“APPLEJACK!” Rainbow Dash screamed, diving for the ground, where her whole life seemed to be hanging in the balance. She felt like it took years to reach the grass where Applejack lay, even though she knew it was a matter of seconds. Twilight was still cautiously looking in AJ’s eyes while Fluttershy held a limp orange hoof in her own.
“What happened?! Somepony do something!” Dash yelled as soon as her hooves hit the ground. She raced to AJ, and pressed an ear to her chest. Dash thought she heard a heartbeat, but it was impossible to be sure over the thumping of her own heart.
“I don’t know what happened,” Twilight said as her horn started to glow and the magic traveled to AJ’s body. “Just- AH!” The glow stopped with Twilight’s yell, and her eyes went wide.
Dash’s head shot up, “What’s wrong?!”
Twilight didn’t answer, instead she quickly touched her horn to AJ’s forehead and closed her eyes. The horn started to glow again, but this time the magenta was streaked with green as it pulsed. Dash watched with her mouth hanging open as Twilight just sat there for almost a minute before she looked up, out of breath.
“It was magic.” Twilight stared at Dash. “She was completely overloaded with magic.”
“She doesn’t have that much magic! She’s an earth pony!” Dash said wildly.
“I know that! It must have been because of your sonic rainboom.” Twilight immediately clapped a hoof over her mouth, but it was too late.
“My. . .” Dash’s heart twisted, and she threw herself across Applejack’s body, close to tears. “I’m sorry, AJ. I’m so sorry, you two. Just be okay, please be okay.”
“She’s alive, and she’ll be okay.” Twilight said softly, walking over to Dash and laying a hoof on her shoulder. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t have. This doesn’t even make sense.”
“If she’s okay, why isn’t she awake?” Dash snapped.
“She doesn’t have a horn. All that magic inside of her didn’t have anyplace to go, so it just built up. It probably- wasn’t very comfortable. She passed out.”
Dash stared at Twilight, but it only took a few seconds of thought for her to narrow her eyes at her friend. “Twilight. You don’t pass out when something isn’t very comfortable. You pass out when something hurts. A lot. And AJ is no wimp.”
“I know, Dash,” Twilight whispered.
Dash did her best to not fly into Twilight’s face as she yelled, “If it hurt AJ that much, what happened to the-”
“Rainbow, she’s waking up.” Fluttershy said softly.
Dash forgot about Twilight instantly, crouching beside her marefriend as AJ blearily opened her eyes. “Applejack? AJ, are you okay?”
“Hurts.” Applejack drew a shaky breath, focusing on Dash. “‘S the foal okay?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight supplied. “If I check now, it’s going to hurt you more, and that won’t be good for the baby.”
Dash glanced down at AJ’s body, at her belly where their foal was. Where she should be. Nothing had changed, AJ looked the same, she wasn’t bleeding, but the foal might just be... not there. Her foal. Dash’s daughter. Gone.
She couldn’t look at Applejack’s face, so Dash looked up at the sky, where a fading rainbow still hung, a reminder of how she got here. She knew she had to tell AJ, and she knew she could never make it right, so Dash just rambled, “I’m sorry, AJ. This is all my fault. My stupid rainboom did this, but I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t mean to... I didn’t-”
“Hush,” AJ said. “Just hold me.”
Dash carefully moved a hoof behind AJ’s head, and cradled it in her lap. Applejack’s eyes closed, but Dash could see the pain in AJ’s face. As she heard the sound of galloping hooves and a wagon coming from town, Dash whispered, “It’s gonna be okay, AJ.”
***
Several hours later, Applejack lay in Twilight’s guest bed, which had been carried down to the basement next to Twilight’s devices. Due to the experimental nature of the magic involved, the hospital quickly released her into Twilight’s care. Now wires ran from AJ’s forelegs and head to the big machine, and she was trying to keep herself from staring at the steady feed of paper with markings she didn’t understand. Since she knew that those markings were somehow connected to her health and the health of her foal, it was hard to look away.
The only other pony in the room right now was Rainbow Dash. Her friends and family wanted to sit with them, but Applejack insisted that they stay back. She didn’t want to be around other ponies, it hurt too much. Physically, the pain was down to a dull throbbing feeling all over her body that reminded her of the time she tried to buck the entire orchard by herself, except this time she seemed to have been bucking with every organ in her body. But even when she first woke up, at it’s worst, the physical pain was nothing compared to the torture of not knowing if her foal was alive. Only Dash could understand that, so she was the only pony Applejack wanted right now.
Dash, for her part, was staring at the information from the machines with a mask of grim determination. Applejack knew that her marefriend was looking for some way to defend her and their baby, but there was nothing to fight right now. So Dash seemed to be trying to intimidate the lines being scribbled on the paper into giving them good news. Applejack was seriously worried about Twilight’s equipment if it didn’t give Dash what she wanted.
“Dash?” Applejack said gently.
“Yeah?” Dash replied, never taking her eyes off the feed.
“You don’t even know what those mean, sugarcube.”
“One of the lines is your magic levels, right? I think it’s the jumpy fast one. I wanna go and get Twilight soon as it does something.”
“It hasn’t done nothin’ different yet, and ya’ don’t even know if it’s the right line,” Applejack pointed out. “Twilight’s gonna be back to check in a few minutes. Come’ere and lay with me.”
Dash pulled herself away from the measurements, and flew over to AJ, landing softly on the bed next to her. “Feeling any better?”
“Hurtin’ less, at least.” Applejack snuggled against Dash as much as she could without pulling the wires off.
“I’m sorry, AJ. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I didn’t mean to-”
“Shh. It’s gonna be okay. You didn’t know, sugarcube. It’s more my fault, me and Twilight were talkin’ about my magic levels bein’ high, and about not bein’ ‘round too much magic. We thought it’d be okay, that the extra magic was just ‘cause...” Applejack swallowed. If they’d been right, and the baby was a pegasus, the idea that it might not be alive would just hurt Dash more. She went on in a different direction. “Anyhow, I shoulda been more careful. I just didn’t even think ‘bout all the magic in your rainboom.”
“Neither did I. I’m such an idiot! I was so busy thinking about the Wonderbolts and flying routines that I didn’t even think that a big, magic explosion right in front of my pregnant marefriend might be a bad idea.“ After a pause, Dash went on in a small, pleading voice, “Applejack?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think the foal is okay?”
Applejack sighed. “I dunno.”
“I know you don’t,” Dash said. “But what do you think? Like, inside you, your gut instinct. What’s it say?”
“I think she’s okay,” Applejack whispered. Knowing it was wishful thinking, she added, “But don’t- don’t go gettin’ your hopes up on that.”
“I think she’s okay too,” Dash agreed, which made Applejack relax as Dash went on, “I mean, whatever happens, AJ, I love you. And I’m here for you. But, I think she’s in there, and I love her too.”
As much as Applejack knew that it was nothing more than a guess, both of them saying it made her feel better. Pretending they knew the baby was there calmed the terror, even if it was just for a little while longer. “You can tell her you love her. I know ya’ tell her at night.”
Dash smiled sadly, not even bothering to blush that AJ knew her mushy secret. She leaned towards AJ’s belly. “I love you, little pod pony. No matter what, I love you, so much.”
Hearing a soft knock at the door, AJ looked up to the top of the open staircase as Dash sat up quickly. The door opened and Twilight came down the stairs, “Hey guys. How are you feeling, Applejack?”
“Better,” Applejack said, then she held her breath as Twilight walked over and read the feeds from the machines.
“Your magic levels are coming down. Just another hour or so, and I’ll know it’s safe.”
Applejack let out the breath, resigning herself to more waiting. “Okay.”
Twilight smiled sadly. “I wish I could give you something to relax you, but most non-magical ways of doing that aren’t good for a foal. So, just please try to relax, okay? It would be the best thing for everypony if you could take a nap.”
Applejack shook her head. “I don’t think I can sleep.”
“You’ve gotta try, AJ.” Dash flew out of the bed. “You want some warm milk or something?”
Applejack looked to Dash. She knew Dash understood. “I ain’t hungry. And I ain’t tired, neither. I just keep thinkin’...”
“AJ, it’s for our foal. It’s better for the foal if you get some sleep.” Dash met AJ’s eyes, and Applejack knew there was no argument she could make that didn’t involve admitting defeat. She couldn’t admit defeat, not to herself and especially not to Dash, so she just swallowed and nodded.
“I’ll try.”
Dash flew over her and kissed her on the forehead. “Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”
“Okay.” Applejack nodded. “I love ya’.”
“I love you too. Both of you,” Dash said softly.
“Come on, Dash. We can wait upstairs.” Twilight motioned to the stairs, and both she and Dash left Applejack alone in the basement with the sound of the machine scribbling its results.
Applejack closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep. It didn’t work. Without Dash, she was so much less sure that her foal was with her; every thought was easily dismissed as a lie she was telling herself. She almost wished she just knew, one way or the other, but she had a guess that finding out for sure that they lost the foal would bring a world of pain she couldn’t imagine.
She thought of Dash talking to the foal; both at night, and a few minutes ago, when AJ almost believed that they must be right, that the foal was still with them. She needed that, she needed to feel that again, so she closed her eyes and whispered to herself:
Sugarcube...
Please be there. Please, sugercube, stay with me.
I want ya’ so bad, I want ya’ to be strong and healthy, me and your mama are gonna take such good care’a you, my darlin’ filly. Just stay with me, I’ll keep ya’ safe.
It’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna make it, I know ya’ will. You got the two strongest ponies in Equestria for mamas, I know you’re one tough little filly. I just wanna meet you, darlin’. Your mamas just wanna meet ya’ and hold ya’, so don’t ya’ go leavin’ us. Twilight’s gonna fix this. She’ll find out what’s gone wrong. You just gotta be there so she can set it right. Please be there.
***
Upstairs, it was quickly becoming apparent to Twilight that she and Dash didn’t make the best team in a stressful situation. Twilight was going over all of her notes repeatedly, trying to make sense of a magic surge with no apparent source. Dash, despite a whole library of books to keep her busy, was hovering over her shoulder. This would have been distracting enough, but Dash wasn’t exactly subtle about her eagerness for an answer.
“How about now?”
“I’m trying! I need to concentrate...” Twilight sighed, her probably useless train of thought broken. “We should relax a little, Dash.”
Dash shot her an incredulous look. “Relax? When Applejack almost died? When we don’t know what happened to my foal?”
Twilight cringed. “Okay. Yeah. No relaxing.”
Looking back to the scrolls, Twilight once again scanned a year’s worth of notes for anything out of the ordinary. A graph of Applejack’s magic levels had been a gentle wave before the pregnancy, up and down with the seasons and planting. There were a few small spikes, when they’d attended the Summer Sun celebration, or Zap Apple harvest, but there was nothing to indicate that she was capable of producing magic herself, even if the sonic rainboom had amplified it. At worst, there should have been a jump that would have worn off in a few days. Applejack might have felt a tingle, a magical vibration almost like the one when-
“Got it yet?”
“Stop it!” Twilight snapped. She saw Dash flap back a few feet, and Twilight shook her head. “I can’t do this, Dash. I can’t concentrate with you interrupting every few seconds.”
Dash sighed. “Look, I’m sorry, I just can’t take all this not knowing stuff.”
“I know. It’s driving me crazy too. I mean, I should know, everything about Applejack’s health is here in my notes.” Twilight glanced down at her papers again. “This shouldn’t have happened. Not like this.”
“Okay. So explain it to me.” Dash said, landing next to her and looking at the notes. “Go ahead and tell me everything, and tell me what doesn’t make sense. Then I’ll know something... I’ll know what you don’t know, at least.”
“Alright. Well, her magic levels have been high, I knew that.” Twilight motioned to the charts. “And... a sonic rainboom can amplify magic, it did that to me when I got my cutie mark. But I already had strong unicorn magic. With how high AJ’s magic levels were when I tried to check her after she passed out, the only way this makes any sense is if the baby has stronger magic than I do.”
Dash blinked. “The baby is a unicorn? You said it couldn’t be a unicorn!”
“It can’t!” Twilight insisted. “I mean, that doesn’t make any sense. Even if it was a unicorn, her magic levels shouldn’t have been elevated yet. It was something with the spell. It must have been. Somehow, some residual magic was attached to the foal...”
“But you said it must have been stronger magic than yours.” Dash sat back on her haunches. “How could you attach stronger magic than you have?”
“I can’t.” Twilight sighed. “This is completely illogical. I can’t control magic stronger than-” her eyes went wide. “Oops.”
Dash’s eye matched Twilight’s. “Oops? Twilight, what oops?”
Twilight smacked a hoof to her face. “You have magic stronger than mine! I forgot- I can’t believe I didn’t- ARGH!”
“Twilight, don’t go crazy on me now.” Dash flew up and laid a hoof on Twilight shoulder. “I'm a pegasus, she's an earth pony. We just have regular pony magic!”
“That's just it, you do have magic! You're both bearers of elements of harmony! That's what I forgot to calculate!” Twilight shook off Dash’s hoof, turning to her notes. “I mean, we don't know how the elements work genetically, I don't think we pass them to our kids... usually.” Twilight started furiously making notes and calculating magic levels, talking as much to herself as to Rainbow Dash, who just looked on in worried confusion.
“Unless somepony is magically bonding two of our essences together, and accidentally bonds two extremely powerful pieces of ancient magic using even more magic. Of course, that wouldn’t be stable...” She cringed at her results. Princess Celestia herself wouldn’t be able to convince her to go through with a spell that risky, but Twilight had already done it.
“Then if that was exposed to a large scale magical event, one that amplifies magic. . . Yes. That could cause a massive surge of magic. Which an earth pony has no outlet for.” She nodded, momentarily proud of herself for figuring out exactly what had happened, before the facts of the situation sunk in. Her face fell, her ears drooped, and she hung her head in shame. One single, simple fact- the entire reason she even knew Applejack and Rainbow Dash- and she’d forgotten, and put her friend in danger.
Dash’s voice drew Twilight out of her self pity. “Is AJ okay? Is the foal okay?”
“I won’t know if the foal is okay until her magic levels come down.” Twilight shook her head sadly. “If she miscarried, once her magic levels are down she should be back to normal. If she didn’t miscarry. . . she basically has a magical bomb inside of her until the baby is born.”
Rainbow Dash froze. Her mouth moved a few times before sounds came out, but even those were less than helpful, “Uh- wha- how-”
“This could happen again. It could be even worse, and I don’t know what might set it off. It’s not like my magic, I have some control over that. AJ doesn’t have any way to control or direct this force.” Twilight took a deep breath. “I’d have to keep her away from anything really magical, like the Summer Sun Celebration. And she shouldn’t have any spells cast on her, unless I absolutely have to check on the pregnancy. The safest thing would be to keep her on Sweet Apple Acres, and Rarity and I just won’t use magic while we’re there.”
“But- if something happened...?” Dash’s voice seemed small and helpless, and it caught Twilight off guard.
Twilight leaned over and nuzzled Dash, and answered gently. “There’s no way to tell. It would depend on the scale of the magic, and if it triggered the magic inside her. It’s unstable, I can’t say how it would react without knowing the specific event. It also depends on if I’m there to drain the magic right away, and how much magical pressure she can take.”
“Could she die from that?” Dash whispered.
Twilight stared at Dash. She could think of a dozen different ways that AJ could die from that, just off the top of her head, and all of them were extremely unpleasant. But she decided that at least one of them should be able to sleep that night.
“It’s possible,” Twilight said slowly.
Some of Dash’s determination returned to her face, and she sounded more herself as she demanded, “How possible?”
“I just don’t know.” Twilight shook her head. “I don’t even know if the foal is alive right now.”
Dash looked Twilight in the eye, “I have to be with AJ. Now.”
“Let her rest, Dash. Remember what she’s been through today. Do you really want her to have to think about this, when we still don’t know if it’s an issue?”
Dash considered that, then walked over to a pillow and sat on it, looking at Twilight expectantly. “So what do I do?”
Twilight sighed. “Wait. And try to relax.”
A little while later, Twilight and Dash made their way quietly down to the basement. Applejack was asleep, her forelegs wrapped around a pillow, holding it tightly to her. Dash landed on the bed and gave AJ a gentle nuzzle while Twilight checked the feed from the machine.
Applejack’s magic levels were still much higher than normal, but they were in the safe zone. Twilight knew that at this point, checking would probably be safer and healthier for both AJ and the baby than waiting any longer. She glanced over at the bed, where Applejack had released the pillow and replaced it with Rainbow Dash, holding the pegasus tightly while she watched Twilight.
“It’s safe now. I can check,” Twilight said nervously.
Dash turned to give Twilight a deadly serious stare. “You’re sure it’s safe? A hundred percent sure?”
Twilight took a step back on instinct before collecting herself and nodding. “I- I’m sure. I can do this safely, Dash.”
“Go on then,” Applejack said.
Twilight focused on Applejack, and with the lightest magic she could manage she searched AJ’s body for signs of the life growing within her. It took longer than usual without the full force of her magic, but after a few minutes Twilight found it. She quickly dropped the spell and looked at the worried faces of her friends.
“You’re still pregnant, Applejack.”
Applejack’s face lit up with joy and relief, “Oh Twilight... thank you. Dash, ya’ hear that? She’s still-” it only took a glance to reveal that Dash’s emotions were much more confused, her face fighting between happiness and fear. Applejack’s face fell quickly. “What’s wrong?”
“We figured out what caused the accident.” Twilight spoke up, trying not to meet Applejack’s eyes. “I made a mistake. I accidentally bonded your Elements of Harmony, and the short version is that the foal is magically unstable.”
“What’s that mean?” Applejack looked between Twilight and Dash.
“It means this could happen again,” Dash started levelly, but then her voice cracked, “And it could kill you, AJ.”
“Huh.” Applejack looked surprised, and not exactly comfortable with the idea, but she just swallowed and asked Twilight cautiously, “Is there a way we can make that not happen?”
“If we keep you away from magic, you should be fairly safe,” Twilight said. “Of course, that depends on nopony doing anything too magical near you, and nothing unexpected happening around you, and... well, let’s hope we don’t have to use the Elements of Harmony before the foal is born.”
Applejack thought about that for a moment. “Twilight? Just how far do I have to be from a sonic rainboom to be safe?”
Twilight saw the worry in Applejack’s eyes, and understood immediately: Dash’s Wonderbolt auditions. “Well, it does have a huge magical radius... we were all over Equestria when we saw Dash’s first one. I’m not sure, but I can do some calculations.”
“Don’t worry about it, Twilight,” Dash said calmly. “I’m not doing one while AJ is pregnant.”
“But sugarcube, your auditions are in a few months,” Applejack reminded Dash.
Dash shook her head with a grim expression. “Doesn’t matter. No way am I doing that anywhere in the world while it could hurt you and my foal like that.”
“This is the Wonderbolts, Dash. Maybe I’d be safe in Appleloosa... let Twilight check at least.”
“AJ, right now there are zero Wonderbolts who have ever done a sonic rainboom. I can audition without it.” Dash pointed out.
“Yeah, but what if it’s the push ya’ need? You can’t miss out on your dream just ‘cause of me.” It was obvious that if Applejack hadn’t been laying in a bed, she would have put her hoof down.
“It’s not just because of you, AJ. It’s you and my foal, the two most important ponies in the world. I told you, you guys come first.” Dash said, crossing her hooves in front of her.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “If Twilight says there’s someplace we can be safe-”
“Twilight forgot to mention all of this when I did one right in front of you and almost killed you!” Dash shouted, then with a grimace she shook her head. “I’m not taking chances, AJ.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack snapped. “Twilight’s also the one that gave you this foal! How can ya’ not-”
“Guys! Stop it!” Twilight shouted, her face beet red. “Dash, it’ll take no time at all to do the calculations. I can do them tomorrow. Then you guys can talk about it, after you’ve both had a chance to rest.”
Dash just sighed and rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing to-”
“AJ doesn’t need to be fighting with you right now,” Twilight pointed out. “Please talk about it tomorrow.”
Dash opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it. She turned and gave an apologetic look to Applejack. “Okay. This is just because I love you, AJ.”
Twilight wasn’t sure if Dash meant that was the only reason she was protesting or the only reason she was willing to drop the argument, but either way Applejack relaxed.
“I love you too, sugarcube.” Applejack hugged Dash, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. Dash caught AJ’s lips and turned it into a harder and longer kiss, at which point Twilight politely looked away.
She was glad AJ and Dash were holding together under the circumstances, very well, it seemed. But she couldn’t forget that this was all her fault. Dash was right, they had no reason to trust her anymore. She had no reason to trust herself. What else had she forgotten? She wanted to look for something, anything, but there was no way to look for something she couldn’t remember and might not even be there in the first place. At this point, she knew she wasn’t going to find a mistake unless it manifested.
She glanced up, AJ and Dash were still locked in their embrace. As comforting as that was, Twilight cleared her throat.
Her friends looked up, and Applejack blushed a little, “Uh, sorry, forgot you were there. It’s been a long day.”
“I know.” Twilight said with a small smile. “I’ll go get Big Macintosh, and he can take you home in the cart. Sweet Apple Acres is probably the safest place in Equestria for you, right now.”
“Well, that’s lucky, ain’t it Dash?” Applejack said, smiling. “We’re goin’ home, sugarcube. The three of us are goin’ home, and we’ll get some sleep. This’ll all seem better in the mornin’.”