Paradiso

by Wheller


Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo retraced their steps from the previous day back to approximately the same site that Sweetie Bell had been hurt at... give or take a few hundred metres.

In truth, they had no idea where exactly it had been at, but they figured if they looked long enough, they’d find it. It wasn’t until an hour into their search that Apple Bloom discovered a patch of grass that had been stained red that they knew where they were.

“This is where we found the revolver at,” Scootaloo said. “There’s got to be more stuff around here!”

“Ah don’t know Scoot... should we really be doin’ this? Ah know Applejack’s gonna be cross with me!” Apple Bloom said trying to reason with her friend.

“When did that ever bother you in the past?” Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom figured that she had a point, still, she’d never hurt anypony in the past like this. Apple Bloom was scared that she was going to do something else to hurt somepony, Scootaloo had to remind her that it had been an accident, and that Apple Bloom would never hurt somepony on purpose.

Reluctantly, Apple Bloom joined Scootaloo in the search; it didn’t take long before they found other things. Most of the things they found weren’t interesting, lots of small metal tubes for the most part, but they did find two interesting bits.

The first was a pair of goggles, and the second one, Apple Bloom could tell was another gun, though she knew it only by the lever that it had on the bottom.

“Hey! Cool!” Scootaloo said, picking up the goggles and putting them over her eyes.

“Scootaloo! Wha’ are ya doing? Twilight said not ta touch anything we found!” Apple Bloom said.

“No! She said not to touch anything that we didn’t know what it was!” Scootaloo corrected. “And these are some goggles, and that’s a gun! We know what they are!”

Scootaloo proceeded to pick up the fallen weapon in her teeth, causing Apple Bloom to panic. It was much longer than the revolver had been, and had a long metal box sticking out of the side, but it was still a gun, and the fact that Scootaloo had it worried her.

Scootaloo on the other hand wasn’t worried, she looked away from Apple Bloom and pulled the trigger with her tongue.

Click! Empty.

“It’s safe!” Scootaloo announced proudly, Apple Bloom’s heart was about to explode.

Scootaloo! Stop that!” she called out.

“Why? Am I making you nervous?” Scootaloo said grinning, picking the fallen weapon up again.

Click! Click!

Apple Bloom started to cry, Scootaloo’s nonchalant behaviour towards the gun had hurt her. Scootaloo didn’t have to feel guilty over shooting Sweetie Bell. Apple Bloom did.

Scootaloo quickly noticed that she had upset her friend, and instantly felt guilty about it; she dropped the kangaroo submachine gun and sat down next to her friend, giving her a hug.

“Hey, I’m sorry!” Scootaloo said sincerely. “I’ll stop, I promise!”

Apple Bloom continued to cry, burying her head into Scootaloo’s shoulder. Scootaloo was glad that she had put on the goggles she’d found, as the violet lenses had obscured her eyes, Apple Bloom wasn’t able to see that she had started to cry as well.

They sat there for nearly an hour before neither of them was able to cry any more.

“Come on Scoot, let’s go look some more!” Apple Bloom said finally.

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

...

Nothing. Apart from the goggles, and the two guns they’d found, there was nothing that the two Cutie Mark Crusaders had found that had told them anything.

Apple Bloom had started looking at the trees for lack of other things to look at.

“Hey Scoot? Did ya notice tha’ some o’ the branches on these trees are broken?” Apple Bloom said after a minute of studying them.

“So?” Scootaloo said, looking up at the trees that Apple Bloom had pointed out.

“Well, how’d they get broken? Branches don’ break themselves!” Apple Bloom said. “So...”

“So someone had to break them!” Scootaloo finished, catching on quickly.

“Eyup!” Apple Bloom said. “Only some of ‘em are broken, so if we follow the broken ones...”

“We might find who broke them!” Scootaloo said. Excitedly the two fillies marched off, following the path with broken tree branches, the thought never occurred to them that they might not want to find whoever had broken the tree branches.

They followed it until they discovered a cliff wall, and a cave opening, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders immediately got excited and entered into the cave, they were disappointed to find that there was nothing in here, save for an old camp fire that clearly hadn’t been used in a really long time.

The duo took to exploring the cave, finding nothing of interest until they found an incredibly large boulder that was blocking off one part of the tunnel, and next to it was an open path that descended downwards. Eagerly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders went down the path, only to find an exit.

“Well that was dumb,” Scootaloo said disappointed. “There was nothing in there!”

Apple Bloom nodded in shared disappointment, and the two of them walked out of the cave, stopping only to take notice in a line of ashes that someone had left behind, because they had stepped in it, accidentally kicking some of it out of place.

The duo shrugged at each other, not understanding what the ashes were for, or why someone had put them like that, they continued on without a care in the world.

...

They continued to walk on the path that led away from the cave formation; Apple Bloom had been particularly disappointed, she was sure that the broken tree branches would have led them where they needed to be, unfortunately, there were no broken tree branches on this side of the cave.

They had wandered into a clearing, sitting down on the ground to rest for a moment. Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo, still wearing the goggles she’d found, she couldn’t help but smirk; they were too big for her head and made her look incredibly silly.

“What?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nothin’!” Apple Bloom said, giggling.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, which Apple Bloom had not been able to see. “Maybe we should just go home. We haven’t found anything!”

They heard a branch snap.

The two fillies looked back, but saw nothing. They both began to tense up, not knowing what it could be.

They heard more branches snapping, and through the bushes, a black unicorn pony with glowing amber eyes walked in on them.

“Oh... hello!” he said politely.

“Hello,” Apple Bloom said, smiling at him.

The black unicorn smiled back at them. “Isn’t it... ah, getting a little late for fillies as young as yourself to be out?”

“Is it?” Scootaloo asked, she lifted up the goggles and looked at the sky, it was getting late.

“Yer not gonna tell Applejack on us are ya?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly. “Please! Ya can’t! Ah haven’t even done mah chores for today!”

“Who’s Applejack?” the unicorn asked.

“Mah big sister! She’ll be mad if she figures out we were out in the woods late!”

“Well don’t worry, my little ponies, I don’t know Applejack, so I can’t very well tell her!” the unicorn said with a smile. “My name is Nightshadow, you are?”

“I’m Apple Bloom! This is Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said with a smile, Scootaloo waved at the unicorn.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Nightshadow said with a smile. “It is getting rather late for two young fillies to be out, It’s not safe for you to be walking alone at night, how about I walk you two back to town?”

The filles eventually agreed, and began to walk back with the older unicorn.

Apple Bloom studied him for several moments, feeling that something was off about him, but she was quick to figure out what. “Hey! You don’ have a cutie mark!”

“Huh?” Nightshadow said, “Oh, yes, I suppose I don’t.”

“How come?!” Apple Bloom asked.

“I couldn’t tell you... my brothers and I never gone one,” Nightshadow said. “A trio of identical triplets.”

“Never? You must have gotten made fun of a lot in school?” Scootaloo asked. “We’re the only ones in our class that don’t have ours, and we get made fun of all the time.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Nightshadow said. “Children can be so cruel to those that are different; though we were never really picked on... in fact most ponies don’t even notice that we don’t have one for some odd reason, I tend to forget about them entirely.”

“But... don’t you want to find out what it is?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not particularly, no,” Nightshadow said. “I’m an apothecary, I make potions and elixirs from natural ingredients, I love it, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else... but clearly, my cutie mark did not come from it, I like not having it, it reinforces that you can do anything you want! After all, with my luck, my cutie mark would turn out to be a pail of glue, or a gelatine mold,” Nightshadow chuckled at his own joke, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at him in confusion, they didn’t understand.

“Never mind,” the black unicorn said.

...

They walked to the edge of town; Nightshadow stopped in his tracks, and turned to the two Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“This is where I leave you, then. I don’t actually live in town anymore,” Nightshadow admitted. “I would like, however to ask a favour of you two?”

“Wha’ is it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I would appreciate that you not tell others that you met me. I am not... understood, by the townsfolk. I prefer to live alone outside town, it’s not something that everypony understands,” Nightshadow said.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn’t understand, he was really nice and helpful, why wouldn’t they like him? Nevertheless, they agreed to his request, he bid them farewell, and the two Cutie Mark Crusaders dashed off back into town.

Nightshadow, on the other hand seemed to just fade away into the darkness.