The sizzling pulse of torn electrical circuits and the continuous crackle of static from the radio stirred Scootaloo from her forced weightless slumber, noting with a wince the red pearls that floated around her.

Scootaloo was suspended above the pilot seat. The installed artificial gravity was inoperable, while everything else was bathed in an unsettling red tinge. Flashing holographic warning signs littered the walls of the capsule, forcing Scootaloo’s eyes to squint at their offensive shine. A searing hot pain pulsed from a spot on her swollen cheek.

“W-what happened?” Groaned the young mare, suspended helplessly within her cockpit, her unhelmed astrosuit lit by the numerous damage indicators. She twisted her body in an attempt to control her vector.

“The… the last thing I remember was… an explosion...” Scootaloo said as she returned her attention to the spot on her cheek. She gently pressed on it and gasped. The cause of her discomfort was a rather large wound that started directly below her eye and spanned diagonally across the bridge of her nose. It ended on the other side of her cheek, where the feeling of dried blood took its place. Scootaloo brought her hoof down to eye level, stunned by the image in her mind;her face had been sliced open by some type of sharp blade.

As the haze of disorientation lifted from her static state, panic soon took over her mind.

What happened?

What it hit me?

Pushing off of the nearest surface, Scootaloo launched herself back into the linear seat, grasping out at the control sticks on either side of it to anchor herself while her rear hooves settled onto the throttle and brake pedals just below the seat.

“F-first things first, I need to check on the systems, or at least I think that is what big sis’ told me to check first,” Scootaloo whispered to herself, one eye closed and wincing with each and every movement she made. “My neck is so stiff… I must have hit my head on something… that’d explain why my head hurts so much...”

As so vigilantly taught by her sibling, Scootaloo first inspected the screens built into the arms of her chair. She gazed at a diagram of the physical damage sustained to her mobile suit and the propulsion system’s status on the left, reviewing them thoroughly, then inspected the status of the cockpit’s structural integrity, life support and the magic-reactor core of her craft on the right.

“Sustained heavy damage to the legs, arms… everything... all movement is-no,” Scootaloo gasped, trembling in her chair as she drew her terrified eyes away from the screen to her lap, “I have only got an hour’s worth of energy left. Long range communications are completely inoperable. But why? There’s no damage to that subsystem… it’s completely—”

Then it dawned on Scootaloo.

Something that drew tears to her eyes.

She was going to suffocate in the cosmic grip of space… alone.

Quickly, Scootaloo leaned forward and reached out to tap at a keyboard with a small monitor attached, which was suspended to her upper right. She frantically moved through the lists of the mobile suit’s various subsystems in hopes of reactivating the cockpit’s panoramic view screen, so that she could finally see what was going on outside her mechanical prison.

With little to no chance of reactivating the mobile suit’s panoramic view, Scootaloo slammed her hoof onto the arm of the chair in frustration.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

Scootaloo pounded it repeatedly, while tears formed rapidly in her eyes. She shook her head from side to side, her breaths running ragged to the point of hyperventilation.

“This isn't supposed to happen… w-we were just going to play around the asteroid field close by, th-that’s all! How can this happen? What happened? We were just leaving the dock and then...”

Placing a hoof over her eyes, as if ashamed to show her tears to the isolating walls of static, Scootaloo whimpered as the oppressive presence of white noise surrounding her only drowned out her prayers.

All she wanted to do was to spend time with her sister, but now? Now she was not even sure if her sister was anywhere near her.

In fact, Scootaloo was not entirely confident that her sister was even alive anymore.

What was that explosion?

Was it caused by a collision?

“Help me… help me… anypony,” Scootaloo wept, “I don’t want to choke to death… I-I’m afraid!”

Then, as if her prayers were answered by Celestia and Luna themselves, a distorted voice barely spoke amongst the chaos. A voice that Scootaloo recognized to belong to none other than her sister.

“S-shhzshzsshzshz-li-shhzzzshhzzz-ans-sssshhzz-please!”

Scootaloo’s heart leapt with joy even as her tears streamed down her cheeks. She smiled, ignoring the pain that surged from her facial wound, and gripped the controls. She quickly activated the radio to fruitlessly scream back across the foggy connection,

“I’m here! I’m here! I’m right here!”

“Ca-shhzzz-short-shhhhhz-do-shhhhzz...shhhzzz-wave-shhzzz.”

“Why’s it so fuzzy?” Turning to the monitor on her right, Scootaloo brought up the communications array subsystem in its entirety, noting for the second time that despite its near inoperable state, there was little to no physical damage to the device itself, nor to the circuit that fed into the cockpit.

After running a simple diagnostic on the array subsystem, Scootaloo’s muzzle scrunched up, clearly confused by the results.

“The array is detecting a high density of Starswirl Particles. Almost like an electromagnetic pulse… but how? Electromagnetic interference of this scale can’t just happen from one small explosion… at least I think it can't... is it an attack? And from who? Pirates?” The concept of unknowingly being in the middle of a battle unnerved her, but for now, Scootaloo had to focus on contacting her sister, who was fortunately still alive and somewhere nearby.

After several minutes, Scootaloo finally managed to make some headway by switching to a shortwave communication signal, and boosting the strength with what remaining power she had left in an attempt to penetrate the forced blackout caused by the unexplained appearance of the EMP field.

With an audible pop, the static ceased and as clear as a summer morning on Equestria’s soil, Rainbow Dash’s voice filled Scootaloo’s ears, causing the girl to cheer with unbridled joy.

“Rainbow! I-I thought you were gone!”

A sigh of relief came across the radio, though Rainbow Dash’s voice seemed strangely subdued to the young mare. As if she was struggling to form a clear coherent sentence.

“Hey, calm down squirt, calm down… but first things first, before we get all mushy here, how’s your mobile suit? My… my suit is all kinds of fried. Can just about keep the communications operating.”

“My suit’s the same, though I think there is a fault in the magic-reactor, I seem to be leaking energy somewhere; not sure where though. I think my diagnostic equipment is all kinds of scrambled so I can’t get an accurate reading. I’ve got maybe forty-five minutes of energy left before everything turns off... I think. I’m more used to the controls in the VR suite back on Cloudsdale.”

“Because you hack the VR program so that it works in your favor, you mean?”

Scootaloo frowned. “That was one time, okay! But never mind about that; what about you? Are you okay? You sound kind of funny.”

“Scootaloo, put on your astrosuit’s helmet before the life support system cuts out. You should have enough power in your suit to last you a few more hours. The suit should recycle the air and keep you alive until help arrives from Equestria.”

“Rainbow Dash, what happened? Everything was fine and then the next minute… I’m waking up and there’s blood everywhere.” Scootaloo could feel the wound still bleeding, but fortunately not as bad as it might have been when it was initially made. “Are you okay?”

“I know that feeling. My heads hurts… feels like I drunk a metric ton of AJ’s homemade apple cider… and not the soft drink, either.”

“Rainbow, you sound strange. Are you you’re alright? Are you hurt? I’ve got a medkit here if you need help.”

“I’m… I’m a little tired that’s all, kiddo.” Rainbow Dash chuckled weakly. “Been through worse.”

Scootaloo gripped her cockpit’s controls tightly, a sickening sensation swimming in the pit of her stomach. “You’re a terrible liar, you know that right?”

When met with nothing but silence, Scootaloo reached a hoof underneath the linear seat and detached the astrosuit’s helmet from the undercarriage. She slowly slipped it on her head, wincing as the helmet pressed tightly against her wound.

Once the helm had been clamped securely to the rest of her astrosuit with a resounding click and hiss of oxygen filling its confines, Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at the monitor to her left, noting with a determined glare that her cockpit’s hatch was completely undamaged and fully operational.

“I’m coming over.” Scootaloo announced as she reached down on the left side of her chair to grip the small red lever.

“No!” Barked Rainbow Dash aggressively, before falling into a fit of coughs that only drew more pain and determination to the surface of Scootaloo’s eyes. “You can’t… I’m… I’m sorry, but you can’t come out. You have to stay inside.”

They had had their measure of sisterly arguments in the past, but never had Rainbow Dash ever voiced aggression quite like that before.

“I will not stay here while you’re hurt, Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo raised her voice, a little upset Rainbow Dash ever took that tone with her. “Stop being stubborn, okay? I’ve seen you hurt yourself plenty of times, Rainbow Crash.”

“Low blow there, chicken.”

Scootaloo gritted her teeth, slightly annoyed by the nickname. “I’m going to come over there to make sure you are okay whether you like it or not. Besides, maybe with the two of us we can get one of our suits working so we can go home without having to be rescued.”

Scootaloo activated her helm’s internal radio system, switching it to a shortwave frequency so she could still communicate with Rainbow Dash when outside of her mobile suit.

“Scootaloo, I am begging you, do not open the hatch,” a desperation filled Rainbow Dash’s voice, her tomboyish and confident nature dissolving as she released a sob over the radio, “I can’t let you see this… please… just… not yet. Don’t go outside.”

Resolute no matter what Rainbow Dash said to deter her, Scootaloo reached under her seat to pull out a safety line. She quickly attached it to her astrosuit’s belt, before finally pulling the lever.

With a click and a resounding groan of metal, a portion of the cockpit opened up directly in front of her like a yawning metallic beast, allowing the vacuum of space to suck away what little precious oxygen remained within the cockpit.

Scootaloo gasped as she drifted forward from her chair, gripping a hoof on two handlebars that stood above the cockpit’s opening to prevent her from being drawn violently into outer space during the sudden decompression, however, the moment she drew her head up and stared off into the ever familiar sea of black beyond her suit’s cockpit, her breath hitched in her throat as her eyes pin pricked with a volatile mixture of fear and sorrow.

Staring right back at her was the gargantuan debris of something that had recently met its violent end and had thrown its charred corpse across the entire sector, obscuring the distant marble that was their planet of origin, Equestria.

“W-what is that?” Scootaloo shook her head from side to side, unsure if she was in fact awake.

Scootaloo leant out of the MS-05B Zaku I’s open chest, peering up in horror as she recognized what the debris once was, though irrationally rejected such a notion almost immediately with a shake of her head.

She did not want to believe it.

“W-where’s… where’s Cloudsdale…?” Scootaloo inquired, though found little reply from her sister, whose breathing had suddenly become very erratic over the radio. “Where’s our home?”

Scootaloo felt her body go numb as the immense despair crushed her, and she realized the cold, harsh truth that Rainbow Dash was attempting to hide from her.

Activating her astrosuit’s magnetic boots, Scootaloo walked out upon the crumpled mess of her Zaku’s chassis, absorbing the horrific spectacle of twisted metal and pieces of what she recognized to once be ponies, floating all around her dying mobile suit.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo searched aimlessly with her gaze, seeking the personalized cyan painted Zaku which her sister was piloting.

With little luck from her current vantage, Scootaloo wandered to the left side of her Zaku’s chest, leaning over to spot the heavily damaged cyan colored suit floating directly below her, roughly three hundred yards away.

It appeared Rainbow Dash had taken the brunt of the blast; her mobile suit’s arms and legs were shredded into an unrecognizable mess, while the head was partly melted and fused to its warped shoulder mounted blast shields.

“Rainbow Dash, I see you!”

“S-Scootaloo, I thought I—ah, told you to not leave the suit?!”

“W-what d-do I do? I… we have to get you of there! We have t-to get back to… but… Cloudsdale is gone… Momma… Poppa… gone…”

A wet, heavy cough caused Rainbow’s words to become hoarse, as an alarm resounded through the radio. “Scootaloo, you have to… you have to listen to me. Get back in the suit and close the hatch, now!”

“No! I-I can’t lose you too!” Scootaloo screamed as she launched herself forward, deactivating the magnetic boots so that she could free float directly towards her sister, in the vain hope she could open up the cockpit’s hatch manually.

"Stop being a stubborn mule and listen to me, Scoots!"

The moment Scootaloo's hoofs had left contact with the metallic surface of her mobile suit, the safety line instantly locked up, preventing her from advancing towards her goal.

"I won't leave you!"

Scootaloo’s eyes teared up blurring her sight as they fell, desperately yanking at the line, hoping she could somehow dislodge or break it.

“You have to get back in! You have to get back inside your suit before it’s too late!” Rainbow Dash’s pleading only intensified, her voice rushing her words as the alarm grew louder over the radio, almost drowning her out. “My reactor is about to—”

As the radio cut off in a scream of static, Scootaloo lifted her hooves up to shield her face as the unrecognizable Zaku exploded, ripping the mobile suit apart, spewing out a fiery blast that threw Scootaloo and her mobile suit back with enough force to send them both hurtling into the all consuming darkness.

_____________________________________

Three Years Later

Adorned in the EFF cadet uniform of a high collared, white cotton tunic cut in the shape of a military jacket, Scootaloo looked the part of a devout member of the EEF, except for the mess that was her shoulder length mane she had she refused to comb for the past three years.

“Do you have to come?” Scootaloo grumbled, “I think I can find the classroom by myself, you know.”

Hardly stunned by the attitude of the mare towards an elder, Applejack merely sighed and scratched at her cheek with a hoof, trotting on behind Scootaloo by quite some distance, not wishing to invade what Scootaloo liked to call 'her personal space,' whatever that was.

“Ah’m good friends with the teacher. Ah went to this very Academy with her and RD, Ah’ll have you know. So, Ah think Ah’m allowed to drop on by an’ greet an old friend if Ah so want to.”

Applejack’s emerald eyes regarded Scootaloo with a little smile; she was secretly proud that the filly had grown up into a fine mare, even if her attitude required some minor adjustment.

It was difficult raising her over the past three years, but she felt she did all she could for the filly.

Applejack often overlooked Scootaloo’s rather cold nature, considering what she had been through would be enough to change anypony irreparably. She remembered a time when Scootaloo used to smile, laugh and play… now all she ever seemed to do was study and spend endless hours in the VR suites, training herself often to the point of complete exhaustion.

How many times had she picked that filly up from a desk or from the cockpit of a VR booth and tucked her into bed?

Too many.

It was at that thought, Applejack lost her smile.

Although she did not want to admit it, Scootaloo was consumed with anger. An anger she had tried many times to purge, with little success.

Chores at the farm only seemed to frustrate the filly, rather than direct her energies in a positive manner.

“Ah know you worked hard darlin’ and no one is more deservin’ of being here, but can you try and make some friends? Trust me when Ah say this, the bonds you make in these walls will last a lifetime.”

Scootaloo paused and glanced back up at Applejack with scorn, her wings twitching. “I don’t need friends. And just because you have some legal papers claiming me as your daughter does not mean you are actually my mother, so stop trying to act like one.”

Trying her best not to appear hurt, Applejack nodded her head and adjusted her stetson, even if her heart bled at such a truth. “Fair enough. But don’ think Ah love you any less, even if you think that way.”

“Just... don’t embarrass me, Applejack.” Scootaloo stormed off down the hallway, leaving Applejack to secure the top button of her tartan shirt as she followed on after Scootaloo.

“Teenagers.” Applejack rolled her eyes.

She had wondered if she was ever this difficult with Granny Smith.

Author's Note

Like... hate... flame... it's all good.

You won't believe the shit I had to do to get this passed Moderation.

Hope you enjoy.