//------------------------------// // Breaks // Story: The Old Castle // by Applejinx //------------------------------// Rarity was counting the days, though she loathed herself for it. It had been nearly a week since the incident at the old castle, and she’d seen little of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They’d propped that gate open with rocks, brought Applejack home and put her to bed, and Dash had made good on her promise, or so Rarity suspected. In truth, she’d never doubted it for a moment; she simply wondered if the country pony was prepared for the whole Rainbow Dash package. She’d built up her own private history of Dash’s personal doings, from what she’d been able to learn, and it was surprisingly complicated. Applejack probably had two weeks at most before she got her own surprises and complications, and Rarity hoped she’d stand up to it, because Rainbow Dash needed stability, even if she didn’t know she wanted it. For the time being, Applejack glowed, the object of concentrated pegasus attention, and though she’d been bedridden for days with her muscles wrecked from her dreadful near-death experience, she’d been in luck: Rainbow Dash knew more than a little about recovery from severe athletic strain, and Applejack’s problem had been just that. In an amazingly short time she’d been seen hobbling around, Dash’s wing cuddling her openly as she struggled to master her nearly crippled body, which was apparently one big sprain. Twilight had hit the books to support her injured friend, and returned with advice that was probably all kinds of sensible, about how Applejack needed to rest and elevate the limbs—which would mean flipping her upside down, presumably—and put them on ice. Rainbow Dash agreed heartily with the ‘flipping Applejack upside down’ part, which got her a playful cuff from the smirking earth pony, but everything else in the advice was promptly ignored—and Twilight watched in horror as Applejack lifted a haybale and carried it into her barn, even though doing so had obviously hurt. Twilight’s suggestion had been taken as some sort of challenge, and Applejack was going to do the opposite of rest. She was going to resume her work, no matter what it cost her. Twilight flung the book with a cry of frustration, and stalked off in a huff. Five minutes later, she’d snuck back to rescue the book… Rarity had more important things to think about, however, or at least more productive things. Twilight Sparkle had asked her to help rescue those tapestries they’d found in the castle, and Rarity could hardly wait to get her hooves on them. It would be a major expedition, and even Pinkie Pie wanted to take part. Applejack and Rainbow Dash volunteered immediately, as if trying to beat each other to it, and Fluttershy was persuaded once more to take on dangerous-animal-soothing duties. They’d set off on a lovely winter day, with high hopes for ‘a clear sky and a safer adventure’, as Twilight cheerfully remarked. It would be among the most ironic statements she’d ever made. “You need to stop humoring her, Applejack! Seriously! This is really getting on my nerves, you know that?” said Rainbow Dash. Applejack looked back at her marefriend with narrowed eyes. “Y’all opinion is noted. You know, you can fly on ahead. You got wings, don’t you? Ain’t nothin’ stoppin’ you.” “I am terribly sorry to be such a burden…” said Rarity. “We’ll deal with it,” sighed Applejack. Rarity made a point of whining, fussing and balking at every patch of mud or rocky ground, because this forced the ponies to stop and wait for her. It was driving Rainbow Dash mad with frustration, but Rarity suppressed a smile, for she noticed how little Applejack was complaining about it. The country pony had dark, dark circles under her eyes, and her recuperation had been going badly. Her insistence on driving herself toward unrestricted work had ruined it, and only her determination had kept her going—and now, it plainly cost her more than she was prepared to admit, just to keep up with the other five. She wasn’t guessing Rarity’s motives, but she sagged and hung her head, staring into space, every time the fashion unicorn fussed and balked. “We’re almost there! Come on!” raged Rainbow Dash. Rarity picked her way across another insignificant mud puddle, and Applejack got moving as well, but in an unusual way—when anyone glanced at her, she held her head high and trotted normally, but when nobody was looking, the country pony stepped gently, wincing at every hoof-fall. Rarity shuddered to think about it. Stress carved lines in one’s face, and the foolish mare was devastating her complexion with this behavior. The gate remained as they’d left it: lifted through the efforts of Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity, and propped open with rocks levitated by Twilight. They hadn’t lifted it very high, for they’d been in a great hurry to get Applejack to safety, and sliding her under a half-raised gate was acceptable at the time. Rainbow Dash arrived first, and barely broke stride, slinking under the gate like Rarity’s cat, with a flutter of wings and a flick of the rainbow-colored tail. Twilight and Pinkie were more awkward, but just as quick. Fluttershy glanced back at the surrounding forest, her wings clapped tightly to her side in fright, and then flowed under the gate even more elegantly than Rainbow Dash had. Rarity cringed, realizing she would have to press low to the ground in the snow and slush, and that her tail would be ruined, and her belly soiled. She considered trying to use her magic to lift the gate, and quickly abandoned the idea as unrealistic. Then, she noticed that she was not alone. “Well… shoot,” said Applejack, staring at the only entrance, and trying to bend at the knees. The others had dropped to a pony crouch with ease, but Applejack’s limbs weren’t cooperating, and she’d concealed her condition so well that no-one but Rarity had noticed a problem. Now, she struggled to make it under the lowered portcullis, after a long trot had strained her muscles to the limit. Rarity watched. Applejack wasn’t even close to clearing the gate. “Oh, dear…” breathed the unicorn, her eyes worried. Applejack glared at her and set her hooves farther apart. “I got it! Oof… nnnh…” “Are you all right, dear?” asked Rarity. “Ah’m fine! Thanks for askin’! You just go on in.” “It’s… icky.” Applejack glared at the snowy ground. “Ain’t nothin’ but water. Nice an’ clean. You go on, get in there.” “You’re not fine,” said Rarity. “Are you?” That got Rarity twice the glare, and she stepped back a pace and protested, “Don’t be cross! I haven’t said anything! Have I?” “Said anything about whut?” challenged the stiff-legged earth pony. “You’ve been concealing it very well—but it looks like that hurts.” Applejack wore a sulky look, and didn’t reply at first. Then—“Darn tootin’ it does.” “Can I help?” “Yeah, by not tellin’ anypony. I got this.” Applejack gritted her teeth and tried to lower her body further. “An’ I better get a move on, too, they’ll come lookin’ for us in a minute…” “You stayed behind to help brush away the icky slush for me,” suggested Rarity. Applejack grinned a bit, though her expression was very strained. “I like yer thinkin’. That’s our story, then.” “Maybe if you move your hooves a little farther apart?” Applejack tried it, forcing her body still lower with a grimace, and managed to reach a position that would pass under the low-hanging portcullis. She held it, triumphantly. “Got it!” “You still have to move forward, too.” “Dammit, you would bring up a detail like that…” “Maybe you can sort of shuffle forward, a bit at a time?” Applejack did so, gritting her teeth, and Rarity threw caution to the winds and crawled under the gate with her, watching attentively. “A little further… yes… yes! You’ve done it!” “Told ya!” said Applejack, still in her lowered, hooves-wide stance, but looking up triumphantly. “Now, come along, Applejack, we’ll join the others.” Rarity set off, glancing back at the earth pony, just in time to see the worst possible sight and be too far away to stop it. Applejack tried to get her hooves under her but caught a patch of ice under one, and Rarity saw, in the frozen time of helplessly viewing a terrible accident, the earth pony’s legs go out from under her weight, too far, forcing an instinctive muscular reaction upon limbs already strained to breaking point—and stopping the fall, too late. Applejack stood, in her impossibly outstretched position, and her eyes were shocked and wide, staring at nothing. Rarity expected a scream or an outburst of cursing, but what she witnessed was somehow worse. The blonde earth pony whimpered “…oh my gosh…” very faintly, and her eyes began to roll back in her head. Rarity rushed to her side, and began supporting her weight with her forelegs, her horn glowing with further attempts to lift her friend. “Darling! Heavens! Is it bad?” She immediately wanted to kick herself for the foolish remark, but it had been made regardless. Applejack was in no position to complain, and though a sarcastic retort would’ve been reassuringly normal to hear, even that was beyond her. Tears came to her eyes, and she let out another too-quiet “…oh my…” and began to shake, her teeth gritting with a faint grinding noise. Rarity redoubled her efforts, and was able to lift Applejack off her tormented legs entirely with a heroic outburst of unicorn magic and physical strain, but the unicorn rapidly tired. “I can’t hold you! Do I lay you on your side? What must I do?” Applejack couldn’t answer, and Rarity couldn’t think fast enough. In the end, she just lowered Applejack gently down onto her own hooves again. She felt shudders rack the earth pony’s body as the weight went back onto her legs, but Applejack didn’t collapse. She stood, panting, eyes too wide, face twisted in anguish. “Oh, you poor dear! I’ll get the others…” “Don’t… you dare!” managed Applejack. “What? But darling!” “Ah… am not… gittin’ carried outta this place again!” “But look at you! Applejack, dear, it is cold, yet you are sweating. As if you weren’t harming your complexion enough! I insist! I’ll have my spa reserve a hot bath for you, and-” “Won’t!” gritted the earth pony, her glare intimidating between lowered brows and the dark circles under her eyes. The sheer fierceness stopped Rarity for a moment, and when she replied, it was with equal incautiousness. “This is because you don’t want to look weak and helpless in front of Rainbow Dash. Isn’t it?” Applejack’s glare worsened. She didn’t speak. “You’re a fool. It doesn’t matter, and even if it did, you can’t go on like this. You can’t even walk, can you? Rainbow Dash would never…” “Hey, guys! Are you okay? I heard you calling me!” Rainbow Dash came into view, from around the side of the stone archway. She took one look at the two, and turned to face Rarity. “And just what do you think you’re saying to Applejack? Huh? Why does she look so mad? Did I hear ‘can’t go on’? I’m gonna give you about three seconds to explain what you were saying!” Rarity cringed back, but then her jaw dropped and she could only stare in astonishment. Applejack, impossibly, had stepped forward. Rarity could see tendons in her neck standing out like cables, but in spite of that, she took another step, almost normally, her head held high. The country pony was moving on the force of stubborn pride alone, refusing to show weakness in front of her new marefriend, and the look she shot Rarity was murderous. “Nothin… o’ consequence, Dashie,” she gritted. “Hey—are you all right, AJ? You look kind of not too good to me.” Applejack snorted, showing the hint of a grim smile. “Fickle!” “I don’t mean that, silly!” snickered Dash. She bumped Applejack playfully with her shoulder, and the larger mare staggered, the tendons in her neck standing out even worse and the breath hissing through her tightly gritted teeth until she resumed her gentle pace. “Maybe… a lil’ less… roughhousin’, Dashie. For now.” Dash blinked. “Sure. Of course. We’re just trying to open some of the rooms. You know, in the walls?” Rarity tagged along behind them, eyes like saucers as she watched Applejack walk almost normally. She ventured, “If we could perhaps talk a little about…” “Nope,” said Applejack, not even turning her head. “I’m almost certain Twilight Sparkle said something about rest and avoiding over-strain…” “Not listenin’.” “For fear of exacerbating injuries,” continued Rarity, “so you can heal…” “Cain’t hear you.” “Oooh! Very well! Suit yourself!” cried Rarity, and ran ahead. Rainbow Dash blinked at her. “Applejack, is that what she was fighting with you about? I want you to get better too. I didn’t want to say anything, but you did kinda go back to your work awful soon.” Applejack looked at her with a narrowed eye, and Dash’s heart gave a flip. That fierce self-reliance, the iron-pony toughness, made all the more palpable by a sheen of sweat and the heavy, dark line under Applejack’s eye. That challenging gaze… “Sorry… boss!” breathed Rainbow Dash. Applejack gave another sidelong hint of a smile, and Dash stumbled over her own hooves for a moment, only to trot back to Applejack’s side like an eager puppy. Her wing went out to drape over the earth pony’s back as they continued along. Rarity was talking to Twilight when they rejoined the group, which brought another glower from Applejack, but it didn’t seem as though any plans were being changed. Twilight looked worried, but addressed them anyhow, as if things were normal. “We’ve got to clear these snowdrifts, and then bring the tapestries out. They may be fragile, so it would be best not to fold or roll them if we can help it. We’ll need a clear space to lay them, one that’s not wet or snowy…” Rainbow Dash’s wing swept across Applejack’s back. “Got one!” “Oh! Good thinking, Dash! You don’t mind, Applejack? We’ll need to pile the tapestries on you. Would it be okay if you, uh… stood there for us, and didn’t move?” Twilight peered hopefully at the haggard earth pony, her eyes an entreaty. Applejack looked at her sourly, then at Rarity, then at Rainbow Dash, and made a face, rolling her eyes. “Oh, all right.” Relief seemed to fill the air, and Twilight hastily moved on to the next item on her agenda. “Pinkie, Dash, you two can get started on the snowdrift in front of the room we opened. Fluttershy, Rarity, you can start trying to open more of these rooms. We’re going to want to check all of them, in order, so we don’t miss anything. You can leave the doors wide open if there’s something inside, or forty-five degrees ajar if there wasn’t anything, to indicate that we should skip over that one…” Dash rolled her eyes. Rarity inquired, “Precisely forty-five degrees, Twilight dear?” “Yes!” replied Twilight, with an uneasy grin, sensing disorder in the ranks. “But some of the doors may be warped. If the door is warped so terribly that part of it is forty-four degrees, and part is forty-six, which part do I choose?” Rarity kept a perfectly straight face. Twilight blinked. “Um… the part closest to the hinges, which would count as the base of the d…” She saw her friends beginning to dissolve into giggles, and gave a growl of vexation. “All right, all right! Just wing it! Crazy ponies…” A gust of wind blew across the castle, stirring up a fine mist of sharp ice crystals. The stonework creaked, a dry, strangely hollow sound. The ponies spread out, moving to their appointed tasks, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie kicking at the snowdrift in front of the first door, Rarity and Fluttershy beginning to tug at the next one. Applejack, her job not yet begun, hobbled gently over to the room that Rarity and Fluttershy would open next. Stone creaked in the wind. “Oh, pull harder, Fluttershy!” said Rarity. “Here, let me use my magic to help. One, two, three!” Applejack peered at the door. It used the usual pull-ring, for equine teeth, and she wondered if it was worth tugging at it. Her muscles and ligaments said ‘hell no’, and she glared at it and turned away, preparing to return to her spot in the sun. There was a nasty shadow that cast a chill over her aching body. “Again! One, two, three!” The whole wall shuddered as the two ponies strained at the door. The shadow moved. Applejack looked up, as a dry grinding noise came from far over her head. High up on the wall, a huge stone stuck out. Wind and weather had shifted it, over the years, until its precarious balance awaited just such a nudge. Rarity and Fluttershy looked up, hearing the sound, as did Twilight—in an instant, all five of her friends were staring as the giant rock swayed in the breeze, and then, so very slowly, toppled. Applejack’s face fell as she saw it begin to go. “Jump!” cried Twilight. Fluttershy chimed in, “Jump!” Rarity’s expression was stricken with horror, her eyes huge. “Get out of there!” screamed Rainbow Dash. Applejack tried to. She half succeeded. As the heavy stone came down, the earth pony beneath it turned and attempted to leap. She was able to get her front legs off the ground, and through sheer determination, flung herself a foot or so out of the way. The effort was so painful that her hindquarters seized up mid-leap. Back hooves dragged furrows in the ground, unable to lift themselves further, and Applejack’s body crashed to the earth, helplessly, legs outstretched in front of and behind her, spasming into rigidity. An instant later, the stone came down upon her hind legs with a ground-shaking thud—and a sickening crunch. Applejack’s head arched back in agony, teeth bared. Fluttershy screamed, ear-splittingly, as did Twilight. Dash and Rarity reached her at the same time, and Dash yelled, “Help me!” while trying to get a hoof-purchase on the bottom edge of the huge stone. “But, what if you shouldn’t try to move it?” protested Rarity. Rainbow Dash glared at her, and heaved at the rock. It shifted, and Applejack let out a strangled scream, trying to pull herself free as the rock settled back down onto her smashed legs again. Dash reacted as if electrified—her body convulsed in a desperate feat of strength, and the huge rock lifted higher, and held… Rarity threw herself against it, then Pinkie, and when Fluttershy and Twilight arrived instants later, the stone flipped over onto its back, out of harm’s way. Their attention turned to the harm that had been done already. Applejack’s eyes were open, and the front of her body was raised off the ground, as if she was still trying to pull herself away from her smashed hindquarters. She panted, staring into space, and her back legs were bent in subtly but disturbingly wrong ways. There wasn’t any blood or gore… at least, not on the outside. “Fraid I… can’t stand for y’all…” “How are you still able to talk?” said Rainbow Dash, fluttering nervously, her panic held in check only by Applejack’s impossible stoicism. “You are hurt, right? Am I missing something? Are you going to jump up and start kicking in doors?” “Nope.” Twilight also appeared dumbfounded. “Is this shock, then? It might make it easier for us to rescue you if it is. We’ve got to do that, right away, it’s just a question of how. We might need to move quickly. Are you in shock?” “The hay is that?” managed Applejack. She was panting hard and holding very, very still, not even blinking, and her expression was being dragged, bit by bit, into a mask of torment. “Shock is the reaction of an organism to severe injury!” said Twilight. “It can mean a number of things. I’m very worried about how pale you’re getting, which is one sign of shock. Are you experiencing dizziness, light-headedness or confusion?” “Whut?” “Um, right,” said Twilight, sounding even more worried. “We have to get you out of here right now. I just don’t know… if your spine was broken, you might be numb and we could try to carry you home as fast as possible, in hopes we got there before you started to feel much. Do you have any sensation in your extremities?” “Whut?” panted Applejack. Twilight bit her lip. “Oh, Celestia forgive me… Do you feel this?” She reached out a hoof, and nudged Applejack’s hind leg. Applejack’s body shook as if struck by lightning, and a guttural scream ripped from her throat. Once it started, she couldn’t stop. She began to thrash, trying to pull herself away from the pain with her good forelegs, and it only made matters worse. “Twilight!” screamed Rainbow Dash, clinging to Applejack, trying to hold her still. “Look what you did!” “Make it stop! Make it better!” begged Pinkie Pie. “DO something!” screamed Rarity, right in Twilight’s face. The purple unicorn blanched, took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut and just about doubled over with effort, her mane and tail flying out as the air went reddish-purple all around… With a bang, the six vanished from the snowy ground of the old castle. With the matching other side of that same bang, they appeared in Twilight’s library, thumping to the floor. Spike shot up out of his bed, a horrified look on his face. He’d been napping, and then there was a loud bang and the air was filled with unbearable screaming. Pinkie Pie’s high screech was removing the top of his head, Rainbow Dash raged incoherently at Twilight, who’d collapsed in a heap, but the truly awful part was Applejack. Spike knew Applejack should never be screaming like that. One unforgettable look explained everything. Legs weren’t supposed to do that, either. “What did you do that for, Twilight?” screamed Rainbow Dash, fighting to control Applejack’s writhing form—which suddenly went limp. “Oh my gosh! No! Applejack!” An unexpected voice cut through. “Rainbow Dash! Stop and listen to me!” Fluttershy. Hovering in the air, her eyes commanding, taking control. “Let go of her! Straighten her out. Straighten those legs, before she tries to kick again! Quickly!” Rarity and Pinkie Pie rushed to do so, Rarity cringing even to handle Applejack’s dreadfully injured hind legs. Rainbow Dash got Applejack’s body lying straight, and they all looked up at Fluttershy beseechingly, in the sudden silence. “Wake up Twilight, and hurry! This is serious!” Spike ran over. “I got it! Are you going to help her? Can Twilight fix her?” Suddenly, Fluttershy’s hover wobbled. “I… don’t know! But we have to try!” Spike shook Twilight, and the purple unicorn stirred and blinked as he shouted, “Twilight! You’re needed!” “Oh, my head…” “Uh,” said Rainbow Dash, “you better hurry up with that!” She was holding Applejack’s front half to her, and the earth pony was beginning to stir, moaning and struggling. Dash turned her attention to her marefriend. “Applejack! Hold still! Will you hold still?” Applejack was haggard like nobody had ever seen, with good reason, but she heard Rainbow Dash’s pleading, and she listened. She was deathly pale, trembling, eyes fixed on the far distance, but she held perfectly still, and all the screaming and hysteria stopped. “If you touch her leg again,” hissed Dash at the dazed Twilight Sparkle, “I’ll kick your face in…” “Stop it, Rainbow Dash!” said Fluttershy. “Be calm. Everypony be calm. Be calm, and we’ll ask Twilight what she can do.” Twilight shook her head, and stared. “Me? I can’t do anything! You’re the one giving orders!” “I’ve… only helped little bunnies and squirrels before,” admitted Fluttershy. “Well, I haven’t even done that!” “Maybe… it’s time you… tried?” panted Applejack. “Wouldn’t… say no.” Dash stared at Twilight. “But you returned her to life! What do you mean you can’t do anything?” “That’s different! It was really hard, and it took me and Rarity to do it, and it was connecting her basic life spirit back into her body again! I didn’t actually fix anything about her body, it was still ruined once I was done with it!” “Charitable…” muttered Applejack. “Well, it was! How am I supposed to do anything about this? It’s much more complicated, the body has natural healing processes you can’t mess with! Her legs aren’t even leg-shaped anymore!” Fluttershy thought furiously, her wings beating at a more rapid pace as she thought. “It’s like the bunnies. We have to do what I did for the bunnies and things, but on a larger scale. She needs casts, so her bones can mend. Twilight, can you make those with magic, using materials we have around your house? They must be hard materials, like plaster, so her legs can’t possibly move even the tiniest amount.” Twilight looked frazzled. “I’m pretty sure I can. Let me start on that…” “Oh, no!” cried Fluttershy. “Now what?” The yellow pegasus looked more anxious than ever. “Can you use magic to look inside her legs and see where the bones are? There’s a bunny I take care of, now. I gave him a cast, but the bones weren’t right. He doesn’t hurt anymore… but he won’t ever walk again…” Dash and Applejack exchanged horrified glances. “I’ll try,” said Twilight, and concentrated. “Yes, I can certainly… oh. Oh my. Ah. Well.” “What?” quavered Applejack. Dash hugged her, cautiously. “That’s a real mess, in there,” said Twilight. “Oh, no!” said Fluttershy. “How are we going to get them lined up properly? I was hoping it wouldn’t be too complicated.” “Wait! I think I can probably use my magic to do that…” said Twilight, and before anyone could say anything, Applejack’s eyes flew wide and she made a dreadful gasping noise, deep in her throat. Twilight froze, and made no further magical adjustments of bone, and Applejack made no further protest—but her gaze was panicky. Dash glared at Twilight and began to say, “Don’t-” but Fluttershy cut her off. “Stop that. She must. We can’t just put casts on. She has to fit the bones together perfectly, or they won’t knit and become strong.” “I don’t feel exactly strong,” said Applejack. Tears were in her eyes. “You… you have to do that more?” “Twilight,” asked Fluttershy, “can you make it so she doesn’t have pain while you do it?” Twilight Sparkle hung her head. When she looked up, she too was tearful. “I can’t! I don’t even know if I can get the bones right, and I’ve got to! They’re so complicated, and her leg would have to be stretched out a little bit just to fit the pieces together at all…” “Oh, sweet Celestia…” muttered Applejack, more fear coming to her expression. “And the worst part is, getting us here left me exhausted! I’m sure I can’t both pull on her leg, and adjust the bones. I’ve got to, but I just can’t!” Fluttershy’s eyes were momentarily distraught, and then hardened. “I know what we have to do. I’ll talk you all through it, and Applejack will walk again if we do it perfectly, but we have to do it right away.” They hung on her words. “Someone needs to hold her still, and someone must put traction on each leg while Twilight fixes the bones. Rarity, you work with fabric all the time—can you wrap her legs with plaster to form casts?” “I, I… yes, dear.” Rarity gulped. “I shall! I’ll do it.” She concentrated, and from the back of Twilight’s house, materials began to emerge—bedsheets, plaster, a container to mix the plaster in. Applejack watched these preparations with a panicky eye. “Rainbow Dash,” continued Fluttershy, “you’re strong, and you care for Applejack more than any of us. We need you to gently but firmly pull on the…” “No!” cried Rainbow Dash. Her wings flapped anxiously. “I can’t stand this! I can’t! This is not something I can do, all right? I just can’t be around this… tell me when it’s over, I’ll be at home crying and hiding under my bed…” “Darlin’?” said Applejack, paler than ever. Rainbow Dash froze in mid-escape, and looked back. Applejack’s lip was quivering, and her eyes brimmed and pleaded as she said, “Please hold me? If this must happen?” Rainbow Dash’s face was like a very young filly’s as she slowly, unwillingly, crept back to Applejack’s side. She bit her lip, her ears were laid back in terror, but she did not leave, or utter a word of argument. Her wings rattled against her sides. Fluttershy nodded. “Now we have Pinkie, and I suppose Spike…” “Um, please no?” stammered Applejack in haste. “Fluttershy? If someone must do this to me, can it be you? Please? I’m beggin’ ya, honey.” Fluttershy hesitated, but it was simply too obvious. Every eye looked to her. There was no other choice. “All right. Pinkie, you go on Applejack’s other side. Hold her tightly! Twilight, Rarity, are you prepared?” Fluttershy flew around behind Applejack. “Is everybody ready?” “What kind of a question is that?” whimpered Applejack. “The kind,” said Fluttershy, “where the answer is very important.” “An’ what if the answer is, hell no?” “Is it?” Applejack gulped. The pain was already unthinkable. She wasn’t getting any less pale, wasn’t feeling any better second by second, and the dark circles under her eyes were now ghastly trenches of torment and woe. She had no choice but to trust her friends. “Naw. It ain’t,” she said, heart pounding. “Go ahead.” She scrunched her eyes shut and buried her head under Dash’s chin, waiting. Two unicorn horns glowed expectantly, as Fluttershy firmly grasped one of Applejack’s hooves—and pulled. Instantly, a bolt of pain shot through Applejack, as if a sword transfixed her from hoof to heart—her vision whited out, then went dark, as Rainbow Dash cradled her head and Pinkie anchored her body. Dimly, she heard her friends shouting… “Get that cloth ready, Rarity!” “Not so much, Fluttershy! Back a little!” “Is that enough?” “This was the simpler one, it’s ready! Slowly, I’ll guide it…” Applejack felt, through the inferno of pain that seemed to spear straight through her, the grisly sensation of her leg bones grating against each other—and then, they meshed, and locked, still burning her senses to ash. “Hurry, Rarity!” The agony was worsened by cloth wrapping and squeezing her tormented hind leg, cloth wet and gloppy with plaster. “I can speed that! I know how!” cried Twilight, and the torturous wrapping froze solid. Her leg felt like it was being roasted inside a heated shell. Applejack keened in agony, her vision blurring, doubling, blocked out as she squeezed her eyes shut again. The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was in front of her, looking anxious, saying “That was very good! You were so good, now we’ve got one more to go, okay? Twilight says it might be an eensy bit harder to do. Are you okay? Are you still with us?” The look Applejack gave her in response was far from reassuring. “Get ready!” warned Fluttershy, returning to her position behind Applejack. Her words weren’t for the anguished earth pony, but for the two unicorn amateur surgeons and the two pony orderlies responsible for the next part. Fluttershy firmly took the remaining hind hoof—and drew it back, seeing the distorted pony leg grotesquely drawn into straightness. Twilight concentrated, and began to work. Rarity got ready with a plaster-soaked cloth: she seemed to be coming up with them by magic, for she hadn’t been near the plaster bowl. Rainbow Dash anxiously cuddled and consoled Applejack’s head, as the earth pony’s keening worsened, as Applejack began to pound the ground with a forehoof, her ears laid back, and Twilight Sparkle still concentrated… The air was split with a horrible scream, as Applejack’s endurance gave way—and then, five more screams, for the tormented pony had wrenched her hoof out of Fluttershy’s grasp. Her leg bent into horrible wrongness, drawn by the enormous strength of her leg muscles, and she continued to try to kick with it before collapsing with horrible shuddering cries. Rainbow Dash had been tossed to the side when the earth pony body convulsed. Pinkie Pie had hung on like a bulldog, and continued to hold Applejack down. “Get back on her, Rainbow Dash!” screamed Fluttershy. “Right now!” She flew around, to get right in Applejack’s face. “Hold her head up!” she commanded, and Dash did. Fluttershy proceeded to lay down the law. “Applejack! I need your cooperation. I am not as strong as you are! Listen to me! If you kick your leg, I cannot hold it. You have to let us finish this!” Dash sobbed, “You’re hurting her so bad!” “You’re hurting her worse by making this continue longer!” screamed Fluttershy. She turned her attention back to Applejack, who seemed to be trying to listen. “We have to finish. Pinkie will hold you, Dash will do what she can, I will pull your leg straight again and Twilight will try and mend it. Rarity will wrap it and then this will be over. You have to let us! You are too strong and I can’t fight you, so let us finish this, no matter what it feels like!” Applejack was shaking. Her teeth were chattering, her body was glossy with sweat, her face was a mask of woe, her eyes begged for death to end the unbearable torture… and then, somehow, impossibly, she nodded, and set her jaw once more, her expression a pitiful blend of grim determination and utter despair. Applejack squeezed her eyes shut again, pressed her head under Dash’s chin… and, in her mind, walked back into the fire, to stand there as long as she must. As Fluttershy drew her hoof back, and the dreadfully misshapen leg straightened, all the tendons on Applejack’s neck stood out. Rainbow Dash felt her body stiffen, and burst into tears, clinging to her, while Pinkie latched on with a scowl of ultimate concentration, and as Twilight swayed and wobbled with the intensity of her magical focus, Applejack keened again, and then began to scream, louder and louder, gasping hysterical breaths and venting them in shrieks of anguish, her mind ripped by the sensations of the purple unicorn frantically twisting shards of bone and trying to reassemble the jigsaw that was Applejack’s poor leg. Twilight sweated, the screams ringing in her ears, wanting to flee the scene but refusing to give up. Rarity waited, trembling, her plaster-soaked cloth at the ready. And Fluttershy held the earth pony hoof firmly… without any struggle, at all. It seemed as though Applejack would have to pass out. It would have been a mercy. Her voice gave out, became cracked and hoarse—her eyes rolled back in her head—but no such mercy came, and Dash sobbed, wiping Applejack’s brow with a tender wing, staying with her as the shocks wracked her body and her screams became feebler, pitiful, exhausted things. “I’ve got it!” cried Twilight, panting. “Start closing up that extra space!” Fluttershy slowly began to let the hoof pull back. “Keep it all together! Don’t lose your concentration or we’ll have to do it all over! Rarity!” “I am ready! Just like last time, ladies!” The puzzle pieces came together inside Applejack’s leg, provoking a squeal from between her gritted teeth, and a series of spasms to accompany every grit and grind of bone. Rarity’s pieces of cloth flew, several at once, swaddling the ruined limb in a sheath of plaster. Twilight staggered, grimacing as she vented her magic in one final effort, wobbling as the plaster hardened and cured—and then fell over with a gentle thump, panting on the floor. It was done. Applejack had finally, mercifully, fainted. Her breathing rasped, over the background of Rainbow Dash’s heartbroken weeping. “We… did it?” said Twilight, looking across the floor. “I think we did it?” replied Fluttershy, looking at Dash and Applejack as they lay together. “We did!” said Pinkie Pie, letting go of Applejack’s body at last, and sitting up. “We totally did it!” They looked at their handiwork. Applejack’s hind legs, once horrible and crushed, were back in their true, elegant shape, stretched out behind her as if in mid-leap. She lay collapsed across the floor, her head cradled in Dash’s forelegs. Applejack looked so sad, the heavy lines under her eyes a testament to her struggles both leading up to and during their terrible day of tribulation—but when she slept, the tension went out of her stern face, and she looked younger, more feminine, her blonde hair falling across her face, her hat lying on the floor, forgotten. “We really did it,” marvelled Twilight, getting to her feet and wobbling a little. “She’s going to make it.” “I’m so proud of all of you!” said Fluttershy, her voice tender again. “We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. If even one had failed, we all would have failed. Every one of you are my hero!” Rainbow Dash looked up, her face stricken, washed with tears. “Oh yeah? A lot of good I was! I’m useless! She knocked me right over!” “No, Rainbow Dash. No!” said Fluttershy. “She wanted you to be there for her, to not leave her. And you didn’t! You didn’t run away. You’re still there! You have nothing, nothing to be ashamed of.” “That’s right!” said Pinkie. “The only one who didn’t do what Fluttershy told them to do is Spike!” Rainbow Dash nodded, adding, “And that’s okay because he’s just a baby d…” Rarity cleared her throat, and they all looked in her direction. She sat, hoof tapping the ground and haughty stare demanding respect, directly beside Spike—who still held strips of cloth in both arms, and who was covered from little claws to spikey tail with plaster. “I think you owe somebody a grovelling, heartfelt apology,” said Rarity. “Didn’t you notice I was able to work awfully fast?” “Sorry, Spike,” mumbled Rainbow Dash, sniffling. “Yeah—sorry! I didn’t see you doing that!” said Pinkie Pie. Twilight trotted over and hugged him. “You’re the best!” Spike grinned, dropped the plaster-soaked cloth strips on the floor, and stuck his chest out. “Thank you, thank you—all in a day’s work for…” He stopped, abruptly, for Rarity had turned to him, and looking in her eyes had rendered him mute. She nuzzled him, heedless of the plaster, and breathed, “You were wonderful.” Spike swayed back and forth, his eyes unfocused, a big wobbly smile on his face. Rarity regarded him affectionately, and then turned away, a smear of plaster on her alabaster cheek. “Twilight! You can mop him up later. He deserved every bit of that, believe me. Have you got a tissue?” Before Twilight could attend to Rarity’s request, there was a cough, and the ponies looked over to see Applejack stirring. It was a pitiful sight, because the vulnerability in her sleeping face stuck around, giving the impression of a younger filly waking up, hurt and in tears. Applejack looked around imploringly, her lip quivering, and then seemed to remember what had happened. She shook her head, and some of her determined, tough look came back. “Um.. ow?” she said. Rainbow Dash cuddled her. “Oh, Applejack!” “Awwww… don’t take on so, sugarcube. It’s gonna be all right. I promise.” She looked around. “Well, Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy. I ain’t ever gonna look at you quite the same again.” “I’m sorry…” said Fluttershy. “You damn well ought to be… an’ I thank you. Me an’ my new kind ‘o nightmares thank you kindly…” “It really worked, didn’t it?” said Twilight Sparkle. “Look at you.” Dash did look at Applejack, from up close. “They did it that good? This is amazing. I’m so glad. Did they put your legs together so well that they don’t even hurt, now? That can’t be possible! How… how bad is it, really, AJ?” Applejack’s gaze was a bit strained, but it twinkled. “Yeah, funny thing about that. Guess what?” Dash’s jaw dropped in delight, a big smile coming to her tearful face. “It’s completely horrible!” said Applejack, and Dash’s face fell. Applejack chuckled, weakly, and nuzzled against Rainbow Dash’s neck again. “Which is one heck of an improvement already, sugarcube! I’ll take completely horrible anyday, compared to what we went through. Ladies, y’all are amazin’.” “I helped too!” said Spike. “You did? If it was you fumblin’ with them bone pieces, I owe you such a kickin’…” “No, I mixed the plaster! And I made bandages. Or whatever you call them.” “Well, then,” said Applejack magnanimously, “I thank you as well.” “It’s so good to have you back,” said Rainbow Dash. “It was really horrible. You were so hurt, and you were screaming-” Applejack stopped her with a sharp look. “How about we stop talkin’ on such subjects?” “Okay!” replied Dash, immediately, but it didn’t appease Applejack right away. She continued to stare, and then followed up with another question, directly to Dash. “I’m still the iron pony?” Rainbow Dash teared up. “More than ever. Always.” Applejack sighed, satisfied with the answer. “My!” said Rarity. “I can see that you’re quite back to normal! It’s most impressive.” Applejack nodded. “Yep! I can feel everything fittin’ together real nice now. Y’all miracle workers, and no mistake. I sure am grateful! I won’t disrespect your efforts this time, neither. I’ll be real careful when I go out to bring in them crops an… oh!” She glanced behind her, alarmed, and her face fell. “Yes,” said Rarity. “I’d wondered when you would think of that.” “They… but… an’…” stammered Applejack. “Quite,” said Rarity. “But what am I supposed to do?” said Applejack, her panic rising. “DO you got any idea the number o’ things that need to be done on the farm?” “We’ll help you!” said Twilight Sparkle. “Um… there may have to be magic involved at times. And we’re all very different ponies. But we’ll do whatever you ask!” Applejack’s expression as she considered this prospect was nearly as pitiful as the one she’d woken up with. “But…” “Until you’ve recovered, and your casts have come off!” Applejack glared at Twilight. “I remember you had casts once. Ditzy Doo dropped some stuff on top of you, and it seemed like them casts were back off in no time. Well, when do these casts come off?” Pinkie Pie answered, with complete authority, “When it’s funny!” She winked, as if to a camera nobody saw. Applejack’s expression would’ve soured milk. “Well, now, this ain’t funny! What do you say to that, missy?” Pinkie Pie batted her eyelashes. “I can see how that would be a problem for you, yeah…”