Middle Canterlot
Episode 2 - So Much for an Apple a Day...
“So, let me try to run this one more time,” said Azure as she and her younger sister rounded the corner of the manor, entering a lavish dining hall. “We’re supposed to get something a friend of yours left here?”
“Yeah, uhh, he kinda came with me last time, and well, we had to run out in a hurry,” Rose answered quickly.
Azure stopped in her tracks. “Last time you said it was a she,” she said, groaning. “And why are you sneaking into places like this anyway? You saw those guards. Thick as they are, not seeing us in the hedges, they still didn’t look that friendly.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Okay, it was just me. And I didn't leave anything, I just wanted to see this place again. Big deal. And hey, shouldn’t you be having coffee with my teacher this morning?”
“Yeah,” Azure replied curiously. “But I told her I didn’t feel good today.”
“And wasn’t that lying?”
“No, I really felt pretty bad this morning,” Azure insisted. “I just uhh, feel better now, that’s all.” Azure shook her head. “And don’t try to change the subject on me! We could get in some serious trouble if we get caught here!” she exclaimed. She quickly covered her mouth, ducked and looked around. “And if we keep this yelling up that won’t take long,” she whispered.
Rose ignored her again, focused on inspecting the fancy flatware of the place. Azure couldn't help but respect the curiosity on some level; she herself had always dreamed of how the richer ponies of the land lived. She even had gotten it in her head that this is what her parents meant when they said they were saving to live in Canterlot. It was only later that she understood that, realistically, they had been aiming a bit lower. Not that the home she and Rose were staying in now was bad or anything, it just wasn't the massive estate she had dreamed of as a filly.
Rose sat down in one of the seats and sat up particularly straight, imitating an upper class pony. "I say, indeed old chap!" she said, pretending to fix a monocle. Azure couldn't help but smile, though at the least she did manage to stifle her laughter.
"Ha-ha, Fancy-Hooves,” Azure said, smiling. “Seriously though, can we get going already?"
As Rose went to answer, they heard a conversation echo through the adjacent hall, slowly getting louder. Rose panicked, jumping off of the chair so fast it started to tip over. Azure dove across the room, trying to catch it before it started a very loud set of furniture-dominoes. Somehow or other, she managed to stop it without making much noise. Of course now she was all the more worried about escaping in time. Even worse, the voices were close enough that Azure could start to tell what they were saying.
"Whatdowedo, whatdowedo!?" Rose whispered quickly, quivering behind her sister.
Azure's eyes darted back and forth, looking for a hiding place. Then, finally, she got an idea. "Over there! Quick!"
Rose gave her a sideways look, as if Azure had lost her mind.
"There's no time to argue, just come on!" Azure insisted, and her sister reluctantly agreed. They only just managed to skirt around the gaze of the first member of the breakfast-at-sunrise party.
To Azure and Rose, the party seemed to drag on for hours. There wasn't really eating, so much as "sampling", at least by the girls' standards. Most of the time was spent with idle conversation: this and that about Lord so-and-so, the occasional comment on one of the Princesses, and possibly a joke sprinkled in for good measure. From where she was, Azure was in no position to hear any of it. In fact, all she could think about was whether or not this was worth it after the first twenty minutes.
"Ack! Watch your horn!" Rose whispered behind her.
"Well— pfft— get your tail out of my face!" said Azure, spitting out the hairs.
Their hiding place of choice ended up being an old-style suit of armor. More specifically, it was full plate armor, meant to cover every inch of the pony wearing it for the most protection possible. The style was no longer used since it ended up being more cramped than protective, even when it was fitted properly. So of course two ponies trying to hide inside at once was far from comfortable. The only consolation was that the armor was made purely for decoration, and was clearly over-sized, standing almost twice as tall as a normal pony.
Rose tried to shift around, to no luck. All she accomplished was moving her tail over Azure's face a few times.
"Hey, quit it!" Azure said, her nose starting to itch. She didn’t realize that her voice was getting louder by the second.
"I can't move! This was your stupid idea, you figure it out!" Rose replied. By this time, the nearest noble-pony was sure he had heard something. He motioned for the others to quiet themselves.
Azure struggled, trying to maneuver in the cramped space, stopping after the armor started to make noise. "Neither can I, and ahh, your tail's ahh—"
"No, Azure, please, you'll blow it, don't do it!" Rose frantically whispered, completely oblivious to the gathered crowd in front of their hiding place.
"Ahh, ahh, Ahh-choo!" Azure sneezed, and with a blue flash, the armor flew apart, leaving an awkward scene of the two of them; a blue unicorn with the golden boots of the armor still on, smiling uneasily, with a green and red filly flailing to try to get the helmet of the suit unstuck from her head. The rest of the pieces lay scattered around them. Azure sniffed, with her horn glowing slightly. The crowd was not amused.
"And stay out!" shouted a large guard as Azure and Rose were tossed quite forcibly from the estate. Rose quickly stood and turned to face him before they left, shouting, "Yeah, well at least we know how to eat right! Didn't your mother ever tell ya not to play with your food!"
“Please, Rosey, pick your battles,” groaned Azure. Her voice came out a bit nasally, and she sniffed in, trying to keep her nose from running. “That’s what you call a good mood there. We’d probably uhh, be in jail right now if he wasn’t feeling nice.”
Rose looked at Azure with concern. "Hey, uhh, you alright Azzie?" Rose asked.
Azure slumped over, sniffing again. "I don't know. I guess I'm catching a little cold or something," she replied.
"Come on, let's go home then. Remember what Momma used to say whenever I got sick?"
Azure shook her head and stood up. "You forget, I live on the road now. I can handle something as simple as a little runny nose!" she said. Her voice seemed to tell a different story, and Rose gave her a skeptical look.
As they rounded the corner to their home, Azure still slumped over, they both stopped, puzzled by the sight. There was a single cart in front of the house with a couple of ponies who appeared to be maintenance workers laying against it, clearly exhausted.
“What’s this all about?” asked Azure.
One of the workers looked up at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, uhh, Rose is it?”
Rose popped into the conversation from behind Azure. “That’d be me, actually!” she said, pushing in front of her sister.
“Well then its you I should be apologizing too. We were just trying to do some routine work cleaning your dorm house, when—” Before the worker could finish, a loud crash came from above them as a solid jet of water blew out an upstairs window. “Let’s just leave it at ‘there’s a little plumbing problem now.’ I don’t think we can fix everything by tonight, either. It’s... extensive.”
Rose blinked, jaw agape. “So where do I— er, we, sleep?!”
The worker shook his head. “I wish I could tell ya. Maybe you could ask one of your friends if you can spend the night or something?” At this, Azure glared an unspoken “I-told-you-so” at Rose. “Just be glad you weren’t around when it happened. Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted to go flying with as much force as broke that window. Real easy way to get hurt, that is.” He stopped for a moment, and raised an eyebrow at the sisters. “Say,” he said, looking up at the still low sun, “if you don’t mind me asking, why weren’t you two home this morning?”
Azure looked up out of curiosity; the sun was barely up. Is it really still that early? she thought. A moment later she snapped out of thought to answer the janitor. “We uhh, we were just out for a morning walk! You know, get some exercise and all that,” she said quickly.
“Oh really? Where to?”
“We went up to the nob—” Rose started to speak, but Azure cut her off with a hoof in front of her mouth.
“The uhh,” Azure hastily tried to finish for her sister, “The coffee shop, yeah that’s it!” Azure smiled weakly and Rose nodded from behind her sister’s hoof.
The janitor paused, then he smiled. “Well anyway, that’s good to hear,” he said, “Got to exercise the mind and the body, right? Ah, what am I saying, I’m just the janitor. Go along you two, we’ll try to get all of this mess taken care of before too long.”
Still smiling and covering Rose’s mouth, Azure quickly trotted away, not wasting the opportunity. Then she checked back around the corner and, seeing it was clear, started off again. "Oh, so you can lie to me to get into trouble, but not to somepony else to get out?!" she asked in a harsh whisper. Rose just shrugged.
They soon arrived in the marketplace, now bustling with the midday rush. "Look at it this way," said Azure, still with a notable nasally-ness to her voice, "Now you get to see how I get along when it comes to sleeping."
"Yeah? How's that?" Rose responded worriedly, and for good reason.
"Sleeping outdoors of course!"
"What?! Why can't I have a bed?"
"Well I'm sure Primrose'd be happy to have us pay her a visit, maybe to make up for this morning..." Azure mocked.
"No no no no! I am not sleeping at my teacher's house!"
"Then we do it my way, got it?" Azure sniffed deeply, twitching her nose around.
"But why do we have to leave the city?"
"Well if ya want we can try an alleyway somewhere. I'm sure we can find maybe an old mattress somepony threw out..."
"Stop joking around, Azzie!"
"Actually, I'm not. Its either old, smelly mattress, or a pile of leaves and dirt. Your choice," Azure said, flatly. They had stopped by now in the middle of the square, ponies passing close by on all sides.
"Okay, I guess the mattress doesn't sound so bad..." said Rose after a reluctant pause.
"Good. Just think of it as an adventure! It'll be fun, tru—... tru—..."
"Truh?" asked Rose, honestly confused.
"Tru, Tru, Ahh-choo!" As she had primed up for the sneeze, Azure's horn started to glow. When the sneeze finally came, a blue bolt shot out from her horn.The ponies in the crowd dove out of the way. Behind them was a stand selling various baked goods; one unfortunate cupcake happened to be caught by the magic and got struck with a puff of blue smoke. The stand owner watched it for a moment as it quivered. Suddenly, it sprang outward, growing larger than the stand itself and knocking nearby ponies off their hooves. As any good salespony, however, the owner of the stand, or rather what was left of the stand, jumped on the opportunity for a quick gimmicky sale.
Rose stared, jaw wide open. Azure's eyes drooped as she wiped her nose with one hoof. Her horn was still glowing. "Okay, maybe this isn't just a cold," she said, snorting in loudly.
Rose raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Are ya sure you'll be all right?" she asked, poking at her sister's horn.
Azure tried to shake off the feeling and stood up straight immediately. "Of course! I can handle a little bug, no problem!" she said.
Rose smiled, although uneasily. "Well, if you're sure..."
The two of them continued past the marketplace. Rose led the way, leaving Azure the ability to let up the facade while she wasn't looking, slumping over and twitching her nose.
The two of them spent the better part of the day wandering and exploring the city, hoping that it would help Azure learn her way around. Rose never did remember she had a flawless sense of direction, with the help of a little subconscious magic, or at least always forgot that nopony else had that ability, so she was quick to get impatient. It didn’t help that Azure had a horrible habit of getting lost for little or no good reason. It took them a good twenty minutes to get away from a looping road, and even then Azure still didn’t understand why always turning left wasn’t the best way to get “un-lost.”
Later that night, the two had found an alley somewhere near the center of the middle quarter. To be frank, they were hopelessly lost in the city, but they were so tired that it didn't matter much. Rose had never walked around so much in one day in all of her life. She collapsed,
tongue hanging out, on the first cardboard box she saw.
"Night night," she mumbled sleepily.
Azure's face looked incredibly tired, her eyes hazy from her sneezing. Her horn was still off-and-on glowing, just not enough so to light up the alley. She took a deep snort, and found a box with a couple dirty dresses hanging out of it. She dragged one out and laid it over Rose, who
reflexively curled up with it. Azure smiled, flopping on the box and the other dress. She immediately fell asleep, snoring.
Rose blinked open her eyes as her sister’s snoring grew more harsh. Of course, to her knowledge, Azure never snored normally. This was just flat out annoying. Rose rolled over, pulling the "blanket" over her ears, but the irregular, rough snoring was just too much. With a huff she stood up, growling at her sister. "Azzie!" she whispered, "Azzie wake up! You're snoring!" Azure rolled over and faced Rose, but was still sound asleep. Rose rolled her eyes, then slowly raised a hoof to poke at her sleeping sister. Just as she touched Azure, she jerked, her horn glowing brighter. "Oh boy," said Rose, ducking for cover just in time for another magic-fueled sneeze. The bolt bounced around the alleyway, finally landing on the dress that Rose had been laying under. Rose stood back, and a moment later the dress stood up on its own, like an invisible pony had appeared inside it. It turned to face Rose, then floated away, as if the invisible pony suddenly broke into a gallop. "Wait! Come back!" called Rose futilely. She growled, shaking her sister with both of her front hooves at once. "You owe me a blanket now!" she cried.
Azure started moving in her sleep, her hooves swaying like she was dreaming of trotting. Rose backed away, looking at her funny. She was too tired for this, though, and she was over it in about two seconds. "Wake up!" she shouted, stamping a foot. In reaction, or so it seemed, Azure sneezed again quite violently. Rose just barely manage to lift her hoof out of the way of the bolt this time, as it flew into a nearby trash can.
"Oh, what now? Is it gonna be a massive night-light? That'd be perfect!" Rose said with bitter sarcasm.
In a few seconds, after the trash can stopped twitching, Rose wished she had been right. The trash can opened a set of dark eyes, with two apple cores acting as pupils. This wouldn't have been as bad, if not for the jagged-toothed mouth that open below the eyes. The mouth opened, growling like some animal at Rose, and some balled up newspapers dribbled out between the jagged "teeth". Rose jumped back against the wall of the alley and screamed outright, cowering. Just as the evil trash can started to move towards Rose, a shadow passed in front of her, and the can flew back into the far wall, the magic wearing off, leaving a heavily dented trash can.
"Aha! Told ya I still know how to buck 'em like the best, Captain Appleseed!" said Azure, standing triumphantly between Rose and the trash can. "What further evil awaits us, your caped fruiti— wait," she said, squinting through her deliriousness. "Rosey? What are you doing in
Manehattan?"
"Manehattan!? We're still in Canterlot. The alley, remember?" said Rose, thoroughly confused.
Azure couldn't see straight, and wobbled on her own four hooves. "So, I'm not dreaming? Then what was that tra, ahh..."
Rose yelped, rushing forward to block her sister's nose with one hoof. For a moment, it worked, and Azure settled. But the second Rose removed her hoof, Azure sneezed, firing another bolt at the balled-up newspapers from the trash can.
"That's what happened!" yelled Rose, directly into Azure's face. "Face it, you need help!"
"I can take care of myself, and I don't need my little sister telling me otherwise!"
Their argument was cut short by a small, crisp bark. They turned in unison to see the newspapers had formed three or four newspaper-dogs, each panting eagerly. Azure looked at them smiling and said, "See? Something good came out of this!"
Promptly the dogs' eyes turned from beady and black to sharp, glowing, and red, as they all growled and prepared to pounce. Rose walked back slowly, as Azure's ears fell back, and she braced for the impending paper claws.
"Nice doggy, nice doggy! Ow, ow, ow, ow!" The two shouted. The sound of frantic hooves and barking ran through the night time streets of Canterlot.
Azure sat slumped over in bed with a thermometer sticking out of her mouth. She was too tired to even hold her eyes open for the most part. A yellow glow took the thermometer away, and she snorted back once more. "Well, Doc? How bad is it?" she asked, her voice sounding a little more normal.
Primrose, in a night gown and with curlers in her mane, took a look at the thermometer and frowned. "Not good. You're definitely sick," she said. She turned, setting the thermometer on the nightstand of the bed Azure was on, and lifted up a book, sifting through the pages.
"Oh, well thanks for that, teach! I never woulda guessed!" said Azure, sniffling again. "Er— sorry, I'm just running on no sleep right now," she added.
"It's fine, I'm just concerned for you," said Primrose without removing her eyes from the book. "Unfortunately, if what you've told me is correct, you might be even more sick than you thought. You really should go see a real doctor.”
Azure lowered her head and groaned. "What do you mean?"
Rose walked in slowly and lay down at the foot of the bed, barely staying awake.
"For starters, this isn't some common cold," said Primrose. "Tell me, how much have you been using magic since you arrived at Canterlot?"
"Well, I'm used to just saving any magic for important things, like putting a shelter together or picking fruit, so I guess I haven't really had a real reason to use it at all. We're not counting the sneeze-things, right?"
"No, we aren't. And did you get all of your shots back home?"
"Shots? I uhh, I don't remember getting any, really."
Primrose shook her head, closing the book and setting it down. "That's what I thought. You probably have the disease known as Venefaryngitis. Usually, when a unicorn pony doesn't use her magic for a while, it builds up, and it stuffs in her head. When you sneeze, you're letting some of the extra magic power out, because it has nowhere else to go. Therefore its colloquially known as Backup Fever."
Rose looked up, listening intently.
“Colo-wha?” asked Azure, lost.
"Now there is a cure for it, luckily. Most unicorn ponies get a shot for it regularly, starting around Rose’s age, but you obviously haven't yet, so—"
"Oh,” said Azure, “Eh, I'll pass.”
Rose glared at her sister.
“Are you sure?” asked Primrose.
Azure shrugged. “Well its not like I could afford anything.”
Primrose looked at Azure strangely. “You do know there’s such a thing as a free clinic, right?”
“Free? Nothing free’s ever trustworthy. Daddy taught me that,” said Azure, nodding.
“But—”
"Besides, it's not like anything that bad has happened yet, and I feel like I'm getting better already, so—"
"What!?" Rose snapped, jumping on the bed and getting literally in Azure's face. "I've been attacked by a trash can and three copies of last week's Canterlot Quarterly tonight, and you say nothing bad’s happened!?"
"Hey, it could've been worse, right?" Azure replied calmly, or at least sleepily, "Besides, in theory, since I used so much magic earlier, shouldn't I be getting better? I mean there's got to be less built up now, and I feel less stuffy anyway."
"Well perhaps, but,” Primrose said. “Well its an old disease, I can't know for sure how it works.”
Rose growled at her sister in annoyance, then jumped down off the bed, promptly collapsing. "I'm so sleepy..." she whined.
Primrose levitated Rose up and rested her on her back. "Well if you're sure, Azure. At the least, please stay here for the night. I'd feel awful if I let you two sleep in the streets," she said, chuckling a little.
"If you say so," said Azure, “I mean, thanks for the bed and everything, but I really don’t think we were doing all that bad out there.” She turned over and laying back in the bed. "Wait, that reminds me, you wouldn't happen to want a pet, would you?"
"Say what?" asked Primrose.
"Nevermind. Goodnight!"
Primrose turned out the light as she left to put Rose to bed. Outside, a small flash of blue was followed by a strange silence, as there was no longer the sound of whining dogs in the street.
The next morning, Azure hopped outside of Primrose's place, bouncing about. Rose followed, still somewhat sleepy.
“Man that coffee’s good stuff, wouldn’t you say Rosey, huh huh huh?” Azure said quickly.
Primrose shook her head from the doorway. “Well maybe if you had left some for her she could give you an honest answer, Azure!” she said jokingly.
Rose grumbled. Her eyes had bags under them, and she winced from Azure’s perky morning voice.
"Well I think that was all I needed after all," said Azure, stepping out into the morning light, “A good night’s sleep and a cup o’ Joe.” She went to take a big sniff of the morning air, but it still sounded stuffy.
Rose drove her face into the ground, groaning. Primrose stepped outside.
"Now be careful, Azure," said Primrose, looking concerned. “I really don’t think you’ll be ready to run around again after just one night.”
Azure scoffed. "I feel fine! Really! Don't worry about me."
Primrose shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Well at least let me tag along and keep an eye on you, all right?”
Azure shrugged. “Well you can if you really want to, I’m not stopping you,” she said.
Primrose smiled brightly. Rose mumbled something grumpily, but neither of the other two heard.
Azure started to trot down the path, quite triumphantly, when she stepped in a cardboard box. It overturned, and three or four balled up newspapers rolled out.
Rose looked at them curiously. "No more doggies?" she asked.
"I uhh, I guess the magic wore off," said Azure, somewhat embarrased.
"You mean it fizzled, like every other spell you've used, ever." said Rose with a snarky smile.
“Fizzled?” asked Primrose.
"Hey, I— you—" Azure fumbled with her words. Her sister was completely right, unfortunately. "Well I never got trained normally. You know that, Rosey. Fact is, I can do a lot more with magic than almost anypony else who never went to school for it!" she said, standing proudly.
"Yeah, but then it fizzles out in ten seconds," said Rose, yawning and laughing at her sister.
“Again, fizzles? Fizzled?” asked Primrose, deliberately cutting in between the two. “Do you mean that her magic fades out?”
“Pretty much,” said Azure, “We just say ‘fizzle’ because it used to actually make a noise when it faded or wore off or whatever else you call it.”
Primrose stopped, a troubled look on her face. “That’s odd. I’ve heard of that happening, but only when somepony loses concentration on a particularly complicated spell or something. I mean its a good thing in this case, since we don’t need all these random spells running around rampantly, but still.”
“So,” said Rose, holding back a laugh, “What you’re saying is that every spell is too complicated for Azure?”
Azure growled at Rose. "Can we change the subject already?" she yelled. She continued down the path ahead of the other two, head hanging from both annoyance and embarrassment.
Rose just continued to laugh at her sister's expense. Primrose held back for a second, lost in thought. In a moment she shook her head and followed the sisters toward the market.
In the market, the cupcake stand was having a tough time keeping up with demand today. A few were leaving, though, disappointed with the day's selection. Azure sat by a fountain, leaning back and taking in the day. Rose, on the other hand, was still barely waking up. She lay with heavy eyes at her sister's hooves.
"You know what, Rosey, how about you show me what you've learned with magic. I mean, mine always fizzles out, remember?" said Azure, finally having come up with something of a comeback.
"Oww,” Rose mumbled, holding her head with her hooves, “Not now please, I have a headache."
“Don’t you think she could use the practice, ‘Ms.’ Primrose?” Azure said, nudging the teacher.
“Well, maybe just something simple couldn’t hurt. Rose, do you remember what we were working on last week?”
Azure pushed Rose out in front of them. "Go on. I'll wait," she said, with a smug look on her face.
Rose groaned and slowly lifted herself up. She focused, her horn glowing a faint green. Shortly after, the floating image of a smiling pony's face appeared briefly in front of her.
Azure laughed obnoxiously. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she said, "You still haven't even learned any spells that are meant to stick around!"
"Then can I go back to sleep?" Rose asked, annoyed as she fell to the ground again.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," said Azure. She leaned back and smiled, enjoying the small victory.
Primrose shook her head. She pat Rose’s back and said, “Go ahead. And that was very good, especially compared to your first try.”
Azure sniffled a little, and only a second later realized what that might mean.
Rose opened one eye at the sound. "I thought you said you felt better," she muttered.
"Well I do,” insisted Azure, now looking worried, “Mostly anyway." She twitched her nose around a bit, then her eyes got wide.
“What’s going on?” asked Primrose, “This isn’t another attack, is it?”
Rose stood up, eyes wide also. "No, no, no..." she said, shaking her head and backing away.
"Like it or no—,” Azure started, “Head's u— Ahh-choo!" Azure's sneeze was so powerful that it lifted her off of the ground.
Primrose gasped, lifting her hoof out of the way just in time. Rose could do nothing to avoid the bolt this time, and it hit her square in the middle of her back. She paused, looking around at herself, waiting for what would happen. Azure watched silently too, wincing in guilt. After a moment of silence, the magic visibly settled on Rose’s sides. A large pair of straight, feathered bird wings sprouted from her. The feathers didn't quite match up with Rose's coat, but were still a deep green All three of them stared curiously as they started to flap.
“You doing that, Rosey?” asked Azure. She went to try to touch one of the wings, but the one forceful beat swatted her hoof away.
“N-no,” said Rose worriedly as she started to be lifted off of the ground.
Primrose thought for a moment, then with a nod she declared, “Apodiformes Trochilidae.”
“English, Professor,” Azure grumbled.
“Common Hummingbird. They have the fastest wings in the world,” said Primrose proudly. Suddenly she opened her eyes widely. “And they have been known to fly sporadically in any direction.”
“Wait, so—,” Azure started, but realized what was probably going to happen as Rose started flitting back and forth in midair. In a sleepy haze, and caught by the hypnotic hum the wings were now creating, Rose nodded off again. The motion caused the filly to lean forward just enough that the previously purely-upward thrust from the wings to be directed forward. Azure tried to turn away and run, but she was too slow to react. Rose was accelerating alarmingly fast as she collided with her sister, knocking Azure off of her hooves. The collision woke Rose with a start. They both broke into frantic screams for their lives as they flew through the streets faster than any pegasus the sisters had ever seen. Ponies dove out of the way frantically, barely able to react in time to the echoing screams of the two sisters. To make matters worse, the wings seemed to enjoy playing “chicken” with buildings and walls, repeatedly taking the sisters within inches of a proverbial “hard place” before making a sharp turn up another pathway. Azure clung to Rose, closing her eyes. Rose couldn't even move from the force.
Primrose’s jaw had dropped from the moment they had taken off. She shook her head once they were out sight, then paced in front of the fountain. “Okay, okay, so they’re flying at incredibly unsafe speeds through a crowded city. So long as there’s something to slow them down when the wings fade, they should be okay, right?” She spoke aloud, drawing the stares of a few passersby. “But of course cobblestone isn’t that gentle at high speeds,” she continued, “I guess I can try to follow them and help with a spell or something. It’s better than nothing, right?” She laughed at her own comment before trotting nonchalantly after them.
"Pull up! Pull up!" yelled Azure just as they were headed towards a total dead end. With enough effort, Azure managed to shift her weight to push Rose’s back to the proper angle before the end of the road, but she quickly realized the flaw with this plan. "Go down! Go down!" yelled Azure, clinging for dear life onto the filly-bird.
By this point, the two sisters were upside-down, careening around the sky above Canterlot. "Ma-ake it stop!" Azure yelled, between both of their screams of terror. On cue and with a small puff of blue smoke, the wings disappeared, leaving the two hanging in midair for a moment, just long enough for them to look down and realize what happened before a long, scream-filled fall.
Primrose just managed to get onto the roof of a nearby building when the wings faded. She only knew this, of course, because of the screams. She quickly did the math in her head to determine their velocity, but abandoned the thought midway when she realized they’d be splattered before she finished. “A Featherweight spell might work,” said Primrose, “Of course if it doesn’t there’s no time for a second attempt, so let’s just have some confidence the first time.” She focused intensely on the falling ponies, her horn glowing brighter as they approached the ground.
"Whelp, that's the last of them!" said a trash-collector pony. In his cart lay a good dozen or so recently-thrown-out mattresses. He sighed, for a moment wondering why he put them all in the cart at once. His attention was averted, however, by the approaching sound of two fillies screaming. He looked up, just in time to see a blue and green blur slam into the mattresses with a shower of orange magical sparks. The ponies that were the blur bounced off with a joint "Whoa!", landing in the nearest dumpster.
The trash collector jumped up to look inside. "Are you all right?" he asked, wondering so much more about the circumstances but keeping the thoughts to himself.
One blue hoof raised from the dumpster, and Azure weakly proclaimed from inside, "Okay, I need help!" Her hoof promptly toppled back over, possibly smacking herself in the face.
Later that night, Azure lay in Primrose's bed, looking worn out and miserable with a thermometer in her mouth. Primrose took out the thermometer and set it aside. "I hope you know what I had to go through to get this for you," she said, floating a needle nearby. Azure nodded slowly, still sore from the crash earlier. Azure sat up and leaned over.
"So, uhh, what's it gonna feel like?" she asked.
Primrose smiled snidely next to Azure's face, and whispered, "All done," showing the empty needle.
Azure blinked, confused. "That was it?! I barely felt anything!"
"But of course!" said Primrose confidently.
Azure collapsed back into the bed. "Whelp, lesson learned: Trust the doctor. Slash teacher who can get a hold of medicine for me."
Before Primrose could respond, Rose walked in, with a cast on one leg. "Wrong! The lesson learned is stop being such a stubborn foal all the time!" she yelled.
Primrose laughed, "She is right you know. If you need help, just ask for it! I'm your friend, I would've been happy to help last night, before all of this!"
Azure groaned. "All right, all right. And Rose, I'm sorry I got you caught up in all that." She sighed.
Rose looked at her skeptically, then shook her head. "Hey, don't worry about it. It’s not like I broke my leg or anything!"
Primrose pushed Rose away from the bed. "Now Rose, calm down. If you don't, well I might just have to give you extra homework on accepting apologies," she said with a snide smile.
Rose panicked and ran back out of the room. "See this is why I didn't wanna sleep at her place!" she shouted back.
Azure and Primrose shared a hearty laugh at the filly's attitude.
“For the record, all I had to do was ask the school Nurse nicely for the shot and the cast,” said Primrose, “But you know, it’s the principle of the thing.”
Azure smiled and lay back in bed. “I know. Thanks,” she said with a yawn.
“You’re welcome,” said Primrose, “Now get some rest. Tomorrow you’re both going to see a real doctor, just to be safe.”
Azure nodded slowly as she drifted off to sleep. Primrose smiled and turned off the light behind her when she left the guest room.
Just before going to her own bed, a knock at the door grabbed Primrose's attention. "Just a minute!" she called, putting on a bathrobe before checking it. There was one of the school’s maintenance workers standing there with an apologetic look about him. "Excuse me Ms. Primrose, is little Rose staying here?"
"Why yes, she said her home was having some kind of problems with the water or something. Is everything all right?" asked Primrose.
"Actually, yes. We got the work done finally, just in time for the school week!" said the officer, smiling.
Primrose chuckled, "I'll tell her in the morning, thank you."
"All right. Good night ma'am!"
"Goodnight!"
“Oh, and uhh, Ms. Primrose, umm,” said the worker, starting to blush, “Have a nice day tomorrow!”
Primrose chuckled, saying “You too!” as the other pony left, then shut the door gently.
Around the corner, Rose had been listening in, curious and unable to sleep. She mimed the word "Yes!" at the news, then gagged at the lovestruck janitor.
Before Rose could get back to her room, however, Primrose turned and asked her, "Did you get all that?"
Rose darted back to her room as quickly and quietly as her three good legs could take her.