The Museum

After mourning the loss of the yellow pegasa, Scootaloo had helped Pinkie Pie drag the body as far as the middle of the front room. And there their strength failed them. Fatigue took over, and the two of them collapsed into sphinx-style positions and slept the rest of the night where they lay.

The next morning, Pinkie Pie decided to carry the corpse of the yellow pegasa back to the balloon, and Scootaloo followed along, making sure the dead body didn't fall off of Pinkie's back.

The Outskirts of Cloudsdale

With everything lit by the sunlight, the two had no problems finding their way back to the balloon, where they dumped Fluttershy's body into the basket.

As the two settled into canine-style positions next to the balloon's basket, Scootaloo turned to Pinkie and asked, “So, now what do we do? Wh-what if w-we find R-rainbow D-dash, and she's … she's also … also …?”

Pinkie, watching the little filly try to form her thoughts into words, and knowing what she was trying to say, nodded and said, “I know what you mean, Scootie. It bothers me, too.”

Scootaloo couldn't keep her thoughts from troubling her as she continued, “And, and wh-what about M-mayor M-mare? What if we find her d-dead, just like F-fluttershy?”

The pink party pony took a moment to sigh before answering, “We can't allow ourselves to think like that, to just give up. I don't know what happened to Dashy, but I don't think she's dead. And, as for Mayor Mare, well, we can only hope we'll find her alive. If not, … if not, … well, … at least we'll have a good idea of what happened to her. We need to keep looking for that friendship problem. But, I wouldn't be surprised if, somehow, Dashy is connected to it. I hope she isn't connected, I especially hope she isn't the cause of the problem. But, I can't help thinking she is connected somehow. We just need to keep searching. We can't give up now.”

After listening to the pink earth mare, Scootaloo looked down and took her own moment to sigh. Afterwards, she said, “Yeah, I know you're right.” Then, she looked up at Pinkie again and added, “I just hope we don't get separated again. And, I hope I don't wake up in a mares' room again, wondering what I'm doing in there, only to go into another room and find another pony ... another pony dead.”

Pinkie nodded and, stroking the pegasetta's mane with her closest front hoof, responded, “Same here. I don't wanna see Rainbow Dash dead and strung up the way Fluttershy was, or any other pony for that matter. We just have to do a better job of sticking together.”

The crusader simply nodded and said, “Agreed.”

At that point, Pinkie rose to all fours again and said, “Now, let's go back into the city. We have a friendship problem to find and solve.”

The orange foal rose to all fours as well, but couldn't stifle a loud, noisy sniffle. Yet, afterwards she said, resolutely, “Yeah, let's go.” And, with that, she followed her companion back into Cloudsdale.

In the Streets of Cloudsdale

It had been decided between the two of them that Scootaloo should take the lead, and that they should head to the spot where they'd been attacked by those two strange ponies, between the bank and the grocery store.

There, they looked around for the remnants of those strange ponies. But, aside from sunlight, the roads, the sidewalks, and the buildings, there was nothing. The remains of those ponies that Scootaloo had battled had disappeared.

Still hoping to find even a scrap of metal indicating the existence of their attackers, Pinkie wondered aloud, “Do you think we just imagined those ponies?”

The orange pegasetta, also looking around, answered, “Well, if they didn't even exist, then what was I fighting?”

Pinkie had to pause and think about that for a moment. When she did speak again, she answered, “That's a good question.” Then, Scootaloo heard her say, “Ooh, what's that?”

The crusader turned to where she'd heard Pinkie last speak and asked, “What's what?” only to realize that her companion had disappeared again. Starting to feel panic return, she looked around and said, “Oh no, not again.” Then, seeing the store nearby, she began to think aloud, “Maybe she went in there?” Figuring she had nothing to lose, being once again by herself, and knowing that Pinkie liked pastries, Scootaloo turned and entered the building.

The Grocery Store

As the pegasetta entered through the double doors, she called out, “Pinkie, are you in here?”

From what seemed to be everywhere at once, she heard her companion answer, “I'm over here!”

Not knowing what else to do, Scootaloo flapped her wings and rose into the air. For a moment she let herself wonder about the wings she'd been given, how easily they worked for her even though she'd only had them for less than a day. And, here she was, hovering. But then, she started looking for some sign of the pink party pony: a trail of confetti, pink hairs, anything that'd let her know where the pink earth mare had gone. Then, when she looked directly under her, she realized that using her wings to hover was not such a good idea after all; as the draft her wings were creating was causing any dust on the ground, and debris that might help her track down her companion, to glide off under surfaces where it'd be hidden. So, she landed again and folded her wings, then decided to start ambling around the store. Fortunately, when she'd looked around her, she'd noticed a few long, pink hairs disappearing under one of the display cases nearby.

As Scootaloo started her exploration in the direction of the pathway where she'd seen the pink hairs, she noticed various signs of the party pony, signs she would've expected, oddly placed with convenience at certain intersections, leading her to the back of the store. While she began to wonder what was going on, she still decided to follow the trail where it led her, hoping to meet up with the representative of laughter again.

The sparse trail led her to a door in the back, where it seemed to go underneath and inside.

Presently, the orange pegasetta stopped. Adults might be allowed through that door, but would foals like her be allowed to go through? There was no picture indicating it'd be a bathroom for mares or stallions, and that made it all the more worrisome for her. This could only be the entryway to the storage room, where items to be sold would be kept until there was space for them in display cases and shelves in the main room where she was. But, every shelf she'd passed up to this point had been fully stocked, with every indication being that this store was ready for business. What could've lured Pinkie to a storage room, when the place was already stocked? Didn't the two of them have more important things to do than explore this part of the store? Then again, what if the friendship problem was here? Whatever Pinkie's reason was for entering this store and going into this room, not to mention luring the pegasetta there, Scootaloo had to find out. So, she used her wings to open the door and entered.

The Grocery Store, the Storage Room

As soon as the crusader closed the door behind her, she heard a familiar voice. It wasn't Pinkie's, but it was the voice of an earth mare she recognized.

The voice sounded alarmed as it called out, “Who's there?”

The orange pegasetta turned in the direction the voice came from and answered, “It's me, Scootaloo!”

The voice asked, “Scootaloo? What are you doing here?”

Suddenly it dawned on the crusader which mare that voice belonged to. She asked, “Mayor Mare, is that you?”

The earth mare answered, “Yes, it's me, Scootaloo. I'm over here.”

The pegasetta continued to approach the voice, although slowly, as she asked, “What are you doing here?”

Suddenly a light turned on, illuminating the location of the earth mare, who winced as though in pain. Just as Fluttershy had been, Mayor Mare was suspended between the floor and the ceiling by chains, which spread her limbs so that her chest and abdomen were exposed.

Scootaloo blocked the sudden light with a wing until her eyes adjusted to it. Then, when she looked up at the mayor pony, she heard Rainbow Dash's voice once again, this time asking, “Will you kindly kill Mayor Mare?” And this while the one she was instructed to kill was evidently saying something different.

Scootaloo, once again feeling as though she was in a dream, folded her wings again and answered, “Yes, Rainbow Dash.”

Surprised, the mayor pony tilted her head and grunted in confusion and curiosity. But, that only lasted for a second. After that, she straightened her head again and said, “No, Scootaloo, you've gotta listen to me. Rainbow Dash is not the hero you think she is. I don't know what happened to her, but she's not somepony you can trust anymore.”

But, all the crusader could hear was, “And, when you're done, will you kindly clean up the evidence? Leave no sign of how you killed her.”

Scootaloo answered, “Yes, Rainbow Dash.” And, she hovered in front of the earth mare, pointed a front hoof, and extended a blade from it.

Now frightened, Mayor Mare pleaded, “No, Scootaloo, don't do this. Please, don't.”

The Ponyville Castle, in the Map Room

Three of the element bearers, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle, were in their places around the map.

Rarity was saying, “Darling, are you sure Fluttershy's dead?”

Twilight answered, “I hope not. I … I just can't help thinking … that she is.”

Applejack added, “We all hope she's 'right. 'N', we know Rainbow Dash ain't th' cause if she ain't. After all, why'd the pegasi wanna kill each other? 'N', one element a-killin' 'nother? Tha' don't make no sense. 'N', Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, 'n' Fluttershy's friends. Pinkie wouldn't kill one o' her friends. Whatever's a-goin' on up there, it ain't 'cause o' Pinkie 'r Scootaloo. Somepony else's 'volved, we just don't know who it is yet.”

It was about this time that the cutie marks of the three started to glow and radiate crimson red again, causing the three of them to scream in alarm.

After glancing at her own cutie mark, Twilight looked at the map, at the huge cloud that was floating near Rarity, and again started repeating the word, “No.”

As the white unicorn and the orange earth mare focused on the representation of the cloud city, they noticed something different about it.

A scroll tied with a blue ribbon, or the image of such, had appeared above the city.

Pointing at the image, Applejack said, “Th-that's Mayor Mare's cutie mark.”

Presently, Twilight stopped repeating the word “No,” and concluded by saying, “It's happening again.”

Applejack and Rarity looked in wonderment, then in horror, and Twilight only in horror, as the image above the cloud grew and blurred, and eventually disappeared.

For a few seconds, the three mares sat there in silence as their cutie marks stopped glowing and radiating crimson.

The first to break the silence was Applejack, who reached out a front hoof to the image of the floating cloud city and said, “M-m-mayor M-m-mare was m' f-friend.” And, she looked down in front of her, but focused on nothing.

Rarity tried to say that Mayor Mare's death hadn't been confirmed, but all she could do was stammer.

In the mean time, Twilight just sat there, ears drooping on each side of her head, staring at the miniature representation of the cloud city.

The Grocery Store, in the Mares' Room

As she'd done with the representative of kindness, Scootaloo had taken great pains to clean up the mess she'd made after killing Ponyville's mayor. And, just as she'd done with Fluttershy, she'd used the mayor pony's skin to sow up the wound she'd made. After that, she'd gone to the mares' room and quickly, but thoroughly, cleaned the blade she'd used.

Only when she was done did she hear Rainbow Dash's voice say, “Now, will you kindly leave this room and remember none of this?”

Obediently the orange pegasetta ambled to the door as she said, “Yes, Rainbow Dash.” And, as soon as the door closed behind her, she awoke and forgot what she'd done. She shook her head for a second to clear it, then looked around, wondering what she was doing there. Looking behind her, she saw that she was just outside a mares' bathroom. Well, the good news was she didn't wake up inside the bathroom. But, that didn't keep her from the feeling of foreboding that something had once again gone wrong. But, where was it this time?

It took her tapping her head with a front hoof, first of all to realize that wasn't such a good idea, not with hooves made of steel. But, second of all, it helped her remember that the last place she'd been to was the storage area of the store she was in. At the same time wanting to and not wanting to, the crusader marched forward toward the storage room, then opened the door and entered. And, once again, there was that smell.

The Grocery Store, in a Closet

When Pinkie Pie woke up, she found herself in a really small room. She tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head, but ended up hitting her nose against a wall. She groaned in pain, then tried to move a front hoof to rub her now aching nose; but she quickly realized she couldn't even do that. Then, the pink earth mare started to remember what had happened.

She'd been following Scootaloo along one road in Cloudsdale when she'd been attacked, and so fast that she'd had no time to react. Not even her Pinkie sense'd had time to warn her. That, or if it had warned her, she didn't recognize it in time. Whatever the case was, the next thing she knew, she was in this tiny room; and she needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Carefully maneuvering her front hooves, as well as sensing with her back, she was able to tell that one of the walls was different from the other three. Was there a door there, or was the wall just not as solid as the others? There was just one way for her to be sure. Carefully positioning herself using all her legs, she used all her strength to hop against the wall that was directly behind her.

As a result, the wall, as soon as her back made contact with it, burst into a cloud of splinters.

The Grocery Store, the Storage Room

Suddenly unimpeded by the wall, Pinkie, groaning in surprise, stumbled backward until she fell onto her back. One piece of good news was that she was out of that tiny room now. Another piece of good news was her backward fall hadn't hurt her, and neither had the cloud of splinters. But, there was one piece of bad news: that smell.

Rolling onto her front again, Pinkie rose to all-fours position before taking one forelimb and covering her nose, then started looking around for the source of the smell. The memory of how that smell had lead her to Fluttershy's corpse frightened her, even slightly nauseated her, as she began to wonder who she'd find dead this time. And, she didn't have long or far to look before she got her answer.

Before she could identify the body, she heard a door open in another area of the room. Starting for a second, she turned to the sound and called out, “Who's there?”

From the open door, the crusader heard the two words from a familiar voice. Relaxing for a moment, she called out, “Pinkie, is that you?”

The pink party pony opened her mouth, preparing to shout that she was Pinkie, Pinkie Pie. Then, remembering the smell, and deciding that she wouldn't want somepony else to have to breath that in too deeply, she decided against the joke. Instead, she called out, “Scootaloo?”

Hearing the voice of the element bearer, the crusader galloped toward where she heard it come from and shouted, “Pinkie!”

Presently, the pink earth mare hopped up to all fours and started galloping toward where she heard the pegasetta's voice, shouting, “Scootie!”

The two met and hugged approximately behind and to the left of the hanging corpse of Ponyville's mayor, and remained that way for a few seconds, crying about how they'd missed each other.

After that, again Pinkie took notice of the scent in the room. Turning, she saw the earth mare hanging there by her hooves. Hoping for good news, but at the same time fearing what she suspected to be true, Pinkie let go of Scootaloo and approached the hanging corpse. Circling slowly around the body, she said, “Mayor, that's you, isn't it? Scootie and I are gonna get you down from there, you'll see.” And that's when she saw the mayor pony's head, just hanging there. Still hoping for a sign of life, Pinkie propped herself up on the mayor's body and nuzzled her chin. Then, when that failed to get results, Pinkie rested her head on the mayor pony's chest, hoping to hear some sound from inside. Then, after a few seconds of hearing nothing, she pulled away, taking a few steps back until she could drop back into all-fours position again.

Scootaloo, in the mean time, ambled to a position so that she could see what Pinkie was doing. And, when she could see the two from the side, she slumped into a canine-style position and watched for Pinkie to check for signs of life. When she saw her companion back away from the body and drop to all fours, she asked, “S-so, h-how is she?” And, when the pink earth mare turned to her, the expression on the pink pony's face was all the answer the orange pegasetta needed.

Which was just as well, as, even when Pinkie opened her mouth to answer, she suddenly found herself unable to say anything. All she did was close her mouth again, look down at the ground in front of her, and close her eyes; and tears started leaking from them.

Seeing Pinkie starting to grieve for her fellow earth mare, Scootaloo grumbled, “First Fluttershy, and now Mayor Mare.” Angrily raising a front hoof, she continued, “What's going on here? Why weren't we in time to save them? And, who's gonna be next, huh? Is it gonna be Ra— … Ra— …” But, no matter how much she tried, Scootaloo couldn't bring herself to say the name of her heroine. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing the rainbow-haired pegasa, the pony she looked up to, the representative of loyalty, her closest friend, dead, hanging there the way she'd seen Fluttershy, and just now Mayor Mare. Using both hooves, she covered her mouth, trying to keep her emotions from escaping. But, she couldn't help inhaling through her nose in a long, unexpectedly loud sniffle.

Pinkie, seeing the filly in a losing battle with her emotions, slowly rose to all fours and ambled to her companion, then grasped her in another hug as soon as she was close enough.

Feeling the pink earth mare wrap herself around her, Scootaloo looked away and allowed the tears to fall from her own eyes as she whimpered, “Wh-what'll we d-do now?”

Pinkie answered, “We'll d-do with M-mayor M-mare's body wh-what we d-d-did … with F-fluttershy's. W-we'll j-just get her b-body … d-down and … c-carry her b-back to the b-balloon. B-but, I think … I think th-there's something … something worse h-here th-than a … a friendship p-problem. T-t-two p-p-ponies … d-dead … and b-before that, ponies that weren't p-ponies attacking us? Wh-when we're d-done t-t-taking M-mayor M-mare's body b-back … back to th-the balloon, w-we need to g-go to the … the Town Hall. M-maybe w-we can find some information there about wh-what's happened in the past m-month.”

Scootaloo didn't say anything more, just used her wings to hover above the ground and a front hoof to fire a sphere of energy at each of the chains holding the body of Ponyville's mayor in place. Then, when she lowered herself to the ground again, all it took was for her to look into the mayor's lifeless face, and she lost her battle with her emotions.

Somewhere in the Weather Factory

Rainbow Dash sat there, canine-style, looking at a monitor, watching the scene play out before her. She said nothing, just watched her two friends grieve for the loss of Ponyville's mayor.

After a few seconds, a door opened behind her; and Spitfire took a few steps through the door. Saluting, she asked, “Do you think those two will get the message and leave Cloudsdale, Ma'am?”

The azure pegasa sighed before answering, “I doubt it. The map back in Ponyville sent them here, and the only way they'll go back is if they find and solve whatever 'friendship problem' they were sent here to find and solve. That, or if they're both dead.”

The fiery-orange pegasa dropped under her the front hoof she'd used to salute, then took another step or two toward the representative of loyalty as she asked, “Do you want us to kill them, then?”

Immediately, Rainbow Dash turned to the leader of the Wonderbolts and, glaring, shouted, “No!”

Seemingly unphased, Spitfire asked, “Do you know where they'll go next?”

The rainbow-haired pegasa turned her glare back to the monitor she'd been watching before and said, “They'll be heading for the town hall.”

The fiery-orange pegasa asked, “If you don't want us to kill them, should we at least send robot ponies to guard the town hall?”

The representative of loyalty grumbled, “That'll only make them more determined to find out what they want to find out. No, the best we can do is lure them somewhere else. And, since they're in the grocery store across from the bank, maybe we can lure Pinkie to the pastries. She's always looking for new ideas for cakes and stuff for her parties.”

Spitfire paused for a moment before asking, “And, what if that fails, ma'am?”

Again Rainbow Dash sighed before answering, “Then, you may capture Pinkie Pie. I'll question her, then you can leave her in the vault at the bank. I'll have Scootaloo deal with her, then clean up the evidence so she'll never know what she did.”