"What do you think of this one, Applejack?" Snowy asked in delight as she looked at all the incomprehensible art and suited jerks around her.
"Uh... It's a painting of a ship." Applejack said flatly.
"What my friend means to say is... It's a beautiful painting of a ship." Rarity said happily.
"I like this one." Stroke said, looking up at a big poster of an angry stallion as big as Celestia fighting off a foal army. An army... of foals.
"Whaaaaa?" Applejack asked in confusion.
"I like this one!" Snowy said happily as she looked at a giant ice crystal that looked like a snowflake.
"How lovely!" Rarity said happily.
"It's frozen." Applejack said flatly.
"I like this one." Snowy said, looking at art of a frozen pony with frostbite.
"He's frozen, too." Applejack said flatly.
"It's very... unique." Rarity said, disturbed.
As Stroke and Snowy gushed over a beautiful wintery display of a pack of wolves eating one of their own, Applejack and Rarity moved closer together.
"I should have gone with Rainbow." Applejack whispered.
"Too late, we're with them now." Rarity said. "And we're supposed to write a report for the Princesses about them."
"Easy. Snowy likes art, rich stallions, and frozen stuff, and Stroke's nuttier than a stallion with squirrels in his mane and pants in march. An'a hate both." Applejack whispered.
"Applejack! Come now, be more polite and considerate-" Rarity said.
"Stroke's makin' goo-goo ayes at the wolf getting eaten." Applejack said flatly.
"Yes, she... is a little... odd." Rarity said carefully. "But the other mare seems quite nice, save her romantic delusions about the upper crust."
Applejack stared at her, much like Spike once did.
"If you want, we can take them to a place we might enjoy." Rarity offered.
"Like what?" Applejack asked.
"An art gallery with nothing quite so... tacky." Rarity said, looking at a clay sculpture of a filly with an icicle in her head.
"Hi." Stroke said, suddenly appearing under Rarity. She screamed and fell over.
"What were you doing down there?" Applejack asked.
"Waiting for the right time. I... I didn't want to disturb you." Stroke said shyly.
"It's a bit late for that." Applejack said flatly.
"Applejack!" Rarity gasped.
"I love you both very much." Stroke said, turning her head down. "You're heroes, and you saved Equestria a bunch of times. I'm nothing compared to you."
"Why, that isn't true at all!" Rarity said. "Everypony has their own part to play in Equestria, and I'm sure you have yours."
"I'm an aspiring artist." Stroke said shyly.
"'Aspiring'? Pish-posh. If you can make art, you ARE an artist. And it doesn't matter what some snooty Canterlot flank-licker pretends to think, any artist that doesn't create utter trash or sell out to appease fools with more money than sense IS a true artist." Rarity said.
Stroke stared at Rarity with dilated pupils, and grabbed her in a bear hug that crushed her.
"And that is how I became the bed-ridden monstrosity you see before you." Rarity said weakly to her friends as she sat up in her hospital bed, a gown on.
"Rarity, the doctors healed your spine three hours ago." Twilight said flatly.
"Yes, well... I like it here." Rarity said.
"Rarity, you were in the hospital for two minutes. That's how long it took a healer to get to you." Twilight said flatly.
"And it was a traumatic and stressful two minutes. I need time to recover." Rarity said.
"Rarity, they need this room for actual patients." Twilight said flatly.
"I've got her." Sky said, stretching her wings and sending gusts of wind through the room.
"Wait!" Rarity said in horror.
Sky swung her wing and sent Rarity flying into the air, and she jumped up to catch the flying Unicorn, resisting the urge to spike her into the ground like a hoofball.
"Woah, nice catch!" Rainbow said, impressed.
Sky's jaw dropped. HER IDOL WAS COMPLIMENTING HER! "Thanks, I caught her myself." She said awkwardly, wings getting hard and awkward as she fell to the ground, landing on Rarity.
A blue stallion doctor with a light blue mane and white labcoat opened the door, and saw all the ponies, including Sky on top of Rarity. They recognized him as Doctor Cold. "Yeah, we're all happy to be alive, but can you do this somewhere else?" He said grumpily, closing the door.
Sky passed out from embarassment, her heavy Alicorn body falling on Rarity.
"My spine!" Rarity screamed.
They heard the doctor outside groan. "Not again! That's it! No more visitors for this one! All of you, out!"
"Hey, that's two Princesses of Equestria you're talking to!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"And I'm the Prince of Medicine and Making Ponies Not Die! BITE! ME!" Doctor Cold snapped, slamming the door open and glaring at her, eyes ice-cold.
Rainbow goat-fainted from the waves of fury he was giving off like a torch, to everypony else's surprise. It was like The Stare, but so much worse, and the useless water thing near Rarity's bed started to boil from the force.
He walked away, leaving the door open so the other ponies could take Rainbow Dash and Rarity and run, Sky using a healing spell to fix Rarity's back as the white Unicorn rested on the Alicorn's back. Pinkie Pie laughed and hopped onto Applejack because she could, and they all ran out of the hospital and to the hotel Sky lived in, hoping the assassins will be gone by now.