As the Spring Bloom Withersby JinzouChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 10The Final ChapterEpilogueChapter 9Chapter 1Ugh… I felt my eyes slowly open as I stared out blearily at my surroundings. I saw a dirt road, some hay bales lined up every fifteen or so feet, and grass beyond that. Down the dirt path were two black poles holding up a checkered black and white flag. “Ooh,” A nearby white unicorn mare complained, “my beautiful swan cart has become an ugly duckling.” My head rolled as I struggled to recognize that mare. I knew that I knew her, but no names were coming to mind. I felt my eyes roll in my head as I caught sight of two more mares, and a couple feet away from them were two banged up fillies who were looking around. They seemed to be… confused. My vision focused back on one of the mares. She was a pale orange color and had a blonde mane. She had ribbons tied to the end of her mane and tail. She was an earth pony. She was wearing a red helmet with a green stripe. She was lying on her back, rubbing at her temples and looked very out of it. Applejack. That’s right, that was my sister. What is she doing here? What am I doing here? I seemed to be stuck in some sort of wooden box from the waist down. Well, the sides were definitely wooden, the part in front of me seemed to be covered in some dark red liquid. With another look I noticed that I was also covered with that same red fluid. That’s not right, I don’t have a red coat. Do I? Slowly I reached out and tried to place one of my forelegs on the wooden beam in front of me. I missed. “It still counts as a win if I push my cart across, right?” Came the raspy voice of a nearby blue pegasus. Again, I could tell that I could recognize her, but no names or memories came to mind. I weakly shook my head. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but maybe these ponies could help me. I just needed to get up. I tried to push myself up and over the wooden… whatever I was stuck in with my hindlegs. Nothing happened. My legs didn’t even twitch. I shook my head again and tried prying myself up with my forelegs. I gave out a loud gasp as the sensation of being stabbed through the back by some sort of blade overpowered me. I saw Applejack stand up and turn around. I vaguely registered the look of horror dawn on her as all the color fled her face. “APPLEBLOOM!” She screamed, racing toward my side. I bit my lip as I tried to kick off with my hindlegs again. As the disorientation faded, I recalled where I was. The Derby. We were doing the Derby. Me, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. We built… carts. That must be the wooden thing I was stuck inside. But why couldn’t I kick my way out? As the shock faded and the pain started to set in, I tried again pushing myself off the ground. My forelegs worked fine. Why weren’t my hindlegs moving? Applejack danced just outside my vision as the panic started setting in. I felt myself start to hyperventilate as I screamed in pain, trying to kick my way out of the collapsed cart. Around me I heard other voices screaming, other voices shouting my name. I saw Scootaloo race to the front of the cart, eyes wide, face pale, and gushing blood out of a gash in her eyebrow. A quick look showed that Sweetie Belle was frozen in place. “Oh Celestia, she’s been impaled!” Rarity cried out. Impaled? My breath caught in my chest as I looked down again. A little under halfway down my chest, there was a small, jagged piece of wood sticking through me. The area around the injury was gushing blood. My blood. Oh Celestia... that was sticking through me. My efforts to kick myself out redoubled as waves of pain slammed me. I unwittingly let out a gasp of pain as my eyes started tearing up. I saw Applejack at my side, trying to break the cart around me with powerful bucks. I let out a whine as my lungs desperately sucked in air. “Oh Celestia…. Applejack I can’t feel my legs. I can’t feel my legs I can’t feel… I...” I rambled, tears rolling silently down my cheeks as I struggled to grasp what was happening. “I can’t feel my legs and no no no I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die please! I can’t feel my legs!” An intense spasm racked my body as my forelegs flailed out haphazardly, searching for something to squeeze, or some sort of comfort. “I know, Applebloom, honey. We’ll have you outta there in half a jiffy! Just hang on!” “Nonononono I don’t want to die oh Celestia help me. Somepony help!” I choked out through sobs, still trying to move my hindlegs as my vision started turning white. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted, grasping my hooves. “We got you! You’re gonna be okay!” With a grunt and a well aimed kick, Applejack broke off the piece of wood sticking through me from the back. This jostled around the part impaling me, and I felt a large gush of blood escape from the wound all at once. A large spray shot out and coated Scootaloo, who let out a startled gasp and broke out of the hold to wipe her eyes. The last thing I remember is letting out a high pitched whine and coughing up blood as the world faded to white. And in the next moment there was black. And I was falling, falling, falling into the endless void. And then I was gone. Chapter 2I woke up slowly from the dream. As I started to form pictures and images of what was around me, my body started to boot up. I felt myself breathing with ease. I tried to swallow and a spasm of pain shot through my body. I cracked an eye open as my brain started revealing sights and sounds to me. "-at happened?" An unfamiliar voice sounded. There were intensely bright lights above me. They appeared to be moving. I felt something soft, yet firm against my right side. Was I in my bed? "There was a crash during the Derby. She got stuck in her cart after it got destroyed!" A raspy voice responded. "I flew her here as quickly as I could!" That sounds like Rainbow Dash. Am I hanging out with Rainbow Dash? Haha, Scootaloo is gonna be so jealous. I vaguely felt the sensation of something covering my muzzle, and felt what I thought was a leech wriggling around on my left foreleg. Did I fall in the lake? "What's her blood type? She's lost a lot of blood!" The unfamiliar voice called out again. "I uh… I don't know!" Rainbow Dash responded. She sounded panicked. I felt like I was moving, and quickly. I also felt the thing I was laying against jostle, and felt a stronger spasm of pain spread through my stomach like wildfire. I let out an audible gasp. "She's waking up!" The first voice said again. "Nurse Coldheart, I need you to give her two milligrams of Ketamine, STAT!" I heard somepony push a button, and some sort of electrical beep, and a warm, smooth feeling spread throughout my body. I tried to sigh in comfort, but found I was unable to. With the calming feeling spreading throughout my torso and forelegs, I felt my eyelids flutter close on their own accord. More relaxed than I had ever been, I felt myself falling asleep again. I opened my eyes. Or… were they already open? Where was I? The room I was in was blindingly white. There were some light blue curtains, and a picture of a large whale swimming underwater on the wall opposing me. Off to the left was a door, with a white pony with pink hair and a pink plus sign as a cutie mark. What's Rarity doing in my room? Wait… this isn't my room. And Rarity doesn't have pink hair. Where am I? "Good morning Applebloom," the pony spoke. I felt like I had heard her voice recently. "My name is Nurse Redheart. What do you remember?" That was a good question. What did I remember? "I… uh," I cleared my throat, pausing to think. "I was doin' the cart race. I tucked my seatbelt under the seat since Applejack didn't install any of them… buckle things. We were goin' real slow, then Scootaloo's cart lost a wheel and we all crashed. Then I… got real confused, everything got real bright, I fell asleep, and here I am." An unreadable expression fixed itself to Redheart's face. "Your sister didn't add any buckles?" Redheart asked. "Uh, no ma'am. She said we weren't going fast enough to need one, and the seatbelts were jus' a dumb rule they had to add," I replied. Redheart looked like she had just sucked on a lemon. She let out a long sigh and relaxed her face. “Applebloom, dear, you got very injured in the crash. Do you remember anything about that?” An image of a piece of wood sticking out of my chest flashed before my eyes. My forelegs shot down to my chest instantly, feeling for the injury. As soon as my forelegs hit bandaged flesh, a spasm of pain shot through me. “Agh!” I shouted. I felt a hoof gently push my hooves away from my stomach. “Please don’t aggravate the injury,” Redheart pleaded. She chewed on her lip and hesitated before speaking again. “Dear, you had a complete separation between your T18 and L1 vertebrae, I’m afraid. You spent the last sixteen hours in surgery, and we had to fuse your spine back together.” I blinked hard. That sounded bad. “What does that mean?” Redheart placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Honey, I just want you to realize the fact that you survived is amazing. You should be very thankful you didn’t get more injured with what happened. Be that as it may… all the nerves below the T18 vertebrae won’t work anymore… I’m afraid you may never walk again.” I felt my heart pounding in my ears. “What?” My voice cracked. I was sure I misheard her. I had to have. This sort of thing could never happen to me. “Your body relies on nerves to send messages to your muscles.” Redheart sighed. “But with the injury you had, those nerves aren’t working anymore. So… I’m afraid you won’t be able to control anything below the injury.” “Wha- For how long?!” I sputtered as my world began crashing down on me. I felt my eyes burn as I struggled to fight back tears. “I’m sorry Applebloom, but in ninety-five percent of the cases where a pony gets an injury like this… they never walk again.” “No.” I whispered, hot tears silently making their way down my face. “N-no.” Redheart fell silent. “H-how did this happen?” I sobbed. “I mean… Applejack was walking when she was tryin’ to get me outta the cart!” Redheart looked away as she slowly retracted her hoof. “My best guess is that Applejack got thrown during the crash, but from what Rainbow Dash said… You were halfway through the front of the cart, and right in the middle. While your seat was mostly unharmed… I’m afraid your belt didn’t hold you back, and the crash flung you right in the way of the collapsing back of the cart. If there were no buckles, that would probably be why.” Suddenly the room got cold. “So that means… Applejack…” I breathed. “No. Celestia no.” Was this… her fault? If the seat I was in was mostly unharmed, but the seatbelt not holding me back did this… then… Applejack’s the reason I’m this way? “We’ll have to keep you here for the next few weeks,” Redheart continued. “We'll need to medicate you, and give you occupational therapy and bowel and bladder training. We also need to set you up with a wheelchair so you can get around.” “Wait, wha? What do y’all mean, occupational therapy an’ bladder training?” I didn’t know what occupational therapy was, or what bowels were, but that sounded bad. “Well, occupational therapy is teaching you how to do things differently now with your… unique condition. And bladder training because… well, your brain can’t send messages down there now, so…” Redheart returned to staring at the wall, rubbing one foreleg against another as her ears drooped. “Have you ever heard of a catheter?” Chapter 3I felt mad. No, I felt furious. That still wasn’t right. I felt betrayed. For as long as I remembered Applejack had taken care of me. I don’t even remember my parents. And now because of her, I couldn’t walk. Ever again. I prodded the plastic bag in front of me. I still felt my cheeks burning from the explanation Redheart had given me about it. And now I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t buck trees. I couldn’t even go up or down a flight of stairs. By Celestia, I was useless. I vaguely registered that Redheart was still talking to me. I found myself nodding absentmindedly. Redheart left the room. I relaxed my neck and stared at the ceiling as my mind wandered. I’d never be a farmer. I’d be the only Apple in… who knows how many generations to not be a farmer. Even Goldie Delicious was a farmer when she was young. How would Big Mac and Granny handle it? I know I’d had nightmares where they didn’t accept a non apple-related cutie mark and kicked me out… how would they handle me not even being able to walk? How would they handle me being a… useless… Cripple. How would my friends react? Now that they had a… what was the term Rarity used that one time… charity case? Yeah. How would they react to their friend becoming a useless charity case that wouldn’t ever have a cutie mark? And what about Applejack? Would she… Well, why should I care? If Miss Redheart was right, Applejack was the entire reason I was like this… The entire reason I was a cripple was because of her. Why should I care what she thinks? “...Sugarcube?” I didn’t have to look to recognize that voice. There was no mistaking the trademark southern accent of Applejack. “You uh…” Applejack cleared her throat. “Y’all alright there?" I felt my eyes burn as I fought against the tears desperately trying to escape. I grit my teeth as a fire lit in my belly. "Sugarcube?" Applejack repeated in a smaller voice. "Did you hear me?" "Yes," I spat, putting as much venom in my voice as I could. "I'm so glad you're alright," Applejack exhaled audibly. "Alright?" I whispered icily. "Ever since y'all got flown to the hospital, neither Big Mac or I have been able to sleep or eat, just worried for yer sake." Applejack began walking toward me. "Applejack, I-" I started to speak but was instantly cut off. "An' Granny has just had this empty look. But now that you're good, she'll be so much happier," Applejack continued. "I'm not-" I tried to interrupt her again, snorting angrily when she cut me off again. "An' Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have been so scared for y'all too. They weren't listening to the nurse long enough to have her tell 'em you weren't gonna die, and just cried themselves out for hours." Applejack placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Boy howdy will they be happy to see you awake!" "Would you lis-" I felt my voice rising, barely able to get a word in edgewise. "Now what's this hogwash the nurse was talking about with 'foal endangerment'? Our cart was built how the Apple's carts have been built since that there Derby started. Besides, at the speed it was going there-" "APPLEJACK!" I screamed, swatting her hoof off my shoulder. "SHUT YER LUNA-DAMNED MOUTH FOR ONE SECOND!" Applejack froze at that. I froze too. I'd never sworn in front of my sister. I fought the urge to cringe, and got ready for a tongue lashing, expecting her to demand I wash my mouth out with soap, or say that she was gonna tan my hide for such language. To my surprise, I saw her eyes tear up as she sank to her haunches, and her head bow as she waited for me to speak. I really felt like that should have made me feel guilty, but after all the stress of the last day, I couldn't find myself caring. I still did feel slightly bad about not caring. But not bad enough to get rid of my anger. "Nurse Redheart was here when I woke. She tol' me that my seat in the cart was fine. If I had stayed there, I wouldn't be any more scratched up than Sweetie Belle or Scoot." I growled. "But y'all's stupid traditions made the cart do that! I even asked you about it and y'all just ignored what I was sayin', like you were just doin' now!" I fought my best to stay calm, but found myself starting to shout as the dam burst. I felt tears streaming down my face as I shouted. "But y'all didn't wanna listen! And now, because of y'all's stupid pride, I'm gonna be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life!" I picked up the catheter bag in front of me and threw it at Applejack as hard as I could. "I have to pee in a bag now, I can't even use the stairs, and now I'm gonna be the laughingstock of th' town!" As a powerful sob wracked my body, I reached over and grabbed dad's stetson off her head, flinging it at her. "We woulda all been fine if y'all fully grown adults weren't so full o' yerself and took over our school project. Maybe it's good I ain't never gonna be an apple farmer, this way I wouldn't havta grow up and be like YOU!" I had never seen my sister cry. I had seen her tear up on a couple occasions, but never cry, not until today. In that moment, I saw the dark tear tracks that were mottling my own face mirrored on hers. And I didn't even feel bad. "I DON'T WANNA EVER SEE YOU AGAIN! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Applejack let out a quiet sob, then grabbed her stetson and slowly backed for the door. "Applebloom... I..." "I HATE YOU!" I felt my throat turn hoarse. For a couple of moments nopony moved. Nopony even twitched. Applejack turned with a wet sniffle and quietly left the room, leaving me to my own thoughts. Good. I was happier without her. Chapter 4It was quiet for a long time. Briefly, Redheart came in to bring me food and tell me that the fitting of my wheelchair was coming along with my first therapy session tomorrow. Then she had left. And it was quiet again. I wasn't hungry. I tried pushing the food off the bed, but couldn't move my core enough to push it far enough. I couldn't even do the simplest things. Useless. For a few hours, I floated in and out of awareness. I didn't think. I was empty. I was exhausted. But I couldn’t sleep. It must have been evening by the time I heard it. There was the sound of something wheeled racing along the hallway outside my room. A moment later there was a stampede of hooves hitting the ground, chasing after whatever it was. And then they entered the room. Those two ponies. For a moment we all stared at each other. I almost cried. I might have if I wasn't so exhausted. But one of them did. That same pony was next to me on the bed a second later, throwing her arms around my neck and quietly crying into it. The other was on my other side a moment later, uncertainly chewing on her bottom lip. "Hey girls," I breathed. "Applebloom…" Scootaloo trailed off. "Are you okay? Wait, I mean…" I chuckled weakly. "Well, I ain't showing my insides to y’all right now. so… I guess I could…” I couldn’t bring myself to say I could be worse. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t do things on my own. I didn’t have a future anymore. “I could be better,” I eventually finished. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shared a glance. “So…” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “What now?” I sighed. “Tomorrow I get a wheelchair, and they start teaching me how to live with… y’know.” I waved my forehooves around. “Only two usable legs.” Sweetie backed out of the embrace. “So you’re like that… forever?” I let my legs fall limply. “Yeah. Sounds that way.” A minute or two passed in silence. “How did you girls get in here?” I finally asked. “I told th’ nurse I didn’t want to see nopony else.” Scootaloo grinned. “My idea, actually. We weren’t just gonna let you suffer on your own, so we got some help! And a distraction.” “Twist volunteered to cause a scene so we could sneak in. She told us to tell you ‘hi’.” Sweetie Belle explained, glancing at the door. “I sure hope she didn’t get in trouble.” I clenched my jaw tightly shut as my eyes burned. Twist? The filly I so rudely dropped and almost completely stopped talking to after I met Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle? She risked getting into trouble so my friends could come comfort me? I… am a horrible pony. “Well…” I felt my voice go high as I suppressed a sob. “T-tell her thanks.” “...Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Can I… I want to…” I tried vainly to force myself into a sitting position, but my core didn’t respond. I gave up after a moment and let my head fall to the pillow, holding my forehooves out to my friends. After a moment of confusion, Scootaloo and Sweetie pulled me into a group hug. I probably would have cried there too if I had any tears left. We stayed like that for what felt like hours until my embarrassment got the best of me and I laid back down into the bed. “T-thanks,” I muttered, my cheeks currently the same color as my mane. I awkwardly cleared my throat, then struggled to think of something to break the awkward silence with. “So uh, did y’all make it out okay?” “Aside from this cool scar I’m gonna get.” Scootaloo smirked as she pointed up toward a covered up gash on her left brow. “The Doc said Sweetie and I only have something called whiplash, which is just kind of a pain in the neck.” I blinked. “What is it?” Sweetie chuckled. “No Applebloom, Scootaloo means it’s literally a pain in the neck. The pain in the neck is a pain in the neck.” I felt myself giggle. A giggle that soon turned into a genuine laugh. And before too long, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle joined in. For a few moments we just laughed, and it almost felt like the old times. But all good things must come to an end. Scootaloo wiped a tear from her eye with a final chuckle. "But in all seriousness… I know we can't really do much, but is there anything else we can do for you?" I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a few moments. There was something I was dying to ask, but I didn't think I could bring myself to say it. The sympathetic looks of my friends reassured me that I would not be judged. "I just… don't wanna be alone right now. Can y'all…" I hesitated. "Maybe stay… uh, stay th’ night?" Scootaloo laid on the pillow next to me, smirking as I let out a colossal yawn. "As long as you need, Applebloom." "I don't want y'all to get into trouble," I replied tersely. "Rarity will probably be angry that I didn't let her know, but she'll get over it. She'll probably be okay after I explain myself, considering your situation," Sweetie said slowly. "And I have Rainbow Dash watching over me tonight. Considering both our sisters know we were trying to visit you, I don't think she'll be mad. She'll probably be proud!" Scootaloo exclaimed. For a few moments, we all stayed in silence. “So what now?” Sweetie Belle yawned. “Ghost stories?” Scootaloo suggested. Taking that as her cue, Sweetie Belle magically switched off the lights and unbound the curtains, so just a sliver of moonlight shone through. “I don’t really feel up to that.” I sighed. Sweetie hummed for a moment. “Truth or dare?” I chewed on my lip. “We’re stuck in one room and I can’t even move. I’m sorry girls, I don’t mean to drag y’all’s nights down.” “Screw it.” Scootaloo poked at the bedsheet, noticing me trying, and failing to suppress a yawn. “What else can we do?” “Well…” Sweetie Belle hesitated, laying on my other side. “Why don’t we just go to sleep? I mean, we can probably do some stuff tomorrow if you aren’t too busy, Applebloom.” Scootaloo shrugged, sliding under the covers to my right. “And if they don’t let us see you, we’ll just have to cause another distraction and break you out. Now scooch over.” "I ah… can't." I frowned. "Aw, c'mon." Scootaloo chuckled. "Sweetie Belle ain't that big yet." "Hey!" Sweetie Belle squeaked indignantly. I covered my mouth with a hoof to prevent a laugh. "No, I mean I physically can't." "Oh." The smirk faded from Scootaloo's face. "Sorry." Sweetie Belle dived under the covers, and I felt a part of my back get moved toward her. She popped back out with a smile. "You should have some room now!" "Thanks, Sweetie!" Scootaloo chirped, throwing the blanket up so it fell over all three of us. For a few minutes, we laid there in silence. I heard the gentle snoring of Sweetie Belle on my left, and Scootaloo tossing and turning every so often on my right. I found myself smiling as I considered how much trouble my friends were risking to bring me comfort. Even with all the stress recently, I felt like, with my friends beside me, it was gonna be a great night. And maybe I could even… well, maybe I should try to avoid thinking about the future for now. Still, at least I had two friends right now I’d trust with anything. Two I can count on to do their best to make sure I got through everything life threw at me. Two that would break into a hospital to see me happy. Scootaloo turned again next to me and gave off a small gasp. I saw her bite her lower lip and she lifted the blankets and looked underneath. She dropped the blankets and turned to me, giggling into her hoof. "Oh my gosh Applebloom, they have you in a diaper?" I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. Well, it was gonna be a decent night at least. Chapter 5Author's Note Another short chapter for now. Next chapter is much longer and much more dramatic. Enjoy Chapter 5 The next morning the three of us were woken by a door opening and the cheerful, sing-song cry of "breakfast~" come from Redheart as she pushed a cart into the room. As soon as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle with me, I saw her brow furrow and her muzzle scrunch up. Thinking quickly though, Sweetie Belle saved us. There are a few things Sweetie Belle is known for. One is singing. Another is having a giganta-mongus vocabulary. Her most known one is the fact that she accidentally sets a lot of things in fire or burns them in some way. But the most powerful thing she's known for are her puppy eyes. I'm guessing Sweetie Belle instantly picked up on the fact that Redheart was gonna give us a tongue lashing because she threw her forelegs around my shoulders, let out a wet sniffle, and threw on the puppy eyes. "Oh please Mrs. Nurse, don't be angry! We were all just so worried about Applebloom, and we thought she was so sad and lonely and that just broke our hearts so we wanted to make sure she was okay! Please don't be mad!" Redheart never stood a chance. Her gaze instantly softened and she just told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to go find their "parents or guardians", because after breakfast I had a long day ahead of me. As my friends left the room, so too did my traces of hope and happiness. I was going to hate the rest of my stay. The rest of my stay was slightly less miserable than I thought. I'd rather not discuss a lot of it, but that day I got caught with Sweetie and Scootaloo, I also got fitted with my wheelchair. I swore I would never get used to that uncomfortable feeling. They didn't really have wheelchairs in my exact size, so I had to get the next biggest size. I didn't really have to deal with an awkward feeling in my lower half, but just with my upper half, it was a strange feeling. My lower half was suspended so that the hooves on my hind legs were almost level with my elbows on my forelegs. And then I had to start "occupational therapy". The nurse in charge of that basically started off by telling me that I was gonna need some help with a lot of things now that I didn't before. She told me there was no shame in what life had made me, and that accepting help was okay. Not only did she talk to me like a little foal, but with what she was actually saying was more or less that yeah, I was useless now. The rest of the time dragged on slowly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo visited every day. Big Mac and Granny too. Applejack tried to see me a few times but I told Redheart to absolutely not let her in. I know she hung out just outside the door when the rest of the family was there. Probably moping, picking at the floor or something. I still didn't care. Her friends did show up. Rarity came in once and told me she had a fabulous surprise waiting for me when I got out. Rainbow Dash offered to take me for a fly sometime. From the look on Scootaloo's face as she asked that, I get the feeling it was actually her idea. That went well until I came clean and told Rainbow Dash I was scared of heights. I saw that take the wind out of her sails. Those two especially seemed intent on making me happy. I think they might have been feeling guilty considering they were also going way too far when it came to the derby. This feeling doubled when Scootaloo admitted both her and Sweetie Belle went off on their sisters when I was in surgery. At least Rainbow Dash and Rarity had the decency to not cripple their little sisters. Pinkie and Fluttershy came by a lot. Fluttershy always seemed to be feeling guilty too, even though she had nothing to do with the derby. She read and told me lots of really neat stories. I really liked her. Pinkie, on the other hoof, just couldn't handle somepony feeling depressed if she could help. She threw me little private parties that the nurses always had to clean up, offered to help me "deck out" my wheelchair, whatever that means, and often told me jokes to try and lighten the mood. The jokes were terrible. I still loved them. Twilight came by too. I'll admit that when I first saw her, I got my hopes all up thinking the princess could fix me. Maybe magic my problem away. She didn't have to answer when I asked her if she could. The look on her face told me all I needed to know. She couldn't. Finally, we got to the last day I was spending in the hospital. I would have been jumping for joy if… if I could jump. Big Mac, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rarity picked me up. Apparently, Applejack had finally gotten the idea in her head that I didn't want to see her. Good. They started leading me to Carousel Boutique. Rarity started doing that thing where she gets all happy and starts jumping up and down. She asked me to close my eyes, and I felt weightless as I was magically lifted. The wheelchair was removed and I felt some kind of fabric wrapping around me. A moment later I was on the ground, back in the wheelchair, and she asked me to open my eyes. I opened my eyes and saw Rarity holding up a mirror, a giant smile on her face. And then I saw it. She had me in some sort of dress. The main part was the color of a red delicious apple, and there were some… I think the right word is "accents" running over my shoulders to my chest. They were almost the exact color of a Granny’s coat. Turning to the side I saw the accent turn into a trim, and the dress ended just so it covered my tail. There weren't no frou-frou layers or nothing. It was actually really nice. "Um, thank ya kindly Rarity." I hesitated. "But I don't think I can afford something like this." "Oh don't be silly, Applebloom, I would get nowhere if I tried to market to just foals. I made this gratis for you." I stared back at her blankly. "It means 'free'," Sweetie Belle explained. "Oh!" I replied. "Well thank you! But uh, not that I ain't grateful, but… why?" "Well…" Rarity paused. "Several reasons, darling. I want it to be some sort of apology for how ridiculous I was acting the day of the… ah, the incident. Secondly, since the wheelchair draws attention, I want something to accent your looks, so if you get some strange looks, you may get some positive comments on that. I do hope that helps. Finally, I do believe it will help you with… modesty." "What do y'all mean?" I arched an eyebrow. Rarity's eyes swept from side to side before she gingerly lifted a forehoof and pointed to the inside of her hind leg. I felt the blood rush to my face a moment later as I realized she was referring to the plastic bag currently strapped to the inside of my left hind leg. "With all that happened, I believe you deserve all the positive attention you can get, dear," Rarity spoke softly. "Hopefully then you can feel like the shining star that you are." I felt my face burn even hotter. "T-thank you," I stammered. "Of course." Rarity smiled. "Now go dazzle the town tomorrow at school, darling. Best of luck!" "Wait, what?" I gasped, wheeling around to look at Big Mac. "I gotta go to school tomorrow?!" "Eeyup." "B-but I'm… Diamond Tiara is gonna…" I saw Big Mac's face fall just a tad and he broke eye contact. "Sorry, Applebloom," he simply responded. Stars above, tomorrow was going to be terrible. Chapter 6Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 7By the time I woke up, the sun had set. I stretched out and brought up a forehoof to wipe the sleep from my eyes, freezing when I felt something on my face. I reached over to my nightstand to click on the lamp, and stared at the mirror on the other side of my room. There was a bandage on my face, and another bandage wrapped around my foreleg. Somepony must have patched me up after I fell asleep. And just with my luck, it was probably Applejack. I felt my upper lip curl as I considered tearing off the bandage, just to spite her. I mean, she wanted to cripple me, but now she wanted to play nurse? After a moment of pawing at the bandage, I decided against it. There was doing things out of hatred, and then there was just being dumb. But hey, I was already useless, why not be dumb too? What's that joke Applejack always used to make around Twilight? There's happiness in ignorance? And again, it came back to Applejack. I couldn't go anywhere without something being tied to her. I let out a scream of rage and threw my pillow at the mirror. Nothing broke, there was no big dramatic crash, and I didn't magically feel any better. I was not going to accept being some useless pony my entire life, being watched over until I pass. No, I had to prove myself some way. I ran down the ramp next to my bed, down the ramp covering the stairs, and out the door. Breathing heavily, partially from running, partially from anger, I whipped my head around, looking for… something. Anything. My gaze settled on the dark outline of a nearby apple tree. I let out a mighty cry and charged at it, determined to knock an apple loose. Or at least shake some leaves off. To do something. Right before hitting the tree, I threw all my weight down and to the left, successful crouching and sending the wheelchair flying into the tree. My body jolted, and I almost fell onto my side. No apples fell. No leaves shook. The tree didn't respond. No, I wasn't gonna take that. I ran a good distance away, and charged again. And again. And again. Until minutes later I was lying with my face in the dirt, fighting another breakdown. "Useless..." I muttered to myself. "Useless, useless, useless." "Well, there you are," a familiar voice called out from above me. My head snapped up to locate the voice of the sound, and I saw two violet orbs peering down on me from a branch above me. "I was thinking I was gonna have to wait here alllll night," the voice chuckled, rolling its eyes. But that voice… what was she doing on the farm at this hour? "Scootaloo?" I ventured. "What are y'all doing here this late?" There was a soft noise as Scootaloo's hooves hit the dirt beside me. She cleared her throat and sat down right next to me. "I was waiting for you. And then I fell asleep in the tree." "But… why?" I blinked. "And how did y'all know I would be here?" "Because I know you, Applebloom. And it's exactly what I'd do in your situation." “Okay…” I poked at the ground uncertainty. “So uh, I’m here. What were you waiting for? And ain’t you gonna be in trouble with your aunts for sneaking out?” “Eh, my aunts aren’t watching me tonight. I’m staying with Sweetie Belle and Rarity tonight. We were gonna invite you also to spend the night, but you kinda… ran off first. And I’m here to talk some sense into you.” “Some sense?” I laughed harshly. “About what? About runnin’ when Diamond Tiara did that to me? About bein’ mad at Applejack?” I felt my voice starting to raise. “About the fact that I’m a stupid cripple now?!” Scootaloo shoved her hoof in my mouth. “About that. That’s ridiculous. You’re not stupid or a cripple. You’re gonna still be a great pony.” I knocked her hoof away. “I don’t have my cutie mark. I can barely do anything by myself. And y’all remember what happened with Sweetie earlier. How can y’all say that? Besides, what would you know?” “I don’t know, Applebloom, what would the flightless pegasus know about being a cripple?” Scootaloo retorted sarcastically. That shut me up. We were both silent for a moment. “Do you remember what happened when Diamond Tiara made fun of me for not being able to fly?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Um, yeah,” I responded timidly, “we weren’t very nice to you, and you stayed behin’ on the trip. Rainbow talked some sense into us, and we kicked plot in the trials.” “And…” Scootaloo drew the word out. “Do you remember how I spent two straight days trying to fly, and just flopped every time?” I just nodded. “Applebloom, do you think I’m some stupid cripple?” “‘Course not!” I replied loudly. “Y’all are a great pony, and I’m proud to call you my friend, why, even without being able to fly you can do jus’ about anything y’all… set your… mind... to...” I couldn’t see her in the dark, but I knew Scootaloo arched an eyebrow and smiled. I could feel the smirk radiating off of her. “Oh,” I replied awkwardly, “I see what you’re tryin' to do here.” “Exactly. But, I'm not dumb, and I know I can't fix anything with words. But I promise to do everything I can to help you find your happiness, okay? Us cripples gotta watch each other's back." My face was suddenly very wet. “Y-yeah. Thanks.” “Oh, and on the topic of Diamond Tiara…” Scootaloo giggled. “Let’s just say I left you a present at school tomorrow. Sweetie Belle will show you it.” “Wait, why would Sweetie Belle show me your present? And you didn’t have to get me nothin’!” I saw Scootaloo wink at me as she stood up. “I really did. And I think you’re going to enjoy it. But I need to get going before Rarity starts a search party for me, and you need to get some rest. Unless you wanna wake somepony in your family up and ask if you can come with me.” I briefly considered that. “Better not. Everypony in my family is a heavy sleeper, and I kinda need… some help with things in the mornin’. Things I’m embarrassed enough just asking my family about.” “That’s fair.” Scootaloo shrugged. “Good night, Applebloom!” I watched her take a couple steps away before calling out. “Scootaloo, wait!” Scotaloo turned around. “What’s up, Applebloom?” “Can uh… can you help me with one of the straps on my wheelchair? It’s out of reach for me.” I felt blood rush to my cheeks. The blush just got fiercer as Scootaloo padded over to me, and undid the strap easily with one quick movement. “...Do you need help with anything else?” Scootaloo asked after a moment. I picked at the ground idly. Well I could probably get the wheelchair off from here, but… “Applebloom.” Scootaloo’s voice adopted a serious tone. “I’m not gonna judge you for some issue out of your control. Really. It’s like you said that one time, we’re like family, right?” I stared at the ground for a moment, before meeting Scootaloo’s steady gaze. “I um… I just… Okay. Jus’... don’t mention this to nopony else. Ever. Please.” Scootaloo just chuckled as she started leading me back to the house. “Applebloom, you’re the only one making this weird.” “...You say that now…” I muttered under my breath. Chapter 8I woke up just as the sun started to rise over the horizon. I beat the rooster, that’s a new one. Everypony else in the house was probably still asleep. I threw the covers off of me and stretched out my back and forelegs, letting out a mighty yawn. I grabbed the side of my mattress and dragged myself toward the door. I blearily stared down at my dress and wheelchair. And I… had no idea how to put either of them on by myself. Shit. Minutes passed as I lay in bed, staring down at my wheelchair, my mood steadily dropping as I realized I had no idea how to get myself set up in it. Last night when I had woken up, my door had still been open a bit. But when Scootaloo left last night, I had asked her to close the door behind her. So I couldn’t crawl out and as- No, even if it was open I wasn’t gonna crawl around like a… like a caterpillar just to ask for help. I rolled onto my back, my head just barely hitting the edge of my pillow. It didn’t do much for my dignity, but I was sure somebody in my family would come check in on me, probably just under an hour before school started. Looking out the window, I guessed there was at least two hours until that time. Well, there went my good mood for the day. I wasn’t sure how long it actually took, but after what felt like a year, I finally heard a knocking on my door. “Come in,” I called out. The door opened and the tell-tale green coat of Granny Smith was seen. “How are you doin, child?” She asked. I bit back a sarcastic comment. If it were Big Mac or Applejack, I wouldn’t have, but you gotta respect your grannies. “I’m okay,” I responded. I was anything but okay. “Well let’s get you up an’ at ‘em, then. Big Mac already got some pancakes a-cooking.” The morning passed just about the same as yesterday. I packed my saddlebags, which Cheerilee has apparently brought back to us from the schoolhouse, gave Winona a few pats, and said goodbye to Granny Smith and Big Mac. When I arrived at school I saw Sweetie Belle waiting for me. I made my way to her and looked around. Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. That was weird, she was usually earlier than me since she lived way closer. “Mornin’ Sweetie Belle,” I greeted lifelessly. “Where’s Scoots? Running late?” Sweetie’s head cocked to the side. “You hadn’t heard yet? Scootaloo got suspended.” “Wait, what?” I sputtered. “Why?” Sweetie Belle quickly scanned the playground, looking for Celestia knows what. We both froze instantly when a familiar voice sounded from our right. "She was suspended for almost breaking Diamond Tiara's nose and giving her a black eye." “Silver Spoon?" I wheeled around. "Wait, Scoot… What happened?” “Well…” Sweetie Belle poked at the ground. “After what happened at recess, and you ran away, Scootaloo got really mad. I’ve never seen her so angry. She just started yelling, and ran really fast, then hit Diamond Tiara so hard she fell onto her back." I felt the corners of my mouth curl upward. “And then Scoot turned around, and Diamond Tiara got up and said something really mean. I was still at the bottom of the hill so I didn’t hear it, but Scootaloo turned around again and I think… I think she knocked her out. " "She said something along the lines of 'Oh, trust the only one to help the cripple is the other cripple,'" Silver Spoon cut in. "Mhm!" Sweetie Belle nodded. "Then after Cheerilee figured out what happened, she got Rainbow Dash and Filthy Rich to come to the school and sent everyone but them, Scoots, and DT away.” I had a full on smile on my face now. It was sad that I wouldn’t see Scootaloo, but hearing that Diamond Tiara finally got hit by some karma was pretty uplifting. “But Cheerilee forgot one of the windows was open, so I snuck around and started listening in!" Sweetie Belle smiled. “Cheerilee was like ‘so this is what happened, Rainbow Dash. I expect you, or whomever her current guardian is will take proper disciplinary action?’ And then Rainbow Dash just laughed and just said ‘That depends.’” I laughed too. “No way!” Sweetie Belle nodded. “So then Rainbow Dash starts talking to Scootaloo I guess, and asks her ‘Did you attack her with a weapon, while her back was turned, or while she was on the ground?’ And of course Scootaloo says no, so Rainbow Dash just paused for a moment and said ‘then I’m not gonna punish her.’” “Ooh, how did Cheerilee take all that?” “Badly.” Sweetie Belle chuckled. “Cheerilee responded with ‘but she attacked another schoolmate!’ and then Rainbow Dash interrupts her and starts getting angry. She said ‘She defended her friend against a bully that's been harassing her and her friends for years while you did nothing about it. Scootaloo stood up for her friends. I'm not gonna punish that. C'mon Scoots, let's go get some ice cream.’ and probably started walking towards the door. “Cheerilee gasped all dramatically and was like ‘Rainbow Dash, there’s a huge problem with-’ then Rainbow Dash interrupts her again and starts shouting." Sweetie Belle put on a poor impression of Rainbow Dash's raspy voice. "'No! There's a huge problem with the way this school is run. If I'm not mistaken, this is the second time Diamond Tiara has made fun of another pony's handicap TO THEIR FACE and nothing has been done about it. I'm not angry at Scootaloo, I'm angry at you, Cheerilee. Scoots, let’s go. You can get whatever you’d like at Sugarcube Corner, my treat.’” “Wow.” I gasped. “No wonder Scootaloo likes Rainbow Dash so much, that’s just dang amazing!” Sweetie’s face fell. “Yeah, but after Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich left, apparently Scootaloo saw them meet Diamond Tiara’s mom through a window in Sugarcube Corner. Apparently Diamond Tiara was looking like she was expecting praise, but her mom basically dragged her back into her house and started screaming so loud even Scoots could hear her. She couldn't hear any clear words, and Diamond Tiara has been pouty since, and… and her eyes are red, like she’s been crying.” "She..." Silver Spoon trailed off. "She would have been suspended too, but her mom is part of the school board and has enough influence to pull some strings." Without explanation, my good mood fell again. I felt a pit form in my stomach. “That’s… less awesome...” I managed. No, I wasn't gonna feel anything but happy that Diamond Tiara got messed up. I forced that feeling to the back of my mind. But that was still not addressing the elephant in the room. "So why are you here? And not bein' mean to us?" I asked Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon's gaze fell to the dirt. "When Diamond Tiara told me her plan, it was just 'stick a branch in her wheels and laugh when she can't reach us.' I don't know if she was planning on making you fall, but even I have some standards. After her mom and Cheerilee chewed her out, I told her I was making some space from her until she got her head back on her shoulders. And even then, she still got a talking to by your brother-" Silver Spoon failed to acknowldge Sweetie Belle's nonverbal pleas to shut up. "-and sister." I let out an angry snort. Of course Applejack was shoving herself into my life again. "I..." Silver Spoon contined. "...We didn't know how badly Scootaloo took our comments until way after, and seeing that? No. I'm mean, but that's too far." There were a few moments of silence. "Why do you hang around her?" Sweetie Belle asked softly. "You seem a lot... nicer than her." Sure, nicer in the way that being mauled by a dog was nicer than being mauled by a timberwolf. Silver Spoon met Sweetie Belle's gaze with a surprising fire in her eyes. "All you need to know is that she was there when I needed somepony, and I need to return the favor. There are two sides to every story." Silver Spoon turned around with a huff, and started making her way away from us. "Just know I'm sorry for what happened." We both returned to silence, not meeting each other's gazes. "So I guess we ain't seein' Scoots for a while." I sighed. “Yeah…” Sweetie Belle agreed. “I’m not sure how long Scoots is suspended for, though. Rainbow Dash left before Cheerilee said how long.” “So we might see her next week?” I asked hopefully. “We might not even see her next week,” Sweetie replied bluntly. “I mean, there’s always the afternoons, but Rainbow Dash turned Scootaloo’s watch to Rarity last night, and I don’t know how she’s going to handle it.” “So y'all will get to be with her, but I can’t.” I realized. Sweetie Belle looked down. “Sorry. I hope it isn’t that way.” “...Me too…” The bell halted our conversation, and we all filtered inside, Diamond Tiara taking up the rear. It was obvious she was wearing makeup to make the injuries look better, but it was also obvious that it wasn't fooling anypony. Her eye was swollen and black, and her nose was padded with gauze and slightly off-center. I had hoped that Diamond Tiara being as injured as she was would keep the attention off of me, but it just seemed to make it worse. Students kept staring at me AND Diamond Tiara more frequently. The school day got worse, because of course it did. At least today I had the sense to nudge Sweetie Belle when I needed help, and not draw a ton of attention to me when I did so. Didn't change the fact that I was getting tons of attention anyway. I was called on a few times, but I couldn't find myself able to pay attention. The invisible stares from all the rest of the foals in the classroom made it impossible to focus. Sure, the filly that got beat up was interesting, but there was a pathetic freak to stare at. Why not? It's not like she didn't already have enough emotional crap going on, and didn't want to be the center of attention again. Recess made it worse. All the foals circled around Diamond Tiara and of course she spun the story so she was just the victim. She did make sure to describe the embarassing fall I took, and the fact that I ran away crying and hid at my house. I wanted to fight back. I wanted to yell. But I didn't. I just spent the time hiding in the corner of the playground silently with Sweetie Belle. When recess ended, Cheerilee had to scold the entire class for not paying attention to the lesson and staring at me. I hated it. I hated it all. I hated myself, I hated the fact that I could barely do anything without help, I hated Diamond Tiara, and Applejack, and I hated how Scootaloo was being punished for something stupid that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't stupid. I hated my life. The day went by slowly. It felt like I spent another ten hours there after recess. I hated that too. I just wanted to run away from Ponyville and never look back. I wanted to change my name, dye my mane, and go join a circus or something. Best place for freaks is around freaks, right? I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. By the time school got out, Sweetie Belle was asking about hanging out. She told me we could go crusading again still, but we had to stay far away from the Everfree Forest because it was timberwolf mating season and they were especially violent and territorial. I told her I was too tired. As we parted, I gave her a hug and thanked her for all her help, and asked her to tell Scootaloo the same thing. Sweetie Belle left and made her way home. But I didn't go home, not until later. I walked to Twilight's library. I had a plan forming in my head and I knew she was the best pony to get what I needed. I knocked on the door and Twilight appeared moments later. She gave me that smile. The smile that just screamed pity. I hated it. "Hello Applebloom," Twilight smiled. "What can I do for you?" It was time to put the plan into motion. "Hey Twilight. Do you have some rope and a book on knots I can borrow?" Chapter 10When I woke up the next morning, the gift I left outside Applejack’s door was gone. I went to school with a smile on my face. School went very well. We were practicing exponents and I got almost every single question right. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were surprised. Cheerilee was surprised. I was surprised. The day went by pretty quickly with no incidents. Diamond Tiara’s injuries had healed and she glared at Scootaloo with pure hatred slightly less often. She also focused a lot less on me and more on her. This suited Scootaloo fine, as she could almost effortlessly piss Diamond Tiara off now. Scootaloo loved that. At the end of the day, Cheerilee asked me to stay back for a moment. She said she didn’t know what was different today, but it was obvious something real had changed, and she was proud of whatever I’d done to improve. So it was understandable while I walked out of the schoolhouse at the end of the day with a giant grin on my face. For the first time since the accident, things were going my way. That was until I came face to face with a very unhappy looking Twilight Sparkle. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting off to her side, looking anxious. This could only mean bad things. “Applebloom, sweetie, can I speak to you alone for a moment?” Twilight asked, struggling to keep her face neutral. I simply nodded and quietly followed Twilight as she led me to the shade under a nearby tree, out of earshot of anypony else. Twilight sat and waited for me to get comfortable before sighing. “Applebloom, what happened between you and Applejack this morning?” She simply asked. I pretended not to understand. “Why, nothin’. I haven’t even seen her all day.” Twilight frowned. “That’s funny, because she came by the library to pick up a book earlier, which by itself is pretty off, but you know the weirdest thing? She was crying.” I didn’t respond. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her cry, but after I prodded her for what was bothering her, she started bawling. She pulled a belt buckle out of her saddlebags and said you left it in front of her door last night. Is this true?” My happy mood faded away, and I broke eye contact with Twilight. “So she does know what those are then, huh?” I chuckled weakly. “I didn’t know.” Twilight took a slow, deep breath. “Applebloom, honey,” Twilight’s tone softened. “I’m not going to tell you that you can’t be upset over what happened. Considering your circumstances, I wouldn’t expect you to just suddenly be over it. But it was an accident, and your continued hostility toward Applejack is destroying her. She barely sleeps, she barely eats, and she spends most of her time trying to think of how to make things up to you. The girls and I are starting to worry about both her physical and mental health. She can’t keep going on like this.” “So?” I stared at the ground. “She had me stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Why should I care if she loses a bit o’ sleep? She ain’t the only one sufferin’.” “Applebloom.” Twilight raised my gaze to match hers with a hoof. “I know she still means a lot to you, and that all of this must feel like she stabbed you in the back…” “She did,” I interrupted. “If I weren’t literally stabbed through the back in th' crash, I could be a normal pony.” “Applebloom…” Twilight frowned again. “I understand, but this is still the pony that you grew up with. I know she raised you since you were four months old, and basically took the role of your mother. And I know that she sees you in the same light, even if she does only refer to you as her sister. With that in mind, can you imagine how much pain she feels?” I looked away again. “Accident or not, she still hurt me.” “And now you’re hurting her.” I didn’t respond. Twilight retracted her hoof and sighed. “Look Applebloom, I’m not going to ask you to forgive her. Right now, I’m not even asking you to apologize to her, although I think that’d be a good idea. But please, just talk to her at least.” I poked at the ground for a few moments. “...Okay.” Twilight exhaled slowly. “Thank you, Applebloom. I hope you two can improve your relationship soon.” And then Twilight silently led me back to my friends, who in turn silently started following me as Twilight took her leave. “Applebloom?” Sweetie asked after a minute. “Are you going to be okay?” I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed quiet. “Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked. “Will you… can we help?” “I…” I hesitated, not knowing what to say. “I need to talk to Applejack. I jus’… don’t know if I can handle it.” “Will it help if we’re there? Or waiting outside, maybe?” Scootaloo questioned with a half smile. I chewed my lip and nodded. "I, uh..." I heard Scootaloo say, then fall silent. I sighed and turned to face her. "What?" "We overheard Twilight talking to you. You left a belt buckle outside Applejack's door?" "Yeah." I huffed, turning around and continuing to walk. "So?" I heard Scootaloo take a deep breath, before she said something that stopped me in my tracks. "That sounds like something Diamond Tiara would do." I froze, before violently whipping around and glaring at Scootaloo, who winced in result. "What." My tone was icy. It wasn't a question. "W-well..." Scootaloo stammered. "The silent treatment and the anger I get, and I won't disagree with. But... leaving a buckle? It kinda seems..." "Less like you're furious with her, and more like you just want to see her in pain?" Sweetie Belle offered. Scootaloo nodded. "Less of a reaction, more like... well, bullying. It's not you, Applebloom." Scootaloo took a breath and stood a little taller. "Just because you were hurt doesn't mean you need to turn into another Diamond Tiara to get back at ponies." "Don't" I stalked closer to Scootaloo. She shrunk back quickly. "You DARE" I pushed myself up, towering over the now scared-looking pegasus. "Compare me to that... that terrible excuse of a pony!" I grit my teeth and tensed my entire body. I don't know what I was about to do, but I was raring to go. "Stop it!" Sweetie cried, forcing her way between me and Scootaloo. "This is what we're talking about! First you pour salt in Applejack's wound, now you're scaring your friends!" Her words were like a slap in the face. I gazed down into the eyes of Scootaloo, who was shaking a little bit, and saw fear. Fear. "Oh.. my stars... Scoot, I'm... I'm sorry!" I gasped, backing up. "I..." I turned away. I couldn't face her. We were silent until we reached the house. Big Mac was out in the fields and Granny was probably taking a nap. I hoped I could find Applejack in her room and didn’t have to search for her out in the orchard. That hope seemed dashed as I gingerly knocked on her door and didn’t get an answer. I paused, knocked again and called out in a weak voice. “Applejack? Are y’all in there? I wanna talk.” No answer. I slowly pushed the door open, and what I saw made my heart stop. Bottles. Bottles littered all over the floor. I started hyperventilating as I picked one up and read the label. It was honey whiskey. “Oh no. Nononononono,” I mumbled. “Applebloom, what’s wrong? Some ponies drink when they’re upset.” Scootaloo piped up quietly. “I’m sure she’s fine.” “Not Apples!” I replied more loudly than intended. “After Mom died, Dad followed her jus’ a few months later due to alcohol poisonin’! The entire family swore off drinking after all that! And if Applejack is drinking now…” I started running around the room, looking for any indication of where Applejack might have gone. On the far side of her bed I discovered a book lying open. I pulled it over to me and started reading one of the pages out loud. Wolfsbane: These illusive plants are often found in timberwolf territory. They are yellow in color, emit a pungent odor, and are often the sign of less fertile land. They are classified as a curative plant. Though not much scientific data has been found to back it up, many legends have been told on how this plant can be used to help cure paralysis when mixed with several other curative plants, such as Amethyst.” “M-maybe she’s just out in the orchard?” Scootaloo suggested. “Go look!” I ordered, panic starting to set in. “Find Big Mac, and he can probably tell you! If not…” I turned to Sweetie Belle as Scootaloo zipped off. “Didn’t you say timberwolves are ‘specially aggressive ‘round this time?” Sweetie Belle nodded slowly, her ears flattened against her head and her eyes wide. “Uhm, okay… so…” I began pacing back and forth. If Applejack had been drinking, and wandered into timberwolf territory to try and find this plant… “Sweetie Belle, I need you to go and find Twilight! Tell her what’s goin' on!” “O-okay!” Sweetie Belle gasped before running off. This was bad. What if Applejack got in trouble just because of me? What if she got hurt? Or… worse? What if she didn’t survive? Before I knew it I was running toward the Everfree Forest. The Final ChapterI spent the next several minutes running around the Everfree Forest, getting myself thoroughly lost in the process. I kept imagining finding my sister’s messed up corpse, mangled and bloody after timberwolves had gotten to her. She’d gone out after I messed her up, and still tried to find a cure for me. What if she didn’t make it? Her death would be all my fault! And I couldn’t even find her to warn her! Or help her! I was useless to her. I heard a scream. Sprinting toward the sound of the voice, I made it to the top of a nearby hill. I finally spotted Applejack several yards away, near the bottom of the hill, being chased by one of the timberwolves, who was hot on her trail. The timberwolf’s breast was heavily splintered, and Applejack’s rope was lassoed around its neck, weakly flopping behind it. Applejack was running with a slight limp, and I could see the fur on her right shoulder and some of her back damp and tinted red with blood. She was biting her lip and her eyes were shot wide open, betraying a look of… fear. No, not just fear. Terror. Applejack was terrified. But what could I do? All I had were weak filly forelegs and a back end supported by… wheels… I spent a moment pacing back and forth, my breathing growing rapid. She's going to die. I blinked back tears as I caught her eye. If she died tonight the last thing she would have seen is her sister watching her ripped apart uselessly. Applebloom, if you don't do something she will die. Do something! A memory of me trying to climb the stairs, and shooting backwards once my wheels were the only thing touching the floor flashed through my mind, and a plan started forming. It was crazy. It was going to kill us both. It was all I had. Doing my best to gauge how soon Applejack and the timberwolf would reach the bottom of the hill, I turned around, closed my eyes, held my breath, and lifted my front half into the air as my wheelchair started careening down the hill. I’d like to say I yelled out a war cry, or a really heroic sounding one liner. But in reality I was screaming the most terrified, high pitched scream my lungs could manage. As my wheelchair made contact with the side of the timberwolf, my eyes shot open and the timberwolf let out a squeal of pain. I grabbed for the lasso as both the timberwolf and I tumbled to the side, barely catching it. In a moment the timberwolf was back on its feet and chasing Applejack, yanking me along with it. I looped the other end of the rope around my right shoulder and threw my weight to the left, throwing my left forehoof around a fledgling tree in a vain attempt to slow down or stop the timberwolf. Instead, I felt a screaming pain as my right shoulder was ripped from its socket, freeing the rope from my leg and sending me flying toward the beast. Feeling tears well up in my eyes in response to the pain, I saw the rope in front of me again. Seeing as I could barely move my right foreleg, I made a grab for it with my left foreleg. When that missed it flew right in front of my face, and moving quickly, I grabbed it in my mouth. The timberwolf ran on, undeterred, bouncing me behind it. I felt an explosion of pain every time I hit the ground, made even worse when I landed on the freshly dislocated shoulder. But still, the timberwolf was advancing on Applejack. It was going to kill her. It was going to tear my sister apart, then it was gonna tear me apart, and there was nothing I could do. I was still.... Useless. Peering ahead, I saw Applejack jump through a tree that was split near the base, having two trunks growing right next to each other. She landed awkwardly, her legs starting to give out from under her, and I could see her start to fall. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the timberwolf pounce, following her through the split trees. No. I bit down harder on the rope. Applejack hit the ground and started to roll. I Ignoring the intense spasm of pain, I extended both of my forelegs. Am My hooves found purchase on the twin trunks, and I was almost ripped immediately off by the force of the timberwolf. Not I felt tears stream down my face as my right foreleg threatened to give out. My arm felt like it was on fire and it was about to tear itself off my body. I screwed my face up in concentration, shut my eyes tightly, and yanked my head back. USELESS! Everything stopped. The timberwolf stopped, vicious maw inches away from Applejack’s throat. For a moment, all there was in the forest was the labored panting of the beast, and the intense waves of both pain and adrenaline wracking my body in tandem. The silence lasted only a moment longer as Applejack scrambled to her hooves and landed a precise buck right into the face of the timberwolf with both hind legs. As the timberwolf fell to pieces, I dropped the rope, landing on the ground right on my injured shoulder. I let out a cry of pain and the floodgates finally opened as the adrenaline started to wear off. “Applebloom!” Applejack yelled, instantly at my side. She helped me up to my hooves, and I ended up leaning most of my weight into my left forehoof, three out of my four limbs useless at this point. “Oh Celestia! Are you alright?” Applejack fretted, inspecting my dislocated shoulder. “Don’t you DARE!” I yelled, my body moving on its own as I reared back and slapped Applejack across the face as hard as I could with my injured leg. Applejack reeled back in surprise as I bit back a scream of pain. “I don’t CARE how angry I am at you! Don’t you DARE run off into the Everfree Forest and get yourself killed!” I found myself sobbing, broken down from the anger and the pain. Instantly all my fatigue hit me at once and my one remaining limb buckled, sending my face directly into the dirt below. I didn’t even care, shaking and sobbing loudly. I pounded uselessly on the ground, not even sure what I was angry about at that moment. A few moments passed and I felt somepony pick me up, and the familiar, bittersweet warmth of Applejack’s embrace. I could smell the alcohol on her breath, and could feel a stream of her blood make its way down and start staining my fur, but I didn’t care. I threw my good hoof around her back and started wailing into her neck, my body convulsing as sour sweat drenched my coat. “I-I was s-so scared w-w-when I went into y-your room an’ s-saw the b-book an’…” I finally managed. Applejack responded by pulling me closer and started rocking me back and forth, something I remembered her always doing when I was upset during the early years of my life. “It’s okay Applebloom. Applejack’s got you. Big sis got you. It’s okay now.” Applejack whispered into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. I let out a loud wail and buried my face deeper into her neck, somehow feeling completely secure for the first time since the injury. Everything wasn’t okay right now. Everything was as far from okay as it could be. But right there, stuck in the embrace of the sister I had focused so much hate and anger towards in the last two months, I knew that they would be. Soon. A couple hours later I was pacing outside the room in the hospital holding Applejack. I had recently been cleared myself. It wasn’t a lot I had to do. A doctor popped my shoulder joint back into the socket, gave me a “numbing agent”, and after a final x-ray, told me I was good to go. All I had to do were some light stretches every day for the next week. I didn’t know how Applejack was doing though. My stomach was all twisted up as I tried to think of something to say when I saw her. I still didn’t know how I was feeling. If anything, my feelings now were even harder to decipher than ever before. But I know that we needed to talk. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. A moment later it was swung open by Twilight, who wordlessly stepped aside and let me in. Granny, Big Mac, and all Applejack’s friends were already in there with her. All of them, including Applejack, silently watched me, waiting for me to make the first move. As Twilight closed the door behind me, I caught her gaze. I silently pointed at myself, then the wheelchair, and finally the bed Applejack was resting in. After a moment Twilight understood what I meant and levitated me onto the bed. “Can I… get a moment alone with Applejack?” I asked quietly. Everypony else quietly filtered out of the room as I gathered the courage to look Applejack in the eye. “Applebloom…” Applejack hesitated. “Before you start yellin’, I jus’ wanna say-” “No,” I interrupted. “No more yellin’. I jus’... wanna talk.” Applejack let out a slow, relieved sigh. “Okay, let’s talk.” I took several moments to try and come up with the words to say, then just decided to throw caution to the winds. “I’m… still mad.” I managed, sadly noting the instantly crestfallen expression on Applejack’s face. “After today… heck, ever since the accident, I’ve just had all this… emotion. I ain’t gonna lie, I’m a mite confused about… jus’ about everything. But… In that moment I saw you bein’ chased by that timberwolf… and the look on your face…” My voice cracked as I felt my eyes start to burn. Tears started welling up in the corners of my eyes. “I jus’ wanna tell you I’m… I’m sorry. I’ve been so dang stupid about this whole thing, an’ I know it was an accident, but I didn’t listen when you were tryin’ to help…” A tear slowly made its way down my face as I stared at the blanket below me, idly picking at a fold. “An’ I know I was hurtin’ you, but… I was still so mad, an’... but you were…” Another tear traveled down my face, falling from my chin and making a mark on the blanket right next to Applejack. I took several moments to try and compose myself, to think of what to say. “Like I said… I’m still mad… but…” I looked up and stared straight into Applejack’s eyes. Those green eyes that had watched over me my whole life. The eyes that were always so full of love, but in the last two months, only showed hurt. Those green eyes that had always spelled out safety and protection, and that special bond we used to share that I found myself so desperately wanting back. And with that thought, my final decision was made. “I forgive you.” EpilogueAfter Applejack got out of the hospital time flew by much quicker. Forgiving her hadn’t erased all the bad feelings like I’d hoped, and I found I got short with her much quicker than anypony else. While she was still my sister, she still made a mistake that screwed me for life, and no matter how desperately I wanted our bond to go back to how it was before the crash, I was starting to think it never would. I thought forgiving her would be the hardest thing I’d ever emotionally have to do. Well, I’m not gonna try and directly compare them, but three months later something else happened. We were holding some elections for Student President, and who’d have guessed, Diamond Tiara was running. But so was Pip. When he asked us to be his campaign managers, we were like “What the heck, campaign manager cutie marks, maybe?” So we sang a couple songs, Pip got elected, and we didn’t get our cutie marks. We were like 0-200 at that point, but oh well. What can you do? But no, that’s when something else happened. We were walking around downtown after school got out, thinking of maybe getting a celebratory bite to eat at Sugarcube Corner, when it happened. When I first saw Diamond Tiara’s mom, my own thought was “what the hay happened to her muzzle? That can’t be natural.” But then she started raising her tone with Diamond Tiara. And then she raised her hoof to the sky, stared right at Diamond Tiara, and Diamond Tiara flinched. Not like “I heard a loud noise and my eyes shut all on their own.” No, like she was expecting to get slapped. Like that had happened before. And then Diamond Tiara’s mom started talking about how trash all blankflanks were, and how Diamond Tiara needed to beat them at any cost, no matter what. This was also in public too, though I’m not sure anypony else heard. Well, a lot of things started making sense right then. Then Diamond Tiara started singing. Singing about how she wasn’t the kind of pony she wanted to be, and had no idea how to change. We ran right to Twilight and told her everything. Diamond Tiara wasn’t at school the next day. But she was the day after. And she had the biggest, most innocent smile I’d ever seen. She took me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo off to the side that day after school, joined by Silver Spoon, who actually seemed proud. And she apologized to all three of us. She apologized for all the years of bullying, then she looked between Scootaloo and I, and said the last thing I’d ever expect to come out of her mouth. “I don’t expect you two especially to forgive me after the horrible things I did to you, but I’m really sorry. I’ll leave you alone from now on, but if there’s anything you two need, please let me know and I’ll do my best to earn your trust.” I only accepted the apology at first, but after a week and a half of her actually showing change every single day, I did the one I never thought I’d do. I forgave her. It wasn’t an easy choice, and my mind was screaming “No!” the entire time, but I had a long talk with Applejack about it - she seemed the best choice due to obvious reasons - and eventually I did. Again, it wasn’t just a clear cut “we’re friends now and it’s not weird at all” like I was hoping, but hey, at this point, I’ll take it. Of course, I kept fiddling around and trying to invent new things, and that led me to the top of the mountain our sisters had found that one sleepy dragon at, six months after Applejack got out of the hospital. It was for a special occasion. It was Scootaloo’s birthday. And I had worked on her present for almost two months. I led them up, and they saw the gift in all its glory. A large tank, a leather harness attached to the bottom, steel slabs jutting out the side, and a large piece of metal attached to the bottom of the tank. “Uhhh… Applebloom? What the hay is this?” Scootaloo questioned. “I mean, thanks and all, but what is it?” “Your birthday present!” I smiled. “Uh, that’s.... awesome?” Scootaloo blinked. “I was thinking of that time we all got them fireworks, an’ Sweetie Belle here blew them up before we was supposed to,” I explained. “Those dang things nearly knocked me on my flank, so I asked Twilight if there was any way to control explosions like that.” “A controlled explosion is called a detonation,” Sweetie Belle clarified. We both gave her funny looks. “Anyway, we talked for a mite. And then I came by the next days with some plans and we started plannin’ this,” I finished. Both my friends just stared on, equally confused. “Well, see, it’s filled with some chemical called uh… ‘thethlyborate’… ‘triethylborane’… uh, sumthin’ like that. Th’ important thing is that it burns in air.” I walked over and tapped the metal tank. “So Twilight an’ I did some thinkin’. I asked her if you could put it in a container an’ enchant the chamber so just the inside was cooled, if it’d be safe. When she said yes, I came up with this crazy contraption.” I pointed at the bottom of the tank. “There are three chambers. This here bottom one has the chemical, an’ has a magically controlled temperature.” I pointed to the middle area. “This part has water. There ain’t no special temperature magic schmagic goin’ on here.” I pointed to the top of the tank. “This here part has somethin’ Twilight called an ‘impeller’ in to to raise th’ pressure.” Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side as Scootaloo furrowed her brows. “So… you spend two months with Twilight making… a tank that has different temperatures in the same area?” Scootaloo started uncertaintly. “Thanks, I guess? What’s the weird looking shield thing at the back, too?” Scootaloo gestured at a long piece of metal jetting out from the nozzle in the back of the tank. “That’s so y’all don’t burn your tail off, Scoot,” I smiled. “But... why would I burn my tail off?” Scootaloo questioned. “Well, you know that chemical I was talkin’ about that burns in air, right? So if it bleeds into this sealed off nozzle doohickey, and y’all can hit a pedal that releases the pressure from that impeller chamber an’ opens the base of the nozzle here…” I walked over and tapped a pedal attached to the bottom of the tank. The base of the nozzle opened up and a large flame burst from the pack, knocking open spring-clamped valves at the end of the nozzle and knocking the whole contraption over, immediately shutting off the flame as the nozzle slammed back shut. “Y’all can get lift!” I finished with a flourish. Both of my friends continued sharing confused faces for another moment before a manic smile appeared on Scootaloo’s face. “So… y-you mean?” Scootaloo trembled. “If I’m right, y’all can fly right next to Rainbow Dash with this.” I smiled back. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Scootaloo yelled, practically tackling me and throwing her forelegs around my shoulders. “Applebloom, you’re the best! Thank you!” I hooked a foreleg around Scootaloo and nuzzled her. “You’re welcome. Happy birthday, Scoot.” “B-but…” Sweetie Belle spoke cautiously. “How is Scootaloo gonna be able to lift this? It looks really heavy.” The smile wavered from Scootaloo’s face as she broke out of the hug. “Princess Twilight enchanted it wit’ light weight. Should weigh ‘bout the same as our saddlebags on a school day,” I replied quickly. The smile returned to Scootaloo’s face. “Can we try it now?” She asked eagerly. “All we gotta do is hook you up to th’ harness an’...” I paused. “One condition, Scootaloo.” “Anything!” She chirped back. “Until I can make sure I can fix this up so it’s perfectly safe… I don’t want y’all using this without an adult pony around. Preferably a pegasus. This is dangerous stuff.” Scootaloo frowned. “Applebloom, I’m not some small foal, I can handle some risks.” “Scootaloo…” I started. “Besides,” Scootaloo put a forehoof placatingly on my shoulder. “I do dangerous tricks and stuff on my scooter all the time! This should be nothing.” “Scoot-” I protested weakly. “And even if I have a little accident, so what? I can take a fall. You’ve seen me do it several times. We’re tougher than we look, remember?” “No!” I shouted, knocking her hoof off and poking her in the chest. “An accident with this can involve you blowing up in midair! I may be lucky to only be half paralyzed, but I sure as heck ain’t letting you roll th’ dice and maybe end up dead! Agree to my terms or I’ll break this here thing apart right now!” Mirroring looks of shock appeared on both Sweetie Belle’s and Scootaloo’s faces. But I wasn’t going to apologize. They say live and learn, well I learned a whole lot after the cart crash, and I was gonna make sure I used it so Scootaloo could live. Scootaloo bit her lip. I could tell she wanted to argue back, but I guess I had some sort of crazy desperation on my face that shut her right up. She just sighed and sank to her haunches. “Alright Applebloom, you win. I promise.” I realized at this point I was breathing heavily and my eyes were burning. I took several deep breaths to calm me down as I wiped my eyes. “Now look,” I continued. “This ain’t the whole surprise. Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to wait nearby, saying she got a surprise for her too. So we’re gonna get y’all all strapped up in this, and y’all get to share your first flight with your big sister. Don’t that sound nice?” Scootaloo’s whole body shuddered as tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. This was the first time I’d seen her tear up since the day we volunteered to carry the flag in the Equestria Games. But these weren’t tears of sadness. These were tears of joy. Scootaloo pulled me into another hug and softly whispered into my ear. “You really are the best, Applebloom.” I pulled her in closer and whispered back. “This is just me getting square for all those pep talks that meant th’ world to me. I couldn’t’ve made it through this past half-year without you.” I put myself to work strapping the eagerly shaking Scootaloo in as Sweetie Belle padded around us, eyeing the contraption warily. “Are you sure this will work, Applebloom?” she asked nervously. I let out a quick laugh. I’d never admit it to them, but I had practiced what I was gonna say next. “Cross my heart, hope to fly…” I pulled the final strap and smirked. “Put a pegasus in the sky.” I kicked the lever that opened the nozzle, and with a cry of pure joy, Scootaloo rocketed into the sky. Sweetie Belle and I idly watched Scootaloo pull flips and tricks for a couple moments, dopey smiles mirrored on both our faces as we watched our friend live out one of her dreams. But that was just the start. “Now if only I could make it a bit safer, so she don’t need no supervision…” I muttered to myself. “...Applebloom.” Sweetie Belle called out in a breathless voice. “I like the idea of powerin’ it with steam. Maybe work more with that so I don’t need no dangerous chemicals?” I continued muttering. “Applebloom! Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle insisted. Ignoring her, I pawed at the ground for a moment. “Maybe have it so th’ pressure system is more easily worked with? I don’t like th’ thought of what’d happen if the pressure built up too much and was ignored...” “APPLEBLOOM!” Sweetie Belle demanded, slamming her forehoof into the ground. “What?!” I snapped a little more forcefully than intended. “You got your cutie mark!” She grinned, pointing at my flank. “I… wha- huh?” My head whipped around, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. On my flank was an image of a wrench crossed with a bone, making an “X” over the image of a gear. It was… I had a... My whole body started shaking. I had a… I had a cutie mark? After all of this? “Oh my Celestia, Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle squealed, throwing a hug around me. “I’m so proud! Congratulations!” I couldn’t believe it. I turned as best as I could and poked my flank. It moved with the skin. ...It was… It was real… “...I did it,” I spoke in a shaky voice. “You did!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “I did it!” I laughed. “Oh my stars, I did it!” “You did do it!” Sweetie Belle laughed louder. “I DID IT!” I screamed, throwing my own hug around Sweetie Belle as I squealed wildly into her coat. The sun rose fully on that day with the excited squeals of two fillies on the ground, as another filly was joined by her sister in the sky, all four of them watching a dream come true right before their very eyes. Y’know, I didn’t need all four legs to be useful. In fact, I was pretty happy where I was right now. Chapter 9With evening came two fillies standing in my room, jaws dropped to the floor and eyes wide. "Applebloom..." Scootaloo stammered. "How... what?" “Well…” I dawdled. “Have y'all ever tried taking off a dress with jus’ your forehooves?” “I try not to make a habit of wearing dresses," Scootaloo snarked. “It’s hard. It’s really messy an’... Well, the first and most of the second night I jus’ kinda gave up and slept in it,” I explained. “But now I can just do this.” With a huff, I grabbed the string that connected the rear strap of the wheelchair with the shoulder strap I roped it around. When that was released, I pushed my weight onto one forehoof and manually unstrapped the strap around my breast. Pushing the wheelchair back a bit, I carried myself on my forehooves over to the wooden slabs. I eased the wooden slabs between the dress and my shoulders, grabbed the rope in between with my mouth, and yanked my head down. In one sudden movement the dress was whisked off of me and the wheelchair fell to the floor, the rope carrying me up with it as my forelegs caught on the sleeves. Still holding the rope in my teeth, I slid my legs out of the sleeves and let them hang. I threw my body weight to the side, spinning me around as the counterweight on the other side of the pulley system held me perfectly in place. Finding the perfect weight for that was a pain in the- Well, not the flank, because I couldn’t even feel pain there, but a pain in the something, alright. Hanging down next to the dress were clothespins. I set to work hanging the dress up nicely so the rear portion wasn’t dragging over the floor, and let go of the rope. The counterweight crashed down, returning the rope to its original height as I landed on my forehooves. I shifted my weight to one leg again as I beamed and gestured to the entire contraption with the other hoof. Soon after I lost my balance and fell to the floor. “Ta-da!” I called weakly from the floor. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ooh’d and ahh’d respectively. “Applebloom, that’s so clever!” Sweetie gushed. “How did you even set this up?” “Princess Twilight and I drew up the plans, and Big Macintosh helped me build it. Ain’t it great?” “Great?” Scootaloo chuckled. “Applebloom, this is AWESOME! This is genius!” “Aw, no,” I blushed. “It’s just a little something I whipped up.” “It’s not just a little something, I would never have thought of this!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “After fixing up the clubhouse and now this, I’m surprised you don’t have a cutie mark in crafting stuff.” “Ah.” I waved a hoof dismissively. “That was working with wood and hammers, n’ this was working with ropes and knots. Totally different thing. And I still have a lot of other issues I need to think of solutions to. Y’all ever try taking a shower when you can only move half your body? Not fun.” Scootaloo made a funny face at that. “So uh…” I dawdled. “Sweetie Belle told me what you did yesterday, Scootaloo…” Scootaloo shrugged. “I don’t regret a thing. She went way too far, and needed to be taught a lesson. I’m just surprised Rarity has been so… not angry about it.” Sweetie Belle tittered. “Remember when Spike went to the Dragon Lands? He was being harassed by some bigger dragons and Rarity literally threatened to rip three dragons at least twice her size to pieces if they hurt him. Rarity doesn’t have a problem with fighting for your friends.” I’m pretty sure my jaw hit the floor at that point. I’m also pretty sure Scootaloo’s did too. “Did she really? That’s so awesome!” Scootaloo chirped. “Oop, Scoots called your sister ‘awesome’.” I winked at Sweetie Belle. “She’s gonna go on another trip to try and get your sister to see her like Rainbow Dash does. Hopefully this time she doesn’t need to have a near-death experience.” Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at me. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and smiled. And for the first time since the accident, I felt… light. Nobody was focusing on my disability, I was laughing with my friends, things felt good. Why did it feel like it was going to be short lived? Days passed. Days turned into weeks. I still did all I could to avoid Applejack. Scootaloo came back to school after a week, claiming that being suspended was awesome, because she just goofed around all day. I made a really rough invention by attaching a string to a loofah that was suspended by wood and had a counterweight on the other end. I just had to pull and release the string and position myself correctly, and I didn’t need help scrubbing myself in the shower. I did a reverse of that for the undercarriage. It wasn’t great, but it was better than being washed by somepony else. Big Mac hurt his back at one point, so I came up with something else. I remember Sweetie Belle told me Rarity mentioned something called a “loom”, so I fashioned one out of an old barrel, and Big Mac could just operate the pedals attached, and move things so he didn’t hurt himself. Since it used rope, it couldn’t handle crazy weight, but it did help. I called it a “winch” on Scootaloo’s suggestion, because to her it sounded like it made that noise when used. Honestly? I was just happy that for once I could actually be helpful. I did wish the rope was stronger, though. And the winch wasn’t exactly easy to move around. Oh well. Big Mac helped me install more pulley systems around the house, so I could go into the bathroom, shower, and put my dress on all by myself. I’ll admit, the first day I actually managed to go through my morning without anypony’s help, I almost cried tears of joy. I was almost as independent as I used to be before the accident. I even ran down the stairs right before breakfast and threw the biggest hug around Big Mac I could. Considering he was about five times my size, it wasn't a very big hug. I still needed help putting my wheelchair on most of the time though. The easiest way to get in it was to back myself into it, but with no control over my hindlegs, and no feeling in them, I was forced to spend a giant amount of time messing with it to work. Having Granny or Big Mac helped me save a lot of time. But still, after all that time my grades kept dropping. I still had problems focusing, I still thought I was useless, and despite several more heart-to-hearts with Scootaloo, I didn’t end up any happier. “Cripple gang!” Scootaloo would wink and elbow me. “All we need is for Sweetie to break her horn and we can officially change our name to the Cutie Mark Cripples,” she’d joke. I’m not especially perceptive, but I could tell that the jokes were hiding her own insecurity about not being able to fly. She covered up her own feelings, put on a whole show, and made fun of herself just to make me feel better. I felt horrible. With time, the outright hatred for Applejack just turned into a dull ache. I still avoided her, and at this point she felt less like my sister, and only somebody else living in the house that I didn’t like to see, and didn’t want there. She was like the pony equivalent of cancer. I didn’t want to keep hating her. It was tearing me up inside every time I saw a family photo, or had to use ropes just to be kinda normal. But all that just reminded me that this was all her fault. And so we come to one day, almost a month after getting out of the hospital, that I was wandering around with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “But how does it work? Is it always green?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle hummed. “I’ve never seen him breathe red fire, so maybe Celestia enchanted him or something?” “Well the thing is…” I piped up. “Does he control what gets sent to Princess Celestia or is it somethin’ that just automatically happens? If he breathed fire on like, a tree, would he teleport the tree?” We fell silent at that, each of us puzzling over it. Sweetie Belle chewed on her lip, then glanced up at the sunset. “Oh no! Sunset already?! I gotta get home or Rarity will kill me!” Sweetie Belle went running off toward Ponville as Scootaloo and I shared amused glances. “Yeah, I’d better get going too,” Scootaloo chuckled. “Aunt Holiday is making us pecan pie for dinner! You wanna see if you can join us? And maybe you can sleep over too!” I let out a sigh. “I can’t. I’m allergic to nuts.” “Ohh, right.” Scootaloo responded, eyes meeting the ground and ears drooping. ”Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, right?” “Right!” I forced a happy tone. “See y’all then!” Scootaloo waved and headed off too. The Crusaders used to have sleepovers all the time. Rarity would often joke that we were joined at the hip. But ever since the accident, I’d avoided staying over, always finding some excuse. I know both my friends said they won’t judge me, and won’t care for who I was, but that didn’t help at all. I just didn’t want to have to bother them with the freak I was. And besides, I didn’t have all my systems in their homes. Can you imagine going to a sleepover and having to ask one of your friends to dress or undress you? Or to wash you? I don’t think I’d ever get over the shame. I never invited them over either. The rest of the family had gotten used to having ropes suspended everywhere so I could do basic things, but I didn’t want my friends to see it. I don’t know why, but something about it just seemed… too private to share with them. All because of her. I didn’t like saying her name. I didn’t like even thinking about her. Every time I did it hurt. She used to be everything I strived to be. She used to be the closest pony to me, and the one I could always trust with anything. She was the one that raised me. I blew out slowly, looking around at my surroundings. Huh, we’d somehow wandered by the junkyard on the outskirts of town. I don’t know if I’d ever been over here. My family wouldn’t be concerned if I didn’t show up for a while, having gotten used to me being gone all day, so I had some time. I made my way into the junkyard, looking around for any interesting loose materials that might strike some stroke of inspiration for another new thing I could come up with. And then I stopped. I saw Rarity’s cart from the derby. A forehoof made its way to my chest as a ghost pain shot through me. I looked away, to the right. That was a mistake. The shattered remains of the cart Applejack built was staring back at me. I could still see the dried blood all over the front of the cart. It had turned brown with time. My blood. Suddenly queasy, I looked away. I stared back at the swan cart. And then I had an idea. An awful idea. A wonderful, awful idea. Minutes later I left the junkyard with a new prize in my saddlebags. There was an imaginary skip in my step as I made my way home. The night was pretty normal from there on. It was pretty late when I got home, so I pulled the dish they’d made for me out of the fridge and finished it off. I spent half an hour or so playing fetch outside with Winona, but it was too dark to continue for long. But finally it was time to put my plan to action. I left my prize outside Applejack’s door and went to bed with a smile on my face.
Chapter 1Ugh… I felt my eyes slowly open as I stared out blearily at my surroundings. I saw a dirt road, some hay bales lined up every fifteen or so feet, and grass beyond that. Down the dirt path were two black poles holding up a checkered black and white flag. “Ooh,” A nearby white unicorn mare complained, “my beautiful swan cart has become an ugly duckling.” My head rolled as I struggled to recognize that mare. I knew that I knew her, but no names were coming to mind. I felt my eyes roll in my head as I caught sight of two more mares, and a couple feet away from them were two banged up fillies who were looking around. They seemed to be… confused. My vision focused back on one of the mares. She was a pale orange color and had a blonde mane. She had ribbons tied to the end of her mane and tail. She was an earth pony. She was wearing a red helmet with a green stripe. She was lying on her back, rubbing at her temples and looked very out of it. Applejack. That’s right, that was my sister. What is she doing here? What am I doing here? I seemed to be stuck in some sort of wooden box from the waist down. Well, the sides were definitely wooden, the part in front of me seemed to be covered in some dark red liquid. With another look I noticed that I was also covered with that same red fluid. That’s not right, I don’t have a red coat. Do I? Slowly I reached out and tried to place one of my forelegs on the wooden beam in front of me. I missed. “It still counts as a win if I push my cart across, right?” Came the raspy voice of a nearby blue pegasus. Again, I could tell that I could recognize her, but no names or memories came to mind. I weakly shook my head. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but maybe these ponies could help me. I just needed to get up. I tried to push myself up and over the wooden… whatever I was stuck in with my hindlegs. Nothing happened. My legs didn’t even twitch. I shook my head again and tried prying myself up with my forelegs. I gave out a loud gasp as the sensation of being stabbed through the back by some sort of blade overpowered me. I saw Applejack stand up and turn around. I vaguely registered the look of horror dawn on her as all the color fled her face. “APPLEBLOOM!” She screamed, racing toward my side. I bit my lip as I tried to kick off with my hindlegs again. As the disorientation faded, I recalled where I was. The Derby. We were doing the Derby. Me, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. We built… carts. That must be the wooden thing I was stuck inside. But why couldn’t I kick my way out? As the shock faded and the pain started to set in, I tried again pushing myself off the ground. My forelegs worked fine. Why weren’t my hindlegs moving? Applejack danced just outside my vision as the panic started setting in. I felt myself start to hyperventilate as I screamed in pain, trying to kick my way out of the collapsed cart. Around me I heard other voices screaming, other voices shouting my name. I saw Scootaloo race to the front of the cart, eyes wide, face pale, and gushing blood out of a gash in her eyebrow. A quick look showed that Sweetie Belle was frozen in place. “Oh Celestia, she’s been impaled!” Rarity cried out. Impaled? My breath caught in my chest as I looked down again. A little under halfway down my chest, there was a small, jagged piece of wood sticking through me. The area around the injury was gushing blood. My blood. Oh Celestia... that was sticking through me. My efforts to kick myself out redoubled as waves of pain slammed me. I unwittingly let out a gasp of pain as my eyes started tearing up. I saw Applejack at my side, trying to break the cart around me with powerful bucks. I let out a whine as my lungs desperately sucked in air. “Oh Celestia…. Applejack I can’t feel my legs. I can’t feel my legs I can’t feel… I...” I rambled, tears rolling silently down my cheeks as I struggled to grasp what was happening. “I can’t feel my legs and no no no I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die please! I can’t feel my legs!” An intense spasm racked my body as my forelegs flailed out haphazardly, searching for something to squeeze, or some sort of comfort. “I know, Applebloom, honey. We’ll have you outta there in half a jiffy! Just hang on!” “Nonononono I don’t want to die oh Celestia help me. Somepony help!” I choked out through sobs, still trying to move my hindlegs as my vision started turning white. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted, grasping my hooves. “We got you! You’re gonna be okay!” With a grunt and a well aimed kick, Applejack broke off the piece of wood sticking through me from the back. This jostled around the part impaling me, and I felt a large gush of blood escape from the wound all at once. A large spray shot out and coated Scootaloo, who let out a startled gasp and broke out of the hold to wipe her eyes. The last thing I remember is letting out a high pitched whine and coughing up blood as the world faded to white. And in the next moment there was black. And I was falling, falling, falling into the endless void. And then I was gone.
Chapter 2I woke up slowly from the dream. As I started to form pictures and images of what was around me, my body started to boot up. I felt myself breathing with ease. I tried to swallow and a spasm of pain shot through my body. I cracked an eye open as my brain started revealing sights and sounds to me. "-at happened?" An unfamiliar voice sounded. There were intensely bright lights above me. They appeared to be moving. I felt something soft, yet firm against my right side. Was I in my bed? "There was a crash during the Derby. She got stuck in her cart after it got destroyed!" A raspy voice responded. "I flew her here as quickly as I could!" That sounds like Rainbow Dash. Am I hanging out with Rainbow Dash? Haha, Scootaloo is gonna be so jealous. I vaguely felt the sensation of something covering my muzzle, and felt what I thought was a leech wriggling around on my left foreleg. Did I fall in the lake? "What's her blood type? She's lost a lot of blood!" The unfamiliar voice called out again. "I uh… I don't know!" Rainbow Dash responded. She sounded panicked. I felt like I was moving, and quickly. I also felt the thing I was laying against jostle, and felt a stronger spasm of pain spread through my stomach like wildfire. I let out an audible gasp. "She's waking up!" The first voice said again. "Nurse Coldheart, I need you to give her two milligrams of Ketamine, STAT!" I heard somepony push a button, and some sort of electrical beep, and a warm, smooth feeling spread throughout my body. I tried to sigh in comfort, but found I was unable to. With the calming feeling spreading throughout my torso and forelegs, I felt my eyelids flutter close on their own accord. More relaxed than I had ever been, I felt myself falling asleep again. I opened my eyes. Or… were they already open? Where was I? The room I was in was blindingly white. There were some light blue curtains, and a picture of a large whale swimming underwater on the wall opposing me. Off to the left was a door, with a white pony with pink hair and a pink plus sign as a cutie mark. What's Rarity doing in my room? Wait… this isn't my room. And Rarity doesn't have pink hair. Where am I? "Good morning Applebloom," the pony spoke. I felt like I had heard her voice recently. "My name is Nurse Redheart. What do you remember?" That was a good question. What did I remember? "I… uh," I cleared my throat, pausing to think. "I was doin' the cart race. I tucked my seatbelt under the seat since Applejack didn't install any of them… buckle things. We were goin' real slow, then Scootaloo's cart lost a wheel and we all crashed. Then I… got real confused, everything got real bright, I fell asleep, and here I am." An unreadable expression fixed itself to Redheart's face. "Your sister didn't add any buckles?" Redheart asked. "Uh, no ma'am. She said we weren't going fast enough to need one, and the seatbelts were jus' a dumb rule they had to add," I replied. Redheart looked like she had just sucked on a lemon. She let out a long sigh and relaxed her face. “Applebloom, dear, you got very injured in the crash. Do you remember anything about that?” An image of a piece of wood sticking out of my chest flashed before my eyes. My forelegs shot down to my chest instantly, feeling for the injury. As soon as my forelegs hit bandaged flesh, a spasm of pain shot through me. “Agh!” I shouted. I felt a hoof gently push my hooves away from my stomach. “Please don’t aggravate the injury,” Redheart pleaded. She chewed on her lip and hesitated before speaking again. “Dear, you had a complete separation between your T18 and L1 vertebrae, I’m afraid. You spent the last sixteen hours in surgery, and we had to fuse your spine back together.” I blinked hard. That sounded bad. “What does that mean?” Redheart placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Honey, I just want you to realize the fact that you survived is amazing. You should be very thankful you didn’t get more injured with what happened. Be that as it may… all the nerves below the T18 vertebrae won’t work anymore… I’m afraid you may never walk again.” I felt my heart pounding in my ears. “What?” My voice cracked. I was sure I misheard her. I had to have. This sort of thing could never happen to me. “Your body relies on nerves to send messages to your muscles.” Redheart sighed. “But with the injury you had, those nerves aren’t working anymore. So… I’m afraid you won’t be able to control anything below the injury.” “Wha- For how long?!” I sputtered as my world began crashing down on me. I felt my eyes burn as I struggled to fight back tears. “I’m sorry Applebloom, but in ninety-five percent of the cases where a pony gets an injury like this… they never walk again.” “No.” I whispered, hot tears silently making their way down my face. “N-no.” Redheart fell silent. “H-how did this happen?” I sobbed. “I mean… Applejack was walking when she was tryin’ to get me outta the cart!” Redheart looked away as she slowly retracted her hoof. “My best guess is that Applejack got thrown during the crash, but from what Rainbow Dash said… You were halfway through the front of the cart, and right in the middle. While your seat was mostly unharmed… I’m afraid your belt didn’t hold you back, and the crash flung you right in the way of the collapsing back of the cart. If there were no buckles, that would probably be why.” Suddenly the room got cold. “So that means… Applejack…” I breathed. “No. Celestia no.” Was this… her fault? If the seat I was in was mostly unharmed, but the seatbelt not holding me back did this… then… Applejack’s the reason I’m this way? “We’ll have to keep you here for the next few weeks,” Redheart continued. “We'll need to medicate you, and give you occupational therapy and bowel and bladder training. We also need to set you up with a wheelchair so you can get around.” “Wait, wha? What do y’all mean, occupational therapy an’ bladder training?” I didn’t know what occupational therapy was, or what bowels were, but that sounded bad. “Well, occupational therapy is teaching you how to do things differently now with your… unique condition. And bladder training because… well, your brain can’t send messages down there now, so…” Redheart returned to staring at the wall, rubbing one foreleg against another as her ears drooped. “Have you ever heard of a catheter?”
Chapter 3I felt mad. No, I felt furious. That still wasn’t right. I felt betrayed. For as long as I remembered Applejack had taken care of me. I don’t even remember my parents. And now because of her, I couldn’t walk. Ever again. I prodded the plastic bag in front of me. I still felt my cheeks burning from the explanation Redheart had given me about it. And now I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t buck trees. I couldn’t even go up or down a flight of stairs. By Celestia, I was useless. I vaguely registered that Redheart was still talking to me. I found myself nodding absentmindedly. Redheart left the room. I relaxed my neck and stared at the ceiling as my mind wandered. I’d never be a farmer. I’d be the only Apple in… who knows how many generations to not be a farmer. Even Goldie Delicious was a farmer when she was young. How would Big Mac and Granny handle it? I know I’d had nightmares where they didn’t accept a non apple-related cutie mark and kicked me out… how would they handle me not even being able to walk? How would they handle me being a… useless… Cripple. How would my friends react? Now that they had a… what was the term Rarity used that one time… charity case? Yeah. How would they react to their friend becoming a useless charity case that wouldn’t ever have a cutie mark? And what about Applejack? Would she… Well, why should I care? If Miss Redheart was right, Applejack was the entire reason I was like this… The entire reason I was a cripple was because of her. Why should I care what she thinks? “...Sugarcube?” I didn’t have to look to recognize that voice. There was no mistaking the trademark southern accent of Applejack. “You uh…” Applejack cleared her throat. “Y’all alright there?" I felt my eyes burn as I fought against the tears desperately trying to escape. I grit my teeth as a fire lit in my belly. "Sugarcube?" Applejack repeated in a smaller voice. "Did you hear me?" "Yes," I spat, putting as much venom in my voice as I could. "I'm so glad you're alright," Applejack exhaled audibly. "Alright?" I whispered icily. "Ever since y'all got flown to the hospital, neither Big Mac or I have been able to sleep or eat, just worried for yer sake." Applejack began walking toward me. "Applejack, I-" I started to speak but was instantly cut off. "An' Granny has just had this empty look. But now that you're good, she'll be so much happier," Applejack continued. "I'm not-" I tried to interrupt her again, snorting angrily when she cut me off again. "An' Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have been so scared for y'all too. They weren't listening to the nurse long enough to have her tell 'em you weren't gonna die, and just cried themselves out for hours." Applejack placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Boy howdy will they be happy to see you awake!" "Would you lis-" I felt my voice rising, barely able to get a word in edgewise. "Now what's this hogwash the nurse was talking about with 'foal endangerment'? Our cart was built how the Apple's carts have been built since that there Derby started. Besides, at the speed it was going there-" "APPLEJACK!" I screamed, swatting her hoof off my shoulder. "SHUT YER LUNA-DAMNED MOUTH FOR ONE SECOND!" Applejack froze at that. I froze too. I'd never sworn in front of my sister. I fought the urge to cringe, and got ready for a tongue lashing, expecting her to demand I wash my mouth out with soap, or say that she was gonna tan my hide for such language. To my surprise, I saw her eyes tear up as she sank to her haunches, and her head bow as she waited for me to speak. I really felt like that should have made me feel guilty, but after all the stress of the last day, I couldn't find myself caring. I still did feel slightly bad about not caring. But not bad enough to get rid of my anger. "Nurse Redheart was here when I woke. She tol' me that my seat in the cart was fine. If I had stayed there, I wouldn't be any more scratched up than Sweetie Belle or Scoot." I growled. "But y'all's stupid traditions made the cart do that! I even asked you about it and y'all just ignored what I was sayin', like you were just doin' now!" I fought my best to stay calm, but found myself starting to shout as the dam burst. I felt tears streaming down my face as I shouted. "But y'all didn't wanna listen! And now, because of y'all's stupid pride, I'm gonna be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life!" I picked up the catheter bag in front of me and threw it at Applejack as hard as I could. "I have to pee in a bag now, I can't even use the stairs, and now I'm gonna be the laughingstock of th' town!" As a powerful sob wracked my body, I reached over and grabbed dad's stetson off her head, flinging it at her. "We woulda all been fine if y'all fully grown adults weren't so full o' yerself and took over our school project. Maybe it's good I ain't never gonna be an apple farmer, this way I wouldn't havta grow up and be like YOU!" I had never seen my sister cry. I had seen her tear up on a couple occasions, but never cry, not until today. In that moment, I saw the dark tear tracks that were mottling my own face mirrored on hers. And I didn't even feel bad. "I DON'T WANNA EVER SEE YOU AGAIN! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Applejack let out a quiet sob, then grabbed her stetson and slowly backed for the door. "Applebloom... I..." "I HATE YOU!" I felt my throat turn hoarse. For a couple of moments nopony moved. Nopony even twitched. Applejack turned with a wet sniffle and quietly left the room, leaving me to my own thoughts. Good. I was happier without her.
Chapter 4It was quiet for a long time. Briefly, Redheart came in to bring me food and tell me that the fitting of my wheelchair was coming along with my first therapy session tomorrow. Then she had left. And it was quiet again. I wasn't hungry. I tried pushing the food off the bed, but couldn't move my core enough to push it far enough. I couldn't even do the simplest things. Useless. For a few hours, I floated in and out of awareness. I didn't think. I was empty. I was exhausted. But I couldn’t sleep. It must have been evening by the time I heard it. There was the sound of something wheeled racing along the hallway outside my room. A moment later there was a stampede of hooves hitting the ground, chasing after whatever it was. And then they entered the room. Those two ponies. For a moment we all stared at each other. I almost cried. I might have if I wasn't so exhausted. But one of them did. That same pony was next to me on the bed a second later, throwing her arms around my neck and quietly crying into it. The other was on my other side a moment later, uncertainly chewing on her bottom lip. "Hey girls," I breathed. "Applebloom…" Scootaloo trailed off. "Are you okay? Wait, I mean…" I chuckled weakly. "Well, I ain't showing my insides to y’all right now. so… I guess I could…” I couldn’t bring myself to say I could be worse. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t do things on my own. I didn’t have a future anymore. “I could be better,” I eventually finished. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shared a glance. “So…” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “What now?” I sighed. “Tomorrow I get a wheelchair, and they start teaching me how to live with… y’know.” I waved my forehooves around. “Only two usable legs.” Sweetie backed out of the embrace. “So you’re like that… forever?” I let my legs fall limply. “Yeah. Sounds that way.” A minute or two passed in silence. “How did you girls get in here?” I finally asked. “I told th’ nurse I didn’t want to see nopony else.” Scootaloo grinned. “My idea, actually. We weren’t just gonna let you suffer on your own, so we got some help! And a distraction.” “Twist volunteered to cause a scene so we could sneak in. She told us to tell you ‘hi’.” Sweetie Belle explained, glancing at the door. “I sure hope she didn’t get in trouble.” I clenched my jaw tightly shut as my eyes burned. Twist? The filly I so rudely dropped and almost completely stopped talking to after I met Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle? She risked getting into trouble so my friends could come comfort me? I… am a horrible pony. “Well…” I felt my voice go high as I suppressed a sob. “T-tell her thanks.” “...Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Can I… I want to…” I tried vainly to force myself into a sitting position, but my core didn’t respond. I gave up after a moment and let my head fall to the pillow, holding my forehooves out to my friends. After a moment of confusion, Scootaloo and Sweetie pulled me into a group hug. I probably would have cried there too if I had any tears left. We stayed like that for what felt like hours until my embarrassment got the best of me and I laid back down into the bed. “T-thanks,” I muttered, my cheeks currently the same color as my mane. I awkwardly cleared my throat, then struggled to think of something to break the awkward silence with. “So uh, did y’all make it out okay?” “Aside from this cool scar I’m gonna get.” Scootaloo smirked as she pointed up toward a covered up gash on her left brow. “The Doc said Sweetie and I only have something called whiplash, which is just kind of a pain in the neck.” I blinked. “What is it?” Sweetie chuckled. “No Applebloom, Scootaloo means it’s literally a pain in the neck. The pain in the neck is a pain in the neck.” I felt myself giggle. A giggle that soon turned into a genuine laugh. And before too long, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle joined in. For a few moments we just laughed, and it almost felt like the old times. But all good things must come to an end. Scootaloo wiped a tear from her eye with a final chuckle. "But in all seriousness… I know we can't really do much, but is there anything else we can do for you?" I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a few moments. There was something I was dying to ask, but I didn't think I could bring myself to say it. The sympathetic looks of my friends reassured me that I would not be judged. "I just… don't wanna be alone right now. Can y'all…" I hesitated. "Maybe stay… uh, stay th’ night?" Scootaloo laid on the pillow next to me, smirking as I let out a colossal yawn. "As long as you need, Applebloom." "I don't want y'all to get into trouble," I replied tersely. "Rarity will probably be angry that I didn't let her know, but she'll get over it. She'll probably be okay after I explain myself, considering your situation," Sweetie said slowly. "And I have Rainbow Dash watching over me tonight. Considering both our sisters know we were trying to visit you, I don't think she'll be mad. She'll probably be proud!" Scootaloo exclaimed. For a few moments, we all stayed in silence. “So what now?” Sweetie Belle yawned. “Ghost stories?” Scootaloo suggested. Taking that as her cue, Sweetie Belle magically switched off the lights and unbound the curtains, so just a sliver of moonlight shone through. “I don’t really feel up to that.” I sighed. Sweetie hummed for a moment. “Truth or dare?” I chewed on my lip. “We’re stuck in one room and I can’t even move. I’m sorry girls, I don’t mean to drag y’all’s nights down.” “Screw it.” Scootaloo poked at the bedsheet, noticing me trying, and failing to suppress a yawn. “What else can we do?” “Well…” Sweetie Belle hesitated, laying on my other side. “Why don’t we just go to sleep? I mean, we can probably do some stuff tomorrow if you aren’t too busy, Applebloom.” Scootaloo shrugged, sliding under the covers to my right. “And if they don’t let us see you, we’ll just have to cause another distraction and break you out. Now scooch over.” "I ah… can't." I frowned. "Aw, c'mon." Scootaloo chuckled. "Sweetie Belle ain't that big yet." "Hey!" Sweetie Belle squeaked indignantly. I covered my mouth with a hoof to prevent a laugh. "No, I mean I physically can't." "Oh." The smirk faded from Scootaloo's face. "Sorry." Sweetie Belle dived under the covers, and I felt a part of my back get moved toward her. She popped back out with a smile. "You should have some room now!" "Thanks, Sweetie!" Scootaloo chirped, throwing the blanket up so it fell over all three of us. For a few minutes, we laid there in silence. I heard the gentle snoring of Sweetie Belle on my left, and Scootaloo tossing and turning every so often on my right. I found myself smiling as I considered how much trouble my friends were risking to bring me comfort. Even with all the stress recently, I felt like, with my friends beside me, it was gonna be a great night. And maybe I could even… well, maybe I should try to avoid thinking about the future for now. Still, at least I had two friends right now I’d trust with anything. Two I can count on to do their best to make sure I got through everything life threw at me. Two that would break into a hospital to see me happy. Scootaloo turned again next to me and gave off a small gasp. I saw her bite her lower lip and she lifted the blankets and looked underneath. She dropped the blankets and turned to me, giggling into her hoof. "Oh my gosh Applebloom, they have you in a diaper?" I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. Well, it was gonna be a decent night at least.
Chapter 5Author's Note Another short chapter for now. Next chapter is much longer and much more dramatic. Enjoy Chapter 5 The next morning the three of us were woken by a door opening and the cheerful, sing-song cry of "breakfast~" come from Redheart as she pushed a cart into the room. As soon as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle with me, I saw her brow furrow and her muzzle scrunch up. Thinking quickly though, Sweetie Belle saved us. There are a few things Sweetie Belle is known for. One is singing. Another is having a giganta-mongus vocabulary. Her most known one is the fact that she accidentally sets a lot of things in fire or burns them in some way. But the most powerful thing she's known for are her puppy eyes. I'm guessing Sweetie Belle instantly picked up on the fact that Redheart was gonna give us a tongue lashing because she threw her forelegs around my shoulders, let out a wet sniffle, and threw on the puppy eyes. "Oh please Mrs. Nurse, don't be angry! We were all just so worried about Applebloom, and we thought she was so sad and lonely and that just broke our hearts so we wanted to make sure she was okay! Please don't be mad!" Redheart never stood a chance. Her gaze instantly softened and she just told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to go find their "parents or guardians", because after breakfast I had a long day ahead of me. As my friends left the room, so too did my traces of hope and happiness. I was going to hate the rest of my stay. The rest of my stay was slightly less miserable than I thought. I'd rather not discuss a lot of it, but that day I got caught with Sweetie and Scootaloo, I also got fitted with my wheelchair. I swore I would never get used to that uncomfortable feeling. They didn't really have wheelchairs in my exact size, so I had to get the next biggest size. I didn't really have to deal with an awkward feeling in my lower half, but just with my upper half, it was a strange feeling. My lower half was suspended so that the hooves on my hind legs were almost level with my elbows on my forelegs. And then I had to start "occupational therapy". The nurse in charge of that basically started off by telling me that I was gonna need some help with a lot of things now that I didn't before. She told me there was no shame in what life had made me, and that accepting help was okay. Not only did she talk to me like a little foal, but with what she was actually saying was more or less that yeah, I was useless now. The rest of the time dragged on slowly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo visited every day. Big Mac and Granny too. Applejack tried to see me a few times but I told Redheart to absolutely not let her in. I know she hung out just outside the door when the rest of the family was there. Probably moping, picking at the floor or something. I still didn't care. Her friends did show up. Rarity came in once and told me she had a fabulous surprise waiting for me when I got out. Rainbow Dash offered to take me for a fly sometime. From the look on Scootaloo's face as she asked that, I get the feeling it was actually her idea. That went well until I came clean and told Rainbow Dash I was scared of heights. I saw that take the wind out of her sails. Those two especially seemed intent on making me happy. I think they might have been feeling guilty considering they were also going way too far when it came to the derby. This feeling doubled when Scootaloo admitted both her and Sweetie Belle went off on their sisters when I was in surgery. At least Rainbow Dash and Rarity had the decency to not cripple their little sisters. Pinkie and Fluttershy came by a lot. Fluttershy always seemed to be feeling guilty too, even though she had nothing to do with the derby. She read and told me lots of really neat stories. I really liked her. Pinkie, on the other hoof, just couldn't handle somepony feeling depressed if she could help. She threw me little private parties that the nurses always had to clean up, offered to help me "deck out" my wheelchair, whatever that means, and often told me jokes to try and lighten the mood. The jokes were terrible. I still loved them. Twilight came by too. I'll admit that when I first saw her, I got my hopes all up thinking the princess could fix me. Maybe magic my problem away. She didn't have to answer when I asked her if she could. The look on her face told me all I needed to know. She couldn't. Finally, we got to the last day I was spending in the hospital. I would have been jumping for joy if… if I could jump. Big Mac, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rarity picked me up. Apparently, Applejack had finally gotten the idea in her head that I didn't want to see her. Good. They started leading me to Carousel Boutique. Rarity started doing that thing where she gets all happy and starts jumping up and down. She asked me to close my eyes, and I felt weightless as I was magically lifted. The wheelchair was removed and I felt some kind of fabric wrapping around me. A moment later I was on the ground, back in the wheelchair, and she asked me to open my eyes. I opened my eyes and saw Rarity holding up a mirror, a giant smile on her face. And then I saw it. She had me in some sort of dress. The main part was the color of a red delicious apple, and there were some… I think the right word is "accents" running over my shoulders to my chest. They were almost the exact color of a Granny’s coat. Turning to the side I saw the accent turn into a trim, and the dress ended just so it covered my tail. There weren't no frou-frou layers or nothing. It was actually really nice. "Um, thank ya kindly Rarity." I hesitated. "But I don't think I can afford something like this." "Oh don't be silly, Applebloom, I would get nowhere if I tried to market to just foals. I made this gratis for you." I stared back at her blankly. "It means 'free'," Sweetie Belle explained. "Oh!" I replied. "Well thank you! But uh, not that I ain't grateful, but… why?" "Well…" Rarity paused. "Several reasons, darling. I want it to be some sort of apology for how ridiculous I was acting the day of the… ah, the incident. Secondly, since the wheelchair draws attention, I want something to accent your looks, so if you get some strange looks, you may get some positive comments on that. I do hope that helps. Finally, I do believe it will help you with… modesty." "What do y'all mean?" I arched an eyebrow. Rarity's eyes swept from side to side before she gingerly lifted a forehoof and pointed to the inside of her hind leg. I felt the blood rush to my face a moment later as I realized she was referring to the plastic bag currently strapped to the inside of my left hind leg. "With all that happened, I believe you deserve all the positive attention you can get, dear," Rarity spoke softly. "Hopefully then you can feel like the shining star that you are." I felt my face burn even hotter. "T-thank you," I stammered. "Of course." Rarity smiled. "Now go dazzle the town tomorrow at school, darling. Best of luck!" "Wait, what?" I gasped, wheeling around to look at Big Mac. "I gotta go to school tomorrow?!" "Eeyup." "B-but I'm… Diamond Tiara is gonna…" I saw Big Mac's face fall just a tad and he broke eye contact. "Sorry, Applebloom," he simply responded. Stars above, tomorrow was going to be terrible.
Chapter 7By the time I woke up, the sun had set. I stretched out and brought up a forehoof to wipe the sleep from my eyes, freezing when I felt something on my face. I reached over to my nightstand to click on the lamp, and stared at the mirror on the other side of my room. There was a bandage on my face, and another bandage wrapped around my foreleg. Somepony must have patched me up after I fell asleep. And just with my luck, it was probably Applejack. I felt my upper lip curl as I considered tearing off the bandage, just to spite her. I mean, she wanted to cripple me, but now she wanted to play nurse? After a moment of pawing at the bandage, I decided against it. There was doing things out of hatred, and then there was just being dumb. But hey, I was already useless, why not be dumb too? What's that joke Applejack always used to make around Twilight? There's happiness in ignorance? And again, it came back to Applejack. I couldn't go anywhere without something being tied to her. I let out a scream of rage and threw my pillow at the mirror. Nothing broke, there was no big dramatic crash, and I didn't magically feel any better. I was not going to accept being some useless pony my entire life, being watched over until I pass. No, I had to prove myself some way. I ran down the ramp next to my bed, down the ramp covering the stairs, and out the door. Breathing heavily, partially from running, partially from anger, I whipped my head around, looking for… something. Anything. My gaze settled on the dark outline of a nearby apple tree. I let out a mighty cry and charged at it, determined to knock an apple loose. Or at least shake some leaves off. To do something. Right before hitting the tree, I threw all my weight down and to the left, successful crouching and sending the wheelchair flying into the tree. My body jolted, and I almost fell onto my side. No apples fell. No leaves shook. The tree didn't respond. No, I wasn't gonna take that. I ran a good distance away, and charged again. And again. And again. Until minutes later I was lying with my face in the dirt, fighting another breakdown. "Useless..." I muttered to myself. "Useless, useless, useless." "Well, there you are," a familiar voice called out from above me. My head snapped up to locate the voice of the sound, and I saw two violet orbs peering down on me from a branch above me. "I was thinking I was gonna have to wait here alllll night," the voice chuckled, rolling its eyes. But that voice… what was she doing on the farm at this hour? "Scootaloo?" I ventured. "What are y'all doing here this late?" There was a soft noise as Scootaloo's hooves hit the dirt beside me. She cleared her throat and sat down right next to me. "I was waiting for you. And then I fell asleep in the tree." "But… why?" I blinked. "And how did y'all know I would be here?" "Because I know you, Applebloom. And it's exactly what I'd do in your situation." “Okay…” I poked at the ground uncertainty. “So uh, I’m here. What were you waiting for? And ain’t you gonna be in trouble with your aunts for sneaking out?” “Eh, my aunts aren’t watching me tonight. I’m staying with Sweetie Belle and Rarity tonight. We were gonna invite you also to spend the night, but you kinda… ran off first. And I’m here to talk some sense into you.” “Some sense?” I laughed harshly. “About what? About runnin’ when Diamond Tiara did that to me? About bein’ mad at Applejack?” I felt my voice starting to raise. “About the fact that I’m a stupid cripple now?!” Scootaloo shoved her hoof in my mouth. “About that. That’s ridiculous. You’re not stupid or a cripple. You’re gonna still be a great pony.” I knocked her hoof away. “I don’t have my cutie mark. I can barely do anything by myself. And y’all remember what happened with Sweetie earlier. How can y’all say that? Besides, what would you know?” “I don’t know, Applebloom, what would the flightless pegasus know about being a cripple?” Scootaloo retorted sarcastically. That shut me up. We were both silent for a moment. “Do you remember what happened when Diamond Tiara made fun of me for not being able to fly?” Scootaloo asked softly. “Um, yeah,” I responded timidly, “we weren’t very nice to you, and you stayed behin’ on the trip. Rainbow talked some sense into us, and we kicked plot in the trials.” “And…” Scootaloo drew the word out. “Do you remember how I spent two straight days trying to fly, and just flopped every time?” I just nodded. “Applebloom, do you think I’m some stupid cripple?” “‘Course not!” I replied loudly. “Y’all are a great pony, and I’m proud to call you my friend, why, even without being able to fly you can do jus’ about anything y’all… set your… mind... to...” I couldn’t see her in the dark, but I knew Scootaloo arched an eyebrow and smiled. I could feel the smirk radiating off of her. “Oh,” I replied awkwardly, “I see what you’re tryin' to do here.” “Exactly. But, I'm not dumb, and I know I can't fix anything with words. But I promise to do everything I can to help you find your happiness, okay? Us cripples gotta watch each other's back." My face was suddenly very wet. “Y-yeah. Thanks.” “Oh, and on the topic of Diamond Tiara…” Scootaloo giggled. “Let’s just say I left you a present at school tomorrow. Sweetie Belle will show you it.” “Wait, why would Sweetie Belle show me your present? And you didn’t have to get me nothin’!” I saw Scootaloo wink at me as she stood up. “I really did. And I think you’re going to enjoy it. But I need to get going before Rarity starts a search party for me, and you need to get some rest. Unless you wanna wake somepony in your family up and ask if you can come with me.” I briefly considered that. “Better not. Everypony in my family is a heavy sleeper, and I kinda need… some help with things in the mornin’. Things I’m embarrassed enough just asking my family about.” “That’s fair.” Scootaloo shrugged. “Good night, Applebloom!” I watched her take a couple steps away before calling out. “Scootaloo, wait!” Scotaloo turned around. “What’s up, Applebloom?” “Can uh… can you help me with one of the straps on my wheelchair? It’s out of reach for me.” I felt blood rush to my cheeks. The blush just got fiercer as Scootaloo padded over to me, and undid the strap easily with one quick movement. “...Do you need help with anything else?” Scootaloo asked after a moment. I picked at the ground idly. Well I could probably get the wheelchair off from here, but… “Applebloom.” Scootaloo’s voice adopted a serious tone. “I’m not gonna judge you for some issue out of your control. Really. It’s like you said that one time, we’re like family, right?” I stared at the ground for a moment, before meeting Scootaloo’s steady gaze. “I um… I just… Okay. Jus’... don’t mention this to nopony else. Ever. Please.” Scootaloo just chuckled as she started leading me back to the house. “Applebloom, you’re the only one making this weird.” “...You say that now…” I muttered under my breath.
Chapter 8I woke up just as the sun started to rise over the horizon. I beat the rooster, that’s a new one. Everypony else in the house was probably still asleep. I threw the covers off of me and stretched out my back and forelegs, letting out a mighty yawn. I grabbed the side of my mattress and dragged myself toward the door. I blearily stared down at my dress and wheelchair. And I… had no idea how to put either of them on by myself. Shit. Minutes passed as I lay in bed, staring down at my wheelchair, my mood steadily dropping as I realized I had no idea how to get myself set up in it. Last night when I had woken up, my door had still been open a bit. But when Scootaloo left last night, I had asked her to close the door behind her. So I couldn’t crawl out and as- No, even if it was open I wasn’t gonna crawl around like a… like a caterpillar just to ask for help. I rolled onto my back, my head just barely hitting the edge of my pillow. It didn’t do much for my dignity, but I was sure somebody in my family would come check in on me, probably just under an hour before school started. Looking out the window, I guessed there was at least two hours until that time. Well, there went my good mood for the day. I wasn’t sure how long it actually took, but after what felt like a year, I finally heard a knocking on my door. “Come in,” I called out. The door opened and the tell-tale green coat of Granny Smith was seen. “How are you doin, child?” She asked. I bit back a sarcastic comment. If it were Big Mac or Applejack, I wouldn’t have, but you gotta respect your grannies. “I’m okay,” I responded. I was anything but okay. “Well let’s get you up an’ at ‘em, then. Big Mac already got some pancakes a-cooking.” The morning passed just about the same as yesterday. I packed my saddlebags, which Cheerilee has apparently brought back to us from the schoolhouse, gave Winona a few pats, and said goodbye to Granny Smith and Big Mac. When I arrived at school I saw Sweetie Belle waiting for me. I made my way to her and looked around. Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. That was weird, she was usually earlier than me since she lived way closer. “Mornin’ Sweetie Belle,” I greeted lifelessly. “Where’s Scoots? Running late?” Sweetie’s head cocked to the side. “You hadn’t heard yet? Scootaloo got suspended.” “Wait, what?” I sputtered. “Why?” Sweetie Belle quickly scanned the playground, looking for Celestia knows what. We both froze instantly when a familiar voice sounded from our right. "She was suspended for almost breaking Diamond Tiara's nose and giving her a black eye." “Silver Spoon?" I wheeled around. "Wait, Scoot… What happened?” “Well…” Sweetie Belle poked at the ground. “After what happened at recess, and you ran away, Scootaloo got really mad. I’ve never seen her so angry. She just started yelling, and ran really fast, then hit Diamond Tiara so hard she fell onto her back." I felt the corners of my mouth curl upward. “And then Scoot turned around, and Diamond Tiara got up and said something really mean. I was still at the bottom of the hill so I didn’t hear it, but Scootaloo turned around again and I think… I think she knocked her out. " "She said something along the lines of 'Oh, trust the only one to help the cripple is the other cripple,'" Silver Spoon cut in. "Mhm!" Sweetie Belle nodded. "Then after Cheerilee figured out what happened, she got Rainbow Dash and Filthy Rich to come to the school and sent everyone but them, Scoots, and DT away.” I had a full on smile on my face now. It was sad that I wouldn’t see Scootaloo, but hearing that Diamond Tiara finally got hit by some karma was pretty uplifting. “But Cheerilee forgot one of the windows was open, so I snuck around and started listening in!" Sweetie Belle smiled. “Cheerilee was like ‘so this is what happened, Rainbow Dash. I expect you, or whomever her current guardian is will take proper disciplinary action?’ And then Rainbow Dash just laughed and just said ‘That depends.’” I laughed too. “No way!” Sweetie Belle nodded. “So then Rainbow Dash starts talking to Scootaloo I guess, and asks her ‘Did you attack her with a weapon, while her back was turned, or while she was on the ground?’ And of course Scootaloo says no, so Rainbow Dash just paused for a moment and said ‘then I’m not gonna punish her.’” “Ooh, how did Cheerilee take all that?” “Badly.” Sweetie Belle chuckled. “Cheerilee responded with ‘but she attacked another schoolmate!’ and then Rainbow Dash interrupts her and starts getting angry. She said ‘She defended her friend against a bully that's been harassing her and her friends for years while you did nothing about it. Scootaloo stood up for her friends. I'm not gonna punish that. C'mon Scoots, let's go get some ice cream.’ and probably started walking towards the door. “Cheerilee gasped all dramatically and was like ‘Rainbow Dash, there’s a huge problem with-’ then Rainbow Dash interrupts her again and starts shouting." Sweetie Belle put on a poor impression of Rainbow Dash's raspy voice. "'No! There's a huge problem with the way this school is run. If I'm not mistaken, this is the second time Diamond Tiara has made fun of another pony's handicap TO THEIR FACE and nothing has been done about it. I'm not angry at Scootaloo, I'm angry at you, Cheerilee. Scoots, let’s go. You can get whatever you’d like at Sugarcube Corner, my treat.’” “Wow.” I gasped. “No wonder Scootaloo likes Rainbow Dash so much, that’s just dang amazing!” Sweetie’s face fell. “Yeah, but after Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich left, apparently Scootaloo saw them meet Diamond Tiara’s mom through a window in Sugarcube Corner. Apparently Diamond Tiara was looking like she was expecting praise, but her mom basically dragged her back into her house and started screaming so loud even Scoots could hear her. She couldn't hear any clear words, and Diamond Tiara has been pouty since, and… and her eyes are red, like she’s been crying.” "She..." Silver Spoon trailed off. "She would have been suspended too, but her mom is part of the school board and has enough influence to pull some strings." Without explanation, my good mood fell again. I felt a pit form in my stomach. “That’s… less awesome...” I managed. No, I wasn't gonna feel anything but happy that Diamond Tiara got messed up. I forced that feeling to the back of my mind. But that was still not addressing the elephant in the room. "So why are you here? And not bein' mean to us?" I asked Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon's gaze fell to the dirt. "When Diamond Tiara told me her plan, it was just 'stick a branch in her wheels and laugh when she can't reach us.' I don't know if she was planning on making you fall, but even I have some standards. After her mom and Cheerilee chewed her out, I told her I was making some space from her until she got her head back on her shoulders. And even then, she still got a talking to by your brother-" Silver Spoon failed to acknowldge Sweetie Belle's nonverbal pleas to shut up. "-and sister." I let out an angry snort. Of course Applejack was shoving herself into my life again. "I..." Silver Spoon contined. "...We didn't know how badly Scootaloo took our comments until way after, and seeing that? No. I'm mean, but that's too far." There were a few moments of silence. "Why do you hang around her?" Sweetie Belle asked softly. "You seem a lot... nicer than her." Sure, nicer in the way that being mauled by a dog was nicer than being mauled by a timberwolf. Silver Spoon met Sweetie Belle's gaze with a surprising fire in her eyes. "All you need to know is that she was there when I needed somepony, and I need to return the favor. There are two sides to every story." Silver Spoon turned around with a huff, and started making her way away from us. "Just know I'm sorry for what happened." We both returned to silence, not meeting each other's gazes. "So I guess we ain't seein' Scoots for a while." I sighed. “Yeah…” Sweetie Belle agreed. “I’m not sure how long Scoots is suspended for, though. Rainbow Dash left before Cheerilee said how long.” “So we might see her next week?” I asked hopefully. “We might not even see her next week,” Sweetie replied bluntly. “I mean, there’s always the afternoons, but Rainbow Dash turned Scootaloo’s watch to Rarity last night, and I don’t know how she’s going to handle it.” “So y'all will get to be with her, but I can’t.” I realized. Sweetie Belle looked down. “Sorry. I hope it isn’t that way.” “...Me too…” The bell halted our conversation, and we all filtered inside, Diamond Tiara taking up the rear. It was obvious she was wearing makeup to make the injuries look better, but it was also obvious that it wasn't fooling anypony. Her eye was swollen and black, and her nose was padded with gauze and slightly off-center. I had hoped that Diamond Tiara being as injured as she was would keep the attention off of me, but it just seemed to make it worse. Students kept staring at me AND Diamond Tiara more frequently. The school day got worse, because of course it did. At least today I had the sense to nudge Sweetie Belle when I needed help, and not draw a ton of attention to me when I did so. Didn't change the fact that I was getting tons of attention anyway. I was called on a few times, but I couldn't find myself able to pay attention. The invisible stares from all the rest of the foals in the classroom made it impossible to focus. Sure, the filly that got beat up was interesting, but there was a pathetic freak to stare at. Why not? It's not like she didn't already have enough emotional crap going on, and didn't want to be the center of attention again. Recess made it worse. All the foals circled around Diamond Tiara and of course she spun the story so she was just the victim. She did make sure to describe the embarassing fall I took, and the fact that I ran away crying and hid at my house. I wanted to fight back. I wanted to yell. But I didn't. I just spent the time hiding in the corner of the playground silently with Sweetie Belle. When recess ended, Cheerilee had to scold the entire class for not paying attention to the lesson and staring at me. I hated it. I hated it all. I hated myself, I hated the fact that I could barely do anything without help, I hated Diamond Tiara, and Applejack, and I hated how Scootaloo was being punished for something stupid that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't stupid. I hated my life. The day went by slowly. It felt like I spent another ten hours there after recess. I hated that too. I just wanted to run away from Ponyville and never look back. I wanted to change my name, dye my mane, and go join a circus or something. Best place for freaks is around freaks, right? I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. By the time school got out, Sweetie Belle was asking about hanging out. She told me we could go crusading again still, but we had to stay far away from the Everfree Forest because it was timberwolf mating season and they were especially violent and territorial. I told her I was too tired. As we parted, I gave her a hug and thanked her for all her help, and asked her to tell Scootaloo the same thing. Sweetie Belle left and made her way home. But I didn't go home, not until later. I walked to Twilight's library. I had a plan forming in my head and I knew she was the best pony to get what I needed. I knocked on the door and Twilight appeared moments later. She gave me that smile. The smile that just screamed pity. I hated it. "Hello Applebloom," Twilight smiled. "What can I do for you?" It was time to put the plan into motion. "Hey Twilight. Do you have some rope and a book on knots I can borrow?"
Chapter 10When I woke up the next morning, the gift I left outside Applejack’s door was gone. I went to school with a smile on my face. School went very well. We were practicing exponents and I got almost every single question right. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were surprised. Cheerilee was surprised. I was surprised. The day went by pretty quickly with no incidents. Diamond Tiara’s injuries had healed and she glared at Scootaloo with pure hatred slightly less often. She also focused a lot less on me and more on her. This suited Scootaloo fine, as she could almost effortlessly piss Diamond Tiara off now. Scootaloo loved that. At the end of the day, Cheerilee asked me to stay back for a moment. She said she didn’t know what was different today, but it was obvious something real had changed, and she was proud of whatever I’d done to improve. So it was understandable while I walked out of the schoolhouse at the end of the day with a giant grin on my face. For the first time since the accident, things were going my way. That was until I came face to face with a very unhappy looking Twilight Sparkle. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting off to her side, looking anxious. This could only mean bad things. “Applebloom, sweetie, can I speak to you alone for a moment?” Twilight asked, struggling to keep her face neutral. I simply nodded and quietly followed Twilight as she led me to the shade under a nearby tree, out of earshot of anypony else. Twilight sat and waited for me to get comfortable before sighing. “Applebloom, what happened between you and Applejack this morning?” She simply asked. I pretended not to understand. “Why, nothin’. I haven’t even seen her all day.” Twilight frowned. “That’s funny, because she came by the library to pick up a book earlier, which by itself is pretty off, but you know the weirdest thing? She was crying.” I didn’t respond. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her cry, but after I prodded her for what was bothering her, she started bawling. She pulled a belt buckle out of her saddlebags and said you left it in front of her door last night. Is this true?” My happy mood faded away, and I broke eye contact with Twilight. “So she does know what those are then, huh?” I chuckled weakly. “I didn’t know.” Twilight took a slow, deep breath. “Applebloom, honey,” Twilight’s tone softened. “I’m not going to tell you that you can’t be upset over what happened. Considering your circumstances, I wouldn’t expect you to just suddenly be over it. But it was an accident, and your continued hostility toward Applejack is destroying her. She barely sleeps, she barely eats, and she spends most of her time trying to think of how to make things up to you. The girls and I are starting to worry about both her physical and mental health. She can’t keep going on like this.” “So?” I stared at the ground. “She had me stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Why should I care if she loses a bit o’ sleep? She ain’t the only one sufferin’.” “Applebloom.” Twilight raised my gaze to match hers with a hoof. “I know she still means a lot to you, and that all of this must feel like she stabbed you in the back…” “She did,” I interrupted. “If I weren’t literally stabbed through the back in th' crash, I could be a normal pony.” “Applebloom…” Twilight frowned again. “I understand, but this is still the pony that you grew up with. I know she raised you since you were four months old, and basically took the role of your mother. And I know that she sees you in the same light, even if she does only refer to you as her sister. With that in mind, can you imagine how much pain she feels?” I looked away again. “Accident or not, she still hurt me.” “And now you’re hurting her.” I didn’t respond. Twilight retracted her hoof and sighed. “Look Applebloom, I’m not going to ask you to forgive her. Right now, I’m not even asking you to apologize to her, although I think that’d be a good idea. But please, just talk to her at least.” I poked at the ground for a few moments. “...Okay.” Twilight exhaled slowly. “Thank you, Applebloom. I hope you two can improve your relationship soon.” And then Twilight silently led me back to my friends, who in turn silently started following me as Twilight took her leave. “Applebloom?” Sweetie asked after a minute. “Are you going to be okay?” I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed quiet. “Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked. “Will you… can we help?” “I…” I hesitated, not knowing what to say. “I need to talk to Applejack. I jus’… don’t know if I can handle it.” “Will it help if we’re there? Or waiting outside, maybe?” Scootaloo questioned with a half smile. I chewed my lip and nodded. "I, uh..." I heard Scootaloo say, then fall silent. I sighed and turned to face her. "What?" "We overheard Twilight talking to you. You left a belt buckle outside Applejack's door?" "Yeah." I huffed, turning around and continuing to walk. "So?" I heard Scootaloo take a deep breath, before she said something that stopped me in my tracks. "That sounds like something Diamond Tiara would do." I froze, before violently whipping around and glaring at Scootaloo, who winced in result. "What." My tone was icy. It wasn't a question. "W-well..." Scootaloo stammered. "The silent treatment and the anger I get, and I won't disagree with. But... leaving a buckle? It kinda seems..." "Less like you're furious with her, and more like you just want to see her in pain?" Sweetie Belle offered. Scootaloo nodded. "Less of a reaction, more like... well, bullying. It's not you, Applebloom." Scootaloo took a breath and stood a little taller. "Just because you were hurt doesn't mean you need to turn into another Diamond Tiara to get back at ponies." "Don't" I stalked closer to Scootaloo. She shrunk back quickly. "You DARE" I pushed myself up, towering over the now scared-looking pegasus. "Compare me to that... that terrible excuse of a pony!" I grit my teeth and tensed my entire body. I don't know what I was about to do, but I was raring to go. "Stop it!" Sweetie cried, forcing her way between me and Scootaloo. "This is what we're talking about! First you pour salt in Applejack's wound, now you're scaring your friends!" Her words were like a slap in the face. I gazed down into the eyes of Scootaloo, who was shaking a little bit, and saw fear. Fear. "Oh.. my stars... Scoot, I'm... I'm sorry!" I gasped, backing up. "I..." I turned away. I couldn't face her. We were silent until we reached the house. Big Mac was out in the fields and Granny was probably taking a nap. I hoped I could find Applejack in her room and didn’t have to search for her out in the orchard. That hope seemed dashed as I gingerly knocked on her door and didn’t get an answer. I paused, knocked again and called out in a weak voice. “Applejack? Are y’all in there? I wanna talk.” No answer. I slowly pushed the door open, and what I saw made my heart stop. Bottles. Bottles littered all over the floor. I started hyperventilating as I picked one up and read the label. It was honey whiskey. “Oh no. Nononononono,” I mumbled. “Applebloom, what’s wrong? Some ponies drink when they’re upset.” Scootaloo piped up quietly. “I’m sure she’s fine.” “Not Apples!” I replied more loudly than intended. “After Mom died, Dad followed her jus’ a few months later due to alcohol poisonin’! The entire family swore off drinking after all that! And if Applejack is drinking now…” I started running around the room, looking for any indication of where Applejack might have gone. On the far side of her bed I discovered a book lying open. I pulled it over to me and started reading one of the pages out loud. Wolfsbane: These illusive plants are often found in timberwolf territory. They are yellow in color, emit a pungent odor, and are often the sign of less fertile land. They are classified as a curative plant. Though not much scientific data has been found to back it up, many legends have been told on how this plant can be used to help cure paralysis when mixed with several other curative plants, such as Amethyst.” “M-maybe she’s just out in the orchard?” Scootaloo suggested. “Go look!” I ordered, panic starting to set in. “Find Big Mac, and he can probably tell you! If not…” I turned to Sweetie Belle as Scootaloo zipped off. “Didn’t you say timberwolves are ‘specially aggressive ‘round this time?” Sweetie Belle nodded slowly, her ears flattened against her head and her eyes wide. “Uhm, okay… so…” I began pacing back and forth. If Applejack had been drinking, and wandered into timberwolf territory to try and find this plant… “Sweetie Belle, I need you to go and find Twilight! Tell her what’s goin' on!” “O-okay!” Sweetie Belle gasped before running off. This was bad. What if Applejack got in trouble just because of me? What if she got hurt? Or… worse? What if she didn’t survive? Before I knew it I was running toward the Everfree Forest.
The Final ChapterI spent the next several minutes running around the Everfree Forest, getting myself thoroughly lost in the process. I kept imagining finding my sister’s messed up corpse, mangled and bloody after timberwolves had gotten to her. She’d gone out after I messed her up, and still tried to find a cure for me. What if she didn’t make it? Her death would be all my fault! And I couldn’t even find her to warn her! Or help her! I was useless to her. I heard a scream. Sprinting toward the sound of the voice, I made it to the top of a nearby hill. I finally spotted Applejack several yards away, near the bottom of the hill, being chased by one of the timberwolves, who was hot on her trail. The timberwolf’s breast was heavily splintered, and Applejack’s rope was lassoed around its neck, weakly flopping behind it. Applejack was running with a slight limp, and I could see the fur on her right shoulder and some of her back damp and tinted red with blood. She was biting her lip and her eyes were shot wide open, betraying a look of… fear. No, not just fear. Terror. Applejack was terrified. But what could I do? All I had were weak filly forelegs and a back end supported by… wheels… I spent a moment pacing back and forth, my breathing growing rapid. She's going to die. I blinked back tears as I caught her eye. If she died tonight the last thing she would have seen is her sister watching her ripped apart uselessly. Applebloom, if you don't do something she will die. Do something! A memory of me trying to climb the stairs, and shooting backwards once my wheels were the only thing touching the floor flashed through my mind, and a plan started forming. It was crazy. It was going to kill us both. It was all I had. Doing my best to gauge how soon Applejack and the timberwolf would reach the bottom of the hill, I turned around, closed my eyes, held my breath, and lifted my front half into the air as my wheelchair started careening down the hill. I’d like to say I yelled out a war cry, or a really heroic sounding one liner. But in reality I was screaming the most terrified, high pitched scream my lungs could manage. As my wheelchair made contact with the side of the timberwolf, my eyes shot open and the timberwolf let out a squeal of pain. I grabbed for the lasso as both the timberwolf and I tumbled to the side, barely catching it. In a moment the timberwolf was back on its feet and chasing Applejack, yanking me along with it. I looped the other end of the rope around my right shoulder and threw my weight to the left, throwing my left forehoof around a fledgling tree in a vain attempt to slow down or stop the timberwolf. Instead, I felt a screaming pain as my right shoulder was ripped from its socket, freeing the rope from my leg and sending me flying toward the beast. Feeling tears well up in my eyes in response to the pain, I saw the rope in front of me again. Seeing as I could barely move my right foreleg, I made a grab for it with my left foreleg. When that missed it flew right in front of my face, and moving quickly, I grabbed it in my mouth. The timberwolf ran on, undeterred, bouncing me behind it. I felt an explosion of pain every time I hit the ground, made even worse when I landed on the freshly dislocated shoulder. But still, the timberwolf was advancing on Applejack. It was going to kill her. It was going to tear my sister apart, then it was gonna tear me apart, and there was nothing I could do. I was still.... Useless. Peering ahead, I saw Applejack jump through a tree that was split near the base, having two trunks growing right next to each other. She landed awkwardly, her legs starting to give out from under her, and I could see her start to fall. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the timberwolf pounce, following her through the split trees. No. I bit down harder on the rope. Applejack hit the ground and started to roll. I Ignoring the intense spasm of pain, I extended both of my forelegs. Am My hooves found purchase on the twin trunks, and I was almost ripped immediately off by the force of the timberwolf. Not I felt tears stream down my face as my right foreleg threatened to give out. My arm felt like it was on fire and it was about to tear itself off my body. I screwed my face up in concentration, shut my eyes tightly, and yanked my head back. USELESS! Everything stopped. The timberwolf stopped, vicious maw inches away from Applejack’s throat. For a moment, all there was in the forest was the labored panting of the beast, and the intense waves of both pain and adrenaline wracking my body in tandem. The silence lasted only a moment longer as Applejack scrambled to her hooves and landed a precise buck right into the face of the timberwolf with both hind legs. As the timberwolf fell to pieces, I dropped the rope, landing on the ground right on my injured shoulder. I let out a cry of pain and the floodgates finally opened as the adrenaline started to wear off. “Applebloom!” Applejack yelled, instantly at my side. She helped me up to my hooves, and I ended up leaning most of my weight into my left forehoof, three out of my four limbs useless at this point. “Oh Celestia! Are you alright?” Applejack fretted, inspecting my dislocated shoulder. “Don’t you DARE!” I yelled, my body moving on its own as I reared back and slapped Applejack across the face as hard as I could with my injured leg. Applejack reeled back in surprise as I bit back a scream of pain. “I don’t CARE how angry I am at you! Don’t you DARE run off into the Everfree Forest and get yourself killed!” I found myself sobbing, broken down from the anger and the pain. Instantly all my fatigue hit me at once and my one remaining limb buckled, sending my face directly into the dirt below. I didn’t even care, shaking and sobbing loudly. I pounded uselessly on the ground, not even sure what I was angry about at that moment. A few moments passed and I felt somepony pick me up, and the familiar, bittersweet warmth of Applejack’s embrace. I could smell the alcohol on her breath, and could feel a stream of her blood make its way down and start staining my fur, but I didn’t care. I threw my good hoof around her back and started wailing into her neck, my body convulsing as sour sweat drenched my coat. “I-I was s-so scared w-w-when I went into y-your room an’ s-saw the b-book an’…” I finally managed. Applejack responded by pulling me closer and started rocking me back and forth, something I remembered her always doing when I was upset during the early years of my life. “It’s okay Applebloom. Applejack’s got you. Big sis got you. It’s okay now.” Applejack whispered into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. I let out a loud wail and buried my face deeper into her neck, somehow feeling completely secure for the first time since the injury. Everything wasn’t okay right now. Everything was as far from okay as it could be. But right there, stuck in the embrace of the sister I had focused so much hate and anger towards in the last two months, I knew that they would be. Soon. A couple hours later I was pacing outside the room in the hospital holding Applejack. I had recently been cleared myself. It wasn’t a lot I had to do. A doctor popped my shoulder joint back into the socket, gave me a “numbing agent”, and after a final x-ray, told me I was good to go. All I had to do were some light stretches every day for the next week. I didn’t know how Applejack was doing though. My stomach was all twisted up as I tried to think of something to say when I saw her. I still didn’t know how I was feeling. If anything, my feelings now were even harder to decipher than ever before. But I know that we needed to talk. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. A moment later it was swung open by Twilight, who wordlessly stepped aside and let me in. Granny, Big Mac, and all Applejack’s friends were already in there with her. All of them, including Applejack, silently watched me, waiting for me to make the first move. As Twilight closed the door behind me, I caught her gaze. I silently pointed at myself, then the wheelchair, and finally the bed Applejack was resting in. After a moment Twilight understood what I meant and levitated me onto the bed. “Can I… get a moment alone with Applejack?” I asked quietly. Everypony else quietly filtered out of the room as I gathered the courage to look Applejack in the eye. “Applebloom…” Applejack hesitated. “Before you start yellin’, I jus’ wanna say-” “No,” I interrupted. “No more yellin’. I jus’... wanna talk.” Applejack let out a slow, relieved sigh. “Okay, let’s talk.” I took several moments to try and come up with the words to say, then just decided to throw caution to the winds. “I’m… still mad.” I managed, sadly noting the instantly crestfallen expression on Applejack’s face. “After today… heck, ever since the accident, I’ve just had all this… emotion. I ain’t gonna lie, I’m a mite confused about… jus’ about everything. But… In that moment I saw you bein’ chased by that timberwolf… and the look on your face…” My voice cracked as I felt my eyes start to burn. Tears started welling up in the corners of my eyes. “I jus’ wanna tell you I’m… I’m sorry. I’ve been so dang stupid about this whole thing, an’ I know it was an accident, but I didn’t listen when you were tryin’ to help…” A tear slowly made its way down my face as I stared at the blanket below me, idly picking at a fold. “An’ I know I was hurtin’ you, but… I was still so mad, an’... but you were…” Another tear traveled down my face, falling from my chin and making a mark on the blanket right next to Applejack. I took several moments to try and compose myself, to think of what to say. “Like I said… I’m still mad… but…” I looked up and stared straight into Applejack’s eyes. Those green eyes that had watched over me my whole life. The eyes that were always so full of love, but in the last two months, only showed hurt. Those green eyes that had always spelled out safety and protection, and that special bond we used to share that I found myself so desperately wanting back. And with that thought, my final decision was made. “I forgive you.”
EpilogueAfter Applejack got out of the hospital time flew by much quicker. Forgiving her hadn’t erased all the bad feelings like I’d hoped, and I found I got short with her much quicker than anypony else. While she was still my sister, she still made a mistake that screwed me for life, and no matter how desperately I wanted our bond to go back to how it was before the crash, I was starting to think it never would. I thought forgiving her would be the hardest thing I’d ever emotionally have to do. Well, I’m not gonna try and directly compare them, but three months later something else happened. We were holding some elections for Student President, and who’d have guessed, Diamond Tiara was running. But so was Pip. When he asked us to be his campaign managers, we were like “What the heck, campaign manager cutie marks, maybe?” So we sang a couple songs, Pip got elected, and we didn’t get our cutie marks. We were like 0-200 at that point, but oh well. What can you do? But no, that’s when something else happened. We were walking around downtown after school got out, thinking of maybe getting a celebratory bite to eat at Sugarcube Corner, when it happened. When I first saw Diamond Tiara’s mom, my own thought was “what the hay happened to her muzzle? That can’t be natural.” But then she started raising her tone with Diamond Tiara. And then she raised her hoof to the sky, stared right at Diamond Tiara, and Diamond Tiara flinched. Not like “I heard a loud noise and my eyes shut all on their own.” No, like she was expecting to get slapped. Like that had happened before. And then Diamond Tiara’s mom started talking about how trash all blankflanks were, and how Diamond Tiara needed to beat them at any cost, no matter what. This was also in public too, though I’m not sure anypony else heard. Well, a lot of things started making sense right then. Then Diamond Tiara started singing. Singing about how she wasn’t the kind of pony she wanted to be, and had no idea how to change. We ran right to Twilight and told her everything. Diamond Tiara wasn’t at school the next day. But she was the day after. And she had the biggest, most innocent smile I’d ever seen. She took me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo off to the side that day after school, joined by Silver Spoon, who actually seemed proud. And she apologized to all three of us. She apologized for all the years of bullying, then she looked between Scootaloo and I, and said the last thing I’d ever expect to come out of her mouth. “I don’t expect you two especially to forgive me after the horrible things I did to you, but I’m really sorry. I’ll leave you alone from now on, but if there’s anything you two need, please let me know and I’ll do my best to earn your trust.” I only accepted the apology at first, but after a week and a half of her actually showing change every single day, I did the one I never thought I’d do. I forgave her. It wasn’t an easy choice, and my mind was screaming “No!” the entire time, but I had a long talk with Applejack about it - she seemed the best choice due to obvious reasons - and eventually I did. Again, it wasn’t just a clear cut “we’re friends now and it’s not weird at all” like I was hoping, but hey, at this point, I’ll take it. Of course, I kept fiddling around and trying to invent new things, and that led me to the top of the mountain our sisters had found that one sleepy dragon at, six months after Applejack got out of the hospital. It was for a special occasion. It was Scootaloo’s birthday. And I had worked on her present for almost two months. I led them up, and they saw the gift in all its glory. A large tank, a leather harness attached to the bottom, steel slabs jutting out the side, and a large piece of metal attached to the bottom of the tank. “Uhhh… Applebloom? What the hay is this?” Scootaloo questioned. “I mean, thanks and all, but what is it?” “Your birthday present!” I smiled. “Uh, that’s.... awesome?” Scootaloo blinked. “I was thinking of that time we all got them fireworks, an’ Sweetie Belle here blew them up before we was supposed to,” I explained. “Those dang things nearly knocked me on my flank, so I asked Twilight if there was any way to control explosions like that.” “A controlled explosion is called a detonation,” Sweetie Belle clarified. We both gave her funny looks. “Anyway, we talked for a mite. And then I came by the next days with some plans and we started plannin’ this,” I finished. Both my friends just stared on, equally confused. “Well, see, it’s filled with some chemical called uh… ‘thethlyborate’… ‘triethylborane’… uh, sumthin’ like that. Th’ important thing is that it burns in air.” I walked over and tapped the metal tank. “So Twilight an’ I did some thinkin’. I asked her if you could put it in a container an’ enchant the chamber so just the inside was cooled, if it’d be safe. When she said yes, I came up with this crazy contraption.” I pointed at the bottom of the tank. “There are three chambers. This here bottom one has the chemical, an’ has a magically controlled temperature.” I pointed to the middle area. “This part has water. There ain’t no special temperature magic schmagic goin’ on here.” I pointed to the top of the tank. “This here part has somethin’ Twilight called an ‘impeller’ in to to raise th’ pressure.” Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side as Scootaloo furrowed her brows. “So… you spend two months with Twilight making… a tank that has different temperatures in the same area?” Scootaloo started uncertaintly. “Thanks, I guess? What’s the weird looking shield thing at the back, too?” Scootaloo gestured at a long piece of metal jetting out from the nozzle in the back of the tank. “That’s so y’all don’t burn your tail off, Scoot,” I smiled. “But... why would I burn my tail off?” Scootaloo questioned. “Well, you know that chemical I was talkin’ about that burns in air, right? So if it bleeds into this sealed off nozzle doohickey, and y’all can hit a pedal that releases the pressure from that impeller chamber an’ opens the base of the nozzle here…” I walked over and tapped a pedal attached to the bottom of the tank. The base of the nozzle opened up and a large flame burst from the pack, knocking open spring-clamped valves at the end of the nozzle and knocking the whole contraption over, immediately shutting off the flame as the nozzle slammed back shut. “Y’all can get lift!” I finished with a flourish. Both of my friends continued sharing confused faces for another moment before a manic smile appeared on Scootaloo’s face. “So… y-you mean?” Scootaloo trembled. “If I’m right, y’all can fly right next to Rainbow Dash with this.” I smiled back. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Scootaloo yelled, practically tackling me and throwing her forelegs around my shoulders. “Applebloom, you’re the best! Thank you!” I hooked a foreleg around Scootaloo and nuzzled her. “You’re welcome. Happy birthday, Scoot.” “B-but…” Sweetie Belle spoke cautiously. “How is Scootaloo gonna be able to lift this? It looks really heavy.” The smile wavered from Scootaloo’s face as she broke out of the hug. “Princess Twilight enchanted it wit’ light weight. Should weigh ‘bout the same as our saddlebags on a school day,” I replied quickly. The smile returned to Scootaloo’s face. “Can we try it now?” She asked eagerly. “All we gotta do is hook you up to th’ harness an’...” I paused. “One condition, Scootaloo.” “Anything!” She chirped back. “Until I can make sure I can fix this up so it’s perfectly safe… I don’t want y’all using this without an adult pony around. Preferably a pegasus. This is dangerous stuff.” Scootaloo frowned. “Applebloom, I’m not some small foal, I can handle some risks.” “Scootaloo…” I started. “Besides,” Scootaloo put a forehoof placatingly on my shoulder. “I do dangerous tricks and stuff on my scooter all the time! This should be nothing.” “Scoot-” I protested weakly. “And even if I have a little accident, so what? I can take a fall. You’ve seen me do it several times. We’re tougher than we look, remember?” “No!” I shouted, knocking her hoof off and poking her in the chest. “An accident with this can involve you blowing up in midair! I may be lucky to only be half paralyzed, but I sure as heck ain’t letting you roll th’ dice and maybe end up dead! Agree to my terms or I’ll break this here thing apart right now!” Mirroring looks of shock appeared on both Sweetie Belle’s and Scootaloo’s faces. But I wasn’t going to apologize. They say live and learn, well I learned a whole lot after the cart crash, and I was gonna make sure I used it so Scootaloo could live. Scootaloo bit her lip. I could tell she wanted to argue back, but I guess I had some sort of crazy desperation on my face that shut her right up. She just sighed and sank to her haunches. “Alright Applebloom, you win. I promise.” I realized at this point I was breathing heavily and my eyes were burning. I took several deep breaths to calm me down as I wiped my eyes. “Now look,” I continued. “This ain’t the whole surprise. Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to wait nearby, saying she got a surprise for her too. So we’re gonna get y’all all strapped up in this, and y’all get to share your first flight with your big sister. Don’t that sound nice?” Scootaloo’s whole body shuddered as tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. This was the first time I’d seen her tear up since the day we volunteered to carry the flag in the Equestria Games. But these weren’t tears of sadness. These were tears of joy. Scootaloo pulled me into another hug and softly whispered into my ear. “You really are the best, Applebloom.” I pulled her in closer and whispered back. “This is just me getting square for all those pep talks that meant th’ world to me. I couldn’t’ve made it through this past half-year without you.” I put myself to work strapping the eagerly shaking Scootaloo in as Sweetie Belle padded around us, eyeing the contraption warily. “Are you sure this will work, Applebloom?” she asked nervously. I let out a quick laugh. I’d never admit it to them, but I had practiced what I was gonna say next. “Cross my heart, hope to fly…” I pulled the final strap and smirked. “Put a pegasus in the sky.” I kicked the lever that opened the nozzle, and with a cry of pure joy, Scootaloo rocketed into the sky. Sweetie Belle and I idly watched Scootaloo pull flips and tricks for a couple moments, dopey smiles mirrored on both our faces as we watched our friend live out one of her dreams. But that was just the start. “Now if only I could make it a bit safer, so she don’t need no supervision…” I muttered to myself. “...Applebloom.” Sweetie Belle called out in a breathless voice. “I like the idea of powerin’ it with steam. Maybe work more with that so I don’t need no dangerous chemicals?” I continued muttering. “Applebloom! Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle insisted. Ignoring her, I pawed at the ground for a moment. “Maybe have it so th’ pressure system is more easily worked with? I don’t like th’ thought of what’d happen if the pressure built up too much and was ignored...” “APPLEBLOOM!” Sweetie Belle demanded, slamming her forehoof into the ground. “What?!” I snapped a little more forcefully than intended. “You got your cutie mark!” She grinned, pointing at my flank. “I… wha- huh?” My head whipped around, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. On my flank was an image of a wrench crossed with a bone, making an “X” over the image of a gear. It was… I had a... My whole body started shaking. I had a… I had a cutie mark? After all of this? “Oh my Celestia, Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle squealed, throwing a hug around me. “I’m so proud! Congratulations!” I couldn’t believe it. I turned as best as I could and poked my flank. It moved with the skin. ...It was… It was real… “...I did it,” I spoke in a shaky voice. “You did!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “I did it!” I laughed. “Oh my stars, I did it!” “You did do it!” Sweetie Belle laughed louder. “I DID IT!” I screamed, throwing my own hug around Sweetie Belle as I squealed wildly into her coat. The sun rose fully on that day with the excited squeals of two fillies on the ground, as another filly was joined by her sister in the sky, all four of them watching a dream come true right before their very eyes. Y’know, I didn’t need all four legs to be useful. In fact, I was pretty happy where I was right now.
Chapter 9With evening came two fillies standing in my room, jaws dropped to the floor and eyes wide. "Applebloom..." Scootaloo stammered. "How... what?" “Well…” I dawdled. “Have y'all ever tried taking off a dress with jus’ your forehooves?” “I try not to make a habit of wearing dresses," Scootaloo snarked. “It’s hard. It’s really messy an’... Well, the first and most of the second night I jus’ kinda gave up and slept in it,” I explained. “But now I can just do this.” With a huff, I grabbed the string that connected the rear strap of the wheelchair with the shoulder strap I roped it around. When that was released, I pushed my weight onto one forehoof and manually unstrapped the strap around my breast. Pushing the wheelchair back a bit, I carried myself on my forehooves over to the wooden slabs. I eased the wooden slabs between the dress and my shoulders, grabbed the rope in between with my mouth, and yanked my head down. In one sudden movement the dress was whisked off of me and the wheelchair fell to the floor, the rope carrying me up with it as my forelegs caught on the sleeves. Still holding the rope in my teeth, I slid my legs out of the sleeves and let them hang. I threw my body weight to the side, spinning me around as the counterweight on the other side of the pulley system held me perfectly in place. Finding the perfect weight for that was a pain in the- Well, not the flank, because I couldn’t even feel pain there, but a pain in the something, alright. Hanging down next to the dress were clothespins. I set to work hanging the dress up nicely so the rear portion wasn’t dragging over the floor, and let go of the rope. The counterweight crashed down, returning the rope to its original height as I landed on my forehooves. I shifted my weight to one leg again as I beamed and gestured to the entire contraption with the other hoof. Soon after I lost my balance and fell to the floor. “Ta-da!” I called weakly from the floor. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ooh’d and ahh’d respectively. “Applebloom, that’s so clever!” Sweetie gushed. “How did you even set this up?” “Princess Twilight and I drew up the plans, and Big Macintosh helped me build it. Ain’t it great?” “Great?” Scootaloo chuckled. “Applebloom, this is AWESOME! This is genius!” “Aw, no,” I blushed. “It’s just a little something I whipped up.” “It’s not just a little something, I would never have thought of this!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “After fixing up the clubhouse and now this, I’m surprised you don’t have a cutie mark in crafting stuff.” “Ah.” I waved a hoof dismissively. “That was working with wood and hammers, n’ this was working with ropes and knots. Totally different thing. And I still have a lot of other issues I need to think of solutions to. Y’all ever try taking a shower when you can only move half your body? Not fun.” Scootaloo made a funny face at that. “So uh…” I dawdled. “Sweetie Belle told me what you did yesterday, Scootaloo…” Scootaloo shrugged. “I don’t regret a thing. She went way too far, and needed to be taught a lesson. I’m just surprised Rarity has been so… not angry about it.” Sweetie Belle tittered. “Remember when Spike went to the Dragon Lands? He was being harassed by some bigger dragons and Rarity literally threatened to rip three dragons at least twice her size to pieces if they hurt him. Rarity doesn’t have a problem with fighting for your friends.” I’m pretty sure my jaw hit the floor at that point. I’m also pretty sure Scootaloo’s did too. “Did she really? That’s so awesome!” Scootaloo chirped. “Oop, Scoots called your sister ‘awesome’.” I winked at Sweetie Belle. “She’s gonna go on another trip to try and get your sister to see her like Rainbow Dash does. Hopefully this time she doesn’t need to have a near-death experience.” Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at me. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and smiled. And for the first time since the accident, I felt… light. Nobody was focusing on my disability, I was laughing with my friends, things felt good. Why did it feel like it was going to be short lived? Days passed. Days turned into weeks. I still did all I could to avoid Applejack. Scootaloo came back to school after a week, claiming that being suspended was awesome, because she just goofed around all day. I made a really rough invention by attaching a string to a loofah that was suspended by wood and had a counterweight on the other end. I just had to pull and release the string and position myself correctly, and I didn’t need help scrubbing myself in the shower. I did a reverse of that for the undercarriage. It wasn’t great, but it was better than being washed by somepony else. Big Mac hurt his back at one point, so I came up with something else. I remember Sweetie Belle told me Rarity mentioned something called a “loom”, so I fashioned one out of an old barrel, and Big Mac could just operate the pedals attached, and move things so he didn’t hurt himself. Since it used rope, it couldn’t handle crazy weight, but it did help. I called it a “winch” on Scootaloo’s suggestion, because to her it sounded like it made that noise when used. Honestly? I was just happy that for once I could actually be helpful. I did wish the rope was stronger, though. And the winch wasn’t exactly easy to move around. Oh well. Big Mac helped me install more pulley systems around the house, so I could go into the bathroom, shower, and put my dress on all by myself. I’ll admit, the first day I actually managed to go through my morning without anypony’s help, I almost cried tears of joy. I was almost as independent as I used to be before the accident. I even ran down the stairs right before breakfast and threw the biggest hug around Big Mac I could. Considering he was about five times my size, it wasn't a very big hug. I still needed help putting my wheelchair on most of the time though. The easiest way to get in it was to back myself into it, but with no control over my hindlegs, and no feeling in them, I was forced to spend a giant amount of time messing with it to work. Having Granny or Big Mac helped me save a lot of time. But still, after all that time my grades kept dropping. I still had problems focusing, I still thought I was useless, and despite several more heart-to-hearts with Scootaloo, I didn’t end up any happier. “Cripple gang!” Scootaloo would wink and elbow me. “All we need is for Sweetie to break her horn and we can officially change our name to the Cutie Mark Cripples,” she’d joke. I’m not especially perceptive, but I could tell that the jokes were hiding her own insecurity about not being able to fly. She covered up her own feelings, put on a whole show, and made fun of herself just to make me feel better. I felt horrible. With time, the outright hatred for Applejack just turned into a dull ache. I still avoided her, and at this point she felt less like my sister, and only somebody else living in the house that I didn’t like to see, and didn’t want there. She was like the pony equivalent of cancer. I didn’t want to keep hating her. It was tearing me up inside every time I saw a family photo, or had to use ropes just to be kinda normal. But all that just reminded me that this was all her fault. And so we come to one day, almost a month after getting out of the hospital, that I was wandering around with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “But how does it work? Is it always green?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle hummed. “I’ve never seen him breathe red fire, so maybe Celestia enchanted him or something?” “Well the thing is…” I piped up. “Does he control what gets sent to Princess Celestia or is it somethin’ that just automatically happens? If he breathed fire on like, a tree, would he teleport the tree?” We fell silent at that, each of us puzzling over it. Sweetie Belle chewed on her lip, then glanced up at the sunset. “Oh no! Sunset already?! I gotta get home or Rarity will kill me!” Sweetie Belle went running off toward Ponville as Scootaloo and I shared amused glances. “Yeah, I’d better get going too,” Scootaloo chuckled. “Aunt Holiday is making us pecan pie for dinner! You wanna see if you can join us? And maybe you can sleep over too!” I let out a sigh. “I can’t. I’m allergic to nuts.” “Ohh, right.” Scootaloo responded, eyes meeting the ground and ears drooping. ”Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, right?” “Right!” I forced a happy tone. “See y’all then!” Scootaloo waved and headed off too. The Crusaders used to have sleepovers all the time. Rarity would often joke that we were joined at the hip. But ever since the accident, I’d avoided staying over, always finding some excuse. I know both my friends said they won’t judge me, and won’t care for who I was, but that didn’t help at all. I just didn’t want to have to bother them with the freak I was. And besides, I didn’t have all my systems in their homes. Can you imagine going to a sleepover and having to ask one of your friends to dress or undress you? Or to wash you? I don’t think I’d ever get over the shame. I never invited them over either. The rest of the family had gotten used to having ropes suspended everywhere so I could do basic things, but I didn’t want my friends to see it. I don’t know why, but something about it just seemed… too private to share with them. All because of her. I didn’t like saying her name. I didn’t like even thinking about her. Every time I did it hurt. She used to be everything I strived to be. She used to be the closest pony to me, and the one I could always trust with anything. She was the one that raised me. I blew out slowly, looking around at my surroundings. Huh, we’d somehow wandered by the junkyard on the outskirts of town. I don’t know if I’d ever been over here. My family wouldn’t be concerned if I didn’t show up for a while, having gotten used to me being gone all day, so I had some time. I made my way into the junkyard, looking around for any interesting loose materials that might strike some stroke of inspiration for another new thing I could come up with. And then I stopped. I saw Rarity’s cart from the derby. A forehoof made its way to my chest as a ghost pain shot through me. I looked away, to the right. That was a mistake. The shattered remains of the cart Applejack built was staring back at me. I could still see the dried blood all over the front of the cart. It had turned brown with time. My blood. Suddenly queasy, I looked away. I stared back at the swan cart. And then I had an idea. An awful idea. A wonderful, awful idea. Minutes later I left the junkyard with a new prize in my saddlebags. There was an imaginary skip in my step as I made my way home. The night was pretty normal from there on. It was pretty late when I got home, so I pulled the dish they’d made for me out of the fridge and finished it off. I spent half an hour or so playing fetch outside with Winona, but it was too dark to continue for long. But finally it was time to put my plan to action. I left my prize outside Applejack’s door and went to bed with a smile on my face.
