Scarlet

by Capo First

The Hunt

Thumping. That's all she could hear, the frantic thumping of her beating heart as the world slowed around her. Her vision blurred, her whole body went numb. "So this is what it feels like," she thought as she was sent tumbling through the air. Through the unfocused pupils that were her eyes she saw the flaming pieces of wood from the fireplace, which only a few seconds ago had been burning lively, go flying. Her breath caught in her throat, and she was unable to breathe as the first wave of dust from the rubble rolled over her. She became dimly aware that the ground was getting closer, a giant black mass that seemed almost welcoming to the pony. But it still seemed so far away... they say that when you are about to die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. That's not what happened. There were no flashbacks, no reminders of happy times before all this shit. She quickly regained her senses and became aware of the hard truth.

Scarlet hit the ground with a dull thud, bits of burning wall and rubble flying past her. She barely had time to recover when the first one was upon her. She was sent back again, careening towards the dust covered bar. She grabbed a hold of the changeling and used her own momentum to smash its head into the counter, sending bits of whiskey and blood everywhere. She wheeled around to face the glaring hole in the wall, only to see several glowing pairs of eyes staring at her from the darkness.

"Shit." Her mind instantly kicked into overdrive, years of experience affecting her thought process as she sought to find a way out. Out of the corner of her eye she spied a rotting wooden door that was unguarded. Grabbing her hat off the ground, she rushed towards the opposite door, smashing through it with a resounding crash. She snarled loudly as she felt the bones in her shoulder grind against each other unpleasantly, but not with enough force to fracture them. She dashed out into the rain, knowing that the others were already hot on her tail and that she could not afford to turn around or stop. Spreading her wings, she quickly flew to a nearby rooftop. No sooner had she done so when a changeling rocketed down next to her and charged her. Immediately her brain retaliated and she found herself springing into action as words tumbled from her mouth.

"Oh no you don't, mother fucker!"

The changeling snarled as Scarlet kicked it in the mouth, blood splattering onto her glowing white coat. She was quickly off again, dashing across the rooftop as the screams of the monster echoed her footsteps. The rain poured down in sheets, converting the city into a mirror as it reflected the light of the fire behind her. A blast of magic smashed into her side, catching her off guard and lifting her up and smashing her back into the ground. Dazed, she looked up to see a tall dark figure, lights from the city shining through the multiple holes in her body.

"You bitch. What do you want with me?" Scarlet snarled at the figure, a mix of terror and rage consuming her.

"Now now little Scarly, no need to fight... just come with us, we'll have a good time...."

"NO ONE CALLS ME SCARLY!" Scarlet screamed, getting to her hooves, shaking.

"Oh really? I seem to recall that a certain somepony used to call you that... What happened to that pony?" Chrysalis smiled evilly, light reflecting off her wickedly pointy teeth. "Oh that's right. I happened." Scarlet screamed with rage and charged the beast, all reason leaving her as her only thought was to destroy this vile creature. In a flash, Chrysalis was gone, but her laugh continued as Scarlet slid to a stop on the slippery rooftop.

"Get her!" The voice seemed to come out of thin air. All at once the sky was filled with the beasts, their eyes glowing menacingly as they shrieked and began their descent. Scarlet jumped sideways as three changelings bombarded the spot where she was just standing. Realizing she had to get out of there, she dove off the rooftop, rolling as she hit an awning and bounced into the road. Her muscles seemed to extend and contract of her own accord, her natural survival instinct taking over as she sped off towards the center of town. She could hear more reinforcements crashing down behind her, but her only thought was to run, and keep running. She was dimly aware of more magic bolts shooting past her as she slid around corners and steered herself towards the pier. She rounded the final corner and skid to a stop, however.

The road to the pier was blocked by more changelings than she could count. Their eyes were aglow, boring deep into her with some hunger she could only hope to understand. Scarlet gasped and spread her wings, barely managing to catch enough air to clear the blockade. She could hear the shrieks of the demons behind her as she soared upwards in an attempt to escape. Her heart pumped adrenaline through her veins, her mind racing as her only thought was to lose her pursuers as fast as possible. She climbed higher and higher, each breath becoming harder as the air thinned. Her wings ached, her chest heaved, and yet she continued to climb. With a blast of water and cool air, she broke the cloud barrier and finally stopped.

Silence.

That's all there was. Silence. Nothing but herself and the moon. The changelings seemed to have stopped following her. The floor was made of dark clouds, rolling and pulsating as though they were alive. She listened intently, her keen ears tuned to the noises of a changeling hunt. All she could hear was silence, however, beautiful silence, the most wonderful silence she had ever heard. She breathed a sigh of relief. And then she realized that it was starting.

This time it was different. Normally when this happened it was sudden, and she retained control of her body until the "other" did. This time, as she felt her consciousness slipping away, she knew that her wings had stopped beating, and she was starting to fall. The limp pegasus soared down beneath the cloud layer as her vision blurred and darkened. She could only hope that she would be alive the next time that she awoke. She saw the thousand lights of the glittering ocean reflecting into her vision, and the world seemed to slow as one by one they faded from sight, until all that remained was an inky blackness.

She awoke with a gasp, immediately filling her lungs with water. Rather than panic, she remained calm, for this Scarlet knew that panicking only made the situation worse. She expelled the water as best she could, and kicked her way to the surface. She broke into the night sky, coughing and sputtering as she struggled to catch some fresh air. Once she had done so, she looked around.

"Alright. Middle of the ocean. No land in sight." She mumbled the details to herself, taking careful note of any surroundings she could use to escape. She was unsure of how long the "other one", as she liked to call it, had been in charge. In fact, she knew nearly nothing about the other side of her, only that it always placed her in the worst situations. Last time she woke up she had been in a volcano... wasn't that a mess, she thought grimly to herself as she treaded in the sea. When was last time she had blacked out? She had been at an inn... In Baltimare. Yes, that was right. She had been playing cards with some stallions when she faded. Damn, that must have scared them.

A light flickered on the horizon. Aha! She thought as she flapped her wings and lifted herself out of the water. Oh Celestia her body ached! What had she done? Scarlet examined herself, noticing a darkening bruise on her shoulder and a few scrapes on her side. She must have been chased, she realised. "So it's not only me..." She muttered, having come to the conclusion that the other one was hunted as well. "Well... At least she seems to have outr-"

No sooner had she said this when out of the corner of her eye she noticed a huge black mass. Where had that come from? She wondered. Scarlet squinted into the night, her near-perfect eyesight focusing on the mass. Were they...? She caught a glimpse of some light reflecting off a thousand sets of teeth and knew. It was them.

Scarlet wheeled about and shot off full speed towards the light in the distance. There was no way she could fight all those changelings; she didn't even have the experience to fight one. Maybe if she laid a trap... No. Too many of them. Her only option was to flee, as fast as she could. The light grew larger steadily and she realised that it was atop a light house. She barely had time to register this when she had shot past it, her dripping wet white coat reflecting the light from the tower and lighting her up like a beacon. She had never flown this fast before; she could barely control her direction. She dared a look behind her.

Just as she turned her head, the light from the lighthouse swung around and illuminated the mass. There were thousands, far more than she had ever seen in one place. And that wasn't the worst part.

They were all changed into HIM. She would do that. Chrysalis somehow knew the best way to attack her. Scarlet stared, shocked, as a thousand gray unicorns with short black hair levitated their way through the sky at her. How she wanted to run to them, to hug them, to love them! But she knew better. Those changelings were not Topsy, no matter how much they looked like him. With tears flowing through her eyes, she sped up even faster, with no thought of where she was going or what she was doing. Her only wish was to look away from the beasts who attacked her in the worst of ways.

They attacked her heart. The emotions came pouring in; grief, sorrow, despair. She wanted him back, so badly, but not like this. Not like this! She screamed in her head. Trails of saltwater tears formed behind her as she openly sobbed into the air. How could they? First they took him from her, then made her watch as they... She trailed off in her head, not wanting to think about the terrible things the beasts had done to them. Scarlet wiped her eyes and concentrated on flying. She needed to hide. She knew that she would never lose the horde by flying straight. Maybe if she just-

All at once a loud buzzing became apparent. Scarlet whipped her head around and took in the massive amounts of changeling Topsys, which were now nearly on top of her. The nearest one grinned at her, the same grin she loved so much. She screamed with anger at seeing the creature wear the grin, looking at her with eyes... his eyes. One orange, one green. How could they do that? How did they know?

"Come with me Scarly... It will be alright... I'll protect you from the beasts... Just like I always promised." The changeling cackled, the same laugh distorted into some expression of evil, breaking the curse it held on Scarlet. She screamed and whipped her head around, flying straight. This angered the beasts; their plan had failed. By that time they had reached the mountain in the near center of Equestria, it's rocky face less than a hundred feet from them. Suddenly a changeling smashed into her side, catching her off guard and sending her careening towards the slope. She hit it hard, her vision flashing as she felt the bones in her right foreleg shatter from the force of the impact. She tumbled down the slope, the cackling laughter of the monsters following her as she fell victim to the laws of gravity. She knew she had to regain flight status or she would be dead. Finally she managed to catch her hind legs around a tree, stopping her descent and allowing her to raise herself in the air.

She spotted a nearby cave and made a mad dash for it, the changelings too busy cackling away to notice. She soared right to the back, immersing herself in the darkness like some kind of black cloak. And she waited. She didn't dare move, for fear that the slightest movement would alert the beasts that were prowling the hillside. The minutes dragged into hours as she sat, petrified by fear. The sun rose, and was nearly setting when she decided to dare take a look. She limped to the edge of the cafe and peeked out.

Nothing. They were gone, off to report their failure to their master. She flew into the air, scanning the hillside for any stragglers. She turned around and gasped. Canterlot! The rocky outcropping of a city lay some two hundred feet below her, little plumes of smoke rising from the chimneys and stores of the town. Scarlet smiled wide. Where there is a crowd, there is safety, she thought to herself, as she flew down the hillside toward the town. And the most important thing she needed right now was safety.