A Change of Plans

The crickets from the surrounding area ceased their chirping. The nocturnal creatures of the desert entered their dens in preparation for their daytime slumber. The gleaming sunlight made its first appearance over the east horizon, and a rooster crow could be heard in the distance, heralding a new day.

Scarlet rose out of bed. She was groggy due to the restless night, but did not let that sway her plans.

She glanced at the clock. It read six-thirty. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were still fast asleep, so Scarlet tried to be as discreet as possible when exiting the bedroom, so as not to wake her friends.

Scarlet was quick to get ready. She cleaned her teeth, brushed her mane, and filled her saddlebag with necessities for the next few days, mainly money.

She descended the stairs, hovering a few feet above the floor to avoid making noise (the wooden floorboards in the house tended to creak). She approached the front door, and opened it slowly, with the utmost care.

Once outside, Scarlet felt the cold breeze, causing her to shiver. "Winter is almost here." she thought to herself. Regardless, she didn't want to risk going back inside to get a scarf. She rose into the air, and flew in the direction of the town.

The previous night, after laying awake for hours, Scarlet had come to the decision that she was going to sneak off to Canterlot. She didn't think Mr. Jubilee would hesitate in telling her "no" if she had asked, so this seemed to be her only choice. Hopefully she wasn't being too hasty.

Normally, the town and Cherry Hill Farm were separated by a twenty minute walk. Fortunately for her, however, she was one of the only pegasi in Dodge Junction, and the flight there was made in no more than five minutes.

The town seemed almost deserted this early. Many of the ponies were just now waking up to begin their work day. The train station, which was Scarlet's destination, was one of the few places open at all hours (for obvious reasons). This made her trip that much simpler; minimal waiting, making for a quicker escape.

There was a bit of a line at the train station, but it was more than tolerable. Scarlet placed herself at the back of the line, and began to ponder the situation.

"Am I being selfish by doing this?" she thought. "I hope Rainbow can forgive me at some point. I know she'll drive herself crazy with worry. I hope she doesn't do anything irrational."

The line continued to move forward.

"I know for a fact that Mr. Jubilee will be upset. He'll probably instill some form of punishment, and hopefully that'll be the end of it. I can't say I'd blame him... what I'm doing is completely idiotic, yet..." she trailed off for a moment, in conflict with herself. 

"No." she thought, shaking herself out of her stupor. "I made this decision with good reason. I need to do this. I've already chosen to accept the natural consequences that'll come with it. After all, what's the point of existing if I don't even know who or what I am?"

Eventually, Scarlet reached the front of the line, where she was met by a tollbooth operator with a look of agitation on his face. He looked down at her like she was some sort of pest. One could assume he wasn't particularly fond of children.

"Whaddya want?" he asked, before Scarlet even had the chance to speak. She didn't let his crotchety attitude get to her, and instead replied in a polite manner.

"One ticket to Canterlot, please." she said. At this, the operator laughed. As much as this annoyed her, Scarlet maintained her absolute composure, and stood there without a word until his fit of chortling came to a halt.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

He looked back down to her. "Kid, a train ticket to Canterlot is WAY too expensive for you. Most grown ponies can barely afford it."

"How much does it cost?" she asked. "It couldn't be more than 500 bits. It took me almost five months of work to save up that much!" she thought to herself.

"One ticket to Canterlot on a whim is gonna cost ya five thousand bits." he said.

Scarlet couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you joking?" she asked. "I think you added an extra zero by accident."

"Nope." he replied. "Five grand. Three zeros. No joke."

"Do you have any idea how much money that is? Who do you think you are, making up outrageous prices like that?"

"Hey, watch your tone, kid. I didn't make it up."

"Just because I'm a child doesn't mean I'm a complete ignoramus. Who in their right mind would pay 5000 bits for a train ride to Canterlot? Nopony, that's who." Scarlet said, her frustration growing. "Canterlot is only a day long walk from here, and I could fly there in just a few hours. Now that I think about it, I should fly there. I'm wasting my time." she turned around and was prepared to storm off, but she was stopped by the same operator.

"Okay, so you're a little less stupid than you look for your age." he said. "Still, I didn't make up that price. Ponies who need to go to Canterlot on official or royal business get a free ride, but those who go just to go have to pay that fee. I'll admit, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's not my choice. If you go to any train station trying to buy a ticket to Canterlot, they'll give you just about the same price."

"Okay," said Scarlet. "then why wouldn't I just fly there, like I said?"

"That won't do you any good." he replied. "Recently, security has increased a bunch. I don't know why, but I heard it has something to do with the stars, or something."

Scarlet gave him a strange look.

"The only way to get there is by train. If you try to fly in from the side, the guards will stop you. They're stationed all over the edges of the city. As for walking, well, I doubt the guards will allow a complete stranger into the city, even if you entered from the front. I'm willing to bet you don't have any registration or ID with you."

Scarlet's heart sunk into a pit of hopelessness.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet sat in the Cherry Bomb Diner by herself, solemnly nibbling on a slice of cherry pie. With diminished hopes and an unshakable feeling of discouragement, she didn't know what to do at this point.

Cherry Bomb came by with the bill. "I hope you can pay for your food this time." she said in a sarcastic tone. Scarlet tried to force a slight chuckle, but couldn't manage. Cherry Bomb looked down at her with worry. "What's eatin' ya, kid?" she asked.

Scarlet sighed. "Hmph, kid." she repeated to herself with disgust, growing sick of the word. She looked up at Cherry and tried to wear a look a reassurance. "Everything's fine," she said. The lie was obvious, but Cherry Bomb didn't bother her about it any more.

Scarlet finished the last bites of her breakfast, and left fourteen bits on the table as payment. She was preparing to leave, when she noticed something out of place.

There was an open newspaper on the table near her. "The last pony there must have left it." she thought. As she continued to stare at the open parchment, she somehow felt drawn to it. It was as if the newspaper yearned to be read, as strange as that sounded.

As usual, Scarlet's curiosity got the better of her, and she found herself walking towards the table. She picked up the paper, and scanned through the different articles and such, disregarding unimportant information, and eyeing the rest with great interest.

She was almost finished with her knowledge intake when she flipped to the back page. There, she came across a section called "News From Cloudsdale". As she looked through it, she passed over something, and for a moment she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. What she saw were pictures of none other than herself and her two friends, as clear as day, in the center of the page. There was an article to go with the pictures, and it read as follows:

Three Fillies Missing for Five Months!

Psychotic pegasus, Scarlet Lightning, may be connected to the disappearance of two other pegasi, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Following Lightning's brutal attack on one of her fellow flyers, a colt by the name of Hoops Caring, the three fillies vanished before the end of the day, leaving the entirety of Cloudsdale scared and confused. As of now, their whereabouts remain unknown, but the investigation is still underway. If you receive any information whatsoever regarding these fillies, please contact authorities immediately.

Scarlet's breath quickened, and she found her pulse rising until she felt an intense pounding in her head. It didn't take a genius to realize the severity of the situation upon reading the article.

It was likely that someone had already read this article, and she quickly looked around the room in paranoia. When she was sure that nopony had their eyes fixed on her, she promptly exited the diner.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet flew towards the ranch in a hurry. As her anxiety grew, her wings flapped with less efficiency and more irregularity. Her panic was getting the better of her, and was actually hindering her flight.

"I need to keep my composure," she thought to herself. "After all, Mr. Jubilee might not have read the article yet."

She tried to maintain a positive outlook on the situation, but her mind continued to explore the possibilities.

"...but what if he has read it? Would he contact authorities immediately? Wouldn't he want to hear my side of the story? Argh! Focus, Scarlet, focus. I need to concentrate on my flying. Maybe the newspaper hasn't arrived yet, and I can intercept it."

She decided to put all thoughts aside until she arrived at the ranch.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet entered the kitchen in an abrupt manner. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Mr. Jubilee were all sitting there finishing breakfast, and Cherry Jubilee was cleaning up. They looked up at Scarlet curiously.

"Hey, Scarlet! You okay?" asked Rainbow.

Scarlet looked around the room.

"No newspaper in sight."

"Hey," she replied. "has the newspaper arrived today?" she asked, ignoring Rainbow's concern. Mr. Jubilee looked.

"Stupid!" she thought to herself. "I shouldn't have brought that up! Now it'll be on his mind."

"No," Mr. Jubilee replied. "Do you need it for something?"

Scarlet shook her head. "No, I was just wondering."

"Yeah, that's not in the least bit suspicious." she thought with sarcasm. "I need to be smarter about this if I'm going to get out of this predicament."

The tension in Scarlet's body eased up as she gave a quiet sigh. She walked over to the table and sat down.

"Do you want any breakfast?" offered Cherry, gesturing towards a platter of eggs and a large bowl of fresh fruit. "There's plenty left over."

"Umm, no thanks. I already ate in town."

"You went into town? Oh, what'd you do?" asked Rainbow.

Scarlet hesitated, at a loss for excuses. "I just wanted to have a slice of that delicious cherry pie." she lied.

Rainbow stared at Scarlet with a look of bewilderment. "That's all?" she asked.

Scarlet nodded. She had a feeling if she said anything, her voice would crack and give her away.

"I'm not handling this well at all. Mr. Jubilee might be fooled, but Rainbow Dash can read me like a book. I think she knows I'm not telling her everything."

Amazingly enough, Rainbow didn't press her for more details. Once everypony was finished eating, and the kitchen was clean, they were all left to their own devices until work started an hour later.

[][][][][][][][]

The work day dredged on like normal. The three fillies were picking leftover cherries from the tops of the trees, which had been bucked the previous day.

Scarlet didn't let her field of vision wander too much from the pathway that led to town. If something seemed to stir in the corner of her eye, she immediately turned her head towards the path. She was intent on intercepting that newspaper when it came.

Rainbow Dash noticed that Scarlet was acting a bit odd. She couldn't seem to keep her eyes on her work for long. Rainbow wanted to confront her about it, but wasn't sure what to say. As the time passed, Scarlet's behavior became more and more noticeable, until Rainbow couldn't hold her tongue any longer.

"Scarlet, are you okay?" asked a worried Rainbow.

Scarlet's head lurched towards her friend. Rainbow now had a much better view of Scarlet's facial distinctions. Her eyes were a little bloodshot, and there were dark blotches underneath them. She was obviously sleep deprived.

"What?" asked Scarlet, seemingly unaware of what was going on around her. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Rainbow wanted to argue with that statement, but a bell sounded in the distance, signaling their two-hour lunch break. Their first half of the work day had gone by very quickly. Rainbow decided she would talk to Scarlet at lunch, when Fluttershy was with them.

Rainbow headed towards the house to gather some money, as usual, but was disappointed to see that Scarlet, instead of coming with her, was settling down by a large tree near the front of the house.

Rainbow called out, "Scarlet! Aren't you coming to lunch with us?"

Scarlet lazily looked up from her spot. "No, thanks. I think I'll pass today. I'm not really hungry."

"Are you sure you're okay, Scarlet?" repeated Rainbow. "You look kind of down in the dumps."

"I already told you, I'm fine. Go enjoy your lunch. I'll see you after break."

Rainbow remained unconvinced. She snorted in annoyance, and flew away.

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief when Rainbow left. "Good, now I can watch for the newspaper without anypony bothering me." she thought, as she sat down against the tree. The jagged bark seemed very comfortable, oddly enough.

"I just need to wait for any approaching visitors. As long as I can keep my eyes focused long enough, I should have no problem intercepting that newspaper."

Scarlet yawned deeply, and her body slumped ever so slightly. Her eyes stung and felt heavy. She tried blinking, and it felt good. "Maybe if I close them for a few minutes, it'll feel better." she decided, and so she did.

[][][][][][][][]

She tried to open her eyes slowly, but the light was blinding. She quickly shut them again, welcoming the darkness. "How could anyone enjoy that bright light?" she thought. "Then again, I don't remember the sun shining that brightly during work. It's like that groggy feeling when you wake up, and your eyes are sensitive to the light. Heh, it's almost like I was taking a nap..."

At this suggestion to herself, Scarlet's eyes shot open, reminding herself of what she was supposed to be doing. She sat up quickly, and looked around. Then, she proceeded to berate herself.

"How could I have dozed off?" she thought, frustrated by her own carelessness.

She rose to her hooves, ignoring her drowsiness, and cautiously headed towards the house. Instead of entering through the front door, she flew up to her bedroom window, opening it from the outside.

Once inside, she had to locate the nearest clock. "I can check the grandfather clock at the bottom of the stairs." she thought, immediately leaving the bedroom.

She had a good view of the big clock from the very top of the stairs, once she was there. "Okay, so it's ten minutes past one. That's not too bad. I was only asleep for about an hour."  She thought, relieved.

She prepared to descend the stairway. The kitchen table could be seen around the corner once she was halfway down. She turned her head, and to her dismay, saw a copy of "The Daily Dodge" lying on the table. It was opened so that the cover page and the back page were showing. The article about her was in plain sight.

Before she had time to figure something out, she heard hoof steps coming into the room. She retreated a few steps up, and poked her head around the corner to get a better view.

Two ponies entered the kitchen. One of them was Mr. Jubilee, and the other one was a tall, lanky stallion with a straight, serious face. He had a sandy coat, and the salt and pepper color of his mane suggested that he was near middle aged. His hazel eyes, as well as the rest of his face, didn't seem to contain much emotion, other than the slight movement of his eyebrows as he absorbed his surroundings.

"Let me get this straight. You've allowed these three fillies to live in your home for five months, yet it never occurred to you to find out anything about them?" asked the mysterious stallion, his voice calm yet daunting.

"That has occurred to me, yes, but a pony's past is their own business."

"Usually that is the case. However, if I were you, I wouldn't feel comfortable if somepony was living in my house and I knew absolutely nothing about them. This particular situation is a perfect example of why I feel that way."

Mr. Jubilee didn't say anything.

"However, we're straying from the point. We need to figure out how to apprehend Ms. Scarlet Lightning, as well as bringing the other two back to their homes in Cloudsdale, without causing any kind of disruption to the folks in town."

"Well," started Mr. Jubilee, "they'll be back from their break at about two o' clock, and they usually return together. Perhaps I could tell Scarlet that I have a different job for her this afternoon. I'll lead her away from her friends, then you can make the arrest. Once you have her in custody, I doubt you'll have much trouble with the other two, as long as you're able to catch them before they fly away."

"I wouldn't worry about them escaping. I'm very good at what I do, and my officers are well-trained, as well."

"I'm glad to hear that you have that part taken care of. That being said, I wouldn't underestimate Scarlet. She may be young, but she's no dummy, to say the least. Don't make it too obvious." said Mr. Jubilee.

"I'm certain a single pegasus filly won't give me trouble." he said with a smug grin.

Scarlet had heard enough. She crept back up the stairs, careful not to make any noise. The conversation between the two stallions became more blurred as she approached her room, until their voices were no longer audible. She managed to make it to the bedroom without being heard, and she immediately started gathering her things.

"No time to get everything I brought. I need to leave my trunk behind. Money is essential. Books? No, too bulky, and I've read all of them multiple times." Scarlet thought, scatterbrained.

"I should probably grab some of Rainbow and Fluttershy's things. They didn't bring as much as I did. Now that I think about it, my books were causing the majority of my bulk. There's Fluttershy's bedside clock, and all of her savings. Rainbow keeps her savings hidden under her mattress."

Scarlet continued to gather necessary items, toiletries, and things of that sort, while simultaneously trying to keep out of earshot from anypony who might want to make an early arrest. She threw everything on her back and made for the window.

[][][][][][][][]

"I'm telling you, Fluttershy, there's something up with Scarlet." Rainbow Dash said through a mouthful of hay.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were in the middle of eating lunch at The Cherry Bomb Diner. It was a good thing they had other choices besides cherries, because that could get sickening after a while.

"What do you mean?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, she ditched us for lunch, first of all. Plus, I've been waking up in the middle of the night to her tossing and turning, talking, and weird stuff like that!"

"Well, I did wake up to her last night."

"You did?"

"Yes. Scarlet was walking outside to get some fresh air, and I followed her. We talked for a bit, and then I went back in. I think I fell asleep before she came back."

"Well, what did you guys talk about?"

"Oh, well... I don't think she wants me to tell anypony...."

"Come on, Fluttershy! There shouldn't be secrets between us!"

"I know... but I don't want Scarlet to be mad at me. I don't know if she'd be happy if I told you everything."

"Did you take a good look at her face today? Her eyes are bloodshot with bags under them."

"Well, I didn't look closely at that, but-"

"She can't seem to focus on anything for more than a few seconds, and she won't even talk to me. Something's up with her, and I'm going to figure out what it is! Please, Fluttershy, if you know something, tell me, for her sake."

"Well, when you put it that way, alright. Last night, when I went outside to check on Scarlet, she-"

The door burst open. Scarlet stood at the entrance with saddlebags messily thrown over her shoulders. She was breathing hard and sweating profusely.

"We... need to go... right now." said Scarlet through quick breaths.

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused beyond words.

"There's no time to explain. We need to leave Dodge Junction this second. Come on!"

Scarlet turned to leave, but was surprised when Rainbow and Fluttershy didn't get up to follow her. Rainbow sat there expectantly. Scarlet knew exactly what she wanted, but that was something they couldn't afford at the moment.

"Listen, Rainbow. I know I've been blowing you off today, and I know I haven't seemed like myself. You have every right to be hesitant to follow me. In fact, I don't blame you for being hesitant, but hear me when I say this: if you two don't stand up this very second and follow me to the train station, everything we know is going to change drastically. Fluttershy, you'll go to military school, and Rainbow, you'll go back to the orphanage."

"What about you?" asked Rainbow.

"Well, I don't really want to think about that." said Scarlet. "I'm making a promise to both of you that I will explain everything once we're safely on that train, but until then, you just have to trust me. I have your things, so we can't go back to the ranch. There's no other alternative. Please..."

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and nodded. They stood up, and walked to Scarlet's side.

"Alright, Scarlet." said Rainbow. "We'll trust you."

The three of them left the diner, and flew towards the train station at top speed. They walked up to the booth, and were met by the same tollbooth operator.

"Back so soon, kid? I told you, one ticket to-"

"Forget about that." interrupted Scarlet. "We'll take three tickets for the next train you have. I don't care where it goes. We need to get the heck out of dodge."

The operator cocked an eyebrow, and sighed. "The train to Manehattan arrives in about two minutes." he said as he punched a few buttons. "The rate is sixty bits each, so the total is gonna be 180 bits."

Scarlet dumped out the contents of her coin sack, and counted the appropriate amount. "There you go," she said. As she frantically slid the remaining amount back into her coin sack, the operator brought up the three tickets. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood behind her without a word.

Upon handing her the tickets, Scarlet distributed them to her friends, and they turned to leave. The train was about to depart, and they had mere seconds to board it.

As they left the toll booth, the operator spoke up. "Hey!"

Scarlet turned around.

"I read about you in the paper, and I know they're lying. They always make stuff up." he said.

Scarlet was unsure what to say.

"Don't worry. Lets just say I have a certain grudge against the newspaper. If anyone asks about you and your friends, I'll lie. I don't want them to ruin another pony's life."

She didn't know how to express her appreciation, so she simply smiled and nodded. He nodded back with a smirk, and the three quickly boarded the train to Manehattan.

The train whistle sounded, and it pulled out of the station.

[][][][][][][][]

The mysterious stallion with the sandy coat stood at the train station. One of his officers reported seeing Scarlet flying towards town, and he had immediately headed in that direction. That same officer approached him now.

"Captain Hoof Tracker, the three fillies left just minutes ago." he said.

Hoof Tracker grunted in frustration. "Well, where did they go?" he said impatiently.

"The operator's description of them completely matches the pictures we have, and he says they boarded the train to Fillydelphia."

The captain looked out into the bright, desert plain. "It seems I've underestimated your wits, Ms. Lightning. I won't make the same mistake twice."

End of Volume 2