Fractured Apple

Chapter Six: An Abrupt Change

The first thing she heard was hoofsteps that were shortly followed by screams. Every sound was obscured as if heard through water. What willpower she had left asked for her to move, to open her eyes, but her body refrained. Murmurs she couldn’t understand came from around her as she faded into unconsciousness.

She awoke to the smell of antiseptics, along with the light odor of forest air freshener. Again murmurs and whispers all obscured came from around her. Her body did not respond to any signals, so she lay there in what was like a soft bed. What felt like needles and tubes coiled around or pierced into her, her entire being numbed to the point where she only felt tired.

“Where... she was?... horrible...” The words were barely understood between the nonsense. Another voice, masculine and trustworthy, talked with obvious concern. She couldn’t bring her mind to focus on anything, the void of unconsciousness beckoning her. Unwillingly she fell asleep.

Occasionally she woke up for mere moments, enough to get a sense of what was happening, before falling back asleep. She vaguely recalls being moved on a platform to a place where the train whistled. The air smelled like home, but the next time she awoke it had the smell of many odors, most likely a well-traveled location. The entire way she was being talked to, by one or more different ponies.

She recognized their voices as her friends, though she couldn’t hear their words too clearly. They spoke in such sad and soothing tones, although it all sounded like she was underwater, that it made her sad as well. The next time she awoke she was much more lucid. The smell of antiseptics returned, although there was no homey feel to it.

“...did everything we could. She was in a terrible condition when brought here, but is healing at abnormal rate,” said a stallion, his voice easily described as old and experienced.

“They moved her here as fast as they could after performing all they could, but the local infirmary didn’t have any doctors skilled in the needed type of surgery.” Yes, this voice brought warmth to her heart. It was easily identified as her antisocial, yet lovable friend Twilight Sparkle.

“Her ears were in horrible condition, the... wait, did you...?” The elderly stallion paused, his steps coming closer to her. She tried to feel her limbs, and was met with a small response. Her whole body still somewhat numb, but felt a lot like her entire body fell asleep, she opened her eyes slowly.

The light nearly blinded Applejack disorientating her for a moment. She blinked several times before squinting through the extremely bright light to see a white roof. She looked to the left and right; white walls shaped the small room, it being bare of decor save for a few chairs and small end tables designed for visitors. Her bed was very much a hospital bed; metal railing and medical stands on both sides of her from which tubes and wires attached to her.

She sat up slowly as she was assaulted with imaginary pins and needles from her sleeping muscles. Two ponies stood a little ways away from her, the elderly yellow stallion in a white coat being closer and a lavender unicorn with a navy-blue mane broken with a two-tone pink and purple stripe just behind him. They both had their eyes on her.

“My word, how are you awake? I mean, not that it isn’t great news, but you should’ve been out for another couple days with your injuries.” The doctor seemed to be in a stupor as Twilight rushed to her right, opposite of the doctor, with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, Applejack, thank goodness you’re okay. Umm, wait, okay is not the right word. Alive? No, no that sounds like you were going to die. I’m glad to see you are in a better condition than you were,” said twilight with a nervous, yet happy smile. Applejack opened her mouth and tried to speak, but her throat hurt from being dry and sore.

“Oh, one second!” Twilight trotted outside the room for few moments before returning with a paper cup full of water held aloft in a bright magenta magic field. Applejack began to sit up as the doctor pulled a lever on the bed and pulled it up to an incline.

She took the cup of water and drank it, the cold clean water soothing her throat as the chill reached down to the pit of her stomach. She coughed, inhaling a bit from drinking too greedily, and smiled at Twilight.

“Thank ya kindly, Twi.” Applejack’s ignored that her voice was hoarse. She met Twilight’s eyes only for the mare to recoil with a face of shock and confusion.

“Applejack?” Twilight said with obvious concern. “Are you, umm, feeling alright?” Applejack’s ears flicked, her hearing was quite clear, and therefore surprised at what she had heard.

“Seriously? That question ain’t obvious?” She knew Twilight was smart, but that wasn’t really the brightest thing to ask.

Twilight smiled sheepishly before walking up closer to her. “I did not mean it like that. Your eye, does it hurt?”

Applejack frowned. Her eyes felt the same as usual, though the light in here was terrible and distracting. After a few quick blinks and a roll of the eyes to see if they hurt she shrugged. “Eenope.”

Twilight and the doctor, who has been lost in thought, shared a look. Applejack looked between them both and sighed. All she wanted to do was get out of this bed and leave. She looked around the room again and now noticed just behind Twilight was a plain square window. She squinted to look past it, but her mind caught up to her swiftly when she saw daylight. The sun was shining just outside.

Her eyes widened as she frantically looked at Twilight and urged herself to move. Sluggishly she began to crawl out of her, tubes and needles pulling out of her skin and patches tearing from her fur.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Twilight quickly maneuvered herself over to Applejack’s side to support her.

“You shouldn’t be moving! You’re still in bad condition!” yelled the doctor as he magically, and correctly, removed anything attached to Applejack. She nearly fell when her hooves touched the ground, only managing to stay up thanks to her friend supporting her weight. Thoughts were coming and going too fast to keep up with.

“Applejack, please lay back down. We don’t know what is going on, so please, lay down.” Twilight looked her right in the eyes wearing what she was feeling on her face. Despite the need to run out and head straight to her family, Applejack managed with help to get to one of the soft chairs in a corner and sat down.

Maybe it was the medication or whatever she was on, but she felt well enough to leave. All the grievous pain seemed nothing more than the past, although plenty of bruises and soreness filled her whole body. The worst of it seemed to be her entire ribcage where she had taken blows from those huge monsters.

She sighed, and brought a slight smile to her face from seeing her friend again. “Alright, it’s just Ah wanna see mah family so bad.”

“Now, Miss Applejack, you are, or should be, in bad shape. And that’s putting it lightly. You were rushed here after Ponyville Infirmary treated you to the best of their ability as they didn’t have any staff required to heal you.” The elderly stallion floated over a clipboard with a bunch of papers and notes on it. “You had numerous cuts, scrapes, and bruises that resulted in a lot of blood loss. One broken rib and three fractured, so please do be careful when moving about. Your ears were the worst, requiring surgery and extensive magic to repair them. Luckily they weren’t damaged beyond repair, and in time should make a full recovery.”

Applejack listened to the doctor, but felt mostly fine except for her ribs. Her ears twitched at every sound, they were hearing clearly although extremely sore. She felt a few of the deep cuts stitched but still not as bad as he was describing. Even she knew it was weird, but there was a question hanging over her that she had to ask.

“How long was Ah gone for?”

“About three days. The last pony to have heard from you was Rainbow Dash. Big Macintosh visited saying you were on your way to see me. Now—”

Applejack screamed internally; she had been missing on the farm for over half a week. Applejack interrupted Twilight asking, “Four days!? Ah have to get back, there’s so much work to be done!” She halted her train of thought at another question. “How long have I been back?”

“Three days. Wait, what do you mean ‘back’?” asked Twilight. Applejack reached up to pull her hat down over her face when she grasped air.

“Ah, mah hat! Where is it?”

“Right next to your bed, where everything you had on you is.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and her brown stetson floated over from a bedside table promptly landing on her head. Applejack relaxed in relief as she tugged the stetson down, shading her eyes from the extremely bright sunlight.

“As I was saying before, does your eye feel weird or hurt at all?” Twilight asked. The doctor who was reading fixing up the medical machines and reading charts glanced up curiously.

“Naw, both of them feel fine. Why do ya ask?” She put on her best grin to cover up that the way they were acting made her nervous that she was missing something important.

“Well, your right eye is purple.”

Applejack nearly facehoofed. Her eye color was green, not purple. The words that were said took a moment to click in her mind before she looked up in confusion. “What do ya mean it’s purple?”

“Just what I said. Your right eye is purple, including the pupil. Also, it’s glowing.” Twilight sat down on the floor and looked Applejack right in the eyes, her face quite serious. A glance to the doctor only showed him nodding in agreement.

“What in tarnation does that mean? It feels the same, everything looks the same, though it’s extremely bright in here,” she said while pulling her hat further down. She loved the fact that the sun was there again, but it could tone it down a few notches.

The doctor began scribbling down something on the clipboard as Twilight looked out the window. “It is not that bright, only a little bit after noon,” she said looking back at Applejack. Twilight’s face shifted into the familiar puzzle solving expression. “You might have vision more adept for low light conditions, although I am not sure why that would be.”

It clicked in Applejack’s head. That horrible world she was in was lit entirely by the light of the stars. Why her eyes would change now she had no idea, but she at least knew why.

“Well, Miss Applejack, Miss Sparkle, I have to attend to more patients. Please don’t do anything stressful and stay in your room, Miss Applejack. You are in recovery, so follow your doctor’s orders. I will be back shortly,” he said, and disappeared out the door.

“Wait, Twi, where are we? Where is mah—”

Twilight held up a hoof to silence Applejack, and adjusted herself on the floor to be sitting directly opposite of each other. “I know you have plenty of questions, as do I, so I’ll answer the ones I can that you would want to hear first.

“We are in Canterlot General, the hospital in Canterlot. Our friends are in the city, but we couldn’t all crowd in here, so we rotate out to watch over you.” She smiled sweetly as she was glad to have her friend awake. “Your brother and sister couldn’t come here when you were being transported, although I am positive they wanted to. They are arriving today, any time now actually.”

Applejack held back tears of joy that she would soon see her family again. It had not been that long, but it felt like an eternity since she last saw them. “Thank ya, Twi. Ah understand why they couldn’t, can’t just leave the farm all suddenly for days. Gah, these last couple days have been a nightmare!”

“Where have you been, Applejack? We searched everywhere and couldn’t find you. Big Mac formed a search party the next night when you didn’t show up.”

Applejack bit her lip. It was sound crazy that she was suddenly dropped into a future world filled with demons and shadows after finding some magical artifact beneath her old tool shed. Sounded almost like a bad fantasy novel.

“Well, thing is, Ah don’t know where Ah was. I had found some weird artifact underneath the old tool shed engraved with fancy runes, and figured you’d know what it was. Right as Ah got to the library it changed.”

“What do you mean ‘changed’?” Twilight waited patiently for her friend to think of how to explain it clearly.

“That’s the thing about it. Everything got dark and the air was freezin’. I was still at the library, yet it wasn’t yours.” Applejack shuddered at the memories of the creatures, choosing to leave that part out. “I think it was the future, or one of the many futures? Ah don’t know. It’s just good to be back home.”

Twilight took all this in silently. She looked back to the table next to the hospital bed and, with a magenta glow, levitated a worn out and bloodstained pale lavender satchel. Applejack’s eyes widened at the sight of proof that she hadn’t gone crazy.

“You had this on you when you were found. Now, none of us went through it to respect your privacy, even given the circumstances.” Twilight frowned at how she sounded so accusing. “It looks similar a satchel I have back at home, though this one has seen better days. The whole future idea looks a lot more believable with this, though.” She offered a smile, telling her friend she believed her. “What is in it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Applejack took the satchel and held it with mixed feelings. Her only proof that she had gone through what she did, and yet proof that it wasn’t just a horrible nightmare. “A couple cans of what Ah guess is old food, some forks and spoons, a can opener, and... the journal!”

She quickly unclasped the satchel to find everything she had said to be in there, including a slightly glossy purple journal with yellowed pages. She simply stared at it.

“What? Applejack, what journal?”

“The journal Ah found in the library’s basement. It’s your journal about, well, stuff from that world. It makes no sense, Ah getcha, but it’s all Ah got.”

“My... journal?” Twilight’s face shown several emotions, intrigue and fear included. Applejack clasped the satchel shut and got up to rest back on her bed. Her family would be here soon, and that was all she wanted at the moment. Twilight looked to be deep in thought as the wind blew by.

“Twi, could ya shut the window? The wind kinda creeps me out now.”

Twilight broke out of her reverie and arched an eyebrow at Applejack. “The window is closed.”

Applejack froze. She could faintly hear the whisper of the wind in the silence of the room. “What... but I just woke up. No!” She looked at the satchel sadly, and with a swift move she tossed the satchel over her shoulder and tightened it.

“Applejack, what’s going on? Calm down,” Twilight said as she stood up and tried to console her panicking friend.

“It can’t be, Ah mean, I just got back! But y’all said Ah was out for three days... Grah!” With a yell of frustration she tried to move to the door, but was blocked by Twilight. The wind was slowly but steadily growing from a faint whisper.

“Please explain what’s going on, Applejack. What can’t be?”

“The wind, it’s, look, can’t ya hear it!?” Applejack was constantly looking left and around, being far too jittery for a hospital patient and tried to move back Twilight who was blocking the door.

“No, what? There isn’t any wind, just calm down and lay back down. I think you might be having some kind of attack.”

“Oh, it’s an attack alright. Move out of mah, Twi. I don’t have much time!”

Twilight was getting scared as Applejack stood up her full height, although it wasn’t that much taller than her it had a frightening effect with Applejack’s right eye now glowing a fierce burning purple.

“We can talk about this; all we have to do is relax and take a breath.”

Applejack did take a deep breath. She feinted left, which Twilight stepped to block, and dashed past her on the right through the door. She ran down the hall to the right looking for any path down. Twilight yelled something after her, but she couldn’t make it out over the clop of hooves against the cold seamless stone floor.

Dashing down the hallways dodging any and all residents of the hospital wasn’t the greatest plan, but Applejack was in a hurry as the everflowing wind whistled louder. She spotted a flight of stairs leading both down and upwards, and began on the downward set. It was a slow four flights of stairs, as even in a rush Applejack made sure to descend them safely.

She burst through the double doors leading to the first floor and ran down the only direction there was. She could still hear Twilight’s voice behind her, the mare most likely following her. She was a good caring friend, but Applejack didn’t have time to explain. All she was focused on was trying to see her family. Twilight said they were visiting today, and would’ve arrived at any moment. In her mind that gave her as good a chance as any.

A few corners and long hallways with a lot of shouting and close calls Applejack managed to end up to the hallway leading to the front entrance. A quick glance behind her she saw Twilight not too far back, the unicorn’s horn glowing brightly with a face set on catching her.

The wind whistled deafeningly as she reached the end of the hall opening up to a large welcome center. Multiple chairs and benches covered much of the floor, the walls decorated with paintings of various art genres and a few coffee tables with a magazines scattered across them. Around a dozen ponies of all the races were here, with three new arrivals entering the glass doors now.

“Granny, Big Mac, Apple Bloom!” Applejack screamed across the center. They all looked in surprise at her, and all the other ponies like she was crazy. She dashed toward them, the wind so loud that all other sounds were nothing but white noise.

All but a series of loud thunderous booms that ended with a brilliant flash of purple, a lavender mare appearing right in front of her with a fierce expression.. Applejack tried to dodge, but slammed directly into her friend sending them into a tumble. As they rolled along the ground the wind reached its peak, and then disappeared with all the light of the world. The only sounds in the air were the grunts of the two mares laying on top one another.

Applejack was on her back with Twilight on top of her; she looked up at a grey ceiling covered in shadows. The light of the day was gone, replaced by the light of the stars that she knew all too well from her last few days.

“Ow, somepony get the number of that cart that hit me?” Twilight rolled off Applejack chuckling at her joke she had heard Spike say once. Both mares rose to their hooves with slight grunts, one looking around in familiar terror while the other in confusion. The darkness surrounded the room, the chill of the air nipping at the warm bodied ponies.  Twilight looked at Applejack, her friend looking afraid as if she had committed a terrible crime.

“Oh, this is bad, isn’t it?”