//------------------------------// // Feral // Story: Scarlet // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Scarlet and Primrose departed the Chapel shortly after the filly’s prayer had been offered. The remainder of their day had been spent at the local inn, resting and relaxing in preparation for the uphill climb that awaited them. Primrose had been more than a little enthusiastic about sleeping in a nice, warm bed for a change. It was a sight Scarlet had found charming and endearing. They slept well that night. Then, as Scarlet had stated previously, as soon as the sun rose from the horizon, they gathered their supplies and set out from New Lapiz. Within an hour of departing the town, the open sky and foothills were steadily consumed by the canopy of the Glittering Woods.  Shafts of sunlight pierced through the branches between the trees, creating gently-wavering spots of sunlight all along the trail. Birds sang their songs and various other forms of wildlife could be heard calling out in the distance. A subtle breeze washed by every so often, causing the leaves to rustle and shift. Scarlet took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air. It had been quite some time since she had last been in a forest. Long enough, in fact, that she had all but forgotten how lovely the air was. After a few seconds of letting it fill her lungs and rejuvenate her system, she let it out in a happy sigh with a small smile on her face. “You seem happy,” Primrose noted curiously from beside her. Scarlet turned to see her looking back up at her with a small smile of her own and a bounce in her step. Scarlet chuckled and looked up at the forest canopy overhead. “What can I say? I forgot how much I love forests,” she said plainly. “The air is fresh here, and smells like all kinds of plants that you simply do not get around Swanrun.” Primrose’s face twisted with curiosity, and she took a few experimental sniffs at the air. Her smile grew immensely with satisfaction, and she mimicked Scarlet’s previous deep breath with one of her own. Once it was released, she nodded, the bounce in her step increasing. “Wow, you’re right! I never really thought about it like that before. I was always just trying to keep moving and stay alive.” “That should be your priority, of course,” Scarlet conceded with a shrug. “But wherever possible, do take a moment to ‘smell the roses,’ as it were.” “I will,” Primrose chirped with a nod.  After a few seconds of quiet, Scarlet took another deep breath. Only this time, she wasn’t alone. Her ear twitched at the sound of Primrose breathing in at the same time, and sure enough, both of them now had full mouthfuls of air. They made hard eye contact for a while, their pace coming to a complete stop. Primrose bulged out her cheeks in a comically-exaggerated display of trying to hold it in. Scarlet lost it. Her held breath was immediately expelled in a series of short, entertained chuckles. It wasn’t long before Primrose joined her giggles, looking down at the ground as she did so. Finally, after almost a minute, Scarlet managed to regain her composure. Forcing down a few residual chortles that were trying to push their way out, she reached over and ruffled the filly’s hair affectionately. “Ha. Thank you for that, Primrose. I needed a good laugh, I think,” she said before taking one more deep breath to calm herself down the rest of the way. Primrose pouted as her mane was mussed up, but smiled while pushing it back into line with a hoof. “So did I. We should laugh like that more often,” she suggested before looking further up the road. “You think so?” “Yeah. You’re always so serious all of the time,” Primrose elaborated, moving ahead a little bit and turning around to face Scarlet. “You’ve always got this big frown on your face. You’re always worrying about whether or not we’re being followed or about to be attacked and stuff…” she then spun around and took another deep breath. “I think you should smell the roses more, too.” Scarlet blinked, her pace slowing somewhat. That was surprisingly insightful for a ten-year-old filly. But at the same time, there was a reason for her caution and seriousness. They were on a life-or-death mission, after all, and they were no doubt still being followed by Silent Edge and his subordinates.  But she also had to admit that laughing like that had felt really good… Scarlet smiled and picked up her pace again. “I’ll keep that in mind, Primrose. Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” she said in response, falling into step at Scarlet’s side again. The two carried on in silence for some time, enjoying the forest’s atmosphere. Alas, the peace could not last. At around midday, Primrose suddenly came to an abrupt halt in mid-step. Her ears fell flat against her head and her eyes went wide with fear. A terrified whimper slipped past her lips, drawing Scarlet’s attention. “Primrose?” she asked in concern, now on high alert. “D-did you hear th-that?” Primrose whispered in a trembling voice, shrinking down to the ground and looking around in sharp, panicky motions. Scarlet frowned and perked her ears up, listening carefully. For a few seconds, all she heard was the rustling of the trees in the wind. Then she heard it. A shriek, distorted into two tones, accompanied by the sound of buzzing insect wings. “We need to hide!” Primrose all but screamed, suddenly sprinting over to Scarlet and grabbing onto her hoof with a vice-like grip. “We have to hide, NOW!” She didn’t need to be told twice. She frantically swept her eyes over the environment for anywhere they could take cover. She spotted a few possible places, but the best came in the form of a small drop off on one side of the road that was partially sheltered by large tree roots. The buzzing was getting louder.  Acting fast, Scarlet lit her horn and focused. With a flash of light, she teleported herself and Primrose into the safe space under the roots. Primrose squeaked in fear from the sudden burst of magic and pressed herself up against Scarlet for protection. “Stay quiet,” Scarlet whispered to her before turning and looking through a gap in the roots so she could see the road. The buzzing was almost on top of them now, and it was accompanied by more animalistic shrieks and hisses. Suddenly, just ahead of where Scarlet and Primrose had been on the road, mere moments earlier, a grizzly bear burst through the wall of foliage and onto the path, making a mad and frantic dash for the other side. It never made it. A green bolt of putrid magic struck it in between the shoulders from above, sending the colossal creature crumpling to the ground with a bellowing roar of agony. It slid for a few feet before quickly hauling itself back to its feet, smoke rising from the singed fur on its back. Another bolt of magic struck the ground in front of it before it could make a move, forcing it to take a step back. Then, with a feral hiss, a creature of black chitin and glowing blue eyes emerged from the leaves overhead. Its hole-riddled hooves slammed into the back of the bear, keeping it off balance.  Primrose gasped, her whole body being ravaged by horrible tremors. “Changelings…” she choked out, her eyes starting to shimmer with tears. As soon as she said that, more and more of the creatures emerged all around the bear.  Four, six, nine. When at last they stopped coming, there were twelve of them, surrounding the bear with their horns alight. It turned to them with a great roar before reaching up and prying the drone off of its back. After a brief struggle, the grizzly bear brought the drone down onto the ground with enough force to crush it, kicking up a cloud of dust and a splash of blood. The remaining changelings were not at all phased or disheartened. The glows on their horns grew brighter, ensnaring the bear in their magic and pinning it to the ground. It fought, it struggled, but under so much power there was nothing it could do but roar and growl in rage in terror. Scarlet looked on with wide, horrified eyes as the changelings then opened their mouths. The bears' roars of rage became howls of agony as streams of pink mist began to leak out of its body. Its eyes, its mouth, its nose. Everywhere. The drones snarled and hissed like savage dogs as the streams of pink diverted course and flowed into their waiting maws. Scarlet shuddered with revulsion, her skull beginning to burn with fury and rage. Her pupils dilated, and her horn began to glow with purple light. “Those monsters…” she seethed, a vein building in her throat. “Scarlet…?” Primrose whispered uneasily, her voice still trembling along with her fragile body. The green glow fled the bear's body after several more seconds, yet it did not rise. It remained on the ground, gasping for breath and weakly trying to crawl away. The drones all watched it for several seconds, their wings twitching in anticipation and their forked tongues writhing in the air. Then, as one, they pounced upon the grizzly. It gave another agonized roar as eleven pairs of razor-sharp teeth bit into its body. Primrose was barely able to contain a mortified cry when she saw the bear’s blood starting to spread out in a large pool on the ground. Scarlet’s breath was coming in increasingly labored gasps. Was the world-shaking, or was it all just in her head? It felt like she was on fire from the inside out, her heart hammering in her chest to pump adrenaline through her veins. Everything was turning red. They were right there, those savage, feral, abominations. How could she just sit here and watch them like this? Suddenly, her swords snapped into reality next to her, and she went to rise from her hiding place with a furious snarl. “Scarlet, no!” Primrose hissed, reaching out and pulling her back down by the cloak. She turned to face the filly, her eyes wide with rage and unleashed hatred. “Let me go, Primrose!” she spat, forcefully tugging her cloak away from the foal’s grasp. “Please, don’t fight them!” Primrose pleaded desperately, grabbing for Scarlet again. “Just let it go!” “How can you ask me to do that?!” Scarlet snapped, looming over Primrose threateningly. “I will not let those creatures survive to murder and kill anything else! They deserve to die!” Primrose hesitated, her lip trembling. She took a shaking breath and looked away, her eyes starting to water while she fished for an answer. “P-please, Scarlet. There… th-th-there are too many of th-them. If you attack them, they’ll kill you, too…” Scarlet paused, her swords slowly dissipating. Her heart dropped in her chest when Primrose suddenly collapsed to the ground, barely stifling a sob. “P-please… don’t die on me, too… I don’t wanna be alone again…” Primrose went on, looking up into Scarlet’s eyes with tears rolling freely down her cheeks. “I don’t wanna lose you…” Scarlet took a shuddering breath, the raging inferno in her skull starting to die down into smoldering coals, and then stray embers. She looked down, gave off a quiet growl of frustration, and then turned back to the pack of drones. Primrose was right. There were far too many of those things for her to take them on as she was. Even if the foal backed her up, they would be overwhelmed very quickly. The wails of the bear finally fell silent, the only sound being that of the changelings ravenously devouring the corpse. They were snarling and snapping at one another if any of them got too close to the other one’s meat. Every so often, one would bark out a few broken words in Ponish, usually ‘mine!’ or ‘back off!’ “It will take them a while to eat that bear…” Scarlet whispered under her breath before looking around. If she couldn’t kill them, she needed to find some way of getting rid of them. Eventually, her eyes settled on a thick, fallen branch not far away.  “Alright, stay silent,” she instructed to Primrose before lighting her horn and lifting up the branch in her magic. With a wince of effort, she silently levitated it across the road to the opposite side that she and Primrose were on. She lowered it down into the brush not far from where the changelings were feasting, trying to ignore the stray bit of intestine that splattered onto the ground. With a grunt, she applied a sharp pressure to the branch. It snapped with an echoing crack, before she released her magic and dropped them into the dirt with a muffled thump. The changelings all turned from their meal with loud hisses, facing the disturbance. Then, as one, they lifted into the air and flew off into the woods, disappearing amidst the trees long before the buzzing of their wings faded away. Scarlet and Primrose were quiet for what felt like an eternity, holding their breath and waiting to see if the swarm would turn around. Thankfully, fortune seemed to be favoring them this day, for the buzzing did not return. Scarlet let out a sigh before turning to Primrose. “Come on, let’s get out of here before they come back,” she instructed quickly. Without waiting for an answer, she hefted the filly onto her back with her magic and broke into a mad sprint down the road, past the mutilated bear carcass and, with any luck, well past the hungry swarm. Scarlet maintained her sprint for almost thirty minutes before she had to come to a stop to catch her breath. She staggered and slumped to the ground, gasping raggedly for breath. She was only numbly aware of Primrose sliding off of her back and trotting around to stand in front of her. She smiled softly at the foal as if to encourage her. “You’re not hurt, are you?” she asked between gasps. Primrose nervously shook her head. “No, I’m okay. What about you?” “I’ll… ugh, I’ll be fine,” Scarlet dismissed with a shake of her head. “Just let me… let me catch… my breath… of…” Primrose nodded and fell silent. She sat down on her haunches, patiently waiting for her guardian to pull herself back together. It took a while, but eventually, Scarlet’s breath eased back down, and while her legs were still burning intensely, she was able to haul herself to her hooves.  “Alright… okay, let’s be on our way,” she ordered simply before starting to trot at a slower rate. “We want to put as much distance between us and them as possible.” Primrose hummed and fell into step by Scarlet’s side, her face downturned in thought. The two were silent for a while, both of them lost in their thoughts. It must have been another twenty minutes before Primrose looked up at Scarlet. “Um… Scarlet?” she asked slowly as if worried she might upset her. “What is it, Prim?” “I, um… why do you hate changelings so much?” Primrose said, her pace slowing somewhat while her head tilted to one side. Scarlet came to a sudden stop, her eyes wide and the fire in her legs spread to the base of her skull. “Wha… what the hell kind of question is that Primrose?!” she demanded incredulously, stepping around to be in front of the filly and gesturing the way they had come. “Didn’t you see what they were doing back there?!” “Of course I did,” Primrose countered, meeting Scarlet’s gaze again. “But… that’s not why you hate them, is it?” “What more reason do I need?! They are foul, mindless monsters that reduced Equestria to dust and blood!” Scarlet shouted, her voice starting to break and tremble. “They caused the Fall! How many ponies died back then because of those abominations?! How many ponies have died since then because any of them are still alive?!” “I just…” Primrose looked down and shook her head. “You tried to talk those griffon robbers into letting us go. You tried to avoid a fight. But here… you wanted to kill them. That just doesn’t seem like you.” Scarlet scoffed in dismissal before turning around and resuming her trot up the road. “The courtesy I afforded the griffons does not extend to monsters. Now come on. We need to keep moving.” Primrose was silent for several seconds before nodding her head. “Right. Monsters,” she whispered. After another second, she started trotting as well, eventually catching up to Scarlet and walking beside her.