Blood Moon

by Zanem-Ji

Dangerous Dreaming

Applejack’s face scrunched, and her eyes flicked at the sound of a steady beep and faint buzzing of fluorescent lights. Her eyes fluttered opened and adjusted to the light, her vision quickly going pink as she heard a squeal from the party pony. Rarity and Twilight quickly came into her view.

“You’re awake!!” Pinkie let out another squeal, proceeding to do a choke hold (but she swore was a hug) on Applejack. The orange pony wheezed, her lungs recognizing the strength of her fellow Earth Pony. Pinkie let go.

“Sorry!” Pinkie quickly apologized. “We were just so worried about you…”

“Worried about me?” Applejack repeated. “What fer? All I had was just a crazy dream…”

Twilight’s eyes furrowed, “You suffered from a myocardial infarction…”

Applejack rubbed her temple, “Dang it, Twi…what have Ah told ya time an’ time again? Ah don’t understand when ya start speakin’ that scientific lingo ta me. What the hell is a ‘mayo in a fart’?”

Rarity looked at her sympathetic, “Darling…you had a heart attack…”

The farm pony’s eyes went wide, “Ah had a what?! B-but that’s impossible! Ah’m one of the healthiest ponies in Ponyville! Hell, probably in Equestria! Our family is the reason ‘An Apple a day keeps the doc away’ even exists! How could this happen?”

“That’s just it…” Twilight started. “The doctors don’t know what’s going on with you. Or with Rainbow and Fluttershy. Its just-”

“Hold up.” Applejack interrupted. “Whaddya mean ‘Dash an’ Shy’? What happened to ‘em?”

Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight worriedly glanced at one another.

“They suffered from heart attacks too.” Pinkie stated sadly.

“Are they okay?! Ah gotta go see fer mahself-”

Rarity placed a firm hoof on Applejack’s chest, “You’ll do no such thing! I give you my word, that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are in the utmost care, and are being monitored by some of the best doctors in Equestria.” Her tone softened a bit, “Besides darling…everyone, including them, are far more worried about you…”

Applejack arched a brow, “Why? Ah’m clearly fine now.”

“You weren’t though, and we still aren’t sure.” Twilight replied. “You went into cardiac arrest not too long ago…”

Applejack blankly stared at her.

“It means you almost died, Jackie!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Died! Dead! Croaked! Passed away! Kicked the bucket! Bit the dust!” she finished her rant with a slicing motion across her neck.

“But…if Ah died, how am Ah here now?”

“From what the doctors said…your heart started shutting down…” Rarity began. “It was barely beating…but they managed to kind of ‘restart’ it with a defibrillator, thank the gods…” her eyes welled up a bit, “If it had been someone not as strong as you…”

“That explains that weird ‘jolt’ I felt…” Applejack mumbled.

“Applejack…”

Applejack focused on Twilight, “Sup girl?”

“In this dream, was there a hooded pony named ‘Guider’?”

Applejack nodded.

“Did she let you see her parents?”

Another nod.

“And…” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “Did you try to leave with your parents?”

Emerald eyes guiltily averted her gaze, before slowly nodding.

“Oh Applejack…” Twilight started with a pitying tone that rubbed Applejack the wrong way.

“Definitely doesn’t seem like some weird cowinky-dink.” Pinkie stated, “Something big is happening here.”

“And it has something to do with that dreadful dream.” Rarity agreed.

“It wasn’t ‘dreadful’!” Applejack snapped. “Ah got ta see mah Ma an’ Pa again! Why can’t ya’ll just leave it at that?!”

“Applejack, all three of you had the same dream.” Twilight started. “A dream that you all had be-…because of your…circumstances.”

“So, you’re sayin’ we all had this dream because we’re orphans?”

Twilight nodded. “Its safe to say that’s where the link is.” A thoughtful look appeared on her face, “And for some unknown reason, this ‘dream’ had dangerous, possibly fatal side effects…”

The orange Earth Pony sighed, “But it ain’t like she wanted ta kill any of us. She really did let us see ‘em. She didn’t try ta bait us or any crazy stuff like that. An’ when she left…an’ they left with her…” she faltered with finishing her sentence. “Ah just wanted ta be with ‘em…”

Rarity wrapped her forelegs around her, “I’m so sorry for what I said…I can only imagine how you feel…”

“Solace and understanding in each other’s pain…” Guider’s words echoed in the back of her mind.

Applejack slowly pushed Rarity away, “No…ya can’t even imagine how Ah feel. Ya’ll can’t imagine how any of us feel!” she ripped the covers off her body. “Ya’ll have both of yer parents! The three of us…we couldn’t even have on of ‘em….”

“Applej-”

“Ah’m gonna go check on RD an’ Shy.” She shot Rarity a look that made sure she’d get to finish her sentence, “An’ there ain’t nothin’ ya can say ta stop me.”

She placed her hind hooves on the ground, and immediately started to buckle under her own weight. Twilight and Pinkie immediately rushed to her side, keeping her from collapsing to the ground. They gently escorted her to Dash and Fluttershy’s room. They were delighted to see she was okay, being in far better condition than she was. They took custody of the Earth Pony and led her to what going to be the most comfortable chair into the room. Twilight and Pinkie left wordlessly as Fluttershy and Dash hugged their weakened companion.

“We’re so glad you’re okay!” Fluttershy stated in a soft, but excited tone. “We heard you had a heart attack, and-” her eyes watered, the thought of losing her friend stopping her from finishing her sentence.

“Why did Pinks and Twi look so upset?” Dash questioned, placing a comforting wing on Fluttershy while she focused on Applejack. Applejack’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“Ah might’ve gotten a tad defensive when Rarity tried to…understand how Ah feel…”

Dash and Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulders, a small act of understanding. She looked up at their faces, and the trio shared their understanding in the silence of the hospital room. She gave them a small smile before pulling them into a hug. No matter what came their way when it came to this…‘dream’, they would face it together…

Comments

[BigD]

Begging your pardon, but cardiac arrest is a potential cause of death, not a term for death. Furthermore, cardiac arrest is where the heart is still functioning, but not at a proper rhythm to sustain life, hence the need for defibrillation (which stops the heart in the hopes that it'll restart properly); if AJ had actually died (ie, her heart stopped), defibrillation wouldn't have done any good as there would be no rhythm to restart.

And you guys can give me all the thumbs-down you want. I'm an EMT, so forgive me if I have a problem with misrepresenting medical facts.

[Blaxbone]

from an ever worse

[StormyVenture]

4443399
As he pointed out though, they could hardly have brought them back after they died with a defibrillator. So the only possible case is that they nearly died (untreated cardiac arrest would lead to death pretty quickly unless the body straightened itself out somehow) as Pinkie pointed out. The dilemma is really with Twilight's answer not clarifying that AJ didn't actually die.

Somebody dislike things just to be spiteful I think...

[Zanem-Ji]

4363517
Thank you for your response. I'm revisiting a few of my stories, and have made the correction. 😌