Of course Diamond Tiara would make them take the longest path. She didn't exactly have a soft spot for Pipsqueak the runt, Scootaloo the chicken, and Saphira the new filly. Shows how much faith she had in the three of them to make it to the end.
“CAW CAW CAW!”
The sudden cries made Pipsqueak shudder. Crows were such jerks, he stared daggers at them as if trying to will them to explode or something. “ ‘Ey, wait up!” Pipsqueak called after Scootaloo and Saphira as he struggled to keep up with their pace. And it wasn’t because he was smaller than them (stupid height), but because they both seemed to be walking much faster than usual. “Slow down guys!” Pipsqueak said through struggled breaths.
They both stopped in unison.
“Phew.” Pipsqueak took a moment to catch his breath, “What’s wrong with you two? Almost like you’re sc-” Pipsqueak paused, a mischievous smile started creeping its way onto his face, “You’re scared, aren’t you Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo suddenly rounded on him, spinning so fast her tail nearly smacked into Pipsqueak's face, “N-NO, OF COURSE I’M NOT SCARED!” Losing control of your voice was a pretty good sign that a pony was scared. As if the comical gods were looking down on the ponies, the howling of Timber Wolves echoed throughout the night sky! “AH!” Scootaloo leaped into the air immediately, grabbing onto one of the low hanging branches in fear.
Pipsqueak stifled a laugh, “Come on, ain’t nothin’ to be afraid of out here! Not while we have the lanterns.” Pipsqueak motioned to the lantern hanging on a stick attached to his saddlebag. At least, that’s what he’d been told, what if the lanterns didn’t work? What if it was a lie? What if they’ve just been lucky to NOT run into a Timber Wolf, or a Dragon, or a Cockatrice or-
He smacked his hind legs, don’t get scared now Pipsqueak. It hasn't even been an hour yet. He didn’t want to be labeled a chicken for life. Nope, he’s captain Pipsqueak! Pirate of the seas, brave explorer, hero of Equestria! There was no time for fear! FEAR WASN'T EVEN IN HIS DICTIONARY (literally, he had used a permanent marker to scribble over the definition of fear in his school dictionary). Pipsqueak may be small, but he was NOT a scaredy pony. Pipsqueak stepped forward and illuminated the path ahead with his lantern.
. . . . .
The fog was really picking up, making it really hard to see.
He dug out the Rune Stone tucked into his scarf, ignoring the sound of Scootaloo crashing into the ground next to him. "How did this work again?"
"Picture the pony you want to talk to. It should do the rest." Scootaloo groaned out an answer as Saphira helped brush the dirt off of Scootaloo's costume.
"Got it. Thanks." Who should he try talking to? "...." There was a spark of electricity and he saw the face of Diamond Tiara.
"What?" She said impatiently.
"Uh, nothing. Jus' wonderin' how things are going?"
"Fine. Now stop talking, and start walking." She cut their conversation short. Pipsqueak puffed up in his cheeks in indignation, Diamond Tiara was still as mean as ever. Pipsqueak just wanted to talk...
Whatever, he tried thinking again. "Featherweight." The Rune stone sparked to life, and he saw the face of his lanky cousin reflected in the Stone, "Hey cousin."
"Hey..." That was it? Featherweight wasn't exactly the most confident pony, but he usually talked Pip's ear off.
"Everythin' a'right?" Pipsqueak picked up on the odd tone his cousin had given off.
"Y-Yeah. Just...hey have you seen Dinky?"
"Dinky?" Pipsqueak and Featherweight's groups had gone off in completely different directions, the odds of running into Dinky out here were slim to none even if it wasn't blacker than an evil dragon's heart. "No. Why, is she lost?"
"N-No!" He said a little too quickly. There seemed to be some sounds in the background, Featherweight turned to see and then said without looking back; "I have to go now. Bye Pipsqueak." He cut the feed.
"Huh? What do you suppose that was about?" Scootaloo had been looking over his shoulder, a curious expression stuck on her face. "Hm...I have an idea." Scootaloo flapped her tiny little wings, "Gimme a boost, I can get up on the tree and then I might be able to see the lights from the other lanterns."
"If she still has her lantern." Saphira spoke up, stopping to see what Pipsqueak and Scootaloo were doing.
The two ponies ignored her, Pipsqueak stood by one of the bigger trees as Scootloo galloped towards him, using him as a spring and then jumped. While Scootaloo still had difficulty flying, she could jump pretty high thanks to the fluttering of her wings. She caught one of the branches and started scaling the tree.
Meanwhile, Pipsqueak tried calling the others. Maybe one of them had seen Dinky?
. . . . . . . .
No response from Snips or Snails.
There was a short response from the Daze triplets, he had just barely seen the face of one of the triplets before it cut out again. What was that expression they were making?
Archer picked up, "What's up, Pippo?"
Another weird nickname, but it least he could finally talk to someone for more than a few seconds. "Have you seen Dinky."
"Did Featherbutt lose her?" She stifled a laugh, apparently not all that worried about the situation..
"Uh...I think so."
"Hm, Coronet, Firelocks, ya seen Dinky?" He heard both ponies in the background answer a resounding No. Archer looked back to Pipsqueak, a somber look on her face. "Sorry, Pips, she ain't here. Hm, but I'll try and use my superior tracking skills to find her, I'm a ranger after all."
"There she goes again, getting into her role." One of the ponies from Archer's group said, "Hey Firelocks, don't wander off!"
"Nothing wrong with that! Anyways, we'll keep an eye out for her. I'll try calling Diamond Tiara and then we'll-" The feed cut out.
" 'Ello? Archer, oi?!" He shook the Rune Stone violently. No good, he couldn't get a signal from anyone. Maybe if he tried bashing it on something-
...
No that was a terrible idea.
"Hey Pipsqueak, I can see a couple of the lanterns! One of them might be Dinky." Scootaloo called up from the very top of the large oak tree, fluttering on the edge of the unstable branch.
"Try looking for the one that's singled out." Saphira called up.
She turned to Pipsqueak, looking as though she was gonna say something. "..." Instead, she turned away and dug out her Rune Stone.
From the top of the tree, Scootaloo waved down to the two ponies, "Okay...Huh?"
"What is it?" Pipsqueak called up to her.
"One of the lanterns just went out-" As soon as she finished her sentence, a large black thing had suddenly smashed into Scootaloo. She screamed and thrashed as she fell from the tree.
CRUNCH
A cringe-worthy sound came from Scootaloo's left wing when she hit the ground.
Pipsqueak stood completely motionless as Scootaloo held her wing. It definitely wasn't supposed to bend that way. Time slowed to a crawl as he watched Scootaloo cry out in agony, and as Saphira rushed over to her. She called out to Pipsqueak but all he heard was a wordless silence. She scoffed and dug out her own first-aid kit, going to work on mending Scootaloo's wing.
It had taken a good twenty minutes to stop Scootaloo from screaming, and during those twenty minutes Pipsqueak had just been staring at where Scootaloo had fallen. Completely dumbfounded. He could still hear the sickening crunch of Scootaloo's wing.
"Once we get back, someone will have to look at that. I'm not a medic." Saphira said as she pat Scootaloo, comfortingly on the back.
Scootaloo sniffed, wiping the snot from her nostrils, "G-Guess I won't be doing any cool aerial maneuvers anytime soon." She tried to joke and laugh off the pain.
Dinky had gone missing. Nopony was answering their Rune Stones. Scaredy pony or not, maybe this was starting to get a little dangerous. What if these lanterns really WOULDN’T ward off the monsters in the forest? His shaking only got worse, and the constant noises weren’t helping his nerves, 'Don’t think about it.'
All jokes aside, even the son of a famous horror writer wasn’t completely fearless. He took a deep breath and stared at the dirt road, laced with twigs and rocks. “I-I think we’re almost there. Saphira, has anyone called back? Maybe we can meet up somewhere and search for Dinky?”
“G-Great idea!” Scootaloo added, "Ow." She accidentally fluttered her wing, she'd have to keep an eye on that.
Saphira shook her head. "...But I'll try again." She immediately added when she saw Pipsqueak and Scootaloo's faces. She seemed to be the only brave one in their merry band of foals. Of course, considering she always kept that same deadpan look of hers…she could've been more scared than either of them but was just really good at hiding any emotions she may have felt. She used her unicorn magic to activate her Rune Stone, “…” There was a small crackle of lightning from the rune, but the only thing the three ponies heard was dead air. “Not in range.”
“That’s weird." It was working just fine a while ago. You think we took a wrong turn somewhere?” Scootaloo asked while trying to use her own Rune Stone. Same result as Saphira’s. This was getting really weird, “Pip, try yours.”
Pipsqueak dug out the Rune Stone from beneath his scarf, held it close to his chest. Concentrated aaaand…there was a spark of electricity but still the same “Pssssst” sound coming from the Rune until the light fizzled and faded. He shook his head.
“M-Maybe they went back already? Yeah, that‘s probably it. So we should probably go too.” Scootaloo tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. She definitely didn‘t want to stay in this forest, cut off from the others like this.
“We probably miscalculated the range of the Runes, is all.” Saphira continued down the path, using her horn’s magic to levitate her lantern forward. “Look. I can see a cabin from here. Maybe some of our classmates will be there as well?”
Pipsqueak noticed something off about Saphira. It wasn't just because she was speaking more than usual (her sentences usually being just a few words), but she was also taking charge. Saphira had usually just been a background pony, either not participating or giving the minimal amount of effort.
He gave a look to Scootaloo who nodded in return. “R-Right, let’s just keep going then.”