//------------------------------// // 40 - Catharsis, Part 3 of 15 // Story: The Last Cutie Mark Crusader // by Jatheus //------------------------------// Pixyglitter’s head was swimming. There were voices all around, and her chest hurt with every breath. In spite of this ache, she felt almost giddy. The mare tried to push through the fog that clouded her mind but found herself unable to do so. As such, she did her best to focus her efforts on picking out the voices. They were a jumble of talking, shouting, crying, moaning, and perhaps even pleading. Pixyglitter didn’t think this made any sense at all, as she couldn’t remember much. She’d been at home with her parents, that was the last thing she could recall. Then there had been an air raid siren. She winced from the acute pang in her chest as she breathed. Oddly enough, though it was sharp, it and everything else seemed somehow far away. She tried to move, but found herself unable to do so with any ease. Had the building collapsed? Was she now buried in the rubble and waiting to die? She decided to try to speak to the voices. "Hhello?" her voice sounded strange to her own ears, almost distant as though it belonged to somepony else. "Pixy, are you okay?" a stallion spoke. It took her a moment to recognize Cloud Blazer’s voice. That was a queer thing. Why should it be difficult to pick his voice out, and what was he doing here? "Hey, are you awake?“ "Hheya," she replied a moment later. "I wassh whhere... you..." she found it troublesome to form a sentence. She redoubled her efforts and began again, “Dids the city gets attacked?" "No, the soldiers were able to stop them." “Oh… well... whhere are mhy parentssh?” "What?" "Mhy parentssh… are thhey vuried hhere too?" Words were difficult to form. Something must have been wrong, but she found it difficult to concern herself with it. "Pixyglitter? Your parents are in Manehattan, they’re fine." "Well... thhat’ssh… no ruvvle?" "You’re in Ponyville, remember? You got shot while we were crossing town. The doctors gave you some blood and something for the pain," Cloud Blazer explained. "How did I gets to sshot to Ponyville?" she asked, her speech still slurring. “Pony... pony, pony... Ponyville...” Sleep was threatening to take her again. "Just rest for now." "Don’t leave mhe," she begged. "I’m not going anywhere," his voice soothed. She lost consciousness again. ... Scootaloo approached Sweet Apple Acres at dusk. The destruction from the previous battles had been mostly cleared away or at least pushed into organized rows of detritus. She expected to see saplings by now, but it was mostly just barren earth where the orchard had been. Other crops were growing elsewhere on the farm, but it was certain to be a hard winter on everypony. That was, of course, assuming that winter would come at all. With the loss of Cloudsdale and the weather factory, nopony would be able to make the snow that typically would cover Equestria during the season. Of course, the weather had been left to its own devices for nearly a year. The seemingly-random whims to which it subjected Equestria were most inconvenient for everypony. The house and barn came into view. They stood a testament that not all things had been destroyed; some of what had been survived still. Scootaloo approached slowly, limping on her left hind leg. She felt a bit out of place somehow. It was as if the farm belonged here, but she felt a stranger for a moment. Removing her helmet eased the sensation. The wind tickled her short-cropped mane. She was about to knock when the door opened in front of her. A surprised Apple Bloom was facing her. The expression quickly turned into a grin as she threw herself at Scootaloo, embracing her in a hug. The recipient staggered backward, putting weight on the injured leg and making a small yelp. "Careful!" she scolded. Backing away, the other replied, "Sorry ‘bout that! You okay?" "Yeah," Scootaloo answered. "I’ll be fine. Hey, take a look at this!" The pegasus turned, swelling with pride as she showed her flank. Apple Bloom’s eyes grew wide with excitement. "Whoo-whee!" she shouted into the night. "Best cutie mark ever!" she effused, brandishing her own similar icon. "How’d you get it? Tell me everything!" "Yeah, about that," Scootaloo began a little solemnly, "You know how you two got yours on the same day. I still had plans to follow in Rainbow Dash’s hoof steps back then. Everything I’ve been through lately has taught me that I really don’t want that for myself. I was always happiest here with you guys when we were crusading. I told Rainbow Dash how I really felt and what I had decided yesterday evening and that’s when it happened." Apple Bloom’s joyous expression went blank in shock, "Yesterday evening?” Scootaloo was confused, "Yeah, why?" "Scootaloo," the young mare said, her pink bow pushed slightly by the breeze, "Sweetie Belle and I had something happen that we couldn’t explain yesterday evening. Our cutie marks started glowing.” Scootaloo considered the meaning behind this. Clearly it couldn’t have been a coincidence. "Wow, Apple Bloom, that’s... wow," was all she managed to say. "Is Sweetie Belle here? I can’t wait to show her." "Naw, she’s off with her sister looking for the cat." "Rarity? What’s she doing in Ponyville? How’d she lose Opalescence?" "I’m gonna find Applejack," Apple Bloom said. "Come on, I’ll tell you what I heard." "Okay," the pegasus said as she turned and walked beside her friend. They remained silent in the failing light until they had put some distance between themselves and the farm. "Flurry Heart sure does a good job on the sunsets. I bet they’re her favorite." "Yeah, they are good." "I’m a little fuzzy on some of the details," Apple Bloom began. "Cloud Blazer made a new friend while he was in the hospital." Scootaloo felt herself wince at the mention of Cloud Blazer. Apple Bloom’s gaze seemed to catch this, but she continued as if she hadn’t noticed. The pegasus let out a sigh of relief. "She’s a pegasus named Pixyglitter. She was blinded in a battle at Las Pegasus, I think. Anyway, the two of them hit it off and have been doing just about everything together for months. The crazy thing is, the two of them have figured out how to fly together." Scootaloo involuntarily stopped for a moment in surprise, “Wait, they fly?" She darted to catch up. "Yeah, he tells her what to do, and she does it. I guess it’s kind of like he’s her eyes, and she’s his wings. Anyway, the two of them convinced Fluttershy to go to Manehattan and get Rarity. Of course, Rarity couldn’t leave the cat behind, so they brought her along. They got back in the middle of the battle, and the cat carrier broke. Pixyglitter was hit by an arrow, and Cloud Blazer is with her in the hospital. I couldn’t get in to see him, but Bon Bon told me what happened. I’ve been helping look for Opalescence ever since, but we haven’t found her yet." "I guess that answers the how, but I still don’t know why?" Scootaloo noted. Apple Bloom shrugged, "He didn’t tell me. Those two seem to have some secret that they’re not too keen on sharing. He did say that he needed all of Twilight Sparkle’s friends for something.“ The pegasus didn’t say anything to that, uncertain as to what it might mean. "Speaking of which, I get the feeling you have something you need to talk about. I saw your reaction when I mentioned Cloud Blazer, so what gives?" Scootaloo felt dreadful on that subject. It was no wonder that Apple Bloom was walking so slowly. It gave them time to have this conversation. She decided to attempt deception. She shrugged, "I don’t know. We’re good as far as I know." Apple Bloom stopped dead in her tracks. The look on her face was as accusatory as it was skeptical. "Seriously?" Scootaloo felt herself squirm, but no words came. "I may not be quite as honest-apple as my sister, but I know a bad lie when I hear one, especially from somepony I know as well as you." "I don’t know what to say." "How about the truth," she said flatly; there was no malice in Apple Bloom’s eyes, only concern. Scootaloo took a breath, wondering how she could come to terms with the way she’d hurt him. She hadn’t resolved these things within herself yet, and so sharing it became all the more difficult. Apparently, it was something she couldn’t keep ignoring forever. She decided to start at the beginning. "I guess... I felt responsible for him getting hurt. He started acting weird after that, when he regained consciousness, but I didn’t think much of it because of what he’d been though. Then, I started to notice things he said... I could tell he was starting to see me as more than just a friend, but I was so ashamed of letting him down that I didn’t do anything to discourage him. I guess that made him think I felt the same way. Then, after your sister won the election, he came out and said it. He wants us to be..." Scootaloo swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She let out a sigh, “Lovers… I just don’t think of him that way; I never did. I knew I had to put a stop to it right there, but I overreacted a little. I never wanted anything to change between us, but now it’s weird." Apple Bloom’s expression changed, becoming a little harder as she reached out and struck Scootaloo on the side of her head, "This is easy! Apologize." Slightly stunned by the attack, the pegasus stood there speechless. "What? Were you expecting sympathy? You don’t have to be more than friends; you told him that already, and you’ll probably have to tell him again. But letting things stay like this was really dumb. You could have been killed. He could have been killed. Then what would you do?" That thought had occurred to Scootaloo, but only in the darkest recesses of her imagination. Such was always quickly swept away. "You go fix this." A mild panic brought all of Scootaloo’s defenses to bear. "But, what if I can’t? What if we can’t be friends anymore? What if he won’t want to?" "Do I have to smack you upside the head again?" Apple Bloom asked; it was not a joke. "It doesn’t matter if he rejects you. In fact, it might be what you deserve. That’s not the point. The point is, he’s your friend. You still want to be friends, and you hurt him. Now go apologize. If he tells you to buzz off, then at least it’ll be settled." Scootaloo was amazed. Everything seemed to be much more clear the way Apple Bloom had laid it out. She gave up, allowed her pride to be wounded, and accepted the advice. "You’re right." "Of course I am!" Apple Bloom said with a grin flashing across her face. "I was thinking about opening shop to help ponies with their problems." Scootaloo giggled, "You mean like we used to do?" "Darn tootin’!" "I think that’s a great idea," the pegasus agreed. Scootaloo made up her mind. Her course was set, but it was with great trepidation that she decided what she needed to do. She had to find Cloud Blazer.