//------------------------------// // Heart [Action] // Story: Half-Hour Horses // by HoofAndQuill //------------------------------// (The Prompt: The measure of her heart.) "Okay, so maybe-" Scootaloo ducked under a branch, and then dodged sideways as she galloped through the forest with the other crusaders. "Maybe we're not gettin' our cutie marks in camping!" Sweetie Belle galloped alongside the other two, already out of breath. "Why do you always pick stuff that's so dangerous? I just wanted to camp in the park!" "Quit complainin' you two an' get runnin'! There ain't any way we'll get our cutie marks if we get eaten by-" A deafening roar from the timberwolves behind them cut Apple Bloom's lecturing off, and they all put even more effort into their panicked flight. Trees and low hanging branches all whooshed by the three as they ran wherever their hooves would take them. The Everfree Forest was largely trackless and, given that it was the middle of the night, next to completely pitch black. Scootaloo pushed her face against Sweetie Belle's tail and pushed her forward. "Sweetie Belle, we're never gonna get away if you keep being slow! Come on!" Sweetie panted hard as they ran, and Scootaloo glanced back at their pursuers. They still had a little distance, but the wolves were closing fast. Scootaloo ducked under Sweetie Belle and tossed her up onto her back, redoubling her efforts. Sweetie Belle squeaked in surprise, but Apple Bloom just grinned and kept setting the pace for the other crusaders. "If we get out a' this I ain't never settin' hoof in this forest again, swear t' Celestia!" Scootaloo flared her wings to keep Sweetie Belle centered on her back. "Don't say stuff like that, don't know know that always-agh!" The three fillies suddenly found themselves tumbling down a root-covered ditch, knobbed wood and stones battering against them as they rolled in a tangle down the hill. They collapsed in a pile in the muddy stream at the bottom, and a second passed before any of them even managed to react. The next thing they heard was the high-pitched wail of Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both struggled their way to standing, and Apple Bloom lifted Sweetie Belle's hoof in her own. "Stay still Sweetie Belle! Your hoof's about split clean in half! Scootaloo, she ain't gallopin' anywhere like this!" Scootaloo looked up the hill they'd just tumbled down, and shrank back at the sight of the three timberwolves staring back down at her. She took a step back, and then another. Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle, and then back to Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle was still screaming in panic, and Apple Bloom put a hoof over Sweetie's mouth. "Scootaloo, her hoof's split an' my hind leg's sprained somethin' awful. You gotta run! Get out of here an' go get my sister! She'll know what t' do!" Her legs took another step back. She turned and looked at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, both terrified and injured, and both her friends for years now. She took another step back, fear and panic shooting through her. She could run. She could probably get out of the forest by herself. But those wolves were right there, she'd never get back with other ponies before.... before they got the other crusaders. Scootaloo had always looked up to Rainbow Dash. She'd been her idol long before she'd saved Equestria a bunch of times. What would Rainbow Dash do? Would she leave her friends crying and screaming in a ditch? Would she run off for help instead of doing the right thing and protecting her friends? Of course she wouldn't! Scootaloo still took another step back. The three wolves started padding their way down the hill, low growls filling the air. Sweetie Belle's piercing cry still rang in her ears. It wasn't... she wasn't Rainbow Dash. She couldn't fight timberwolves! She couldn't even fly! What was she even doing out here in the Everfree Forest, she was just a filly! She wasn't anypony important, she was just Scootaloo. She was Scootaloo. She stopped herself, and then leapt a few steps forward, positioning herself in front of her fallen friends. She wasn't Rainbow Dash, she couldn't even win this. But she was Scootaloo. She flared out her wings defiantly, staring up at the encroaching timberwolves. She was a Cutie Mark Crusader. She wasn't about to back down and leave her friends here in the middle of nowhere! "Y-you don't scare us, you stupid timberwolves! Get out of here! Go eat something else, 'cause you're not getting my friends!" Scootaloo really wished her voice sounded more confident and less terrified. The wolves didn't even slow their advance. She backed up a little, positioning herself right in front of her friends, and tried her best to look big and imposing. The wolf in the lead shifted its weight into its haunches, and prepared to pounce. Scootaloo braced herself, keeping her panic and terror in check the best she could. The wolf leapt at her. Midway to Scootaloo it was knocked out clean out of the air and into a dozen pieces by a rainbow-colored blur. A half-second later, the wolf on the left was struck and destroyed by a kicked stone that must have weighed as much as a full grown stallion, and at the same time the other wolf was lifted with a white-blue nimbus of magic and thrown clear over the trees. Scootaloo shivered and collapsed, but was caught at the last second by light blue hooves, and pulled into a desperate, clinging hug. She was dimly aware of voices, worried and full of concern for the injured fillies. Scootaloo couldn't think, as the adrenaline wore off and the world spun and started getting dark around her. She hugged the pony that was holding her; that felt about right. She could hear somepony telling her that was the bravest thing she'd ever seen a filly do. She looked over to her friends, and saw Sweetie Belle up on Rarity's back, and Apple Bloom being hefted up onto her sister. They were safe. Scootaloo pressed her face against Rainbow's shoulder, and finally let herself pass out.