An owl outside Rainbow Dash’s house hooted. It sounded like laughter.

The day overall had been a colossal failure, if she were to rate it by her plans. They hadn’t gotten anywhere near to exploring the sewers, but she supposed that helping Rarity would count for something.

As she got ready for bed, Rainbow was already planning out tomorrow’s activities. First, she needed to rally her friends again and go to explore the sewers in greater detail. She was sure that there was some clue in there that would lead to the discovery of Scootaloo’s location, alive or dead. After all, they might have even found a clue to Rumble’s whereabouts. Maybe if they could find him, they could find Scootaloo too.

Applejack seemed so sure that Scoots was dead; all the adults too. Rainbow sighed to herself. She looked at her reflection in her Wonderbolts mirror as she got into her sleepwear. She was still as awesome as ever, and she would be the one to find her young friend.

Climbing into bed, Rainbow reached for her copy of Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet. She had read this one many times before, but it was written so well that she couldn’t help but keep coming back to it.

She was just reaching her favorite part where Daring Do fought Caballeron’s henchmen on top of a speeding train when she heard a tap on her window.

Rainbow lowered her book and looked over. She had not drawn the curtains shut, so she had a fairly unobstructed view the house across the road.

The tapping came again, but Rainbow Dash could not see where it was coming from. Curious, she left her bed and walked over to the window.

At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. The street was quiet and tranquil.

Then something yellow flashed right in front of the glass. Rainbow swore and fell over backwards.

Once she had collected herself, the athlete stood back up and returned to the window. She gasped in shock.

“S-S-Scootaloo?”

It was in fact Scootaloo, dressed in a bright yellow raincoat with a hood. The same outfit her parents had said she was wearing the day she had vanished. Storm clouds had formed outside, reminding Rainbow of the day she had disappeared.

“Hi, Rainbow.” Scootaloo had a sad expression plastered over her face.

“S-Scootaloo! You’re a-alive! You’re alive! I knew you were!” Rainbow ran back over and threw the window open. “Wh-where have you been? All this time? I’ve been so worried!”

“I’m so sorry, Rainbow. I lost the ball. The ball you gave me. The red one with the signature. I’ve been looking for it.”

“Scootaloo, I wouldn’t care if that ball was gone. You know how important you are to me. It’s almost been a year since I last saw you. But I knew it! I knew you were still alive, Scoots. I just knew it!”

She reached a hand out to help her friend in, not even bothering that Scootaloo was somehow standing outside her second floor room’s window. But Scootaloo didn’t take it. She just continued to stand there, in the air, though now there was a grin on her face. A stark contrast to the expression she had on earlier.

“Come on, Scoots.”

The young girl didn’t make any effort to move. “Rainbow I wanted to take you somewhere. Somewhere I found.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Rainbow, if you come with me, you’ll bounce too. Don’t you want to bounce?”

The athlete looked at her friend, a little confused. She didn’t know what Scootaloo was going on about. “What do you mean? Where did you go?”

“I found a place, Dash. A good place. A nice place. A fun place. Come with me.”

Rainbow looked at her. Something about Scootaloo and what she was saying was odd, and for some reason, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand.

“I don’t… I don’t understand, Scootaloo.”

“What’s there not to understand?” The girl pressed her hands against the window frame. “If you come with me, you’ll bounce too. You’ll bounce too! You’ll bounce too, you’ll bounce too!”

Scootaloo began repeating if faster and louder with each breath, her mouth still widening and her eyes rolling back in her head as she continued.

Rainbow Dash took a few steps back instinctively, not believing what was going on. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be Scootaloo. She couldn’t be.

Suddenly, a long arm shot through Rainbow’s window from beside Scootaloo and grabbed her wrist, holding hard and fast, trying to drag her out. Rainbow screamed in surprise, then kicked her legs against her wall and tried to pull her arm away.

The arm continued to pull her, trying to get her out the window as Scootaloo giggled. “You’ll bounce too, you’ll bounce too!”

“No! Scootaloo! What’s going on?” Rainbow resisted.

All the while, Scootaloo continued to chant about bouncing. She made no move to help her friend.

Rainbow braced herself against the wall underneath the window, her athletic legs keeping her from being pulled any further. The arm’s grip did not loosen; as she watched in horror, Rainbow saw a garish face rise up over the window sill and stare at her hungrily. It looked like a deranged clown’s face, with white face paint and a red nose. But there was no joy or levity in those eyes.

“Come on, Rainbow!” the clown snarled. “Don’t you want to see young Scootaloo again?”

“Oh, no, no, no…” Rainbow squeaked. She felt her legs starting to buckle at the knees and she looked around for anything that might help her. Her eyes lit upon her hockey stick.

Grabbing it, Rainbow struck at the clown’s arm, using the hockey stick like an axe, chopping at the appendage ferociously.

The clown howled and let go of Rainbow, who fell backwards as the pressure vanished. She hit her head on the floor and saw stars, but she shook them away and scrambled away from the window, still holding her hockey stick.

All was quiet.

There was no sign of Scootaloo or that demon clown anywhere.

A few moments later, the door to her room was thrown open.

“Rainbow Dash!” It was her father. He was dressed in a nightgown with the Wonderbolts’ logo imprinted on them. “What is that ruckus! People are trying to sleep here!”

“C-Clown, dad!” She pointed out the window. “A clown tried to get me! An-and he’s got Scootaloo!”

Mr. Dash sighed. He, like everyone else, had known that Scootaloo and his daughter had been very close. When the former had died, Rainbow had been convinced that she was still alive somewhere, but several visits to a psychiatrist had concluded that this was just Rainbow’s way of coping. Sooner or later acceptance would sink in, and all anyone could do was be supportive.

“Look, Rainbow,” Mr. Dash said, coming closer. “I know you miss your friend. But you’re letting your imagination run away with you. Just go to bed. Everything will be better in the morning, you’ll see.”

“Dad, no, I really saw her!”

“No, you didn’t. Your mind’s telling you otherwise. Just listen, Rainbow. You’ll see. You’ll wake up tomorrow and realize there was never any Scootaloo or clown at your window. Besides, you’re on the second floor. What, do you think they can fly?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No, not fly, but… she… wanted to bounce…”

Mr. Dash sighed and patted his daughter on the head. “Just try to get some sleep, Rainbow. You’ve had a long day, and we all need our rest. Even Daring Do needs her sleep, don’t you know?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the window as her dad closed her room door. Outside, the first drops of rain began to make themselves known, pelting against the leaves of the trees on the street, making them dance in the darkness.

The athlete pushed herself to her feet and walked slowly towards her opened window, holding tightly onto her hockey stick. She didn’t get a good look at the clown, but she could swear she saw rows of sharp fangs in his mouth. But that all couldn’t be true. There was no way some deranged clown would attack her at her own home like that. Right? And there was no way they could be outside her second floor window. Right?

She looked out her window one last time, but didn’t see any signs that anyone had even been here. “Maybe I really was dreaming…”

Shutting her window, Rainbow crawled into bed and placed her face on her pillow and groaned. She was so obsessed over finding Scootaloo that she was now going crazy. Perhaps her dad was right. All she needed was a good night’s rest and she would be all better tomorrow morning.

“Just in time to search for Scootaloo again…” She smiled to herself.

As Rainbow Dash shut her lights off and drifted to sleep, she failed to hear the laughter of childrens’ voices coming from the drain beside her home.

Author's Note

A little short, but I hope it managed to entertain!
Cheers!