Chapter Text
Fifty-four days since the initial infection:
“Should we be out here? Rainbow Dash says it’s dangerous out in the woods at night,” Scootaloo mutters as she follows Apple Bloom towards the clubhouse they’ve spent countless summer nights in. The dark surrounding them is eerily quiet, only broken by the soft rustle of leaves and the sharp snap of twigs under the fillies’ hooves. Despite the levity Apple Bloom brought to the dimly lit forest, Scootaloo can’t help but feel like something is looming over them. They shouldn’t be here, she can feel it. “We can just go home and-”
“Nah,” Apple Bloom rolls her eyes as she nudges the clubhouse door open with her snout. “All they’re spoutin’ is a bunch of hootenanny. Ain’t nothing out here that gonna hurt us.”
Scootaloo swallows thickly. Why does that feel like a lie? “Where’s Sweetie Belle? Wasn’t she supposed to meet up with us?” Maybe if she changes the subject she won’t feel like bile is threatening to crawl up her throat.
Making her way to the lantern hanging in the center of the room, Apple Bloom turns the knob and the clubhouse is illuminated in a soft light that filters out into the surrounding woods. “Apparently she’s not allowed out. Rarity is real worried about this thing goin’ round.”
“Shouldn’t we be worried about it too then?”
“What are you so afraid of? Some spooky scary monsters?”
“No- but-” Scootaloo lets out a frustrated huff that’s interrupted by the smallest snap of a twig just beyond the clubhouse doors. Scootaloo nearly bolts at the sound, jolting in her seat.
Apple Bloom hides her smile and shuffles her way to the window, glancing outside. Narrowing her eyes, she scans the surrounding area. Scootaloo holds her breath, watching as her friend maps out the woods as best she can. “Musta been a squirrel or somethin’,” Apple Bloom murmurs, eyes still scanning the forest floor. The only thing that seems to linger there is autumn leaves and fallen apples. Ever since this… disease or whatever it was started going around, the apple family had really started neglecting their chores. Sweet Apple Acres had basically become a sanctuary for townsfolk and Applejack had become a sort of leader for them since Twilight was in Canterlot and all.
“A squirrel? B-but they don’t come out at night,” Scootaloo shakes her head. “We should go home,” she approaches Apple Bloom, moving to take a look of her own to confirm that the coast was entirely clear before they descended back out towards the barn.
“Hush up, squirrels can totally come out at night,” Apple Bloom turns to Scootaloo and gives her a playful shove. But when Apple Bloom meets Scootaloo’s gaze, a frown tugs at her lips. Scootaloo looks as if she’s seen a ghost- or maybe a million ghosts. She had turned a sickly shade and her eyes were large, pupils shrunk back as she stared past Apple Bloom, eyes locked on the window. Apple Bloom feels a shiver claw its way up her spine. “Scootaloo?” The orange filly is completely frozen in what Apple Bloom can only assume is terror. Slowly, Apple Bloom turns to find whatever Scootaloo had seen and she’s met with one of the most horrifying sights she’d ever seen. A head is hanging upside down, peering into the clubhouse. Its eyes are large craters of black that stare directly into Apple Bloom’s eyes as she trembles in fear. A slow, eerie grin tugs at the face of the creature- what Apple Bloom thinks used to be a pony- and it presses a hoof to the glass, reaching for the fillies. Its legs are long and lanky as if someone had taken the creature's legs and stretched them as far as they could go. Slowly shrinking away from the window, Apple Bloom bumps into Scootaloo who lets out a choked sob as the creature steps down off of the roof of the clubhouse. Why is it so tall? The creature’s neck is so long that it hangs down like a broken tree limb, dragging along the forest floor as it slowly circles the clubhouse, twigs snapping under the weight of it.
“It’s goin’ for the door!” Apple Bloom pulls herself from her stupor and takes off towards the door, slamming it shut. She puts her body weight against the door in hopes of slowing the creature down. “The window! Scootaloo, get the window!” Scootaloo is frozen, watching as the creature pushes the door open without breaking a sweat. Apple Bloom, as small as she was, could hardly put up much of a fight at all. “Scootaloo!”
Scootaloo tries to force her legs to move but it feels as if bags of sand have been tied to them. She’s forced to watch as the creature easily powers its way through the door, and only when the creature manages to get its two front hooves inside does Scootaloo feel her legs start to move. Dragging herself to the window, she lifts numb hooves to unlatch the lock. After fumbling with the latch for what felt like hours, she manages to unlock it, throwing the window open, and as she starts to climb out, she looks over her shoulder. “I-I got it! C’mon Apple Bl-”
Scootaloo’s heart drops as she watches the creature pin Apple Bloom against the floor of the clubhouse. “Scootaloo- run-” Apple Bloom garbles from her place, crushed against the floor. “Go! Plea-” The creature puts enough pressure on the filly for her words to die on her tongue, a choked sob escaping her, floorboards creaking under the pressure. Scootaloo feels her hooves move before she can think and she throws herself out of the window, landing on her back with an unceremonious crack. Scrambling to her feet, Scootaloo can only mourn her friend as she gallops back towards the light of the barn. Safety- it felt like light years away.
Scootaloo only slows when she reaches the fenceline of Applejack’s family home. As her sprint turned into a trot, the adrenaline that had kept her running in the direction of the cozy glow of AJ’s barn slowly died out and only grief and despair lay in its wake. Scootaloo had just left one of her best friends to die at the hooves of some… thing. Something that Applejack and Rainbow has warned Scootaloo about. She- she should have known better. How could she tell them she had deliberately disobeyed them- that she- that she got Apple Bloom killed? She couldn’t. They’d hate her- AJ would be destroyed- she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she knew what happened to her little sister. Scootaloo wouldn’t tell them. She couldn’t.