Afterlifeby tut895ChaptersDay of reckoningEternal memories of a new ghostThe discovery of the recently deceasedHappily Oblivious and Painful RealizationIs being dead really all that bad?So long, Rainbow.The NecronomiconDay of reckoningI race to my training spot above the trees of the Everfree, the wind whipping my mane and sending it flying about. Today was the day I could finally get to practice the ultimate move; the spectral rainboom, which happens only when I go faster than the speed of light. My hopes are to perfect it before performing with Soarin and Spitfire at the summer sun celebration in Ponyville. The original plan was for me to do a solo finale performing a sonic rainboom, but that's too lame for my home town. I stop myself in the air as I reach my special area above a clearing in the Everfree forest. The cool breeze in the air up here makes me shiver a bit as I brace myself for the gauntlet. The gauntlet is my usual training area, complete with cloud obstacle maze, wind blowers for extreme weather training, and even self detonating thunder clouds. Yea, an awesome pony like me needs some awesome equipment to become even better than I am now, Which still isn't an easy feat. I lower myself back onto the ground so I can get a good push off to start my course. As my hooves touch the ground, My wings relax and rest at my side. As a precaution, I put on my lightning proof Wonderbolt suit, not that I need it. I bend my front legs, to help me get good acceleration, and open my wings to prepare for lift off. The cool breeze blows through my feathers and gives them a tingling sensation. I put as much force as possible into my wings as I lift my legs off the ground and with one powerful flap of my wings, lift off the ground. I manage my usual Sonic Rainboom as I reach the first obstacle in my Gauntlet, the wind blowers. I glide along the edge of the wind's path as I maneuver through the first group of blowers, my tail creating it's usual rainbow-like glow. I approach the second set of wind blowers, these ones more condensed and pressurized, as I pull of a double Rainboom. This creates a burst of wind that would usually leave a crater, but since Ponyville is so far away from the Everfree the worst they'll get is dropped ice cream cones and spilled drinks. I reach the second set of blowers and go in a zig-zag fashion to avoid the wind. I make it through the second group with ease, as always. I approach the second part of my Gauntlet, the self detonating clouds, these babies can detonate at completely random times, helping me prepare for anything, even being struck by lightning. I start to go under one cloud as it sends a bolt of lightning my way. I dodge it by simply gliding to the left and the bolt hits the lightning rod I have set up on the ground, just one way my training can help ponies. The rod has a wire that leads to Fluttershy's house and when lightning hits the rod, it gives her some electricity. I race towards the next cloud as it strikes three bolts of lightning that I don't have enough time to avoid, and one of the bolts hit me, going through my suit and giving me a rush of energy, making me go a little bit faster than I wanted to go at this time, but I can account for it. I make it to the final cloud as it shoots lightning in almost every direction that lead below the cloud. I take a left and go around the cloud, hoping it wouldn't send a stray bolt towards me. as I approach the obstacle maze, a stray bolt goes past my body zooming into the course and ricochets off one of the clouds, making the bolt come around to hit me square in the chest, giving me a bit of impact shock but still just going through my suit and giving me a rush of power again I give my wings another powerful flap, unexpectedly creating my spectral Rainboom, guess I'm more awesome than I thought, though it doesn't help, only hurts. Upon creating the spectral Rainboom I hit one of the clouds and it sends me flying towards the ground. "Okay," I say to myself, "This is really bad." I'm not losing much speed. At this rate, I'll have to open my wings to stop myself to avoid major injury. I open my wings and the wind hits it like a sledge hammer. My wings flinch back as I scream in pain and keep falling. I reach one of the trees surrounding the opening in the Everfree, and it takes one of my wings clean off, leaving nothing but a searing pain and blood spewing everywhere. I hit the ground with my still attached wing and hear a few crunching sounds. The pain is nearly unbearable, and I can see black dots forming around the edges of my vision as I lay there, in a puddle of my own blood from my wing being taken off. I can't take this pain, I try to call out for help but it comes out raspy and hurts my throat. This must be what real pain feels like, not the small stuff that usually happen when me and spitfire get into fights. Deep, searing, unbearable pain that comes with the feeling of death and the fear of your own mortality. The black dots that formed around my peripherals now almost block out my vision entirely as I close my eyes. Maybe somepony will find me and get me to the hospital, I don't think I can walk right now. My eyes close entirely and I feel myself lifting off the ground as the pain subsides, then goes away entirely. I open my eyes in excitement thinking somepony had come to save me. When I look around I notice that nopony is there, I'm just being lifted off the ground by nothingness. I look down to see what's going on and see my body. I gulp as I realize what's going on. I'm dead, I'm dead and have become a ghost. Eternal memories of a new ghostAs I rise up off the ground from whatever is doing it, I reach out to a branch hanging to my left. I grab it, half expecting to go through it, and try to figure out how to stop ascending. I flex my stomach and I descend. Perfect, a constant ab workout just to stay grounded. I look down at my back hooves, since I'm still descending, and notice that they're gone, replaced by some wavy tail, but not rainbow colored, just cyan. I flex my stomach more to go down to the ground, until I start to be sucked back into my body. The feeling is similar to being sucked into a vacuum. My eyes flutter open and the unbearable pain comes back. my breaths come out shaky and short. The adrenaline coursing through my veins gives me enough strength to stand up. I roll over, the area where my other wing was touching the ground for a second, leaving a burning sensation. I give a raspy scream again, and hear leaves rustle behind me. I need to get out of here now. I take a step with my front left hoof and stumble, my body is still shaky from being a ghost for a good twenty seconds. I steady myself and then look around hoping to spot anything that could help me right now, and see a small hill about 20 yards to my left. I walk to the short hill, hoping it will help me figure out where I am, and give me a place to go. I reach the top of the hill and collapse, looking around i can see Fluttershy's cottage about a mile out. The dots return into my peripherals, but I can make it to her, and then she'll be able to patch me up, right? I bend my front knees, trying to get up, but fall again. I'm going to have to crawl if I wanna make it. The blood pouring out of where my wing was starts to puddle around me as my vision blurs out, and slowly, I feel myself rising back out of my body. I flex my stomach so I don't go flying into the sky again. Unfortunately, my hooves go right through my body, I'm dead for good now. I lay down and cry, thinking of all the ponies I'll be letting down. Scootaloo will have to move out of my house and become homeless again, the rest of my friends will have to find a new element of loyalty, and Soarin will have the most trouble moving on, we had been dating for three years now, and Spitfire was telling me about how he was almost ready to propose. To keep myself calm, I try to remember what Twilight said after her brother died from cancer. "I hate it," she said, "I hate it how ponies will get old, and then, everything they ever wanted, a good life, a nice pony to live with forever, a couple of foals, or just something as simple as a house, they wake up one day and don't realize that it'll be their last. But ponies whose life will just slowly fade, like Shining's know that eventually they're day will come and no longer will they be able to enjoy life." She broke out into tears after saying this, but still managed to continue with her sad rant. "No matter what pain everypony goes through, the Alicorns like me will have to bear the death of everypony we hold dear that isn't royalty. Everypony I'll even see walking through the street will die one day, and I'll be powerless to stop it." She held so much sorrow that day, and now her and every other pony I've ever known, even some of my fans, will have to deal with the fact I no longer live. I'll be forced to see my friends crying, hunched over my grave, hoping that there will be some way to bring me back. But by the looks of my corpse, I don't think that's going to be happening pleasantly. In order to calm myself down again, I remember the day I adopted Scootaloo. She was so happy, practically jumping on my head to hear that I would take care of her. "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said, hugging me so tightly I couldn't breathe for a bit. She looked up at me and let go with a slightly sincere face. "Sorry." She said. "It's fine Scoots, being on the street since your parents disowned you must have been one of the worst things to happen to anypony." I remember saying to her, thinking about how much pain I went through when my parents couldn't take care of me when my sister was born, she had a mental disorder which meant she needed extra attention to make sure she didn't hurt herself. I still remember her gray mane and her bubbly personality, even throughout all the teasing she faced, it always brings a smile to my face when I think about how much worse I could've had it. Ditzy eyes, clumsy front hooves, and constant teasing for being who I am. I smile, thinking of the good times I had with my sister; teaching her how to fly, helping her out when she got in trouble for her clumsy behavior, the incident of town hall right before the town meeting to honor Applejack's help in Ponyville, where she broke about five things in thirty seconds, and spoke, which is a rarity for her. I get up, confidence restored, and look at my body. Maybe if i can get to Fluttershy's house I can some how get her to discover and bury my body, Which is almost completely white from the blood constantly pouring out of where my wing was. The cutie mark on my left leg has been cut in half, no doubt from one of the multitude of branches I hit on my way to the ground, my face scratched and bruised for the same reason, and my attached wing definitely broken, given that it's in a perfect L shape. I head towards Fluttershy's cottage, hoping my plan will work so at least my body can be peaceful after death. Author's Note Little thing to those who want to see this fic to the end, try to find a hidden message within something that isn't the moral. If there's going to be a moral The discovery of the recently deceasedI reach Fluttershy's door and walk up to it, hoping I can phase through it, but of course being a ghost isn't that easy and I bump right into the wall. I reach up to cover my nose but then realize something; I don't feel pain anymore, I could crash all I want while flying and never be injured again. I flap my ghostly wings in giddiness and realize something else; I have both my wings again, and they're both attached. I squeal and jump up and down for a bit before recomposing myself and try to figure out how to get past this door. "Maybe," I say to myself. "Since the flexing stomach worked to keep myself from ascending the skies." I realize where it is I'm going with this. "Perfect, more ab workouts, probably gonna be ripped by the time I cope with this weird body." I mutter as I brace myself against the door. I flex my stomach, yet again, and with a grunt, I phase through the door into Fluttershy's cottage. I look at the hallway behind the front door that leads straight to the kitchen, the carpet on the floor is a bright red, and the magenta walls are lined with pictures of Fluttershy and her pets. I get up and dust myself off, then head towards the kitchen, if she's anywhere at this time she'll be making food for her multitude of pets. I stop at the doorway of the kitchen and look right, which is where the fridge is, Fluttershy is bent over, her hoof searching through the contents of her fridge for something. I walk up to her and lay my hoof on her back, she jumps up and screams extremely loudly, If I were alive I could almost guarantee my ears would be ringing. She turns around, eyes wide in fear and darts her eyes left to right, as if looking for something. Angel comes through the doorway I went past, and screams in his rabbit language at Fluttershy, waving a particularly offensive finger her way. "I'm sorry Angel," Fluttershy says in her soft, quiet, soothing voice. "I just felt something really cold, like ice, on my back and it startled me." Of course, I get an extremely icy touch since I'm technically dead, this could come in handy for something. I glide over to Angel, still shouting at Fluttershy, and stick my hoof right through his chest, and touch his heart, literally, I can feel it twisting as it pumps blood into his veins. Angel jumps back, slightly startled, and hops away like Winona does when she realizes a bee hive isn't a chew toy, or something to play fetch with. Fluttershy turns and heads back to what she was making, which looks like a salad, probably for Angel, humming a strangely familiar tune as she starts tossing the salad. I get into a sitting position, though I'm still floating, and start thinking of ways to get Fluttershy out of the house. I could probably use some ghostie powers to move the bowl, and get her to chase it to my probably cold corpse. I lift my hoof and point it towards the bowl, focusing my thoughts on levitating the bowl, but just like when I tried to do that with the TV remote while I was living, it stays where it was. "Okay," I say to myself. "that didn't work, what else could I do." I ponder what I could do to get Fluttershy out of the house, and it comes to me; maybe I could possess other ponies like Danny phant-colt, but I couldn't do that to Fluttershy, she's way too nice for me to do that to, which makes me wonder why I'm choosing her to find my corpse, Zecora will be coming into Ponyville in a couple days. Then again by the time she comes to Ponyville my corpse could have been moved, tampered with, rotten, or eaten by a stray Timber Wolf. I shiver at the thought of Timber Wolves eating my corpse, they've probably already taken my wing and put it into their stomachs, if they have any. Angel comes back into the kitchen and starts yelling at Fluttershy, probably upset because of how hungry he is. "Oh angel," Fluttershy says. "I'm working as fast as I can but I just can't do this in a matter of seconds." She puts a cherry on the top of the salad and steps back, admiring her accomplishment. As she picks up the bowl with her mouth, I get an idea and dive into Angel's body, luckily, I can possess the bodies of others. After a small struggle, I gain full control of Angel's body. I start to fall but catch myself by putting my front paws in front of me, being on two feet is more unsettling than I thought. I dash out of the kitchen as Fluttershy is about to put the bowl down. When the bowl makes contact with the floor, she notices that Angel (We'll just say me from here on,) isn't there any more. She turns her head, looking into the front hallway as I jump out the pet door at the bottom of her front door, and hear her say, "Angel, where are you going?" I wait for her to come through the door, which she does within a matter of seconds, and start running to my corpse. She flies after me, her wings making more of a flutter than a flap, which is a given, then notices my body laying there in the grass on top of the hill, she looks up and gives a puzzled face. "What's that Angel?" She asks me, but I just keep hopping along to my real body. I reach my body and get out of Angel, and he looks around, confused, then angry and starts muttering to himself before kicking my body. A flash of anger fills my metaphorical veins, and I throw a punch at his little white face, the hoof goes through his head, and I can briefly feel his brain, tiny and not much going on in there, and Angel collapses and rolls around in the grass, putting his paws on his temples as if he has a huge brain freeze Fluttershy catches up with Angel, and sees my body, it's definitely a bit more decomposed in the three or so minutes I was in there, and I look like I'm sleeping, besides the nearly destroyed wing and the missing one. Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, and descends to the ground. She collapses on the ground, face in her hooves, and sobs uncontrollably, her body heaving up and down as she breathes, it makes me want to cry seeing her so hurt because of what I've done. I lay next to her and rest my head on the grass, curled up and trying not to cry, I look at her one more time, she's already got grass stuck to her face from her tears wetting her fur. I sigh and start to cry myself. "How could I have let this happen?" I whisper to myself in between my shallow breaths, "How could I have been so reckless as to take my own life for something as stupid as the Wonderbolts!?" I start shouting. "How could impressing people who've already made me secondary captain of their entire business, be worth getting myself killed and seeing all my friends like this!?" I point my hoof to Fluttershy, who's still sobbing, though now she's rubbing my dead body, as if trying to comfort me, which really isn't working. I get up and fly away from here, I don't know where I'm going, I just need to get away from this place, somewhere I can cheer myself up, somewhere people won't be heartbroken because I was stupid enough to think that showing off would be a good idea. Author's Note New chapter, thanks to all who enjoy this for giving me inspiration To those who don't enjoy this, i'm aware it's a bit slow, and I will do my best to get better with my writing skills. Happily Oblivious and Painful RealizationI soared into my house, the clouds puffy and white, and the rainbow river flowing steadily, and phase through the door, yet again with a grunt. I land on the floor, stop,and fall, not being used to the lack of force since I’m not physically existent. I get up and dust myself off, upon looking around, I see some of the pictures of Scootaloo's recent achievements bent as if somepony hit them, she definitely had a rough day at school, as always. I glide over and phase through her door, she's upside down on her bed, playing with a ball of yarn and balancing it on her hooves, juggling it between her two front hooves and keeping it over there with her back ones, her face seems distant though, as if lost in thought. She rolls over, back on her stomach as the ball of yarn falls to the floor, and turns to look at Tank, who has on his flying equipment and is hovering about around Scootaloo's dresser, the top of which covered with her old filly hood toys and pictures of her with the bank vault full of Wonderbolts she's met coming to the shows that I go to preform in. "When's Rainbow going to come back?" She asks Tank, and I choke up. She doesn't know, and Fluttershy will probably tell her first once she gets over it herself, which won't be for a few days. Tank just slowly blinks at her, and slowly descends until he lands next to Scootaloo's bed, nuzzling her cheek with his face, and Scootaloo strokes his shell like she always does. "Yeah, I'm sure she was just having trouble with her equipment, and had to fix it, so she had to take more time out of her day to get the practice in." Scootaloo says, turning her head so it looks at the floor, and then resting it on the edge of her bed. "I hope she gets back quickly, I'm getting kinda hungry." Now that I'm dead. When I cry tears don't come out, but with so many people thinking about me, as if I'm alive and well, only to soon realize my life came to an end about an hour ago, I'm sure I will soon. I turn around and spread my ghastly wings, With a powerful flap I take off, I fly from Scootaloo's room, and take a left into the front hall, I once again go straight through the front door into the open air. I don't know where I'm going this time, but it needs to be somewhere nopony will think about me, just somewhere. _________________________________________________________________________________________ (Scootaloo) I look up towards the hall as a dust ring expands and a cool breeze fills my room, making me shiver. I thought Rainbow payed the heating bill. I get up off of my bed and trot until I reach the doorway, then stop. I look over to Tank and nod my head in the direction of the doorway, silently telling him to come over here. "C’mon, let's go make a sandwich or something." I say, my stomach grumbling as it has for the past few minutes. Tank flies over to me and we trot to the kitchen, which is much warmer than my room, and open the fridge. In there is a half eaten watermelon, which Rainbow keeps calling watermeloan for some reason, a bowl of grapes, and some lettuce. I grab the lettuce, and get some of the watermelon, open the cupboard, get two slices of bread, avoiding the end piece like everypony else, and put the watermelon and lettuce in between the slices of the bread. I take a bite and, much like putting vinegar on fries, it tastes surprisingly good. I smile a bit as I remember the multitude of strange food combinations that turned out to be good: yellow watermelon, all the milkshake flavors mixed together at Sugarcube Corner, and even unpasteurized milk at times. Don't ask about that last one, I did some weird things before Rainbow adopted me, after I got my cutie mark, which is a flaming hoop indicating my dare devil like personality I have at times, which has gotten me a junior scholarship into the Wonderbolt Academy, that made Rainbow very happy. I eat the rest of the sandwich, leaving a few bites for Tank, and toss it to him. He catches it in his mouth and slowly puts the whole things in his mouth, and manages to swallow it whole, which is normal for me after being with him for a good 5 years. It's actually pretty cool how he does things you wouldn't expect a Tortoise to do, like he goes really fast if you strap him to a skateboard. I walk back to my room, Tank hovering behind in his helicopter like contraption, which still boggles my mind, trying to think about how Twilight made something that works by magic, given Rainbow isn’t a unicorn, then again I have seen some magic tanks in the basement. I close the door behind me. Once we're both back in my room, I push my hoof on the red power button on my television, which works by technology instead of magic, which is something original in this country. The news comes on and the news man, whose name always eludes me, was announcing the Wonderbolt performance that will be showing at the Summer Sun Festival next week. "Yes, the Wonderbolt show has been cancelled," Upon hearing this, I twist my head in interest and stare at the television, waiting for him to explain why, which I don't have to wait long for. "It seems one of the Wonderbolts has gone missing, a Search and Rescue crew has already started searching the Everfree forest for clues, we will inform you of any updates and within the next hour we will hopefully be able to announce the identity of the missing individual." My stomach sinks to my heart as the thought of Rainbow being missing, if she's missing that means I'm going to be an orphan again, and I'll be homeless as well. "Rainbow couldn't let that happen though, she’ll be perfectly fine," I say to reassure myself, "but it's just better to go check and see. Yes, she'll be fine." _________________________________________________________________________________________ My wings are tired and sore from so much exertion during flight. Rainbow taught me how to fly once she had adopted me so we could go to Cloudsdale when she has shows there, and so I could make it to her house back then. Now the worst I have to deal with when it comes to flying is my lack of stamina. I turn my body so I'm in a position similar to standing on my hind hooves, and gives my wings a powerful flap to stop myself once I reach Rainbow's training course, and my jaw drops at the scene. The self detonating clouds have been displaced, which has only happened when a somepony messed them up and tried to put them back where they were. One of the trees at the treeline has an unusually large hole in the tree, and there's unsettled dust and a small crater where the hole in the tree leads, and one of the cloud obstacles is missing, but that seems to have just somehow made it's way to the bottom of the clearing. I give my wings another flap and begin to descend towards the whole in the tree, and with a little precision, fly straight through it with no troubles. I land next to the small crater and look around. There was definitely a struggle here, the branches in the hole in the trees have been snapped and landed around the hole, a bush next to the crater has been flattened, as if something rather large had hit it, and a trail of blood puddles leading to the path everypony usually uses when going in and out of the Everfree, and taking the way out. Who's blood it is I intend to find out, but first I need to check the crime scene to see if somepony hid a weapon or anything that could be used as one around here. I check the bush, but all that's in there is Rainbow's bag, which must have been torn off of her and landed in the bush, which would've flattened the bush like it is now. I hear a rustle from somewhere past the bush and decide that it would be a better idea to follow the blood trail and see where it leads. I turn around and start to follow the drops of blood that lead out of the forest, and on top of a hill. When I reach the top of the hill I notice something unusual, the puddles here are bigger, and the blood disappears from here. I look around and the grass is flattened in the direction leading to Fluttershy's cottage, as if something was dragged. I look at Fluttershy's house, and see her dragging in something too big o be any of her pets, but all I can see are cyan hooves. After a few seconds of thinking, a thought creeps into my head. Could she have killed Rainbow Dash? The thought nags at me and after thinking about the possibility, it seems to be the only logical answer right now. Nopony knew Rainbow well enough to know how to beat her in a one-on-one encounter except Fluttershy. I collapse on the ground, and cry. I thought she was supposed to be the element of kindness, not evil. My tears come out like a stream, and my sobs like a baby struggling to breathe. Slowly, I embrace the two things that I've been with longer than even the CMC, things that have been my lifelong friends since my parents kicked me out of their house and out of Cloudsdale, the things ponies these days only associate with evil, but I know it's welcoming to outcasts like me: darkness. Darkness and loneliness. My heart aches knowing that my mother, in a way, is dead and my fillysitter when Rainbow goes to Las Pegasus for a show, she says it's more of a grown up pony place, was the one who caused her death. Author's Note This chapter was used a bit for experimentation, but please feel free to give your thoughts on a Scootaloo perspective since I need to know if you guys like this so I could use it more. Is being dead really all that bad?(RainbowDash) I angle myself so that I can slow down, and give my wings a powerful flap to stop myself. Apparently I still have to obey the laws of motion. I descend onto a cloud that's positioned below me so I can rest on it. My mother would always tell me to look for the good things about something bad when it concerns me, and it usually helps, so I decide to list out the bright sides of being a ghost a shot. First: I don't feel any physical pain, allowing me to crash an infinite amount of times and just shrug it off. Second: I can possess others, which could potentially make some good pranks. Third: I could phase through objects, so I don't have to be bothered with doors and the like.I roll over, forgetting that I'm on a cloud and scream. Instead of plummeting to the ground like usual, I just float there without flapping my wings, still at the same elevation as I was on top of the cloud. "Fourth: I'm not affected by gravity," I say to myself while rolling my eyes, feeling stupid that I could forget the obvious,"So I could just descend or ascend whenever I want? Being dead does have its perks" Unfortunately, it has much more downsides. I fly off, starting towards Ponyville, and crack a smile as I realize something. "Five: My energy is limitless." I say, realizing that after one flap I had created a Sonic Rainboom; looks like I can find some reprieve in death. I land on the ground in front of Twilight's house and stumble. I guess I'm still not used to being unaffected by friction and other forces. I phase through the door, as is my constant way of entering a building, and start looking through the section of the fiction books. I'm not too sure why I am doing so, but for some reason I feel like I can still pick up small objects like the new Daring Do book that came out yesterday. I really just need something to take my mind off of all the insanity my life has gone through in the past few hours. Realizing what I just thought, I look out Twilight's window, and notice that it's dusk, and I don't know if I should sleep at my house, where without a doubt Scootaloo would be worrying about me, or just stay here where nopony knows I'm dead yet. I find the new Daring Do book and grab it; what I probably should've mentioned earlier, is that in order to go through something, I have to put enough power into my stride that I end up grunting the whole way through; so with the book I just end up grabbing it. I turn the book in my hooves to look at the cover: Daring Do and the Missing Crescent. This seems like a good read, so I put it in my mouth and, with a powerful flap, lift myself off the ground and put it on top of the shelf, knowing that Twilight won't be able to notice that it's missing easily. Speaking of Twilight, the winged unicorn in question came through the door, her head was hanging low and her body was slumped as she walked upstairs; she had bags under her eyes and was yawning a few times as she made her way up the stairs. "Man, looking for those keys really took the energy out of me," she says to a sleeping Spike, who I can tell is trying hard to go back to a dream he had probably been enjoying, "None of the books in any library even mentioned anything about the Tree of Harmony." Spike grumpily opens and squints his eyes at Twilight."Can't I just get a full night's sleep?" Spike complained to Twilight, who had drifted off mumbling about the chest she's always been obsessing over as of late. "You know that these days, nopony can. Most of them just sit around and think about 'the meaning of life' or something." Spike merely rolled his eyes and goes back to trying to return to his dreamland, while Twilight busied herself by double checking her books. Her eyes lock on to the empty slot where the new Daring Do book was supposed to be, and she immediately started looking for it, her eyes darting everywhere for any sign of the aforementioned book. "Spike did you take the new Daring Do book?" Twilight asks. "No, Twilight," Spike asks in a slightly malicious tone, "I don't even like to read those books." Twilight just sighs and says, "I guess Rainbow couldn't wait for me to come back from Applejack's to get the book and had just taken off with it." I look back to where the book is and decide to leave it for now. I fly out the open window next to Twilight and into the night sky. It's a shame I can't feel the cool breeze or the wind whipping in my ear anymore, those were some of my favorite sensations when I was still alive. I land in front of Fluttershy's cottage, and for a change, I phase through the wall into the dining room. The table has been set up nicely with candles and a salad towards one side closest to the doorway. The walls are white except for an accent wall which is green, and filled with pictures of her animals, which was almost creepy to look at. Fluttershy walks through the doorway on to the orange carpet, and sits down in front of the salad bowl. Without hesitation, she starts eating the salad like a her bear does with fish. I decide to not watch her eat like an animal and opted instead to just float to the front hallway. From there I go up the stairs and into her bedroom. Angel is sleeping on a pillow, and for once the little demon looks peaceful. It's almost as if he hasn't been harming Fluttershy all these years. Almost. Feeling in the mood for a little prank, I decide to possess Angel's body. I jump into him, but this time his soul doesn't put up much of a fight. Note: it's easier to posses others when they're sleeping. Seems reasonable. Another note: while possessing something alive, I get all of it's feelings. As I fully possess angel, I get a sociopathic feeling to hurt something, or somepony. So this is why Angel hurts Fluttershy. Anyways, I start climbing my way up Fluttershy's dresser until I'm at a good enough angle to leap out of the window next to Fluttershy's bed. Remembering the time during cider season when I came crashing through it, I know it opens outward. So if I just put enough force into it I should be able to crash through it in one leap. I jump, and as expected, the window crashes open. I feel the cool breeze run through my fur, and it feels great to finally be able to experience these sensations again, until I realized that I didn’t have any wings, and the fact that I'm now falling. I hit the ground with a thump, and a small amount of pain nips at my paws. I guess pain is still present when I'm possessing another. I shake my little paws to stave off the pain, then hop my way to the Everfree, running through the well kept grass, which is surprisingly less itchy than usual. I reach the Everfree, and begin looking at the treeline, thinking about if I should dump angel's body high in a tree or deep into the treeline. I leap deeper into the treeline, hoping to find a good spot that would make Angel panic. I dive into the treeline, and find a nice thorny bush that looks perfect. I jump into the bush, but escape Angel's body just in time for him to make contact with it. I hear tiny bunny screams as Angel kicks thorns away and walks out of the bush, picking brambles out of his fur. I can't help but chuckle as I watch Angel trip and fall back into the bush. I go out of the treeline and back through the path, but as I exit the forest I see something rather strange. An orange figure sitting in the middle of the road; definitely something new. With nothing else better to do, I decide to investigate. I approach the orange figure, and notice that there's purple hair protruding from the front and back of it. I get a bit closer to the lump and realize it's Scootaloo. Scootaloo is just sitting there, in the middle of the road, sleeping. Does she already know that I'm dead, and is sleeping outside so she could get used to being homeless again? Scootaloo's eyes are closed tight and her fur is matted under her eyes. Had she been crying? She's breathing through her mouth heavily; she probably had just got done sobbing. Now that I know Scootaloo is sitting here and not at home, I decide to make her life easier. I possess her, and am immediately filled with a deep sadness. The kind of sadness from the loss of a loved one, like your grandmother's death. I make use of her wings and fly her toward our house. Once there, I lay down on Scootaloo's bed and exit her body. Once I left, she wakes up with a start. She looks surprised to be in her bed, and it seems that she might be contemplating if it was all just a dream, or if she had just mindlessly flew home. She knows that she wouldn't be able to do that though. Hopefully she'll think that it was a dream for now. I fly away, phasing through her wall that was leading to the outside. I look down to the ground, and immediately regretted it. On a bench just south of my house, I see a mare lying there. Curious, I float toward her. She seems sick, and her ghost is starting to pull away from her body. I don't want to deal with another death just yet. Instinctively, I put my hoof on her forehead, and I feel that she definitely has a fever. Somehow, after touching her for a few seconds her ghost recedes back into her body, and she immediately seems to look better. Oh right, icy touch of the dead. Getting a better look at her, I find out that she's a pegasus. Her left wing is broken, but unlike mine, it's been bandaged. She must be homeless since she isn't in the hospital. She has green fur, and an orange mane, in a sort of Wonderbolts crew cut fashion. realizing who the mare that's deathly ill before me is. "Lightning Dust?" I gasped. She just shivers, and falls asleep. Is this really what I did when I got her expelled from the Wonderbolts academy? What happened to her? I fly away, hoping I never have to know the pain I must have caused her. Why does everything have to go wrong in just one day? I find a nice cloud and rest on it, not that I can feel it anymore. I look up to admire Luna's night sky. She had definitely outdone herself tonight. The stars are cast in a beautiful array, forming one of the many constellations my mother had once told me about: Equueleus. The moon is full tonight, I'm sure to Luna's sentiment. I lay on my back and gaze at the moon until I fall asleep, wondering if ghosts could dream. Special thanks to beatbox9988 for editing this chapter along with my usual editor. I owe you a huge thanks mate. Author's Note READ THIS SO YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON PLEASE! This story will be put on hiatus until after Valentine's day. I need a break from writing to focus on things such as double shifts at work (Ugh), exams are coming up (More ugh), and, to be honest I've lost the will to right for now. Also, I want to work on another story, and see how I could improve my writing skills, because everybody can use improvement. So long, Rainbow.(Scootaloo) It's been a week since Rainbow died, and Fluttershy had informed everypony of her death. I stand with the rest of Rainbow's grieving friends as we watch her coffin lower into a freshly dug grave. If she had been living in Cloudsdale still, as were her plans, she would have been sent toward the Griffon kingdom on a cloud. From there, the Griffons would have buried her in the most proper way possible. Unfortunately, she could never find a good enough home there. I only got to say goodbye before she died, when she was on the way to her murder. Tears make my vision blurry, and I look at Fluttershy, who's completely broken down in sobs again. Her mane looks like it hasn't been tended to since Rainbow died. When I see her like this, I wonder if she actually did murder Rainbow. These days I find it hard to keep going, even if it is what Rainbow would want, it's as if just walking is a hard task. With my hero gone, I guess my will and need to press on have vanished. Fluttershy has offered to let me live with her, but until I know whether or not she murdered Rainbow I'm not going to accept her offer. I've been staying in Rainbow's house, now mine until the bills stack up and I have to move out. when that happens, I should know the truth from Fluttershy. If I don't, I guess I'll stay with Sweetie Belle. I look at Sweetie Belle, who is trying to console a sobbing Rarity, who is too concerned with her depression to notice the dirt she's surrounded by. I don't blame her though; it's everything I have not to cry right now, in front of all these ponies. I know I'm expected to be weak and helpless, to be on my knees crying my eyes out, and to feel like I was in the wake of devastation, but my emotion left me after I discovered Rainbow's death. I look over to the Everfree Forest, where Rainbow faced her grim fate, and watch as the wind blows against the trees, making the leaves dance in place. It's a shame that all of Rainbow's friends, coworkers, and even fans, have to come and cry over her on an otherwise perfect day. They had the Summer Sun Festival postponed, since none of the Wonderbolts wanted to do their performance without being able to take in the news, and have time to pay their respects. I always hated the thought of having to talk to somebody's grave. Knowing they can't respond, much less hear you, and feeling that you could have done something to prevent their short life. It's as if Celestia knew she could make everypony immortal, but wants us all to feel the pain she's felt after watching her friends face their own mortality. Everpony finishes their speeches, and I can't help but stay as the Grave Keepers bury Rainbow's multiple colored coffin. I want to be the first person out of anypony to talk to Rainbow's grave. I want to know why people do it, and whether or not it can affect anything. I doubt it does, but it's worth a shot. When the Grave Keepers trot away after covering the hole where Rainbow's corpse lies, I hesitantly trot to it and sit down. "Hey, Mom." I say, after my parents disowned me for being, as they say, 'a fligthless ornament and a disgrace to all Pegasi', Rainbow had been my mom throughout most of my teen life. "I know you probably can't hear me, but I guess this is what the old people do when they visit their dead spouses, so why not give it a try. I guess I could start with your death. I need some way to know that you weren't murdered. Should I ask Fluttershy, and risk her lying to me? Or should I try to find out myself and maybe endlessly pursue false leads that might get me nowhere? I don't know where to go, or who to turn to." I pound my hoof into the dirt, tears swelling into my eyes as I begin to cry. My breaths come out shaky and fast, I would hate it if anypony came by and saw me. None of them would understand, since none of them had a family member die. The only pony I can think of who would understand is Celestia. She had to deal with the pain of multiple loved ones dying. I couldn't imagine the pain caused from that. "Until next week I guess I'll have a bit of trouble with survival, given I'm surviving off nothing, but I'll see you next week." With this, I trot away to see the 'In Memoriam' performance that Spitfire and Soarin are doing to remember Rainbow Dash. I close the door to my house, until the taxpayers come to take it away, and trot to my bed, where Tank lays still. He's been dormant most of the time since Fluttershy came and told us that Rainbow died, not that I needed a reminder. Some days I wish that I didn't have to look at anypony, and this is one of those days. A knock at the door brings me to attention, and I turn around to trot over to the door. I open it, and Pinkie Pie is standing at the door, though her hair is straight instead of it's normal poofy style, she slowly comes in, her head down as she tries to hide her tears. She makes her way to my bed, and lays down on top of it next to Tank. "Twilight told me I should try to console you," She says, her voice sounding small and dreary compared to her usual self. "Y'know, element of Laughter and what not. Some days I don't think she understands that we can still feel the opposite of what our elements are supposed to create." I nod in agreement, remembering how it was when Discord had turned them all into their opposite elements. "You don't have to do anything to help me if you don't have to." I say, really hoping she doesn't start crying. I don't exactly know how to deal with things like that. "Her death was just really sudden, and none of us are too sure how to accept, or even deal, with it. If she had just become sick, we all would have had time to just say goodbye, or to hug her and keep her happy within her last days of life. Why does Celestia not just make everypony immortal, so we don't have to deal with the pain of mortality?" I stomp my hoof, startling Pinkie a bit, before she looks at me quizzically, as if questioning what I just said. "I asked her that once," She replies after a long silence, "after one of those dreams I have about making really weird cupcakes made out of meat, and she told me that the only way to make an Alicorn is to have enough magic talent and power to give a magically gifted Unicorn wings. Twilight used the Alicorn spell once, but ended up giving Rarity Butterfly wings. Though Twilight didn't know it was an Alicorn spell at the time." So that's why Celestia didn't just make them all Alicorns I think to myself, until something crosses my mind. "What about a horn growing spell?" I ask her, if a wing growing spell like that exists, why not a horn growing spell? Pinkie just sighs and looks at me. Until she says, "Listen, I don't know about that. If you need any more information on these things, talk to Twilight. She'll know much more about this than possibly even Celestia." Pinkie then gets up, and walks out of the door. She gets into the Hot air Balloon, and lets out some of the flame inside, making the balloon descend. I go up to the front door and watch until the Balloon has disappears under the cloud floors of the front yard, then i close the door and lay upon my bed. Tank moves to my side, and lays down. He rests his bead on my left Foreleg, and licks my cheek. I remember when I would sometimes mistake her for Winona, since I slept in the barn before Rainbow took me under her wing (punpunpun). I think over what Pinkie said about a horn spell, and the unknown answer corrupts my mind until I can't think about anything else. I hate curiosity, because it will nag at you until you either need to know, or you have to ask the question out loud to somepony. I open the door to the Library and step inside. I look around for the paper that tells people where the books are, but Twilight makes her way over to me before I can find it. "Hey Scootaloo," She says, her voice is scratchy, and her eyes are red from crying. "Did you want to get the new Daring Do book? It seems to have gone missing, so I can't lend it to anypony until I find it." "No," I reply, trying to sound normal, but instead my voice comes out small. I cough and then speak more clearly, "I'm wondering if there are any spells that could give a Pegasus a horn like the Wing Spell that allowed you to become an Alicorn." Twilight thinks about this for a minute before saying, "No, I don't have any of those." She then puts a hoof to her chin and begins mumbling, "If anypony does, it'd be either in the old castle or Starswirl's Library in Canterlot. Or maybe that's whats in the chest; that would be an interesting thing to find." I stop listening when she moves to the topic of that chest. I've always been cautious when it came to that thing, because it could be something bad, as if just a nosy pony would be all it takes to send the world into what could be an eternal war. She's found five of the keys, and it really scares me what would happen when she finds the sixth. I guess it wouldn't be too bad, if I didn't have this anxiety about the undiscovered. Hopefully I can get over it some day. "Hey Scootaloo," Twilight says, addressing me again, "you should probably just check the Library in the old castle inside the Everfree. That's going to be your best chance." I nod my head, and go skip to, and out, the door, determined to get to the castle and see if Celestia does have the power to turn a Pegasus into an Alicorn. The echoing of my hooves as they hit the cold concrete floors makes me stop, expecting something to be behind me until I realize the sounds are coming from me, I always hated this old castle. It always seemed like a scene from a horror film. I find the Library, and look around for a sign that shows where the magic section would be. I find the aisle, and begin skimming through the books on the middle shelf, where the more popular books are usually stored. After a few minutes of searching, I don't see a book on Alicorn creation, but as I reach the end of the aisle, I see a book that looks interesting. The faded black leather on the spine, along with the cobwebs, show that it's been here for a while, and might even be the book I'm looking for. I grab the book and turn it so I can read the front cover, which shows that it isn't what I wanted, but might be of some use. The words in all white against the black cover read, 'Necromancy and how to use it'. My eyes widen as the thought of being able to bring Rainbow back fill my head, I need to bring this back to Twilight so she can bring her back. I open the book to the Table of Contents to see if it has what I'm hoping for, and it does. I decide to read the book myself and see how intricate the spell is, and if Twilight could even use it. The book says, The Necromancy spell can only be used by an Alicorn. However, no matter what royal standing you may have, it will always be illegal, as instructed by Starswirl the bearded. Even if one were to use borderline Necromancy, which would mean trying to but failing, they may still be charged with Exile from the location of their residence. I know Twilight would want to do this, even if it meant exile for her, She wouldn't want to have to mourn Rainbow dash for the rest of her life. I look down to the book and notice small text at the corner. Knowing the kind of crap that usually goes into small text, I read it. Note: Necromancy of somepony with great amounts of power, such as another Alicorn or a bearer of the Elements of Harmony, will only be successful if done on the day one month after their death. I move my head up, wondering why this limitation exists, and think up a plan to get Twilight to use this spell I have, essentially, about three more weeks to convince her that using Necromancy to bring Rainbow back to life is a good idea, despite the consequences. Of course, she's going to think it over in her head until she came to a decision, but that shouldn't take more than a week if she agrees with me. I grab the book in my mouth and begin running back to Twilight's house, hoping she'll agree with me and that we can bring back the closest thing to a good mother I ever had. Author's Note Huzzah, and you guys thought this would come in February The NecronomiconI stop at the Library, hoping to calm myself in order to not make myself look like an idiot before bursting in there, mysterious book in mouth. I get the energy out of me now by jumping in place until I feel calm enough to ask Twilight without shoving the book in her face. I open the Library's door, since it's still open knocking isn't needed, and look to see where Twilight is. She's flapping her wings, trying to reach the top shelf to get something. "Hey Twilight, what are you doing?" I ask, but my words startle her into retracting her wings, and she falls to the floor. "Sorry, but uhh, I found this book," I drop the book and slide it over to her side. She looks at it quizzically, "and it can bring Rainbow back. So, you can do this right?" Twilight just stares at me, her eyes shrunken with what seems like fear, and she grabs me before pulling me close to her. "You brought a Necronomicon here of all places?" She hisses at me, as if I had done something really bad. "Do you know what Celestia does to ponies who even have this book!?" I shake my head, and Twilight just sighs, letting me go and putting the closed sign on the front of the Library door. She turns to me and begins to explain. "Even if I got permission form Celestia to use this thing, both you and I could be banished forever just for having possession of this Tartarus bound book." Her horn begins glowing, and I can feel a strange heat radiating from where the book is sitting. "NO!" I scream, before jumping on top of the book to protect it. "You can't burn this. This book could be the only way to bring Rainbow back." Tears begin to form at the corner of my eyes, blurring my vision a little, as I think about how happy I could be should Rainbow come back, or how heartbroken if she doesn't. "You're a Princess, you should be able to ask for pardons. They'll give it to you, and we'll all get Rainbow back. I'll have my mom, you'll have your friend and Element of Loyalty, Soarin will get his marefriend back, and the Wonderbolts will be able to have their secondary captain back." She know I'm right, and it shows on her face as her hoof goes to her chin, contemplating the benefits. She really couldn't have honestly thought Celestia would just immediately strip her of her Princesshood and banish her forever right? After a few minutes of her standing there, thinking, she finally gives me a reply. "I'll send Celestia a letter, and we'll wait to see what her response will be." She puts her hoof down, and I hug her, trying to hold back from freaking out. She pushes me away from her to give me a response. Typical of her, forcing everypony else to know the entire picture, instead of what they want to know. "But if Celestia declines, both you and I will be in more trouble than even Discord was." I nod my head to show I understand, and lift off of the ground before flying out of the door, leaving the book there for Twilight to study while I go over to Rainbow's training spot. I go there every few days to calm myself down. Whether it's for sadness, or the giddiness I feel now. I just know Celestia's going to say yes, and I can get my mother back. I touch my hooves to the ground and wait to admire the nature before starting my run through Rainbow's course. The wind blows through my feathers, leaving a tingling sensation as they begin to dance in the breeze, similar to leaves on a tree. I bend my knees, which allows me to get more force when I take off straight into the sky. The similarities between my technique and Rainbow's are unbelievably similar, and it scares me a bit as I tend to think about what would happen should I copy Rainbow's exact movements within this course. I take off, leaving a small cloud of dust where I was standing as I begin to head to the Wind Blowers, which has been blowing since Rainbow died, and they're starting to sport some rust on the sides. I glide through them, in an up and down zig-zag motion as I try not to get pummeled by the concentrated wind beginning to blow my way. I make it through, with the usual relative ease I've learned to be able to do against the majority of this course. I begin to reach the second set of Wind blowers, but realize something as I get closer to them. They aren't blowing any wind. I decide to just ignore it and fly straight through, eyes closed as it's impossible not to complete this. I regretted that, as within a couple seconds of my confidence one of them somehow turns on and hits me hard with it's concentrated, Hurricane like winds. I begin spiraling to the trees directly north of the opening, and open my wings in order to stop myself. The wind resistance from this falling hits my wings hard, and pain shoots from my shoulders to my wing tips. I manage to hold strong though, and keep my wings out so I don't fall to my death. I hit the treeline with a force I hadn't expected, making pain flow through any area the trees make contact with, and begin to fall through the multitude of razor like Everfree tree branches. By the time I hit the ground, with a heavy thud and a loud crack, I'm covered in cuts and scrapes. Due to the adrenaline in my body, the pain takes a few seconds before I can feel it. It stars as a dull, pulsating feeling, as if I had just fallen on the concrete, but quickly turns into the deep, searing pain I can only imagine Rainbow could've gone through when she died. I begin to walk, until a pain in my leg makes my bend down. I look down at my right foreleg, and notice how flimsy it looks. I lift it up to try and make sure it isn't broken, but it just confirms my concern. I shake my leg, and it's not responding very well to the non-verbal commands I give it. Instead, it decides to retaliate by pushing a wave of pain up my leg. Luckily, I landed close to the path that everypony uses to get in and out of the Everfree. I begin to limp towards it, and I notice the large drops of blood flowing from the large quantity of cuts that show on my body, wings, face, and even one across my cutie mark. The cut aligns well enough with my Flaming Hoop Cutie Mark, that it makes the usual sign store managers use to show what not to do. I begin walking out of the Everfree again, as Fluttershy's house is closer than Zecora's. I just hope Fluttershy can help me, or at least get me to a Doctor, since I don't have any plans on bleeding to death today. I knock on Fluttershy's door, reluctantly since I'm still unsure if she caused my mother's death, and she answers relatively quickly with a forced smile on her dreary face. "Oh," she says, her voice scratchy from what I could only guess is heavy sobs, judging from her red eyes and wet face. "It's only you Scootaloo, come on in." She steps aside, and ushers me inside. I nod my head and slowly make my way through the front hall, admiring the pictures she's assorted the halls with. The ones including Angel usually include cuddling, or hugs, or some form of affection I'd rather not describe. Fluttershy turns and looks up, and her facial expression immediately goes into one of panic as she notices my physical condition. "Oh my," she states, shocked by the multitude of cuts, scrapes, and overall broken body parts I'm showing off now. "How could this have happened?" I respond by telling her as much of the story as I care to tell. "I was flying, and got knocked into a bunch of trees in the Everfree. I might've cracked a rib and broken my foreleg." I shake my supposedly broken hoof for extra emphasis, and to show her that I'm not bluffing about the broken foreleg bit. She bolts into the air, using her wings to hover in place, and begins to fly around feverishly. "Oh dear, we need to get you to a Medic Pony, or a Doctor, or somepony who can help deal with this!" She says, panic in her voice, resembling that of a Mother who's trying to get their child some kind of bandage after their child's first time being cut. Constantly running around, over reacting, and even shouting for no reason other than to calm themselves,although it's to no avail as I've seen. "Fluttershy," I say, reminding her of her abilities. "You're trained in medical usage. You could just give me some wraps, a bandage, and maybe stitches if those are needed." Her response is more frantic, and louder, than her last few words. "I'm specialized in animals, I don't know the first thing about helping Ponies heal." I stomp my broken hoof, making me wince as tears come to my eyes from the pain. I recompose myself, and stomp my other front hoof so it makes more sound and attracts the attention of Fluttershy better. "How different could treating a pony be from treating something like a goat." I say, knowing I may not make it to the Doctors, as a hoof full of the cuts I've sustained from the fall need stitching. "We're practically one of the same species aren't we?" This makes her stop mid flight, and look at me quizzically as she begins to contemplate whether or not what I said was true. She finally nods her head, and comes down from the air in front of me. "Alright," She says, putting a hoof on my shoulder, while also being careful not to press her hoof into one of my cuts. "I'll give it a try, but you're going to have to sit still through the whole thing, got it?" I nod my head in understanding, to get this over with if anything else, but also because I want to return to Twilight and hear Celestia's response to our proposition to bring Rainbow back. I wince again, as the needle pierces my skin, leaving a cold sting that is quickly followed by a burning sensation. The closest thing Fluttershy had to a numbing agent was a Rabbit Tranquilizer, which doesn't help very much. Fluttershy looks at me with a worried look, before returning to her work stitching up the last of my cuts, the ones that needed it that is. She begins to speak to me, hoping to distract me from the pain of her needle. "How's Tank been doing, since the..." She pauses for a moment, trying to think of a way to not offend me when talking about Rainbow's death. "Since the incident involving a Wonderbolt." I shrug, trying not to wince as the needle exits the wound, and tense up as it begins to come back down. "Well, hes a turtle-" "Tortoise" Fluttershy says, interrupting. "He's a Tortoise, Scootaloo." I roll my eyes, and continue my sentence. "Well, he's a Tortoise so he's slow by nature, but he's been unusually slow as the days have gone by, and he hasn't been eating much." This make her gasp, and she accidentally pushes the needle too far into my wound. I shout in pain, as the tip pierces some of the exposed flesh. She quickly tries to fix it, to little avail since it takes a couple of minutes before the needle is ready to exit my wound again. "Oh my," she says, trying to continue a conversation I'd rather not. "you don't think he'll starve to death do you? A lot of my animals have done that when they mourn for their parents, or children, or even siblings." I shake my head, as I hear a snap, accompanied by a slight tug from the string. "Alright," Fluttershy says, with a sigh of relief. "you're finally all stitched up, and I think it's safe to say that you should just stay in your house for a day or two." I nod my head, and as I get up a knock at Fluttershy's door grabs our attention, and Twilight's voice follows in suit. "Fluutershy, have you sen Scootaloo by any chance? I've been looking for her since I got a letter from Celestia addressed to her." I jump up in excitement, and begin rushing my way to the door. If I can just grab the letter and get out of here, then I can see Celestia's answer. My life could be back to normal, for the first time in what feels like forever. I open the door, and extend my hoof hoping Twilight will just put the letter there without question. Unfortunately, she decides to speak a few words first. "Oh, I guess you are here," she says, before putting the letter in my hoof and finishing her sentence. "I made sure not to read it, as hard as it was, since I thought you should be the first to know. "Thanks." I say with excitement in my eyes as I fly away, at the expense of some of my stitches, going to my house to read the letter in private. I jump into my bed and, once the bed stays still, open the letter to read it. Dear Scootaloo I am glad that you have found a Necronomicon, and even convinced that it could bring the element of Loyalty back; it may even help many more ponies with the struggles they face moving on. However, I am going to have to decline your proposal, and I ask that you submit the Necronomicon to us for it's destruction. I am sorry that you will be unable to have your mother back, but the protection of the public are much more important than the life of the deceased, and if that book were to get into the wrong hooves, it'll be like the cutie pox plague all over again. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. I drop the letter on the floor, tears flowing freely from my eyes. How could she do this? She knows the Elements of Harmony are the biggest protection Equestria has against any form of evil, so why doesn't she seem to acknowledge the fact that we need all six of them to work? I curl up into a ball, my sobs turning my breaths into a shaky, loud, jumbled mess. It isn't the quiet sobbing, that you'd expect from most ponies when they cry. It's the deep, loud cry that resembles a newborn. Loud, deep, and uncontrollable. I feel like my life has just been thrown into the dumpster, beaten to a pulp after a fight and left to die from it's injuries. Only now do I realize how cold the world really is, and the loneliness that truly comes with being an orphan. Author's Note Well, yea this happened. I doubt Scootaloo is happy about this, as she's been all depressed n' stuff since chapter 3 or so. For those who came here for the Rainbow ghost, she'll be back next chapter so don't worry. Also, we're pretty much at the halfway point of the story, if it isn't this chapter, then it's the next. I just thought you guys would want to know how close/far this thing is to finishing.
Day of reckoningI race to my training spot above the trees of the Everfree, the wind whipping my mane and sending it flying about. Today was the day I could finally get to practice the ultimate move; the spectral rainboom, which happens only when I go faster than the speed of light. My hopes are to perfect it before performing with Soarin and Spitfire at the summer sun celebration in Ponyville. The original plan was for me to do a solo finale performing a sonic rainboom, but that's too lame for my home town. I stop myself in the air as I reach my special area above a clearing in the Everfree forest. The cool breeze in the air up here makes me shiver a bit as I brace myself for the gauntlet. The gauntlet is my usual training area, complete with cloud obstacle maze, wind blowers for extreme weather training, and even self detonating thunder clouds. Yea, an awesome pony like me needs some awesome equipment to become even better than I am now, Which still isn't an easy feat. I lower myself back onto the ground so I can get a good push off to start my course. As my hooves touch the ground, My wings relax and rest at my side. As a precaution, I put on my lightning proof Wonderbolt suit, not that I need it. I bend my front legs, to help me get good acceleration, and open my wings to prepare for lift off. The cool breeze blows through my feathers and gives them a tingling sensation. I put as much force as possible into my wings as I lift my legs off the ground and with one powerful flap of my wings, lift off the ground. I manage my usual Sonic Rainboom as I reach the first obstacle in my Gauntlet, the wind blowers. I glide along the edge of the wind's path as I maneuver through the first group of blowers, my tail creating it's usual rainbow-like glow. I approach the second set of wind blowers, these ones more condensed and pressurized, as I pull of a double Rainboom. This creates a burst of wind that would usually leave a crater, but since Ponyville is so far away from the Everfree the worst they'll get is dropped ice cream cones and spilled drinks. I reach the second set of blowers and go in a zig-zag fashion to avoid the wind. I make it through the second group with ease, as always. I approach the second part of my Gauntlet, the self detonating clouds, these babies can detonate at completely random times, helping me prepare for anything, even being struck by lightning. I start to go under one cloud as it sends a bolt of lightning my way. I dodge it by simply gliding to the left and the bolt hits the lightning rod I have set up on the ground, just one way my training can help ponies. The rod has a wire that leads to Fluttershy's house and when lightning hits the rod, it gives her some electricity. I race towards the next cloud as it strikes three bolts of lightning that I don't have enough time to avoid, and one of the bolts hit me, going through my suit and giving me a rush of energy, making me go a little bit faster than I wanted to go at this time, but I can account for it. I make it to the final cloud as it shoots lightning in almost every direction that lead below the cloud. I take a left and go around the cloud, hoping it wouldn't send a stray bolt towards me. as I approach the obstacle maze, a stray bolt goes past my body zooming into the course and ricochets off one of the clouds, making the bolt come around to hit me square in the chest, giving me a bit of impact shock but still just going through my suit and giving me a rush of power again I give my wings another powerful flap, unexpectedly creating my spectral Rainboom, guess I'm more awesome than I thought, though it doesn't help, only hurts. Upon creating the spectral Rainboom I hit one of the clouds and it sends me flying towards the ground. "Okay," I say to myself, "This is really bad." I'm not losing much speed. At this rate, I'll have to open my wings to stop myself to avoid major injury. I open my wings and the wind hits it like a sledge hammer. My wings flinch back as I scream in pain and keep falling. I reach one of the trees surrounding the opening in the Everfree, and it takes one of my wings clean off, leaving nothing but a searing pain and blood spewing everywhere. I hit the ground with my still attached wing and hear a few crunching sounds. The pain is nearly unbearable, and I can see black dots forming around the edges of my vision as I lay there, in a puddle of my own blood from my wing being taken off. I can't take this pain, I try to call out for help but it comes out raspy and hurts my throat. This must be what real pain feels like, not the small stuff that usually happen when me and spitfire get into fights. Deep, searing, unbearable pain that comes with the feeling of death and the fear of your own mortality. The black dots that formed around my peripherals now almost block out my vision entirely as I close my eyes. Maybe somepony will find me and get me to the hospital, I don't think I can walk right now. My eyes close entirely and I feel myself lifting off the ground as the pain subsides, then goes away entirely. I open my eyes in excitement thinking somepony had come to save me. When I look around I notice that nopony is there, I'm just being lifted off the ground by nothingness. I look down to see what's going on and see my body. I gulp as I realize what's going on. I'm dead, I'm dead and have become a ghost.
Eternal memories of a new ghostAs I rise up off the ground from whatever is doing it, I reach out to a branch hanging to my left. I grab it, half expecting to go through it, and try to figure out how to stop ascending. I flex my stomach and I descend. Perfect, a constant ab workout just to stay grounded. I look down at my back hooves, since I'm still descending, and notice that they're gone, replaced by some wavy tail, but not rainbow colored, just cyan. I flex my stomach more to go down to the ground, until I start to be sucked back into my body. The feeling is similar to being sucked into a vacuum. My eyes flutter open and the unbearable pain comes back. my breaths come out shaky and short. The adrenaline coursing through my veins gives me enough strength to stand up. I roll over, the area where my other wing was touching the ground for a second, leaving a burning sensation. I give a raspy scream again, and hear leaves rustle behind me. I need to get out of here now. I take a step with my front left hoof and stumble, my body is still shaky from being a ghost for a good twenty seconds. I steady myself and then look around hoping to spot anything that could help me right now, and see a small hill about 20 yards to my left. I walk to the short hill, hoping it will help me figure out where I am, and give me a place to go. I reach the top of the hill and collapse, looking around i can see Fluttershy's cottage about a mile out. The dots return into my peripherals, but I can make it to her, and then she'll be able to patch me up, right? I bend my front knees, trying to get up, but fall again. I'm going to have to crawl if I wanna make it. The blood pouring out of where my wing was starts to puddle around me as my vision blurs out, and slowly, I feel myself rising back out of my body. I flex my stomach so I don't go flying into the sky again. Unfortunately, my hooves go right through my body, I'm dead for good now. I lay down and cry, thinking of all the ponies I'll be letting down. Scootaloo will have to move out of my house and become homeless again, the rest of my friends will have to find a new element of loyalty, and Soarin will have the most trouble moving on, we had been dating for three years now, and Spitfire was telling me about how he was almost ready to propose. To keep myself calm, I try to remember what Twilight said after her brother died from cancer. "I hate it," she said, "I hate it how ponies will get old, and then, everything they ever wanted, a good life, a nice pony to live with forever, a couple of foals, or just something as simple as a house, they wake up one day and don't realize that it'll be their last. But ponies whose life will just slowly fade, like Shining's know that eventually they're day will come and no longer will they be able to enjoy life." She broke out into tears after saying this, but still managed to continue with her sad rant. "No matter what pain everypony goes through, the Alicorns like me will have to bear the death of everypony we hold dear that isn't royalty. Everypony I'll even see walking through the street will die one day, and I'll be powerless to stop it." She held so much sorrow that day, and now her and every other pony I've ever known, even some of my fans, will have to deal with the fact I no longer live. I'll be forced to see my friends crying, hunched over my grave, hoping that there will be some way to bring me back. But by the looks of my corpse, I don't think that's going to be happening pleasantly. In order to calm myself down again, I remember the day I adopted Scootaloo. She was so happy, practically jumping on my head to hear that I would take care of her. "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said, hugging me so tightly I couldn't breathe for a bit. She looked up at me and let go with a slightly sincere face. "Sorry." She said. "It's fine Scoots, being on the street since your parents disowned you must have been one of the worst things to happen to anypony." I remember saying to her, thinking about how much pain I went through when my parents couldn't take care of me when my sister was born, she had a mental disorder which meant she needed extra attention to make sure she didn't hurt herself. I still remember her gray mane and her bubbly personality, even throughout all the teasing she faced, it always brings a smile to my face when I think about how much worse I could've had it. Ditzy eyes, clumsy front hooves, and constant teasing for being who I am. I smile, thinking of the good times I had with my sister; teaching her how to fly, helping her out when she got in trouble for her clumsy behavior, the incident of town hall right before the town meeting to honor Applejack's help in Ponyville, where she broke about five things in thirty seconds, and spoke, which is a rarity for her. I get up, confidence restored, and look at my body. Maybe if i can get to Fluttershy's house I can some how get her to discover and bury my body, Which is almost completely white from the blood constantly pouring out of where my wing was. The cutie mark on my left leg has been cut in half, no doubt from one of the multitude of branches I hit on my way to the ground, my face scratched and bruised for the same reason, and my attached wing definitely broken, given that it's in a perfect L shape. I head towards Fluttershy's cottage, hoping my plan will work so at least my body can be peaceful after death. Author's Note Little thing to those who want to see this fic to the end, try to find a hidden message within something that isn't the moral. If there's going to be a moral
The discovery of the recently deceasedI reach Fluttershy's door and walk up to it, hoping I can phase through it, but of course being a ghost isn't that easy and I bump right into the wall. I reach up to cover my nose but then realize something; I don't feel pain anymore, I could crash all I want while flying and never be injured again. I flap my ghostly wings in giddiness and realize something else; I have both my wings again, and they're both attached. I squeal and jump up and down for a bit before recomposing myself and try to figure out how to get past this door. "Maybe," I say to myself. "Since the flexing stomach worked to keep myself from ascending the skies." I realize where it is I'm going with this. "Perfect, more ab workouts, probably gonna be ripped by the time I cope with this weird body." I mutter as I brace myself against the door. I flex my stomach, yet again, and with a grunt, I phase through the door into Fluttershy's cottage. I look at the hallway behind the front door that leads straight to the kitchen, the carpet on the floor is a bright red, and the magenta walls are lined with pictures of Fluttershy and her pets. I get up and dust myself off, then head towards the kitchen, if she's anywhere at this time she'll be making food for her multitude of pets. I stop at the doorway of the kitchen and look right, which is where the fridge is, Fluttershy is bent over, her hoof searching through the contents of her fridge for something. I walk up to her and lay my hoof on her back, she jumps up and screams extremely loudly, If I were alive I could almost guarantee my ears would be ringing. She turns around, eyes wide in fear and darts her eyes left to right, as if looking for something. Angel comes through the doorway I went past, and screams in his rabbit language at Fluttershy, waving a particularly offensive finger her way. "I'm sorry Angel," Fluttershy says in her soft, quiet, soothing voice. "I just felt something really cold, like ice, on my back and it startled me." Of course, I get an extremely icy touch since I'm technically dead, this could come in handy for something. I glide over to Angel, still shouting at Fluttershy, and stick my hoof right through his chest, and touch his heart, literally, I can feel it twisting as it pumps blood into his veins. Angel jumps back, slightly startled, and hops away like Winona does when she realizes a bee hive isn't a chew toy, or something to play fetch with. Fluttershy turns and heads back to what she was making, which looks like a salad, probably for Angel, humming a strangely familiar tune as she starts tossing the salad. I get into a sitting position, though I'm still floating, and start thinking of ways to get Fluttershy out of the house. I could probably use some ghostie powers to move the bowl, and get her to chase it to my probably cold corpse. I lift my hoof and point it towards the bowl, focusing my thoughts on levitating the bowl, but just like when I tried to do that with the TV remote while I was living, it stays where it was. "Okay," I say to myself. "that didn't work, what else could I do." I ponder what I could do to get Fluttershy out of the house, and it comes to me; maybe I could possess other ponies like Danny phant-colt, but I couldn't do that to Fluttershy, she's way too nice for me to do that to, which makes me wonder why I'm choosing her to find my corpse, Zecora will be coming into Ponyville in a couple days. Then again by the time she comes to Ponyville my corpse could have been moved, tampered with, rotten, or eaten by a stray Timber Wolf. I shiver at the thought of Timber Wolves eating my corpse, they've probably already taken my wing and put it into their stomachs, if they have any. Angel comes back into the kitchen and starts yelling at Fluttershy, probably upset because of how hungry he is. "Oh angel," Fluttershy says. "I'm working as fast as I can but I just can't do this in a matter of seconds." She puts a cherry on the top of the salad and steps back, admiring her accomplishment. As she picks up the bowl with her mouth, I get an idea and dive into Angel's body, luckily, I can possess the bodies of others. After a small struggle, I gain full control of Angel's body. I start to fall but catch myself by putting my front paws in front of me, being on two feet is more unsettling than I thought. I dash out of the kitchen as Fluttershy is about to put the bowl down. When the bowl makes contact with the floor, she notices that Angel (We'll just say me from here on,) isn't there any more. She turns her head, looking into the front hallway as I jump out the pet door at the bottom of her front door, and hear her say, "Angel, where are you going?" I wait for her to come through the door, which she does within a matter of seconds, and start running to my corpse. She flies after me, her wings making more of a flutter than a flap, which is a given, then notices my body laying there in the grass on top of the hill, she looks up and gives a puzzled face. "What's that Angel?" She asks me, but I just keep hopping along to my real body. I reach my body and get out of Angel, and he looks around, confused, then angry and starts muttering to himself before kicking my body. A flash of anger fills my metaphorical veins, and I throw a punch at his little white face, the hoof goes through his head, and I can briefly feel his brain, tiny and not much going on in there, and Angel collapses and rolls around in the grass, putting his paws on his temples as if he has a huge brain freeze Fluttershy catches up with Angel, and sees my body, it's definitely a bit more decomposed in the three or so minutes I was in there, and I look like I'm sleeping, besides the nearly destroyed wing and the missing one. Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, and descends to the ground. She collapses on the ground, face in her hooves, and sobs uncontrollably, her body heaving up and down as she breathes, it makes me want to cry seeing her so hurt because of what I've done. I lay next to her and rest my head on the grass, curled up and trying not to cry, I look at her one more time, she's already got grass stuck to her face from her tears wetting her fur. I sigh and start to cry myself. "How could I have let this happen?" I whisper to myself in between my shallow breaths, "How could I have been so reckless as to take my own life for something as stupid as the Wonderbolts!?" I start shouting. "How could impressing people who've already made me secondary captain of their entire business, be worth getting myself killed and seeing all my friends like this!?" I point my hoof to Fluttershy, who's still sobbing, though now she's rubbing my dead body, as if trying to comfort me, which really isn't working. I get up and fly away from here, I don't know where I'm going, I just need to get away from this place, somewhere I can cheer myself up, somewhere people won't be heartbroken because I was stupid enough to think that showing off would be a good idea. Author's Note New chapter, thanks to all who enjoy this for giving me inspiration To those who don't enjoy this, i'm aware it's a bit slow, and I will do my best to get better with my writing skills.
Happily Oblivious and Painful RealizationI soared into my house, the clouds puffy and white, and the rainbow river flowing steadily, and phase through the door, yet again with a grunt. I land on the floor, stop,and fall, not being used to the lack of force since I’m not physically existent. I get up and dust myself off, upon looking around, I see some of the pictures of Scootaloo's recent achievements bent as if somepony hit them, she definitely had a rough day at school, as always. I glide over and phase through her door, she's upside down on her bed, playing with a ball of yarn and balancing it on her hooves, juggling it between her two front hooves and keeping it over there with her back ones, her face seems distant though, as if lost in thought. She rolls over, back on her stomach as the ball of yarn falls to the floor, and turns to look at Tank, who has on his flying equipment and is hovering about around Scootaloo's dresser, the top of which covered with her old filly hood toys and pictures of her with the bank vault full of Wonderbolts she's met coming to the shows that I go to preform in. "When's Rainbow going to come back?" She asks Tank, and I choke up. She doesn't know, and Fluttershy will probably tell her first once she gets over it herself, which won't be for a few days. Tank just slowly blinks at her, and slowly descends until he lands next to Scootaloo's bed, nuzzling her cheek with his face, and Scootaloo strokes his shell like she always does. "Yeah, I'm sure she was just having trouble with her equipment, and had to fix it, so she had to take more time out of her day to get the practice in." Scootaloo says, turning her head so it looks at the floor, and then resting it on the edge of her bed. "I hope she gets back quickly, I'm getting kinda hungry." Now that I'm dead. When I cry tears don't come out, but with so many people thinking about me, as if I'm alive and well, only to soon realize my life came to an end about an hour ago, I'm sure I will soon. I turn around and spread my ghastly wings, With a powerful flap I take off, I fly from Scootaloo's room, and take a left into the front hall, I once again go straight through the front door into the open air. I don't know where I'm going this time, but it needs to be somewhere nopony will think about me, just somewhere. _________________________________________________________________________________________ (Scootaloo) I look up towards the hall as a dust ring expands and a cool breeze fills my room, making me shiver. I thought Rainbow payed the heating bill. I get up off of my bed and trot until I reach the doorway, then stop. I look over to Tank and nod my head in the direction of the doorway, silently telling him to come over here. "C’mon, let's go make a sandwich or something." I say, my stomach grumbling as it has for the past few minutes. Tank flies over to me and we trot to the kitchen, which is much warmer than my room, and open the fridge. In there is a half eaten watermelon, which Rainbow keeps calling watermeloan for some reason, a bowl of grapes, and some lettuce. I grab the lettuce, and get some of the watermelon, open the cupboard, get two slices of bread, avoiding the end piece like everypony else, and put the watermelon and lettuce in between the slices of the bread. I take a bite and, much like putting vinegar on fries, it tastes surprisingly good. I smile a bit as I remember the multitude of strange food combinations that turned out to be good: yellow watermelon, all the milkshake flavors mixed together at Sugarcube Corner, and even unpasteurized milk at times. Don't ask about that last one, I did some weird things before Rainbow adopted me, after I got my cutie mark, which is a flaming hoop indicating my dare devil like personality I have at times, which has gotten me a junior scholarship into the Wonderbolt Academy, that made Rainbow very happy. I eat the rest of the sandwich, leaving a few bites for Tank, and toss it to him. He catches it in his mouth and slowly puts the whole things in his mouth, and manages to swallow it whole, which is normal for me after being with him for a good 5 years. It's actually pretty cool how he does things you wouldn't expect a Tortoise to do, like he goes really fast if you strap him to a skateboard. I walk back to my room, Tank hovering behind in his helicopter like contraption, which still boggles my mind, trying to think about how Twilight made something that works by magic, given Rainbow isn’t a unicorn, then again I have seen some magic tanks in the basement. I close the door behind me. Once we're both back in my room, I push my hoof on the red power button on my television, which works by technology instead of magic, which is something original in this country. The news comes on and the news man, whose name always eludes me, was announcing the Wonderbolt performance that will be showing at the Summer Sun Festival next week. "Yes, the Wonderbolt show has been cancelled," Upon hearing this, I twist my head in interest and stare at the television, waiting for him to explain why, which I don't have to wait long for. "It seems one of the Wonderbolts has gone missing, a Search and Rescue crew has already started searching the Everfree forest for clues, we will inform you of any updates and within the next hour we will hopefully be able to announce the identity of the missing individual." My stomach sinks to my heart as the thought of Rainbow being missing, if she's missing that means I'm going to be an orphan again, and I'll be homeless as well. "Rainbow couldn't let that happen though, she’ll be perfectly fine," I say to reassure myself, "but it's just better to go check and see. Yes, she'll be fine." _________________________________________________________________________________________ My wings are tired and sore from so much exertion during flight. Rainbow taught me how to fly once she had adopted me so we could go to Cloudsdale when she has shows there, and so I could make it to her house back then. Now the worst I have to deal with when it comes to flying is my lack of stamina. I turn my body so I'm in a position similar to standing on my hind hooves, and gives my wings a powerful flap to stop myself once I reach Rainbow's training course, and my jaw drops at the scene. The self detonating clouds have been displaced, which has only happened when a somepony messed them up and tried to put them back where they were. One of the trees at the treeline has an unusually large hole in the tree, and there's unsettled dust and a small crater where the hole in the tree leads, and one of the cloud obstacles is missing, but that seems to have just somehow made it's way to the bottom of the clearing. I give my wings another flap and begin to descend towards the whole in the tree, and with a little precision, fly straight through it with no troubles. I land next to the small crater and look around. There was definitely a struggle here, the branches in the hole in the trees have been snapped and landed around the hole, a bush next to the crater has been flattened, as if something rather large had hit it, and a trail of blood puddles leading to the path everypony usually uses when going in and out of the Everfree, and taking the way out. Who's blood it is I intend to find out, but first I need to check the crime scene to see if somepony hid a weapon or anything that could be used as one around here. I check the bush, but all that's in there is Rainbow's bag, which must have been torn off of her and landed in the bush, which would've flattened the bush like it is now. I hear a rustle from somewhere past the bush and decide that it would be a better idea to follow the blood trail and see where it leads. I turn around and start to follow the drops of blood that lead out of the forest, and on top of a hill. When I reach the top of the hill I notice something unusual, the puddles here are bigger, and the blood disappears from here. I look around and the grass is flattened in the direction leading to Fluttershy's cottage, as if something was dragged. I look at Fluttershy's house, and see her dragging in something too big o be any of her pets, but all I can see are cyan hooves. After a few seconds of thinking, a thought creeps into my head. Could she have killed Rainbow Dash? The thought nags at me and after thinking about the possibility, it seems to be the only logical answer right now. Nopony knew Rainbow well enough to know how to beat her in a one-on-one encounter except Fluttershy. I collapse on the ground, and cry. I thought she was supposed to be the element of kindness, not evil. My tears come out like a stream, and my sobs like a baby struggling to breathe. Slowly, I embrace the two things that I've been with longer than even the CMC, things that have been my lifelong friends since my parents kicked me out of their house and out of Cloudsdale, the things ponies these days only associate with evil, but I know it's welcoming to outcasts like me: darkness. Darkness and loneliness. My heart aches knowing that my mother, in a way, is dead and my fillysitter when Rainbow goes to Las Pegasus for a show, she says it's more of a grown up pony place, was the one who caused her death. Author's Note This chapter was used a bit for experimentation, but please feel free to give your thoughts on a Scootaloo perspective since I need to know if you guys like this so I could use it more.
Is being dead really all that bad?(RainbowDash) I angle myself so that I can slow down, and give my wings a powerful flap to stop myself. Apparently I still have to obey the laws of motion. I descend onto a cloud that's positioned below me so I can rest on it. My mother would always tell me to look for the good things about something bad when it concerns me, and it usually helps, so I decide to list out the bright sides of being a ghost a shot. First: I don't feel any physical pain, allowing me to crash an infinite amount of times and just shrug it off. Second: I can possess others, which could potentially make some good pranks. Third: I could phase through objects, so I don't have to be bothered with doors and the like.I roll over, forgetting that I'm on a cloud and scream. Instead of plummeting to the ground like usual, I just float there without flapping my wings, still at the same elevation as I was on top of the cloud. "Fourth: I'm not affected by gravity," I say to myself while rolling my eyes, feeling stupid that I could forget the obvious,"So I could just descend or ascend whenever I want? Being dead does have its perks" Unfortunately, it has much more downsides. I fly off, starting towards Ponyville, and crack a smile as I realize something. "Five: My energy is limitless." I say, realizing that after one flap I had created a Sonic Rainboom; looks like I can find some reprieve in death. I land on the ground in front of Twilight's house and stumble. I guess I'm still not used to being unaffected by friction and other forces. I phase through the door, as is my constant way of entering a building, and start looking through the section of the fiction books. I'm not too sure why I am doing so, but for some reason I feel like I can still pick up small objects like the new Daring Do book that came out yesterday. I really just need something to take my mind off of all the insanity my life has gone through in the past few hours. Realizing what I just thought, I look out Twilight's window, and notice that it's dusk, and I don't know if I should sleep at my house, where without a doubt Scootaloo would be worrying about me, or just stay here where nopony knows I'm dead yet. I find the new Daring Do book and grab it; what I probably should've mentioned earlier, is that in order to go through something, I have to put enough power into my stride that I end up grunting the whole way through; so with the book I just end up grabbing it. I turn the book in my hooves to look at the cover: Daring Do and the Missing Crescent. This seems like a good read, so I put it in my mouth and, with a powerful flap, lift myself off the ground and put it on top of the shelf, knowing that Twilight won't be able to notice that it's missing easily. Speaking of Twilight, the winged unicorn in question came through the door, her head was hanging low and her body was slumped as she walked upstairs; she had bags under her eyes and was yawning a few times as she made her way up the stairs. "Man, looking for those keys really took the energy out of me," she says to a sleeping Spike, who I can tell is trying hard to go back to a dream he had probably been enjoying, "None of the books in any library even mentioned anything about the Tree of Harmony." Spike grumpily opens and squints his eyes at Twilight."Can't I just get a full night's sleep?" Spike complained to Twilight, who had drifted off mumbling about the chest she's always been obsessing over as of late. "You know that these days, nopony can. Most of them just sit around and think about 'the meaning of life' or something." Spike merely rolled his eyes and goes back to trying to return to his dreamland, while Twilight busied herself by double checking her books. Her eyes lock on to the empty slot where the new Daring Do book was supposed to be, and she immediately started looking for it, her eyes darting everywhere for any sign of the aforementioned book. "Spike did you take the new Daring Do book?" Twilight asks. "No, Twilight," Spike asks in a slightly malicious tone, "I don't even like to read those books." Twilight just sighs and says, "I guess Rainbow couldn't wait for me to come back from Applejack's to get the book and had just taken off with it." I look back to where the book is and decide to leave it for now. I fly out the open window next to Twilight and into the night sky. It's a shame I can't feel the cool breeze or the wind whipping in my ear anymore, those were some of my favorite sensations when I was still alive. I land in front of Fluttershy's cottage, and for a change, I phase through the wall into the dining room. The table has been set up nicely with candles and a salad towards one side closest to the doorway. The walls are white except for an accent wall which is green, and filled with pictures of her animals, which was almost creepy to look at. Fluttershy walks through the doorway on to the orange carpet, and sits down in front of the salad bowl. Without hesitation, she starts eating the salad like a her bear does with fish. I decide to not watch her eat like an animal and opted instead to just float to the front hallway. From there I go up the stairs and into her bedroom. Angel is sleeping on a pillow, and for once the little demon looks peaceful. It's almost as if he hasn't been harming Fluttershy all these years. Almost. Feeling in the mood for a little prank, I decide to possess Angel's body. I jump into him, but this time his soul doesn't put up much of a fight. Note: it's easier to posses others when they're sleeping. Seems reasonable. Another note: while possessing something alive, I get all of it's feelings. As I fully possess angel, I get a sociopathic feeling to hurt something, or somepony. So this is why Angel hurts Fluttershy. Anyways, I start climbing my way up Fluttershy's dresser until I'm at a good enough angle to leap out of the window next to Fluttershy's bed. Remembering the time during cider season when I came crashing through it, I know it opens outward. So if I just put enough force into it I should be able to crash through it in one leap. I jump, and as expected, the window crashes open. I feel the cool breeze run through my fur, and it feels great to finally be able to experience these sensations again, until I realized that I didn’t have any wings, and the fact that I'm now falling. I hit the ground with a thump, and a small amount of pain nips at my paws. I guess pain is still present when I'm possessing another. I shake my little paws to stave off the pain, then hop my way to the Everfree, running through the well kept grass, which is surprisingly less itchy than usual. I reach the Everfree, and begin looking at the treeline, thinking about if I should dump angel's body high in a tree or deep into the treeline. I leap deeper into the treeline, hoping to find a good spot that would make Angel panic. I dive into the treeline, and find a nice thorny bush that looks perfect. I jump into the bush, but escape Angel's body just in time for him to make contact with it. I hear tiny bunny screams as Angel kicks thorns away and walks out of the bush, picking brambles out of his fur. I can't help but chuckle as I watch Angel trip and fall back into the bush. I go out of the treeline and back through the path, but as I exit the forest I see something rather strange. An orange figure sitting in the middle of the road; definitely something new. With nothing else better to do, I decide to investigate. I approach the orange figure, and notice that there's purple hair protruding from the front and back of it. I get a bit closer to the lump and realize it's Scootaloo. Scootaloo is just sitting there, in the middle of the road, sleeping. Does she already know that I'm dead, and is sleeping outside so she could get used to being homeless again? Scootaloo's eyes are closed tight and her fur is matted under her eyes. Had she been crying? She's breathing through her mouth heavily; she probably had just got done sobbing. Now that I know Scootaloo is sitting here and not at home, I decide to make her life easier. I possess her, and am immediately filled with a deep sadness. The kind of sadness from the loss of a loved one, like your grandmother's death. I make use of her wings and fly her toward our house. Once there, I lay down on Scootaloo's bed and exit her body. Once I left, she wakes up with a start. She looks surprised to be in her bed, and it seems that she might be contemplating if it was all just a dream, or if she had just mindlessly flew home. She knows that she wouldn't be able to do that though. Hopefully she'll think that it was a dream for now. I fly away, phasing through her wall that was leading to the outside. I look down to the ground, and immediately regretted it. On a bench just south of my house, I see a mare lying there. Curious, I float toward her. She seems sick, and her ghost is starting to pull away from her body. I don't want to deal with another death just yet. Instinctively, I put my hoof on her forehead, and I feel that she definitely has a fever. Somehow, after touching her for a few seconds her ghost recedes back into her body, and she immediately seems to look better. Oh right, icy touch of the dead. Getting a better look at her, I find out that she's a pegasus. Her left wing is broken, but unlike mine, it's been bandaged. She must be homeless since she isn't in the hospital. She has green fur, and an orange mane, in a sort of Wonderbolts crew cut fashion. realizing who the mare that's deathly ill before me is. "Lightning Dust?" I gasped. She just shivers, and falls asleep. Is this really what I did when I got her expelled from the Wonderbolts academy? What happened to her? I fly away, hoping I never have to know the pain I must have caused her. Why does everything have to go wrong in just one day? I find a nice cloud and rest on it, not that I can feel it anymore. I look up to admire Luna's night sky. She had definitely outdone herself tonight. The stars are cast in a beautiful array, forming one of the many constellations my mother had once told me about: Equueleus. The moon is full tonight, I'm sure to Luna's sentiment. I lay on my back and gaze at the moon until I fall asleep, wondering if ghosts could dream. Special thanks to beatbox9988 for editing this chapter along with my usual editor. I owe you a huge thanks mate. Author's Note READ THIS SO YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON PLEASE! This story will be put on hiatus until after Valentine's day. I need a break from writing to focus on things such as double shifts at work (Ugh), exams are coming up (More ugh), and, to be honest I've lost the will to right for now. Also, I want to work on another story, and see how I could improve my writing skills, because everybody can use improvement.
So long, Rainbow.(Scootaloo) It's been a week since Rainbow died, and Fluttershy had informed everypony of her death. I stand with the rest of Rainbow's grieving friends as we watch her coffin lower into a freshly dug grave. If she had been living in Cloudsdale still, as were her plans, she would have been sent toward the Griffon kingdom on a cloud. From there, the Griffons would have buried her in the most proper way possible. Unfortunately, she could never find a good enough home there. I only got to say goodbye before she died, when she was on the way to her murder. Tears make my vision blurry, and I look at Fluttershy, who's completely broken down in sobs again. Her mane looks like it hasn't been tended to since Rainbow died. When I see her like this, I wonder if she actually did murder Rainbow. These days I find it hard to keep going, even if it is what Rainbow would want, it's as if just walking is a hard task. With my hero gone, I guess my will and need to press on have vanished. Fluttershy has offered to let me live with her, but until I know whether or not she murdered Rainbow I'm not going to accept her offer. I've been staying in Rainbow's house, now mine until the bills stack up and I have to move out. when that happens, I should know the truth from Fluttershy. If I don't, I guess I'll stay with Sweetie Belle. I look at Sweetie Belle, who is trying to console a sobbing Rarity, who is too concerned with her depression to notice the dirt she's surrounded by. I don't blame her though; it's everything I have not to cry right now, in front of all these ponies. I know I'm expected to be weak and helpless, to be on my knees crying my eyes out, and to feel like I was in the wake of devastation, but my emotion left me after I discovered Rainbow's death. I look over to the Everfree Forest, where Rainbow faced her grim fate, and watch as the wind blows against the trees, making the leaves dance in place. It's a shame that all of Rainbow's friends, coworkers, and even fans, have to come and cry over her on an otherwise perfect day. They had the Summer Sun Festival postponed, since none of the Wonderbolts wanted to do their performance without being able to take in the news, and have time to pay their respects. I always hated the thought of having to talk to somebody's grave. Knowing they can't respond, much less hear you, and feeling that you could have done something to prevent their short life. It's as if Celestia knew she could make everypony immortal, but wants us all to feel the pain she's felt after watching her friends face their own mortality. Everpony finishes their speeches, and I can't help but stay as the Grave Keepers bury Rainbow's multiple colored coffin. I want to be the first person out of anypony to talk to Rainbow's grave. I want to know why people do it, and whether or not it can affect anything. I doubt it does, but it's worth a shot. When the Grave Keepers trot away after covering the hole where Rainbow's corpse lies, I hesitantly trot to it and sit down. "Hey, Mom." I say, after my parents disowned me for being, as they say, 'a fligthless ornament and a disgrace to all Pegasi', Rainbow had been my mom throughout most of my teen life. "I know you probably can't hear me, but I guess this is what the old people do when they visit their dead spouses, so why not give it a try. I guess I could start with your death. I need some way to know that you weren't murdered. Should I ask Fluttershy, and risk her lying to me? Or should I try to find out myself and maybe endlessly pursue false leads that might get me nowhere? I don't know where to go, or who to turn to." I pound my hoof into the dirt, tears swelling into my eyes as I begin to cry. My breaths come out shaky and fast, I would hate it if anypony came by and saw me. None of them would understand, since none of them had a family member die. The only pony I can think of who would understand is Celestia. She had to deal with the pain of multiple loved ones dying. I couldn't imagine the pain caused from that. "Until next week I guess I'll have a bit of trouble with survival, given I'm surviving off nothing, but I'll see you next week." With this, I trot away to see the 'In Memoriam' performance that Spitfire and Soarin are doing to remember Rainbow Dash. I close the door to my house, until the taxpayers come to take it away, and trot to my bed, where Tank lays still. He's been dormant most of the time since Fluttershy came and told us that Rainbow died, not that I needed a reminder. Some days I wish that I didn't have to look at anypony, and this is one of those days. A knock at the door brings me to attention, and I turn around to trot over to the door. I open it, and Pinkie Pie is standing at the door, though her hair is straight instead of it's normal poofy style, she slowly comes in, her head down as she tries to hide her tears. She makes her way to my bed, and lays down on top of it next to Tank. "Twilight told me I should try to console you," She says, her voice sounding small and dreary compared to her usual self. "Y'know, element of Laughter and what not. Some days I don't think she understands that we can still feel the opposite of what our elements are supposed to create." I nod in agreement, remembering how it was when Discord had turned them all into their opposite elements. "You don't have to do anything to help me if you don't have to." I say, really hoping she doesn't start crying. I don't exactly know how to deal with things like that. "Her death was just really sudden, and none of us are too sure how to accept, or even deal, with it. If she had just become sick, we all would have had time to just say goodbye, or to hug her and keep her happy within her last days of life. Why does Celestia not just make everypony immortal, so we don't have to deal with the pain of mortality?" I stomp my hoof, startling Pinkie a bit, before she looks at me quizzically, as if questioning what I just said. "I asked her that once," She replies after a long silence, "after one of those dreams I have about making really weird cupcakes made out of meat, and she told me that the only way to make an Alicorn is to have enough magic talent and power to give a magically gifted Unicorn wings. Twilight used the Alicorn spell once, but ended up giving Rarity Butterfly wings. Though Twilight didn't know it was an Alicorn spell at the time." So that's why Celestia didn't just make them all Alicorns I think to myself, until something crosses my mind. "What about a horn growing spell?" I ask her, if a wing growing spell like that exists, why not a horn growing spell? Pinkie just sighs and looks at me. Until she says, "Listen, I don't know about that. If you need any more information on these things, talk to Twilight. She'll know much more about this than possibly even Celestia." Pinkie then gets up, and walks out of the door. She gets into the Hot air Balloon, and lets out some of the flame inside, making the balloon descend. I go up to the front door and watch until the Balloon has disappears under the cloud floors of the front yard, then i close the door and lay upon my bed. Tank moves to my side, and lays down. He rests his bead on my left Foreleg, and licks my cheek. I remember when I would sometimes mistake her for Winona, since I slept in the barn before Rainbow took me under her wing (punpunpun). I think over what Pinkie said about a horn spell, and the unknown answer corrupts my mind until I can't think about anything else. I hate curiosity, because it will nag at you until you either need to know, or you have to ask the question out loud to somepony. I open the door to the Library and step inside. I look around for the paper that tells people where the books are, but Twilight makes her way over to me before I can find it. "Hey Scootaloo," She says, her voice is scratchy, and her eyes are red from crying. "Did you want to get the new Daring Do book? It seems to have gone missing, so I can't lend it to anypony until I find it." "No," I reply, trying to sound normal, but instead my voice comes out small. I cough and then speak more clearly, "I'm wondering if there are any spells that could give a Pegasus a horn like the Wing Spell that allowed you to become an Alicorn." Twilight thinks about this for a minute before saying, "No, I don't have any of those." She then puts a hoof to her chin and begins mumbling, "If anypony does, it'd be either in the old castle or Starswirl's Library in Canterlot. Or maybe that's whats in the chest; that would be an interesting thing to find." I stop listening when she moves to the topic of that chest. I've always been cautious when it came to that thing, because it could be something bad, as if just a nosy pony would be all it takes to send the world into what could be an eternal war. She's found five of the keys, and it really scares me what would happen when she finds the sixth. I guess it wouldn't be too bad, if I didn't have this anxiety about the undiscovered. Hopefully I can get over it some day. "Hey Scootaloo," Twilight says, addressing me again, "you should probably just check the Library in the old castle inside the Everfree. That's going to be your best chance." I nod my head, and go skip to, and out, the door, determined to get to the castle and see if Celestia does have the power to turn a Pegasus into an Alicorn. The echoing of my hooves as they hit the cold concrete floors makes me stop, expecting something to be behind me until I realize the sounds are coming from me, I always hated this old castle. It always seemed like a scene from a horror film. I find the Library, and look around for a sign that shows where the magic section would be. I find the aisle, and begin skimming through the books on the middle shelf, where the more popular books are usually stored. After a few minutes of searching, I don't see a book on Alicorn creation, but as I reach the end of the aisle, I see a book that looks interesting. The faded black leather on the spine, along with the cobwebs, show that it's been here for a while, and might even be the book I'm looking for. I grab the book and turn it so I can read the front cover, which shows that it isn't what I wanted, but might be of some use. The words in all white against the black cover read, 'Necromancy and how to use it'. My eyes widen as the thought of being able to bring Rainbow back fill my head, I need to bring this back to Twilight so she can bring her back. I open the book to the Table of Contents to see if it has what I'm hoping for, and it does. I decide to read the book myself and see how intricate the spell is, and if Twilight could even use it. The book says, The Necromancy spell can only be used by an Alicorn. However, no matter what royal standing you may have, it will always be illegal, as instructed by Starswirl the bearded. Even if one were to use borderline Necromancy, which would mean trying to but failing, they may still be charged with Exile from the location of their residence. I know Twilight would want to do this, even if it meant exile for her, She wouldn't want to have to mourn Rainbow dash for the rest of her life. I look down to the book and notice small text at the corner. Knowing the kind of crap that usually goes into small text, I read it. Note: Necromancy of somepony with great amounts of power, such as another Alicorn or a bearer of the Elements of Harmony, will only be successful if done on the day one month after their death. I move my head up, wondering why this limitation exists, and think up a plan to get Twilight to use this spell I have, essentially, about three more weeks to convince her that using Necromancy to bring Rainbow back to life is a good idea, despite the consequences. Of course, she's going to think it over in her head until she came to a decision, but that shouldn't take more than a week if she agrees with me. I grab the book in my mouth and begin running back to Twilight's house, hoping she'll agree with me and that we can bring back the closest thing to a good mother I ever had. Author's Note Huzzah, and you guys thought this would come in February
The NecronomiconI stop at the Library, hoping to calm myself in order to not make myself look like an idiot before bursting in there, mysterious book in mouth. I get the energy out of me now by jumping in place until I feel calm enough to ask Twilight without shoving the book in her face. I open the Library's door, since it's still open knocking isn't needed, and look to see where Twilight is. She's flapping her wings, trying to reach the top shelf to get something. "Hey Twilight, what are you doing?" I ask, but my words startle her into retracting her wings, and she falls to the floor. "Sorry, but uhh, I found this book," I drop the book and slide it over to her side. She looks at it quizzically, "and it can bring Rainbow back. So, you can do this right?" Twilight just stares at me, her eyes shrunken with what seems like fear, and she grabs me before pulling me close to her. "You brought a Necronomicon here of all places?" She hisses at me, as if I had done something really bad. "Do you know what Celestia does to ponies who even have this book!?" I shake my head, and Twilight just sighs, letting me go and putting the closed sign on the front of the Library door. She turns to me and begins to explain. "Even if I got permission form Celestia to use this thing, both you and I could be banished forever just for having possession of this Tartarus bound book." Her horn begins glowing, and I can feel a strange heat radiating from where the book is sitting. "NO!" I scream, before jumping on top of the book to protect it. "You can't burn this. This book could be the only way to bring Rainbow back." Tears begin to form at the corner of my eyes, blurring my vision a little, as I think about how happy I could be should Rainbow come back, or how heartbroken if she doesn't. "You're a Princess, you should be able to ask for pardons. They'll give it to you, and we'll all get Rainbow back. I'll have my mom, you'll have your friend and Element of Loyalty, Soarin will get his marefriend back, and the Wonderbolts will be able to have their secondary captain back." She know I'm right, and it shows on her face as her hoof goes to her chin, contemplating the benefits. She really couldn't have honestly thought Celestia would just immediately strip her of her Princesshood and banish her forever right? After a few minutes of her standing there, thinking, she finally gives me a reply. "I'll send Celestia a letter, and we'll wait to see what her response will be." She puts her hoof down, and I hug her, trying to hold back from freaking out. She pushes me away from her to give me a response. Typical of her, forcing everypony else to know the entire picture, instead of what they want to know. "But if Celestia declines, both you and I will be in more trouble than even Discord was." I nod my head to show I understand, and lift off of the ground before flying out of the door, leaving the book there for Twilight to study while I go over to Rainbow's training spot. I go there every few days to calm myself down. Whether it's for sadness, or the giddiness I feel now. I just know Celestia's going to say yes, and I can get my mother back. I touch my hooves to the ground and wait to admire the nature before starting my run through Rainbow's course. The wind blows through my feathers, leaving a tingling sensation as they begin to dance in the breeze, similar to leaves on a tree. I bend my knees, which allows me to get more force when I take off straight into the sky. The similarities between my technique and Rainbow's are unbelievably similar, and it scares me a bit as I tend to think about what would happen should I copy Rainbow's exact movements within this course. I take off, leaving a small cloud of dust where I was standing as I begin to head to the Wind Blowers, which has been blowing since Rainbow died, and they're starting to sport some rust on the sides. I glide through them, in an up and down zig-zag motion as I try not to get pummeled by the concentrated wind beginning to blow my way. I make it through, with the usual relative ease I've learned to be able to do against the majority of this course. I begin to reach the second set of Wind blowers, but realize something as I get closer to them. They aren't blowing any wind. I decide to just ignore it and fly straight through, eyes closed as it's impossible not to complete this. I regretted that, as within a couple seconds of my confidence one of them somehow turns on and hits me hard with it's concentrated, Hurricane like winds. I begin spiraling to the trees directly north of the opening, and open my wings in order to stop myself. The wind resistance from this falling hits my wings hard, and pain shoots from my shoulders to my wing tips. I manage to hold strong though, and keep my wings out so I don't fall to my death. I hit the treeline with a force I hadn't expected, making pain flow through any area the trees make contact with, and begin to fall through the multitude of razor like Everfree tree branches. By the time I hit the ground, with a heavy thud and a loud crack, I'm covered in cuts and scrapes. Due to the adrenaline in my body, the pain takes a few seconds before I can feel it. It stars as a dull, pulsating feeling, as if I had just fallen on the concrete, but quickly turns into the deep, searing pain I can only imagine Rainbow could've gone through when she died. I begin to walk, until a pain in my leg makes my bend down. I look down at my right foreleg, and notice how flimsy it looks. I lift it up to try and make sure it isn't broken, but it just confirms my concern. I shake my leg, and it's not responding very well to the non-verbal commands I give it. Instead, it decides to retaliate by pushing a wave of pain up my leg. Luckily, I landed close to the path that everypony uses to get in and out of the Everfree. I begin to limp towards it, and I notice the large drops of blood flowing from the large quantity of cuts that show on my body, wings, face, and even one across my cutie mark. The cut aligns well enough with my Flaming Hoop Cutie Mark, that it makes the usual sign store managers use to show what not to do. I begin walking out of the Everfree again, as Fluttershy's house is closer than Zecora's. I just hope Fluttershy can help me, or at least get me to a Doctor, since I don't have any plans on bleeding to death today. I knock on Fluttershy's door, reluctantly since I'm still unsure if she caused my mother's death, and she answers relatively quickly with a forced smile on her dreary face. "Oh," she says, her voice scratchy from what I could only guess is heavy sobs, judging from her red eyes and wet face. "It's only you Scootaloo, come on in." She steps aside, and ushers me inside. I nod my head and slowly make my way through the front hall, admiring the pictures she's assorted the halls with. The ones including Angel usually include cuddling, or hugs, or some form of affection I'd rather not describe. Fluttershy turns and looks up, and her facial expression immediately goes into one of panic as she notices my physical condition. "Oh my," she states, shocked by the multitude of cuts, scrapes, and overall broken body parts I'm showing off now. "How could this have happened?" I respond by telling her as much of the story as I care to tell. "I was flying, and got knocked into a bunch of trees in the Everfree. I might've cracked a rib and broken my foreleg." I shake my supposedly broken hoof for extra emphasis, and to show her that I'm not bluffing about the broken foreleg bit. She bolts into the air, using her wings to hover in place, and begins to fly around feverishly. "Oh dear, we need to get you to a Medic Pony, or a Doctor, or somepony who can help deal with this!" She says, panic in her voice, resembling that of a Mother who's trying to get their child some kind of bandage after their child's first time being cut. Constantly running around, over reacting, and even shouting for no reason other than to calm themselves,although it's to no avail as I've seen. "Fluttershy," I say, reminding her of her abilities. "You're trained in medical usage. You could just give me some wraps, a bandage, and maybe stitches if those are needed." Her response is more frantic, and louder, than her last few words. "I'm specialized in animals, I don't know the first thing about helping Ponies heal." I stomp my broken hoof, making me wince as tears come to my eyes from the pain. I recompose myself, and stomp my other front hoof so it makes more sound and attracts the attention of Fluttershy better. "How different could treating a pony be from treating something like a goat." I say, knowing I may not make it to the Doctors, as a hoof full of the cuts I've sustained from the fall need stitching. "We're practically one of the same species aren't we?" This makes her stop mid flight, and look at me quizzically as she begins to contemplate whether or not what I said was true. She finally nods her head, and comes down from the air in front of me. "Alright," She says, putting a hoof on my shoulder, while also being careful not to press her hoof into one of my cuts. "I'll give it a try, but you're going to have to sit still through the whole thing, got it?" I nod my head in understanding, to get this over with if anything else, but also because I want to return to Twilight and hear Celestia's response to our proposition to bring Rainbow back. I wince again, as the needle pierces my skin, leaving a cold sting that is quickly followed by a burning sensation. The closest thing Fluttershy had to a numbing agent was a Rabbit Tranquilizer, which doesn't help very much. Fluttershy looks at me with a worried look, before returning to her work stitching up the last of my cuts, the ones that needed it that is. She begins to speak to me, hoping to distract me from the pain of her needle. "How's Tank been doing, since the..." She pauses for a moment, trying to think of a way to not offend me when talking about Rainbow's death. "Since the incident involving a Wonderbolt." I shrug, trying not to wince as the needle exits the wound, and tense up as it begins to come back down. "Well, hes a turtle-" "Tortoise" Fluttershy says, interrupting. "He's a Tortoise, Scootaloo." I roll my eyes, and continue my sentence. "Well, he's a Tortoise so he's slow by nature, but he's been unusually slow as the days have gone by, and he hasn't been eating much." This make her gasp, and she accidentally pushes the needle too far into my wound. I shout in pain, as the tip pierces some of the exposed flesh. She quickly tries to fix it, to little avail since it takes a couple of minutes before the needle is ready to exit my wound again. "Oh my," she says, trying to continue a conversation I'd rather not. "you don't think he'll starve to death do you? A lot of my animals have done that when they mourn for their parents, or children, or even siblings." I shake my head, as I hear a snap, accompanied by a slight tug from the string. "Alright," Fluttershy says, with a sigh of relief. "you're finally all stitched up, and I think it's safe to say that you should just stay in your house for a day or two." I nod my head, and as I get up a knock at Fluttershy's door grabs our attention, and Twilight's voice follows in suit. "Fluutershy, have you sen Scootaloo by any chance? I've been looking for her since I got a letter from Celestia addressed to her." I jump up in excitement, and begin rushing my way to the door. If I can just grab the letter and get out of here, then I can see Celestia's answer. My life could be back to normal, for the first time in what feels like forever. I open the door, and extend my hoof hoping Twilight will just put the letter there without question. Unfortunately, she decides to speak a few words first. "Oh, I guess you are here," she says, before putting the letter in my hoof and finishing her sentence. "I made sure not to read it, as hard as it was, since I thought you should be the first to know. "Thanks." I say with excitement in my eyes as I fly away, at the expense of some of my stitches, going to my house to read the letter in private. I jump into my bed and, once the bed stays still, open the letter to read it. Dear Scootaloo I am glad that you have found a Necronomicon, and even convinced that it could bring the element of Loyalty back; it may even help many more ponies with the struggles they face moving on. However, I am going to have to decline your proposal, and I ask that you submit the Necronomicon to us for it's destruction. I am sorry that you will be unable to have your mother back, but the protection of the public are much more important than the life of the deceased, and if that book were to get into the wrong hooves, it'll be like the cutie pox plague all over again. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. I drop the letter on the floor, tears flowing freely from my eyes. How could she do this? She knows the Elements of Harmony are the biggest protection Equestria has against any form of evil, so why doesn't she seem to acknowledge the fact that we need all six of them to work? I curl up into a ball, my sobs turning my breaths into a shaky, loud, jumbled mess. It isn't the quiet sobbing, that you'd expect from most ponies when they cry. It's the deep, loud cry that resembles a newborn. Loud, deep, and uncontrollable. I feel like my life has just been thrown into the dumpster, beaten to a pulp after a fight and left to die from it's injuries. Only now do I realize how cold the world really is, and the loneliness that truly comes with being an orphan. Author's Note Well, yea this happened. I doubt Scootaloo is happy about this, as she's been all depressed n' stuff since chapter 3 or so. For those who came here for the Rainbow ghost, she'll be back next chapter so don't worry. Also, we're pretty much at the halfway point of the story, if it isn't this chapter, then it's the next. I just thought you guys would want to know how close/far this thing is to finishing.
