“And neither of you attempted to follow her?” Cheerilee asked incredulously looking as if she was ready to beat the tar of the both of them.

“I wasn't exactly in any state to follow her at the time.” Rarity replied as she eyed her bottle of apple cider and sighed.

“She darted out of the restaurant so fast that by the time I got through the crowded line to that place, she was out of sight.” Rainbow Dash chimed in and stomped a hoof on the ground. “This would never have happened if Rarity hadn't been dating her.” The cyan blue Pegasus remarked sourly which caused Rarity to nearly choke on her bottle of cider and glare at her.

“My fault?! If a ruffian such as you never laid a hoof on her, then we wouldn't be in this predicament!” Rarity countered at which point the two began to grind their heads against one another in some kind of headbutting contest.

“Enough! Both of you! You both are adult mares for Celestia's sake, start acting like it!” Cheerilee exclaimed at which point the two abruptly stopped butting heads and stared at her guiltily.

Rarity's expression however looked confused as she stared at Cheerilee. “Where's Sweetie Belle?” The unicorn asked curiously which prompted Cheerilee to look about her surroundings and notice the filly was no longer there.

“Sweetie Belle? Where are you? This isn't funny!” Cheerilee exclaimed as she looked about her surroundings more and more frantically by the second. “Sweetie Belle?!” Cheerilee exclaimed frantically as she looked about the house now.

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Cheerilee's voiced seemed to echo a crossed the town as the unicorn filly rushed through it using her magic to teleport herself short distances to make sure the others couldn't catch up with her as she ran towards the one place she knew of that Scootaloo would go to. “I'll go get Applebloom, find her, and convince her to come back, she'll listen to us, I know she will. I just hope I can remember where she said the house was...” Sweetie Belle remarked loud worriedly as she ran through the night as the cold winds whipped against her mercilessly.

However as she used her magic to teleport just on the outskirts of the apple family farm, she reappeared looking charred and dazed as she swayed back and forth. “Okay...I need to lay off the ma-ma-giiick....ohhh...” Sweetie Belle remarked in a dazed comical tone as she fell to the ground comically for a moment before she got back to all four hooves and resumed running.

At this rate I’ll get my cutie-mark in being a pyromaniac....

------------------------------------------------------------------

“We have to find her! I'll go get Twilight. She can track Sweetie Belle with her magic and maybe she can find Scootaloo as well!” Cheerilee exclaimed as she rushed towards the door only for Rainbow Dash to land in front of her.

“I'll be able to find her in a jiffy, she can't use magic properly still right?” Rainbow Dash asked with a smile which was met with a nervous smile by the earth pony.

“Over the course of the last three months I've been teaching her the basics of teleportation and levitation. She caught on quite quickly, but she still has a tendency to set things on fire and char herself at times still.” Cheerilee replied semi-proudly which was met with a facehoofing gesture from the cyan blue Pegasus.

“Fine, get Twilight. The less ponies to know about this, the better. Me and Rarity will search by ground and air while you two look around in other directions.” Rainbow Dash replied to which Cheerilee nodded though with an unsure glance at the idea and quickly left the house.

“Humph, if you think I'm going to team up with the likes of you, you're even crazier than I thought!” Rarity exclaimed with a glare.

“Now is not the time to be fighting over who gets Scootaloo, okay? We can sort this whole thing out after we find your little sister and Scootaloo. So quick drinking yourself stupid and help me find them! Or are you so far gone that you no longer care about your little sister and Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash replied with a glare at the unicorn.

The unicorn stared at Rainbow Dash for a few moments longer before she looked at the bottle of apple cider which she was levitating in front of her. She then narrowed her eyes at the bottle, turned it upside down, and emptied the contents of it onto the floor before letting it drop with a clatter. “You're right. We can settle this later, right now my little sister and Scootaloo need me.” Rarity said with a sense of determination in her eyes as she ran towards Rainbow Dash only to halt, turn about face and stare at the puddle of apple cider on the floor. “Oh goodness, that's going to stain my beautiful carpet!” The unicorn exclaimed looking horrified by the very idea of her floor being defiled.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash exasperated.

“Oh right, let's go!” The unicorn replied as she turned around to follow the cyan blue Pegasus out the door though unknown to the Pegasus was cringing at the thought of coming back to a horrible stain in her carpet.

----------------------------------------------------

“Where do we even begin looking? My head!” Rarity exclaimed as she cringed with each painful throbbing to her skull as the effects of the alcohol were finally wearing off hours later.

“We've searched most of Ponyville by now and haven't found either of them. Twilight and Cheerilee are checking the Everfree forest right now, there's only one more place I can think of to look.” Rainbow Dash replied as she hovered just above Rarity and guided her to a home on the edge of Ponyville.

“Oh you can't be serious. Why would she know?” Rarity asked with an annoyed expression as the sight of a familiar house soon come into view.

“She's her birth mother, if anypony might know where she would go, it would be her.” Rainbow Dash replied as she landed on the ground and walked up to the porch.

“Just because one gives birth to a foal, does not mean they know their foal.” Rarity remarked snooty-like.

“It's worth a shot at the very least.” Rainbow dash replied before she turned her attention to the drunken mare and shook her gently. “Hey, I need to ask you something, you awake?” Rainbow Dash asked as she shook the mare who's eyes slid open and stared at her.

“Wh-what do you want? Can't a mare rest in peace?” The mare asked though she was barely understandable as she spoke.

“Rainbow, something is very off about her, I’ve seen her drunk, but she's acting worse than usual.” Rarity questioned with a worried glance as she stepped up to the mare whom stared at her now.

The mare's eyes seemed to be dilating at an infrequent rate as she stared at Rarity. “Y-you, you took her away from me!” The mare exclaimed as she stood upright, pushed Rainbow Dash away and stumbled her way to the unicorn before she literally fell to the ground in front of her.

“This is you in ten years Rarity.” Rainbow Dash remarked morbidly which caused the unicorn to stare at Rainbow Dash for a brief moment then back to the drunken mare in front of her.

“L-Listen, we need to ask you something, Scootaloo has gone missing. We need to know where she might go that might make her feel safe.” Rarity asked attempting to shake off the horrifying images of herself in this very state ten years from now.

“Scootaloo...erm..gurg...missing?” The mare remarked aloud looking barely conscious at this point.

“Yes. Do you have any idea where she might go?” Rarity asked once again while something caught the cyan blue Pegasus's eye on the porch next to countless bottles of cider.

“A pill bottle?” Rainbow Dash remarked curiously as she lifted the bottle up and read the label.

The pill bottle read:

“It's empty...” Rainbow Dash remarked aloud curiously until her eyes widened in horror as she snapped her gaze to the mare.

“House....near...Canterlot...home was...” The mare began say until her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

“Rarity, she's committing suicide! This whole pill bottle is empty and I bet fifty bits she downed the entire bottle barely five minutes ago!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she took off from the ground, yanked the mare off the ground, and took off the to skies. “Go find Scootaloo, I gotta get her to the hospital now!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed and moments later was out of sight having flown so fast.

“That's me...ten years from now?” Rarity remarked aloud looking completely horrified now. “Is that really what I will end up doing? Drinking myself to death?” The unicorn asked aloud as she stared at the very last spot she saw the mare in before Rainbow Dash had carried her off.

I know I'm an absolute mess right now, but would I really go that far down?

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ONE DAY LATER...

A loud pounding on the door snapped Scootaloo out of an uneasy slumber. “Who in Equestria would think to look for me here?” Scootaloo asked aloud as she walked down the stairs, looked out the window just beside her front door, gasped in shock, rushed to the front door and flung it open which revealed Applebloom in a winter coat carrying an unconscious charred Sweetie Belle as a winter storm raged behind them while the farm pony carried Sweetie Belle in.

“What happened to her?!” Scootaloo exclaimed as the farm pony laid her down on the floor as she closed the door behind her.

“Ah'm not really sure, ah know she used that teleportation spell hers quite a bit on the way here, but it only left us a little charred, but just as we got here, she passed out on the spot. Ah think she might be sick. It's colder than mah teats after a dip in the lake on a winter's mornin out thar.” Applebloom replied as the Pegasus walked over and placed a hoof on Sweetie Belle's forehead.

“She's hot to the touch, I think she's got a serious fever going on here. This is bad.” Scootaloo remarked worriedly as she looked at Applebloom.

“Ah offered to give her mah coat along the way when the storm started to kick up but she just refused sayin that she didn't want to hurt meh with her magic, this coat bein fireproof and all.” Applebloom replied as she looked at Sweetie Belle whom coughed aloud and moaned afterword even though she was unconscious at the moment. “Are there any hospitals close by that we can take her too?”

“No, well, not as far as I know. The closest one I remember is fifty miles to the east in Canterlot. I don't have the skill of the stamina to carry another pony with me while I fly, let alone a sick one. By hoof, it would take us a week to get there.” Scootaloo remarked with yet another worried glance to Sweetie Belle.

“Could ya fly thar?” The farm pony suggested hopefully.

Upon hearing this the filly looked out the window at the winter storm that was waging outside. “Not in this stuff, I have no experience in flying during heavy weather. I'd likely be blown out of the sky.” Scootaloo remarked and sighed.

“Then what the hay are we gonna do for Sweetie Belle? She might die!” Applebloom exclaimed with a worried expression.

“Lets take her up to my old room.” Scootaloo said as she scooped the unicorn up and onto her back, walked up the stairs, laid her on the bed gently, and pulled her blankets over her. “I'll check my mom's first aid kit, she usually kept it in her room.”

The Pegasus quickly left the room, opened the door just down the hall, and began scanning every inch of the room for the first aid kit she spoke of. However the filly's efforts seemed to be in vain as she searched and searched yet found no trace of the medical supplies. “Oh come the buck on, throw me a apple here!” Scootaloo exclaimed looking to the ceiling as if shouting at an invisible character before she resumed her search.

Much to her delight, she found the box safely hidden in a dusty drawer of the vanity desk, picked it up with her mouth, carried it back to her room, opened the box up and began to scan the contents. “Is there anythin in thar that can get rid of a fever?” Applebloom asked as she ran a hoof along Sweetie Belle's forehead whom moaned softly in her sleep.

“Even if there is, we can only hope it's not expired or it's not gonna do squat to help her.” Scootaloo replied as she continued to scan the contents of the box until she found a small package labeled “Fever-treater”. “Hope this does the trick, Applebloom, grab a cup of water from pale in the kitchen.” Scootaloo instructed.

“Wait, this place don't even have plumbin?” Applebloom remarked with a shocked expression.

“This place has been abandoned for nearly three years Applebloom.” Scootaloo replied and sighed.

“How the hay have you been eatin then? If this place has no plumbin than ah reckon it has no food in it either.” Applebloom replied looking at the orange Pegasus with a worried expression now.

“I haven't. I was planning on seeing if I could find some apple trees out back that my father used to grow when I woke up in the morning, but this storm might make that hard.” Scootaloo replied as the farm pony left the room and came back shortly with a cup of water carefully balanced on her head.

“If those are what ah think they are, how we gonna make her swallow em?” Applebloom asked as the Pegasus popped open the lid to the package.

“The same way my father would force me swallow his, erm, never mind.” Scootaloo began to say but cut herself off mid-sentence as she shuddered violently at the memory.

“Okay, so avoidin the obvious question of how ya learned this, what do we need to do?” Applebloom asked as she caught on quickly to why the Pegasus cut herself off so abruptly.

“You need to plug her nose with something, a hoof or anything. By instinct, she'll open her mouth in order to breath, but if we block that off as well, she'll swallow whatever we put in her mouth in order to clear up her only air-way.” Scootaloo said matter-of-factually.

“Isn't that a might cruel?” Applebloom asked looking at her friend curiously.

“A little I guess, but since she's not in any state to take it herself, we have to do it for her. Now help me get her to take this.” The Pegasus instructed as she picked up a pill her her mouth so that it was held on the edge of her lips while Applebloom did as she was told and plugged Applebloom's nose up. Just as the Pegasus predicted, she took a sudden gasp of air from her mouth but made no signs of waking up.

Something else then came to mind that she knew she needed to warn her friend about which caused her to set the pill on the bed. “What the hay you waitin for? Hearths Warmin eve?” Applebloom exasperated as she struggled to maintain a grip on the unicorn's snout.

“There's something else you should know, when we block her mouth off, she might...struggle a little bit, but no matter what happens, you must keep your hoof on her nose until she swallows okay?” Scootaloo warned.

“O-Okay...” Applebloom replied though she looked more and more unsure about this idea by the second.

Forgive me Sweetie Belle, but this is the only way...

Scootaloo then leaned down, picked up the pill, dropped it into Sweetie Belle's mouth and immediately clamped her jaw shut with both hooves. No sooner she had done this, the unicorn began to flail frantically though she still made no motion of waking up.

“Come on Sweetie Belle, just swallow the consarned pill!” Applebloom exclaimed as she struggled to hold her grip on the filly's nose while at the same time Scootaloo struggled to hold her mouth closed.

A few more moments passed now and the unicorn was beginning to look blue in the face though she was still thrashing about in her sleep to get an ounce of air. “We're killin her! Ah'm gonna let go of her-” “No! Just a little longer Applebloom!” Scootaloo exclaimed cutting off the farm pony before she could finish her sentence all the while Sweetie Belle continued to thrash about.

Come on Sweetie Belle, swallow it! Please!

A few more moments past and the unicorn still had made no motion of swallowing the pill. Though her thrashing was beginning to slow down now. However, just as Scootaloo herself was about to let go, the filly made an audible gulping sound. “Okay let go!” Scootaloo exclaimed at which point both fillies let go simultaneously to which Sweetie Belle gave several sharp rapid gasps for life giving air before she finally began to calm down and breath normally again.

“Ah never want to do anythin like that again...” Applebloom remarked in a soft tone as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“Me neither...” The Pegasus agreed followed by a sigh.

As I looked at Sweetie Belle now it occurred to me, she was sick, she needed help, and we were trapped in a house with no food until this storm passed. To make matters worse, if I had never ran away, they wouldn't have come looking for me.

This is all my fault...

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Rarity walked into the hospital waiting room now and sat next to Rainbow Dash whom was looking worse for ware. “Any luck on finding Scootaloo?” The cyan blue Pegasus asked curiously.

“No, and this storm doesn't make it any easier to find her either, hows Scootaloo's mother doing?” Rarity replied and sighed.

“No so good, the doctors were able to pump her stomach and stabilize her, but not even they can properly predict the damage at this point.” Rainbow Dash replied grimly and sighed herself.

“Applebloom has gone missing as well. Applejack told me so yesterday. She apparently disappeared on the same night that Sweetie Belle did.” Rarity replied and placed her hooves over her face as if to hold back a sob.

“Rarity?” A nurse pony asked as she walked up to the two.

“That's me.” The unicorn replied as she looked up at the nurse pony.

“Skydancer would like to speak with you and you alone.” The nurse pony replied.

“I understand.” Rarity replied and followed the nurse pony down the hall, turned to the left, and walked through a door on a right which revealed a pale mare in a hospital bed with an IV in one arm while a heart monitor beeped regularly just above her.

“I'll leave you two alone, but please make the visit brief, she needs her rest.” The nurse pony remarked before she left the room.

“You wanted to see me?” Rarity greeted timidly as she walked up to Skydancer whom turned to face her.

“You're the mare who adopted Scootaloo correct?” Skydancer asked though her voice was hoarse and rough as she spoke.

“Yes.” Rarity replied simply.

“I want to thank you for taking care of her.” Skydancer replied at which point Rarity felt a ping of guilt swell inside her.

“I know your just recovering, but do you remember what I asked before your...” Rarity began to ask only to trail off.

“I think so, but it's all a blur. Why haven't you contacted the police ponies yet?” Skydancer asked as she looked at Rarity.

“It's complicated, I can only ask that you tell no pony what's going on and trust me.” Rarity replied though she bit her lower lip after saying this.

“My foal is Celestia knows where in this storm and you want me to say nothing?” Skydancer asked incredulously flashing a glare at the unicorn.

“I know it's a lot to ask, but the less ponies who know about this, the better. I don't want to lose Scootaloo. She means the world to me, it's my fault she's out there in this. I have to be the one to find her, to tell her I'm sorry, for everything...” Rarity replied choking back tears as she wiped her nose with a sniff.

“You've done more for her in the last year than I have in the last ten years, I let her father rape and hurt her daily. I could hear the pained screams from my foal, crying out for me, but...” Skydancer began to say but trailed off as her right hoof and leg began to shake violently as she turned her gaze away from the unicorn. “I did nothing! I was too drunk beyond reason to care that my little filly, the one thing I did right in this world, was being tortured by the stallion I once trusted and loved!” Skydancer exclaimed as she slammed her hoof down on the bed and sobbed softly to herself. “And then like a knight in shining armor, you saved her from that monster. You did what I couldn't-no, what I wouldn't do.” Skydancer remarked as she turned to look at Rarity.

“We've all made mistakes that we regret. So I ask you Skydancer, please help me correct my own before I lose the one thing in this world that I can not lose. Where would Scootaloo go that would make her feel safe?” Rarity asked as she walked over to the bed and placed her hooves on Skydancer's quivering right hoof.

“You really can't tell me what's going on can you?” The Pegasus asked softly as she stared into Rarity's eyes as she shook her head silently while tears began to drip from her eyes and down her cheeks. “She's most likely at our old house on the outskirts of Canterlot. Follow the old path down past mareton road, and take a left at the sigh that reads, welcome to Canterlot plains. There's a house about twenty miles down the road. It's the one we used to live at before we moved to Ponyville.” Skydancer replied and sighed.

“Thank you.” Rarity replied only for the Pegasus to clasp both hooves around Rarity's.

“Promise me that if you don't find her there, you will tell the authorities. Please.” Skydancer asked as both her hooves shook as she stared at the unicorn whom nodded silently before she quickly left the hospital room.

-------------------------------------------

“Rarity? What did she say?” Rainbow Dash asked as the unicorn walked past her towards the hospital doors.

“I know where they are, lets go.” Rarity replied simply before she turned around and walked out followed by the cyan blue Pegasus.

Author's Notes:

The story is coming to a close, but it's not quite there yet! This fic still has a few more in her!:)