Hello.

A voice cut through the darkness. But how? I was alone.

I know why you’re here.

I started to sweat.

But don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.

I started to sweat even more as a shadow flitted across the window. I looked at the window, then back at where I had been.

Somepony was there. I screamed, but the young filly in front of me stuck her hoof on my muzzle. The hoof that silenced me was orange. I also saw a glimpse of a short purple mane.

“Who are you?” the filly asked me. I couldn’t answer.

“Mmph!” I pointed to her hoof.

“Oh, right.” She giggled, then removed her hoof. “Sorry. I just couldn’t have you screaming. There are… things out here.”

I stared at her. “What kind of things?” I asked. The filly shushed me.

“I’ll explain everything back at the HQ. I promise.”

The HQ was almost as big as the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. HUGE, I mean. The young filly led me through a giant maze, then another maze, then ANOTHER, but it seemed like she’d gone this way 100 times. We finally reached a room with only a lamp inside it. With some kind of magic, the lamp was lifted up and shone on the filly.

This filly did in fact have a purple mane and an orange coat, as well as purple eyes and tiny wings. As she walked over to me, a breeze ruffled her bangs. They slid aside to reveal- a horn?! It was pulsing magic. So this is how she’s lifting that lamp… I thought. What knowledge to get back to the Master!

As if she could read my mind, the filly snapped a device on my horn. “You’re not telling the Master any of this. This is top secret information. That door was supposed to be shut; I don’t know how a breeze got in here in the first place. My name is Commander Scootaloo, leader of the Flightless Birds. And I want you to join.”

I stared at her, then laughed. “I’m a unicorn, Scootaloo!”

She raised her eyebrows, then tore off my horn. I screamed, then she cut the bottom of my mane. My wings were revealed. I blushed.

She sat back down in her chair. “Why do you hide your wings?” she asked me. “I wouldn’t do that, even if I can’t fly.”

“You can’t fly?!” I couldn’t believe it. “But you’re the leader of the Flightless Birds… oh.” I had just figured it out. “That’s why you want me.”

She stared at me. Then she smiled. “That’s not why. Really. It’s because the Master isn’t who you think she is.”

“What are you talking about?!” I glared at her. “You wouldn’t know! You’ve never met the Master!”

“Yes I have!” Her response shocked me. “But before I tell you how, tell me your name.”

“I’m Waterfall.” I said. “Alright, now tell me your story!”

About 5 years ago…

“Rainbow Dash and I were best friends. We were inseperable! Until the day this war started, we hung out, had fun… she even tried to teach me how to fly!” Scootaloo sighed. “Those were good times.”

“But what happened?” I asked.

“There was a… problem in Cloudsdale. Even the Wonderbolts couldn’t fix it, and they could always fix stuff! When we found out THAT fact, Twilight told her friend Sunset Shimmer that a place called Canterlot High was about to get a lot more people, whatever those are, enrolling. Then she opened up a portal and evacuated almost all of Equestria!”

“Almost all? Why not all?” There was one problem with that explanation.

“Because 9 ponies stayed behind. Twilight didn’t know, nopony could! We had been trapped in the wreckage of Cloudsdale and-”

“The WRECKAGE?! But that’s where-” I shut up. I couldn’t reveal where the Master had been having her HQ for the past 5 years.

“We know. The Master has her HQ there. So you’re not spilling anything.” Scootaloo smiled at me. “The 5 leaders were there, along with Rainbow Dash and 3 others. Along with me, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon are the leaders of the Flightless Birds. Rainbow Dash, however, after we finished setting up this HQ in the ruined Ponyville Schoolhouse- we moved it after it got burned down 3 years ago- had disappeared, along with Maud Pie, Babs Seed, and, well…” She stopped.

“Me.” I knew it. “I was there, wasn’t I?” I stared accusingly at Scootaloo.

“Yes, you were,” she said. “I tried to bring you to our group, but Rainbow Dash flew you over the waterfall to the only part of Cloudsdale that hadn’t been destroyed. That’s how we knew where their HQ was, and it’s how you became the youngest pony to get her cutie mark!”

“What are you talking about?” I knew I got my cutie mark early, but being the youngest pony to get one was just inconceivable.

“You were the youngest pony to get your cutie mark! Your cutie mark is a waterfall with a cloud at the top, right?” Scootaloo’s wings flapped with excitement, but she soon floated back down.

“Um…” I looked at my cutie mark. It was! “Wait. How did you know?”

Scootaloo looked at me. “Because, when Rainbow Dash took you away, I tried to follow. I saw your cutie mark! It was awesome. I knew that you really had a chance to be here, for we don’t usually accept ponies without their cutie marks. It was sadly Diamond Tiara who made that rule, of course excluding us at the time because we were part of the leaders. Then, when she became our friend, we stopped trying to get our cutie marks and instead tried to help other ponies get theirs, we got ours, and we just never really found time to get rid of the no-blank-flanks rule. We just… well…”

I smiled at Scootaloo, and just as I was about to tell her something, Apple Bloom rushed in.

“Howdy, Scootaloo, howdy, Waterfall! Are ya havin’ fun? Ah sure am! Ah know that many ponies wouldn’t get it, but Ah know about this because ah spied on the Master!” Apple Bloom kind of looked like herself, but half of her looks like Pinkie Pie.

“Apple Bloom, what’s up with the Pinkie Pie look?” Scootaloo and I said at the same time.

"Is there something wrong? Are you okay?" Scootaloo asked, right after.

“Me? I'm fine, and nothing's wrong, 'cept for the fact that there's the Master right outside!”

Author's Notes:

Waterfall is my OC.
No stealing.

This takes place during the Fall of Equestria. If you want background info, here it is.

The Rainbow Factory explodes, and rainbows are EVERYWHERE. Ponies start finding filly bones in the rainbows (reference to rainbow factory) and that is the "problem."

Nopony wants to think that the rainbows that they love so much are actually ground-up pegasus fillies.