*sniff* *sniff*
After Soarin told Scootaloo about the whole ordeal of how he came to know about Derpy, she suddenly felt really tired.
*sniff*
Or at least that's what she thought she felt.
*sniff* *sniff*
Whether or not that's what she had truly felt, she still went straight to bed. An nopony questioned that.
*sniff* *snort*
Even still, there was still a thought that lingered in Scootaloo's mind: "He got himself."
"He got himself."
All the while as she was trying to sleep that thought couldn't help but repeat back into her mind.
What does it mean?
And despite how tired she felt she felt restless as that curious thought stayed inside her mind.
*snifffff*
"Huh?" Said a drowzy Scootaloo, half opening her sleepy eyes.
*sniff*
"What's that?" She said somberly as stood up from the bed, wiping at her eyes to push away the dazyness.
"Ugh, what's that smell?" Scootaloo asked in between yawns. She sniffed more at the air as her eyes were too tired to see straight. "What is that stink? It smells like smoke."
Smoke? Why does it smell like smoke?
The young mare tried to force her eyes opens more, sniffing again at the air as she did so.
Wait...that is smoke!
At that moment her eyes immediately opened wide.
"What the..." Scootaloo said in disbelief as she watched smoke rise from under the door of the cloud room. "But this is a-"
"Scootaloo!" Called out a voice she recognized as Soarin, being muffled by the closed door. "Scootaloo you in there!" The stallion called out again, louder than before.
"Y-yeah. I'm in here. What's going on?" She tried to ask him, but suddenly reared back as the door slammed open and a raft of smoke poured in, causing her to cough out of instinct.
"S-so-Soarin, what's happening? Why is the house burning?" She asked him as she rushed out of bed and onto the cloud floor of the bedroom, however, did not reply with a sentence but with a movement, as he grabbed her by the shoulder and urged her out the room.
"Um, Soarin?" She asked meekly, almost afraid to say something as she glanced at the stallion's face; stoic and near emotionless. The only emotion it appeared to show is hate, and this confused, not to mentioned scared, Scootaloo.
"Soarin wait!" The orange pegasus practically yelled as she dug her hooves into the floor, stopping at the edge of the door. "Soarin what's going on? How is there smoke? This is a cloud house, clouds don't burn." She almost pleaded to the rigid stallion, who looked back at her indifferently.
Soarin didn't return the question, as he just looked at her as if in deep though, not even caring about the smoke lingering in the air, before stepping out of the bedroom, looking down at the questioning pegasus, before simply pointing down the corridor with his hoof.
As Scootaloo looked out the open door and down the way, her eyes widened at the sight she saw before her; the home was indeed set ablaze with fire! But this wasn't what just greatly shocked her, it was also a something else; the color of the fire. They were not the common fiery orange and yellow flames that she rightly new, but were instead a soulless rich purple and blue that seemed to burn the cloud's that surrounded her.
"But..." Scootaloo stammered out of shock. "The fires all-"
"Wrong. I know." Soarin interrupted her as he once again grabbed Scootaloo by the shoulder and promptly urged her out, more forcefully then before. As they quickly made there way down the hallway, Scootaloo had noticed Soarin start to violently cough. But before she could speak up, she felt herself held back by a hoof.
"Damn." She heard Soarin mutter, his sentence barely audible over the sound of the raging flames. "We have to find another way." The stallion announced as he saw the way blocked by the sight of the large fire. As Soarin turned round, he immediately recoiled as the way back was now blocked by another large oddly-colored fire.
"What do we do now, Soarin, were trapped?" Scootaloo asked him in a feared tone. However, he did not reply back, and instead turned around.
"Soarin!?" She called out again. Soarin did nothing but close his eyes and breath, then cough.
"SOARIN!?"
"It seems like there's only thing for it!" He announced suddenly, and in one quick movement he grabbed Scootaoo unexpectedly by the chest, held her close to his own than plunged straight through the fire itself!
"SOA-RIN!!" Scootaloo screamed as she felt the heat of the flame reach, even with the stallion shielding her as best he could, her whole body tensing up to lessen the fire burning at her.
"AAHHHHH!!" Scootaloo yelled in a mixture of fear of pain, screaming as she felt the rush of the fire suddenly turn to the rush of air as Soarin leaped out the open door at the end of the corridor .
...
...
Scootaloo waited. She didn't dare move, fearing she lost her life in the fire that ravaged her new home. She held her breath and waited for something to happen, and when nothing did, she slowly opened her eyes and peered out. And instead of seeing, well, something, all she was the singed and stoic face of the stallion that cared for her.
"S...Soarin." She called to him meekly. Soarin than peered down and matched her gaze.
"It's OK." Soarin said deeply, and in an reassuring tone. "Your safe now." Then he safely placed her down on the soft grass on where he stood. It was just then Scootaloo noticed two things:
One, she one standing on grass. Real grass. In fact, if she looked around she would have seen that the now-on-fire home was situated on a cliff, with only a few trees randomly placed around them. Behind it there was nothing but a large mountain blocking the rest of the view.
And second, she noticed that Derpy herself had escaped the retched fire, and was calmly stroking a silently crying Dinky, softly stroking her back as she left the tears of her daughter fall onto her welcoming chest.
Turning back to Soarin, Scootaloo watched him stare at the burning house before him, it going up in smoke from the purple and blue flames that surrounded it. The young pegasus couldn't help but just stare at Soarin, as he blankly watched his own home fall apart.
"Um, Soarin?" Scootaloo tried to ask him, only to have her question stopped by the stallion slam his right hoof into the ground with as much force as he can gather, quiver as if to hold in an explosive force, then yell out with as much gusto, anger, and hatred as one pony can muster:
"RAIN-BOW FACTORYYYYYYYYY!!!!"