The hauler tore through the underbrush with ease. They left the equipment at the site and were all piled in with Scootaloo held by Midnight. She was bleeding and unconscious.

"Stay with us Scoots, come on we'll get you help in no time," Midnight said as tears fell down his face. Everypony was crying as Jacob drove the great machine.

Sunlight flooded their vision as they erupted from the Everfree forest.

"Where do I go?" Jacob asked Twilight who was sitting in the seat next to him looking at the injured filly, "TWILIGHT!"

"Oh, the white building on the outskirts of town." she said pointing a hoof toward the clinic.

Jacob sounded the horn, warning the ponies in the way of their approach. There was panic in the streets at the unknown monstrosity barreling through town, but this was an emergency. Jacob hit the e-break and slid around so the back of the vehicle was in front of the facility.

Midnight threw open the doors and ran into the hospital screaming for help as he carried Scootaloo in a Mage Form stretcher. Nurse Redheart saw the filly's condition and guided him to the operating room.

"Wash up, Midnight, I'll need your help with her." she told him knowing his medical experience. He set her on the table and went to the sink.

----------

The others waited for about an hour and a half before Midnight finally came out of the operating room. He was instantly swarmed with questions.

"She's going to live." he said right off, "Most of the damage was superficial, but... She'll never have use of her eyes again."

Sweety Bell and Applebloom started crying

"Scoots, no." Rainbow Dash was near tears herself, everypony else let them come, even Midnight.

After a few moments Midnight continued, "She's resting now and Nurse Redheart asked me to tell everypony to come back later. Right now I think our new toy is drawing a crowd and we need it to get that equipment we left." he pointed out the door the all the ponies gathering around the hauler, "Twilight, come with us we'll need your help. Everypony else go home and rest, we'll be told when she wakes up." At that the group left the clinic. Twilight, Midnight , and Jacob got into the hauler and went back to the Everfree.

-----------------------

Twilight didn't even notice the carnage and death around her as she focused on moving containers from the camp to the hauler. She was trying not to think about poor Scootaloo. It wasn't working very well.

Two hours later the truck was parked outside Midnight's shop and the three were unloading the salvaged equipment. Midnight put up several 'DANGER' signs around the containers and hauler to keep out curious ponies. The weapon crates were put in the basement just in case somepony decided to ignore the warnings.

When they finished Twilight, having nothing more to keep her mind off the events of the day, broke down and started crying. Midnight sat next to her and put his hooves around her. He didn't speak, he just let his wife unload all her pain on him in silence for awhile.

Twilight finally broke the silence, "How do you do it? How do you live seeing all you've seen?"

Midnight could help himself and tears began flowing from his eyes, "It fades with time. It doesn't entirely go away, but fades. You learn to live with it and become stronger."

Of all the terrible things he's seen, few of them hurt him like seeing the mare he loves like this. He leaned in and kissed her beside her horn and rubbed her back. Her crying slowed until she fell asleep in his loving embrace.

He held her for several minutes before easing her down and started taking inventory hoping there was something that would help him prevent the coming armageddon.

-----------------------

Scootaloo's life had always been rough. She was found wandering into town at five years old and had no memory of anything prior to being found by Rainbow Dash. Since then, the town had cared for her, several ponies all chipping in to help feed and house her. Finding out that she will never be able to fly properly was a terrible blow, crushing her dreams of being as great a flier as her idol.

Despite everything that happened to her, though, she always faced every day with courage, but this was something far worse than anything she's been trough. She could still make good life for herself without a family or flying, but losing her sight was too much for her. For the first time in her life she was ready to give up.

Thanks to a potion from Zecora, she was being released today, after only a week. She didn't care. It was too much for her. Thoughts raced through her mind, worrying her. She didn't know where she would go, or how she would survive.

She was pulled from thought by the sound of voices down the hall. Somepony was there to pick her up, but she couldn't tell who. It sounded familiar, almost like...

Rainbow Dash?, she realized. the door opened.

"Hey, kid, how ya feeling?" It was Rainbow Dash, "You ready to go?"

"Where?" Scoots asked.

"You're coming home with me." she said plainly.

"How? Are you going to carry me up and down every time I have to leave?" Scootaloo put a little more acid in her words than she intended to, "I can't fly, remember? Even if I could I'm blind. What if I fall off?"

"Oh, yeah, that would be a problem." she said as if she never thought of that, "Well I guess it's a good thing that I bought a house on the ground then, huh."

Scootaloo couldn't believe what she was hearing. Rainbow Dash, who wouldn't even touch the ground if she didn't have to at times, was going to live there for her.

Rainbow Dash smiled and said, "Of course when you're grown I'll probably move back to my cloud home and let you have that one. Well, are you ready to go home now?"

Home? Scootaloo was at a loss for words. She was giving up on her self, and yet her friends haven't. She realized she could hear the voices of all her friends. She could hear Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Midnight, and Pinkie (she assumed Fluttershy was there too).

"Everyone's here?" she asked

"Yeah, how'd you know?" RD asked.

"I can hear them talking out there." Scoots answered.

Dash strained to listen but heard nothing, "Are you sure we're pretty far from the waiting room?"

"Well, Twilight said the other day that when a pony can't see their other senses get's better to make up for it. I can even hear the bee at the window."

Rainbow Dash looked over to the window and saw a little bee outside, "Wow, that's cool, Scoots. I wish I could hear like that."

"I wish I could see again." Scootaloo's depression returned.

"Well, let's not keep the others waiting, come on." she said quickly changing the subject and helping the filly down, "You need help getting around?"

"No, thanks," Scootaloo said grabbing the cane next to the bed in her mouth muffling her voice, "Ah haf do earn hum dime."

She walked out the door with Dash moving the cane in front of her as they walked. It took a bit as the kid learned how to find her way around. Eventually they found the waiting room where she was swept up in a huge group hug. She survived an attack from a vicious monster only to be crushed to death by her friends. Well, maybe not 'to death' but it did make it hard for her to breath.

The death grip loosened and sweet breath returned. The group left letting the three fillies walk ahead.

When they got a good distance ahead Twilight turned to her cyan friend, "Are you sure you can handle taking care of Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash?"

"To be honest I don't know." RD admitted, "It kind of scares me, but I'll do my best any way."

"Well ah'll be, did Rainbow Dash just say she was scared?" Applejack teased.

"Shh, not so loud the kids got ears like a bat." Rainbow Dash said.

"I heard that!" Scootaloo called from in front.

"Told ya."

The friends all laughed.

------------------

After several minuets of walking they arrived at a small house near the library.

"Welcome home, Scoots." RD said as she opened the door.

It was small but big enough for two. Most of the furniture was cloud that Dash had brought down, except for a regular couch for guests and wood dinner table.

Midnight turned to Dash and said, "We'll let you two get settled. I'll come by in the morning."

"Wait, Midnight, we want to ask you something." Scootaloo said with Sweetie Bell and Applebloom beside her.

Midnight looked at her, "what's up?"

"We want to help you prepare for the invasion." she said.

Midnight's heart dropped, "How do you know about that?"

"Who cares, we're not asking you to let us fight, just help get ready." She was serious.

Midnight couldn't help but to smile, "Be at my shop after school. I'll find something for you to do."

"YES!!!" the three fillies said at once.

-----------------

Scootaloo was nervous when her and her friends got to school the next day. She could feel the stares of the other ponies in the class as Applebloom helped her to her desk. They started the advanced classes that Twilight taught a couple of months ago. It was hard but she made it kinda fun (for school anyway) which surprised the fillies.

They sat through the lesson with out complaint. When the bell rang it was like music to their ears.

"Remember to read pages 224 through 230. There will be a test." Twilight said to the class before addressing the three crusaders, "You three know where to go. I'll see you there." and she popped away.

As the three were walking down the road Scootaloo heard a rustling behind them.

"Keep looking forward, girls," she whispered, "we're being followed."

Sweetie Bell looked at her, "By who?"

Just then Scootaloo ducked down as a rock flew over her head.

"Ha, I Knew you were faking the whole blind thing." That was a voice they know too well, Diamond Tiara.

"Yeah, she's just trying to get pity." And there's the side kick Silver Spoon.

Applebloom turned on the two bullies,"Hey, whut's yur problem? Why're y'all tryin' ta pick on a blind girl for? Why don't ya try pickin' a fight with me, instead."

"Don't worry AB, I'll handle this." said Scootaloo as she turned around, "So you two think I'm faking it, huh." she walked up to the rich girls, "Well explain this." she reached up to the bandage on her eyes (it was really only there now to hide the scar) and pulled it off, "Does this look fake?".

The two fillies gasped and stared in horror at the terrible scar across her face. The sutures and sunken eyelids were too much for the spoiled rich ponies. A moment later the two passed out and Scootaloo put the bandage back on and went back to join her friends.

After walking for a minute Sweetie Bell asked, "Hey, Scootaloo, how did you dodge that rock?"

Scootaloo shrugged, "I just heard it I guess."

----------------------

When they arrived at Midnight's shop they noticed there was a large fenced off area in the back. It was covered in sheet metal so nopony could see in and a big sign that said 'DANGER KEEP OUT'. The three walked up to the door and knocked.

"Who is it?" asked a Twilight from behind the gate.

"It's us Twilight." said Applebloom.

She opened the door and came out to greet them, "Glad you girls can help. Sweetie Bell, you're with me, Applebloom, you're with Midnight, and Scootaloo, find Jacob in the basement."

"Ok, but I doubt I can help with anything." Scootaloo said.

"Not true, he actually has a job that ONLY you could do." Midnight said coming out of the gate, "Do you need help getting to him?"

"No thanks, Midnight, I'm good." Scootaloo grabbed her cane and headed to the basement.

Jacob smiled when he saw her come down the steps, "There's my hero. I really need your help with this."

"Hey, Jacob, How's everypony been treating you?" she asked.

"Well, I haven't really left here, but David's been getting questions about 'the creature in his shop'. It's actually kind of funny." He said.

"Who's David." asked Scootaloo.

"Huh... Oh, right, Midnight. His name was David when he was human and that's just what I'm use to calling him." Jacob explained.

"Oh. Anyway, he said you have something only I could do." she said, "You do know I'm blind, right?" it still hurt her to say it.

Jacob put a hand on her shoulder, "Actually, that's exactly why only you can help." Scootaloo had a confused expression on her face, "Have you noticed that your hearing has improved a lot."

"How did you know that?" she asked surprised.

"It's a natural response. When an important sense like sight is lost, the others try to take up the slack." He smiled at her, "Right now you have the best hearing in Ponyville. That's why only you can help me." he walked over to a bench, "I need to fix something but I don't have the testing equipment to know when it's done. I need you to listen to it and tell me when it sounds like this one." he turned on a similar component.

Scootaloo listened to the faint whir of the object. "Ok I can do that." she said happily.

--------------------

While Sweetie Bell and Twilight worked on organizing and cataloging everything in the containers, Midnight and Applebloom went out behind the fenced area where a bunch of wood was waiting.

"Alrighty, here's the problem." Midnight turned to look at Applebloom, "The weapons from my birth world are going to help a lot, but it's not enough to fend off an army, so we're going to be making some more primitive defenses. Your god at fixing stuff up and building so you're going to help me."

Midnight grabbed a sheet of paper with diagrams on it and passed it to the filly, "These are the plans for what we need. Do you understand them?" She nodded her head, "Good let's get to work then."

The two worked on the wooden weapons for several hours. Midnight would lift and shape the wood with his magic and Applebloom would put the pieces together. Rarity joined them after awhile. She was a big help after her experience helping make golems for Midnight on several occasions. She was a surprisingly gifted metalworker.

Applebloom finished the last one and leaned back to relax looking in the sky. A little yellow speck was flying VERY enthusiastically.

"Hey," she said, "who's that?" she pointed to a yellow speck in the sky doing loops and twirls towards them.

"Is that Fluttershy?" asked Twilight as she and Sweetie Bell came to see what was going on.

"No way," said Rainbow Dash appearing seemingly out of nowhere, "She almost never flies more than a few feet off the ground and NEVER does tricks like that."

They could here cheering now as the figure got closer. The groups jaws fell in perfect unison as Fluttershy landed in front of them. She was panting through the biggest smile any of them have ever seen.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight after her brain switched back on, "I've never seen you this happy."

Still catching her breath Fluttershy said, "I... Have... Great... News." she took a second to calm down, the others looked at her expectantly, "I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!"

Twilight, Dash, Rarity, and Sweetie Bell immediately wrapped the yellow pegasus in hugs giving congratulations.

"So Mac finally popped the question." said Midnight joining the group hug, "I was wondering when he was going to. When's the date."

"Next month," she answered, "we figured that with this invasion there's a chance that one of us... um... you know," shy Fluttershy made a quick comeback at the thought. "So we're doing it as soon as possible."

Twilight broke the silence, "Oh, Fluttershy, I'm sure..."

"That's awesome," Midnight interrupted, "You hear that, Rare, you got a month to make the dre..." He looked back only to see a Rarity shaped dust cloud, "Wow, I thought only Pinkie could do that." That got a laugh out everypony.

With the extra help of the CMC and Big Mac, the preparations for the impending battle took much less time than anticipated. On the last day of prep Applebloom was on a building frenzy. Midnight had no idea what she was building, it was behind a sheet to keep it a surprise. Midnight was shaping wood how she said and sending it to her. He had a feeling that whatever she was making, it was going to be good.

"IT'S DONE!" she hollered, coming out from behind the covering, "Y'all ready fer the greatest innovations in pony history?"

After nods from her audience she grabbed the sheet and tore it loose, "Ta-da. Ah based it off one of yer stories, Midnight. All it needs is a propulsion system, but that's for you or Jacob to do."

Midnight stared in wonder at what this little filly made. It was a airplane, and it looked like it would actually fly. After a quick diagnostic spell from Jacob and a nod he knew it would.

"AB, that's amazing." he looked at her and noticed something. With a grin he said, "You really enjoyed that, too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Ah did, Why?" she asked seeing his grin.

"Oh, I just had a hunch. You got a little something on you there." he said pointing at her backside.

"What, dirt or somthin'?" she looked back to see and saw a hammer and saw crossing on her flank. her eyes widened to the approximate size of Alpha Centari at the site of the thing she's been wanting most, "AH GOT MAH CUTIE MARK! AH GOT MAH CUTIE MARK! AH GOT MAH CUTIE MARK!" she was jumping for joy. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo gave her a big hug and joined her in her mirthful leaps.

"Now we can focus on finding Scootaloo's." said Sweetie Bell.

Scootaloo stopped and broke the hug, the others looking at her confused, "That's ok, girls, I probably CAN'T find mine now. There's not much a pony can do without being able to see. That's ok though, it's not like I'll ever get to see it even if I do get it."

Her friends look ready to cry. Twilight sat next to the filly and put a hoof around her.

"It's ok, you can still find your cutie mark. It might be a little harder but I know you can do it." she said

"Yeah," said Dash, "you're the toughest filly I know, and you're at least twenty percent cooler than I was at your age."

"You really think so?" Scootaloo asked. Everypony agreed, "Ok than, I won't give up."

"Atta girl." said Dash Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Rune Smith Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes