Following a very filling and happy breakfast, they said their goodbyes to Big Mac who set off to assess the damage wreaked by the storm on the orchards to the west. Apple Bloom loaded up some saddle bags with supplies, while her pegasus friend checked over her scooter ready for the day ahead. They would have liked to have had Sweetie Belle with them too, but she was out of town with her parents for a few days and had missed everything to do with the storm.
“Now just what in the hay are you going to do with that?” asked the farm filly.
Scootaloo looked at her like it was perfectly obvious, but Apple Bloom looked her straight in the eye and then directed her gaze to the tufts of grass, the exposed tree roots and the random rabbit holes that littered the ground, before looking back to her friend with one eyebrow raised.
“You … er … might want to think that through a bit more” she offered tactfully.
“Oh …” replied Scootaloo, looking suddenly crestfallen.
“You can leave it here if you like” Apple Bloom offered, “It’ll be quite safe till we get back.”
“You sure?” asked Scootaloo, doubtfully.
“Unless Granny Smith takes it out for a spin that is” her friend teased.
“She wouldn’t …” gasped Scootaloo.
“No, of course she wouldn’t. Come on, it’s the best idea; you’ve got more chance of damaging it or losing it if you take it with you, and …” she stressed, “… Yuh can’t use it anyhow, ‘cos there’s no roads where we’re going.”
The pegasus reluctantly saw the logic, and took it back up into Apple Bloom’s room where they had enjoyed their sleepover the night before. She put it down carefully beside her bed and caressed it gently before finally heading for the door and closing it carefully behind her, making sure it was securely shut, and double checking twice more before going back downstairs again.
“There you are!” greeted Apple Bloom, “Ready?”
Scootaloo’s worries about leaving her scooter behind faded quickly in the warmth of her friend’s enthusiasm, and she happily fell into step beside her as they set off towards the direction of the sun, which was still only just beginning to drag itself up into the sky.
“So, what exactly are we doing today?” asked Scootaloo.
“We’re doing a reconnaissance mission” replied Apple Bloom, “We cover as much ground as we can, then report back what needs doing, so my Big Sis and Big Mac know where to start putting things right.”
“That was quite a storm, wasn’t it?”
“Yep, sure was” agreed Apple Bloom, “And we can expect to see quite a few trees down, so it’ll be right nice to have you along.”
They progressed onwards in a roughly easterly direction, telling jokes and sharing funny stories as well as attempting merciless parodies of their classmates. They stopped every now and then for Apple Bloom to take a notebook out of her saddle bag, and sketch out a rough map indicating the extent of the damage and the approximate area within which it had occurred.
After a couple of hours walking, Scootaloo’s legs were getting tired and she was starting to fade noticeably by comparison with the hardy farm filly. When they arrived on the peak of a bluff, Apple Bloom took off her saddle bags and broke out a generous mid-morning snack for the pair of them, which they enjoyed together, looking over the valley ahead of them.
Their delight in each other’s company never faded for an instant, and even when they had to pause in their stories while they were eating, they still sat in companionable silence, listening to the wind toying with the trees all around them.
“Yuh hear that?” asked Apple Bloom, tilting her head to one side to listen out slightly better.
“Hear what?” asked Scootaloo, chomping delightedly on their snacks.
“Hush now, would yuh?” Apple Bloom requested, abruptly raising a forehoof for silence.
Scootaloo stopped chewing and guiltily swallowed the remains of a particularly tasty cereal bar, stopping stock still to listen out in the direction indicated by her friend.
“Over there” hissed Apple Bloom, pointing her forehoof out across the valley, “… I think.”
Scootaloo stood up quietly for a better view, trying to focus her senses, when suddenly her ears twitched and she turned her head fractionally.
“Yuh heard it too?” her friend asked.
“I … I think I may have heard something kinda out that way” said Scootaloo uncertainly. It had been right on the edge of her hearing; the sort of sound that made her wonder if it had been for real or just imagined, yet something about it concerned her, “Did it sound to you like somepony was in trouble?”
“Yes, yes it did!” Apple Bloom asserted, quickly tossing everything into her saddle bags, “C’mon y’all, let’s go check it out!”
The two friends galloped off in the direction where they thought the sound had come from. Although they were both actively thinking about what, or indeed who, could have made the sounds, they ran without speaking, both saving all of their concentration for navigating safely over the dangerously protruding roots and random holes that littered the ground under their hooves.
Apple Bloom, the fitter and faster of the two, drew to a halt and raised her forehoof for quiet while she listened with renewed attentiveness to try and get a better fix on its source. By her reckoning they should be very close to where she thought the sound had originally come from.
Scootaloo joined her a few seconds later and fought to keep her breathing as quiet as possible, but it was still loud enough to mask the gentle sounds Apple Bloom was looking for, and earned her a hard stare that wordlessly required her to try and keep her panting a little more under control.
“Hello!” she called, ears twitching for any response, “Anypony here? Anypony in trouble?”
A muffled groan crawled from a stand of fallen trees not far away; it had been unmistakeable and loud enough for the two friends to hear, so they headed over quickly, not just to offer help, but also to solve the mystery of who was making the sounds and why.
Drawing closer, Apple Bloom saw some patches of lilac, looking out of place among the carnage of freshly damaged and uprooted apple trees.
“Phew – eee!” she whistled quietly, “What’s that all mixed up in that mass of branches?”
Scootaloo too stared at the scene of arboreal devastation, which was far worse than any other storm damage they had seen so far that day, and rushed over to join her friend in trying to make sense of the patches of pastel colouration visible through the foliage.
“It’s a pony!” gasped Apple Bloom as she started to pull at some of the branches that had clearly imprisoned the pony underneath.
The movement caused a desperate female voice to cry out in pain and so she stopped immediately.
“Hello?” said Apple Bloom tentatively, “Sorry ‘bout that.”
It was quickly obvious that the pony was trapped and that the weight of the trees pinning her was way too heavy for the two fillies to move safely by themselves.
“Are you alright?” added Scootaloo, earning a look from her friend that seemed to say, “Well that was a silly question …”
“Who are you Ma’am?” asked Apple Bloom, “What can we do to help?”
The pony coughed and then choked a little, the sound turning into sobs of relief, “I’m Clear Skies … weather team … caught by the storm … had to direct it … away … from … Ponyville …”
“It’s OK now” said Apple Bloom in her most reassuring voice, realising that the pony was clearly seriously injured, “Save your energy; we’ll get help soon as we can. Don’t worry yourself none – help’s on its way.”
“But we’re miles away from Sweet Apple Acres” Scootaloo fretted, “We’ll never get help here in time!”
“Not if we run” agreed Apple Bloom.
“If only Rainbow Dash was here” bemoaned Scootaloo, “She’d get help in a jiffy.”
“Rainbow Dash is pretty awesome” reasoned Apple Bloom, “And you’re her protégée, right? She wouldn’t be spending time training you to be the best pegasus you can be if she didn’t think you could make it, right?”
“Maybe, but I still can’t fly!” she snapped back, tears of impotent rage stinging her eyes.
“Perhaps you’ve never really had the need to do so until now. Look, you’ve got wings, I haven’t. Only one of us has got any chance of getting help for Clear Skies, and it isn’t me.”
Scootaloo just stared sadly at the dirt in front of her hooves.
“C’mon now” said her friend, gently lifting her muzzle so they could look each other in the eye, “I know you can do it; not for me, not for Rainbow Dash, but to save this brave pony who’s only in this mess ‘cos she was trying to save those of us who live in Ponyville, and if you remember, that includes you and me. Please … just try.”
Scootaloo looked at the injured weather pony, then at Apple Bloom who was giving her the most reassuring smile, then at a path running down a slight incline and out to the sky beyond.
“C’mon Scoots” she confirmed, “I know you can do it.”