Silent Past

by Speedy

Chapter 5: Journey To The Town

Silent Past

Chapter 5: Journey To The Town

Scootaloo panicked as she screamed, all around her blurry shapes with masks held her down. She managed to bite one of the monsters holding her, tasting iron as she drew blood. The monster quickly yanked itself free, leaving a disgusting piece of flesh in her teeth, before a muzzle was clamped over her mouth and bonds were tightened over her limbs.

Outnumbered, and now defenceless, she whinnied and snarled like a pony possessed as she struggled against them. “No! Get away from me!” Scootaloo screamed. She flailed around violently before feeling a sharp pain in her leg. Her movements started to become sluggish as the monstrous faces seemed to melt together. With a final desperate cry, she strained against her bonds before slumping on the bed.

---

Hearing the shouts from Scoot's room, Rainbow dropped the magazine she was reading and broke into a mad flight towards the source. The image of the young pegasus appearing from the swirling darkness covered in bruises and cuts flashed through her mind as a unicorn nurse stopped her mid-flight with a flare of her horn.

"Miss! You can't enter now, the patient is being belligerent." Red Cross said sternly before Dash glared at her.

"I'll show you belligerent if you don't let me go," she warned before tugging free of the unicorn's magical grip, hardly wincing as some of her tail hairs were pulled out. Even as she burst into the room, she saw the nurse head for an intercom. Seeing Scoot slumped in bed with restraints, she nearly punched the doctor before she noticed the staff nursing minor injuries and one of the nurses wrapping gauze around the doctor’s bleeding foreleg. You deserve it for tying a pegasus up like that, she thought before hovering at Scoot's side. A wave of relief passed over her, seeing the filly’s chest rising and falling with each breathe. The peaceful appearance was only broken by the odd twitch and incoherent mumbling as Rainbow gently fluttered to the floor. Hearing two sets of hoofsteps she turned her head to see Red enter, followed closely by Douglas.

“I’m not leaving until she wakes up,” she said straight faced before sitting down with a snort, giving the two a stubborn look as some of the other nurses looked warily between them. Some of them headed for the door, assisting the injured doctor, while Red waved for the others to give the two some privacy.

“I didn’t expect you to,” Douglas said as he moved aside to let the nurses pass. Taking up the rear of the group, Red finally left the two of them alone with the unconscious filly, giving them a warning look as she left the room. “From my experience, threatening other ponies isn’t the smartest move to get your way. Especially hospital staff.” He gingerly patted a hoof shaped bruise on his chest as he spoke.

Rainbow felt a pang of guilt as he joined her at the bedside. She watched him as he checked the restraints, hoping he felt the same unhappiness for them that she did. This was a filly they were treating after all, not some dangerous psychopath. Stewing on the maltreatment, her eyes inadvertently drifted back to his bruise, a visual reminder of the previous night’s events. “Sorry… again. I thought you were trying to hurt the little squirt before that magic thing took her.”

“I’ve endured worse. First time I’ve been admitted to the hospital for burns and two cracked ribs at the same time.”

Even though his tone was good natured, she still wasn’t fully prepared for the conversation they needed to have. She’d wanted to talk about it while Scoot was awake, but the egg-headed doctor had messed that up by medicating her. If only she actually knew what was going on, then maybe she could help the filly solve this problem. Looking over at the disk on the bedside she felt the urge to pick it up and smash it against the wall, knowing full well that it had hurt her young friend at least once before. But Douglas’s magic was quicker as it encased, and lifted the disk out of her reach.

“Why won’t you let me get rid of that thing! It’s only making things harder for her.” she told him with a snort.

“Because whoever is targeting her wants it, and it has already saved her life before,” Douglas said. The same reasoning he’d given her last night when she tried to break it and get Scootaloo back from the portal. He’d been very obstinate that it needed to be left alone.

“Then tell me again why we shouldn’t get rid of it so she isn’t targeted. Perhaps you could also tell me why you decided to lead dangerous ponies to our town?” Rainbow asked, unintentionally adding anger to her tone. Catching herself, she took a deep breath before exhaling. She knew he didn’t deserve any negativity. She’d been awake almost a whole day and was just grumpy from all the anxiety this ordeal was giving her.

If it had hurt his feelings at all, it didn't show as Douglas responded with, “I never meant for this. I was just hired to find Scootaloo and bring her safely home. I’m just as confused as you are, but getting mad will only make it harder to uncover the truth.”

Listening to his explanation, Rainbow couldn't help but stare at him, the confusion evident on her face. “Home... What do you mean, bring her home?” Something about how Douglas sighed told her there was more to the story, and she wanted to know what it was. "And who was it that wanted you to find her?"

“I was contacted by somepony that said she was Scootaloo’s mother, but that no longer seems to be the case." Douglas winced as he sat on his flank; attempting to hide it before continuing, "And I'm guessing Scootaloo had her reasons for not talking about her ...'situation'."

"What kinda situation—,” and then it hit her. Scootaloo being at the orphanage during the fire had not been a coincidence and why she'd never met the filly's parents. Rainbow's gaze lowered to her hooves, her mane hiding her shame as she bit her lip holding back the tears. “...She never told me,” Rainbow whispered to herself.

Douglas sighed as he scratched his neck. “After some background checking I discovered that Scootaloo had no records of a family. In fact, she seems to have no records at all besides the newest orphanage update sent to the Canterlot Archives."

“No records at all?” Rainbow took a moment from her self pity to give him another confused look before looking at the orange filly strapped to the bed. As more things made sense, even more mysteries seemed to pop-up. “How can Scootaloo have no records? She goes to school with AJ and Rarity's little sisters, surely they would have a few on her. How else could she be accepted to any school without a single record," Rainbow asked as she uncharacteristically brushed some unkempt mane off Scoot's face.

“I thought it would be best if I found her,” he said as the memory of Sugar Snap being abducted came to mind, “But there were others in black robes that came to the orphanage after I'd called my client. They must’ve hired somepony to start that fire and cover their tracks, but I don’t know why they had to go to such lengths.”

“I don't care about why they did it,” Rainbow said, raising her voice, "I'm gonna find them and make them sorry for what they did."

“Calm down, Ms. Dash, you don’t want to wake her.” Douglas told Rainbow, but it was hearing Scootaloo whimper in her sleep that made the pegasus quiet her tone.

---

She was groggily waking up from the terrible dream when she heard Rainbow's voice nearby. She kept her eyes shut as she eavesdropped, wondering what was going on.

“Sorry, Douglas. This whole thing has been brushing me the wrong way. Didn’t you do a background check on Scootaloo's mother before tracking her down?”

Hearing Rainbow mention mother, Scoot's mind became filled with questions. She had a mother that was looking for her? Where was she during her years at the orphanage and why had she been abandoned in the first place?

---

“That's just it. I did do a check after she first came to me and told me about her daughter. I run a background check before all my cases, and her story held up... except one thing seemed off,” Douglas explained

“What was it, what was off?” Rainbow asked.

Douglas was unsure if he should talk about it, but the look of concern on Rainbow’s face made the decision for him. With a sigh, he reached into the coat pocket and showed her a paperclipped collection of photos. “It was about her home town. A place called Silent Hill,” he started to explain as Rainbow looked over it.

“Silent Hill? Never heard of it.”

“You wouldn’t have. It should be a ghost town, abandoned nearly a century ago after a fire burned it to the ground.” The look Rainbow gave reflected the same stunned confusion he’d felt when he’d found out about that little-known fact.

“Then why did you take this job?! That seems like a big red flag if you ask me,” Rainbow said, before seeing Douglas shake his head.

“The bit that was off wasn’t that the town was burnt down years ago. What felt off was the photo the client sent with the missing pony report," Douglas continued to explain as he pocketed the photos. “It was a photograph of Scootaloo as a foal, and a mare posing outside an amusement park. A quick background check confirmed that said park was once the biggest attraction in Silent Hill, and some old images of the park confirmed the photo's authenticity.”

“If she was telling the truth, why are ponies after Scootaloo then?” Rainbow added. Whether this pony claiming to be Scootaloo’s mother was indeed her mother, Dash didn’t care. Ponies were attempting to hurt Scootaloo, and that didn’t fly with her.

“That’s what confuses me...”

Pausing, the memory of his call came to mind, along with a possible connection. “...unless there is more at work than just those cloaked ponies.”

“Hmph,” Rainbow started, “maybe she’s in big trouble but...to go ‘that’ far? I think I should tell the princess. I mean, ponies that are willing to burn down an orphanage the guards need to be aware. Celestia knows what I’ll do when I get my hooves on them...” she was so angered that ponies would go that far, but she knew she couldn’t do anything at the moment.

Douglas opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as a nurse came walking in, “Sorry but it’s getting very late. If you wish to stay overnight, you must sleep in the visitor’s sleeping quarters. The guards will make sure nothing happens to her,” she said as she opened the door for them to leave.

“Ugh! Stupid hospital rules..” Rainbow sighed, hating to leave, but knew they had to so that Scootaloo could rest more comfortably.

They stood up and walked outside, making their way to the nearest desk to fill out the form that would allow them to stay overnight. With what happened earlier, extra precautions were being made so they couldn’t sleep in Scootaloo’s room. “You're not finished telling me things by the way,” Rainbow said, “I want to know ‘everything’ about her and this town, got it.” she nearly demanded, but kept a calm tone. Albeit strained.

“You're the closest pony to her right now, so I basically have to. Maybe you’ll help decide what happens to her after this gets solved,” he answered.

After the form was filled they started walking to the sleeping quarters still talking, “When did she first contact you?” Rainbow asked.

“About a month ago, I spent a few weeks researching what she had told me about Scootaloo. When her name finally came up with her at an orphanage, her story was more than backed up. But still unsure, I figured that I should go and talk to her,” Douglas explained.

“Then what? Did you tell anypony else?” Rainbow asked.

Shaking his head, Douglas tightened his jaw. He didn’t look that gullible...did he? “I didn’t tell anypony. I just looked up where Scootaloo lived and made my way there. When I got there to talk to the owner Sugar Snap, I—” Noticing a male nurse pass them in the hall, Douglas stopped short as he felt a chill run through him. Turning to look at the stallion, Douglas stared after him as he continued down the corridor.

“What is it?” Rainbow asked, turning to see what had stopped Douglas.

Douglas kept silent as he followed the pony quietly, Rainbow following behind him. She asked what he was doing, but he didn’t answer. Finally, when they got to a strangely empty hallway, they saw the odd pony looking around before a magical aura encased his horn. Seeing the magical glow’s color, Douglas was reminded of one of the robed ponies, and his fear was realized as the nurse’s scrubs changed into a black robe.

“That’s one of the ponies that I saw when I tried to save Scootaloo!” Douglas exclaimed, making the robed pony jump as Douglas galloped towards him.

The robed stallion made a dash for it with Douglas and Rainbow hot on his trail. With his cover blown, all sense of stealth was lost as he charged headlong through the hospital halls. Seeing him glance at the doors that passed him, Rainbow’s fear grew as she realized the pony was heading towards Scootaloo’s room. Fearing for the filly, Rainbow tackled the robed pony as a glowing object flew from his robe and skidded across the hospital floor. Stepping out from the corridor leading towards Scootaloo’s room, a second robed pony stepped from cover and halted at the sight of Rainbow, his downed partner, and Douglas heading towards him.

“Take it and go!” the stallion beneath Rainbow yelled, before being silenced with a forehoof to the muzzle.

With a nod, the second interloper grabbed hold of the object with his teeth, and retreated the way he came. Douglas gave chase as Rainbow pulled the pony she caught up and pinned him against the wall.

“Ok, talk! And don’t even think about doing anything funny.”

Douglas ran as fast as he could, until finally making it to the hallway where Scootaloo’s room was. Outside the room, he saw two guards laying on the floor to either side of the filly’s room, neither responding as the robed pony rushed into Scootaloo’s room. Douglas galloped as fast as he could to the door, and catching hold of the door frame propelled himself into the room. Knocking the pony to the floor, he noticed the object go flying and imbed itself in the wall. Of all the things, it had to be some cult fanatics with a dagger. Within seconds, Rainbow came bursting through the doorway while Douglas was placing handcuffs on his robed pony. They both looked at the bed, hoping to see Scootaloo safe and sound but...she was gone!

“Where is she!?” Douglas demanded, but the robed pony refused to talk. Angered, Douglas twisted the ponies hooves until he cried out in pain. Turning to Rainbow, Douglas asked, “Where’s your dance partner?”

“Taking a nap,” Rainbow answered before cracking her neck, “But I can alway use another.”

“You foals are making a mistake.” The cultist retorted, chuckling defiantly before Douglas twisted his arm tighter.

“Oh, I’ll show you a mistake. Now tell us where she is, or else I’ll buck you into next week,” Rainbow threatened.

---

Stumbling over her hooves, Scootaloo caught herself against the wall as she wheezed.

“Must. Get to. Silent Hill,” Scootaloo said.

Rubbing her eyes as the haze grew darker, she regained her footing and staggered towards her old room. Pushing aside the warnings telling ponies to stay out, she stepped into the demolished room. The disk was leading her ...the disk was calling her. Scootaloo looked over the bed, and under the covers before pushing the bed aside with unnatural determination. Finding nothing, she turned on the dressers, pulling their drawers loose and across the floor.

Gripping the last drawer handle with her teeth, it stubbornly remained jammed shut. Pulling harder, she finally pulled it loose and reel backwards as the drawer hit the wall behind her. Slamming against the floor, Scootaloo cried out in pain before a sparkle caught her eye. There, under the dresser, was the disk. As she crawled towards it, a smile grew on her face while picking it up. As she held it tightly in her hoof, Scootaloo pulled it out and stared at it, watching as the symbols glowed.

“T-take me to Silent Hill...please?” she asked it before the symbols started to flare brightly.

A bubble appeared around Scootaloo, lifting her up from the ground and emitting energy waves that could make unicorns in tune with magic shudder.

---

Opening her eyes slowly, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing. “You will regret what you did to my sister, monster,” Celestia said through clenched teeth as the memory of her injured sister came to mind.

Leaving the throne room, she startled the guards outside her door as they narrowly avoided the large doors.

“Ready my chariot,” Celestia said, each word filled with more rage than her subjects had ever heard from her.

“We will be leaving for Ponyville...”

---

Like feeling the approach of an impending storm, Rainbow’s ears twitched nervously as she galloped through the hospital corridors. Scootaloo was missing, that infernal disc was gone, and neither of cultists had either of them. That meant one other place they would be, and Douglas wasn’t gonna stop her from getting rid of the disc this time. Finally, Rainbow made her way to the off-limits hallway and jumped the tape. By the time she reached the room, it felt like flying into a hurricane as she saw the filly encased in a red bubble.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow cried before the bubble emitted a shrill noise, and exploded in a flare of red light. “Scootaloo!?” Rainbow called out again as she was blinded.

Author's Note:

Got 2 new editors to help with this story, so expect chapters to be uploaded faster.

Comments

[Cold Spike]

So, uh, where you been? Also, you should divide scenes with the hr code.

[Speedy]

5292918

I had no idea what the hr thing was suppose to be, I honestly thought they were used as a reminder of where editing stopped at. I been deleting them when uploading haven't I? It just seems like a bad idea to have "

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" there it to me seems like a editing thing left over should use ".....hours later...." or something but just me, so yeah I had no idea what the [hr even was meant for. XD I just use "meanwhile" or "sometime later" not the hr icons for time passing so guess was failed to tell me what those were or even remind me what they were.

I been busy off playing games and even started a LP channel, and started writing my first book hopefully you'll see how I improved in terms of writing with the next chapter.

EDIT:...................OH they add lines to the stories here! Yep had no idea they did that. XD I usually add the lines myself tho so really had no idea of the [ and ] effect...oops. XD

[Cold Spike]

5308355 the tag is meant to cleanly seperate scenes. It's not required, but looks nicer. Another cool method is to tag an icon representing a character (like a cutie mark) and displsying that in the center between each scene change as a tiny icon. This can signify, okay the scene is changing and okay it's from that charcters perspective.

[Hydra]

5308426, Coud you give an example of how that is done. I would be quite interested in using somethng like that later on.

[Cold Spike]

5313247 You simply type in [ and right next to the [ you type an 'h' then an 'r' and then close it up with ] Then when you are done editing a story the site will take that and place a clean line down the middle of your story from left to right.

As for the cutie mark example (the first time I saw this done was a Dark Souls crossover, whe nit was time for the OC human scenes they showed a helmet from darksouls as a tiny icon, when it was Twilight's turn they showed her cutie mark)

Above each scene instead of using the hr tag, you could take a small icon, like say Pinkie Pie's cutie mark and place it inside use the 'insert image' button and once it's loaded, use the center align tool.

The following story should help explain: Grossly Incandescent

[Hydra]

5313360
Thanks for the tip, Thankfully, I was already aware of the :

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=
['hr']

[Dimension Tripper]

More please.

[Shady Mist]

"expect chapters to be uploaded faster." Yet it's been almost 6 years?