Scootaloo's Cardboard Box
Dear Rainbow Dash,
You are hereby cordially invited to my house.
Sincerely, Scootaloo.
This was what the gold embossed invitation read. It was currently being held by its intended recipient, one Rainbow Dash. She was resting in her cloud house, and lying in her cloud bed as she stared at the invitation currently held betwixt her hooves. She had found it inside her cloud mailbox. "A... gold card? Cordially invited? But... doesn't she live in a cardboard box? I mean, that's what everypony says," she thought to herself as she turned the card over, and back again, in the vane hopes of a pony who thinks the contents will change if they flip it over.
She was interrupted by the sound of knocking on her front door. "Knocking?" passed through her head as she flew over to the door, and opened it. "Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" she asked, as she found herself face to face with the aforementioned pink Earth pony.
"Why, I just thought I'd drop in and say hello!" Pinkie said, standing on the clouds, blissfully unaware of the impossibility of that action.
"So you're telling me that you went all the way to Twilight's, just to get her to cast a cloudwalking spell on you, just so that you could visit me?" Rainbow asked, disbelief apparent in her voice.
"Of course not, you silly pony!" Pinkie giggled.
"Then how are you standing on my clouds?" Rainbow asked, eyebrow raised to a degree that would make Applejack proud.
"Oh, that! Well..." Pinkie trailed off, as she started to rise higher and higher. Eventually, it was revealed that Pinkie had been standing on a balloon. Soon, the basket was raised above the cloud level, revealing its occupant to be none other than Twilight Sparkle. "I just convinced her to take me on a balloon trip!"
"That was not what I meant, Pinkie," Twilight shouted up at Pinkie. "Oh, hello Dash," she said, as if she hadn't expected her to be there.
"Hello Twilight! Why are you here?" Dash asked, figuring that Pinkie wasn't the only reason that Twilight was there.
"Well, Pinkie asked, and I have a small gift for you!" Twilight exclaimed, levitating a book up with her magic, which had been hiding behind her in the basket.
Rainbow squee'd, and asked, "Is that the newest Daring Do book, Daring Do and the Liber Characteribus?"
"Yes!" replied Twilight.
"But... why are you giving me this?" asked Rainbow, suddenly confused.
"Because I love you, you silly filly!" Twilight exclaimed, as she leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Rainbow Dash's muzzle.
"What?!" exclaimed Rainbow, backing away hurriedly. Pinkie had, by this time, climbed down into the basket, retrieved her flying machine from... somewhere, and flew off.
Twilight tackled Rainbow, somehow pinning her to the cloud floor, and said, "Oh, you know exactly what I mean," with a seductive grin on her face, as she started to lean in. "And look... we're alone now. Guess what we can do now!" she whispered...
"GYAHHHH!" A lightning bolt coincided with Rainbow's scream, as she sat bolt upright in her bed, sweating heavily. "That... was probably one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had, and I've had a few weird ones," she muttered to herself as she got out of bed. Had she been listening really, really carefully, she might have heard the sound of the uproarious laughter of the alicorn of the moon, Luna. Rainbow Dash considered going back to bed, but since she was up, there was something she wanted to check on. It seemed crazy, but better to be safe than sorry.
She flew over to her front door, and opened it, revealing the fact that it was raining, even up near her cloud house. She peered out of the door, and saw the exact same invitation from her dream. lying right by the front door. With another flash of lightning, Rainbow picked up the soaking wet card, and reread it. From what she could remember of her dream, it was exactly the same, although it was pretty dark out, as grey clouds hung above her house. After she was finished rereading it, yet again, another lightning bolt struck. "Pah, who are you trying to scare?" she challenged the lighting. The lightning bolt that replied immediately after that sent her rocketing to her bed, where she quivered under the sheets for a few moments, before taking a deep breath, exhaling it, and going back to sleep. The invitation had been placed near her bed, where she was sure to find it upon waking up in the morning.
With no more nightmares, Rainbow Dash slept soundly. When she woke up, the first thing she did was roll out of her bed, landing on what would have been the wrong side of the bed, had it been a normal bed. She then walked over to the invitation, and glared at it, as if that would make it disappear. It didn't. She then groaned, "It's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" as she trotted towards her Nimbostratus fridge. 'One of those days' apparently entailed having a frizzy mane, which Rainbow quickly fixed with a brush. She then had her breakfast, and sighed as she realized she had overslept, and was now late for her job. The Weather Brigade was not a job that looked lightly on being late, even if you were an Element of Harmony. "Well, better late than never," she thought to herself as she flew out of her house, ready for work.
Several hours later, Rainbow Dash found herself faced with the sight of a burnt down building, with the lightning damage apparent on it. "DITZY!" she exclaimed, looking for the pegasus who was most likely responsible for this damage. Her suspicions were proved correct by the nearby grey cloud, on which rested a grey pegasus, with a blond mane. This pegasus shot up from the cloud upon hearing her name.
"Yes, Dash?" she asked, confused and eyes crossed.
Rainbow, who had had her hooves crossed, uncrossed them, and pointed one at the wreckage which had formally been a building. "That," she said, anger apparent.
"Oh, that! Well, don't look at me, I had no part in it," said Ditzy, defensively. Her still-crossed eyes didn't add much to her defense.
"So, are you telling me that this building just caught on fire, spontaneously?" Rainbow asked, clearly disbelieving the wall-eyed mare.
Before the argument could continue further, and probably end in violence, Thunderlane approached from the distance. He shot towards Rainbow, and asked, "You didn't get the memo, did you?"
"Memo? What memo?" Rainbow asked, blinking in confusion.
"You know, the memo. The one that was sent out, saying this building was marked for demolition by lightning," Thunderlane explained.
"But... why use lightning?" Rainbow asked, clearly confused.
"Well, the owner specifically requested we use lightning to demolish his house. Apparently after he grew tired of his old house, he wanted to get rid of it and move to a new one. And, evidently, he really likes lightning," explained Thunderlane in a flash.
"By any chance, did this stallion have a family?" asked Rainbow Dash, a sudden idea striking her. It sounded crazy to herself, but it might be true.
"I dunno, I never inquired," replied Thunderlane, shrugging before he flew off, back to work.
Rainbow sighed, and went back to work herself. Behind her, Ditzy was making faces, happy that she had been right all along.
Several hours after that, Rainbow was finally done with her job for the day. The first thing she did was fly back to her house and double check the invitation, as if it could have possibly changed during the course of time since she had last read it. Curiously enough, it actually had. To be exact, there was a line on the back, which read: "I expect you there by 9 PM sharp. Don't be late."
"9 PM? That doesn't leave me much time, does it?" Rainbow Dash thought, as she stared at the invitation once again. "Oh no..." she muttered, as she suddenly realized something. She had no idea where Scootaloo lived. Then, a sudden idea stuck her. "Ditzy!" she exclaimed, flying out of her house, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. "She's bound to know where Scootaloo lives. She knows where all the ponies in Ponyville live, so she has to know where Scootaloo lives, right?" she reassured herself as she searched around for Ditzy.
Finally, Rainbow found her. She had been eating a muffin in Sugar Cube Corner, unsurprisingly. "Hey Ditzy," Rainbow said, as she sat down beside Ditzy by her table. Ditzy was just sitting there, chewing on a muffin, with a look of bliss on her face. Rainbow caught a whiff of the muffin, and understood why. They were one of Pinkie's special muffins, which were renowned for how tasty they were.
"Yes...?" Ditzy replied after she had finished eating, still clearly angry at Rainbow's false accusal earlier.
Rainbow sighed, as she said, "First, Ditzy, I apologize for accusing you early. Second, I need your help."
"What?" Ditzy inquired, sounding curious, all anger forgotten. It was rare that a pony needed her help, so she was willing to forgive Rainbow.
"Do you know where Scootaloo lives?"
"Doesn't she live in a cardboard box, you know, like everypony says?"
Rainbow Dash sighed, and said, "No, I meant where do you deliver her letters?"
"Oh..." Ditzy scratched her head as she thought for a few minutes. "You know, for a filly, Scootaloo receives quite a few letters! Well, I normally just leave her letters in a deserted street. It's weird. The addresses for the letters specifically asked that they be laid on the ground of that street. What do you make of that?" she asked, pondering her own question.
"Ditz, I really don't know. And while I would like to discuss this," she said with sarcasm dripping from her voice, "Tell me; where is the street?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, it's just behind Sugar Cube Corner," Ditzy said absentmindedly. She was clearly absorbed in the question she herself had placed forward.
"Thanks!" Rainbow said as she flew out of Sugar Cube Corner, to find the street. The clock in the center of the town read 8:55, and by the darkness of the sky Rainbow figured it was PM. Fortunately, she found the street quite quickly, it being behind the building she had just been in and all. Rainbow Dash walked inside, and was soon confronted with a sign and a lever. The sign read: "To access Scootaloo's house, pull lever." and had a giant arrow pointing to the nearby level and was in the shape of a box.
Rainbow Dash shrugged, saying, "What could possibly happen?" as she pulled the lever. This question was soon answered as an entire section of the alley, just behind the sign, was raised up by some form of contraption, and stairs unfolded down into the darkness, which was quickly lit up by a row of lights. "Whoa," said Rainbow Dash, as she went down the stairs. There was a door, at the very hoof of the stairway, which Rainbow opened upon reading a small sign upon it which read: "Scootaloo's house."
She entered the doorway, and stared up in amazement at Scootaloo's cardboard box.
