//------------------------------// // 22 - The Fall // Story: Predictions & Prophecies // by Kinrah //------------------------------// So many strange things happened on May 21st, in the 990th year of the Celestial Era. It was said in the aftermath that the magic of the world had anticipated its events, that the weird and wonderful had been drawn to Canterlot on that day specifically. Indeed, ponies that would never normally have come to Canterlot could be found everywhere in the city at the time of the explosions, explosions that changed so many lives. In fact, Princess Celestia had been heard to say afterwards, such was the variety of character in the city on the day that some ponies were practically invisible. While her odd choice of words left questions on her subjects’ minds, it was true that some of the stranger individuals were part of the crowd. This was probably why nopony blinked when one of the ornamental bushes outside the train station suddenly sprouted a pair of binoculars. “(Any sign of ‘em?)” “(That’s a negative, Agent Jack.)” Applejack glared at her companion. “(Ah thought Ah told you not to call me that.)” It was a quarter to ten in the morning. Around about now, the Applejack that was supposed to be there was sitting in an apartment in Manehattan feeling very, very homesick. There was also another Applejack somewhere down in Earthen Forest, as well as this Applejack, who was sitting in a bush in Canterlot with Pinkie Pie still trying to wrap her head around this whole time travel thing. She was just an apple farmer, and if she walked around all day with all of this magic stuff in her head she’d never get anything done. She got why Twilight was concerned about it, though. If somepony had time traveled and distracted her from seeing the rainbow, she’d probably never have left Manehattan. Hmm… nah. Sure, the rainbow had helped, but she was sure she’d have made the decision eventually. She’d have just gotten home a lot later. Pinkie, on the other hoof… Said pink pony was scanning the crowds for any sign of their friends, and not having much luck. Rainbow Dash’s rainboom had knocked the light of friendship right into her. If she hadn’t had that, she would’ve remained on the rock farm. Applejack had read between the lines while Pinkie had been gushing about it, and gathered that before the rainboom she’d actually been quite miserable. Herself, she couldn’t imagine farming rocks rather than apples, but it was a family thing, and if there was one thing she knew, it was family things. Darn good job neither of them were anywhere near their younger selves, then. Canterlot, capital of Equestria. The only one of their friends who had been here was Twilight, and by now she was probably in the castle on the other side of the city, plenty of ponies between her and them. Unfortunately, that meant that their friends who they’d been with minutes before in the vault were nigh on impossible to find. The sensible thing, of course, was to have sorted out a meeting spot beforehoof. However, Applejack got the feeling that her attempt to negotiate one had been drowned out. Landing next to Pinkie was sheer coincidence, one she was happy for nonetheless, but it still meant having to track down Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in a city full of ponies, a city which in just 45 minutes would be pandemonium. Truth was, none of them, not even Twilight, knew exactly what had happened in the city after the rainboom, aside from the more significant events which they’d all heard second-hoof. Applejack’s own knowledge of the events were third-hoof, since nopony she associated with at the time was present, and what she knew she’d heard from Twilight who’d heard it from the Princess who was in the castle at the time, so she guessed it was actually fourth-hoof? Anyway. If they stayed calm, thought things through, everything would be fine. They just had to stay out of the way while at the same time finding a way to contact their friends. Without Twilight, they wouldn’t be getting home. “(How ‘bout now?)” “(Nope!)” At least Pinkie appreciated the gravity of the situation, at least partially. On arrival she’d tried to go off and join the party, only to be reminded by Applejack that as far as Canterlot knew this was an ordinary day and there was no party. She’d deflated a little, but immediately put that energy to work scanning the crowd for familiar faces. “(Ooh! Look!)” Applejack’s head snapped round. “(There’s Cheerilee!)” Another false alarm. “(And she’s totally with Mayor Mare!)” “(Pinkie, we need to look for Twilight an’ the others, not everypony we know.)” Applejack snatched the binoculars to look for herself. Yep, that was definitely Cheerilee, chatting away with a very embarrassed and very pink Mayor Mare, who… actually wouldn’t have been mayor of Ponyville at this point. What even was her name before she was mayor? Whatever the case, her mane was practically glowing, and was certainly attracting her own share of curious stares. Next to her, Pinkie tutted. “(Wrong hair dye, Mrs. Mayor. Like the color, though!)” Okay, by this point it was very plain to Applejack that just sitting in a bush at one end of the city wasn’t going to get them anywhere, and unless all of the others somehow decided that they should leave by train, the station wasn’t the best place to camp out anyway. If she were Twilight, what would she do? Ask a stupid question, she’d go to the castle. Rarity would probably get distracted by the shops, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t stay still, and Fluttershy would only stay still. But even given that the two of them would never get in the castle. Sure, in the present the Royal Guard knew their faces and gave them pretty much unfettered access, but in the past they were just anonymous tourists. Summoning all of her (admittedly lacking) knowledge of Canterlot, she prodded Pinkie in the shoulder. “(We should move to the park. ‘s a lot more open there.)” “(Ooh, good idea!)” She had to grab Pinkie’s tail before she shot out of the bush. “(Careful, Pinkie. Don’t want to attract too much attention.)” “(Oh, don’t worry.)” The face Pinkie was making was extremely worrying. “(I am all over this.)” All over this turned out to be wearing what Applejack swore was the most conspicuous trench coat and fedora she’d ever seen in her life, pulled from Celestia-knows-where in the time it took her to blink. Before she could stop her friend, Pinkie jumped out of the bush, startling some nearby ponies, and started whistling the Crystal Empire anthem in what was probably supposed to be the most innocent fashion possible. With a sigh and a facehoof, Applejack got up and followed, giving the startled ponies some very apologetic looks and getting a surprising number of pitying expressions in return. Evidently Pinkie’s behavior was not the strangest thing they’d seen today, and it was only mid-morning. If all she was going to end up doing was reining in Pinkie Pie, then… that, she could do. She had practice dealing with Pinkie Pie. “Pinks?” “Yahuh?” Pinkie suddenly stopped stock still. “No, wait. I’m not Pinkie Pie. I am…” she paused for dramatic effect “…phooey. I forgot to come up with a cool investigatory-type name. No, I got it! Detective P.I. You know, because P.I., Pie, get it?” “Ah got it, Pinkie.” There was a very easy trick to getting where you needed to with Pinkie, and that was to just go along with what she said for the most part. “You know you’re the only pony dressed like that and others are starin’, right?” “Of course!” Of course, Pinkie was Pinkie. “If I’m super-duper obvious, nopony will suspect me of trying to do anything sneaky!” “We ain’t tryin’ to do anythin’ sneaky. We’re tryin’ to find our friends.” Applejack raised her voice for the last part, in the hope that some of the ponies who were staring would get the picture. While Pinkie Pie was utterly unique, her brand of logic was far from being hers alone. “Ah! A case for Detective P.I.!” The pink pony suddenly took off at a gallop, forcing Applejack to gallop after her. The streets weren’t so crowded that they were constantly bumping into others, but two adult ponies running at top speed - especially while one of them is wearing an outfit disguising her features - are not two ponies you want to stand in the way of. On the shortest route between the station and the park was the market square. Today had been a Sunday, Applejack recalled - just in time to grab Pinkie’s tail in her teeth and slam on the anchors before they collided with the less-fancy residents of Canterlot as they went about their grocery shopping. In true Pinkie fashion, the moment she stopped, her hooves went sproing and the fedora and trenchcoat went catapulting into the crowd, where they promptly vanished. “Whoa! That was a close one!” Applejack sighed, and took the lead before Pinkie could start running off again. Neither of them wanted to end up in the hospital, the big red H of Canterlot General just visible over the buildings on the far side of the square. Their path took them vaguely in its direction, around stalls and hawkers and a funfair ride, the owner of which seemed fairly bewildered to be in the middle of the city, and which Pinkie had to be dragged away from. No time for games. It wasn’t really the time for eating, either, but Applejack was more surprised than exasperated when she turned around to see her companion’s face obscured by a large ball of cotton candy. “Where’d you get the bits for that, Pinkie?” she asked, as she slowed down her pace in the likely event that Pinkie started veering off into a completely different direction. She was more curious than anything else now. “Oh, I always carry some change around!” Pinkie paused to wag her tail, which jingled with the sound of loose bits. “You know, in case of snack emergencies. And party emergencies. Emergencies in general, really.” She gave Applejack a Look, which was impressive given the cotton candy. “You mean you don’t?” Actually, Applejack did, but she wasn’t about to tell Pinkie that. The few bits she kept tied up in the end of her mane really were for genuine emergencies, and while she didn’t think Pinkie would try to spend them on party equipment, she didn’t want to run that risk. Certainly she wasn’t going to let it be spent on snacks. This was train-home-in-case-you-get-stuck-very-far-away emergency money. “Er, Ah mean, on occasion.” She rubbed the back of her neck. Occasions such as now. “Ah just don’t think we need the distraction.” The pink pony seemed to consider this, and finding it a satisfactory statement, she swallowed the entire pink cloud in one gulp. Yeesh. “Yeah, I guess you have a point. To the park!” Once they were finally free from the grip of the market square, the streets to the park were clearly signposted, something Applejack was thankful for, as while she remembered its general location, she’d been on the verge of being lost. If only Rarity were with them; she always seemed like she knew Canterlot’s layout like the back of her hoof. Admittedly, she tended to gravitate towards the posher parts of the city, but Applejack always gravitated towards the more down-to-earth parts of the other places they went to, so it was fair play. All the while, she’d been keeping an eye out for familiar faces, faces from her present. So far, it’d been Canterlot pony after Canterlot pony, ponies who maybe Twilight would know, vaguely, but none from Ponyville. Maybe a couple had been a little more familiar - she had been present in the city for things like the Grand Galloping Gala and Cadance’s wedding, after all - but certainly not any that she’d interacted with, nopony that would come up to her and say ‘Hey, weren’t you in Canterlot when…’ and force some awkward answers. Not that that had ever happened anyway? Tch, magic, threatening to give her a headache like that. Finally, Canterlot’s streets opened up into the park, and it was busy. Why wouldn’t it be? It was a very pleasant spring Sunday morning. On days like this in the present, Applejack would be… okay, she’d probably be working, until somepony arrived to drag her into something else. Looking at all the ponies of all ages, having fun, relaxing, it reminded her that it had been a long time since she’d seriously taken some time off. A holiday. Yes, that sounded right. Camping. Her, Apple Bloom if she wanted, Big Mac? Might be hard pressed to convince him. Just to get back to enjoying life for a bit. Okay, distraction over. She put a hoof above her eyes and scanned both the crowd and the skies for that distinctive rainbow mane. There was no way Rainbow Dash was going to stay on the ground the whole time. Plus, there was also no way she wasn’t going to get herself a front-row seat for her own rainboom in twenty minutes, and even she got that, because come on, wouldn’t you like to see something that only you can do from a different perspective? Pinkie, being Pinkie, had already resumed her activity with the binoculars from a nearby box hedge. This time, though, Applejack decided not to join her. If they needed to run to catch up to their friends, there was no point in having to untangle yourself from a bush first. “Anythin’, Pinkie?” The binoculars darted around a little more before she got her response. “Nope! No Twilight Sparkle, no Rarity, no Rainbow Dash, and no Fluttershy. I can see Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, though!” The orange mare snatched the binoculars again and trained them on the castle. There was indeed a pink speck and a white speck which if you squinted might just be the future rulers of the Crystal Empire on a balcony in the castle grounds. Nice, but not important right now. She retrained the view on the pegasi in the sky. Nope. Still no sign of Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Applejack had hoped that they would at least have a little sense and head for someplace where it’d be easier to find each other, but noooo. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know sense if it came up and bit her. Reluctantly, she passed the binoculars back. This was impossible. It had been hard enough coordinating the Apple family reunion, and that had required so much planning ahead it’d been ridiculous. Granted, she’d planned too far ahead, but at least she knew where ponies were going to be at what time, more or less. Trying to meet up with friends when you’ve got no way to contact each other to arrange a meeting point was bad enough without it being in the past as well. She relayed her frustration to Pinkie Pie. “Yeah, I know.” Inside the bush, she could see Pinkie’s ears droop. “There’s never a random coincidence when you need one, is there?” “What are you talkin’ about, Pinkie?” With a little difficulty, Pinkie extricated herself from the hedge. “Well, remember when we all came to look for you in Dodge Junction? We found you with hardly any effort at all!” Applejack flushed red. She didn’t like to remember that. “Well—” “And that time in Appleloosa when Rainbow Dash and I went after Bloomberg and you came to find us and we met halfway?” “That’s not quite the—” “And you weren’t there, but there was this time when Twilight Spike and I broke into the Canterlot Archives looking for the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing, and it turned out to be right next to where we entered! I’m just saying, random coincidences have always been there when we needed them! (That’s the way the stories work,)” she added conspiratorially. Trying not to shift the topic onto how freaky Pinkie’s memory was, Applejack cleared her throat. “That may be true, but—” “It just means we’ve gotta do what comes naturally!” Don’t break out into a song, don’t break out into a song… “C’mon, Applejack! Time’s a-wasting!” And with that, she immediately started bouncing further into the park. After a short pause, in which she sighed and adjusted her hat, Applejack followed, keeping one eye on the pink pony in front of her and another eye on the skies. She was right, of course. In the absence of planning all that was left was improvisation. Just as suddenly as she’d started, Pinkie stopped again, and Applejack managed to divert around her to avoid smacking into her. “What is it now, Pinkie?” But Pinkie’s eyes had gone as wide as dinner plates, which was a bad sign. “Uh, Pinkie?” “Ohhhhhh,” Pinkie eventually managed, in the tone of voice that signified sudden realization. “I get it.” “Get wh—” Applejack followed her gaze. Oh, she was joking. “Well, I’ll be. Pinkie Pie, is that what I think it is?” “I dunno, Applejack, what do you think it is?” She couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face. It was infectious. “What was it you were sayin’ about random coincidences?” “Million-to-one chances always crop up nine times out of ten?” Eh, close enough. “She’s all yours, Pinkie.” “Yippeee!” In a puff of smoke, Pinkie disappeared. Applejack, meanwhile, could only sit down and stare in amusement. What were the odds of that? With a roar, the hot air balloon ascended into the skies of Canterlot. It was, according to Pinkie, the answer to a mystery she never even bothered to think about. When she’d come to Canterlot for a massive party supply run, in about seven years from their present moment, obtaining a means of air transportation wasn’t even on the list. However, she’d walked into the Canterlot Aeronautical Society - by accident, she was looking for helium balloons - and some stallion had approached her, describing her as ‘his best-behaved customer’ and had sold the balloon to her on the spot. She’d been confused, but it wasn’t every day that you got to buy a hot air balloon for a relatively cheap price, and it had excellent applications as a means to move the party supplies, so why not? After that she’d just sort of forgotten it, thinking it was probably a case of mistaken identity and while it might be mean to take advantage of that, the other pony hadn’t been back in seven years and probably wouldn’t be back at all. Said stallion, introducing himself to Applejack at the hot air balloon hire station as the president of the C.A.S. while Pinkie was hurriedly performing all the pre-flight checks, had apparently never been approached by anypony who took ballooning so seriously, and frequently had to ward off unicorns who were under the impression that hot air balloons flew entirely under the power of magic. Applejack had to share a laugh about that. The number of nobles she’d encountered at the Grand Galloping Gala who’d been entirely ignorant as to the way apples grew was very surprising. Even the richer ponies among her aunt and uncle’s friends in Manehattan knew next to nothing about where their food came from. (“But where do you get your lettuce?” “The shop.” “And where does the shop get it from?” “…other shops?” Twilight hadn’t been pleased by that level of ignorance either.) Applejack was a very down-to-earth pony. She didn’t particularly like flying. After that time when they’d all visited Cloudsdale, she got a lot of vertigo. But it gave her more reassurance than she’d care to admit that it was Pinkie, another earth pony, in charge of the controls. Despite being entirely self-taught, she flew the balloon almost as if it was her special talent, and, well, her cutie mark was balloons, even if they were only the kind that could be commonly found stuck on the ceiling or in her apple trees. Hay, even Cherry Berry was a good balloon flyer, and her cutie mark had nothing to do with balloons at all. What would Pinkie Pie be like with wings? (Probably an even bigger lovable nuisance than she already was.) Before boarding, and while the president of the C.A.S. hadn’t been listening, Pinkie had come over all serious. “Applejack,” she had said, “You gotta Pinkie Promise me you’re not gonna fall out.” To be honest, Applejack had almost forgotten about the prophecy, and Twilight’s insistence that she was going to fall out of a balloon’s basket. Load of hooey, if her opinion was heard. She’d been up in a balloon plenty of times before, so why should now be any different? It wasn’t as if the time travel made much difference. She’d been on board a balloon when Rainbow Dash had done a sonic rainboom before, and sure, it was very uncomfortable, but she’d never been in any danger of falling out. Still, Pinkie was sufficiently worried, and she was the pilot, so she’d elected to limit their height and keep the balloon as much as possible over the park’s river. It wasn’t a very deep river, but anyway. “Isn’t it funny?” “Hm?” Applejack looked back at Pinkie from where she’d been scanning over the rooftops for any sign of a rainbow. “What’s up?” Pinkie sat back on her haunches. “I learned to fly in this balloon, which I only got for cheap ‘cause I’m so good at it now.” She started gesturing with her hooves, gestures that didn’t entirely match what she was saying. “So I guess coming back in time and borrowing it now is something that’s always happened.” One of Applejack’s eyebrows tried to escape. “Say what?” “Time travel, AJ.” Pinkie mimed her head exploding, and fell over onto her back. “Just. Time travel. Wow.” She paused for a couple of seconds, trying to decide whether to drop her jaw or grin madly. “Stuff just keeps happening.” Heh. Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Sometimes I’d swear you’re a member of the Apple family, Pinkie. Granny always says things like that. ‘Stuff happens.’” Then she caught a glimpse of something over the edge of the city wall, and tensed. “Buck up, though, I think things are about to kick off.” “More things keep happening!” Pinkie flailed, then she popped back up and grabbed hold of one of the balloon’s ropes. “What’d you see?” “The race’s started.” “Ooh! Where?!” From their vantage point, they couldn’t see the entire thing, mostly because the wall was in the way. However, there was no way Applejack would mistake that little ball of blue and rainbow zipping around. Rainbow Dash was racing for Fluttershy’s honor, for her cutie mark and the cutie marks of her soon-to-be friends. This was it. Applejack tightened her grip on the rope, even as Pinkie scrambled to try and get a better view. How long had the race lasted? Long enough for Fluttershy to fall all the way to the forest below and sing a little song, which was probably going on right now. Little Applejack in Manehattan would be staring out of a window. Little Pinkie Pie would be at her family’s rock farm. There was a shiver in the air. Then— BANG. “Sonic rainb—” Pinkie started screaming, before the colors and the windrush hit, battering the balloon further into the city, shaking the basket this way and that. Both earth ponies could only hold on for dear life. It was more jarring than the previous times Applejack had been flying during a sonic rainboom, but Twilight’s fear that she’d fall out was entirely unfounded. At this rate, the worst that would happen would be her breakfast deciding to make a surprise return visit. It didn’t even last that long. Mere seconds passed before the balloon stopped shaking, and the sound of the wind was replaced by the sound of chattering ponies from the park, those who witnessed the rainboom and those who just heard the sound. See, that wasn’t so bad. Not ideal, but they’d have to be a darn sight closer than they had been to get it any worse. Then Pinkie looked around, and did a double-take, pointing. “Hey, there’s Rainbow Dash! Our Rainbow Dash!” “Where?” Applejack spun round to follow where Pinkie’s outstretched hoof was pointing, back towards the park, and squinted. “I don’t see—” FLASH. The noise was indescribable, but the best Applejack could do afterwards was comparing it to when she’d been in the kitchen at Sweet Apple Acres and the stove exploded. A roar in her ears, the sound of hundreds of windows shattering at the same time, panicked yells, and a force so powerful it lifted her off her hooves. She’d forgotten about Twilight’s outburst, she realized, as the balloon’s basket swung out from underneath her almost in slow motion, and she tipped over its edge. Well, I’ll be. Two will rise, one will fall. She screwed her eyes shut. And opened them again, just in time to grab her hat before it flew away. “Oh no you don’t!” “Applejack!” came Pinkie’s voice from above her, after a moment. “You still falling?” “No, Ah’m good!” Her leg hurt from the rope tied around it, but that was appleseeds compared to the alternative. “Pull me up!” With a few tugs, Pinkie hauled Applejack back up and into the basket of the balloon, which had lost a couple of ballast bags but was otherwise still in pretty good shape. That was a little too close for comfort. Still, it made her glad she’d tied the rope around her leg when they’d set off, just in case. “The thing said ‘Two will rise, one will fall’,” she’d reminded Pinkie. “Never said anythin’ about one landin’, did it?” Pinkie had been suitably impressed. See, Twilight? Nothing to worry about. Applejack didn’t like to gloat. But she was so going to gloat. Below them, Canterlot was in an absolute mess, but the ponies in the streets weren’t running about too much, probably on account of the broken glass. Most of the unicorns they could see were just sitting still, completely stunned. Not being unicorns, neither of the two ponies in the balloon could hazard a guess as to what they were feeling, but Twilight had been convinced that the city would return to normal operation pretty much by the end of the day. The pegasi were hurriedly flying back and forth, trying to work out what was going on between carrying messages between ponies who were otherwise unable to reach each other. Pinkie’s glimpse of Rainbow Dash had been for nought, though. Just as quickly as she’d appeared she’d disappeared again. It had absolutely been her, Pinkie had affirmed. She knew her friends. Speaking of friends, said pink pony pointed towards the castle and giggled. Applejack looked over, and couldn’t help but smile at the distant sight of a dragon’s head sticking through one of the castle tower roofs. Happy birthday, Spike. Fortunately everypony else was concentrating on the city to see the dragon in the castle and panic even more. Pretty soon, as Pinkie piloted the balloon back towards where she’d seen Rainbow, the dragon disappeared in a flash of magic. Princess Celestia was with little Twilight now, as Twilight had related to her friends over a dozen times. Everything was going as it should be, as it had done. Why would it go any differently? “Y’think we should set ‘er down, Pinkie?” With this much air traffic, they’d be hard pressed to spot Rainbow flying now, plus the balloon was starting to get in the way of all the other pegasi. “Ah reckon we’re not gonna get much more good out of this.” “Yeah, I guess.” Pinkie tugged on the ropes, and fiddled with the burner. “I’m just gonna try and swing outside the city for a sec. Rainbow Dash might be in the clear air!” “Good thinkin’.” If Rainbow Dash preferred one space over all others, it was an empty sky. Applejack resumed her watch. There hadn’t been this many pegasi before, had there? Where had they all come from? And… she squinted. What was that heap of timbers doing there up against the park’s wall? Was that there before? When Pinkie eventually cleared the wall itself, and Applejack got a good look at the other side of it, she whistled. Now she remembered being told about that weather building that collapsed. It certainly didn’t look like a building any more; some bits of the floors and walls were still sticking out but the rest of it was lying in a heap on a large outcrop a long way down. “Sure hope nopony was in that when it went down,” she commented. No casualties, she remembered Twilight saying. How many ponies had been in there? Then she saw something else. Or, to be more precise, somepony else saw her. Oh boy. This was gonna get interesting, Applejack thought, as Pinkie piloted the balloon closer to the pegasus pair carrying the stretcher who were flagging them down. So this was the filly that got knocked into the lake and who Fluttershy revived. How could she forget that story? Even though, from her perspective, she’d been told it half a week ago; for these pegasi it had only been ten, fifteen minutes since it happened. Argh, time magic. Why’d it have to be so complicated. It didn’t take a brainbox to work out that the pegasi wanted them to carry the unconscious pony to Canterlot General, and of course they accepted. What kind of ponies would they be if they didn’t? The two stallions were visibly worn out just from the ascent, which they must have made pretty quickly. They must have been flapping like the clappers the whole way up. Kudos to them for doing it, though. Canterlot was a very long way out of their way. Carefully, they lowered the sleeping pegasus into the basket, and Pinkie set a new course straight for the hospital. Her flying ability really was phenomenal, and she was taking it so seriously, too. Sure, she was in high spirits, she hadn’t completely stopped being Pinkie Pie, but she had determination behind her eyes. That, noted Applejack, was the expression on the face of a pony who come hay or high water was going to throw you that party even if you totally forgot about it. It didn’t stop her from pulling a blue flashing light from Celestia-knew-where and sticking it to the front of the basket and mimicking an ambulance siren the whole way to clear the skies ahead. Canterlot General Hospital had a big pad on the roof with a big letter H on it. Nopony knew why it was an H, because it was pretty obvious it was a hospital. P would have been a better choice for a pegasus landing pad, or B at a stretch for balloons. Z had also been mooted, in case a zeppelin crashed into it. But no. The ponies who built it had painted an H for no properly explained reason, and it had stuck. Given her exemplary flying so far, Pinkie could be excused the way she overexuberantly stuck the landing, bouncing a couple times before the balloon came to a complete halt. A couple of the nurses had seen them coming and hurriedly wheeled a stretcher out, and Applejack clambered out of the basket before helping Pinkie gently lift the pegasus out and onto it. There. She was in good hooves now, whoever she was. Though… Applejack couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but she seemed somewhat familiar. Was she a Ponyville pony? That combination of purple mane and faded plum coat didn’t ring a bell, and she was young, she didn’t have a cutie mark yet… A roar from behind her distracted her, and she turned around to see the balloon taking off without her. “Darnit, Pinkie, where are you goin’?!” she called after it. “I gotta take the balloon back!” Pinkie yelled back. “I’ll come find you there! I’ll come find you!” She was almost howling that last part. Applejack sighed. Pinkie had a point, as usual. That stallion’s best behaved customer wouldn’t have left the balloon at the hospital. At least Pinkie knew where she was going, and where Applejack was going to be. The farmer had no intention of leaving just yet, anyway. She turned and galloped after the nurses who were already wheeling the pegasus away. Through the double doors, Applejack grimaced. She didn’t like hospitals. Too many painful memories. All of the clinical smells and sounds were already giving her unpleasant reminders. Those were things she wouldn’t mind changing with time travel. But they’d all come together to form part of who she was, and without them… she wouldn’t be the Element of Honesty. Without this day, she wouldn’t be the Element of Honesty either. Earlier, she’d considered that even if she hadn’t seen the rainbow leading to Ponyville, she’d have gone home eventually. But now, she realized that pony wouldn’t be her. She wouldn’t be Applejack. Applejack had gone home, not just because she was homesick, but because that’s where her family was. Inadvertently, Rainbow Dash had helped her remember that. “What happened to this filly?” one of the nurses asked her, snapping her out of her reverie. “Fell in Skyview Lake,” Applejack responded tersely, hurriedly trying to remember how it had gone. “Got knocked under by a pillar or somethin’. Don’t know who she is.” “Bruising consistent with blunt force trauma and application of CPR,” the other nurse agreed. “Seeing signs of an active charm too. How long was she under?” “Not a clue.” The corridor they were in opened out into the main part of the hospital, which was steadily filling up with unicorns all moaning about headaches. For her part, Applejack slowed down and let the nurses take the pegasus into one of the wards. They didn’t need her in their way. They were professionals. She moved to one side, allowing more of the staff through, and gently waving one off when they tried to take her temperature. All she could do now was leave them to their work, and wait for Pinkie Pie to catch up. She almost missed them as they went past, and she did a double-take. “Twilight? Rarity?” Both unicorns slammed their anchors on as they tried to look and respond at the same time. “Applejack?” Another stretcher, one they’d been following, continued with a doctor’s supervision and disappeared into the depths of the hospital. Applejack couldn’t see who was on it, but it definitely wasn’t another of her friends. “Boy, am I glad to see you two.” Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other, then grinned weakly. “The same,” Twilight affirmed. Both of them were out of breath, and Twilight especially looked like she’d been put through the wringer twice. Applejack could hardly blame her; given all the stress she’d been through over the time travel thing today must have just been more fuel for the fire. “Do you know where the others are?” Quickly as she could, Applejack explained Pinkie’s mission to return the balloon, and that she’d rejoin them as soon as possible. “Thank goodness,” Rarity sighed, even as her eyes darted around to look for a bench to collapse upon. “I don’t know about you two, but I am seriously ready for a spa treatment.” Together they walked back down the corridor towards the main lobby. The worst was over. With four of them, especially with Twilight’s magic, they’d soon locate the two pegasi, and they could finally head back home. “We, uh, are heading home when we’re all together, right?” To Applejack’s immense relief, Twilight nodded. “I don’t have the Iris any more, but I figured out how to cancel the time travel spell. Once we’re all in one place, we should be able to snap back to the moment we left.” “Wait a second.” Applejack held up a hoof. “Why don’t you have the Iris any more?” The unicorns glanced at each other again. “It’s a long story,” Twilight eventually admitted, more than a little sheepishly. “I can tell you when we’re back in the present. For now let’s just say that we’re not causing any paradoxes anytime soon.” “Para-what?” “I said exactly the same thing,” Rarity chipped in, having finally found an empty spot between two complaining unicorns. She didn’t look any worse for the wear, but she’d been with Twilight; they’d probably escaped the worst of it. That said, she and Twilight were pretty much the only unicorns in the waiting room they found themselves in who weren’t clutching their heads in discomfort. “But enough about that. You said you and Pinkie were in a balloon…?” A waiting expression was on Twilight’s face for about four seconds before her eyes widened. Looked like she’d forgotten clean about her prophecy in all the hullabaloo. “Wait, you were?” Applejack held up a hoof to stave off the inevitable question barrage that was to follow. “Yeah, we went up in a balloon, yeah, I fell out, that’s also a long story.” She stepped to the side to allow some more staff members to go charging through, and had to quickly turn her head to avoid making eye contact with Nurse Redheart who was among their number. “Can we, uh, move someplace a little less crowded?” She liked to think that she was calm under pressure, but the hospital environment was already uncomfortable without half of Canterlot’s population being crammed into it. Glancing around, Twilight took only a couple of seconds to come to a decision, much to the annoyance of Rarity, who had to get up again. “Yes, let’s move to the lobby. Pinkie Pie will have to come through there to find us anyway.” And they were walking again. Now, more than ever, Applejack wanted to get back home, to Sweet Apple Acres, to her family. Funny, she thought - at about this moment, she’d been trying to convince Aunt and Uncle Orange to take her back to the train station for much the same reason. That holiday she’d been thinking about, she was definitely going to have it, especially after this. And no more getting dragged into time travel stuff either. Unless it involved setting up something that had already happened like with Pinkie’s balloon? Because that meant she’d already traveled back in time? Argh. “Rarity?” she muttered under her breath, so Twilight couldn’t hear her. “Yes, darling?” “Ah hate time travel.” The fashionista nodded grimly. “I agree with you one hundred per cent.”