It was night.  The sun was gone, and the moon that rose was barely visible.  Most of the light came from the stars.  The night air was warm, and there was a light breeze that swept the grass and carried around stray leaves.  Nighttime in Ponyville was always like this in the summer, but nobody ever seemed to appreciate it.

Nobody except for Scootaloo, of course.  She sat on a small hill a few hundred feet from the edge of the forest, looking up at the stars.  In the absence of light, her hair seemed to be nearly black.

“Hey, Scootaloo!”

She turned.  “Hey, Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom walked up the small hill and sat next to her friend.  “What’s the matter?  Ya couldn’t sleep?”

She shrugged.  “I guess you could say that.”

“Are you feelin’ alright?”

Scootaloo put on a brave face.  “Oh, yeah.  I just had too much energy.”  She yawned.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow.  “Are y’all sure you don’t have some other reason for being up here?  Y’all weren’t gonna leave, were ya?”

“No!  Of course not!”

The second shook her head.  “You know, I’ve lived with Applejack long enough to know a bad liar when I see one.”

Scootaloo blushed.  “All, right, I was thinking about something.”

“That wouldn’t happen to have been your p-“

“Apple Bloom!  You get your plot back here this instant!”  Applejack was striding up the side of the hill.  She had a stern look on her face, and her already untidy mane was everywhere.  Her trademark hat was barely able to stay on her head.  “Y’all are supposed to be in bed!  What do ya’ll think you’re doin, sneakin’ out at night?”

Apple Bloom gestured to Scootaloo.  “Well, ya see, Scootaloo here was uh… havin’… some trouble with… um…”

Applejack rolled her eyes.  “For one thing, bein’ me for my whole life has given me a really good sense of when somepony is lyin’, and there’s no way y’all coulda seen Scootaloo from our house.”

The younger sibling grumbled.  “But Applejack…”

“No buts!  Back to the house.”  She straightened her hat.  “We’ll see what Granny Smith thinks a’ y’all sneakin’ out this late in the mornin’.”

“The mornin’?”

She nodded, looking even angrier.  “Yes, Apple Bloom, this is the mornin’.  It’s four o’clock.”

Apple Bloom walked away, looking angry.  She mumbled something to herself about how Scootaloo didn’t have to go to bed.

Applejack turned to Scootaloo, who had resumed looking at the stars.  “So uh… Don’t y’all have to be at home or somethin’?  Don’t your parents start to worry if y’all aren’t at home at night?”

She shook her head.  She looked at the ground now.  Very quietly, she whispered, “I don’t have any parents.”

Applejack flapped an ear.  “Sorry… didn’t quite catch that.”

Scootaloo stood up.  “I said I don’t have any parents!”  She shouted.  She ran away, back toward the town, a small trail of tears following her.

Applejack blushed.  “Oh, er, sorry!”  She was too late.  Scootaloo was already too far away to hear.

Scootaloo ran until she reached Sugarcube Corner.  Pinkie Pie was still up, running around the outside of the shop.

“Hey, uh, Pinkie Pie?”

She pink blur stopped abruptly in front of the smaller pony.  “Yes?  Did you need something, Scootaloo?  Huh?  Didjadidjadidjadidja?”  She became closer to her companion with each word.  Her eyes were as wide as ever, and her irises were nearly invisible.

Scootaloo backed up.  “Um, Pinkie?  What have you been doing?”

“Coffee!”  Pinkie bounced nearly twice as high as she usually did when she said the word.

“What?”

“The Cakes bought this really good drink called coffee, and they said I shouldn’t have any, so of course I had to get it at night!  And now I forgot what I was doing!”  She bounced twice, a hoof on her chin.  “Oh yeah!  I was trying to see how fast I could get going! Want to join?!”

Scootaloo took several steps back.  “Um… I’ll pass.  I was just wondering if you would be okay with discussing something with me.”

“Ooh!  I love discussing things!”  She bounced several feet in the air.  “But right now probably isn’t the best time to try to discuss things with me, because that’s too slow!” She started zooming around the shop once again.

Scootaloo sighed, and moved on.  She found herself at Rarity’s boutique.  She was about to knock on the door.  “Oh, who am I kidding?  She’s just going to want to dress me up in some frilly, pretty outfit.  That’s not going to be any help.”  She turned to walk away.

“Did somepony say “Outfit”?”  Rarity was standing in front of her.  Her eyes were wide, and she was talking in a very high-pitched voice.  “Oh, how exciting! You need an outfit?!  Well, of course I can make you one!”

“Uh… Rarity, are you okay?  It’s early in the morning, and you look like you’re on some kind of chemical that I can’t pronounce.”

“Oh, well I was just over at Twilight’s, and we were up late tonight drinking… um… fruit juice!  Yes, that’s it.  We were drinking fruit juice.  And I was really tired after, because drinking fruit juice er… makes me tired.  Then Pinkie Pie brought over this really nice drink that made me not tired any more!”

“Okay… well then…”

“So what kind of outfit?!”

Scootaloo sighed again.  “I don’t want an outfit!”

Rarity was shocked.  “You don’t?!”

“No!”

“Oh… then what do you want, Scootaloo?”

She put a hoof over her face.  “I wanted to talk to somepony about certain things.  Is there anyone around Ponyville who isn’t running around in circles because of coffee?”  Before Rarity answered, she put a hoof up.  “And I know you’ve been drinking way too much coffee.”

“Oh… well, I guess I would say Twilight.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.  “Twilight?”

“Oh yes!  She was drinking a lot of fruit juice as well… but she was fairly stable, and she didn’t want any coffee.  She wasn’t even planning on going to bed.”

“So she’s awake?”

“I would guess so.  But I have to warn you, Twilight, when she’s drunk, she gets-” She looked around.  Scootaloo was nowhere to be seen.  “Touchy.”  She shrugged and walked into her boutique.

Twilight turned.  She had heard a knock from the door.  Her eyes were red, and she was shaking, but she didn’t want to go to bed.  She knew what kind of dreams she would have if she fell asleep while drunk.

She walked slowly over to the door, wondering who would be at her house so early in the morning.  Perhaps Rarity had gotten lost on her way home, and needed directions.  She opened the door, and didn’t see anypony.  She shrugged and was about to close it when she heard a voice.

“Wait!”

She looked down.  Scootaloo was standing in front of the door.  “Oh, I didn’t see you there.  Sorry.  I can’t see as well when I’m drunk.”  She walked away.  “Come in.”

Scootaloo walked into the library, looking around.  The whole place was as tidy as ever.  “I thought booze was illegal.”

“What booze?!  Who told you?!”  Twilight charged over and stared her directly in the eyes.  She grinned.  “Just messing with you.  I’m completely awake mentally.  It’s just the eyesight and the movement that aren’t quite up to speed.  Also, my magic is dangerous.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh, yes.  I’ve had Spike stay sober while I get drunk very often.  His observations are identical to mine.”

“Spike gets drunk?”

“Once in a while.  Don’t tell anypony; he likes a good, cold glass of vodka, with hot sauce in it.”

Scootaloo shook her head.  “The more I learn about the ponies around here, the more I realize I don’t know.”

Twilight smiled.  “That applies to everything, Scoots.”  She walked over to her young visitor’s side.  She lowered her head so that she was level with her.  “Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Well… yes, there was… but seeing the state you’re in…” She started to back away.

Twilight stood up straight and put on the best sober face she could.  “Oh, no!  Please!  I never really get to talk to anyone about personal stuff, since they all think I won’t be sympathetic.  But really, I’d love a chance to help.”

Scootaloo looked down and kicked lightly at the floor.  “Well, I was going to ask if you’d talk to me about my parents.”