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// Chapter 5: The hospital 
// Story: Applejack and what else 
// by owocowy 
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“It appears that you have a concussion. You must’ve hit very hard.” The doctor said, as he was examining Applejack at the ambulatory. 
“Yeah, ah’ve had a small accident...” she answered faintly. Her head pounded, her vision was blurred and she could hardly think.
“Your skull doesn’t seem to be broken. We will run some tests just in case.” He nodded to the nurse to take her. The nurse pony took the wheelchair Applejack was sitting on and went with her to various rooms.
After an CT and MRI, the two, equipped with the tests results, came back to the doctor. He took a while to look at the tests, and finally spoke.
“Looks like you are fine Applejack, apart from that concussion. You will have to stay here for observation, but that will be a week at most.” He smiled reassuringly at her. She smiled back, unconvincingly, unsure whether staying at a hospital is a good thing. Then Big Macintosh was let in from the waiting room.
“How is she, doc?” He asked.
“Just a concussion, but everything else is fine. Nothing to worry about, but we will keep her for a few days.”
Big Macintosh nodded, clearly relieved.
“Now you’ll get some painkillers and sedatives to get you some rest.” The doctor said, facing Applejack. As on command, the nurse took the wheelchair again and rolled away.
“We will keep you informed.” The doctor said to Big Macintosh.
After admission, Applejack was assigned her own bed and given a mix of pills. She could feel the pain fade away, and so the reality. Soon, she was fast asleep. An artificial, pill induced sleep without dreams, but still it brought rest to her.




Applejack woke up slowly. The throbbing pain returned to her head. Without opening her eyes, she tried to touch her forehead, only to find out it was bandaged. Without hurry, she opened her right eye and scanned the room. Through the window it seemed to be around noon, and there were only two more ponies resting in beds on the other side of the room.
She opened her left eye too, and the vision struck her. Her head filled up with visual experiences, like everything was over brightened and had too much contrast. She quickly closed both her eyes and it was gone.
What the hay? She thought. Slowly, she opened her right eye again. Everything was normal, until she opened the other one. The impression returned, but she kept her eyes open this time. After a while she realized that actually nothing was over brightened, the colours around her were as usual and the strange feeling had another source. Visually, everything around her seemed normal, although there was something to it. She couldn’t place her hoof on it. She turned to the nightstand by her bed. There was a small cup of tablets, so she took a swig of them. She could feel growing dumbness, as she fell asleep once again.




Another waking up. This time it was Applejack’s growling stomach that brought her to reality. The pain in her head was much smaller than previously, but still it didn’t allow to be forgotten. Applejack remembered the strange thing that happened to her last time, but she hoped it was just a dream. Taking up courage, she opened her eyes.
Although there was no striking experiences this time, that strange feeling was still present... So this wasn’t a dream. But as everything looked normal, she took a glance around herself. It was night time, the same room. Two ponies sleeping at the other end, one of them snoring lightly.
She faced the nightstand again, to find another set of pills, some cold food and a glass of juice. She gladly devoured her meal, but left the pills untouched. She didn’t want to sleep anymore, and the pain in her head was manageable.
Having appeased her stomach and nothing other to do than investigate the thing happening to her, she played with her eyes.
After a few combinations of closing and opening her eyelids, she came to the conclusion that her right eye caused nothing out of ordinary, but the left one was bringing up the strange feeling. A rather subtle feeling, like it was seeing something beyond the things around her...
The dawn caught Applejack deep in thoughts, and so did the nurse on her morning round.
“Ah, you’re awake already! Are you feeling better now?” The nurse asked, catching Applejack’s attention, but didn’t wait for a response. “That’s great, you have been sleeping for two days now, and you overslept your visitors too. Now, wait here and I will bring the doctor to check up on you.” After taking a quick glance at the other two ponies, the nurse left the room. In a few minutes the doctor that received Applejack appeared.
“Your awake, good. How are you feeling?”
“Uh, better ah guess.” Applejack answered. “Ah think ah’ve never slept for so long, and the pain is much lesser.”
“That’s good. I think we can put off the painkillers now. At this rate, you should be able to go home in another two days.” The doctor smiled friendly and patted her shoulder. As he turned to leave, she stopped him.
“Uhh, doc, ah have a question.” He approached her again. “Is mah eye alright?” she asked, having only her left eye open. The doctor put on a pair of glasses and leaned on.
“I see no visible damage to it... Why are you asking? Is there something wrong?”
“Well, ah can’t kinda’ place it.” Applejack wasn’t sure how to put that strange feeling into words. 
“We can run some more tests if you want.” The doctor’s look was only slimly anxious.
“No, maybe ah’m just overreactin’. Ah haven’t been in a hospital for quite a long time, and it’s gettin’ onto me.” She smiled. She actually became more familiar with that feeling, and thought that maybe she really was just overreacting.
The doctor smiled back and left.




The two following days were quite alike each other, her siblings and friends visiting her, the latter ones still chatting about the party Applejack missed. Over the time she almost forgot about the strange feeling, as she got used to it pretty quick. As the pain in her head faded, she stopped caring about it. On the day she was discharged, she was really happy to go home again. Obviously, her friends wanted to arrange a small party at the Sugarcube Corner first, so Applejack spent the first day catching up on news and drinking milk-shakes. It was nice to know that her friends cared for her.
As she came home eventually, she was filled up with cake and totally worn out.

When the bed-time came, she went upstairs. She gladly slumped into her bed and looked around. Her hat was resting on its shelf on the other side of the room, the few books were also on their place, and an empty glass on her nightstand. Everything was just as she left it. Reaching to the switch, she turned off the lights.
All things are comin’ back to normal. Meanwhile thinking about the last few days, she felt as the night wrapped around her. Drifting slowly into unconsciousness, she felt an itch at the back of her head for a moment. She tugged onto her beloved hat and fell asleep.

The morning came very quickly. Well, it came as usual, but for Applejack it seemed otherwise. She didn’t realise she missed her own bed so much. The warm and soft bedclothes were almost calling to her to sleep just a bit longer, but the sun was very persistent. Applejack opened her eye a bit, only to meet with a bright shine from the window. Only the curtains could stop it now... Ignoring the itchy feeling that showed up again, she closed her eyes and the room went dark once again. She gladly sighed and let herself fell into a light nap.