Census Maximus Ultimatum

Chapter 2

“Scootalooooo!” Sweetie Belle called out. “Come on out! I give up!”

Scootaloo popped down out of the top of a tree and landed in front of Sweetie Belle, fluttering her wings with joy that she had defeated her friend. Hide and Seek was one of the more popular games between the three of them. Apple Bloom walked in circles around them. Sweetie had been the seeker, and had found Apple Bloom in a bush behind Twilight's library.

“Beat you!” Scootaloo said haughtily.

“That ain't fair!” Apple Bloom complained.

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle put in. “You're more aerody-whatsit than the rest of us!”

Scootaloo smiled. “It's just me, that's all. You guys hide now, I'll count!” She put her face against the tree, bumping her forehead against the bark. She winced, blinked a couple of times, and then settled down to count. She heard Sweetie and Apple Bloom giggle and dash away in two different directions.

As she counted, she kept her ears pricked for any sound coming from the other fillies. When she finished, “Ready or not, here I come!” she pranced in the direction she had thought she heard one of her friends go. She saw clear hoofprints in the grass and dirt, and followed them eagerly. Scootaloo splayed out her wings, steadying her and making her hoofsteps lighter than normal, so she would make as little noise as possible. As she followed the prints, her heart beat faster, her breaths were quicker. She wanted to surprise her friend.

There was a bush at the end of the trail of hoofprints. Scootaloo crept up on it, wiggeld her haunches, and pounced.

On the other side of the bush, there was nothing. No yellow or white ponies. Just more hoofprints. “Okay...” Scootaloo said to herself. “This will be a tricky one, then!”

She followed the hoofprints until she was closer to Ponyville than she had thought they had gone. But she heard a snicker.

A little laugh. A giggle. Settling into the grass, she moved silently toward one of the buildings on the outer edge of Ponyville.

A small fence ringed around the building, with a short gate in one side, several feet to her left.

Utilizing the magic in her body, Scootaloo fluffed out her wings, and jumped over the fence, and almost landed on top of Sweetie Belle. The white filly gave a sharp squeak as Scootaloo forced her to the ground. “You're gonna get my mane all dirty!” She complained, whilst overcome with giggles.

“Well, now I just gotta find Apple Bloom! I know she's here somewhere...” Scootaloo jumped over the fence again, while Sweetie Belle took the classic way through the gate. She followed Scootaloo as she searched for signs of Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo found another set of hoofprints leading away from the starting point. She followed those, thinking for sure that her friend was at the end of the trail. Above her, high in the sky, a rainbow streak shot across the sky. Scootaloo looked up and smiled. Her adoptive older sister was so awesome. Turning her focus back to their game, she ran along the trail of hoofprints.

After a short distance, the trail circled back on itself, and then turned around again. It then moved in a straight line toward a cluster of bushes near Fluttershy's home. After a moment, Scootaloo crouched in front of the bushes, then leaped over them, landing flat on the grass behind them. Apple Bloom was not there. Scootaloo made a guess and moved down to the small creek in front of the house, and looked back and forth up and down the water.

Nothing.

Scootaloo crossed the water, and looked through the bushes on the opposite bank.

As she finished inspecting some tall shrubs, something wrapped around her left hind leg and pulled. Scootaloo shrieked as she was pulled back into the water, and Apple Bloom shouted, “Surprise!”

She and Sweetie Belle fell into a fit of giggles, and Scootaloo shook the water from her coat and laughed with them.

Rainbow Dash watched the three fillies laughing, and she muffled a giggle as she saw her little buddy soaking wet on the bank. Smiling, she got back to her weather business, kicking the clouds out of existence. The rain was scheduled for the next day, and was to continue for approximately seventy-two hours. As she finished one area of the sky, she dropped down loser to the ground to take a breather.

Twilight Sparkle walked out of her library and fluffed out her wings. Rainbow Dash saw her, and jumped down to the ground in front of her. “Hey Twilight,” she said coolly.

“Oh, hey Rainbow Dash. I was just going to visit Applejack, want to come along?”

“Yeah, sure! I could use a break.”

They walked to the outskirts of Ponyville in silence, enjoying the peace of the town and the quiet of the residence.