The next morning the three of us were woken by a door opening and the cheerful, sing-song cry of "breakfast~" come from Redheart as she pushed a cart into the room.
As soon as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle with me, I saw her brow furrow and her muzzle scrunch up. Thinking quickly though, Sweetie Belle saved us.
There are a few things Sweetie Belle is known for. One is singing. Another is having a giganta-mongus vocabulary. Her most known one is the fact that she accidentally sets a lot of things in fire or burns them in some way.
But the most powerful thing she's known for are her puppy eyes.
I'm guessing Sweetie Belle instantly picked up on the fact that Redheart was gonna give us a tongue lashing because she threw her forelegs around my shoulders, let out a wet sniffle, and threw on the puppy eyes.
"Oh please Mrs. Nurse, don't be angry! We were all just so worried about Applebloom, and we thought she was so sad and lonely and that just broke our hearts so we wanted to make sure she was okay! Please don't be mad!"
Redheart never stood a chance.
Her gaze instantly softened and she just told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to go find their "parents or guardians", because after breakfast I had a long day ahead of me.
As my friends left the room, so too did my traces of hope and happiness.
I was going to hate the rest of my stay.
The rest of my stay was slightly less miserable than I thought. I'd rather not discuss a lot of it, but that day I got caught with Sweetie and Scootaloo, I also got fitted with my wheelchair. I swore I would never get used to that uncomfortable feeling. They didn't really have wheelchairs in my exact size, so I had to get the next biggest size.
I didn't really have to deal with an awkward feeling in my lower half, but just with my upper half, it was a strange feeling. My lower half was suspended so that the hooves on my hind legs were almost level with my elbows on my forelegs.
And then I had to start "occupational therapy". The nurse in charge of that basically started off by telling me that I was gonna need some help with a lot of things now that I didn't before. She told me there was no shame in what life had made me, and that accepting help was okay.
Not only did she talk to me like a little foal, but with what she was actually saying was more or less that yeah, I was useless now.
The rest of the time dragged on slowly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo visited every day. Big Mac and Granny too. Applejack tried to see me a few times but I told Redheart to absolutely not let her in.
I know she hung out just outside the door when the rest of the family was there. Probably moping, picking at the floor or something.
I still didn't care.
Her friends did show up. Rarity came in once and told me she had a fabulous surprise waiting for me when I got out. Rainbow Dash offered to take me for a fly sometime. From the look on Scootaloo's face as she asked that, I get the feeling it was actually her idea.
That went well until I came clean and told Rainbow Dash I was scared of heights. I saw that take the wind out of her sails.
Those two especially seemed intent on making me happy. I think they might have been feeling guilty considering they were also going way too far when it came to the derby.
This feeling doubled when Scootaloo admitted both her and Sweetie Belle went off on their sisters when I was in surgery.
At least Rainbow Dash and Rarity had the decency to not cripple their little sisters.
Pinkie and Fluttershy came by a lot. Fluttershy always seemed to be feeling guilty too, even though she had nothing to do with the derby. She read and told me lots of really neat stories.
I really liked her.
Pinkie, on the other hoof, just couldn't handle somepony feeling depressed if she could help. She threw me little private parties that the nurses always had to clean up, offered to help me "deck out" my wheelchair, whatever that means, and often told me jokes to try and lighten the mood.
The jokes were terrible. I still loved them.
Twilight came by too. I'll admit that when I first saw her, I got my hopes all up thinking the princess could fix me. Maybe magic my problem away.
She didn't have to answer when I asked her if she could. The look on her face told me all I needed to know.
She couldn't.
Finally, we got to the last day I was spending in the hospital. I would have been jumping for joy if… if I could jump.
Big Mac, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rarity picked me up.
Apparently, Applejack had finally gotten the idea in her head that I didn't want to see her.
Good.
They started leading me to Carousel Boutique. Rarity started doing that thing where she gets all happy and starts jumping up and down. She asked me to close my eyes, and I felt weightless as I was magically lifted. The wheelchair was removed and I felt some kind of fabric wrapping around me. A moment later I was on the ground, back in the wheelchair, and she asked me to open my eyes.
I opened my eyes and saw Rarity holding up a mirror, a giant smile on her face.
And then I saw it. She had me in some sort of dress. The main part was the color of a red delicious apple, and there were some… I think the right word is "accents" running over my shoulders to my chest. They were almost the exact color of a Granny’s coat.
Turning to the side I saw the accent turn into a trim, and the dress ended just so it covered my tail. There weren't no frou-frou layers or nothing.
It was actually really nice.
"Um, thank ya kindly Rarity." I hesitated. "But I don't think I can afford something like this."
"Oh don't be silly, Applebloom, I would get nowhere if I tried to market to just foals. I made this gratis for you."
I stared back at her blankly.
"It means 'free'," Sweetie Belle explained.
"Oh!" I replied. "Well thank you! But uh, not that I ain't grateful, but… why?"
"Well…" Rarity paused. "Several reasons, darling. I want it to be some sort of apology for how ridiculous I was acting the day of the… ah, the incident. Secondly, since the wheelchair draws attention, I want something to accent your looks, so if you get some strange looks, you may get some positive comments on that. I do hope that helps. Finally, I do believe it will help you with… modesty."
"What do y'all mean?" I arched an eyebrow.
Rarity's eyes swept from side to side before she gingerly lifted a forehoof and pointed to the inside of her hind leg.
I felt the blood rush to my face a moment later as I realized she was referring to the plastic bag currently strapped to the inside of my left hind leg.
"With all that happened, I believe you deserve all the positive attention you can get, dear," Rarity spoke softly. "Hopefully then you can feel like the shining star that you are."
I felt my face burn even hotter.
"T-thank you," I stammered.
"Of course." Rarity smiled. "Now go dazzle the town tomorrow at school, darling. Best of luck!"
"Wait, what?" I gasped, wheeling around to look at Big Mac. "I gotta go to school tomorrow?!"
"Eeyup."
"B-but I'm… Diamond Tiara is gonna…"
I saw Big Mac's face fall just a tad and he broke eye contact.
"Sorry, Applebloom," he simply responded.
Stars above, tomorrow was going to be terrible.