//------------------------------// // Episode Two: Collections // Story: The Awakening // by GDapperStudios //------------------------------// If there was to be any dew that morning, it would not have lasted long. The clocks hands had barely had the time to stand upright, and already the day was unbearable. Two bodies sat around the circular kitchen table, beads of sweat cascading down their faces. Crystal Light rested her head on the table, and released a stagnant breath. "It's still so, damn, hot." The bright pink body across the table let a stale breath escape her as she reached a wing out to a small thermostat. "Yep," Her high, dry voice peeped. "Still way up there. Any chance you could grab me another water?" Crystal Light turned, and with her hoof outstretched, reached for the already half-empty case of bottled water. But the effort seemed all too much with the case too far away, and her hoof fell. "You know, it's a little far." Though unseen, eyes were rolled. The pegasus tipped her head back as she leaned her chair, her long orange mane falling almost to the floor behind her. "Why don't you guys have a pool?" "Why don't you have a pool?" "Yeah, that would work out well. Mom, I know you said no to literally everything else, but can we get a pool?" "Whatever. Worth a shot." "Was it now?" "Could've been." For three more minutes there was little to no movement, the bodies rooted to their chairs by the otherworldly heat. Then, the familiar clicks and clacks of the front screen door, and a few solid hoofsteps on the tile floor. "Jeez, looks like a crime scene here." "Hey Nov." "Crystal Light, Amber Breeze, how we doin'?" "Dying," Crystal Light started, her voice muffled by the table her face was still pressed against. "same as everypony else." "Hmm, shame." "How are you still so up and up?" "Um, cuz I'm from Las Pegasus, remember? It's pretty bad though, I don't remember it ever being this bad." "Really?" "Yeah, I think it was closest to this, maybe, about three years before we moved? That was a bad summer." "Hm." "Well." Nova Bomb started, loudly landing a hoof on the table. "We've got to do something today, I trust Crystal has explained the predicament to you?" "Yep. All those times I'd ask if she wanted to study together, look who was right." Crystal Light waved a dissmissive hoof, but stayed completely still otherwise. "Come on, let's get up, let's go." "Ok, appreciate the enthusiasm Nov, but where are we gonna go?" "I got something cool planned, we just gotta stop by my house to grab something first." ----------- The heat continued to show no remorse as the day crawled by into the early afternoon. Upon a hill, just barely past Ponyville's limits, the sound of exasperated grunts and groans were carried in the wind. "I hope whatever you have planned is worth it, or I'm never taking your advice again." "Oh, will you just? We're almost there." "Why couldn't we have just gone to the regular spot?" "Because it's too close to town, nopony ever goes up here, especially not now." "Couldn't see why." Nova Bomb's eyes rolled as he took the final steps in their ascent up the hill. Crystal Light and Amber Breeze slowly made their way to the crest of the hill, Amber Breeze giving up and falling to the grass when they had. "Well, what's the big surprise?" "Ever think of using your eyes and not your mouth?" The eyes with which she should have been looking were rolled. As she surveyed the land atop the hill, she spotted a small blue cooler in the wonderous shade beneath a short but sturdy oak tree. Just behind that, there were three chairs arranged around the side of a small blue pool, full of crystal clear water. "Wow, when did you bring all this up here?" "All what?" Amber Breeze asked, finally lifting herself from the ground and walking over. "Holy feck!" "I managed to sneak the cooler and chairs out a little while after the heat wave started. The pool I got from a yard sale the other day, and I've been running the odd drinks out whenever I can." "I thought your parents didn't have soda in the house very often?" "They don't. I never said I snuck them out of my house. Here." Nova Bomb tossed two cans, dripping with ice cold water to the two mares. Amber Breeze looked at her can with a foal-like bewilderment as she excitedly opened it. Half the contents dissapeared before her friends eyes as she drank like she hadn't in days. "Gosh, it's been so long since I've had this. How did you know cream soda was my favourite?" "Lucky guess." Nova Bomb smiled at Amber Breeze for a moment before turning to Crystal Light, who was just taking a sip from her own can. What about yours? Was I right with you?" "As long as it's cold, I'll take it." "I second that." "Third. Come on, let's grab a seat." ------- As the sun set in the late afternoon, casting so gently it's beautiful amber rays upon the sleepy town, the trio sat, relaxed upon the hill. "So, Amber, did you hear about Fillydelphia?" "Ah jeez Nov, you're gonna tell her about that too?" "Yeah, so?" "Do you not believe it?" "Look," Amber Breeze started, leaning forward in her chair to look closely at her friends. As their gazes mirrored her own, a sigh escaped her, and she looked to the ground. "I don't know just what I believe yet. I've heard more than even you've told me, so I'm inclined to say that I do. But I don't want to say-" "Wait, wait, wait. What more have you heard?" Nova Bomb's question seemed to make Amber Breeze regret her words. Almost choked, the pegasus cleared her throat. "The same thing that happened in Fillydelphia happened in Canterlot, and, a few other cities too, I think. One of them was Las Pegasus for sure. And they, they started to round up any important ponies into groups to be kept safe. The princesses, the elements of harmony, some of Celestia's students, judges, mayors, everything, they have all been moved. I think they're evacuating small towns and villages next. Where to, I'm not entirely sure." Three faces ceased to move. The words were paralyzing daggers, jabbed violently into their nerves. Nova Bomb was the first to close his open mouth and clear his throat. No words came however. He merely turned his head and stared off into the slowly setting sun.