“It looks like rain.”
Fluttershy gazed out the window toward the floating city of Cloudsdale, one hoof pressed into her cheek and another lightly tapping on the windowsill. She closed her eyes and sighed, thinking of how this day’s plan would go. She would give breakfast to Angel and her other animal friends, make a trip to the market for some much-needed supplies, and spend some time fixing up her chicken coop before meeting her friends at the Golden Oaks library. Twilight had arranged a sleepover for tonight, and, while certainly excited to see her friends, Fluttershy had blocked out an hour in the afternoon for mentally preparing herself in advance of hours of uninterrupted socializing.
She opened her eyes again, letting them focus on the city once again. Its glistening rainbows and waterfalls threw sunlight in all directions, some of the sparkles making their way to Fluttershy’s pupils. The branches on the trees outside rustled as a small breeze vibrated the windowpane against its mullion. The sound was sudden yet familiar, a higher, lighter clicking sound audible over Fluttershy’s hoof taps.
The pegasus rubbed her eyes and stood up, her hooves making the floorboards creak ever so slightly. She lightly padded over the planks towards the kitchen, where she took a bowl and filled it with all sorts of vegetables, from bell peppers to romaine lettuce. Fluttershy grabbed a wooden handled spoon from over the counter and slowly stirred the mixture, allowing them to mingle into a colorful mass of greens, yellows and oranges.
The mare loved yellow. It was always her favorite color.
Angel stirred from his slumber at the sound of wood against pottery. The bunny opened his eyes and threw the covers off his chest, rubbing his eyes and cracking his neck. Then he turned his gaze out the window to the deep gray sky beyond.
It looks like rain, the bunny commented to himself. But now, a much more pressing matter overtook him: addressing the noise that woke him up in the first place. Angel peeked around the corner into the main room where Fluttershy was preparing his breakfast. He smiled, hopping onto the table. The mare, noticing him, turned towards him and gave him a big hug.
“Good morning, Angel,” she said in a soft voice, “did you sleep well?” The bunny nodded and gestured to the bowl, smiling. “You like it?” Angel nodded again, grinning even more than before. Fluttershy chuckled to herself and set the bowl in front of him. “It’s all yours. I made it just for you.”
Without missing a beat, Angel jumped into the bowl headfirst, attempting to consume the large quantity of vegetables in one go. Fluttershy grinned and patted Angel on the back with a wing. “Now, now, Angel—no need to rush. You’ve got a whole day ahead of you.”
He didn’t respond, eyes pointed into the bowl, mouth busily chomping away.
Fluttershy rolled her eyes and stepped over to the window, gazing out toward Cloudsdale once again. Breakfast, market, chicken coop, and riding out the rain with friends in a comfy library. The day, in order. Fluttershy hefted a sack of birdseed onto her back and stepped out into the cool morning air.
Rainbow Dash tapped her hooves on the desk in her Cloudsdale office, looking out towards Ponyville.
Having to work to make a living—the most totally uncool thing ever. The deep steely gray of cloud cover had only just begun to obscure the view of the town from her office, beginning to blot out the library. Twilight was probably there now—reading a book, maybe helping a customer. Maybe Applejack or Rarity would walk in and they would hug, greet each other, swap stories…
"Focus, Rainbow." Rainbow Dash shook her head in a futile attempt at clearing it, staring down the stack of papers in front of her. "You’ve already called in sick two times this week. Now you’re two days behind. Get to work." Rainbow ran a hoof down her nose, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly. She grabbed the paper at the top of the stack and brought it to her eyes, beginning to read.
Weather Change Notice
City: Fillydelphia
Change notices: Rainstorm to hit city at 2:00 AM, Saturday. Without rain for 3 weeks. Too long!
Notes: Construction projects in the area have been moving some heavy cargo recently.
Request : approve notices warning about slick pavement.
Request : approve additional WC employees to track storm activity.
Request : deny contract permit extension for south side construction activity (see appendix 3 for information).
Request : approve administrative assis—
Rainbow’s reading was interrupted by a knock on the door. She shoved the notice and stack of papers to the side, allowing a line of sight to the door. Quickly repositioning her hooves so that they were holding up her chin, she cleared her throat.
“Come in.”
At once, the door swung open to reveal Rainbow’s assistant. She threw a lock of brown mane to the side with a hoof and attempted to clear her throat, presenting a small stack of papers in the other hoof to Rainbow. Rainbow motioned for her to place the papers on top of the larger stack to her left.
“Miss Dash,” her assistant said, “these all need to be in the Boss Box by tomorrow.”
Rainbow straightened up in her seat.
“All of them, Nimbus?” the pegasus asked, her voice much higher than she meant.
“All of them,” Nimbus replied, moving backwards while raising an eyebrow. “Is… is that a problem?”
“No, no, not at all.” Rainbow waved her hoof and slumped down in her seat. “I better get started, I guess.”
“Great.” With that, the tan pegasus turned on her hoof and walked towards the door, flicking her brown mane behind her as she went.
“What are you up to right now?” Rainbow asked before Nimbus reached the door. Her assistant turned around.
“I’ve got to make a call to Seaddle about deicing practices, and then…” Nimbus stared off into space for a moment before shaking her head. “And then nothing, Miss Dash, I think that’s the last thing on my plate today.”
“After you contact Seaddle, would you mind wiring Ponyville? Golden Oaks library? There’s an... event there tonight that I’m probably going to be missing.”
“Of course, I’d be happy to.” Nimbus exited the room, closing the door behind her.
Rainbow looked back down at the stack of papers and pulled the sheet she had been looking at back to her face. Grabbing a stamp from her desk, she dabbed it into a pot of green ink and smacked it onto the middle of the paper three times. Once the stamp had come off, three deep green “CONFIRMED” marks had appeared on the page. Rainbow gave a sad smile.
“One down,” she gazed at the pile before her, “too many to go.”
She pushed the stamped paper to the side in the “out” box and pulled the next paper off the stack and towards her face.
Weather Change Notice
City: Manehattan
Change notices: Final snowstorm to hit…
Twilight Sparkle picked up the next book off the floor and looked at the title. She had already read Basic Magic: On Levitation, which meant one thing: back on the shelves it goes. Her horn lit up with her light purple aura and the book levitated off the floor. The alicorn’s first thought was that the redundancy was funny—levitating a book about levitation—but her second thought was the realization of quite an awful predicament. She had nowhere to put this one. The “novice spellcasting” shelf in the library was already beyond full, and this book had no other place to go.
With a heavy sigh that could only come from a princess, she placed the book on top of her desk to be dealt with later, making sure the corners were perpendicular with the edges of the table. It was the least she could do, given the scenario. She grimaced at the thought of having to put off work until another time. That was the worst thing that could ever happen.
“Twilight, this is only the sixth time you’ve ever procrastinated,” she thought to herself, closing her eyes. “Do not make a habit out of it.”
The princess’s thoughts were interrupted by a heavy, rhythmic padding coming down the stairs.
“Hello Spike!” Twilight brightly said, placing her thoughts on procrastination at the back of her mind and willing a smile to appear upon her face. She pushed the books out of the way with her magical aura and stood up to greet her assistant. “Did you sleep well?”
The purple dragon was still rubbing sleep from his eyes, yawning as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Morning, Twi,” Spike said, scowling “Nopony told me it was going to be rainy today. I had plans.” Spike removed his hands from his eyes and stared at Twilight. She rolled her eyes.
“Spike, I told you last night. You might have been too tired to remember.”
Spike kept looking at Twilight, his tired mind still processing the information. The princess could almost hear the gears clunking around in there as he blinked. Spike looked away.
“I guess. Kind of ruins my day. Speaking of tired,” he yawned once more, stretching out his arms to full length, “it’s only eight in the morning.”
“Your point?”
“How can you be awake at a time like this?”
Twilight turned away, chuckling. She pulled the bookstacks back over to her and lay down, making herself as comfortable as possible on the wooden floor.
“Most ponies have already been working for a while, Spike. You’re just a late sleeper.” Twilight once again began sorting books into their respective shelves, starting with Ponies and You: A Brief History of Social Norms and Universal Laws of Magics. She looked back at spike, a grin on her face. “Besides, you need to get out a little bit anyway before the rain starts.”
Spike nodded. He made his way over to the kitchen and reached into the fridge, grabbing a bottle of soda. Popping the top off, he drank all of it in one big gulp, then threw it on the counter.
“Right.” He burped. “Seeya later, Twi.”
“Bye, Spike,” Twilight replied without taking her eyes off the books in front of her. She heard the door open and without looking up, shouted “Spike! Take a scarf or something!”
A purple claw reached around the door and grabbed a plaid scarf off a rack. Then it and the scarf disappeared around the door, which promptly shut. Twilight shivered as the cold air hit her, which prompted her to lift a poker and stoke the fire in the fireplace slightly. The newfound warmth crawled over her skin, and she sank lower to the floor in comfort, her wings fluttering in their folded position.
THUMP.
Twilight jumped up and her horn flared on instinct, casting a defensive aura and levitating the fire poker in front of her body. Realizing it was coming from outside, she took a breath, put down the poker, and trotted over to the door, magically pulling it open to reveal a very tired looking post office employee. Twilight smiled.
“Hi there Graham, what can I do for you?”
“Hello Princess Twilight. You’ve got a message from Cloudsdale.”
“Cloudsdale… Rainbow Dash? Good news, I hope?”
“I’ll let you read it yourself.” Graham reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a postcard sized piece of paper, handing it to the princess.
ATTN: Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville —(STOP)— This is the weather manager’s office in Cloudsdale —(STOP)— Rainbow Dash wishes to inform you that she will not be attending tonight’s gathering on account of too much work —(STOP)—
Twilight’s ears sagged and her eyes drooped down.
“Thanks for getting this to me, Graham.”
“No problem, Princess.” Graham looked at the princess before her, watching her face. “I hope you have a good rest of your day, regardless of the contents of that message.”
“I appreciate that,” Twilight replied, giving a sad smile to her visitor.
“Good day.”
Twilight watched as Graham walked away from the library, checking the next address on his route. The wind was picking up, and the ends of her purple mane floated away from her. She sighed as she stepped back into the library and closed the door behind her. She shivered, even though the fire was blazing louder than before, and scratched at the wood grain on the floor with a hoof. A minute passed before she looked up again, taking in the bookstacks still littering the floor of the library.
“Rainbow’s presence will be dearly missed,” Twilight said to herself. “But the show must go on.”
Applejack bucked her legs out from under her, relaxing her muscles just before her hooves slammed into the apple tree trunk at their maximum velocity. The plopping sounds all around her confirmed her job had been accomplished as crabapples plummeted from the branches and into woven baskets placed around the trunk. She tossed a strand of blonde mane out of her face and turned around to observe the proverbial and literal fruits of her labor. Seeing as the tree was stripped of its fruit, she tossed the baskets up onto her back and made her way off toward the barn, mane whipping about in the quickening wind. Tree leaves shook to and fro and small eddies of air carried dust and sticks in tiny cyclones along the side of her path.
Her emerald eyes gazed into the darkening sky, her face falling. It was only nearing two in the afternoon and her work day looked as though it was going to be cut short.
“You kidding me?” she said aloud. “This is ridiculous. Storm wasn’t supposed to start ‘till later.”
She readjusted the Stetson on top of her head and quickened her pace, hooves clopping over the dirt.
The inside of the barn was just as dark and dusty, with hay piled high in one corner and a large mound of apples in the opposite. Applejack upended the baskets and the apples rolled out onto the large pile, adding to the footprint of the base. She dragged a hoof across her brow, wiping away the few errant beads of sweat that remained there. Though it was cold, she had been working hard. The last of the year’s crabapples had been harvested, and now the trees were ready for the new season.
She and Big Mac still had the important job of trimming excess branches off of the trees to prevent them from flying away in the wind and damaging others, but it seemed as though that wasn’t going to happen before the storm—the wind was already picking up and she estimated she only had an hour until the rain started to fall. Applejack grimaced at the missed opportunity and the amount of work it would take to clean it up after the storm. But even if she was able to get through to Rainbow Dash, there was no way her friend’s superiors would allow the rain to be held off for another day.
The orange mare retrieved the emptied baskets and ran for the farmhouse, gusts blowing much harder now. A stray branch hit the ground beside Applejack, who easily moved around the obstacle and landed on the wooden porch, which had already begun groaning from the force of the gusts. Heaving the door open, she punted the baskets into the safety of indoors before running in herself, fighting against the wind to shut and lock down the door. Big Mac and Granny Smith were already in the living room waiting for her.
“Alright, everypony!” Applejack’s voice normally carried easily through the house, but the deafening wind was nearly drowning it out. “Batten down the hatches, we’re gonna ride out this storm!”
Big Mac gave an “Eeyup” of agreement before galloping upstairs to tackle the job. Meanwhile, Applejack took roll call.
“A’ight, so Big Mac’s here, same with Granny…”
They were missing somepony.
“Where in the hay is Apple Bloom?!” Applejack yelled through the house, her voice booming over the building storm. Upstairs, Big Mac jumped.
“Apple Bloom?” Granny Smith repeated. “She went into town a couple’a hours ago. With them friends of hers.”
“For the love of Celestia…” Applejack put both hooves up to her temples, rubbing them.
“Now now, Applejack, I’m sure ya sis’ll be fine. She’s with them friends, remember?”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Applejack replied, shifting into a crude approximation of Apple Bloom’s voice to say “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Storm Chasers, yay!” Turning around, she saw Big Mac standing in the stairway, a worried look on his face. “You worried too, Mac?” He nodded.
Applejack thought for a moment.
“Well,” she said, looking out the rattling windows, “I’m suppose ‘ta be at Twi’s later tonight, but it seems like the only time to get into town is right about now.” Applejack looked at Granny Smith. “Tell ya what, I’ll head into town now and see if I can’t find Apple Bloom. Take her and the girls to Twi’s with me, and all that, if they haven’t found somewhere safe.”
Big Mac sighed, relief flashing in his eyes. Granny Smith threw up her hooves in annoyance.
“Fine, go! But I already told ‘ya I’d be making apple cobbler this afternoon, and it’s not my fault if you ain’t here!”
Applejack smiled, shoving her Stetson more securely onto her head as she opened the door once again. The growing wind buffeted her as she fought to close the door again, and then she was off, hooves kicking up dirt that the wind promptly swept away, her tracks vanishing behind her as she moved toward the town.
The sound of Carousel Boutique creaking and groaning was certainly making it difficult for Rarity to concentrate on her latest design, and the incessant rattling of the doors and windows drowned out her thoughts.
“I knew I should have finished this yesterday,” she thought, turning her attention away from the ponyquin and out the window.
*plip*
*plat*
*pitter* *pat*
In just a few minutes, a full blown rainstorm was raging over Carousel Boutique, merely adding to the already far-beyond-obnoxious distractions of the many rattling noises going on around Rarity. Her tension grew and grew until it snapped.
“Fine! Fine! I won’t work on it! Good Celestia!”
Rarity threw the fabric and scissors in her magical grasp across the room, fabric landing harmlessly and soundlessly on the floor whereas the scissors impaled a good half inch into the desk to her right. She kicked the ponyquin back into its storage area in the corner of the room and sank down to the ground, head in her hooves. Her stomach rumbled. Rarity couldn’t hear it over the storm, but she could definitely feel it.
Rarity, so engrossed in her work, had forgotten to eat breakfast. Now it was half past three. The unicorn trotted down the stairs into the kitchen and seated herself at the dining table, levitating a teapot, teacup and saucer over to her. Pouring herself a glass, she leaned back in the chair and listened to the storm. It certainly wasn’t annoying if you weren't currently working on anything important.
“Huh,” she wondered to herself, “The pegasi must be working awfully hard up there. I wonder if they are getting help from the unicorns.”
At the mention of unicorns, she realized she had forgotten something—or somepony—else.
“Sweetie Belle, dear, would you be ever so kind as to come down for a late lunch?” she called up the stairs. Realizing that this was a futile attempt at communicating over the gale outside, she set down her teacup and lightly trotted up the stairs and down the hallway to Sweetie Belle’s room, knocking on the door loudly.
No answer.
Rarity opened the door and was surprised to see that nopony was in the room. She shrugged and closed the door, making her way back downstairs. Rarity picked up her teacup again and resumed listening to the storm rage outside the boutique, and nearly spewed her mouthful of tea everywhere when she remembered what her sister had said she was doing today.
“Oh, Celestia…”
Rarity then looked at the wall clock hanging above the window. It took a moment for her brain to realize the storm was already raging hours before it was scheduled to be.
“Oh Celestia!”
Rarity released her grip on both the teapot and cup, not giving their respective shatters on the floor a single thought as she bolted back to her studio. She fished out a heavy-duty raincoat from one of the many closets surrounding the edges of the room and opened the door, letting in a torrent of water and wind. Lighting up her horn, she created a small magical barrier between her and the outside air. Rarity pushed herself out the door and shut it behind her, shivering as the storm washed over her magical protection.
“Oh dear, I hope my mane is alright. Oh, and Sweetie Belle. More important.”
“Sweetie Belle?! Sweetie Belle?!” the unicorn screamed as she galloped at full speed toward the town center. The trees were bent back at hyperbolic angles, the force of the wind feeling as if it was approaching the speed of a hurricane. Rarity willed herself to continue, even as the wind blew off the hood from over her head, exposing her neck and sending cold shivers down her spine. A stray branch filled with dead twigs came bouncing along towards her, gaining momentum from the wind. Rarity managed to grab it just in time before it smashed into her legs, flinging it out of sight to the side. She continued onwards toward the town center, with one objective:
To find her sister.
“Hey girls?” Sweetie Belle shouted over the sound of the storm, “I’m starting to think that Cutie Mark Crusaders: Mountaineering wasn’t such a good idea.”
“It would have been a great idea,” said Scootaloo, “if the storm had stuck to schedule!”
“Whatever, whatever!” shouted Apple Bloom. “We just need to get back to shelter.”
The three filles ran along the rough path snaking through the Everfree, the darkening sky and whipping wind turning the trees much darker than they had any right to be. A loud, sudden, and organic groan from somewhere on the left made Sweetie Belle squeal.
“Relax,” said Apple Bloom, “it’s just the trunks groanin’. Happens all the time in the orchard.”
“We’re not in the orchard,” said Sweetie Belle. “We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
“We’re not in the middle of nowhere,” said Scootaloo, pulling up short. Apple Bloom, who had been leading the pack of fillies as they ran, looked behind her and skidded to a halt.
“What do you mean?” Apple Bloom said, “and why are you stopping?”
“I recognize that tree,” Scootaloo said. “We’re close to the clubhouse! We can wait out the storm there!”
“What tree?” Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo pointed to it, a tall, moss covered evergreen reaching over eighty feet into the sky. The top of it swayed uncomfortably. “I don’t see anything special about it. Looks like a tree to me.”
“Yeah, Scootaloo,” said Apple Bloom, “it’s just a tree. We’re nowhere near the clubhouse—it’s much further east.”
“I’m telling you,” Scootaloo implored, “we’re much closer to the clubhouse than to town. It’s much quicker to go there!”
At that moment, a bright flash lit up the sky, accompanied by a large boom of thunder. Large raindrops began to pelt the ground between the fillies, and the trees began to shake as the rain fell upon their outstretched branches.
“We have to stay on the path, Scoots!” Apple Bloom begged. “We’re close to town, let’s just keep going!”
“But the clubhouse—”
“I don’t care about the clubhouse! I care about following the trail we took here!”
“It’s just going to take longer!”
“Girls!” Sweetie Belle interjected. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom turned to acknowledge her. “I’m with Apple Bloom, I just want to go home.” Scootaloo scrunched up her face.
“Whatever,” she said, voice sour. “I’m going to the clubhouse. Let me know how taking the long way home works out for you.” With a buzz of her wings, Scootaloo turned on her heel and jumped straight into the forest’s understory.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle cried out. The unicorn made to follow her friend before a cream-colored hoof stopped her in her tracks.
“No, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said firmly. “She’s being Scootaloo. We need to get somewhere safe.”
“But—”
Apple Bloom had already started galloping down the trail. Sweetie Belle looked between the directions of her two best friends, gave a cry of defeat, and found her hooves pounding back down the trail after Apple Bloom, the worry in her mind never fully fading.
Applejack had already checked the Quills and Sofas Shop, the diner, the bar, and even—strangely—Diamond Tiara’s mansion. Which meant one of the last places she had to get to was the town hall, where there was bound to be a few ponies caught without shelter when the storm began. It was a logical place for Apple Bloom and her friends to be.
The farmmare crossed the bridge to the town center, finding the river had swollen at least a few inches, if not more.
“Tarnation. If this keeps up, we’ll be flooded for sure,” Applejack thought as she ran up to the town center, hooves already on the door latch, forcing it open. But a sudden voice stopped her short of trotting inside.
“Applejack!”
The voice barely made it over the din of the storm, but it was clear enough in the Applejack’s ears. She turned her head around and was surprised to see Rarity, in all of her glory, galloping toward the open town hall door as fast as she could. Applejack was even more surprised to see Fluttershy galloping after the white unicorn, the yellow pegasus trying hard to keep up with Rarity’s fast click. Applejack smiled warmly.
“Hurry and get inside!” Applejack called back, groaning at how much of her strength it took to hold the door open against the storm. Rarity dodged around her friend and bolted inside, moving to the side to out of the way. But, to her confusion, Applejack kept the door open, staring into the direction that Rarity had just come from.
“Applejack, darling, close the door!” the white unicorn called out, cowering in the corner. But Rarity was even more confused when a very out of breath Fluttershy came bounding inside, gasping for air and collapsing to the ground. Fluttershy heard the door slam, heard the noise of the storm go from being in her ears to being outside, and saw Applejack and Rarity both come to her side.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Applejack said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “You alright, sugarcube?” Fluttershy was still trying to catch her breath, but nodded anyway, knowing that the storm was no longer all around her. “It’s just a little storm,” Applejack continued, smiling.
Rarity lifted the yellow mare’s head out from between her hooves and placed it on her lap, speaking softly and comforting the pegasus.
“I never even knew she was behind me,” Rarity commented, looking into Fluttershy’s deep blue eyes. She was beginning to catch her breath and started to cough, sitting upright. Once she was done, she cleared her throat and spoke.
“I was… I was stuck outside when the storm started. At the market, buying supplies for the week. I tried to get home, but I couldn’t bring myself to come out from under the tree I was under.” Fluttershy inhaled and looked between her friends. Applejack and Rarity were staring at her, waiting patiently for her to continue. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I saw Rarity run past and I ran after her. And I kept running and saw you so now… uh, here we are.”
Fluttershy finished with Rarity speechless and Applejack nodding. Fluttershy giggled.
“Really, darling?” the white unicorn said, staring at Fluttershy. “I never even knew you were behind me.”
“You tossed a branch at me.”
Rarity gasped in horror.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Oh, don’t be. Really, it’s fine,” Fluttershy replied, smiling weakly at the white mare, who smiled back and started to rub Fluttershy’s head. Applejack got to her hooves and trotted to the window, closing and locking the shutters. Then she looked around the interior of the hall for the first time.
“Tarnation,” she said. “Apple Bloom ain't here.” Worry commandeered her face.
“Nor Sweetie Belle,” Rarity commented, looking about the room. “Nopony at all is here.”
Fluttershy looked around and nodded in confirmation. The wide open floor was currently home to a scrap of trash or two, but nopony else seemed to be in the building. Applejack bit her lip and looked at Rarity, whose eyes were wide with a mixture of compassion and fear. The door continued its incessant rattling against the frame, and the windows rapped against the mullions, giving the resonant space some rather unnatural echoes.
Applejack sighed. She trotted up to the stage. She peered under desks in back rooms and checked behind doors. But when she came back into view she was empty-handed.
“Nope. Nopony.” A pause. “We’re completely alone.”
Fluttershy flapped her wings and flew up towards the top balcony, looking down through the curtain.
“Oh,” said Rarity, “don’t bother, Fluttershy. Not even Scootaloo could get up there, much less Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle.” Fluttershy nodded and came back down to the floor, concerned.
“Rarity, you didn’t really tell me what you were doing,” Fluttershy said, “but I assume your sisters can’t be... can’t be found?” Applejack and Rarity nodded and Fluttershy frowned. The windows and doors were rattling harder against their frames. The sound made her feel as though the wind was threatening to break apart their shelter at any moment. The yellow pegasus retreated to the middle of the room and covered her head with her hooves. Rarity trotted over to comfort her.
The door rattled harder.
And harder.
Applejack turned around and faced the door with intrigue.
“That wasn’t the storm,” she commented, making her way over to the door. She turned back around and saw Fluttershy and Rarity next to the stage looking back at her.
Applejack nodded. With one swift pull she forced the door open to reveal a very rain-drenched yet very smiley Pinkie Pie, who quickly bounced inside, vigorously shaking off water onto everypony in her vicinity.
“Hello everypony!” Pinkie shouted over the storm outside as Applejack continued to wrestle with the door, attempting to pull it back into its locked position. The storm raged through the door, blowing the ponies’ manes back and deeply chilling their coats.
“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity croaked, looking at the perfectly dry earth pony and then down at her damp coat. The spray marks from where Pinkie had shook off the water radiated off in all directions from her body, coating the walls in a thin layer of dark dampness.
Finally, Applejack succeeded in slamming the door shut, and—with a whimper—she dropped to the ground, exhausted.
“Where did you come from, Pinkie?” Applejack said.
“Oh! That one’s easy!” Pinkie plopped down on the ground and began to weave a story. “There I was, in Sugarcube Corner with the Cakes! We had put down the shutters over the windows, but the door window was still open, and I was bored, so I was looking out there so I saw you! And Rarity! And Fluttershy! You all ran into the town hall and I was like ‘what are they doing there?’ so I ran out and told the Cakes where I was going and knocked on the door for a while until you let me in! And then I dried off, and started telling a story about when I was in Sugarcube Corner and I sa—”
“Yes, Pinkie,” Rarity assured, cutting off Pinkie’s rant, “we’re quite caught up, thank you.”
“So what are you all doing here, huh?” Pinkie said, once again standing upright. “Playing a game? I love games!”
“No, Pinkie,” Applejack said, “we’re trying to find Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”
“Well why didn’t you just say so, silly filly!” Pinkie laughed. “I saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle go into Twilight’s library!”
Both Applejack and Rarity let out a deep sigh of relief at this news, sharing a mutual look.
“Alright,” Applejack said, walking back to the door for the third time and turning the doorknob. “Y’all ready?”
“Where are we going?” said Pinkie.
“Might as well head to Twilight’s library already if our sisters are there too. You didn’t forget about the sleepover, did you Pinkie?”
“Not at all!” said Pinkie Pie, “but I didn’t bring any of the things I was planning to. Oh well—I always have slumber party supplies around in case of slumber party emergencies!”
The four friends all prepared themselves for another encounter with the storm, pulling their coats and hats tighter around themselves as Applejack cracked open the door again.
“Here we go!”
Applejack thrust the door open with all her might, the storm rushing in to meet them. Then the friends were off, Rarity slamming the door shut with her magic right after Pinkie had bounced out. They crossed over the bridge and ran straight to the library, the wind deafening in their ears. The library itself was leaning far farther to one side than seemed healthy, and the autumn leaves that normally would be littering the road had all been swept away by the incessant gusts. Applejack held onto her Stetson with one hoof as she banged on the wooden door with the other. The door opened to reveal a very confused princess and two easily recognizable fillies.
“Sweetie Belle!”
“Applejack!”
“Apple Bloom!”
“Rarity!”
“You’re alright!” all four of them shouted in unison. Fluttershy slammed the door behind her and locked it while Pinkie once again shook water everywhere, though Twilight was quick-thinking enough to catch most of it within her magical aura and toss the floating globs into the sink.
Twilight smiled as she reunited with her friends and their sisters, but her heart sank when she realised that there was one very important pony she was planning on spending the night with that was still missing. And she wouldn’t be making it at all.
The city of Cloudsdale, situated far, far above the cloud line, was completely unaffected by the storm raging over Ponyville. Rainbow Dash sat on the cloud floor with Nimbus—stamping forms, signing documents, and reading letters hurriedly, attempting to get all the work done in as little time as possible. When Rainbow had asked Nimbus if she thought she could lend a hoof, she was surprised to find that her assistant had learned a lot more on the job than she had initially suspected. Her assistant’s keen eye for bureaucracy had only been sharpened due to the proximity to government work, and she had a knack for knowing what needed to be done and when.
Nimbus placed another paper on top of the “For Rainbow To Sign” pile and stamped a green “CONFIRMED” on the latest weather development in Vanhoover. Rain, as per usual.
Rainbow was signing forms as fast as she could while Nimbus made sure everything was getting to where it needed to go. The pile was only half as big as it was nearly four hours ago, meaning that if the two kept it at this pace they would be finished around nine thirty. It was later than she had hoped, but Rainbow knew that this was the best way for it to go, given the circumstances. She smiled and picked up the pace once again, signing two letters in a flash.
Nimbus stood up and stretched out her wings, cracking her neck in the process.
“Hey, Miss Dash,” Nimbus declared, “I’m going to go grab a drink. Want anything?”
Rainbow scratched at the back of her neck, looking up at Nimbus. She smiled.
“Sure, a vanilla cloud soda,” she said, then—after thinking for a moment—added a quick but sincere “—please.”
“Got it, and you’re welcome” Nimbus said, trotting out the door and closing it behind her. Now that Rainbow was alone she could catch up on the pile that Nimbus had already placed in front of her. She quickly glanced over a couple of the letters, allowing the words to sink in before jotting down a quick “R. Dash” signature at the bottom. She brushed the two over to the side into the “Finished” pile, allowing herself a couple seconds of rest before tackling another. She stamped a couple of the notices with the green stamp, and denied a petition asking to make the storm over Vanhoover half a day shorter. The seaside city needed the rain more than anywhere else, its watershed a vital asset to surrounding agricultural areas.
The door swung open once again, announcing the arrival of Nimbus. Rainbow stood up and gratefully took the bottle from her assistant with a wing, twisting off the top and taking a swig. It was just as she had remembered, the vanilla undertones overlaid with the sweetness of the cotton candy clouds cultivated in the south part of the district. She sighed gratefully as she and Nimbus turned their attention away from their drinks back to the task at hand.
“Wow, Miss Dash, we’re making some excellent progress,” Nimbus remarked, staring at what was left of the once massive and overbearing pile that they had begun the day with.
“You said it,” was Rainbow’s reply. “And please, Nimbus, call me Rainbow.”
“Alright then, Rainbow,” Nimbus laughed, “let’s get back to work.”
“Sounds great.”
The two sat back down on the floor and resumed stamping, signing, and organizing files. Rainbow pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled.
“Hey Rainbow?”
“Yeah?”
“Seriously—thanks for letting me help out.” Nimbus looked down at the papers before her. “I know work is work and all that, but… all this weather planning, coming through this office—it always makes me feel part of something bigger. It just… it means a lot having the chance to have a more direct role in making these things happen.”
“You want a direct role?” Rainbow laughed. “Hey, you can help me out more whenever you’d like. Honestly, this is the worst part of the job.” She soured. “I don’t even know why I took this promotion. It pays barely more than what I was making pushing the clouds around, and that’s what I would call a ‘direct role.’”
“Well,” Nimbus said, picking up more request forms and smiling as she read the words. “I’m not built for that kind of work—my wings have always been on the weak side. Flying in a storm isn’t for me.” Nimbus met Rainbow’s gaze and gestured about the room. “This, though? This is more my speed.”
“Well, you’re a lifesaver.”
“A lighthouse in a storm, Miss Dash. It’s what I’m here for.”
“... and, well, here we are,” Applejack finished, wrapping up the story of how they all got to the library. Twilight Sparkle smiled at each of the four ponies in turn.
“Well, now you’re all here. And that’s all that matters,” she said. Her violet aura enveloped her horn and a cabinet behind Rarity opened up, four wool blankets floating out at each of them. Fluttershy and Applejack looked thankfully at their friend, who grinned back, while Rarity was too busy drying her hair to pay much attention. Pinkie Pie was already fast asleep in front of the fire, snoring loudly. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat in the corner and spoke to one another in hushed voices.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy’s soft voice carried into Twilight’s ears easily. There was no need to yell over the storm with the help of her noise-cancelling magics surrounding the library.
“Yes, Fluttershy?”
“Where’s Scootaloo?”
Rarity stopped what she was doing and stared at Fluttershy and Twilight. Applejack stared as well. Twilight turned towards the two fillies in the corner, who had noticed the silence and turned to face the group.
“Apple Bloom?” Applejack stammered, walking up to her sister. “Do you know where Scootaloo is?”
“Um…” Apple Bloom began, looking anywhere but at Applejack. “Well, you see…”
“We think she’s at the clubhouse” Sweetie Belle said, coming to her stammering friend’s aid.
“You don’t know?” Rarity quietly said, staring into the fireplace.
“How… how could you not know?” Twilight said, stepping towards the two fillies. “Weren’t you together today?”
“Yeah, we were,” Sweetie Belle started.
“Well then how in the wide world of Equestria can you not know?!” Applejack said, stepping back and looking at her friends. Confusion and worry was evident in her emerald eyes, and Twilight sensed it.
“Hold on, AJ, just relax,” Twilight said to her friend. “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle—tell us what happened.”
Apple Bloom was the first to speak up.
“I left the farm to go play with Sweetie and Scoot around nine or ten. We were hanging around the market for a while, and because it was such a nice day, and, well, since the storm was supposed to—”
“We thought we had more time than we actually did,” Sweetie Belle interjected, making all the eyes in the room turn to her. She continued. “So we thought it would be fun to try and get our cutie marks in… uh… mountaineering.”
“Where in Ponyville can you climb a mountain?” Fluttershy wondered aloud.
“Well…” Apple Bloom started, “you can’t. So we went to that big one over in the forest.”
“The one you girls climbed up. With the dragon and all,” Sweetie Belle went on.
The five grown mares were speechless—Pinkie Pie more than the rest, considering she was out like a light. Applejack’s eyes narrowed.
“You mean to tell me,” she began, inching closer to the younger fillies, “that you went into the Everfree Forest… to climb a mountain… without telling me or Rarity?!” Her calm demeanor was threatening to break down around her. She visibly shook, eyes livid.
“That still doesn’t answer the question of where Scootaloo is,” Twilight added, her eyes wandering. “So Scootaloo is…” she prompted. Sweetie Belle obliged.
“The storm caught us as we were starting to head back, so we ran off towards Ponyville again. There was no rain yet, but the wind was pretty crazy.” The small white filly stopped and took a breath before continuing. “Scootaloo said something about staying at the clubhouse, but we just wanted to get home, and she said she knew a shortcut, and we argued for a while but we just needed to make a decision, and Scoot was getting frustrated, and—”
“And we lost her,” Apple Bloom solemnly stated.
“You what?!” her sister shrieked.
“We checked the clubhouse on our way into town but she wasn’t there. So we ran here.”
Applejack had already shed her blanket and was standing in front of the door, attempting to get it open.
“Applejack!” Twilight shouted, noticing her friend’s fervent motions. “What are you doing?”
“Going to go find Scootaloo.” The farmmare managed to get the door open, but it was immediately shut by Twilight’s magic.
“No, Applejack. You can’t go out there. It’s only going to get worse—” Applejack cut off Twilight’s train of thought.
“So let’s just have Scootaloo die out there, Twilight? Is that what you want?!”
“No.” The Royal Canterlot Voice shook the walls of the library. Reverberations echoed off the walls but dissipated after a few seconds. Even Applejack ceased grappling with the door long enough to turn around and face Twilight. “No, Applejack. You go out there, into the forest, at this time of day? In this storm? You might not be able to find your way back.”
“No, Twilight,” Applejack stated. “I’m not going to have a pony be hurt out there or even die when I was able to help.”
“She’s right, Applejack.” Rarity’s voice washed over the two arguing ponies, who turned to face her. “Scootaloo is a smart filly. She may be reckless, but that doesn’t mean that she is stupid.” Fluttershy nodded her head behind Rarity’s shoulder. Pinkie, disturbed from her slumber by Twilight’s loud voice, didn’t quite have an opinion on the subject just yet.
“Applejack, please. We’ll look for her in the morning. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Fluttershy softly pleaded, “i-if that’s alright.” The two fillies in the corner of the room looked at Applejack, expecting her to disagree, anticipating her next utterance to be anything that would allow her go out and find their best friend. But no such utterance came.
“You’re right,” Applejack solemnly agreed, turning away from the door and walking back over to the fireplace, putting out her hooves in front of it.
“Applejack!” shouted her sister. “We have to go look for her! She co—”
“No, Apple Bloom,” the farmmare stated wearily. “They have… they have good points. Your friend is a smart filly. She can take care of herself, and us going out there… it wouldn’t do much without the light of day.”
“B-but—”
“No buts. Now let’s relax. What time is it, Twilight?” The purple alicorn looked at a clock on the wall, then glanced back to Applejack.
“It’s nearly six.”
“We’ve got lots of time to relax before this storm blows over, girls,” Rarity added. “Why don’t we make some hot chocolate and talk?” Nods of agreement went around the small gathering. The two fillies slowly trotted up to the rest of the ponies, sharing a resigned look as they took their places and blankets. Twilight busied herself in the kitchen, grabbing seven mugs and filling each of them with warm milk, heated via magic from her horn. As she added in the mixture of cocoa, the assembled ponies started talking about their day so far and what they had planned to do if the storm hadn’t come so early.
Twilight walked out of the kitchen and into the main room, levitating the seven mugs behind her. She floated one over to each pony in turn, saving one for herself. Apple Bloom grabbed hers in her hooves and took a small sip, but then drank half of the mug in one motion. Noticing her friend’s enthusiasm, Sweetie Belle grabbed the mug with her magic and pulled it close, tasting its richness.
Words and grunts of approval went around the circle. Twilight smiled, yet thought of their one friend who wasn’t present. Smile falling and ears drooping, she took a sip of hot chocolate, feeling the warm, rich fluid drip down her throat and into her stomach. She smiled once again.
“How can hot cocoa not lift your spirits?” she surmised, taking another sip. Twilight reclined and set her cup down, closing her eyes as she basked in the melodic sounds of her friends’ speech.
Scootaloo ran.
Where, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she needed to get out of this damn forest, and her sense of direction had been deeply screwed up. Rain pelted down on the canopy and wind blew through the forest, winding around trunks and blasting through clearings. Scootaloo’s purple hair was caught by one of the gusts, and she closed her eyes as its sudden force pushed her to one side. The filly was miserable, her mane damp, her hooves drenched in muddy water. Small cuts and scrapes on her sides hadn’t yet drawn blood, but they sure were painful.
Scootaloo shivered as yet another gust of wind descended upon the forest, slowing down her forward progress. She folded her small wings to her sides and pushed ahead as the gale became weaker, allowing her to scamper toward a large tree for an impromptu and temporary storm shelter. Looking around beneath the tree, Scootaloo tried to spot any sort of landmark that would tell her what time of day it currently was or—even more hopefully—where she was; however, no such opportunity presented itself. The filly heaved a heavy sigh, tears filling her eyes. She shut them fast, but a few salty droplets had already rolled down her cheek. Another gust of wind blew them away.
Scootaloo opened her eyes again and stared up at the imposing tree she was hiding underneath. It was about eight feet wide and had to be more than a hundred feet tall, towering above the other trees in the Everfree Forest. She smiled, an idea forming. Grabbing the lowest branch and swinging herself up to her hooves, Scootaloo kicked off the trunk and grabbed at another branch slightly higher up. Her hooves missed their purchase but she was able to hover for long enough to grab it again, this time succeeding in her efforts.
She reached the top of the tree a few minutes later and peeked out of the leaves, gazing over the forest. There was fog everywhere and it was hard to see her surroundings, but the dense cloud cover and darkening light told her enough. It was at least seven in the evening, and getting dark—fast. The pegasus scowled, reaffirming her grip on the trunk just in time for another powerful gust of wind to bend the top of the tree over, leaving Scootaloo hanging at a near thirty degree angle, a hundred feet above the forest floor. She gulped, but used her wings to minimize the effect her weight was having on the tree, preventing the weaker branches at the top from snapping in two.
The wind relented quickly enough, but it had felt like an eternity of desperate clinging for the small filly as her wings were not nearly as powerful as the other pegasi. She slid down the slippery trunk, stopping at another branch ten feet from the ground to look around again, hoping that the fog was only near the overstory. It was a little easier to see, but not by much. Scootaloo felt helpless, but grabbed the trunk again to slide down the rest of the way just as her hooves left the branch.
She slipped and fell to the ground, landing hard on her left forehoof. There was a loud snap.
“AAHUGH!”
The cry echoed through the forest, bouncing off the storm-slick trees and returning to her ears multiple times before being carried away in the wind. At least two things were broken—her hoof and her pride. Scootaloo gingerly lifted her injured hoof, wincing at the pain and the sight. The ankle area was beginning to bruise a deep purple color, most likely broken or sprained. She tried to put weight on it but found it merely buckled under pressure.
“Augh… ah-ah…. ahhhh….”
The small pegasus lay on her back. The tears came.
A rainbow blur tore through the skies, bound for the storm clouds over Ponyville. Rainbow Dash exploded through the cloud cover in a shower of water droplets, but she was not expecting what greeted her on the other side.
The storm? It was bad. Much worse than Rainbow had initially thought. The sudden change of air pressure and wind direction sent her spiraling down in a tight corkscrew. Rainbow fought to desperately regain her positioning and flight pattern, succeeding despite the sudden appearance of a treetop, clipping her barrel and shaking her confidence. She was soaked to the bone, flying through an airborne tsunami, bound for the one object she could spot in the distance—Twilight’s library. She was earlier than she thought she was going to be. Wet, but early. She smiled.
“Thank you, Nimbus,” she thought.
Twilight laughed along with her four friends as Pinkie finished telling another story from her rock farm days. Noticing the clock reading nearly nine in the evening, she smiled and held up a hoof, motioning for everyone to be quiet.
“Alright, everypony, I think that’s enough for the night.” Groans and pleas for reconsideration were heard all around the gathering, especially from the fillies. “Oh, come on. We’re all tired, and nice warm beds will do wonders for our spirits.” The ponies reluctantly agreed and stood up, shuffling around with their heads down. Twilight rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, one more story.”
Instantly the heads in the room shot up and resumed talking, attempting to decide who would tell the story, what it would be about, or who else would be able to tell it better. But Twilight spoke again.
“One condition.”
The room was silent. Twilight cleared her throat.
“I get to tell it.”
If the room was silent before, this was true silence. No sound at all filled the room.
“Oh come on, I can do good stories…”
There was a shuffling of hooves and a cough from an unknown direction.
“I think it’s only fair, girls,” Rarity piped up from her seat in a leather armchair next to the fire. She set down her teacup and cleared her throat again. “After all, we have all been telling stories and sharing drama but our dear Twilight hasn’t had even a single opportunity!” There were nods of agreement all around. Reluctant nods, yet agreeing ones. Twilight gave the white unicorn a look that could only mean “thank you” and cleared her throat.
“Well then, let’s see. Once upon a time, there was a young stallion named—”
Twilight was cut off by a loud banging at the door.
“Oh come on! That was a good one!” she exclaimed as she pushed herself off the chair and trotted over to the door, throwing it open with magic.
Her jaw hit the floor.
A very, very drenched pegasus stood on the other side, mane sticking to her neck, coat clinging to her body in a very unflattering way. But the pegasus was smiling.
“Can I come in?” Rainbow Dash asked, grinning at Twilight.
“Rainbow? Of course! Come in!” The princess stopped herself at seeing Rainbow’s expression as she looked off into the center of the room. Four of her friends stared back at her along with two fillies, who smiled at her. She didn’t smile back.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight said, guessing as to what Rainbow’s stoic expression was covering. Twilight had planned the gathering with the implication that the older girls wanted to spend the night just swapping stories between the six of them, drinking hot chocolate, laughing. “The fillies needed a place to stay during the storm, so I—”
“Don’t sweat it, Twi. I get it, seriously” Rainbow said, still staring into the center of the room. “But where’s Scoot?”
The ponies exchanged nervous glances. Applejack nudged Apple Bloom with a hoof, gesturing for her to explain. The filly grimaced and faced Rainbow Dash.
“Ah… we don’t exactly… know,” Apple Bloom said, shifting from one hoof to another.
“Well, when did you last see her?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom exchanged pained expressions. Apple Bloom opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She closed it immediately, allowing the white filly to answer.
“Probably five or so hours ago. In the…” she gulped. “In the Everfree.”
A silence fell over the group, save for the now deafening tapping of rain on the ground and library trunk. Rainbow’s eyes widened, her wings extended, and she shot off the ground, spraying water into the library. Twilight quickly rubbed the water away from her eyes and ran out the door, screaming into the night.
“Rainbow! No! Come back!”
She was long gone.
“Scootaloo!”
Rainbow Dash’s booming voice was drowned out by the storm raging around her in every direction. Night had fallen, and sight was quickly becoming even more of a problem than before. She battled the worry from her expression and pushed herself to go faster, exploding past the Everfree boundary in a streak of blue that sliced through the storm.
“Scootaloo! Where are you?!” she screamed again, eyes scanning through the fog for any slight hint of orange or purple. Finding none, she angled her trajectory closer to the canopy, gusts threatening to blow her off course at every conceivable opportunity. She fought to regain her direction as the side of her body slammed into a trunk, bruising just above her cutie mark. Rainbow yelped in pain, but willed herself on, gaining a bit of altitude. But something other than the storm met her ears. Something low, something long, something mean. Something predatory.
Something close.
Even over the deafening storm, the sound was unmistakable. Rainbow’s heart dropped deep into her stomach, and willed herself to go even faster, shifting direction to go towards where she heard the roar. That noise could have only come from one thing that lived in the Everfree, and it definitely wasn’t Scootaloo. Rainbow’s face contorted.
“Please let me get there before the wolves do,” she prayed.
Pushing her limits was dangerous. Pushing her limits in a storm was even more dangerous. But this? All about her were gusts of wind, rain flying at all angles, buffering her lithe body as she attempted to fly faster, fly harder. She dove lower to begin searching again, only to find another tree suddenly in her path, which she quickly swerved around to avoid. However, changing direction got her out of the wind tunnel she had locked herself within, and the sudden reintroduction of turbulence sent her spiraling a few times before she righted herself, slowing down enough to catch her breath. She cupped her hooves around her mouth.
“Scootaloo!” she screamed out once again, voice cracking. Only a dim and undefined echo reached back to her ears through the storm. She pushed onwards, flapping her wings with a renewed vigor, holding the same heading as before. She heard the roar again—louder this time. Peering down through the whipping rain and fog, she was able to see flashes running about in the forest below. Their flashing shapes resolved into a pack of four timberwolves running in a straight line parallel to the direction Dash was already flying. She angled her body down and sped up, only slowing when she was directly above the wolves and their snapping branch bodies.
Matching the pack’s speed, Rainbow looked off into the distance and noticed a substantial clearing in the forest. Hope rejuvenated, she accelerated, dropping down into the canopy, getting closer and closer to ground level. She was nearly to the clearing, nearly to Scoot, just a little further…
A volley of wind took her by surprise and launched her sideways, crunching her right wing into the sharp and damp bark of a formidable tree. Her cry of anguish radiated through the forest, unmistakable in one filly’s ears.
Scootaloo picked her head off the ground, wiping her tear streaked eyes on her foreleg. Looking around, she saw nothing friendly, but definitely had heard somepony yell over the substantial din.
“Hello?!” she cautioned, picking herself off the ground and walking towards the big tree, being careful to keep her hoof from connecting with the ground.
“Scootaloo!” a voice from inside the forest shouted. It sounded just like…
“Rainbow?” the filly yelled towards the sound as a drenched pegasus exploded out of the trees. Her right wing was bent back at a terrible angle, but it was Rainbow. And she was smiling. “Rainbow!” the laughing filly screeched, voice shaking. Rainbow galloped forward and scooped the filly up into a tight embrace, their sopping coats sticking together as they pulled apart.
“Scootaloo! Ohmygosh, you’re okay!” the cyan pegasus said, a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. The filly beamed and smiled, but then frowned when she looked at Rainbow’s right wing.
“Your wing…” the filly said. “Are you—?”
“Hurt? Yeah, a little.” Rainbow studied her injury, her adrenaline fading as she looked at the injury with newfound pain in her eyes. She shook her head. “But it’s… it’s fine. We’ll just have to run.”
“I-I can’t, Rainbow,” Scootaloo said, holding up her injured hoof for Rainbow to see. She paled. “And it’s just a storm, right? What do we have to run from?”
Rainbow looked away, scanning the treeline as she prodded the sodden ground with a hoof.
“Nevermind that. Get on my back. Ponyville is only twenty minutes away.” Scootaloo nodded and jumped onto Rainbow’s back, hugging the larger mare tightly, but grimacing when she put pressure on her hoof.
“Rainbow, I think it’s—my ankle, it’s broken…”
“That’s… uh… that’s fine. We’ll be somewhere safer soon, don’t worry. I’d never leave my friends hanging,” Rainbow replied. Patting the filly on her back with a hoof, she turned and faced towards Ponyville. Another roar shot through the forest, much too close and loud for Rainbow’s comfort. Scootaloo trembled.
“Time to go!” Rainbow shouted as she took off running.
Twilight paced around the living room with seven sets of eyes on her. Every once in a while, seemingly at random, she would stop and turn around, letting out a deep sigh. Spike sighed too on the eighty-second time, pushing away his blanket and standing up, walking over to where Twilight was wearing down the floorboards.
“Twi…” Spike gulped, “Rainbow probably just got a little lost. It’s nothing to get worri—”
“Nothing?” Twilight interjected, a glare on her face. She turned towards the dragon, making him step backwards in surprise. “Nothing to get worried over? The life of my friends isn’t something to get worried over?”
“Twilight,” Spike added, trying to calm her down, “you know that’s not what I—”
“I don’t care!” Twilight yelled, making the entire assembly jump. She looked around the room, sheepishly shaking her head. “Sorry. I just… it should have been a five minute flight into the Everfree, maybe ten or fifteen minutes searching for Scootaloo, and then a five minute flight back. Twenty, twenty-five minutes tops!” Twilight stammered, her eyes returning to their worried state. “But it’s been fifty. Two times as long!”
“Twilight, dear, Rainbow is fine. She always is,” Rarity interrupted, a bored look crossing her face. “If anything, she may have taken her back to Cloudsdale.”
“She would have stopped in to tell us,” Twilight mused. “But she didn’t. She’s loyal, she wouldn’t have blown us off without a reason.” The gathering simultaneously looked at their hooves in thought, trying to think where in the wide world of Equestria Rainbow and Scootaloo could be, outside of the obvious. Spike sighed.
“Maybe it’s time for you to get some sleep, Twi.” Spike walked up to her and touched her on the shoulder. “We’ll look for her in the morn—”
“No.” Twilight and Applejack had spoken at the same time. Applejack motioned for Twilight to continue.
“We’ve been waiting too long,” Twilight said. “We need—I need—to find them. Scootaloo could be badly hurt. Rainbow might be hurt, too, in a storm like this.” Applejack nodded while Rarity and Fluttershy both shook their heads with great force.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea, darling,” Rarity said, adjusting the blankets around her and scooting closer to the fireplace, a feeble attempt at warmth. “I say we wait until the storm dies down, and then go look.”
None of the ponies noticed the door open during their discussions until it slammed shut with a loud bang. Spike ran over to the window near the door and peered out to see two figures, one purple and one orange, running away from the library toward the looming boundary of the Everfree forest.
Rainbow Dash stumbled through the dark forest, holding her injured wing close to her side. She winced in pain at every step of her right side. The jolts of walking through the forest were too much for the sensitive injuries in her wing, and trying to balance Scootaloo on her back was increasingly difficult. She groaned and pushed onwards, grasping and then shoving herself off a tree to keep her momentum. Wind whistled through the trees again, a strong gust that would have taken the small pegasus right off her back if the dense undergrowth hadn’t absorbed the wind’s energy first. She tried lifting her head to the sky, but the filly on her back made that impossible.
Scootaloo was testing her hoof, feeling around for a broken point. Every now and again she would let out a small whimper of pain when she would tap the break. The roars from behind them were becoming more and more infrequent, but Rainbow wasn’t comforted by the lack of sonic presence from the wolves. As they passed through a clearing rain pelted at Scootaloo’s back, finding paths through the sparse foliage to crash into the two ponies below. The filly shivered and gripped Rainbow’s barrel with her hooves even tighter, causing the larger mare to exhale quickly and suddenly.
Lightning flashed in the distance and threw long shadows around the forest floor.
“H… how far do you think we are from Ponyville?” Scootaloo asked quietly, not knowing if Rainbow would even respond. She was surprised when Rainbow shook her head slowly and glanced around at their surroundings once again. Back inside the forest, gloom had settled back around them, flanking them from each side.
“I’m sure we’ll be there soon!” Rainbow said with mock cheerfulness.
“I know when someone is only acting happy,” Scootaloo said. She matted down the damp fur on Rainbow’s back with an uninjured hoof. “My parents did it all the time.” The two traveled in silence for a while, not caring to break the fragile silence.
Scootaloo was worried that if she spoke more Rainbow would be upset.
Rainbow was worried she would start to cry. She hoped the small filly couldn’t notice.
“Scoot,” the mare said, keeping her eyes on the ground and attempting to keep her shaking voice under control. “Can you… tell me more about your parents?” Scootaloo lay down on Rainbow’s back and loosened her grip on her barrel. Rainbow took in a deep breath, more an attempt at keeping her feelings under control than due to the relaxed pressure around her midsection. Scootaloo lay her cheek down on Rainbow.
“When I was born,” Scootaloo began, looking deep into the woods aimlessly. Rainbow’s walking jolts were making her tired, her general exhaustion seeping through the dangerous situation and making Scootaloo feel as if she was being rocked to sleep. “My parents lived in Seaddle. My dad was a pegasus and my mom was an earth pony.”
Rainbow nodded, putting two and two together. A tear rolled down her cheek, unbeknownst to Scootaloo. It dripped off her soaking face and fell to the ground, mixing in with the dirty puddles below. The filly sighed and relaxed her muscles. She took a breath.
“My dad, according to my mom, left after I was born. But since my mother was such a lying… pony, I don’t know if she was telling the truth. Then one day my mother left and never came back. I made my own way for a week or so, but then some cop took me to an orphanage near the center of town. It was awful there. There were fights and tantrums and everything. And it smelled. So I left one day. Just walked right out while the receptionist was busy with some “look-but-no-adopt” family, no goodbyes or anything. They wouldn’t have let me leave if I had asked. I walked, I hopped trains, I figured my own way. I found that old clubhouse near Sweet Apple Acres, stole some surplus wood from the Apples, fixed it up. I’m living there now. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom don’t know that I actually live there. They just… they just think I fixed it up to be our clubhouse.”
Scootaloo sighed and buried her face in Rainbow’s fur, beginning to sob quietly. Tears were cascading down Rainbow’s cheeks as she fought to keep her composure. Her faux persona began to melt around her as her lip quivered, and the pain in her wing was temporarily forgotten. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a croak came out, the last defense against the wave of water from her eyelids.
“Scoots… we’re going… we’re going to be okay… g-got it?”
She could feel Scootaloo nodding into her fur, still crying silently.
But they both looked up to the sky when the unmistakable flapping of wings over the deafening storm grabbed their attention.
Author's Note
RE-WRITTEN ON JUNE 21ST, 2021
Hey everybody, it's been nearly eight years since I published the first chapter of this story, and I've been meaning for a very long time to go back and edit this chapter in anticipation of finishing this story someday. Maybe someday came suddenly! Expect a finish to this little story sooner rather than later.
ORIGINAL A/N
Hello all! This will be a two-hit fic, and I'll be posting the second half as soon as I finish it.
Currently I'm exploring my options, since I have been doing an Action/Adventure fic, and I just wanted to make a Sad/SoL fic for a change. If I like this kind of fic, I'll continue doing stuff like this. Right now I really love writing stuff like this.
So yeah, UH is on hiatus until this is finished, and the maybe another fic before I pick that back up again. But maybe I'll pass it onto a reader to continue. :D
Hope you enjoy Gray Day, White Night!
