Scootaloo moved in perfect silence as she stalked her yellow earth pony friend, slipping out from behind one tree and darting to the next. Not so quiet were Sweetie Belle’s movements, while they might have been fine for sneaking around a house, they lacked the careful hoof placement needed to sneak through a forest.
“Why are we sneaking after Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked in a whisper.
At first Scootaloo’s heart practically stopped from the sudden noise, then as she thought about the question she realized it had merit. Why had she slipped into stealth mode following her friend? A glance at Apple Bloom showed that the farm filly had yet to acknowledge any knowledge of being followed. Not wanting to admit the pointlessness of her actions, Scootaloo whispered back, “Just trust me.”
Several minutes passed as the two stealthily followed their earth pony friend through the Everfree forest. Peering out from behind yet another tree Scootaloo saw Apple Bloom enter into a field of blue flowers. The moment Bloom stepped behind a tree, her red tail finally came to the ground, giving a clear sign that she’d sat down.
After a moment of observing the stationary tail of her friend, Scootaloo stepped forward only to have a white hoof block her path. “Wait! These flowers, I think these are poison joke!” Sweetie Belle explained in a whisper.
“Those flowers that play mean jokes on you if you touch them?” Scootaloo whispered back, as she looked to the path that Apple Bloom had taken, and finding said path was devoid of the blue flowers.
Sweetie Belle answered with a nod. Looking back to where Apple Bloom was, Scootaloo found the spot near the tree was also clear of the flowers but there wasn’t much room. Approaching further would mean revealing themselves.
“This looks like the only entrance, we’ll stand guard here.” Scootaloo whispered as she sat down, using a tree to keep herself hidden from Apple Bloom.
“I thought we were here to show Apple Bloom she couldn’t ditch us?” Sweetie asked in a whisper.
Scootaloo answered in a whisper, “And she’ll see that. But she really looked like she needed some alone time, and she even asked us to leave her alone too. So we stand guard here, and once she’s done pouting about not getting her cutie mark she’ll see us when she comes out. Then maybe next time she’ll just go home and lock the door of her room like a normal filly.”
After a moment of thinking, Sweetie Belle accepted the explanation and sat down beside her pegasus friend.
* * * * * * *
Well over an hour had passed since the two friends had started ‘standing guard’ for their third friend. Noticing an increasingly unhappy look on the other guard’s face, Sweetie Belle asked in a whisper, “Hey Scoot, what’s wrong?”
Snapping out of her daze, Scootaloo whispered back, “Huh? Oh, nothing, it’s just that Rainbow Dash hasn’t been spending much time with me lately. It seems like our flying lessons are the only time I get to hang out with her these days, and all I do there is embarrass myself in front her by still not being able to fly. What if she starts thinking I’m not cool enough to be her honorary little sister anymore?”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. Sisters don’t have to think of each other as cool.”
Scootaloo only shook her head as she responded, “Easy for you to say. You and Rarity were born sisters, so no matter how mad at each other you get, you’ll always be sisters. But me and Rainbow Dash, we’re sister because we say so, that’s it. Words made us sisters and words can unmake us sisters. I don’t get to make mistakes like you and Apple Bloom.”
“I don’t know…” Sweetie whispered, wishing she could some up with a way to alleviate her friend’s fear.
After a pause Scootaloo added, “That and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not suppose to be here.”
That made Sweetie Belle raise an eyebrow. “We’re in the middle of the Everfree forest. I don’t think any of us are suppose to be here.”
“Oh right,” Scootaloo whispered, blushing slightly that such an obvious fact had eluded her.
A short moment latter Apple Bloom finally emerged from her sanctuary, doing so only to find her friends drawing pictures in the dirt. “What are you doing here?” she asked, with a slight blush on her cheeks.
“Making sure that you’re okay,” Sweetie Belle said, greeting her friend with a hug. “Feel better?” she added as she released the earth pony filly.
Apple Bloom bowed her head a little as she answered, “Yeah, sorry Ah made you gals come out here to keep an eye on me.”
“Great, now let’s get out of here before something bad finds us,” Scootaloo said, tossing a wary eye to their surroundings.
“Ah wouldn’t worry too much about it. Zecora told me that everything dangerous stays far away from these poison joke patches.”
“Are these flowers really that bad?” the young pegasus asked.
“Ah don’t know. When my sister and her friends ran into them, most of the changes just seemed silly, only Applejack’s change really seemed dangerous. And even then only a little,” Apple Bloom answered, snickering slightly.
“Whatever, dangerous flowers or not, standing guard out here nearly killed me from boredom. Let’s get back to town and do something fun already,” Scootaloo grumbled, drawing a laugh from her friends as the trio headed out.
* * * * * * *
Still deep within the Everfree forest, the three friends had barely been walking a few minutes when they heard the ominous flapping of heavy wings. Darting to the base of a tree for cover the trio of fillies started scanning the forest canopy.
“That didn’t sound like pegasus wings to me,” Sweetie Belle voiced her fear in a whisper. She was promptly rewarded for sharing her thoughts with a harsh glare from Scootaloo and a hoof pressed against her mouth from Apple Bloom.
The sound of wing-beats grew louder, then suddenly stopped. “Is it gone?” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“Ah-Ah don’t think so,” Apple Bloom’s scared voice was accompanied by pointing her hoof upwards, toward a tree next to the one they were huddled by.
The other two crusaders followed the gaze of their friend to the tree branches in question, and they saw a pare of yellow eyes gazing back at them through the leaves. The foliage of the tree hid most of the creature, but on the branch below the eyes the three young ponies saw a pare gray clawed feet, that had a form akin to the limbs of the only dragon they knew, griping the branch. Between the clawed feet was a set of clawed hands also dragon-like in their appearance, and also griping the branch, its claws cleaving the bark and scaring the wood in the process.
“Run,” the three crusaders whispered simultaneously, as they all bolted and put the tree they’d been using for cover between them and the creature.
Having been spotted by its prey, the creature broke cover and swooped down into the forest, revealing its bat-like head, body and wings. Had they not been preoccupied with running for their lives, the crusaders would have guessed the creature to have a good two feet on a full-grown adult pony, however they were content with the simple understanding that it looked like a big mean predator and it was chasing them.
“Is that a gargoyle!?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, as the trio ran, dodging and weaving through the forest.
Apple Bloom shouted her answer back to the unicorn filly behind her, “Ah’ve only seen pictures in story books, but that looks like one to me!”
“I thought gargoyles only hunted at night!” Sweetie pondered aloud.
“Well apparently nopony bothered to tell it that!” despite her sarcastic response, Scootaloo turned her eyes upward. Putting the glimpses of the sky through the leaves together, she realized that the wild Everfree weather had become overcast in the hours since they’d entered the forest.
The flapping of her wings may not have given Scootaloo flight, but they did give her thrust to add to the speed of her running, and feeling that she had enough of a led, she looked back. Unsurprisingly Apple Bloom wasn’t far behind, and Sweetie Belle trailing behind her. Running by every tree trunk and darting between every set of close trees, was forcing the gargoyle to go the long way dodging around the trees. However, the flying predator clearly had the speed to catch the fillies if enough of a clearing ever opened up, or if they began to tire.
With another glance over her shoulder Scootaloo recognized the wing beat pattern signaling that the gargoyle was about to dive, and it’s obvious target was Sweetie Belle. The young pegasus spun on her hooves and charged back at her friend pushing for every bit of thrust she could from her wings. The gargoyle dove, the unicorn screamed, and the pegasus leapt.
With nothing but instincts to go by Scootaloo held her front legs out, ready for a tackling charge impact. Caught off guard by the sudden motion blur in its peripheral vision, the gargoyle abandon its dive and flared its wings, causing the pegasus filly to strike its chest.
Unfortunately for Scootaloo the difference in mass between herself and the gargoyle heavily favored the predator. The knees of the young pegasus buckled and she slammed into the gargoyle’s chest with her whole body, bouncing off the larger creature, and sounding an ‘Ooff’ as she fell away.
As soon as she hit the ground Scootaloo scrambled back to her hooves and resumed running. More startled by the attack than hurt by it, the gargoyle recovered even faster, and lunged at the young pegasus who had surrendered her lead.
Though the blow against it was minor at best, vengeance burned in the predator’s eyes as it lunged at the little orange pegasus and completely failed to notice that the earth pony had also doubled back. The gargoyle definitely notice the farm filly when two yellow hooves slammed into its face with all the force her hind legs could deliver, completing her flying kick.
Apple Bloom hit the ground and immediately resumed running for her life. Stumbling to a halt, the gargoyle was even forced to land momentarily as it sent out a high pitched cry of pain, before resuming its pursuit of the three fillies.
With nothing more than a glance between the two more athletic friends an unspoken plan was formed between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. With a nod they agreed that they would continue to stall the gargoyle and insure it could never reach the slowest member of their trio.
Apple Bloom ran with her eyes forward, while Scootaloo kept glancing back, watching for the moment to counter the gargoyle’s next attack, and it only took a few seconds before the creature dove at Bloom. Rather than spin and charge, Scootaloo leapt at a conveniently located tree in front of her and rebounded off of the trunk, launching herself up onto a branch only to kick off of that as well, and finally coming down in an intercepting dive-bomb attack like a true pegasus.
Caught off guard by the angle of Scootaloo’s attack the gargoyle was unable to dodge it. However the predator was no longer surprised by the fact that somepony had doubled back to defend the pony at the back of the pack, and lashed out with a counterattack of its own.
Scootaloo struck the creature’s side, sending it tumbling to the ground. The gargoyle’s claws raked the pegasus filly’s chest, and this time it was Scootaloo’s pained cry that echoed through the forest as she fell away.
Hitting the ground on three hooves, the orange filly’s fourth leg was pressed against the three new and bloody cuts that now marred her chest. Scootaloo lingered only a moment before remembering she needed to put some distance between herself and the creature hunting her, and started running after her friends on three legs, keeping one pressed against her chest to slow the bleeding.
Scootaloo was in the middle of the clearing that her friends had already crossed when she heard the gargoyle lunge at her again. Apple Bloom had already spun around to double back but the look of horror in her eyes told Scootaloo what she already knew, she had failed to catch up to her friends as quickly as anticipated and was now too far away, nopony was coming to her rescue.
In a last ditch effort to buy the second she needed, Scootaloo dropped all four hooves to the ground, allowing her knees to bend deeply, and guided only by the reflection in her friend’s eyes, leapt to the side in what amounted to a blind dodge.
The resounding thud of hoof on flesh, and flesh on dirt rung out through the clearing. Scootaloo turned her head to find the hoof of a sky-blue pegasus mare planted firmly in the middle of the gargoyle’s back, and the gargoyle’s face digging a shallow trench through the clearing.
The newly arrived mare with a prismatic mane rebounded back into the air, coming to a hover. “Back off. They’re under my protection now,” she said with a voice as calm and as cold as death itself, her rose-red eyes burning with righteous indignation as she glared down at the gargoyle.
“Rainbow Dash!” all three crusaders cried out together in relief.
Picking itself up off the ground, the gargoyle also came to a hover, rubbing and flexing the sore parts of its body. Deciding that one surprise attack wasn’t enough to deem the mare a threat, it chose to issue a threat of its own by raising it’s bloody claw and licking up the few drops of pegasus blood it had drawn from the filly off of its claws.
Rainbow Dash looked to Scootaloo, who had joined her friends at the edge of the clearing and was now sitting up so she could hold both her front legs against her chest, completely covering her wound, though not all of the bloodstained fur around it. “Bring it,” Dash snarled, looking back to the predator.
More than happy to accommodate the request the gargoyle lunged, and the airal duel began. The two darted around the clearing, engaging in a rapid series of jousting strike, before returning to defensive hovering stances opposite each other.
A low growl came from the gargoyle as it evaluated the past few seconds. Unlike the fillies, the pegasus mare had the size and strength to strike with real force. Rubbing the new sore spots from where the mare has struck, while taking note that the pegasus had escaped the brawl with little more than minor cuts, the creature has no choice but to concede that she had the speed to strike and dodge the counterattack.
A vicious grin formed on the gargoyle’s bat-like face as it realized there was a way to render the speed of its opponent useless. The fury burning in Rainbow Dash’s eyes transformed into fear as the gargoyle’s eyes turned to the three fillies sitting at the edge of the clearing.
Quickly diving at the fillies, the gargoyle left Dash no choice but to dart after it at a bad intercept angle that only allowed one possible move for Rainbow Dash to save the three crusaders, a full on tackle.
Just before reaching the three young ponies, the gargoyle spun suddenly, its clawed-hands meeting the pegasus mare right as she smashed into it. One clawed-hand grabbed one of Rainbow’s front legs, while the other plunged into Rainbow Dash’s gut. Despite falling into the gargoyle’s trap, the force of Dash’s tackle sent both of them tumbling past the trio of fillies, missing them by inches as they passed.
When the two combatants stopped rolling along the ground, the gargoyle was on top, and quickly withdrew its claws from Rainbow’s gut and sat on her lower half instead.
With her hind legs pinned down and one of her front legs still held fast by the gargoyle’s hand Dash’s squirming proved pointless, she was truly pinned. With only one free limb to defender herself from both the gargoyle free clawed-hand and its predatory jaws, hopelessness flashed in Rainbow’s eyes.
The gargoyle raised its clawed-hand higher than necessary, as if to enjoy the moment of impending victory. Seeing that her hero, mentor, honorary sister, and the source of the greatest joys in her life, was about to die something in the back of Scootaloo’s mind shattered.
The gargoyle’s claws fell, and a cry rang out through the Everfree forest.
Not a death cry, but a primal cry that paralyzed both Rainbow Dash and the gargoyle in a curiosity that demanded they find its source. With no choice but to satisfy their curiosity, both turned their heads together, just in time to see Scootaloo in a flying leap right at them.
As she reached her target Scootaloo punched the gargoyle, causing a thunderous boom to ring out, and pain to surge through Rainbow Dash’s body as the creature was wrenched off of her. Even as Dash cried out in pain she thought, Did I just see what I thought I saw? It can’t be. But that noise, this pain, what else could it be?
Landing right beside Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo immediately stood up on her hind legs, and despite being several feet away, she threw another punch with her front right hoof. This time nothing was left to imagination, thunder boomed as lightning flashed from the end of her hoof, striking the gargoyle, and sending it flying yet again, this time ending its flight by slamming into a tree.
Only after watching the gargoyle crawl to its feet for the second time in so many seconds, did Rainbow Dash realize she wasn’t pinned down anymore. Quickly scrambling to her hooves Dash took a combative stance beside Scootaloo, flaring her wings to look as threatening as possible. A quick glance into the filly’s vacant eyes proved that Scootaloo wasn’t home right now, and instead that the creature beside her was one of pure fear, rage, and instinct.
Jumping into a hover and slowly backing away, the gargoyle’s eyes darted around, looking for answers. With its eyes falling on the white filly, the creature pondered if the unicorn was holding back an ace in the hole too. No it didn’t matter, the pegasus mare had been troublesome enough alone, and now that the gargoyle knew the orange filly could truly fight too, this once easy meal had suddenly become more trouble than it was worth. Turning and flying away the gargoyle abandon the hunt.
“You did-” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom started to cheer.
“Shush!” Rainbow Dash snarled, bringing imminent silence to the forest clearing.
It only took a second for the two silenced fillies to notice that Dash’s ears were focused on the direction the gargoyle had flown off. Turning their ears to match they could hear the wing beats of the retreating predator.
Several seconds after the young ponies had lost the sound, Rainbow Dash finally relaxed her stance and said, “It’s gone.”
Taking notice of the small pool of blood being fed by the trickle coming down Dash’s back legs, Sweetie Belle timidly said, “Rainbow Dash, you’re hurt.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Dash responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she sat down, and took a moment to press a hoof against the wound in her gut.
“Here. It’s not much but you can use it as a bandage,” Apple Bloom offered, as she undid her bow and handed the pink ribbon to Rainbow Dash.
“Thanks kid,” Rainbow said. But even as she was tying the makeshift bandage she could feel the strength of her body weakening. If she flew away now, she could easily reach the hospital before she lost the strength to fly. No! I don’t have the strength to take them with me if I fly, and I am not leaving them behind! Rainbow Dash mentally rebuked herself for even entertaining the thought, as she looked to the three fillies around her. Turning to Scootaloo, Dash asked, “Hey, you alright?”
Ever since the gargoyle had flown away, Scootaloo had been sitting motionless, holding her front right hoof at shoulder’s height in front of her, and staring blanking at it with unfocused eyes. In response to Rainbow Dash’s question life sparked in the filly’s eyes. “What… What just happened?” Scootaloo mumbled softly, as if she’d just awoken up from a dream.
Dash managed a weak smile as she answered, “Short version, you somehow kicked lightning without a cloud Scoots.”
“Is that even possible?”
“If you’d asked me that an hour ago, I’d have said ‘no’ in a heartbeat. But…” Rainbow’s voice tailed off as she looked around the clearing. “I once pulled lighting out of a mist, but I don’t see any mist or fog here. So yeah, I guess it is. Don’t you remember?”
Scootaloo shook her head slowly. “I remember… you were about to die. And… and then everything’s a blur. Next thing I know I’m sitting here and you’re asking me if I’m alright.”
Patting the younger pegasus on the shoulder Rainbow Dash said, “Don’t worry about it squirt. Come on, we should get going before that gargoyle comes back with friends or something.”
“Yeah, but what way is what? We turned and dodged so much when we were running Ah don’t know which way is to Ponyville any more,” Apple Bloom said, looking about.
Looking around the clearing, Rainbow Dash’s eyes fell on the ditch she’d dug with the gargoyle’s face, with her first attack. “That’s okay. I remember what way I was flying when I dove into the clearing. Ponyville is that way,” she said smiling, and pointing in the direction she knew was more or less northeast. Thunder rumbled from above, making Dash add, “Come on, it sounds like these darn Everfree clouds are going to rain soon, and I’d rather not be here when they do.”
As if on queue rain began to fall even before the four ponies could leave the clearing.
* * * * * * *
They had been trudging through mud and forest foliage for about twenty minutes, and by Rainbow Dash’s calculations should be very near the edge of the Everfree forest. The rain had rendered all four ponies cold, wet, and miserable. The only upside of the rain being that the unintended showering had continually cleaned their coats, and made it clear that at least Scootaloo’s wound had stopped bleeding almost ten minutes ago.
Between the blood loss and the cold rain sapping her, Rainbow Dash was growing weaker by the second. The braking point came when her muddy hoof bumped into a small rock, and before she knew it Dash was laying on her side, looking forward with blurry vision.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cried, the moment she saw her hero trip.
Trying to see through her blurred vision, Rainbow mumbled, “I’m fine… just need to rest a second.” Dragging a hoof up Dash pointed ahead and added, “Look the trees are thinning out, you’re almost home. Go on ahead of me.”
The three fillies exchanged concerned glances before Sweetie Belle answered for them, “We’re tired too, we can rest with you.”
“I didn’t go through the trouble of fighting a gargoyle just so you could catch cold and die of pneumonia out here,” Dash insisted as strongly as her weaken body would allow.
Scootaloo shook her head and asked, “What about you? Won’t you catch a cold too if you stay here?”
Rainbow smiled as best she could and said, “I’m a big, strong, grown-up pony. I just need a little rest and I’ll be fine. I’ll be five minutes behind you. I promise. Now go.”
The trio of fillies lingered for a moment, then sniffing the air, Apple Bloom volunteered her idea, “Ah think Ah smell apples, and part of sweet apple acres’ southwest field is next to the Everfree forest. Ah bet we’re only five minutes from my place. We could go get Applejack and bring her back here.”
A moment of silence followed the farm filly’s suggestion before Sweetie Belle agreed. While she never said anything Scootaloo nervously looked between her friends and her hero-mentor, before she bowed her head obeyed the will of those around her.
Dash did her best to smile as the three young ponies walked away, and as soon as she lost sight of them she closed her eyes, and groaned to herself, “At least they’re safe.”
The eternity of seconds ticked by, and yet Rainbow Dash knew that almost no time had passed since the crusaders had left and when she heard the plunking noise of small, muddy hooves coming toward her. Suddenly the sound of the rain near her changed to that of drops splashing on a palm-like branch and the icy cold feeling of the raindrops assaulting her skyward side all but vanished.
Rainbow didn’t even need to open her eyes to speak with certainty as to whom she was talking, “Darn it Scoot, why’d you come back?”
“Becaushe I realished you only neesh one pony to fetsh Appoljack, and dwo were alreashe sho’n dat,” Scootaloo’s mumbled answer proving she was holding the branch in her mouth as she spoke.
Unable to find the strength to even open her eyes, Rainbow Dash had no choice but to concede that she had no means of making the filly go to safety, so Dash settled for suggesting the next best thing, “Then don’t just stand there getting soaked. Lay the branch down on me and come take shelter with me.”
Scootaloo quickly obeyed, and Rainbow Dash felt the branch lied gently on her. Followed a moment latter by feeling the filly push her way between her legs, to curl up against Rainbow’s chest. “Rainbow Dash, you’re so cold,” the filly said, her voice heavy with concern.
“It’s okay,” Dash lied. “We pegasi are built to handle cold better than other ponies,” she added, and while that part was true, it was irrelevant to the situation at hoof.
Scootaloo may have been a filly but she wasn’t born yesterday. She knew that heat was relative, and that meant if Rainbow Dash felt cold to her, that also meant she was cold even by pegasus standards. Uncurling Scootaloo wrapped her legs around Dash as best she could, and pressed herself as deeply as she could against the elder pegasus.
Rainbow Dash could do nothing more than utter a low grown in lament, as her body was more than happy to greedily draw in the body heat that the filly was so freely offering up. “You shouldn’t do that,” Dash moaned.
“I didn’t go through the trouble of pulling lightning out of thin air and fighting a gargoyle just so you could catch cold and die of pneumonia out here,” Scootaloo responded, as she began shivering.
Breathing a laugh and a cough at the same time, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but find it funny that her own words had been turned against her so quickly. Unable to move her own limbs Dash had no choice but to let the filly do as she pleased.
* * * * * * *
The minutes that followed felt like an eternity to Rainbow Dash. Finally she felt Scootaloo do something besides shiver beside her, as the filly pulled herself away, and stepping out from under their branch Scootaloo yelled, “Over here!”
For a few seconds Dash heard only the rain. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, must have heard something as she yelled again, “What does it sound like I’m doing?! Over here! This way!”
Finally Rainbow Dash heard something other than rain and Scootaloo’s voice, the sound of heavy hoofsteps in the muddy forest floor.
“There ya are. Where is? Oh!” a voice that could only belong to Applejack said, as Dash felt somepony pull the branch off of her.
Only a moment of being exposed to the cold rain passed before Rainbow Dash felt herself being slung over another body like a pare of saddle bags. This new body that she was drawing heat from was much too big for a mare. “She’s cold,” the pony carrying her spoke, his voice identifying him as Big Macintosh.
“Ya don’t mean…” Applejack’s horrified voice refused to finished the question.
“Not dead yet… if that’s what you’re asking…” Rainbow Dash managed to whisper just loud enough to be heard.
Applejack could be heard breathing a sigh before saying, “At’a girl, you just hang in there Rainbow, we got ya.”
Just as Dash felt Big Mac start running, she heard Scootaloo’s voice complain as it moved upward, “Hey! I can still walk!”
If she’d have the strength, Rainbow would have smiled when she heard Applejack’s voice come from almost the same place, “Ah’m sure ya can sugarcube, but Rainbow Dash needs to get to a hospital now, my legs are longer than yours, and Ah’m not leaving you behind.”
“Right, never mind,” Scootaloo could be heard swallowing her pride at being forced to ride Applejack.
Content that Scootaloo was safe, Rainbow Dash finally relaxed, allowing the darkness to clam her mind.