//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - The Journey Begins // Story: Tale of a Lost Scoots // by RDfan27 //------------------------------// Celestia’s sun hung overhead as the group of friends trotted down the beach. Rainbow was trotting along next to Fluttershy, her new marefriend, with a wing protectively draped over her back as they traveled. The sand, heated by the afternoon sun, burned the ponies’ hooves to the touch. They had been walking for hours now and were getting very tired. It didn’t help that they had not eaten all day. Despite all of this, there was a huge, ear to ear grin on the faces of both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. They were thrilled. Although they had both been unaware of it, they had been harboring secret feelings for each other for quite some time, and finally admitting it was like a massive weight lifted off the chest of both of them. Both of them, especially Fluttershy, walked with a notable spring in their step. “Ugh,” came a groan from behind them. Their ears perked up and they turned back to look at their other friends. “We can’t keep walking forever,” complained Applebloom. “I’m gonna starve back here.” Her sentence was punctuated by a loud rumble of her stomach. Applejack sighed and looked back at her. “I know sugarcube, but we’ve got to keep walking if we want to make it to the city by nightfall,” she said with an empathetic smile. “Here, come and ride on my back for a while. Maybe you can get some rest.” Applebloom slowly trotted up to her sister, who bent down low so that Apple Bloom could climb up onto her back. Sweetie Belle, who was quietly staring down at her hooves throughout the whole ordeal, let out a surprised squeak as she was encased in a blue aura and levitated up to her own sister’s back. Rainbow Dash watched as both fillies settled down onto their respective sisters’ backs. Her face lit up momentarily as she looked back over to where the fillies had been standing. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but when her eyes fell upon the hoofprints in the sand where the two fillies had been standing only moments ago, her heart dropped, and her face fell. She took note of the two small pairs of hoofprints along the beach. “Oh, Scoots…” *** The light poking in from the corner was just bright enough for Scootaloo to see by. Granted, she still couldn’t see much, but she could see enough to make out the area around her. Slowly, she pushed herself away from the wall, using only her back hoof and her head, so as to avoid having to use her hurt hoof. She managed to turn onto her side so that all of her weight was on her right side, and she could keep her front left hoof off the ground. It was then that she noticed something else. There was nothing else in the cart with her. This was relieving, yet terrifying at the same time. On one hoof, she was glad because there was nothing that could get thrown into her if the cart hit another hole in the road. On the other hoof, whoever was pulling the cart had planned on carrying just her, which meant that they had a specific plan for her. At first, she had been hoping that she had just gotten thrown into a cart by mistake or something, and yes that sounds unlikely, but by this point, her mind was searching for any logical explanation it could. This revelation steeled her resolve, and she began to shimmy her way across the cart, being careful to keep her front left hoof up in the air. As she was finally approaching the back corner of the cart, where the light was coming from, the cart suddenly hit another pothole, this one much bigger than the first. Instead of just flinging her on her side, Scootaloo was sent flying, and the world around her slowed to a dull crawl. She bounced into the air in the direction of the light in the back corner. As she flew upwards, she felt some resistance, followed by a loud ripping noise as the material that had been covering the cart was ripped free. She clenched her eyes shut as she tumbled through the air, her entire life flashing in front of her eyes as she anticipated the hard connection with the ground that she knew was sure to come. *** Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were both hanging back once again, walking at the very back of the group, growing very tired, and very hungry. Suddenly, Apple Bloom tapped Sweetie Belle on the shoulder and stopped walking. Sweetie Belle stopped as well. “What is it?” she asked, following Applebloom’s gaze. “Look!” Apple Bloom said excitedly as she pointed towards the treeline with a hoof. “Berries!” Sweetie Belle followed her friend’s gaze with a hoof, and sure enough, right where she was pointing at, there was a large patch of blueberry bushes. Sweetie Belle’s face lit up as a line of drool strung out of her mouth. “Come on Sweetie!” Applebloom called, already halfway to the treeline. “Let’s go get some!” “Hey! Wait for me,” Sweetie Belle cried as she followed her friend over to the bushes. When they got there, they began fervently cleaning the bushes of their berries. Luckily, there was plenty, and by the time they had gotten through three bushes each, and were sitting up against a tree, rubbing their full bellies, there was still plenty left over. “Ugh,” Sweetie Belle groaned. “Why’d I eat so many?” “I know,” Applebloom said through a yawn. “And we ate way too fast.” “Ugh, tell me about it,” groaned Sweetie Belle before letting out a yawn herself. “Is it just me…—” Applebloom yawned loudly once again. “Or are you getting real tired?” “Yeah, I am. We should probably go find the others though,” Sweetie Belle said, groggily standing up with half-lidded eyes. “They’re probably wondering where we are by now.” “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Apple Bloom’s eyes were drifting shut, and her head was already bobbing as she struggled to stay awake. Finally, her eyes fluttered shut and her head fell. “Just gimme five minutes.” Sweetie Belle wanted to protest and get back to the others before they began to worry about them, but her own eyelids felt heavy, and with each passing moment, sleep sounded more and more appealing to her. As her eyes finally shut, she tumbled forward and would have face planted the ground, except for the sleeping mass of yellow fur and red mane that broke her fall as she came to a rest on Apple Bloom’s lap. Applebloom instinctively reached a hoof up to rest on her friend’s soft mane as they both finally drifted off into a much-needed and well-deserved rest. *** After a few seconds, Scootaloo opened her eyes. The impact that she had been anticipating never came. When she opened her eyes, she instantly realized what was happening. If the wind rushing through her fur and mane that she hadn’t noticed before wasn’t enough of an indicator, then the huge distance she saw between her and the ground along the side of what looked to be a mountain sure was. She was falling and falling fast. Even with the extreme height that she appeared to be at, she knew it wouldn’t take very long for her to reach the ground. Maybe twenty seconds at most. As she soared through the air at an incredible speed, her mouth shot open and an ear-piercing scream ripped itself from her lungs. It was louder than Scootaloo herself even thought she could scream. Her wings buzzed furiously on her back in a futile attempt to slow her descent. Each second seemed to last hours as she fell through the air. Her screams ripping through the otherwise silent afternoon air, and her wings burning from the effort of trying to slow her descent. Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound and made contact with something soft. It was much softer than she had expected the ground to be, although whatever it was had still made contact with her hurt hoof, and sent waves of pain cascading through the filly’s body once again. She forced her eyes open, and looked up, trying to see what she had made contact with. Right as her eyes were drifting back closed, and her vision faded away, she caught a faint glimpse of a Rainbow mane blowing in the wind. Then, everything went black.