Rearranged

by Touch the Sky

Applejack Vaporizes Her Wings

Several days after the rabbit attack, Applejack was flying again. Rarity wasn't needed back in Canterlot for a month or so, and was staying in the library, where I learned she had lived all along. She had been Celestia's personal protege, like I had, and then the Elements had turned her into an alicorn after she wrote her own spell- the same one I had cast to cause this whole dilemma. I was told I had had Fluttershy's cutie mark, and had been doing a rather bad job of looking after the Acres.

I was happy a lot of the time,and sometimes when I was excessively so my mane poofed. My friends seemed happy to have the 'old Twilight' back, and filled me in on my 'life' - they seemed to accept that I had suffered amnesia. But though I was happy with my new lifestyle, I still felt an emptiness within at my lack of magic.

But try as I might, I simply couldn't understand how I was to teach my friends who they were supposed to be, as I had the first time. How could I reunite Fluttershy with her animals when she couldn't understand them any more, or teach Rainbow to be a weather pony without her wings? Applejack didn't have the strength to buck apple trees, and Pinkie was too shy to perform in public. Rarity had no clue about fashion.

As I skipped through town, smiling at everyone, I saw Applejack, airborne, spiralling upwards into the sky. She kept going, higher and higher, until she was just a speck against the endless blue of the sky.

I found my other four friends in a field, gazing up at Applejack. As I arrived, Applejack began to plummet, wings only just open and close to her sides, hooves stretched out before her. Soon a cone of force was visible around her hooves, slowly narrowing until there was an almighty boom and a ring of rainbow colours spread across the sky. A thick rainbow trail arced across the sky in Applejack's wake, and I smiled. A Sonic Rainboom!

Applejack came to land in our field, grinning from ear to ear. She looked over at the other two winged members of the group. "Beat that, if y'all can." she said.
Pinkie looked scared, but Rarity gave a determined smirk and launched herself into the air. The princess looped across the sky, reaching considerable speeds. Even Applejack was impressed; in fact she flew up to join Rarity, dragging a reluctant, protesting Pinkie Pie with her. The three winged mares hovered in deep conversation. Applejack appeared to have an idea, and suggested it. Pinkie shook her head emphatically, but Rarity looked excited. The alicorn and orange pegasus then shouted Pinkie down until the pink pegasus nodded her head doubtfully. Applejack zoomed over to us.

"We're gunna try fer a triple rainboom!" she declared. Fluttershy and Rainbow gasped, but I frowned.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Pinkie almost certainly won't make it, Rarity's new to flying, and you only just did a Rainboom. One of you could get hurt!"
Applejack shrugged me off, saying, "We'll be able to handle it. We're essentially falling, not flying, so we'll all get the speed. Ya just have to hold firm through the velocity."

The orange pegasus rejoined the other two, and together they began to spiral up, up, up, until I could no longer see them. Rarity filled me in on what had gone on at the high altitudes later as we sat in the hospital waiting room.
Applejack showed the other two how to position their hooves and wings for the dive, warning them to pull up if they didn't think they would make it, etc.
Applejack went first, zooming towards the ground, followed by Rarity. Finally, Pinkie folded her wings and took their lead.

Applejack and Rarity zoomed side by side towards the ground, still tiny specks, the cones just beginning to form around their outstretched hooves. Pinkie wasn't yet visible.
Scootaloo tore into the field, shortly followed by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo looked cross. "Did I miss a Sonic Rainboom?"

I nodded. "But Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie are trying to pull off a triple one. Look, there's Rarity and Applejack."
The two were still going, their cones of force now clear and beginning to narrow. Pinkie was now visible, quite a distance above them, but locked in her dive. I could see she was struggling, and as I watched her wings flared open and she slowed down, beginning to glide back towards the ground.
I cringed as the cones grew thin, and then, to my intense amazement, two Rainbooms rippled across the sky. But something was wrong. Rarity was pulling up,an ecstatic grin on her face, wheeling off and spreading her rainbow trail across the sky, while Applejack was still in her dive, showing no signs of stopping.

"What's she doing?" yelped Applebloom, as another cone of force began to build around Applejack's hooves. Scootaloo was bouncing excitedly, but as Applejack's second rainboom cone narrowed, she stopped and looked terrified. Surely Applejack wasn't trying to do another Rainboom in the same dive?

She was, and she did. As she reached the speed needed for a Rainboom, Applejack realised she was too close to the ground, but it was too late to pull up. The colours of the spectrum covered the sky for the fourth time, but the boom that made was nothing to the awful boom as Applejack hit the ground at what was almost certainly terminal velocity.

Blinded by panic, I ran towards the crater, and jumped down into it to see Applejack's body, broken in a dozen places. Rarity came to land beside me, grief and horror on her face. Without a word, Rarity gently picked up Applejack's body and slung it over her shoulder, before teleporting away.

Several faces were staring down into the crater at me. I climbed out, and immediately was assaulted by questions.
Scootaloo looked terrified. "Will Applejack be okay?"
I looked the orange filly straight in the eyes. "I don't think so, Scootaloo. She's hurt, bad. She might never fly again."
Scootaloo started wailing. Applebloom started crying too, and the two fillies hugged, their enmity forgotten in this time of worry.

Sweetie Belle glanced past me into the crater. "Where is she?"
"Rarity took her to the hospital." I trotted towards town, and the others followed me.

In the hospital waiting room sat Rarity, her eyes downcast. She looked up as we piled in.
"So?" asked Rainbow tentatively. "How is she?"
Rarity looked up at her. "The doctors said she's got a few broken bones, but her wings are busted beyond repair. They're talking of doing an emergency optera-ectomy."

I gasped.
"A what?" asked Fluttershy.
"Her wings... they're going to cut her wings off." I cried.

"They can't do that! How can she be a Wonderbolt with no wings?" said Rainbow.
"How can she be a Wonderbolt with busted-up wings?" snapped Rarity. "If only I'd been closer, I could have stopped her."
"When are they doing the surgery?" I asked, panicked.
Rarity shrugged. "They said 'emergency.' It would be fair to assume they've already started."

I charged out of the waiting room towards Applejack's ward, followed by several of the others. I burst in to see Applejack, already wingless, lying on a bed.
I crouched beside her and lamented the loss of her wings until a doctor came in. I stood and jabbed him in the chest. "How could you cut off her wings without even giving them chance to recover?"

The doctor looked surprised. "I came in here to anesthetize her for the surgery. We haven't even carried it out yet."
I stared at him. "Then where have her wings gone?"
The doctor looked over at the bed. "Great Scott." He rolled Applejack over; the flesh on her back was unmarked. It was as if she'd never had wings.

His face pale, the doctor backed out of the room.
Applejack stirred, and immediately we all surrounded her. "Applejack!" sobbed Scootaloo. "You've got no wings!"
I glared at the orange filly. I'd have broken the news to Applejack more slowly, but it was too late now.
But Applejack was looking confused. "Wings? I ain't never had wings." Her green eyes fell on me. "Twilight? Where's yer horn, and yer wings? Why've ya got Pinkie's cutie mark?"

"Long story." I said, hugging Applejack. "Something has happened. Rainbow is a unicorn, Pinkie's a pegasus, and..."
At that moment Rarity walked in, followed by Fluttershy. Applejack's eyes widened. "Rarity? How come ya're an ally-corn now?"
Rarity frowned. "Applejack, I've been an alicorn for a month or so now."
"But-" Applejack caught sight of my cutie mark on Rarity's flank. "Oh."

Fluttershy came over. "I'm so sorry about your wings, Applejack."
"I've told y'all I never had wings!" shouted Applejack. "Where'r your wings, Fluttershy? And what the HAY is going on!"
Applejack's hoof shot out to point at Fluttershy's apple cutie mark. "That's mah cutie mark!"

Rainbow walked in, shaking her head. Applejack's eyes roved over her bare back and horn, before taking in the diamonds on her flank. "Darling, you're in shock. You've lost your wings, I'm very sorry about that, but it was rather foolish to attempt two Rainbooms in one dive."

Applejack leapt out of the bed, showing no sign of any broken bones now. "Why does ev'rypony keep saying about mah wings? I ain't never had no wings!"
Just then Pinkie walked in, sporting wings and Fluttershy's cutie mark. Applejack screamed in confusion.
"Uh, Applejack?" I said uneasily. "I promise I'll explain everything later, but for now, just look at your flank."

Applejack blinked at me, then she looked down. She blinked a few times at Rainbow's lightning bolt cutie mark, bright against her orange flank, and then crumpled in a dead faint.

Author's Note:

I decided it was time to start working towards an ending. This won't happen every chapter, and I still don't know what the ending is, but it'll come to me eventually.

Enjoy, and please leave a comment!

Comments

[Nolongerposting]

Interesting. I'm glad that there are now two on Twilight's side. I also have to say that I usually don't read any of the Alicorn Twilight stories, probably because that's such a new concept I don't know how I want to handle it, but seeing as Twilight is technically an Alicorn in this one just an Earth pony. You've done a fantastic job on this by making it funny and having such interesting ideas and that's why I keep coming back when you update. And why I can't wait to find out how Twilight manages to climb out of the hole she's dug for herself this time. Congratulations.
And on a side note; I don't know if you meant to have a reference in this chapter but I at least made a connection. When the doctor cries out because Applejack is already 'missing her wings' he said; "Great Scott." I immediately thought of the Doc from Back to the Future and started laughing slightly. Then it hit me that it was the doctor that had said and I started laughing harder. I don't know if you meant to do that but I found it frickin hilarious. Can't wait to read the next chapter.

[Touch the Sky]

2530606 I NEVER NOTICED THAT wow I wrote a reference without even realising...

Anyway, thanks for continuing to read. This story is fun for me to write, so it's the only one I've been working on as opposed to the other three uncompleted ones of mine. Next chapter is already underway.

Did you enjoy Links in a Chain? I know it's a lot more depressing than this

[Nolongerposting]

2532493
It's always fun when you make an unintentional reference. And glad to hear that the next chapter is underway. Also, I loved Links in a Chain. It was sad but it was excilently written and it was done expertly. I thought that it was an intriguing idea and although it would never be explored in the show it's really interesting.

[Touch the Sky]

2532556 Thanks. Not sure if I should add a comedy tag to this story since you think it's funny...

[Nolongerposting]

2532788
When reading this I had kinda wondered why there wasn't a comedy tag.