The Blessing: A Second Chance

It had been five days since Applejack had brought John to the hospital.  Every day she had gotten through her chores and headed to the hospital to visit him.  She didn’t know him, but with the amount of time she had spent talking to him, she suspected that he knew her pretty well by now.  Today she walked through the door to his room to find the doctor standing beside his bed.  She looked over to John and saw that his casts were gone, as well as the bandages around his chest.  As she entered the doctor turned around and smiled.

“Good afternoon, Miss Applejack” he said cheerfully.

“Afternoon, doc.  What’s up with John, where are his bandages?”

“I made a breakthrough today,” He said excitedly, “I was able to attune my magic to repair his skeletal injuries fully.  I also believe that I was able to repair his other internal injuries.  With luck, when he wakes up he should be able to get back on his feet.”

Applejack smiled at the thought of this creature being back to normal when he woke up.  Maybe he would be able to answer some of her questions.  The doctor was about to start speaking again when the beeping from the heart-rate monitor began to speed up.

“Well, that’s odd.  The painkillers we have him on should keep that from happen…”

The doctor was cut off as John’s eyes shot open and a scream erupted from his mouth.  John shot up in his bed and he looked wildly around the room.

“I can’t see, where am I?” he shouted with a panicked tone.

He began to tear at the IV in his arm.  Applejack flinched as he yanked it out and a small trickle of blood began to move down toward his hand.

“Mr. Makins,” the doctor began with a calm tone, “you are in the hospital, you were brought here after the incident, do you remember?”

“I remember the helicopter crash yes, but where is this hospital?”

“In Ponyville, Mr. Makins”

Makins visibly tensed.  His head shook wildly for a moment and he squinted.  His eyes settled on the corner where his equipment was.

In a sudden burst of extreme speed and strength, John lunged at the corner and tried to go for the wood and metal stick. He landed on his belly and his hand closed before he could grab it.  It slid across the floor out of his reach.  He swore and both the doctor and Applejack flinched at the word.  Instead of going after the stick, however, John tore at one of the pouches on his belt.  He withdrew a metal L-shaped object and moved part of it with a metallic Ka-Chank.  Rolling onto his back, he then proceeded to point it at the doctor.

“Stay the Hell away from me Hadgi, tell me where I really am!”  He shouted menacingly.  He was still squinting as if his vision was still impaired.

Applejack was beginning to fear where this situation was going.  She didn’t know what had happened to escalate John’s reactions.  He seemed very dangerous, and she didn’t like the look of the object he had in his hands.

The doctor began to take a step forward.  John’s vision may have been impaired, but his hearing was just fine.  As the doctor’s hoof hit the ground with a clop, John raised his arms and a ball of fire and an explosion erupted from the end of the L-shaped object.  Both the doctor and Applejack jumped back from the deafening noise, and Applejack looked up at the ceiling where John had pointed the object.  She was frightened when she saw a rather large hole had appeared in one of the ceiling tiles.

“I said stay back, unless you want a hole in you six inches wide!”  John shouted again.  He was still squinting and shaking his head.

“John,” Applejack spoke.  John seemed to relax a bit at the sound of her voice, but then he tensed again.

“John, what the doctor just told ya is the truth.  Do you remember me?” she tried to speak soothingly.

“I… I don’t…” he was struggling to recall. “I remember your voice… you spoke my name… I remember your eyes… I passed out after that, I guess, and I remember hearing snippets of your voice while I was out… but wha…”

His hands had started to lower while he was speaking, but they snapped back up when he cut himself off.

“Where is this hospital really located, if it even is a hospital?” he demanded again.

“John,” Applejack spoke calmly, “you said you remembered my eyes, right?”

John nodded, but kept the object leveled at the doctor.

“Here’s how were gonna settle this then.  I’m guessin’ that you can’t see very well right now, judging by how y’all keep squinting like that, right?”

Again, John nodded.

“I’m gonna step towards you.  Don’t hurt me, I’m just trying to show you that y’all got nothing to fear from all this.”

The doctor shot Applejack a panicked look.

“Miss, you can’t go toward him, he’ll kill you!” he warned.

“No he won’t, will you John?” she asked confidently.

John hesitated for a moment.  Applejack was fearful that the doctor might be right, but then John bent his arms at the elbows and pointed the object back at the ceiling.

“Okay, but don’t try anything funny.” He warned.

Applejack took a slow step toward John, making sure that he could hear her approach.  He was squinting and blinking furiously to try and clear his vision.  She took a few more steps and then stopped.  She was staring into his eyes again.

Again the pair shared a moment.  This time, Applejack saw fear and confusion in his eyes.  She again tried to convey the same thought, but this time she spoke it.

“It’s gonna be alright, sugarcube.”

John’s eyes went wide, and his body went slack.

“Applejack?” he asked in disbelief.

She let out a sigh of relief and nodded.  His arms lowered to his lap, and he looked down at his hands.  He moved his thumb to a part of the object and he eased it forward with a click.  He then put the object back in the pouch on his belt.

“So you do remember me talking to you while you were unconscious?” she asked.

She was surprised when John shook his head.

“It’s a very long story.” He said.

“Well, if you’re willing to tell it, I’m willing to listen.”

The doctor was staring in disbelief that Applejack was having a conversation with the creature that had just tried to kill him not but a minute earlier.  He wasn’t angry, just shocked.  The hospital security ponies showed up at the door a few seconds later with their batons at the ready.  The doctor shook himself out of his petrified state enough to address them.

“It’s fine,” he said shakily, “we just had a bit of a misunderstanding, you can go back to your duties.”

The guards stared skeptically at him for a moment, but they put their batons away and left as they were told.  The doctor adjusted his spectacles and cleared his throat before he spoke.

“I’m sorry Mr. Makins, I hate to interrupt, but seeing as how you’re up and around now I’m going to go ahead and discharge you from the hospitals care.  It’s nothing personal, but judging from what just happened, I believe you’re able to take care of yourself.” He said the last bit with a nervous chuckle.

John looked at the doctor and nodded.

“Thank you, doctor.  I’m sorry for what just happened.  You have to understand that I’ve been for a bit of a ride and I’m trying to wrap my head around this whole situation.  So please forgive me for threatening you, I really didn’t know you were telling the truth.”

The doctor nodded nervously toward John and gave him a shaky smile.

“No need to apologize, I should have thought this through a bit better.  I knew that I hadn’t ever seen a creature such as you before and I should have planned out a better explanation.  In any case, the situation is behind us now so there is no need to bring it up again.”

The doctor turned his attention toward Applejack.

“I’ll go retrieve the necessary forms that you both will need to sign for him to leave the hospital, and after that you both can leave.”

The last statement came out a bit more harshly than the doctor intended, but John and Applejack both chalked it up to be nerves.  As the doctor left the room, John looked back at the orange pony.  He still didn’t want to believe that this was happening, but the reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on him much like the time he had first heard the news of what had happened to his…

He slammed a mental bulkhead down upon that memory before it could hurt him.  He didn’t want to recall what had happened yet, he wasn’t ready.

Instead, he returned his attention to the very real pony that was sitting in front of him.  He didn’t know what to do, he still didn’t believe that this was really happening.  But, he was going to react the way he always did when he didn’t know what was going on.  He’d wing it.

  He suddenly realized that he wasn’t wearing anything but the hospital gown that he had woken up in and he was immediately embarrassed.  He cleared his throat before he spoke again.

“Umm, Miss Applejack…” he started.

“Please, I’ve gotten enough of that ‘miss’ nonsense from the doctor.  It’s either Applejack or AJ.”

“Okay, Applejack,” he corrected, “Could you give me a moment to get dressed, I feel kind of naked right now.” He said with a blush.

“Oh, umm… sure, heh-heh.  Uh, sorry.” She stammered.

Applejack left the room and slid the curtain closed behind her.  John got to his feet with effort and began to dress.  He noted the blood on his clothing and armor with unease, but proceeded to put them back onto his body regardless.  He would simply have to wash it off when he got the chance.  While he was strapping his armor back on, he noticed what appeared to be knife marks on the sides.  Perhaps the hospital staff had tried to cut the armor off to operate?  They hadn’t gotten very far with that approach, and John was glad of it.

He put his pistol-belt back on and slid his arms through the suspender straps.  He sat down and put his boots back on.  He stood up again and placed his pack and helmet on the bed.  Then he turned around and walked to retrieve his rifle from where it had stopped sliding.  He bent over and picked it up, noting a few new scratches in the stock.  He placed the rifle on the bed beside his pack and helmet.

He was opening up his pack as Applejack peered around the corner.  While John was on the bed, she hadn’t realized just how tall he was.  Now, with his clothing and armor back on, he looked very bulky.  She was wondering what he was doing in his pack when he pulled out a black case.  With a click, the case opened and he pulled out a pair of glasses.

“So that’s why you couldn’t see us at first.” She thought aloud.

John jumped when she spoke.  After regaining his composure, he placed the glasses on his face and turned toward her.

“I guess my other pair fell off in the crash.  I suppose it’s okay though, these look a whole lot better.”

Applejack took a few steps forward and looked up into his face.

“What are you John?” she asked.

“I’m a human.” He stated, “More specifically, I’m a human soldier.  A Marine”

Applejack detected a hint of pride in his last statement.  She eyed him up and down, trying to see if he was some kind of threat to herself and her friends.  Or Equestria, more importantly.  But no matter how much she tried to envision it, she couldn’t see John as a monster.  He didn’t look evil, maybe a little intimidating in his armor, but not evil.  If anything he looked…

Weary.

Not just in a physical sense, there was an air about him that made it seem almost as if he was tired of life.  But the fire that Applejack saw deep in his eyes countered that air almost tenfold.  The look in his face was hardened, but compassionate.  He still seemed a bit confused by all that was around him, but that looked like it was starting to become an afterthought.

He also looked like a hard worker.  His posture was rigid, almost like a slab of stone.  While he was out Applejack had noted that he looked pretty strong, and a thought popped into her head.

“John?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am?” he replied.

“I told ya it’s just Applejack, no miss’s or ma’ams.” She said irritably.

“Yes Applejack?” he tried again.

Applejack nodded at the correction before continuing.

“I realize that you’re still a bit confused by all of this, and I hate to bring this up and pile up more on your list of problems, but I have a bit of a bone to pick with you.” She said sternly.

John looked surprised at this, but instead of protesting, he pulled up a chair and sat down to listen to Applejack’s explanation.

“When your contraption crashed,”

“The helicopter?” John inserted.

“Yeah, that whirlamejigger.  Anyways, when it crashed into the orchard, it knocked down quite a few of mah trees.  I know it wasn’t your fault, but I was wonderin’ if you would be kind enough to help us repair the damage that the incident caused?”

John blinked a few times, and then laughed.  He wasn’t laughing at her proposal.  In fact, he thought it was more than fair.  He was laughing because he thought that she was going to lecture him about pointing a gun at her and the doctor.  After a few seconds, he noticed that Applejack was staring at him with a mean look in her eyes.

“Well, it was jest a suggestion.  I don’t expect ya to help me just because I saved yer life.” Applejack said angrily.

“Wha?  Oh, nononono.  I’m sorry, I wasn’t laughing at that.” John said defensively.

“Well then, what were ya laughin’ about?” she said, still staring at him angrily.

“I thought you were mad at me for nearly shooting the doctor.  It just caught me off guard when you asked me for help instead of scolding me.”

Applejack’s head jerked back.  She thought about that for a moment before she started to chuckle.

“Well, I suppose that is kinda funny.” She said with a grin.

“And also, thank you.  You know, for saving my life.”

Applejack blushed a little before continuing.

“Don’t mention it.  Ain’t nopony gonna say that Applejack didn’t help someone in need.” She said with her head held high.

“And I’d be more than happy to take you up on helping with the repairs.” He added.

“Glad to hear it.  When the Doc comes back with the papers and we get through all that mess, we’ll head to Sweet Apple Acres and get you settled in.  You’re gonna need a place to stay while you’re here, why not in the place where you’re gonna be workin’.” She said with a smile.

John’s face seemed to light up.

“Hey, I’ll bet that my comrades will be willing to help to.  We’ll have the mess cleaned up in no time.” He said hopefully.

Applejack’s smile disappeared, as did John’s.

“I was afraid of that.  How many?” he asked sadly.

“Seven.  We buried them a few days ago. I’m sorry.”

John shook his head.

“That’s my first job when we get there.” He said.

“What?”

“I’m going to pay my respects.  Marines take care of their own.”