//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - An Apple a Day // Story: Under Her Wing // by Tinyweasels //------------------------------// Chapter 9 - An Apple a Day When her three weeks were finally up, Dr. Gray used his magic to carefully split the cast and inspected her leg closely. "Gently put weight on it," he said, his horn glowing as he watched carefully. Rainbow had the unsettling notion that he was looking at her bones. "First things first, doc," she said and then quickly bent over and began scratching her leg. "Ooooh, that feels so good. I hate wearing casts." Once that was taken care of she gingerly stood and put weight on her leg. "So far so good," he said, continuing to examine her leg. "Walk on it." Rainbow did so; she could feel the difference in the muscle tone with her other leg, even above the overall loss of tone due to her three weeks of inactivity. "Now remember, young lady, just because your cast is off does not mean you are fully recovered," Dr. Gray advised. "You may engage in low impact activities. You may walk for exercise, but no jogging, running or bike riding. Be careful to avoid strain on your pelvis and lower back, so no heavy lifting. I'd give it another two weeks before you can begin moderate lower body exercise and at four weeks you can resume your normal high risk activities. Right now you can exercise your upper body by way of chin-ups and hand weights, but again, be careful and don't overdo it." "Right, got it, doc. Oh man, you really take for granted how good it is to be able to just walk around." "Count your blessings, young lady. You were the closest to the expression 'break every bone in their body' that I'd ever seen on anypony still breathing. Don't take chances. I've seen pegasi try flying too soon after major wing injuries and it never ends well." "I appreciate the warning, doc. I'm just not used to this much inactivity. It's driving me nuts! I need to be out and doing things, but luckily for everypony I'm not stupid enough to risk making this worse. I'll survive this even if it kills me." "Yes, that's the spirit," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. ~~~ Hey Dad, Just dropping a line to let you know the cast is off and I'm mostly mobile again, the doc says I still need to take it easy for a while before I get back to my usual crazy stuff. Rarity said she can show you the Wonderbolt costumes and she'll have some griffin stuff sketched for you two to take a look at. Dad, I've had a lot of time to think about you and Gilda and while it probably would have been better to tell you two in person, I felt it was best to just say it now so you didn't have to fret about it while you were heading to town. I'm okay with you and Gilda as a couple. I can't wait to see you again. Love, Rainbow Rainbow Dash looked over the letter and then sealed it and took another sheet of paper and started a letter to Scootaloo. Hey Scootaloo! I hope you're doing good and recovered from the fall. I thought I'd send a letter to see how you're doing. I know what it’s like being different there; hopefully the other kids haven't been teasing you too much. As for me, the cast is finally off and I can start doing stuff again, but I have to take it easy the next few weeks and then I can go back to my wild and crazy, normal self. Rainbow Dash Once Derpy had picked up the mail, and with final hugs for Spike and Twilight, Rainbow Dash savored walking out of Twilight's castle. She wanted to run and jump, climb on stuff and then jump off it to celebrate the cast coming off, but she had to resist. Rainbow walked through town, stopping periodically to greet ponies and then to her next highest priority: Chunky's Burger Barn, the place that had the best hay-burgers and hay-fries in Equestria. All the gourmet food she'd been eating at the castle had been nice and all, but she needed real food in her system again. After the restorative tonic of fast food she resumed her walk, just enjoying the freedom of movement again. She headed to the outskirts of town, looking at the expansive apple orchards of Sweet Apple Acres in the distance. Soon she approached the big red barn and heard somepony call out her name. "Rainbow, sugar!" Rainbow Dash turned in time to see a huge orange mare gallop over to her. Ma Apple had visited her a number of times at the castle, always with apple goodies in tow. "Hi, Ma," Rainbow said as the big mare gently hugged her. "So good to see you on yer hooves again, Rainbow sugar." "Yeah, it feels good to be up and around. Three weeks of just laying around was enough. I still have to go easy for another month, but then I'm good to go again." Ma Apple put her large hooves on Rainbow's shoulders and looked her in the eye, Ma Apple was an Appaloosan Clydesdale and the only equine in Ponyville tall enough to do so. "Don't do nothin' foolish, girl. Listen to that doctor and take care—you don't wanna break anythin' else. AJ told me how broke up you were at first. That just gave me the waking shivers, hon." "I appreciate the concern, ma'am. It's really been nice to know so many ponies care about me." Ma Apple gave her a kindly smile. "Yer like family, Rainbow sugar, and family is everything to an Apple." A new voice spoke up and she turned to see Big Macintosh and Pa Apple coming up. Their large size and deep red coats made them look almost like twins at a distance "Howdy, Miss Dash," Big Mac said with a big smile when he saw her. Big Macintosh was a pony of few words. "Hey, Big Mac. Good to see you guys again. Everything going good here on the farm, Pa?" "Eyup," Pa Apple replied. Big Mac’s father was a pony of even fewer words. As big as Big Mac and Pa Apple were, Ma Apple towered over both of them. Rainbow gave each a hug in turn, then the Apples led her back to the farmhouse and insisted she stay for dinner. It was a familiar invitation—in her early wandering days, Rainbow normally did odd jobs to earn bits as she backpacked her way across Equestria. When she had come to Ponyville, her start in town had been rocky but that had quickly changed and the Apples had told her they could use her help during harvest, so she'd stayed around. Ma Apple had taken an almost maternal concern for her, and after the fall harvest was over she always found more work for her to do. With winter coming, Ma didn't want Rainbow wandering Equestria in the snow and ice, so she convinced her to winter in Ponyville. Rainbow stayed on, getting so attached to the town that by the time Ma Apple couldn't find any other excuses to keep her around, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. When Rainbow had finally thought about maybe starting her trek again, the Summer Sun Celebration was coming up. When she found out that Celestia herself was going to be there, she had to stay for that—and when a certain purple unicorn with a baby dragon in tow showed up to organize things, well, her world was turned upside down but in a good way. Dinner was excellent and they talked and laughed the whole time. When the food was done and night had fallen, Ma and Pa Apple put young Apple Bloom, her little sister Candy Apple and their visiting cousin Babs to bed. Pa Apple brought out a bottle of the good stuff for the grown-ups to celebrate Rainbow's rescue and her recovery. Rainbow smiled, as you could judge your standing with the Apple clan by what they served for very special occasions; the fact that Pa Apple was pouring out shots of the 1000-bits-a-bottle Celestia's Special Reserve 20-year-old Zap Apple sippin' whisky, they considered her efforts worthy of the highest honor. She held up the shot glass and eyed its contents—the liquid even poured out in colored layers. She'd only had the chance to taste this rare drink a handful of times in the last five years; when they'd defeated Nightmare Moon, defeated Discord, at the royal wedding, at Twilight's coronation and to celebrate Tirek's defeat. "Rainbow, if you'd do the honors," Pa Apple said, holding up a box of matches. Rainbow gladly took it and withdrew a single wooden match and lit it, then touched it to each of the shots. A faint rainbow flame erupted from each glass and they waited until tiny sparks began to shoot out of the flames—the signal it was ready to drink. Ma and Pa Apple, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Apple Jewel all raised their glasses and looked to Rainbow as she herself raised her glass. Ma Apple smiled and she had a tear in her eye as she made the toast. "Rainbow sugar, a toast in honor of your heroics and bravery. And bless you for lovin' we ponyfolk enough to risk yer life for us and to be ready to die to save one of us. Not just this time, but all the times ya done so." Each leaned forward and blew out the flame and downed their shots, then Pa filled up the glasses again. It was good, so good. It went down smooth and it somehow flowed into a pony's own innate magic. She watched as the cutie marks of the Apples began to glow and she looked down and could see hers glowing through her jeans. She personally would call it liquid friendship, as a few shots of this would have Sombra, Tirek and Nightmare Moon all hugging and saying "I love you, man!” The Apples’ distillery was only a very small part of the Apple family's holdings, and even their "common" product was exceptional; when it came to Celestia's Special Reserve, they only made one barrel a year. When each batch was properly aged, the first case was always sent to Princess Celestia to thank her for giving the family the land and she in turn had shared that with the Canterlot elite. That practice had led to its popularity and great value, allowing her to bless them a second time—and while Celestia got a whole case the nobles had to go on a waiting list for single bottles. The next thing Rainbow was aware of was the aroma of apple fritters. She opened her eyes and rubbed her pounding head a bit, but one of the other good things about that particular whisky was that it left only a mild hangover. She closed her eyes and snuggled up against the soft furry red thing she'd been cuddling all night. A moment later her eyes snapped open in alarm. She sat up, releasing Big Mac's right foreleg, as he had fallen asleep in the rocking chair next to the sofa. She recalled the previous year's New Year’s Eve party at the farm and the Apples' attempt to get an inebriated Big Mac up a flight of stairs; the only thing funnier was when a tipsy Twilight Sparkle tried to use her magic to “help”. She rubbed her eyes and realized a foal was sitting on the floor in front of her. “Hi, Miss Rainbow!” the little unicorn said happily. “Hey, Candy,” Rainbow replied, leaning down to pat her head. “Ya almost ready for lunch? Granny Smith’s got everythin’ cookin’!” she said excitedly. Rainbow rubbed her chin, looking carefully at the little pony. “Hmm, I think I’m hungry for… candy!” she said and reached for the filly. The little pony gave a happy squeal and ran out of the room, giggling all the way, Rainbow close behind. “Eee, Granny! Rainbow wants to gobble me up!” she giggled. Rainbow Dash picked up the little pony and playfully chomped at her mane. Granny Smith turned and pointed her mixing spoon at Rainbow. “Now Rainbow Dash, eatin’ her up will spoil yer appetite.” Rainbow held up the little pony and smiled, took a seat at the table and put Candy on her lap. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Nothing beats Granny Smith's home cooking.” Granny Smith turned and smiled. “You sleep okay, Rainbow? Five shots o’ that stuff was enough to knock Big Macintosh on his behind.” “I’m okay, just a little headache. I’ve had worse hangovers.” “Hopefully you still got an appetite. You stayin’ fer lunch?” “Wouldn’t miss it, ma'am.” “Now that’s what I like ta hear!” While waiting for the others to finish their chores, Rainbow kept Candy company so Granny could work without the little filly underhoof. Rainbow found it amusing that the Apples had a baby unicorn. Candy Apple had been named for her dark red coat and, while unicorns normally had horns the same color as their coats, Candy's was white. So her body was the candy apple and her horn was the stick. Rainbow mused it would be interesting in years to come to see how the Apples adapted their “no magic” policy when Candy grew up. Again the food was amazing, as it always was at Sweet Apple Acres—good food, good company and good times. She hated to leave.