On the Outskirts of Cloudsdale

Scootaloo had tried to convince the pink party pony that they were leaving behind the majority of the supplies she and her friends had gathered. But, Pinkie had refused to listen, and instead decided to play some game where one of them would pick out something they could see, and the other was supposed to guess what it was. And, to start the game, Pinkie decided to be first to pick an object. Unfortunately, because of their hasty departure, as well as the fact that Pinkie refused to listen to her, Scootaloo didn't feel like playing any games.

As the balloon settled on the surface of a cloud, Scootaloo took the opportunity to complain, “I still think we could've brought all the supplies my friends and I gathered, not just the bag I was carrying.”

As Pinkie bounced out of the basket, she said, “Silly, I brought enough supplies for both of us. We're okie dokie lokie.”

The orange pegasetta climbed out of the balloon, groaning in frustration. Since they were in, or at least about to enter, Cloudsdale, it was too late for Scootaloo to try to convince the pink earth mare to go back for the things she'd wanted to take with her, that her friends had been carrrying. It wasn't until she decided to turn and get what supplies she had been allowed to take with her out of the basket that she realized that Pinkie was bouncing on the surface of the cloud. Now more interested in the pink party pony's unexpected ability than getting her supplies, she asked, “Uh, Pinkie, why aren't you falling through the clouds?” It wasn't until she finished asking the question that she remembered who she was talking to.

To her surprise, though, Pinkie answered, “Before we left, Twilight cast a spell on me so that I could walk on clouds. Isn't it great?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she thought to herself, "Of course."

The representative of laughter continued, “So, let's get into town so we can find a place to stay until we find and solve the friendship problem.” And, she reached into the basket and grabbed the bag she'd removed from the orange pegasetta's back and placed in the basket, as well as her own saddle bags. She passed the bag to Scootaloo, then strapped on her own saddle bags, before leading the crusader into the floating city.

In the Streets of Cloudsdale

As the two looked around the city, the first thing they noticed was the lack of pony life. It was as though Cloudsdale had become a ghost city. And yet, there were several buildings that looked like they'd been taken care of, at least up until the arrival of the crusader and the pink party pony.

The orange pegasetta remarked, “The last time I was here, pegasi were flying everywhere. That, or trotting along the streets. They'd stop and talk, there was just a lot happening here. Where did everypony go?”

Pinkie, looking around just as worriedly, answered, “I don't know, Scootaloo." More resolutely, she added, "But, until we find out, we should better stay close together.” She continued on a few steps until she realized the orange pegasetta wasn't answering her. She wasn't even making any sounds. Pinkie stopped and looked behind her, but only saw the bag the filly'd been carrying. Confused and worried for her companion, she called out, “Scootaloo!?” But, there was no answer. Now even more worried, she started to dig in the road where she'd last heard the crusader, whimpering, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no.” After digging as far as she dared, she crawled out of the hole she'd dug, growling to herself, “Great. Not even here an hour, in an empty city, and you manage to lose your companion. Now what?” Not knowing what else to do, she just sat there canine-style in the middle of the empty street.

In a Dark Room

Unconscious, the pegasetta wouldn't have been able to hear the conversation going on around her. And, having been anesthetized, she wouldn't be able to feel parts of her being removed, then replaced by machinery.

In the mean time, as the surgeon ponies continued to work on the crusader, mostly they removed four of the filly's limbs, replacing them with machines of some kind: a multipurpose energy mechanism for her right hoof, functional prosthetic metal wings for her natural ones that weren't helping her to fly, another multipurpose mechanism for her left hoof, and various mechanisms designed to receive her brain signals and transmit them to her parts that had been replaced.

The process took hours. Then, once it was complete, Scootaloo was dropped outside in the streets to wake up on her own.

In the Streets of Cloudsdale

The pink earth mare had decided, after an hour, that she couldn't just sit there in the street and hope that Scootaloo would come and find her. So, she rose to all fours again and retraced her steps, making her way back to the balloon to see if the orange pegasetta had gone back there to return to Ponyville for the rest of the supplies she'd said she and her friends had gathered. But, the balloon was still there when she got to the cloud, where she and the crusader had left it.

She wondered to herself, 'Where did Scootaloo go?' So far, as much of the place as they'd explored was empty. But, that didn't necessarily mean anything. Then again, Scootaloo was right; there should've been lots of pegasi flying or trotting around the city. Where had everypony gone? Did they suffer the same fate as Scootaloo? Did they just disappear? Were they just zapped into another dimension?

Pinkie forced a chuckle as she thought about that. Of course they weren't. Such a thing could only happen to her, couldn't it? Wait, is that what happened? Was she somehow zapped into a parallel world? No, that didn't make sense either. The Cloudsdale she'd left was apparently empty, save for her and Scootaloo. Why would she be zapped to a world so similar to the one she'd left, except that she was the only one alive? No, something had gone wrong, very wrong, here in Cloudsdale, something involving friendship; and it was up to her and Scootaloo to figure it out. The only problem they'd run into so far was that the little orange pegasetta had disappeared. Figuring that she couldn't go back to Ponyville without solving the problem she'd been sent to solve, Pinkie turned around and headed back into Cloudsdale, hoping to find some kind of evidence of life in the city of the pegasi, hoping to find Scootaloo, somewhere.

Back in the city, Pinkie was less interested in finding a place to stay than she was in finding her companion. And, each street she explored, the city felt more and more lifeless. For hours she ambled, becoming more and more worried and fearful, until she arrived at the weather factory. Having seen no sign of Scootaloo, she sat down on the steps of the structure.

This city, which should've been alive and buzzing with pegasi, felt like her worst nightmare come to life. She was alone, nopony to make smile or laugh, all evidence pointing to life having existed here, but having abandoned their creation. And, the filly she'd arrived with had disappeared.

Not knowing what else to do, the representative of laughter collapsed into a canine-style position, then sphinx-style, then buried her face in her front hooves and started sobbing.

As Scootaloo woke up, she realized she was alone. Remembering where she'd last been with Pinkie Pie, she rose to all fours and started looking around.

The street where she woke up ended in two opposing directions in three-way intersections, with what appeared to be apartments of maybe two or three levels connected to each other by their walls.

Ahead of her was the Cloudsdale bank, while behind her was a grocery store.

The pegasetta rubbed her chin with a front hoof as she thought, 'Wait, Pinkie and I never got here. So, what am I doing here, alone?' Then, realizing that she was indeed alone, she decided that the first thing she needed to do was find Pinkie, let her know that she was alive and well. But, being where she was, she realized that she had no idea where to find the pink earth mare.

Thinking of where they'd been, the crusader decided the first place she should look would be back at that cloud where they'd arrived, where they'd landed. But, all she knew was she was on the street between the bank and a grocery store. Still, if anypony knew their way around Cloudsdale, it'd be a pegasus.

Scootaloo ambled her way along the street, every now and then calling out the pink earth mare's name. She knew Pinkie wouldn't abandon her in a place that was empty, not as long as she had somepony she could make laugh, or at least make smile. And, remembering where the sun was when they arrived, Scootaloo proceeded to search away from it, turning at that intersection in each direction to see that the road seemed almost endless. But, there were other intersections; so she continued on her course, looking down each intersection to see if she could find either Pinkie Pie or a road that lead out of town. And, while she didn't find her companion, she did manage to find a road that lead to openness.

Taking that route, she made her way along the road until she found herself at its end. Looking in each direction, she saw that she had indeed reached the outskirts. The only problem was she couldn't see the balloon she and Pinkie had arrived in. Settling into a canine-style position, she wondered to herself, 'Where am I?'

Then, from behind her, she heard the sound of sobbing. And, recognizing the voice, she called out, “Pinkie Pie!?” Leaping to all fours, she turned to the sound. At first, all she saw was the weather factory. Then, she saw a spot of pink start to move. Letting her instincts take over, the pegasetta galloped toward the factory and its only apparent occupant. And, it wasn't long before she noticed that it was indeed the pink party pony, just a split second before the two collided.

The pink earth mare gripped the crusader tightly in a hug as she sobbed, “Oh, Scootaloo, I missed you! Where did you gallop off to, anyway?”

The orange pegasetta knew how the earth mare was feeling. She was feeling it, too. But, her question puzzled her. Pushing away from the representative of laughter, Scootaloo answered, “I didn't. I was just following you the whole time, or at least until I woke up in the streets, alone between the bank and a grocery store.” She then tilted her head and asked, “What happened to you?”

Pinkie answered, “You disappeared when we were looking for a place to stay. I'd thought you might've gone back to Ponyville, so I went back to the balloon. But, when I didn't see you there, I just started wandering through Cloudsdale, looking for you. I couldn't find you anywhere. For that matter, I couldn't find anypony. There wasn't even anypony at the weather factory.”

Hearing the news, Scootaloo hopped away from the pink earth mare and asked, “Wait, you didn't see anypony at the weather factory?”

Pinkie, now too puzzled to feel sad, answered, “Uh, no.”

The orange pegasetta asked, “And, you didn't go inside to have a look?”

The pink party pony chuckled, sincerely this time, which felt good to her. She then answered, “Of course not, silly. If Rainbow Dash'd been there to guide me, then I would've gone inside to have a tour.”

Pinkie's suggestion that she, one of Rainbow Dash's friends, hadn't seen the azure pegasa, hit Scootaloo harder than she expected. Still, not wanting to give in to her emotions, she shook herself out and said, “Well, we need to see if we can get into the weather factory. Rainbow Dash works there, or at least she used to. If anypony is still in this floating city, and if we can find anypony with the answers to our questions, it's gotta be her.” And, she galloped past the pink earth mare and on toward the building.

Not knowing what else to do, and thinking that Rainbow Dash's greatest fan could be right, Pinkie Pie followed her to the weather factory. And there they ran into their next obstacle.