> Deal with the Devil
>  by RaylanKrios
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s not fair; it just isn’t fair! thought Scootaloo as she sat in her room crying. All I’ve ever wanted is to be able to fly like other pegasi. A few hours earlier she had listened to a stallion in a white coat try to explain that the reason her wings were still small was that she had been born without growth plates in her ala humeri. Without those plates her wings would never get bigger and thus she would never be able to generate enough lift to do anything more than hover a few inches off the ground. The stallion in the white coat went on about how other than not flying, she was perfectly healthy and there was no reason to worry. His words didn't register, everything after “you’ll never fly” was just a jumbled mess.

To many of the earth ponies in Ponyville, Scootaloo wanting to fly was merely a byproduct of her idolizing Rainbow Dash. Dash could fly, Scootaloo worshipped Rainbow Dash, therefore Scootaloo wanted to fly; it was simple math. If the tiny pegasus had worshipped Rarity then she would be obsessed with fashion, was how most ponies rationalized Scootaloo’s constant attempts to fly. What the earth ponies didn’t understand was that for a pegasus flying wasn’t just a convenient way to get around, it was part of who they were. A pegasus who couldn’t fly was like a yak that didn’t smash things, it was denying part of what made them unique. 

Even Fluttershy, who as a rule didn’t particularly enjoy flying, was still glad that she could. Everytime Scootaloo furiously flapped her wings only to come cruelly crashing back down to earth, she didn’t just feel the sting of gravity, she felt broken, as though she was somehow less than a true pegasus. 

Scootaloo wasn’t sure how she made it back to her room after her doctors appointment. She wasn't sure how long she had been crying and she wasn't sure who was knocking on her door.

“Scootaloo, your friends are here,” a voiced laced with concern said. Scootaloo belatedly recognized it as her mothers.

“Yeah Scoots, c’mon out. We said we’d try to earn our cutie marks in weather making today. Rainbow Dash even said she’d help us make lightning clouds,” said a second voice, likely belonging to Apple Bloom.

Normally Scootaloo would have jumped at the chance to spend the day with her idol and her friends trying to earn her cutie mark, but that was before her world was brought crashing down around her. “Go away!” yelled the filly.

“Scootaloo, you can’t stay in there forever,” chided a third voice that Scootaloo guessed belonged to Sweetie Belle.

“Yes I can!” came her response from behind the locked door.

“I think Scootaloo needs some time alone right now; maybe you girls should try again tomorrow?” Scootaloo’s mother gently suggested.

Realizing that they were unlikely to coax Scootaloo out from both her room or her mood her friends quietly slipped away, promising to visit again tomorrow.

Every day for the next week followed the same pattern. Scootaloo would wake up, flap her now permanently classified as vestigial wings, a few times hoping that the laws of physics had changed, and then she'd spent the rest of the day in a morose haze when she confirmed they hadn't.  

Then Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would come by sometime after breakfast and try to convince Scootaloo to come out and play, and every day they left empty hoofed. Rainbow Dash had tried to talk to the dejected filly at least twice but was similarly sent packing.  After a solid week of refusing to leave her room Scootaloo’s mother decided that Scootaloo was simply going to have to get used to the idea of not flying and pushed her out the door with instructions to not come back until dinner time, and thus Scootaloo found herself at the library talking to Twilight.

“I’m sorry,” said Twilight. “My magic just isn’t strong enough to give you new wings.”

“But you got wings and you’re not even a pegasus.”

“Well that’s different; Princess Celestia gave me wings when she made me a princess-”

“Then why can’t I be a princess? I’ll work really hard at it and do whatever princesses do. Please Twilight, pretty please?” Scootaloo said, her hooves pressed together in supplication, looking up at Twilight with as much hope as she dared muster. 

Twilight tried to smile as compassionately as she could at the small orange filly staring up at her with wide eyes.  “I’m sorry Scootaloo. I really am, but it’s not that simple,” Twilight said softly.

“Yes it is!” one of the books on Twilight's shelf exclaimed.  “Well maybe not the whole princess thing, but who wants that anyway, all that ruling the kingdoms and protecting the realm? Boooring.” The book levitated itself off the shelf and morphed into a multi-colored draconequus with mismatched wings and one fang hanging out of his mouth.

“Discord, what are you doing here?!” Twilight yelled.

“Oh nothing, I just was just thinking I haven’t seen my good friend Princess Twilight in a while, and then I thought ‘well why don’t I pay her a visit?’ And just as I was about to knock I heard you try to explain to this poor little filly that your magic just isn't strong enough to give her new wings, and what a coincidence! Here I am and I’m certainly powerful enough to do something so trivial as give one little filly one little set of functioning wings.” As he said the last words his voice dropped and his smile grew to something just shy of sinister.

Twilight was about to tell Discord exactly what he could do with his offer to help until she looked down at the heartbroken filly whose eyes had lit up with excitement at the prospect of getting the one thing she wanted more than anything. Twilight knew that feeling, if she hadn't gotten into Celestia’s school she wasn't sure what she would have done. And if somepony had offered her a spot, could she really have turned them down? Even if that pony was a draconequus who had a well deserved reputation for leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.

“What do you want in return?” Twilight asked cautiously.

“I don’t want anything. Can’t I just offer to help out of the goodness of my heart?” At that last word Discord morphed into a cartoon shaped heart, familar to everypony who had ever drew one. Twilight eyed him suspiciously as Discord continued,  “After all, if we’re friends and the little pegasus is your friend, then that makes her my friend. And don’t friends help each other? Hmmm?” Discord wondered out loud.

Scootaloo just sat there as Twilight and the odd looking draconequus talked, but she couldn't help but get excited.

Twilight bit her lip as Scootaloo stared up with her those hopeful eyes.  “You can fix her wings? And you’re not asking for anything in return? The wings won’t randomly disappear as she’s flying one day or anything like that?” Twilight asked.

“Perish the thought! Maybe the old Discord would have played such a cruel trick,” a suddenly ancient looking Discord said as he leaned on a red cane that had just materialized. “But new reformed Discord only wants to make everypony happy,” he said as he morphed back into his unusual self, the can disapering.

Twilight again stared down at the small orange pegasus whose tiny wings were now twitching with excitement.  “I suppose it’s up to you Scootaloo, but I’d be careful if I were in your hooves,” the lavender alicorn finally said, knowing that any stronger warnings were likely to be futile.

Scootaloo looked up at Discord, excited at the possibility of getting wings but also smart enough to recognize that Twilight's concern was grounded in something real. “You can really do that? You can fix my wings?” the orange filly asked tentatively.

“All you have to do is say please,” said the draconequus with only the smallest hint of ominous glee in his voice.

Scootaloo stood there for what felt like an hour. She had heard how Discord once ruled Equestria spreading chaos wherever he went. Like all her friends she had heard Rainbow Dash tell the story of how Discord once set Twilight and her friends against each other and it wasn't until Rainbow had come to her senses that the six friends had reunited to turn Discord back into stone, (at least that’s how Rainbow Dash told the story).  But she had also heard how Discord was supposedly reformed. Fluttershy even said that they were friends, and Fluttershy wouldn't be friends with anypony who was evil, would she?

Besides, he was offering her the chance to fly, he couldn't be that terrible if he was willing to do that. Even if he was , so what? Bad ponies, (or draconequuses in this case), could still do nice things right? He was offering her the chance to fly! To soar among the crowds like the coolest pony ever and she’d probably earn her cutie mark because clearly it must have something to do with flying and all she had to do was say please?!  One little word was all that was standing between her and the chance to for once not feel like she was somehow broken. Why should she turn away from such a lopsided offer?  “Okay, please can you fix my wings?” Scootaloo asked equal parts nervous and excited.

“Of course I can little filly! One brand new, fully functioning, set of wings coming right up!”

Scootaloo expected a big dramatic flourish with Discord’s brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully weaved a complex spell that bent the fabric of spacetime as he reformed an entire universe based on the premise that Scootaloo would now have wings. Instead Discord merely snapped his talons and Scootaloo was enveloped in a cloud of white smoke. When the smoke dissipated, Scootaloo was delighted to find that instead of the small stubby wings she was used to seeing she now had a full grown, for her size anyway, set of orange wings.  Her mouth hung slack and for a moment she was unable to fully process her new reality. Before she could say thank you, however, Discord snapped his talons again and disappeared. In the space he once occupied a disembodied voice called out. “Enjoy the wings, I’ll check in with you...later,” and if Scootaloo didn't know any better she would have swore that there something menacing in the way he said that last part.





This. Is. Awesome! Scootaloo thought as she marveled at the sensation of her wings trapping the air, propelling her forward every time she flapped. She loved how she could feel the bumps in the current as she glided but most of all she loved feeling like she was finally whole.  How can anypony ever get enough of this? Why wouldn't they want to feel this way all the time? Suddenly, she saw a prismatic blur a few hundred yards ahead of her. Rainbow Dash! I can go flying with Rainbow Dash! Faster than she even knew she could fly she hurried off to meet her idol.

“Hi Rainbow Dash, check out my new wings!” the excited pegasus exclaimed while performing a small inverted corkscrew.

At the sight of Scootaloo hovering in the air for more than a few seconds, Rainbow Dash stopped in mid flight, her  mouth visibly hanging open. “Whoa kid, what happened? Last I checked some doctor was saying something about your wings not being able to grow any larger,” the surprised pegasus replied.

“Oh well I was at Twilight's library and-”

“Twilight can grow pegasus wings? Huh, I should ask her to make mine bigger.”

“Umm not exactly, while I was there Discord kinda showed up and-”

Rainbow Dash interrupted Scootaloo again, but this time with far more urgency. “Discord! Scootaloo, what did you do?” Rainbow Dash grabbed the orange filly and shook her violently, much to Scootaloo’s surprise.

“Nothing, he said he just wanted to help!” Scootaloo called out from inbetween shakes, growing more than a little afraid at Rainbow's reaction. 

Seeing the honest fear in Scootaloo's eyes Rainbow Dash let out a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. “I’m sorry,but ya gotta give them back kid. You don’t know Discord like we do, he’s bad news.”

“Give them back? But I just got them. Discord promised he wasn't asking for anything in return.” Scootaloo protested.

“Look kid, I don’t know what Discord’s game is but if I know one thing it’s that you can’t trust that guy.”

“You don’t understand, if I give them back I’ll never be able to fly!” Scootaloo responded with no small measure of outrage. 

Rainbow shook her head sadly. “Maybe not kid, but whatever his price is, it’s not worth it.”

“Yes it is!” Scootaloo screamed “How would you feel if you found out you could never fly again?"

Truthfully Rainbow Dash couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she couldn't fly, but she also knew that making a deal with Discord was asking for trouble. “Trust me kid, you need to walk away before this goes any further,” was her response.

“You just don't understand. How could you?” Scootaloo yelled as she sped off with tears in her eyes.

And so for the next few days she avoided Rainbow Dash. She still loved flying but she couldn't get Rainbow’s voice out of her head. You need to walk away? It’s not fair, I finally get my wings and now Rainbow wants me to just give them up. How can Rainbow Dash of all ponies ask me to do that? 

Scootaloo sat alone in a cave on the edge of the Everfree forest. She wasn't entirely sure how she got there, but it was quiet and therefore a good place to think. So far this hadn't been going at all like she thought it would. She figured she’d get her wings and everything would be great; but instead the one pony whose opinion meant more to her than anything told her she needed to just give up the idea that she would ever fly like a normal pegasus. A small nagging voice that emanated from the deepest reaches of her subconscious managed to penetrate her outrage. What if Rainbow is right? Maybe I should give them up.  Before she could finish this thought process a voice interrupted her.

“Why the long face? Aren't you enjoying your new wings?” the cave wall said, slowly morphing into a familiar looking draconequus.

“They’re great, it’s just Rainbow Dash thinks I should give them back. She says that you’re going to ask me for a favor and that it won’t be worth it.”

“I’m offended,” the draconequus exclaimed as his skin turned bright red. “To think that Rainbow Dash thinks I only did something nice so I could get a favor in return.”

“So you’re not going to ask me for a favor?” Scootaloo asked hopefully.

“For giving you wings, not at all. But if you want to keep them-”

Scootaloo leaped up in surprise. “Wait, what?”

“As it turns out I do need one little favor from you,” Discord said smiling with a sinister gleam in his eye.

“But you said you weren't going to ask for anything.”

“For giving you the wings? Of course not! But I never said anything about taking them away.”  Discord snapped his talons and suddenly Scootaloo’s wings were transformed back to their pre-Discord intervention state.

“You- that’s- not fair, please give them back,” the tiny pegasus whimpered. She had only had them for a short time but the prospect of losing frightened her more than she would ever admit. 

“Awww whoever told you life was fair?" Discord said mockingly. "The fact is that I’m sick of living under the threat of being turned back into stone and you can help me fix that little inconvenience. All you need to do is find out where Twilight and her friends are keeping those blasted elements and bring me two of them.”

“Why can’t you just use your magic to teleport them over to you?” Scootaloo asked with no small trace of anger in her voice.

“I can’t touch the elements, but you can.” Discords grin began to grow larger until it no longer masked the menacing nature behind it.  “Everypony thinks the elements are these wondrous magical gems that embody goodness,” Discord continued with his venom laced rant.  “But they’re not; they’re just rocks, tools, and they’re only as strong as the ponies who wield them. And here’s another secret.” At this Discord’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They’re not invulnerable.”  

Scootaloo sat there staring at Discord, not entirely sure what the draconequus was hinting at.

“Ugh, do I really need to give you a lesson on how the elements work? Fine. The elements act like a focusing device, an amplifier if you will. Twilight’s Element is magic not because it’s some imbued property of her stone but because Twilight is really good at magic. Rarity’s stone is generosity because Rarity is generous, Applejack is honest, Fluttershy is kind and so on and so forth. The stones don’t have any special powers, they just respond to what’s already there.”  

Scootaloo sat absolutely silently as a horrible realization came over her.  

“Which means if a different pony were to put them on…”  Discord let his words hang in the air.  

“The Elements would change,” whispered Scootaloo.

“And if the pony wearing them wasn't a perfect little goody two hooves, well then there would be a completely new Element,” Discord finished Scootaloo’s thought process out loud.  

“But wouldn't the Elements just change back when the original bearer put it on again?” Scootaloo asked desperate to prevent Discords plan from going any further.

“Well yes, but I’m only powerless against the elements because they’re just so darn pure. Introduce a little chaos into the picture and all of the sudden I can do whatever I want to them.”

“You’re going to destroy them aren't you?”

“Not all of them, just two; and without the threat of those blasted elements hanging over my head, I’ll finally be free to resume my reign of chaos,” at the idea of finally ruling over Equestria again Discords eyes twinkled as visions of anarchy danced in his head.

“Ponies are going to get hurt aren’t they?” Scootaloo asked, but she knew the answer. 

Discord shrugged. “No one you care about; in fact, help me with this and I promise to leave Ponyville and your friends alone forever.”

“What if I say no?” Scootaloo asked with the smallest hint of defiance.

Discord’s voice suddenly became devoid of any sense of mirth.“Look, here’s the deal kid, it’s a special one time only never going to happen again offer; you bring me two of the elements and help me destroy them and in return you get your wings and I promise to leave Ponyville forever; or you can say no and begin the long walk back into town right now, it’s up to you.”  

“Why two?” the orange filly wondered, momentarily distracted from the terrible ramifications of Discord’s plan.

Discord sneered at the thought of facing the six Elements of Harmony wielded by their current bearers “Five Elements are still pretty powerful and while I am the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony I’d prefer not to leave these sorts of things to chance, so two it is.”

Scootaloo stood there paralyzed with fear; she couldn't really betray her friends like that. Could she? Discord said that Ponyville would still be safe, do you really want to be broken forever?

“Well what’s it going to be?” Discord tapped his claw impatiently “Going once, going twice…”

Scootaloo gritted her teeth “Fine, I’ll help you”.
 
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say Scootaloo left the cave feeling conflicted would be an understatement. You can’t seriously be thinking of helping Discord. Discord had returned her wings prior to disappearing to wherever it was Discord disappeared to, lest anypony get suspicious so Scootaloo was slowly flying back to town. I don’t have a choice, it’s either help him or go back to being a flightless pegasus!  I just need to play along until I can come up with a plan. 

So you’re going to play along until you think of a way to fool a centuries old god who’s been tricking ponies since before Celestia’s rule?  


Scootaloo groaned out loud at her inner monologue. Why does this have to be so complicated?  Figuring that she should at least try to figure out where the elements were just in case her plan to play along got that far she headed over to Sugarcube Corner to talk to the first of the six Element Bearers.  

“Hi Pinkie,” Scootaloo said in what she hoped was a cheery-I’m certainly-not-here-to-try-and-steal-your-element voice as she entered the bakery.

“Hiya Scootaloo. Wow! Twilight said you got new wings. Are they as fun as you thought they’d be? We should have a party to celebrate. I’ve never thrown a somepony got new wings party,” Pinkie said as she happily bounced up and down.

Scootaloo was surprised by the effervescent pink pony’s enthusiasm, “You’re not going to tell me I need to give them back because Discord is trying to trick me?”

“Well no. I mean that’s up to you, but if wings make you happy then I think you should keep them. It’s important to be happy,” the pink pony replied in a surprisingly lucid manner.

“Hey Pinkie, if your Element makes you happy, and it can make other ponies happy how come you don’t keep it with you?” Scootaloo asked. Nice, real smooth.

“My element is super duper important; I’d just feel awful if anything happened to it. So I keep it in the hidingest of all hiding places where nopony could ever find it, and if they could find it they’d never be able to get to it because it’s super hard to reach and even if they could reach it it’s in a super special puzzle box that’s super hard to open unless you have my Pinkie Sense,” Pinkie replied with her usual cheerful disposition.

“Oh.”

Pinkie’s ever present smile disappeared for a fraction of a second. While the party loving pony was sometimes dismissed as  being dense or spastic, nopony could deny that she was incredibly attuned to the moods of her friends, (most of the time), and that was before one considered her supernatural sense(s). “Hey Scootaloo, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, I’m, umm, just kinda hungry. Do you think I could have a cupcake?”

“Ooh I love cupcakes, we have vanilla and chocolate and double chocolate and triple chocolate and strawberry and –”

“Chocolate’s fine.”

“Okie-dokie. Here it’s on the house” Pinkie offered in the hope that a cupcake would fix whatever was clearly bothering the orange filly.

“Thanks Pinkie. I’ve got to go find Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, catch ya later.” Scootaloo said, hurrying out the door before Pinkie started to realize the real purpose of her visit. 

“Okie dokie lokie. Bye, Scootaloo!” Pinkie called out as she happily waved goodbye to the small filly flying away.

Well I guess stealing the Element of Laughter is out of the question. Maybe I’ll have more luck with Fluttershy.  

Really? Fluttershy?  You want to keep your wings so badly that you’d take advantage of a pony as nice and trusting as Fluttershy? 

If I don’t Discord will take my wings away. I’m sure if Fluttershy knew how much they meant to me she’d offer to help. 

Then why don’t you just ask her if you can have her Element?

Because she’d tell Twilight, Twilight would tell Celestia, Celestia would confront Discord and then Discord would take my wings away.

You’re really bad at rationalizing, did you know that? 

Shut up.  

Before Scootaloo could continue her internal debate about whether Fluttershy’s inherent kindness precluded her as a target, Fluttershy’s cottage, complete with its usual assortment of animals, came into view. Ponyville’s resident animal caretaker and stare master was busy feeding and tending to the usual collection of critters that kept showing up on her doorstep at all hours.

"Hi Scootaloo, are you enjoying the wings? It's nice to see Discord's starting to use his powers for good," Fluttershy said as she saw the orange pegasus approaching. 

“Hi Fluttershy, the wings are great. I just thought since I can fly now I’d see if you needed any help taking care of the birds.”

“Oh that’s very nice of you Scootaloo!  Sure, I’d love some help.  You can refill the bird feeders.”

“Awesome.” As Scootaloo flew around the trees, checking and refilling various types of bird feeders, she kept hoping an opening to ask Fluttershy about her element would present itself; but the yellow pegasus was much more interested in talking about the different types of bird seeds that the different birds of Ponyville ate. After ten minutes about the differences between soft shelled poppy seeds and hard shelled poppy seeds Scootaloo became exasperated.

"Neat. So, uh, Fluttershy, do you think I could see your Element of Harmony? I've never seen one before, and, umm, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle have already and I was kinda wondering if maybe I could see yours? I promise to be really careful." Y’know, before I hand it over to Discord to destroy it forever?

“I’m sorry Scootaloo, but I keep my element in the cockatrice cave, so I know that it’s safe and sound. I wouldn't want to bother him unless it’s a real emergency.”

“Aren’t you scared of the cockatrice?” Scootaloo remembered the fear in Fluttershy’s voice as she had first warned them about the half dragon/half chicken creature that lived in the Everfree Forest.

“Oh I was, but ever since I used the stare on him he’s been very well behaved. I know that he feels just awful about turning Elizabeth and Twilight to stone, so letting him guard my element helps him feel better and it helps me feel better because this way I don’t have to worry about it,” the yellow pegasus replied cheerfully. 

“That’s… really nice of you, I guess.  Well, anyway if you don’t need any more help I think I’m going to go find Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

“Okay ,and thanks again for refilling the bird feeders for me!  It was a big help.”

“Sure Fluttershy, catch ya later.”

0 for 2, how’s this plan of yours looking now?

Quiet you, there are still four elements left; maybe Twilight’s will be easier to get to. 

Of course, because it’s not like Twilight ever thinks anything through like Pinkie does.

I said be quiet.

Scootaloo knocked on the door of the library where this whole misadventure had started.

“Hi Twilight, I just wanted to say thank you for not stopping Discord the other day. I know you don’t trust him but well I really like the wings.”

“Sure Scootaloo, I know you like the wings but be careful you don’t want to depend on Discord to solve your problems.”

“I know Twilight, I’ll be careful,” Scootaloo looked up and on top of a bookcase and saw Twilights purple star shaped Element of Harmony just sitting there without any puzzle boxes or cockatrices around it.  Finally a lucky break.

Twilight caught Scootaloo staring at her element and laughed. “Oh that’s just an illusion, I keep it around as practice for my illusion spells. Also it’s a good decoy just in case Discord ever tries to steal my Element again. The real one is surrounded by wards which are actually pretty interesting. You see I built a feedback loop into them so that the harder someone pushes against them the harder the wards push back. That’s pretty basic stuff, the neat thing is I routed the kinetic energy of the pushback into an elemental matrix so that whoever is trying to get past them gets hit with ice and fire at the same time which was hard to do because those spells are polar opposites so to compensate for the frequency dissonance I had to localize a dampening field around each apex. I was thinking of adding another heat sink and elemental pathway so I could add dragon fire as a fail safe but the last time I asked Spike to help me make dragon fire I ended up singeing my main and Rarity had to book an emergency spa session so anyways for now I don’t have any dragon fire in my wards but I still think they work pretty well.”

“Oh cool, that’s a really good illusion. Anyways I just wanted to say thanks. I’m going to go fly some more bye.”

“Ok Scootaloo have fun,” came the alicorns reply as Scootaloo again scurried off to try her luck elsewhere.

Feel like giving up yet?

No, maybe Apple Bloom can help me get Applejack's Element.

You’re going to ask Apple Bloom to lie to her sister? When does this end? 

When I get to keep my wings that’s when! Now stop criticizing me and help me figure out what to do next!”

Soon Sweet Apple Acres came into view. Scootaloo didn't see Applejack anywhere but her good friend and fellow Cutie Mark Crusader happened to be out front watering the ubiquitous apple trees that surrounded the property. Before Scootaloo could think of a way to approach Apple Bloom about her sister's Element of Harmony, Applebloom noticed her coming down the walkway and waved.

“Hey ya Scoots. Tired of flying yet?”

“Ha never. Hey is Applejack around? I wanted to see if we could borrow her Element for a treasure hunt?”

“What ya wanna do that for? I think she keeps it buried under an apple tree but only she knows which one, she says it’s safer that way.”

“I just thought if we found it we could earn our cutie marks as treasure hunters or something.”

“Ah don’t think so, anyways we don’t have time for treasure hunts we have to work on our diorama for Miss Cherilee’s class or else Diamond Tiara is going to win and then she’ll become even more stuck up then she already is.”

Scootaloo groaned. “Ugh yeah, but can I maybe work on it with you later, I want to go flying one more time before it gets dark out.”

“Ok, me and Sweetie will meet you in the clubhouse later.”

“Cool. Later Applebloom.”

“Later Scoots.”

Ugh four Elements and they might as well be in Canterlot being guarded by Celestia as far as I’m concerned. Maybe Rarity and Rainbow Dash are more careless. 

You think Rainbow Dash is ever going to want to fly with you if you take her Element and hand it over to Discord? 

I won’t get to fly with anyone ever again if I don’t. 

That’s a surprisingly good point. Anyways Rarity’s house is closer to sweet Apple Acres so let’s check there first. 

Scootaloo began to get concerned that she thought of the voice in her head as a separate pony but it wasn't like she had anypony else she could bounce ideas off of.

Scootaloo opened the door slowly to the Carousel Boutique hoping to avoid triggering the bell that alerted the proprietor to potential clients. Unfortunately her plan failed and a familiar chime quickly filled the shop.

“I’ll be with you in just a second,” came the familiar voice of Ponyville's resident fashionista.

“Hi Rarity. Is Sweetie Belle home?”

“Hello darling, I’m afraid Sweetie Belle is out finding me some sapphires so I can finish an upcoming order, but I’ll tell her you stopped by.”

“Thanks, umm Rarity don’t you ever get worried that somepony might break in and try to steal all your gems since you have so many of them.”

“Thinking of becoming Cutie Mark Crusaders jewel thieves are we?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“N-no I would never take any of your gems I was just wondering because of the diamond dogs,” Scootaloo stammered.

“Oh relax dear, I was only joking. Here let me show you something,” Rarity walked over behind one of her sewing stations and used her magic to gently lower one of the mirrors she had throughout her boutique; behind it was a formidable looking safe built into the wall.“That is Sentry-Lock 3000,” Rarity proudly said gesturing to the ominous looking safe. The dial of the safe appeared to feature a number pad as well as a hoofprint scanner. Scootaloo had no doubt that anything Rarity put in that safe was unlikely to see the light of day until she wanted it to. Rarity continued her mini lecture, “Fancy Pants uses one to keep his valuables safe and so after that dreadful incident with those ruffians, I had him order me one in exchange for designing his tuxedo for the grand galloping gala. It set me back quite a few hours but it was worth it. Now I don’t have to worry about anypony taking my gems or even worse trying to steal one of my designs." Rarity shuddered in horror at that last thought. 

“Oh, cool.” Scootaloo mumbled as she tried to hide her disappointment at yet another stumbling block.

“Indeed. Say Scootaloo, now that you can fly, do you have a flight suit?  I’ve always wanted to try my hoof at designing one and Rainbow Dash keeps insisting that it would just slow her down, but if you’d like I could try to design one for you.”

“Umm yeah that sounds great.”

“Splendid, I should have something by the end of the week, of course you’ll need to test it so I can make the necessary 
modifications…ooh if this goes well I could design Ponyville's uniforms for the Equestria games!”  

“Sure Rarity.  Well I gotta jet. Tell Sweetie Belle I said hi,” Scootaloo said as she left another location disappointed. 

Well just one left, but don’t worry I’m sure the Element of Loyalty will have no problem helping you doom the rest of Equestria to a lifetime of chaos.

Do you ever get tired of criticizing me? 

Do you ever get tired of being wrong? 

Scootaloo approached the field on the edge of town that Rainbow Dash was known to frequent as a practice ground. As she approached she saw a familiar prismatic blur soar through the air. She slowly flew up hoping that her idol would notice her. In the middle of a triple loop  Rainbow noticed the orange pegasus and stopped her routine.

“Hi Rainbow. Listen I’m sorry I ran off the other day-”

“Don’t sweat it squirt. I still think that Discords trying to trick you but we’ve still got our elements in case he gets out of hoof. Besides he can’t make you do anything you don’t want to right?”

“I guess not. Hey Rainbow, where is your element? I mean if Discord comes back how do you know he won’t take it?”

“The Wonderbolts owed me a favor after I saved them and all so I asked if I could keep my Element in their training facility. It’s a lot safer there than in my house.”

“Oh, cool.”

“Yep, so how bout a flying lesson? If you’re going to keep those wings you need to know how to use them.”

“Wow! Sure that’d be great.” Scootaloo said, grateful for the temporary distraction. 

Scootaloo spent the rest of the afternoon flying with Rainbow Dash and while she had a great time the nagging voice in her head refused to go away. Admit it you're glad the elements are so thoroughly protected. Now you can go back to Discord and tell him you can’t help secure in the knowledge that you did everything you could to try and keep your wings.

Scootaloo flew back to the cave dejected but at least feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders; she couldn't steal the Elements and therefore she couldn't doom the rest of Equestria to a thousand years of chaos. It was true that she would probably never fly again; but did she really want to be the kind of pony who put her own needs ahead of literally everpony else?  She closed her eyes trying to commit to memory the feeling of the wind beneath her wings, the way her feathers tickled  telling her to shift directions ever so slightly to compensate for turbulence, and the thrill she got from that initial burst of speed as she flapped her wings. She figured it was probably going to be the last time she got to experience those particular sensations.

“Hey Discord! Get your plot out here!” The frustration and anger in Scootaloo’s voice grew as she entered the familiar cavern. “Deals off you lying sack of puck!” I can’t get to the Elements so you might as well take my wings because I’m all out of ideas!”

The east facing cave wall morphed into a multi-colored draconequus with mismatched wings and a solitary fang protruding from his mouth. “Well that’s disappointing my little pegasus. If I can’t have the Elements then I guess you can’t have any wings.”

“Take them! It’s not going to change the fact that I can’t give you what you want,” Scootaloo snarled. 

“Come now, don’t be so pessimistic. Surely between my powers and your-well not being me- we can find a solution. Why don’t you tell me what you know and I’ll see if I can help you out.”

“Ha! Do you think I’m stupid? I tell you what I know and you decide to get the Elements yourself. Nice try.”

Discord stared at the orange pegasus who was surprisingly insolent despite being hopelessly outclassed and out-leveraged, he chuckled softly. “I like you, I think in another life we could have been great friends. Tell you what; because you amuse me I will alter the terms of our deal. One Element. That’s all I want. Your precious friends will still have a fighting chance to stop me, you get to keep your wings and everpony will be none the wiser that you tried to help me. After all can you imagine what your friends will say when they find out you didn't say no the second I told you my plan?” Suddenly a disappointed looking Rainbow Dash appeared in place of Discord.

“I thought you were cool squirt. I’d never hang out with anypony who would help Discord,” not Rainbow Dash sneered.

“I just can’t believe it, to think I was going to design a flight suit for you” an appalled looking Rarity said next to a crestfallen Sweetie Belle shaking her head.

“Ah knew that filly was trouble, c’mon AB I don’t want ya hanging around her nomore,” an angry looking Applejack said with an equally angry looking Apple Bloom by her side, both glaring at Scootaloo.

“Ah don’t know why we ever thought she could be a Cutie Mark Crusader anyway,” angry Apple Bloom declared.

The familiar looking ponies broke into pieces and Discord reformed in their place “Face it kid, you’re in this too deep now.”

“B-but if you tell you’ll get in trouble too.” Scootaloo said, vainly hoping this threat would be enough to dissuade Discord from revealing her shameful secret.

“Oh my, the Lord of Chaos tried to steal the Elements of Harmony. How scandalous!” Discord said with mock concern dripping from his voice. “Ponies expect this sort of thing from me, they’ll be mad for a few months and then they’ll get over it. Or maybe they won't. The nice thing about being immortal is that you have a long time to make ponies forget about grudges. But you, they’d never forgive you,” Discord emphasized never in such a way that left no doubt that nopony would ever be Scootaloo’s friend again. “Your only way out is to finish what you started. I already altered our deal once; I’m not altering it further. One element. Two days. Here.”

Discord disappeared and left Scootaloo alone in the cave. The tiny orange pegasus pulled her legs close to her chest and began to sob.  

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo sat all by herself in the cave. 

Maybe Sweetie Belle can use her magic to get through Twilight's shielding.

The same Sweetie Belle who can barely levitate a broom? 

Fine, well maybe I can crack Rarity’s safe. 

You don’t even know that the Element is in there. Besides, what do you know about safe cracking?

Despite the hours mentally reviewing her predicament over and over again, every time she arrived at the same inescapable conclusion: Your only chance is to sneak into the cockatrice cave. That was the horrible unyielding truth; she simply lacked the skills necessary to attempt to steal one of the other Elements. 

It was getting late and Scootaloo realized that her parents would be worried if she didn't get home soon. She had already missed her Crusaders meeting and if she didn't turn up soon, ponies would start to worry. However before she could go home she needed to make a quick stop at the library.  After zipping through town as fast as she could on her ever present scooter, Scootaloo found herself talking to a somewhat perplexed Twilight.

“Hi Twilight, I know the library is closed but umm I have a report on the Everfree Forest due Monday and with all the flying I kinda forgot. I was hoping I could borrow a book on animals or something.”

“Scootaloo you really shouldn't leave your homework for the last minute,” Twilight chided the orange filly.

“I know Twilight but can I please borrow a book? It’ll be the last time I promise.”

“Somehow I doubt that, but as it happens I know just the book,” Twilight's horned flared up as she levitated a copy of A Naturalist Guide to the Everfree Forest from its designated place on the bookshelf.  

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou, this is perfect!”

“You’re welcome; just remember to bring it back."

“I will Twilight, you’re the best.” Scootaloo scurried away from the library, eager to dig into her new ally in her quest to keep her wings.  

Scootaloo burst through the door of her house only be greeted by the disapproving faces of her parents. After a stern scolding about staying out too late Scootaloo managed to escape to her room without further punishment, the book in safely in her possession.  She sat down on her bed and began to read, desperate for a clue about how to get into a cockatrice cave without being turned to stone. 

Not much is known about the cockatrice; nocturnal by nature their stone gaze discourages researchers from getting too close.  Cockatrices subsist mainly on a diet of mice and seeds, however they have been known to attack larger animals if food is scarce. They are most often found in caves or in rare cases thick brush as they prefer the dark environments. The cockatrice is quite territorial and will use its stone gaze on creatures unfortunate enough to wander too close to its dwelling. The only creature that seems to be able to enter the cockatrice dwelling unmolested appears to be the rare albino gila monster. Researchers have postulated that this is due to their naturally shiny coat of scales which may offer some protection against the ossifying stare of the cockatrice.

Reading the passage Scootaloo began to get an idea. It wasn’t a particular good idea and it was by no means guaranteed to work, however it was better than the nothing she had before. The next morning she woke up early and went to Ponyville’s hardware store where she purchased a small vanity mirror that she tucked into her backpack explaining that the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted a mirror for their clubhouse. Careful to avoid going near Fluttershy’s cottage, Scootaloo took the long way to the path that led to Everfree Forest. Despite her choice of routes, she found herself  at the edge of the Everfree forest faster than she would have liked.  

You can still back out now her inner voice told her.  Sometimes the only way out is through  countered the part of her that refused to give up her wings. She gritted her teeth as she remembered that Rainbow Dash had once told her that particular maxim.

 Rainbow Dash wouldn't be doing this. 

Well I guess I’m not Rainbow Dash. 

Scootaloo shook her head and stepped into the Everfree Forest. As she walked along the path that ran through the forest she tried to remember exactly where she had first encountered the cockatrice. I think it was past that tree, or was it that one? Was that boulder there before? 

Scootaloo stopped and took a long look at her surroundings. Unlike the rest of Ponyville which was characterized by a neat and orderly design for all things, the Everfree Forest was a monument to the wildness inherent in nature. Vines and mosses grew unabated around large thick canopies. Small birds and lizards skittered about, constantly mindful of the predators that lurked in the shadows. There was a reason that very few ponies dared to go off the path and it had nothing to do with getting lost. 

Scootaloo took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Ok Apple Bloom called me a chicken and I went off in that direction, yeah that rock formation looks familiar. I turned left and the cockatrice was in that bush? Scootaloo walked apprehensively toward the bush, it rustled as she approached causing her to reflexively jump back, a second later a rabbit darted out from under the brush and ran away. It’s just a rabbit, cockatrices are asleep during the middle of the day she reminded herself. Scootaloo took several deep breaths as she parted the bush. Much to her delight she saw a cave a few yards away.  

Slowly she approached the cave. Upon reaching the entrance Scootaloo took out her mirror and carefully peered inside. Inside was cockatrice sleeping soundly, and behind the slumbering beast glittered Fluttershy’s pink butterfly shaped Element. For the first time in her life Scootaloo was grateful that she was comparatively small, as it allowed her to mostly hide behind her mirror. Keeping her back to the cave wall and being careful to keep the mirror in-between her and the sleeping cockatrice she began inching her way toward the pink gemstone. Despite her best efforts at staying silent the cockatrice began to stir. Scootaloo began to sing softly, “Hush now quiet now it’s time lay your sleepy head." Her singing unfortunately had the opposite effect of her intentions and the cockatrice began to stir further. Has that stupid lullaby ever worked? 

When the cockatrice opened its eyes and saw that it was not alone it began to screech wildly. Stay calm; if you keep looking at the ground he can’t use his stare.  The cockatrice began to flail and peck at the mirror but Scootaloo kept her shield up as she continued to inch toward the gem. Just a little bit farther.  As she inched closer to the Element the cockatrice began to attack even more aggressively, but as long as Scootaloo kept the mirror up the cockatrice was powerless to use it's stone gaze. Finally she got close enough to grab the stone. 

As soon as her hoof grasped the stone she used her newfound wings to fly out of the cave, her eyes squeezed shut until she was sure that the cockatrice was long behind her. Breathing heavily she looked down at the stone in her hoof; she also caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. She knew that it was the same reflection she saw everyday but something felt wrong, it was almost as though her reflection was mocking her. This is who you are now, the sort of pegasus who betrays her friends for her own gain. In a fit of rage she slammed the mirror on the ground. It shattered into pieces, but unfortunately the fragmentation did nothing to alleviate the fact that she hated the reflection staring back at her. Angry at the world, she tucked the Element in her backpack and flew toward Discord’s cave.

“Hey I got your stupid Element. Happy now?”

Discord emerged from wherever Discord emerged from and looked approvingly at the stone. “Ah the Element of Kindess! Not my first choice, are you sure you couldn't get the Element of Magic? That Twilight Sparkle always so smug-”

Scootaloo interrupted Discord before he could finish his Twilight fueled rant. “I gave you what you wanted. Are we done here?” 

“Ahh not quite, if you remember our deal I still need you to do one more thing. I can’t touch the Element as long as it’s linked to Fluttershy. So if you wouldn’t mind...”

“I-I don’t know how to use it.” stammered Scootaloo.

“It’s really quite simple, all you have to do it put it on and hit me with your best shot. If that simpleton Pinkie Pie can figure it out surely it can't be that difficult.” Discord snapped his talons and two boxing gloves materialized on his claws.  “C’mon first one’s free” the draconequus said as he jutted his chin out.  

Scootaloo slowly slipped the butterfly shaped necklace around her neck. She felt the buzz of the Element’s power beckoning. As she closed her eyes she began to focus all her rage into the vibrating rock around her neck. Stupid defective wings, stupid Discord with his stupid magic, stupid Fluttershy not hiding her stupid Element better, stupid cockatrice. Why can’t things ever be fair! The Element began to glow as Scootaloo trembled. Suddenly a beam of light flew from the stone and hit Discord squarely in the chest, the Draconequus flew backwards and slumped against the cave wall with a resounding thud. 

Scootaloo looked down and noticed that the once pink butterfly was now an orange wing, and where before Scootaloo could feel a kind of gentle warmth emanating from the stone in its place was a decidedly colder energy. Discord slowly got up and shook his head. “Wow, kid! That was quite a wallop; let’s see if it did the trick”. The draconequus gingerly walked over to Scootaloo and took the necklace from around her neck.  Discord held the now wing shaped Element under his nose and inhaled deeply “mmm anger, fear, aggression-oh wait that’s something else.”

The draconequus flicked his forked tongue out over the stone. “Ahh yes some self loathing, a little resentment, suffice it to say I know Fluttershy and you my dear are no Fluttershy."  Discord stared intently at the rock held between his talons, his rage reflected back at him through the glossy surface. Scootaloo instinctively shielded her eyes as the stone began to glow with a harsh glare. Discord furrowed his brow and kept his gaze locked as the stone grew brighter. Soon the stone glowed with such intensity that Scootaloo was forced to turn away completely. A sharp crack pierced the air as light disappeared and the now dull stone fell to the ground. As the stone fell Discord laughed a cackle so disturbing that Scootaloo kept her eyes shut and shivered. When she finally dared to open them she saw Discord smiling as he rolled the stone, which again looked like a pink butterfly, back and forth between his fingers. He noticed the orange filly staring at him and smiled. “Beautiful isn’t it, looks just like the original but well...it’s not. Oh what fun I’m going to have.” he said with poisonous glee dripping from his voice. 

Scootaloo shivered again as she saw Discords evil grin; all she could manage to croak out was a feeble “Now are we done?”

“Absolutely it’s been a pleasure doing business with you. Here.” Discord tossed Scootaloo the newly defunct Element. “You just put this back where you found it and nopony has to know you were involved.”

Scootaloo caught the Element and stared at it. It felt dull and lifeless, as though it really was just another rock. The trip back to the cockatrice cave was much less eventful than the first, instead of entering the cave Scootaloo merely threw the not Element into the cave and ran before the cockatrice woke up from the noise. 

Everything seemed normal for the next few weeks and for a few brief moments Scootaloo even managed to forget her faustian bargain with Discord. She went on adventures with her friends, practiced flying with Rainbow Dash, and generally lived the life of a normal little pegasus. 

The illusion that everything was normal was shattered one day while she was helping Apple Bloom harvest the current apple crop and Applejack came sprinting through the orchard carrying a shovel.

“Girls, I need ya to find Big Mac and git to the storm cellar…or maybe the attic, consarnit! Just git somewhere safe now!”

“What’s going on sis?”

“Discord’s back and he’s fixin for a showdown, so I need ya to git somewhere safe, though when Discord’s around I’m not rightly sure where that is.”

Scootaloo’s heart leapt up into her throat. They don’t know. “Wait let me go with you, I can help-”

“Now’s not the time to be a hero sug, you ain’t ready for this kind of action.”

“But-”

“I ain’t arguing with you!”

Scootaloo followed Applejack out past the orchards, through the town square and onto the far edge of Ponyville.  Fortunately for her the bearer of Honesty was too preoccupied with the current crisis to notice the orange filly flying behind her. When she arrived at the border of Ponyville she saw a scene reminiscent of a bad Salvador Dali sketch. Trees floated in the air, their roots lashing out any of the newly winged creatures that drifted too close. The sky had turned blood red and the ground leading up to the edge of Ponyville was covered in bones.True to his word Discord had stopped his chaos just at the border of Ponyville, creating a distinct line separating order from anarchy. Scootaloo stayed inside the haven of the borders of Ponyville and hid behind a tree stump. Applejack ran up and joined her friends who were standing in a semi-circle just behind Twilight on the Ponyville side of the border.  

“You know how this ends Discord, I’m giving you one last chance, turn everything back the way it was or we use our Elements.” Twilight said.

“My dear Twilight, are you absolutely sure you know how this particular story ends?”

“Oh I’m sure. Girls let him have it!”

Twilight shut her eyes as her horn began to glow. The six Elements of Harmony began to vibrate as Twilight readied the spell that would turn Discord into stone, her eyes began to glow a translucent white as her friends gathered around her. A rainbow began to form from the six Elements and it began it’s arch toward Discord. The draconequus stood there indifferent to the efforts of the six ponies until the rainbow hit him and Discord began to turn to stone.

“Keep going girls its working,” Twilight shouted over the hum of the Elements.

Suddenly the butterfly shaped Element around Fluttershy’s neck cracked and broke into pieces. Fluttershy let out a whimper as the force of the blast threw her backwards. Discord burst out laughing as he quickly reverted to his non-stone state. “Oh that was fun, you thought your precious spell was working you should have seen the looks on your faces when you realized it wasn’t. Priceless!”

“What did you do to Fluttershy’s Element?!” Twilight said as much in shock as in anger.

“Let’s just say I changed the calculus of your little situation. Your spell only works if you have all six Elements, without the Element of Kindness the whole thing falls apart. Laughter without kindness is ridicule, magic without kindness is just power, loyalty becomes obligation, honesty becomes bluntness and generosity without kindness becomes martyrdom."  Discord laughed with unrestrained glee.  “Don’t you get it yet? I win! I win I win I win! I can do whatever I want and there’s nothing you can do about it because you don’t have kindness."

Twilight’s ears folded back as she readied a burst of magical energy to fire at Discord. Pinkie Pie had her party cannon loaded with the sharpest, least colorful confetti, she had and it was pointed squarely at Discords chest. Rarity had several nearby gems hovering, waiting for her to hurl them, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked ready to charge head first at their opponent. But before the ponies could commence their assault, Fluttershy flew in front of them.

“Ummm excuse me Discord?” Fluttershy flew up so she was eye level with the gloating draconequus.  

"Fluttershy what are you doing? Get back here!" said Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, what are you doing? You’re not going to give me that dreadful stare again are you? We've already established that doesn't work on me” the draconequus said as he regarded Fluttershy with a curious look. 

Fluttershy ignored her friends warnings and continued to speak. “Oh I know, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute, if you don’t mind that is.” Fluttershy looked at Discord with the sort of earnest meekness that could thaw a windigo.

For a moment a flicker of regret flew across Discord’s face. “Fluttershy..I..I did enjoy our friendship. But let’s be honest, it never would have worked we’re just too different,”  the draconequus said with no small amount of regret in his voice. 

“I still think we could give it another chance but we can talk about that later. What I wanted to ask you was why are you doing this?”

“Why? Because I’m the Lord of Chaos, I’m about to usher in 1000 years of unthinkable bedlam. It’s kinda my thing.”

“Uh huh, but didn’t you do that already? It just seems like it’s kind of ….boring.”

“Boring?  When I’m done the word boring will only be uttered in dark corners by frightened ponies yearning for relief from my insanity. Ponies will smell colors, giant squirrels will fly in the oceans, and rainbows will start fires!”

“Uh huh, and it will rain chocolate milk and apples will grow wings. I don’t mean to be a bother but we’ve seen that before.” Fluttershy forced herself to yawn.

“Have you seen this?” Discord snapped his talons and the entire field began to shimmer, the sky and the ground began to bleed into each other as shadows flew everywhere without regard for the laws of physics. Rarity recoiled in horror at the new hellish landscape and even Pinkie Pie seemed rattled by her new surroundings.  

“Yes it’s very disorienting but I’m sorry I just don’t see how it’s different than the last time you turned everything into a bad abstract painting. You still haven’t answered my question, why are you doing this?”

“Because the world is chaos, it’s not this happy little illusion you all suffer! It’s a dark scary violent place that will destroy you without a second thought and it’s about time you ponies realized that!”

"Fluttershy get out of the way!" yelled Twilight.

Fluttershy shook her head at Twilight. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need a reminder of how scary the world can be, but I'm sorry I just don’t see what’s so scary about this,” Fluttershy waved her hooves at her surroundings. “I think the scarier things are the ones you don’t see coming.”

"Ok sug, you've provoked the angry god long enough maybe you want to get back down here," offered Applejack.

Fluttershy shook her head again and continued. "You keep saying you're this big bad lord of chaos, but if there is one thing that I can count on it's that Discord wants to rule Equestria, that's not very erratic."

Rarity sent a emerald whizzing by Fluttershy's head, "Fluttershy darling, now is hardly the most appropriate time for this conversation."

“But…but…oh dear Celestia you’re right, I’ve become…predictable! Fluttershy you magnificent little pegasus! How can I ever thank you for opening my eyes?” Discord wrapped the demure pegasus into a bone crushing hug as the other five ponies looked on in awe. Even Scootaloo let out an audible gasp from her hiding spot, but it was completely lost in the moment.

Fluttershy patted the draconequus on the back.  “You’re welcome, now maybe you could clean up your mess?” Discord snapped his talons and the world went back to normal.

“Done and done. But surely there must be something else I can do to show my gratitude? How bout a nice talking fern for your garden?”

“Oh I don't really need one of those. You could tell me how you managed to break my Element though. I thought Celestia’s magic was protecting it”

“Ah but I made a promise, you see I’m being unpredictable already. The old me would have happily broken that promise, but you never know what to expect with Discord Lord of Chaos,” Discord said as he waved his arms in the air with a flourish reminiscent of a bad las pegasus showmare. 

Fluttershy giggled as much out of a sense of relief then Discord’s joke. “I suppose not. Do you think maybe you could fix my Element? It means a lot to me.”

“Would that I could my dear, alas my magic is far more suited to destruction rather than construction. But fear not perhaps Celestia and Luna know how to restore your precious Element.”

“That’s a good idea, thank you Discord.”

“You’re most welcome my dear, if that is all? I’m terribly sorry to have inconvenienced your day. Ha you weren’t expecting an apology were you? I believe I’ll go help some salmon, poor little fishes work so hard to swim upstream. Never thought I’d say that did you? And so I bid you adieu,” Discord snapped his talons and disappeared again. As soon as he vanished the five ponies ran over to Fluttershy.  

“’‘Shy…that...was amazing! How’d you know you could talk Discord down?” Rainbow Dash said as she wrapped a wing around the yellow pegasus.

“Yeah sug, when your necklace cracked I thought we were done for worse than a hen in a foxhouse,” Applejack said as she trotted over to join the two pegasi. 

“It was no big deal. I keep telling you girls Discords not all that bad; he’s just misunderstood. I just tried to understand him a little better.”

“I’d still like to know how he managed to break your Element,” Twilight mused out loud.

“I’d like to know that score myownself sugarcube, if Celestia’s magic ain’t protecting them anymore we got ourselves a mighty big problem.”

“Girls my pinke sense is going off and itt-s a-a d-d-doooozie”.  The effervescent pink pony said as she started seizing violently. Pinkie‘s entire body seized up and she let out a frightening urk as her muscles locked up and she collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.  

Rarity rushed over to the fallen pink pony, “My goodness dear are you alright? Did it have something to do with how Discord was able to break Fluttershy’s Element?”

Pinkie slowly sat up, still dazed from her seizure. “I’m not sure, but that wasn’t the good kind of doozie it was more like a sad one. I don’t think I’ve ever felt a doozie like that before”

“Well that’s certainly disconcerting; I shudder to wonder at what sort of revelation could cause that kind of a reaction,” said Rarity.

Scootaloo stayed hidden behind her stump and breathed a sigh of relief.  Everything worked out, Discord was defeated, she got to keep her wings and nopony knew that she had anything to do with anything.  She could sneak back home and get off scott free. But just as she turned to slip away she caught a glimpse of the six Element Bearers.  Fluttershy was still obviously shaken up, and Twilight was concerned for both her friend and the implication of the fact that Discord was able to overcome the Elements magic.  Her idol Rainbow Dash seemed rattled by the whole ideal, and Rarity and Applejack both wore expressions of relief on their faces.  

Scootaloo thought back to how she felt when she first stole the Element of Kindess, how she hated that reflection she saw in the mirror.  She realized that if she left now she would see that same awful reflection in every mirror for the rest of her life. This is who you are now, the sort of pegasus who betrays her friends for her own gain.

Scootaloo knew what she had to do. She stepped out from behind her tree stump “I gave it to him”.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The six ponies all turned to Scootaloo slacked jawed.

Applejack spoke first, “Care to run that by us again sugarcube, because it sounded like you said you gave Fluttershy’s Element to Discord, and what the hay are you doing here anyway?”

“He said Ponyville would be safe, I just wanted wings so badly…I didn’t think it would get this far.” Scootaloo found the confession spilling out of her.

Fluttershy broke the stunned silence “You gave my element to Discord? How’d you even get to it?”

“I snuck into the cave and used a mirror to get passed the cockatrice. Fluttershy I’m sorry I-

“Scootaloo, I don’t think you should be around me now; I don’t want to say something I’ll regret” the normally demure pegasus said with such force that even her friends were taken aback.  But while they were stunned by Fluttershy’s words, they couldn’t necessarily blame her. Their Elements were six of the most precious things in Equestria, an awesome and very personal responsibility entrusted to the six bearers. The idea that anypony would steal one of their elements was as unthinkable as the thought that a friend would stab them in the back with a rusty knife.  And on top of that Scootaloo had betrayed Fluttershy; the other five ponies had always been a little protective of Fluttershy because of her fearful nature. After the incident with Gilda there was an unspoken rule among the five friends that no pony outside their little group was allowed to upset their timid friend lest the wrath of all six of them come crashing down like a terrible clenched fist.

Rainbow Dash flew to Fluttershy’s side and draped a wing around her as much for Scootaloo’s protection as for Fluttershy’s, “C’mon ‘Shy I’ll fly you home, you girls don’t need us for anything else right now do ya?” the look of disappointment on Rainbows face as she turned away hurt Scootaloo a thousand times worse than any words she could ever say to the orange filly.

“Breaking a pony’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend” Pinkie almost whispered, her omnipresent smile replaced with a look of distress. “I’ll go with you.”

“N-No it’s fine, yes go home.” Twilight stammered, still processing the ramifications of Scootaloo’s actions. “I need to write to Princess Celestia,” Twilight's horn flared as she telepathically picked up the pieces of the broken element and tucked them into her saddlebag. She looked at Scootaloo, shook her head and then turned around slowly beginning the walk back to Ponyville.

“Ah-uh-ah reckon I should go check on Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. You -you might want to think long and hard about what ya done,” Applejack said before hurrying to catch up with Twilight.

Scootaloo turned around and saw Rarity still standing in the field with a surprisingly pensive look on her face “Well aren’t you going to leave me here alone too?” she sniffled.

Rarity walked over to the orange filly and sat down next to her. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble for a lot of ponies you don’t even know.”

Scootaloo whimpered, quietly choking back tears.

“Things like this don’t go away just because you say you’re sorry.”  Rarity continued.  “However, perhaps I can do you this small favor; I shall be the one pony in all of Equestria who isn’t upset with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am choosing not to be mad at you. When all of Equestria is beating down your door, and believe me it will, you can come to the Carousel Boutique and I’ll pretend like everything is normal. We can play games or do arts and crafts; whatever you want. Consider my house your own personal oasis”. 

Scootaloo turned and looked up at the older unicorn, “Why are you being so nice to me? It’s not like I deserve it.”

“When you get older you’ll learn that life seldom gives us what we deserve.  Part of the reason I am being so nice to you is that I love my little sister dearly and Celestia knows I don’t always pay enough attention to her; but she has you and Apple Bloom to compensate for my myopia and that is a debt I can never repay. But another part of it is I know what it’s like to want something so badly that you convince yourself that one more step won’t hurt; then before you know it you’re in over your head, desperate for one last miracle before your world comes crashing down around you.”

“You once tried to help Discord?”

“No dear, but maybe something just as bad in its own way.”

“What’d you do?” Scootaloo had a hard time imagining anything that the living embodiment of generosity could have done that could be classified as treacherous. Overly dramatic sure, maybe even a bit self absorbed, but certainly not treacherous.

“If I tell you, you have to promise that this stays between us.”

“I promise,” the orange filly replied.

“Pinkie promise.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye,” Scootaloo repeated the familiar gestures, fully aware of the unspeakable horrors that befell those who chose to break the sacred oath. 

“Do you know why I don’t use fire rubies in my designs?”

“Because they’re really rare and expensive?” Scootaloo guessed.

Rarity shook her head, “One of the many secrets of the fashion world is that fire rubies aren’t all that rare, the dragons just hoard them all. It is very hard to find them in Equestria but they’re easy to come by if you can convince a dragon to part with them.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When I was just starting out as a designer one of my first lines was called the sunset collection. Truthfully it was a little amateurish but I didn’t know any better. Each piece in the collection was meant to invoke a sunset, and to give it that extra je ne sais quoi, I used gems to make the dresses shimmer. Oh I had blue sapphires and purple amethyst, orange garnets with yellow citrines; it really was quite spectacular in a gaudy sort of way. Anyways the whole collection was incomplete without those gorgeous red fire rubies. I simply had to have them, I thought my very future as a designer depended on it. So I traveled to Dragontopia and met with a dragon that was more than willing to sell me fire rubies at below market value, the catch was I had to help him find other gems in the Equestrian Mountains.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It wasn’t …not at first.  We’d go into the mountains, I’d use my gem spell to find the gems and he’d give me a few fire rubies, but soon I noticed that his lust for gems was insatiable. Then one day I found a large emerald deposit right under a buffalo village.  I told him that we’d have to find another source of emeralds but of course he was a dragon, and when dragons want something they tend not to let little things like a village of buffalo stand in their way. He…he burned it to the ground… every last house.  When I saw the devastation I was appalled.  I still remember the look on his face as he just smiled and shrugged; in dragon culture it’s considered morally wrong to be too weak to defend your hoard. I couldn’t help him anymore after that. I kept seeing the look on those poor buffalos faces as they were forced to flee their homes. He gave me my last fire rubies and we concluded our relationship. I knew that eventually we’d come across gems that belonged to somepony else; I kept telling myself that I would quit before it got that far. What I didn’t realize was that once you start something you know is wrong it’s a lot harder to turn back then it is to never get involved in the first place. I knew he was not a nice dragon, but I had to have those fire rubies, so I worked with him anyway. I thought if I could just have enough rubies to complete my collection I’d finally be worth something as a fashion designer.

“So what’d you do next?”

“I sold the buffalo the rights to the sunset collection in exchange for easing my conscience. They settled elsewhere and I vowed to never again sacrifice my principals in the name of fashion, but it took me a long time before I was ready to design another collection.”

“But you didn’t really do anything wrong.”

“Yes I did Scootaloo. I may not have personally burned that village down but I led him right to it. I knew what would happen if I told him about the emeralds but I convinced myself that there was no other way.And if it hadn’t been that buffalo village it would have been something else”


“Does the guilt ever go away?”

“It gets better with time, but it doesn’t ever completely leave and you shouldn’t want it to. The only thing you can do is own it and use that feeling to make you a better pony.”

“Is that why you’re so generous?”

“Well I like to think that I’d be generous regardless of the mistakes of my past; but whenever I need a reminder of what happens when I become selfish it doesn’t hurt to think about that awful day,” Rarity smiled wistfully.

Scootaloo stared intently at the ground “I messed up bad Rarity.”

“You most certainly did. You very nearly doomed all of Equestria, you hurt  a very dear friend of mine and you’ve quite possibly irreparably damaged one of the most powerful weapons for good that we have, I dare say that messes don’t come any bigger.” there was a slight edge to Rarity’s voice as she listed Scootaloo’s transgressions.

“I didn’t have a choice,” the orange filly said somewhat defiantly. 

“Darling listen to me very carefully. You always have a choice.  Did you think we really wouldn’t understand what it’s like dealing with Discord?”

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo mumbled.

“Believe me when I say that we know what it’s like when Discord offers you two unappealing options.”

“So what should I do now?”

“You should try to make amends, but it will take time.”

“How do I even begin to start?”

“The longest journey begins with a single step, nothing is going to get better if you just sit there.” Scootaloo nodded meekly. “C’mon dear I’ll walk you back into town.”

The next day was unpleasant; to put it mildly, as far as Scootaloo was concerned. Twilight had written to princess Celestia and was waiting on her royal decree. In the interim she met with Scootaloo to hear her version of events.  Scootaloo explained how Discord first approached her and everything that happened after that. Much to Scootaloo’s chagrin Twilight didn’t yell at her or threaten to banish her from Equestria, she merely sat there and nodded while she took notes.  If she would get mad I could deal with that but she’s barely said two words to me. Because Ponyville didn’t have a proper jail (the worse crime that ever happened was the occasional littering by an absent minded pony), Twilight agreed to let her stay at home so long as she didn’t leave town. She was also allowed to keep her wings as the only way to remove them would be through surgery, and everypony agreed that such a measure would be exceptionally barbaric.  The pieces of Fluttershy’s Element had been sent with Spike to the castle forge in Canterlot in the hopes that Luna and Celestia might be able to reassemble them.  

And so after spending three days grounded at home Scootaloo was allowed to go on about her life while Twilight waited for the news from Canterlot; but much like the Gabby Gums fiasco she quickly found that the rest of Ponyville was unwilling to pretend that her mistakes were water under the bridge. It wasn’t that they were outright hostile toward her, but she couldn’t help but notice that conversations would quickly end as she approached. Ponies who normally waved at her as she zipped through town on her scooter would look the other way as she was coming.  Is this going to be my life now?  Unsure of what else to do Scootaloo decided to head over to the CMC clubhouse, when she got there she found her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders already inside. 

“Umm is it ok if I come in?” Scootaloo winced and braced herself for the inevitable rejection.

Instead she looked up to see her two friends galloping toward her, before she could open her mouth Apple Bloom had hug tackled her and Sweetie Belle had piled on.

“Scoots! We thought we were never gonna see you again,” Sweetie Bell said as she helped her friends up from the ground.

“Yeah I heard that they took you to Canterlot and locked you in the dungeon and the only thing you get to eat is raw hay and water three times a day.”

“We were totally going to bust you out,” Sweetie Belle said confidently.

“Umm no, at least I hope they don’t do that.  You mean y’all aren’t mad at me?”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have stolen Fluttershy’s Element-”

“-and we are kinda upset you didn’t tell us what you were doing-”

“-But you’re our friend Scoots, and friends stick together even when one of them messes up.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders, one for all and all for one.”

“I think somepony else already says that.”

“Well why should they get all the good mottos?”

Scootaloo laughed as her friends fell into their usual friendly bickering. She spent the rest of the afternoon telling them all about Discord and the cockatrice cave and how Fluttershy had apparently defeated Discord just by talking to him, which they all agreed was even more impressive then that time they saw her use her famed stare.

Soon it was getting dark and Scootaloo had to head home. While her parents hadn’t grounded her, (it seemed that they were also waiting on word from Canterlot to decide the full extent of Scootaloo’s punishment), they did insist that she be back before dinner. 

She woke up the next day in a distinctly better mood than she had on the  previous days. Feeling emboldened by her meeting with the CMC, Scootaloo decided to try talking to the Element bearers to see if they would forgive her as easily as her friends had. Since she was kind of hungry she thought that she’d swing by Sugar Cube Corner first. 

“Hello Scootaloo.” Pinkie Pie said without a drop of her usual merriment as Scootaloo walked through the door.

“Umm what kind of cupcakes do you have today?” the orange filly said hoping that she could get Pinkie talking about her favorite things.

“They’re in the display case, you can see for yourself.”

“Oh, umm I guess I’ll have a double chocolate.”

“Very well, that’ll be three bits.”

“Ok here ya go.”

Scootaloo took her cupcake as Pinkie Pie just nodded.

Well that didn’t go very well., If Pinkie is that mad at me do I even want to try to swing by Fluttershy’s cottage? While she was debating whether or not to go visit Fluttershy she saw Rainbow Dash in her usual practice field working on her routine.  Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks.  What if Rainbow doesn’t want to be my friend anymore? I can get out of here before she sees me, but what if she thinks I don’t want to be her friend? Deciding that she’d rather know than not know Scootaloo cautiously approached the field and stood off to the edge while she waited for Rainbow to notice her.  After a few minutes Rainbow Dash saw the tiny filly watching her practice and flew over. 

“Hey Rainbow Dash, umm I know you’re probably still angry at me but I wanted to say I’m sorry-”

“Do you even get why I’m angry with you kid?”.

“Because I stole Fluttershy’s Element and gave it to Discord?”

I don’t care about the Element, I mean I do but that’s not what this is about. I care that you didn’t trust me.  I told ya that you should walk away but you didn’t listen. Then you knew we we’re going up against Discord and you let us go out there without a full deck. ‘Shy coulda been hurt, I coulda been hurt, hay all of Equestria could have been seriously messed up if ‘Shy didn’t save our flanks!  Look I get that you wanted wings, but I love flying more than anypony and I’d cut my wings off myself before I risked my friends lives. I just thought maybe you were the same way.

“Rainbow Dash-”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now. I need some time to get over this.”

Scootaloo burst into the Carousel Boutique trying to hold back tears. Rarity had assumed that at some point Scootaloo would stop by when she was feeling upset and thus had purposefully kept her schedule light and appointment free for the next few days. She had a supply of games and crafts projects ready to go and had explained to Sweetie Belle her idea that the Carousel Boutique was to be a haven of sorts for Scootaloo.  Sweetie Belle had of course readily agreed to her plan, however when Rarity saw Scootaloo’s face she had an inkling that perhaps a game of Chutes and Ladders may not be enough to calm the troubled filly.  

“Sweetie Belle could you be a dear and put some tea on? I’m just going to talk to Scootaloo for a minute.”

“Ok sis,” came the reply from the kitchen.

Rarity’s horn flared up and flipped the sign on the door so that the outside facing side read sorry we’re closed. She levitated a box of tissues from one of her workstations and sat down next to the orange filly.

After internally debating how best to approach Scootaloo Rarity settled on a gentle “Feel like talking about it dear?”

“I just ran into Rainbow Dash and I don’t think she’s ever going to forgive me, and Pinkie is still mad at me and I haven’t even talked to Fluttershy yet.” Faced with the possibility that her idol would be perpetually mad at her Scootaloo broke out in tears.

Rarity handed the filly a tissue and gently rubbed between her wings for a minute before speaking.

“Rainbow Dash doesn’t trust easily, it’s one of the side effects of her being so loyal. She’s very careful about who she let’s in because she takes her friendships so seriously. I think that perhaps she’s having a hard time moving past this because she can’t fully understand why you did it.”

“But she forgave me for the whole Gabby Gums thing.”

“Do you really think this is like that?”

“I guess not,” the orange filly was forced to concede. “But I just want everything to be like it was before. Y’know, when Rainbow Dash liked me.”

“She still likes you dear, she’s just hurt. Give her time okay?”

“Okay” Scootaloo said even though she didn’t entirely believe it. Before Rarity could suggest a game or crafts project a small burst of green flame appeared and a rolled up scroll with embossed with the familiar wax seal of the royal court materialized out of nowhere.

“What is that?” Scootaloo asked.

“It appears to be a royal letter delivered via Spike mail dear.”

“Spike mail?”

“Spike can send letters directly to other ponies; it’s how Twilight writes to Princess Celestia.”

Scootaloo trembled slightly as she gripped the rolled parchment in her hooves. Taking a deep breath she unrolled it, expecting to learn her fate. Instead it simply read:

Scootaloo, you are hereby summoned to answer for your crimes. Your hearing will be held tomorrow morning at 9am at the Ponyville town hall.  Princess Twilight Sparkle.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo’s sentencing was closed to the public. The only ponies allowed to attend were the six Element Bearers, Mayor Mare, Scootaloo’s parents, and representative from the royal court in Canterlot. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were also allowed to attend according to an ancient Equestrian tradition that an accused pony never had to be alone, and thus was allowed at least two friends in attendance for moral support. Rarity and Applejack initially objected to their sister’s presence, however the trio of ponies who made up the CMC insisted.  

Despite the closed session Twilight still insisted on following formal Equesterian law procedures; she tasked Spike with being the bailiff and commandeered the Mayor’s office as her personal chambers.  She gathered all the library’s books on Canterlot law and the history of the Elements and had them shipped over, save for two that she wanted to review the night before. 

The next morning Spike stood next to the Mayor’s lectern in the town chambers holding an impressive looking jeweled sword, “All rise for Princess Twilight Sparkle,” he announced. The assembled ponies all stood as Twilight entered the courtroom in full princess regalia. 

Twilight took her place behind the lectern and motioned for the room to be seated. She spoke in a calm, neutral tone. “Thank you Bailiff. Under normal circumstances this matter would be taken up in Canterlot by Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, however the Elements are my responsibility so Princess Celestia has granted me the authority in deciding this matter.  The facts of this case are not in question: Scootaloo, you are charged with stealing the Element of Kindess, willingly handing it over to Discord with the knowledge that he intended to destroy it, and furthermore it has been determined that you did these things of your own free will. Do you have anything to say on your behalf?”

Scootaloo stayed silent for a minute, and in that minute a million thoughts ran through her head.  She wanted to cry, to throw herself on the mercy of the court and beg forgiveness.  She wanted to run out of the courtroom take to the skies and keep flying til Equestria was distant memory.  She wanted to scream about how unfair this was and how dare Twilight judge her.  Twilight, who was a personal student of Princess Celestia and then became a princess herself; who got everything she ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter. Scootaloo wanted to say all of those things; but instead she just looked up at Twilight and said softly “I just wanted to fly so badly…I know what I did was wrong, I’m sorry.” Scootaloo then stole a glance over at her parents who nodded reassuringly. 

Twilight nodded a short nod of acknowledgement and perhaps a hint of forgiveness. “Fluttershy it was your Element that she stole, do you have anything you’d like to say?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath as everypony turned to look at her. She had been even more quiet then usual since her Element had been taken from her and as result nopony knew exactly what she was going to say. Twilight leaned in, curious as both the judge and Fluttershy’s friend. After what seemed like an hour Fluttershy lightly cleared her throat, “I forgive Scootaloo,” she said finally. “I’m not saying that it’s okay because it’s not, and I’m not saying that it won’t take some time before I can trust her again. She should be punished, but I don’t think anything is accomplished by being too hard on her.”

Twilight nodded again. “Thank you Fluttershy.  Because your actions affected all the Element bearers I open the court up to their testimony, if they have anything to add let them speak now.”

“Your highness,” Rarity gave a slight bow as she stepped forward “If my words hold any sway over the court I would ask that you show lenience to Scootaloo.  I don’t believe anypony here would deny what she did was wrong, but I also know that everypony here believes in second chances, I simply ask you extend her the same sympathy you would any of us.”Rarity bowed again and returned to her place in line.

Applejack stepped forward next as she glanced over at her little sister, “Ah don’t rightfully know what you should do sug-your highness, but I do know that Scootaloo’s been a good friend to Applebloom and well that ain’t nothing, if you’re making a list you should put that on it.”

Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie,but both ponies stayed silent.  Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground, her ears pinned back and Pinkie Pie appeared as though she might have something to say but thought better of it.  

“Ok unless anypony has anything else they wish me to consider I’m going to deliberate.”  The assembled crowd remained silent with the exception of a few murmurs. The ponies all stood as Twilight left the courtroom. Spike stood by the door to the mayor’s office, taking his duties as bailiff quite seriously. 

For five hours Twilight stayed in the Mayor’s chambers.  Scootaloo fidgeted nervously throughout the waiting period as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle tried to cheer her up.  Applejack and Rarity also came over to offer their own comforts.  Twilight Sparkle was many things they assured the small filly, but she was not heartless.  Rainbow Dash stayed on the far end of the courtroom, and true to her restless nature Pinkie Pie wandered around the chambers at one point bringing everyone cupcakes because, well, she was Pinkie Pie.  

The room went silent as Twilight walked back in. She sat down and began to speak in what she hoped was a very measured tone. “There is no legal precedence for this sort of crime, because of that I must rely solely on my own judgment.  The testimony of your friends as well as Fluttershy’s forgiveness works in your favor Scootaloo.  But I must weigh that forgiveness against the seriousness of your crimes.  The Elements of Harmony are six of the most powerful items in all of Equestria.  You’ve placed us all at risk with your actions, and as a Princess I cannot ignore that. Finally I am forced to consider this: Celestia and Luna may be able to create a new Element, however to do so they need a pink sapphire. The only place in Equestria that pink sapphires can be found is the Wild Lands.  I’ve volunteered to go and get one.  I think you should come with me. Maybe you can help undo what you’ve done.”

“Well if she’s going, then we’re going too,” chimed Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah Cutie Mark Crusaders Gem Hunters,” agreed Applebloom.

“Like hay you are, ain’t no sister of mine going out into the Wild Lands, Big Mac doesn’t even venture out there,” Applejack said as soon as she heard Applebloom’s proclamation. 

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, you are not going into the Wild Lands just because Scootaloo is going.” Twilight said as she tried to restore some semblance of order to her courtroom. 

“I Agree, Sweetie Belle it is far too dangerous for you to go. However I would like to volunteer on my sisters behalf if anypony else is allowed to join this venture.”

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat “I volunteer too. Me and the kid have some serious issues to hash out but I wouldn't be very loyal if I let a filly, an eggehead and a- Rarity go to the Wild Lands by themselves.”

“Perhaps one day you would like to explain by what you meant by that last comment, however in the meantime I believe that we would be glad to have your assistance,” Rarity replied in response to Rainbow’s offer. 

“I’d join y’all, really I would. But its harvest season and we got a bumper crop this year,” said Applejack. 

“The cakes are going out of town and I told them I’d watch the twins or else I’d come too.” Pinkie said. 

“I should go, it’s my element,” Fluttershy said, though the fear was evident in her voice.

For the first time since Scootaloo confessed to her actions in the field, she turned and looked at Fluttershy. “No, this is my fault Fluttershy, let me go in your place.  I know that it doesn’t make up for what I did. But maybe it can be start.” 

Fluttershy looked at Scootaloo thoughtfully, and then she smiled one of her impossibly warm Fluttershy smiles.  The type of warm smile filled with forgiveness and sympathy that let everypony know exactly why she was selected as the Element of Kindness.   

“Okay Scootaloo, you can go in my place.  But promise me you’ll be careful. I’d feel just awful if something bad happened to you.”

“I promise,” the filly replied. 

“Maybe I can call Braeburn to help take my place this year on the farm. It just don’t seem right me not going with y’all.” Applejack said. 

“And I’ll bet Cheerliee could watch the twins. I should go too.” Pinkie added.  

“It’s okay girls. You have important things to do here. I think the four of us can handle this.” Twilight said. 

Applejack and Pinkie both nodded reluctantly, accepting that this would be one adventure they would have to miss out on.

“If there is nothing else I hereby declare court adjourned.” Twilight stood up and headed back to the Mayor’s office, as soon as the door shut Rarity attempted to follow Twilight; however she was stopped by Spike, still holding his jeweled sword.

“Sorry Rarity but I can’t let you back there,” the diminutive dragon said trying to be as authoritative as possible. 

“Oh come now Spike, Twilight is my friend and I would like to speak to her, so if you would be so kind as to step aside…”

“The Princess said that no one gets into her chambers uninvited,” came the firm response from Spike. 

Rarity began to roll her eyes at the idea of Spike being any sort of obstacle but she thought better of it.  Instead she fluttered her eyelashes and looked at Spike with an expression born of years of practice at getting lovesick ponies (and dragons) to do her bidding. “Please Spikey Wikey it’s just little old me,” she said with wide eyes and what could only be described as adorable pout.   
Spike instantly blushed and began to paw at the ground with his foot. “I guess it is just you.”

“Ooh you’re the best Spikey.” Rarity kissed him on the cheek and sauntered past him into the Mayor’s office where she found Twilight slumped at her desk looking exhausted.  

“How’d you get- oh. right. I let Spike guard the door.”

“You should probably be glad that his weakness is beautiful ponies and not bloodthirsty griffins.” The two friends shared a smile at Spikes well known love sickness. “How are you feeling dear? You look dreadful!”

“Being a Princess is hard.  I don’t know how Celestia does it.  I mean what if Scootaloo gets hurt? I don’t want that, but I couldn’t just let her off with a warning. The last recorded crime against the Elements was Discord, and we all know what happened to him.”

“About Discord, I am forced to wonder why he doesn’t have to answer for his role in all of this?” Rarity wondered.   

“Well, for starters, no one knows where he is.  But more than that, when Opal scratches your curtains do you get mad at her?”

“Well sort of but it’s really more my fault for not making sure she has a scratching p-oh I see.”

“Yeah, this sort of behavior is expected from Discord, Celestia’s magic was there to make sure that he couldn’t act alone; I still can’t believe he found somepony willing to help him.”

“I think we’re all capable of terrible things when what we want most is dangled right in front of us.”

“So you’re really coming with us?” Twilight asked. 

“It would appear so. I can’t help but think that Scootaloo is in this mess because she didn’t trust anypony to help her.  Perhaps between the two of us and Rainbow we convince her that she doesn’t always need to face everything by herself.” 

“About Rainbow Dash, the last time I spoke to her she was still having a hard time coming to grips with what Scootaloo did. Do you think she’ll be on her game? This could get dangerous.” Twilight asked. 

“It’s not an ideal situation, but I trust Rainbow. I think we’ll be glad to have her along.  As for myself, I am a pony of many talents, but surviving in the wilderness is not one of them. Are you sure you want me to come?”

“You do hate camping, but your gem finding spell seems like it will be useful. I was going to ask if you could teach it to me, but now I guess it can wait until we get back. I’d still like to learn it though.  Do you think it could be modified to differentiate gems while they’re still in the ground?” Twilight began to get at excited at the prospect of her next magic project.

“I’d be happy to teach you dear. But perhaps we should get back from our trip first. I imagine I’ll need to book several spa treatments to get all the dirt out of my hooves by the time we get back.” 

Twilight giggled.  “I’ll join you. We haven’t gone to the spa together in a while.”

“I’d like that.”

“So are you really ready to venture out into the Wild Lands tomorrow?”

“Well no, but what’s the worst that could happen?”



> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Early the next morning the four ponies met on the outskirts of town to begin their journey. When they arrived at their meeting point they were surprised to find Pinkie waiting for them with balloons and streamers.  Also with her were Applejack, Spike, Fluttershy, the other two members of the CMC and Scootaloo’s parents.

“We decided to throw you a good luck party,” said Pinkie happily bouncing up and down. 

“Here ah packed ya’ll a couple of saddle bags, There’s some rope and a first aid kit and some other camping type stuff I thought y’all might need, there’s even a jug of cider in there for ya Dash, from that batch we made a few years ago” Applejack said presenting each of the three ponies with a set of saddlebags, and a smaller set for Scootaloo.

“You mean the special reserve?” Rainbow asked excitedly.

“That’s the one, just promise you won’t drink it all in one night,” Applejack replied with a grin.

“Sorry no can do AJ, but thanks, and thanks for seeing us off everypony.”

Scootaloo went down the line and hugged her parents and her friends.

“Ah wish we were going with ya. Ah’ll bet ya get to do all sorts of exciting stuff,” Applebloom said.

“Keep an eye on Rarity for me,she doesn’t do camping well.” Sweetie Belle asked when it was her turn for a goodbye hug.

Scootaloo’s parents made her promise to be careful before giving her a bone crushing hug of their own.

“Why can’t I come with you guys? You might need my dragon powers.” Spike asked Twilight.

Twilight smiled at her assistant slash friend. That he wanted to go to protect Rarity as much as Twilight was not lost on the princess.  “Having a dragon with us would make any monsters out there think twice about messing with us, but I need you holding down the fort at the library. Can you do that for me?”

“You can count on me Twlight,” the diminutive dragon replied puffing his chest out.

After another brief round of goodbyes and good lucks the four ponies found themselves alone in the field, unsure of exactly how to start their journey they all looked at each other expectantly.

“How are we going to doing this?” Rarity asked, being the least experienced outdoors pony of the group.

Rainbow Dash took the lead, despite the presence of one of four princess of Equestria.  “Okay the easiest way into the Wild Lands is straight through ghastly gorge.  I figure we can make it to the edge tonight, camp out, and head in tomorrow.  If we get lucky maybe we can find a sapphire and get out before we attract the attention of anything too nasty."

“Well I certainly don’t have any better ideas so let’s get started, the faster we get this finished the sooner I can soak in a nice luxurious spa bath,” Rarity replied.

“Wait, before we go I want everypony to have one of these; I made them last night,” Twilight said as she levitated three small compasses over to Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Scootaloo.

Rainbow turned the compass over in her hoof a few times, studying it to see if it was anything more than the ordinary compass it appeared to be. “Um Twilight this is just a compass you can buy these for like a bit, and I already have one,” 

“Yes, but I enchanted these so that instead of pointing north it always points toward Ponyville. That way we can always find our way home in case we get split up."

“We’re splitting up?” asked Scootaloo.

“I hope not, but you never know what will happen.” Twilight responded.

“Neat,” replied Scootaloo, spinning in a circle so she could witness the arrow reorient itself.

With compasses in hoof and Applejacks provisions added to their own the four ponies began their journey. The trip through ghastly gorge was uneventful; because Rainbow Dash had been using the canyon as a training ground for years she knew the hotspots to avoid and was able steer the group past the really dangerous areas. Aside from a few snakes, the occasional thorn vine and the remnants of a recent rock slide the three ponies made it through the gorge without incident. 

Rainbow Dash was oddly quiet throughout the trip which caused Scootaloo to suppress her normally hyperactive tendencies. Rarity, not wanting to break the uneasy tension that clouded the group, deemed it best to stay quiet as well, while Twilight spent most of the trip taking detailed notes about her surroundings.

After a full day of hiking mostly silently the quartet reached the end of ghastly gorge and decided to set up camp near a small rock overhang. They each pitched their tents, Rarity had foregone her usual two story mcmansion tent and instead went with a more traditional and modest variety. Rainbow Dash assembled a small fire pit near the overhang away from anything flammable so that the rock formation would reflect the ambient heat from the fire. Satisfied that the overhang protected them from the elements and that all approaches to the campsite were easily visible and currently tranquil the quartet relaxed their guard for the first time since that morning. 

Twilight looked at their surroundings and frowned.  Even with the overhang they were still a little too exposed for Twilight’s liking.  “I’m going to set up a small compulsion spell.  I should be able to anchor it to that rock and that tree” she said pointing out landmarks on opposite sides of the campsite.  I won’t stop anything from coming it that really wants to eat us, but it will dissuade anything passing by from getting too close.  Twilight trotted off, happy with the chance to practice some magic, leaving Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo alone at the campsite.

“Scootaloo we’re going to need some firewood, why don’t you gather some?” Rarity said. The orange  filly scurried off, eager to be helpful; as soon as the filly was out of earshot Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash “Are you okay dear? You’ve barely said three words since we’ve left.”

“I’m fine. I guess I’m still a little worried. I mean for all we know Scootaloo might still be working with Discord. I want to trust her, really I do, but how can I be sure that she won’t betray us again? I’m not letting any of my friends get hurt .”

Rarity considered Rainbow’s worries.“Let me tell you something about being a sister Rainbow Dash,” she said gently.  “It means you don’t get to hold a grudge. Being a sister means that when your sister makes a mistake, no matter how big, you give her a hug and tell her it’s going to be ok even if it’s not, and when the whole world comes knocking on her door demanding you get out of the way you stand there and tell the whole world no.”

“Scootaloo isn’t my sister,” Rainbow Dash shot back.

“Yes she is Rainbow Dash! Anypony that worships you that much qualifies as your sister.  So you are going to forgive her and we are going to get this sapphire and then I am taking the longest bath in the history of Equestria!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin, “You’re a special kind of crazy aren’t you Rares?”

Rarity took a deep breath as she calmed down, “I have been told that I can be a bit…passionate. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you called us friends just now”

“Well yeah, I mean we may not always get along, and I’ll probably never like all that frou-frou stuff you’re into, but we are friends and I’d never leave my friends hanging.”

“Thank you dear, I treasure your friendship as well.”

“Ok, that’s enough mushy stuff, in case you haven’t noticed we are surrounded by things that want to eat us and tomorrow we have to venture into a place that even Zecora prefers to avoid, and she lives in the Everfree Forest!”   

“Indeed, which is all the more reason you should to go talk to Scootaloo. We can’t very well worry about all the things out here if we’re also worried about each other.”

Rainbow Dash let out an audible sigh. “I want to forgive her Rarity really I do, but every time I try I keep thinking about what would have happened if Fluttershy didn’t pull a miracle out of her flank. How am I supposed to just forgive that?”

“It’s really quite simple, you just say ‘I forgive you’ and then act like that’s true.  Eventually it will be.”

“So you are still mad at her?”

“If we’re being honest I’m still processing my feelings, but look at her Rainbow Dash, she’s a filly who got in over her head. She could use a friend and a sister.” The two ponies turned their heads and saw Scootaloo carrying a pile of sticks over to the makeshift campsite.  Rainbow Dash had to suppress a smile as the tiny filly struggled with the bundle that was almost as big as she was.

“I’ll try talking to her after dinner. Okay Rares?”

“Thank you dear.”

Thanks to Applejacks packing skills the group ate fairly well for a camping trip.  Rarity was able to throw together some daisy sandwiches and hot chocolate as the four ponies sat around the fire.  Rainbow Dash was still pretty quiet throughout dinner and the conversation was generally limited to what sort of dangers they were going to face when they actually arrived in the Wild Lands.  Scootaloo proposed that maybe they should fly in but that idea was quickly dismissed as Rainbow Dash pointed out that flying would make them highly visible to any number of aerial predators in the region.  Also she didn’t particularly want to carry Rarity over long distances as it would make them vulnerable if they were attacked.  When it was decided that they would walk in the group realized that that decision limited any further planning as they wouldn’t know where to go until Rarity could get close enough to cast her gem finding spell. The ponies again sat in relative silence until Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity and then subtlety gestured toward Scootaloo who was pre-occupied with her hot chocolate.  Immediately understanding Rainbow’s meaning Rarity stood up, “Oh Twilight, could you come with me for a few minutes, I wanted to ask your opinion on what hat I should wear tomorrow.”

Twilight seemed confused by the request by agreed anyway, and the two ponies left the campfire, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with Scootaloo.  Rainbow Dash started to clear her throat but found herself interrupted.

“Look Rainbow I-I just wanted to say thank you for coming and I understand if you don’t want to hang out with me when this is all over. I’ll leave you alone once we get back to Ponyville if-if that’s what you want,” the orange filly said as she looked at the ground; the pain of her concession plainly written on her face. 

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Kid, I don’t want you to leave me alone”. Hearing those words Scootaloo looked up at her idol with impossibly wide eyes and the faintest trace of a smile, all in all it was the sort of look that was simply too adorable to for Rainbow Dash to handle. Rainbow Dash shook her head vigorously trying to clear the cuteness overload from her system.  “You shouldn’t have stolen Fluttershy’s element and you darn well should have told us about it, but maybe I kinda sorta shouldn’t have yelled at you the other day.” Scootaloo bit her lip and nodded. Before Rainbow Dash could think of anything else to say she found the small pegasus hugging her around the waist as though her life depended on it.  “Okay kid,” Rainbow Dash whispered softly. Rainbow Dash reached down with her foreleg and gently lifted the tiny filly up so that she was more or less at eye level.  As she looked down at Scootaloo Rarity’s words echoed in her head; when your sister makes a mistake…, Rainbow Dash wrapped a wing around the pegasus and pulled her in close so that Scootaloo’s head was resting on her shoulder.  Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around Rainbows neck and buried her face just below Rainbow’s collarbone.

Rainbow looked down at the little pegasus who had her face buried in her chest and thought back on some of her own mistakes. True she hadn’t destroyed one of the Elements, but she did remember the time that Discord convinced her to abandon her friends, and how she had pre-judged Zecora before she ever met her and that time she had snuck into Ponyville’s hospital because she was too embarrassed to admit she liked reading.  After all those incidents her friends had forgiven her without question, maybe she should extend the same courtesy to Scootaloo. She looked down again and realized that for all of her bravado Scootaloo was really just a pegasus who was terrified of what a future without flying would be like.  Just like me. 

“Okay there, kid, enough with the mushy stuff,” Rainbow said as she gently pried the filly off of her.

Scootaloo nodded. “Sorry I-I just thought that you wouldn’t ever want to hang out with me again and then when you said you did…” Scootaloo’s voice trailed off

“It’s okay I get it, you don’t need to apologize. I mean I am pretty awesome” Rainbow said, her usual bluster returning. 

Scootaloo giggled and Rainbow noticed that this was the first time since this whole thing started that she had seen Scoots smile and it made her smile back.  “Okay squirt, if we’re going to make it out of here in one peace we need to start being honest with each other.  Is there anything else you’re not telling us?” Scootaloo shook her head.  “Good, there’s one other thing from now on you need to do exactly what we say, things could get dangerous so when I, or Twilight, or Rarity, tell you to do something you do it, no arguing.”

“Okay Rainbow Dash, I promise I won’t argue. Umm but if we’re being honest with each other can I ask you something?”

Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head as she considered the filly’s request.  She wasn’t used to being open with anypony, life was easier if you kept ponies at a distance and she had a sense that the tiny orange filly was about to ask her a question she wouldn’t want to answer.  But she had also just promised that they would be honest with each other.  She masked her insecurity with her usual audacity.  “Sure squirt, fire away.”

“If somepony told you you couldn’t fly ever again, what would you have done?”

Rainbow Dash considered her answer. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Ever since I was a foal all I’ve ever wanted was to fly, and I got lucky because flying came easy to me. So yeah if Discord or Sombra or even Nightmare Moon offered me a pair of wings when I didn’t have them, I might have taken them up on it.  But I still would have been wrong, just because your reasons are good doesn’t mean that your actions are. I get why you did it, I really do, but I think maybe you understand why I was upset.” 

Scootaloo nodded.  One thing she had done almost constantly was review her actions.  Everytime she had come to the conclusion that as much as she wished it were otherwise she couldn't blame ponies for being upset with her. “I do. I didn’t mean for everything to get so out of hoof, it just kinda happened.”

“Yeah that’s how it usually works. You do one thing that you know is wrong and the next thing you know you’re in over your head. The key is to avoid that first thing.”

“I know that now. Thanks for giving me a second chance Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow playfully slugged Scootaloo on the shoulder, finally the kind of expression of emotion she was comfortable with. “No problem kid.  Now we better get some rest, we’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”