Chapter 2
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
What in the hay..OW OW OW. Big Mac’s eyes shot open, only to be shut because of the blinding white area he was in. As Mac opened his eyes again...slowly this time....he could hear muffled voices to his left. He had a throbbing pain surrounding his entire left eye, and his muscles were more sore than bucking the entire orchard in one day. He looked down to see his front legs covered in bandages, as well as his front left hoof in a cast. His cast seemed to have insignias all over it. Looking closer, they seemed to be drawn in....crayon? Applebloom... thought Big Mac. She must’ve visited durin’ my time out. Come ta think of it.. Mac thought ..how long have I been out? And where the hay am I?
As he searched his surroundings, Big Mac noticed nothing of particular familiarity.This looked like some kind of medical facility, there were tubes and pipes running across the floor. There was a mirror in the corner of the room that was parallel to the door, and a nightstand to his right. It looked like a hospital, but it didn’t have the hospital feel. There were no orderlies, no doctors, or janitors. Actually, there was no noise at all. He had visited the ponyville hospital a few times as a colt, and he made regular checkups, being the workhorse he was. It was at the very least busy during the less dangerous seasons. Everything here looked, well, sterile. His entire room was a stark white with no extra beds or added personality. The only thing that indicated that he had any contact with the other world was his cast, and a picture of the Apple family that was on his nightstand.
Ohh, horseapples. Applejack. She’s gotta been worried sick. An’ Ah left her with the whole farm ta look after. As Big Mac tried to sit up, he felt his wings catch on his hospital bedsheets, which were tucked in way too tight, by the way. He wanted to look at the picture that Applejack left.....WAIT! What The Hay? Big Macintosh slowly reached towards his back, running his right hoof across his side until he felt it. A metal feather. And then another. And another. NO. No no no no, this can’t be real. It can’t be. Maybe it’s some kind of drug. Yea, that’s it. This is obviously some kinda hospital. I must be druggaAGGHHH! Oh Celestia, they’re moving!
His new appendages started to twitch. Unbeknownst to Mac, this was going to become a routine occurrence until he learned to control them. Needless to say, he started to panic. I...I..g-gotta..go. As Mac got out of his bed, he had not factored into his escape process that some of his muscles may have atrophied. His back legs fell from beneath him, and his head slammed into the cold tiled floor. Luckily, the rush of adrenaline from discovering he had extra appendages kept Mac’s head from aching more than it already should.
As Macintosh scrambled to his feet, he realized his legs were wobbly, weak, and considerably smaller than he remembered. He stumbled towards the corner which contained his mirror. He tried slowly placing one hoof over the other, only to learn that his being able to walk would be hindered by a combination of weak muscles and shock. He crashed into the foot post of his bed, slamming his ribs into them in the process. Looking towards the mirror, he knew he only had one chance. Big Mac leapt to the wall across from him, grabbing ahold of the windowsill ledge. After getting his bearings on the ledge, Mac slowly turned is body towards the mirror.
Applejack sat in the waiting room, still uncomfortable with being in this facility. She had been to hospitals before, apple bucking wasn’t always the safest occupation, and she’d visited Dash a few times when her tricks turns sour. But this place, this place was just plain spooky. There were barely any ponies to be seen, and the few that could be seen wore full white lab coats with white face masks. They seemed to move silently from room to room, emotionless, almost ghostly. AJ didn’t like having her brother here. She knew it was necessary, and that Princess Celestia would make sure her brother would be safe, but this place....it didn’t feel real.
As for the state of Applejack, she responded to the accident the same way anypony would. She had visited Mac three times a week for a month now. The doctors, what little contact she had with them, told her that it would take time for Mac to wake. That wasn’t good enough. After what he’d been through, and what he was about to go through, she could at least stay as close as she could. That also gave her the chance to visit Soarin‘ during the times when Big Mac was being worked on.
Soarin’.....gosh darn it. Why’d you hafta come that day? Applejack had wanted that boiler replaced for a long time, but new ones were expensive, and it just wasn’t in the families budget. If ah had just ponied up the dough, none of this woulda happened. I got my brother and a friend seriously hurt, jus‘ cus ah was being cheap. At least I could be there when Soarin‘ woke up. Soarin‘ had woken about a week ago. AJ had been reading a farmers almanac to him, more to keep herself from sleeping. She and Applebloom had been in Mac’s room that entire day, and while Applebloom was sweet, her enthusiasm for becoming a “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CAST COLORER” had worn AJ down.
AJ thought back to Soarin’ reaction to be, as he put it, “not a giant, oozing puddle”. He was a strange pony, AJ thought. Not a bad strange, just....strange. He was handling the injures almost disturbingly well since he’d woken up .
“Wow, wait ‘til Spitfire sees this” said Soarin’.
“Who’s Spitfire” asked AJ, and Soarin’ sensed a bit of tension in her voice.
“Ohhh, she’s...just a friend. She’s my squad’s captain in the Wonderbolts.”
“Uh-huh, sure Soarin’, whatever you say, Ah know what you Canterlot folk are like” AJ grinned, having found some interesting conversation in this place. She moved to the side of Soarin’s bed, staring him dead in the face. “You’re probably rolling in mares back home.”
“Hey, I resent that!” Soarin’ grinned. “I’m glad you have such a high opinion of me, Applejack. But you’ll be sorely disappointed to learn that I’m not the player you think I am.” Soarin’ raised his left eyebrow and gave Applejack sultry look. “But I can change.”
Applejack laughed at Soarin’s attempt to look alluring, mostly because his bandages covered a good portion of his face, and it looked more like he had an itch instead of any kind of desire.
“Ah must say, Soarin’. You’re handling this extremely well, what with all the damage you took.”
“Well, I look at it in two ways. One, I could be dead, or two, I could be in your brother’s state.” One could cut the tension in that room after mentioning Big Mac. Applejack’s head dropped ears to their sides, and she held her hat close to her chest. Soarin’s eyes shot down, and silence filled the room. “How is he, anyway? These damn....whoever they are won’t tell me anything.”
Applejack looked up, wiping tears from her eyes. “They said he’ll live, but he had even more work done than you. I....I know Celestia’s doing all she can, but...what’s with all the secrecy? Ah don’t like it. He should be at home, with his kin. Ah can’ even see what he looks like, he’s so bandaged...”
Soarin” placed his hoof over Applejack’s. “He’s gonna be fine. No, he’ll be great. Just you see.” Soarin’ looked at his hoof, and then at Applejack. The light from his bedside window broke in, hitting the right side of AJ’s face. Her emerald eyes shined in the light, and Soarin’ realized just how much he liked seeing them. He could feel himself starting to blush and tried to suppressed it. Woah, buddy, chill out. You barely know her. She probably doesn’t even think about you like that. So what if she’ll the first mare you’ve been interested in since...
Soarin’ stopped his brain from dusting off old wounds. He didn’t want to think about what happened with his last marefriend, especially now.
Just...forget about her. But I have to admit, it looks like farm work does amazing things for your flank.
Soarin’ grinned like a filly in Sugarcube Corner.
Applejack smiled back at Soarin’. “Thanks, sugarcube. You’re a good friend.”
Soarin’s smile dimmed slightly, but not enough for AJ to notice. See...thought Soarin’....what did I tell ya? We’re friends. Nothing sexual about it....Oh Celestia, she dropped her hat.
Over the past few days, visiting Soarin’ had been the only thing for Applejack to do in this hospital. Unfortunately for her, he needed his rest today, and since she was already here, she figured the least she could do was read. As Applejack picked up a copy of last month’s Equestrian Girls, she heard a blood-curdling scream emanate from the direction of her brother’s room.
“WHAT THE F@%^ DID YOU DO TO ME!?” Big Mac was screaming at the orderlies, who were trying their best to hold Mac down in his bed. He pulled his right foreleg across his chest, flinging an one into a wall and freeing his right side. He attempted to get up, but two more medical ponies held him down from his left side. Mac dispersed them with one flap of his wing, launching them into the same wall. He jumped up from his bed rather poorly; his muscles were still not use to rapid movement after resting for so long. He scrambled to the door, throwing his left shoulder into its frame, and broke through.
Mac took a right and ran down the halls looking like a newborn foal, ripping off medical wraps, searching for an exit. He flew past medical ponies with horrified looks on their faces. First a right, then left, then right thought Mac. The phrase make it home scorched through his head like a sonic rainboom. Turning a corner on his left, he torn off the bandage on his face and came face to face with a Stetson wearing orange mare. His vision became fuzzy, and his head suddenly felt as light as a feather. “Applejac...” was all he could manage before passing out from exhaustion and shock.
Applejack recoiled at the sight she beheld. Big Macintosh resembled something out of an old pony horror film. He had two metal wings extending from holes just behind his shoulder blades. The base was a combination of metal and what appeared to be dragonbone. AJ had never seen dragonbone herself, so it was just a guess, but she knew pony bones didn’t have scales on them. Further up the wing, the bone fused with metal so dark, it looked almost black, and it somehow retained and immeccable shine. They looked like the princesses‘ wings, AJ thought. She figured they had to be, to account for Macs‘ size.
His back left hoof was shorn past his skin, revealing a combination of steel, lights and gears that interlocked with tendons just above his ankle. There was a main cog on the ball of his ankle, which was surrounded by blue, green, and red wires. The wires weaved within each other, led up to, and fused with the tendons. The rest of his leg was covered with skin and fur, but the distinct motion of gears was noticeable behind Mac’s cutie mark.
Macintosh’s chest was fully exposed, hiding none of his enhanced mechanics. Metal reached from his collarbone, to down past his hips. Mac’s shoulder muscles fed into the steel, with wire weaved within them. His chest plates were made of interlocking pieces of steel. A long, red tube of light ran down the center of his chest, and spilt to opposing sides just above his stomach. The lights lined Big Mac’s abs and receded into the skin above his hips.
Had Applejack seen only the right side of Mac’s face, she may had mistaken him for some other pony. His entire right cheek was gone, his skin torn from his jawline all the way to his temple. Mac’s eye glowed a deep red, slowly pulsing to the beat of his breathing. The bone of his eye was replaced with what AJ could assume was steel bars covered with sheet metal and rivets. Applejack could see the meaty parts surrounding Big Mac’s eye, and nearly passed out from the sight.
As she stumbled from the sight of her sibling in such a fashion, Applejack felt a pony at her back. She turned to face a slender green pony. The stallion was wearing a long lab coat that ended just before his cutie mark, which was a bubbling vial filled with a blue liquid. He donned a large black mustache that slightly curled at the end, as well as black hair that could only be described as similar to Nikoltla Tesla. His mustache had a long white streak on its left side, which continued on the right side of his hair, strangely enough.
“Hello, you must be Applejack.” Said the pony. “My name is Forest Rain, but folks around here call me Dr. Forrester. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but would you mind helping me?”
Applejack shook out of her daze and noticed Dr. Forrester attempting to lift her brother onto a gurney. She grabbed Mac’s hind legs, and with their combined effort, managed to move Big Mac off the floor.
“So, about those questions. Please, follow me.”
Applejack cleared her throat, making Forrester turn and notice AJ pointing at her still incapacitated brother. “An’ what are we gonna do with him, exactly?”
“Oh, of course. Let me just call my assistant. JOEL, GET YOUR LAZY FLANK OUT HERE!!!” As soon as Dr. Forrester finished shouting, a short, cream colored stallion carrying multiple restrains appeared from behind Applejack and carted Big Mac back in the direction of his room.
Applejack followed Dr. Forrester to a conference room adjacent to Mac’s room. Forrester motioned for Applejack to sit. She did so quickly, realizing that today’s events had drained her energy more than she’d thought.
“Coffee?” Dr. Forrester brought two cups of black java to the table and took the seat opposite AJ.
“No...Ah can’ stand the stuff. I’m a little more interested in what the hay Ah jus’ saw!” AJ slammed her hooves on the table, pointing at Forrester accusatorially.
“Miss Apple, if I may call you that, I’d love to explain everything to you, and I assure you that your brother as well as your friend Soarin’ will be perfectly fine. But I need you to calm down.”
“Ah...” AJ stared into her cup, noticing her disheveled appearance and dropping eyes. “Fine, but I’m not guaranteeing Ah won’t buck ya after what ya’ll did to Mac.”
“I suppose we deserve as much. Now drink your coffee. It’s gonna be a long night.”