//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: The Search Continues 
// Story: The Curse of Discord 
// by Creative Charmer 
//------------------------------//

	After they were far out of sight of the tree, the ponies stopped so they could catch their breath. "I'm glad...we're finally safe..." Twilight said as she panted. She also sat down on the ground because she was tired, and Spike slid off her back and onto the ground, as he was still feeling a bit sick.
"I'm glad, too.." Fluttershy said while also panting. "That was...really, really scary..."
"Not to mention sickening..." Spike said, clutching his stomach.
"Well," Rarity said, having caught her breath. "I believe we can owe our thanks to our dear Spikey-wikey!" Rarity said as she walked over to Spike and hugged him with her right leg.
Spike looked a bit surprised at first. "...okay, I feel better now," he said, smiling lovingly.
"Yah really showed that overgrown weed, Spike" Applejack said as she walked up to Spike, whom Rarity had stopped hugging. She then gave Spike a tough pat on the back, accidentally knocking him forward a bit.
"Thanks, Applejack," he replied, rubbing the hurt spot on his back from Applejack's pat.
"You did great!" Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped over to Spike. "Really great! Usually Twilight is the great one," she said as she went over to Twilight and pointed at her, then went back next to Spike. "but this time you got to be the great one! Isn't that just great??" she exclaimed as she stuck her face right up to Spike's face, smiling really big.
Spike looked back at Pinkie in silence for a few moments, feeling a bit surprised by her sticking her face right up to his. "...uhh...yeah. Thanks, Pinkie."
"You're welcome, Spike!" she happily replied.
"...anyways," Twilight said as she walked over to the others. "What we need to do now is find that cloud before it does any more harm to anypony else!"
"But we don't even know where it went!" Applejack said.
"Well, we're just going to have to find out where it went! All of Ponyville depends on us!"
"But how will we find it?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find something like that cloud, since it's so—"
"Hold on!" Pinkie exclaims, interrupting Twilight. "I thought we wanted to look for the cloud! Now we're looking for something like the cloud??"
Twilight and Applejack exchanged looks with each other. "Actually, Pinkie, we are looking for the cloud," Twilight said.
"Now we're looking for the cloud again?? Sheesh, Twilight! Can't you make up your mind?" Pinkie exclaimed, sounding a bit frustrated.
Applejack and Twilight stared blankly at Pinkie Pie for several moments. "...so," Applejack said as she and Twilight turned their heads towards each other. "How are we gonna go about findin' that cloud?"
"It won't be too difficult. Just let me think for a bit," Twilight placed her hoof on her chin to ponder what to do. But, no sooner had she started thinking when something came down from the sky incredibly fast and crashed into the ground a short distance from the girls and Spike, making them all jump in surprise and turn towards the crash site.
"What in Equestria was that??" Rarity asked in shock.
"And where did it come from??" Fluttershy also asked.
"I don't know!" Twilight replied, also shocked. "Come on, everyone!" Twilight then ran towards the crash site, with the others following her.
In a short time they arrived at the crater, and everyone went up to the edge and peered over the side. The dust started to clear, and the silhouette of someone or something began to appear. Everyone watched as the dust cleared, wondering what it was that crashed. Then, when the dust finally dissipated, everyone was shocked to see that what had crashed—was Rainbow Dash! She was lying on her front with her eyes spinning around, feeling very dazed from her crash landing.
Twilight placed her right hoof over her mouth in surprise. "Oooh...I sort of forgot about Rainbow Dash..." Twilight says, embarrassed, as she rubs the back of her head with her hoof.
"Don't feel bad, Twilight," Spike said as he patted her  right shoulder. "The rest of us forgot, too," Twilight turned her head towards Spike, then looked at Rarity and Fluttershy who were behind him on the edge of the crater, both smiling back at Twilight. Twilight lightly smiled, feeling a bit better.
"Yeah! Even you!" Pinkie interjected as she stretched her head over to Twilight from the left side, making Twilight feel bad again. Spike gave Pinkie a stern look, and Applejack grabbed pinkie and pulled her away from Twilight. Applejack then walked next to Twilight in the spot where Pinkie's head was and placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. She smiled at Twilight, and Twilight smiled back at her contently.
"My, she must have fallen from quite a dizzying height," Rarity said, looking down at Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah!" Pinkie added. "She must've gone up super-duper high to have taken so very very long to fall allllllll the way back down!" she exclaimed with a series of gestures.
"I just hope she isn't hurt too bad," Fluttershy said.
"Well, this is Rainbow Dash we're talkin' about," Applejack said. "She's taken some pretty hard hits before, so ah'm sure she's fine."
"Ohhh..." Everyone then turned their attention to the crater, which they heard the moan from.
"That doesn't sound too fine," Rarity said.
Everyone watched as one of Rainbow Dash's front legs stretched out of the crater and grabbed onto the outside edge. Then the other front leg reached out and grabbed the ledge. She then used her legs to pull the front half of her body out of the crater, after which she collapsed onto the ground outside the crater, still looking very dazed and her eyes still spinning around. Everyone gathered around her to see how she was.
"Are you all right, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow lifted her partly up. "Did I win?" she asked dizzily.
The others exchanged looks, wondering what she was talking about. Twilight was the first to realize that Rainbow was referring to her "tug of war" with the tree root. "Err...sure, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied.
At that moment, Rainbow Dash snapped out of her dazed condition, and her eyes went back to normal. She then zoomed straight up into the air, looking incredibly proud of herself. "I knew that tree was no match for me! It didn't stand a chance against Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed in a sort of arrogant way.
"Well then, mighty Rainbow Dash," Twilight said in a non-serious way. "Perhaps you could help us find that cloud that almost zapped you before?"
Rainbow flew down in front of Twilight. "Sure thing! I'll find it easy!"
"All right, then; just fly up high and see if you can spot it anywhere," she said as she looked up at the sky and pointed up in the same direction with her hoof.
"O-kay!" Rainbow saluted. She then flew straight up, high into the air at least 40 feet, where she began hovering in place. She then placed her left hoof over her eyes and began searching. As she searched, she turned around while still flying, making sure to scan the land in each direction. Suddenly, she spotted something. "I see it!" she shouted as she pointed with her left hoof. "It's flying near a path that's leading to Ponyville!"
"Then let us not waste any time!" Twilight exclaimed. "Come on, everyone!" she used her magic to put Spike on her back, and she ran off in the direction that Rainbow Dash had pointed with the other ponies following behind her. Rainbow Dash flew down and joined up with the others as they all chased after the cloud.