Cutie Mark

All Applebloom could feel when she slowly came to was the throbbing pain in her head and the way her main would stick to the side of her face- as if it was soaked and dried with some kind of sticky liquid. Mumbling something under her breath she tried to pull herself together, trying to remember and more importantly figure out where she was exactly... it was so dark now but she was resting against what felt like a tree...

"Are you awake Applebloom?" came the quiet voice from in front of her. She tries to focus her eyes, but it must have been night now. And the fact was confirmed by the increasingly familiar voice. "You were asleep for a long time. You almost scared me."

"Scootaloo?" She tries to get up but she found herself tied down with... rope? Rope? Panic flashed through her mind, clearing her muddled thoughts. "W-What's going on, why the hay am I tied up?!" She snapped at her ex-friend angrily, baring her teeth. "Have you gone crazy?!"

She reeled back in shock, hearing Scootaloo laugh gently. It wasn't crazed or malicious- just filled with a strange sense of hopelessness. "I-I don't know Applebloom! I don't know what I'm doing!" she said sadly, rubbing her eye with her hoof. She was crying- been crying and it was enough for Applebloom to quiet down herself in pitiful confusion. "I was so angry at you, so I hit you with a hammer- I wasn't thinking I swear! I would have brought you back home too but... I would of been in trouble... and couldn't just leave you Applebloom, not like that! I thought you were dead!"

There was a tone of raw desperation in her voice as if she was begging for forgiveness. Her voice cracked at odd places and rubbed harder and harder at her face, practically sobbing.

"...Scootaloo..." She said her name softly, carefully as if one wrong move would shatter the flightless blank flank completely. "It's gonna be okay. I'm fine see? Untie me an-"

"And what?!" The tone changed on the dime, and though the darkness she could see the fierce hatred in those eyes. Her wings unfolded to their full, pathetic wingspan as she loomed over the bound earth pony. "And WHAT?!"

And for once in this entire fiasco, Applebloom felt afraid of her old friend.

"A-And....and...we c-can go home...and.." She stammered out fearfully, wrongfully, and those words were met with a fierce kick in the gut. She was sure she heard something snap, but couldn't so much as double over to relieve even a single iota of pain. Something red dribbled out of her mouth, something with the disgusting taste of copper.

"Home?" Scootaloo wheezed out, as if she was trying to laugh at the absurdity of the word. "Y-You mean your home don't you? With your sister and your brother, and all your apple trees your precious apple stand?! I have no one Applebloom! No one will even hire me- who would? Who would hire some talentless blank flank? You know where I live? Where I been living? The clubhouse Applebloom!" Her voice screeched louder with every word as she paced back and forth, shaking her head as if trying to wake up from some nightmare.

"You would never know that w-would you? You never even walk by it anymore, so how can you Applebloom? You never cared about me, never!" She stopped short and narrowed her eyes dangerously at the ground. "If Sweetie Bell never got her mark after you, I'm sure you would have stopped caring about her too. No, I'm positive."

"T-That's not true!" Applebloom choked out pleadingly. "P-Please, I didn't know!"

"You didn't care!" Scootaloo corrected with venom.

"No! NO! I CARE! I CARE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, pushed past the pain of her aching chest to make as much noise as possible. Maybe, maybe someone can hear them, someone can put a stop to this madness. She sobbed loudly between breaths, absolutely terrified.

She practically chokes on her own breath though when Scootaloo was suddenly in her face, gently caressing either side of her face with her own dirty hoofs. "Shhh, shhh, shshshhh..." she hissed quietly, now smiling, seemingly calm despite her eyes red and puffy from her own tears. "Don't be stupid, don't you know where we are?"

Shaking feverishly now, Applebloom managed to shake her head 'no'.

"The Everfree Forest silly!" she giggles quietly. Her mind was slipping, if it hadn't completely been lost already. "And its timber wolf season... oh Applebloom, you know it's timber wolf season, don't you?"

Her eyes widened in realization- yes, yes of course she knew! But she didn't realize she was in the Everfree- she hopped that perhaps she was dragged into the deeper part of her apple orchard or maybe even the park. She didn't expect for a second that Scootaloo would be so stupid to pull a stunt this dangerous.

Sweet Celestia... and they've already made so much noise already, it was a wonder that they weren't detected yet...

When Scootaloo felt she was 'behaving' well enough she released her face, rubbing off her hoof against her side as if it was a filthy thing to do, touching Applebloom. "Let's... let's play a game. You look so sad Applebloom. This will cheer you up for sure."

"A...a game?" Applebloom sputtered out in disbelief.

"Yeah. The 'Quiet Game'. But with a twist- you have to be quiet, or else the timber wolves will come and gobble you up for sure." She smiles sadly, looking at Applebloom with glazed over eyes. "Just like old times, but... not really..."

Applebloom flinches, hearing a howl in the distance. "P-Please let me go... please..."

"I have almost nothing left. Letting you go... I will be punished for sure. I'll be locked away Applebloom. That's not fair." She kicks over some dirt and leaves, revealing something that was very familiar. A hammer, still dotted with blood from the strike against Appleblooms' head.

"Don't... don't do this Scootaloo.. please, don't... She struggles against her binds but to no avail.

"I'm sorry Applebloom..." She settles down to the other pony's side. "...I should have taken something sharper instead." She takes the hammer into her mouth carefully, as if this was to be some sort of delicate procedure.

It didn't take long for her to figure out what Scootaloo meant by that, because in seconds she felt the claw of the hammer digging into her flank. She cries out and tries to squirm away, but it was no use. The claw dug and dug at her skin until it broke through the flesh. Unable to take it, she screams out in pain, "A-AAHH-"

'A-OOoooooooooooOooooo!'

The howls sounded ever closer. They shouldn't be here. She'd be killed for sure! She bit down on her lip, whimpering as she felt the jagged metal dig into her skin, peeling it back like she was some sort of fruit. "Stop it! Stop!" Applebloom blubbered. "It hurts! We need to get o-out of here!"

Scootaloo drops the hammer. "I know," she responded coldly. "That's why we're here."