The Everfree forest was usually quiet at this time of night, save for the few nocturnal predators who hunt at these times. On this night however, a young mare broke this silence.
Scootaloo was running as far away from Ponyville as her legs could take her, not wanting to look back. She had been deceived by the one she trusted the most. She couldn't hold back the tears which were now causing her vision to blur. It being night already, she took a moment to sit at a nearby tree and wipe the tears away to regain her sight. When she got a look at her surroundings, she gasped, knowing right where she was. "The Everfree Forest."
She looked around, not knowing which part of the forest she was at. She started to ponder the idea of looking for Zecora, who was probably at her hut. She picked a random direction to search, not noticing the pair of eyes that were watching her from the dark.
~~~
Ponyville was usually quiet at this time of night, save for the few ponies who try to rush to their houses, exhausted from a days work. On this night however, a rainbow maned pegasus broke this silence.
Rainbow was flying all around Ponyville in hopes to finding her sister. She asked all the ponies she saw who were still out in the night, all yielding no answers. She checked the entire east side of Ponyville, and was nearly complete on her search of the western part. She was looking for anypony out in the open when she hit something that caused her, and it to hurdle down to the earth. "H-Hey! What was that for?!" She looked at what had crashed into her, and saw a familiar gray pegasus, infamous around town for her cross eyes. "Oh, Derpy." She helped Derpy up. "Sorry about that. I'm looking for Scootaloo, have you seen her?"
Derpy nodded. "Yeah! I saw her heading for the Everfree Forest. She looked upset. Is everything okay?"
Rainbow Dash gasped. She flew to the sky heading for the Everfree Forest, leaving Derpy confused and worried. "Uh, bye?"
~~~
In the western part of Everfree Forest, Scootaloo was wandering aimlessly through the forest. She had no clue where she came from, or where she was. She was lost in one of the most dangerous places. She passed an all to familiar tree, one that had scratch marks on it. "Dang it, I passed that tree like 5 times now!" She remembered the path she previously walked, and decided to walk through it again, remembering fork in the road.
She kept hearing sounds of bushes rustling and twigs snapping, causing her to worry. She was about to curse her luck when she remembered something. "Hold on. I can just fly out of here! Why didn't I just think of that earlier?" She smiled, and prepared to fly off when she heard a growling noise. "Uh, H-Hello?" She heard it again. It resembled the sound that Rarity's cat made when she was angry. "M-Maybe i should get out of here." She prepared to fly off again, but was halted when something jumped out at her. It was a fully grown manticore who was looking for it's dinner.
Her eyes widened. She tried kicking it off, but it jumped back on her, and tore at her chest with it's long jagged nails. "S-SOMEPONY HELP!" She tried to flap her wings to escape the hungry predator, but it was no use. It had her pinned to the ground. It started to bite into the flesh of her hoof, causing her shout in pain. Her screams pierced the silent night, catching the attention of a distressed cyan mare.
"S-Scoots?!" She heard another scream, this one holding more anguish into it. She knew who it was, and flew as fast as she possibly could to her sister. "D-Don't worry, I'm coming!"
Scootaloo's struggled less and less the more the manticore took swipes at her. It was over and she knew it. With the odds stacked against her, she accepted her faith and welcomed death when she heard her. "R-Rainbow?" She tilted her head up to see Rainbow Dash fly faster than she ever thought possible. A look of pure shock and anger etched upon her face.
Rainbow flew right at the manticore with such force that the manticore was knocked off of Scootaloo. The manticore, now angry over the interruption of its meal, the manticore growled in fury, and clawed at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, who was dodging most of the attacks, yelled to her sister. "Scoots! Hurry, get out of here!"
"W-What?! I can't leave you here!" She got to her hooves. "You can't take a manticore on your own!"
Rainbow bucked the manticore in its face. "I can't keep it here long! I won't let my sister die because of me, now GO!"
Tears brimmed the edges of Scootaloo's eyes. "I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for you t-"
She was cut off by the ear piercing shriek Rainbow gave in response to the manticore biting into the flesh of her wing, causing the bones inside to snap like twigs. "J-just hurry!" Scootaloo hesitated, but realized there was nothing she could do. She flew to the skies, towards Ponyville. She heard her sister's screams die down and eventually stop all together. Her tears were again blurring her vision, so she didnt notice when she bumped into something. She rubbed the back of her head, and opened her eyes. She saw a distressed looking Derpy.
"S-Scootaloo? Are you okay? Where's Rainbow? She was looking for you."
Scootaloo broke down and started to cry. "S-She's..." She fell into the mail mares hooves.
Derpy gave a perplexed look, then gasped, realizing that Rainbow could possibly be dead. "N-No." She looked down at the distraught mare in her hooves for a moment. She tried to comfort her, which did nothing. Taking note of the wounds on her body, she took Scootaloo to the hospital.