Respect the elder generation

by Peace Petal

Chapter Four

Gusty woke up feeling exhausted. They hadn’t walked all that far yesterday, had they? Maybe this wind had kept her up. Why was a wind blowing through the bedroom? Gusty got out of bed and walked towards the window to close it. The wind whipped the curtains out of the way, revealing that the window was already closed. “What…” Gusty mumbled. Where was this wind coming from?

“I slept terribly,” Shady said. She fell right out of bed.

When Gusty turned her head, a gust of wind blew the blanket right off the bed. “What’s going on?” Gusty said. Everywhere she looked, clothing and papers blew around.

“It’s your horn!” Shady said. “Stop blowing!”

“Huh?” She hadn’t noticed it earlier, but her horn was making the light and noise that signified it was active. She tried to turn it off. The wind kept blowing. “I can’t stop!”

Shady fell over again as she tried to stand up. “What happened to you?” Gusty said. Shady finally managed to stand up, revealing exactly what was wrong. Her legs had grown overnight. She was twice as tall, with spindly legs holding up a body that hadn’t changed size.

“What’s going on, Gusty?” Shady said. “Did we get cursed or something?”

The door of the bedroom opened. “I heard a commotion in here,” Applejack said. “Wh—” She stared up at Shady. “Whoa, there,” she said. “Is that normal where y’all come from?” Gusty looked at Applejack, accidentally blowing off her hat and ruffling her mane.

“No!” Shady said. “Do you know what’s going on?” Gusty turned her head sideways, blowing against the wall. The papers in the room—probably homework—still fluttered around.

“Y’all came out of the Everfree Forest?” Applejack said. “It’s poison joke, I’m sure of it. Do y’all remember touchin’ any blue flowers?”

“Sure, they were all over the place,” Shady said, wobbling on her stilt-like legs. She had to duck to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling.

“Alright, we can fix this,” Applejack said. “Let’s see… I know Zecora can make the cure, but sending you back into the Everfree Forest might not be ideal. Hmm… There’s a book with the recipe. Ooh, Tirek—”

“Tirac is here??” Gusty said.

“Naw, he’s been turned to stone,” Applejack said. “But not before he destroyed the library. Um, let’s see here… Oh, the spa ponies! I think they know the recipe. Y’all up for a trip to the world-famous Ponyville Spa?” There was a knock at the front door. “Can ya get that, Big Mac?” Applejack called.

“Eeyup!” a stallion called back.

“Well, if we have to go to the spa to fix this, we’re going to the spa,” Gusty said. “But we can’t take any time to relax. We gotta find our friends.”

“Found them!” a voice cried. Fizzy darted into the room, almost knocking over Applejack. Fizzy ran up to Gusty and excitedly nuzzled her. “It’s so good to see you, Gusty! Hey, why are you blowing?”

“It’s good to see you too, Fizzy,” Gusty said. “My magic is out of control, but it’s not as bad as what happened to Shady.”

Gusty pointed, and Fizzy neighed in surprise. “Wow, I thought for sure you had passed your last growth spurt, Shady,” she said. “Still good to see you. I’m glad you’re both okay.”

“Are they?” a voice at the door said. “That’s beyond the scope of a normal growth spurt. What happened to you two?” Wind Whistler stood at the door.

“Something called poison joke,” Gusty said. “But we’ll get it fixed, right, Applejack?”

“Right,” Applejack said.

“I’m relieved we finally located you,” Wind Whistler said. “But we should lose no more time in sentimental reunion. We should seek a remedy to this immediately.”

“Follow me, then,” Applejack said, leaving the room.

Gusty looked over and Shady, rolling her eyes. “Typical Wind Whistler,” she said. Gusty’s wind was enough to ruin Shady’s precarious balance, and she went tumbling.

“Ouch!” Shady cried out. “It hurts to fall from so high.”

“Sorry, Shady,” Gusty said. “I forgot that everywhere I look, I blow.”

Eventually they managed to get Shady out of the house and headed towards the Ponyville Spa. As they walked through town, everypony stopped and stared at them, especially at Shady. “I wish I could just disappear,” Shady said. “I look ridiculous!”

“You sure do,” Gusty said. Shady blushed, looking around at the other ponies. Gusty tried to shut off her horn again, but it kept humming and glowing. A bulletin peeled off a wall ahead.

Soon they arrived at the spa. It was a welcoming, relaxing place, and it seemed all sorts of ponies came here, from well-muscled stallions to a group of giggling fillies. Applejack generously covered their treatment, and one of the spa ponies went off to prepare the herbal bath they would need. Shady sat on a couch, lowering her head. She looked horrifically uncomfortable and self-conscious. Gusty just had to keep her horn away from anypony. She ended up staring at the ceiling.

“Ve’re ready for you,” the spa pony said in a thick accent. She led them back to a room with a bath. “Stay in vater for tventy minutes to make sure treatment vorks,” the pony said.

“We’ll be waiting for you in the lobby,” Wind Whistler said.

Gusty looked at the bath—blowing off a layer of bubbles. It was a large tub, but Shady’s long legs had Gusty worried. “You get in first,” Gusty said. “I’ll get in after if there’s room.”

“Okay,” Shady said. She stepped over the edge of the bath and tripped, falling into the water with a plop. After splashing around with her long legs for a moment, she righted herself. She must have knelt down in the water, because she was mostly submerged. “There’s room you. And the water is nice.”

Gusty stepped into the bath. The water was a translucent green-blue. It was warm, and it had a nice, earthy fragrance to it. It reminded her of the forest, but not in a bad way. They must have walked past whatever herbs were in this bath, because the scent seemed familiar. Gusty submerged herself up to her neck. Her horn was still blowing. “How is this going to work?” Gusty said. “I can’t keep my head under for twenty minutes.”

“It seems to act fast,” Shady said. “My legs are already shorter.”

“Really?” Gusty said. “Well, let’s see if this works.” She took a big breath and dunked her head completely under the water. Her horn made a powerful current in the water, churning the whole bath. She could feel water rush past her ears from behind. After a few seconds, however, the water became calmer. Gusty removed her head from the water.

“Hey, your horn stopped!” Shady said.

“Great!” Gusty said. “Do we really need to stay here for twenty minutes?”

“It can’t hurt,” Shady said. “And maybe the symptoms will come back if we aren’t in here long enough.”

“Alright,” Gusty said, locking the stay apparatus in her legs for a quick standing rest. They stood quietly for a few minutes. Gusty occasionally dunked her horn into the water again. As her mind wandered, Gusty remembered the conversation last night where she had set the goal to be nicer. It had all slipped her mind in the chaos of this morning. She had already failed that goal today. “Shady, I just remembered that I said you looked ridiculous,” she said. “I made a goal to be nicer, and that wasn’t very nice. I’m sorry.”

“It’s no problem,” Shady said. “I said I looked ridiculous. You just agreed with me.”

“You looked uncomfortable,” Gusty said. “I could have said something to try to make you feel better. I’ll do better next time.”

“Okay, Gusty,” Shady said. “I’ll try to help remind you.”

By the time their bath was over, Gusty felt totally relaxed. Her horn was under control, and Shady was a nice pony to be around. Her skin felt refreshed. That herbal bath was pleasant, regardless of the symptoms it had cured. She dried off and returned to the spa lobby. Wind Whistler stood up and said, “The symptoms have abated, I see. If we hurry, we can make a rendezvous with a pony whose magical expertise may help us return to Dream Valley. Come along.”

Ugh. Gusty had such a relaxing time in the bath, and now she had to deal with this pony again. “Do you always gotta be so cold, Wind Whistler?” Gusty said.

“Pardon?” Wind Whistler said.

“You’ve just been whisking us around all morning,” Gusty said. “No time, we have to get you cured. No time, we have to meet this other pony. You know, I was glad to see you two. I didn’t know where you had gone. But there was no time for a sentimental reunion, apparently.”

“I didn’t know if the symptoms would become more severe with time,” Wind Whistler said. “And transportation is set on a strict schedule here. I don’t know exactly how it works, but we need to be at the town’s waystation in twelve minutes.”

“You didn’t even seem happy to see us,” Gusty said.

“Not this again,” Wind Whistler said, bowing her head.

“Again?” Gusty said.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve accused me of having no feelings.”

“Well, you sure act like you don’t.”

“You never even apologized!” Wind Whistler said, raising her voice. The spa lobby went quiet. “I risked everything to distract that stone canine, for your sake! Buttons and Truly apologized, but you never did!” She stomped her hooves on the floor, furious. “And your teasing was more hurtful than either of theirs! Now you accuse me of not being happy to see you? I was worried sick about you!” Wind Whistler paused, and her eyes darted around the room at all the ponies who were watching her. She bolted out the door.

“Wait, come back, Wind Whistler!” Fizzy called from the door. Wind Whistler did not return.

“Oh, no,” Shady said quietly.

“Oops,” Gusty said, feeling chagrined as she thought about her personal improvement goal. “I guess I messed up again, huh?”

Comments

[Calliope Pony]

I like how this comtinues to follow up on G1 stories. All those little details make this story feel a lot more fleshed out.

[abrony-mouse]

11233937
me too :) I remember that theme in Crunch

looking forward to the next chapter :3

[Peace Petal]

11239545
Oh hi.