//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Different Shades // by Sonson-Sensei //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Final Memory “This stuff is tough,” Scootaloo grumbled through a mouthful of the fine spider silk that Kimbo was trapped by. Venom dripped from the massive spider's fangs as it approached its second morsel that had so willing ventured into its midst. “Leave!” Kimbo hollered, but Scootaloo remained persistent in her task, relentlessly tearing away at the threads. Finally making some progress, Scootaloo managed to free one of Kimbo’s bound arms. Kimbo wasted no time in using his newly released arm to push Scootaloo out of the way of an incoming leg, courtesy of the spider. With surprising force, the spider’s leg pierced the ground where Scootaloo had been standing mere moments before. The spider causally walked over Kimbo, having decided that the bound man wasn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Scootaloo looked from Kimbo to the spider and glared as fiercely as she could, but only managed to amuse the spider further. “Alright, ugly, come and get it,” she goaded while she positioned herself in front of a bowling ball sized stone and bucked it for all she was worth. The stone hit the spider square between its eight eyes, causing it to rear back in pain. Scootaloo grinned at her work. However, her small victory was short lived, for the spider's anger apparently numbed it to the pain that it was experiencing. With reinvigorated bloodlust, the spider charged Scootaloo, hell-bent on snuffing out the filly’s life. Scootaloo squealed in fear as she galloped away from the charging spider. ‘What was I thinking? If Kimbo doesn’t get loose, I’m so dead,’ Scootaloo thought frantically as a panicked sweat began to build above her brow. Seeing the entrance of the cave coming into view, Scootaloo picked up the pace, in the hopes of having a better chance of losing the spider among the thick forest brush. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t make it that far before she stepped in a patch of spider silk, ensnaring her hind hoof. Being robbed of all of her momentum resulted in her painfully slamming her face into the cold, hard ground. If the spider had been capable of a grin, it surely would have worn one as it prepared to strike down the young filly, so helplessly caught in its web. Scootaloo's eyes filled with terror as she waited for the inevitable pain that would follow the blow from one of the Spider's long front legs. Scootaloo felt the air being forced out of her lungs as she was painfully battered with enough force to rip her free from the silk and send her crashing into the cave wall. The blow left her gasping for air and her vision a blurry mess, yet she could still make out the silhouette of the spider stalking towards her, ready to finish its work. Swaying on her hooves, she tumbled down to her haunches. Pain wracked her body, and she couldn’t find the strength to put up any more of a fight. “Well, ugly…” Scootaloo spat at the spider. “Is that the best you’ve got?” The spider had long since given up on indulging Scootaloo’s futile heroics and was ready to end their little game of cat and mouse. Rearing up, the spider lurched down to deliver a decisive blow to Scootaloo. As she saw the beast rise up, Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut, not willing to look death in the eyes. In a confused mixture of fear, panic and regret, a couple of tears seeped through her tightly closed eyelids as, in a fit of desperation, she screamed, “KIMBO!” No reply came as a massive weight slammed into her, knocking the breath out of her. Scootaloo gritted her teeth in pain and open her eyes. What she saw would have made her scream, had she been able to. Lying twitching on top of her was one of the spider's huge, hairy legs. She put her forehooves on the writhing leg and pushed, but the strength of her battered and oxygen starved body was not enough to move it. Her efforts only served to exhaust her and darken the edges of her vision further. She wheezed quietly and insistently, trying to draw breath as a series of heavy, irregular thumps shook the ground and drew her attention. She lifted her eyes and saw the spider twitching and stumbling about over her, trying to regain its balance as globules of foul-smelling ichor dripped from its wound, falling around her, spattering her orange coat with green and milk-white spots. On top of the spider stood Kimbo, droplets of ichor flying off of his blade as he fought for balance on the monster's sleek thorax as it stumbled about. As her vision swam and darkened, and her thought's grew unfocused, Scootaloo saw the monster stabilize itself on its remaining seven limbs, again focusing on her and raising its remaining frontmost leg in the air for the strike. The leg descended in a vicious arc, aiming for her head. This time she didn't close her eyes, and she saw Kimbo steady himself, grip his blade in both hands and raise it high above his head. The blade flashed down, and there was a crunch as it broke through the spider's chitin. The point of the leg hit right next to her head, several of the coarse bristles piercing her cheek, and the bulk of it fell off to the side, twitching. The spider fell forward in graceless faceplant. Kimbo, still standing tall, lifted his blade in the air and muttered, “Salama safari,” before he drove it between the head and thorax and gave it a forceful wrench to the side, decapitating the behemoth. _ Celestia couldn’t help but be impressed, not only with Scootaloo’s bravery, but also with how easily Kimbo had been able to put down the acromantula. His experience was easy to see, and the fact that he didn’t rely on magic, only his own physical abilities, to take it down, made the feat that much more impressive to witness. As she looked towards the downed spider, Celestia grimaced, knowing full well that the battle had not yet been won. _ Kimbo walked over to Scootaloo and, with a few grunts, lifted the leg off of her. Free to breathe again, she pulled in as much air as she could as fast as she could. Her head swam and pounded as she coughed violently. Twisting around and onto her knees, she retched, coughing between bouts as she emptied her breakfast onto the stone floor. Finally finished, she spat to the side to get the foul taste out of her mouth, before Kimbo knelt down beside her and used his thumb to lift her chin so her face was looking towards him. “Hurt, you are,” he said with a frown as he observed her swollen and punctured face, along with the many bruises and cuts adorning her body. “It’s no big deal,” Scootaloo said in a tired and hoarse voice, doing her best to smile, only suffer another coughing fit, spraying a bit of blood and spittle on the ground in front of Kimbo. Kimbo sighed as he gently positioned Scootaloo under his arm and stood up, grunting slightly from her weight. “Help, you’ll need,” Kimbo said as the sound of something bubbling began to fill the cave. “What’s… going… on?” Scootaloo wheezed as her eyes nearly jumped out their sockets after she noticed the spider’s once motionless shell expanding and bubbling as though it were going to explode. Kimbo’s face remained devoid of anything resembling fear as he tightened his grip around his spear. A moment later, the spider’s abdomen split in half, releasing a foul smelling substance into the air, followed by tens of thousands of smaller spiders crawling out of the acromantula’s carcass. Kimbo took a step back and watched the new arrivals carefully. “Lets… get out of here,” Scootaloo whispered, earning the attention of one of the smaller spiders. It hissed at them before it too began to bubble and expand in the same manner as the acromantula had. It exploded into a net of spider web that Kimbo managed to dodge. Looking to where the web had landed, both Kimbo and Scootaloo’s eyes widened at seeing the spider web melting clear through the boulder it had landed on with impossible speed. “Good, this is not,” Kimbo said as the smaller spiders all began to bubble up, preparing to explode as the former one had. “I think we should go,” Scootaloo muttered and then shouted, “Run, Kimbo!” Kimbo wasted no further time and darted towards the exit of the cave as the suicide hatchlings began detonating themselves, splashing corrosive spider silk all along the cave walls. The cave began to shake violently as it started to collapse in on itself. Kimbo ducked and weaved as falling stone threatened to split both his and Scootaloo’s heads wide open. Scootaloo's luck ran out, however as a baseball sized stone smacked her square atop the head. The hit made her feel disoriented and nauseous. Her vision blurred as the light of the cave’s entrance grew brighter. Despite her best efforts to stay awake, the darkness that came with losing consciousness soon enveloped her. _ Celestia soon felt the familiar sensation of being dragged away from the memory, and she pulled her head free from the time window, looking a bit disheveled as she did so. “Are you okay, Princess?” Twilight asked as she studied her mentor’s visage. Celestia remained quiet, apparently deep in her own thoughts, before finally speaking. “You were right in your accusations, my student,” Celestia began. “We have to right this wrong that has been committed.” Twilight smiled. “I knew you would understand, Princess.” Celestia nodded as she walked over to her throne and sat on her haunches. “When you lead this being, or shall I say Kimbo, into the Everfree, I noted that he headed south. Assuming he stayed on that heading, his eventual destination is clear.” “I’ve already come to that conclusion myself. It’s why I had to leave the search party and seek your counsel,” Twilight explained. “Frankly, none of us are trackers, and we’ll need guidance from somepony that knows that land well if we’re ever going to bring Scootaloo back.” Celestia mulled over the details once again in her mind before saying. “Am I to assume that the other elements have already agreed to accompany you on this venture?” “They have,” Twilight answered. “They’re ready to leave the moment I return.” “Very well, my student, leave for Ponyville and make the necessary preparations for your departure,” Celestia said. “I’ll use that time to find a suitable tracker to assist you.” Twilight gave a curt bow as she said, “Thank you, Princess.” Celestia walked back over to Twilight and nuzzled her affectionately. “Do be careful, my student.” Elsewhere Scootaloo grit her teeth in frustration, while tiredly pulling her cloak free of yet another bramble it had gotten caught on. In hindsight, perhaps a cloak wasn’t the most practical thing to wear when trekking through a forest, but at least it looked cool. “I’ll never understand how Zecora moves through the Everfree so easily with a cloak,” she grumbled, having finally wrenched the garment free. Sitting on her haunches, Scootaloo stared up at the canopy with a fatigue ridden expression, feeling too hungry, thirsty, tired and pained to carry on much longer. “Kimbo, where are you?” she whispered to herself through chapped lips. “Four days, I think. That’s how long I’ve been fumbling around out here. And what good has it done me?” she chastised herself. “Even if I give up now, I don’t have a clue of how to get back to Ponyville, not that I’d make it anyway.” “Guwhaa, this is so stupid!” she shouted in frustration, forgetting to keep silent in order to not alert a potentially hungry visitor of her presence. Immediately after shouting, she hissed in pain and rubbed the stained and dirty bandage that covered her left cheek. Her hoof came away wet and stained red, with little green and brown bits of plant matter stuck in the blood. She looked at the bottom of her hoof for a short time, her eyes unfocused, before putting it back on the ground. She turned her head and glanced at her midriff, noting that the bandages covering her chest weren't any cleaner. She sighed and rubbed her aching head with her other hoof, her ears and shoulders drooping. “Why’d everypony have to treat him like a monster? If I ever get back, I’m going to give everypony a piece of my mind,” she promised as she stood back up and continued on her way, each step beginning to feel like the last she could take with her tired, aching legs. Fortunately, the surrounding foliage had started to thin out throughout the last hour or so, and she knew that soon enough she’d be free of that accursed Everfree. Where she would end up was another question entirely, one she didn’t have the vaguest answer for. When she really thought about it, Scootaloo realized that she didn’t even know what was directly south of the Everfree, or why she felt that was the right direction to go in the first place. ‘Maybe sleeping through Miss Cheerilee’s geography lessons wasn’t a good idea after all,’ she mused, now starting to sway from her exhaustion. ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it,’ Scootaloo started to think as her vision began to blur, and she stumbled over her own hooves before finally falling to her face, her ribs aching from the jolt. “So, this is how it ends, huh? So lame.” “I agree. A decidedly pitiful way to die, indeed,” a voice called as a blue hoof landed in front of Scootaloo’s face. Scootaloo used what remaining strength she had left to look up at who had found her. The sun that shone from above did a stellar job of casting the figure in shadow. “I’m… I’m… saved,” Scootaloo managed, before finally succumbing to her fatigue. Sometime later Scootaloo awoke like a corpse from the grave, her ribs creaking in protest. Placing a hoof to her head, she winced as her pounding headache returned, stronger than before. “Wha… what happened?” she asked, her voice coming out hoarse. As she took in her new surroundings, the first thing she spotted was a pitcher of water with a couple of apples next to it. Not particularly caring for manners at the moment, she crawled over to the pitcher of water and drank in its contents like an overworked slave. “Thank Celestia, she knows I needed that,” Scootaloo said with a content smile. Only then did she notice that her bandages had been changed and her wounds had been cleaned, even the small ones that covered most of her body, both old and new. In fact, she felt much less grimy overall than she had after wandering the Everfree for days, though not completely clean. The bandage around her ribs felt a bit tight, but that was something that she could live with. Her head pounded, everything still ached dully, especially her ribs and her cheek, and her right ankle still hurt a bit whenever she put weight on it, but she'd gotten used to it in the Everfree and she would get used to it again. Finally feeling as though she weren't knocking on death’s door, she studied her surroundings more attentively. It was a confinement of sorts, made of wood. ’Maybe a wagon,’ she guessed. A small window allowed for moonlight to enter, illuminating the, admittedly small, room with just enough light to make out minor details. The primary being that the far wall was decorated in numerous sheets of paper. Scootaloo peered at the wall in the dim light. ’…wanted posters?’ Standing up on her hooves, she made her way over towards the wall, but stopped as she bumped into a cage. She bit back a hiss of pain as her ribs shifted. Straining her eyes to peer inside the barred cage, she could just make out a small furred creature, curled up and sleeping in the corner of it. It looked like a puppy, apart from it having three heads. Ignoring the creature for the time being, she continued her way towards the wall and stared at the posters curiously. They ranged from animals and creatures she’d never seen, to rough looking ponies, minotaurs, donkeys, griffins and diamond dogs, each with corresponding bounties under their pictures. “What is this?” Scootaloo asked no one in particular while she snatched up one of the posters that had stuck out like a sore thumb. “Kimbo… Why is he on one of these?” she wondered aloud, scrutinizing the picture carefully. The picture had obviously been taken in haste, if the blurred image of the humanoid figure was any indication. Looking the poster over, she noted it was bare of any information. No species, height, or weight listed as they were on the others. Further separating it from the others was the incredibly high bounty. Even though the reward was in copper pieces, she guessed it would still equal a great amount of bits. “That one has made quiet the splash since it entered the badlands a few days ago.” Scootaloo’s ears perked up as her head swiveled in the direction the voice had come from. Standing at the now open doorway was the figure of a pony. Scootaloo took a few steps back until her rear pressed against the wall. “W-who are you?” The figure chuckled as it stepped into the light. “Prepare to be wowed and amazed by the GREAT and POWERFUL…” “You’re that traveling showmare, Trixie?” Scootaloo interrupted the moment the moonlight had revealed the silhouette's features. Trixie paused for a moment before exposing a large, toothy grin. “Excellent, it seems that Trixie’s reputation precedes her.”