War Zone-Equestria

Derpy was leading Twilight through a complex system of tunnels and stairs.

’This place is so big…’ she thought to herself, ‘how could she remember exactly where to go?’ she looked closely at all the different rooms the passed, but noticed the words ‘Medical Facility’ written on the sign above one of the doors. ‘My friends must be in there! If only I could see them now… Oh please Celestia let them be alright…’

They continued along their path, but all of a sudden a little orange filly with small wings, was racing towards them from the other side of the hallway riding a scooter.

’Is that Scootaloo’ Twilight asked herself.

When she got closer, Twilight could clearly see her, ‘It is Scootaloo, but why isn’t she slowing down?’

The little filly was racing towards them, but she didn’t seem to be facing them. Instead she was looking behind herself yelling something out to the open room she’d just come out of, but Twilight couldn’t make out the words.

”Look out!” Twilight yelled pulling Derpy to the side of the hall way.

Scootaloo suddenly turned around and noticed the pair, but with hardly any reaction time, found it hard to slow down to avoid them. She found herself instead skidding in an attempt to slow down, but instead being thrown into a barrel roll and falling in front of the pair.

She came to a halt plopped on the ground right in front of Derpy, who wasn’t all to impressed.

“Dammit private! Do you ever watch where you’re going on that thing?!” She yelled, giving the little filly a fright.

”I’m sorry commander I just have to get this supply of ammunition to the barracks.” Scootaloo replied looking at the many bullets scattered all over the ground.

”Get on your way and don’t let me catch you causing any more trouble. You and the other fillies seem to have an irritating habit for doing so.”

Twilight lit up. ‘Does that mean that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were here too?’ She thought to herself.

”Yes commander. I won’t… w-… wait a minute. Twilight?” Scootaloo asked looking behind Derpy at the purple unicorn. “Is… Is it really you?”

”Oh, sweet Celestia! We don’t have time for this!” Derpy growled under her breath.

”H-how? It doesn’t make any sense! How are you here?” Scootaloo asked, getting more and more puzzled by the second.

“Umm, oh how do I explain this without making it confusing?” Twilight asked herself staring at the confused filly.

”I reckon its gunna be confusing no matter how you say it Twilight.  We saw you die. It was one of the worst moments in our lives.” Scootaloo explained, trying to make sense of the situation.

“Well you see… I’m not that Twilight. I’m from another dimension, a different Equestria altogether.” Twilight tried to explain.

“Wait, so how did you get here?” Scootaloo asked, still trying to make sense of what she was saying.

“I… I cast a spell that brought me and the others here…”

”Wait! The others are here too? Like Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight remembered that the little filly looked up to Rainbow Dash as an idol back home. Obviously she had the same affectionate side for her here.

”Yeah, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, A.J, Fluttershy… they all went into the portal first.”

Scootaloo’s face lit up like Pinkie Pie whenever something exciting had happened. But then she remembered the first thing Twilight said. “If Rainbow Dash is from another dimension, she won’t remember anything from this one, will she?” Scootaloo asked Twilight, her smile slowly leaving her face.

”She won’t retain any memories the Rainbow Dash from this dimension had. Sorry Scootaloo, she’s not the same Rainbow Dash…” Twilight explained.

”Oh, o… ok…” Scootaloo said, as a miserable look started to form right over her smile as her eyes welled up a little.

”But…” Twilight went to continue, making the filly look up, confused over whether she should be prepared for good or bad news.

”Rainbow Dash is still going to know who you are. You practically worship her in my dimension. I’m sure she would treat you just the same way she’d treat the other Scootaloo.”

A warm feeling instantly spread over Scootaloo, and a huge smile erupted yet again from her face. She knew it wasn’t going to be the same Rainbow Dash, but it made her happy that she would get to see her favorite pegasus again, especially after the grim memories of what had happened to her.

”Can I see her after I’ve delivered these bullets?” she asked with the biggest pleading look in her eyes. She really did miss Rainbow Dash.

”Decisions like that will be left up to me.” Derpy said stepping in.

“Oh, of course commander.” Scootaloo said slightly edgy.

”Before you can see her I need a status report on private Apple Bloom. Find out if she’s completed her tasks and report back to me in my office within the hour.” Derpy instructed her.

“Yes commander! Right away!” Scootaloo said, picking up the rest of the bullets and dropping them into the casket on her scooter. But before she could leave, Twilight spoke up again.

”Wait! Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell are definitely here? How are they?”

Scootaloo’s face seemed to go sadder than ever at the mention of Sweetie Bell’s name. She struggled to answer the question, and tears had already found themselves strolling down her face.

”Apple Bloom is ok. She’s always been a little troubled, seeing her sister die on the battlefield; in such a gruesome way… it changed her a lot.” Scootaloo explained, her voice sounding a far grimmer than before. “But I wasn’t able to protect Sweetie Bell from Luna…” she trailed off from her sentence. Twilight thought she was about to let the tears flow out like a fountain, but instead an angry glare appeared on Scootaloo’s face that even managed to make Derpy feel a little edgy. Scootaloo’s eyes shed a few tears, her voice was still grim, but it had an angry tone to it that made Twilight feel very uncomfortable.

”When she had declared all the unicorns as targets, she saw to it herself that every single one suffered. She sought them out with her magic and started killing them in any painful method she felt necessary. We hadn’t found any protection camps or bunkers to hide in and were completely defenseless. Luna just tossed us aside and ignored us. Sweetie Bell…” She trailed of again, only getting more and more upset and aggravated as she went. “I’d never seen anything so horrifying or violent in my life. Sweetie bell didn’t stand a chance.” She collapsed to the ground and tears rolled down her face pooling below her.

Twilight felt horrible. The fact that the Luna here could be so incredibly different from her counterpart in Twilight’s own dimension… It made her sick to contemplate that she would mercilessly slaughter fillies and colts. “I’m… I’m sorry Scootaloo… I shouldn’t have bought it up…” Twilight pat the filly on the back trying to comfort her. She couldn’t think of anything worse that could have happened to Scootaloo then losing her idol and one of her best friends. Derpy just sat there and watched, not uttering a word, she had no idea that such a small pony could emit so much emotion.

Scootaloo sat up, and sniffed, wiping her eyes. The anger wasn’t being displayed anymore, but the two knew it was still there, just being harbored under the depressing emotions.

”It’s ok Twilight. You didn’t know. It’s mainly hard for me and Apple Bloom because she was our best friend, and we can never be the Cutie Mark Crusaders again either, not without Sweetie Bell. Luna has to suffer for that… Sweetie bell never got a chance to find out what her true talent was. She had her whole life ahead of her and that monster just took it away like it was nothing! I hate Luna more than anything, but the one thing I despised her for was that she didn’t kill me when she killed Sweetie Bell. She made me and Apple Bloom watch, helpless, and we couldn’t stop her. She laughed at us and disappeared just like she hadn’t even been there. I wanted her to kill me, I didn’t want to live with the guilt…” she didn’t cry as she spoke, but she wanted to, so badly it hurt her to hold the tears back. “We dropped the Cutie Mark Crusader name that day, there was no point in using it if we weren’t all together, and we aren’t picking it back up. There’s no point seeing as me and Applebloom have our marks now.” She turned around, and instead of a bare flank, Scootaloo bore a picture of her scooter, surrounded by lines bending through it as if representing velocity and wind passing by it. Another difference from Twilights dimension was that this Scootaloo understood her special talent, but that didn’t mean she was proud of it. “I got this when I used my scooter to save Apple Bloom from the bombing raid in Ponyville. That occurred shortly after. I’d never been so fast on the thing in my life. The only thing that kept me going was the burning hatred for Luna. Celestia found us off the edge of town, and brought us all the way here to the base. I’ve been living in here for well over a year now, I’ve come to memorize the tunnels and passages backwards and forwards. That’s probably why they made me the errand filly…” she was trying to repress her grief by changing the subject, but she needed something more before she could do that. “We all have problems down here, we’ve all lost somepony important in our lives. Apple Bloom only has Big Mac now… Granny Smith passed away, and then she was forced to watch her sister executed… she’s had it worse off than me, but she’s grateful for every second she continues living. As hard as it is she only wants to honor their memories. Apple Bloom took up the position of a chef after Granny Smith… Shortly after that she found her special talent in cooking… she may as well be head chef of this place. She’s stayed in the position making meals for soldiers ever since. She can manage to whip up anything from a pie to a cake, and with the forest above us bearing all its fruit, she never runs out of ingredients to use. She got a lot of her baking skills from Granny Smith and Pinkie Pie, but she never gave up on herself after Granny Smith was gone, but after Pinkie was shot, well… she’s seemed to lose faith in her talent. Everypony that was close to her had died, except me and her brother. If we go, she’ll never make it. That’s another reason I keep fighting this war. So she doesn’t lose all her faith.”

Twilight was amazed. Despite the pain, suffering, and loss that both the girls had been subjected to, they still pushed on, just to honor the memories of their lost loved ones. It made Twilight start to tear up a little as well. “I’m sorry everything’s been so hard on you two. I would never pull through what you girls have; you’re both incredibly brave.” She said rubbing the filly on the head, still letting her own tears fall.

”Thanks Twilight. I have to be on my way, I still have duties to attend to, just tell me one thing…” The filly looked up at her and sniffed again.

”Anything…” Twilight said, she wanted to help Scootaloo in any way she possibly could.

”In your dimension… Is Sweetie Bell alive?” Scootaloo had to know, but she wondered is she should be ready for the worst.

”Yes, she’s very much alive and spends almost every day having fun with you and Apple Bloom.”

Scootaloo, through all her emotions, managed a weak smile. She was very happy that at least somewhere, her friend was still alive and living each day.

”Thanks Twilight.” She finished, wiping her eyes and hoping on her scooter.

”Hold up there private.” Derpy spoke out after being silent for almost the whole time. “Get Apple Bloom and go see the girls, you two can take the rest of the day off.” She told her.

Twilight smiled at Derpy. She wasn’t crying but she could tell that Scootaloo’s story had affected her too.

”Thank you commander.” She said about to ride off again before Derpy spoke up and stopped her.

”And why don’t you leave the bullets with me, I’ll take them to the barracks when I check them later on.”

Scootaloo was a little shocked by the change in character Derpy was displaying. Her commander had usually never given a day off to anypony, let alone offered to do a job for them.

”Thank you.” She said again dropping the casket of bullets at Derpy’s hooves. “I’ll see you later Twilight. It’s great to see you again.”

”It’s great to see you too Scootaloo. I hope Apple Bloom feels better when she sees her sister again.” Twilight replied.

”Oh I guarantee it’ll make her day.” Scootaloo said, before hopping onto her Scooter and departing to find her friend.

“That was very kind of you Derpy.” Twilight said turning around, and facing her.

”I have a heart Twilight; I couldn’t let her keep working after hearing that… I just never realized that everything had been that hard for her.” Derpy told her. Twilight understood that seeing that kind of behavior had obviously been a real change from what Derpy normally saw, but was still proud of the decision she made to help Scootaloo out.

”Well we best not waste any more time. Celestia’s office is just a few halls away, and I still don’t think she knows you’re even here in the base.” Derpy said, picking up the casket of bullets and walking down the hall. Twilight wiped her eyes to clear the tears that had sat there and followed her, while thinking about the fillies’ reactions when they’d get to see the girls that they had seen killed so long ago. How happy they’d be just to be able to talk to them again.