//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty-three; Gossip (revised) 
// Story: Most Daring Pony 
// by CowgirlVK 
//------------------------------//

Rarity paused as she locked her door behind her, tucking the key into her saddle bag. Cheerilee had done her best to both cheer up her friend and help her whip together a second girdle for Rainbow Dash. This one was black with a striking yellow down it. Rarity had studded it with little jewels that made it appear as though the bolt was sticking its way across. Tuffs of white fabric shaped themselves into little clouds, and as a finishing touch, rainbow-colored laces and thread went into the stitching. Despite it only taking fifteen minutes, it was a sight to behold, and something she was sure Rainbow Dash would declare “awesome.” 

Turning, they made a silent, uneasy trek towards the Castle's high branches that glistened in the distance. "Feeling better?" Cheerilee finally asked. 

"Only a big ol' tub of ice cream, a good cry on my couch, and the knowledge that my friends are finally alright, those poor dears, will do that," Rarity sighed. "But I'm glad I don't have that order looming over my head..." 

"...But the mystery is worse," Cheerilee finished knowingly.

Rarity nodded. "Like, HOW am I supposed to figure this one out? I've made fabric, but from a beast of the Everfree Forest?"

Cheerilee chuckled. "You could always say that it takes time to make and will be a while before you can make more," the teacher said knowingly. "I'm certain a puzzle like this one is exactly what Twilight needs to get her mind off of things."

Rarity shook her head. "I'd rather not loose Twilight right now. It's a puzzle she'd enjoy, but..." Rarity laid a hoof to her forehead. "Oh, I do fear-" 

Just then, they both spotted Big Mac in front of Sugar Cube Corner, just sitting there. He wasn't talking to anypony, he wasn't eating, he was simply sitting. 

The two old friends exchanged looks of surprise. "Big Mac! I thought you were going to go on ahead to the castle!" 

"Eeyup," he said. 

"Then what are you doing here?" Cheerilee exclaimed. 

"Waitin' fer you gals," he answered. 

The mares exchanged looks before Cheerilee stepped forward and leaned up against him. "Did I ever tell you you were wonderful?" she asked. 

Big Mac blushed. "Eeyup. So are you?" 

Rarity blushed, sighing contentedly at the couple. 

“One a muffin, two a muffin, three a muffin, four. Five a muffin, six a muffin, more muffins more!” Ditzy sang as she left the sweets shop. 

Rarity stifled a giggle as Big Mac tried to pull his dignity back around him, blushing like mad. 

Ditzy paused and looked at the three. Her face brightened. “Hey Miss Rarity, just wondering, where is Rainbow Dash? I haven’t seen her.”

Rarity instantly felt put on the spot. She looked to the other two. 

Cheerilee smiled. “I don’t know much, Miss Hooves, but I think Twilight is doing something.” 

This was enough for the wall-eyed mare, for she nodded. “That makes sense,” she said. “Alright, I’ll see ya’ around then.” The gray mare smiled, then turned and skipped away. 

“I’m glad that wasn’t one of the smarter ponies, like Bon Bon or Lyra,” Rarity sighed. “Or Doctor Hooves.” 

Cheerilee smiled. “It’s alright Rarity, I’m pretty sure they know. Ditzy... has issues.” 

Rarity nodded. “I-”

Just then, Pinkie poofed out of nowhere. “Thanks Discord!” she cried up into oblivion. 

Just when Rarity thought Pinkie couldn’t do anything else to surprise her. 

“There you guys are!" Pinkie said as she hopped up and down. “I went to the farm, but couldn't find anypony... well, besides Granny Smith, who is asleep in her chair like this." Pinkie Pie dramatically demonstrated using a nonexistent rocking chair. She rocked back and forth, snoring, before cutting the act and returning to the story. "So then I went to Rarity's, but along the way I ran into Discord, so I told him what I was doing, and he gave me a boost so I could come here faster. Did I tell you Discord has the most awesome, wonderific, spec-"

"I do believe we get it darling," Rarity cooed, trying to not lose her temper again. "Where are the girls?"

"Which girl? Twili-"

"Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo," Rarity clarified. 

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I left them with Twilight, then came to find you."

Cheerilee stifled a giggle behind her hoof, Big Mac looked disgruntled, and Rarity felt simply at a loss. "Why didn't you stay?!"

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Because nopony needs to feel alone! Besides, I was planning this super awesome slumber party. You know, where we actually sleep! Doesn't that sound fun?" 

"Gah-" 

"Good!' Pinkie exclaimed. "I knew you'd agree!"

"Oh Pinkie!" Rarity said under her breath. 

------------------------

The chasm bottlenecked before opening out into a large grassy meadow, larger even than the one where Lilly’s family kept their sheep. Here, little cottages speckled the mountain slopes and grassy field. In the exact center, a large building stood grand and tall.

The paths around the building were speckled with ponies of all colors and tribes. Earth, Unicorn, and Bat ponies dominated, but looking closely, Steady thought he spotted a few pegasi speckled among the hoard.

"Captain, I have a question," Steady said flatly. 

Lilly giggled, "Freight! It's Lilly, and what's the question?" 

Steady gulped. "It's crowded." 

Lilly cocked her head to the side, attempting to raise a single eyebrow, but doing no better than she had on the way in. "Alright Steady, that's not a question, it's an observation." 

Steady said nothing, but gazed back down. Under a large persimmon tree beside one of the houses, an older stallion sat telling stories to a group of some very young foals. 

Lilly giggled. "You want to know why it is crowded?"

Steady looked up and nodded. 

Lilly sighed, her face taking on a wistful, but sad look. She gazed out over the hills before fixing her eyes on the large house they were approaching. "It's summer, Steads, and summer means we've got to drive the sheep into the hills. Second, this is a weekday, not a weekend like you are used to. The nest is always way more crazy during the week, and summer weeks are worse still. Those are almost my entire family. Aunts, uncles, first cousins, second cousins... The Persimmon family, and all the offshoots." She sighed sadly, her voice cracking at the end. 

"This makes you sad?" Steady asked, uncertain of his reading of his captain's emotion. 

"I miss it, and I don't. The early spring when everyone came in to tend the trees, wash the sheep, sheer them, and get the wool ready for market... the driving them out, the family reunion..." she trailed off. Gulping, she closed her eyes to regain her breath. "No, I don't miss it, and yes I do. I miss the ones who are no longer with us, but have traveled on... The Apples, the Oranges, the Pears... Shoot, even the Cakes and Pies have nothing on the Persimmons. We understand family, big family. Not dainty things like you guys have in the valley. Here in the mountains, we remember war, we remember losing half a family... or the entire family to an attack. We have big families, so we have the foals to lose. It's way easier on us-" she trailed off. "Also, it makes harvest easier, and-" She went on to describe each benefit of having a larger family was. "Is it a lot of work? Yes. Shoot! The Questers are the largest with seventeen foals.” She gave a half smile as Steady gazed at her wide-eyed. “They aren’t here yet, nor will be for another week or so, maybe three or four.”

Steady shook his head, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. He flew in a daze for some time. Then, without warning, he found himself upside down, hanging from a rope by his hind leg. The rope went up and over a board protruding from the front of the large meeting hall and back behind a tree nearby. Steady groaned.

“Steady!” Lilly cried, landing beside him. “How did you not see that?” 

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than did four colts appear one by one from around different nearby persimmon trees. Lilly was obviously not surprised as she frowned, glaring at each one of them in turn as they lined up. The first, a light green unicorn with a darker green mane and tail, grinned gleefully around a forehoof that he planted into his mouth the moment he had stopped. His cutie mark was a hammer. The next one was a blue bat pony. He had a dark blue mane and tail, and his cutie mark was a butterfly net. The third was an older earth pony, not quite a stallion. His coat was a grassy green, and his mane and tail were a close-cut black. His cutie mark was a bright silver train whistle. Finally, last but not least, was Zap. 

Lilly glared at each colt in turn, her eyes falling on her brother in a deep scowl. “Alright you guys! Out with it.”

The first one smiled, removing his hoof from his mouth. “Guess the riddle,” he said quickly before popping his hoof back in his mouth to chew on it.  

Lilly rolled her eyes. “Boys!” She looked each one in the eye before her eyes settled back on her sweating younger brother. He had obviously had a bath, his orange and yellow mane hanging like limp noodles around his head. “Let. Steady. Down. Zap,” she hissed.

Zap looked to his companions, then viciously shook his head. “Nope!” He smirked. “Guess our riddle: what are Newton's three laws of motion?” 

Lilly groaned, “Boys!” She looked to the bat pony. “Vibrato, let Steady down, before I tell your mother.” 

“I wish I could, Cuz, but I’m not in charge here. The bros would kill me, ya’ know?” Vibrato stated, smiling. 

Steady sighed deeply, flapping his wings to right himself a tad so his head didn’t hurt so badly. This was going to take a while... again. 

Lilly chewed on her bottom lip. “Rocky?!?” 

The oldest of the bunch snorted, smirking like his companions. “Sorry! Not happening ‘till you guess the riddle!” 

“IT’S NOT A RIDDLE!” Lilly exclaimed loudly, losing her cool at the terrible colts. 

“Technically, guys,” Zap said. “My sister doth be right. This isn’t a riddle, but a memory question.”

The all-green colt popped his hoof from his mouth. “It’s a riddle,” he said, and popped it back in. 

“Atonal! Get your hoof out of your mouth!” Lilly scolded. “That’s gross!” 

Atonal shrugged. 

Lilly closed her eyes and counted quietly to herself.

“Eight. Nine. Ten....” the boys chimed in. 

Lilly opened one eye and glared at all four colts. “The three laws of motion?” 

They nodded excitedly. 

“You boys do know I never did well in physics, right?” Lilly stated, stalling. 

Zap grinned eagerly. "Yep! What are they?" 

Lilly gulped, looking hesitantly at Steady. Steady said nothing. He wore that stone faced look he always got when he was trying to simply stay out of the issue, the whole time using his wings to keep himself somewhat upright. 

Sighing, Lilly closed her eyes. "An object in motion wants to stay in motion, and an object at rest wants to stay at rest, unless it is acted upon by an outside force." She opened one eye looking hopefully at her brother. 

Zap nodded. "Yep! What is number two?" 

Lilly groaned. "That's the math problem, isn't it?" 

Zap nodded once more. "Yep."

"An object's force is-" She paused, her face screwing up in confusion. "Can I just say number three? I can't remember that one's rule!" 

"Number Two, or we get to keep your number two for the remainder of the week," Rocky stated. 

"Now that's not fair! He is a living, breathing pony with rights!" Lilly growled at them. 

"Number. Two,"  Vibrato stated, taking a step forward. 

Lilly groaned, "Alright." She took several deep breaths to calm herself. "Times wieght, times mass, velocity, Equals." 

Zap rolled his eyes. "You and your hodge podge memory. The Vector Sum of the external force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by the acceleration vector of the object; F=Ma," he stated proudly, giving his sister the look. "And I thought you were a scientist!" 

Lilly glared at her younger brother. "Listen Po, I am a scientist. I know the rules, and I know what will happen. As in, I comprehend the concept. However, I'm not a unicorn. I don't just memorize things word for word like you can. And while we are on it, number three is every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So cut that cord and let Steady Flyer go before I clobber all four of you without regrets!" 

Zap looked to Rocky, who was smiling slyly. "Vibrato, let him go." 



Atonal popped his hoof out of his mouth. "Wouldn't you like to find out?" he said rapidly before popping it back in. 

Steady shook his head. "Lad-"

"I’m An-O-l," he said around his hoof. 

Steady looked to Lilly for clarification. "Atonal,” she said. “It is music that follows none of the rules, but somehow works." 

"Not quite," Vibrato said. "By the way, I'm Vibrato. Atonal is music that switches between keys as it desires," he explained. "Vib-" 

"I'm well aware of what your name means," Steady said, nodding. “A vibrating note has vibrato.” Steady then turned his eyes to the earth pony of the group. The green and black earth pony had retreated and was analyzing Steady. Steady, in turn, analyzed the green and black stallion. 

"That's Rocky Top," Zap informed Steady. "Breeze's big brother." 

Sea Breeze had been a former flight student at Windy Wings Flight Therapy Center. The filly was autistic. She had first started attending at the age of six. At that time, the filly functioned as not even a one-year-old. She hardly walked, and only spoke two words: “cat” and “PU.” When she had graduated two years ago, they had her on the most basic levels of reading, and flight had been achieved to the point she could hover and take short flights. It was through Sea Breeze that Steady had met Lilly six years previous. Lilly, having finished her teaching certificate in flight and formations at the Advanced Flight School in Cloudsdale, had graduated to being nanny to the autistic filly while Lilly’s aunt, Breeze’s mother, recovered from intense surgery to remove a tumor. Steady’s mind wandered to the quiet dark blue pegasus with the crooked wings. "How's she doing?" Steady asked Rocky. 

Rocky shrugged. "Which she?" 

"Breeze?" Steady clarified.

Rocky looked uncomfortable, and sighed, "She's my sister."

Lilly shook her head. “Worse. Epilepsy has set in."

Steady raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell me." 

"It's family problem. You aren't family." She turned and hastily disappeared inside the building behind them. 

Zap shook his head. "Breeze's recline has... really hit her," he said. Zap then cocked his head to the side, then snickered at Steady, who was still trying to figure out the knot that held him fast. Using his magic, he pulled one strand and the entire knot fell apart."There you go. Next time, maybe we'll actually catch our target; Arrow." 

Steady frowned shaking his head. "I do not understand what the two of you have against one another." He said. 

Zap smirked, "Eh, it's just really fun to make her scream."

"Mr. Zappin’ Power!” Steady scolds.

Zap and the other boys started snickering, "Oh don't tell me you never-"

Steady frowned, "No." He stated firmly, "I must go check on my captain. I'll talk to you boys later." he then nodded to each of the other members of the “Tie Up Steady Club,’ and followed Lilly inside. 

----------------------

Rarity returned to the castle, exhausted and very much frazzled. It seemed as though every pony in town had noticed either Rainbow Dash’s or Applejack’s absence. Everyone either wanted to know why, or to send their regards. A few had seen them being transported from the hospital to the castle, and the rumors were flying. Rarity had found herself several times having to defuse some of the more wild ones. 

Finally, she, Pinkie Pie, Cheerilee, and Big Mac found themselves on the steps of the great Friendship Castle. Rarity felt disgruntled, her mane fraying every which way. Since the Chaotic Hairbrush incident, she wasn’t quite ready to use a hair brush again. Especially when she didn’t know where Discord was to begin with. 

Slowly, the three entered. The castle seemed quiet. An earth pony maid pushed a squeaky cart into a far door. Guards dozed, leaning against their spears. 

“Everything seems quiet,” Cheerilee stated. 

Rarity nodded. “The action is upstairs, Cheer. I’m certain-”

The sound of something breaking echoed down the winding staircase and through the long hall. 

Rarity’s heart sank. “Not again!” In a very unladylike manner, she took off, thundering at full speed up the long flight of steps. At the top, she found Spike holding onto a bright, silver, tray. The tray’s contents had spilled all over the floor. Cakes, biscuits, and a glass of apple juice lay everywhere.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and all three of the giggling fillies had their heads hanging halfway out the door of the room Applejack and Rainbow Dash were in. 

“SPIKE!” they all cried at once. 

Pinkie, having arrived at the top of the stairs, placed a hoof over her stomach as she giggled loudly. Cheerilee and Big Mac, arriving right behind Pinkie, stood in shock. All of them stared at the little purple dragon. 

“Uh... sorry?” Spike said, noticing his audience.

"Spike! What happened?" Twilight exclaimed.

"I went to get dinner?" he stammered, gazing at the mess at his feet. 

"Oh, Spikey Wikey!" Rarity cried.

Spike laid the tray on the ground, then sat down right smack in the middle of the mess and started crying. "I didn't mean to!" he sobbed. "I really, really didn't! I just knew it was about dinner time, and Doc said that it was painful for them to get too hungry, so I went and fixed up dinner! I didn't mean to make a mess! I really, really didn't!" 

Twilight plucked the baby dragon from the mess and used a spell to wash the sticky juice off of his scales. Meanwhile, Fluttershy shooed the giggling fillies back inside to spare Spike more embarrassment. 

"I didn't mean to, Twilight!" Spike continued to sob. 

"No harm done, Spikey Wikey!" Rarity cooed. She then collected some rags from the linen closet a few doors down and settled to cleaning up the mess with a bottle of 409. 

Spike being dealt with, Twilight now turned her attention to Big Mac and Cheerilee. "I bet you guys are here to see Applejack or to find the fillies." 

"Eeyup," Big Mac grumbled, glaring at the door. 

Cheerilee nodded. "Yes Twilight, they—the fillies—disappeared on us. I hope they haven't cause too much trouble." 

Twilight shook her head. "No. Well, not much," she chuckled. "Fluttershy has been almost dying in there of Apple Cuteness Overload." 

Big Mac blushed, trying to disappear against the dark purple crystal wall. 

Pinkie giggled, "I want to see! I want to see!" In a blur, the party pony dashed from beside them into the room. A pink puff of smoke filled the room in her wake. 

"Right," Twilight drawled. "It isn't that cute." 

Cheerilee stifled a giggle herself. "I have seen those two be pretty cute. I am Apple Bloom’s teacher, after all." 

Twilight nodded, amused. "I know. So I guess we ought to stop just standing around?" 

"Eeyup!" Big Mac stated. 


----------

"Gag! Choke! Blah!" a snake-like voice says from everywhere at once. 

I pause in my writing to look around. Nothing, absolutely nothing. I turn back to my computer and place my hands back upon the keyboard. 

"Really silly? I'm not doing anything. I think you forgot about me." 

I close my eyes, groaning. "Not again!" 

"Again? I've not done this to-" 

I growl in disgust. "Cut the comedic act, both of you.  Just show yourselves!" To my left, the snake-like, chaotic form of Discord appears, and to my right, Pinkamena Diane Pie. 

"You are in a mood, Cowie!" Pinkie says, studying me. "I don't see a smile! That means it's a not-"

"Stop!" I hiss. "Just stop! I need you two in the book! This is the last thing I needed to happen! I'm almost done with this day so I can send you all to bed!" 

Pinkie looks deflated; Discord, surprised. "Cowgirl?" Pinkie says, cocking her head to the side to study me, as I pull a blanket over my head attempting to cool my raging nerves. 

"What?" I hiss. 

"Are you alright?" she inquires.

"I do believe that was-" Discord pauses. "An outburst." 

I glare up at him. "That. Was. An. Outburst. DISCORD!" I take a few measured breaths, trying to cool my nerves and collect my thoughts. "Alright you two. Somehow, I doubt this is a social call." I cock my head at the grinning pony. "Why are you here?" 

Pinkie plops down on the book case beside me. "Well Cowie-"

"Kathie," I correct. 

"Cowie," she insists. "You've not really been working on the story for a while. And then I am in the scene... really? A Trixie level disappearance? That was the best you could come up with?" 

I cringe, "Yeah." Biting my lip, I turn away. 

"What has you down in the dumps?" she presses me. 

"Pinkie, life is rough alright? Back off!" 

"Cowgirl! You've not written anything in this book for almost two weeks!"

"I said, back off Pinkie!" I hiss between my teeth. 

"Oh my!" Disord says, sticking his head right between ours. "This looks serious."

I roll my eyes. "You think? Now, I've got a scene to finish. Discord, you need to get out of my room and release Angel Bunny. N.O.W!" 

Discord grunts, "That demon? No thank you, he belongs in that ball."

I glare at him and growl, "I know, Discord, that many of my readers agree with you on this one, but really! Don't you think ten chapters is enough to spend on a single day? I do. I want to move on! Tomorrow is going to be fun! And I can't start it ‘till Fluttershy is happy. That means releasing the spoiled rabbit." 

Discord rolled his eyes. "Oh, please! Just listen to yourself!"

I close my eyes tightly. "Trust me, Dusty Chip, I am."

"Dusty Chip? Wherever did that one come from?" Pinkie Pie asks. 

"Discord, Chaos...." I respond back. "Now…, I'm fine! Got it you two? I need something out of-" 

I look up, watching my sister, Kendra E. Ardnek, waltz through my office with a broom. Bending over backwards, the broom leans forward as they do a one-man tango drop. "Uh, Kenj?" I glance to either side, where Pinkie is bouncing up and down in glee and Discord is nowhere to be found. No, he's somewhere to be found! He's now the broom. 

Kendra opens her eyes, She gasps in surprise as she realizes she's no longer dancing with the broom. "Discord!" she cries, thrusting him away from her. "What have I told you about startling people!"

"That was a charming dance, my dear," he grins mischievously. 

"Alright all of you!" I shout. "ALL OF YOU!" I look each one in the eye. "No tricks, Dusty Chip! Alright Kenj, what were you doing?" 

Kendra smiles up at me. "Well, sis, I'm dancing with Andrew! He's so cute.”

I close my eyes. "That is a broom." 

She shrugged. "Yeah, he's the Fire Prince and fictional, so it’s kind of hard to actually dance with him." She then turned and smiled at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie! Darling, it's been so long!" 

Pinkie Pie giggled. "It sure has-" 

I throw my hands in the air in defeat. "GUYS!" I exclaimed. 

"Yeah!" Discord grumped. "What about me? Aren't you happy to see me?" he whined. 

"Discord!" I growl. "Get back in the book!"

"What? So I can release the Big Bad Bunny?"

"Yes!" I snap at him. 

"Vienna, darling," Kendra coos at me. "Why do you need to let a rabbit go?"

"Long story Kenj. Almost 100K, in fact. Go read it." 

She tosses her long, curly brown locks. "I have from time to time, but it doesn't even come close to how good Water Princess, Fire Prince is!" She smirks at me. 

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, just rub it in my face, why don't you," I growl. "One day, I'll reach your skill and pass you! Because I don't go dancing with a broom!" 

She rolls her eyes. “Dancing with brooms is an important part of the writing process. You’ll never get anywhere just tapping away at a computer.” 

I roll my eyes. "I prefer to just go walking, dancing with brooms is stupid, I don't see how it could ever help." I sigh. Alright readers who are listening in, my sister, who is in the middle of publishing her seventh book, is being an idiot. The reason? She already has three five-star ratings on it, and several four. It's good, I'm just tired of hearing about it. I would recommend all of you to read it if you get a chance. You can find it on Amazon. 

"OOOH!" Pinkie Pie squealed. "Cowie broke the fourth wall!" 

"Cowie?" Kendra cocked her head to the side. "That works. She sure has been having enough of them recently." 

I glare at them both. "Aright both of you, this scene is getting long enough as it is. Discord, show up, behave yourself, and let the rabbit go. Pinkie, get in there and actually do something! I need Dash out of her snit and the CMC contained for once!" 

Pinkie glares at me. "Alright, I'll come up with something." 

I give up. "Kendra, you are crazier than the whole lot of them put together!" 

She smiles, catching Discord around the neck and petting his mane. "So fuzzy!" she coos.

"Right!" I sigh. "Alright Pinkie, I give you permission to go find my editor and get him to finishing editing. Just do it while everyone back home is in bed, but don't scare him alright?" After a thought I add, “Any of them.”

They all open their mouths to protest or comment, but before any of them can, I stand up and leave the office. This is just too much. 

------------

Fluttershy was trying to keep the fillies contained, as well as striving to keep her pet calm. In both areas, she was failing.

"Scootaloo!" she whispered loudly. "Please don't climb on that!" 

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Why not? I've got wings." 

Fluttershy cringed as the shelf came crashing down, dumping a mountain load of books on her head. Immediately, Scootaloo popped up. "I'm fine!"

Fluttershy cringed. "Are you-" 

Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started looking Scootaloo over. Finally setting her down, Pinkie grinned up at Fluttershy. "She's Okie Dokie Lokie!" she said. The shelf fell in reverse, setting itself upright again with the books returning to their previous location. 

"Pinkie," Applejack chuckled. "Yer never gunna quit surprisin’ me." 

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Well, you see, I've been talking with Discord-"

Applejack facehoofed, Fluttershy sighed, and Angel went ballistic. Pinkie giggled, "We need his help to let Angel out. Don't worry, he will behave, and if he doesn't, he'll get locked without his magic for a while.”

Just then, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, Big Mac and Cheerilee entered the room. "Big Mac!" Applejack half gushed. She held out both forehooves to her brother as the large stallion trotted forward and gently embraced her. "How's the farm? How's Granny? She hasn't burned anything, has she?"

Cheerilee covered her mouth with a hoof as she tried not to laugh. "Everything’s alright, Applejack. Different, but alright." 

Applejack studied Big Mac for a moment, pulling away to look directly in his eyes. "Big Mac?" 

Big Mac squirmed. "AJ, ah don't want ya worrin' about the farm while yer healin’," he told her firmly. 

Applejack glared. "I'd worry less if ah didn't keep discoverin' mah baby sister places she ain't supposed to be!" 

Apple Bloom hopped up between them. "Applejack! Don't blame him for me runnin’ away! It ain't his fault!" 

Applejack glared, her body becoming tense. "Apple Bloom, he's supposed-"

"Sis! Ah ain't a baby no more!" 

Fluttershy came to stand on the other side of Applejack's bed and laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Applejack-"

"Ya ain’t supposed ta be runnin' off, AB!" Applejack continued to rant. 

"Sis! The farm is fine, you've only been gone for four days!" Big Mac growled quietly to her. "Ah can handle things without you!" 

"Big Mac!" Applejack snapped, but she got no farther. For what felt like the tenth time that day, but was the first time in five hours, the pain racked her body, making her stiffen as she was overwhelmed by the pain. Big Mac stepped back to allow Twilight and Fluttershy to work. 

It only lasted a couple of moments. However, AJ was left flat on her back and white as a sheet. She panted as her hollow eyes scanned the room for her siblings. "Big Mac?" 

He looked to Twilight, somewhat trembling himself. Apple Bloom was curled up in a corner, crying into Sweetie's shoulder. Twilight nodded and he walked back up to Applejack's side. "Are ya alright sis?" 

Applejack swallowed, but nodded. "Just got a tad worked up."

Big Mac nodded. "The farm is mah job right now." He said it firmly, looking her square in the eyes. "It's not as smooth as it'd be with ya, but ah also don't want to lose you," he said gently. 

Applejack weakly rolled her eyes. "These are spasms; it’s just in mah muscles." 

"Ah still want ya ta slow down and rest, AJ,"  Big Mac repeated firmly. "Quit worrin' about the farm, and yer sis. She's old enough ta handle herself." 

Applejack had not the strength to argue. She felt pitiful. She glanced to Rainbow Dash, who was fitfully dozing. Sighing, Applejack returned her gaze to her brother. "Ah'd feel better if ah wasn't so worried about the farm." 

Big Mac sat down beside his sister. Reaching for one of her hooves, he gripped it both of his. "Ah promise, the farm will still be there when ya return. But ah want ya ta return able ta work, not us havin' ta watch for any of those-" He paused, looking away. "Ah don't want ta see ya continuin’ ta hurt yerself by not restin’."

A loud honk sounded from beside them. They all turned to see Discord leaning up against the frame of the door, dabbing his eyes with a white hankie. "Oh my this-" He blew his nose again. "This is just so sweet!" 

Applejack closed her eyes. "Not again!"