//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Devils Used to be Gods // by old drum //------------------------------// “Love, once set down, takes shape and grows wings But, through metamorphosis, it can grow to do malicious things When an angel from heaven is thrown, it then will choose To be consumed by hate, or find a heart to take refuge If not, no one is safe from what the harbinger brings Unless the purest of devotion intervenes And begets the breeze so the bells and chimes may ring And from this heart-song, gently sing” ~An Old Zebra Rhyme Sweetie Belle couldn’t bring herself to get up out of bed. After she regained consciousness she continually assured herself that last night’s events had never happened. Never even happened. It didn’t change much. She heard the sound of a door cracking open and could see the light coming into the room through her closed eyelids. “Hey girl, you wana get up yet? I have some breakfast for ya down here if you wana come eat.” The voice paused. “We can just sit and talk.” Sweetie Belle was trying her hardest to seem asleep. Trying. Kept trying. Apple Bloom decided to give up for the time being. She wasn’t going to force her friend out of her comfort zone yet. She shut the door softly, trying her best to be considerate. That left Sweetie Belle waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting for what? Nothing was changing. Minutes and hours past before the stagnancy was broken by the sound of the front door of the house opening and closing. Soft murmurs were exchanged downstairs, but Sweetie Belle couldn’t make out the words. The stairs started to gently creak. Sweetie’s heart was pounding. She shut her eyes as tight as she could. There were screams shooting off inside her head. She never even heard the door open. “Sweetie Belle.” It was her voice. Sweetie Belle couldn’t ignore it. It was confident and calm. Sweetie felt that Scootaloo deserved to be able to look her in the eyes and that she was obligated to listen to what Scootaloo had to say. Sweetie’s eyes opened to see Scoot hovering in front of her, her face entirely unreadable, but wide-eyed and observant. Sweetie Belle let her eyes trail over Scootaloo’s glossy-orange coat which was illuminated by the lone crack of light that reached into the room. Sweetie’s cringing came to a halt, but her quivering continued. Scootaloo confidently moved her face closer to Sweetie Belle, which caused Sweetie Belle to flinch and close her eyes tight. Scoot confidently followed her back and landed a gentle kiss on Sweetie Belle’s muzzle. Suddenly, all she could think about was Scootaloo’s soft, warm breath. Sweetie cracked her eyes open to see that Scootaloo was still right in front of her, staring intently with her deep, magenta eyes. “Sweetie Belle, I love you too.” Sweetie’s initial reaction was bewilderment, followed shortly by the blissful realization that her worries could be put to rest. Feelings of relief began to shoot rapidly through all parts of her body. The tightness in her chest began to absolve and her limbs began to relax. She managed to keep her friend while gaining a lover. “There… is everything better?” Scootaloo blushed and looked around awkwardly. Now that the crisis had been resolved, Scootaloo didn’t really know what to do with herself. On the other hand, Sweetie Belle swelled up with happiness at the sound of Scootaloo trying to express concern. She found her embarrassment to be positively adorable. Sweetie Belle let out a little giggle and nodded up and down. “Well, that’s good, because I really think we should talk this over, like, I don’t know about you but I really don’t know how all of this works, and I sure as hell don’t know what Celestia is going to think when I write to her and tell her I learned a whooolllleeee lot about what friendship ca…” “Shut up, you,” Sweetie giggled as she reached her forelegs around Scootaloo’s neck and pulled her in tight. When Sweetie Belle’s lips touched hers, Scootaloo’s eye bulged and her face lit up like a lava lamp. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle had no intention of letting her go anytime soon. _____________________________________________________________________________________ “Tonight’s the night, dun dun dun DUN.” Scootaloo was singing harshly into a mirror. “Tonight’s the nigh-ie-ie-ie-ight.” Let’s bucking do this shit YEAH! “Early in the morning at the break of day she used to sleep until the afternoon. If you never saw her rainbow well I guess you won’t too soooooon. Now ponies let me tell you, it sent a chill up and down my spine. When I picked up the phone, and heard that she died, out on the Mane Fliiigghht.” Neil Young’s colt-classic had never sounded so good. “Tonight’s the night, dun dun dun DUN.” “Tonight’s the night.” Sweetie snuck up behind Scoot and started filling in the higher registers. Scootaloo was entirely oblivious to the fact for a good thirty seconds. She was… rather absorbed in her own antics. “Oh… eh-eh, hey Sweetie.” “Hey Scooty. Big night tonight? Or at least it sounds like it.” Sweetie Belle walked up to the mirror beside Scootaloo. “Someone is a little giiiiddddyy.” She savored the word. Scootaloo blushed a little, but not as much as she would have a week prior. She found herself feeling more and more comfortable around Sweetie, which meant Sweetie had to work harder to get her fill of adorable, self-conscious Scootaloo. “Sorry, I was just trying to get my mind right.” Ponyville was the final stop on the Equestrian Freestyle Motocross Tour. Despite it being Scootaloo’s first year competing, she was sitting solidly at second place, being trumped only by the circuit’s 5-year reigning champ, Sterling Kicks. In Scootaloo’s mind she was picturing how she would be slaughtering the competition. That unicorn would be crushed: fan-fillies would cry, teetering married couples would divorce, and brimstone would rain from Cloudsdale. Brimstone would probably even rain on Cloudsdale. Most importantly of all, Sterling would be so impressed by this rookie that she would kindly ask her to go out for a few drinks, to which Scootaloo would decline in dramatic fashion to go get smashed on cider with Sweetie Belle… or perhaps Sweetie might suggest that Sterling come along as well, and then after a night of celebrating the spirit of competition by raising their blood alcohol content… well, the possibilities were endless. First, though, it started with crushing Sterling in the world of somewhat organized sports. Scootaloo had been staring at herself determinedly in the mirror for three minutes while contemplating the events that would soon unfold. Sweetie had been staring at Scootaloo from the side, growing more concerned and disturbed with each passing moment. “Anywayssss, shouldn’t we be going? You said something earlier about wanting to be there what is now eight minutes ago…” “Don’t chu belittle me.” Scoot was still having a rather serious moment in her head. “I’m always so surprised and proud of you when you use complicated words like that,” Sweetie said playfully. She stared at Scoot with her biggest and most innocent expression possible. Scootaloo began to disengage from her serious mode, but Sweetie knew Scoot wasn’t going to relax until the deed was done. “If you weren’t so adorable…” “Heyyyyy I love you too, but be safe for me please. Recently you’ve been scraped up everywhere, and even though we’ve had a lot of practice falling from about every type of thing imaginable, I don’t want come back with you broken.” Zip lines. Scoot thought she could see an honest fear brooding in her eyes. “I promise I will be safe.” Scoolatloo kissed Sweetiebelle and made every effort to put her at ease. “Promise.” But sometimes stupid things have to be done. _____________________________________________________________________________________ “Pony guys and gals, our next and undoubtedly incredible performer for the Big Air is none other than Sterling Kicks, the unicorn hailing from Canterlot and the presiding motocross freestyle champion. Hold on to your seats kiddos, this is going to be wild!” The speaker system blared, even into the depths of the holding area. The gigantic lights outside illuminating the track made it almost impossible to see outside. The first event of the night, the freestyle, which was composed of a course holding various small to medium sized ramps, was already over. Scootaloo had let the chicken out of the bag, so to speak, by utilizing her wings to incorporating 360’s into her routine that had yet to see the big screen. But, in the spirit of fair competition, pegasus who chose not ride with wing binds face a harsher grading process, while unicorns are required to wear a magic nullification seal. Stacked on top of this was the predominately Earthpony-based population of Ponyville that has a slight history of rioting (as well as tarring and feathering judges that make poor decisions). Anyways, the whole process is subjective and opinionated, and although though it could have been argued from an omniscient standpoint that Scootaloo’s performance was technically (although certainly visually) superior, she still found herself trailing behind Sterling by a measly two points. Sterling Kicks began moving out of the staging area. In the darkness, Scootaloo could have sworn that Sterling had glanced back at her before making her way into the blinding light. Once Sterling passed over, Scootaloo felt like she was being drawn out as well. She left the side of her bike, wanting to peak out into the light. Her eyes squinted as she pushed her way into the illuminating wall. Sterling was there in front of her. Her uniform and motorcycle were a monotone white-silver, except for her helmet’s black eye shield and the black magic seal that covered her horn. Her whole body was still. The motorcycle maintained its balance despite the lack of hooves on the ground. Sterling began to gently rev on the bike. The noises of the crowd couldn’t reach them. The bike let out another rev. Sterling was moving. She ascended the ramp, almost as if she was being pulled towards the heavens. Scootaloo had been up and off the ramp a hundred times before, but at this moment the ramp seemed insurmountable, infinite, and unforgiving. Sterling climbed until parting ways at the tiptop. Letting go of the handle bar, Sterling let her hind legs slide beneath the handles while she lay back across seat and extended her front hooves out past her head. She held this position as she began to dip back. A shutter of fear was felt unanimously throughout the crowd as everypony watched the lone airborne unicorn. Simply watching her relinquish her grip was enough for the crowd to experience the sensation of chaotic freefall. Sterling held this position up to the last second before finishing her back flip and landing. After that, there wasn’t any question as to Sterling’s true nature: cold, calculative, and certain. If she hadn’t projected these qualities before, she certainly did now. This shook Scootaloo’s confidence in an unprecedented way. Sizing herself up to Sterling no longer seemed possible. She was a monster. The judges sat for the longest time, visibly shaken by what they had seen and unable to present a score. Slowly they managed to come to a decision. 9.0, 9.5, 9.5. Two points. Two points to make. “Wow, that was… uh… unbelievable.” The announcer stumbled for his words. “And uh… the next rider…Ponyville’s very own star…” 10, 10, 10. Losers lose and winners win. “Scootaloo!” Ain’t no one going to take this from me. Scootaloo called over one of the staff ponies. “And what’s this? Ladies and gentlecoats, do we have a show for you! Scootaloo has requested the wing binds.” Not some damn fancy-prancy unicorn. “If there was ANY chance that something could top that last performance, this is gonna be IT!” Scoot knew to a high degree of certainty that she might never be able to defeat her. No. But you can’t let that stop you. No. You have to lie to yourself. No. You have to keep trying. I will never. Keep striving to earn your mark. I will never let her. Trying until this is all I have the moment is big enough. Under the weight of it all, Scootaloo’s perception of time and space dragged and flashed. As Scootaloo was approaching the ramp she had already envisioned her flight, but before she could remember ascending the ramp she was already in the air. One down and one to go. She completed her first back flip, but the second wouldn’t come as quickly as the first. Time began to slow again in a manner that felt all too familiar. The air felt thick as ink. Her acceleration down began to exponentially decay with the halting of time. Her spinning ceased entirely. Scootaloo had nowhere to look but down. Despite the lights that flooded the stadium there was a distinct darkness beneath her. Here I am again. She moved ever closer. If she reached the ground. When I touch. Time would reach its end. I will still be falling. And in her dying moments. Falling forever. She would experience infinity. Just like before. The voice was no longer her own. You will remember. You are ageless. Scootaloo was breathing again. Opening her eyes she saw the ground less than an inch below her. The air was alive again with chatter and panic. Looking around, Scootaloo saw Sterling Kicks just a few meters away from her, helmet off, channeling what looked like some type of levitation magic. Looking up at her hind legs, Scootaloo realized she was the thing being suspended. Sterling set her down gently. As Scootaloo sat up she thought she could hear Sweetie Belle calling for her. Everything went black.