• Published 16th Mar 2012
  • 1,831 Views, 13 Comments

More Than Anything - TheStarsGuide



An accident leaves Rainbow in the ICU, and Applejack visits to say a few words.

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Chapter 1

“Get outta the way!” an orange mare yelled to a couple strolling ponies as she poked her head out through the open window. She raced by them in a carriage, hauled by three burly stallions going full speed. The haulers and the carriage’s wheels almost crushed one passerby who took too long to notice. Applejack looked behind with her blonde mane whipping around her face and the tan hat perched atop almost flying off. Her head turned back around to face ahead, looking up towards a massive, pearly building with many floors and windows to decorate them.

The Canterlot Hospital.

Applejack felt her heart sink further than it already had. “I’m comin’, sugarcube,” she faintly spoke beneath her breath. She had heard what happened. Twilight Sparkle, the ever talkative walking library, practically barged into the farmer’s barn. It looked as if she had been running forever with sweat covering her entire body. Pinkie Pie was also with her, but faring much worse. Her signature puffy mane had flattened out to the thickness of paper.

She bit her lip to hold back tears. They might come in need later. The carriage neared the hospital’s overhanging roof. The farmer didn’t even wait for it to slow down before she busted out of the door. Her hooves caught the ground wrong and caused her to tumble, but she was back on them in a flash and began galloping as fast as she could. Almost crashing through the doorway, she skidded to a stop in front of a reception desk and a surprised mare.

“Where’s Rainbow?” she asked hurriedly, shifting and dancing in her spot while the unicorn sifted through papers.

“Um... I’m not sure, you need to ask somepony else.” Applejack whirled around, trying to find another pony. There were none on the floor.

“Just get me a nurse or doctor!” The receptionist blinked at her. “Now!” Her front hooves slammed down on the table and sent the unicorn scurrying. “Oh Rainbow, oh Rainbow,” she repeated while still stepping in place.

A few moments later a doctor wearing a white lab coat appeared beside the frantic farmer. “Miss?”

“Where’s Rainbow?!” Her question came out as a blast and caused the doctor to recoil slightly.

“Rainbow Dash?” he asked while rubbing his ear.

“Yes! Where is she?”

“Fourth floor up in the ICU. You can take the...” His sentence drifted off as Applejack shot away like a rocket and barged up the stairway. “...Elevator.”

Applejack searched each and every plaque that she found in the stairwell. She passed all of them until she found the one that read “Fourth Floor: Trauma Center.” With a spring, she launched herself through and slipped into the opposite wall then scrambled down the tiled hallway. An unfortunate nurse happened to be closest. She was seized by her shoulders and brought, shaking back and forth wildly, to the orange farmer’s muzzle.

“Rainbow! Where is she?” Her hooves still kept a rather crushing grasp on the poor nurse and continued to shake her back and forth. The pony managed to raise a hoof and point to a room further down the hall. She collapsed to the floor in a daze while Applejack sped off.

The green eyed mare slammed through the room’s doorway and frightened a doctor. She peeled the medical expert away from the bed with ease. Then she froze instantly.

There, in the bed, lay a restrained cyan pegasus. Her body was scarred and bruised badly with deep red lacerations; wings almost nonexistent beneath a mass of bandaging. Black and charcoal gray stains threatened to discolor her vibrant mane. Her magenta eyes weren’t to be seen under heavily closed lids. Many machines and monitors decorated the room while several tubes that ranged in thickness stuck out of the pegasus beneath a gown. The largest tube was connected to her mouth and forked as it ran to a machine. Red lines would trace up at an angle in the screen’s dark green backdrop then turn into a light green, almost teal, line that sloped down. They were synchronized with an odd, mechanical wheeze as the pegasus breathed deeply. Several other machines were on the other side across the bed. Each of these sported monitors that showed different numbers, lines, words, and all other sorts of information regarding their patient. One graph could be easily identified as the heart monitor, with its spiking line going across the screen.

“Rainbow...” Applejack slowly removed her beloved hat and sat it down by the base of the bed. “Is she going to be okay?” was the first thing to pop on her mind as she turned to the doctor.

He coughed. “Yes. With how young and strong she is there’s a high possibility for her to recover. Actually, she should have died before we got her here. Nopony could normally live through such a thing.”

The orange mare set her emerald eyes on her ruined friend. She wanted to do something so badly, but what is there to do? “Can I talk with her at all?” she said without moving her eyes away.

“You can try, but with that respirator in, she can’t talk back. She also may not remember anything since we have to have her heavily sedated to relieve her pain.” He shook his head. “Just breathing is going to be a problem for quite some time.”

“Please, I want to talk to her.”

“Only for a moment.” The doctor looked at the few smallest machines and turned their dripping off with magic. Within ten seconds, Rainbow began to stir and very slowly opened her eyes - but kept them to slits.

Applejack put on a huge grin that threatened to tear her face in two as her dear friend carefully turned her head and focused on the farmer. “Hi, Rainbow,” she said with tears welling in her eyes. Rainbow Dash fidgeted a bit more then calmed down soon after. “Don’t worry.” The apple bucker put a gentle, reassuring hoof on the mare. “Y’all be alright. Just relax, sugarcube.”

From under the respirator’s tubing Applejack could have sworn she saw a faint smile. “Ya know... there was always something I have wanted to tell you.” Rainbow furrowed her brows just slightly and opened her eyes more while a foreleg moved in its restraint.

“Relax, sugarcube. Relax.” Applejack waited for her to calm down before continuing. “What I wanted to say, ever since we ran through those autumn leaves years ago...” She felt hot tears drip down her coat in rivulets, staining it darker.

“Was that I... I...”

A beeping alarm went off and the heart rate monitor showed increased activity; the lines came faster and faster while two numbers reading the patient’s blood pressure grew higher.

“Please, Rainbow, get better soon... I miss seeing you fly through the air, or seeing you sleeping in my orchard. I miss racing with you.”

Another machine set off wildly and flashed squares of color around their respected information. Rainbow Dash struggled in her spot and strained against her secured wrappings in an ever losing battle. The orange pony was magically pulled out of the room as a couple nurses hurried in and began checking over the machinery. She watched, unmoving, as the trio of medical ponies scurried in attempts to subdue the riled pegasus. They activated sedatives as her breathing became shallow and harsh, the mechanical wheeze flooding half of the room. Orders were issued in quick succession as Applejack stared with dripping eyes, her face partially covered in weary strands of hair.

She focused her rings of emerald on the heart rate; it spiked madly and became frantic. The beeping grew louder as more alarms were set off and another doctor rushed in.

“I...”

The spiking lines suddenly slowed down, but the alarms continued ringing in a clamor. They became distant as the cyan pegasus stopped struggling and relaxed. The noise kept going. Applejack blinked and let out a new wave of tears drip down to the flooring.

“I love you, Rainbow.”

“Clear!” The pegasus’ body thumped up slightly as it was trying to be jump started. The monitor showed a low spike. “Again! Clear!” It came up again and continued.

But the alarms didn’t stop. The monitor showed a flat line again after a moment.

“Dammit! Clear!” Another spike.

The doctor who tried to resurrect the pegasus let out a frustrated yell and kicked away a piece of equipment, scaring the two nurses. “Clear!”

Nothing came up.

“Don’t you die on me! Clear!”

Applejack slowly looked down and saw her hat on the ground, crushed from the hooves of the doctors and nurses.

The heart monitor rang out a long, single tone. Applejack stared hard at her crushed heirloom laying on the ground, her mind conjuring past thoughts of the pegasus as scalding tears began to run down her cheeks.

“I love you more than anything...”





A/N: I know I have been going on a short streak of fics containing Rainbow being hurt and AJ missing/loving her. It does not mean that I don't like RD in any way. I also know that this may seem fast paced and a bit of a cliche, but it stuck in my mind. And without further ado, I give thanks to SanityLost for having helped review and edit this story! I hope you readers enjoy it.

Comments ( 13 )

Dammit man, this is good. Real good. Like, manly tears were almost shed good. I can't wait for more stories from you! :moustache:



Also, I hate to do this, but one tiny typo:
"She bit her lip to hold back tears. They might come in HAND later."
Don't you mean handy?

Anyway, keep doing your thing!

:fluttershysad: Oh wow. This made me sad. This was REALLY well written though so well done. Now I'm off to find some tissues.

you know, i just cried:raritycry:
like legit cried:pinkiesad2:
da fuck man:derpytongue2:

This was actually more touching than I expected it to be, but if I may make a suggestion, you should dig deeper into the thought's of Applejack as Rainbow Dash is dying. I don't know about you, but if the girl I loved was dying right in front of me, I'd be feeling a lot more than just tears.

But I'm just being critical, all criticisms aside, this was a really good read. Well done.

This is really great! Just wondering, is this the end of this particular story?
Also, "I know I have been going on a short streak of fics containing Rainbow being hurt and AJ missing/loving her."
For some reason, these are always my favorite fics! And I don't dislike Dash at all; she's my favorite pony. I guess it's something about either her trying to recover or just other pony's reactions to her situation. I can't quite place it, but the more the merrier. :twilightsmile: (Also poor Dashie)

*sniff* So beautiful! :( My only question is, how did Dash get so banged up? This is a really intense story. :fluttercry:

Wow, I was not expecting this to do much. It didn't seem that good to me when I read over it.

328519
Maybe so. "Handy" sounds a bit weird to me, so I may just put it as "may be needed later." How's that sound?

328856
As much as I'd love to bring more emotion and thought, it's just not my expertise. If I tried to go back over I may just ruin what is already there. But, you also have to remember that Applejack isn't one to normally be emotional. I think that she'd have a better chance of being stubborn and not accepting it over fully understanding and coming to terms.

328886
This most likely will be. I prefer doing shorts, such as this and my previous story. When I try to have longer stories they just don't seem to work out that well. I do, however, have a story with chapters and one that is simply long and continuous. Only problem with them are that I constantly have writer's block and can't properly write them.

They tend to be my favorite fics, too. I love the loyalty aspect.

329163
I will leave that to the reader. I do have an idea in mind, but I believe that will come into play in the next short I just started on. These things pop in my head quite often yet only one or two of the bunch of ideas is put down in words.

328522
328601

I thank you all for the comments. Personally, I did not see this getting anywhere as it just doesn't strike a chord with me. I'm pretty much at a loss of what is hitting the heart. Nonetheless, thank you all again.

StarsGuide

329883 Aye, that does seem to make a lot more sense.

Closer looks at Applejack prove to me that she is emotional, just hidden under a hard shell of stubbornness...that doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't feel...

besides, if she was in denial, it would only tear her up inside even more with the proof that it was true, even though she couldn't accept it.

Either way, I want you to know that I did thoroughly enjoy this story and I hope to see many more from you! :twilightsmile:

The horrible thing is... I can hear an ambulance somewhere in town.... This is a great read, if we still could, I'd give it five stars!

Nice, great job.

can you write more please:fluttercry:

1356746

I have tried to make a sort of sequel, but my writing has suffered in quality dramatically and it has gotten hard for me to concentrate on a story. As much as I'd like to write more, it's becoming difficult for rather trivial reasons. While I may not be writing more on this story or its counterparts, I am finishing up my sequel to the OtaviaxVinyl story. So if you enjoyed that, then I hope you'll look forward to this upcoming chapter.

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