Tempest hummed to himself as he flew next to Bella. He sang the lyrics in his head. ‘Bella Blu, She was blue now she’s grey, She was blue now she’s grey, She was blue now she’s greeeeyyyy.’ For obvious reasons he didn’t sing this aloud. He occasionally glanced over at Bella to see how she was holding up.
He was in high spirits because he was about to get his much needed time off. All month he had been setting controlled burns all over forest district 7. As fun a being a wildfire manager was, it was tough and tedious work. It didn’t help that his team consisted entirely of young pegasi straight out of flight camp. They were so lazy that Tempest once remarked that they were much better suited to being weather mares. Only Fleet Feather seemed to pull his weight, which was an ironic statement considering he probably couldn’t pull a box of butterflies. Tempest caught himself dwelling on work and returned to making up words to his “Bella Blu” song.
The smell and sound of running water interrupted his thoughts. As they crested the hill, they came upon their favorite bend in the river. It was a nice spot with slow moving water and overhanging trees.
“Bet you can’t beat me to the bottom onetwothree go!” Tempest said as he took off down the hill. He heard Bella give a short laugh as she followed him. He only glided down the hill in order to make the race fair. Bella put on a short burst of speed and pulled ahead at the last second. She stopped in the mud of the riverbank. Tempest alighted behind her.
“Well come on, jump in,” he jeered.
“I don’t know,” Bella hesitated, “the water might be a bit cold at this time of the year.”
“Only one way to find out,” Tempest responded and he shoved her into the water. Bella gave a slight squeaking cry as she fell face first into the water.
“So how is it," Tempest asked between laughs.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” Bella asked as she resurfaced. Tempest suddenly felt himself being lifted by his tail. He looked back to see a purple ring of magic around it. Bella lifted him eight feet in the air. Before he could react, she swung her head to the right and tossed him into the river. He landed in the water with a plop. He reappeared on the surface and they both started laughing.
“How undignified,” Tempest remarked, “this is how it’s done.” Tempest burst out of the water and flew to the shore. He flipped down his flying goggles, which had been sitting against his forehead so long that they left two circular impressions. When he flipped them down everything instantly got darker and turned from fuzzy to clear. ‘I really should use these more often’ he thought to himself. He looked at Bella. The prescription flight goggles made it so that he could actually read her facial expressions from a distance. She was waiting curiously to see what he would do. He then launched himself from the bank and turned in two elegant backflips before landing in the water next to Bella. When he resurfaced he saw her looking at him mischievously.
“Uh oh,” was all he managed to say as she erected a massive wave with her magic. He was engulfed by the wave and swept onto the opposite shore. He was about to get up when he had an idea.
Instead of getting up, he laid there limp on the shore with his head cocked in a rather uncomfortable position. He was pretty sure Bella couldn’t see his open eyes through his tinted goggles. She watched as her expression changed from playful to concerned.
“Tempest?” She asked. She watched him for a few seconds. “Tempest it’s not funny.” She said. He continued to lay there, immobile. “Oh no Tempest!” she exclaimed. She used her magic to allow her to run on top of the water as she made her way too him. It took everything in him to keep from laughing. She came over and stood over him.
“Oh Tempest I’m so…” She began.
“Surprise,” Tempest yelled as he turned onto his back. He got all four legs under her and launched her into the water. He got a good laugh and jumped in next to her. She resurfaced with a look of supreme irritation. He returned the look with a smile and a hoof bump on the shoulder.
“Oh come on,” he said pleadingly, “don’t be too mad. You set me up for that one.” Instead of responding she turned away with a “hmph”. He was doing well. All he had to do was keep her in the water for a few more hours until the sun went down. ‘Aw snap’ he thought ‘that’s way too long’. Maybe he could just break the news to her at the end of this outing.
Tempest returned his attention to making Bella happy. He waded through the chest high water to be in front of her again. He flipped up his goggles so she could see his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in a comical curious face that for some reason always made her laugh. She didn’t this time, but he could see her fighting a smile.
“Alright missy,” he began, “I’m sorry for worrying you. I know you have enough of that right now.” He hesitated because he didn’t want to remind her of her predicament. “I mean you haven’t had to put up with me for this long since we were foals,” he finished. ‘Smooth’ he thought sarcastically to himself. Fortunately for him she smiled at the joke. ‘Or maybe it’s the nostalgic sentiment that made her smile’ he thought.
“Anyway the evening is still young and there is plenty of fun to be had.” Tempest said as he made a splashing leap into the deeper end of the river.
Tempest did his absolute best for the next hour to keep Bella in the water, but she grew tired and opted to lie down on her side and watch the sun go down. Tempest gritted his teeth. Her left flank was horribly exposed. Even a cursory look back, and she would notice it. He climbed out of the water and high stepped in a mock prance over to her. As hid did so, the mud he splashed up covered her.
“Hey. You did that on purpose you dunder-head,” Bella remarked and flicked a little bit of mud his way. He laid down next to her on her right side.
“Did I?” he asked mockingly, “I’m sorry about that. Think of it as a relaxing mud bath while you watch the sunset.”
“Thanks Tempest.” Bella said after a short pause.
“For what?”
“For taking the time to take me out here and cheer me up. You’ve been a real good friend all these years.”
“I know.”
Bella giggled at the mock vanity and turned her attention back to the west. They both remained silent as they watched the sun go down.
_______
Bella awoke at the base of a willow tree next to the river. She looked around and saw the same serene river bend she had spent her time at yesterday. She stood up and yawned. There was no sign of Tempest. She reached out with her forelegs and stretched like a cat. Her back popped satisfyingly and she made her way to the river. There was a bit of dried mud from yesterday that she wanted to wash off. She waded into the water and used her magic to wipe off the mud. She dismayed slightly to see that her coat was still grey. When she first woke up, she had hoped it was a bad dream. She looked back at her newly colored body. This color would not work well at all with her… Just then Bella’s heart stopped. Her flank, HER CUTIE MARK! It was gone! For the first time since she was a filly she saw nothing there but another blank section of coat. How could the potion do this to her?
“ahh…ohhh” She couldn’t even find words to describe her terror. “Tempest!” she cried out. She then heard a voice coming from the trees.
“Wah? Oh not yet. I’ve still got ten minutes till my shift. What do you mean ‘understaffed’? Wah?”
Bella looked up at one of the branches of the willow tree she had been sleeping under. She saw Tempest looking around drearily.
“My cutie mark is gone!” She exclaimed. The reality of those words hit her as she said them. Tempest shook himself out of his sleepy daze and flew down to her.
“Oh… yeah,” was all he could manage.
“This is terrible. This potion has effectively ruined my life.”
“Hey now don’t say that. So you lost a little artwork on your butt and have turned a color that reminds me of signal fire smoke; your still the same brilliant unicorn I bumped into on the streets of Manehattan.”
Bella knew he was trying to cheer her up yet again, but it only made her feel high maintenance. She turned away from him and tried to take his words to heart. It was true she was still the same unicorn she was two days ago, mostly. She still had a job, friends, her lab, and a Pegasus that, so it seemed, would be here forever to make her life fun and interesting. She tried her best to cheer up, but she couldn’t get over the fact that her cutie mark was gone. She remembered the day she got it. She had cared for Tempest and kept him from dying after he was nearly beat to death by some thugs. She felt guilty because he was tying to defend her from them. She remembered how relieved she was the day he was able to open both of his eyes and stand up on his own again. It was the day she realized she had a talent helping injured ponies.
“Hmmm,” Bella heard Tempest behind her. She turned around and saw him deep in thought.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think I had a thunk,” Tempest remarked.
Bella rolled her eyes, “care to share?” she asked.
“But of course, sharing is caring after all.”
“Yes?”
“We need to go talk to princess Celestia.”
“What?! Canterlot? That’s all the way on the other side of Equestria!”
“Yeah I know, but it’s not too long of a train ride.”
“Train? No no no. I can’t go looking like this” She gestured to her body.
“Do you want this stuff gone?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go!”
“….BUT I’m not going out in public all grey and without a cuttie mark.”
“Ugh and you call ME the baby.”
“Going around the everfree forest on foot will take days. We’ll just have to cut through it.”
"Ok. Seriously? The train station is only a short walk into town…”
“Just humor me Tempest”
There was a short silence between them.
“Fine,” Tempest conceded, “let’s go.”
Before Bella could respond, Tempest took off so fast she had to hug the ground in order to avoid being blown over. She was left alone in the woods for several minutes. She was pretty sure he hadn’t left without him, but where had he gone? Tempest soon returned with two saddlebags.
“Provisions,” he said curtly, “now let’s move. We’re burning daylight.”
He then picked her up by her midsection, and sped quickly towards the Everfree Forest.