"Six hundred and fifty-five thousand bits?!"
All noise in the waiting room stopped. A pony with a broken arm quit wailing in pain, a crying filly ceased all noise, and a pony sobbing over the bad news she had just received completely shut up. They all averted their attention in unison to where the booming voice had come from.
Applejack's nose was not two inches away from the doctor's, who was nearly sitting in an attempt to get as far away from Applejack as possible. Applejack breathed heavily from her outburst, but was otherwise as still as stone as she waited for a response. Just before a bead of sweat dropped from the doctor's chin, he spoke.
"I-I understand your concern, Applejack, but it's simply not a simple operation and we--"
"And what if I can't come up with the money? Hm? What do I do then doc'?" Little drops of Applejack's spit flew into the pony's face, who winced every time she opened her mouth.
"Th-then I'm afraid..." The doctor trailed off. It seemed as if he did not want to say the obvious, in complete fear of what Applejack's reaction may be. He looked as if he was about to cry.
"Applejack... you're turnin' red..." Applebloom's voice was tiny, matching the doctor's tension.
At that point, Applejack noticed the distinct silence of the previously loud waiting room. She leaned back and gave the terrified pony in front of her some space.
"Look I... I didn't mean to get all riled up. It's just that we ain't got nearly enough money. Granny Smith has always been as fit as a fiddle for her old age, and to see her suddenly get kiddie stones, or whatever she's got... it's frustrating, doctor."
With a little more confidence now that Applejack was not in a seemingly-murderous rage, the doctor replied, "Listen, I understand. But the unchangeable truth is that we don't have any of the equipment we're going to need here because the operation has never been done before. We have some of the best doctors in all of Equestria here, and I'm sure we can fix her up fine. But kidney stones have only ever appeared in thirteen ponies in all of history. This is the only place you're gonna' find the experience to perform the procedure. I'd say it's a stroke of luck that we even have access to the necessary tools."
"I just... we've been all across Equestria tryin' to find any pony who knew what the problem was and we've been let down every time. And to finally find help only to have it just out of reach... it ain't right," Applejack said, with her voice beginning to crack up.
The doctor frowned as the bustle of noise was beginning to revive itself in the waiting room. "You all seem like good ponies to me. I'll tell you what--I'll put in a word with my boss to let you ponies have the payments spread out. Normally, we'd need it all up front, which usually gets done because of the insurance. But I don't think there's any insurance that covers this, right?"
Applejack drooped her head and stared at the floor. She shook her head.
The doctor continued, "As I thought. We'll keep her here and as healthy as we can, but we won't even be able to begin operation until we have a payment of some twenty thousand bits. The hospital can cover about five thousand bits for it, and I can talk to our fundraisers supervisor about getting something going for Granny Smith. But she needs to be helped as soon as possible, and I'm sorry but there needs to be a way to get those bits here fast."
"I see..." Applejack was almost whispering. "Thanks a bunch for the help doctor... and I beg your pardon for gettin' like that."
"Don't worry about it. I'll contact you about any news on the situation." The doctor gave a small smile as he tucked a notepad into his lab coat. He looked at Applebloom, and then to Big Mac before giving a nod and going back into the hall. He wiped Applejack's spit off his face just before he disappeared around a corner.
"Let's go say bye to Granny Smith," Applejack said after a solid minute of staring at the white, tiled floor.
Granny Smith was asleep when the three siblings eased themselves through the door. As always, she was mumbling in her sleep. She would twitch every now and then, extending a hoof out toward the ceiling, as if she was boxing. She would have looked like a normal dozing Granny Smith if she hadn't grit her teeth and yelped in pain every couple of minutes or so.
Apparently some kind of stone had been produced in one of her organs and it wouldn't leave her body. The doctors said it was cutting her from the inside out, and that only two other mares had ever had a kidney stone. Except in the other cases, the ponies could pee out the stupid little stone, and everything would be fine after a little pain. This wasn't the case for Granny Smith. Whether it was her urinary tract simply being a bit too old for that or plain bad luck, that darn stone wasn't going anywhere.
Applejack's thoughts were interrupted by a quiet sniffle next to her. Tears were rolling down Applebloom's face, and Big Mac looked a little teary-eyed too. She let her cry for a moment, letting the only sounds in the room be quiet crying and the beeping from the machines attached to Granny Smith.
"Applebloom..." Applejack brought her little sister closer to her with a hoof. "We're going to make sure that she gets better. And that goes for you too, Big Mac. I promise y'all that we'll find one way or another to fix Granny Smith back up again."
"But the farm doesn't have the bits to pay for anything! Granny Smith is going to die without any money!" Applebloom broke out into a sob. Applejack shushed her, part of her wanting not to wake her grandmother, and the other part wanting to comfort her sister.
"I swear it, Applebloom. We'll come up with the money. I'm not sure exactly how, but you can bet all your apples we'll do it, sugarcube."