The light hit her eyes with blinding force. She blinked multiple times, her pupils struggling to adjust to the artificial light emanating from above her. She turned her head slowly, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the world around her, but her vision was masked with blurriness. She could only just make out the silhouettes of some ponies standing a few feet from her, their figures moving methodically around her. Her brain struggled to make out what was happening, not to mention comprehend. But as her eyes began to adjust, the figures around her came into focus and she saw that they were wearing white coats. They hadn’t noticed that she’d woken, or if they had they weren’t too worried about it.
Slowly, the young mare looked across the room and saw what filled her with a feeling of both blithe and dread; a window. However, it was not the window itself that induced these emotions, but for the view beyond its transparent sheet. She fixated her eyes on a sign that read ‘Ponyville Hospital’ that stood just outside the window, next to a lovely set of bushes that appeared to house animals that would have sent Fluttershy into a series of exultant yelling and cheering, had she been there to see them.
Fluttershy!
Applejack burst out of the thin sheet that lay over her disheveled fur and mane. She exploded onto the floor, not even knowing where she was going, and raced towards the closest exit she could find. However, two doctors stood in her path. They turned and looked shocked to see their patient charging at them!
One of them jumped back and tripped over a cord on the floor, sending him crashing into a sink on a bench. He looked unconscious as his head struck the edge of it, causing him to collapse down the side of the bench and onto the floor.
The other doctor was a bit luckier, however. Applejack hit her with full force, although this was unintentional; her will to see Fluttershy and find out whether she was ok or not drummed through her heart like a wild swarm of wasps, and this will could not be stopped by just one doctor standing in her path. Thus, she was ready to barge through whatever or whoever stood in her way.
She sent the female doctor crashing to the ground as she sprinted towards the exit. She had no idea where she was going. But fear and suspicion had been implanted in her mind and heart; Fluttershy was in a catatonic state when Applejack last laid her eyes upon her, before falling unconscious due to the massive onset of anxiety, mixed with nausea. She had no way of telling what her condition was now, nor how much time had passed. Therefore, not quite in the right state of mind, she galloped up the hall darting in and out of every doorway up it. The rest of the doctors who were in her room at the time of her sudden outburst were quick to chase after her, but stood back when they saw her just randomly running in and out of rooms. They watched her, bewildered, wondering what the hell she was doing.
“She must be delirious” one of the head doctors sighed. “I’ll alert the guards. Somepony help those doctors she knocked down”.
The rest of the doctors nodded, all wanting to impress him as he was their superior, and went back into the room to help them. The head doctor walked quickly to a nearby telephone that was on the wall next to a door and called for some guards.
Meanwhile, Applejack frantically sprinted in an out of every doorway she saw. Her mind was racing, her heart beating furious, her arteries clogged with adrenaline. She knew she couldn’t forgive herself if something happened to Fluttershy. But was running around a hospital in search of her and disturbing everypony going to help her? No. But she wanted to find her, merely to put her heart at ease.
She ran into a room for the umpteenth time and saw a stallion laying in a bed watching T.V. The stallion didn’t notice Applejack at first. But Applejack breathed heavily as she entered the room and gave the room a chilling feeling as the stallion turned his head to see a frightening sight.
“Who are you?!” he exclaimed in shock. “What are you doing here!?”
“Where’s Fluttershy!??” Applejack demanded.
Good. Find Fluttershy, then finish her off one of the voices in her head said out of nowhere.
It had been a while since Applejack had heard one of those foul voices, and this was also the first time she’d heard it since she woke up. It made her stop and stumble for a second, not sure of how to react to it.
“No. I love her” she whispered.
Do you really want to go to jail? You probably already gave Fluttershy brain damage. Why not euthanize her, instead of forcing her to be subject to a miserable life of inadequacy? the voice retorted.
Find her and kill her. It’s for the best. For you both another voice added grimly.
Applejack spontaneously burst into tears. Her nose began to run and her eyes welled up as images of Fluttershy in a coffin six feet under forced themselves into her mind. She couldn’t suppress the image of Fluttershy laying in a hospital bed, in a catatonic state, moments from death. Angel at her side, experiencing his emotions being desolated to a barren wasteland of emptiness, devoid of any last shred of happiness as he uttered his last words to Fluttershy. Though she could not hear, he spoke them anyway, before leaning over and softly pressing his lips against her forehead, leaving a small patch of saliva as a symbol of his never-dying remembrance.
And just as the sun fades, just as daylight dies and darkness is brought upon by the absence of the forgiving, warm light, Fluttershys pulse weakened to the point that it became stagnant. Her last breath escaped her lips, idly waving its way through the room, unto that of steam, its streams of gas breaking out in all directions, before finally fading into nothing, gone forever. The heart rate monitor inevitably flat-lined, bringing forth tears of which nopony had seen the likes of, erupting from Angels face like a powerful current sweeping through a river, demolishing all in its path of destruction, though composed of tears that represented the harshest of scorn, amalgamated with a surging torrent of misery, the likes of which unto us have not suffered.
All of this, Applejack could not bear to witness as it flashed before her eyes, a nightmare seemingly so authentic it had the potential to be reality.
She immediately snapped out of her trance when she heard the hospital patient yelling. She glanced over at him.
“Can somepony help? There’s somepony in here and they’re acting strange. I think she might be crazy!” he cried out.
These words, although only what they were, just words, still felt like daggers in Applejacks heart. The remark, claiming her to be ‘crazy’, was what stung the most, cruelly leaving the last blow. The pain it left in her lingered for a moment as it tore a hole through her heart, ripping it to pieces.
Somepony thought she was crazy. No, they knew she was crazy. After all, she could hear voices in her head. Is that what the mind of a sane pony would experience?
I said go find her! a voice from within howled acidly.
“Leave me alone!” Applejack shouted.
“Can somepony please help?!” the patient called out, this time clearly a lot more distressed.
Applejack thrust her forehooves against her head and held them there, almost frothing at the mouth as she descended into a fit of madness, induced by a mixture of fear and having no idea of what to do, with literally seconds to decide before somepony entered the room to remove her.
The once valiant pony crumbled to the floor, now reduced to a clump of messy, orange fur, soaking in tears, for she had succumbed to the incessant voices from within her skull.
Get up, and go kill that bitch! one of the voices screamed from deep within her brain.
“I don’t want to! You can’t make me!” she shouted.
She refrained from opening her eyes. She was terrified by the world around her. What was once a world of happiness and care-free joy, now as it seemed, was a world composed of terror and despair. For this pain was breaking the encasing that enclosed her understanding of this harsh, unforgiving world.
---
The cyan pegasus wandered past a sign that read ‘You are now entering Ponyville’. She glanced at it and gave a mischievous smirk; her objective was nigh. She slowly walked down the road, glad to be away from the gloomy area that surrounded the prison and to be within the city limits, where blithe persisted and everypony was content.
The sun slowly rose over the horizon, showering the land in its warming, orange glow. For it was the early hours of the morning. Nopony was awake, but Rainbows rose-black eyes still darted from side to side, watching out for anypony who might see.
She was a fugitive, and she knew this. But the potential consequences that faced her seemed to escape her mind; it was simply vengeance she was after. Applejack suffering, being brought upon by Rainbow Dash, was what Rainbow sought after now; justice would be the result. Murdering her traitor unto would finalise this vengeance, for Rainbow had sworn a non-spoken vendetta against her former friend.
Rainbow strode into the city limits, stepping through the cold shadows that hung from surrounding buildings as a crisp breeze swept through the air, cutting through Rainbows fur like icy knives. It seemed to flow through the long, multi-colored threads of her mane, generating a whistling sound that sent chills emanating through Rainbows very soul. Somehow, she felt her presence wasn’t welcome. She sensed that she was unwanted, unforgiven for the deed that which she had not committed.
The suns golden edge rose over a hill in the distance, sending out rays of light that, as the day progressed, would shroud Ponyville in enlivening light, which would console the hearts of even the most grieving of ponies; yes, some ponies, many ponies, still mourned for Rarity.
But there were of course shadows that could not be touched, could not be tamed, by these rays of light that escaped the sun; shadows that Rainbow hid within. The soothing light could not cheer her up, for she was already too furious.
“Where is that bitch?” Rainbow grunted, edging up against a wall, well out of the reach of the sun, where she would be clearly visible.
Of course as the day went on, the shadows would grow minuscule as more and more light filled Ponyville, and potential hiding places would become rare. But for now, they were abundant. Utilising this, Rainbow edged along the wall and peered around the corner. A mare was trotting down the street, quietly singing to herself.
Rainbow hurriedly hid back around the corner, pleading for the mare not to see her. Fortunately, the mare didn’t notice her as she carried on past Rainbow. She waited a moment, breathing silently, before making her move.
She clutched the bolt cutters in her mouth as she galloped right across a street, running as quickly as possible to avoid being seen. She carried on into an alleyway and peered around another corner. There was nopony in sight.
She sat down and tried to devise a plan; she needed to get these bolt cutters sharpened if she was going to kill Applejack. But of course, she couldn’t just walk into a workshop and ask them to sharpen it. Being arrested would follow soon after.
She needed to be cleverer about how to do this, as well as elusive. And so, she carefully crept up the road and made her way to the closest workshop in Ponyville. When she arrived, she felt gleeful to see the large sign out front. But work was still needed to be done, so she jogged around the side of it and approached a half-open window. She carefully grabbed the window ledge and pulled herself up with her forehooves, taking her time. If anypony saw her, it would mean the end of her chance of ever achieving vengeance.
As quietly as possible, she slid down into a dimly lit room. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, barely lighting a small workshop filled with tools and crafting objects. Rainbow grinned, knowing that completion of the first phase of her plan was within her grasp.
She walked past a large bansaw and over to a special saw, specifically made for sharpening metal blades. She dropped the bolt cutters on a workbench and picked up the saw with her mouth; it was cold to the touch, its titanium handle leaving a bitter, metallic taste in Rainbows mouth. It was also heavy, and Rainbow struggled to lift it onto the bolt cutters. But she managed to hold the bolt cutters in place with her hooves and slowly grinded the saw against the blades, beginning to sharpen them.
She was about half-way through, when suddenly, her hoof slipped. A painful scream escaped her lips as her hoof ran along the edge of the saw, slicing through her flesh. Blood trickled down her leg, staining her cyan fur with its crimson charm. It flowed through her fur, a quiescent river of viscosity, draining from deep within her wounds like it was escaping her very soul itself, a sap of conscience. It was like a bitter red wine cascading from her flesh, the very tonic of the reaper.
But worse problems were imminent. Her wound stung, but she heard a voice call out from the door across the room.
“Hey, is somepony in there?” the stallion yelled.
Rainbow panicked. She grabbed her bolt cutters, as well as the saw, and frantically looked around the room. The footsteps were close, getting louder with every step. They seemed to pound against the wooden floor, beating it like the dramatic beating of Rainbows heart.
She hurried over to the closest bench with a cabinet underneath that she could find. She opened it with her hooves and leapt inside. The saw almost cut her face as she did this, but she was in too much of a panic to even care. She shuffled herself against the back of it and just as she closed the doors, a mare and stallion emerged through the doorway. She didn’t quite get time to close it properly, so she just rolled herself up into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible, in an attempt to not be noticed. The doors of the cabinet were still half-open, left ajar, and all Rainbow could rely on was that the cabinet was down low and was dark, so it was unlikely they’d look over and notice her. But then again, it was still possible, which was why Rainbow still felt the feeling of anxiety that rippled through her body, sending out shockwaves of fear across her nerves, all throughout her. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt deeply afraid.
“Damn hoodlums” the stallion yelled angrily. “Breaking into my workshop”.
The stallion was an engineer, dressed in overalls with grease on his face. He had a metal hammer in his mouth, striking Rainbows heart with anxiety. But he soon dropped it on a bench.
The mare appeared to be his assistant, a lot younger and with more tidy looking overalls.
“That’s the fourth time this month” the stallion growled.
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. At least they thought of this as nothing more than simple hoodlums, breaking and entering and possibly stealing, just for a cheap thrill. As opposed to them thinking it was a serious burglar.
“Should we call the police?” the assistant asked.
“Nah, don’t bother. They’re probably long gone, Jennifer. Look, that window’s wide open”.
The engineer pointed to the window Rainbow had entered through.
“We need to get a burglar alarm installed, Byron. What if they steal something?”
“Do I look like I have the money? Everyponys been depressed after Raritys murder and barely anypony needs to get things fixed because they’re too sad to do stuff”.
A few tears trickled down Jennifers face as Byron realised what he’d done.
“I’m sorry” he said.
“Please don’t mention that name” she cried softly. “I miss her”.
“Everypony misses her. But…but she’s gone” Byron said grimly.
Byron now began to cry a little to. Rainbow felt a sense of dread, knowing that even though this deed was not committed by her, she was still being blamed for it. Of course, the rest of the conversation not only proved that, but revealed something further.
“I can’t believe somepony like Rainbow Dash would do that to such a sweet, darling pony” Jennifer sniffed.
Byron slowly shrugged, then wiped a few tears from his moist eyes.
“I guess some ponies are just more than what they seem” he reminded Jennifer.
“Yeah. But, murder? How could she do that? How could she kill Rarity?”
Her tone began to turn more aggressive.
“I hope she gets the shit beaten out of her in prison, that bitch!”.
“Take it easy, Jennifer. We all hate her. Everypony does. But if you let her get you angry then she wins. That’s probably what she wants, that bucked up psychopath”.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her ears. She just couldn’t.
“I hope I read the newspaper one day and see that somepony in prison’s beaten her to a pulp. That sick, twisted buck” Jennifer growled.
“I couldn’t agree more” Byron nodded. “I’m just glad she was caught out by Applejack and brought to justice”.
That last sentence made Rainbow snap. She just about burst out of the cabinet and attacked them, furious for what they were saying. Applejack was the murderer! And she knew it!
“Look, let’s just open the store and hopefully we’ll get some customers. Maybe that’ll take our minds off of that whole Rainbow Dash thing?” Byron suggested.
“Yeah, maybe” Jennifer said. “It just really bugs me that some ponies have the heart to do that”.
They both walked out of the room. Rainbow waited about thirty seconds before slowly and silently emerging from the cupboard. With both the bolt cutters and saw in her mouth, she climbed out of the window and landed in the space next to the store, knowing it was far too dangerous to carry on sharpening in there.
Her wound had already begun to heal, but her emotional wounds were just peeling back open. The anger that once filled her mind began to fade and the empty void it left began to fill with depression and angst.
She sharpened her bolt cutters, dropped the saw in a nearby dumpster, burying it deep down in the trash so nopony would find it, then ventured around Ponyville. The morning was now well underway and ponies were stepping out of their homes to begin a new day. So of course, Rainbow had to be much more careful. But as she hid in the shadows, eavesdropping on conversations, it appeared that the murder of Rarity wasn’t the only hot topic around Ponyville; everypony wrongfully thought Rainbow was the murderer. And with each conversation that Rainbow eavesdropped on, the more her self esteem became crushed. Inside, she was still enraged with Applejack and was still after vengeance. If anything, this just fueled the raging inferno within her. But this rage was now coupled with depression, from knowing now that everypony in Ponyville hated her for deeds she was not responsible for. She felt wrongfully hated; betrayed, unforgiven and scolded. I suppose now you could say, she was the anathema of Ponyville.
---
A surge of fear coursed through Applejacks veins and up into her heart before constricting itself around it like an anaconda, as she still lay in the hospital room she’d walked into. And as it squeezed the life from her already blackened-to-the-core heart, a feeling was induced, causing her to feel more insignificant than anything else in existence. She proceeded to roll up into a ball as she gazed around the seemingly endless room, or more accurately a living hell, filling with darkness as each photon of light was eradicated before her eyes. She squirmed and writhed, attempting to free herself. But this pain had already sunk its unrelenting hooks into her flesh and would now consume her with its pain and misery.
Her eyes still remained closed, but unwillingly her eyelids were opened. She peered into the eye of the demon before her; not a real demon, but the demon that resided deep in her mind and represented her suffering, visible now, for this was a grim, graphic epiphany. She knew none of this was real. But the pit of depression she’d plummeted into seemed like a vacuum from which no being could escape, willingly or not. She closed her eyes and uttered two words, containing immense hope; “please, stop”.
The demon hesitated.
“For those who believe they are free, elusion is not possible” he exclaimed grimly, his voice scratchy and hoarse.
The dark entity then seemed to instantaneously turn into a shroud of mist, before combining into one long stream of jet-black smoke which flew straight at Applejacks head, seeping into her mind; a fate that terrified her but was necessary for this torture to end.
A sharp intake of breath, and she awoke once again, only this time on the floor next to the patients bed. That line, “for those who believe they are free, elusion is not possible”, repeated through her mind again and again as she lethargically rose from the linoleum floor. The definition of that very statement seemed to escape her. The whole experience seemed to last only seconds, although to Applejack, years would be a more accurate word. She couldn’t get her mind straight and more thoughts of a decaying Fluttershy began to invade her mind once again. It was time to move again.
“Please! Somepony, help! Anypony!” the patient yelled pleadingly.
Applejacks breathing increased rapidly, as did her heartpace. Footsteps could be heard just outside the entrance to this room and shadows could be seen on the opposite wall. Almost instantaneously, her initial ‘find Fluttershy’ response kicked in again. She forgot about any potential consequences and scrambled out of the room, only to find two large guards. But using the element of partial surprise, she managed to duck between them and tear off up the hallway.
She turned a corner, racing around it at speed and almost skidding on the floor, then carried on up the next hallway. She employed her original tactic and began entering every room, one after the other. But she could hear the guards footsteps actually sprinting up the hallway from behind.
Applejack raced in and out of each room with stupendous velocity, but time slipped from her grasp as she ducked in and out of each room. Finally, she emerged from a room, her mission still unsuccessful, and was immediately tackled to the ground. The guard landed on top of her and his knees dug into her chest as he put most of his weight on her to hold her down.
Just like during her dreadful experience earlier, she squirmed and writhed with pain. She was a tough, strong pony, but these guards were employed by their overbearing strength and intimidating stature.
“Inject her with the tranquiliser!” the guard screamed in a panic.
Applejack grabbed him with her hooves and tried to shove him off her, but he was too big. She used all of her strength.
“Hurry!” the guard yelled.
The second guard, a lot slower than the first, bolted around the corner with a syringe in his mouth. He ambled up the hall towards them, but the first guard was fixated on his arrival and, using this momentary distraction, Applejack managed to wrestle the guard off of him.
She immediately set off, but the guard grabbed one of her back legs.
“Oh no you don’t!” he growled, baring his teeth.
She ruthlessly bucked his face with her other back leg, leaving him dazed with a bloodied nose as she tore off up the hall.
But the second guard was hot in pursuit and followed her, managing to equal her speed. She sprinted around multiple corners, running into a few doctors whom she either pushed away or knocked down and trampled over. She just didn’t care; finding Fluttershy was her top priority. But escape was essential.
The burly guard charged after her, running across the halls she’d laid waste too just seconds earlier, littered with the bodies of confused and injured doctors and nurses. He ran as fast as he could without slipping, furiously trying to catch this mare. He held the syringe so tightly in his mouth, it was close to breaking as he grinded his teeth against it.
However the tension was elevated for Applejack. As she ran around yet another corner in this maze of halls, wondering as to whether she’d already passed Fluttershy or not and the likelihood of that having happened, a door opened unexpectedly.
She ran head first into it and her nose crumpled. She fell backwards at least a metre and collapsed to the ground. Her nose was in agony, having taken the full force of the hit, and she felt a sudden feeling of fright when she saw a blood stain on the wooden door she’d just run into.
But this problem was minuscule; she looked behind her and remembered the much larger problem at hoof. Pain is a temporary obstacle, but failure is a result of succumbing to it; a result that may lead to Applejack never seeing Fluttershy again, except in photos and possibly even at her funeral.
And so, the pain-stricken but determined pony sprang up from the floor. But, somepony stepped around from the other side of the door. Unfortunately, this pony was a guard who immediately grabbed Applejack. He wrapped himself around her and even though she struggled, he held her tightly.
The guard with the syringe raced toward them. Applejack squirmed and struggled. The guards grip began to loosen, but he still held on tight. Escape was nigh, but only if desperate measures were taken.
Applejack lifted one of her backhooves and ruthlessly stomped on the guards testicles with vigorous force. He let out a piercing, bloodcurdling scream that filled the hall, almost stopping the running guard dead in his tracks.
But, the guards grip was loosened and she grasped this opportunity. She stood up and turned, only to have the guard who she’d just escaped from pull out a tazer. She had no idea of this, but seconds later it was all she could comprehend.
10,000 volts of electricity coursed through her body when the tazers hit her back. She collapsed to her knees. She was so determined, but the pain was excruciating. She turned her neck and gasped when she saw the running guard just metres from her. She tried to jump up, but remnants of the electrical flow still ran through her body, crippling her temporarily.
She gasped as the syringe pierced her flesh, right into her back. The needle sunk in deep and within seconds, was empty. Applejack, with all her might, bucked the guard in the face. However, he was still clutching the needle with his mouth.
The syringes needle ripped out of her flesh, producing a large wound from which escaped a crimson mass as the guard collapsed back behind her.
The air stung her fresh wound, almost certainly at least an inch deep in her back. But she galloped up the hallway nonetheless. Turning a corner abruptly, she went back to her original tactic a third time, checking each door.
She wandered into one room and found a young filly. She looked at her with confusion and angst.
“Are you the crazy pony that’s on the loose?” she asked meekly.
She sighed and went to exit the room, but she was stopped by her voice.
“I will never forgive you, Applejack”.
She stopped and turned around. But too fast; almost suddenly, she felt stricken with dizziness and the room began to feel twisted and weird.
“What was that?” she asked.
“I said, I’ll never forgive you”.
Applejacks vision was beginning to get heavily blurry. She could only make out the figure of the filly, although she had no idea who exactly she was. However, her voice was familiar.
She heard shouting from outside. The voices sounded familiar; they were doctors.
“I bet it was you. I heard Rainbow Dash say it was you on that day in the courtroom, and I trust her, not you!” she shouted angrily.
“I’m…”
Applejack didn’t know what to say. She felt like apologizing to the filly, but that would make it certainly seem like she was guilty.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” she said plainly.
“Well then, why is Fluttershy two doors down with a headwound? Why was she found with you?! You’ve been acting very bucking weird these last few days”.
By now, the amount of dizziness Applejack had been struck with was phenomenally high. All noises, all voices spoken, sounded like they were being spoken to her through long metal pipes connected between their mouths and her ears, where the sound waves echoed around inside.
Her perception of sight was unbelievably poor, but she only paid attention to the first part of the fillys sentence.
“Is Fluttershy just two doors down?!” Applejack exclaimed excitedly.
Her vision was so bad that everything became looked distorted. But most of all, her head felt like a bowling ball on top of a pencil. She was stumbling about in a stupor, like she was heavily drunk. She couldn’t even stand still properly.
“Yeah. What’s it to you?” the filly said nastily.
Suddenly, Applejack could hear the sound of crying. On top of that, the shouting from the doctors outside grew louder, and she knew they were edging closer. She didn’t have time for this.
“You put my idol in jail!” the filly cried out.
It was at this point, it all clicked. The filly was Scootaloo. It made sense.
Kill her! She knows! a voice from within Applejacks mind hissed.
“She doesn’t know; she only suspects” Applejack whispered.
She could still possibly break your cover. At least give her amnesia.
The voice was unbelievably persuasive. Applejack couldn’t control herself as she wandered over to a table and picked up a vase containing flowers and water. It was like some sort of entity was controlling her body.
She poured the contents of the vase onto the floor as Scootaloo sat in her bed confused.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Applejack grunted as she lunged at the small, orange filly. She ruthlessly swung the vase at her head with a lot of force. The vase collided with Scootaloos skull, knocking her out cold.
Now deal to Fluttershy the voice added.
The vase was stained with blood and small pieces of glass were lodged in Scootaloos flesh.
“No” Applejack uttered.
She dropped the vase to the ground. It smashed on impact, sending hundreds of shards across the room.
What are you doing?!
“I’m going to make sure Fluttershy is ok. That’s it”.
Applejack regained control of her body once again. She turned to the door, but was terrified to see three figures standing in it.
She bared her teeth and charged for the door regardless. These were just doctors, but they were ready for her and as soon as she tackled them, she suddenly found herself entangled in something. She spread out her hooves as wide as she could, but felt just netting.
She panicked. She had been captured in a net! She struggled to get out, but the three doctors held the opening closed tightly. She gnawed at the netting, but the material was too tough to bite through. She bucked it and hit it with her hooves, but nothing worked. She fell to the floor, reluctantly accepting this. And as this mission, while its end very nigh, was unsuccessful, Applejack was unsure of what her future now held. Where would she be taken?
The doctors weren’t exactly bodybuilders, but the three of them managed to drag Applejack down the hall at a steady pace. Things immediately began to get dizzy and the world began to spin around her. She shook her head, but this only stopped the inevitable for but a few seconds. She slowly lowered her head to the floor and lowered her eyelids.
Time seemed to slow down dramatically as she slowly opened and closed her eyelids. The tranquiliser was now in its later stages; in just a few moments, she’d be out cold. She peered up at her captors, who seemed proud of their feat. One of them was even laughing about it. Of course, Applejack was so drugged up that she could barely hear it. But as they passed a doorway, her tunnel vision was initiated. Her eyes lit up when she saw the one pony she’d been trying to find since she’d awoken earlier in that rock-hard hospital bed. Fluttershy lay peacefully on a hospital bed. The door was left ajar, but it was open enough for Applejack to peer through.
She had a drip stuck in one of her legs. In fact, multiple drips. Some would contain drugs to help keep her alive; others would contain food and water, being pumped straight into her blood stream. Her pink mane lay placidly beside her head, stained with a few drops of blood. Her head was encased in bandages, and frighteningly, a breathing apparatus was connected to her mouth and nose, basically breathing for her. In other words, she was on life support.
Applejack extended her hoof outside the netting and reached for the door. It got within just centimetres of her hoof, but she reached out too late; if she’d reached out half a second earlier, she could have at least held onto the doorframe and, catching the guards by surprise, have them suddenly let go of the net due to the unsuspected force, which would give her time to run inside.
But all hopes of finding out whether she was truly ok or not were gone. Dead, like the long lost life of Rarity. Faded, like mist rising from boiling water over a stove, rising higher and higher, almost reaching the ceiling, until, they are gone.
And as the realization of this event sunk into Applejack, so did the tranquiliser. She let out a few elongated breaths, before finally, her eyelids closed, then half-opened, then closed once again, not to be opened again for some time.