Beyond Equestria

Author:  Annonymouse

MLP:FiM is property of Hasbro.  This is a free fan-fiction, not to be sold or traded for any money, goods or services.

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A/N:  No comments on spelling or grammar please.  See my profile for details.

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This is a new chapter (new season?) of Scootaloo's Life.

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Beyond Equestria

01

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“Dear Celestia.”

“I love my family and my friends.  I love both you and Luna.  I love Moon Star so much.  But I feel I really have to stretch my wings.  This will be my last letter to you, as I am leaving Equestria.”

“Please, tell Moon Star I am sorry, I won't be able to see him anymore.  I have to find my place in this world, and learn to understand myself.  Maybe one day I will return.”

“With wholehearted love. Scootaloo.”

Moon Star read over the letter for what had to have been a tenth time.

“But... Why?”  He looked up at his mother and aunt.  “Why would she leave without telling me?”

Celestia didn't know the true answer to that question.  “She said she wants to find her place and to learn about herself.  Beyond that, I do not really know why she would not have told you.”

“She left almost a month ago... You could have sent me a message.”

“How?  Neither your mother nor I can travel between worlds like you can.”  Celestia replied.

Luna felt bad for her son.  “She didn't say where she was going...  If I knew, I would tell you.”

Moon Star set the letter onto the coffee table in his personal quarters.  “Mom... I.. I have to find her.  What if something bad has happened to her?”

“You would be the first pony to know if she was harmed.  I know yours and her hearts are intertwined.”

“I... I know, but... She's so far away I can't even sense her at all.”  He looked out the window.  “Still... I have to find her, no matter what.”

“And then what?”  Celestia asked.  “Bring her back?”

“I... no.  I just want to be with her.  My heart aches when I'm in Nimbus without her.  I feel at peace when I'm at her side.”  He paced back and forth.  “But... I can't remain in this world for more than a week at a time.”

“You can stay, but you'd have to make a sacrifice of sorts.”  Luna rose from the sofa she was sitting on.

“A sacrifice?”  Celestia gasped.  “You cannot mean...”

“Mortality.”  Luna looked away.  “He will loose him immortality if he forces himself to remain in this world for longer than a week.”

“No, I cannot allow that.”  Celestia put her hoof down.  “I... Luna, Moon Star, you cannot be serious.”

Moon Star smiled weakly.  “It's a sacrifice I am willing to make.  Even if I loose all my Alicorn powers.”

Celestia's face fell, her mane hiding her face.  “Is there no other way?”

“Don't worry Aunt Celestia.  I'll be able to recover my immortality if I return to Nimbus.”

“But... if you're hurt, or worse...  You'll be mortal.  You could die.”

“I have no intentions of dieing.  I just want to be with the one I love.”  Moon Star looked out the window again.  The early moon low in the sky.  “I'll leave in the morning.   If I follow my heart, I know I'll find her.”

“You have my blessings son.”  Luna approached and hugged him.  “Just... remember, I'll always love you, no matter what.  I'll support you in any way I can.”

“Thank you Mother.”  He hugged the taller Princess back.  (Please... wait for me Scootalae...)

...

Scootaloo had left left her beautiful home at the World Tree only a week ago, and continued her flight over the vast sea that was the Everdeep Wood.

On beautiful days, she would fly well below cloud level, but on rainy, overcast or stormy days, she would fly well above them.  Today was a simply beautiful day.

Below, she could see virtually nothing but the massive, untouched trees of the Everdeep.  On more than one occasion, she saw strange rocky shapes that towered through the treetops, ones that looked like ancient overgrown buildings made of stone.

She had thought to explore the first one, but upon spotting strange creatures lurking within and upon them, carrying wood and stone tipped spears made her decide otherwise.

Still, she pressed on.

Scootaloo had seen many strange flying creatures, though none flew up as high as she normally flew.  Birds of such large size that they could easily pick up a house.  Long, feathered serpents, very colourful and beautiful, but they made Scootaloo nervous, so she evaded them.

At one point, she even saw a dragon flying below, one that dwarfed those huge birds she would see on occasion.

The petite orange Pegasus decided that for now, she would just keep around cloud level.

By the seventh day, Scootaloo was worried. Water from the clouds sustained her easily, but her food was almost completely out, and she had been carefully rationing it.

(I might have to go down below and look for food...)  Scootaloo frowned as she spotted one of those stone towers again.  She could see the plentiful plants that grew atop it, but could also see those bipedal primitives that wore animal skins for clothing.

She did not want to risk a confrontation with such creatures.  All signs pointed to them eating meat.

Finally, Scootaloo spotted something on the distance.  A flash of light, perhaps the sunlight reflecting off something shiny?

She altered her course and flew toward the flashing light.

Scootaloo started to notice a steady pattern to the flashing.

(What is that?  It's a different stone tower than the others...  It looks newer.)

Indeed the tower looked new, not quite so weathered by time, and not as overgrown by plants.  The design was even different from the old towers.

Atop it was a smaller tower. Which looked like, oddly, a lighthouse.

The Pegasus, curious, flew down, careful to keep an eye out for any dangers.  Finally she was close enough to make out the details of this building.  The stone it was made from was the same as the other towers, but this one was new, relatively.

“What is this place?”  Scootaloo wondered.  She could see the entire top of the tower was an organized garden.  There was even a small house, with smoke gently rising from the chimney.  The house looked very different from what she had expected, being made from stone and wood.

She spotted movement, something emerging from the lighthouse.

An Earth Pony?

Feeling excited, she flew closer.  “Hello?”  She called out.

The Earth Pony nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to face his visitor.  “Oh wow... Don't sneak up on another pony like that.”

Scootaloo looked him over and smiled.  He was a typical earth brown for his coat, but his wild pink, green and orange mane and tail were a little startling, especially with his mismatched eyes, the right being purple and the left a shocking blue.  “Sorry about that, but I've been travelling quite a ways and I'm nearly out of food.”

“Oh, well, I have plenty.  I thought you were one of the produce merchants coming to check out my crops.”  He chuckled nervously.  “Don't see many outlanders here in the Emerald Sea.”

“Emerald Sea?  Where I come from we call this place the Everdeep Wood.”

“Equestria?”

“You know of Equestria?”

The pony laughed.  “Of course.  It's a long ways away, and only Pegasus Ponies can make the trip.”  He waved Scootaloo along.  “Of course, we never heard of an Equestrian actually leaving that holy land of sunlight and moonshine.”

Scootaloo raised an eye.  “Really?  There's been a lot of explorers who have left Equestria to explore the world.”

He chuckled.  “Well, let me correct myself.  I personally have never seen anypony from Equestria.  Only the occasional self proclaimed explorer heading toward it.  Never see anypony ever come back though.  They must really like it there.”

“It is a wonderful land.”  Scootaloo replied as the pair neared the stone house.  “So, do you live here all alone?”

“Yea, all by my lonesome.  But I get some produce merchants stopping by every months to buy my stuff, or suppliers to sell me what I need.”  He pushed the door open and lead Scootaloo in.  The house was more of a storehouse then a living place.  A small loft up above seemed to be his bedroom / living room / kitchen.

  “I'm assuming you have something to trade?”  He turned as he glanced about the room.

“What do you usually trade for?”

“Soil, tools, stuff like that.  I get enough water from the rains.”

“Soil?”

“Yea.”  He chuckled.  “The soil needs to be replaced every few crops.  It's a valuable commodity for us farmers.”

“Where does your soil come from?”

“Hmm, the Emerald Sea.  It's really dangerous to gather up though, specially with the humans that hunt things in the forest.”

“Humans?”

He described the bipedal, coatless creatures, describing how savage they were.

Scootaloo shivered a little.  “I've seen some of those creatures.  They like to live in the old broken towers to the east.”

“I've heard that.  They also live in tribes and villages in the Sea itself.”  He smiled.  “I would never dare to send a young one like you to fetch soil.  Too dangerous.”

“I'm glad to hear that.”  She paused.  “Do you ever need medicines?”

“I have a sizable patch where I grow medicinal herbs.  I'm good there.”

Scootaloo frowned a little, then heard her stomach grumble.  “I'm sorry.  I haven't eaten since this morning.  I never imagined the Emerald Sea was so large.”

“Well, you're about a quarter of the way across.”

“Only a quarter?  It's taken me a week to just get here.”  Scootaloo felt her jaw fall.  “It's got to be a hundred times the size of Equestria.”

The farmer chuckled again.  “I wouldn't know.  Tell you what.  Join me for a meal and we can discuss what you can trade for some food.”

“I would appreciate that.”  She followed him up to the small loft.  The small table could seat at most two ponies.

He served up two bowls of a vegetable stew.  Scootaloo sniffed it and it smelled great.  “This smells wonderful.”

“All hoof grown by yours truly.  Oh yea, never caught your name.  I'm Scatter.  For the scattered colors of my mane and eyes.”

“Scootalae.”  She replied before she even realized it.  She had gotten used to introducing herself as Scootalae to strange ponies and other creatures while travelling with Moon Star.

“Pretty name.  Kinda unusual.”

“Well, I'm not your average pony.”

“No Pony is average.”  He chuckled.  “Now dig in.  It's best when it's still hot.”  With that, Scatter dug in.

Scootaloo ate at a slower pace, not even getting a drop of the savoury food on her muzzle.

Scatter finished and watched her eat.  “You eat very dainty like.  Are you from a rich family?”

“What?”  She asked after swallowing her latest bite of the flavourful food.  “Oh, no.  I'm nopony special.  I have a dear friend who's got royal blood.  I guess I learned to eat like this from him.”  She smiled cutely.

“Well, you finish your food, then we can see what you might have for trade.”

Scootaloo nodded and continued eating, which took her three times as long as it had taken Scatter.

“I am so full.  Thank you very much Scatter.”

“So polite too.  It's a pleasure to have company that doesn't just wolf down their food.”  He then cleared the table.  “Let's see what you have that you're willing to trade.”

Scootaloo layed out some of her items she had brought with her, including a couple low value gems.

On seeing those gems his eyes went wide.  “Why, with those I could afford to completely replace the soil on my farm.  Heck, I could get all new brass tools for my farming.”

She looked at the three small gems.  They were oddly shaped and unusable by Rarity in her designs.  “They're not really that valuable.”

“Maybe not in Equestria, but here, Unicorns use gems to cast their magic or something like that.  They value these greatly.”

“Are gems that rare here?”  She thought to the pouch full of gems in her bag.  “And can't Unicorns just use their horns to use magic?”

“Not so sure about that really.  Only met a few Unicorns in the last few years.  They all used gems to cast magic.”

Scootaloo looked at the gems and wondered.  “Well, how about this.  Let me stock up my food bags and I'll give you any one of these you want.”

“That's just not fair, for you that is.  I mean, a single one of these has to be worth a quarter of my crops.”

Scootaloo stared at the 3 small, misshapen gems.  “Are you serious?”

Scatter nodded.  “Yes, I am.  I can't take one of those.”  He then looked over the other items.  Other than the gems, there was nothing he could think of needing.  “Hmm... Other than these, I don't need anything else here.”

Scootaloo smiled.  “Then take one.  I'll need a lot of food that can last a while.”

“Are you sure?”

Scootaloo nodded.  “Yes, and you did treat me to this wonderful stew.”

“I don't know what to say.”  He smiled and picked the pale blue gem.

Scootaloo placed everything else back in her bag.  (Guess I'll have to find something else other than these cheep gems.  I never imagined they would be so valuable.)  “Would it be alright if I choose the food?”

“By all means.”

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Scootaloo's food bags were once again full of good, hearty and nutritious foods that had a good lasting time.

“Well Miss. Scootalae, I'd like to thank you again for being so generous.”  He held up a small container.  “Here's another serving of stew.  It's best hot, but still tasty cold.”

Scootaloo smiled and bowed her head a little.  “Thank you so much Mr. Scatter.”

“Safe travels.”  He waved and watched her take off.

His eyes went wide at the sight of her wings, never really having taken notice of them before.  “My word.  Wings of the Sky Goddess...”

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To Be Continued...