//------------------------------// // And the fear still shakes me. // Story: Graveyard Shift // by TDR //------------------------------// Graveyard Shift By TDR And the fear still shakes me. [Sweet Apple Acres] Applejack frowned watching her family and her friends move around the orchard harvesting the apples that were ready. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, shifting a little in the wheelchair she was in. She hated this thing and wanted out of it, but her parents, brother, and the doctors were adamant she was to do nothing of the sort for at least a month. Applejack hated that. She could walk, she could get around fine, she wanted to get back to tending the trees and the orchard. Instead she was told to stay put and not move. Heck they had Pinkie Pie keeping an eye on her. She'd never get anything past that one. She didn't want to listen to her ma chew her out if she tried anything again either. Had she known she would have been laid up like this for stepping in the way of all those attacks the Nightmare sent at Twilight she would have....... probably done the same thing anyway. She had been one of the ponies that saved the world, it was hard to wrap her mind around that. Something intent on killing every pony had shown up and she was there to help face it down, heck they even beat it after a hard won fight. Then the Princess had shown up and revealed who the Nightmare really was. That set Twilight off and despite her injuries she laid into Princess Celestia for playing them like she did. Applejack had passed out about that point from blood loss, internal bleeding, a punctured lung, and a whole lotta broken bones as her adrenaline and the after effects of using the Elements wore off. She was told later that Twilight had a solid right hook though. “Are you over here brooding again darling?” a voice asked. “Maybe.” Applejack snorted. “Ah should be out there doing that.” “And you will be again, but not if you do not allow yourself time to recover.” The white mare strode up beside her wearing cream colored scarf wrapped around her neck, her purple mane and tail was cut a little shorter than usual, the curled locks swept over the left side of her face hiding it from view. “So how are you holding up then Rares?” Applejack asked. “Glad yah could make it.” “Better than you it seems.”Rarity scoffed. “ I told you I would come out here, though I do not like the idea of sweating for some apples.” “Still a prissy little thing aren't yah? “ Applejack scoffed with a smirk. “But you know that's not what ah meant.” Applejack lifted a hoof flicking the hair out of the mares face, showing the burn scar that ran from her jaw down the side of her neck marring her other wise pristine white furred coat with an ugly mark. A portion of it was hidden by the scarf, but the rest was just under her mane. The reaction was instant, Rarity's horn glowed yanking her mane back to cover the injury. “Do not do that.” Rarity stated her voice as cold as ice. “Like it matters to any of us. We all saw it happen an helped treat it. It ain't anything to be ashamed of, yah earned that scar saving tha world. Ain't no one but some shallow idiot is gonna care about how it looks in the face of what yah did. Yer the only one of us who managed to actually attack back with anything.” Applejack huffed. “I care about it.” Rarity offered.” Not all of us are coltish enough to want to flaunt our wounds like you and Rainbow Dash are.” “Well yah shouldn't. And Dash always liked scars like that, she'd be singing a different tune if her wings got hurt though. Still ah heard you even turned down that ticket cause of that scar. Not wanting yer 'prince' tah see yah.”Applejack commented. “That's stupid.” “Believe what you want I wouldn't expect a brute like you to understand. A scar like this is a horrible thing for a proper lady to have.”Rarity frowned. “Ehh whatever, least it made Twilight feel better. My reason to go was kinda dumb, You back out due to yer own vanity, Dash refused cause she ain't gonna upset the others, and Fluttershy didn't really want to bother if it made Twilight mad. Though her and Pinkie Pie are still looking to go since the rest of us refused.“ Applejack explained. “Still think you should go with how much you were whining about it.” “There were only two tickets.” Rarity scoffed.” And Pinkie and Fluttershy have the ones that were sent.” “Like we couldn't get more.” “I would not dare ask Twilight to try and get more from Celestia, the poor thing had her whole world upended. I can't believe the Princess is still sending her messages to her. It's as if she doesn't think she did anything wrong to the poor mare and is still testing her for something.” Rarity sighed. “Wasn't talking bout asking her. We got two princesses now.” Applejack offered. “You don't mean.... how can you think of asking her after what she did?”Rarity gasped. “She ain't tha Nightmare and yah know it. Ya got the letters same as me ah'm sure. Hoof written by some mare who wants tah be forgiven.” Applejack sighed. ”Least she's trying, unlike Princess Celestia.” “There is that.” Rarity sighed looking over at the purple unicorn mare working to carry buckets of apples back to the cart. Her mane had been cut short, barely with any sort of style, but what hadn't been burned away by attack spells was cut to make it even. The scars along her flank were easy to see , though thankfully not deep or as debilitating as Applejack's, though she had a bit of a limp. The worst of the damage was hidden by an eye patch over her right eye, the purple orb having been shot out of her head by the shrapnel from an exploded marble pillar. The same pillar that took off Fluttershy's wing about halfway. “ I will consider it.” Rarity offered, sparing a nod to Applejack before trotting off to join the others. That fight had been vicious, The Nightmare doing her best to try and kill them. The trip up had them attacked by monsters, had cliffs dropped from under them, and had a whole forest turned into a fear spell. Had it not been for Pinkie Pie that spell would have wound up with all of them having a heart attacks and dying as the fear would only build and build until they dropped. The battle when they finally came face to face with her had been much worse, the fighting had destroyed nearly all of what remained of the old Castle of the Two Sisters. Somehow Twilight had managed to figure it out and activated the Elements of Harmony. The rush of that magic coursing through them had made Applejack forget how badly wounded she was for a time, it didn't heal her wounds, but she was quite certain it was the only reason she survived. All of them had been hurt with Pinkie being the least injured having only light burns on her forelegs. Twilight and Fluttershy had the worst, the yellow mare could hover a bit , but not fly at all with the loss of much of her wing, and Twilight had lost her eye. Sure Applejack was the only one still in the hospital, but she would recover and be fine in time. Twilight had moved into the library here in town and set out to try and make her own way. The six of them had been set up with a paycheck from Canterlot for their actions, while it wasn't much , it was more than enough to live on in this little town and help out those who needed it. The bits weren't coming from Celestia however. Princess Luna had set up the accounts and wrote all of them letters nearly every week since that time. Applejack wasn't sure if any of the others read their letters, but she had, the dark princess was highly apologetic in all of them. She wrote about a number of difficulties she had faced coming back, not as some sort of 'give me pity' situation, but generally just as trying to tell them about how she was doing. The funds were coming from her account, and she was doing something to try and keep them out of danger. Applejack had no clue what that was though, she had considered writing back at one point to ask. Applejack had no idea if she was the only one reading the letters, though the talk with Rarity hinted at least the white unicorn read them. Applejack was considering how to broach the subject with the others when something caught her eye, a great cloud of black smoke was growing thicker in the air floating out from a distant mountain. “What in tha world?” Applejack muttered.