//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Adulting. // Story: A Love Worth Waiting // by JediWyrm //------------------------------// Alto Chisel was on her way home. It had been a long and tiring day as the company she worked for had to pull some overtime to get a park properly cloudscaped after a small accident where a pony crashed through the parts that had already been finished. They were alright, clouds tend to make for soft landings, but the clouds had been scattered. After work Alto had to run several errands and ended up only getting done as the sun was starting to set. She was just about to get home when she saw a large plume of smoke emanating from a glow in the distance. The sight of it caused her to pause as she pondered what it could be. She caught sight of a couple of the Wonderbolts flying off to scout out what the problem was. A klaxon was audible calling in an emergency for the weather factory. It didn't take long for one of the Wonderbolts to return, which heralded an alarm going off alerting all the pegasi in Cloudsdale to a wildfire. Alto quickly dropped off her stuff in her house before flying off to the weather factory to do her part in emergency cloud handling. The ponies responsible for moving Cloudsdale shifted it's careful drifting into purposeful movement to bring it closer to the fire. Others had gone off to pick up any stray clouds near it to start the rainstorm needed to put it out. Once she got to the factory she moved to the side that had already begun to output rain clouds en masse. Finding a free spot she started shaping the clouds as they came out for ease of transport. Soon teams were taking the clouds to the site of the fire. She soon fell into a pattern of grabbing a chunk of cloud, shaping it, and hoffing it off. Time passed both quickly and slowly as it seemed to take forever as she processed the clouds but soon enough the factory stopped making clouds. Looking around Alto noticed that the sun had finished setting and that there were small clouds with lightstones stuffed into them to provide lighting for the workers. She saw that search and rescue volunteers were being rounded up to check over the damaged areas of the forest and flew over to assist. Soon she was flying over a section of burned down trees with a pair of enchanted goggles to help her see in the darkness. There wasn't much to see as she could see nothing moving nor anything unusual to indicate even a normal forest animal had been caught by the blaze. Then the search pattern brought her over a clearing. It was obvious that a cart had been in it at the metal axle was laying on top of a bunch of charred wood and a variety of other things. As she flew down closer to the clearing she noticed the ring of stones that the pony had set up for a campfire. Landing next to it, Alto looked over the logs in the attempted campfire. Seeing the steam escape from them told her that the wood was from an aquavine. Shaking her head at whoever would be stupid enough to try to make a fire out of it since it would be trying to set fire to a full water bottle. Trotting over to the overturned cart she hoped that the pony wouldn't have been stupid enough to try to take cover underneath it. Looking in the holes in the burnt lumber it became clear that only their possessions were under it. Some of it was destroyed, a couple of the things were largely untouched and several others at least seemed salvageable. Scanning the clearing once more, Alto shifted the goggles up on her head and activated a lightstone to get a better look. In doing so she caught sight of an odd mound as close to the middle of the clearing as possible. Staring at it for a moment caused her to notice that it was moving slightly up and down. Moving over to it her hoof landed on something more than just the soot and ash covered ground. Nudging it caused the edge of the wool blanket to fold over itself. 'Maybe they're not that stupid if they knew to use a wool blanket to protect themselves from the fire. Guess they could have just not recognized the aquavine.' She thought to herself as she pulled the blanket further back. Once she caught sight of one of the pony's legs she halted in moving the blanket. Looking at the black coloured coat and hoof she nudged it lightly, starting when it jerked in response. Gently poking it again resulting in a similar result she reared back and launched herself vertically into the air leaving behind a flurry of ash. Flapping to gain some altitude, Alto oriented herself towards the nearest cloud hosting a medic station. She flew to them until one of them noticed her waving. The pegasus took flight as she turned around to return to the air over the clearing where she then circled to indicate that the medic should go there. After a couple laps she saw the medic dip and angle himself towards the clearing and waved to indicate that she should return to her search pattern. Alto nodded in response and flew off. It wasn't long before she finished searching her section and she returned to the station set up to handle the search and rescue effort. Seeing that one of the organizers was her boss from her normal job she flew over to her. “Finished up my section, found 1 pony and alerted the medics, no other anomalies found.” She stated with a rough salute. “Okay. You can return home now Alto.” The red coated mare said. “Sure, and see you tomorrow at work, Garnet Flight.” Alto replied before flying off towards home. After a quick shower to get all the soot and ash off of her, she collapsed onto the bed quickly getting to sleep. The next day found them fixing up one of the parks that had been flattened out to make a meeting area for one of the various groups from last night. During lunch Alto walked over to Garnet. “Hey, so how did things turn out last night?” She asked. Garnet swallowed her food before saying, “1 casulty, which seemed to be near the start of the fire, probably made their campfire to large or something. A couple other were found with a few small burns but they managed to get across a natural fire break. The pony you found had the worst injuries. He breathed in a lot of the hot air, so they have him in the hospital right now.” “I'll swing by and check on him after work. Did they figure who his is?” Alto queried. “I think it was Thag Vertice.” Garnet answered. “Thag... Marbled coat, red mane, number and letters for a cutie mark?” She said, a little bit of panic in her voice. “Yeah. Do you know-” Garnet started, only to be interrupted as Alto flew off towards the hospital. “Think she's going to come back?” Said one of the other ponies on the crew. Alto rushed through the doors of the hospital. Looking around she trotted up to the nurse station to ask about her cousin. Getting directions to his room she quickly headed off towards it, being mindful to keep her speed down in respect to the building around her. Finding the room and entering it she found Thag laying on a bed, a couple machines next to him monitored his condition but the information meant nothing to her. Standing next to the bed she looked him over, seeing that he was still breathing, albeit with some difficulty, she relaxed. A moment later a nurse showed up to get her information and to check weather or not she had a right to be there with their patient. Once that was handled Alto asked about his condition. “He has some lasting lung damage due to the hot air he was breathing. Nothing too severe, he should easily have a normal life. He also is suffering from some oxygen deprivation, but is recovering well. He'll probably wake up in the next couple days so a familiar face will do much to help him recover.” The nurse said before leaving to tend to other patients. Thag woke up to a very groggy feeling. Opening his eyes lead to a very blurry room. It seemed to be largely white. Shifting his head left and right caused a tan blur to be noticeable to him. “Thag! You're awake. Let me call the nurse.” The blur said in a very familiar voice that caused his heart to beat a little stronger. It took a few seconds for his vision to begin clearing letting him see his cousin properly. As her face came into real focus the nurse came in to check up on him. “So how long have I been-” Thag start before going into a coughing fit. The nurse gave him a glass of water with a straw to drink from. “You've been in the hospital for about 2 and a half days.” She said before finishing looking him over. The nurse made a note on his chart before leaving the room. Alto nuzzled Thag before saying “So glad you're okay. When I heard that you were the pony I found after that wildfire I panicked.” “You found me? So I guess you saved me then.” Thag said quietly, his voice still recovering form his multiday rest. “I found you, but the medics and doctors saved you.” She replied. Thag brought a hoof over to her face, bringing it over to his own. “Semantics, you are the one who found me, therefore you saved me.” He said. Letting his hoof down, he smiled at his cousin. They chatted for a few minutes before Alto noticed the time. “I gotta get back to work, and finish setting my home up so you can stay there for now. I already moved what stuff of yours was recoverable there, and got the paperwork for you to get compensated for what was destroyed.” She said, before giving him another nuzzle. “Okay, see you later. Have a nice day at work.” Thag stated. The next day saw Alto guiding Thag towards her house. He was wearing a small amulet enchanted with a cloud walking spell. He stopped in her yard to admire her sculpture work displayed there. Once inside he sorted through his stuff there to see what all he had left. Smiling at some of what managed to stay intact. He then went to take a quick nap while Alto prepared some food. Over the meal they talked about what to do next. Thag decided to stick around for a little while, mainly to spend more time with her and to better think out where to take his life. Alto headed off to spend some time at work as he organized his stuff in the boxes. Thag spent a little time over the next few days walking around Cloudsdale getting to know the city. He was also making a plan for the weekend. When the weekend came up he asked Alto to spend the day with him out on the town. First they walked through the shopping district looking at the many shops. After a light lunch, they proceeded to visit a couple of the art galleries in the city. The date ended with a nice dinner as they talked about the day. Once they got back to Alto's house they cuddled up on the couch. “Hey Alto, there's something I've been wanting to tell you.” Thag started. “Yeah?” She said. “I love you. For several years now I've felt it. At first I thought it was just a crush or something, but it's just grown and grown into something I feel at the very depths of my being. I love you and since I have to forge a new path for my life I want you with me as I do so.” He said, looking into her eyes. Alto replied by giving him a kiss. “I love you too. When you were in the hospital that became clear to me. I would be glad to help you forge a new life.” They kissed some more as they cuddled on the couch. Eventually going to bed to get some sleep. Some time later as Thag and Alto were watching the sun set he saw a circular rainbow get formed due to the angle of the sun and the clouds. This lead to him asking Alto if she could replicate it with a sculpture, helping her figure out the angles needed to do so. After a week of it being on display in her yard somepony bought it to have for a traveling showcase of art. Thag made sure to include instructions on aligning it as they showed how to set it up. A couple months went by before they heard about a new town getting built. It was a pegasus and earth pony town being set up on the edge of a cliff. Checking it out they decide that it would be a good place to move to as Alto could get work on the weather team. In time Thag was able to finish his teaching degree and got a job at the local school. Then a few yeards later they had their first foal.