The CMC start to notice that they never visit Scootaloo's house or meet her family. When they try to investigate, what they learn is truly shocking.
The CMC love to hang out, solve Cutie Mark problems, and have sleepovers, but the other Crusaders start to notice that they know much less about Scootaloo than they had originally thought. When an event happens that shocks everypony in Ponyville, The CMC are taken on an adventure that digs up parts of Scootaloo's past that even she didn't know about.
***
*Massive thanks to my proofreader Mister Doggo. Wouldn’t be able to make this story what it is without him!
Scootaloo sat alone crying on the outskirts of Ponyville, on the bank of a small stream she had stumbled across years ago in Whitetail Woods. This river was her thinking spot. She came here many times when the weight of everything in her life was too heavy, and she just needed to think, and to sometimes cry. There were never any ponies around her, at least that is, until today. Unbeknownst to the orange filly, she was being watched. Crouched behind a bush a little ways behind the pegasus filly, were two more young fillies. One was a unicorn with a white coat, and the other was an earth pony with a buttermilk yellow coat, not unlike that of Fluttershy.
***
30 minutes earlier
"Ugh. I'm bored" Sweetie Belle whined. "When is Scoots going to be here?" The two fillies had been waiting in their clubhouse for their friend and fellow crusader for over an hour. "She was supposed to be her like an hour ago. I'm getting tired of waiting."
Applebloom sighed, she knew that at this point, Scoots probably wasn't coming. She had ignored Sweetie's previous complaints because she had faith that Scootaloo would show up eventually. The three had agreed to have a CMC meeting in their clubhouse that day, and they had all agreed on the time. "I hate to admit it Sweetie, but I don't think Scoots is coming. I can understand if she was a little late, but this is just getting excessive. Do you think she ditched us?"
"What?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, "Of Course not! Scootaloo is our friend, she would never ditch us." Sweetie Belle was starting to get worried now. "It's not like Scootaloo to be this late though, she's always on time for our meetings. What if something terrible happened to her!?" Sweetie Belle was practically shouting now. The true fear that something terrible might have happened to their friend was hitting her.
"Sweetie calm down!" Apple Bloom said, in a futile event to calm her friend down. "I'm sure she just forgot or something." Apple Bloom couldn't even convince herself of this. She knew that it was not like Scootaloo to be this late and that she wouldn't just forget one of their important CMC meetings. She was starting to worry too. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't we head over to her house to figure out what's taking her so long?"
"Sure!" Sweetie Belle said, instantly perking up at this idea. Then she lost her smile and she gained more of a confused expression. "Just one question. Do you actually know where she lives?" Sweetie Belle asked, with the same confused expression on her face.
"Sure she lives—" she paused, dawning the same confused expression that Sweetie Belle had. "Huh. You know, I could have sworn I knew where she lives. Haven't we ever been to a sleepover at her house or something?"
"Nope, not that I can remember anyway." Then an idea hit her. "Hey! I bet you I know who would know where she lives. If anypony would know, it would be Rainbow Dash!"
"Of course! How did I not think of that!" It was true, the little pegasus filly and Rainbow Dash were as close as sisters, if not closer. If anypony in Ponyville knows where she lives, it would be Rainbow Dash. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
The two fillies ran out of their clubhouse on their way into town. A little while later they burst through the front doors of Twilight's castle. Rainbow could normally be found here with her other friends when they were not teaching in Twilight's new School of Friendship, and it was way too late in the day for school to be in session. School had let out hours ago.
"Hey, Sweetie Belle! Hey Apple Bloom!" Spike called to the two fillies who had just raced through the door. "Where are you two going in such a hurry?"
"We need to find Rainbow Dash right away!" Apple Bloom called the sense of urgency in her voice causing a look of worry to spread across Spike's face. "Do you know where she is?" she asked frantically.
"Yeah, she's in the throne room with the others," Spike said worriedly. "what do you need—"
"Thanks!" They both called in union, interrupting the baby dragon as they sped off towards the throne room. Spike shrugged it off. It was probably just the Crusaders being the Crusaders again.
"So Fluttershy, how did your new lesson on kindness go today? Did your students learn a lot?" Twilight inquired. They were all sitting in the throne room talking about how their lessons went, and what the plans were for school tomorrow.
"Oh, it was wonderful!" Fluttershy said enthusiastically. "I even got Angel Bunny to help do a demonstration for the class. They learned so—EEP!" Flutter shy squealed and jumped behind her chair as the doors to the throne room burst open, and two frantic fillies ran into the room.
"Rainbow Dash!" The two fillies called out. "We need your help right now!" Everyone in the room was still recovering from the massive shock of the two fillies busting into the room so suddenly.
After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash collected herself and responded, "What do you need girls? Hey, where's Scoots, she's always with you two. I never see just two of you together." Rainbow Dash said with a look of concern on her face.
"That's what we came to talk to you about. We've been waiting at our clubhouse for her for an hour. We all agreed to meet there after school, but she never showed up." Apple Bloom started.
"Do you know where she lives?" Sweetie Belle cut in. "We were hoping to go see what was taking her so long, but then we realized that we had no idea where she lives. I thought we must have been to a sleepover at her house or something over the years we've known her, but I can't remember ever going to her house."
"Sorry girls, I don't know where she lives, but I'm sure she's fine. She probably just got distracted and lost track of time or something." Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight, do you know where she lives?"
"No, I can't say that I do. I have never seen where she lives either." Twilight said worriedly. "Does anyone else know?" she asked the rest of her friends.
They all shook their heads. "That's like, super weird!" Pinkie Pie blurted out "I know where everypony in Ponyville lives, Mayor Mare, Bon Bon, Lyra, Vinyl, Octavia, Derpy, Dr. Whoo—" Pinkie was cut off by a cyan hoof being shoved into her mouth.
"Thank you Pinkie, but we don't need a list of everypony in Ponyville" Rainbow said sarcastically, but it confused her too. Of course, she had to know where Scoots lived. Dash was her big sister. How in Equestria could she not know where the filly lived.
"Hmm," Twilight hummed. "That is interesting. I can't believe none of us knows where she lives. I'll look into this some more. You fillies just let us know if you find her, and I'll try to figure out why none of us knows where she lives.
"Okay," Applebloom sighed, "we will. Come on Sweetie, let's go look for her. Maybe we can find her and talk to her about this." With that, the two fillies walked out of the room, leaving a concerned Rainbow Dash, and her five confused friends.
Once outside, the Crusaders walked over towards the schoolhouse that the CMC and their friends went to. "Maybe we can follow her scooter tracks from school and see where they lead." Sweetie Belle suggested.
"That's a good idea." Apple Bloom responded. "I think I see some up ahead, look!" Sure enough, right in front of the two fillies were a pair of narrow tracks leading away from the entrance to the school. They led straight into the town of Ponyville. "Let's follow 'em," Apple Bloom said, excited to finally have a clue as to where Scootaloo went.
The two fillies ran off following the tracks. They followed them into Ponyville, all the way through the town, and out the other side of town, and into Whitetail Woods. "Whitetail woods?" Apple Bloom asked no one in particular. "What would Scootaloo be doing in Whitetail Woods. They slowed down to a walk and followed the tracks deep into the woods.
The tracks eventually led them to Scootaloo's scooter, propped up against a tree with some bushes behind it. "Well here's her scooter," Sweetie Belle said, puzzled," but where is Scootalloo?" As if to answer her question, they heard soft sobs coming from behind the bushes. They snuck quietly over to the bushes and peeked out from behind them. To their surprise, they saw Scootalloo, sitting down on the edge of a small stream, crying. Sweetie gasped, of all the things she expected to find, this was not one of them.
Apple Bloom was shocked as well, it would be weird enough to see just anypony out here on their own crying, but Scootalloo!? No, it just didn't make any sense. The pony was just like Rainbow Dash. You never saw her cry, or get emotional, or anything like that. She wanted to run out to her and see what was wrong but stopped herself. If Scootalloo had gone this far out of town just to be alone, then there had to be a good reason, but she had no idea what that reason was.
As if to answer her question, the orange pegasus began to talk between sniffles and sobs. "I-I can't take it anymore. I just... can't." Can't take what, AppleBloom wondered. "It's too much. I miss you Mom and Dad, and I can't keep missing you, especially knowing that I fail you every day, by not being able to fly..." AppleBloom then noticed a rope hanging from a tree branch nearby, with a loop tied in the end, and a rock placed underneath. Was Scootalloo thinking what Applebloom thought she was thinking? No, of course not, she couldn't be, right? "I can't go on anymore. I can't live knowing that every day of my life, I am nothing but a failure to you, that you never wanted in the first place!"
AppleBloom nearly choked when Scootalloo said this. She turned to Sweetie Belle, who was now crying heavily, while she started to shed some tears herself. She whispered to Sweetie Belle, so as not to be heard by their crying friend, who was about to do the unthinkable. "Stay here, and keep her from doing... you know what. I-I'll be back as soon as I can." All Sweetie Belle could do was nod, with her hoof in her mouth, trying to keep herself quiet as she fought back tears.
Apple Bloom sped off, running faster than she had ever run before., tears streaming down her face as she ran. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. Her best friend, who seemed perfectly fine when she was around other ponies, was about to end her own life. She couldn't let it happen, so she sped up her run, ignoring the burning of her legs, and the stinging of tears in her eyes. She ran straight into town, and towards Twilight's castle, not even looking where she was going, and running straight into a Rainbow Maned pegasus who had just walked out the front door of Twilight's castle.
"Apple Bloom!" Rainbow yelled, "What the hay!" Apple Bloom looked up at her with tears streaming down her face, breathing heavily from running. Rainbow's face instantly changed from an expression of anger to one of extreme worry and concern. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you. Are you okay, she said while looking over AppleBloom for injuries.
"I-It's S-Scootaloo." She said, trying to hold back her tears. "S-she's going to k-k—" AppleBloom broke down into tears, unable to hold it back any longer. By this point, Twilight had noticed the commotion and rushed outside to help.
"What's wrong?!" she practically yelled at Rainbow "What happened?!" Twilight was very concerned and had a look of horror on her face.
"I don't know!" Rainbow replied in an equally concerned and frantic voice. "She just ran straight into me, and I noticed she was crying and out of breath."
"Apple Bloom," Twilight said much softer, trying to get the filly to calm down. "It's gonna be okay, just tell us what happened."
"No, it's NOT!" Apple Bloom shouted back at her, making Twilight jump. "R-Rainbow, you... you have to go, now," Apple Bloom said through her tears. "Whitetail Woods, Scootaloo, she, she... she's not good Rainbow, you have to save her." Apple Bloom said in the saddest voice the two mares had ever heard from her. "She's going to kill herself..." At this, it was like time froze. Rainbow's face dropped, and she held her breath. Twilight began to panic.
Rainbow's face changed from a look of shock and complete sadness to a look of sheer determination. She was not going to let her little sister do this. Not on her watch she wasn't. "Get on my back!" Rainbow said to the yellow filly, bending down to allow her to climb onto her back. "Where is she!" Rainbow barked. Twilight yelled after them, but they were already gone. Rainbow was flying as fast as she could towards the area of woods that AppleBloom was guiding her towards.
Meanwhile, back at the creek, Sweetie Belle was barely able to fight back her tears. She knew she was going to have teeth marks on her hoof for a while from biting down on it to keep herself quiet. She looked back up at Scootaloo and nearly started full on bawling. She was standing up and facing the rock and the rope, with a look of determination on her face. Sweetie Belle jumped up and shouted out to her friend "NO! Scootalloo! Don't do it!" Scootalloo looked back for a moment, frozen in shock, before she quickly jumped up onto the boulder, slid the loop around her neck, and let her legs go limp.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Rainbow dash heard Sweetie Belle scream from up ahead in the woods. She made a beeline for the source of the sound. She burst through the tops of the trees, to see Sweetie Belle frantically trying to lift Scootalloo back up so that she would stop choking. "NO! I won't let you die! I won't! I won't! I won't!" She screamed frantically, tears flowing down her face. Apple Bloom jumped down from Rainbow's back and ran over frantically to help her panicking friend.
Rainbow Dash flew forward and instantly lifted the now unconscious pegasus filly back into the air, and slipped the rope off from around her neck. Rainbow was crying heavily now too. She instantly flew off, towards Ponyville hospital, with the unconscious, but still breathing filly cradled in her arms, and completely forgetting about the two crying fillies she had left in the clearing. She was not letting her little sister die. She loved her more than anything else in the world. The reasons for Scootalloo's action would be discussed later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was making sure her little buddy was okay.
Rainbow Dash was sitting in Fluttershy's cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville. She leaned on Fluttershy's shoulder while she cried. Normally, it was Rainbow Dash who was there for Fluttershy and was a shoulder for her to cry on. This was one of the rare cases when it was Fluttershy's turn to repay the favor. The two had been like this ever since Rainbow showed up at her friend's door crying, nearly an hour ago, and Fluttershy had quickly brought her inside and sat down with her.
Soon enough, Rainbow's sobs began to grow weaker, and eventually just turned into quiet sniffles, while she leaned on her friend for support. "Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy began tentatively, hoping that her friend's crying was over for now. "Do you... umm, maybe want to tell me what happened now?"
Rainbow sat up and wiped her eyes before responding hesitantly. She was by no means doing better, but she had at least gotten all of that crying out of her system. "W-why?" she began, confusing Fluttershy. She was about to respond and let Dash know that she was just worried about her before Dash began again. "Why did she do it? I-I thought I was her bigger sister that she looked up to." Rainbow looked up into her friend's eyes, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes once again. It hurt Fluttershy seeing her friend like this. It would have hurt her to see any of her friends like this, but seeing Rainbow Dash, the strongest, most confident pony she knew of, who would never shed a single tear around other ponies, completely helpless and sad like this, made Fluttershy more than just a little worried. "W-was I not a good sister to Scootalloo? Did I f-fail h-her?" Rainbow asked, with genuine curiosity and sadness in her voice.
"What! Of course, you were! You were probably the best big sister you could ever be to that little filly. I don't see why you would ever think otherwise." Fluttershy was getting very concerned now. Did something happen to Scootalloo? Why did Rainbow wonder if she was a good sister to her or not? Everypony who saw them knew that.
Rainbow let out a pained sigh before answering. "She..." Rainbow trailed off, not quite sure how to break the news to her timid pegasus friend.
"What? What did she do? Is she okay? Did something happen to her?" Fluttershy asked her friend, now more concerned than ever.
"I... I think you should just come with me. I'll explain on the way." Rainbow stood up and started to walk out of the cottage. Fluttershy stood up slowly to follow after her friend, not calming down at all in the process. The two walked in silence for a minute before Rainbow finally began to explain to her friend, now more confidently than before. "This afternoon, after you left Twilight's castle, I stayed behind a little longer to help Twilight research where Scootalloo lived. We found out... she was... homeless."
Fluttershy blanched and stopped mid-step. Rainbow, noticing this, turned around to face her friend. "I-I can't... believe this. That poor little filly. She must have been so alone, so scared." Fluttershy began walking again, albeit much slower than before, and Rainbow did as well, changing her pace so as not to leave her friend behind.
"Sadly... I guess you're right. I never saw it in her, but she must have been so alone and sad, but I still don't get why she did what she did. I mean she had her friends, she had me. She could have come to me." They were right outside the hospital now, and Rainbow stopped and turned towards the large building.
"D-Dash... what did she do?" Fluttershy asked, now seriously concerned for the well-being of the little pegasus filly.
Dash sighed. "Why don't we go have a seat first? You probably need to sit down to hear this."
***
Scootalloo's eyes fluttered open. "Uggghhh. Where am I?" Scootalloo thought out loud. She heard a gasp from somewhere nearby, before a pink mane brushed across her face as she was pulled into a loving embrace by a clearly distraught Fluttershy. "Fluttershy?" the filly asked quietly, "Where am I?"
Fluttershy pulled away from the hug and brushed her pink mane out of her eyes as she smiled warmly at the filly below her. "You're gonna be okay now." She said kindly. "It's all gonna be okay now." She lifted Scootallo back up into another hug, which was gladly returned. Something about Fluttershy's caring embrace felt comforting to the filly. It made her almost believe what the yellow pegasus mare had said.
"Is Rainbow Dash here?" Scootalloo asked hopefully, perking up almost instantly at the thought of possibly seeing her idol. Fluttershy giggled, "Of course she's here. She's sleeping on the floor. You've been asleep for two days." Scootalloo's jaw dropped at this, Fluttershy didn't notice though. Had she really been asleep for 2 days? She didn't even know that was possible. "You should've seen Rainbow, she would not go to sleep until you woke up." Fluttershy continued "I kept telling her that she needed sleep, but she wasn't having any of it. She eventually just dropped in the middle of the room from exhaustion." Scootalloo chuckled at this. That was her stubborn sister alright.
Fluttershy walked back over to the foot of Scootalloo's bed where she had been lying next to a sleeping Rainbow Dash with a wing over her back. She bent down and nuzzled the cyan mare. "Dash, it's time to wake up," she said softly.
Rainbow groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes mom," she said sleepily. Scootalloo and Fluttershy both laughed at the tired mare's behavior. Rainbow was clearly more tired than they thought.
"Dash, wake up." Fluttershy bent down and nuzzled the sleeping pegasus again, this time waking the mare from her slumber.
"Uggghhh," Dash groaned. "What is it? It's too early to get up." She said as she stood up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She scanned the room for a second, trying to remember where she was when her eyes fell upon the now awake pegasus filly that she called her sister. It came back to her like a ton of bricks hitting her in the chest. What had happened the previous day, why they were even in the hospital in the first place, and probably the worst of all, the feeling that she had failed her sister. She let a tear trail down her face as she walked up to the pegasus filly and hugged her tight. Scootaloo hugged her back.
The two just sat there, shedding silent tears for a moment, until Rainbow broke the hug and pulled away to look her sister in the eyes. "Scoots, I just want you to know how glad I am that you are okay. You scared me really bad the other day. Why would you even go and do something like that?" by this point, Scootaloo had begun to cry, and Dash let out a pained sigh. "Look Squirt, I'm not mad. I just want to know why. Don't you know how much I would miss you? How much your parents would miss y—"
"My parents don't want me!" Scootaloo shouted, catching her idol off guard. "A-and neither does anypony else. All I c-can think about is how much of a d-disappointment I am to my parents, a-and t-to you." Scootaloo was bawling her eyes out by this point, her head buried in her hooves, and barely able to get words out through her crying.
"Hey! You are not a disappointment, and you never will be! Especially to me! I don't speak for your parents, but they would have to be crazy not to be proud of such an awesome filly as you," Rainbow said, after the shock of what her little sister had said wore off.
"R-really?" Scootaloo asked weakly through her sniffling.
"Of course you silly filly. You're the coolest little filly I know." Rainbow replied with a warm smile.
Scootaloo lit up for a minute at the compliment, but then her face dropped once again. "But I can't fly. My parents got rid of me because I couldn't fly, and how do I know that you don’t think less of me because of it?” Scootaloo asked, tears once again forming in the corners of her eyes.
“Scootaloo! I would never think less of you for not flying. Just because I’m a good flyer, doesn’t mean you have to be. You’re your own pony, and you are special in so many ways.”
“R-really?” The scared filly asked timidly, almost sounding like Fluttershy.
“Of course Squirt. I love you more than anything in the world, and nothing could ever change that.
Scootaloo was wrapped up into a big, loving hug, as she buried her face into her sister’s chest. She finally felt like someone cared. Her fears that nearly drove her to do the unthinkable were finally fading away for the first time in what felt like years. The filly let a few small tears fall down her face as she hugged her big sis. These were not the tears of sadness she so often cried though, and instead, ones of joy. “I love you, sis.” She said, her voice muffled by the Cyan fur of the Pegasus mare.
“I love you too Squirt,” Rainbow said sweetly. She was glad she could be there for her sister when she needed her the most. She knew that they weren’t done talking about this and that she would need the full story so she knew whose flanks to kick for abandoning such an awesome little filly, but for now, there were much more important things to attend to.
“So Scoots, where have you been living all this time?” Rainbow asked, truly curious about her sisters living arrangements.
“Well,” Scootaloo said, pulling away from the hug. “I’ve mostly just slept in the clubhouse at nights, and at my friends' houses when we had sleepovers. Before we had the clubhouse though I was mostly out on the streets.” Scootalloo let out a sad sigh.
Dash noticed this and asked, “What's wrong Scoots?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about having to go back there when I get out of here. It’s usually pretty cold, and anything but comfortable.”
“Who said you had to?” Rainbow asked, a mischievous smirk spreading across her face.
“What do you mean? But I thought—" Scootalloo paused, her eyes growing wide, "y-you don't mean..."
"Of course I do Squirt. You're coming home with me. I can't just let my little sis live on the streets can I?" Scootalloo's eyes grew wide in excitement as Dash said this. The little pegasus filly jumped forward and enveloped Dash in a hug, which she gladly returned. "Love you Scoots."
"Love you too, sis." Scoots buried her head into her sister's chest, just enjoying the warmth of her sister's fur in the embrace. The two stayed like that for a long time, Scootalloo savoring the feeling of being loved, and Dash just being glad that her little sister was okay. Their hug was interrupted by a knock at the door. They reluctantly released the hug and looked up to see Nurse Redheart walk in carrying a clipboard.
"I see somepony's finally up," she said in her usual cheerful voice. "How are you feeling today Scootalloo? Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"I'm alright," Scootalloo said, now sounding much more cheerful than before. "I don't really feel like talking about it right now though. I still don't want to talk about it."
"That's okay, you take all the time you need sweetie. Now, I think there are a few ponies here who are waiting to see you." Scootalloo instantly perked up at this.
"Really? There are ponies here to see me?" Scootalloo asked, with a true look of surprise on her face.
"Well, of course, sweetie, a lot of ponies really care about you." She said, earning a small smile from the pegasus filly. "Would you like me to go get them?" She just got a nod in response. She turned around and walked out, returning with the sound of hoofsteps behind her. "Alright girls, she's in here."
The second the other two Crusaders locked eyes with their friend, their eyes lit up with joy. "Scootaloo!" they both called as they ran over and jumped on the bed, wrapping their friend up in the biggest hug of their life.
"Don't ever do that again! You really scared me Scoots!" Sweetie said with tears in her eyes.
Scootalloo sighed. "I know. I'm really sorry girls. I just couldn't deal with being all alone anymore, especially knowing that I let everypony down."
"WHAT?!" They both shouted at the same time. "Where in Equestria would you get that idea?" Applebloom continued. "You've never let us down. You're the most loyal friend we know, and we are fellow Crusaders forever."
"I know girls, but my parents kicked me out when I was super young, and the last thing I remember from them was hearing how disappointed in me they were. I've been living in the Clubhouse ever since we fixed it up." Scootalloo said, once again starting to form tears at the corners of her eyes. "I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt like no one cared, I had nopony to take care of me, and I had nowhere to go. I-I... I know it was wrong, but I just couldn't deal with it anymore." Tears fell from her face as she was brought into another hug with her two closest friends.
"Scoots..." Sweetiebelle started. "I... I'm so sorry. How did we not know before? Why didn't you tell us?"
"This is all our fault. We should've—" Applebloom was cut off by an orange hoof being shoved into her mouth.
"Stop that right now. This is not your fault. It was me who decided to not tell you, and I've had a lot of practice hiding my feelings, so don't you dare even start to blame yourselves. I won't allow it," Scootalloo said determinedly. "I'm really sorry girls. Are we still friends girls?"
"Of course!" Sweetie practically shouted. "Friends to the end!"
"Yeah! Friends to the end!" Applebloom chimed in. "Nothing could ever change that."
Scoots brought her friends in for another hug. She had a feeling she would have a lot of explaining to do in the next few days, but right now, she just wanted to enjoy being with her friends.
Scootaloo sat on her cloud bed that Dash had set up for her in the guest room of her cloud mansion. It had been a month since she had been released from the hospital, and she was already doing much better. She was settling into her new life with her big sister, and really enjoying it. Rainbow had even made her a cloud staircase so she could go up and down from the house without help, at least until she learned how to fly. Dash had agreed to teach her as soon as her wings grew a little. Scootaloo couldn't wait for that day to come, even if she knew it would be a year or two.
Scootaloo was waiting on Dash to get home from Wonderbolts training. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have school, and her friends were all busy today. She normally got excited waiting for Dash to come home, but today was different, she was beyond excited. Rainbow had told her before she left this morning that she would be late because she had to pick up a surprise for Scootaloo. Scootaloo was getting impatient. Dash was already 20 minutes late. How long did this surprise take?
"Scoots, I'm home!" Scootalloo heard Dash call from downstairs. Well, I guess that answers that question. "Now are you gonna come down here for your surprise or what?"
"Coming!" Scoots called, jumping out of her bed and rushing out of her room. "What is it? What is it?" She called enthusiastically as she entered the kitchen where Dash was waiting for her.
"Whoah, calm down there Squirt. Close your eyes." Scootalloo did as she was told, and listened as Dash walked over to the counter and picked something up. "Alright, you can look now Scoots."
Scootalloo opened her eyes and stared, as she let out a gasp of excitement... and then stopped herself, "Wait, it's just an envelope," she said with a quizzical expression on her face.
Dash chuckled at this. "Scoots, the surprise is in the envelope."
"Ohhhhhh!" Scoots said, gaining the excitement back on her face. "Can I open it now, can I?" Scoots said, jumping up and down and buzzing her wings in excitement.
"Of course Squirt. Here you go." Dash said and handed the envelope to Scootalloo. Rainbow watched nervously as Scootaloo ripped open the envelope and looked at the papers inside. Her eyes scanned back and forth across the paper.
When she had finally finished reading the paper, she put it down and looked up at Dash with fearful hope in her eyes. Dash could see tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "D-dash? Is this serious? You wouldn't mess with me like that, would you?"
"Of course not Scoots. You know I love you way too much to do that. I know I'm a prankster but that's too far even for me. "Now come here Squirt," Dash said caringly, sitting down and holding out a hoof to invite Scootaloo in for a hug.
Scootaloo gladly accepted, and rushed forwards into Dash's hooves, nearly knocking her over onto her back. Tears were now streaming from her eyes. "I love you Dash."
Dash smiled. "I love you too Scoots."
"Wait," Scootaloo said, pulling away from the hug and looking up at her former big sister turned adoptive mother, "does this mean I call you Mom now?"
"Only if you want to," Dash replied, actually hoping that she would want to.
Scootaloo put her hoof up to her chin in thought for a moment. "Ok... Mom."
Dash reached out and wrapped her new daughter up into a tight hug. She knew this was going to be great for both of them. "Love you kiddo."
"Love you too Mom."
***
"I hereby call this emergency meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order!" Scootaloo shouted. It was the morning after she had gotten the news from Dash. She had run to get her friends and call this meeting this morning as soon as she woke up.
"Ugh," Sweetie groaned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What was so important that you had to wake me up this early?" Sweetie asked, a clear hint of annoyance in her voice. Since the incident with Scootaloo, things had pretty much gone back to normal. Scotaloo had asked the others to put that behind them. She didn't want that incident dragging down their friendship.
"Yeah, I—" Applebloom let out a huge yawn. "I'm with Sweetie on this one. Why in tarnation did you have to wake me up so early? The roosters ain't even up yet."
"Hehe... yeah, sorry about that," Scootaloo said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "But I promise you it'll be worth it when you hear the news."
"It better be," Applebloom grumbled.
"I promise, it is," Scootaloo said, trying to assure her friends. "Alright, so you know how I've been living with Rainbow Dash lately?"
"Well duh." Applebloom deadpanned. "It's literally the only thing you ever talk about."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, when she came home from Wonderbolts practice yesterday, she said she had a surprise for me. When I go to see what it is, she hands me an envelope. I was confused at first, but she told me to open it up and read it. Guess what it said?"
Both Sweetie and Applebloom looked awake and genuinely intrigued now. "What, what was in the envelope?" Sweetie said anxiously.
"She... adopted me! I have a mom now girls!" Both Sweetiebelle and Applebloom's jaws hit the floor. That was the absolute last thing they had ever expected to hear.
"Wait, let me get this straight," Applebloom began, "So Rainbow Dash, the very same pony who does not show feelings and hates mushy and sappy family stuff, adopted you?" Applebloom said, more confused than anything.
"Well, yep. I know what you mean, it was not at all what I expected either. Apparently, she talked to Twilight though, and she even helped Dash fast-track the application." Scootaloo explained.
"Well, either way, I'm happy for ya Scoots," Applebloom said, deciding not to pursue this any further.
"Yeah, me too!" Sweetie chimed in. "Ooh! I just had the best idea. We should go tell Pinkie so we—" Sweetie was cut off by the pink-maned party pony herself, appearing out of nowhere at the mention of her name, as usual.
"Tell Pinkie what?" she said, bouncing up and down in place.
"That Scootaloo got adopted by Rainbow Dash," Applebloom said for Sweetiebelle, who was still recovering from the shock of the party pony's sudden appearance.
"Oh my gosh! That's great! Well what are we doing just standing here, we've got a party to throw!" Pinkie pushed the Crusaders out of the clubhouse and drug them away towards Sugar Cube Corner. This was going to be interesting.
***
Rainbow walked into her cloud home, with Scootaloo snoozing away on her back. The party had lasted all day, and well into the night. Rainbow had no idea how Pinkie was able to set up an entire party and invite the whole town in a matter of minutes. Pinkie was Pinkie though, and everypony had learned to just go along with it. There was no point in trying to figure out how that pony did anything.
As Rainbow walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms, she looked back at her daughter sleeping peacefully on her back. That little filly was wiped out from a full day of partying, and to be honest, so was Rainbow Dash. She didn't even bother to take Scootaloo back to her own room. Rainbow walked into her room and carefully slid the filly off of her back and onto the bed, before crawling into bed next to her daughter. She wrapped a wing around the pegasus filly, who in turn nuzzled up against Dash's chest.
Dash sighed, everything had been happening so fast lately. Ever since the incident with Scootaloo had happened, Dash had felt more attached to the filly than ever. About a week after Scoots was released from the hospital, she realized that she wanted to do something extra special for her little sister. She wanted to make sure that she never felt like a disappointment, or like she wasn't loved ever again. She still wanted to make whoever the filly's real parents were, pay for what they had done, but the time for that would come later. She was having trouble figuring out what to do, so she went to see Fluttershy and ask if she had any ideas.
***
3 weeks ago at Fluttershy's cottage
"I just don't know what to do Flutters." Rainbow explained to her friend. "I really love my little sis, and I want to make sure that she never feels like she isn't appreciated ever again. I want to make sure she knows that I love her and that I will always be proud of her. I feel terrible that she ever felt that way in the first place and I want to make sure it never happens again."
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had also been getting closer after the incident with Scootaloo. Fluttershy had been there for Rainbow throughout the whole thing and now was no exception. "Well, have you ever thought about adopting her?" Fluttershy asked kindly.
Rainbow just stared at her closest friend in shock. "Fluttershy, look, I know I love the kid... but adopting her?"
"I mean, it makes sense to me. She doesn't have any parents, you already act like a mother figure to her, and there is nopony that loves a filly more than a true mother. It's the perfect way to let her know that you love her," Fluttershy explained.
Fluttershy did have a point, but was Rainbow even ready to be a mother? "Flutters, I see what you mean, but me, a mother. There's no way I would be a good mother. I'm—" Rainbow was stopped by a yellow hoof being shoved into her mouth.
"Now you stop it right there Dashie," Fluttershy said, removing her hoof from the stunned Pegasus' mouth. "You would be a great mother to Scootaloo. You practically already take care of her like she was your daughter."
Dash let out a sigh. "But how do you know for sure? What if I mess it up? What if I do something wrong? What if she ends up hating me? What if—" Once again, Dash was cut off by the yellow Mare's hoof.
Fluttershy removed her hoof from her friend's mouth, again, and said kindly, "I know you will because I know you Dash. You love that filly more than anything in the world. I saw a week ago in the hospital when you tried to stay awake for days to be there for Scootaloo when she woke up, and you wouldn't leave her side. I'm also seeing now too Dash. If you didn't care about her then you wouldn't be worrying about it this much. You are the most confident pony I know, and you are getting completely torn up by this. That is all the proof I need." Fluttershy finished with a smile, before leaning over to nuzzle her friend sitting next to her.
Dash blushed a little but returned the nuzzle. Fluttershy was right, she did love that filly more than anything in the world, and she did already act as a sort of mother figure to the young pegasus.
"Plus, if you ever need any help, you've always got me," Fluttershy said with a warm smile.
Dash smiled back. "You know what, you're right. Thanks, Fluttershy. What would I do without you?"
"Oh probably go completely insane worrying over things that you don't even need to worry about," Fluttershy joked.
They both shared a laugh before they said their goodbyes, and Rainbow made her way over to Twilight's castle to get started. "No time like the present," she thought to herself.
***
Twilight's house that same day
Rainbow sat in a chair in Twilight's study. Upon arriving, Twilight had invited her inside and offered to make some tea. Rainbow had accepted and walked into the study to wait. A few minutes later, Twilight walked in, carrying some tea and a tray of sandwiches in her magic. She took a seat, then levitated one cup over to Rainbow Dash, and another to herself, setting the sandwiches down on a table between her and Dash. "Now." She said, taking a sip of her tea. "What did you want to talk about?"
Rainbow sat her tea down on the table, before rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "Well... I was kind of thinking of m-maybe adopting Scootaloo," Rainbow said, unsurely. Twilight coughed, nearly choking on the tea she was drinking.
"Wait a minute, so you, Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash that hardly ever shows any feelings for anypony at all, want to adopt Scootaloo?" Twilight said, while very confused. This was not like Dash at all. Even with what had been going on lately, had Dash really grown that attached to Scootaloo?
Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not like me, but I really want to do this. She almost killed herself because she felt like a disappointment, and like nopony cared about her or loved her. I don't want that to ever happen again. I won't let it. I love that little filly more than anything in the world, and I want to make sure she knows that, and will always know that," Rainbow explained calmly. By this point, Twilight's expression had changed from one of confusion and shock to a caring and understanding smile. "Also... Fluttershy talked me into it."
Twilight chuckled. She figured Fluttershy had something to do with it. Those two had been getting much closer after what happened to Scootaloo. "Don't worry, I understand. I'll help you out with this. You just need to fill out a few forms, and I should even be able to speed up the application process. If I can fast-track the application then it should only take a few weeks."
"Thanks, Twi, this really means a lot to me," Dash said, giving Twilight a thankful smile.
"You're welcome Dash." Twilight then walked off to go get the necessary paperwork.
***
Present Day
Rainbow Dash smiled softly to herself, as she felt the rise and fall of her daughter's breathing under the wing she had wrapped around the pegasus filly. She was glad she had such good friends, who had been supportive of her the whole way. Especially Fluttershy, she would not have been able to do this if it weren't for her, and Fluttershy had been extra supportive when Rainbow had doubts. As she lay there in bed, listening to her daughter's soft and slow breathing, she knew that at least for now, everything was going to alright. That may change when they have to dig up more of Scootaloo's past, but that could wait. Right now, the only thing that mattered to Dash was making sure her daughter felt loved. She held her daughter tight to her chest with her wing, as she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
Rainbow awoke to the light of Celestia's morning sun shining on her face through the open window of her bedroom. She let out a yawn and looked down at her daughter, who was still sleeping peacefully, curled up underneath Dash's wing. She smiled. Although she would never admit it, Dash thought it was adorable. She leaned Down and nuzzled the top of the filly's head. "Morning Squirt, time to wake up," Dash said caringly.
Scootaloo rolled over to face Dash and hugged her tight, with her eyes still closed. "Five more minutes mom," Scootaloo said in her sleep. Dash chuckled at this. Yeah, she had to admit, this was adorable.
"No sweetie, you have school today, time to wake up," Dash said a little more sternly, nudging the little pegasus to wake her up.
Scootaloo let out a loud yawn as she rolled on to her back and stretched out her legs. Her eyes fluttered awake and she turned to look up at Dash, who was smiling warmly down at her. "Morning Dash," Scoots said before giving another yawn. "How did I end up here?" Scootaloo asked, referring to the fact that she was not in her own bed.
"Well, after the party yesterday, you fell asleep on my back on the way home," Dash said with a smile, recalling the events of the day before.
"Oh, ok," Scootaloo said with a smile. She then muttered something too quiet for Dash to hear.
"What was that Squirt?"
Scootaloo muttered it again, looking down with a light blush on her cheeks, but it was still too quiet for Dash to hear.
"I still can't hear you," Dash said with an evil grin.
"I kind of liked it!" Scootaloo blurted out before her face turned red and she shot her hooves up to cover her mouth. "Hey, you can't blame me, your fur is really soft."
Dash grinned. "Aaaaaand?" she asked with a hinting tone in her voice.
"And I love you," Scootaloo grumbled, almost too quiet for Dash to hear, her face turning red in the process.
"Awwwww." Dash fawned. " I love you too sweetheart," Dash said as she pulled her daughter in tight for another hug.
"Mom!" Scootaloo groaned as her face blushed even redder. "Stop it."
"Awe, but I love my little filly," Dash said teasingly.
"Yeah yeah, I love you too," Scootaloo grumbled.
Dash leaned in and nuzzled her newly adopted daughter again. "Alright Squirt, time to get up. You have school today."
"Do I have to?" Scootaloo groaned. "School is so boring. I want to do cool things like hanging out with you."
Dash chuckled. "Yes Squirt, you do. Hey, at least you get to see your friends, right?"
Scootaloo gasped and jumped up and out of the bed, making Dash jump in the process. "My friends! I get to tell all of my other friends about you!" Scootaloo shouted as she ran out of the room to get ready.
Dash just chuckled. "That's my little Scoots," She said with a warm smile as she got out of bed herself to get ready.
***
Scootaloo zoomed through Ponyville on her scooter, followed closely on her side by a rainbow trail streaking through the air overhead. She was on her way to school the same way she and Dash liked to do everything: fast. As she approached the schoolhouse, she slowed down to a stop a little ways away from the building. Dash noticed and flew down to her daughter to see what was up. "Hey Squirt, what's up? Why'd you stop way back here?" Dash asked, worried about Scootaloo.
"I'm alright, I just figured I'd stop back here so we can get the mushy goodbye stuff out of the way before I got to a place where somepony might see me," Scootaloo said, probably too confidently.
Dash exaggerated a fake gasp. "Scootaloo! I'm hurt!" she joked. "You're that embarrassed by me already!"
"N-no!" Scootaloo stammered. "I-It's, it's just—"
"Oh, I'm just messing with you Squirt. If I were you, I'd be embarrassed too." Dash said as Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. "But..." Dash began, ending Scootaloo's short-lived relief, which soon turned into embarrassment as she was wrapped up into a tight hug and lifted off the ground. "I do still have to embarrass you though. I am your mom now after all." Dash said as she sat her daughter back down on the ground. "Love you Scoots."
"Yeah yeah, love you too," Scootaloo mumbled as Dash leaned down and nuzzled her. She nuzzled back, before turning towards the schoolhouse to go meet with her friends. "Bye Mom," Scoots called out, making sure she was still too far away from the schoolhouse to be heard by anyone that knew her.
"Bye Scoots. I'll be here to pick you up after school." Dash said, giving her daughter one last smile and a wave, before turning around to head off to Wonderbolts practice. She had to ask Spitfire if little fillies were allowed to come and watch practices sometimes on weekends. You know... just because she was curious.
Scoots waved to her adoptive mother as she left, and then walked towards the schoolhouse to meet with her friends. She just had to hope that nopony had seen that little display.
***
Unbeknownst to Scootaloo, somepony had seen and heard the whole interaction between the filly and her mother. After she had seen it, Sweetie ran inside the schoolhouse, to go tell Applebloom, who was already inside, all about their little friend's sappy goodbye with her mother.
***
Scootaloo walked into the schoolhouse and into Miss Cheerilee's classroom to find her friends. Oddly enough, they were sitting huddled together, and Sweetie was whispering something in Applebloom's ear. "Hey girls," Scootaloo called, making both of her friends jump. "So," Scootaloo said with an evil grin, "What did I miss?" Scootaloo asked jokingly clearly trying to hint at something.
Both of them caught onto Scootaloo's hint immediately, and both blushed heavily. "H-hey!" Sweetie shouted, with a squeak in her voice. "T-that's not it at all."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked sarcastically, wanting to take the joke as far as she could. "Then, what were you talking about?"
Sweetie and Applebloom shared a glance, weighing their options. "Nothing!" they both shouted suddenly.
Scootaloo just grinned even wider. "Suuuuure." She said with an evil chuckle. "We'll see."
With that, Scootaloo let go of the topic and they all took their seats. Right about that time, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked in. "Hey, Diamond! Hey, Silver!" Scootaloo called.
"Hey, girls," Diamond called as she walked over to where they were seated. "So how was your weekend?"
Scootaloo shared a knowing smirk with her friends. "Oh it was... interesting," Scootaloo said, deciding not to give anything away just yet.
Diamond and Silver looked at each other. That couldn't be good. "Oh, uh... well what happened?" Silver Spoon asked nervously.
Applebloom chimed in, "Let's just say Scoots has a big surprise to tell y'all about at lunch today."
"Oh, really?" Diamond Tiara asked, losing her nervousness. There was no way Scootaloo of all ponies knew about their secret and wasn't telling. She would be all over them by now. "What kind of surprise?"
"The big kind!" Scootaloo said excitedly. "You'll just have to wait and see what it is at lunch."
"Okay, can't wait," Diamond said, genuinely curious about what this big surprise could be. It sounded like it really was big. "See you at lunch," She said as both her and Silver Spoon turned and headed for their seats. Once they had made it to their seats, Cherilee took up a position at the front of the classroom and started teaching.
***
"Wow, Scootaloo!" Silver Spoon said as she finished off the last of her lunch. "I'm so happy for you! That was a big surprise."
"Yeah, me too!" Diamond chimed in. "I can't believe Rainbow adopted you. That's great!"
"Thanks, girls," Scootaloo said thankfully. She was glad that she had so many friends who cared about her this much.
"So, um... Scootaloo." Silver Spoon said carefully. "I don't want to intrude, but if you don't mind me asking while we're on the subject of all of this. What exactly did happen to you before you came to Ponyville? You know, with your parents and all."
Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin in thought. Now that she thought about it, she didn't actually remember all that well. She couldn't remember where she had come from, or even what her parents looked like. "Silver, I don't think that's the best—" Scootaloo cut off Applebloom before she could continue.
"No, no. It's alright. I was just thinking. I don't exactly remember that much about before I came here. The only thing I do remember, was my parents being disappointed in me, and thinking I was a failure." Scootaloo let out a pained sigh. Those were the few words she remembered from that conversation she had overheard between her parents. "I don't even remember what they looked like, or where I came from."
All four of Scootaloo's friends were just staring at Scootaloo with pained expressions. "Scoots, I'm so sorry," Sweetiebelle said. "I-I had no idea."
"Don't be," Scootaloo said, perking up a bit. "I don't even remember them that well, so it doesn't really bother me anymore now that I have Dash. She loves me way more than I ever remember them loving me." Her friends cheered up a little at hearing this, they were glad their friend was so happy with Dash.
"Well we're happy for you Scootaloo," Applebloom said, right as the bell rang. "Well, time to head back inside. Last one in is a rotten cockatrice!" Applebloom said, taking off before anypony else even knew what was happening.
"H-hey! No fair!" Scootaloo called, taking off after her friend.
***
When the bell rang, dismissing the students for the day, Scootaloo walked out the front of the schoolhouse to look for Rainbow. When she saw her, she ran up to her and jumped into a big hug, which Rainbow graciously returned. "Hey, kiddo. How was school today?"
"It was great!" Scootaloo said, releasing the hug. "We learned all about—" Scootaloo paused, just now taking note of the yellow pegasus that she somehow had not noticed standing beside her mother "Oh, hey Fluttershy," Scootaloo said, looking up at the pegasus who was smiling warmly at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Well," Fluttershy began, scraping her hoof on the ground nervously. "I-I know it's a bit early, but there's something we need to talk to you about."
"Oh, like what?" Scootaloo asked although she was fairly confident she knew the answer. She had been waiting on this. She knew it was only a matter of time.
Rainbow sighed. "Scoots... It's time to talk about your past."
Rainbow Dash walked into her cloud home with Scootaloo on her back. With Fluttershy there for support, she was finally ready for the daunting task: getting Scootaloo to talk about her past. She hated asking this of Scootaloo, but it had to be done, she had already waited long enough.
Once inside, Dash trotted over to the couch and bent down to allow Scootaloo to hop onto the couch. All of the furniture in Dash's house was made of cloud, so it was all quite comfy.
Rainbow Dash started hesitantly "So...”
Scootaloo interrupted her chuckling nervously, "D-does anypony want a snack? I can run and get a snack. Or, uh, how about a drink? I'm sure you're all thirsty after the flight up here."
Dash let out a sad sigh. "Scootaloo, I hate asking you to do this. I know this is going to be hard on you, but we have to know what happened with your parents." Scootaloo's smile faltered and let out a sigh. She knew Rainbow Dash was right, she knew this had to come out eventually.
Fluttershy cleared her throat, causing both of the others to look at her. "You know," Fluttershy began, "when she came to me about this, she started crying because she knew it would hurt you." Scootaloo's jaw dropped at this. Rainbow shot Fluttershy a death glare, who just smirked sheepishly in response.
"Really?" Scootaloo asked incredulously. "Mom, is that true? Were you... c-crying again...over m-me?" Dash dropped her glare at Fluttershy, and turn and gave her daughter a sad smile.
"Yeah, it's true," Dash said defeatedly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I just care about you so much and seeing you hurt really worries me." At this point, tears started to well up in Scootaloo’s eyes. Dash reached lovingly to her daughter, which Scootaloo gladly returned as she dug her muzzle into her mother's shoulder.
"I-I... l-love you, Mom," Scoots said through sobs.
"I love you too Squirt," Dash said as she comforted her little filly. After a few minutes, Scootaloo stopped crying, and they broke the hug. "You alright Squirt?" Dash asked worriedly.
"Yeah," Scoots said as she wiped tears from her eyes. "It's just... nopony has ever cared about me like this before."
"Well, you have me now, and I'm never leaving. I love you so much," Dash said, leaning in to nuzzle Scootaloo.
Scootaloo chuckled, "Love you too, mom,” Scootaloo said, looking up at Dash as she wiped away a few tears of her own. “Now don't go getting too sappy on me."
Dash smilied. "I'll try, but no promises." Dash joked, making Scootaloo laugh. "Now, are you ready to talk?"
Scootaloo's smile faded, and she let out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess so. What do you want to know?"
"Well," Fluttershy cut in. "We'd like to know what happened before you came to Ponyville." Scootaloo perked up a little at that, surprising both of the older pegasi.
"Oh," Scootaloo said. "Well, I don't remember that all too well."
Dash looked at Scootaloo with surprise. "R-really? I thought that... you know, with what you had said about your parents and all..."
"Oh, that," Scootaloo said, realizing the reason for her surprise. "Well, all I really remember is the conversation. I overheard my parents talking about how they thought I would never amount to anything, and how I was a failure, and a disappointment. You know, all of that stuff."
By this point, Dash was practically boiling with rage. "Why, when I get my hooves on them—"
"But," Scootaloo said, effectively cutting off her mom. "That doesn't matter to me anymore. I've got Dash, who sees my true potential, and loves me way more than they ever did."
Dash calmed down after and leaned in to nuzzle her daughter once more. "That's awesome Squirt. You know, you're a lot stronger than most ponies. Most ponies would never get over that. But you are one awesome little filly, the strongest pony I know.
Scootaloo gasped, "R-really?" she asked in surprise. "Do you really think I'm that awesome?"
"No... I know so!" Dash said, earning a grin from the filly.
Fluttershy stifled a laugh. That grin was just so adorable. "So, what exactly do you remember Scootaloo?" She asked calmly.
Scootaloo put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Not much. I don't even remember what my parents looked like. All I remember is running away from them. I must have ran into Everfree Forest, because that’s where I woke up. And, that's about it. Like I said, not much that I can remember."
Dash and Fluttershy were just staring at Scootaloo in shock. "Wait, so you ran away?" Fluttershy asked curiously. Scootaloo blushed, not realizing that she hadn't mentioned that part yet.
"Hehe... yeah, guess I forgot to mention that part. I just wish I could remember more. All I can remember is that they didn't want me and that I ran." Scootaloo sighed. "I'm sorry I can't remember more,"
"I guess I may be useless after all." Scootaloo said, tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Dash exclaimed, as both her and Fluttershy wrapped her into a hug. "You are not useless! Don't you ever think that!"
"Yeah, so what you can't remember something. Everypony forgets things.We’ll figure it out, and even if we don't, there's no harm done. This is only for our information, and Twilight's, if you want." Fluttershy said with a warm smile.
Scootaloo sniffled. "R-really? Y-you really mean that?" Scootaloo said, looking up at Fluttershy with tear filled eyes.
"Of course sweetie," Fluttershy said, as she hugged the little filly tighter. Rainbow smiled, she was glad to see the two favorite ponies in her life getting along so well.
Once Scootaloo had stopped crying, she let out a big yawn. Both mares released the hug, and smiled at each other. "Sounds like it's somepony's time to go to bed," said Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo let out another yawn. "But I don't wanna go to bed. I'm not tired yet," Scootaloo whined, with droopy eyelids.
Fluttershy giggled. "Aww, so cute," she said, smiling.
"Hey, I am not cute." Scootaloo said, letting out another yawn.
"Alright Squirt, if you say so," Rainbow said with a chuckle. "I'll see you tomorrow Fluttershy. It's time for a certain little filly to get some sleep."
"Okay," Fluttershy said, smiling down at the half-asleep filly. "See you tomorrow... Dashie," Fluttershy said, making Dash blush at her nickname. With that, Fluttershy turned around and left Dash's cloud home.
"Alright Scoots, hop on," Dash said, bending down to let Scootaloo hop onto her back. She hopped on and the two made their way to Scootaloo's room.
When Scootaloo saw where they were, she frowned slightly. "Um, mom?" Scootaloo asked tentatively.
"Yeah Squirt?" Dash asked, stopping in front of her daughter's bed.
"Well, um... I was, um, wondering, if I could... maybe, sleep with you again?" Scootaloo asked hopefully.
Dash smiled. "Sure thing kiddo." Dash turned around and headed back out of Scootaloo's room and towards her own. Dash walked over to her bed and Scootaloo hopped down onto the bed. Rainbow Dash laid down next to her, wrapping a wing around her daughter in a tight embrace, as the little filly snuggled up tight to her chest.
Scootaloo let out a loud yawn. "Night, mom."
Rainbow smiled warmly as she closed her eyes. "Night sweetie. Love you."
Scootaloo smiled and closed her eyes as well. "Love you too."
***
After school the next day, Scootaloo and her friends sat in their clubhouse, discussing cutie mark problems. Business had been especially slow lately, and they didn't have any appointments today.
Scootaloo was still thinking about what had happened the previous night, and what Fluttershy had said. She said there were other ways to figure out what happened. Like what? Was there a spell? Was it a potion? Was it some type of flower?
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle shouted, snapping the pegasus back to reality.
"Huh! Wh-what happened? What did I miss?" Scootaloo said frantically.
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Alright Scoots, what's going on? That's the third time today you've been daydreaming."
Scootaloo blushed. "Hehe, oops. Sorry about that. I've just got a lot on my mind."
"Like what?" Applebloom asked.
"Well, I was thinking, you know how I can't really remember what happened before I came to Ponyville? Well, I was talking to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy about it, and Fluttershy said there were other ways to figure out what happened. I was just wondering what she meant by that. Do you gals think there's a spell or something?"
"You mean like a potion?" Applebloom asked excitedly. "I'm pretty sure Zecora has a potion like that. I've seen them before."
"Really!?" Scootaloo asked. "Then what are we doing here? Let's go!"
"Yeah!" They all shouted at the same time, and of they went into the Everfree Forest.
***
"Ahh, so it is a memory potion you need. I may be of some assistance, but I will require some help first, from you three," said Zecora.
"So how can we help?" Applebloom asked.
"Hmm... I can help you see, what you need to see, but first, you must find a flower for me" Zecora said cryptically as usual.
"Oh, so you need another ingredient before you can make the potion. But, you can make it, right?" Scootaloo guessed.
"Mhmm," Zecora said with a nod. Zecora pulled out a picture of a flower from a saddle bag next to her cauldron.
“This is the flower I need. Find it for me, and I can make your potion, indeed,” she said, handing the picture to the girls. And with that, they set off into the forest.
***
"Come on gals, hurry up!" Scootaloo said, galloping ahead of her friends, darting her head back and forth..
"Wai... wait up!" Sweetie shouted between pants.
"Yeah," Applebloom chimed in “How can you even tell if we passed the flower if yer running around like that?”
Scootaloo skidded to a halt. "Hehe oops," Scootaloo said, eliciting a groan from her friends.
They began looking around for the flower, although much slower now, making sure to search carefully. Scootaloo took out the picture of the flower.
It was shaped like a tulip, but with much more petals, and the color was a gradient, a bright yellow at the bottom to a light blue at the top.
“Ugh,” Sweetie Belle groaned. “Its gotta be somewhere around here..” Then, she saw it.
Sitting in the middle of a clearing, with the sun shining perfectly through the trees. "I see it! I see it!" Scootaloo shouted, racing past Sweetie Belle.
"Scootaloo! Wait up!" Applebloom shouted as they raced after Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stopped just short of the clearing. Scootaloo approached the flower, taking a closer look at it. It was in fact tulip shaped, and the sunlight shining through the clearing perfectly encapsulated the bright yellow and blue of the flower. She held up the picture up next to it.
“Yep, this is it,” Scootaloo said, smiling widely at her friends. She reached down to pick the flower.Then, for some unknown reason, a weird feeling welled up in the pit of Applebloom’s stomach.
“Uh.. Scoots? I don’t think you should touch it,” she said, a hint of worry in her voice.
But Scootaloo didn’t listen, and the moment she touched it a massive flash of blinding light erupted from the flower, momentarily disorienting Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.
After blinking the spots out of their eyes, they looked back into the clearing. Their hearts sank.
Applebloom and Sweetie ran forward to where their friend had been standing just moments before. There was a small divot in the ground where the flower once was, but now, there was no trace of the flower, or Scootaloo.
"She's gone!" Sweetie said, a nervous squeak in her voice. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" Sweetie cried. "W-where did she go? She... she was right here!” Sweetie Belle started hyperventilating, while Applebloom, although equally as worried, tried to calm her down.
“Sweetie Belle, calm down. Yer gonna have a stroke or something.” Applebloom put a reassuring hoof on Sweetie Belle’s back.
“We almost lost her once. I'm not losing her again!" Sweetie shouted and ran forward towards where the flower had been. Applebloom leapt forward in front of her friend, holding her back with a hoof.
"No!" Applebloom said sternly. "It's not safe.” Sweetie still tried to get by Applebloom, but she was no match for the Earth Pony's strength. “I don't like it either, but neither of us know how she disappeared or where she went. For now, we need to calm down and think."
Sweetie finally stopped struggling, and let out a sigh, dropping down onto her haunches, defeated. She looked up, past Applebloom, at where Scootaloo had been standing mere moments ago.
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and she began to sob. She couldn't hold it in any longer. All of the events that had happened lately were catching up to her, and it hit her chest like a ton of bricks. Applebloom wrapped her into a hug, and she just sat there, sobbing into her best friend's shoulder.
***
Applebloom noticed the sun beginning to sink down beneath the tops of the trees. She nudged Sweetie Belle, who had cried herself to sleep in Applebloom's embrace. Sweetie Belle groaned as her eyes creaked open. Applebloom hated to disturb her sleep. She looked so peaceful. But she knew they had make it back to the clubhouse before dark. Everypony knows you don't want to be out in the Everfree Forest at night.
Sweetie let out a tired yawn as she sat up, looking around. A look of panic swept across her face as the events of the previous afternoon came back to her.
"Scootaloo..." she whispered sadly as it all came flooding back to her in a torrent of emotions. She dropped her head in defeat when there was no answer.
Applebloom sighed. "Come on Sweetie. We're not going to find her tonight. Tomorrow we'll go and get Twilight. I'm sure she'll be able to help.” Sweetie said nothing, she just nodded and got up to follow her friend. Applebloom led the way out of the forest, and back to the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.
It was a long walk back to the clubhouse, and they made it just as the sun was slipping beneath the horizon. "I reckon we oughta just sleep here tonight. It's too far to walk back home for either of us.”
Sweetie Belle gave a silent nod as she started to make her way up the stairs, following after her friend.
Once inside, Applebloom quickly went over to the emergency stash of blankets and pillows that the Crusaders kept in the clubhouse for emergencies There was one red blanket with a yellow pillow and one pink and purple blanket with a white pillow.
Applebloom stopped as she looked at the last pair. A magenta blanket, and an orange pillow. Applebloom sighed sadly, realizing that those would not be of any use tonight, however, for some reason, she found herself laying out the blanket and pillow anyway.
After setting up the sleeping arrangements, Applebloom snuggled up under her blanket with Sweetie Belle to her left, and Scootaloo's spot set up to her right. Applebloom still didn't know why she had laid out the spot for Scootaloo, but it made her feel a little better, to know that there was a chance. She just had to hold onto the hope that they would be able to find her in the morning.
Holding on to this faint wisp of hope, Applebloom closed her eyes and she let sleep overtake her.
***
"Ahh!" Applebloom shot up, jolted awake by the sound of sad moans. She looked around, before she spotted Sweetie Belle, curled up in a ball under her blanket, sobbing.
Applebloom sighed and walked over to her friend, placing a hoof on her shoulder. This caused the unicorn filly to jump, and look back at Applebloom. She sat down next to her crying friend, and wrapped her hoof around her shoulder, allowing Sweetie to lean on her. "It's okay Sweetie," Applebloom spoke gently, as Sweetie's crying slowed. "I know, I miss her too, but we're going to find her in the morning. I just know it."
Sweetie Sniffled. "R-really? You... y-you really th-think s-so?" Sweetie said through her sobs.
Applebloom looked her friend in the eye and gave a warm smile. "I know so." The two sat like that for a while longer, until Sweetie's crying had ceased. Sweetie let out a loud yawn, tired from the previous day, and from crying so much. Both fillies lay down on the clubhouse floor, Applebloom's hoof still wrapped around Sweetie's shoulder. The two snuggled up next to each other, each providing comfort for the other. As Applebloom let out a yawn, they both closed their eyes and prepared to drift off to sleep. "Night Sweetie," Applebloom said gently.
Sweetie smiled and let out another yawn. "Night Bloom." Sweetie's smile widened into a sheepish grin as she looked over at her best friend. "Thanks, Applebloom," Sweetie said, a slight blush barely visible in the moonlight shining through the open clubhouse window.
She was glad that she could rely on Applebloom in times like this. It was one of the things she liked best about her. Sweetie closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
***
Twilight awoke with a start. A rainbow-colored blur darted into her room, and jumped onto her bed. "Where is she!" Rainbow shouted, shocking the lavender mare, and making her jump. Fluttershy trotted in behind Rainbow, panting from running.
Twilight rubbed her eyes groggily and groaned. "Where is who?" she asked, somewhat irately. "Rainbow, you better have a good reason for waking me up this late. It's the middle of the night for Celestia’s sake!"
"It's Scootaloo!" Rainbow shouted. "She's gone! She never came home from school today. I figured she was just with her friends or something, but she still hasn't come home! What do we do?" Rainbow shouted, on the verge of tears. "I don't want something to happen to her. Not again. I just adopted her Twilight. I can't lose her."
Twilight blinked, before gaining a look of determination in her eyes. "You won't. We'll find her. Come on. Let's go get the others! We need to find her, now!" With that, Twilight rushed out of her room, and out the front doors of the castle, followed closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The three mares ran through the town, heading towards Rarity’s boutique.
When they arrived, they were nearly hit by the mare, rushing out of her door. "Twilight!" Rarity shouted. "I was just on my way to see you. Sweetie Belle never came home tonight. I've been waiting for her. I expected that she was just late as usual, but she still hasn't shown up. I'm getting worried!"
Twilight groaned. "Not Sweetie Belle too!" Twilight said in annoyance, earning a confused look from Rarity.
"Uhh, pardon me darling, but what exactly do you mean by that?" Rarity asked quizzically.
"Come on," Twilight called out as she began to run towards Sugar Cube Corner. "I'll explain on the way!"
***
Applejack paced back and forth. It wasn't like Applebloom to be this late. She had been late before, but nothing like this. She was beginning to worry when a knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.
"Applebloom!" she shouted, rushing over to open the door. When she opened the door though, to her surprise, she was met, not by Applebloom, but by all five of her best friends. "Uhh, what are y'all doing out here so late? Is something wrong?"
Twilight sighed, "Let me guess, Applebloom hasn't come home yet?" Twilight guessed. Applejack looked at her incredulously.
"Uhh, how'd you know that?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well," Fluttershy began, "nopony has seen any of the CMC all night. We were all getting kind of worried, so we decided to look for them."
"Huh," Applejack said, "Well, have you checked the clubhouse yet? I was about to run out there and check when you all showed up."
Twilight facehoofed. "Ughh! How did we forget to check there?" Twilight said out loud to nopony in particular. "Well, I guess we can head over there now. Want to tag along?"
"Sure," Applejack replied. "I've been getting a might worried myself." With that, the six mares turned and headed towards the clubhouse in the distance.
***
When the they arrived, Fluttershy and Rainbow walked up to the door. Fluttershy peeked inside and nearly died of cuteness. It was the most adorable sight she had ever seen. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were sound asleep. Applebloom had a hoof wrapped around Sweetie Belle in an embrace, who was snuggled tight, up against the yellow filly's chest. All of the other mare's crowded around to see what Fluttershy was looking at. They all let out a simultaneous "aww," at the sight.
Then, Rainbow noticed something. There were multiple blankets and pillows scattered about the room, including what Dash had to guess belonged to Scootaloo. It was a magenta colored blanket right next to an orange pillow. But there was one problem: no Scootaloo.
"Umm, girls," Rainbow said, catching the attention of the mares, who were still fawning over at the sight of the two fillies snuggled up together. "Where's Scootaloo?"
Twilight shot Rainbow Dash a confused look. "What do you mean? She's right th—" Twilight paused, looking back at the clubhouse. "Huh. You know, you're right, I don't see her either."
Fluttershy pushed the door open a little more, allowing herself to step inside and walk over to the two sleeping fillies. "I'll go ask them." She said as she walked closer to the two fillies. She leaned her head down and nuzzled the top of the girls' heads. "Girls, wake up. We need to talk to you." Sweetie Belle and Applebloom slowly opened their eyes, looking up.
Sweetie Belle was the first to notice all of the eyes on them. She quickly jumped, and a deep blush spread across her cheeks. "Uhh, hey there." Sweetie chuckled nervously. Applebloom jumped out of the covers, awake and blushing equally as much as Sweetie Belle was.
Applejack walked over to the two fillies, followed by Rarity. "Applebloom! What in Tartarus' name are you doing out here? We've been worried sick!” Applebloom looked down with a face full of guilt.
"Ah'm sorry sis. It got too dark for us to make our way back." Applebloom said sadly.
Rarity sighed. "What in Celestia's name were you two even doing out here this late in the first place? And where's Scootaloo?"
A look of sadness appeared on both fillies faces, their ears flopping down. “Uhh…”
Rainbow gulped. Twilight walked over to the two fillies. "Girls," Twilight started calmly, although she was afraid of what she was about to hear. "I need you to tell me everything that happened last night.”
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared a look, before bursting into tears. Fluttershy came forward and wrapped the two fillies into a comforting hug. "There, there," Fluttershy said, trying to calm the two sobbing fillies. "It's okay. We're here for you, just tell us what's wrong."
Rainbow started shaking now, as tears fell from her own eyes. She wouldn't admit it, but she was terrified. She knew something terrible must have happened. She just knew it.
"She what!" Applejack yelled at her sister. "How did she just disappear? That makes no sense."
"I know sis. That's what I'm trying to tell ya," Applebloom explained. "I don't get it either. All I know is she picked up the flower, and then she was gone." Sweetie Belle was remaining quiet throughout the whole conversation, refusing to say a word, choosing instead to stare down at her hooves.
Applejack sighed, "I know. I'm sorry I yelled. I just don't understand how a simple flower could make her vanish. It just doesn't make sense."
Twilight stepped in. "I would have to agree girls. I mean, unicorns can teleport ponies, but not flowers. At least, not that I know—"
"Ooh!" Pinkie interrupted. "I bet Zecora would know of a flower like that! She has all kinds of crazy flowery potion stuff!"
Both Crusaders looked up instantly. "Zecora!" they both exclaimed at the same time.
"Of course. How could we forget?" Applebloom said. "It's so obvious."
Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Ever since the Crusaders had begun explaining what had happened, she’d been crying and Fluttershy had wrapped her into a comforting embrace while silently stroking the pegasus’ rainbow mane.
Rainbow Dash stopped crying and broke the embrace. "W-what about Z-Zecora?" Rainbow asked nervously.
All eyes in the room were now trained on the two fillies in the room. Applebloom looked down and began nervously scraping her hoof across the wooden floor of the clubhouse. "Hehe, yeah... that," she began nervously. "We kind of forgot that part."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What part did you forget exactly?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well... Zecora's kind of the whole reason we were out there in the first place. We were looking for a flower for her," Applebloom said, nervously looking at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash glared at the two fillies, who backed away in response. The intensity of Rainbow's glare could have burnt a hole straight through both ponies. "Rainbow," Fluttershy said, walking up to her and putting a hoof on her shoulder. "I know you're upset Rainbow, but taking your anger out on others won't help."
Rainbow Dash sighed and looked down. Fluttershy was right. "I know. I'm sorry girls," Rainbow Dash said apologetically, looking at the two still shaking fillies.
"I-It's okay," Applebloom replied nervously. "I understand."
"Thanks, Flutters. I don't know what I would do without you," Rainbow said, wrapping Fluttershy into a tight hug.
Fluttershy smiled. "You're welcome Dashie," Fluttershy said before breaking the hug and looking back at the Crusaders with an inquisitive expression on her face. "Would that flower happen to be the flower that Scootaloo picked up?"
Applebloom gulped nervously. "Yup," she said in a very nervous tone, almost sounding like Big Macintosh when he’s nervous.
"Well," Twilight began. "Looks like we have a certain zebra to pay a visit to. Sadly though, it will have to wait until morning. The Everfree is no place to be in at night." Everypony nodded in silent agreement, beginning to slowly exit the clubhouse and make their way home.
"Everypony meet at the gates to Sweet Apple Acres at seven. I want to get an early start," Twilight stated as she too began to make her way out of the clubhouse. "For now, everypony just try to get some rest."
***
The next morning, everypony, met at the gates to Sweet Apple Acres just as they had planned the night before. They began the walk into the woods towards Zecora's hut fairly early, hoping that the zebra would be up. As they were walking through the woods, Rainbow Dash began to fall behind a little and Fluttershy took notice of this, slowing down to walk with her.
She draped a wing over Rainbow Dash's back. "You're scared... aren't you Dash?" Fluttershy asked. She had known Rainbow Dash longer than anypony, and she could see past the facade that Rainbow Dash had tried to put up. She knew that she was not only afraid, but terrified. In all the time she’d know Rainbow Dash, she’d never known her best friend to be this afraid.
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh, hanging her head, and began to lean into Fluttershy's side more as they walked. Fluttershy, in turn, tightened her wing around her friend's shoulder.
"Dashie, why are you so scared? I know you better than anypony, and I've never seen you this scared before. I'm worried about you." the concern showing very clearly in Fluttershy’s nervous voice.
Rainbow Dash stopped walking, causing Fluttershy to stop as well. Rainbow Dash looked up, and the two locked eyes. Fluttershy could see now that Rainbow Dash's eyes were bloodshot, and she could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I-I'm s-scared for Scoots,” she choked out. “I love that little filly, and I can't help but think of the worst. I already almost lost her once—" her voice became a very quiet and shaky whisper. "—W-what if... What if this time we're not as lucky? What if I lost her?"
Fluttershy's heart was broken. It always hurt her to see her friends cry, but this time felt different. It felt like she was staring through Rainbow Dash's eyes and straight into her soul.
Where there should have been happiness, confidence, and love, she saw nothing but fear and pain. Fluttershy had to admit, she was scared too. She had come to love Scootaloo too, almost like her own daughter, but she knew she had to stay strong for Rainbow Dash. Her friend needed her.
"Rainbow, I know you're scared, but I need you to know that you're not alone. I'm scared too, and so is everypony else. Why do you think we're out here so early? I know how much you love Scootaloo, I love her too. I want her to be safe just as much as you do, and it's okay to be scared for her. But... you have to stay strong and keep fighting. You're not going to be able to help her if you let fear consume you. If you want to help Scootaloo, then you have to keep going and stay strong. And remember Dashie, I will always be here for you."
Rainbow Dash sat down and wiped the tears from her eyes. "R-really? Y-you really mean th-that?" Rainbow Dash asked, pleasantly surprised at her friend's comforting response.
Fluttershy put her hoof on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "Of course I do. Whatever comes your way, I will always be here to help you through it." Fluttershy pulled Rainbow Dash into a tight embrace, which she gladly returned. The two sat there for a moment, just enjoying each other's company, knowing that they could always depend on each other.
After a moment, they were interrupted by Applejack clearing her throat further up the trail. "You lovebirds done yet?" Applejack said jokingly. Both mares jumped and looked at Applejack, blushing heavily.
"We were just... uhh... talking, yeah, talking. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less," Rainbow Dash stammered while Fluttershy hid behind her, blushing heavily.
Applejack rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Okay. If you say so," she said, although she wasn't buying it at all. "Come on you two. The others are already there."
***
The three finished the walk to Zecora's hut in silence. As they approached, they could hear talking coming from the inside. They pushed open the door and walked in. "There you girls are. What took you so long?" Twilight asked calmly.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other quickly. "Nothing!" they both shouted at the same time. Applejack just rolled her eyes.
Twilight blinked in surprise. "Okay then...well, Zecora was just telling us all about the flower that Scootaloo touched."
Zecora confirmed this with a rhyme, per usual. "Yes, it is true. We were only waiting for you."
"Well get on with it then," Rainbow Dash said, frustrated.
"No need to get mad, you will soon learn it is not that bad," Zecora cryptically rhymed, once again leaving everypony confused.
"What do you mean by that?" Rainbow asked confusedly. "How is it not bad? Scootaloo is missing."
"No no, Rainbow Dash you misunderstand, she has only been taken to her homeland." Everyone in the room's eyes shot open wide.
"What do you mean “homeland”?" Rainbow Dash asked, shocked at Zecora's explanation.
"She wanted to learn more about her past. I only knew that the flower would take her there fast."
"Take her where!?" Rainbow Dash yelled. She was furious now. How could Zecora just send her away all on her own?
"Pluck another one of these flowers from the ground, and Scootaloo may be found."
Twilight cut in here while Fluttershy tried desperately to get Rainbow Dash to calm down. "Is that really all you can tell us about where she is? You don't know anything else?"
"I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you more, but my knowledge of the subject is quite poor."
"I understand," Twilight said sadly. "Come on everypony. We've got to go look for that flower."
They started off their search right where Scootaloo had disappeared. As they approached the small clearing, Rainbow Dash got a bad feeling. Knowing that this had been the spot her Scootaloo was last seen caused a lump to form in her throat again She stopped in her tracks. She didn't think she could handle it, but then, a soft wing was draped over her back and she remembered Fluttershy's comforting words from earlier in the day. She looked up at her best friend's warm smile and smiled back. The two walked side by side over to where they believed Scootaloo had been standing.
An eerie silence fell over the group as they all gathered around and stared at the location where Scootaloo and the flower had been standing. Twilight broke the silence, urging them to start their search. "We'll split up into groups of two to search. Rarity, you come with me, Pinkie Pie, you can go with Applejack, and Rainbow Dash you go with Fluttershy." Twilight said, eliciting a smile from the two pegasi.
"What about us?" Applebloom asked. "Who do we go with?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "I don't want you going out on your own in the Everfree forest, so you two just go with your sisters. That means Sweetie Belle is with me and Rarity, and Applebloom, you're with Applejack and Pinkie. Alright now everypony. You have all seen the picture of the flower that Applebloom showed us. If you find it, do not touch it. Just call out for the rest of us to let us know you found it.”
She turned to Rainbow Dash. “I either of you two finds it, then you can just fly up and find us. I will gather everypony and take them to the flower if anypony finds it.
Twilight gave a hopeful smile, looking over all her friends. “Good luck girls, and be safe. Meet back here an hour before sunset. We need to have time to make it back out of the forest before dark."
With that, everypony was off. The three groups all headed in different directions, with Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Rarity's path being the most direct path towards the center of the forest. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash headed out to the left side of them, heading at an angle into the forest. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Applebloom mirrored this path on the right side.
Rainbow Dash walked alongside Fluttershy, their wings occasionally brushing as they walked along. Rainbow Dash could tell that Fluttershy was scared. She always was in the Everfree forest. Dash draped her wing over Fluttershy's back and pulled her in towards her side. Surprisingly, Fluttershy did not even jump, like she usually would. She leaned into Rainbow Dash's embrace as they walked. It was now Rainbow Dash's turn to comfort Fluttershy, instead of the other way around. Fluttershy was grateful to have the soft and reassuring touch, letting her know she was not alone in the forest.
***
Rainbow zoned out as she walked, just enjoying the company of her best friend, and taking solace in the fact that she was not alone and that, with everypony's help, they would surely find Scootaloo in no time.
It wasn't until she spotted a small clearing up ahead, that seemed to have a small amount of light emanating from it, that she took note of her surroundings.
They were now deep in the woods, and it looked like it would get dark soon. It was probably just about time for them to start heading back, but Rainbow Dash was intrigued by the soft glow coming from the clearing up ahead.
Rainbow Dash stopped, causing Fluttershy to stop suddenly as well. "What is it?" she asked.
Rainbow Dash took a few steps forward, finally getting a good view of what they had been looking for all day. Fluttershy followed her friend's gaze, getting a very uneasy feeling in her stomach when she too saw what awaited them in the clearing.
Rainbow Dash gulped. "There it is. Time to tell the others we found the flower."
Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was reaching out to touch the flower, and now she was here.
“Where am I?” she asked, rubbing the afternoon sun out of her eyes. Scootaloo had woken up on the ground in the middle of a small grassy clearing amongst what appeared to be a forest of trees. It was actually not all that different from where she had found the flower. Maybe she didn't go anywhere after all. Maybe she just fell asleep. Then again, wouldn't Applebloom and Sweetie Belle still be there?
That's when she noticed something that was off. Water. She could hear water in the distance. It wasn't running water, like in a stream, but the sound of splashing water was unmistakable.
“What is that?” Scootaloo asked herself, quite confused. There was only one way to find out. Scootaloo stood up and brushed the dirt off of her fur. She began to walk towards the sound.
The farther Scootaloo walked through the woods, the louder the splashing became. Eventually, she was able to make out a small bit of blue through the trees ahead. “That’s got to be it,” Scootaloo stated enthusiastically. “I’m almost there.” As she got closer, she realized that it was not only water but an ocean..
Finally, Scootaloo stepped out onto the sandy beach. It didn’t look that much different than the beach on Mt. Aris. She could feel the soft white sand underneath her hooves, the calm sea breeze rustling her mane as she stood before the crashing waves.
Scootaloo looked to her left. The shoreline curved off to the left and out of sight. Then Scootaloo looked to her right. Scootaloo's jaw dropped in shock. “Whoah. This is definitely not like Mt. Aris.”
In front of her laid the longest stretch of beach she had ever seen in her life. It went on for almost as far as she could see. That was not what amazed her the most though. Far in the distance, almost too far for her to make out, she could see the shoreline curve to the left. She could also make out massive figures along the curve. Even at that distance, they were so big that they stuck out clearly against the sky beyond them. The sunlight reflected off of the massive structures, creating a truly breathtaking sight.
“They’re huge!” Scootaloo said, awestruck. “I’ve never seen anything so big in my life.”
Scootaloo could hardly take her eyes off of the landscape in front of her. She suddenly noticed the objects getting closer, which snapped her out of her trance. She realized that she had begun walking towards the distant figures. She didn't know why, but something about it felt right, so she kept walking.
***
By the time Scootaloo approached the bend in the shoreline, the sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon, and darkness was beginning to consume the land around her. She picked up her walking pace, hoping to reach the objects and find somepony else before it got too dark for her to see.
Suddenly, the massive structures erupted into a glow of yellow light, surprising Scootaloo and making her jump and stop walking. Upon closer look, she could see light coming from windows all over the sides of the building that she could see.
"Hey!" called the voice of a stallion Scootaloo had never heard before.
"Hey! Are you okay?" This voice belonged to a mare whom Scootaloo also did not recognize.
Scootaloo looked along the beach ahead of her. She spotted the silhouette of two figures running towards her along the beach. "H-hello," Scootaloo said quietly, as the figures approached her.
But they just kept coming straight towards her. Scootaloo's heart began to race. “What do they want?” Scootaloo asked to herself, panicking.
She quickly looked around for somewhere to hide, but to her dismay, there was nothing. Fearing the worst, Scootaloo dropped down to the ground and hid her head in her hooves, preparing for the inevitable.
"Honey stop!" the stallion's voice called out as both ponies skidded to a stop. "I think we're scaring the child."
"Oh, the poor thing," the mare said, slowly walking towards Scootaloo. Scootaloo was curled up on the ground, whimpering and shaking with fear. When nothing happened, Scootaloo peeked through her hooves to see the pair slowly walking towards her, giving the mare her first good look at Scootaloo in the moonlight. She gasped softly, stopping just a few feet away from Scootaloo.
"Oh my stars, It's just a little filly," she said to her husband quietly. "Sweetheart, don't be afraid. We just want to help."
"R-really," Scootaloo asked, whimpering.
"Of course. There's no need to be afraid of us. We were just worried when we saw you out here all alone. Come on sweetie, why don't you come over here and tell us what you're doing out here all alone.”
"O-okay." Scootaloo nervously climbed back up onto her hooves, and slowly made her way over to the two ponies in front of her. Scootaloo could see the two ponies well now in the moonlight. The one on the left was a pegasus mare with a pink coat, a light blue mane and light green eyes. The one on the right was an earth pony stallion with a brown coat, black mane and light blue eyes.
Scootaloo slowly walked up to the mare, who immediately began looking over her for injuries.
"There you go, see, nothing to be afraid of," she began calmly. "Are you alright? I was really worried you might be hurt."
"N-no, I'm fine," Scootaloo said, regaining her usual composure. "I'm just…” Scootaloo paused to collect her thoughts. “I’m lost,” Scootaloo continued, deciding not to go into any detail about how she got there just yet.
“Oh, you poor thing,” the mare cooed. “You must be so scared. Where do you live?”
Scootaloo pondered this question for a moment. “It’s a long story. All I know is that I’m not from anywhere around here. I don’t even know where here is.”
Both ponies looked shocked at this. “Well,” the mare began again after a while. It was clear she was the talkative one. “How about you come back with us, and you can tell us all about it?” the mare offered.
“R-really? You’d really let me come with you?” Scootaloo asked, surprised by the generous offer.
“Of course. We can’t just leave you out here all alone,” the mare said. “Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Firefly, and this is my husband, Cinnamon.”
“Nice to meet you Firefly, Cinnamon,” Scootaloo said. “My name is Scootaloo.”
Both of them let out an audible gasp, causing Scootaloo to look up in shock. “Um, I’m sorry dear, but I’m not sure I heard you quite right. Did you say your name was Scootaloo?” She asked, while Cinnamon just stared at Scootaloo with a look of shock on his face.
“Um, yeah. Why?” Scootaloo asked, confused as to why the mention of her name would trigger such a response.
“Oh, nothing. It’s… it’s not important. So, how did you end up here anyway?” Firefly said, trying desperately to change the subject as they began walking. Cinnamon remained silent. Staring at the ground as he walked, occasionally glancing up at Scootaloo.
“Well...” Scootaloo began hesitantly, falling into pace beside firefly as she walked. “Well, I guess I should start at the very beginning.”
***
“Alright girls,” Twilight said, looking up at the setting sun through the trees. “I think it’s about time we head back. I’ll go ge—” Twilight was cut off by Rainbow Dash, who had just flown over their heads.
“There you are!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she stopped just above the three. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“What is it Dash?” Twilight asked. “Did you find the flower?”
“Yeah, we did. I’ve got to get back there though, I left Fluttershy with the flower all alone. I can’t leave her for too long on her own in this forest,” Dash said worriedly.
“Okay,” Twilight began. “You go back to be with Fluttershy. Fly up and hover above where the flower is so I can find you once I go get the others.”
“I will!” Dash said, turning to fly away. “Don’t take too long! It’s gonna be dark soon!”
***
“Then I just walked along the beach towards those big… things. That’s when you found me,” Scootaloo finished.
They had been walking on the beach for quite a while now, and the huge objects that Scootaloo had seen were still in front of them, but not very far. She marvelled at the sheer size of them.They were way larger than anything Scootaloo had ever seen.
They were also quite far inland. Scootaloo could see rows of houses lining the shores, with stairs leading up to them from the beach. Despite being in a foreign place, the houses looked kinda familiar to Scootaloo.
They didn’t look much different from the houses back in Ponyville, slightly larger and less clustered together, but all the while similar.
She was snapped out of her trance by a voice.
“Wow...” Firefly said, while Cinnamon remained quiet. “I can’t believe you had to go through all of that. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Scootaloo said, trying to lighten the mood a little. “I know I may have had a rough start, but I’ve got Dash now, and I love her more than anypony in the world, and I know she feels the same way about me. She’s the best mom anypony could ask for.”
“I’m really happy and proud of you. More than you could ever know,” Firefly said, surprising Scootaloo quite a bit.
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked, confusedly.
“Has anyone told you that you’re strong before?” Firefly began, giving Scootaloo a very warm, and caring smile. “Because if not, then you are not hanging out with the right ponies,” said Firefly jokingly. “I don’t know of another filly that could have even made it through what you had to go through, and here you are laughing, smiling, and trying to make the best of things. If that doesn’t show strength, then I don’t know what does.”
“T-thanks,” Scootaloo stammered, blushing. “That means a lot, it really does.”
As they approached another set of staircases that led up to a house on the edge of the beach, Firefly stopped and said, “This is it. We’re here.”
Scootaloo looked up at the house at the top of the stairs. What Scootaloo saw, amazed her.
“Whoa,” she said as she stared, dumbfounded, up at the house. “This is way bigger than anything in Ponyville,” she said.
A few lights lining the outside of the house allowed Scootaloo a good view of the house. The house was painted white, and it had a balcony on the second floor. The third floor had two small windows, and the ground floor had a sliding glass door, leading inside. It was the sheer size of the house that amazed Scootaloo though.
Back in Ponyville, it was not all that uncommon to see a house with two floors. Houses like that lined the streets of Ponyville. But this house put all of those houses to shame. It was a three-story house, that was as wide as five houses in Ponyville put together, and just as long.
“It’s huge!” Scootaloo shouted, gaining a chuckle from both older ponies. “I mean, I’ve seen castles before that are much bigger, and I live in Dash’s cloud mansion, but I’ve never seen a house this big on the ground that doesn’t belong to royalty or something. Are you two royalty?” Scootaloo asked, eliciting another laugh from the two ponies.
“No, no. We’re not royalty. I’m a nurse, and Cinnamon here is a doctor. We both work at the Zatoka General Hospital, not too far from here,” Firefly explained.
“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Scootaloo said.
The mare smiled. “Well, what are we just standing here for? Let’s head on inside. It’s starting to get pretty chilly out here.” she said as they all walked up the stairs and made their way inside.
***
Fluttershy hovered in the air next to Rainbow Dash as they waited on their friends to show up. Eventually, Rainbow Dash saw Twilight in the distance, flying slowly towards them. “She’s probably guiding the others who can’t fly over to us,” Said Fluttershy, breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” agreed Dash. She wasn’t really in the mood for talking right now. Her mind was filled with questions and worries about what they were about to do. She had no Idea what had happened to Scootaloo, or what the little filly was doing right now.
“I hope she’s okay,” Dash said, more to herself than to Fluttershy.
“I know,” Fluttershy said calmly. “I hope so too. Just remember what I told you. We have to stay strong, and we will find her for sure.” Fluttershy smiled at her best friend, who smiled back.
“Thanks, Shy,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing away her fears for the time being. There were more important matters to deal with at the moment.
Finally, they heard footsteps through the trees as Twilight approached, with the rest of their friends beneath her. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash slowly lowered themselves to meet the rest of their friends on the ground. Twilight followed them, just before the rest of their friends appeared from the trees. “Hey girls,” Twilight said. “So where’s this flower?”
“Right over here,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing a hoof behind them at the flower.
“Alright,” Twilight said. “Let’s get this over with.” Twilight walked up to the flower and lowered her head until her horn was almost touching the flower. A violet glow enveloped her horn, and then the flower. After a few seconds of the flower being encased in a violet glow, Twilight dropped the spell and turned back to face her friends. “Zecora was right. This flower has magical properties that will teleport anypony who touches it to another location.”
“Do you think you can get us all there darling?” asked Rarity.
“I think so,” Twilight said. “I should be able to harness the magic of the flower and boost it so it has enough energy to teleport all eight of us. Everypony stand as close together as you can right next to the the flower.”
They did as they were told, and prepared for Twilight to cast the spell. Twilight once again dropped her head, and a violet glow engulfed the flower and her horn. The glow surrounding Twilight’s horn grew brighter as the glow faded around the flower. Eventually, the flower was no longer glowing, and her horn was pulsing a bright violet.
“Here goes nothing!” Twilight shouted, aiming her horn at her friends, and then, her horn glowed even brighter, blinding all of them.
Then, they were gone.
***
“Thank you Firefly,” Scootaloo said appreciatively while she snuggled up beneath the blankets. “Are you sure you’re okay with me sleeping here?” Scootaloo asked tentatively, hoping she wouldn’t change her mind.
“Of course,” Firefly reassured her. “Nopony was using this room anyway, so don’t worry about it. I just want to make sure you get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, I’m taking you into work with me to check you out at the hospital. I want to make sure you aren’t hurt.”
“Thank you,” Scootaloo said. “This really means a lot.”
Firefly smiled at her, “Well, we’re just looking out for you. I couldn’t leave you out there all alone.”
Scootaloo’s smile changed to a small frown as she remembered the conversation she had had earlier on the beach when they first arrived at the house. That speech was very similar to a speech Dash had given her, not long before.
She really missed her. She would give anything to be curled up in her mother’s hooves right now.
Scootaloo quickly wiped away a tear from her eye, hoping that Firefly wouldn’t notice, but she did. “What’s wrong sweetie?” Firefly asked caringly, placing a hoof on the filly’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said sadly. “I just… I miss my mom. A lot,” Scootaloo cracked a small smile. “What you said earlier, about me being brave, it reminded me of her. She told me the same thing just a few days ago.”
She wiped away another tear from her eye. “D-did you really mean that? Do y-you r-really think I’m b-brave?” Scootaloo asked, looking up at her with tear filled eyes.
“Of course I do,” Firefly reassured her. “Don’t you worry, we’ll find your mom very soon. I promise. I bet you, she’s out there somewhere, looking for you right now.”
“R-really?” Scootaloo asked hopefully. “D-do you really think s-so?”
Firefly pulled Scootaloo into a comforting hug, squeezing her tight.
Scootaloo trotted downstairs from her bedroom on the second level of the house. She could already smell breakfast cooking downstairs. As she came to the bottom of the stairs, she made a right into the kitchen, which had a dining room adjacent to it.
"Good morning Scootaloo," called Firefly from where she was standing in the kitchen cooking something that smelled delicious. "Hope you like pancakes!"
Scootaloo's stomach rumbled, answering the question and reminding her that she had not eaten at all the previous night.
"Hmm, I dunno, do I?" Scootaloo asked sarcastically, getting a chuckle out of Cinnamon who was already seated at the table. The table was square shaped, with only four seats. Scootaloo trotted over and took a seat adjacent to Cinnamon, greeting him with a smile.
"Good morning Scootaloo," said Cinnamon with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well?"
"Uh-huh!" Scootaloo said with a nod. “That mattress felt almost as good as the cloud beds back at home,” Her smile faltered, and she began to feel homesick.
She snapped out of it when Firefly walked over with a plate of pancakes stacked up higher than Scootaloo had ever seen causing Scootaloo’s jaw to drop.
"Whoa!" Scootaloo marvelled, eyes wide. "That's a lot of pancakes!"
The mare gave a light chuckle. "Well, I figured you might be hungry after yesterday's events, so I made some extras. Now, eat up.”
Scootaloo dug into the pancakes, realizing that she was much hungrier than she thought. "Excuse me," Scootaloo said, after letting out a loud burp.
Finishing off her pancakes, she turned to Firefly. "Thanks for the pancakes. They were delicious!"
"Oh, you're quite welcome dear," Firefly replied with a warm smile. "Come now, we’re gonna pay a visit to the hospital. It's time for me to go to work, and time for you to get a check up."
"Do I have to?" Scootaloo asked with a whine. "I don't like going to the doctor."
"Oh, don't worry," Firefly said reassuringly. "It won't take long, and then I'll walk you back when we're done."
"Okay," Scootaloo said reluctantly standing up from her spot at the table. "What about you Cinnamon?" Scootaloo asked. "Aren't you coming?"
"Nah," Cinnamon replied nonchalantly. "I don't have to be in until later."
"Oh, okay," Scootaloo replied, following Firefly to the door. "See you later."
"Bye!" Cinnamon called back as he watched the two of them make their way out of the door.
As Scootaloo made her way out of the house's front entrance and onto the street, she noticed that there were not many other ponies out today as there had been yesterday.
Taking a look at her surroundings in clear daylight, the city looked exactly like Scootaloo had expected it to, with many houses just like the one they had just come from lining the streets. She could see a few of the huge things she had seen from the beach, which she now saw were buildings, rising up behind the tops of some of the houses.
Not much else stood out to her though. They approached an intersection of two roads, and Scootaloo could see the hospital on the opposite corner from where they were standing.
They made their way across the street and entered the hospital. It wasn’t a very large hospital, only a little larger than the one back in Ponyville, and it looked very similar to that one as well. They entered and walked up to the receptionist desk to find a dark blue mare with a multi-colored mane and tail sitting behind the counter.
Scootaloo couldn't place it, but the receptionist reminded her of somepony. She pushed the thought aside, thinking that she'd figure it out later.
"Good morning Firefly!" said the mare behind the counter in a bright and cheerful tone. "I see we have a little visitor today."
"Good morning Spectrum Flight. This here is Scootaloo. We found her outside on the beach all alone last night, so I thought I'd bring her in for a quick checkup just to make sure she's okay," Firefly said, giving Scootaloo a light pat on the head.
"Oh, you poor thing," Spectrum Flight cooed, looking down at Scootaloo, a look of worry on her face. "Well, don't you worry. Firefly here is the best nurse we have. She'll have you all taken care of in no time."
Scootaloo gave the mare a small smile. "Thanks," Scootaloo said half-heartedly. It was true that Scootaloo didn’t like doctors. She was very much like Rainbow in that aspect. Neither of them liked it. The whole Doctor's office just didn't feel right, and she didn't like it.
Nevertheless, she trudged into one of the exam rooms with Firefly, sighing as she hopped on to the examination table.
Firefly grabbed a tongue depressor and turned to Scootaloo. “Now, open your mouth and say, ‘Ahhhhhh’...”
***
Like Firefly had said earlier, it didn’t take very long for the exam to be complete. After she was confident that Scootaloo was just fine, she led her back towards the front of the hospital.
After informing the receptionist that she would be back soon, she walked out the front of the hospital, with Scootaloo following close behind. There were quite a few more ponies out now than there were before, and it made Scootaloo uncomfortable.
After everything that had happened recently, and with her being in a completely new place, she felt anxiety clutching at her stomach being around all of these ponies that she had never met. Scootaloo moved a bit closer to Firefly's legs for comfort as they continued on.
They walked back down the street until they finally got back to the house. Right before they were about to turn towards the front door of the house though, Firefly stopped, her eyes locked on the front door. Scootaloo noticed this and stopped as well. "What is..." Scootaloo stopped as she looked at the door and saw just what the older mare had seen mere moments ago.
Standing there in the doorway, was the last pony Scootaloo had ever expected to see, but there was no denying that it was her. The one pony that she had been missing the most. The one pony she’d wanted to wrap up into a big hug and be told everything was alright by.
Standing in that doorway, was Rainbow Dash
"Mom!" Scootaloo called out, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she ran towards Rainbow Dash, not even caring who saw her cry.
Rainbow Dash took a step forward, reaching out her forelegs to Scootaloo. Scootaloo ran forward and lept into the air, reaching out to meet her mother in a hug that she had been hoping and waiting for.
As Scootaloo flew through the air towards Rainbow Dash, she expected to feel her mother's caring hooves wrap her up into a tight embrace. Instead of feeling the caring hug of her mother though, she felt nothing. That was when she realized that everything had stopped.
Nopony moved, and Scootaloo stayed frozen in the air. After a few seconds, it all began to fade away. Scootaloo tried to reach out for her mother, flailing her arms out in a desperate attempt to catch the fading remnants of the image that had just stood before her.
"Mom!" Scootaloo called out, fear and worry in her voice. "Mom, no! Don't leave me! Come back!"
***
Scootaloo shot up in bed. She was panting and drenched in sweat. She tried to wrap her head around all that had just happened until it hit her.
"I-it was just a dream?" Scootaloo stammered as she looked down into her hooves.
She felt a lump in her throat and her vision blurred. She missed Rainbow Dash more than ever now.
It was different before Rainbow Dash had adopted her, when she was just her idol. But now, she hated not being able to see her.
She missed Rainbow Dash's inspiring speeches and her ability to make the best out of any situation. Most of all though, she missed that sense of comfort and safety that she always felt when she was with her.
As much as Scootaloo tried to be a brave pony, even she had to admit that she got scared quite easily at times, even if she would never admit it to anypony out loud. But with Rainbow Dash around, it was all different. When she was around, she felt like nothing could harm her, like she could do anything.
Scootaloo lied back down and rolled onto her side, curling into a fetal position with tears still flowing freely from her eyes. It took three hours of crying before Scootaloo finally felt her eyelids grow tired.
She whispered out one more thing before finally succumbing to her exhaustion.
Scootaloo awoke from the sun peeking through the curtains. She strained to open her eyes, wanting to just roll over and go back to sleep. However, as tempting as it was, she knew that she needed to get up sooner or later. She had things to do today.
After she sat up, memories of last night’s dream came flooding back. Fresh tears started to form in her already bloodshot eyes. She pushed the thoughts of her mom to the side and got up. “Ugh,” Scootaloo groaned as she rolled over and fell onto the ground.
Scootaloo shakily stood up, almost too exhausted to walk. Her dream last night had left her unable and unwilling to sleep much. As she walked to the door of her room, she could smell breakfast cooking downstairs, brightening her spirits, if only a little.
She trudged her way over to the stairs and shakily began to make her way down them. “Morning Scootaloo!” Firefly chimed from downstairs.
Scootaloo looked towards the kitchen from the stairs, although she still couldn’t yet see Firefly from where she was.
“Morn—” Scootaloo was cut off as she tripped over her own hooves. Her vision went spinning out of control as she tumbled down the stairs like a rag doll. She heard a sickening crack, followed by a sharp pain in her left front leg as it made contact with the edge of a step. Not a moment later, her head made contact with another step just below that, sending her mind fading into blackness as she came to rest in a limp heap at the bottom of the stairs.
***
The Mane six and two remaining Crusaders slowly opened their eyes, realizing they had reappeared in a clearing within what appeared to be a forest. Slowly standing up, they looked around, making note of their surroundings. It was a relatively large clearing, not much bigger than the one they had just come from.
“What’s that sound?” Applebloom thought out loud, being the first one to notice the distant sound of waves crashing against a beach.
“What’s what?” Sweetie Belle questioned her friend.
“Quiet everypony,” Twilight ordered. “I think I hear it too.” They all remained silent, ears flicking back and forth in an effort to pinpoint the very distant and faint sound.
“That way” Twilight said, pointing with a hoof towards the sound. They all turned their heads in the direction she was pointing, flicking their ears and trying to hear it too.
“Yeah,” Applejack agreed. “I reckon I hear water splashing over there.”
“Scoots might have heard that too!” Rainbow said, bouncing up and down in excitement. “Come on everypony, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she tried to take off right past the others and towards the sound.
Right as Rainbow Dash got past them though, she felt a sharp tug, as her tail was jerked backward, causing her to fall right on her flank.
“Ow,” Rainbow Dash whined. “What was that for Twi?”
“Calm down, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied. She gave Rainbow a reassuring smile. “I know you want to find Scootaloo quickly, but it’s getting dark. We need a plan first. How about we go find this water, and then we can see if there’s a decent place to sleep for the night there?”
Rainbow Dash let out a defeated sigh. “Ugh, fine.”
With Rainbow’s reluctant agreement to the plan, they set out for the source of the sound. Soon, they stepped out onto the beach, now lit up brightly by the glow of the full moon. “Wow, this is a pretty big beach,” Twilight marvelled.
“Uh, Twi?” said Applebloom, trying to get the mare’s attention.
“I mean, it’s nowhere near as big as Mt. Aris, but it’s still pretty big.”
“Twi.” Applebloom said a little louder this time, still not taking her eyes off of the huge objects in front of her.
“I wonder if there’s a good place to sleep around here?” Twilight thought aloud.
“Twilight!” Applebloom shouted, causing the alicorn mare to jump in surprise, and everyone to look at her, shocked expressions adorning their faces.
“Oh, I’m sorry Applebloom,” Twilight said, turning around to face the filly. “What was it you…” Twilight stopped mid-sentence. By this point, all eight ponies had noticed the massive towers and were just staring, eyes wide in shock.
“Twilight, what are those?” Sweetie Belle asked in shock.
“I-I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
After a long moment of simply staring in shock, Twilight cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the group away from the magnificent sight in front of them. “Well,” Twilight began, trying to focus on what needed to be done. “I think we should probably just sleep out here on the sand tonight. I don’t see any better options.”
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly. “If we have to.”
“Aww, Dashie,” Fluttershy cooed, draping a wing over the mare’s back and causing her to blush. “Don’t worry. We’ll find Scootaloo as soon as we can, but you know we need to be well rested to find her. Also, we probably won’t find her in the dark.”
Applejack smirked at Rainbow Dash, who shot a glare back at her, before turning back to Fluttershy and sighing. “I know Flutters, I’m just worried. With all that’s happened to her lately, I just…” Dash let out a pained sigh and dropped her head.
Fluttershy waited a moment for Dash to continue, but she didn’t. “You just what Dash?” Fluttershy asked, the concern in her voice visible to everypony in the group.
Rainbow Dash mumbled something too quiet for anypony to hear. “What was that?” Fluttershy asked.
She mumbled again, a little louder this time, but still inaudible. “We still can’t hear ya sugarcube,” Applejack said, a small amount of impatience showing in her voice. “Spit it out.”
“I’m scared!” Rainbow Dash yelled, causing everyone around her to jump. “There, I said it. Are you happy now?” Rainbow Dash said trying to sound annoyed, although there was a very obvious quiver was in her voice.
Twilight sighed, walking over to place a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Rainbow, it’s okay,” Twilight began with a soothing voice. “You can talk to us. We’re here for you.”
“I… I-I.” Rainbow Dash threw her legs around Twilight as she broke into sobs. She buried her muzzle in her friends shoulders as sobs wracked her body. “I… I m-miss her.”
Twilight returned the hug, pulling her friend in tight as her other friends ran over to join in on the hug. Twilight slowly stroked her mane as she tried to calm the frantic pegasus.
“I know you do Rainbow. I know you do.” All six mares and the two fillies packed together in a massive group hug, trying to comfort their friend.
“I-I love h-her Twi. I d-don’t want anything to h-happen to her.” Rainbow was now holding onto Twilight like she was her only lifeline in a wild ocean. As if she would be carried away and drown if she were to let go. It was Fluttershy who spoke up next.
“I bet she misses you just as much as you miss her.” Rainbow Dash didn’t respond, but after a moment, her sobs began to slow. Eventually, after a few more minutes of silence. Rainbow pulled away from the hug and wiped the tears from her eyes. All of the others pulled away as well, with Fluttershy and Twilight wiping fresh tears from their own eyes.
Rainbow Dash let out a defeated sigh and looked back over at Fluttershy while still holding her head low to the ground.
“I… I know she does,” Rainbow Dash said, breaking the silence. “I know she misses me too… but that’s what I’m worried about.” Rainbow Dash cast her gaze back at the ground.
Fluttershy stepped up to her friend, using a hoof to lift her head up to meet her gaze. Rainbow Dash averted her eyes as her heart sped up in her chest. She looked for anything else to focus on. Something to change the conversation, although it was to no avail, for she couldn’t find anything.
“Rainbow Dash look at me,” Fluttershy said in a very uncharacteristically stern voice. Rainbow Dash snapped her eyes back to meet Fluttershy’s stern glare, the strong tone from the usually calm and serene pegasus scaring her a bit. Everyone in the group stared at Fluttershy with wide eyes. It was so unusual for their friend to act so stern and commanding. Suddenly, Fluttershy’s gaze changed from stern to caring as she reached a hoof out to pull her friend in for a hug.
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times in shock, before what was happening finally registered in her mind and she returned the hug. “We’ll find her Dashie,” Fluttershy said in a very confident, yet caring tone.
“I know we will Flutters. I know,” Dash said back, although she wasn’t sure she even believed herself. After a moment longer, they broke away from the hug, before Twilight once again took the lead.
“Alright everypony, let’s get a good night’s sleep,” Twilight said as she walked towards where the sand and the woods met and lie down on the sand. “We’re going to need it to find Scootaloo in the morning.”
Everypony walked over to join Twilight, including Rainbow Dash, albeit a little bit reluctantly. They all curled up on the ground next to each other. Rainbow Dash purposefully laid right next to Fluttershy. She couldn’t place it, but something about her just made it seem like things might actually be okay.
Fluttershy’s eyes were already closed, and Rainbow Dash was about to do the same when she noticed Fluttershy shivering from the cold air that was brought in with the night.
She quickly took a look around to make sure that all of the others already had their eyes closed. Once she was satisfied that they wouldn’t notice, she slowly unfurled her wing, and laid it over the freezing mare’s back.
Fluttershy cooed in delight and shuffled her way closer to Rainbow Dash. She helped her along with a wing, pulling her in close to her side. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head to look up at her best friend, a warm and loving smile on her face.
Even with everything going on with Scootaloo at the moment, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile back at the adorable smile her friend was giving her. “Goodnight Dashie,” Fluttershy said, lowering her head onto her hooves and closing her eyes.
“Goodnight Flutters,” Rainbow Dash replied, giving her a warm smile. Then, right as she was about to go to sleep, she heard Fluttershy mumble something.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking down at Fluttershy with tired eyes. She thought she could make out the remnants of a blush on her face in the moonlight.
“Fluttershy,” she began in a normal talking voice this time. “Did you say something?”
But, Fluttershy had already fallen asleep. Rainbow Dash smiled down at Fluttershy once more. She lightly nuzzled the top of Fluttershy’s head, being careful not to wake her up.
“Sweet dreams, Flutters.” Rainbow Dash lowered her head and went to sleep. If she had continued to watch, she would have noticed Fluttershy crack a smile, and seen the light blush appear on the mare’s cheeks.
As she finally let the lure of sleep take her, there was only thing on Rainbow Dash’s mind: I wonder what Scootaloo is dreaming about right now?
Rainbow Dash awoke to the sun peeking over the horizon. She slowly opened her eyes and was met with a large mass of pink hair in her face. She felt the soft warmth of Fluttershy’s back against her chest as it rose and fell in time with her breathing. She sighed contentedly, closing her eyes once again and prepared to drift off back to sleep.
But sadly, her attempts were futile as she felt Fluttershy stir under her wing. Rainbow Dash retracted her wing and sat up, giving up on going back to sleep.
“Morning Flutters,” Dash said with a yawn.
“Morning, Dashie,” Fluttershy yawned as she stood up and stretched out all her limbs. Rainbow Dash stood up as well and did the same.
When she was finished, she looked over to see Fluttershy standing by the edge of the water. She took a quick look back at her friends, finding them all still sleeping peacefully before she trotted over to where Fluttershy was standing.
Fluttershy was standing so that the water just barely came up to her hooves. Rainbow Dash walked up to her side, draping a wing over her back. Fluttershy sighed happily as the two of them stood there, side by side, watching the sunrise and taking in the beautiful scenery, the water lapping at their hooves as the waves came in.
It was cool, but not too cold. The sea was relatively calm, with waves fizzling out and rolling onto the beach where they stood. All was at peace.
The sunset was an amazing sight to behold. The edge of the sun was just poking over the horizon, painting the sky in a beautiful mixture of oranges, blues, and violets that was truly breathtaking.
After a few minutes, Fluttershy spoke up, breaking the silence.
“Sunrises are my favorite,” she said with a happy smile.
“I can see why,” Rainbow Dash responded, looking over to grace her friend with a warm, heartfelt smile. “They’re beautiful.” After this, the silence went on for a short while, neither of them quite sure what to say.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration causing her friend to look over at her in concern. “Fluttershy, there’s… there’s something I need to tell you,” she said, her tone shifting to one of seriousness and the smile vanishing from her face.
“What is it Dash?” Fluttershy asked, visibly concerned. “Is it Scootaloo again?”
“No,” Dash said, looking down. “Well, it’s kinda about you...” She looked up to meet Fluttershy’s eyes. “About us.”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, much less concerned, and more confused.
“What I mean is… well… ughhhh,” she groaned. “Why is this so hard?” she asked nopony in particular. “Fluttershy, with everything that’s been happening lately, I’ve realized something. Something I should have realized a long time ago.” She turned her body so that she was facing Fluttershy.
“We’ve been best friends for almost as long as I can remember. Out of all of our friends, you’ve always been the closest to me. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve known you the longest or what. All I know is that you and I are super close, closer than any of the others.”
“I know Dashie,” Fluttershy said with a soft, caring smile. “I’ve always known that.” The smile disappeared and she gave Rainbow Dash an inquisitive look. “Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”
Rainbow Dash looked back down at the ground. “It’s just… everything that you’ve done lately. I-I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. From the day I first brought Scootaloo into the hospital, to all of the support that you’ve given me lately. I… I just want to say thank you. I would never have been able to make it through this without you.”
Fluttershy brushed a few happy tears from her eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong Dash,” Fluttershy said calmly as she used a hoof to lift Rainbow Dash’s gaze up to meet her own. “You’re the strongest pony I’ve ever met. You and Scootaloo would have both made it through this with or without my help. Don’t you ever forget that, and don’t ever let Scootaloo forget it either.”
Dash blinked a few times out of shock. That was not at all the response that she had expected from the pegasus that was normally so shy and reserved.
“F-Fluttershy… I-I don’t know what to say…” At that, Rainbow Dash threw her hooves around Fluttershy’s neck and pulled her into a tight hug, which Fluttershy gratefully returned. Rainbow Dash rested her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder, enjoying the warm and caring embrace.
Rainbow Dash had hugged all of her friends on multiple occasions, but this was something more. There was nothing new about the simple action, but there was a deep connection that she shared with Fluttershy at that moment. It was a connection she had never felt with any other pony before, yet at that moment, she felt it strongly.
After what was way too short of a time for Rainbow Dash, although the hug had lasted for at least a few minutes, they pulled away.
“Fluttershy, there’s something else I need to tell you.” A huge grin slowly appeared on Fluttershy’s face. She already knew where this was going, she had felt it for a long time now, and had just been too shy to do anything about it.
“We’ve been best friends for a long time, but lately… I’ve felt something more. I don’t want to hurt our friendship, but I need to tell you this,” as Dash said this, she looked shyly at the ground. By this point, Fluttershy was struggling to hold back tears of excitement and had to stop herself from squealing in delight. “Flutters I… I like—” Rainbow Dash was cut off as a powerful pair of hooves wrapped around her and lifted her into the air, spinning her around and around as Fluttershy squealed in delight.
When Rainbow Dash was finally back on the ground, she stood there, eyes wide open and jaw dropped in shock. She still had no idea what had just happened. When it finally registered after another few moments, a huge grin spread onto her face, and she looked at Fluttershy’s happy smile.
“You know Fluttershy, I don’t say that many things are cute, but your smile when you’re this excited is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Fluttershy blushed and looked away, though still not able to suppress the huge grin that had formed on her happy face. “I’ve got to say though. You must be pretty strong to be able to pick me up like that. I didn’t know you were that strong,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk, not able to contain her own excitement either.
Fluttershy looked back up at Rainbow Dash. “Neither did I,” she said, causing both of them to laugh.
“So… does this mean…?” Rainbow Dash said with a hopeful look on her face.
Fluttershy leaned in and planted a warm kiss on her cheek, causing Rainbow Dash’s wings to spring out from her sides. “Does that answer your question?” she asked the wide-eyed pegasus sarcastically. Rainbow Dash was speechless. Her jaw hung open and her eyes were wide as her face wore a light blush, while her wings still stood upright at her sides.
“Uhhhh…” Both of them froze in shock for a moment at the sudden voice from behind them. They spun around, looks of shock and fear on their face as they turned to face four wide-eyed and slack-jawed ponies, staring back at them with just about as much shock as the new couple at that moment.
Rainbow Dash was the first one to break the silence after a while when the realization of what she was seeing finally dawned on her. “Oh buck.”
***
Scootaloo slowly pried her eyes open. This was normally an easy task, but at the moment, ‘pry’ was more of a literal term.
She had a splitting headache and could feel pain all over her body. She gave up on opening her eyes for the moment, and instead just lay there, taking in as much as she could with her other senses.
“Ughhh,” she groaned, as she attempted to sit up. As soon as she put weight on her front left hoof, her eyes shot open and she nearly screamed in pain as she slumped back to the ground.
Tears welled in her eyes as the shooting pain soared through her leg and up to her head. She felt nauseous all of a sudden, and her vision blurred. She blinked the tears out of her eyes and shook her head, forcing herself to stay awake.
She gave up on trying to move, and instead just took in what she could of her surroundings. She couldn’t see anything through the darkness that surrounded her. She was laying on a hard surface that felt a like wood, which didn’t really help the pain she was experiencing. The pain was like nothing she had felt before, and she had to fight to hold her tears in with every passing moment.
“Where am I?” she asked herself in a raspy tone. “What happened?”
That’s when she noticed it. “Am I… moving?” she asked herself, her confusion beginning to grow into panic as the gravity of her situation began to dawn on her.
All of a sudden, whatever she was riding in must have hit a pothole in the road or something, because the entire cart jerked, lurching to one side before quickly bouncing back the other way.
“Ah!” Scootaloo grimaced in pain as she was thrown against a wooden wall of the cart. She landed with her hurt leg underneath of her, and she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes as the excruciating pain shot through her leg. She wiped away the tears with her good hoof and tried to push through the pain, thinking about what Rainbow Dash would do, and how she’d get out of this.
Then, she noticed something else. Something must have been knocked loose when they hit the pothole because there was now a small sliver of light poking through the ceiling of the cart in the back right corner.
The light may have been small, but for Scootaloo, it was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen. It was a ray of hope, shining down on her like a guardian angel. She had no idea what had happened, or how she had gotten there, but she knew one thing for sure...
She had to escape.
***
“So, uh,” Applejack began after what felt like an eternity. “Do y’all want to explain what all that was?” she asked awkwardly.
Everypony in the group had a slight tinge of red on their cheeks, but none of them compared to the blush that had appeared on the faces of the two, now marefriends. They both stared at the ground, trying to hide their faces. They silently hoped that if they looked away for long enough, it would all go away.
Fluttershy, in particular, found the ground a lot more interesting than usual, and her hoof poked idly around the sand beneath her.
“Uhh… well,” Dash began, knowing full well that she was going to have to take this on her own. She was actually quite surprised that her friend hadn’t hidden behind her already.
Much to Dash’s surprise, as well as everyone else’s, Fluttershy suddenly jumped into the conversation, attempting to save her new marefriend, and hopefully any chance at friendship they still had with their other friends.
“P-please don’t… don’t b-be m-m-mad,” Fluttershy said nervously, shivering in fear the whole time she talked. Rainbow Dash was still completely frozen after Fluttershy had jumped in to save her. “I… I-I—”
“Now you stop right there Sugarcube,” Applejack said, cutting the pegasus off with her objection. “Now why in Celestia’s name would we be mad?”
Rainbow Dash was normally the confident one who would never back down from a challenge, never give up, and never quit, but as soon as she had turned around and seen her friends, all of that had gone out the window. Rainbow Dash had been reduced to a quivering mess of a pony, more nervous than Fluttershy on a stage in front of thousands. In short, Rainbow Dash was a mess compared to her normal self.
Fluttershy was not doing much better, although this was to be expected. However she, surprisingly, did most of the talking.
“Because we’re fillyfoolers!” Fluttershy shouted out of nowhere, causing everyone in the group to jump in surprise. Even Fluttershy jumped at her own harsh tone, before going right back to cowering before her friends.
“And?” Twilight asked becoming a bit confused. “What’s wrong with that?”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy instantly and simultaneously snapped their heads up and locked eyes with Twilight.
“Wait, so… you’re not mad?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused. This was not at all the kind of response she had been expecting she had expected at least one of them to be upset.
“Well of course not silly,” Twilight said, her voice regaining it’s upbeat and cheery tone as a big smile appeared on her face. “I’m happy for you t—”
Twilight was cut off, as she often was, by an insanely huge gasp from Pinkie Pie that lasted way longer than should have been physically possible. She decided to just shove these thoughts to the side though, as she often did with Pinkie Pie, lest she goes completely insane.
“WAIT A MINUTE,” Pinkie yelled as she stood there, frozen in mid-air. None of the others knew how she stayed in the air for that long, although none of them questioned it. “DOES THIS MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS?!”
A nervous nod from Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash was all it took to send Pinkie Pie over the deep end. She came out of her frozen state and began bouncing on the ground in a frenzy, faster than any of her friends had ever seen her bounce before. The whole time she bounced she continually went on and on and on, although nopony was really sure what she was saying. Words were leaving Pinkie’s mouth at a speed of a million miles a minute.
Eventually, Pinkie pie came to rest in front of Rainbow Dash, collapsing to the ground and panting heavily. She had done that entire speech in one breath, which was impressive, especially since it had gone on for at least three minutes, if not more.
“So, what do you think?” Pinkie Pie asked after she had caught her breath. It was amazing how that pony could go from collapsed on the ground panting, right back to her normal and energetic self, not even a minute later.
“Uhh, sorry Pinkie, but none of us understood a word you said,” Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly.
“Oh well,” Pinkie Pie said. “I guess I’ll just have to start over.” Just as Pinkie pie was taking another deep breath to begin again, she was cut off by a cyan hoof being shoved into her mouth.
“NO!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “I mean, uh, just… give us the short version.”
“Okey Dokey Lokey,” Pinkie Pie said. “I was saying that we should all have a party to celebrate. When we get back, we’re throwing a massive party. It’s gonna be the best party ever!”
Just as it seemed she was done, her face lit up in excitement. “Ooh! I almost forgot. We’re gonna have to throw a party for Scootaloo as well! It’s gonna be one big happy welcome back and happy confessing your feelings party! Or should it be a yay you confessed your feelings and Scootaloo is now back party? Or even better, a happy beginning of a new family party!?”
“Whoa now, settle down now, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack called, getting the mare’s attention. “Don’t start throwing anything at ‘em too fast. I think they’re already broken as it is.”
Applejack was right. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were standing there, not moving, eyes wide and their mouths agape. Neither of them able to grasp what was happening. It had all happened so quick, from their friends’ accidental discovery of them by their friends, to their friends accepting it, which neither of them had expected. It was all rushing by so fast, and both of them were having trouble comprehending what was going on.
Finally, after a long silence, Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear the thoughts racing through her mind as she tried to make sense of everything that was going on.
“Uh, so… what?”
Twilight chuckled at this. “We’re not mad Rainbow. We’re happy,” she said as she walked over and placed a comforting hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, giving her a soft smile. “Granted, this was a little sudden, and I never would have guessed—”
“I would have. I already knew,” Applejack interrupted with a smirk, which Rainbow Dash returned with a stern glare.
“Anyway,” Twilight said rolling her eyes. “Although it was a bit unexpected for—”Twilight shot a quick glare at Applejack “—MOST OF US, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that we’re very happy for the two of you.” There were murmurs of agreement amongst the rest of the group at this.
Rainbow Dash smiled as she placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, causing the shy mare to back away a little more. “Thanks, everyone. That really means a lot.”
Dash’s new-found relief was short-lived though, as Rarity jumped into the conversation for the first time. “I call planning the wedding!” she shouted. Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, as a furious blush forced its way onto both of their faces.
Twilight and Applejack spun around and glared at her, while Pinkie Pie pouted.
“Hey, no fair,” Pinkie Pie began whining. “I was gonna plan the wedding.” Pinkie Pie ended her objection by plopping down onto her haunches in the sand, and crossing her forehooves defiantly with a pout. Rarity noticed the glares coming from Twilight and Applejack.
“What? Too soon?” she asked, being completely sincere.
Applejack groaned and turned away while Twilight just rolled her eyes. “Well, I think we’ve had enough distractions for the morning. Let’s get a move on. Maybe we can make it over to where those towers are and find something to eat. I bet there’s a city over there.”
The rest of the group voiced their agreements, and after waking up Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, they began to walk down the beach in the direction of the towers. Rainbow Dash couldn’t be sure, but as she looked up at the skyline behind the towers, she thought she could see a faint silhouette of a mountain, rising high above the towers.
A new fire of confidence burned inside of Rainbow Dash. With the help of her friends and her new marefriend, she was certain they’d find Scootaloo in no time!
Celestia’s sun hung overhead as the group of friends trotted down the beach. Rainbow was trotting along next to Fluttershy, her new marefriend, with a wing protectively draped over her back as they traveled. The sand, heated by the afternoon sun, burned the ponies’ hooves to the touch. They had been walking for hours now and were getting very tired. It didn’t help that they had not eaten all day.
Despite all of this, there was a huge, ear to ear grin on the faces of both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. They were thrilled. Although they had both been unaware of it, they had been harboring secret feelings for each other for quite some time, and finally admitting it was like a massive weight lifted off the chest of both of them. Both of them, especially Fluttershy, walked with a notable spring in their step.
“Ugh,” came a groan from behind them. Their ears perked up and they turned back to look at their other friends. “We can’t keep walking forever,” complained Applebloom. “I’m gonna starve back here.” Her sentence was punctuated by a loud rumble of her stomach.
Applejack sighed and looked back at her. “I know sugarcube, but we’ve got to keep walking if we want to make it to the city by nightfall,” she said with an empathetic smile. “Here, come and ride on my back for a while. Maybe you can get some rest.” Applebloom slowly trotted up to her sister, who bent down low so that Apple Bloom could climb up onto her back.
Sweetie Belle, who was quietly staring down at her hooves throughout the whole ordeal, let out a surprised squeak as she was encased in a blue aura and levitated up to her own sister’s back. Rainbow Dash watched as both fillies settled down onto their respective sisters’ backs. Her face lit up momentarily as she looked back over to where the fillies had been standing.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but when her eyes fell upon the hoofprints in the sand where the two fillies had been standing only moments ago, her heart dropped, and her face fell. She took note of the two small pairs of hoofprints along the beach.
“Oh, Scoots…”
***
The light poking in from the corner was just bright enough for Scootaloo to see by. Granted, she still couldn’t see much, but she could see enough to make out the area around her. Slowly, she pushed herself away from the wall, using only her back hoof and her head, so as to avoid having to use her hurt hoof. She managed to turn onto her side so that all of her weight was on her right side, and she could keep her front left hoof off the ground.
It was then that she noticed something else. There was nothing else in the cart with her. This was relieving, yet terrifying at the same time. On one hoof, she was glad because there was nothing that could get thrown into her if the cart hit another hole in the road. On the other hoof, whoever was pulling the cart had planned on carrying just her, which meant that they had a specific plan for her. At first, she had been hoping that she had just gotten thrown into a cart by mistake or something, and yes that sounds unlikely, but by this point, her mind was searching for any logical explanation it could.
This revelation steeled her resolve, and she began to shimmy her way across the cart, being careful to keep her front left hoof up in the air.
As she was finally approaching the back corner of the cart, where the light was coming from, the cart suddenly hit another pothole, this one much bigger than the first. Instead of just flinging her on her side, Scootaloo was sent flying, and the world around her slowed to a dull crawl. She bounced into the air in the direction of the light in the back corner.
As she flew upwards, she felt some resistance, followed by a loud ripping noise as the material that had been covering the cart was ripped free. She clenched her eyes shut as she tumbled through the air, her entire life flashing in front of her eyes as she anticipated the hard connection with the ground that she knew was sure to come.
***
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were both hanging back once again, walking at the very back of the group, growing very tired, and very hungry.
Suddenly, Apple Bloom tapped Sweetie Belle on the shoulder and stopped walking. Sweetie Belle stopped as well.
“What is it?” she asked, following Applebloom’s gaze.
“Look!” Apple Bloom said excitedly as she pointed towards the treeline with a hoof. “Berries!”
Sweetie Belle followed her friend’s gaze with a hoof, and sure enough, right where she was pointing at, there was a large patch of blueberry bushes. Sweetie Belle’s face lit up as a line of drool strung out of her mouth.
“Come on Sweetie!” Applebloom called, already halfway to the treeline. “Let’s go get some!”
“Hey! Wait for me,” Sweetie Belle cried as she followed her friend over to the bushes. When they got there, they began fervently cleaning the bushes of their berries. Luckily, there was plenty, and by the time they had gotten through three bushes each, and were sitting up against a tree, rubbing their full bellies, there was still plenty left over.
“Ugh,” Sweetie Belle groaned. “Why’d I eat so many?”
“I know,” Applebloom said through a yawn. “And we ate way too fast.”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” groaned Sweetie Belle before letting out a yawn herself.
“Is it just me…—” Applebloom yawned loudly once again. “Or are you getting real tired?”
“Yeah, I am. We should probably go find the others though,” Sweetie Belle said, groggily standing up with half-lidded eyes. “They’re probably wondering where we are by now.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Apple Bloom’s eyes were drifting shut, and her head was already bobbing as she struggled to stay awake. Finally, her eyes fluttered shut and her head fell. “Just gimme five minutes.”
Sweetie Belle wanted to protest and get back to the others before they began to worry about them, but her own eyelids felt heavy, and with each passing moment, sleep sounded more and more appealing to her.
As her eyes finally shut, she tumbled forward and would have face planted the ground, except for the sleeping mass of yellow fur and red mane that broke her fall as she came to a rest on Apple Bloom’s lap. Applebloom instinctively reached a hoof up to rest on her friend’s soft mane as they both finally drifted off into a much-needed and well-deserved rest.
***
After a few seconds, Scootaloo opened her eyes. The impact that she had been anticipating never came. When she opened her eyes, she instantly realized what was happening. If the wind rushing through her fur and mane that she hadn’t noticed before wasn’t enough of an indicator, then the huge distance she saw between her and the ground along the side of what looked to be a mountain sure was.
She was falling and falling fast. Even with the extreme height that she appeared to be at, she knew it wouldn’t take very long for her to reach the ground.
Maybe twenty seconds at most.
As she soared through the air at an incredible speed, her mouth shot open and an ear-piercing scream ripped itself from her lungs.
It was louder than Scootaloo herself even thought she could scream.
Her wings buzzed furiously on her back in a futile attempt to slow her descent.
Each second seemed to last hours as she fell through the air. Her screams ripping through the otherwise silent afternoon air, and her wings burning from the effort of trying to slow her descent.
Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound and made contact with something soft.
It was much softer than she had expected the ground to be, although whatever it was had still made contact with her hurt hoof, and sent waves of pain cascading through the filly’s body once again. She forced her eyes open, and looked up, trying to see what she had made contact with.
Right as her eyes were drifting back closed, and her vision faded away, she caught a faint glimpse of a Rainbow mane blowing in the wind. Then, everything went black.
Apple Bloom’s eyes fluttered open, right as the last light was fading from the horizon. She felt a soft presence on her lap and looked down to find that Sweetie Belle had fallen asleep there. The peaceful smile of the sleeping filly seemed to radiate in the fading light of the evening. Apple Bloom felt her face heat up as she looked away.
She reached a hoof out to ruffle Sweetie Belle’s mane in an attempt to rouse her from her sleep. “Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said awkwardly. “Sweetie, wake up.”
Sweetie Belle mumbled something in her sleep as her eyes began to flutter open. “Hmm? What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle muttered sleepily. She opened her eyes and she lifted her head, trying to figure out where she was. It took her a moment to realize where she had fallen asleep, but when she did, her face exploded into a furious blush as she practically jumped away from Apple Bloom and did her best to look anywhere but at her friend. “Hehe, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Apple Bloom said, giving the unicorn a reassuring smile, causing her to smile back. “I was tired too.”
Sweetie Belle looked up to the horizon, and suddenly the smile dropped from her face and was replaced with a look of fear. Apple Bloom grew confused and followed her gaze to the setting sun. “What’s wron...” Apple Bloom’s voice trailed off as it sank in. They had been sleeping since early afternoon and it was now evening. There was no sign of any other ponies there either.
Their eyes locked in a frightened stare that seemed to last forever. Sweetie Belle’s mind was racing, and Apple Bloom was beginning to panic. Both of them broke the gaze and sprinted towards the beach and out of the woods. When they got there, every last shred of hope they had left, faded instantly.
“Th-they’re… they’re gone,” muttered Sweetie Belle as the last of her strength faded, and her knees grew weak. She felt her heart stop in her chest and she fell to the ground, sobbing loudly. The only thing keeping her from face planting the ground being the shoulder of her also crying friend, who she now held tightly in an embrace.
***
Scootaloo strained to open her eyes, but instantly regretted it and shut them once again when she was met with the blinding white light of her new location. She could hear the beeping of a heart monitor in the room, telling her that she was in a hospital. ”Well, that would explain the light.” Scootaloo grumbled and lifted a hoof to try and block the light that somehow still managed to find it’s way into her eyes, even with her eyes closed. When she tried to lift her hoof though, she noticed that it was weighed down by something. She slowly cracked her eyes open, trying to adjust her eyes to the light so she could see what was going on.
After a little while of trying, she managed to get her eyes open enough to look around. As she suspected, she was in a hospital room, lying down on the bed. The room was pretty much like you would expect a hospital to look like. Most of the room was white, save for the curtains which were a light green, and the walls which were a creamy yellow color. There were a few chairs that lined the wall underneath a window that looked out into a hall. Several ponies wearing white medical coats could be seen trotting around, rushing from place to place. There was a door leading out into this hall on the left side of the chairs.
There was also a heart monitor, and a few other tubes and hoses hooked up to her. She had no idea what any of them did. The one thing that she didn’t recognize at all was a sort of wooden box that hung at the top of the wall opposite from the bed. It had a black shiny surface in the middle of it that was outlined in the rest of the box.
She would have kept looking at this, but then her attention was brought over to the door that opened to allow a nurse to step into the room. It was a white pegasus mare with a pink and purple striped mane and tail.
“Good morning sweetie!” she said in a very bright and cheerful tone. “How did you sleep?” She wore a bright and beaming smile.
Scootaloo did her best to smile back, but the pain that she could still feel throughout her body, along with the confusion she felt made it nearly impossible.
“Uh…” Scootaloo said, looking down at her body for the first time since she had woken up. Her right front hoof was in a splint, and her left front hoof was in a cast and hanging in a sling from the ceiling. The rest of her body was hidden underneath the heavy blankets. ”What is going on? Where am I? What happened?”
Thoughts were racing through Scootaloo’s head as she stared down at her bandaged hooves. The nurse must have noticed Scootaloo’s confusion and panic, because her smile softened and she slowly walked over to Scootaloo's bed and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
Scootaloo looked up to meet the mare’s eyes. Her breathing was quickening and her heart rate was increasing quickly as she began to panic.
As her eyes met with those of the nurse though, she began to calm down. She found herself staring into the caring magenta pools that were the nurse's eyes. The care in her eyes and the warmth of her smile calmed her down quickly as the nurse began rubbing slow, soft, circles on her back.
“Shh,” she cooed. “It’s okay. Calm down. I’m here to help you.”
“W-where am I?” Scootaloo asked, much more timidly than she had intended to.
“You’re in the Atlas City General Hospital, sweetheart. You had a big fall.” The mare’s tone was soft and caring, almost motherly in nature. It was calming for Scootaloo, although her confusion at the answer was evident.
“Um, what is Atlas?” Scootaloo asked, confusion seeping into her voice.
The nurse looked taken off guard by this. “It’s the capital city.” Scootaloo’s confusion only grew. ”What? No, it’s not. Canterlot is the capital city. I’ve never even heard of Atlas before. I don’t even know how I got here.”
Scootaloo was beyond confused at this point. “What are you talking about? The capital city is Canterlot. You know, where Princesses Celestia and Luna live?” Scootaloo was confused as to how this nurse could get it so wrong.
”This doesn’t make any sense. What happened to me? If she’s right and this is a different place, then how did I even get here in the first place?” These thoughts raced through Scootaloo’s mind as she tried to remember anything that had happened.
While she was so busy thinking, she hadn’t noticed the nurse’s confused and bewildered look shift to one of more understanding. There was also a slight hint of pity in the mare’s eyes as the realization dawned on her.
“Okay, I see now. Don’t worry, the doctor said you didn’t hit your head too hard. Your memories should start to come back very soon,” the mare said, placing her hoof on that of the little filly’s.
This seemed to anger Scootaloo as she jerked her hoof away. “What do you mean. I can remember stuff just fine. It’s just the past couple days that are a little blurry.”
The nurse didn’t seem phased by this. She simply offered a reassuring smile, before going along with it. “Okay, then. Why don’t we see.”
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked, only letting her guard down slightly to give way to her curiosity.
“Well, I have your information here. When you came in, we ran some tests and were able to find out who you are.”
“What! That’s so cool! I didn’t know you could do that,” Scootaloo exclaimed loudly.
The nurse only chuckled as she stood up and walked over to pick up the chart by the foot of the bed. “Well, let’s get on with it. What is your name?”
“Scootaloo,” Scootaloo said this with the utmost confidence, although her confidence faltered slightly when she saw the look of confusion on the nurses face.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Now, how about your parents?”
Scootaloo smiled brightly as she thought of her mom. “I’ve got my awesome mother Rainbow Dash. She just adopted me not too long ago.” The nurse’s mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. Her eyes quickly scanned down the rest of the page, and when she got to the bottom, her eyes seemed to bug out, and her jaw dropped in shock. She looked up at Scootaloo, and then back down at the paper a few times.
Scootaloo stared on, completely oblivious as to what was going on with the nurse. The nurse slowly looked back up at Scootaloo once more, and all of the pieces seemed to fall into place. She put the clipboard down, and slowly walked back over to Scootaloo and placed a hoof on her cheek. There was a distinct look of recognition in her eyes, and as she spoke, the caring nature of her voice seemed to have tripled.
“Okay Scootaloo, why don’t you tell me what you remember.”
After the confusing display of emotion that the nurse just showed, Scootaloo was reluctant to continue, but she did anyway.
”I’ll figure out what all of that was about later. I’m sure it wasn’t important.”
***
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom trudged slowly along the beach the light had long since faded from the sky, the glow of the moon now their only source of light on the dark and lonely beach. They had lost track of how long they had been walking.
Heads hung low to the ground, they followed the hoofprints of their sisters and their friends. Although they were following them, with every step they took, the fillies felt further and further away. Above all though, they were alone. There was not another soul on the beach. Just them… alone.
Or so they thought. The faint sound of drumming hooves on sand captured their attention as they lifted their heads for the first time since they began walking. They stopped and listened straining their eyes to make out what was in the distance through the dark.
After a moment longer they were able to make out two shapes running down the beach in the distance. It seemed to be two ponies. They were running at a decently fast pace like they had a destination in mind. Some target they were running towards. That’s when it hit Apple Bloom. They were the targets.
She practically jumped out of her own coat when she realized this. She quickly grabbed Sweetie Belle and pushed her behind a bush, following behind her shortly after.
“What was tha—” Sweetie Belle was cut off as a yellow hoof was shoved in her mouth in an attempt to keep her quiet.
“Shh!” Applebloom shushed in a forced whisper. They could only hope that the two ponies had not seen them when they ducked behind the bush. Luckily they had been near the edge of the beach where the sand met the woods, and were able to find somewhere to hide quickly.
Applebloom’s heart dropped into her stomach when she heard the hoofsteps stop right in front of the bush they were hiding behind. She swallowed a lump in her throat as the hoofsteps drew near. Right as she was just about to run into the woods, dragging Sweetie Belle behind her, she heard a voice call to them from the beach.
“Hello.” It was a mare’s voice. Calm and caring, with almost a motherly tone to it. “Don’t be afraid. You can come out. We just want to help.”
Applebloom looked to Sweetie Belle for reassurance, but she was already walking out from behind the bush. Applebloom jumped up and quickly followed, not wanting to let her friend do this alone.
“H-hello.” Applebloom greeted sheepishly as she trotted out from their hiding spot.
“Well, hey there you two,” The mare that they could now see greeted with a smile. She was a pegasus with a pink coat, light blue mane, and light green eyes. There was also a stallion there who had yet to speak. Applebloom assumed it was the mare’s husband.
He was an earth pony with a brown coat, black mane, and light blue eyes. “What are your names?”
“I’m Applebloom,” she said timidly.
“I’m Sweetie Belle,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Oh, aren’t those just the most adorable names!” the mare squealed eliciting a blush from both fillies. “I’m so glad you two are alright.”
“Yeah, we got worried there,” the stallion cut in for the first time since the conversation began. “We saw you out here all alone and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“We’re fine,” Applebloom half-lied.
”I don’t quite trust these ponies yet. Maybe I’ll tell them that we’re lost later, but I don’t want them knowing just yet. I don’t really tr—”
“We’re just lost,” Sweetie Belle finished, cutting off her friend’s thoughts.
”Oh come on!” Applebloom screamed in her head.
“Oh my!” the mare said, sounding concerned. “Why don’t you come with us, and in the morning we’ll help you figure out where you need to go?”
“Okay!” Sweetie Belle chirped exactly. “Oh, I forgot to ask. What are your names?”
“I’m Firefly, and my husband here is Cinnamon. Now come along, it’s getting late.”
“Follow me, dearies, your room is right up here.” Firefly trotted up the stairs with a spring in her step, as the two Crusaders followed behind her. “Ahh, here we are,” she said as she stepped through the door into a bedroom. “This is where you two can sleep tonight. Sorry, we only have one bed, but we weren’t exactly expecting company.”
“That’s okay,” chimed Sweetie Belle. “We understand. We’ll be just fine in one bed.”
Applebloom’s face reddened as she thought about the events of that evening when they had woken up in the woods together. She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind though, at least for the time being. She could figure out what all of that was about later.
Snapping back into reality, Applebloom followed Sweetie Belle, who had already trotted forward and jumped up onto the bed, collapsing into a snoring heap on one side. A light chuckle escaped Applebloom’s lips as she too trotted towards the bed. ”Well that didn’t take long.”
Applebloom jumped up, and got underneath the covers, making herself comfortable. When she was all set to go to sleep, she looked up towards the doorway, where Firefly was still standing. She looked strange though. She wasn’t looking at the two of them, but rather down at her hooves. Her mouth was moving like she was saying something, but Applebloom couldn’t hear words coming out. Only faint and indistinct ramblings. “Uh, are you okay?”
Applebloom’s words seemed to snap her out of her trance. She instantly snapped her mouth shut, and jerked her head up to meet the eyes of the small filly. “Uh… yeah, I’m okay. It’s all good. Get some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
“Goodni—” She was already gone, and had closed the door. “Huh... okay. That was wierd.”
Applebloom closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep, but what she had seen would not leave her. Everything that had happened that evening was off. Something was not right, and she knew it. It just did not set well with her. The way the two adult ponies had been running at them was confusing her. It was almost as if they had known they were there.
She tried to dismiss these worries and get some sleep. Eventually, she was able to slip into a restless and anxious sleep.
***
Applebloom jolted awake. Something wasn’t right. She couldn’t see anything in the darkened room, but something had woke her from her sleep, she just didn’t know what.
She carefully slipped out from the bed, making sure not to wake Sweetie Belle. At least not yet. She creeped over to the door and quietly cracked it open, craning her neck to see out into the hall. She couldn’t see much in the darkened upstairs hallway, but she could see a faint glow of a light from somewhere downstairs. She silently slinked her way down the hall, and over the the balcony railing overlooking the downstairs area.
She could see the light more clearly now. It was coming from the kitchen downstairs. She could hear muffled whispers coming from the kitchen. Still too far away to hear what was being said, she quietly tiptoed her way down the stairs, and into the living room. She creeped her way along the wall, careful not to make a sound. Something about all of this did not sit right with her, and she was growing more suspicious by the minute. Once she was close, she could only just make out the conversation going on in the other room.
“—eed to make this work. It is imperative that we do not fail again.” it was Cinnamon talking. He sounded much more intense than he had earlier. There was an unmistakable determination in his voice. “The last one got away, we can not let that happen again.”
“But there are two of them.” This time it was Firefly. There was also determination in her voice, but there was also a hint of concern. “We’ve never had a haul this big before.”
Applebloom’s stomach dropped when she figured out who they were talking about. ”I knew there was something off about all of this!”
“I know, but it will be okay. We will use the same trick as the last one, oil on the stairs never fails us.”
“And what if one doesn’t go down the stairs? Or if they figure something out?”
“Then we will just have to do it ourselves. One thing is for certain. We will deliver both of them on time. We cannot fail again.”
As the conversation ceased, Applebloom was having to bite down on her own hoof to keep from screaming. She quickly started making her way back over to the stairs, and up to their room. As she walked, she could hear footsteps following behind her and making their way to the bottom of the stairs. She walked as fast and as quietly as she could. She darted inside the room, taking extra care to make sure she shut the door without a sound. Once she was inside, she bolted over to the bed, where Sweetie Belle still remained, undisturbed, and completely oblivious to the events that had just transpired.
Using one hoof to cover Sweetie Belle’s mouth, Applebloom placed the other on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder and violently shook her awake. Sweetie Belle’s eyes shot open, and a scream was muffled into Applebloom’s hoof. “Shhh!” Applebloom whispered loudly. “We gotta go! Now!”
Sweetie Belle did not get a chance to protest, as she was practically thrown out of the bed by a frantic Applebloom. “What’s going on?!” she asked in a forced whisper, matching that of Applebloom’s.
“No time, just go!” Applebloom said as she was already opening a window. She put a hoof out and began to climb out of the window before she was stopped by Sweetie Belle’s hoof on her shoulder.
“What, are you crazy?! We’re on the second story!”
“Just go!” Applebloom screamed, a lot louder than she had originally intended. Both of their hearts sank as they heard shouting from downstairs, followed quickly by frantic hoofsteps pounding on the stairs. There was no more time to think. They just needed to go, and they needed to go now. Without a second thought, Applebloom jumped from the window.
Sweetie Belle watched in horror as the fractions of seconds ticked by like hours. Everything moved in slow motion as Applebloom soared through the air. The slow and dull drumming of hoofsteps in the background faded from her mind as she watched Applebloom’s hooves make contact with the ground. All sound around her faded, replaced by the loud and sickening crack of bone, as Applebloom’s right rear hoof broke on impact, snapping to the side and almost making Sweetie Belle sick at the sight alone. She collapsed onto the ground and bit down on her forehoof to stifle a scream. She sat up on her haunches and turned towards the window, stretching her forehooves up to a still reluctant Sweetie Belle.
“JUMP!” Applebloom screamed. “I’ll catch you!”
Sweetie Belle shot one last glance back to the door behind her. Right as the door burst open, her decision was made for her. In one swift motion, she turned and leaped from the window, straight for her friend’s hooves. She crashed straight into her friend, and they both tumbled forward, rolling across the ground.
Applebloom seethed through her teeth in pain as pressure was put on her injured hoof. Quickly, Sweetie Belle jumped up and helped Applebloom to her hooves as well. Allowing Applebloom to lean on her shoulder for support, they quickly began to make their way away from the house. “We gotta hurry!” Sweetie Belle said. “They’ll catch us at this rate!”
“Leave me! I’m hurt, go on without me!”
“No! Never, I’m not leaving you!”
“You have to! They’ll catch both of us!”
“Then we’ll hide!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she pointed with a hoof towards a nearby cluster of bushes. “There! Come on, let’s go!”
They quickly ducked into the bushes, hearts pounding in their ears, and adrenaline pumping through their vanes. Their heavy breathing, now the only sound permeating the dull silence of the night air. Slowly, their breathing began to slow, and the blood pounding through their ears died down to a steady beat.
The silence of the night returned, and their racing minds began to calm. That was until they heard hoofsteps. Heavy hoofsteps, steadily growing louder as their pursuers grew closer. They grew louder until they were eventually right next to them, and then they passed. They slowly began to grow quieter as they gained distance. Eventually, there was once again, nothing but silence.
Applebloom let out a breath that she hadn’t known she’d been holding. After a few minutes, they were able to calm their breathing down enough to talk. “What was that all about?!” Sweetie asked in a very harsh whisper, still worried about being heard.
“I’ll tell you later, just trust me. We really needed to get out of that house. Now come on, they could still be close. Let’s go!” As soon as Applebloom was done talking, they jumped up and began to head back the way they had come. Applebloom still had to use Sweetie Belle as a crutch, so they were significantly slowed by this.
Soon, they passed the house and began to make their way in the other direction, this time heading towards the beach, instead of inland. Eventually, their hooves made contact, and the bright light of the moon over the beach allowed them to see much clearer. They could still make out hoofprints in the sand. Some of them belonged to the two crusaders, Firefly, and Cinnamon, but there were also six pairs of prints that continued on down the beach. “Look! That must be from the others!”
“You’re right! Come on, let’s follow ‘em.”
The silently walked down the desolate beach. This silence did not last long though. “So… do you mind explaining to me what the hay all of that was about!? Those ponies were nice enough to take us in and give us a good place to rest! Why were we running from them?”
Applebloom let out a long and drawn out sigh. “Sweetie, I never fully trusted those ponies from the start. Something was off about them. I wasn’t sure what, but I knew something was wrong.”
“Wait, so you’re saying we jumped from a second story window, you broke your leg, and we’ve been running from them, just because you had a bad feeling about them!!” Applebloom winced as Sweetie Belle’s words cut into her. ”Yeah, I could’ve explained that better.”
“No, not just because of that. What I was trying to get at was that I couldn’t sleep well that night. I don’t know what it was, but right before I woke you, something woke me up. I got curious, so I peeked out into the hall.” Sweetie Belle had calmed down and was now listening intently.
“Where are you going with this?” Sweetie Belle asked with trepidation.
“I saw a light coming from downstairs, and went to investigate. When I was pretty close, I could hear them talking in there. They said… they were speaking about us like a catch. One that they couldn’t let go.” Sweetie Belle’s gasp of terror did not stop Applebloom, who just continued on. “That’s not even the worst part though. They said they had to make sure we were delivered on time. That their last one got away, and that they needed a big haul to make up for it.”
“Oh my gosh! That’s horrible!” Sweetie Belle said as she had now stopped walking and was shaking with fear.
“I know, but we need to keep going. If we want help, we need to find the others. I don’t really trust anyone here anymore.”
“Wait a minute! Scoots came this way too! What if she was the last one? The one that they said got away!”
“Then we really need to find the others. It means that Scoots is still out there, and if our escape was anything to go by, then she’s probably not in the best shape. She needs our help.”
With this inspiration, they continued to trek down the beach, following the moonlit hoofprints in the sand. About an hour later, they came across the sight that they had so desperately needed to see.
The hoofprints lead to a group of six ponies, spread out on the sand, getting some sleep.
“There they are!” Sweetie Belle said as she jumped up in excitement, nearly throwing Applebloom to the ground in the process.
“Whoah! Careful Sweetie!”
“Oops, sorry! Now come on, hurry up!”
“Applejack!” Applebloom yelled as they ran, or tried to run, towards the group of sleeping ponies.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle called, mimicking her friend.
They could distinctly make out the image of two heads bolting upright from the group. “Sweetie?! Applebloom?!” Rarity yelled as the two mares jumped up from the group of sleeping friends. They galloped towards the two fillies, running with their full power to their sisters.
They reached the two fillies and instantly wrapped them each up into a bone crushing hug. They all cried as they held their supposedly-lost sisters in their hooves on the beach.
“Where in Equestria have y’all been?!” screamed Applejack. Both fillies winced under the gaze of their two sisters. Only now did Applejack notice that Applebloom had been keeping weight off of her right rear hoof. “And what did you do to your hoof?” While they were talking, the others had gotten up and had already made their way over to them. They were now standing behind them. A mixture of confusion and worry was visible on their faces.
“W-we…” Sweetie Belle couldn’t hold it anymore and she burst into tears as the reality of what they may have only narrowly escaped really hit her for the first time. Her sister instinctively wrapped her hooves around her, and pulled her into another hug, which was gratefully returned by the younger sibling as she sobbed uncontrollably into her sister’s shoulder. As Rarity tried in vain to get her sister to calm down, the others turned their attention to Applebloom, who had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal so far.
Their attitudes of worry heightened to a state of near-panic from Sweetie Belle’s outburst, they pushed desperately for answers from the other filly. “What did you two do?” asked Applejack sternly.
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, the only one so far to seem concerned at the physical state of the filly who was clearly hurt, although her concerned remark got drowned out by the pressing of the others.
“Calm down Applebloom, you need to tell us what happened,” Twilight said as she made an attempt to get through to the shaken filly.
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were the only two that had yet to say anything, while Rarity was still trying to comfort her sister. The bombardment of questioning from the other three soon mixed into a tangle of incomprehensible words that fell on deaf ears.
“QUIET!!” Rainbow Dash’s interruption made everypony in the group jump, and Fluttershy fell to the ground and cowered. The only sound now heard on the beach were Sweetie Belle’s sobs. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and then let it out, before stepping up to Applebloom.
Applebloom was just staring down at her hooves, not making a sound apart from the steady rise and fall of her breathing. Rainbow Dash approached, and placed a hoof on the filly’s shoulder, causing her to look up and meet Rainbow’s eyes. “We need to go get that hoof looked at. I can already tell that it’s broken just from looking at it.” A simple nod was all that Applebloom gave, but it was enough for Rainbow Dash. She reached out and picked up Applebloom in her forehooves, cradling her like a foal to keep from putting any pressure on the hurt hoof.
Applebloom didn’t protest like her sister would’ve expected her to, she simply closed her eyes, and let Rainbow Dash hold her as she drifted off to sleep. The crazy events of the night had finally caught up with her, and she had been unable to fight it any longer.
Applejack shot Rainbow Dash a questioning look, before she explained, now talking in almost a whisper. “Twilight, you stay here with Rarity. Fluttershy and Applejack you come with me. I remember seeing a hospital while I was going for a fly over the city earlier. We’re going to take her there and get her some help. We can find out what happened later, right now what matters is that we help her.” Everypony nodded, now understanding Rainbow Dash’s actions.
Twilight walked over to Rarity, placing a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s back in an attempt to help to calm down the crying filly. She was no longer sobbing, and now only quiet tears, interrupted by sniffles, came from her.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, and lifted off into the air, much slower than anyone had ever seen her take off by far. She hovered a few feet off of the ground, so that she could hold the sleeping filly in her arms as they traveled. Fluttershy opted to stay on the ground with Applejack on the way to the hospital. All three of them were silent as they traveled along the empty beach.
***
Eventually, they had made their way into the city, and had found the hospital. It didn’t take long with Rainbow Dash’s incredible memory of things while she was flying. They passed very few ponies on their way to the hospital, but the few that they did pass either didn’t even notice them, but the ones that did looked at them wide eyed, and froze in their step until the group had passed. Normally, this would’ve annoyed, or at least confused them, but they were on a mission. They were determined to get to the hospital, and nothing around them mattered at that moment.
They entered the lobby of the hospital, and made a beeline for the desk. The pony behind the counter looked up with a smile, which quickly fell as she saw the two pegasus ponies that stood with the earth pony on the other side of her desk. “Ma’am,” she said, looking directly at Applejack, completely missing the sleeping filly held in the hooves of the blue pegasus. “Are these two giving you any trouble?” she said with concern.
“What?” Applejack asked, clearly confused as to the reaction. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, what are you doing with these pegasi,” she spat the last word like venom on her tongue.
“Excuse me?!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash demanded at the same time in a furious whisper, still taking care not to wake Applebloom. “My sister is hurt, and she needs help.” Applejack said sternly, her patience with the mare already wearing thin after only a few moments of talking to her.
The mare looked down, only now taking notice of the hurt filly in the arms of the pegasus. Her face instantly lit up in horror when she saw the hurt filly. “Oh my!” she said, snatching the filly out of Rainbow Dash’s arms before shooting a fiery glare at Rainbow Dash. “What did you do to the poor thing!?” she demanded. “Nevermind, I need to get her back right away!” with that the mare ran off, leaving a fuming Rainbow Dash with two very confused and baffled friends.
“What… was… that?” asked Fluttershy.
“I… have no idea,” finished Applejack.
They walked over to a set of chairs, to sit and wait on news from the nurse. The nurse didn’t come back for a while, and they started to get worried. After a while, the sound of doors opening alerted them to the presence of others in the room. They looked over to the doors leading to the outside, and saw two ponies in blue uniforms, presumably police officers, enter the building and head straight for them. “You two!” he shouted, pointing a hoof at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “You’re coming with us!”
“What!?” shouted Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy shrinked back into her chair. “What for? We didn’t do anything wrong!”
The officer looked disgusted. “I beg to differ! Filly abuse is a very serious crime, not to mention holding this nice pony—” he gestured a hoof to Applejack, sitting still with a look of shock on her face. “—against her will.” He punctuated his statement by stomping his hoof to the ground.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was not okay. No, she was about as far from okay as anypony could be, ever. She wanted to buck this guy into the sun. Granted, she had already been mad before, but nopony accuses her of filly abuse. Nopony.
She stood from her chair, nostrils flaring as she breathed heavily through her nose. She was about to blow.
Right before she did though, the runaway train that was her thoughts was interrupted and brought to a screeching halt. “Ahem!” Twilight said from the front of the lobby, staring incredulously at the scene in front of her. “What exactly is going on here?”
Without even looking back to see who had interrupted, he dismissed her with a wave of a hoof. “Miss, we’re dealing with this criminal. You need to stay over there while we handle this.”
Twilight instantly knew that something was up. “Excuse me! Do you know who you’re speaking to! I will not just wait over here, and I would like an explanation as to what is going on here!”
The officer let out an annoyed sigh, before turning around and addressing the mare behind him. “Miss, I already told you we—” the officer’s jaw dropped, and he went silent. “No…” he said, now speaking in a tone equivalent to that of a hushed whisper. “It can’t be.”
“She… she doesn’t look like one of them,” the second officer said with skeptical curiosity.
“Look at what’s on her head though. How do you explain that?”
“Okay!” Twilight shouted. She had been known to have exceptional patience, especially when it came to other ponies, but her patience was running thin. “Will somepony PLEASE, explain what is going on here!?” the force of her yell, nearing that of the Royal Canterlot voice, sent both officers tumbling head over hoof into the wall behind them.
“Ahh!” the officers shouted as they were thrown. When they came to a rest, they were trembling in fear. Twilight was still filled with rage, and her nostrils flared with every breath as she glared daggers through the trembling officers, her horn glowing with increasing ferocity, as each breath seemed like fuel to the fire of rage burning inside of her. She took one slow, determined step towards the officers, that ended up being way more dramatic than necessary.
Before she could get any closer however, she was stopped, a cyan hoof blocking her path to the cause of her rage. Twilight looked down at the hoof that stood in her way, before bringing her gaze up to meet Rainbow’s eyes. Rainbow Dash wore a simple smile, and a calm look of understanding. Rainbow took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Twilight followed suit, and a minute later she was calm. If Rainbow Dash could stay calm in a time like this, then so could Twilight.
Twilight brought a forced smile onto her face, before turning to look back at the officers, who hadn’t dared to move a muscle, and were still trembling under her gaze. Twilight closed her eyes, and took one more deep breath in, bringing her hoof to her chest, before letting it out, and moving her hoof back out in front of her in time with the breath. She brought her attention back to the officers. “I do apologize if I got a little… carried away,” she said with as large a smile as she could muster up, which was not very big. “I was just not expecting to walk in here, where my friend’s little sister was coming to receive help, and find you attempting to arrest one of my other friends.” Twilight looked back at her other friends and received an encouraging smile from all of her friends, who had long-since taken refuge behind her, and a nod from Rainbow Dash, encouraging her to continue on.
“Me and my friends here were actually on a mission.” The officers’ eyes seemed to widen at this. “My friend Rainbow Dash here has a daughter. A yound daughter too, not very much older than this filly here—” she pointed a hoof back at the red-eyed filly being held in her sister’s arms. “or the filly that they have already brought here earlier. This filly was left without a family and a good home, for longer than any of us ever knew.”
The officers had stopped shaking at this point, opting to simply sit on their haunches, backs still pressed up agains the wall, while they listened to the heart-wrenching story. Their eyes had begun to tear up, especially when they had noticed Rainbow Dash, who was cleary the confident one in the group, and was easy to pick out by name as the one they had been confronting earlier. She had lost all of the previous confdence that she had displayed, and was now sitting down, instead of her previous standing position, and had her head hung low, almost touching the floor with her mane. They couldn’t see her eyes, but from the drops of wetness that fell from her face to the floor below, it was clear she was crying.
“This mare right here—” she now pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash, who was now leaning on Fluttershy, who now sat by her side, rubbing her back with a hoof and trying to comfort her. “took that filly off of the streets and gave her a home. Not just a place to live, but a home. She loves that filly with all of her heart, and would do anything for that filly. ANYTHING.” Twilight’s voice had raised in intensity near the end of her speech, and she had to take a calming breath to steady herself once again.
“That is what brings us here. We’re not from around here, but let’s just keep this story short and simple. Through magic, her daughter, Scootaloo, somehow ended up here, and we followed her. We completely went through a portal to a land that we knew absolutely nothing about, just to save her daughter. So, excuse me, but I do not like to see my friends being harrassed when they were only attempting to get help for a little filly who broke her leg after going missing for the entire day.”
It seemed like the officers had begun to understand, and had been nodding their heads, following along with Twilight’s speech. When she finished though, both officers had a look of fear on their face. They shared a look, before rising to addresss Twilight. “Our sincerest apologies,” the first one began. “Please excuse me but, did you say that the filly you brought here was missing all day, and you found her with a broken leg?”
Twilight seemed shocked at this, not sure exactly what to make of the sudden inquiry of the details. “Umm, yeah. More or less. Last we saw her was yesterday afternoon, as we were walking down the beach from where the portal brought us here. When we realized she wasn’t with us, we turned around and began heading back, but with how far we had already gone, we didn’t get very far at all before we had to stop for the night. Then, we all woke up to both fillies making their way down the beach, calling out to us.”
“Hold on a second… both? There were two that went missing?” the officer seemed confused, but also slightly skeptical at this.
“Yes, Sweetie Belle was with her. You’re not asking her anything right now though. She is unwilling to talk about it, and we will work on that later, but I don’t want to upset her any more right now.” The officers nodded in understanding, before turning back to each other to discuss their theory.
“They have never gone after two before,” the first officer whispered. “That’s unlike them.”
The second officer seemed to think for a minute, before his face lit up in understanding. “What if they needed to go after two, and they struck the perfect opportunity. Or so they thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. They normally only do one child and have no problems. What if one of them escaped though? We now know it’s possible, thanks to these ponies.”
“Hmm… give me a second.” He now raised his voice and began to address the whole group of ponies before him once again. “Excuse me, but you did say that there was another filly that came here before you, correct?”
“Umm… yes, why?” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“Is there any chance that she could’ve been taking the same path as you into any hours of the night or late evening?”
“Well, yeah, I don’t see why not. It all depends on the time she arrived here, and i’m not sure what time it was, because there is a big time difference between our home and here. Why do you ask anyway?”
The officer looked back at his partner, who gave him a small nod. He turned around and gave a sigh of resignation, before addressing them once again. “Did I hear that one of you is the girl’s mother?”
“That would be me,” Rainbow Dash said in her usually arrogant voice. “What’s the matter officers?”
The officer heaved a sigh before continuing. “Ma’am, there is a chance that your daughter was captured by these ponies as well.” Rainbow’s cocky smile fell as soon as she heard this. The officer pushed on. “We believe that she has escaped, due to the fact that those ponies targeted two fillies the next time, meaning that they lost their last target.” Rainbow fell to her haunches as the reality of what the officer was saying sank in. She blankly stared forwards as the officer continued.
“While it is good that she escaped, there is also now a good chance that she is hurt. We have no way of knowing how severely, but it all depends on how soon she escaped. I’m sorry ma’am.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her ears. She was a terrible parent. Her daughter’s life could be in danger, and she was here, doing nothing. She should be out there, looking for her. What good would it do though. For all she knows, Scootaloo could be…
Rainbow Dash couldn’t continue that train of thought any longer, as she broke down. She felt a comforting hoof on her shoulder, and then the floodgates opened. She threw her arms around Fluttershy’s neck, and sobbed into her chest as she pulled her marefriend close. She was so close to Scootaloo, and now… she may never see her again. Everyone in the room went silent. Rainbow’s breakdowns had become a relatively common occurrence lately, but with the new they had just learned, everyone else was on the verge of tears as well.
“Okay Scootaloo, thank you for that. Are you sure you can’t remember anything after that though?” the nurse had finished listening to Scootaloo’s story of how she had ended up here. It was not much help, and the details were fuzzy, but the nurse had enough to understand generally what had happened to her since she had arrived.
“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said, a crestfallen expression adorning her face as she racked her brain to remember more. “All I remember is falling, and then nothing.”
“Oh, don’t worry sweetie, no harm done. This is all I need.” the nurse got up and began to trot to the door.
“Wait!” Scootaloo called, stopping the nurse in her tracks, right as she was about to exit the room. “I remember something. Who brought me in here?” Scootaloo was practically giddy with excitement that was boiling over into her expression, which now bore a wide, toothy grin that rivaled that of even Pinkie Pie’s smiles. ’Could it have really been Rainbow Dash! Did she actually find me?’
The nurse looked back down at her clipboard that she had picked up and tucked beneath her wing on her way out. “Hmm, it doesn’t say here. I guess he decided not to give his name. This says he seemed to be in a hurry to leave after he dropped you off.”
Scootaloo’s expression dropped at the word “he”. The nurse clearly noticed this and made her way over to the bed to sit beside her. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll find her, and we’ll get you home. Nothing hurts me more than to see a filly separated from her mother. I promise you that we’ll have you back to her before you know it.”
Scootaloo was slightly reassured by this and lifted her head to meet the eyes of the nurse. “What’s your name?” Scootaloo asked nicely.
The nurse gave a calm smile before answering, “Tidal Wave.” Scootaloo liked this mare a lot. She reminded her of Rainbow Dash a lot. She had cyan blue fur, and magenta eyes matching Rainbow Dash’s, and their personalities were very similar. The main difference Scootaloo could spot was the mane. She had a very clean and neatly styled purple mane that curled at the ends. Not nearly as styled as Rarity’s but it was much neater than anything ever seen on Rainbow Dash.
The mare smiled, and gave Scootaloo a careful hug, taking care not to aggravate her injuries, before getting up and walking out of the room. Scootaloo did not see the tears fall from her eyes as she walked out of the room, her mind stuck on the terrible situation this filly was now in. “Whoever this Rainbow Dash is… she’s in for a surprise alright.”
***
Once Rainbow Dash had calmed down enough to walk, most of them had been taken to the police station. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight (of course), and Fluttershy had all come along. Pinkie Pie stayed behind with Applejack to wait for new on Applebloom.
They were sitting in what seemed to be a conference room at the station. The room housed a long black table, lined up and down the sides with chairs and then one more was placed at each end. There were easily over twenty seats. They picked some chairs near the end of the table closest to the exit. Two stallions walked in, with badges hanging on chains from their necks. Twilight did not recognize the badges, but that was to be expected with the new land.
One stallion, who seemed to be older, had a dark brown coat, and his mane was gray from old age, although it seemed to be more of a shiny silver. It was carefully styled and swept off to the right. His chiseled features and steely blue eyes spoke of experience and were a testament to the many years he had been doing this job.
The other stallion was much less noteworthy. He wore a black coat, and dark brown mane with a much younger, though not inexperienced, complexion. He remained standing, while the other stallion took a seat at the table head, clearly indicating who was in charge.
“So,” the older stallion spoke, his voice holding a gravelly texture, that once again spoke of experience and old age. “What brings you all here?”
“We’re… not entirely sure,” Twilight began. “I mean, we came to this land looking for Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash’s daughter, but we haven’t found her. We’re not entirely sure why we’re here though.”
“Well, maybe I can help with that,” this time it was the younger stallion who spoke. His voice much lighter than the older stallion’s, although it was not by any means joyful. “You all said you aren’t from this land?”
He received a nod of affirmation from the ponies gathered around the table. “Well, then I guess we should explain something. It is clear from what we have seen so far that where you come from all three pony races get along, correct?”
Another nod confirmed his suspicions. “Well, to say that tensions between the three races here are high would be putting it lightly. Everyone despises the other races. That is why they are separated… mostly at least.”
“What do you mean… separated?” Twilight asked, growing uneasy with this new development.
“This land is an island, and there are four major cities on it. There’s the cities of Seabreeze, Opeke, and then Zatoka, where you are now. The unicorns live in Opeke, the pegasi in Seabreeze, and earth ponies in Zatoka.”
“I thought you said there were four,” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“There are,” the older stallion spoke again and looked up at his partner. “The last city, Atlas, is the capital city. All of the leaders live there.” There seemed to be an undertone of indignation in his voice as he said this. This was duly noted by Twilight, as she continued to listen intently.
“But how does that work?” Rainbow Dash asked. “If all of the races are separated, then how do all of the leaders live together. Isn’t their leaders from every race?”
“No. That city is also, all pegasi.” He gave a long sigh, one that could only come from someone way beyond his years, who has seen way too much for one lifetime. “Anyways, let’s get back to the matter at hoof.”
The younger stallion took over speaking once again. “This is basically why you were brought here. In this land, there is a lot of hatred between the races, especially towards pegasi. The mare behind the counter noticed your pegasus friend here and assumed that she had harmed the filly. Because of this, we were called. It is clear now, that this is not the case.”
“Which brings us to another subject,” the older stallion was now addressing Twilight specifically. “What is your name?”
“My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, co-ruler of Equestria, and the Princess of Friendship, as well as the bearer of the element of magic… but you can just call me Twilight.” Twilight grinned sheepishly as she finished, realizing that she may have gone a bit overboard with her title.
“Well, that is certainly the lengthy title. I’m going to be completely honest and tell you that I hardly understood much of anything in it, but, I understood as much as I need to. You are a Princess, and a co-ruler of a land, that much is clear. I’m also going to waver a guess that the name of this land is Equestria?” They all nodded “Might I ask, who are the other rulers of this land?”
“Well, I am one of them,” Twilight began. “but then there is Princess Cadence, and then the two sisters, who are the main rulers of Equestria. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.”
Both of the officers froze. Their jaws moved up and down, but no words came out. Their eyes were the size of dinner plates, and they seemed to struggle to find words. They looked at each other. A look that spoke without the use of words. A look that said everything that needed to be said, yet at the same time said nothing at all. The older stallion gulped, before turning back to the group before him. “P-Princess Celestia?” His voice was now shaky and showed uncertainty that was not visible before, although he still hid it well.
Twilight simply nodded, curious as to what was the big deal about Celestia.
The younger officer spoke once again. “S-so… it is true.”
“Umm, excuse me. Four ponies still in the dark here,” Rainbow Dash said, an edge of impatience showing in her voice.
“Right, sorry,” the younger officer brought his attention back to the group as well. “Well, I guess this requires a bit of a story. There is a tale, passed down through many generations, of a time gone by. A time when we were once on a land far away from here. All three pony races lived relatively the same to the way they do here, although the pegasi lived in the clouds. It is said that one fateful evening, the three pony races were united under one flag. The two who were to rule this new land were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“While many thought this was great, there was a small group of ponies who did not want things to change. They liked things the way they were and were not about to cooperate with the other races. It’s kinda ironic, they agreed and cooperated to keep from cooperating with each other.” The officer gave a small chuckle before continuing.
“Anyway, they all got together and decided to leave. They built a boat, and took off from the shore, bound for a new land, where the old traditions could live on. Well, they eventually landed here and started a new land. That was thousands of years ago though, and most ponies don’t even believe the story anymore. Some hold onto hope that there is a land of equality out there, but not many. It’s hard to imagine a land like that when all anyone’s ever known is this.”
Twilight was speechless. “How come I never heard of this? I’ve studied all aspects of known history in Equestria? I would’ve remembered coming across something like that.”
“Well, I can’t imagine you would. The legends say that the ponies who originally came, did so in secrecy. They never told anyone else about it, and I guess no one ever figured it out.”
Twilight was absolutely floored. She had theories about this land’s origin and location, but this was definitely not one of them. She suspected an alternate universe at the most. Not THIS!
“I have to go tell Celestia about this, right now!”
“You’re going to leave us here while you run off to tell Celestia about this?!” Rainbow Dash seemed furious that her friend would just leave the rest of them there at a time like this.
“I have to! Celestia needs to know about this!”
The older officer cut in once again.
“Princess, I understand your concern, but it has already been thousands of years. What are another few days?”
“I-I… but…”
“But nothing Twilight. We need you, I need you, Scootaloo needs you. Stay here, help us. We can tell Celestia when we get back.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay. You got me Rainbow. I’ll stay, but I want to hear more about this place. All of the details.”
The older stallion gave a slight chuckle. “As I would like to hear all about your land, and there will be time for all of that later. Right now, I believe there is a much more pressing issue to discuss.” He faced Rainbow Dash. “Now, tell me about Scootaloo.”
A soft knock at the door roused Blazing Fire from his spot relaxing on the couch. “Coming!” he called, annoyed, before begrudgingly getting up and making his way to the door.
He threw the door open with a little bit more force than he had originally intended. “Yes,” he spat vehemently. Then he was who stood before him at his door this evening. “Tidal!” he called, raising a hoof to the smiling mare in front of him to invite her in for a hug. She accepted the hug, before following him inside.
“Hey dad,” she greeted as she made her way into the house. “Where’s mom at?”
Almost as if on cue, her mother appeared from the kitchen, where she had presumably been cooking dinner, based on the apron that she wore as she entered the room. “Is that who I think it is?” she asked jokingly as she walked up to her daughter. “Come here Tidy!” she said as she pulled her daughter in for a motherly hug, promptly suffocating her in the gesture of affection.
“M-mom!” she choked out. “C-can’t breathe…”
“Oh, sorry dear,” her mother said as she pulled away from the suffocating embrace, leaving Tidal Wave gasping for air. “You know I just like to see you. I didn’t know you were coming tonight. What brings you here?”
“Oh, so I need an excuse to come visit my folks?” she asked, putting on her best hurt expression. Her father simply shot her a deadpan glare in return. “Okay, fine, there’s a reason. How about we discuss it over dinner?”
“Sounds lovely to me honey,” her mother agreed. “Now, go get washed up, dinner is almost ready.
***
By now, the morning sun had raised, and light was pouring in from the hospital windows. The older mares had long since finished with the detectives and were now fast asleep in chairs along the wall of Applebloom’s room. Despite how interested they seemed to be in the newcomers and their tales of harmony and friendship among the races, they were not doing much. All they were told was that they would be contacted if anything came up.
They actually spent most of their time with the detectives talking about Equestria, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Rainbow Dash and was not appreciated by her either. In fact, as soon as they left the station, she stated that they weren’t going to just wait around for the detectives to come up with something, and instead were going to investigate some on their own. She, unsurprisingly, was met with little opposition or hesitation from the others, and it was quickly decided that they were going to keep looking. Before they went to sleep, they decided that they would come up with a plan in the morning, which was now quickly approaching.
Twilight was the first one up and quickly began to prepare a plan while she waited on the others to awake. Eventually, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were sitting next to each other, woke up, followed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and then Rarity. They decided to let Sweetie Belle and Applebloom sleep, so they kept their voices down in order to avoid unintentionally rousing them from their slumber.
“So,” Twilight began, pulling out a map that she had procured from one of the nurses early that morning. “We know that Scootaloo is probably hurt. This means that she is going to be seeking help. We know that if Scootaloo got help, then somepony would notice that she is a pegasus, and therefore doesn’t belong here. This means that she would most likely end up in a city that has pegasi.” They all nodded their heads, seemingly following along okay. “The detectives yesterday said that there are two cities for pegasi. One is the seaside city of Seabreeze, and the other one is the capital city, Atlas.”
“How do we know which one she is in?” Fluttershy asked, curious to see if she had thought of this yet.
“We don’t,” Twilight said sadly. “But, I may have an idea that will help with the problem of deciding where to look first.”
“Well, what is it?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I hope you don’t mean…”
Twilight sighed. Yes, that was exactly what she meant. She knew the others wouldn’t like the idea. Hay, she didn’t even like the idea. Nevertheless, it was for the best, because it would allow them to find Scootaloo the fastest. “Yes, I mean we should split up.”
“Are you nuts!” yelled Pinkie Pie. “We just got to this new crazy wacko land that has ponies all mad at each other and hating each other… and you want us to split up!”
“Yeah, I’m with Pinkie on this one,” agreed Rainbow Dash. “Splitting up could be dangerous. How would we even find each other later?”
“Everypony calm down!” Twilight urged, looking over her shoulder and hoping that Pinkie’s outburst hadn’t woken up the sleeping fillies. Luckily, it hadn’t. “Look, I know it’s not the best idea, but it’s the best idea we have. We need to find Scootaloo fast, and this way we can cover much more area quicker. Plus… we may not have a choice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow Dash asked, glancing down at the map that Twilight was now pointing at.
“Look here,” she said, pointing a hoof at a ring of mountains on the map. “This is where Atlas is. There is a valley behind these mountains, and that is where the City is. That wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but there is no road shown on this map, which means that there might not even be one.”
“So you’re saying that this city is only accessible by Pegasi?” Rainbow Dash asked, catching on to where Twilight was going with this.
“Right. Only you, Fluttershy, and I would be able to get up there.”
“So we split up? Three of us go to Atlas and three to Seabreeze?”
“That’s the best solution I can think of. We can find Scootaloo quicker, and we don’t have to worry about the pegasi not liking earth ponies or unicorns in the capital city. It will still be a problem in Seabreeze, but it shouldn’t be as serious of a problem as in the capital city.”
“But what about your horn darling?” Rarity asked, pointing out the obvious question everyone had been wanting to ask. “That’s sure to raise some questions is it not?”
“Right you are Rarity. This would probably raise even more questions than if a unicorn or earth pony ended up there, especially since it is clear that alicorns are a new thing for the ponies here.”
“So what are you gonna do?” Applejack asked.
“I’m going to hide it!” she exclaimed loudly, jumping up to her hooves as she did so, before reigning in her little burst of excitement. She gave a sheepish smile, and her cheeks showed red as she slunk back into her seat. “Ahem, yes. I’m going to cast a spell that hides my horn from sight. I can still use it if necessary, but it will be hidden from sight.”
“Whoah,” Rainbow Dash said, amazed. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Yeah, not many ponies can. I’m the only one I know of, apart from the princesses.”
“That’s so cool!” Rainbow Dash said. “Wait, won’t it look weird for a pony without a horn to use magic though?”
“It would, for sure. That’s why I’m not going to use my magic. It’s just good to know that it’s there if we need it in a dire situation. It will be an absolute last resort.” Twilight said, growing serious as she said this.
“Okay. Now what?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, first, are you three okay with this?” she asked, pointing a hoof at Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. “You don’t have to do this if you aren’t comfortable with it.”
“Don’t worry about us Sugarcube. We’ll be just fine. Ain’t that right?”
“Why of course darling. You mustn’t worry about us.”
“Yupperoonie!” chimed Pinkie Pie.
“Well, it’s settled then. As soon as we can get out of here, we’ll get to searching for Scootaloo,” Twilight said as she folded up the map.
“Alright!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Scoots! Here we come!”
They all visibly cringed at Rainbow Dash’s outburst, looking to see that the fillies who had once been sound asleep, were now stirring awake. “Ughh,” they all, but Rainbow Dash, groaned at the same time.
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her mane with a hoof. “Hehe… oops.”
***
The family of Tidal Wave, Blazing Fire, and Honeydew all sat together at the dinner table, enjoying a nice homecooked meal of hayburgers and asparagus. All was silent as they ate, with the family opting to simply enjoy eating a meal as a family in silence. Something they hadn’t done in years.
Eventually, everyone finished their meals and put down their silverware. Honeydew offered to do the dishes, and got up, taking everyone’s plates with her as she walked over to the sink and began rinsing the plates in the sink.
This left Tidal Wave and her father alone at the table to talk. “So honey, what’s wrong?” her father asked, clearly seeing through the front that she had put up.
She gave an exasperated sigh. “That easy to read huh?” she asked, slouching her shoulders and dropping her head.
Her father gave a hearty laugh, reaching over and placing a hoof on his daughter’s shoulder. “Sweetie, I’ve known you long enough to know when something’s bothering you, and whatever it is, it seems to be eating you up quite a bit.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” she said, sounding quite defeated and sad as she recalled the tale of the filly that had come into the hospital earlier that day. “There was this filly that came into the hospital today and was placed under my care. I feel so bad for the poor thing. The weird part was that I don’t think she’s even from the island. She told all these stories of the place where she lives, and it’s absolutely nothing like here. All the three pony races live in harmony, they live under four princesses, although only two are the main rulers, and she just went on and on about her home.”
At this point, her father’s expression had darkened, and he simply stared at her in silence, although she was so enraptured with remembering the details about the little pegasus that she didn’t take any notice of it. “That still wasn’t even the strangest part though. You’re probably wondering why she was in the hospital? She was foalnapped. She claims that these two ponies, one pegasus and one earth pony, brought her into their home for the night, then when she woke up the next morning fell down the stairs. She says she woke up in some sort of covered cart and was accidentally thrown from it when it hit a hole in the road. After that, all she remembers is falling, before being caught by some Rainbow blur before fainting.”
Blazing Fire’s face was now cold as stone, and his dead glare straight ahead could stare daggers through anypony. “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, when I looked at her file of information the hospital was able to find on her, I was shocked! I found out that sh—” Tidal Wave was cut off by her father’s hoof on her mouth, silencing her instantly.
“Honey, you haven’t told anyone else about her story of being foalnapped yet, have you?” A simple head-shake “no” was all he needed to continue. “Well don’t.” Her face grew very visibly concerned and confused at the same time from hearing this. “I know you want to report this, and normally you would, but in this case, you mustn’t tell another living soul.”
“Not even the government? I thought I should since it sounds so much like those two ponies they’re looking for that do this all the time.”
“ESPECIALLY NOT THE GOVERNMENT!” Blazing fire yelled, and judging by the sound of a plate shattering in the next room, he had yelled probably a little too loud. He sighed. “Look, honey, I know you want to help her, but I promise you that if the government finds out that she is alive and well after one of those attacks…”
Now it was Tidal Wave’s turn to place a hoof on his shoulder. “I think I get it, dad. No need to tell me more. I promise I won’t mention it to another soul,” she said, holding up her right forehoof to show that she was serious.
Her father looked up at her and smiled, silently thanking her for heeding his warning. ”Now I just need to figure out how to save her,” he thought as pieces of his grand plan slowly began to fall into place in his mind.
Just then, they looked up to see the rainbow mane and blue coat of her mother come out of the kitchen. Her cerise eyes met theirs as she entered the room. “Hey, sorry I took so long. Your father gave me quite a scare and I had to clean up a broken plate or two. No big deal. So, what were you two talking about that got your father to yell so loud?” she asked as she took a seat at the table.
Just then, it hit Tidal Wave. Why the pony that Scootaloo had described sounded so familiar, and another reason for her coming there in the first place. Her father, with his orange mane, yellow coat, and magenta eyes, did not remind her of the pony described at all, but her mother was a different story. It was like an exact model of what was described.
“Oh! That was the other thing I wanted to talk about! Mom, this filly that came in today was describing her mother to me. The way she described her was like she was describing you! Physically at least. The personality was way different, but she said she was a pegasus with the cyan fur, rainbow mane and tail, and magenta eyes. It’s just like you!”
Honeydew was stock still, not daring to even move a muscle, and barely even deciding to breathe. Her husband sat in a similar fashion next to her. A few minutes of silence later, Tidal Wave asked, “mom… are you okay?”
“What was her name?” she spat out very quickly and with force, catching Tidal Wave off guard.
“What?”
“I said… what was her name?” she asked, slower, but still filled to the brim with anger seeping into her voice.
“Uhh, Rainbow Dash, I think. Why?”
It was then that her mother fell out of her seat as she fainted.
It was early the next morning when everypony was getting ready to leave for the hospital. That was until a small design flaw in their plan caught up with them. “What do ya mean she can’t leave?!” Applejack yelled at the nurse behind the counter. They had long since discovered that it was much easier to only attempt to interact with ponies of the same race.
“I mean that she is too hurt to go anywhere right now. Her leg was severely broken. Look, miss, the best I can do is tomorrow morning, but she will have to wear a cast, and cannot put any weight on the leg at all.” Applejack sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere with this pony. She turned back to her friends, giving them a shrug, signaling her lack of success with the nurse.
She turned back to face the nurse pony. “Are ya sure that’s the earliest you can do?” she asked with silently pleading eyes. The nurse only gave a solemn nod in affirmation. It was clear the nurse couldn’t do anymore. She clearly didn’t like that she couldn’t help more, but she knew that Applebloom would never heal if she left now.
Sighing, Applejack turned around once again and made her way back to her friends, head hung low. “Nope. The best she can do is tomorrow morning, but we gotta be extra careful, and Applebloom won’t be able to put any weight on her hoof.”
A collective sigh was let out among the group. They knew there was nothing they could do. They needed to be sure that Applebloom would heal. “Go,” Twilight said, shocking everypony out of their silence.
“W-what?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I said go,” Twilight repeated. “The rest of us will stay and wait on Applebloom. You and Fluttershy need to go now.”
“No,” Rainbow Dash responded. “I won’t leave you all here. Not with Applebloom still hurt.”
“Rainbow Dash, you need to go. We can take care of Applebloom, but Scootaloo may not be able to take care of herself. You need to find her now.”
Rainbow Dash was about to protest more when a hoof on her shoulder stopped her. She looked over in time to see Fluttershy give one small, barely noticeable, nod.
Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat. “I feel like I’d be a bad pony for leaving you all here while Applebloom is hurt.”
Fluttershy stepped in front of Rainbow Dash and quickly wrapped her forelegs around her neck in a hug. “You stop right there Dash. You are a great pony, and we all know you would stay here to help Applebloom if you could, but Scootaloo needs you more. You need to go protect your daughter.”
Rainbow Dash returned the hug after the initial shock wore off. “Okay, let’s go.”
After a minute, the hug ended, and Twilight got up to lead the two out of the building. They quickly followed behind her, wanting to get going very early. Soon, they were outside in the crisp morning air outside the hospital. “That’s Atlas over there,” Twilight said as she pointed with a hoof to a chain of mountains.
Following Twilight’s hoof with her gaze, Rainbow Dash froze in awe and shock. She had no idea how she hadn’t noticed this before. It may have something to do with the fact that she was never out here in the daylight before, but still. These mountains were huge. They absolutely towered over everything around them, and they looked tall enough to touch the sky.
The peaks shined in the golden sunlight of the early morning sun, the water vapor of nearby clouds creating an almost heavenly sheen around them. The beautiful colors of the transitional morning sky finished painting the absolutely breathtaking picture.
It was several minutes later when Rainbow Dash broke free from her entranced state, hearing her name called through the thick fog that had clouded her mind while she stared upon the mountain range.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called louder, finally seeming to catch the attention of the entranced pegasus.
“Huh, what? Wha’d you say?” Twilight facehoofed.
“Rainbow, I have been telling you about the city for the past ten minutes! Ugh! Now I’ve gotta start all over again.” Twilight took a deep breath, preparing to enter “lecture mode” once again. That is until a cyan hoof over her mouth stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Look Twi, I appreciate the effort, but I think we’ll be fine if you just give us the quick summary.” Then spotting a pink wisp of hair being blown about by the morning breeze blown in from the ocean, she turned to see that Fluttershy was still lost in a trance, gaze fixed upon the mountain. There was a hint of confusion, and almost fear in her eyes, but it looks like the beauty of the landscape had won the mental battle that had clearly raged inside Fluttershy’s mind.
Sporting an evil grin, Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth, but before the alicorn could protest, she began making her way around the transfixed pegasus, slowly emerging right in front of her. Her grin only growing bigger, she leaned in towards her still oblivious marefriend, and slowly but surely, softly connected their lips in a loving kiss.
Almost immediately, Fluttershy snapped out of it, regaining some form of mental coherency. At first, her mind was drawing a blank. Having gone so quickly from taking in the beautiful scenery to a face full of an assortment of colors, she was confused as to what she was looking at. The realization of a soft pressure on her lips was what really brought her back into reality, enabling her to at least form complete thoughts in her head. That ability did not last long though, as she realized exactly what was happening. ”WAIT! IS DASH KISSIN—”
As soon as she realized what was going on, her muscles tensed and her legs locked up, while a massive blush flooded into her face, not even sparing her ears, as they too became a victim to the embarrassment. All she managed to do was let out a startled “Eep!” as she toppled over onto the ground, landing flat on her side, still frozen in shock, with her legs locked out from her body.
Dash barely suppressed a chuckle as she bent her head down to meet Fluttershy’s paralyzed gaze. “Wow, I knew I was stunning, but come on,” she said, barely able to hold back her laughter.
Fluttershy was finally able to shake herself free from her daze. Standing up, she shot a glare at Rainbow Dash. “Haha! Very funny Rainbow Dash.” She turned away from Rainbow Dash, before plopping down onto her haunches, raising her snout in an indignant ‘huff’.
Rainbow Dash wore an upset frown, she hadn’t meant to make Fluttershy mad. She cautiously made her way over to where Fluttershy sat. She nuzzled the pegasus’ cheek, causing the already massive blush to grow more intense. “Flutters, I’m sorry, you just look so cute when you’re all flustered,” she said in a whisper, to keep her usage of the c-word away from any prying ears.
Fluttershy let out another ‘hmph’, letting Dash know just how she felt about Dash’s apology. “Flutters!” Dash said in a low whine. “I-I just—” just as Dash leaned in to nuzzle her marefriend once more, she was cut off by a pair of buttermilk yellow lips being pressed against hers.
Fluttershy saw her chance for revenge and took it. As soon as the cyan pegasus leaned in for another nuzzle, the quickly sprung into action, jumping up and spinning around at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, were she not on the receiving end of this joke.
Before Rainbow Dash could even register that anything was happening, she was feeling Fluttershy’s soft lips pressing against her own. Her body melted into the kiss as her mind faded away to nothing, leaving nothing but a blushing, bumbling mess when Fluttershy finally pulled away from the kiss.
Fluttershy had to stifle her chuckles behind a hoof. “Who’s cute now featherbrains?” she asked sarcastically as she made her way around Dash, flicking her tail to smack Dash in the nose with it as she passed.
Rainbow Dash could barely think, much less breathe. She was completely stunned, just as Fluttershy had been mere moments ago. She was completely lovestruck, not even noticing the passage of time until she felt a soft tail flick over her nose. Scrunching her snout up in recoil at the sudden tickling sensation on her nose, she shook her head to clear it of the fog that had once again returned to cloud her mind. ”Did she just… nah, probably just my imagination.”
Quickly turning to join her marefriend, Rainbow Dash cantered over to where Fluttershy was standing with Twilight, waiting on her. As she approached, she shot a quick look over at Fluttershy that said, “This isn’t over,” letting her know that they would resume their little game of cat and mouse at a later date. She had attempted to do this in a serious and awesome manner, but the barely suppressed giggles from her marefriend proved that she had not done as good of a job as she had hoped.
She finally stood by her marefriend, only now realizing that Twilight had been talking the whole time. “Ahh, Rainbow Dash, how good of you to join us. I was only filling Fluttershy in on what you two need to know for your journey, and while I do find your antics with Fluttershy adorable, please just let me finish talking first.” This, expectedly, earned a huge blush from both pegasi, who had forgotten that Twilight was just behind them, watching during that whole exchange. All they could manage was a curt nod for the alicorn before them.
“Thank you. Now, as I was attempting to say before, there is only one main hospital in the city, which is probably where you should begin your search. This would be Atlas City General Hospital. It’s right near the center of the city and has a massive red cross on one of the towers, so you can’t miss it.” While Fluttershy was listening intently to this speech, Rainbow Dash was a little more… distracted.
When Twilight had begun talking, Rainbow Dash had draped a wing over Fluttershy’s back. This earned a light blush and a nuzzle from the yellow pegasus before she returned her focus back to the lecture being given to them. Rainbow Dash, trying a little too hard to find something other than Twilight’s lecture to focus on, felt something brush up against her tail. Then again, and then again. Something was repeatedly brushing up against her tail. Turning her head, she tried to find the source of it.
That’s when she noticed the soft pink tail, subconsciously swishing back and forth next to her, occasionally bumping into her own tail. Now blushing madly, Rainbow Dash focused her gaze back on Twilight, before reaching out with her own tail, and intertwining it with Fluttershy’s.
The massive blush on Fluttershy’s face, along with the small, panicked, ‘eep!’ she gave, indicated that Fluttershy had realized what she was doing, and likely was no longer able to pay attention to anything going on around her. Due to this, Rainbow Dash decided to once again bring her attention back to the purple alicorn mare in front of her, so they didn’t miss anything important. Although Twilight could sometimes ramble a bit, there was a good chance that you could get a good bit of useful information out of that pony, even if you had to go through the boring lectures to get it.
“And that’s really all you need to know,” Twilight finished.
”Oh, oops,” Rainbow thought, realizing she was a little too late. ”Oh, well. I bet Fluttershy got more from that than I did.”
Realizing it was time for them to get going, she retracted her wing and tail from the object of her affection, not hearing the small, pained whimper that this action caused.
Walking over to Twilight, she wrapped her in a huge hug, which was soon followed by Fluttershy, all of them sitting there in a group hug, relishing in the last moment they may be with each other for a while. “Be safe,” Twilight whispered.
“Of course,” Fluttershy whispered back.
“You know it,” Rainbow Dash added in.
Soon, they all stepped back from the hug, and it was time for them to leave. “Please be safe you two, and good luck. Oh, and Rainbow, if you two are in trouble and need help, you know what to do. We’ll be there before you can even blink.”
Rainbow knew exactly what Twilight meant, giving Twilight one more hug before she made her way over to Fluttershy. Standing directly in front of her, she uttered one line, “Let’s go save Scoots,” before planting a loving kiss on her marefriend’s lips and giving one strong flap of her wings, lifting her up into the air. With an affectionate smile from Fluttershy as she flapped her wings to join her, Rainbow Dash took off, flapping her wings harder and harder, as she pulled up and into a loop. She felt the familiar pressure building up around her, and right as she was facing directly up… it broke.
The pressure burst, releasing a shockwave of colors all around her that could be seen for miles. As she came around in an arc towards her marefriend, flying much slower beneath her, a rainbow trail of colors following her as she did, there was only one thought in her mind. ”I’m coming, Scoots.”
Blazing Fire was seething with rage. His normally well-contained anger was boiling up to the surface, and it was showing. His teeth were bared, his eyes were narrowed, and his eyebrows were angled furiously, showing the intensity of his anger. Tidal Wave could have sworn she could even see a vein throbbing in his forehead.
She wasn’t really focusing on details though, she was stunned, and she had no idea what to do. She melted under her father’s scorn, brought about by some unknown trigger. It probably had something to do with why her mother was now laying on the floor unconscious. You know what, yeah, it definitely has something to do with that.
“D-dad?” she questioned cautiously, slinking back into herself as she felt her father’s eyes boring into her soul.
“HOW COULD YOU?!” he yelled with similar intensity and volume to the Royal Canterlot voice of the two princesses, startling Tidal Wave into jumping so high she could almost touch the ceiling, which she was convinced was shaking from the rumble of her father’s voice.
Her father took a very slow, threatening step towards his slowly retreating daughter. “I don’t know how you managed to find out about that,” he seethed through his teeth, taking a step closer as he did. “BUT,” he said, bringing his other hoof forward and slamming it down in one quick motion as he bellowed, “IT IS NOT FUNNY!” his hoof impacted the ground at the same time he spat the last word from his mouth, punctuating his statement with fury.
When her father had finished speaking, it took a moment for her to register the tears cascading down her cheeks that had been flowing freely from her eyes. She recognized the sound of sobs but did not register that she was the one making the noises, nor did she notice the fact that she had fallen was now curled up on the floor, shaking and cowering behind her hooves hiding her face in fear of the pony in front of her… her own dad.
Although Tidal Wave didn’t notice her own reactions, her father did. Tears welling up in his own eyes and threatening to spill over, a battle of conflicting emotions raged on in his mind. A war of feelings, torn between one pony and another. It wasn’t as simple as which one mattered more to him. No, it was much more complicated than that. A father’s love cannot be quantified. It is immeasurable, and cannot be judged.
Eventually, after way too long of a pause, he came up with a compromise. He still needed to pursue the issue that had started this argument in the first place, but he could do it without scaring his daughter to death. For all he knew, she really had no idea. He couldn’t be sure if he didn’t ask.
Tidal Wave’s cries had slowed down in the duration of this pause, and there was now only the occasional sniffle. The tears still came, but they came at a much slower rate, now only a calm trickle. Her mind had once again begun working, and she had lowered her hooves to lay her head on them, crying softly as thoughts raced through her mind. Above all else was one question though, that stood out from the rest: ”Why?”. Granted, it was very vague, but it covered all of the thoughts jumbled up her head. ”Why did Mom pass out? Why did Dad get so mad? Why? Why…” her thoughts trailed off, replaced by a sort of static fuzz as her father lay down next to her, draping a wing over her back.
Childhood memories came flooding back to her, and, almost as if on instinct, she turned her head, and buried her head into his chest, openly crying once more. ”Why am I crying!? I’m not sad… or at least, I don’t think so? What is wrong with me?!”
“Shh,” he cooed, running a hoof through her mane and attempting to calm her down. “It’s okay, It’s okay.” He continued running his hoof through her mane, all the while whispering into her ear in an attempt to calm her shaking. Eventually, she managed to calm down once again, and just as she did, she felt a hoof placed on her back from the other side.
She gasped softly, turning to be met with the loving, but tear-stained and red-eyed face of her mother. She then leaned in, softly nuzzling her daughter’s head, surrounding her in a furry and feathery embrace of parental love. For a moment, it was like Tidal Wave was back in her childhood home, once again a little filly wrapped up in her parent’s embrace. In that moment, she was no longer a grown mare. She was a helpless little filly, relishing in the protective embrace of her loving parents.
All good things have to come to an end though, and to her dismay, so did this moment. Ending far too soon, although it had really lasted for at least twenty minutes, her mother and father slowly retreated from the tight embrace as the feelings from before came rushing back to quickly replace the fleeting childhood memories, and feelings, once again leaving a full-grown mare, lying on the floor on the verge of tears, flanked on both sides by her parents.
“We have to talk,” her father said softly as soon as he had retreated from the embrace.
“There’s… something we need to tell you. Something we should’ve told you a long time ago,” her mother finished with a shaky voice, clearly approaching a tough subject for her.
Tidal Wave raised an eyebrow. “Mom? Dad?”
***
Scootaloo opened her eyes in bed. She was still stuck in the hospital, and probably was going to be for a while. She had been told to get some sleep all day, and had been trying, but had been unable, until late that night, when she had eventually just passed out from being so tired. That did not at all explain why she had suddenly awoken, her heart racing, and an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The clock on the wall read 1:37, which was confirmed by a quick glance to the pitch black darkness just outside. ”knock”. Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin. “H-hello? Is anypony there?” she asked shaking in fear. That had to have been what had awoken her. There was no way her mind was playing tricks on her, that sounded too real. Unless she was dreaming. “Princess Luna?” she called. Nothing.
No reply, no sound… nothing. Looking around the wall of her room, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, she couldn’t see much of anything. There was only darkness. Darkness, and silence. That’s when it hit her. There shouldn’t be darkness or silence. She remembered the annoying light and beeping sound of the heart monitor as she had tried to go to sleep. She had been allowed to turn off the other lights, which helped, but the incessant beeping in her ears almost drove her crazy!
Now, in the dead of the night, the thing that she had wished so badly would shut off, finally had, and she wanted it on again. It wasn't even attached to her anymore. In fact, Scootaloo couldn't even see it in the room. She had no idea where it had gone, or what that knocking sound was, but she didn't care. She did not want to be there anymore.
She attempted to gather the courage to get up and go to the door, but before she could, she turned her head to the sound of the door opening, and the blinding light pouring in from the hall, causing her to have to squint her eyes. The door shut once more, revealing a familiar pegasus. “Tidal Wave!” Scootaloo called, forgetting all about her irrational fear from before.
“Hey there Scootaloo, how are you doing?” Tidal Wave asked, calmly making her way forward and wrapping a hoof around Scootaloo, pulling her into a caring hug, while still taking care not to hurt the injured filly any further. There was hardly any light coming in from the bottom of the door, and even less coming from the moon outside the window, but there was just barely enough to see by, making Scootaloo realize that the room had not been quite as dark as it had seemed before.
“I’m okay,” Scootaloo lied, completely keeping her fears to herself.
Tidal Wave reluctantly pulled away from the hug. That’s when Scootaloo noticed how red and puffy her eyes were. Even in the dark hospital room, she could see that she had been crying, and quite a lot at that. Sadly, the look had become all too familiar for Scootaloo, especially in her own reflection. “Have you been crying?” Scootaloo asked, concerned for her new friend.
Tidal Wave reached a hoof up to her eye, wiping away fresh tears that had formed, looking down at the little filly with a look of deep emotion in her eyes. Scootaloo couldn’t quite place what emotion she was seeing in the mare’s eyes. Could it be longing? Hoping? Caring? She really didn’t know, but it made Scootaloo want to reach out and hug her, so she did. She didn’t know why, but she did.
“Don’t worry about it sweetie,” she said after a minute. “Come on, we’ve got to go,” she said, pulling away and offering a wing for her to climb up onto her back.
Scootaloo clambered onto her back without hesitation. “Where are we going?” she asked, wondering why she needed to go anywhere, when just the day before, she had been told she wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.
“I’ll explain later,” she said as she walked over to the window. “Can you hold on okay?” She asked, turning her head. The filly nodded her head. “Alright, let’s go,” she said, taking off out of the room with one deft flap of her wings, not even bothering to close the window behind her.
Scootaloo would’ve wondered why they were going out the window. She would’ve wondered why they were even leaving the hospital in the first place, and for a minute, she was questioning these things. That is until Tidal Wave jumped out of the window, and spread her wings to catch them from the fall. Instantly, Tidal Wave’s wings rocketed out, jolting them upwards as they caught on the air around them, instantly slowing their fall.
Tidal Wave flapped her wings, going faster and faster as she cut through the cold and crisp late night sky. Without even realizing she was doing it, Scootaloo began cheering and shouting in joy, encouraging her to go faster. There was something familiar about the way this pegasus flew, and for a minute, there was no Tidal Wave in Scootaloo’s mind. In her mind, Scootaloo was back home, on her mom’s back, the wind flowing through her mane and tail as she sped along through the sky. She was invincible again. Untouchable by anything that couldn’t keep up with her, and safe from anything that could. Her fearless and perfect protector was back by her side.
And then it all ended. Scootaloo felt her mom slowing down, before snapping back to reality as they came to a landing, shaking her head to clear the mental images still clouding her mind. She would be lying if she said she didn’t want to cry after that. She would be lying if she said she was fine. She would be lying if she said that at that moment, she didn’t want to be with her mom more than anything else. “Scootaloo, are you okay?” Tidal Wave asked, interrupting Scootaloo’s train of thought as she showed just how good she was at telling when something was wrong.
“I’m fine,” Scootaloo said. There was no hint of sadness in her voice, as there often was when she was lying. In fact, there was no emotion in her voice at all. It was very monotone and sounded more like somepony who was giving up than it did a pony who was sad. Tidal Wave didn’t know which one hurt her worse to hear. On the one hoof, she hated seeing her sad, but it was better than not showing any emotions at all. She wouldn’t let Scootaloo give up. She couldn’t let her give up.
Carefully letting Scootaloo down onto the ground with a wing, she turned around, facing the small filly with tears in her eyes. Scootaloo was confused. ”Why is she crying? Did I do something wrong? I probably did. What’s wrong with me? I mess everything up. I can’t do anything right.” Scootaloo’s head dropped in shame. She had just become friends with Tidal Wave, and she really liked her. She was so nice! She didn’t want to lose this new friend already. “Scootaloo,” she said, snapping her out of her reverie. “It’s okay to be sad.” Scootaloo was shocked. ”What? Where did that come from? What does she mean?” “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to need a hug sometimes, but please... never give up. I could hear it in your voice. There’s always a reason to keep going.” the nurse was silently crying now as she sat before Scootaloo.
“B-but how do I? Why would I? Every time I think about her, I get all s-sad a-and I w-wanna cry. I’m t-tough, I c-can’t b-be cry-ing all the t-time.”
“Scootaloo, it’s okay to cry. We all have to cry every now and then. If we don’t then we’re just holding those emotions inside, and it’s not good for you to do that. We all need to let our emotions loose at times.”
“B-but I’m c-cry-ing all the t-time n-now. Mom-ma n-never cr-ies.”
“It’s okay. I guarantee you that even your Mom is crying a lot without you there. I promise you Scootaloo, she would not care that you are crying. She loves you and misses you. All she wants is to see you again.”
There was a silent pause from Scootaloo, as she attempted to hold back the tears that she knew were coming. “What if… w-what if she isn’t?”
“What was that sweetie, I can’t hear you, you need to speak up.”
“I said, what if she isn’t crying… What if, I’m just a burden to her too, just like to my last parents! They didn’t want me, so why would she!” Scootaloo screamed, wanting to stomp her hoof on the ground, but unable to from her injuries. Then, as she was standing there, seething in anger, neither of them saying a word, she stopped, right before it all hit her, it came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks, and she collapsed. Collapsed right into Tidal Wave’s waiting arms and she began sobbing. All of the emotions that she had been holding back up to this point came flooding out of her in one massive wave of emotion.
Tidal Wave had been expecting this to happen, and gladly reached out with her hooves to comfort the saddened filly. She pulled her close to her chest, stroking her hoof down her back as she cradled the poor, defenseless filly that she knew was underneath the hard shell exterior that she put up. This was no, brave, fearless filly. This was what was underneath. Insecurities, doubt, sadness, pain... and most of all, vulnerability. She hated being vulnerable because it made her feel like she needed others. Her past has not let her trust very many others, so she put up a front to make even herself think that she didn’t need others.
But in that moment, that barrier was gone. The vulnerable little filly that was hidden from view at most times was in plain view, and was being cradled in her arms. She sat there for a significant amount of time, holding her, comforting her, and protecting her. Making her feel safe.
Eventually, Scootaloo calmed down some, and she was able to finish their conversation. “I know she is. She’s very sad and misses you a ton because she loves you. I don’t even have to meet her, and I can already tell that you’re her whole world. There is nothing that matters more to her than you.”
This seemed to help Scootaloo a bit, and she was able to sit up. A little bit embarrassed by her own outburst, she had a light tinge of red on her cheeks, matching the red and puffiness of her eyes. In all actuality, she was a wreck, but in Tidal Wave’s eyes, she could see what her mother must see. An absolutely adorable little filly, who deserved all the love in the world. “And let’s be honest, how could she not love such an adorable little filly,” she said with a smirk, already knowing what reaction to expect.
“H-hey! I’m not adorable!” Scootaloo shouted, her cheeks exploding into a fiery red blush. “I’m tough!” she shouted as she stood up and puffed her chest out. The effect was lessened by the fact that she still had to keep weight off of one hoof, but she tried nonetheless. Tidal Wave just laughed softly.
“Okay, if you say so. Now come on, we’re almost there,” she said, reaching her wing back down for Scootaloo to climb on once again. Scootaloo climbed back on without further argument, and she began to walk forward.
Quickly looking up to see where they were going, Scootaloo noticed the house they were walking up to. “Is this your house?” Scootaloo asked.
“Close, it’s my parent’s place.” She reached up a hoof and knocked on the door three times. “I’m going to introduce you to my folks.”
“Cool!” Scootaloo said, clearly excited to meet some new friends. Especially the parents of Tidal Wave! If Tidal Wave was this nice, they had to be too!
A moment later, the door was opened to reveal two ponies, both with eyes matching their daughter’s, and, Scootaloo recognized, Rainbow Dash. The stallion had a yellow coat and a wild orange mane. The mare made Scootaloo stop in her tracks, and almost made her faint instantly. The cyan blue fur of the mare’s coat was a perfect match to Rainbow’s, and except for the neat and well-kept style of her mane and tail, they were to exact same as well. That mix of rainbow colors, cyan fur, and magenta eyes stared back at Scootaloo, being almost like a weird dream.
“You might want to close your mouth sweetie, you’ll catch flies,” the mare said with a laugh. The voice that came from the Rainbow Dash lookalike was the one major difference apart from the way the mane was styled that Scootaloo could tell, being the only reason she didn’t really think that this was the real Rainbow Dash in front of her. Well, that wasn’t completely true. This pony looked much older than Rainbow Dash as well. Like, a lot older. Almost old enough to be her mom, if Scootaloo had to guess.
Scootaloo shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her hooves, thinking that she was seeing things. Nope, she wasn’t. It was real.
All the ponies around her laughed at the display. “Scootaloo, this is my dad, Blazing Fire, and my mom, Honeydew.”
“Hello Scootaloo, it’s good to meet you,” Honeydew said, although Scootaloo still remained silent. Scootaloo looked at Tidal Wave, who had turned to look at her.
“It’s okay Scootaloo,” she whispered. “I know she looks a lot like your mom. Pretty cool coincidence, huh?” she said, not wanting to lie to her, but not really seeing any other choice.
“YEAH!” Scootaloo said, jumping down from her back instantly in excitement. Although, when she hit the ground, she fell, overcome by the pain in her injured leg that she had momentarily forgotten about.
“Scootaloo!” Tidal Wave yelled, rushing up next to the filly who was now on the ground in pain. “Are you okay! I thought you knew to keep your weight off of that!” she scolded. She placed a hoof on the back of Scootaloo’s head, softly rubbing her head with a hoof to comfort her as she waited for the pain to lessen.
“I’m good,” Scootaloo said after a moment as the waves of pain receded. “Sorry, I guess I just got excited,” she said with a sheepish smile.
“It’s okay,” she replied, returning the smile. “Here, let me help you,” she said, scooping the filly up in her hooves and lifting to her wings. “Mom, dad?”
“Oh, right in here honey,” her mom said, walking back inside after a moment, clearly taken aback by her daughter’s skill with the filly.
She hovered inside, following her parents over to a couch in the front room of the house, she carefully set the embarrassed Scootaloo down on the couch, keeping her off of her injured hoof. “Thanks,” Scootaloo said with a sheepish smile and a small blush.
“You’re welcome Scootaloo. Now, dad,” she said, turning to face her father standing beside her. “Would you like to take her and have me wait here, or would you rather wait here while I go and take her? I have some vacation time saved up anyway.”
Her father seemed to think about this for a minute. “You know, I was going to say that it would be better if I take her since I know the ponies there so well, but after seeing how much she has taken to you, I think you should take her,” he said with a confident smile and a nod.
“Okay, thanks,” she said, only blushing slightly at the compliment.
“No problem honey. You two better get going. When you get there, go to the bakery. Tell the pony behind the counter that Brown Fox sent you, and you would like five rainbow pies.”
Even Tidal Wave seemed confused by this. “Uhh…”
“Just do it,” he said, before handing her a note. “Also, give them this. They will provide somewhere for her to stay. Just stay there with her until I arrive.”
Turning to face a thoroughly confused Scootaloo, Tidal Wave reached out with a wing, ready for Scootaloo to climb on before her mother picked up the filly and placed her on her back, not wanting her to get hurt anymore. “Thanks,” Scootaloo said, nervously, still thrown off by the mare’s looks.
“Where are we going?” Scootaloo asked as they began walking for the door.
“I’ll explain more on the way, okay?”
“Okay,” Scootaloo resigned. They stopped at the door and turned to say goodbye.
“Bye, mom. Bye dad,” Tidal Wave called.
“Bye!” Scootaloo also called.
“Bye, you two! Be safe!” Honeydew called.
“I’ll be there soon!” Blazing Fire called.
With that, they turned and left, shutting the door behind them as they once again took off into the night sky, Scootaloo settling in for a long flight.
***
Blazing fire sat outside of the hospital, sitting on a bench inconspicuously, secretly staring off into the sky in the direction of the coastal city of Zatoka. He had gotten out there early that morning and had been waiting ever since.
It was a little while later when a rainbow flash caught his attention. Turning his head towards it, he saw a rainbow trail streaking defiantly through the air.
The early morning sun was just poking out from behind the mountains, bathing the landscape in a warm orange glow. Scootaloo lifted her head as the bright rays of early morning sun disrupted her sleep. Scootaloo let out a loud yawn as her eyes fluttered open.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Tidal Wave said in a sing-song voice.
“Where are we?” Scootaloo asked through the early morning fuzziness that clouded her mind.
“We’re just about to pass over the mountains. Take a look.”
Scootaloo’s mouth dropped open in shock as she stared in awe at the snow-tipped peaks that jutted up into the sky around them. Her eyes were glazed over in amazement.
”They’re so beautiful! And so big!” Scootaloo thought as her mouth stretched into a wide grin, her head darting around at incredible speeds as she tried to take in every last bit of the view.
Tidal Wave chuckled. “Careful sweetie, you don’t want to fall,” she warned.
“But, they’re so beautiful! Have you ever seen this before?” Scootaloo asked.
“I have actually. My dad used to take my sister and I up here all the time when I was a filly. We would find a cloud to sit on and watch the sunrise together,” she said with a large smile.
“Wow!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “That sounds cool! Your dad must be pretty awesome!”
“Yeah, he is,” she agreed.
“Wait a second, did you say you have a sister? Where is she? I wanna meet her,” Scootaloo said, bouncing up and down, an even bigger grin now plastered on her face.
Tidal Wave didn’t say anything, her only response being the slowing of her wings to a slow, steady flapping, just barely enough to hover in the air. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
“Tidal Wave? You okay?” Scootaloo asked.
Scootaloo heard a sniffle, before seeing Tidal Wave reach a hoof up to wipe her eyes.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just…” Tidal Wave sighed. “I’m sorry Scootaloo, it just makes me sad to think about her.”
Scootaloo’s eyes shot open. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it, it’s just, I was just, but I—”
“Scootaloo!” Tidal Wave exclaimed. “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t know, I don’t even remember her that well anyway. Only bits and pieces, and not even up until recently,” she said somberly.
“Oh… I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said quietly.
Tidal Wave looked back at her with a warm smile.
“It’s okay, really.” Tidal Wave said with a small smile as she looked out into the horizon.
“Hey, look, we’re almost there.” Scootaloo followed Tidal Wave’s gaze to a small, rundown town near the edge of the mountains, nestled in between the hills.
It was approximately the size of Ponyville. Unlike Ponyville though, a lot of the buildings were old and worn down. There were very few ponies that could be seen moving about, and it was eerily quiet.
A shiver ran down Scootaloo’s back as they approached the town. ”I don’t like this, something’s off here,” Scootaloo thought.
“Calm down, it’s okay,” Tidal Wave said, alerting Scootaloo to the fact that she had taken up a death grip around her neck. “I know it looks scary, but they’re all really nice, I promise.”
“Okay,” Scootaloo said softly.
A short while later, they were gliding in for a landing in the middle of the town, as there were very few ponies outside, giving them a relatively clear landing strip.
After they had landed, Tidal Wave began walking, turning her head to scan the rows of buildings and shops that lined the streets.
“What are you looking for?” Scootaloo asked as she too began to observe the passing buildings.
“I’m looking for a shop. My father said to find the bakery, so I believe that’s where we should start.”
“Oh, okay,” Scootaloo said as she nodded in agreement. She then focused her eyes and stuck her neck out, bringing a hoof up to her forehead in a dramatic gesture. This earned a chuckle from Tidal Wave.
“I see it! I see it!” Scootaloo exclaimed, jumping up and down while pointing with a hoof in the direction of an old, rundown building with a tattered old sign hanging above the door labeled ‘Bakery’.
“Good job, Scootaloo!” Tidal Wave exclaimed with a smile, turning towards the building. “Come on, let’s get inside and figure out what we’re doing here.”
They made their way over to the building and walked inside. They entered a room with tables and chairs spread out among the space. There was a counter at the back of the room with a display case for the various treats and desserts sold by the bakery. There were a few ponies sitting at various tables around the room, and as they entered, all eyes turned to them.
”Whoah, that’s creepy,” Scootaloo thought, noting all of the stares suddenly cast upon them. She shrunk back a bit on Tidal Wave’s back, making a terrible attempt at hiding.
Tidal Wave had noticed the odd looks as well, and had momentarily paused, hoping they would look away. When they did not, however, she simply continued walking up to the counter, ignoring them for the time being.
She approached the stallion behind the counter, who was also staring them down, and tried to give him her friendliest smile.
“Can I help you?” the stallion asked harshly.
Tidal Wave, who was thrown off by this, took an involuntary step backwards as the smile faded from her lips.
“Uhh, I think so. I was supposed to say that Brown Fox sent me?” she more asked than stated.
The stallion’s eyes opened wide and his face lit up as he smiled. The hushed whispers around them indicated that it was not an unfamiliar name around here.
“Ah, yes, of course! What did he send you for?” the stallion’s tone was now much friendlier.
”That’s more like it,” Tidal Wave thought, her smile returning as she stepped back up to the counter.
“He has sent me to get some Rainbow Pies.” The stallion’s smile only grew wider.
“Ah, his favorite. How many should I get you? Just one?”
“No, we’ll take five please,” Tidal Wave stated calmly.
The stallion behind the counter though… he was a different story. The very words almost knocked him off of his hooves, causing him to reel back in surprise.
“F-five!?” he shouted after a very awkward moment of silence.
“Er, yes? Is there a problem?” Tidal Wave asked suspiciously.
The stallion behind the counter did not answer for a moment as he took deep breaths, animating his breaths with a hoof.
”Hey, I’ve seen Twilight do that before! Cool! But wait, what’s got him all worked up? We’re just asking for pies,” Scootaloo thought. A moment later, the stallion seemed to calm down enough to at least talk.
“N-no, of course not,” he said shakily before opening up a door, providing access to the area behind the counter. “Please, come on back.”
Cautiously, Tidal Wave took a step forward to make her way behind the counter, before she was stopped by a tugging on her hair. She looked up to the young filly she was carrying on her back.
“I-I don’t like this,” Scootaloo whispered shakily. “Something’s wrong.”
“I know, sweetie, just stay with me. You’ll be okay, I promise.” Scootaloo nodded, and Tidal Wave turned back towards the stallion, still waiting patiently for them behind the counter. She nodded, and then made her way back behind the counter. The stallion turned and walked through a door leading to another room in the back.
They entered the room, which was completely bare, save for a single circular table surrounded by chairs placed in the corner of the room. They crossed the room and made their way down a flight of stairs. The stairs were old and wooden with most of them creaking loudly as they were stepped on. The stairway was dimly lit by a single dull light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
They stepped down off of the stairs and were led down a hallway, just as dimly lit as the stairs.
”Great,” Scootaloo thought. ”A creepy staircase followed by a creepy hallway. What’s next, a creepy dark room full of shady ponies?”
A moment later, they turned out of the hallway into another room on their right. The first thing that they noticed was the overall darkness of the room.
There was, once again, a single, dim, light bulb placed directly overhead in the center of the room. This time, instead of there being one table in the corner though, there were multiple tables scattered about the room. Each table was surrounded by ponies. It was mostly stallions, although there were some mares mixed in there too.
Scootaloo mentally facehoofed. ”Are you BUCKING kidding me!?” Internally, she was fuming, although externally was pretty much the exact opposite.
She was bunched up as small as she could be on Tidal Wave’s back, attempting to hide behind strands of Tidal Wave’s blue mane. She was shaking visibly, and as they entered the room, she covered her eyes and buried her face deeper in Tidal Wave’s mane.
One mare near the front got up as they entered and approached the stallion from behind the counter.
“Brown Fox sent them” he said, causing the mare’s ears to perk up in surprise. “It’s not good. T-L five.”
“Buck,” the mare whispered under her breath. “Alright, let’s see what this is all about.” She then turned towards Tidal Wave and Scootaloo. “Did Brown Fox send you with anything?” the mare asked.
“Y-yeah,” Tidal Wave said shakily, grabbing a slip of paper from her saddlebags and handing it to her.
The mare took the slip of paper with her wing, and held it up to her face. At first, she seemed to keep the same, dark look as before, but after a minute or two of her eyes scanning the page, her face lit up in excitement and surprise, before she lowered her wing, and tucked the paper in underneath it.
“Well,” she said, looking up on Tidal Wave’s back at Scootaloo who she had failed to notice before. “Who is this that we have here?” Scootaloo’s only response was to shrink down even further.
“That’s Scootaloo,” Tidal Wave said with a nervous smile. “I was told you would have somewhere for us to stay.”
“Why of course we do. Now, please tell me, what is it that brought you here in the first place?”
“Well, Scootaloo here was brought into the hospital that I work at with quite a few injuries. Her front left hoof is still broken, which is why she’s on my back right now.”
“Okay, that explains that, but why didn’t she just stay in the hospital.”
”I know I wouldn’t have minded that!” Scootaloo screamed mentally.
“Well, I’m not too sure myself honestly. I was talking to ‘Brown Fox’ and he told me to take her here after I told him what happened to her.”
“Well, what exactly happened?”
“She was taken by a couple of ponies from the beach.” A series of loud gasps erupted around the room. “I mean, it’s a little bit more complicated than that, but the simple version is that she was taken, and then she escaped, but only barely.”
The mare’s face was frozen in shock. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw hung open wide.
“W-well… um, that explains a lot.” She shook her head, clearing her mind of the shock. “Anyways, come with me. We’ll get you two settled in. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Thank you,” Tidal Wave said, before beginning to follow the mare towards another door on the other side of the room.
“Oh, and you can tell Scootaloo that there’s no reason to be so scared. I know we look scary, but I promise we’re nice,” she said, turning to look back at Tidal Wave and the still cowering Scootaloo who shot up instantly.
“W-what! S-scared!? No way! I wasn’t scared! I was just… uh, sleeping! Yeah, I was sleeping… hehe.”
Tidal Wave and the new mare laughed out loud causing Scootaloo’s face to heat up.
“Scootaloo,” the new mare began. “You’re a funny one. I like you already. Now come on you two. Let’s get you settled in.”
Rainbow Dash saw her marefriend giggle as she came up next to her out of the loop she had just performed. “What?” she asked with a smirk, leveling off right next to her.
“Was that really necessary?” she asked slyly.
“Of course! I gotta show Scoots I’m coming for her,” Rainbow Dash said with confidence.
Fluttershy seemed to think on this for a second. “Well, I can understand that. Plus, it was pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, I know!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Hey look, I see the city.”
Fluttershy looked up, and sure enough, they were now high enough to see just over the tips of the mountains. The rising sun in the distance outlined the tips of another chain of mountains, their shadows cast over the valley that the city resided in below.
The city itself was massive. The city was comprised of large groupings of buildings, neatly organized into an almost grid-like pattern, with the largest buildings near the middle and the smallest on the outskirts. There were pegasi everywhere in the city, flying about from building to building, resembling a swarm of angry bees better than a city of pegasi.
“Oh… my,” Fluttershy whispered to no one in particular.
“Yeah, you can say that again,” agreed Rainbow Dash. At that time, they both realized they had stopped mid-flight. Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“Come on,” she said as the initial shock wore off. “Let’s go find Scoots.”
“But, where are we going?” Fluttershy asked as they crossed over the tips of the mountains.
“Didn’t Twilight say something about a hospital?” Rainbow Dash asked, desperately trying to remember the mini-lecture their friend had given them just that morning.
“Oh yeah! She did. I think it was near the center or something.”
“You mean like that?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing a hoof towards a large tower with a red cross on it not far off from the city center.
“Yep, that looks right. Let’s go check it out.” As she said this, they began to descend towards the city center, bobbing and weaving between the hundreds of ponies flying all around them.
Eventually, they landed on a broad street not far from the hospital. The street was not quite as busy as the air. They stayed near the center of the road, being able to avoid most of the ponies making their way in and out of the buildings. Rainbow Dash began to walk faster and faster the closer they got to the hospital.
“Dashie, slow down! I can’t keep up!” Fluttershy exclaimed through pants as she was nearly sprinting just trying to keep up with her marefriend.
Rainbow Dash slowed down, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof while giving a sheepish smile. “Hehe, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy reassured. “I know you’re excited to see her, but…” she trailed off.
“But, what?” Rainbow Dash asked, placing a wing over her back. “What’s wrong Flutters?”
“It’s just… what if she’s not there?” she asked quietly, shrinking back from Rainbow Dash’s wing.
Rainbow Dash’s wing slowly retracted back to her side and her steps came to a halt. Fluttershy mirrored her, coming to a stop right beside her.
“W-what if she’s... not there,” Rainbow Dash repeated under her breath.
Fluttershy stood there, nervously shifting her weight between her hooves, worried her friend was going to have a breakdown again. Moisture began to gather in Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Just as she expected the breakdown to happen, Rainbow Dash shook her head and brought a hoof up to wipe her eyes. With little more than a sniffle, she brought a smile back to her face and looked over at Fluttershy. “She’ll be there. I know she will.”
Fluttershy smiled, “I’m happy to see that you’re confident about this. Now come on, let’s go get your daughter.” They turned and made their way to the hospital, which was now right next to them on the street.
“Rainbow Dash?” a stallion sitting near the door asked. Both of them stopped in their tracks.
“Uhh, me?” she asked, looking around. The stallion nodded before approaching. “How do you know my name?”
The stallion walked towards her, allowing them to see the slight moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes. “Rainbow Dash, I know you may not remember me,” the stallion said, eliciting confused looks from both of the others. “But, we need to talk.”
“Um… should I remember you?” Rainbow Dash asked cautiously.
The stallion sighed. “No, I suppose not. It... has been so long.”
“Umm, I’m sorry, but you’ve lost me.”
“I know, but… I-I know why you’re here.”
Fluttershy’s stomach fell. “B-but… how could you…”
“Look, pony,” Rainbow Dash said sternly “I don’t know who you are, but we’re on a mission here, and I would appreciate it if you would get out of our way so we can get back to it.”
The mystery stallion seemed to wince at the venom in Rainbow Dash’s voice but regained his composure quickly.
“You’re not going to find your daughter in there,” he said bluntly, nearly knocking Rainbow Dash off her hooves. “I know where your daughter is.”
Rainbow Dash’s face contorted in rage. “You listen here, whoever you are.” Rainbow Dash spat vehemently, menacingly stepping towards the pony. “I don’t know what you did to my daughter, but if you don’t tell me where she is, right NOW, I am going to rip that stupid look off your face, and then buck you into NEXT WEEK!!”
“Woah! Woah! Woah!” the stallion said, backing up quickly, pressing himself against the wall behind him. “It’s not like that! I promise. Your daughter is safe. I swear!”
Rainbow Dash was just about to lash out once again when she was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. “Let’s hear him out Dash. Now, what is it you have to say?” she asked, turning her attention back to the stallion in front of her.
“Thank you. Well, I met your daughter, Scootaloo. She is not here. She was, but no longer is.”
“And why is that?” Rainbow Dash asked accusingly.
“It’s kind of a long story,” the stallion said, looking around them. “One I can’t exactly tell you here. You should come with me. I’ll take you back to my house, where I’ll explain.”
“Look, mister. I hate to be frank with you, but we don’t know you. Unless you can prove to me that you know where she is, we’re not going anywhere with you.”
The stallion sighed once again, “I know you may not believe me, but I met your daughter. She’s missing you, and she wants to see you again.” Rainbow Dash was now on the verge of tears. “I know you probably don’t believe me, but you have to trust me on this.”
“If you want me to trust you, you’ve got to start explaining.”
“I will, just… not here. It’s not safe,” the stallion said, casting his glance around once again.
“Fine,” Rainbow Dash relented. “Let’s go. You better not be wasting my time.”
***
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy now sat next to each other on a small couch in a modest living room. It was closer to the outside of the city, being one of the smaller residences. Across from them, on another couch, sat two other ponies. One being the stallion from earlier, whom they had now learned was called Blazing Fire.
Sitting next to him on the couch was a pony that both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were still gawking at. Ever since she walked in a moment ago, not a single word had left their mouths as they simply stared in awe of the striking resemblance. “Rainbow Dash, this is your m—my wife! Honeydew! Hehe,” he said nervously.
Rainbow Dash didn’t catch it though, and neither did the still entranced Fluttershy.
Blazing Fire and Honeydew stayed silent. Fluttershy looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Honeydew as if trying to make sure she wasn’t seeing double. Rainbow Dash’s gaze, however, was locked on the mare sitting in front of her, as she wondered if she was looking into a mirror.
Eventually, Fluttershy was able to think coherently enough to break the silence. “Umm, well… This is awkward.”
“Yeah…” said Rainbow Dash. “Awkward is one way to put it.”
“I know,” Blazing Fire said. “I’m aware of the similarities, and there will be time to explain that later, but at the moment, we have much more important things to discuss.”
“Agreed,” said Honeydew, with a very calm and soothing voice, complimenting her name perfectly. “Now, we’re not sure who exactly found her,” began Honeydew. “But we have a few ideas. We can go into specifics like that later. What’s important is that she was apparently saved from a large fall, and was taken to the hospital with some injuries.”
“What kind of injuries?” Rainbow Dash asked frantically, leaning forward out of her seat.
“Calm down, no need to worry. She’s okay. The worst she had was a broken hoof and a possible minor concussion. Apart from that though, she’s doing just fine.”
Rainbow Dash sat back into the couch, heaving a sigh of relief. A moment later though, she sat back up, the curiosity fresh in her eyes once more. “Wait, but didn’t you say she wasn’t at the hospital? Now you’re saying she is?” Rainbow Dash asked with Fluttershy mirroring her confusion.
“No, not exactly. She was at the hospital. She isn’t anymore,” Blazing Fire said.
“Then where is she. Is she safe? She better be safe,” Rainbow said.
“Of course she’s safe. She’s with our daughter, Tidal Wave. She’s about a year older than you,” Honeydew said calmly.
“What? How do you know? I never told you how old I was,” Rainbow Dash said, confused, and starting to get a little annoyed by the cryptic and confusing conversations they kept having with these ponies.
Honeydew seemed to falter at this before her husband jumped in. “Just a guess. Going off of looks.” Honeydew still remained silent, her ears drooped and her shoulders slumped.
“Oh, okay,” Rainbow Dash said, not completely buying his explanation.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Honeydew said, standing up. “I’m gonna go… uh, do something.” She briskly trotted out of the room before anyone could stop her.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shared a look. “Um, is… is she okay?” Fluttershy asked.
“Y-yeah,” Blazing Fire said, his voice cracking. “She’s just, uh… got a lot of work around the house to do. It’s been a crazy couple of days.”
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy said, still slightly skeptical.
“Well, let’s get back on topic. Where is Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash asked quite bluntly.
“She’s safe. Tidal Wave took her to see some friends of mine. They’ll keep her safe.”
“Well, okay then. You could just take us to her, and we’ll be on our way.”
“No, doing that now will only put her in more danger.”
Rainbow Dash exploded. “What do you mean ‘in danger?’ Yeah, she got kidnapped, but she’s out of danger now… right?”
“Well, to tell you that story, I have to go back a while. Back to when I was not much older than either of you. It was back around the time I met Honeydew. I lived where your daughter is at now. It’s a small town just over those mountains,” he said, pointing to a range of mountains to the East.
“As I’m sure you know by now, most of the cities here are divided up among the different races of ponies. But, what you may not know is that there is one town where this is not the case.”
“In this town, all three races of ponies live together. It is not out of kindness though, it is more out of necessity. Or at least, that is what most people think.”
“I, as is the case with most ponies who lived there, was born there. My parents moved there before I was born. It’s a small, and rural town, where ponies who can’t afford to live in the big cities come to live. That’s what brought my parents there so many years ago. My dad was out of a job, so they were forced to move where they could afford to live.”
“That’s how most ponies end up there, but most of them don’t stay because they have to. Granted, there are some ponies who are stuck there due to finances, most of them could afford to move elsewhere if they wanted to. But, they don’t.”
“The real reason for this town… is the Resistance. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, the government here is not the greatest. It is run by pegasi, whose only focus is staying in power. They don’t care for the ponies they rule over, and they definitely don’t care about friendship or harmony.”
Rainbow Dash interjected, guessing where this was going. "So, as long as the races stay separate, they stay in power?”
Blazing Fire nodded. “Mhmm.”
“But, haven’t ponies noticed this? I mean, if they really treat everyone that badly, then why haven’t ponies just banded together and risen up? This many ponies could easily overthrow one government.”
Blazing Fire sighed. “If only it were that simple.”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“If the different races were willing to work together on anything, then there wouldn’t be any problem.”
“Well can’t they see that they need to put this pointless feud behind them and work together?”
“Some ponies have, and the government used it to their advantage. When ponies come together to rise up, they put an end to it quickly.”
“But if there were enough of them, then the government wouldn’t be able to do anything. We just need to get enough ponies to realize that, and we’re set!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed triumphantly.
“That’s a lot easier said than done. Most ponies aren’t even willing to try working together with ponies of other races.”
“But why not?” Fluttershy asked. “There’s nothing wrong with other ponies.”
“That may be true,” Blazing Fire said. “But that’s not what everypony here believes. Stories are passed down from generation to generation. Stories of death, war, violence…”
“And the government has had a hand in it too. There have been times, times when revolutionaries seeded the public with visions of a future that embraced everypony, no matter what the race. But, every time that happened, the government has poisoned their message with propaganda or forced them into silence.”
“What do you mean by ‘propaganda’?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It all has the same general theme: all other races are monsters that you should isolate yourself from. Earth ponies have stories of pegasi and unicorns, pegasi have stories about earth ponies and unicorns, and unicorns have stories of pegasi and earth ponies.”
“But what about those police-ponies in Zatoka? They said they had heard a story about the land where we come from? About harmony and friendship between the races.”
“That’s more of a legend, a ‘tall tale’ if you will. Few ponies know of it, and even fewer believe in it. For some, it’s a ray of hope, but for most, it’s just another phony story made up by dreamers.”
“That’s terrible,” said Fluttershy.
“Yeah, it is,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “But what does it have to do with Scootaloo?”
“I’m getting there,” Blazing Fire said. “As I was saying earlier before I digressed, I used to live in this town. It was the middle of summer, and a new couple had just arrived in the town.
“As I often did when new ponies moved to town, I went to greet them. I was a recruiter of sorts for the resistance. My job would be to greet the new ponies, make small talk, and inconspicuously see how open they would be to the idea of resistance. That is what I did on this occasion. The only difference was, I found out a whole lot more than I had originally intended.
“They seemed to be a normal couple at first, and it was not hard to see that they, like many others, would be very open to the idea of resistance. I told them to meet me at the cafe the next day. When they arrived, I took them back into the main headquarters to talk with them more deeply about the cause.
“Now, before I continue, I must point something out. I don’t know if you have met that many couples here, but as you can probably guess, a relationship between two ponies of different races is very uncommon and even frowned upon by many.”
“I can see that,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well, these two ponies were one of the few exceptions to this trend. It was a pegasus and a unicorn. As I just mentioned, that is not something you usually see here, so I immediately began to question what brought them to the town. I first suspected that they came here for the reason that many couples like this come here, which is to avoid being outcasts in society. I quickly began to realize that this was not the case though.”
“When they learned of our group, they were beyond relieved. They wanted nothing more than to get back at the government.”
“What did the government do to them?” Fluttershy asked.
“That’s what I asked, and apparently the government was the whole reason they ended up in that town. They had taken their money, and made their lives a living Tartarus until they had no choice but to move to our town.”
“Whoah, they can do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“They can do anything! They’re the government! Everything that happens, they control!”
“But why would they do that? That makes no sense!”
Blazing Fire paused and took a deep breath. “I know it doesn’t. Or at least… it didn’t at first.”
“It was late in the evening. We had been talking all day, and all of the others had long since cleared out of the room, so it was just the three of us left in the room. I decided to ask them what exactly it was they had done to make the government so mad.”
“Reluctantly, they answered, after some pushing. Apparently, when they had first gotten together, a little after they were married, they were approached by a government official. This official offered them a large sum of money. So large, they couldn’t refuse.”
“Well, what did they have to do in return?” Fluttershy asked.
“That’s the part that still hurts me to think about. They… they were asked to foalnap little fillies and colts.”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both gasped loudly in surprise, Fluttershy’s front hooves shooting up to her mouth. “W-what!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“B-but w-why would they do that?” Fluttershy asked incredulously.
“I know, I know, but you have to look at it from their perspective. They were a young, new couple, who was short on money. They were offered enough money to make all of their dreams come true, and they were absolutely assured that the foals wouldn’t be harmed.”
It took a minute, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were eventually able to calm down and slow their breathing to a more normal rate.
“It still isn’t right,” Rainbow Dash said after a minute.
“I know it’s not, and I never said I agree with it, but it’s what happened. That being said, they were one of the more reluctant ones to agree to it. The money is usually just too much for ponies to resist.”
“So, they reluctantly agreed and took part in it for a short while. At first, everything was as the official had said it would be. They were paid their sum weekly, as long as they reached their quota of one foal every two weeks.”
“And then it all changed. One time, they had just foalnapped a small filly and were reluctantly delivering her to the same drop-off spot as usual. This time, it did not go so smoothly though. Right as they met the pony who had arrived to pick up the foal, the filly made a break for it. She struggled and squirmed until she finally broke free, at which point she ran.” By this point, tears were streaming down Blazing Fire’s face.
“Sh-she tried so hard to get away. She ran with everything she had, tears pouring out of her eyes as she cried. She wanted nothing more than to get away. To get back to her family. To be held in her mother’s arms once more.” Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also had tears in their eyes by this point.
“The couple was stunned. They couldn’t get the foal. They just couldn’t. That’s when the stallion who they were supposed to meet jumped in. He ran after the foal, catching her in no time. She wouldn’t stop trying to break free, so he just… h-he just… killed her. Right there in front of the couple. Just killed her with no regret. No remorse!”
Blazing Fire stopped himself, seething with rage. He took a deep breath before beginning again. “That’s what made them stop. They couldn’t have lived with themselves if they took one more child… so they didn’t. They met with the officer again and told him they were done.”
“The officer warned them not to. He said they would regret it, but they didn’t care. They couldn’t keep doing it, so they stopped. That’s what made the government so mad. They took away all of their money, took away any chance of them getting employed, and tarnished their reputations. That’s how they ended up at our town.”
“And that’s why Scootaloo is not safe. You can’t just go get her, because if anyone in the government were to find out, I’m afraid of what may happen.”
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, fighting to hold back her emotions. “Okay. I see. So… what can we do?”
“Well, as I said before, it’s too risky for her to go anywhere, but I can take you to her.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up in excitement at this. “Really?” she asked.
“Mhmm,” he said with a nod.
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she turned and wrapped a startled Fluttershy up into a massive hug. “I can’t believe it! Finally! We found her!” she exclaimed loudly.
Blazing Fire chuckled. “Yes, I know. I’d be excited too.” He sighed internally. ”You have no idea.”
“When do we leave?” asked Rainbow Dash hurriedly.
“We can leave right now if you want.”
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hopping up to her hooves only to be stopped by Fluttershy.
“Umm, Rainbow. Don’t you think we should go tell the others first?” We don’t want them going on a wild goose chase. And then wouldn’t they be worried when they couldn’t find us?”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, her ears drooping.
“How about I send Honeydew to go get them? She could tell them what’s going on, and then they could all meet up with us at the town,” Blazing Fire suggested.
“That could work,” Fluttershy agreed.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well alright then. I’ll go tell Honeydew what to do while you two get ready to leave. Where can she find your friends?”
Rainbow Dash paused. “They should be at the hospital still. There were two other fillies with us. The sisters of two of our friends. They also got taken and escaped. The only catch was that one didn’t make it out unharmed. She’s got a broken hoof and they’re not releasing her until tomorrow,” she said Solemnly.
Blazing Fire nodded in understanding. “You all are very lucky ponies. I’ll tell Honeydew where to go and I’ll be right back so we can leave.”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both nodded. “Okay,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood together outside of Blazing Fire’s home, waiting for him while he went to inform Honeydew of the situation.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked inquisitively.
“W-well, it’s just… we don’t exactly know them that well. I mean, they seem nice and all, but, we did just meet them,” she said reservedly.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “I know Flutters, but it’s the best chance we got. I don’t like it either, but we have to try. If there’s a chance we can find her, then we’re gonna find her.”
Fluttershy smiled softly. “You’re right. We have no choice.”
“I really hope he’s telling the truth though,” Rainbow Dash said sadly.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find her,” Fluttershy said, wrapping a wing around Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
Rainbow Dash smiled, looking up at Fluttershy. “Thanks, Flutters. You’re the best.”
“I know,” she said jokingly, before darting forward and giving her marefriend a quick peck on the lips, taking her by surprise.
After the kiss ended, Rainbow Dash took a second to regain her composure, before speaking once again. “H-hey Flutters?”
“Yes Dash?” Fluttershy asked.
“There's… um, something I have to tell you,” she said, stepping out from under her partner’s wing.
“What is it Dash?” she asked worriedly.
“Um, I… I just… um,” Rainbow Dash stammered, absentmindedly scuffing her hoof on the ground. “I… I l-lo—”
At that moment, the front door to the house swung open, and Blazing Fire walked out to join them.
“Alright,” he said. “I told Honeydew everything, and she’s gonna go tell your friends later today, and then come back for them in the morning to take them to the town.”
“Okay, that sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said, quickly abandoning what she was going to say to Fluttershy.
“Oh, but Rainbow, wasn’t there something you had to tell me?” she asked curiously.
“Hmm? Oh, right, that. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you some other time. It’s not important,” she dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “Hey, Blazing Fire, does Scootaloo know we’re coming?”
He shook his head. “Nope. She knows I was going to be looking for you, but I doubt she thought I’d find you this quick. That’ll be a nice surprise, won’t it?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it will be.”
“So what are we still doing here? Let’s get this show on the road! You’ve got a daughter to go see!”
And with that, they took off, with Fluttershy dragging along behind them as usual.
***
Twilight was sitting in Apple Bloom’s hospital room with the rest of her friends. It was relatively late in the day and everyone was clearly getting antsy.
They’d all been sitting around bored ever since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had left. Apple Bloom was still asleep. The doctors said she’d probably wake up around dinnertime.
Then, there was a knock on the door, and the nurse from behind the counter walked in. She finally quit looking at Rarity and Twilight like they were aliens. However, she still looked to Applejack or Pinkie Pie when addressing the group.
“Hello, I believe there is someone here to see you,” the nurse said, her eyes fixed on Applejack.
Twilight jumped up instead, thinking it was Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy back with some news. ”Oh, I hope it’s good news.”
She walked in front of the nurse, forcing her to look at Twilight while she was speaking.
“I’ll go. You all stay here in case Apple Bloom wakes up. I’ll come and get all of you if it’s important,” Twilight said in her ‘take charge’ voice.
Reluctantly, the nurse turned around without another word, silently indicating for Twilight to follow her. They made their way out of the room and to a flight of stairs.
Eventually, they reached the bottom of the stairs, entered the hospital lobby and made their way to the reception desk that sat in the center of the room.
Quite a few other ponies sat in the lobby, as it was much later in the day than when they had first arrived. Standing in front of the reception desk, was a mare that stood out from the rest.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out as she approached the mare.
As soon as Twilight called out Rainbow Dash’s name, the pony’s eyes went wide, and she jumped back in surprise, locking eyes with Twilight as she did so, stopping her dead in her tracks.
The pony that she had thought was Rainbow Dash, was not actually Rainbow Dash. This pony was much older, her face had slight wrinkles, and her mane was much duller than that of Rainbow Dash. ”Wow… If I didn’t know better, I would almost think that pony was Rainbow Dash’s mom.”
The nurse ignored both of them and just went back to her spot behind the counter. “Uh…” Twilight said, still taken aback by her striking similarity to Rainbow Dash.
The other mare shook her head quickly, snapping herself back into reality. She dawned a smile and made her way over to Twilight.
“Hello,” she said, ignoring the mistaken identity for the time being. “My name is Honeydew. I have a message from Rainbow Dash.”
“Oh, okay,” Twilight said, still not quite sure what to make of this. “Um, what’d she say?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I guess I’m here to do more than just deliver a message. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are with Blazing Fire, my husband, on the way to go see Scootaloo. It was our daughter who originally found Scootaloo.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up in amazement. “Really, you guys found Scootaloo? That’s great! When are they going to be back with her?”
Honeydew’s smile faded, and she lowered her head. “You see, that’s the thing…” she looked around suspiciously
“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” she asked with a hint of caution in her voice.
“Yeah, we can go up to Apple Bloom’s room. She’s not awake yet, and it’s just my other friends in there,” Twilight suggested.
Honeydew nodded. “That sounds good.”
Twilight made her way back up the stairs, with Honeydew not far behind. After ascending the many flights of stairs back up to the floor that Applebloom was on, they walked down the hall and entered the room.
As they entered, everyone sitting around the room turned to look at Twilight, hoping for some good news. What they weren’t expecting was a pony nearly identical to Rainbow Dash to be walking in behind her.
Nopony said a word for a short while, all of them simply sitting in shocked silence as they tried to process what they were seeing.
Pinkie Pie was the first to break the silence. “Uhh, is it just me, or is that a much older Rainbow Dash?”
“No, Pinkie,” Twilight corrected. “This is Honeydew. She came here with news about Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.”
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie Pie said, immediately back to her usual upbeat and cheerful self. “Sooooooo. What about them? Did Rainbow find Scootaloo! Did she? Did she?” Pinkie Pie asked quickly.
“Pinkie! Please!” Twilight shouted. “Let’s let her talk.”
“Thank you. Now, as I have already told Twilight here, it was our daughter who originally found Scootaloo… well, that’s not entirely true. Somepony else found her and took her to the hospital where our daughter works.”
“So, she’s at the hospital?” Twilight asked.
“No, not anymore.”
“Then where is she?” Twilight asked.
Honeydew sighed. “You might want to sit down. This is gonna take a while.”
***
After they had been flying for a few hours, they were approaching the mountains. The sun was almost directly overhead by this point.
Rainbow Dash flew up beside Blazing Fire. “We almost there?” she shouted over the rushing wind blowing past them.
“Yeah,” he shouted back. “Just over these mountains.”
Rainbow Dash looked ahead and, sure enough, the town was just appearing over the edges of the mountains.
They slowed down, beginning their descent towards the town. After a few more minutes, they touched down in the center of town.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said, taking in the scenery around them. “You weren’t kidding. This is run down.”
“Yeah, there’s not enough money to do much around here. All of the extra money goes into the resistance.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Blazing Fire commented. “But it is home, so I guess I can’t complain.”
“Does this town have a name?” Fluttershy asked as they continued walking down the street.
“Didn’t I tell you already?” Blazing Fire asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Mm-mm.”
“Wow, I really thought I already told you. Anyways, the town is called Bronco’s Rest.”
“That’s a nice name,” Fluttershy commented.
“Where did that name come from?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, the name ‘Bronco’ came from the term meaning a wild or crazy horse, to symbolize the rebellion. The term ‘Rest’ was added to symbolize the fact that it’s a hideout or a refuge for all of us. People come here to get a ‘rest’ from the government.”
“That’s cool!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Yeah, I’m not sure how long it has had that name, but I know it was the same when I was born. To most ponies, it is just a name, but to those in the Rebellion, it means much more.”
“Wow,” Fluttershy breathed.
“Speaking of the rebellion,” he said, stopping in front of the door to a bakery. “We’re here.” He pushed open the doors. “Welcome to the home of The Wings of Freedom,” he announced, walking inside, followed closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
Walking up to the counter, he exchanged a few words with the store clerk, before stepping behind the counter and motioning for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to follow him.
They walked through a door behind the counter and entered a dimly lit hallway. They walked down to the end of the corridor, descending a flight of stairs before making a left into a large, but sparsely furnished room. They walked over to a door on the other side of the room and stopped.
Blazing Fire turned to Rainbow Dash. “Are you ready?”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, calming her nerves. “I’m ready.”
“And that’s where we’re at so far. They’re probably already approaching the town as we speak,” concluded Honeydew.
“Wow, I had no idea,” Twilight commented, shocked. The story she had told had been very similar to the one Blazing Fire had told Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “I mean, I knew about the division, but I had no idea about all that. That’s horrible.”
Honeydew sighed. “I know it is. That’s why we have a rebellion in the first place. Nobody wants this, but it’s what we’ve been living with our whole lives. We can always hope for something more, but actually getting it is a whole other story.”
“Woah. I can’t believe it,” Applejack said.
Everyone was still in slight shock from the heart-wrenching story. Honeydew had also told the tale of the filly who was killed because of the two ponies, with just as much, if not more emotion than Blazing Fire. Even Pinkie Pie’s mane had gone flat, and her coat had taken on a much grayer shade of pink.
She shook her head, wiping away a tear. ’You can feel sorry about the past later. Right now, there’s another filly that needs you. You’ve already let one down. DON’t, let it happen again.’
“So,” she said, changing the topic to the issue at hoof. “How’s Apple Bloom doing? Rainbow said she’d be released tomorrow, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is. She seems to be doing a lot better today. She was awake this morning, and was doing just fine.” Twilight made a mental note to talk to Honeydew in private later about everything she had just learned.
’She’s hiding something,’ Twilight thought. ’I know that the memory may be bothering her, and that’s understandable, but I just feel like there’s something more she’s not telling us…’
“So, if that’s Apple Bloom, then I’m guessing that Sweetie Belle would be the one laying in bed next to her?” Honeydew guessed.
“Yep, that’s her alright. Poor thing hasn’t said a word since the incident. The only time she even looked alive was when Apple Bloom woke up earlier. She jumped up there to be with her and hasn’t left her side since,” Twilight said, casting a solemn gaze in the direction of the two sleeping fillies.
Honeydew looked at the two of them sadly. “That’s terrible,” she said in a near whisper. “I really hope she starts to improve soon.”
“Me too,” Twilight agreed. “I have a feeling they’ll be leaning on each other for support quite a lot in the near future.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I would do the same in their position.”
“So, you’ll be back in the morning to get us?” Twilight asked, changing the subject as she turned back to face her.
“Yes. I’ll be back early tomorrow morning, and then we can leave as soon as she’s released.
“Sounds good. We’ll see you in the morning,” Twilight said, beginning to make her way towards the door.
Honeydew noticed this and began to follow her out of the room. “Bye, everyone. See you tomorrow,” she called as she exited.
To Honeydew’s surprise, Twilight followed her all the way down to the lobby, and out into the street. She paused before she took off. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?” she asked.
“Actually,” Twilight paused. “There was something. What is it that was bothering you so much back there? I mean, I know about the foal and all, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the whole story. Is there something else you’re hiding?’
Honeydew sighed. “Y-yeah, actually. There is something else. It’s… about Rainbow.”
“What about her?” Twilight asked.
“There was more to that story that I told you earlier,” Honeydew began, seemingly ignoring Twilight’s inquiry. “I-it wasn’t another couple that we were talking about… it was us.” Twilight gasped, a hoof shooting up to her mouth in shock.
“W-what?” Twilight asked.
Honeydew sighed. “I know. It’s not our proudest time. We try not to even remember it when we can,” she said with a downcast expression.
“But why did you have to lie?” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“Because… Rainbow Dash can’t know the truth.”
“Why not?”
“Well, after we quit working with the government, it took us a while, but we decided to have a foal of our own. I guess to make up for what we had done to all of those other foals. At first, we didn’t think we deserved to have a family, but eventually, our determination to make up for what we’d done won out over the guilt. So, we had a daughter… and then we had another, about a year later.”
“Wait, two daughters? I thought you said you only had one,” Twilight questioned.
Honeydew’s ears folded back, her head dropping as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “No, I said we only ‘have,’ one.”
Twilight gasped loudly. “Oh my gosh!, I’m so sorry. W-what happened?” she asked frantically.
Honeydew tried to hold back her tears for the time being. “For the longest time, we didn’t know ourselves. I always suspected the government hired one of their ‘workers’ to do it, but we could never prove it. But now, I know what happened. I’m not sure how, but she must’ve escaped, and somehow stumbled upon a portal to your world.”
“But… how can you be so sure?” Twilight asked.
“Because…” she said, before pausing. “Rainbow Dash is our daughter,”
***
Rainbow Dash’s heart steadily beat faster and faster. She bore a hole through the door with her eyes as Blazing Fire knocked.
“Come in,” they heard someone call from the other side.
Time seemed to stand still at that very moment. The opening door taking minutes to swing all the way open, but when it did, it was the best moment of Rainbow Dash’s life.
Laying down in a bed on the far side of the room, fast asleep, was Scootaloo, her daughter. Slowly, she entered the room, everyone around her remaining motionless, waiting to see what would happen.
She carefully made her way over to the bed, fighting back tears of joy. When she was there, standing over her daughter’s sleeping form, she couldn’t hold it back any longer. The tears flowed freely from her eyes.
She reached her head down, nuzzling the top of her daughter’s head. “Scoots. Wake up. I’m here,” she said through waves of pure joy.
Scootaloo slowly stirred, before her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes, were those of her mother, staring back at her for the first time since they had been separated. Scootaloo gasped, her eyes shooting open. “M-mom?” she asked, afraid that this was just another dream.
Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her daughter’s face. “Hey, Squirt. It’s me.”
Tears streamed down both of their faces, and Scootaloo threw herself around her mother, as she was quickly scooped up into a hug. Scootaloo sobbed openly into her mother’s shoulder, as Rainbow Dash silently cried tears of joy.
“I love you Scoots. I love you,” Rainbow said through her tears.
Scootaloo’s sobs, which had just begun to quiet down, came back at full force when she heard this.
“I-I love y-you too m-momma!” Scootaloo cried loudly. Her broken hoof was hurting because of the tight hug, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was being back in her mother’s arms at long last.
A minute of bone-crushing hugs later, Scootaloo winced from a particularly sharp pain that shot up through her broken leg. “Ow!” she yelped, jumping back and holding it up to keep her weight off of it.
Instantly, Rainbow Dash was on top of it, examining the leg with a scrutinizing eye. “What happened?” she asked although her question was directed more at the other adult pony in the room than at Scootaloo herself.
“It’s from the attack,” explained Tidal Wave, the first she had spoken since Rainbow Dash had entered. “She broke her leg before she escaped.”
Rainbow Dash, who had turned to look at the other mare while she was speaking, turned back to look at her daughter. “Oh, Scoots,” she said sympathetically while her daughter fought so hard to keep a brave face for her hero. “Come here,” she said before scooping her up into a much gentler embrace than before.
“I-I’m f-f-fine,” Scootaloo said through gritted teeth.
“No, you’re not… and it’s my fault,” Rainbow Dash said solemnly.
“W-what? How is it your fault?” she asked incredulously.
“Because I didn’t protect you. You’re my daughter, and I let you get lost in a random world, get foalnapped, and almos— almost…” Rainbow Dash could not finish. She broke into sobs.
“Mom! Stop! It’s not your fault. It was my fault. I was the one who stumbled into this place. I was the one who was stupid enough to trust those strangers.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I let it happen!” Rainbow Dash yelled. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her emotions. “I’m sorry Scoots. I promise I will NEVER, let anything happen to you again.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said, hugging her close. That’s when she noticed who was standing in the doorway. “Fluttershy?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed before walking forward quickly, surprised at the sudden recognition. “Um, yes. I came too,” she said sheepishly.
“Cool, did anyone else come?” she asked.
“Actually,” Rainbow Dash started. “They’re not here yet, but we all came.”
Scootaloo looked confused. “What do you mean, ‘we all?’ “
“I mean all of us. Twilight, Fluttershy, me, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. All of us.”
“Woah! All of you came here just to come find me?” she asked incredulously, to which Rainbow Dash only nodded. “But… why? Why did all of you come to find me?”
“Scootaloo, because I love you. Because we all care about you, and we want you to be safe. When we all heard of it, everyone dropped everything to come and look for you. That’s why Spike isn’t here, or Starlight. They both wanted to come, but someone needed to watch over Twilight’s school, so they couldn’t.”
Scootaloo was dumbfounded. She had no idea that everyone cared this much about her. She would be crying once again right now if only she had any tears left to cry. “B-but why do all of you care so much? I’m just a useless little filly who can’t even fly,” she said in a mumble.
“Hey! You are not useless! We all care about you Scootaloo. Don’t worry about whether you can fly or not. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you. I love you Scoots.”
It was the morning of the following day, and Apple Bloom was getting checked out for the final time before she was released. Honeydew and Twilight stood outside of the hospital room, talking.
“Ok, I believe I should be able to teleport all of us there,” Twilight said, going over some calculations in her head.
Honeydew’s eyes went wide. “What? I don’t know that many unicorns, but I didn’t know that was possible. I mean, that’s 7 ponies over a distance of a many hour flight. Wouldn’t that take a lot of magic?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“Yeah, you’re half right. It would take a lot of power, which would be a problem for any normal unicorn, but I’m no normal unicorn. I’m an alicorn, and I have well over enough power to take twice as many ponies twice as far.”
Honeydew’s jaw dropped. She had really underestimated the capabilities of this pony.
“I mean, of course, I’ll have to do it in stages, and we may have to walk just a little, because, I don’t know if you know this, but I can’t teleport to somewhere that I haven’t already been. The other option is to teleport to somewhere within eyesight. I can at least teleport us to the tops of those mountains, and we can just walk over the top until we get a clear view of the town, when I’ll just teleport us the rest of the way down the mountain. Sound good?”
“Umm… yeah,” agreed Honeydew, who had been fully prepared to make a multiple day trek around the mountains, due to the non-pegasi ponies with them. Instead, though, it looked as if this was going to be the quickest trip across the mountains she had ever taken.
“Great. Now then, if I’m correct, Scootaloo should be finishing up soon. Why don’t you head downstairs and go wait for us outside? We’ll be out in a few,” Twilight said, turning to open the door and let herself in.
“Hey, Twilight,” Honeydew called, stopping the mare in her tracks.
“Yes, Honeydew? What is it?”
“I just… I wanted to thank you. For, ya know, everything yesterday,” she said sheepishly, scuffing the floor below her with a hoof.
Twilight smiled softly, retracting her hoof from its position on the door, before slowly trotting up to Honeydew and wrapping her up in a comforting embrace. “Don’t worry about it. I was glad to help. And I promise I won’t tell her yet. You can tell her when you’re ready.” Twilight pulled back from the hug, meeting Honeydew’s grateful eyes with caring ones of her own.
Honeydew gave a small smile, silently thanking Twilight with just a look, but the look said all that needed to be said.
With nothing else said, Twilight turned and made her way into the room, followed closely by her new friend. When they entered, they were greeted by the sight of Applebloom awake in bed with a nurse standing next to her. Her friends were seated around the room, watching boredly as the nurse finished writing a few things down on a chart, finishing up with Apple Bloom’s examination.
“Aaand, there! All set,” she said, turning to Applejack. “I just need you to sign this, and you can be on your way.” Applejack took the clipboard from the nurse, signing where she was instructed to.
As soon as all of the paperwork was taken care of, all of the older ponies stood up, with Apple Bloom carefully getting onto Applejack’s back, and Sweetie Belle hopping up onto Rarity’s, before they made their way out of the room, each uttering a polite ‘thank you’ to the nurse as they passed.
They walked down the stairs and out of the hospital for what was hopefully the last time. Once they had exited the building, they walked to a nearby grassy area, mostly devoid of other ponies, before Twilight announced her plan to the rest of them.
“I’ve decided that it would be best to teleport to the town, since it would take us forever to get there, seeing as we don’t all have wings,” Twilight said. Unlike Honeydew, her friends did not doubt her magical ability, so the only question was raised by Applejack.
“Wait, couldn’t that hurt Apple Bloom? I mean, she did just get out of the hospital and all.”
“It shouldn’t, but I was already planning on casting a protection spell on her just to be safe,” Twilight said, ever the one to take charge and be prepared. “So are you all ready?” Twilight asked, looking around at each of them for confirmation.
Each gave a nod and a hum of approval as she looked their way, minus the still silent Sweetie Belle.
With a sad sigh at her persistent silence, Twilight stepped back, lighting her horn and aiming it at Apple Bloom. With a quick flash, Apple Bloom’s injuries were encased in a light purple glow for a few seconds, before the light dissipated, along with the glow from Twilight’s horn.
“Alright then. Now we’re ready,” Twilight said, stepping up next to her friends and looking towards the distant mountains. FInding the furthest suitable point on the mountains she could, Twilight focused on it, before lighting her horn and closing her eyes in focus. Her horn glowed much brighter now, and all seven ponies were encased in a bright purple aura. The aura slowly shrank for a few moments, before collapsing in on itself in a bright flash, momentarily blinding anypony that had happened to be looking at that moment. A second later, with another bright flash, they reappeared at the top of a nearby mountain.
Twilight opened her eyes. “Alright, now only a few more to go.”
It was approximately ten minutes later when they finally made their last teleport, reappearing right on the edge of the town. “And, there,” Twilight said, slightly out of breath. “That was easy enough.” She used a hoof to wipe away a few droplets of sweat that had appeared on her forhead.
“Alright then,” Honeydew said, eager to get started into the town. “Follow me. We’ll be heading to the local bakery.”
Pinkie Pie seemed to perk up at this as they began walking, or in her case, bounding, into town. “Ooh! A bakery! Is it good? Can we get some sweets while we’re there?” she asked excitedly.
Honeydew chuckled. “Sorry Pinkie, but it’s not very good. With such a small town, there aren’t really too many ponies interested in baking.”
Pinkie Pie’s ears drooped at this, and her excited bounding ceased. Only for a moment though, as she quickly perked back up.
“Oh well. It can’t be that bad. I’ll still try something while we’re there,” Pinkie Pie said decidedly.
It did not take them long to reach the bakery, and soon, they were pushing open the doors and trotting inside. As with Rainbow Dash and Blazing Fire, all eyes seemed to turn to them as they entered, and they all imediately felt the gazes now fixed upon them. Pinkie Pie even seemed to slow her pace at the feeling of uneasiness in the crowded bakery.
They quickly made their way up to the counter, following right behind Honeydew. The pony behind the counter seemed surprised at seeing her here.
“Oh! Honeydew! Long time no see. What brings you here today?” the stallion behind the counter asked politely.
“Oh, I’m sure you already know,” she responded in a cryptic manner.
“Ahh, I see. Here to greet our new arrival?”
“Well, more to bring these ponies to see her,” she said with a gesture towards the ponies standing awkwardly behind her. “But yes, we have come to see her.”
“Very well then, if you all will follow m—” he was quickly cut off by Pinkie Pie.
“Wait just a second!” she interjected way too loudly. “Do you have any sweets?”
After some insistence by Pinkie Pie, the pony behind the counter reluctantly handed over some of the sweets they did have. Much to Pinkie Pie’s dissapointment though, Honeydew had been right. The sweets were terrible.
Without further delay, they made their way behind the counter and followed the stallion into a back corridor. The whole way, Pinkie Pie was desperately trying to get the awful taste of those sweets out of her mind, all the while wondering, ’How in Equestria do you mess up chocolate?’
Soon, they had made their way through several different doors and hallways, before finally arriving at a room that seemed to branch off into a few different directions. It was a large square room, the first one of it’s kind they had come to thus far, with numerous doors lining the walls around them.
After guiding them to a certain door across the room, the stallion stepped back, giving the new group of ponies some room.
With much less theatrics than had occured with Rainbow Dash, Honeydew took a step forward, reaching her hoof up and opening the door.
Inside, the room was lined with a few beds on one side, and some tables with chairs on the other. On one of these beds lay Scootaloo, tightly curled up to the side of Rainbow Dash, both of them breathing softly in their sleep. Rainbow Dash had a protective wing draped over the filly, making her seem much smaller than she actually was.
Their entrance caught the attention of the only other current occupant of the room. Blazing Fire sat quietly at one of the tables on the left side of the room, currently pouring over documents of some kind. As they entered, he looked up to greet them.
“Hey, you’re all here,” he called in as enthusiastic of a voice he could manage while attempting not to wake to other two in the room. “Come on, let’s go to another room. I don’t want to wake them.”
With only a silent nod from most of them, he led them to the back of the room, where another door was at. Quietly opening the door, he stepped inside, followed by the rest of them.
Each of them couldn’t help but stop as they passed by the bed where Scootaloo lay sleeping, finally reunited with her mother. Each of them smiled warmly at the scene before they carried on.
Making their way into the next room, it became evident that this room was much larger than any they had seen yet. It was over double the length and width of the room they had been in earlier with the many doors. On top of this, the ceiling almost doubled in size, adding to the feeling of hugeness in the room.
The room itself had only one major furnishing, being one overly long table that stretched nearly the whole length of the room. This table was lined with chairs on either side, with one much larger chair at the far end, making it seem like an oversized conference room.
The next thing they noticed were the other, larger doors leading to and from the room, making it clear that they had used more of a back entrance. “Whoah,” they nearly all, except Honeydew, said in almost perfect unison.
“What is this?” Twilight asked.
“This is the conference room,” Blazing Fire answered. “It’s where we discuss plans, come up with new ones, and basically just get together to discuss stuff.”
“Oh cool,” Twilight said, just now noticing that he had brought with him the documents he had been so invested in. “So, what are we here for?”
“Well, I’m going to let you all get settled and reaquainted first, but when all of that is over, I would like to speak with you about the situation in our land.”
“Is that what those are about?” Twilight asked, pointing with a hoof to the documents he still carried with him.
“More or less. I was just reading over some new intelligence reports that have come in,” he said dismissively.
“Ok. I would be glad to hear all about it after we get settled. I would love to help all of you out in any way that I can.”
Blazing Fire smiled. “Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to us. For now though, I think those two have slept long enough. Let’s go wake them up and get you all settled in.”
It was late in the evening and everypony was sitting down around the conference room. Rainbow Dash and Tidal Wave had just joined them. The leaders of the rebellion, who supposed to be there, had been called out on a last minute reconnaissance mission.
“So,” Twilight began as they all took their seats around the table. “What can we do to help?”
“As you can probably guess, we’ve been trying to do something about this government for a while to little or no avail. We’ve tried everything, but people are just too scared to rebel.”
“So, what are you planning to do?” she asked.
“We’ve got to think bigger. Attacking all of the weak points isn’t doing anything. We’ve got to attack the leader. Take off the head, and the rest will fall.”
“But, where do we come in?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, of course, we can’t just run in willy nilly. Our intel tells us where we believe ‘Her Majesty’ is. And I believe that, with the help of Twilight’s magic, you’ll be able to infiltrate her hideout and find out more about her.”
“Hmm,” Twilight hummed, rubbing her chin in thought. “What do we know about her so far?”
“Not much. All we really know is her location.”
Twilight thought on this for a second. She turned to her friends. “Are you all okay with this?”
“If you’re in, we’re in,” Rainbow Dash assured, which was confirmed by nods of approval from the rest of her friends.
“Alright then, where do we begin?”
“She’s nestled up in a secret hideout on the backside of the mountains. It’s heavily guarded, so you’ll need to be careful getting in and out. I’ll have someone fly you out to a nearby vantage point so you can see where you’re going.”
“But, what about the rest of us that can’t fly?” Applejack asked. “How are we going to get there?”
“I’m sorry, but I think it would be better if just Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy went. It’d be easier for them to escape if something went wrong.” Applejack looked to Twilight for support.
Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry Applejack, but I think he’s right. We’re much more likely to get caught if we all go.”
“But Twi—” Applejack started before she was cut off.
“Applejack, I know you want to help, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. Anyways, don’t you think you should stay here to watch over Applebloom? She needs you more than we do.”
“I guess you’re right,” Applejack said reluctantly.
“So, when do we leave?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I hope you’re all up for a late night. We leave at midnight.”
It was already late in the evening, as they had waited for the foals to go to sleep before having the meeting. This was something they didn’t want to involve them in.
With the meeting concluded, they all went to go catch a few hours of sleep before it was time to go.
Rainbow Dash followed Fluttershy down a hallway to their room. “Hey, Flutters,” she said once they had entered their room.
“Yes Dash?” she asked.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” she asked, wrapping a protective wing around Fluttershy. “I mean, all this seems pretty dangerous.”
“Dash,” Fluttershy said sternly, looking into her eyes. “If you go, I go. I know you’ll protect me, so I’m not worried, but I want to be there for you too. If I didn’t come, and something happened, I would never forgive myself.”
Rainbow Dash smiled, tightly embracing Fluttershy with both of her wings. “That’s my marefriend.”
Fluttershy smiled warmly, enjoying the radiant warmth of the embrace. Eventually, though, they had to separate to at least try to sleep before the mission ahead.
***
“So, you all know what to do?” Blazing Fire asked as he finished with his briefing on the mission ahead. There were simultaneous nods of approval throughout the group. “Good. We’ll see you all back here when you are done. Remember, if anything goes wrong, abandon the mission and get out of there. You are more important than some silly information.”
“Of course. Let’s go everypony,” Twilight said, turning and nodding to the rebel soldier stationed at the door.
He turned and walked out into the main area of the bakery, motioning with a hoof for the others to follow after a brief moment. The three mares said their goodbyes and turned to follow the soldier. They entered the main room of the bakery just in time to see him exit the front, clearly not waiting around for them to waste time.
As they took off into the late evening sky, it quickly became apparent that, whoever this soldier was, he was not much of a talker, hardly saying anything the whole time they were in the air. Not that Twilight minded though, as it gave her some much needed time to think.
The truth was, she’d been thinking ever since they had received their mission. Her mind raced, wondering what would await them when they finally arrived. It was clear to her by this point that this ‘Majesty’” was no ordinary pony. There was no way any normal pony could have this much power over this many ponies.
Her pondering did not go unnoticed by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy flew up next to Rainbow Dash.
“Is it just me, or is Twilight being really quiet?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at her friend as she flew, seemingly lost in thought. “I don’t know how she does that.”
“Does what?” Fluttershy asked.
“How she flies like that. I mean, she’s so clearly focused on something else. How can she focus on flying like that?”
There was silence for a moment, both of them thinking the same thing.
Finally, it was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence. “What do you think she’s thinking about?”
“I… don’t know,” Fluttershy answered truthfully.
They were not left much longer to speculate though, as it was soon after this that they arrived at the observation point. They flew up beside Twilight, snapping her out of her reverie and alerting her to the incoming landing.
Once they had landed, it quickly became apparent why this location had been chosen. They were just on the backside of one of the taller mountains in the chain, though they were still near the peak. The height, relative to the other mountains around them, allowed them a nearly unobstructed view. Hundreds of lights lit up the backside of the mountain, exposing a very large complex on its face.
Twilight was just about to take off, she spread her wings and bent her knees to launch into the air, but she was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. She turned, seeing that Rainbow Dash had been the one to stop her, and Fluttershy was standing next to her. They were both giving her looks of concern.
“What is it?” she asked, folding her wings back to her side.
“What’s wrong Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked, lowering her hoof.
“What do you mean?”
“Twilight, it’s clear something’s wrong. You were so lost in thought on the flight here I’m surprised you were able to fly straight.”
Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m just a little worried is all.”
“What for?” Fluttershy asked. “You’ve got us here, and we’ve got you. There’s no point in being worried. Whatever we come across, we can face together.”
Twilight smiled, wrapping both of them in a hug. “I know. I just can’t help but worry. There’s no telling how powerful this pony is.”
“Not if we stand around here all night,” Rainbow Dash said jokingly as they separated their group hug. “Come on, let’s go.”
They took off into the midnight sky, leaving the guard behind to wait for them. They soared towards the compound, hugging the faces of the mountains as they went to avoid being seen.
Once they were near the complex, they dove down, coming to land just outside of it. The complex was rather inconspicuous, but heavily guarded nonetheless. There was a small wall surrounding it, with several small watchtowers placed around the edge. They had to duck behind some bushes to avoid a light swept past them by one of the ponies in the watchtowers.
“This is gonna be harder than I thought,” Twilight said, voicing what all three of them were clearly thinking. She put her hoof to her chin, only barely visible in the dim light of the moon. Suddenly her face lit up. “I’ve got an idea. Next time the spotlight comes by, we’ll use the light to disguise the light from my horn so I can cast a quick invisibility spell.”
The others nodded in agreement, and, sure enough, the next time the light came by, Twilight’s horn lit up as little as she could manage, and they were invisible. The spotlight faltered for a moment, pausing over their area.
Their hearts skipped a beat, and their breath caught in their throat as the spotlight lingered. Moments later though, it moved on, and they all let out simultaneous sighs of relief.
“Come on, let’s hurry,” Twilight said as she jumped up out of the bush, followed closely by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. They walked quickly up to the edge of the wall before carefully climbing over, making sure to not make too much noise. Once they were over, it was not very hard to find where they were going.
“That giant building at the very center of the complex looks like a decent place to start,” Twilight suggested, pointing out the obvious. They made their way over to it, ducking behind bushes and such whenever a pony passed them. They may have been invisible but they still made noise.
It was not long before the building was within reach, and they quickly moved below one of the windows. All of the windows were on the second floor, so they would have to fly up to get a view inside, but it would be better than trying to sneak into the building itself.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered. “You take the first window. Fly up and get a look inside. Dash, you take the next one. I’ll take the third one. Once you’ve seen what’s inside, fly back down and we’ll regroup before we do it again. Once we find the leader, we get as much intel as we can, and then we get out, got it?”
They both nodded and took off towards their respective windows. Twilight took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”
Twilight flapped her wings slowly, making as little noise as possible. The window she had chosen was near the center of the building, and it was also one of the larger ones. Like many of the others, light poured out of this window, illuminating the area around the window in a warm yellow glow. Twilight flew up on the underside of the window, just barely flapping her wings hard enough to keep herself aloft.
Slowly, she poked her head up over the windowsill, having to squint her eyes to see into the brightly lit room. It looked promising. The room was large, with the floor being on ground level, and the ceiling stretching up to the second floor. There was a large throne on the far left side of the room, although there was no occupant at the moment. ’Huh,’ Twilight thought. ’I guess even at a secret complex, a ruler needs a throne.’
She continued to scan the room but found nothing else worth noting. She was about to fly back down to see what the others had found when she noticed a small flash of movement in the corner of her eye.
“I’ve been expecting you…”
That was the last thing Twilight heard before her world went black, her motionless body free-falling towards the ground.
Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy’s wingbeats as she descended to land next to her. Twilight’s invisibility spell was still active, so they couldn’t see each other, but it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, so they did not have too much difficulty.
“See anything?” Fluttershy asked in as quiet of a whisper as she could manage. Even with Fluttershy’s naturally quiet voice, it seemed to ring out loudly into the silence around them.
“No,” Rainbow Dash whispered.
“Do you think Twilight found anything?” Fluttershy asked. Right as she said that, they heard a fizzling sound coming from up above them and the invisibility spell began to falter, allowing slight glimpses of each other in the midst of the darkness around them. They looked up, at where Twilight was supposed to be. They only caught a slight glimpse of her before the spell died off completely, and she fell to the ground beside them with a thud.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash screamed, rushing towards her friend and forgetting all about being quiet. Fluttershy was right behind her.
Rainbow Dash knew the guards would surely have heard the ruckus. Thinking quickly, they threw Twilight over their backs and rocketed into the air, with Rainbow Dash having to adjust to accommodate Fluttershy’s slightly slower pace.
Fluttershy flew fast; faster than she had ever flown in her life. One of her best friends was unconscious on her back, and they were surely being chased by hundreds of guards. That, coupled with the adrenaline, was more than enough to push her to the her body’s limit.
She dared not look back for even a split second, as they bolted away from the complex as fast as they could while carrying their unconscious friend.
They made it back to the lookout point in a fraction of the time it had taken them going the other way. As they approached the point, the outline of a soldier standing stock still, awaiting their arrival began to grow larger and larger with every flap of their wings.
The guard must have seen the distress in their faces, as he instantly broke from his position and dashed forward, racing to help them with Twilight.
As they stopped, Rainbow Dash looked back, fully expecting to see a swarm of guards blacking out the moon as they descended upon the three defenseless ponies. To her surprise and relief though, this was not the case. In fact, there wasn’t a single other pony in the sky as far as she could see.
She did not have long to ponder this though, as, just as quickly as they had stopped, they took off again, now led by the guard in the direction of the bakery.
***
Tidal Wave, Blazing Fire, Honeydew, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all sat in the conference room. It had been nearly an hour or two since Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash had left, but they all still sat awake. With how worried they all were, it was clear none of them were going to sleep until the others got back.
All of a sudden, the thick silence around them was shattered by the sound of a door flying open, followed by loud yelling coming all the way from the front entrance. In a split second all of them had jumped up and raced towards the sound.
They were met just before the entrance into the main part of the bakery by the guard. “What happened?” Blazing Fire screamed.
“I don’t know. Twilight passed out though.”
“What?” all of her friends shouted in unison.
Just then, they all heard the door swing open once more as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy burst through the door. They were walking as quickly as they could while balancing their friend across their backs.
They carefully carried her into a nearby room and placed her on a bed. Fluttershy panted heavily, and even Rainbow Dash was worn out. As soon as the weight was lifted, both of them fell to the ground as the adrenaline began to wear off.
“What happened?” Applejack asked frantically.
“W-we… d-don’t… know,” Rainbow Dash breathed out between pants. “She just… fell.”
The others all looked carefully at Twilight. They saw various cuts, scrapes, and bruises adorning her body.
“Twilight,” Applejack said, lightly shaking the mare. “Twilight! Wake up!”
Twilight began to stir, and a dazed look appeared in her eyes.
“W-what happened?” she asked groggily, looking up at all of the worried faces around her.
“W-we don’t know,” Fluttershy said, still slightly out of breath. “You were up at a window looking in, and then y-you just fell! We were so worried. We thought you were hurt!”
Fluttershy’s words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Twilight stared blankly ahead of her, her mind deep in thought.
“I… I need to go,” she said distantly.
“What? Go?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Go where?”
Twilight ignored the question. “She knows we’re here. We need help.”
“Who? Who knows we’re here?” Rainbow Dash asked once again. Everyone in the room was growing more and more worried by the second.
Twilight sighed, hanging her head. “It’s what I saw in that window. I had looked away, and when I turned back, she was right there on the other side of the glass. She said she’s been expecting us.”
“Who?” Blazing Fire asked worriedly.
“The leader,” Twilight responded. “But there’s more. She’s… an alicorn.” Everypony’s jaws dropped at this.
“B-but how is that possible?” Rainbow Dash asked frantically. “I didn’t think there were any other alicorns!”
“Neither did I. I’m going back to Celestia. She’s got to know something about this.”
The others nodded. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice it earlier,” Twilight continued. “Once I realized she was an alicorn, I could feel the magic radiating off of her. I should have noticed it sooner, but I just didn’t realize what I was feeling. I could feel the magic the whole time, but I never thought she could be an alicorn!”
“It’s not your fault Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “No one would have guessed that.”
Twilight sighed again. “I know, I just feel like I should have noticed. That’s not even the part that scares me the most though. I can’t tell for sure how powerful she is, but the only other time I’ve ever felt power like that is around Celestia.”
Everyone in the room gasped.
“Okay, this is bad,” said Blazing Fire. “I’m going to call an emergency meeting to tell the others about this. You go back to Celestia. Find out anything you can about her. Anything would help.”
Twilight nodded, standing up.
“How are you going to get back?” Rainbow Dash asked. They had come in through a magical portal, yet none of them had figured out yet how they were going to get back. There wasn’t another flower they could pick to just go back the other way. At least, not that they knew of.
“I thought about that. When we arrived, I did a quick scan of the area. In that one spot, there is a portal. It’s only activated when the flower is picked, but I think I’d be able to activate it and hold it open with my magic.”
“That makes sense… I guess.”
“Don’t worry everyone. I’ll be back by tomorrow. Hopefully with good news,” Twilight said, getting up and beginning to head for the entrance.
Blazing Fire stopped her. “Be careful. If she knew you were there before you knew she was, there’s no telling how much she could know.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. She knew the risks of using her magic to teleport and open the portal, but she needed Celestia’s help now..
With a few final goodbyes, she made her way out of the door and disappeared a moment later in a bright flash of magenta light. All the others could do now was hope that she made it ok.
There was a bright flash of light and Twilight appeared in the clearing where their journey first began. It had only been a few days, but it seemed like so much more to her. With the taxing nature of everything that they had been few in the past few days, Twilight felt like she had aged a few years in the short amount of time.
Twilight sighed out loud. This was not the time to stop and take a breath. That could come later. Right now, her friends needed her, and so did this whole island. At the moment, the fate of an entire land full of ponies rested squarely on her shoulders.
Twilight gulped. Since she had awoken back at the hideout, she had not very much time to think at all. Now that she stopped and actually thought about the gravity of the situation, she was overwhelmed. ‘I can’t do this! I can’t do this! I can’t do this! I CAN’T DO THIS!’
Her doubts raged through her mind, even as she tried to push them to the back of her mind. ‘I mean, I’m a princess, so I’ve taken care of plenty of big issues before… but I’ve never had the fate of an entire land of ponies resting on me!’
Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused her magic through her horn into a beam of energy and wove it through the air around her, looking for the tiniest hint of a magical signature.
It didn’t take long for her to find the signal. Once she had, she quickly latched her magic onto the portal, and activated it, throwing herself through.
***
“Ughh,” Starlight groaned as she plopped down onto the couch in Twilight’s Castle.
Spike hopped up onto the couch opposite of her. “You can say that again,” he quipped sarcastically.
“Ughh,” Starlight repeated, although slightly louder this time.
Both of them had worked themselves to the bone that week. Ever since Twilight up and left with nothing more than a note saying she’d be back soon, they had been left with the task of managing the School of Friendship. This proved to be much harder than expected, as none of the other teachers were there.
“When’s Twilight gonna be back?” Spike asked.
“Spike! For the hundredth time, I DON’T KNOW!” Starlight shouted a little too forcefully, causing the dragon to shrink back at her tone. She noticed this and sighed.
“I’m sorry Spike. I guess I'm just a little on edge with Twilight being gone for this long.”
“I know what you mean. It’s not like her to be gone this long without at least some sort of explanation.”
As if on cue, a bright magenta light flashed in the center of the room, momentarily blinding them. When they were able to see again, they were greeted by a disheveled and listless Twilight standing in the center of the room, trying to regain her balance.
“Twilight!” Starlight called out, rushing forward to meet her along with Spike.
“Hey guys,” she muttered halfheartedly, before putting the same amount of effort into the hug she was quickly enveloped in.
“Twilight, what happened?” Starlight asked frantically. “Are you hurt? Are we in danger? Where are the others? Wh—” Starlight’s words were cut off as her mouth was enveloped in a magenta glow and quite literally zipped shut.
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “Starlight. I’m fine. The others are fine. Now, I’m going to release your mouth, and I want you to take a deep breath, and calm down, okay?” Twilight said, almost seething through restrained anger.
Starlight responded with a quick nod, at which point Twilight released the spell, and Starlight was free.
After taking the recommended deep breath, Starlight trotted up beside Twilight and placed a hoof over her friend’s shoulders.
“Twilight,” she began in as calm of a voice as she could muster. “Are you really okay? I know you better than that front you’re trying to put up. I know something’s wrong.”
Twilight sighed, slumping her shoulders in defeat.
“So, are you gonna tell us what’s wrong or not?” Spike asked impatiently.
“Sure, Spike,” Twilight said, not being able to help the smile that crept onto her face at spike’s antics that she had missed so dearly. “But, first I need you to do something for me. Do you remember that one scroll I had you hide back when I first became a princess?”
“You mean the purple one?” Spike asked, to which Twilight only gave a small nod. “Well, of course. You only made me recite where I hid it twice a day for a year.”
Ignoring the remark, Twilight nodded. “I need you to go get it and bring it to me.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Spike said, puffing his chest out and giving a salute before running off towards wherever he had put the scroll.
Chuckling, Twilight turned back towards Starlight, before noticing the inquisitive gaze she was receiving. “Hmm?”
“What scroll?”
“Oh, it’s a scroll Princess Celestia gave me when I became a princess. It’s used to call on her in an emergency. It will get to her immediately, even if she is in an important meeting or summit, in which case a normal scroll would be blocked. She told me only to ever use it an emergency, and now is the first time I’ve actually had an emergency where I need to use it.”
Starlight blinked. “So… you need it now, but you didn’t need it during any of the other, maybe... ten times you’ve had to save Equestria up until now?”
Twilight blinked. “But… there’s a whole nation counting on me! I’ve never had this much responsibility before!” she exclaimed.
Starlight simply raised an eyebrow. Twilight was about to continue, but she stopped. Aside from realizing that she hadn’t even told Starlight the problem yet, she also realized that Starlight was right.
“Uggh!” Twilight groaned loudly as she walked away. She hated being wrong.
A few minutes of awkward silence later, and Spike returned with a vibrant purple scroll in his claw. “Got it!” he exclaimed as he entered the room once more. Upon noticing the thick tension in the air, he paused. “Uh, what happened while I was gone?”
“Oh, you know, the usual. Just Twilight overreacting again,” Starlight said, ignoring the glare Twilight shot at her.
Twilight shook her head, and stepped forwards, grabbing the scroll in her magic. Opening it up, she also picked up a quill from a nearby table and began to fill in blank areas on the scroll. With one quick flourish of the quill at the bottom of the paper, she levitated the scroll back down to Spike, who took it and instantly sent it on its way.
“Now, we wait,” Twilight said.
“I wonder how long she—” Spike was cut off by a bright flash of light at the center of the room when the alicorn in question suddenly appeared. “Never mind,” Spike said quietly.
“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed, running up to her mentor who was all too happy to wrap her student up in a warm embrace. “I’m so glad you could make it so quickly,” Twilight said, nuzzling up against the Princess’ chest.
“I got your scroll. I came as fast as I could,” Celestia said. “Now, what is it that is so important?” Celestia asked.
“So later that night, the three of us headed off to the compound. One of the rebellion’s guards went with us to show us the way, but we ended up leaving him halfway. He was standing ready if something were to go wrong…” Twilight paused.
“What is it Twilight?” Celestia asked, concerned. “Did something go wrong?”
Twilight looked up at Celestia, a look of desperation in her eyes. “I… I think it would be better if I just told you this part in private.”
“Awe, C'mon!” Spike exclaimed. “What happened at the secret hideout? I want to hear about the supervillains you found there! There were supervillains right?”
“Twilight,” Starlight began, standing up from her seated position on the floor in between Celestia and Spike. “You know you can trust us, right?” she asked, and betrayal and hurt shone through in her voice like the brightest light in the dark of night.
“Um… I-I do, but… it’s just I—” Twilight stopped as Celestia held up a hoof.
“That’s enough. Starlight, I’m sure she trusts you just as much as she does me. If she doesn’t want you to hear something though, I have to say that I trust her judgment. Knowing Twilight, she is doing this to protect you.” Twilight silently nodded at this, her head held low in disappointment. “If I deem it okay, then I will tell you after I have heard what Twilight has to say.”
Starlight nodded, seemingly relieved. Spike was about to say something, but he was cut off as well. “That goes for you too Spike. This should just be between me and Twilight for now.”
Spike grunted in annoyance before turning and stomping out the door, eliciting a chuckle from the other three in the room. Starlight turned her gaze back to Twilight, who tried to give her a sympathetic smile.
Starlight smiled back, and walked up to her teacher, hugging her tightly. “Thank you,” Twilight whispered in her ear.
“Don’t mention it,” Starlight whispered back, lightly nuzzling her cheek as she pulled back, leaving a crimson patch of fur behind as she did. She then turned and walked out the same way Spike had gone.
Once she had walked off, Celestia cleared her throat, calling Twilight’s attention away from Starlight’s retreating form. She was met with a raised eyebrow and an inquisitive, and slightly mischevious, look from Celestia. Twilight’s blush only deepened.
“Don’t say a word,” she said forcefully but quietly.
Celestia chuckled. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. Now, let’s get back to business. What was so important that only I could hear this.” The hints of a barely concealed smile danced across her lips as she spoke. However, this instantly disappeared to be replaced with a look of concern at the expression on Twilight’s face… and the tears slowly escaping her eyes.
In less than a second, she was at Twilight’s side and had a wing wrapped around her shoulder. Twilight gratefully leaned into the embrace, turning her head and burying it into Celestia’s chest.
Celestia reached a hoof up and began slowly stroking her mane. Twilight relished in the loving embrace of her mentor as she let out all of the emotions that had been threatening to release themselves throughout the previous week.
The moment seemed to last forever, but it was eventually broken as Twilight’s sobs calmed down to sniffles, before stopping altogether. Leaning back, Twilight looked up into her mentor’s eyes. Celestia was staring down at her with a look of pure love in her eyes.
“I-I’m sorry…” Twilight said.
“What for?” Celestia asked.
“For… you know. Breaking down like that. I didn’t mean to. It’s just… we’ve been through so much this past week, and I’ve been trying to stay strong… I jus—” Celestia placed a hoof on her mouth, stopping her.
“It’s okay. I understand. Are you ready to talk now?”
Twilight sniffled. “Yes, I think so.”
“Very well then. What was it that was so important?”
Twilight sat up fully, but Celestia never moved her wing from her student’s side. “After we entered the complex, we made our way to the center building. I figured it was where the leader would be residing, as it was the largest and most heavily guarded. I used an invisibility spell to keep us hidden.
“We looked through a few windows, but when I came to one window near the center, I saw her… or rather, she saw me…” Twilight trailed off.
“What do you mean by that?” Celestia asked concerned.
“I first looked in, and I didn’t see anything, I looked away for a second, and just as I was about to fly down, I heard something inside. I looked back… and there she was.”
“Who did you see Twilight?” Celestia asked calmly.
Twilight shook her head, losing the thousand-yard stare she had previously been displaying.
“I don’t know for sure,” she said looking up to Celestia. “But… she was an alicorn.”
A silence so thick that it could hardly be seen through fell upon the room. Celestia’s face had lost its previous calm and caring demeanor. Her wing slowly retracted to her side, much to Twilight’s dismay.
Twilight stood up to look her mentor in the eyes but was met with the same thousand-yard stare that she had worn moments before.
“Celestia?” She asked. “A-are you okay?”
Celestia instantly snapped her focus to Twilight with a stare so intense she physically shrunk back underneath it.
“What did she look like?” Celestia demanded.
“Uh, s-she had a r-red mane and her c-coat was b-black,” Twilight stammered.
“What did her wings look like?” she asked with even more force than before.
“Um, her wings were red near the tips… I think.”
Celestia muttered something under her breath, too quiet for Twilight to hear what it was.
“Twilight,” Celestia continued after a moment. “You need to go back and get your friends out of there as quick as you can. Don’t think twice and don’t look back. Just go.”
“B-but Princess. What about all of the other ponies there. Didn’t you hear what I said about the ponies there?”
“I heard you just fine Twilight, and my answer remains the same.”
“But why? I’ll do it, but you need to at least give me a good reason to leave all of those ponies behind.”
Celestia sighed. ’You are just too kind for your own good sometimes Twilight.’
“Look, we may not have time for a full story, but I can tell you that I have met this pony before. Her name is Brimstone. Let’s just say she is not one that you want to mess with.”
“Well, maybe not by myself, but with you and Luna and Cadence I’m sur—”
“TWILIGHT!” Celestia screamed, using the royal Canterlot voice for the first time that Twilight could ever remember hearing. Twilight instantly shrunk back and fell to the floor, curling up into a fetal position.
Celestia took a few deep breaths and then sighed. She walked over and lifted Twilight’s head up to meet her gaze.
“Twilight, I am very very glad to see how much you want to help these ponies. I truly am… but you do not understand the power that my older sister possesses. At our last meeting, she possessed more power than me and my sister combined. Now… she could very well possess more power than all of us combined. It is imperative that you go now. Every second that you spend here is another second that your friends could be in danger.”
The last sentence seemed to snap Twilight out of her confused trance. She looked Celestia in the eyes and gave one firm nod, before turning and bolting out of the room.
“Twilight. Finally, you’re done. Can—” Twilight ran out the door before Spike even finished speaking.
“Nevermind. I guess we’ll hear about it later.”
Starlight groaned.
***
As soon as she was outside of the crystal walls of her castle, Twilight teleported straight back to the clearing where they had originally found the flower. Lighting her horn, she found the trace of the portal and in no time at all had thrown herself back through.
She tumbled out on the other side, dropping the spell as she did so.
Before she even caught her breath, her ears perked up at a sound. It was a laugh. It wasn’t too loud, which explained why it took her a second to notice it. It was about like a chuckle.
Twilight didn’t even have to look up to know who it was.
‘Stupid stupid stupid! How did I not realize that she could be tracking the portal!’ Twilight mentally screamed at herself.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. You were rushing to save your poor, precious friends. Very few ponies would have stopped to think about it first,” Brimstone said in a mocking tone.
“Wait… what? Did you jus—”
“Oh come on, Twilight. How can somepony so smart be so slow at the same time? Yes, I can read your mind, but that really shouldn’t surprise you by now.”
“B-b-but—”
“Can it, Sparkle. Let’s get this over with. I have places to be and things to do. I’m only going to say this once, so you better get it through that pretty little head of yours quickly. You have exactly two days to get you and your friends out of this land for good. If I EVER see you again, I will personally hold you hostage while I rip your friends' limb from limb, RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES! Got it?”
Twilight couldn’t nod fast enough. She had attempted to run, but it was futile, as her hooves were held tight to the ground with magic.
“Good,” Brimstone said, dropping her spell and allowing Twilight the freedom to move once again… not that she planned on going anywhere at the moment.
“Remember,” Brimstone began again. “Heed my warning Twilight Sparkle. If I see so much as one of you left here after time is up, you’ll regret it. Now, go.”
Twilight didn’t need to be told twice. She was up and on her hooves faster than she even registered what she was doing. She ran for about ten seconds before remembering that she had a horn and could teleport.
A flash of her horn later, and she was tumbling head first into the back room of the bakery, nearly taking out Applejack as she did so.
“Twilight!” Applejack said as she ran towards Twilight. “What’s wrong?”
“Get the others. I need to speak with all of you. NOW!”
***
Less than ten minutes later, which was nearly record time even for Twilight, they were all getting together around the conference table once more.
“Thank you all for coming so quickly,” Twilight said.
“Of course,” Blazing Fire answered for all of them. “But, what was so important that you needed all of us to meet here so quickly?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, Tidal Wave, may I speak with you in private for a moment?”
“Sure,” Tidal Wave answered, getting up from her position at the table next to the Crusaders as she followed Twilight to a corner of the room, as far from the table as they could be.
Twilight began in as low of a whisper as she could manage. “I need you to do something for me. Could you please take the crusaders somewhere else and watch them for a little bit? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I really don’t think they need to hear this.” Twilight glanced over Tidal Wave’s shoulder at the three fillies, all crowded together on one chair as tightly as they could be. “They’ve been through too much already.”
“It’d be my pleasure, Twilight,” Tidal Wave said with a smile.
“Thank you,” Twilight said as she reached out and hugged Tidal Wave. “I promise I’ll fill you in later.”
“It’s nothing Twilight. I enjoy looking after those three. I feel like they could use someone to watch over them after what has happened recently.” The two stepped back from the hug and shared a meaningful smile before heading back towards the table.
Twilight walked back to her seat while Tidal Wave walked over towards the three crusaders.
“Hey girls,” she said. “Why don’t you all come with me, and we can go get something to eat? You must be getting hungry by now.”
The three of them gave a timid nod and stood up after releasing the embrace between them. After they had been reunited, they were nearly constantly hugging each other. It was as if each wanted to make sure they would not lose the others ever again. It was a sad sight to see, and there was not a dry eye in the room as they ran up to their respective sisters, or mother in Scootaloo’s case, and jumped up into their hooves, nearly crushing them in a hug that was quickly returned.
A few minutes later, the Crusaders had made their exit, and the ponies left had begun to dry their eyes. Twilight, knowing they did not have too much time, got right back to business.
“Now, I know you all are probably wondering what I found out, and to be honest, I did find out a few big things. Firstly, the evil alicorn is named Brimstone.”
“So, Celestia knew of her?” Fluttershy asked.
“Mhmm,” Twilight confirmed with a nod. “The other thing I found out is that she’s powerful.”
“How powerful?” Rainbow Dash asked cautiously.
’Ugh. I was hoping they wouldn’t ask that.’ “Well, all I know for sure is that she’s more powerful than me, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence combined,” Twilight said with a level of nonchalance that can only be attained by someone who has already come to terms with the situation.
The same could not be said for the others in the room. Their reactions were a mix of confusion, horror, and just plain shock. Those who had originally been in this world did not know for sure just what Twilight’s description meant, but the looks that the others were giving did nothing to ease their nerves.
“Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but there are more pressing matters at hoof.”
“What could possibly be more important than that?” Rainbow Dash nearly screamed.
“Well… I ran into Brimstone on my way back. She had been tracking the portal, and she knew I was going to come back for all of you. She said we have two days to get out of this land and back to Equestria.”
“And if we don’t?” Rainbow Dash asked challengingly.
“I… I—” Twilight choked up, unable to finish her statement as tears started to form in her eyes.
“Twilight, it’s okay. You can tell us,” Fluttershy said, wrapping a wing around her distraught friend.
Twilight sniffled. “I-I’m not going to repeat what she said… but I know we can’t stay here.”
“Well, what are we gonna do then? We can’t just leave. Especially not now that we know what she can do. We have to save these ponies,” Rainbow Dash protested.
“Rainbow Dash, I get that you don’t like it, and believe me, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I also know when I’m outmatched. I don’t think we have a choice.”
“But—” Rainbow Dash was quickly cut off by Blazing Fire.
“Rainbow, I hate to admit it, but she’s right. We’ll be just fine here. We’ve been okay so far. It’ll be like nothing changed.”
“But… but what if you came with us?” Rainbow shouted in revelation. “You could come back to Equestria with us, and then you wouldn’t have to worry all the time!”
Blazing Fire opened his mouth to protest… and then stopped. “I… I don’t know. I mean, there are a lot of ponies counting on us here. Can we really just up and leave them to fend for themselves?”
Now it was Honeydew’s turn to join the conversation. “We’ll have to think about it. How about we go talk it over with Tidal Wave?” she asked her husband.
“Okay, that sounds good.”
“Make sure you send the fillies back when you go,” Twilight began. “I don’t want them having any part in this.”
“We will,” Honeydew assured. With that, the two of them trotted off, leaving the Mane Six to contemplate their next actions.
***
“There you go, girls. Right down this hall.”
“Thank you!” they all said, seeming somewhat cheered up from their time with Tidal Wave.
“You’re welcome. Now run along. I’m sure they’re missing you in there already.” The Crusaders took off quickly, racing back to their respective family members.
“Now,” she began, looking back towards her parents. “What did you need to talk about.”
“Well… they have to leave,” her mother said solemnly.
“Who?” she asked in confusion.
“All of them. They can’t stay here. The leader is after them.”
“But,” her father said. “We needed to ask you something. They proposed that we could go with them. Leave this messed up land, and go have a better life in Equestria.”
“But, what about all of the ponies that are depending on us here? What about my job?”
Blazing Fire sighed. ‘I’ve been dreading this conversation.’ “That’s what we said… but there’s more. You may want to sit down for this.”
Tidal Wave did as was asked and sat down right where she stood. She was quickly joined by her mother, who wrapped a comforting wing around her shoulders.
“You… remember your sister, right?” her mother asked, slowly and somberly.
Tidal Wave’s facial expression dropped instantly. “Y-yeah. I do. Not much, but I do. I remember all the fun times we had together as kids. I remember taking care of her when she was first born. Then, I remember her just being gone. Like she was there one day and gone the next…” Tidal Wave looked up, wiping a tear from her eye as she did so. “Why do you ask?”
“Well…” Honeydew began as Blazing Fire joined the embrace on the other side of their daughter. She had trouble finding the right words to use. “First, I want you to understand something. What I’m about to tell you, we kept from you only because we care for you. We didn’t want to put this all on you unless we really had to.”
Tidal Wave reached a hoof up to hug her mother. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’ll understand.”
Honeydew gulped down her fear one last time, realizing that she could not postpone this any longer. “Rainbow Dash… is your sister.”
“What do you mean, she’s my sister?” Tidal Wave seethed.
“We didn’t know eithe—”
“What do you mean, you didn’t know! She’s dead! My sister is dead! How could you try and say that she’s not!”
Honeydew sighed sadly. “Sweetie—”
“NO!” Tidal Wave yelled, jumping up and swatting her parents’ hooves away. “She’s dead! She’s… she’s dead,” Tidal Wave stopped as she choked up, feeling the tears come to her eyes. “She…”
Tidal Wave collapsed to the ground, just as the sobs started to wrack her body. Not a second later, her mother was back at her side. Tidal Wave leaned her full weight into the embrace and cried into her mother's shoulder, while Blazing Fire came up and wrapped both of them in a protective hug.
“It’s okay sweetie,” her mother said, trying to calm her down.
“B-but…”
“Shhh, it’s okay. I know sweetie. I know.”
***
The room had fallen silent as soon as the pair had left. A tense atmosphere hung in the air after the earlier news.
The deafening silence only broke when Honeydew and Blazing Fire returned, the clip-clop of their hooves resonating off of the walls in the large conference room. Tidal Wave followed close behind with her head hung low to the ground as she refused to look any of them in the eyes.
“Good, you’re back,” Twilight said, glad for the silence to be gone. “Did you come to a decision?”
“Yes, we did,” Blazing Fire answered for the three of them. “We’ll come with you.”
Twilight and the others all let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. “That’s great to hear!” she said, enthused. “Let’s all get ready. We need to leave soon. We’ll help you all pack since we didn’t really bring much ourselves.”
“Thank you Twilight,” Blazing Fire said as everyone started making their way out of the room to go pack. He followed suit shortly after, followed closely by Honeydew.
At last, it was just Twilight and Tidal Wave left in the overly large conference room. Twilight was about to turn and head out herself, but she stopped, turning back to Tidal Wave. She now sat in the same spot she was standing before. Her head still hung low to the ground, but her wings also drooped so that the tips of her feathers rested on the floor.
“Are you okay Tidal Wave?” Twilight asked with concern. “You don’t look so good.”
Tidal Wave sighed. “N-no. Not really. I need to talk to you.”
Twilight matched her sigh. “I take it they told you?”
Tidal Wave just nodded, not even surprised that Twilight knew before her.
Twilight walked over to Tidal Wave and wrapped her in a supportive embrace. “I imagine that’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
Tidal Wave chuckled, shaking her head and smiling. “That’s an understatement.” Twilight laughed right along with her, but after a moment, they both went silent.
“It’s just… I don’t know. It’s been so long since I last saw her, and I thought she was dead for so long…”
“You don’t know how, or even if you should bring it up to her,” Twilight finished for her.
Tidal Wave nodded. “I mean, she’s moved on with her life. I don’t think she even remembers us. Heck, I hardly even remembered what she looked like. I had no idea until my parents told me. She’s got a whole new life, new friends, and I’m just a sister that she doesn’t even remember having.”
Twilight smiled. “Well, I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you about Rainbow Dash. She is the most loyal, and dedicated friend I have ever had. She will stick by us through anything, and no matter what life throws in her way, she never gives up. She also has a soft side though. She doesn’t let ponies see it very often. Only the ones she’s closest to, but it’s there.” Twilight paused. “You’ve met her daughter, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have. She’s such a wonderful little filly.”
“Did you ever hear the story of how Rainbow came to adopt her?”
“No. I don’t believe I’ve heard that story.”
“Well, it is quite the story,” Twilight said, sitting down next to her. “Firstly, you have to understand how much Scootaloo has always looked up to Rainbow Dash. She has difficulty flying, so she idolizes Rainbow Dash for her flying ability. Rainbow’s one of the best flyers in all of Equestria, and Scootaloo aspires to be like her in every way. Ever since they first met, Scootaloo has clung to Dash like they were sisters, and Dash treated her like her own little sister in return.”
“Aww, that’s adorable.”
Twilight chuckled. “Just don’t let Dash hear you say that. She hates being called adorable.” Tidal wave laughed as well before Twilight resumed with the story.
“So, their relationship stayed like that for quite a while. It was only recently that Dash adopted her, and I hate to say that it wasn’t under the best of circumstances.”
“She was living on her own… wasn’t she?” Tidal Wave asked.
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah… how did you know?”
“Well, when she was first brought into the hospital, I decided to run some tests. At all of the hospitals here, we have a DNA database. Whenever someone is born, they have a file created for them, and their information is updated as they grow up. If you run somepony’s DNA through it, you can find their file and all of their current information. I was able to find Scootaloo’s file right away.”
“Wait, so Scootaloo is from here too?” Twilight asked, shocked.
Tidal Wave just nodded. “But there’s more. In her file, it was marked that she had disappeared when she was very young. Just four years old. That explains when she ended up in your world, but something else intrigued me about her history, and I wasn’t the only one. Before she disappeared, she was brought into the hospital with multiple injuries under ‘suspicious circumstances.’ Charges were filed against the parents, but they were dropped after no evidence could be found.”
Twilight was dumbfounded. “So you’re saying, not only is Scootaloo from here, but she still has parents here, who are more than likely abusive?”
Tidal Wave gave a subtle nod.
“Oh my… that explains so much,” Twilight said, prompting Tidal Wave to now give her a look of confusion. “I already told you that Dash adopted her under less than ideal circumstances. Scootaloo had tried to… take her own life.” Twilight gulped as she said this, not liking bringing up the memory again.
Tidal Wave gasped, her hoof flying up to her mouth in surprise. “Oh my goodness! That poor little filly. What happened? Why did she do it?”
Twilight lowered her head, shaking it side to side. “We don’t know for sure. All we’ve been able to get out of her is that her parents didn’t want her. Apparently, what she does remember of her parents is them telling her that she was useless and that she would never fly, and never be a true pegasus. She’d been on her own for so long too, she was convinced nopony cared about her… That’s where Dash came in. She took Scootaloo in, made her feel safe, made her feel like she was cared for. It wasn’t long before Scootaloo started calling her Mom.”
Tidal Wave sniffled, reaching up a hoof to wipe away a tear from her eye. “Well, that definitely explains why they’re so close.”
“Yeah… I’m gonna go talk to Dash about all of this. I think she would like to know that Scootaloo’s real parents are over here. At least it will put her mind at ease when we get back to Ponyville.”
“Yeah, it’s probably time I go get packed too. My parents are probably wondering where I am.”
“Okay, but I want you to remember something. I told you that story for a reason. Dash is a very caring pony, and she is willing to let other ponies get close to her. I promise she’ll understand. You should tell her as soon as you’re comfortable.”
Tidal Wave smiled, looking up at her new friend. “Thank you, Twilight. This helped me more than you could know.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure. I’m glad we could have this talk,” Twilight said, leaning in to give her a hug that was quickly returned. “Now go get ready. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.” With that, the two of them parted ways as they went to make final preparations before their trip.
“What’s up Twi?” she asked, sauntering over to the side of her marefriend, who was also in the room packing.
Twilight looked cautiously at Fluttershy. “Should I really tell Dash with her in here? I mean, I know they’re close and all, but I don’t know if Dash would want her to know about it. This may be something Dash would want to keep to herself… but then again, Fluttershy could be here for Dash to help her accept it…”
“Hello. Hello! Earth to Twilight!” Dash yelled, waving a hoof in Twilight’s face. She blinked, shaking her head free of the train wreck that was her previous thoughts.
“S-sorry. Just thinking,” she said dismissively.
“About what?” Fluttershy asked, coming closer with a worried look on her face.
“Well… that’s kind of what I’m here to talk to Dash about.”
“Well,” Dash said, the anticipation and worry evident in her voice. “Spit it out then. What is it?”
“Well…” Twilight shot another unsure glance in Fluttershy’s direction, who seemed to finally get the hint.
“Hey Dash, maybe I should go. I think she wants to speak to you about this privately.”
“Hey, no way! Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell both of us!” Dash exclaimed, wrapping Fluttershy in a wing and pulling her tightly to her side. This was accompanied, as always, by a quiet squeak from the shy pegasus.
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “It’s, umm… it’s about Scootaloo.”
Rainbow Dash gulped but otherwise did not hesitate.
“I’m sure,” she said in a voice that left none of her loyalty to question.
“Ok then, if you’re sure. I just spoke to Tidal Wave. She has informed me of some… interesting news. I’m not quite sure what to make of it myself.”
“Well, what is it?” Rainbow Dash asked, clearly getting impatient.
“Scootaloo’s parents are in this world…” The silence that followed the simple statement seemed to stretch on forever, although it was in actuality, just a few seconds.
Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke up, although the usual bravado and confidence carried by it were nowhere to be seen. “R-really? She really said that?”
Twilight nodded with a solemn expression on her face, prompting Rainbow Dash to stand up, determination in her eyes.
“I’ve got to go talk to her,” Rainbow Dash said.
“But Dash—”
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Dash said harshly, stopping Fluttershy mid-sentence, before trotting out of the room.
“Well…” Twilight began. “That could have gone worse.”
Fluttershy sighed dejectedly, and then went back to packing their things.
***
Tidal Wave paced back and forth across her room. She had wanted to get started on packing, but her mind was far from focused on it. She eventually gave up trying, content with letting her mind take her wherever it wanted.
‘How am I gonna tell her? It was easy enough to beat around the bush with Twilight, but I can’t just leave that out with Dash. She’s my sister for pony’s sake! Not to mention, she’s basically Scootaloo’s mother. But I can’t jus—’
“Ahem!” Dash cleared her throat, cutting off Tidal Wave mid-thought.
‘Yup. Totally saw that one coming.’ Turning her head to look at Dash, she tried to play off her previous behavior.
“H-hey, Dash! How are you doing? I was just getting started on packing. Maybe you should too. Hey, do you want some help with that? I could come to help you as soon as I’m done here.” Tidal Wave’s nervous smile didn’t help her cause at all.
“Tidal Wave, you know why I’m here. Don’t try and avoid it. I need to know everything you can tell me about Scootaloo’s parents.”
Tidal Wave sighed, looking down at her hooves dejectedly. Taking a moment to steel her resolve, she looked back up and trotted over to stand by Rainbow Dash. “Dash, there’s a reason I didn’t want to talk to you about this. I know something that I should probably tell you, but I don’t want you to have to carry more around on your shoulders. You already have so much to worry about with Scootaloo.”
Rainbow Dash dropped her head. “You really don’t get it… do you?”
Tidal Wave cocked her head at this. “Get what?”
“Look. I know I’ve had a lot thrown at me at once, and yeah, it kinda sucks. But no matter what, there’s one thing that will never change. I love Scootaloo. More than I would my own daughter. There’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do to help her. And if that means carrying around a little more emotional baggage so that I can maybe help her understand her real parents one day, then you’re darn right I can handle it.”
Tidal Wave looked deep into Dash’s unwavering eyes, looking for some sign of uncertainty, but found none.
“Ok. I’ll tell you,” Tidal Wave relented. “I told you that I found Scootaloo’s record, right?”
“Mhmm.” Rainbow Dash nodded as she stepped into the room and took a seat on the floor.
Tidal Wave sat down as well, continuing with the story. “Well, what I didn’t tell you is what exactly that record told me. Not only did it tell me that she had been missing for years, but it also gave me some information about her parents. And when I did some more digging, I found out some… shocking news.”
“Shocking how?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously.
“Well, firstly, I found that Scootaloo was a repeat visitor at the hospital. It wasn’t minor things either. She constantly needed stitches, casts, and occasionally even surgery.”
Rainbow Dash actually chuckled at this, stopping Tidal Wave in her tracks. Dash noticed this and quickly explained herself.
“Sorry, sorry. That just sounds like Scoots. Always getting into trouble. Seems like that kid wants to get hurt sometimes, ya know?”
Tidal Wave’s smile returned, and she laughed as well. “Yeah, I can see that.” Her smile suddenly dropped as she remembered where she was in the story. “I looked into the causes for each of her injuries though, and each of the nurses had written down a normal answer, as you would expect, but also noted that it was under suspicious circumstances.”
“What do you mean by suspicious circumstances?” Dash asked, now clearly showing signs of unease.
“Well, I wasn’t too sure myself, so I talked to one of the nurses that had worked on her. It was a long shot, but I was hoping she remembered something she could tell me. Surprisingly though, when I asked her, she remembered every detail like it was yesterday. She told me the kid was acting all jumpy and kept looking up at her father as if asking for approval. She also hesitated when she gave an answer as to how she had broken her wing.”
Rainbow Dash felt sick, and it was showing clearly in her face. Tidal Wave did not look much better either.
“Y-you don’t…”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Tidal Wave said, already knowing where Dash was going. “So I did some more digging. All of the nurses that had interacted with her said pretty much the same thing. Very sweet kid on her own, but whenever she was around her father, she acted all jumpy and scared.” Tidal Wave stopped, taking a deep breath and regaining her composure.
“And then she was gone. She just stopped coming to the hospital all of a sudden. Normally she would be seen at least once a week, but then she just stopped. This would normally be good news, but with the way she had always acted, the nurses saw it as anything but. It was about a month later when they heard that she was reported missing. Every single nurse in the hospital that had interacted with Scootaloo was furious. I was still brand new in the hospital at this time, so I was pretty much the only one that didn’t understand. They walked right out of the hospital when they found out and marched right down to the police station. I remember having to cover about 10 shifts while I was still in my first month there. That was a crazy experience.
“Anyway, they practically stormed the police station, demanding that the parents be arrested. The police promised they would look into it, but that was all that they could do without hard proof. So, an investigation was started on top of the missing pony case that was already open. Nothing ever came of it though. There was never enough proof. The nurses all thought she was dead, and the police wouldn’t do anything about it.”
“W-what did all of the nurses do then?” Dash asked, clearly fighting to hold in tears.
“They all quit. All of them. Including my mother. We had the best nurse staff in the nation, including the only zebra nurse in all of the land, with healing abilities like you wouldn’t believe, but they all just left. They couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Your Mom was a nurse too?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yeah, when she had quit working with the government, she had taken up a job as a nurse. She wanted to help ponies to make up for what she had done. She had her two children while she was a nurse, but as soon as everything happened with Scootaloo, she was fed up, and went to join my father with the resistance.”
“Wait, hold up. You have a sister? Why didn’t you mention her before?”
Tidal Wave visibly winced, her breath hitching in her throat. ‘It’s now or never. I need to tell her.’
“Tidal Wave, are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, standing up and slowly trotting over to her. She took a seat next to her and draped a supportive wing over her shoulders. “You know, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“No, I have to tell you. I just… need a minute.”
“Take your time,” Rainbow Dash said.
Having her sister’s wing wrapped around her was surprisingly comforting for Tidal Wave, seeing as Rainbow Dash didn’t even know they were sisters yet. Regardless, it only took a moment for Tidal Wave to regain her composure enough to spit out the truth.
‘Here goes nothing,’ she thought. “Rainbow Dash… you’re my sister.”
Rainbow Dash sat next to Tidal Wave, reflecting in silence. ‘How could that be right? There’s no way. I have two parents back in Equestria. There’s no way I could be her sister. But then again, I seriously doubt she would lie about something like this.’
Tidal Wave simply sat there in silence, contemplating whether to stay or go, all the while wondering if she had just made a grave mistake. Just as she began to stand up, Rainbow Dash turned to her and asked: “How?”
It was a simple question, but at the same time, it was the most complicated question she could have asked.
“How what?” Tidal Wave asked, a noticeable shake in her voice.
“How? I don’t get it. I’ve got two parents at home who I’ve known for as long as I can remember, and my dad even has rainbow hair like mine. I mean, it would explain why I look so much like your mom, but I don’t understand.”
‘Well, at least she’s not mad. That’s a start.’ Tidal Wave sighed sadly, although there was a slight glimmer of hope that now shone in her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think you might want to go talk to my parents about it. They would know more than I would.”
Rainbow Dash put her hoof to her chin in thought. After a minute though, she put it down and nodded to herself resolutely. “I think that can wait. We’ve got more important things to worry about for now.”
Tidal Wave’s hopeful smile that had been slowly growing on her face throughout the conversation dropped immediately. “Oh. O-okay. I’ll see ya later then.”
Rainbow Dash stood and began to walk back towards her room but after a few steps, she stopped and turned back to Tidal Wave.
“Oh, I almost forgot. You need any help packing sis?”
***
“So,” Twilight began as they all stood together once again in the conference room. “Is everyone ready for this?”
As everyone at the table nodded in approval, Twilight took a minute to look around. All of her friends, including a few new ones, surrounded her in support. They put their trust in her, and she was about to lead them into possible danger. There was no telling what Brimstone may do. She was so powerful, she had no reason to hold true to her word. And if she didn’t, there would be little they could do to stop her. She could be leading her friends to their death…
Shaking these thoughts from her head, she put on a reassuring smile. “Alright then. Let’s go!”
***
They had been walking along the beach for what felt like hours, and night had fallen a long time ago.
Applebloom had long since resorted to riding on her sister’s back, due to her injured leg. Scootaloo’s injuries were doing much better, but she also did not last long walking on her own. It wasn’t long after this that Rarity scooped up Sweetie Belle so she could get some much-needed rest as well. All three were quickly asleep, especially Scootaloo, who had Fluttershy’s wing as a blanket as she lay comfortably on Rainbow Dash’s back.
The sight brought a tear to Twilight’s eye. The beginnings of a wonderful family. They were only just beginning, yet they had already been through so much and she doubted there was anything short of death that could break a bond like that. She only hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“You doing okay?” Honeydew asked, moving to walk beside Twilight.
“Yeah, just a little worried. Hard not to be when you’re practically at the mercy of an all-powerful goddess.” Even at this nerve-wracking time, they managed a quick laugh.
“Well, when you put it like that, it’s hard not to see where you’re coming from,” she said with a nervous smile. “I’d tell you not to worry, but I can already tell that you’re the kind of pony who would just worry anyway.”
“H-hey! I don’t worry that much,” she said, looking away with an embarrassed blush.
“Twilight. I’ve known you for a matter of days, and I can already tell that you worry all the time, but that’s not a bad thing. It means you care for your friends. The bond you all share is stronger than the bond between a lot of families… well, maybe not that one,” she said, motioning with her head towards Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo, who was practically sandwiched between the two older ponies. Twilight chuckled.
“Yeah, I noticed that. They really do all love each other, don’t they? I’m amazed at how well Scootaloo is taking to Fluttershy. Before she was separated from Dash, they hadn’t become a couple yet. It was just Dash.”
“That’s what’s so great about young ponies,” Honeydew said. “While adults spend their whole lives running from change, fillies like Scootaloo embrace it with open arms and try to make the best of it. It’s almost magical in a way.”
“You’re right about that. Those three fillies never cease to amaze me.”
Twilight looked around, just now realizing that they were approaching the portal.
“Oh, wow. Look everypony, we’re here,” Twilight said as they approached the clearing.
Everyone seemed to suddenly snap out of their traveling stupor and also began to realize where they were. The sudden spike in conversation also woke the CMC, who attempted to blink the sleep out of their eyes.
“We’re here already?” Scootaloo asked sleepily.
“We sure are sweetie,” Fluttershy responded caringly. “You were out for a long time.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo said, blushing slightly as she realized how she was being held. “Y-you can let go of me now.”
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy said dejectedly, retracting her wing.
“Wait! Uhh, actually I am kinda cold, so I wouldn’t really mind I guess,” Scootaloo’s blush that she furiously fought, only seemed to grow stronger. Fluttershy’s caring smile returned as she, and most of the others fought back laughter.
“Sure thing, Scootaloo.”
Twilight’s smile didn’t fade as they approached the portal. “Okay everypony. I have to hold the portal open. I’ll step through to make sure it’s safe. As soon as I get through, I’ll open it back up from that side and hold it open for all of you.”
Everypony, even the fillies, nodded in approval, and Twilight turned to face the portal. Taking a deep breath, she focused her magic and began to feel around for the portal. She found it and quickly yanked it open, resulting in a dramatic display of lights. Before anyone could even tell what had happened, Twilight was through, with the portal closing directly behind her.
True to her word, it was only a few seconds later that the portal magically shimmered back to life.
Being the closest to the portal, Applejack stepped up to the portal. “Don’t y’all be waiting around now. Let’s get a move on!” she yelled, jumping through the portal with her sister hanging tightly onto her back. Rarity followed directly behind her with Sweetie Belle. Fluttershy was about to follow them with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, but Rainbow Dash stopped.
“I think our guests should go first,” she said, looking over at Blazing Fire, Honeydew, and Tidal Wave. “After you.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Tidal Wave said, and they walked forward, entering the portal one by one until only three ponies remained.
“Well Scoots, it’s been a long journey. It’s time to go home. After you Fluttershy.”
“Thanks, Dashie.”
Scootaloo looked shocked. “Rainbow! I thought only Pinkie cou—”
“Oh, hush,” she said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. “You heard nothing.”
Fluttershy giggled, stepping forward to enter the portal.
“Oh, you didn’t think you would get away that easy, now did you?”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash said, spinning around and looking for the voice. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt a weight lift off of her back.
“AAAAAAAH. MOOOOOM!!” Scootaloo cried as she was violently hoisted into the air.
“Scootaloo! I’m coming!” Rainbow Dash launched into the air, directly at Brimstone, who now appeared in the air, carrying Scootaloo in her magic beside of her. Brimstone laughed, clearly misjudging the speed of the rainbow-colored blur darting towards her as she tried to duck out of the way a second too late, and was hit full-force by a prismatic rocket.
“Oof!” she grunted, flying backwards through the air and dropping Scootaloo in the process. Rainbow Dash, acting on instinct, dove towards her daughter, catching her in midair. Without a second to pause, she launched Scootaloo through the air, towards Fluttershy who was still standing directly in front of the portal, watching in horror as tears streamed down her face.
“GO!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs. “Get her out of here! Go now!”
Fluttershy caught Scootaloo, throwing the filly onto her back, before quickly diving through the portal.
Brimstone was already back up. Her horn flashed, and just before Rainbow Dash made it to the portal, it disappeared, leaving Rainbow Dash to slam face-first into a tree. She looked up, dazed from the impact.
Brimstone approached, seething with rage.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” She asked threateningly as she raised her hoof. “You little—”
That was the last thing Rainbow Dash heard as her hoof came crashing down into her face, turning her vision black.
Calm. That is the only word Twilight could use to describe where she was. She had just stepped through the portal to make sure it was safe for her friends, but instead of ending up back in the Everfree Forest as she’d expected, she had ended up somewhere else entirely. She seemed to be floating in some sort of ethereal plane. It brought to mind the time Celestia had made her an Alicorn. Only this time, she felt calm.
She couldn’t explain it, but it seemed all of her worries and stress had just melted away. She couldn’t bring herself to panic, even though she clearly should have been on the verge of a nervous breakdown at this point. She felt at peace.
Suddenly, Twilight noticed a faint glow being cast upon her. And sure enough, she soon began to notice a distant light floating towards her. As it got closer, the glow only grew brighter and brighter, forcing her to shield her eyes as this miniature sun floated its way towards her. Before she knew it, the light stopped approaching and began to dim to a bearable level as it hovered before her.
“H-hello?” she asked, not entirely expecting a response. This only made her more shocked when she actually received one.
“Hello, Twilight,” the light responded.
Utterly dumbfounded, Twilight asked the only question that came to mind. “Who are you?” Twilight couldn’t explain it, but the more the light sat in front of her, the better she felt. Almost as if the light was emitting a sort of pure energy in a form she couldn’t describe. She only knew it made her happy. She didn’t try to fight the smile that found its way to her face.
“That is not important right now,” it responded. Its voice sounded calm, caring, and exuded a sort of confidence you can only find in those with unfathomable wisdom. It almost reminded her of Celestia herself. “Twilight, you have done well. You have saved a few from succumbing to the darkness that presides over the land. However, there is much work left ahead of you. If you do not act soon, many more will fall. And it will soon spread. All of Equestria will be overrun with pure darkness. You must stop it before it is too late.”
Despite the foreboding nature of the light’s words, Twilight could not bring herself to drop her smile. “But how? Brimstone is more powerful than even the princesses. How will we ever defeat her?”
“Who did you come to the island to find, Twilight? When the filly’s heart finds its place, she will be able to unlock the island’s power. A power that has the ability to stop this darkness once and for all, and bring new light to Equestria… or the power to destroy it. You must unlock this power, and save Equestria before it can all come crashing down. Many will perish, and you will not all make it out with your lives, but many more will perish if she is not stopped.” As she said this, the world slowly started to turn around them, as shapes and colors became distorted. “It is time for you to go, Twilight. I know that you will do what is right when the time comes.”
Twilight tried to speak. She had to find out more. What does she mean Scootaloo holds the key? She’s just a filly! What does it all mean? Before she knew it though, she found herself lying on the floor of the Everfree Forest. All her anxiety and panic quickly rushed back to the forefront of her mind, but she had to hold it back. She had to help her friends.
She quickly threw the portal open and watched as all of her friends started jumping through one by one. Applejack and Applebloom were first, followed soon after by Pinkie Pie, then Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Honeydew, Tidal Wave, and finally Blazing Fire. After he appeared, however, there was a pause. Their worry grew exponentially with each second that ticked by. As the seconds turned to minutes, Twilight finally grew tired of waiting. “That’s it, I’m going i—”
Twilight was interrupted as Fluttershy came tumbling through the portal, her wings cradling around a sobbing orange pegasus filly. Everypony rushed to her side, even as Twilight forced herself to hold the portal open.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled. “What happened?” Suddenly, as if the universe decided to answer Twilight’s question itself, the portal slammed shut, confirming their worst fears.
Twilight’s mind kicked into autopilot, as she frantically tried to reopen the portal. “Tidal Wave, Blazing Fire, and Honeydew take Fluttershy and Scootaloo back to her cottage. Look after them and try to help where you can.” They gave a swift nod of approval as they helped Fluttershy to her hooves, and Tidal wave lifted a sobbing Scootaloo onto her back.
“Rarity and Applejack, take Applebloom and Sweetie Belle there as well. I have a feeling Scootaloo’s going to need help getting through this, and I have no doubt you two will be able to help Fluttershy.” Once again, she received a swift nod from both of them and they set off, each carrying their younger sisters on their back, who were remaining silent. Whether it was out of respect for Twilight, who seemed to know what she was doing, or shock, nopony knew.
Twilight, having finally given up on reopening the portal, turned to the last pony left standing there. “Pinkie Pie, I need you to go find the mayor. Tell her that we need to be ready to evacuate the town at a moment’s notice. I don’t know if we’re actually going to need to, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Once you’re done with her, head to Zecora’s place and try to get as much information out of her as you can.”
Pinkie Pie felt her mane reinflate some at that. She needed a distraction, and this was a perfect distraction. Now that she had a purpose, she didn’t need to focus on… that. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she looked up at Twilight and smiled determinedly. “I won’t let you down.” The two shared a quick hug before Pinkie turned and bounded off through the forest. Twilight chuckled at that. Even at the darkest of times, Pinkie’s antics somehow still found a way to amuse her.
The amusement didn’t last long, however. The words she had heard just after coming through the portal still echoing through her mind. As much as she hated to admit it, Twilight Sparkle was clueless. She had no idea what the buck was going on, and that pissed her off. She pushed her anger aside, however, and focused. She knew of only one mare that might have the answer to her problems. A lot of concentration and one magical flashbang later, and she found herself standing before a very startled looking Princess Luna.
“Twilight Sparkle! What is the meaning of this? Thou could have warned us.”
“There’s no time!” Twilight yelled, causing the ruler of the night to recoil in shock. “Where’s Princess Celestia?”
Sensing the urgency in her voice, Luna realized there was a serious problem. Whenever Twilight got like this, there was either some big threat about to overtake Equestria… or they were on the verge of another ‘Smarty Pants incident’. Luna shuddered at the thought. Whatever it was, something had to be done, and quickly. “Our dear sister is asleep in her chambers. We shall send for her at once.” Luna’s horn flared up for just a moment before she spoke again. “It is done. She will be along shortly. Now, what matter could possibly warrant such a visit at this time of night?”
As she asked this, Princess Celestia came rushing in, sans her usual regal attire. “I came as quickly as I could, sister. What is the matter?” Twilight cleared her throat, catching the attention of the princess. “Oh, hello Twilight. I almost didn’t see you there. How nice of you to visit, although I must comment on the impromptu nature of your visit. Surely you did not come to us at such a time on a social call?”
Twilight looked up at her mentor and gave a weak smile. Even in the direst of circumstances, seeing the princess always brought a smile to her face. With a sigh, she got on with it. “I’m sorry to say that you’re right, princess. I wish this could just be a social call, but there are much bigger problems at hoof. It's about Brimstone."
***
“Hey, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle whispered into her sister’s ear. They had managed to catch up with the others, and they were all trotting in silence towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
Rarity swiveled her ears back towards her sister but chose to keep her eyes on the path in front of them. “Yes, Sweetie Belle? What is it?”
Rarity couldn’t have seen it, but Sweetie’s gaze locked onto an orange bundle of fur on Tidal Wave’s back. Scootaloo’s chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. Tear streaks lined her face beneath her closed eyelids, the filly having long since cried herself to sleep. Her mane was a mess, and it was obvious by the frown on her face that, even in sleep, her demons refused to leave her. “Is she gonna be ok? Sc-Scootaloo I mean. I’ve never seen her cry like that before. Not before all of this started happening anyways. I can’t say I really blame her, but…”
“But you’re worried about her?” Rarity asked, a knowing smirk spreading across her lips.
“Mm-hmm,” Sweetie Belle affirmed, nodding. “Is that… weird? I don’t know why I’m so worried. I’ve never worried about one of my friends this much before. I mean, I know this is a lot worse than anything we’ve ever been through before, but still… it feels different.”
Rarity, to her credit, managed to avoid squealing in delight at the feelings that she recognized all too well in her little sister. She could not, however, help the massive grin forming on her face, despite the situation. “Not at all Sweetie Belle, it only shows that you care about her. That’s very sweet of you.” “You’ll figure it out soon enough,” she added under her breath, too softly for the little filly to hear.
Sweetie Belle seemed to accept this answer and laid her head down on her sister’s back. The fact that her gaze never left the sleeping pegasus filly next to them did not escape her sister’s attention, whose smile only seemed to grow at this.
Not long later, they arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. It was the middle of the night, so most of her animal friends were asleep, but even the nocturnal ones seemed to be able to tell Fluttershy was upset. Dozens of pairs of eyes watched them from the roof of the cottage and the limbs of various trees as they approached. Yet, not one of them approached. They knew the mare needed space, so they were happy to provide her with it.
Upon entering the cottage, Fluttershy made her way towards the stairs leading up to her room, before stopping and turning back to the others, just as Applejack entered and shut the door behind her. The noise seemed to awaken Scootaloo and Applebloom. Sweetie Belle, having never actually fallen asleep, simply raised her head.
“Umm, Applejack… th-there’s a guest room if you go up the stairs and to the right. W-would you mind putting the fillies to bed for me?” she asked with a shaky smile. It was all she could manage at the time.
Applejack just smiled back at her confidently. “Of course Sugar Cube. C’mon Rare’s, Tidal, let’s put these fillies to bed. I think it’s long past their bedtime.” A hearty yawn coming from her back punctuated her statement.
As they all turned towards the stairs, a quiet voice spoke up from Tidal Wave’s voice, stopping them in their tracks. “W-wait,” Scootaloo croaked out, her voice cracked and strained from her crying. They all turned to look back at her, but the filly’s eyes met Fluttershy’s. “C-could I maybe… g-go with you?” she asked weakly.
Fluttershy smiled at this. Not a weak, fake smile like before, but a real smile. Without saying a word, she walked over to Tidal Wave, who was smiling as she turned to allow Fluttershy better access to the filly on her back. Fluttershy leaned in and rubbed her muzzle gently across Scootaloo’s cheek. The filly blushed but returned the nuzzle nonetheless.
The two pulled back, smiling softly. “Of course you can Sweetheart.” Scootaloo blushed at the name but did not object. A moment later, she felt herself being lifted up in a warm magical glow that quickly moved her over and deposited her on Fluttershy’s back. Fluttershy turned back to Rarity, silently mouthing the words ‘thank you’ before she turned back to the stairs and began heading up the stairs for her room. Making a left-hand turn at the top of the stairs, she arrived in her bedroom. It was a simple affair, consisting of little more than a wardrobe, a plain bed, and a few simple birdhouses that dangled from the rafters.
Trotting right over to the bed, which was right next to the back window, she pulled back the blue duvet, and let Scootaloo gently slide off of her back and on to the soft sheets below. She quickly hopped up into the bed herself, curling her body protectively around the filly at her side and gently laying a wing over her now sleeping form. She couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight. The instant her wing made contact with the filly, her face shifted from a slight frown to a content smile. The sight warmed her heart. Leaning her neck down, she planted a soft kiss on Scootaloo’s forehead, who’s smile only grew in her sleep. “Goodnight little angel. Sweet Dreams.” At that, Fluttershy lay her head down next to the sleeping filly and slowly began to succumb to sleep’s sweet embrace.
However, right as she was beginning to lose herself to sleep, the creaking of her bedroom door alerted her to a new presence in the room. Raising her head, she was just barely able to make out a small white unicorn filly standing by her door. “Sweetie Belle? What are you doing up? Shouldn’t you be in bed?” she asked in a soft tone, trying not to wake Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle grew visibly nervous. She suddenly found the floor to be a very captivating and interesting sight, as her hooves began fidgeting and tracing the lines in the boards. “U-um… well, the thing is… um, err…”
Fluttershy saw where this was going and shushed her. “Shh,” she said, lifting her wing ever so slightly to reveal the sleeping pegasus to her friend. Sweetie Belle looked first at Scootaloo, and then back at Fluttershy, giving her a questioning, maybe even somewhat pleading, glance. Fluttershy simply nodded.
Sweetie Belle lit up visibly. Darting across the room with much more drive than when she had entered, she climbed up onto the bed, pushing her back against Scootaloo’s chest as she lay down on her side. Somehow, Scootaloo managed to sleep through all of this, even if she did put a hoof around Sweetie Belle to pull her closer. Fluttershy looked down at the two fillies pressed up against her. Her smile from earlier came back in with a vengeance, as she threatened to keel over right then and there from sheer overload of adorableness. Her wing quickly found itself draped across the two fillies and she let her head fall to the bed, her eyes shutting as she did so. Seconds later, she was asleep.
***
Luna sighed. "That is what we feared. Please tell us what has happened."
"Were you able to get your friends out of there?" Celestia asked.
"Well, that's just it. Almost all of us got away. She took Rainbow Dash and closed the portal before we could do anything about it. I couldn't even open it back up!"
Now, it was Celestia's turn to sigh. "I feared that was the case. Tell me, was it Rainbow Dash that she went after initially?"
"I-I don't know. I was already on the other side of the portal... Oh! The portal! That's right! Celestia, when I jumped through the portal, I didn't just instantly pop out on the other side like I thought I was going to. For a minute, I was stuck in some sort of... in-between area. That's the best I can describe it. It was a lot like that place you met me when I finished Starswirl's spell all those years ago."
"You didn't happen to meet somepony there, did you?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. Or, at least, I think I did. I didn't actually SEE anypony, but I did see this really bright light, and it spoke to me. It sounded almost like you, but different."
Luna chuckled at this, "You always did take after her the most, dear sister."
Celestia dismissed this with a wave of a hoof. "Twilight, go on, tell us what she said to you."
So, Twilight recounted everything she had heard the voice say to the best of her memory. It wasn't exactly word for word, but it was close enough. When she finished, she looked up to see two frowning alicorns in front of her. "What? Did I do something wrong?" she asked nervously.
"No, Twilight. You did nothing wrong. It is just... we were hoping that our suspicions were not correct."
"Suspicions? What suspicions?"
"Twilight," Celestia began as Luna trotted over to take a seat beside them. "I believe it would be easier if I were to just tell you the whole story from the beginning. It all started back when Luna and I were just little fillies. It wasn't always just us though. We had an older sister. She was always the most powerful out of us, and our parents knew this. Ever since she was born, they were grooming her for great things. Sadly, however, not all ponies can handle that kind of power. Our parents saw it in her heart. She had been corrupted by power and there was nothing they could do to save her. It broke their hearts, but they knew that if they were to do nothing, Brimstone's power would grow until even they could not stop her. That is why they sent her away. They stripped her of most of her magic and transported her through a portal to a faraway land. the only way to travel from one location to the other is through the portal. They knew that Brimstone would gain her power back eventually, and they knew she would come looking for revenge.
"There is a reason they sent her to this island specifically. They both knew that the island itself harbored great magical power. This power could not be accessed by just anyone, however. Only both of our parents combining their powers was enough to even reach the magic of the island. They knew this, and they used up every last bit of strength they had in order to tie the island's magic to one of the ponies that Brimstone managed to pull along with her when she was banished. They found the pony that was the purest of heart and tied the power to their direct lineage."
"Wait, so you're saying that Scootaloo is some distant descendant of some random pony that got thrown onto the island with Brimstone? Well, if it's passed down from generation to generation, how come there is only Scootaloo left? Wouldn't there be more?"
Celestia smiled. "Excellent observation Twilight Sparkle. You would be correct, but the spell they cast does not exactly work like that. They had the foresight to see that as being an issue in the future. For this reason, they crafted the spell so that the key only gets past down to one member of the next generation, and it only gets passed down to the descendant with the purest of heart. Once it is passed down, the parent loses the key soon after. As soon as the child is old enough to bear it alone."
"But how is the key accessed then?"
"Twilight, our parents were very smart. They knew that not even the strongest ponies could bear that kind of power alone. That is why they wanted to ensure the pony who would bear the power would never be alone in it. The power can only be accessed when the pony embraces true love for the first time."
"So... you're saying our only hope of saving Rainbow Dash, and apparently the world, lies in a little filly finding her true love."
Celestia chuckled. "In a way, yes."
Twilight groaned. "Ugh. Since when did life get so cliche?" Even Luna couldn't hold back a little laughter at that.
"Twilight, you must return to the island with your friends tomorrow. Bring the fillies with you. It will be easier for Scootaloo to access the island's power if she is on the island herself, and I have a feeling she will find the key in one of her two closest friends."
"If you say so, Princess," Twilight said with a small smile. "Oh, I almost forgot. Who was that? The pony that talked to me after I went through the portal?"
"All in due time, my friend. But for now, you must return to your friends, and Luna and I need to make some preparations. I have the utmost faith in you Twilight Sparkle, but in the unlikely case that you do fail, Equestria must be prepared."
