RD & S And The Search For The Starswirlby Rainbow Dash99ChaptersChapter 1: The BeginningChapter 3: The Unexpected EventChapter 4: In The DarkChapter 5: Inside The Deadly Dark CavernChapter 6: TBDChapter 2: When Two Ponies MeetChapter 1: The BeginningIt was a nice summer morning, the kind of morning that ponies might go out for a trot in the park, the kind of morning when ponies might wake up and just sit by their open windows enjoying the nice summer breeze. The kind of morning that little colts and fillies would go outside without eating breakfast first! But one cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane wanted more than just to go outside, she wanted…an adventure! That morning the pegasus got up, feeling rested and ready for anything! Ready to go outside not just to trot or fly, but to have an adventure! “Hey Tank, you feeling good for an adventure?” The Tortoise slowly lifted up his head from his pillow and blinked, clearly uninterested. Rainbow ate her breakfast in a flash; Tank on the other hoof still had half a bowl. While waiting for the tortoise to finish eating, Dash started packing their things. First she got her saddle bags; she then packed lots of food, her purple sleeping bag, Tank’s bed and propeller device, then finally, her favourite ‘Daring Do’ books with them. “Alright Tank! Everything’s packed! Tank?” The tortoise was nowhere to be seen, his food bowl now empty, Rainbow rushed to her bedroom to see no sign of him. Without his propeller, he couldn’t have got too far. A deep feeling of dread spread through her. She rushed to the doorway and to see the tortoise waiting for her there, “Gosh Tank don’t do that again, you scar, err…had me worried there!” Rainbow stated, glad she had saved herself from slight embarrassment…or did she? “I wonder where Rainbow Dash is.” Scootaloo asked herself, lying on her back in the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse. “She could be going for a walk.” Apple Bloom suggested, having heard Scootaloo talking to herself, even while flipping through a magazine. “Or she could be at my sister Rarity’s house!” Sweetie Belle suggested, while eating the lunch that Rarity had packed for her. “I don’t have a clue where she is, but I wanna find her so she can teach me some new flying tricks!” Scootaloo stated excitedly. “We could go for a walk and we might run into her.” suggested Apple Bloom, turning her head up from the magazine. “Yeah you might be right, maybe we should go!” replied Scootaloo, who was now even more excited. “Then what are we waiting on? Let’s go!” rushed Sweetie Belle, having just finished her lunch. She ran out of the clubhouse awaiting her friends at the bottom of the ladder. “Wait for us!” called the two fillies from inside the tree house. “There you go Tank! You’re all ready to go!” the cyan pegasus had just strapped the tortoise’s propeller on his shell, and then the two set off! They walked around Sugarcube Corner only to stop at the Cake’s Bakery to pick up some cupcakes for their journey. (Remind you of anypony?) As they entered the bakery, Mrs. Cake called out from the counter. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner dear! How can I help you?” “Well you see, Tank and I are going on an adventure, and we just wanted to get some cupcakes along the way…” explained the pegasus who had just noticed that there were no cupcakes left in the display case. “…Uh, do you have any left?” “Well, I don’t know for sure, but let me go check the oven in our kitchen. I think I recall telling my husband to put a batch in.” replied Mrs. Cake before trotting into the kitchen leaving Dash and Tank alone. “Tank? How many cupcakes would you like?” Dash asked; the tortoise only blinked. “Ok I guess about…” “…Here you are dear! We have twelve left! I just put them in a box I-is that enough?” Mrs. Cake asked with a slight blush, noticing that she had just interrupted. Dash looked annoyed but she replied as politely as she could. “Yeah that’s enough, how much?” “Four bits.” replied Mrs. Cake. “Really?” replied the pegasus with a semi shocked tone at the low price. “Is that a discount?” “Why yes it is dear! I always give discounts on the last of my items, and it doesn’t hurt to be best friends with our top baker!” Mrs. Cake replied politely, taking pride in her statement. “Well here you go, five bits. Keep the change.” Dash replied, tossing a bit at Mrs. Cake. Mrs. Cake, caught the bit and put it in her apron before replying with, “Well thank you dear, here’s the box. You have a nice day now!” Mrs. Cake then handed the box to Dash, who then placed it in her saddle bags “You have a nice day too Mrs. Cake!” responded Rainbow as politely as she could. “Oh, and tell Pinkie Pie I stopped by.” “I will, and you come again dearie!” called out Mrs. Cake, as Rainbow and Tank were leaving the bakery. “Alright Spike, we’ve finally finished reorganizing the whole library! Thanks for your help.” Twilight thanked Spike, looking over at the work of her number one assistant. “Humph, not that I wanted to…” mumbled Spike who had been forced to reorganize the library. And at that very moment; the Cutie Mark Crusaders came bursting in and crashing into a nearby shelf, knocking down most of the books. “Twilight!” shouted the three crusaders as they picked themselves up off the floor, and shaking the books off their heads. “Oh gosh girls, are you girls alright?!” Twilight shouted rushing over to the three. “We’re fine Twilight.” replied Sweetie Belle while clutching her head. “Have you seen Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked quickly. “Sorry, I can’t say that I have.” replied Twilight in a now calm tone. “Huh, that’s odd; I kinda thought that she would be here to return her Daring Do books. Oh well, thanks anyway Twilight!” replied Scootaloo trotting out of the library with her head hung low. “Not a problem.” replied Twilight with a smile. “Well just tell us if you see her ok.” said Apple Bloom before quickly racing out of the library to catch up with her fellow crusaders. “Huh, I wonder what that was all about.” said the lavender unicorn who then started picking up the fallen books. “I don’t know, and I don’t know if I want to find out.” responded Spike. “But now that Scootaloo has mentioned it, RD does have to return those books soon, I have some customers that are waiting to borrow that book series.” “And by soon…exactly how soon are you talking about Twilight?” asked the little purple dragon with a smirk. Twilight gave a light giggle before replying, “Don’t worry about it Spike, I’m sure she won’t be late returning them.” “I should hope not…” mumbled Spike as he walked up the stairs. “Hey! I heard that Spike, what’s bugging you?” “Uh, nothing! Nothing’s bugging me!” “Uh huh...wanna talk about it?” ‘Uh oh...’ Spike thought to himself before trying to run upstairs. “That was rhetorical! Spiiiike! Come back here! Don’t make me come up there!” Chapter 3: The Unexpected EventAs they walked down the path in the dark Everfree Forest, Scootaloo started to get chills down her spine, so she wanted to talk to Dash to get her mind off of the scary forest. “So where are we going exactly Rainbow Dash?” asked the light orange filly in slightly scared tone, trying her hardest to stay close but not too close, which for Scootaloo meant being as close to Rainbow Dash as equinly possible. “Well in the Forest of Leota, there was an abandoned mansion where a clan of unicorns known as the Moonflowers had made a gem known as the Starswirl. It was said to have the ability to grant the wearer the power equal to Starswirl the Bearded himself, and if that incident with the alicorn amulet is anything to go by, then we need to find it before it falls into the wrong hooves.” explained Dash. “So all we’re going to do is go to an old house and find a gem?!” Scootaloo asked sounding a little disappointed that her first real adventure with Rainbow Dash was nothing more than just camping for a few days and going on an over-glorified scavenger hunt. “Hey the Moonflowers were crazy; because of them there was a civil war that lasted for over a hundred years! That old house is sure to be filled with all sorts of traps!” Dash stated. “Wow really? That’s so cool! I knew the times before the Princesses were dangerous, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” Scootaloo said genuinely interested in these mysterious unicorns. “The princesses had been ruling for fifty years when the war started.” Rainbow stated in a somber tone. “Wait, how could there have been a war that lasted that long if the princesses were in power?” Scootaloo asked not quite understanding why the princesses would allow a war to last for whole century. “They didn’t, it took the princesses a hundred years to beat them.” “But how? I mean the princesses are so powerful how could a war last that long?” “Before the time of Princess Celestia and Luna, unicorns would raise the sun and the moon. There was one family that was extremely talented at night magic; they said they knew more about night magic then even Princess Luna, they were the Moonflowers. When Princess Celestia took control over the sun the Moonflowers knew it would only be a matter of time before Luna would take the night from them, so they did the one thing they could…but enough talk of evil unicorns.” Dash smirked down at her small companion. Scootaloo didn’t like the smirk on the pegasus’s face, she knew something had to be up, but she didn’t want her to think that she suspected something. So she just kept walking close to Rainbow to keep from getting lost or hurt. “So Scoots, do you and your friends have any idea what your special talents are?” Rainbow asked trying to start a new conversion. “Nota…” Scootaloo replied, “…but maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in something cool like adventuring or archaeology or lion taming! Wait, Rainbow Dash, how or why do you know so much about the Moonflowers?” Scootaloo asked more than a little scared of the answer. “Well a while ago, Twilight had given me a book that she wanted me to study, of course I didn’t want to read it, but she said that I would like it. So a few days ago I decided to read it, turns out it was interesting. It talked about the Moonflowers and Starswirl the Bearded. And how there was a civil war that lasted for a hundred years, And how and why they made the gem known as the Starswirl.” explained the cyan pegasus. “Wait did she try to get you to join her ‘Obscure Unicorn History’ group?” Scootaloo asked remembering that horrible night she was forced to learn all about Clover the Clever’s discovery of the Pena. “Ya know, she did say something about her group, but I was already leaving when she started talking about it, so I didn’t hear very much.” Rainbow replied. “So how much longer till we get to the mansion?” Scootaloo asked. “It could be a few days, or a few weeks, it depends on what we run into, or if we’re even alive…I mean these forests are filled with all sorts of crazy creatures! Do you remember the time when I told you about when Spike and Applejack ran into a whole pack of Timberwolves?” Dash said smirking and trying to scare Scootaloo a bit. “Y-you’re kidding right? We’re not going to run into anything that bad right?” “Well we might, and we might not. It all depends.” replied Dash trying her best to hold back her laughter. “Depends on what?!” Scootaloo asked quickly trying her best not to sound scared.” “It depends on how careful we are, and if the Timberwolves find us. But what are the chances of them finding us? And even if they did, I’m here and I can take ‘em!” “Uh, thanks. Hey Rainbow Dash, you said that I could be more honest with you after the whole waterfall thing right?” “You mean after I saved your life? Yes I did.” “Well it’s just that…well…thanks.” “Oh that’s in the past Scoots, It wasn’t that bad.” “No I mean thanks for everything, I mean after my parents and all that, I’m glad that I have somepony like you looking out for me” “No problem, and I’ve never gotten to meet your parents, could you maybe setup a time for me to meet them?” “Yeah sure when we get back we can visit them together, I’m sure they would like it.” Scootaloo smiled while wiping a tear from her eye. *BONK* they heard a loud noise. “Ahh! What was that?!” Scootaloo jumped. Rainbow Dash looked around and noticed that Tank was missing. She facehooved and replied, “It was Tank, he probably crashed into a tree or somethin’. He’s so klutzy…” Scootaloo started looking around and noticed a small dark shadow on the ground by a large tree. “Is that him?” asked Scootaloo pointing her hoof toward the small dark shadow. “Where?” Rainbow asked. “There.” Scootaloo replied as she walked over to the dark shadow reaching to touch it, then she heard Rainbow Dash yell. “WAIT!!!” But it was too late! Scootaloo had already touched the shadow and a black hoof grabbed her leg! “AHH!!! HELP ME!!!” Scootaloo screamed as she was being pulled underground. “Scootaloo!!!” Chapter 4: In The DarkScootaloo awoke in the dark, unaware of where she was or what was around her, with her memory now blank, she had no idea what was going on. She was cold and scared laying in the dark. ‘Ugh…my head…w-where am I? I can’t see anything, how did I get here?’ With thoughts racing through her head only making it hurt worse, she got up, and used what little green light there was to explore her surroundings. But she couldn’t go far, for there was a chain around her right hind leg, she could only look while standing still. As her eyes adjusted to the dim green light she noticed the walls were made of rocks, and what looked like of old rusted jail bars in front of her. ‘Am I in a cave? Are those jail bars?! Where am I?!!!’ Scootaloo now getting worried, what if she was trapped in the cave forever? Without any food nor water how would she survive? Then she started to remember what happened, she remembered a hoof...a black hoof of what looked like it had holes in it, she remembered Rainbow Dash calling out to her, telling her to, ‘WAIT!!!’ But she had passed out and couldn’t remember anything beyond that point, but she did remember what she and Dash were doing, they were searching for the gem known as the ‘Starswirl’, and she remembered the story Rainbow Dash had told her, she remembered the Moonflowers, the civil war that lasted for a hundred years. ‘I’ve got to find a way out of here!’ Scootaloo thought to herself. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!!! Whattodo whattodo whattodo?!!!” Dash was running in place worrying like crazy, she didn’t have any clue of what to do; she didn’t even know if Scootaloo was still alive. ‘Ok Rainbow, calm down, it will all be fine...I just have to figure out where those things took her, Celestia only knows what they’re doing to her right now, I have to find her!’ The pegasus was determined to find and save Scootaloo from the changelings, but first, she had to find her, and to find her meant that she would have to fight the changelings, and to fight the changelings meant possible death or serious injuries. “Psst…” Scootaloo heard a faint whisper, “Who’s there?!” Scootaloo asked quickly. “Psst…over here.” was the voice’s response. Scootaloo followed the voice over to the bars, and she saw somepony in a black cloak…his coat was light brown, and he had a British accent. “W-who are you?” Scootaloo asked slowly. But the pony while looking around only replied with, “Look, that’s not important right now, what’s important is for you to get out of here.” “You can help me get out of here?” asked the light orange filly excitedly. “Maybe, but you have to be quiet! Unlike you’re doing!” “Oh sorry…” replied the filly with her head hung low. “It’s okay; just try to be quite, we don’t want to get caught. Now you have to follow me, and do exactly as I tell you.” “I will, but what about this chain on my leg? I can’t go anywhere.” “That chain is the least of our worries kid. I can take care of that in a second.” “Oh really? Prove it.” Scootaloo dared with a smirk. “Shh! You have to keep it down!” “Oh, sorry…” “It’s okay, now then just let me…” the stallion took his saddlebag off his back and reached his muzzle down into it and pulled out a pen in his mouth. “And just what is a pen supposed to do?” asked Scootaloo. The stallion placed the pen’s tip on the jail bars and turned it on; it then cuts through the rusty metal with a red light that looked like a laser. As the last of the three bars dissolves, the stallion turned off the pen. Scootaloo, now with a shocked expression on her face finally spoke. “I-is that a laser pen?! That’s so cool!” “Yes it is, it’s pretty useful, although I have to use it pretty often. Now, show me that chain on your leg.” “Uhh, okay…” Scootaloo then shows the strange stallion the chain on her leg; he then turned on his pen and cut the chain off the filly’s leg. As the chain falls off, the stallion turns off the pen and places it back in his saddlebag, which he then puts onto his back. “Oh, thank you so much!” Scootaloo then quickly gives the stallion a tight hug. “Uhh, yeah…you’re welcome…now c-could you please let go?” “Oh, I’msosorry! I…” “…It’s okay kid, now, let’s get you out of here.” “Yes please!” “Hello?! Is anypony there?!” Dash, whom is searching for Scootaloo finds herself to be lost, and alone, in the dark Everfree, ‘Gosh, I hope nothing has happened to her, if those Changelings did anything to hurt her then they have another thing comin!’ *Crack* The sound of a stick cracking sets Dash’s nerves on edge, she felt her wings spring out, as well as her ears perking up. “Who’s there?!” she asks quickly……no response was given. “Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’d better show yourself!” with those last two words, a shadowy figure of an alicorn appeared before her. “That’s better, now who are you?” ……No response…… “I said, who are you?!” the shadow lets out a faint chuckle before whispering, “That is none of your business…” “What do you want from me?” snapped Dash, “That you will find out with ‘time’…” and with that last word, the shadow vanishes into thin air. Chapter 5: Inside The Deadly Dark CavernDash, who is now getting the chills out in this forest of Everfree, will soon find herself, lost, and alone, in a dark and cold cavern. As she walks alone in the dark forest of Everfree, she comes across an entrance into an even darker cavern. ‘I wonder if they took her in here…well, I’ll never know unless I look.’ and with that thought, the cyan pegasus slowly walked into the dark, and some-what abandoned cave. Unaware of where she was headed or what was headed towards her, she continues to walk further into the dark distance. As she walks down the foggy passage, she hears sounds of hoof steps and cracking sticks. Every time she heard a sound, her ears would perk up, she didn’t know what was making the sounds…nor did she think she wanted to know, so she continues her walk further into the dark and foggy cavern. As she gets further in, the passage starts to get lit up with a dim green light, it seemed familiar to Dash, and she remembered it from somewhere. Ah yes, that was where she remembered it from; when Twilight had told her about being trapped in the cave on Princess Cadence’s Wedding Day. How Twilight had found the real Cadence, and the cave was lit with a dim green light. She journeys onward. It seemed as though the further she went, the closer the sounds became. After a few minutes of going deeper into the cave, her ears perked up at the sounds of whispering. She didn’t recognize the voices though, nor could she quite make them out. She starts to follow the sounds of the voices. ‘Maybe those voices will lead me to Scootaloo, or Tank. Huh, now that I think of it…whatever happened to him?’ as she walked toward the voices, they seemed to get farther away…she then trotted towards them, they still got further away. Dash then spread out her wings and flew quickly towards the voices, they then got closer. She soon came across two tunnels, both seemed to have voices whispering in them. She tried to figure out which one had the most voices…it was useless, she couldn’t tell. One tunnel lead left, while the other, right. It was a tough decision, but Dash chose to go right. She was…let’s say, ‘unlucky’ to go that way. As the voices seemed to get closer, the fog became worse, and the dim green light lessened. She soon found herself in total darkness, with no green light, and no fog, just plain darkness. ‘Could it get any worse?’ she thought to herself, and indeed it could, and it did. As she continued to make her way through the dark cavern, she started hearing sounds again. But this time it wasn’t whispering…it was growling. ‘Oh no…’ she thought to herself, she knew that sound… it was…an Ursa Minor! As she tried to quietly turn around, crystals on the cave’s walls lit up with a now brighter green light. Dash took flight down the now lit passage, and the Ursa followed after. ‘Great, just great!’ she thought to herself, ‘Remind me, *not** to say that again…’* As she continued to race down the passage, she saw the tunnel exit that she had entered, it was caving in. She had to get out of it before it got closed off, if she didn’t…she would surely die. With the Ursa Minor on her tail, she sped up her flying, the tunnel’s exit now nearly blocked off she made it out just before the last boulder fell. After barely making it out, she falls to the ground panting heavily. Her wings now tired and hurt, the boulder had caught her left wing and stretched it out, it was painful. After catching her breath, she slowly got up off the dirt ground. She then dusted herself off, she turned her head to see the left tunnel was still open, and she still heard the whispers coming from it. ‘Oh joy, I wonder what ‘surprise’ is waiting for me in *that** one…’* She walked in the left tunnel, only to find that the exit got blocked off by boulders behind her. ‘Oh no, not again…now what?’ the whispers started fading away, Dash quickly followed after them as to not lose them. They seemed to be once again getting closer, the further Dash ran, the closer they became… As the whispers came closer to Dash she slowed down her running, she soon approached a corner in which she stopped by…she could hear them clearly now. “What does Queen Chrysalis want us to do with the little one?” “I don’t know what she wants us to do with her…but maybe we could feed on her love for that Rainbow-whatever pony.” “You know…that’s not a bad idea, when should we do it?” “I don’t know, sometime soon?” “Works for me!” “Anything works for you…” “Yeah, I know…but that’s just me you see.” “Yeah, that’s just you, come on, we should get back to work.” “Yeah we probably should.” “Then what are we waiting on? Let’s get back to work.” “Lead the way.” and with those last three words, the Changelings walk off. “Oh no…if they do anything to Scoots…” Dash quickly chases after the two changelings. As she catches up with them, she lunges on top of one pinning him down and asking, “What are you doing with her!?” the other Changeling quickly took off into the darkness, Dash continues to question the Changeling beneath her with a glare, “What have you done to Scootaloo!?” Chapter 6: TBD“Okay, do you see that changeling over there kid?” “Yeah.” “That’s one of the guards; we have to get past him.” “How are we going to do that?” “Well, just so happens that I have a minor stench grenade…” “What is ‘stench’ going to do to him?” “Oh nothing much really, it’s just going to knock ‘em out.” Scootaloo lets out a small but quick gasp, “What exactly do you mean by ‘knock ‘em out’?” “It will just put him to sleep for a little while.” “How long is a ‘little while’?” asked the curious filly. “Maybe about thirty minutes to an hour or so.” “That’s it? He’ll just be sleeping?” “Yeah, that’s about it.” “What are we going to do while he sleeps?” “You want to get out of here don’t you?” “Well duh.” “Then whilst he sleeps, we will escape this madness. Although…we might run into some things along the way.” “Uhh, what kind of ‘things’?” “Oh, some minor, and some major…but not to worry! I-I uh, have some tools that could help us out…I think…” “Oh! More cool tools like your laser pen?!” The stallion let out a quick laugh before responding, “Yes, more cool tools like my ‘laser pen’. Okay, now, when I throw this grenade, you run as fast as you can past him after he passes out. There should be a switch on the other side, flip the switch and I will rush over.” “What will the switch do?” “The switch operates the laser sensors in this room, when you flip it, the lasers will turn off.” “But aren’t the lasers on right now?” “Not exactly, the lasers will turn on once the guard falls. You see, they have a very smart system at work here. So are you ready?” “Ready as I’ll ever be!” The stallion pulls out the stench grenade and throws it over to the Changeling’s hoof; the Changeling looks downward at the odd looking device. It suddenly pops open letting out a foul stench, the Changeling then falls to the ground. The light orange filly quickly rushed past the Changeling, and over to the other side, where she then flipped the switch. “Good work!” the stallion called out as he ran across the room and over to Scootaloo. “Now what do we do?” asked Scootaloo breathing heavily and excitedly. “Now we have to get out of this room, the cavern exit shouldn’t be too far away by now.” “So we’re almost out of here?!” “Almost.” “Cool! I can’t wait to get out of here!” “Neither can I kid, nether can I...” The two ponies then exit the room, continuing their journey out of the cavern. “W-we haven’t done anything to her yet!” replied the Changeling in a scared tone. “But you’re planning on it!” said Dash, “Maybe?” replied the Changeling nervously. “You’d better leave her alone or you’ve got something comin’! Oh ya know what? You already have something comin’!” the Changeling gulps before pleading, “Look, I’m sorry… I don’t know who you are but, I’m just a young Changeling who’s doing his job…wait…did you say, ‘Scootaloo’?” “The name’s Rainbow Dash’ and yes I said Scootaloo!” “Umm…the…ohmygosh! I-I’m so sorry Miss Dash! I-I uh…” Dash continues to glare at the young and strange Changeling, its forehead now sweats, “Continue!” Dash snapped, “I didn’t…I…I’m so very sorry! P-p-please just let me go! I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow!” he gulps once more. Dash stands above the Changeling, pinning him down with her hooves, seeming to think about what the Changeling has said, she finally responds; “And how exactly will you ‘make it up’ to me?” “I-I can uh…help…that’s it! I can help you to find and rescue her if you spare me!” “Uh huh…” Dash was now struggling to decide if she should trust this Changeling to ‘help’ her, “Will you spare me?” asked the changeling in a nervous and scared tone. “I don’t know…” replied the pegasus, “But I do know that you are going to have to show me that you are being honest, and that you will really help me to find and rescue Scootaloo.” “And exactly how am I supposed to do that?” asked the Changeling. “That’s for you and you alone to figure out.” replied Dash, “Oh joy...” mumbled the changeling, hoping Dash didn’t hear him. “And yes I heard that.” Dash remarked, “Sorry…” apologized the young Changeling. “Now get up, and show me where you’re keeping Scootaloo!” Dash demanded, as she let the Changeling get up. “Yes ma’Am.” the changeling responded as he got up, “She should be this way.” he said, “Follow Me.” he then heads deeper into the darkness, with Dash following closely behind. Chapter 2: When Two Ponies Meet“Could I please search for her alone?” Scootaloo asked trotting through Sugarcube Corner with her fellow crusaders. “Why? Is something wrong Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked. “No...I just...I just want to be alone right now.” responded Scootaloo turning away from her two friends. “Why’s that?” asked Apple Bloom in a rather rude matter. Sweetie Belle then hits Apple Bloom’s left foreleg as to say, ‘Apple Bloom! That’s rude!’ “I don’t know...I just wanna be alone.” Scootaloo replied in a slightly upset tone. “Come on Apple Bloom, let’s leave Scootaloo alone, she wants to search for Rainbow Dash by herself.” said Sweetie Belle giving Scootaloo a knowing smile and wink. “Oh alright’. Apple Bloom replied but still wanting an answer, and so the two fillies ran off to leave Scootaloo alone. As the light orange filly was walking alone, she started thinking, and soon became lost in her thoughts. ‘I wonder where Rainbow Dash could be, she’s always off practicing to become a Wonderbolt, or having some big adventure with her friends and I never get to go! She always says that ‘if I find her before she leaves’ that I can tag along, but I never do. But this time for sure I’m going to go with her!’ Scootaloo was lost in her thoughts, but quickly snapped out of them when she saw Dash and her pet tortoise Tank leaving Ponyville, Scootaloo gasped; she knew Dash was leaving for another adventure, could she be going deep into the Everfree Forest, or to the high peaks of the Appleloosan Mountains? She had to find out where Rainbow Dash was going! “Hey Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?!” the filly called out, running as fast as she could to catch up with the pegasus. “Did you hear something Tank?” Rainbow asked; the tortoise just turned his head to Dash, and then losing control of his propeller ended up on his back in the ground. Dash just facehooved and helped the poor tortoise get up, putting his propeller back on his shell. And at the very moment that Dash finished strapping the propeller onto Tank’s shell, the young filly finally reached them, “Hey Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?” Scootaloo asked knowing exactly what she was going to say. The pegasus turned to look at the young filly and responded. “Oh hey Scoots, Uh Tank and I were just going on an adventure again so…” “…Can I come?!” interrupted Scootaloo excitedly. “Well I uh…” “Aww c’mon, you always say maybe next time. C’mon please. Please, please, please.” Scootaloo begged her idol hoping to finally allow her to go on an adventure together. The pegasus just smirked and said. “Sure kid, you can come. Just stay close and try not to get in the way.” “Yes ma’am! This is going to be the most awesome thing ever!” Scootaloo squealed excitedly jumping up into the air. “But why do I have to ‘stay close’?” she asked curiously falling to the ground. “Because…” began Rainbow, “…because you might get hurt, and the closer you are to me the less of a chance there is that you’ll get hurt. But not too close ok?” “Yes ma’am! I won’t get too close to you, or too far away!” Scootaloo replied saluting Dash and giving her most serious face. As they started walking, Scootaloo heard two voices calling after them. “Hey Scootaloo! Hey Rainbow Dash!” called the two voices from behind them. Scootaloo’s ears perked up, she knew those voices, and she knew who those fillies were, so she needed to get Dash to stop. “Hey Rainbow Dash, can we stop for a minute?” “Why?” Rainbow asked as she came to a stop. “I heard Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shout out to us.” answered Scootaloo waiting for her two friends to catch up to them. After a minute of waiting, the two fillies finally caught up. “Hey Scootaloo, I see you found Rainbow Dash!” Sweetie Belle stated. “Yeah I did! And I finally get to go on an adventure with her!” Scootaloo squealed. “Oh that’s so cool!” replied Apple Bloom who was now excited as well. “Can we tag along?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Umm…” Dash began; “…I think it’s just going to be me, Tank, and Scoots here.” “Why’s that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Uh…because I would have to keep track of all of you and no offense, but you girls can be a hoofful to keep track of.” Rainbow Dash replied trying her best not to hurt the two fillies’ feelings. “But you’re taking Scootaloo with you.” said Sweetie Belle trying to make a point. “Yeah but, Scootaloo isn’t all of you.” Rainbow replied trying to politely make the annoying fillies leave. “Besides, where we’re going is dangerous! And I don’t want to have to protect three fillies, Tank, plus myself. And besides, what would Rarity or Applejack do to me if you two got hurt?” “Oh…well…Rarity would hate for me to get hurt so…uh…have fun!” Sweetie Belle replied nervously, the two fillies then took off back into Ponyville. “I’m sorry.” Scootaloo apologized as they continued their journey. “For what?” Dash asked looking confused. “For causing trouble here already, maybe I should stay.” replied the young filly with her head hung low. “No it’s ok, it wasn’t much trouble at all, and trust me, it could have been 20% worse!” said Dash trying to make the filly feel better. “It wasn’t much trouble but it was still trouble.” Scootaloo responded. “Scoots, you’re not causing any trouble right now, but you are starting to get slightly annoying. You wanted to come on this adventure with me, so I’m not letting you back out of it now.” “But didn’t you say that where we’re going is dangerous?” Scootaloo replied trying to get out of the uncomfortable conversation. “Scoots, I thought you liked danger?” responded Dash raising a brow. “Yeah, but...never mind let’s just go.” said Scootaloo quickly and nervously. “Wait, are you scared?” asked the pegasus. “What?! Oh no no no, I’m not scared!” Scootaloo replied quickly with a little bit of shock on her face. “Oh? Whatever you say.” responded the pegasus smirking down before running off into the Everfree Forest. “Hey! Wait for me!” Scootaloo called out as she chased after Dash.
Chapter 1: The BeginningIt was a nice summer morning, the kind of morning that ponies might go out for a trot in the park, the kind of morning when ponies might wake up and just sit by their open windows enjoying the nice summer breeze. The kind of morning that little colts and fillies would go outside without eating breakfast first! But one cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane wanted more than just to go outside, she wanted…an adventure! That morning the pegasus got up, feeling rested and ready for anything! Ready to go outside not just to trot or fly, but to have an adventure! “Hey Tank, you feeling good for an adventure?” The Tortoise slowly lifted up his head from his pillow and blinked, clearly uninterested. Rainbow ate her breakfast in a flash; Tank on the other hoof still had half a bowl. While waiting for the tortoise to finish eating, Dash started packing their things. First she got her saddle bags; she then packed lots of food, her purple sleeping bag, Tank’s bed and propeller device, then finally, her favourite ‘Daring Do’ books with them. “Alright Tank! Everything’s packed! Tank?” The tortoise was nowhere to be seen, his food bowl now empty, Rainbow rushed to her bedroom to see no sign of him. Without his propeller, he couldn’t have got too far. A deep feeling of dread spread through her. She rushed to the doorway and to see the tortoise waiting for her there, “Gosh Tank don’t do that again, you scar, err…had me worried there!” Rainbow stated, glad she had saved herself from slight embarrassment…or did she? “I wonder where Rainbow Dash is.” Scootaloo asked herself, lying on her back in the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse. “She could be going for a walk.” Apple Bloom suggested, having heard Scootaloo talking to herself, even while flipping through a magazine. “Or she could be at my sister Rarity’s house!” Sweetie Belle suggested, while eating the lunch that Rarity had packed for her. “I don’t have a clue where she is, but I wanna find her so she can teach me some new flying tricks!” Scootaloo stated excitedly. “We could go for a walk and we might run into her.” suggested Apple Bloom, turning her head up from the magazine. “Yeah you might be right, maybe we should go!” replied Scootaloo, who was now even more excited. “Then what are we waiting on? Let’s go!” rushed Sweetie Belle, having just finished her lunch. She ran out of the clubhouse awaiting her friends at the bottom of the ladder. “Wait for us!” called the two fillies from inside the tree house. “There you go Tank! You’re all ready to go!” the cyan pegasus had just strapped the tortoise’s propeller on his shell, and then the two set off! They walked around Sugarcube Corner only to stop at the Cake’s Bakery to pick up some cupcakes for their journey. (Remind you of anypony?) As they entered the bakery, Mrs. Cake called out from the counter. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner dear! How can I help you?” “Well you see, Tank and I are going on an adventure, and we just wanted to get some cupcakes along the way…” explained the pegasus who had just noticed that there were no cupcakes left in the display case. “…Uh, do you have any left?” “Well, I don’t know for sure, but let me go check the oven in our kitchen. I think I recall telling my husband to put a batch in.” replied Mrs. Cake before trotting into the kitchen leaving Dash and Tank alone. “Tank? How many cupcakes would you like?” Dash asked; the tortoise only blinked. “Ok I guess about…” “…Here you are dear! We have twelve left! I just put them in a box I-is that enough?” Mrs. Cake asked with a slight blush, noticing that she had just interrupted. Dash looked annoyed but she replied as politely as she could. “Yeah that’s enough, how much?” “Four bits.” replied Mrs. Cake. “Really?” replied the pegasus with a semi shocked tone at the low price. “Is that a discount?” “Why yes it is dear! I always give discounts on the last of my items, and it doesn’t hurt to be best friends with our top baker!” Mrs. Cake replied politely, taking pride in her statement. “Well here you go, five bits. Keep the change.” Dash replied, tossing a bit at Mrs. Cake. Mrs. Cake, caught the bit and put it in her apron before replying with, “Well thank you dear, here’s the box. You have a nice day now!” Mrs. Cake then handed the box to Dash, who then placed it in her saddle bags “You have a nice day too Mrs. Cake!” responded Rainbow as politely as she could. “Oh, and tell Pinkie Pie I stopped by.” “I will, and you come again dearie!” called out Mrs. Cake, as Rainbow and Tank were leaving the bakery. “Alright Spike, we’ve finally finished reorganizing the whole library! Thanks for your help.” Twilight thanked Spike, looking over at the work of her number one assistant. “Humph, not that I wanted to…” mumbled Spike who had been forced to reorganize the library. And at that very moment; the Cutie Mark Crusaders came bursting in and crashing into a nearby shelf, knocking down most of the books. “Twilight!” shouted the three crusaders as they picked themselves up off the floor, and shaking the books off their heads. “Oh gosh girls, are you girls alright?!” Twilight shouted rushing over to the three. “We’re fine Twilight.” replied Sweetie Belle while clutching her head. “Have you seen Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked quickly. “Sorry, I can’t say that I have.” replied Twilight in a now calm tone. “Huh, that’s odd; I kinda thought that she would be here to return her Daring Do books. Oh well, thanks anyway Twilight!” replied Scootaloo trotting out of the library with her head hung low. “Not a problem.” replied Twilight with a smile. “Well just tell us if you see her ok.” said Apple Bloom before quickly racing out of the library to catch up with her fellow crusaders. “Huh, I wonder what that was all about.” said the lavender unicorn who then started picking up the fallen books. “I don’t know, and I don’t know if I want to find out.” responded Spike. “But now that Scootaloo has mentioned it, RD does have to return those books soon, I have some customers that are waiting to borrow that book series.” “And by soon…exactly how soon are you talking about Twilight?” asked the little purple dragon with a smirk. Twilight gave a light giggle before replying, “Don’t worry about it Spike, I’m sure she won’t be late returning them.” “I should hope not…” mumbled Spike as he walked up the stairs. “Hey! I heard that Spike, what’s bugging you?” “Uh, nothing! Nothing’s bugging me!” “Uh huh...wanna talk about it?” ‘Uh oh...’ Spike thought to himself before trying to run upstairs. “That was rhetorical! Spiiiike! Come back here! Don’t make me come up there!”
Chapter 3: The Unexpected EventAs they walked down the path in the dark Everfree Forest, Scootaloo started to get chills down her spine, so she wanted to talk to Dash to get her mind off of the scary forest. “So where are we going exactly Rainbow Dash?” asked the light orange filly in slightly scared tone, trying her hardest to stay close but not too close, which for Scootaloo meant being as close to Rainbow Dash as equinly possible. “Well in the Forest of Leota, there was an abandoned mansion where a clan of unicorns known as the Moonflowers had made a gem known as the Starswirl. It was said to have the ability to grant the wearer the power equal to Starswirl the Bearded himself, and if that incident with the alicorn amulet is anything to go by, then we need to find it before it falls into the wrong hooves.” explained Dash. “So all we’re going to do is go to an old house and find a gem?!” Scootaloo asked sounding a little disappointed that her first real adventure with Rainbow Dash was nothing more than just camping for a few days and going on an over-glorified scavenger hunt. “Hey the Moonflowers were crazy; because of them there was a civil war that lasted for over a hundred years! That old house is sure to be filled with all sorts of traps!” Dash stated. “Wow really? That’s so cool! I knew the times before the Princesses were dangerous, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” Scootaloo said genuinely interested in these mysterious unicorns. “The princesses had been ruling for fifty years when the war started.” Rainbow stated in a somber tone. “Wait, how could there have been a war that lasted that long if the princesses were in power?” Scootaloo asked not quite understanding why the princesses would allow a war to last for whole century. “They didn’t, it took the princesses a hundred years to beat them.” “But how? I mean the princesses are so powerful how could a war last that long?” “Before the time of Princess Celestia and Luna, unicorns would raise the sun and the moon. There was one family that was extremely talented at night magic; they said they knew more about night magic then even Princess Luna, they were the Moonflowers. When Princess Celestia took control over the sun the Moonflowers knew it would only be a matter of time before Luna would take the night from them, so they did the one thing they could…but enough talk of evil unicorns.” Dash smirked down at her small companion. Scootaloo didn’t like the smirk on the pegasus’s face, she knew something had to be up, but she didn’t want her to think that she suspected something. So she just kept walking close to Rainbow to keep from getting lost or hurt. “So Scoots, do you and your friends have any idea what your special talents are?” Rainbow asked trying to start a new conversion. “Nota…” Scootaloo replied, “…but maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in something cool like adventuring or archaeology or lion taming! Wait, Rainbow Dash, how or why do you know so much about the Moonflowers?” Scootaloo asked more than a little scared of the answer. “Well a while ago, Twilight had given me a book that she wanted me to study, of course I didn’t want to read it, but she said that I would like it. So a few days ago I decided to read it, turns out it was interesting. It talked about the Moonflowers and Starswirl the Bearded. And how there was a civil war that lasted for a hundred years, And how and why they made the gem known as the Starswirl.” explained the cyan pegasus. “Wait did she try to get you to join her ‘Obscure Unicorn History’ group?” Scootaloo asked remembering that horrible night she was forced to learn all about Clover the Clever’s discovery of the Pena. “Ya know, she did say something about her group, but I was already leaving when she started talking about it, so I didn’t hear very much.” Rainbow replied. “So how much longer till we get to the mansion?” Scootaloo asked. “It could be a few days, or a few weeks, it depends on what we run into, or if we’re even alive…I mean these forests are filled with all sorts of crazy creatures! Do you remember the time when I told you about when Spike and Applejack ran into a whole pack of Timberwolves?” Dash said smirking and trying to scare Scootaloo a bit. “Y-you’re kidding right? We’re not going to run into anything that bad right?” “Well we might, and we might not. It all depends.” replied Dash trying her best to hold back her laughter. “Depends on what?!” Scootaloo asked quickly trying her best not to sound scared.” “It depends on how careful we are, and if the Timberwolves find us. But what are the chances of them finding us? And even if they did, I’m here and I can take ‘em!” “Uh, thanks. Hey Rainbow Dash, you said that I could be more honest with you after the whole waterfall thing right?” “You mean after I saved your life? Yes I did.” “Well it’s just that…well…thanks.” “Oh that’s in the past Scoots, It wasn’t that bad.” “No I mean thanks for everything, I mean after my parents and all that, I’m glad that I have somepony like you looking out for me” “No problem, and I’ve never gotten to meet your parents, could you maybe setup a time for me to meet them?” “Yeah sure when we get back we can visit them together, I’m sure they would like it.” Scootaloo smiled while wiping a tear from her eye. *BONK* they heard a loud noise. “Ahh! What was that?!” Scootaloo jumped. Rainbow Dash looked around and noticed that Tank was missing. She facehooved and replied, “It was Tank, he probably crashed into a tree or somethin’. He’s so klutzy…” Scootaloo started looking around and noticed a small dark shadow on the ground by a large tree. “Is that him?” asked Scootaloo pointing her hoof toward the small dark shadow. “Where?” Rainbow asked. “There.” Scootaloo replied as she walked over to the dark shadow reaching to touch it, then she heard Rainbow Dash yell. “WAIT!!!” But it was too late! Scootaloo had already touched the shadow and a black hoof grabbed her leg! “AHH!!! HELP ME!!!” Scootaloo screamed as she was being pulled underground. “Scootaloo!!!”
Chapter 4: In The DarkScootaloo awoke in the dark, unaware of where she was or what was around her, with her memory now blank, she had no idea what was going on. She was cold and scared laying in the dark. ‘Ugh…my head…w-where am I? I can’t see anything, how did I get here?’ With thoughts racing through her head only making it hurt worse, she got up, and used what little green light there was to explore her surroundings. But she couldn’t go far, for there was a chain around her right hind leg, she could only look while standing still. As her eyes adjusted to the dim green light she noticed the walls were made of rocks, and what looked like of old rusted jail bars in front of her. ‘Am I in a cave? Are those jail bars?! Where am I?!!!’ Scootaloo now getting worried, what if she was trapped in the cave forever? Without any food nor water how would she survive? Then she started to remember what happened, she remembered a hoof...a black hoof of what looked like it had holes in it, she remembered Rainbow Dash calling out to her, telling her to, ‘WAIT!!!’ But she had passed out and couldn’t remember anything beyond that point, but she did remember what she and Dash were doing, they were searching for the gem known as the ‘Starswirl’, and she remembered the story Rainbow Dash had told her, she remembered the Moonflowers, the civil war that lasted for a hundred years. ‘I’ve got to find a way out of here!’ Scootaloo thought to herself. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!!! Whattodo whattodo whattodo?!!!” Dash was running in place worrying like crazy, she didn’t have any clue of what to do; she didn’t even know if Scootaloo was still alive. ‘Ok Rainbow, calm down, it will all be fine...I just have to figure out where those things took her, Celestia only knows what they’re doing to her right now, I have to find her!’ The pegasus was determined to find and save Scootaloo from the changelings, but first, she had to find her, and to find her meant that she would have to fight the changelings, and to fight the changelings meant possible death or serious injuries. “Psst…” Scootaloo heard a faint whisper, “Who’s there?!” Scootaloo asked quickly. “Psst…over here.” was the voice’s response. Scootaloo followed the voice over to the bars, and she saw somepony in a black cloak…his coat was light brown, and he had a British accent. “W-who are you?” Scootaloo asked slowly. But the pony while looking around only replied with, “Look, that’s not important right now, what’s important is for you to get out of here.” “You can help me get out of here?” asked the light orange filly excitedly. “Maybe, but you have to be quiet! Unlike you’re doing!” “Oh sorry…” replied the filly with her head hung low. “It’s okay; just try to be quite, we don’t want to get caught. Now you have to follow me, and do exactly as I tell you.” “I will, but what about this chain on my leg? I can’t go anywhere.” “That chain is the least of our worries kid. I can take care of that in a second.” “Oh really? Prove it.” Scootaloo dared with a smirk. “Shh! You have to keep it down!” “Oh, sorry…” “It’s okay, now then just let me…” the stallion took his saddlebag off his back and reached his muzzle down into it and pulled out a pen in his mouth. “And just what is a pen supposed to do?” asked Scootaloo. The stallion placed the pen’s tip on the jail bars and turned it on; it then cuts through the rusty metal with a red light that looked like a laser. As the last of the three bars dissolves, the stallion turned off the pen. Scootaloo, now with a shocked expression on her face finally spoke. “I-is that a laser pen?! That’s so cool!” “Yes it is, it’s pretty useful, although I have to use it pretty often. Now, show me that chain on your leg.” “Uhh, okay…” Scootaloo then shows the strange stallion the chain on her leg; he then turned on his pen and cut the chain off the filly’s leg. As the chain falls off, the stallion turns off the pen and places it back in his saddlebag, which he then puts onto his back. “Oh, thank you so much!” Scootaloo then quickly gives the stallion a tight hug. “Uhh, yeah…you’re welcome…now c-could you please let go?” “Oh, I’msosorry! I…” “…It’s okay kid, now, let’s get you out of here.” “Yes please!” “Hello?! Is anypony there?!” Dash, whom is searching for Scootaloo finds herself to be lost, and alone, in the dark Everfree, ‘Gosh, I hope nothing has happened to her, if those Changelings did anything to hurt her then they have another thing comin!’ *Crack* The sound of a stick cracking sets Dash’s nerves on edge, she felt her wings spring out, as well as her ears perking up. “Who’s there?!” she asks quickly……no response was given. “Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’d better show yourself!” with those last two words, a shadowy figure of an alicorn appeared before her. “That’s better, now who are you?” ……No response…… “I said, who are you?!” the shadow lets out a faint chuckle before whispering, “That is none of your business…” “What do you want from me?” snapped Dash, “That you will find out with ‘time’…” and with that last word, the shadow vanishes into thin air.
Chapter 5: Inside The Deadly Dark CavernDash, who is now getting the chills out in this forest of Everfree, will soon find herself, lost, and alone, in a dark and cold cavern. As she walks alone in the dark forest of Everfree, she comes across an entrance into an even darker cavern. ‘I wonder if they took her in here…well, I’ll never know unless I look.’ and with that thought, the cyan pegasus slowly walked into the dark, and some-what abandoned cave. Unaware of where she was headed or what was headed towards her, she continues to walk further into the dark distance. As she walks down the foggy passage, she hears sounds of hoof steps and cracking sticks. Every time she heard a sound, her ears would perk up, she didn’t know what was making the sounds…nor did she think she wanted to know, so she continues her walk further into the dark and foggy cavern. As she gets further in, the passage starts to get lit up with a dim green light, it seemed familiar to Dash, and she remembered it from somewhere. Ah yes, that was where she remembered it from; when Twilight had told her about being trapped in the cave on Princess Cadence’s Wedding Day. How Twilight had found the real Cadence, and the cave was lit with a dim green light. She journeys onward. It seemed as though the further she went, the closer the sounds became. After a few minutes of going deeper into the cave, her ears perked up at the sounds of whispering. She didn’t recognize the voices though, nor could she quite make them out. She starts to follow the sounds of the voices. ‘Maybe those voices will lead me to Scootaloo, or Tank. Huh, now that I think of it…whatever happened to him?’ as she walked toward the voices, they seemed to get farther away…she then trotted towards them, they still got further away. Dash then spread out her wings and flew quickly towards the voices, they then got closer. She soon came across two tunnels, both seemed to have voices whispering in them. She tried to figure out which one had the most voices…it was useless, she couldn’t tell. One tunnel lead left, while the other, right. It was a tough decision, but Dash chose to go right. She was…let’s say, ‘unlucky’ to go that way. As the voices seemed to get closer, the fog became worse, and the dim green light lessened. She soon found herself in total darkness, with no green light, and no fog, just plain darkness. ‘Could it get any worse?’ she thought to herself, and indeed it could, and it did. As she continued to make her way through the dark cavern, she started hearing sounds again. But this time it wasn’t whispering…it was growling. ‘Oh no…’ she thought to herself, she knew that sound… it was…an Ursa Minor! As she tried to quietly turn around, crystals on the cave’s walls lit up with a now brighter green light. Dash took flight down the now lit passage, and the Ursa followed after. ‘Great, just great!’ she thought to herself, ‘Remind me, *not** to say that again…’* As she continued to race down the passage, she saw the tunnel exit that she had entered, it was caving in. She had to get out of it before it got closed off, if she didn’t…she would surely die. With the Ursa Minor on her tail, she sped up her flying, the tunnel’s exit now nearly blocked off she made it out just before the last boulder fell. After barely making it out, she falls to the ground panting heavily. Her wings now tired and hurt, the boulder had caught her left wing and stretched it out, it was painful. After catching her breath, she slowly got up off the dirt ground. She then dusted herself off, she turned her head to see the left tunnel was still open, and she still heard the whispers coming from it. ‘Oh joy, I wonder what ‘surprise’ is waiting for me in *that** one…’* She walked in the left tunnel, only to find that the exit got blocked off by boulders behind her. ‘Oh no, not again…now what?’ the whispers started fading away, Dash quickly followed after them as to not lose them. They seemed to be once again getting closer, the further Dash ran, the closer they became… As the whispers came closer to Dash she slowed down her running, she soon approached a corner in which she stopped by…she could hear them clearly now. “What does Queen Chrysalis want us to do with the little one?” “I don’t know what she wants us to do with her…but maybe we could feed on her love for that Rainbow-whatever pony.” “You know…that’s not a bad idea, when should we do it?” “I don’t know, sometime soon?” “Works for me!” “Anything works for you…” “Yeah, I know…but that’s just me you see.” “Yeah, that’s just you, come on, we should get back to work.” “Yeah we probably should.” “Then what are we waiting on? Let’s get back to work.” “Lead the way.” and with those last three words, the Changelings walk off. “Oh no…if they do anything to Scoots…” Dash quickly chases after the two changelings. As she catches up with them, she lunges on top of one pinning him down and asking, “What are you doing with her!?” the other Changeling quickly took off into the darkness, Dash continues to question the Changeling beneath her with a glare, “What have you done to Scootaloo!?”
Chapter 6: TBD“Okay, do you see that changeling over there kid?” “Yeah.” “That’s one of the guards; we have to get past him.” “How are we going to do that?” “Well, just so happens that I have a minor stench grenade…” “What is ‘stench’ going to do to him?” “Oh nothing much really, it’s just going to knock ‘em out.” Scootaloo lets out a small but quick gasp, “What exactly do you mean by ‘knock ‘em out’?” “It will just put him to sleep for a little while.” “How long is a ‘little while’?” asked the curious filly. “Maybe about thirty minutes to an hour or so.” “That’s it? He’ll just be sleeping?” “Yeah, that’s about it.” “What are we going to do while he sleeps?” “You want to get out of here don’t you?” “Well duh.” “Then whilst he sleeps, we will escape this madness. Although…we might run into some things along the way.” “Uhh, what kind of ‘things’?” “Oh, some minor, and some major…but not to worry! I-I uh, have some tools that could help us out…I think…” “Oh! More cool tools like your laser pen?!” The stallion let out a quick laugh before responding, “Yes, more cool tools like my ‘laser pen’. Okay, now, when I throw this grenade, you run as fast as you can past him after he passes out. There should be a switch on the other side, flip the switch and I will rush over.” “What will the switch do?” “The switch operates the laser sensors in this room, when you flip it, the lasers will turn off.” “But aren’t the lasers on right now?” “Not exactly, the lasers will turn on once the guard falls. You see, they have a very smart system at work here. So are you ready?” “Ready as I’ll ever be!” The stallion pulls out the stench grenade and throws it over to the Changeling’s hoof; the Changeling looks downward at the odd looking device. It suddenly pops open letting out a foul stench, the Changeling then falls to the ground. The light orange filly quickly rushed past the Changeling, and over to the other side, where she then flipped the switch. “Good work!” the stallion called out as he ran across the room and over to Scootaloo. “Now what do we do?” asked Scootaloo breathing heavily and excitedly. “Now we have to get out of this room, the cavern exit shouldn’t be too far away by now.” “So we’re almost out of here?!” “Almost.” “Cool! I can’t wait to get out of here!” “Neither can I kid, nether can I...” The two ponies then exit the room, continuing their journey out of the cavern. “W-we haven’t done anything to her yet!” replied the Changeling in a scared tone. “But you’re planning on it!” said Dash, “Maybe?” replied the Changeling nervously. “You’d better leave her alone or you’ve got something comin’! Oh ya know what? You already have something comin’!” the Changeling gulps before pleading, “Look, I’m sorry… I don’t know who you are but, I’m just a young Changeling who’s doing his job…wait…did you say, ‘Scootaloo’?” “The name’s Rainbow Dash’ and yes I said Scootaloo!” “Umm…the…ohmygosh! I-I’m so sorry Miss Dash! I-I uh…” Dash continues to glare at the young and strange Changeling, its forehead now sweats, “Continue!” Dash snapped, “I didn’t…I…I’m so very sorry! P-p-please just let me go! I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow!” he gulps once more. Dash stands above the Changeling, pinning him down with her hooves, seeming to think about what the Changeling has said, she finally responds; “And how exactly will you ‘make it up’ to me?” “I-I can uh…help…that’s it! I can help you to find and rescue her if you spare me!” “Uh huh…” Dash was now struggling to decide if she should trust this Changeling to ‘help’ her, “Will you spare me?” asked the changeling in a nervous and scared tone. “I don’t know…” replied the pegasus, “But I do know that you are going to have to show me that you are being honest, and that you will really help me to find and rescue Scootaloo.” “And exactly how am I supposed to do that?” asked the Changeling. “That’s for you and you alone to figure out.” replied Dash, “Oh joy...” mumbled the changeling, hoping Dash didn’t hear him. “And yes I heard that.” Dash remarked, “Sorry…” apologized the young Changeling. “Now get up, and show me where you’re keeping Scootaloo!” Dash demanded, as she let the Changeling get up. “Yes ma’Am.” the changeling responded as he got up, “She should be this way.” he said, “Follow Me.” he then heads deeper into the darkness, with Dash following closely behind.
Chapter 2: When Two Ponies Meet“Could I please search for her alone?” Scootaloo asked trotting through Sugarcube Corner with her fellow crusaders. “Why? Is something wrong Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked. “No...I just...I just want to be alone right now.” responded Scootaloo turning away from her two friends. “Why’s that?” asked Apple Bloom in a rather rude matter. Sweetie Belle then hits Apple Bloom’s left foreleg as to say, ‘Apple Bloom! That’s rude!’ “I don’t know...I just wanna be alone.” Scootaloo replied in a slightly upset tone. “Come on Apple Bloom, let’s leave Scootaloo alone, she wants to search for Rainbow Dash by herself.” said Sweetie Belle giving Scootaloo a knowing smile and wink. “Oh alright’. Apple Bloom replied but still wanting an answer, and so the two fillies ran off to leave Scootaloo alone. As the light orange filly was walking alone, she started thinking, and soon became lost in her thoughts. ‘I wonder where Rainbow Dash could be, she’s always off practicing to become a Wonderbolt, or having some big adventure with her friends and I never get to go! She always says that ‘if I find her before she leaves’ that I can tag along, but I never do. But this time for sure I’m going to go with her!’ Scootaloo was lost in her thoughts, but quickly snapped out of them when she saw Dash and her pet tortoise Tank leaving Ponyville, Scootaloo gasped; she knew Dash was leaving for another adventure, could she be going deep into the Everfree Forest, or to the high peaks of the Appleloosan Mountains? She had to find out where Rainbow Dash was going! “Hey Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?!” the filly called out, running as fast as she could to catch up with the pegasus. “Did you hear something Tank?” Rainbow asked; the tortoise just turned his head to Dash, and then losing control of his propeller ended up on his back in the ground. Dash just facehooved and helped the poor tortoise get up, putting his propeller back on his shell. And at the very moment that Dash finished strapping the propeller onto Tank’s shell, the young filly finally reached them, “Hey Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?” Scootaloo asked knowing exactly what she was going to say. The pegasus turned to look at the young filly and responded. “Oh hey Scoots, Uh Tank and I were just going on an adventure again so…” “…Can I come?!” interrupted Scootaloo excitedly. “Well I uh…” “Aww c’mon, you always say maybe next time. C’mon please. Please, please, please.” Scootaloo begged her idol hoping to finally allow her to go on an adventure together. The pegasus just smirked and said. “Sure kid, you can come. Just stay close and try not to get in the way.” “Yes ma’am! This is going to be the most awesome thing ever!” Scootaloo squealed excitedly jumping up into the air. “But why do I have to ‘stay close’?” she asked curiously falling to the ground. “Because…” began Rainbow, “…because you might get hurt, and the closer you are to me the less of a chance there is that you’ll get hurt. But not too close ok?” “Yes ma’am! I won’t get too close to you, or too far away!” Scootaloo replied saluting Dash and giving her most serious face. As they started walking, Scootaloo heard two voices calling after them. “Hey Scootaloo! Hey Rainbow Dash!” called the two voices from behind them. Scootaloo’s ears perked up, she knew those voices, and she knew who those fillies were, so she needed to get Dash to stop. “Hey Rainbow Dash, can we stop for a minute?” “Why?” Rainbow asked as she came to a stop. “I heard Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shout out to us.” answered Scootaloo waiting for her two friends to catch up to them. After a minute of waiting, the two fillies finally caught up. “Hey Scootaloo, I see you found Rainbow Dash!” Sweetie Belle stated. “Yeah I did! And I finally get to go on an adventure with her!” Scootaloo squealed. “Oh that’s so cool!” replied Apple Bloom who was now excited as well. “Can we tag along?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Umm…” Dash began; “…I think it’s just going to be me, Tank, and Scoots here.” “Why’s that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Uh…because I would have to keep track of all of you and no offense, but you girls can be a hoofful to keep track of.” Rainbow Dash replied trying her best not to hurt the two fillies’ feelings. “But you’re taking Scootaloo with you.” said Sweetie Belle trying to make a point. “Yeah but, Scootaloo isn’t all of you.” Rainbow replied trying to politely make the annoying fillies leave. “Besides, where we’re going is dangerous! And I don’t want to have to protect three fillies, Tank, plus myself. And besides, what would Rarity or Applejack do to me if you two got hurt?” “Oh…well…Rarity would hate for me to get hurt so…uh…have fun!” Sweetie Belle replied nervously, the two fillies then took off back into Ponyville. “I’m sorry.” Scootaloo apologized as they continued their journey. “For what?” Dash asked looking confused. “For causing trouble here already, maybe I should stay.” replied the young filly with her head hung low. “No it’s ok, it wasn’t much trouble at all, and trust me, it could have been 20% worse!” said Dash trying to make the filly feel better. “It wasn’t much trouble but it was still trouble.” Scootaloo responded. “Scoots, you’re not causing any trouble right now, but you are starting to get slightly annoying. You wanted to come on this adventure with me, so I’m not letting you back out of it now.” “But didn’t you say that where we’re going is dangerous?” Scootaloo replied trying to get out of the uncomfortable conversation. “Scoots, I thought you liked danger?” responded Dash raising a brow. “Yeah, but...never mind let’s just go.” said Scootaloo quickly and nervously. “Wait, are you scared?” asked the pegasus. “What?! Oh no no no, I’m not scared!” Scootaloo replied quickly with a little bit of shock on her face. “Oh? Whatever you say.” responded the pegasus smirking down before running off into the Everfree Forest. “Hey! Wait for me!” Scootaloo called out as she chased after Dash.
