Chapter 2
A chirp from above snapped her eyes open. Her senses sluggishly kicked in, taking in the feeling of every blade of grass that lay beneath her cheek, its earthly scent tickling her nose. With a stretch of her hinds, Scarlet pulled herself to her knees. Her forelock lazily dangled between her eyes, the young mare blowing it to the side to take in her surroundings.
Something about this place wasn't right. Now on her hooves, she peered around in confusion. Straight ahead of her was a cliff. The sound of rushing water rose up from below, forcing memories to rush back to her from last night.
"Am I dead?" She ground her hooves into the dirt. She felt light, almost ethereal, pulled to the ground by a force weaker than gravity. Lifting a foreleg, she licked her lips. Her teeth pinched a mouthful of leg, hard enough to elicit a groan from the back of her throat. Death was out of the question, if the sting on her leg was anything to go by.
She struggled to remember what had happened before she fell unconscious. She landed on something hard last night and stumbled into a cave beneath the waterfall. She was absolutely sure of it. Her mind kept replaying her escape from those wretched spiders, failing to recollect anything before she collapsed.
She snorted, walking along the cliff's ledge. In plain sight was a thick log. It bridged the land she tread with the other side of the forest. She scanned down either side. There was no other way across as far as her eye could see. Below the log, the river roared violently.
Placing a fraction of her weight down on the log, she frowned at the moan of the log under the pressure of her mocha hoof. She backpedaled, planting her hooves on the grass. She stared beyond to the other side of the forest.
A path lay bare on the other end, leading toward an opening, where the sun shone so bright that it blinded her to what lay beyond the spread of branches hanging over the exit. Turning around, she spotted where she had presumably come from. The path was riddled with wild flora tangled amidst the trees. It looked difficult to traverse. The brambles covering the path engulfed the other path in pure darkness. It would take hours to cut through the thick vegetation.
Her ears flickered when she heard something feral beyond the darkness, a guttural sound that made her fur stand on end. She gulped, eyes back on the log. It wasn't long. A few feet. Wouldn't take more than a few seconds to get across it.
That's when her silver eyes finally spotted something on the log, exactly at the half-way point. It crept into clear view with its eight slender legs, positioning itself as the guard to the brightened path. It skittered in a tiny circle, a large star pattern glowing on its back, its eyes glowing an eerie yellow right back at her. It stared, multiple eyes unflinching and its rigid, sharp movements of its legs giving off all signs of how dangerous it could be. Scarlet couldn't help but compare her options, constantly looking back at the dark path behind her, then back towards the bridge leading to what she hoped would be safety.
She looked below the edge for an alternative route. The sides of the cliff proved impossible to scale without proper equipment, and it was a long drop into the small river down below. Jagged rocks decorated the riverbed, a guarantee to any unlucky creature that falling would certainly result in a messy death.
The spider kept staring at her, daring the trapped pony to cross its domain. Scarlet dryly gulped, turning back around with a nervous groan.
Just as she looked back, she noticed the darkness of the forest behind her grow. Almost like tendrils, the shadows crept ever closer, her tail flicking against her body to avoid its touch. Her hoof pressed down on the log again, hearing another weary creak from the wood as she put her weight on it.
"This is insane. I-I can't do this."
The pale brown color of the makeshift bridge didn't ease her worries. Chips of its body fell as she put her other hoof down against it. A small branch jutting out of its side shuddered, a single leaf shivering with her step. Her eight legged foe didn't flinch even for a moment.
She held her breath. This was it. Chanting a prayer in her head, she gave herself to the log, lifting a hind and pressing it down. The log reacted instantly, a light crack heard directly underneath. A shiver ran up her spine as her last leg surrendered itself to the aged wood, her body stock still as her other hind planted itself against the bridge.
Nothing happened. She couldn't help but let out a breath. A forehoof rose, steadily moving forward. She kept up her momentum, trying not to move too fast. A sudden move could easily startle the spider. The thought of it running about in her mane, or jumping at her forced her to a complete stop. Another snap underneath, and her ears shot straight up. Freaking out was no longer an option she could entertain. She bit her lip thinking about what she would do to make the spider move, taking a few more steps and closing her distance to her little roadblock.
"Do I scare it? What if it's poisonous? Maybe I can just ask it to move?"
Her right forehoof came down on the log, feeling it sink into a soft spot underneath.
"Soft?"
Her hoof broke through a molded point, forcing her hoof to swing off and towards the side. Her body tumbled, spinning over the side with a violent twist. She screamed as her other leg desperately wrapped itself around the surface of the log. Her body helplessly swung over at the same moment, hanging like dead weight over the cliff. Her hinds kicked underneath, trying to grab onto anything to no avail. Her silver eyes widened, her other leg wrapping around the splintering bridge.
She looked towards the middle of the log. The spider was gone.
"Help m-"
Her lifeline snapped in half with a disgusting crunch. Her weight shifted, gravity finally rewarded for its efforts as the helpless mare tumbled off the cliff.
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't stop it. All she could do was watch with her petrified eyes as the cliff she was on slowly shrank away as her body desperately rushed to meet the rocks down below.
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A chirp from above snapped her eyes open. The familiar scent and feel of grass brushing against her cheek set all kinds of alarms off in her head. She stumbled to her hooves, gasping for breath, her eyes moist.
"Wh-What the hell was that!? Did I... what?"
She calmed her racing heart with slow breaths, using that time to look at her surroundings once again.
"But I fell..."
She was back on the cliff, the log still placed firmly between both sides of the forest. The light from the other end shined just as greatly as before, while the darkness behind her continued to grow. Another growl from her end snapped her out of her dazed state.
"I-I'm back. How? What's going on?"
Turning back to the log, she noticed the spider, still firmly planted in the middle. She could feel the darkness of the forest creeping closer from behind, her tail flittering nervously. The confused mare couldn't help but be drawn towards the bridge again, looking over at the jagged edges of the surface below. Nothing down there, just like last time.
"I can't," she muttered, the memory of tumbling below absolutely fresh in her mind. The fear and helplessness she felt was real, the sensation of the wind blowing through her mane as she plummeted to her apparent death turning her pale at just the thought.
"I can't..."
Her forehoof pressed itself against the wood, making it creak. Already her heart was speeding up, panic setting in as she realized what she was doing. Her eyes looked directly at the log, eyeing it carefully. The molded spot was there, just as last time. She practically slid across the log, her legs feeling too heavy with fear to lift themselves.
"Why am I doing this?"
She took a step around the weakened part of the log that had lead to her undeniable death. The spider flinched as she passed her previous checkpoint. Scarlet stopped right in front of it, giving the little cretin a few feet of safe space. Her forelegs trembled as she bent them, kneeling down to stare into those pulsating eyes at the spider's height.
She pursed her lips. "I must be going mad. C-Can you help me? I, umm, need to get across."
The spider's two front legs lifted off the ground, almost as if they were reaching towards her. She pulled herself away a bit in turn.
A high pitched screech drilled into her ears. The spider lunged at her, fangs extended. Scarlet's body flew into a frenzy as the creature landed on her neck. She felt a light sting burn against her coat. Her body threw itself backward, slamming into the log hard enough to splinter it right down the center. Her eyes shot open in shock as her body sunk below the bridge.
Her hoof desperately reached for a fragment of the log that fell down into the depths with her, feeling a strange toxin bore through her system before everything went black.
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A chirp from above snapped her eyes open. The fresh scent of the forest welcomed her. She recognized the patch of grass by now.
She couldn't will herself to rise. Her mind was still reeling from the spider's attack in her 'previous life.' Her body trembled and curled up against the grass, eyes watering up.
"What's going on here? I can't do this. I-It's too hard."
She choked on her words. Tears ran down the side of her face, wetting the ground in a small, messy pattern.
"I'm not brave. I'm not like the others. I'm just..."
Canterlot. Her home. She thought about everypony waiting for her. Images of Mysty, Amethyst, and even Flex flashed before her.
"I'm not the same. Why did I think this was okay?" She lifted her head, wiping away stray tears with a weary hoof. "What the hell am I doing? Jess is probably a million miles away by now. She has magic. Strong magic. Amethyst can fly. I'm just me.
"Useless little Scarlet," she snorted at the ground. "Just like all those years ago, right?"
The darkness from the woods behind her was creeping in. From the corner of her eye she could see it lapping at her hind hooves like a hungry shadow. She dragged herself towards the log, sniffling when the little spider in the middle of the path came back into view. She was trapped.
"What do I do?"
The strange growl from the darkness forced her to lean against her end of the log. Using it as leverage, she finally lifted herself to her hooves. She couldn't stay here. It wasn't safe.
"I can't..."
She took her first step on the log, tears dripping quietly onto the wood surface. The shadows engulfed the side she had left behind. She turned forward, the bright light on the other end seemingly mocking her with a warmth she couldn't quite reach. Scarlet sighed, dragging herself closer to the spider that would surely attack her again. Her ears folded, her heart feeling heavy in her chest.
"There's no way."
She sat down on the log. It fractured, shifting a little, but not enough to shatter it. The spider scurried, but found its footing and continued to stare at her with a creepy longing.
"What do I do?"
Her eyes catch something shifting from the other side of the log. She hadn't noticed it before, but after wiping her tears, she spotted the light from the other end. It was moving towards the log, much like the shadows from her end. The spider seemed to take notice as the light reached its end of the bridge. It quickly twisted in place, facing the light instead of Scarlet.
A whisper came flowing from her exit. A strange mist drifted from the edges of the light's rays. Her ears perked up, but the words it muttered were completely lost on her. They came jumbled together as a gentle hiss.
The spider flinched at the noise, making the young mare tilt her head in confusion as it screeched back with its front legs stretched out.
She gasped as the rays of light reached over the log, practically touching the spider. It screeched again, falling onto its back. It quickly flipped itself over, and much more like a roach than anything else, it rushed towards Scarlet. Her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable bite and blackout, but nothing came. She opened them just in time to see the spider emerge from the underside of the log, before making its way to the side she had come from. It landed in the shadows, fleeing like it was scared. Scarlet, her tears all dried up, looked to the other end. The light retreated, another inaudible noise coming from the exit.
She lifted herself back to her haunches, sniffling as her hooves started to move again. She pulled herself towards the other end, the log starting to fall apart below. She yelped as she jumped into the air, hearing the sounds of the broken wood snapping in two and falling into the abyss. She hit the ground rolling, tumbling into a heap on the other end with her head hanging just short of the cliff. She looked down, watching as the wood tumbled to its doom by the riverbed.
Finally on the other end, she rolled onto her back, her chest rising wildly.
"Thank goodness," tears ran down the sides of her eyes again.
The light by the exit shone brighter, reaching towards her and blanketing her in its warm glow. Her ears perked up as the voice came to hear, as clear as the bright sky overhead. It sounded familiar, its dulcet tone a reminder of the father she had lost a long time ago.
"Be brave."
Scarlet swallowed again. Silently nodding while looking towards the path beyond. Clearing her throat and rubbing her reddened eyes dry, she walks towards the exit, feeling a sense of relief as the weight on her shoulders was removed.
"I just have to be brave."