Big Macintosh held a sobbing Apple Bloom to his chest while he gently stroked her back. He felt tears starting to prick at the corner of his eyes too. His heart hurt seeing his sister so sad, and he felt responsible for what had happened. His wagon was what crushed Scootaloo like an apple in a cider press.
He winced remembering pulling her out of there. Her body had been as limp and flexible as a ragdoll. He wasn’t a pegasus, but he was certain wings didn’t bend like that. He let her cry out her grief into his chest, being the strong big brother he knew she needed right now. He had a sinking feeling about how Scootaloo would fare; he hadn’t seen anypony that badly hurt since the accident that took his mom and dad, and they were grown ponies, not a young filly.
“Big Mac?” He looked down and saw his sister looking him right in the eyes. “Is Scootaloo going to be okay?” She asked desperately. Her question broke his heart more and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself. He knew he couldn’t lie to her.
“Ah don’t know, but it don’t look good.” He admitted. Her sobbing renewed at his words and he tried to comfort her as best he could. Apple Bloom blamed herself for what happened; this wasn’t how the day was supposed to go. She thought back to the beginning of the day when they plotted this activity.
Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had all been in their clubhouse sitting around a table, trying to figure out what their next cutie mark attempt would be. “Electricians?” Apple Bloom tried.
“Did that.” Scootaloo told her. “I didn’t know Rarity could dance like that.” The fashionista had flipped a light switch one day to find a nasty surprise they had accidentally left for her. “Besides, that’s too lame for a cutie mark.”
“How about baking?” Sweetie Belle offered. Her two friends grimaced at that suggestion.
“We already tried remember? The Cakes are still mad at us for that.” Apple Bloom didn’t know it was possible to burn water but some messed up how Sweetie Belle pulled it off.
“Skydiving!” Scootaloo said with an excited grin on her face. Apple Bloom was quick to take that one down.
“Not a chance for that today. We don’t have a pegasus that can carry us up there, we don’t have parachutes, and my family has to haul a bunch of apples to market.” She said with a huff before her face lit up. “Hey that’s it, we could try to get our cutie marks in apple hauling.” She saw the skeptical looks on her friends’ faces.
“What’ve we got to lose? You two’ll get free lunch, pay, and it’s a cutie mark idea we haven’t done before. I mean honestly, what’s the worst that can happen?” When Sweetie Belle was suddenly called away by Rarity to help model some dresses in Canterlot, Apple Bloom had said at least things couldn’t get any worse than that.
Apple Bloom mentally punched herself for those words. She’d jinxed it and now she was finding out just what the worst thing could be. Oh, why couldn’t one of them have talked her out of her stupid idea? Another pang of guilt pierced her as she turned her accusations on herself. Why couldn’t she have dove out of the way? If she had Scootaloo would have been free to get out of the way as well and wouldn’t be fighting for her life on an operating table. Her crying went on with renewed vigor as she chastised herself.
If only I hadn’t frozen up like that…! If only I hadn’t been such an idiot Scootaloo wouldn’t be, wouldn’t be…! She couldn’t even finish the thought in her mind, crying her eyes out into Big Macintosh’s chest. He thankfully didn’t seem to mind as she soaked his chest with tears. She could only imagine Granny Smith’s horror if she had been the one flattened. She thought her granny would've died of grief.
She could only imagine what Rainbow Dash was going to endure.
Applejack stepped out of the hospital and sat down for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She didn’t have the same crazy long-lasting stamina her brother did, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off her earlier chores and the sprint across Ponyville was taking their toll on her. After giving herself a few seconds to regroup she stood up and with the hesitation of a pony walking into a dragon’s den, she began to walk towards Sugarcube Corner. She knew Rainbow would be there, she’d helped plan Bon-Bon’s party after all. Now the question of how to tell her plagued her mind again.
There was no easy way to do this, but she wanted to soften the blow. Applejack gave it an honest try, but there weren't any words she could think of to lessen the damage she was about to do. She thought about just coming clean and telling her, getting it over with quickly like ripping a bandaid off. Before she knew it she’d arrived at Sugarcube Corner. Applejack took some deep breaths to steady herself before she entered the bakery.
As she opened the door she was assaulted by loud music courtesy of DJ P0N-3 herself, the sight of ponies partying like there was no tomorrow, and the smell of sugary goods. It looked like Bon-Bon’s party was in full swing. How Pinkie organized these events so fast was a mystery to her, and knowing the party pony she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. The mare that this party was for seemed content to sit at a table with Lyra keeping her company.
Applejack looked around and quickly found Rainbow. Her namesake mane and tail made her stick out like a sore hoof. She was on the dancefloor busting a move when the farm mare approached her. “Hey Rainbow, we need to talk.” She said with a tiny hint of nervousness in her voice. “It’s about Scootaloo.”
Rainbow stopped dancing. “Sure, what's up?” The pegasus asked with a hint of worry. Usually, when a pony wanted to talk to her about Scootaloo it meant she’d done something wrong, or worse, she’d gotten hurt. The expression on her friend’s face made a pit of dread begin to form in her stomach.
“She got hurt when we were hauling apples towards the market. She saved Apple Bloom but she couldn’t get out of the way in time.”
The pit of dread inside her stomach deepened when she said Scootaloo got hurt, and whatever it was was severe enough to be able to hurt multiple ponies. “How bad is it? Is she gonna be okay?”
Applejack couldn’t meet her friend’s gaze. She had to tell Rainbow the truth. She deserved to know, she needed to know. “Ah, Ah don’t know, Rainbow. She’s in the hospital right now.”
There was a disconnect for Rainbow Dash. The words Scootaloo and hospital registered in her mind. However, it took her a moment to bring herself to believe her friend meant both those things were connected. As soon as she did she flew through the window of Sugarcube Corner and headed for the hospital.
Meanwhile, Applejack went to Twilight’s castle, hoping that she might be able to help Scootaloo.