Emberwolf

by Lucky Dreams

Paws

The next moment stretched for a hundred years: a tightly coiled moment, which unfurled in horrifying slow motion. Scootaloo longed for a minute previously when the fire had been nothing more than a well-mannered albeit unsettling nuisance, and not the monstrosity which now lumbered from out of the flames.

It started with a rattle of wood and a crash of charcoal. Logs and woodchips flashed brightly, too bright to look at, and Scootaloo threw up her hooves to shield her gaze. Then came fantastic, world-ending heat. The rug smouldered. The walls blackened. It was warmth summoned from deep inside of the Earth, from the hidden country where ruby forests sprout from meadows of magma, and where lava-pods are harvested by the flame-foals.

Scootaloo screamed.

Yet, as quickly as it came, the worst of the heat died, and she lowered her hooves from her eyes and forced herself to gaze at the fireplace.

Something was crawling out of it. Something enormous.

It emerged log by flaming log. Although the fireplace was small, the terrible beast kept coming and coming, fire without end. Two paws the size of dinner plates went thwack on the carpet, and both paws were coated in flames. Scootaloo spied claws of coal and fur of charcoal. Next came the blazing snout, and jaws made from the material of sunlight, and which held fangs of fire and an infernal tongue. Lava-drool dripped on the floorboards and burned holes in the wood. The beast’s eyes were furnaces. The centre of the Earth was shiver worthy compared to the mountain melting heat of that ferocious gaze. And still the beast kept coming, out and out from the fireplace, until it filled nearly half the living room.

The air smelled of burning.

It was sweltering.

“Filly,” snarled the beast. “Enough talk – I’ve seen and heard enough of you to know you’re precisely the one I’m looking for. I’ve a proposition for you.”

Scootaloo ran. She zoomed up the staircase, burst into her room and attempted to force open the window so that she could try, once more, to dig her way to the surface. “C’mon,” she sobbed. “C’mon!” But whether it had frozen shut, or that the sheer weight of snow pinned it in place, the window remained steadfastly closed.

From downstairs, she heard the SMASH of something huge bursting through a wall, then the CRASH of gigantic paws.

Scootaloo drew in a determined breath. “I live with the sky in my heart,” she whispered. The phrase was as well-worn as an old horseshoe, and it gave her strength. “I live with Rainbow Dash in my soul.”

She hurried back to the landing. The heat was of a breed found in the lungs of volcanos.

“Filly!” growled the Emberwolf from the foyer. Standing near the end of the landing, Scootaloo couldn’t see it: she saw only the top of the staircase. But she heard the steps groan under the weight of coal heavy paws. “I do not wish to harm you. I just need to talk with you. It’s important.”

Yeah, right, Scootaloo thought. Sure. It’s important to talk to your food before you eat it – like I’m falling for that! Then she barged into her aunt’s bedroom and opened the curtains. Again, all she saw snow, and the window wouldn’t budge. She would have to smash it open and tunnel her way out. It was her only chance.

She glanced around for something heavy – a clock, a lamp.

But she stopped. Because just then, in the volcanic heat of her panic, the sensation of being watched returned. She heard the whispers again too. Perhaps terror sharpened her senses, or perhaps they spoke louder than before: but this time, Scootaloo made out two distinct voices. Two very familiar voices. The sound of them should have filled her with hope, but instead they froze the blood in her veins and the marrow in her bones.

“She’s coming,” said the first whisper.

The second one added, “Hide, darling one. In the closet. It’s not much of a hope, but it’s all the hope you’ve got.”

Scootaloo’s lower lip trembled. She flared her wings, closed them again, then peered around the empty bedroom. She knew those voices. But why couldn’t she see their owners? Where in Equestria had they gone?

“Aunt Lofty? A-Aunt Holiday?”

Comments

[Phantom-Dragon]

Alright! These long years of wait is over!

[Rock-Mint-Swirl]

Into tracking you go! ~ Mintstar