//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 - Gallus Gallus Domesticus // Story: Shattered Worlds: The Cataclysm // by Puppeteer //------------------------------// As I think of our friendship, I begin to see Mere words can't describe what you mean to me. When this cold, hard world has me lonesome and blue I look up to see my angel, my sweet angel, you. You dry the tears that fall from my eyes. You bring me sunshine to brighten my sky. You rescue me when I'm scared and alone And take my hand to lead me home. ~Marcia M. Griffith Scootaloo curled up and tried to ignore the pain. Barbed-wire was digging into her back and side, but she refused to struggle. That would only cut more holes and hasten her death. Maybe it would be better for her to make death quick as it was all but inevitable at this point, but her desire to live overcame such hopeless reasoning. All she was focusing on was ignoring the pain. It had hurt more when the pony on the other side was thrashing around, but she had long since stopped moving. Now it was only her who was left alive, half by determination and half by pure chance. The only thing to do was wait. A few more hours passed and blood continued to drain from her, drop by painful drop. Despair began to cut through her resolve and plant dark thoughts in her head; thoughts of inevitability; thoughts of a faster way out. The thoughts terrified her and she didn't want to listen, but the seeds of doubt had already taken root in her mind, and they slowly began to grow to fruition. After while longer she was doing nothing but considering the most efficient way to end her life. If making dying was as simple as making the decision to die then she would have done it already. For better or for worse, the barbed-wire would make death painful and messy. If she turned around and thrashed about like her friend, there was no telling how long it would take her to die. It was nothing but the threat of even greater pain that kept her from attempting the act, but it would not be long before even that would seem preferable to the hours of pain she would have to endure as her life drained from her ever so slowly. After what felt like forever, she finally resolved to end her own life; to die on her own terms. She prepared for it twice, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She was certain of her intent, yet each time when she realized there was still time to chicken out and think it through again, she took the opportunity. No matter; third time's a charm, right? She shut her eyes and steeled herself for what she was about to do, but just when death was moments away she heard something in the distance. She had to strain her ears to make sure it wasn't imagined; wasn't just some trick her mind was playing on her out of fear. No, it was definitely real. In the distance there were faint hoofsteps, slowly getting louder. Scootaloo froze in place, trying to be as still as death itself. If this was what she thought it was then she might just have a shot. After all, the traps had to be reset at some point, right? After a little while, the hoofsteps became louder; closer and closer until they seemed to be right next to her. A moment later and the satchel of barbed wire fell to the ground with a sickening spat of blood and the sound of somepony's bone breaking. Scootaloo just absorbed the impact and rolled limply to the side, facing away from whoever had unwittingly freed her. Under normal circumstances she would have let out a yelp upon hitting the ground, but she was numb to pain after bleeding for so many hours. She had survived though, so it had all been worth it. She might not live to see the end of the day, but she survived what should have been immediate death and now she had a chance. Scootaloo grinned, her eye twitching slightly. She flicked her tongue across her razor sharp teeth in anticipation. Those dumb Sisterhood scum were always spoiling their fun, but at least she could always count on them being careless. The pony slowly began to approach from behind, seemingly to clear away the corpses from the trap so that it could be reset. The hoofsteps came to a halt. Perhaps he had sensed something was off or he had seen Scootaloo's chest slowly rising and falling. Maybe he was just preparing himself for the task that lay ahead of him. It didn't really matter either way, as Scootaloo was up in a flash the moment that he hesitated. He screamed at the sudden flash of movement and raised his gun to fire at her but she slammed into him, causing the weapon to discharge harmlessly off to the side before biting down hard on his chest, tearing a large chunk of flesh out. He doubled over in pain and Scootaloo darted away, his screams of agony echoing in the distance. She darted down another street and kept running until she found a dark corner to hide in. U until this point she hadn't realized just how much blood she had lost. Her head felt like it was spinning and her eyes blurred out of focus every so often. She curled up in her hiding place and started thinking about what had lead her to this point. It was truly incredible how much the world could change in such a short period of time, and even more incredible how much ponies could change. From her perspective, one day she just started going insane. She hit a pony in school and felt took far too much joy in the fact that she was bleeding. It was frightening but it felt so seductively good that she just slipped into it, finding a pleasant, comforting rhythm with her new state of mind. The next thing she knew, everypony was going off the deep end; tearing up buildings; tearing up ponies. It was all the same; simple-minded anarchy. From there things just got worse. Crazy ponies were hunting down survivors clinging to strands of sanity and just as often killing each-other in the open. That was until some ponies got together and decided to sharpen their teeth. It became kind of a symbol. The teeth marked ponies of the same make; wolves hunting the same prey. Sharpening your teeth meant that you wouldn't be hunted, but it marked you as something else; a monster. Once Scootaloo took that mark it was clear that there was no turning back for her. whether she did it for the sake of her survival or because of her damaged mind was still not clear to her, but what's done is done. She had chosen this path and the fact that she was sitting, bleeding to death in a dark corner was nothing but her fault and she knew it. She hated it. Scootaloo thought back to a little more recently. It wasn't exactly clear where the term Cyv had originated, but some ponies said it was invented in the Sisterhood as a short name for Civilian and spread from there to outside. More likely it had no meaning at all but got passed around during the chaos. Whatever the case, that's what she was now. There was no question of it. Twilight Sparkle hadn't even recognized her with her sharp teeth and tangled mane. Or maybe she had and just didn't care about her anymore. Tears began to stream down her face but she wasn't quite sure why she was crying. Was it because of the innocence and happiness she had lost? Was it because of the life she would very soon lose? Scootaloo cried heavily and her tears began to mix with the blood that she was still losing even now. She thought about how pathetic she must look and decided that she had to stop. What would Rainbow Dash think after all? Her heart skipped a beat when the thought crossed her mind. She had always looked up to Rainbow Dash and tried to live up to her expectations when she found herself weak or lacking, but now... It wouldn't matter to Rainbow how sad or broken she was, all that mattered was the teeth. What would she think? She would think that Scootaloo was a monster; an animal. She would think that and she would be right. She now realized that she hadn't just given up herself, she had given up hope and now she could never have her mentor back. She was just a stupid flightless Pegasus with nobody to love her. In that moment, her thoughts hurt more than any physical pain she could imagine and the tears pooled up again, coming all anew. Just then she saw an earth pony from the Sisterhood sprinting past her. He was heading in the direction of the shouting and gunfire she had caused earlier. It only made sense that they would group up around the location and spread out to search for her. Scootaloo forced back the emotions that she had been feeling earlier and ran past some houses toward the outskirts of Ponyville. There was no real hurry as it would likely be several minutes before they even started the search, but if she stalled now her emotions would get the better of her. There was no way for a Pegasus to detect the traps that the Sisterhood had set up since the tripwires were set up with magic, but by pure chance she managed to avoid them on her way out. Scootaloo trotted up a hill, too dazed to notice the trail of blood she was leaving in her wake. Not that anypony would bother following her this far. With every step she took, she was painting the grass she walked on a crimson red; a stain against the serene beauty of nature that surrounded her. Scootaloo's eyes again began to pool with tears and the pain in her body again became as agonizing as it had ever been. Eventually the tears and pain obscured her vision of the world, but she kept on walking; focusing on simply placing one hoof in front of the other. Somewhere in the distance, she heard a bird chirping a merry tune. It made her feel sick that even in a time of such pain, the animal could sound so cheerful and carefree. The contrast between the two almost felt like nature was mocking her. After all, why shouldn't it at this point? Just as she was about to slip into an even deeper despair, she heard a rustling sound from somewhere ahead of her followed by a single word. "Huh?" Scootaloo's instincts kicked in in an instant, and she dove to the right, conveniently landing behind a large apple tree. The voice spoke again. It was young and feminine. "Uh oh. I think that's another'o them... Hello? Anypony there?" Scootaloo blinked her eyes and peeked out from behind the tree. Her vision was still blurry, but she could make out a yellow-ish figure standing near a fence. She reacted on instinct and charged at the pony, leaping towards her and hissing. "Ayaaaaagh!" the pony yelped in alarm. Despite her surprise, she was remarkable agile, ducking underneath the first attack and dodging to the side as Scootaloo whipped around for a second. She turned and ran down the length of the picket fence, yelling all the while. Scootaloo had scared her off but this had just been a filly. Scootaloo knew she might lose to the survivor in her current state, but she also knew that if the filly was able to alert other survivors to her presence she would most definitely not live to see the end of the day. Under normal circumstances Scootaloo would have run again and searched for a hiding place, but she wasn't exactly in her right mind at the moment. The knowledge that she could very well bleed to death had made her desperate; impulsive. Have you ever heard that there's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal? Well few places is that more apparent than here. In a split-second decision, Scootaloo decided to chase the pony down. She sprinted after the filly, using her hereditary agility to gain ground on her. Her head was pounding, her body ached and her eyes were glazed over with exertion, but nevertheless a sharp-toothed grin began to spread across her face and her newly discovered predatory instinct began to guide her actions. Just as she was closing in for the kill, the yellow filly slid to the ground and stopped moving. Scootaloo, having built up far too much momentum to stop, plowed head on into her target and went tumbling. She got up to face her opponent, but the pony had already thrown a length of rope around her neck. The pony turned and threw the other end of the rope around a fence-post. Scootaloo blinked her eyes clear and got ready to pounce on the pony, but with her vision now clear, something caused her to hesitate. This wasn't just some random random filly, this was Applebloom. This was her friend... At least a pony who used to be her friend. In this moment of reflection, Applebloom jumped away, too far for Scootaloo to reach. She tried to pull on the rope but it was too tightly knotted around both her and the fence post, eventually causing her to gnaw at it with her teeth in a final act of desperation. All the while, Apple Bloom just stood still and silent, unsure of what she should do next. Finally she spoke. "You... You just had to come here didn't ya'?" The words weren't full of anger or malice, but rather uncertainty. The choked-up reluctance of the words made it clear that it was painful to get them out. This prompted Scootaloo to drop the rope from her mouth and stare up at Apple Bloom with her desperate, bloodthirsty eyes. Why was this pony acting like this? Didn't she know that she would only end up killing her friend anyway? Why was she making it worse? "An..." Applebloom swallowed and started again. "And it just had to be you didn't it. I told ma' big brother that I'd be strong, but Ah'm just... Ah knew it would be like this. I knew it would'n be that easy... Ah wished so hard that I would'n have to deal with this; that ya'all, Sweetie Belle an' you would be survivin' out somewhere or out 'ah Ponyville or maybe even dead for all ah'..." She stopped again, choking back tears. Applebloom began slowly approaching Scootaloo. It was Scootaloo's chance to strike and she knew it, but could she bring herself to do it? Applebloom had been one of her closest friends, but she also knew what the Apple family did to Cyv in order to survive. If she let Applebloom go then it would undoubtedly lead to her being butchered by whoever came after her. Scootaloo's heart and mind both began to race as she desperately considered her options. No way was she dying to some crazies with their savage, repurposed farm equipment. On the other hand though, could she really kill one of her best friends just to spare her that fate? Was her life really worth that much? Was it worth anything at all? "I've got the sickness too. I could kill a pony if Ah' needed to, but... I've had nightmares about this happening, you know. Sometimes it's you, sometimes it's Sweetie Belle, but they never end before Ah' wake up, so Ah' never know if I'd do it or if you'd do it first, or if Ah' even could do it. Big Brother keeps tellin' me to be strong no matter what, but... Ah..." They were within hooves-reach by now. If either was going to make a decision, it was now or never. She took the final step, but just as Scootaloo became completely unsure of what even she herself was about to do, Applebloom did something that neither pony expected. She reached out and hugged Scootaloo as tightly as she could, drawing in close and putting herself in a position of complete vulnerability. "Ah just can't do it. Ah could just leave and tell Macintosh or ma' sis, but Ah' can't. Ah' just cant 'cause It'll still be ma' fault. Ah' don't care what happens, Ah' just know It'll never be the same after." Applebloom gave completely into her emotions, bursting into tears and quivering. She seemed to be waiting for the feeling of sharp teeth sinking into her neck, but it never came. Several moments passed with the two of them standing in silence, and then Scootaloo acted. She wrapped her hoof around Aplebloom, squeezed her back and spoke. "I can't do it either. I... I think I may have been going to,but I don't deserve it. I gave up life already. There's no reason for me to take yours as well. I doubt I'll even live to the end of the day anyway... Gosh, when did we start thinking like this. We're still fillies, right? We're not meant to have this kind of perspective. It's not fair. I want the neat little world back where we only had to worry about simple, happy things. When did our world get so small?..." There was a moment of silence between the two of them. "Just leave me here, Applebloom. You don't have to tell anyone about me. Just leave and let nature take its course. It'll be easier for you that way." Applebloom let go of Scootaloo, raised a hoof and slapped her in the face. "What? Ya' Think that's good enough?" she exclaimed. "Ya' think Ah can just let that happen and be all dandy about it? What was all that nonsense about wantin' things to go back the way they were or what not? Didn't you take even a second to think how that would make me feel?" Applebloom huffed indignantly. "You can be real selfish sometimes, you know that?" Scootaloo was stunned. Just a second ago she had been so resigned to her fate, so these words hit her like a wall of bricks. "But Applebloom. I've got the teeth now. There's no going back from that mark. Your family..." "Well buck my family!" Applebloom exclaimed with fire in her eyes. "I don't give two bloomin' bits what they think!" Applebloom stepped forward and skillfully undid the knot around Scootaloo's neck. "I'm takin' you up to the clubhouse and gettin' you patched up. You're my friend, Scootaloo; you're what makes life worth livin'. I'm not about to let the one good thing left in my life slip away." Applebloom curled her shoulder underneath Scootaloo's hoof to support her body. The two began to stagger in the direction of their old tree-house, and Scootaloo's tears finally began to dry. In a place of such misery, she had somehow found hope, love and compassion. Somehow, she had found something to be joyful about. As I think of our friendship, I begin to see Mere words can't describe what you mean to me. When this cold, hard world has me lonesome and blue I look up to see my angel, my sweet angel, you. You dry the tears that fall from my eyes. You bring me sunshine to brighten my sky. You rescue me when I'm scared and alone And take my hand to lead me home. ~Marcia M. Griffith