//------------------------------// // Everything is Alright // Story: PonyFall: Onward Valiant Crusaders // by Fullmetal Pony //------------------------------// Everything was a blur. I was outside my house one second, the next I was in the guest house with Scootaloo tugging at my side and rambling in hysterics. My eyes went in all directions looking for Apple Bloom and Sweetie, but the smell quickly put an end to that. I wrinkled my nose at it. Being in college it was a smell I was familiar with: the smell of someone who was sick. I lunged forward and into the bathroom. Apple Bloom was trembling by the door. “J-john, I...” “It’s okay, it’s okay.” I think I’d been saying the same thing to Scootaloo as I’d rushed over to the guest house. The painkillers and the adrenaline mixture was screwing everything up. My eyes pulsed with every heartbeat and I had to place my cast on the door to steady myself. I gritted my teeth and pushed my fear to the source of it: Sweetie. She was scrunched up on the ground in the fetal position shaking even worse than Apple Bloom. I took slow tender steps over to her. The smell coming from the toilet made me almost gag as well, so while I knelt down I reached over and clumsily flushed the mess down with my cast. “Sweetie.” I gently laid a hand her shoulder, remembering how mom had done the same when I’d been little and sick with god-knows-what. “It’s okay, you’re good now. All the bad stuff is gone.” Sweetie gave a sob in response. She brought her knees closer to her face and cried into them. “Rarity... R-rarity... help...” “Damn it!” I cursed. I abruptly stood up and ran for the door. As I did, I yelled to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, “Stay close to her!” I barged back into my house, fear of getting caught and panic over Sweetie becoming a chaotic concoction in my head. I was at least was clear-minded enough to know where the pepto was and snatched it up. Medicine acquired, saltines and gatorade were next. I found them in the pantry and took them too. I was back in the guest house in an instant. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were on their knees by Sweetie’s side, running their hands up and down her back to try and help her. “Thank you girls,” I gasped. A jab of pain went through my chest when the Scootaloo and Apple Bloom scooted to my sides and I knelt down by Sweetie. I ignored it and carefully placed the pepto on the ground while the saltines and gatorade fell by legs. I unscrewed the cap and poured out the amount marked by a line on the cap. I once more placed a hand on Sweetie. “Sweetie, I need you to drink this.” “N-no, no,” she moaned, “p-please, don’t m-make m-m-m...” “It’s medicine,” I explained between ragged breaths. “Please! You’ll feel better! I promise!” I lurched forward and shifted my hand from Sweetie’s right shoulder and slowly, very slowly, raised her up. She only gave a whimper in response and doubled up her shivering. I kept my eyes on Sweetie, but spoke to the Crusaders behind me. “Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! One of you help Sweetie drink the medicine while I hold her up!” Apple Bloom answered my call first. Her hands shook while they guided the cap of pepto to Sweetie’s mouth. “No,” Sweetie moaned again, her head swaying back and forth while she spoke. “P-please Sweetie!” Apple Bloom begged. “Ya... ya gotta drink this! Sweetie produced a sound at that, much more delicate than even a whimper. It sounded like something a wounded animal would make. I grasped her shoulder a little tighter to try and reduce her shivering while Apple Bloom brought the cap to Sweetie’s lips. She shook the entire time she drank it. Apple Bloom let the cap drop when it was empty and Sweetie had swallowed. She extended out her arms and gave Sweetie a hug, franticly muttering, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” “Yes.” I gave Sweetie a reassuring rub on the arm. “It’s okay.” Sweetie’s shaking died down and she simply remained silent save for a occasional whimper. Scootaloo moved over and hugged Sweetie just as Apple Bloom had done. She looked up at me but her eyes kept drifting back to Sweetie. “Is she gonna get better?” The silence and calmness had cooled my mind off. My heart beat wasn’t beating on my eardrums and my head was clear. “Getting sick always freaked me out as a kid too. She probably just some food poisoning from the road. The pepto will make her better. ” “I guess having a sister like Rarity would just make it worse,” Apple Bloom whispered. A sob escaped out of Sweetie and threw Apple Bloom into a panic. She pushed her face closer to her friend’s with a look of absolute desperation on it. “I... I’m sorry Sweetie! I didn’t mean it! I was ju—” “No,” Sweetie choked out the words, “i-it’s just... remember that time we tried to g-get our cutie m-marks in pie eating?” Scootaloo’s complexion paled a little. “Don’t remind me, I’ll be the sick one then.” “W-well...” Sweetie’s arms brushed against the ground as she brought them up to her chest and crossed them. “Rarity, she... she did the same thing when I galloped to the b-bathroom. I was so scared and s-she...” Sweetie swung around and threw her head into Apple Bloom’s chest. Her body was racked with crying. We all got closer and gave her a hug. By the end of her breakdown, Sweetie’s face was a mess: her eyes were red pillows, her nose was a mess of snot, and her face was as red as a tomato. I moved my hand away from her side and up to her head to give her hair a tussle. “I think you needed that.” “Y-yeah,” she sniffled. “Is your stomach feeling better?” I dared to ask. Sweetie brought her right hand down to her stomach and lightly touched it. “I... I think.” “Lets get you to bed then.” I stood up and nearly fell down again when my side burst into flame again. My left hand clasped at my ribs while my cast pushed against the wall. “Er!” “John!” all the girls cried. “It’s fine!” I said through clenched teeth. My cast dragged against the wall as I lugged myself out of the bathroom and over to where I’d left the Gatorade and saltines. “Girls! Help Sweetie over to the bed.” “Wait!” Scootaloo rushed to my side. “What is it? We can get it!” “Get...” I huffed and extended a shaking finger at the bottle and stack of crackers. “Get those for Sweetie. It’ll help her if she gets hungry.” While Scootaloo grabbed the two items, I twisted to my left and put my good arm on the wall, pushed against it to stay balanced as I made my way over to the bed. While I shuffled, in the corner of my eye, I noticed Apple Bloom had Sweetie propped up with an arm over her shoulder. “T-thank you, Apple Bloom,” I wheezed. “Y-yeah,” she stuttered. Apple Bloom and Sweetie made it to bed first. With one last heave, I joined them with a soft fump. Luckily, I didn’t fall on either of them. The pain slowly went out of my side as I laid on the bed. After taking a few breaths, I managed to turn my head to the left to see Apple Bloom looking down on me and Sweetie turning her own head to check on me. They both looked like they were watching a sick animal. “Are.... are ya okay?” Apple Bloom quivered. “Yeah,” I replied with a slightly strained voice, “I was just in a bad position for too long.” My eyes then went over to Sweetie. “Your stomach still feeling okay?” “Y-yes,” Sweetie muttered. “I... I’m sorry. You got hurt becau—” “Heh.” I managed to wring out a smile onto my face. “People get hurt and sick all the time. You’ve gotten scraped up plenty of times going crusading, right?” Scootaloo arrived at the bed and set the Gatorade and saltines over by Sweetie. “I’ll say.” She flashed the other girls a regretful look. “Like that time we tried to get honey-making cutie marks?” Apple Bloom reflexively moved her left hand up and down her right arm. “I still think I got stingers on me from it.” “We didn’t even get any honey,” Sweetie mumbled. She then slowly extended her hand out to the saltines and tentatively grabbed one of the small squares. She brought it back over to her face, but paused before opening her mouth. “M-maybe I shouldn’t...” “You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to.” I flicked my wrist up and pointed to the bottle of Gatorade. “Take small sips of that though. It’ll make you feel better.” “Okay...” Sweetie set the cracker back down in the stack and clasped the clear green bottle. Her fingers plucked at the cap a few times before she finally managed to unscrew it. I was glad I’d grabbed one of the sports bottles with a twisty-cap, otherwise Gatorade might have gone all over the bed. She slowly raised the bottle to her lips and took a very small drink. “It’s sweet.” “But it helps.” I took a small breath and thought back to my own childhood again. “Parents would always give me that whenever I was sick too.” Two simultaneous gurgles then echoed from nearby. My eyes went around the room looking for the source and fell on Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “Shoot, I forgot about dinner.” “I’m not hungry,” Apple Bloom curtly explained. “Not aft—” Her stomach gurgled again. “Shut up ya stupid tummy!” “Stomachs can’t lie,” I chuckled. I slid my left hand over to my right side and gingerly poked my ribs. I didn’t feel a stab like before which was enough to get me to suck it up and sit back up. “Okay, lets get you and Scootaloo some food then.” I hefted myself off the bed, while the girls nervously watched. When I was on my feet, I looked over to Apple Bloom and Sweetie. “Apple Bloom, you stay here and watch over Sweetie. Scootaloo, I need you to help me grab your dinner.” Scootaloo dared venture a small smile. “Okay.” Taking careful steps, I led Scootaloo out of the guest house and over to the patio door. Before I opened the door, I turned back to look at her. “Be very quiet when we get inside. Probably already spooked my dogs running around earlier. So remember, very quiet.” “Uh-huh,” Scootaloo whispered. Her grin disquieted me a little though; plus numerous flashbacks to Stare Master. I opened the door and winced a little when its hinges creaked louder than I remembered. I paused when the door was half-open and listened for the sound of anyone waking, but heard nothing. I fully pushed the door open and Scootaloo and I made our way inside. We tiptoed past the kitchen table and over to the fridge. I pulled open the fridge door and tried to locate the bowl of spaghetti leftovers. After a few quick seconds of searching, I found it. Unfortunately, it had somehow been precariously placed next to two glass jars that were off-balance due to the bowl pushing on them. “Okay Scootaloo, listen very carefully.” I gestured back and forth to the two jars. “Grab those two jars.” I then moved my hand over to the counter that connected to the fridge and looped around the kitchen to link to the dishwasher, sink, and stove. I specifically pointed to the part of the counter right by the fridge. “Then put them up there. Can you do that?” Scootaloo smiled and nodded in approval. She grabbed the jars and easily placed them on the edge. To my surprise, they didn’t fall and neither did anything in the fridge. Scootaloo made her way back over to me and shoved a thumbs up into my face. “Good job,” I replied. “Now you just need to grab the bowl and we’ll warm it up in the guest house.” Scootaloo nodded again and reached out to grab the bowl. Just as she laid her hands on it, we both froze to the sound of footsteps. “Hide,” I said in a hushed whisper. Scootaloo’s eyes bugged out and went all over the kitchen. The footsteps were getting closer. “W-where?” My eyes also went around the room in a panic before falling on what I was looking for. I jabbed my hand at the door next to the fridge. “Pantry!” Scootaloo darted over to the door, flung it open, and slammed it shut. I practically cursed aloud at the noise. While the slam still echoed throughout the house, the footsteps became louder and their owner stepped into the kitchen. “John? The hell are you doing up?” Rachel flipped on the lights in the kitchen, causing me to blink a little. “I fell asleep after dinner and now I’m hungry again.” Despite my best efforts, my focus kept going over to the pantry. Rachel narrowed her eyes at me. “That why you were running around earlier?” “I... I was worried I’d forgotten something in my dorm.” I let out a chuckle that came out more nervous than I’d wished. “Painkillers make my head a little fuzzy on stuff though. Everything was fine.” Rachel sighed and gave me that dismissive glare she seemed to save just for me. “Great, my bro’s a junkie.” She stepped forward and got into my personal space before I could say anything to her. “Move, I want something from the fridge.” “Fine.” I relinquished my position and moved out of Rachel’s way. “Where are the pickles?” she grumbled. “I took them out to get to the leftovers.” “Ugh,” Rachel exclaimed in the most exaggerated way possible. She shut the door with a gust of cold air and grabbed the jar of pickles from the counter. She glared at me again and started making her way back to her room. A bag then fell from inside the pantry. Rachel stopped and stared at the closed room. “What was that?” “Oh!” I exclaimed, playfully slapping my head. “I was looking in there for some snacks too, but I didn’t find anything good. Something must’ve fallen when I moved stuff around.” “Idiot,” Rachel hissed. She gave me one last glare and then made her way back to her room. Down the hall, her voice echoed, “You better pick that up!” I waited in silence until I heard Rachel close her room’s door. When I was sure she was back in her room, I opened the pantry door. Scootaloo was right by the door, shakily holding a bag of potato chips. “S-sorry.” “Lets just get the pasta and get out of here,” I sighed.         A few minutes later, we were both outside again with leftover in tow. As we walked back to the guest house, Scootaloo spoke up. “Why did your sister sound angry?”         “Her way of showing affection,” I chuckled. “You sound like Sweetie.” That got enough of a laugh out of me to hurt my side at little. I gave my ribs a soft rub while smiling at Scootaloo. Right as we reached the door, I said, “Siblings don’t change no matter what world you’re on.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo murmured. Inside the guest house, Apple Bloom had moved a chair over to the bed. Sweetie had gotten under the covers and had changed into one of Jane or Sybil’s old t-shirts. Both of their heads turned up, but only Apple Bloom got up to meet us. “What’d ya get?” “Pasta!” Scootaloo happily exclaimed, uncovering a bit of the tin foil on top of the bowl to show the food beneath. “It even smells good cold!” “Really?” Apple Bloom brought her nose closer to the bowl and took a whiff. “I don’t know, the tomatoes don’t smell like tomatoes.” “Preservatives will do that,” I explained while I opened up the microwave. “It’s still good.” “If ya say so,” Apple Bloom said with a shrug.” I beckoned to Scootaloo with my good hand. “Scootaloo, could you come over here and put the leftovers in the microwave? I’ll handle the rest.” “Okay.” Scootaloo bustled over to me and propped the bowl into the microwave. I reached in and removed the foil from the top of the bowl, shut the door, and pressed the setting for a large dinner plate. The microwave voomed to life and started spinning the leftover around. Apple Bloom joined Scootaloo over by me and both of them stared up at the microwave. Their interest didn’t get past me and I laid a hand on top of the machine. “Sybil and Jane ever make popcorn in one of these?” Apple Bloom waved a hand at me. “That’s silly. Ya make popcorn in a pot or a kettle, not whatever that is.” “Well we do make corn in a kettle, but we can also make popcorn with this too.” I gave the microwave a pat. “When we watch a movie, I’ll make some.” “That sounds fun,” said Sweetie. My lips twitched a little at her voice. It was incredibly soft and raspy from getting sick. The smell of the pasta warming up helped counteract the melancholy Sweetie was generating. In short order, beeping filled the air and I cautiously took the steaming bowl from out of the microwave. I reached up into one of the cabinets above the cooking area and took out some styrofoam plates and the box of plastic cutlery that were perpetually in the guest house. I removed a fork from the cutlery box and twirled it around the leftovers, making sure that the heat was as evenly distributed as possible. When the pasta was fully mixed, I used the fork to shovel it onto two plates, grabbed another fork, and gave both the food and utensils to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “Bon appetite.” “Thanks!” they both said at the same time, eagerly taking the plates. “Sweetie.” I turned my head to her and held up the bowl. “I’m gonna put the rest of this in your fridge, okay? I know you’re not hungry right now, but just in case. Don’t forget, we’ve got apples and other fruit here too.” Sweetie clasped her hands around the Gatorade bottle on her lap. “T-thanks... I think I’ll just have this right now.” “It okay if we come over there and sit next to ya?” asked Apple Bloom. Sweetie nodded and we made our way over to the bed. I took the chair while the girls sat on the ground. For the first time, I noticed that the girls sat with their legs straight out, then I remembered that ponies can’t cross their legs. While Scootaloo and Apple Bloom ate, I pulled out my phone to check for messages and emails. I didn’t have either so I quickly put it back in my pocket and looked over at Sweetie. “Still holding up?” “Yeah.” Sweetie lifted the bottle to her lips and took a small sip. “My tummy is feeling better. I wish I hadn’t gotten sick at all though.” “We all do,” I sighed. “I’m sorry Sweetie, I should have known something on the road would get you sick. Even normal humans can get upset stomachs from those places. I can vouch for that.” ~~~         Scootaloo and Apple Bloom made their way out of the bathroom in their pajamas AKA old t-shirts that went down to their upper shins. They crawled across the bed and slid under the covers next to Sweetie. I put my hands on my knees and got ready to leave. “Well, I think it’s time I—”         “Wait,” Sweetie tenderly called out, flashing very large eyes at me. “Aren’t you gonna tell us a story?”         Not the eyes again. I swear I felt one of my kidneys give out. “I... uh...” I put my hands to my side and reclined back in the chair. “What story would you like?”         “Ooh! How about The Legend of Green Thumb?” Apple Bloom cried out as she pushed herself up on the bed to stare at me with excited eyes.         “Or The Thunder Drummer!” Scootaloo exclaimed.         My eyes went back and forth between all three Crusaders. “Uh...”         “Ya don’t know ‘em, do ya?” Apple Bloom deflated back down to her part of the bed.         “Aw,” Scootaloo groaned and fell back on the bed as well.         “Well...” Sweetie shifted her head back and forth between her friends and me. “Maybe John could tell us one of his stories?”         “Okay!” said the other two Crusaders. All three of them then looked at me, eagerly expecting a tale.”         “Um... hmm...” I clasped my chin and tried to think of a story, but my mind just went into a maelstrom of idea, none of which stuck with me. For every idea, a counterpoint popped up on why it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell it. Stories, stories... Er, maybe... “Would you like to hear the story about the strongest man alive?”         “That sounds neat,” Sweetie cooly replied.         I smiled, glad that I’d hopefully chosen the right story. “Okay, well, a long time ago, on a planet far away, there lived a boy. He was very young so he never really saw much of his world and unfortunately, he never did. One day, his planet was shaken apart but his father helped him escape.”         Scootaloo pushed her hands back and forth to stop the story. “Wait, wait, wait. How could a planet just shake apart?”         I shrugged my shoulders at the question. “It kinda depends on who’s telling the story. Sometimes the planet gets shaken apart, sometimes it explodes, sometimes the sun eats i—”         Apple Bloom lurched forward and held herself perpendicularly over Sweetie. “Why would Princess Celestia make the sun eat a planet.”         “Not...” I waved a hand in her face to get her to scoot back before falling back into my seat, flustered. “Nevermind, one day the planet was destroyed and the boy became the last son of it. After some time, he landed on Earth...” ~~~         “... and he was able to save Lois and stop the missiles before they harmed anyone. He then went on to have many more great adventures.” I finished the story and slumped in the chair. My throat was dry and my eyes were incredibly heavy.         Through the constant questions of how someone could fly without wings to how a rock would hurt someone by being near it, I’d made it through the plot summary of Superman. Now that I had finally finished my tale, I noticed that all three of the Crusaders were sound asleep. I’d kinda gotten a little absorbed in storyteller role when I added in a “Wrong!” to Luthor’s scheme.         I smiled, astounded that my plan had actually worked. I unglued myself from the chair and stretched a little, producing a few cracks from my joints. I gave my ribs a scratch and then headed over to the door. I turned back to give the girls one last look, especially checking to make sure Sweetie looked normal. To my relief, she looked just like the other Crusaders as she slept, with normal breathing and no sweating. The only difference was there were a few crumbs left over from the saltines she’d nibbled on while I’d been speaking. “Night girls.” With a relieved sigh, I flicked off the light switch and closed the door as quietly as possible. Outside, I shivered a little. Even in Arizona, late-night April temperatures could be quite chilly. I wrapped my arms against myself and hustled back to the main house. My bed graciously welcomed me when I made it to my room. Before I fell asleep, I wished that things would still be okay in the morning.