Beyond Infinity

"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.