Dreams of Loyalty Chapter 4
In which Nurse Redheart has a very strange day, and Applejack and Rarity reminisce.
Nurse Redheart had been involved in plenty of strange and frightening events during her time as Head Nurse of the Ponyville Medical Center. There had been the outbreak of food poisoning dubbed the “Baked Bads” incident last year, quickly followed by the attack of an Ursa Minor (an event she was forever thankful ended without anypony seriously hurt.) Then the sudden infestation of adorable, but voraciously hungry little monsters called “parasprites” not long after, and most recently there had been brief episode during which Ponyville had become Equestria’s new Capital of Chaos, though she didn’t actually remember much about that particular incident other then ever since that time she had developed a strange fondness for propeller beanie caps.
But today may well have taken her proverbial cake for strange and bizarre, at least in actual memory.
It had started normal enough. The usual cases of allergy sniffles and fourth quarter checkups for expecting mares, but a little after lunch she had been going through some paper work at the front desk when a sudden breeze blew in from what should have been a closed door.
She looked up to find her view of said door obstructed by an unfamiliar magenta earth pony with a pin straight mane leaning over her desk and panting slightly.
“Rainbow Dash is in trouble. She’s hurt badly inside her house. Get your doctor stuff and meet us there.”
The Nurse wasn’t sure if the pony was threatening or begging her, but she nodded and reached for her medical bag just the same. By the time she had looked back, however, the strange pony had disappeared in another gust of wind.
To say she was confused would have been an understatement. Still, if a pony needed her then she had to go.
Finding Dash’s home had not been difficult. There weren’t many cloud homes in Ponyville and only one with a rainbow waterfall. As she arrived beneath the house, and was starting to wonder just how an earthy pony like herself was supposed to get up there to tend to her patient, she noticed three other ponies rushing towards her that she quickly recognized.
“Fluttershy? Applejack, Miss Rarity? What are you three doing here?”
“We came to help Rainbow Dash, Pinkie says she’s hurt.” The yellow pegasus gasped in a rush, panting hard as she landed next to the nurse and her friends.
“Applejack came to fetch us and said Pinkie had gone to get you. Where is she? Have you seen to Dash yet?”
“Miss Rarity, please come down. I only just arrived myself and I haven’t seen Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, nor do I have the slightest idea what’s going on.”
Applejack suddenly gasped and pointed over the nurse’s shoulder. “Look!”
At first the white earth pony didn’t see anything. Then a strange squeaking sound above her head caught her attention and her jaw nearly dislocated.
There, flying in the air, was the same magenta colored earth pony she had seen in the lobby. Only now she was riding some strange whirling and squeaking contraption which was flanked by two pegasi and had what looked like a stretcher hanging from beneath it.
As she watched agape, the two pegasi sped into the house and the strange contraption moved up so that the stretcher was positioned in front of the open door. It then hovered there like some giant humming bird as it seemingly waited for the two pegasi to return.
“Oh! Oh my…”
“Oh my stars!”
“Wha’n Equestria is tha’ thing?”
After a few minutes, the pegasi re-emerged gingerly carrying a third unconscious pegasus with a distinctive rainbow colored mane. Once she was carefully loaded onto the stretcher, the pegasi helped slowly lower it down to the awaiting nurse. Looking at her, one might have thought Nurse Redheart checked over injured pegasi while they were suspended from gravity-defying, hoof powered, machines made out of candy on a daily basis. Actually, the head nurse had learned two very important things when it came to living in Ponyville; never panic in an emergency (or anything resembling one,) and never question anything Pinkie Pie was involved, mentioned in connection too, or associated with in any way.
As she checked for any major external injuries, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity looked on helplessly. Dash looked so weak and lifeless lying there, even as the wind from the flying machine tasseled her sweat drenched mane. The only signs that she was alive were the shallow rise and fall of the blue mare’s chest, and the occasional pained wincing of her sleeping face. Despite the rushing wind and the nurse’s careful prodding and examination, the pegasus gave no indication that she was aware in any way of what was going on around her.
Applejack held on to her Stetson with one hoof as she watched the nurse check Dash’s plus and eye dilation. She couldn’t believe this was the same pony she had seen fly off from her orchard just a little more than an hour ago. Rarity was trying to comfort Fluttershy as she looked on in shock. The terrified pegasus had turned away from the sight, unable to look at her friend in such a state.
Once Nurse Redheart had finished her quick preliminary examination, she looked at the two pegasi and then yelled up to the earth pony operating the flying machine.
“Take her to the hospital, I’ll meet you there! She seems to have a slight concussion so be careful not to jostle her around too much!”
The pony waved down at her to show she had heard the instructions, and machine and passenger rose into the air with the two pegasi the nurse now recognized as Cloudkicker and Raindancer steadying Dash’s stretcher. As they took off, the other four ponies raced back to the hospital while Applejack explained the whole story to the still confused nurse.
They made it back in record time and to their surprise found Nurse Mercy already helping the weather ponies lower Dash onto a gurney in front of the hospital. As they approached, the pegasi unhooked the stretcher from the flying machine and the straps lifted away leaving Dash and the table like stretcher.
Oh, she simply had to get one of those for her hospital.
Once Dash was inside the nurses began a closer examination of the unconscious pegasus. According to Applejack, Rainbow Dash had been suffering from reoccurring, and terrible nightmares for the last week or more. That explained the signs of extreme exhaustion. The concussion, she reasoned, probably happened while she was thrashing about in her sleep and struck a headboard or perhaps a bed side table. Even now Dash began to twist and moan weakly as they examined her, her lips mouthing incoherent warnings to somepony. It was perhaps lucky that her exhaustion made it so difficult for her to move now. Cloudkicker has said they had found her on the edge of her second floor balcony. Even if she had landed on nothing but carpeted clouds, any sort of jarring fall could have severally worsened her concussion. It really was a miracle she hadn’t rolled off the edge in her sleep.
After bandaging up her head, both of the nurses agreed that what their patient needed most right now was rest. A long, peaceful, dreamless, rest. Unfortunately, they also agreed that it would be too risky to give her any kind of sedative or sleep aid given her concussion. If they administered the wrong drug at the wrong time, Dash could slip into a coma. Perhaps permanently.
Her friends hadn’t taken the news well. Fluttershy had collapsed into tears, Rarity had continued to try to comfort her even as she fought to hold back her own. Applejack had pulled her hat down to hide her face from view, and the magenta earth pony whom she finally recognized as Pinkie Pie just asked if she could go in to be with her unconscious friend. The nurse’s had shown her in without argument.
Cloudkicker and Raindancer were upset by the news too, but didn’t seem to take it quite as badly as the other four. When Nurse Redheart had asked them how they had gotten involved in the whole affair, they had said they’d been lounging on a cloud after completing their work for the day and were just commenting on Dash’s suspicious string of sick days when Pinkie Pie had pulled up in her strange looking contraption asking for help. It had taken them a few seconds to recognize her, but once they had she quickly explained that Dash was hurt and that she needed their help to get her out of her cloud home so that the nurses could reach her. Both had quickly agreed and had taken off without another word.
That had all been close to an hour ago. Now the head nurse allowed herself to collapse in the break room while she waited for the results from Dash’s blood work to come back. Perhaps there was some chemical explanation for the rainbow-maned pony’s horrible dreams.
All in all, she thought as she absentmindedly spun the propeller of one of her beanies, it had been a very strange day.
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The hospital waiting room was almost completely empty save for one lone orange earth pony who sat on one of the padded benches while she played nervously with the hem of her hat. It was a habit she had gotten from her father before he had passed down the Stetson to her. The old worn brim showed considerable restitching, both from her mother’s needle, and more recently, from Rarity’s.
After her parents had moved out west to help their relatives on the frontier, the Stetson and the rest of the farm had been left in her hooves. At first she had argued that Big Macintosh should have been the one to take over as head of the farm while her parents were away, since he was the eldest of the three siblings and did most of the actual hard labor, but the stallion had stubbornly refused.
“Ah may be a few years older, little sister, but there ain’t no doubt in mah mind who this farm belongs to.”
He was right of course. While Big Mac may have been the work horse, nopony had ever shown nearly the same passion and devotion to the farm and its family as Applejack. However, while Sweet Apple Acres did manage to prosper somewhat under her care, even given the Parasprite infestation and her own stubbornness during her first Applebucking season as head of the farm, the Stetson had developed a frightening number of tears and frayed edges when the weekly letters from her parents suddenly stopped.
At first she had assured the rest of the family that they had just gotten caught up in the new Applebucking season on the frontier and probably hadn’t had time to write. After an entire month without word however, even Applejack couldn’t deny she was worried, and as the weeks of silence dragged out even longer, the symbol of her standing within the Apple Family began to become almost as frayed and torn as her nerves.
Twilight’s first sleep over, while unexpected and a bit unpleasant in the beginning, had given her a chance to temporarily take her mind off of her family worries and eventually enjoy herself for the first time weeks. The time away from the farm and her eventual bonding with a certain alabaster unicorn had done wonders for her stress levels.
The morning after the sleepover, as they were exiting the library for their respective homes, Rarity had ambushed her regarding the state of her “only accessory” and had volunteered to repair it. The earth pony had politely declined the offer, saying that as it was a family heirloom its care should only been seen to by Apple family members. Her new friend had accepted her answer, but just before they separated added that if the farmer should need any help, “you know where to find me.”
As another week passed, marking the second month without word, the tension that had fallen over the farm had become palpable. Sales and production began to plummet as the stress of not knowing took hold over the entire family. Despite her friend’s attempts at cheering her up, or at least ease her mind, Applejack became almost mechanical as she went through the motions of her day; every spare moment consumed with thoughts of her parents and increasingly outrageous theories for their continued silence.
The tension finally broke when a sudden gust of wind from the Everfree Forest snatched the Stetson from her head and threw it under Big Mac’s plow. The stallion had apologized over and over again, but the middle sibling insisted that it was her own fault for letting it escape in the first place, even as tears brimmed in her eyes while she cradled the two halves of her beloved hat to her chest.
She had tried fixing it herself that evening, but she only succeeded in further damaging the dirty material. The next morning, in desperation and defeat, she finally took the remains of her cherished memento to the steps of the Carousel Boutique.
Upon seeing the terrible state both Applejack and her hat were in, Rarity had immediately closed her shop and put every order on hold, including one for a very important client in Canterlot. She took both pony and hat into her workroom and sat the almost hysterical farmer on her sofa while she took the two halves of the Stetson to her sewing table.
While the seamstress worked to repair what Applejack knew to be a lost cause, everything the earth pony had been holding in had spilled out of her like a swollen river breaking through a leaky dam. Her fears about her parents, her worries that she wasn’t helping to raise Appleboom right, Granny Smith’s sporadic bouts of mobility, the fact that Rainbow Dash had cheated at horse shoes again, every fear, worry, and frustration came pouring out of her as the fashionista worked and listened.
After close to two hours of ranting, in which Applejack had voiced concerns for and/or chewed out everything from the economy to why sheep needed to be kept in corrals, she collapsed on the sofa, competently spent and burning with embarrassment over some of the things she had said in her tirade. As she lay there, face buried in her hooves and thinking that the snowy white unicorn must think her an absolute foal for asking her to fix a destroyed hat and then saying so many “uncouth” things while she attempted the impossible, she felt something fit itself around her head.
She looked up she saw the then bespectacled seamstress smiling sweetly down at her and a familiar purple glow taking up most of her upper vision.
“There, I think that ought to fit correctly now. Tell me what you think, my Dear.” She said as the glow faded away and was replaced by a familiar tan color.
The cowpony sat up immediately and whipped the hat off her blond mane to look at it. It was just as it had been before the accident, a bit better in fact since all the small rips in the brim had been mended as well. As Applejack stared at the hat she could just make out the subtle, professional stitch work which had mended every tear and fray but left the hat with its familiar worn-in feel and appearance.
“I probably could have mended it in a few seconds with my magic,” admitted the unicorn nervously, “but since you said that it was a family heirloom, I felt that doing the repairs by hoof would be best. The hardest part was getting all that dirt out of the frayed edges so I could mend them.” She added with a hint of her usual melodrama. When the earth pony didn’t react she began to bite her lip nervously.
“I... trust it’s to your satisfaction? Applejack?”
She barely had time to react as the famer threw herself at the fashionista in a bone crushing hug.
“Thank you.” The blond mare repeated over and over again as tears streamed down her face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“You’re… welcome, my Dear…” The unicorn wheezed through a smile as her ribs cracked under the strength of her friend’s gratitude, “Now perhaps… you’d let me… breathe?”
After Rarity had recovered and Applejack had apologized close to fifty times for almost strangling her in her relief, the farm pony had promised that she would do anything to repay the white mare for all she had done for her. The unicorn had refused to accept any form of payment, barring that that the earth pony promised that she would come to her immediately if the Stetson should require even the slightest mending. The blond mare had given her word and repeated that should the unicorn need anything, anything, to not hesitate to ask.
Not long afterward, Sweet Apple Acres had received a letter from the frontier. It seemed that a terrible storm had swept through the area, and while her parents and their plantation where unharmed, the heavy rains and winds had softened the dirt and swallowed up nearly six miles of train track in mud and debris making any traffic in or out of the settlement impossible until it had been cleared. Fortunately, the storms had also brought enough water to last them well until the track was repaired and also caused an astonishing flourish in the local vegetation and crops. The settlement was now doing better than ever thanks to the rains and the apple family was especially booming with business.
The relief that washed over the farm was beyond description. They had broken out their best cider to celebrate the good news, and had even asked Pinkie Pie to throw a massive party for the occasion. While most of Ponyville had been invited to the open house, Applejack had spent most of the night close to a certain azure-eyed unicorn whom she secretly credited for the turn of good fortune.
Thinking back on these happier memories had been the only thing that had kept the blond mare from going crazy as the minutes slowly ticked by while she sat alone in the hospital waiting room. Cloudkicker and Raindancer had left shortly after speaking to the nurses, and Rarity had had to take poor Fluttershy into an empty examination room while she tried to calm down the sobbing pegasus. Applejack hadn’t felt like following Pinkie in to see Dash’s unconscious body, so she had remained there alone to await any word on the medical results.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the door open and a violet-maned unicorn quietly step in from the hall.
“Darling, you’re going to tear that hat in two again if you don’t stop twisting it like that.”
Applejack visibly jumped and looked up to see the white mare she had just been thinking about give her a weak smile.
“Oh, hi ya Rare, didn’ hear you come in. How’s Fluttershy doin’?” the farm pony asked as she stood up and placed the Stetson back atop her golden mane.
“She’s asleep in the other room,” the unicorn replied softly, crossing to sit next to where Applejack had previously been seated. The earth pony eased back down next to her as the white mare continued.
“I think she may have cried herself to sleep actually, poor dear. She seemed absolutely convinced that she’s to blame for Dash’s condition, no matter how many time I told her she didn’t know and there wasn’t anything we could have done given the circumstances.”
“Pinkie Pie felt the same way,” Applejack added quietly. “Only difference being tha’ she actually knew ‘bout it ‘fore anypony else did, but Dash managed ta convince her she had it under control.”
“Dash can certainly put up a brave front at times, can’t she?” The unicorn sighed as her head slowly fell to rest on the farm pony’s shoulder.
“Yep.”
Applejack gently rested her head against the fashionista’s purple mane as well.
It wasn’t the first time they had found themselves in that position. Sometime after Rarity had mended the Stetson, Applejack had begun stopping by the Carousel Boutique on her way home from market to offer the unicorn anything off of her cart that hadn’t sold that day. On days when Applejack didn’t need to hurry home, and Rarity wasn’t swamped with work, the farm pony would often park her cart outside the boutique while the seamstress closed shop for a while to enjoy a pleasant lunch with her fellow business pony.
Within the comfort and privacy of Rarity’s home, the two would discuss everything from fashionable gossip and the state of the apple market, to how their sisters were doing in school. It surprised both mares when the other had attempted to show an interest in the world and trade her counterpart. Even more surprising was that they had discovered some small amount common ground between them. Applejack had been genuinely interested when Rarity had revealed that she was a competent cook and that the first successful (and edible) food Sweetie Belle had created had been a pie of the apple variety, and Rarity had come close to needing mouth to mouth resuscitation the first time Applejack had spoken in the Manehattan accent she had learned as a filly.
Then, sometime after the disastrous gala, they had found themselves in the position they currently occupied. Neither pony had been sure it had happened. They had been sitting next to each other on the fashionista's favorite red sofa after lunch, listening to a pleasant song on the radio, when Rarity lazily laid her head down the cowpony's shoulder. Applejack returned the jesture almost immediately, and that that had been that. They hadn’t spoken, just sat together, eyes half closed while listening to the golden tones of Flank Sinatra’s “It Had to be You.” They held the moment together for a minute more after the song ended. Neither pony moved or said a word until they heard the front door open and an all too familiar chorus of “Cutie Mark Crusaders Runway Models!” Then Rarity had moved quite quickly indeed.
When it happened again a few weeks later, neither of them felt like mentioning it or pulling away until Rarity realized it was time to reopen her shop and Applejack remembered she was needed back home.
As time wore on it began happening with increasing frequency until every private meeting either ended or began with a few minutes sitting quietly together while enjoying each other’s company. They never spoke of it, they never broke the moment until they had to, and nothing ever came of it. It was just nice for the two mares to take a small break together from the hectic world of their business oriented life styles. So what if Rarity had recently begun cooking for the farm pony during their lengthening lunch breaks? And so what if some of the treats Applejack came back from market with were beginning to be too good to have not sold that day? It didn’t mean anything, right?”
“Applejack, I do believe we are in, as you would say, ‘ah right mess,’” Rarity mumbled, breaking the silence of their position for the first time. She made no motion to remove her head from the nape of Applejack’s shoulder however, so the farm pony made no effort to remover hers.
“An’ to what,’ exactly, are you referrin’ to, Rare?”
“Everything.” She could feel the white mare sigh as she nuzzled her head a little more into her shoulder. “Fluttershy is completely distraught, Twilight is unreachable in Canterlot until she returns when Celestia knows when, I have no idea what has happened to Pinkie Pie, Dash has been hospitalized, and we…” The unicorn’s voice trailed off as she tried to decide what to say next.
“An’ wha’ about, ‘us?”
The designer sighed again into her shoulder.
“Please don’t be coy with me, Applejack. I’m too exhausted after dealing with Fluttershy and racing all over town with you.”
“Aww, ya needed the exercise anyway,” the cowpony chuckled.
Rarity moved her head so that her horn was pressed dangerously close to the orange pony’s neck.
“Are you implying that I may have gained some weight thanks to your frequent visits?”
The farm pony gulped. “Nope. Just… Nice ta see ya work up a sweat now’n then. Makes yer coat sparkle all… perrty like. Heheh...”
The horn stayed at her neck for few nerve racking seconds more before it moved away and its owner resumed her previous position, though the earth pony could feel the amused smile against her coat.
“Good recovery.”
Applejack breathed out a deep sigh of relief and relaxed back into the ‘less dangerous’ part of the unicorn’s head.
“Seriously though Applejack, what are we going to do? This can’t keep going on like this. Either somepony’s going to find out or…”
“Or what?”
“…Or things may go too far.”
Applejack sighed again and repositioned herself so that her chin was resting near the unicorn’s ear.
“Tha’s the problem with you, Rare,” she whispered. “Yer always lookin’ at every little problem stead o’ focusin’ one the big one that’s crashed through the gosh dern window.”
She felt the mare under her smile at the reference.
“We got two bedridden pegasi an’ a flat maned Pinkie Pie that what scared me half to death in front of Twilight’s library, an’ here you are wantin’ to bring the little matter of our futures in to it too. How’s about we do this my way fer once an’ just focus on the immediate concerns for right now? Shoot, Ah’ll even let ya pick which one we should deal with first, how’s that?”
Despite herself, the fashionista let out a quite laugh.
“Alright, Applejack. Alright.” She twisted her head slightly to smile fondly up at the earth pony. “We’ll do it your way. But promise me, after this is all over we’ll take some time to sort out our own issues?”
“Ah’d Pinkie promise ya, but Ah think our girl’s a bit off rigt’ now.” The earth pony said, glancing nervously in the direction of the hospital rooms. “But Ah’ll give ya my word, Rarity. Soon as this is all behind us, we’ll get things sorted out.”
“Thank you.” The white mare whispered and nuzzled back into her shoulder with a relieved smile.
“Side’s, Ah reckon ya’ll forgot something when you was making yer list of catastrophes earlier…”
The unicorn looked up at her in confusion.
“It’s nearly two o’clock.” The orange mare said.
“What!”
Rarity gasped as she pulled her head free to check the time for herself. Applejack lifted her head away as the white unicorn stood up and saw that the clock on the wall did indeed read less than a quarter to two.
“Oh my stars, afternoon classes are about to let out and…”
“An’ after that little show we put on with Pinkie’s flying gizmo getting Dash to the hospital, everypony in town’s gonna be talking bout Dash being here,” the farm pony finished, also standing up.
“Scootaloo,” the unicorn realized, “she’s going to panic when she finds out.”
“An' Ah reckon Applebloom an’ Sweetie Belle ain’t gonna be too calm neither. One of us should probably go get them fillies ‘fore some rumor from Lilly or Roseluck sends’m into a worse tizzy then need be.”
Rarity nodded.
“You’d better go, Applejack. The girls will probably trust you more than they would me, especially Scootaloo, since you’re such close friends with Dash.”
“Ah reckon yer right’. I’d best get going.” Almost as soon as she started for the door however, the earth pony slowed to a stop. “Only… Rarity?”
“Yes?”
Applejack leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on the unsuspecting mare’s lips. The kiss only lasted a second but for Rarity the world seemed to stop as the farm pony's chaste lips touched her own. A spark of electricity raced up her spine before the earth pony nervously pulled away.
“Ah… Ah reckon Ah wouldn’t mind it if things did go… too far between us,” the orange mare said quietly, her cheeks burning and her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her.
Rarity stared at her for a moment before her own cheeks flashed scarlet and her eyes also dropped to stare at the ground.
“I… I don’t think I would mind either… Applejack,” she whispered.
Both of the mares stared at each other’s hooves while they smiled and blushed furiously. After a minute Rarity’s senses returned and she shook herself out of her daze.
“But that’s for later. You have to see to those fillies!”
Applejack snapped back to earth and nodded.
“Right, I’m off.”
“Go!” the red faced unicorn yelled, almost shoving the orange mare out the door with her magic.
As she watched the blond mare gallop away, Rarity felt another spark of electricity shoot up her back causing her to shudder happily.
Perhaps this day was finally looking up?