Applejack had barely slept since that fateful date two weeks ago, when the cyan pegasus Rainbow Dash, Element of loyalty, friend to all, and secret love of Applejack’s, had been brutally attacked by a former friend of Rainbow’s; Gilda, a griffin. Since then, Rainbow had been fighting for her life in the Ponyville general hospital. Applejack had been at the side of her comatose friend since she was admitted, and refused to leave under any circumstances.
“Ah just can’t leave Rainbow alone, she needs me, don’t you understand Twilight?” Applejack told her friend, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle.
“No, I don’t AJ. I can’t understand why you blame yourself, when you had no way of knowing or stopping Gilda,” Twilight replied, trying to console her friend. “Look, I know you and Rainbow were close but-“
“CLOSE! Close doesn’t even describe me and Rainbow,” snapped Applejack.
“Why are you yelling at me, what did I say?!” Twilight said, taken aback at Applejack’s outburst. Applejack sighed, looking down at the floor.
“Twi, there’s something I gotta tell you, I-I’m in love with Rainbow Dash,” she told her. She couldn’t meet her eyes, worried that she would be met with disapproving looks.
“Ooohhh, AJ, why didn’t you just say so before?” Twilight asked, making Applejack look up with a stunned look on her face.
“Wha-What? You don’t mind?” Applejack asked. Twilight just smiled and gave her friend a caring look.
“AJ, you forget that I’m from Canterlot, fillyfooling is very common there. I’m used to it, besides, you and Rainbow are my friends, I just want you to be happy.”
“Wow, thanks Twilight, that makes me feel a bit better,” said Applejack, giving Twilight a small smile, just knowing that one of her friends didn’t mind was going to make the waiting easier.
“So are you coming to lunch with me or not?” Twilight asked with a slightly pleading tone.
“No Twi, ah’m sorry. Give the other girls my love okay?” Applejack said, looking at Rainbow once again.
“Okay AJ,” Twilight relented. “Yell if you need me okay?” Applejack just nodded and Twilight left the room, worrying about her friends. Before she left, Twilight stopped in to see Rainbow’s doctor; a grey earth pony by the name of Doctor Neuron.
“So Doctor, any news on Rainbow?” Twilight asked. The Doctor looked down at his notes on Rainbow Dash.
“Well, the injuries she sustained have mostly healed up, except for the wing of course, that will take months of healing and rehabilitation before it’s usable again. But the coma, that’s another story entirely. Rainbow seems to be…not…wanting to come out of the coma,” he explained and the look of puzzlement on Twilight’s face was enough for the Doctor.
“You see, Miss Twilight, the brain is a fragile thing, but the mind inside is even more so. When the mind is in trauma, it tries to protect itself from the trauma in different ways, sometimes it just refuses to accept what has happened to it, or creates amnesia, but in Rainbow’s case, well, it’s just retreated into itself.”
“But Doctor, we were told that she was fighting for her life, but what you’re saying is that’s it’s all just in her head,” said Twilight accusingly.
“Hey, don’t mistake this as not serious, she IS fighting for her life. Her mind is so far retreated into itself that it has become almost completely separated from the body. Miss Twilight, the body cannot live when the mind is not there to help. Look, we are keeping her on a steady drip of stimulants, in the hope that she will wake up, and that orange pony has been talking to her.”
“Applejack has been talking to her?” Asked Twilight, unsure of how that would help.
“Yeah, and not just that, singing, she does have a lovely voice,” said the Doctor, smiling.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Twilight inquired, ignoring the Doctor’s daydream.
“Not unless you have a spell that allows a pony to walk in the mind of another,” he said, giving her a defeated shrug. Downtrodden, Twilight just turned and left the room, leaving the hospital.
Back in Rainbow’s room, Applejack was singing softly to her friend, in the hopes that her voice would bring her back.
“…Because ah cannot live without yooouuu,” Her voice was soft, and broken up by sobs that threatened to turn into screams of anguish. She leaned down and gave Rainbow a kiss on the cheek.
“There will be more of that if you wake up sugarcube,” she whispered into Rainbow’s ear. Rainbow stayed motionless, except for a twitch that formed at the corner of her mouth.