I know that buzzing sound anywhere. That almost motor-like sound. That is Scootaloo's wing flaps. That must mean she's back!

Eagerly, I peek over the bottom edge of the window of the second story of our clubhouse. What I see makes me even more excited because, not only do I spot Scootaloo, but Apple Bloom as well. In this case, riding in Scootaloo's wagon like we usually do whenever we want to get somewhere in a hurry.

But I do spot one thing about them that concerns me and that is the frantic looks on their faces. This makes me very concerned that they are not coming here with good news.

Now feeling frantic myself, I look at the wooden platform I had blocking the entrance to the upper level of the clubhouse. I use my sickly greenish magic to levitate the platform out of the way. As I do so, a weird sort of emptiness fills inside of me as if I've grown hungry for . . . something. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it makes my chest feel cold. My fur would have stood up on end if I still had it.

I really don't like using this body’s magic. It doesn't feel like my own. It almost feels downright rude to use it, but regardless, sometimes it may be necessary.

Well, whatever. The way is now clear so I climb down to the main clubhouse in a hurry. Along my way down I happen to spot Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looking up at me.

“Get inside,” Scootaloo calls up to me. “We need to talk.”

“We both do,” Apple Bloom corrects.

“Okay. I'll meet you two inside,” I agree as I continue to make my way down into the clubhouse. As I do so, my club sisters make their way up to the clubhouse then burst in through the front entrance.

“What is it?” I ask them with worry.

“Big news, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom tells me.

“And not the good variety either,” Scootaloo warns, then shrugs. “Well, for the most part. Some of the news I have has a silver lining.”

The worry on my face visibly doubles as I ask, “I take it, then, that both Starlight and Button Mash are hurt?”

“Actually . . . yeah,” Apple Bloom concurs. “As ya know, Ah was dumped off at Button Mash's place first. Ah knocked on the door immediately, but there was no answer.”

“And, fortunately, I wasn't too far off,” Scootaloo adds. “I heard the knock but there was no answer. By then, I had taken off about a block but decided to backtrack out of concern. There, I noticed poor Apple Bloom standing at the front entrance and giving me a glum look while she shrugs.”

“Ah kept on a knocking juz in case they'd show up, but they didn't,” Apple Bloom resumes explaining.

“So I rejoined her and, together, we searched the house as thoroughly as we could without entering inside the house,” Scootaloo puts in.

“I.E. . . . checking all thah windows an' listen' fer anypony inside,” says Apple Bloom.

“Neither of us heard anypony,” says Scootaloo.

“Since that seemed to be a bust, Ah decided to join Scootaloo in searching fer Starlight after all,” says Bloom.

“So we went to Starlight's Castle next,” says Scoot.

“But Starlight ain't there neither,” says Bloom.

“However, fortunately for us, there were others who were in the castle that were able to explain to us where Starlight was,” says Scoot.

Apple Bloom lifts up her right yellow hoof as she explains, “The Ponyville Hospital.”

“Oh no!” I lament as my ears lower above my head.

“So we go there next to check in with Starlight,” says Scoot.

“An' we finally found 'er!” Apple Bloom cheers.

“Turns out she has a cracked horn,” reports Scoot.

“Noooo!” I moan sadly which still sounds so weird and uncomfortable with my manly, stranger's voice. “Will she be okay?”

“That's one of our pieces of good news!” Apple Bloom happily reports.

“Starlight has magic gauze wrapped around her horn,” Scootaloo explains. “It means she can't cast any magic safely for a few days, but the doctors are confident she will make a complete recovery after that.”

“Oh good!” I breathe a sigh of relief.

“We asked to see Starlight in order to check up on her,” says Bloom.

“Fortunately the doctors let us do that,” says Scoot. “Starlight was very much awake and aware.”

“An' it turns out she was anxious to see us, too,” Bloom added.

“Because of what seemingly happened to you,” Scoot elaborates. “She was just as anxious as we were for answers. In particular, she wanted to know if either of us had seen you.”

“What did you tell her?” I ask in concern.

Scootaloo lifts up an orange hoof as she says, “Before we got to that part, we made her promise to hear us out to the full and not make any rash judgments.”

“She said, 'Sure',” Bloom pleasantly reports.

“So we explained your situation to the best of our ability,” says Scoot. “We promised her that we were certain that you were Sweetie Belle despite your altered appearance.”

“How did she take that news?” I ask in concern.

“Eh . . . well . . .” Scootaloo trails off as she and Apple Bloom glance at each other for a moment with a look of uncomfortable uncertainty before Scootaloo faces me again and says, “Let's just say she took it with a grain of salt, but admitted that you were the one who seemed to be in the room before there was suddenly a changeling in your place. The possibility of you being transformed into a changeling honestly had already occurred to her, but if that is the case, she still doesn't know why.”

I look down in depression. “Which means she has no idea how to fix this either,” I figure.

“Uh-huh,” Scootaloo agrees with a nod of her head. “That said, she does want to see you in person and promises to keep an open mind. Furthermore, as soon as her horn recovers, she wants to run a battery of tests on you to confirm . . . something or another. I don't know. It sounded like egghead stuff to me at that point.”

“But that does mean she's open tah the possibility that ya are really Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom points out optimistically. “When she becomes fully convinced of that fact, an' Ah guarantee we'll make sure o' that, then she promises to do everything she can to help ya out.”

“Well that's good, I guess,” I say a little more cheerfully.

I grow worried again when I see Scootaloo look down and lower her ears. Whatever she has to say next, I realize it might be very bad news.

“What is it?” I ask with tentative worry.

Scootaloo still hesitates. She even looks at Apple Bloom beside her who, in turn, nods sadly that this next bit of news I need to hear.

“We . . . we did find Button Mash after all,” Scootaloo finally tells me with a pained expression in her eyes. “Actually, it was Starlight herself that reported that news to us first because she remembered how his cutie mark appeared on the Friendship Map.”

“Yeah, I remember that,” I confirm.

“That's why Starlight wanted to check on Button Mash too,” Scootaloo reports. “As it turns out, however, she didn't have to check that far. Button Mash was also delivered to the Ponyville Hospital.”

“Oh no!” I cry sadly, then ask with a very worried expression, “Why? What happened to him? Was it his illness? Did it get worse?”

“One thing is fer sure. Starlight is way better off than Button Mash because at least she could talk tah us,” Apple Bloom mopes sadly.

Scootaloo shakes her head as she says, “The doctors honestly don't know what's wrong with Button Mash, but the symptoms he's suffering from are somewhat familiar. In particular, do you remember the incident where Tirek drained the magic of many citizens within Equestria?”

“Sort of,” I tell her. “He didn't drain my magic, but I heard many other ponies elsewhere weren't so lucky. Instead of that, Tirek grew into a massive giant for some reason then tore up the place with giant beams of energy projected from between his horns. It wrecked our schoolyard, among other things.”

Scootaloo shakes her head and lifts her hoof, then says, “The point is, the symptoms themselves are familiar.” She returns her hoof to the floor. “Button Mash is drained of most of his color.”

I gasp in shock.

Which, again, sounds really weird in this stranger's body.

“Furthermore, his cutie mark is totally missing now,” Scootaloo further reports. “He's also unconscious and doesn't seem to respond to any stimulus.”

“His head seems to be more empty than a barrel with no bottom,” Apple Bloom puts in.

“In other words, no pony is home in there,” Scootaloo says sadly.

I feel like crying as I look down. Indeed, I do feel tears rise in my eyes. This is because I think back to the time I chose him as a target for the Cutie Map. If I had known that I ended up choosing a victim for something unfortunate then I never would have done that in the first place.

Poor Button Mash! This is all my fault! His ghostly-like echo of his voice while crying out my name may indeed haunt me for the rest of my days.

“Sweetie Belle, look at me!” Apple Bloom insists as she puts both of her forehooves on my shoulders. I cooperate. “This ain't yer fault, Sweetie Belle!” she assures me firmly while also proving she accurately read my mind. “Not no way. Not no how.”

“But it was me!” I cry out. “I was the one who chose him to be the target of the Cutie Map.”

“But you didn't know this would happen!” Scootaloo snaps. “Starlight didn't either,” she goes on insistently while gesturing beyond our walls towards Ponyville. “And we'll fix this because helping ponies is what we do for a living.”

“An' we do have one other piece of good news,” Apple Bloom puts in more cheerfully. “As bad off as Button Mash is, his condition is otherwise stable.”

“Really?” I ask with rising hope.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo agrees. “The doctors are baffled what happened to Button Mash, but they do agree that his condition isn't getting any worse. Not as long as they keep him on life support.”

“Life support?” I ask more sadly.

Scootaloo nods sadly as she says, “It's necessary to sustain him at this point but, as long as it continues, it buys us time.”

“Time we'll use to help solve this problem!” Apple Bloom cries out cheerfully with a curved swing of a forehoof.

I look down with worry as I say, “I'm really worried about Button Mash. I hope he's okay.”

“He's certainly not okay for the moment,” Scootaloo reports bluntly.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom complains to her for not softening that particular blow.

“But that's okay,” Scootaloo goes on to say, “because we're going to do everything in our power to change this. We won't stop till our dear classmate . . .” she pauses a moment as she flashes me a teasing grin, “. . . and your new special somepony is cured of whatever this fiasco is.”

“Really?” I ask with renewed rising hope.

“Hey! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo fiercely cheers. “And we never quit when the going gets tough. This is simply yet another challenge before us that we'll tackle and we'll keep on tackling until it gets all better.”

“YEAH!” the three of us cheer in unison. We even slam one of our forehooves together between us.

Now that definitely makes me feel better! By knowing that my club sisters are behind me one-hundred percent, I certainly feel empowered.

Author's Note

Definitely one of the shorter chapters of this story, I know, but an important one nonetheless. This chapter dealt more with the information Sweetie's club sisters are able to find which also puts more focus on their objectives.

And, of course, the Crusaders continue to be emotionally supportive for Sweetie. Helping other ponies is their thing, after all. I have to show that to remain in character for them.