The Lost One

by thedarktome

Chapter 32 - Calm Here

Twilight tapped her hoof patiently against the stone sidewalk as she gazed at the entrance of the mansion that was Pencil Sketch. Or rather Rainbow Dash. There were still tourists around there taking photos and pointing. She was still trying to figure out why it was so interesting. It was just a mansion. A white stone mansion with a perfect lawn, water fountains that are just gorgeous, a high ceiling with marble floors and...

Twilight shrugged, seeing their point. Too bad they could only get an outside look. It was pretty great inside. The parts she could see anyway. Twilight lifted the straw she was sipping from to her lips to drink more of that refreshing beverage. She's been sitting here for awhile. After arriving at the mansion, she realized no one was home. So Twilight walked down the street, picked up a drink, and then took a seat across the street from Rainbow's mansion. Waiting. Just waiting.

"Having fun?" Twilight spit her soda out and turned around to face Pencil. Smirking knowingly and wearing a dress to cover her flanks. "Couldn't help but notice you suspiciously sitting across the street glaring at my mansion."

Twilight stuttered, "I-I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just sitting here drinking an amazing cold beverage. Minding my business, heh hehe heh." Pencil gave her the most deadpan expression she could manage. Twilight dropped her fake smile and admitted, "Fine, I was waiting for you. Since all of my books are confiscated, thought we could just talk for a bit or something. That and I'm staying in Canterlot until my sentence is raised."

Pencil chuckled and waved her into an alley unseen. Once out of sight, she shadow teleported herself and Twilight into the mansion's foyer where Buff and Scootaloo were running around. Twilight and Pencil, who turned into Rainbow watched them amusingly as Scootaloo jumped on his back and playfully tugged his ears. Buff yelped and continued running.

Twilight raised her eyebrows and muttered, "This is...interesting."

Rainbow nodded in agreement. Then cleared her throat loudly, getting their attention. Buff and Scootaloo, who was holding onto Buff's ears like reigns of a horse stopped and stared at them like Applejack was caught trying on Rarity's dresses. Rainbow pointed at Twilight and said, "We have a guest. So... What was that?"

Scootaloo hopped off Buff and looked at her hoof as if nothing happened. Buff meanwhile just turned and walked away. Rainbow hummed and then turned to Twilight. "So what was it you wanted to do? Actually, I have to ask a favor of you. Come with me." Rainbow turned and headed down the hall to her study, followed closely by Twilight.

"Wait!" Rainbow turned to Scootaloo who was quickly running over to them. "Can I come?"

Rainbow shrugged and said, "It shouldn't hurt. Sure." She bent low and let Scootaloo climb on her back. Then rose back up and continued on her way down to the study. Twilight smiled and followed along. It seemed that Rainbow was becoming more suited to being a possible permanent caretaker for Scootaloo. Possibly.

Soon, they walked into the fancy room and library. Rainbow bent low and let Scootaloo climb off to raid the shelves while Twilight made her way over to the beanbags. She flopped down in one while Rainbow took a seat behind her desk. "So what do you need Rainbow?" Twilight asked her. "I was actually going to come here to see if you needed anything that may help with your reveal, should you choose that route."

"Yes," Rainbow responded. Then doubled back and said, "Well, maybe. I just happened to slide inside of Buff's place and well...I didn't cover my flanks. Unfortunately, his parents were there."

Twilight seethed through her teeth and said, "Oh no."

"Yep," Rainbow stated. "They. Saw. Everything. And his father just happened to know Spitfire, who knew me, and he made an educated guess that I was Rainbow Dash. After a quick explanation—"

"That involved tears!" Scootaloo interrupted from the back.

Rainbow sighed and said, "Yes, that involved some feelings, they promised they wouldn't say anything. They said that they didn't like me lying to them. They promised not to say a word, but they still did say they didn't like being lied to. That made me think that my fans may not like me lying to them if I carry this out any longer. So..."

"You're going to do it," Twilight assumed.

Rainbow sighed and nodded. "Yes I am. I have a plan, but I need your help."

"What do you need?" Twilight asked quickly. "I'll be happy to help you out."

"Well I need two ponies that can detect dark magic. I know you can, so if you could follow along with me at the reveal of my new experiment, I'd really appreciate it."

"Sure, I'd be happy to come to your reveal." She leaned in and whispered, "Is it backstage?"

Rainbow leaned in too and said, "All of the VIPs get backstage passes, meet and greets with more VIPs like Hoity Toity, Fleur De Lis, Songbird Serenade, and a few more expensive names. Not to mention..." She leaned back and reached underneath her desk, grabbing a pass. "A free pass to the grand opening of Sketch It All! Studios in a few months. This pass is a free all access pass to all of my studios in Equestria. All of the studios right now have a different niche per city. I was going to do all art studios. But with the Sketch movement going full blast, that means that everypony will want a chance at everything. So I had to assign different studios for different things. All of them will have a subscription service of ten bits a month per studio. The one in the Crystal Empire will be your niche. Magical Arts with all texts on the subject that you can read. Imagine Starswirl the Bearded's works. But all of Starswirl the Bearded's works right in your hooves. Well...except one that we both know will not be available to the public eye."

Twilight didn't get it at first before she fawned. "Ohhhh, right. I'll do it. I'll help you detect dark magic on your new experimental painting."

"Excellent. Now I need a second pony to do the second scanning. Since you know me, my fans will think I put you up to this. So me and Buff were thinking Celestia without her knowing until I ask her."

That caught Twilight by surprise. "Oh! Okay. Do you want me to ask her for you?"

"No, I can ask her myself." She patted a space on her desk that had a slot on it. "I can ask her myself by simply writing a letter. I need her to get over here for a moment. Scootaloo, what are you doing?" Twilight blinked and directed her gaze to Rainbow's side, noticing the sliver of orange fur on her back. Scootaloo's head popped up over Rainbow Dash's, her hooves full of her colorful mane.

"Your mane is really soft," she commented. "So I'm playing with it." Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. Then started writing the letter with her magic while Scootaloo started doing something with her mane. Once she finished, she slipped it into the slot and folded her hooves on the desk, facing Twilight.

"Now...we wait," she stated. Scootaloo continued doing whatever she wanted with Rainbow's long mane, tongue sticking out in focus. "Scootaloo...what in Equestria are you doing?"

"Something awesome!" She replied. Rainbow rolled her eyes and just let Scootaloo have her way with her hair. It was enough to get her tired after a while. She'll run out of steam eventually.

---

The Crystal Empire gleamed with light as the sun's rays bounced off the spires of the castle and other crystal structures. Which were all the structures. The front doors of the castle opened up as Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor walked out with eight more guards, pushing along a carriage that held Flurry Heart's squealing excited form. Cadance leaned in and nuzzled her lovingly. "Who's my baby?" She cooed. Flurry cried out and grabbed Cadance's muzzle. "That's right. You are."

Shining Armor smiled harder and faced forward as they walked down the street, taking their time in the afternoon sun. "It was a nice day," he stated. "We should've taken her to the park to interact with other foals earlier."

Cadance glanced at him in uncertainty. "I'm not sure about her interacting just yet. She's still really young. I don't want her making a lot of friends before she can even walk."

Shining shrugged and sighed, "I think we should at least think about it every now and then." The group walked into the square, waving at a few more ponies. "Hey, maybe Flurry might make a friend that can't walk yet either."

"Maybe. But until then..." She leaned back down and blew a raspberry into her baby's stomach. Shining chuckled and rolled his eyes. After a few seconds, Cadance rose once more and looked around the busy square. Pobies were going out and buying food, clothes, and more. Some were going into nearby stores and buying things too. Like that foal with...

Cadance's breathing hitched for a moment. Not peeling her eyes off, she nudged her husband. He looked at her and asked, "What is it?" She didn't say anything. Instead, motioned with her head towards the square. Shining followed her gaze to a foal in the middle of the area looking around. It was a filly with a gray coat and a light red mane adorned with a single gray streak. But what had caught Cadance's eye was the state the filly was in.

She looked wild and had a few bruises on her. Her coat was matted and ruffled, and she seemed to be injured. Based on the fact that she was keeping off her right hoof. She looked around for a moment, then bent low, sneaking underneath one of the stands that was covered with a blanket. A moment later, she sneaked back out with a bag of apples, heading for an alley with the bag dragging the ground. Shining gasped and exclaimed, "Did she just steal—"

"Shhh," Cadance shushed her husband. "Keep watching. I think...." The foal poked her head back out and glanced left and right. How nopony was seeing this was impossible. Once she deemed the coast was clear, she ran out the alley with a wagon attached to her. Cadance could tell there was something wrong with her because she was still keeping off her right hoof.

Cadance turned to her guards with her wings outstretched, completely focused. "I need four of you with me, and four with my baby. Let's go. We need to know about this foal." Cadance turned and trotted down an adjacent alley, followed closely by four guards. Cadance peeked her head out and spotted the foal running out and heading down the street, heading further and further away from the castle. Once far enough, Cadance ran out and took to the air, landing on a roof and running across while keeping a close watch on the filly limping down the street. The guards were following along too, keeping a short distance away from her. After a few more minutes, the filly slowed down to a slow limp towards an old building that was all alone on the outskirts of town, huffing and puffing. The guards quickly ducked into alleys when she turned and looked around. Then knocked on the door in a pattern. It opened up a second later to let out three more foals who quickly helped her out of her harness. One of them were a colt and the other two were fillies.

The colt grabbed the straps and tugged the wagon inside the building while the other two foals helped the other filly inside. Then shut the door. Cadance teleported down in front of her guards. Then pointed at the structure and ordered, "Keep an eye on the building. I need to send an urgent letter."

---

While they waited for a response, Rainbow and Twilight made simple conversation about things that have been happening on Twilight's side of things. Apart from being grounded, and reading about Pencil. Rainbow stayed honest and admitted that she was just working on more art and her studios. As well as getting ready for a radio interview tomorrow. She was nervous because this would be the first time she's ever done one. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was still braiding Rainbow's mane. Twilight was just avoiding the visible motions she was making as the different colors flew up and down back there.

Twilight slurped the last few drops from her soda and asked, "Are you expecting any interesting questions?"

Rainbow chuckled and kicked her hooves up. "Of course!" She replied. "Pencil and I are a mare of mystery. Nopony knows anything about us. We're completely strange and unknown. I'm also expecting some weird questions."

Twilight chuckled and asked, "Weird questions?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow dropped back down and leaned over her desk. "Like, 'Did you ever have a real foalhood?' 'How was school for you? You seem to be the more deep pony.' Questions like that."

"Ah, okay." A note slid out of the Celestia slot on Rainbow's desk, sliding across the wood and stopping in front of her. Twilight motioned to it and asked, "Celestia?"

"Yep." A red letter slid out of another one, taking Rainbow a litrle by surprise. "And another from Cadance? This one seems more urgent because it's red."

"How observant of you." Rainbow rolled her eyes at Twilight's playful jab and unfolded the red one, reading it to herself. Her smile slowly died down, replaced by wide eyes.

She looked up and yelled, "BUFF!! GET MY SUIT!! WE'RE GOING TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!! Scoots, you're coming with." Scootaloo peeked over Rainbow's shoulder with a face of confusion. "No questions. Twilight you're coming too."

Rainbow jumped over the desk and made her way to the door with Scootaloo dangling from a single braid. Twilight looked around for a trash can of some sort. But since she didn't see one, she sighed and just carried the empty cup with her in her magic after Rainbow. They quickly ran into the foyer where Buff was waiting with Rainbow's Mystery Mare outfit draped over one of his wings. Record time in grabbing her things. She ran over to him and used her magic to lift it up into a real life position. Scootaloo let go of her braid and fell on the ground while she casually walked into the suit as if it were air. The mask was still down, allowing her face to be seen in the leather suit as she adjusted herself. For now.

Twilight cleared her throat and asked, "So why are you going Mystery Mare again?"

"Cadance and the Guard spotted another community of foals in The Crystal Empire," Rainbow explained as she zipped up the suit. "She said one of them was hurt and they didn't look healthy. They want me to come in and check things out since I'm the expert in this stuff."

"So—"

"Yes, Twilight." Rainbow put the hood over her head and said, "There are Therohs in The Crystal Empire. Now hold on." She turned around and raised her hooves for a moment before they all disappeared in a flash of black smoke. Heading for the Empire.

Author's Note:

I know, short chapter. I've been busy finishing up my novel. My real original works. I'm waiting for a ping back from a traditional publishing company, if they ever do that is. If they don't, then I'll have to go a different route to get my book into stores. I'm not too much of a fan of only Amazon. I like to go full out.

Mystery Scootaloo tomorrow by 8PM EST!Be ready! Nothing should come up for it to be delayed. But if something does, just pay attention to the blog.

Comments

[Golden Fang Ryu Shenron]

"Yep," Rainbow stated. "They. Saw. Everything. And his father just happened to know Spitfire, who knew me, and he made an educated guess that I was Rainbow Dash. After a quick explanation—"

"That involved tears!" Scootaloo interrupted from the back.

Rainbow sighed and said, "Yes, that involved some feelings, they promised they wouldn't say anything. They said that they didn't like me lying to them. They promised not to say a word, but they still did say they didn't like being lied to. That made me think that my fans may not like me lying to them if I carry this out any longer. So..."

Looks like Rainbow is finally gonna reveal herself to everypony....

Cadance turned to her guards with her wings outstretched, completely focused. "I need four of you with me, and four with my baby. Let's go. We need to know about this foal." Cadance turned and trotted down an adjacent alley, followed closely by four guards. Cadance peeked her head out and spotted the foal running out and heading down the street, heading further and further away from the castle. Once far enough, Cadance ran out and took to the air, landing on a roof and running across while keeping a close watch on the filly limping down the street. The guards were following along too, keeping a short distance away from her. After a few more minutes, the filly slowed down to a slow limp towards an old building that was all alone on the outskirts of town, huffing and puffing. The guards quickly ducked into alleys when she turned and looked around. Then knocked on the door in a pattern. It opened up a second later to let out three more foals who quickly helped her out of her harness. One of them was a colt and the other two were fillies.

They found the little camp, didn't they?

"Yes, Twilight." Rainbow put the hood over her head and said, "There are Therohs in The Crystal Empire. Now hold on." She turned around and raised her hooves for a moment before they all disappeared in a flash of black smoke. Heading for the Empire.

Oh crap, now its getting bad!

[Whinifree]

Rainbow not only needs but wants Twi’s help now? Does this mean amends are really truly being made? Now I’m wondering if PencilDash is having a certain dilemma for when she reveals herself to the public, ie the sparing Twi and the others from the public’s wrath by keeping secret it was them who drove her to hide herself kind of dilemma. First thing’s first though with the Therohs in the Crystal Empire!

[Theresa]

9127238
I think she putting up with her for the greater good. Friendship isn't part of the deal right now and cheap apologies aren't going to change anything.