//------------------------------//
// Apples, One a Day Keeps the Doctor Away 
// Story: Thunderstruck 
// by Kamaete 
//------------------------------//

[ Starstruck ]
by Kamaete

[Note] She knows he's had pie because she's Spirfire. /vague.  And I'm not a professional in the medical field so don't take any recording here as text book.

'No sir. I've been thinking about a career change to tires.'
Odd Thomas, pg 30





Braeburn watches as Soarin's eyes widen a bit.  Surprised that they're at Appleoosa already.  He grins and starts forward, about to enter the town when a shadow crosses over him.  He looks up to find himself staring at the underbelly of a carriage, wondering in the back of his mind how does a carriage get above a pony? while backing out of its shadow.  Out of the corner of his eye he sees Soarin' flap his wings and land beside him, also out of danger of being crushed by the wagon. 
It's when the blue and white carriage actually lands that he sees that it's pulled by a pair of pegasi this must be the arrival of our guests, then and the carriage door opens to reveal a pretty yellow mare, with glassy copper eyes and a wild, fiery mane.  She steps easily out of the carriage and following her is a white mare, mane a sun-bright yellow.  They stand, squinting their eyes at the brightness surrounding them.  
The first mare spots him and Soarin' and her eyes widen, in recognition he thinks but he's never seen her before and she trots up to them with a look in her eye he's not to fond of.  He takes a step back before he hears what she's saying and realizes it's not directed at him.
“Soarin'!  You said you'd be back! You know how difficult it is hearing that mare nag and nag and nag because you've decided to take an unscheduled flight?”
Soarin' looks only a bit sorry, “I can imagine, Spits,” then he leans in and whispers, “she's not out of the coach just yet,” 
The mare grins, “I hope you found your pie worth it, because Cash is pretty upset one of her Wonderbolts went MIA,”
This is news to Braeburn.  Not that the mares are Wonderbolts, because he was expecting them, but because Soarin' is and he didn't say so.  Without any reason, Braeburn feels slighted, though he knows it's got no logic to it.  He supposes it's because he and Soarin' seemed to get along well and he'd divulged many facts about himself.  He shrugs it off.
“Spits, you know pie is always worth it! Which reminds me!” Soarin' turns suddenly and faces Braeburn.  “This is Braeburn, he's the one with the pie!”  
The mare turns to him and smiles, half-lidding her copper eyes.  “Stallion with the pies, huh? My name's Spitfire, it's nice to meet you,”
“Mighty fine ta meet you, too, m'am,”  He gives a polite bow to her and also the white mare behind her, “This actually works out fine, 'cause Ah'm s'posed ta be yer guide around here.  Which reminds me:  Welcome to...” He rears up, enthusiasm spilling out of him as he smiles broadly, “Appleooosa!” 
“Is that because you're happy to see us, or do you do that for every pony?” Spitfire asks,  eyebrow raised. He hears Soarin' chuckle next to him.  He cracks a grin as well.
“He does that for everypony, I've been thinking about making him our official Appleoosa Slogan Sayer,” Braeburn starts at the Sheriff's voice, gives a sheepish smile and jumps to introduce him.
“This is Sheriff Silverstar, the fine sheriff of our humble town.  Sheriff, this is Soarin', Spitfire and...”  He trails off.  The white mare opens her mouth to fill in but is interrupted by another pony—this time a unicorn, not a pegasus—jumping out of the wagon.  Her frizzy orange mane bobs with her movements.
“Thunder Rush, and I'm Cash Box, the Wonderbolt's manager.  Please excuse me for I must rage against one of my compatriots,”  Cash Box turns to frown at Soarin' before unleashing a torrent. “What were you thinking?  Going on an unauthorized flight like that?  It's all fun and games giving me a heart attack but what if you strained a muscle?  You didn't strain a muscle did you?  We have a show in a week, Soarin', Celestia help you if you strained a muscle—”
“I didn't strain a muscle, Cash.  I'm fine.  I just stopped for a bite to eat with my buddy Braeburn here,” Braeburn looks slightly aghast as Soarin' practically dives behind him. It doesn't work.
“Hi there Braeburn.  And what exactly did you eat, Soarin'? You know you're on a diet because of the shows!  You need to watch your calories.  You didn't eat any of those sweets did you?  Not a pie?”  She stepped closer, pointing her horn at Soarin' and therefore Braeburn, “You had a pie!  Soarin', you know how bad those things are for you!  You aren't built like Spitfire and Thunder Rush here, you need to keep yourself slim or you'll fall behind in the formation,”
Soarin's ears were folded down as he nods at his manager's words sullenly, “I know Cash, I know.”  Braeburn sees fit to step in.
“Miss Cash Box, is it?”
“Huh, oh, yes.  And you are?”
“Braeburn and Ah'm your assigned guide for yer stay in Appleooosa!” Complete with rampant action and all, “Ah'm sure ye'r all tired right about now so why don't Ah show you to your rooms?”
“That sounds, quite fine, actually,”  Spitfire agrees and Braeburn sends her a thankful smile.  
He leads the way confidently, because there's only one inn suitable for the Wonderbolts in Appleoosa and he felt that if he didn't he'd be looked down upon, though he's not sure why he feels that as the Wonderbolts seem fairly agreeable ponies.  Not like they would look down on anypony at all.  Still, he walks confidently and talks confidently as he gives the Wonderbolts and Soarin' a short tour on their way to the Inn.  They pass the Salt Block and Artist Alley, but the wild and mild west dances are clear across town as well as most other attractions, so he fills in blanks with cute anecdotes that just spring to mind.
Thanks to his cousin's visit he has plenty of stories to tell about certain places and their time spent here.  Being from Ponyville they weren't all used to life in Appleoosa and some funny things happened and he enjoys sharing the stories with other ponies.  It all reminds him how wonderful Appleoosa is and how much he loves living there.  
The group nearly gets to the inn when it happens.
Braeburn was chuckling softly while he recalls and tells of the time Rainbow Dash goaded Little Strongheart into a race that circled and crossed through Appleoosa.  It wasn't long before cousin Applejack joined in, too, and the entire town had been in an a happy mood.   Rainbow and AJ had ended up somehow wrecking the entire artist alley, but they'd helped rebuild and established the annual Appleoosan Fair.  
Anyways, he is telling the Wonderbolts this story when he hears Soarin' moan and then the soft collapse of a pony.  He stops midway through a sentence and whirls to face Soarin' who lies on the dusty ground unconscious.
“Soarin'!” Spitfire gallops the few steps to her friend and kneels next to him, gently pressing her nose to his neck. “Soarin', are you alright?”  She looks fairly worried when the lump of pegasus doesn't respond.
“Braeburn, get Dr. Mendheart--” but Braeburn is already galloping down the road before Sheriff Silverstar can even finish his words.
Horseapples! he's thinking as his hooves leave a dust trail behind him.  For some reason the incident feels like his fault. His head! He hit his head on muh window an' Ah didn't even check it. He neighs an excuse me as he whirls pass Cormana and her brother.  Even Ah could see he was out o' sorts and a mite dizzy lookin'. 
He turns in a doorway and nearly crashes into Dr. Mendheart's clinic, ears folded back.  Mendheart looks up from her papers, eyes worried at his apparent rush.  She stands, inquiring the problem as she starts gathering her supplies.  He stumbles over his words.
“Muh friend just passed out in the middle of the road, Doctor,” 
She grabs her bag and keeps pace with him even though he's galloping for all he's worth, worry gnawing at him like he's a salt block.  It's easy to spot the group because everypony is crowded around Soarin' as if to protect him.  Mendheart passes her bag to Braeburn and her sharp voice quickly clears a path to him.
“Everypony out of the way, please!  Doctor coming through,”  She stops near Soarin's head and Braeburn drops the bag next to her.  
“Is he alright?” Cash Box asks, stepping near Mendheart.
“I don't know right now.  It's ideal to move him but I don't know if he has a neck injury or not.  Has any trauma happened recently?” 
“He's a stunt pony, but he's surprisingly good at taking care of himself,” She says with a shake of her head, “Can you think of anything, Spitfire? Thunder?”  The two mares shake their heads forlornly, wracking their brains for answers they don't have.
“He ran into a window,” Braeburn speaks up.  The Doctor and the Wonderbolts look at him askance.  “Ah mean, that's how Ah met up with him.  He ran into muh house.  Ah didn't think nuthin' of it 'cause he didn't act so bad, he was just a bit dizzy at first but got over it real quick like,”  
The doctor frowns and reaches in her bag to bring out a penlight.  She opens Soarin's eyes and flashes the light in both of them, looking for something, her frown not leaving her face or becoming worse.  Braeburn doesn't know whether that's a good thing or not.
“He has a concussion.  His should be fine, but I'm used ta earth ponies, not pegasi,” She shrugs, “In any case it's best ta move him off the street.  He doesn't need ta stay at the clinic so he can stay wherever you were planning on staying,” Mendheart folds her penlight back into her bag and glances at the ponies next to her before settling on Silverstar, “Sheriff, you should go ta the office and file the injury reports.  Braeburn can help me get him ta his room,”  Silverstar offers a rudimentary argument in favor of staying to help out of concern, but the doctor insists that Braeburn is enough so Silverstar returns sullenly back to his office.
Braeburn and Mendheart work together to carefully lift Soarin' and place him on Braeburn's back.  At once, he is surprised at how very light Soarin' is.  The pegasus isn't a small pony, and looks like he should be solid with muscle but he feels almost the same, maybe just a bit heavier then Apple Jack, making him easy to haul around.  Braeburn mentions this.
“He's a pegasus pony,” Mendheart says, matter of factly.  
“He's an athlete,” Cash Box says at nearly the same time.  The two mares look at each other, “What's being a pegasus got to do anything with that?”  Cash Box asks.  
“Pegasi have a naturally lighter build then other ponies.  Our bones are also lightweight to accommodate flight,” Spitfire offers.  She trots beside Braeburn, looking at Soarin', her brow furrowed, “But like Cash said, he's an athlete.  Wonderbolts pack on muscle because of our training schedule.  Soarin' shouldn't be too different in weight because of that,”
“He feels like a feather,” Braeburn comments as he starts up the flight of stairs to the Wonderbolts' rooms.  
There's an uneasy but resigned silence as they finish the short journey to the rooms.  Thunder Rush noses open the door and Braeburn makes his way to the bed before transferring Soarin' to the mattress.  The pegasus lays sprawled out on the bed, looking like a doll tossed in the corner.  It's wrong, or feels wrong, so Braeburn bites the corner of the sheet Soarin' lays on and works it out of under the pony and uses it to cover him.
“Braeburn, try waking him up, I want to keep him up for a couple of hours to see if it's really serious.  You three, lets get a medical history on our patient, shall we?”  Mendheart leads the mares into the adjacent room—in the back of Braeburn's mind he thinks that it's the filly's room and not just a random room the doctor decides to barge into—leaving the two stallions alone.
“Soarin',” Braeburn says softly, reluctant to really wake him up.  But the doctor said it's for his own good, so he tries again, more firmly, “Soarin', ya'll need ta get up now.  Doc says it's bad fer you if you sleep in,”  He studies the pegasus before gently nosing him in the side.  “Soarin'. Up an' at 'em, brony,”  He pokes softly with his hoof.  “Hey, Soarin'!”  A twitch, but otherwise no response.  
Braeburn frowns and looks around worriedly, like he'll spot Mendheart in the corner of the room disapproving of his frail attempts at waking Soarin'.  Instead he spots a small cold box.  His ears perk up.  When he was sleepin' in, and he'd been stayin' at Granny Smith's, AJ had poured water on him to wake up,  Maybe it wasn't the best idea in the world, but if sleeping wasn't the best thing to be doing, water definitely made a good alarm clock.
He plods over to the box and opens it.  There isn't any water, maybe because it hasn't been stocked all the way, and he should remember to tell the Inn keeper that, but there is an apple.  It's a braeburn, and he picks it up and shuts the cold box.  His plan foiled, he finds himself back at the bedside, crunching into the apple.  Apples are wise, maybe it'll give him an idea.  He shakes his head with a silent laugh.
Surprisingly, the crunch of his apple makes Soarin's ears twitch.  Or maybe it's a coincidence. He takes another loud bite of the apple and like they're attached to a string Soarin's ears twitch again.  Braeburn leans forward with the apple and, right next to soft blue ears, he crunches.  Soarin' starts awake.