• Published 7th Apr 2012
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Scion of Chaos - SilentBelle



Sweetie Belle plans on learning the basics of magic, but what she discovers is so much more.

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Chapter 4 - Decisions

Scion of Chaos - Chapter 4: Decisions
By: SilentBelle

The numerous buildings of Ponyville fell out of sight behind the crest of a hill as the filly kept up her sprint. With laboured breath and a fresh sheen of sweat covering her coat, her body begged her to stop. Her lungs couldn't keep up with her legs.

Sweetie Bell wanted to comply with her body's request. She had never run so hard in her life, but all it took was a single glance upwards to see the foreboding, faint emerald sheen. Oh no! My horn's still glowing, I have to keep running, for Twilight's sake. Every glance she took gave her a bit of energy that she hadn't known she held within, the energy of desperation.

In the next moment she looked up and what she saw brought her to a sliding stop. Just before her, the nightmarish Everfree Forest loomed. She remembered the terrifying cockatrice that the Crusaders had faced within its dark thickets. And she had heard other stories of dragons, timber wolves, manticores and many others that lurked in those deep woods.

Sweetie Belle stood, conflicted. Her eyes darted back and forth between her horn and the forest as she caught her breath. Can I really go in there? Rarity forbade me from ever entering the woods again. But, can I risk stopping? My horn's glow has gotten much fainter, but it's still there.

“Sweetie Belle!” a voice called from the crest of a hill, thirty feet behind her. “Wait!”

The indecisive filly turned around to see her yellow friend, charging down the hill toward her. Beads of sweat glistened on her fur as they caught the morning sunlight and her pink bow flailed in the wind, having almost come undone. A sense of guilt and dread bore down upon Sweetie Belle as Apple Bloom, one of her truest friends, approached.

“Sweetie Belle, what in the hay are ya doing out here?” Apple Bloom asked breathlessly as she came to a halt in front of the unicorn. “And why didn't ya stop when I called out to ya back in Ponyville? Ya sure gave me a long run, I couldn't hardly keep up,” she continued, panting and blinking sweat out of her eyes. “Woah, are ya okay? Ah've never seen that before, yer eyes are glowin'.”

Sweetie Belle turned her head, lowering her eyes in shame. “I'm sorry, Apple Bloom, but I just can't explain right now, I have to go,” she muttered as she slowly began walking toward the dark wood.

“Now wait just a minute! What in the hay are ya talkin' 'bout?” Apple Bloom questioned with a tone of deep concern. “Surely yer not talkin' bout goin' into the forest. We're only allowed t' take the path to Zecora's hut and that's on th' other side o' town. Sweetie Belle, tell me what's goin' on!”

The unicorn shook her head violently in protest. “I don't have time. If I don't go, Twilight will-” No, I'm not going to think about it. Sweetie Belle cut her sentence short. Blinking firmly to avoid any more tears, she dashed off, away from her fellow crusader and towards the towering trees of the Everfree.

“Sweetie Belle! I told ya to wait!” Apple Bloom shouted as she gave chase. “We ain't done talkin' yet!”

Sweetie Belle got within just a few feet from breaching the vigorous underbrush of the forest, when she felt a sudden impact as her friend collided with her. Apple Bloom brought Sweetie Belle down in a fully body tackle.

The whole maneuver hurt Sweetie Belle and she would have issued a cry, had all the air not been knocked out from her lungs.

After a few moment's of struggling, Apple Bloom had the breathless unicorn pinned securely beneath her. As hard as Sweetie Belle struggled to break free from her friend's grasp, she couldn't out-muscle the earth pony.

“Now listen here,” the yellow filly said as she panted, “we're friends, Sweetie Belle, an' ya can't lie to yer friends. Us Crusaders don't lie to each other remember? So spit it out! What in the hay is goin' on?”

“I'm sorry,” Sweetie Belle began, catching her breath as she ceased her attempts to break free. “It's all my fault. I did... something, to Twilight. I don't know, but now she won't wake up. It's still happening,” she admitted. “See? Look, my horn's still glowing, it means she's being drained, but as I get farther away it starts to fade. If I don't hurry she could-” the filly choked off the rest of her sentence in a fit of hysterics, unable to utter the words aloud.

“But ya can't just run away from Ponyville! What about us, me an' Scootaloo. And yer sister, think o' Rarity, how do ya reckon she'd feel if you just up an' vanished?” Apple Bloom countered fiercely. “Ah know how sad it was when AJ went missing a while back, it feels horrible, not knowin' if you'll ever see yer own sister 'gain. Please, Sweetie Belle, think of how you'll make us feel if ya leave.”

“But if I don't leave now, then it's a regret I'll have for the rest of my life! If Twilight were to-” Sweetie Belle paused as she tried to swallow a knot that seemed to have made a tangle in her throat, “die, then I couldn't live with that. It would all be my fault!”

“But ya can't know that! How do you know that she'll die just by you bein' in town." Apple Bloom shook her head in fierce denial. "That makes no sense!”

“I don't know!” Sweetie Belle shouted back in her friend's face. “If I did know, then this never would have happened! If I knew what would happen to Twilight, then I never would have agreed to the stupid ritual!” Sweetie Belle cried. “But I didn't know, and it already happened. I can't just sit by idly, Apple Bloom, I need to act now before it's too late. So let me go!"

“No, I won't let you go!” the earth pony rebuked. “Ah made mah decision and it's final. Ah'm gonna take ya right back ta Ponyville, an' we're gonna figure this out together.”

“No!” Sweetie Belle refused. “I'm leaving, and you can't stop me!” Anger now filled the unicorn's voice. “Let me go, Apple Bloom, or I'll make you!”

“Then make me!” Apple Bloom shouted back as she got ready for the unicorn to make her move.

Sweetie Belle struggled for a few more moments, trying to shake her friend off, but the earth pony was as sturdy as ever. So, instead she closed her eyes as she turned her focus inward, to her magic. She found it inside her, as a roaring torrent of energy. It 'sounded'? No, not just sounded, but felt so much louder and stronger than it had when she had first found her magic. But she had no time to muse over it, she had to get away from Apple Bloom, away from Ponyville, Twilight's life depended upon it.

The unicorn willed as much of the energy up to her horn as she could. “Let me go!” she shouted as she opened her eyes. The magic coated her horn in a bright emerald veil, coloured as solidly as her eyes, and she willed it forth with the intent of knocking the imposing filly away.

Apple Bloom looked down, eyes wide with shock, as she saw the surging green light issuing forth from Sweetie Belle's horn. Without pause for thought Apple Bloom acted. With a swift strike born from her panic, she whacked the glowing horn with a fore-hoof.

Sweetie Belle felt pain surge into her horn and she quickly lost what little concentration she had, and with it, the tenuous hold she had over the emerald torrent that flowed through her. The strike jolted the unicorn's head to the side as the magic in her horn was released wildly.

A deafening explosion erupted in the next second, as flash of light blinded Sweetie Belle followed by a wave of heat washing over her. A moment later she heard an impacting sound, not nearly as loud as the explosion had been.

She began to blink fiercely, trying to clear her blurred vision.

The filly brought herself up into a sitting position as her sight slowly reformed. “Apple Bloom?” she called out as she began surveying her surroundings, her eyes chased the dark speckles that dotted her vision.

Immediately around her, she discovered patches of grass were torn up at random, their remains strewn all over. Then she gasped as she saw, ten feet away, resting at the base of a tree, was Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle hurried over to her friend's side, fearing the worst.

The earth pony's ribbon had been lost in the explosion, her tangled red mane draped across her face. As Sweetie Belle approached, she let out a small sigh as much of the tension that had built up in her body was now released. For the unicorn noticed the ruby strands of her friend's hair were swaying rhythmically from the earth pony's own breath.

Even upon seeing her friend in stable condition, the unicorn's sense of panic had not fully abated, for she could still see her horn glowing, even more faintly than before. With a feeling of foreboding, the filly turned all her attention towards her horn. It only took her a moment until she could feel a presence gently entwined with her own magic. She identified it as Twilight, she remembered how strong it had felt before, when she had almost confused Twilight's feelings with her own. At this moment she was still connected with the mare, siphoning off what little magic remained, even with nearly a mile between the two.

With a shake of her head, she brought her focus back to the scene before her. She stood right beside Apple Bloom, guilt filling her at the sight, but she fought down the urge to cry again. I have more important things to do right now. I have to follow through.

“I'm sorry, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle told her friend quietly, “but this is my choice, and I've made it.”

Without looking back, the filly dashed off into the Everfree Forest, praying that she had made the correct decision.

* * *

Even on a warm summer's morning, the eerie forest seemed to hold some sort of hidden chill amongst its creepy canopy of twisted limbs. Having stopped her running shortly after entering the forest, Sweetie Belle now shivered as she made her way through the dense underbrush. She heard only a quiet howling in the distance to accompany her muffled footfalls. Whether in front of her, behind her, or any which way she faced, even if she tried to angle her ears in different directions, she couldn't tell where the persistent sound was coming from.

Is that what timber wolves sound like? Or is it just the wind in the trees? Or maybe it's something else, she wondered to herself, not certain she wanted to know what was making the sounds. Her eyes darted back and forth nervously, her muscles tensed. She fully expected something to leap out at her in the next second.

“Boo!”

Sweetie Belle started in an undignified manner. Letting out a small shriek, she burst forth in a short panicked sprint; an action which promptly transformed to an uncontrolled tumble through the wild undergrowth of the woods.

Burrs, harsh thistles, and some sappy plants that held a strange lemony fragrance, all assaulted Sweetie Belle upon her crash-course with the great outdoors. The snapping of numerous twigs and branches were drowned out by the billowing laughter that echoed from all around.

“Scoddri!” Sweetie Belle screamed furiously, as she pulled herself free from the grasp of the surrounding flora. “What did you do that for? That hurt!”

“Why, it's all in good fun, young filly,” Scoddri responded, with a bout of raucous laughter, “and what would be the point of living if you couldn't have fun?”

“Well it's not funny if it's at somepony else's expense,” Sweetie Belle replied bitterly. “It's never fun, being scared...” she trailed off in a mumble, as she tried flicking, with a fore-hoof, at some of the burrs caught in her chaotic snarl of a mane.

She quickly decided to give up the impromptu grooming until she found a clearing in the forest. If she didn't, Sweetie Belle figured, she was more likely to gain burrs than she was to lose them.

“Ah, but my dear, you are missing some of the finer points of being scared,” the voice chided. “To feel the mystery of the unknown, to question, to doubt, and to wonder. Being scared allows us access to such a wonderful point of view, a shift in perspective, if you will. To be pulled from the world as you've always known it, and to suddenly see the countless bits of chaos that comprise every passing moment. And soon, you begin to wonder what parts the pieces play in the outcome of the whole. It's a terrifying, yet wonderful experience, and so very similar to how you view your own abilities.”

“You mean my magic? Of course I'm scared of my magic,” Sweetie Belle reasoned with the hidden voice, not entirely sure what the underlying message of his spiel was, “but there's nothing wonderful about it. Just look at what my magic did to Twilight, and to Apple Bloom. I hurt them both, I wish I hadn't, I wish I never had magic in the first place. I just wish I could go back and change it all.”

“Ah, a common sentiment shared by those in the wake of great misfortune. However, and perhaps quite fortunately, no pony can ever make such wishes become a reality,” Scoddri soothed. “So with our reality set in its proper perspective, I ask this of you child: What are you going to do, now that you've left all you've ever known, and stepped into this primal land, all on your own? After all, your horn has stopped glowing, there's nothing stopping you from going back to Ponyville.”

Sweetie Belle let out a gasp as she looked up to see that Scoddri was telling the truth. Not even the faintest light emanated from her horn. It must have stopped when Scoddri distracted her. I finally got far enough away for Twilight to be safe. She sat down as a feeling of relief washed over her.

The filly's reprieve was short-lived, however, as she soon began weighing her options. After a few minutes of contemplation she jumped back onto her hooves and announce her decision.

“I am not going back to Ponyville yet. My magic is still too dangerous, even I can see that. So, if I can't just get rid of it, then I just need to learn how to control it.”

“Oh, are you so certain that's the reason why you don't want to go back? Aren't we forgetting something else?” Scoddri questioned snidely. “I wonder, if instead, you are worried about telling your friends that you've been talking with a voice inside your head. Surely you understand the stigma that surrounds such an event.

“I do understand, that it might be a difficult subject to bring up in a conversation with your friends,” he commented.“And if you consider the fact that you did burn down the clubhouse, couple that with this morning's dispute, and I dare say a certain friend of yours might have mixed feelings when she sees you again.”

“I never wanted to hurt Apple Bloom! None of that was my fault, it was my magic!” Sweetie retorted, her tone brimming with self-doubt, “Rarity said so herself-”

“Rarity said no such thing, my dear.” Scoddri countered with a chuckle. “She was just comforting you, trying to stop you from worrying. Although we both know that she is certainly smart enough to be able to figure out what happened, if not how it happened. She knows you burned down the clubhouse, she's a clever and tactful pony. She also knows better than to make her sister worry, so she sidestepped your question in favour of letting you rest.

“Yes my dear,” he continued, in a voice of praise, “she certainly is a wonderful and considerate sister to have. Though I must admit, I do wonder what sort of feelings your beloved sister might be facing when she finds out that you ran away from home. Worry? Certainly. Think of the panic she would be pulled into, and after all the care she gave you while you were asleep and recovering. Perhaps she feels something more than just worry; I do believe she might just feel betrayed.”

The filly cringed as she was forced to consider her sister's plight. “I-I-” Sweetie stuttered as tears of shame pooled in her eyes. She didn't know what she could say, it was a harsh truth and it stung more than any lie she had ever heard before.

“Oh and let's not forget Twilight,” Scoddri continued, oblivious to the suffering unicorn's tears. “After all, Rarity is going to feel betrayal, but she would never blame her naïve sister. No, that would defeat the purpose of being a sister, would it not? She will place the focus of her betrayal upon her good friend, Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn who promised to keep her sister safe for the night.

“My dear, do you see what your actions have caused?” the snide voice continued through the tear-burdened filly's silence. “The unforeseen consequences of a single filly's choices, tossing all of Ponyville into a state of chaos. It's just, simply, beautiful.”

“Shut up!” the unicorn shouted, as her sadness became enveloped by her anger. “I know I messed up, but I can still make it better.”

“By running away?” Scoddri countered, with a chuckle. “You sure have done a splendid job of making it better so far. Now this may come as a surprise to a pony so young, but running away has never been the path to an agreeable resolution.”

Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes, as she reined in her temper. “I'm not running away,” she spoke coldly, “I'm just going to learn how to control my magic before I go back to Ponyville.”

“Ah, such determination,” Scoddri praised in mock-awe. “Very well then. I suppose you've made up your mind and answered my question, or at least most of it. However you must allow me to reiterate. Where are you going to go to learn how to use your magic? Surely you weren't thinking of testing your spells out in the middle of the woods.

“As amusing as the prospect of a mere foal throwing around arcane energies is, even I must express my concern. Think back to the clubhouse, my dear; you wouldn't want to find yourself surrounded in a sea of flaming trees, now would you?”

“I, uh-” Sweetie Belle stammered as her earlier display of confidence left her. “I didn't really plan that far ahead,” she admitted shamefully.

Scoddri's laughter echoed throughout the trees of the Everfree. “Then perhaps you would be willing to take my suggestion.”

“Why should I even listen to you?” the filly questioned. “I can't trust you, all you've ever done is laugh at me!”

“Oh come now, as I said before, it's all in good fun. Besides,” the voice offered, “did I not show you how to use magic? Think about it Sweetie, I have never lied to you. Nor will I ever lie to you.”

“You showed me how to burn down my clubhouse,” she muttered, “though, it is true that you never lied to me.” The filly paused before making her decision. “Fine, tell me your suggestion then.”

“I know a place in this forest,” the voice began, “I discovered it long ago. A place where wild beasts will not enter of their own accord, a place where a pony wouldn't have to worry about burning down a forest when practicing her magic. I can guide you to its location, unless, of course, you would like to wander around the forest in circles for the rest of the day.”

Sweetie Belle glanced at the overwhelming flora of the Everfree and let out a sigh. “Well, tell me where to go, I guess. Anywhere is better than here.”

End of Chapter 4