Teros

There was no air conditioning in Scootaloo’s apartment, and on a summer night like this one it was all the more aggravating. Even beneath a single thin bed sheet, the air was hot enough to make her flip over every few seconds. Glancing at a clock on the wall, she saw that it was barely past midnight. She groaned, turning her pillow over again and again, until finally she threw off the sheet and clambered out of bed.

Something was eating away at her mind, even more than the heat. Her eyes wandered between posters and pictures hung on the walls, finally settling on the white, dusty cylinder in the corner. Scootaloo crossed the tiny bedroom in five steps, picked up the container, and removed the lid with a pop.

Out slid the map, complete with cryptic markings and symbols. Even in the dimness of the night, Scootaloo could see everything on the paper clearly, almost as if it glowed. In the center was Canterlot Mountain, labeled something else in a bizarre language she couldn’t read, as were most of the familiar landmarks. And yet other places—some that she knew and some that she didn’t—were labeled in modern Equestrian. Had the map been added to over time, she wondered? Or were the unreadable words some sort of secret code?

One word was repeated over and over, or written large and circled several times. “Ru... Rujejm?” she whispered into the night air. It was likely a word from a long dead language, she thought to herself. Or maybe it was a code, or a magic word that would open a door somewhere.

The thought of discovering and solving such mysteries made Scootaloo’s heart flutter. For so long she’d been stuck in Ponyville, travelling the same four blocks from home to the schoolhouse and back. Now she’d found this map, and who knows where it may lead her? Many of the drawn locations were beyond Equestria, across oceans or beyond the northern mountains. Deserts, valleys, and great glacial expanses called to her from within the paper.

But once she gave the map to Applejack and her friends, that would be the end of it. The adults would take her map, discuss it behind the closed doors of Twilight’s castle, and set off on some grand adventure while Scootaloo stayed behind. She’d spend the rest of the summer wandering Ponyville with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, until the two of them left her again to go back to whatever futures they had. Then it was back to the same four blocks, these same four walls, over and over until who knows when.

It wasn’t a hard choice to make. Eyeing a set of wavy lines marked northwest of Canterlot, Scootaloo rolled the map back up and placed it in its container, shutting the lid. Across the room, she pulled a blue saddlebag from her dresser’s bottom drawer and opened the left pouch. She stuffed in the cylinder, a set of tools, and a small knife.

Before she closed the bag, Scootaloo pulled the knife out again. It was a tiny thing, with a blade barely two inches long and a handle of dull red crystal. On one of her trips to the Crystal Empire, she’d found a vendor selling decorative knives and snuck away from her friends to buy it. She had fashioned a small covering for the blade out of canvas, and hidden it beneath her dresser. Her aunt never even knew she had it.

Scootaloo stopped her preparations at the thought of her aunt Sunny. She would be really, really mad once she found out. She’d probably throw a fit and call the police, expecting Scootaloo to be lurking around town somewhere. Maybe she would even ask Rainbow Dash to help find her, if she was really upset.

“Oh, come on, Scootaloo. What’re you thinking?” she said as she shut the bag and crawled downstairs. Sunny was barely even home, often away for so long that Scootaloo only saw her once every few days. She was gone in the mornings and often came back after Scootaloo was asleep. If she was lucky, her aunt wouldn’t even know she was gone until she was already at her destination.

She made her way out of her room, walking on the tips of her hooves. The knife handle and the map’s container clicked together with each step, causing Scootaloo to wince and slow down. There could be no mistakes now, not when she was so close.

Making her way to a set of drawers, she opened the top one and found several bags of bits. Emergency funds, her aunt had called them, for a time when they needed something and didn’t have time to wait for a paycheck. Now seemed like a good enough time.

Placing the coins into her saddlebag, she crossed the room to the pantry. The shelves were mostly empty, save for a few boxes of cereal or bags of grasses. Scootaloo stuffed her bags with as much food as she could, before making her way to the front door, where her scooter was leaned against a wall.

This was it. If she left now, she could ride for a few hours and make it to a train station somewhere out of town, where nopony would recognize her. From there, she could go north through Canterlot and make it to the location marked by the wavy lines.

As she opened the front door, she hesitated. Her aunt’s bedroom door was closed, a sure sign that she was sleeping. And yet, as perfect a time as this was for Scootaloo to leave, she couldn’t bring herself to walk out the door.

Sunny had cared for her, raised her, taken her in when she was barely old enough to talk. She had given her shelter, food, and a place to sleep. She was the only family Scootaloo had ever known.

Scootaloo blinked, her head low. With a single, deep breath, she grabbed her scooter and was out the front door.