The Lightless Night

by Matthias Ramsey

The Mirror Pool

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stayed hidden in a tree trunk until well after Scootaloo's screams had stopped. They came out of their hidey-hole cautiously and crept back to the location they'd left Scootaloo.
Honestly, what did they expect?
Scootaloo's body had been left there half-eaten by the timberwolves, probably simply to demoralize them.
It worked very well.
The two fillies gave their friend a hasty burial and continued on their way, hearts heavy.

Cypress sniffed the air cautiously. "The orange one's scent has vanished. They must have buried her."
"Are they coming this way?" Birch shifted slightly, and his timbers creaked.
Cypress shot him a look. "Yes. They are winding about, but they are coming."
"We should hide, then?"
"Yes. Of course."

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom barely spoke until they reached a particularly dense thicket of briars.
"Ah'll go through first."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure. Don't stray too far behind, though."
"Okay."
Applebloom slowly started pushing through the thorns, with Sweetie Belle following close behind, nose practically touching her friend's tail.
Suddenly, Applebloom shouted, "Oh f-" and disappeared from sight.
Sweetie Belle looked around and saw that the entrance to the Mirror Pool cave had been opened and someone had made a pitfall.
She listened at the entrance and heard pained groans floating up the passageway.
"Bloom? You all right?"
"No...ah think ah broke mah leg..."
"Well, can you walk at all?"
"No, ah cain't... Sweetie, jus' leave me..."
Sweetie deliberated, thinking of the timberwolves. Then she got an idea.
"Hang on, I'm coming down!"

Cypress watched the entrance hungrily. His eagerness as he saw the white one come out without without the yellow one quickly faded under a tide of misgiving as first two, then four, then nine more identical white unicorn fillies exited the cave, then scattered.
"How do we know?"
"We'll ask the yellow one." The four timberwolves charged into the cave.
The yellow one was laying prone in front of the Cursed Water, one foreleg bent at a grotesque angle.
Cypress stood over her. "Which one of the white ones is the real one?"
"Ah ain't tellin'."
Cypress growled and dug his claws into her ribs without cutting her. "Your life is on the line. Which one?"
"It's the white one."
"Do not play games with me. Which one?"
"Ah can do this all night. Can you? Ah reckon ya got maybe three or four hours till dawn."
"That is where you're wrong." Cypress lifted his clawed paw and brought it down, crushing the yellow one's skull beneath it. "On all counts."

Comments

[Tr0llz0r96]

How'd Sweetie Bell know they were after her? Great story otherwise.