It was a late Thursday afternoon when Rainbow Dash exited the mouth of the Muddy Place’s sewer entrance for the fourth time that week, wiping muck and sweat from her forehead as she squinted at the orange summer sun above.

After so many hours down there, still nothing. No sign of Scootaloo, or even any sign of Rumble. They only thing worthy of attention seemed to be an old scribble of the words, ‘Do you want to know the truth about your parents?’, and she didn’t even know what that was supposed to mean.

It was as though everything was against her finding her friend.

“Ain’t nothin’ down here, Ah’m afraid…” Applejack removed her hat and fanned herself with it. “Seriously, Dash. Ah ain’t comin’ down here again. We ain’t gonna find nothin’.”

“I can’t believe she’s dead. I just can’t…” Rainbow clenched her fists. It had been her fault that Scootaloo was even missing today. “I need to find her, AJ.”

Applejack sighed. “Say ya do find her. Then what? What if ya find her dead? Can ya live with that?”

“Anything’s better than not knowing.”

Truthfully, Rainbow didn’t know what she would do if Scootaloo was indeed dead. But she couldn’t bare doing nothing, knowing that there was a chance she was still out there. But what if she did find her body instead? What then? Would she be able to handle that?

“Anyway, sun’s gettin’ real low.” The cowgirl looked up to the sky. “Ah think a much deserved milkshake is needed, don’tcha think?”

After a moment of silence, Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, okay…”

“Ah’ll ring up the others. See if they wanna join us.”

Rainbow went over to splash some of the stream’s water in her face before following Applejack out of the Muddy Place. The walk over to Sugarcube Corner didn’t take long, and when they got there, Fluttershy and Rarity were already waiting inside, waving them over to a table, though they both looked high strung, as though they were on the lookout for something.

“Hey, girls, what’s up.” Applejack scooted into the booth beside them. “Y’all okay?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“I… I think it’s time we talk about something…” Rarity held a cup of hot chocolate to her face. “I thought maybe I was going crazy, but… I think there might be more to this than we thought.”

“Ooh boy, I love talks!” Pinkie suddenly slid over beside their table. “What are we talking about?”

Rarity gulped, her fingers squeezing tighter around the mug in her hands. “Remember a few days back? When I said I was… was at-attacked…?”

“Wel, you didn’t say what exactly…” Rainbow scratched her head. “But you said something about sludge in your boutique?”

The fashionista nodded slowly. “It was-wasn’t just that… It was chasing me down M-Maple Road… Like it was alive. It shot mor-more ooze at me. That’s what burnt me. That’s what burnt a hole through the railing…”

Rainbow vaguely recalled Rarity talking about a hole when they were heading to the pharmacy, but a sentient ooze? That sounded a little weird, and they’d faced a flying demon.

“Th-that’s not all…” Rarity shivered. “After that… After that it… it… It changed.”

“Changed?” Applejack leaned closer on the table and squinted. “What’dya mean changed?”

Rarity inhaled. “The oo-ooze. It wasn’t ooze anymore. It became a… a cl-cl…”

“A c-clown…” Fluttershy finished for her.

“Clown?” Applejack said a little too loudly. “Are ya makin’ things up now?”

Rarity shook her head.

“I-I saw it too… This clown.” Fluttershy looked down. It at-attacked me when I was in Ra-Rarity’s car…”

“Attacked? Come on.” Applejack snapped her fingers. “Ain’t no clowns gonna be attackin’ anyone like that. They’d get caught. Ain’t that right?”

“Clown, huh?” Pinkie Pie sank lower next to the table. Very unlike her. “Did this clown have orange hair and a silvery suit?”

“Not one of your hunches again, Pinks?”

“Uh uh.” She shook her head, her eyes fixated on the table. “I saw him too.”

Rainbow sat there silently. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It couldn’t be. That night she had dreamt of Scootaloo, she’d seen the clown too. The clown had tried to pull her out the window. But it was just a dream, right? Scootaloo had been there too. Unless…

“Scootaloo. She’s alive!” Rainbow suddenly exclaimed.

“Uh, what?” Applejack’s eyebrows went up.

“I thought I had been dreaming.” Rainbow stood up. “Scootaloo was outside my window. She wanted me to go with her. Somewhere that we could bounce or something. Then the clown tried to pull me out of my window, but I taught him who’s boss with my hockey stick. I thought it was a dream, but if you girls saw it too, then Scootaloo’s alive! She’s alive!”

“Now y’all crazy too.” Applejack shook her head. “Ya know how ridiculous that sounds, Rainbow?”

“The clo-clown said that too…” Fluttershy said. “That w-we can bounce.”

“He said the same to me too!” Pinkie nodded.

“Y’all saw the same clown?” Applejack’s conviction seemed to waver. “This uh, shapeshiftin’ clown?”

Fluttershy and Pinkie shared their encounters with the clown as well. For Fluttershy, a mad dog had attacked her before the clown appeared, while Pinkie had become invisible to everyone before the clown tried to choke her out. The clown had spoken to Pinkie about fear, and Rainbow knew from her many years with Pinkie that the girl was afraid of being rejected, of being left out. Rarity was afraid of dirt and anything that would make her dirty. Was that what the ooze was about?

“This clown… It knows our fears?” Fluttershy asked, trembling. “Because th-that dog I s-saw… It was suffering so so much… It was so sa-sad…”

Rainbow thought hard about it. The clown hadn’t assumed any fears for herself. All she saw was Scootaloo outside her window. Or was that it? Deep down, she knew it had been her fault Scootaloo disappeared. She was afraid. She was afraid to find out that Scootaloo was really dead and it was because of her choices that day.

“So this clown, uh, it turns into… what you fear?” Applejack had to be sure.

“Looks that way.” Pinkie shrugged and spun a donut on a finger.

“But why?”

“Do you think it’s another creature from Equestria?” Rarity took a sip from her mug. “Something that’s come here for power, like Sunset Shimmer.”

“Wouldn’t be surprising if it was.” Rainbow leaned back and clucked. “But how do we beat it? Twilight’s already gone back. We’re on our own here.”

“What if we weren’t afraid o’ anythin’?” Applejack took off her hat and ran a finger on its rim. “He can’t scare ya if ya ain’t got a fear.”

“The trouble with that tactic, darling,” Rarity said. “Is that everyone is afraid of something.”

“I’m Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash.” The athlete folded her arms and smiled smugly. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“But the clown appeared to ya too, dinnit?” Applejack asked. “What did it show ya?”

“I just saw Scootaloo. She wanted me to join her. Then the clown tried to get me.” Rainbow’s bravado broke for a second. “Okay, I am afraid.
I’m afraid of what I might find out about Scootaloo. I’m afraid she might be dead because of me.”

“Well, there ya have it. Hay, we’re all afraid. Ah’m afraid a’ bats. Those varmints are always eatin’ my apples. But that clown hasn’t appeared to me yet. Why’s that?”

“How should any of us know, dear?” Rarity finished her hot chocolate and set the mug down. “We don’t even know why this clown wants us.”

“Do you think… this clown could be behind the disappearances?” Fluttershy gulped and looked around. “All those missing kids…”

“That might just be the case.” Applejack rubbed her chin. “But what does it want them for?”

“Maybe it’s like Sunset. It wants that magic from Equestria. Remember when we all were imbued with magic? What if it’s still there.”

“What, you mean we can use this magic when we want?” Pinkie grinned. “That would be amazing! But how do we even know that?”

“What if…” Rarity’s eyes suddenly widened. She looked like she had a plan. “Do you think Sunset Shimmer would know anything about this?”

“What, ya think she’s behind this?”

The fashionista shook her head. “Not behind it, no. But what if she knows why this clown is… doing what it’s doing. She may have something that could help us stop this.”

“I don’t know about this…” Rainbow Dash said slowly. “If Sunset had some kind of magic, don’t you think that she would have used it against us back at the Fall Formal?”

“I didn’t say she has magic! I said maybe she may know something about that.”

“Rarity has a p-point.” Fluttershy wiped at her mouth with a tissue. “If that clown is from Equestria, she might know something.”

“Where are we going to find Sunset though?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s not like we even know where she lives. And she obviously won’t be at school during the break.”

“Maybe we can ask around?”

“What if the clown’s already appeared to her?”

“Why does that matter?”

“She came in here earlier today.”

All heads turned to Pinkie, who stood by their table, nodding.

“Yeah!” Pinkie’s grin widened. “She came in forrrr… was it a bagel or a donut? Bagel! She came in for a bagel and a coffee this morning. She looked beat.”

“Don’t tell me Trixie’s still picking on her?” Rarity sighed and leaned on a hand. “It’s summer. You’d think she would stop.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

“Did she come by too?” Applejack asked. “Trixie, Ah mean.”

“Yeah. She came with her two sidekicks. They’re going to the Muddy Place or something. They were carrying this huuuuuge water balloon. It was all brown and stuff.”

“Y-You don’t think…”

“Sounds like enough of a clue.” Rarity dabbed her mouth with a napkin and got up. “If Sunset’s to be anywhere today, Trixie would know. Let’s go.”

“Yeah. The faster we figure all this out, perhaps the faster we find Scootaloo!” Rainbow agreed enthusiastically.

“What about our milkshakes?” Applejack turned to look at the counter, but sighed and got up as her friends began to leave the cafe.

Author's Note

Another chapter here! I apologize that it's a while between chapters, but it seems I'm not cut out for stories like this. It's taking a while to solidify the ideas and the execution needs work too. If all else fails, I'll have to put this on hiatus while I get ahead with the content. I hope y'all understand. That is, if it's still enjoyable, haha. Cheers.

If there's any feedback about anything I can improve, I would be most grateful. Thanks, y'all.