Chapters You lied to me, Applejack.
W-what?
You said that flying would be one of the greatest feelings on earth.
I-I…
You said it would make me a happy wappy pinky winky.
I’m sorry, sugarcube.
You lied.
I’m sorry.
Liar.
“I’m sorry!”
Applejack sprung from her bed to the annoying sound of her digital alarm clock. Hot sweat stuck the hard working pony and forced her to get out of bed. She walked to her window to stare out into the overcast clouds hugging the snowcapped mountains of the Equestrian horizon. She gave a long sigh and made her way down stairs.
“Mornin’, AJ,” said Big Mac, sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee with his morning paper.
Applejack sat across from the red workhorse and glanced uneasily over the wood grain table. “Big Macintosh, I-I don’t think I’m goin’ today.”
He looked over the newspaper. “You’re jokin’, right?”
“No, I really don’t think I should go.” Applejack made eye contact with her big brother for the first time and felt his frustration over her tired body.
“AJ, she’s your friend.
“But it’s too soon. What if she’s mad at me?”
Big Mac ran a hoof over his wrinkled forehead. “And how in the hay do you know that?”
“How do you know she’s not? She almost died last week because of me.” Applejack lowered her eyes back onto the table.
Big Mac slammed his paper on the table and stood to his hooves. “Dammit Applejack. It’s about time you got off your sorry plot and do something besides mopin’ like a dog with its tail between its legs.”
Applejack stood herself to address her fuming brother. “You ain’t got no right, Big Macintosh. Have you ever been close to losin’ a friend to death?”
“Well, if it’s anything like losin’ a sister to some self-hatin’ depression, then yes I have!”
“Ahem.” Twilight Sparkle entered the kitchen along with Applebloom who let her in. The two older farm ponies stepped away from each other.
“Howdy, Twilight,” bellowed Big Mac.
“Good morning, Big Macintosh. It’s good to see you.”
Big Mac let out a sigh. “I tried to talk to her, but she’s stubborn to the core.”
Twilight cast an empathetic look onto Applejack, who sat slouched over the table with her head buried in her front legs. “Maybe if I tried to talk to her.”
“Be my guest. Confound these ponies, they drive me to…” Big Mac continued his mumblings out into the hallways of the Apple residence, followed by a sniffling Applebloom.
Twilight took a seat next to Applejack. Taking one of the farm pony’s hooves, she flashed a comforting smile and a brow scrunched with concern.
“Applejack…”
“Twilight please. I got my ear chewed out this mornin’ already. I don’t need second helpings.”
“That’s not what I’m here to do, Applejack. I’m here to deliver a request.”
“A request? For who?”
Twilight chuckled. “You, silly! Somepony wants to see you ever since they woke up.”
Applejack lifted her heavy head up to Twilight’s level. “You mean, she’s awake?”
“Yup. And the doctor said the first words out of her mouth were ‘Where’s Applejack?’” Twilight rubbed her friend’s hoof with excitement. “Don’t you see Applejack? She’s doing better, and she wants nothing more than to see you right now.”
“I don’t know Twilight,” responded Applejack, scratching the side of her head. “I’m afraid if I go there, and I see her, I might not be able to handle my feelings. I don’t wanna stress her out more than she is now.”
Twilight chuckled. “I’m pretty sure she’s okay to see you. Otherwise she wouldn’t have asked. Besides, Rarity and Fluttershy have already gone in to visit, and they said she was just fine so you have no excuse missy!”
The orange pony looked out the window. “What about Rainbow?”
Twilight reduced her smile to a nervous grin. “She’s there too, but…”
“Forget it, I ain’t goin’. No way, no how am I steppin’ into the same building with that mare.”
“Well, I think she might have actually left,” Twilight stumbled.
“Well, which is it? Is she there or is she not?”
Twilight breathed an impatient sigh. “Does it really matter Applejack? You’re not there to see her. You’re there because Pinkie Pie is asking for you. Please, AJ. Don’t disappoint Pinkie like this.”
Applejack’s narrowed eyes softened to the thought. “Okay, I guess I’ll go. For Pinkie Pie’s sake.”
“I think that’s very noble of you!”
“Yeah, just lemme get my hat.”
* * *
The cloudy day sprinkled the cobblestone streets of Ponyville with a light drizzle. Ponies in raincoats trotted at a rapid pace as they ran their errands, oblivious to the two mares arriving at the Ponyville Emergency Center from Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack finished wiping her hooves on the mat when she saw Rarity trotting her way to greet her.
“Applejack, darling, it’s so good to see you.” After hugging Applejack and Twilight, Rarity pointed a hoof down a hallway. “Pinkie’s room is down that hall, second door to the left. She’s so excited to see you!”
“Uh, yeah,” said Applejack shifting her eyes.
“Is something wrong, my dear?”
“She just had a bit of a rough morning,” said Twilight patting Applejack’s back. “But she’s super excited to see Pinkie for the first time in over a week, right AJ?”
The farm pony flashed a forced smile to her unicorn friends.
“I see. Well, Fluttershy is in there right now, just FYI. And Rainbow…”
Applejack made a light gasp when Rainbow was mentioned.
Rarity cocked her head. “Sweetheart, did something happen between you and Rainbow this morning?”
Applejack sighed. “No, it’s not that. It’s just, well…”
“She’s a filthy horse!”
Yelling from across the lobby, Rainbow Dash cast a hard look at Applejack’s direction. She trotted at a slow pace towards the farm pony.
“Rainbow Dash, what makes you say such nonsense about Applejack?” asked Rarity.
“Why don’t you tell her, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash stopped when she was face to face with Applejack. Her eyes burned with a fervent glare that the farm pony felt rush through her and out into the windy rain. Her weight shifted uneasily amongst her four vibrating hooves. She opened her mouth but could only lightly inhale the sterilized air.
Twilight interceded. “Rainbow, stop it. Applejack’s here to see Pinkie and..”
“Shut up, Twi!” Rainbow snapped.
“Honestly, Rainbow, what possible monstrosity deserves such a rash exchange?” Rarity asked.
“Well, since Applejoke here won’t say a word, I will. The real reason why Pinkie’s here is because Applejack…”
“Um, excuse me Rainbow?”
The four ponies gathered in the lobby turned to see Fluttershy standing behind Rainbow Dash.
“What do you want?”
“Oh, well, actually, it’s what Pinkie Pie wants. Sh-she asked me to, um, tell you to go to Sugarcube Corner and get her a book.”
“What book?”
“It’s called ‘Underwater Basketweaving for Dummies’ and she says it’s on a short table in her room. You can’t miss it.” Fluttershy’s cheery smile was met with a look of puzzlement on everypony else’s face.
* * *
“Uh, thanks for gettin’ me outta there Fluttershy,” said Applejack.
Fluttershy and Applejack trotted down the hallway, their hooves echoing a deep sound. Several nurses trotted past them with perplexed looks on their faces, absentmindedly bumping into walls and each other.
“Actually, it was Pinkie’s idea. She heard Rainbow call you, uh, something bad and sent me to make that bogus request.”
“Well, at least it’s good to know Pinkie’s talkin’ again.”
They arrived at Pinkie’s room just when she dozed off into a peaceful slumber. The markings on her wrists had healed so that nopony cringed seeing them anymore. She still sported casts on all four legs and a head wound still penetrated dark red through a woven bandage.
“She looks so peaceful,” said Applejack.
“Yes, she does appear much more peaceful than earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Fluttershy began. “Pinkie was having some trouble swallowing food. She was choking on a piece of cinnamon roll during breakfast and I had to get the doctor’s attention right away, Of course they took forever to respond. It was very scary.” Fluttershy paused a moment. “I’ve never seen Pinkie cry so quietly before.”
She looked up to find Applejack’s eyes welling up with tears.
“I’m sorry Applejack. I shouldn’t have said that. Oh, I’m such a loudmouth.”
Just then, Pinkie coughed lightly and opened her eyes. She caught sight of Applejack and immediately her eyes lit up like a sunny day.
“I’ll leave you two alone now,” said Fluttershy as she walked out of the room.
“Fluttershy wait…” said Applejack.
“Apple…jack,” said Pinkie Pie, the sting of the lodged cinnamon roll causing a rasp in her voice.
“Now don’t you talk, Sugarcube. We don’t wanna irritate that throat any further now.” said Applejack, taking a seat on the crinkled hospital bed. She noticed Pinkie trying to touch her with her cast-laden leg, but Applejack instead took Pinkie’s hoof and caressed it’s rougher exterior.
Moments passed, and Applejack was struggling to smooth out the kinks in Pinkie’s kinky mane with a hairbrush.
“Consarn it. Don’t these hospital pony folk know how to take care of their patients’ mane?”
“I mean, I guess I can’t expect too much from a bunch of buckin’ idiots who take forever to help a chokin’ patient, right?”
Pinkie’s smile vanished into a blank stare.
“And don’t even get me started on the crap they call food that they serve here.” Applejack’s exasperation transferred over to her smoothing, trying to force-pull the most resistant parts of Pinkie’s mane.
Pinkie gave a light gasp.
“The least they could do around here is serve actual cinnamon rolls and not rocks that get stuck…”
Before Applejack could finish, Pinkie blew a raspberry at the farm pony’s direction. She cast an angry glare at her bothered hairdresser.
“Did you just blow a raspberry at me?” asked Applejack, letting the brush hit the linoleum.
Pinkie’s eyes softened to a playful glance. The two friends broke into laughter.
“Okay, sugarcube, I’m sorry. I’ll stop bein’ a hardplot.”
Pinkie gave a light sigh. She wiggled into a more comfortable position and cast a warm glance at Applejack. Goosebumps ran down the orange pony’s back as she struggled to find words.
“Pinkie, about the accident, I just wanted to say that I didn’t know that…”
She was interrupted by another flurry of Pinkie’s raspberries.
“Pinkie honey, lemme finish. I’m sorry I…”
Pinkie again interrupted with stronger flurries of raspberries, which Applejack wiped off of her face.
“Pinkie, are you gonna let me apologize or what?”
Pinkie shook her head and held out her front legs as much as she could.
“What are you doin’, girl?”
Pinkie continued to reach forward, wincing with every closing inch.
Applejack started to tear. “I-I just want to tell you how sorry for how stupid I was to let you inside and think it was a good idea to…”
Before Applejack could finish, she felt a pair of coarse legs wrap around her. She noticed that Pinkie managed to sit up in her bed and lock in an embrace that silenced and paralyzed the repentant pony. After a few moments, Pinkie released Applejack from her hug and held her friend’s hoof. Their eyes met amidst the warm sunshine sifting through the sprinkled window of the lonely hospital room.
“Pinkie,” Applejack said, a smile beginning to form on her face.
Pinkie returned the smile, but before it could lighten the room with it’s presence, the sting of the former obstruction caused her to cough uncontrollably.
“Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Applejack said.
Pinkie lifted a hoof weakly towards the other end of the room.
“What? Is there something over there?”
Applejack began trotting to the other side of the room. Pinkie continued coughing until she threw herself on the bed and began convulsing violently.
“Oh my stars! Don’t worry, sugarcube, I’ll get the doctor in here in a lickety split!” Applejack bolted out of the room leaving a distressed pink pony coughing viciously. Applejack ran up to the lobby and found the front desk manned by a young nurse reading a magazine.
“Excuse me, miss. My friend’s coughing like crazy and she needs help!” Applejack said breathing heavily.
The young nurse waved her front hoof in a shooing motion. “Find her doctor then, I’m not in charge of the room’s right now.”
Applejack fumed. “Now you listen here, you! I need you to get your plot into my friend’s room or I’ll send you to room whether you’re in charge of it or not!”
The nurse looked up from her magazine and clicked her mouth. “You better shut your stupid hillbilly mouth or I’ll call security on you.”
Applejack grunted in frustration and ran back to Pinkie’s room. She stopped dead in her tracks at the entrance when she saw Rainbow Dash feeding Pinkie Pie through a bottle of something she didn’t recognize.
“Rainbow, what are you doin’?” Applejack asked.
“I’m giving Pinkie Pie her throat medicine, Applejack.”
“But, where’d you get it?”
“From that desk right next to you,” replied Rainbow with a disgruntled tone.
Applejack recognized the desk was where Pinkie was pointing at while she was attacked by coughs. She looked over at Pinkie who sucked on the bottle with her eyes closed with relief. When she finished her bottle, Rainbow walked to Applejack and thrust the empty bottle in the earth pony’s chest.
“Why don’t you make yourself useful and throw this on the way out?”
Applejack stumbled. “B-but, I…I didn’t know this was for her throat.”
Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah, Pinkie was only pointing at it the whole time she was coughing to her death. And you left her alone? What the hay, Applejack.”
“I was looking for the doctor, Rainbow. “
Applejack and Rainbow locked angry gazes. Pinkie interrupted the tension with light sobbing, which prompted Rainbow to bolt to her side.
“Why don’t you just go before you almost kill her a second time?” said Rainbow as she caressed Pinkie’s mane, reknitted from all the commotion.
“I-I…” Applejack bolted the room in a flood of tears.
Pinkie stretched out her hooves towards Applejack’s missing presence.
Rainbow shushed the struggling pink pony. “Now now, Pinkie, don’t overwork yourself. That stupid blonde isn’t here to hurt you anymore.”
Applejack stood outside of the emergency room as ponies walked in and out oblivious to the pony’s cheeks moist with regret. The sky above her recoiled into a fierce downpour of cold, wet rain soaking her blonde mane. She turned and slowly made her way to Sweet Apple Acres, her tears and the pounding rain becoming one.
“You sure this’ll work, Applejack?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Sure I’m sure,” she replied. “Why this here contraption has been in the family for so long, and not once has anypony had any problems with it.”
“Well, I’m just excited that I’m gonna be flying soon!” screamed Pinkie, wiggling with anticipation in the seat of the unusual arrangement of wood planks, a worn wicker chair, and hundreds of nails rusted with age.
“Yup,” chuckled Applejack. “But that’s not all Pinkie. Granny Smith once told me that when she was a little filly, the first mayor of Ponyville took the first ride in this here beauty.”
Pinkie gasped. “Really? Oh, I’m gonna be flying right into the history books! Well, not literally because that would hurt, but metaphorically that’s awesome. Hey, I wonder how the first mayor of Ponyville smelled like.”
Pinkie gave the ancient seat a large whiff and coughed.
“Well, more than just the mayor has been on that seat, sugarcube!”
As Applejack and Pinkie Pie were talking, Rainbow Dash took a few observant glances at the old structure. She noticed several cracks in the wood caused by termite damage and that a few tugs on the thinning seatbelt loosened its grip.
“Uh, AJ,” Rainbow began. “Have you seen the condition this thing is in?”
Applejack scoffed. “Well Miss Rainbow Dash, I wouldn’t expect you of all ponies to be concernin’ herself about safety. Why I can assure you that this flying contraption my great grandpappy built is able to withstand the mightiest of storms.”
“Yeah, but look at these cracks. Clearly termite damage. And this seatbelt is about as secure as if it had none.”
“Pfft. Details. You’ll see that the masterful craftsmanship of the Apple family will once again prove itself as Pinkie takes the sky for the millionth time.”
“Hey!” Pinkie screamed. “Are you two gonna keep squawking? I should be the one squawking right now!”
“Uh, come again, sugarcube?”
“You know, squawking like bird. Squawk!”
“Alright, sugarcube.” Applejack bent down and gripped her side of the machine. She turned to look at Rainbow Dash. “So, are ya gonna help me let Pinkie live her dreams, or what?”
Rainbow Dash huffed with resentment, but bent down and held up her side of the machine.
The trio looked out from the peak of Mount Equestria. The sky was clear and blue without a cloud in sight. The trees that lined the border of the lush meadow stood unfazed, eagerly awaiting the spectacle that would be Pinkie soaring through the sky.
“Now remember, Pinkie,” informed Applejack. “Pull this here rope to turn left and this one to turn right. If ya get tired of pedalin’, simply stop and this sail here will assure a slow and graceful descent to safety.”
“Okie dokie lokie,” replied Pinkie Pie.
“Okay, on the count of three. One. Two. Th-.” Before Applejack finished her countdown, she felt a large shift of weight go to her side of the machine. She looked up and found Rainbow Dash standing with her hooves crossed.
“Rainbow, what the hay?”
“I’m not doing this.” Rainbow cast a fiery glare at Applejack and remained firmly with her hooves crossed.
“Fine then,” said Applejack. She went behind the worn seat and began to push Pinkie Pie towards the cliff. As she neared the edge, a strong halting force forced her muzzle into Pinkie’s back.
“Are you insane?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Well, that’s pretty normal for me,” replied Pinkie Pie.
“Not you Pinkie, her.” Rainbow pointed a hoof at the recovering farm pony.
“Why, of all the! Get outta my way, Rainbow.” Applejack returned to her position behind the contraption and began to push.
“No!” Rainbow Dash countered the farm pony by pushing the front of the machine back towards the mountain. It was a losing battle as years of applebucking aided Applejack’s success in getting Pinkie closer to the edge. After struggling for about a minute, Rainbow’s back legs gave way and the ancient machine brushed past her.
“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash managed to grip one of Applejack’s back legs just as she was about to give a final burst of push to Pinkie. Applejack reacted naturally by reaching for the side of Pinkie’s seat. The change in direction sent Pinkie careening over the cliff on one side.
“Pinkie, no!”
Applejack sprung from Rainbow’s grip and watched as Pinkie tumbled down the side of the mountain. Thick branches sprouting from the sides scratched her soft pink fur.
“Help!”
“Don’t worry Pinkie. I’m coming!” Rainbow Dash bolted from the cliff down towards the helpless pink pony, but the branches prohibited her from getting anywhere near her excitable friend. She flew in disbelief as she watched her good friend plunge towards the rocky bottom of Mount Equestria.
“Pinkie!”
“Oh my stars. Oh my stars. Oh my…”
* * *
Darkness dragged across the rugged outskirts of Ponyville amidst a light drizzle and a serenade of noisy crickets twiddling their legs in disunity. All along the muddy path, Applejack looked down at her soiled hooves and switched shoulders to rest her vagabond knapsack. Up ahead she caught a faint glimpse of a rest stop for ponies that scaled the country landscape by train. When she arrived, she let her knapsack fall next to her on a chipping wooden bench. Sue buried her face into her wet hooves.
“Mind if I smoke?” asked a voice from behind.
Applejack looked up to find a cloak bearing pony pull out a pack of cigarettes from one of the deep pockets and a lighter from another. She removed the hoodie concealing her face and let her long black mane fall over her sharp violet eyes. After lighting up the first cigarette, she took a seat next to Applejack and pulled out a second cigarette in front of the farm pony’s face.
“Uh, no thanks. I don’t smoke.”
The black maned pony placed the cigarette back into her pocket and puffed a gray smoke into the dark air. “You think you’re better than me, ay farm pony?”
Applejack scrunched her brow. “Come again?”
The pony chuckled. “You think that just because I smoke I’m somehow inferior to you. Like health makes you any better than I.” She flicked off the ash onto the red soil and placed the half-used cigarette into its pack.
“Well, I don’t mean to offend ya, but I know that smokin’ is bad for yer body.”
“Bad is such a relative term.” The pony raised her hooves behind her head and looked over at Applejack. The whites of her eyes flowed with rivers of red veins and her gray fur felt rough at sight. Applejack swallowed a nervous amount of saliva and turned away to look out into the black night.
“Name’s Octavia,” the pony said. “And yours?”
“Um, Applejack.” She cautiously stuck out her hoof. “Nice to meetcha.”
Octavia turned to look out into the dusk horizon, ignoring the friendly gesture. “So, what’s a good little filly like you doing out in the middle of bucking nowhere?”
“I…I don’t know,” Applejack said reflectively.
Octavia snickered. “For somepony who thinks she’s better than me, you’re about as bright as a dark alley oozing with filthy hookers.”
Applejack straightened her posture. “What’s that s’pose to mean?”
“Now you’re just being stupid.”
“Now you listen. First off, I wasn’t offendin’ you with my comments. I know for a fact that smokin’ does bad things to yerself regardless of how you define bad. And second, I’m out here in the middle of nowhere because I needed some time to think.”
Octavia lit up a new cigarette in her mouth, guarding the weak flame with her hoof from the light breeze. “You’re running away.”
Applejack gasped in disbelief.
Octavia continued. “Yes, my little pony, you are escaping the inescapable, extending the inevitable, and practicing the predictable.”
“I don’t follow.”
“The miracle of flight.”
A puff of smoke danced mischievously into the night sky then vanished within its encompassing grip. Out in the distance, two bobbing lights inched closer and closer until it rushed past the two traveling mares flapping their manes over their eyes. Applejack quickly restored her appearance with a flick of the hoof while Octavia simply brushed away the parts surrounding her lips and snuggled the cigarette.
“So, whaddja do? Murder somepony?”
Applejack pressed her lips. “Well, you could say that somepony very close to me is hurtin’ now. All because of my negligence.”
“She had it coming.”
Applejack rose to her hooves. “How can you say that?”
“Karma’s a bitch. And from the choice of friends she has, she’s not a whole lot better.”
“I just about had enough of this,” said Applejack. She threw her knapsack on her shoulder and marched towards the direction the train had passed.
“The miracle of flight.”
The orange pony stopped in her muddy tracks as her curiosity got the best of her bothered intentions. She slowly turned to see the blunt pony nonchalantly flick the finished cigarette in between the worn tracks of the Equestrian train station.
“What is this miracle of flight thing you keep mentionin’?” Applejack asked, taking a seat on Octavia’s other side.
After a brief moment of silence, Octavia began.
“His name was Bass. He sang in the choir. He had a unique voice.”
“Lemme guess,” said Applejack. “He sang bass?”
“Countertenor.” Octavia replied. “Talked like a girl, sang like a girl. He told me one time when he wore his mane long he was mistook for a mare outside the gym bathrooms. And, well, let’s just say he got mighty rich and a funny step.”
Another train passed and Octavia sat unfazed by the rush of wind that settled her mane back in place.
“But even when they all laughed at his voice or at his rump, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He took notice and took me out to dinner after a show we did together. I gotta say for a scrawny singer, he sure talked like a bellowing bass, and he wasn’t too bad in the hay either.”
Octavia paused a moment to light up.
“Then one day we were at the store buying fruits for an exotic dish he was teaching me how to make. There next to the apples was a little filly getting slapped around by her father for a few that spilled on the floor. Nopony did a damn thing about it. They just stared like it was a show on television.”
Octavia paused again to cough.
“Then Bass walked over to the stallion. He looked at him dead in the eyes. And said ‘Stop it, you filthy bastard’.”
The gray pony drew out a long sigh. “I couldn’t tell you what happened right after because I was on cloud nine. I’ve never seen anypony stand up quite like that before. But then, they started to tussle on the floor right in front of the poor little filly. She was crying so loud, and nopony did a damn thing.”
“What happened next?” asked Applejack.
“Well, somepony finally managed to do something brave and call the police from across the street. But not before the bigger stallion battered Bass so badly it looked like he was run over by a freight train. I stood over him for a good minute or two, and all I could think of was how much of a fighter he was.”
“And what did you do?” asked Applejack.
“I flew.”
A third train pulling ten boxcars pulled up beside the two mares sitting on the wooden bench and whistled signaling it’s soon departure. Octavia stood to her hooves, lifted the hoodie over her head, and hopped inside a boxcar filled with hay. As the train started to move away, Octavia pulled out the half-used cigarette from her pocket.
“If I can give you a word of advice, Applejack,” Octavia said as she flicked the cigarette down to Applejack’s hooves.
“If somepony gives you hell, shove it right back up their sorry plot.”
“Surprise!” shouted Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.
The inside of Sugarcube Corner was tastefully decorated with glittering streamers and sparkling balloons to commemorate Pinkie’s exit from the emergency center. A towering cake frosted with the words “Welcome Home, Pinkie” sat on a long table set with pink plates and cutlery. Presents stacked to the ceiling made the still bandaged pink pony cry with overwhelming glee.
“Oh you guys, this is the most amazing thing anypony’s ever done for me,” Pinkie said, breathing heavily from the exertion of excitement evident from her happy little jumps.
“Well, don’t tire yourself out, darling,” said Rarity. “There’s a lot more party to be had!”
“Oh, oh! Can we play my favorite game, pin the tail on the pony?”
“Of course,” answered Fluttershy. “This is your party, and you can do whatever you please.”
“Except not have a part because this is a part y, right?” snorted Twilight. Everypony except Pinkie Pie rolled their eyes.
Pinkie Pie walked slowly admiring the gleaming decorations that dressed Sugarcube Corner from top to bottom in festive attire. She paused at the cake and noted the sugar crusted cutie marks of all her friends lining the bottom ridge.
“You do like the decorations, right Pinkie?” asked Rarity, fidgeting her hooves.
“Of course I do,” Pinkie replied smiling.
“Oh goodie!”
“But, there’s something missing…”
“Missing?” All eyes were on the recovering pony.
“I miss Applejack,” Pinkie said with a sigh.
A fierce silence pierced the colorful room and stole the breaths of all present. Each looked to her own front hooves until a purple unicorn came to Pinkie’s side and wrapped a hoof around her.
“Oh Pinkie. Applejack has been gone for weeks now, and nopony has any clue where she might have gone.”
“I even went to check with Big Mac at Sweet Apple Acres almost every day,” said Fluttershy, blushing slightly.
“And she hasn’t turned up?” asked Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy shook her head.
“We all wish that she could have been here to celebrate with you Pinkie. Isn’t that right everypony?” announced Rarity.
Everypony nodded in agreement except Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow? You don’t wish she was here, too?” asked Rarity.
The rainbow maned pegasus scratched her leg uneasily and darted her eyes to the floor.
“Rainbow,” said Rarity sternly.
“I. Well. You see. Um. Hey, anypony thirsty?” Rainbow bolted to the large punch bowl filled with sarsaparilla and began serving several cups with the drink, spilling small amounts with every spoonful.
“Rainbow?”
The clumsy server looked up from her hooves and saw Pinkie wearing a look of sadness and concern on her face. She took a long, deep sigh and placed a hoof on her pink friend’s shoulder.
“Pinkie, I can’t lie to you. You’re too good a friend for that.”
“Well, duh,” Pinkie said, tilting her head.
“The thing is I’m still mad at Applejack for what she put you through. For the boneheaded decision she made to let you ride that rickety old machine.” She looked over the head wound still penetrating Pinkie’s head bandage. “For hurting you. I will never forgive her for that.”
“Oh Dashie, is that it?” replied Pinkie to everypony’s surprise.
“How can you say that?” said Rainbow Dash.
“With my mouth, silly!”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Rainbow Dash facehoofing.
“Then what do you mean, Rainbow?”
“She almost killed you, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow screamed. “Your life could have ended the day she pushed you off the cliff and I would’ve lost a dear friend.”
“It sounds like you already did that,” said Pinkie reflectively.
Rainbow Dash glanced over to the others. Everypony held back tears as they witnessed the words emanating from the cracked lips of the one wounded. The pegasus gave a final sigh and let her hoof fall to the ground.
“Pinkie…”
“Ponies make mistakes, Dashie,” said Pinkie. “Have you never made a mistake before?”
Rainbow paused before answering. “Yes, I have.”
Pinkie smiled. “Mistakes are a part of life. Nopony controls who makes them, only how they react.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at Pinkie with tears welling in her bright fuchsia eyes.
“I choose to not let them bother me and have fun. How about you?”
“I’ll try Pinkie,” replied Rainbow, weakly smiling at her wise friend.
“Alright then, who’s ready to partay!?”
* * *
At about nine o’clock, the festivities at Sugarcube Corner had come to an end and all of the ponies pitched in to help Mr. and Mrs. Cake clean. Over at a corner, Pinkie Pie rested on an inflatable mattress tired from a wonderful time spent with all but one of her dearest friends. When the last bag of trash was disposed of, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash gathered at the entrance where Mrs. Cake gave them thanks for their help.
“It was no trouble at all,” said Twilight. “We did use your bakery after all.”
“Well, I’m off to bed then. We have a huge engagement tomorrow at Canterlot early morning and we need to find a babysitter for the whole day, and poor Pinkie Pie is in no condition to watch the two foals.”
“I’d love to offer my help, but I’m currently conducting a special study for the Princess on the practicality of utilizing magic in logistics,” Twilight said with a short squeak of delight.
“I-I have a previous engagement with Big Macintosh tomorrow I’m afraid,” said Fluttershy.
“I thought we were going to the spa together, Fluttershy!” said Rarity.
“I-I know, and I’m really sorry, but Big Mac said he would take me to his favorite fishing spot by the lake and prove that he really does put the fishes back.”
Rarity sighed. “Well, you are an animal activist so for that I won’t judge you. That just means I’ll have to spend the entire morning alone at the mercy of both Aloe and Lotus’s spa treatments.”
Mrs. Cake turned to Rainbow Dash. “What about you, dearie?”
“Sure, I’d be glad to help,” she replied. “In fact, I was wondering if it was okay with you and the hubby if I could spend the night with Pinkie. You know, just to make sure she’s okay and all.”
Mrs. Cake smiled at the idea. “Why that’s perfect! That way you can stay home with the little ones, too.”
“Then it’s settled,” said Twilight.
Upstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Cake settled into bed while Rainbow Dash took the initiative to get the foals ready for bed. After a brief struggle getting them to stay in their crib, Rainbow lulled them to sleep with a warm bottle and a gentle back rub. Downstairs, Pinkie Pie placed blankets over the inflatable mattress and filled a large glass pitcher with fresh water.
“Phew, all this bed making is thirst making,” said Pinkie to herself, pouring a glass of water.
“Tell me about it,” said Rainbow coming down the stairs from the foals’ room. “Those guys are impossible to make stay put.”
“I know the feeling,” said Pinkie Pie, handing the tired pegasus a glass.
The two friends fell on the mattress and looked up at the ceiling, each taking periodic sips of their crisp refreshment. Out the window, a shooting star blazed across the night sky and vanished behind the peaks of the Equestrian mountain range.
“Oh, oh, a shooting star,” Pinkie exclaimed. “Hmm, let’s see. I know! I wish for a large rubber ducky. No, a million parties. No, forty days and forty nights of nonstop chocolate rain.”
“You would, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash chuckled.
Pinkie turned on her side. “What do you wish for, Dashie?”
Rainbow pondered. “Well, I know a few things I wish didn’t happen.” She looked at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie grabbed her friend by the hoof and smiled.
“Hey Rainbow Dash.”
“What?”
“You think you can go upstairs and get a book from my room for a bedtime story?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess. 'Underwater Basketweaving for Dummies'?”
“No, not that one. That wasn’t as useful as I thought since it kept breaking apart in the pool.”
Rainbow Dash got up from the mattress and made her way to the stairs. “What’s it called?”
“The Prettiest Ponies,” Pinkie said.
Rainbow made her way up the stairs, careful not to wake the Cakes. When she entered Pinkie’s room, she looked over the short table she was referred to the day Pinkie asked for the other book but could not find “The Prettiest Ponies.” She looked under her bed, on her desk, and even in the personal bathroom but it was nowhere to be found. She was about to leave to tell Pinkie about her failed search when a flick of blonde mane caught the corner of her eye.
“Lookin’ fer this, are ya?” said a mare’s voice with a thick southern accent.
Rainbow looked over to find Applejack leaning against the wall with Pinkie’s book up in one hoof and a sharp knife near her flank in the other. She threw the book at Rainbow’s hooves and began slowly walking towards the nervous pegasus.
“What are you doing here?” asked Rainbow, stepping backwards.
“I came to see Pinkie,” Applejack said. She held up the knife and gave Rainbow a frightful grin. “Looks like I’ll be getting two things done at once. Lucky me.”
“Applejack, you don’t want to do this,” said Rainbow, still backing towards the door. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Oh, we’re gonna fight Rainbow. Cuz I ain’t flyin’ no more!”
Applejack swiped her hoof across Rainbow’s face, but the fleet footed pegasus dodged the attack. The farm pony lunged three more times at the weaving Rainbow Dash, the last coming inches to gouging one of the pegasus’s eyes. Rainbow made a dash towards the entrance, but was detained by a coarse rope lassoed expertly around her legs.
“Say yer last words, pardner.” Applejack approached the helpless pegasus grinning from ear to ear. She raised the knife in the air and gave Rainbow a mischievous wink.
“Applejack, please. Think of Pinkie Pie.”
Applejack brought down the sharpened knife about halfway to Rainbow Dash’s chest before she was distracted by an unexpected visitor.
“Rainbow, what’s all the commotion? You’re not tearing up the room just to look for…” Pinkie came in the room and immediately froze with her mouth agape. “A-Applejack?”
“Pinkie Pie!”
Thinking quickly, Rainbow Dash kicked her four hooves towards the knife, cutting the rope that bound her legs clean and sending Applejack back on her flank. The pegasus got up quickly and turned to her pink friend.
“Pinkie, you need to get the hay outta here and call the police!”
“Dashie, look out!”
Rainbow Dash turned to see Applejack’s hoof slashing the knife towards her throat. The farm pony came merely centimeters from ending Rainbow’s life had it not been for a pink hoof blocking the trajectory.
“Ah!”
“Pinkie. No!” Rainbow Dash knelt next to the pink pony. Nauseating amounts of blood spilled all over the laminate floor and a severed hoof landed at the hooves of the attacker.
“No. This was not s’posed to happen!” Applejack looked up at Pinkie piercing the former peaceful silence with her screams of intense pain. Out in the hallway, the sound of clopping hooves got louder and louder.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie!” Applejack turned and jumped out of Pinkie’s window and vanished into the black night.
“Applejack, where are you going?” screamed Rainbow.
“What in the hay is goi-. Oh my heavens, Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake fell to her knees next to the amputated pony. She removed her nightgown and pressed the area of severance to stop the bleeding as best she could. She looked up at Rainbow Dash whose hooves dripped with Pinkie’s blood.
“You!”
“What? No, Mrs. Cake I can explain..”
“How dare you do this to my darling Pinkie Pie!”
“You don’t understand, it wasn’t me. Applejack was…”
“What in tarnation is going on?” Mr. Cake arrived with both foals crying hysterically in his hooves. As soon as he saw Pinkie’s leg and Rainbow’s dirty hooves, he turned to leave.
“Honey, where are you going?” yelled Mrs. Cake.
“I’m putting these foals down and I’m calling the authorities on this filthy horse.”
Rainbow Dash gave a light gasp and turned towards the window. Before she leapt, she took one last look back at Pinkie Pie. The earth pony's eyes pleaded with the fleeing pegasus to stay and console her. Knowing the consequences, Rainbow flew out of the second story window and darted across the cold, dark sky, tears streaming through the sides of her eyes.
“Rainbow Dash,” screamed Twilight Sparkle.
The next day, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Big Macintosh split up into a search for Rainbow Dash in the outer fringe of the Everfree Forest where eyewitnesses claimed they saw a light blue pegasus fly into the night before. Other volunteers searched deeper within the forest under the protection of royal guards. Others remained alert in Ponyville.
“Oh Rainbow, where could you be?”
Twilight turned around to find the three members of her search party return with long faces.
“Any luck?”
“With getting burrs in my mane yes,” Rarity said shaking her head violently to remove the natural obstructions. “But not with finding Rainbow Dash.”
“What about you guys?” Twilight asked Fluttershy and Big Mac.
They both shook their heads.
Twilight looked up into the bright morning sky. “I can’t believe this is happening. Why would Rainbow Dash do this? This is so unlike her.”
“Well, if you ask me, I always thought Rainbow to be a tad too impulsive at times,” replied Rarity. “But as far as motivation is concerned, it’s anypony’s guess.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed Fluttershy scrunch her face with intensity.
“Fluttershy darling, is something wrong?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened.
Twilight spoke. “Fluttershy, do you know something about all of this?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Would you care to tell us?”
The shy pegasus shook her head. Suddenly, a strong hoof pulled her fragile weight against Big Mac’s burly chest.
“Fluttershy, t’aint ‘bout my sis, is it?”
Big Mac’s eyes grew large as he held the trembling pegasus within his firm embrace. Fluttershy remained frozen in place until a single tear broke free and slithered down her cheek.
“Fluttershy please,” pleaded Twilight. “Any information that will help us find our friends needs to be known right now.”
After a brief tense moment of silence, Fluttershy let out a stammered sigh and began. “W-well, last night around m-midnight, I heard a kn-knock on my d-door.”
She paused to swallow.
“I opened it to find Applejack trembling and tears running down her face like I’ve never seen before.” Fluttershy stopped to take lots of deep breaths.
“She told me everything that happened that night. Rainbow wasn’t the one that cut off Pinkie’s hoof, Twilight.”
“Then you don’t mean.” said Rarity.
Fluttershy looked up at Big Mac. More tears trickled down her face.
“Applejack?” he asked.
The yellow pegasus burst into a soft cry and lost the strength to support her own weight. Big Mac’s grip began to weaken as he slowly fell on his flank, tears welling up in his own eyes.
“Does this mean Applejack is in Ponyville?” pondered Rarity.
Fluttershy did not answer as she continued to cry into the red farm pony’s shoulder.
“Fluttershy, do you know where Applejack is?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
Fluttershy finally turned to her unicorn friends. “Sh-she told me she was going to Mount Equestria.”
“Then Princess Celestia needs to be informed immediately.” Twilight crouched down and began to charge her teleportation magic. Before she could complete the process, Fluttershy broke free of Big Mac’s weakening embrace and charged towards the purple unicorn.
“No, Twilight. Don’t!”
Fluttershy dove for one of Twilight’s legs but came up empty hoofed as the magical pony vanished into thin air. A tense silence permeated that small section of dim forest where the three ponies cast their gazes onto the ground.
“Well,” said Rarity, breaking the silence. “I guess I’ll continue searching for Rainbow Dash o-over there.” Rarity pointed a hoof down a trail and left.
Still lying on the dusty ground, Fluttershy began to whimper softly. “I’m sorry, Big Mac.”
Suddenly, Fluttershy felt her body being lifted by a gentle strength that pulled her once again into the warm embrace of the object of her affection and admiration. She looked up into the weary green eyes of Big Macintosh. She began to speak, but the red pony placed a gentle hoof over her quivering lips.
“It’s okay, Babyshy. You did nothin’ wrong.” His smile reassured her fluttering heart.
“I-I’m so sorry, Big Mac.”
“So am I,” Big Mac responded looking away for a second. “I would never think o’ my sis doin’ somethin’ of this nature. Seems somethin’ musta snapped in her brain.”
“What should we do now?”
Big Mac sighed. “Let’s go to Mount Equestria and search for some answers. Together.”
The strong work pony nuzzled his filly friend and walked her through the forest towards the majestic Mount Equestria.
* * *
Applejack stood at the edge of the cliff looking down towards the rocky bottom where her friend had once been. The jagged branches curled their sharp points to the heavens and taunted Applejack to test their wrath with a leap. She simply remained frozen under the beating of the noonday sun, casting a small shadow half consumed by the air that surrounded the edge of the cliff.
“Well I’ll be damned.”
Applejack barely noticed Octavia standing beside her looking down the cliff of Mount Equestria.
“H-How’d you find me up here?”
The gray pony did not respond. She took out a cigarette and began to light up. “Is this where it happened?”
“She was so excited,” said Applejack. “I just wanted to make her happy. I wanted her to live her dreams the way everypony should.”
“A dream is nothing more than a taunting vision to touch the sky from the ground,” said Octavia. “It was a waste of time.”
“Now that’s no way to look at life,” said Applejack.
“What is life?”
“What do you mean?”
Octavia turned to face Applejack. “When stripped of all the bells and whistles that succumb to the rust of age, what is the chief end of a pony’s life?”
“Well,” began Applejack. “I guess it’s to make the most of the time you got left in life.”
“And what is the most in life, farm pony?” asked Octavia.
“To live your dreams,” replied Applejack slightly annoyed by Octavia’s questions.
The gray pony slowly returned to gazing down the cliff unsatisfied with the answer.
“Well then, what do you think the point in life is, Octavia?” asked Applejack, picking up on the gray pony’s inaudible response.
“Survival.”
“Applejack!”
Applejack and Octavia turned their heads towards voice they heard behind them. Rainbow Dash stood in a crouching position, her light cyan fur frazzled from a whole night of lurking within the depths of the Everfree Forest. She cast a fervent glare on the farm pony.
“Rainbow, how did you find me here?”
The pegasus ignored the question. “If you think you can hurt Pinkie Pie and get away with it, you got something else coming, Applejack.”
Rainbow Dash began to charge towards Applejack at full speed.
“Rainbow, wait. Please stop!”
The pegasus ignored the farm pony’s cries. She was only inches away from tackling Applejack when a burning object flew into one of her eyes. She clumsily came to a stop and fell back on her flank.
“Ow! What the hay is this?” She pulled out the obstruction from her pupil.
“A cigarette?” exclaimed Applejack. She turned to Octavia who was lighting up another in her mouth.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
Rainbow slowly stood to her hooves with one eye fiercely shut. “You stupid mare. You are so getting it.” She began to charge toward Octavia. The gray pony stood unfazed puffing smoke into the blue sky. Rainbow threw herself towards the cigarette flinger but was knocked violently off course by Applejack’s shove. She tumbled on the rocky surface of the cliff.
“Rainbow, wait.”
The pegasus got up slowly. “What!?”
“Why do you have to be so impulsive? Can’t we talk about things first?”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” she replied gritting her teeth.
“‘That’s the blind leading the blind’ would’ve captured the irony much more effectively,” said Octavia. “But that works too I suppose.”
Rainbow grimaced. “Okay, who the hay is she?”
“That’s not important right now,” said Applejack. “What you need to do is listen to me. My life has been hell the past few weeks and…”
“You think I’ve been kissing Princess Celestia’s feet recently?” replied Rainbow.
“That’s gross. You realize half the roads we walk on are dirt?” said Octavia.
“What I’m tryin’ to say is I’ve been under so much pressure lately that…I don’t know. It’s makin’ me do things I normally wouldn’t do. Like there’s another pony inside me.”
“What, so you’re saying your bipolar or something?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“That’s not what she’s saying,” said Octavia. She finally turned from gazing out into the horizon and locked her sharp violet eyes onto Rainbow Dash. “And only a brute like you could come to such a conclusion.”
“What are you trying to say, horse?” asked Rainbow.
“What I am saying is the circumstances surrounding Applejack’s pitiful life would lead to an amateurish conclusion such as bipolar disorder. But, what you are ignoring my little putz is the most basic tenet of pony survival instilled in every one of us since the dawn of pony existence.”
“What are you sayin’, Octavia?” asked Applejack sincerely.
“She isn’t saying anything, because she’s stupid,” screamed Rainbow. “Ignore that mare and let’s settle this once and for all, Applejack.” Rainbow lowered her head and scratched the rocky ground.
“No Rainbow, I don’t want to fight you.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” said Rainbow, walking to Applejack. “You got no other choice. You’re not getting off this mountain without passing me first.”
Applejack backed away until she felt the mountain air cool the heels of her back hooves.
“You do have one other option, Applejack,” whispered Octavia.
Rainbow Dash stopped in front of Applejack and crouched low ready for the attack. “Fight.”
“Or fly.”
Octavia flicked the used cigarette into the wind and watched it dance in the blue horizon. Applejack swallowed hard as she stood trembling in front of the pegasus’s narrowed fuchsia eyes. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and leapt out towards the forest horizon.
“Applejack, no!”
Suddenly, Applejack felt a strong hoof pull her back leg and thrust her to safety on the cliff. When she recovered from her daze, she looked up to see a pair of green eyes.
“B-Big Macintosh?”
“There they are. Arrest them!”
Applejack looked over and saw a pair of guards rush towards her and Rainbow Dash. She got up to run away, but was grabbed by the nape of her neck and flung at the hooves of one of the guards.
“Stay right there, criminal.”
“B-but…”
“The pegasus is getting away,” cried the other guard chasing Rainbow Dash. Rainbow blazed towards the sky not paying attention to a burning object coming straight for her good eye.
“Ah!”
The fleeing pegasus slowed to remove the obstruction which was enough time for the pegasus guard to catch up and apprehend her. A struggle quickly ensued as the royal guard tried to get Rainbow Dash back to the cliff.
“Let me go, you bucking idiot!”
Eventually Rainbow was restrained and cuffed so that she wouldn’t fly off. She looked over at Octavia, who couldn’t help but smirk. Rainbow turned to the guard holding Applejack. “What’s going on? I didn’t do anything!”
“Is that so?” said a booming regal voice.
Everypony looked up to find Princess Celestia gazing fiercely at the two suspects. Next to her stood Twilight Sparkle and Rarity wearing faces of relief and anxiety.
“Princess, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was this pony.” Rainbow pointed a stiff hoof at Applejack.
The princess glanced at Twilight for a second. “So I’ve heard. And if the evidence proves your claim, then you will be set free. But until then, we must allow the legal process to resume.” With a flick of the hoof, the guards took off towards the temporary detention center to place their captured suspects.
“I extend my gratitude to each and every one of you for your help in this matter.” Princess Celestia gazed across every face present. Some looked up with sadness in their eyes; others looked off into the distance to find anything else but that moment.
“Um, excuse me Princess,” said a weak voice behind Big Mac. “Will our friends be okay?”
“That is to be determined, Fluttershy,” responded the princess. “Right now our top investigative teams are searching every nook and cranny to get to the bottom of this unfortunate series of events, But do not lose hope, my faithful followers, for surely goodness will overcome any evil that threatens our peaceful land.”
Everypony nodded in agreement, except for one who stood still facing the horizon.
“Come Twilight and Rarity, we must return to Canterlot and proceed with the investigations.” Princess Celestia charged her teleportation magic and whisked away the two unicorns in the blink of an eye. Big Mac and Fluttershy slowly began walking towards the path they came from.
“Hey Fluttershy,” Octavia said.
Fluttershy turned around and gasped at the sight of the gray pony standing with her back to the Equestrian scenery with her hooves out and tears flowing down her face.
“When you see Applejack again, give her this message for me: You need wings to fly.”
Before Fluttershy could say a word, Octavia let her weight succumb to the gravitational pull that came from the rocky foot of the majestic mountain below.
The walls of the Pony Detention Center corroded with green rust and reeked of years of cigarette smoke and days without bathing. Several ponies packed the small ten by ten cells and only the echoes of keys broke the silence every now and then. Applejack sat in a corner of the cramped jail cell with her hooves huddled close to her shivering body.
“Applejack, you’re needed up front,” announced a guard standing in front of the gate.
She stood to her hooves. “M-Me? But why?”
“Do I look like a psychic to you?” replied the guard.
He unlocked the gate and led Applejack down the dark, lonely corridor to a highly secured door. After inputting a code into the number pad, the door clicked open and slowly swung to reveal a flowing blue mane on the other side.
“Applejack, thy presence hath been requested at the royal palace.”
“P-Pardon?”
“Do not fret, Element of Honesty, for thy princess hath only to discuss with thee matters of grave importance. Shall we go?”
Applejack stood stunned for a moment before responding. “Yes, your majesty.”
“Our hope is that the tea is to thy liking,” said Princess Luna.
Applejack gave the remark a weak smile and nervously stirred her tea. The two mares each sat in two adjacent loveseats in what appeared to be a meeting room in the royal palace. Several pieces of expensive art decorated the walls and the fireplace crackled in the moonlit night.
“Uh, Princess? I hate to seem unmannered and all but why am I here?”
“An excellent question, my loyal subject,” replied Luna. She took a sip of her tea and began. “It has come to our attention that the Element of Honesty hath been exhibiting strange behavior. Criminal even, as evidenced by thy recent incarceration.”
Applejack responded with a deep sigh.
“However, it seemeth that our sister hath displayed great interest in thy case, and given the current hour it is I who will preside over sorting the details.”
“Well, I guess I understand that and all. But I still don’t git why you’re treatin’ me so well if I’m a criminal.”
Princess Luna placed her tea on a small coffee table and placed her hoof on Applejack’s. “Tis done for reasons of personal matter, my dear subject. Thou art not a criminal, and ponies who art not criminals should be treated well.”
“How can that be?” asked Applejack.
Luna sighed. “Thine eyes gaze upon the former Nightmare Moon, the same who threatened Equestria with eternal darkness. Tis not easy to accept goodness when thou hast left marks of despair, but when one maketh mistakes, tis wise to accept them as truth and disengage the power of their influence.”
“Well, I guess I understand that now, too. Thank you, your majesty.”
Luna smiled. “Very well then, let us begin by explaining any important events that occurred prior to the night of the attack.”
With stammered speech, Applejack recounted for Princess Luna the accident that occurred at the heights of Mount Equestria.
“My, my. What an awful ordeal thou hast been through.”
“Yeah. So when I got home, I packed my things and headed toward the train station to think things through. That’s when I ran into Octavia and…”
Luna’s ears perked. “Forgive me for the interruption, but didst thou mention an Octavia?”
“Yes, your majesty. I ran into her at the train stop. She seemed very blunt and was talkin’ to me like she knew some big secret or somethin’.”
“The miracle of flight, am I correct?”
Applejack’s eyes widened. “H-How did you know?”
“Believe it or not, Applejack, the one named Octavia sat where thou sittest. Tis also known that she is no longer with us for shortly after thy apprehension, a certain pony named Fluttershy testified seeing Octavia throw herself over the cliffs of Mount Equestria.”
“Oh my stars,” exclaimed Applejack.
“What hath she told you, Applejack?” asked Luna.
Applejack told the princess the story of Octavia’s coltfriend Bass.
“Applejack, wouldst thou believe that everything thou hast heard from Octavia is but a partial truth?”
“Whaddya mean, Princess?” asked Applejack.
“Well, for one thing, the little filly that suffered blows from her father was actually Octavia herself.”
“Oh my.”
“And Bass? The name her Father bore.”
“So, what about the coltfriend then?”
“A figment of her imagination and mind set on survival,” said Luna, standing to observe the full moon that brushed the royal garden with its magnificent glow. “You see, Applejack, Octavia was that poor little filly who suffered at the hands of her abuser, and it was also Octavia that took his life. Of course not in the gruesome way her story hath revealed to thee, but with his own firearm did he give up the ghost.”
Luna turned from the window to face Applejack. “She was a teenager when she came here to see mine sister, Princess Celestia. She was offered residence at the Canterlot Psychiatric Center to deal with her inner demons. She ran away after a week and was never seen again until recently.”
Princess Luna returned to her seat and took a long sip of her tea. Applejack stared at her full cup and finally looked up at the Princess.
“Your majesty, what will happen to me?”
“Thy heart is strong, but thy mind is wounded. As much as a good friend and sister thou art, thou hast demonstrated instability. It is mine royal recommendation that thou spendest the next ten years at the Canterlot Psychiatric Center to recover from thy mental scars.”
At that moment, Applejack dropped her tea onto the marble floor and fell to her knees. She placed both front hooves over her head and began to weep uncontrollably. Princess Luna knelt next to the suffering farm pony and wrapped her hooves around her.
“Tis okay, my little pony. Settled be thine mind and heart. Thou art not a criminal. Thou art not a criminal.”
* * *
“Okay, please step on the scale for me, sweetie.”
Applejack obeyed the cheery nurse pony and stepped up on the scale to have her weight and height measured. The band bearing her name on her right hoof matched the cream colored linoleum floors that led to several rooms. Several nurses led other patients throughout the building by hoof and by wheelchair bearing friendly grins.
“Okay, all done! You can go back to the waiting room and the doctor’ll call you in, okay?”
“Thank you.”
Applejack stepped off the scale and made her way slowly to the waiting room with her head bowed. As soon as she opened the door, she saw a familiar colorful group of ponies standing in a line.
“Applejack,” said Princess Luna. “I hope thou dost not regard inconvenient the liberty we have taken to invite thy family and friends.”
Before Princess Luna finished speaking Applejack already had her whole body buried within a group hug. After several moments, Applejack emerged from the loving scrum and wiped her eyes.
“Thank you, your majesty.”
Luna smiled.
Applejack turned her attention to her friends Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Fluttershy. “I’m so glad y’all could be out here. I-I really don’t deserve such good friends.”
“Nonsense, darling,” said Rarity. “Nothing will ever sever our friendship with Ponyville’s most dependable pony.”
Twilight spoke. “We also wanted to tell you that you have no reason to worry about the farm. All three of us will pitch in on different days of the week to make sure your chores get done.”
“Aw, shucks Twilight. That’s mighty kind of y’all.”
Fluttershy stepped forward. “Um, Applejack. I promise to make sure Apple Bloom gets looked after when school gets out. A-And to make sure she gets a yummy snack. I-I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it is, Fluttershy. Thank you so much.”
Fluttershy continued to look at the floor. Applejack laid a hoof on the shy pony’s shoulder and smiled. “Thank you for being an honest friend, Fluttershy. Make sure my big brother don’t git into any trouble either.”
Fluttershy let out a cute giggle.
Applejack turned her attention to her family which included Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom. Once again she embraced all at once as her emotions got the best of her. She let go after a minute and turned to Granny Smith.
“Granny Smith, y’all gonna be okay without me on the farm for a while?”
“Ya darn tootin’, apple pie,” she replied winking. “These back kickers could use an exercisin’ now and then.” She gave her back legs a few kicks before she fell back on one of the waiting room seats. Apple Bloom covered her mouth as Big Macintosh rolled his eyes. Soon the whole room was filled with laughter as Granny Smith slowly stood back up with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
“Applejack?”
The farm pony looked down to see her little sister look up with eyes as large as saucers. She knelt to her level and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Yeah, Apple Bloom?”
“Are you gonna be able to compete in the Sisterhooves Social with me this year?”
Applejack sighed. “Well, I don’t think so, Apple Bloom. I need to be here so I can get better.”
“What about next year?”
“I’m so sorry Apple Bloom.” Applejack thought for a minute then cracked a smile. “Tell you what. Next time when you come see me, ask Granny Smith or Big Mac to bring some paints and such and we can do some crafts together. I gotta feelin’ you’ll like it.”
“Okay, I guess,” replied Apple Bloom with a raised brow.
Applejack gave her sister one last hug before standing to face her brother. Both met each other with teary gazes. No words were spoken as they embraced each other tightly.
“Applejack?”
Everypony turned to see the doctor who called from the door leading to the rooms.
“I’ll be right there,” said Applejack. She turned back to address everypony there.
“I can’t thank y’all enough for the support I’m feelin’ right now. I promise that I will do everything in my power to get right. In fact, I Pinkie Pie swe-.” Applejack stopped in mid-sentence as she gazed upon her right hoof, the same that she severed from Pinkie the night she returned to Ponyville. A sad silence fell upon the waiting room weighing down the gazes of everypony present.
Princess Luna finally interceded. “Applejack, for reasons pertaining to thy treatment, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie art prohibited from visitations pending the doctor’s approval. It is our hope thou understandest this.”
Applejack raised her head and smiled weakly. “Of course I do, Princess.”
She turned to the doctor. “Okay doctor, I’m ready.”
“Okie dokie. Just follow me and I’ll show you to your room.”
The farm pony followed the doctor up to the entrance before she turned back to see her friends and family one last time. She smiled and weakly waved goodbye before retiring to her new room.
Just outside the entrance of the Canterlot Psychiatric Center, the Apple family said their goodbyes and made their way back to Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity and Fluttershy also started their way back to Ponyville a little while later. Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle were the only two that remained.
“Excuse me Princess Luna, but I had a question for you.”
“What is it that thou desirest to know, most faithful student of Celestia?”
“Does Applejack really have to stay here for ten years?”
Luna sighed. “While the set time for Applejack’s recovery doth seem prolonged, thou must remember that the severity of her actions would’ve cost her a minimum of twenty five years in prison.”
“Is there any way to make that time shorter?”
Luna smiled. “Thy concern for Applejack’s well-being is duly noted, student. Tis in the doctor’s hooves what actions must be taken after every official evaluation.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “If it is okay with you, Princess, I believe I have an idea that may help Applejack recover from her mental instability a bit quicker.”
Princess Luna nodded. “I believe I knoweth what thou meanest.”
“Applejack, is she breathing?”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood at the site where Pinkie Pie stopped tumbling down the ragged side of Mount Equestria. Her body surprisingly only suffered minor gashes from the branches, but she took a hard blow to the head as evidenced by a large wound that bled profusely.
The farm pony laid a hoof on Pinkie Pie’s neck. “Well, at least her heart’s pumpin’.”
Rainbow frantically paced on the lush grass. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. What are we gonna do?”
“Now calm down, sugarcube,” said Applejack tending to Pinkie’s head wound. “You fly as fast as you can to the nearest emergency center and get some help. I’ll stay and look after Pinkie.”
“No way! Why don’t you go look for help, since this was all your fault!”
“Rainbow, now is not the time for arguin’! You’re faster with your wings than I’ll ever be on hoof and Pinkie needs help fast.”
Applejack scavenged whatever natural resources she could to keep the pink pony’s head from losing precious blood. She gave Rainbow a scowl and flicked her head towards Ponyville.
“Okay, fine!”
In the blink of an eye, the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria blazed towards town.
Applejack desperately blotted Pinkie’s head wound with leaves and used her hat to keep the packed foliage in place. The sun began to beat mercilessly on the two mares and the branches provided only thin slivers of shade across their sweaty bodies. When Applejack was satisfied with the temporary head bandage, she proceeded to perform CPR. After three sets, Pinkie finally showed signs of respiration as she coughed lightly and slowly opened her eyes.
“Pinkie Pie,” exclaimed Applejack placing a hoof over her throbbing heart. “Thank Celestia you’re alive.”
The pink pony licked her lips and tried to move her legs. Unable to move any of her limbs, she began to whimper softly. Applejack wrapped her hooves gently around Pinkie’s blood ridden neck and shushed her.
“Now now, sugarcube. Don’t you worry, everything’s alright. Rainbow Dash will be here in a lickety split with help. You’re gonna make it, just don’t move anything and keep calm.”
“You lied to me, Applejack,” she said whispering.
“W-what?”
“You said that flying would be one of the greatest feelings on earth.” Pinkie Pie shut her eyes and began to weep.
“I-I…” Applejack choked.
“You said it would make me a happy wappy pinky winky.”
“I’m sorry, sugarcube.”
Pinkie reopened her eyes and narrowed her gaze. “You lied.”
Tears ran down Applejack’s face. “I’m sorry.”
“Liar.”
“I’m sorry, Pinkie! I’m so sorry!”
“Nurse, quickly!”
Applejack’s doctor and his nursing assistant struggled to control the farm pony from convulsing in her bed. The nurse pushed an emergency call button and within seconds a team of six nurses each took a section of the bed and held down the panicking pony.
“Pinkie, I’m sorry I lied! I don’t lie! I never lie!”
“Doctor, what shall we do?” cried one of the nurses.
The doctor scratched his head and pointed to a drawer. “Hand me the sedative. One thousand milligrams”
Immediately, the nurse hoofed a syringe the size of a large chisel to the doctor which he uncapped and shanked into Applejack’s flank. Her body stiffened instantly and her eyes twitched before she relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. The teams of nurses relaxed their stances and went back to their normal duties.
The nurse shook her head. “Doctor, this is the third time this week you’ve used a thousand milligrams. It’s too much for a pony to take. What else can we do?”
The doctor scratched his beard. “I just don’t know.”
Twilight Sparkle stood dumbfounded in the doctor’s office as the doctor responded to her inquiry about Applejack’s progress with a shake of the head
“We have tried everything, Miss Sparkle. Every great mind represented in this fine institution is just as stumped as you are about why Applejack has not improved this past year.”
“Are you sure you’ve done everything you could? What could possibly be holding Applejack back?”
“Well Miss Sparkle, it’s simple yet complicated at the same time. Psychiatric treatments are a two way street. The patient must have the will to overcome their problems and be overt with their doctors. Applejack has willingly shared everything we could possibly want to know, yet something deep inside is still inhibiting her from full recovery.”
Twilight turned her attention to the office window which gave a view of the center’s healing gardens. She spotted a weary Applejack covered in a light blue robe. Her back slouched on the wooden bench and her mane lost its color and was unkempt. She just sat there staring at the grass only occasionally holding up her mug of tea to her cracked lips.
“Doctor, is she perhaps exhibiting any kind of behavior that might reveal something helpful?”
The doctor scratched his beard. “Now that you mention it, Miss Sparkle, she has been having recurring nightmares the past few weeks. She always awakes in a hot flash and yells how sorry she is and that she doesn’t lie. We are aware of the contents of her dreams, as they relate to the accident her friend endured one year ago.”
Twilight faced the doctor. “Doctor, Applejack represents the Element of Honesty. Do you think she’s simply feeling guilty for betraying that role with Pinkie?”
“We have arrived to that conclusion, but even that information is not enough to save her. As I mentioned before, Applejack must want to improve with every part of her. And that is simply something modern psychiatry cannot alter.” The doctor sat in his chair and removed his glasses. “Is there anything else, Miss Sparkle.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Actually there is. I have an idea. However, it will involve going against the guidelines you’ve set for Applejack’s treatments.”
“At this point, Miss Sparkle, we are open to anything that has not been done.”
“Very well then. Here’s my idea.”
“You wanna do what now?” asked Applejack.
Twilight Sparkle and Apple Bloom stood outside in the healing gardens next to a pile of wooden planks and a bucket of nails. Apple Bloom walked over to her sister and placed a set of dusty blueprints next to her.
“I wanna build an exact replica of Grandpappy’s flying contraption thingy.”
“Are you serious?”
“Why not?”
“I-I don’t know, Apple Bloom. I just get all these goosebumps just thinkin’ ‘bout doin’ somethin’ like this.”
“You said we could build whatever I wanted,” Apple Bloom pouted.
“Yeah, like paper airplanes or origami dohickeys. But this…”
Twilight stepped forward. “Applejack, Apple Bloom isn’t the only one who wants to see you do this. We all know about the guilt this contraption brings about.”
Applejack looked to the sunny grass that tickled her hooves.
“However, we also know how dependable this machine is. And if you can build one to the exact specifications your grandfather did, then maybe you’ll regain some confidence in yourself.”
“I don’t know, Twi. You don’t know how hard this is gonna be for me to do.”
“Then get off your lazy plot and do it!” yelled Apple Bloom.
“Excuse me, Miss Apple Bloom?” scolded Applejack.
“Yeah, you heard me! You know how crappy my life’s been the past year? I’m tired of comin’ home every day with Fluttershy cryin’ because I know my big sis ain’t gonna be there. I’m tired of goin’ to bed without my third kiss goodnight. And I’m sure as hell tired of seein’ you suffer and stuff.” She stopped to let out a few sobs.
Applejack knelt next to her little sister and brushed her mane. “Apple Bloom…”
“I want my big sis back.”
Applejack stood to her hooves and let out a sigh. “Alrighty then. Let’s get to it.”
Two weeks passed since Twilight Sparkle posed the idea to Applejack’s doctor to allow his troubled patient to build and test the flying machine at the same spot the accident occurred. The sunset painted a heavenly glow of orange and purple across the Equestrian horizon and cast its brilliance on Mount Equestria. At the very top, Applejack stood with a hoof over her eyes and her hat placed high on her lifted head. She inhaled the fresh mountain air and exhaled to a smile.
“Sure is a gorgeous day for flyin’, ain’t it girls?”
“Oh yeah,” cheered Apple Bloom. “I can hardly wait to see this get off the ground!”
“I’m just glad I made it up here so I could see it!” puffed Twilight. She let her body fall onto a grooved rock and took large gulps of water from a canteen.
“Nice day for some exercise, too. Aye Twi?” Applejack gave Twilight a wink which the unicorn returned with a toothy grin.
“Look sis. Rarity’s down there with Fluttershy and Big Mac ready to film the first flight of the Applejack 3000!” Apple Bloom waved to Rarity.
Rarity cupped her hooves over her mouth. “Apple Bloom darling, do be careful up there. I don’t want this to turn into the ten o’clock news.”
Applejack chuckled. “That Rarity’s sure got some lungs.” She walked over to the machine her and her sister built and patted the wicker chair. “Alrighty, Apple Bloom. You ready to take the first ever flight on this baby?”
Apple Bloom grinned. “Oh, I’m not takin’ the first flight, Applejack.”
“What? Whaddya mean?”
Apple Bloom pointed a hoof behind Applejack. The farm pony turned around and nearly lost her balance when she saw two of her dearest friends walking up the steep mountain.
“Rainbow Dash? P-Pinkie Pie?”
“Hey Applejack!” screamed Pinkie Pie. She limped her way over to Applejack and gave the dumbstruck pony a hug.
“Oh my stars. What are you doin’ here, sugarcube?” asked Applejack as she broke away and wiped her eyes.
“You know I’m not missing my opportunity to test the first ever flight of this baby!”
“B-But…”
Before Applejack could say another word, Pinkie Pie hopped into the seat, clicked on her seat belt, and donned a pair of large pink goggles. Applejack turned to Twilight and Apple Bloom who simply stood there with large smiles on their faces. Applejack turned back and was even more shocked to see Rainbow Dash bend down and grab a side of the contraption.
“Hey, you gonna help me let Pinkie live out her dreams or what?”
“Rainbow Dash. You?”
“Let’s just say a wise pony once told me not to let ponies’ mistakes bother me and have fun.”
Applejack let out a small giggle and charged towards her pegasus friend. They embraced and allowed their tears to unite on each other’s faces.
“Hey, are you two gonna keep squawking? ‘Cause I’m the one who should be squawking!”
The two mares broke from their hug and laughed.
“Alright then ladies. Let’s get this baby off the ground.”
The two mares each took one side of the device and readied their positions.
“On the count of three,” yelled Apple Bloom. “One…Two…Three!”
Rainbow and Applejack rushed towards the edge of the cliff at full speed. At the precise moment, they thrust Pinkie straight out of the cliff and watched as the machine steadied itself and take off into the glorious sky. A rousing cheer came out of the mouths of everypony present and hugs were exchanged observer with observer and builder with builder. Pinkie screamed with delight as she expertly maneuvered the machine through the air.
“Look at me! I’m a happy wappy Pinkie winky!”
Everypony laughed and continued to jump, cry, hug, and shout for joy. Up on the Equestrian summit, a farm pony and her pegasus friend stood side to side, hoof around hoof, smiles upon smiles.
“Hey Applejack?”
“Yeah sugarcube?”
“Thanks.”
“Whatever for?”
“For showing me the miracle of flight.”
Epilogue:
The rain pelted the cemetery with unwavering force as Applejack stood somberly over Octavia’s grave. The tombstone stood firm devoid of any flowers or pictures as only Octavia’s name decorated it’s stony face. As Applejack continued to observe in the rain, a shy pegasus appeared and placed a bouquet of daisies next to the tombstone.
“When I heard she wasn’t even given a ceremony, I thought it would be nice to place some flowers here,” said Fluttershy. “Somepony must miss her out there.”
Applejack nodded and continued to stare at the grave.
“She told me to give you a message before she died.”
“What message?”
Fluttershy closed her eyes and wept softly. “You need wings to fly.”
Applejack removed her hat and placed it over her sunken heart. “Oh Octavia, if only you knew.”
