.
The first thing Fizzlepop's senses perceived since the world went black around her, was a rattling that came from beneath her. Everything was still black, she failed to open her eyes for some reason and a drowsy feeling wrapped her head in cotton, but she noticed that the grass under her lifted and lowered. It was dry again now, which could only mean that the rain was over for hours, Fizzlepop managed to conclude despite her sleepy mind. How many hours had passed?
Something has knocked her out, she could figure as much, but what that something was escaped any attempt by her to explain it. The movement of the grass she rested on happened in a steady pattern. It felt calming to Fizzlepop and she slipped back into a comfortable sleep.
Her awakening a couple hours later was less peaceful. Loud voices filled the air around her. Angry voices. Her body hurt. Her muscles felt sore and tense and there wasn't a single part of her body that wasn't in pain. It was the worst in her head. The loud voices rampaged through it like a stampeding herd of buffalos.
“Buffalos?” Fizzlepop whispered. She didn't know what buffalos were and why the clamor made her think of that word, but there was excruciating pain in her head. Fizzlepop wailed.
The loud voices stopped. Something got knocked over, then a door banged shut. It made the pain flare up stronger. But then there was silence. Fizzlepop waited until the throbbing pain had lessened somewhat, then she attempted to open her eyes.
Blinding, yellow light stabbed her eyeballs. Fizzlepop yelped, more pain flooding in, and closed her eyes again. She was lying in a bed now. Using another sense of hers, she felt strong, soft linen under her body. A fluffy pillow gave some comfort for her aching head and she was covered by a thick blanket. Her coat felt sticky, had she been sweating?
Fizzlepop indulged in the comfort of the bed she had woken up in and focused all her senses on how soft it was, to distract herself from the pain, as she suddenly heard quiet hoofsteps. They approached slowly, in a tempo that felt hesitant. Then a door opened, very close to her, and the hoofsteps proceeded. The door clicked shut behind the pony who had just entered the room. Fizzlepop heard a shivering sigh from the pony, then something got moved over the floor and she was able to discern the sound of sitting down. Another sigh. Then quiet crying, very faint sobs and sniffing. The other pony was not alright.
Fizzlepop listened to the crying, pretending to sleep, until a voice spoke and addressed her.
“You're awake,” the voice said. It sounded tender, but there was a hint of rawness in it.
Fizzlepop did not respond and kept her eyes and mouth shut. She imitated the steady breathing of sleep, suddenly feeling afraid of the unknown voice.
“Come on, I already heard you outside,” the voice continued. The pony got up and Fizzlepop heard the clopping of hooves again, until they stopped right next to her. “Come, open your eyes.”
“I won't open them,” Fizzlepop said, now realizing that faking sleep was of no use anymore. “The light hurts.”
Fizzlepop heard rustling right above her head. “There, I closed the curtains. Is that better now?”
Carefully, Fizzlepop opened her eyes. All she saw were blurry colors, but the blinding, yellow light was gone. She turned her head to the right, where the voice had come from. Her vision improved, she started to see shapes again and as her sight was finally fully restored, Fizzlepop found herself looking into the face of a greyish-golden mare with a striped, cyan mane. It was weaved into a braid and the top of it was covered by a tattered, brown hat with a wide brim. A few holes were in it.
“Howdy!” the mare greeted her. She was wearing a smile, which looked slightly forced, as there were still tears in her eyes. “I'm Calamity Mane. How's your name, filly?”
“Where am I?” Fizzlepop asked, ignoring the question. She didn't feel uncomfortable right now, least as long as she didn't move her head too much, but curiosity drove her thoughts.
“You're inside my house,” Calamity Mane explained. “And in my bed. Looks like I'll have to sleep on the floor for a few nights, but that's alright. The doctor said you got hit by lightning and that it was almost high noon, but don't worry, you are okay now.”
“High noon?” Fizzlepop stared at Calamity in confusion.
“Yep. It means you almost died. I found you unconscious while crossing through the plains between the Whitetail Woods and the Applewood Mountain Range, with a nasty burn wound from your back all the way down to your left hindleg.”
Fizzlepop looked down at the brown woolen blanket that covered her and sunk into thoughts. Her memories began to return. It had been raining. There was a thunderstorm. She was thirsty and the rain had helped with that. But she also had been hungry and realized that she would die if she wouldn't find other ponies soon. Then her back hurt all of a sudden and that's where her memories abruptly ended.
“Thunderstorms can do that?” Fizzlepop asked.
“Oh, yeah, they can!” Calamity Mane confirmed. “You were lucky that I found you. Has nopony ever told you that you shouldn't be out in an open field during a thunderstorm? What were you doing out there all alone anyway?”
Fizzlepop narrowed her eyes and stared at the blanket grimly. She gripped it harder with her forehooves.
Calamity Mane didn't seem to notice the tension. “I never saw a foal all by themselves in the wilderness like that. Your horn is gone, but that wasn't the lighting. If your head had been hit, I would have only found a corpse and the doc said that injury has healed long ago.”
Fizzlepop gripped the blanket harder and exposed her teeth, gnarling.
“Where are your parents?”
Fizzlepop's gnarling intensified. Her hindlegs tensed up and she bucked the hoofboard of Calamity's bed, loud enough that it made the mare twitch.
“S-Sore subject, huh? That's alright, we all have them. Maybe you are a misfit like me. I-I have to leave for a while, rest up more in the meantime. I'll be back in a few hours.” Calamity Mane turned around and left the room, all without saying another word.
Fizzlepop turned her head to the side, facing the wall, and closed her eyes. She wanted to forget.
It was hours later, Fizzlepop couldn't tell how many, that the door of the room opened again. Calamity Mane stepped inside with a large, white bag. She pushed it off her back and put it down in the corner next to a small, brown chair with a cushioned, red seat. Having disposed of the heavy ballast, she stepped at Fizzlepop's side.
“Hey, are you sleeping?”
Fizzlepop gave a grunt in response, the most basic of signs for being awake. She was still staring at the wall, had done it the entire time until Calamity's return. And she didn't show any intention to turn away from the wall now.
“Still angry, huh? Maybe that will cheer you up. I traded some mighty nice things in the town.” Calamity went to the large bag, untied the cord and opened it.
Fizzlepop couldn't see what it was that she conjured from the bag, she only felt something soft being placed on top of her after a few seconds.
“Here,” Calamity said. “The rest is food and medicine, but I got this for you in a really cheap barter. It's a tad old and a little ragged, but it's clean and mostly undamaged. I thought you could need a toy.”
Fizzlepop refused to look at first, but curiosity got the better of her, and she hesitantly took a peek from the corner of her eyes. She saw something green, something that was standing on top of her stomach, but not what it was exactly. Grunting, she moved her head a tiny bit to take a better look. The toy Calamity had gotten her came into proper view. It was a stuffed animal, a green alligator. It stood on its hindlegs and had its mouth wide open. White teeth were inside, one of which was missing. Its belly had a lighter shade of green and vertical, yellow stripes were on its back. The alligator looked at her from friendly, black eyes.
Now Fizzlepop turned her head around fully, in a careful manner, as she could still feel a slight, stinging pain at the backside of it. She stared at the stuffed alligator for a bit, then she reached for it with her hooves. Fizzlepop gripped the alligator and squeezed it a little. The fabric gave in without complications and her hooves felt fondled by the material. Carefully, Fizzlepop lifted the alligator a few inches off the blanket. Her eyes began to glisten with tears and she brought the alligator closer and pressed it against her chest, hugging it tightly. She had forgotten how comfort felt and now it all came flooding back at her.
Calamity smiled. “I hoped you'll like it.” She let Fizzlepop alone with her toy and reached back into the bag.
Fizzlepop heard Calamity rummaging around in it, trotting out of the room through the still open door and putting down something heavy in another room. “I hope you like canned food!” her voice rang into her ears. “Cause that's all you can get in those here parts of Equestria.”
Fizzlepop's snuggling with the alligator abruptly stopped and her eyes shot open. “Those here parts?” she thought. The filly threw her head at the door, instantly regretting the movement as a new surge of pain emerged, but she ignored it. “What town is this?!”
Calamity's head appeared in the door frame. “Huh? I thought I've told you already? Remember how we talked in my wagon before we arrived?”
Fizzlepop looked at Calamity cluelessly, lips puckered and pupils small. The notion sounded familiar, it seemed to her that something like this happened, and yet..... Then the memory returned. Pictures flashed by Fizzlepop's inner eye and she could hear herself and Calamity talking.
“W-What are they?” Fizzlepop had woken up all of a sudden. She was looking past Calamity, who pulled her wagon, and there were stampeding, brown creatures she had never seen before in her life running past the wagon. Two small, grey, curved horns were on their heads.
Calamity had turned around and looked at her. “Oh, hey, you're awake! Thank goodness! I thought of the worst already!”
“What are they?” Fizzlepop had repeated her question.
Calamity was looking ahead at the creatures, then back at Fizzlepop. “Those? Those are buffalos! We're close to Dodge Junction and have to cross through their territory on the way.”
“Buffalos.....” Fizzlepop had whispered. She faintly heard Calamity say something else, but couldn't understand the words anymore. Her next memory were the loud voices and waking up in this bed.
“Buffalos.....” Fizzlepop said, her face looking clear now and her mind feeling clear, as well. “Dodge Junction.....
“Yeah. So you remember, great! Your head must be alright then.” Calamity pulled her face out of the door frame and continued with whatever she was doing out of Fizzlepop's sight. Metallic sounds came from the other room.
“Dodge Junction,” Fizzlepop repeated. “Is that where I am?”
Another sound of a heavy object being put down found its way into Fizzlepop's ears, then the sound of something wet and slippery. “Yep!” Calamity answered. “I brought you here after I found you. I was on the way down south, Dodge Junction is my home, but I haven't been here for a while now. I brought you to the doc immediately when we arrived and he checked you through and patched you up.” There was a pause before she continued. “Now I have even more debts, but at least you're alright.”
“Debts?” Fizzlepop asked. It was a word she heard for the first time.
“Yep..... Nothing is free down here in the Wild South. Luckily, the doc and I go back a long way, but I have to pay him sooner or later.” The sound of stirring followed her words and Fizzlepop heard something cook, the first sound she recognized. The other room had to be a kitchen, she realized.
Folding her ears back, Fizzlepop gave the door a sad look. She turned at the alligator and focused her eyes on him. “Where is the cloud town?” she asked, quieter than before.
“Cloudsdale?” Calamity's voice came in response. “That's far away. And always on the move, it's difficult to tell where the town is right now.”
Cloudsdale. So that was the name of her cloud paradise. Fizzlepop smiled. “I need to go there,” she let Calamity know.
“To Cloudsdale?” The sound of the stirring stopped. “That's impossible. Only pegasi can be there.”
“Why?” Fizzlepop asked surprised. “Are other ponies not allowed there?”
“No, they are.” The sounds continued again. “If we could go there, I'm sure we would be welcome. But the entire town is made out of clouds and only pegasi can trot on clouds.”
Desperation spread out on Fizzlepop's face. She squeezed the alligator tighter. “But that's my home.....” she wailed.
“Your home?” Calamity's voice was full of disbelief.
Something was clinking in the kitchen, then Fizzlepop heard whatever food Calamity had been preparing being poured out of the pot.
“You can't be from Cloudsdale,” she said. “No unicorn or earth pony ever goes there.”
Of course she wasn't from there. But the news that she couldn't go to Cloudsdale stung in Fizzlepop's heart. She thought about telling Calamity everything that happened to her, but cast aside the thought almost instantly. It was too painful to talk about it and what's in the past is in the past. Instead, Fizzlepop decided to ask another question herself.
“What were the loud voices? I heard them when I woke up.”
It became completely silent in the kitchen. Calamity's answer came only hesitantly, after several seconds had passed. “It's nothing to worry about.....”
Fizzlepop heard hoofsteps and Calamity entered the bedroom. “I made soup for us,” she said, taut.
Fizzlepop noticed that Calamity's face was full of worry and in that moment, she knew that Calamity was lying. She kept quiet about it, though, not knowing what pointing out the lie would be good for.
Calamity took up position next to her, grabbed the spoon, picked up some soup and blew on it, then brought it close to Fizzlepop's mouth. “Tell me if it's still too hot,” she said, as taut as before.
Fizzlepop promised and that was the only conversation they had while she was eating. Calamity's demeanor made it increasingly apparent that something was wrong, but Fizzlepop still didn't ask.
As Fizzlepop was finished with eating and Calamity had brought the bowl back into the kitchen, she pulled the blanket closer to Fizzlepop's chin. “The doc said you should rest for at least a day. We'll see how you feel tomorrow and maybe I can show you the town then. But now you should sleep.”
Calamity didn't need to tell Fizzlepop twice. She was feeling tired after this meal and the ongoing pain in her head and the rest of her body signalled a dire need for rest. Fizzlepop hugged her alligator tightly, closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, feeling satisfied and safe for the first time since she left her village.