//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Adventure Awaits // by MlpRainbowPower //------------------------------// "I still can't believe you BROKE my WING. That's, like, more important than air." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Um, Rainbow Dash, without air you wouldn't be able ta fly." Applejack noted. "Phff." Rainbow Dash flew out of her chair and crossed her arms. "I'd rather die than not fly." "Ooh, it rhymes! That should be your motto!" Pinkie Pie jumped on the table, causing the apple juice to splash everywhere, and said in a bad impression of a business guy, "I'd rather die than not fly. That's our motto here at Dashy Co." Twilight grabbed her storyboard before it got drenched by apple juice. "Pinkie, get off the table. And I'm sure Rainbow Dash can do without a business motto." "No, it actually sounds pretty good," Rainbow Dash said, tapping her chin. "Except the whole,'Dashy Co.' thing. I'm gonna go try it out on a few people." She flew away from the table. Rarity grabbed her tail before she could fly any farther, and Rainbow Dash struggled against the grip. "Rainbow, you are going to stay right here in your seat until we're done playing the game." She floated the chair up to Rainbow, made her sit in it, and returned the chair to its original spot with Rainbow Dash still in it. "Don't you want to see your character get fixed? You know, since you love wings so much." Fluttershy said quietly. "I don't love WINGS. I love FLYING." "Well, ta love flying ya gotta love wings." Applejack stated. "I guess. But can we just get on with the game?" Rainbow Dash urged. "I'd be happy to!" Twilight snapped her head up from mindlessly staring at her storyboard. "Let's start." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leaves crunched beneath their hooves as they walked along the forest. The fresh mountain air still wafted in the air, and the five ponies were looking forward to--- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Um, I don't mean to be a pain," Rarity said. "But could we maybe do something about this mess?" She poked a hoof at the puddle of apple juice on the table. Twilight sighed. "Yeah, we can. Can you go get us some napkins, Spike?" "Sure." He jumped up from his bed and hurried to the kitchen. He came back with three sets of paper towels. "Thank you, dear." Rarity took one paper towel roll with her magic and started wiping up the apple juice. Twilight did the same. After it was all clean, Twilight dumped the soggy paper towels in the trash. She lifted her storyboard again and said, "All right. Let's get started. For the second time." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The farther they walked, the smell of cornbread grew stronger. Until at last they emerged into a small, rusty-looking town with a big slab of wood at the front that read, "Welcome to Phoenix Town, home of the rare and beautiful phoenix, Flame." "A PHOENIX! Oh my god, we should totally go visit it! I had no idea they had a PHOENIX!" Sugar fruit bounced around the sign. "It's called PHOENIX TOWN. Of course there's gonna be a PHOENIX." Do Daring exclaimed. "Well, you don't need the actual thing when you're naming your town. Phoenix is a pretty word, so who wouldn't want to name their town after it?" Magicka Sequin reasoned. "This place doesn't seem much like a pretty phoenix," Grumbled General Buck. He looked around at the wooden buildings, the dirt paths, the random chickens, and the rusty well. "More like a big cart of horse manure." Mega Storm stepped into Phoenix Town and his hooves immediately sank into mud. A chicken came up and pecked his hoof. Sugar Fruit and Do Daring hopped in Phoenix Town, avoiding the mud puddle. General Buck followed, but Magicka Sequin hesitated. The others looked at her. "What? I don't want to get my hooves dirty." Do Daring face palmed. The five ponies tramped through the mud, listening to the constant slish-slosh of Magicka's rain boots. The air smelled of chickens and rust. Sugar Fruit was still leaving bloody hoof marks, but it was very faint since most of the blood had disappeared into one of the very many hoof marks now trailed through the land. They had asked for directions to the hospital, and they were now following the route they have been told. Finally, they saw the large, wooden building marked, 'HOSPITAL'. Do Daring forgot she couldn't fly and jumped in the air, but fell face first in the mud instead. Sugar Fruit pulled Do Daring's mane so that her head was out of the mud, and put her face right up to Do's. "Come on, the mud won't fix your wing! Let's go inside!" She let go of Do Daring's mane, making her face splat the mud once more. Do Daring got up and shook her body, mud flying everywhere. Magicka Sequin shrieked and cowered to the safety of the hospital. The rest followed. The hospital smelled like alcohol and dirt, with a twinge of blood. The entrance opened up to a small waiting room, where a couple patients waited. A stallion was sitting in a chair with a bandage wrapped around his head, and a unicorn filly was sitting next to her mom on the opposite side of the room. The filly looked groggy, and kept falling on her mom. There was a desk at the front, with a chipper looking mare silently typing on her computer. Do Daring walked straight over to the desk lady. "Excuse me, Miss, but I really need some help, if you can't see," She pointed at her broken wing. "So can you PLEASE bring me to a doctor that can fix me? Because you have NO idea how bad this is." The mare didn't look away from her computer. "Take a seat, please. The doctor will be to you in a minute." "Um, incase you haven't noticed, my WING is BROKEN. So please take me to the emergency room immediately." "Take a seat." Do Daring sighed in frustration. "Are you deaf? Because I just said I need the emergency---" General Buck interrupted her. "Let's go Do Daring, we'll just wait." He dragged her away from the desk. "Stupid mare." Do grumbled once they were out of earshot. "She can obviously see I need important help, and what does she do? Tell me to wait." "Come on, let's sit down." He climbed into a chair. They waited. And waited. And waited some more. The stallion had been called for. They waited. The filly was called for, and the stallion walked out. They waited. They got hungry. Thirsty. Tired. And most of all, bored. Finally, on what seemed like hours later, but was probably only about half an hour, the nurse called, "Daring, Do. Fruit, Sugar. General Buck. Storm, Mega. Sequin, Magicka." The ponies got up happily, their bones aching. They followed the nurse into a room behind the desk, which lead to a hallway. There were only four doors, and the nurse went in to the second one. It was a small room with a stiff looking couch in one corner and a sink in the next. There was a tray filled with medical instruments on the counter next to the sink. Posters about bad diseases filled the wall, and it smelled like earwax and blood. A stool sat next to the couch. The nurse sat on the stool, waving them over. "Please, sit down." They all clambered on the couch, and the nurse started inspecting them all. After, she tested their temperatures, even with Do Daring's mumble of disagreement ("You can obviously see my wing is broken, I didn't get sick from not flying"). She tested some more things on them, then got up. "I'll go get the doctor." Was all she said. Then she left. Once the door was shut, Do Daring groaned. "How much longer? I just want to fly!" "And I want skin on my hooves!" Sugar Fruit wailed. "It's fine. The doctor will help us, and then we'll be as good as new." Mega Storm comforted. "I wonder if they have a sauna in this town?" Magicka Sequin questioned. "That would be quite relaxing." "There's no time for saunas! Once we're ready, we are going straight to Doomday's lair. I want to test out my new wings." Do Daring poked her bad wing, then winced at the touch. "Well, there's no harm in staying fer a bit longer." General Buck added. "We can see the phoenix! I bet it's so pretty." Sugar Fruit rejoiced. "Come on! I want to go on an adventure, not sit in a sauna looking at a pathetic little phoenix!" Do Daring retorted. "Who votes on staying?" General Buck asked. All except Do Daring raised their hoof. Do Daring face palmed.