Scootaloo was halfway across the orchard when she was hit with the desire to just turn around and talk to her friends. She was getting close to coming to a stop and resting by some bushes when she felt a sneeze coming on. Pain emanated throughout her entire face as it came and went, blood splattering on a nearby apple tree. Seeing all the blood just reminded her of what had happened, filling her with humiliation and in turn anger, so she zipped to the one place where she was sure she would be alone... the barn.

Inside was dark, dulling the aches she still felt throughout her face. Scootaloo groused for a bit... about Apple Bloom, about Babs, and about the way things used to be. It was natural and felt good... good, but empty. She sighed. It would never go back to the way it used to be, but at least she had something now. Apple Bloom was her best friend and she was running away from her.

She heard the voices of the two outside looking for her... calling her name and talking about getting Apple Jack at this point. Again, she considered going out there and making herself known... but all those thoughts vanished once a gleam caught her eye.

It was her new Scooter. That's all she saw. Apple Jack had told her not to use it without a helmet, but she was a filly and she was mad, and all she saw was her new scooter. She wanted to be out of the acres fast right now... and this was a way out. Even though the acres were huge, she just wanted to be alone. This was a way out, yes. Maybe just for a little bit... just to find Rainbow Dash, and tell her what happened.

Scootaloo got on her scooter and imagined taking off... how good it would feel. Without hesitation or thought, she then did so.

She was officially running away. She hadn't done it to make anypony angry. She hadn't done it to get attention. It had been so long since she was on her scooter that, after the fight with Babs and Apple Bloom... it just felt good. That's good enough reason for a filly to do anything, right or wrong. Though the last accident she got into hadn't landed her in any trouble, if she got into another one... or even if she didn't... she was going to be in big trouble all the same. That was future Scootaloo's problem, though. She felt free now and that's all that mattered.

By now AB and Babs were off telling Apple Jack what had happened. They would be out looking for her... she decided she was going to return, but not before having some fun.

She was already in the outskirts of town, on the final stretch to Ponyville. If she made a few turns things would get a bit more... hilly. Not mountainous, just hilly. That was where RD had taken her on the extreme hike and it was where she wanted to be. She rode up and down the hills, mostly down... having a total blast. It was loads of fun to be out there, alone... on her scooter. She was surprised by how fun it was to be alone, as long as she wasn't lonely... Apple Jack, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Babs were all out looking for her. That made her smile, knowing they cared... but at the same time she felt really bad.

She hadn't noticed the sky darkening. It began to rain, heavily and without warning. Scootaloo found shelter under a fallen log. She was going to head back soon... after cooling off on her scooter, she felt really bad about disobeying Apple Jack and running away. She knew AJ was going to be very angry, but she knew there was no way to escape that. The rain began to lighten up and, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. She studied her surroundings -- she was beside a good sized hill. There were a few hills she'd ride over, beneath the last one was rolling flat ground all the way back. It was time to go back and get yelled at.

Scootaloo went straight up and down each set of hills. She then made it to the top of each, cautiously, then went down at a reasonable speed. This was the last hill... she could see the ground below. One more sharp turn and it was nothing but a clear path. She took it no faster than the others, but the earth was less gravel than the other paths, wet and slippery. She lost traction on the steep decline as she took the curve. The filly lost control of her scooter for only a second and went straight off the side of the hill, where there was a sheer 20 foot drop onto the rocks below.

Though Scootaloo's wings were buzzing and she had some control over the direction she was headed in, once she left the hill... it all happened much too quickly. Despite the fact that everything seemed to be happening in super slow motion, she could not stop the inevitable. She braced herself, holding onto the scooter tight as she saw a tree coming closer, and closer... she veered at the last minute, sharply to the left.

She hit the tree with a force greater than she ever could have imagined. The metal handlebars twisted, digging into her stomach, scrapping her flesh as she was thrown away from her scooter yet again. The right side of her body ricocheted off the trunk, her limbs flailing around without restraint. She collided with the ground, a sickening crack filled the air as the hard rocks twisted into her gut. There she lay, looking skyward below the tree. It didn't hurt... at first.

She was awake, but in steadily growing pain... it all felt superficial at least. She tried to get up but found that if she moved every part of her body set ablaze in pure agony... sitting still she simply throbbed and felt okay. She didn't know it, but she'd broken several bones and was in shock. Whether or not she was wearing a helmet wouldn't have made much of a difference... however, the veering is what had saved her brains. She didn't know that. She didn't care. She was frightened now, but too out of it to realize the severity of what she had done to herself this time.

The sky turned black yet again and it began to pour down rain even harder than before. It covered up any traces of her joyride within the hour, and covered her in mud. She fought to stay on her side, anything to keep from drowning... but even that kept her in agony. She wanted it all to just go away.

When Rainbow Dash got the news that, once again, Scootaloo had gone missing... she left work in the middle of a project, delegating her managerial responsibilities to Thunderlane, who resented it but understood the emergency. There was supposed to be a big rain that day -- she'd had ponies all over Ponyville putting up black storm clouds into the skies of the town. She left in a hurry and didn't even bother grabbing her bags. She still had the helmet in her saddlebag... she was going to give it to Scootaloo in hours. She knew the Scooter was missing, too, and prayed to Celestia that she would find the little filly in one piece.

She searched everywhere and searched for hours, shouting the young filly's name into the dark sky. The only place they knew for sure Scootaloo was not was the Clubhouse, and even then Apple Bloom and Babs waited there for her... in the rain. Just in case she was to come back. Even though their work made it look new, it felt so meaningless without her there. Apple Bloom was in tears once more over one of her friends... and even though Babs did her best to comfort her, there was simply nothing she could do. Apple Bloom felt truly alone.

Rainbow Dash checked the bridge she'd originally found Scootaloo under 5 months earlier, then she ventured to the Sugar Cube Corner. She then checked the theaters, and finally she checked the outskirts of town. She kicked herself for not looking there earlier -- Scootaloo had been in awe over the view when she had taken her there only a day earlier.

She went one way, scanning the grounds in the rain. It didn't matter that it was raining. It didn't matter that Dash felt chilled and stuffed up. She looked without slowing down... she wanted to hug Scootaloo as much as she wanted to throttle her, but she had to find her to do either. The sun came out as she finally turned back, truly frustrated. That was when she saw a faint glint beneath a tree by the side of short a cliff. She went to investigate... and found it to be a red scooter. She felt sick, but still drew closer.

"Squirt?" Dash called out into the muck beneath the tree. There was no answer. "Uh, Scootaloo?"

A weak moan, barely perceptible, came out of the rocks below. With it, a strained little voice whimpered:

"Rainbow...?"

Dash knew that voice:

"Scootaloo!" She zipped to the bottom of the tree. "I'm here, Scoots... talk to me."

Dash felt things were not right well before she saw Scootaloo's twisted body at the bottom of the tree. All desire to punish faded:

The impact and fall had done horrible things to her body. The limbs on her right side were now bent off in unnatural directions, a bit of smashed bone protruding above her knee. Dash knew what compound fractures looked like all too well, and did her best to keep a straight face in spite of the grotesque twists in Scootaloo's leg and shoulder. The sharp rocks lining the earth below had dug into the filly's stomach and side, embedding themselves in deep, flaying her gut open. Rainbow shuttered, doing everything she could to keep from gagging once she realized small bits of Scootaloo's intestine had been exposed to the grime beneath her for Celestia knows how long. Dash had to hide her feelings... this was Scootaloo. She was alive and needed help right now. Rainbow had to remain focused on that.

Dash looked into her little face and saw the Scootaloo she knew and loved... a few teeth missing, blood coming from her nose and mouth, a black eye, but it was still Scootaloo. Pale, yes, but she didn't seem to have punctured any internal organs... or she'd probably be she be dead by now. Even so, this felt all too familiar to Rainbow Dash...

"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo muttered, through the pain and uncontrollable shaking. "I'm really scared, Rainbow. It hurts so much..."

Rainbow had to be calm, Rainbow had to be in control... Rainbow wanted to throw up:

"I know it does, Scoots." She said, soothingly. "I'm gunna go get you help. I know where you are and I'll be back before you know it..."

Rainbow spread her wings, forcing herself to turn her back on the scared little filly.

The filly's voice went hoarse as she cried out in an unintelligible, desperate plea causing Rainbow Dash to halt seconds before taking off.

"Please stay with me, Rainbow Dash." She said, weakly, once she saw the Pegasus wasn't leaving. "I don't want to be alone here."

For once happy to have her back to her favorite filly, tears welled up quickly in Dash's eyes. She had been around injured fillies before -- whether the injury was big or small, they always begged to go home. Always. Scootaloo hadn't begged to go anywhere... only that Dash not go anywhere. Rainbow Dash then realized she was the closest thing the little had to a home... the most regular Pegasus in Scootaloo's small life.

She couldn't just take off like she wanted to, but she had to. For pity's sake, she could only spare a moment at most:

"Scootaloo, if I stay here with you... you can't get better. I have to go get you help."

"I just wanna be with you... please... just for a little bit."

The tough Pegasus turned to the filly, getting down on her level. Their eyes met as she spoke softly, but firmly:

"Like it or not, Scoots, I'm goings... this isn't up for negotiation. I'll be back with Doctors. They;'e gunna take you away from here and put you to sleep. When you wake up... everything will be okay."

Scootaloo didn't have the energy to rationally argue. She would have cried at the thought of her idol going away and being taken some place strange, but Rainbow's confidence was surprisingly comforting. She just wanted the pain to stop, and she was already ready to go far away:

"Promise?"

Rainbow Dash's eye lit up with the same magic they had when describing camping outdoors months earlier:

"Scootaloo, I would never, ever lie to you... I promise. Before you know it, this will all seem like a bad dream. But you have to be strong for it to work. Just promise me you'll be strong and try to stay awake."

The little filly looked up at her idol with a weak smile on her face. That was all the answer Rainbow needed... she had faith.

Without another word, Rainbow Dash took off as fast as she could, leaving a rainbow trail and Scootaloo's broken body at the bottom of the steep hill. She prayed to Celestia on her way there that she'd still be alive when she got back with help... but if she did die... Rainbow hoped that it would just be like going to sleep. Dash already had seen enough pain in her little eyes to haunt her for the rest of her life. She wanted to stay probably as much as Scootaloo had wanted her to, holding her... this way the only way to see to it that everything was going to be okay.

"Rainbow...?" Scootaloo coughed quietly, unaware she was now alone. "Where are you... Rainbow?"

She was answered with nothing but birds chirping in the tree above, a gentle breeze... and, of course, silence.