Chapter three: The Outbreak.
All our Glory are belongs to Pacific Penguin.
Scootaloo was walking through Ponyville on another bracingly chilly morning. Despite the fact that winter had already been wrapped up, it was still quite chilly for some reason. As she walked through the streets, heading towards Sugarcube Corner to pick up some sweets for school, she glanced over to look at the Everfree forest. While it had always been a kind of creepy place, lately it had gotten a lot worse. Ever since that Diamond filly had gone missing, ponies blamed a creature of the Everfree for her disappearance. In the beginning, rumors abounded that it was Zecora that had taken the filly, but when a search party was dispatched and came across her hut, they found it utterly ransacked and devoid of life; and most notably, it was devoid of the zebra who once lived there. Also curious was the large pile of ash a short distance away that still radiated heat, even when they returned several days later to continue searching.
More concerning however, were the reports of strange moans coming from the Everfree in the dead of night. It was enough to give several foals recurring nightmares. Though Scoots would never admit it, she had heard the moans one night as she was walking home from a double detention with the other crusaders. She had split off from the other two in order to go grab a cupcake from Sugarcube Corner. As she was licking the last scraps of frosting from her muzzle, she was frozen to the spot by a faint moan drifting from the trees of the Everfree forest. She stood, rooted to the spot by a sound she wasn’t entirely sure she had heard. As she stood there the moan rose from the trees again, utterly unlike anything she had ever heard before. By this time she has heard the stories of the Everfree moans, and she knew better than to charge off into the Everfree at night to investigate, even if she wanted to. Thing is, she didn’t want to. Not even a little. For reasons she couldn’t fathom, the sound frightened her as nothing ever had before.
You remember that feeling you got as a child, when you were walking towards your house at night? How you suddenly felt that if you didn’t start running right away, something was going to swoop from the shadows and take you away forever? Scoots got that feeling…but this was different… she felt a greater sense of imminence and dread than she had ever felt before in her life. Without another thought, she took off for home as fast as she could, beating her wings to give her extra speed. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but think that Rainbow Dash would be proud of her. She arrived at her house in record time, out of breath and drenched in sweat. Luckily, nopony was around to see her in this state, so she quickly went upstairs to the bathroom and took a shower.
That night, she was plagued by nightmares. She was running through the streets of Ponyville, and not a soul was in sight. That singularly frightening moan from earlier was the only sound in her dream, aside from that of her hooves on pavement and of her heart pounding in her ears. She had no idea what she was running from, only that she needed to outrun it or suffer some unimaginable fate. No matter how fast she ran, she could not escape her pursuer. She could feel the unseen menace pressing closer to her no matter how fast she ran. Worse, she began to grow tired. Very tired. She kept pushing herself to run faster, but to no avail. She began to call out for somebody to help her.
"Help me! Somepony, help me! Don’t let it get me!"
Nobody could help her. There was nopony around except for whatever it was that she was running from.
'If only I was faster…' She thought. 'Rainbow Dash would have no problem outrunning this thing. Why can't I be more like her?'
It was no use. She could feel herself slowing down. Her legs burned, her ineffective wings ached, but the menace gained. It closed the distance steadily. Under her breath, she began to mutter.
"No. I can't stop, it will eat me. No, no, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!"
As she screamed the last word, she felt strong arms grab her. In that moment, she lost all control and began to sob as never before and scream herself hoarse, flailing for all she was worth. Over the sound of her struggles, a familiar voice pierced her terror and let in a ray of light, even as the arms that held her tightened their grip.
"Scoots! Calm down, it's okay! It is just a dream, wake up. Wake up, scoots. C'mon, relax and wake up."
She recognized the voice, though she could not immediately place it. But she trusted this voice. And it had told her to wake up, but that didn’t make any sense…this was too real to be a dream. Even as she thought that, the framework of Ponyville began to evaporate around her, and light began to fill her senses.
As she awoke, she realized that she really had been dreaming. She began to notice her surroundings, and how a few things were not right. First, she was covered in sweat with tears running unchecked down her face. Second, she was on the floor instead of in her bed, and a good distance away from it at that. And finally, someone was holding her. She looked down in disbelief at the arms wrapped around her. Around her chest was something out of a dream, albeit a much more pleasant one than the one she had just awoken from. She stared for a moment at the cyan arms embracing her, drinking in their presence and locking away the memory forever in her mind. She would keep this moment with her until her final breath. She finally looked over her shoulder into the magenta eyes she has dreamed about since she saw them for the first time. Those eyes were looking at her with an expression of fright and concern. Finally, Rainbow Dash broke the silence.
"Are you okay? That had to have been one HAY of a nightmare. I heard you screaming from halfway across Ponyville, so I had to come and make sure you were okay. I thought something was hurting my friend, and I wasn’t about to let that happen."
At this Scootaloo blushed, partially out of embarrassment for causing such a scene, and partially because her idol not only acknowledged her existence but called her a friend. All she could do in response was nod that she was okay, and look away bashfully.
They sat like that for a while. Just talking, neither one mentioning the reason for the meeting in the first place, until Scoots finally calmed down enough that the tears stopped flowing and her body ceased trembling like a leaf in the wind. At this point, it was early in the morning, and both were very tired. The conversation slowed, and they found themselves drifting off to sleep; Dash in the corner and Scootaloo in her lap. Scoots managed to let herself forget about the nightmare that she had mere hours ago, and Dash lets her own problems go as well. And for a moment, it seemed that all was right in the world. In times to come, these memories of peace would be the only things that kept most ponies going, along with the hope of better days.
In the darkness that is her room at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie rolls over in her sleep, and mumbles a single word.
"Zecora."
Authors Note:
I know you all were expecting a much longer Chapter, but I've made the decision to transition to smaller, more manageable chapters in order to help me update more frequently. If you prefer the longer chapters, let me know, and I shall transition back. As always, Feedback is greatly appreciated.