> Hopes and Dreams > by Forest Shade > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Wonderbolts! 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Whoa! Look at Lightning Dust! She's my favorite!" Scootaloo cheered. Rainbow Dash smirked. "Better than me?" she said, an eyebrow raised. " No way!" she said, snuggling up to Rainbow. "Who's your favorite, Dashie?" Rainbow Dash blushed slightly. "See that light blue one?" she pointed with her hoof. "Soarin?" "You've guessed it." Scootaloo smiled. She knew the cyan pegasus had a crush on him. "Now why don't we try to get their autographs?" Rainbow smiled. Seeing the excitement in the small filly's eyes reminded her of being a filly herself. The line was a lot longer than RD had hoped, but finally it was their turn, and it was worth the wait. "Wow! Thanks a bunch, Rainbow Dash!" Scoots smiled. She hadn't had this much fun in moons. Her mane was ruffled by Rainbow. "Anything for my little sister!" Ever since the "river incident" Rainbow Dash had taken the orange filly under her wing. Scootaloo felt honored to have RD call her a sister. "So Scoots, how about a shake? With whipped cream?" Dashie started drooling at the prospect of whipped cream. "Yes, but Dash, please don't embarrass me like you did last time.' she begged, recalling the time where Rainbow Dash had gotten a bottle of cider and was drunk for some time, saying words Scoots had never heard before. "Alright." Rainbow shrugged. She jumped onto Rainbow's back and they took off. Some ponies down below were crowded around Sweet Apple Acres, but Dash thought nothing of it. They arrived at Sugarcube Corner and while Dash was ordering shakes, Scoots colored in a coloring book she had gotten at the Wonderbolt show. She sighed. "If I could fly, I'd be the best in all of Equestria! Maybe better than Dash!" Her thoughts were disturbed by a shake being passed to her. "Seriously, Dash?" Scootaloo giggled. "What? I just wanted to see how far the Pinkie cannon would shoot me!" "Oh, Dash! Can we go to Sweet Apple Acres afterwards?" "Any reason?' "No, just want to say hi to Applebloom." "Okay." Again they soared over clouds doing loop de loops and other stunts causing Scootaloo to squeal in delight. When they arrived, an unkempt Applejack met them at the gate. "Howdy RD, Scoots. Mind coming back later?" "Why?" asked Scootaloo. "Applebloom, well...she's missing." "What?!' the two sisters shrieked. "It's true. Last night, she went to find Zecora and hasn't returned." "Let me help find her." Scoots suggested. "Not now, Scoots. Okay, AJ, what did she need from her?" As they kept talking, Scootaloo went home, feeling ignored and scared. "Where is she? If only I could fly. I know she's not dead, and I'm going to find her before she gets hurt." she said to herself. Then softer added, "If she isn't already." > Don't Go to the Forest (she means it) 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- She ran over to Carousel Boutique only to be greeted by a wailing Rarity, claiming that the same thing happened to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo peeked beside her to find a stash of empty ice cream cartons. "However," she said, "she did have a tint of red in her eye that night if that helps." Rarity said through hiccups. Scootaloo walked over to all of her friends' houses to find they were home, so why weren't the rest of the CMC? She walked to Rainbow Dash's house and begged her for flying lessons. Again and again she tried but failed. If she couldn't fly, she would have a much harder time finding her friends, she figured. "Okay, if I try 45 times harder!" gasped the panting filly. At last, she seemed to be getting somewhere, but then she fell. Her head hung low, she was ushered out by a somewhat impatient Rainbow Dash. Sighing, she walked to the edge of the Everfree Forest. She walked in, shrieking at every noise she heard. By chance, she tripped over a tree root and tumbled down a hill. She buzzed her wings to help steady herself. She explored this new area, examining every rock to try to find a strand of hair. Nothing showed up until she peered over another ledge. She gasped, and again fell over, bumping her head along the way, causing her to black out. She awoke to find her friends staring over her. Relief turned to fear as she saw a knife being held over her. Their eyes were fully red. Applebloom's eyes returned back to their orange. "Ah'm so sorry, but ya havta go! We are dangerous!" Applebloom shook her head slightly, "Don't ya see? We are insane!" Scootaloo shook her head. How could this be happening? Applebloom's eyes were back to red again, and Sweetie Belle drove the knife down hard. Scootaloo dodged it, but it pulled out one of her feathers, causing her to squeal a little bit. "Go." said Sweetie Belle. Scoots frowned. "But what happened to you?" Applebloom sighed. "Ah will try to explain, but honestly, Ah have little idea. You see, one night we had a sudden urge to see Zecora, so off we went. Well, it turns out that there was a tribe of ponies there-" "But I thought those ended years ago!" "Well, this one remained. Anyway, they hippotized, no hypmotised, oh whatever! They did something to us that made us lose part of our sanity.We ran away, protecting whatever sanity we have left. Ah still don't git the red eye stuff." Sweetie Belle intervened. "Well, maybe it's a sign that we're losing more sanity." she said nervously. "Well, why was everypony else home, but you were the only ones that they chose?" "Ah think it's the fact that we are friends with you." "What? But what does that have to do with anything?" "Ah'm sorry to say Ah have no idea." "Um, I heard them last night saying that they want the failure, but what have we done?" whispered Sweetie. "Oh no. They used you as bait, and now they want to go full time on...me." she fell to the ground crying. Why was this happening? Couldn't she just be happy? Just once? > Back to Ponyville! 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Run, Scoots, run!" the two other fillies cried. She went a full gallop, but if she tripped, game over. She bumped into a hooded figure. It lifted off its hood to reveal Princess Luna. "Quickly, get on! I will fly you back to Ponyville!" Luna spoke quietly, but loud enough for Scoots to hear the urgency in her voice. "Luna!" a scream from the young filly grabbed her attention. "Help!" Luna could barely make out the form of a tall lanky pegasus. She swooped down and throttled the stallion before flying down to catch the filly, but she was too late. With the rate she was plummeting, nopony could catch her. A bat pony suddenly flew up and caught her. When she looked closer, she saw that it was...Blackberry? "Blackberry? Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in years!" The black bat pony looked up, her cheeks completely pink. "I saw you fall, so I caught you. So, how many years since I last saw you, chicken?" she teased. "Hey! Three, I think. Well, how's your secret colony doing?" "Fine, I guess. Applejack sure got mad when I took one small apple to give to my mom for a present. I offered to give her bits, but she was being a bucking rude pony, so I left. Later, the bats invaded once they heard about the whole ordeal, and Fluttershy had to use the stare." "Watch your language, Blackberry! I'm still a filly! Now, can you fly me up? I'll help." Blackberry rolled her eyes. "Fine." They grunted, but they made it up. "Oh sweet Celestia! Luna!" Scootaloo slipped, but didn't scream. Buzz buzz. Her wings worked hard, and...she seemed to be flying! Treading air at least. If she could muster up all her strength, she might be able to glide for a bit. However, Luna punched the idiot in the face, and flew off to chase him down. Aided by Blackberry, she got back to Ponyville and went immediately to Dash. "Dash, this is my friend Blackberry. Blackberry, this is Rainbow Dash!" she said quickly. "The one you said did the Sonic Rainboom! Wow!" Blackberry whispered excitedly. "Okay, so what's up?" "I know where the rest of the CMC are." "Great! Go get them!" "Well..." Scootaloo explained how they had tried to murder her, how they were insane, and everything else she could think of. Dash whistled at the end. Then she explained how Applejack and Rarity had gone into the Everfree Forest, but Twilight stopped them, saying it's not a good idea. Let the pegasi do it. She arranged her mane to resemble Twilight's and quoted, "You don't know any teleportation spells, and AJ would only be able to run." "So, that's the whole thing. I want to go in, but I won't do it alone. So, how about you two are my official teammates. I doubt Flutters would want to do it." Rainbow finished. "Yes! The Temporary Crusaders rule!" yelled Scoots. Rainbow looked at her curiously, smiled, then walked into her room. Blackberry and Scootaloo shrugged. Rainbow returned with three tiny pins and whistles. She placed a pin on every whistle, then placed it around everypony's neck. "What's this?" Rainbow looked at her. "Oh, but where did you get these pins?" " It was a rainy and windy day. The Wonderbolts were blown away, but I caught them, leaving behind a rainbow trail. They were so impressed, (and thankful) that they gave me some spare pins. So yeah." "We need to go now! Who knows how much sanity they have left at this point." Scootaloo urged. Later, they went in, and the deeper they went, the more they heard screams. Finally, they came upon a tall alicorn trying to murder the CMC. "Please don't!" begged Sweetie. "Sorry, but you have to die!" Her bangs covered part of her eyes, but Blackberry could tell they were a bright pink. "What would Applejack think of you, you monster?!" Applebloom shrieked. "She will never know it was me who killed you, and besides, it's what you get for not doing what I said." Rainbow could now recognize Twilight Sparkle's voice, but now it sounded so savage! "Shh! Guys, stay behind the bushes! I'm going in for better hearing." Rainbow Dash could barely be heard. Scootaloo heard a rustle in the bushes, but it was only a squirrel. Above, she heard a voice tell her, "Scootaloo, you must fly! Even if you think you can't you must try! You are the only one who is small enough to kill this changeling! Go!" *it was of course Luna* Scoots buzzed her wings at the same pace, and stuck a Superstallion pose. She was flying! She wanted to whoop but she had to be very quiet. "Oh, right! A changeling's eyes will become brighter if they are stressed or scared. She flew swiftly and softly, holding her knife over it, but before that she tapped it on the head, and flew away as it turned around. "Changeling, what is your name?" she called up in a tree. "R-1200. Who the heck are you?" She thought before saying, "Lightning Dust! Now why are you murdering them and their sanity?! As a Wonderbolt, I could grind you into bits!" "Look, I don't want to, but the boss says-" "Who's your boss?" "XV-3244" "I know him! He's the one who died an hour ago by somepony named Rainbow Dash." "I'm free? I don't need to kill no stinking ponies?" "No. Why don't you transform into a random pony design and go live in Equestria?" "Cool! But what's your real name? You sound like a filly." "Scootaloo." "Neat. Okay, Scootascoot, I'm leaving! Oh, and to reverse this cruddy spell, just get this flower from the Everfree. Oh wait. We're here. Okay, it's multi colored. Yellow orange green. Remember that! It's at the top of that hill!" R-1200 waved goodbye then whooping transformed into a pony and ran off. Next stop: magical flower! > Rainstorm 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Scootaloo...Scoots, wake up!" "Huh?" Scootaloo groggily got up, but really woke up to see her friends. "You're okay! How long have you got?" "About an hour. Let's go!" They didn't bother to thank her; they had done so the night before. Skidding to a halt, she turned back and ran over to Rainbow and Blackberry's sleeping forms. "Dashie! Blackberry! We have to go now. We let you sleep a whole extra hour!" "Okay, squirt. Let's go." Scootaloo was slightly disturbed to see her hero like this. Her rainbow mane was frizzy and her eyes had huge bags under them. She shook her head and her mane fell into place. The bags seemed to disappear. Blackberry stirred but said nothing. Dash carried her on her back. They finally arrived on the hill. Millions of multi-colored flowers decorated the hill. "Oh no! What colors did R-1200 mention? Yellow Orange and what? I'll have to guess." "Scoots, what colors are we looking for?" asked Blackberry. "Um, yellow, orange, and purple!" Scootaloo said. "Okay, found it! Now eat it, you two!" said Rainbow Dash, ripping the flower in two and shoving it in their mouth. "Did it work?" Scoots asked feeling sick. "No. Now I feel really tired." Sweetie Belle groaned. "Green!" shouted Applebloom! "Ah think he said green for the last one!" "Got it! Eat it!" yelled Rainbow Dash. Their eyes became red, and at this Scootaloo gave up hope, but then a series of sparkles nabbed her attention. Their eyes were back to orange and green. They slumped on the ground, getting up and hugging the other three. "Finally something went right." thought Scootaloo gratefully. > Epilogue 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I don't understand, Sweetie, why were you chosen? Well, you and Applebloom I mean." Rarity said inquisitively. "For the last time, I'm not telling! I don't want to talk about it." Sweetie shrugged. "Okay, then I won't make you that outfit for the audition!" Rarity smiled playfully. Sweetie and Applebloom had a lot of explaining to do, but most of it they ignored. The End.