//------------------------------// // Fruits of our labor // Story: Clouds On The Horizon // by Xhadow //------------------------------// "Applebloom," I called from outside the barn, "it's not worth it. Just let the filly go, okay? We can talk about this." "Don't give me that, I know yer type!" I heard Diamond squeak in terror behind the locked door, "besides, you told me to stand up for myself and that's what I'm doing." "NO!" The rope tightened around the filly's neck leaving me only seconds to react.... RINNNGGGG!!!!!!!!!! I flew out of bed, scarcely giving my hooves time to connect with the short, soft carpet before bolting out of the room. I ran down the halls to the lobby and paused when I reached the door, "it...just a nightmare...nothing's wrong." "Sounds like a bad one," Octavia yawned, slowly closing the office door behind her, "did Luna show up?" "No, not at all. Not even a trace," I thought it out, connecting the dots, "it was almost like...I don't know, like a memory more than a dream. It...bad things happened." "Yeah. I get those sometimes when Vinyl plays her music too loud at night." "I...," Just when I was about to explain what I had suffered when Applebloom passed by the glass doors on her way to the market, "I have to go!" "Yeah," Octavia sighed as the door slammed closed, "I get that a lot..." "Applebloom," the filly turned, almost as if she was shot when she heard her name, "you okay?" "I'm fine, just....sortin' some things out." She responded with a harshness I had never expected from the filly. "Give me the rope," I held out my hoof, "please." "But, it's for my chores," Applebloom insisted, pushing it further into her bag so Nopony else would see it. "I know you want to strike back, but this isn't right." I took a half step closer to the shaken filly, "trust me, okay? It isn't worth losing everything." "How would you know," she demanded, eyes burning under her tears, "there ain't nothing left for us. Everyday it's the same thing, we come to school and it's a war, us against her! It ain't so bad with Silver, but she's the worst, and not just to us..." "I know," I pulled her into a hug, "I understand, okay? I had the same thing where I went to school." She cried into my shoulder, "how...how'd you get through it?" "I had a wonderful teacher who helped pull me through the toughest times," I told her, brushing away her tears. "I'll do the same for you, if you'll let me." "How'd you know anyways," Applebloom slowly surrendered her weapon, and a sudden look of terror crossed her face, "does Applejack know?!" "Nobody else, but me knows, I swear." I tucked the worn rope into my satchel and dropped to meet the filly's gaze. "And I aim to keep it that way." I left the filly to her morning shopping and struggled to figure out what had just transpired when a neatly rolled newspaper landed at my hooves. "Top of the morning professor," The colt called as he flew off to his other subscribers. Sighing I picked up the paper and pulled off the rubber band with my teeth, At least it's the Canterlot Gazette this time. I flipped through the pages looking for the new "Science and You" article when a particular headline caught my eye: Foal Found Dead at Captains Manor! "This week the tragic story of Blank Page comes to a grizzly end. The foal of Storm Turner and Rough Diamond was found murdered and buried under Captain Banner's elaborate manor. Both the Captain and his wife are on trial for the horrible crime... ...scheduled for the end of the week both of the Canterlot princesses are going to preside over the trial." A flash of a shattered memory burned through my mind. A voice, mechanical and cold. But try as I might I couldn't remember what it said or why it applied. I studied the crime scene photos with a sudden obsession, like this is what I was meant to do. Names, faces, and dates flashed through my mind as I tried to piece together the puzzle just as I was about to give up a flash of inspiration struck. "He's not the killer!" I shouted to Nopony in particular. "What," Octavia asked, confusion and shock blending her voice. "He's innocent, there's no way he could've buried the foal's body under his house without damaging the ears! Look," I pushed the paper in her face, "And look at the burns on the forelegs and hooves." Octavia stepped back from the paper, "That's just... sickening." She thought for a moment before taking another glance at the picture, "You're right! there's no way he could've done that without messing up the colt's coat." "Under normal circumstances the foal's fur would've combusted and also their time of death is wrong, look at his feathers, they're all still attached!" "Who killed him then?" Octavia asked, looking at me with a tilted head. I tried to answer, but my head felt like it would catch fire. Voices faded in and out of existence and for a second I remembered impossible things: walking on the surface of alien worlds, death and carnage on an impossible scale and loss. I had lost something too great and terrible to remember. A name floated to the surface of the chaos: Jane Scott. I woke up in Ponyville hospital with a long thermometer poking out of my mouth. "Hey, how do you feel," The nurse asked as she added another ice pack to the pile on my body. "What happened," I asked, bewilderedly examining my surroundings, "Where am I?" "Sh," the nurse hissed, gently pushing me back into the mattress, "try not to move around so much, you had a fever of 105. and you're in Ponyville hospital, we're just waiting for your fever to recede." "How long have I been here," I asked slowly trying my best to rationalize the situation. "Just a few days," the nurse answered calmly, reaching for something on the bedside table, "You're students left you a card." Inside the card was decorated with all sorts of foalish drawings and a few words from each student in my class. I felt a smile crease my dry lips and a tear rolled down my face. The nurse smiled too, "they're very sweet aren't they," the nurse lifted the thermometer from my mouth and studied it intensely for several long seconds, "Your fever finally broke." She let out a relieved sigh. "Just hang in there a second and I'll get the doctor." That name. Something snapped inside of my mind and terror flooded my system. "No! Not him. He's going to kill me, just like the rest of us!" The nurse gripped my hoof, "It's going to be okay, alright?" "I'm sorry, I don't know what that was," I lowered my gaze and my ears sank, "It's almost like I don't even know who I am anymore..." "It's okay, hallucinations happen sometimes with high fevers." She smiled at me and let go of my hoof, "Redheart, could you fetch the doctor for me?" We were alone in the room for several minutes before a brown coated stallion wearing a pristine lab coat pushed his way into the room. He spent several minutes studying the clipboard that hung off the foot of the bed with a slight frown. "Well, personally I think you just got a rather nasty case of the feather flu, Mr. Sleuth. Not much else fits these symptoms." "But, doc isn't the feather flu a Pegasus thing?" I asked, confused, "in case you didn't notice I don't have any wings." "Usually it keeps to Pegasi, but certain strains can infect other ponies and are resistant to traditional medication, that's why we needed to consult the princess on your condition." The doctor marked down something or other that I couldn't read and dropped the clipboard back into place at the foot of my bed. "Which one did you notify?" I reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. "Princess Twilight, she's the closest after all and one of the best healers I've ever seen." The doctor gave me a smile that disturbed me. "What happened to me? One minute I'm reading the paper..." Slowly things started connecting in my mind: The dream, confronting Applebloom, and the paper. "You collapsed while talking to Octavia about the recent Canterlot murder and she brought you in right away, and it's a good thing she did too, you wouldn't have lasted much longer without some serious magical intervention." "I'll have to thank her for that," I said to myself, wondering how to best go about that. "Well, I think we're safe to release you later today as long as we don't get any more surprises." The doctor paused, scanning my face with a look of concern, "is there anything else you needed?" "When I collapsed I heard voices, but I can't for the life of me remember what they said." I paused embarrassed to admit it, "But they mentioned somepony's name, a Jane Scott. Is there any way we can find her?" The doctor frowned, "I don't know the name, but that doesn't mean she's not real. I'll ask Twilight, it's the type of thing she'd know." "Thank you, for everything. Both of you," I felt my shaky grip on reality wane and I fell back into my darkened dreams. "He's never going to make it into the university and you know it!" A voice thundered, I recognized it, but couldn't place the stallion. "Not while he has these episodes, but if we get him into the hospital..." I recognized this voice as my mother, but she sounded...different. "No! Do you realize what kind of scandal that would cause? We have to deal with this ourselves." The thunderous voice argued, "I have a real chance of getting on the council, but if word gets out about our son winding up in the Hospital then any and all chance will be gone." "Not if I take him," my mother promised, "I know the (Static) he owes me a favor or two. I'm sure he'll keep it quiet." "Don't mess this up," the thundering voice rumbled as it vanished. My mother's voice rapidly followed, leaving me wondering blindly in a blank field between dreaming and memory. Slowly, the sounds of moving water drew me out of my unexpected slumber. "Oh, you're awake," the nurse said, dropping a thawed ice pack into the large bucket beside the bed. "You're getting checked out of here in a couple hours, I didn't want to wake you before I got rid of these things," she gestured to the growing collection of ice packs. "That's considerate of you, thank you," I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back onto the pillow. It was just a dream...right? I'm not crazy? "Good news," the doctor declared as he waltzed into the room behind a wheelchair, "we're getting you home." Something about the wheelchair froze the blood in my veins, "No, not again!" I pushed myself off of the bed, struggling to stay on my hooves. "It's okay, Sleuth we're just taking you to the door," the nurse reassured. I wasn't sure what was happening to me, but I knew for sure I wasn't getting in that wheelchair. "NO, not that way." "Okay," the doctor sighed, leaving the wheelchair by the door, "Just relax a little, okay?" "I...I don't know what's happening to me," I felt like I was being torn into two different ponies. The sensation was indescribable. "Listen, I'll go, okay just not in that thing." "I think we can make an exception in this case, don't you nurse Redheart," the doctor asked the nurse who silently nodded in agreement. "Well, lead the way," I sighed in relief when that thing disappeared in the maze of endless hallways. We passed the duration of the trek in silence only bidding each other friendly farewells at the door. . I shifted my satchel, dreading returning to work after all this time. The students probably had a huge party while I was gone. With any luck the school might've been destroyed. I laughed to myself as I imagined Cheerilee standing over the crater lecturing the students about the dangers of science and magic. On a whim I crossed town to look at the schoolhouse, just in case some disaster happened. I pressed my muzzle against the glass and saw Scootaloo, of all ponies, lecturing the class on engineering. "That's why they build skyscrapers that way, so that if they fall they don't damage the other buildings in the collapse." She finished scrawling barely legible notes on the board for the class, "Okay, as much as I don't like it, Sleuth assigned us the next section to do over the weekend." "Forget it," I declared walking into the room, "we're way ahead of schedule as it is." The students let out a collective cheer. "Crusaders, could you stay a while and help me with a project." I asked, clearing the blackboard. The bell rang and the students filed out of the room except for the three fillies. "You need our help," Sweetie belle asked in disbelief. "I need somepony's help, may as well be yours," I gave each of them a piece of chalk, "besides, I know you'll never give up." "What do you need us to do," Scootaloo asked, ready to go. "Applebloom just stayed as far away from me as possible, never meeting my eyes. "I need you to draw a map of Ponyville and as far into the forest as possible," It was little more than an experiment on my part, just an idea. I didn't know what I was looking for exactly, but rapidly joined in the amateur cartography. By the time we finished Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack showed up looking for the fillies. "Okay, that's a little creepy," Rainbow commented, eyes never leaving the blackboard. "It seems like something's missing," I studied the similar maps, "Rarity, you have an eye for this sort of thing, do you see anything out of place?" Rarity took a spare piece of chalk from my desk and quickly filled in a... I dragged myself to my bed with a groan, "this had to be a coincidence," I laid there staring at the ceiling, "how did we all forget that whole building? All four of us?" I rolled over and started a staring contest with the wall instead, "it was like it didn't exist until Rarity drew it." I groaned again, something was wrong. Maybe I should tell Twilight and her friends what I've found. They're the elements of harmony after all. "But that wouldn't be nearly as fun as investigating myself." It was decided, Cheerilee and I would investigate the anomaly in the morning. I rolled onto my back again, and slowly drifted off to sleep.