The Broken Crusader

The sun peeked inside the window of a hospital room. It glinted in the patient's eyes, making them grunt and roll over.

The orange filly was having a dream about flying around Equestria with Rainbow Dash by her side. Rainbow Dash's signature rainbow streaked behind her, lighting up the blue sky with jubilant color. Scootaloo looked behind herself at the ever-expanding river of different shades of purple that originated from herself. Joy and pride coursed through her veins stronger than ever before.

The dream turned sour, however, as her mind recognized the day it was. She would be freed from the prison that was her hospital room. She remembered the day, only a few weeks ago, that she was just a joyful little filly. She just wanted to have fun and play foals' games with her friends, but that mistake would not be made again.

"Wakie wakie!" Pinkie Pie's cheerful face was just inches from Scootaloo's. She beamed joyously at the filly, who had a rather apathetic expression. "Time to go hoooome!"

"Hey, Pinkie, why are you here and not... well..." Scootaloo's voice trailed off. She did not want to say anything rude.

"Anypony else?" The party pony suggested. "Because I'm perfect for waking you up and putting you in a HAPPY, CAN-DO attitude!" She punctuated this statement with a giggle.

"Makes sense..." Scootaloo looked at herself. She still had casts on, but it would not hurt to move. There was no longer a need for a wrap on her head and her wings only needed a sling. This brought up a question inside of her that she feared the answer of. Would she be able to fly again?

With Pinkie Pie's help, Scootaloo got ready to go to her house. Twist should have been there to help her. Been there to greet her. There was not even any school that day, so she could not use that as an excuse. Did Twist simply not want to see her best friend?

That bitch.

"Are ya doin' okiedokie?" Pinkie Pie asked as she skipped merrily down the road with Scootaloo by her side. She had noticed the scowl that had been occupying Scootaloo's face. "Scootaloo? Are you being a pouty-wouty-grumpy-pants?" She asked childishly after a minute of silence.

"Would you like to come over for some candy that Twist made me?" Scootaloo rasped abruptly. Her tone had a dangerous edge that would have tipped off any intelligent pony that she was not planning to play around with Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie was too innocent to understand that Scootaloo had something sinister planned out in her mind just for her. "Candy? I LOVE CANDY!" She leaped with joy into the air and clapped her hooves. "Let's-go-let's-go, LET'S GOO!" Pinkie seemed to disappear as she charged full-speed ahead.

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Rainbow Dash and Ditzy Doo were side-by-side in the sky, kicking and swiping at the strange, dark clouds. Dash's rosy eyes were caught by the sight of the orange and purple filly and the pink mare trotting below. She wanted to join them to see what they were doing. She imagined how quick it would be, she was the fastest pegasus in Ponyville, after all.

"Rainbow Dash! You gotta stay focused!" Ditzy reminded, noticing the far-away look in her friend's eyes. "Remember: Just one pony not helping brings down the entire group."

"R-Right, heh." Dash shot forward abruptly, breaking through multiple clouds.

Not even Twilight Sparkle could explain the odd occurrence of these clouds, even after relentless research. The earth-ponies and unicorns that watched from Ponyville could only shout their words of encouragement and hope the pegasi could hear. Even with so much support and well-planned shifts and breaks, the pegasi were getting fatigued and nearly collapsing out of the sky.

As Rainbow Dash worked with complex maneuvers and swift turns, she found herself trying to figure out what could be causing the clouds. She knew this was stupid of herself, as she was no egg-head and was possibly the least qualified pony, but she could not stop herself.

The Everfree Forest has weather that moves by itself, she thought, maybe its dangerous weather is coming into Ponyville. Dash shook her head as if to dismiss the idea. If that were the case, it would be the first time in the history of Ponyville.

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Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo were seated at Scootaloo's kitchen table as they ate some of the confections Twist supplied her. The hard, wood planks of the table were scratched and in need of repair. Two, long benches were placed on either side of the table with haphazardly placed pegs holding up the benches.

The pink pony sat parallel across the table from the filly and had a small hill of candy piled in front of herself. Scootaloo only had a few sweets and had not taken a single bite. The taste would only remind her that Twist was a flake and did not really like her.

"Twist is really good at making candy! I should get her to help out around Sugar Cube Corner!" Pinkie Pie's constantly excited voice squeaked as she shoved a hoof-full of the candy into her mouth.

"Yeah, maybe..." Scootaloo sounded deflated and hazy. She poked at one of the candies, making it roll slightly.

She could not kill the Element of Laughter for practically no reason, that would make her the bad pony. If Pinkie was so good at making others laugh and smile, she was definitely holding back on Scootaloo, but that was not a good enough reason. She would just have to put a pin in this particular idea and hope that the chance surfaces again.

"Are you okay?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side cutely. "Wanna hear a joke?"

"Sure," Scootaloo forced her tone to be enthusiastic.

"So once there was this golf ball that had more dimples than the other golf balls, so he got bullied. Then one day, an elephant made friends with the golf ball. After that, nopony ever talked to a fish again!" Pinkie burst into almost hysterical laughter like this was the funniest joke ever told.

Scootaloo could not help but grin at the random nature of Pinkie Pie's jokes. The way that they never made sense made them seem like comedy gold, nopony could deny that. "Is that a new joke?"

"Yepperoo!" Pinkie finished off her candy in record time. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Oh- um..." Scootaloo reconsidered punishing Pinkie Pie in some way but decided against it. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for... um... cheering me up."

"See ya, Scoots!" The pink pony hopped to her hooves and skipped out of the house.

Where was Rainbow Dash? Still working on those stupid clouds? It had been so long, how could the clouds still be a problem? Maybe the clouds were not the problem. Maybe Scootaloo was the problem. Maybe Rainbow Dash did not want to see Scootaloo.

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"I'm telling you, Jay, this filly is hiding something from us!" Officer Asher tried to explain, a frantic tone to his voice. "That look in her e-"

"Maybe you just can't handle this case!" A pure white pegasus stallion with a short, navy blue mane and tail said sternly. "You are supposed to do your job as an officer and not pretend to be a detective! Do you want to be fired for this, Asher?!"

"You aren't a superior, you have no room to tell me-"

"You're being a fool, Asher." Jay's tone mellowed as he glared with disgust at Asher. "You did your part and now the actual detectives can do the rest."

"But this filly is doing something sinister, I swear!" Asher's horn lit up and a file floated in front of the pegasus. "One of her classmates, the one that was responsible for her 'crash', was supposedly attacked in an alley. Her cutie marks were skinned off."

"Ho-How did you find out about this? This is not your case!" Jay opened the file and his eyes widened as he read through it. It was tragic and heartbreaking to hear of a foal being a victim. "She said it herself that she was attacked in an alley, not by another filly."

"What if she's been threatened?! We'll never arrest the crimina-"

"Asher, you need to take some time off. Obviously, the pressure of these crimes involving foals is too much for you to handle. Go spend some time with your family, you need it," he gently set the file down on a desk and gave a concerned look to Asher.

"Please." Asher's tone was desperate and nearly choked. "Let me do this, I have a lead."

"Tell it to the ponies that are in charge of following leads, you are not qualified for this."

"You aren't qualified to give me orders! You are not my boss and you are not my mother!" Asher shoved past Jay and exited the office. He would find out what this little filly was hiding if it was the last thing he did.