Author's Notes: I really hate editing. So this isn't at its best, but I thought I should get rid of the chapter before I got so frustrated I deleted it.

Chapter Four: Monsters at Day Break

"Time to wake up Apple Bloom," whispered Sweetie Belle as she tried to push her friend awake.

"Huh, what?" asked the red maned filly a little loudly. Sweetie Belle quickly covered her muzzle.

"Shh," whispered Sweetie Belle harshly. "Scootaloo's still sleeping, and it's your turn to keep watch."

Apple Bloom nodded sleepily. She stumbled onto her hooves, glaring at Sweetie Belle when the white coated filly practically knocked her over so she could get to sleep. Apple Bloom yawned and trotted a few paces from her friend's sleeping forms. As she always did at the beginning of her shift, she concentrated on waking up, blinking her eyes, stretching, and trotting in place. When her shift ended, it would be time to eat breakfast (or not depending on whether they had food or not) and then start looking for the way out of the forest again.

Today, Apple Bloom was able to get an extra "wake me up" when she quickly trotted to the river and splashed some water on her face. After that, she started her stretches, careful to keep quiet so she wouldn't wake her friends. She tried to copy the stretches she'd seen her sister do in the morning, the ones before a competition and especially the ones she did before walking a couple of miles with a cart of apples on her back.

Plus, Apple Bloom needed to do something besides just standing alert and staring into the darkness of the Everfree Forest. It was boring and creepy - though mostly boring. Apple Bloom glanced to her left, after so many nights of standing scared of nonexistent eyes, she no longer believed in them. She almost wished they were real then, at least something would happen. There was nothing there of course. Nothing but blackness, the vague silhouette of the trees, and a white blob with red lines.

Apple Bloom shook her mane and looked back at the spot, where she thought she'd seen the black and red pony, but there was nothing there.

Apple Bloom took a deep breath and then scanned the area slowly. She needed to keep lookout for anything that would attack them. The red and white might have been her imagination, but she couldn't help it if her breath started to come out in little pants. She felt like she had been running nonstop for hours and sweat started pouring down her face. The earth filly shook her head so the sweat wouldn't get in her eyes.

"Well, well, finally caught a glimpse," a voice laughed between Apple Bloom's ears. Apple Bloom jumped and hunched down into a fighting stance. She knew kung fu, and she could protect herself and her friends from this stalker. She couldn't fail her friends. "Oh my, all this talk of friends, haven't you noticed one of those 'friends' of yours is missing?"

Apple Bloom jumped and hurriedly looked back to the blankets. But no, there were two bumps in the blankets. Obviously she was just overly tired and letting her imagination get away from her.

"You're not looking hard enough," said the voice.

"Shut up," muttered Apple Bloom. The voice just laughed. Long and with gusto. Apple Bloom stomped on the ground in irritation. The voice wasn't anywhere but in her head. She looked around and briefly remembered the ever watching eyes she'd felt on her since the beginning and the white spot with red ribbon she'd seen only a minute before.

"Oh dear, little filly, I really was trying to help," said the voice, not sounding sorry at all. "Very well, my little pony, we'll play a little game, but I should warn you, you're already losing."

"I don't want to play," muttered Apple Bloom, looking all around for whoever was talking to her. The voice only chortled.

"You don't have a choice," he said, as if letting her carry the conversation but leading her on the right path. "If you don't play my game then it's all over."

"All over?" asked Apple Bloom. The voice chortled and Apple Bloom could almost see an unending smile inside her mind.

"You got the right idea," whispered the voice. "Now, the rules are few and very simple. I really think you fillies can win."

"Fillies?"

"Oh yes, you're friends are also playing the game, though they're not losing as badly as you are, yet," said the voice with a chortle. "That's why you need to find Scootaloo."

"What? No, she's right…" Apple Bloom went over to her friend's blanket and poked at it quickly, then touched it she repeatedly, this time putting more weight on the blanket. Scootaloo wasn't there; instead there were only their packs. "It took her."

"Oh, no, she left," said the voice. Apple Bloom shook her head furiously, and the voice sighed. Apple Bloom's constant refusal seemed to have worn out its patience. "Now stay on task. You must run. You must run to find your friend and then you must continue running and keep running until you have forgotten."

"Forgotten what?" asked Apple Bloom, backing up and tripping over Sweetie Belle who groaned in annoyance.

"Until you've forgotten what follows you. If you get caught before you forget then it's game over," said the voice, his laughter became cruel.

"Forget? How am I supposed to forget what I'm running from? Am I running from you?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Oh, no, my little pony," said the voice. "That would be telling. But you're looking too hard now. You need to start running. I'd suggest you wake get your friend. The game has already begun."

"Apple Bloom, what's going on?" asked Sweetie Belle sleepily. As Apple Bloom backed into her again.

"We need to run," said Apple Bloom. She could still feel the echoes of that laughter bouncing in her skull. The eyes were bad on her now. They were stronger and every tree seemed to pretending to be the shadow of white and red.

"What's that?" asked Sweetie Belle, pointing her hoof forward.

Apple Bloom turned to see the silhouette of a tall pony with trees for legs and blank face. But Apple Bloom only looked at it for a second before she pushed Sweetie Belle to get awake and run. The red ribbon looked like it was going to whip around and pierce them through. Apple Bloom pushed her friend to her feet and then pushed Sweetie Belle to start cantering. They had to canter. They had to keep running as far as they could until Apple Bloom forgot. Until they both forgot or the voice with the red ribbons killed them.

"Apple Bloom what's going on?" demanded Sweetie Belle again, still half asleep though she kept up with the earth filly as they cantered further into the Everfree Forest. "What was that thing?"

"We have to find Scootaloo," said Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle looked behind them and Apple Bloom ran into her hard as she could, keeping the unicorn from looking behind and seeing the thing that was chasing them.

"Where is she?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I don't know," Apple Bloom admitted.

"What about that thing? Maybe it would be better to face it and fight?" said Sweetie Belle.

"No, we need to forget about it," said Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle gave her friend a look like the yellow filly had gone insane. But the unicorn didn't say anything else as she looked forward again just in time to dodge a tree.

It wasn't long until Sweetie Belle's chest was burning again. Her breath came out harshly and the eerie combination of the light just starting to ghost through the trees and a thick layer of fog that only went to her knees, made her feel hopeless. The white filly glanced over to see Apple Bloom cantering at full speed next to her, looking fit as a fiddle. Where was Scootaloo? The Everfree Forest was scary enough when they were altogether. Why wasn't Scootaloo with them? Had she disappeared or been stolen by the thing they were running from.

Sweetie Belle huffed as something ran into her side and a small cry escaped her even as she looked around to see what had run into her. Had the monster caught up to her?

"Sorry Sweetie Belle, but you need to keep running," said Apple Bloom.

"What?" asked a confused Sweetie Belle. But Apple Bloom just kept on cantering next to her.

Apple Bloom wasn't sure how to do this. She couldn't find Scootaloo, and she couldn't forget that thing she'd seen in the darkness. Was it a pony? But, that was impossible. It had been almost as big as a tree and its legs thick and tall as trees. And Apple Bloom hadn't actually seen its face. But there had definitely been something there, and then she was sure when they had turned to dodge a group of trees it had been in the corner of her eyes again. Apple Bloom might not have seen it properly, not really, but she could feel it. It was working itself into her head and the more she remembered the voice in her head telling her to forget whatever was chasing them, the more she seemed to obsess over it.

The dark forest gave way to more trees, and slowly the clear sky started to fill with patches of clouds. None of them covered the sky completely, thankful Celestia they still had the light of the moon to guide their way through the thick forest.

Apple Bloom tried to look everywhere at once. Maybe they were being chased because they were close to the edge of the Everfree Forest, but the trees just continued on and on. Soon morning light started to fill the sky, just the tips of the rays of the sun light forcing their way through the thick canopy. Apple Bloom decided this was bad, while they could see more, so could the thing chasing them. The earth filly tried to lead them around the worst of the light patches but almost ran into a field of poison jokes. Sweetie Belle tripping was what made them just avoided getting poisoned. Apple Bloom was glad, you needed a lot of special ingredients to make the antidote to poison jokes, and not all of them could be found in the forest. Apple Bloom remembered she had to do to the store for Zecora to get some of the more obscure ingredients.

Actually, now that they had to get away in a hurry, they were almost running into all sorts of nasty plants. They also almost ran into a pony eating plant, but thankfully it was small and sickly and easy enough to avoid. They also got a bit close to hungry grass, but thankfully they knew a lot about it over the last week they had found out that particular kind of grass grew in abundance, more than actual grass. The book had said that hungry grass was only dangerous if digested, but they were careful.

They just kept cantering until a large tree branch almost knocked out Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle was the one who saw it coming, and immediately she drew her magic into her horn and a bell seemed to ring out from her horn louder than Sweetie Belle had ever created before. The lightning that came from her horn actually made the tree she threw her magic at shatter. Apple Bloom stopped suddenly, shielding her eyes as chunks and slivers of wood flew out in all directions. Silence filled the forest as both fillies panted, trying to catch their breath.

Soon it became clear that the silence filling the forest it was not normal. It wasn't the one that they had gotten accustomed to that week. This was the silence you got when there were other ponies or some intelligent being nearby, and a pony had either done something embarrassing or surprising and now was being watched. Both fillies slowly started to open their eyes, a small sound drawing their attention. As they looked past the blown apart branches, their eyes were drawn in the middle of a clearing. Where in the middle of moss covered in rocks, tossed dirt, and remnants of trees was Scootaloo her hooves and wings bound together. The pegasus's eyes were wide, but her mouth was gagged, stopping screams they seemed to be caught in her eyes.

A crack split the sky and Apple Bloom glanced up. The scattering of clouds had turned into darkening storm clouds. No sun light was able to break through. There were just clouds so dark they faded between black and deep purple.

"Ponies," a deep voice boomed. Apple Bloom swallowed, from the corner of her eyes she could see Sweetie Belle was shaking in fear. Apple Bloom looked back and then she realized what she thought was giant rocks actually were.

"Chenoo," whispered Apple Bloom, her whole body starting to shake.

"Pretty," said the creature. It's attention also riveted on the ponies. Cheenos were weird looking. They were bent over on four hooves, but like those weird creatures in the books about foreign places, these were balanced like apes with most weight on his hind legs. Their hind legs were also stronger and less versatile than their front legs that moved around with a great deal of ease and dexterity and their front hooves had three splits that were made for reaching and grasping around trees and other giant objects that these giant monstrosities were flinging at one another and enemies. They had blunt faces with small nose and were made up of stone.

"Yummy," said the chenoo. Apple Bloom instantly took a step back, and Sweetie Belle gritted her teeth. The concerned eyes stared straight at Scootaloo who was still looking at them with a fearful but hopeful expression.

"Not yummy, pretty," growled the second chenoo, his arms curling around one of the few trees still within range. At this rate, even if the one who thought they were pretty won, the ponies would be crushed by the objects they swung at one another. "We keep."

"Hungry, squash ponies into jam," said the first one. As one they start whacking each other as many times as they could with the trees they ripped from the ground.

Apple Bloom flinched; the trees swung were shedding chunks of wood and twigs violently in all directions. Sweetie Belle and her needed to find away to get Scootaloo out from the middle of the battle. The two big creatures kept knocking together and almost stumbling into their friend. Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom needed to save Scootaloo soon or she really would become jam.

"You let go of Scoot right now!" shouted Sweetie Belle, surprising Apple Bloom. The unicorn lowered her horn and started charging at the beasts. Apple Bloom gasped, but her friend was too far gone. The chenoo weren't paying attention to her, but it wouldn't take long until they either felt her lightning bolt sting, or she caught their attention by making one of their trees explode. Still, Apple Bloom didn't think she could stop her friend. The white filly had been rudely awakened only a couple of minutes after her shift, and then told they were in trouble. For all that Sweetie Belle was the softest and the least confrontational of the three of them, the unicorn could also be the most violently protective. Still, Sweetie Belle wasn't a good runner; the lack of oxygen must have made her as a little silly. There was no other reason Apple Bloom could think if for Sweetie Belle to think she could take on a cheeno. If Apple Bloom could free Scootaloo and start heading to safety, maybe she could get Sweetie Belle to start running away from this new threat instead of at it.

Apple Bloom quickly started looking through her bags to find the scissors.

Sweetie Belle knew it was insane for her to take on these miniature mountains. She was a filly, a small filly who didn't even have her cutie mark yet. She had no business going after these hulking things. They would crush her in their grips without a second thought. But she had to do something to save Scootaloo and these things were planning on killing Scoot and making her into jam.

The unicorn's horn hurt from the last time she used her spell, but Sweetie Belle still had plenty of magic left over to use. As the spell discharged, the magic rang out like a glass bell and lightning sprang in a small flower shape before coming together to hit its target. The chenoo were still whacking each other with sticks and weren't paying attention to her. Sweetie Belle watched as the spell sprang out and chipped at the rock of the chenoo that wanted them to turn them into jam. The cheeno paused, its expression changing from anger to confusion. The thing blinked, a tree knocking against it ineffectually as it looked around him. His eyes narrowed when he saw Sweetie Belle. Somehow, he was able to piece together that it was the filly who had hit him with the lightning. He grabbed a rock this time, a small one in comparison to his hands, and lifted it, ready to crush Sweetie Belle even, though his hand really could have done the job fine.

Sweetie Belle gulped and then held her ground, her horn sparking a small flower of lightning with a tiny ring as she gathered what felt like the last of her magic. She only had a few seconds to figure out this creature's weak point was before it killed her. A boulder exploded against it just as Sweetie Belle was geared to attack. The cheeno crashed to the ground. Sweetie Belle stared at the thing for a couple of seconds, before she realized she needed to take the chance to run and save Scootaloo while she had it.

"Pretty," said the other cheeno. Sweetie Belle immediately turned on it. Her horn sparked, but the creature hadn't shown itself to be a threat to them yet except in the fact that it was huge and stupid and violent.

The thing's arm was reaching toward her, and Sweetie Belle glanced down quickly to see that Scootaloo wasn't tied up by its feet anymore. Sweetie Belle quickly gathered all the magic she had left into her horn even dragging magic from the air as she did so. Her horn sparked and then a bolt flew at the creature and cracked against the stone almost as loudly as thunder. Sweetie Belle heard the thing scream and knew that she needed to get out of the area fast. She felt a little dizzy after using so much magic, but she shook her head and turned around to canter away again. Her chest tightening in fear.

"Sweetie Belle!" shouted Scootaloo to the white filly. Sweetie Belle saw her orange friend jumping and pumping her wings so she was high enough for Sweetie Belle to see where she and Apple Bloom were.

Scootaloo sighed when Sweetie Belle saw her. Scootaloo couldn't be happier her friends had shown up. It seemed like no sooner had she left in search of her own path than she'd gotten lost (which shouldn't be possible because she had been lost in the first place) and then captured by those things. Scootaloo hadn't been paying enough attention to her surroundings, and the things hadn't looked like anything but rock at first. She'd made it to a clearing where she thought she found a sizable rocky hill to climb and give her a better chance of flying high enough to see the end of the forest. Instead the hill had come to life and with speed that seemed impossible for something that big, had snatched her off its back. The rest was history.

As the fillies cantered from the cheeno, Scootaloo could hear the trees being brushed easily to the side as the monster continued to run after them. Scootaloo looked behind her and saw the giant was hardly affected by having to push giant trees out of its path. The only thing slowing it down was a pronounced limp on its right side.

"This way," shouted Apple Bloom. Scootaloo turned to the yellow filly in confusion, wondering how her friends thought she knew the right way to go. Then the thing screamed and Scootaloo decided concentrating on running was more important.

The fillies ended up tumbling down a steep slope. When they reached the bottom, they lay without the ability to move. They all were stuck choking for air while Sweetie Belle was even whimpering. And then, almost as one, they realized they couldn't hear the thing lumbering behind them anymore. Apple Bloom let out a sigh of relief. She and her friends were safe. Somehow they had escaped and everything had turned out fine. They were no more lost than they had been before.

Then it hit Apple Bloom, and she giggled. Quickly she rolled over and pinned Scootaloo under her weight.

"You're safe," she said, a little breathlessly. It was scary thinking about how close she'd come to losing one of her best friends. Would Scootaloo have been squished by the chenoo if they had never found her? Really, those things shouldn't have been moving, when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle found them. Maybe the sun hadn't come out enough to solidify them. "The sun came out."

"Yeah, so? Can you get off me now?" asked Scootaloo angrily. Apple Bloom raised one eyebrow and then smiled as Sweetie Belle joined her on top of their orange friend. "Ow."

"You can't do that again Scootaloo. You can't leave us. It's too dangerous," said Sweetie Belle softly. Something howled close by, all three girls jumped. Scootaloo tried to stand up, but both her friends refused to budge from on top of her.

"Sweetie's right Scoot. You can't just leave us like that. We won't let you," said Apple Bloom and then put her head down on the orange filly, tears gathering in her eyes. Sweetie Belle was already crying, her legs wrapped around Scootaloo in a death grip.

"No matter what, we can't forget what the harmonies taught us. Friendship is what will save us. It will keep us safe in darkness and chaos," said Sweetie Belle softly. "I can't imagine life without you and Apple Bloom by my side."

Scootaloo looked away from her friends. Huffing in annoyance though Apple Bloom was sure she saw just the glimmer of a tear in her eyes too.

"Thank you," said Apple Bloom, putting her head on her friend before looking into the woods. "Thank you for leading me back to my friend."

"Ah, who are you talking to Apple Bloom?" asked Scootaloo.

"She heard someone in the forest before we ran into you," said Sweetie Belle.

"I think they were trying to lead us to you," said Apple Bloom.

"I thought you said something was chasing us," said Sweetie Belle.

"It's the Everfree forest. I think we were lucky it really was helping us and not trying to trick us into killing ourselves instead," Apple Bloom pointed out. Sweetie Belle thought about that for a second before she nodded.

"Thank you," she said in the direction of the forest. She then smiled at Apple Bloom. "No matter what happens. No matter how helpless we feel, or how badly we fight or anything. We will never leave one another again."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom then looked at Scootaloo to confirm that the orange filly understood. Scootaloo made a face and then finally nodded. She had a feeling that her friends weren't going to let her forget her little escape attempt anytime soon. The more she thought about it, the stupider her idea seemed anyway. The pegasus couldn't even really remember why she had thought running off on her own was a good idea in the first place. Was she really that selfish? No, she'd never leave her friends again.

They started to leave, and Scootaloo paused for a moment and then looked behind her.

"Thank you," she whispered. For a moment she thought she heard somepony make a tentative sound of wondering confusion before a male, almost insane laugh filled her head.

"Scootaloo, are you alright?" asked Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo shook her head, the laughter retreating as she turned to her friends.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought I heard something," said Scootaloo with a shake of her mane. Then she turned and her friends made room for her between them as they got ready to find some 'safe' place to rest. Something howled and they instantly stuck closer together and started to trot further into the forest. One day, they'd find their way home, and they would do it together.