Quetzals and Caves
Session 2: Cause
Apple Bloom read over her notes again with a frown. “There’s somethin’ missin’ here.” She shifted the pencil in her mouth from one side to another. “Maybe it just needs, I dunno, somethin’ more.” The midafternoon sun shone through the windows and across the empty desks of the classroom. She leaned back on her seat and stretched out her legs.
Even in the quiet room, she could hear the sounds of classmates leaving for home or playing in the schoolyard as they waited for their families. She was supposed to wait and go shopping with her grandmother. But with Granny Smith’s infamous napping abilities, Apple Bloom figured she had plenty of time to work on her game. So far, though, she had only added a few vague ideas. Sighing, she laid her head on the Quetzals & Caves Core Rules book and glanced at the clock. It was only 3:45. At least another half hour of waiting.
A metallic thunk and a squeak of pain from outside tore Apple Bloom from her reverie. She turned towards the sound. Several moments later, Cheerilee pushed open the door, leading a stumbling white unicorn filly in to the room. Sweetie was holding a hoof to her forehead but a stream of red trickled down from her brow.
Apple Bloom leapt up and rushed over. “Sweetie Belle, are y’all alright? What happened?!”
“Oh, hey, Apple Bloom. I… I ran into a pole.” Sweetie lowered her head and frowned.
“Apple Bloom? What are you doing in here?” Cheerilee asked, but shook her head. “Actually, nevermind. Just hold Sweetie up while I get something to clean that cut.”
“Sure thing, Miss Cheerilee.” Apple Bloom sat by Sweetie and wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders while the Cheerilee trotted over to get the first aid box in her desk. “Alright,” said Apple Bloom, “what really happened?”
A snickering came from the door behind the two. “Apple Bloom, you shoulda seen it! Sweetie Belle headbutted the flagpole!”
Sweetie sighed. “Like you haven’t done worse yourself, Scoots.”
Scootaloo trotted over, sat by Sweetie, and looked over at Apple Bloom. “One moment, she’s letting Diamond Tiara get under her skin, the next, WHAM, right into the pole! Complete with a little puff of magical sparks! I didn’t think I’d ever see stars when somepony else headbutted something!”
Cheerilee trotted over carrying a white box with a red cross. She sat in front of Sweetie and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant. “Alright, Sweetie, let me see it.”
Sweetie moved her hoof. A small cut ran above her right eye, staining the fur around it pink with blood.
Cheerilee leaned down and squinted. “Well, it looks like you probably hurt your pride more than your head, but we still need to get this cleaned. I’m sorry. This may sting a little.” She poured a clear liquid onto the cloth and ran it along the cut. Sweetie hissed through gritted teeth, but held still. Cheerilee bandaged it, ruffled Sweetie Belle’s mane, and put everything back in the white box. “That’s a good little patient, all better. Let me put this away and I’ll walk you home. And you two,” she said, glancing at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, “should probably get headed home, too, hmm?”
Scootaloo nodded but Apple Bloom just looked at the clock and frowned. “Uh, Miss Cheerilee, I’m s’pposed to wait here for Granny Smith, r’member? I told ya about it this mornin.”
Cheerilee smacked her forehead with a hoof. “Right, right. I’m sorry, Apple Bloom, but I can’t stay with you like I promised. Can I trust you to lock the door when you leave?”
Apple Bloom put on her most serious expression and saluted. “Yessum.”
The schoolmare giggled and returned the salute. “At ease, Bloom,” she said in her best military voice. “Alrighty! You two,” she said, pointing at Sweetie and Scootaloo, “let’s get a move on!”
The three left and Apple Bloom started trotting back to her desk. Halfway there, her hoof landed on something and a soft snap broke the silence of the classroom. She realized too late that she’d dropped her pencil while hurrying over to Sweetie. The pencil was mostly intact, only the lead had broken. Shrugging, she picked it up and trotted to the pencil sharpener. But her ears perked and she slowed as she got closer to the wall when she heard whispers coming through it from outside. She crept to a nearby window and peeked over the edge.
Apple Bloom ducked down quickly when she saw pink and silver manes. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were huddled against the outside wall. She pressed her ear against the wall. She could hear Silver Spoon speaking. “…of sight now, they just turned the corner.”
“But did you see?” Diamond’s voice asked. “Sweetie was bleeding! Do… do you think we should apologize?”
Apple Bloom could just barely hear Silver sigh. “We may have gone a tad overboard this time. But, no, we can’t start looking weak now. It’d end up being like our last school all over again. Anyway, we should probably get going ourselves. You know Miss Cheerilee will be stopping by our houses after she finishes up at Sweetie’s.”
Apple Bloom heard Diamond snort. “Like Daddy will be home from work yet. But you’re right, let’s go.”
She sat still until she could no longer hear the hoofsteps. Apple Bloom shifted her pencil from one side of her mouth to the other and then back again. “Hmm…” She stood up, sharpened her pencil, and returned to her notes. That had been just what her imagination needed.
Midmornings at The Drowned Flagon were Philodendron’s favorite time of the day. There was always time enough to get the floors swept and mopped, table scrubbed and benches straightened, and, when the mood took her, the windows cleaned. That mood was rare as the Sunset Ocean always dropped more salt on them anyway. The last task was prepping the night’s porridge and getting the vegetables ready for her kelp wraps that the porters would expect on their lunch break. But on the final two tasks, she was at an impasse.
She glared across the taproom at a white pegasus. “White! You’re on dish duty, why ain’t my cauldron clean yet? And what’s taking Yellow so long, you two’ve been here a week and she ain’t learned the way to the market and back yet?!”
Hale Storm slowly scrubbed at the cauldron in the washbasin. “It’s the waiting…”
Phil stomped over to her. “Yeah, and I’m tired of waiting on my cauldron! I’ve still got a whole bin of mugs for you when you’re done with that!”
“Training is all about quick responses in a tight situation,” Hale droned, dipping the rag back into the soapy water. “Dealing with problems as they arise. But the waiting… it’s like trying to hold your breath.”
“Yeah, and I’ve got a bucket full of chopped onion waiting to go into that pot already. Hurry it up!”
The front door shook on its hinges. They looked over their shoulders towards it. A second shudder ran through the door before it finally swung open. Starbright stepped in with a large burlap sack hovering beside her. “Honestly, Philodendron, the door still sticks? Whatever it was those workers charged you, it was far too much.”
Phil rolled her eyes. “Inlanders. Did you happen to, maybe, notice all that humidity in the air? From, I don’t know, the ocean? It’ll fit better in time. Now set down the groceries and help your friend there.” She waved over towards Hale. “Seems she’s too wrapped up in her thoughts to keep up her end, so now it’s your end, too.”
Hale turned back and resumed scrubbing the cauldron. “It’s the waiting…”
Phil rubbed her temples and sighed. “She’s been at that for a bit now. I think she’s lost it.”
Hale let her rag drop into the washbasin with a splash. “I’m just saying it’s been quiet.”
The other two mares exchanged a frown.
Hale turned and leveled a stare at them. “Too quiet.”
The other two fillies seated at the table groaned.
“Seriously, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle slammed her forehooves on the table and leaned towards Scootaloo.
“What? I’m just roleplaying!”
Apple Bloom poked her head out above the Story Keeper’s screen. “As what, exactly? A bad movie? Seriously, were ya just waitin’ to drop that one?”
Scootaloo shrunk down in her seat. “…Maybe.” She popped back up with a wide grin. “But just wait till I’m back in action, though! After you lent me the book the other day, I’ve got all sorts of awesome ideas to try!”
“Y’all’ll get yer chance, just sit tight. You looked like ya wanted to say somethin’ else, Sweetie. Go ahead.”
Starbright shook her head. “Despite the cliché, our militant friend here is right: There haven’t been any reports of activity from the Gemcap gang since Pewter attacked your establishment a week ago. The ponies in the market all enjoy the reprieve—”
“The what?” Hale asked.
“Not being stolen from.”
“Oh.”
Starbright rubbed at a spot over her right eye and levitated the bag down to the floor. “Anyway, it appears they’ve gone underground for the time being. Maybe just being stood up to is all these brutes really needed.”
Phil sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs. “I find that hard to believe.”
The sound of galloping hooves thundered outside. The door rattled as somepony or something bounced off of it and grunted.
“Fine!” Phil threw her hooves in the air. “I’ll sand the blasted door down tomorrow!” The brown mare snatched the burlap sack away and trotted back behind the bar. “One of you two go and see who’s trying to break down my door now!”
Hale turned around and moved the cauldron to a tub of clean water.
Starbright frowned at Hale. “Oh, please, let me do it,” she said dryly. “What if it was an attack, did that occur to you?”
Hale shrugged. “I’m pretty sure you can handle anypony that’s already been beaten by a door.”
The yellow unicorn pulled her lips back in a snarl but held her tongue. Starbright spun around and pointed her horn at the door. With a glow, the door swung inward and banged against the wall, earning a “Hey!” from behind the bar.
Beneath the overhang, covered in a light dusting of soot from the extinguished lamp above the door, a light green pegasus sat shaking her head.
The anger drained from Starbright’s face as she galloped over. “Miss! Are you well?! Please, come in, have a seat.” She led the mare in and eased her onto a bench by the salt-frosted windows. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen somepony so eager for one of Philodendron’s kelp wraps.”
Hale laughed as she trotted back to the washbasin, a bin of haphazardly stacked mugs balanced on her back. Phil just grunted and continued dumping ingredients into her cauldron on the bar.
“…elp,” the pegasus muttered, holding her head steady between her forehooves as her dark blue eyes rolled around wildly.
Starbright knelt down beside the mare to look in her eyes. “Miss? I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch th—”
The pegasus’s eyes widened. “Help! I need help! They have her, they took my daughter!”
“Okay, quick break!” Apple Bloom shouted and hopped off her stool.
Scootaloo’s pencil fell out of her mouth as she looked up sharply. “Wha—huh? Aren’t we just getting to the good stuff?”
Apple Bloom hopped from her left hooves to her right. “Yeah, sure, but it’ll have t’wait a few. I’ll be right back.”
Sweetie stared, mouth hanging open, as Apple Bloom galloped out into the hall. Her muzzle scrunched into a scowl. “Nopony likes being left on a cliff hanger you know!” Sweetie shouted after her.
The orange, freckled face of Apple Bloom’s sister peeked in through the doorway, her green eyes casting a stern look at the two fillies. “I’m mighty glad y’all are enjoyin’ your sleepover but try an’ keep it down, Granny’s turned in for the night already.”
Sweetie and Scootaloo looked down. “Sorry, Applejack,” they said in unison.
Applejack grinned and nodded. “No need to fret, girls, just keep it in mind.” She stepped into the doorway and eyed the table. “Huh. So Bloom’s found Macky’s ol’ books, huh? Why, I r’member those days. ‘Course Big Mac wanted to play more’n run things, so another one of the fillies from school stepped up an—”
Apple Bloom head-butted her sister’s haunch. “C’mon, Applejack, move it! I got important Crusader business to get back to.”
The mare stepped aside with a chuckle. “I can see that. Well, y’all have fun an’ if ya need anythin’ just lemme know. I’ll be up for another hour or so.”
Apple Bloom trotted to her seat as her sister walked back down the hallway. “Alright, so the pegasus—”
Tears welled in the pegasus’s eyes. “Please! The guards turned me away when I said the Gemcaps took my daughter, but a few minutes later an orange mare told me that I could come here for help! You have to save my Lily!”
Hale Storm let the bin of mugs fall from her back as she rushed over to the table. “Don’t worry, ma’am, you’ve come to the right place.” She spread her white wings and lifted herself off the ground. “We’ve tangled with these clowns before and we’ll stop at nothing to get your daughter back.” Hale circled around and pointed at the barmare. “Phil! See if you can get a message to Keeps and let her know that we’re on the job.”
Philodendron continued to scowl at the scattered mugs on her floor while muttering unpleasant suggestions as to what, exactly, Hale could do with her message.
Hale ignored Phil’s grumblings and spun back around. “Okay, you,” she said, pointing at the pegasus.
“Sea Mist.”
“Right.” Hale nodded. “Misty, you stay here. Star, you’re with me.”
Starbright growled but nodded.
“N-no!” Sea Mist stammered. “I have to show you where they took her! Please, we have to hurry!”
Hale saluted, turned, and flew up the stairs at the back while Starbright began to channel magic into her horn. Hale returned moments later, her oilcloth cloak fastened and sky blue metal cuffs on her hooves; right behind her, a pair of saddlebags floated down the stairs wrapped in Starbright’s magic. Sea Mist trotted around a small, scorched circle in the floor while the other two got ready.
The contents of Starbright’s saddlebags clanked as she settled them on her back. She nodded at Hale before turning back to the pacing pegasus. “Alright, Miss Miss, lead the way.”
“Mists Miss. I mean, Miss Tiss. Ugh! Miss. Mist. There.” Sweetie crossed her forelegs and frowned.
Scootaloo giggled into her hooves, and behind the Quetzals & Caves screen Apple Bloom just shook her head.
“The mare leads y’all outta The Drowned Flagon—”
The ponies rushed across the wharf, weaving between groups of porters on their lunch breaks. Sea Mist turned inland and flew up a dirt road, skimming over the ground to let Starbright keep up. Wooden structures gave way to taller, more solid stone buildings as the Hale and Starbright sped after Sea Mist. She led them across bridges and down increasingly narrow alleys, winding southward into the warehouse district that bordered the Black Silt River. They pushed through curtains of kelp set out to dry and to see Sea Mist come to a stop beside an open carriage door of a warehouse on the levee of the river. They could hear a muffled sobbing beyond the doorway.
Sea Mist flapped back towards them as the pair approached the warehouse. She reached down with her hooves and grasped Hale’s. “Please,” she whispered, “please get my foal back. And please, be careful.” Her teary blue eyes stared into Hale’s as she squeezed tighter. “Be careful.”
Hale nodded and pulled her hooves away. “Not to worry, ma’am, we’ve got this situation in-hoof.” She looked around the dim alley. The high walls blocked out most sunlight and the area beyond the doorway ahead was pitch black. She turned to Starbright. “You ready?” she whispered. “I think we’ll need some light in a moment but let’s see if we can sneak in first.”
Starbright nodded. Her horn flickered and the buckles on her saddlebags unfastened. “Okay, let’s go.”
More tears welled in Sea Mist’s eyes as the two stepped past her and into the warehouse. Past the threshold, their surroundings darkened rapidly. What light there was only gave them vague outlines of surroundings. The sobbing from before had stopped. Hale spread out her right wing, signaling Starbright to halt.
The yellow unicorn leaned over to whisper in Hale’s ear. “Did you hear something? Do you want me to use a light spell?”
Hale shushed her. “No,” she whispered, “not yet. It’s too qu—”
Something heavy and netted dropped on their backs, followed by heavy mounds of fur and paws leaping onto them. Hale grunted as they slammed into the floor, their legs buckling under the weight. Starbright’s horn flared but flickered out, leaving her panting. The stench was heavy, and the air quickly became hot as they struggled against the furry mounds. Hale bucked back at the weight on her, earning a grunt from above that was followed by two more mounds piling atop them.
The far side of the room lit up. A pink diamond dog, only an ear taller than Hale, sat on a stool with a match in his paw. The room dimmed briefly as he dipped the match into the bowl of a pipe clenched in his toothy grin. “So, ponies,” his nasally voice echoed as he used the match to light an oil lamp on a table beside him. “I hear you’re the ones messing with my operation.”