The next day Sunny woke up to the sun blaring through his window. It was then that he realized just what time it was and jolted awake! He jumped up out of bed and looked around. He grabbed his old alarm clock and saw it was almost 11 o'clock! Almost four hours past the time he normally woke up! As he grabbed his Stetson hat, he felt around the rim of it to make sure that the velvet sack from the Crystal Empire was still there. To his relief it was. He had been afraid with all of Alister's snooping around, he would have found it and tried to examine it. "Alister!"
The thought of the nosy Royal guard made Sunny's mind jump yet again! Is eyes shot over to the fold out bed where the stallion was supposed to be sleeping. But there want anypony there. The bed had been neatly made as if by a processional maid. Sunny then shot out of his room and made his way down the hallway. But in his rushed state, the wasn't paying attention, and ran into Granny, literally! She had been carrying some sort of vase in her hooves, but as soon as the yellow stallion ran into her, he not only sent the elderly mare flying, but the vase had fallen over the railing and landed with a loud crash in the living room! Shattering into hundreds of pieces!
"Th' vase!" Granny cried as she tried to get up. But the fall had pulled something in her lower back and she let out a weak cry.
"Granny!" Sunny said and be rushed to her side. "Granny I'm so so so so so so sorry! I-I-I was just-"
"Oh! Mah back!" Granny cried out, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Just then Apple Bloom popped her head out of her room to see the frightening sight of her dear grandmother on the ground in pain. The little yellow filly ran over, panicked and looked form her grandmother to Sunny. "What happened?! Is Granny ok?! Should I go and get Applejack?! Or Mr. Alister?!"
"No! No! I just accidentally ran into her, ugh, maybe we could just..."Sunny was trying to keep calm and appear in control of the situation as he attempted to help Granny up.
But as the yellow stallion grabbed Granny and attempted to help er to her hooves, a bolt of pain shot through the elderly green mare's body, causing her to let out a pain filled cry.
"Ah'll go get Applejack!" Before Sunny could stop her, Apple Bloom was down the stairs and out the door so fast you would have thought that she teleported.
Applejack, Big Mac, and Alister were all out in the barn. Alister had offered his services in restoring some of the worn down farm equipment, having mastered such a spell to aid on his own family's farm. At the moment, was rewinding the hands of time and helping to repair the rusted metal parts on the old Apple family plow.
"Ah really thank ya fer doin' this fer us, Mr. Alister" Applejack said with a smile as she continued to carve new handles for the plow from branches of fallen apple trees.
"It's my pleasure, miss Applejack" Alister said, still focusing on the spell as it neared completion. "Besides, this helps to make me feel at home. It's been a while since I went back to the family farm. I kind of miss the place some times."
Before Applejack could ask why he hadn't gone back to his own home in so long, when she saw her little sister running up to her, a worried look painted all across her little yellow face as she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. When she finally reached Appljack, she screeched her hooves to a stop, kicking up a little bit of dirt. She spoke through her gasps. "Applejack.... Granny's .... Granny's hurt!"
"What?!" Was all Applejack said as she, Big Mac and Alister put down what they had been working on and rushed back to the farm house with Apple Bloom.
When they arrived, they saw Sunny setting Granny on the couch gently, then placing an ice pack on her back. Applejack, Apple Bloom and Big Mac rushed over to her while Alister watched from afar and assessed the situation.
"Granny, are ya ok?!" Applejack fought to say through some tears. "What happened?!"
"It seems that Sunny might have knocked her over, by accident of course" Alister began to say as he walked over to the vase that lay in a tiny pieces all over the floor. "Remember how your grandmother was talking about her grandmother's vase this morning? How she thought she found it the other day while you two were in the attic, and wanted to bring it out?"
"Yeah?" Applejack replied as she, her siblings and Sunny all turned their attention to the grey unicorn as he collected the pieces together with his glowing green aura.
"From what I can tell, Sunny must have woken up, obviously realizing he slept in, panicked, and raced out of the room..." Alister continued as he motioned from the bedroom he and Sunny were sharing, then pointing with his hoof to the door that lead to the attic. "And ran down the way, not realizing Granny was descending from the attic. Being unable to stop, he slid into her, knocking her over and onto her back, and causing the vase she had found to fall out of her hooves, over the railing, where it landed right here!"
Everypony fallowed along as Alister painted a picture for them of the entire sanario. As he did, Sunny was both amazed and annoyed that he was able to guess what had actually happened.
"Am I right, Sunny?" Alister asked as he looked over at the yellow stallion. All the eyes in the room fell upon the yellow stallion, who went from angered and annoyed, to feeling ashamed.
"Yeah... That's how it happened" Sunny said in a much lower tone then normal, but before he could say anything to defend himself, Granny let out a painful grown.
"Big Mac" Alister got the attention of the big red stallion. "I need you to go to into town and get several ingrediants..."
Alister began writing down a small list of items he would require, levitating a piece of parapet and a quill over to him. When Alister was done he levitated it over to Big Mac and saluted him. Big Mac smiled and returned the salute before he ran out of the house and down the road that would inevitably lead him into town.
"What in the hat was all that for?" Applejack asked the grey unicorn, beating Sunny to the punch.
"I also had training in the Royal Medical reserve" Alister answered as he walked over to Granny who was resting on the couch. He asked to see her back for a moment. Applejack and Sunny both watched as he examined Granny. After a few moments of gently poking and prodding her back. He nodded and turned to her first before the two ponies watching him over his shoulder. "It looks like you just pulled a muscle. No bone damage. You were lucky. A week's worth of rest and you'll be good as new."
"Wha?!" Granny said almost startled. "But ah need ta get mah apple and fruit preserves ready for shipment! Ah can't be sittin' around like ah bump on ah long!"
"Does Applejack know how to do it?" Alister asked, levitating a pillow over to him then placing it gently behind the green mare's head.
"Well sure" Ganny replied. "But she can't do it alone. That's a lot o' work fer one pony, even if she knows what to do."
"I can help" Sunny jumped in to offer, feeling desperate to redeem himself.
"But Sunny" Applejack interrupted. "Didn't ya promise ta help make those deliveries to the town over today?"
"I can hurry and get that done in no time" Sunny said, begining to panic a little. "Or I could even watch and see how you do it and work in it at night. I've been having trouble sleeping anyway."
"Now ya know ya need yer sleep" Applejack began to lecture the yellow stallion. "Ah don't want ya pushin' yerself to exhaustion. 'Specially with winter wrap up so close."
"I could help" Alister cut in. "I used to help some of the mares in my home town with preserve preparation all the time. I'm sure I still remember how." He shot Applejack a smile, taking a step away from Granny and getting closer to Applejack. "If you wou don't mind jogging my memory."
"Really?! That would be great!" Applejack cheered, her face lighting up.
"Yeah... Just perfect...." Sunny commented under his breath. Then he looked over at the pieces of the vase that were all now gathered in a pile. 'Well at least there is one thing I can make right.'
Sunny walked over to the pile and lowered his head, aiming his horn at the debris. As his horn began to glow, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He stopped the flow of magic to look up and see who it was, half expecting it to be Alister. But to his surprise it was a very concerned looking Applejack.
"Maybe ya better let Alister fix that one, Sunny" the orange farm mare said in a gentle tone, not trying to hurt his feelings.
"I can do it, Applejack" Sunny tried to reassure her, hurt found heavily in his own voice.
"Ah know, partner, ah know" she said as she readjusted her hat. "It's just... Ya don't have as much experience as Alister does. And ah don't want anything bad ta happen ta it, like it accidentally the into a square or a lamp of Discord or somethin'."
Sunny wanted to argue that he could do it, and if it had been anypony else he would have. But just seeing that look in Applejack's eyes, the tone in her voice, it took the fire out of him. Sunny felt hollow inside, as he stepped aside and let Alister approach the pieces of the vase. As the grey unicorn lowered his head and mimicked Sunny's actions, Sunny walked over to Granny.
"I'm so sorry Granny..." he said as he lowered his head by her. "I was just.... Like Alister said, I was worried because I woke up late.... And well..."
"It's alright Sunny" she said as she put a hoof on his mop of mane, gently smiling at the down trotted stallion. "Accidents happen."
"Is there anything I can get ya?" Sunny asked, raising his head. "Maybe something to drink?"
"Some Apple juice would be great" Granny said with a smile as she reassured, cringing painfully as she shifted.