Foals are Decent Company (ScratchThat) [Dead]

[ScratchThat]

Whilst Shawnie had begun running first, Coffea had naturally taken the lead, having much longer legs than the filly, despite her being tall for her age. Huffing, it was clear that she wasn't the happiest about this sudden burst of energy from Coffea, but Shawnie wasn't one to stay mad long. Heck, it was too freezing to stay mad! However, because the elder mare was roaring ahead, Shawnie - in her desperation to keep up - was starting to stumble about the path in the darkness, her limbs swinging wildly as she steered herself over, trying to regain her balance. It wasn't easy, so she slowed some, before taking a deep breath and charging off again, this time successfully catching up to Coffea, as the cream-coloured mare had stopped in her tracks.

The path seemed to be stretching onwards forever, but Shawnie knew this route now for certain; and she knew that the scariest obstacle in their path was drawing closer and closer with every step. Gulping slightly, she dipped her head a moment, and when she looked up again, she was frowning. It was an odd look on Shawnie Spence, and it looked even odder in the low lighting, but she knew that she did not want to turn down the alleyway. You see, about twenty yards up the street was a dark, gloomy alley that led behind a row of houses. Where did it just so happen to lead? Shawnie's street, that's where.

Shivering, she blinked her lids, gazing up at Coffea. There was no use hiding it. It would cut about twenty minutes off their journey, so it was definitely a risk worth taking, however intimidating the alleyway was. Or at least, looked. As Coffea spoke, the filly sighed once more, her unusual tail drooping to accompany the noise. Time for the truth. "Yeah, it's not too far away at all... that is, if we take..." Shawnie gulped, before finishing, "the alleyway." She said this deathly quiet, but the wind would surely carry it to Coffea's ears. In fact, as the filly uttered this, the wind picked up considerably, whirling around them in a sudden frenzy. It died down moments after, but it was still distinctly stronger than it had been previously.

Deciding to put on a brave face, the filly continued. "It's only a few meters up the road. It'll cut quite a while off the journey, and it leads straight to my road." Pausing a moment, she added, "Actually, it pretty much leads straight to my house." Shawnie said this with a touch of amusement, almost like she'd only just realised this fact. However, it only took the eeriness off the situation for a few moments, because Shawnie shuddered once more as the wind raked at her back.

[Zazzy]

Coffea offered Shawnie an apologetic smile as a compromise, noticing how fast she had been going compared to the contrasting short legged filly, and how the said pony had been stumbling and swinging her legs about wildly to catch up with her. She didn't feel too guilty about it, however; as time had gone on, Coffea had begun to realise that Shawnie was much more mature than she looked and definitely maturer than other fillies of her age, so the pegasus was assured that the little earth pony would use her common sense to know that since Coffea was older than her, drastically as well, she'd obviously have longer legs and more stamina. She didn't really work out too much, but still, her longer legs could easily outspend Shawnie's by a long run.

"The alleyway?" Coffea suddenly asked inquisitively, perking her ears at the obvious terror in Shawnie's voice. It was an alleyway, sure, it was dark and barely anypony was a fan of the dark, but they weren't that scary. Inwardly, despite the skeptical tone of the pegasus's voice, she had sighed, slightly disappointed that the filly's house wasn't as close as it was, "If we hurry through it, we could get to your house under five minutes and get quickly under a warm roof." To back up that clearly truthful statement, Coffea shivered and tightened her black and white checkered scarf. She was seriously wondering how Shawnie was lasting with just a neckerchief and a leg warmer. Was she an alien? Coffea allowed herself to enjoy the childish words and immaturity of that particular rhetorical sentence, before bringing herself back to earth. 

Deciding that, as the elder pony, she should encourage Shawnie to overcome this oddly difficult obstacle in the earth pony's life, Coffea trotted off, swishing her tail to bring a little warmth to her back and legs. The wind howled around her and she cringed, disliking the noise and the unwelcome coldness it was bringing to the freezing duo. They were practically on the edge of turning into pony icicles! Coffea didn't know that the weather for that night would be so bad, but because she wasn't a weather pony - unfortunately, no pony was actually allowed to mess up the weather without the weather team's boss's permission, anyhow - she couldn't really do anything about it. 

She stopped at a fork sharply turning left and halted for Shawnie to catch up. Coffea didn't want to make any assumptions and end up going the wrong way, so she waited patiently. Although, at the back of her mind, she knew which road she would take, had she any choice. The path tracking straight ahead as clean and generally okay for one to walk across, even in the eerie light the dim street lamps were casting. On the other hand, the lane veering left was dark and gloomy, with cobwebs hanging off the edges limply. The path Coffea had assumed it for wasn't a path at all - it was an alleyway. Hopefully, it was not the alleyway Shawnie had told her about, and was simply one she had mistaken for, but the pegasus pessimistically doubted that. The alleyway seemed to go on forever with no ending - a long path of oblivion, should they be in need for a poetic phrase.

Coffea coughed, trying to break the ghostly silence that had spread upon them, "P-please tell me your house tracks on the middle path," she addressed Shawnie, the slight quiver in her voice the only sign of nervousness. She was normally quite good at hiding her feelings, but darn, this was just really spooky. For once in her life, Coffea was scared - and not just scared of a dog or a cat or something. Right now, even though Shawnie hadn't even confirmed it as the correct alleyway, she understood why the filly had had a nervous hook to her words. If Coffea lived in Shawnie's house, why, she'd move out before a month! Who knows what rubbish had been in that alleyway, and what secrets it contained? She stifled a laugh at the rather immature mysterious words that she had clipped onto her sentence, before sobering up again, waiting for Shawnie's answer.

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie cursed under her breath, despite knowing that it was a very unfilly-like act; maybe even unmare-like! But, how could she not be intimidated by the duo's situation? It was rather late at night, pitch black, freezing, and the quickest way to safety was a dark and spooky alleyway. Although, the scariest thing may just be how weirdly the filly was reacting. Rather than screaming, crying, or just generally being petrified like most fillies her age would be, Shawnie Spence just seemed slightly uneasy. Other than the occasional cursing, she seemed calm.

Blinking, the filly hadn't heard Coffea's statement about the alleyway, as she'd been too absorbed in picturing the long, winding path that they'd no doubt have to pass through. However, she had heard the next sentence. "Yeah, we may as well go through it." The filly seconded the idea, although she added in a quieter tone seconds later, "But I doubt you'll like it." Upon making this decision, the wind picked up for a moment once more, almost like it was protesting, trying to draw the filly back to her senses. However, a second later everything grew quiet, like some unknown force had silenced the wind, arguing against it.

As Coffea trotted off down the road, Shawnie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself even more, before following in the older mare's tracks. No use prolonging the inevitable, right? They were gonna have to venture down the alleyway, without a doubt. Tilting her head to one side as noticed where Coffea had stopped, she raised a brow. How did Coffea know exactly where the alley was? Had she been down it before, or was it an educated guess?

As Shawnie too paused in front of the alley, it seemed she was oblivious to Coffea's fright, instead trying to calm her own uneasiness. Butterflies were swirling around in her belly, and her throat was completely dry. Despite her body giving her warning signs, Shawnie knew that there was no actual threat. Or, at least she didn't believe so. What she was feeling was purely terror; the feeling you get when you don't know whether something is threatening or not, so you opt for just being uneasy.

It seemed the filly hadn't caught what Coffea had said once again, as she simply stated, "Yeah, this is it." Glancing up at her friend after saying this, she nodded slowly, signalling that they were gonna have to do this, whether they wanted to or not. Filling her lungs up with some fresh air, she adjusted her leg warmer and toyed with her neckercheif, trying to trap out the overwhelming coldness, but to no avail. After this, she began trotting forward, taking her first few steps into the alley tentatively. When nothing awful happened, she carried on, quicker this time, trudging passed the trash cans spewing pizza leftovers and onwards towards the abandoned clothes items laying bedraggled on the ground.

Every so often the howl of a cat or the hoot of an owl could be heard, piercing the silence. Every time this happened, the filly jumped in shock, not expecting these sudden noises. Glancing back at Coffea numerous times, she didn't slow down for the older mare, knowing that Coffea could take care of herself. Shawnie was desperate to get out, so she couldn't risk slowing down for fear that she may never make it to the end, which was looming in the distance, always in sight but never getting closer. Although this was the original plan, when a rubbish bin knocked over for seemingly no reason whatsoever, completely blocking her path, she stumbled backwards, gasping. It was huge! Taller than her, even on its side! How was she going to get through now? Staring back at Coffea in desperation, the filly seemed even more uneasy than she had previously. All she could hope was that Coffea would be willing to carry her over somehow. Blinking her purple eyes, Shawnie wondered whether her companion would even be able to get herself over that. It was a large obstacle, that was for sure.

[Zazzy]

If Shawnie, who was a seemingly down to earth pony who didn't suffer any nonsense well, was scared of the alleyway so much, then Coffea didn't know what she'd think once she'd start walking through the tight enclosure. She swallowed nervously, her wings fluttering anxiously, before she told herself not to be silly. There wasn't any pony who would jump them in the alleyway or something.

Maybe Coffea shouldn't have thought of something so threatening, as the dreaded obstacle seemed to become ten percent more intimidating. The pegasus pushed the thoughts out of her head, stretched her wings and took a deep, quivering breath. She relaxed, and noticed Shawnie taking a few steps into the alleyway. Whilst she was gathering her thoughts, Coffea seemed to have missed the filly's words, which was, in her opinion, awfully rude of her, especially since she thought so much about politeness. Hopefully, Shawnie's words weren't too important, and since the young earth pony had already made her way into the alleyway, there was no asking her about it without showing too much fright.

Coffea trotted in after Shawnie, shuddering at the gloomy shadows that passed over her. She kept her wings spread wide open; if something happened, then she would be able to fly away as fast as she could. Shawnie, however, did not share that quality, and as the elder pony, it was her responsibility to guide the filly to safety, so really, Coffea didn't know why she kept her feathers extended at all.

A cat howled in the distance, and the pegasus nervously tightened her scarf, muscles tensed in fright and fear. She decided to speak to Shawnie, who must, as a filly barely ten years old, must have been frightened out of her wits, the poor thing; "Well, this alley is certainly-" Coffea was cut off as a loud crash vibrated through the alleyway. 

The pegasus immediately relied on her instincts and flapped her wings in fright, backing away quickly and fluttering in the air, a bead of sweat rapidly forming around her tensed neck. Coffea looked down to check on Shawnie and see what had caused such a big noise, and relaxed - only a little, though. 

A huge bin, probably one belonging to a fast food restaurant or something, judging by it's size, had fallen onto it's size and was looming over Shawnie. Garbage was spewing out of it's open lid furiously. The disgusting smell made her eyes water, and Coffea coughed a few times as inconspicuously as she could, not wanting to attract the attention of anything bad in the alleyway, if there was anything at all. That was doubtful, but she didn't want to take chances.

"W-well, I can easily fly over that," Coffea hastily turned her attention to Shawnie, thinking that the filly must have worries overflowing in her mind. She hoped that the filly wouldn't burst into tears or anything like that, that would be really quite awkward for both of them and the pegasus wasn't very good at dealing with upset ponies, "But I'll probably need to carry you. Is that okay?" Coffea paused, wondering if Shawnie would have a negative response to that. Carrying another pony was, after all, quite intimate, and the two ponies would have to trust each other. Coffea did indeed trust Shawnie, but she wasn't sure if that was a mutual bond, "Or you can just climb over the bin, if you feel up to it."

Looking at the dirty bin with who knows what smeared all over it, the pegasus doubted that Shawnie would ever feel up to it. It seems that Coffea would have to carry her, whether they both liked it or not. 

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie turned back to Coffea, who'd seemingly caught up with her. In the filly's dazed, uneasy state, she'd hardly noticed. Indeed, she'd been thinking about her companion assisting her this whole time, but had forgotten to check up on Coffea! Even though she was the older pony, the pegasus must need some help, too!

However, when Shawnie glimpsed the pegasus mare fluttering back in sheer panic, the reality of the situation seemed to sink in. Coffea was scared. Shawnie was scared. What were they to do now? Well, only one thing, obviously—they needed to get over this rubbish bin. When a solution other than the pegasus carrying her over didn't cross her mind within a matter of moments, the little grey filly groaned; a little too loudly for comfort. Who knows who might've heard them? "What are we gonna do now?" She said, her voice more exasperated than scared. It was a little worrying, but Shawnie was indeed very good at masking her discomfort. Instead she opted to just appearing ticked off. Which, well, she was. Although she wasn't anywhere near calm anymore, she wasn't reacting how any normal nine-year-old filly would react—probably burst into tears. Instead, she just sounded crazy annoyed.

But it's hard to get Shawnie Spence angry, so annoyed is still pretty bad. It was clear something was up.

Nodding her head slowly when Coffea announced she could fly over the object, the filly merely gritted her teeth, believing that Coffea was claiming she'd sort herself out, but not the filly. Taking a deep breath, she began formulating a plan inside her head, assessing the situation carefully. Well, she'd probably just have to jump. Twisting her ankles and getting herself mentally prepared for the ordeal, she paused when the creamy coloured Coffea spoke once more. Pricking her ears, Shawnie felt a relieved smile wash across her face. The filly wasn't used to asking for help, so she was glad the other mare had asked before she'd had a chance to.

Gleefully about to accept the offer, she opened her mouth to speak, but then the wind blew harshly once more, making other rubbish bins clash together, an unpleasant clanging sound filling the area. Then she had a change of heart. No. She could do this on her own. Why should she leave it all to Coffea? She didn't mind what Coffea would think of her if she accepted the offer—she wasn't worried of being thought of as a cry baby and a wuss. No, Shawnie didn't care what others thought, and she was sure Coffea wouldn't think those things. ...Then again, you can never be sure...

But that still wasn't what changed her mind. No, Shawnie changed her mind purely because she wanted to tackle this obstacle alone. Face her fears. Just to prove to herself that this alleyway wasn't as intimidating as she'd always thought. If she let Coffea carry her over, her view on this place would never change. No, today was the day.

It had nothing to do with the fact that she didn't trust Coffea. The older mare wouldn't drop her, wouldn't leave her, and certainly wouldn't think of her as a wuss. I mean, not that Shawnie would even care about that last one. ...But it was a little different with a friend. A stranger thinking she's weird is fine, but a friend turning on her, possibly leaving? That sounded quite a lot worse. Shaking her head quickly, she dismissed the troubling thoughts and turned to her pal. "Yeah, I'm gonna climb over. Everything will be fine." It was quite a normal thing for Shawnie to claim that 'everything would be fine'. That's usually why she kept such a good, calm mindset. But if it would really be fine? ...Well, that was to be decided.

Re-taking her deep breath—through her mouth, no one wants to smell those horrible gone-off pizzas—she stretched her back legs, before gazing up at her opponent, looming above her. One, two, three!, she thought, bending her hind legs and springing herself skywards. For one moment, everything was perfectly serene in the alleyway. The owls and cats seemed to pipe down in appreciation to the daring act.

Shawnie was flying! The stars—the few specs you could see from Ponyville—shone and glittered, willing her over the dustbin. And, guess what? She made it! She actually made it! About to cry out in thankfulness and triumph at the same time-- But Shawnie never did cry out in thankfulness, nor triumph. Actually, she screamed. The casual and calm Shawnie Spence screamed, shrieked, cried. Because when she took a step forward, about to praise the heavens for guiding her over the ghastly bin, she slipped, and started falling down a ditch.

Wait, no. Scratch that. It wasn't a ditch. It was hole. Just like the hole from her nightmares that she had most nights, but tried to forget about during the day. She was falling.

[Zazzy]

Coffea sighed and flicked her tail anxiously, her eyes darting around. The mare preferred flight overall and was therefore hovering over the ground, but not high enough to make Shawnie feel alone. She only flicked her ears upon hearing the filly's announcement of climbing over the bin, but inwardly she was really quite worried. Coffea hadn't actually ever tried to climb over a bin, but, as a fully grown mare, it looked hard enough.

She bit her lip and glanced at the smelly bin again, "Okay, but-" The pegasus shook her head. What was there to be worrying about? It was as Shawnie had said to her, everything would be fine. It wasn't like there was a monster or something on the other side of the trash container...

Pushing all unwanted thoughts out of her mind, Coffea shook her head in frustration and fluttered a little higher, just above Shawnie, "Okay then. I'll be right next to you, so there's nothing to worry about," She smiled weakly, hoping it looked reassuring. It most probably didn't - as always.

Coffea did exactly as she had said. She pushed off until she was a little bit above Shawnie and kept her eyes on the filly, not wanting her to damage herself when the older mare looked away. Her wings soothed her. Their steady beat as they flapped through the air calmed Coffea down, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, through her mouth, that is. Even if it was a life or death situation, she wouldn't smell the disgusting stench of the rotting food - although that might be stretching it a little.

The mare's eyes snapped open as the sound of screaming, crying and shouting reached her ears. "Shawnie?!" Coffea immediately landed, accidentally putting her left hoof on the hole she was unaware of. Jumping back with unsheathed wings, the pegasus gingerly took a minute step forward, then a couple more, when she was staring down the gaping hole, which could just about fit her. Even now, Coffea could still hear Shawnie's unwavering screams for help. She gulped and stared down at it, fatigue and dizziness taking her over. Tight, animals, monsters, dark, murky, terrifying, death- No. She shook herself out of her daze and focused herself.

She had claustrophobia. The gaping hole was wide enough for her to go in, but... She looked at her wings. If something went wrong, Coffea could quickly grab Shawnie and fly out - if something could go even worse than it was already, that is. But Shawnie was a foal. She couldn't just leave her like that. Coffea took a breath, flapped her wings until she was hovering over the gaping hole, and dropped.

The wind took the screams at the back of her mouth away, thank goodness. But terror was literally overflowing in the mare's body - goodness know what Shawnie was thinking right now. Coffea collected her thoughts as best as she could and managed to control her wings well enough to at least gain some amount of flying control. She didn't try to stop herself from dropping, only to slow her descent did she use her wings.

Coffea used her wings to manipulate the posture of her body. She looked down; Shawnie wasn't anywhere to be seen. Worry bubbled in her veins as she flattened her wings down her side, hoping to drop a little faster now they weren't unsheathed. 

[Sorry this was a filler, wasn't sure what you had in mind. (;]