Mind Games

by flutterdashforever

Part I

So here it is at last. I've had the idea for this story for quite some time. To be honest, the only reason I've held off posting it is because it's not the style of thing I usually write. I know I'm probably most well know for writing in the romance tag but I guess I just wanted to try my hand at crossover. I hope you like it.

---

It started out slowly, the rumble of the exploding stonework as the building collapsed. Applejack stood observing as the old structure exploded outwards. Suddenly she became aware of a scream. She turned as if in slow motion and saw Rainbow Dash drifting towards her as if caught in maple syrup. She saw her other friends turning to see what the shouting was about and the look of horror dawn on each face. Finally she turned and saw the huge stone. It was extremely large, easily the size of her whole body. It must way a ton but it drifted towards her steadily like a train over greased tracks. Unable to move in the thick air Applejack could only watch as it drifted closer and closer, at last slamming in to her chest. She jerked backwards as indescribable pain tore through her body. Time sped up again and the whole world went black.

---

Light, bright light was all that greeted Applejack on awakening. Memory flooded back bringing with it the ghost of pain and a sense of panic. What had happened? Had they defeated Discord? What had become of her other friends? Applejack frantically tried to sit up only to be greeted by real pain this time, not just the memory. It felt as though she had fallen thousands of feet on to the tip of a mountain, and had been impaled on a vast dagger of stone. She looked down and saw that her chest was bound in tight bandages. She looked around the room trying to get her bearings. This looked like the hospital. The curtains were drawn and the light was dimmed. There were patients all around all looking much worse than Applejack.

She was becoming aware of a dull pain coming from her chest. Every time she breathed it sent dreadful waves or the stuff through her whole body. After a few uneventful hours there was the noise of a door opening. Hurried whispers followed and then hoofsteps. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack could just make out a purple shape.

“Hey Applejack. You’re awake.” Twilight Sparkle swam in to view, leaning over the bed.

When she spoke, Applejack’s voice was weak and cracked. “Well howdy there Twilight. What brings you to my humble abode?”

Twilight smiled hesitantly. “How are you feeling?”

Applejack coughed and then winced at the agony that shot through her. “Oh, I’m just dandy. Two questions though: what happened?”

Twilight bit her lip. “Well after we beat Discord the Elements Of Harmony did something strange. There was this huge explosion and the building blew up…”

Pain filled memories flashed through Applejack’s head. She shuddered. “And I got smacked in the chest with a great big hunk of rock,” she finished.

Twilight paused for a moment, as if waiting for something. “And what’s your other question?”

“Hmm? Oh, yea.” Applejack shook her head to clear the awful, brooding memories “How long have I been in here?”
Twilight looked down and fidgeted with her hooves. At last she looked up but still didn’t meet her friend’s gaze. “Um, four months,” she said, quietly.

“What?” Applejack gasped as her chest protested to her sudden outburst.

There were tears in Twilight’s eyes. “We-we thought you weren’t going to make it. All the doctors were saying it was a one in a hundred chance that they could even fix your rib cage. It got pretty badly smashed and there was a really nasty concussion. Even if you pulled through all of those then they couldn’t be sure if any of your organs had been damaged. They cleaned up the ribs as best they could but there was a high chance that the damage had already been done.” Now the tears were falling in earnest. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re still alive.”

Applejack could only stare blankly at the purple unicorn. When at last she spoke, her tone was level. “Why did you come here? Did the doctors tell you I’d woken up?”

Twilight looked genuinely shocked. “What? No, I come in and see you once a week. How long have you been awake?”

“Only a few hours. Lucky that the day I woke up be the day that you came to visit. When will I be out of here?”

I talked to the doctors on my way in. they said that you’d just have to stay a couple days for surveillance. You can’t go back to your job yet, you may never, but for now, at least, you need to spend some time with someone who can help change the bandages.”

Something strange occurred to Applejack at that moment. “Why do I need the bandages? Surely any surface wounds would have healed in four months.”

Twilight’s attention returned back to her hooves. “Haven’t they told you yet?”

At Twilight’s tone, Applejack began to feel worry rise like a drunkards supper. “Tell me what?”

Twilight didn’t respond, only looked at her hooves and fidget nervously.

“Twilight, tell me what?”

Finally, Twilight looked up again, this time looking the earth pony dead in the eye. “You were wearing the element of honesty when that rock hit you,” she said, quietly.

“Yea, what of it?”

Twilight sighed. After a moment’s hesitation, she lit her horn and unwound the bandages around Applejack’s chest. The earth pony gasped at the sight underneath. The skin was bruised and blotchy with extensive surgery-induced scarring but what really held her focus was the jewel. Emblazoned on her chest was the orange, apple-shaped jewel that was the element of honesty. It was dug in deep so only the face was showing.

Twilight broke the horrified silence. “For some reason the metal come out ok but no matter what they tried, the jewel itself wouldn’t come out. They tried everything but the fact was that they couldn’t get it out without killing you. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do…” she trailed off.

Applejack continued to stare at the apple-shaped emblem on her chest. A worrying thought crossed her mind. “Twilight, does this thing still work? I mean, if Discord were to come back again would we still be able to turn him back to stone with the Elements Of Harmony?”

Twilight looked a little surprised, as if the question hadn’t occurred to her. Instead of answering, she lit her horn and leaned over, staring intently at the apple-shaped jewel. After only a few seconds she sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s just fine, it will still work if we need it but there’s something else there as well…” She starred off vaguely in to the middle distance. “Like, something…” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’d better get going, I have things I need to do in town. I’ll be in to visit tomorrow.” She turned and walked away. She cast one backward glance and said, “I hope you feel better soon.” With that, she left, the door closing behind her with a dull ‘click.’

Applejack found herself staring at the wall, all hopes of sleep now gone. Her mind felt like it was working in overtime. What had Twilight sensed when she scanned the gem? Had it been bad? Surely she would have said if she’d found anything dangerous… wouldn’t she?

Applejack shook her head to clear such thoughts. It was just this dark dingy room that was getting to her, that was all. The sooner she got out of here the better. Somewhere in her battered psyche was a tiny little feeling. It was small but it was getting bigger and it had decided that the best thing to do would be to get out of this awful hospital, and her body listened.

Authors notes: I had the idea for this story a really long time ago and it's only been recently that I felt like it had developed far enough that I could actually start writing it. As I said in the notes above; I know this isn't my usual genre and to be honest I'm a little nervous about stepping so far out of my normal field but I hope it went well all the same.

Comments

[flutterbythebay]

I.LOVE.THE.MENTALIST!! I was gonna write a fanfic too. But mine was that Lisbon turned into Fluttershy because something went wrong when Twilight tried to get her to be more assertive. Now Lisbon has to interrogate people as a little yellow and pink pony XD But anyways, this looks awesome!!!

[flutterdashforever]

1756338 Thank you. I was wondering if anyone who read this would actually have seen the show. Nice to see a fellow fan here.

That sounds like a cool idea, I'd like to see it published. I think Lisbon would make a cute pony.

[butterfield pancake]

Hmmm I'll track this I love that show

[flutterbythebay]

1756348 I think she would blame Jane XD