Amnesia: Helping You Forget

Helping You Forget
Chapter 6

“Tree clah’mers?”

“Yea! I mean, I don’t think we’ve done it before.”

“I’m pretty sure we have Scootaloo. I mean, it is an extremely dull idea.”

“So? We’ve tried everything! You come up with something better then!” Sweetie Belle shifted uncomfortably while avoiding eye contact. She remained silent.

“So are we gonna do this or what?”

“Where can we find the tallest trees ‘round here.”

Unfortunately, although they had been told countless times not to go there alone, the same idea struck them all.

“We could just... go on the edge of it.”

“Yea! Nopony can tell us off for that right? I mean, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any Manticores or Timberwolves near Fluttershy’s, and she’s right on the edge,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Yea!” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle agreed.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The three fillies moved away from their idea-making-spot and climbed down from their treehouse. Sweetie Belle instructed her friends to wait for her while she went to find some helmets in case they fell down and some rope. Even as she ran off to get necessary items in case of injury, she still felt bad about disobeying rules given by her older sibling. Even so, she was a lot more grown up now. Surely it would be a lot safer and she would be more responsible now? Somehow, she knew her older sibling would disagree. Her friends were thinking exact same thing.

After Scootaloo and Applebloom had waited for several minutes more than they had predicted that they would have to wait, Sweetie Belle finally arrived with a small bag of helmets, ropes and first aid.

“We really need to store some of this in our treehouse somewhere,” Sweetie Belle declared exhausted.

It was not long before the trio headed into the Everfree Forest, the one forest which held monsters and creatures, every one of them deadly, and a weather system that worked without Pegasi. One of the only places, if any others, which did this.

They started confidently, looking up high for tall trees while making sure that the edge of the forest was in sight. So far, no trees were anywhere near tall enough for them to even try. They walked in a circular path, so that they could scour entire sections of the forest whilst not wandering too far from the edge. A mass of clouds had gathered above them and droplets of rain began to make pitter-patter sounds on the thick leaves of the Everfree. Then it happened.

A high-pitched howling emitted from nearby. The fillies stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of the dreaded wolves. The howling did not cease, and soon it was as if they were surrounded by the howling. A clap of thunder erupted in the clouds above them, and a gigantic lightning bolt parted the sky. Even with the edge of the forest in sight, and the now raging storm, the howling had closed in on them. Scootaloo swore that she saw a wolf walk through her line of vision once or twice. The howling only intensified. There must have been twenty or thirty wolves around them. All of them made of cold, hard wood.

The trio hugged each other tightly, their backs pressing against one another. Each felt the blood rushing to their chests in fear, as if the blood itself was cowering from the wolves.

A timberwolf jumped from the nearby bushes. The fillies each scrambled away fast enough not to be torn limb from limb underneath the wolf. The each screamed as they ran away from the one wolf into a trap. The wolves had indeed surrounded them and were waiting for them in the trees. The fillies could not see them, as their bodies mixed within the forest well. Scootaloo had run away from the edge of the forest, whereas Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had galloped hard more or less towards it. The unexpected speed of the adrenaline filled foals had dazed the ambushing timberwolves and the fillies managed to break free of the circle. Thinking quickly, the timberwolves saw that two fillies were nearly at the edge, whereas one had foolishly ran into the forest even further, clearly unaware of her surroundings. It was not a challenge to choose which filly to go after.

Scootaloo frantically dodged fallen logs and ran across muddy and slippery surfaces hoping not to fall. Her heart had begun to pump at ten times the normal speed and Scootaloo’s adrenaline was beginning to die down slightly. Her speed was decreasing and the timberwolves were catching up. Her breathing became panting and the gap was slowly closing. She couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

Eventually, as she tried to leap over a rather wide fallen tree, she caught her hoof and landed face first into the mud. She could almost feel the wooden teeth of the timberwolves tearing into her flesh. She could certainly hear their growling and huffing.

At that moment, a lightning bolt somehow found its way through the thick Everfree canopy and struck the very tree she tripped on. The lightning on wood created a blazing fire, just as the timberwolves were about to jump over. One did, and it ran off into the forest ablaze. ‘That’s useful’ Scootaloo thought, ‘They hate fire!’

Scootaloo wasted no time in continuing her escape. She galloped continuously for a good five minutes before she was sure she couldn’t hear the blood-curling howling anymore. She came across a dark, presumably damp, cave where she could rest. It was too small to hold any creatures of any sorts. She only guessed this as the sky was grey and it was too dark to determine anything.

As she entered the cave, a horrifying realisation struck her. In her panic to escape, she had retreated from the edge of the forest. Her friend’s fates were unknown to her. Perhaps they had been caught and killed gorily by the timberwolves? And what of her? How was she to get back to Ponyville with the timberwolves in the path to get back.... in fact where even was the path to get back? Scootaloo had made many twists and turns in her fleeing in an attempt to lose the wolves. What of her family? They would worry for her and maybe even search for her! What if they fell to the horrid wolves? What would she be able to live for then? What even was the point of living anymore?

Finally, Scootaloo began to weep for herself, and as she did, the storm ceased but a large flash emitted somewhere in the forest near her...

Walking slowly this time, he stepped in between the dense woodland once more, this time being more careful not to cut himself.

Eventually, he came upon a blackened cave from which the weeping originated. Daniel crouched down and approached the cave. When he entered the mouth of said cave, what he saw shocked him beyond belief. There was an impossibly small equine, barely 2 feet tall, weeping. In the darkness, he could make out that it had an orange coat and purple mane and tail, impossible colours for an equine to bear. More still, it bore wings!

Daniel didn’t know what to think of this. There was no way that this could be real. It was just another illusion conjured up by the tormenting forest. On the other hand, if this forest really was throwing his fears at him, this was definitely real. He never really ever remembered being scared of horses.

His train of thought was abruptly interrupted as he realised that the crying had stopped and the equine was looking up at him fearfully. He tried to look as compassionate as possible, although this was difficult considering his fresh cuts and scratches. He decided that communication was a pointless effort since horses couldn’t talk, but he decided to go with it anyway.

“Hello there. My name is Daniel. Can you... understand me?” He asked in a truly comforting tone. The equine visibly calmed at the sound of his voice but also flinched as he spoke, as if his voice carried the power of a gale behind it. It was obvious that the horse could not understand him considering that it immediately wore a confused face after he finished talking.

Scootaloo only heard grunts and coughs as the creature talked. Its dialect was too complicated with too many syllables for pony ears to decipher. She understood immediately that this creature was non-hostile, if it was hostile it would have killed her and been done with it, but was still sceptical as to whether it would enjoy her as an evening snack. She decided letting it out of her sight was not a good idea. She didn’t know what it had said, but it began to repeat one line of its language. ‘Ack mange ickh damgal’ was all she could understand. Its voice was very throaty. She attempted to mimic the sounds, much to the creature’s amusement. After realising that her feeble attempts were a lost cause, she approached the strange critter. She immediately hugged it tightly as she realised that the Everfree Forest was too dense for anypony to have any possibility of finding her and that this creature was her only chance of getting out of here. She had barely escaped some Timberwolves earlier. She was sure her luck wasn’t going to save her anymore. This creature was the only comfort in this forest to her right now. Unbeknownst to her, a dark presence smiled eerily as it watched its handiwork unfold.

Scootaloo awoke suddenly from her dream. Usually she didn’t remember dreams, apart from when she had gone camping with Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and their sisters as well as Rainbow Dash. She did remember that Luna told her dreams had meaning. That’s what got her here. What meaning did this dream have? She had dreamt of when she first met Daniel in the Everfree. She had gone through a lot in the Everfree. She was even proud of the things she did in the Everfree. She had saved Daniel from being stoned by a Cockatrice. She had strategically placed a fire in the way of timberwolves so that they couldn’t get to her and Daniel. She had even pulled him up from the edge of a cliff that led to a certain doom. It was possibly the most exhilarating time of her life. She was almost disappointed that it had ended.

Scootaloo racked her brains for some sort of explanation for the dream, but only one explanation actually came to her. And the more she thought about it, the more it worried her.

Scootaloo checked outside her window. It was indeed morning; in fact it was later than she usually woke up. It was also a weekend luckily, and she had nothing planned for the day. She was going to do something with her two fellow crusaders, but now she had to confirm her suspicions.

She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. She did not stop for breakfast, but instead headed for the door.

“Mum! I’m just going to the clubhouse!” she shouted to her mother who she knew would be in the next room.

“Okay dear! Just make sure you’re back for lunch time!” her mother replied.

Scootaloo was quite surprised that she had been let go that easily at first, then she realised she had mentioned that she was going to see her fellow crusaders yesterday. Her mother had allowed her to leave the home in the morning.

Scootaloo galloped quickly to the library in hopes of finding Daniel, or at least Twilight, so she could calm her increasingly worried nerves. She had to avoid running into several ponies she was so rushed. Eventually, she reached the library without tripping over ponies. It only just struck her that she could’ve used her scooter. Now that she thought about it, she was in a way glad she didn’t use it. Usually she created a lot of havoc with that scooter.

She rapped on the door to the library and waited for someone to open it.

Would it be Twilight?

Would it be Daniel?

Scootaloo was thunderstruck as Spike opened the door. Actually, she was less shocked that Spike opened the door and more shocked that Daniel wasn’t still asleep on the sofa.

“Hey Spike!” she greeted cheerily. “Is Dan around?” Spike’s face visibly changed from weary to nervous. Scootaloo knew something was up.

"No, he's not. Twilight had to take him to the Everfree Forest."

"What? Why?"

"They all went into the Everfree to look for Zecora. Something strange happened to Daniel. He looked terrified as me and Twilight entered the room. He passed out and Twilight had Applejack carry him along with them.”

Scootaloo had seen this coming. She knew exactly what the dream was telling her. It had shown her when Daniel came to her rescue when she was alone and helpless. Now Daniel was in trouble, and she needed to rescue him.