Apples & Oak Trees

by Oak_Splitter

A&E

Beep, beep, beep…

Oak Splitter’s ear flicked as the sound reached his ears. He groaned as his eyes flickered, his vision clearing to a void of a white ceiling. He found himself lying on a bed in a sparse room, with only two other chairs in the room, and a door on his left leading to a white corridor. On his right he was hooked up to a group of machines that monitored his vital signs. Outside the window a gentle snow had started up again, piling up neatly on the edge of the glass

Ponyville Hospital. Oak thought to himself with realisation as he propped himself up in bed on hid forlegs. What happened? The last thing I remembered was… The lake, of course!

The door to his room opened and the familiar form of Nurse Redheart entered, pulling a cart behind her with a small covered bowl and a plate with a small loaf of bread. She looked over and started when she saw him.

“Oh you’re awake! Excellent.” She said, smiling brightly as she closed the door. Oak smiled back, but grimaced as his head began to throb in pain.

“Try not to move too much” Redheart said calmly, passing him a couple of pills and a glass of water.

“Thanks.” He rasped, surprised to hear his voice coming out so weakly. He swallowed the pills and water quickly. “What happened?” he asked, his voice soothed by the water.

“Well it seems you fell into the lake.” Redheart began to explain as she inspected the machines. “The extreme cold sent you into shock, which caused hyperventilation, meaning you inhaled quite a lot of water. You’re lucky Applejack was there or else you might have drowned.”

“Applejack?”

“Yes, she turned up with her brother just to see you fall in. They managed to pull you out and administered CPR as best they could, but you were lying the snow for about 10 minutes before they brought you round, and you were at risk of hypothermia. They carried you straight here as quickly as they could.”

“Oh.” Was all he could say as he sat up fully, letting it all sink in. He had nearly drowned? And caught hypothermia as well? The shock of it would have floored him if he wasn’t lying down. “And how am I now?” he asked, already feeling the throbbing in his head fade

“Well we’ve managed to warm your body temperature up to normal in the past few hours, and we’d like to keep you overnight to make sure, but you should be able to leave tomorrow.” Redheart said, smiling. “Until then, it’s plenty of fluids and warm food.” She uncovered the bowl to reveal a dark red liquid, whose smell wafted across to Oak’s nostrils; the aroma of tomato soup. Oak smiled appreciatively, he hadn’t eaten since morning.

“Before you get started on that, you do have a few visitors if you feel like you’re up to it.” Redheart said as she moved towards the door.

“Uh, sure?” Oak said apprehensively. Visitors? His family was all in Trottingham, who would visit him? Redheart opened the door and leaned out speaking a few words Oak couldn’t make out. His question was soon answered as 3 small blurs of colour zipped past and jumped on the bed, knocking the wind out of him momentarily. When he recovered he noticed that all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were clinging onto him like he might disappear at any moment. Scootaloo had a strong grip on his left hind leg, while Sweetie Belle had coiled like a viper around his foreleg on the right side. The most prominent however was Applebloom, who had an almost choking grip around his neck, her face buried into his shoulder.
“You’re okay…” She mumbled into his shoulder. He could tell from her voice she had been crying, as well as seeing the red rings around both Scootaloo and Sweete Belle’s eyes. Oak didn’t know what to do, so he just wrapped his free leg around her in a comforting way.

“Yeah I’m okay.” He said simply, smiling a little.

“It…It’s all my fault.” She said, sobbing quietly. “If you hadn’t tried to help me, you wouldn’t have fallen in. You nearly… nearly died because of me.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that.” Oak said soothingly, pulling her gently off his neck to look at her. Her auburn eyes were as red as the others’, and her bottom lip was quivering slightly. Even her bow was drooping to match her mood.

“Bloom, you have no need to blame yourself.” Oak said softly. “I knew the risk I was putting myself in, and I can only blame myself.”

“But if we weren’t out on the lake…”

“You couldn’t have known that the ice was thin. These things just happen sometimes.” He placed his hoof under her chin and lifted her up to look at him. “The important thing is that we’re all okay, and that’s something to be happy about. Come on, give me a smile.” He gave her his own lopsided grin, and she returned a small smile of her own, before hugging him again, this time a bit more gently.

“Thank you.” She said simply as she pulled away, her smile a lot brighter.

“Hey, I want to thank him too!” Sweetie said as she squirmed past her friend to wrap her own hooves around Oak’s neck.

“Me too!” Shouted Scootaloo as she nearly leaped over Applebloom’s body to get her hug, landing heavily on Oak’s chest. Oak gasped as the wind was forced out of his lungs, with the two pairs of forelegs wrapped around his trachea not helping.

“Alright girls, give him some room to breathe.” A voice at the foot of the bed said. The girls started and backed up, hopping off the bed in turn to stand next to it. Oak caught his breath again as he sat up some more to see his other two visitors. The first was a white unicorn with a stylishly curled mane of deep purple. He had seen her around town a few times before, and seemed to remember her as being Sweetie Belle’s sister. The other mare was easily recognisable.

“Hey AJ.” Oak said simply.

“Howdy” She replied gently, a small smile curling up her face. She turned her head to the white unicorn next to her, before looking back to him. “I don’t think you’ve met Rarity yet; she’s Sweetie Belle’s sister.” Oak nodded in recognition: so he was right about one thing.

“A pleasure, Miss Rarity.” He said politely. “Though I suppose there are better circumstances to meet under.” A short chuckle escaped the unicorn’s throat, but he could tell it wasn’t very genuine.

“Yes, quite.” She said, looking up from the floor for the first time. The red rings under her eyes were clearly visible, but why had she been crying so much? Sweetie was perfectly fine after all. “Mister Splitter…” She began.

“Please, Oak is fine.”

“…Oak.” Rarity paused a moment before continuing. “I know that this may sound a bit cliché, but I don’t think I could ever truly thank you enough. To have risked your life the way you did for my sister and her friends is more than anypony could have asked of you.” She trotted round to his side and laid a hoof on his shoulder. “If there is anything that I can do for you, you need only say the word.” There was an intense sincerity in her eyes that threw Oak off balance for a few seconds before he regained his composure.

“Uh yeah, sure thing Rarity.” He said with a small smile, which she returned, before backing off again.

“Now, I think it high time we leave you to your soup and some rest. Come along girls.” Rarity lead the trio of fillies out, each one waving goodbye in turn. Waved back and turned my attention back to what was important, only to remember that the bowl had been left on the opposite side of the bed by Nurse Redheart. He sighed and reached over to buzz for her again when the table was pushed over to him by a familiar orange hoof.

“You’re a darned fool, you know that?” The voice said.

“Huh?” Oak said as he turned to Applejack.

“What were you thinking, putting yourself on the ice like that?” Applejack asked. Her tone was stern, and her face contorted into some mix of angry concern. "You knew it was dangerous, you couldn't just wait for me and Mac to get back?" Oak blinked a little in shock, trying to put his thoughts together before he responded.

"Well, to tell the truth, I wasn't thinking." He said, looking at the ceiling. "I didn't know if you were going to get back in time, or how long that ice was going to hold, so I just acted." He hung his head. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"Darn right you worried me." She said, slugging him lightly in the shoulder. "You nearly got yourself killed!" But slowly her anger melted off into a gentle smile as she wrapped him in a tight hug of her own. "But thank you. Thank you so much." She murmured softly. Oak smiled as well as he returned the hug.

"Don't worry about it; and thank you for saving my life." He said, giving small extra squeeze. After a while they released the hug, smiling at each other for a second before Applejack nodded and readjusted her hat.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Word of warning, Pinkie's already planning a huge party for when you get out." She said, walking to the door.

"I'll keep that in mind." Oak said as he finally got to his bowl of soup. "Uh, Applejack?"

"Yes Sugarcube?"

"Could you ask Nurse Redheart to come back in please? My soup's gone cold."

"Hehe, sure thing." She chuckled as she closed the door behind her

Author's Note:

Wooooo! FINALLY I AM BACK!!!!

anyhoo...

Life has winded down for a bit now that my first term at my new college has ended and work has given me a few days off, so I finally finished off this chapter. Hope everyone who's been patiently waiting enjoys it, and hopefully the next one won't take quite as long.

Comments

[Somerset Cider]

An enjoyable long awaited chapter but I noticed a slight problem when AJ enters the room
"Howdy" She replies gently, asmall. ....curling up her face
A small what per chance?

[Oak_Splitter]

6714784 Thanks for pointing that out, it has been rectified

[Prince Gray]

I thought this story might've been canceled. Glad to see that it isn't. I definitely enjoyed this chapter and will be looking forward to more during the Holliday break.

I wonder what Oak Splitter will get into next...

[Sipioc]

This was the second fav story I had here when I started, so nice to see it came out of the ice.

[ValenDart]

I'm eager to see how this story will develop in future chapters. (Assuming it's still being worked on, hopefully?) so far we have a pretty decent beginning, and I'm hooked to see it unfold. I wish you good luck!