Rainbow Dash soared through the newly-made night sky, still slightly tired from her long nap, but she had forgotten about her plans with Applejack… which was meant to be done nearly an hour ago. Apple trees passed in blurs underneath her as she finally slowed down and landed in front of Sweet Apple Acres’ large red barn. She cringed.
“Hopefully she’s not too mad…” Rainbow whispered to herself before knocking on the barn door. Applejack is usually in the barn when the sun has just finished setting, either working or drinking. She sometimes does both depending on her mood. However, Rainbow had noticed that she had been waiting outside the barn for nearly five minutes now. She knocked again but with more power this time.
“AJ, you in there?” Did she fall asleep or something? Rainbow Dash wanted to apologize badly, wanting no bad blood with her best friend, so she slid the barn door open and peered into the dark building. Immediately, she spotted Applejack passed out next to… a whole jug of cider!? “Woah, AJ!”
Rainbow immediately ran over to Applejack and turned her over so that she was on her back, seeing that she was knocked out fully. Rainbow knew that AJ liked to drink every now and then, but this was just excessive! Had something happened? Did somepony die!? Thinking quickly, Rainbow looked to her right and spotted a bucket of water that was undoubtedly cold and grabbed it, dunking the whole thing on Applejack’s face.
The effect was immediate, causing AJ’s eyes to launch open as she sputtered, the water dripping off her face. She stood and stumbled around, looking all around her quickly. Her woozy green eyes spotted Rainbow Dash and she narrowed them.
“Jumpin’ June bugs, RD! What in Tartarus did you do that for!?” Applejack asked, shaking out her wet mane and staring down at her sopping wet hat. Regardless, she grabbed it and placed it atop her head, the brown Stetson sagging slightly.
“Well, I saw a friend passed out on the ground from drinking too much alcohol! What else was I supposed to do!?” Rainbow fired back, causing AJ to shrink back and look away. “I should be asking you what the buck happened?”
“Rainbow… a lot of things happened today. Firstly, my sis and her friends nearly killed themselves by stealing mah dad’s shotgun!” Applejack said loudly, the anger from earlier still in her voice.
“Wh- What would they do that for?” Rainbow Dash asked, knowing the answer to that question already. However, the worry for Scootaloo’s well-being snuck into her chest.
“They said they wanted to earn their… ‘sharpshooters’ cutie marks. I keep tellin’ them, their cutie marks will appear on their own, but they just never listen!” Applejack grumbled and scuffed the ground. Then, she sighed. “And second… Rarity’s in the hospital.”
“Woah woah woah… went from 50 to 100 real fast. What happened to her?” Rainbow Dash felt the worry from earlier triple.
“I… I honestly have no clue. Even the doctor said he didn’t know. My best guess is that she-”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash jumped into the air when the barn doors were opened abruptly with a boom. They both turned and saw Twilight standing at the door, her horn glowing brightly. She was panting and huffing violently. AJ was about to ask what was wrong until…
“YOU TWO! DID ANY OF YOU TOUCH RARITY TODAY!?!?” Twilight yelled out without warning, causing both of them to shrink back.
“Uh-” Rainbow cut herself off. “No?”
“No, Twi. We haven’t. What has gotten-” Applejack blinked and Twilight was gone, running away full speed away from the barn. AJ and RD both stood there, contemplating.
“What the hay was all that about?” Rainbow asked, confused more than anything, but her worry spiked again when she realized that Twilight was talking about Rarity.
“I don’t know, sugarcube.” Applejack sighed, water still dripping from her muzzle onto the ground. She looked over to the empty jug of cider and then at RD. “So, why didn’t you come to help me earlier, RD?”
“Oh, that? Heh…” Rainbow Dash looked to the door, contemplating her escape, but it was suddenly slammed shut by an angry Applejack.
“You’re gonna get it, girl,” Applejack said, a smirk on her face.
“Oh, Horseapples.”
Twilight Sparkle
Status: Healthy/ Despaired
Health: 93%
Stress: 91%
Energy: 11%
Hunger: 41%
Thirst: 58%
“I’ve got to check on Pinkie!”
“Please, oh please…”
“AJ and RD are fine, I hope they aren’t the only two…”
Inventory: A list
Applejack
Status: Healthy/Something else?
Health: 100%
Stress: 12%
Energy: 92%
Hunger: 83%
Thirst: 69%
“You’re gonna pay for that, RD.”
“Don’t think I’m going easy on ya, girl.”
“Tomorrow, you’re doing double as punishment.”
Inventory: A lasso
Apple Bloom
Status: Healthy/Grounded
Health: 94%
Stress: 71%
Energy: 63%
Hunger: 1%
Thirst: 5%
“I shouldn’t have done that…”
“What was I thinking?”
“I’ll make it up to sis, I swear it.”
Collective inventory: Empty plate, empty cup, towel
Scootaloo
Status: Healthy/Grounded
Health: 92%
Stress: 21%
Energy: 62%
Hunger: 21%
Thirst: 13%
“Great… just great…”
“Maybe I can just… sneak out?”
“No, I’ll make my auties angry again.”
Inventory: Paper plate with a small salad (untouched), a glass of water (full), pillow
Sweetie Belle
Status: Infected Late-Stage 1
Infection: Infection has spread quickly, covering nearly her entire body
Health: 79%
Stress: 100% !
Energy: 12%
Hunger: 91%
Thirst: 99%
“Rarity…”
“It hurts…”
“Please… come home…”
Inventory: Blanket, pillow
Rarity
Status: Infected Late-stage 2
Infection: Showing signs of slow progression once more
Health: 64%
Stress: 0%
Energy: 2%
Hunger: 25%
Thirst: 31%
Inventory: NOTHING
Pinkie Pie
Status: Infected Stage 1
Infection: Has started spreading from the legs where she caught Rarity
Health: 97%
Stress: 84%
Energy: 99%
Hunger: 4%
Thirst: 7%
“What’s this? What’s happening?”
“This looks like what was happening to Rarity…”
“This is bad, I can feel it. I need to go to the hospital.”
Inventory: NOTHING
Discord
Status: MISSING
Health: ???
Stress: ???
Energy: ???
Hunger: ???
Thirst: ???