Branch Management
Branch Management
by Present Perfect
Her back against the wagon wheel, Scootaloo stared into the deep, dark, not-scary-at-all forest and felt it stare back into her. Every flickering shadow suggested a nightmarish creature just waiting for the chance to catch her off guard. Leaves rustled in the wind, sending chills down her spine. But there was no way she was going to let Rainbow Dash down by chickening out in the face of overwhelming, brain-numbing, widdle-on-the-wagon-time terror.
Right?
Just a few paces in front of her sat the perfect pile of firewood. It had bark, it had twigs, it was even made of wood: everything she needed! All she had to do was take a step, and then another...
Only her legs were not moving. Maybe it was the wheel. Her back had stuck to it or something. That would teach her to trust wheels.
Fighting against all odds, she tore herself from the wagon, crouching on the flat, stable, definitely-not-scary-at-all ground and reaching her hoof towards the immense mountain of perfectly placed firewood that loomed welcomingly in the night.
"Heeeeere, branches, branches, branches..."
Sadly, her will alone proved insufficient to summon them to her side. Applejack, near the campfire, complained loudly about the cold. Time was running out. She had to act now, or be forever a chicken.
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. She would act.
"Acting" involved far more prancing, running, and screaming like a little filly than was ultimately cool. However, Scootaloo was not stopped, and she returned to the campsite with her head held high. Depositing her three hard-gotten branches into the fire pit, she let out a sigh, finally able to turn her attentions away from that dark wood once more.
But the wood did not turn its attentions away from her.
Deep in the forest, something stirred. A rustling born not of the wind but of the very trees themselves shivered through the undergrowth. Overhead, the branches whipped themselves into a susurrus that spoke like a thing which had forgotten the concept of speech eons ago. The earth trembled with a single, cracked word, in a voice powerful and low.
Finally...
"Cutie Mark Crusader munitions experts!"
"Cutie Mark Crusader massotherapists!"
"Martial artists!"
"Mimes!"
"Cutie Mark Crusader minefield... Hey, Scoots, you feelin' all right?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned from their list of potential cutie marks beginning with M to look at their friend. Her wings and head drooped. Dark circles rimmed eyes she fought to keep open. The purple of her mane and tail seemed somehow waxen.
"Huh?" Scootaloo shook her head, blinked a few times, and mustered half a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just haven't been..." Her words tapered off into a yawn. "Haven't been sleeping too well since the campout."
Apple Bloom gave Sweetie a knowing look. "Still scared o' the dark, huh?"
"No, it's not that." Scootaloo's head lolled back and forth. "I keep having these weird dreams, and hearing voices, and I feel like something's--" She blinked, then narrowed her eyes, reenergizing. "Hey! I am not scared of the dark!"
Scootaloo stood on her hind legs, flaring her tiny wings as best she could, and pounced on Apple Bloom, tickling her. Laughing, Sweetie Belle joined in, only to find herself quickly outmatched by her friends. The ball of fillies rolled around the clubhouse until it hit a wall, and they collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles.
Apple Bloom was about to rear up for round two when a sound out in the forest stopped her.
"Shh! D'y'all hear that?"
They stayed quiet for a long moment. The sound came again. A long, low baying, distant, but enough to made their hackles stand on end.
"What could it be?" Sweetie whispered.
"Sounds like a timberwolf," Apple Bloom whispered back, nodding. "I heard 'em durin' the last zap apple harvest."
"T-t-t-timberwolf?"
Scootaloo backed into the corner, shivering, feverish eyes darting left and right. Alarmed, Sweetie Belle looked to Apple Bloom, then back to Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo, what's wrong?"
"It's the timberwolves." Even ignoring the shaking, Scootaloo's voice was barely audible. "They're always watching me. A-and the trees," she continued, addressing nopony in particular, "they whisper to me in the night..."
Again, her friends looked helplessly at one another.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here," Apple Bloom began, pausing as Scootaloo gave a terrified yelp and pushed her face into the corner. "Uh, I don't think she's all right, Sweetie. Y'know..." She made a circular motion beside her head, and understanding dawned on Sweetie's face a few moments later.
"Well, what can we do?"
Apple Bloom chewed on her lower lip. "Maybe we should ask my sister."
Seeing Applejack turned into seeing Twilight Sparkle, which coincided with a visit from both Rainbow Dash and Rarity at the library.
"I've never heard of timberwolves acting this way," Twilight said, frowning.
"I certainly don't think Scootaloo is making these stories up," Rarity said. "Just look at the state the poor dear is in!"
"Whatever's goin' on," Applejack said, "it's got 'er jumpier'n a sack fulla rabbits."
Twilight nodded and pressed her nose against the shivering filly. "Scootaloo, I promise, whatever's going on, we'll get to the bottom of it."
Scootaloo mustered a weak smile. "Thanks, Twilight. I just wish I could get some sleep is all..."
Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin. "Well, if the timberwolves are part of what's keeping you from sleeping..." Her face lit up as she inhaled sharply. "That's it! Rainbow Dash!"
"I see what you're sayin', Twilight," Rainbow said. With a grin, she swooped in and gathered Scootaloo up, tossing her into the air. Scootaloo yelped and buzzed her wings.
Twilight smiled. "A sleepover at Rainbow Dash's cloud house! That way you won't have to worry about the timberwolves, Scootaloo."
Scootaloo's eyes bugged open. "Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dash, can I?"
"Course you can, squirt!" Rainbow noogied her. "Anything for my favorite little best-young-flyer-to-be!"
Scootaloo threw her arms around Rainbow Dash's neck, giggling and hugging her tightly.
"And while you're keeping Scootaloo away from the timberwolves," Twilight said, "I'll get to work trying to figure out what's causing all of this weirdness! I'm sure there's a connection between these rather disparate occurrences..."
"I wish we could make it a real sleepover with all of us!" Sweetie Belle cried.
"Yeah," Apple Bloom added, "I wish it wasn't gonna be in a cloud house."
Rainbow thought for a moment. "Hey, Twilight, what about that walk-on-clouds sp--mmf!"
Her words were cut short by Rarity's hoof.
"I don't think we want to risk our rambunctious little sisters falling out of your house, Rainbow Dash," she murmured. Smiling at Sweetie and Apple Bloom, she added more loudly, "I know you're disappointed, but this arrangement is hardly meant for fun, dears."
"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed. "I'm not exactly..." She yawned. "In top fun-having shape." As if to punctuate her words, she plopped her head down on Rainbow's withers and began snoring.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom exchanged looks, disappointment clear on their faces.
"We understand," they mumbled in unison.
"Now don't you worry none," Applejack said softly, putting an arm around each of them. "How 'bout we have a nice big sleepover in the barn after all this hullabaloo is over?"
"Sounds good to me!" Apple Bloom said, smiling.
"Me too!" said Sweetie Belle.
"Great!" said Rainbow Dash, having extricated her mouth from Rarity's hoof. "Then I'll just get little miss sleepyhead here up to bed, and we'll get to the bottom of this."
Scootaloo didn't stir until the flight up to Rainbow's house had ended.
"Aww man!" she groused, rolling off Rainbow Dash's back onto the cloud floor. "I totally just missed you flying me up here, didn't I?"
Rainbow chuckled. "Don't worry, squirt. You'll get to see me fly you back down in the morning!"
As Rainbow Dash opened her door, Scootaloo started stomping about in the clouds, her face breaking into a tired grin. Cloud-walking wasn't something she had too much experience with, and Rainbow couldn't help smiling at how much she seemed to be amused by getting a chance to play in them. She even rolled up a little cloud ball and lay on her back, giggling as she tossed it up and down.
"C'mon in, kiddo," Rainbow said after a while. "I'll give ya the ten-bit tour."
Her house consisted of living room and kitchen, plus an upstairs aerie for the bedroom, not that Scootaloo seemed to care at the lack of accommodations. She stared wide-eyed through her sleeplessness at the numerous flying trophies and Wonderbolts mementos that Rainbow had accumulated.
"Oh my gosh, this is better than I imagined!" Scootaloo cried, jumping and buzzing her wings for as long as she could. "Your house is so awesome, Rainbow Dash!"
"Eh, it's nothin', really," Rainbow said, polishing a hoof on her chest. "Wait'll you see my bedroom though! Hop on!"
Scootaloo did as bidden, buzzing her wings as fast as she could in her sleep-deprived state as she rode Rainbow up to the loft. Here, the Wonderbolts paraphernalia quadrupled in number as well as gaudiness. Posters lined the cloud walls; dolls and comic books lay on bookshelves or scattered over the floor. Everything was bright colors and sharp angles, and Scootaloo took it all in with wide eyes.
And a yawn.
"Heh," Rainbow Dash chuckled as she alighted next to the bed. "Guess you're not gonna be up for tellin' stories or anything, huh?"
"No way, Rainbow Dash! I can totally... stay..." Scootaloo was interrupted by another lengthy yawn, which Rainbow mirrored. "Okay. Maybe you're right."
Rainbow smiled. "You get the bed, squirt. I'll be downstairs on the couch if you need anything, okay?"
Scootaloo looked like she was going to protest, but yawned once more. Hopping off Rainbow's shoulders, she bounced once on the bed and curled up.
With a chuckle, Rainbow flew back down, swiping a Daring Do book on the way. She alighted on the couch, prone, and was just about to crack into the adventure when a tiny voice echoed from upstairs.
"R-Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow turned an ear upward. "Yeah, Scoot? What is it?"
A tiny orange face peeked over the edge of the bedroom floor.
"C-could you come and sleep... Up here? Please?" Scootaloo blushed, her voice small. "I'd feel a lot safer."
Rainbow glanced at her book. Laying it face down on the couch, she smiled. "Sure, kid."
Scootaloo hopped back up on the bed, curling up as Rainbow Dash fluttered next to her. Lying down, Rainbow extended her wing over the filly, who was already fast asleep.
It was the same forest she'd dreamed about during the campout, only more open and more sinister than before. Though she recognized the setting from the past few nights, knowing this was a dream didn't make Scootaloo any less scared. If anything, she felt trapped, helpless in her own mind.
All around, dark trees loomed upward. Faces carved into the bark grinned at her, their teeth wickedly sharp. There were no sounds of birds or other wildlife that might lend a sense of friendship. It was only her and the myriad branches that danced overhead.
Gulping, Scootaloo started down the path. It was all she was ever able to do in these dreams. The ground swayed under her, sending her skittering to the side. Looking up, she could see a crescent moon shining through the orange haze of the strange, twilight sky.
Join us...
"H-hello?"
Come to us...
"Who are you?" Scootaloo's pace picked up to a canter.
We can help you...
"Tell me who you are!"
We have waited so long...
She began to run. "Seriously, I'm warning you! You don't wanna mess with me, I... I've got Rainbow Dash here to protect me!"
She looked up, seeing a blue blur above. But the sight was quickly shrouded by tree limbs.
"R... Rainbow Dash...?" Her throat went dry.
Please, let us help...
"I d-don't want your help!" She slowed to a crawl as the trees ahead of her thickened.
We can help... Your friends...
Like a glass struck by an axe, her fear shattered. Her brow furrowed and her stance widened. "You leave my friends alone!"
Something hard and wooden snaked against her flank, and she screeched, leaping into the air. The branch curled around her right hind leg, lifting her.
Your friends wanted to come...
The touch of cold, hard wood drained her courage like ice to a flame. Tears streamed down Scootaloo's face as she was lifted higher and higher. "Leave me alone!"
"ENOUGH OF THIS!"
Lighting crackled across the sky and the moon's light waxed to full intensity. A dark figure emerged from the shadows where Scootaloo had been, and it took her a second to recognize it.
"Princess Luna!" Scootaloo sniffed, wiping away a tear, and smiled.
We can help her...
"Entity, I know not what thou art," Princess Luna said, her face shadowed with anger, "but I command thee, in the name of Equestria and the Moon, to release the child at once!"
There was a hiss, and the branch released its grip on Scootaloo. She was able to muster enough willpower to spread her wings and glide towards Luna, avoiding landing on her head. The Princess never took her eyes off the trees.
"Stay behind me, Scootaloo," she murmured. Then, raising her voice again, she addressed the trees. "What is it you want with this one?"
She is ours...
She has appeared to us at long last...
We can help her... Her friends wanted to come...
Let us show you...
The moon turned into a portal, and a wind swept leaves and loose litter into it. The force drew Luna's mane out in front of her, and she backpedaled as she began to slide forward, her hooves digging furrows in the earth. In the same instant, the ground began shaking, first a deep vibration, and then a roar that rattled them to the bone.
The wind tore Luna's shout away, and she was pulled away from Scootaloo, who remained unaffected by the vortex. The ground split open between them as they parted, giant wooden stakes shooting up from the crevasse.
"Princess Luna!"
Scootaloo tried to reach through the spars, but Luna was already skybound.
"Awaken, Scootaloo!" she cried. "This happens not in the world of dreams, but in the lake of the waking!"
"Princess Luna!"
Now you will see...
Scootaloo awoke to a rushing noise louder than any sound had a right to be, and the sensation of being jabbed hundreds of times over. Rainbow Dash had somehow flipped over beside her, and was buried beneath a mountain of sticks and twigs.
"What the hay?" Dash sputtered, kicking the branches off of herself. "What's going on?" She righted herself, shaking numerous tiny twigs from her feathers and coat. Her eyes bugged open as she looked around her bedroom.
"Why is my house full of sticks?"
"An eyewitness said she saw thousands upon thousands of sticks and branches floating out of the Everfree Forest and Whitetail Woods onto your house last night," Twilight said, shaking her head. "I don't understand what's going on. I've never seen anything like this before. It shouldn't be possible to bring down a cloud house like this!"
Rainbow Dash's cloud house sat in and around the fountain in Ponyville's town square. Heaped on it was the aforementioned multitude of branches and limbs, not to mention the numerous bird and squirrel nests that had originally been in those limbs. Fluttershy was running interference with a dozen bird and squirrel families, not to mention one very irate hive of wasps, that had suddenly found themselves homeless. While Twilight racked her brain for answers to the situation, Rainbow Dash sat to the side, head down and wings drooping. Scootaloo was trying unsuccessfully to cheer her up as Applejack, Rarity and their sisters joined them.
"My house..." Dash moaned. "My stuff!"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said, eyes teary as she stroked Rainbow Dash's wing. "We can totally make you another house though, right? And you can sleep in our clubhouse until your house is back up in the sky, I promise!"
Somehow, this was not enough to lift Rainbow Dash's spirits.
"Oh my word!" Rarity cried upon seeing the devastation. "Rainbow, your lovely cloud house! How could such a thing happen?"
"I don't knoooow!" Rainbow wailed, flopping onto her side, water fountaining from her eyes. Scootaloo hesitated, cringed, and backed away until she bumped into Apple Bloom.
"What happened, Scoot?" the filly asked.
"I dunno," Scootaloo said quietly. "Last night, I was having the same dream I always do, only this time Princess Luna was there. And she was yelling at the trees. Then she told me to wake up, and the next thing I knew, Rainbow Dash's house was falling out of the sky!"
"This probably isn't the best time to check for a cutie mark," Sweetie Belle said, "but I feel the need to ask."
"What?" Scootaloo scoffed. "For surviving falling out of a cloud house?" She nevertheless lifted her rump and checked it, finding only the familiar orange hairs.
"I dunno," Apple Bloom said, head cocked to one side. "I think a survival cutie mark would be pretty neat."
"Twilight! Twilight!"
Spike's huffing and puffing rose above the tumult of the village square. He beelined for Twilight and her friends, dodging by a team of pegasi dispatched to help clean up the house. In his fist was clutched a rolled scroll, its seal broken.
"Letter from the Princess!" he panted. Upon reaching Twilight, he dropped to his knees, holding up the scroll and gasping for breath. "You... should read it... right now..."
Twilight took the scroll from him and unfurled it, reading aloud.
My Dearest Twilight,
I am writing to you at the behest of my sister, who was found this morning in a panicked state by her guards, and had been screaming in the night. She would speak to nopony but me, and what she told me is disturbing, to say the least.
Luna says she visited young Scootaloo in a dream last night.
"She did!" Scootaloo shouted, her excitement quickly waning as all eyes turned on her.
According to her, there is an unknown entity inhabiting Scootaloo's mind, one so powerful, it was able to drive her from the dreamscape.
Twilight gasped. "That shouldn't be possible! Luna's the Princess of Dreams... Nothing should be able to overpower her in the dream world!" She swallowed and blinked a few times before continuing.
What this entity is, Luna could not be certain. She only said that it took the form of a forest and expressed a desire to help Scootaloo and her friends.
"A forest?" Applejack said, scratching under her hat. "Y'think that might have anythin' to do with Rainbow's house?"
They looked up at the pegasus crew dislodging a particularly thick cluster of branches from the top of the pile. As the various sticks rolled down the pile, bits of cloud wafted up from the open hole, including one topped with a refrigerator, and another strewn with books and magazines. Rainbow Dash, now clinging to all four of Rarity's legs, began to bawl anew.
"I dunno," Twilight said, raising an eyebrow at Applejack, "ya think?"
Turning back to the letter, Twilight scanned the last few lines. "Princess Celestia ends by saying that she doesn't know what this entity could be either, but that we have her and Luna's full cooperation in getting to the bottom of this." She looked up, frowning. "That's all there is."
She sighed and turned to Scootaloo, who was busy digging a hole in the ground with one forehoof. "Something tells me this dream and this entity are linked to your timberwolf problems, Scootaloo. Which, I should add, I looked into last night, and I couldn't find anything about timberwolves stalking ponies but not attacking them."
"Great," Scootaloo huffed. "So now I've got some powerful evil thing stuck in my head, and it wrecked Rainbow Dash's awesome house. Fun."
"Look on the bright side," Sweetie Belle said, smiling timidly. "Maybe you'll get a cutie mark for containing an ancient evil!"
Scootaloo glared at her friend. Behind them, another bundle of sticks dislodged, and Rainbow Dash's toilet floated up into the sky.
"Hey Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said quietly as they followed their sisters back toward the library, "what're those dreams you been havin' like?"
Scootaloo gave her a sidelong glance and swallowed, ducking her head. "Kinda scary. I'd rather not talk about it."
"Hey," Sweetie said, stepping beside Scootaloo and nudging her, "don't worry. Your best friends in the whole wide world are here to protect you from anything too scary!"
Scootaloo smiled, but it was short-lived. "After last night, I'm not sure anypony can protect me now..." She sighed. "Anyway, the last dream was just... creepy and weird and the trees were talking and stuff. Y'know... the usual."
"What'd they say?" Apple Bloom prodded.
"They... They said they wanted to help me." Scootaloo frowned, thinking. "I got really mad at them because they started talking about you guys, and, like, saying they wanted to help you."
"That doesn't seem so bad," Sweetie Belle said, looking to Apple Bloom. "I mean, wanting to help isn't scary, right?"
"It's just the way they said it." Scootaloo ruffled her wings. "I dunno, dreams are dumb."
"I wonder..." Apple Bloom was looking pointedly at the ground. "Sweetie Belle, you remember how you an' me were sayin' we wanted to go on the sleepover with Scoot and Rainbow Dash?"
Sweetie gave her a blank look. "Uh. Yeah, I guess?"
Apple Bloom drew a line with her gaze, from Scootaloo back to the ruins atop the Ponyville fountain, and then to the woods.
"What if them voices in Scootaloo's dream, the ones comin' from the trees, the ones that wanted to help us..." She swallowed. "What if they did that?"
Scootaloo stopped in her tracks. "Th..." She gulped loudly. "The last thing they said before the dream ended was, 'Now you'll see.'"
Sweetie frowned. "How could scary dream voices throw a bunch of sticks?"
"I dunno." Apple Bloom shook her head. "But I do know that Twilight don't know neither. And that means we gotta get to the bottom o' things ourselves."
"How are we gonna do that?" Scootaloo asked, hesitating.
A dark grin formed on Apple Bloom's face. "By takin' you to the Everfree Forest!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances.
"This is so not a good idea," Scootaloo said softly.
Twilight came up for air, dislodging practically every book previously shelved under E, now in a pile atop her.
"I knew it, Spike!" She held up a book with green binding. "All this time, I'd been focusing on the timberwolves, but they aren't the problem. It's the trees!"
Spike started awake, shifting the pile of books he'd been napping on and sliding to the ground. "The trees?"
"Didja find somethin', Twi?" Applejack looked up from her own book, eyes bleary.
"I did!" Twilight's eyes shimmered as she brought the book forward so they could all see it. "An Earth Pony's Guide to Magic."
Rarity frowned. "Twilight, I hardly feel it necessary to remind you that earth ponies cannot actually practice magic."
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, Twilight. What pony in their right mind would write a book like that?"
"That's just the thing," Twilight said, opening the book. Its pages crackled against one another, yellowed but otherwise pristine. "Everypony has magic; it's just unicorns who are most obvious about it." She gave Rainbow Dash a pointed look. "How do you think pegasi are able to walk on clouds and make weather? Let alone fly."
Rainbow Dash scratched her arm, looking pensive. Twilight turned to Applejack.
"AJ, you talk to your trees, right?"
Applejack's face flushed slightly as all eyes turned to her. "Uhh, sometimes. I guess. Maybe." She paused. "It... can get downright lonely in the fields, sometimes."
"And have you ever noticed a difference between the trees you talk to and the ones you don't?"
"W-well..." Scratching at the back of her neck, Applejack took a moment to think. "I guess Bloomberg did get awful big awful fast, and I used to talk to him all the time, on account of he was my favorite and all." She removed her hat and sniffed, looking at the floor. "I sure do miss havin' him around. We had such good conversations..." She closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her nose.
Twilight gave her a flat look.
"So assuming that earth ponies really do have magic," Rarity said, "what has that got to do with what Scootaloo is experiencing?"
"Well..." Twilight pulled a wry face. "I'm not entirely sure of all the specifics yet, but..." She held the book up, stopped on a page with a woodcut illustration of a pony standing before a forest. "I've been trying to keep an open mind through all of this, since standard explanations are failing. When I found this entry on virgamancy, I just couldn't get it out of my head that somehow this explains what's happening to her."
"Virgo-whatnow?" Applejack asked.
Twilight turned the book around to show the others.
"Branch control," she said, pacing against the wall. "The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Voices from trees in her dreams... Being hounded by timberwolves... And especially what happened to Rainbow Dash's house..."
Rainbow's eyes teared up at the mention of her house, and soon she was on the floor, soaking Twilight's carpet with twin fountains of tears. Applejack knelt beside her, patting her gently on the back.
"It shouldn't be possible," Twilight said with a sigh, "but Scootaloo seems to have developed, or inherited, or... I don't know! She's able to control branches. It's a rare enough talent for an earth pony, but for a pegasus, it's completely unheard of."
"If that is the case, Twilight," Rarity said, "then what are we to do about it?"
Twilight paused, frowning, as Rainbow slowly brought her emotions under control.
"I actually haven't thought that far ahead yet. I guess we should just let Scootaloo know what's going on and... help her figure out how to use this power for good and not evil?" Twilight shrugged.
"Uh, Twilight, speakin' of Scootaloo..." Applejack stood, pointedly looking around the room. "Anypony seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders since Rain--" A glance at Rainbow Dash's watering eyes cut her short. "Since this morning?"
"Oh dear," Rarity said, eyes widening. "I have not!"
Twilight frowned. "Something tells me this is not a good turn of events."
"Whose bright idea was it," Scootaloo panted as she ran headlong through the Everfree Forest, "to come out here... And have me commune with the freaking trees?"
"For the fifth time, Scoot, I'm sorry!" Apple Bloom howled, looking back to check on their pursuers. Behind them, Sweetie Belle was shrieking at the top of her lungs, trying desperately to keep pace with her slightly more athletically-inclined companions.
"I don't even know if we're going out or deeper in!" Scootaloo frantically searched along the path, such as it was, but everywhere around was nothing but close, dark trees. She looked back for a moment, which was when Sweetie Belle stumbled over a branch and faceplanted.
"No!" Scootaloo skidded to a halt, Apple Bloom stopping a few paces ahead of her and turning around.
In that moment, one of the timberwolves pounced on Sweetie. Its jaws parted, sharp teeth dripping sap as Sweetie tried desperately to kick her way free of its grip. Its foul breath set her choking and gasping.
"Sweetie, we're comin'!" Apple Bloom was cut off from her rescue attempt as another timberwolf pounced on her from behind. She cried out as forest floor detritus ground against her face.
Scootaloo began to quake as she saw the telltale glint of a third timberwolf's eyes, stalking about the perimeter of the clearing. Her glance darted between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and sweat beaded on her brow.
"What do I do, what do I do?" Her teeth began to clatter. "I can't save both of you at the same time!"
Look at this one...
Scootaloo froze. "Wh...What?"
The timberwolf that had tackled Sweetie Belle was staring right at her. Not only did it appear to be grinning, but the voice seemed to emanate from it.
So tender... The timberwolf leaned down, licking Sweetie's mane. Fat and juicy...
"Leave her alone!"
Or what?
The new voice came from behind Scootaloo, and she turned, heart pounding as she realized the third timberwolf had snuck up on her.
"Or I'll... I'll..."
Scootaloo looked desperately at Apple Bloom, screaming as she rolled to avoid the nearly playful biting of the timberwolf that held her in its grasp. Scootaloo looked up to the trees, and a new voice sounded in her mind.
Help them... You are the one we have waited for all these centuries... You have the power...
"I don't have any power!" Tears rimmed Scootaloo's eyes.
Don't listen to them, the timberwolf said. You are nothing but a meal...
Heed us! You are the Branch Lord! Command us! We live to serve you!
Sweetie Belle's neck was mere breadths away from the timberwolf's teeth. Apple Bloom's forehead was scratched and red. Scootaloo shut her eyes, cringing.
Fulfill your destiny!
"Leave them alone!"
There was a powerful humming sound that filled the forest and echoed off the trees. The timberwolves, snarling and gnashing their teeth, were blown back by an invisible force. Scootaloo cracked her eyes open to watch as they slunk off, one by one, into the dark forest. Both her friends were shaken, but unharmed.
"Scootaloo, what'd you do?" Apple Bloom asked, righting herself. "There was like a... a big flash! I felt it in my teeth!"
"I felt it in my horn!" Sweetie Belle winced. "I think I have a headache now..."
She is the Branch Lord...
With a shout of fearful surprise, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clung to one another.
"Them trees is talkin'!"
Scootaloo gave her friends a confused look. "You can hear them?"
Hear us, Scootaloo. Your time is nigh. You have awakened the power within you, as we have waited so long for a pony to do.
"Uhhh..." Scootaloo looked around. "You're gonna have to be a little more specific."
You are the Branch Lord! There was a whoosh of wind through the treetops. You alone can command us, the branches of the forest.
"What? What the heck does that even mean?"
Long have we slept, awaiting the day when one such as yourself would rise to command us. The timberwolves are but petulant children. They do not heed the Branch Lord's call, but must bend to their power regardless. We are here now, your servants, and we shall protect you.
"Um." Scootaloo sat heavily onto the ground. "Okay. So you're saying I can control branches. Like, with my mind or something?"
Yes!
She glanced over to see her friends still shaking, gazing at the trees fearfully. "Does this sound crazy to either of you?"
"Bonkers."
"Totally!"
Scootaloo sighed. "All right, then. If you have to do what I say, then can you get us a way out of here?"
With pleasure...
To their left, as though it had always been there, was a clear path where none had been before. Bright light shone from the far end, and they could just make out voices.
"Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!"
"It's my big sister!" Sweetie Belle broke her embrace with Apple Bloom and tore headlong off down the path. Apple Bloom followed hot on her heels. Scootaloo turned to leave, but a branch leaned down and snagged on her wing.
"Over here, girls, I found a path!"
Do not abandon us. There is so much we can teach you...
"Uh..." She looked towards her friends, who were quickly closing the gap to their sisters.
"No offense, but I've got a lot to think about." The trees rustled irritably. "B-but I'll come back eventually! I... I promise."
The branch let go of her, and the rustling stopped.
Do not forget us...
"...And so we all came out here to see if Scootaloo could talk to trees!"
"And she can! It's so cool! They said she was the Branch Lord!"
"Oh, but first there were these timberwolves, and they almost ate us!"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were alternating between hopping in a circle and miming the story they were telling as Scootaloo trotted out of the forest to join them. Their sisters and the other older ponies were there as well.
"But Scootaloo stood up and said, 'I am the Branch Lord, you'll do as I say, mongrels!'"
"And there was a huuuuge blast of light and she turned those timberwolves to straw!"
All eyes turned to Scootaloo, who shrank back, cheeks flushing. "That's... not exactly how it happened..."
"Branch Lord, huh?" Twilight Sparkle said, stepping forward. She gave her friends a knowing look. "Virgamancy, I told you!"
"Virgo-whatnow?" Scootaloo sat down, looking thoroughly lost.
Sweetie bounced over and wrapped her in a hug. "We're totally best friends with an awesome sorceress!"
"And she ain't even a unicorn!" Apple Bloom did likewise.
"C'mon, quit with the mushy stuff!" Scootalooo stuck her tongue out but was unable to dislodge her friends. "Who wants to be a Branch Lord anyway? I mean, it sounds so dumb! Branch Lord, whoever heard of that?"
"Well," Twilight said, "it sounds like if not for whatever powers being the Branch Lord gives you, your friends wouldn't be here right now."
"Yes!" Rarity said, stepping forward. "Scootaloo, you saved my little sister and Apple Bloom. You're a hero!"
"I am?" Scootaloo's ears flattened. "I sure don't feel like one."
"Give it time, squirt," Rainbow Dash, grinning. "I've done the hero thing too. Takes a little getting used to, trust me." She winked.
Twilight knelt beside her, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom making way.
"Scootaloo, whatever's happened to you, understand that you've been granted a very powerful and special gift. I think you and I are going to have a lot to talk about in the future."
"You think so?"
Twilight smiled. "I know so."
"Let's get these kids home, y'all," Applejack said, and turned to lead them out of the forest.
Scootaloo lingered as they all meandered off, looking back at the forest.
"My destiny... is branches?"
She frowned, looking at the grass, then stood. With one more look to the forest, she smiled.
"I guess it could be worse. Thanks for helping me help my friends."
The wind blew from the forest, and she thought she could hear You're welcome on it.
She turned to join her friends, then paused. "And stay out of my dreams, okay? You're freaking me out, and it's hard to sleep."
Sorry...
As Scootaloo rejoined her friends, Sweetie Belle gasped and turned to her excitedly.
"Scootaloo, you just fulfilled your destiny!"
"Yeah, so?"
Apple Bloom caught the excitement. "So I bet you just got your cutie mark!"
Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I've been so distracted, I totally didn't even think to check!"
She craned her head back, stopping momentarily, eyes lit with the wonder and excitement of new discovery. She lifted her wing so that she could get a clear view of her rump.
There, upon her flank, was the same orange coat she was so used to seeing. Nothing more.
"Oh, what's it gonna take already?"