//------------------------------// // Bottoms Up // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Zecora scraped the poisonous secretion off of the teeth and dropped it in to the cauldron. Sarge slowly walked past the others, blood dripping onto the floor. "Sarge..." Applejack said quietly, looking over his wounds. "What?" Sarge grunted. Applejack walked up to Sarge and hugged him. "Thanks fer riskin' your life on our part. That was very brave." "Brave enough to get me a point in our little competition?" Sarge asked. "Fine, but only 'cause you have a handicap." Applejack said with a smile. Sarge grunted. He then turned his attention to Zecora and walked up to her. "Is there going to be enough of that for two?" "I made enough so dozens of ponies could share this brew." Zecora said. "So I would say there will be more than enough for you." "Good." Sarge said, taking a seat on the floor. "Aren't you going to do anything about your injuries?" Twilight asked. "I don't suppose you know how to?" Twilight shook her head. "Then no." Sarge said with a smile. "Er, Sarge?" Applejack interjected, "ah think ah could try fixin' ya up if’n ya like." Sarge turned to Applejack and gave a nod. "Sure why not. Beats looking at Grif's good-for-nothing mug any day." "Glad to have you back Sarge." Grif said. "Good to be back, Dirtbag." Sarge said. "Hang on, ah need t' grab some supplies from my bag." Applejack dropped her bag to the floor and started to look through it, quickly producing a small box. She extracted a needle, a thread and a pair of tweezers from it. "If you need privacy you may use my spare room." Zecora said, gazing in to the mixture. "I do not think the children should see such wounds." "Thank ya kindly Zecora." Applejack said. Applejack then opened the door to the room that Zecora had indicated, entering with Sarge. "Okay, come near the window so ah can get some light." Applejack said. Sarge nodded and sat down next to the window. Applejack looked over his wounds and realized they were worse than she had originally thought. She cleaned some of the blood away with a cloth. She then grabbed the thread and needle and started to stitch up the worst of the wounds. She worked in complete silence, concentrating on fixing Sarge up as much as she could and found herself done in a matter of minutes. "Alright, you're done." Applejack said. "Ah apologize in advance, I ain't the best doctor in Equestria.." "Much better than any other doctor I've met..." Sarge said with a gruff laugh. “Or medic for that matter.” "Stay right here, ah'll be back right quick." Applejack said. "Uh, okay." Sarge muttered. Applejack walked back in to the main room and everypony looked at her. "How is he?" Simmons asked. "Patched him up best ah could. He should be up and at 'em once he drinks that stuff." Applejack said. Applejack then turned her attention to the three fillies. "Applebloom, you and the others need t' come with me." "Yes sis'." Applebloom said. The girls slowly followed Applejack to the room where Sarge was sitting idly. "Hey Sarge." They all said in unison. "Hey." Sarge grunted. "Well girls?" Applejack said after a couple seconds of silence. "Whaddaya say?" "Sarge, I'm really sorry we caused this." Scootaloo said. "We only came out here because you said you would help us find out cutie marks." Sweetie Belle said. "We figured that if we followed ya we mighta' found 'em." Applebloom said. "And?" Applejack pressed. "We're sorry." The crusaders said in unison. Sarge stared at the three crusaders whose heads were hanging low, avoiding eye contact. "Don't be." Sarge grunted after a couple seconds of silence. "Beg pardon?" Applejack said. "These girls almost got ya right killed." "As I see it, if these girls hadn't followed us and screamed, we may not have found the timberwolves in time." Sarge said. "I'd say that they saved Grif's life, and as much as I hate to say it, I'd hate to see him go down like that." "Hey, yeah!" Sweetie Belle said. "We're like heroes or something." Scootaloo said. "Maybe we'll get our cutie marks for saving lives!" The girls all looked at their flank at the same time and they each let out a sad sigh. "But just because you saved his life doesn't mean what you did wasn't reckless." Sarge said. "And trust me, I've invented the meaning of that word." "So... yarn't mad... but yarn't happy neither?" Applebloom asked. "Exactly." Sarge said. "Are we being punished?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously. "I'll let Applejack decide that once we get back. I'm afraid my punishments might hospitalize you." Sarge said. "But for now let's get back to the others so I can drink that sludge." Sarge then got off the floor and walked back to the main room and planted himself next to Zecora. "Is it done yet?" Grif asked. Zecora squinted at the mixture and gave a quick nod. She grabbed two glasses and filled them to the top. She gave one to Grif who took a sip and almost threw up. "This shit is horrible." Grif said. "They may taste bad, but once drunk things will look up." Zecora said. "But for the full effect, you must drink the entire cup." "Quit being a wuss." Sarge muttered, chugging the bottle in one go. He then sniffed the empty bottle and gagged. "Ugh. It's quite pungent." "It's fucking stinging my throat." Grif yelled, rubbing his neck. "And not in a good way." "Zecora, I'll be honest with you..." Sarge said, starting to sense the aftertaste. "This tastes like pure gasoline." "There is something about the potion I forgot to mention." Zecora said. "This is not a full antidote, merely a potion of suspension." "Meaning?" Grif said nervously. "I think she means that it will not get rid of the infection, it will just stop it from spreading." Twilight said. "That is what it is, but have no fear. Given some time, the pain and moss shall clear." Zecora said. "The infection has not spread deep in to Sarge, so he will be completely cured of this charge." "Okay so just to be sure, this moss shit will disappear and it will stop hurting." Grif asked. "And for the love of god don't rhyme for an answer, I'm having trouble keeping up here, just nod or shake your head." Zecora thought for a second and then nodded. "Fear not, for what remains within you will now provide durability." Zecora said, trying to use more simple words. "Making you stronger and hardier, without sacrificing agility." "Hey Simmons, that means I'm just like you!" Grif said. "What are you talking about?" Simmons asked. "You're part robot and I'm part tree." Grif said. "Except my part actually sounds pretty damn useful."