As Smithy started to entertain the other fillies, Twilight continued poring over her book, searching for any info that might help Spike and the others. If she could do even the smallest thing to make sure they were okay, she would do it. But so far, there wasn't much that was useful.
"Why do you keep reading that book?"
"AHHHH!" Twilight screamed, now aware of the sudden presence of another filly right in front of her.
"Your face..." Rainbow Dash snickered, "…was hilarious!" she nearly fell over in a spasm of laughter. As it turned out, she was the one who had interrupted Twilight, which was apparently the funniest thing in the world.
"I don't like being interrupted while I’m reading," Twilight told the rude filly, her cheeks turning slightly red.
"What are you reading, anyways?" Rainbow Dash asked as she picked herself up and wiped a tear from her eye.
"The Story of Sinking Sun- well, actually, it’s Solar Flare since she changed her name, but some ponies like knowing both of the names of-"
"Really? I'm not a big fan of reading myself," Rainbow Dash admitted, interrupting Twilight’s run-on sentence. "Scoots keeps saying I should read more, but I don’t see myself using any of that stuff when I’m super famous!”
"No use for reading?" Twilight was appalled that anyone could think that, regardless of what their occupation may be. "Reading is the greatest thing in the whole world! I don't know what I would do if I couldn't read." Rainbow still looked doubtful, leaning away from the book ever so slightly.
"Well, you could probably go outside and play instead of being locked up,” she suggested. “I might try reading, maybe, if I could find an awesome book with action and stuff, but that kind of learning junk..." She gestured to the book in front of Twilight. "…that just looks boring."
"It's not!" Twilight reassured her. "No book is boring. Here, let me read a chapter or two to you so you can see how great it is."
Rainbow simply shrugged. "Alright, there's nothing better to do anyway."
Twilight started reading, and as the story progressed, both fillies started to be drawn into it, becoming distracted from fear for the welfare of their guardians.
* * *
"What is that?" Scootaloo hissed.
The group was hiding in the shadows, watching something surrounded in flames, shooting random fireballs and making the most ridiculous sounds, which seemed like something between a roar and a whine.
"I think…" Sweetie said, pausing to squint at the creature, "…it's a dragon."
"Well, why is it so upset?" Scoot demanded, simply wanting to get through this obstacle and continue their trek through the forest.
"Let's go ask it!" Pound exclaimed. He began to walk out of their hiding place before his sister dragged him back.
"Are you crazy!? We can't just walk up to a raging dragon! It'll burn us to a crisp!" she said, displeased with her brother’s rather straightforward approach.
"It won't burn Spike," Apple Bloom pointed out. All heads turned towards the dragon in question, an expectant look on each.
"What?? I can't go talk to it!" Spike exclaimed, flabbergasted that they would suggest such a thing. "I've never even seen another dragon before, much less tried to calm one down!"
"Well, it's blockin’ our path, and if we don't get it tah move, we can't continue," Apple Bloom reminded him.
Spike shook his head determinedly.
"Just go already!" said Scootaloo, pushing Spike out of cover and into full view of the other dragon.
"Who's there?" The other dragon called. Spike guessed that, from its voice, it was a girl dragon.
"Um, hi," Spike called, feeling emotions of both fear and embarrassment. "I'm Spike, and I was just wondering if you could possibly move so I can get through," he said, uncertainty abundant in his voice.
"No!" cried the dragon. "I'm too rife with devastation to move even an inch!"
Spike could see her clearly now; she was about half grown and was much bigger than Spike, covered with fiery red scales.
"Why? What's wrong?" Spike asked.
"My..." The dragon sniffled a little as she recalled the memory. "My HAT!" She exclaimed, pointing to the top of her head where there was an absence of any sort of headgear. "A gust of wind came and blew it away!"
"What!?" Scootaloo shouted, not being able to contain herself anymore as she flew over and landed next to Spike. "That's what caused all these fireballs? A HAT!?"
"That does seem a little overdramatic," Sweetie agreed, joining them.
One by one, the ponies came out of hiding and joined their companions and the mystery dragon.
"Can't she live without a hat?" Pumpkin asked. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Now ya'll are just bein' inconsiderate," Apple Bloom declared, stepping forward. "Of course her hat is important; just look at her!" She gestured to the dragon as she turned to face her fellow ponies. "She's got beautiful red scales."
"Yes, I do take pride in my scales," the dragon commented.
"And she’s got those lovely eyes!"
"They are beautiful, aren't they?" The dragon fluttered her eye lids.
"And none of it does anything without a good accessory! A good accessory can get anything looking ten times better."
"It's TRUE!" The dragon agreed.
Apple Bloom turned to her and with one quick motion whipped the bow off of the back of her head, then tied it around the dragon’s head.
"Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle gasped. "That's your special bow!"
"Ah know," Apple Bloom said, staring at the ground, "but Ah can always get another one."
"Oh, thank you so much, little pony!" The dragon cried, clapping her claws together in ecstasy. "I'll be off now with my new bow!" She then turned and flew away into the sky.
"Well, that was...strange," Spike commented after a few moments of silence.
"I think it was a nice way to solve the problem," Pound put in.
"Why do all these adventures end so sappy?" Scoot wondered.
"Let's just keep going,” Spike said, stepping forward with a sigh. “I want to try to avoid any more trouble."
Sweetie Belle stopped to talk to Apple Bloom as everyone else continued forward. "Are you sure you're going to be OK?" she asked, concern in her eyes.
"Ah really am fine, Sweetie," Apple Bloom reassured her, placing a hoof on her shoulder for a moment. "Come on, we better not get left behind."
* * *
The adventuring group moved silently through the woods. Each of them was tired of all the problems they’d been running into, becoming flustered and slowly losing confidence every minute that went by. They just wanted to get this quest over with and go home to the fillies waiting for them, but unbeknownst to them, this forest would make one more attempt to keep them from reaching their goal.
As the leaves crunched beneath their hooves, the air around them began to grow moist. Small flecks of white entered their vision and steadily began to grow larger. They didn't stop to question it, instead opting to just keep plowing ahead, hoping they could simply move past the descending mist. The white soon grew denser and thicker until no one could see past their noses and they were forced to stop.
Spike sighed, annoyed at the latest of their constant delays. "I really don't want anything to pop out of this annoying fog; the last thing we need is another distraction. Pound, Scootaloo, can you clear this?"
"Yes sir!" Pound called out from the gloom. There was a rush of wind, signifying that he had taken off.
Scootaloo was about to follow him and leap into the clear sky when something stopped her. Out of the gloom came an eerie voice, soft at first and slowly getting louder. "Scootaloo...Scootaloo."
"Who's there?" Scootaloo demanded, whirling around, trying and failing to glimpse something through the blinding mist.
"Oh, Scootaloo, aren't you tired?" The voice asked, ignoring Scootaloo's question. It was so odd, neither stallion or mare, young or old, or maybe all of them at once.
"Tired? Tired of what?" said Scootaloo, a forceful tone in her voice as curiosity got the better of her.
"Of trying too hard," it replied. The voice had become warm, like the summer sun, and made Scootaloo want to listen to everything it had to say, and to trust it. She had completely forgotten the cold tone it had carried only seconds earlier. "Helping these ponies that don't...deserve it."
"Everypony deserves help," Scootaloo protested, questioning the voice’s words. “…Don’t they?” she added uncertainly. She was slightly confused; the voice was washing over her like warm water, making her mind fuzzy.
"Sometimes," The voice admitted. "But others can help them, can't they? You don't always have to. I can take you away from here, Scootaloo, to a place where you won't be harmed by the forever day. You, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and your close friends will all be safe. You won't have to worry about anything anymore."
"But..." said Scootaloo, trying to protest. As she tried to think of what to say, she noticed that she could hear something...it was faint, as if it was being blocked out by something, almost like it was coming from behind a wall. It was a distant shouting. Her friends were probably wondering what was taking her so long.
"What if this silly quest fails?" The voice demanded, drawing back her attention. "You will put everypony you love in danger for no reason. You might not even come back from this ridiculous adventure. You don't want to leave the fillies, do you?"
Scootaloo thought about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy at home. If they didn't stabilize the day and night, it would greatly harm the two fillies under her care. If she didn't come back, they would have no one to take care of them. This warm voice was giving her a way to guarantee their safety and her friends' well-being. Should she really pass up this chance for the slim possibility that the little group of six she was with could defeat Solar Flare? Somepony who could kidnap the Princess with no trouble at all, while they could barely survive this forest?
Then she thought of all the ponies that would be harmed if she took the coward's way out. They would all have to suffer because she didn't want to risk anything. They would all have to pay because she wasn't strong enough to even try to save them. She couldn't let that happen to the ponies of Equestria. She couldn't let that happen to anypony.
"Thank you," Scootaloo called out when she had made her decision.
"You will come with me?" The voice asked, almost hopefully.
"No. Thank you for the offer, but I just can't leave all the ponies to suffer without even trying to help them." With that, Scootaloo flew up out of the fog and met Pound Cake in the clear air.
"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Where were you? Did you forget which way was up?" he asked, giving a playful nudge.
"Sorry," she apologized. "I got a little distracted down there."
"Well then, get your head out of the clouds and help me move this one."
The two Pegasi flew around and around the fog until it started to thin out and rise into the air as a regular cloud.
"What took you two so long?" Spike demanded when he could finally see the Pegasi again.
"Scoot was daydreaming," Pound informed the dragon, cracking a smile at the orange filly. "She forgot which way was up."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the ridiculous remark, which Spike had clearly taken literally, as he was staring at her like she was crazy.
"You were... at a time like..." Spike groaned and slapped his forehead. "Fine, whatever, let's just go! The castle should be right ahead; we'll get there soon."
They continued forward as a wisp of yellow smoke collected itself together and disappeared into the forest, moving in the same direction as the party of six.
The group had only walked for a couple of minutes before Scootaloo saw the top of the castle peeking over the trees ahead. “There it is!” she cried, alerting the others.
They started into a gallop, and soon everyone could see the old ruins. Spike led the charge, running towards the end of their quest as fast as he could…
…Only to screech to a halt at the edge of a cliff. Two support beams with rope attached marked where a bridge should have been hanging over the gap to help them reach the other side. But that bridge had few boards left on it; most were missing completely and a few were broken away. It was as rickety as a rotting skeleton, and gave off an eerie cackling sound every time it rocked in the wind. The thing seemed far more like an unfinished project than it did an actual bridge.
Spike took a step back as this thought crossed his mind.
“Is that thing safe to cross?” Sweetie Belle asked, eyeing the bridge suspiciously.
“That thing don’t look like it could hold an apple, let alone a pony,” Apple Bloom answered as she inspected it.
“It’s our only way across.” Spike sighed; he really didn’t want to risk the rickety bridge, but it seemed unavoidable. He took a tentative step onto a board and held his breath. The board held.
The others slowly followed Spike, each one stepping as lightly as possible, trying not to look down at the impending darkness below. The small group had gotten halfway across the chasm when there was a sharp snapping sound. Spike and the ponies behind him either stared at the wood under them or looked back to make sure the others were all right.
“What was that?” Pumpkin asked, her voice full of worry.
“Let’s hope it was nothing,” Spike said.
He shakily took another step, and another snapping sound echoed out. Followed by another, then another. Suddenly, the whole bridge tore free from the ledge they had started from, tipping the group forward.
Pound and Scootaloo instinctively took to the air as the bridge collapsed below them. The ones who could not fly simply had to hang on as the bridge swung forward and collided with the opposite cliff wall.
The impact knocked the breath out of Spike’s lungs, and he took a few seconds to collect himself as the bridge stopped swaying. “Is everyone alright?” he asked.
There was a mix of pained and annoyed grunts from below, telling Spike that the ponies hadn’t fallen off.
“Alright, I’ll start climbing and then help the rest of you up,” Spike called, slowly starting to climb the rickety boards. When he got to the cliff edge, he hoisted himself up and turned back to help the others. Pumpkin Cake was right behind him, holding onto one of the ropes with her teeth for dear life.
Spike was just reaching down to help her up when he heard an ear-piercing scream. He leaned forward to see past the peachy-coated unicorn and found that Sweetie Belle had lost her grip and was now falling into the abyss.
“NO!” Spike shouted, watching the white unicorn fall down into the black shadows below.