Chapter 3: Wrath
"Ahhh!" Scootaloo awoke with a blood curdling scream, her hooves gripping the covers; cold sweat soaking her sheets.
Several seconds later, hooves clopping against wooden floors could be heard ringing throughout the house as Scootaloo's foster parents awoke to the scream. The filly groaned as she realized she would need to do a lot of convincing as to why nothing was wrong, and why she wanted to just go back to sleep. The door was flung open and inside ran Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
"Scoots! Are you ok?" The brash pegasus butted in front of her yellow mate.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just had a bad dream is all." Scootaloo grunted, laying back in her pillows.
"Oh my, you have a fever! Let me go get you some ice..." Fluttershy quietly announced, soundlessly flapping out of the room.
"Ugh, can't I just go back to sleep already?" The young mare pleaded to Rainbow, her voice devoid of fear.
"Scoots, we need to talk. What's wrong? You have been acting strange ever since you slept at the club house. I'm just worried about you. I'm not just your mom, I can be your friend. You can talk to me ya know?" Rainbow sighed heavily, and lifted a hoof to Scootaloo's purple mane. "Tell me, what are these dreams you have been having?"
"How do you know I've had more than one?" Scootaloo asked sceptically.
"Look in the mirror, it looks like you haven't slept in days!"
"Ok fine, I'll tell you." The orange filly thought carefully for several seconds before relinquishing her answer. "The other night at the sleepover, Applebloom told us a scary story. About... Windegos! and I thought I saw one in the Everfree and I was scared..."
Of course the filly was lying, and she felt bad for it. But who would believe her? If she told the truth, they would probably take her to that creepy Dr. Whooves character she always sees stalking about town. She had to solve this problem on her own, or at least with the help of her close friends. Lying was the only option that made sense to her, but in reality it didn't exactly matter what she said.
"You know a windigo hasn't been seen in Equestria since it was founded, right?" Rainbow looked skeptically at the filly.
"I'm back! Here, take these frozen peas and... here and just let me... there you are!" Fluttershy entered the room adorned with thermometers, ice packs, frozen peas and countless other home remedies that she then proceeded to shove onto, into and around Scootaloo. Once the small filly looked like a hospital patient, the yellow pegasus kissed her on the forehead and scrambled out of the room.
"Does she have to do that?"
"She is Fluttershy... so yeah."
The two pegasi shared a laugh at Fluttershy's expense and after several seconds they calmed down and Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. She really did feel sick, and the ice packs and peas were doing wonders for her head. Regardless, she took out the thermometers and shook off all the ice packs. She wanted to leave them, but she had to keep up an appearance.
"I don't need all this stuff, really. I'd like to just get back to sleep now, please?" Scootaloo looked up at the rainbow maned pegasus and yawned.
"All right, fine. But promise me if anything else happens, you come straight to me, ok?"
"I promise."
"Something is wrong, I can feel it." Rainbow said as she trotted into her bedroom.
"I'm sure she will be fine, Rainbow. I'll take the best care of her..."
"Not that, Shy. She isn't just sick... There's something that's messing with her head. Making her lie to us." The pegasus wriggled into the sheets and cuddled up to her lover.
"What makes you say that?" Fluttershy accepted Dash's company with open arms and hooves.
"Because I was like that as a filly. My parents abandoned me too... I'll bet that's whats hurting her. I hate to see this happening all over again..." The pegasus let a single, secret tear out of her eye.
"We will just have to keep an eye on her, and make sure she knows we love her. You do love her, don't you Dash?"
"She may not know it, but I do. More than anything."
"Time to wake up for School, Scoots!" The orange filly blinked and turned over, groaning. It was one of those days, after a sleepless night. After Rainbow tucked her in, the nightmares returned, but not like normal nightmares. It was as if she was looking at her own body disappearing into a veil of darkness and shadow.
She didn't know what was worse, the dreams or the figure itself.
After several minutes of silence, Scootaloo heard Rainbow call out to her again. Knowing that the stubborn pegasus wouldn't let her sleep in any longer, she rose from her bed and blinked her strained eyes. Blinking wasn't enough, however, so she took her hooves and pressed them onto her eyelids and rubbed.
Several awkward, lazy steps later, Scootaloo was in the shower. She didn't notice how quiet it was until she turned off the water and heard the slow steady melody of water dripping into the tub. Scootaloo felt watched again, and she turned her head this way and that praying to Celestia she wouldn't see what she thought she might.
After drying herself off, her nose began to drip. She groaned and tilted her head back. After several minutes, she managed to roll up a few pieces of toilet paper and shove then into her nostrils to help stop the bleeding. Even though the sun shined proudly in through the bathroom window, it still felt claustrophobic.
Scootaloo dried herself off and quickly left the bathroom, taking great care to not look out at the shadow she thought she saw past the now open window. Fear mounted itself in her heart as she stalked back to her bedroom, again completely silent. The sun did nothing to quell the terror that she was feeling. Every step closer to her bedroom door was like another step into the open jaws of a beast waiting to devour her.
She could feel the eyes on her now, even though she knew there was nothing there. She wouldn't turn around, she wouldn't give in. Not looking at it was the only power she had, and she wasn't going to relinquish it now.
Then she felt something touch her shoulder.
"Boo!" Called out a voice, but Scootaloo was already gone. She had run into her bedroom and slammed her door. Hard.
By the time Rainbow Dash realized her mistake, it was already too late. She tried the prank as a means of getting Scootaloo to open up, but it had effectively worked towards the opposite. With her ear pressed against the filly's door, she could hear light sobbing. It broke her heart in two.
"Scootaloo... I-" Dash entered the room.
"Get out!" The young mare pushed against the door, catching Rainbow's hoof painfully. The pegasus yelped and withdrew from the room, her eyes brimming with tears; not from the pain in her hoof, but that in her heart. She limped to the couch and cried deeply into the cushions. She heard the door open, and shut briskly. Minutes passed, and she did not move a muscle.
The front door opened and shut, and she knew she had failed. As a parent, and as a friend.
By the time Scootaloo met up with her friends on the way to school, the pain in her heart had receded just enough so she could act normal. Why would her mom do that to her? She knew she had been scared lately, why would she bring intentional fear to someone she loved? The small pegasus deducted one thing from the experience. Rainbow Dash was not to be trusted.
"Hey Scoots, what's up!" The small white unicorn trotted up beside her. "How was your flight lesson yesterday? I heard you got off the ground!" She cooed.
"Heh, yeah. The same way a rock lifts off the ground when you throw it..."
"Oh come on Scoots, I know you will fly one day! I promise."
Scootaloo remained silent until they got to Sweet Apple Acres, her mind obviously wandering elsewhere. 'Was Dash lying last night about me flying too? She probably thinks I'll never even get into flight school...'
"Hey Sweetie, I think I'm going to wait here..." Scootaloo gulped as she saw the trees of the Acres, as well as the looming trees of the Everfree beyond.
"Oh come on Scoots, it's day time! Nothing scary here!"
'It doesn't matter if it's day time...' Scootaloo thought before her little white friend went bouncing down the path to the farm house. With a sigh, and an immense feeling of dread, the orange filly followed.
Even with her jubilant friend right beside her, Scootaloo watched the trees very carefully; knowing full well that Slender Man wasn't afraid of the sunlight. In fact, the figure seemed to be more interested in getting her attention than causing her any real harm. She figured the most powerful weapon against him was her own mind. Her will to not look closer at the trees, to not check behind her every time she felt eyes on her back. If she acted normal, maybe she would feel normal.
But acting and being normal are two completely different things.
For now, surrounded by trees, the little filly was having trouble breathing. The orchard seemed to cave in on her, flowing and ebbing; waning and waxing. She began to feel a bit light headed, accented by a dull headache. She felt the familiar eyes, and the uneasiness return. Sweetie Belle either didn't notice the change come over her friend, or she just didn't want to say anything.
After several minutes of enduring psychological torture, Scootaloo could feel her senses returning to normal. The tingles in her spine were reduced to a minimum and she no longer felt the presence of death in her immediate vicinity. All things considered, the little filly felt relatively normal.
'I can beat him...' she thought cheerily. 'Either that or it just decided to leave me alone...'
She silently thanked Celestia for the moment of reprieve, and relished in the untainted glory of her sun.
"Scootaloo, why do you keep smiling like that?" Sweetie interrupted.
"I just feel like today will be a good day."
"This has been the worst day of my life." Scootaloo said calmly to the ground as she sat on the playground for recess, completely alone. During class, Diamond Tiara made it quite known that the little orange filly had been absolutely terrified of a stupid ghost story. Furthermore, she 'cried for hours because she was scared of a tree.' Scootaloo heard hoofsteps and raised her head.
"What? You guys want to make fun of me, too?" she chided.
"Oh, Scoot, Ah'm so sorry..."
"Yeah, we really didn't mean to let that slip... She caught us talking to Cherilee about you and-" Sweetie started, but was cut off by her orange friend.
"She caught you what?!" Scootaloo shot up, eyes glaring at her friends.
"Wull... We've been worried about'cha is all. We told Cherilee that we accidentally scared ya, and we wanted to know how ta apologize..." Apple Bloom took a sudden interest in kicking little rocks around with her hoof.
"So now I'm the laughing stock of the whole school. Great. Some friends you are..." she said, turning around and beginning to walk away.
"No, Scootaloo! Listen... we are sorry. But we still need you to tell us what's going on!"
"Yeah... you're scarin' us. Please let us help you!" her friends pleaded. Scootaloo knew her fellow crusaders wouldn't ever purposefully hurt her... but she also thought that about Rainbow Dash.
"No. Just leave me alone..." Scootaloo could feel her eyes glistening with tears. She held them as best as she could; the last thing she needed was for the whole class to see her break down. She walked towards the school house, head held high as a facade to ward off her drama-starved classmates.
She looked back at her friends and fellow crusaders with a wary eye. She could forgive them in time, she reckoned. She just needed time to let the situation blow over. While walking back to class, Scootaloo could feel eyes upon her once more.
"Hey, you!" Oh no, not that voice.
"What do you want, Diamond Tiara?" Scootaloo turned around to face her adversary, and stood tall.
"Oh, nothing. I just wondered what was so scary it sent you running back to your mommy. Oh, wait, you don't have one."
Just then, something inside Scootaloo snapped. She just couldn't believe Diamond Tiara would go there. She wasn't angry, so much as surprised. So, instead of retaliating with a hoof to her face, Scootaloo just turned around and walked away. Silent and calm. It would take Diamond Tiara a while to figure that one out.
After recess was called to a close, and all the fillies and colts shared groans of protest, the foals shuffled back inside for a math lecture. Probably the most boring part of the day, but also the most rewarding. If they sat through the whole thing without interrupting, they would finish early and Cherilee would let them go home.
"Everypony take out their math books, and turn to page three hundred and ninety four." Cherilee said in vain, as the foals were so loud her voice was less than a whisper among them.
"Turn to page three hundred and ninety four!" The teacher shouted, effectively shutting off all forms of communication in the room. "Thank you."
The noise in the room turned from idle chit chat to shuffling bags and unzipping zippers. In the confusion, the small orange filly in the back of the room took out a book. A book that was most definitely not for doing math. While everypony was busy digging their snouts into their saddle bags, Scootaloo quickly deposited the book into Diamond Tiara's.
The young mare snickered, knowing full well the consequences of what she just did. Was it the wrong thing to do? Scootaloo didn't even care.
Surprisingly, all the fillies and colts in the classroom sat silently through Cherilee's lecture; although the vast majority may have been asleep with their eyes open. After class, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom headed to their usual location, the club house, where they spent the afternoon talking about just about everything but their cutie marks.
Scootaloo avoided them as long as possible, stopping by Dinky Doo's house for a brief playdate and the inevitable muffin-eating contest. Although the little grey pegasus was loads of fun, Scootaloo found the family's antics to be somewhat annoying after a while. Somewhere around the fourth tray of muffins, the orange filly made her escape.
'I've gotta say something to my friends...' Scootaloo sighed as she walked, head held low.
After dropping by her house briefly to inform her foster parents that she would be home a little late tonight, the filly started walking to sweet apple acres. All the while, thinking about what to say to them.
The path to the farm was getting rather chilly as the sun started to set. As soon as the filly felt the first chill of the night, she knew she would regret leaving the safety of her warm home. The paranoia was setting in, and soon the filly found herself checking behind her quite frequently. From her hooves to her snout, she was shaking uncontrollably, her heart pounding.
She galloped all the way to the clubhouse, not looking back once after that.
"Hey guys, I wanna say something."
Scootaloo's voice startled her fellow crusaders, whom were deep in thought about how to apologize to their friend; not even noticing that she had opened the door and walked right in.
"Wha... what?"
"Yeah, we thought ya hated us!"
"I don't hate you, I'm just upset. The past few days have not been fun and I haven't told anypony yet, but... I need to tell you what happened the other night at the sleepover." She sighed, preparing to recount the horrific events of the past few days.
"-and that's what was in the book. Then today, in class, I slipped it into Diamond Tiara's saddlebag. It might not help me escape, but at least she will know exactly why I'm scared now." Scootaloo breathed heavily. It hadn't done her any good to recite the events that were buried quite nicely in her head. Furthermore, it was getting late out and she would need to hurry if she wanted to be done with this in time.
"Scoot... Ah don' know if that was a good idea. Diamond Tiara is a pain in the flank but... this could be dangerous." Applebloom was shaking in the corner. For as down to earth as her family is, she sure was easy to scare.
"Yeah, and how do you know that... thing... is really there? I've never seen it, and we have been to Zecora's plenty of times."
Scootaloo threw her hooves around her friends, wrapping her arms around their necks. "Well, that's the second part of my plan. You two are going to come outside with me and I'm going to prove to you that he exists."
"Woah woah woah, Ah never..."
“Please, you guys?” Scootaloo tightened her grip around her friends. “I need your help; I feel like I’m going crazy... This thing has followed me day and night since the sleepover!”
“I-”
“Please?” Scootaloo puffed out her bottom lip and opened her eyes as wide as two tea saucers.
“Ya know that only works on Fluttershy, right? And fine, I’ll go. What about you Sweetie Belle?”
The unicorn snorted, “Well, I’m sure as hay not staying in here alone.”
The trio of fillies made their way down the ramp into the orchard like cats into a bathtub full of water. The night was young, but the orange light of the sun only served to cast eerie shadows across the ground like a puppet show. Finally, the fillies began the trot to the Everfree forest, bantering as playfully as they could, given the circumstances.
Scootaloo took the lead, explaining exactly how she felt all the while. Sometimes she would stop and look out across the trees as if she had heard something. The other two fillies shrugged, hearing and feeling nothing out of the ordinary winter chill.
As the darkness descended over the fillies, Scootaloo’s eyes began to water. Her hair stood on end much like it had before, and she felt as if something sinister was lurking just behind her. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were talking, but she did not pay attention to their conversation. She was in danger, and so were her friends.
Suddenly, a stick broke behind her.
“Will you two quiet down!” Scootaloo turned around, taking care to emphasize her voice while keeping down the volume.
“I’m sorry, it was just a twig...”
“Ya, Scoot, chill out. Are you okay?”
“Scootaloo?” Sweetie moved a hoof in front of her friend’s face.
“Turn around,” the young mare said, her voice cold as a stone.
Several meters away, was the figure. Scootaloo could see it plain as day. For the rest of the fillies, they weren’t quite sure what they were seeing. It was more like a honeydew melon speared on top of a tree. She kept her eyes glued on it, and it stared right back at her. This is the closest it has ever been to her, and she felt sick. Her nose began dripping with blood again, but she did nothing to stay it. Seconds went by, minutes even before anypony spoke.
“Scootaloo! Your nose is bleeding!” Sweetie broke the silence and rushed to her friend once she noticed the crimson dripping down her chin, pooling in little puddles on the ground. Scootaloo remained still, paralyzed by an unknown entity.
Applebloom raised an eyebrow at the figure and decided she wanted to get a closer look. While Sweetie tended to her orange friend, she crept closer to the Slender Man. The closer the little filly got to the figure, the more her skin crawled with fear. She felt eyes all over her, and couldn’t tear hers away from the pale, blank sphere.
Scootaloo wanted to shout out to her friend to stop; run away before it takes you. Applebloom hadn’t read the stories and didn’t know what it would do to her. She wanted to run ahead and tackle her friend out of the reach of its long skinny arms. Soon, it would be too late. Applebloom kept up the pace and would soon reach it.
Applebloom screamed as the pale white sphere rose, and Scootaloo vomited.
“Ah’m sorry Scoots, Ah just can’t help it!” The yellow filly cried out in laughter as she beheld the object of their horror; a balloon. It seemed as though it had blown into the orchard and lodged itself in the branches of one of the younger saplings.
“It’s not funny, you guys. I don’t know if you can feel it but I do. Let’s just go back...” Scootaloo’s stomach cringed and Sweetie Belle looked like she was on the verge of tears.
“Don’t laugh at her Applebloom! She needs help.”
“I don’t need he-” Scootaloo spoke, but quickly stopped as she felt more bile rushing up her throat.
“Alright, alright. Let’s get ya home Scoots.”
Scootaloo sighed as her friends picked her up on their backs and started walking her home, her head dizzy and her mind clouded. Every so often, she would see the figure peer out at her from behind a tree, and then disappear as if it had never been there. Every time she opened her mouth to say something, she felt the sour taste of vomit return. She eventually gave up trying to raise an alarm and fell silent; content to let the gentle rocking of her friends hooves comfort her.
Every few meters of the journey, the figure would get closer and closer. By the time the three fillies were passing the clubhouse, it was clearly visible right behind them. It was now fully apparent how tall the creature was, easily surpassing the height of both princess Celestia and Luna put together. It was wearing what seemed to be an elegant gentlecolt’s dinner suit. The blank head atop its dark shoulders bobbed silently, as if laughing at the tormented filly.
“Scootaloo? Are you okay back there?” Sweetie Belle turned toward her friend. The orange filly’s face was flushed and she was already passed out cold.
“We better get her home quickly...”