After Applejack fainted, the nurses shooed us all out, even Rarity, so that they could revive her.
Scootaloo, inconsolable, ran away in tears as soon as we left the hospital. The other two CMC members followed her.
I trotted back to the library after the others, deep in thought. Applejack had seemed to be back to her usual self, and this encouraged me into thinking that the others could be brought around too. But it had taken the hazardous and mysterious disappearance of her wings to snap Applejack's mind back to normal. I couldn't just snap off Rainbow's horn to get her back to normal, and nor could I cut off Pinkie's wings.
This matter needed a lot of thought. And anyway, it wasn't like Rainbow had miraculously sprouted Applejack's wings- she was still a unicorn. If things went like they did with Applejack, surely we'd all just end up as earth ponies. And I was pretty sure Rainbow couldn't follow her destiny with no wings, just as Rarity and I couldn't follow our own destinies with no magic. It was a dilemma.
We arrived at the library and Rarity immediately started blaming herself for Applejack's accident.
"If I'd stayed with her... if I'd been paying attention..." she cried. I heard only snatches of the conversation as I drifted in and out of concentrated thought. But though I left no stone in my large mind unturned, I found no solution to my dilemma. It was very frustrating.
Before I knew it, we were walking back out of the library, heading through Ponyville. As we marched on, Rarity spread her huge wings, followed by Pinkie, who went soaring right next to her. Pinkie's face showed no fear this time; she followed Rarity up to great altitude before spiralling down with the white alicorn, plaiting their pink and purple trails together. Both had their wings folded tight, hooves stretched out, and Pinkie's face was filled with determination.
Neither of them faltered for a second, and for the second time that day, two simultaneous Sonic Rainbooms painted the sky with all the colours in the spectrum. As two rainbows soared upwards to draw a huge lightning bolt and cloud in the sky, I knew that this was the last time either Pinkie or Rarity would perform a Sonic Rainboom. This was a tribute to the greatest flier Equestria had ever seen, or would ever see.
The action was so moving that I felt tears come to my eyes. Rainbow was bawling, regardless of how uncouth it was to wail like a foal in public, while Fluttershy sniffled softly. The two winged mares came back down and landed, their eyes glistening with tears as behind them the colourful shape of Applejack's cutie mark began to fade from the darkening sky.
We kept walking in silence until we arrived outside Sugarcube Corner. Finally we met each other's gaze and I spoke.
"Applejack will be okay. She's tougher than any other pony I know, and I know she'll get through this."
Pinkie sniffled. "I'd give up my wings in a heartbeat if she could have hers back."
"As would I." said Rarity. "But Twilight's right. Applejack will get through this,especially if we help her. We should return all the loyalty she's given us over the years to her."
We nodded, and then we dispersed to our homes for a night of sleep.
But I couldn't sleep, and after two hours of tossing and turning I decided I needed to read something to take my mind off the day's events. But though I searched my- or formerly Pinkie's- home for any piece of literature, I found none. So even though it was dark outside, I headed for the library.
When I entered, quietly, the lower floor was dark, but candlelight illuminated the stairs to Rarity's chamber. I cautiously climbed the stairs and pushed open the door gently.
Rarity was standing by the window, smiling out at a purple and green dragon who hovered outside. As I watched, Rarity kissed the dragon on the cheek and closed the window. She turned, saw me, and turned rigid.
"Twilight?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" She said it nonchalantly, but I could see the worry in her eyes.
"Was that Spike?" I asked. The dragon had matched him in colour, but that dragon's stature had been larger, like when Spike had gone on his rampage as he matured, though thankfully not anywhere as large as when he'd smashed up the town. And Spike hadn't had wings either. This dragon was like a teenaged version of Spike.
Rarity blushed pink. "Yes, it was."
I smiled. "Are you two seeing each other?" I asked, amusement in my tone.
"No- I mean yes... but no... not like that..." blustered Rarity, turning even more red. It was ever so strange seeing a princess blush.
"So how did he finally get to you?" I teased.
Rarity went beet red. "Well... he was my assistant, you know, I hatched him from an egg when I got my cutie mark, but then one day he just presented me with some flowers and told me he thought I was beautiful... even more than Rainbow... I was flattered, but unsure. But then he gave me a beautiful fire ruby for my birthday, and I fell for him."
I smiled. "He still had a crush on you when you were the unicorn running the boutique. He'll always be there for you, much more than Blueblood was or ever could be."
Rarity looked confused. "But it was Rainbow who had the trouble with Blueblood at the Gala."
I shook my head ruefully. I had momentarily forgotten that Rarity knew nothing of when she had courted that uppity, selfish prince.
"Anyway, I just came to get something to read. Can you recommend anything?" I asked.
Rarity, whose blush was now fading, led the way downstairs to run a perusing hoof over the books. She plucked one from the shelf. "I think you'd enjoy this one."
I scanned the cover and nodded; it looked interesting enough. "Okay, Rarity. Thank you, and I'm sorry for disturbing you so late at night."
"It's no problem, darling. Just get some sleep; if you're going to help Fluttershy at the Acres tomorrow you'll need your strength."
I left the room as Rarity turned back to the window, her eyes starry and a loving sigh on her lips. I heard the beating of leathery wings as Spike returned.
I trotted back to my home, and climbed back into bed, giggling at the memory of Rarity's bright red face. After an hour or so of reading, I put the book down and blew out my bedside candle. I was asleep almost instantly.
The next day, we tried to visit Applejack, but the nurses told us they were performing tests on her to identify how she'd healed so fast and why her wings had vanished. So we headed for the Acres for a day of applebucking.
It was here that another disaster befell one of my friends.
Rarity, Pinkie and I took a break after a couple of hours of hard work, relaxing beneath a tree while crunching some of the fruits of our labours, as Rainbow and Fluttershy continued harvesting.
There was a rustle at the foot of a nearby tree, and a small grey rabbit hopped into view.
Fluttershy growled and raced towards it, ignoring Pinkie's pleas of "Fluttershy! Please don't! I'm sure he wasn't doing any harm..."
But Fluttershy reached the rabbit and turned around, preparing to deal the rabbit a crippling kick with her powerful back legs.
Everything suddenly slowed down. Pinkie jumped to her feet, crying out to Fluttershy to stop, while Rainbow slowly walked over to see what was going on from where she stood beside the next tree.
Rainbow jumped forwards to block Fluttershy's kick. I suddenly saw the danger, and yelled for Rainbow to get out of the way, but Fluttershy's powerful yellow haunches were already in motion and as Pinkie and I screamed the yellow hooves smashed into Rainbow's head at the base of her horn. There was an awful, splintering crack...
And an enormous, destructive burst of magic exploded from where the yellow and blue mares stood.