One of the cutie mark Crusades has a big surprise install for them. And what will happen when 6 special ponies are thrust together into a world of chaos? Will they be able to fend for themselves? And will they ever be able to get back home.
Scootaloo has a very big surprise waiting for her. And what will happen when 6 special ponies are thrust together into a world of darkness and chaos, will they be able to fend for themselves properly? And will they ever get back home?
It's my first story so please, don't dislike just because of a few spelling or grammar mistakes. Comment below and I'll try to fix them. Thank you for your consideration. Thanks for Lisa and Faye for being great editors.
It seemed like just a normal day for Applebloom. She struggled to get up from her bed and get ready for school on time; she couldn't find all the things needed to go into her saddlebag, or her actual saddlebag for that matter. Applejack came into Applebloom's room 10 minutes before school started to find a very frustrated Applebloom looking for her saddlebag. "Watcha' doin' there Sugar Cube? School starts in ten minutes."
Applebloom stopped her frantic searching long enough to look up to Applejack and take in a deep breath."Ah'm about to be late for school, ah can't find my saddlebag, Ah'm still tired from last night because ah didn't get a very good sleep, Ah've got lots of homework that ah need to do but don't have the time because ah'ma too busy helping you'll on the farm and ah still haven't got my CUTIE MARK." Applebloom let out the breath she had been holding.
Applejack smiled at her sister in amusement, and then took in her own deep breath. "Applebloom you still have plenty of time to get ready for school, ah saw your saddlebag on top of a chair downstairs, you're only tired because you decided that it would be fun to have a Cutie Mark Crusades meeting last night. If you want, you can always tell us that you have homework to do and you won't have to do as many chores, and as I've told you before, you will get your cutie mark when you get it. You just can't force it."
Applebloom looked at her sister for a second with a puzzled expression before bolting down the stairs to retrieve her saddlebag. Applejack smiled to herself before casually trotting down the stairs and out into the yard to begin her long day of work on the farm.
To Sweetie Belle, today seemed like the worst of days. Sweetie woke up late and was already late for school. Rarity was yelling at Sweetie Belle to hurry up even though she already was. She forgot to study last night because Applebloom decided to call a Cutie Mark Crusades meeting last night, and she hadn't even had the time this morning to try something different to get her cutie mark.
"WHY AREN'T YOUR READY YET!?" Rarity yelled at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle decided not to grace Rarity with an answer, instead she continued to stuff things into her saddlebag while trying to eat a bowl of cereal at the same time. This resulted with cereal and milk covering the floor and a very untidy saddlebag.
"HURRY UP!" Yelled Rarity at Sweetie Belle.
"Ok, ok, I'm leaving. See you tonight sis." Sweetie Belle said as she unceremoniously bolted out the front door to get to school, but mainly to shut Rarity up. When she was gone, Rarity collapsed on the couch thinking to herself how Sweetie Belle got so lazy.
Scootaloo woke up thinking that this would be an amazing day. She was ready for school on time for once, she remembered everything to take to school and she even amazed herself when she got a few hours of study in after the Cutie Mark Crusades meeting last night. Scootaloo was ready so early that she had time to go down and watch Rainbow Dash practice her new moves.
Scootaloo admires Rainbow Dash in every single way. She wishes that she would be like her some day. The second the thought popped into her head, Scootaloo sadly looked behind her at her wings and realised once again that she could never be like Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had never flown before and probably never would because her wings were too small too carry her weight. Scootaloo felt tears swelling in her eyes and quickly brushed them away before her idol saw her crying, not that Rainbow was paying any attention to her, she was too busy focusing on her new tricks to even know that she was being watched. With a heavy heart, Scootaloo turned around and slowly started heading towards her school, but brightened up as soon as she saw her best friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle talking around the playground.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle turned around at the same time and saw Scootaloo walking though the front gate into the school. The three friends started running towards each other at the same time. When they reached each other they muzzled each other affectionately. After they had exchanged pleasantries, Scootaloo looked at both Applebloom's and Sweetie Belle's flank while they did the same to her. She sighed when she realised that neither of them had their cutie marks yet and she heard them do the same when they saw she had a blank flank as well. They looked at each other and Applebloom was about to say something when the school bell rang. The three Cutie Mark Crusaders ran inside to see what the teacher had planned for them today.
"Today we will be learning about cutie marks, everypony." Cheerliee said happily as she entered the classroom after the children.
"Boring." said Diamond Tiara.
"So boring." agreed Silver Spoon.
The Crusaders ignored them and pulled out their books and pens. They wrote down everything that Cheerliee taught them that lesson, as it might help them all get their own cutie marks sooner. In what seemed like only five minutes for the Crusaders, but what seemed like five hours for the bullies(Diamond and Sliver), the bell went and everypony went outside for snack.
As they were leaving, Diamond Tiara talked louder then necessary as she said, "Why did we have to sit though that boring lesson on cutie marks when everypony already has one?". She glanced back at the three fillies who had undoubtedly heard her and said, "Well, almost everypony.", and started laughing at her own joke. Silver Spoon was quick to catch on and started laughing when she realised that the three fillies had heard them talking.
Applebloom was about to say something back when Cheerliee appeared behind her and said, "Don't worry about them, they'll stop soon. And if they don't I'll have a talk with their parents about their behaviour."
Applebloom smiled warmly at their teacher while Sweetie Belle giggled at the thought of them getting what they deserved and Scootaloo said her thanks. Cheerliee nodded once and went off to make sure nopony else needed her help.
"She's such a great teacher, isn't she." said Applebloom as they walked over to the swing set together.
"She's made school so much more enjoyable." Agreed Scootaloo, while Sweetie Belle merely nodded her agreement. She was still lost in thought, thinking about the two bullies getting yelled at by Cheerliee and then their parents. She was brought out of her trance when she realised that Applebloom had asked her a question.
"Sorry, what did you say Applebloom?" ,Sweetie Belle asked.
"Ah said, what do you think we should do next to get our cutie marks?"
"Skydiving." answered Scootaloo.
Scootaloo really just wanted a chance to talk to Rainbow Dash, who they would undoubtedly ask to supervise to make sure nothing happened while they were skydiving and if something did, so she could rescue them.
"That's a great idea." responded Applebloom.
"Yeah, and we can ask Rainbow Dash to help us and make sure nothing happens." added Sweetie Belle.
"Let go." finished Scootaloo with a smile.
The three fillies went up to Cheerliee and asked if they could go find Rainbow to help them with a project. Cheerliee smiled and told them to go right ahead. So the Cutie Mark Crusadere set out on a quest to find one Rainbow Dash. They didn't have to go far as Scootaloo always seemed to know where Rainbow trained or rested. They first went to her house and sure enough there she was, practising some of her newly developed moves. The three fillies patiently waited until Dash had completed her routine, then spoke up.
"RAINBOW DASH!"
Dash quickly turned around to find three very expectant looking fillies staring at her. She quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead with a masculine forearm before beginning her descent. She landed and looked at the fillies quickly before saying,
"If it isn't my favourite fan, and her Cutie Mark Crusader friends." This got a blush out of Scootaloo, while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle just smiled.
"What can I do for you." asked Rainbow in a pleasant tone.
"We were wondering if you would be willing to teach us how to skydive and to supervise it to make sure nothing goes wrong.", answered Scootaloo, still slightly blushing.
Rainbow noticed the blush but decided not to comment, instead she smiled warmly at the young pegasus and said. "Anything for my favourite fan." Earning another blush from the little filly.
Rainbow Dash had a spot in her heart for this filly because she knew that the only thing she wanted to do more than become Rainbow herself, was to be able to fly. The older pegasus felt tears welling in her eyes and forced them down before somepony saw them.
Rainbow Dash looked down at the filly once more and couldn't take it. She scooped up Scootaloo and plopped her on her own back before saying. "Do you want to fly?"
Scootaloo's expression changed from confused to sadness almost instantly. "I can't.", replied Scoot.
Rainbow could see she was trying to force tears back. Rainbow smiled. "Sure you can." Scootaloo had enough time to look surprised before Rainbow launched herself into the air. She heard Scootaloo give a little yelp of surprise before she realised what was happening.
Soon the young filly was screaming out in delight as she was taken higher and higher into the sky. Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself from bursting into a massive grin over the little filly's delight. Rainbow's grin widened as she had an idea. She looked behind her at the little orange filly as said. "You wanna go faster Scoots?." Scootaloo's smile widened more than Rainbow thought was possible. Scootaloo nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Ok, then.", replied the older pegasus, before aiming her body straight down towards the ground. The orange filly squealed in delight as they continued to increase their speed. What seemed like just mere moments before they hit the ground, Rainbow started going back up. They continued to do that several more times before Rainbow landed on the ground and helped the little filly off her back.
"That was amazing." said Scootaloo, her heart still pounding.
"No problem kid." replied Rainbow Dash. "I should of done that a long time ago."
Rainbow barely had time to prepare herself before she was tackled to the ground in a hug from Scootaloo. They rolled around a few time before Rainbow started laughing. The little ball of fur hugging her only squeezed tighter. After a few minutes of this Rainbow Dash stopped laughing and listened. Too her surprise she heard that Scootaloo was crying.
Rainbow got a worried look on her face and looked down at the little filly still clinging on to her and asked, "What's wrong Scoots, I thought we had a good time?"
"We did." came the reply from the little ball of orange fur. Rainbow looked confused and was about to ask why she was crying when Scootaloo continued. "That's the nicest thing anypony has ever done for me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.", Scootaloo kept saying and Rainbow blushed and felt herself about to cry as well.
"That's ok." was all Rainbow could manage before her voice gave out. She stopped talking before she burst into tears as well. The thought that that was the nicest thing anyone had done for her made Rainbow Dash's heart melt. She looked down at the little filly holding her with loving eyes before returning the hug.
They stayed like that for a couple of hours before Scootaloo stopped crying. Soon the other fillies returned to school with the reassurance that Rainbow Dash would look after their friend. The two pegasi stayed like that for most of the day; embracing each other while just laying on the soft green grass with a clear blue sky above them and the sun warming their chests in Rainbows case, or their back in Scootaloo's.
It was a perfect day for both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.
"You know," Rainbow Dash started to say when the sun was setting. "If you wanna, we could do things like this more often."
Scootaloo immediately looked up the larger pegisi with wide eyes. "Really?" Said an astonished Scootaloo, she had assumed that this was a one time thing.
"Really, really." Replied Rainbow. Scootaloo thought to herself yet again that this was the best day of her life. "Come on, Scoots. You can sleep with me tonight if you want to."
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash before bursting into tears again. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Sobbed the young filly.
Rainbow carried the still crying filly back into her house and gently set her down on a cloud bed. Rainbow Dash lied down next to the crying filly for a couple of hours, and waited for the her to stop crying and and fall to sleep. When she was sure that Scoots was asleep she started making a cloud staircase from her floating house to the ground so the filly could reach the ground herself if Rainbow wasn't there to help her. After that was complete she went to head off to make sure that Scootaloo's parents knew what was happening and then realised that she was an orphan. Rainbow Dash felt herself about to cry once more but forced the tears back yet again.
Scootaloo was an orphan, her parents had died in a terrible cart accident just after she had been born. Scootaloo had grown up never knowing her parents, or any family members for that matter. When Scootaloo's parents died, Scootaloo had no other family members so Scootaloo had been sent to the orphanage. She had lived her whole life in that orphanage, aside from the times she had been offered shelter in one of her friend's houses. But to make matters worse, Scootaloo would never be able to fly. She had a condition with her wings that made it impossible to fly. Her wings were so small, and the muscles surrounding the wings were very weak, so Scootaloo's only dream to become like her idol Rainbow Dash had been destroyed. Rainbow always had a spot in her heart for the young filly because of all the things that she had been though and yet still was happier than most of the other filly's and colts her age. Rainbow couldn't imagine what it would be like to grow up never knowing who your parents were or what they did for a living. Every time Rainbow thought of this it made her feel sad for Scootaloo but also for the parents that were killed in the accident just after Scootaloo was born. Rainbow had considered adopting the young filly but thought otherwise after she realised that she had no experience doing that type of stuff, so she had settled for watching over the young filly as she grew older. But now as Rainbow was thinking this a thought popped into her head. She went back inside and looked at the orange filly ball on her bed and thought. "How hard could it be?"
When Scootaloo woke up she found a very nervous looking Rainbow Dash waiting for her at the kitchen table. Scootaloo got worried that something might have happened. She forced herself up off the bed and sat in a chair next to Rainbow. Rainbow turned to look at Scootaloo sitting next to her and tried to work out how she would start it. "Ahhh, Scoots."
"Yeah Rainbow, is something wrong?"
Rainbow took in a deep breath. "What's it like being an orphan?"
Scootaloo looked at her for a second before the realisation of what she said hit. Scootaloo's head immediately dropped to the ground before mumbling something. Rainbow had to strain her ears to listen but still only understood a few words. "Just wish....parents....want someone....look after me."
Rainbow filled in the blanks and turned to Scootaloo, Rainbow raised Scootaloo's head so that she was looking directly at her and said. "How would you like me to look after you?"
Scootaloo eyes got a hopeful look as she asked. "Do you mean, like..... adoption?"
Rainbow smiled warmly at Scootaloo before saying. "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."
Rainbow Dash was knocked off her chair by another hug from Scootaloo. Even though Rainbow thought it was impossible at this point, Scootaloo started crying yet again.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
This time Rainbow didn't even try to hold the tears back, they both cried into each other. They stayed like that for hours, Scootaloo's whole body being racked from her heavy sobs while Rainbow's tears were gently streaming down her face.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had decided that they would go down to Rainbow Dash's house to see if the two pegisi where still there. "Hello, anypony home?" Called Applebloom from below Rainbow Dash's house.
The two fillies waited a couple of seconds before trying again. This time a very happy looking Rainbow Dash poked her head out of her front door and looked around. Upon seeing the little ponies looking up at her expectantly, Rainbow called out.
"Yeah, what do you need filly's?"
This time it was Sweetie Belle who called out. "We were just wondering if Scootaloo was still here?"
"Should I tell them?" thought Rainbow Dash to herself. I better ask Scoots first.
"Give me a sec." Replied Rainbow before going back inside and finding a very happy Scootaloo eating a bowl of cereal.
"Hey Scoots, your two friends are outside asking to see you. Do you want to tell them what's happening?"
Scootaloo was nodding even before Rainbow had finished, then Scootaloo responded hastily. "I mean only if you want to sis?"
Rainbow and Scootaloo had decided that Rainbow would adopt Scootaloo as a sister and not as a mother. Rainbow smiled warmly at her new sister. "Of course, I'd love to tell them."
Scootaloo quickly finished her breakfast and hurried down the cloud stairs that Rainbow had made for her. Rainbow simply jumped just down from her house and caught herself with her wings just before she hit the ground.
"Guess what! Guess what!" Yelled Scootaloo as she jumped down the last few steps landing a few metres away from her friends.
"YOU GOT YOUR CUTIE MARK!!!" Screamed a delighted Applebloom and Sweetie Belle at the same time.
"No, even better." Responded Scootaloo as she raced towards her friends. Her two friends looked at each other confused for a second before Applebloom piped up.
"What could be better than getting your cutie mark?"
"Getting a new sister!" Replied Scootaloo wearing the biggest grin that Rainbow thought she had ever seen.
It took a moment to sink in before Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked first at Scootaloo and then at Rainbow Dash, who were both wearing massive grins.
Before the two fillies could say anything, Rainbow said "Don't go telling anypony yet though, we want to tell them all ourselves." Applebloom looked like she was about to explode, while Sweetie Belle was a little bit annoyed that she wouldn't be able to tell her sister the good news but completely forgot almost straight away as she realised that Scootaloo now had a sister. Scootaloo had never had a single family member since she was just a little filly.
"Now run along, Scoots and I are going to tell everypony the good news." The fillies looked a little shut down but smiled again at the good news and started bouncing away.
"You ready Scoots?" Rainbow asked her little sister.
Scootaloo looked up at her big sister. "Ready when you are sis!"
So Rainbow Dash popped the little filly on her back and took off into the sky to look for their friends.
They went to Applejack's first as they thought that the little filly's might not keep their promise about not telling anypony. They landed in front of the barn and Rainbow knocked a few times while Scootaloo hopped off her back. Big Mac opened the door and looked at the two ponies expectantly.
"Is Applejack around here somewhere Big Mac?"
"Eeyep." Replied Big Mac before pointing down to the apple trees where they cold see Applejack bucking the trees and making all the apples fall into the baskets surrounding the tree.
"Thanks Big Mac." Rainbow Dash said before scooping the little filly onto her back and flying down to see Applejack.
"Hey AJ. What's happening?" Rainbow asked.
Applejack stopped bucking and looked at the two ponies coming towards her. "Hi there sugar cube." Applejack responded before she realised that there was a pony on Rainbow Dash's back.
"Whatcha' all doing out this aways'?"
Rainbow Dash landed in front of Applejack before looking over her shoulder and saying. "Do you want to tell her, or should I?"
Scootaloo hopped off her back before looking at her. "You should. She's your friend." Rainbow smiled before turning back to Applejack.
"What's goin' on?" Asked Applejack when she saw the exchange between the two ponies.
"What's going on is that I've got a new sister, that's what." Replied Rainbow.
Applejack had a look of surprise before she smiled at the two ponies. "We'll I'll be!" Was all Applejack could manage.
The ponies stood like that for a few moments before Applejack asked. "When did this happen?" "About two hours ago." Answered a smiling Rainbow Dash.
"We'll I'll be." Applejack said again. It seemed that was all she could manage to say at the moment. The ponies stood there for another few moments before Scootaloo broke the silence.
"Come on Rainbow lets go tell everypony else." Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo before she turned back to Applejack.
"Gotta' go, see ya later AJ." With that Scootaloo hoped up on Rainbows back and took off into the air.
"We'll I'll be." Applejack said to herself as she watched the ponies fly away.
"Who next?" Asked Rainbow as they were flying to the town.
"Rarity of course. Sweetie Belle is probably on her way to tell her right now." Scootaloo replied.
"That's true." Said Rainbow Dash. "Rarity it is then."
They landed in front of Rarity's shop to find that they had beaten Sweetie Belle, or she had kept her promise, because they saw Rarity hanging out her washing out the front of her shop. Rarity turned to look at them and smiled when she saw Scootaloo on Rainbow's back.
"I swear you two are sisters some times." Said Rarity as she turned back around to keep pegging up her clothes.
"That's what we came here to tell you actually." Rarity spun around so fast, half the washing came off the line and landed in the dirt, but Rarity didn't even notice as her full attention was on Rainbow Dash.
"What did you just say?" Asked a very wide eyed looking Rarity.
"We're sisters now." Responded Rainbow. Before either of the ponies could do anything, they were tackled to the ground by a hug from Rarity.
"When did this happen? Why did you decide now? Why didn't you tell me straight away? Are you both living together yet? Is everything finalised?" Rarity bombarded the two ponies with questions so fast that between the two of them, they still couldn't answer all the questions before Rarity came up with a new one.
"Calm down Rarity, don't start going crazy." That comment from Rainbow Dash at least stopped Rarity's bombardment of questions, but she still had a crazy look in her eyes. The look slowly faded as Rarity took control of her emotions.
"I'm so sorry I got so carried away there." Apologised Rarity.
"That's quite ok, but would you mind getting off me, you're kind of hurting my wings." Replied Rainbow Dash.
Rarity blushed before hopping off the two ponies. Rarity opened her mouth to ask another question before Rainbow held up a hoof. "No more questions yet. Let's go inside and calm down a bit first."
The three ponies went inside Rarity's shop and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo explained to Rarity everything that had happened. As they were explaining it Sweetie Belle arrived and sat down with them and listened intently. After they had explained what happened they said their goodbyes and left Rarity's shop.
When they were outside Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash. "Who now?" "Might as well go tell Twilight next. Her house is right near to Rarity's." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Ok." Was all Scootaloo said.
Since it was so close the two decided that they would walk. They started up a casual conversation about stuff like Scootaloo moving into Rainbow house and when. The responses were yes and now. Rainbow smiled at the younger pegisi's excitement. They were standing outside Twilight's house when they finished their conversation. This time it was Scootaloo who knocked on the door.
They heard a very frustrated Twilight. "Spike, get the door!"
Rainbow and Scootaloo looked at each other, and were about to leave when Spike opened the door. He smiled when he saw who it was and welcomed them inside and warned them about Twilight. He told them that she was in heat.
Rainbow mouthed "ohhhh" and Scootaloo looked at them both in confusion.
Rainbow leaned down next to Scootaloo and said. "I'll tell you later." Scootaloo nodded her agreement. Together they walked into the library and saw Twilight looking very flustered as she read though a book about Celestia knows what.
"Hey Twi." Rainbow said when they saw her. Upon hearing her good friend's voice she turned around to greet them.
"Hello Rainbow Dash, and hello Scootaloo. What brings you here?"
Rainbow exchanged a smile with Scootaloo and responded casually. "Not much Twi, just came here to see if you had a book on the steps involved in adopting somepony."
Twilight nodded and started looking though the shelves of books she had stacked around. "I'm sure I had one around her somewhere. Just give me a second to find it."
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both suppressing giggles as Twilight looked around for the book. "She's so easy to get." Thought Rainbow as she watched a completely oblivious Twilight look for the book.
"Ahhh, here it is." Said Twilight as she took a small book off the shelf and handed it to Rainbow Dash.
"Cool, thanks Twi." Rainbow Dash turned to leave before stopping upon hearing Twilight finally ask.
"Rainbow Dash. Why do you want a book on adopting pony's anyway?"
Rainbow Dash smirked but hid it before turning around to look at Twilight. "Oh, you know. I just adopted Scootaloo unofficially but I wanted to know what to do to make it official."
Twilight smiled, not realising what Rainbow had just said because of the casual manner she used. "Ok, then. I hope it all turns out for the best."
"Thanks Twi, I hope so as well. See ya later."
"Bye." Rainbow Dash quickly picked up Scootaloo and flew into the air before Twilight had a chance to stop them.
As they were flying away they heard Twilight scream. "WHAT?! WAIT, GET BACK HERE RAINBOW DASH!" Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo started to laugh so hard that their insides hurt.
"Where to next?" Asked Scootaloo.
"I vote Fluttershy, Pinkie will want to throw us a party and I'd rather tell everypony before she throws a party." Said Rainbow Dash.
"Agreed." Seconded Scootaloo. So the two pegisi went off to Fluttershy's cottage.
They landed outside Fluttershy's cottage just as the sun began to set. It was a beautiful sight, and it made it even better when they heard soft singing coming from within the cottage. Fluttershy had a beautiful voice but would only sing to her animals and when she was sure that no pony would hear her. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo waited just outside Fluttershy's cottage, listening to her beautiful soft singing while watching the sun set over a beautiful valley with a little hill just where the sun was setting, making the small valley glow a light red. It was a truly beautiful sight.
They heard Fluttershy stop singing and heard her open the front door. She gave a cute little "eeypp" when she saw that she wasn't alone. Instead of asking why they were here she went over and sat down next to Scootaloo and watched the sun set before finally asking what they were doing here.
"We came here to tell you that I'm going to adopt Scootaloo as my little sister." Said Rainbow Dash handing Fluttershy the book without taking her eyes off the last of the sunrise.
To their surprise Fluttershy didn't say anything, she just took the book and started looking through it. After a few minutes Fluttershy handed the book back and looked at the two ponies and smiled.
"I always knew that there was something bigger between the two of you than just friendship. When did you two decide to become sisters?" Fluttershy said warmly, still wearing a smile.
"Just this morning." Replied Scootaloo.
Rainbow unconsciously drew Scootaloo closer towards her and into a hug. Fluttershy smiled brightly when she saw Rainbow draw Scootaloo into a hug. Fluttershy plopped herself on the other side of Scootaloo and leaned against her as well. They stayed like that for an hour or two. The three of them just blankly starring ahead until Rainbow and Scootaloo heard Fluttershy begin to sing softly. Fluttershy continued to sing for another 20 or 30 minutes until they both heard the sound of Scootaloo's breathing begin to deepen and the sound of her soft snoring. Fluttershy quietly said her congratulations to Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash responded appropriately and thanked Fluttershy before taking Scootaloo to their house. When Scootaloo was sound asleep in her bed, Rainbow flew out once more, this time to see Pinkie Pie.
When Rainbow got to Sugar Cube Corner, she went into Mr and Mrs cakes shop and quietly rang the bell to see if anypony was awake. Mrs Cake came to the counter and smiled when she saw Rainbow. "What can I do for you, Rainbow?" Mrs Cake asked sweetly.
"I was just wondering if Pinkie Pie was still awake?" Asked Rainbow quietly, not sure if anypony else was awake.
Mrs Cake shook her head softly. "I'm sorry dear, Pinkie just went to bed." Rainbow was a little disappointed, as much a she found Pinkie annoying at times, she was still one of Dash's closest friends and Rainbow thought that she should know.
"Would you like me to give her a message when she wakes up?" This brightened up Rainbow a bit.
"Yes, thank you Mrs Cake. Could you please tell her that I'm going to adopt a certain filly by the name of Scootaloo."
Mrs Cake smiled at Rainbow. "That's lovely dear. I'll be sure to tell her. And congratulations."
Rainbow smiled. "Thank you Mrs Cake. I'm sorry for such a late visit by the way. I was busy telling everypony else."
Mrs Cake smiled again at Rainbow. "No trouble at all dear. I'm always happy to hear good news, no matter when it is."
Rainbow nodded. "I better be off, it's getting pretty late now, and I'm sure that you're as tired as I am."
Mrs Cake yawned at Rainbow's comment. "Yes, yes I am. I'll be sure to tell Pinkie as soon as she wakes up."
As Rainbow turned to leave she said. "Thank you again Mrs Cake. If you ever need any help around the shop I'm usually free." Mrs Cake nodded and turned to go upstairs to bed while Rainbow walked out of the shop and took off into the air.
Rainbow landed outside her front door and slowly opened it, not wanting to disturb the sleeping filly. As Rainbow Dash walked though the front door she could hear Scootaloo softly snoring. She walked down the hall and peered into her bedroom to find Scootaloo curled up into a filly ball with the blanket draped over the top of lower body. Rainbow Dash smiled to herself before quietly entering the room and lying down next to the little filly and draping one of her wings over Scootaloo's body before falling to sleep herself.
Rainbow Dash woke up before Scootaloo, but decided not to wake her up or move in case she disturbed her. So Rainbow just laid down and listened to Scootaloo's heavy breathing. Rainbow and Scootaloo stayed like that for about an hour before Scootaloo slowly started to wake up. Scootaloo turned her sleepy head towards Rainbow Dash to see if she was awake. Scootaloo smiled at Rainbow when she realised that Rainbow was wide awake.
"You're finally awake." Rainbow Dash said sweetly.
Scootaloo just smiled at her sister. "Hey Rainbow." Scootaloo started.
"Yeah Scoots."
"Are we going to finalise the adoption today?" Rainbow Dash smiled at her sister. Rainbow could see how waiting too long to finalise the adoption could make Scootaloo nervous; she just didn't want Rainbow to change her mind about adopting her.
"Don't worry Scoots. I still want you as a sister, I always will. And to answer your question, yes we are going to finalise the adoption today."
Rainbow smiled at her younger sister when she saw how relived Scootaloo looked.
"You ready to get up yet?" Dash asked a still very sleepy looking orange filly.
"Ummmmm." Was the only answer Dash got. Rainbow slowly slipped out of the bed and walked out of the bedroom making sure to carefully close the door behind her.
Rainbow Dash walked down her stairs to the kitchen to make breakfast for herself and her sister. She started cooking pancakes while setting out the table for two. It felt weird setting the table for two people after living alone for so long thought Rainbow as she set the table by laying out plates, knifes, forks and cups for both of them. Rainbow went back to the pancakes to make sure that they hadn't been burnt. A quick check proved that they still needed a few more minutes before they were ready. She set herself busy putting the maple syrup, sugar and butter on the table. Dash went back over to the pancakes and started pulling them out of the pan and putting them on the plates that she had set out before. Scootaloo chose that exact moment to come trotting down the stairs, still a little groggy.
Scoots raised her head a little higher as the smell of pancakes drifted her way. "Mmmm, something smells good. Are you cooking pancakes Rainbow?"
Rainbow turned to look at Scootaloo before responding. "Yeah, I hope you like em' kid, I haven't cooked in a while."
Scootaloo smiled at her sister proudly. "Everything you do is good. I'm sure that they'll taste great."
Rainbow smiled back at her sister's encouragement before setting the plate on the table in front of herself and Scootaloo. "I hope so too." Replied Rainbow before she started digging into her pancakes.
Scootaloo started to do the same as soon as she realised that she was allowed to eat. In the orphanage where Scootaloo used to live, she used to have to wait until she was told she could start eating. "I'll have to get used to this." Mused Scootaloo to herself as she began eating her own pancakes.
"Mmmmm, these taste great." Said Scootaloo aloud.
"Thanks Scoots. I like them if I do say so myself." They both sat and ate their pancakes in silence, both content just to be in each other's company.
"You finished?" Asked Rainbow as she went to take Scootaloo's plate to the sink.
"Yeah, but let me do that for you sis. You cook I'll clean."
Rainbow Dash looked at her sister in surprise. "Thanks kid." Rainbow sat back down and watched Scootaloo clean and put away everything.
When Dash saw that Scootaloo had finished, she stood up and went over to the door and called out. "Hey, Scoots. You wanna come with me to finalise the adoption or do you want to wait here for me to get back?"
Scootaloo jumped up from where she had been sitting on the couch and raced over to the door. "WAIT. I want to come. I wanna say good bye to everyone I know there and of course I want to see Cheerliee again."
Rainbow just looked at her sister in amusement while thinking to herself how alike she had been at that age. "Come on then." Scootaloo climbed onto Rainbows back, and Rainbow jumped off her house and flew straight to the orphanage. Rainbow landed in the yard so Scoot could easily find her friends, while Rainbow went into the classroom to look for Cheerliee to talk about adopting Scootaloo.
Scootaloo ran up to a group of colts and fillies playing together. When they saw her coming they all ran up to her to see where she had been for the past two days. "I've been with Rainbow Dash. She's going to adopt me as her little sister."
Everypony was congratulating her at once. "Really?!" "Have fun at your new home!" We'll miss you!" "Promise us you'll come and visit us sometime!" Scootaloo acknowledged all her friends and then quietly excused herself to go find Cheerliee.
Rainbow Dash walked into the classroom and saw Cheerliee sitting at her desk going though some papers Rainbow assumed were homework.
"Hey." Cheerliee stopped what she doing and turned to looked at the blue pegasus.
"Hello there Rainbow Dash. What brings you to the orphanage? And if you don't mind me asking, I've heard a rumour that Scootaloo has been staying with you. Is that true?"
Rainbow smiled at Cheerliee, she always seemed to know what was going on.
"The exact matter of why I'm here. How would I go about adopting Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked.
Cheerliee put on the biggest smile Rainbow had ever seen. "I had hoped that was why you came here today." Then the impossible happened. Cheerliee's smile got even bigger. "Not much really, all you have to do is fill out a bit of paperwork and have someone who can vouch for you to agree you'll be a good parent, but I can do that for you if you want."
Rainbow smiled. "Thank you, that would be great. But I'm going to adopt her as a sister, not a mother."
"Ohhhh," Cheerliee silently mouthed. "Ok then, I'll just go and get the paperwork."
Rainbow nodded at Cheerliee. "Thank you Cheerliee. See you soon." As Cheerliee left Scootaloo entered the classroom.
"Hey sis, have you seen Cheerliee around here?" Rainbow turned to look at her little sister.
"Yeah, she's just gone to get the paperwork I need to fill out."
Scootaloo smiled. "Do you mind if I wait here with you so I can make sure I'll see Cheerliee before I go?"
Rainbow smiled back warmly at her soon to be younger sister. "Of course I don't mind." Scootaloo's smile got even bigger when she heard Dash's response. Cheerliee came out just after that carrying only about 5 sheets of paper.
"This is going to be quicker than I thought." Rainbow Dash thought to herself when she saw there wasn't much paperwork at all.
"Hello there Scootaloo. Are you excited to have a new sister?" Cheerliee asked warmly.
Scootaloo beamed at Cheerliee. "Yeah, we're going to have the best time together. I just can't wait until it's official."
Cheerliee smiled back at the young filly. While this was happening Rainbow had already started working on the paperwork that needed to be filled out. "You can go say goodbye to your friends Scoots. This will only take out five minutes."
Scootaloo nodded and went over to Cheerliee and hugged her. "Thank you for everything Cheerliee, I really had a great time here." Cheerliee hugged the orange filly back. "No, thank you Scootaloo. It wouldn't have been the same without you here."
Scootaloo smiled at Cheerliee before releasing her grip on Cheerliee, and running outside to say goodbye to all her friends. Cheerliee turned back to Rainbow Dash who was already on the third page. "Be sure to take care of her. I know you will but will you promise me that you won't let anything bad happen to her? She's already been through so much."
Rainbow looked up from the pages and looked Cheerliee sternly in the eye and said. "I can't promise you that nothing bad will happen to her, but I can promise you that I'll try to stop it before it happens, and I'll always be there for her if something ever does happen. I have no intention of abandoning her."
Cheerliee smiled at Rainbow Dash. She was much happier to hear the truth than hear a lie just to try and make her feel better. "Thank you for your honesty."
Rainbow smiled at her friend. Then went onto the last page. Cheerliee was about to leave when Rainbow called her back. "Hey Cheers. Can you sign this part for me?"
Cheerliee walked back over and saw she was on the part where you needed a friend's or family member's signature. "Of course I will." She happily signed the page, and looked back up at Rainbow. "She's all yours."
Rainbow smiled and hugged Cheerliee. "Thank you." Was all she said before she walked out to find Scootaloo.
"They'll make a lovely pair." Thought Cheerliee as she watched Rainbow leave to find her new sister.
After Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had left Scootaloo with Rainbow Dash, they had gone back to school.
"Where's Scootaloo?" asked a somewhat worried Cheerliee.
"She's fine Miss. She was just a little sad, so Rainbow Dash is trying to cheer her up." responded Applebloom.
"They've been spending quite a lot of time together recently." thought Cheerliee to herself. "I wonder, just maybe." Cheerliee's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a pulling on her front leg.
"Cheerliee, Cheerliee. What are we going to be learning about today?"
That caught Cheerliee off guard when she realised that she had forgotten to plan something for after snack. "I think we might as well go to the park. It's too nice a day to be sitting in a stuffy classroom."
All the fillies and colts screamed when they heard that they were going to the park, "YAY!"
Cheerliee smiled at all the little fillies and colts around her. She loved to see them happy. "Come on then, lets go to the park." Another course of screams and the young ponies galloped out of the gate towards the closest park.
Cheerliee smiled even wider than before as she had to gallop as well to keep up with them. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle watched as all the ponies ran out of the school towards the park.
"What are we going to do now?" Asked Sweetie Belle.
Applebloom smiled. "We're going to go spy on Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle smiled when she heard this.
The two Cutie Mark Crusaders ran the opposite way from all the other fillies and colts. They ran all the way almost to Rainbow's house before stopping to catch their breath.
"Dash's house is just over this hill." Applebloom told Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle instinctively looked towards the hill just a few meters away. "Are we going then?" Asked a enthusiastic Sweetie Belle.
Applebloom looked over to the hill one last time before nodding. Together the two fillies slowly edged their way up the steep hill, creeping slowly closer to Rainbow's house. When they reached the top, they peered over the top and looked down towards Dash's house.
They were surprised to see Scootaloo still clinging onto the blue pegasus. Scootaloo had stopped crying but was still squeezing the older pegasus in a crushing hug. Rainbow Dash was returning the affection by hugging the little filly back just as tightly. The two fillies quietly watched this exchange for about 10 minutes. Without saying another word to each other the two fillies parted ways.
Applebloom started galloping straight away. She galloped as fast as she could back to the farm. When she arrived she was out of breath; she saw that Applejack was in the fields bucking the trees to make all of the apples magically fall into the baskets surrounding them. Even though the little filly was already out of breath she started racing towards her older sister. Applejack heard her coming and turned around just in time to be tackled to the ground by a certain yellow filly.
"Whaa, what!?" yelled a very surprised Applejack. "Ahh, are you ok there sugar cube?"
"I'm just glad that your ok!" Applebloom responded.
"Why wouldn't I be? I've just been bucking apples all day." Applejack got a worried look on her face. "Are you sure nothin' the matter? Did something happen at school today?"
"No, I'm just fine. I just realised that I don't ever really show you how much I care for you." said Applebloom as she pulled her sister tighter into the hug.
"Ahhh, ok." was all Applejack could manage to say. Applejack returned the hug with her little sister.
They stayed like that on the ground for a full hour before Big Mac came out to see what had happened with Applebloom. He looked a bit surprised when he saw Applejack and Applebloom embracing each other on the ground. Big Mac went to walk away but stopped when he heard his sister.
"Where you goin' there, Big Mac? Get on over here." Applejack said.
"Nope."
He turned around to see Applejack putting on her puppy dog eyes for him. "Please? For me?"
Big Mac rolled his eyes and plopped down next to his two sisters before joining in on the hug.
"I love you two so much." said Applebloom just before she started to quietly cry.
Applejack felt her tears running down her body, so Applejack just hugged her sister tighter.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle had ran all the way back to her house to find that nopony was home. Sweetie's head dropped and she began to walk up the stairs to her bedroom, when she heard the front door open.
"God, what a day." Sweetie Belle smiled when she heard her sisters voice.
Sweetie Belle was about to run down the stairs towards her sister when something stopped her. Something wasn't right. Sweetie Belle peered down into the living room on the top of the staircase. She gasped when she saw Rarity quietly crying. Sweetie Belle frowned. "My sister never cries like that." Sweetie Belle thought to herself.
Sweetie hopped down the stairs and walked over to the huddled form which was her sister. "What's wrong sis, did something happen?"
Rarity gave a yelp of surprise when she heard her sister's voice but recovered straight away. "Ohhh, it's you Sweetie. I thought that I was alone."
Sweetie looked at her sister worriedly. "What's wrong sis? What happened?"
Rarity looked up at her sister with bloodshot eyes. "Sweetie, I don't think that you should know."
Sweetie looked at her sister sternly. "Tell me what happened, or I'm going to tell everybody your little secret."
Rarity looked at her sister in shock. "You wouldn't dare."
The only answer Rarity got was a stern look from her sister.
"Ok, I'll tell you. But I warned you."
Sweetie Belle smiled inwardly. She had won this battle.
"Do you know what heat is Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked gently.
"You mean like the weather?" asked Sweetie a bit confused.
"No, not that heat." Rarity replied.
"Then no, I don't think I do." replied an even more confused Sweetie.
Rarity continued. "Well you see here Sweetie, when mares reach a certain age they go though a stage in their life that happens every month or so."
Sweetie realised that she was about to get 'The Talk'. As soon as she processed this information, she bolted out the front door and ran all the way over to Applebloom's.
"Well that could of gone better." Rarity mused to herself as she watched Sweetie take off.
Rainbow Dash walked outside to find a certain orange filly talking to a group of filly's and colt's. Rainbow walked up to Scootaloo. "Hey kid, you almost ready to go?"
"Yeah, I'm ready to go whenever you are." Replied Scootaloo.
"Lets go then." Rainbow Dash responded.
The orange filly hoped up onto the blue pegasus's back, and together they took off into the air. The flight home was rather uneventful, not that either of the ponies minded. They were both content just being in each other company. They landed outside their front door, and walked in to find all the lights turned off.
"Who turned all the lights off?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"How should I know?" Responded Scootaloo.
Just then all the lights turned on to reveal about 50 ponies yelling surprise at them. Scootaloo got such a fright that she jumped backwards into Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was equally stunned but controlled her emotions a lot better then the young filly.
Rainbow later found out that Twilight had taken the liberty of casting a cloud walking spell on each of the ponies so they could get up into Rainbows house.
"Were you surprised? were you, were you, were you?" Pinkie asked speaking faster and faster as she asked the same question over and over.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, but decided to humour her friend. "Yes Pinkie I was very surprised. By the way how did you organise this so quickly?" Rainbow looked around and saw some of the filly's and colt's that where at the school when they left. "Pinkie." Was all that came to Rainbows mind as she looked around at all the ponies that had made an appearance. Pinkie had responded but Rainbow wasn't paying her any attention. Her eyes settled on her friends. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight were all together exchanging small talk. Rainbow caught Applejack's eye, and she nodded back. Soon the mares were coming over towards Rainbow Dash.
"Congratulations, Rainbow." Applejack said first.
"You two will make a lovely pair." Followed Rarity.
"How does it feel, now that it's official?" Asked Twilight.
"Um, congratulations, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy chimed in quietly.
"Thanks guys. It feels great now that it's official." Rainbow smiled at her friends.
"Um, where's Scootaloo now?" Asked Twilight.
Rainbow Dash quickly scanned the room to find that Twilight was right Scootaloo was not there.
"I donno' Twi, she was right next to me a second ago."
Twilight looked a bit worried, but shrugged it off when she saw that Rainbow looked like she was about to start panicking.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. Just went upstairs probably." Answered Applejack when she saw Rainbow's expression.
"How could you know that Applejack. Anything could of happened to her." Rarity said.
"I said that she's fine." Applejack gave Rarity a stern look and pointed at Rainbow Dash. Rarity saw that Rainbow looked like she was about to have a fit. Rarity looked back at Applejack with apologetic eye's.
"Don't apologise to me." Whispered Applejack.
Rarity sighed and walked over to Rainbow so she was standing right in front of her. "I'm sorry for getting carried away there Rainbow, it's just that I would like to know where my sister is at all times so I know she's not in danger.
Rarity heard a sigh behind her and looked to see Applejack and Twilight shacking their heads. Rarity looked back at Rainbow Dash to see she was beginning to breath a lot faster. Rarity took a few steps back and whispered in Applejack ear. "Sorry dear, not my area of expertise. Would you mind taking over?"
Applejack sighed again and went to say something, but realised that Rainbow had vanished. "Where the hay did she go."
The five friends began to search the house for their two missing friends. Fluttershy walked up Rainbow Dash's stairs just in time to see a rainbow blur fly right past her messing up her mane. "Wait Rainbow." Fluttershy whispered. Rainbow Dash didnt even acknowledge Fluttershy remark. She just kept racing around the house frantically searching for her little sister.
"Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Hey kid where are you?!" Rainbow called as she flew around her house.
The other ponies were starting to notice Rainbow Dash now. A few tried to ask her what was wrong, but She didn't answer any of them. Some of the ponies were starting to worry now, and a few started to leave before thing got out of hand.
"Help, help. Somepony help me." Cried a distant voice.
Rainbow Dash stopped what she was doing for a second before bolting out the front door and speeding off towards the cry for help.
"Rainbow wait!" Cried Twilight but it was already to late.
"Come on girls, we need to go get Rainbow back." Twilight said as she too ran out the front door, followed closely by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy.
Together the five mares set of to find their best friend Rainbow Dash and to find out which pony cried out for help and why. But their first objective was to make sure their friend was ok.
"Anypony see anything." Asked Twilight as they galloped down the main street in ponyville.
"Help, somepony please help me." All the ponies stopped when they heard where the noise was coming from. They all turned towards where the cry had come from.
The Everfree forest.
The ponies all looked at each other before coming to a decision.
"Come on ponies, somepony needs us." Said Applejack before galloping of into the Everfree.
The other ponies all looked at each other one last time before joining their friend.
"Scootaloo. Where's Scootaloo." Was all Rainbow Dash could think. Suddenly she heard a scream coming from the Everfree forest.
"Help, somepony please help me."
"Scootaloo." Thought Rainbow Dash. "That sounded like Scootaloo." And so the element of Loyalty flew into the Everfree without even a single thought of her own safety. Her only thoughts were of Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash suddenly spotted something concealed in a bush. She flew down to see what it was. Her eyes started swelling up with tears when she saw it was Scootaloo's scooter. The wheels had come off as well as the handle bar and the footplate of the scooter was twisted beyond repair.
"Ahhhhhh!!!" Came a cry further in the Everfree forest.
"Don't worry kid, I'm coming!" Cried a distraught Rainbow Dash.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
"Who was that?" Asked a very scared Fluttershy.
"I think that might if been our missing filly." Replied Applejack.
"Than what are we waiting for?" Asked Twilight as she started the gallop once more towards the sound of the screaming filly followed closely by Applejack and the others.
You know when you've had a really bad day. Yeah well that doesn't even compare to what was happening to Scootaloo now. Scootaloo had lost the one this she held special to her(her scooter). She had been galloping as fast as she could for about 5 minutes now. Her wings were so small she couldn't fly away. She was being chased by a pack of timberwolves. She was tired beyond all hell. She was bleeding from many wounds from where she had tripped or when she had stumbled into a thorn bush. And she could hear her sister coming towards her, but not fast enough.
Scootaloo dived as a timberwolf jumped at her. She managed to dodge the timberwolf, but soon realised that she was surrounded. She looked all around her to find that the timberwolves were slowly circling her. Scootaloo realised that is was futile, she wouldn't get away. She sunk to the ground exhausted, but right then a image of Rainbow Dash popped into her head. "Come on kid, what are you doing? I never taught you to give up. If you want something badly enough, you have to fight for it!" Scootaloo struggles to stand. "Come on, is that all you've got? Stand up! Scootaloo stood and looked straight at the timberwolves. "That's it. Good job. I'm proud of you kid." Scootaloo smiled despite everything.
"Never give up." She told herself.
Then a number of things happened. The timberwolves pounced. Rainbow Dash came out of nowhere and tackled a timberwolf to the ground. Applejack bucked one in the face, making the magic holding it together dissipate. Twilight held two of them back with magic. But what none of them saw was a timberwolf come out of the shadows behind Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash turned around just in time to see the timberwolf sink it's fangs into Scootaloo's hind leg and flank.
"Noooooo. SCOOTALOO!" Rainbow Dash took off so fast that she almost breached the speed of sound in less than a second. She smashed the wolf as hard as she could, sending twigs and sticks flying everywhere. She turned around to see Scootaloo still smiling.
"Your the best sister ever." Was all Scootaloo managed before blacking out and falling to the ground. The last thing she remembered was Rainbow Dash calling out her name.
Scootaloo felt like everything in her body hurt, but she didnt know why. "I can't even open my eye's. What happened?" Thought Scootaloo to herself as she lay down struggling to open her eye's. "Did I get turned to stone by a cockatrice? Why can't I move?" Scootaloo gave up on trying to open her eye's and instead strained her ears to see if she could hear anything.
"I told you, there's nothing more I can do for her."
"There must be something, I can make it worth your while." Was that Rainbow thought Scootaloo.
"Look, miss Dash. One, I couldn't. Two, I'm married. And three, there's nothing I can do. The best thing for her right now is rest. I can give her something for the pain but I don't have anything to give her to actually help heal her any more quickly."
"Could you please give her something for the pain. Even if she's not awake she must still feel the pain." Rainbow asked the stallion, who Scootaloo guessed a the doctor. "But that would mean I'm in a hospital." Thought Scootaloo to herself.
"Ok, I'll go get the stuff and I'll be right back."
"Thanks doc." Responded a depressed sounding Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo used all of her remaining strength to force open her eye's. At the start Scootaloo still couldn't see anything, everything was bright and she was forced to close her eyes again. Scootaloo tried again. This time she held her eye's open for a few seconds getting glimpses of her surrounding before they were forced shut again. Scootaloo tried one last time, calling ever single ounce of strength that she had left in her body. Scootaloo managed to keep her eye's open this time. She looked around the room slowly, only moving her eye's because moving anything else at this point just seemed impossible. As she scanned the room, she saw she was hooked up to lots of different machines. The numbers on them made no sense to Scootaloo, so she continued to scan around the room until her she's settled on a silently crying Rainbow Dash sitting in a chair next to her. Scootaloo forces open her mouth and tried to say something witty like. "You miss me?" But all that came out was a tiny croak. Loud enough though to catch Rainbow's attention though.
Rainbow looked up so fast her next cracked. "Kid, your awake. How are you feeling?"
Scootaloo tried to respond but all that came out was another croak.
Rainbow looked at Scootaloo worriedly. "Hey, save your breath kid."
The doctor walked back in at the moment. "Your awake, I was sure you'd be asleep for at least another weak."
Scootaloo tried to smile but her mouth wouldn't respond to her commands. Scootaloo felt herself dripping back to sleep but forced her eye's open yet again. "I...I...I." Scootaloo started, Rainbow was at her side within a blink of an eye.
"What was that Scoots?" Asked Rainbow softly, raising her ear to Scootaloo's mouth.
"I..I...I...lov......love....."
"Yeah Scoots." Rainbow asked hurriedly.
"I....love....you...." Scootaloo managed before her body gave out on her and her eye's closed.
When Rainbow heard this she burst into tears. "I love you too kid. I love you too." The doctor looked at Rainbow Dash awkwardly.
"Would you like me to come back later?" He asked, maybe a little to hopeful.
Rainbow looked back at Scootaloo and saw her eye's were closed again. "No, I'm ok. Go ahead." The doctor nodded and walked over to Scootaloo and inserted a needle into her foreleg.
"Rest now, it's going to be ok." The doctor said just before he left. Rainbow wasn't sure who he was talking too. But there was no way she was going to sleep while her sister was still asleep.
The next time Scootaloo managed to open her eye's was two weeks later. She forced them open to find Rainbow sleeping in the same chair next to her as last time she woke up.
"She hasn't left your side this whole time." Said a familiar voice. Scootaloo turned around to see Applejack looking at her kindly. "Hasn't left this room a single time. How are you feeling sugar cube?"
Scootaloo turned back to look at her big sister. Scootaloo managed two words. "How long?"
"The first time you were out for two months and a week, the second was one month and a few days and now was just two weeks. It's an improvement." Scootaloo would of frowned if it didn't hurt so much. "I don't even remember the first time I woke up." Thought Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked back at Applejack and she seemed to take the hint.
"You sleep now sugar cube. We'll be here when you wake up." With that Scootaloo drifted off to sleep again.
Rainbow Dash had only slept ten times in almost four months. She has been keeping an eye over Scootaloo whenever she wasn't sleeping. She hadn't been out of Scootaloo's hospital room the entire time her sister had been there. She had used the toilet in Scootaloo's room, she had slept in the chair next to her bed, and she had also only eaten the food the hospital staff had brought up or whatever her friends had brought around when they came to visit. Nothing really happened in the four months that Scootaloo had been in the hospital so far. Scootaloo had slowly started to get better, but nothing major.
It turned out that Scootaloo had several fractured bones, a dislocated wing, three severe lacerations, a deflated lung, head trauma, her entire left hind leg had to be stitched together again and severe punctures and bruises surrounding her flank where the timberwolf had sunk it's teeth into her.
Rainbow hadn't washed since the accident, the only time she had left the chair was to use the toilet. She had watched over Scootaloo, ate her meals, and slept in the chair next to Scootaloo for the entire four months. Rainbow turned to look at her sister once more to see that she was struggling to open her eye's. Rainbow waited patiently as she watched her sister fight though the pain and drowsiness.
After a couple of minutes Scootaloo finally got her eye's open. Rainbow looked at her sister warmly. "Hey sis, what's up."
"What's up it that I feel like I've been hit by a cart." Rainbow was surprised that her sister would be able to talk so well after just waking up.
"Don't tell me you forgot already?" Rainbow asked jokingly.
Scootaloo looked up at her sister with sleepy eye's. "What happened Rainbow, and why'd you just call me 'sis'."
Rainbow looked at her sister in shock. "Don't you remember? I adopted you."
Now it was Scootaloo's turn to look at Rainbow in shock. "WHAT! When did this happen."
"About four months ago." Rainbow answered. "Are you ok there kid?"
Scootaloo was still looking at Rainbow in shock, then the door opened, and in walked Applejack and Rarity. Behind them came Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "Howdy there, partner." Applejack called as she walked, though the door and then realised that Scootaloo was awake as well. "How are you feeling today sugar cube?" Before anyone had a chance to say anything Scootaloo pipped up.
"Is Rainbow actually my sister."
All the other ponies besides Rainbow looked at each other in confusion, then they looked at Rainbow for an answer and saw she had her head buried between her hoofs. Rarity took action.
"Why of course she is. That's why we had the big party." Rarity said, hopefully triggering Scootaloo's memory.
Scootaloo was about to say something when she was assaulted by questions by two filly's.
"What happened?"
"Are you ok?"
"Did you get hurt?"
"Did you really get bit by a timberwolf?"
Applejack grabbed the two filly's by their manes and dragged the outside the hospital room, into the hallway.
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow and Rarity and then said. "What's happened to me? Why can't I remember anything? Was I in an accident?" Rarity looked and saw that Rainbow had begun to quietly cry, and so thought it would be up to her to answer Scootaloo's questions.
"Yes Scootaloo, you were in a terrible accident. I think you must of hit your head, so that's why you can't remember anything. You were attacked by timberwolf's, and got really badly injured. That's why you're in the hospital. And yes, Rainbow Dash is your sister, and that's why she hasn't left this room the entire time your've been in here." Rarity answered.
"And how long is that?" Asked a growingly nervous, half not wanting to know the answer.
Rarity looked at Scootaloo straight in the eye, and Scootaloo realised that Rarity wasn't going to sugarcoat this for her. "You've been in this hospitable 4 months, 24 days."
Scootaloo stared at Rarity in shock. "That long?" She thought to herself. She opened her mouth to respond but closed it again. This was a lot to take in. First she was told that her idol was actually her sister now, then she was told she was attacked by timberwolf's, and then she was told she had been in a hospital for over four months. Scootaloo looked at Rarity and said. "I think I'd like some time alone with my sister please Rarity." Rarity nodded and left.
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash. "Hey Rainbow." Rainbow Dash lifted her head and showed how much she really had been crying. He whole face and upper legs were drenched. She looked at Scootaloo with bloodshot and realised that her sister was holding out her arms for a hug. Rainbow Dash practically leapt of the chair into Scootaloo's arms.
"You bet I am." Answered an excited Scootaloo. Today was the first day she would be allowed outside of her hospital room for over five months.
Her leg still hadn't fully healed yet, and she still had to be careful around her flank where the wolf had sunk it's teeth into her. The puncture holes were still tender and could rip open if strained to much. Not that she would be straining herself to much. When the timberwolf had attacked her, it had bit right though the bones and tendons of her left hind leg while also leaving large puncture marks in her flank. The only thing that was holding her leg together was a little bit of skin and muscle. The doctor had said it was a miracle that Scootaloo hadn't bleed out. The only reason she hasn't was because Rainbow had gotten her to the hospital so quickly. Dash had preformed a Sonic Rainboom on the way because she had broken the speed of sound as she flew to the hospital.
"How does it feel that you'll be out of that hospital bed soon?" Rainbow asked.
"It feels great." Answered a extremely excited Scootaloo.
"How long will it be until she can move around all on her own?" Asked Applejack who had come along to help Rainbow if she needed it.
"Hey AJ, a little help with the legs please." Asked Rainbow as she lifted Scootaloo off the bed. Applejack walked over and lifted up Scootaloo's hind legs, being extremely careful with the leg that got bit, so that they wouldn't hit the wheelchair, and she gently helped place Scootaloo in her new wheelchair.
"Another couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months. It's hard to tell with that leg, we don't even know if it will hold when you start putting some weight on it." Scootaloo looked down at her hind leg nervously.
Rainbow saw this and decided to comment. "Don't worry about it Scoot's, it'll be fine." She gave the doctor a stern look. "Won't it doc?"
The doctor saw the look and decided it would be in his best interest to comply. "Yes your right, I'm sure that it'll hold up just fine." Rainbow softened her gaze, while Scootaloo sighed in relief.
"You ready to leave yet kid?" Asked Rainbow as they finished helping Scootaloo in the wheelchair.
"You bet I am. Thanks for everything doc." Scootaloo said as Rainbow pushed her out the door.
"Just doing my job, no thanks necessary." The doctor called after Scootaloo.
Rainbow pushed Scootaloo out of the hospitable and into the fresh air. Scootaloo sighed, closed her eye's and took a deep breath of fresh air.
"Is it really that good?" Asked Rainbow when she saw the expression on her sisters face.
Scootaloo didn't answer, she was too busy bathing in the warm sunlight. Rainbow let her have a few more moments before she started to push again, but made sure to avoid the shade and always keep the wheelchair in the sunlight. When Rainbow and Scootaloo got back to their house Rainbow left the wheelchair outside so Scootaloo could bathe in the sunlight while she went inside and made her bed, putting extra clouds on it to make it softer. Rainbow looked down at the newly made bed for a moment and thought to herself. "I should really make a new bed soon. With Scootaloo injured like this I won't be able to sleep with her. Meh, i'll do it later." Rainbow wasn't the kind of pony to worry about such small things. Rainbow shrugged and went outside to carry Scootaloo inside so she could rest. She saw that Scootaloo was talking to two very familiar filly's. Rainnbow watched them talk for a little while until she saw a lull in the conversation. She flew down and looked at the two filly's.
"Hey, Applebloom, sup Sweetie Belle. What can I do you guys for?" Rainbow asked with a smile.
The three filly's all turned to look at Rainbow Dash.
"Ma sis and Ah wanted to let you know that if you ever need any help, just tell us and we'd be happy to help." Answered Applebloom with a smile of her own.
"I was going to tell you the same thing but we got here at the same time." Said Sweetie Belle.
"Thanks, I'll be sure to give you both a call if anything comes up.
The two filly's looked at each other and smiled, before they could ask any questions about what happened, Rainbow said.
"Now if you two don't mind, I've got to get this one into bed." Scootaloo gave Rainbow her puppy dog eye's look. Rainbow looked away because she wouldn't of been able to stay true to her word if she looked at her too long.
"Can we help?" Asked Applebloom, her smile getting bigger.
"I'm sorry kids, I'd love the help but you can't walk on clouds." The filly's smiles disappeared.
"We'll come by and visit later then." Said Sweetie Belle.
"Ok then, see ya later." Rainbow said and the filly's began walking home in separate directions. Rainbow turned back to Scootaloo. "Come on then, lets get you inside."
"But."
"No buts, big sister knows best." Rainbow retorted before Scootaloo had a chance to complain. Scootaloo looked at her sister and gave her the puppy dog eye's again. Rainbow's face went form a smile to a very stern look. Scootaloo sighed when she realised that it was pointless. Rainbow saw she had won and smiled to herself.
Rainbow picked the wheelchair up in her forelegs and used her wings to fly up to her front door. "And here we are." Said Rainbow as she opened the door to reveal her house. Rainbow had taken the liberty of moving the bedroom downstairs so that it would be easier for both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash to get to.
"Where are you going to sleep?" Asked Scootaloo as she saw there was only one bed.
"Eh, I'll make another later." Rainbow answered with a shrug. Scootaloo looked at her sister worriedly.
"You can't do everything for me, or else you'll have no time to do anything for yourself." Scootaloo said.
Rainbow looked at her sister again. "I said I'll make it later, and I will. Don't worry about it Scoot's. I'll have plenty of time to make a bed. But for now you need to rest." Rainbow said as she lifted Scootaloo out of her wheelchair and very gently placed her onto the bed. Scootaloo just sighed as she realised that arguing would be pointless. Rainbow puller the blanket over the little filly up to her collar bone. "Is that ok?" Rainbow asked warmly.
"Ok, night then." Rainbow said as she planted a kiss on Scootaloo's forehead.
"Night sis, I love you." Answered Scootaloo.
"I love you too." Replied Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow sat down in a chair and waited patiently until Scootaloo had fallen to sleep and then went outside to collect some clouds. When she had done that she went back inside and quietly started building herself a new bed, while keeping a watchful eye over Scootaloo who had turned herself into a filly ball.
Scootaloo was galloping for her life, she was being chased though the Everfree forest by a pack of hungry timberwolf's. Their teeth just out of reach of her hind legs as she bolted though the Everfree. Scootaloo wished more than ever now that her wings would work properly so she could just fly away. She tried once more to flap her wings as hard as she could, to no avail. She only resulted in tiring herself out even more. She ducked to the left as a timberwolf pounced towards her. She managed to dodge and keep galloping, but received a deep, long scratch along her side where the timberwolf's claws had swiped her. The cut didn't even register in Scootaloo's mind as she had so much adrenaline pumping though her. She quickly ducked a low branch without breaking stride.
"Why did I try to go back to my house to get my scooter?" Thought Scootaloo to herself. She had been traveling back to the orphanage to retrieve her scooter, but walked to close too the Everfree forest and got attacked.
Scootaloo was so dehydrated and exhausted that she had stopped sweating five minutes ago. As Scootaloo jumped over some roots she started to dry retch again. She had thrown up after about seven or eight minutes of galloping flat-out though the Everfree, ever since then though she had been dry retching every minute or so, she had long since run of food in her stomach to throw up, all that remained was her stomach acids and they burned her throat every time she dry retched. Scootaloo stumbled on some more roots but managed to keep going. She was well aware that she was forever galloping away from Ponyville and further into the Everfree. She had tried to swing wide to come back around a few times, but that had only resulted in almost getting mauled and eaten by the timberwolves that seemed to come out of nowhere.
A timberwolf jumped at Scootaloo from the side, she dived forward hoping it would fly over the top of her. When she stood back up she saw that she was surrounded The timberwolves were slowly circling her, taking their time now that their prey had been cornered and that it couldn't escape. Scootaloo fell to the ground exhausted, and started dry retching again. When she finished she took all of her remaining strength to look up just to see a timberwolf lunge straight towards her. When it's teeth we're just about to sink into her neck, she jolted awake screaming, sweaty, breathless, confused and in a lot of pain.
Rainbow was at her side in a instant. She jumped out of bed and quickly looked around the room to make sure that there was no threat. After a quick check she declared the area 'safe' and jumped over besides Scootaloo's bed. She was trying to calm down the young filly, making gentle shushing noises. Scootaloo was still screaming and trying to run away, causing her more pain because of her injure's.
"Shhhusshh. Hey it going to be okay, it was just a dream. Shhhusshh. Calm down. Shhhusshh." Rainbow spoke softly and calmly hoping that if her words wouldn't work then her calm attitude would.
Scootaloo slowly calmed down. She looked at Rainbow and realised who it was, and started to cry. Big heavy sobs that racked her hole body. She brought her sister into a tight hug. Rainbow hugged her sister back tightly. "Rainbow, they almost had me. They were going to kill me. I couldn't keep running, I just couldn't. I was just too tired."
Rainbow kept making comforting sounds while she talked. "It was only a dream. Shhhusshh. You're okay. It was just a dream. Shhhusshh."
Scootaloo kept crying into Rainbows shoulder for about a half hour before she started to calm down. Rainbow looked at her sisters face. "Are you okay?"
Scootaloo managed a smile, even if it was only for her sisters sake. "I'm fine, just my leg hurts a bit though. That's where I got scratched by the timberwolf."
Rainbow smiled back her sister and said. "Don't mind if I take a look then do you?"
"Not at all."
Rainbow looked down at her sisters hind leg. She caught her breath when she saw what happened. A couple of the stitches that where holding her leg together had broken off when Scootaloo had thrashed around, and it was leaking a dark red blood.
"Let's get you back to the hospital." Said Rainbow to Scootaloo.
Scootaloo got a very worried look on her face, thinking for a moment that it hadn't been a dream after all. "It's nothing too bad. Just a couple of your stitch's broke off when you were thrashing around. Won't take but a minute for the doc to fix it."
Scootaloo relaxed a bit when she realised that it was a dream once again. "Do we have to go now?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yes I'm afraid so, I don't want to risk it getting any worse." Rainbow answered before gently picking her sister up, and cradling her like a newborn filly. She flew Scootaloo to the hospital like that because the wheelchair would of been too slow.
When they arrived the receptionist smiled at the visitors. She then saw that Rainbows normally blue coat was a darkish red. It didn't take the receptionist long to figure out something was wrong. Rainbow quickly explained what had happened and the mare quickly ushered them into a room, and she began to remove the broken stitch's straight away. She then proceeded to replace them with new ones. Once she had finished, she urged them to stay the night in the hospital, in case anything else happened. Rainbow and Scootaloo agreed, only on the condition that they could leave first thing in the morning.
After the mare had left Rainbow turned to Scootaloo. "Are you okay now?"
Scootaloo nodded. "I'm sorry that I ruined your first chance to get a good nights sleep in over five months,"
Rainbiw smiled. "That's okay kid. I don't mind so long as I'm with you." This made Scootaloo smile as well. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened in your dream sis?"
Scootaloo looked at her sister, her eye's showing slight traces of fear. She took a deep breath and replayed the whole story to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow waited patiently until she had finished before she asked some questions.
Talking about what happened made Scootaloo feel a lot better she realised. "I guess I never really had anyone to talk to before." Thought Scootaloo to herself. After they talked about what happened Rainbow wished Scootaloo goodnight.
"Good night Scoots." Rainbow said.
"Night sis" replied Scootaloo.
They slept without any further disturbances that night. And Rainbow finally got a well earned rest.
When Scootaloo woke up she saw that Rainbow was talking to, what looked like a doctor.
"Are you sure that there isn't anything that you can do doc?" Asked Rainbow.
"I already told you, whatever your sister is going though she needs to work it out by herself. I can't just give something to someone to make them stop having dreams.
Rainbow sighed and looked back at her sister. She walked over and sat down at the chair next to the bed, not realising that Scootaloo was awake.
"I can recommend somepony for you though, she specialises in helping pony's get over traumatic events and help let them live their live's to the fullest. Rainbow looked back up at the doctor with hopeful eye's.
"Yes, thank you. That would be great." Rainbow looked away from the doctor. "How much?"
The doctors smile he had been wearing when he saw Rainbow cheer up, vanished. "500 bits an hour." He replied sadly.
Rainbows head snapped back to look at the doctor. "What?! I don't have that much money." Rainbow looked at the doctor sadly. "Isn't there any other way?"
"I'm afraid not." Replied the stallion.
Rainbow looked at the ground for a moment before returning her gaze to Scootaloo. "Well I guess I'm going to have to start to sell some thing. I'm sure that somepony would buy some of the things I have."
The doctor looked away. He hated it when he had to bring bad news. "If that's all Miss Dash, I've got other patients I need to attend to." Rainbow nodded, so the doctor slowly walked out of the room. As he was leaving he turned back around to see that Rainbow had dropped her head into her hoofs and was quietly crying. When the doctor saw this he had to hold back tears of his own. He left the room with a heavy heart.
When Rainbow and Scootaloo left the hospital, Rainbow was looking very depressed. "Whats wrong Rainbow?"
Rainbow sighed. "How would you like it if we moved in with Applejack for a while?"
Scootaloo looked confused. "But why would we do that?"
Rainbow looked at her sister. "Don't worry about that squirt. But you haven't answered my question.
Scootaloo looked down, deep in thought. "I would be able to see Applebloom everyday. And their house is pretty big. Yeah, I wouldn't mind it. But you still haven't answered my question." Scootaloo looked up at her sister at that last part.
"I'll tell you later." Rainbow promised. "But first lets go and talk to Applejack." Scootaloo sighed.
They found Applejack at her house resting in the shade of one of the many apple trees. "Howdy there Rainbow." She saw the look on Rainbows face. "What's up sugar cube, what happened?"
"Could I talk with you alone for a moment?" Rainbow looked at Scootaloo. Scootaloo sighed and walked over to another apple tree and sat down under it.
"Whatcha' want to talk about?" Applejack asked.
"We need a place to stay for a while, I'm going to sell my house because I need the money to pay for something."
Applejack looked at Rainbow in surprise before saying. "If you'll need money that much Ah can lend you some."
Rainbow was shaking her head before Applejack had finished. "That's nice of you to offer but we're going to need a lot."
"Eeh, how much we talkin' bout' here?" Applejack asked
Rainbow dash lowered her head. "Scootaloo has to see a therapist and she charges 500 bits an hour."
Applejack whistled softly. "That's a lot of bits right there. Are you sure you can pay for all of it."
Rainbow raised her head a little so she was looking at Applejack. "No, but I have to try."
Applejack raised Rainbows head so they were at eye level. "Your more than welcome here sugar cube. If there is anything, and ah mean anything that ah can do to help, you let me know straight away, Ok."
Rainbow started tearing up. "Ok." Was all she said before she wrapped Applejack up into a hug, while trying to suppress her tears. Applejack returned the hug warmly.
Scootaloo chose that moment to return, she started trotting over to the two mares. Rainbow disentangled herself from Applejack and whispered. "Scootaloo doesn't know, so please don't tell anypony."
"Don't worry, ah promise."
"We're going to be living at Applejack house for a while now Scoots." Said Rainbow as she came closer.
"Cool, now I can play with Applebloom every single day." Scootaloo responded cheerfully.
"Ah think she's upstairs now if you want to go and see her." Said Applejack.
Scootaloo inhaled quickly before running off towards the barn.
"Can ah tell the rest of the girls Dash?" Applejack asked when Scootaloo was out of earshot.
"Sure, their going to find out pretty soon after I sell my house. It's probably better that their told and don't just find out, they might think I don't trust them." Rainbow responded before starring at the ground.
Applejack looked at her friend with sad eye's. "You're welcome to stay for as long as you need." Rainbow thanked Applejack before slowly trotting of towards the barn to look for Scootaloo.
Rainbow found Scootaloo in Appleblooms room. "Hey Scoots, I'm going out. I'll catch you later."
Scootaloo looked up and was about to responded before Applebloom butted in. "Are you'll really goin' to be staying with us, here at the barn."
Rainbow smiled. "Yeah, we'll be staying here for a while."
Appleblooms eye's widened when she heard Rainbow. "This is goin' be amazing. Come on Scoots let's go get our cutie marks." Scootaloo quickly followed Applebloom out the door. Rainbow was left standing in the doorway by herself.
She then closed Appleblooms door and walked out if the barn and took off into the air back towards to the hospital, to find out more about the therapist that Scootaloo was going to see the next couple of weeks.
"I wonder if I'll have enough to pay her after I sell my house?" Thought Rainbow to herself as she flew towards the hospital.
When Rainbow arrived at the hospital she walked up to the receptionist. "Hey there, I was wondering if the doc I saw earlier was still here?"
The receptionist looked up at Rainbow and nodded. "He's in room B06 if you want to speak with him. I know he was expecting you and he doesn't have any appointments at the moment, so you're free to go right on up."
Rainbow smiled. "Thanks. Room B06?"
The receptionist smiled back. "Yep, upstairs and third door on the right."
Rainbow trotted over to the stairs. "Thanks again."
"Anytime." called the receptionist as Rainbow disappeared up the stairs.
Rainbow walked up the stairs and walked down the hall until she came upon room B06. She knocked a couple of times and waited for an answer. The door opened to reveal a stallion in a white coat looking at her.
"Hello again Miss Dash, I thought you might come by again, so I moved all my appointments to tomorrow. "
Rainbow smiled. "Thank you doc, that's really kind if you."
The stallion nodded. "My pleasure Miss Dash. I assume you're here to find out a bit about the therapist?" The doctor said as he opened the door a bit wider to let Rainbow walk though.
Rainbow walked into the doctor's office and looked around for a few seconds before responding. "Yes, I'd like to know when I can get a appointment for Scootaloo."
The doctor's smile vanished. "Are you sure you can pay for it? I'd hate for you to go bankrupt." the doctor said, concern in his voice.
"I'm going to sell my house, so I'll have enough money to be able to pay for her." The doctor looked at Rainbow in shock when he heard this.
"Miss Dash, I must insist that you don't. Your sister needs a house more than therapy." the doctor said sternly.
"It's ok, we're going to be living with a good friend until I get enough money to buy another place." Rainbow's head dropped as she spoke. "When did I become this bad off?" thought Rainbow to herself. "When you adopted that good for nothing brat." said another voice in her head. Rainbow almost died of shock once she realised what she has said. "What's happening to me?!"
"Are you ok there Miss Dash? You look like you've seen a ghost." asked a now worried doctor.
Rainbow looked back up at the doctor. "I just had an awful thought." replied Rainbow.
"Was it about your sister?" the doctor asked. Rainbow nodded. "Listen, you're going though a lot of stress and sometimes we think, or even say thing that we don't mean. It doesn't mean that you're a bad pony. As long as you keep that feeling suppressed while around others, you'll be fine."
Rainbow smiled at the doctor. "You've seen this happen a lot?"
The doctor smiled back. "Thankfully not too much, but enough to know when it happens."
Rainbow smile widened. "So what's the name of the therapist Scootaloo is going to be seeing?" asked Rainbow, a little more cheerfully.
"Her name is Dr. Mind, and she's the best pony I know with that type of stuff. Even if she does charge an obscene amount of money." replied the doctor, finishing the sentence with a bit of heat.
"No pony can put a price on my sister's wellbeing." Rainbow said flatly.
The doctor smiled at Rainbow, thinking to himself how much Rainbow must love her sister, if she was willing to give up almost everything, just so Scootaloo could be happier. "Well, I'll just write down where she works and all that, and then I'll be out of your mane."
Rainbow smiled back. "Thanks doc."
The doctor wrote down where Dr. Mind worked, how much it should cost and how long the sessions would go for. After he had finished he handed the paper over to Rainbow. Rainbow took the paper out of the doctor's hoof and thanked him again before saying her farewells. The doctor waved and smiled to Rainbow as she left. Rainbow waved back, with a new purpose in her mind.
When Rainbow arrived back at Applejacks farm, she looked thought the downstairs window too see that Applejack and Big Mac had finished for the day and were about to sit down for dinner. Scootaloo and Applebloom were nowhere to be seen. Rainbow guessed that they where upstairs in Applebloom's room. Rainbow politely knocked on the front door. She was somewhat surprised when Rarity opened the door.
"Hello there Rainbow, what brings you here?" Rarity asked when she saw Rainbow.
Rainbow quickly got over her surprise and came up with an excuse. "Applejack asked me if I wanted to stay the night with her because Scootaloo was going to stay here as well."
Rarity looked at her friend. 'There's something that she's not telling me.' Rarity thought to herself. "Well do come on in." Rarity quickly said when she realised that she had been staring glumly at her friend.
Rainbow put on a fake smile as she squeezed past Rarity.
"Howdy there, Rainbow. The three fillies are upstairs." Applejack said as she saw Rainbow walk past Rarity.
"Three fillies?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh yes, that is why I am here. I was simply dropping Sweetie Belle off, for a sleepover with Applebloom tonight. I'm sure that they'll have even more fun with all three of them together now." Rarity said as she started to walk out the door. "Goodnight everypony."
"What? You can't leave now, stay for dinner at least Rarity. Ah'm sure you must be starving." Applejack offered, moving a step closer to the door.
"Well. I wouldn't want to intrude." Rarity slowly began.
"Nonsense, you wouldn't be intruding in the slightest." Applejack continued.
"Well, alright. Just for dinner though, I must get back to my shop after that."
"Well are you going to stand there and let all the cold air in?" Rainbow asked.
Rarity looked to see she had forgot to shut the door. She shut it gently before walking back into the living room, Rainbow leading the way.
"Please, make yourselves at home." Applejack said, with a quick wink towards Rainbow.
Rarity noticed the wink but decided not to comment. Whatever Rainbow was keeping a secret, she would tell her when the time was right, Rarity thought. She looked at Rainbow expectantly.
"What?" Rainbow asked. "Is there something in my mane?" Rainbow started to comb her mane with her hooves to see if anything would come out.
"No, no there's nothing in your mane. I just zoned out for a second then. Nothing to worry about darling." Rarity hastily said.
'If only that was true.' Rainbow thought as she stopped running her hooves though her mane.
"Dinners ready y'all." Applejack called out.
Rarity and Rainbow stood up and walked into the kitchen to see Applejack putting plates and cups on the table while Big Mac put roughly even servings of pasta onto each plate. After Applejack had finished putting out the plates and cups, she then busied herself with putting a decent helping of sauce on top of the pasta. While Applejack did this, Big Mac went around the table filling up the cups with apple juice.
"Would you like us to help you at all?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, need help with anything?" Rainbow asked as well.
"You know I do need you two to do something." Applejack answered as she looked up from the sauce.
"What is it you need?" Rarity asked.
"I don't know if you two could do it. Especially you Rainbow." Applejack challenged her friend.
"Phhhssss. I can do." Rainbow retorted.
Applejack smiled, she knew Rainbow would bite. "I need you to sit at the table and not talk until dinners served up." Applejack said, smiling when she saw the realisation on Rainbow face, that she had just been tricked into not talking. Rarity smiled as well when she saw the look on Rainbows face.
"Well I never challenged you, Applejack. I assume that means I can talk." Rarity asked Applejack. Applejack nodded.
Rarity smiled at Rainbow darkly. "Well, I feel quite talkative today. I just know that Rainbow would love to hear all about my day."
Rainbow was about to fly straight out the window when Applejack's words stopped her. "Well it's not like she's going anywhere. She agreed to sit down at the table AND not talk. At least no pony will be able to interrupt you, if Rainbow can't talk. Applejack was trying not to laugh as she said this.
Rainbow slunk down and slowly walked to the table. She was so caught up in trying to ignore Rarity blab on about her day, she didn't realise that she never actually agreed to it. She just commented that she could. Applejack suppressed another laugh as she thought about this.
'She is always so easy to trick.' Applejack thought to herself.
"Rainbow would you please go and tell the fillies that dinner is almost ready?"
Rainbow was about to stand up, then she saw the smile on Applejack' face that she was unable to contain. Rainbow opened her mouth to say something like 'I'm not falling for that one' but closed her mouth again when she realised that would involve talking. So Rainbow settled for shaking her head.
"You know, that could be counted as talking, because your still communicating." Applejack said, giving her friend a small smile, hoping she would take the bait.
"They're completely different things!" Rainbow blurted out before she could stop herself. Rainbows hooves immediately covered her mouth.
Applejack and Rarity burst out laughing.
"That doesn't count, you tricked me!" Rainbow yelled angrily. She blushed and looked away when she realised that she had spoken again. Applejack and Rarity started to laugh even harder.
Three fillies came running down the stairs then. "What's so funny?" Sweetie Belle asked, seeng her sister rolling around on the floor laughing uncontrollably.
"Nothing!" Rainbow yelled. "Nothing's funny!" Then she blushed an even deeper red and blocked her mouth with her hooves, causing Applejack and Rarity to start laughing again. When the two mares had finally taken control of their bodies again and when Rainbow was suitably annoyed, Applejack put the pasta sauce on the only plate without it and put the pot back in the kitchen. When she came back to the table she saw that everypony was just staring at their food. They all looked up when Applejack got closer. "What are you waiting for? Dig in." As soon as Applejack said that the other ponies started to eat, all aside from Big Mac, who had already finished and had disappeared to do whatever he wanted to do at this hour. Applejack took her seat at the table and saw that everypony was already half finished. 'Is that how it is'. Applejack said to herself before digging in. Applejack was the first one finished. She looked up to see everypony staring at her in disbelief.
"How in the world do you eat so fast?" Rainbow asked Applejack after watching what she could have easily confused with a garbage truck emptying a bin. No chewing, not even swallowing from what Rainbow saw. Just everything sliding down her throat.
Applejack gave a little burp of satisfaction. The only pony in the room not totally surprised (or horrified in Rarity's case) was Applebloom, who was used to this by now.
"My god Applejack, where are your manners?" Rarity asked, still getting over her surprise at the pony vacuum front of her.
"Don't know, Ah can never seem to find 'em." Applejack replied, smiling slightly.
Rarity smiled back at her friend. "After all this is her house Rarity, she can act however she wants." Rarity told herself.
The ponies talked talked about inconsequential issues for quite some time, before Rainbow sniffed the air. "Hey AJ, it smells like something's burning."
Applejack sniffed the air to see that Rainbow was right. "I'll go see if Big Mac put something on the stove and forgot about it. It wouldn't be the first time." Applejack stood up and walked into the kitchen to find Big Mac.
The fillies had gone to bed quite some time ago. "Hey Rarity, wanna see them before you go?" Rainbow asked.
"I suppose I have time to say a quick goodbye. Though I've already stayed longer than I meant to."
Rainbow and Rarity walked upstairs to where the fillies where sleeping. They quietly opened the door to see that it was completely light. "I swear I turned the light off when I left before." Rainbow said to no pony in particular. Rainbow flicked the light switch and everything got a little bit brighter.
"Hey Rainbow, Rarity, we have a big problem here." Applejack called from downstairs somewhere.
Rainbow nodded to Rarity. Rarity quietly walked back down the stairs to see what was the matter while Rainbow hovered just above the ground to avoid stepping on any loose floorboards. She quietly flew into the room to see what was causing the light. She smiled when she saw that Scootaloo was sleeping soundly, occasionally snoring softly. Rainbow thought that Scootaloo sounded so cute when she snored.
All of a sudden, all thoughts of Scootaloo vanished form her mind as she gasped. She saw what was making the room light up. Though the window rainbow could see a massive fire in the distance. Her wings failed her and she dropped onto her legs, waking the fillies.
"Turn the light off." Scootaloo groaned.
Rainbow was just staring out the window, her tail low, her ears dropped. The fire was coming straight towards them.
Applejack sprinted into the room to wake up the fillies and to warn Rainbow, when she stopped. She saw something she had never seen before. She looked over to the window and saw that Rainbow was shaking. Rainbow turned around and looked at Applejack. Fear was evident in her eyes.
"Come on, come on! Everypony wake up! We have to leave, NOW!" Applejack yelled.
The three filly's jumped up when they heard Applejack. Their sleepiness vanished, and was replaced by adrenaline.
"What's going on?" Applebloom asked.
"Is somepony hurt?" Sweetie Belle asked worriedly.
"Uh, Rainbow. Are you ok?" Scootaloo asked, seeing Rainbow staring blankly out the window.
Rainbow snapped out of her trance and opened the window, making the room get slightly warmer. "Applejack." Rainbow turned around to face the orange earth pony.
"Yeah Rainbow." Applejack replied, not sure what the blue pegasus was up to.
"Promise me you'll get all the filly's out of here." Rainbow looked at Applejack sternly.
"Wait, what! Somepony tell us whats happening!" Applebloom yelled. Scootaloo just looked at her sister worriedly, she wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come out.
"Rainbow, I won't let..." Applejack started, seeing what her friend was about to do.
"APPLEJACK, PROMISE ME!" Rainbow yelled, not looking for an argument.
Applejack took a step back involuntarily at her friend's tone. She looked at her friend with a mix of shock, horror and admiration. She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. She stared at her friend for a moment before gathering her emotions. She slowly raised her hoof to her chest and made a cross over her heart before raising her hoof higher and placing it over her eye, a single tear cascading down her cheek.
Rainbow nodded at Applejack before bending down a bit lower so she was eye level with Scootaloo. "I need you to do everything that Applejack says. And under no circumstance are you to come after me, ok."
Scootaloo looked from Rainbow to Applejack. "But, I don't understand. Whats happening?" Scootaloo looked back at Rainbow as she spoke.
Rainbow smiled at her younger sister. "You just have to trust me."
Scootaloo looked at her big sister. She trusted her more than anypony in all of Equestria, but she was afraid that she would get hurt. "At least tell me what's happening." Scootaloo finally said.
Rainbow stood up to her full height. "Applejack will explain everything."
Scootaloo was about to say something but before she had the chance, Rainbow jumped out of the window and flew towards Ponyville with breathtaking speed. Scootaloo jumped up and raced over to the window, and that's when she saw it...the raging inferno towering above Ponyville. Scootaloo caught her breath when she saw that Rainbow was flying straight towards it. "No." Was all she could manage.
"It's ok sugar-cube, she'll be just fine." Applejack tried to comfort Scootaloo. "We have to go." Applejack continued.
"I'm not leaving without my sister." Scootaloo said stubbornly.
"What did your sister say you had to do?" Applejack asked.
Scootaloo sighed. "That I had to do everything you said and that I couldn't go after her. No matter what." Scootaloo slumped to the ground.
"And Ah said, we need to get out of here." Applejack told Scootaloo.
Scootaloo sighed and stood up, her gaze still fixed upon the fire that was rapidly consuming Ponyville.
Rarity came into the bedroom now. "Is everypony ready? I've got some supplies that should last us for a while." Rarity took a moment to look around the room. "We seem to be one pony short. Where's Rainbow Dash?"
Applejack pointed slowly at the rapidly approaching fire.
Rarity caught her breath. "She didn't go over there did she?" Rarity asked in disbelief.
"She's the element of loyalty. She would never leave if their was a chance she could save somepony." Applejack answered. "But that doesn't matter now. We have to leave, NOW."
------------------------------------------------
Rainbow flew as fast as she could towards Ponyville, she was determined to save everypony she could. She was flying towards Sugarcube Corner to see if the Cakes and Pinkie had got out when she heard a scream.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
Rainbow stopped in her tracks and turned to see Derpy's house alight. She heard a foal crying inside. Rainbow smashed though the front door and raced into the house. She saw that Derpy and her foal were trapped in the kitchen. The window frames and doors were on fire, making it impossible to get though. Rainbow cracked her neck and lowered her shoulders. Then she flew as hard and as fast as she could into the only wall that wasn't on fire. She crashed though the wall and landed in a heap on the kitchen table. Derpy looked at Rainbow in utter surprise.
"Get out of here!" Rainbow yelled over the roar of the fire. Derpy looked at the hole in the wall and nodded, before scooping up her foal and sprinting out of the house. Rainbow stood back up and followed Derpy out of the house.
As soon as Rainbow cleared the building she turned to look at Derpy. "Get outta here!"
Derpy took the hint and started to fly away as fast as her wings would let her. Rainbow took to the air and quickly looked around at the mayhem below her. There were ponies lying unmoving on the ground, houses falling apart around her, ponies screaming for help or from pain. She saw that one pony was stuck in her house and was struggling to stand, Rainbow looked to see that the roof of the pony's house was about to collapse. Rainbow looked down at the pony again and saw she wasn't going to be able to get out in time. She shot towards the helpless pony and landed just inside the house. Rainbow quickly looked up to see that the roof was starting to fall apart. She grabbed the pony by the forelegs, and spinning, threw her out of the burning house. The roof started to fall as she let go of the pony's forelegs. Rainbow spared the burning house once last glance before flying out of the house as fast as her wings would carry her. She was flying so fast that she couldn't stop in time and flew right into the next house, cracking the bricks. She struggled to stand to see that the pony she had thrown out was shakily walking towards her.
"I'm fine, get moving!" Rainbow yelled. The pony didn't need a second hint. She started to gallop away, swaying lightly as she ran.
Rainbow quickly checked herself over to discover she had dislocated her shoulder. She leaned against the wall, forcing her foreleg up as far as it would go, then quickly leaned in further against the wall, forcing her shoulder up even more. There was an audible pop as her shoulder popped back into its socket. Rainbow sighed in relief.
She checked herself again and, besides a few minor cuts and bruises, she was fine. After her quick self evaluation, she flew into the air to regain her bearings. Rainbow scanned the surroundings below until she found the street she was looking for. She followed the street all the way to Sugarcube Corner to see that there was nothing left. The entire building was nothing but a pile of ash and rubble. Rainbow's eyes started to swell with tears at the thought of what might have happened to her friend. She pushed the thoughts aside and decided to go see if Twilight was alright.
She had trouble flying over the houses as the heat from the fires rose into the air. She lost control several times but maintained a course towards Twilight's treehouse. She landed awkwardly outside the front door. She opened the door to find Twilight and Spike running around their house and shoving as many books as they could into saddlebags.
"Twilight!" Dash yelled.
Twilight stopped what she was doing and looked at Rainbow in surprise. "What are you doing here Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.
"Making sure you were ok. What are you doing anyway? You realise that there is a massive fire about to burn this place to the ground."
Twilight looked shocked. "I can't just leave all these books here to burn, there's so much ponies can learn from them."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "For Celestia's sake Twilight, leave the damn books! Your house is about to be burned to the ground with you in it, and all you care about is your books!"
Spike looked at Rainbow and mouthed the words 'Thank you.'
Twilight looked at Rainbow before allowing her gaze to fall towards the ground. "You're right." She said, lifting her head back up with a new determination in her eyes. "Come on Spike, we have to get out of here."
Twilight ran to the door and helped Spike onto her back. When Spike was steady she teleported them both away. Rainbow just shook her head. 'Why bother running to the door, if you're going to teleport away.'
Rainbow didn't waste any time after watching Twilight depart. She flew out an open window, quickly got her bearings, then flew off towards Fluttershy's cottage. When she was almost there she could see that the cottage was on fire. She flew even faster to make sure her friend was okay.
Rainbow slammed into the door, almost sending it off its hinges. She looked around and saw Fluttershy and a group of rabbits cowering under the kitchen table. Dash flew over to where they were hiding.
Fluttershy's eyes were closed and she was shaking uncontrollably. "FLUTTERSHY!" Dash yelled as loudly as she could.
Fluttershy's eyes popped open and her shaking mellowed a bit when she saw Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, what are you doing here? Oh sweet Celestia, you're bleeding. Are you ok? What happened?"
Rainbow smiled at Fluttershy. "I'm here to help get you out and I'm not leaving until you are safe. And I'm fine, just a scratch."
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow worriedly. "I don't know, it looks pretty deep."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. 'Never thought it would be so annoying to save a friend.' "Fluttershy, for the last time, I'm fine. It's just a scratch. It looks worse than what it is. Now, you have to get outta here. Your house isn't going to hold for much longer."
As if on cue, the roof started creaking. The two ponies gasped and looked towards the roof as it started to buckle. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow before nodding. She slowly got up from under the kitchen table and crept towards the door, the rabbits safety on her back. As Fluttershy walked out the door the roof buckled completely and started to fall. Rainbow sped forward and shoved Fluttershy out of the house. As she did so, a section of the burning roof came crashing down beside her. As she turned to flee the inferno, a burning pillar knocked her to the ground and took her breath away. She struggled to stand but the weight of the pillar was too much for her. Fluttershy was just about to fly back to try and save her friend, but as she looked over she saw Rainbow hold up a foreleg in protest. Fluttershy started to cry when she saw her friend; bloody and broken, yet determined. Rainbow shook her head slowly. She attempted to lift the pillar but it was too heavy and it was searing her forelegs. In agony, she turned to look at her friend. Fluttershy could only watch as the roof came crashing down.
Rainbow slowly opened her eyes and looked around her. She squinted when she saw everything was a bright white. She forced her eyes open fully again, against her body's wishes. Everything around her slowly started to take colour and shape as her eyes adjusted. But nothing seemed to be staying in the same place, as soon as she focused on something it would disappear. She kept seeing the colours green and brown, but couldn't seem to place them. Rainbow tried to open her mouth to speak but the simple action sent pain coursing though her body. Rainbow tried again, and her efforts were rewarded with even more pain. Rainbow gave up on trying to talk and decided to see if she would be able to move any of her legs. She was about to try to lift one of her forelegs up when her whole body lifted a few millimetres off the ground and landed back down. When rainbow landed, it felt like she had been hit by a bucking cart. Rainbow opened her mouth and tried to scream ignoring the fact it brought even more pain. She screamed as loudly as she could, which ended up being no more than an barley audial moan. Even so, the soft moan brought the attention of five certain ponies.
Applejack stopped pulling the cart and looked at Rarity. "Was that Rainbow?"
Rarity jumped to Rainbows side as Applejack struggled to uncouple herself from the cart she had been pulling.
"Is she awake?" Applejack called as she fumbled to release the buckles holding her to the cart.
Rainbow saw a blurred image of a white face. 'I must be dead.' Ranibow thought. 'No pony is that white. It must be a ghost.'
But then Rainbow started making out another colour, purple. It looked vaguely familiar. 'Some clothes I saw? No. Some of Rarity's gems? No. Twilight! No, too dark. Somepony's mane or tail? N... Rarity!' Rainbow tried to smile, but ended up grimacing at the pain it brought with it.
"She's awake!" Rarity yelled, suddenly overcome by excitement.
Applejack managed to get the last buckle undone and ran back to see Rainbow struggling to keep her eyes open. "Can she talk yet?" Applejack asked.
"I don't think so. I haven't heard her make any sounds, aside from that groan before." Rarity replied.
The three filly's joined them now.
"Is she awake?" Applebloom asked.
"Has she talked yet?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Is my sister okay?!" Scootaloo yelled pushing past her friends.
She jumped over Applebloom's head and landed in front of the cart. She placed her forelegs on the side of the cart so she was standing on her hind legs. Scootaloo looked down at her sisters almost lifeless body. Scootaloo slowly started to stroke her sisters mane. "You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay." Scootaloo kept repeating as she stroked her sister's mane.
"That feels good." Rainbow muttered, despite the pain.
Scootaloo stopped and looked stared at her sister, not moving.
"I don't remember saying to stop." Rainbow said weakly.
Scootaloo started smiling and went back to stroking Rainbow's mane.
The two ponies stayed like that for about half an hour before Applejack interrupted.
"Sorry girls, but I think it might be best if we keep moving." She said coupling herself back up to the cart.
"Can I stay with my sister?" Asked Scootaloo hopefully.
Applejack frowned and though for a moment. "Sure, why not? Now that Rainbow is awake, I'm sure that she would love some company." Applejack replied.
Scootaloo smiled brightly and bounced up into the cart, careful not to land on Rainbow. Scootaloo sat down next to her sister and began stroking Rainbow's mane again.
The six ponies continued in silence for a while until Applejack tried to raise everybody's spirits. "Why don't we play a game?"
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle seemed happy to play a game while Rarity remained impassive.
"Whatcha wanna play Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked, hoping to get Scootaloo's mind off Rainbow.
Scootaloo continued petting Rainbow's mane.
"Scootaloo!" Applebloom called louder.
Scootaloo jumped slightly and looked at Applebloom. "Sorry, what was that?" She asked, still a bit confused.
"Ah just asked whatcha wanna play." Applebloom responded.
Scootaloo looked back now at her sister and sighed. "I'm fine. You can play something with Sweetie if you want."
Applebloom looked at Scootaloo in worry. 'She hasn't left her side since she woke up.' Applebloom thought to herself as she walked a bit faster to become level with her sister.
"Hey Applejack?" Applebloom asked.
"What is it sugar cube?" Applejack asked kindly, turning to face her sister.
"Are we the only ones alive?" She asked softly, tears swelling in her eyes as she thought of what might of happened to her friends.
Applejack stopped walking and faced her little sister properly. Rarity turned back to see why Applejack had stopped and felt her own eyes swelling as she overheard what Applejack was saying.
"Yes, I think so." She replied staring back at her sister.
Tears started flowing freely down Rarity's cheeks as she heard her friends honesty. She closed her eyes and pictured all her lost friends.
Applebloom looked down and began crying. Sweetie Belle saw this and ran over to see what had happened but Rarity stopped her before she could get to her.
"Let me go." Sweetie Belle squeaked as she struggled to escape Rarity's grip. "Something's happened to Applebloom!"
Rarity turned her sister so that Sweetie was facing her. Sweetie stopped struggling as soon as she saw the tears on Rarity's face. Before Sweetie could say anything, Rarity brought her closer for a tight embrace. Sweetie Belle started crying straight away and clutched Rarity tighter.
Scootaloo looked up from Rainbow towards her friends. She watched and listened to what Applejack was saying intently.
"Applebloom ah know it's hard, buts that's just the truth." Applejack said, looking down at her sister.
"It's not true!" Applebloom screamed as she threw herself into her older sister.
Applejack easily caught her sister and held her there as she began crying uncontrollably.
"You have to stay strong." Croaked a voice from behind. "Not just for yourself, but for your friends as well. They need you, more than ever now. Especially Scootaloo. We've all been though so much, but we have to stay strong. We can't afford to fall apart now. All our friends are gone, all that we know is gone, all that we love is gone. But we still have each other. We still hold the love that we share for each other. Our friends might be gone, they might not, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we keep moving forward and that we hold them in our hearts forever, and never forget them. So long as we remember them, they will always be here with us. In here." Rainbow said touching her hoof to Scootaloo's heart.
Everypony's eyes were glued on Rainbow as she said this. Nopony had expected Rainbow to be awake, let alone stand up and give a speech. Rainbow stepped out of the cart on shaky legs and slowly walked towards Applejack. Applejack was speechless as Rainbow walked towards her and whispered in her ear.
"They need you Applejack." Rainbow said, barely above a whisper. "Now more than ever. You need to be there for them. I won't be able to be there until I'm healed, so until then it will be up to you." Rainbows voice got softer and softer as she spoke, until what she was saying was barely audible. As Rainbow finished she collapsed, falling against Applejack who promptly dropped Applebloom to catch her. Rarity ran over to help as Applejack gently laid Rainbow onto the ground.
"What happened? Is she okay?" Rarity asked worriedly.
"She's fine." Applejack responded not taking her eyes off Rainbow's sleeping form.
One Week Later
It was nearing nightfall and the sun was setting over a large snowy mountain, which would of looked beautiful if they could see it. The group of survivors were still walking though the Everfree forest, which blocked any view of the setting sun. In fact, the forest was almost pitch black even though the sun was just setting. The trees blocked most of the remaining sunlight and cast large knife like shadows across the forest floor.
Rainbow was limping beside Applejack as she refused to sit in the cart. They were still traveling though what seemed like an endless forest. They had surprisingly hadn't come across any dangerous animals or plants besides a patch of Poison Joke, which they narrowly avoided.
"How's your wings RD?" Applejack asked, hoping for good news.
Rainbow flexed her wings slightly and yelped in pain as a loud crack ran out though the forest.
"Sweet Celestia, are you okay there Rainbow?" Applejack asked, thinking Rainbow had broken her wing again.
Rainbow was shaking slightly as she pointed towards a section of the forest. Applejack followed her foreleg and saw what had got Rainbow so worried. A pair of light green eyes stared back at her though the darkness.
