All was quiet at Fluttershy’s cottage, just the way that the pegasus enjoyed it. Normally, there was a slew of animals bustling about, demanding her attention. Not to say that she didn’t enjoy their company and the care that she was afforded to give to them. The kind pony enjoyed nothing more in the world than having the opportunity to extend a helping hoof. Yet, sometimes her days were more demanding than normal and the evening’s peace was a welcome difference.

And how demanding the days had been recently. It was starting to get late in the autumn, which meant that winter would soon arrive. This was a very important time for all of Fluttershy’s animal friends. Most of them would spend the season hibernating and needed help getting ready. Dens had to be inspected to make sure that they would be safe and comfortable while the animals were asleep. Food had to be gathered and stored for each one of the critters as well. And the birds would need to be guided south for the winter. Plus, Fluttershy couldn’t bare the thought of them having to make that long trip without any sort of treats, so traveling snacks had to be prepared as well.

So, when the sun finally set and the animals retired for the evening, the newfound calm was extremely relaxing. Fluttershy had decided this particular evening to catch up on her reading. She had sat herself down on her favorite sofa with her literary choice, “A Pony’s Tale” by Mare Twain, a personal favorite of hers. However, the day’s events in addition to the serene setting soon got the best of the tired creature, and she drifted into a light slumber.

She laid there peacefully without a care in the world, when a slight cracking noise stirred her. Stretching and yawning, the filly adjusted herself to a more comfortable position on the sofa. Despite her normally timid nature, she didn’t think anything of the noise. After all, strange sounds were a common thing living so close to the Everfree Forest, and she had gotten used to them over the years. Despite the dangers that lurked there, it was very rare that anything too terrifying ventured out of the forest.

She breathed a slight sigh, and attempted to fall back asleep. Opening her eyes for a brief second, she caught a faint orange glow poking through the small window above her. She smiled and closed her eyes again, thinking off all the wonderful animals that she would get to spend time helping tomorrow. As a warm breeze blew through the cottage, she stopped to think about all of her best friends and the adventures that they had planned for the next day. Sleep began to overtake her just as she thought just how perfect her life…

Her head shot up quickly. Wait. Something about this setting was wrong. It was middle of autumn. The running of the leaves was just around the corner. Why in Equestria would there be a warm breeze blowing in? She glanced back at the window. The glow was still there, pouring through. It couldn’t possibly be morning already.

There was no doubt about it. Something was very wrong.

Completely awake now and quick as a flash, the yellow Pegasus tore up the stairs to her bedroom. She braced herself for the worse and flung open the curtains. Immediately her eyes narrowed as she was filled with a sense of dread. Even for such a quiet pony, she found herself unable to speak from the sight. She sat and trembled for a second before darting off. She had to find somepony, no, she needed to alert everypony to come immediately.

The Everfree forest was burning.

“Everypony, listen up!” Twilight Sparkle stood resolute between the quickly forming group of ponies and the disaster lying at their doorstep. When she had heard Fluttershy pounding and yelling at her front door in the middle of the night, she knew that it must have been quite the emergency. Sure enough, one look out from her balcony door, and she immediately began to take charge of the situation (much to the relief of Fluttershy.) As quickly as possible, she rounded up as many ponies as she could muster and led them to the edge of the fiery inferno, where they now stood.

“As far as I know, there has never been a threat to Ponyville quite like the one that we are facing down right now. We need to work quickly to get control of the fire before it can spread. We’ll need the help of everypony to save our town, but if we work together as a team, I know that we will be able to put out this fire!”

Despite the danger, the speech brought a sense of determination to the group and they let out a resounding cheer. There was no doubt about it. Twilight was quite the natural born leader.
With no time to lose, Twilight began diving out tasks to everypony. “Applejack, you and your group start digging a trench in between the fire and the town. Pinkie Pie, you’re group will gather the dirt they dig up into buckets for the pegasi to use. Fluttershy, take your group and make sure that everypony and animal near the fire is moved to safety. Rarity, take your group and make sure that all the elderly and young ponies are safe accounted for. Everypony got it?”

With acknowledgment of their tasks from each of her friends, she sent them off to fulfill their individual tasks. She couldn’t help but think for the moment how lucky she was to have such good friends. Still, there was somepony missing. Where was…

“INCOMING!”

Twilight leaped out of the way, just at the rainbow colored streak tore right past her. Looping around, the cyan pegasus landed smoothly (and rather awesomely) right next the purple unicorn.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted while trying to get back her composure. “Where in the name of Celestia have you been?”

“Relax Twi. I stopped on my way here to talk with Derpy. I figured that we were going to need one heck of a rainstorm to clean up this mess, and so I sent her to go and get help from the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.”

Twilight looked at Rainbow a little skeptically. “Derpy? Are you sure that she’s the best choice for this?”
The pegasus stepped back in defense. “Are you serious? I know she may be clumsy, but there’s a reason that she’s the best mailmare that Ponyville has ever had.”

Her cheeks turning slightly pinker from embarrassment, Twilight agreed with Rainbow. Derpy might not be the most coordinated pony in the world, but she had a determination and desire to help that few other ponies in Equestria could match. There really was nopony better to deliver the message.

“You’re right Rainbow. I never should have doubted you.”

The Pegasus swelled with pride. “That’s right. I’d never leave Ponyville in a bind. They don’t call me the Element of Loyalty for nothing after all.” Suddenly, and almost sheepishly, she turned and faced the much bigger problem at hand. “So tell me Twi. What’s the situation?”

The librarian took note of the serious tone in Rainbow’s voice and turned to match it. “Right now, the big goal is prevent the fire from spreading closer to Ponyville. Once we’ve got this end under control, we’ll worry about the rest of the forest.”

“Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

The unicorn shook her head. “I’m afraid not. In fact, I don’t think there’s been a forest fire in Equestria for over two hundred years. Not even in a place as bizarre as the Everfree Forest.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the wall of fire for a few moments, studying it. “What do you think could have caused a fire like this?”

“I wish I knew. Most likely it was started by one of the strange creatures in there. I was reading a book recently about some of the more bizarre creatures that live in Equestria. Did you know that…”

“Twilight!”

The high pitched voice caught the unicorn off guard. She turned to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle running up to her. Behind them was Rarity desperately trying to keep up, all the while shouting for them to stop.

Twilight and Rainbow ran over to the little ponies. “Girls! What are you doing out here? This is a very dangerous situation and you need to get to safety.”

The pair skidded to a stop before falling to the ground panting for breath. Meanwhile, Rarity finally caught up to the group. “My sincerest apologies, Twilight. I was busy gathering up the young colts and fillies just as you had asked, when all of a sudden, these two took off like lightning bolts. It was all I could do to keep up with them without getting myself completely covered in dirt.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but snicker at that statement. Only Rarity could still think about getting dirty in a situation like this one. Turning to the fillies she decided to add her two bits. “Twilight’s right you know. You really should leave this to us.”

Still struggling for breath, Applebloom attempted to argue her case. “B.. but…”

“No ‘buts’.” Twilight retorted. “What do you think you’re going to do? Get your cutie marks in firefighting? Sorry girls, but I don’t think that that is a very wise plan. You three could be seriously hurt or even…”

A cyan hoof suddenly shot in front of her face startling and silencing the unicorn mid-sentence. Turning to look at Rainbow, she was surprised by the sudden change of expression on the Pegasus. Instead of her normally calm, almost cocky attitude, her expression was one of terror. She turned back to the Crusaders, and for the first time noticed that the two of them wore similar expressions. Slowly her face turned to match theirs as realization dawned on her as well.

“Girls… Where is Scootaloo?”

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. Even with Rainbow Dash having been out of town all day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to take away from the serene image. The trees painted a magnificent portrait of color that complemented the various sights around the town. Sweet Apple Acers was simply stunning as the final apple trees had changed their colors, leaving a massive expanse that almost seemed like a liquefied fire rippling through the hills. Sugarcube Corner seemed to blend in with the red and pink trees behind it, making it appear almost invisible unless you were looking for it. And the local library, which despite being built in a tree, was magically enchanted to not die or have its leaves change color, and it provided an interesting, almost poetic, contrast to the changing world around it.

Unfortunately, nopony was looking at the natural wonders that surrounded them. Ponies were running to and fro, going about their various tasks. With each passing day, they found themselves that much closer to the start of winter. Each one bustled about, burdened by the large load of chores that their various jobs required them to have accomplished. They were all so busy in their own affairs that nopony even thought about the small orange pegasus running through the town. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for a filly, or even a group of little ponies to wander throughout the town during the day. It was especially frequent to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders running about on some grand quest to discover their true talents. Maybe that’s why nopony didn’t take notice of Scootaloo running through the town. Had they been more attentive, they might have noticed from the tears in her eyes that something was wrong.

But Scootaloo wasn’t upset about not being noticed. In fact, she was glad that nopony seemed to be able to see her. Somepony might have tried to talk her out of it. She had made her decision though and there was no changing her mind. Every hope and dream that she had ever had in Ponyville had been smashed in the short span of a single day. She no longer had anything here anymore.

That’s why she had to run away.

As she reached the edge of town, she turned back for a brief second surveying the town. She wanted one last look at it before she left it behind forever. All the various ponies darting to and fro, each one completely unaware of their onlooker. She couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take before anypony even realized she was gone. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle would of course be the first ones to notice. But they were so busy helping their sisters get ready for Winter, that they probably wouldn’t realize that she was gone for at least a couple of days.

The thought of her friends started the tears flowing again. They were the closest thing to a family that the young pegasus had ever known. She had never known her father, and her mother had died when she was still just a foal. That’s what brought her to Ponyville in the first place. Hoofington, like many of the cities in Equestria didn’t have any sort of orphanage. Since Ponyville was the closest town with one, and without any nearby family, that’s where she was sent.

Despite this, life hadn’t been all bad to here. Generally speaking, the ponies that ran the orphanage were kind to her. They did their best to make life comfortable and treated everypony in their care extremely well. In everything they did, they tried their best to make the entire situation as happy as it could possibly be. Yet there was always something missing. She could never figure out exactly what it was, but there was definitely something missing. As such, she never found herself being truly happy. The closest she came to true happiness was when she was hanging out with her friends, but those moments were fleeting and like today were often times lost thanks to other interruptions. The only other thing that she had in this town was her idol, the one and only, incredible Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo bit her lip to stop the tears and turned away from the town. Don’t think about Rainbow Dash, she told herself. If she wants you to leave Ponyville, then that’s just what you’re going to do. It was hard for her to accept but it was true. There was absolutely nothing left for her here. It was best for her and for everypony if she just left.

Tears forming in her eyes again, she took off running down the path towards Hoofington. She had decided that would be where she would start her life over again. After all, it was where her mother was from, so clearly it couldn’t be that bad of a place. Who knows, maybe she’d even run into some long lost relatives that would help her out when she got there.

Suddenly she saw something up in the distance. Even from far off, she easily recognized the figure approaching. It was Applebloom’s older brother, Big Macintosh! She had forgotten that he normally made delivery trips all over Equestria this time of year. He must have been returning from one of those.

The filly panicked. She couldn’t let him see her. He’d for sure take her back to Ponyville, which was something she just could not do. She had to hide and quickly, before he could recognize her. Unfortunately for her, the path between Hoofington and Ponyville was mostly flat lands, meaning that there was absolutely nowhere to hide on the side of the road. However there was one place close enough with plenty of good hiding places. She turned to her left to face the sprawling expanse of the Everfree Forest.

Having had some scary experience in there, she questioned whether that it would be best choice to try and hide out there. Carefully, she weighted her options. Let Big Macintosh find you and take you back to Ponyville, or hide out in a potentially deadly forest. Back to Ponyville, or possibly face a Manticore. Ponyville or Everfree.

She looked back at Big Macintosh. He was getting closer every second, she had to act now. Quick as a flash she ran headlong into the Everfree forest. She ran a little ways in, before turning and looking back out. She made sure to stand so that she could keep an eye on the road. The last thing she wanted to do right now was to find herself lost in the middle of this horrible place.

Silently she sat waiting and watching for Big Macintosh to pass by her. The minutes drug on like hours, as every creak or sound behind her filled her with a new sense of dread. Finally, she saw the stallion come into view walking up the street. Ducking her head down, she did her best to try and stay hidden from view, while still keeping an eye on him.

For a moment it seemed like it was going to work. He had almost completely passed Scootaloo and soon she would be able to continue her journey. However, at that very moment, there was suddenly a loud cracking noise from directly behind her. She spun around quickly to see what could have caused it. Thankfully there was nothing there, just a dead branch that had fallen off a dying tree. Turning back to the road, however she found something much more frightening. Apparently Big Macintosh had also heard the noise, and was now walking over to investigate.

Fear overtook the poor filly. Without thinking she turned and ran deeper and deeper into the forest. When she finally stopped to catch her breath, she realized just how far she had run. Looking all around her she saw nothing but a think blanket of trees all around her.

Once again, panic set it. She immediately turned round and set off running back the way that she had come. But, she quickly found herself in trouble. There was no sign of the way that she had come, just more trees in every direction. Very soon, she found herself completely and utterly lost. Unwilling to accept defeat, she wandered throughout the forest looking for something familiar, until the sun began to set. She grimaced realizing that it would soon be dark and she would have no chance to escape the forest when that happened, and decided stop and make a camp for the night.

Finding a small clearing, she quickly set up and had a small fire going. She was so tired that she didn’t even bother to check and she if she had gotten a fire starters cutie mark. Besides, her and her friends had tried that once before. Needless to say it didn’t end up exactly as they had hoped. Thankfully, Rarity had a bucket of water handy.

Her thoughts of Ponyville started her crying again, as she laid herself down for the evening. She pointed her head towards the forest canopy. Although there wasn’t much of one, there was thankfully a small window, giving her a beautiful look at the stars. She had frequently been told that those who had passed on before, were up there consorting with the heavens, and watching over those below. She liked to believe it, since that meant that her mom was up there with them watching over her every night. It was a peaceful feeling, even if it was somewhat fleeting.

She just sat and stared at the stars for a while, thinking about all of the day’s events. Her friends being too busy for her, the mess-ups she’d made at the orphanage, and the whole ordeal with Rainbow Dash. She was normally good at hiding her emotions, but now, alone and away from the world, she finally allowed the tears to flow freely. And so the young Pegasus sat, until exhaustion took its toll and she cried herself to sleep.

“So you haven’t seen Scootaloo since this morning?” Twilight enquired.

Applebloom shook her head. “She came wantin’ to hang out early this mornin’, but Applejack needed me to help her clean out the barn.”

“She also came by my place looking for me, “ Sweetie Belle interjected. “But Rarity wanted me to go with her shopping for supplies for her new Winter line, so I also told her I couldn’t.”

“When Rarity came and rounded us all up together at the schoolhouse, we found each other almost immediately. But when we couldn’t find Scootaloo, we got real worried and knew that we needed ta find her.” The small pony’s eyes started to water. “Oh Twilight, what if something just awful has happened ta her?”

Twilight embraced the filly. “Don’t think that way. I’m sure that she’s fine.” It was a lie, but it was enough to calm down the pair.

A sound of galloping of hooves getting closer drew Twilight’s attention away from the girls. Looking up, she saw Rarity returning. Twilight could tell immediately from the dirt and filth covering the pristine white unicorn’s coat that there wasn’t good news.

Rarity didn’t bother to stop to catch her breath. “I’ve asked all around. Nopony has seen Scootaloo since sometime early this afternoon. She doesn’t seem to be in Ponyville at all.”

With this new development, the crusaders started to cry again. As much as it hurt, Twilight had to ignore them for the second. “Alright, we need to find out where she went and who she talked to today. Preferably starting with whomever it was that she saw last. Do you have any idea who that could be?”

“I think I know.”

The sudden input from Rainbow Dash startled everypony. The pegasus had been so uncharacteristically quiet during the whole exchange, that Twilight had almost completely forgotten that she was standing there the whole time.

“And who, exactly do you believe that it was?” Rarity pressed her for more details.

“I think it might have been me.”

Twilight was both delighted and confused by this development. “What happened when you saw her?”

“And why, pray tell do you think you were the last to see her?”

Rainbow Dash’s countenance fell at the enquiry. She ducked her head down, not looking directly at her friends. She shuffled her hooves around nervously, almost as though the words she was looking for were difficult to stomach. Her head was shaking slightly, and… wait. Was she crying?

“Because… Because, I’m the one that told her to leave.”

The other four sat in stunned silence for a second. Rainbow looked up and saw the shocked look on their faces. “I didn’t mean that she should leave Ponyville, I just… I mean… I was just upset is all.”

Twilight found her composure. She needed more details. “Just tell us exactly what happened.”
The Pegasus nodded slightly, clearing her throat and drying her eyes. “Well, you know how busy I’ve been the past couple of days. This is the hardest time of year for me. I mean, I have to work out the scheduling for Ponyville’s snowfall for the winter. I have to spend most of my time in Cloudsdale filling out paperwork and arguing over the available times. It’s really stressful.

“Well, today was especially bad. I found out that they somepony had messed up and scheduled a rainstorm on the day of the Running of the Leaves. It took me all morning just to get a hold of somepony to try and sort it out. Then we spent a good part of the afternoon, going back and forth. Him arguing that we should delay the running, and me arguing that we couldn’t do that and they should delay the rainstorm.

“Well, when I got back, I was in a really foul mood as you can imagine. I just wanted to grab a quick bite to eat and head back home and get some sleep.”

“And that’s when Scootaloo showed up, isn’t it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “She was so happy to see me, and started talking about how she had been looking for me all day, and just starting talking about everything that was on her mind. Normally I’m flattered by the attention she gives me, but today, I just found it irritating. I did my best to try and ignore her or show her that I wasn’t in the mood, but she didn’t take the hint and just kept talking. So I… I…” There was no mistaking it this time. The cyan pony completely broke down and started sobbing. “I screamed at her. I just tore into her. I told her to get lost and go annoy some other pony for a while. I… I told her, ‘Go tell your stories to somepony who actually cares and leave me alone!’

“When I finished, I just sat and glared at her just to make sure I was absolutely clear. She just sat and stared at me with this horrified look on her face. Then without a word, she just turned and took off running. I just sat there and let her run away. I felt a little bit guilty about it, so I… I told myself how grateful I was for the peace and quiet and walked the other way.”

With that she buried her face in her hooves and wept for a while. The others just sat in silence for a few moments. Twilight finally walked up to Rainbow and put her hoof around her. Rainbow immediately embraced her friend and sat sobbing on her shoulder , muttering to herself, “Oh Celestia, what have I done…”

Twilight just sat and let her cry. “You can’t blame yourself for this Rainbow. You had no way of knowing how she would react.” She turned looked over at the raging fire. While it appeared that they had stopped it from advancing into Ponyville, there was still a lot of work left to be done and that needed to take top priority. “Look, once we have the fire under control, we’ll send out a scouting party and look for her.”

The Pegasus’ head immediately shot up. “No! We need to go look for her now, before something horrible happens.”

The pleading look in Rainbow’s eyes made Twilight’s response all the more difficult. “You know we can’t do that Rainbow. The Pegasus ponies will be our best bet at finding her, but we can’t spare any of them until the storms arrive from Cloudsdale. I’m sorry.”

Immediately the pleading look in Rainbow’s eyes was replaced by one of determination. “Then I’ll go look for her by myself if I have too.” Turning tail, she braced herself for takeoff, only to find herself held down by some unseen force.

It was Twilight of course, holding on to her rainbow tail will her magic. “I’m so sorry Rainbow, but I can’t let you do that. I need your help organizing the weather ponies when they get here. You said so yourself, you could never leave Ponyville hanging.”

Rainbow looked back at her captor, struggling futilely against her magic. Realizing she was beaten, she relaxed and took a deep breath. She knew exactly what she needed to do as difficult as it was.

BAM!

In an instant, her legs flew out from under her and connected squarely on the purple unicorn’s face. The pain and the surprise caused Twilight to release her magical hold as she staggered backwards. Rainbow Dash immediately took flight. Calling over her shoulder she yelled back, “I’m sorry Twilight. But I have to fix this,” before turning and heading directly into the fiery inferno.

It wasn’t often that Scootaloo dreamed, but today hadn’t been an ordinary day, so it seemed logical that it would continue into her sleep as well. In her dream she was flying, something that she often wished to be able to do, but hadn’t quite mastered yet. She looked down as she flew and saw a beautiful serene ocean just a few meters below her. She could just make out her own orange reflection over the top of the crashing waves below. She stared at it for a few seconds, before taking note of another reflection forming beside her own. Soon that reflection was joined by another, and another. She looked up and realized that she was surrounded by pegasi. Dozens, possibly hundreds of them, all looking and smiling at her, happy to be sharing the sky. A calm warming feeling spread over her as she gazed around at each of them, and soon she too was smiling.

Then she saw her. Another Pegasus with a bright orange coat and long flowing purple hair just like hers. Scootaloo, recognized her instantly, and immediately with all her might began flying towards her. The other Pegasus followed suit, turning and flying directly towards the young filly. The warm feeling in her grew with every second as the two came closer together. With arms reached out, the filly cried out to the other. “Mom!”

Suddenly Scootaloo stopped and grabbed her own chest as the warm feeling exploded. No longer was it peaceful and calming, but it was hot and painful. Gritting her teeth and wincing from the pain, she opened her eyes to find that all the other pegasi had disappeared leaving her alone. Another shot of pain shot through her as she buckled over and began to fall. Looking down, she saw the ocean was gone, instead replaced by a pool of burning lava. Unable to fly from the pain, she continued to fall, closer and closer to the horrible death below her. With each passing moment the heat grew worse and the pain continued with it. Slowly falling further and further until…

Scootaloo shot her head up, suddenly very much awake. However it took her a second to realize that she was indeed awake as she stared into a very different wall of fire. Her ears drooped as she came to the horrible realization. She had woken up from one nightmare right into the middle of another.

Completely awake now and quick as a flash she jumped to her hooves and looked around her. Every direction she looked though, she saw the same thing. Trees alight and burning quickly. She looked down at the smoldering wreckage that had been her small campfire. She hadn’t thought about it before, but the Everfree Forest seemed to follow its own set of laws. The leaves had already begun to fall here, and with all that dry kindling just lying all over the forest floor, the small fire had probably erupted into the horrible predicament that she now found herself in the middle of.

Fear instantly overtook her completely. What could she do? There was no way the young filly could put this out by herself. It would take all of Ponyville to deal with this. Guilt immediately took place of fear. Oh Celestia, what if the fire spreads to Ponyville? She thought to herself. After all, the town stands immediately on the border of the forest. It could easily spread from building to building. What if it reached as far as Sweet Apple Acres, or Carousel Boutique? What if it got to her friends? What if she caused them too…

A sudden crashing noise brought Scootaloo back to her current circumstance. She leaped just as a tree fell, landing precisely where she had been standing. Breathing rapidly, and glancing around again at the inferno, she now had only one thought on her mind. Get out of here now!

Looking around she found a small opening in the flames. Mustering up all the courage that she could, she braced herself for the worst. Rearing back as far as she could, she leaped forward, running directly into the midst of the hellish world she now found herself in.

Rainbow Dash landed lightly on a small cloud, taking a brief second to catch her breath. The fire was beginning to take its toll on the rainbow pegasus. Not only were the flames quickly sapping her of all her energy, but they were doing a great job destroying any possible traces of the orange filly. Could it be that she was already…

No. She refused to believe that she was too late. This entire ordeal was her fault and she was going to make it right, even if it killed her in the process. And still, looking down at the inferno below her, she couldn’t help but feel the sheer magnitude of the task at hand. She needed help.

Silently she bowed her head and started a brief prayer. “Celestia, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need your strength. I messed up, worse than I’ve ever done before. Please, give me the strength to fix this. Please… Help me find her.”

Whether Celestia heard her or not didn’t matter. When she opened her eyes, she was filled with a renewed sense of determination. Looking down at the ground, she realized that continuing to fly above the trees wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She knew now what she needed to do. Standing on the edge of the cloud, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before diving headfirst into the middle of the burning forest.

Fire. Behind every turn, over every hill and around every corner, Scootaloo was met with the same sight. More and more fire. She continued to run, hoping to find some opening, some place not completely engulfed in flames. But no matter where she ran, it was the same story.

Her energy was failing fast and soon she couldn’t take it anymore. She collapsed. She was so tired. So tired and so very dizzy. The world around her spun and turned and slowly began to grow darker, and darker. The sounds around her began to distort and fade as her final sleep began to overtake her. She was so very tired after all. So very tired.

Maybe this was for the best she thought. After all, would the world really even miss her? She was just a stupid little pegasus who didn’t even know what her special talent was yet. Besides that everyone she knew was in Ponyville and she had already decided that it was best to leave them behind. Perhaps it was better if she just died now, that way she couldn’t be there to make any other ponies miserable. Also, she would get to be with the one pony that so desperately wanted to see.

Through eyes half glazed she thought she saw something in the flames. The vague form of a bright orange Pegasus. Could it possibly be?

“M… mom… is that really you? Did you come to save me?”

The form said nothing, but just stood there as Scootaloo fell a little bit more into the cold grasp of eternal sleep. She asked again this time a little bit louder, “Mom, is that you? Please. Please answer me.”

Nothing. The form continued to remain in silence before her. Scootaloo stared at it for a moment before closing her eyes. Sleep. Yes, she needed to sleep now.

“S….t….”

The little fillly’s ears perked up. It was faint, but it was distinct. There was voice coming from the figure.

“Sco..aloo…”

“Mom?”

“Scootaloo…”

With what little energy she had left, she raised herself back. Everything was blurry and fuzzy and it was all she could do to raise herself up. She could just barely make out the orange form in front of her. “Mom!” she cried out as she did her best to drag herself to the creature. “Don’t worry mom, I’m coming! I'm coming! Please don’t leave me.”

“Scootaloo... Scootaloo…”

She tripped and fell. It was too much for her. She looked up and saw the form flicker and fade away as a bright light took its place.

“No… mom… please don’t go… not again… not… again…”

A strange sensation filled Scootaloo, one that felt like a warm embrace. It was the most wonderful thing that she had ever experienced and she found herself wishing it would never stop. Slowly a feeling of weightlessness joined in also puling her strangely towards the heavens. With the last of her energy she attempted to open her eyes. “M…mommy..?”

But she didn’t see anyone. All she saw was rainbows.

And then there was only darkness…

*Beep*

The sound pierced Scootaloo to the core, awakening a part of her that hadn’t been aware for what seemed like a very long time. Suddenly she was aware of colors and noises gently floating all around her.

*Beep*

Again the sound shot through her. The colors melted and mixed to form shapes. The noises pranced around slowly becoming more and more melodic.

*Beep*

Slowly the world began to become recognizable again. The colors and shapes slowly changed into forms. One Yellow and red , and the other white and pink, all against a blue backdrop.

*Beep*

She recognized the noises now. They were voices. Voices crying out in unison, “She’s waking up! She’s waking up! Hurry, hurry! Come quick! She’s walking up.”

*Beep*

The haze finally dissipated, as the world pulled itself back together and Scootaloo was left staring into the faces of her best friends.

“Sw… Sweetie Belle… Applebloom… what are you doing here? Where… where are we?” Her strength still wasn’t entirely recovered and every word she spoke was with great difficulty.
Her friends didn’t respond. Instead they immediately grabbed her in the tightest hug Scootaloo had ever experienced, tears streaming down both of their faces.

“Um… you guys think you can quit the lovely dovey stuff and tell me what’s going on?”

They just laughed between their sobs at her request. Their friend was back.

“Oh Scootaloo, we were so worried about you.”

“Yah. We thought you were gonna die.”

Slowly, the night in the woods came back to her memory, and she suddenly realized where she was sitting. She was lying in a bed in the Ponyville hospital. But that didn’t make sense. How in Equestria did she end up here? The last thing she remembered was hearing her mom call out for her, but nothing after that.

“Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! What in tarnation’s do you think that you’re doing, get down off the top of the poor critter! She’s been through enough trauma already I reckon.

Scootaloo looked towards the new voices just entering the room as her friends released their iron grip from around her. There was quite a turnout for the young filly. She took a quick glace around the room to take a census. There was Sweetie Belle and Applebloom obviously, along with both of their sisters. Fluttershy was also there though she was talking with the nurse who had also just entered the room to try and see what she could do to help make the orange Pegasus more comfortable. Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie were also there, holding various treats and balloons. Everyone had tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces.

Despite all this Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that everypony was filthy. She felt a horrible twinge of guilt as she realized why.

Twilight almost instinctively knew what was on the young pegasus’ mind. “Don’t worry. The fire’s been taken care of. Once the weather ponies arrived with the rainclouds we were easily able to get the fire put out. Thanks to Fluttershy, we were able to get to it before there was any lasting damage done to the town or even to the forest as a whole.”

Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. So she hadn’t destroyed Ponyville, and from the sound of it nobody was hurt in the process either. It was almost funny she thought. Here I was trying to get out of town so that I couldn’t cause anymore problems for everypony, and she had ended up causing problems for all of them. She looked up around the room of smiling faces again. There was no anger, and no hatred in any of their eyes, only relief. Maybe she had been wrong to think about running away, she started to feel a little bit happy, but quickly suppressed that emotion as she came to a realization.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

The others glanced around at each other, giving each other nervous looks. Scootaloo could tell from their expressions that they had something to say, but nopony wanted to be the one to say it.
However none of them needed to. The sound of the door opening caught everypony’s attention. In walked the missing member of the group, with her rainbow mane waving. Upon seeing her enter, Scootaloo’s heart sank further. Rainbow Dash did not look happy.

“Would you guys mind. I need to talk with the squirt alone for a little while.”

It seemed as though everypony had the same impression as Scootaloo, as they each said a brief farewell to Scootaloo before heading out the door. Once the last one had exited, Rainbow Dash closed the door behind them. She didn’t turn around immediately. Rather she just stood there facing the door.

Slowly she finally turned around. Her head was down and her eyes were mostly closed. Scootaloo did her best to try and read the expression on her face, but was unable to do so. The others had been so clearly happy to see her, but Rainbow Dash seemed almost disappointed as she slowly made her way across the room.

Scootaloo swallowed. Clearly her idol had not forgiven her for the other day. She lowered her head. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. I, I didn’t mean to annoy you the other day, and I didn’t mean to start the fire, and I…”
She was silenced by the sudden appearance of a Cyan hoof in front of her face. Gently it lifted her head back up until she and Rainbow Dash were looking at each other eye to eye. It was then that she saw something that she had never seen before. There were tears streaming down the pegasus’ face.

Reaching forward, Rainbow grabbed the filly and held her as tightly as she possibly could. In between the tears, she spoke. “I’m so sorry Scootaloo. I’m so, so very sorry.”

Scootaloo didn’t know what to say. At first she was surprised and almost a little bit frightened by the encounter. Looking down Rainbow’s back, she noticed something she hadn’t noticed before. Rainbow Dash was covered in all manner of scraps, bruises and burns. One of her wings was in a sling as well. As the realization of the identity of her savior the night before came to her, she found that she couldn’t help but cry also. In an instance she reached out and grabbed Rainbow Dash as tightly as she could as well.

Words weren’t needed anymore. Everything that needed to be said, every apology, every confession was passed through tears. As they sat there in each others hooves, another memory from the previous night came back to Scootaloo. As everything was getting colder and darker right before the end, there was a strange sensation, a feeling that she couldn’t quite explain. A warm feeling that she had never felt so powerfully before. One that enveloped her in a way that she never wished would end. And now here, in this small hospital room, she had once again found it again in Rainbow’s arms. The one thing that she had searched for her entire life.

It was love.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I learned a very valuable lesson about friendship today. There is nothing in the world quite like the feeling of loving somepony and being loved back. The feeling of knowing that regardless of whatever happens in the world, there will always be someone there for you. Someone who despite your faults and weaknesses, still cares for you deeply enough to look past them.

Before today I had felt that I didn’t have a place in this world, because I didn’t think that anypony cared about me. But I now realize how stupid it was to feel that way. As long as you have friends who love you, you have everything that you really need in this world.

Your faithful student,
~Scootaloo

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Inspiration taken from Corejo’s fantastic story “Transcendence”, and Darren Korb’s song “Setting Sail, Coming Home” from the incredible game Bastion.

Thanks for reading!