//------------------------------// // Release // Story: Into the Storm // by Asherion //------------------------------// It has been roughly one week since Storm Caller had the 'accident', he he was now currently able to move except for his wings which were tightly wrapped in gauze and inside casts. Throughout his week in the hospital, the only saving grace for him was his new friends visiting him. Rainbow Dash had brought over her 'Daring Doo' collection stating that they had helped her during her last prolonged stay, and in truth they did help him pass the time, but they also gave him many new ideas for many new stunts. One stunt in-particular consisted of him finding an ancient ruin and trying to narrowly avoid all traps at top speed. Twilight had brought books as well, but they were confusing and had little to no pictures in them to hold his interest. Rarity had visited as well, only her visit was discomforting for Storm, Rarity wants to dress him up and make him into a 'gentlecolt', "Not happening" is all he can think "No fru fru for me...". Fluttershy was perhaps the only pony to visit him with the sole intention to check on his well being and take care of him, her actions made him feel warm. Pinkie.. Pie... Pinkie Pie's visit was during his last day in the hospital, and it was the craziest day he had during his stay, and most fun... During Pinkie Pie's visit, Storm had noticed two unused wheelchairs outside his room, a thought came to his mind, as a smile stretched across his face. "Hey Pinkie, wana race?" The pink mare feverishly shook her head "A race sounds like a great idea, and by great i mean really great, are we gonna run, im fast at running, oh oh oh or maybe bounce, I love bouncing" *gasp* her eyes grew wide "Ormaybewererunningandbouncingthatwouldbesomuchfun..." Storm walked up to Pinkie Pie "Pinkie!" he said as he gripped her shoulders "Were going to race in those" as he said that he let go with a hoof and pointed it towards the wheel chairs. her eyes following his hoof towards the wheelchairs. "Whats the prize?" Pinkie Pie questioned. "Im not sure, maybe..." Storm finds himself cut off by Pinkie Pie's sudden reaction *gasp* "Oh Oh Oh i know winner gets a PARTY!, I just love Parties,..." she trails off again, Storm facehoofs. "Oh Pinkie Pie, ever heard of breathing?" his question goes unanswered by the pink mare still talking to herself. "Pinkie Pie!!!" she stops talking, she looks around, Storm had vanished, "Hey over here!" she turns and sees him in one of the wheelchairs... "ready to race?" nodding her head vigorously she runs towards the other unused wheel chair, a squeak went through the air as she got in the chair, her motions brimming with excitement. "On your mark..." Storm looks towards Pinkie Pie, she is now bouncing in her chair, Storm cant help but let out a small chuckle, he turns to the front... "...Get set..." he looks again, this time she has half her tongue out and what appears to be a serious face for her on, to him it looks just ridiculous, shaking his head, holding back even more chuckles he looks to the front again... "...." Adrenaline rising, his hooves gliding over the wheels just waiting for the signal, waiting for the moment when they can burn rubber. "...GO!!!" In milliseconds both are off, screaming through the corridors narrowly avoiding very surprised ponies. Storm is in the lead, pushing his legs harder and harder as he leans into sharp turns, feeling the wheels give way as the G's pull him, trying to make him crash. and then from a distance Storm hears... squeaking??? from behind him and closing in fast, he turns just as a flash of pink flies by him leaving...streamers??? in its wake, Pinkie took the lead. "Really..."Storm thinks to himself "where does she keep all the streamers...", immediately he orders his legs to push harder and harder slowly making him accelerate, a pink blur in the distance, closing in. "I've got you now..." just as he said that Pinkie spun around and... stopped??? "why did she stop" he thought as he closed in. suddenly an orange pony appeared in front of him... "oh no..." "Howdy Pinkie Pie,why are you in a wheelchai...." Storm hit the brakes as hard as he could, trying desperately to slow down, the tires created smoke as they painted the floors black with their efforts, but to no avail, the orange pony turned and Storm recognized the pony to be Applejack just as her face turned to complete horror. *BOOM* The sound echoed through the hospital as the wheelchair and mare collided, tearing apart the chair and sending the two ponies flying, landing just feet away. No movement Ponies stuck their heads out of their rooms to see what was happening as nurses began to run frantic around every corridor trying to figure out what happened, everypony froze, mouths agape when they spotted the crash site. Two parallel black lines stretched almost 3 rooms across ending abruptly with pieces of wheelchair scattered around, a few feet away two ponies could be seen, a dark grayish blue pegasus in casts and an orange earth pony. Storm shakes his head, trying to collect his thoughts "Note to self, never race wheelchairs again..." He looks at his surroundings "Wow, i think im getting a little too good at crashing.." his eyes catch Applejack, she lay their motionless. "A-Applejack?... you okay?" no reply, desperation seeping into his voice. "Applejack..." silence, he gives her a desperate nudge with his hoof, nothing. Tears now forming, he begins to shake her "Applejack!!, please wake up, im sorry" She stirs slightly releasing a yawn "I dun wanna get up Big Macintosh... Apples can wai.." He shakes he harder "Applejack!!!" "...huh, wha... what happen....ow" a bolt of pain strikes through her head, resulting in her massaging her temples. She looks around then looks at Storm slightly confused "Storm... mind tellin me why ah got dis..." she winced "Whopping headache?" Storm stared blankly for a second "W-well uhm y-you kinda fell and hit your head..." he tries to keep from eye contact, knowing its his fault. "Ah... fell?" she looks around some more, her brain slowly piecing together what happened, suddenly she turns her head straight towards Storm giving him a glare "Wait now ah remember, i was on ma way here to visit ya when..." she trails off, anger rising " You crashed into me.. with a wheel chair..." her voice laced with agitation, Storm was now cowering, fearing for his life. "You better have on hay of a good excu...se" she suddenly stops, just looking at Storm. Storm just sat there, his ears low his head even lower, tears running down his face, collecting into little drops of water on his muzzle before they quietly dropped, he looked completely distraught, he glanced up making eye contact quickly with Applejack before he looked down again, his eye were large, their crystal blue covered in a thin glaze of tears, "Im r-really s-sorry, I didn't m-mean to h-hurt you..." he glanced up again, more tears were forming, Applejack felt a pain in her heart, "I-I didn't..." he slowly trailed off. Applejack slowly walked up to him and gave him a warm and loving embrace, one much like a mother to her foal, "Ah know sugarcube, ah know" she slowly started to run her hoof through his mane, stroking it softly while lacing her words with a mother's love "Ah know ya didn't mean it sugarcube, and ah'm not mad at ya..." he just sat silently while she continued to comfort him. Storm shuffled slightly, moving back to make eye contact, his eyes growing bigger, "Y-your not m-mad at m-me?" through muted sniffles. Applejack just gave a warm smile "Ah know ya didn't mean it, and as long as you promise me you'll never do it again, we can forget that this ever happened" she pulled him into a tighter hug, sharing in each others warmth. Applejack gently releases him and holds his shoulders "Now ah bet your mighty hungry", Storm's ears perk up "Just so happens i brought some of ma families apples with me, wouldja like afew?" Storm's stomach decides to answer for him making a loud gurgling noise, causing him to blush from embarrassment "Well ah guess that answers it" she says as she looks for her basket but then stops when the nurses start to move, the apples would have to wait. The crowd surrounding the crash site just watched the whole even unfurl with tears in their eyes, and when it was over they were quickly rushed towards their respective rooms, while the nurses rushed towards Applejack and Storm, checking their wounds. ________ Back into his white room, Storm waited alongside Applejack for the doctor, happy that Applejack wasn't hurt too bad and that it had just been a couple scratches, he really didn't want to see any of his new friends hurt or even worse, especially by something he did. The doctor entered, immediately glaring daggers into Storm, Storm lowered his eyes "Well well, we've had a busy morning haven't we? mr. Storm?" making sure to weave thick layers of displeasure and sarcasm into his voice while continuing the onslaught with his eyes, Applejack returned his glare with a glare of her own. "He said he was sorry!" "Did he now, did he say he was sorry to those patients he ruefully woken hope, or the ones he nearly ran over,..." he layered even more sadistic sarcasm into his voice "..Did you say sorry to our poor floors for burning them, did you?" Storm just looked down and kicked at the ground with his hoof "...no..." his will was not ready for this onslaught immediately after what had just happened... "And I fear you forgot to say sorry to the one that was injured most... that poor old wheel chair you... killed..." with this he gave a small evil smile as he watched the horror wrap around Storm's face. "Well enough of that, I have good news and I have bad news..." The doctor's eyes moved, scanning the room, "First good news, your free to go" he waited before he continued, waiting till he saw just the slightest bit of hope in the pegasus, " The bad news im afraid..." he paused adding for dramatic effect, " you cannot fly for one month, if you do you will risk Never being able to fly again" the smile returned as he watch all hope slip from Storm. Storm now completely heartbroken didn't know what to do, "i cant fly for a whole month..." he thought, they might as well told him he died, how was he gonna get home?, where was he gonna stay while he was 'grounded'? Applejack seemed to sense her friend's dismay, she turned to him, her eyes meeting his, she laced her words with kindness "Ya could always stay at ma families farm, we got plenty o' room" "It wouldn't...be a bother that im there?" "Nope we love company, and best part were never short on food" Storm's new ray of hope helped him remember, there was another pony in his act... Pinkie Pie, where did she go, he turned to the doctor "Hey doc, wasn't there a pink pony by us, you know uhm she's a little weird, hairs poofy and kinda bounces instead of walks?" The doctor looked confused for a second "Now that you mention it there was an empty wheelchair by the 'accident', but no i don't believe anypony was there, why do you ask?" his eyes begging to find out who else messed with his hospital. "Oh no nothing, just was wondering", storm started to head out the door with Applejack leading the way. "I don't want to see you in here again!" the doctor shouted as he waved, once they vanished from sight he stopped his wave and muttered "No really i Don't want to see you here again" End Chapter 3 Author's note: Okay so i did a few things different this time for this chapter while i wrote it, first would be i wrote this completely before i posted and second would be i actually did a thorough scan of my roughs again before posting. man this takes some time, but i hope you all enjoyed the chapter.