Chapter 5
Coincidence
With a gasp, Scootaloo sat bolt upright in her bed. Panic clawed upwards in her chest. For she was hearing a sound that ponies everywhere had learned to fear. “Oh no.” She gasped. “I’m late!” Reaching over, she tapped the snooze button of her alarm clock, causing its frantic ringing to slowly die away.
Tumbling out of bed, she hurriedly scampered around her room, collecting books, pens, pencils and note paper and shoving all of them willy-nilly into her school bag.
Sliding down the banister, she rushed into the kitchen, where she grabbed a banana and bid a hasty “See ya!” to whomever might have been in the kitchen at the time. She powered her way out the front door to her waiting scooter. Leaping onboard, she unfolded her wings, and shot off in the direction of the schoolhouse.
Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t see the small white unicorn in her path until it was too late. She and the white filly collided, tumbling over and over, finally rolling to a stop just in front of the school.
“I’m sorry, didn’t see you there...” Scootaloo was interrupted by the gigglings of the other pony. The white unicorn was none other than Sweetie Belle, the third and final member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“When you say you run into ponies, you take it seriously!” she laughed. Scootaloo tried to look annoyed, but the humor of the situation was too much for her, and she eventually succumbed to the laughter welling inside her.
After both fillies had settled down, Sweetie Belle clambered to her feet and dusted herself off. “So, you overslept too, huh?” Scootaloo shuffled embarrassedly from one hoof to the other. “mmhmm.” “Great timing isn’t it? Miss Cheerilee is giving a test on Chapter seven of Equestria: a History, and now we’re both going to get tardy slips.” Scootaloo blanched at the words ‘tardy slips’. Sweetie Belle smiled reassuringly. “C’mon Scoot, maybe we can just slip in without anypony noticing.” Scootaloo shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
As they trotted down the long, empty halls of Ponyville Elementary, both fillies noticed how quiet everything was. “Is every class testing today?” Whispered Scootaloo. “I hope not. That would mean that this is a BIG test, and we’ll be in even more trouble for being late!” Both ponies sped up, quickly trotting to Miss Cheerilee’s classroom.
Slowly pushing open the door, Scootaloo was thankful the door didn’t creak. Looking into the room, she was surprised to see...nopony? “what the...” They both tiphoofed into the room, looking about nervously for somepony to jump out, or for Miss Cheerilee to cough her disapproval in their direction. Scootaloo was baffled. “Why is nopony here yet?”
Sweetie Belle was the first to glance at the calendar hanging on the wall. She sighed in relief as she realized why nopony was in school. “Scoot. Do you know what special day today is?” Scootaloo was confused by the random question. “What? Oh I dunno, Pinkie Pie Party Day? I give up. Tell me?” “Saturday!” “So, that means that we’re not twenty minutes late we’re...two days early? What?”
Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow at the calender, as if she expected it to apologize for the inconvenience. “Oh gosh! Applebloom will be waiting for us! We’re supposed to go to Sweet Apple Acres today. We’re gonna be Cutie Mark Crusader Tree Climbers! Come on, let’s go!” She leapt out of her seat and sped out the door.
Sweetie Belle sighed and followed. “Why is it that almost everything we do manages to involve trees?” she mumbled under her breath.
Just then they heard the sound of galloping hooves. Both fillies peered out the window to see Applejack to come careening around a nearby bend. Sweetie Belle was about to call out to her when they saw the animated corpse that had been Lrya stumble around the corner.
They shrank against the windowsill as the watched the gory and brutal scene unfold in the alley outside. As it once again grew quiet, save for the muffled sobs of Applejack, Sweetie Belle made a decision. “I’m going out there.” “Are you crazy?! Did you see what happened? They just had some kinda crazy-pony deathmatch!” “I don’t care. Applejack needs our help. Come on, let’s go.”
*****
Scootaloo held open the side door as Sweetie Belle slowly trotted up to the crying earth pony. Applejack rocked back and forth, and kept speaking the same words over and over. “Ah had to...Ah had to.” Sweetie Belle reached out a hoof, and Scootaloo hissed. “Bad idea!” Sweetie Belle ignored her, and tenderly placed her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder.
Applejack jerked, finally looking at the two fillies for the first time. “What are yew two fillies doin’ here? Don’tcha know today is Saturday?” “We got the days confused.” Said Sweetie Belle. “What’s going on here? Why did you hurt Lyra?” Scootaloo was trying to look brave and confident, but she shook as she addressed the earth pony.
Applejack looked down at the mangled corpse she had been cradling, finally seeming to return to normal. “Fillies, now Ah want ya to listen to meh carefully. Somethin’ is happenin’ ta the ponies here in Ponyville. somthin’ that turns em inta...inta evil critters. Lyra was tryin’ ta kill meh, the only way Ah could stop her was to kill her, unnerstand?”
Scootaloo was backing slowly into the school, but Sweetie Belle hugged the bruised and worn out earth pony. “Well then,” she said, “we should probably hide inside the school until we figure out exactly what’s going on.” Both Applejack and Scootaloo had to agree this was a good plan. Sweetie Belle was sounding very grown up and practical for a filly her age.
After blocking all the doors and windows, all three ponies huddled together in Miss Cheerilee’s classroom. the silence pressed in on them, trying to smother them. They found it hard to breathe in the still air.
A new problem arose when Scootaloo’s stomach gave a hungry gurgle. “What are we gonna eat?” She moaned. “No food in the school.” “Nothing for it,” said Sweetie Belle. “We’ll have to go to Sugarcube Corner. There will be food there, and who know? Maybe some other ponies will be there, and we can ask them what been happening.”
Applejack nodded. “It’s settled, then. We’ll head fer Sugarcube Corner this evenin’. Dark’ll help us get there without bein’ noticed.”
With the plan in place, they each took a deep breath, drew closer together and waited for the coming dark.