Beyond Infinity

Chapters

Prologue
Built To Fall
Crack The Skye
Color Your World
Surrender
Alpenglow
Deconstruction
Beyond This Life
Scenes From A Memory
Erised
Drive Home
A Nightmare To Remember
Wait For Sleep

Prologue

I didn't want to be here. I shouldn't have to be here, but the sad reality of it is that I am here. My dog had recently become very ill; it came on without warning. He had been full of energy, full of life just days before. But over the past couple of days, his strength gradually dwindled lower and lower until it became a chore for him just to get up a flight of stairs. None of us; not me, not my mom, not my dad or anyone else had any idea what was happening. The doctors say it's a rare blood condition that you only see in an animal hospital maybe twice a year. If untreated, it can be fatal.

Lucky me.

I closed my eyes and tried to immerse myself in my music; this particular song was very dark lyrically-speaking and I regretted putting on this song given the circumstances, but at that point I just wanted to hear it out.

All of a sudden I heard a noise outside the music. I pulled off my headphones and saw the doctor standing in the doorway looking in my direction, in a way that indicated that he wanted my attention. As I walked over to him, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up. I've got a bad feeling about this... I thought.

One look at his face was all it took. I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't believe it, I refused to believe it; what he was implying was impossible. It was not happening. I rejected this reality, but then the doctor spoke. Two words were all he needed:

"I'm sorry."

That's all it took. I collapsed onto the hospital floor and burst into tears like a baby; my dog, my only reliable friend in this town, he was gone. I had no one. I had nothing left.

*************

The orange filly galloped as fast as her legs would carry her. She was beyond exhausted, the movements had long since stopped becoming painful; they had become as natural for her as breathing but as mechanical as the treadmill she ran on. How much longer can I keep this up? she thought hazily. She began to push herself harder, pushing her endurance to its limits. Her muscles screamed in protest but she kept moving, the effort becoming meaningless.

"STOP!"

Scootaloo heard the yell and immediately collapsed into a heap as the machine began to slowly shut down. Dr. Arias walked up to her. "You performed very well, how are you feeling after today's session?"

Desperately gasping for air, Scootaloo responded, "Why...do we...have to do this...on...a school day?"

Dr. Arias sighed. "Ms, as long as you are in my care, we must stick to procedure. Until we see a significant improvement, we must continue to go at this pace. Your wings are still lacking in development and I am doing my best to help with your growth to match that of your classmates." He glanced out the window, distracted by a passing pegasus. He looked back at his patient and saw that, while her breathing was returning to normal, there was a look in her eyes that suggested the pain she endured today was far more than mere physical pain.

He gave a empathetic sigh. Scootaloo was one of his favorite patients and yet he knew next to nothing about her, except that her wings simply weren't growing as fast as they should be. She was incredibly athletic given the circumstances; she was essentially an earth-pony with wings at this stage. But still, there should be a reason as to why she has these wings and why they are not yet grown. I will get to the bottom of this.

"Scoot, I'm sorry, I know we've talked about this...but where are your parents?"

Scootaloo heard the words but she had no answer. The truth was that she didn't really know the answer herself; it wasn't the therapy that had her at a loss for words. It was another day of facing up to her suffering, her missing family hurting her more than any physical pain ever could.

That day in the animal hospital was about two months ago. That day at physical therapy happened around the same time. So much has happened. Our lives have gone in inexplicable directions. As you just read, my dog is gone, and Scootaloo's wings still aren't growing like they should. But shortly after my dog died, something incredible happened. Impossible even. Our lives changed. Our paths crossed.

This is that story. The story of how our realities were sent into Oblivion.

Built To Fall

"Hey man can I get a pack of Newports?"

I turned and said “Sure, lemme see your ID boss." Without glancing to see if they were digging through their wallet for it, I reached back for the cigarettes he wanted. I turned back to the guy glaring at me angrily. Inwardly I sighed; it had been this kind of day and I still had six hours to go.

"What, do I look fucking 19 to you?" The guy snarled. Truthfully I thought he was my age but I didn't say it to his face; 19 wouldn't have been far off.

"Sir, I'm just trying to do my job, I have to check ID if you appear under 27." I calmly replied. It takes a lot to phase me and this guy was nowhere near my breaking point.

"My ID's in the fucking car, are you really going to fucking make me go out there and get that shit, and hold up this fucking line? Don't be inconsiderate, I'll just tell you my birth date and we'll both be moving on." The guy said. I didn't bother to point out that there were children in line and that his swearing wasn't really helping his case, but I didn't push the point. I entered in his date without the ID and sold him the box. I was tired and still had so much more work to do. 'Tis the season I thought miserably. There were still shelves to be stocked and tagged, tags to be pulled and replaced, customers to help and I had to make the store look clean on my own.

"Thanks, have a great fucking day you dumbass." The guy took his cigarettes and left. "Have a good evening sir!" I called out in response. The guy shot me the bird and angrily walked out of the store. Again, I inwardly sighed. It had been like this the past few weeks and it wasn't going to be any easier now that it was Christmas season. It also doesn't help that...

I immediately cut off my own thought and tried to put on a cheerful face. Faking emotions was becoming far too easy; I had the next customer in and out before I had even gotten my mind back to reality. I absentmindedly began tapping out a beat on the counter and smiled for the next customer. "Hi, how are you? Good! Do you have your card with you today..."

The day went on in a similar fashion. Every so often I would get a nice customer and every so often I'd get a terrible customer, such is the way of life. Of course, my job being pretty mindless, my thoughts often drifted into a dark place. It had only been a few days since I had dug the hole that now held my dog. Donut had been my friend for 7 years, and only one other person in my life could claim that. People have a sad tendency to come and go rather quickly in my life and sometimes I’m to blame. Sometimes I'm not, but the mind doesn't always work that way. When you get into that frame of mind, it's always your fault; it was always something you said, it was always something you did, it was always a promise you broke, it was always a mistake you made, it’s never someone else's. It’s always yours. I shook my head vigorously, trying to shake it all off.

Absentmindedly I stuck my hand into my pocket, I felt an odd lump and smiled without meaning too. You see, over the past year, I had developed a strange interest. That interest was in a children's television show, but not just any show, a show specifically for little girls.

This show is, of course, My Little Pony. Yep, I'm a brony.

I'm the only brony I know personally. I've met some online but other than random encounters with people wearing a t-shirt, I've never met anyone else. Not many of my friends know, and the ones that do think I'm a nutcase for it, but whatever. Reaching back into my pocket, I pulled out my blind-bag Twilight Sparkle. There were times when I really sympathized with her; she tried so hard to be perfect, to be the best, like no one ever was...

Ahem. Sorry, wrong show. Like I was saying, when Twilight planned something, it had to go EXACTLY as planned. Down to the line. If it didn't, I got stressed, I got worried, I wouldn't have as much fun as I would have otherwise. From what I had seen, Twilight was the exact same way. That being said though, I like Twilight and all, but my favorite pony was actually...

"DAVID!" my manager yelled across the store. Yep. That's me.

I sighed, put Twilight back in my pocket and walked over, it was close to the end of my shift and I was looking forward to being off. I was going to stop by the local guitar center and pick up some new strings for my new guitar, which my friend would be delivering to me sometime next week. I was really excited for her to visit; she hadn't seen my new house yet.

But of course, it's not next week yet. It's still this week, and the tone of voice my manager was employing suggested that there was more work to be done. "What's up Jackie?" I replied as I walked over. She had a look on her face that implied she was holding back some harsh words.

"Why are there no sales signs up on display?" she asked me a little too casually. I had been busy taking down sales signs from this week and hadn't gotten started on next weeks.

"I've been working on getting this weeks signs down and I've also been ringing customers; we've been pretty busy." I replied. It was a waste of my breath; she had been in the office the whole time and has already seen evidence of this on camera. My head was starting to really hurt, which meant I was crashing from my energy drink. I was not in any kind of mood to answer questions she already knew the answer to.

"David, we need those signs up; it's the holiday season and people are going to be asking us about what's on sale." She paused. "I need you to stay another 4 hours tonight."

"What???!?" I heard what she had said but I couldn't believe it. I was already pushing overtime as a part-time employee and this would mean a 12 hour day, another 8 hours tomorrow, and 6 hours early the following morning. I already felt horribly exhausted and I didn't think I had another 4 hours in me. "Jackie, I'm exhausted, and I'm already working tomorrow and monday morning. I need sleep."

"I don't care. We NEED those signs up as soon as possible and I've got other things I need to be doing. I can't be wasting my time with sales signs." she replied.

Now. In retrospect, I don't regret anything that has happened. The past several weeks have been among the most incredible of my life, in more ways than one. That being said, what happened next probably could have been avoided.

"Jackie, I'll be blunt with you. I'm tired. I need sleep. Have someone else do the signs; I'm off in 10 minutes and I want to go home." I tersely replied.

She sighed. "David, we've been having issues with you as it is. Your registers have closed low the past several days. You aren't carding for cigarettes. Do what I say or I can't be responsible for your job security."

I took a deep breath before responding. "I've already told you. Go check the tapes. I'm not stealing money. I'm carding anyone that looks under 27, just like the rule says. Don't question my judgement; I know what I'm doing. And right now, I'm going to finish what I was doing and going to bed." I turned to walk away.

"David, either stay and put out the sales signs, or you're fired." I slowly turned around and Jackie was wearing a sort-of triumphant smile. I slowly turned back around. "I knew you'd see things my way," she finished.

This is probably where I should have kept my mouth shut, but let's face it; you've all wished you could say this to your boss at least once.

"Jackie, take those sales signs and shove them up your old crusty vagina. I quit." I took off my name tag, threw it on the counter, and walked out the store. "I've had enough." I said as I walked out.

It was a cold winter day outside. I walked over to my car and immediately turned the heat up to the max. Second thing I did was blast the radio. First song that played was a real thrashy song; it fit my mood perfectly. "Awesome, at least something goes right." I muttered. I drove out of the parking lot and floored it. The guitar store was the opposite direction but I didn't care. I just wanted to go home and take a nap. I'd worry about my guitar and my job situation later. There weren't too many cars on the road so it was relatively easy to weave in and out of the lanes at top speed.

Sadly, this also made it easy for the undercover cop to tail me and pull me over.

Can you tell I'm having a bad day? I'll skip that dialogue for you. If you've never gotten a speeding ticket, it's basically always the same: "Do you know how fast you were going son?" "Sorry officer, it won't happen again." "License and registration." "K" "K, here's your stuff back, here's your ticket, sign here, pay the ticket or come to court, kthxbai." Nothing really interesting, although I admit I was fighting back tears most of the rest of the way home. I couldn't take this anymore. Something needed to happen for me. Something nice. Something good.

After a few minutes I got home. I first sent a text to my friend Laura, who I mentioned earlier. If anyone would be willing to listen to me bitch about how my day had gone, it would be her. Then I attempted to regain my composure. It would not be good to walk into my house screaming about how much life was starting to suck. I turned off the car, and went to get out, when I noticed something was off. Then I realized what it was.

"God fucking dammit" I thought to myself. Apparently, I had been driving most of the ride home with a cracked windshield. How did I miss that? How am I going to pay for it without a job? Again, I had to stop and regain my composure, because the shit was starting to pile up and this was another item on the "Last thing I need to happen" list that I could check off.

I walked into the house. Everyone was casually eating dinner. “Hey, David’s home! How was your day?” asked my dad.

“Ehhhh. I don’t really want to talk about it, can I just head upstairs? It’s been a long day.” I despondently replied.

My parents shared a quick glance, but replied, “Sure, we’ll be here if you want to talk.”

“Thanks. G’night guys.”

I trudged up the stairs, looking forward to sleep’s sweet release. It had been one helluva day. I shut the door to my room, and without looking I went to fall into my bed. I would have just stopped moving however I landed and fallen asleep. Although, it may have been a good idea to look where I was going. Had I been paying attention, I would have seen the small orange horse sitting comfortably on my bed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” It screamed, immediately leaping from my bed onto my desk.

My eyes snapped wide open and I immediately looked for the source of the noise. “Holy shit!” I yelled just as loudly, recoiling in shock. But then I took a closer look, and I saw the creature for what it really was.

“YOU ALMOST CRUSHED ME! WHAT’S YOUR PROB...MMFFFMFPHHHF” its speech muffled by my hand. I had to think fast, and hey, it might not have been pleasant for her, but I didn’t want my parents to see or hear her.

“David, what was that?” my mom called upstairs.

I quickly made the universal “Shhhh!” sign with my mouth, and the filly calmed down somewhat. “Nothing mom! Just stepped on my phone charger. Sorry for swearing!” I looked back to the filly. “I’m going to take my hand away. Don’t yell, don’t scream. I’m a friendly guy but I need to know what the hell is going on and how you got here. Do you think you can explain that to me?”

The filly nervously nodded. I gave a warm smile. “Good. My name is David.” I took, my hand away and offered to shake. She nervously backed away, and I sighed. "Perfect"... I thought. I had been hoping for something to happen, I get it, and she doesn’t like me. That would be how this goes. Although I was pretty sure I knew the answer, I had to ask: “Will you tell me your name at least?”

She shook her purple mane out of her eyes and said “I’m Scootaloo.”

My heart began to soar. I mentioned earlier that I could somewhat relate to Twilight, but Scootaloo had always been my favorite character on the show, for a multitude of reasons. And now she was in my house! How did this even happen? What was going on? My mind was starting to hurt just thinking about what this meant. I opened my mouth to ask her something, but then her eyes got wide and she squealed.

“WHAT’S THAT DASHIE MODEL YOU HAVE?” she screeched, hopping onto my bed and heading towards my dresser. I turned, and noticed she was trying to reach for my blind-bag dashie toy.

“Whoa whoa whoa, easy!” I said. “Please keep it down, we’ll play with the toy in a minute, but I need to figure out what’s going on.” I rubbed my temples, thinking. She was obviously not worried about where she was right now. That was good at least. Getting her to trust me would be a whole different ball game. But it was a start. “Look Scootaloo, I don’t know why you’re here, but let’s figure out as much as we can about this whole thing. You probably want to know where you are, for example.”

She turned to me. “Yeah that might be a good idea. Who are you, where am I, and why am I here?” she asked.

“My name is David. I’m what’s known as a human,” I began.

“A human? You mean those things Lyra is always talking about?” Scootaloo asked quickly.

I chuckled. “Yeah, I’m one of those. As far as where you are, just know you’re safe here. As far as why you’re here?” I paused. “I...I don’t know. Maybe if you tell me how you got here, I might be able to explain.” I was still trying to wrap my head around all of this. But the more I knew, the easier it would be.

Scootaloo thought for a moment, then responded, “I’m not sure how I ended up HERE...but maybe I can tell you what I was doing before I got here?”

“Sure, that would be fine.” I replied.

Crack The Skye

Scootaloo zipped through town on her scooter. She was already late for class so she had to pull some major moves to make it through the pony folk that were passing by.

“Sorry Dr. Whooves! My bad Bon-Bon! Whoa, sorry about your wig Mrs. Cake!” she called out rapidly as she zoomed through. The physical therapy session had left her drained, but if there was one thing she felt absolutely confident in, it was her skills on her scooter. She was doing well, until she nearly took out a green earth pony.

"Next time why don't you learn to DODGE?" the green pony yelled angrily.

"Sorry mister!" Scootaloo yelled back. She was almost to the schoolhouse now. "I wonder what we'll be learning about in class today..." she thought. Ms. Cheerilee's class had just finished learning about multiplication and division, and she had said that the next few lessons would be in the area of science. "Finally, I'm here!" Scootaloo exclaimed. She parked her scooter outside and slowly trotted to the door. She didn't want to cause a disturbance; this wasn't the first time she had been late because of physical therapy, and while she knew Cheerilee would understand she still felt bad about interrupting her. Scootaloo slowly walked into class and tried not to draw attention to herself. "Almost to my seat..."

"SCOOTALOO!" Cheerilee called out. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon smirked. "Crap" thought Scootaloo.

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee?"

"I don't appreciate you arriving late to my class. This is not the first time this has happened and I don't want to see this becoming a bad habit." Cheerilee said sternly. "But luckily for you, we're just getting started, so you haven't missed anything. Go ahead and take your seat." Scootaloo sullenly took her seat as Diamond Tiara snickered. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned and gave her a quick sympathetic look before Cheerilee resumed her teaching.

"As I was saying class, today we will be beginning to learn about a whole new world! We will be learning about...Outer Space! It should be very exciting!" Cheerilee said with an almost giddy grin. Her class didn't share in her enthusiasm though. Scootaloo was still trying to catch her breath, Sweetie Belle had a blank look on her face, and Silver Spoon just looked bored. Cheerilee sighed. "As you all know, we have two wonderful princesses that watch over us. Celestia controls the sun and it's movements, while her younger sister Luna controls the moon and it's movements. They each control one half of a day. However, as you may notice, there are many differences between Celestia's day and Luna's night. Can any of you point out these differences?"

Apple Bloom raised her hand. "Um, Luna's night has lotsa stars and Celestia's day doesn't have any?"

Cheerilee smiled. "Very good observation Apple Bloom! Besides the moon, Luna does a lot more work than most ponies realize. Luna designed the night sky many years ago, long before she became Nightmare Moon. Much of the beauty of the night goes unnoticed, because we ponies need sleep. All of those stars are actually other suns in outer space!"

Twist frowned. "But Ms. Cheerilee, if those stars are all other suns, does Celestia control those too?"

"Good question, Twist! We know that Celestia controls our Sun, the one we see every day, but the truth is that we don't know much about those other suns. We know that they're out there, and that some are bigger than ours, while some are smaller!" replied Cheerilee.

The class began to murmur among themselves. "Other suns?" "No way!" "I wonder if there are other princesses!"

Cheerilee couldn't help but smile again. This was exactly what she wanted to have happen. Her students imaginations were running wild and hopefully this would motivate them to go out and learn more about the world around them. "Any other differences you might notice between the Day and Night?"

Featherweight called out, "I think the moon changes; I took pictures of it one night, but it was a different shape a week later! How does it do that, Ms. Cheerilee?"

"Another great question, thank you Featherweight! You see..."

The class went on like this for the rest of the day. Scootaloo and her classmates all had excellent questions for Cheerilee. Cheerilee also went into a little detail about how the princesses did her job, and even revealed a little bit of knowledge that was amazing to the students but common knowledge to most other residents of ponyville (for example, even now that she was no longer imprisoned there, Luna spent most of her time on the moon. She even had her own palace there, as well as her own carriage that she enjoyed driving around from time to time). Cheerilee taught them about the movements of the Sun and the Moon, about how to recognize constellations, and many other things about the cosmos. After this class, many students noted to one another that Luna actually did much more work than any of them realized. Celestia had many royal duties, sure, but Luna's night sky required much more maintenance than any of them had ever realized, and that impressed them.

As the class went on, Scootaloo's mind began to slip away. She was beginning to feel the effects of the physical therapy. Her limbs began to ache and her attention continued to wane. She tried paying attention but she soon found herself imagining what it would be like to go somewhere else...to not have to deal with physical therapy, to not have to deal with the bullies, to not have to deal with the holes in her heart. Not only did she not have full grown wings, but she didn't have her cutie mark. She had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Sure, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and herself would probably remain good friends for a while, but what would happen when Apple Bloom got her cutie mark? And then Sweetie Belle? Or what if she got hers first? Would they still accept her as a friend? These thoughts occupied Scootaloo the rest of the class and she began to feel moody. So it came as a relief when Cheerilee called out:

"Alright class, this was an excellent lesson! You are all really smart kids and know just what to ask! But class is nearly over and I am going to give you some homework..." there was a collective groan throughout the classroom; even in Equestria, no one likes homework. "Yes yes I know, I'm such a mean teacher!" said Cheerilee with a grin. "Your homework is to talk to somepony about outer space, and see what they know! Also, you are to stay up to see the moon rise at least once this weekend, and tell me what else you see in the night sky!" At that moment, the bell rang. "Ok, class dismissed!" The fillies and colts began to file out of the classroom, but then "Oh, Scootaloo, please wait a moment."

Scootaloo glanced up at Cheerilee, then back at her friends. "You don't think she's mad at me for being late, do you?" She asked them nervously.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." said Apple Bloom.

"It can't be that bad; you know Ms. Cheerilee!" added Sweetie Belle. "Besides, being late can't possibly be as bad as the time we almost poisoned her and big mac!"

Scootaloo laughed. "Ah, you guys are right. Meet you guys at the clubhouse in a few!"

"Alright, see ya then Scoots!" said Apple Bloom. They waved to each other, then Scootaloo turned to face Cheerilee.

"What is it, Ms. Cheerilee?" Scootaloo asked.

Cheerilee sighed. "Scootaloo, this isn't the first time you've been late to my class. This has been a bad habit of yours lately. I know you've explained that you need to attend physical therapy, but can't you schedule it after class? Or not on a school day?"

Scootaloo looked down, somewhat ashamed. "Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. It's not always up to me; Dr. Arias makes those decisions; he says he has other patients with more pressing problems." This was only partially true. While there were other ponies with more urgent problems, Scootaloo had volunteered to take those earlier appointments, so that the Doctor could give more time to patients who needed it more. She had felt bad about taking away the more convenient times from everypony else, and it wasn't their fault she wasn't growing. "I'll try and talk to him about having more appointments on the weekends."

Cheerilee's expression softened. "I would very much appreciate this, Scootaloo. I don't want to overwork you; I can only imagine how difficult those appointments are." She paused. "Is...is there anything else you would like to talk about?"

"Why don't I have my cutie mark? How can I deal with the fact that my best friends might abandon me? Who am I supposed to turn to? Where are my mom and dad? Do I have any family? What am I supposed to do with myself?" "No, Ms. Cheerilee. I guess I'll go meet Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and try to come up with a plan for this homework."

"Now that sounds like a wonderful idea." said Cheerilee, now with a small smile on her face. "And Scootaloo...if you need to talk about anything, please feel free to come by."

"Don't worry Ms. Cheerilee, I will!" replied Scootaloo. "Bye! See you on Monday!"

****************

"So what'd y'all think about Ms. Cheerilee's lesson today?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I thought it was cool!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle. "I had no idea Princess Luna did all that! I wish we could talk to her about all of it; it would make this homework SOOOO much easier!"

"Yeah, then we'd have more time for Crusading!" complained Scootaloo. "I was talking to Pinkie Pie the other day, she was going to help us out this weekend!"

"Really?" asked Apple Bloom with a hint of nervousness. Pinkie's last attempt at helping her get her Cutie Mark sent four ponies to the hospital and shut down Sugar Cube Corner for a week.

"Yeah, but now with this homework we won't have any time for crusading!" Scootaloo said sadly.

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. "Hey, I think I remember Rarity saying that Pinkie Pie needed to talk to Twilight about something. Why don't we go see Twilight at the library? We might run into Pinkie Pie while we're there, and even if we don't, Twilight can always help us with our homework for Cheerilee's class!"

"Hey, that's a great idea!" exclaimed Apple Bloom. "That oughta give us plenty of time for crusadin!"

"Excellent!" yelled Scootaloo with glee.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TO THE LIBRARY!"

The girls high fived and giggled as they walked out the clubhouse. They gathered their things up and headed out for the library. Even though it was a fair distance they decided to walk; it was a nice day outside and Scootaloo was admittedly still worn out from her physical therapy.

It was a beautiful autumn day. One might describe it as "crisp." Leaves were falling, the sun was shining but not too bright, there was a slight breeze but not too cold. It was just right. The girls walked and chatted animatedly about recent events, occasionally bursting into laughter causing passerby to stare. They were just about to Sugarcube Corner when Sweetie belle asked, "Hey, Apple Bloom, how's your cousin Babs doing? I miss her, it was fun having a new member here, even if for a little while and even if she was a big bully to us at first!"

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted. "Yeah, we miss the cooool Babs, too bad you lame brain blank flanks took her away from us!"

The CMC shared a look and groaned. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came out of the Bakery giggling and laughing at the girls. "What do you want?" Scootaloo said warily.

"We don't want anything to do with YOU girls," said Silver Spoon maliciously. "We were just wondering when cool Babs is coming back!"

"The babs we have now IS cool!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle. "You don't need to be a bully to be cool."

"Yeah, I'd rather be a blank flank than a stuck-up bully like you two!" fired Scootaloo.

Diamond Tiara looked angry. "I'd rather be a stuck up bully than a Pegasus who can't fly!"

The CMC had taken many insults from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and even Babs for a little while. Even townsfolk had said mean things to them during the whole "Gabby Gums" incident, although in that case it was well-deserved. This however, had crossed the line for Scootaloo.

"TAKE IT BACK!" she yelled. She began to charge towards Diamond Tiara with no fear whatsoever. There'd be consequences, sure, but in Scoots mind there was no punishment that would change this from being worthwhile.

That being said, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle felt differently, so they immediately jumped in to restrain the fired up filly. "Just let her go Scoot, it's not worth it!" pleaded Sweetie Belle.

"You don't want ta get into more trouble with Ms. Cheerilee!" added Apple Bloom, although a little quieter than she might have been otherwise. No sense in giving Diamond Tiara any more reasons to make fun of her.

"Oooooh, I'm soooo scared!" teased Diamond Tiara. "I'm so scared of a blank-flank weak-wings!"

"Girls, please let me at her, please!" begged Scootaloo. "Please!"

"Byeee BLANK FLANKS!" Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara high-fived and laughed at the poor fillies. Scootaloo continued to struggle against her friends, but they held her tight.

Finally, after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were a safe distance away, they released Scootaloo, all three of them breathing hard from the effort. "We're sorry Scoot," began Apple Bloom. "But we can't letcha go after them like that. We don't want you to get in any trouble is all."

Scootaloo didn't respond at first, the memory of what Diamond Tiara had said being etched firmly in her mind. "I know. It's just...forget it, let's just go see Twilight so we can get our homework done." She began walking in the direction of the library, not looking back to see if her friends were following. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a nervous glance, then quickly began to follow.

"She's right. I'm nothing special. I'm a blank flank pegasus that can't even fly. I'll never be cool like Rainbow Dash." thought Scootaloo miserably to herself. "I'll never be able to fly. What's the point in the therapy? It's just a waste of..."

"Hey, we're here!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo glanced up. She hadn't even noticed where they were at or were they had been. Sweetie Belle delightedly began to trot to the door. Scootaloo made to follow her, but Apple Bloom stopped her.

"Are you ok Scoots?" asked Apple Bloom concernedly. "You didn't seem like yourself for a while there."

Scootaloo sighed. "I just...I just wish things were better. I wish we had our cutie marks. I wish Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara didn't tease us. And I really really wish I could fly."

Apple Bloom put a hoof around her friend. "Ah know, but ya can't dwell on it. Ya gotta just keep moving. Like my granny smith says, nothing ever got done by standing around feelin sorry for yourself. Plus, ya got us. We'll be here for you."

Scootaloo gave a small smile. "I guess you're right. Come on, let's go get our homework done." The two girls walked to the library as Sweetie Belle began to knock.

"Come on in!" came a voice from inside. Sweetie Belle opened the door and they walked in, putting their bags down by the door. "How's it going girls?"

"Hey spike!" they all said as the young Purple dragon came walking in the room. "How are you today?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Eh, I'm alright. Kinda bored; me and Owlicious have spent most of the day cleaning." replied Spike tiredly. "There's so much work to be done."

"Why?" asked Scootaloo in a confused tone. "Is one of the princesses coming to town or is Twilight just..."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" There was a crash, a flying Pink object came rushing through the broken window, and a purple Unicorn came bursting through the door.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled the fillies and the dragon. There was a second crash, books began flying everywhere, and above the din Spike's voice could be heard. "GET DOWN GIRLS!" he dove at the CMC and got them under cover.

There was a pause. Then everypony poked their heads up. The unicorn looked furious, Spike looked concerned, and the CMC's eyes were wide with fear. They had no idea what was going on right now and an explanation probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

"PIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNKIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!" yelled Twilight Sparkle. She stomped over to the Pink mass, which did in fact turn out to be everyone's favorite 4th wall breaker.

"HIYA TWILIGHT!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "That was fun, I should try that again!"

"What...exactly are you trying again?" said Apple Bloom cautiously.

"Ninja ropes!" Pinkie Pie burst out.

"Come again?" said Sweetie Belle.

Twilight responded "Ever since we went to the Crystal Empire, Pinkie has been fascinated with spies and ninjas. So she's been coming to me for information on the tools and techniques of old ninja ponies."

"Yep, and Ninja ropes are SOOOOOO much fun!" said Pinkie, bouncing up and down. "I should help you girls get your cutie marks in Ninja roping! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The girls backed away nervously. "I suppose that's what you meant by helping us when I talked to you last week?" asked Scootaloo.

"Yep yep yep!" replied Pinkie.

Twilight interjected, "That doesn't mean you can just swing on into somepony's home! And there are other ways to practice being a ninja without ninja ropes, Pinkie! Safer ways!"

"Aww, but Twilight, ninja ropes are a necessary part of being a ninja!" exclaimed Pinkie.

"Pinkie, in no way shape or form are ninja ropes obligatory!" replied Twilight angrily.

All of a sudden, Pinkie began to twitch. "Uh-oh, my Pinkie sense is tingling!" she exclaimed. Everypony immediately began to duck into cover, but Pinkie quickly said "No no, we're safe here...but I get the strangest feeling that Big Mac is going to trample a worm farm! Pinkie away!" Pinkie immediately shot her ninja rope out the window and swung away.

Twilight, the CMC, and Spike stared out the window in confused silence. "Pinkie being pinkie?" asked Spike.

"Pinkie being pinkie." everypony else said at the same time.

"So what brings you girls to the library today?" asked Twilight.

"Well, ya see, Ms. Cheerilee gave us some homework for the weekend." answered Apple Bloom.

"We're supposed to learn more about Outer Space." added Scootaloo.

"Yeah, and astronomy!" added Sweetie Belle.

Twilight gave a short laugh. "Sweetie Belle, astronomy is the study of outer space. But I can help you girls with that!" she cast a quick spell and brought out several books. "These should help you girls get started. If you want, it'll be getting dark soon, and I have a telescope. If you girls would like, I can talk to Applejack and Rarity and you all can spend the night here and do research."

"Awesome, thanks Twilight!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. They began reading through books excitedly. "We'll have plenty of time for crusading now!" said Sweetie Belle with glee. Twilight gave them a bright smile, but then noticed that Scootaloo hadn't shown the same enthusiasm.

"Is everything ok, Scootaloo?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Scootaloo replied quickly. She ignored the books Twilight had originally laid out for them and instead headed towards a shelf that had caught her eye. Twilight shrugged. She didn't have company often so she wasn't going to complain.

The girls worked quietly for a while. Spike brought them all some juice and water but otherwise stayed out of everypony's way. Twilight quietly supervised the trio, occasionally answering a question or helping them find a book while sipping on a warm tea.. After a few hours, the girls began to grow tired. "Maybe agreeing to stay the night wasn't such a great idea." said Sweetie Belle with a yawn.

"Yeah, I'm getting kinda tired myself." added Applebloom. "What about you Scoots?"

Scootaloo didn't answer at first; she was deeply engrossed in a book; the page she was on was explaining how one became weightless in space. But then she added, "Yeah, maybe we should call it..."

"Hey girls, I think I found something interesting that might help you!" Spike interrupted gleefully.

"What is it Spike?" Twilight said, setting down her tea.

"There's a spell in this book that describes astronomical travel!" said Spike. "It sounds like you can use it to fly in space!"

"Fly in space?" asked Twilight and Scootaloo at the same time.

"Yeah!" said Spike excitedly.

"I want to try it." said Scootaloo immediately. "Can you do the spell on me Twilight?"

Twilight gave Scootaloo an incredibly nervous look. "I don't know Scootaloo. For one, I've never heard of anypony flying in space. For another, I've never tried a spell like this before so I don't know how well..."

"I DON'T CARE!" yelled Scootaloo. Everypony stared at her in shock. "I'm sorry for yelling," she added quickly. "But the idea of flying at all...just, please, please can't you try?" she begged Twilight. "Please?" Scootaloo gave Twilight a look of pure longing.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared yet another nervous look. "Um, scoots, maybe we should come back tomorrow and give her time to practice." said Applebloom tentatively.

Scootaloo quickly shook her head. "No, I want to fly now!" She turned back to look at her friends. "You guys heard Diamond Tiara earlier. I'm a blank-flank lame-wings. I can't fly and I don't even have a special talent. Don't you see? This is the perfect way for me to get back at her! I can do Ms. Cheerilee's homework and show up Diamond Tiara! I need this! I need to fly!" She turned back to Twilight before either Applebloom or Sweetie Belle could respond. "Twilight, please try. Please."

Twilight looked apprehensive, but said "Ok. I'll try. Everypony, stand back." Spike, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle took a few steps back. "This spell is difficult...but I think I can do it. Scootaloo, I need you to sit down and close your eyes. Do your best to relax; the more calm and relaxed you are the better this will work."

Scootaloo obeyed. She sat down, closed her eyes, and began to imagine herself in space. "It must be so peaceful up there...no wind, no noise, no nothing. So...calm" she thought to herself. "I can't wait."

Twilight also closed her eyes, and began to concentrate. Her horn began to glow brightly. However, it began to shine out erratically. Spike noticed it, and moved to warn Twilight, but Twilight sensed him. "Spike, sit down, I can do this." Spike didn't look convinced, but he complied.

Scootaloo slowly began to feel herself feel lighter and lighter, but she did not open her eyes. "If I'm weightless in space, this must mean I'm getting closer." she thought.

What Scootaloo didn't realize was that her body was actually beginning to fade away. As Twilight's horn began to fade back to normal, she opened her eyes, and she screamed. "SCOOTALOO!"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle also screamed. "SCOOT!"

Scootaloo finally opened her eyes, and noticed that she was becoming transparent, and her body was floating towards the ceiling. "GUYS, HELP MEEEEE!" she cried out in panic. But there was nothing they could do. They watched helplessly as Scootaloo's ever-fading body disappeared through the ceiling. Immediately, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle charged out the door, and watched as what appeared to be a ghost of Scootaloo faded into the darkness of the night sky.

Color Your World

I awoke with a yawn. My bed felt unusually soft and short today, but as I became more aware of my surroundings, I realized that I was lying on a couch.

"When the hell did I come downstairs?" I thought to myself drowsily. I glanced around, and saw an oddly shaped orange mass on the coach opposite of mine. "Who the fuck..." I started, then the memories hit me all at once. The shitty customer, getting fired, the speeding ticket, and finally, Scootaloo and her story. I laid back down for a moment, trying to soak it all in. As cool as it would be to live out My Little Dashie, I needed to get Scootaloo home. She was just a kid after all, and although I now had a fair amount of free time because I lost my...

I facepalmed hard. I still had to tell my parents that I had gotten fired. How the hell was I supposed to tell them that? And why? There was no way I could do it. I'd have to lie. Say I had been robbed and unfairly fired. That could work. Yeah, we'll go with that one. How the fuck could I let myself get into this mess? And on top of that, I now had to take care of Scootaloo for at least a little while. God only knows how fucking long it'll take me to get her home. And what if she couldn't get home? What if she got stuck here? I didn't even know how she got here, so I had no idea if it was even possible for her to get back. Whatever Twilight had done was obviously far beyond anything I could possibly do. And there's no way for me to even communicate with her or anyone else in Equestria; I would have to wait for them to come to me. That's how it happened in My Little Dashie right? Celestia just came and knocked on the dude's door. So yeah. That's it. We'll just wait for Celestia to knock on my door. Until then, she can just hang out here for a while. I wonder how I'll take care of her...does she need to go outside to use the bathroom? What the hell does she eat? I've only ever seen her drink a milkshake, and even then Babs just kinda took it from her. This is going to be difficult.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I needed to think about this rationally. I checked my phone. It was about 830 in the morning. Not an ungodly hour. My dad would be gone to work by now, and my mom would probably be in her office already deeply involved in her work. Ok. I could work with this. First thing I would do it get breakfast. Yeah. That's a good start. I'll think much better with breakfast. I quietly walked upstairs so as to not disturb Scootaloo. I closed the door to the basement, pulled out some bacon, and began to cook.

******************

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, and then looked around to get here bearings. She was in the strange man, what was his name, Dave? Yes, that was it. She was in Dave's house. "Where did he go?" she wondered. She slowly crawled out of bed and began to stretch. As she stretched, she vaguely remembered going to the window and only seeing the moon. "I wonder what this place looks like during the day." she thought. She walked over to the window, and pulled up the blinds. She gasped.

Scootaloo was now staring out the window at a huge expanse of grass. It was at least 100 times as large as the playground by the schoolhouse! At the far end and also covering part of the right side of the field was a forest. It looked mildly dense but much more inviting than the Everfree Forest. To her left was a small, short set of trees, and then valleys. She could see other houses far away in the distance. She turned her attention back to the field. It wasn't particularly exciting by itself; from where she was, she was on one peak of a valley. There was a small hill in the middle of the field that looked a little odd and out of place. But all the same, she was excited now. Who cares if she was in a strange new world; this could be fun! She wanted to go exploring! Maybe she'd even get her cutie mark!

"This is going to be awesome!" she squealed, and then almost immediately slapped a hoof to her mouth. Dave had wanted her to keep the noise level down. She didn't really understand why, but hopefully he would explain why soon enough. "I need something to do in the meantime." Scootaloo said quietly to herself. "But what?"

All of a sudden, she heard a yell from upstairs that startled her so much she fell down: "YOU WHAT?!?" It wasn't Dave's voice, so Scootaloo guessed that this was his mother.

"YOU FUCKING HEARD ME, I GOT FIRED AND I GOT A SPEEDING TICKET!" yelled another voice. Scootaloo was pretty sure this one was Dave.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS." screamed his mother.

"CALM THE FUCK DOWN. LET'S BE REASONABLE HERE." roared Dave. After that, their voices became gradually calmer and more quiet, and it was more difficult for Scootaloo to hear. She thought about going to the door to eavesdrop but decided it would be rude.

Scootaloo then noticed a large black box sitting on a shelf. It had some wires going into it and was very thin. The box was taller and wider than she was though. "I wonder why it's there..." she thought, curiosity flowing through her. Eventually it got the best of her and she walked over to it, not noticing the small black device sitting on the floor.

"Ah!" Scootaloo said as she tripped over the small device. As she did though, the large black box came to life. Scootaloo gasped. There were two men and a women inside the box! They seemed to be arguing about something called a Tebow. Scootaloo was transfixed by the sight. How did they get in there? Was it possible that more people were stuck inside the box? This world was getting stranger and stranger, and yet Scootaloo's curiosity grew.

"Well, when I tripped over this device...the people came on!" she said to herself. "So if I press it again..." experimentally, she pressed a button. The image of the three people arguing immediately morphed into a new scene. Scootaloo couldn't quite tell what was going on in this scene, but the image had her mesmerized.

"What the heck is this thing?" she said, intrigued. She pressed the same button she had before. The image changed again, but this time she also noticed a number in the corner; in this case it was 61. Suddenly the number vanished. Determined, Scootaloo pressed the button, and watched in the corner. The image changed, and now the number 62 appeared. "I get it!" she exclaimed. "Each number goes to a different picture! I wonder how many pictures there are here..."

***************

"...and that's what happened." I said, out of breath. My mom and I had just finished arguing over my day yesterday. Apparently I'm irresponsible, immature, and I'm going to amount to nothing if I keep this up. What else is new, am I right? In any case though I had to keep my mom distracted; I had heard Scootaloo's yell and I had to improvise to cover that one up. Fortunately, I don't think my mom noticed. Unfortunately, it also resulted in the conversation we had.

"So what's your plan then?" my mom said in a far-too-controlled tone that suggested bloody murder if I said anything other than the right thing.

I sighed. "I don't have one yet. I just want to relax and calm down. I don't know where my head is at right now and I'd like some time to figure it out."

My mom also sighed. "Look David, you know your father and I just want what's best for you. You can't do things like this. You cannot afford this right now. Tomorrow, I want you to go out and start looking for a new job."

"We'll see." I said, eager to end the conversation and eat breakfast. I wanted to just eat and be done with it so I could figure out a plan for Scootaloo. I still couldn't decide if I wanted her home as soon as possible for her sake or if I wanted to spend time with her for my sake. "I guess until I hear something from Equestria, I should just treat her like a guest." I thought. "I...I'm just gonna go eat and figure out a plan or something. I dunno." I said to my mom.

She gave me a disappointed look. "Fine. Go." I took my plate and walked to the basement, closing the door behind me. I heard the TV, which confused me. "I hadn't been watching TV so how...." Apparently Scoot had figured out the modern marvel that is television. Fantastic. This can't possibly go wrong. No sirree. Not at all.

I walked over quietly. She hadn't noticed me enter the room; she was completely entranced by the TV. "Having fun?" I said.

She jumped a little out of surprise. "Hey Mr. Dave! What is this thing?" she asked excitedly.

"Mr. Dave?" "It's called a television. Don't they have them in..." I quickly stopped myself, not wanting to remind her that I knew more about her than I was letting on. "In wherever it is you're from?"

Scootaloo said "I'm from Equestria. Well, Ponyville, but that's in Equestria. And no, I've never seen anything like this! It's so cool!"

I shrugged. "Yeah it's alright I guess." I checked the channel she was on. The HUB was 130, and she was already at 113. I needed to change the topic. "So Scoot, I need to ask you. What exactly do you eat?"

She stopped pressing the remote and gave me a quizzical look. "Well...I could really go for some bacon and toast if you don't mind! I love Bacon!"

I immediately gave her a huge grin. "Bacon I can do. You and I will get along just fine as far as food goes then. If you don't mind, though, can I put something on the Television? I like to watch a particular show every now and then."

Scootaloo nodded. "Sure, I don't mind." I flipped the TV over to ESPN, which was safely in the 50s. No chance of her stumbling onto herself easily. First Take was on ESPN, and predictably they were arguing about Tebow.

"Skip, you know better, this boy CANNOT play football. Tebow has no future in this league!" yelled Stephen A. Smith on the TV. I turned to go upstairs and get the bacon, but before I could leave, Scootaloo quickly burst, "Hey, this is what first appeared on the television! What's a Tebow?"

"Eh, don't worry about it, he's not all that special. He's just someone people like to talk about." I replied. "I'll find something we can both enjoy to watch. Here, let me grab the bacon." I went upstairs and threw the package in the microwave. I didn't know how much she'd need but I figured whatever she didn't eat would go well with my eggs. I brought the bacon downstairs and saw she was back to flipping through channels in a bored fashion. I quickly checked to see what channel she was on. She had made it to 134 already, but she didn't mention anything about The HUB, so it looks like she caught it on a commercial. She turned at the smell of the bacon.

"Cool, thanks!" She ate the bacon enthusiastically while I ate my eggs. "Oh, sorry I changed it from your show Dave." she said.

I waved my hand dismissively. "It's no biggie. Besides, it's no fun to stay inside staring at the Television all day. I know you don't know very much about this place, but is there anything you want to do?"

She immediately responded, "Let's go exploring!"

"Exploring?" I asked.

She nodded gleefully. "Yeah, just look outside! It looks so pretty out there, and I want to go see what the world is like! There's a forest, and so much land, and it looks nice and sunny out so it's probably super warm and..."

I started laughing. "Slow down there, Scoot! You'll choke on your bacon! Sure, we can go outside, I wouldn't mind exploring."

Scootaloo quickly swallowed the bacon she was working on. "Oh, if you don't mind, do you have a scooter I can borrow? I love Scooters! I love riding them so much, I can do all kinds of tricks and stuff, watch, I'll go off that small hill over there!" During her quick surge of energy, she had made her way over to the window and was excitedly pointing at a spot in the distance.

I couldn't help but smile. Scootaloo was just so full of energy; it was infectious. "I don't know what's going to happen with all of this, but so far I'm not complaining at all." I thought. "I'll see what I can round up as far as a scooter goes. How about we finish breakfast and then head outside?"

Scootaloo nodded quickly. "Ok, that sounds good! I'm still kinda hungry anyway. This is going to be so much fun! I wish Apple..." she stopped herself hurriedly, and I could sense that some of her energy and positive attitude was starting to fade at the memory of her friends. I had to think fast.

"Don't worry, we'll be out there sooner than you think. I'll go see if I can find the Scooter, you go ahead and finish breakfast." I tried to give her a warm smile. She returned the smile but I could tell it was strained. As I walked away I sighed. I wasn't sure if I was doing ok or if I was totally blowing it. I couldn't really get a good sense of the situation. I guess I'd find out as time went along. Hopefully Celestia could figure something out though. Right now, that was really all I had to go on. I hoped it would be enough.

*********************

"And that's what we saw!"

"Interesting..."

Twilight, Spike, Cheerilee, Celestia, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom stood in Twilight's library in Ponyville. Cheerilee, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had just given Celestia a quick walk through of the previous day. At the end of it, Twilight had explained what she thought she understood of the spell she had performed. "Spike had said it was a spell that would enable a pony to experience Astronomical Travel."

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought. Then she said, "Spike, would you please bring me the book you found the spell in?"

"Uh...of course Princess." Spike said. He found it quickly and brought it back, explaining, "I figured we might need it again given what happened, so I put it aside just in case."

"Good thinking, Spike." said Celestia warmly. Her horn began to glow as she skimmed through the pages, occasionally pausing on a page or two to take a closer look. "Ms. Cheerilee, girls, have any of you noticed anything odd about Scootaloo lately? Any changes in her behavior?"

Cheerilee and the remaining members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders shared a look. "Well...she has been kinda quieter than usual." said Apple Bloom.

"She doesn't seem as excited as normal." added Sweetie Belle."

"She's also been a bit more defensive I guess," said Apple Bloom. "Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon pick on us all the time but it seems to be botherin' her more than usual."

Everyone stared at Cheerilee, who had remained quiet during this exchange. When she looked up and realized that everyone was looking at her, she hastily cleared her throat and said, "What Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said were both accurate. While Scootaloo actively participates in my classroom, she doesn't show the same enthusiasm she once did. I would like to be optimistic and say that she's just exhausted from her physical therapy appointments but I think I might be overly-optimistic in that regard."

"I see." said Celestia. Everyone looked to their ruler. She was still skimming through the book, lost in thought. The others began to share looks with one another, unsure of what to think. Suddenly, Celestia stopped skimming. She closed the book and magically placed it down on the table.

"Did...did you find something, Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight nervously.

"Yes...Spike, please write a letter." replied Celestia.

"Yes ma'am." said Spike obediently. "Um...who am I sending this to?"

Celestia looked him right in the eyes. "Address this letter to my sister."

Surrender

"Bye mom, I'm going to out for a little bit."

I waited a couple seconds before hearing the reply, "Where are you going?"

I guess trying to be vague wouldn't work today. "Not really sure yet. I guess I might go explore that forest in the back yard. I have nothing better to do right now." I immediately regretted the last line but at this point it was out there so there was no going back. I quickly added, "Anyway, I'll see you later." I heard a faint sigh in the background, and then the rapid-fire sound of my mom tapping away at her keyboard. I sighed as well, then shut the door to the basement. Scootaloo was finishing up her last piece of bacon, and glanced up as I walked in the room.

"Hey! Are you ready to go?" she asked.

I nodded. "I couldn't find you a scooter though. Sorry about that. Walking's ok though right?"

"Of course it is!" she said. "Let's go exploring!" I opened the door and she burst outside. Admittedly, it was a beautiful day outside. There were hardly any clouds in the sky, the sun was shining, and there was a faint breeze. For a November day in the North, this felt amazing. It's almost like a day right out of a fictional story, to give you an idea.

Wait...

"It's so beautiful here, Dave!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "I just feel great!"

I gave her a smile. I hoped her energy and enthusiasm would rub off onto me soon; I didn't want my negative energy ruining hers. I couldn't help it though. I just had far too much on my mind. But who knows? Maybe this walk would be good for me.

Scootaloo jumped in front of me to interrupt my thoughts. "So, Mr. Dave, can I ask you a question?"

"I think you just did, but sure, what else did you want to ask?" I said casually.

"Well...for starters, what's this place called?" she said.

I was confused. "What...like this area of land?"

She shook her head. "No no no, like what's your town called? Mine's Ponyville. I know, kinda lame, but I love it there! So what's your town called?"

"Oh! Well that's easy, this town is called..."

I was cut off by a loud noise coming from across the field, followed by a flock of birds. We both glanced over at the source of the noise, looked at each other and shrugged. We continued walking as before. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about?"

Scootaloo frowned. "I'm not really sure. I do have more questions, if that's ok with you."

I nodded. "Of course! Ask away."

Scootaloo thought for a moment. "Well, I was just wondering why you had that Dashie toy in your room?"

"Uh oh." I thought. "Well..."

"And why were you and your mom fighting earlier?" she said, cutting me off. "And why are you so tall? I thought only Celestia and Luna could be that tall. Wait, if you know who Rainbow Dash is, do you even know who I'm talking about? And why..."

I held up my hands to try and slow her down. She went on for another couple of seconds before realizing it, but then stopped. She didn't look angry; it was more just confusion with maybe a little bit of curiosity. She was just a kid, after all. She really wanted to know all about this. She actually wanted to learn more about me and this strange world she had been unfairly thrust into. I admired her attitude in this regard.

So I decided I'd be honest with her. She deserved that much. Plus, you know, she's adorable and definitely best pony. Not that I'm biased or anything.

"Alright Scoot. I'll answer your questions. Where to begin? Well for starters, I'm actually not that tall for a human. I guess you could say I'm average but most of my friends are taller than I am." I began.

Scootaloo's eyes opened wide. "Really? You're all giants then? That's so cool! I wish I was a giant!"

I laughed. "Trust me it's not all that great. I'm sure people make jokes about both Luna and Celestia for their height when they think no one is listening."

Scootaloo thought about that for a moment. "Why would someone make fun of the Princesses? And wait, how do you even know who Luna and Celestia are?"

She was persistent, I give her that much. I gave her a slight shrug and said, "I'm not really sure. Sometimes it's funny to make jokes about people like that, even if they're someone like the Princesses. I'm not sure how to explain it, to be honest."

"Could you try?" interrupted Scootaloo.

I paused and thought about it for a moment. "Honestly Scoot, I don't think I could. Some people are just fun to poke fun at. Take me for example. You don't know me all that well yet, but most of my friends like making fun of me."

"Oh." Scootaloo paused. "Do they do it to be mean or are you ok with it?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, sometimes it really does bother me. But for the most part, I know who my friends are and who's just being mean. I'm sure you probably know what I mean."

Scootaloo turned away. "Yeah. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pick on me sometimes but I know they're just teasing. Diamond Tiara is such a bully though! She always makes fun of me for being a blank flank and for not being able to fly! It's so frustrating! Why can't she pick on someone else?" I opened my mouth to respond but the small orange filly began to rant; "It's just not fair! They get everything they want for nothing but I have to work so hard just to try and be normal! I have to go to stupid physical therapy because my stupid wings won't grow properly, and me and the girls go crusading every chance we get, but we're still not as good as them! Why? It's not fair!"

She screamed the last line, and I saw tears begin to form in her eyes. I felt so bad for the poor filly. I wasn't sure what I could do, as I was the one who had sort of brought this whole thing up. So I did what anyone would do.

I gave her a hug.

I heard her give a small gasp, and she gave a small sniff. "Dave, what..."

It was my turn to interrupt her. "Scoot, I'm sorry. I really am. I know exactly how you feel about that."

She sniffed and began to cry a little more. "Do you? Do you really Dave? I know you said you get picked on but at least you have people to turn to! Me and the girls only have each other and sometimes that isn't enough! Sometimes I want something else. Is that so much to ask?"

I held her tighter. I wasn't sure where this affection was coming from; I've never really been the hugging type. But something about this whole situation was just clicking. "You're right. It's not that much to ask. And for now, while you're here, I'll be that something else. Sorry I wasn't very warm when you got here. I'll do better to be a better host for you as long as you're stuck here. Whatever you want, I got your back."

Scootaloo sniffed. "Why would you do that for me? What makes me so special?"

The truthful answer was that she was my favorite character on the show. I wasn't quite ready to let her in on that little secret just yet, but I made a promise to myself that I would. Just not yet. So instead, I replied with, "Because I'm a nice guy, and up until now you've been nothing but positive about this whole situation. I don't blame you for being upset with all of that, and yet you haven't said anything about being stuck here. I like that. Plus, you remind me of me when I was about your age. So happy and so full of energy."

She sniffed again, and as I looked she was starting to smile a little. "Really?"

I gave her a smile back. "Of course. You may not realize it, but you are awesome and you are special." I let go of her at that point, and I could see that some of her previous energy and life had returned to her.

She gave me a grin. "Thanks Dave. Sorry for freaking out like that. Let's go exploring!"

I returned the grin. "Let's go! I wonder what that noise was that we heard earlier. We've got all the time in the world, let's check it out." We continued onward into the woods.

***********

Scootaloo looked around in wonder. While the Everfree Forest was dark and scary, even on the brightest days, this forest seemed bright and inviting. There was a lush green canopy above her that reached incredibly high, far beyond her reach without wings. Even the ground beneath her seemed softer, not harsh and rough like the Everfree. She was enthusiastic, but also curious and a little bit nervous. This was a brand new world for her to explore, but something had happened earlier to scare those birds into the sky. On top of that, she was a little embarrassed about her little meltdown earlier, so while Dave seemed very understanding of that, she still felt bad about letting him see her in such a state.

"So Scoot," said Dave, interrupting her thoughts. "How are you liking this world so far?"

Scootaloo gave him a grin. "It's so...so...colorful! It's just so alive! The trees are super tall and green, there are animals that Fluttershy would love, it's just amazing! Is it like this everywhere? I mean, I know there aren't forests everywhere and stuff, but does it always feel like this?"

Dave appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I think it depends. Some people, like me, love being outside and everything about it, but there are other people who want nothing to do with the outside world."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Are you serious? But it's like so beautiful out here! And so pretty! Why wouldn't you want to come outside and see the world around you?"

He replied, "Remember the television from earlier? Some people will spend all day just sitting in there watching them. Others will work on similar machines called Computers. For those people, life is just a little easier that way. Watch yourself on that tree, it's a big jump."

Scootaloo looked and saw the tree a few feet ahead of her. Even on its side, it was still a little taller as she was, so she took a couple of steps back before taking a running leap over it. To her surprise, she cleared the entire tree and didn't even need to flare her wings out for a few extra inches of glide. She skidded to a stop and looked up to Dave and grinned. "Did you see that Dave, did you?"

"That was awesome, Scootaloo!" he said with a big grin. He looked around, picked up a stick, and drew a line in the ground. "Betcha can't do it again from back here."

Scootaloo raised her eye brows. "Oh, is that a challenge I hear?"

Dave gave her a mischievous smile, but said nothing.

"I'll show him!" thought Scootaloo. She backed up once again, took a running start, and jumped from right where Dave had marked the dirt. She cleared the tree with even more room to spare than the previous time. "Ha! Told you I could do it!" Scootaloo exclaimed. She looked around, and realized Dave wasn't there. She looked around again, confused. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"Tag! You're it!" shouted Dave from behind her, tapping her on the wing while he did so. He leaped over the tree and ran away, looking back with that same childish grin.

Scootaloo was surprised for a moment, but quickly realized what was going on, and she began to chase after him, laughing with glee. "He seems so silly, but in a good way." she thought. She chased after him as hard as she could, and the two laughed and laughed as the game went on.

And for a moment, their troubles seemed nonexistent.

***************

The blue alicorn sipped on her tea and stared out the window of her room. Luna wasn't usually awake during the morning hours, but lately she had been struggling to sleep properly. Either she would oversleep and irritate her sister by raising the moon off-schedule, or she would just be unable to fall asleep after her duties were done. Today it was of little concern; she had the castle of Canterlot to herself; Celestia had flown to Ponyville the previous day on "official business."

"Why she didn't ask me to join her, I will never know." thought Luna to herself. She sighed. Luna called her servent, and had her send a message to Octavia to have her appear in this wing of the castle at her earliest convenience. Besides the soothing tone of her Cello, Octavia had proven more than once to be intelligent beyond her musical prowess. Her presence would be most welcome. Luna thought about that for a moment, then turned and walked to her balcony. While it was true that her night was beginning to gain in popularity in terms of overall appearance, she just could not deny that Celestia knew how to make the day look beautiful. Whether Celestia herself had shaped the landscape for that purpose, or if it was just coincidence, the sun shone at just the proper angle to accent each feature of the landscape. The mountains. The trees. The distant ocean. A nearby lake.

And yet, Luna could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

Luna took another sip of her tea, and then heard a knock at the door. "Come in." she said. "That was awfully fast." she thought, expecting Octavia.

But instead, it was the servant pony again. "Your highness, I have an urgent message for you."

Luna took another long sip of her tea. Without turning around, she asked, "Pray tell, who sent this letter?"

The servant pony checked. "Um, it looks like it was sent by your sister, your highness."

Luna stopped drinking mid-sip. Her eyes widened, and for a moment her face was filled with glee. "She needs me!" "Thank you. Your princess decrees that you may take the rest of the morning off."

It was the servant pony's turn to be surprised. "T-t-thank you Your Luna. I mean, Princess Highness. I mean..."

Luna turned and gave her a warm smile. "Your princess understands, and I appreciate your gratitude. Please, enjoy yourself." The servant pony hesitated, but gave Luna a smile in return and left the room. Luna turned her attention to the letter. Using her magic, she opened the page and began to read.

Alpenglow

"I'm having fun right now."

This thought kept running through my head as Scootaloo and I dashed through the woods. The woods were friendly in appearance, and I had a pretty decent sense of direction from my days as a Boy Scout, so I wasn't worried about getting lost. We just...played.

"Tag! Haha you're it now, Dave!" shouted Scootaloo, who had managed to sneak up on me while I was lost in thought.

"Huh? What? Hey wait a minute!" I yelled at the giggling orange filly.

We continued playing in this fashion for a while. It was probably only twenty minutes or so, but it felt like hours. It was the type of fun where time actually slows down instead of speeds up. I hadn't felt like this in such a long time.

************

"I haven't felt like this in such a long time." thought Scootaloo. Sure, playing with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle was fun. They were her best friends after all. But this...this was more like playing with Rainbow Dash. It felt strange for Scootaloo to even consider that. She idolized Rainbow Dash. She looked to Rainbow Dash like a big sister, and Scootaloo had gotten a sense that sometimes, even if Dash didn't pay her as much attention as she would like, Dash thought of her as a younger sister. But that was something that had taken months and months to develop. This had happened almost instantaneously. She had only known Dave for about a day...and yet she already felt a bond towards him. "I wonder what he's thinking..."

************

"I wonder what she's thinking..." I thought to myself. I wasn't sure what to make of this whole thing, and I'm significantly older than she is. I couldn't even begin to imagine where her head was with all of this. "I suppose if I just let things happen, I'll find out where she's at." So the game continued. I had been lost in thought for what seemed like a long enough time, so I started to look around.

But, Scootaloo was no where to be seen. Huh?

"Scootaloo!" I called. "Scootaloo!"

There was no response. My guess was that we had just started playing hide and seek and that she hadn't told me, and I couldn't help but grin. I felt like I was a kid again. You've all been there. That one girl/boy that you just chased around the playground, and then when you caught them, they chased you back. We've all been there. Except now, I was all grown up. Whereas the former scenario was more close friend/kid crush, this was more father/daughter. Wait, did I really say that? What was I saying? I barely knew the filly! She had been here barely a day! Sure, I kept up with the show. Sure, I knew a decent amount about her from that. But she hardly knew me, and we've hardly gotten to know each other. It wasn't like we recounted our whole life stories last night; just recent events. How did this all come together so fast?

In any case, I started to look for her. There was one thing I knew, and that was that I loved winning. I had always been competitive, and at the end of the day, this will just have been another game. Games, I understand. Games are simple: you can win, or you can lose. There isn't much of a middle ground there. And even if there wasn't a score to keep, I would find a way to win. In this case, I had to find Scootaloo. Piece of cake. It's not like there are dozens of small orange horses running around; she'll stick out. So I began the search. I searched behind trees, in bushes, and on some small branches. She might have managed to fly out of excitement, so I didn't put it past her to make it to some of the lower hanging branches.

But, there was still no sign of her. What was going on?

A thought then occurred to me. Scootaloo had appeared to me out of the blue. Maybe somepony had found a way to bring her back to Equestria. That would explain why she suddenly vanished. As far as I knew, there aren't any bears or anything in these woods, and even if that was the cause, I would have heard her scream. I wasn't sure what to do, but for some reason, the thought that Celestia or somepony had taken Scootaloo back home seemed unsettling. We had only just begun to get to know each other. I can't speak for her, but I felt we had something going. I didn't think it was a coincidence that she came to be here during such a tough time in both of our lives. Maybe I was reading too far into it. Maybe I had actually finally lost it. Maybe all this stress of work and this speeding ticket and my dog being gone had just finally forced me into insanity, and I had just imagined Scootaloo here the whole time. That would make sense. She was a cartoon character after all. It didn't make any sense that she would just appear here, much less my favorite character in the show. There was no logical reason. It didn't make sense. But at the same time, I wanted it to make sense. I wanted to feel like I was spending time, however short that time might be, with Scoot. But now it was looking like that time was already over.

"Well that's just fucking terrific." I said under my breath. "You hear that Celestia? I said that's just FUCKING TERRIFIC."

As if on cue, it began to rain. Not hard mind you, but it was November and the cold made it much more unpleasant. "Of course," I thought to myself. "On a day that started out perfectly sunny, I get hit with a rainstorm. Just my fucking luck." I looked around helplessly. I didn't think after the day I had had yesterday that I could ever feel more alone, but I did. I had lost my dog. I had lost my job. I really didn't have any sense of direction. For a moment, I thought Scootaloo would at least help me escape from that. Looks like that moment was over. I sighed to myself. I guess it was back to reality for me. I looked around the forest one more time. No sign of the small orange filly anywhere. I turned towards home, and slowly began to trudge back. I made it as slow as possible. I figured the longer I could put off facing real life, the better. I had reached a new emotional low. I cried when I buried my dog. I cried after the shitty day the other day. But here, I was now faced with returning to that after a very short vacation, AND having to face knowing that someone I had been wanting to meet and hang out with, however foolish that might seem, having to face not being able to say good-bye. I didn't even have the energy to cry here. I just felt horribly empty.

I ducked under a tree and checked my phone. Scoot and I had been out in the woods for a little over two hours, so I was way off in my estimation of time. I guess time does fly when you're having fun.

***********

"Well this stinks." thought Scootaloo to herself. She had heard Dave's yelling and desperately tried calling out for help, but he hadn't heard.

During their game of tag/hide and seek, Scootaloo had the fun idea to hide behind some trees, and to keep switching trees as Dave looked around. It was a totally unfair move, but she wanted to surprise him. What she hadn't counted on was the large root on the ground that caught her hoof. Her body hit the ground hard, knocking out her breath. Gasping for air, she had rolled over, trying to recover, and in the process she had rolled slightly downhill, landing in some brush. She wasn't completely obscured, but for Dave to see he would have to come partly down the slope.

And to make matters worse, it had started to rain.

"Well, I guess this is just my fault anyway." said Scootaloo softly. "I shouldn't have let Diamond Tiara push me around. I shouldn't have forced Twilight into doing that spell. Dave is right to leave me here, why should he take care of me?" Scootaloo's eyes began to water, her tears merging with the rain. Once again, she was all alone. She didn't even have Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom, or even Ms. Cheerilee to talk to. She sneezed, and then shivered. It was cold. Whereas earlier in the day, it had been fairly warm and quite comfortable, with the sudden rainstorm the temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

Scootaloo realized she was breathing way too fast, so she tried to calm herself down. "I need to think of something." she said to herself. She looked at each of her hoofs, and realized that, although at first glance her front right hoof appeared stuck, it was actually not buried that deeply under the branches. She slowly but surely worked it free, then went to work on her left hoof.

"AHHHH!" she screamed out in pain, although it came out a little choked off due to the intensity of the pain. As she had turned to reach for her left hoof, it became apparent that her wings were caught in some thorny bushel. The more she struggled, the more the thorns bound her and the more pain she was in. Of course, this didn't stop her from trying. "I can't just sit here, I need to get out." she said over and over.

It soon became apparent that it was a fruitless struggle. Tears began welling up in the young fillies' eyes. "Why am I so weak?" she cried to herself. "CELESTIA! DAVE! APPLE BLOOM! RAINBOW DASH! MS. CHEERILEE! SOMEONE HELP ME, PLEASE!" she screamed to the heavens. There was no reply. "Why am I so weak?" she sobbed again. "My wings are useless, no one wants me, no one needs me, I'm just so alone." Years of bottled up emotions began to pour out of her small, purple eyes. For a long time, she had kept her real feelings hidden. There were times when they came out; like when Diamond Tiara had insulted her after school. Or when Rainbow Dash was too busy for her the other week. And now Dave, whether intentionally or not, had abandoned her in this forest, in this strange new world. And there was nothing she could do to stop the tears.

Scootaloo stayed there for some time. She had gotten exhausted from the struggle of trying to escape, and the young filly was tired. "I can't sleep...have to...go find Dave...". Desperately, she tried once more to free herself, and to her amazement, she broke free of the thorns! She could feel the thorns tearing at her feathers, but she couldn't help but smile. She was free. She could feel the sweat (or was it blood?) dripping from her small wings, but she was free. "And now...time to find...someone..."

The poor filly could take no more, and she collapsed softly onto the forest's soft ground. As she drifted off into sleep, she had the presence of mind to crawl under a tree so as to stay somewhat dry. This last bit of effort took out all of her strength, so she lay there, in a state of mind that wasn't quite sleeping but certainly not awake.

What happened next, Scootaloo could not adequately describe. She had visions of a pony with piercing blue eyes and large wings. She had visions from high above the ground, among the clouds. From her point of view, the rainstorm was awe-inspiring. She had visions of Luna speaking to her and the strange pony, though she could not make out what was being said.

After a short time, Luna nodded, and flew away. The pegasus then walked over to Scootaloo, and lowered its head. Scootaloo could only stare. Just as she was beginning to come to a conclusion, the vision faded, and she could remember no more.

Deconstruction

"Wh...where am I?"

Scootaloo slowly began to open her eyes. She became increasingly aware that her body was in pain. Not much pain, mind you, but enough to keep her from moving around. Her wings also seemed pretty stiff, although she couldn't quite tell why. She opened her eyes a little more, and saw she was in a white room. It looked familiar, but she wasn't sure where she had seen it before. After a moment, she opened her eyes completely, and realized she was in Dave's room, in the exact same spot that she had first appeared in when she had arrived here.

"Is this really happening?" she thought to herself. "How did I get here?"

Scootaloo looked around. She was tucked in under the covers of his bed, and she had to admit it was quite comfortable. Dave wasn't in the room, and the door was only open a crack. Suddenly, she heard footsteps. She tried to shrink down as low out of sight as she could. Dave had been worried before about his parents seeing her. What if it was one of them? What if they were mean? His mom had seemed really angry when Scootaloo had been exploring the television. Who would it be?

It was Dave! He had a glass of water and something else in his hand that Scootaloo couldn't quite see. He slowly pushed the door open, and quietly looked over at her. "Scootaloo? Are you awake?"

Scootaloo gingerly raised herself up. "Yeah, I guess. I feel really sore."

Dave grimaced. "I'm sorry about that. I tried treating your wounds as best I could but honestly I don't know that much about taking care of a young horse." He chuckled, then added "Especially not ones with wings."

Scootaloo turned away. "Not like they're of any use anyway."

Dave cringed at that, and Scootaloo felt a little bad. "Sorry," said Dave. "Once we get you fixed up, I'll see what I can do to help you out with that. That's a promise."

Scootaloo's eyes widened, but just as quickly as it came the happiness was gone. "Why should I believe you? You told me you'd be there for me and then you left me in the woods."

Dave turned away. Scootaloo thought for a moment that he was upset, but he turned back around and said "Here, drink this."

It was a small red and white cup. Scootaloo looked at it, her curiosity overcoming her anger. "What is it?"

Dave replied "It's soup. I think you'll like it, and it should hopefully help you feel better."

Scootaloo cautiously took it, and took a sip. She perked up a bit. "Hey, this is pretty good!" Dave smiled as she drank the soup enthusiastically. It was nice and warm. Not so hot that she was burned, but just about right. It was a nice creamy tomato soup, pretty similar to what Rarity had made for her and the other crusaders during one of their sleepovers.

While she drank, Dave went over to the other side of his bed, and grabbed a long object. It had an oddly shaped black body, and it had six metal strings going through it. There was a wire connected to it that extended to...well, she couldn't quite see where it connected to. "Dave, what is that thing?"

Dave glanced up. "I'll show you. Go ahead and drink the soup though, it looks like you're beginning to perk up a bit. You were asleep for a pretty long time, you'll need it." As Dave sat down, he reached over behind the bed. It sounded like he pressed something, because Scootaloo heard a click. After he sat back in his chair, Scootaloo noticed a slight buzz. Not unpleasant, just a very faint buzz.

What happened next, Scootaloo wouldn't soon forget. Dave began to pluck the strings. It reminded Scootaloo of when Octavia had visited Ponyville, and Ms. Cheerilee had taken the class to her recital. It was almost hypnotic. The melody that Dave was playing was simple and relaxing, but at the same time the sound of the strange instrument was almost alien. The more she watched, the more the object seemed sort of familiar, but she couldn't quite figure out how.

"Dave...what is that thing?" she asked.

He glanced up and paused. "This is my guitar." he replied.

Now she remembered! It was called a guitar. Ms. Cheerilee had had Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, and one of their friends come in ("what was his name?" Scootaloo thought to herself), and all three had shown off their styles of music for a lesson. Vinyl had showed them some music that made everypony want to get up and dance, Octavia performed a song that had someponies falling asleep while others were transfixed. But the third pony ("oh yeah! It was Devin Bucksend!") had brought in the same kind of instrument that Dave was playing now. Scootaloo didn't remember everything Mr. Bucksend had said, but she remembered feeling similar to how she was feeling now. "I don't know why, but I suddenly feel a little better." Scootaloo commented.

Dave gave her a small smile. "That's what I was hoping for. Music for me...it's relaxing. It's feels right. Natural, even." He continued to play for a few more minutes, and then set down the guitar. He took a deep breath, and then began to speak. "Now Scootaloo," Dave began. "I need to apologize."

"Huh?" Scootaloo thought. "What for?"

Dave looked her in the eye. "A few things, I guess. First and foremost, I really should have looked for you a little harder in the forest. I don't know if you realize this, but you've been asleep for two days. You've been pretty sick, and the bruises don't help either."

"Two whole days?!?!?!?" "You mean that? I've been asleep for two days?" she asked.

Dave nodded, wearing an odd, almost grim expression. "You were conscious a few times, but you didn't seem to be aware of much. I would give you water and you'd almost immediately go back to sleep." He took a deep breath, then continued. "When you and I were out in the woods, and you went missing, I looked around for about 10 minutes. I should apologize for that. I should have looked longer."

Scootaloo thought for a moment, and before she could think of a different question, the words flew out, "Not to be rude, but why do you care? I've asked you this before, what makes me special? Why is that, all of a sudden, poof! I'm in your room and you're so willing to take care of me, or so you say. Why? How do you even know who I am?"

Dave opened his mouth to respond, but it looked as if words were going to fail him. He closed his mouth and looked away, lost in thought. There was then a moment where it looked as if he had made a decision, as he nodded to himself. "You know what, Scoot? I can't put that into words. How about I show you instead?"

Scootaloo immediately replied "What do you mean?" Although she wouldn't admit it because she was mad, she was also very curious to see what he meant. Dave reached over into his desk and pulled out a black object that he opened up like a book. It had a wire attached to it that was glowing blue at the tip. "What is that thing?"

"It's called a laptop. It's kinda similar to the television." Dave replied without looking up. He was making some clicking noises on it. Scootaloo got the impression he was urgently looking for something. But what?

"How are you going to show me why I'm special?" she asked curiously. "What does that thing do that the television doesn't?"

The clicking stopped, and Dave looked up with a nervous expression. "Well, a laptop is also a tool. Think about your notebooks in school. This can do that, as well as provide entertainment, like the television. It can do alot of other things too, but those things aren't important right now. What is important is what I'm about to show you." All of a sudden, Scootaloo felt a little nervous as well. "You see Scootaloo..."

As Dave turned the laptop around, Scootaloo's jaw dropped. Staring back at her from the laptop...was herself. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were also there posing. The Crusaders all had a goofy grin on, and Scootaloo could actually remember what she had been doing in that picture; the crusaders had just finished remodeling the clubhouse and had asked Rarity to take a picture for them.

Scootaloo was stupefied. "Wha...wha...how...where did you find that?"

Dave looked her in the eyes. "You see Scootaloo, you and your friends are actually television stars, on a show called My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic."

Dave turned it slightly towards him again, made a few clicks, and turned it back. Right before her eyes, she was watching Applejack lead her and the other crusaders to their clubhouse for the first time.

"Where are you taking us?" asked Applebloom.

"We're almost there, young'uns!" exclaimed Applejack.

Scootaloo watched the laptop in shock and wonder. She watched as the crusaders were shown the then crumbling clubehouse. How Applejack had told them it was theirs to use. How they had all expressed their doubts. How she, Scootaloo, had then made a map of Ponyville and raced through town to show the other crusaders. How Applebloom had shown her all the hard work she had put into the clubhouse to make it suitable for them. Later on, she saw how she had struggled to write a theme song. "You mean...you know about all of that?"

Dave nodded, and chuckled. "If it makes you feel better, I'm not much better at writing songs than you are, Scootaloo."

Without warning, Scootaloo giggled. "I dunno about that, did you hear those lines?" Then something dawned on her. "Wait...television stars?"

Dave replied "Think about how the Wonderbolts are world famous. You and everyone else in Ponyville is famous. I don't mean to make you feel nervous or anything, but millions of people know who you are, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo gently laid back on the bed, and stared at the ceiling in utter shock. "I'm famous..." she said softly. She slowly looked over and asked "So if everyone in ponyville is famous, why am I special? Why not Rarity, or Apple Bloom, or Cheerilee? Is it just because you're being nice?"

Dave looked up, and Scootaloo thought he seemed a little sheepish. "Well, it's true that I'm a nice guy," he said "But mostly, it's because you also happen to be my favorite character on the show."

Of all the possible responses, that one was incredibly low on Scootaloo's list. "I'm...your favorite?" she said, disbelievingly.

Dave nodded. "It's hard to explain, but I'm tired of using that as an excuse, so I'll give it a shot." He took a breath, and then continued. "You see Scoot, when I first found out about the show, I was a little apprehensive. Originally, the show was intended to be seen by younger girls, rather than by guys like me. It soon caught on with guys like me, and I was hesitant. I had seen a few parts of it, but not much."

"Then I saw the time when you and Sweetie Belle first met Apple Bloom. When you guys formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And I realized, I could relate to all three of you. None of you really know what your special talent is, right? Well, I don't either. Just like you three, I'm good at lots of things and I'm interested in lots of things."

Scootaloo interrupted, "Why me? Why not Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom? At least they have more interesting lives. I'm just a school filly who likes thrills."

Dave said "It took some time for you to grow on me. But as I continued to watch the show, I realized that out of all the characters, the one I was most like was you. You remind me of who I used to be: as a kid I was adventurous, always wanting to try new things, and above all else, happy. Watching you and the other crusaders made me smile even when I was feeling down, and I can't thank you enough for that. I haven't been happy much at all lately, and you are one of the few bright spots in my life, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo's eyes began to water. "Nopony has said something that nice about me in a long time. Thank you, Dave."

Dave smiled. "Anytime, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo sat up, and before Dave could react, she gave him a hug. He seemed surprised at first, but he returned the hug soon after.

"Ow! I guess I'm still a little sore." said Scootaloo, rubbing her wings.

Dave said "Lie back down, and relax. There's no need to rush yourself out of bed yet, you're still healing. Hopefully by tomorrow you'll have gotten back some of your energy, and we can get you out and about."

"Ok, that sounds like a good idea." said Scootaloo. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure, what is it?" replied Dave.

"Well, if you don't mind, why were you so sad?" Scootaloo said hesitantly. "I mean, I remember you were telling me about the other day when I got here, but is that it?"

Dave looked away. "Well...it's kind of a long story."

Scootaloo said "It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon, silly. I'd be happy to listen."

Dave gave her a grin, and said "You've got a good point there."

"I don't have many friends. I never really have had that many. But as a result, the friends I do have are really close to me. About a year ago, I made this great friend. She had the best qualities of you and the other crusaders: She's silly, she's funny, she makes me smile, she's really nice, and she just makes for a great friend. But not long after I met her, my house flooded. It was horrible. I had lived there for 20 years, and in a night, it was all trashed."

Scootaloo gasped. "That's...horrible. I'm so sorry, Dave."

He nodded, and then continued. "We stayed in the area for another few months. At first, it looked like we would be staying in the area permanently. We began looking at other homes in the neighborhood, my dad was always at work, and even my mom was spending more time with friends than she ever had. But then, my dad got a job up here, and my job...well the less I say the better, but it wasn't fun. Anyway, I got home and was told we would be moving up here. Where I used to live, it was warmer. It was further in the South, so you didn't get as much of the cold that I get up here, which is pretty far North. I don't know anyone up here. All I had were some pen pals, for lack of a better word. It's hard to explain, since you don't know much about computers or anything, but basically, my only friends were people that I talked to with messages, not face to face. Over time, they all began drifting away. Except for one friend."

Dave paused, and looked away with a tear in his eyes. Scootaloo frowned. At first she thought he was talking about the girl he had met, but that wouldn't have made sense; she lived down south, in his home town. But then the truth hit her, and she involuntarily gasped. "Your dog..."

Dave nodded. He wiped his eyes and continued with a stone-faced expression, but Scootaloo noticed that he wasn't staring at her anymore, but rather to a spot behind her. She even got the impression that he couldn't even see her right now. "My dog was always there for me. He couldn't talk, obviously, but at least he would listen. I would spend all my time with him, because I had no one else. I'm not as close to my mom and dad as I would like to be; they're disappointed in me, and to be honest they have every right to be. I'm supposed to be special. I'm supposed to go above and beyond every time. I'm supposed to be the bright one, the smart one, the successful one. But I always came up short. Always. It's starting to reflect on their attitudes, as well as on my own."

Scootaloo said "I'm sure you're trying your best. Aren't you? Don't they see that?"

"Yes, but when you're consistently coming up short, it starts to wear on your patience." Dave replied. "They're starting to realize that I'm not as good as they originally believed. That's frustrating, and I think they still hope I can be that good someday, so they continue to push. I was a really bright young kid, but they just don't know what went wrong. 'Why can't you succeed? We're giving you all you need to succeed!' They'd say those types of things all the time. Eventually, as I got older, I found that school wasn't for me, and I've just been trying to work ever since. Some jobs were ok, some jobs had their moments, other jobs, like the job I had before you arrived, were awful. But I've been bouncing around like that ever since I decided to stop going to school. I've never really had any idea of who I wanted to be; it was always just a fantasy. 'Yeah, I'd like to be an athlete...' 'Yeah, owning my own business would be cool...' 'Yeah I should be a writer...' but they always just ended up being just that: fantasies. I didn't have the ability or the strength to be an athlete, I don't have the necessary skills to be a businessman, and as far as being a writer...well...I don't think I'm very good at that."

Dave paused for a moment, and took a sip of water. Scootaloo took the moment to interject, "Well, I don't know you very well yet, Dave, but you seem really good at music. And you're good at helping people. What if you did something like that? Used your music to help people?"

Dave paused mid sip. "I don't know...I guess I've just never thought about that." But then, his face dropped again. "It's not like it would matter. You'd need to be really good at music to do something like that, and I'm not that good. I'm barely ok. I can't even write one song, let alone help people with my music."

Scootaloo struggled, but she pushed herself up. Dave made a motion to tell her to lie down, but she quickly said "I'm fine, but listen to me." She managed to stand up. The pain was horrible for her, but she toughed it out. "Now listen here," she said, pausing for effect and because her back was in pain. "You might not be the best at something, but so what? Since when do you have to be the best?"

Dave stumbled over his words. "Well...I mean I..."

Scootaloo waved her hoof. "You don't need to be. You just need to like it. If you've seen me as much as you say, you know that my ideas to get our cutie marks involve things that I think would be awesome. Zip lining and writing rock operas! Those are awesome! And if you remember, I'm not really the best at either of those. But I had fun! I did it with my friends and I had fun! That's all you need! Good friends and fun. Don't tell the other crusaders, but I hope we never get our cutie marks. I'm worried that one of us will get our cutie marks and then we won't be friends anymore, and that would make everything less fun for me! Life is supposed to be fun! You're supposed to like what you do! And that's what I do with my friends! Things that are awesome and fun! If you like music, do it! Just do your best, and it'll be like Twilight always tells us. If it was meant to be, you'll know. Do you like playing music?"

Dave stuttered, "W-well I mean I guess so...I feel a sense of calm and peace when I play..."

Scootaloo nodded excitedly, all soreness forgotten for the moment. "That's it! That must be the feeling you get when you've found your talent! You need to get a cutie mark in music! Just like Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, and Devin Bucksend!"

Dave nodded slowly, and eventually his smile returned him. "You know what? You're right. I WILL go for a career in music. I don't know if I'm going to be very good, but I'm going to try my best and that's all I can do!"

Scootaloo smiled. "That's the spirit!"

Dave grinned. "Only if you promise to do the same for yourself! When you get back to Ponyville, I want to see you trying your best to get your cutie mark with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle! No excuses!"

Scootaloo said "It's a deal!"

The two hugged. It was a nice moment, and Scootaloo's heart felt a little warmer. This felt right. Dave was almost like a father and an older brother rolled into one. She had never had either, and it felt great.

Scootaloo let go, and winced. "I guess I still need some rest, heh heh."

Dave gave a small laugh. "That you do. You weren't in great shape when I found you, so you'll still need rest before you're ready get back to normal. Here, go lie down and I'll get you a glass of cool water. It'll just be a moment." He walked out and lightly closed the door behind him.

Scootaloo lightly laid back down with a smile. "This just feels...right." she thought, and she closed her eyes in contentment.

"I am glad you are enjoying thyself, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo sat up with a jolt. Standing in the room, with a serene smile on her face, was Princess Luna.

Beyond This Life

I closed the door and walked downstairs with a smile on my face. This was going better than I could have imagined. "Goddamn, I feel so much better with all of that off my chest," I said to myself. "I just met her, and yet I feel comfortable saying just about anything about myself. Gotta love having a friend like that around." Initially, I admit, I just wanted to make sure she got home safely. But now...now I wasn't sure. This was nice. I could get used to this. I was beginning to hope that she stayed a while. I'd be ok with that. I'd find a way to make it work with food and all of that. Yeah. This could work. I filled Scootaloo's glass and mine, and then looked around to see if there was more soup I could make for her.

**********

"P-p-princess Luna..." stuttered Scootaloo. "What...how...how are you...I mean...how are you here...what's going on?"

Luna chuckled. "I am not quite here, young one. This is merely my image. Celestia has told me of your situation, and I am here to help."

"Just your image?" Scootaloo asked with a confused expression. Luna nodded, and walked over to Scootaloo and lowered her head. Scootaloo reached out, and as her hoof reached Luna's mane, it passed straight through. Scootaloo let out a gasp. "How are you doing that? How did you find me here?"

"When you are as old as I, you tend to learn things here and there," said Luna with a wink. "This particular spell is an improved variation of the spell Twilight performed on you. Speaking of whom, Twilight would like to speak to you." Scootaloo was taken aback, but then nodded in approval.

Suddenly, an image of Twilight Sparkle appeared right before her eyes. "How is this possible?" said Scootaloo.

Luna replied "While I am casting this spell, if somepony were to rest their hoof on me, they would be able to share in my experience of the spell. This takes extraordinary ability, and I am the only pony in all of equestria who is capable of such a feat. I say this not to be boastful, but to try and explain just how difficult this spell is, and just how enormous a task it was for Twilight to attempt this spell without any prior practice."

"That doesn't excuse my actions though, Princess." interjected Twilight. "Scootaloo, I...I'm sorry. I should have read the spell closer. I should have listened to Spike when he went to stop me. This is all my fault that you're here and I'm so, so sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Scootaloo looked the lavender pony in the eyes. She saw the pain and the regret. She saw the sorrow. Then Scootaloo thought back to before she was sent here. To how the physical therapy had pushed her to her limits. How Diamond Tiara had teased her. How Apple Bloom had tried to cheer her up. How she had insisted on trying the spell because of how worthless she felt. Then she thought about how her time here had gone so far. How Dave had listened patiently to her whole story. How he had told her his story. How he had tried to show that he cared, and just how much he cared. Why he cared. And then how he even knew her name. Scootaloo thought about all of this, and looked Twilight in the eyes, and said "I forgive you, Twilight. Really, it's my fault for pushing you to do it. I should have been more patient and I shouldn't have let Diamond Tiara get to me. If anything, I should apologize to you for putting you through this."

Twilight shook her mane. Scootaloo noticed that at one point, it passed through Luna's image, which made this whole situation all the stranger. "Don't blame yourself, this is absolutely my fault. I cast the spell, I made the mistake." said Twilight with finality. "All I can say is that I promise that I'll do everything I can to make it right."

Scootaloo nodded in acceptance. Twilight looked at Luna, and the two nodded. Twilight's image faded into nothing. Scootaloo turned back to Luna. "So, what happens now? Are you going to take me back to Equestria?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Nay, I cannot do anything to the world around my image when I perform this spell. But Scootaloo...do I detect a hint of doubt and hesitation in your voice? Do you not want to return home to your friends?"

"Of course I do!" responded Scootaloo a little too quickly.

Luna continued to raise her eyebrow in a questioning manner. "What is on your mind, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo hesitated, and started to answer. "Well..."

But before she could finish, the door opened up.

**********

"Hey Scoot, I'm ba..." I stopped mid-sentence as I walked in the room. I never could have imagined that Luna would have found her way here as well. This was starting to get ridiculous. How was this happening?

"Uhhhh..." I started, but then Luna took over.

"Scootaloo, pray tell...who is this?"

Scootaloo looked from me, to Luna, back to me, and back to Luna. "This is Dave. A human."

Luna looked towards me, to Scootaloo, back to me, and back to Scootaloo. "A human, you say..."

Scootaloo swallowed. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. What was going on?

Luna broke the ice. She smiled. "You can both relax. Scootaloo, you know I mean no harm, to either of you. I am...not used to speaking with humans...although I have heard some things about them..."

I couldn't relax. I was essentially staring a God in the face. "With all due respect, may I ask what it is you've heard?"

Unless I was imagining it, Luna was now giving me a grin. "Well, Dave was it? Let's just leave it at this. I know what that black device is." (Here, she pointed at my laptop) "I know what a television is. And I know you know who I am, especially since I can tell you know who Scootaloo is."

"And that doesn't bother you?" I asked. If she knew about the whole brony thing, I wasn't thrilled about the many different directions this conversation could go.

Luna shook her head. "Nay. I have been alive for thousands of years. Some of those were spent in confinement on the moon. I'm not proud of that, but it is what it is. Before my confinement, my sister and I ruled. I have seen many different cultures. Many different types of people. You both know I am Princess of the night. While you are still young, Scootaloo, I am sure Dave has some idea about the type of people you can meet at night." If only she knew how true that was. I was once again glad that I had quit my job; the type of people she was referring to were all too common on my night shifts. "I can see it in your eyes, Dave. You know. During my confinement, I was given plenty of time to reflect upon this. In addition, I was given plenty of time to practice, and ultimately perfect, this spell."

"Pardon the interruption," I said. "But what spell?"

Luna took a few steps towards me. I backed away, but then she stuck her horn through my chest, and I realized what she was saying: it was just her image. So wait...am I just imagining this then? Is this all a dream? "But wait...you are real...right? This isn't a crazy dream or anything like that?"

Luna stepped back and chuckled. "Why don't you ask Scootaloo? I am sure she has thought the same thing."

I turned to Scootaloo for the first time since entering the room. She was wide eyed, and I was once again reminded that she was only a child by most standards. She nodded her head at me, and it was only then that I realized she was just as freaked out about this as I was, and yet she was holding back her surprise as well as I was. I chuckled. "This is crazy. All of this. And yet I can't deny what's going on. Scootaloo has weight. She is making an impression. This is real. This...is actually happening." I pinched myself just in case. No dice. This is real life. I cleared my throat, and said "So what happens now?"

Luna stepped back and began to pace. "You may or may not like what I have to hear." I decided to sit down on the bed next to Scootaloo. Bad news would likely make me want to smash something. Luna coughed, then proceeded. "Scootaloo, I cannot take you home, nor send you home, at present time."

The silence in the room was palpable.

"What do you mean, Princess?" asked Scootaloo, speaking up for the first time since I had re-entered the room.

Luna looked away, and Scootaloo and I shared a look. "It is...hard to explain." said the Princess of the night.

"I've got all the time in the world." I said quickly. Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

"It's...I have some theories. Some ideas. Each one crazier than the last." said Luna. "But first, I would like you both to explain a few things to me."

"Explain? Explain what?" asked Scootaloo, sitting up quickly. She winced and let out a small "ow!" as her wings flared out.

I gently eased Scootaloo back down onto the bed. "Relax, Scoot." I said. "You're still recovering." I looked back to Luna to see she her head cocked to the side ever so slightly, with a curious expression. I wondered what was on her mind. "What did you want to know, Luna?" I asked.

Luna looked at me and said "Let's start with this: Has anything significant happened in your life recently? Discounting Scootaloo's appearance, that is."

You guys know the story from here. I told Luna about what had happened to my dog. About what had happened at work. How I had been feeling prior to that. The hopelessness. The loneliness. I skipped over about watching My Little Pony, but otherwise I didn't leave out any details.

Luna then turned to Scootaloo, and asked the same question. I passed Scootaloo a glass of water, and after a quick drink, she began her story. Beginning with her conversation at her physical therapists, Scootaloo told Luna about her day in class. About how Cheerilee had pulled her aside. About how Diamond Tiara had teased her, and about how this had emotionally pushed her over the edge. She also talked about her loneliness. Her hopelessness.

Luna closed her eyes. I assumed she was thinking about everything we had said. Scootaloo and I shared another look, and then we noticed Luna nodding her head. "Um, Princess?" said Scootaloo. "Is everything ok?"

Luna opened her eyes. "Yes, Scootaloo. I am ok. I am just thinking about all that has been said." She paused. "I would now like to hear from both of you about all that has happened since Twilight cast that spell a few days ago."

I turned and said "Want me to take this one?" right as Scootaloo asked "Do you wanna answer that?" "Whoa!" we both exclaimed at the same time. "It's like you read my mind." we each said. We both covered our mouths. This was starting to get freaky. I had half a mind to pinch myself again, just to be sure. I looked over and saw that Luna was trying (and failing) to hide a grin. "Um, I'll answer this one." I said. Luna composed herself, and then nodded.

I then launched into the story of how I had wanted to collapse onto my bed, and how Scootaloo had been there. How I had elected spend the night on the couch next to her as opposed to in a separate room. How I had given her food and then taken her for a walk in the woods. At this point, Scootaloo took over, and brought up how all of her negative emotions had just overwhelmed her and left her in tears, and how I had gotten down to comfort her. I then resumed and spoke about the time we spent in the woods, and how, due to my carelessness, I had left her in the woods.

"Honestly that was my fault, don't blame yourself, Dave." interrupted Scootaloo. "I was the one who tripped and fell. I should have just stayed within your sight. I'm sorry."

Before I could respond, Luna chimed in. "It is alright, Scootaloo. We all make mistakes and yours was minor. There was no harm done. Now tell me. What happened next?"

I turned to Scootaloo. I was also pretty curious to hear what had happened next.

She cleared her throat, then began. "I remember struggling to get out of this thorny bush. I remember feeling really hopeless and useless. Like it was all my fault, and that I deserved it." This made me feel uncomfortable; I remember thinking along those lines as well. "I remember lying there for a while, because I was just tired, and the rain was making me feel gross. I finally broke out of the thorn bush, but I was just too tired to move. I think I might have been sick." Almost as if to emphasize that point, Scootaloo broke into a coughing fit. I grabbed the soup that I had brought up for her and handed it over once she had stopped. After a quick drink, she smiled and said "Thanks, Dave. I needed that."

There was a small pause. "So what happened next?" I asked. "How did you end up at my back door? You were unconscious when I found you down there."

The filly shrugged. "That's really all I remember. I was just so tired and in so much pain from the fall and all of that, that I guess I just kind of fell asleep." Suddenly, she sat up. "Wait! I, I do remember something!" At this, Luna's focus seemed to sharpen just a tiny bit. I wondered if I had imagined it. "I remember feeling like I was flying...there was a strange pony with bright blue eyes carrying me..." she paused, and I could tell she was struggling to remember what had happened next. "Then...hang on...Luna, were you there? I remember you! I remember you had spoken to the other guy, but I didn't hear what you had said...who was that? Was that real?" Scootaloo paused again, then sighed and laid back down. "That's...that's all. I don't remember anything else.

Luna listened to all of this, and closed her eyes. I noticed that her lips were moving ever so slightly, as if she were saying words quietly to herself. After a long moment, Luna opened her eyes once more. "What happened when Scootaloo woke up, Dave? And how long has she been awake?"

I thought for a moment. "She's been awake for about an hour or so. We were chatting earlier, and I had apologized for leaving her out there. I remember playing my guitar," at this, I paused and indicated the instrument behind the blue alicorn. "I played the guitar to calm her down and cheer her up a bit." I looked down; the emotions from what I had talked about next had come back. "I...we had talked about my past a little bit. Why I've felt the way I have lately. And...I also explained how I knew who she was. And how I know who you are." I swallowed, partly because I once again missed my dog, and partly because I was nervous. It was true that Luna had already admitted to knowing that I knew who both she and Scootaloo were, but now it was out there, so I had no idea how she would react.

Without warning, I felt something on my shoulder. I turned, and saw it was Scootaloo. She had a small, reassuring smile on her face, and her hoof was resting on my shoulder. I couldn't help but return the smile. Man this filly was adorable.

I looked back, and saw that Luna was now smiling. "It's touching to see how close you two are, despite the short time together."

I replied "It's amazing, it honestly is. I can't quite put into words how that feels."

Scootaloo added "When things are going well here, everything feels...right. Things just seem to click."

"There are times where it feels like we're the same person." I finished, but of course, at the same time Scootaloo chimed in with "It's almost like we're the same pony." We shared a look of shock, then laughed. "How do we keep doing this?" Scootaloo asked, a goofy grin on her face.

Luna gasped. The noise cut through our merriment and grabbed our attention. "What is it, Princess?" we both said at the same time.

"I...I think I understand now." said the Alicorn. She turned and looked away. "I need to speak with my sister. I shall return momentarily." Suddenly, Luna vanished. Scootaloo and I shared a look.

"I wonder what she meant by that?" I wondered aloud.

Scenes From A Memory

Luna closed her eyes, and began to envision the home of Twilight Sparkle. After a moment, she began to feel the effects of gravity once more, and she opened her eyes to see Twilight, Celestia, Spike, Cheerilee, and two young fillies, who Luna remembered later on were Scootaloo's school friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"What did you find?" asked Twilight.

Luna looked around the room. "Scootaloo is fine." Everyone let out a visible sigh of relief. "She is staying with a human man, someone that I believe can be trusted. She appears to be in relatively good shape disregarding the circumstances. However..." Luna looked around once more. "I must ask that everypony leave the room, except for my sister. I must ask her about something, and I do not believe anypony else would understand the question. I shall invite you all back in when we have come to a conclusion." Celestia gave her sister a slight look, while everyone else shared a quick glance.

"But we..." started Applebloom.

"No." said Twilight firmly.

"We aren't going to be of much help at this point. Let's let the princesses be by themselves for a moment." added Cheerilee.

"That ain't fair!" exclaimed Applebloom. "Scootaloo is our friend and you got ta talk to her but we didn't even get to tell her we missed her!" The filly looked to be close to tears by the end of her outburst. "Scootaloo is our friend! We miss her! I just want to help get her back..." Applebloom started to cry. Sweetie Belle gave her a big hug, and added "Scootaloo stands up for us. Before we met Applebloom, she was my only friend. I was always picked on, always bullied. Scootaloo has stood up for both of us so many times, and now we don't have that anymore..." It was Sweetie Belle's turn to wipe away a tear. "Can't you understand that? We want to help! We want our friend back!"

Twilight looked at the fillies with a sad look in her eye. "Girls, I..." she was, however, silenced by a look from each of the Princesses. "If her friends wish to stay, they may." said Celestia simply.

"T-thank you, Celestia." said Applebloom.

"We'll try not to get in your way." added Sweetie Belle.

Luna smiled. "I am sure that will not be the case." She turned back to Celestia. "Now, dear sister. I believe I may have figured out what is going on."

"What exactly did you want to ask me about?" asked Celestia.

Luna looked her sister dead in the eyes. "Do you remember the story of Metropolis?"

Celestia gasped. "You mean...with the Miracle and the Sleeper?"

"Yes."

Twilight looked from Luna, to Celestia, and back to Luna, very much confused. "The miracle? The Sleeper? Metropolis?"

"I thought that was merely a legend. A story. A fable." said Celestia breathlessly. "I had no idea something like this could occur in this manner. I don't recall this ever going beyond the world of dreams."

Luna said "That's because, for a while, it didn't. Do remember the other day when I was testing this spell?" Celestia nodded. "When I had done this, I had...met someone. At first, I did not want to believe it, and I shrugged it off as mere coincidence. But this...someone...had pleaded with me. When he had explained who he was, I was stunned. It was improbable, nay, impossible. But it was true. Together, he and I had helped reunite Scootaloo with the human man. It was during this experience that the possibility of the Metropolis story came up in my mind. Not necessarily because of who it was, but because I was beginning to imagine the impossible as real." The night princess gestured towards Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom. "As they told you themselves, Scootaloo hasn't been herself. That's because her moods and emotions have been in sync with the man she is staying with. It could also be the opposite of that; her emotions may have even influenced and amplified his own. When I was there now, they often followed the exact same strain of thought, even including what they said. At first I believed it to be a coincidence, but it kept happening. Their stories lined up far too well. After these experiences, I believe it seals the deal."

"But what is the...Metropolis story?" asked Spike. "I've never heard of it, and I've lived in libraries all my life."

"I haven't either." added Cheerilee.

Celestia cleared her throat, then began. "Some time ago, somepony was being haunted in his dreams by a mare. He did not understand why. He didn't understand who the mare was, and it was driving him insane. He had a son. He had a wife. Why was he dreaming about another mare?"

Luna continued the story. "He decided to visit somepony to help him with his struggles. He desperately wanted to find out who the mare was." Here, Luna took a deep breath. "He eventually discovered that...he and the mare were of the same mind and soul. They were one being. That is what we believe is happening with Scootaloo and who she is currently with."

This revelation was met with dropped jaws across the room.

Cheerilee broke the silence first. "But...how...how does that work?"

Luna surprised everyone by shrugging. "We are not sure. As previously mentioned...this isn't something many people are aware of, let alone knowledgeable about. In the first instance, the mare died about 70 years before her image began to plague the stallion's mind. It is believed that her memories began to infect his thoughts, which began to drive him mad, because he had no idea where the memories had come from. In this instance, with Scootaloo, it seems that, instead of their memories, it is their feelings and emotions that play off one another."

"So if Scootaloo was feelin' sad...whoever she's with would be sad too?" asked Applebloom. Celestia nodded.

"And if he was happy...Scootaloo would be too!" added Sweetie Belle.

Celestia smiled. "You're getting it."

Luna chimed in. "This would also explain why Scootaloo was sent there, of all places, as opposed to any other number of places in the universe. It is possible that their spirits were drawn towards one another by magics even we can barely comprehend."

At this, Twilight's eyes widened. "What do you mean by that? Surely of all ponies, you two would know about all kinds of magic."

Celestia said "We are aware of them but we aren't necessarily thoroughly educated on the topics."

Luna added "Because of the power of magic as a whole, and the diversity in which it can manifest itself, it is not possible to know and understand all kinds of magic. Even during my...confinement...I was unable to fully understand this type of magic, or else I would have recognized the situation immediately."

"With these types of situations, among others, we learn about the details involved as the situation unfolds. As my sister pointed out, it is simply not within our abilities to know and understand all of the magics in the universe. It is during times like these that we are reminded of just how vast and powerful the world around us is, and it can be humbling to remember that we are but mere specks in the grand scheme. We learn as we go, and record the facts so that somepony out there will remember history and hopefully avoid its repetition." finished Celestia.

There was a short pause, before Cheerilee burst out "Ok, but how do we get Scootaloo back? That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

"Yeah! Why couldn't you bring her back?" asked Sweetie Belle desperately.

"Sweetie Belle! Be polite, these are the Princesses we're talking to right now." Twilight scolded.

"It's alright," said Celestia softly. "They are concerned for their friend, and I would expect nothing less from you and the other elements of harmony if one of you were in Scootaloo's place right now." She turned her gaze towards Luna, who hastily cleared her throat.

"In the original story of Metropolis, the mare led the stallion to a realization, that he need not fear the future. I do not believe that Scootaloo needs to lead this man to that same exact realization, but it was the revelation itself that freed her spirit. It gave the man in the original story peace of mind to continue on with his life. If Scootaloo were to lead the present man to that state, maybe, just maybe, it would allow Scootaloo to return. I can monitor the situation and guide her home once her spirit his free, but I cannot yet take her away. It is beyond my power to bring objects from one universe to another. As you can see with Scootaloo, she is stuck and unable to return. When I went to visit, my physical body remained, although my astral body, the image that they saw, was able to communicate with them."

"But we don't know anything about this man! What could Scootaloo teach him that he himself couldn't learn on his own?" exclaimed Cheerilee.

"Unfortunately, that's the other part of the problem." said Luna. "Now, I should remind you all that these are merely theories, and I cannot prove their truth until evidence is provided for me to believe it as such, but this is what I have to go on. It is not enough for Scootaloo to merely provide clarity and peace of mind for the man. It must come about over a natural sequence of events, meaning I cannot guide Scootaloo at all. I cannot even tell her that this is her task. I cannot tell this man that Scootaloo must do this for him. They must learn on their own, and when the time comes, I will be watching, and I will be there to guide her home."

There was yet another stunned silence.

"So...there's not much of anything we can do then?" said Apple Bloom sadly.

Luna shook her head. Celestia said, "Although we cannot do anything for Scootaloo now, your love and support will always be desired. When we get Scootaloo back, we need to welcome her with open arms and much enthusiasm, so that she knows she was missed. That is all we can do, and I believe you girls are most certainly up to the task."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "We'll do our best! Whatever we can do to help Scootaloo, we'll do it!"

"Crusaders stick together!" added Apple Bloom.

Twilight and Cheerilee smiled. "You girls are the best friends that Scootaloo could ask for." said Cheerilee proudly. "You really do care for her. But for now, it's best that you both get some rest. I promise to let you know what's going on first thing in the morning."

"Ooookayyyy." said the fillies in unison.

"And because of the situation, I will allow you both to turn in your homework a little later than usual because of the circumstances." added Cheerilee. "I will meet with Scootaloo when she returns as well, and tell her the same thing. I don't think it's fair of me to expect that from you when you're both so preoccupied."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a look of shock, and said "Really?!? Thanks Ms. Cheerilee!"

"It's no problem at all girls." said the teacher with a smile. "So get some rest, my little ponies. I'll see you in the morning."

"Shall I call Rarity and Applejack to take you both home?" asked Twilight.

Before either of them could respond, Celestia interrupted. "Actually, I was wondering if you would mind taking them home yourself, Twilight, and bring Spike along with you."

Everyone in the room turned and looked at the sun princess with a confused look. "Um, sure." said Twilight hesitantly.

"We'll take care of it, Princesses!" said Spike, adding a salute.

Twilight giggled. "As 'admirable' as your form was on the salute Spike, it didn't hide that yawn of yours very well." Spike looked sheepish, and Sweetie Belle giggled. "Off to bed with you, mister. It's been a long couple of days for you, sending letters rapidly across Equestria. You need your rest."

"But Twilight!" started Spike, but was quickly silenced by a look from the lavender pony. "Alright fine, you win this one, Twilight. I guess I am a little tired. Goodnight everypony."

"Goodnight Spike!" said everypony in unison.

As Spike slowly trudged upstairs, Twilight, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle waved goodbye and began to walk home. "I wonder why they didn't ask Ms. Cheerilee to take us home." wondered Sweetie Belle aloud. "I mean, it is YOUR house, Twilight."

"Actually, I was thinking the same thing, Sweetie Belle." said Twilight. "There must be a reason, but I guess the princesses' business isn't our business."

Back at the library, Cheerilee turned to the Princesses. "Well...it has been nice to see you both here in Ponyville, although of course I wish the circumstances were better."

"We as well." said Luna. "As nice as it is to meet our subjects face to face, when the pleasure is marred by the crisis at hand it makes one realize how little you know those around you."

Celestia nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry I haven't visited Ponyville more often, and I will make a note that I should do so more often. There always seems to be something going on in this small little town."

Cheerilee chuckled. "I suppose so."

"Ms. Cheerilee, before you go, may I ask you something?" said Luna.

Cheerilee replied "Of course! What can I help you with?"

Luna and Celestia shared a look, then turned back to the school teacher. "We'd like to know a little more about Scootaloo."

Erised

"Do you have any threes?"

"No, go fish." said Scootaloo.

I grudgingly picked up a card. Luna had been gone for about an hour now, and I could tell Scootaloo was getting bored. For my part, I just tried to relax and hope that the Princess would be able to come back and explain what was going on. I could only guess Scootaloo was thinking the same thing, but she was just a filly. I can barely sit still and not do anything for that long, let alone someone like Scoot. So I suggested a game of cards.

"Dave, do you have any sevens?"

"Are you serious?! I just picked that up, how did you even do that?" I grumbled. Scootaloo let out a giggle as I handed over the card.

"You know Scoot, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." I said.

"What's up, Dave?"

"How are you able to hold the cards with your hooves? I mean, I have fingers, but how exactly are you doing it?" I asked.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer when a faint blue light began to appear. "What's that?"

"I'm not sure," I said hesitantly. "It might be Luna, that looks like her shade of blue. I wonder what she'll have to say?"

We both waited anxiously for her arrival. Fortunately, the process only took about a moment or so. It was a strange sight to see. Where before there had been nothing, we slowly began to see hazy outlines of Luna's mane. Eventually, her horn appeared, and then her body slowly began to take form. Finally, her cutie mark appeared on each flank, and the image was complete. I had to remind myself that this was just her image; it looked incredibly realistic. I also had to remind myself that the extent of Luna's powers was really quite unknown. Bronies had far exaggerated her powers to that of a God, but there's no proof to say she really wasn't that strong; she had been alive for at least a thousand years.

Needless to say, I was a little intimidated.

"Princess Luna! You're back!" exclaimed Scootaloo.

"So how did things go?" I asked cautiously.

Luna sighed. "Unfortunately I don't have anything definite to tell either of you. Each theory that Celestia and I have come up with is more unlikely than the last. This situation is highly unusual and defies conventional logic."

I let out a sigh, although I wasn't sure if it was out of relief or out of disappointment. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Well..." began Scootaloo. "It's not everyday you get the chance to explore a new place, let alone a new world. Plus, I wouldn't mind the time to stay away from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

Luna's lips turned up in a slight smile. "While I understand why you would feel that way, I imagine your friends would begin to miss you if you wished to stay for too long. You do want to go home, right Scootaloo?" I had to admit I was pretty curious to see how she'd answer this.

"Of course!" said Scootaloo. "But...I like it here. Sure things haven't gone that well, but it's not so bad." She walked over to me. "Dave listened to me. He took the time to hear what I had to say, and he barely knew me. Well, I guess he knew about me, but he didn't KNOW me, if that makes sense." Luna and I nodded. "Only Ms. Cheerilee, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle would do that for me. I don't have anyone else. But I trusted him enough to try. I love my friends but I know if it comes down to it, Dave will look out for me. Won't you Dave?" She looked up at me and I saw a pair of eyes that was both nervous and hopeful.

"Of course I will." I replied without hesitation. I reached down and ruffled her hair playfully, and she gave me a small smile.

Luna gave me a look. "You were rather quick to answer there. Are you merely telling Scootaloo and I what you believe we want to hear?"

I shook my head. "Not in the slightest. I'm not saying that I can provide the best of accommodations, but it is in my nature to help those in need. Besides, as we mentioned earlier, I know who Scootaloo is, and at the very least I'd say we have a decent friendship going here. I'm not someone to turn away a friend."

Luna nodded, satisfied with my answer. "Scootaloo, you certainly seem to be in decent spirits. These arrangements seem to be alright so I will return to Equestria and inform the others. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Ms. Cheerilee all send their love and wish for me to inform you that they miss you and hope for your quick return. Dave, I shall trust you to take good care of her." The aura around Luna's image suddenly pulsed a dark, unfriendly blue, but it happened so quickly that I wasn't sure if I had imagined it or not. "I will know if you do not. I do not want to know about another incident like the one in the woods." I opened my mouth to reply but was quickly stopped by a raised hoof from Luna. "I am aware that it was not intentional but that does not make the fault any less relevant. But do not worry. Show kindness and compassion, and Scootaloo's remaining time here will be an enjoyable one for the both of you." She turned away and her image began to fade. "I'll be in touch," she finished with a warm smile. A moment later, her image was gone.

We both watched as her image faded. After a moment, Scootaloo turned to me. "So what should we do next?"

At first, I didn't hear her question. I was focused on what Luna had said, and it scared me. But I shook it off. I knew I could take care of Scoot. I turned and said "Um, I'm not really sure. It's getting a little late. Are you at all tired? You can't be totally back to 100% after the events of the past few days."

"What do you mean? I'm not tired!" she said, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn.

"Not tired, eh?" I said with a grin.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Maybe just a LITTLE tired," she said sheepishly.

"Let's call it a night. A decent night's sleep should get you back to 100%, and we can make plans tomorrow. Personally, I'm in no rush." I said.

"Sounds good to me!" said Scootaloo cheerily.

Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from outside.

"What was that?" asked Scootaloo.

"I'm not sure, hang on." I said, listening. "Wait...uh oh..." I thought. "It's my family. Sounds like they're back from whatever they were doing."

"Are they nice?" asked Scootaloo nervously.

"Usually." I said dryly. "Lately they've been angry with me. Remember when you first got here?"

"Um, sort of. Didn't you argue with your mom?" she said.

"Yeah. She's not happy that I lost my job." I said with a sigh. "Neither is my dad, but he's always busy so he hasn't really gotten on my case about it. So he'll probably want to talk to me about it as well." I paused for a moment and thought about how this could go. On one hand, if they noticed Scootaloo, it would take much of the attention off me, at least for a moment. I dismissed this idea as selfish. Alternatively, I could just hang out until Scoot fell asleep, and then I could handle things my own way. But that wouldn't work either; she needed rest and I knew this conversation would be a loud one. So that left me with one option. "I'm going to go talk to them now. Hopefully it'll be quick, and we can both get some rest." Without waiting for a response, I walked out of my room and slowly closed the door behind me before I could change my mind.

**********

"I'm going to go talk to them now. Hopefully it'll be quick, and we can both get some rest." Before Scootaloo could respond, Dave quickly walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. A moment later, she heard the sound of footsteps on stairs, and a faint "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Scootaloo sighed and laid back on the pillows. Truth be told, she wasn't doing as good as she could have been. But at the same time, things weren't as bad as they could be. "I guess I should be happy that Dave has been nice to me. He could just have easily hurt me or thrown me out." she thought aloud.

She noticed that the night sky had appeared outside. "How long have I been awake?" she said. "I have no idea what's going on anymore. It feels like I've only been awake for a little while, and I remember it being sunny when Dave first came in here."

"I SAID I'M FINE." roared Dave from downstairs. Scootaloo shuddered. Dave certainly had a powerful voice and she was glad that he wasn't out to hurt her; he made for an intimidating presence as it was, and Scootaloo certainly didn't want to push the wrong buttons with someone like that. The voices continued to echo upstairs but Scootaloo couldn't make out what was being said.

"This stinks." Scootaloo sighed. She slowly walked over to the window and looked out upon the early night sky. Like the other night, the moon was unusually bright. This made her feel a little better. It made her feel as if Luna was still close by, watching over her. It made her miss everyone back home.

She shook her head. "I can't think like that! I'm a cutie mark crusader! If Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were here, they'd tell me to find a way to get my cutie mark in this new place! There's bound to be something new I haven't tried before in here!" she said to herself with determination. "I wonder if Dave has anything in his room I can try..." She looked around. There wasn't much in the room; the bed took up a lot of space. But then her eyes fell on his guitar, which was still plugged in. She walked over to it. It was longer than she was and she doubted she would be able to hold it easily. And yet...there was something tempting about it. Dave had played it and she had calmed down and relaxed quite easily. He didn't look like he was putting much effort into it. It didn't look like it was very heavy. How hard could it be?

**********

"Look, I'm fine, so stop worrying about me." I said tersely. This argument had already gone on long enough; all I wanted to do was get back upstairs, chat with Scoot about what to do next, and sleep.

"You're clearly not fine or this wouldn't have been an issue in the first place." my Mom said with equally restrained patience. "This has gone on long enough. First thing tomorrow morning, you are going..."

Suddenly, there was a crash that came from my room. I thought I heard my guitar buzz faintly but I couldn't be sure. I also heard a couple of faint footsteps and a small voice faintly say "Oh crap!"

"What was that noise?" said my dad slowly.

"Is someone upstairs in your room?" asked my mom.

"Uh, no. I must have just put my guitar too close to the edge of my bed or something." I said quickly. Inside I was fuming, but I had maintain my composure or else this would get bad.

"Are you lying to us?" said my dad.

"What the hell would I have to gain from lying?" I spat out angrily. "No, no one else is up there. I was playing guitar, you came home, I decided to come down and ask about the day."

"Then you should take better care of your things." my mom said with a tone of finality.

That did it. I snapped.

"I don't need this right now! You guys criticize me for everything! Every single damn thing! I don't fucking need this right now! First thing I'm doing tomorrow is getting the fuck out of town because I can't put up with this shit anymore. I need a break from reality and I'm taking it. Don't interrupt me!" I yelled; I had seen my mom start to respond. "No! Enough! I'm done! I'm done being told how I fuck up every single little thing! I get it! I'm a screw up! Just leave me alone!" Before waiting to hear a response I stormed off towards my room to confront Scootaloo about my guitar. It was going to take a great deal of patience for me not to lose my cool, and unfortunately patience was running in very short supply for me these days.

**********

"Oh crap!"

The guitar fell to the floor with a crash. Immediately Scootaloo jumped behind the far side of the bed and hid. She could hear the voices downstairs falter.

"What was that noise?" she heard a voice say slowly.

She couldn't hear what else was being said. Scootaloo felt her breath began to slow to a point where she couldn't even tell she was actually breathing. She felt so dumb. Why did she have to try and pick it up? Why couldn't she just wait? Now Dave was probably going to yell at her and make her feel even worse. There was no way he would let this go. He would throw her back into the woods and leave her. Maybe Luna wouldn't even be able to find her. "I'm so dumb," she silently said to herself, beginning to cry.

Suddenly, Dave's voice echoed upstairs, breaking the silence.

"I don't need this right now! You guys criticize me for everything! Every single damn thing! I don't fucking need this right now! First thing I'm doing tomorrow is getting the fuck out of town because I can't put up with this shit anymore. I need a break from reality and I'm taking it. Don't interrupt me! No! Enough! I'm done! I'm done being told how I fuck up every single little thing! I get it! I'm a screw up! Just leave me alone!" After that, she heard loud, heavy footsteps, and then she heard those footsteps coming up the stairs towards her. "This is it." she thought bitterly.

The door opened, and Scootaloo heard Dave's footsteps coming slowly towards her. "Scootaloo." he said in a low voice. "I know you're behind the bed. Come on out."

Involuntarily, Scootaloo stiffened. "How did you know?" she whispered.

"There aren't very many hiding places in my room, and I know you couldn't fit under the bed unless you were very, very careful." Dave said simply. "Now come on out."

"No! You're just going to yell at me! And tell me how much you hate me for dropping your guitar and that you're leaving me out in the woods to die and how you wish I'd never came!" she said in a frantic voice.

"I'm not doing any of those things. Just come on out." he said in that same low, tired voice.

Scootaloo took a deep breath, and slowly inched out from behind the bed. "I'm sorry." she mumbled.

Dave sighed. "It's fine. Nothing that can't be fixed. But why would you try to play it? You knew it made a loud noise! And you knew I was downstairs with my parents! And you knew I didn't want you to be heard!" While his emotions were clearly rising, he kept his voice at barely more than a whisper.

"I'm sorry!" she began, but was quickly silenced by a gesture from Dave. She gave him a confused look.

"You're fine, keep going, but just keep it down, that's the whole point!" he whispered with an agitated expression.

"Who cares?" burst out Scootaloo. "I just wanted to try something new and you're treating me like I did something terrible! I just want to go home. Since I can't, I wanted to experience the new place. You haven't really helped me with either!"

Dave opened his mouth to respond but stopped. Scootaloo wasn't afraid anymore. She was angry. Angry at Dave for treating her like a baby filly. Angry at herself for dropping the guitar in the first place. Angry at Twilight for putting her in this situation.

"You're right," said Dave softly. "I shouldn't be scolding you. You were trying to apologize. I shouldn't have done that. I should be doing more to make you happy as opposed to just making sure you were somewhat comfortable. This is a strange situation for you, and you need a friend, not a parent."

"What do you mean?" asked Scootaloo suspiciously.

"Do you trust me?"

"What?

"I said, do you trust me?"

Scootaloo paused for a moment. She considered saying no just to be mean, but in the end, she realized that she could trust him. At least for now. Luna trusted him, and that was good enough for her. "Yes. I think so." she said.

Dave gave her a weak smile. "That's good. Here's the plan. I'm going to take you downstairs so you can sleep quietly without worrying about my family bothering you. Tomorrow, we'll take an adventure."

Drive Home

Author's note: These next few chapters will be somewhat interactive. If you see a word that is underlined, click on it for a song, video, or image related to what is happening in the story. Make sure to right-click and open anything in a new tab.

It looked like your typical late-Autumn/early-Winter morning outside. The sky was a warm grey with clouds as far as the eyes could see. Judging by how cold I felt, snow was probably in the forecast, but I didn't bother to check. It wouldn't be affecting my plans either way.

I looked over at the other couch. Scootaloo was still sound asleep. After last night, I took her downstairs and we both went to bed without another word. I could sense that she was holding back some resentment, and that told me that she had been doing so the entire time she had been here thus far. Whether that resentment was towards me or towards the situation, I didn't know. But I figured today might help. At least, I hoped it would.

I checked my phone. It was only 7 in the morning. Fine by me. I wanted to get out as early as possible. I quietly walked upstairs and confirmed my parents were still sleeping. Good. I took a quick shower. If I was going to be in the car with someone else (or somepony else in this case), for a long period of time, I didn't want to smell like crap the whole way. I went to my room and threw a pair of jeans and a t-shirt into a knapsack, put on some sweat pants, and locked the door on my way out. There'd be no reason for anyone to go in there while I was gone. Next, I raided the pantry and grabbed some granola bars and a banana. I grabbed a pair of vitamin waters from the fridge and added that to the collection. Finally, I grabbed my keys and my wallet, and with that I was ready to leave.

I quietly walked outside and threw everything into the backseat of my car. I started the car and turned the heat to a low, comfortable level. All that was left now was Scootaloo.

As I walked into the room downstairs where we were sleeping, I could hear her breathing softly. I thought she might have been awake by now, but I guess not. She looked happy. I hoped she was having a good dream; it'd be a nice escape for her. Hell, I could use of those myself. But no time to worry about that. I softly picked her up, taking care not to stir her too much, and made sure to grab her blanket so she could sleep in the car. "Time to go." I said to her softly. She didn't react whatsoever.

I made my way outside, gently placed her in the passenger seat, taking care to buckle the seat belt over top of her. Now we could leave.

As I pulled out of my neighborhood, it began to snow. It wasn't enough to mess up the roads, but it would be enough to slightly obscure my vision and enough to look pretty outside. Within an hour, everything would be covered in white. I couldn't help but smile a bit. No matter what happens in my life, there's something about a snowy landscape that just looks so gosh darn pretty.

We continued to drive on in silence for a little while. Eventually, I hit a point where I could take my eyes off the road and plug in my Droid for music. I scrolled through the songs endlessly. I'm sure you know how that is; you want to put it on shuffle but really there's that one song that just clicks with you. Skip, skip, skip, wait what was that? Never mind, skip skip skip.

And then I found it.

I turned the volume ever so slightly down, but I really didn't need to bother. This was a quiet song. As the lyrics hit, I softly began to sing along. I always thought of this song as beautiful, but today the lyrics were really resonating with me. It just seemed to encompass everything I was feeling and everything I had been feeling over the past few days. As the chorus hit, I began to sing with a little more confidence:

"You need to clear away, all the jetsam in your brain,

And face the truth...

Well love can make amends, but while the darkness always ends, you're still alone

So drive home..."

For a moment, I got lost in the music, and I felt at peace with the world.

**********

"Come on Scootaloo!"

Sweetie Belle was calling her. Scootaloo could see her and Apple Bloom a short distance away.

"What...what's going on?" asked Scootaloo.

"We got a surprise for you!" exclaimed Apple Bloom with glee.

"But...how did I get here? I thought...I thought I was..."

"What do you mean Scootaloo?" said Sweetie Belle. "You thought you were what?"

Scootaloo looked around. She was back in Equestria! How did this happen? Scootaloo decided to go with it and ask questions later; it felt good to be back where she belonged. "Um, nothing. So what's this surprise, girls?"

"Your mom and dad are here! They want to see you!"

Suddenly, everything else seemed to vanish. Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "My...my...mom and dad?"

"Yeah! They said they want to see you! Come on!"

At that moment, a huge smile broke out onto her face. Scootaloo didn't care what was going on or why, but she realized that having a family, a true family to turn to, it might just make all her troubles go away. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

The three fillies began to run as fast as they could towards town. A moment passed, and Scootaloo realized that she was no longer running, but still moving forward.

"Scootaloo! You're flying! You're really flying!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo looked down at the ground. She looked over at her wings. She really was flying! She was doing it! "I'm flying! I'm really doing it!" she said with a huge smile. For a moment, all of her troubles seemed far away.

Scootaloo blinked.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were far up ahead, and they were waving for her. She saw somepony standing behind them. Scootaloo guessed that the pony was smiling but she couldn't quite see who it was. Off in the distance, she could have sworn she saw a set of bright blue eyes. For some reason, that seemed familiar. Then, from out of nowhere, she heard a voice softly singing:

"You need to clear away, all the jetsam in your brain,

And face the truth...

Well love can make amends, but while the darkness always ends, you're still alone

So drive home..."

As the final lines faded away, Scootaloo turned. Now, all she could see was the bright blue eyes far off in the distance.

***********

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes to darkness. She felt something soft on top of her, so she guessed she had pulled the blanket over eyes in her sleep. She could hear the voice singing again, but she couldn't quite make out what the words were. She decided to throw the blanket off of her, and saw she was in a strange room.

"Wh...where am I?" she said drowsily.

"Oh! You're awake!" said a voice. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake you."

Scootaloo turned, and saw Dave holding a wheel and looking forward. He had a somewhat tired look on his face but he seemed to be doing ok. "It's alright." She looked around again. "Where am I? I don't remember this room of your...your...house..." It was at this point that Scootaloo noticed that the scene outside the window was moving. She then realized that THEY were moving! "Dave, what's going on? How are we moving?" She stood up and looked out the window. What she saw made her gasp.

They were flying.

Scootaloo could see clouds not far in front of her. It looked like they were flying through them. She looked through the same window as Dave, and it looked as if they were flying through the mountains. "Dave...what's going on?"

Dave reached down and turned a knob. Suddenly, the singing and the other strange noises seemed to fade away. "We are in what's called a car. You could say I'm the pilot. I was thinking last night, and I realized that I had promised to at least try to help you fly. And I realized I had no idea how I would do that. So, I decided to take a little adventure through the mountains. I figured we'd be high enough that if you looked for a moment, it would be pretty close to flying for you." He grinned. "I hope it was a good idea."

Scootaloo looked back out the window closest to her. There was a wall of snow as far as she could see. She looked out the window in front of her. There were other...cars?...up ahead. The sky was a little grey with clouds here and there. She looked out past Dave, out his window, and the sight was breathtaking. They were REALLY high up in the air. Far below, she could see small houses, and fields covered in snow.

It really was like she was flying.

"This...this is..." she began. She could feel tears lightly running down her face, and she smiled. "Thank you, Dave. This was really nice of you. You didn't have to do this for me."

Dave smiled in return. "Don't worry about it. You've done more for me than you know."

Scootaloo was confused. "Me? What have I done for you?"

Dave's eyes were focused straight ahead, so he didn't respond right away. He turned the wheel, and Scootaloo felt the...what was it, a car?...drift slightly to the right. Then he began to respond "Well for one, you've given me a reason to get out and make this drive today. We're going to be in here for a while, but no one will bother us. We can be as loud and as obnoxious as we want, as long as I keep my eyes on the road. We can stop wherever you want if you want to explore. And for me, I can get away from my parents, at least for a day."

Scootaloo shook her head. "You shouldn't say that. I don't even have parents to run away from."

"Don't get the wrong idea though," said Dave quickly. "I love my mom and dad; they take good care of me. It's just..." he paused for a moment. "It's just, I don't always know how to make them happy. I feel like a failure sometimes, and I don't know how to deal with that. I'm used to being successful without much effort, so for me, before you came I was going through a rough time and I really didn't know how to deal with it. That's why I'm glad I thought to make this trip. On one hand, I can get away, if only for a day or two. I can just relax and be myself. And on the other hand, I can get you out so you can truly see my world."

"I guess so..." said Scootaloo hesitantly. She looked out the window at the snowy landscape. "You still shouldn't be running away from your parents. I'm jealous that you even have them."

Dave looked over in surprise. "I'm not running away forever. Just until I get my head on straight. But wait...where are your parents?"

Scootaloo looked away bitterly. "What? I thought you knew all about me already? Don't you know I'm just an orphan?"

Dave made a quick adjustment with the steering wheel and looked back in surprise. "I don't know everything about you. Not many people who watch the show do. All we know is that you're one of the cutie mark crusaders and that you look up to Rainbow Dash. That's all."

Scootaloo turned in surprise. "Really?"

Dave nodded. "That's all pretty much anyone knows. You're kind of a mystery."

She looked away. "I might as well join the club. I don't remember much of anything about my parents."

Dave frowned. He reached down and grabbed a small, rectangular, black thing, and handed it over to Scootaloo. "Here, why don't you pick a song? It doesn't matter if you don't know anything, pick something that sounds interesting. I like having music on in the background while I drive."

Scootaloo picked up the device and looked at it, her bitterness temporarily forgotten. "What is it? What do I do?"

Dave looked up to make sure the road ahead was clear, then looked back down. "This is a smart phone. I'll tell you more about it another time. Slide your hoof up and down the screen to look through the songs. If you see one that sounds interesting, tap on it once." Dave looked up once again, then back down. "There's some interesting stuff on there I guess. Give it a try."

Scootaloo looked down, and saw there was a list of things. Some sounded kind of boring, some seemed just plain weird. At one point, she accidentally made a selection. "Um, I think I accidentally pressed..." the rest of her answer was cut off as she jumped out of her seat at the noise that came out next to her. "D-d-dave...what..." Once again, the rest of what she had to say was lost as incomprehensible words began bellowing out of the speakers. Scootaloo had never heard anything like this. It reminded her vaguely of the time she and the other crusaders tried to write a rock opera, in how random it was. The intensity of the music was frightening. "HOW CAN YOU LISTEN TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?" she yelled over the music.

Dave quickly grabbed away the small device, looked over it fast, and tapped it once. "This should be better." he said simply.

The intense sounds immediately stopped, and Scootaloo heard a faint noise in the background. It was kind of creepy but not so much that she was weirded out. "What the heck was that?!?" she asked. Dave started to laugh. "That's not funny!" said Scootaloo angrily. "That was really scary!"

Dave continued to laugh. "I'm not laughing at that, I'm laughing at the bad luck. Of all the songs you looked through, you would pick the one band that is the hardest to understand. Just my luck, you probably think I'm a terrifying monster now don't you?"

Scootaloo replied "You mean, I didn't before?" and stuck her tongue out at him.

Dave glanced down in surprise. "Oh, is that a fact?" and proceeded to stick his tongue out at the filly.

The two began to laugh. It was one of the first moments in some time they could relax and just enjoy the moment. Scootaloo had to admit, it felt pretty good.

**********

"So, where are we going?" asked Scootaloo.

I thought about it for a moment, then came up with the perfect answer. "Why don't you tell me? You can choose where we go."

Scootaloo gave me a confused look. "But I don't know where anything is. I mean, I guess I could go for a milkshake from sugar cube corner, but I don't think we can get there from here."

"That's true," I said. "But don't worry about that. I'll point out a place where we can choose the direction, and you can tell me which way you want to go."

"Well, I guess I can do that." she replied.

"And I'll make sure to find us some milkshakes along the way," I added with a grin.

Scootaloo grinned. "YESSS!" she exclaimed, adding a hoof pump for emphasis.

I couldn't help but grin as well. "You really can't go wrong with a chocolate milkshake, they're good no matter where you are."

Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. "If only we could go to Sugar Cube Corner! Pinkie Pie makes the best milkshakes!"

"That's true," I said "but if I tried one I might be tempted to stay in Ponyville forever!"

Scootaloo paused. "I don't know, that might not be so bad."

I was a little surprised at that. "What do you mean?"

Scootaloo thought for a moment. "Well, for starters, you're much taller than me and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, so you could help us do stuff that only full grown ponies could do. There's that."

"True..." I said slowly.

"And you said you wanted to get away from home, so maybe you might like Ponyville so much you could decide to stay!"

"Well I don't know..."

"And since you're older, you probably know lots of stuff about the world and life and stuff, and you know about cutie marks so maybe you could help me and the girls get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo finished with a gleeful expression.

"Whoa now, let's not get ahead of ourselves." I said. "I don't know if I can help you get your cutie mark any more than Twilight or Cheerilee or anyone else can."

"How come?" said Scootaloo. "You said you know about us right? So you must know what cutie marks are! And since you're old enough you probably have one yourself, right?"

"Well unfortunately for us it doesn't work that way," I said. "We don't get cutie marks."

"How would you know what your special talent is then?" asked Scootaloo.

I thought about that for a moment. "Well we don't always. People often discover new talents for themselves, or realize their old passions and talents aren't as easy for them. For me, guitar wasn't my first love. When I was your age, I wanted to be a baseball player."

"What's baseball?" she asked.

"That's not really important," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "What's important is that it never really worked out. After that, I changed my mind a number of times. I'm older than you and I'm still not sure. Why the rush to try and find your special talent now?"

Scootaloo thought about it. "Well, if we had our cutie marks, they would stop Diamond Tiara from picking on us. And that's why we have the cutie mark crusaders at all, so we can find our special talents."

"I guess I can understand that," I said. "But getting your cutie marks won't change them. They'll still be the same ponies they were before."

Scootaloo paused. "So what should we do?"

"Believe me, I've been there." I said. "People probably tell you guys to ignore them, right?" She nodded. "Yeah, I figured. I was always told the same thing, no matter what they were saying. It didn't matter how much I wanted to hit them or kick them or whatever. I was always told to leave them alone."

"So what did you do?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I retaliated physically once. I won't bore you with the details, but it got me into a lot of trouble to say the least."

Scootaloo looked away. "Well I definitely don't want to get in trouble. So what should I do?"

"It really depends on the situation honestly. With Diamond Tiara, I just wouldn't bother responding. Is it really worth the trouble to respond? The last time it happened, you got out of control, and...well, you ended up here, for better or for worse." I replied gently.

"I guess not." she said softly. She looked around. "So, is it almost time for Hearth's Warming Eve? It's cold and snowy, so it must be, right? Or is it like that all the time?"

I shook my head. "It's just that time of year. Most people call it Christmas, not Hearth's Warming Eve though."

"Christmas?"

"Yeah. It's pretty similar to Hearth's Warming Eve though. We give each other gifts, decorate trees, make gingerbread houses, and enjoy each others company in the warmth of our homes." I said.

Scootaloo looked away.

"I guess you haven't had too many good ones." I said softly. It was more a statement than a question.

She nodded and looked out on at the snowy landscape.

**********

The music that was playing seemed to fit the mood well right now. Scootaloo started to feel lonely again. She thought back to a recent Hearth's Warming Eve. She had been in Canterlot...

Scootaloo walked along the streets of the big city, alone. Rainbow Dash and her friends had finished with a dramatic retelling of the first Hearth's Warming Eve a little while ago, and they were all out celebrating a job well done, as well as each others company. Knowing Pinkie Pie, this would mean they'd be gone a while. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had fallen asleep in their rooms not long after the older girls had left.

But Scootaloo could not sleep.

She left a note on her pillow. Explaining where she was and what she was doing.

Nobody paid the small filly any attention. But that was okay with her. She was used to it this time of year. Jumping between friend's houses. She knew she was a bother. A nuisance. An outsider.

So she went for a walk. The moon was unusually bright that night. Maybe she could find a quiet place to go where she could be alone and think. But she did not anticipate just how cold it would be on that cold winter night. She shivered as she stepped outside, wrapped her scarf around her neck once more, and began to walk around.

Canterlot was a beautiful city, and winter could really bring out the best in it. There were decorations everywhere. Multi-colored lights lit up the streets, shop windows had all kinds of toys and ornaments on display, and everyone seemed to be in a better mood.

Except for her.

A carriage filled with rich ponies rolled by, so focused on who they would impress at their next holiday party that they were hardly bothered by the puddle the carriage rolled over, kicking up cold, dirty street water that barely missed the small pegasus.

Couples trotted by without a second glance, so lost in each other's embrace that they paid no attention to the child who walked sadly on by.

Groups of friends laughed and danced by, so entranced by the beauty of the season that they didn't see the purple-haired filly shivering from the cold.

Scootaloo continued to walk through Canterlot. She didn't have a destination in mind. "I'm going somewhere, but not here." she said repeatedly to herself.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a set of bright blue eyes. She turned, but didn't see anything. Only a laughing couple, a tall pegasus wrapped in a large coat, and an elderly couple boarding a carriage.

She shivered again.

This continued for some time. Scootaloo went into a shop to buy a snack, but left after realizing she had forgotten her bits back at the hotel.

After a while, she realized she was getting incredibly cold. She decided to head back to the hotel. But then she looked around, and let out a cry.

She had gotten lost.

She tried to find the store she had just looked in, but by the time she had found it again, it was closed for the evening. Scootaloo sat on the doorstep of the shop and began to cry. "I guess I deserved this. I'm worthless. I'm just a burden." she sobbed.

Time passed. A cold breeze whipped through the streets, causing her to shiver. Her breath was coming out ragged. Scootaloo tried to get comfortable, but she couldn't escape the cold breeze that tore through her like a knife.

As she turned, she saw a glimmer in the sky. She looked up, but there was nothing there. She shivered again as a fierce breeze passed through again. She looked around again, and could have sworn she saw the glimmer again. It almost looked as if it landed down the road. Scootaloo felt herself get dizzy from the cold, but again, she could have sworn she saw the source come closer. Just as she began to hold herself up and really get a close look...

"SCOOTALOO!" called out a voice.

Scootaloo turned towards the source. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack were charging towards her rapidly.

"We've been worried sick about you, kid! What were you thinking?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"Calm down now, Rainbow." said Applejack. "We found her, that's what counts."

"Are you alright, Scootaloo?" asked Twilight.

Scootaloo looked up at the three ponies, and tears began to well up in her eyes."I...I...I'm so..." she started, but she was shivering so hard she couldn't finish the apology, and she leapt into Rainbow Dash's outstretched arms. "I'm so sorry" she sobbed.

"It's okay, Scoots. Let's get you back to the hotel and get you wrapped up." said Dash.

Rainbow held Scoot in her arms as she followed Applejack and Twilight back to the hotel. As they headed back, Scootaloo looked over her shoulder. As sleep began to take hold, she strained to see down the road. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw the faintest hint of that same pegasus pony in the thick coat looking back at her. The pegasus looked away, and flew off into the night.

With that, Scootaloo slumped over, and fell asleep.

"Scootaloo?" she heard Rainbow Dash ask. But she already asleep.

A Nightmare To Remember

"Scootaloo?" she heard someone say. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't Rainbow Dash this time.

"Oh, sorry. Just...thinking." said Scootaloo quietly. "Don't worry about it. Um. What did you ask me again?"

"Don't worry about it." said Dave just as softly. "I hope I didn't bring up any bad memories for you."

Scootaloo quickly shook her head. "It's no big deal. Honestly."

"You know, I can tell when you're lying to me," said Dave with a small grin.

Scootaloo turned in surprise. "Huh? How?"

"It's written all over your face," said Dave. "Plus, you sounded almost...lonely, if I had to guess."

Scootaloo was silent for a moment. "...I guess so. I got into a little trouble last year. And not the fun kind that we crusaders get into all the time." She explained the memory from last year's Hearth's Warming Eve.

"But did you ever see who the mysterious pony was?" asked Dave.

Scootaloo shook her head. "Nah. I don't remember much. Once Rainbow Dash picked me up, I think I fell asleep."

Dave thought about that one. "I wonder if it was Luna? She said she was keeping an eye on you here, and you were in Canterlot, so it might have been her."

"I thought about that," said Scootaloo. "But I don't think so. Whoever it was, they weren't as tall as Luna, but they were a little bulkier. It might have been a stallion but I'm not sure."

Dave nodded, seemingly accepting that explanation. He looked around. "We should be getting close to a stopping point soon. We can get some food or milkshakes or whatever when we arrive."

Scootaloo thought about that for a moment. "Won't someone see me? Wouldn't that be a problem?"

Dave shook his head. "We can stay in the car while we're getting food without much problem. There's a spot just after the food that we can go to where we can get out of the car, walk around a little, and eat. There's a lot of different places I haven't seen either, so this will be an interesting experience for the both of us."

Scootaloo nodded, and looked out the window. The snowy landscape stretched out farther than she could see. At the bottom of the mountains, she could see snow covered homes, with smoke coming out of the chimneys. She could see vast fields, woods, and lots of hills. "I wish Rainbow Dash was here." she thought. "This area would be great for flight training. It's so wide open. It's so big." She looked back at Dave, who was frowning. "Is everything okay?"

"There's something wrong with my car," he said with a hint of frustration. "I'm not sure what."

"W-what does that mean?" asked Scootaloo nervously.

"I won't know until we stop. It could be a major problem, or it could be no big deal. Best thing I can do right now is keep an eye on things and play it safe until I know."

Scootaloo swallowed. She didn't know much about this world, but Dave seemed pretty tense, almost nervous, and if he was nervous she was panicking on the inside.

**********

The next 15-20 minutes or so passed by in tense silence. Scootaloo stared out the window and took in the view of the mountains. For my part, I kept an eye on the dashboard and prayed nothing was seriously wrong. There was a little yellow exclamation point on the dashboard that had caught my attention, and something was definitely off. I might have just been imagining it though; that little light had come on for no reason before, and I knew I wasn't far from where I needed to be, so I kept calm and continued to drive.

"Soooo, how is the c-car doing?" asked Scootaloo, trying and failing to hide her fear.

"Well it's held up so far so I think we're doing okay." I said, although internally I didn't know how true that was. "We don't have much further to go, in about five minutes we'll..."

"HEY LOOK OUT!" Scootaloo screamed.

I turned. Up ahead, an 18 wheeler was losing control and swerving out ahead of us.

I went to slam the breaks, but they wouldn't hold. I felt my eyes grow wide with fear.

"Hang on!" I said.

**********

The morning sun had been raised. Princess Luna let out a yawn.

It had been a long night.

The Princess of the night had been busy lately, keeping an eye on fillies and colts across Equestria in their dreams, lest another situation like Scootaloo's were to occur. The last thing she wanted was to have to chase another innocent child across dimensions because she had failed to watch over her subjects.

"Dear sister." The statement drifted into Luna's room like a cool autumn breeze. The blue alicorn turned and saw her elder sister, Princess Celestia.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Luna.

Celestia shook her head. "There is something wrong, I can feel it. Something is wrong with Scootaloo."

Luna frowned. "What does thou mean?"

"I...am not sure. But something is not right." said Celestia nervously. "Something feels wrong. Something has changed."

"Hmmmm." Luna closed her eyes. She had been checking on the filly every hour or so between her dream walks. Up until now, she had no real reason to worry. Celestia's reaction was worrying; her ability to sense Scootaloo was not as strong as Luna's because of the bond between Luna and Scootaloo. Not to mention Luna's practice with the spell. She searched for the pair of kindred spirits.

After a moment, she stood up. "I will be going to them now." Without another word, Luna turned, and flew out of the Canterlot Castle, and off into the morning sun.

Wait For Sleep

"And that's all you remember?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "I remember feeling like I was floating. I think that's when I was in outer space. It was really strange...but not as scary as you might think. Kinda peaceful I guess. Then I slowly began feeling like I was being pulled into...something. After a while, I could feel my body again, and then I woke up here."

"How long were you here before I got here?" I asked.

Scootaloo gave a forlorn sort of shrug. "I don't know. It wasn't very long though. I just remember hearing strange voices and being scared, so I just stayed where I was and hoped it was all just a bad dream."

I gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, I know how that goes."

There was an awkward pause.

"So what happens now?" asked Scootaloo. "Do you have any ideas as to why or how I'm here?"

I shook my head. "None that make sense." Before she could ask, I said "We should probably get some sleep though. It's getting kinda late, and you're just a kid."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, but I quickly shushed her.

"You know what I mean." I said quickly. "I'm tired out as well. Believe me, I had just as long a day as you, in a streak of long days." I then gave her a quick synopsis of how things had been going for me lately, starting from the animal hospital and ending as I walked into my room. I left out the language though; she is just a filly after all. Some of the things I had to explain, such as certain things people were buying ("So you're saying people buy plants that are rolled up in paper, then light them on fire...and then breathe in the smoke?" asked Scootaloo at one point), and what a speeding ticket is ("you sound like Rainbow Dash!").

At the end of it, she put her hoof on my shoulder, which surprised me. "I'm sorry you haven't had a good day Mister. And I'm sorry about your dog. And now you've got me to worry about. Sorry to make things harder for you."

I was surprised for a moment, but quickly gave her a warm smile. "Hey now, don't think of yourself as a burden. I don't mind the company. Maybe this could be good for both of us."

Scootaloo gave me a surprised look. "How could this be good for both of us?"

"From what it sounds like, you needed a break from your usual routine as much as I did." I said. "But trust me on this. I think this will work out just fine. But for right now we should get some sleep."

Scootaloo interjected, "Yeah, I wanted to ask you. Where am I going to sleep? I don't see a spare bed around here."

"Shit, she's right," I thought. "You can sleep in here, on my bed. I'll just go sleep in the next room over." I said.

"Ummm, ok." Scootaloo said. There was something in her voice I couldn't quite place. Then it clicked.

"Actually, I have a better idea. Let's go downstairs. There are some couches down there that are fairly comfy, we can each take one." I said.

"Ok!" she replied with a bit more enthusiasm. I sighed. At least I had made the right call there. I grabbed a pillow and my blanket and made my way downstairs. We made it downstairs without making too much noise.

"I'll take this bigger couch. You can have the smaller one. Here, I'll get you a blanket." I said. I went over to the hall closet and grabbed an orange and blue blanket. It wasn't her shade of orange but it would do; I doubt she would be all that concerned with my taste in fashionable blankets. I walked back over to where the couches were and laid the blanket over her.

"Thanks Mister." She said sleepily.

I gave her a grin. "Please, call me Dave. Mister makes me feel old."

She gave me a grin back. "Well if I'm young, you're definitely old!"

I laughed at that. "You have a point there, Scoot." I gave a huge yawn, then said, "Alrighty then, goodnight Scootaloo. Sweet dreams."

She sleepily replied, "Goodnight to you too mister...I mean, Dave."

I gave her a small grin. She rolled over and presumably fell asleep. I set up my pillow, pulled my blanket over top of me, and proceeded to stare at the ceiling for the next two hours. "This whole situation is insane! Just a few days ago, life was completely normal. Now, I lost my dog, I lost my job, and I got a speeding ticket to boot. But after all of that, of all the things that would jump into my life, it's Scootaloo! She's supposed to be a fictional TV character! How the hell is this possible? And why me? Why would Scootaloo appear in my life the way she did? I thought Twilight was supposed to be the most powerful Unicorn in all of Equestria; she isn't one to make mistakes like that. Am I insane? I'm talking to myself about fictional cartoon characters at 1 in the morning for goodness sake!" I continued on this train of thought for a while. None of this was making any sense to me and it wasn't getting any easier the longer I thought about it. Eventually however, my brain had had enough rambling, and I succumbed to the sweet release of sleep.

*************

The CMC walked along the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. It was getting dark, but they didn't mind. "Hey, let's check out this path!" said Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo felt apprehensive, but then Apple Bloom said, "Ok!" so she followed her friends into the woods. The trio walked along silently in the dusk. They saw a few small critters here and there, but nothing scary. Scootaloo looked around in wonder. They had never been in this part of the Everfree Forest before. There was a strange feeling to the woods that Scootaloo couldn't describe.

"Are you guys feeling as weird about this as I am?" she turned to ask her friends. But as she turned, she saw that she was all alone. All alone in the sudden darkness. She suddenly felt very scared. There was a noise behind her. She turned quickly...but saw nothing. "Who's there?" she called out, sounding much braver than she actually felt.

She heard another noise; this time a voice. "We're watching you..."

"Who...who are you?" Scootaloo yelled. The voice did not respond. At this point, Scootaloo wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, she was alone in a dark, creepy forest. On the other, the voice didn't sound threatening at all. Instinct told her to walk in the direction she thought she heard the voice. Again, she heard the call: "We're watching you..." Scootaloo began to run now. There was a light up ahead. Instinctively, she ran towards it. She did not know what was driving her towards the light. She was conscious of a few facts: She was all alone save for the voice. She had nothing and no one to help her. She had lost her way. But she knew that she had to see who, or what, was watching. She knew that nothing would keep her from reaching the light.

She was running full speed now. The light was getting brighter. She turned, ducked under some branches, jumped over some logs, and was now within walking distance. She began to walk closer and closer...

Scootaloo awoke with a start. She was breathing hard, as if she had actually been running through the Everfree Forest. The memory of her dream was still fresh within her mind. She looked around. There was a thin strip of moonlight illuminating part of the room. She looked over and saw a strange creature lying still. "Who or what is that? Was that the voice of my dream?" she thought, before the memories of the previous day began flooding back. The therapy...school...Ms. Cheerilee...Diamond Tiara...Spike...Twilight's Spell...

She shuddered involuntarily. "Now what?" she thought to herself. She had no idea where she was, how she got there, and she was staying in the home of a strange creature. He seemed nice, but Scootaloo still wasn't sure. He looked fairly strong, but Scootaloo felt confident in her speed if it came down to it. Still, she didn't want to think about what might occur if the man turned out to be an enemy. She was more alone than ever in this world, and she had no idea what lay outside of this house. What if all the creatures here were as tall as him? What if none of them were friendly?

Scootaloo got up off her couch and walked over to the window. She looked outside, not really expecting to see anything, but just wanting to get a glimpse of what was in store for her. Her eyes came to rest upon the moon. "I wonder if it's the same moon that Luna takes care of." she thought. This actually made her feel even more alone, so she silently walked back to her bed. She laid down and spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling, quietly waiting for sleep to take control.