Everything had gone silent in the clubhouse. Nothing even dared to make a single sound out of terror. Sweetie Belle laid on the beanbag, Apple Bloom sat in a chair, Scootaloo stood in the middle of the room. Her wings were spread and had an imposing posture. The daring pegasus had taken the leadership to herself. Neither of the other two seemed able to even speak in the moment. Whatever would have come next, whatever verbal fight that came, it wouldn’t have been pretty. But everypony just had to shut up for the moment and think about everything.
Scootaloo turned to each of them. The eyes twinkling with calm, but behind them laid chaos. A chaos that they all could smell from her. Though she wasn’t one that could take a side. She had to remain the neutral party for the other two. She just had to be the one that kept an open mind. Although, as little as she wanted to admit it, Scootaloo was joining Apple Bloom’s side. She declared that Sweetie Belle had gone insane, torn apart by grief and unable to make the right decisions. Something should have stopped her and if it would have been her friends, so it would have been.
Apple Bloom than left the chair and began to roam through the place. Her head wasn’t clear, it was stuffed with all the words that the unicorn spoke. All of the words that made little to no sense to her. All those words on the other end, also made sense to her. Something wasn’t right, and she didn’t like it. One glare was given to Scootaloo. One questioning glare that screamed the question.
The question of whether or not the pegasus stood at her side.
Scootaloo just gave a nod to her. Silence was about to be broken and all hell with it.
With a saddened look in her eyes had it to be done. The young earth pony gathered all of her courage before she would unleash her fury. Moments went by, moments of dreaded silence. Only the rain that ticked against the window and the rolls of thunder were heard.
But Sweetie just laid there, in the beanbag. The glance of determination in her eyes was one that was hard, if not impossible, to break for them. But they had to try, they both just had to try before everything was destroyed. None of them wanted to destroy their friendship of course.
With a roll of thunder roaring through the clubhouse, Apple Bloom would have spoken. She would have spoken what should have been said long ago. “Just to ask again, are ya absolutely, insane?!” Apple Bloom shouted to Sweetie. The words that had come from the young unicorn were downright crazy. They made little to no sense for any of them, it was just bonkers to hear. All the stories that she told, all the thing she wanted to do. No, just, no.
With Apple Bloom having already fired her cannons, Scootaloo couldn’t stay behind of course. She was silently on Apple Bloom’s side and would have shown her true colors to the unicorn in a moment’s notice. It broke her heart though, to have to say those words against her friend. But she, Scootaloo, the voice of everything but reason, had become the voice of reason. She could only have hoped that Sweetie would listen. Although she didn’t have too much faith in that.
“Sweets, I know how things are for you, but you can’t do this. There’s no way in Equestria that we will let you do this, nor that we will join!” Scootaloo commented on the matter. It just felt wrong to do such a thing. They were three fillies, befriended by one common goal, to find their cutie mark. They wouldn’t have found their mark by going hunting, they would only lose what they held most dear in the world: each other.
In the moment, they were pretty close as to losing Sweetie Belle altogether. The young unicorn was about to drop a bomb on them that neither had ever expected from her. “You two just don’t see it, do you?” she asked of them both. But what was there to see? Sweetie had gone bonkers, insane, her story didn’t have any legs to stand on. For all they knew, it was just a way for the unicorn to fill her craving for bloodlust. A thing which neither of them wanted.
“Then tell us, what we don’t see,” Scootaloo returned while her wings would be tucked against her body again. “What are the points, we are missing?” She wanted to know, had to know.
Sweetie left the beanbag too and began to circle around the two of them. She would have told them both exactly what they had been missing. But whether they would like it or not, was another problem. A problem that would be dealt with later of course, as Sweetie dealt with all of her problems. Always later, never in the moment.
“Apple Bloom, you have a set of sharp eyes, you can spot a rotten apple among thousands high in the trees, not to mention your speed. You, could be great at marksmareship. And you, Scootaloo, you can fix pretty much everything thrown at you. Don’t you see it?!”
“By Celestia,” both others said in response. She had already planned everything out, hadn’t she? Sweetie had already planned everything out. Not just for her own, but also for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Now there was the definition of insanity in their friend. It was just impossible for them to agree on such ridiculous terms. Why would the other two have ever left their calm and normal lives?
“Sweetie, sit down,” Apple Bloom said to her. But she didn’t sit. “Sit!” she bellowed then. The sheer anger in her voice was enough to make the young unicorn buckle under it. Sweetie sat in a chair, looking to Apple Bloom with a curious set of eyes. Where they finally going to give her right? Or would there have been another excuse?
“Yar insane, maddened by grief, Sweets, we don’t even know how it happened. For all we know, Rares indeed began the fire, for all we know, Fleur began it and she already paid for it. There’s no right or wrong in this, never has been. But what you propose, for all of us, is not something Ah’ll allow to happen. We ain’t, becoming hunters of the immortals,” Apple Bloom said to her with a calm and collected tone. The time for anger wasn’t there anymore, they were well passed that. No, they both had to comfort their friend.
~~~~
Yet the sheer determination in her eyes never seemed to leave. It always just stood there, hungering in her eyes, gnawing at her deepest and darkest secrets. Both of them saw it, both of them feared it. It was a true and living hell, but what else could they do? They knew that Sweetie was gifted with magic and even if, even if they decided to join the Night Guard, they would make a formidable team. The question only rested whether or not it was worth it?
To which both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave a clear and direct no on.
“Supernatural bounty hunters...” mumbled Scootaloo while shaking her head. “Is there anything else in the world that is more messed up than that? It’s just, no, Sweetie, we aren’t going to do this. This is, this is, this is...”
“Say it,” commanded Sweetie from her friend. She wanted to hear what Scootaloo had to say on the matter. She wanted to hear, what kind of words would have left the pegasus next. She wanted to hear what kind of curse would be spoken over her. “Well, I’m waiting.”
So eerily calm and collected she remained. So sinister with that glance of determination. The other two would have lied if they said they weren’t afraid of it. A gulp was then given by Scootaloo before she nodded. “Okay, but you asked for it yourself, but I find it bollocks. You have no reason to proof yourself on, no ground to stand on with your words. Something about it all, just doesn’t make sense. You are not making any sense, Sweetie!”
Apple Bloom prayed that it was the final nail in the coffin for Sweetie’s arguments, she had almost become desperate for it. But what other words could she have said to the unicorn that would make it all better again? What could she have done, to make her friend calm down without erupting out in a massive fight? Unicorns and earth ponies going at each other was always brutal, but with them being friends and at the verge of it, it was unthinkable. Apple Bloom was glad that Scootaloo had taken it to herself to be the voice of reason, for how much it would have helped them.
“So that’s how you two think about it, don’t you?” Sweetie asked in a voice dried from all emotions. She had turned into a husk, a thing that they had seen wandering around town for so long. “So this, is how you want to help me? Shout at me, make me regret my decisions once and for all? Lie in my face about my own sister.”
Scootaloo went over to the unicorn and laid a wing over her back. “We never lied about Rarity,” she spoke in a compassionate voice, “we just don’t know what happened, we’re all making assumptions as to how, but we moved on. Something that you should do as well. We have all lost somepony, Sweets. I’ve never known my parents, Apple Bloom lost hers when she was younger. Imagine, if that happened at your age. That devastation you feel, we would then feel.”
Apple Bloom was baffled the more the pegasus spoke. Did Scootaloo really speak those words just yet? Never in her life had she dared to imagine that somepony the like of Scootaloo, would turn out such words of wisdom. She couldn’t say anything against it, or add to it. The only thing that she did, was just giving a nod to the other two. Scootaloo was right, she was absolutely right with her words.
The pegasus then tightened her wing a bit more around Sweetie, bringing the unicorn closer to her with a smile. “Life’s a strange path, Sweetie, we wish it went straight, but it never does. It’s like Everfree, it makes its own choices and you have to live with it, sad as it is. There’s... No, there’s no time anymore. You’ve had a year to grieve, Sweets, it’s time for you to place it to rest. Rarity’s gone, left this world. We both know it feels to have a void, we patched that part of our heart.”
Sweetie’s eyes looked back to Scootaloo, still twinkling with determination while tears had built underneath them. She was at the verge of crying again. No more though, no more.
“Your heart is bleeding, but if you let us, we might just be the right two ponies to patch your heart up. Not for our sake, but so that you can continue to live your life, as you want it,” finished the pegasus before she gave a nuzzle over Sweetie’s cheek. Not even Scootaloo knew where she got those words from, but speaking them to Sweetie seemed like the right thing after all. Perhaps it would have helped, perhaps not. It was up to her than if she wanted to take their help.
Sweetie left the comfort of the wing and strolled over to the door with a defeated face. Apple Bloom almost felt sorry for her friend looking like that, but she had brought it to herself, that much was true. Whatever came next, the other two prepared themselves for it. Whatever horror or delight that came, they would have been ready.
The young unicorn had received the message, yes, but there was nothing that could have patched up her heart. There was nothing in the world that could have come to her aid. No, there was nothing that she could have done, other than to continue on with her plan. Continue on with her plan of madness. With one hoof already at the doorknob, she turned around.
Her green rimmed eyes took a deep glance to the both of them, before the words left her mouth. ‘You two, should reconsider what I said too... I knew my sister better than either of you, I knew what she went through the past year prior her death. Rarity would have never done such a thing herself. And I, will find the one responsible for it. Will it make me better? I don’t know. But I have just one question I can’t get an answer on, why?”
It struck the other two like a bell. The question of why, the one question to which Sweetie never got an answer. Was that the whole reason why she wanted to do this? Was that the reason as to why she wanted to join the Night Guard. Neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom glanced to each other. All they had eyes for, was Sweetie herself. It couldn’t have been like that, right? There must have been something else in play there. There must have been, but what?
“Think about what I had said, the both of you,” said Sweetie before she opened the door, “and when the next attack happens,” her horn began to glow while her raincoat wrapped around her body, “it just might be you that’s on the menu.” Then she just left. She left the other two young mares alone like that. Leaving them over to their fate.
When the door was shut again, only then did they dare to glance at the other again. In their eyes was the expression shared. That twinkling shine of a thousand emotions rushing through their eyes. “Did she just..?”
Apple Bloom just nodded.
~~~~
Twilight wandered around the tree library while the storm had erupted in full force. With her horn glowing, she held a cup of tea in the magical field. She was on her way to her bed to have some well-deserved relaxation. Everything was locked, everything was set for the thunderstorm. So in essence there shouldn’t have been any worries for her.
Why did it feel then as if there was something to worry about? Twilight couldn’t place the feelings and she set the cup to her lips. The darkened halls of the library gave her the chills, even with the hot tea in her throat. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. Her guts clenched and she made a gentle step back.
In the light of a lightning flash did she notice a shadow on the wall. A shadow that came from the room just ahead to her and off to the right. But the shadow, in the fraction of a second she saw it, looked a whole lot like rarity. The mane, the head, but the body was everything but her. Rarity wasn’t a batpony, right? Rarity didn’t have those bat-like wings. Fear managed to capture her heart while she took a step forward. In silence, she crawled further.
The roar of thunder continued on, while the glow of her horn only became brighter. The brightest light in all of the treelibrary was given off by Twilight when she turned around the corner. But as she did, another flash of lightning made its way before the window. But in that light, she thought to see it again. She noticed how the unicorn, her friend, her deceased friend, just stood there. It was impossible.
“Rarity?” Twilight whispered out. Time seemed to have crawled to a stop. The lightning stayed and Twilight gave another good glance to the figure in the room. “How?”
But no sounds came from the other shape. It only glanced to her with a unequaled thirst. Twilight’s neck began to ache and a hoof was set against it. To her it felt like two fangs had been set against her skin. “N-No!” the unicorn yelped before she turned away from the room.
Among the safety of the darkness did she saw how the shade vanished again. It vanished from the room as the lightning faded. Twilight took a deep breath while she continued to rub her neck. She dropped down on her hunches and tears began to stream down her cheeks. She wouldn’t have believed it. There was nothing in the world that could have made her believe it. She didn’t wanted to believe it.
“No, no, no, no, no,” was all she repeated while the tears continued to stream. Twilight had become terrified, terrified of everything at once. But if it was the past that came to haunt her, who knew what other mysteries would have been revealed. Amidst the glow of her magic, the darkness still tried to capture a hold of her.
Twilight was scared, terrified even to move. She didn’t know what to do. She was assaulted by a ghost of yesterday, but that throbbing pain in her neck, she had felt it before. Every nightmare she had in the past year and a half, she woke up with it. “Oh Celestia, what have you done when I called you back to this time?”
It could have been true, that the timelines were scattered again all over the place. Time was fragile, she had learned. Time could be rewritten at any second and Twilight didn’t have a clue how her last encounter with her future-self had changed history and the future. She shuddered at the thoughts before another breath was taken.
Was Equestria doomed? Was everything that they had worked for to secure a safe future for nothing? Nothing made sense to her any longer. But Twilight remained sitting there, with her back firm against the wall and her head hung low. The pool of tears between her legs only became bigger. Just like Sweetie had cried a week ago, she too was crying like a foal, but for different reasons altogether. Twilight didn’t knew what to do, she didn’t knew how to pick herself up.