The Crystal Empire shone brightly against the murky sky. Clouds circled its top, threatening to engulf the citizens down below with their endless flakes of snow. Many were huddled indoors, drinking hot cocoa next to a fireplace, whilst listening to the sounds of the whirling wind outside. The Empire itself were built by many of these ponies, but their hard work was always overshadowed by the castle.
It stood tall and proud, gleaming in excellence. It was almost impossible to imagine that this had grew out of the ground. Their leader King Jaggered Crystal ordered that all working stallions were to come to the castle an hour after their shift had finished, in order to cleanse it of the blood of the victims of King Crystal. Any who did not would perish. But alas, as long as they followed this one rule they were safe, they could live out peaceful lives.
If one were to come here, they would turn around straight away, but not Golden Belle.
Golden Belle was a tall unicorn stallion with a light gray coat and a black mane, his pale green eyes highly contrasted his colour scheme. Like most ponies, his given name was also his Cutie Mark, and the thing that decorated his flank was a golden bell hanging from a branch, waiting to be rung.
He was there as a part of his scholarship, he was tasked to learn how ponies of such a similar yet different culture lived. It was an interesting topic to say the least, not many would come to such a perilous place like this. But Golden did.
Why? He was not sure, but he certaintly didn't regret it.
"How art thou flowers so beautiful in their attire, if thou art only to be overwhelmed by harsh coldness of ones death?" He put a hoof to his chin in thought. Whilst the isolated city did not seem welcoming over the past few days of which he had been there, he knew he needed to find the source of this despondency.
"Whom would leave thou to whither in the darkness?" Gingerly rising to his hooves, Golden pulled his simple brown scarf around his neck closer to his neck.
"Never hath thy had a good leader, hath thou?" He sighed in sympathy and trotted to the castle, however, as he did so, the world got the slightest bit colder.
"CøMē tø mē, m¥ v€$$€l."
King Jaggered Crystal sat slumped in his throne. His mane was red and his coat black. He had his wings draped over the side of his throne and he was using his telekenises to observe his crown. His icy blue glare met that of those beneath him, cutting through their souls and leaving nothing but fear.
A young soldier came marching in, along with a orange and blue dragon with purple eyes.
The soldier bowed, "Your majesty, thou art shalth know that this hatchling was feasting on thine gems."
Crystal stayed silent. He extinguished any fire the monster before him had.
"Name." He rasped out. He had unfortunately almost had his throat torn out a few decades ago, transforming his smooth digilent voice, into a breathy, croaky growl.
"Char." The dragon growled. She had no reason to be where she was. She had been living in the Crystal Empire her whole life, and to say that she was treacherous was absurd.
Crystal slowly rose from his throne, grinning in delight that everypony had took a few steps back at his rising. The alicorn strode over slowly, and stopped right in front of the soldier.
"Kill her."
The soldier nodded, spreaded his wings and flew off, only to venture back with some chains.
"Thank thou, Windalane. Thy shalth be rewarded."
And so Char was chained, about to be dragged along to her death, until the doors burst open.
A flurry of guards rushed in and stood around the King and Char in a defensive circle.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Crystal hissed harshly. His eyes glanced to the open door, and everything seemed to be a little bit colder.
"We've called upon the princesses for assistance, my leige, they shallth be here soon." One them, a red unicorn replied.
"Assistance? Assistance of what?!"
All of a sudden, the wind subsided, and a shadowy figure walked in.
"Thou art shalth name themselves!" Crystal shouted at it.
It walked forward, eventually revealing it to be Golden Belle, but different to him in many ways. His eyes were glowing red and his mane was significantly darker. Fangs grew out of his bared teeth. He grinned.
"Thou shalth know myself of Sombra."
"Hurry, my sister, we haven't much time!" Luna shouted to the white alicorn behind her.
Celestia nodded accelerating forward, followed by hundreds of her Royal Guard, Luna's own guard having stayed behind.
Together they reached the castle.
"Thou shalth go in front. Myself shalth go on air." Celestia announced. She took the the air once again, and chose a smashed window to fly through whereas Luna galloped through the door, the guard trailing her.
"STAND DOWN, THOU BEAST OF DARKNESS!"
Golden turned and sneered at the princess of the night.
"You shalth never be rid of me. I have suceeded, you hath not.
Celestia tore through the window, "Our light shalth dispense you!"
"Fools, as long as there is light, the is always shadow. Milenias from now a new descendant shalth be born of my power! Thou think thou art won, but alas, you hath just lost."
"Sweetie Belle!" Luna yelled suddenly. No reaction came from the other ponies as she yelled again, in a voice so similar yet not to her own,
"SWEETIE BELLE, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
A light grey filly with a two toned lilac and pink curly mane and red eyes flopped out of bed. This small pony was named Sweetie Belle, and she had just experienced a particularly weird dream.
Glancing around blearily, Sweetie Belle rose to her hooves and shot her alarm clock a glare, also reading the time.
8:30.
She groaned. She didn't really want to go to school today, she wanted to figure out that dream.
"I wonder what happened to that stallion..." Sweetie Belle pondered. She trotted to her mirror, she grinned, seeing as none of her curls had fell out of place. However, in doing so, she revealed her fangs.
Sweetie Belle wasn't that bothered by the fact that she had odd colored eyes and unatural teeth, she was born like that. But she was bothered about the annoying theories made up about her, mostly from Diamomd Tiara and Silver Spoon.
She was not a vampony or a robot.
She may have looked different but she was still as normal as eveeypony else. Last time she checked, her Divergence was her powers, not her looks.
Speaking of powers, Sweetie Belle grew a dull crystal underneath her hooves, it rose, until she reached her top shelf of her bookcase. She ignored a bracelet which brushed against her hoof and pulled out her school books, made the crystal disappear and morph into a shadow and made her way downstairs.
Rarity was currently making some toast, using her magic to speak to Twilight while doing so.
Dear reader, accept this intrusion as an explanation. In this world, everypony had something weird about them that made them normal, these strange quirks were made Divergences.
Take the Elements of Harmony for example; Twilight could phase through walls, as if she were a ghost, although not quite transparent. Fluttershy could heal ponies using her tears. Rainbow Dash could summon and create lightning between her hooves, she found it cool at first, until she started to become a lightning rod. Rarity could change things just by looking at them if she wanted to. Spike had given her a book once, which enhanced her creativity and corrupted her, giving her no control over her powers, thank Celestia that was over. Applejack could grow plants at a supprisingly fast rate. The Elements could be cornered by a dangerous villian, and it would only take Applejack five seconds to grow some vines and grab them. Pinkie Pie was given mind powers, figure out the rest yourself.
But it wasn't just powers that ponies would have, take one of our lovely crusaders as an example; Apple Bloom had no power, but all of her teeth were razor sharp and could probably slit somepony's throat with no effort at all. If she wanted to that is.
So, if you couldn't tell by now, this world is not normal. Forgive my intrusion and on with the story.
Rarity looked over the toast, "Hmm. Burnt." Her eyes glowed a eerie green colour, before the toast changed appearance to be light brown. She smiled, and her eyes returned to normal.
"Much better."
"Īt wøüld bë bëttër īf ¥øür bløød wërë $prëåd üpøñ īt."
Rarity let out an unlady like shriek and whipped around. There, was a tall menacing shadow with two red blocks representing eyes. It opened it's mouth in a menacing grin and said,
"Happy Nightmare Night!" Sweetie Belle morphed back into her normal pony form and sat down at the table.
"Or would it be Nightmare day? Or Daymare Light?" She pondered.
Rarity narrowed her eyes at her little sister, "Sweetie Belle! That was uncalled for."
Despite her words, this was not the first time Sweetie Belle had done something like this. Infact, she was quite the little prankster. Only last night did Rarity walk into her room to find scratched all over her decor and Opal sitting on the fashionista's bed. The cat's cage door had been opened and a little not attached to it, reading " Animals deserve to be free! -Sweetie "
However, Rarity knew the filly had not let the cat free of its cage out of the kindness of her heart.
Sweetie Belle voiced Rarity's thoughts, "It's not like I haven't done any thing like it before."
The older unicorn matched the younger's wry grin. "Oh, really? That reminds me, I still have yet to ground you for last night."
Sweetie's pupils shrunk. She morphed into a shadow and reappeared at the front door, saddlebags on and all. A peice of toast was floating in front of her in her red telekinesis.
"I think I'll just take this to school with me, bye!"
Rarity chuckled and followed her sister to the door. "Okay, Sweetie, just remember, you and your friends should try and avoiding causing trouble tonight, but knowing you, you're probably going out for more tricking than treating."
Sweetie blinked her eyes innocently at her sister a grin tugging at her mouth, her fangs showing, "Oh, sis, you know me so well."
The young pony trotted out the door and the elder one started to close it.
Sweetie Belle walked about ten steps out the door, before turning back, "Oh, and Rarity?"
Rarity opened the door again and saw Sweetie Belle standing there. Suddenly, the filly turned into a shadow with red eyes and a red slit as a mouth. It lunged forward so its face was almost touching Rarity's.
In a distorted voice it said, "Hā¶¶¥ Ñ|9htmā®€ Ñ|9ht!"
It morphed back to Sweetie Belle who smiled kindly, then cantered off.
Rarity stood there. Terrified.
Sweetie Belle was a good student. Well, not necessarily good in a sense, but she got to school on time, so, that was good. Normally, she would imediatly run off and prank everypony, but not today. Today, she needed to do something important.
She ran past a colt whose full body seemed to be made of code. He let out a sigh of relief as Sweetie ran past without bothering him.
"I'll get you tommorrow, Button!" Sweetie yelled at him as she passed.
"But it's the w€€K€πd tommorrow!" Button Mash yelled back, his voice momentarily glitching.
"Deal with it!" Sweetie Belle ran past all the other foals, deciding not to acknowledge their relief.
"Ah said ah don' wan' anythin' tah do with tha'." Sweetie Belle stopped and scanned her surroundings as she heard the familiar grouchy, accented voice.
"I-It was j-just a suggestion. Y-you don't h-have t-to." And there was the stuttering one.
She finally found the source of the voices and saw a pale yellow earth pony with a red mane and a orange pegasus with a purple mane.
The earth pony had orange, bloodshot eyes and under said eyes were dark circles. In her mane she wore a simple black bow and over her left eye were two neat - and quite large- scars. She was growling slightly, revealing her knife sharp teeth.
The pegasus had purple eyes and seemed very simple compared to her friend as the only thing weird about her was that she wore a bandage on her hoof all the time. She was sweating and looked as if she were about to crumble into a panic attack.
There they are!
She morphed into a shadow and waited patiently for the pegasus to calm down. When she did, Sweetie Belle morphed back into a pony, giving the pegasus the shock of her life.
"Hey, Scoots!" She greeted her friemd with a sly grin. However it soon faded when she realized that Scootaloo was in the middle of a panic attack.
The earth pony walked up to Sweetie Belle and nonchalantly sat down next to her, all while wearing a deadpan expression.
"Well done." The sad thing was that she wasn't being sarcastic.
"Hey, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle greeted with a small smile. She wasn't sure how it happened, but Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had been best friends ever since they went to kindergarten. They had met Scootaloo in the first year of elementary and the three had been friends ever since. Sure, Sweetie Belle wasn't as innocent as her name suggested, Scootaloo wasn't all that brave and Apple Bloom all that happy, but they made it work.
"Howdy." Came the usual growled reply.
Scootaloo was still hyperventilating.
Sweetie Belle sighed.
Nightmare Night was off to a great start.
"Good morning, class." A magenta earth pony said as she walked in.
"Good morning, Miss Cheerilee." The class chorused.
Cheerilee smiled and pulled out some chalk.
"Today, we are going to be doing something very fun!" She exclaimed, hoping to get her class excited.
"What? The sum o' 6 × 6? Spoiler fer y'all, it's 36." Apple Bloom stated from the back of the class.
Cheerilee frowed slightly, "No, Apple Bloom. Today, we are going to do something we don't normally do! And it's based around today! Now, who can tell me what day it is today?"
"Friday."
"No, Twist."
"O-october 31st."
"That's correct, Scootaloo, and what's on October 31st?"
"Death."
"No, Apple Bloom."
"Candy!"
"Yes, Dinky."
"Darkness."
"In a way, yes, Apple Bloom."
"Outfits!"
"Yes, Silver Spoon."
"Destruction."
"No, Apple Bloom."
"Pranks!"
"Yes, Sweetie Belle."
"Lonliness."
"Are you okay, Apple Bloom?"
"Games!"
"Yes, Rumble."
"Murder."
"I'm really concerned for your mental health, Apple Bloom."
A pink hoof shot up at the back of the class, "It's Nightmare Night, you dummies." Connected to the hoof was a pink earth pony filly with a two toned lilac and white mane and vibrant blue eyes. Atop her head sat a tiara. Coming from her hooves were sharp knives, connected to them like claws. She took pride in her Divergence, well, she didn't until she got in a fight with Apple Bloom, who only had one scar across her eye at the time, after the fight the farm filly had two. But Diamond Tiara wasn't unscathed from the fight, in fact, a rather large bite mark on her neck signified just who won. Still, Diamond held pride at her claw-like knives.
Apple Bloom scoffed, "Act like yer so smart, yet yer were such a dumbass to get in a fight like me." One of her scars tingled.
"W-we knew th-that. We w-were j-just j-justifying wh-what it w-was." Scootaloo stuttered.
"Oh, shut it chicken." Diamond Tiara snapped.
Scootaloo whimpered and tried to hide under her desk. Sometimes she wished that being invisible was her kink, and not bleeding acid.
Cheerilee's voice faltered slightly, "Yes, Diamond Tiara, it is indeed Nightmare Night."
Diamond grinned in satisfaction, and Apple Bloom let out a growl at the fact that her rival was right and she was not.
"Are we going to be pranking ponies, Miss Cheerilee?" Sweetie Belle asked as innocently as possible.
Cheerilee frowned, "No, Sweetie Bell--"
"Of course that's your train of thought, vampony" Silver Spoon interupted.
Now it was Sweetie Belle's turn to whimper. Apple Bloom walked over to face Silver Spoon.
The grey earth pony had nothing special about her, she could just hypnotize ponies.
"Now, listen here, you poor excuse for 'n earth pony." Apple Bloom growled, tapping a hoof on Silver's chest, "Ain't nopony spoke tah mah either o' mah friends like tha' before, an' they ain't gonna do it now. So back off an' keep yer mouth to yerself."
Silver Spoon grabbed Apple Bloom's hoof and removed it from her chest. She grimaced at it and then stared straight into the other filly's eyes, her own eyes turning to spinning swirls.
"Say, Apple Bloom, why don't you go back to your desk and leave me alone? I also think you should not touch me again, and you allow me and Diamond Tiara to beat you up tonight."
"No." Apple Bloom deadpanned.
Silver Spoon's eyes went back to normal, "I forgot it doesn't work on you." She muttered.
Apple Bloom turned and went back to her desk (on her own accord) and Cheerilee decided it was time to continue the lesson.
"Right, so tonight, you will all be going trick or treating, correct?"
"Yes, Miss Cheerilee." The class replied, sans Apple Bloom, who responded with a simple,
"Eeyup."
"Great, so today we will be looking at the dangers of Nightmare Night!"
The class groaned. Except Scootaloo, she was more than happy to be learning about this.
Scootaloo tried to ignore all the weird looks she was getting. She should've expected it to be honest, because as of now, she was the weirdest pony in Ponyville. It was nine o'clock and everypony was dressed up in scary costumes. She walked past them all, half hoping she could turn invisible.
"Hey, squirt!" A voice from above shouted. When the acid-bleeding pegasus looked up, it was no other than her adoptive older sister.
"H-hey, Rainbow D-dash!" The rainbow-mane pegasus joined her younger sister on the ground. She was wearing an alteration of the royal guard armour. It was a dark silver with a sheild attatched to one hoof and a sword attatched to the other (plastic of course, she left the real one at home). Scootaloo couldn't help but make a note of every single detail on the costume, all while feeling slightly embarresed due to the fact that her sister was wearing a costume and she was not.
All her life Scootaloo had been a part of the Dash family, well, not all her life, but she was adopted by them when she was about three months old. Her biological parents had abandoned her, but she knew fine well who her real family was.
"Wanna go for a ride?" Rainbow gestered to her back. Scootaloo nodded excitedly. She hopped on and held on tight.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off.
It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear, the full moon shone brightly. Ponies down below were taking part in Nightmare Night festivities, and if they were to look up, they would see a pegasus flying in the sky with a filly on her back.
"So," Rainbow started, she took a glance at the filly on her back, smiling slightly, "wanna tell me why you thought a Scootaloo was a scary thing to dress up as?"
Scootaloo giggled before she realized she had to reply, "I-it's stupid..."
Rainbow sat down on a lone cloud and placed Scootaloo in front of her, "Hey, if something's bothering you, it's not stupid. So, what's wrong, squirt?"
Scootaloo sighed and rubbed her hoof over her bandage, feeling it's soft fabric bristle against her, "I-I didn't w-wanna d-dress up this y-year."
Rainbow frowned slightly, "I, uh, sorta guessed that much."
Scootaloo whimpered, "S-sorry."
Rainbow sucked in a breath. She wasn't annoyed at the filly, she was concerned. She always was concerned for her, after all, the filly was, biological or not, her little sister.
"Nononono, don't apologize!" Rainbow almost screeched in her frantic state. She sighed, and spoke softer, "What's wrong?"
"I-I d-didn't like t-the i-idea o-of it b-because I-I didn't l-like t-the idea o-of e-everypony s-staring at me." Scootaloo stuttered.
Rainbow wrapped a wing around Scootaloo, "That's all? That's perfectly, a-okay, squirt! Hey, I bet some other ponies haven't dressed up as well! Wanna go check?"
Scootaloo nodded, and Rainbow picked her up.
"Great let's go!"
"Now, are y'all sure yer wanna--"
"Eeyup."
"We coul' always git somethin' from Rar--"
"Eenope."
Applejack scratched her head, "Okay?"
She was wearing a grey, fluffy outfit with matching pointy eyes. On her face was a black dog nose and small drawn on whiskers. She was wearing dog paw slippers she borrowed from Big MacIntosh, they fit somehow.
Apple Bloom was currently, quote "ready to go out for Nightmare Night", and Applejack wasn't entirely convinced she was.
"Yer don't even have a--" Big Mac was cut off by Apple Bloom.
"I do. C'mon, AJ." Apple Bloom growled and stalked out the door.
Applejack squinted then turned to the left, "What did she no' have?"
Big Mac snorted, "Git an eye test, AJ, Ah'm over here."
"Okay, so, Ah think we shoul' go talk tah Rarity an'--"
"No." Apple Bloom replied. Her and Applejack were walking through Ponyville. The plan was for them each to find at least one of their friends, then go their seperate ways, but with Applejack's bad eyesight and Apple Bloom's glowering at nearly everypony, things were most likely not going to go their way. It was just pure luck when Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo landed in front of them.
However, Applejack didn't realize who it was until the older pegasus spoke.
"Hey, AJ! Hey, AB!" Rainbow Dash bent down so Scootaloo could safely jump off.
"Howdy, Rainbow!"
"Scootaloo's here as well, AJ." Rainbow reminded her extremely short sighted friend.
"Well, uh, howdy tah yer as well, Scoots. Ah'm mighty sorry I didn't see y'all before."
"It's a-alright." Scootaloo said. It was common knowledge in Ponyville that Applejack had bad eyesight, and everypony sort of just brushed it off.
Scootaloo took a look at Apple Bloom, before sighing in relief, "Th-thank C-celestia! I-i thought I-i w-would be the only o-one!"
Rainbow Dash also took a look at the earth pony filly, "Wait, you aren't wearing a costume either?"
"She ain't?" Questioned Applejack.
"Ah am wearin' a costume." Apple Bloom argued. She wasn't.
"Are you dressed up as Apple Bloom, then?" Rainbow asked. It was only plausible answer.
"Eeyup. Ah asked Big Mac to send a survey around town, askin' what the scariest thing 'n Ponyville is, and Ah woul' dress up as what the majority answered."
"Oof." Commented Rainbow.
"But, lil' Bloomie don' even look scary." Applejack stated and slung a hoof around Apple Bloom, who growled in response, baring her razor sharp teeth.
"Uh huh, sure." Rarity remarked as she and Sweetie Belle walked onto the scene. Rarity was wearing a black dress with grey lacing. It had a black cape with red lining coming from the back of it. A pair of fake fangs stuck out of her mouth.
Sweetie Belle had used temporary coat and mane dye to change her coat grey and her mane black. She had painted her horn grey, fading into red. Her eyes were red with some sort of illusion magic turning the normal whites of her eyes green. When Rarity asked where she got the idea she said, a dream.
"When are you going to get that eye test, Jackie?" Pinkie Pie asked, popping up.
Applejack jumped at both Rarity's and Pinkie's appearance, obviously not seeing either of them show up.
"You're both going to give her a heart attack if you keep on coming out of nowhere like that." Fluttershy softly chided, coming out of nowhere.
Applejack screeched.
"You're one to talk." Twiight said, telporting in.
Spike, sitting on her back, spoke up, "Em, so are you."
Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Twilight followed his gaze to Applejack, who was lying on the floor, as if she was just given the shock of her life. Apple Bloom poked her as if it was going to do something.
"I think we can agree you're all at fault here." Sweetie Belle piped.
Author's Note
So, that's chapter one. While I have written a Alt. Universe story before, I have not changed the world completely, just altered a character, so this is new to me.
Also, what do you think of all the characters' personalities so far? I would love to hear it. Also, what about the universe in general?
I've got to be honest, I actually quite like to write the crusaders different to their actual personalities, and I can't do that in normal fics as it would be ooc.
I would like to hear who's your favourite if you have one.
Part 2 for Nightmare Night is coming soon so keep an eye out for it!
That's all until next time!
"Thank Celestia, we're free!" Sweetie Belle squealed as she and the Crusaders ran down the street. Well, Sweetie Belle was anyway, Scootaloo was walking quickly and Apple Bloom was just trudging along silently.
"S-sweetie Belle... p-ponies are s-staring at us..." Scootaloo pointed out, shakily.
A group of young foals came up to Apple Bloom and started gawking at her.
"Wh-where's your costume, Apple Bloom?" A Pegasus filly questioned. She was a sweet little filly, she loved and respected everypony. And Apple Bloom decided to give her a proper answer.
"Ah dunno, this ain't scary enough fer yer, Goldy?" She growled like a wild animal and pulled her lips back so the foals saw as much of her teeth as possible.
The foals stared a moment, before screaming and running off.
"T-that wasn't v-very nice Apple Bloom..." Scootaloo pointed out.
Apple Bloom glared at her.
Scootaloo chuckled nervously and sprinted forward so she next to Sweetie Belle. The unicorn, however, was gone again in a second.
"D-don't leave me with her..." Scootaloo whimpered after her mischevious friend.
Sweetie Belle appeared infront of her, having just morphed back into pony form. She slung a hoof over Scootaloo's back and walked alongside her, "My dear friend, while your innocent mind may not be able to comprehend this, Nightmare Night is not just any normal night."
Scootaloo's usual jittery expression disappeared as it took on one of confusion, "B-but I do know th-that..."
Sweetie Belle shook her head slowly, tutting at her pegasus friend, "Scootaloo, Scootaloo, Scootaloo. I think you may have forgotten exactly who you're talking to. I am Sweetie Crystal Belle. Tonight is a night of terror, and I am going to make sure that everypony gets a first class experience."
Scootaloo's nervousness only grew as Sweetie Belle grinned, Oh no.
Sweetie Belle stopped walking and faced Apple Bloom, "Hey, AB! Wanna scare some kids into thinking Whitetail is actually the Everfree?"
Apple Bloom grinned, a action that was rare with the usually dull earth pony, "Hell, yeah."
Scootaloo just groaned and buried her head in hooves, "P-please, Apple B-bloom. Don't e-encourage her."
Sweetie Belle squealed in excitement as Apple Bloom agreed, hugging her companion. The earth pony, however, stayed silent with her eyes on the ground, smile dropping the second somepony came into physical contact with her.
Scootaloo whimpered as her two friends started walking towards Whitetail words, already discussing plans.
"Y-you guys, we d-don't have t-to..."
Sweetie whipped around, grinning, "Oh, but we do!"
Scootaloo crouched back, "W-why, though?"
Sweetie tapped a hoof against her chin, "Hmmmm, let me see..... because we can?"
"T-that i-isn't a g-good reason!"
"Sure it is! Look," Sweetie turned around, "Apple Bloom! Us doing this just because we can is a good reason right?"
"Eeyup!"
Sweetie faced Scootaloo again, "See!"
"A-apple Bloom i-isn't t-the b-best pony to g-go to for a-advice. S-she h-hasn-t g-got t-the best m-morals."
"Sure Ah do." The earth pony retorted, walking back to the pair.
"Y-you really d-don't A-AB. R-remember the d-dog incident."
Sweetie shivered, "Actually, you might be right Scootaloo."
Apple Bloom frowned, "Let's jus' go."
It took about ten minutes walking time before Sweetie decided to teleport the trio to Whitetail.
Sweetie grinned, taking in her surroundings, "They really went for it this year with the decorations, huh?"
Scootaloo looked at one of the trees, "T-this s-seems too realistic... a-are we sure w-we're i-in W-whitetail?"
"Where else would we be?" Sweetie questioned.
Apple Bloom picked up a plant between her teeth. It let out a screech and hid under the ground. She looked to the other two, "We're in the Everfree."
Three things happened at once.
Firstly, Scootaloo imediately went into panic mode, nothing could get through to her now.
Secondly, the magic of the Everfree decided to block off her teleportation powers.
Finally, a timberwolf howled.
"And it sounds like it knows." Apple Bloom stated in her usual monotone voice.
"H-how can y-you be so calm?!"
"Ah'm actually very sacred."
"Y-you d-don't sound it!"
Sweetie grinned, "Let's kill it!"
"N-no!"
"Oh, com'on, Scoots! Live a little!"
"W-we should j-just run away!"
"Why?"
"Ah agree with Scootaloo."
Sweetie Belle paused, "What?"
Apple Bloom repeated herself, "Ah agree with Scootaloo."
Scootaloo poked Apple Bloom experimently, she then looked back to Sweetie, "She is d-definately, a-actually s-saying this."
Apple Bloom sighed, "Timberwolves are foal's play anyway. We can come back another day. Let's just leave."
Sweetie blocked off Apple Bloom as she tried to walk away, "You love fighting, AB!"
"Well, Ah don't like timberwolves. And look at Scootaloo, yer really think she could handle 'em without havin' a breakdown halfway through?"
Sweetie considered this, "Good point. Let's go."
The trio started walking before the wolves caught up to them.
"Change of plans; run!" Sweetie yelled, picking up her pace. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were quick to follow.
"S-sweetie, y-your powers!" Scootaloo yelled forwards.
"What about them?"
"Use 'em!" Apple Bloom yelled from ahead.
"I can't! Something's blocking it!"
"W-wha-" Scootaloo's hoof got snagged on a root and she fell forward.
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie turned back towards her friend.
They met halfway, and were about to continue running before timberwolves surrounded them.
"O-oh no..." Scootaloo murmured.
Sweetie tried desperately to get her magic to do something, anything, but it didn't work.
"Oh, this was a bad idea! Scootaloo, it's been a good run!"
"W-what?! W-we w-won't die!"
Sweetie scoffed, "How do you suggest we get out of this situation then?"
"Well, t-there's App--"
"Apple Bloom? She won't come back. She wouldn't waste time on getting out alive. She'd do whatever it takes to keep her skin."
Scootaloo looked to Sweetie, then back at the ground, "S-she will c-come."
"Oh my Celes--"
Suddenly, one of the timberwolves let out a painful howl. Pieces of wood were chipped off its back and it fell to the ground in a pile of debris.
Apple Bloom growled, "Anypony else?"
The timberwolves looked at each other then darted off.
Scootaloo smiled, "I-I told y-you!"
Sweetie bit down a wave of guilt, "Yeah, I know! I was just testing to see how much faster she would kill them if she heard somepony insulting her."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, "Let's go find our sisters and their friends."
"Y-yeah!"
Sweetie agreed with the other two, following behind them. She tried her hardest not to smile when she noticed Apple Bloom glancing at both her and Scootaloo out the corner of her eye.
She was worried about us.
Ponies are weird.
Shut up, Sombra.
Author's Note
I'm baaaaack! And look what I brought with me! After my two year break I decided to get into the fandom again, I do not regret it. This will ne the story I plan om updating the most, and another update will be out shortly, either today or tommorrow!
See ya soon!
One Cloud, Two Cloud -- THIS ISN'T WORKING HOLY SHIIII----!!!!
"I-I can't b-believe S-sweetie's sick."
"Mhm."
"S-she's never s-sick!
"Mhm."
"...a-are you i-ignoring m-me?"
"Mhm."
Scootaloo groaned as she sat down at her desk, her disgruntled companion taking the one next to her.
"Y-you g-got up o-on the wrong s-side of the bed this m-morning."
"Ah don' sleep."
"O-oh, yeah. F-forgot a-about that."
Scootaloo spun around to face the front, ignoring the constant sharp pain her front hoof had. She almost cried when Diamond Tiara walked in, especially when their eyes met.
Smugly, the pink earth pony walked up to her, "Hey there, chicken."
Scootaloo shrunk back, "P-please, n-not today."
"Say that without stuttering and I might consider it."
Scootaloo bit back tears, and saw Diamond's grin go wider, before it fell completely.
"Hey, Diamond. Exist without wearin' that dorky lil' crown of yours an' Ah might consider not rippin' yer face off."
Scootaloo stared at Apple Bloom, shocked when Diamond cautiously moved to her own desk, muttering something about it being a tiara.
"A--"
Just as Scootaloo was about to question her friend, Cheerlie walked in.
"Hello, class! Today, we will be trying something new instead of our normal lessons!"
If Scootaloo didn't want to cry before, she did now. She couldn't understand how insane her teacher was.
"...now if you get stuck, don't panic! We will find your corpse sooner or later!"
Oh, yes, don't panic, we just had to go in pairs through one of the most dangerous caves in Equestria. Snakes, lava, Ursa Majors... and more!
She was just glad she was getting paired up with Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom would always make sure she was safe.
"So, that being said, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, you're up first!"
"Are yer comin'?" Apple Bloom asked her, walking towards the cave.
Scootaloo nodded and followed on shaky legs.
"It'll be okay." Apple Bloom offered in a deadpan tone.
Scootaloo couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
Just agree. It's the best way with Apple Bloom. I can't say I'm scared, Apple Bloom would be so disappointed. Apple Bloom's never scared.
Apple Bloom tried to ignore how cold the cave felt. Tried to ignore Scootaloo's frantic whimpers. Tried to ignore them.
"H-hey, Apple B-bloom?" Scootaloo called out once they had been walking through the cave for about five minutes.
"Eeyup?"
"I-if you h-had to choose b-between getting o-out alive or--"
"We won' die."
Apple Bloom saw Scootaloo frown out the corner of her eye.
"T-that's not w-what I m-meant..." The pegasus muttered. Apple Bloom clearly wasn't meant to hear, so she kept silent.
They're gonna leave you sooner or later... all of them.
"Shut up..."
Scootaloo's ear perked up, "What?"
Apple Bloom bit her tounge, "Nothin', let's keep movin'."
Pathetic.
Apple Bloom knew exactly what kind of creature lurked in this cave, and she hated it.
Rainbow Dash was having a fairly normal day until she flew over a school field trip. She doesn't know why she decided to land, but assumed it had something to do with Cheerlie, the mare creeped her out.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash! How lovely to see you!" Cheerlie... well... cheered.
Rainbow gave a polite smile, "Yeah, same. So... what are these little squirts learning about?"
Cheerlie's unwavering smile continued, "Dangerous creatures!"
Rainbow did not like the sound of that at all.
"Uh huh, and what are they doing here...?"
"They're going in pairs to fight creatures!"
Rainbow blinked, "And who's in there now?"
"Well, Apple Bloom and your sister, Scootaloo."
"WHAT?!"
The pair walked in silence for a while. Apple Bloom was leading, only because Scootaloo struggled to keep up. She honestly just wanted to leave. She wanted the earth pony to say something, anything.
Scootaloo paused, Apple Bloom would never speak without needing to.
Scootaloo decided to break the silence.
"I wonder how Sweetie's doing."
"Ah'm sure she's fine."
"When I escape these mortal chains, I will continue to be so evil, I will cause chaos and darkness! I will rule Eques-"
Rarity cut her off, "Is that the stuffed ursa major toy I got you when you were three?"
Sweetie shuffled under her blanket, "HIS NAME IS LIEUTENANT SNUGGLEBUG AND HE IS SECOND IN COMMAND TO MY ARMY OF DARKNESS!"
Apple Bloom laughed slightly, "How much yer reckon Lieutenant Snugglebug has made a return?"
Scootaloo giggled, "Oh, he most d-d-definately will h-have."
A roar echoed throughout the cave.
Scootaloo felt a jolt of fear go through her, one that only worsened when she saw that Apple Bloom tensed up.
"Hide behin' that rock. Don' say a word, don't look up." The earth pony commanded, already pulling her along.
Scootaloo ducked her head the second she felt a cold presence nearby. She heard laboured breathing come from it. Gasping, rattly sounds that only worsened as it came closer. She knew she shouldn't look, but she just couldn't help herself.
She turned to look and suddenly she wasn't in the cave anymore, she was 700 feet in the air and falling, she tried to scream but nothing came out, nopony could help her. She fell and she fell and she fell. That's all she was doing. Falling, falling, falling, falling. She flapped her wings. Flap, flap, flapping. She couldn't fly. She will never fly.
"Hey!"
Scootaloo blinked and she was back in the cave, Apple Bloom was in front of her and apparently they had moved on from the rock, and the thing was gone.
"W-when did we...-"
"Ah said not to look up!"
Scootaloo recoiled, Apple Bloom's glare softened.
"Yer have no idea what that thing was, do yer?"
Scootloo shook her head numbly.
Apple Bloom sighed, "That was a Timor Viventom, more commonly known as a Mortemator. They show yer your greatest fears an' while yer vunerable they feed off yer life force. Luckily, Ah was there so that last part didn't happen to yer."
"Have you... seen them before?" Scootaloo asked, noting how her friend's eyes shrunk slightly.
"...Ah mean, there's no poin' tryna hide it, it's kinda obvious."
"Were you... scared?"
"Ah--"
"Kids!"
The pair looked up to see Rainbow Dash coming to a stop right in front of them.
"Rainbow!" Scootaloo hugged her leg.
"Are you two okay?"
Scootaloo nodded her head, "I am!"
"What about you, Apple Bloom?"
"....yeah."
"Right, let's get outta here."
Apple Bloom didn't want to admit she was scared.
Author's Note
Here we go! Sorry for the lack of Sweetie Belle in this chapter! She seemed to have the spotlight in the last two however, and I wanted to work on the relationship between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. As well as some forshadowing.
Also, to help you understand the personalities of some characters better, here is some songs they would sing from hamilton:
Sweetie Belle: "I know him"
Scootaloo: "Wait for it"
Apple Bloom: "The world was wide enough"
Twilight: "Non-stop"
Rainbow: "Hurricane"
Pinkie: "What'd I miss"
Applejack: "Dear Theodosia"
Fluttershy: "Helpless"
Rarity: "Satisfied"
