//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Flurry Heart's Story: Apple Family Memories 
// by AleximusPrime 
//------------------------------//

“Granny!” Chip and Annie called as they rushed in to the ICU room.
“Well hey there!  It’s my favorite ponies!” Granny Smith said, opening her arms to hug them as she lay on the hospital bed.
“Goodness, ya’ll little half-pints won’t believe how funny I’m feelin’ right now!”
“Yeah, we were worried sick when we heard about your fall. Thankfully they let us out of school early to come see you,” Chip said.
“Are you doing okay, Granny?” Annie asked.
“Eh, could be better.  I’ve been sittin’ on this here bed fer far too long.  Feels like I got a bunch of little sharks bitin’ my flank right now.  Why, it’s almost like-HELLO?”
A young female nurse put a device in Granny’s ear to take her temperature, but Granny thought it was a telephone.  She sat there for a second expecting a response until she realized what it was.  Chip and Annie snickered a bit while trying to not laugh too hard.  They knew their great grandmother’s emergency trip to the hospital could be serious.
“Glad to see you’re in one piece, Granny.  We brought the kids over here as soon as we could,” said Chip and Annie’s aunt Applebloom, walking in behind them.
“Oh hey there, Applebloom.  So what’re we makin’ fer dinner tonight?”  Granny responded, cheerfully.
“Uh…well we’re all probably just gonna head over to the hayburger joint with Big Mac and Sugar Belle after this.  Applejack isn’t gonna wanna cook anything right now.”
“Hayburger joint?  Why in Equestria are we gonna eat out when we got some of them delicious crab-apple cakes in the fridge?”
“Don’t worry, Granny.  We’ll eat the crab-apple cakes when you get home,” Annie replied.
“When I get home?  Oh…right.  Well…um, anyway, who owns this place?” Granny whispered to her great grandkids.
“The…the hospital?  I uh…I’m not sure,” Chip said, confused.
“Well whoever owns it must have a whole lotta money.  Oh, by the way, I bought some more donuts fer ya’ll. They’re right over there on the counter in the kitchen.”
Granny pointed off to a random spot in the ICU unit.  Chip and Annie turned their heads to look but did not see any counter or donut boxes.  They looked at each other with concern in their eyes.  It dawned on them that Granny must have thought she was still back at home.  She could have been confused from some of the medications she was on.  According to Applejack, she had already been showing signs of having dementia.
“Yeah, thanks Granny.  We’ll have them for desert tonight,” Chip said, smiling nervously while Annie looked worried.
Off to the side, Applebloom could be seen talking with the nurse.  She tried to keep her voice down so Granny wouldn’t hear her.
“So how bad is it?” she asked the nurse.
“We’ll she definitely had a clot.  She should pull through intensive care though,” the nurse responded.
“Ya think she’ll make it home?”
“I don’t know.  She could be bed-ridden the rest of her life, but I’d ask the doctor about that.”
“Okay, well we know ya can’t let us stay that long so we’ll be going soon.  Just keep a close eye on her.  She’s been a bit loopy lately.”
“Oh fer cryin’ out loud, Applebloom!” Granny scolded. “What are ya on about?!  Yer granny ain’t loopy!”
“Granny, lucid. LU-CID,” Applebloom said firmly to calm her grandmother down.
Chip giggled a bit but noticed that Annie was not laughing at all. Despite how comical of reactions Granny was having, it didn’t bring her any comfort.
“She’ll be ok,” Chip told Annie.
“I hope she remembers us when she comes back,” Annie replied.
“She will.”
“Alright Granny, we’d better head out now,” Applebloom told Granny.  “The others are coming in next to say hi, but they can’t let us stay much longer.”
“Applebloom, by the way, I left some blankets and sheets at the top of the stairs.  Big Mac and Sugar Belle can sleep in the guest room,” Granny told her.
“Alright.  Thanks.”
“Oh, and you can stay in my room.  I can’t even walk up the stairs anymore.  Now go find the phone.  We best call a doctor.”
“The doctor will be checkin’ in on ya some time soon, Granny.”
“Well why don’t ya take me to the hospital?  Might as well since I’m feelin’ like this.”
“Granny, you’re at the hospital.”
“Yeah, just take me there, Applebloom!”
“Granny…YOU. ARE. THERE.”
Applebloom moved in closer to her grandmother and spoke slowly to make sure her grandmother could hear every word she said.  Granny looked around in the room and her eyes widened a bit.
“Oh…oh…okay then.”
“Well anyways, we’ll see you Granny,” Chip said as he and Annie hugged her one more time before leaving.
“Take it easy, half-pints.  We’ll eat those crab-apple cakes tomorrow night.”
“Okay, take it easy, Granny,” Applebloom said, hugging her.
They walked towards the door as Annie looked back.  Granny seemed to be confused and just stared into space.  She clearly still couldn’t figure out that she was at the hospital and not in their house back at home.  As they were leaving, their uncle Big Macintosh and his wife Sugar Belle appeared in the doorway to talk with Granny.
“Applebloom, how’s she doin?” Big Mac asked his sister.
“I think she’s losin’ it, Mac,” she whispered to him, spinning her hoof around her ear.
“Oh no,” Sugar Belle replied. “Well we’ll just pop in real quick to say hi.”
“The nurse said it was a clot but she’ll make it through the ICU. I think she might-“
“APPLEBLOOM!” shouted Granny. “Call the cops!  There’s some crazy teenagers ‘round here harassin’ me and puttin’ these confangled modern doo-hickies all over me!  Where’s that darn phone?!”
“Mrs. Smith, please, you need to keep those on,” said one of the nurses.
“Granny, stop!  They’re nurses!  For the last time, you’re at the hospital!” Applebloom called as she rolled her eyes and rushed over to the bed.
“Oh dear.  Granny, it’s okay!” Big Mac said as he went over to help.
“They’re trying to help you!” Sugar Belle joined in.
While the adults all tried to calm her down, Chip and Annie exchanged nervous glances.  Everything else became a blur.  Annie could hear her brother calling her name over and over again from a distance.  She suddenly woke up and found herself on her bed with a framed photograph of herself, Chip and Granny.  She had been reminiscing about the time Granny had gone to the hospital a week before her death.  The door to her bedroom began to open and Chip walked in.  Annie quickly sat on top of the photo to hide it.
“Annie, what are you doing up here?” Chip asked. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, Chip!  Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she said, smiling anxiously.
“What are you sitting on?”
Annie stopped smiling and sighed.  She got up and showed the photo to her brother.
“Chip, I’m sorry, but I just can’t stop thinking about Granny. I know it’s been almost a month but I can’t help it.  I miss her so much.”
“I miss her too, Annie,” Chip replied. “But we have to move on. That’s what Granny would want us to do.”
“I don’t know how.  I keep going downstairs every morning, expecting her to be sitting in her rocking chair or in the kitchen.  I try to tell myself she’s gone, but I just seem to forget it.  Even having Flurry visit us today isn’t helping get my mind off of her.  It’s just…I…I don’t know what to do.  I…just wish she were back.”
Annie stared at the photograph.  A tear formed in her eye and she wiped it away with her hoof. Chip paused for a few seconds to think how he would handle this.  He felt so bad for his sister; he didn’t even want to convince her to come back downstairs.



“I guess I’ll go tell everyone you’ll be staying up here for a while?”
“Tell Flurry I’m really sorry.  I’ll try and see if I feel better later, but right now I just need to rest.”
“Okay.  Get some rest, Annie.  We’ll find a way to pass time down there.”
Chip walked slowly out of the bedroom.  He looked back one last time as he walked out the door. Annie kept staring at the picture and eventually picked it up and hugged it.  He closed the door and sighed deeply.
“Poor Annie,” he sighed as he slowly walked down the stairs to the living room.


“WHAT’S THIS?!  A NEW OPPONENT HAS ENTERED THE ARENA!!” shouted the announcer in Super Dragon Warriors.
“Wait, what?!” said Stormy who had just won a round in the game.
A new stage loaded and a chubby, yellow dragoness with pink spikes and bright, blue eyes appeared at one end of the stage.  She spun around and winked at the audience with a little heart appearing next to her head.
“THREE, TWO, ONE, GOOOOO!”
“Oh my gosh!  That’s an unlockable character!” Pumpkin exclaimed.  “She’s so cute!  Quick, Stormy!  Beat her so we can play as her!”
“Wait, who is that?” Pound asked.
“Oh, I think that’s…uh, what’s-her-name?  Flurry help me out here,” Spike said.
“Oh, I think that’s Buttercream!” Flurry said, excitedly. “She’s that northern drake that became famous recently for buying pillows in bulk and then giving them away to dragons all over the world.  She did it to help improve our relations with the dragons and it worked quite well!”
“Oh yeah.  I’ve heard of her.  Wasn’t she raised by ponies just like me?”
“That’s what I heard.  And thankfully the developers of this game actually got her look right for once! Percy and Penny didn’t look anything like that!  Did the developers not even think to talk to Celestia and Luna when designing them?!”
“GRRR!  Almost got her!” Stormy said nervously as he continued to button mash his controller.
Buttercream the dragon’s fighting style was quite different. Most of her signature moves involved throwing candy and other sweets at the players or hugging them extremely hard. Stormy was playing as Percy and Penny, a dragon duo that Celestia and Luna grew up with when they were kids.  Percy was a slender, dark-blue dragon with green spikes.  His little sister Penny was dark magenta with purple spikes.  She was smaller but old enough to have her wings.  They fought using teamwork based moves for a double effect.
“Someone needs a hug!!”
Buttercream grabbed a hold of Percy and hugged him, causing his health meter to go down while Penny tried pulling him away. Finally, Percy broke free and swung his tail forward, followed by Penny who flew overhead and landed with her tail pointing down like an arrow.  Buttercream took damage and flipped backward onto the ground.
“Now’s your chance, Stormy!” Pumpkin shouted.
Percy and Penny walked over and charged up their fire breath. Buttercream got back up just in time for them to both blow fire at her.  She took repetitive damage until her health meter went down to zero and she fell down with little birds spinning around her head.
“YES!  I unlocked her!” Stormy hollered, dropping his controller and jumping in the air.
“NEW PLAYER ADDED!  BUTTERCREAM!”
“So happy to be part of the team!  GOOOOO, DRAGONS!”
Buttercream appeared in a cheerleader outfit with some pom-poms and cheered as she was introduced on screen.  The character select screen came back and had her added to the roster.
“She…is…totally…MY NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER!!!” Pumpkin shouted as she hovered in the air, wobbling her legs around before plummeting back to the ground with a thud.  She got back up and continued celebrating with the others.
“ALRIGHT, STORMY!” shouted Pound as he gave Stormy a hoof-bump.
“Aw!  I’m so happy they put her in this game!  I wonder if they hired the real Buttercream to even do the voice acting,” Flurry said.
Chip then entered the room and stood next to Flurry.
“Oh, Chip.  Where’s Annie?”
“Well, uh…”
“Chip, I unlocked a new character!” Stormy said, zooming over to Chip to get his attention.
“Look!  That’s her! Her name is Buttercream and she’s suuuuper adorable!” Pumpkin said, pointing to Buttercream’s icon on the screen.
“Oh, wow, great job Stormy.  But guys…I have some bad news.”
“Uh oh.  Is it about Annie?” Pound asked.
“Yeah.  Annie’s not feeling so great.  She’s still got Granny Smith on her mind.”
“Awww,” Pumpkin said as her ears lowered.
“She says she’s sorry she had to leave while you were here, Flurry, but she’ll see if she feels better later.”
“That’s okay,” Flurry sighed. “It’s all my fault.  I brought up Granny Smith when I saw her picture over there.  I should have known.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Flurry,” Chip said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “Annie was really close to Granny, but she’ll come around. I hope.”
“Well, maybe we should put the game away for now guys,” Spike said, shutting off the Joy Box. “What do you guys wanna do next?”
“I don’t know.  It’s just not gonna be the same without Annie,” said Stormy.
“Yeah, and it’s not going to be fun knowing what she’s going through either,” Pumpkin added solemnly.
“You guys think it might help if we could try cheering her up?” Flurry suggested as her ears perked up. “Like, maybe just help remind her how great Granny was?”
“That’s actually a good idea, Flurry!” Pumpkin said, joyfully.
“Cheer her up?” Chip said.
“Yeah, it’s probably no good just trying to get her to forget about it,” Flurry continued. “If we got some pictures together or something, we can tell her that it’s ok for her to cry and we’re here for her. It’d feel better than not saying anything at all.  I feel like it’s the least I could do since this is my first time seeing you guys.”
“Now that you mention it, that actually sounds pretty good!” Chip said as a smile grew on his face.
“We could also bake one of Granny’s apple pies she used to make,” Pound suggested. “Chip, didn’t you say your parents still have the recipe?”
“Sure do!”
“So we’re all gonna spend the afternoon cheering up Annie then,” said Spike, “I’m down for it!”
“Alright!  Operation Cheer-up Annie anyone?” Stormy said as he put his hoof in the air, waiting for everyone else to put theirs on top.
“Operation Cheer-up Annie is a go!” Chip said.
“YEAH, LET’S DO IT!”



They all put their hooves and claw together and shouted in unison.
“Alright guys, here’s the plan: Pound and Pumpkin, you guys take care of the cake.  Spike and Stormy, look through the photos.  Chip, how about you and I get a little note or something written up to give to Annie for her to read.  When they come back with pictures, we’ll let you decide on the best ones to use for a collage.  Got it?”
“Got it!” Chip said.
Everyone else parted ways to run off and do their jobs. Chip and Flurry stayed behind.
“Thanks Flurry,” Chip said, hugging her. “I hope this works.”
“It’ll work.  Trust me,” said the determined young princess.