FAMILIARITY
By Fervidor
"...And with that, Ah declare this Cutie Mark Crusader meeting adjourned," Apple Bloom slammed her gavel down a few times on the podium. "Time to call it a day, girls."
"Aw, already?" Scootaloo asked. "It feels like we didn't really get much done today."
"We did help Diamond and Silver," Sweetie Belle said. "That's something, at least."
"That doesn't count," Scootaloo deadpanned. "Accessorizing is not a cutie mark problem, I don't care what Diamond Tiara says."
In truth, it really seemed that the daily crusading activities had lost momentum ever since the trio finally earned their cutie marks. Of course, they now had a new agenda – actually putting their special talents to good use – but they no longer had that definitive goal to strive for. Without that edge of desperation driving them on, Scootaloo felt that the days had started to pass slower. She wondered if maybe that wasn't a good thing.
"Well, Ah'd love to stick around an' hang out some more," Apple Bloom said, "but Ah promised Applejack Ah'd do some extra chores today an' Ah need to get them done before dinner."
"I guess that can't be helped," Scootaloo said. She turned to her other friend. "What about you, Sweetie?"
Sweetie Belle's face suddenly lit up in an excited smile. "Oh! I totally forgot to tell you guys! Rarity and Twilight arranged for me to get magic lessons from Starlight Glimmer! Twilight said it would be a good learning experience for both of us."
"Wow, really?" Apple Bloom said. "Congratulations, Sweetie!"
"That is pretty awesome," Scootaloo agreed. "Isn't Starlight, like, almost as powerful as Twilight?"
"I know, right?" Sweetie giggled in excitement. "Did you know Starlight once stole all the cutie marks from an entire village?"
There was a pause as the other two processed this information.
"That's actually possible?" Apple Bloom looked a bit paler than usual.
"That is terrifying," Scootaloo mumbled.
Sweetie frowned slightly. "Well, yeah, I guess it is. But she's a good pony now! Twilight said so. Plus, if she can pull something like that off, I bet she knows all kinds of stuff about cutie marks."
"Yeah, you don't want to miss out on that, I guess." Scootaloo let out a tiny sigh before she could stop it.
"Um, you want to come with me?" Sweetie suggested, noticing the look on Scootaloo's face. "I'm sure Starlight wouldn't mind."
"Thanks, but magic isn't really my thing." Scootaloo wiggled her wings a bit for emphasis. "Unless I happen to turn into an alicorn on the way there, I don't think I'd get much out of it."
Despite her concern, Sweetie Belle laughed at the joke. "That would be so cool. You sure?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "Yeah, I'm starting to feel hungry anyway, so I guess I'll just head home and grab something to eat. Maybe I can hang out with Rainbow Dash for the rest of the day, or read comics or something. Don't worry about me."
Since there was nothing more to discuss, the three Crusaders left their club house and soon parted ways. Buzzing along on her scooter, Scootaloo headed towards the other side of town where the house she called home waited for her. Summer had long since turned to autumn, turning the green of the trees into hues of red and yellow. The Running of the Leaves was less than a week away. Scootaloo had been looking forward to participating this year, but that was not what occupied her mind as she buzzed along the road.
The day wasn't a very nice one by any measure – the sky was covered with heavy clouds and Scootaloo hoped she'd make it back before the storm started. It was supposed to be a major one, and with a heavy heart Scootaloo acknowledged that Rainbow would be too busy managing the weather to spend time with her. Scootaloo hadn't wanted to fully admit it to her friends, but the prospect of spending the rest of the day at home really did bother her. While she had long since resigned herself to her situation, she never liked returning to that place.
She reached the edge of town, the Everfree Forest still looming to the south. Ponyville was unusually quiet that afternoon, the residents having already retreated to their homes to avoid the oncoming storm. With only the sound of her wings, the wheels of the scooter against the dirt road and the wind whistling in her ears, Scootaloo tried to look on the bright side.
At least she had a home. At least she had a house with walls and a roof over her head, even if it was only a place for her to sleep and eat. It sure would have sucked to be homeless, especially on days like this one. She imagined herself huddling up inside an old cardboard box, or under a bridge, trying to shelter herself from the pouring rain and the biting wind. At least, that was how she imagined it was like. Scootaloo had never even seen a homeless pony, so she was just guessing.
She had just entered the town when she felt the first little drop of water on her muzzle. "Drat, already?" Still, she didn't have that far to go, so she would probably make it before getting completely soaked. The air was getting colder, too. In fact, it was freezing.
An unexpected sound broke Scootaloo out of her musings: A constant, repeating plinking, like tiny shards of glass hitting something hard. There was something off with the rain – it felt sharp and hard and not as wet as she'd expected.
Puzzled, she stopped her scooter by an alleyway and looked around. The street around her were strewn with tiny fragments of ice – the sound was from them hitting the roofs of the nearby buildings. At first she thought it was hail, but when she looked closer she saw that the raindrops were simply frozen solid before they hit ground. At the same time she realized that she could see her own breath. The chill in the air gnawed at her skin straight through her coat and she started to shiver. “Huh, this is weird. It's nowhere near time for winter...”
Then there was another sound. It was unlike anything Scootaloo had ever heard before: A sharp dissonant screeching, like crystal glass being torn apart like paper. She turned to look down the alley and saw a great something materialize seemingly out of nowhere. For a moment space itself seemed to warp like water, turning the apparition into a blotchy mess. Then it cleared up and Scootaloo saw the monster.
It was huge, at least twice the size of the largest pony Scootaloo had ever seen. It resembled a dog or wolf in build, but only vaguely. It had no fur and the skin was dark bluish grey, almost black. It shimmered strangely in the dim light like oil on water. The body looked emaciated, little more than skin stretched over bones. It had no visible ears or nose, save six small holes along its snout that may have been nostrils. The tail was long and tapered like a snake or lizard. The creature stood on four spindly legs ending in three-toed talons with long curved claws, more like those of a bird of prey than the paws of a canine. Its eyes were just two round holes, glowing with a pale blue light.
The cold hit Scootaloo like a wall of ice. It was nothing like what she had felt a few moments ago. This cold burrowed its way down to her bones and seemed to freeze her very soul. It was an overwhelming, unnatural cold, primordial like the touch of death. The ground and walls around the creature were instantly covered in frost.
It looked at her and opened its mouth, letting out a sound that wasn't quite a roar nor quite a shriek. It had no tongue, only rows of sharp icicle teeth and a gullet like a dark hole into nothing.
Scootaloo fled. It wasn't a conscious decision, her body simply moved on its own, turning her scooter around and – powering through the numbing chill – flapping her wings harder than she ever had before. Her scooter raced down the street like a rocket and she heard the creature wail again behind her, distressingly close. She dared to throw a glance behind her and saw to her horror that it had left the alley and was pursuing her with mighty strides. The terror made Scootaloo push herself even harder, ignoring the strain, her wings a buzzing blur.
The weather had grown worse. Luckily, she had the wind in her back, and even the rain seemed to be pushing her forward. Even so, she somehow knew the monster was fast enough to catch up. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was dimly aware that she was heading away from home, down the same road she came, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was escaping. Running away. To where wasn't important.
On pure instinct, she made a sharp turn into another alley. For a moment she felt the creature's icy breath on her neck, then she heard a crashing sound. She'd lucked out: The creature's own cold had frozen the damp ground, causing it to slide and fall when it tried to adjust to her change in direction. Scootaloo knew she had only won a few moments and raced down the alley. It was narrower than the previous one and she hoped the creature would be too large to fit through it. But when she made another turn on the opposing street, she caught a glimpse of it skittering across the wall like a spider. Scootaloo kept going.
The houses were growing scarcer as the chase brought Scootaloo out of town. She knew it would be impossible to evade the monster out in the open, but it was too late to change the route now. She took some comfort in the fact that she was leading it away from Ponyville. If nothing else, the other ponies would be safer that way. The rain had turned the road into a muddy mess, making the scooter harder to control. Scootaloo abandoned the road and headed down a grassy hill. In front of her she saw a dense mass of trees. The Everfree Forest. It was a longshot, but perhaps she could lose the creature in there?
She felt the cold on her back again as her pursuer came sprinting down the hill after her and she could hear the snapping of its jaws. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs and muscles burned. Almost blinded by the rain, she barely managed to swerve around a rock in her way. The creature was less nimble and tripped again, causing it to tumble and roll down the hill. Scootaloo didn't bother to check if it got up. She had nearly reached the forest now. Ten yards. Five yards! One!
She dove into the Everfree. The canopy provided some protection from the rain, but that was the last thing on her mind. She still felt the terrible cold behind her, heard the sound of clawed feet running and the snapping of jaws. Worse, she found that her speed made it difficult to maneuver among the trees, and she realized she had made a mistake. The creature could navigate this terrain better than she could.
She ducked under the trunk of an old, half-fallen tree, narrowly avoiding hitting her head. But her panic made her careless and suddenly the front wheel of her scooter got caught in a root sticking out from the ground. The sudden stop and her own momentum flung Scootaloo off her vehicle. She landed hard and rolled across the ground. Her head banged against a moss-covered rock and only her helmet prevented her from immediately passing out.
Her head spinning, she struggled to get up on her hooves, but it was as if all her strength was spent. She saw the monster approach, freezing any plant in its way and shattering them with each step. Entire trees withered in its wake. When it reached the fallen log it dug its claws into the wood and – with strength that seemed impossible for its skeletal frame – casually flung it aside. It struck another tree and broke into pieces like glass. As the creature advanced it stepped on the fallen scooter, breaking it like a twig.
Scootaloo understood. This was the end, and she had never stood a chance to begin with. But even so, a part of her still refused to give up. She struggled to move, crawling slowly forward even though the creature was nearly upon her. Every movement was pain. Digging her hooves into the ground, she saw her rain-soaked coat shimmer with a layer of frost. She had never been so cold in her life. Dark shadows danced before her eyes and she could feel her consciousness slipping away.
Then, all of a sudden, something changed. The air in front of her quivered for a moment, and in the empty space between the trees a structure seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was a small stone tower, old but well maintained, bizarrely out of place in the middle of the wilderness. Scootaloo didn't know if it was a mirage or a dream, but mustering the last of her strength, she reached out with her numb, frozen hoof towards the tower and tried to scream. All she managed was a pathetic croak.
The door to the tower flung open and a figure emerged. It was dressed in a hooded cloak and Scootaloo couldn't see it clearly, but it was tall and walked upright on two legs like a minotaur. However, as it approached the fallen pegasus its shape seemed to shift, bending over and assuming a quadruped gait. The monster let out another shriek. The figure suddenly blazed in a bright golden aura of magic.
Just before she blacked out, Scootaloo felt a wave of warmth washing all the cold away.