The rest of the ride out to Sweet Apple Acres was filled with deafening silence. There was no point in running. I knew from experience in PhysEd that Applejack could easily outrun me, and it wouldn't have surprised me if Big Mac could as well. I wasn't surprised that when we pulled up in front of the farm house to find the family matriarch standing on the front lawn.
"Mcintosh, you and your sister can go inside the house and get Sunset somethin' ta eat," Granny Smith said, "Sunset, I'm glad to see that you're safe."
Granny Smith reached out and wrapped her arms around me and led me inside. This was the first time that I had ever been on a farm. Even when I'd lived in Equestria I had never been to a farm.
Once I was inside, Granny directed me to a seat in the kitchen. She told me to sit down and she looked me over. I don't remember hearing anything being said but out of the corner of my eye I saw Applejack leave the room. She returned a few minutes later carrying a bright orange case with a large red cross on it. Then I saw Big Mac leave the room and shut the door behind him.
"Alright Sunset," Granny said, "we need to look you over for injuries, please remove your shirt."
I tried to take my shirt off, but it seemed like it was glued to my back. It was also quite painful. I began to panic. Why won't my shirt come off?
"Sunset," Applejack said reassuringly, "it appears that your shirt has adhered itself to the dried blood on your back. We need you to calm down so that Granny can cut your shirt off."
I nodded and tried to calm my breathing. For a few moments the only sounds I heard was the sound of fabric being cut. The silence was suddenly broken by Applejack's shocked gasp.
"Sunset," Applejack said, "your back is covered in many small scratches, most of which seem to have healed, but you have to large gashes on your shoulder blades that have only just begun to clot over."
That explains the pain in my back when I move my arms, I thought to myself.
"Sunset," Granny Smith said as she came to stand before me, "I'm not going to lie, this next part is going to hurt, but we have to do so that you don't get an infection."
I nodded and braced myself. Or I least I thought that I had. I found out later that they had packed the wounds can with sterile silver guaze after washing them out with saline solution. By the time that they had finished I was ready to pass out, but they kept me awake. After they cleaned up and Applejack loaned me one of her spare shirts, Big Mac came back in to the kitchen. He took first aid kit from Applejack.
"I know that you want to get some sleep Sugarcube," Applejack said, "but why don't you try to eat something first? We have some fresh apple pie."
Again I nodded. I tried to sit up straight as I ate the rather large slice of pie that she gave me, but I was still in pain. Thankfully, Big Mac came and put a soft pillow behind my back. After I ate the best tasting slice of Apple pie that I had ever had, Applejack led me upstairs to her bedroom. Once inside I found that a folding cot had been set up, but I was thankful for that, it beat sleeping on a grimey cold floor.
"You get the bed Sunset," Applejack said as I started to sit on the cot, "I'm on the cot."
"But Applejack," I tried to protest, "this is your bed, and you've been so kind already."
"Sunset," Applejack said, "it wouldn't be right of me to allow you to sleep on that hard cot in your current condition."
I wanted to protest further, but it was painfully obvious to me that I had already lost the argument.
I lay there in the darkened room. I could hear the crickets outside chirping, every now and then I could hear an owl.
"Applejack," I asked breaking the relative silence, "why did you help me, I know that I don't deserve it."
"Maybe the old you didn't deserve it," Applejack said, "but after the Formal, when you pulled your self up out of that hole, I saw something in your eyes. I could see the real you. That's the person that I'm helping. That's who I want to be friends with."
I didn't know what to say.
"Good night Sunset," Applejack said.
"Good night Applejack," I replied. That was the first night in a long time that I had slept in a soft warm bed. It was also the night that my nightmares began.
Sunset... Sunset... I woke with a shock. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't in my gas station. The second thing I noticed was that midmorning daylight was streaming in through the window. Lastly I noticed Granny Smith standing in the doorway.
"Sorry to wake ya Sunset," Granny said, "but it's unhealthy to sleep all day and have nightmares."
"What time is it?" I asked as the fog in my mind cleared.
"It's 11:30," Granny said, "and before you say somethin, you aren't goin to school today."
I wanted to protest, but Granny held up her hand to stop me.
"I already called Principal Celestia and told her the situation," Granny said, "now why don't you get a bite to eat and then join me in the living room. We can watch the stories on the television."
The only time I saw Big Mac was when he came inside to have lunch. I offered to help him with his work around the farm, but he told me that I wasn't in any condition to do what needed to be done. Granny later told me that Big Mac had always had a fiercely strong independent streak.
I heard the sound of a truck firing up and I saw Big Mac leaving. Granny told me that it was time for him to go pick up Applejack and Apple Bloom from school. What I didn't expect was the car that was following the Apple family when they returned, it was an eco friendly hybrid, and I could just make out the four girls inside.