//------------------------------// // Side Quest Part 2 // Story: Cutie Mark Adventurers // by Stainless Steel Fox //------------------------------// A couple of hours and multiple fields later, the trio were sitting out under a tree enjoying a lunch of apples, cheese and dark loaves of fresh baked bread. The other farm hands were all working to bind up and stack the corn Scootaloo had cut down, including the ones who had been using scythes before. Apple Bloom's invention had worked even better than expected, and it was all they could do to catch up, even with her stopping to get the blades resharpened. Scootaloo flicked up the last piece of her apple with a wing-tip and caught it in her mouth. A chew and swallow later she said, "Those boots you came up with are cool! Why didn't you tell me farm work was so much fun?" Sweetie Belle added her own comment. "I've seen Apple Bloom and Applejack doing chores around the farm. They can usually find a way to make the work fun. You know, maybe there's a song there..." "Sometimes it ain't, but I figured that doing that kind of flying would be veg soup to you," Apple Bloom answered. "I saw you doing swoops on your cloud earlier. What was with that anyhow? I'd have reckoned you wouldn't use it any more, now you can fly on your own." "Now that I don't _have_ to use it any more, it's sort of growing on me." "I thought you stored it in your bottle when you weren't using it?" asked Sweetie Belle, a bit too innocently. Scootaloo smirked at the quip. "Laugh it up, I wouldn't have been able to do the lightning thing without it. Besides, I was just testing something else out. When I was pulling those stunts at the camp-fire last night, it was like the cloud was responding more quickly, more easily." "Maybe it's just that you've got bigger wings and more push." Sweetie Belle suggested. "Uh uh." Scootaloo denied with a shake of her head. "I worked on it some this morning, and it's getting to be more like I can feel the cloud under me, tell it what to do, just like it's part of my body." "Huh," Apple Bloom was relaxed, leaning up against the tree, the crumbs of her lunch resting on the scrap of cloth that had been it's wrapper. "Y'know, that could be exactly what's happening. Zecora taught me all about how parts of your body, like hoof clippings and such can still be considered a part of your body, even after they've been cut off. You bled a lot of blood into that cloud, and it was charged with pegasus magic already." Scootaloo frowned in concentration. "So you're saying because my blood's a part of it, it thinks it's a part of me?" "It's only a guess, but I reckon so." Apple Bloom rolled over onto her belly and pushed herself up. "I guess it's time for another round of sharpening so you can trim some more..." There was a distant rumble. The trio looked in the direction it came from and what they saw wasn't reassuring. The grey clouds were scudding across the sky as if running scared from what was on the horizon. The clouds, or rather cloud there was black, and as they watched, another crack of lightning strobed along the underside, followed a good time later by another thunder crack. "Oh, that does not look good!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Gee, ya think?" Scootaloo snarked back. Terrin, one of the kids who was helping with tying up the sheaves came running over. "Sorry to interrupt your lunch ladies, but we could do with some help! We need every hand to help get what's been cut tied up and undercover before that storm reaches us." Apple Bloom started off, but Scootaloo exclaimed, "Shouldn't I get back to cutting? There's still a lot of fields to do!" "It'll be hard enough getting what you've already cut to safety before that storm hits. Anything else will just get blown away." The trio set to work with a will, Sweetie Belle's telekinesis speeding up tying bundles while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo helped haul them to one of the barns. With each trip, the storm loomed closer, and the size of it became clearer. The wind started gusting, with blasts of cold air, and light dimmed. There was actually a clear band running before the storm, as if normal clouds feared to be next to the monstrous black thunder-heads that approached. They were proceeded by outriders of pannus cloud and had crenelations like castle turrets at their summits and streamers of cirrus flowing like battle banners from them. Scootaloo couldn't help but notice the mayor in worried consultation with some of the other farmers, working out something on a slate and checking the grain and baskets of harvested fruit and vegetables as they came in. Looking over at Apple Bloom, she saw her friend had noticed it too, and wasn't looking too pleased. "Uh, Apple Bloom, what's going to happen to the stuff we haven't harvested? That storm looks even meaner than I thought." Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment, as if not wanting to admit an unpalatable truth. "Uh, some of it's going to get damaged, maybe a lot of it." As they headed back out into the rising wind, the pegasus called out, "But they should have enough already to be okay?" "I... don't know. Not sure how much more humans eat, or how much they need to keep back for seed next year." Apple Bloom temporised. "But you don't think so?" Looking over at the farm pony, she saw the other hang her head, the only answer she needed. As they struggled forward, wind streaming their tails and Apple Bloom's cloak out behind them, she came to a decision. It was a terrifying decision, but looking at it was the only one she could make. They reached the field where Sweetie Belle was tying up the last few bundles of grain while the other farm workers held them together. When Terrin came towards her with a bundle to strap across her back, she stepped away. "I've got to do something about this! I'll be more use up there!" She pointed at the approaching storm. Apple Bloom yelled back, "Are you plumb crazy? You said yourself it'd take a full weather control team to stop this thing! Even Rainbow Dash would think twice before throwing herself into that!" "She might, but she'd still do it. Besides, she's not here, I am! Just like Applejack wouldn't have let those goblins attack that caravan. I can't stop the storm, heck, no-pony short of the Princesses could stop it, but if I can do anything, save even one field of grain, it'll be worth it." Arguing with Apple Bloom helped her to ignore the way her heart was pounding. She wished she could drag up something Rainbow Dash had said, to reassure herself, but since she was utterly terrified and her idol had never been scared of anything in her life, she didn't have any helpful maxims to fall back on. "You could get yourself hurt, maybe real bad!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Could be, but I'll hurt worse..." she tapped her chest with a hoof, "... in here, if I do nothing. I've gotta at least try. Besides, maybe Sweetie Belle can buff me up with one of her songs." Sweetie Belle had heard the conversation and looked up at the sky, shivering. "I don't know if I can fake up a Cloudhoof spell to ride your cloud. I'm not sure I could go up there even if I can. It looks really scary up there." Scootaloo shook her head, glad to have something to distract her. "You don't need to, just use that voice throwing spell and stay down here. Sunshine or storm front, like you said last night." The unicorn gulped, apart from the fact that it significantly reduced the chances of becoming a unicorn pancake, the prospects weren't much better down here. In the distance a lightning bolt speared down and immolated an outlying tree on a distant rise and thunder rumbled like an angry dragon. When she'd sung that song, she hadn't expected to have to back it up, at least not so soon. Then she looked aside at Scootaloo, the pegasus faced the storm looking determined, but she could see her wings were tight against her body. She had to be even more scared than Sweetie Belle herself, but she seemed to be taking Sweetie's song seriously. There was no way in Equestria or anywhere else that Sweetie would or could abandon her. Her voice cracked, but the words came out all the same. "Well, like you told Apple Bloom, if you're crazy enough to think it'll work, I'm crazy enough to try it." "I wish I could help too!" Apple Bloom yelled over a much nearer peal of thunder. "You can! Watch from the ground and tell me what needs protecting most. I'm sure Sweetie Belle can make you heard too!" "Take this. You'll need it more than me." Apple Bloom started to remove her cloak, but Scootaloo stopped her, placing a hoof on the clasp. "Keep it. It'll just tangle my wings." The storm was almost upon them, so Scootaloo stepped back and set her wings, clad only in her saddle bags. Sweetie Belle's horn glowed, then touched Apple Bloom on the neck. "Testing, one two..." Sweetie Belle's voice was much quieter, but right in Scootaloo's ear. "Can ya hear me okay?" Apple Bloom's voice had the same quality, and the orange pegasus nodded and held up a hoof. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Storm Stoppers!" The trio struck hooves, the moment illuminated by a flash of lightning and separated, getting ready as the storm bore down on them. Sweetie Belle drew in breath, and the intro to a hard rock song started playing in the background. Apple Bloom chivvied people out of her path and gave her a wave of the hoof indicating the way was clear. Scootaloo imagined herself on the main runway of the Wonderbolts Academy as she started beating her wings. ('Highway to the Danger Zone ' - Top Gun. /watch?v=V8rZWw9HE7o) "Revving up your two wings, Feel the air flow to your core. Pinions under tension, Begging you to swoop and soar." Setting off at a gallop that turned into a flat out run, she reached take-off speed in a few seconds. She could easily have gone vertical, but somehow charging at the storm just felt right. "Highway to the Danger Zone, Fly into the Danger Zone." She was rising up, going into an almost vertical climb to reach the base of the clouds before the clouds reached the edge of the cultivated area. She didn't realise it, but for the first time, she was leaving a visible contrail. Only the most powerful flyers did it,as the flight magic that flowed through them reacted with the air flow. Hers was an orange glow that faded slowly. "Heading into twilight Spreading out your wings tonight So you're jumping off the track And shoving into overdrive." She weaved her way up between the outlying clouds as lightning crackled between them and hard driven rain hit like bullets. At least this was something she knew how to do. A sudden down-draft whipped at her, driving her off-course and towards a particularly vicious tangle of bolts, but she hauled in her wings and rolled to the side, peeling out of the air current and blasting upwards just in time to evade it. "Highway to the Danger Zone. You're going, Right into the Danger Zone!" She soared up the obsidian face of the cloud bank looking for a soft spot, a way in or even a place to land while the cloud sat there like a big meteorological NO, or rather ground forward like a stealth glacier about to flatten some poor unsuspecting dinosaurs. She was above most of the lightning, and the rain but the air currents were more violent, even more capricious and as cold as the aforementioned glacier. "You'll never know if you can see it through, Until you get it on the red line overload. You'll never know what you can do, Until you get it up as high as you can go!" Pegasi had a certain resistance to cold, but she was starting to feel the dreadful chill as she dodged between air currents, using them to carry her higher and barely keeping control as she was battered by wave after wave of dangerous eddies and gusts that threatened to rip out her wing feathers with extreme prejudice. She continued to push forward with everything she had, but her determination was starting to fade. From the ground, this thing had looked as big as Cloudsdale. Right now it looked as big as Equestria. "Out along the edges, Always where you burn to be, The further on the edge, The hotter the intensity," Scootaloo grabbed onto the words of the song, feeling the fire burn away her doubts. No matter how big it was, this was a cloud, she was a pegasus. The chain of command was clear enough, it should take orders from her! She spotted a ledge of cloud, like a balcony created by some freak gust, but seeming stable enough to land on. "Highway to the Danger Zone Gonna take you Right into the Danger Zone!" She gritted her teeth and dived in, using every ounce of her acrobatic skills to use the wild air currents swirling around her to reach her goal where trying to bull straight through would have simply seen her flung away with broken wings. She landed heavily on the cloud surface which squished underfoot, but held, barely. As the song faded away, she tried to feel the cloud she was on, sense what it was doing, the way she'd heard Dash describe doing when she moved a rain cloud about. The air currents still tried to tear her away, but she held onto the cloud surface with dogged determination. All she could really feel was the immenseness of the cloud underneath her, and the impossibility of altering even a part of it. Even worse, looking straight down she could see the cloud had reached the very edge of the village fields. Already corn was being whipped about and rain was hammering the already cut fields into waterlogged mud. There had to be a way, after all the effort she'd made to get there, some way to connect to the cloud, make it obey her... She had a sudden idea, pulling the cloud bottle from her thankfully intact saddlebags and popping it in the same motion. She grabbed hold of the cloud before it was whipped away, but lost hold of the bottle which flew off into the storm. She pushed her cloud down against the ledge and felt it resist for a moment before the two merged. As she stepped onto the now firmer cloud surface, she started to feel an almost pins and needles sensation, as the immobile numbness of the cloud underneath her faded. Just in time, as Apple Bloom's voice rung in her ears. "Scoots! If you can do anything, do it now! The heavy rain's about to hit the uncut fields and the fruit trees are starting to lose unpicked fruit!" Scootaloo couldn't explain how the cloud felt under her, then or ever. As she knew was that now she could feel it, as if her own cloud somehow suffused it. She felt where the rain was falling, and commanded an eddy to carry it back up, flinging it backwards towards the already soaked empty fields. She couldn't stop the wind that plucked at the branches of the orchards, but she could adjust another eddy so that it blocked the current, forcing it up and over the tops of the trees while the air at ground level became almost wind-still. A wave of fatigue washed over her as she sagged down, just those two tweaks had drained most of her energy. There was no way she could keep this up long enough to get the storm safely past... Another song intro started, like a fanfare, and she felt a new wave of energy invigorate her as it flowed into a rock anthem. Sweetie Belle's voice enfolded her, supported her as Apple Bloom continued to give advice. ('St Elmo's Fire'. /watch?v=jVf4_WglzWA) "Growing up You don't know the strength you have on call, Try to fly, All you see before you is the fall. But maybe sometime if you feel the pain, You'll find you're not alone, Everything has changed." She felt lightning in the cloud below her, pressures waiting to be released, and she did release them, away from the village and onto stony, worthless ground already slick with rain. "Fight the fight, You know you can't quit until it's won, Soldier on, Only you can do what must be done. You know in some way, You'll find the strength you need, No longer holding back, You've got challenges to beat!" "You can see a new horizon, Beyond the stormy sky, Going where the eagle's flying higher and higher. Gonna be a mare in motion, All you need is a pair of wings, Take you where you future's lying, Celestia's Fire! Oooh..." Her wing-tips flared with the coronal discharge that pegasi did call 'Celestia's Fire' as she continued to guide the storm. As she'd told Apple Bloom, no-pony could stop it. However, it was so wild, so chaotic that she could always find some counter-current, some loop hole that allowed her to divert the full force of the storm away from the areas that had to be protected, at the expense of worthless areas. "Moving on, Don't know just how far that you can go. (Just how far you'll go) Soon be done, When the storm's a few miles down the road You can make it, In you we trust, Although you might be tired, It won't break a pegasus! You can see a new horizon, Beyond the stormy sky, Going where the eagle's flying higher and higher. Gonna be a mare in motion, All you need is a pair of wings, Take you where you future's lying, Celestia's Fire! Oooh... You can fly the highest mountain Tame the wildest storm, So feel Celestia's Fire keeping you warm, Riding the storm!" She was back to relying on determination and the power the song fed her. Her wings, her body ached, but for this moment she was doing exactly that, riding the storm, guiding it as deftly as she'd ever controlled her scooter. "Just once in her life, A mare has her time, And your time is now, The time of your life! You can hear the music playing, You can see the banners fly, Feel like you're back again, and hope riding high. Gonna be a mare in motion, All you need is a pair of wings, Take you where you future's lying, Celestia's Fire! You can see a new horizon, Beyond the stormy sky, Going where the eagle's flying higher and higher. Gonna be a mare in motion, All you need is a pair of wings, Take you where you future's lying, Celestia's Fire! Oooh..." Somewhere she found the energy, the will to keep going, pushing an air current just enough to interfere with a blast that would have ripped a roof off, tweaking the path of a fall of hail so it mounded up neatly in the town square rather than hammering a field of grain on the down-wind side of the village flat. "You can fly the highest mountain Tame the wildest storm, So feel Celestia's Fire as the clouds swarm! Riding, Riding the storm, You can keep on riding, Oooh, riding on the storm... " At last it was over, not the storm, but the need to control it. The heavy rain, roaring winds and lightning had passed over the village, leaving a tail end procession of more gentle rain and mere gusts of wind. It was just as well, with the energy boost of Sweetie Belle's song fading her fatigue returned, doubled and redoubled and threatening to overwhelm her. She wanted to just drop in place on the cloud, pulling it around her like a blanket, but what was left of her conscious mind fought against it. First, the storm would carry her on, away from her friends, and second, if she went to sleep here, she might never wake up. The song had apparently given her extra protection against the cold and the wind chill, but that was fading too, and even pegasi could freeze to death. "Scootaloo! It's okay, you can come on back!" The sudden jolt of irritation at Apple Bloom's statement of the blindingly obvious was just the prod she needed to get her to move. "Whatcha think I'm trying to do, you silly filly!" she mumbled, oblivious to the fact that Sweetie Belle's spell was one way. She didn't so much dive as drop off the cloud ledge, simply drawing in her wings and legs and body surfing the downward currents to get down below the cloud base. She only started to slow her descent as she flew below the edge, only to be confronted with braving the full width of the storm belt to return to the village. Actual flying was impossible, but she managed a steep glide most accurately described as falling with style. Her manoeuvres lacked the crisp deftness of earlier, logy at best, but she still had a distant connection to the storm above, allowing her to weave out of the way of lightning bolts as they struck down, and weave between the heaviest patches of rain. That didn't mean she wasn't still drenched when she emerged over the village, hair and mane slicked down, wing feathers soaked and icing up in places, already half way to unconsciousness only staying in the air because she was more stubborn than gravity. She saw the pile of hail she'd built up earlier, and in her befuddled state it looked like a lovely soft white cloud. She slammed into it, spraying hailstones everywhere and creating her own private bob-sled run with her face as she ploughed down the far side of it. She skidded to a halt on a thin cushion of crushed ice, and tried to push herself to her feet, on the basis that any landing you could walk away from was a good one. However that was the final straw, and her legs gave way under her. Her last thought as she slipped into unconsciousness was, "Okay, maybe that one wasn't so good..." Apple Bloom barely noticed Mayor Vennor as he approached the knoll overlooking the village; where she and Sweetie Belle were acting as ground control. More than one lightning bolt had hit near them, but only in time to the unicorn's rendition of 'Celestia's Fire'. "What are you doing out here?!" She heard the mayor yell, one hand holding his peaked hat on. She spun round and yelled back, "Tryin' to save your crops...", then noticed the cloaked figure who was looming behind him and sprung sideways to get between him and Sweetie Belle, landing with spread hooves and ready to attack. The mayor held up his hands, then had to slam one back on his head to stop his hat from blowing away. "I know you and Jaeger aren't on the best of terms, but he came with me to apologise, and help." Apple Bloom straightened up, but with one eye on the big farm worker. "Okay, but help with what?" "Getting the three of you to safety! It's dangerous out here!" The mayor looked around. "Where's your other friend, Scootaloo, wasn't it?" Apple Bloom pointed up at the storm, and along the line of Sweetie Belle's horn, which had a visible multilayer corona and bright sparks of energy fountaining from it. A faint beam of luminous energy speared up into the sky from it's tip. "Up there, telling this storm to avoid wrecking your fields..." A lightning bolt speared down almost on top of them, and quite visibly bent off to one side to strike the path they'd just come up. "... and us for that matter! Sweetie Belle's giving her all the extra magic she can with her songs, and I'm helping to figure out what needs saving... Scoots! The L shaped pear orchard downwind and to the left of the village, the branches are starting to get torn up! And the caravan wagons are starting to sway." Naturally, the two humans looked that way, shielding their eyes from the rain and wind, and saw the whipping of the tree limbs miraculously subside. The canvas covers of the wagons had been rigged to wrap over the cargo, presenting the minimum profile to the wind, but the covers were thrumming and the wagons themselves looked ready to turn over, until another windstill area formed. "But, how? Your friend said it would take a team of 'weather pegasi'; that she wouldn't be able to do this herself." "I don't know either, all I know is that she's doing it somehow, and as long as she's up there, we'll be out here, and any-pony who disagrees won't find it easy to make us go!" She pawed the earth with a hoof, and snorted a visible cloud of breath. The two humans really couldn't answer that, and watched for the few moments as the two ponies and their invisible companion somehow tamed the storm. The effects were obvious, empty fields were deluged and turned into quagmires while those fields still unharvested barely felt a drizzle. All around the village, trees and anything loose was whipped about and scattered by the storm, except for the all important orchards, bushes and vines that seemed to be exempt from the high winds. All the while, Sweetie Belle was singing to rival the storm, visibly pouring her heart and soul into it, while Apple Bloom gave commands in a calm, steady voice. As the storm passed beyond the far boundaries of the village fields, Sweetie Belle's song finally ended, and she took a big breath. "oh my, i don't think i could pull off another song like that."she rasped weakly. "Y'don't have to." Apple Bloom smiled. "The storm's past and Scootaloo can come on home." She turned to the sky and called out, "Scootaloo! It's okay, you can come on back!" Then she saw just how weak the unicorn was looking, and turned to the humans. "Okay Jaeger, you want to make up for last night?" "Yeah." The big guy rumbled with a rueful expression. "I'm real sorry, it's just when the drink gets me..." "Talk later, action now!" Apple Bloom cut him off. "Carry Sweetie Belle back to the village, get her somewhere warm and quiet give her something warm to drink. And if she gets so much as a bruise, I'll make you wish I'd never been born!" She watched the big farm-hand scoop the unprotesting unicorn up as gently as possible, she noted approvingly, and carry her down to the village. However, her main focus was on the direction the storm had gone, looking for a pegasus shaped speck. She hoped that Scootaloo had enough energy left to get back. Maybe she could use her cloud to support her... There! She could barely see the distant figure, but even at this distance her flight path looked wobbly. "C'mon!" She galloped down the hillock with the mayor running as best he could in pursuit, and reached the edge of the village square just in time to see the crash landing. She ran right up to the collapsed pegasus and dropped beside her. "Scoots!" The pegasus felt cold to the touch, her wings had honest to gosh ice on them, but she was still breathing, if only barely. Apple Bloom looked up at the mayor and a couple of other villagers who'd made it to them, with tears in her eyes. "We've got to get her somewhere warm! Rub her down, she's so cold!" The earth-pony levered herself underneath the unconscious pegasus and ahuled he up across her back. "The Chapel of Pelor." the mayor suggested. "Brother Soran has some skill at healing, and they should have food and blankets." Apple Bloom followed the mayor to a building about the shape of the school house in Ponyville, but about twice the size. A golden sunburst not unlike Celestia's hung over the main doors and lights shone through the cracks in shuttered windows. The door was opened just enough for her to get let in, and she did so as carefully as possible, not wanting to shake Scootaloo further. Apple Bloom's sodden cloak was between her and the body of the pegasus, but she'd felt so cold when Apple Bloom had picked her up. Inside was light and warmth, several charcoal braziers and lanterns had been lit. The smell of the smoke mixed with the cut wood scent of the simple furnishings. Low, wide benches were mostly stacked up against the sides of the main room that took up over half the length of the building. A few others served as makeshift sick beds or just places to rest. Most of the people inside were from the caravan, and thankfully so was Sweetie Belle, who was wrapped in blankets and being fussed over by Maia and a couple of women from the village. Brother Soren was moving around, checking on several other people who had obviously suffered minor injuries from falling or flying things. Dayton and the two guards were conspicuous by their absence. Apple Bloom went over to him as fast as she could without disturbing her load. "Help us! Scootaloo just crashed outside and she's really cold and I think she knocked herself out!" The cleric carefully lifted the pegasus off her back and onto the empty end of a bench. He frowned as he checked her over. "Flying? In this weather? For that matter why were any of you out in the storm?" "Trying to stop you guys from starving!" Apple Bloom shot back. "Scootaloo saw how worried the mayor was over the harvest and figured out this storm would wreck what was still out there. She wouldn't let that happen, and we wouldn't let her do it alone!" "The cold has settled in her deeply, but she still lives." Soran placed his hands upon Scootaloo's body, and murmured a few words. A golden glow appeared around the edges of his hands and faded into her coat. "I have asked for Pelor's blessing to restore her and help her recover, but she will need caring for." "I'll get some towels and start drying her off..." Apple Bloom started to move off eagerly only to be stopped by Soran's hand on her back. "Dab away the water, don't rub. What warmth she has left is in the centre of her body. Rubbing would encourage blood flow to the skin, and draw heat away from her core. Dry her, then lay warm damp cloths across her body to warm her up. There's hot water and cloth in the kitchen, through the door at the back and on your left." "I'd start giving her warm fluids, maybe a tisane with some honey, but she needs to be able to swallow. The fact that she isn't shivering suggests that her muscles may not be working right, or that pegasi work differently to humans. I won't risk it unless she shows no reaction to external warming." Apple Bloom had clearly been ready to dash off as soon as she could so she just gave a nod and headed off at a trot. Suddenly Soran realised what he'd just asked and called out after her. "Do you need someone to help you pick things up?" "It's okay, I help my Granny Smith out in the kitchen, and Zecora has me doing basic remedies. I should be fine." Apple Bloom disappeared through the doorway. She came back with a basket of steaming cloths balanced on her back, and a flannel one in her mouth. Soran checked out what she was doing, and was less surprised than he'd expected to see her following his instructions exactly. She even thought to lay a dry blanket over the wet ones to keep the heat in. "You've done this before?" he asked. Huh, what? Oh the blanket. Nope, it just made sense to keep the heat in. She looks a lot better now." "Just being in a warm room helped. I also cast a lesser healing spell to take care of her other injuries while you were in the kitchen. Bruises, sprains, nothing really serious. I also had the mayor explain to me exactly what you were doing. I wasn't the only one listening in either." He looked around to indicate the caravanners. "I knew from my spell yesterday that you were good people, but many good people wouldn't have had the courage to do what you did." Apple Bloom blushed and looked away. "Aww, I didn't do anything but advise. This one was all Scootaloo's idea. Sweetie Belle did much more to help." "You still stood out on a hilltop in the worst thunderstorm I've seen in my years here to do it, trusting to your friend to see you weren't hit by lightning. That showed considerable courage in itself." Maia called out to them, or rather Apple Bloom. "Dear, I need to ask you some questions." Apple Bloom looked around with a look of worry. "Is there something wrong with Sweetie Belle too? She seemed okay apart from being tired out." "That's what I'm trying to work out. Come and see for yourself." Apple Bloom started over, only to look back at Scootaloo, torn between who to look after. Soran motioned her on. "All she need now is rest, and for the cloth to be removed when it cools. There should be no shortage of people willing to help." Sweetie Belle looked fine at first glance as she lay resting on a folded blanket. Her cloak and saddle bags rested by her, and Maia and some of the other women were there. A closer loom showed her her eyes were half lidded and in tears. "Apple Bloom, it hurts!" Her voice was low and slightly muzzy. "What's wrong? What hurts?" Apple Bloom was getting even more nervous. Maia gently brushed back Sweetie Belle's bangs to show the base of her horn. The skin around it was swollen and puffy, pink even through the white of her coat. There was a thin line of red where the skin met the horn. "We were hoping you'd know what was going on. The swelling and the headache started shortly after she was brought in and it's been getting worse." For a second Apple Bloom wondered if Jaeger had done something despite her warning, but she quickly decided Sweetie Belle's health was far more important. "I ain't a doctor, or even a nurse. I don't know anything about unicorn illnesses, and I've never heard of anything like this." Apple Bloom swore to remedy that when they got back. She hated feeling helpless. "She was using a lot of magic supporting Scootaloo, maybe it's just a worse case of magic-burn." She knew Sweetie Belle was awake and listening, so she wanted to be as reassuring as possible. "The last time she overdid it, she recovered in a few hours. About the only things I can suggest is a poultice to reduce the swelling and something to let her sleep. Oh, and no magic use, not that I think that'll be a problem." "You really think I'll be alright?" Sweetie Belle asked, raising her head to look up at Apple Bloom with pleading eyes. "I figure you should be right as rain in the morning!" She hoped it was true. She looked over at the cleric, who'd assigned a couple of the carters to sit by Scootaloo's bed. "Maybe Brother Soran can do one of his healing spells..." "That might not be a good idea." Maia responded. "Adding more magic might make things worse." Apple Bloom resolved to ask Brother Soran about that, but it seemed reasonable. For now she'd stick to what she knew how to do. "Do you have white willow or shore pine bark for the poultice?" It took some time, but she eventually found some plants they had to hand that would do the jobs, though she'd double check they were the same things as their Equestrian counterparts. While she knew how to prepare them, she let one of the locals, an old lady druid by the name of Sanree do it so she could stay with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who was moved to the same bench as the other pony when her heated wrappings were changed. In the process she found out that Sanree had healing spells and spells to do with plants, which made her a sort of honorary earth pony by Apple Bloom's standards. She was also particularly impressed with Sweetie Belle, as she worshipped a nature goddess called Elhonna, who had the unicorn as her symbol. She and Maia helped Apple Bloom tend the two unconscious ponies, but Apple Bloom took the lead. Jaeger came into the chapel shortly after they'd gotten Sweetie Belle off to sleep. He was carrying a massive basket of firewood, and made a bee-line for the bench where the ponies were. "Is the little unicorn alright?" "Sleeping, and hopefully recovering." Sanree responded. Apple Bloom was still not quite ready to trust this guy, but the honest relief in the big man's face made it easier to do so. "Thank all the gods! I brought her here as careful as..." He saw Apple Bloom, and they stared at each other for a moment. "I did as you asked. I know you don't think much of me, but what ever is wrong with her, I didn't do it!" "I didn't think you did. I'm guessing she overdid her magic, again." Apple Bloom decided, he may not have been that nice last night, but since then he'd been nothing but helpful. "I guess I weren't exactly polite about accepting your apology earlier, so I'll say it now, thank you for helping out and we'll call it quits, okay." He gave a surprisingly boyish grin. "After what were doing out there miss, I think the whole village owes you." Then his eyes lighted on Scootaloo, who was now just wrapped in a thick blanket. "The pegasus, she was hurt too?" "Mostly just frozen from being up in the storm. We managed to warm her up, I think she's just sleeping now. I figure all either of them need is some peace and quiet." "Where are those creatures who wrecked the Duke's fields!" The speaker was a florid faced, middle aged man unremarkable in every way except for his girth and the loudness of his voice. His clothes were of a finer cloth and more elaborate, courtly cut than most of the people there, and he wore a couple of rings on his fingers. However this only proved the exception to the rule that the clothes made the man, unless it was making him even more funny looking, as the remaining drizzle outside had not been kind to them. He'd slammed the door open and stalked in, except that between the extra weight and the extra water it was somewhere between a stomp and a squish. He was tailed by the mayor, who clearly wasn't impressed with him. He spotted Apple Bloom and started over. "Do you know what you've done?" Brother Soran intercepted him. "I'll ask you to moderate your tone! This is a house of Pelor." "I'm sorry, Soran." the mayor offered. "He saw the waterlogged fields and stormed right over here." "And why not? Those fields are useless for gleaning, and they'll be a nightmare to turn over for winter!" Apple Bloom couldn't think what the problem was, they'd done well to save all the fields that still needed to be harvested. The cut fields just hadn't been as important. She still wasn't sure how Scootaloo had done it, but she could guess the easiest way to get rid of the rain that wasn't wanted was to dump it in the nearest places it couldn't harm. She trotted over. "Can you stop your hollering? There's people trying to sleep! Who are you anyhow?" "I am Dander Arroway, and I am the Duke's tithe assessor. I've always said letting the caravans stop here was a bad idea, and it's clear treating you things like real people is even more ridiculous." Of course, this was going down wonderfully with the caravan people who were still in there. If dirty looks had been arrows, he'd have needed a resurrection spell. "Not as ridiculous as that outfit! If you're gonna wear clothes, you could at least have the sense to put on a cloak or something to keep the rain off!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, She was still worried about her friends, and this guy was being just plain mean after the effort they'd put in. However, with everyone else being nice to them, she pushed down her annoyance and tried to be polite. "Sorry about your fields, but we grow enough grain crops at home that I know it ain't the big deal you're making it. Besides, Scootaloo did good just keeping the rain off the uncut fields. All that water had to go somewhere." Arroway wasn't calming down, in fact he was getting angrier. "I think that it was very convenient for you three creatures that such a freak storm appeared just in time for them to 'save' everyone." That was it. She'd tried to be nice, but now he was actually accusing them of running some sort of con job like the Flim Flam brothers. Apple Bloom went up on her hind legs, hooves up, and stared him right in the eye (from waist height, but then you couldn't have everything). "If you're accusing any of us of starting that storm, you're as cuckoo as you are nasty, you low-down dirty cockatrice! It was all Scoots could do to tweak that storm to avoid getting anything important hurt, but starting one in the first place? You're so out of your skull you should rent it out as barn space! "Why would we do anyhow? We didn't ask for money, or anything for that matter, Scoots did it because it was right and decent, but I guess you wouldn't know about those things. Fame or showing off? We're leaving with the caravan, leaving this world as soon as we figure a way to get home, so what do we need with that?" She snorted in derision. "After last night, most of the people around here seem to be willing to give us a fair shake, so it couldn't be to get acceptance. My friends went all out, put themselves on the sick list _again_, saving people they've only just met _again_ and if you can't see that's just because they were the sort of ponies who'd do that sort of thing, then you're an even more pitiful critter than I already figured. " She stepped forward and poked him in his ample belly. "Now you just sidle on out of here and stop disturbing decent folks with your shenanigans." The tithe assessor looked nearly apoplectic, and started to reach down to grab her, only to find himself moving backwards as he was lifted by the shoulders and turned round to face the door. Jaeger growled in his ear. "The lady told you to leave!" Arroway looked around, and realised the lack of anything resembling support in the faces of the people around him. He scurried out, slamming the door again as he did so. There was a slow clap from one of the carters, which grew into a general clapping and a few cheers. Both Jaeger and Apple Bloom got slaps on the back. Only the mayor failed to join in the general merriment, frowning at the door as if it had said something impolite about his mother. Apple Bloom noticed his distraction. "Uh, is there a problem?" "Yes, but it was more or less inevitable." the mayor sighed. "After a humiliation like that, he's going to be even more eager than usual to squeeze the maximum amount of money out of our harvest this year." Apple Bloom looked stricken. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! Maybe if I apologise..." "Don't. He's a petty little time server with delusions of adequacy and the dressing down you gave him is the sort of thing I've wanted to do for years. I'll just have to match wits with him as usual, and I have the advantage in that he thinks he is well equipped, when in fact he's only half so, if not completely unarmed. "Besides he can't pull anything too raw. Unlike him, Duke Wilberis is a good and honest man. I will take the tallies to him personally, and see that I also give a true and accurate explanation of your actions, including the simple fact that we'd have been calling on him for aid rather than reporting a bumper harvest if your friend hadn't stepped in... flown in?" Brother Soran had quieted people down, and now spoke up. "I will write a letter to the Duke as well, giving my own attestation, and a few pointed remarks on his servant's conduct within Pelor's house." Apple Bloom piped up. "If there's anything we can do to help?" The mayor shook his head, smiling. "For now, rest. The three of you have fought enough battles for one day." Maia had made up a bed roll for Apple Bloom to sleep on beside her two friends, but Apple Bloom was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. Sweetie Belle seemed to be resting more easily with the poultice wrapped around the base of her horn, and Scootaloo looked much better, but she had to be there to help if things took a turn for the worse. Yes, she'd keep watch over the both of them, even if she had to do it lying down. It was good to be off her hooves after the day she'd had. Watching over them also gave her time to reflect on what had happened. Once again, she'd ended up in the role of guardian of her two friends, and once again, she'd stepped up to the challenge without a second thought. She thought back to a few days before their ill fated Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting, where Diamond Tiara had been ragging her as usual about her blank flank, and she'd just stood there and taken it. Well, at least she wouldn't be able to do that any more, she thought as she rubbed a hoof over her new mark. Though considering Diamond Tiara, she'd probably find some other reason to replace it. Sweetie Belle was the only one who might have known the word 'epiphany', but that was Apple Bloom suddenly had, even if she didn't know what to call it. It was never about Cutie Marks, it was about making herself big by making others look small. Well she wouldn't be able to do that any more either, the farm filly decided firmly. If she could stand up to humans, she could stand up to some stuck up filly who thought she was Celestia's gift to ponyville just because her daddy was rich. Well she hadn't fought goblins, or braved lightning storms. Apple Bloom wasn't sure whether to tell her off or just ignore her. It wasn't like she could do anything more than make nasty remarks, and who cared what she thought? She found her eyelids getting heavy, and gave her head a quick shake to wake herself back up. She checked the two sleeping fillies, and smiled. She wasn't the only one who seemed to be changing, the other two had as well. Maybe it was just the new confidence that came with finally having cutie marks, or something to do with the world they were in, or even just the fact that for the first time in their lives they had to rely on themselves and each other, rather than adult ponies. Okay, that wasn't quite true, they'd had a lot of help from some kind people, like Maia and Jace and Brother Soran and everyone, but they'd also helped others in ways only they could do, which hadn't been how things were back in Ponyville. She felt a stab of homesickness, but there was also a determination there. They would find a way home. If Sweetie Belle couldn't cut it on her own, they'd find a human mage to help, or find some other way. She decided to put the idea of having Sweetie Belle try casting a return spell right away on the back of the apple cart. They'd gotten into this mess by rushing in, so getting a second opinion from someone who understood what they were trying to do should hopefully make sure they didn't end up in an even worse mess. Not that it was entirely bad, as she'd already thought, they were gaining new things on this journey, quite apart from their cutie marks. All they could do was keep on going, do their best, and see what else happened... Maia noticed Apple Bloom had finally fallen asleep, and pulled the blanket over her. Hopefully by tomorrow, all three would be recovered. She sat down on a chair watching them, and got on with resewing Scootaloo's cloak.