//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A Fractured Rainbow // by TheRainbowDashShow //------------------------------// Applejack crept slowly down the stairs that lead further into the dank catacomb hidden beneath the dwelling's surface. The sound of Pinkie Pie's squeaking of fear and pain growing louder as she reached the base of the steps. A torch placed every few yards against the stone walls illuminating the single passageway. Her hoofsteps reverberated off the walls, echoing down the dark corridors, the noise seeming to amplify with each bounce. More than anything she wanted to flee, but Pinkie Pie's cries prevented her from doing so, and there was almost no doubt in her mind that Rainbow Dash was here as well, suffering a similar fate. She walked delicately, hushing the noise of each step as much as she possibly could. The sound of stone being scraped filled the hallway, followed by a screech of pain from who she guessed was Pinkie Pie. The noises kept on, soon Applejack could tolerate no more of it, and she bolted onward. Any chance that she had not been detected yet disappeared as her hooves clattering loudly as they knocked against the cold rocky floor. Soon the passageway ended, converging with yet another dimly lit room, inside a unicorn stood, wearing a face that said he had been expecting her. Even though Applejack had never met the stallion that stood across the room from her, he shared an incredible resemblance to someone she did know. The stallion's fading rugged red hair made him appear to be middle aged. His icy blue mane was torn and thinning, another sign suggesting that he was no longer in his prime. His flank was completely bare on both sides, apart from two massive scars where his cutie mark should be. He was the spitting image of Ice Ember, who she now guessed was his daughter. In front of him; a teary eyed pink pony that lay on the cold ground cowering before him. Dark bruises began to form, covering Pinkie Pie's back. Her hooves were cracked and dull, she had been scratching down, leaving thick marks on the stone beneath her as she had tried to cope with the pain of the beatings she had received over the short duration. The dark room revealed one other ghastly sight. An unconscious blue Pegasus rested in the corner, lacerations and discolorations covering her body. Clumps of her mane were missing and a good portion of her feathers had been ripped out as well. Purple rings surrounded her shut eyelids, and blood had dried into a dark brown color on her nose and lips. The red unicorn spoke, using a distorted voice that she had hoped she would never hear again. As she looked at the hideous stallion, there were small deformities that covered his neck. Applejack knew now that he hadn't masked his voice that day at the gorge where she had heard it before. She had thought he had been masking his voice when in fact it was his voice. "Until quite recently, I thought I had taken care of you." He said sounding like a troglodyte when he spoke. Applejack tried to speak, but a thin red glow covered her entire body, lifting her into the air, completely paralyzing her. The stallion spoke again, "This time, there won't be any mistakes." He floated Applejack closer to him. "But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself as well.” He said with a snicker. “First, I'm going to torture this pink pony, until the pain drives her to insanity. Instead of killing the Pegasus, I'll make you watch as I have her do it. And her reward will be death. Finally, when I become tired of your screams and begging, I will oblige you with the same fate." As Pinkie Pie listened to the unicorn speaking next to her, she remembered something, "I PINKIE PROMISED!" she screamed in an almost demonic voice, leaping up into the air preparing to tackle the pony. The glow around Applejack vanished releasing the mystical grip. Instead, the glow now encased Pinkie Pie. With a small jerk of his head, the floating pink pony was launched into the corner of the room, her head bashing into the stone ceiling, plummeting to the floor on top of Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie's distraction had provided Applejack with a small window of opportunity. She charged at the red unicorn, catching him by surprise. Before he had time to react, Applejack slammed his head into the hard rock ground. His horn took the better half of the impact, a jolt of magical electricity exploded, sending the two crashing into opposite sides of the room. The unicorn groaned in pain, grabbing at his horn, an empty space resided where it should have been. He roared furiously, rushing at Applejack before she had time to recover, thrusting her viciously into the wall. A jagged rock extruded from the wall, impaling Applejack as she collided into it. Her eyes widened with anguish, she struggled as a tightening grip closed down on her neck. Applejack grabbed at his hooves, trying to pull them off, but he held her too firmly, as her last resort, she kicked him with her powerful hind legs repeatedly, his hold weakened on her as his body adjusted to the barrage. Quickly, Applejack slipped her head from his loose hooftips, and adjusted herself into her apple bucking position. She inhaled deeply, pulling in every bit of energy from her leg muscles. The tear on her side ripped open as she released the full force of both her hind legs, plowing into his stomach, knocking him towards the ground. The red pony took a moment, preparing for another assault, but Applejack wasn't willing to give him the chance. She reached her muzzle inside her saddlebag, and pulled out a thick rope. She lassoed it around his deformed neck, and pulled. The defeated ex-unicorn flailed his hooves around, gasping for air as she pulled tighter. The struggling stopped, and just as soon as it did, tears began to cascade down Applejack's sparkling emerald eyes. This was something she had never wanted, something she never fathomed she would have done but she had no choice, it had to be done, or this would never stop. "Ah'm sorry." She whimpered. Not leaving anything to chance, she continued tightening the noose for another minute or so before dropping the rope. Applejack loathed herself as she stared at the pony whose life she had just taken. She shook her head, assuring herself it had to have been done. The corner of the room where the two ponies rested caught her attention once more. She zoomed over to them, squirming underneath them until they slept firmly on her back. The weight of the two unconscious ponies weighed her down; each step she made out of the dark tomb was small and exhausting. Every step up the short staircase made her feel as if she had scaled one of the highest mountains. After an incredibly draining few minutes, she found herself at the exit of the brick building; she slowly pushed it open, and stepped outside. The snowfall had grown into a blinding blizzard, rendering her eyesight completely useless, she trudged slowly, trusting only her instincts to guide her. The cold air cracked at her skin beneath her thin snow covered orange coat. The wind howled, violently whipping at her as she pushed onward, at some point the gusts had blown away her brown cowboy hat. "Don't suppose yah have a jacket somewhere in that frizzy pink mane of yers, do yah Pinkie?" she asked at the unconscious pony. "Ah didn't think so." Hours passed as she marched slowly through the fields of thick snow. The sun began to set, sapping away what little heat still remained on the earth's surface. Applejack's body shook as the cold continued to sting at her. The cold became unbearable, and she pushed herself to start running, hoping the burning of her muscles would help to keep her warm. Each step she made induced a terrible ripping sensation on her side. The cold made her skin brittle, and as she moved, the stretching caused the laceration to spread further. As the gouge grew, so did the pain that occurred with each stride. The crimson blood squeezed out of the wound, painting a red trail behind her as she continued running. Every inch of her began to spasm as it lost its ability to maintain any kind of stability. Her loss of blood caused her to grow woozy, the last thing her eyes had managed to distinguish, a familiar female unicorn approaching her as she collapsed into the snow beneath her. "Ice Ember…" She said weakly as everything faded away from her sight. Applejack soon regained consciousness; the chill of the snow below her had vanished replaced with a warm gentle sensation that covered and lifted her from the ground. "It's okay, I've got you." The unicorn said softly, the red and blue swirling light emanating from her horn as she trotted on the cobblestone streets of Ponyville. The freezing air soon disappeared, in its place warm stale air that smelt of cleaning chemicals she had sensed before. Applejack was placed softly on a tiled floor; the bright fluorescent lighting flooded her dizzy eyes. Next to her on the floor, were both Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry this happened…" Ice Ember said quietly before turning around and fleeing the building as concerned ponies rushed over to examine them. Once again, Applejack found herself drifting into a much needed sleep as the ponies prodded the three of them as they lay on the floor. The nurse finished binding the sewn gash that resided on Applejack's chest, "There you go, you'll be up and about in no time!" Applejack put on a fake smile; she wasn't at all concerned with herself. "How are they?", she asked before the pony could leave the room. "Your friend Pinkie Pie is just fine. Nothing more then a little bump on the head." The nurse pony answered trying once again to leave the room as quickly as possible. "Wait!" Applejack shouted after her, "What about Rainbow Dash?" The pony sighed and trotted back into the room, shutting the door. "Well, she had massive internal bleeding, and both of her wings were fractured. The cuts scattered throughout her body helped alleviate some of the internal bleeding which kept her alive. However, because of the cuts, she lost a significant amount of blood and had to receive transfusions to keep her stable." The nurse avoided making any eye contact with Applejack as she went down her list. "But she's gonna be okay?" Applejack asked hopefully. The nurse frowned, "Not exactly." "What do yah mean, 'not exactly'? Applejack glared. The nurse spoke calmly in an almost robotic voice. "Rainbow Dash's received massive blunt force trauma. To be more specific, her liver sustained most of the trauma, and has started to shut down. Due to everything that has happened to her the dialysis simply can't filter her blood fast enough to continue stabilizing her, and her body will most likely give out in the next few days. We put her on the transplant list, but organ donors are incredibly rare, and in Rainbow Dash's case, because of her unique blood type, making it even more so. There is a high probability that a donor won't be found in time." "Can ah be the donor?" "Even if you are a match, given your current condition, any attempt at surgery could result in serious repercussions." The nurse was talking disinterestedly once again. Applejack became irritable and demanded an answer "Can ah be the donor, yes or no?" The nurse flipped through the papers on her clipboard until she found the information she was looking for. "Yes, you two share the same blood type, so you could be a potential donor." "Then ah'll do it." Applejack said flatly. "Again, as I said before, with your current physical state, it is highly recommended that you NOT do this procedure." "Ah said ah'll do it." Applejack repeated. "Very well, I'll inform the doctors and we will begin prep for the surgery." The nurse exited the room. A few hours passed, until finally, a stallion entered the room. "I think it's very brave what you are doing for your friend. Anyway, we've finished prepping for the operation, all that's left is for you to sign this form and we'll get started." The pony talked quickly, and in a joyful tone of voice. Applejack said nothing; she grabbed the paper, scribbled her name on it, and returned it. "Alrighty then! If you'll come with me we'll get everything underway." The pony trotted out of the room, Applejack following behind him into a clean-room where she was thoroughly hosed down, and then lead into another room where they placed her on a bed. "We are going to put you under a general anesthesia, so you won't feel a thing. It'll be just like your taking a nap. It'll all be over before you know it." The doctor said cheerfully once again. Applejack nodded, and a mask was pressed against her face. As she inhaled everything became fuzzy, she wasn't completely asleep, but she couldn't feel the rest of her body, and she could hardly see anything. The only sense that remained completely intact was her hearing. The surgeon above her kept requesting items that she had no idea their purpose. She felt a strange pushing sensation on her stomach, but it didn't bother her, it just felt odd. The group of doctors soon walked away from her, and she could once again hear the surgeon requesting the same things. Her heart began to flutter; the steady rhythm of the monitor began to fluctuate, until it was a constant flat noise that rang through her ears. Shouts came from across the room, the ponies rushing back over to her. The ringing continued, piercing into her until everything around her went dark. Rainbow Dash woke up in a place she had been before. She was inside the room in the hospital she had first stayed at after the storm a little longer than half a year ago. Small plastic tubes attached to her nose and arm, concealed by the linen cloth blanket that covered her. A nurse pony walked inside the room, "Ah, your awake, that's great!" she smiled politely. "What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked groggily, unable to recall anything after her visit with Twilight to inform her that she was cancelling the wedding plans. The nurse looked at her charts and spoke again, "You suffered from acute liver failure, fortunately a donor was found in time." "Acute… liver failure? Wha-huh?" Rainbow Dash was confused as to how this all could have happened without her having even the slightest clue as to how it happened. "Who was the donor?" she finally asked. The nurse looked across the charts again, "The donor's name is Applejack. It seems she was the only viable donor that could be found within your timeline." Rainbow Dash blinked, "Applejack? Where is she? I want to see her!" the heart monitor began to beep more rapidly as the Pegasus grew more concerned. The nurse pony frowned, "I need you to calm down, you can't see her yet, you need more rest before you go anywhere." The beeping hastened even more, "WHERE IS SHE!?" Rainbow Dash shouted. The frightened pony stepped away and reluctantly answered the question. "She’s in room 17." Rainbow Dash ripped out the tubes and leaped off the bed, running down the hallway towards Applejack's room, the nurse following close behind her. She reached the door labeled with a 17 and pushed it open. Inside, an orange pony rested silently on the bed near the window. Tubes similar to the ones Rainbow Dash had, were attached to her as well, but in far greater numbers, and spread all across her body. The heart monitor beeped a slow steady rhythm, the green line bouncing up and down the screen every second or so. Rainbow Dash gazed lovingly at the peaceful orange pony, "When will she be awake?" The nurse sighed; she had hoped she wouldn't have to be the one to break the news, "She won't." Rainbow Dash looked confused again, "What do you mean 'she won't'?" The nurse let out another sigh as she prepared her speech, "When Applejack brought you in, she had already sustained severe wounds that put her at a heightened risk for complications to occur during the transplant. We advised her against doing the surgery, but she insisted as you would not have lasted more than a few days without it. After the portion of her liver had been successfully moved, she coded. The surgeons managed to successfully revive her, but only after eight minutes had passed. That amount of time with no oxygen had caused severe brain damage. It is likely she will never regain consciousness. I'm sorry." The nurse quickly left the room, unwilling to wait for the reaction. Rainbow Dash walked over to Applejack, softly caressing her orange cheek with her hoof, tears forming as her mind processed everything she had just been told. "Applejack… you can't leave me." The tears silently streamed down her face. "You can't leave me, please." She repeated again softly. "You can't… I need you, please." Rainbow Dash gently shook the sleeping pony. "Please, Applejack… not like this." She nudged Applejack's still forehead with her own. "I'm sorry, so sorry, for everything." The tears completely burst from her eyes. "Please, Applejack, wake up, I can't do this, not without you." Applejack continued to lie there lifelessly, nothing changing. "You can't do this to me" Rainbow Dash's cries grew louder. "We still have so much left, you can't leave me. Not like this, please." The last words she had said to Applejack repeated in her head. "I didn't mean it, Applejack. I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash pressed her lips against the orange cheek. "It's not your fault. I was selfish; I shouldn't have made you feel so lonely." Apart from the rhythmic beeping, and the Pegasus's cries of sorrow, the room remained silent. Anger began to boil inside of Rainbow Dash, "This isn't how it's supposed to end!" she screamed, smashing her hoof into the wall. "We still had so much time left together!" she continued her furious onslaught into the wall, making small hoof-shaped holes with each blow. "You can't do this to me! You can't leave me!" Rainbow Dash slumped her head back onto the bed next to the unmoving orange pony. Purely agonized cries of grief escaped Rainbow Dash. "Please Applejack, I need you so much, don't leave me. Not now, not like this." Her chin quivered violently with each word she uttered. "This was supposed to be our time. Don't let it be stolen from us." Rainbow Dash held Applejack's hoof tightly, she had been prepared to sacrifice anything to save Applejack and now it had been Applejack's turn. She rose to the occasion, she gave up everything she could to save Rainbow Dash, and now here she lay, her body living, but what wasn't alive that made her so unique, so special, her mind. The Pegasus crawled onto the bed, snuggling her lifeless lover, "Why did you have to do this? What am I supposed to do without you?" she squeezed Applejack tightly. "How am I supposed to keep going without ever hearing your voice again? I'll never hear you laugh again. You'll never run, or jump, or dance. I'll never hear you cry, or laugh, or sing again. It's not fair. You'll never walk down that aisle, you won't ever exchange vows with me, and we'll never join together in a kiss again." Rainbow Dash breathed erratically, her eyes blurred with tears. "You deserve so much better than this. You deserved so much more from life than this. This isn't how it should have ended. I'm so sorry." Another powerful wave of tears escaped her, "Applejack, I promise you this. I'll always stay by your side. I will never leave you. Most of all, I will always love you, my sweet Applejack." Rainbow Dash trotted in through the brown door, "Hey, Applejack! Look what I found!" she said excitedly to the non-responsive orange pony beneath the linen cloth of the hospital bed. The Pegasus threw a brown cowboy hat up in the air, catching it with her teeth; she proceeded to trot over to the sleeping pony, placing it on her gold mane that ran free, no longer secured by its usual red band. "I know how much you love this hat…" Rainbow Dash choked back sadness as she reminisced, "I know it's the only thing you have left of your mother." The blue Pegasus crawled into the bed, hugging Applejack as she continued in her deep sleep. "I'll never leave you, Applejack. I miss you, so much." The hours crept by, turning into days. In the days that followed, she kept her promise, she returned to Applejack's side every day. The days turned into weeks, still Rainbow Dash persisted with her vow, she would talk to the quiet pony, telling her about her day, and the local gossip that was spreading around Ponyville. The weeks grew into months, every visit became daggers plunging into her, reopening wounds that wanted to be forgotten when she returned. Rainbow Dash read stories out loud to her as she sat by her side hours on end. The months grew into a year, and there was still no change in Applejack's condition. The small thread of hope that Rainbow Dash had held onto for so long with every passing moment. Finally it had disintegrated when she returned to the pony on the anniversary of her sleep. Though the hope had faded, Rainbow Dash persevered with her word. After finishing her jobs around Ponyville, she returned back to Applejack's side every day, continuing on the same routine that she had started the first week. Her heart broke again, and again, whenever she walked through that door, looking at her lost love lying there on the bed, never changing. "Applejack, I can't do this…" Rainbow Dash cried dry tears as she spoke, "It hurts too much. It's been a year now. A whole year since I've heard your beautiful voice, your comforting laugh, your soft smile." The Pegasus lifted an orange hoof, resting it over her neck. "Please, Applejack… everypony misses you… especially me. Everypony says I need to move on, but how can I? How could I possibly be expected to just forget you? No, I could never do that to you, how could I leave you here alone day after day." Rainbow Dash breathed sharply, calming down her nerves, "No, I'll stay, I can't leave you, how could I?" another wave of emotions crashed down on her, "I guess this wasn't what you had planned, you probably wanted me to go live my life, with everything you'd sacrificed, and I'm squandering it." She softly pressed her lips on Applejack's cheek, "But, everything feels so empty now, so I can't live my life, not without you in it." Rainbow Dash curled up onto the bed along side of Applejack. "It hurts so much, Applejack." She repeated. "You shouldn't be here, stuck in this bed, you should be out there. Outside in the shining sun, corralling critters, bucking apple trees, making cider for all the ponies, not trapped here. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I could be in your place. You were so strong, Applejack. You still had so much going for you." Rainbow Dash cringed, "And you gave it all up, just for me, and it kills me inside. I had been so weak, and you had been so strong. I'm sorry it turned out this way. A whole year now today… I love you Applejack, and I'm trying to be strong like you were, but it's so hard." The Pegasus closed her eyes and continued weeping tearlessly into the orange pony's chest. The orange hoof wrapped tighter around the crying pony, but she took no notice of it. What caught the Pegasus's attention was the changing in the pace at which the monitor beeped. Rainbow Dash looked at the monitor, when it quickened, she feared Applejack's body had finally given out. "N-no, no, no" she cried out helplessly as she stared at the bouncing green line. The speed of the beeping restabilized itself into a rhythm using its new speed. Rainbow Dash's heart slowed back down for a few moments, until something else caused it to leap again. Another hoof closed around her, giving her a gentle warm squeeze. The Pegasus froze, afraid this was a dream; she didn't want to do anything that could wake her up. The hooves pulled her upward; soon she was accompanied with the feeling of soft, warm lips pushing down on her forehead. She opened an eyelid, and then the other. Looking back at her, no longer covered by a mask, or tubes, was an orange face. Her large, shining, forest green emerald eyes sparkling as they stared back into the watery magenta eyes a few inches apart. She smiled, and pressed her lips against the disbelieving Pegasus again. She gently stroked the Rainbow Mane, and for the first time in a year, she finally spoke, "It's okay sugarcube, ah'm here."