Whitewashed

by ScottTrek

Part 3

A week had passed since the ‘incident’ and life was finally regaining some semblance of normality. That said, Sweetie Belle still likened the atmosphere around town to that of mourning. Ponyville seemed to have gone... greyish, like the depression had settled into a tangible mist, blanketing everything in a lethargy that leeched the life from everypony.

Sweetie Belle sat, looking out of Sugercube Corner’s window as ponies crept along at a sluggish pace outside. She waited for her friends to show up, if they planned to at all.

“Another milkshake?” Pinkie Pie asked, trotting over to the table. Sweetie Belle tried to suppress an involuntary flinch at the sight of the pink baker. While Pinkie appeared largely to have been unaffected by the mass psychotic episode that the ‘incident’ had brought on, the fact that her hair fell permanently flat was a cause for concern.

“Err no thanks,” Sweetie Belle replied. “I’ll wait to see if the others turn up.”

“Okay, here you go!” Pinkie Pie placed four new milkshakes on the table and bounced off, humming absent-mindedly. Sweetie Belle stared after Pinkie and -- like many before her -- wondered exactly what it was that made her so… Pinkie.
As if on cue, the cafe/bakery doors opened; Scootaloo, Applebloom and a rather bedraggled-looking Midnight walked in.

“Hey guys!” Sweetie Belle smiled, waving them over. She noticed that Midnight had twigs and leaves in his hair. “Midnight, did you get dragged backwards through a hedge?”

“Yes,” he confirmed quickly, before disappearing off the cafe’s bathrooms.

“We found him in an apple tree on the farm,” Applebloom explained, hopping onto one of the seats and taking a sip of milkshake. “Wouldn’t say what he had been up to.”

The group sat around chatting for a while. In the week following the ‘incident’ it had been quite hard for them to meet up; school had been suspended for the time being and the weather had been pretty poor. Like many other townsponies, they had remained inside where it was warm, and more importantly, safe.

Without warning, a commotion arose from the bakery kitchen. The door was flung open and black smoke billowed out, the unmistakable smell of burning pastry in its wake. “Horse-apples! Not again!” a voice yelled.

“We should leave,” Midnight suggested quietly, hastily putting some bits on the counter to pay. “Don’t think they want to be disturbed.”

“Yeah...” Scootaloo added, before whispering, “Also... um... the way Pinkie’s holding that knife is a little worrying.”

“So, we actually going anywhere in particular?” Applebloom asked. After they’d beaten a hasty retreat from Sugercube Corner, the group had wandered aimlessly through the town in silence for a few minutes. Despite their chattiness in the cafe/bakery, it was harder to forget the seriousness of the situation when they were outside. The streets were deserted and the weather permanently overcast.

“Well,” Sweetie Belle said thoughtfully, lamenting the sight of the thick cloud cover above. “Maybe we could visit Cheerilee.
There’re a lot of ponies who could use cheering up, wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with--”

WHOOOOSH

The torrential downpour derailed Sweetie Belle’s train of thought. So sudden and hard was the rainfall that the ponies were knocked to the ground. They tried to pick themselves back up, but the volume of water falling was so severe that the ground beneath them rapidly turned to mud.

The world span as Sweetie Belle tried to pick herself up, but slid forward into the mush and cracked her head on some-pony’s hoof. Mud squelched up around her face, blocking her airways. Once again, she attempted to pull herself up as her chest began to tighten from a lack of oxygen, but the sheets of water pounding against her head threw all hope of orientation out the window.

There was a crackle and a stink of ozone. The volume of rain falling on her head abruptly lessened, though the sound of the raging torrent didn’t abate. Sweetie Belle rolled herself over, gasping as her airways cleared and saw a ragged force-field projected overhead. “You’re really making a habit of saving me, huh Midnight?” she laughed with relief as Midnight grunted his thanks.

“Hmph. Glad you find it amusing.”

As quickly as the rain had begun, they were cut out as the clouds above exploded into a rainbow shockwave. Rainbow Dash raced down and, after a quick once-over of the drenched fillies, rounded on the sheepish looking Weather Control Pegasus who had landed nearby.

“What was that?” Rainbow Dash barked. “WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME WAS THAT?!”

“I was just trying to clear the...” the other Pegasus cowered.

“Clear the clouds? By setting off the mother of all rainstorms?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed incredulously. “These foals could have been hurt! How on earth could you screw up that badly?”

“But... but... without my C-Cuti--”

With a cry of frustration, Rainbow Dash shot into the air, her irritated voice projected back to the ground. “Just go home!”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat together in a huddle as Midnight extracted and dried the moisture in their coats with his magic. “Hey Midnight,” Sweetie Belle shivered as a cold gust blew through the rapidly growing gaps in the cloud layer, “You thought that ponies would get over the mental block eventually, that’ll be soon right?”

“I really hope so.”