“Granny!” The farm girl's voice shouted as she busted through the farmhouse door, “Granny!”

Applejack heard the creaking of a rocking chair halt and hurried footsteps. The old woman appeared from the living room and into the front mudroom with shocked confusion on her face, “Now, why in tarnation are ya yellin’?”

Granny Smith gasped as she took in the sight of her oldest granddaughter holding a sickly teenage girl in her arms. A girl with indigo hair followed behind through the front door, looking ready to have a panic attack as her oldest granddaughter had worry and pain written all over her freckled face.

“S-she needs help! Please, She’s in pain!” The anxiety-riddled girl begged.

“What happened?” The Apple family leader asked at the worrying sight.

Applejack slumped, almost losing her grip on the unconscious girl, “I- I- this is gonna sound crazy Granny but…” she hesitated. Granny made a motion for her to hurry.

“It's magic… these horrible creatures did something to her, and now she's all messed up. She was smoking hot even to touch, the only way I got her in here was wetting the towel,” the girl referred to the dripping rag that continued to splatter drops onto the hardwood floor, “Please, Granny, can you help?”

The strong face of determination Applejack admired from her grandmother appeared. “Get her to the guest room upstairs,” Granny Smith said, then turned to Twilight, “Darlin’, we got medical aid in the first bath down the hall. Grab it.”

The bespeckled girl nodded and left to obey her instructions.

The deep country accent of a male appeared in the living room as Applejack hurried past him and up the stairs, “What’s goin’ on?”

Granny chose not to answer as haste ran through her veins, “Later, son. For now, get me tha ice from the barn freezer and make as many ice towels as you can.”

“A-alright,” The deep red-skinned male obeyed as he hurried out the side door.

Just then multiple teenagers came piling through her door, most notably all friends of her grandkids.

Her littlest one ran up to her and squeezed her tight, “Granny, are you gonna be able to help?” Applebloom asked with shiny orange ombre eyes and a watery voice.

“Imma try darlin’. Magic aint well known to me but Goldie Apple always had a fixin' fer it. I’ll do what I can,” Granny Smith answered as she thought back on her favorite cousin’s, at the time, taboo interest and the books on ‘magic’ she had left behind at the farm.

“Granny, she’s set up. She’s a mighty shaky and Twilight ain't wanna leave her side,” Applejack explained as she came halfway down the stairs. The woman’s brows shot up in surprise, she hadn’t felt or seen the dark-haired girl whisk by.

Granny hurried her steps in her house slippers to the rickety stairs, “She best be prepared to help then.”

With those last words, Applejack’s grandmother disappeared into the smallest room at the back of the hall. The girl removed her stetson as she reached the bottom of the stairs, the fear for her ill friend’s state caused her knees to weaken.

Rarity met her at the bottom and embraced her. “Miss Smith knows a lot, darling. She’ll be able to help.”

She didn’t disagree with her partner at all. Her granny did know a lot and had done lots of amazing things in her lifetime, but this... real magic infesting her friend into such a weak and painful state… Applejack worried this would be a time when her Granny was out of her realm of wisdom.

Ten minutes later Applejack sat in the rocking chair in the living room along with her baby sister- her friends, and the four of her own friends. Fluttershy had only recently managed to stop her sobs as Rainbow Dash stroked her back, uncertainty not hidden well on her face. Pinkie Pie focused on keeping the youngsters occupied through coloring books. Her brother was pacing in the kitchen. Rarity sat in the other chair polishing her partner's hat, a nervous tick Applejack knew her girlfriend to have.

Suddenly Applejack nearly knocked the chair over as a scream of pain rocked the house, sending pictures askew.

Gasps left the mouths of everyone in the room as the air grew in heat.

“Wh-what’s going on up there?” Rarity stuttered with shocked worry.

Applejack’s leg began to bounce, “Ah don’t know but we gotta trust granny and the process…” she said not sure if she succeeded in reassuring the others. Or even herself.

“Applejack?” The sad voice of her baby sister asked, breaking the trembling tension, “A-ah though we had won? So, why is this happenin’?”

The farmer took a deep breath, “We did win, sugar cube. The sirens are done and lost all their magic,” She stood and crossed over to Applebloom, crouching down and placing a hand on the small girl's shoulder, “Yer safe now, darlin’.”

The young girl's voice cracked, “It don’t feel like it and A-ah’m so sorry for how Ah acted during the battle of the bands… Ah don’t know what got into me… why ah’ve never been so angry and jealous in mah life and-,”

A gentle finger over her mouth made Applebloom pause. The warm sibling love in her sister's forest-green eyes melted her guilt away.

A small body next to Applebloom shot up and ran over to her own sister. Rarity made a sound of effort from the air leaving her lungs as a Sweetie Belle crashed into her, squeezing her arms around the fashionista's waist, “I-I’m sorry too!”

“We all are!” Scootaloo agreed from her place in Rainbow Dash’s lap.

Rainbow scooped the young girl up, “Don't be a sap, squirt! We already forgive you,” her voice cracked. She cleared her throat as she poorly covered up her watery eyes.

The respective girls rejoiced with their sisters, yet a quiet and painful awkwardness consumed the air. It grew worse when silence drifted over them. The sounds of crying pain as two desperate confused voices instructed each other took over the room.

The group continued to comfort each other in the ways they could as they waited. Slowly, the sounds of the makeshift operation quieted. The sounds of the night had taken over with the buzzing of crickets and early winter wind grazing through ferns.

Applejack checked her phone, an hour had passed by… She had begun to think of checking in on the group upstairs.

The farmer found she didn't need to as a pair of soft footsteps padded down the stairs.

“Granny!” She said concern as she stood. Applejack removed her hat, “H-how is she?”

Big Mac had stopped pacing the kitchen and stood in the entry of the living room.

The older woman took a breath as she stopped at the bottom of the steps, “She’s… stable-ish. Still in a good bit of pain but there's some relief.”

Applejack could sense there was more her grandmother had to say “…and?”

The same orange-red ombre eyes that her Applebloom had gained looked back at her with sadness, “The relief she has is temporary. Ah’m not sure how long. But the poor girl is burstin’ with crazy magic- Goldie Apple’s books and help over the phone could only explain so much. She's gonna need professional help, and where she can get that… Ah ain't sure.”

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy’s meek voice cried with a hiccup.

“I-I don't know, ‘Shy…” Rainbow Dash trailed, her brain coming up blank for solutions.

“W-we don't have the proper magic or medical resources for Sunset’s condition and we don't know how to get it, t-this is awful!” The animal caretaker sobbed. Her doe-shaped eyes were overflowing with tears.

Silence, once again, took over the room as the hopelessness hit the others.

“She’s right, I’m afraid,” Rarity agreed, “Clearly, what’s happening is beyond our ability and knowledge. Whatever other solution we can come up with, I’m sure will only be temporary…”

Rainbow Dash sprung from her seat, “Well, shit! We- we gotta do something! There has to be something we can do!”

“Doesn’t Sunshim have that magical journal cell phone thingy?” Pinkie Pie suggested.

The occupants of the room turned to her. “What does that have to do with anything?” Applejack asked, waiting for further elaboration.

“Well... She talked about using a journal to communicate with another in her world. Remember? She was talking to Princess Twilight with it. That’s how she found out what the Sirens were. Maybe we can use the journal to contact Princess Twi and ask her how to fix Sunshim!”

“Why kiss a goat blossomin’ horns! You’re a genius, Pinkie!” Applejack replied, impressed as she stomped her boot.

“What did that even mean?” Rainbow Dash aimlessly questioned.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Pinkie Pie said as if she was speaking obvious fact.

“There's only one problem with that, Darling,” The fashionista started, “We don't know where the journal is. Who knows where Sunset has it stashed away…”

“Maybe Twilight does?” Scootaloo suggested and Rainbow Dash tussled her hair, “Doesn't hurt to ask!” the athlete agreed.

“We should find out as soon as possible. Gettin’ Sunset proper help needs to be done asap,” Applejack nodded before she turned to Granny Smith, “Can we go see her, granny?”

“Of course- the little Twilight girl refuses to leave her side, so just go in small groups. I ain't wanna find out what happens if the fire-breathin' girl gets overwhelmed.”

“Fire breathing?” Pinkie tapped a finger to her chin, “I don't remember Sunshim breathing fire?”

“Must be new,” Granny Smith shrugged before nodding the girls to the stairs.

Instead of questioning, the girls followed Applejack to the back guest room and decided they decided amongst themselves Rarity and the farmer would be first to enter the room.

The old wooden door creaked open as quietly as Applejack could make it. When she first entered the space, her partner behind her, Twilight had her head buried in her arms as she leaned on the bed at Sunset’s side.

Applejack almost couldn’t stand the sight of the flame-haired girl… her breathing was in a soft ragged pattern as her chest rose and fell with deep breaths. Her brows were slightly furrowed as beads of sweat rolled down her face- the only sense of solace was the wet towel clinging to her forehead.

Red splotches were splattered across her pale, moist skin. Whether the sweat from her pores was from being overheated or illness, the farmer deemed it near impossible to tell.

“Twi, darlin’?” Applejack kept her voice soft in the small. The indigo-haired head lifted slightly, and only violet eyes showed. Twilight's eyes were swollen and red. Dark circles of exhaustion and stress had laid under her eyes.

Rarity appeared behind her, “How are you, and… and, Sunset?”

Twilight shifted slightly off the bed, her arms curling around herself as an ivory hand with polished deep blue nails rested on her shoulder, “She’s… stabilized but possibly not for long. I’m sure Miss Smith told you her magic was running a muck,” Twilight pointed a finger to the ceiling.

Both Rarity and Applejack gasped, there was a large burn mark of roasted wood above them, “Wh-what happened?” Applejack asked, finding herself breathless.

“We made a wrong move trying to cool her down. She had been so physically hot the sheets were starting to smoke up. If it hadn't been for that woman Miss Smith knows… I don't know if we would have been as successful in relieving her of the corrupted magic as we were,” Twilight explained, her voice scratchy and quiet.

“Corrupted magic, darling?”

The bespeckled girl nodded, “The magic fire that shot out of her, was different from the magic at the fall formal but… it had all the signs of being corrupted: painful, black inhabiting it, distrucive…”

“Painful? Well, I suppose that makes sense. Ah can imagine having the junk in ya can't feel nice,” Applejack said, mostly to herself.

Twilight nodded, a sad and distant look on her face, “The flames had burst out through her mouth… there had so much fire, and… so hot,” her head lowered and her thumb rubbed over her wrapped-up palm, “It had caused her to scream.”

Rarity and Applejack looked at each other. That had been the scream that shook the house, they had heard from downstairs…

“I don't know how, yet. But I’m going to find a way to heal her. No matter what I have to do,” The scientist declared with quiet determination, her fists constricting in her lap.

“Well, darlin’ we’ve got an idea on the first steps to doin’ that,” The cowgirl informed. Twilight’s eyes finally lifted and met Applejack’s.

“What do you mean?”

Rarity answered, “We believe the best option is to get in contact with Prin- with, what was the name? Equestria? They are fluent in magic. Someone over there should be able to advise us on what to do.”

To their surprise and relief, Twilight nodded. There had been an unspoken tension that the researcher would reject the idea. The two girls were aware of Twilight’s touchy feelings with the princess counterpart in the equine world.

Twilight’s response made them wonder if she knew they did, “If that's what we have to do to ensure Sunset’s health then that’s what we have to do.”

“That’s good, darling,” Rarity assured, “Any chance you know where that journal thingy is?”

Twilight seemed to think for a moment, “Not specifically… it’s most likely in her apartment.”

“Perfect, we can head there tomorrow and do some duggin’ fer it.” Applejack confirmed, “The other girls are wanton’ to see Sunset too, ya alright with that sugar cube?”

Twilight slowly shook her head. She looked at the patient, Sunset had seemed to fall more into rest as her labored breathing settled.

“We’re gonna let the girl have some space,” Applejack and Rarity started to head to the door. Applejack paused with her hand on the round handle before turning to the lavender-skinned girl, “Sugarcube?”

Violet eyes behind thick frames met emerald.

“Make sure you get some rest tonight, alright?” The apple farmer advised. Twilight huffed in defeat, “I’ll try. Let’s just make sure we get that journal first thing tomorrow…”

The girls nodded in confirmation before allowing the next three in. Applejack’s heart leaped as she heard Fluttershy let out a sob.

“Darling?” Rarity asked, her hand resting on her partner's muscular back, “Do you think we’ll be able to help her?” The head of the shorter posh girl’s head rested in between Applejack’s shoulder pads, “Sunset… I’m very worried. She did not look well and not just in a feverish way…”

Applejack turned and embraced the purple-haired girl, “Ah know… but it’s as Twi said. We’re gonna get her help and healed, no matter what.”

Author's Note

Are you sure about that Applejack?

Just kidding...unless

Strap in your seat belts, this rollercoaster is taking off >:)