A rumbling and deafening explosion sound ripped through Big Mac’s ears making him instinctively fold his ears to stop the sound. It was over in less than a second making him look out toward the Everfree forest seeing billowing black smoke.
“What cha buck was that?!” Apple-Bloom asked standing next to the large red work horse. He looked at her, she had grown up to become a rather nice mare. She was already showing good sized muscles. Ever since she had gotten her cutie mark of an apple with a bloom with two hammers around it, she worked harder.
“Language.” He said trying his best to sound scolding, but she just chuckled making him roll his eyes. Panicked yelling, weeping and screaming soon filled the air from the Everfree forest a few seconds later.
“Hey wait, didn’t Applejack say she was going to be at Zecora?” Big Mac paused thinking for a moment.
“Stay.” He commanded and she sat down hearing a deeper tone she only ever heard when Big Mac was not to be disobeyed. He started running pushing as fast as he could making the ground under him shake at his heavy steps.
His thoughts raced as he got closer hearing all Applejack’s friends yelling, but not Applejack. He slid to a halt at Zecora’s hut. His eyes went wide seeing a monstrous scene that he couldn’t even dream.
Zecora’s hut was gone and a crater was in the spot. He looked around and Fluttershy was giving CPR to Twilight, Rarity was crying with a broken hind leg, Dash was in a tree bleeding from a gash on her head, Pinkie was trying to hold shut a large wound on Zecora’s chest, but Applejack was nowhere to be found.
“Move.” He ordered Fluttershy and she looked at him surprised as he pushed her out of the way. He moved his hoofs and pushed making Twilight gasp, then start coughing. Tears ran down Fluttershy’s face. “Get Dash.” He pointed and Fluttershy flew up. He ran over to Pinkie and he pulled a string and needle he had gotten for Granny Smith earlier.
“Is she going to be alright?” Pinkie asked crying, covered in cuts and bruises.
“That metal piece.” He pointed and Pinkie quickly got it bringing it over to him, the tip was burning white. “Hold here.” She did as he instructed and she closed the wound. He used the burning metal to close parts of the wound and then stitch the rest holding it tight and stopping her from bleeding out anymore than a little. He got up going over to Rarity and putting her on his back.
“Careful.” Rarity said crying.
“Twilight, get on.” She got on and Fluttershy put Dash on his back as well, Pinkie put Zecora on last. “Follow me now.” He ran and they followed him to the hospital. The doctors and nurses quickly helped getting them off his back.
“Hey where’s Applejack?!” Pinkie asked as he set Twilight on the gurney. He froze in his spot having completely let it slip his mind. He turned and started running hitting the door on the way out and sending it flying off the hinges. Pinkie caught up to him breathing hard.
“Go back.” She shook her head as tears went down her face.
“No, I’m going to help you, I’m not hurt, just a few cuts, you’re going to need all the help you can searching!”
“Fine.” They ran back into the forest and started looking around as they reached the spot where Zecora’s hut used to be. He ran around and fear wrecked him forcing him to slow down to throw up, having never run so much in such a panic save only once before in his life. He wiped his mouth and started running.
“OVER HERE!” Pinkie screamed and Big Mac turned instantly running almost appearing to Pinkie how fast he moved. He looked at Applejack, she was bleeding from her head, missing her hat, and had bruises all over her body, and he neck wasn’t bent quite right making him nervous.
“Stop.” Pinkie stopped from picking up Applejack. He put his head next to her chest, she was breathing. He felt her neck and paused, she had broken her neck, they couldn’t move her from this spot, or more like couldn’t risk it.
“What?”
“Broken neck, go get a doctor, we can’t move her, she’s breathing fine.” Pinkie nodded and started running. Big Mac used the string to tie up Applejack so if she did wake up she wouldn’t kill herself by moving. Her hoof Twitched after a while making Big Mac let out a half relieved breath, at least she wasn’t paralyzed. She opened her eyes after a few minutes.
“Where.” He held her down just enough.
“Don’t move.” He ordered and she held still. “Ya broke yer neck, yer not paralyzed or nothing’, but don’t move none.”
“Okay.” She said as pain started seeping into her mind. He put a stick into her mouth letting her bite down and then laid down in front of her so she could see his face.
“Little Sis I’m here for ya, stay calm.” She whimpered as she started to feel the pain. She stared at him calming down, but crying at the pain. “Doctors on the way.” She blinked in response not wanting to try to move her neck.
“BIG MAC!” Pinkie screamed.
“Stay.” He order getting up. “OVER HERE!” He yelled back, a doctor and two nurses ran over. Big Mac moved back letting them work on Applejack. He helped to lift her onto a gurney and they ran getting her to the hospital quickly. Pinkie sat next to him on a bench and looked up at him breathing hard as the operation light went on. A nurse came out and went over to him with some papers.
“Fill these out and anything she’s allergic to?” She asked.
“Nope.” He filled them out.
“She’s going to be fine by the way.” He looked at the nurse. “The doctor said if she had moved even a little she would have died, but she’ll be out after they fix a few things and put a cast onto her neck.” He let out a breath.
“Thank you.” He gave the papers back.
“She’ll be out in an hour or two at most, you should get cleaned up.” He looked at himself. He was covered in blood, tears, sweat and other bits of things he didn’t want to think about. He sighed, but then looked up to see Fluttershy run down the hallway to them. She hugged Pinkie and they both cried.
“How’s Zecora, Dash and Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“Zecora’s still in surgery, they’re not sure if she’ll make it, Dash will be fine if she wakes up, and Twilight is just resting, we’re watching her heart, but it should be fine, they said if we hadn’t gotten them in so quickly, Dash wouldn’t have a chance of waking up at all.” Fluttershy said and then looked at Big Mac.
“How’s Applejack?”
“She’s fine,” the nurse said and she looked at the nurse. “Displaced neck, and a few small problems, but she’ll be fine if she rests. You should all go home and get cleaned. When your friends wake up you shouldn’t scare them.” The nurse went back into the operation room with the papers.
“I.” Big Mac started but both Pinkie and Fluttershy hugged him tightly. Making him hug them both tightly. “I’m glad yer alright.” He let out a breath after a minute. “Hug me once I get back and not covered in filth.” They let go of him blushing a little.
“Right.” Pinkie said and they got up leaving. Big Mac started walking back to the farm and sighed tired. His nerves were never this raw before, he felt like his heart was going to explode from this. He sat down after a little and pony looked at him.
“Hey are you alright?” He looked at a pony and a few had gathered.
“Yep, just resting’.”
“Oh.” He got up after a few minutes catching his breath now and he started walking going back to the farm. He went into the house and Apple-Bloom screamed seeing him and he chuckled making Granny Smith go up to him.
“What happen?” She asked.
“Don’t know, Applejack is in surgery with a displaced neck, she’ll be fine, no one has died. I’m gonna shower and head back.”
“Apple-Bloom go get the emergency pack!” Granny Smith ordered and Apple-Bloom ran out of the room quickly as Big Mac went up stairs. Applejack and him lived upstairs, Apple-Bloom and Granny Smith lived down stairs. He went to the shower he shared with Applejack and started the hot water. He smiled at the feeling.
He cleaned up and then dried off with a few towels tossing them into the towel bin. He went downstairs and they were waiting for him. They all followed him as he walked rather slowly trying to focus on walking.
“Bro.” He looked at Apple-Bloom which had a concerned look. “You alright?” He nodded a little. “Well Granny and me are gonna go ahead.” He nodded and they ran ahead of him out of his sight. It wasn’t that far of a walk, but he didn’t want to run, if there was bad news waiting he didn’t want to hear it, not again. Not like with his parents.
It took him nearly half an hour to walk there when normally it would only take a few minutes at best. He stopped at the door that he had busted out of, two pony were repairing the door frame. He paused, he hadn’t even felt it when he hit it.
He went over to them and started helping them. They thanked him not able to easily lift the heavy wooden door. They repaired it easily with his help and he went inside as they left. He sighed as he went to the operation room, the light was off which meant Applejack was out, and either dead or asleep.
“Big Mac.” He looked at Apple-Bloom which had a very concerned look, she hadn’t been crying which mean Applejack was probably alright. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’, Applejack?”
“She’s asleep.” He followed Apple-Bloom and they went to a room. He walked in after Apple-Bloom and paused hearing an applause. He looked around at Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Dash, Granny Smith, a doctor and three nurses all clapping or stomping. His eyes rested on Applejack which was laying down with a cast around her neck smiling. It was clear she wasn’t suppose to move.
“Woot.” Pinkie shouted coming over to him.
“Alright every pony, time to rest.” The doctor said and they stopped. Big Mac smiled going over to Applejack as Two nurses helped to lay her back down. The doctor went over to Dash talking to her.
“You alright?” He asked Applejack.
“Yep Bro, just in a bit of pain, but I’m good.” He eyed her a little, her eyes were different somehow, she wasn’t blind, but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. Her eyes were colder, but softer, they no longer shined like normal, and her pupils were bigger.
“Good.” He sat down next to Granny Smith.
“I’m fine, you guys don’t need to stay, everything’s been taken care of. Princess Celestia already paid.” Big Mac paused and gave Granny Smith the needle and string making her look at him a bit surprised seeing them blood soaked.
“Sorry bout’ the blood.” She took it.
“It’s fine, oh gosh, I almost forgot I left the oven on.” She got up. “Get better sweetie, I'll come visit later.”
“Thanks.” Granny Smith left and Big Mac turned looking for Apple-Bloom, but she was gone. He looked back to Applejack which stared at him intently making him a bit nervous. She licked her dry lips. He looked around for a few seconds and got up going over to a sink getting a cup of water. He went back over to Applejack and carefully had her drink.
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem.” She smiled and he sat down. She stared at him for a while and he looked around a bit nervous. Her stares were always intense to him and they always made him feel like she could see everything, even this thoughts, and in many ways Applejack could knowing her brother all too well. “I’m gonna.”
“Don’t leave.” He stopped before he could get up. “Stay.”
“O-okay.” He said a bit unsure, but he wasn’t about to leave his sister if she didn’t want him to leave her. “But can ya stop staring at me, it’s, um, making me nervous.” She smiled rather creepily making him shift a little. He now understood, she wanted to make him nervous and she was enjoying it greatly.
“Nope.” She sang a little making him swallow. After a while she fell asleep and he took the chance leaving his sister barely having been able to not run from her. In all honestly his sister could scare him, and it wasn’t the threat of violence he was afraid of.
If she got mad at him she simply would do things that pushed his boundaries and made him do things he simply didn’t want to do. Like the battle of not being able to say his favorite words, nope and yup.
Applejack opened her eyes seeing her brother leave. She stared at the door gritting her teeth a little as feeling stirred inside her. If it wasn’t for the fact her neck was not in any shape to allow her to move, she would have attacked her brother and yelled at him for leaving her when she clearly told him not to. The fact he disobeyed her was what was driving her crazy, not the fact that he had left, she understood every pony needed sleep.
She growled a little that sounded more like a groan, but then paused thinking. Plans came to her mind and she smiled enjoying them. The time she had to spend on this bed was going to drive her crazy, but waiting would make it all the sweeter, and it would allow her to perfect her plans.
Big Mac started home in the dark looking around at the silent town, pony would be asking questions later, and so long as he stayed on his farm, they wouldn’t likely bother him. Which he was thankful for. The last thing he wanted was to deal with nosey pony.
He got to the farm and went to his bedroom without more than a look to Granny Smith which just gave him a nod letting him go up stairs to his room and go to his bed passing out from the hard day. Apple bucking could always wait till the morning.
Big Mac woke up letting out a breath knowing today was going to be hard, like always, it was bucking season, sometimes he wished it wasn’t, but he couldn’t complain, his family made plenty because of him and his sisters, and with Apple-Bloom finally able to help, it wasn’t going to be that hard.
He got up and sighed going down stairs and outside smelling the fresh air. Some of the few things he loved was fresh apple trees in the early morning. He turned going around the house to Apple-Bloom’s bedroom window. He looked inside and paused.
Apple-Bloom had been crying quite a lot, seeing her sister like that took its toll, he was just happy they hadn’t lost Applejack. He knew if they had, Apple-Bloom would have probably cried for weeks, and for months when she went to sleep.
Big Mac sighed and turned going the fields he had left yesterday and looked out at the Everfree forest. He still remembered the panic going through him, but he put it away. He couldn’t afford to think about it, and with his sister in the hospital for who knows how long, he was going to have to work double.
He turned and bucked the tree causing apples to fall into buckets. He paused for a moment. Kicking the tree felt good, he wasn’t angry or anything, but it relieved his stress, and he had plenty of that.
With the good feeling rushing through him he pushed on happy and relaxed as he finished the field’s harvest in a few hours which would have normally taken days. He paused looking at the next field, the apples had yet to ripen and wouldn’t for at least another few weeks time.
They had used a layer approach to the harvest. One field would ripen at one time, then that would allow them to sell and do what they needed before the next field ripened. This allowed them to harvest from the end of winter to the beginning of it and never run out of food or apples to sell.
They had been doing it for a few years and it had been working better than they had imagined. It kept work low, and waste to nothing. They no longer had rotting apples on the ground if they didn’t move fast enough.
He went back to the supply sheds getting out a wagon, hooking up and going out to collect the harvest. He was rather impressed with himself, running did him some good, and kicking was never so fun.
Apple-Bloom ran out of the house in a panic and Big Mac was drinking some water making her pause being able to see the field done. She looked at him for a moment and then went around the house looking at the storage sheds.
“You finished?” She went back over to him.
“Yup.” He set down the glass of water, then took in a breath relaxing.
“Oh.” She sat down next to him. “Why didn’t ya wake me up, that was a lotta work, I could’ve helped.”
“Didn’t need yer help, go have fun.” She gave him a concerned look.
“You alright?” He looked at her. “You’ve been acting’, something funny.”
“Go.”
“You sure?” He nodded. She got up and left letting him sigh. He was going to probably have to run the apple stand, as well as help make the pies. His main job was just doing the fields, he did easily ten times Applejack’s apple bucking normally, but she made up for it with pie baking and selling. She was a fast talker smooth walker and could sell out on a bad day, on a good one, well not one pony wouldn’t have an apple in her mouth.
“Big Mac.” He looked up at Pinkie Pie as she came up to him. She had a few bandages on her, but over all looked fine.
“Yup?”
“Oh, Twilight got released with Rarity, Dash is going to say one more night.” He smiled at the good news, but then paused.
“And?”
“Um, Applejack seemed a bit mad, but, she told me to have you come back. I don’t know what’s her problem, but she’s, I don’t know.” He got up a bit unsettled by this news. “Anyway she wants you.”
Big Mac went next to Pinkie and she smiled. They walked rather silently and Big Mac keep his eyes straight away from Pinkie. The last time he gave the wrong signals it ended up with three pony including Cheerilee getting mad at him.
He had liked Cheerilee just fine, but mixed with other circumstances, it ended up with her yelling at him that she would never talk or look at him again. He had been meaning to clear the air, but just never found the time, or really wanted to.
