Walking through the Everfree forest would have normally made them terrified. They should be terrified. They were walking through one of the most dangerous forests known in Equestria that held creatures that could tear them apart at a moment’s notice.
But they weren’t.
They just didn’t feel terrified by the forest at all. When they looked at it all they saw and heard were the things a forest should contain; an ecosystem that functions a little too well.
This didn’t mean that the three fillies were careless. Quite the opposite, they were still on guard as they made their way through the green grass and leaves that filled the ground with the wind howling through the trees. Their eyes scanned every corner that they could find, but they didn’t see any Timberwolves, Manticores or Chimera which was good.
It wouldn’t last long. They knew that. But, for the moment, they were happy that they had a moment of peace and could walk without needing to run away and potentially attract attention from Ponyville.
Applebloom perked up when she thought about the town. She didn’t leave any kind of letter to her folks back home to let them know she was leaving. Should she have done that? Should she go back and write to them and leave tomorrow instead?
She killed the thought just as quickly as it had come. They wanted her out of their lives, she would be out of their lives.
“Did any of ya’ll write tha’ yer families?” Applebloom asked as she grabbed her saddlebag trying to find the map she had packed with her.
Sweetie Belle didn’t answer until Applebloom found what she was looking for while Scootaloo just frowned.
“No,” Sweetie finally responded. “I have no reason to; they were the ones who betrayed me the most. Out of everypony in Ponyville, my family hurt me the most.”
Applebloom flinched at the offending word. It would take some time before she’d feel comfortable enough to speak it again.
“I didn’t write anything to anyone.” Scootaloo simply voiced while keeping her eyes on the ‘road’ they were walking.
“What about you, Bloom?” Sweetie inquired. “Did you write anything?
Applebloom shook her head.
“Wait,” Scootaloo slowed her pace and turned her eyes to Applebloom who had also stopped when she saw her friend was lagging behind them. “You didn’t even leave a not to your family?”
Again, Applebloom shook her head in confirmation.
“Why?” Came the surprising question from Scootaloo.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at their friend as if she’d turned insane. Why in Equestria would she ask something so obvious?
“Whatcha mean ‘why?’ Didn’t ya hear what Big Mac said tha’ us?!” Applebloom accidentally shouted in rage at her pegasus friend who didn’t seem fazed by the enraged earth pony.
“What I mean, Applebloom is the fact that you have the best connection to family than Sweetie and I combined.” The orange pegasus stated. “Out of the three of us, you have one of the strongest bonds I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Applebloom didn’t look remotely convinced.
“If that’d been true then Big Mac would’ve listened tha’ us.” Applebloom hatefully stated with venom that would have made a poisonous snake seem tame. Not feeling like talking about it anymore, Applebloom immediately started to walk again with the map close to her snout from how angry she was.
They fell into an angry silence as they continued to walk as far as they could, hoping to reach the end of the forest by nightfall. The more distance they put between them and Ponyville, the better. Not that any of them believed that the other citizens would care that they went missing, if anything, they’d most likely jump with joy that they had left the one place they called home and family.
After a few hours, they were starting to get tired and desperately wanted to sleep. When Applebloom looked into the evening sky, she saw how the sun was slowly going down and the moon was taking over its place with moonlight helping the young critters of the forest to find their way home while at the same time, being possible prey for the predators who were starving.
Scootaloo looked around the terrain, trying to find something that could keep a roof over their heads for the night. At first, she didn’t find anything so they continued to walk until they knew they couldn’t continue anymore. With that, they started to look for a cave where they could rest. They looked for a good half hour or was it an hour? Nonetheless, they peeked everywhere until they found a cave that could host them for the night or multiple nights if needed. When Scootaloo had found the cave, she had let the other two know what she had found and they immediately went after her. When they’d reached the cave, they cautiously entered with their heads hung low so they didn’t seem like easy bait if there was another creature that lived there. Luckily, they found none. There wasn’t a single trace of life that they could detect.
Sweetie Belle used her horn to light up the cave. It wasn’t a big one by any means. It was perhaps ten meters long in a straight line and to the right there was another ‘corridor’ of sorts that was five meters making it a total of fifteen meters length-wise and one meter wide.
Hiding in the little right corner so they wouldn’t be seen, they made their mark so they could get some sleep. Tomorrow would prove the be challenging without a doubt.
When they had rolled out their tent beds they glanced at one another. Had they really just run away from their family and home? Was this all a horrible dream that they couldn’t wake up from?
“Do you two have any regrets?” Scootaloo worriedly asked. She knew that they must be strained from all the walking and thinking about what they went through the last few days. By all means, she did have a few regrets about, how she wouldn’t be able to see her aunts Holiday and Lofty for a very long time, if ever.
Sweetie Belle thought about it. On one hoof, she did regret not being able to hug her sister one final time. On the other hoof, it was her sister that acted immaturely and practically told everypony that it was her and her friends.
“I wouldn’t say so no, sure, I’ll miss Rarity and my parents, but I wouldn’t say I have any regrets.” She spoke with her usual elegant voice. This time, however, there was a slight shift in her tone that made her almost for a second sound like Rarity.
Scootaloo nodded, knowing that all of them would have some form of regrets in one-way shape or form. When she turned to Applebloom, she saw that the youngest apple was in deep thought. Deciding to wait for the response, Scootaloo thought about Rainbow Dash and how her number one idol tore her down so deeply like a sword cutting into flesh.
Sweetie Belle remembered the look Rarity gave her when she found out. She’d never seen her sister so disappointed before in her life. But somewhere inside those eyes, Sweetie Belle would swear to herself that she saw a look of disgust on her sister’s face. It made her angry. Why was her sister disappointed? Wasn’t the juicy gossip what she wanted? Did Sweetie hear wrong when she heard her sister wanting to have more gossip?
Wiping away a tear that had formed in her eye she closed her eyes as if to meditate.
She heard wrong. If this was the outcome ...
Meanwhile, Applebloom was thinking thoroughly about Scootaloo’s question. It was a very good one if she was going, to be honest. Did she have any regrets? The question was hard to answer. She truly believed that she did not have any regrets. Maybe in the future? Maybe ... it wasn’t going to happen any time soon that was for sure.
“At tha’ moment? Nope, ah have no reason tha’ feel regret,” Applebloom honestly spoke while looking both of her friends in the eyes.
Scootaloo thought about her friends’ words and felt a small smile creep its way open. She couldn’t say she was entirely surprised. Their predicament was one built on raw emotions that makes them do things that might be considered impulsive. But that didn’t mean that they were in the right. Scootaloo would always admit that what she did as Gabby Gums was bad, but having “mature” adults act the way they did was way worse. Had they not been fillies and colts once? Do they not remember the things they did that were forgiven?
The more she thought about it the angrier she became. They were supposed to be adults but they act like angsty teens.
Just when Scootaloo was about to growl in anger, she heard snoring. Glancing around, she saw Sweetie Belle was fast asleep. She looked over to Applebloom and saw that she was also sleeping.
A small smile graced her lips. While they may have lost their family, they at least had each other.
With that, Scootaloo stretched before she went to sleep.