Red Comet

by Aragem

Care

The rain lashed the windows in torrents while the wind whistled around the small hut. Though the storm was fierce, the hut was built sturdy to withstand the strongest winds and harshest rains. The zebra resident glanced out the window, her large eyes seeking a red and yellow figure in the dark bushes. Her heart had been in pain since discovering that Applebloom may be missing in the Evergreen forest during this terrible storm. The little filly was the first friend she had made in this foreign land and was the first to reach out toward her without fear in her innocent eyes. She wanted to go out looking, but she knew it was wise to stay here incase Applebloom found her way to her hut. Zecora was no stranger to the dangers that the Evergreen Forest posed and she feared greatly for her young friend. To keep her peace of mind, she tended to her brews and salves: potion to chase away the cold from bone and flesh, a draught to ease pain, tea to sooth a fever, and simple potato soup for a hungry mouth.

A knocking at the door grabbed her attention and she cantered to the door to open it. On the other side of the door were three wet, exhausted ponies at her door.
“May I presume you have found dear Applebloom?”

“Sorry, Zecora, we haven’t found her yet.” Twilight had her head bowed, her usually groomed mane plastered to her face and neck. Her horn held a simple glow that had lit their way through the forest.

“Come in and shut the door and become rested in my hut.” Zecora hasten them inside and closing the door behind them.

“We ain’t stayin’ long. We gotta get back out there.” Applejack look simply awful. Her mane was also soaked and dripping, forming puddles about her hooves. And her eyes were strained with lines all around them. She was a youthful pony, but now she looked ten years older.

“Applejack, we can’t find anyone with the storm as it is. Even Fluttershy was losing her sense of direction in that rain.” Twilight hovered near Zecora’s cooking fire. The heat was wonderful. It was seeping into her coat and flesh, pushing away the chill and the scent of the soup made her mouth water.

Fluttershy didn’t look any better. Her long pink mane dragged on the floor leaving a wet stream behind her. Even her wings dragged she was too exhausted to keep them folded to her sides. “I’m....I’m sorry, Applejack. I don’t go into the forest at night. Especially not while there's a storm.”

They have been out searching for the last miserable five hours. The rain kept obscuring their vision, and each time thunder clapped overhead. Fluttershy yelped and tried to hide behind Twilight, Applejack, or a tree. And then the cold made it hard to move easily, their limbs becoming numb as they waded through deep puddles and mud.

“Ah understand, Fluttershy, but we gotta keep lookin’. She’s out there somewhere, Ah know she is.”

“I know she is too, but we’re not going to find her if we get lost or hurt ourselves. It’s just a few hours until sunrise and the storm should end by then. We’ll be able to find her when there’s light and it’s clear.”

“Drink this draught; it’ll help with no fault.” Zecora offered a steam cup of brown liquid that smelled of cinnamon and cloves. “It will take away the chill and give you back strength and will.”

“Awright, Ah’ll take a swig, but afterwards Ah’m gonna get back to lookin’.” Not five minutes after Applejack had drained the cup, she was asleep on a cot near the fire, a blanket tucked around her and a towel around her mane. Her relaxed sleeping face looked almost blissful, free of the worry and anxiety that had been mounting upon her earlier.

“I take it that what you gave her was a sleeping draught.” Twilight was helping herself to the soup with a blanket around her and she shared the other side of the fire with Fluttershy.

“Applejack must have sleep or else she would collapse and weep.” Zecora served Fluttershy some soup in a wooden bowl. “But it would appear that she has every right to fear.”

Though the soup was delicious and its warmth a great welcome, it suddenly tasted like cardboard in her mouth. “Is there something happening in the forest?”

“What came the day before a great red light and the creatures have run and birds have taken flight.” Zecora glanced toward the window as she spoke, her eyes gazing at something beyond the window and the trees around her hut. “Something dark and leery has come and may make the world dreary.”

“Um... the animals say that something scary happened last night.” Fluttershy spoke up timidly. “They said that something big and red came and disappeared. I thought it ... might be a... dragon.” At this last bit, Fluttershy’s voice squeaked in fright.

“Red?” Twilight’s mind flashed back to last night, seeing the red comet that crossed the sky leaving behind a crimson plume. “I... I saw something last night. It fell from the stars. I thought it might be a comet, but it was so red and it just disappeared into the forest. There was no explosion or fire, it glowed brightly, and then it was gone. I wanted to look for it, but so much happened today I forgot.”

“Beware, Twilight Sparkle, beware. Many dark and terrible things come from the stars to make misery, and horrible are these fiends.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mikala Briggs killed time playing a small puzzle game on her datapad. She typed the bubbles adding the number opposite of the digits on the top display. As the game informed her that her answer was wrong, she exited it with a grimace and checked the time. It was nearly 0400 hours on this planet’s time and she was getting tired.

The commander ordered her to wait for the recovery team and get a report from them. However, Mikala felt that this was to keep her out of the commander’s way for the next several hours. She wondered why she was hired on as yeoman when the commander was quite frank about not needing or wanting one. Thus she was given these useless jobs that could simply be completed by using the ship’s communications or data transference.

At least it was clean in this part of the engineering deck. The metal wall before her was waxed and polish so well she was able see her reflection. She could see her long face with broad cheek bones and sharp nose. Her brown hair was trim short ending below her jawline and well groomed. Even her uniform, blue with a red slash at the left breast was starched with no wrinkles. She took a moment to check her teeth, making sure that nothing was stuck in them from dinner earlier. She didn’t have a chance to brush earlier after dinner.

She heard the distant clang of the outer hull doors opening. Mikala snapped to attention, turning with her hands behind her back, trying to look formal and professional as one would expect the ship’s yeoman should act. The inner doors hissed opened and the retrieval team walked in, two carrying the damaged drone between them and one of them carrying something red and yellow under one arm. They were wearing black armored suits, with orange optical bands.

“I’m here for your report.” Mikala stood straighter, her lips in a set line.

One of the men carrying the drone snorted from within his helmet. “Well, rookie, we went outside, grabbed the goods, and came back. How’s that for a report?”

Of course, they just had to remind her that this was her first mission in the field, not even a month out of the Academy. And though she was 22 years old, she might as well be a toddler compared to their years of experience. She knew that it was something she would have to endure until the next rookie comes along.

“Oh, and Winter brought something to fry up and serve in the mess hall.” The other man hiked a thumb at the one behind him.

Winter removed his helmet and Mikala tried not to stare at him too hard. He was a handsome man, clean shaven skin, pale from years of living on stations and ships and raven hair tied loosely back in a tail. A silver earring glinted from his left ear and his teeth were rather straight and clean which she couldn't help noticing as she ran a tongue over her teeth.

He held up the garish figure he carried in. Mikala stared at it; it resembled a very small horse with stubby legs and bright red mane. He felt it by the scruff of the neck and it dangled from his hand, it’s heard slung down and legs swinging slightly.

“Is it dead...?” She eyed the red slashes on its flank.

“Naw, just unconscious. Here.” He held it out toward her.

“Uh, Lieutenant Winter, maybe it would be best if you just left it outside. Let nature take its course.”

“Aw, so cold, Briggs. C’mon, it’s a baby. Show some heart.”

She grimaced as she accepted the wounded animal. It was lighter than it look, so she was able to maneuver it across her arms without her hands touching the nasty wounds. It was wet, soaked from the outside downpour and blood and mud caked it's mane and coat. It was going to stain her uniform if she wasn’t careful. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

“Dunno, personally, I’d take her to the doc.” And the handsome bastard walked off.

“Dammit.” She whispered, she figured that this was haze attempt, though she wondered why he would break regulations just to hassle her. Was this thing dead or alive? She couldn’t tell.

Then the thing’s face twitched and the eyes opened. Mikala was so startled, she nearly dropped it. It made a small whimper that was full of pain, fear, and misery that Mikala’s heart quaked upon hearing it. It turned its head and looked at her with eyes that were pools of agony and terror.

I should be ashamed.

Mikala drew the animal gingerly close to her chest, ignoring the stains doing so created on her uniform jacket. It whined as its face tucked against her neck and the yeoman realized just how cold the creature felt in her arms. Its coat was like touching ice and the engineering deck was kept at low temperature to maintain the engine coolants.

She moved briskly from down the hall, away from the hull doors, taking the nearest elevator and moved to level 2 to the quarters deck. It was late hour and the majority of the crew was in their shared living quarters where assigned bunks were lined against the walls. Mikala considered herself lucky that the ship’s yeoman had her own small room on the command deck.

Glancing through the med bay window, she could see Dr. Moira Tibble, aka Dr. Tibbs to the crew. She was a woman in her 50’s who had been the Chief Medical Officer of a number of highly commended ships and the number of soldiers she had brought back from the brink of death could man another army.

“You better be sick or dying cause I have no time for you if you aren’t.” A gruff voice greeted her as she walked through the spreading doors.

“Kinda.” Mikala paused, holding the creature against her chest almost protectively against the doctor. The older woman was known to have a sharp tongue and could be rather brutal with insults. “I want to ask a favor.”

“I don’t do favors.” The CMO was at her console with fingers flying over a holographic keyboard. Her white hair was piled atop of her head in a messy ball of curls, a stylus pen tucked behind one ear.

“Dr. Tibbs, I’m sorry, but could you please see if you can help... this?” She gingerly held out the creature, almost using it as a shield. “Winter brought it in and it's hurt.”

Dr. Tibbs paused in her work and turned in her rotating chair. Her sharp blue eyes took in the yellow and red animal and a thin eyebrow rose. Her eyes went from the animal to Mikala’s face. “Does this look like a vet? Do you see any animal charts or dog food ads on these walls? I put soldiers back together, not give flea medicine or perform neutering.“

“Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll leave now, goodbye.” Mikala wanted to leave before Dr.Tibbs could get started with insults. She heard that Dr. Tibbs could make troopers cry with her sharp tongue.

“Put it on the table. I at least want to see what it is.” Dr. Tibbs closed down her work station. Mikala carefully place the animal on the table and arrange it on its good side with its wounded flank upward. Dr. Tibbs drew a pair of glasses from her coat pocket and slipped them on. She leaned over the wounded creature, pursing her lips, her experienced eyes studying the wounds as she had before with thousands of injuries. “Looks like a wild animal got it not too long ago. An antibiotic should prevent infection and these will need to be staple shut. Likely there’ll be a fever, but I got medicine for that. That is if its physiology doesn’t have an allergic reaction to the drugs.”

“So you’ll help?” Mikala meekly asked, still afraid of a tongue lashing.

“Do you want me to?” Dr.Tibbs gave her a firm look. “If I help it, I’ll be using medical supplies meant for wounded soldiers. If by some chance, things here go to hell, and I have no more medicine to help a soldier, that’s going to be on you. Are you willing to live with that? Or I can give it pentobarbital and euthanize it.”

Mikala bit her lower lip, crossing her arms. She nearly accepted euthanasia, it would be better to put it out of its misery. What would she do with an animal on this ship? Heal it up and let it loose in the forest? Just for a few points of good karma?

And then a long whine from the table reminded her. The yellow animal opened her eyes against and stared deliriously at them with large orange eyes. Mikala knew what she had to do.

“No, I don’t want live with a soldier not getting needed medicine, but I also know I can’t look at myself mirror if I allowed this creature to die.”

“Very well. Now go get me a cup of coffee and muffin. This is going to take all night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applebloom drifted along a plateau of pain, cold, and darkness. She heard sounds, voices speaking gibberish that rankled in her ears, and her body wasn’t her own, it was carried about making her stomach turn. She had had heard of a bad place that bad ponies go to, and she very much believed that she was there. Then when she came to, fully becoming conscious she found herself on a metal surface, her flank stinging with agony and her vision blurry. Something swept along her face and she noticed for the first time since the rain started that she was warm. There was a sharp prick in her rear and a relieving numbness crawled across her flanks.

“Applejack?” she murmured, her vision slowly coming into focus. Then she saw the creature before her. The creature was tall, taller than a pony and stood up on two bipedal legs. It laid long fingered hand on her face and murmured softly to her in the same gibberish she heard earlier. The face was flat, but had recognizable features such as a mouth, nose, and eyes below a brown mane.

The creature rubbed her neck, while fingers stroked through her matted mane. The scratching between her ears felt good and soothing. Then she noticed a sensation of tugging at her flank. She twisted her head around to see a second strange creature holding something that resembled clippers. The slashes at her flank were cleaned and open, showing off swollen ruts in her yellow coat, these slashes were squeezed shut and the clipper like object pressed against the injury and squeezed. A white staple remained in her flesh, keeping the flesh seal. Applebloom knew that she should be feeling a lot of pain, but she felt nothing. It was eerie seeing her flesh so roughly handled with only the slightest dull sensation.

Her face was pulled around to face the creature in front of her and she continued to receive petting and pats along her neck and shoulders. It reminded her of that time when she was a little foal and had to get a shot. Applejack had made jokes and nuzzled her while the doctor administered the shot on her rear.

She laid her head down on the surface and the creature continued to stroke her mane. Another strange thing was that she felt no fear; in her heart she knew these creatures did not mean her harm and they were caring for her. They were being kind to her, but she still wished she was home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack was confused when she woke up. She wasn’t in her bedroom back at the farm. She was in Zecora’s hut. The orange mare nearly leapt out of bed as yesterday’s events caught up to her waking mind. “Good Celestia! Ah c'n’t believe Ah slept!”

She galloped to the door and burst out into the day which carried the scent of rain and mud. The mare froze in the door way when she saw the small crowd surrounding the small hut. Over a dozen faces glanced in her direction followed by a several greetings. Big Macintosh's red coat could be seen above them and he waved her over.

“Are... are all these ponies here to help search?” Applejack spoke incredulously.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh replied.

Zecora was standing among them, looking a bit overwhelmed. Likely, she never had this many visitors at her hut, having once been shunned by the populous. Ponies chatted among themselves while others took advantage of a table laden with coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts. It was early morning after all and nothing aided a search better than a full stomach.

“Oh, darling, your mane looks...very early morning.” A cultured voice carried easily through the chatter. Rarity appeared next to Big Macintosh followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who both looked anxious for their lost Cutie Mark Crusader. “But then, if I was in your position and Sweetie Belle was lost, I dare say I wouldn’t look much better.”

“Rarity, it’s good t' see ya. Ya here t' help?”

“Why of course! I know you’d do the same for me.” Rarity held her head high as if insulted that anyone would dare think she wouldn’t aid Applejack in her time of need. “Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie wanted to be here, but the doctor said no. I believe it took two nurses and a doctor with a sedative to keep Rainbow Dash from flying out the window with her damaged wing.”

“We’re here to search too!” Sweetie Belle chimed, hoping forward on her hooves.

“No, dear, you’re here to keep Zecora company incase Applebloom makes it back here. We don’t need two more fillies lost in the Everfree Forest.”

“Aw, c’mon! Applebloom is our friend! We gotta help!” Scootaloo stomped a hoof in determination.

“You will be helping by staying out of the way,” Rarity replied firmly.

“But that’s not fair!” Sweetie Belle sat back on her haunches in a pout while Scootaloo looked indignant. Applejack felt sorry for them. They simply wanted to aid in search of a dear friend, but they were being kept behind due to their age.

“Hey Applejack.” Twilight Sparkle appeared alongside Applejack. “We wanted to wait until you woke up before we started.”

“Twilight, did you get everypony together?” Applejack again looked incredulously at the gathered ponies.

“Yes and no. Rarity spread the word that Applebloom is missing and everyone wanted to help. They showed up at Sweet Apple Acres and I had them come here. Zecora said it’s alright if we use her home as a base.”

“We’re going to stay behind incase Applebloom comes back.” Rarity shot a stern look at the fillies. The young unicorn and pegasus looked away with very unhappy faces. “Your grandmother is staying behind at the farm if Applebloom returns there.”

“Has... has there been any sign?” Applejack felt her heard pounding, though the sight of many ponies willing to help comforted her, the anxiety was still eating her.

“Not yet, but we will find her. Don’t worry.” Twilight gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Since you’re awake, let’s get this started.”

With that, Twlight Sparkle hopped onto a large rock, propping herself higher than the other ponies and announced, “Listen up!”

The chatter died and every eye turned to her. The ponies drew closer, every eye on Twilight Sparkle who had a way of grabbing and keeping attention. The lavender unicorn gazed over the crowd and offered a smile, “I want to thank everypony on behalf of the Apple family for volunteering. One of their members, Applebloom, has disappeared last night during last night’s storm. It is strongly believed that she came out here to visit Zecora, but she never made it. Likely, she became lost and hopefully nothing harmful has happened to her. We’re going to split into groups of three to cover more ground. Each group is going to have a unicorn so he or she can send up a sparkle if they find anything. One sparkle means you found her and heading back to Zecora’s hut. Two means that help is needed and everypony should converge on their position.”

There were assertive nods among the crowd as each pony agreed to the plan. Two things that Twilight Sparkle excelled at was organization and leadership. She had planned this last night before falling asleep with the certainty that once the word was out, many ponies would come out to help. That was the sort of place Ponyville was. It was agreed that the search would continue until sunset, and then the crowd broke apart and the ponies went deeper into the Everfree forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applebloom woke up to find herself curled up in a large bowl filled with blankets and her flank covered in bandages. And from the clean scent from her coat and mane, she determined that she had been bathed while she was out. The filly was in a bedroom with a bed, a dress, and an open closet where one of the creatures from last night was pulling a jacket over her straight arms with the spidery hands. The creature turned while adjusting the jacket across her chest, and notice Applebloom awake. She walked over murmuring in her language, a low soft voice as if she was afraid she would frighten Applebloom.

“Hello?” The filly looked up at the tall creature that knelt and gave her a gentle scratch behind the ears. “Um, thanks for helpin’ me, but Ah kinda need t' get home now. Muh sis is gonna be mad.”

Then she heard her belly rumble followed by the ache of hunger. She hadn’t eaten since lunch... yesterday? It felt like the next day had come, but she had no sense of time. There were no windows for her to look out and see the day and the clock on the wall held characters that she didn’t recognized. She realized that the floor, walls, and ceiling were all metal. What sort of house was this?

The creature tore the wrapper off a granola bar and offered it to her. Applebloom sniffed it and then took a hearty bite. It was bland, but it was food nonetheless. The filly ate eagerly while the creature patiently fed it to her. When she finished the bar, her caretaker offered her another. By the time Applebloom had eaten nearly five bars, she was full. Despite her protesting flank, she got to her hooves and took a tentative step onto the metal floor. She was able to walk with a slight limp.

The creature continued to pet her and speak quietly. She saw the door and immediately approached it. “Well, Ah gotta go. It was nice meetin’ ya.”

The door was odd in that it had no visible doorknob or handle. Applebloom studied, wondering how in the world it opened. There wasn’t any hinges, just a solid wall with a shallow line down the middle. The filly touched the metal with a hoof and it felt as solid as it looked. She gave it a push, then a hard tap. “Open up!”

Then she was lifted, a hands cupping her rear and chest. She was deposited back onto her makeshift bed and a blanket was pulled over her. Evidently, the creature wanted her to sleep more, but Applebloom wasn’t tired anymore. She kicked off the blanket and rolled onto her stomach, then rose to her hooves again. The filly marched off the blankets and clopped her hooves on the floor as she returned to the door. “Ah said Ah wanna go home!”

The creature shook her head and tried to pick her up again, but Applebloom darted to the side. Her flank protested, but the filly was stubborn. She stomped a hoof giving the creature a hard look. The creature shook her head, letting loose a low sigh as she scooped Applebloom up, held her in the crook of her arm and then carried the filly out of the room.

Comments

[DavidPony]

aww poor applebloom.....
[img] http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a185/pensivepine/mlp_nurse.jpg [/img]

seriously though another awsome chapter!

[macoman1]

564703
OMG ROFL!!! I love that pic. Great chapter can't wait for more.

[Lyrken]

Really liking it so far.

[Sjogras]

Chapter 4

"but she had no since of time."
Since should be sense.

There was a few other things, but I forgot them. Oh well, nice chapter.