Chapter 1 - The Blizzard
Chapter 1 - The Blizzard
by Kurbz
The wind howled outside. Looking up at the sky from her doorway, Scootaloo could see the weather pegasi setting up the snowstorm. She stood for a moment before going back into her house. After closing the door behind her, Scootaloo set about closing all the shutters and windows against the coming storm. She went through the house, methodically checking that it was secure.
Her bedroom window was closed, locked, and had the shutters closed. Scootaloo poked and prodded it with her hoof to test its strength. It held fast. She moved on to the kitchen, and looked at the window above the sink. It was closed and the shutters were drawn, but upon close inspection she noticed that it was unlocked. She slid the the lock into place as she chided herself for being so careless. The previous year, she had left one window open during a snow storm, and spent the next several hours cleaning snow out of her living room. She sighed to herself and walked into the living room. Looking over the windows, she found them all to be closed and locked.
Her mind finally at rest, she settled in for the night. She lay on the couch in front of the fire. For a while she stared into the fire, entranced by the intricate dancing of its flames as her muscles finally started to relax. Slowly, she stretched out her wings and flexed them as they relaxed. Finally after a few long minutes, she felt the heat of the fire melt her into the couch. She closed her eyes, and entered the state of pure bliss that she always loved, but rarely immersed herself in.
The teapot started whistling, shattering her tranquil state. “Of course,” she grumbled as she pushed herself up. With a quick flap of her wings, Scootaloo dropped off the couch and onto the floor. She gave the fire a long look before turning and going to get her tea. As she entered the kitchen, Scootaloo grabbed a large mug she had set out earlier. The teapot continued to whistle, much to her chagrin. After setting the mug on the counter, she grabbed the teapot handle carefully, so as not to scald herself. Slowly, she started to pour the steaming hot tea into the cup.
When the mug was full, she set the teapot back on the stove and turned the heat down to a slow simmer. She took a moment to breathe in the soothing aroma of the tea, savouring its relaxing effects. Indulging herself, she took a sip and burned her tongue. She recoiled from the tea, but swallowed what she had already drunk. Even as her tongue lost all feeling, she felt the warmth of the tea spread through her body.
As she went to grab the mug again, the wind gusted, slamming a loose shutter against the wall. Scootaloo jumped and spun around, almost spilling her tea in fright. Seeing that it was just a loose shutter, she relaxed. Why am I so jumpy tonight? she asked herself. Sighing, she picked up the tea and took it with her to the living room. She set tea on the endtable and picked up the book she had been reading, The Complete Adventures of Sherclop Holmes. With it in her mouth, Scootaloo crawled onto the couch. She opened the book to where she had left off, and started reading.
Before long, a loud banging startled her. A flap of her wings propelled her into the air and across the room. Unable to stop her momentum, she ran into her bookcase. It teetered for a moment, threatening to spill the books onto the ground, but thankfully it stopped moving without dropping any of the books. That was close, Scootaloo thought, sighing to herself. Turning to face the source of the noise, she saw the same shutter was banging again. Relax, it’s just a loose shutter, she told herself and sighed. I guess I should shut it... this kind of wind could easily break the window. As she went to close the shutter, another gust of wind rocked the house. She unlocked the window and the wind blew it open. The sudden cold wind stung her face as the snow whipped into the house.
Damn weather pegasi. They never know what they’re doing with snow clouds. Of course it got out of hoof and became a blizzard. Scootaloo sighed and forced her anger to subside. Oh well, nothing to do but but ride it out now. It’ll probably last a few days, she thought, sure that she had the supplies to ride it out. It’s amazing we–
“I’m telling you, we aren’t going the right way,” came a voice through the blizzard.
Peering into the gloom, she could barely make out a group of foals wading through the snow.
“I give up. We’re lost,” one of the foals muttered.
Sighing to herself, Scootaloo closed and locked the window. She looked at the door for a second before grabbing a scarf and wrapping it around her neck. It wasn’t much protection against the cold, but at least it was something. Bracing herself against the biting cold, Scootaloo opened the door to find the normally lush prairie was already covered in a dead white sheet. A gust of wind blew the snow past her and into the house; the cold wind chilled her to the bone. Shivering, she stepped out into the snow storm and set off int the direction of the foals.
As she trudged through the snow, she looked back periodically to make sure she could find her way back to her house. It wasn’t long before she spotted the group. The four foals were huddled close together for warmth. The wind gusted again, causing the group to shiver in unison and stopping Scootaloo in her tracks. Gritting her teeth, she pushed through it and closed the remaining distance between her and the foals. She pulled the scarf off and draped it over the group. “Come on, it’s freezing out. You can’t stay out in this, you’ll catch a cold,” Scootaloo said as calmly as possible.
A light blue pegasus looked up at her, confused. “Aunt Scootaloo?”
“Yes Light,” she said softly. “Come on, my house isn’t far off and you all need to get inside before you freeze.” She gently nosed the fillies, making them stand up. Once they were standing, she saw that they were barely able to stay on their hooves. They were shivering so badly that tremors rocked their bodies. The blue filly’s legs wobbled, and gave out as another tremor rocked her. The filly fell face first into the snow, but in an instant Scootaloo was there to help her up. “Come on Light. It’s not far, you can make it.” She turned her attention to the rest of the group, and saw that they were having just as much trouble staying standing.
“Grab onto the scarf like this,” she said before picking up one end of it in her mouth. The snow that had clung to it melted in her mouth, and the ice cold water stung at her burned tongue. She grimaced, but held the scarf firm in her teeth as the fillies picked it up and grasped it. “Now hold on tight,” she said through the scarf before setting off in the direction she had come.
Pulling on the scarf, Scootaloo drug the fillies behind her. She kept her eyes down as she pulled them, focusing only on the tracks she was following. The tracks were fading quickly, both from the snow covering them and the blizzard blinding Scootaloo. Dragging the fillies slowed her progress, and it wasn’t long before she was exhausted. Still, she pressed on, knowing that if she stopped to rest she wouldn’t be able to keep going. Before long, the tracks completely disappeared, leaving Scootaloo without a path to follow. She paused only momentarily before continuing on. I walked in a pretty straight line. It should be just ahead, she reasoned. So she pushed on, dragging the fillies with her as they held onto the scarf. It wasn’t long before her house came into sight.
Seeing her house, Scootaloo gathered up the last of her energy and pushed through the wind and cold. She pulled the four foals behind her as she used her wings to propel them to the front door. Arriving at the door, Scootaloo slowed down and quickly forced the door open. The fillies rushed through the door, spurred on by the promise of warmth, and Scootaloo followed them.
She shut the door and locked it, making sure that it would hold against the winds. Turning, she found that the foals had already made their way to the fire and were huddled around it, letting the heat warm them. Scootaloo grabbed a blanket from the couch and trotted over to the fillies. Carefully, she draped it over them. They briefly looked at her as the blanket covered them, but tuned their attention back to the fire while she sat down across from them, savouring the fire’s warmth herself. Scootaloo looked over the group, but they seemed to had forgotten her in favor of staring at the fire. Finally, one of them spoke up.
“Uh, Miss. Scootaloo?” asked a light purple unicorn filly.
“Yes Silver Quill?” she replied.
Silver Quill blew stray strand of her silver mane out of her face. “Thanks for coming to get us.”
I’m surprised Twilight even let you go out with a storm coming, Scootaloo thought sarcastically. But she stopped herself before she said it aloud and only managed a nod in response. A silence filled the room again, only broken by the occasional sound of the wood burning and cracking. In the silence Scootaloo studied the group. She recognized Applejack’s daughter Golden Delicious, Lightning Strike, the daughter of Rainbow Dash and Soarin, Rarity’s daughter Melody, and Twilight’s daughter Silver Quill. Eventually they started to warm up and relax.
“Miss Scootaloo, thanks fer takin us in and all, but how did you find us?” asked Golden Delicious.
Scootaloo studied her for a moment before answering. Her golden coat and orange mane shimmered in the firelight, almost as if they were shining from the inside. “Your coats stand out against the snow,” she said. Standing up, she asked, “I just made a pot of tea, do you want any?”
They looked at each other for a moment, communicating without speaking. “Yes!” they chimed in perfect unison.
Smiling the herself, Scootaloo wen to the kitchen. Quickly, she poured four cups of tea, leaving the teapot empty. Balancing the cups on her back, she reentered the living room to find the four foals completely covered by the blanket and whispering to each other. As soon as they heard her hoofsteps, they popped out from under the blanket with mischievous grins on their faces.
“Here you go,” Scootaloo said, putting the cups down in front of them.
They thanked her before sipping their tea quietly. It didn’t take long for them to finish warming up. Their shivering stopped and they scooted away from the fire a little.
Scootaloo finally relaxed herself and lay back down on the couch to read. She eased the book open to where she had left off. She let her mind relax as she immersed herself in the book. She forgot the blizzard, the fire, all her worries, and the rest of the world. She focused all her attention on the book. Its world became hers.
“Scootaloo,” Golden Delicious said, breaking Scootaloo’s focus. “How long do you think this storm’ll last?”
Scotaloo paused; she hadn’t though about it since rescuing the group. “Well, the storm will probably blow itself out in a few days. It’ll probably take a few days, at least three. Though it could take longer. Last time a storm got this out of control, it took them almost a week to stop it and longer still to dig out of our houses.”
“But Mom is in town!” Lightning Strike protested indignantly. “She can clear any storm, no matter how big!”
“Heh. Lightning, I’ve known Rainbow a long time, but not even she could stop a blizzard this big.” She smiled warmly to placate the filly. “No, now that it’s going, all we can do is wait it out.” The fillies stared up at her and she stared back at them. After a minute she returned to her reading, assuming they were satisfied with her answer.
Silence filled the room, only broken by the sporadic cracking of the fire as it consumed another log, and the occasional turn of a page. The wind howled outside and buffeted the cottage. The noise sent chills up their spines causing them to scoot back towards the fire for warmth.
Finally Silver Quill broke the silence. “So, what are we going to do until the blizzard ends?”
Scootaloo sighed and closed her book. She stared at the cover as she racked her brain for an answer. Drawing a blank, she replied, “I don’t know. What do you normally do for fun?”
“Most of the time we go outside...” Silver Quill trailed off and looked out the window. “But when I’m stuck inside Mom and me read books and tell stories.”
“That’s an excellent idea. Do you all want to do that?” Scootaloo asked, causing Silver Quill to blush at the compliment.
The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
Scootaloo glanced at her bookshelf. “I think I have some books you might en–”
“Reading is so... boring,” Lighting Strike complained. “You should tell us a story!”
Scootaloo smiled nervously. “Oh, I don’t know any really good stories.”
“Please?” Silver Quill pleaded, giving Scootaloo a look of pity that tugged at her heart.
“Okay,” Scootaloo relented. “Do you know the Tale of Nightmare Moon?”
Lightning Strike snorted in annoyance. “Of course we do, as if our parents would let us forget it.”
“Oh, I guess they would tell those stories a lot,” Scootaloo said, embarrassed by the oversight. She paused for a moment, trying to think of a story they hadn’t heard. “Have you heard Discord’s Return?”
They nodded.
“The Sonic Rainboom?”
Again, they nodded.
Scootaloo paused again. They knew most of her really interesting stories already. “What kind of stories do you like?” she asked.
“Scary stories!” yelled Lightning Strike.
“Love stories,” Melody said softly.
“Historical stories,” said Silver Quill.
“Adventure stories,” said Golden Delicious.
Well, I guess I could tell them that story. She cleared her throat and asked, “How about the Tale of the Two Fillies?”
They all gave her quizzical looks. “I’ve never heard of that story,” Golden Delicious said.
“Me neither,” added Silver Quill. “Is it in the library? I’ve never seen it.”
“Heh. No, it isn’t in the library. So, does that sound good to everypony?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yes,” they chimed in response.
Scootaloo took a minute to collect her thoughts. She knew the story well, though rarely told it. She cleared her throat, and started speaking in a practiced story telling voice. “Many years ago, in a town not unlike Ponyville, lived three young fillies not much older than you all. One was a unicorn. One was a pegasus. And one was an earth pony. They were–”
“Wait, I thought it was the Tale of Two Fillies,” Melody interrupted quietly.
Scootaloo chuckled. “All in good time. Now, the three fillies were the best of friends. It was rare that they were separated, and they did just about everything together. They had many adventures, always together. They went on trips near and far. From the cozyness of their clubhouse, to the edges of Equestria. They faced dangers as small as a bug, and as big as an Ursa Major. This is the story of but one of their adventures, of their greatest adventure. This, this is the Tale of the Two Fillies...”