Apple Bloom felt weightless as she fell, filled with that now-familiar sense of jubilation and dread at the same time. As the heavy thumping of her heart shot more adrenaline through her veins, a terrific laughter spilled out of her. The sound kissed the wind with the melody of a sweet goodbye, melting into the clouds forever unheard by the rest of ponykind. Her amber eyes fell upon the dead city of clouds weighing down the sky above. Although it was quickly fading from view, Apple Bloom could still make out the silhouettes of the fallen and the buildings turned to ruins against the dying sun. Her heart sung for the dead as she fell, and she drooled out a mournful whimper of its tune.
She remembered walking those streets swallowed by death and destruction, that world where pegasi had once made sparkling rainbows and swung through the sky to some tune that only they could taste. Or, at least, Apple Bloom had thought only they could, but now she could feel that everlasting music dancing through her soul. Her body trembled at how dark the song had turned; it seemed as though it knew about the loss of so many that had once thrived off its lovely voice.
Apple Bloom saw night come as she descended through layers of lavender clouds and ran her hooves through the glorious luminosity of the stars, the song still running through her being. She twirled about, taking in the sight that so few of her kind had ever experienced. The cool air brushed against her at increasing speed, stinging her eyes as she turned to face the ground. But she didn’t care. She wanted to see the land of those she had loved for one last time.
Sure enough, Ponyville lay below her, its gentle slopes seeming to greet her with open arms. A smile graced her expression as she watched the tiny ponies trotting through the market rise up to meet her. She admired the town for all its beauty, feeling a pang of guilt for having not done so when she had more time to live in it. She had never noticed the way the sun reflected off the crystal of Twilight’s castle, revealing a faint luminescent rainbow glow. Then there was the scent of Sugarcube Corner’s baked goods, and the soft murmur of ponies finishing up their shopping for the day or going for their nightly stroll. The sounds gently overcame the song she had heard grieving for the pegasi, and, internally, she gave her last respects to the dead, knowing she would see them soon.
Then, with a knowing sigh, she looked down and found herself yards from the ground behind Fluttershy’s house. She stared at it for a moment before closing her eyes and stretching out her arms as if to embrace the last of her life. She thought of her family, and all the hardships they had endured as one. She thought of all her times with her friends, and how much fun they had crusading. She knew she would never get her cutie mark, but, despite all the effort she had put into trying to get it, knowing that she would never know what her destiny would be was somehow okay. Maybe it was because she knew she would never fulfill any destiny she could have had. Maybe it was because she felt the reason she still had no cutie mark was because she was never meant to live long enough to have a future. But none of that mattered anymore, because it was over and there was nothing that would be done about it. Letting this wash over her with a cool smile, she dove down. The last few gusts of wind tugged at her crimson mane, working her pink ribbon loose, and she let it happen. She felt alive, and, no matter what, she knew it would never be quite the same.
That smile, filled with serenity, remained fixed in position as she made contact with the ground. Her left hoof turned in an unnatural direction as it made an impression on the hill due to the sheer force with which she landed. The rest of her body soon followed suit, and she felt the agony begin to crawl down her spine as her bones shattered and muscles tore apart. Confusion bloomed within her at first, upon realizing she had not died upon impact. How could she possibly have survived such a fall? For a moment, fear worked its way through her body as she started to cough out blood. She envisioned herself in agony for months as her body struggled to recover from her injuries at Ponyville Hospital, even though such a recovery would be impossible. She saw her family experiencing the emotional destruction of it all, only to have her die in the end. But she calmed these visions by telling herself to just let go, that it wasn’t worth the fight. But her mind wouldn’t let her release the grip on life, her body wouldn’t stop trying to repair.
She heard a screech from behind her, which tore her from her jumbled thoughts. She tried to move her neck, but to no avail. The world blurred into nothing more than a smear of colours before her, like a young foal’s attempt at painting with watercolour. The hues twisted into various shapes she hadn’t known existed, and her mind struggled to comprehend what she was looking at. She made out the sound of hurried hoofsteps coming towards her, and soon a pale yellow had joined the greens and blues swirling and spinning in her vision. “A-apple Bloom?” a weak voice whimpered, and she felt the gentle stroke of a hoof over the pins and needles and endless agony. “I-is that y-you? Oh, don’t worry, sweetie, I-I’ll get you help!” The hoof began to tremble and sobs rose into the air as Fluttershy pulled away and the warmth seemed to leave Apple Bloom’s body.
She couldn’t process the world around her. Sounds themselves were starting to fade; the distant hooting of an owl had turned into an echoing, furious cacophony that she barely recognized, the rushing of the stream had melted into a high-pitched ringing. Her senses all seemed to blur and fade at different speeds. One moment, her mouth was filled with every flavour she had ever tasted and, the next, she couldn’t taste at all. She felt her body tremble violently and her lungs heave, but there was nothing she could do to control it.
After what seemed like an eternity of suffering and a mind that refused to slumber, she felt new, softer sounds tickling her ears, though they were hard to make out against the grating of every other noise in the universe against her eardrums. Somehow, she felt the warm sensation of magic scooping her into its embrace through the pins and needles that had worsened tenfold since Fluttershy had been with her. She yearned for a healing spell, but she knew those things didn’t exist, or, if they did, they would probably be on Starswirl the Bearded’s List of Prohibited Spells that Miss Cheerilee had talked about a few weeks prior. Apple Bloom suddenly wished she had actually read the list.
Before she could ponder more about a healing spell, she felt a sharp burst of magic literally echo through her bones. She vaguely remembered having teleported with Twilight during Twilight Time once, after she and the other crusaders had begged to be able to try it, and this was what it had felt like. The sharp sensation had, of course, been a lot more bearable when she was not dwelling inside a pony with serious wounds and countless broken bones. Apple Bloom frowned inwardly, although she found herself unable to actually alter the grimace that had taken over her features, as she felt the warm, familiar magic she had been carried in moments earlier switch to a colder magic that undoubtedly belonged to a less genial unicorn. She squinted as her vision faltered. All she could see was the colour blue, as though she was staring at a blue wall, and it unnerved her. Nothing moved, despite sounds that told her there were ponies around her, and sensations that guaranteed her assumptions.
But then, as she felt herself being set down and rolled through what seemed to be a hallway that stretched around the world, turning upside down and sideways like a rollercoaster, her vision turned to red, the colour of blood, then faded completely. At first, she thought for sure that the loss of sight was a sign that she was finally going unconscious, but her hearing and feeling did not leave her, and the everlasting pain still dwelt within her. Her eyes remained open, and yet they were unseeing. A chill ran down her spine and she silently hoped that, somehow, she wouldn’t have to experience her body slowly failing her and that she would just leave in one quick moment, as was planned. But life wasn’t always that kind, and she was quickly coming to realize that she would not have such luck. She squeezed her eyes shut, using all of her energy.
Soon, she felt a mask being pressed to her face and, to her delight, her hearing cleared for a moment.
“What happened to this poor dear?” a sweet, sing songy voice spoke above the whirr of machinery and some identifiable rhythmic pounding sound.
“Don’t know. The ponies that found her said she literally just fell from the sky,” a gruff-sounding pony replied. Apple Bloom felt a prick in her arm that didn’t match the type of pain she felt everywhere else as he spoke. A steady hoof pressed stickers into her chest and abdomen, and she soon felt more cords rubbing against her skin.
She heard the sound of door hinges and a pony trying to catch her breath. “Doctor!” a mare murmured between heavy breaths. Apple Bloom heard the door shut before the mare continued. “Sorry, I could barely get past that mare out there. Heard there was an emergency?”
“Yes, Redheart,” the gruff voice from before spoke again, apparently belonging to the doctor. “I’ll need you to make a code red announcement, if you would. We could lose her if we’re not quick.” Somepony was now pushing on her right lower leg, and she felt another wrapping what she recognized as medical gauze around her other leg with their magic- the same cold magic from before.
“On it.” The door opened and shut again, and Apple Bloom felt herself once again slipping from reality.
“Oh, sweet Celestia, we’re going to lose another one today,” the sweet-voiced mare murmured sadly, sounding as though she was preparing herself to give “the talk” to the young Apple’s family. Her voice faded towards the end, and all the filly could make out after that was panicked voices and loud beeps ringing in her ears.
“Apple Bloom,” the pearly white colt whispered, his azure eyes alit with excitement.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and shook her head at her friend. “Stop it, ya irritatin’ pegasus,” she said, her tone one of frustration despite the muffled giggle that broke through her words.
“Come on, please!” he begged, chortling back rather ungracefully. “We’ve been friends for almost a year now, you gotta come visit Cloudsdale. Princess Twilight’s your friend, right? And Rainbow Dash’s, too. I’m sure she’ll do a cloudwalking spell for you.”
“Ah don’t need no help from Twilight, Eos,” Apple Bloom reminded her crush politely. “Ah’ve got a unicorn friend our age that’s good ‘nuff at magic to help me out with one a’ those. But t’ain’t why I won’t come up there.”
“Then why won’t you?” the colt questioned, rolling over in the grass and looking up at her with pleading eyes.
“Ah…” Apple Bloom blushed a bit, chewing her lip. “Ah’m kinda a little afraid a’ heights, ah guess.” She smiled bashfully then, staring up at the sky.
Eos didn’t tease her. He never was one to do that, especially after seeing how ponies treated her for having no cutie mark. Instead he smiled curiously, tilting his head so a clump of his tousled blonde mane fell in front of his eyes. “If I may be so bold,” he rose to a sitting position, “why exactly is that? I don’t remember ever hearing about this before.”
The farm filly sighed heavily. The last thing she wanted to do was tell Eos about everything she had experienced, what with it being such heavy stuff, but, at the same time, it was the first thing she wanted to do. Reluctantly, she turned to him, making eye contact so that he would realize the importance of what she was about to tell him. He got the message and shifted his position to a more casual one so that she could confide in him more comfortably. But he, too, seemed to struggle with hesitation. It was clear from Apple Bloom’s expression that she was going to tell him something serious, and it was obvious that he was unsure as to whether or not he was worthy of such information. “It’s okay, AB, if you don’t wanna tell,” he paused for a moment, making sure she felt the care he was trying to convey. “I would understand.”
She shot him a sad smile and shook her head. “No,” she said, sounding more sure of herself, “it’s about time Ah told somepony… and, you’re a great friend, Eos, and…” She didn’t know what else to say, but she felt like there was something more she should tell him before she said out loud about what she had not uttered for as long as she could remember.
“Hey,” he came to her rescue, as he always did. “Don’t sweat it, just say what you need to say.” His smile filled her with a warmth unlike anypony else’s ever had, and it gave her the strength to tell him everything.
After another shaky breath, Apple Bloom began the tragic tale she had become quite familiar with, although she had only heard it repeatedly within the recesses of her own mind. “It… was a rainy day, like, one a’ them downpours you pegasi schedule every few months in the summertime. We knew it was rainy and all, but, ya see, my grandfather was in the hospital at the time, and mah Granny Smith said he shouldn’t hafta spend the day alone when he wouldn’t be ‘round much longer. Well, ya see, my parents…” Apple Bloom had to pause for a moment, as the two words together felt strange coming out of her mouth, as though they had never belonged there. To her surprise, the thought brought tears to her eyes, and she felt heat rise to her cheeks. Sheepishly, she casted a glance in Eos’s direction. To her surprise, he wasn’t even looking at her; his eyes were trained on the shifting grass.
When Eos noticed his friend’s continuing pause, he looked back up at her and started to nod for her continue. However, he spotted the stray tear that rolled down her cheek and stopped for a moment. Apple Bloom hoped he wouldn’t mention them, but she saw the look of sympathy in his eyes and that was just as humiliating in her eyes. She smiled, embarrassed, and rubbed her cheek with her hoof before continuing. “They, uh, offered to go visit him and such, since Granny was quite old, even then, and they didn’t want her t’get hurt or nothin’. So, Ah begged and begged t’go see him, since Applejack got to go… well, y’know how li’l foals are, always wantin’ to be like the bigger ponies. And they said alright, s’long as Ah promised to stay on my ma’s back. As fer Big Mac, he had to stay with Granny, but the rest of us headed out into the storm. My, Ah’d never seen anythin’ like it-
“The Great Storm…” Eos mumbled, unintentionally shattering Apple Bloom’s flashback, though she was thankful for it. He flattened his ears against his head and looked back at her, his eyes soft. “We had to learn about that during Flight Camp; it was one of the biggest disasters brought to earth pony lands for decades. Oh, Apple Bloom, you don’t have to finish if you don’t want-
“No,” Apple Bloom said firmly, rubbing her daisy yellow hoof against her temple. “No, Ah gotta finish what I started. Plus, Ah haven’t told ya why Ah’m afraid a’ heights yet.”
Eos nodded. “Okay, but remember you can stop if you need to,” he reminded gently.
Apple Bloom gave him a meaningless grin before continuing with her story. “So, Ah guess Ah was ‘bout at the part with the bridge. So, we were walking along the streets, and those winds were somethin’ else. Ma had to take me off her back and cover me so that Ah wouldn’t get hit by debris and swept up into the wind or anythin’ like that. Pa covered AJ, and we were too far along the route to go back, so we just had to try to shuffle to a safer place. Well, long time ago, there was a bridge over Ridge River, that one a couple miles from my house, and, on the other side of the bridge, there was this gazebo. It was in pretty darn bad shape, but it was the closest shelter we could find. So, Ma and Pa, knowin’ it was too dangerous to let us out from their covering (they were already in pretty bad shape themselves at this point) decided to go across the bridge as fast as possible while coverin’ us… O-only…” Apple Bloom was getting hit hard by the memories now; before, it was somepony else’s story, something she didn’t really remember that well but remembered bits and pieces of when Applejack had had to recount it to her. Now, though, it felt as if, all of a sudden, it was coming back to her. She felt her hooves start to shake so she brought them close to her and did her best to maintain composure. “Only, the bridge broke a-and,” she gasped for breath, hot tears stinging her eyes. She felt a comforting hoof on her back and gathered the strength to finish. “Mah Ma fell in. Pa grabbed me ‘fore Ah could fall into the water, but he jumped after Ma, ‘course. Applejack rushed to protect me, as though she hadn’t just experienced the single most traumatic thing…” Apple Bloom trailed off, deciding not to pursue that point for the sake of finishing the story more quickly. “Well, in the end, she fell over when part of the bridge broke underneath her. She got pulled into the water, too, but she got ahold of one of the bars supportin’ the bridge. Bein’ so little, Ah knew somethin’ bad was gonna happen to me, too, and… It did. A piece of the gazebo’s roof flew at me, and Ah tumbled on top a’ it. It… was flyin’ then, and ah was on it, outta control. I ended up landin’ behind the schoolhouse, and one a’ the teachers found me after the storm (as ya know, t’didn’t last too long) and took me to the hospital...” she swallowed and decided he would be able to figure out the rest. She glanced at him with eyes shining with unshed tears, wondering what his reaction would be.
However, she never got the chance to get a good look at him before she felt herself pulled into an embrace. Her ear rested against his chest, and his tears dribbled down his chin and grazed her cheek. “Apple Bloom… I’m so sorry,” he said, tightening his grip on her. She remained silent, listening to the steady beat of his heart and so grateful that she was there, alive, and yet so filled with remorse and mournfulness.
They sat there for hours, below the shade of Apple Bloom’s favourite apple tree, Eos holding her close, her listening to his heart and the sound of his shaky breaths, both afraid to break the shameless silence lest they make it shameful.
A firm whisper greeted Apple Bloom’s ears, pulling her from her state of slumber to a more restless presence in the world of the awoken. “Should we wake up Applejack?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “She probably would want us to, so she could visit her sister.” Apple Bloom heard hoofsteps coming around the right side of her bed and felt the warmth of somepony’s hoof against hers, even through the surgical tape.
“I don’t know, Twilight,” Fluttershy replied, and Apple Bloom determined she was the pony who was to her right. “There hasn’t been much news, and- her tone grew sympathetic- the poor pony hasn’t had much sleep.”
“But, we don’t know how much longer-
The quiet was broken by the sound of the door flying open with a bang. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise, and Apple Bloom felt her quickly withdraw from the bedside.
“What happened?” Sweetie Belle called out, assumingly who had just entered. When she spoke, Apple Bloom could her the distress and agony in her voice.
“W-what’s going on?” Scootaloo added, and Apple Bloom deduced that she and Sweetie had come over together. To her surprise, Scootaloo was the one who sounded like she had been crying.
Before anypony could answer, there was a clattering of hooves against tile and Apple Bloom felt her friends pressing their hooves against her arms, one on either side. She heard a muffled sob, and felt the sensation of tears against her surgical tape, though, as with all her senses, her feeling wasn’t as acute as it was before she fell. The feeling was dulled, which bothered the young Apple in a way which she could not explain. Her thoughts were drawn to Sweetie Belle as she spoke through her tears, verifying the identity of the crying pony. “No, Apple Bloom...” she whimpered, “please, please don’t go...”
Scootaloo sniffled. “You mean so much to us, how can we crusade if you're not here?” It was clear the pegasus was holding back tears. “It won’t ever be the same...”
For the first time since her injuries, Apple Bloom felt guilt. She hadn’t expected her friends to depend on her presence so badly, or, perhaps she would have, had she thought about them before she even dared go up to Cloudsdale. A fresh layer of remorse weighed down upon her upon realizing that Sweetie Belle would likely blame herself in the wake of her death, because she was the pony that had agreed to cast the cloudwalking spell Twilight had taught her all those years ago.
As Apple Bloom started to realize the true effect her actions would have upon everypony she knew, as the faces of those who could be hurt by the tragedy slid through her mind, she knew she had to fight. She knew the odds were stacked against her at this point, but she was going to fight with all she had. She wondered if her survival wasn’t a curse after all, due to the pain she would suffer, if perhaps it was more of a second chance, the opportunity to redeem herself, and the pain was simply a part of her lesson. She only hoped that she would make it, despite everything. All Apple Bloom wanted was a miracle, and it hadn’t been asking too much for her life to be spared as a young foal all those years ago; maybe it wouldn’t be now, either.
As Apple Bloom listened to the chorus of her friends cries, weighed her guilt, and pondered her woes, she felt sleep offer to take her out from under the weight of the world, if just for a moment, and she appreciatively took the opportunity. As she drifted into the land of restful oblivion, one thought crossed her mind that seemed to trample on the others and force her attention towards it.
Where was he?