Scootaloo carefully replaced her copy of Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny in its sacred place on her bookshelf. This was the gazillionth time she had read it. Out of all the Daring Do novels, this was her favorite. Besides containing the usual heroine Daring Do, whom Scootaloo idolized, it also contained Rainbow Dash, whom she idolized even more. Scoots looked over the Daring Do part of the bookshelf, and wondered if there was a new book in the series she hadn't heard about yet, despite closely following any new regarding the adventurer. She decided to trot over to Golden Oaks Library and ask Twilight. It certainly couldn't do any harm to check. Scootaloo hopped off her bed, and went out to the living room, where her mother was reading the newspaper. "Hey Mom," she said. "I'm going over to Princess Twilight's for a bit, to check if there are any new Daring Do books."
"Okay, Scoots," her mother replied. "Be back before dinner is ready."
"I will. See ya later, Mom!" Scootaloo called out as she closed the door. Then it opened again, and Scootaloo's head popped in. " I love you, Mom," she said. Then she closed the door again.
"I love you too, Scootaloo," her mother whispered softly, smiling.
Neither Scootaloo nor her mother would see each other again for quite some time.
Princess Twilight Sparkle triple-checked all the steps. She had to get this spell right, otherwise the consequences could be dire. Twilight didn't know what they were, but neither did anypony else. The spell, created by none other then Starswirl the Bearded himself, had never been tested. Either that, or the results had never been recorded. Or maybe they were stolen. Or lost. Or-
Twilight! she scolded herself. This is NOT the time to speculate about the fate of the spell's results! You need to focus, and record your own results! She fired up her horn. FOR SCIENCE! Twilight focused all of her concentration on the chalk circle of runes drawn on the floor. She began in to mentally chant the proper incantations.
Agor ffenestr , she silently intoned. Dangos i mi byd hollol newydd. She didn't notice the door opening, nor the orange filly who walked in Arddangos ei chyfrinachau-
"Hi, Twilight!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "I was just wonde-" She never finished sentence, as Twilight's outcry of surprise cut her off. And before Twilight could do a thing, a magenta explosion rocked tree and was so loud, it (almost)woke up Spike. Twilight was knocked backwards into a bookshelf, and slid downwards, her vision briefly clouded by starbursts.
"Scootaloo?" she shouted. "Are you okay?" There was no response. "Scoots?" Twilight looked around, and as the dust settled, she finally accepted that Scootaloo had been wiped off the face of Equus. She sat down hard as tears began streaking her cheeks.
"Ugh," grumbled Scootaloo. "Where am I?" Even though was still quite dazed, Scootalo had collected her wits enough to know where she was...which was a place she wasn't familiar with. The air smelled salty, like the sea.
Scootaloo tried to sit up. However, her front hooves were stuck deep in the ground, and she was in a position similar to a push-up, her face stuck in the dirt so she couldn't see anything.
"C'mon," she growled, straining her forelegs. "Why am I stuck in the ground, anyway? This is ridiculo-" Something about her voice seemed off. It didn't seem quite like her voice. It sounded...different.
Don't be stupid! Scootaloo thought. I just hit my head a little too hard. I'll even speak out loud, and it'll sound normal.
"Nope, nothing wrong here," she said, listening carefully to her voice. Scoots knew her own voice well enough, and it clearly wasn't her voice coming out of her mouth. It was too deep and masculine, with a faint metallic rasp to it.
WhatisthisIdon'even... her thoughts trailing off. Scootaloo was still trying to get loose during all this, and managed to finally pop loose after that thought. She flew backwards a little ways, and landed on her back.
"Owch," Scoots hissed, still mildly disturbed by her new voice. She finally managed to sit up, her hindlegs splayed out in front of her. Taking in her surroundings, Scootaloo could guess that she was on a small island that was in the middle of an ocean. Sighing dejectedly, she looked downwards. Her legs had changed, too.
Scootaloo jumped upwards in suprise and fright, landing her "hind" legs. She stumbled a bit, then regained her balance. She then realized just how she was standing: like a biped. Still trying get use to her new way of walking, stumbling around a bit, she saw her reflection,
land couldn't hold it in anymore. Scootaloo shrieked in horror.
On another island, many kilometers away, an ancient being awakened, sensing a foreign presence on the planet. It could not believe that he had returned again, though something was...different. The creature would have to handle it for a third, and hopefully last, time. It did not like violence, but sometimes it was nessecary for peace. The thing spread its wings and took off.
"And that's it, really," finished Twilight. A few minutes ago, she called together both Scootaloo's mother, as well as Rainbow Dash.
Skydancer, Scootaloo's mother, broke down sobbing. "Not my baby!" she lamented. "Ooo, Scootaloo!"
Rainbow Dash was holding back tears of her own, but was trying to be tough. "M-maybe she's not gone," she hiccupped. "S-she c-could just be invisible and playing a joke on us...?"
"I doubt it, Rainbow," replied Twilight sadly.
And then, came a shining light of hope, from an unlikely, often abused, lonely, underrated, underestimated, neglected, but beloved source.
"What if she's just in another dimension?" said Spike.
"...Wat?" inquired all three ponies.
"Well," said Spike. "You were trying to look into another dimension. Maybe you accidently sent her to whatever world was going to pop up in the interdimensional window."
"But, Spike," began Twilight. "That's impossible!"
"You said the same thing about time travel," he shot back.
Twilight took a minute to think this over. However, Skydancer didn't hesistate to give the dragon a crushing hug.
"You just saved my Scootaloo!" she sobbed. Spike's face went bright-red. He patted her awkwardly on the back. Then Rainbow Dash was added to the hug equation. He was being suffocated briefly, until the two mares got control of themselves and let him breathe.
"Spike," said Twilight. "I don't know if you're right or not, but you have given us a reason to try again."
"Hey, Spike," said Rainbow. "I'm not sure how I'l do this, but I am going to get Rarity to go on a date with you."
"REALLY?" breathed Spike, amazed.
"Yeah," she said. "And I'll make sure you come to EVERY single one of our picnics. Kid, you'll never be alone again."
Spike cheered, as Twilight's mind-blowing brain went into overdrive to deduce a method to reclaim Scootaloo.
