Scarlet

by Capo First

Welcome Home

Scarlet awoke with a jolt. How long had she been asleep? She opened her eyes to the light gray of the early morning sky. She was outdoors. That struck her as odd. Didn't she fall asleep indoors? She pushed the thought from her mind as she sat up. She scanned the scene in front of her, taking in as much detail as possible. She was at the gate of an old, run down house. Most of the windows were smashed, and the front door hung off of its hinges. Beneath several of the windows were flower boxes overgrown with weeds. Beyond the house she could see other houses, in seemingly good shape. She frowned. Why was she here? And where was she?

She peered towards the dark doorway of the house. If she was here, it was probably for a reason, she decided. She got to her feet and slowly made her way down the rocky path towards the front door. A slight wind blew through the broken windows, making a slight howling noise as she stepped through the doorway. She stopped and waited for her eyes to adjust to the gloom.

She found herself in a small hallway with a staircase to her right. Along the hallway empty picture frames hung at strange angles, coated in dust. She moved through another doorway to her left and emerged in an empty kitchen. The place had been ransacked. The cupboards had been torn open so hard that some of the doors had been ripped off and now lay scattered on the floor. She moved closer to the stove, but stopped and shrank back slightly. It was covered in a dried, sickly green substance that she recognized immediately as changeling blood.

So they had been here. She spun around, now on guard. She was here for a reason, then. She slowly exited the kitchen, proceeded farther down the hallway, and entered a new room, which she perceived to have once been a sitting room. The couch and chairs were torn up, and fluff from them was strewn everywhere. The walls were decorated with more empty picture frames. This annoyed her. Why were they empty? The window was smashed, with bits of glass decorating the inside of the room. So it had been smashed inward, she thought. Somebody wanted in. She was about to leave the room when she noticed a light gray object laying in one corner. She approached it and picked it up.

A bowling pin. Normally she would have just discarded it, but she found something... strange about it. Almost familiar. She clenched the pin in her teeth, keeping it with her as she proceeded to the next room. The rest of the rooms on the first floor were in the same condition. A bathroom with the sink smashed, a spare bedroom with the bed flipped and torn. She moved back down the hallway and started to climb the stairs. She noticed something she hadn't noticed before; the stairs were also coated in changeling blood. Still, she proceeded up the stairs and into the upstairs hallway.

The first thing she noticed was a large, gaping hole in the wall near the end of the hallway. The edges looked burned, leading Scarlet to believe it had been a blast of magic. That must have been one powerful shot, she thought as she peered at it. She turned around chose a door on the left. She walked in and stopped dead.

The room was different from the ones she had previously seen. It looked nearly untouched, save for the inch-thick layer of dust that coated everything. In the far corner sat a crib, complete with moldy blankets and a mobile above it. The main area of the room was littered with toys, from toy wagons to rattles to plastic balls. A chest overflowing with stuffed animals sat against the wall. Scarlet looked around at the room. Why was this room untouched, when the rest of the house was destroyed? And why couldn't she shake the feeling that this was too familiar to be a coincidence?

She backed out of the room, shaking her head slightly. There was still one more room she hadn't searched on this floor. Scarlet approached it nervously, afraid of what she would find. She stopped outside the door and looked down. More changeling blood was dried outside the door, mixed with... red. The red blood of ponies. She shuddered slightly and pushed the door open.

The room was a master bedroom. The bed was torn up and coated in red blood, and the walls were splashed with it. What disturbed Scarlet the most, however, where the pictures.

The walls were crammed with photo frames of all sizes. Unlike the ones downstairs, they actually had photos in them. The pictures that stretched the walls shocked Scarlet right to her very core. She was staring at herself, along with a gray unicorn and a small magenta filly. They were doing something different in every photo, whether it be playing in a garden or reading a book. She felt a tear slide down her cheek.

Melody. How could she have forgotten? Her own daughter, and she couldn't even remember her. Scarlet picked up a picture of Melody off the floor. That magenta coat... that cyan mane. She shuddered as the memories began to come back. This was her house, she realized. Her's, Topsy's, and Melody's. And it was destroyed... because... they attacked. She moaned slightly and dropped Topsy's juggling pin from her mouth as she remembered.

---

Scarlet hummed to herself as she cleaned up the kitchen after a delightful dinner. The sun was just beyond the horizon, giving the sky an orange glow through the large window. She scrubbed at a tough stain on the stove top, furrowing her brow in a look of concentration. Topsy had just put Melody to bed. He came back downstairs and entered the room, sighing gently.

"How are you, my dear?" He came over and kissed her on the cheek. Scarlet blushed slightly and smiled.

"Oh you know, the usual. Had to clean Melody's room again." She giggled. "She got her hooves on some crayons and went to town on those walls."

"She's a little rascal. Maybe she'll grow up to be an artist." He sat down in a chair and took off his glasses. "I've got a show in about two weeks in Canterlot. I was thinking she is old enough to bring along."

Scarlet smiled. "I think she would love that, she always wants to go with you when you go. After all, you are her fa-"

Scarlet was cut short as a black figure hurled itself through the window with a crash, colliding with the table. Topsy sprang to his feet with a yell as the changeling rose to its feet and lunged at Scarlet. She instinctively turned and smashed its face into the still-hot stove. The changeling yelped as she grabbed a steak knife and stabbed it into its back, sending green blood oozing onto the counter top. She turned just as another leaped through the window at Topsy. He knocked it aside with a magic shield spell, sending it sprawling headlong across the floor.

He looked at Scarlet. "We need to get to Melody!" He yelled as he shot out the door towards the stairs. Scarlet followed, hearing more windows breaking elsewhere in the house as more of the beasts broke into the house. She began climbing the stairs but stopped with a scream. One of them had latched its sharp teeth into her hind legs, drawing blood. She kicked it with the other hoof, ripping its teeth out of her, taking some of the flesh with it. She hobbled up the steps, blood pouring from her leg, and finally reached the hallway.

She turned as Topsy came dashing out of Melody's room, with her looking around, confused. "Daddy? What's going on?"

"It's gonna be okay Melody. Its gonna be oka-" An explosion shook the house, knocking all three of them over. The wall at the far end of the hallway crumbled inwardly, its edges glowing white-hot. In its place stood a tall, dark creature, unknown to them. It opened its eyes and grinned with an evil look.

"Well hello there, my pretties." The beast spoke in a strange, humming voice. Scarlet struggled to her feet, blood pooling on the floor around her as she glared at Chrysalis. "Now lets make this easy, and you come with me."

"Never, you monster!" Now Topsy had gotten to his feet, standing in front of Melody protectively. "What do you want!?"

"I need test subjects! And you are the perfect candidates!" She advanced down the hallway towards them. "Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way!" Scarlet wheeled around to find her path blocked by more changelings, each one looking at her hungrily. She backed up until she was with Topsy and Melody and watched Chrysalis walk down the hallway towards them. Her horn glowed green, casting a shield around the three of them. Scarlet glanced side to side nervously as the shield pulsed green.

"What are you doing, you fiend!?" Topsy stared at Chrysalis angrily. Melody was huddled into his mane, crying softly.

"It's time for you... to take a nap." She laughed as Scarlet felt her eyes droop. The shield was actually a sleeping spell. Scarlet crawled closer to Topsy as her muscles weakened and she slowly lost consciousness.

---

Scarlet regained her senses. She was still on the floor of the bedroom with the picture of Melody in front of her. Her cheeks were soaked with tears. She must have been crying, she thought. And no wonder... she remembered now. Not everything, but some. But why did the changelings want her? And more importantly, where was her daughter? Scarlet turned toward the door, buried in her thoughts, and nearly walked right into Chrysalis.

She leapt back in horror. There was no other escape from the room. The windows were boarded. Scarlet realized that this had been planned.

"Oh Scarly... how nice to see you again. And this is where we first met! I presume you remember?" She feigned a warm smile at the glaring Scarlet. "Now Scarlet... if you ever want to see your friends again, you will come with me."

Scarlet stared at her, tears streaming through her eyes as she struggled with the words. "Where's... my... daughter... you bitch..."

Chrysalis smiled. "Oh you mean her? She is safe and alive. A bit malnourished, maybe, but I'm sure a little motherly love can fix that." Scarlet snorted angrily at her. "She is with us. If you come with us, you will get to see her..." Chrysalis trailed off in a teasing manner.

Scarlet couldn't take it anymore. She sank to her knees, sobbing into her hooves. Chrysalis approached and put one bug-like wing over her. "There there Scarly... no need to cry... you will see her again soon. Do you agree?" Scarlet said nothing, but continued to cry her eyes out. "Well... I'll take that as a yes." Chrysalis cast the same spell she had cast nearly three years ago, locking Scarlet in a pulsating green shield that slowly numbed her brain. Scarlet felt herself drifting off as the sobs emitted from her throat of seemingly her own accord. She looked up at the dark figure above her as her vision blurred and faded away.