Braveheart

by BraveheartStudios

Alone in the Woods

Why? Why would Scootaloo come in here even though she knew she would be scared? And now she had no idea where she was. She scurried around the forest, looking for any sign of Braveheart, Fluttershy, or Rainbow Dash. There was no sign of any color, only darkness. Scootaloo could barely see where she was going. She occasionally ran into trees and stumbled on tree roots because it was so dark. Every sound she heard she felt the urge that somepony, or something, was behind her. She often heard growling from far away, but, as scared as she was, she felt as if it was right next to her. Scootaloo had been in the Everfree Forest before, but not by herself. She usually had older ponies and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle with her. Not this time. She was truly all alone. Not a pony in sight. Scootaloo had started to regret this idea when she started walking in. She really wanted to get out that moment. She could easily fly out, but there were two problems with that. One, the trees were too thick for even a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash and Braveheart to fly through. And two, she couldn't fly. She hasn't realized why she wasn't able to fly yet. Most of the younger pegasi could fly, but why couldn't she? Flying was the least of her worries. Right now she had to find a way out. She's been in the forest for ten...twenty minutes? She hasn't even known how long, but it felt like forever. It was mid-afternoon, Scootaloo knew that much, but it was so dark that it seemed like it was in the middle of the night. She continued to walk on, but she was starting to think she was going in circles.

'That's not possible.' Scootaloo thought to herself.

She was starting to get really scared now. How is it that she hasn't come across Braveheart and the rest yet?

'It is a big forest." she thought. 'And they're looking for a small rabbit. That must be even harder.'

She wondered if they had already found Angel. Maybe they already left the forest. Maybe they went out another way from when they came in. Scootaloo would never be found. She would have to live in the forest forever! Her thoughts were cut off from a loud roar that could be heard even from Ponyville. She looked around terrified. There was nothing around her, but she felt the urge to run. She ran as fast she could, circling around trees, trying to confuse the thing behind her that didn't exist. She heard big thumping sounds. She was afraid to turn to look behind her, terrified that whatever that noise is, wouldn't be behind her. She kept running. The noise got louder. She still couldn't see anything, except... Wait. It may have just been Scootaloo, or did she seeing a small blue and purple spec in the distance. It was no doubt, it was them. Scootaloo was so relieved.

"Brave...!" she shouted, but she was stopped. Air rushed through her mane before Scootaloo realized that she was falling. She started to flip as she fell. She hit her head on the ground and then she landed in a large bush. She laid there dizzy, confused at what just happened. A loud crashing noise snapped her out of it. The crashing noise lasted for a few seconds, but once it died down, Scootaloo got the courage to look up. It seemed as if she had fallen down a gigantic hill, more like a cliff. She rubbed her head. She then remembered what she saw right before she fell. She got up out of the bush and sprinted to the base of the cliff.

"Braveheart! Rainbow Dash!" she yelled.

No answer. She tried again. It was no use. They would never be able to hear her from where she was. She looked both ways. It didn't seem as if there was a way to get back up the hill from what she could see. Her ears drooped down. A tear fell from her eye. She turned her back on the hill and walked the other way. She was so close. So close to being with Braveheart and Rainbow Dash again. She didn't bother to look up to see where she was going. This was the end for her. In all her life, she would've never guessed that she would die in the Everfree Forest alone. A droplet of water fell on her nose. She looked up and more droplets fell to the ground.

"Rain." she said. "Of course."

She continued on. The rain poured down heavily. Scootaloo's hair got in her face. She blew it out of the way, but it kept on falling down. Her stomach growled. Where would she find food here? If there was any. Lighting stuck the sky. She knew she had to get out of this weather, but Scootaloo didn't think that there would be a random house in the middle of the forest. Well, except for Zekora, which Scootaloo had only met a couple times, but what were the chances of her finding her house? Very slim. She trudged on through the muddy ground. She thought that she could take shelter under one of the trees, but it didn't seem as if any trees didn't have any puddles around it. She looked around and, once she thought all hope was lost, her eyes widened. From behind the trees, she could see the best thing she's seen all day. A cave. She ran towards it. She got to the entrance and saw that it was completely dry. Scootaloo sighed in relief. She shook herself to get some of the water out of her mane and coat. She went a little deeper into the cave, but not to deep, just enough to still be able to see the cave entrance. She laid down on the cold cave floor. She thought about making a fire, but because of the rain, Scootaloo figured that there would be no stick that wouldn't be wet. She shivered. She closed her eyes, even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, Scootaloo was exhausted. She could've taken a nap right there, but her nose winced. She smelt something. Something awful. She looked around, but the cave was just as dark as the forest. She got up and decided to go deeper into the cave. It could've been just the cave smell, but Scootaloo didn't think it would smell this bad. The odor got stronger the more deeper she went. She bumped into something and jumped. Probably just a rock, but wait... Whatever this was, was too smooth to be a rock. The stench was way too strong. Scootaloo started to back away, but was stopped when she heard a growl from behind her. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened. She slowly turned around to be met with two glowing, green eyes staring at her. And these eyes were ginormous. Scootaloo's mouth dropped. She knew exactly what this was. She learned about it in school, and from what she read, these things don't take kind to visitors.

"T-tim..." she mumbled.

She couldn't find the words to say, but she didn't need to. From the dark, a roar came known, and it was right in front of Scootaloo. The smell was finally known. It was the Timberwolf's breath. The smell was so strong that Scootaloo had to close her eyes. She realized that she was still standing there. She ignored the smell and took off running. The Timberwolf let out a howl and ran after her. The stomping of the Timberwolf sounded familiar. Kinda like the sound she heard before she fell down the hill. Speaking of the hill, Scootaloo could see it in the distance. She didn't realize that she didn't go that far away, but now she was running out of land to avoid the Timberwolf. The Timberwolf was catching up to Scootaloo. If only she had her scooter, she may have a better chance at out running this thing. She didn't turn to see how close it was to her. She knew there was no time to do that, she could only run.

'Well, I'd rather die quickly than die from starvation.' she thought.

She knew there was no way to out run the Timberwolf. She was coming to the base of the hill. This was the end for her. The hill was too steep to run or climb up, but she tried anyway. She failed at it. She turned to see the Timberwolf slowly walking towards her. It seemed that both of them knew that there was no escape. Scootaloo closed her eyes and waited for the end.

"Scootaloo!" somepony shouted.

Scootaloo reopened her eyes.

"Princess Celestia? Is that you?" she asked the voice.

She figured that she was already dead, but nope. The Timberwolf was still there, but it looked up behind Scootaloo, confused as to what that voice was. Scootaloo turned behind her as well, and her eyes widened. She had never been more happy to see these ponies in her entire life. The two ponies were sliding down the hill. One of them pushed off the hill and started flying down. The other kept on sliding. The flying pony put her back hooves in front of her and slammed into the Timberwolf's head. The other pony landed next to Scootaloo and Scootaloo ran up and hugged him. She felt a tiny bit of his fiery mane on her head. His purple coat felt wet, but warm. She didn't even care that she was hugging the pony of her dreams. She was just so glad that she was in the hooves of Braveheart.