Soup
Applejack placed her hands in her lap carefully. “How long ‘til I can get started?”
“We’re going to have to play it by ear for now,” the doctor responded. “We aren’t sure if the injury is complete or incomplete yet. It will take a few days, maybe up to two weeks to be sure, but judging by the severity of the injury and our observations, it is likely to be complete.”
She hadn’t even considered that, but hearing it confirmed a fear Applejack didn’t know she had. Still… there… was a chance, there had to be. “Oh.”
He nodded and put the clipboard down. “Your T10 vertebra was severely injured, and the T9 suffered a fracture in the transverse process, though that should heal easily enough. Unfortunately, as I said before, it’s very very unlikely that you’ll ever regain any feeling or mobility in your legs, it being a severe injury and all.” At Applejack’s deflation, the doctor clicked his pen. “But, there may be a chance, especially if it turns out to be an incomplete injury. The surgery to fuse the injured vertebrae went as expected, so you should heal up with no problem in that regard.”
Applejack raised a hand to the neck brace and then gestured to her torso. With all the haziness and nausea, she had hardly noticed the corset-like plastic accessory that had been keeping her back straight. The neck brace itself was easy to immediately notice, but it was harder to notice the other paraphernalia. “And I figure it’ll be a while ‘til I get all this off?”
“Only two weeks at most for the neck brace. It’s just a precaution to keep your neck stable, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of injury to your cervical vertebrae or your upper thoracic region. If things go well, we could take it off at the end of the week as long as you try not to over-exert your neck.”
“I won’t. I definitely don’t wanna make things worse.”
“As for the plastic body jacket, that’ll take longer as you recover from surgery and we build up strength in your back again. At least a month or two.” Doctor Steady glanced down at the clipboard once more with furrowed eyebrows. “Oh yes, and I meant to ask—before I do, are you feeling okay? I don’t mean to bombard you especially given you just woke up from what I think is safe to call a fairly traumatic experience.”
If she was being honest, Applejack was a bit overwhelmed by the ‘traumatic situation’. It was almost funny to call it that. It didn’t feel like she had processed everything fully yet and it almost felt like she should wake up again to find out that it was all a big, confusing dream, but the slight pain in her torso made it all too real. Still, she didn’t want to have two uncomfortable conversations, and she was awake enough to answer his question, or at least she hoped. That would be too many words to explain, so she just nodded as best as she could with the brace limiting her head’s movement.
“Okay, and do let me know if you wish to rest more, or if you’re feeling any pain. We have you on a standard dosage of pain medication, but we can up it if it isn’t enough.” At Applejack’s thumbs-up, he cleared his throat. “According to what we heard, the fall you took isn’t typically something that would cause this much damage. We didn’t find any evidence of general bone density issues or any other type of genetic issue that would cause any weakness in the spine. Now, I understand you participated in rodeo, is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you did which events? We get a lot of rodeo types around here, so you don’t need to explain them to me.”
Applejack clenched her jaw. She didn’t like his usage of the past tense. “Uh, well I mainly do barrel racing and saddleback, though I do breakaway and tie-down, too.”
“Did you get hurt a lot?”
With a curt chuckle, Applejack grinned. “Well, sure. But it’s never… well, never that bad. Just gettin’ thrown off a bronc and stuff like that. I always get up and shake it off. We’re taught how to fall, you see. Well, we learn, really.”
“Uh huh.” He reached into his breast pocket and took out a pen, clicking it out. “Did you suffer a bad fall recently? Anything that might have hurt your back or made it more sensitive? I didn’t quite get the time to ask your family properly, but they mentioned you did have a fall just the day before the one that brought you here.”
Oh, right. She hadn’t fallen that hard, but she did fall rather awkwardly. Applejack reached up to subconsciously rub her sore nose gently, feeling how it and the area around it was still bruised. The movement made something in her back twinge, and she realized she probably shouldn’t be moving that much.
The blonde sighed. “Yeah, I did. Face-planted and did what you might call a scorpion after my horse threw me off,” she explained.
He wrote something on the page, nodding slightly. “And the medics didn’t notice anything wrong?”
Applejack cringed a bit, feeling beyond guilty for her stupidity. “Well, I didn’t let ‘em get a look. I left before they could. It’s just, I hate doc—I hate getting checked over.”
He probably caught what she had meant, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he gave a lopsided frown at what Applejack had said to begin with, then brought his green eyes to hers. She noticed his eyes were darker than hers. “Well, I suppose there’s a chance that that injury could have hurt your back to begin with. Is there anything else? Any signs of weakness in the legs or limbs beforehand? Numbness? Tingling?”
She thought back to the night that came after at the bar. She could remember only the beginning of the night, but then it started to get hazy. Though the next day was clear as water; she remembered feeling her legs be weaker, but she thought… “Well, yeah, a little bit, I guess. Felt better sitting down—like my legs were shaky and achey—though I thought it was ‘cause I was hungover and feeling the effects from that. I, uh, tried to drink it off. Next day, I guess I mighta felt less secure in the stirrups, but if I’m being honest, I don’t remember much about that. Just getting thrown off into the fence and then nothing else directly after that.”
It was surprising how smoothly that came out, even to Applejack. She thought it would have been harder to say, and yet it felt as though she was simply reading income numbers out. That wasn’t so bad. Made it easier to talk about.
“I see. Well, nothing to do about it now, though that does explain some things, Miss Applejack.” Doctor Steady cleared his throat and clapped his clipboard into his legs. “In the meantime, since you mentioned ‘face-planting’ and some difficulty with your memory, we’re going to go through standard concussion procedure. It’ll be easy since you’re in bed to begin with, but we’ll keep an eye on you.”
It was tempting to say something, to insist she didn’t need the help but seeing as how she couldn’t get up from the bed, Applejack wasn’t in a position to argue, so she simply acquiesced. “Sure. I’ll just be here, then.” She sniffed and looked away. “Nothin’ else to do.”
He shot her a sympathetic look and gave a lopsided smile. “Look, I know it’s hard, but we’re all on your side. I won’t lie. It’s a long, arduous road, but you have support from the staff and your family. I can tell they care.”
“I know that. It just… Well, it’s just…” Applejack found herself at a loss for words. Her eyebrows furrowed as she failed to think of a way to express what she felt. She didn’t even know what she felt.
“Hey, hey, it’s not easy to deal with. I’m sure you’re still trying to understand what’s going on, so I’ll leave you to rest. You’ll be on a clear liquid diet for a bit as you recover, and you’ll slowly transition to solids. I’ll get your family to come back, but visiting hours are going to be up soon.”
“Wait, they… they’re gonna have to leave?” Applejack frowned, the frustration from before ebbing away into simple disappointment. “Can’t they stay?”
He simply gave a tiny, tight-lipped smile. “I’ll see what I can do.”
No words found their way out of Applejack’s mouth as the doctor nodded and backed away. He gave a tiny wave which Applejack lifted a finger in response to before he stepped out of the room, briefly leaving Applejack alone once again. She blinked a couple of times, finding herself surprised to be clearing a few tears away that she hadn’t even noticed had built up. Despite the dull ache, she reached up to wipe under her eyes with gentle fingers and stared at the subtle wetness on the tips of her fingers.
There were no more tears after that. Just a strange anomaly that she somehow squeezed out of her. Applejack swallowed dryly and stared at the wall in front of her. A painting of a herd of what she assumed were mustangs galloping in a field stared back at her, strangely colourful against the bleak white. She scowled and looked away.
Shortly after, the door opened again. Granny led the way in, followed by Big Mac, who gently shut the door behind him. They both glanced at her with a smile which she tried to return, but she wasn’t sure if it worked so well. Still, though, they simply approached closer. Big Mac held two cups in his hands, while Granny held out a little sealed container of what seemed to be soup or broth judging by the faint smell that was already evident.
“Hey darlin’,” Granny greeted. “We know you might feel a bit nauseous, but we got you somethin’ to eat and drink like the doctor said.”
With the utterance of those words, she handed her the soup and a spoon. Applejack reached out slightly and took them, but she couldn’t see far down enough to open the warm, styrofoam container without having to hold it up to her eye-level. The problem was that holding her hands up that high ached, which she had figured out rather quickly. She held the little cup and spoon in her hands and frowned.
Granny seemed to catch on as she reached out to take them from Applejack’s yielding grip. The blonde’s fingers fell limp as the food was taken from her, and the pit in her stomach only grew as the realization hit.
“D’ya need help with that, sugar?”
Applejack was completely and utterly helpless.
She bit her lip and exhaled forcefully through her nose. If she couldn’t even eat soup by herself then what was she even good for? She clenched her fists into tight balls but gave the tiniest indication that she would need the help. In return, Granny and Big Mac traded items and Big Mac stepped forward to Applejack with the soup in hand.
“Alright, AJ, open up,” he instructed, popping off the lid effortlessly and taking a spoonful of soup. He held it to Applejack’s mouth with steady hands.
She felt like a baby. Reluctantly, she opened her mouth enough for the spoon to fit, but as soon as the liquid hit her tongue she winced and bit down on the spoon as a reaction to the burning heat of it. Big Mac pulled the spoon away, leaving Applejack to hastily swallow and glare at her brother.
Before Applejack could even scold him with her burnt tongue, Granny Smith put down a cup and whacked him. “Big Macintosh! Ya just burned yer sister! Didn’t you ever learn how to feed someone!”
“Sorry, I haven’t had to feed someone since Liberty was a li’l toddler,” Big Mac bashfully excused himself, stirring the soup with the spoon and blowing on it.
Applejack clenched her jaw and felt the strange feeling of her burnt tongue in her mouth. “I ain’t a toddler,” she grumbled. “And hold on just a cotton pickin’ minute. I-I can feed myself! I don’t need all this help. Just gimme the soup and I’ll do it myself.”
Big Mac shook his head. “Doc said we gotta do it. Don’t wanna aggravate your back.”
“I know that Big Mac!” Applejack shot back, though it felt useless as she sat idly in bed without even being able to move anything other than her eyes to glare at her brother. “But I can do it, I swear.”
The young man looked back to his grandmother, who shrugged. He looked back to the fuming girl in bed and sighed, handing her the soup. “Fine, but if you spill any I’ll feed you the rest.”
Applejack took the soup and was once again faced with the same conundrum. At least this time the lid was already off. All she had to do was get the soup up and to her mouth without spilling any. Seemed simple enough. She blindly grasped the spoon with her left hand and dug in, relying on muscle memory to pull it out of the soup and carefully brought it up. Her arm threatened to shake the more she brought it up, but she forced herself to keep it still despite the slight ache.
It was taking her too long, and she could feel her family’s stare on her. Frustrated, she scoffed and turned her attention away from the soup that had finally reached her eyesight. “Could y’all stop lookin’ at me like I’m a balloon threatenin’ to burst?!”
There was no more soup in the spoon as her outburst caused her arm to twitch and the delicious smelling broth to spill off somewhere. Wherever it landed, she didn’t feel it, but the reaction was immediate. Applejack growled and dropped her hand altogether as Big Mac reached in with a “Nope” and took the soup away from her.
Applejack grunted in frustration and flung the spoon at her brother, or at least as close to him as she could get. She ended up missing and the plastic cutlery bounced off the wall behind him instead. “That wasn’t even my fault,” she argued, pointedly looking away from the surprised looks she got. “If y’all hadn’t been staring at me I wouldn’t have spilled it.”
Granny Smith placed her wrinkled hand on Applejack’s arm. “We’re just tryin’ to help, darlin’—”
“I don’t need your help!” Applejack retorted, shaking off her grandmother’s hand. Immediate regret hit her as her cheeks flushed in annoyed embarrassment at her outburst while she willed herself to calm down. “I’m not some helpless baby, I just… I gotta learn to do it on my own.”
“We know that, honey,” came Granny Smith’s soothing voice. “And you will, I have all the faith in the world. You’ve always been strong an’ independent and pig-headed, Lord have mercy,” she grinned as Applejack gave a chuckle, “but it’s okay to need help right now, Applejack. And us? Your family? We’ll give it to you while you learn to… to do it on your own. Ain’t that right, Big Macintosh?”
He gave a nod and a hearty “Eeyup.”
Applejack smiled. It was bittersweet. She didn’t want to need the help but… she knew she did. It would chip away at her ego, but maybe that would be good for her. Though she felt bad for lashing out at her family who was only trying to help. She didn’t mean to be so awful. What would her sister think? What would her parents think?
“I’m sorry,” Applejack whispered. “I didn’t mean to get mad at y’all. I just need some time.”
Granny tentatively placed a hand on Applejack’s and smiled at her. “We know, hun. And we’re willin’ to wait. Don’t you forget it.”
Applejack hummed her agreement. She swallowed her pride as best as she could and shot a lighthearted glance at Big Mac. “Hey, so how ‘bout that soup?”
“I’ll need to get you a new spoon,” he quipped, patting her gently on the arm before bending down to pick up the spoon from the floor. “I’ll be right back.”
As Big Mac left the room, Applejack felt her anger and confusion go with him, and she was left simply exhausted. If she could have gone limp and slumped forward, she would have, but the one good thing about the plastic brace around her torso was that she could stay straight up. Though the exhaustion battled hard with her need to stay awake and see her family, she knew she should probably rest as soon as she could and not fight it.
After my soup, she promised herself. Granny simply rubbed her arm in a comforting way. It reminded Applejack somehow of her youth, and a warm sense of nostalgia came over her. It felt like sitting in front of the fireplace for the briefest of moments, though as soon as she latched on to that feeling, it disappeared, leaving her in the sterile, white surrounding.
Maybe sleep would be better once her family had to go.
Big Mac re-entered the room with a fresh spoon and Applejack followed him with her eyes as he replaced Granny’s position at her bedside. He blew on the soup this time and took a spoonful himself to make sure it wasn’t too hot, though Applejack figured the big guy was just hungry himself. “Alright, you ready this time?”
Applejack rolled her eyes and opened her mouth as a response. The soup, though uncomfortable on her burnt and tender tongue, wasn’t too awful considering it was hospital food. It didn’t have much in it, but it tasted like chicken. At least that wasn’t so bad. As she let it slide down her throat and into her begging stomach, though she didn’t feel as hungry as she thought, she pushed away all the thoughts creeping in on her.
It’ll only be for a little while, she reminded herself. Just a little while.
Stats
Page generated in 0.073 seconds
Total duration
1,016 users online
2,410,627 hits today, 2,673,812 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
11162898
That phrase... "Never fail to disappoint".
How is it being used in a positive context?
I am very confused.
11163928
HAHA no omg youre totally right i think i just said the wrong thing. I think i somehow smooshed together “never fail to impress” and “never disappoint” and ended up with “never fail to disappoint”. i didn’t even notice! thanks for calling me out
11163930
All good.
New chapter? New essay!
So far, I think you're finding a solid balance between being realistic with the medical side of things while keeping the drama and characterization strong. As someone who has done a little of research on my own into a similar topic for a pony story that has been in development hell for several years (maybe someday soon though...), I haven't noticed any liberties taken from a medical standpoint that pull me out of the story. Your effort into researching the subject is showing, and I think it makes this story click more than typical stories of a similar nature.
Said research I alluded to also spells out that these next several chapters are going to be like most of this one is. Strong, emotional exploration of Applejack and her character. If AJ's injury is in fact complete... times are only going to be rougher. Gah, that whole scene with the soup was tough to read--but in a great way! You painted an effective picture of Applejack's struggles with this new pain, the need to have others help her. With her "pig-headedness" and habit for internalization, her blowup at Mac and Granny over having to feed her soup is definitely not the last one (I have some theories of my own on what else might lead to blowups, but that's not that important to the chapter so I'll hold those to my chest for now). As I said, the whole scene to end the chapter was rough to read but that's what made it effective. These are rough times for AJ, after all. There's going to be a lot of hurt in the future. Probably sweat. Probably tears. But I'm rooting for AJ. She's strong enough that she'll make her life work no matter how she has to get around in it.
Also, I kind like Dr. Steady. His bedside manner is a little rough around the edges (probably because from your description he is a younger doctor), but his heart is definitely in the right place.
Love seeing the foundation mentions in the author's notes. I'd known about Amberley's story through Netflix, but Ty's story was new to me.
Next time on Reins: Bloom, perhaps? That'll be tough and probably pretty darn emotional if so. I reckon we'll see next time, and I'm looking forward to it! Great chapter as always!
11164887
Ah! New chapter, new essay, new comment to look forward to! Yay, it’s a win-win!
It’s good to hear that you feel like it’s not know entirely a “suspension of disbelief” moment (at least, so far). I hope that I keep it in that sweet spot of realistic enough for the sake of the story, but of course I’m not going to go into every tiny little detail. Thanks for those kind words regarding that :)
And yeah you know, it is gonna be a bit tough for a while, but of course, how could anyone expect it not to be? There’s a lot I looked into, after all, and obviously it isn’t an easy ordeal. The soup scene was kind of a peek into that. Glad that scene also worked out haha! Wasn’t sure if it’d do its job, to be honest, but I can see it did. You’re right about one thing, though. AJ is strong.
Oh and the doctor is someone I had some trouble writing, but I kind of decided to have him be a bit loosened up. Kinda unprofessional, but hey as you said, he is pretty young haha. Doing his best. I don’t know what I’d do as a doctor in that situation (or at all, really).
Yeah, there’s a bunch of people I looked into while conceptualizing this story and through the process of writing it. Of course, Amberley Snyder was one of the first, but I recently found Ty Pozzobon’s story through the Smithbilt website (they’re a Canadian Western hat manufacturer). I’m glad I stumbled into that because I feel it’s important to always keep the discussion of mental health going, and it was too thematically perfect not to include.
Glad you’re looking forward to more! And it’s always a pleasure to see ya in the comments :)
ah dang, that is some research! or at least, i hope it's research and not from experience!
i gotta say i am glad AJ at least has a doctor with bedside manner, could be so much worse!
oof, i imagine it's not his first rodeo giving bad news to a rodeo type getting irreversibly injured at a rodeo
agh, just damn, a momentary bit of imprudence leading to such awful consequences. this is a tragedy in the original sense of the word!
oof, putting it all together like this is making my hypochondria act up out of sympathy
interesting decor for a hospital that i presume sees a lot of horse-related injuries! (though on the other hoof that's exactly what the patients would probably enjoy looking at, so i guess that makes sense haha)
augh, such a long fall from where she was. and a reversal of the expected roles, with the grandmother helping to feed the granddaughter
this is just so AJ and Big Mac in this situation
not the first time Applejack ended the chapter having to push away unwelcome thoughts. and agh, so much to get used to, though i hope at least that Applejack can find at least some solace later in being able to gain back more of her independence than she has right now while she is healing
aww jay, that is mighty kind of you to use this little platform for something like this :)