Scootaloo's Guardian

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Getting down to business

In Ponyville, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were stealthfully trotting along the streets to keep out of Twilight's radar. They plan to head over to Sweet Apple Acres, where they could grab some lunch and bring it back to Scootaloo's house since they did not have enough money to get food at Sugarcube Corner. Darting their heads left and right as they hide along building walls, they continued towards the trail leading to the farm.

Sweetie Belle was behind Applebloom as they carefully made their way across town. Her ears perked up and she whispered to the yellow filly "Applebloom, I just thought of something! What'll we say to Applejack if she wants to know about Scootaloo's house??" She and Applebloom shared worried glances as they came to a quick stop.

Applebloom rubbed her chin and thought about this "That's gonna be mighty tough, what with mah sis bein' th' Element o' Honesty an' all...Maybe we can jus' eat there an' save some leftovers fer Scoots once we leave. That don't seem too bad of a plan, right?" She turned to the unicorn filly, who only responded with a shrug as they continued trotting.

Sweetie Belle hummed a little and looked down "I'm worried about Scootaloo...What if she doesn't get Astaroth to cooperate whe-"

Applebloom quickly shoved a hoof in Sweetie Belle's mouth and shushed her with a soft glare "We're not s'posed t' tell everypony, remember??" A new voice was then heard "Tell everypony what?"

The two fillies flinched, then turned their heads to see two unicorn colts who looked rather different from each other. There was Snips, the small and portly one, and Snails, his taller friend who always seems more dense. They eyed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle curiously as Snips spoke up again "Tell everypony what? Is it something we should know about??"

Sweetie Belle looked around and saw no sign of Twilight, then turned back to the two colts "No, it's nothing, you guys. What are you even doing here anyway??"

Snips smiled "We were on our way over to Pip's place so we could hang out! We were gonna talk about what we were gonna bring to Show and Tell day tomorrow!" Snails smiled and nodded after his smaller friend spoke.

Applebloom gasped and looked down "Oh shoot, that's right! School's tomorro'! We better hurry things along so we can discuss stuff with Scoots..." She said to herself, only to remember she was standing in front of Snips and Snails "I-I mean, ya don't say~! Well, don't let us stop y'all wantin' t' talk with Pipsqueak about what yer gonna bring tomorro'!" She gave a wide and unconvincing grin.

Snails then replied "Well yeah, we were gonna do that, but then we saw you sneaking around like robbers and talking about something we wanted to know! So can you tell us??"

Snips chimed in with a smile "Yeah! Is it something for Show and Tell day? Or is it something involving another crusade? C'mon, won't you tell us?"

Applebloom looked at the two colts "Sorry, fellas, but it doesn't really concern y'all. This is somethin' between us crusaders! We're kinda in a hurry, so would ya mind movin' outta th' way?" The yellow filly then took the time to look around carefully.

Snails spoke up "Awwww, but we wanna know! We're never in on secrets, and nopony usually tells us anything! Except for when Diamond Tiara makes fun of us...but that's different! Would you pretty please tell us??"

Sweetie Belle groaned and glared at the two colts "We already told you no! Can you go now, please? We're trying to keep away from-"

"Girls!"

The two fillies froze in place with widened eyes and turned to see Twilight approach them with her mane frazzled up and a smile on her face. It was almost as if their theory on Twilight wanting to solve a friendship problem were true. The lavender bookworm stopped in front of the young ponies and smiled "Thank Celestia I found you! I really need you for a second!"

Twilight's presence alone was enough to scare the children as Snips and Snails turned to each other and yell in unison "Bail!" and quickly zip past the others and gallop away.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle wanted to join them until Twilight got in their way "Wait one moment! This is very important, and I want your cooperation! Can you help me out please?"

The two fillies shivered and looked at each other, then Applebloom blurted out "Nope! Sorry, Twi! No friendship problems here! None whatsoever!" She quickly scrunched her muzzle and darted her eyes left and right.

Sweetie Belle then joined in with an awkward smile "Y-Yeah! In fact, we're surely the best of friends and nopony will say otherwise!" The two fillies then quickly hugged each other while flashing wide grins to Twilight, hoping it would coerce her to leave them alone.

Twilight simply craned her head back "Wha-Friendship problem? No girls, this isn't about friendship at all! This is something both very different and VERY important! I want you two to answer for me the best way you can!"

This came as a surprise to the two as they traded confused glances and turned back to the lavender bookworm as Sweetie Belle spoke up "Okay, I guess. What's happening right now, Twilight?"

Happy to know that they would listen, Twilight came out with her question "Thank you for bearing with me, girls. Now tell me...have you seen a human pass by in Ponyville at all??"

Applebloom tilted her head in curiousity "A whatnow? What're you gettin' at, Twilight? What exactly is a...hue-min?"

Twilight sighed, knowing that nopony in town knew about the existence of humans and decided to go into detail "Okay, you know how you have ponies?" The fillies nodded in response "Well, humans are different, very different! They're tall, walk on two hooves, and have claws just like Spike! I seen one visit my library just recently!"

The two fillies widened their eyes at this, knowing that Twilight basically ruled out the details involving Astaroth's figure. Applebloom looked down and rubbed her chin with a hoof 'There's no way Astaroth went outta Scootaloo's house and wandered 'round Ponyville...did he?' She snapped out of her thought as Twilight continued "He was also carrying a large scythe and wearing a white cloak! Have you seen him at all??" That description alone was enough to justify that Astaroth hadn't indeed wandered away from home out of free will, though now she was curious if the two were linked together "No, Ah really haven't, Twi. Ah'm sorry, but Ah don't know what yer talkin' about. But we'll be sure t' keep an eye out fer anythin' suspicious!"

Twilight gave a defeated sigh "Darn it! I can't believe this is happening and nopony isn't even doing something about it! I'll have to go back and round up the girls...If it's what it takes, I'll have to find Zasalamel with their help!"

Sweetie Belle tilted her head this time "Zasalamel? Who's that?" She hoped to get an answer, but only saw Twilight turn and gallop back to her library. The unicorn filly then turned to Applebloom as they both shared a confused glance.

Applebloom shook her head "Ah dunno what exactly's goin' on, but at least we know what Astaroth is! But now we hafta worry 'bout this Zasama-whatever guy, too! Ah sure hope he's more friendly than that big grump..."

The unicorn filly then spoke up "We can worry about that later! We already have enough on our plate as it is!" The two fillies then heard their stomach grumbling as they remembered their objective "Speaking of plates..."

Applebloom nodded with a smile "Right, food. Let's get movin', Sweetie Belle!" The two galloped off, knowing that they don't have much to worry about.

Meanwhile, back at Scootaloo's home, Astaroth was busy with his book as he looked up a topic of interest: The Elements of Harmony. He read about them from when Celestia used them to banish Nightmare Moon, but not he was onto the part where they were rediscovered by six ponies who used them to get rid of her completely. This intrigued him with how powerful they seemed to be when used properly, and he flipped through a page to reveal a picture of the six ponies involved 'Hmmm...I wonder if their power rivals that of Soul Edge...' He wanted to know more, but then he turned to Scootaloo, who was kicking a pebble in the distance. Truth be told, while the dark golem was ambitious about his quest for knowledge, he was beginning to lose interest in reading up history even though he wasn't finished with his first book. With that, he did something he never thought he would ever do in his life.

Ask for help

He hated Scootaloo, and wanted nothing more than to destroy her when the moment saw fit, but he remembered how smug she was about her importance. It was time he put that importance of hers to use as he called her over "Hey! Runt!" Scootaloo turned to Astaroth as he stared at her with a neutral glare "Come over here...You're needed..."

Scootaloo blinked at this, not anticipating his action as she trotted over to his side "Yeah? What's up, Astaroth? Having trouble hitting the books? Trust me, I can relate to that..." She chuckled a little, but noticed he wasn't even laughing.

Astaroth kept his gaze on the orange filly as he replied "I want to know more about these...Elements of Harmony. You claim to know more about this world, so I demand you tell me! If I really need you, then you'll do well to give me what I want!" He pointed to the picture of the Element Bearers blasting Nightmare Moon with her power "Now start telling me about them. What is their significance to this world?"

Scootaloo turned to his book and then smiled "Oh, you're stuck on this part? That's easy! The Elements of Harmony were used to fight against Nightmare Mo-"

Astaroth interrupted with a yell, making the filly cringe "I know about that already! Tell me something else about them! Something interesting..." He was losing his patience more and more. It was not healthy for the dark golem to be cooped up in a single location for a day with nothing to do.

After his words, Scootaloo nodded and spoke "Well, I don't know where exactly the elements came from, but I do know they're really powerful. They're used to establish proper order to Equestria when things got hairy! There's the Element of Generosity, which is Sweetie Belle's older sister Rarity. Then there's Honesty, which is Applebloom's older sister Applejack. Pinkie Pie's is Laughter while Fluttershy's is Kindness. There's Twilight, who has the Element of Magic, and finally, Rainbow Dash! She has the Element of Loyalty! Together, they're an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, especially with the Magic of Friendship!"

Astaroth was intrigued, up until friendship was mentioned. He only scoffed at this "You mean to tell me that a few forged bonds are an unstoppable force? Don't make me laugh! But as for these elements...They're actually ponies?" This was confusing to consider living ponies a powerful source, especially when he could toss around the crusaders with relative ease.

Scootaloo looked up at the dark golem "You'd be surprised at how strong the Magic of Friendship can be! As for the elements, well...yes and no. You see, the Elements are not so much the ponies, but what they represent with whatever element they have! They're actually just some flashy jewelry flowing with magic, but they're still pretty powerful!" she smiled at Astaroth as he rubbed his chin "Do you wanna know more about them, Astaroth?"

The dark golem hummed in thought, and then turned to Scootaloo "Tell me more about these ponies and I promise I won't hurt you...badly..."

With what he had said, the orange filly grinned at how calm he is becoming "Okay! But I wanna start with the best pony around other than Princess Celestia!" She points to the picture of Rainbow Dash "Rainbow Dash! She's the fastest flier in all of Equestria, and she performed the Sonic Rainboom TWICE! She's really super awesome and cool! When I grow up, I wanna be just like her!"

Astaroth sneered at how Scootaloo was gushing about her idol, but he was curious with how high she was talking about her "Is she as strong as she is fast? Can she put up a fight?"

Scootaloo wanted to say 'Where have you been!?', but remembered that the dark golem was ancient in a way, though he hasn't explained his history yet. She then answered his questions with a beam "Heck yeah! Her wings are strong, and pegasi are known for their upper body strength while using their wings!" She turned to her wingspan and gave it a few rapid flutters, then pouted "Wish that would apply to me..." She then turned back to Astaroth "But anyway, yeah! She can definitely put up a fight! I heard she kicked a dragon square in the face! Oh! And I think I heard something about her fighting a giant robot, but I think that's some kind of rumor. I don't even know what a robot is..."

The dark golem was silent, and then gave a malicious grin 'Looks like this place isn't so vulnerable after all...' He wondered if Rainbow Dash's soul would be good enough for him, especially since she's one of the Element bearers "Tell me more about the rest..."

Scootaloo nodded "Okay, I'll talk about Pinkie Pie next. She's all about parties, and she is so hyper sometimes, but she stays true to her element! Pinkie loves to make friends with everypony, and makes them smile, too! But if you asked me, sometimes I think she can be a bit crazy..."

Astaroth raised an eyebrow "How crazy? Does she hold the most power over all of the elements?"

The orange filly shook her head "No, not really...that would be Twilight. She's a super egghead, but she's very powerful when it comes to magic! That, and she's Princess Celestia's personal student! Twilight usually writes friendship letters to her almost every week, but ever since..." Scootaloo shudders "THAT day...her friends write friendship letters as well! Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have done their's, but I'll be sure to do my own soon. But then again, what's too learn when you have such good friends?" She looks up at Astaroth with a smile.

She wished he would understand, but the dark golem only glared "You're stalling, runt...I want to know about the elements, not their hobbies!"

Scootaloo's ears drooped at his words, but then she perked up "Well, we can wait till Applebloom and Sweetie Belle come back so they can talk about their sisters!" This made the dark golem narrow his eyes "But I can talk to you about Fluttershy until they come back! They know about Rarity and Applejack more than I do! Sound fair?"

Astaroth was silent, then scoffed at the orange filly "Fine...but they better not keep me waiting. Start talking, runt...I want to know more about this...'Fluttershy' you speak of..." The name alone sounded annoying to him next to Pinkie Pie. It sounded so close to butterfly, and he remembered all the ones he crushed as he roamed the earth in search of souls.

Scootaloo nods with a smile "Okay! Well, Fluttershy is obviously the kindest pony in Equestria, hence her element..." She continued her explanation, secretly hoping her friends would return soon with food.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were enjoying their meals before they could go back to Scootaloo's house. Applebloom wiped her mouth as she gave a small belch "Well, that did th' trick! An' there's enough food left fer Scoots!" She held a saddlebag containing food, mostly apples, then turned to her older sister "Thanks fer lettin' us eat here, sis!"

Applejack nodded with a smile "No problem, Applebloom. Jus' tell Scoots I said hi! I better get back to buckin' them apples 'fore I sell 'em in town..." She trotted off to the fields where she would continue her work.

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief "It's a good thing your sister didn't ask about her! C'mon, we better head back and quickly!" She hopped off of her seat and began to gallop back to Scootaloo's house.

The yellow filly hopped off and placed the saddlebag on her back "Hey, wait up!" Applebloom chased after Sweetie Belle, wanting to return to her friend as much as the unicorn filly.
______________

Inside the Everfree forest, there was a trail of blood and corpses of Manticores and Timberwolves as Zasalamel made his way through a path that he himself carved. He was slightly dirty as he walked along after such a long, yet easy fight "To think that humans would die out only to make way for these equines...My only joy to this matter is that they don't know about the swords yet, save for Celestia's protege..." He then looked up to see the trees block out the sunlight "It would do me no justice to be caught by the princesses when I have a job to do..." As he continued his pace, he saw a small flicker of light ahead of him "It's time I get down to business..." he quickened his pace as the light grew brighter to reveal a way out of the forest.

He now found himself in Froggy Bottom Bog, where many of said amphibians were found hopping and croaking along the many large puddles of muck. Treading along and avoiding the puddles, he noticed the frogs beginning to hop away faster as one of the larger puddles began to bubble profusely. He stood unphased at what sprouted afterwards as four large heads leered down at the cloaked man and roared all at once (though one of them hesitated before roaring).

Zasalamel drew his scythe with both hands as he narrowed his eyes in a glare "This world houses as much danger as it has in days of old..." He gripped the scythe's pole and got into his fighting stance "Let's finish this quickly!" With what Equestria had to offer in terms of danger, Zasalamel is going to be occupied in his task of recovering the shards of Soul Edge.

End of Chapter 12

Comments

[Dirty Bit]

I'm just gonna leave this here...

media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/112/900742-phil_large.jpg

Let it begin.

[Gypsy]

Colosseum reference....yes.

So this is either hundred or thousands of years from whatever year Soul Calibur ends ( my money is that Soul Calibur 8 is where it ends).

[Dirty Bit]

384595 the gist was made clear a few chapters ago, but yes

[Gypsy]

385267

or maybe Matrix

[suijin228]

ah, great to see you back at this story. Lovin' the different points of view and the side points of view intertwining with the actual plot. Keep goin and stay golden^^

[Chuck Baleigh]

Zasalamel.
Protagonist or antagonist?
One can only keep going to find out.

[Icarus Crimsonhoof]

Yay kill a hydra.