“I do hope I'm not taking away from your busy schedule, darling,” Rarity spoke between the kisses that were constantly assaulting her lips.

“Oh, nonsense, dear! If only the council meetings were this fun!” Emily replied, sweat plastering the mayor's gray mane to her forehead. “Besides, everypony in town has been pretty angry since I announced there was another rape in the park,” she lowered herself to plant another kiss.

Rarity's sapphire eyes shot open and she shoved Emily off of her. “You did what?!” The mayor was shocked at this sudden outburst. “Twilight came by here asking about that! You knew this whole time?!”

“I don't know who did it,” Emily replied, subconsciously adjusting her hair. “But I assumed it was the same pony who raped that mare a while back.”

“That 'same pony' is my friend!” Rarity snapped. “Her life is ruined because of this mess! Because of you she's...she probably ran off to the Everfree Forest.”

“Rarity, I'm not the one who put the other ponies up to it. All I do is my job. They draw their own conclusions. If you're confident she didn't do it, I believe you. But Twilight still has to hold up her end of the deal and prove it to the others,” Emily nodded.

“I don't know...” Rarity fumbled with her hooves. “Twilight doesn't exactly work well under stress.”

Emily had produced a dragon shaped toy from under the covers. The rubber was still slick from earlier overuse. “Well then, maybe she needs a stress reliever,” she narrowed her eyes and smirked as she glanced at the unicorn. She held the toy up seductively.

Rarity let out a sad sigh. “All I wanted was to make ponies happy. These products provided that, but now...I can't help but feel I'm responsible for all that's happened here, rather it involved my product or not.”

“You provided ponies an outlet and some of them took it too far. Happens with everything,” Emily replied, tossing the toy onto the mattress. “I try to keep tabs of what goes on in town, and I haven't seen anything wrong outside of the crimes.”

Rarity nodded, any passion she had left was gone as her thoughts turned to all the damage she probably caused.

“The dragon is coming, Rarity! Better run!” Emily spoke in a deep voice as she brought the toy closer to the unicorn.

The bell atop the school house rang once more, signaling the end of another boring school day. Cheerilee had felt it prudent to bring in other ponies to lecture about various subjects that were part of the curriculum, but she had little knowledge about. Today's lecture about life on other worlds by that tan colt with the hourglass mark was interesting, but Apple Bloom didnt care. As far as she knew, humans were as much a myth as Seaponies and Schmoos.

Sweetie Belle walked alongside, her face blank as always as she tried to process what she had learned today. When that pony called the universe a 'fabric', Sweetie giggled that the sky was a piece of dumb fabric, then briefly thought if she could get a piece of that fabric and make something special for her big sister. Such was Sweetie Belle's well meaning thought process. She noticed Apple Bloom was silent, her eyes showing she was thinking of something as she subconsciously led Sweetie Belle to the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse.

“You okay, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie finally asked, breaking the silence that hung in the air.

“No! Ah could hear Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon giggling in the back of the class, and when I listened in, they were talking about Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom spat.

“Silver Spoon seemed worried about Scootaloo. Maybe she was just laughing for Diamond's sake?” Sweetie Belle replied, her green eyes glancing at the angry filly next to her.

Apple Bloom paused and turned to look at the unicorn. “You're kidding right? Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are the meanest, nastiest fillies ever!” She sighed as she looked at the ground. “I wish I shared your optimism about ponies.”

“No! It's true! She sounded really worried!” Sweetie Belle protested.

“Just drop it,” Apple Bloom snapped, sounding meaner than she intended. “We got to get to Scootaloo before they do.”

Little did they know Silver Spoon was following behind, hearing every word. She was hurt by Apple Bloom's insults in the face of Sweetie's defense. The poor unicorn was only trying to convince her friend Silver Spoon wasn't such a heartless monster, but the earth pony had her mind made up. Silver figured it was her own fault for associating with Diamond to begin with, but there was a side to her friend the others didn't know about. If only they knew...

She picked up the pace, trying to stay out of sight. She was curious where the self proclaimed crusaders met, and perhaps join them if they had met each other under different circumstances. The walk was a long one, from one end of Ponyville to the other. Silver Spoon's pampered body couldn't handle the pressure as muscles she didn't know she had began to ache with all the walking. It was all worth it to try and make peace with the crusaders. Though Silver felt bad that it took this happening to make her realize it.

The grey earth pony hid in the bushes as Sweetie and Apple Bloom walked into the clubhouse. Voices could be heard, mostly Scootaloo sobbing. Then she heard the pegasus say something about meeting at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The three flied out of the clubhouse, Sweetie and Apple Bloom acting almost like escorts for Scootaloo as they flanked her and kept watch. Silver Spoon ducked back into the bush so as to not be seen. Once hey were gone, the grey filly emerged and began following once more. Her mind began to wander to why she was acting so afraid of them.

Twilight figured that her best option would be to ask Scootaloo herself. If she could obtain something to work from, she could analyze the DNA. But matching it to the suspect would be tricky without access to any form of database. That's my next project, apparently.

The best place to start looking was at the CMC clubhouse, which prompted Twilight to think that she had never seen any parents or siblings of Scootaloo's. In fact, outside of the other crusaders and Dash, she had no true family to speak of.

Such a prospect was heart wrenching to think about, especially with what Scootaloo was going through now. The whole situation being public didn't help matters either. Hopefully Dash provided the comfort she needed, otherwise approaching her would be more difficult than Twilight wanted it to be.

The walk to Sweet Apple Acres didn't take long, and Twilight could sense a growing feeling of foreboding in the air as she made her way to the clearing where Apple Bloom's little hoof built shack sat. Twilight knocked three times, but got no response.

“Scootaloo? It's me, Twilight. I...I need to ask you some questions,” Twilight nervously fidgeted her hooves as she awaited an answer.

Nothing.

“Scootaloo?” Twilight  peeked her head into the clubhouse to find it empty, save for the map of Ponyville that they've probably traversed hundreds of times in their quest for a cutie mark. Twilight felt her stomach turn as her eyes darted around to make sure she didn't miss anything.

“No.....nononononono! Oh, Celestia NO!” Twilight began muttering to herself as she paced in a circle. She knew it was a bad idea to leave her alone, especially with the realization she had no family to look after her. Without her, there's no way to find the suspect! Then Pinkie will suffer the consequences! Oh, Celestia...

Twilight hated using the Princess' name in vain, but couldn't think of any other appropriate exclamation at the moment. Bad enough she had all these other mysteries to tend to, but losing the victim was the final straw. Scootaloo is goddess knows where, I could lose my job, Pinkie could lose her life..... Twilight could feel her left eye twitching, her emotions making the build up of magical energy in her horn painful as it coursed through her temples.

She jerked her head upwards and peered at the sky, then began screaming.  

“DAAAAAASH!” Twilight shouted up to the clouds, hoping that the rainbow pegasus heard her. “DASH! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Right here, Twi. What's up?” Dash swooped down and landed next to the unicorn.

“Where's Scootaloo?”

“Last I saw her, she was right here,” Dash gestured with a hoof. Her glance followed and she saw the little shed was empty.

Twilight shook her head, “She's not there now.”

Dash's face became determined. “Celestia help me if I find whoever...”

“Settle down, Dash,” Twilight wasn't surprised by this outburst. Dash did a lousy job hiding that she cared about Scootaloo. “You take to the air and see what you can find, I'll check the ground.”

Dash saluted and took off without another word.

“Okay, Twilight. You can do this...you may not have found the suspect yet and you may have lost the victim, but you can still...do...this...” Twilight could feel an all to familiar warmth radiating through her body. It was the same feeling when she lost control of her magic, but this wasn't painful, just annoying. Her body tingled with the dormant energy that increased with her stress level, ionizing the air around her enough to make her mane begin to curl at the ends.

“Twilight, are you okay?” A gentle voice snapped the unicorn from focusing on her rampant magic. Twilight jerked her gaze to the source to see Fluttershy trying to hide her face out of shame for disturbing her. Behind her, was Minty. The green earth pony was silent, but her eyes shown she had recovered well enough.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” Twilight quirked a brow.

“Oh, well, Minty and I thought we could go get something to eat,” the yellow pegasus explained, shrinking as if she was going to be punished. Twilight had wondered where Minty had went off to, if she even went back home. Obviously something happened between her and Fluttershy that prompted her to remain. But Twilight didn't care about that detail now.

“Have you seen Scootaloo anywhere?”

Fluttershy shook her head, a frown on her face. “Is everything okay?”

Twilight let out a frustrated sigh, her mane hanging in her eyes. “No...everything is NOT okay.”

The yellow pegasus cringed at the anger in Twilight's voice. She froze when Twilight jerked her determined gaze up to the couple, her eyes giving an angry glare.

“Minty, did you say anything to anypony else about what happened between you and Pinkie?” Twilight asked, her voice sounding annoyed and stressed.

“Uh...no....just you and Fluttershy. That nice nurse pony knows too. But that's it.”

Twilight stomped a hoof on the ground. Damnit, no pony is any help! “Okay, thank you anyway.”

Twilight was getting nowhere fast, and it was causing a swil of dark emotions to twist inside her. She could not fail at this, she had to see it through. She glanced back at the sky, hoping Dash would have better luck than her.

“Why are we here again?” Apple Bloom asked, glancing around at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Because I wanted to get somewhere far away so Dash couldn't see me like this,” Scootaloo snapped. “It was bad enough she saw me in such a state earlier.”

“You need help Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle interjected, “Twilight was asking me about what happened, but I didnt' say anything. She looked really worried and said Pinkie was in big trouble.”

“What? Why would Pinkie be in trouble?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes widened at the horror her situation brought onto the others.

“I don't know, but you really need to say something to somepony. This sounds bad,” Sweetie replied.

“What exactly caused all o this anyway?” Apple Bloom asked, her tongue running subconsciously over her chipped tooth.

“I was just playing a game with Snips and Snails, then things got out of control and..Snails....well....hurt me,” Scootaloo explained, glancing away as she blushed in shame.

“What in Equestria were ya thinkin playin a game like that with those two anyway?!” Apple Bloom asked, her voice louder than it should have been.

Scootaloo flinched, her mouth turned dry as she mulled over rather or not to tell Apple Bloom about the inspiration. With a heavy sigh, the orange pegasus decided to come clean. “I...I saw Big Mac and another guy pony in the barn one night...they were drunk and...well....doing it....” Images of Braeburn impaled on Big Mac's rather large cock appeared in her mind once more, causing her little wings to pop up, though they were to small for anypony else to notice.

Apple Bloom stood in silence, her mouth hanging open as her firey eyes darted around searching for a response. Her face then twisted up in anger as she glared at the pegasus filly. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK! BIG MAC WOULDN'T DO SUCH A THING!”

“It's true!” Scootalo protested, completely unaware she was digging her grave deeper. “I saw Big Mac and a guy pony in a cowboy hat and...”

“BRAEBURN?” Apple Bloom shouted, not caring who heard them at this point. “SCOOTALOO! AH ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE A SICK PONY! BUT WHAT YER SAYIN BOUT MAH FAMILY IS JUST WRONG!”

Scootaloo was hut by these words. She never meant to damage her friend's family pride, but the truth was the truth. Scootaloo swallowed hard and opened her mouth to respond. Apple Bloom only stuck her snout into the air, turned on her hooves, and stomped off.

The distraught pegasus glanced over to Sweetie Belle, who wore her trademark blank stare, not saying a word. “You believe me, don't you Sweetie?” Scootaloo croaked, tears welling in her eyes.

The unicorn sighed, hanging her head and shaking it slowly. “It's not nice to tell lies, Scoots,” With those words, the white filly took off after Apple Bloom, hoping to calm her down.

Scootaloo was alone now, having just potentially lost her two best friends, and the closest thing to a family she ever had. The CMC were officially disbanded, and it was all the fault of her own voyeuristic tendencies. Part of her wanted to find evidence to prove Apple Bloom wrong, but Scootaloo knew that was a bad idea. The Apple Clan had a strong sense of pide, and were as stubborn as mules.

With no other option, the orange pegasus burred her face in her hooves and sobbed.

“Hey, Scootaloo....are you okay?” A gentle voice caught Scootaloo's attention, and she glanced up to see a grey coated filly with a silvery mane staring at her. Violet eyes filled with genuine worry watered behind her blue framed glasses.

Scootaloo didn't recognize the pony, as she was blurred by the tears in her eyes. But when she saw the spoon cutie mark, Scootaloo clenched her teeth in anger. “What do you want?”

Silver Spoon flinched at the sound of Scootaloo's voice. The mix of hate for Silver as well as herself and the ponies who hurt her, gave it a venom that could kill on contact.

“I...I heard what happened, and I wanted to see if you were okay. Diamond Tiara said she was to find and laugh at you. I came to warn you,” Silver explained, pawing the ground with a hoof as she tried to avoid eye contact.

“How did you know I was here?” Scootaloo snarled, her voice not losing any of the anger it had before.

“I overheard you three talking after school. I kind of followed the other two here. I just wanted to be sure you were okay,” Silver Spoon nodded, a weak smile across her face.

Scootaloo didn't understand the sudden kindness Silver Spoon was displaying, nor did she buy it for one minute. This was probably part of some elaborate prank.

“Just go away...I'm fine...” Scootaloo replied glumly.

“I just want to help...”

“I SAID GO!” Scootaloo snapped.

Silver Spoon nodded, feeling tears run down her cheeks. She turned and galloped off, leaving Scootaloo to stew in her own self pity.