The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds

by Kamahido


Chapter 5 - Treatments


Late the following afternoon Arc and Scootaloo return to the apothecary’s shop. Entering, they find the elderly stallion looking over some paperwork. He smiles sleepily at them as the approach.

“Hello again. What can I do for you?”

“I was just wondering if you came up with any kind of cure yet.”

The apothecary sighs and shakes his head. “Sadly, no. In fact, I was just going over my notes again in an effort to figure out why it’s not working.”

“Well, I know your craft requires a lot of trial and error.”

“Admittedly, yes. However when you’ve been doing it as long as I have, you can usually figure something new out fairly quickly.”

“Any ideas what makes this sickness so special?”

“No idea. My tests show that the foals should be responding to the medicine. But there’s been no change.”

Arc calls out telepathically. “Ask him if it could be something in the air or water.”

“Could the symptoms be from either the water source or the air?”

The stallion puts a hoof to his chin. “I suppose it is possible. However one would think that would also cause the adults at least some degree of discomfort.”

“I suppose it would.”

“But you have brought up a good point. One that would answer a few questions.”

“Which part?”

“The notion that the foal’s symptoms could be caused by a stimuli other than the traditional bacteria or a virus.”

Scootaloo sighs. “Sadly that doesn’t bring us any closer to an answer though.”

“I suppose not. But it is a possibility, of course.”

“Maybe I could look into that.”

“How?”

Scootaloo turns and heads for the door. “I’m… not really sure yet. But I’ll think of something.”

The apothecary smiles and calls out after her as she leaves the shop.

“You do that.”

Meanwhile, Arc falls into step behind Scootaloo. She sighs as Arc calls out to her telepathically.

“What do you think about this?”

“That there’s more going on than we can see.”

“Agreed. But we need to think about what could be causing it. With any luck we might be able to stop it. Then the apothecary’s medicine would work.”

“Yeah. But I don’t have any idea where to start!”

“We’ll probably have to do some snooping.”

“Some what?”

Arc chuckles. “Investigate covertly.”

“That didn’t really clear it up.”

“Be nosy.”

“Oh… why didn’t you just say that?”

“I thought I did.”

“Well… what exactly did you have in mind?”

“Let’s look around town tonight after dark.”

Scootaloo frowns. “Why not now?”

“Because it’s easier to get away with stuff after the sun goes down.”

“Like how we were traveling at night?”

“Kinda, I guess.”

Scootaloo raises an eyebrow. “But we did that for a good reason though, right?”

Arc nods. “Yes. Transforming gives us more energy and strength. Remember what happened when those Timberwolves attacked us?”

Scootaloo grins. “Nothing left but splinters when you punched the first one in the face.”

“Exactly. But I didn’t want anyone to see me do that.”

“Why not?”

“They might’ve seen that wanted poster and followed to wait for an opportunity to catch us off guard.”

“That’s a scary thought.”

“Yeah. That and…”

“And what?”

Arc sighs. “I was worried someone might want to take you away.”

“But I thought you were taking me to the orphanage for that very reason.”

“That’s true, yes. Nevertheless… I really do like your company.”

“Then why did you want to leave me at the orphanage? I mean… don’t you care about me?”

Arc smiles. “It’s because I care that I did that. Like I said before, you deserve a chance at a real family adopting you. That much hasn’t changed. But in any case, let’s get something to eat and rest up for tonight.”

“Okay. And, Big Brother?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

They return to the Inn together. As the moon rises Arc and Scootaloo look out their window together at it. Transforming, Arc opens the window and jumps nimbly down. Looking up, he catches Scootaloo as she hops into his arms. Setting her down, the pair look around the back of the Inn.

“Where to now, Big Brother?”

“Let’s look around the town.”

“But nopony’s around.”

“Right. At this time of night pretty much everyone will be at home in bed. That means if we do see someone, it’ll be suspicious.”

“I guess that makes sense. Why don’t we…?”

Arc interrupts. “Shh!”

Cloaking, he pulls Scootaloo into the magic robe and presses his body against a wall as the sound of hooves echoes nearby. The apothecary walks by and looks around. A few moments later a shady looking stallion approaches from the opposite direction. He walks over to the apothecary and looks around before the elderly stallion speaks softly.

“Did you get it?”

The stallion nods and sets down his saddlebags. “Always.”

Looking over the contents of the bag the apothecary groans. Pulling out several cloth sacks he sniffs them momentarily before tasting the contents and nodding.

“Powerful stuff.”

The stallion chuckles. “I don’t disappoint.”

“No, I suppose you don’t.”

“So which of these do you want?”

“All of it.”

The stallion sounds confused. “All of what?”

“Everything.”

“You sure?

The apothecary nods as he looks around nervously. “Yes. I have lots to do and not much time. Same arrangement as before?”

“Put the bits you know where, as usual.”

“Very well.”

Picking up the saddlebags, he turns and walks away as the shady stallion does the same. Arc frowns as Scootaloo calls out to him telepathically.

“What was that all about?”

Arc frowns. “Some kind of purchase.”

“But why out here?”

“Whatever he bought must’ve been illegal.”

“So we going to take it?”

Arc shakes his head. “No, that would just raise suspicion. That and if it really is illegal I don’t want us caught with it. Now then, you follow the apothecary, and I’ll take the other one.”

“Okay.”

Scootaloo walks out of the robe and after her quarry as Arc does the same. The shady stallion heads for the edge of town. Looking around, he suddenly begins to run. Arc chases after him as the pair enter the foliage. Reaching a cliff the stallion leaps off and throws away his cape. Spreading his wings, he takes flight and is lost in the cloud cover in mere moments. Arc groans as he calls out to Scootaloo.

“I lost him.”

“How?!”

“He must’ve heard me following him. That pegasus was FAST! Anything interesting happening with the apothecary?”

Scootaloo groans. “Maybe. He just got back to his shop and went straight to his workbench. I’d like to watch him. But he’d probably see me if I stood in front of the window for any length of time.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Hurrying back into town, Arc finds Scootaloo at the now familiar shop. She waits for him to get into position in front of the window before stepping into the cloak and watching the apothecary with him. Arc looks down at the filly.

“What’s he mixing?”

“Impossible to tell from here. I’d have to get to the bench and look it over.”

“That would take time though.”

Scootaloo nods. “Right. And make noise.”

“We could mesmerize him.”

Scootaloo shakes her head. “Being an apothecary, he’s probably pretty smart though.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“He might be able to resist it.”

Arc raises an eyebrow. “That’s a thing?”

“Why do you think those bandits fell under our control so easily?”

“Because they’re dumb?”

Scootaloo nods. “That one way to put it. The term ‘weak-minded’ would have been a bit more accurate though.”

“Okay, we’ve gotta have a long talk about how to use all these powers properly. This is getting complicated.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But how exactly do you know so much about them?”

“Reading my mom’s books. I figured knowing what to look for would be the best way to counter them.”

Scootaloo sighs as she continues.

“I never thought I’d be passing this information on though.”

“So any powers that could help us out here?”

Scootaloo shakes her head. “We could just rush him. The two of us could easily knock him out before he heard anything.”

“You’re probably right. But I don’t feel like we should be hitting someone that old. We could really hurt him.”

“The next best thing would be to wait for him to go to bed then sneak inside to check out what’s in those saddlebags.”

Arc nods. “Yes, let’s try the non-violent approach first.”

A few hours later the apothecary yawns for the hundredth time. Scootaloo groans.

“Is he EVER going to call it a night?!”

Arc sighs. “If he keeps this up we’ll have to work around him as we check that workbench.”

Scootaloo grins. “Hey, I think he’s finally going to head out!”

The apothecary carefully returns the reagents to the saddlebags and puts them over his gnarled back. Arc groans as he watches.

“Great. He’s taking his work home with him.”

“What now, Big Brother?”

“We tail him.”

“Want me to follow him from overhead?”

“Nah. You’d be visible.”

As the stallion leaves the shop and locks the door, Arc and Scootaloo quietly follow him on foot. Walking slowly down several side streets, they eventually come to a small but well-kept one room cottage on the edge of town. Entering, the apothecary sets his saddlebags down on a small table and flops down on a nearby bed. In moments the sound of his rhythmic snoring can be heard. Scootaloo sighs, clearly relieved.

“Sounds like he’s out.”

“Yeah.”

“We going in?”

“That we are. Follow my lead though.”

“Wait. You’re going in too?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Didn’t you hear all that noise earlier? Those floorboards are a minefield of squeals and squeaks.”

“So how are we supposed to get the bag?

Scootaloo grins. “You just leave that to me, Big Brother.”

A few moments later Arc pushes the unlocked front door open. Scootaloo, having removed her cloak, flies cautiously past him and to the table. Hovering over it, she reaches down and picks up the strewn reagent jars. Putting them carefully in the saddlebags, she looks over to the apothecary as he stirs slightly. A few moments later he rolls over and groans before snoring loudly. Arc motions for Scootaloo to fly toward him at the door. She does so very slowly, being careful not to let the bag’s contents jostle around too much. Flying past him, Arc closes the door softly behind her as he breathes a sigh of relief.

“Good job.”

Scootaloo grins weakly as she puts her own cloak back on. “I thought he was gonna wake up for sure back there.”

“Fortunately you paused long enough. Too much noise would’ve caused that to end very differently. But in any case let’s get this back to the Inn.”

“Why not just look it over here?”

“We need some privacy and a table. I don’t want to lose, spill, or otherwise make it appear anyone’s been in his stuff anymore than necessary.”

Hurrying back to their room Arc gives Scootaloo a boost up to the window before jumping through it himself. They close the window and curtains before turning on the lights and walking over to the table.

“Let’s see what we have here.”

Carefully removing each container, Arc lines them up neatly as Scootaloo carefully reads each label.

“These are all reagents my mom’s used in the past.”

“Anything special about them?”

Scootaloo nods. “Yeah. They’re all rare, but have a thousand uses.”

“Such as…?”

“In different combinations you could treat headaches, nausea, vomiting, fever, gum disease, and a few things that mom said only adult stallions get.”

“Can you narrow it down?”

Scootaloo shakes her head. “Not really, no. This is a really diverse reagent bag. Combine that with what he has in his shop and somepony could theoretically cure anything imaginable.”

Arc groans. “So no lead here, huh?”

Scootaloo shakes her head. “There is one more thing I’d like to point out.”

“Oh?”

“Somepony could also make any number of poisons with this stuff.”

“Poisons?!”

Scootaloo nods. “Rat poison, weed killer, insecticides…”

“So anything poisonable you could imagine.”

“He’s a apothecary, after all. They make whatever their customers need.”

“That isn’t a good sign. “

“You think he’s the one making those foals sick?”

“Maybe. But this isn’t proof of that in the least.”

“Agreed. Just having the reagents to make poison doesn’t mean he’s using it in that manner. That and a lot of medicines contain small amounts of these things anyways.”

“They do?”

Scootaloo nods. “Yeah. They undergo a chemical reaction with some kind of catalyst, which is another ingredient, to become a completely different chemical entirely. Sometimes if you mix the right poisons together in the proper amounts it makes very potent medicine.”

“Interesting.”

“I saw my mom do that a million times.”

“Could you mix up something with this stuff?”

“Depends what you need.”

Arc puts a hand to his chin. “Well, you said earlier that the foals in the hospital looked like they were suffering from colds.”

Scootaloo nods. “The symptoms matched, yes.”

“Can you make a simple cold remedy?”

“That’s really easy, yes. But I wouldn’t need any of these exotic reagents to do that though.”

“What would you need?”

“Just some common herbs and equipment. We can probably find everything I need back at the apothecary’s shop.”

She looks at the reagents on the table.

“We could uses these. But that would be such a waste.”

Arc sighs. “That and he might notice some jars are lower than before.”

“Right. As many bits as he paid for them, I’d say they’re just as rare here as back in Knothole Village.”

“Should we gather what we need from the forest then?”

Scootaloo shakes her head. “Nah. What I need I saw back at his shop in really big containers. He won’t notice if a few small scoopfuls are missing.”

“Alright. But let’s take this bag back to his house first.”

“Okay.”

Returning to the apothecary’s house nearby they return the saddlebags, and their contents, to the table. Heading to the darkened shop they spot an open window on the second floor. Arc looks to Scootaloo.

“Fly up there and go inside. I’ll wait for you here.”

“You don’t want to come with me?”

Arc shakes his head. “No, I’ll watch. If the apothecary wakes up he’ll probably come straight back here. Can you work in the dark?”

“Sure. It’s a fairly simple recipe. Just add the correct ratios and stir.”

Scootaloo flies through the window as Arc keeps watch. A few minutes later she tops lightly on the exterior door. Arc looks around one final time before calling out to her telepathically.

“All clear. Come on out.”

Opening the door, Scootaloo walks out with a small vial in her hoof. Arc looks at her, clearly impressed.

“That was fast.”

“Like I said, it’s a really simple recipe. And I did test it already.”

“How?”

“I took a little sip.”

“Is that safe?”

Scootaloo nods. “Uh huh. That’s how my mom always did it. Well, smell first then taste. But what should we do with this? Bring it to the hospital?”

Arc shakes his head “No. It needs to come from the apothecary. They’d never take a vial of medicine from an unknown source.”

“Well… there is another option.”

“I’m listening.”

A short time later the pair enter the hospital together, cloaked. Scootaloo looks through Arc’s eyes as he carries her.

“Now all we need is a nurse.”

Arc frowns. “At this time of night there shouldn’t be too many around.”

Scootaloo grins. “Perfect for our purposes.”

“Yes, well… I think I know the perfect place to find someone… unmotivated.”

Walking down a corridor, Arc enters a room marked ‘Lab’. Inside they find a single nurse sitting at a desk looking as if she may nod off. Arc looks down to Scootaloo as he speaks to her telepathically.

“Think you can handle this?”

“I’m not sure. Being a nurse I’d guess she’s pretty smart. They’re hard to deal with.”

“Give it a try anyways.”

Scootaloo nods as Arc kneels down next to a desk and lets her down. She steps around it and heads for the mare.

“Excuse me.”

The nurse shakes herself awake and looks at Scootaloo.

“What… how did you get in here? You should be in bed.”

“I’m fine. Just look at me.”

The nurse does so as Scootaloo’s eyes meet hers. She smiles as the nurse begins to wobble slightly. However a moment later she puts a hoof to her forehead and grimaces.

“What… happened? How did you…?”

Scootaloo grimaces. “It isn’t working, Big Brother.”

“Keep trying.”

The nurse grunts as she composes herself. “I… need to…!”

She reaches for the telephone.

“Big Brother!”

“On it!”

Arc dives over the desk and tackles the mare. Landing on top of her, he decloaks. She tries to scream, but he puts a hand around her snout and holds it shut.

“Look at me!”

The nurse attempts to turn away, but Arc uses his hold on her muzzle to force her to keep her gaze on him. A few moments later her body language softens and she ceases to struggle.

“I think I got her.”

Scootaloo appears relieved. “And not a moment too soon!”

“Now then… I’m going to let go of your mouth, and you’re going to stay quiet. Understand?”

Nodding, Arc releases his hold on the mare’s muzzle. She lays on the floor silently. Arc stands and looks down at her.

“Get up.”

The mare wordlessly does so as Scootaloo hands him the vial. Returning his gaze to the mare he holds it out to her.

“I want you to test the contents of this. Analyze it and let me know if it’s safe for a foal.”

Accepting the vial, she walks over to a machine. Taking a drop, the nurse places it onto a pad and stick it into a slot. A few moments later readouts form on a nearby screen. However the mare does not move. Scootaloo turns to Arc.

“I think the analysis is done.”

“Then why isn’t she reporting it to me?”

“You told her to stay quiet. Remember?”

“But I just didn’t want her to scream for help.”

“Well, you have to clear that order if you want a report.”

“Okay. Nurse.”

Turning to him, the mare wears a blank stare as he addresses her.

“You may speak again.”

“Yes, master.”

“Have you analyzed the substance?”

“Yes, master.”

“What is it?”

“A treatment for a cold.”

“Is it safe to administer to a foal?”

“It is safe, master.”

“Very good. Take the vial and administer this medicine to one of the foals in the ward immediately. Then return to this room.”

“As you command, master.”

She turns and walks toward the door. Scootaloo jumps into Arc’s arms as he again cloaks. They follow her down the corridor and to the ward. Walking over to a young filly, the mare gently shakes her. Groggily, the filly opens her eyes and sits up.

“Is it medicine time already?”

The nurse nods and puts the vial to the foal’s lips. She drinks it slowly and coughs.

“What WAS that?! It tasted terrible!”

Without a word, the nurse takes the empty vial and leaves the room. Arc and Scootaloo follow her back to the lab. She closes the door behind them, but does not move from just inside the threshold.

“You have to tell her to move again.”

Arc groans. “Sit before me.”

“Yes master.”

She slowly walks toward Arc and sits. Arc kneels down in front of her and looks the nurse in the eye.

“As soon as we leave you will return to your desk. Lay your head down and rest. When the door opens again you will awaken with no memory of myself or the filly with me. It was all just a dream. Do you understand?”

“Yes master.”

“Good.”

Arc turns and cloaks. Leaving the room he closes the door behind him. The nurse sits back down at her desk, lays her head on her fetlocks, and closes her eyes. Meanwhile, Arc and Scootaloo leave the hospital together and return to the inn. Entering through the window, Arc looks down at Scootaloo as she closes the curtains.

“How long will it take for that medicine you made to take effect?”

“That filly should feel a lot better by morning.”

“Really?”

Scootaloo nods. “It’s pretty powerful stuff.”

“In that case, let’s head to bed ourselves.”

“Okay. But what will we do tomorrow? Or today, I suppose.”

“Visit the apothecary.”

“Again, Big Brother?”

Arc grins. “Yup. We’re going to help him make a delivery. But for now, we rest.”

The pair lie down together on the bed and are soon fast asleep.