Scootaloo locked herself in her room and waited. She waited through dinner, not trusting herself to not say anything that would give away her plans. She waited for her concerned friends to stop knocking on her door asking to be let in. She waited until she could hear Applejack’s un-feminine snores echoing through the upper floor.
She had waited and planned all day for this, leaving nothing to chance.
After she was sure every pony in the house was asleep, she silently pushed the rope she had made out of her bed sheets out the window, wincing at the plop it made when the knotted end smacked the dirt below.
Sliding down the rope, she couldn’t help but feel just a little guilty. Here she was going to go do something dangerously stupid, and not letting any pony know. Landing on the ground though, she stood defiantly against the night that had so recently frightened her. With a quick jerk of her mouth she yanked the sheets down from where they were tied and shoveled them into the bush underneath the window
Trotting off in the direction of the destroyed cart, she never noticed the eyes watching her from the woodline.
Applejack woke with a start, jolting out of the bed and into her bedside table painfully. As she sat up rubbing her forehead, she reached with her other hoof to grab her hat from the bedpost only to have her hoof run into something. Opening one of her eyes she looked up and saw that someone had hung Cass’s uniform top from the bedpost, just like he usually did. Opening her eyes, she scanned the room quickly, but just as quickly she was disappointed. Apple Bloom was sleeping in the other half of the bed, Applejack’s hat sitting low on her head, hiding her eyes and ears.
Applejack just sat there for a few minutes, holding her tears back as the loss came crashing back down on her. With a deep breath, she stood up, noticing the chill in the room for the first time, and instinctively she grabbed the jacket and pulled it on.
The sleeves had to be rolled a couple of times and she had to fight with the evil zipper that refused to budge, but when she was settled in she felt more comfortable than she had since the last time she saw Cass. The uniform still had his scent in it, making it feel like he was there in the room with her, just about to wipe away her tears and tease her for being so worried.
Applejack walked out of the room, careful to not wake up Applebloom or Sweetie Belle, who was sleeping half under the bed, guess she had fallen out of the bed again, or maybe had help this time. Applejack really didn’t care, as long as they didn’t start another pillow fight in their sleep.
Trotting down the hallway she paused by the door up to the third floor, which was all Luna’s. Putting her ear to the door she heard a soft snoring. Applejack still found it amusing that the Princess of the Night, the same Princess who a thousand years ago waged war against the day, now chose to sleep through her own domain.
Continuing down the hallway, Applejack paused outside of Cass’s old room. Applejack tried the doorknob again in vain. She could’ve guessed the outcome, ever since the Crusaders had gotten home Scootaloo had refused to even leave her room once, not even for dinner. Applejack wished she could do the same but she refused to let it come to fruition. Her family needed her just as much as she needed them.
Thumping her head against the solid door, she whispered in to Scootaloo, hoping she would hear her.
“Scootaloo, just take yer time in there, just know that we all love ya and we all miss ya. But just don’t go and do anything silly, please.”
Applejack stood at the door for a while longer, not caring about much. She didn’t even notice Granny Smith’s creaky hip as she walked up and draped a blanket over her.
“Come on, I got a pie downstairs and no pony to eat it with." Granny Smith said, leading Applejack towards the stairs.
“Thanks Granny” Applejack said as she followed her gratefully.
Every tree she passed seemed to loom over her. The once always welcoming orchard seemed to be more evil than the Everfree Forest. Even the apples hanging from the branches were eerie similar to things that nightmares are made of.
But, brave little Scootaloo was determined, forging ahead, biting her lower lip to prevent herself from screaming at the slightest creak or thud causing her to jump.
“I wish Rainbow Dash was here.” she muttered to herself, flinching at the sound of her voice as it echoed quietly.
After she had reached the cart she followed the tracks deep into the orchard, in parts she was sure she had never been in before. With each step the trees loomed closer and closer, leaving the claustrophobic little pegasus wishing she could soar out of this depressing place before the darkness strangled the life from her.
Up ahead she saw the moonlight filtering down through the darkness pitifully. But even the miniscule glow was almost blindingly bright compared to the suffocating darkness. The little filly almost screamed in joy when she first saw it, and had to forcibly clamp her jaw shut to keep herself from doing so.
Trotting into the meager light she reveled in it, basking in the meager light, wondering why the hell she was out here alone.
Why is it everything she must do, she does alone? Why couldn’t she get help from anypony rather than sneaking around on her own? All of these questions and more flowed through her head, far too fast for me to be able to read them all.
I couldn’t help but smile as her relief swept over me, tasting sweeter than anything I’ve tasted since that damnable wedding, and much better than the spicy fear and dry tasting concern she was overflowing with earlier.
Grinning to myself, I couldn’t help but to reach up and slowly slid the branches further apart, making the opening widen considerably, lighting the little orange filly up like an actor on a stage.
The filly instantly panicked when the lighting changed, and bolted behind a nearby tree and hid. Little did she know her fear was lighting her up even more than the moonlight, she was practically sending up flares to every changeling in the area.
Luckily for her I am the only one for miles. I could faintly feel the locations of my brothers and my sisters as they hunted for lone ponies, but the closest one was barely more than a whisper on the wind.
If they caught wind of her, she would be torn apart in the resulting fight over her emotions, like a swarm of piranha swarming a bleeding prey.
Propping the branch against another, I slither down the tree trunk, coiling in an inky black rope on the ground before forming myself into a small crimson pony. I don’t know why but I could never seem to decide on any other color other than a deep red.
Taking a moment to compose myself and wipe the silly grin off my face and replace it with one of utter fear, I called out in a weak voice.
“Hello? Sissy, is that you?”
Hearing a soft rustle, I stepped into the light, looking around as if I was fearful of something hiding in the dark, I barely contained my smile as she foolishly revealed herself to me.
It almost broke my heart, what I was about to do to her was unspeakable. Almost....
Luna shot out of her bed, planting her hooves on her ceiling with a thud. Unsure of why she was so suddenly awake, she slowly scanned her surrounding, first with her eyes and then with her magic. Detecting nothing out of the usual, other than Applejack and Granny Smith enjoying a pie downstairs.
“Maybe I should join them.” she said as she jumped off of her ceiling to land not so gracefully on her bed, suppressing a giggle as she bounced on it a few times.
Stepping off of her oversized bed she took two steps before she halted so suddenly she nearly fell over. Counting heads again with her magic she noticed she was missing more than Cass.
Blowing her door off the hinges with a crash that instantly woke every pony in the house she bolted down her private stairwell, barely touching any of them but not even bothering extending her tiny wings.
Cursing her filly form once again as she skid around the corner she blew Scootaloo’s door off the hinges with even less subtility than that last explosion.
Sliding to a halt in front of the empty bed she felt tears well up in her eyes as she searched frantically with her magic, ignoring the other ponies as they filled the hallway. She barely registered as Applejack rushed into the room, a knife clutched in her teeth as she scanned the room with wide open eyes, looking for the danger.
“She’s gone.” Luna whispered.
Applejack, dropping the knife, which stuck itself into the floor, trotted over to Luna and twirled her around and grabbed her by her shoulders, shouting something in Luna’s face, but Luna didn’t pay attention. Her imagination, honed by a thousand years of little else to do, filled with millions of millions of increasingly horrible and incoherent scenarios.
The first thing Luna noticed was her face hurting, a lot. The second things she noticed was the utter silence only broken by the heaving sobs inches from her clenched eyes.
Turning her face slowly, wincing as her neck popped due to the movement. She peeked through her eyelids, not seeing anything other than the tan camo Cass wore all the time.
Panicking, she pushed herself away, but was instantly relieved to see she wasn't seeing things but had just been pressed into Applejack’s chest.
“What happened to Scootaloo?” begged Applejack for what was probably the hundredth time in the last minute.
“They got her too.” Luna choked out as she watched her friend’s soul die right before her eyes.
Zecora rolled out of her simple straw cot, swatting at the small alarm clock she had Twilight make for her awhile back. It was a simple thing, but very useful, especially when certain herbs had to be picked at odd hours in the morning.
Trotting out of her hut into the Everfree forest she didn’t even hesitate where other ponies would have bolted out of fear. While it was a lot different from the plains and grasslands she had grown up with, it did have its own personality that made it seem a bit like home after she had gotten used to it.
That, and also convincing the timber wolves she was too much work for too little of a meal also made it more comfortable.
Walking up a familiar path that she herself had worn with her frequent trips out collecting herbs and spices she closed her eyes and simply let her muscle memory guide her through the forest.
She was almost to her first item on the list when she halted herself. Sniffing the air, she noticed something was, different.
Opening her eyes she scanned her surroundings, looking for the source of her unknown oddity. Nothing seemed wrong at all. Shrugging her shoulders, she took a careful step forward.
“Knock”
Freezing in place, she slowly looked down and saw that she was standing on a brightly decorated sign cheerily announcing that Poison Joke was ahead.
Zecora’s eyes widened as she realized what was wrong.
The weed, each and every one of them, was gone.
Slowly taking a few steps backwards before she turned and bolted full speed back to her hut, she ignored everything racing back to the safety that her craftily hidden fortress contained. Whatever, or whoever had picked that much of the poisonous plant had no good intentions.
And while she knew she should warn Ponyville of their impending doom, she knew that her words wouldn’t be heeded until it was too late.
The best thing she could do to save as many as she could, was to brew as much of the cure she could.
Hopping through her doorway, she bucked her door shut with a loud bang, sliding the sturdy locks into place before looking around her hut before her eyes settled on her trusty pot.
“I better brew enough, before things truly get rough!” she muttered as numerous flasks and bottles rained into the pot in a flurry.