//------------------------------// // 3.5 // Story: How Hard Could it Be? // by Richardson //------------------------------// 3.5 The tea was pleasant enough despite the mild glares backed by the fires of friendship and the borrowed ‘unconquered sun’. All around the pair did the morning sunlight gather as Sunbeam shared a pot of tea with Twilight in the plaza waiting area outside the hospital; a warm oasis against the chill of the autumn breezes threatening the town daily with the oncoming change of the seasons. Between them on the rubber-coated mesh table sat a diagram of a pegasus’s wings they had been pouring over with the hospital staff to find the source of the mysterious drain that made consciously using Pegasus magic so energy-expensive. Idly, Twilight’s hoof pressed against a known mana-channeling nerve bundle running along a pegasus’s wing bone as she traced a theory. “So, we know that to achieve full effect energy has to go through this conduit to reach the feathers that we now know act as controls like a horn.” She restated, setting her cup to one side as she finished it. “Right, due to the spinal junctions at the base of the wing.” Sunbeam said as she puzzled herself with the gap between the feather nerves and the bundle. “With no known passage bet-“Her words trailed away as she looked past Twilight to the hospital doors and the activity there. No pony was near to the cart repeatedly bumping against the sliding glass doors, nor was there an obvious magic aura influencing it that they could see as Twilight joined her in inspecting the wayward transport. Not that the mere sheet draped over the cart could protect the identities of the trio within—little bumps could be seen time and time again as the Crusaders fought for space beneath the cart, which was small enough to give trouble for just one pony trying to lay on it. Their guesses became fact as a little yellow hoof tried to push the door open without being seen. All too easy, then; Sunbeam crept forwards, miming to Twilight to keep talking as she crept towards the cart on tiny little puffs of cloud. Starting again, Twilight lectured over-loudly to cover her ill-favored colleague’s approach. “The possibility makes sense. Given that the unicorn horn only has the large lobe of nerve tissue in its core due to the fact that the force needed to break it would pulverize the head, protecting the mana currents from being directly shorted out as much as possible could be a survival adaptation.” Twilight quietly cast a spell of silencing before stealing one of Sunbeam’s hayfries greedily. Throwing her voice, Sunbeam pretended to still be at the table as she maneuvered herself for a pounce. “Thus explaining the lack of organized spell-casting in Pegasus culture, since the exercises needed to fully unlock the potential would require extreme fitness.” She smiled slyly as she hovered down, hearing the harsh whispered arguments beneath the covers. They were arguing over the direction Twilight’s voice was coming from, picking up speed as they wobbly pointed away towards the nearby woods. Sunbeam moved in closer, her hooves just inches from the top of the cart. “The phenomenon of wing-power can be explained by training the nerve networks to talk to each other and more efficiently cross the gap. Maybe by burning fat from the region and creating more efficient muscle? Doing all that must let pegasi form more efficient pathways to conduct magic from the nerve bundles to their feathers." She spread her legs wide as she lowered herself further, coming down upon the cart like a flying jellyfish, threatening as she loomed over the humble sheet protecting the cart's occupants. Those mighty wings swept up, letting her fall onto the cart, where she latched on; her hooves punched through the sheet and snatched into the underside as she hugged herself tight to it. Inside, the trio of escapees bounced and tumbled over one another with the sudden halt from the weight applied to their getaway vehicle, bouncing back and forth like a kinetic cradle. Twilight shook her head as Sunbeam jerked and shook the cart, yelling loudly. "Look out every pony! We have some sort of ghost cart! Stay back, save yourselves or it will eat your soul!" Sweetie Belle took up the act, trying to scare Sunbeam off. "Woooo-oooOOOOooo-ooo! I am Ghost Cart, and I will eat your babies! Uh, Souls! I mean souls!" "Oh, wait," Sunbeam bent down, shoving her head through the cloth on the front of the cart mischievously. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all stared at her in horror as the shadows beneath the cloth cast a sinister light; screaming as one when Sunbeam cackled out a laugh that bone-chillingly resembled Nightmare Moon's. "Twilight, come quick, we have a prison break!" "Run!" "Cheese it!" "Wait for me-aaaiiiie!" Said formerly addressed lavender alicorn lashed out with her magic, snatching Scootaloo up by her legs while she floated the foal over to her face. Scootaloo looked over her shoulder to watch her friends jump and flip into the bushes and the safety they offered, unable to follow them in the grasp of Twilight as she found herself hogtied by dusky strands of magenta magic. Attempting her vilest form of persuasion, she developed as pitiful a look as she could manage while pleading as sickeningly sweetly as possible. "Can I leave now?" Twilight enchanted a long beard and bushy mustache onto Scootaloo to defuse the evil of the puppy-foal face. "Nope." "Nooooooo!" Scootaloo wriggled in place upside down as Twilight slowly walked her back inside towards the icky hospital food, itchy sheets, and uncomfortable beds. "You're not escaping from Ponyville General Hospital." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ms. Gladly sat across from Sunbeam in the waiting lounge on the first floor of the hospital, humming some strange old tune to herself as she poured chai tea for them both. After finding another patch of healing frostbite on both of Scootaloo's wingtips, the doctors had decided to keep her for another two days; the anguished wails of boredom could be heard all the way in Sweet Apple Acre according to rumor. So, the old caretaker had borrowed some help from the Ponyville Municipal Volunteer Assistance group to watch over the orphanage while she foiled Scootaloo's fiendish plans of escape and mayhem. Not that Sunbeam cared all that much as she delicately sipped from the simmering heat in her cup. She sighed in relaxation, rolling back somewhat to center herself on her cushion to keep her rump from touching the cold green linoleum flooring. "So, why is it that we seem to have so many issues with Scootaloo? I've talked with the doctors yesterday after her last escape attempt; they confirmed some of our findings concerning the ineffectiveness of wing casting, but they also said that she shouldn't have been worn out enough to be in the hospital." Sip. Mmm. Good tea. Coughing lightly to clear her throat, Ms. Gladly set the tea pot down and responded. "Oh, she's always been that way. Anything she gets her mind set to she can achieve, eventually." The old grey-toned mare closed her eyes to remember some of the old times, good and bad. "Even good grades, once. Before she got bored." A hoof stroked her old greying mane back. "Everything except for her cutie mark and flying. If it wasn't for her friends, I would have been sure one or the other would have driven her mad, and even so she was getting mighty desperate for flight before you showed up." Reaching into her saddlebag, the old caretaker pulled out a great brace of photos from Scootaloo's life for the new teacher, letting her see what she was up against. "And when I open the way, she seizes it too quickly." So much like Luna, desperate for recognition. "That she did. Still no control, but she went straight up." Ms. Gladly mimed a pony shooting upwards with one hoof, checking at a pocket watch on the table. "Ah, just about that time. Be on guard, dearie, they'll be starting soon." Confused, Sunbeam looked around. "Starting what?" "Their next escape attempt." Ms. Gladly said matter of factly, stretching out. "You didn't think I came here for emotional support, did you? Oh, goodness no." She arched her back, popping every vertebra one by one with the ill-gotten gains of her old age. "No, these ponies at the hospital--bless their souls--are utter rubbish at keeping their guest occupied. So the three of them try to break the third out every time one of them gets hurt. Dash is the same way, and she's taught Scootaloo quite a bit." "Oh! Wonderful." Sunbeam darkly murmured as she got up and checked the doorway to the lounge for runaway carts. "Oh, don't be that way. You wouldn't believe how amusing it is to see themselves try to pass themselves off as miniature nurses." A series of thumps shook the ceiling tiles somewhere above their heads, coming in sets and pairs off and on again. "Why, that would be them now. Get ready." Sunbeam grumbled to herself, separating from the old caretaker as the two pegasi slowly circled the room looking for the exact source. From above the small kitchenette area came three small disturbances in the tile, shaking them in a row as the foals 'sneakily' escaped the annoying patient ward, making their way towards the ground floor window and freedom. Smiling, Ms. Gladly pulled Sunbeam over to the window and delicately stood up on her back. The old mare was surprisingly light on her back, feeling halfway hollow in some strange way. Whispering, she convinced Sunbeam to raise her higher; pushing herself to her tippy-hooves to press against the ceiling tile beside the window. Every passing moment brought the trio closer to their doom, blissfully unaware of the lurking horrors of snuggling and bed rest dooming them all. Waiting until the last second, Ms. Gladly shoved the tile up and poked her head above the level of the dropped ceiling. "I have you now, my pretties!" She cackled giddily into their horrified faces, relishing in their shock as they fell over every which way. Three ceiling tiles came loose and fell beneath them, spilling them out like piñatas. The trio bounced queasily on bungee cord safety ropes strung from the pipes in the ceiling, attached by harnesses wrapped around their chests. They bounced and swung every which way--Sunbeam and Ms. Gladly hoped they weren't about to suffer a seasickness incident. Still screaming in shock, the trio tried to run for it while trapped in their harnesses, flailing helplessly for everypony's amusement as they undulated up and down wildly. No escape for them! "Ms. Gladly!" Scootaloo whined from her harness once she finally stopped flailing. The tension in the cord, helped along by the motion imparted from the helpless flails, began to slowly twist Scootaloo around and around, tightening up the rope. "Why did you catch us!?" "Because you're not done getting better, no matter how much you think you're done." Ms. Gladly warmly said just out of whirl-a-foal range. "I'm not-," Scootaloo paused and folded her forelegs as she spun away, "-getting better-," Spin, "-sitting around-," Twirl, "-getting fed icky hospital food-," Twisty, "-and being bored." The rope suddenly began releasing the built up strain, sending Scootaloo spinning out of control wildly like a funny-shaped top. "Ahhhhhhh!" Winking at Sunbeam with one of her vividly green eyes, Ms. Gladly smirked while waiting for her charge's involuntary amusement park ride to end. "She's also never beaten me." ---------------------------------------------------------------- "This time, it has to work. They'll never see it coming!" Scootaloo defiantly postured on her bed, slapping the escape plans with a hoof. Applebloom yawned, lazily swaying the flashlight strapped to her head as she defied Scootaloo's statement. "Its cause its 'Too Dark o' Clock' in the morning right now, Scoots." She slumped tiredly on the foot of the bed, curling up in exhaustion from being dragged out so late at night. "Ain't you getting out today anyway?" "It's the principle of the matter, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle wondered if there was any tape to keep her eyes open with as she planted her head on the railing of the bed. "Can't we just... like walk out this late?" Her eyes slowly dragged themselves shut as snores started escaping from the white filly. Licking a hoof, Scootaloo stuck it in Sweetie's ear to wake her back up; her cunning plan needed laying out before them. "You two WILL be walking out. You're going to lower me out the window." She proclaimed quietly, snapping on her own flashlight to reveal her climbing harness strapped on once more after the fiasco with the bungee cords. Since the tips of her wings were still bandaged until latter, rappelling it was. Applebloom looked up again suspiciously. "Wait, we-" "Yep. That's easy. Get caught looking like you're trying to break in so that no pony suspects until it's too late." "What." Sweetie asked, her mane falling down in front of her eyes. "Yeah, if they think they stopped you guys down at the door, they won't think to look up here." Scootaloo reasoned as she snapped her rope into her harness and jumped off of her bed. "Now help me down so we can all get out of here and go home to sleep." She double-checked her harness from experience. With a sign of tired resignation, the two other crusaders clambered off the bed and tiredly staggered over to the window; their flanking positions were already marked out with duct tape on the floor as Scootaloo levered the window open. Sweetie Belle peered around their pegasus friend and mimed Ms. Gladly grabbing Scootaloo by swooping out of the skies as Scootaloo got up onto the windowsill to push it further open, producing a bit she had hidden in her tail. Shaking her head, two bits fell from Applebloom's bow--she quietly suggested Nurse Redheart sucking the life from Scootaloo using super evil secret nurse powers when she tried to escape the grounds. The two made up ever more outlandish scenarios as Scootaloo anchored the rope in place for her escape; they knew failure was certain somehow. It was all just a matter of figuring out what crime against Scootaloo's pride would occur. "Say, are you two done? This'll work! Now help me down." Disgruntledly, the pair started passing rope through the window for Scootaloo, who hopped out holding the rope in hoof as she swung out and down. None of them noticed the three rustles in the bushes over the sound of rope burning against harness loops as Scootaloo descended hop by hop down the façade. "Keep it going, guys! I'm halfway there." Scootaloo whispered up as she found the further play-out of rope halting, stopping her from progressing anymore. Jerking at the rope, she bounced it up and down trying to make sure the two hadn't fallen asleep at their positions, which would have caused the safety hook to catch the rope. Small jerks rippled down the line from above, making Scootaloo worried as she heard nothing more. "AHHHH! Save yerselves!" Applebloom popped out over the edge of the windowsill before being dragged back inside by Nurse Redheart who cackled evilly. Before she could unhook herself, plaid blue hooves attacked her sides mercilessly as blue magic cut her rope. In a flailing panic, Scootaloo pushed off the wall to escape her attacker, only pushing the three pony tower over into the itchy bushes. Rarity wailed for a moment at her coat being ruined; a wail cut short when she remembered that she was plaid and thus some pony invisible to polite company lest they burn their eyes on her hideous visage of evil patterns. Ms. Gladly joined Applejack as the farm pony loomed overhead. Nurse Redheart's cackles of revenge echoed out the window over the whineys of terror as the other crusaders were taken for use in her terrible, fiendish schemes of terrible horror. Probably to suck out their bodily fluids and turn them into mummies who were to be hung from the front archway as a warning to all who dared escape from Ponyville General. "Oh, you three." Ms. Gladly lamented. "You really thought you were going to outsmart us?" "Ya'll are 'bout as stealthy and sneaky-like as Pinkie Pie at the gala, ya'll know that, right?" Applejack remarked with a bit of snark as she poked Scootaloo in the belly. "Oof! I will be free! And Rarity broke my fall, thanks for being my pillow!" The plaid victim of utter discord twitched her eyes as Scootaloo called her fat. "Oh, you did NOT! Hmph, well my plaid line needs a pony tester, and you're free to help me test it!" "NooooooooooO!" A guard came around the corner crossly, shushing them and issuing fines for noise disturbances.