Scootaloo fell and fell and fell, far from the Rainbow Factory, far from Equestria, far from the world. Cloudsdale would be safe now. She knew everything would be fine. Her life was at a close. After spending what felt like an eternity in that accursed hellhole, it was nice to have the sweet release of death. The blackness engulfed her. It was time to see beyond the horizon, to see what awaited beyond the great boundary everyone was so afraid of.
Something shattered like glass below her. Shock coursed through her as shards pierced her back and open wings. She slammed into the ground with great force, driving the wind out of her. Scootaloo lay there in the grass on her back, feeling the searing pain of glass stuck in her. She could see black trees towering over her, stretching into a gloomy grey sky devoid any color. In fact, there seemed to be a complete absence of color here.
This was unexpected, to say the least. She thought a reprieve awaited her in the afterlife. Not whatever this was. She worked up enough will power to struggle to a sitting position. She looked at her back, spotting the large blades of glass impaling her. Scootaloo reached back and pulled out every shard tenderly. The pain made her cry out every time one came loose. She persisted like this until she was sure every bit was out of her back and wings.
Afterward, Scoots inspected the rest of her body to make sure she was in good condition. There were no broken bones, and aside from her blood-smeared back, she appeared unharmed. But something was off. Her coat's color seemed washed out. It wasn't just the environment that insisted on being colorless. This place was even affecting her colors. There was definitely something wrong about this place.
Scootaloo stood and took in her surroundings. The black, lifeless trees stretched off in every direction. The ground was cool to the touch. It was a forest made entirely of gloom. Every direction looked the same to her. If she was going to get out of this place, she would just have to pick a direction and go.
She started forward, unsure of what else to do. Her back still stung and confusion rattled in her brain. This most certainly wasn't Equestria… or at least the one she knew. There was no denying it. Scootaloo had died. The liquid thunder had done its job. But what was this place? Hell? Why would she be here? She had never done anything in her life to deserve this. But what if this wasn't Hell and she had just stumbled into the wrong place? There were so many possibilities, none of which Scoots could be sure of.
Trees continued to stretch on forever. Though she had no intention of going back, the pegasus wanted to make sure she hadn't gone the wrong way…
She smacked her self on the forehead, cursing her stupidity. “Duh. Wings.” She had gotten so used to not having use of her wings as a filly, then not being able to use it for many more years during her imprisonment in the factory; that she often forgot they even existed. Extending her sore wings, she began to flap and launched herself upward. She realized abruptly that she had to flap extremely hard to fly. There was no wind whatsoever!
As her head breached the top branches of the canopy, her heart dropped. The forest stretched forever in all directions like an endless shadow covering the ground under an eternity of grey skies. It was horrifying. She could be stuck wandering these woods for the rest of time. Something glittered in her peripheral vision. Swinging around, she glimpsed a streak of glowing yellow and green disappear into the distance.
“What was that?” Scootaloo asked herself.
It could be anything, but at least now she had a target. If something here was made of light, especially if it had color, she was going to find it. Feeling her wings growing tired with the effort of flapping, she alighted down on the ground below the trees. Scootaloo began walking once more.
After trekking onwards for a few hours, her eyes were growing tired of how dark everything was. It was less crowded than the Everfree, and certainly less colorful. It was unreal how dead everything seemed. Even the cool grass beneath her seemed bitterly grey and lifeless. It was like watching a movie in black and white, only no actual white, and it was a horribly boring movie.
She was starting to wish the ground wasn't so flat. There was no variation in elevation whatsoever. At least a hill or something would give her a landmark, or at least something to work around. Instead, she was forced to continue on with no idea if she was walking in a circle or not. Even the trees looked hopelessly similar. Each had a straight or slightly leaned trunk topped with a few scraggly, stray branches. The bark had the color of charcoal and that was it. No branches or fallen trunks adorned the ground. No ivy or fungus grew. It was just grass and lifeless trees.
The environment was starting to dampen her spirits. There wasn't much to be very happy about though. She had just committed suicide to get to Rainbow Dash and make her see the wrongness that was the Rainbow Factory. But who knows what happened after she left. Had Cloud Cover and Corona made it out alright? Was the secret out? Did Rainbow shut down the Factory? All that was beyond her knowledge forever now, it seemed.
Scootaloo realized she must have been trapped in the factory for many years. It had been long enough for her to mature fully and then some. It could have been decades. What were her old friends doing? They had probably assumed her dead long ago and continued on with their lives. What else could they have done. Look for her? Even if they had somehow managed to get to the Rainbow Factory, they would have probably had every ounce of Spectra squeezed from them. It was probably easier for them to think she died in some accident or something rather than the horrible, bloody truth.
Scootaloo came to a dead stop. Before her was a circle of rocky earth, replacing the grass. After the endless hours of the same scenery, she was rather wary of such a sudden change. All around the clearing was the same old grass and trees. So what was this?
She flew up above the trees to see if anything was different up there. Nothing new. Just more woods. Returning to the patch of earth, she pondered for a moment. Tentatively, she reached out the feel it. It wasn't particularly different than regular dirt aside from its grey color. Scootaloo placed both hooves firmly on the patch. It held her weight just fine.
“I guess it's nothing,” she said. Preparing to walk on for a little while longer.
As soon as her hind-hoof touched the barren patch, the ground yawned open beneath her. Scootaloo tumbled into the darkness, her fate in the balance.
Scootaloo tumbled down a dark hole, feeling rocks and debris rain around her. She was thrashed the whole way down, scraping against the rocky walls and being hailed on from above. Eventually she slammed into the ground below, crunching her wing beneath her.
“SHIT!” she screamed at the feeling of bone snapping. Scoots rolled off of her hurt wing and held it out, careful not to brush the wall… or as careful as one could be without the ability to see the wall. It was completely black at the bottom of the hole with the exception of the small grey dot she could see far over her head where she had just come from.
“So much for a change of scenery. I can't see anything!” she griped as she felt her way around. She was apparently in some sort of cave. The walls tunneled in one direction, not giving her much of an option on where to go as up was clearly out of the question. Water dripped on her periodically as she went deeper. Or rather, she hoped it was water. Cool and wet were the only defining features she could really tell about it. Just to make it worse, it was quite chilly down there. She bet that if there was any light, she'd be able to see her breath. Because of this the water was getting on her nerves, making her much colder than she wanted to be.
Scoots grimaced and continued onwards, not wanting to stop. However, her feet were starting to drag with fatigue and her wing stung badly. If she didn't find a way to splint it, the bones could mend wrong and she'd be forever crippled. She made sure to keep in mind to try to find something for it as soon as possible.
The tunnel continued to dig deeper and deeper, and the scent of cold stone was getting to the point where she was starting to feel light-headed. The areas where water dripped into her mane were also getting more frequent. She even splashed through a couple shallow puddles.
The hours dragged on, getting colder and wetter. Now soaked, cold, and blind, all Scoots wanted to do was curl into a ball next to a fire or something. She was absolutely miserable. At least on the surface she was dry and could see. Shaking her head to clear it of wistful thinking, she willed herself to push onward. Soon enough, she was splashing through inch-deep water. To make it worse, the tunnel still angled down.
Scootaloo kept on heading down. The water reached her knees. Then her chest. Then her chin…
She stopped. There was no way she was going to press on. So that meant she was stuck. She could go back and attempt to climb the hole she fell down, which would lead to the endless forest of hopelessness. Or she could risk drowning and see if there was an exit below the water.
Or would she? If she was already dead, could she drown? Although she didn't want to find out, it was still more promising than exploring a dead forest for years to come.
She took as deep a breath as she could muster and dove. The darkness was pressing all around her. Swimming as fast as she could, she sought any upward rise in the ceiling. No such luck. Her air was running out. Scoots tried swimming back up the way she came, but she was having trouble.
A current! she hadn't noticed it before as she had been traveling with it. Where did it come from? Another stream joining this one? But then 'why' became less of the problem as her lungs reached their limit. Scootaloo's heart began pounding as the urge gasp for air started taking over. She fought as hard as she could to keep her mouth shut as the current dragged her down the tunnel. Her eyes bugged and she clawed at the walls, feeling her lungs cave in on themselves. Sparks danced before her eyes as her willpower was wearing thin.
Then she breathed in a mouthful of water.
DROWNING!!!!!!! She screamed in her mind. She thrashed in the cold water, trying to dispel the suffocation. Then her mind began to go numb…
Water was everywhere. It was the only thing her mind could process. Water was weird. It didn't feel wet when you were totally submerged in it. Instead it felt like… thick air. But when you were out of the water it was absolutely wet. It was clingy and slick and made your fur stick to you.
Suddenly, Scootaloo felt a pull on her. She was being dragged up. She was dragged ashore, but there was still no air.
“Scootaloo!” a voice cried. It sounded all too familiar.
She tried replying but water was still clogging her lungs.
“She can't breathe! Get somepony to help!” the voice said again.
“On it!” said another voice. Another familiar one.
There was intense pressing on chest. Then somepony breathed into her mouth. CPR. The episode unfurling before her was extremely uncanny. She thought she'd be unconscious through CPR. Not that it mattered. She was still on the verge of death. Or a second death. After a third cycle of CPR, all the water in her lungs came up and Scootaloo opened her eyes.
She was greeted by an overwhelmingly bright sun and open blue skies. In a mixture of shock, confusion, and still having water in her lungs, she puked into the green grass beside her. Once she regained a bit of her bearings, she turned to thank the pony that saved her… and… and saw…
It was Apple Bloom.
Author's Note
This story isn't going well. For obvious reasons. Anyway, I can use my same ideas some other ways that will be much more appreciated. I hereby sentence this story cancelled.
