Author's Note

Hello there and welcome back once more to yet another new chapter of Ocular Spectral Therapy, the one story out of many of my craft to go above and beyond the oneshots I have given you since the inception of my presence; suffice to say, the past chapter from before was by far on a strong note for you all which had given a taste of what had came earlier on as well as what will come later afterwards.

Sine we have now move past disclaimers so long ago, I want to take the time to say thank you for never pulling out too early since we're now in the the new year and a new month with a new hope to have and hold with tender loving care rather than yet a totally lost cause and the strength to continue onward in staying tuned for the future that is the now; in addition, I would also like to apologize for sounding a bit unconventional in this chapter here since it was hard enough to write down given the whole turn of events I had endured: I believe at this rate, everything will still make sense soon enough.

Lastly, let me also say that I hope you can find some joy in this chapter now more than in the others before them enough to have the strength in continuing onward in staying tuned though the passing times before it because some special guests are going to be joining our fateful protagonist in this chapter below; henceforth, I will leave you with much to say significantly: thank you very much and I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting so long before.

Blue

“Gah – ah hah…!” a loud gasping scream pierced the dead air as it had then subsided into heavy breathing with a series of concise intervals in between them. The sounds made in the now started to grow silent save for the occasional wheeze then and there as the air returned to its once stagnant condition from before. Soon enough, they had metamorphosed into some soft sobbing as the feelings of loneliness emanated from all around the recent source of such great anguish.

Speaking of which, that source in question was none other than a tanned blonde resting upon a light gurney with jade orbs already soaked in fluids no less. Her visage was staring at a blue comforter resting over both of the legs as they covered them completely, a region stained with droplets of tears on them. A light teal gown was found to be adorning over the tanned blonde’s body as she sat within the confines of the gurney all by herself to say the least. She looked at her left arm and found a white wristband wrapped snugly around it over the crusty scar that spread across the region. The tanned blonde remained slightly aware of how strands of her own hair were found to be out of place at once but dismissed the state it was in as irrelevant. Shifting the pair of feet around had help her realized that they were bare, devoid of any form of fabric that were clinging over the skin.

As the tanned blonde wiped the fluids away with the right hand, she was greeted by a new sound from across the room: the turning of a doorknob which was followed by a tender voice saying, “oh good morning, Applejack; you seemed to have woken up already…”

“Oh um, morning nurse…” Applejack had stuttered as she found Redheart suddenly emerging from the door all at once, “Ah wasn’t expecting you to come over; how long was Ah asleep?”

“For the entire day yesterday; you looked like that you haven’t been able to sleep for days so we had left you alone for the time being…” the nurse answered the patient calmly during the steady approach.

Applejack had simply wiped away both her eyes as she spoke to Redheart a bit calmly at once, “oh mah stars, you can’t be serious; Ah couldn’t be out for that long now, right ma’am…?!”

“It’s okay; it’s happens with every other mother who gave birth and your survival was a miraculous thing that had occurred afterwards…” the nurse had softly spoke to the patient in front with a faint smile appeared upon the kind visage, “for a sec there, we all thought we had lost you for a bit.”

“Yeah, I could see that…” Applejack sighed as she turned her gaze to the comforter at once already.

Pulling a cart through the door, Redheart brought a tray of food towards the gurney while saying, “in any case, here’s some breakfast out on the table for you; I understand if you don’t want to eat anything yet, but I would recommend doing so in order to ensure a full recovery, okay dear?”

“Yes ma’am, Ah will do so…” the patient slowly replied to the nurse in a soft tone as the tray then made its way onto the gurney, “Ah just want to know something: what happened to the child…?”

“Oh you mean the baby…?” Redheart asked as she prepared to push the cart away from Applejack at once without any hesitation.

The patient stared at the content of what the nurse had given out and said calmly about at once, “yeah, that baby…?”

“Well, I’m not sure how to tell this but since you wish to know about it, well okay then: after your pulse gave out we were trying to get the infant clean and get some information written down; Snowheart was complaining about how he kept crying all too frequently…” Redheart answered Applejack slowly and solemnly, “that was when we had learned that the baby boy here was suffering from total retinopathy…”

“Wait just a minute, are you telling me that he has vision problems…?!” the patient had choked out in shock upon hearing the details given out by the nurse.

Taking in a breath of fresh air from the surrounding room, Redheart spoke to Applejack calmly, “if you mean by being blind, then I’m afraid so: the infection which had already entered your body was been passed onto your child during your pregnancy and now has claimed his eyesight; in addition, doctors had to place the infant on quarantine to stop the spread until it goes away.”

“Ah see it now: thanks to what these bastards had done to me and mah family, Ah am the one that ends up getting punished for this crap…!” the patient suddenly growled as she threw the tray at the wall for the nurse to witness at once, “now Ah survive long enough to find out that the little critter’s gonna have to go on throughout his whole entire life without even being able to see?! Well, fuck that shit…!”

“Now calm down ma’am, I understand that special victims have a hard time being able to cope with the reality of the situation but don’t worry about; medical personnel are working to make sure that his conditions are stabilized…” Redheart had said as she watched Applejack shaking about in place with little warning whatsoever.

The patient did nothing more than just threw up her blanket in fury and screeched about in the process, “and then what, Ah have to be reminded of how everything gone and went horribly wrong because of all this?! Ah had hoped that by giving mah child up to one of mah friends then everything would be okay; however, what Ah had never counted on was how he has to suffer too because the damn war! Ah wished Ah would have died already now…!”

“Oh, my… I didn’t realized that you would feel so strongly this way…” Redheart sighed sadly as Applejack started to sob loudly, “the best I should do now is that I should leave you alone…”

“Maybe so… Ah don’t want to anyone else to get hurt anymore because of people like them, let alone me…” the patient sniffled as she wiped away her tears.

Walking over towards the tray that splattered against the floor, the nurse gathered its remaining contents and said quietly, “at least please take my advice for your sake: it’s not the end of the world so don’t beat yourself up over something that happened in the past that isn’t even your fault…”

With that all said and done from here to there, Redheart left the room all at once, tray and cart in tow in the same manner of the entrance as well; afterwards, Applejack was now left alone once again, a pair of hands now buried into the tearstained visage with little care about the world. While the faint resounding slam didn’t harm the patient’s ears, it did little to act as a reminder of the loneliness that returned back to this very place all at once even as the room went silent again. She could care less about the whole thing at large as the wailing had continued on at a lower volume but nonetheless far from silent suffice to say.

“It ain’t right, it just ain’t right…” Applejack sobbed softly as she felt her teardrops escaping onto her palms in little time whatsoever, “why did this war had to happen to be on our doorstep…? First Big Mac, then Granny Smith, Winona, they didn’t deserve to die, not for Apple Bloom to learn about all this. Fuck, not even Apple Bloom deserved to even experience this at all, especially after what Ah had tried to do to her; Ah am probably just as bad as Rarity. Ah just want her to just forget about all of these horrible things and be able to grow up happy and safe from all of it. Now, Ah can’t even trust mahself into looking at her; every time that she says that she forgives me, it reminds me of how Ah can’t forgive mahself at all. At least with Zecora taking over from here, she can forget about this nightmare more easily with me outta the way. Ah don’t even want to know about how we’ll ever recover from all this destruction that we had witnessed throughout this time. Ah just want to be left alone now…”

For at least just a single minute, the patient had stop crying and began to lie back down onto the gurney beneath her at once. The unnerving calmness that had made its instant return did nothing to soothe the sadness that she is feeling while staying still already. Applejack only sighed softly but sniffled away as she turned to her side and started to snore soundly, shutting her eyes away from the outside world.

“Thanks for taking the time to care… at least the poor woman is now in there…” a rather faint feminine voice became heard from behind the door where the nurse came about.

The pair of jade orbs flew open once again as the patient suddenly turned her visage towards the source of the noise and muttered, “oh, who could it be now…?”

“Well, this is her room madame but please understand that she doesn’t feel comfortable being touched by others for far too long, especially after what had happen earlier…” another faint feminine voice was heard, carrying a lighter tone than the previous one, “doctors are still trying to get her back on her feet again.”

“All part of doing no harm, lest there will be alarm; I guess that it should be fair, my arrival will show that I care…” the first faint voice replied as Applejack sat up from there a bit slowly in curiosity.

Slowly but surely, the doorknob turned on itself once again as new visitors had came about all at once for the patient to see already: a pair of females both alike in fair dignity within first sight. Each of them both possessed certain key traits that Applejack took awareness of instantaneously: a dark complexion throughout their skins, some shades of blue around their pupils, and a look of concern upon their visage. On the other hand, there were some significant differences that the patient was noticing all at once: as a matter of fact, she was able to recognize one of them as the nurses that had worked alongside Redheart more easily thanks to the attire even without the mask.

Aside from this key detail at hand, this made Applejack pay attention to the other visitor as well suffice to say no less. For starters, the tresses were in a set pattern of both black and white in equal proportions whatsoever, all of which that was straightforward down to the nape of the neck. Secondly, out of the two that were at the same approximate height range, the visiting individual had a more slender body frame which was already covered up by a large brown fabric. Third of all, she was wearing black sandals beneath the soles her feet but there were no signs of some socks being worn at all to say the very least. Last but not least, the visiting individual in question even had on a darker shade of blue compared to the other person.

The patient’s own eyes had widen as she wiped them free of whatever particles that blinded her and said, “is that you, Zecora…?”

“To that, I will say yes… nothing more… nothing less…” the eponymous visitor replied all at once, confirming Applejack’s curiosity all at once instantly, “I’m aware of your blight so I came to see if you’re alright.”

“Well, Ah am, thank you for asking me that…” the patient had said to the visitor a bit slowly.

Zecora gave off a warm smile to Applejack and then turned towards the other woman before saying all at once, “thank you dearly, Nurse Sweetheart; this was nice for a day’s start…”

“Not a problem at all: just doing my job as always; it’s what nurses do all in a day’s work…” Sweetheart had spoken calmly to the visitor, smiling back in return in an instant, “just a little word of warning, though: this patient, Redheart happened to tell me about, had given birth earlier ago and doctors are still trying to treat the infection at once; please try to maintain a safe distance, understand?”

“As clear as a silver bell, I’ll heed your words well…” Zecora answered without question whatsoever.

Just as the nurse prepared to depart, she then said to the patient at once, “please stay calm and do not give the visitor a hard time; I’m going to go and get you some lunch and medicine to help you through the day.”

“Yes ma’am, Ah will not hurt her…” Applejack squeaked softly as she looked Zecora timidly, “if you come across Miss Redheart, then can you please tell her that Ah am sorry for what Ah had just done this morning…?”

“Don’t worry about it at all; she already knows about it anyway but at least she can see the stress inside you…” Sweetheart answered as she finally left the room as soon as possible; now, all that had remained at this moment were but two women.

At first, it had now seemed that silence now returned once more, this time with feeling already; then, the patient swallowed a lump into the throat and mustered up the strength to speak to the visitor, “thanks for visiting me, Zecora; Ah am pretty sure that Apple Bloom is doing alright with you…”

“The little one’s in a field of dreams, waking up on occasions with screams; nevertheless, her eyesight’s slowly returning and much more for learning…” Zecora had answered tenderly to Applejack while moving forward slowly, “now she with the tender one, Fluttershy underneath the sun; meanwhile, I ask of what’s new: Applejack, how are you…?”

“Pretty good, if you could call being cooped in a room on a regular basis one…” the patient had said soundly as her eyes darted downward from the visitor’s line of sight already.

Zecora took notice of Applejack’s sad and steady tone and started to say something softly, “I see that it’s been so long, please tell me what is wrong…?”

“It’s everything that’s happened here so far…” the patient had answered as she then faced the visitor slowly again, “all Ah had wanted was to help out with the family and keep mah sister safe and sound from those that would cause harm at all in the slightest. Ah never did anything too horrendous at all; mah maw and paw had taught me that honesty is the best policy that the family has lived by since the beginning aside from other things as well. Yet, Ah can’t seem to understand the complexity of how these turn events would have turned out so badly for the lot of us; as a matter of fact, whenever Ah think of her, Ah remember why she is left you: it’s because of me. Ah was so shocked and sad to see Apple Bloom found this way, it had brought me to tears thanks to these murdering vermin because of how Ah was reminded of what had happened that brought all of this to such a thing. At that moment, the way mah sister was lying about against the wall made me think of how they could have done some unspeakable things with me out of the way for the time being. Now, Ah keep having nightmares about the whole thing and can barely get any sleep from the whole ordeal; come to think of it, y’all were in mah dream last night.”

“Now hold on just a minute, you just mentioned us one bit; I’ll apologize for interrupting but Applejack please me something: what was of the dream that had made you so teem?” Zecora interjected as Applejack wiped her own eyes away at once.

Swallowing another lump of oxygen inside within moments, the timid patient gulped at once, “mah funeral… Ah was inside a coffin, dressed what had seemed to be that attire from mah friend’s first slumber party back then except this was no party: all that Ah was hearing coming from outside of where mah body laid were people crying about how Ah had died for some reason. Speaking of which, Pinkie Pie was in there wailing about her being a bad friend and as Ah was trying to show to her that Ah was alive and well, mah body refused to do what Ah had intended to do for some strange reason; I even thought about shutting mah eyes away just to wake up. Afterwards, Ah had heard you speak to Apple Bloom as she appeared at mah side and of how you help her pick up a Zap Apple that Granny Smith, may she rest in peace, once brought into the town before the war. The things that mah sister had said really shook me to mah core and made me cry more badly than Pinkie had done when she had came by; it took all the things that Ah had done before and shove them back onto my face.”

“Ah yes, now I see it then, you’re sensing trouble again: the memories that left you aghast haunt you from days of future past; even your responses were filled with guilt as they steal away from the very quilt…” the visitor had sighed as she watched a small tear or two form underneath a jade orbs, “you mustn’t let their actions rule you, for you’ve always been faithful and true: now standing up and above the delf, please don’t be too hard on yourself; even now, for all you’ve done, you could still come home, lucky one.”

“To be honest, Ah can catch on to what you’re trying to saying here somehow so thank you…” Applejack said as she and Zecora had both smiled warmly.

The visitor then said to the stationary patient before turning to face the door nearby a bit slowly, “just remember this detail: someday once more you’ll prevail…”