Chapter 95- Searching for the Cure

Chapter 95- Searching for the Cure King Stormcloud and Flameblade were finding themselves further and further from the castle. The grounds were becoming less grassy and soft and more so rocky and hard. Around them rose great mounds of rock, few trees and even less grass than normal. "We're nearing the Redlands," observed King Stormcloud as he looked around. "Do you notice how the rocks are taking on a reddish tint?" he asked Flameblade

"Yeah I do see that. So that means we're not far off and we can hurry and get the athalias berries and get out of there, right?" Flameblade asked curiously as he looked around at the deeper red the rocks became as they approached the area.
"Well...I wouldn't be so sure that we'll find them right off," stated King Stormcloud as he walked aside Flameblade. "We may need assistance in finding them and the villagers here are very shy ponies. They don't much like visitors and they will most likely be intimidated by our armor," explained King Stormcloud.
"But maybe if we could just talk to atleast one of them we could explain that the princess is in trouble and needs their help?" asked Flameblade. "Maybe then they'll understand."
"If we're lucky enough to talk to them," spoke King Stormcloud. He turned and looked Flameblade. "Shhhhh....we're nearing the village," he said barely above a whisper. "See the sign?" he pointed out.

There in front of them was a rickety, old wooden sign that stuck in the ground on a moth eaten, wooden pole. It had cracks and holes in it and the sign that had the words REDLAND VILLAGE painted on and was slowly chipping and pealing away from the rickety wood.

"This is it," whispered King Stormcloud. "Follow me and try to be as quiet as possible."
"That's not hard," whispered back Flameblade. "I'm a pegasus, it's not hard for me to stay light."
"Shhhhhh, I think I hear something," stated King Stormcloud in a voice barely above a whisper. "It sounds like hoofsteps."

Sure enough there came the sound of hoofsteps as the king and Flameblade hurried and hid behind a massive, red rock. They watched as a little pony no older than maybe 8 or 9 years old sat down on the ground. She was tan with pink and yellow hair. She put her hooves up to her face, sniffling and began to cry.

"She's crying," whispered Flameblade. "Is she alright?"
"Maybe we should go and help her," suggested King Stormcloud.
Flameblade nodded in agreement and they walked out from behind the rock and approached the little pony. "Hey," spoke Flameblade very softly. "Are you alright child?"
The little pony turned and gasped as she saw Flameblade and King Stormcloud approach her. She lay down on the ground, covering her head with her hooves, her tiny body shaking with silent sobs.
"Please little one, we don't want to hurt you," commented King Stormcloud softly. "We just need your help, or maybe somebody a little bit older's help."
The little pony sat up and she looked at King Stormcloud and Flameblade's kind, smiling faces. Tears were still streaming down her little, pale face. "I-I-I'm lost and I don't know where to go," cried the little pony. "I don't know h-how to g-get back to R-R-Redland Village!" she exclaimed as she broke into fresh tears.
Flameblade knelt down next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. He looked up at King Stormcloud and their eyes met. They seemed to be thinking the same thing. "What's your name little girl?" asked King Stormcloud softly.
"G-Gemstone," she sobbed lightly. "W-what's yours?"
"My name is Stormcloud and this is my friend Flameblade," he smiled down at her. "Maybe you can help us with something and we can help you find your way back home," proposed King Stormcloud.
Gemstone wiped her eyes and sniffed away the last of her tears looking up at King Stormcloud and Flameblade with a hopeful look in her eyes. "You can really help me get back home?" she asked him.
"Yes we can help you get back home, but first, there's something you must help us find," he told her kindly. "We are searching for a plant called the althalias berry."

"OH! I know where that is! Though it's best if it's picked at twilight," Gemstone remarked. She stood up so fast that she nearly toppled over. Flameblade laughed and helped steady her. "It's nearly twilight now! They'll be the ripest if picked directly at that time. Come on!" she exclaimed, running on her little legs towards the forest. King Stormcloud and Flameblade hurried along after her. She took them into the forest and the galloped down the winding path.

The sky had fallen to darkness and the first star had appeared in the sky. Just as it had appeared, little Gemtsone stopped in front of a bright green patch of leaves. Surrounding the leaves were bright red pods, the size of golf balls. "Hurry pick the pods!" she exclaimed. "The athalias berries are in the pods! All you have to do is crack them open and the berries will be inside. Hurry and pick before twilight ends!" King Stormcloud hastily took the bag from around his neck and held it open. Flameblade hurried and picked every single pod he could find and before long, the bag was so full of pods, it was bulging.

"I think we've got them all," remarked King Stormcloud as he slung the bag back of his shoulder. He turned down and smiled at Gemstone. "You have no idea what you have just done for us," he told her. "Now, I know how to get to the village, so let's get you home."

They departed from the woods and started down the dusty ground, kicking up plenty of dirt with their hooves as they cantered towards the village. Flameblade noticed Gemstone becoming very tired. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her. She was soon asleep against his armored chest. Within 20 minutes they began to see lit houses that seemed to be made of red brick. Two ponies came running from the village. One was a pink pony with rainbow hair, and the other was a dark brown pony with red and orange hair. They came galloping up to Flameblade who was cradling a sleeping Gemstone in his arms.

"UNHAND MY DAUGHTER!" yelled the dark brown pony who was clearly male and the girl's father.
"Please, we meant no harm. She helped us find the athalias berries to save the Princess," explained Flameblade. "When we found her she was lost. She came to us and helped us find the berries and now we're helping her."
"Talon please," whispered the pink pony with rainbow hair. "She's sleeping now and these kind gentleman were good enough to bring her home."
Talon shook his great shaggy head and turned towards her. "Opal we don't allow strangers in our village, you know this."
Opal just rolled her eyes. "Talon it's obvious one of them is a king, or did you not see the crown on his head,"she pointed out. She slowly approached him and Flameblade bowed down. Then arose. "I'm sorry for my husband. He hates strangers in the village, but you sirs are not strangers to us. You found my daughter and she's safe." Opal approached Flameblade and took Gemstone out of his arms. As she did so Gemtsone woke up.
"Mommy!" she exclaimed, grabbed hold of her mother and burying her face in her chest. "How did you find me!"
"It was thanks to these two gentleman that you're home safe," she whispered to Gemstone.
"Mommy! I helped them find the athalias berries!" she exclaimed. "I did it all by myself!"
"Yes and it's thanks to your daughter that we can hurry back to White Pines Palace and save the princess," explained King Stormcloud.
Gemstones eyes grew wide. "A Princess! A real princess!" she exclaimed.
"Not just a princess, the Princess. The Princess of all of Ponyland and Pony Valley," smiled Flameblade. "Her name is Morning Star and she's a winged unicorn."
Opal gasped. "So it's really true? The Princess is an actual winged unicorn? But we always thought she was a myth and that's why nobody ever saw her." Opal looked confused. "But why is the Princess needing the athalias berries?"
"She was bitten a kahra," sighed Flameblade sadly. "The poison is spreading fast through her blood and if we don't get there on time to make the potion with the athalias berries to revive her...we could be too late." He looked around worriedly. "We've already lost so much precious time."
"Please go, save our Princess!" exclaimed Gemstone. "And maybe someday I can meet her, right mommy?" she asked looking up at Opal.
"Yes Gemstone, maybe someday," she replied.
"It's thanks to your daughter found these. We don't know how to thank you enough Gemstone," remarked Flameblade. "We have about 12 hours of road ahead of us though and we must be on our way," he explained. "Thank you again so much for all your help."
"Thank you for finding our daughter and save the Princess!" she exclaimed waving a hoof as she watched Flameblade and King Stormcloud turn and gallop as fast as they could out of sight. "Thank you," she whispered again and she, Talon and Gemstone turned and disappeared back into the village.
**********
Nxavier stayed up with Morning Star all through the night. He was upstairs in her room along with Kara, Eclipse, Nightscape, Blackberry and Firecracker. Not once did any of them leave her side. Silverwind had retired late that night to his bed chamber to get some rest and Queen Waterfall had locked herself in her bedroom, not even letting King Ironshade. He just brushed it off as worry for the princess's life and her early pregnancy hormones.

Nxavier was sitting on the edge of the bed holding onto Morning Star's hoof. Black fur had now covered her entire leg and was inching up towards her thigh. Her breathing was very shallow and every once in a great while she would take a wheezing gasp and then let it out very slowly again. Nxavier kept wiping down her forhead with a towel as she kept breaking out into cold sweats. He watched as her entire body trembled under all of her covers. Her body felt extremely cold like ice to the touch and the shimmer and shine in her soft coat had left her body to be replaced by a very dull look. Her hair even seemed lank and had lost it's shine. Nxavier looked up at the others.

"When do you think they'll be back?" he asked them worriedly.
"I wish we knew Nxavier," sighed Nightscape sadly. "I just hope they hurry."
"Me too," murmered Kara sadly.
Just as Nightscape spoke the words King Ironshade came bursting into the room. "King Stormcloud and Flameblade are back! They're downstairs in the kitchen right now making the potion!" he exclaimed.

Downstairs in the kitchen, King Stormcloud had taken a great cauldron, broken all of the pods that held the berries and was adding ingredients to the cauldron. The berries gleamed a bright red and almost seemed to glisten. "We need to juice them," he stated as he worked. "I need a small paring knife. If I use the flat side of the knife I'll get more juice out," King Stormcloud explained. One of the cooks hurriedly brought him a paring knife and King Stormcloud set to work on the berries, cutting them with the flat side of the knife and they watched while the juice fell into the cauldron. The juice even looked the same was the athalias berries did. It was bright red and glistened with magic. Soon the cauldron was full of a bright red potion that bubbled and frothed just as the morning's sunlight poured through the kitchen windows. "I need atleast three bottles," ordered King Stormcloud. The cook did as she was told and hurried back to King Stormcloud with three bottles. He took a ladel, dipped it into the potion and poured it into the bottles. "The Princess will need to drink all three of these."

Queen Waterfall had been in the kitchen watching and she hurriedly left the room and galloped up the stairs. "It's nearly ready!" she exclaimed. "They're on their way right now to give it to her!" and within minutes of the queen's words, Flameblade and King Stormcloud came hurrying up the stairs, the bottles clinking gentle against each other and filled with the glistening, red potion. King Stormcloud slowly approached Morning Star.

"I need everbody to stand back," he told them all. The ponies obeyed and stepped back. King Stormcloud sat down beside Morning Star and took all of the blankets off of her body. King Stormcloud removed her from the bed and they sat down on the floor. He lifted her body with one arm and held her. He opened her mouth with and poured the glistening drink down her throat. Invisible wind began rushing all around the room, blowing the curtains around the bed and windos wildly. All of a sudden Morning Star's eyes opened and she let out a roar. Queen Waterfall screamed and the others gasped in shock. It wasn't any normal scream. It was the roar of a kahnra. Her eyes glowed yellow and looked like that of a kahnra. The ponies made to move but King Stormcloud yelled," DO NOTHING! STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"

She grabbed King Stormcloud's throat with her hoof and screamed again, her mouth wide open revealing a magnificent set of fangs. Her eyes blazed in anger and hatred. Then without warning, her eyes closed and she fell back again, her hoof dropped from his throat and hung lifelessly. "I knew that would happen after the first drink," breathed King Stormcloud heavily, massaging his throat. He took the next bottle and poured it down her throat. Morning Star's entire body became stiff and her eyes opened again. This time they were half yellow and half blue. She let out another blood curdling scream. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she roared and fell back again, breathing heavily, almost gasping for air and then did not move. "One more," whispered King Stormcloud as he dumped the third bottle of potion down her throat.

This time Morning Star's eyes flew open to reveal the icey blueness. She let out a great gasp and her body began to slow rise in the air. Her wings that were turning batlike began to become feathery once more. The black fur that had cascaded up her leg was slowly disappearing. The bandage slid down off of her leg and the ponies watched in astonishment as the wound slowly dispersed and was no longer there. Morning Star gave a great sigh and her body began lowering itself onto the floor. She landed with a soft 'thud' and closed her eyes. Her breathing had returned to normal and her coat was slowly gaining it's shimmer and shine again. The shine and glisten returned back in her hair and her body had stopped trembling. King Stormcloud lifted her up and carried her to the bed.

She lay for a few minutes before opening her eyes and looking around. Her eyes met Nxavier's and tears began streaming down her cheeks. Nxavier rushed over to her and held her in his arms. "Everything's going to be alright," he whispered. "You're going to be okay.
King Stormcloud nodded. "She's got a powerful grip," he stated in a sort of raspy voice. "But she'll be fine now. It may take a few days before she's really able to move again," he explained. "We almost lost her. We're lucky she's back to normal."
All the ponies just stood around staring in disbelief. Queen Waterfall had tears running down her cheeks and King Ironshade was holding her. Morning Star was alright. She was going to be just fine. Nxavier held onto her while everybody stood around the room. She looked up at him as if to say she was sorry, tears still streaming down her cheeks and within minutes, she had fallen back asleep.