Scootaloo loved the sensation of flying. She loved the feeling of the wind in her hair, and the way the gentle updrafts would ruffle her feathers. She was in heaven, cruising around the skies of Ponyville without a care in the world, and having complete control of her surroundings. Seeing that there were no obstructions for a few miles, Scootaloo began to close her eyes to fully enjoy the sensation.
“Hey, Scoots!” A faint voice called out to the orange Pegasus, although the sound of wind rushing past her ears muffled the voice.
“Scootaloo! I need to talk to you!” The voice was getting louder, but Scootaloo still disregarded it as merely the wind whistling past.
“Scootaloo! WATCH OUT!” The voice was much clearer now. It was almost as if it were right above her. Scootaloo opened her eyes just in time to see that she was heading straight for the ground. Thinking quickly, she maneuvered herself into a ninety degree angle and flapped her powerful wings, sending her back up to the skies.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only pony flying that day.
The other Pegasus let out a loud OOF when Scootaloo collided with her, sending both of them spinning into the cloud layer. After tearing through most of the clouds, the pair eventually slowed to a stop.
The other Pegasus coughed out a few pieces of cloud, and then turned to Scootaloo. “C’mon Scoots, what’s the big deal? Trying to get us both killed?” She began to shake her body side to side, trying to fling some of the precipitation off of her white fur, “You really need to start paying more attention. I mean, this is the fifth time this month that I’ve had to pull pieces of the cumulus layer out of my ears.”
“I’m sorry CB! Here, lemme‘ help you,” Scootaloo rushed to the Pegasus and began pulling bits of cloud out of her mane, “I was just enjoying myself a bit too much. I’ll try to be more careful next time.”
“It’s okay Scoots, I understand. I just want to stop meeting with you via collisions.”
“So what did you want my attention for anyway?” Scootaloo asked whilst combing her hoof through the pegasus’ teal mane.
The pegasus sat for a moment with her hoof at her chin, trying to remember why exactly she was there.
“Oh!” She exclaimed, throwing her hoof into the air, and just barely missing Scootaloo’s face, “I remember! I came to tell you that Mayor Mare has called all Ponyville residents to a town meeting inside the town hall! She seemed pretty anxious when she told me to come get you. But of course, she’s always been sort of anxious around me, ever since the mattress incident. Did I ever tell you about that story? It’s really aweso-”
Before the pegasus could finish her sentence, Scootaloo shoved a hoof into her mouth. It was best to stop this pony before she got started, else you’d never get away from her.
“Listen, CB, it can wait.”
“Oh, but It’s a really awesome sto-”
Scootaloo shook her head, “No, it can wait. Right now we should probably get to that meeting, if it’s as important as you said,” She turned towards Ponyville, and then back to her friend, “Race you there?”
“You bet!” An enormous smile spread across the pegasus’ face as she jumped into the air, “Last one there is a big fat chicken!”
“Hey! Wait up! We didn’t start fair!” Scootaloo shouted at her friend, who immediately shot towards the town. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and lept from the cloud. No way she was going to lose another race so soon.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had never seen so many ponies in one spot. Normally, when Ponyville held town meetings, only about half of the town attended. But today, there was hardly any breathing room.
“Where do ya think Scootaloo and Cloud Bounce are?” Applebloom asked Sweetie Belle whilst watching the sky.
Sweetie Belle turned from the sky and looked at the town clock tower. “Cloud left only about ten minutes ago, and she had no idea where Scootaloo was. We can’t expect her to come back right away.”
“But she IS the second fastest flier to live in Ponyville, right behind Rainbow Dash! It’s not like her to take this long for anything.” Applebloom had a hint of worry in her voice. She turned towards Sweetie Belle with wide eyes, “Ya don’t think that maybe ‘It’ got them too, do you?”
“Don’t be silly Applebloom, whatever it is that’s out there, it’s no match for Scootaloo and Cloud Bounce. Just be a little more patient, they’ll be here any seco-”
“INCOMING!” A voice came booming from the skies, causing everypony to look up. Two streaks were headed towards the town hall, one orange and one white, and they didn’t look like they were stopping anytime soon.
“See Applebloom, here they are now!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. She then realized the current situation, and turned towards her friend, “We should probably get out of the way.”
“Good idea.”
Everypony in the town hall immediately ran to one side, hoping to avoid being flattened by the racing pegasi. Everypony, except for the mayor, who had stepped out of the room for a moment, and was just now returning.
“What is the meaning of this? You’re acting as if the building is about to collapse!” The old tan mayor surveyed the scene with raised eyebrows, hoping to get an answer from one of the townsponies.
“Mayor Mare! Lookout!” Scootaloo cried, hoping to clear her landing zone.
The Mayor turned to get a glimpse of the two pegasi, just before they collided with her at full speed. The three ponies tumbled across the stage and landed behind the curtain.
For several minutes, the trio did not emerge, and raised voices emanated from behind the curtain. Finally, the mayor trotted back onto the stage, with the two mares close behind.
The mayor cleared her throat and approached the podium. “Okay everypony, it’s safe to return to the stage. You don’t have to worry about anymore falling pegasi.” The mayor shot a glance at Scootaloo and Cloud Bounce, making sure they weren’t slinking off anywhere, “Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called this meeting. Well, some of you have heard about the recent fire in Fillydelphia. Am I correct?”
Several ponies nodded their heads, some of them wearing frowns as they did so.
“Of course you have. It’s definitely not obscure news. But what is obscure news, is the fact that Manehattan just suffered the same fate.”
The entirety of city hall seemed to shake when everypony gasped at the same moment. Several ponies even fainted as soon as they heard the news.
“Manehattan... But that’s where Applejack went for the apple convention!” Applebloom exclaimed, “Has anyone heard if she’s alright?”
“Don’t worry Applebloom, we received a letter from her, along with several others. All of the letters will be delivered to their destinations after the meeting, but as of right now, we have more troubling matters to discuss,” The mayor turned to face behind the curtain, and began waving her hoof at somepony backstage, “Mister Copper? You’re free to take the podium.”
As the mayor stepped aside, a middle aged beige stallion slowly walked towards the front of the stage. He cleared his throat, and stood on his hind legs in order to see over the podium.
“Hello, my name is Copper Grand. I’m a miner, and I also travel a lot, usually to sell my findings. I’ve been to quite a few towns in my time, but Manehattan was one of the nicest towns around. They have pretty buildings, pretty carriages, pretty ponies,” The stallion lowered his head and chuckled lightly, “There was this one really pretty pony I met there. Name was Scarlet. Heck, she was one of the nicest creatures I’ve ever met, we hit it off right away an-”
The Mayor cleared her throat, and made a “get on with it” gesture towards Copper.
“Oh, right. Sorry about that, sometimes I get going on little tangents, forget what I was talking about and all that. Umm...” he tapped his hooves against the podium and looked up at the ceiling, trying to recollect his thoughts.
“Just tell us what you know about the fire, Mister Grand.” The mayor said with a snippy tone in her voice.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at the mayor. She seemed to be getting more irritable with each oncoming year, maybe it was about time for her to retire.
“Oh, right, the fire. I remember it vividly,” The stallion was still gazing upwards, as if his memories were visible on the ceiling, “Y’see, it was pretty darned late when all this went down. I was walking Scarlet back to her apartment, when suddenly we heard some sort of... explosion. We didn’t know what it was, but it sounded dangerous. I escorted her the rest of the way to her home, and then I ran to see if I could help in anyway.”
“What happened then?” The mayor chimed in, hoping to keep the stallion on track.
“While I was running to where the smoke was, here came another explosion! An’ then another! The whole town just started going to hell at that point. Buildings were fallin’ down every which way, ponies were gettin’ stuck underneath the wreckage, it was horrible. I figured that it would be a good idea to get Scarlet and get the heck out of dodge. Not the town, by the way,” He looked across the audience, making sure he clarified his saying. He then cleared his throat and continued, “I ran for what seemed like forever, trying to keep away from th’ explosions. But, when I got to her house... It... It was... The whole thing....”
Tears started to stream down the old stallion’s face, and he choked several times as he tried to salvage some of his masculinity.
Scootaloo turned to Cloud Bounce to see what she thought of the story thus far, but noticed that she was no longer at her side. Scootaloo turned back to the podium to find that the pegasus was already beside Copper, rubbing her hoof on his back.
“Hey, it’s okay, let it all out. Nopony’s gonna judge you,” She said softly, “You must have had a rough time.”
The stallion nodded slowly, and then raised his head. After wiping some tears away with his hoof, his expression turned to anger.
“I didn’t know what to do after that, other than run. I ran through the city, trying to find a way out. That’s when I saw... Him.” A large scowl spread across the stallions face, “I saw the one who did all of it. He was using his magic to cause fire to rain down onto the buildings. It was unholy and destructive, it was black magic.”
The building seemed to shake once again as the entire crowd gasped.
“But I thought that black magic was outlawed in Equestria!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed from somewhere in the crowd.
“I thought that too. Whoever this is, they must have learned such evils outside of Equestria,” The mayor turned back to Copper, “Now, please tell the audience exactly what you told me about this thing’s appearance.”
The stallion scanned the crowd for a moment, and finally let his eyes rest on a certain spot. “He looked... Like her.” He lifted his front leg and pointed towards a spot in the audience. A spot that was currently occupied by Zecora.
“What madness do you imply, to assume that the perpetrator resembled I?” The zebra asked in her rhyming pattern, “For all the years I’ve spent in this town, I’ve never heard of another zebra until now.”
“There was more to him than just stripes though. He had two horns, and some of his fur was solid colored. I think that he was some sort of a demon, sent to punish us!” The stallion slammed his hoof down onto the podium, and then started sobbing again, “Sent to punish my sweet Scarlet...”
“It’s alright Mister Grand, you may be excused now. You’ve been very informative,” Mayor Mare said as she ushered the old Stallion off the stage. She then returned to the podium and adjusted her glasses.
“Is this why guards have been coming to town?” A voice called out from the crowd.
“Yes, due to the fact that Ponyville is between Manehatten and Canterlot, the princess has ordered for a few brigades of the royal army to be stationed in Ponyville.”
The crowd began to groan at this bit of news, unhappy with the fact that they would have to share their town with military ponies.
“Now I know you aren’t thrilled about this development, but it’s the only way for us to prevent Ponyville from suffering the same fate as Manehatten. Once the threat has been taken care of, you can return to your normal lives,” Mayor Mare walked away from the podium, and approached the side of the stage closest to the door, “Now then, I want to thank you all for attending this meeting. When you exit the hall, speak with the Guards outside. They will inform you of who has been assigned to your homes, and what you should do if you notice strange behavior. Have a pleasant day.”
Eventually, almost everypony had left the room. Everypony except for Zecora, Mayor Mare, Scootaloo, and the rest of her friends. Mayor Mare had asked Scootaloo to gather her friends for an important meeting about the usage of the Elements of Harmony. Although she and her friends had inherited the Elements from the original keepers, Scootaloo had never actually made use of them, and merely treated hers as jewelry.
“So, I see that we’re all here,” Mayor Mare scanned the group as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom approached the stage, along with an orange earth stallion and a purple unicorn, “Why don’t we make our way back to my office?”
The group of ponies began to leave the stage, and walk into a side room. The room was fairly small, about the size of a normal office, and a large oak desk sat in the middle. The mayor took her place behind the desk and motioned the group towards her.
“Now, I know that most of you were at the meeting, but I’m sure some of you had important duties to attend to,” Mayor Mare glanced to the back of the group, looking at the two ponies who had just arrived, “Moon Trotter, Blaze, have you both been brought up to speed?”
The unicorn approached the desk, with the orange stallion at her side, “I apologize for missing the meeting, I was finishing up some work at the planetarium. But to answer your question, yes, the guards outside informed Blaze and I of the situation. It is quite the puzzle, trying to determine this demon’s identity, much less his motives.”
The stallion nodded his head, causing his fiery, unkempt mane to flow across his orange neck.
“Okay, good, that’s all I needed to know.” The mayor motioned the pair back into the group, and then faced Zecora, “Now, I’m glad that you brought up the point of this so called, ‘Demon Pony’. I’ve asked Zecora to join us, due to the fact that she shares some resemblance to him.”
Zecora took her place beside the desk, and faced the group. It had been quite a long time since Scootaloo had seen the zebra up close. As the years went on, she seemed to become more and more of a hermit. Sometimes she was known to stay in the Everfree forest for months, without any outside contact.
“So, Zecora, what do you think of the stallion’s description?”
Zecora pondered the question for a minute, and then raised her head towards the group, “While some of Copper's description might have been induced by fear, I know for sure that the being is not from here. My thoughts have also led me to believe, that this equine is not born of a demon seed. You see, in my country, our unicorns go by a different name. They are called the Abada, and black magic is their game”
“Well, even if he is proficient in black magic, what would he gain by destroying our cities? As far as I know, we haven’t wronged anyone outside of Equestria.”
“This is, most definitely, a puzzling thought. As far as I know, my country likes yours a lot. Perhaps this criminal is fighting alone, for an agenda not related to his home.”
This seemed to pique Moon Trotters interest, and she began to step towards the desk again.
“You think that perhaps he is operating with hidden motive?”
“His motivation is still not clear, but perhaps he’s fighting for something he holds dear.”
“You're right, the idea of a personal agenda is highly plausible,” Moon Trotter tapped her hoof against her chin, deep in thought. Suddenly, she dropped her hoof to the ground and looked at the mayor with wide eyes.
“I take it you have an idea, Trotter?” The Mayor was used to this look by now. Anytime Moon Trotter’s eyes became the size of dinner plates, she had figured something out.
“I do indeed! Tell me, what do the guards plan on doing with the Abada, should they overwhelm him?”
“Well, from my understanding, they’re planning on neutralizing the threat, even if it means killing him. That’s why they asked that I recruit you six to use the elements, since it’ll be quite a brawl.”
“Well, what if, instead of killing him, we captured and interrogated him? Perhaps we could determine his motive, and learn of any other allies of his in the area!”
“Well, Trotter, that’s a good idea, but first you’ll need to incapacitate the being. From what we’ve seen so far, that won’t be-”
Before Mayor Mare could finish her sentence, the door to her office burst open, sending splinters and chunks of wood everywhere. A panting guard entered the room, and pushed the group in front of the desk aside.
“Miss Mayor,” The stallion paused for a moment to take a gulp of fresh air, he had obviously ran to the city hall faster than he was used to, “We have a big problem.”
“Well calm down and catch your breath,” The mayor walked around the desk and stood beside the stallion. She waited for him to stop panting before resuming the conversation, “Now, what’s going on?”
“T-The demon pony! We’ve spotted him! He’s no more than a mile away!”
“Sweet Celestia! He’s here already!?” The mayor exclaimed, dropping her glasses in the panic, “But he just attacked Manehatten yesterday! It normally takes five days to get here!”
“We know, Miss Mayor, but that’s not the problem. We need to know if the elements are ready to be used,” The stallion turned towards Scootaloo, “Are they?”
“W-Well I-” Scootaloo stuttered, ashamed of the fact that she had no idea how to use her element. She always assumed it would just come to her at the right time.
“We didn’t even begin discussing them, sir. But that’s beyond the point now,” Moon Trotter approached the stallion, wearing a bold expression on her face, “We have a problem at hand, and we’re ready to deal with it no matter what.”
Scootaloo sighed. Moon Trotter had her heart in the right place, but she agreed to face any challenge too easily. Of course, Scootaloo was in no place to distrust her group’s leader. After all, she did represent the Element of Loyalty.
“Well then, Commander Dash has ordered your group to the rear barricades, as a last defense. We’d better get a move on!” The stallion began to race out the door once again.
“Did you say Dash!?” Scootaloo rushed to block the door, hoping to stall the stallion.
“Yes, Commander Rainbow Dash, former holder of the Element of Loyalty. Now come on, we don’t have all day!”
Scootaloo didn’t know what to say. She was going to be fighting alongside her life-long hero, the fastest pony in Equestria! This was definitely going to be an easy victory.