Since the morning this day turned out to be bad for Scootaloo. At first she came out of the club house, where she usually spent the night, avoiding the watchful supervision of her mother superior, but then immediately slipped on the wet ladder because of yesterday's rain, nearly getting a concussion. But the troubles were not over. It was just a warm-up. Finally, when she reached the school, she as usual left her scooter near the Cheerilee's blackboard and then sat at her desk.
First nothing foretold troubles, but when Scootaloo decided to get a little more comfortable on this wooden chair, something went wrong and the chair leg broke off, like it was rotting here for a thousand years or even more. From the all sides came a deafening laughter, as Scootaloo was mentally swearing at the whole world. The impact to desk was so strong, that the filly barely held back tears. She had a gut feeling that it was somepony's trick and guessed whose, but against him there was no evidence.
Most likely, it was the new colt in class, who behaved as if he was a king or god there. His name was Falcon Lover. According to his joyful, malevolent smile and pleasured face it was possible to understand that he was who arranged this trap. If at the same moment miss Cheerilee didn't walk into the classroom, Scootaloo without any hesitation would suit a good thrashing to the one, who did this.
"Good morning, kids!"
"Good morning, miss Cheerilee!"
"I hope you all had a nice..." Cheerilee saw Scootaloo's broken chair. "Oh my Gosh, Scootaloo! What happened to your chair?"
Scootaloo realized that it was her chance to make a right Cheerilee's look of newcomer.
"Falcon sawed the leg of my chair!"
"Who?! Me?!" responded white pegasus with gray-blue mane.
In the teacher's eyes Falcon Lover was a diligent student who studied for good marks and was kind to his classmates. But he was like this only when teacher looked after him. As miss Cheerilee needed to go out of classroom for a few minutes as this "diligent student" turned into a creature, which was worse, than any demon could be. He managed to keep in fear even Diamond Tiara, the one who should only complain to her father or mother, and all problems would be solved. Nopony knew what he said to her, but now little filly didn't even want to start a conversation about complains. At all she has become closed after this incident.
But let's get back to Scootaloo, which was listening to Falcon Lover's justifications.
"I didn't even think about it!" continued young colt. "Of course, me and Scootaloo clash sometimes, but verbal sparring is how it ends and we put up with each other!"
"Yeah, right!" sarcastically added orange pegasus. "Put up with each other! First, you'll promise an eternal peace and kidness, and after two or three weeks he'll again arrange some stupid joke!"
By the Scootaloo's sight it was clearly understandable, that she barely was holding herself to not to accidentally lash out and attack offender. However, it seemed that Cheerilee did not heed her words and remained unconvinced, though she tried not to hurt Scootaloo. That's why she decided not to blame anypony and just make both foals shake their hooves and hug, and then replaced broken chair with a new one. It was frustrating for both foals, but for teacher they decided to pretend they didn't feel anything bad, then asked for forgivness and forgave each other.
"I'll deal with you after school..." flashed through their heads.
"See? Starting a fight is bad," Cheerilee summed up. "And now get back to your desk. Let's begin the lesson!"
Cheerilee got to the blackboard, took the chalk and started to draw something new. Her drawing was similar to layout of pony's hoof, and next to it there was a huge set of formulas and equations. This day definitely will be one of the most difficult for Scootaloo, especially taking in account that Rainbow Dash left for a week in Cloudsdale and filly didn't have anypony to train with.
"Alright, students, what do you think we'll learn for today?" asked Cheerilee.
Lilac unicorn with yellow mane raised a hoof. It was Derpy's daughter - Dinky Whooves. "Oh! I know! It should be how ponysaur's arms were transformed into hooves!"
Cheerilee couldn't help but chuckled a little because of this adorable and zealous assumption. However, Dinky had a great idea for the next lessons to come.
"No, Dinky, sorry. We'll touch this theme a little bit later. Today we're going to learn how do we grab different things by our hooves. Let's start from the beginning..."
This lesson was the great interest even for Scootaloo, who usually was not very interested in school curriculum. So it could be called a nice exception to the rule. She absorbed the lesson material with such passion, that she forgot even her resentment to Falcon, which in the meantime was planning after-school meeting with filly. He was pretty smart, so he could afford himself to be distracted by something else. If his temper was more friendly, he would be a priceless pony.
Here rang the bell, indicating the end of the lesson.
"Have a nice day!" said Cheerilee to students. "Scootaloo, Falcon Lover, come here, please."
Foals, to their surprise, glanced at each other, but didn't make teacher wait and approached.
"Just want to sure, that you both don't have any problems between you. At this week you seemed a little more aggressive, than usually you are," Cheerilee said it in a very gentle tone. "If you really have some problems — go on, I promise, that I won't scold you. You can pour all your heart out."
"I've already said everything! He's just a bully from nose to tail tip!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Is it true, Falcon?" asked Cheerilee, not losing her tone.
The white pegasus just shook his head from side to side.
"Listen, you have nothing to fear," Cheerilee continued. "Now we are talking not as teacher to student, but as friend to friend. If that's true, say yes. If that's false, nopony will blame you in both ways."
This rant already has sown doubts in little pegasus. He looked away, so he would not stare into the teacher's face, which was full of kindness and affection. Foal bit his lip, hesitating to answer. He looked at Scootaloo, expecting to see a gloating face, but he saw only doubt and some comprassion. She, probably, remember the story with Babs Seed and didn't see Falcon as a ruthless marodeur and rude bully, like was before.
He took a deep breath, so that it was easy to see the fluffy fur on chest, which distinguished the pegasi from other ponies; and then exhaled. This helped him to gain courage, but he still hesitated as droplets of sweat rolled down his forehead. Pegasus had already open his mouth to finally confess his bullying, but a deafening crackle killed his words halfway down in his throat. Trio turned their heads to the source of noise and all three saw a big crack along the wall. A few moments later, the crack continued to grow and in front of stunned ponies soon divided the school building into parts on the floor, like it was a drawn line. Suddenly everything calmed down. Dead silence stood and seemed to presage something horrible. And so it proved.
Crackling rock formations, oak planks, stone walls - everything mixed into one deadly hum. The plaster on the ceiling began to fall off and, if it was larger, would easily crush the helpless ponies, who had numb limbs because of fear. Cherilee was first, who woke up from the dream, which could kill them all.
"Scootaloo! Falcon Lover! Quickly, let's get out of here!" screamed Cheerilee.
These words made foals wake up and then they followed their teacher. The risks were many, and the falling flag near the entrance to school almost slammed Falcon, if he didn't react quickly enough. Playground turned into a real mess. Where once was a swing, stood a strange pillar with two iron sticks. The carousel turned into a half-disk. The fence was scattered in all corners of the playground.
"Everypony's okay?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yeah, I suppose," said Falcon Lover. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo... I didn't mean to hurt you."
Then he realized what he had just say and bit his lip. He didn't want to say this. But sometimes adrenaline in the blood can go against the will of the host.
"I'm sorry, too..." also unexpectedly said Scootaloo.
"Now I see that you really put up, kids."
A smile shone on their faces. Foals once again exchanged their glances, but this time they were filled with kindness and friendliness. Under such circumstances, everyone takes off its mask and reveals true face. That's when you can see a real nature of a friend or familiar. And between two foals finally something like friendship was born. Nothing seemed to prevent this happy acquisition of a new friend. But only seemed.
The ground shook under their hooves even more, than in previous time. It was shaking so much, that it made Falcon's legs buckle and fall down, almost stunning him, so sparkles fell out of his eyes. The middle of school building began to gradually fall down, as the crack in the ground more and more began to diverge, crumbling small pieces of soil at the edges. Under such pressure, several trees have already turned into a kind of shrubs. It was no longer an earthquake, which just crushed the folds of rocks and houses, but a real formation of the canyon or rupture! "Shores" of gap tear aside with incredible speed, swallowing everything in the bottomless abyss. The spectacle was both terrifying and breathtaking.
But suddenly behind the trio there was a crackle of fossilized soil. This made Cheerilee turn around and find what she was afraid of.
"Oh my Gosh! Kids, run!" exclaimed Cheerilee.
And as if by magic after these words, trio felt the ground started to slip away from them under their hooves. Without wasting time, three ponies quickly darted to the opposite side from rupture. The heart was pounding like a mad; sweat was pouring like a hail; adrenaline was flowing through the blood - all this only for sake of one goal: to get out of here as soon as possible. Scootaloo was the first, who got out from the danger zone; Cheerilee was the second. Falcon Lover barely had time to catch hold of the newly formed edge of the canyon. However, it didn't help him. Although he couldn't fly, but the little wing effort to raise the body could be enough, if one of them wasn't broken. He fell of the edge.
Mare and filly screamed, instinctly running to the edge. Fortunately, they didn't see a falling body into the endless abyss. Falcon managed to grab a small ledge. But here he won't last long, if not to hurry up to help him.
"Miss Cheerilee, insure me, please!" asked Scootaloo with entreaty in her voice.
Realizing what Scootaloo wanted to do and that there was no other way to save this foal, Cheerilee nodded. The lesson seemed to portend this difficult situation. Grabbing two Scootaloo's hind legs, Cheerilee layed down on the edge of precipice. Orange pegasus hung off the cliff and carefully went down.
"I'm comin'!" shouted Scootaloo.
Classmate's voice cheered Falcon and he looked up. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"What are you doing?!" the white pegasus shouted in shock.
"I'm just gonna save you!" - simply said Scootaloo.
And here within Falcon something clicked. It was madness! She returned to save him even after all insults he made to her!
"Take my hoof, quickly!" said Scootaloo.
Not believing himself and almost crying, but yet he accepted this hoof of help.
"Miss Cheerilee, pull us back!" shouted orange filly.
Teacher didn't need to hear it twice and pulled back and after some efforts foals were out of rupture's jaws, which intended to swallow them. All three ponies were breathing heavily and just sitting in silence for a minute. Nopony dared to start a conversation. Finally, the first words were heard. It was Falcon Lover.
"So... Why did you returned to save me?" asked Falcon, not believing himself. "You both could just easily die."
"Friends always do crazy things like this, am I right?" Scootaloo tried to joke.
At this words, a small blush appeared on Falcon's face. He didn't expect such an attitude to him. Yeah, he asked for forgivness, but felt like it was little for real forgivness. Tears of gratitude appeared in his eyes. Through it was easy to see how his pupils sparkled for a second.
"Th-thank you, Scootaloo... I-I'm really sorry for all those things I've said to you before and..."
"I've already forgived you." Scootaloo shut his mouth, not letting to end the sentence.
On the Falcon's face re-appeared small, but honest smile. His eyes became even more wet, he felt in the chest like something cold and violent was melting, and something warm and lovely was replacing it. It was his heart, his soul — call it however you want. Scootaloo just melted an ice in the heart Falcon had. But then sudden Cheerilee's voice caught foals' attention.
"Kids, look!" said Cheerilee with shivering voice.
And there was something to see. A giant rupture cut the town into two parts. The width of this abyss looked to be about three hundred meters, and the length was measured in dozens of kilometers. Equestria has never seen a cataclysm of this magnitude. The sight was terrifying. Ponyville was just torn apart: town hall probably fell into the abyss, some houses teetered on the verge, you could clearly see how several ponies vainly was trying to climb the walls of the gap. It was scary even to think about the amount of victims, especially when you see another pony, which was falling down. Here it is —an alive breathing creature, and after one second it turned just into a void dead body. Although the dead from such height were not visible, but when this horrible picture appeared in imagination of our characters, they involuntarily shuddered with horror and cold, that ran on their back. But the worst thing is that nopony could know about it in advance. It happened suddenly, completely unexpected for everypony. Half of the dead didn't even know what they were died from. And when rescuers will arrive is still unknown.
"This is horrible..." said trio in unison.
Each of them thought about their friends, relatives and families, if they were still alive, but nopony could vouch for that. In such mayhem none of them could say for sure. Cheerilee was sitting on her rump, covering her face with a hoof, so the students didn't see how she almost cried. Even an adult can't bear to be so terrified. What can we say about foals, whose eyes were filled with tears only at the single thought of what could happen to their friends and family. Unable to withstand such pressure, they turned away, but it didn't helped even a bit.
"Let's go..." said Cheerilee, don't even knowing where to go.
There was not a single cloud in the sky, what created a huge contrast with yesterday's rain. It was evening and amber sunrays illuminated the ruins of the once happy town. The black silhouettes of destroyed houses standing on the abyss' edge and the sun's glares coming out of the empty broken windows created an incredibly beautiful and terrifying picture at the same time. Various birds: nightingales, starlings, thrushes, orioles, wagtails; sang and chirped so romantically as if nothing happened a few hours ago.
Finally the foals moved away from the shock and horror, that caused them this cataclysm, but sad thoughts will haunt them for a very long time. They fully trusted themselves to Cheerilee. A light breeze by its weak impulses seemed to try to comfort trio with those weak consolations that everything will be fine, putting an invisible hand on their shoulders. This overnight won't be easy for anypony.
From this moment the travel of our characters began, full of sadness and longing for friends and families.