If I had payed attention

Prolouge

a My little Pony Fan fiction

By CandyCorn Rainbow

A/N: Ugh why do I do this to myself? I mean I have I'm sorry to work on, but I couldn't resist this, it was such an amazing idea! I came up with it while listening to some night core and thinking if my favorite ship from MLP, Scootabelle! (Please don't throw the rocks at me!)

A cold wind slapped the face of the young white unicorn as she walked down the mossy cobblestone pathway up to an old school. Many ponies were keeling on the steps, crying out in agony. Most of them had other ponies with them, helping the poor, weak souls up the hard steps. The unicorn made a very depressed face and opened the heavy oaken doors. "I'm here!" She called out in a twinkling voice, riddled with hardship and depression.

"Finally! We need you!" A much older, tired looking alicorn with a soft purple coat ran up to her. She had deep bags under her eyes and looked as if every single problem on the planet rested onto her shoulders. The white mare felt plenty of empathy for the alicorn princess.

"Where?"

"She's advanced farther than we expected. If we let her continue without fighting, she'll take over easily." The alicorn led her to one of the classrooms, where blankets riddled the floor with a messy fashion. You don't have time to be neat in a war.

"How could I have let this happen?" The unicorn shook her head with a disappointment in herself burning in her stomach, making her curly, long violet and pink mane messier than it already was. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's not your fault, Sweetie Belle. It's Luna's. You've helped us all so much!" The princess said. She took a hoof and placed it on Sweetie's shoulder. "Without you, we may be dead!"

"But I was closest to her! How did I not see the signs? I want to just..." She let out a shuddered breath and lay down on the dust covered floor.

The alicorn gave her a look of concern. "I need you to train some recruits to the army. Most of our soldiers are on the other side, dead, or busy fighting as we speak. I'm not as advanced in combat magics as you are, and Applebloom was looking forewords to showing off in front of a bunch of other ponies, so you should try to keep her under check." With those instructions, the mare stood up and walked to the doorway, before stopping and looking back at the unicorn. "We will win, I promise my dear." she left.

Sweetie Belle was left staring at her messy hooves, mind racing with self-blame. She had failed them all... With another small head shake, she stood up and went out to the main room, by the doors she entered in. She scoped before spotting the yellow flank she was searching for. She ran over to her best friend. "Applebloom!"

"Yeah?" the yellow earth-pony turned around and beamed. "Ah! I was 'bout ta' come looking for ya'!" she drawled. "Twilight wants us to train some other ponies in the library!" she enthusiastically jumped, her red braids flying up.

"I know. I just talked to her. Let's get going!" She walked next to her friend with a forced smile, walking to the library. She opened another set of large doors. Inside the library, there were many ponies practicing battle, reading and planning, or talking quietly. In one corner, a few young children were wrestling, laughing and bragging about whom was better. Sweetie Belle felt a tug at her heart. These would be the ponies fighting for Celestia soon...

"Hey kids!" Applebloom shouted as they approached the corner. "You ready?" The little ponies scrambled into a strait line and nodded their heads enthusiastically.

Applebloom paced around them, examining each feature of the little ones. Sweetie Belle smiled at them, and began to explain their situation. "We are up against the greatest threat Equestria has ever seen. Nightmare Moon. She's back, and she's got all of our friends." Sweetie belle felt her throat close up a little. "She wants all of us to follow her, and force us into being night slaves, only allowed to move under the cover of darkness. But she also wants many of us dead. Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia are perfect examples. She will kill them without second thought. That is why we need you. Every soldier we've got!" She paced in front of them.

Applebloom bumped in. "We need ponies in the air. We need scouts and spies, and most importantly we need fighters! Castle guards will do nothing for us now!" she looked down at a black pony, with a mane of gold, that curled around her head and made her look very small. She had small wings, and Sweetie Belle saw a flash of sympathy sweep over Applebloom's deep gold hues. "Hey, kid. What's your name?"

The filly looked up at her with soft pink eyes. "I'm Flower Garden." She sat up straighter, trying to make herself taller.

Applebloom ruffled her mane with her hoof. "Heh. You look like a fighter, for sure." She moved on to talk to the other ponies.

Sweetie Belle took this time to explain the training. This wasn't the first time she had done this. She could do it in her sleep. "Okay. We need any ponies here who want to be scouts! Remember, having wings is the ideal position for the scout because they can move faster of pieces of land, and can see higher! You don't need to be able to fly yet to get in the group now!" a few ponies shuffled twords her. Most of them had wings, except for a silver male. He was an earth-pony. She noted that Flower Garden was not among them.

"Okay! You three stay here!" She moved to another area nearby. "All ponies who want to be actual fighters, come over here!" Most of the children were going over there, including Garden Flower. Sweetie Belle smiled at her. She reminded her of another pony, one she missed more than anything. She then made a third group. "Spies. This is a dangerous position. You risk getting thrown into Luna's group, killed by her, or dying fighting your own side." Only one filly stepped in. She held herself up high, and she had a light pink coat with a brown wavy mane and tail. She smiled.

"I think I can handle that!"

"And what is your name?" The filly reminded Sweetie of another pony from her childhood, one she hadn't expected to miss, but she did nonetheless.

"Winter Berry." She snapped. She sat down and looked expectantly at her. "So...?"

Sweetie grinned. "Apple, I think we found Diamond 2.0..." she laughed. "Hey can you go get the pins from Twi? I forgot them!"

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah!" She started to the doors. Sweetie Belle sat in front of the trainees. She examined each one. They weren't going to lose. No.

I'll save you. We'll win the war and I'll end your slavery. I promise Scootaloo, we'll win. Please wait for me.

A/N: OH SNAPPLE! Yeah, cliffhangers on the PROLOUGE? I am so evil! I hope you enjoyed. I think it's going to turn out nice. Also, yes, I ship Scoots and Sweetie, and I have no idea why! Also, notice my subtle reference to Applebloom seeing Scoot in Flower Garden? It was epic! Please review if you think this is going to be an interesting series or not!