Scootapocalypse

Chapter Two

Scootaloo shook the blanket off of her. The sun was high in the sky. It must be about midday. How long had she slept?

She slung the blanket back round her neck, and rummaged in her bag. She ate half a carrot, and had one lick of jam. If she kept rationing like that, her food would last for ages. She’d find more by the time she ran out. She stretched out her legs, yawning quietly to herself. It was warm. She stood up slowly. It was quiet, asides from the chirps of a few flitting birds.

She surveyed her surroundings. It was much easier to see in daylight. There was a pond nearby. She trotted over and dumped her bags at the edge. Even if this wasn’t the proper recipe to remove smooze, it’d still be nice to have a bath. She dipped a hoof in. It was warm and inviting, and she stepped in, letting the water come up to her chin. She sat in the water for a while, pondering what to do next. Rations, then perhaps she’d read up a bit on smooze. She’d only really scanned the book before, and there was a couple of pages of information.

She clambered out of the water, and shook the droplets out of her fur. Sitting down at the pond’s edge, she took the book out of her saddlebag and flicked through the smooze page. There was a large chunk of information on one page.

Smooze is a variety of ochre jelly. It forms a large wave, which will engulf as much land as possible before drying into a sticky coating. Once it is sticky, it will remain in this state for up to twenty weeks before it will dry up naturally. However, anything underneath with have been eroded by the smooze. If you come into contact with smooze, it is recommended to remove it as soon as possible, as it is an extreme depressant, and will cause the victim to behave irrationally.

Scootaloo flicked to the bath recipe after reading that.

“Let’s see... Four Poison Joke stems, a tuft of cloud, and two carrot tops. Blend all the ingredients together and pour into water.”

Poison Joke only grew in the Everfree Forest. On the other side of Ponyville. She sighed, packed up her things, and slung her bags onto her shoulders. If she ran, she could probably get back here in a few hours. She noticed a few patches of smooze where there was fur sticking out. She shuddered, and kept going.

The Everfree was quiet. In the day, it was actually rather safe. It was night-time when it was best avoided. She took a deep breath in, and walked into the forest. The foliage brushed against her, and droplets of smooze came off of them, landing at her feet. Her hooves were covered in the stuff. It wasn’t long before she found the Poison Joke. Scootaloo was careful to touch it only as much as she had to. She knew what it could do, and she didn’t want to end up having to come back to the Everfree to get ingredients to fix Poison Joke.

She picked up a stick to up-root the plants. She shoved it into the earth with some force to get through the layer of smooze. Four stems. This wouldn’t take long. She uprooted the flowers, and grabbed them in her teeth, shoving them into her bags as quickly as she could. Hopefully the limited contact would leave her un-affected.

It was almost sun-down when she got back to the pond. She slumped down by the water, and slung her bags down. Relief rushed over Scootaloo’s back. She tipped out her ingredients. Now she just needed the cloud. The few clouds that were dotted around the sky seemed pretty low. She might be able to jump up and reach one. If she couldn’t she could always use her blanket to lasso one. A gentle breeze started to float a cloud her way. Scootaloo crouched down low, ready to pounce on it. Just a few...More...Seconds... She sprang up, and clipped the cloud with her hoof. A tuft came down with her, as she fell back to the ground with a thud. She shook the dust out of her mane.

She rummaged through her bag, and found her water bottle. She glugged down half the bottle. She hadn’t drunk in a while. She’d never really drunk much; it was a habit of hers. She scrubbed at her mouth with a hoof, wiping away a few trickles of water. She paused for a moment, before tipping the rest of the water into the pond. Hopefully she could collect some more soon.

She grabbed the carrots too, and gnawed the tops off. She shoved them into the bottle, and the cloud followed. She picked the Poison Joke out of her bag and put those in too. The cloud fizzled away and dissolved the rest of the ingredients with it. It left a pale brown liquid. She tipped some into the pond. The water bubbled slightly, and tinged brown like the mixture. She put the cap back onto her bottle. Now she had some spare in case she got smoozed again. She slipped under the water. The smooze melted away into nothing, and Scootaloo finally felt clean. She got out after a few minutes, since it was starting to get dark. She settled down under her blanket for the night. An early start was in order.

“Hey...”

A voice...

A scrawny unicorn mare was staring Scootaloo straight in the eyes.

“Hey!” The mare growled, kicking Scootaloo in the stomach. She winced, and got to her feet.

“What’s in the bag?” She snarled. Scootaloo didn't speak. The unicorn snatched it up with her magical aura, and tipped out the contents. Scootaloo took a step forward to re-claim her things, but the mare turned with lightning fast speed, and Scootaloo snapped back into place. The unicorn started levitating the things back into the bag.

“What’re you doing?” Scootaloo asked, quietly.

“Getting supplies.” She replied, levitating the bags onto the back. She started to walk off.

“No!” Scootaloo yelled, galloping after her and snatching the bags back.

The unicorn kicked out and struck Scootaloo’s front legs. She stumbled, but kept hold of the bags. She flung them aside. The unicorn leapt for them again, and Scootaloo kicked back. She struck the unicorn’s head, and she fell back, her nose bleeding. Scootaloo froze up, the realisation of what she’d done washing over her. The unicorn’s face filled with rage, and she bolted towards Scootaloo, flooring her. Scootaloo squirmed to get free, but the mare was strong. She sunk her teeth into Scootaloo’s ear, and Scootaloo screamed, trying to pull free. She felt her ear getting damp, but she wasn’t sure if it was from blood or saliva. She jerked her head away, and her ear burned with pain. She winced and staggered away slightly. The unicorn growled, and took the bags again. She flicked through their contents again, and found the framed picture.

She sniggered. “Who’s this loser?” She grinned, staring at it. Scootaloo glared with a look of utter contempt. The unicorn lifted it up high into the air, and brought it down to the ground as hard as she could. It shattered instantly. The mare kicked some dust over it, and sauntered off.

Scootaloo fell to the floor, tears falling down her face. She grabbed the photo, ignoring the glass shards and they cut at her hoof. She held it tight to her chest, and lay down again. A photo and a blanket. Her only possessions.