Chapter 1: Pain in the Rain
The clock ticks as the rain is heard falling onto the roof of the schoolhouse. Everypony impatiently waits in anticipation for the bell to ring and finally, it does.
"Alright class you may now be dismissed, but don't forget the group assignment and your homework are due by Friday so have a nice day!" Cheerilee announced to the classroom which was now almost empty as students flocked outside.
It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon and one by one, colts and fillies made their way home as Applebloom caught up to her friends.
The rain definitely wasn't helping anypony's mood, and Sweetie Belle was no exception.
"Aww why did it have to rain today?" Sweetie Belle complained.
"Yeah it sucks. I mean, this day was going to be perfect!" Scootaloo chimed in as she was re-visiting today's plans in her mind.
"Well at least us Earth Ponies'll be gettin' water fir our crops. And ah' think a little change a weather is nice every once in awhile." Applebloom said, trotting closer to them so she could hear their voices better over the sound of the seemingly endless precipitation.
"I guess she has a point, I just wasn't planning on getting wet today." Scootaloo said, laughing it off.
The three then walked down the road for another minute or two, discussing things like homework and possible methods to finally earn their cutie marks.
Applebloom scratched her chin in thought.
"Hmm, maybe we should try drawin' or somethin, after all an artistic cutie mark would probably look real nice."
"What about gaming? Button Mash is into it all the time so it's got to at least be fun." Sweetie Belle added on.
"Oh, well I guess gaming is more of a hobby than something to live by, even if he doesn't think so." Scootaloo said, respectfully rejecting Sweetie's idea.
"Hey maybe we should try to write adventure books to impress Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo excitedly wondered as her face lit up. Suddenly, they started to hear hoofsteps approaching from behind.
"Of course you would be the one talking about her!" Called a familiar voice from behind them.
"Oh no what now?" Scootaloo muttered as the group turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon holding fancy umbrellas with devious looks on their faces.
"Hey Silver look, it's the blank flanks with their nasty, soaked hair! How's the rain taste losers?" Diamond asked in a mocking tone.
Silver Spoon took a glance at the three fillies sides.
"Don't ask that Diamond since they obviously have no taste OR talents!" Silver Spoon teased as both foals laughed at them.
Scootaloo looked irritated, as she knew she had every right to be. Ever since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had even formed, Diamond and Silver were always there to put them down, and she and her friends have had enough.
"Ugh don't you have anything better to do with your fancy stuff?"
"Yeah for once in your life can you please just leave us alone? We didn't ask you to follow us." Sweetie Belle pleaded.
Diamond feigned looking like she was in thought.
"Now why would we do that if you're not even gonna do anything blank flank?" She replied with power in her voice.
Much like Scootaloo, Applebloom was to say the least, very ticked off at the actions of these two. Why couldn't they just mind their own buisness? The more she thought, the madder she got as well, and she thought of what her sister Applejack would do in this situation, so she proceeded to say something she would probably regret.
"Oh really? Well how bout' you get yer' spoiled rich flanks over here and Ah'll show ya what ah can do!"
The area fell quiet for a moment. Silver Spoon looked shocked, she had never heard them stand up like that before but Diamond was not phased in the slightest as she kept the same cunning, crap-eating grin as she whispered something into Silver's ear that nopony could quite make out.
"With pleasure." She said to the crusaders as Sweetie Belle gave a shocked look to Applebloom.
"What are you doing? I appreciate you standing up but I have a bad feeling that this is gonna end up even worse. "
Applebloom tried to keep her most cool, calm, and collected face but couldn't help it when they caught a glimpse of worry in her eyes.
"Ah don't know Ah'm just tryin' to get em' to back off. I thought puttin' some assertiveness into it would scare em away but we weren't prepared for this!"
"Well it didn't work, look." Sweetie Belle pointed her hoof at a rapidly approaching Silver Spoon.
Scootaloo heroically stepped in front of them at the last minute.
"If you wanna get to her you're gonna go through me!" Once again, everypony was taken aback by this sudden action but this time, it was their purple maned classmate who stood up.
The three fillies although not completely knowing what could happen next, held their ground as Silver got right up in Scootaloo's face that happened to be right above a mud puddle. What they didn't notice though, was that Diamond Tiara had completely vanished from behind her opposition.
"Kick her tail Scootaloo!" Applebloom encouraged from her right side, Sweetie on her left. They knew it was three on two and they could surely fend off the enemies of annoyance. Or enemy in this case as Sweetie Belle realized the tiara wearing bully was nowhere to be seen so she spoke up.
"Wait where did Diamond Tiara g-"
THWAP The sound was heard by all ponies on the dirt path as something hard hit Scootaloo the back of the knee as she screamed in pain and fell face-first into the mud. By the time anypony knew what has just happened, Diamond was already skipping away laughing maniacally. Silver however, stayed right in her place.
"That dirty little- OH MY GOSH SCOOTALOO ARE YOU OKAY?" Sweetie Belle yelled in concern for her friend. Applebloom stood there dumbfounded, that could've been them if Scootaloo didn't step in the way.
"What? You wanted a fight and we gave it to you!" Silver attempted to justify their actions as she got down to the fallen foal's level.
"Aww, Look at little Rainbow Dash junior, gonna cry?" Their eyes locked, one pair filled with evil, satisfaction, and even entertainment, the other pair filled with tears, anger, pain, and slight spots of brown mud.
"BUCK OFF!" Sweetie Belle suddenly screamed with a slight voice crack but she didn't care. As long as her friend was okay and those jerks were out of their faces.
"Whatever you say Squeaky Belle!" Silver Spoon emphasized while running off to catch up with her friend. Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom sighed, part in defeat, part in disappointment. If those two had wanted to make a statement and get in their rival's heads, they found a good way to do it.
"Are you alright? Here, get up." Applebloom gave her hoof to Scootaloo who pulled herself off the ground.
Scootaloo slowly staggered to onto her hooves and was able to cough out a response.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry girls, I've felt worse."
"Are ya sure? Ya fell pretty hard and you'll probably need a towel." Applebloom mused while giving the pegasus member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders a suspicious look.
"Trust me I'll be fine. But one things for sure, they won't be." Scootaloo said in a serious voice, with an evil smile creeping up below her nose.
"So how are we supposed to get revenge, if we even bother to?" Applebloom asked as they all headed down the path, still soaked as they felt the rain continuing to pour. At least it had slightly gone down and was more of a drizzle now.
Sweetie Belle pondered this, and turned to give her friend a modest look.
"Call me crazy but I don't think revenge is the right move here. Personally, I feel like we should just leave them alone and not give them happiness by reacting or anything."
"Ah get that, but we've been trying that forever, since it didn't work then it probably won't now. And those times they never touched us, just made us feel bad." Applebloom mentioned.
"At this point we could just call randomly hittin' em self-defense."
"What do you think Scootaloo?"........ "Scootaloo?"
"Oh sorry about that I was spacing out. I don't think I know."
"But you're the one who had this idea in the first place!" Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"I know that but I just wanna get back at them in anyway really. I told you they were going to pay and I meant it so much that I don't even know what I'll do." Scootaloo explained.
"Well ah think them hittin' you like that just ain't right. How bout' some good ol' fashioned karma, by any means necessary? You're mah friend Scootaloo and I hate to see you get hurt so let's make em' regret it!" Applebloom proposed.
Scootaloo was shocked, even slightly intimidated. She had no idea that Applebloom was capable of such aggression, but as she thought about it the more she liked her fighting spirit as she looked at her with a more understanding expression.
"I guess you're right. Like I said, as long as it makes them regret their stunt, and makes sure they'll never act like that again, I couldn't care less."
"Girls are you sure this is a good idea? You know after whatever we do they'll just find somepony else to get on their side." Sweetie Belle told them, slightly worried.
"Oh come on Sweetie Belle you've gotta be kidding if you think they don't deserve it. And even if we do get in trouble at least we'll be even!" Scootaloo proudly stated.
"Fair point but I just don't want this to turn out bad, especially since they're rich they could take us to court or something!"
Sweetie Belle said, her friend not easing her nerves very much.
Scootaloo thought of the possible situations they could end up in for this, but failed to see anything too bad that could possibly go wrong enough to halt her plans, and her rebellious attitude didn't help either.
"I missed the part where that's my problem- if anything it's our parents who get in trouble, and they'll probably be fine once they see why we did it."
Sensing her unicorn friend's nerves but also deeply wanting to get revenge with her pegasus friend, Applebloom got back into the conversation to tell them her true opinions.
"Well Sweetie, we don't wanna make ya too stressed from this here but ah just think you worry too much sugarcube," Applebloom stated. "So Scootaloo, Ah say as long as it gets em' outta our hair, we can do just about anything to em."
Sweetie Belle was reluctant at first, they didn't even know what to do for revenge in the first place! But she quickly realized that there probably wasn't anything she could do to convince Scootaloo otherwise, it was Scootaloo after all. And as risky as it was, it would also be pretty nice and feel even better to pay those two back for all the heck they have put her and her crusader friends through without even having a good reason.
"Fine. But you two are taking the blame if this goes south." Sweetie Belle bluntly replied with a quiet sigh.
"Yeah that's the spirit Sweetie!" Scootaloo enthusiastically exclaimed, happy that her pal finally came around.
"But this still leaves one question though." Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"What's that?" Scootaloo and Applebloom asked simultaneously.
"What are we even gonna do for revenge, put some dirt in their eyes?" She questioned, coming forth with what she had been wondering this whole time.
"Because I don't think we should hit them back, that'd just start up chaos." Sweetie Belle carried on.
Applebloom stated thinking harder about the subject, was there even a way to do this innocent enough to not have violence, but effective enough to really show em' who's boss? Then at that moment, she got a perfect idea that was too good not to suggest.
"Maybe we should try like a prank or somethin? It don't have to be dangerous, just as long as they start to know better and finally back off."
Sweetie Belle pondered this idea in her head for a moment. She knew Rarity hated pranks, but as she thought about the concept of a prank, she realized that she didn't totally hate the idea. It was definitely good enough to do to Diamond and/or Silver, and they could always just say they were having fun if they were told on. And, since the scariest holiday of the year was coming up, it would simply be to good of an opportunity to pass up! The idea was "simply divine!" she thought, mocking her sister's accent.
"That could work. Nightmare Night is right around the corner too so maybe we should spook the tiara and glasses right off their heads!" Sweetie Belle mentioned her thoughts to the rest of the group.
"A prank? Sweet Celestia how did I not think of that?!" Scootaloo responded. "Rainbow Dash loves doing them and it would be an awesome way to get revenge. You two are genius! Sweetie slightly blushed at the unexpected compliment as Applebloom nodded in confirmation. Everything was proceeding as they had foreseen.
"So maybe go to a joke store or somethin like that?" Applebloom wondered, questioning what they were even planning and where to get the materials.
"Actually, I was thinking of something a little more extreme.." Scootaloo informed them with a mischievous look, obviously already knowing her own full intentions.
"Like what?"
Chapter 2: Silent but Deadly
The day progressed, and the rain soon started to clear up as it was slowly becoming a sunny day again. It had been around 10 minutes since Scootaloo shared her "Totally Awesome Revenge Prank" idea with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and as they approached their destination, Sweetie Belle's face grew progressively more worried while Applebloom looked confused, yet somehow still hopeful.
Scootaloo however, had a face of sheer determination but was also somewhat dreadful as she slightly slowed her pace down. They were almost there.
"This is a terrible idea. Can't we just throw water on them or something?" Sweetie Belle pleaded, knowing there was no possibility that this could end well even if they did make it out.
"For once Ah think Ah'm actually with Sweetie on this one, you know good and well that nothing comes out of the Everfree Forest the same as when it entered!" Applebloom tried to make her point, but was afraid the decision was already final.
Scootaloo still had a look of dread, but quickly shook it off as she told herself it was all gonna be worth it and knew it's exactly what her idol Rainbow Dash would do, never run from the face of danger.
"You do remember how the whole prank and scare thing were your ideas right? We wanted to scare them, and since the Everfree is the scariest place in all of Equestria, that's exactly what we're gonna do."
"And besides, Zecora lives here so it can't be that bad!"
"Well that's because she's Zecora, she lives in a hut and makes all these potions and stuff. And in case you couldn't tell, we don't have those!" Sweetie Belle pressed on.
"And even if we do get whatever we're even looking for and we somehow pull this off smoothly, our sisters are gonna be so mad if they find out!" She finished but still with at least a dozen more reasons why not to continue but they had already wasted time on this so at this point it was already a lost cause in her eyes.
"Look, I know this seems awful but please just trust me on this. I promise you when we see the looks on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's faces it'll all be worth it." Scootaloo tried to calm her friend down and it sort of worked, her expression eased up a bit but not enough to hide a tensed up look she gave to both of them.
"We won't even go that far in, we're just looking for something, anything creepy enough to spook them right out of their 5-star houses." She finished and Sweetie finally started to seem calm again.
Sweetie Belle thought about this in her head, if what they said about life was true, then she would probably have way worse problems than a dumb forest. Besides, if Rarity had made it out fine, why couldn't she? Sweetie Belle questioned herself as her confidence grew. Soon enough, she had a response.
"F-Fine, I guess it can't be too bad if Princess Twilight's been in here, it's not like it'll be all day, and the three of us could definitely take down anything that tries something funny!"
"Now that's what I love to see haha, I knew you could do it!" Scootaloo proudly encouraged her friend, with newfound energy and a well-set mission in place. Yet she still felt like something was missing though but before she could mention it, apparently Sweetie Belle had already noticed and asked before she could.
"Hey Applebloom are you alright? You've been kinda quiet." She asked, a little concerned why the earth pony was acting out of character.
"Oh yeah Ah'm okay, just thinkin' about this bizarre plan of ours." She assured her friend.
"Okay good it just seemed a little weird that's all." Scootaloo chimed in, still happy that every was going as planned.
In reality, Applebloom was thinking about lot more than just the plan. During Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's conversation, she had been wondering if this was actually worth it going someplace so mysterious on such a random occasion. She figured it had to be, after all it was her plan to do a prank in the first place. But something just felt wrong, almost like that feeling of being watched, but by invisible eyes. Applebloom tried to rid her body of the feeling and convince herself it was nothing more than just her emotions getting the best of her, but it still lingered in the back of her mind.
Soon enough, they arrived to the edge of the Everfree Forest, looking as spooky and sinister as ever, which did absolutely nothing to stop the butterflies from swarming in all three of their stomachs. Not even Scootaloo, the driving force of this entire operation, had a single clue what they were going to do. They were simply going to go in, find something strange enough, get out, and put this prank into motion. Or so it seemed.
"Alright girls, we're here. Got any last words?" Scootaloo joked, mainly to get rid of their stress for what they were really about to do.
Sweetie Belle figured it would help her anxiety as well, so she continued with the joke.
"No I don't, just tell Rarity I read all her adult magazines if I don't make it out." She chuckled.
"Sure thing Sweetie Belle, Ah'm sure she'll have missed you already." Applebloom responded in a sarcastic tone with a slight laugh of her own.
"Ooh, hey Sweetie Belle you want some ice for that burn? I'm sure we could ask one of those forest monsters for some." Scootaloo gestured to the forest with a small smile on her lips.
"You would do that wouldn't ya Scootaloo?" Applebloom jokingly teased as they all continued toward the dark trees below the almost darker clouds, the gravity of the situation was slowly starting to sink in again.
"Alright enough messin' around, we got scares to snatch and bullies to catch." Applebloom announced as Scootaloo lead the way. Everypony there was still having their doubts but they had already come so far. Besides, it would definitely help get them respect if they had actually escaped this unscathed. Maybe they could even get cutie marks in adventure or something like that?
The trio carried on, but Sweetie Belle had slightly fallen behind, caught up by her own feelings as well. What none of them noticed though, was that from the second they arrived, there had not been a single noise that came from that forest which was very strange, the Everfree usually always had some kind of weird activity going on.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders ventured on into the forest, each of them already getting bad vibes from their surroundings but kept their spirits high nevertheless. It was only about a minute or two until they noticed something was very different about this setting than what they had experienced before.
They had expected to have already been discovered or even attacked by Timberwolves or something similar but no, nothing. No calling birds, no creaking branches, it somehow almost seemed peaceful in a way.
"Maybe this isn't so bad after all, it actually looks kinda cool without the scary stuff involved." Sweetie Belle said, still a little creeped out by the quiet but happy that this wasn't going as terrible as she predicted.
"Yeah I have no idea what changed this place, but I'm glad it did. Now I guess all we need to do is find something weird to teach those rich jerks a lesson!" Scootaloo continued with the plan, hoping that there would actually be something worthy enough here to scare their foes into next week.
Applebloom was skeptical, Applejack had warned her so many times now not to come here, and she had even seen why not herself. But why was everything apparently just fine now? Sure the serenity was nice, but it just didn't seem normal for the Everfree Forest.
"Hmm Ah don't know girls, somethin' just ain't right in this place. Maybe it's cus' of how peaceful it is here, but why did it change? Kinda creepy if you ask me."
"I see what you mean, it is kinda weird but I wouldn't complain. Let's just collect what's necessary, and we can get out of here easy as pie." Sweetie reassured Applebloom.
"And I- Wait what's that?" Sweetie Belle changed topics as she pointed to something around her. It was fog. Deep, gray, quiet fog that seemed to have just randomly showed up out of the blue.
"Fog.. Oh boy, that's a great sign!" Scootaloo sarcastically emphasized. Nopony actually knew if this fog was a bad thing or not, it was just air after all. However, this fog combined with the naturally eerie appearance of the surrounding forest painted a terrifyingly beautiful picture. And at that very moment, the atmosphere began to ever so slowly get colder as all three felt shivers down their spines.
Despite the new color of the area's air, the fillies moved on, and it quickly began to become more and more apparent how strange the situation was actually becoming. This fog although brightening up the wooded section of nature, made it more difficult for the now weary ponies to see what was far ahead of them.
They soon passed a flowing creek, but there were no fish contained within it's boundaries. They passed it off as a coincidence though and pressed on into the fog.
They searched and searched but to no avail. Strangely, there was nothing they could find to have possibly used as part of their retribution prank. Nothing growing on the trees, no creepy little creatures, the entire time they hadn't even heard as much as a step or seen as much as a movement. In fact, the entire setting didn't even have a scent.
"Okay am I the only one getting totally weirded out by this? First the fog just shows up and now nothing has even happened in this entire forest!" Scootaloo questioned with a hint of frustration that this plan had most likely failed.
"Yeah Ah suppose it is a little strange, not to mention we've been wanderin' for about 10 minutes and haven't even found anything scary enough to use either. Ah hate to say it but Ah think this is just a waste of time at this point." Applebloom responded in a despondent tone.
"Heh. Ironic isn't it? The one time we actually want the Everfree Forest to be horrific it isn't." Sweetie Belle joined in. A part of her was happy about this seeing as they could surely just go somewhere else to find what was needed, but another part was disappointed that she couldn't pull of something truly scary on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon or get to see the satisfaction on Scootaloo's face from putting them in their place.
Ever since Scootaloo had stood up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to protect her and Applebloom and even before that when they had first met, Sweetie had this weird, fuzzy feeling about this Pegasus.
At first she thought it was just great appreciation for everything her friend did for her, but when Scootaloo had tried her best and even succeeded in making her happy to the best of her ability and calming Sweetie's worries, her true feelings towards Scootaloo were an absolute train wreck of emotional energy.
But there was no time for that, she figured she might as well focus on the task at hoof to take everything off her shoulders. And maybe she could figure out her true feelings on the way?
Scootaloo was disappointed about the apparent failure of the plan as well, it could've been a lot worse but also could've been a lot better too.
"I guess everything just sucks for us then, I'm all for staying determined and all but I just think we chose the wrong day to try this out."
Sweetie Belle hated to see her friend discouraged especially after Scootaloo had encouraged her earlier so she would try to help in any way she could.
"I'm sorry Scootaloo, I know you were really looking forward to this especially after what they did to you but it looks like we can't have our way right now, we'll just have to try something else I guess."
"Sweetie Belle's right, Just because this didn't work doesn't mean anything else won't. And besides, Ah'm just glad nothing bad happened in this darn forest so at least we still got that goin' for us." Applebloom said, trying to keep everypony as optimistic as possible.
Scootaloo looked at the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders with a content expression, glad that her classmates had made her feel better about it.
"You girls are right, if anything this probably just means we'll find something even better to use for this anyway. I'm sure everything's gonna turn out just fine."
All three ponies then smiled to each other in appreciation of what Scootaloo had just said prior. Although afterward, Sweetie Belle couldn't seem to take her attention off one single direction, the direction that was behind them.
Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle in strong confusion as she stopped moving, what could possibly be that important back there?
Applebloom followed the Unicorn's eyes with her own, before they too got stuck on the same sight in the same position. Scootaloo turned as well and what she and the other girls had finally seen at that very moment was enough to make each their bloodstreams run freezing cold.
They didn't know what it was, they had no clue how long it had been standing there, they didn't even know where it could have possibly came from, all they knew was that it looked like a dragon but clearly was not. It stood on two legs, and appeared to have claws sticking out of its hooves and all of the fog they had just passed through was especially profuse around it.
Nopony knew what could happen in this situation. If the Crusaders ran, they would probably lose each other within the twist and turns of the Everfree Forest's confusing geological design. And if they confronted this strange being, Celestia knows what it would do.
They didn't even know if it understood ponish, let alone if it would conceit to their reasoning, and could obviously best them in combat. They were also afraid to turn to each other and have a side conversation about this because they did not want this to be another Slenderpony story and have it get closer while they look away.
The Forest remained silent and the creature remained still, not a single movement, not a single sound from it or anything around it. It simply stayed and stood in the same halfway-hunched over position it was in when they had first seen it.
This was like nothing nopony had ever seen before and The Cutie Mark Crusaders were stuck in the middle of it all. They didn't want violence, they didn't want to be there any longer. All each of them wanted was for this bizarre thing to leave them be and let them go.
At this point, Sweetie Belle was shaking more than a tree during a windstorm. One reason is because of the cold temperature, and the other being the paralyzing sight in front of her eyes.
Applebloom wasn't doing much better either, she had thought about speaking up to this unknown child of Mother Nature but could never muster up the confidence to make a peep.
Scootaloo was the bravest but also most confused of the trio and she couldn't help but feel some guilt. If it wasn't for her never ending drive, her and her friends wouldn't even be in this situation.
But she didn't have time to dwell on that, there was a monster just a few meters away from her face that she felt most older ponies would step right on up and have a scrap with. They needed something, and they needed something fast.
However to their complete surprise, it somehow appeared to hear their quiet pleads of mercy. It got a final sight of them, turned to face the forest, and awkwardly stepped off into the foggy woods where it seemed to have came from. Or at least where they assumed it situates itself in. Something they all took note of though was that it's hoofsteps did not even make sound when it walked either.
Applebloom was the first to speak up but it took no genius to tell that even she was easily phased by the presence of that monster. However, she still had more questions than answers that she desperately hoped one of the other Crusaders knew.
"What in Equestria's name was that?"
"I don't know, and I don't think we should think about it. I guess that was just one of the Everfree's weird monsters we haven't heard of yet. But it left us alone and it's finally gone now, so let's do what we said we were gonna do and beat it before it comes back." Scootaloo said, clearly not wanting to stick around much longer and for good reason. Who knows what would've happened if that thing wasn't as careless as it had been.
Sweetie Belle was also shaken up by the situation as she was sure everypony else had been, so much so that she also didn't even care about the prank anymore, just as long as they were out before anything else decided to make it's presence felt.
But no matter how bad she wanted to leave ASAP, her thoughts just kept on drifting back to Scootaloo. She's so confident, we could have just died and she's already going back to the original plan that fast? She's so cool, so now it's time for me to be. Sweetie thought to herself.
"I don't know what it was either, but I agree with Scootaloo, let's just leave before it's mother or anything else shows up. Sigh I told you that this revenge thing was a bad idea from the start."
The girls stuck with doing what they said they were going to do, so they turned around to exit the Everfree Forest from where they came in. They had already walked for about 15 minutes before they had the encounter with what Scootaloo was now calling "The Forest King", as unoriginal as it was.
On the way back, all three fillies were met with many emotions, mainly fear, but also disappointment and frustration. The pony feeling the most of this though, was Scootaloo herself. Not only was she humiliated and hurt, but her own rage for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon could've gotten her and her friends hurt. So she figured she may as well think about it all while she had the chance.
Sweetie Belle was right, this was a terrible idea. She's always right in the end, but I still always just keep dragging her along to do it anyway. Guess I owe her an apology, after all it wouldn't hurt to at least let her know.
"Hey Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked somewhat timidly.
"Yes?" She responded, not expecting the sudden mention of her name, but still curious.
"I-I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all this. You really were right to be worried and even when you were uncomfortable, I still continued pushing you. And now thanks to me we could've almost been eaten or something back there! I just needed revenge on those two rich egg heads and was being selfish so I understand if you're mad, and that goes for you too Applebloom. "
Applebloom had heard Scootaloo's apology and was surprised that she would just open up and be sappy like that. It wasn't exactly like her to do but she wasn't complaining in the slightest.
"Aww yah didn't have to say that Scoots, remember I wanted to get em' back too and it's really no big deal considering what we just saw back there. But thanks anyway Scootaloo, it means a lot. And Ah'm glad that at least we're on the same page now." Applebloom said to Scootaloo with a small smile, happy that things were working out.
On the flipside, Sweetie Belle listened to every word of what the orange pegasus had to say.
"O-Oh, you don't have anything to be sorry for, I actually think it was awesome how you stood in the way when those brats came for us and then how you recovered so quickly after The Forest King went away and-" Sweetie Belle took a moment to think to herself about what she was saying.
Oh no I think I let too much out! She probably gets the point by now so I'll just shut up before I say something I regret. She thought as her and her friends were around 5 minutes away from the exit.
"Well you get my point." Sweetie quickly ended the compliment spree to save herself from any further embrassing, although looking like a dork in the process.
"Sweetie Belle, did you really mean all that?.." Scootaloo asked with a curious yet hopeful tone. Nopony had ever really said that much good stuff about her so this was a welcome suprise.
Oh Sweet Luna now she's asking even more questions than she probably was before! Why did I think this was oka- No. Get a grip Sweetie Belle, if she really does care about you, she won't care who you are or what you've done. You've felt this way for months and if Applebloom cares for you she won't make fun of what you'll say either. Scootaloo is right there for crying out loud so just tell her.
Sweetie Belle sighed. She couldn't believe she was about to say this right here of all places but it was perfect timing and she had to before the confidence left her heart again.
Meanwhile, Applebloom was trotting up beside the two with a smug look on her face waiting for their conversation to escalate but even her anticipation couldn't stop her from noticing something moving in the trees for a split second.
"Yeah Scootaloo, I do mean it. Look, ever since we became friends and even before we met Applebloom, I-I've always thought those kind of things about you." Sweetie Belle was going to continue, but didn't really know what to say next. And judging by Scootaloo's modestly curious facial expressions, she figured she was at least getting "into it".
Scootaloo was waiting for her to go on, and she wouldn't let her down.
"I just always thought you were so cool with your scooter and how you always motivated us when we were feeling down. And in a way, I even tried to impress you sometimes. I mean why else do you think I agreed to go on this dumb revenge mission? It was all just to make you happy that I was with you."
Scootaloo was speechless. She had no idea Sweetie Belle liked her that much, let alone would just go all out confessing her emotions like she had just done. Now she had finally realized why her friend was acting slightly different around her lately, and now she knew Sweetie's true feelings about her.
"I-I don't know what to say but why? Why did you do that much? You could have gotten hurt back there and you did it just to make me feel better? I really, really appreciate it Sweetie Belle, but why would you go that far just for a friend like me?"
"Because you're more than just a friend to me!"
The entire place somehow went even more quiet. Each of the girls stopped right in their places, and a gasp escaped Applebloom's mouth who was just standing on the sidelines loving every second of what was going on, waiting for the fireworks to go off, and go off they did.
Crap. Well it's too late to go back now, better finish the job. Sweetie Belle told herself as she knew what had to be said next. It was three little words, three words that had made so many dreams come true, so many lives worth living, and made so many friendships escalate to so much more.
But that didn't take away from the sheer difficulty and bravery it took for one just to say them, or the fact that Sweetie Belle was shaking like a seizure at this point. She knew what she had to do, but didn't know if she had the strength to do it.
"S-Scootaloo I- sigh, I love you."
At this point Sweetie Belle's heartbeat was so fast that it could be heard from both the fillies around her, Applebloom gave an impressed look to the Unicorn. She hadn't known about the secret but that didn't mean she had zero suspicions.
However Scootaloo's face told another story, one of confusion, but also one of pride and another emotion that was obvious due to her red as tomato cheeks. And just as she was going to respond, the sound of something rustling in the trees became apparent to each filly in the forest.
"Look Ah hate to ruin the moment but what the hay is that nois-AAARMMPHH!" Applebloom tried to scream but was quickly cut off. Her two friends turned to her in shock to be greeted with a scene worthy of a horror movie.
Applebloom was being held up under her forehooves by vines. Sharp, dark, twisted vines. Some of them covered her mouth so she could only glance down at the remaining Crusaders with tears forming in her eyes, and soon even more flora fell down from the trees and contracted around her neck.
The vines holding her hooves raised, and took her with them. The same vines holding her hooves quickly released her dangling legs, leaving Applebloom's body to fall only to have her throat caught by one last plant. And with one quick, neck-breaking snap, The Apple Family had just lost it's most playful member.
There was nothing that happened after that. No movements, no sounds, and no peace whatsoever. The only things that remained were Applebloom's swinging body, and the confused looks on the two living Cutie Mark Crusaders, but now those looks adopted another trait: Grief. They thought this had to be a nightmare, but deep down the girls knew they had just lost their dearest friend to a seemingly invisible force.
They had nothing to say, their best friend had just been killed right in front of them for goodness sake, but as Scootaloo felt like throwing up and Sweetie Belle started to cry for the fallen filly, another nightmare-fueling sight played out before their very eyes.
Right in front of Applebloom's swaying body, something had fallen from the trees. At first glance it looked like some kind of really big, deformed pony until the girls payed attention to how it landed: hooves first, and on two legs. And as it slowly started to stand up, it was becoming more and more apparent to them what this was.
The Forest King had returned, but with a stem in his claw, but it was attached to something above and as he released the stem, it speedily shot upwards as Applebloom hit the dirt with a loud thud right behind him.
Scootaloo's fight or flight instincts kicked in, and even though she technically couldn't actually fly yet, she still chose to. Scootaloo was still trying to shake off the feelings of what Sweetie had said to her just moments ago and Applebloom's undeserved fate that traumatized them both for life. She ran away with Sweetie Belle following close behind as he darted after them after pulling out another long vine.
The Unicorn and Pegasus duo ran away as fast as they possibly could. They each had four legs and he only had two, why wouldn't they be able to escape? Especially since they were previously only five minutes away from the exit and now they could almost see it. But what they couldn't see was the creature that was chasing them. Even as they looked back, he was nowhere to be seen. But they didn't care and just kept on running.
Pure adrenaline had been shooting through both of their vein systems, but was especially present in Sweetie Belle's. Not only was she both figuratively and literally dying to escape, but the thought of Scootaloo's possible response to her confession was constantly nagging in the back of her mind as well. It was now or never, and the sunlight of the Everfree's exit was in sight at this point. Just a little closer, almost there..
For the second time in only two and a half minutes, he jumped down from the trees and landed a few meters in front of them, which brought their sprint to a screeching halt. And conveniently enough, this never seen before abomination of Equestria was blocking their ticket out of there, nature's rope in hand. They had no choice but to run. Sure he ignored them, but that was before he hung an innocent foal.
"Go." Scootaloo commanded Sweetie Belle.
"What? No, I'm not leaving you here to di-"
"GO! He can't chase us both at the same time so I'll lure him away, and you get out of here."
"B-but you could get taken!"
"If what you said earlier is true, it will be worth it, and it's what Applebloom would have wanted. But if we don't live to tell the tale, just know that I love you too."
Scootaloo admitted this to the white Unicorn and as the beast approached, she gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "NOW FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE PLEASE JUST GET THE HAY OUT OF HERE!"
After a second or two of shock, Sweetie composed herself and gave the Pegasus a reassuring nod as Scootaloo turned and ran to the western portion of the Everfree Forest. As expected, all of The Forest King's attention was brought to Scootaloo's movement and he aggressively pursued her. The game had finally begun.
Even though she had been there before, Scootaloo wasn't exactly familiar with the terrain of the Everfree. And what was even worse for her was that she couldn't hear the hoofsteps of her oppressor so she could only look back to see how close he was to her. What she didn't notice though, was what he was dragging behind his back.
However, he seemed to have significantly slowed down running pace. At first, she figured he was just tired and she could easily get away long enough to find another way out, but Scootaloo realized two terrible truths. For starters he wasn't breathing heavily at all, and then she saw that she had literally backed herself into a corner.
Scootaloo noticed that she was so caught up in escaping, she didn't even know where she was going untill she ended up in front of a hill much too steep to climb and with noticeably sharper thorns in the plants at her sides. She was trapped, and The Forest King knew this as he ever so slowly approached. Almost like he was taunting her, because at that moment they both knew it was only a matter of time.
A trembling orange Pegasus filled the vision of The Forest King, as he started to close in on his second Cutie Mark Crusader victim of the day. That was until he had sensed something that wasn't normal for him since his arrival: Sound.
Scootaloo was too petrified to realize, but a presence started to make itself known to the forest, it was the sound of hoofsteps. And they were quickly getting much, much louder.
Standing atop the hill Scootaloo was backing up against was a figure that was getting closer and closer. And in the little sunlight that was shining into the Everfree Forest, was a green-eyed white Unicorn with a pink mane. Sweetie Belle had returned, and she leapt down from the ledge right in front of the evil being that had caused her so much pain in just one day.
But despite the sudden change in enemy numbers, The Forest King stayed calm. In fact, the reunited duo swore they saw a smile creeping up on his face. He took one of his claws that had been behind his back and revealed the hoof of a familiar filly, and both of them were paralyzed in fear as he tossed Applebloom's lifeless body right to them.
The Forest King was now blinded by a strong, white, lightning quick fury of strikes reigned down onto his head, but even with the full weight of a filly on his upper-midsection, he retained his standing stance.
Scootaloo was still shaken up by everything, and couldn't believe what she saw happen to Applebloom's body and she cried with a strong urge to vomit as the battle continued.
Soon enough, he got a proper hold of Sweetie when she slowed down from exhaustion and he was surprisingly able to throw her body all the way over to Scootaloo, who was almost hit by her own fillyfriend.
"Are you okay?! I told you to get out of here!" Scootaloo scolded, but was still glad to see Sweetie Belle again.
"I'm fine, and I said I wasn't gonna leave you here so even if we die, at least we'll have died trying together. And don't think he won't try, look at what he did to Applebloom!" Sweetie told her with motivation as her horn started to glow and charge up a laser beam. But not just any laser beam, one hopefully powerful enough to take down anything of that size.
The monster charged in as the horn charged up. And with a dust scattering laser strike, they thought it was all over until they looked up and saw that this creature had just taken an actual laser right through the belly, and was not even phased. The magic was treated as nothing but air as he continued rushing towards Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle, who had been tossed to the side earlier in the battle and had little to no energy after the use of her laser, witnessed The Forest King head towards a defenseless Scootaloo.
Scootaloo was backed into a ledge now as she watched him get closer while she had nowhere to go. She was almost ready to accept her fate until Sweetie Belle got back up and got in the way at the last second just like Scootaloo had done for Applebloom earlier that day.
She attempted to rush him again, but this time he was prepared. He took the vine he had carried with him to assist silencing them and he used it to wrap around her neck and slam her into the ground. Scootaloo tried to jump on him to take him down but he clutched her throat and tossed her into some bushes filled with piercing thorns as even more tears came down from the purple eyes.
The Forest King took Sweetie Belle who was still on the ground and ripped her horn out from her skull as she screamed in agony but she was silenced as well when he grabbed hold of her head and twisted it all the way around as the bones crunched until she resembled an owl. He stood up and stomped on her ear, crushing her deformed cranium and kicking her right into Applebloom who was still rotting.
"NOOOOO!!!!!!"
Scootaloo was filled with nothing put pure, concentrated hatred. She spread her wings and dashed to him followed by at least 5 strikes per second as she knocked him over on his belly and used his vine to bend every limb on his body backwards and tied his legs to his arms while she repeatedly struck him in the face.
She dug the ground with her hoof and put some dirt in his eye as Sweetie suggested to do earlier that day to blind him and she finally jumped on his back to break his neck. His suffering was over, but Scootaloo's had just started.
She went over to her friends and she held them close with enough tears in her eyes to fill a lake. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and the fog had cleared.
Life and sound were finally restored to The Everfree Forest.
