It all started with a thundering roar. Applejack was not the only one to have heard it, but she was the closest. Hesitantly, she snuck to the source of the roar, letting go of the apples she collected from the orchard. Whatever it was could pose a danger to the Apple family's orchard. She can't afford to lose a single apple tree. Finally, she reached it, but saw no monster. No, she saw something worse.
What happened? Just what in ta hay happened?
Not too far off from the Everfree Forest, a shocked Applejack stood frozen still, staring at the single most horrifying sight in her whole life. Below the setting sun, a large red stain on the grassy field led to a disfigured shape on the ground. The sickening reddish color mixed with the rather pretty pink coat of a little foal. The pearly white mane sticked out in certain spots where the gore hadn’t reached it. One limb was twisted in an unnatural angle whilst the other legs missed slight chunks of skin, revealing the muscles underneath.
It was almost a bloody miracle that this small pony was still breathing, albeit barely able to. Better yet, their horn was somewhat intact. The sounds of multiple hooves banging against the floor was heard nearby, slowly getting away but in the moment, the earth pony didn’t hear them except for the distinct growl of something... big.
After what felt like an eternity, a ragged cough took Applejack out of her horrified trance, and she rushed to the little pony’s side.
“A-Are ya still 'ere?” she cried out to the foal, bending over to slowly lift them off the ground. Now that she was closer, she could tell that it was a unicorn filly, probably about the same age as her little sister.
The only response she got was in the form of a quiet, dying whimper. The poor thing’s eyes were barely able to stay open. They looked numb, a mercy given the agonising pain the filly was in right now. The especially large gash in her abdomen kept on pouring blood, dripping down Aj's hooves and onto the forest's grass. The poor foal barely had a couple of minutes left before she'll be gone.
Applejack frantically looked around her in the hope that somepony would come to assist her with this delicate situation, but it didn’t take long for her to realise that nopony really goes to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Her heart sank as she realised the nerve-wracking truth that this foal’s life was entirely in her hooves.
“Ah’m sorry if this hurts, sweetie. They ain’t no otha way, Ah’m 'fraid.” Without skipping a beat, she lifted the filly onto her back and prepared her shaking hooves. The poor little thing let out a strained grunt, putting more pressure on Aj. Her entire body was deathly nervous, her mind racing towards many questions that she had to bury in the back of her mind for the time being.
She needed to get her to Ponyville General first, then she can ask her questions.
"J-Just han' tight, sweetie! Ah'm gonna get ya to safety!"
With hurried breathings, Applejack raced to Ponyville General, screaming at everypony in her way to move out. The shocked gasped and screams of Ponyville’s residents only added to her anxiety as she busted through the hospital’s door and screamed.
“Somepony! Help! This filly’s goin’ ta die!”
Startled by the bloodied and battered filly on Applejack’s back, the receptionist yelped and slammed her trembling hooves on the button to call in all available doctors.
“C-Calling in all doctors! Quick!” She said, her voice quivering as her eyes constantly darted between the microphone and the dying filly on Aj’s back. “We’ve got an emergency at the reception!”
In a matter of mere seconds, a group of doctors rolled into the reception and stared in horror at the almost lifeless foal. A stallion rushed over to the earth pony to carefully snatch up the filly and placed her on a clean gurney. The poor object was quickly stained red in just a few seconds. Then, Applejack watched as the pitiful foal was taken through a bunch of doors labeled “EMERGENCY”. Now out of sight, but not out of mind.
One of the doctors stayed behind to slam rapid fire questions at her to which she could only respond with “A-Ah don’t know, sir.” which only seemed to make him angry. He didn’t stay for long once he realised that he wasn’t going to get any answers out of her and left to aid his coworkers in what would be one of their toughest nights yet.
Many ponies come to Ponyville General for stuff such as broken hooves, terrible sicknesses or other relatively small injury, but rarely do the town’s medical staff receive a pony on the verge of death, much less a foal that has been mauled by Celestia knows what.
The entire world around Applejack slowed to a crawl. The panicking staff, the concerned-looking patients, the angry stallion before her, all were almost as still as statues. The only thing she felt during this time, was helplessness. There wasn’t more that she could do other than to wait and see how things turn out. The sounds of the world drowned out, turning to a garbled mess. Her empty eyes stared vaguely at the wall. Her body was as still as a statue.
She could just leave for the time being and come back later, but she brought this filly into the hospital’s care. She felt responsible for whatever may happen to her. If the poor thing died, it would be her fault, because she was too slow.
As the world accelerated back to its normal speed, Applejack found herself gasping for air. She must have been holding her breath unconsciously for entire minutes.
“Are you alright, dear?” A soft voice called out to her. She felt a hoof touching her shoulder. The receptionist spoke with a calm and consoling tone, one that brought some semblance of peace in her soul.
Applejack blinked, her eyes still wide open. The mare's voice was barely audible. The garbled sounds that came from her mouth didn't make sense to her.
“A-Applejack! Is everything alright?” The receptionist's voice got louder, strong enough to snap the farm pony out of her horrified trance.
“Ah... Uh, Ah...” Applejack muttered, her voice barely audible. drip, drip, drip. The warm blood dripped from her back onto the floor, leaving her body to shiver in the cold air.
The cyan receptionist opened her mouth and took a deep breath, shocked herself at the nasty scene before her. “You look terribly messy. W-Would you like to clean up in the meantime?”
Still frozen in shock, Applejack lifted her hoof and stared wide-eyed at the blood dripping from it. She didn’t pay much attention to it in the heat of the moment, but her entire back was stained with red. The same can be said about her now crimson hooves. Just like a scene out of a horror movie, she left a long trail of blood leading inside Ponyville General, covered in gore. It was all too much for her.
Her breaths slowly accelerated and didn’t show any signs of stopping.
“Applejack?”
When she spoke, her voice was but a whisper. “Y-Yeah, Ah’d like to... please.”
Following the mare’s lead, Applejack trotted away from the EMERGENCY room and went into the future room for the little filly, provided she makes it out alive. It was silent in there, too silent for her liking. The ony sound that disrupted this eerie silence was the squishy sounds her hooves made when they met the cold tiles of the hospital floor. It was disgusting, but not as much as the sight of the broken and battered filly in the forest.
Inside the bathroom, the kind mare took a wet towel and wiped off the blood from Applejack. Small chunks of flesh fell onto the floor, startling the mare with a yelp. The earth pony shuddered, but remained still for the most part until she was finally clean. The towel was now a dark red, losing its pristine white color which visibly disturbed the secretary.
“Poor thing...” Applejack heard the mare say under her breath. She merely responded by meeting her tired gaze. The red towel then disappeared from their sight into a dark drain.
“Tell me... Did- Is she gonna make it?” Applejack croaked, her voice sounded so hoarse and low that she couldn’t even recognise it. There was far too much going on in her head, she was practically lost in her anxious thoughts. Her eyes couldn't make out anything except for the horrifying image of the filly.
The secretary lowered her head in uncertainty. “May-" she stopped, then smiled weakly. "I’m sure she’ll pull through. We have the best doctors in town working hard to stabilise her. I know they won’t give her up without a fight. I can promise that.” she said, her smile turning to a hopeful one.
Applejack did her best to smile back at her. It was a weak one, but she felt better nonetheless. “Thanks...”
“No, thank you for bringing her in.” The secretary said, holding a hoof to her heart. “I’d rather not imagine what would have happened had you not found her. I certainly wouldn’t have been prepared for that...”
Applejack simply tipped her hat to her in response.
The next couple of hours were agonizing for the earth pony who remained still in the waiting room of the hospital, constantly looking at the door the doctors came through. Her heart was aching for the poor filly who suffered a grievous mauling at the hands of unknown assailants. Timberwolves seemed like the most probably culprits, but Applejack knew it couldn't have been these foul creatures. The bad smell wasn't there, and the filly was only partially eaten unlike a regular timberwolf attack.
Yeah, these were definitely hoofsteps... When she first laid eyes on the broken foal, she didn’t pay much attention to them, but now that she was sitting alone with only her thoughts to give her company, she wondered what kind of cruel ponies would do such a thing to an innocent filly. The more she thought about it, the stronger her anger grew. It sucked to be this powerless, to be nothing more than a bystander in all this.
Funny, she can still hear these hoofsteps even inside the hospital.
“Miss Applejack?”
A powerful voice nearly made jump as if it carried the power of a thunderstorm behind it. The orange mare didn’t even notice the large dark blue unicorn stallion standing before her with a stern and composed expression on his face. He wore nothing but a black suit and a top hat. His entire body gave off an intimidating aura even though his amber eyes didn’t harbor any anger or malice. Truly, this stallion meant business.
“Y-Yeah... That’s me.” Applejack croaked.
The stallion respectfully nodded. “I am detective Looking Glass. I’m working for Canterlot’s Bureau of Investigation.” explained the large pony, all of his words carried immense weight to it. Just from his introduction alone, Applejack could tell he was very experienced in his field. “I was notified of an injured filly case here in Ponyville. I’ll need your help for this case. Do you feel comfortable talking about it now?”
This stallion’s from Canterlot... How much time has passed? Applejack couldn’t really tell, but it must have been an hour or two for him to have just arrived at Ponyville General. The sun was long gone by the time she glanced out the window. Word must spread quicker than she thought. Surprising, for a small town such as Ponyville.
Applejack slowly rose from her chair, stabilising her trembling body in the process. If this pony wants to help, then she can’t afford to let the shock stop her from assisting him. “Ah’ll help ya.” she said, giving her best effort to keep it calm.
Immediately, the stallion’s horn glowed, and a notepad levitated out of his pockets. “Let’s start from the beginning, where did you find this filly?” he asked sharply, his professional gaze cutting through her souls like dagger. This was one heck of an intimidating presence that somehow made her feel like she was being interrogated, even if she was completely innocent in this whole ordeal.
“Ah found ‘er on the edge of the Everfree Forest. She was barely breathin’ when Ah did, so Ah rushed ta Ponyville General as fast as Ah could.” Applejack explained as best as she could, her voice now only slightly shaken up.
“Can you describe her injuries to me?”
Applejack blinked for a moment before realising that he simply wanted to know if it could have been a timberwolf attack or worse... an assault case. “If yer askin’ me fer bite marks.. There were some, but they didn't look like timberwolves.”
For the first time, the detective’s brows furrowed, and he quickly scribbled something down before returning to his calm demeanor. He then immediately set his sharp gaze back on her. “Did you see or hear anything near the filly?”
The hoofsteps came back to her mind, there were barely audible, but it sounded like there was more than one pony running away. Applejack mentioned them to the detective who simply responded with a low hum while he was jotting it down on his notepad, his expression never wavering one bit.
“Anything else?”
Applejack’s eyes snapped back to him, surprised to have caught herself lost in thoughts once more.
“Ah... No, Ah thinks that’s it.” She said, almost sounding defeated. There wasn’t more she could do.
“I see...” The stallion quickly re-read his notes before putting the notepad away. “I’ll need you to do me a favor.”
Applejack blinked. “A-A favor?”
“Yes. I want you to stay by the filly’s side during her stay in the hospital, at least until we can figure out who her parents are. I promise I’ll reward you if you cooperate with the Bureau during our investigation.” Yeah, like she needed a reward to stay by the filly's side. Her heart already wanted to.
A door opened behind them, revealing a large stallion. It was Big Macintosh, her brother! With how much time has passed, of course it was to be expected that her family would start to look around for her. She had been missing from the farm for a while now.
Looking Glass briefly looked over her shoulder before setting his eyes back on her. “I’ll work with what I have for now. If you find anything else, be sure to contact me. I’ll stay in town for the rest of the week.” He held out a hoof to her.
Applejack shook it and gave him a reassured smile. The dark blue unicorn only nodded before leaving, his face still stone cold in spite of the horrifying incident. That pony’s got nerve o’ steel.
Big Mac trotted up to her and simply looked her in the eyes. No words had to be said to understand what he wanted to know.
Applejack sighed. “Ah know Ah’ve been missin’ all day Big Mac.” She looked over to the door labeled ‘EMERGENCY’.
“Somepony’s got hurt, real bad. Ah need to make sure she’s at least okay. Ah’m sorry if-”
Big Mac reached out to hug her. Applejack’s anxiety must have been really obvious for he held her tight and only replied with “Ah get it.”
The orange mare felt a tear roll down her cheek. All the accumulated stress from the day finally came out in the form of her tears. “Th-Thanks Big Mac. A-Ah really needed tha’.”
After a few more seconds, the town siblings broke their hug and the stallion turned to leave the Ponyville General, looking back at his sister one last time to smile at her. “We’ll be waitin’, 'sis.”
A pony of few words, but with a big heart. That’s probably the best way to describe him.
A doctor with bloodied clothes suddenly popped up from the EMERGENCY door. His tired eyes darted around the room until they landed on Applejack.
The doctor approached the orange mare and finally breathed a sigh of relief. She recognised him as Doctor Horse, the same one that took care of Rainbow Dash when she broke her wings a long time ago.
Seeing the reassuring look on his face, Applejack’s body began to relax as she finally felt herself genuinely smiling. Her mouth, however, was still dry and she was unconsciously holding her breath. “Doctor Horse. Do ya have goo- Is she gonna make it?” Jumping straight to the important bit.
Despite being tired, Horse gave her the most reassuring smile she’s ever received tonight. “Better yet, she hasn’t sustained any crippling injuries. In due time, she'll be good as new, mostly.” Applejack exhaled out of relief. “It’s truly a miracle you got to us this fast. I speak for all the team when I say; thank you, sincerely. This filly owes her life to you, Applejack.”
Completely exhausted, the earth pony slumped on her chair and looked back at the doctor. “When can Ah check on ‘er?”
“In just a couple of minutes, Applejack. Our nurses need to tend to her first.”
Once the dust had settled, the doctors all left the little filly’s room, happy but exhausted after their operation. The only ponies who remained in there were the filly herself, and Nurse Redheart, out to look after her should she need any help.
Beep. Beep
The young mare looked at the foal with pity in her eyes. Her entire body was covered in bandages and plasters and now it just looked like a sad mummy costume for Nightmare Night. She didn’t really have much to do other than to make sure everything was in order.
Beep. Beep
With lots of time to kill but with the obligation of staying near the patient, Nurse Redheart dug up in the pile of books placed near the bed. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone lied in this pile. Looking at the cover, she reminisced about the time when Rainbow Dash attended the hospital for her broken wings, although it was mostly her other colleagues that took care of the cyan pegasus.
“I suppose I don’t have anything else to do.” She muttered to herself as she took a seat. She may have already read the book before, but it didn’t hurt to go through it again, ‘cause everything Daring Do related is awesome... or so do her fans say.
With a yawn and a quick look at the clock, Redheart began her slow reading. Today might be a relatively simple shift if this keeps on going, but she couldn’t help but worry about the foal’s health. Reading this book ultimately proved to be much harder than she imagined thanks to her constant worry.
Every so often, she’d put the book down to trot up to the comatose filly, observing all the bandages and the cast just in case something went wrong.
Get a grip on yourself, Redheart. This filly’s stabilised. Nothing is going to go wrong. Though Nurse Redheart and yet, she still double checked everything before sitting down once more. Turning on the radio will certainly help calm her down.
Good afternoon, fillies and gentlecolts! Today, we bring you yet another Jolly Melody song! Let's sit back, relax and listen to his greatest hit, Bring Back Our Love!
Long ago I left to make our love eternal
Even after we're dead and gone
But even so time has gone by so fast!
I don't want to take the joy away from your life
Maybe time is on our side
Until then, I'll Bring Back Our Love!
Some time passed before she decided to put the book down again and this time... she nearly jumped out of her chair. A pair of olive-colored eyes stared back at her, impossibly wide with fear. There were noticeable bags under said eyes too. Her eyes moved from the nurse to the radio.
The nurse's heart nearly skipped a beat and Redheart found herself holding a hoof to her chest, waiting for her heart to slow down. The filly was awake, and nearly gave her a heart attack while at it!
The nurse put on a calming smile and approached the foal, turning off the radio in the process. “Hi there! Are you alright, dear? How are you feeling?” she said in a bubbly voice. Foals usually feel calmer when spoken to in a kind sounding voice, but this one... shrieked and retreated under her blanket accompanied by a whimper.
“My little pony, it’s okay.” Redheart said, attempting to calm down the panicking filly. “You’re safe here.”
The blankets on the bed trembled and the little foal slowly lowered them to meet the nurse’s gaze. Only the top of head up to her eyes were visible. Redheart tried her best to look as nice as possible but couldn’t help to lose her smile as she saw just how distraught the patient looked.
“Uh, I-I'm Nurse Redheart!” The nurse tried again to get her to speak. “Nice to meet you! What’s your name, dearie?”
Again, the filly only responded with a whimper, tremlbing as she hid her face behind her hooves. “C-Can you understand me?” Redheart said in a more hesitant voice.
A slow, understanding shaky nod confirmed that the foal was at least receptive to her questions. Only one eye looked at her with terror, tears streaming down it. Redheart felt her heart aching the longer this sad display went on. Oh, you poor thing. What could have traumatised you this badly?
Right now, however, she couldn’t afford to let her soft smile down. She had to reassure the filly, that was her job-- no more than that-- she had to do it for her. She put on a bigger, toothier smile than before. “That’s good to know, dearie! We’re he-”
The filly shrieked and hid under her blanket. Her shaking became stronger and Redheart could hear her mumbling something in a broken voice. “...s-smile... m-must smile...”
W-Was the smile too much? Redheart asked herself, feeling increasingly nervous. First impressions are everything, if she screws this up, it will only lead to a longer recovery for the poor foal.
Reaching out a hesitant hoof, the mare gingerly pulled the blankets away to reveal the full frame of the filly. She was sobbing, shaking and holding herself in a foetal position. The nurse’s heart shattered at this tragic sight.
With immense care, Redheart pulled the filly closer and hugged her. The sobbing stopped and the nurse felt the foal’s hooves slowly wrap around her body. The olive-eyed filly began to cry as she held Redheart tighter. In her eyes, the nurse could see nothing but pain.
“You don’t have to be scared anymore. You’re safe with us. You’re safe here.”