//------------------------------//
// Awaking at Sweet Apple Acres 
// Story: Heart of the storm 
// by Sebbaa 
//------------------------------//

Awaking at Sweet Apple Acres
The first thing he noticed was, that he was laying in a warm and comfortable bed. Then came back his sense of smell. The odor of fresh bedsheets, candles and apples filled his nostrils, as he took a deep breath. He had a metallic taste in his mouth and boy was he thirsty! 

Soon enough he was beginning to hear voices. There had to be at least two mares in the room with him, talking in low voices as not to disturb anypony. He tried to pick himself up, but that only managed to send a wave of pain through his body. He groaned involuntary and sank back onto the sheets.  

“Look! I think he's coming to.” one of the voices said. Somepony put a hoof onto his bed and leaned over him.
“Take it easy pal, you had quite the rough landing.” a mare with a rasp voice told him. 

Slowly he forced his eyes open. Had his eyelids always been this heavy? The light blinded him for a second, though there were only a few candles lit in the room. His vision was all blurry, and he had to blink several times, before he could make out anything. 
A young mare with a azure coat and an unruly, rainbow colored mane stood over him, smiling. That was the second last sight he had expected, next to Princess Celestia herself.

“What?! Rainbow Dash?” he asked surprised, his voice was cracking, his throat felt raw and hot.
“Yea. That's me. Rainbow Dash, best flier in all of Equestria” the rainbow maned mare introduced herself proudly.
The colt had to smile at that and coughed up a chuckle.

“Oh wow! I saw you at last Best Young Flier competition. You were amazing!” he explained.
That made the pegasus mare grin widely. She turned her head a little and shook her mane with a hoof. 
“Oh yea?! What part of my performance do you think was the most amazing?” she asked lofty.

Before he could answer, an orange earth pony grabbed her rainbow tail in her muzzle and yanked her away. 
“Rainbow Dash, why don't you give him some space and led Fluttershy here take a look at him?” she asked with a broad accent and made the too of them make room for a third pony, that had not spoken as of yet.

A butter yellow pegasus mare with long pink mane came into his view. She smiled warmly. 
“Oh, you are finally awake. I’m so glad! How do you feel?” she said with the sweetest little voice.
“Thirsty.” he managed to answer, licking his crisp, dry lips.

“I thought you'd be. Have some water.” she replied an took a cup of water from a nearby table.
He tried to raise his head, but obviously had trouble doing so.

“Come. Let me help you.” Fluttershy offered. She put one hoof behind his head and helped him raise it. Carefully she put the the water cup to his lips. 

“Now drink slowly. Don't rush or you might choke .” she told him. He obeyed and took only a small sip. The water bit at his crisp lips and raw throat at first, but it felt good to finally quench his thirst. Soon he had finished the whole cup.
“More.” he pleaded weakly and the entire process was repeated. 

After his second cup he thanked the kind mare, who let him sink back to the pillow and put the cup away. Already he felt a lot better. He was still dizzy, confused and his body hurt almost all over, but he didn't feel as weak and sick, as he had before.

“Where am I? What happened?” he finally managed to ask, turning his head slightly to look at the three mares standing beside his bed.

The three looked at each other, finally it was Applejack who spoke up first: “You are at my house in Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash here found you passed out near the farm.”

The light blue mare continued the story: “Yea, I was on my way to take a look at that strange storm that had come out of nowhere, when I heard somepony calling for help. It were the Cutie Mark Crusaders... eh, you know, Applejacks here little sister and her two friends.” She explained and pointed a hoof at the orange mare.

The blue Colts eyes opened in terror and he shot up in bed. 
“The three fillies!” he exclaimed. It came all back to him now. The Storm, the calls for help, the falling fillies and the crash. For a moment he even forgot the pain his battered body was in.
“Are they OK? Where are they?!” he demanded frantic. 

“Oh wow, take it easy there sugar cube. They are fine. And I gather it is thanks to you.” Applejack answered and raising of hoof.
“They were so worried about you, they didn't want to leave your bedside. But they were muddied and exhausted. So I washed them up and put them in bed. They were so tired, they fell asleep right away. They are sleeping in the next room.” Fluttershy explained patiently, while pushing the injured pegasus back into his bed. Her touch was gentle, yet resolute. When the colt heard that the fillies were alright he relaxed and didn't struggle.     

“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash said and continued her tale, “The three were standing around you laying in a pool of mud. They told me you got hurt when you saved them from crashing with a para glider. So I carried you to the nearest place and got Fluttershy here to patch you up.” She pointed her hoof at Fluttershy, when she introduced her yellow friend.

Well that explained how he got there, but he was still confused and had trouble forming coherent thoughts. Still there was something he needed to know. He looked at Fluttershy. 

“So.. eh, how bad am I?” he asked, trying not to sound worried.
“Oh. You'll be fine. Your just at tidsy bitsy hurtsy, but you'll get back on your hooves in no time.” the yellow pegasus answered twee.

The blue colt made an annoyed face. “Please miss Fluttershy. I'm not a foal. Tell me how bad am hurt. I’m a big pony, I can take it.” he insisted trying to sound very serious.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack grinned amused. Foals, always trying to be more adult then they had to. But Fluttershy blushed, when she realized she had belittled the blue pegasus. She cleared her throat shyly, before she began to talk again. She tried to sound professional: ”You had dislocated your left shoulder and I had to reset it. You have broken a few feathers and strained your flight muscles. Furthermore you are suffering a mild concussion. Other than that only minor scrapes and bruises.”

With her diagnosis done she fell back to her usual demeanor and smiled warmly. “Nothing a few days rest wont cure. You'll be better in no time.” she assured him.  

He relaxed visibly when he heard that. That crash could have gone very ugly very easily. Now that his curiosity was stilled, he felt dead tired. He yawned widely.

“Oh, let me thank you all. I don't know how I can ever repay your kindness.” he said with half close eyes and a faint smile.
Applejack waved it off. “Don't sweat it sugar cube.” she said. “You have saved the life of my little sister Apple Bloom! And in my eyes, that makes your part of the family.”

Somehow this remark didn't sit right with him. Instead of proud, he felt guilty. But he was far to tired to follow that thought right now.

“So just relax and don't worry about a thing, my dear... ahh... what is your name anyway?” the orange earth pony asked, when she finished her speech.
“Stormheart.” the gray maned colt answered. Now that he thought about it, there had been no  time to formally introduce himself.
“My name is Stormheart. Nice to meet... you....” he managed to say before his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

High up north the spirits had woken. They gathered as they had not done in any living ponies memory. All of them gathered and became a swarm.