Cheerilee's Garden. [Grimdark]

Part 3

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Scootaloo took a few steps backwards into the darkness and acted surprised, preparing for the trapdoor to open underneath her. She dropped down with great agility as the floor disappeared, and landed in a sort of metal cage a few feet lower. A cloud of dust was blown out of the mine entrance above her as a metal press came down to fill the mine and cover the entrance. Scootaloo knew that for the audience it wouldn't look like metal at all, as they had decorated the outside with what would appear to be stones and rocks to them.

"Ow!" she grimaced as she landed, the bars on the bottom of the cage biting into her hooves. She looked down and frowned. There used to be a large piece of wood covering the bottom of the metal cage, but it was nowhere to be found. There was a great, round plastic tub underneath the cage, which Scootaloo couldn't remember seeing before either. Then again, she mused, the wooden plank would have naturally kept it out of sight.

She quickly tugged on a few key strings in her outfit with her teeth, undoing the knots one by one. Since these knots kept the entire outfit together it wasn't long before she could simply shake it off. It looked very cool, but it sure was uncomfortable to move around in. She decided to just leave the outfit there for now. After all, she wasn't able to go back to the dressing room until the show was over, and she sure wasn't dragging it around with her.

She reached out to the cage door and attempted to push it open, but to her great surprise it wouldn't budge. She pushed against it for a while and then threw her shoulder into it-which she instantly regretted-but still it would not open. Turning around, she bucked her hind legs at the door in an attempt to force open the lock, but she may as well not have bothered. All she ended up doing was sending some banging noises echoing throughout the area.

"Dumb door! If I find out who locked this thing I'm going to..." she hissed in frustration, when Cheerilee suddenly emerged from the darkness, Scootaloo's head about level with hers for once.

Cheerilee simply smiled at the filly as she approached the cage, not saying a single word.

"Miss Cheerilee! I wasn't going to say anything bad, honest! Just that I'm going to be... very upset with the pony who locked the door, that's all," she said sheepishly. At least Cheerilee would probably be able to get her out of there.

She started to feel somewhat uncomfortable as Cheerilee just stood there unmoving, her features still obscured by the darkness that reigned supreme under the stage.

"Oh I get it! Haha! It was a joke! That's great Miss Cheerilee; you obviously haven't lost your touch for pranks yet! Now euh... could you please let me out?" the young filly asked pleadingly, not sure what to make of the mare's strange behaviour.

Cheerilee nodded enthusiastically as she stepped forward and a wide toothy grin split her face. Something about the look in her teacher's eyes shocked Scootaloo deeply; it felt as if she saw nothing but hatred and contempt in those big, green globes. Cheerilee reached out for a lever on the wall and pulled it down slightly, and suddenly the mass of metal above Scootaloo's head started to inch its way down toward her at a steady pace.

The little filly suddenly didn't feel comfortable in the cage anymore, and she let out a little squeal of terror. "Wait! What's going on, please stop! This isn't funny anymore, Miss Cheerilee! I want to get out! Let me out!"

Cheerilee brought her face close to the cage to stare at Scootaloo, relishing in the terror she was inflicting upon one of the little monsters that had tormented her for so long. "I thought you wanted to get out of the cage? This'll get you out, you little weed. Just watch."