And Now, It Feels Like I'm Dreaming
The hills outside of Ponyville were not spoken of or visited. The Everfree Forest was known for its danger and historical value, and the northern fields and meadows were often traveled for leisure and as passage to nearby farming communities. The train lead out of town to anywhere else important. And yet, the foothills that lead up to the base of Canterlot Mountain were not spoken of, visited, or acknowledged by the inhabitants of Ponyville. It was an unexplored place, yet not as intriguing as the Everfree.
Rumble and Scootaloo trudged through the tall grass as they peaked over their first hill of the night. The two pegasi had ventured out of town earlier that night.
Scootaloo’s bright orange coat stood out in the dark night, but Rumble’s own darker coat hid him from sight.
“You’re so quiet,” Scootaloo said. “And I can’t see you in the dark. If you don’t talk, and I’m not able to see you, I’ll start assuming you’ve left.”
“Sorry,” Rumble said.
“Don’t you want to talk?”
Rumble shrugged. Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow.
“I can’t see you in the dark, remember?” She giggled, and poked Rumble in the side. Rumble grunted in response.
“Come on, I’m just messin’ with ya,” Scootaloo said.
“I know.” Rumble turned away from her and looked out over the hills, the great shadow of Canterlot Mountain looming over the landscape. The glow from the moon peeking out from the side of the mountain mixed with the glow from Canterlot itself, setting the shadows into a deeper definition.
“Lighten up a little!” He heard her hoofbeats over the grass, starting to head down the hill. “Then maybe I could actually see you.”
Rumble followed Scootaloo down the hill. The two of them began to climb the next one when Rumble paused, and looked at the shadowy outline of Scootaloo for a moment, her form bouncing in the dark as she moved up the hill.
When she reached the top of the hill, the silvery moonlight caught her in full. This hill was taller than the first, so they had been in shadow the entire time. Now she stood there, her orange coat duller in the light, but her mane a deeper, richer purple.
Rumble stood there, staring up at her in awe, his mouth agape. Scootaloo reached the top of the hill, and turned around to look down on him.
“Why’d you stop?” she asked.
“No reason,” he said.
“Well, hurry up to the top! It looks amazing from here.”
Rumble obliged, his wings spreading out to give him a small boost of speed ascending the hill. When he reached the top, he settled next to Scootaloo, and looked out at the foothills.
She hadn’t been lying—it was gorgeous down there. The rest of the hills were smaller than this one, and each of the tiny gullies and gulches they formed were a rich tapestry of all shades of greys and dark greens. It looked like the bumpy surface of an old oak tree’s bark, laid out before them, and he and Scootaloo were but ants upon it.
“Thought you might like it,” she said, turning and smiling at him. “Maybe you’ll actually talk, now.”
Rumble swallowed. “Y-Yeah. It’s nice.”
“What’s really going on with you?” she asked. “Come on. Talk to me! I brought us out here so you would.”
Rumble said nothing. The two sat in the silence that had been created, for a small moment, before Rumble broke it by smashing his voice straight through it.
“I’m scared, Scootaloo.”
She turned to him, eyebrow raised. “Scared? Of what? There’s nothing in these hills that could hurt us. Even if there was, you could just fly away.”
“No, not about that. I’m scared... about us.”
She was paying full attention now. “What? Why?”
“I... I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m just... I’m terrified. I’m absolutely frightened. I mean... what are we even doing? Why are we even here, sitting out on a hill, all alone?”
“I wanted to be all alone,” Scootaloo said. “With you.”
Rumble swallowed. “B-But I don’t want to be.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“No!” Rumble held up his hooves. “Not like that! I mean, just... I don’t want to be out all alone with me, so... why would you want to be?”
She chuckled. “You’re not all alone out here with just you, though. I’m here too.”
Rumble placed his head in his hooves. “I... I don’t even know what I was trying to say. I’m sorry.”
Scootaloo placed her hoof on Rumble’s shoulder. “Aw, come on. At least you’re talking to me now. It doesn’t even have to be about anything. Just as long as you’re talking, I can say you’re here.”
“Th-thanks...” Rumble looked up from his hooves at her. “I mean... I’m just scared of it all, you know? I’m scared of... us, I guess.”
“Why?” she asked.
He looked back down at his hooves. “I... I’m new to this. I don’t know what to do with... any of this! I want to be the colt you want, I want to make you happy, I want to be with you... and I want you to be with me. But I’m scared that after a while, you’ll get bored, you’ll get tired, we’ll lose each other... I don’t know if this will last forever, and I really l-luhh...” Rumble’s voice got caught in his throat.
Scootaloo waited while Rumble battled with his voice.
“L-Love you... but nothing lasts forever, y’know? And ponies say... ponies say that young love doesn’t last, and that if you stick with just one mare or stallion throughout your young life, you’ll never really find yourself, so I mean...”
He turned to look back at her. “I just want to be fine. I just want love. I don’t want...”
“Rumble,” she said to him. “We’re going to have to deal with that anyway. We're going to have to face all of those things; that’s part of growing up! We’re going to be proper mares and stallions in just a year or two. We need to accept these things.”
“I wish I saw things like you did,” Rumble said, looking at Scootaloo with deep affection.
“I don’t,” she said. “Then I’d be dating myself, and I’m not that much of a narcissist.”
The two shared a laugh.
“Look, Rumble,” she said. “Don’t get ahead of this. Let’s just... take it as we go, okay? We’ll deal with the life stuff, and all that, when it comes. We’ll find a way to deal with it if it was meant to be.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then it wasn’t meant to be.”
Rumble looked at her.
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
She shrugged. “Why be bothered by something that hasn’t happened yet?”
Rumble could not respond. Scootaloo smiled down at him, getting to her hooves. It was a warm smile, something to counteract the cold breeze that had begun to cut through the hills.
“Come on, we’ve got the whole night. These hills are begging for us to explore them.”
She set off down the hill, Rumble in hot pursuit.
Author's Note
For the parasprite.