> Forever Scootaloo > by TheJournalisticBrony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Rainbow Dash, I know you aren't here anymore, but I wish you were. Life is so dark right now and I don’t know how to get rid of the pain. I wish I could be dead right now, but that can't happen. I am writing to you just to get my feelings out. I just wish I didn't have to live with the pain that I am feeling, it shouldn’t be right that I should outlive everybody I love. It isn’t right that I have no friends alive. It isn’t alright that I know that I will never die off. It isn’t right that I would outlive everypony I love. Just when I thought that I found someone that I love, they soon die. How am I supposed to live with this pain I feel everyday. I only have 3 people in my life that are alive and understand my pain. They are Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. They still love me, but not as much as you have loved me. We all wish that you were here. We wished that we could be dead, be united with you guys in Heaven. I don’t know how living forever is great when you don’t have any people that truly love you. I wish you and Soarin could be back in my life. Scootaloo > Chapter 1: A Suprising Morning (10 Years Ago) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, I wake up in my home with Rainbow Dash next to me. It seems like she had fell asleep next to me every night. I have noticed this for the past few months. I think it is because of my nightmares I have. Every night, it seems that I wake up with some nightmare. And all of the dreams are from my past. All the nightmares was where I was trying to find a place to stay. They were all the terrible memories that I will always remember. Those memories would cause me to cry in my sleep. Yell out the feelings I would of had. She always came to my side, here to comfort me. She would stroke my mane and tell me it is alright. She would sing to me and I would fall back asleep. If I couldn't fall asleep for some reason, we would talk about stories. Last night was the night she forgot to come in. I had the worst nightmare of all of them. It was of Rainbow Dash falling from the sky. She was struck by lightning (I could tell by the weather and tips of her wings were like coals). She was plummeting to Earth. I rushed quickly to save her. She was falling quicker and more tears rushed from my eyes. I finally caught her. When I touched the ground, I noticed she was dead. The dream soon faded away. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were trying to wake me up. I than sobbed in her arms for a few hours. I explained to her the dream I had. she wept a bit too. We hugged and were so thankful that we were both alive. After awhile, she helped me fall back asleep. I am wondering when will these night terrors go away. I have night terrors every time Rainbow Dash isn't by my side. I feel terrible. I feel like I am taking up too much of Rainbow Dash's time. But now, it seemed that she has been forgetting to come in my room more. The night terrors soon remind her that she needs to be by my side. But this week was different. I would hear her come in at night. She would lay down next to me. If I was awake, we would talk. We could talk for hours. We seem to have similar stories Everynight, we count our blessings. We would always say that our blessing our each other. I had similar blessings to Rainbow Dash. The only thing is that I don't have much in my life. Soarin (Rainbow Dash's husband) was coming in my room more often. I just wished him and I had the same connection Rainbow Dash and I have. I wish I got to know Soarin more at the time Rainbow Dash and him were dating. It would of made Soarin a greater dad. Soarin is a great dad, but we are missing a much deeper connection. When Soarin comes in, he listens. He tells me he loves me a lot and tells me that he will always be there for me. I can tell that he feels like he doesn't belong in my life. He feels off. I wish that wasn't the case and I don't know how to handle the situation. I notice Rainbow Dash's presence and turned over to look at her beautiful cyan blue face and body. She looked tired through her eyes. I noticed there were bags under her closed eyes. Her mane was a bit messed up. I stroked my hand through her mane to try and smooth it out. I liked her mane how it was right now. It seemed more natural and less false. My thoughts soon veered to Rainbow Dash. It seemed that she was awake, but resting. I could tell because she said, "Goodmorning Scoots." She than held me close and giggled. "What?" I asked. She was never this giggly. Something was different. I just couldn't figure out what "Oh, just thinking of how amazing my daughter is. She is even more amazing cause now she has her cutie mark and some cool new wings," Rainbow Dash laughed. My eyes widened and I checked to see what my cutie mark was. It was of a Double Sonic Rainboom. I squealed in amazement. Rainbow Dash continued to giggle. I tried to remember when I could do a Double Sonic Rainboom, or even a Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash could tell what I was thinking. It seemed like she always knew my thoughts and emotions. We have that sort of connection. She than went to ask me, "Do you remember when you used to sleep fly?" I think about it for awhile. It seems that I only remember fragments of Rainbow Dash telling me about my sleep flying. I shake my head. "Well, when me and Soarin started to date, you started to sleep fly. I would be out late at night with him, and you would appear. So one night when I am late, I see you flying quickly passed me. You soon hit a Sonic Rainboom. I tried to catch up with you. I was almost caught up and than you went so fast there was another Sonic Rainboom that happened. You hit a Double Sonic Rainboom," she explained. I asked, "Is there any other times where I hit the Double Sonic Rainboom again?" "When you were sleep flying, yes. When you were awake, no.," she responded. "But you have some new wings, if you saw," "How is that possible?I haven't seen many if my classmates have a full set of wings this big." I asked. "You are all grown up Scoots," she explained. "Which means that you can be signed up to help in Cloudsdale, or you can be a Wonderbolt." My eyes teared up a bit. I spoke my thoughts, "I'm almost all grown up." Rainbow Dash knew something was wrong, "Scoots, what is the matter?" "Well, I am almost grown up. It means that I soon will get a house. I will soon leave you Nd Soarin. I will move on. I don't want that to happen. I want to stay with you forever." I wished that I could stay with her forever. I wished there was some way of having that happen. Soon, I get part of the wish of wanting to be with Rainbow Dash. It was great, except everyone else I loves was out of the picture. > Chapter 2: Double Sonic Rainboom Gone Wrong (10 Years Ago) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- She held me closer, “You can always stay here with me.” I feel comforted by what she said. Those words felt like they were temporarily. Those words will only be good for around 80 years. But I know one day, she will die off. I wonder how I will deal with it. She means everything in my life. Every year seems to get shorter. And every year it seems that I grow closer to her. No matter what I do, I can’t escape the fact that she will die, along with Soarin. Same thing applies with Soarin and I, for we are growing closer every year (and every year seems shorter). I don’t understand why the years have to feel shorter. I just want these years long enough so it feels like an eternity before Rainbow Dash dies. But I know that can’t happen. It makes me depressed knowing that. I pushed the thoughts out of my head. Soarin went into my room, “Surprise jump attack.” He jumped onto the bed and we giggle. He asked with a grin, “So, why is Scoots so giggling? She wasn’t tickled at all right?” Rainbow Dash looks up at Soarin. She gives them the “our daughter is grown up and just got her cutie mark look”. Soarin had no clue why his wife looked at him like this and it was a moment of awkward silence. Rainbow Dash said, “Scoots just got her cutie mark and her wings are now huge. I told her that she is almost done growing up.” “So, what is your cutie mark?” Soarin asked curiously. “A double sonic rainboom,” I said proudly. But then I thought to myself A double sonic rainboom. How am I able to do that and I thought it was going to be a scooter. Is really performing double sonic rainbooms my special talent. Is this what I have been missing the entire time. No wonder I couldn’t get my cutie mark. Soarin embarrassed, “I remember when you were younger and not such a great flyer. I was so happy for you when you could even fly for more than 10 seconds.” I blush, “Dad, do you have to really embarrass me on the day I get my cutie mark and new wings.” “Well, ya. Just remember you are always a little filly to me forever.” “Mom, please have dad stop it. I am not in the mood to be embarrassed.” “O.K Soarin, stop. Let me embarrass her,” Rainbow Dash started. “You know that I remember when I had to carry you through that door. You used to be weak.” “MOM!” I yell, sick of the embarrassment. Rainbow Dash was pushing it this far. "What?" she asks. I demand, "Please stop embarrassing me!" "Be glad we weren’t the ones who had to potty train you. It would have been a nightmare," she said. I was in shock. Rainbow Dash could tell on my facial expression. "O.K Scootaloo. We will stop. But can't the parents have fun once in awhile?" she asked. I steer away from the question and try to get onto more important things. I didn’t want to be embarrassed anymore. Plus, I have some flying to catch up on. "Hey mom, I'm going to go flying right now. You and Soarin want to come?" I asked them. Everyday I go flying with my mom and dad. We have flown everyday, no matter if it is raining, snowing, or blazing hot. I always like to have no worries and allow myself to be free from the troubles. I have enjoyed every second of flying with them. “Sorry, we are a bit tired today. Me and Soarin had some intense Wonderbolt workouts that happened yesterday and we are really sore. Go on without us,” they said. I was in disbelief. I have never heard an excuse like that. Something was up, but I didn’t say anything else about it. I then told them I would be back by lunch time and hurried outside. It was roughly 70 degrees out. The wind had a slight wind factor to it. I got into my flying position. I felt a breeze go through my new wings. The feather flowed with every movement I made. I expanded them and was ready to take flight, but I let the breeze pass through my feathers. I have never felt this before with my previous wings. I looked at them, noticing how beautiful they were. These wings were unique. The wings felt so strong, yet, so light. The feathers had its same orange color to them. I noticed on the under feathers that the tips were a nice purple color. It was the same color as my mane. I took flight and I flew like I had never before, for I was gaining speed, quickly. I felt the air rush through my mane. The sunshine with a combination of wind felt great on my face. I decided to head over to Apple Acres as quickly as I could. Moments later, I felt the wind stop. I did a sonic rainboom. It took me a few seconds to realize it. Once I realized that I just did a sonic rainboom, I did another. I just did a double sonic rainboom! As soon as I hit the double sonic rainboom, the wind came back. I tried to stop my body from going any farther, but it took me sometime. Once I did stop my body, I thought I would be near Apple Acres. I wasn’t there. I looked around. Something caught my eye. In front of my face was a huge maroon dragon. It was so huge, I had to look up to know what I almost ran into. Quickly, I looked down, I was near his gems. My eyes widened and I gulped. Quickly, I dashed one direction, not knowing where I was going. I had no clue where I was going, all I know is that I was in a cave and I was lost. I tried flying faster. I turned around and the dragon was following me. I looked for a light, to indicate the end of the cave. No use. I couldn’t tell where the light came from that allowed me to see. The light seemed to be the same. I felt like I was flying blindly. I soon thought that I saw a brighter light and I rushed to it. It was the end of the cave. I flew out of it as quick as I could. I thought I was going to end up near PonyVille, but ended finding myself in a sandstone canyon. I turned around and noticed that the dragon stopped following me, but where was I? I noticed that the mouth of the cave was just a hole in a sturdy large pillar. The first thing I noticed about my whereabouts was in the desert, for temperatures were blazing hot. I decided to go upward to see where I ended up. I wanted to see where PonyVille was. I noticed that I was in a huge desert. I wondered how far did I go when I did a double sonic rainboom. Wait, if I did double sonic rainbooms in my sleep, then how far would I travel. I mean, I just did one and I ended up in the desert I thought. I decided to scan my surroundings. I searched for a nearby village, or town. I noticed that the closest town was about 50 miles away from here. I decided to fly there as quick as I could. The heat started to get to me after a mile. I did not decide to go that fast because I didn’t want to perform another double sonic rainboom and end up somewhere desolate. I flew at half speed. The heat seemed to be intensified every mile I went. I wasn’t going to give up though and continued toward the town. Every flap seemed to get heavier and heavier. Soon after sometime, I decided to walk, for flying seemed impossible. Soon, every step started to feel heavier. My throat was parched and my tongue felt like sandpaper. After 10 miles of walking, I was 500 feet near the town. I noticed that the townsfolk were zebras. I started to gasp for air. I was at my breaking point and started to collapse. Some zebra yelled, “This pony looks like she is about to have a heat stroke, get her inside!” I fell onto the hot sand. Instead of me getting off the sand, I just sat in it while my vision blurred. The last thing I saw was a zebra approaching. “Get her inside, now!” he commanded. Those were the last words I heard before collapsing. > Chapter 3: First of Many Dreams (10 Years Ago) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wondered where I was. It seemed to be dark out. I assumed I would be back in my room. My assumptions were incorrect. I noticed a lamp post light above me. I knew I wasn’t in bed, but in Canterlot. How did I end up in Canterlot I asked myself. I noticed that I was rested up against the post and I decided to get down from the post and walk around, see if I could figure out how I got there in the first place. In the corner of my eye was a brown colt. I approached him. For some reason, he didn’t notice my presence. “Um, Hi. I just have to ask you something,” I started. He seem to not notice me at all. Why did he just ignore me I thought. He walks past me, ignoring me the whole way through. I look around to see if I could find any other pony to speak to. Ms. Cheerilee was approaching with her class. I go up to her and try to speak to her and she ignores me, which was odd. I knew that she would never do that to a student. The entire class walks on by too, ignoring me. I soon notice something about the class that seems off. The first thing is that Sweetie Belle and Applebloom didn’t notice me at all. The second thing was I was walking with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. How could this be? Here I am standing here and yet I see myself walking with them. I noticed there was one thing about me that was different. The thing different was that I looked a few years younger. I didn’t have my cutie mark, nor my wings. This made me believe that I was in a dream. I decided to follow along my classmates and see where we are heading to. This was the best thing to do in a dream. I also decided to listen to Ms. Cheerilee speak. Ms. Cheerilee was talking about The Princess Coronation that was about to take place. I remember the event like it was yesterday. I remember that on that day, something felt a little different. For some reason, Shining Armor was the one who felt different. He felt disconnected. I still am curious to why I felt this. My question was soon partially answered as a loud whisper went into the air, “Stay after the coronation and follow Shining Armor. You will see what has to be done.” At the same time I hear those whispered words, a stallion in all black disappeared from a lamp post nearby. And I saw that the stallion said those words. But how did he whisper those words so loud. He was roughly 20 feet away. I wanted to chase after him, but I knew that I needed to do one task. Follow Shining Armor after the princess coronation. So, I continued to follow Ms. Cheerilee through the path to the castle. It felt like a very long walk. As soon as we got to the castle, it was clear that it was morning time. It was around the time the sun came up. When we got there, we had to go through guard security. I got through without security at all, for they did not see me. Soon, we headed into the castle and saw how well prepared it was. The first thing I wanted to do was look for Shining Armor, but it looked like the ceremony was about to begin. I sat down, and was waiting for the event to begin. Apparently a Doctor Whooves decided to sit right on me, and sank through my body. Apparently, my body is 100% transparent, which isn’t good for me, for I could not see through the colt. So, I got up and moved toward the front so I could find Shining Armor. As soon as I got toward the front, the horns went off indicating the start of the ceremony. In the corner of my eye, there was Shining Armor approaching the stage. He looked, different. His eyes were a bit weird and his eyes were moist. It looked like he was crying for awhile. My mind told me something was wrong. Shining Armor continued to the stage with the thick gold necklace on his back (the gold necklace was also resting on a pillow). He felt like all the happiness was drained out of him. He tried to put on a smile, but that smile was fake. During the ceremony, his sadness seemed to grow. After the ceremony was over, I followed him as he moved sneakily to the bathroom. He entered it and looked around and made sure everypony was gone. He saw that one colt was in the restroom. “Everypony in here, LEAVE!!!” he shouted. The colt left quickly. Shining armor then rested his hooves on the sink. He then put his head down and started to cry. I didn’t know why he was crying, but I felt bad for him. “Why did this have to happen?” he asked. “Why do I have to be the one who will die off? Why can’t I be immortal like my wife, and my sister? Everyday, I pray to you God. I pray that you would let me be immortal like my sister and my wife. I pray that I don’t have to live my life knowing that I will have my wife die alone without me. I pray that I hope my sister could move on cause she knows that after I die, there will be no one left for her to love. She will have no brother that loved her as much as I do. I feel that I need to be immortal because I know that this is for me, this is for my sister. If she wasn’t immortal I would not pray everyday for a gift. For without this gift, life feels like a curse. You say that you have a plan for everybody, but I don’t think that it is alright for me to be out of the plan in my sisters life. If you want my sister to be in your plan and not end up dead, I would be in her plan. For I am one of the ones that will love her forever. My wife will love her, but not as much as I would. My wife would not be able to take my loss. I could take her loss, but I would have someone very close I could go to. My wife isn’t as close to Twilight Sparkle as I am close to her. If my wife and sister weren’t immortal and so close to me, I wouldn’t be asking for this. Please, just let me be immortal. I am begging of you.” I started to tear up at the last words Shining Armor said, and then I soon woke up. But I didn’t wake up back in my bed. > Chapter 4: The Far Outskirts (10 Years Ago) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The room was painted black and the heat of noon was piercing through my body. This heat, though, felt foreign to me because my body hasn’t experienced this intensity of heat. My body cried out for the heat was searing the body. I groaned in pain and I felt a cold cloth sooth my body. A familiar voice that sounded like Zacora met my ears, “So, you’re awake.” “Zacora,” I asked. “I am not Zacora, I am Cyrus.” “Where am I?” “You are at the Village of Tal’ Van.” “Where?” “You don’t know about Tal’ Van, figures.” “Just can you tell me where in Equestria I am.” “You need to rest.” “Tell me where I am.” “I don’t want to.” My eyes shut and I fell asleep in a place that felt like an oven. Dreams did not come to me and the next thing I know, I wake up in the same place I was with more energy than before. The same zebra was next to me, asleep, and a cooler blanket of the moon cloaked my body. I decided to see where I was and walked out of the tent I was. Sand and tents met my eyes and this was the only thing I could see, besides an occasional cacti. The sound of anypony was muffled by the night. I started to freak out, for this is a place that seemed to be only a legend. For how was I supposed to get out of this land. How was I supposed to travel more than 1,000 miles and get back to a location that was close to my home? I decided to do a Double Sonic Rainboom, to get me out of this place. Everything was going fine, till I hit was seemed to be an invisible wall. That wall hit me at a speed that could've killed me. I stumbled back around 20 miles and decided to check what hit me. Apparently. it was a forcefield that prevented any non unicorns from passing. I was a non unicorn and had no way of getting passed a forcefield as powerful as this one. So, I decided to go back to Tal’ Van and try to seek some answers about the truth about this land. For they say this land was a place where all banned zebras went. They say this was the place where one of the many battles zebras and ponies had. They say that is why zebras and ponies hate each other now. They say that any zebra that makes it past this forcefield must have a pure and noble heart and has traveled a long journey. But I am not a Zebra, but a pony. When I make it back to Tal' Van the sun was invisible and there were a few zebras awake and I decided to approach one. "Hello, my name is Scootaloo and," I say. The zebra was kindling a fire. He did not look at me at all when speaking back "How did you get here?" he asked. "Well, I was doing a Double Sonic Rainboom and I apparently went across Equestria and." "I don't need your life story. Listen, you shouldn't be here." "Well, I tried to leave and I couldn't." "Why couldn't you?" "There seemed to be a forcefield up." "Figures, Celestia wants us all dead. Talk to Bel Zaar. He can help you get out of here. We don't want any ponies here we can't trust." "Where is he?" "He's right behind you," The zebra finished speaking and I turned around. He grabbed me real quickly and took to me to his tent. I didn't understand why he was taking me to his tent. My question was soon going to be answered. "So, your a pony that got into Tal' Van?" he asked, "Yes." "How did you do it?" "I don't know, you tell me. I was doing a Double Sonic Rainboom and happened to stumble into this place." "It isn't possible to do a Double Sonic Rainboom." "Well, I have my cutie mark in Double Sonic Rainbooms. So, if I did that to get here. Can't I do the same thing to get back to my home land?" "Just because you got here with a Double Sonic Rainboom, doesn't mean that you can bypass the magic forcefield. In order to even fracture the forcefield, you would need to go the speed of 1000 Sonic Rainbooms. Magic like this is impossible to break. Really, the only way for the forcefield to go away is from the user removing it." "So, how do I get out of here." "It isn't going to be easy, but here is what you need to do..." > Chapter 5: A Tale About Hell's Journey (10 Years Ago) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “It isn’t going to be easy but here is what you need to do. Now, the journey is never easy. You are going to feel tired, but don’t give up.” “Well, what do I do?” I asked. “In order to get out of here, you must do a few things. It is going to take roughly 5 days to complete all of this.” "Why so long?" "This task isn't simple." "Well, could you tell me what I need to do first?" "Alright, the first three days involve fasting." "Fasting?" "Do you have any clue what fasting is?" "No." "Well, fasting is where you spend a certain period eating nothing and drinking only water." "Why do I need to do that?" "The portal will only open if the magic senses hardship and will only open up if the pony or zebra registers 'Strength and Courage'" "Well, how long do I need to do that for?" "3 days." "3... Days!" "Yep, that's right." "I need to fast for that long?" "Correct." "Why?!?" "Cause that is what the book says about how to get out." "What book?" "Well, at school, you should have learned about zebra history and about this book that told how noble zebras got to make it out. The book also explained why some of the best craftsmen were zebras." "We never learned anything about zebras." "Shame. The book goes into details about why fasting for 3 days is important." "Well, could you explain why it is important?" "You should of learned this already!" "I should of?" "Yea! Don't they teach you about how the zebras are separated and about the war?!?" "No." "My God. Anyways, during the three days, go to the library and read about the book. It should give you some insight. Anyways, long story short, the reason why you had to fast was because every tribe that was in the war had no food for 3 days. It symbolizes that you don't need much to be strong. That is why you need to fast for 3 days." "Ok. So, what do I do for the days I fast. Do I have to do anything special during the first 3 days I fast? Also, can I drink water?" "Yes. You can drink water for the first 3 days and even on your trip. You do not need to do anything during the days you are fasting." "Ok. Cool. Wait?! What trip?!" "Well, that was the next thing I need to tell you about. For the next 2 days, you will be traveling on foot. You can bring as much water as you like on this trip. But you are not allowed to bring any food. But for the next day, you will be traveling 100 miles to the mountains east. Once you get there, you will camp out and the next day, you will be climbing the mountains. There will be an opening made in the magical barrier. That opening is at the highest peak. Once you get there, you can jump through the opening. You will than slide down the magical barrier. You should then land up in the desert area. The next days, I don't know what your going to do. For Canterlot is 1,000 miles away from this town. Any questions?" "Wow. Such a long journey. How am I supposed to make it out of here?" "I believe in you." "And are there any towns closer?" "Yes. There are many on the way to Canterlot. All of these towns can help you get back to where you live." "How long will it take me to get home?" "A month." "Well. I guess I can start the fasting today." "Alright. Anyways. I want you to go to the library. It is in the tall building over there," the zebra finished. "Ok, I will," I say. I am about to head to the tall building and then I realize I did not get his name. I ask him. "Hey. I didn't get your name. Could you please tell me your name?" He looks at me this time and I notice he has a very familiar face to Zacora's. He answers back, "The name is Zaccerio. Cousin and Seargent to Zacora, the biggest outlaw in Equestria!"