Snowed In- Final Chapter
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The Heart Rate Monitor was a constant drumming against Applejack’s sanity, each recurring ‘beep’ threatening to throw her over the edge. She had no idea how long she had been lying there, just listening to the devilish contraption. In fact, the farm girl could hardly remember anything at all. Echoes of voices filtered throughout her memory, but they were so scattered that she had no idea how they went together; they were just sentence fragments in an abyss of confusion.
“And what an evening it is!” the radio hummed, with a hint of static.
“I’ll… I’ll be right back, okay?” her voice shook nervously as she gripped the knife tight.
“You can’t leave me now, not after I’ve just fallen in love with you!” tears of desperation fell upon numb cheeks.
“I just love how peaceful it is out here,” a steamy night filled with snowfall.
“Boo.”
Applejack’s eyes blasted open as an image of Montgomery’s wicked smile entered her mind. She quickly took in her surroundings, reminding herself of where she was. The hospital. The last several times she woke up she had been here, each time drifting out just as quickly as she had woken up. Like a bad television show Applejack tuned in and out of conversations, recognizing her friends, doctors, and even on one occasion several police officers in heavy debate. This time, as her eyes surveyed the room around her, she quickly concluded that she was alone.
It was night, and the only lights in the small hospital room were the thin rays of the crescent moon outside- intruding through the window above Applejack’s head- and the dim glows of various pieces of machinery scattered about. It was not much to go by, but as her eyes adjusted Applejack collected her bearings. For the first time since the early morning knife fight Applejack did not feel like she was going to pass out again at moment’s notice.
“Hello?” the farm girl called into the darkness, but received no answer. She tried again, to similar outcomes.
Fine. If no one was going to help her then she would just help herself. Willing her body to move, Applejack was surprised when her muscles actually responded, sore from an unknown number of days without use. Something was wrong, but Applejack couldn’t quite place it. Finally maneuvering to one side of the bed Applejack placed her left foot against the floor below, willing it to support her weight as she made a forced effort to stand.
To her dismay, Applejack fell, tumbling across the hospital floor in a loud uproar of sounds as she accidently knocked over a small table supporting various unidentifiable tools. Something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. She had never even felt her foot touch the ground.
The racket drew attention from the hallway, but before anyone outside had time to see what had happened Applejack crawled back onto her bed. By the time the door opened, revealing four sets of curious eyes, Applejack was sitting upright at the foot of the mattress. Thankfully, she recognized all four sets of bright orbs, and to her relief the dim lighting of the room prevented them from seeing the mess she had created.
“Applejack!” Fluttershy was the first into the room, wasting no time before throwing her arms around the blonde beauty, and squeezing her in a tight embrace. “You’re okay! I was- I mean, WE were so worried about you!”
AJ happily returned the hug with a little less vigor, and a quick “howdy, Fluttershy. Good to see you too.”
“Darling!” Rarity was next up, leaning close to the hospital patient to brush a stray strand of golden hair from in front of her eyes. “You look terrible… but considering the circumstances I’d say that is pretty good! I mean, at least you are still breathing.”
“Now hold on,” Applejack addressed the diva as she backed away. “What are you-”
“Surprise!” Pinkie Pie screamed, appearing out of nowhere directly in front of Applejack and firing off a confetti cannon from the corner of the room, shedding its occupants in various bright colors and streamers.
Applejack wondered how the rambunctious girl had it planted it there in advance, and the other members of the group simply stared at Pinkie expectantly.
“What!” Pinkie smiled guiltily. “It’s my ‘Applejack is finally well’ party!” They continued to stare her down, until finally Pinkie gave in and began cleaning confetti from every surface in the room, but not before muttering “oh come on, I never get to use this thing…”
Finally Twilight made her way over to Applejack and addressed her.
“Look, Applejack, we’re just happy that you are okay.” It was then that the farm girl noticed the distinct lack of a certain rainbow haired athlete. “You’ve been out for a couple of days, and we were all starting to worry. For a while there it was looking pretty grim, and- Applejack?”
“Where is Rainbow Dash?”
The room fell silent for a moment, once again the monotonous beeping reigning superior.
“Oh.” Twilight’s eyes fell away from Applejack’s gaze. “She… she hasn’t woken up yet. Look, maybe we should talk about this later. You are still recovering, and-”
Applejack did not give Twilight a chance to finish before totally disregarding the librarian’s request and asking anyways. “What d’ya mean she hasn’t woken up yet?” The beeping quickened slightly.
AJ’s friends were all now avoiding eye contact, instead feigning interest in the peculiar coloring of the walls, or intriguing tile patter on the floor, in high hopes that one of the others would draw Applejack’s attention first. Fluttershy put on the worst act of all, blatantly avoiding eye contact as if she was never part of the conversation to begin with.
“What is it?” Applejack pleaded for one of them to explain what was going on. “What’s wrong!?”
After a moment Fluttershy stepped up to the plate, her brows furrowed in concern; for whom, Applejack could not tell.
“Don’t you remember the accident?” Fluttershy was hoping she had to explain as little as possible. “In… In the mountains, by your cabin?”
“Ah…” Applejack searched her memories, but everything came up blurry. “No, not really.” Suddenly her eyes shot wide open. The last thing she remembered was tackling the crazy man from atop Rainbow’s body. “Where is Montgomery? Is Rainbow oaky?”
“Montgomery is dead.” Applejack had never heard Rarity speak with such a poisonous tone. “We made it just in time to save you, but yourself and Rainbow Dash were both out cold when we got to you.”
Twilight took over the story from there, Applejack’s gaze shifting over from the designer to the book worm.
“We rushed you both back to the hospital as quickly as we could,” Twilight paused for a moment, releasing a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, and then taking another slow breath in before continuing. “But you had lost a lot of blood by the time that we got here, and-“
Applejack couldn’t take the delays anymore.
“Where is Rainbow Dash!”
Silence again fell upon the room. Applejack’s eyes drifted from each of her friends to the next, but none of them made an effort to even acknowledge the question. This whole situation was getting quite tiresome in the blonde’s opinion. She focussed on the one friend who had said the least this whole time.
“Pinkie?” The usually hyperactive girl slumped away, refusing to speak. Applejack sighed heavily. “Fine, then Ah’ll find her mahself.”
Determined to act upon her decision Applejack attempted to swing her left leg forward, dislodging her from her seat on the bed and towards the door, but nothing happened.
“Well, that’s strange…” Applejack looked down at the patient scrubs she was wearing; the state of the mill cyan knee long apron. “Ah- Ah can’t feel one of mah legs.”
That’s when she realized something quite horrifying. Her left leg- the same one which Montgomery had thrown a knife into whilst she had been running away, was the leg that was not responding. From her upper thigh down to her toes Applejack had no feeling at all in the appendage. Frightened and curious, she made a movement to pull up the apron and see what was wrong.
“No, wait!” Twilight saw what Applejack was doing and made an effort to intercept, but she was too late.
In a single movement Applejack pulled back the thin fabric. In the dim light of the hospital room Applejack at first couldn’t tell that anything was wrong- her leg looked fine- but after staring for a moment she realized exactly what the problem was. Her leg wasn’t there at all. Instead, in its place, a metal replica had been attached mid-way down her thigh.
“Oh.” Applejack starred distantly at the thing like it was a foreign creature. “That’s why mah leg wasn’t workin’ proper.”
But Applejack wasn’t one to give up. Even if her friends were not willing to lend a hand, and even if she was missing part of her of flesh, she was going to find Rainbow Dash. She had to. Rainbow was all she seemed to have left at that moment, and too many unanswered questions were roaming free around her head. Once she found Rainbow, Applejack was sure everything would be alright.
Taking a deep breath in, and leading with her right foot, AJ dropped from the foot of the hospital bed and onto the tiled floor below. Everybody was holding their breaths as they watched. For a moment- a single wonderful moment- she was standing upright and still. That moment ended when the farm girl attempted to take her first unsteady step towards the door, immediately falling on her new appendage and teetering to the left.
Lucky for Applejack Fluttershy was quick to react, becoming a supporting brace below her left arm and acting as a temporary second set of legs before she fell. With Fluttershy’s support she took another cautious step forward, this one mildly more successful.
“Thanks,” Applejack quickly muttered as she continued testing her new faculties.
Pinkie slowly emerged from her corner in the room, staring fearfully at the strange metal appendage. She took baby steps slowly across the room until she was but an arms distance away from AJ. “Umm…” Pinkie extended a finger towards the leg. “Can I…”
“Sure, Sugarcube.”
Slowly, and cautiously, Pinkie Pie pushed a finger against the cold metal, before retreating a step back. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, she leapt forward, throwing her arms around Applejack’s neck. Luckily the bed was still behind the girl to stop her from falling over. AJ felt salty tears dropping onto her shoulders.
“Oh, AJ…” Pinkie cried quietly, hugging the farm girl as tightly as possible. “I… I’m so sorry we weren’t there sooner.”
Applejack tightened her grip around the bubbly girl, holding her tight for a long moment before the two released each other.
“It isn’t so bad,” Rarity smiled reassuringly. She was a bad liar though.
“Now,” Applejack turned to the lavender haired girl across the room from her. “Where is Rainbow, and why are ya trying to keep her from me? Ah’d think that after what we’d been through Ah would deserve to see her.”
She couldn’t explain it, but Applejack had a strong need to know that Rainbow was okay. It was something more than just being worried for a friend.
Twilight sighed heavily before speaking. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you, okay?” With sluggish movement the girl crossed back into the hallway, indicating for AJ to follow. “Come on, I’ll take you to her.”
As Applejack followed in Twilight’s footsteps she couldn’t help but notice the pained expressions of the others in the room. Fluttershy remained by Applejack’s side, helping her with her unsteady walking, and the others followed behind. Pinkie Pie especially seemed almost scared of what was about to transpire. But why? AJ was beginning to question if seeing her friend was such a good idea.
Even with Fluttershy’s help the farm girl realised how difficult it was to move, not just walking but every action she made. Her whole body was struggling to do its part, like the muscles had forgotten their purposes after a long period of misuse. Soon Pinkie was also by her side offering help. After several more agonizing steps Applejack found herself in the hospital corridor.
It was only mildly better lit than the girl’s room. Sets of identical doors ran all the way down the hallway, and long tube lights spanned down the ceiling casting their sterile light. Across from Applejack’s room were four old, wooden chairs, which she had no doubt had seen a lot of action the last couple days as her friends waited for her to awaken at last. Applejack still had no idea how many days, or weeks, had transpired since the accident with Montgomery.
But then again, maybe ‘accident’ was not quite the right word.
“So listen,” Twilight spoke in a hushed tone as the group slowly crept through the unwelcoming hallway, probably as to not disrupt the other guests. “What happened in the mountains, Dash felt like she was responsible for some reason? She took all the blame upon herself for the whole thing, and mentally beat herself up pretty bad.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Applejack spat out, a bit louder than intended.
Twilight finally stopped in front of a door, only a few down from AJ’s own, and the group pulled to a stop next to her. A folder posted on the door was titled in big, block letters, ‘Rainbow Dash’.
“We know,” Rarity joined into the conversation with a soft, careful tone. “And we tried to tell her that, but when you,” she placed a finger against AJ’s collar bone, “nearly died of blood loss, and she was the only one qualified to donate to you….”
“She was already so weak,” offered Fluttershy. “She was in no condition to give blood.”
Rarity continued. “You should have seen the way her face lit up at the chance to ‘save your life’. We all tried to tell her it was too risky, but, well, the doctor confirmed that it was your only chance to pull through this.”
Applejack stood, speechless for several moments while her friends awaited some kind of response. But she had none. Her emerald eyes passed over their faces, one by one, before focussing in on the name written on the door before them. Rainbow Dash.
‘I’ll…’ Rainbow’s voice echoed in the depths of AJ’s mind. ‘I’ll be right back.’
The snow storm was pounding against the girls relentlessly, pulling at their remaining warmth and waiting for them to give into the cold. Applejack was bleeding. And helpless. And dying. She couldn’t move. All she could do was stare up from her cushion on Rainbow’s lap, up into the other girl’s big loving eyes, and wish it would all be over. And then Rainbow grabbed the damn bloody knife.
‘I’ll protect you.’
“Applejack?” Twilight pulled the farm girl from the memory, concerned by the tears now running down AJ’s freckled cheeks. “It’s okay,” she offered a hand and AJ took it, greedily embracing the warm fingers in her own. “It’s going to be alright. Time… time is on our side here. We just need to wait this out.”
With her open hand Twilight swept away the farm girl’s tears.
“No.” Applejack painfully laughed at herself; the kind of laugh created out of desperation. “I- I need to see her now,” AJ pleaded. “I need to know that Dash is okay!”
Instead of offering a response Twilight turned her attention to Rarity, and gave a decisive nod of her head. The designer gripped the doorknob to Dash’s room, and slowly began to spin it in her hand. AJ couldn’t tell if she was trying to simply be as quiet as possible or if Rarity herself was afraid to enter the room. Judging by her worried expression it was the latter. After several agonizing seconds the doorknob stopped turning, and the door began to slide open with a light creaking that sent shivers up AJ’s spine.
Even before the opening was wide enough for Applejack to get a clear sight of what was in wait inside the room, the beeping started. The Heart Rate Monitor pierced through the rooms silence in a steady rhythm. But it was slow. Between each beep was a gap that Applejack knew was not healthy.
“Well,” Twilight’s voice was a welcome sound, as it distracted AJ from the fear filling her heart. “This is it. Do you want us to wait outside? I know that you may want to see her alone.”
“No,” Applejack’s eyes fixed on the dark room. From the hallway she could make out very little. “A think Ah’d like you girls to come with me. Besides, I don’t know if Ah’m quite ready to walk on my own yet, and would appreciate the support; mental and physical.”
Without any further exchange of dialogue, Applejack took a step forward towards the darkness. Fluttershy was quick to jump into action, moving along with AJ to support her weight. Close behind them was the rest of the gang as they entered the room, Rarity silently closing the door behind them.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Small lights filled the room, from various pieces of machinery scattered here and there. At the far end opposite the door was the hospital bed. The window that rested just above the head of the bed had its blinds drawn down and closed, the only light in the room being that casted from the machines. In the bed Applejack could just barely make out the form of the athletic girl, her chest raising and falling at a worryingly slow pace.
In contrast to the still, calm atmosphere of the hospital room, Applejack’s heart was racing as fast as it could go as she took in the scene before her. The farm girl was frozen in her tracks; she knew not how to react.
“It’s okay,” whispered Fluttershy, taking a step forward and forcing Applejack to do the same. “She won’t bite.”
With Fluttershy’s help Applejack made her way across the cold tile floor. The other’s waited by the door, only Pinkie daring to advance enough to get a look at Rainbow before retreating back to Twilight and Rarity. With each step that Applejack grew closer to the bed she felt like a weight was being lifted from her shoulders. This was it. She would finally be able to see Rainbow again; to thank her for all that she had done.
Applejack’s eyes were beginning to adapt to the dark, though she was not so sure that was a good thing. A quick glance at Rainbow revealed that she was a skeleton of what she once was. She was thin- well, thinner- and as AJ drew closer a scratchy, pained breathing became audible. And then she was there, standing at the side of Rainbow’s bed. The bed rested at about hip height of the farm girl, and in order to get closer to Rainbow, Applejack- with Fluttershy’s aid- slid down to her knees. The tile felt cool on her bare shins.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Fluttershy, no longer needed by AJ’s side, reached up to the window and pulled the blinds up, allowing silvery moonlight to filter into the room. Then, as quietly as possible, she too retreated to where the rest of the gang watched in silence.
“Rainbow?” Applejack slid one of her hands across the bed’s surface.
Finally, with the new source of light, Applejack got a good look at Rainbow’s face. The first thing that came to mind was pain. Dash’s breathing was stressed, each one a noticeable effort. The girl’s brows were stressed, and her eyes clenched shut. It looked unnatural, as did the amount of wires and tubes connecting her to the various machines.
But then Applejack realized something.
The expression was not that of pain. It was a look of determination. Rainbow was fighting her hardest just to stay conscious.
“Rainbow?” Applejack whispered again. Her hand maneuvered under the thin hospital blanket, and found Rainbow’s own.
It was cold. Ice cold. Even the skin had a strange, lifeless feel to it that caused Applejack to pause for a moment. The farm girl tried to intertwine her finger in Rainbow’s receiving no response. But then she realized something else. It was the same hand that Rainbow had used to stop Montgomery’s knife. Quickly Applejack ran her fingers across Rainbow Dash’s palm, but found nothing. No scar, no bandages, nothing.
Without a second thought Applejack pulled away the hospital blanket.
Rainbow’s hand was gone, replaced by a metal contraption mirroring Applejack’s own. AJ couldn’t help herself; she was staring. She didn’t notice the grim expressions on her friend’s faces, or the way Fluttershy was beginning to tear up. She didn’t notice as the beeping began to speed up, or even when a certain rainbow haired girl’s eyes slid open. She was too busy staring at the metal hand to see as Rainbow’s head fell to the side, her magenta eyes falling upon the blonde girl sitting beside her.
“We match,” Rainbow giggled in a silly little whisper, pulling Applejack from her trance. The metal hand closed gently around Applejack’s fingers.
AJ’s eyes shot away from the metal hand, and over to the loving orbs that stared back at her. It was strange, though. Despite the obvious pain, and the stress that Dash was experiencing, she had the most beautiful smile Applejack had ever seen. Aj’s eyes began to water.
“Yeah,” Applejack leaned forward slowly, placing a light peck against Rainbow’s lips. “Ah s’ppose we do.”
Three muffled gasps erupted from the far side of the room, and Applejack was rudely reminded that she was not alone with her best friend. She mentally cursed herself. While Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy offered confused glances Pinkie only housed a bright pearly smile.
“Called it!” Pinkie was practically giddy with excitement as she jumped up and down.
“Yeah,” Twilight spoke in a confused manner. “I guess you did. Come on, girls,” she laughed, “we should give these two a little private time, don’t you think?”
Applejack watched in horror as the scene unfolded.
“Certainly,” Rarity joined in, opening the door to the hallway. “These two love birds deserve it.”
With a quick wink Rarity disappeared into the hallway, followed by Twilight and a heavily blushing Fluttershy who had nothing to offer the conversation. Pinkie, however, in her infinite ability to create laughter out of any situation, had one last comment to make before disappearing behind the door.
“Use protection!” The door closed, and the sound of a hand impacting Pinkie’s head could be heard from the hallway.
Silence filled the room, interrupted only by a regular beeping.
“So,” Rainbow’s voice pulled Applejack’s worried stare from the door and back the athletic girl. “That was, uh… weird.”
As Rainbow spoke Applejack continued to notice what terrible condition she was in. The scary realization came to mind that, without the many tubes connected to her body, Rainbow may not have still been breathing.
“Now you listen here, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack fought back the urge to simply smile, cry, and kiss the girl before her. Applejack spoke through teary gasps. “You’d better not die y’hear? You ain’t allowed to do that- ya ain’t allowed to break into mah life like that, and save me, and play hero, and then leave me stranded! Okay?”
“Mhmm,” Rainbow simply smiled back.
But that was enough. Applejack quickly realized that words weren’t good enough anymore. There weren’t words to describe how happy she was to see rainbow’s smile, or to hold her metal hand. Instead Applejack simply lay her head down on the mattress, satisfied to simply know that Rainbow was alive and with her.
“Hey, Apples?”
“Yeah Sugarcube?”
“When this is all over, do you think… Do you think maybe you and I could like go on a date? Or something?”
“Yeah, Ah reckon we could,” Applejack planted a light kiss on Rainbow’s cheek. “But how about we don’t wind up in the hospital, missing body parts next time?”
“Agreed.”
Applejack couldn’t help herself. Despite the many warnings flashing through her mind the farm girl pulled herself up onto the hospital mattress, wrapped an arm around Rainbow’s frame, and prepared for the long night ahead of them.
“Ah love you, Rainbow.”
The athlete laughed in response. “We’ll see.”
The End <3