A Journey Across Equestria

Aqua blew a bubble, which encased Scootaloo. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and making the bubble tighter and tighter. Scootaloo started to squirm. "Don't resist." Aqua ordered, opening one eye.

Scootaloo did her best, but felt as if she was suffocating. Stop! She mentally screamed. You're going to kill me! She tried to kick her way out, but her legs seemed stuck together.

"Done!" Aqua announced, the bubble disappearing.

Scootaloo was turning red. She struggled to pull herself to the surface.

"You can breath now." Aqua told her. "I turned you into a mermare."

"What?!" Scootaloo shrieked, immediately turning back to Aqua.

"It's the only way to travel around here." Aqua explained. "If you weren't a mermare you'd probably drown."

Scootaloo looked down at her magenta tail. "How long does it last?"

"Not long enough to stay here and chit-chat. Follow me!" Aqua swam downwards towards a small tunnel in the side of her small pool.

"Okay let's..!" Scootaloo remembered her scooter. "I can't leave you behind, I might never come back..." She said to the object. She folded it and pushed it into her backpack, not managing to fully zip it. "There! I'm ready. Wait for me, Aqua!" She shouted, pushing off with her tail and swimming to the tunnel. It was strange using a tail instead of her hooves. She couldn't properly stand up. She occasionally jerked from one side to another, quickly regaining her balance as she swam.

Aqua looked back at her. "Try to keep up, I'm a fast swimmer!" She yelled over her shoulder.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this..." Scootaloo said to herself, gaining speed. Soon she was right on Aqua's tail. "Fast swimmer, huh?"

"Beginners luck!" Aqua shouted. "Can't wait to see how you handle this!"

Aqua reminded Scootaloo of Rainbow Dash. The way she reacted to a near loss was just like her. Before Scootaloo could dwell on the thought more, Aqua led her through a shipwreck. "Woah!" Scootaloo spiraled through the holes with much difficulty.

Aqua paused at the end. "You're better than I thought." She complimented Scootaloo. "I think you need a real challenge then!" With that, she sped off, bubbles surrounding her.

"What the..?" In fear of being left behind, Scootaloo quickly swam after Aqua. "Wait! I can't keep up!" Aqua zoomed over a giant rock while Scootaloo didn't have the ability to pull herself upwards that fast. Before she could turn the other way, she had hit the rock.

"Wait..." A dazed Scootaloo groaned, trying to reach out. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Scootaloo was in Ponyville again. "I'm back!" She exclaimed. She rushed to Golden Oaks library, where she assumed Twilight would be. "I'm back!" She shouted, then noticed the Mane 6 standing in a circle. "Wait, I'm back..." All the time she spent trying to get to Las Pegasus to see her mother was wasted.

"What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked, walking towards them. "Did something happen?" She had expected Rainbow Dash to run to her. Scootaloo didn't see any of the rainbow streaks in Rainbow Dash's mane or tail.

"Scootaloo, you're back!" Twilight said, emerging out of the small crowd. "Where were you? Ponyville was worried sick!"

"Yes! Rainbow Dash wouldn't stop looking for you," Rarity added. "Every day she'd fly around looking for you."

"Speaking of Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo started. "Where is she?"

Every one fell silent. Fluttershy was the first to speak. "Um... Well, she was on one of her searches when she flew too close to the territory of hostile dragons..." She explained, stuttering slightly. "T-They..." Her eyes became teary. "They killed her!" She sobbed.

Everypony began to cry.

"N-No... She couldn't have...Died." Scootaloo murmured, fighting back tears. "It's my fault, isn't it?"

"It isn't your fault, Scootaloo..." Twilight put a hoof on the filly's shoulder.

"Just because I was selfish enough to run away, Rainbow Dash is dead... I didn't have to find my mother... I could've stayed until I was old enough to travel on my own or maybe take the train." Scootaloo wailed, crying. She had only realised how stupid she was to have left then instead of earlier.

"Well it's true you should've told us ya left, but we understand ya wanted to start fresh, maybe find someone or something." Applejack forced a smile.

"We aren't mad at you, you're just being hard on yourself," Fluttershy sniffed.

"Mhm. You can't blame yourself for everything, darling. Just learn from your mistakes." Rarity added.

"Yeah! And look on the bright side, you're here now!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"We all love you no matter what." Twilight said, hugging Scootaloo. It seemed she had forgotten about Rainbow Dash's tragic death.

Scootaloo closed her eyes, Twilight's words echoing in her head. No matter what... Her voice repeated continuously. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't in Golden Oaks library anymore. She was in a cave.

"Huh? Look, she's awake!" A colt pointed at Scootaloo.

"She is?" A filly almost identical to the colt stared at her.

"W-What? Where am I?!" Scootaloo asked, sitting up.

"I'm Finn, and this is my twin sister Oceana." The colt introduced.

"Where am I?!" Scootaloo repeated.

"You're in our hideout." Oceana answered.

"You aren't answering my question!!" Scootaloo shouted, becoming slightly irritated.

"We're in our cave which is located on the outskirts of Aquatic City." Finn explained.

"Now explain who you are, where you're from and why we found you unconscious." Oceana demanded.

"My name is Scootaloo and I'm from a place called Ponyville. I was on my way to Las Pegasus when-!" Scootaloo was cut off by Finn.

"Wait, Ponyville? Las Pegasus? Those places don't exist." He interrupted. "There's only the five cities here."

"I think you got hit in the head really hard and went on some crazy adventure in your head." Oceana added.

"No, it's true. I fell in the river and washed up in a cave and met Aqua, a merpony. We were going to her house and-!" Scootaloo was interrupted yet again.

"First, we practically live in a river, how is it possible that you fall into one?" Finn asked.

"Second, to actually fall into a river, you'd have to be a pony, but those things are mythical creatures." Oceana said.

"I'm a pony, not a merpony! You're mythical creatures!" Scootaloo shouted.

The twins broke out laughing. "You've definitely hit your head really hard!" They said in unison.

"I'm telling the truth, though!" Scootaloo frowned. "Ponies are real and I am one!"

"Prove it," Finn demanded.

"Yeah, prove it and then we'll believe you." Oceana grinned. "This should be good." She told her brother.

"Definitely." Finn agreed.

Angry, Scootaloo took her bag off. She began to rummage through it. She had brought absolutely nothing that could prove she wasn't a merpony. She emptied out her bag. A framed picture slowly sank to the ground. "This!" Scootaloo grabbed it and held it up. "It's a picture of me and my pony friends. We all have hooves, look!" She pointed to every pony's hooves.

"Let me see that!" Finn grabbed it. He and his sister inspected it closely before gasping.

"P-Ponies... Are... Real!" Oceana forced out, flabbergasted.

"I was just as surprised as you are when I found out merponies were real!" Scootaloo put her bag back on, taking the picture from Finn and putting it inside her bagr. "Now, do you know a filly named Aqua, by any chance?"

"Aqua? Of course we know her, she's our best friend!" Oceana said.

"Follow us!" Finn instructed Scootaloo as he and Oceana swam out of the cave.

"Hey, wait up!" Scootaloo sped after them, soon catching up. "Why do you merponies swim so fast?" She panted.

"Because we've been swimming since we were foals!" Finn explained.

"It's natural since we're born merponies. You, on the other hoof, have been turned into one, right?" Oceana asked as she dodged a rock.

"Yes, actually." Scootaloo barely missed a giant boulder. "Aqua turned me into one so I could breath underwater."

"Why're you here anyways? Not many ponies come to these parts." Finn said. "Actually, none at all." He corrected himself.

"Well, I'm on my way to Las Pegasus. I was going at a pretty fast pace considering I only had a scooter, but then I fell into a river and ended up meeting Aqua, she told me I was off course and that she could get me to Las Pegasus faster than on my scooter," Scootaloo explained. "Well, she was leading me to her house when I hit a rock and... Well, yeah."

"Um... What's a scooter?" Oceana asked.

"It's something to help you get places quicker than on hoof." Scootaloo explained.

"Oh, like a chariot?" Finn asked.

"You guys have chariots here, too?" Scootaloo lagged behind a bit, but managed to stay between Finn and Oceana.

"Of course! They're pulled by winged merponies, who go faster than most other merponies because of their wings." Oceana told Scootaloo.

"Really?" Scootaloo asked. "I didn't know that."

"You should be able to swim faster than us, you know." Finn said matter-of-factly. He and Oceana were the merpony equivalent to earth ponies.

"Well, the reason I'm going to Las Pegasus is because of my wings. They don't really work..." Scootaloo sighed. "I was bullied because of that and because I have no cutiemark. I'm going to receive training from someone very special."

"Cutiemarks? What are those?" Oceana asked.

"Well, they're like... Um... Symbols that appear on your flank when you find your special talent, I guess." Scootaloo replied. She never really thought about the definition of a cutiemark.

"If it makes you feel better, we have those too, but they're in the form of tail shapes and we call them our Callings." Oceana said. "Finn and I haven't found our Callings yet."

"Really? The you're like me!" Scootaloo smiled. "That means you know what it's like, right?"

"Well, we don't know what it's like for you, but me and Oceana try almost everything to find our Callings, but it never works." Finn spiraled through a shipwreck.

Scootaloo gasped. "That's just like me and my friends, we've tried a ton of stuff to get our cutiemarks!"

"Speaking of which, don't you miss your friends? I mean, don't they live in the place you're leaving?" Oceana asked.

"Well I do sort of miss them-" Scootaloo was cut off by Finn once again.

"We're here!" He pointed up ahead to a gigantic city with merponies rushing around.

"Woah... Way cool..." Scootaloo stopped to admire the illuminated buildings. Coral lined the short entrance way. Scootaloo was beginning to wish she had brought a camera with her to snap a photo of the amazing sight, but it would be ruined by the water.

"Aren't you coming?" Oceana asked.

"Sorry, it's just... This place is so beautiful!" Scootaloo said.

"Uh... Yeah. We've never really noticed, we were born and raised here so we never really cared." Finn pulled Scootaloo. "Come on, we have to go to Aqua's house! It's the big castle over there!"