(Not to much action this time.)
With a groan you slowly open your eyes. It’s dark. That much you can tell right away. You hear a rhythmic beeping, and with each beep you feel a pulse of pain in your head. As your awareness expands you notice a slightly glowing object near your bed. At least, you hope it’s a bed. You try to focus on the light, but you can’t seem to make out any details. You try to sit up to get a better grasp on your surroundings, but as soon as you try to sit up a sharp pain radiates from all over your body.
“Oh my, you’re awake.” The voice is familiar, but you can’t put a face to it. The glow increases slightly, and soon you can see that it is a horn, attached to the forehead of a white pony. You realize, as the glow increases, that it’s actually Princess Celestia.
“Princess? If I’d known you were coming I would’ve made sure to look better for the part.” Your attempt at humor is met with a small grin.
“I’ll let it go this time, but in the future this will be unacceptable.” You return the smile, glad to see that she understood what you were driving at. You relax on the bed, knowing that, at least for now, nothing bad will happen. Not with the princess around, at least.
“Now, would you mind telling me what happened? The Crusaders could only tell me so much, given that they were scared witless for most of your adventure.” You grimace as a spike of pain shoots along your side, but you pull yourself into a position that will give you a better view of the princess.
“Well, I was at Sweet Apple Acres…
… And then I saw the girls come over the hill, and when they finally got to me I fell backwards and passed out. Not much else to say.”
Through your small tale Celestia’s face went through a wide gamut of emotions, from fear to happiness, to fear. With your tale complete she gives you a warm smile.
“Well, Storm, I’ve got someponies who would like to see you. Are you well enough to entertain guests?” You decide to be a bit bold.
“Well, I’m enduring you, aren’t I?” To your surprise she actually laughs at your joke.
“True enough. I wish more ponies would have your bravery. It’s so dull to have everypony always tell me what they think I want to hear.” She opens up the door as she finishes, and three fillies burst into the room. The jump onto the bed next to you, and you find yourself being hugged by all three.
Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle are all clinging to you, tears in their eyes. They all hold you tight, and you raise a hoof and return the hug.
“Thank you for coming to save us!” This comes from Sweetie Belle, who released you only enough to look you in the eyes. After speaking she resumes the hugging.
“Girls, please.” You wince slightly as they continue the hugging. “It was nothing, really. Now could you please let go, it’s starting to hurt.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both let go, but Apple Bloom continues holding you, less tightly, but she doesn’t let go. You decide to let her stay there, and you look up and see Twilight and her friends all crowded into the room. All of them look like they’ve been crying, which doesn’t surprise you.
“Oh, hi girls. Nice of you to come by.” Applejack is the first to make a move, and she walks up to you, and you can see in her eyes that she’s dealing with an internal conflict. Likely it has to do with the fact that she loves you, and you did something stupid, and she doesn’t like that. But, at the same time you saved her sister, and her friends.
“Ah should buck you fer what you did. Ah also owe you a debt that Ah can never repay for what you did. So what do you say we call it even?” She has a massive blush on her cheeks, and you realize that there never was a conflict; she just didn’t know how to say what she wanted to say.
“I understand AJ. I think I can-” Before you can continue Applejack lands a kiss on your lips, cutting you off abruptly. She breaks the kiss after a moment, and then she moves back amongst the others.
“So, what exactly did I fight?” You break the silence that had descended upon the room, and Twilight jumps in, eager to share her knowledge.
“It was a Zephite. They are normally docile creatures that fly amongst the clouds, and go where the winds take them. But when a strong enough storm forms the more violent ones are likely to appear. They are bloodthirsty creatures, and often kill and consume anything they may find during the storm. Nopony has ever fought one alone and won. At least, not until recently.” She gives you a smile as she finishes.
“Riveting tale, Twi. Now, I’d like to know how long it’s been since I fell unconscious. I feel like it was just minutes ago, but I doubt that it’s only been that short.”
Rainbow answers this time. “It’s been almost a full day. We found you at sunrise yesterday, and it’s just a few hours from sunrise now.”
You let yourself fall back, and you just relax. “Well, I’m feeling pretty tired, despite being ‘asleep’ for the past day. So, if none of you mind, I’d like to get some rest.”
“Certainly, Storm. I’ll come by later, and we can go into more detail about what happened with the Zephite.” She ushers the girls out of the room, and Apple Bloom gives you a quick final hug before she exits.
You look up at the ceiling for a moment, and then you hear the door open. A moment later, and you hear two chairs being pulled up next to you. You look down, and see both Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. You give them both a weak smile, and you feel a hoof lay on top of yours.
“You get some rest, sugarcube. One of us will be here when you wake up.” As she finishes you give a big yawn, and you feel yourself falling asleep.
As you slowly wake you feel different. Some memories seem new, and yet old at the same time. You see Rainbow Dash resting her head on the bed next to you, and you nudge her gently. She wakes up quickly, and looks at you.
Those pink eyes. They’re so familiar, and yet you can’t place them. “Dashie, there’s something about your eyes.” Her face brightens when you speak, but when you go no further with it her face droops. If it weren’t for the fact that you were so close you might’ve missed it.
“Is something wrong? Is it what I said?”
“No.” You sigh with relief as she responds. You almost miss it, but you hear her finish her thought. “It’s what you didn’t say.” You don’t reply to her, and instead just enjoy her company. A doctor comes in just a few minutes later, and informs you that, if you want, you can be released now. Other than the pain of healing your body is ready to face the world once more.
You thank him, and he promises to return soon with the paperwork that you’ll need to fill out. True to his word he returns with a stack of papers that you’ll have to fill out.
It takes almost an hour to fill the whole stack out, and once you finish you’re free to go. You slide out of bed, and despite the pain wracking your body, you manage to leave the hospital. Rainbow stays by your side the whole time, and a short while later you get back to your house. When you enter you see Applejack, Twilight, and the others all waiting in your living room. The conversation stops when they see you enter, and they quickly make room for you on the couch.
You take a seat, and then you notice that the Crusaders are there as well. Twilight gets off the couch, and moves next to the Crusaders.
“Storm, the girls here have something they want to tell you.”
They all speak at the same time. “We’re sorry for what we did.”
Sweetie Belle continues, though. “Really, Storm. We didn’t mean for all of that to happen. We just want to find our cutie marks so bad that we sometimes don’t think about what we’re doing.”
“I didn’t think that you did it intentionally. I just want you to promise me that you won’t do anything like that again. Not only was it dangerous, and irresponsible, it put more than just you at risk. I went out into the storm to help you, not because I had nothing better to do, because trust me, I did, but because it was the right thing to do.” You look to Applejack and Rarity. “Have you punished them at all?”
“No, Storm. Not yet.” Rarity responds first, with Applejack giving the same answer.
“Well, I’d like it if you didn’t.” The Crusader’s jaws drop at this, and both Applejack and Rarity look at you as if you’ve grown a second head. “This may sound weird, but I think that what they’ve been through is punishment enough. The first thing they did when they came into my hospital room was giving me a hug, and thanking me. They were genuinely worried about me, and I think they understand what they did was wrong. To punish them now is pointless, since the lesson has been learned.”
The Crusaders throw themselves at you again, crushing you beneath an onslaught of hugs. Rarity and Applejack both consent that the lesson has been learned, but they won’t be allowed to go crusading for the rest of the week. You give a shrug, and then whisper into their ears, “I tried girls.” They give quick giggles, and then they climb off you.
After sitting and talking for a short while everyone but Applejack has left. They have to take care of their jobs and responsibilities too, so you understand. Applejack moves next to you and just cuddles with you.
You look over to the clock, and see that it’s only noon. You nuzzle Applejack’s neck, and she looks up at you expectantly.
“It’s only noon, AJ. How about we go do something. Not strenuous, of course. But I can’t just stay here all day, I’ll go crazy.”
“If you’re sure, sugarcube.” She gets up, and you follow suit. She walks over to the door, and you follow. You grab some of your bits before leaving. As you walk out the door you take a quick look around the living room, and your eyes linger on the grandfather clock. You shake off the weird feeling you’re getting, and you close the door, and follow Applejack into the town.
(Not the longest chapter, I know. But I needed to get you out of the hospital somehow. Can't spend several chapters just lying around healing, what fun is that to read? Anyway, I intend to make the next chapter, or several chapters, more interesting, to make up for this one. (Same as last time, any major mistakes you may find, let me know.))