I’m so scared right now. I’m surrounded by a group of bullies, and nobody knows that I’m here. My heart is racing and I feel like I can hardly breathe.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” said Midnight Dream. “Followed us all the way here, huh? I admit you got some spunk, kid. But secret agent time is over.”
I looked around for an escape route or something I could use as a distraction. I didn’t see one. Desperate I jumped, trying to fly. I only got a few feet off the ground before I fell. Now I kinda regret not taking Scootieloo up on her offer to show me how to fly.
The three of them laughed. “Now that is just pathetic,” said Thunder Storm. “My brother can fly better than you. I guess you’re not so talented after all.”
As a last resort I jumped forward, landing on one of their heads. I quickly maneuvered so I could jump off behind them and began running. I heard them right behind me. I ducked around things, knocking over whatever I could grab to try to slow them down.
“Block the door!” I heard one of them yell. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of them abandon the chase to close the door.
As I rounded another pile of stuff I saw Rock Climber in my path.
“Stop her!” I heard Thunder Storm say.
He looked more scared than I did. Despite what he had done to me he had at least tried to cover for me. Didn’t stop me from tackling him out of my way. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
I heard Thunder Storm insult his brother for being useless. I ran towards the window I had come in from. I saw a flash of movement overhead, and Heavy Downpour landed right in front of me. I skidded to a stop, but it was too late. He grabbed me and picked me up. I tried to escape, but he was too strong. He walked over to one of the support beams, and together him and Thunder Storm tied me to it.
I strained to my utmost, but I couldn’t get away or break the rope. When I saw that it was useless I stopped trying and just started crying. All I had wanted to do with my life was be just like my big sis. I wanted to make her proud of me as I grew into a hero like she was. Some hero! I was a failure. I couldn’t even protect what was important to me or keep my promises.
That empty feeling was back again. I felt completely drained.
The three of them came up to me, mocking me and laughing at me for my failure, depleting my spirits further.
Midnight Dream stood right in front of me, touching my mane. I tried to pull away, but I could barely move my head. “Look at this stupid mane. Aw, it’s just like a little rose.”
“And her name is Rose Blossom,” Heavy Downpour said mockingly. “How incredibly clever.”
“Hey, boys. I think it’s time we water the garden. I mean, this rose isn’t going to grow without a little moisture, right?”
At first I had no idea what they meant. Then I heard a sound that was horrifying to any girl, before I screamed in disgust as he spit in my hair. The other two followed suit. I felt so dirty as I felt it began running down my mane.
Rock Climber joined the group. He still looked afraid. “H-hey, isn’t that enough? You already stole her scooter and scared her enough she won’t tell anyone. Can’t we just let her go now?”
Once more it became stone silent. Thunder Storm turned to his brother and said harshly, “Your turn.”
“No!” He shook his head rapidly. “I don’t want to do that.”
Rock Climber flinched as his brother glared at him. Thunder Storm walked up to him, saying, “Who do you think you’re telling 'no' to? YOU decided to come with us here, and if you want to keep spending time with me you’re going to join in with the group activities so I know you’re not gonna tattle on us. Are you a squealer?”
“N-no!”
“Then get in there and prove it! Now!” He roughly pushed Rock Climber towards me.
Rock Climber very slowly came near me. I just closed my eyes as I cried. I could feel him in front of me. I could feel his breath on my face.
I opened one of my eyes slightly. Rock Climber looked absolutely terrified and unsure of what to do.
“Well? We’re waiting!”
He turned his head slightly towards his brother, then back to me. He put his face near mine. Great… he was just gonna spit right in my face. He quickly whispered in my ear, “Pretend to be really, really grossed out.”
I barely had time to wonder why when I heard him gargle some spit and hock it. I felt nothing at all. He had missed. His comment suddenly made sense. I squealed and yelled and shook as much as I could.
The tension in the warehouse broke. Midnight Dream and Heavy Downpour began laughing hysterically, and Thunder Storm patted his brother on the back. “Oh, man! Right in her ear. That was awesome! That’s my brother!”
I could see Rock Climber look awkwardly at me, looking close to tears. He clearly took no pleasure in the praise. I was losing my anger and blame for him, starting to see why he had turned from a good friend to a bad friend. His big brother was a horrible influence on him.
Thunder Storm dragged his brother away back to the boxes they were sitting at before. As they were walking I heard him say, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt her. She just needs to learn that we’re not to be messed with. So she can just stay there for a few hours. Or maybe overnight.”
My heart jumped at that statement. I didn’t want to be here all night!
One of them suddenly called out, “Hey! Look what I found. This is going to be useful.” Midnight Dream turned around, and my heart sank as I saw what he had in his hooves. It was a pair of scissors.
“Hey, you’re right,” said Heavy Downpour. “I think we may have watered the garden too much. I think it needs to be trimmed down." They started walking towards me again. Even though I knew it was useless I still tried to escape. I pulled, trying to get my hooves free but the rope was too tight.
As they got near to me I suddenly heard a giant clang of metal and the door of the warehouse fell off its rusted hinges.
Everyone turned around. In the sudden bright light I strained my eyes, trying to see who it was. When my eyes adjusted my heart soared as I saw Scootieloo. I have no idea how she found me, but it didn’t matter. My hero was here.
“You wanna tell me why you’re picking on my sister?” I could see her shaking, but I knew she wasn’t afraid. Her voice was strangely calm though.
Thunder Storm said, "Aw, we were just playing with-”
He didn’t get to finish. With a speed I could barely keep up with she rushed forward, twisting in mid-air and bucking him with her back hooves, sending him flying near me. She spun in mid-air, landing on top of him.
She placed her hooves on his neck, pushing down. Scootieloo looked angrier than I had ever seen her. If looks could kill everyone in Ponyville would have died right then. That’s how mad she looked to me. Even when we got into fights she still had a bit of kindness to her. There was none of that now. All I saw there was plain old hatred.
“You want to talk garbage now? Go ahead and try, you jerk! I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say. No one hurts my little sister. You understand me?”
“Hey!”
“Look out!” I said as I saw the other two coming up from behind. Without turning around she jumped up and bucked both of them at once, sending them flying into some storage crates. I actually flinched a little as I heard Thunder Storm let out a gagging gurgle as Scootieloo had put all her weight on his neck to do it. I had never seen Scootieloo get violent before. She was actually choking someone. I hoped she wasn’t actually planning on killing him. Even I didn’t want her to go that far.
“Stop it!” yelled out Rock Climber, trying to pull her away. “Stop hurting my brother!”
I gasped as Scootieloo glared at him. She wouldn’t attack a colt my age, would she? That would make her no better than them, no matter how mad she was. “Stop it, Scootieloo!” I said strongly. “That’s enough!”
She turned her gaze to me, then back to Rock Climber and moved her hooves a little so Thunder Storm could breathe. In an unnaturally composed voice she said, “Go untie my sister and get the scooter, and I’ll consider letting this piece of trash go.”
He rushed to obey. When I was free I ran over to my sister, grateful tears running down my eyes. Rock Climber came back with the scooter, and she got up off of Thunder Storm. “Get on, Rosie.” I climbed up onto her back. “Mark my words well. If I ever hear of you hurting or picking on my sister again I’m not going to take it easy on you the next time. You’re just a group of idiots who think you’re hot stuff with nothing to back it up. I actually worked for everything I have. I’ve spent years and years of my life perfecting my skills.
“I don’t expect my lecture is going to do anything to change your attitudes, so I’m out of here. I have better things to do with my time than waste it with you losers.”
Picking up the scooter she began flying, me holding onto her neck. I gazed back at Rock Climber as we took off. It felt like an echo of before, when he had looked back at me when he left. Our eyes met for a moment, and I found myself feeling bad for him. Then she took off.
As we were heading home I began sobbing as I held onto her. I felt so relieved and so upset at the same time.
When we finally got there she took me to my room. Our parents weren’t there, so I guessed maybe they were still out shopping or something.
She set me on my bed. At first she looked happy, but then her eyes narrowed. “Rose Blossom, what were you thinking?” snapped Scootieloo. “Why did you go off on your own and do this yourself? If you had come to me and told me this in the first place this never would have happened. Explain yourself!”
I felt so small because of her accusation. “I… I just… you… you told me that that scooter was real important to you. I didn’t want to hurt you.” I felt ashamed.
“ARE YOU STUPID?” she yelled. She looked almost as angry now as she had at the boys. She was shaking she was so mad, and I was afraid she was going to hit me. “Do you think for even a single second that I value that scooter more than your LIFE?” I gasped as she picked it up and chucked it at the wall as hard as she could. I heard the sound of it smashing, and a few seconds later one of the wheels rolled into my hoof. “This scooter is NOTHING! NOTHING compared to you.
“You should be smarter than this. I know I’ve taught you better than that. What were you thinking? HUH? Answer me!”
I looked down at the ground, picking up the wheel, feeling broken up inside. My fear was going away as I started getting angry. I glared at her, saying, “I was thinking that you’re a big fat liar! You said we should never have secrets between each other, but you’ve been hiding things from me.
"You’ve changed, Scootaloo. All of a sudden, since you gave me that scooter, you haven’t been acting like yourself. You’ve been getting mad and upset more. You won’t teach me any tricks like you said. You treat me like a baby and a brat, and now you trashed the special gift you gave me. The one that you CRIED HYSTERICALLY about because you didn’t want it to get hurt. NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” I threw the wheel at her as hard as I could, hitting her on the chest. “You ruined it! I HATE you, Scootaloo!”
And with that I turned away from her, fuming.