, Dash and Derpy had found a nearby outdoor cafe where they could rest and go over what they knew. Derpy happily sipped a chocolate milkshake as the blue pegasus continued. "I never did any of that stuff, but all of the evidence says that I did." "Your wish came true, right?" said the mailmare, "Something had to change for your wish to happen, so it changed." "Well, duh. Of course the wishes change things. That's what they're supposed to do. What I want to know is what exactly did mine- oh no..." It took a moment, but then everything clicked. The inconsistencies, the confusion, it all added up. "The past! My wish changed the past..." The implications of what exactly was going on were staggering. "Even other ponies memories were changed, like Summer Breeze..." How many of my own memories were changed by everypony's wishes? It certainly wasn't something Dash wanted to think about. "She likes you, you know." Derpy said, still sipping her milkshake. "Huh?" "Summer Breeze. It's really obvious." "She was acting strange, even for somepony who knew me..." "It's the same way I've seen ponies act when they get a package from their special somepony. Their eyes always get all big like this." The grey pegasus put on a large smile, tilted her head, and opened her eyes wide, like an excited puppy. As silly as it looked, Dash realized that it was indeed the way Summer reacted when she saw her, well, aside from the awkward eyes. "Special somepony? But I'd never..." Would I? In light of her recent discoveries, she wasn't sure anymore. If the wish changed the past, then everything she had done up the that point made sense. If there had been a contest to win VIP passes to a Wonderbolts event, there's no way she would have passed it up, and if she knew about a place like that Promotion Center, she definitely would have visited it ofter to check for openings on the team. Would she have picked up a marefriend? "No, I wouldn't. I didn't," the blue mare decided. She acted like she liked me, but she never acted like I liked her back. She was just hopeful. Besides, I don't even like mares... At least, I don't right now. Who knows what several months of things being different could do to a pony? Regardless of what actually happened, the idea of ending up in a relationship with somepony she'd never met as a side effect of one little change to the past sent chills down her spine. Again, she pushed the unpleasant implications from her mind. "That leaves two major questions: First, why haven't anypony's wishes been conflicting or causing dangerous problems?Somepony must have wished for something damaging. Second, why just Ponyville? Summer said that nothing strange had been going on here, or anywhere else as far as she knew. None of this makes any sense!" "I bet Twilight Sparkle would know something. She knows everything!" "I've tried that already, but the egghead's been off in... Canterlot..." Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof into her forehead. "How could I be so stupid! Come on, Derpy. We're going to the castle!" "But what about my milkshake?" "I'll buy you a new one later. Let's go!" The grey mare sighed and tossed two bits on to the table before spreading her wings and taking to the air, chasing after her overeager friend. "The things I do to help a pony out..." All Scootaloo could do was stare at the two ponies in silence as her mind tried to sort out the situation. "You know, honey, you really shouldn't be surprised that she doesn't recognize us," the mare said to her husband. "After all, she was hardly out of diapers last time we saw her." "You're... my parents?" Scootaloo sat down on the cloud, her previous exhaustion returning. Of course they're your parents, idiot! Sisters normally share a set of parents, she reminded herself, suddenly feeling strangely calm. Nothing is "wrong" here. If anything, I'm the wrong one... Looking up at the two ponies in front of her, Scootaloo smiled. Everything was falling into place. She had a full family again. "Mom? Dad?" "Oh, Scootaloo!" Before she could react, the mare had her front legs wrapped around the filly, hugging her tight. The filly couldn't help but hug her new mother back. "Everything's going to be alright now. We're going to make sure that nothing is going to hurt you anymore." "I'm sorry, ma'am, Princess Celestia is not holding audience with anypony at this time. I can't let you in," The unicorn guard said gruffly. "That's fine. I'm not here to see the Princess. I need to see Twilight Sparkle." Rainbow Dash replied. "I can't let you do that, either. Lady Twilight is not accepting visitors at the moment." "I'm not just some visitor, I'm Rainbow Dash!" The mare struck a heroic pose. The guard was not amused. "Twilight's best friend? Bearer of the Element of Loyalty? Best young flier in Equestria?" "I know who you are. I'm under Princess Celestia's orders not to let anypony disturb her or Lady Twilight's work. No exceptions. I'm sorry, but you and your friend are going to have to leave." "But-" "No. Exceptions." She argued with the stallion for a little while longer, until he threatened to remove her by force. One "I'd like to see you try" later, and both pegasi found themselves tossed back out the castle gates by the guard's magic. Grumbling under her breath, Dash stormed off, with Derpy following close behind. The upper tier of Canterlot near the castle was filled with elaborate buildings, with public walkways and gardens spread throughout the area, and was an excellent place to gather one's thoughts. Eventually, the blue mare sat down on the edge of a small, clear pond near the main gate. "I guess that's it, then. Without Twilight's help, I can't help Scoots. All I can do is worry." "Anything I can do to help?" Derpy said, sitting beside Dash. "Heh, I wish." "You know what's funny? So did I." "What?" Rather than responding, the crosseyed mare prodded the water with a hoof, and as she drew it away, a small bubble pulled away from the water with it, drifting into the air. "How did you do that?" asked Rainbow Dash, staring at the hoof-sized orb. "Oh, this?" Derpy began, bouncing the bubble back and forth between her forehooves. "One day I thought to myself, 'I can move clouds around, and clouds are made of water, so why can't I move water around?' My first attempts ended with me getting wet. Lots of ponies laughed. Eventually, though, I touched the water just right, and I figured out how to make bubbles! Everypony laughed, then, too, but it was different. They were laughing because the bubbles brightened their day! From then on, I knew that if I did my best and stayed cheerful, I could brighten everypony's days just like my bubbles did, and I got the mark to prove it." The mare glanced down at her flank and smiled for a moment, letting the bubble float down to the ground, where it quietly burst. "It wasn't enough, though. I've always been a clutz, and I could never quite do anything right. Sometimes, I could only make ponies angry, no matter how hard I tried. I was no help to anypony, but the comet changed all of that." "What do you mean?" "It was a very simple wish." Derpy stood up and began to hover a few inches off the ground, moving out over the water. "I wished to be helpful, and that's what I'm gonna be!" Moving as if she was prancing across the water, the pegasus flew in lazy arcs across the pond, pulling up a bubble with every "step". "What in the name of Celestia are you doing?" Rainbow Dash called out, confused. "Like I said, I'm helping!" Soon, a massive cloud of bubbles had formed over pond, and Derpy began flying in circles around them, gathering them up. "Now's your chance! Go!" the mare shouted as she zoomed off toward the gate, pulling the cloud of bubbles with her. What in Equestria... It didn't take long for Dash to figure it out, though, hearing the confused yell of the guard pony as he was enveloped in bubbles. Not wasting another second, the blue pegasus took off past the blinded guard and through the gate, entering the castle. You really have been a big help, after all, Derpy. I owe you one. Once she made a mental note to get the mailmare an extra awesome muffin from Pinkie Pie once they go back to town, she turned her mind to the task at hand. Don't worry, Scoots. I'll get to the bottom of this. I'm not going to let these wishes hurt you anymore.