Prompt #417: "Savior"

What do you mean ‘he’s still inside?’” Twilight asked, looking at the barrier that now surrounded the town.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, he didn’t get out,” Scootaloo said, nearly folding on her injured leg.

“Open the force field! There’s still time to get him out!” she yelled, walking towards the wall of energy separating her from her number one assistant.

“Are you crazy? We’d risk letting that... thing out. We were lucky we could get everypony out in time as it is!” said Shining Armor, trying to reason with her.

“Not everypony,” Twilight said, staring down at the damp ground, “Shining Armor, please, just let me back in! I can find him!” Hooves on her brother’s shoulders, she hoped he would give her a chance.

“Twilight, I know he’s your friend and you care about him,” Shining said, trying to comfort her, “but I can’t let you or anyone else back inside, not with that creature and certainly not when there’s about to be an explosion.”

Drawing away from him, Twilight frowned. She slowly walked over to the barrier and placed one hoof on it. With tears in her eyes, she couldn’t bear to watch the timer count down to zero.

--- 10 MINUTES EARLIER ---

“She has to pick now of all times to go there?” Spike though aloud, running through the wet streets of Ponyville.

A few months back, a vicious storm had passed through, and Spike could barely see in front of him, let alone find his way back home. With luck, he stumbled into a hole underneath a tree, only to find that he was not alone. Scootaloo had also take shelter there. She said it was a place she came to think or to be alone. But in a storm like this, she was happy to have some company.

They stayed there for hours, talking about Ponyville, their friends, their parents- anything to help pass the time. They didn’t even notice when the storm calmed and the sun came out.

“Scootaloo!” Spike called out, hoping he came to the right place.

“I’m here!” she yelled back in a strained voice.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” he said as Scootaloo stepped out from under the tree. Her left foreleg had been hurt, and she had a limp. “What happened to you?”

“I tripped on something,” she said, feeling a little embarrassed.

“All right, here-” Spike said, grabbing her bad leg to help her balance, “Now let’s go, we don’t have much time!”

With a nod, they made a break for the edge of town. Past the town square, the shops, the houses, past a falling tree-

“Ah!” Spike said with a yelp as he fell to the ground, pinned down by a heavy branch. He tried pulling at his leg, but it was stuck. He could hear something strange, and saw Scootaloo trying to push the log away. “What are you doing?”

---TIME---

“Are you going to help me or not?” she said, grunting as she pushed on the tree again.

“Scootaloo, there’s no time. Just run, get out of here!”

“I’m not leaving you!” she shouted, continuing her fruitless attempts at freeing the dragon.

“You have to!” he pleaded, trying to get her to leave.

“But-”

“Just run, damnit!”

She stepped away from the log, looking into Spike’s eyes. It took everything she had not to break down right then and there. But she reminded herself that he’s the one who saved her, and it would be foolish and selfish to throw something like that away. With a nod, she turned, and ran for the fields.