This chapter was written by Chuck-daddy.
Rainbow Dash was on the mend. A week and a half's stay in the Ponyville Hospital had wrought a great change. Her color had almost completely returned, and the wound on her leg was healed, although the area was still tender, and bore a scar she would have forever.
Over the course of her stay, she had accumulated a few personal items to make the small, sterile room feel a little more like home. These included a biography of Soarin' that Twilight had recommended, and a framed picture of Applejack set up on the nightstand.
Rainbow was staring at the photograph when the mare herself arrived.
"Knock, knock," Applejack called, sticking her head in the door.
"Come on in, AJ," Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack walked into the room, across to the bed, leaned in and planted a small kiss on Rainbow's lips. After pulling back, she sat down in a chair at bedside and looked at Rainbow Dash appraisingly for a few moments.
"It's hard to believe you were—literally—at death's door just a couple weeks ago," said Applejack.
"What can I tell ya, AJ? Takes more than a nibble from a changeling to bring down the Dash." Rainbow Dash laughed and flexed her forelegs with bravado.
Applejack smiled. "Ah know."
"I wish I could get out of here and go flying already, though."
Applejack chuckled softly and placed a gentle hoof on Rainbow Dash's face. "Rainbow, Ah know ya never listen to reason, and ya ain't about to start now, but trust the doctors, okay? When you were passed out from that infection, it—it was scary."
Green and cerise then met for several silent seconds, and both mares knew, without saying, all the terrible, bleak emotion that "scary" entailed.
At last, Rainbow Dash spoke again, trying to take a lighter tone. "Anyway," she said, "let me tell you about this great nurse here. She always makes my pillows really fluffy, and brings me extra pudding—"
Rainbow stopped short as her eyes whipped to the nightstand and she jumped. Applejack followed her gaze and saw what had scared her: the picture frame was floating several feet in the air, with no sign of unicorn magic around it.
"Relax, Sugar Cube," said Applejack, "Discord told me there'd be some souls that escaped from Tartarus, and they might do this, but they can't do ya no harm."
"If you say so." Rainbow's voice still sounded trepidatious.
Applejack stared at the hovering frame, and wasn't afraid. It was beyond the calm that her knowledge of what was causing it brought. It was more. She felt, if it were possible, safe and protected.