Don´t Forget

Autumn rain, as strange as finding a four leaf clover, always welcomed by the residents of Canterlot, because it always gave some joy to the old city, but not in this night, this night, it only served to increase the fear and pain of a certain mare. Inside a carriage that moved along Canterlot´s empty streets, Applejack sobbed bitterly against Rainbow Dash´s chest whom covered her with her wings and held her in a strong embraced trying to hold her own tears, Fluttershy softly stroked the blond hair of her friend while crying silently.

Rarity was sitting in front of her friends leaning against the Twilight´s body just as Pinkie Pie, who seemed to have lost all the joy that characterized her. The alicorn covered her friends with her wings, the three shedding tears, Dash couldn´t bear it anymore and ended crying like them.

The carriage stopped, all of them looked up as the car door opened. One by one began to descend, Twilight put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder and she turned to see her.

"Applejack... whatever happens, you have to be strong, we'll be with you until..." Her voice started to crack.

"Thanks Twily... thanks to all of you..." She said as she looked at each of her friends.

She left carriage and read the sign in the front of the building "Canterlot Hospital," a feeling of despair filled her being. Applejack began to tremble and her friends noticed it.

"Don´t worry darling... you'll see that everything will be fine." Rarity told her and kissed her cheek, she nodded, and the six entered the hospital.

The place was relatively calm. Only a few nurses doing their rounds walked along the halls. Applejack asked for Shadow's room, one of the nurses showed them where it was. They walked down the hall and stopped after seeing out of the room to a unicorn, he was covered with a blanket and taking some coffee to withstand the cold night. They approached; he stood up to talk with them.

"Applejack?" She nodded, "my name is Lazarus, Shadow´s friend, it is an honor to meet you, I would have liked it to be in another kind of situation but... no one expected this..."

The unicorn looked at the door behind him; his eyes showing pain and concern, Applejack realized it and knew that the situation was more delicate than it looked.

"What happened?"

He sighed and looked into the deep green eyes of the mare, they begged to know the answer despite how painful it was. Her friends were silent, but came to hug her and give her the strength to endure what was about to hear.

"We were on Rodeo Street, he entered into a store to buy something when..." his voice began to shake, "please, forgive me, is very difficult..."

Applejack put a hoof on the shoulder of the unicorn; he took a deep breath and continued.

“He was inside the place, and then this unicorn entered the store, moments later we heard him cry out and fall against the counter, he was in the floor with several hits of magical energy on his chest. In that moment we realized that this pony was there to kill him. We tried to stop him, but before we could reach him, he attacked again, this time, hitting him on the head."

He stopped for a moment; tears filling his eyes, his voice took a tone of fury and impotence.

"Backdraft was beating the unicorn while Shadow was unconscious and bleeding... his heart stopped before the ambulance arrived... I watched him die in my hoofs... however, the paramedics managed to resuscitate him... and brought him here..."

"The doctor who examined him said that his condition is critical, blood loss is only the tip of the iceberg. The attacker used special magic to avoid that doctors can heal him with a spell... so the wounds are still open and one of them is very close to his heart and the other in the head... well, now everything is in the hands of fate..."

Lazarus stopped talking, a weak smile crossed his lips but he hung his head to mourn in silence, Applejack let the words sink into her mind, like a crystal, all her being was shredded into pieces. She screamed and tried enter the room but her friends grabbed her and prevented it, they couldn´t let her do so, if they did, she will completely lost herself. Twilight stood in front of her, her horn glowed with a faint purple aura.

"I´m sorry Applejack, is for your own good..."

She touched her friend's forehead with his horn, moments later, Applejack fell into a deep sleep, she felt her body completely relaxed, all trace of pain and fear seemed to disappear. She stopped thinking, stopped fighting and allowed herself to dream.

***---***--***

When she woke up, Applejack noted that she was in a large bedroom, the ornaments and shiny marble panels made her realize that she was in Canterlot´s Castle. She looked around the room; it had five beds, each one occupied by one of her friends. She got up heavily and went out through the balcony door, the cold autumn air made her shiver; she sat on his hind legs and rubbed her body trying to get warm. She stood there, her mind focused on Duster, she couldn´t take away Lazarus´s words from her mind, they were like hungry wolfs trying to feed on her.

Immersed in her thoughts, she didn´t notice the hoof steps behind her. A blanket covered her body, soon after; someone hugged her in a comforting way. Surprised, she looked at Fluttershy, the butter colored mare gave her a smile full of understanding and tenderness. Both covered themselves with the blanket, Applejack wrapped her arms around the warm body of her friend; Fluttershy gently stroked her friend´s blonde mane while the morning birdsongs made them company.

"I do not want to lose him Fluttershy, why is life so cruel?"

The voice of the farmer pony broke. Fluttershy felt her heart breaking apart just by seeing her friend suffer like this. More so, because Applejack was an example of total strength for her.

"No, don´t think like that... he is strong, he will recover soon and you´ll be together again."

"But what if that doesn´t happen? I can´t help thinking that maybe... you listened to Lazarus, everything is against him... I don´t want him to die... if that were to happen..."

"You have to be strong; he will need of you... but if the worst scenario comes to happen... we need to think that it will be the best for him... just remember, we'll be with you until all this is over, no matter what happens, we will not leave you alone."

Fluttershy planted a kiss on her cheek crying with her, the two stayed there while the sun was rising behind the mountains.

***---***--***

It was noon when they returned to the hospital; Lazarus was not there, instead an earth pony walked from one side to another, his face showing despair. As he saw his friend's marefriend, he ran to her.

"Applejack, thanks Faust you're here... I'm Backdraft, the one who call you to... well that does not matter now."

"Nice to meet you Backdraft, how is he?"

"He suffered a crisis, the doctors are inside with him."

In that moment, the door opened and they saw a couple of nurses came out carrying several trays of healing material followed by a unicorn dressed with a medical robe.

"Doctor, is he ok?" He asked.

The doctor sighed deeply and looked at all the presents.

"The damage caused by the attack is greater than we had anticipated, the wound nearest to his heart opened and resubmitted bleeding, his lungs are responding to sixty percent of its capacity, we had to connect him to a respirator to prevent choking. The wound on his head is not healing and we had to cauterize it immediately, we took x-rays from his head, but we can´t tell how severe the damage is, the only thing we can do is wait for a reaction, however, if his condition does not improve in the next 72 hours... the probability of him entering into a coma is latent."

Applejack felt like if she was falling inside an abyss, but she kept her strength.

"Can I see him?"

"Yes, take your time."

The doctor turned and walked away, the silence floated among those present. Applejack dry her tears and walked to the door.

"Wait, are you sure?"

"Yes Dashie... I'm fine... thanks to all for being here."

She took a deep breath and entered the room. The curtain was closed, the place only lit by a small lamp placed in the night table. When her green eyes fixed on him, she felt her heart being pierced by a spear. She walked to his bed, Shadow lay there, inert, his body was connected to a serum dispenser, the oxygen mask helping him to breathe. The beep of the pacemaker was the only noise that made him company. With her hoof Applejack caressed his mane, she looked at his chest and head, he had several bandages covering his wounds. She leaned and kissed his lips before rubbing her face with his to feel his warm.

"Hi my love... I'm here... I know that maybe you can´t hear me, but there's something I want to tell you..." Her voice broke. "You are the most wonderful being I have ever met, I love you Shadow... please don´t leave me... you have to be strong... I don´t want to lose you."

Applejack placed her face under his chin, hugged him gently and let all her pain flow endlessly. As if the very nature shared her feelings, the sky turned gray and the rain began to fall over the City of Canterlot.

***---***---***

Days turned into weeks, during that time, she never separated from him. Her friends took turns to keep her company at night. Princess Celestia knew about what happened and let them stay in the castle for the time required. Several times they achieved that despite her foolishness, Applejack took a day to rest and recover in the castle.

Lazarus and Backdraft also took turns caring for their friend who seemed not to react and in the end of the second month, the biggest fear of all was confirmed, Shadow was declared comatose. The emotional impact was very hard for everyone. Knowing that he may never wake was hard to Applejack; still, she endured everything in silence, "hope is the last thing to die," she used to tell herself.

Night had fallen on the city, Backdraft said goodbye to Fluttershy whom had come to stay with Shadow during the night shift. The hours passed like in any other turn, she sat on the small couch in the room and covered herself with a blanket while reading one of the novels of Daring Do, sleep didn´t take long to fall over her.

Near three in the morning, the heart rate meter accelerated its alerts, Fluttershy awoke and realized that Shadow had begun to react, with joy, she saw him opening his eyes and sit on the bed, she saw in awe how he took off the oxygen mask, Shadow looked at his surrondings before fixing his eyes on the shy mare.

"Hi there... excuse me... where... where am I?"

She squeaked and hugged him, but inmediately she let him go, her cheeks red as a rose.

"I´m sorry, is just that, this is incredible. Shadow... you´re in Canterlot´s hospital, you suffered an attack and were brought you here to save you, you´ve been asleep for almost three months."

"That´s something to say, but, still I don´t get your name."

Something was not right, Fluttershy knew it.

"Don´t you remember me? I'm Fluttershy, Applejack´s friend."

She saw the gesture of utter confusion of Shadow.

"You remember Applejack... right?"

He stood silent for a moment, took a hoof to his forehead and looked at Fluttershy.

"Well Fluttershy, the truth is... that I can´t remember anything…"