Waiting
Under normal circumstances, Applejack would have had no trouble keeping up with Rarity. These were not normal circumstances.
Applejack had no idea Rarity was even capable of running so fast, and it took every last ounce of her strength to keep the unicorn in her sights. The wind reached down from the heavens and grabbed hold of Applejack’s hat, peeling it off her sweat-soaked head. The farm mare did a double take over her shoulder, just in time to see the hat disappear into the void, swallowed by the storm. She grunted, pressing on. There were much more important things for her to worry about than her hat.
The stormclouds masked the sunset as day turned into night, but light glowing from the hospital windows served as a beacon for her to follow. Applejack felt the crushing weight of exhaustion pressing down on her shoulders, but with her eyes glued on the lights, she pressed on. She wasn’t going to quit until she had nothing left.
...
Try as they could to remain alert, neither filly could stay awake. Applebloom was the first to go, resting her head on her forelegs and curling up into a ball until her eyes fell shut. Scootaloo’s eyes drooped as well, but just as she began to nod off, she jerked her head back up, struggling to keep herself awake. She repeated this several times until she could no longer hold sleep at bay, rolling over onto her side and falling asleep with her head on Applebloom’s neck.
They were only minutes asleep when the hospital’s front doors slid open. They awakened instantly.
All Scootaloo noticed out of her peripheral vision was a white and blue blur, which vanished down the hallway before either of them could get a good luck. Scootaloo perked her head up.
“What was… was that Rarity?” Scootaloo got to her hooves and hopped down from the waiting bench, trotting across the room to look down the hallway. Applebloom followed right behind, looking just as confused as her friend.
“Ah think so…”
“Look out, AB!”
Another pony shouted a warning from behind them. Applebloom reacted right away. She grabbed Scootaloo’s tail with her mouth, yanking her out of the way as another pony blew past them, nearly running them over. Scootaloo yelped, both from surprise and from the sharp tug on her tail.
“Agh! What the… Applejack?” Scootaloo forgot the pain in her flank right away. Applebloom started after her sister, but before she could get very far, her sister hollered back at them.
“Stay right there!” She ordered, disappearing around the same corner Sweetie Belle had went on the stretcher. Applebloom stopped herself, sorely tempted to ignore her sister and follow anyway, but she reluctantly obeyed. Scootaloo sat beside her, staring down the hallway in slack-jawed surprise.
They were not entirely sure what to make of what they had just seen, but whatever it was, it didn’t look good.
...
The only warning Nurse Redheart got was the sound of galloping hooves clopping against the tile floor, coming right around the corner. She turned her head to the sound. A white unicorn emerge from the hallway. She was panting, her bloodshot eyes frantically darting from left to right. They locked onto Nurse Redheart.
“Can I help you, miss?” Nurse Redheart asked sweetly, simultaneously taking a step back from the unicorn out of fear. She looked absolutely insane.
“My sister! Where… is she?” Rarity stumbled down the hall, her wild, red eyes boring into Nurse Redheart. “I need… to see her!”
Redheart fought the temptation to take another step back, standing her ground in the middle of the hallway. Her voice still dripped sweetness, but she was tensed as a coiled spring.
“Your sister? Oh no, I’m sorry, miss. We’re in the middle of a very delicate procedure right now, and we can’t have-”
“I need to see her! Where is she?” Rarity was almost upon Nurse Redheart, not listening to a single word she said. The nurse held up a hoof.
“We can’t have anybody back here right now.”
“Where is she?”
“Please, miss, we’re doing everything we can to-”
“Where?” Rarity was screaming now. Nurse Redheart tried one last time to reason with the unicorn who was almost right on top of her.
“I’m going to need you to come with me to the waiting room…”
She got no further. Rarity took a running step forward, trying to squeeze past Nurse Redheart. The other mare was ready. She jumped in front of Rarity, blocking her path, but Rarity paid her no heed. She bulled into Nurse Redheart with her shoulder and shoved her bodily down the hallway. The nurse recovered quickly, standing up on her hind legs and pushing back at Rarity with her front hooves. The smooth linoleum floor, however, did not give her any traction to work with, and her back hooves slid over the tiles.
“Stop! Help!” Nurse Redheart cried as Rarity practically carried her down the hallway. However, before the unicorn could push any further, another pony came up from behind Rarity, running around and joining Nurse Redheart in pushing back against her.
“Rare! Get a hold of yourself!” Applejack planted three of her legs on the floor, wrapping one around Rarity’s chest and holding her at bay. Nurse Redheart took a second’s respite to put all four of her hooves on the ground before mirroring Applejack, grabbing hold of Rarity and preventing her from moving any further.
“No! Let me go! Get off me! Get off!” Rarity screamed, not strong enough to overcome both mares resisting her. She tried flailing her hooves at them, but she could barely get her legs off the ground without falling completely over. No matter how much she struggled, she could only move backwards.
“Come on, Rare! Stop!” Applejack grabbed her tighter, jaw clenched with the effort to hold the unicorn at bay. Rarity pushed back with all her might, gasping and panting for air.
“No! Get off! Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Be…”
Without warning, Rarity fell silent. All semblance of resistance suddenly stopped, and Rarity went limp. Nurse Redheart and Applejack felt Rarity’s entire body weight begin to fall to the floor, but their firm grip on her kept her steady. The unicorn’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her head lolled to one side, turning into dead weight in the two other mare’s hooves.
“Fainted,” said Nurse Redheart, helping Applejack lower the unconscious unicorn to the floor. “Not good. Here, help me get her to the bed down the hall!”
To her surprise, Applejack jostled her to the side, stooping down beside Rarity. Nurse Redheart was taken aback.
“No ma’am, s’not necessary. Ah can take care o’ her up front till she comes to. Y’all have more important things to worry about.” Applejack said, trying to get under Rarity so she could carry her on her back. Nurse Redheart furrowed her brow, shaking her head adamantly.
“No, no. You aren’t looking so good, either, miss. Here, just let me-”
“Nah, Ah can handle it,” Applejack insisted. She got under her fallen friend, rolling her limp form onto her stomach and lifting Rarity onto her back. “Ah… Ah got it.” She puffed with the effort, Rarity’s entire weight pressing down onto her. “Ah’ll… Ah got her… ah!”
No amount of willpower from the stubborn mare could prevent the onset of total exhaustion. Applejack gave a shout of dismay as her legs buckled underneath her. Rarity’s body started sliding off the farm mare’s back, but before her head could hit the tile, Nurse Redheart leapt forward, catching the unconscious unicorn in both forelegs and supporting her head.
“She’s okay, I caught her!” Nurse Redheart slid herself underneath Rarity’s neck, propping her head up on her shoulders. That was a very close call. “Are you alright? Can you get up?” She said with urgency to the collapsed mare.
Applejack lay wheezing on the floor, one of her forelegs tucked into her body and her head lying on the other one stretched out in front of her. Nurse Redheart’s support relieved some of Rarity’s weight from her back, making it easier for her to catch her breath. The nurse stared at her, waiting for a reply.
“Yeah, Ah’m… just dandy.” She lifted her head. “Jes’ gimme a sec…”
She brought the extended foreleg back to her body so that she was kneeling on the floor. Nurse Redheart watched with amazement as the farm mare boosted herself up on a set of shaking legs, still somehow managing to support the bottom half of Rarity’s body on her back, which was slicked with rainwater and sweat. She couldn’t help but admire her determination.
“Ah ain’t dropping her again.” Applejack said through gritted teeth. “Lead the way.”
............................................................................................................................................................
Cold rainwater dripped from Twilight’s wings and mane, muddy hoofprints leaving a clear enough trail for her to follow. The storm was finally dying down, but the rain was still quite heavy, and the day was turning into night. She couldn’t run too fast lest she lose track of where they were, forced to stare at the ground while she moved. When she finally looked up, she could see that she had already left downtown Ponyville and was approaching its outer limits.
“Where in the world are they going?” Twilight wondered, feeling worry in the pit of her stomach. She could see maybe Applejack being outside right now, but in this type of weather, there was no way Rarity would be out and about unless there was a good reason. That pony avoided mud like the plague.
There were definitely two sets of hoofprints, both moving in the same direction with one overlapping the other. Twilight drew an imaginary line in the dirt, following the general direction of the prints, starting from her hooves and extending straight ahead until…
They led to Ponyville General Hospital. Twilight’s stomach did a somersault.
“Uh oh. Not the hospital… this can’t be good.” Twilight broke into a full gallop, and a third set of hoofprints soon joined the others. Whatever reason they had for coming here in the middle of the pouring rain, Twilight knew it was a good one.
And by good, she meant very, very bad.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
After being so suddenly awoken, neither filly could relax. Scootaloo continued to gaze at the open hallway in silence, waiting for Applejack, Rarity, or anypony at all to emerge. Applebloom, on the other hand, was pacing from one side of the room to the other, shooting glances down the hallway to see if her sister had returned. It was only total respect for Applejack’s wishes that kept Applebloom from leaving the waiting room and following her anyway.
“Oh, what’s she doing?” Applebloom pouted, constantly shifting her gaze between the floor in front of her and down the hallway. “She shoulda been back by now, right?”
Scootaloo frowned, rubbing her shoulder with her hoof. “I dunno.”
Swish!
They both jumped at the sound of the front door sliding open behind them. When they turned around, Twilight was staring right back at them, perplexed and apprehensive. Applebloom raised her eyebrows.
“Twilight?”
“Applebloom? Scootaloo? What are you girls doing here?” She approached them slowly. Neither filly answered her, but they both were obviously startled to see her. Her observant eye caught the tear-stains on Scootaloo’s cheeks from where she had been crying recently. “Is your sister here?”
She directed the question at Applebloom. The little filly nodded in the affirmative. “Yeah, she’s back there, but…” she looked longingly down the hallway, “She told me to stay here, and the nurse said before not to go back there either cuz…”
Applebloom trailed off, falling silent. She eyed her hooves on the floor. Scootaloo still hadn’t said anything, staring off at the far wall as though she was afraid to look at Twilight. Both fillies looked more melancholy than Twilight had ever seen them.
“What about Rarity? Is she here, too?”
One nod from Applebloom. “Yeah, she’s back there, too. Applejack went with her…”
So, she had been right after all. Still, she needed to know why.
“Why? What are they doing back there? And what are all you girls doing here?” She asked, seriously concerned. Her voice raised in volume with each question she asked.
Scootaloo turned her face away completely, but not before Twilight could notice her eyes were welling up with tears. Applebloom appeared as if she was about to speak, but she closed her mouth again, her lip quivering. Twilight realized her tone might have been a bit overly demanding, so she tried a different approach.
“It’s okay, girls. Just tell me what the matter is,” Twilight implored, her voice gentler now. She stepped toward them, lowering her head to connect with them at eye level. “It’s okay.” She tried to reassure them. Both fillies were on the verge of tears, and she didn’t want to upset them any more than they already were.
Applebloom wanted to answer Twilight, to just blurt it out to her, but her mouth couldn’t form the words. She wanted to pretend that nothing was wrong, that they could just go back and make it so they had never played kickball to begin with, and there was just something about saying it aloud that broke her out of that blissful unreality.
“W-we’re here cuz…” Applebloom stammered, gathering the courage to speak. Twilight leaned in close, waiting for her answer with baited breath. “C-cuz… cuz Sw-”
“Sweetie Belle got bit by a rattlesnake!”
Scootaloo finished her friend’s answer. The pegasus filly was still looking away from Twlight. Applebloom bit her quivering lip.
The alicorn’s face lit up with horror. “Rattlesnake? Oh my gosh.” Twilight fell back onto her haunches. If her mane wasn’t so wet, it would have stood on end. Only now did it hit Twilight that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were currently a member short.
Being as well-read as she was, Twilight knew plenty about poisons and venom found all throughout Equestria. If a pony was bitten, they would commonly survive the bite if they received proper treatment in time, and fatalities were rare. But Sweetie Belle was only a filly, and the nearly all the fatalities which occurred from rattlesnakes every year were children…
Lost in thought, it took her a second to realize that both fillies were staring at her. She got back to her hooves, and wiped a stray tear from Applebloom’s cheek with her hoof.
“I’m so sorry, girls. I had no idea…” She was speaking like she was in a daze. The sight of her two friends running out in the pouring rain, being at the hospital, this sudden revelation from the two solemn fillies in front of her; it all felt like a bad dream.
“That’s okay,” Applebloom sniffled. Seeing them sad like this, Twilight felt like it was her responsibility to at least try and make them feel better before she just left them there. She put a hoof under Applebloom’s chin, gently lifting the filly’s head up until they were looking at one another.
“I’m sure Sweetie Belle will be just fine, girls,” she consoled them both, looking from one filly to the other. “Don’t worry. She’ll be okay.”
I think.
“Yeah, we already heard that before,” Scootaloo interjected again. The way she stressed the word “that” made Twilight feel uneasy. It was sarcastic, almost mocking in tone and filled with doubt.
Was it something I said? Twilight thought. Not knowing what else to say and feeling like she was just making things worse, Twilight decided to quit while she was ahead. She let her hoof fall from Applebloom’s chin.
“Yeah… you girls just stay right where you are.” Applebloom heard this and pouted. Scootaloo only gave the floor a blank stare as Twilight moved away. “Can you remember which way your sister went?”
Applebloom pointed to her right. “Yeah, that way…but the nurse lady said not to go back there.”
Twilight paid the filly’s warning no heed. “I’ll take my chances.”
She galloped down the hallway and around the corner, once again leaving them both there with nothing but each other for company. Applebloom blinked.
“What in the hay is happening? First mah sister and Rarity runs off, and then… hey Scoot?”
The other filly wasn’t listening to her. She wasn’t even looking in her direction. Her eyes were fixed on the far wall as if they beheld a work of art. Applebloom approached her from behind.
“Scoot?” She tapped the pegasus filly’s shoulder. Scootaloo jumped.
“Hm, what? Oh, Applebloom.” She finally stopped staring off into space. “Sorry. I just… I was thinking. Did you say something?”
Applebloom was about to repeat everything, but she lost the motivation. She sighed.
“Nah, nevermind. It wasn’t important… hey, Scoot?”
“Yeah?”
“You okay?” she asked, sidling up next to the pegasus filly. Her friend’s detached behavior was not normal, and it was starting to worry her a lot. Scootaloo shrugged indifferently.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
She sounded less than convincing.
“You… still thinking about Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom probed deeper, not willing to just let this go just yet. Scootaloo pursed her lips.
“Yeah, sort of. I’m just… I’m fine, okay?” Her eyes wandered back to the wall. “I’m fine.”
“Okay, okay,” Applebloom retreated back a couple of steps. Not wanting to anger Scootaloo into swearing again, she decided to leave her alone. “Ah’m just gonna sleep over here till somepony comes back. Gosh, Ah’m tired…”
“M’kay.”
Scootaloo replied, not even bothering to glance at Applebloom. She was deep in her own mind once again, blocking out everything else around her. The farm filly hopped up on the cushioned waiting room seats and lied down. Closing her eyes, she drifted off, her aching body welcoming the rest.
Scootaloo waited a minute before she finally took a look over her shoulder at where Applebloom had bedded down. She could see her friend was already fast asleep, curled up on the cushions and breathing softly. She looked over her other shoulder. Nopony at the front desk. Nopony could see her.
Once she was satisfied that she was alone, Scootaloo lied down, covered her face, and started to sob.
Swish!
Scootaloo’s face shot up at the sound of the front door opening again, and her bleary eyes focused in on…
“Sp-Spike?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
True to form, it did not take long for Twilight to notice little water droplets on the floor, indicating a clear trail where the rain-soaked pair had gone. She followed the trail until she reached the end of the first hallway. It formed a T shape with another hallway, intersecting it in the center. Twilight searched the floor for the liquid trail, and went down the hall to the right.
“Applejack? Rarity? Are you down here?” She called down the hallway. No reply. She groaned.
“Ugh, where are you?” She whispered. Every time she passed a room, she looked inside, only to discover it was unoccupied. Ponyville was a small town, and flu season had subsided for springtime allergies, so it came as no surprise that the hospital was not very busy.
And it’s a good thing it isn’t. They have enough to deal with right now, Twilight ascertained.
Her hoof made a small splash under her. She froze in place, looking down to see a puddle of rainwater in the middle of the hallway. Examining it, it looked like one of them had stopped in the middle of the hallway and stood in place. She wrinkled her snout in puzzlement.
“Huh? What the…”
Down the hall, she heard a door unlatch. A nurse, whom Twilight recognized as Nurse Redheart, emerged from the room, closing the door behind her. She walked at a swift pace further down the hall, away from Twilight. It appeared she was in a hurry, and she didn’t even notice Twilight standing right down the hall on the other side.
“Um, excuse me?” Twilight tried to get her attention. The nurse halted in her tracks, whirling around. She saw Twilight, and her hoof went up to clutch her chest from surprise.
“Oh, I, uh… Hello, Princess.” She removed her nurse’s cap and prepared to bow, but Twilight shook her head fiercely.
“Oh, no no no, don’t worry about all that,” she said hurriedly. “I wanted to ask you if you knew where two of my friends went.”
Nurse Redheart put her cap back on her head, looking inquisitively at Twilight. “Two friends, you say? Was one of them a crazy white unicorn and the other one named Applejack?”
Twilight’s face lit up at the mention of Applejack’s name. “Yes, that’s them! Do you know where I could—wait, crazy…?”
Nurse Redheart pointed to the room she just came out of. “They’re both right inside, Princess. The unicorn fainted and I was leaving to get her some water, and Applejack is trying to get her to come to. You can go on in.”
Twilight nodded graciously. “Thank you so much, Nurse Redheart. And you can just call me Twilight in the future, okay?” She made a motion toward the door, but before she opened it, she hesitated.
“Sorry, just one more question,” she said. Nurse Redheart was already almost out of sight, but Twilight got her attention just in time.
“Yes, Pri-Twlight?”
Twilight gulped. “H-how’s Sweetie Belle?”
This time, it was Nurse Redheart’s turn to gulp. So the Princess did know about everything.
“She’s… we’re giving her antivenom, and Doctor Scopes has her under close observation. We’re doing all we can,” she concluded.
Twilight gave her a single nod in thanks. “Appreciate it, Nurse Redheart.”
Nurse Redheart returned the gesture, feeling honored that Twilight knew her name, and went back to business, leaving Twilight standing next to the door. She grimaced.
Neither good nor bad news. Means they don’t know what is going to happen.
She used her telekinesis to open the door, surrounding the doorknob with a purple aura from her horn, and stepped inside.
Rarity was laying on a hospital bed at the far end of the room. Her back hooves lay elevated on a pillow to allow blood flow to her head, and she was not moving at all. Applejack had her back to the door, leaning over Rarity and shaking her lightly with one hoof. Twilight also noted that she was missing her hat.
“She still ain’t back yet, nurse,” she said, turning to face the door. “She’s got a…”
Her jaw fell open when she saw Twilight standing in the doorway. “Twilight! What in tarnation are you doing here?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Spike leaned over with his hands on his knees, breathing so raggedly that he couldn’t speak. He held up a claw, motioning for Scootaloo to give him a second while he caught his breath. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, frantically drying her eyes.
“Spike? Di-i-id you follow Twilight?” She stuttered, but kept her sobs at bay. That was when she noticed the cowboy hat, unmistakably Applejack’s, clutched in Spike’s claws. It was battered and sopping wet, water trickling in a visible stream to the floor.
“Hold… on… lemme just… gimme a… second…” He staggered forward, holding his ribs with both claws, pressing the bill of Applejack’s hat onto his belly scales. “I’m… ugh…” He groaned.
“Hmmm…What’s going on? Who’s there?” Applebloom yawned, awakened from her precious few minutes of sleep by all of the commotion. She opened her eyes, and saw the dragon hunched over in front of the door. “Spike?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” The dragon coughed into a clenched fist, his other arm wrapped around his torso with the hat still clenched in his fingertips. “I followed Twilight here…”
“Hey, that’s mah sister’s hat!” Applebloom jabbed a hoof at the object in Spike’s hand. He looked down at the hat, and slapped it against his hand, moving to where Applebloom was laying down on the cushioned seat.
“Yeah, it must’ve got blown away in the storm… and it hit me in the face while I was running around… don’t know why it was outside, but I thought I’d hold onto it.” He said with a little more air in his lungs. He handed it to her. “Here.”
Applebloom bit into the bill with her teeth and took it from him. The hat sagged down from the weight of the rainwater as she held it in her mouth. “Fanks,” She said with the hat still in her teeth before she dropped it onto the seat beside her.
“No biggie.” He took a step back, looking at both fillies now. He rubbed his scaly chin with his thumb and index finger, stroking an invisible goatee. “So… what the heck are you guys doing at the hospital? For that matter, why’s anypony here right now? This is where Twilight came, right?”
“Yeah, she came here just a minute ago.” Scootaloo said this time, with a somber tone.
Right away, he could tell his question had struck a nerve. Scootaloo’s eyes were glassy and red, and it was readily apparent that she was either trying not to cry, or she had been crying a short time ago. Applebloom’s ears drooped, and her countenance, momentarily elated with the discovery of her sister’s hat, fell back down.
“Oh no. Is somepony hurt?”
“Uh huh…”
“Who? Who’s hurt?” He stood on tiptoe, a cloud of worry descending down on him. Scootaloo didn’t want to drag it out, so she just broke the news to him as quickly as possible.
“Sweetie Belle. A rattlesnake bit her on the leg,” She said matter-of-factly, but the sadness was still there.
“WHAT?” Spike’s hand covered his mouth in shock. He started asking questions one after the other. “Oh my gosh! Is she okay? What’s happening right now? Where is she? Is she gonna be okay?”
Applebloom moaned. “I dunno anything. Applejack told me that the nurse told her it was gonna be okay, but then she ran back there with Rarity and told me an’ Scoot to stay here, and they’ve been gone for a long time, and then Twilight came in, and then you came in, and…”
The words were spilling out of the filly’s mouth a mile a minute, but Spike had stopped listening to her as soon as he heard Rarity’s name. He took a running step forward.
“Rarity? Where? I’m going to find out where they went!” He was already disappearing down the hall. Applebloom hopped down from the seat, waving her hooves akimbo.
“Wait, Spike! They told us--”
But her warning came too late. Spike was already gone, running blindly down the halls of the hospital.
“…to stay here.”
Applebloom face-hooved. “Ugh. Now what are we going to do, Scoot?”
The pegasus filly sat on the floor, looking down the hallway. Without saying a word, she got up, and trotted into the forbidden hallway.
“What are you doing? She told us to--”
“I want to know what’s going on. I can’t take it anymore.” Scootaloo looked back at Applebloom. “Come on.”
“B-but…”
“Come on!”
Scootaloo followed in Spike’s footsteps, leaving Applebloom all by herself. The yellow filly hesitated for several seconds, putting up a resistance, but the temptation at last got the better of her.
“Hey, wait up! I’m comin, too!”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Twilight took a spot beside the bed, looking over Rarity’s unconscious form. “I saw you girls running out in the middle of the big storm, and I thought something looked fishy, so I decided to investigate. So, I followed your hoofprints here.” She rubbed a hoof over Rarity’s forehead. “How's Rarity?”
“She’s just unconscious, but a little the worse for wear.” Applejack affirmed. “Poor girl fainted on me and Nurse Redheart when she came in here.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, Nurse Redheart told me all about it. Called her a ‘crazy white unicorn.’ What’s up with that?”
Applejack leaned in with Twilight, checking Rarity’s pulse with her hoof. “Yeah, I don’t blame her. Rarity went pretty loony when I told her about her sister… do you already know about all that, Twi?” She grimaced, hoping to Celestia that she wouldn’t have to break the news to another pony.
“Yeah, Applebloom and Scootaloo already told me when I came, and Nurse Redheart said they’re doing all they can. I’m so sorry, Applejack.” She put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. Applejack lightly brushed it off, busying herself once again with trying to revive Rarity.
“Thanks, but I ain’t the one who needs sympathy right now. Rarity, those poor girls, they’re the ones that… oh mah gosh, I totally forgot about them! I just left them there all by themselves! Agh, I’m such an idiot!” Applejack berated herself. Twilight saw how upset her friend was getting, and tried her best to calm her back down.
“No, no, I’m sure they’re fine by themselves, AJ. You’ve got Rarity you’ve been worrying about. You didn’t do anything wrong by leaving them there,” Twilight consoled. Applejack considered what Twilight said, and she calmed back down. Still, she wasn’t satisfied.
“Yeah, that may be, but I still think I would feel better if they knew everything was still alright.” Applejack bit her lip. “Those fillies are probably worrying like crazy, wondering where we’ve all been for so long…”
The door opened up again, and Nurse Redheart came inside, rolling a cart into the room with a large pitcher of water and a few glasses on the top. She looked over at Rarity, who hadn’t moved an inch since they had set her down. She sighed.
“Still hasn’t come to, huh? Well, it’ll happen soon. I checked all her vitals, and she’s doing just fine. Are you ladies thirsty?"
She gestured to the pitcher of water on the cart. Only at the sight of water did Applejack start to feel just how dry her mouth really was. She hadn’t had anything to drink since she had taken Sweetie Belle to the hospital.
“Actually, Ah think I’d like some o’ that, if you don’t mind,” she said. Twilight stuck by Rarity while Applejack filled up a glass with the water and chugged it down like she’d been stuck in the desert. Nurse Redheart smiled at her.
“Yeah, I bet you would. After everything you’ve done today, I’m surprised you didn’t faint and end up on the bed right there with her.”
Applejack simply shrugged off the compliment. “Yeah, well, it’s just what you gotta do, you know? Nothing complicated about it.”
Twilight grinned. Yep, that’s Applejack, alright.
Nurse Redheart watched as Applejack downed an entire glass, and went for more from the pitcher. She retreated back a step, making her way back to the now open door.
“I think I’m going to get another one, just to be on the safe side.” She chuckled. “We want to have enough for Rarity when she finally comes around.”
“Mmhm.” Applejack mumbled while drinking a second full glass of water. Nurse Redheart entered the hallway, but just as soon as she had gone, she came back in.
“Um, ladies? I think you have some more visitors.” She stepped back out. Twilight looked away from Rarity for a second, and Applejack ceased drinking, setting the half-filled glass back onto the cart.
“’More visitors?’ Who in the hay is she talking about?”
Nurse Redheart stepped back out for a second, and called out, “It’s okay, they’re right in here.”
The soft pitter-patter of hooves and feet could be heard approaching. Nurse Redheart stepped aside, and Scootaloo and Applebloom both walked into the room, looking guilty.
“I thought I told y’all to stay put,” Applejack chided. Applebloom didn’t match her sister’s stare.
“Yeah, sorry, sis… We all just got so worried, so Scootaloo went looking for ya and I thought I should go with her, too, so... ‘m sorry,” she said without any further explanation. Scootaloo glanced over at Applebloom, looking indignant.
“Hey, wait just a sec. I only left the waiting room because Spike ran off looking for Twilight…”
“Spike?” Twilight cut Scootaloo off. “You said Spike was here, too?”
“Go on, come in. Don’t be shy,” Nurse Redheart said to someone else behind the door frame. Sure enough, Spike shuffled inside, clasping his hands behind his back and teeter-tottering back and forth on his toes nervously. She fixed him with a glare.
“I thought I told you to stay at the library.”
Spike smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well, you know… Is that Rarity? Whoa, is she okay?” He quickly changed the subject, but still nonetheless voiced genuine concern. Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled inwardly.
“Yeah, she fainted. Right now, we’re trying to—”
“Unh…”
A sound issued from the bed behind them. They all froze.
Rarity’s eyes opened.
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No decline that I noticed, great as usual.
Hope you feel better!
I don't think you had to worry about this chapter being uneventful. If anything it's too eventful.
I totally thought AB and Scoots were gonna charge into Sweetie's room and accidently kill her by screwing up the medical equipment
Looks good. I hope you finish this soon.
I love this story, great job!
2987126
Fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out!
3000946
Oopsie poopsie. Fixing it now...
Thanks!
I'm just hoping Sweetie Belle survives....
3000965
You may have. It's also posted on fanfiction.net.
3001048 Guess you'll have to just wait and see.
3001830
Oh, I know that.
But Applejack doesn't.
24.media.tumblr.com/a257ad5165644b1f79354634dfdee284/tumblr_mqo61uYbwk1rj6vd5o1_400.png
Another good one. Fav and like from me for this. Same deal with ribbon.
3007724
Thank you so much! Glad to know you liked it!
Man... Everypony's in a state of worry and panic. I don't blame them. Rarity really exhausted herself too much, huh?
Applejack sure was thirsty.
"Rarity’s eyes opened." OH SNAP!
Rarity's awake. Bah, I gotta continue this later.
Enjoying it so far, you've got me griped!
*Reads the last sentance*
Oh no
*Quickly builds a fort out of muffins and hides inside*
This is gana be bad.
This just got serious!
deep-seated
lay
Ah
_________________
Move down a line.
______________________________
Connect with line above.
_____________
Ah
[when using accents. It's important to keep consistent with your dialects. You, or ya. Ah, or I.] ^_^
______________
Applebloom >> Apple Bloom
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No decline in writing content. Good chapter, although I don't think we ever find out what her problem with hospitals are do we?
I'm loving this story so far, it's totally awesome. I just hope Sweetie Belle survives this... She can't die now...