Scootaloo stood in the center of the vast stone bridge that crossed the Ghastly Gorge, casting her gaze around the terrain that would soon be the site of an insane plan. Wagons quietly rolled past her, packed with makeshift fireworks and other supplies. “Be careful with those!” yelled Cherry Bomb, one of Vinyl’s raver friends who’d been the one to make most of the darn things. Piece by piece, the pegasi were strapping the things to the side of the bridge and hiding them behind scraps of slate gray cloth.

It might have been hard to see everypony had it not been for the fact that every one of them now wore a bright red cloak carefully tied around their necks, some of them fashioned into hoods that obscured their faces as they went about their tasks. Scipio had possessed an astonishing number of the things, and carefully cutting them up and distributing them meant every single member of her force wore the bright cloaks. That would make it easy-peasy to identify them in the heat of the battle, something Scootaloo had a feeling she was going to need.

Across the southern edge of the bridge, the Legionaries were setting up in the vast wheat fields which blessedly hadn’t been harvested yet. Golden grains waved faintly in the breeze, ripe and thick enough to obscure anything short of a full sized dragon. On the northern end of the bridge, mats of woven grass and twigs were being draped over the earth pony survivors of the Shadow’s depredations while the Deerfolk took up position amidst the willowy pear trees.

And though she couldn’t see them, she knew Vinyl and her crew had set up their precious musical equipment just an hour ago and were now awaiting the signal in their secure little cave. It was, all in all, a pretty damn good setup. Scipio clasped his talons behind his back and looked pleased with himself. Caedryn was also nodding in approval as he ran his experienced eye over all the positions. “Hmmh. This might just work,” he grumbled softly, trying not to sound enthusiastic and failing miserably.

Scipio grinned at him, tapping the heavy steel of his spear against the ground. “Don’t get too cocky, my friend. The real test is in the battle.” His eyes scanned the skies, waiting for the last of his scouts to report in that the enemy force that had left Ponyville was getting to within striking distance. Word had it that they were even more numerous than Scootaloo had first presumed they would be but that the Shadow herself was not amongst them.

That was cause enough for good cheer as it was, even if it meant they wouldn’t get a stab at the heart of the problem itself. Still, their odds of success had still improved dramatically with that small advantage. “Ahem. I hate to burst your bubble, boys.” That was Mrs. Cake, with a wry twist of her lips. “But is anypony going to address the batpony in the room?” Her gaze darted to the new figure that stood next to them, resplendent in glittering black armor.

Scootaloo herself was the only one to turn and gaze at the newcomer. Caedryn turned his gaze away in disgust, and Scipio just looked nervous. “Good point, Miz Cake,” she quipped, the level golden gaze of the batpony more than a little unnerving, but Scootaloo wasn’t about to be intimidated by that. “You and your crew are with me, Crescent Blade,” Scootaloo growled softly, trying not to show the slightest hint of weakness. “Our job is to take out Captain Winterlight if at all possible during the fight. Otherwise, we’ll be focusing on helping with the second phase of the plan.”

The batpony mare nodded slowly, her own eyes scanning the bridge with an almost cool disdain. “It is a sound plan for what limited resources you have. Those that follow me will be pleased to know our commander is not without wit.” Her accent was really, really weird. Like, even for a batpony weird. “The Goddess shall ensure our victory, of this I have no doubts. Where shall I assemble our forces, Chosen of the Sun?” That had been the other weird thing, that title she’d decided to give Scootaloo.

Scoots didn’t get it for a minute, but whatever. No one had ever said batponies weren’t all a little screwed up in the head. “We’ll be on the north end of the bridge, hiding out near that rock formation.” She pointed over to the east, where a massive tumble of rocks and gravel provided superb cover from being seen. “Make sure your buddies know who’s going to be the one giving the signal to attack. This is gonna be a tight fight, even with all the unexpected help we’ve gotten.”

Crescent Blade bowed deeply to Scootaloo, then swept into the skies where the two hundred or so other batponies joined her for a brief moment of discussion. Moments later, they were all headed for the rockfall, and Scipio exhaled deeply. “Caesar preserve me, the Lunar Guard. Things must be incredibly desperate for Luna to send them.” His voice sounded faintly reverent, and there was a small dose of fear there too.

The last member of their little crowd snorted derisively, and Scootaloo suppressed a desire to smack Gilda upside the head with her shield. No wonder she was so arrogant, related to a bunch of bloody nobles. “What makes them so special? Just a buncha batwinged ponies.” She waved her talons airily with a casual smirk on her face. “The Legion’s gonna be doing the heavy lifting here, bro.”

Scipio shook his head slowly, almost disappointedly, at Gilda. “You really ought to have studied, sister,” he admonished her with a quiet smile, his eyes agleam in the moonlight. “They are just as good as the Praetorian Guard in a straight up fight, and possibly better in the kind of battle we are about to wage. Speaking of which, should you not be getting into position with the remainder of our troops?” Scipio arched an eyebrow at Gilda, who flushed a little in embarrassment before swooping off down the bridge toward the wheat fields, and Scootaloo could only grin at her retreat.

“I should be going as well, to advise how to hide our other hoofed allies,” Caedryn said with a little smile of his own. “Good fortune to you all.” Caedryn bowed his head to Scoots and darted off down the bridge, leaving Scootaloo, Scipio, and Ms. Cake alone. Scootaloo sighed and rubbed at her head, wishing she could go snuggle up in something warm while they waited for the scouts to sound the final warning, but being in charge meant that wasn’t going to happen.

Then a silver flask hovered into view in the talons of Scipio, his eyes shimmering and a grin on his face. “Here. I find a little nip of this can provide some warmth.” Scootaloo eyeballed the flask dubiously - the memory of her first experience with hard alcohol was a dark one indeed. But it would probably have been rude to refuse, so she took the offered sip… and nearly coughed out a lung as the fiery cherry flavor of the liquor burned its way through her mouth and into her belly.

Scipio was polite enough not to laugh at her, but given the way his beak was gaping he was pretty close to it. “You are about to become a fully grown warrior, Scootaloo,” he began in a stern and fatherly kind of voice. “Facing your first true battle is a very important time in any fledgling’s life.” He turned and made a gesture toward the wheat fields, and a moment later a squad of ten griffons began marching to them, carrying a bundle wrapped in red cloth. “Which is why my Praetorians have decided to give you a little something.”

Scootaloo blinked at that, wishing she could parse half of the griffon’s culture sometimes. Still, they were always enthusiastic about their strange rituals, so maybe whatever this was would be useful. At least they wouldn’t try to feed her meat that wasn’t fish. Well, not more than the one time they’d already tried to a chorus of laughter a few days ago. The squad of Praetorians looked familiar… and after a moment, Scootaloo recognized the big beefy one she’d basically chewed out in front of his comrades, the rest of whom were right there with him.

Had today been any other day, she might’ve suspected a prank. But these griffons took their fighting as seriously as she’d seen anypony take anything else in her life, and they wouldn’t purposefully sabotage their commander before the fight got started. Instead, the burly griffon presented her the cloth package, which had a much larger version of the Cutie Mark Crusade emblem sewn into the top of it. With a nod from Scipio, he unwrapped the cloth… which turned out to be a finely tailored cloak in gold and crimson, wrapped around a set of miniature griffon armor.

Scootaloo stared in astonishment at that, her hoof touching the knot of the cloak she’d been given all those years ago by Sweetie Belle. She almost… almost rejected it for that. But… But this cloak should be for peace. It should be for when I get them back and we can try to put our lives back together again. It was a test, maybe, to see if she was finally ready to accept that this had gone beyond mere revenge or some desperate plan to recover her friends.

So she unknotted the cloak and carefully wrapped it up. “Miss Cake… could you keep this safe for me?” she said quietly, and the older mare nodded solemnly, accepting the bundle of silk cloth with a hoof. Scootaloo turned resolutely towards the Praetorians, and felt her lips twitch in a smile. “Would you gentlecolts be so kind as to help me get armored? We’ve got a war to fight.”

“Isn’t this so exciting Dashie?! We’re gonna see Strongheart again, and Miss Jubilee, and Braeburn and Bloomberg and that nice girl who lent me her dress, and-and-and…”

Pinkie had to take a minute to draw in a really deep, really heavy breath before continuing to speak. Rainbow Dash just looked tolerantly amused when she did so, and Ribbon Bound actually giggled a little. Pinkie liked Ribbon a lot. She was always lots of fun to party with, and she’d finally loosened up Dashie enough that Dashie wasn’t so worried about looking cool all the time. “And we’re gonna have such a big party, and there’s gonna be apples and balloons and I’ll finally get to see if Miss Jubilee’s tongue is as nice as I thought it would be!” The last words came out in a rush of giggles and bounces.

Pinkie was so very happy to be back on the road. She really didn’t have anywhere to stay in Ponyville anymore, since she really didn’t want to stay in Sugarcube Corner. She had no idea where Miss Cake and the twins had gotten off to, and every time she looked at the place all boarded up and dusty it made her really, really sad. The last thing she needed right now was to get into one of her Pinkamena moods, so she had to focus on the positive stuff even more than usual!

That was tiring though, so it was so good to be back on the road doing good work! She really hoped she could find Miss Cake though. She was really super worried about her and what might’ve happened to her and… “Pinkie, snap out of it,” came Dashie’s soft voice, shaking her shoulder as she spoke. “You’re not the only one who’s worried about ‘em, Pinkie… It’s gonna be okay. We’ll find everypony.” Dashie’s eyes were just a little glittery from held back tears, but she was still showing that tough-filly face she liked to put on when she was sad.

It was the truth too. Every one of their friends was missing somepony from Ponyville. It was like they’d all just up and vanished just before Twilight had set things right in the town, and the unexplained disapearances had everypony kinda scared. Dashie was most worried about little Scootaloo and Ditzy Doo, the latter because… well, Dashie might have gotten annoyed with Ditzy a lot, but she also really admired her for hanging tough when things went wrong. Scootaloo on the other hoof was just a little filly, and there was no telling what might’ve happened to her.

Pinkie couldn’t blame her, given how worried she was about the twins and Miss Cake. That meant she had to buck up and not let things get to her. “I know, Dashie.” She half smiled, reaching out to squeeze her bestest buddy’s hoof. She shook the frownies out of her head and put on her best bright smile. “Lets not lollygaggle too much, then! The sooner we get things settled, the sooner we can find our friends!”

Dashie nodded, wiping away her tears surreptitiously and grinning cockily. “Yeah. Can’t get the Captain peeved off either.” She picked her hooves back up, and Pinkie bounced up alongside her, feeling much of her good mood restored. The six of them had accomplished so much together already, and so long as they stuck together there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do! Or at least, Pinkie was pretty sure there wasn’t.

Ribbon Bound giggled softly in that odd batpony way of hers, her pretty golden eyes glittering in the dim moonlight. “Oh, ease off on her, Dash. She’s having a hard time after that debacle with the Prince and the Princess.” Ribbon sounded sympathetic, but it was clear she was also a little peeved off at Winterlight. Pinkie could understand why, even having only heard about it second-hoof. Why had Winterlight tried to stop them from leaving Twilight Town? It didn’t make any sense! They were all on the same side, weren’t they?

Dashie shook her head with a wan smile. “Which is why I’m technically in charge of the Shadowbolts now. Mistress was pretty clear about that.” Dashie preened a little at that, and Pinkie couldn’t help but grin happily at her friend’s good fortune. “Speaking of which, Pinks. Would you be willing to help do a little training when we get to Appleloosa? Some of our girls are a little slow on the uptake, and I want ‘em sharp if we get into a fight with the Buffalo.”

Pinkie nodded happily. “Well yeah! But why would there be a fight? I mean, everypony knows the griffons were all meanie-heads, but the buffalo folk are cool beaners!” Pinkie huffed softly as Dashie gave her a wry sort of look. “Okay so they stampeded a bit… but they had a good reason!” Pinkie stomped the ground in frustration, and Dash was obviously hiding giggles from her. Which was wrong! Pinkie liked giggles!

So she tickled Dashie, and was rewarded with a bounty of them from her rainbow friend. “Oh, lay off it, Pinkie! I’m just trying to be prepared.” Dashie thwapped at her tickling hooves and grinned at her cockily. “Why don’t you go check up on the carts, Pinkie? I need to talk some strategy with Ribbon.” She hooked her hoof over her shoulder. “We’ll talk more when we camp down for the night.”

Dashie and Ribbon took to the air a moment later to chat with one another about something boring, so Pinkie decided it was a good time to mingle with the rest of the partygoers. There were some friends here from Roam, and some friends from Ponyville and from Twilight City and all sorts of other places! “Hi, Caramel!” she bubbled at the familiar earth pony, who smiled at her from where he was steering one of the cider carts. A few more bounces took her past Mr. Davenport who was enjoying a little sloppy makeout session with an unfamiliar earth pony colt. It was always nice to see other ponies finding the time for fun!

Of course, the only pony here who wasn’t having fun was grumpy Miss Winterlight. She really didn’t seem capable of having fun most of the time, but Pinkie was sure there was a real party pony under all that grumpiness. Of course, she’d kind of screwed some things up recently which might explain why she was so grumpy, but Pinkie was determined to de-grumpify her. Maybe once they were in Appleloosa, Pinkie had really enjoyed the fritters they’d made there, she was willing to bet she could corner Winterlight and make her make much more fun noises than the growling she usually did.

For now though, she focused on keeping things in perspective. The sun would be up soon, and Pinkie could already tell it was going to be a gorgeous little day. Sure, things weren’t perfect… and yeah, it was hard not to think of Mister Cake when she was worrying about Miss Cake. But the Barkeep griffon had been right - sometimes things happened we couldn’t do anything about because they happened for important reasons. Pinkie wasn’t sure what that reason was in this circumstance, but she was sure if she kept her eyes open and her head high, she could figure it out.

Miss Cake would be counting on her when she finally found her again.

The world is a thing of balance.

All shaman know this, as it is the very central tenet of all of a shaman’s power. Everything comes around again, every light must have its darkness, every action must have a reaction. It had always amused Zecora how other ponies tried to complicate things with funny mathematics, but it really was quite simple. It is the way of the universe in all of its glorious complexity that things will eventually come back to equilibrium. And if one happens to know how the spirits of the world work, occasionally one can convince them to bend the rules for you once in a while.

Sometimes, that meant simple things like keeping the bugs out of her home or replacing a spilled drink toppled by an over enthusiastic unicorn. The spirits also had an odd love of cleaning homes, apparently having decided that dust and grime was some kind of natural enemy to the order of things. But sometimes, one needed a much bigger favor. You needed a rockslide, or a sinkhole, or a sudden herd of stampeding jackalopes, or assistance with your taxes. Sometimes the dark things of the world crawled out of their holes to tried and take the parts of the world that didn’t belong to them.

Some would have said that was truly the duty of the shaman. Not as spiritual guides or as the collectors and keepers of knowledge, but as the natural world’s defense against the corrupt and the vile. That in truth, the very existence of the shaman was itself a reaction to the darkness within the world, and it was their duty to wield the natural world against it that the balance might be maintained.

Zecora was not quite sure of all of that, but she did know her studies into the dark and elemental nature of the Everfree Forest had raised no few warning signs long before Shadowblight had reappeared. Perhaps she should have been more wary, or perhaps she should have simply been paying better attention. Nevertheless, it had been the Shadowblight and not some other foul evil that had long infected the Everfree.

It had been to their tremendous good fortune that the White Spirit herself had been watching over them, then. Only by her intervention had the Shadowblight’s minions not caught them as they stole away in the night. It had been a truly awe inspiring experience to behold the White Spirit as Lahela had so many countless centuries ago. Within the White Wood, she had found herself amidst a veritable fountain of spiritual power bubbling up from the earth itself. It had been humbling too, to realize just how far she was from the legendary hooves of her ancestress.

Yet nopony had ever accused her of being afraid of a challenge like that, and she had not misspent her time since the Shadowblight had first struck upon the world. She had honed her mastery of the alchemical arts to a fine point, and even now was continuing to grow and improve her connection to the spirits of the world. There were ancient and powerful forces sleeping within the land here, and she had every intention of turning them against the foul creatures to come.

Yet she was unable to think about the power of the spirits without her thoughts going to the little filly that even now was barking out orders in preparation for the battle ahead. Rarely before in her life had Zecora felt so powerful a pity and heartbreak for another as she did for Scootaloo. More and more powerful spirits were swarming about her with every day that passed, flocking to the glimmering golden light of spiritual power that now burned within her chest. They acted alike to insects about a candle flame, swarming close to the warmth and flitting away lest they become burned.

No creature ever survived the attention of such powerful spirits without being changed on some deep and fundamental level, and poor Scootaloo was so very young to be having those kinds of changes forced upon her. But then, Lahela had been only the merest teenager herself when the Shadowblight had come to their lands. Perhaps that was part of the necessity - that the spirits of the world required one who was young enough to mould into the form needed to perform their will.

She might have hated it, but even so she knew it to be necessary. All she could do was chivvy and herd the spirits with her own mind, carefully reminding them not to bring harm upon the child lest she become angered at them. But today, they were not listening to even her sternest reminders. They were flitting to and fro like glittering butterflies agitated by some unseen wind, darting ever closer to the fire in Scootaloo. Perhaps they too sensed the conflict that was to come.

So she would wait with as much patience as she could, running her hooves up and down the worn staff she had not carried about since she’d first arrived in the forest so many years ago. Her mind turning over the words of the ancient battle chants she would call out today, calling upon the spirits of war and bloodshed so that they might be brought victory against their dark foes. Spirits she personally despised the need for, still knowing that said spirits cared nothing for her personal feelings.

For always, they would be needed and called upon by a shaman in need. The Balance had to be restored and the darkness forced back into the pit from whence it came. The world did not abide the natural order of things being upset by any creature, no matter how powerful it might be. Shadowblight had to abide by the rules of the universe the same as any creature did, even if she thought otherwise.

For a moment, Zecora felt a small stab of pity for Twilight Sparkle, who undoubtedly could not see the inevitable end of her own quest. She had been such a remarkable thinker and student, and Zecora had briefly entertained a desire to train her in the shamanistic arts. Her deep connection with the spirits undoubtedly had been what attracted Shadowblight to her in the first place. Perhaps even now, there might be a way to save her, though Zecora doubted it. Those who had willingly given themselves to Shadowblight had only one fate that awaited them.

Zecora resolved to make certain that Twilight did not suffer when that fate had to be visited upon her as well.

“Here they come!” Scootaloo screamed as the massive column of soldiers appeared far down the road as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Scootaloo donned the glittering golden helmet and slammed the steel shield disc into its place in front of her custom scooter. The words upon its back in stark black letters reminded her why she was here. She mounted the scooter and spun it around with a powerful buzz of her wings, brandishing her hoof in the air and her voice echoing across the Ghastly Gorge.

“Everypony to your places! CELESTIA BE WITH US ALL!”

Author's Notes:

There will be a brief delay as the next chapter, which is a very very long one, is written. The next update will... basically be done when its done, that could be a good couple of days.

Enjoy the S4 premier, Everypony, and I'll see you back here soon!