To Applejack, magic is a fickle thing; she's chosen to bear an Element of Harmony one day, and the next she's scratched by something while exploring a cave. What will she find of this lost magic and was it truly lost, or did somepony hide it?
Though daytime I do disappear At night I'm always present, near Your magic does naught To keep me at bay But all the while I won't go away Though try as you might To ensure I'm gone While we're in the night You're never alone.
To Applejack, magic is a fickle thing; she's chosen to bear an Element of Harmony one day, and the next she's scratched by something while exploring a cave. What will she find of this lost magic and was it really lost or did somepony try to hide it?
"Twi, why exactly do you want me here? I don’t know what you’re looking for and I don’t see how I could help if I did."
Twilight keeps trotting down the damp corridor. The smell of the cave is like fresh rain, with touches of ash and volcanic rock. Lyra Heartstrings trots several meters ahead, almost giggling and trotting with a slight spring in every step.
Lyra turns around to look at me. “We’re looking for signs they were here. Anything from a cave marking to an old shoe can help.”
I sigh. “Fine, it’s important. Still don’t see why you’d need me. I don’t know anything about this ancient civilization you’re looking for.”
Twilight doesn’t turn around. "Oh, Applejack, just because you might not know everything about it, doesn't mean you can't appreciate it. Hay, I don't know much about it. I think Lyra's the only one who's studied it. Besides, she wanted you around in case we had to fight something."
Lyra starts to hum 'Morning In Ponyville Shimmers' and rocking her head from side to side.
I gesture to her. "Yeah, Twi. She seems real worried."
Twilight rolls her eyes and keeps trotting.
After a while, the cave walls appear less rocky and more constructed until the three of us arrive on a decrepit castle.
The stone walls not covered in volcanic rock were brittle as the dust surrounding them. No sounds of life were evident on the castle and not a single molecule of dust seems to have been disturbed. It’s still, like a void between worlds or a space between words. I look around. It’s also creepy. Very very creepy.
Lyra trots excitedly forward and touches her horn to one of the rocks. "Can you feel it, Twilight? No traces of magic on any of these stones."
Twilight does the same and scrunches her eyes shut. "Well, you're right about the magic. Though, I'm still skeptical. Even if there's no evidence of unicorns lifting the blocks, it could have easily been done by pegasi or earth ponies."
Lyra shakes her head. "Pegasi only work with cloud matter. Even if they for no reason decided to construct a castle out of stone, we would have found evidence of cloud matter from where they were born. Earth ponies have no reason to build under a mountain."
I raise my head from examining one of the castle bricks which came loose from the top. "This 'mountain' is made up of volcanic rock. Earth ponies probably came here for the rich volcanic soil - my cousin Breadfruit does the same thing. The volcano erupted and covered the castle. They probably didn't build it underground, but it was made that way."
Lyra looks uncertain, then shakes her head again and trots forward. "Fine. So maybe it isn't humans who made this. It could still be. I'm not turning back because there's a possibility of failure or I’d never have gotten this far."
Twilight shrugs and follows. I smile.
Gotta admire her spunk.
I sweep my gaze across the room before I leave – Twilight and Lyra already start moving inside the castle – and an odd shape catches my eye. A face?
I move closer and examine what looks like a pony face coming out of the stone. The imprint is odd and a bit hard to follow but it looks like it could have been a mare’s face, screaming. Did some of the ponies not make it out before the volcano erupted?
I touch the side of the pony face and a crack appears. I only just manage to utter a yelp as the crack spreads across the rock and over the embedded pony's face. The cracks touch the edge of the volcanic rock and give way before I can move more than an inch.
The room fills with dust. I can dimly hear Twilight and Lyra gallop back when they hear the wall crumble through the ringing in my head. I can feel myself falling over and something passing over my foreleg before I hit the floor.
The dust settles and I feel Twilight using her magic to life the stone on top of me. After a few moments of lying there, I gather the strength to stand, my hooves shaking and my head ringing.
My head clears somewhat and Twilight and Lyra come more into focus.
I see in Twilight’s telekinetic grasp a mummified corpse, perfectly preserved by the ash coating it. The pony seems to be an earth pony, lacking any kind of wings or horn and is much too small for a wendigo.
“Horrible thing, ain’t it?” I ask Twilight.
Twilight shakes her head, lifting the body with her magic and inspecting it. "More confusing, it looks like an earth pony. But if that's right, what are these?"
The body rotates and its mouth opens to reveal two elongated canines, very sharp and in excellent condition.
I look down to see a gash, blood welling up from it. The wound isn't very thick or deep but runs a long cut down my foreleg. "It's fine. I get worse from my own trees. I'll take care of it when we get back to the farm."
Twilight shakes her head. "No. Any number of things could be down here and I don't want you getting an infection. We're leaving."
Lyra looks away and pretends to examine a piece of the crumbled wall.
I set my stetson back onto my head, pulling it out of the pieces of rock. "Fine. I'll go and treat it. You two keep going, ah'm not much help here anyways."
Lyra looks back, beaming. "Thank you, Applejack."
Twilight looks to Lyra then back to me. "If you're sure you're okay and promise to head straight back."
I nod. "I promise, Twi."
Twilight sighs. "Alright. I'll see you later, Applejack."
Lyra trots back down the hall a few steps before turning back and waving. "Bye, Applejack."
I wave goodbye before heading back through the tunnel. It seems odd, going back in the other direction. I could have sworn the tunnel was darker than it was. I emerge out the other side.
And longer.
Rain pelts down on me, pooling around my stetson and dripping off the side. The rain sticks to my coat and washes the blood from my throbbing cut. I trot home, pushing through the rain.
I get to Sweet Apple Acres in what feels like minutes from the cave. In the heavy rain, I can’t tell when I pass what so I only barely get to Sweet Apple Acres from muscle memory.
I come through the door, sopping wet, and dry off with a towel inside.
I reach up to our kitchen cabinet and extract some bandages before trying to feel where the cut on my leg is. "Where did that cut go?"
"Cut?" Big Macintosh trots downstairs, evidently after hearing me enter. The sounds enter my head like a lance, shooting through me.
I cover my ears. "Goshdarnit, Big Macintosh. Could ya try not ta clomp down the stairs like that? They can probably hear ya in Manehatten."
Big Macintosh raises an eyebrow. "Nope."
A peal of lightning tears through the sky, followed by a surge of thunder. My brain pulses like and sags like a squashed apple. I can’t think through the ringing in my ears.
I crumple to the floor, futilely trying to cover my ears again.
I can hear Big Macintosh close the curtain on the window with a crash and I can feel him carry my shaking form to the couch. "I thought you'd still be in the caves by now," he bellows.
I slowly uncover my ears, wincing at every peal of thunder. "I would be, but I scratched my leg and Twilight made me come back."
Big Macintosh eyes me, carefully. "I don’t see a scratch," he bellows again.
I grit my teeth. "Are you calling me a liar?"
Big Macintosh doesn't move. "Nope."
I unclench my teeth and sigh. "I couldn't find it when I came back either and that rain got rid of the blood, it's been pelting down ever since I got out of the cave."
I can hear the rain crashing to the ground even with the curtain closed. It sounds like the raindrops weigh a pound each by the way they’re hitting the ground with such a racket.
Big Macintosh raises his eyebrow again but says nothing.
I stand up. "I'm going to bed. Maybe it'll start bleeding again in the morning."
I can feel Big Macintosh watch me trot up the stairs, then I hear him stand up, knocking the chair aside with a screech that makes me shiver and open the door, sliding the bolt back with a sound like a million apples hitting the ground. He trots out into the rain and closes the door behind him. I slide to the ground, my back leaning against the wall and sob with every sound until I can finally fall asleep.
I open my eyes to find myself in my bed, Big Macintosh must have moved me from the hall while I was asleep. I sweep my eyes around the dim room.
I slept past six.
I kick the blankets to the floor.
I never sleep past six.
I turn to the right to get off my bed when my eyes meet with another mare.
She smiles. "Howdy, cousin."
I scramble to the other side of the room and lean up against the wall.
She's strange seeming, she has a muted gray coat with a lighter gray mane and dark gray eyes - almost black. The strangest part is that apart from the gray colors and missing my hat, she looks exactly like me.
She slides off the bed, still smiling and takes a step toward me. My back is to the wall so I take a step to my left, sliding along it.
She stops. "What's the matter, cousin Applejack? You seem frightened."
I gulp. "You're no cousin I know of."
She laughs. "Funny. That's not what you said last night."
My eyes dart to the bed and back to her.
She smiles again. "Nothing happened, if that's what you're wondering. You were half asleep, I'm not a monster." She turns around and starts trotting out the door to my room but peeks her head back once she's in the doorway. "Maybe later."
She trots out the door and down the steps. I brace myself before she starts going down the steps but she seems to be doing it with reasonable silence.
I sigh and slide down the wall to the floor, breathing heavily.
Okay. Who was that? Why did she look like me? What will my family say?
My eyes widen.
My family.
I gallop down out the door and down the stairs, heading into the kitchen. I see Granny Smith, Applebloom, and Big Macintosh sitting down for lunch with the strange mare.
Noon? I slept till noon.
Granny Smith looks up at me. "Howdy Applejack. What's the big hurry tearing through here? Have a seat."
I bring a seat over from the next room and sit down next to the strange mare. Big Macintosh raises his eyebrow but says nothing.
I motion to the mare next to me. "So who is this?"
Applebloom raises an eyebrow in the spitting image of Big Macintosh. "You mean me? I'm Applebloom, Applejack. Don't you remember me?"
The mare looks at me with a mock hurt expression. "If you really wanted to know my name, you could've asked me."
I look at the mare, then at Applebloom. I stand up. "Excuse me."
I lean down to whisper in the mare's ear. "You too, 'cuz'."
She stands up and we walk into the next room. I close the door behind me. "What's going on? Who are you?"
She trots around me, circling me like a shark. "What happened was you acting like a crazy pony in front of your family. As for who I am?" She pauses for a moment then a thought hits her and she smiles. "You can call me Ash."
My eyebrows furrow, creating a crease in my forehead but I shake my head. "What do you mean crazy? Can't they see you?"
She laughs. "See me? I'm just a picture in your head, cuz. Which is getting really crowded, come to think of it."
I glare at Ash. "I'm not crazy."
She laughs again. "Of course not, cuz. You're just talking to a pony nopony else can see or hear who looks just like you. Your subconscious must be pretty boring if you can't think of anything better than a copy of you for your imaginary friend."
I shake my head. "Stop it."
She shrugs. "Stop what? We're just talking. Though, technically, you're talking to yourself."
"Stop it."
Her smile gets wider. "What's the matter, Applejack? I thought you appreciated honesty."
I shake my head. "No. This isn't true."
"Isn't it?"
I trot out the door and head toward Ponyville, ignoring Ash's repeated attempts to start another conversation.
Twilight will help sort this out.
The day is overcast, clouds blocking out most of the sun so only some small patches remain.
It'll probably rain later.
On my way I run into Rainbow Dash, clearing the sky for today's sun. "Hey, Applejack. Feeling better?"
Rainbow Dash lands. "Big Macintosh said you weren't feeling well yesterday so are you feeling better?"
What was Big Macintosh doing talking to Rainbow Dash in the middle of the night?
Ash slips next to my ear and whispers inside. "Why don't you ask her?"
I step away from Ash and move closer to Rainbow Dash. "I'm fine. Thank you. When did you see my brother yesterday?"
Rainbow Dash shrugs. "I was working all that morning so I didn't have time to get groceries until that night. He just had a question about the shower, earlier."
I furrow my eyebrows. "Was there a shower? I knew there was a storm, was that before then?"
Rainbow Dash shakes her head. "Nope. No storm. Just a shower. Heh, that's actually what Big Macintosh asked. He wanted to know if the shower started on time or ran long."
Ash shakes her head. "In case you were wondering, it did start on time and it didn't run long. If it did, Big Macintosh wouldn't be so suspicious of you."
I nod, frowning. "Right. Rainbow, do you know where Twilight is?"
Rainbow Dash shrugs. "Her library maybe? I haven't seen her today. She could be at Lyra's house. I dunno. How was the expedition yesterday? Did you fight a lot of cave monsters?"
Ash giggles. "Isn't she adorable?"
I roll my eyes. "I didn't fight any monsters. I did find a body and bring a wall down on top of me."
Rainbow Dash's eyebrows raise and she takes a step back. "What happened?"
Ash shrugs. "At least she believes you, Element of Honesty and such. Comforting, I'm sure."
I tune Ash out. "I'll tell you later. Right now I need to find Twilight."
Rainbow Dash flaps her wings and gains some height. "I'll look around town for her and let you know if I see her." She flies away.
"Isn't that cute. She's got your back."
I turn away from Ash and trot towards Lyra's house. It's closer so if Twilight's there I won't have lost much time.
After trotting a few meters I stop and swivel to face Ash. "Why isn't everything as loud as it was last night?"
Ash trots around a patch of sun. "Everything's just as loud today as it was last night. You just can't hear it as well."
I shake my head.
Should've expected an answer like that.
I keep trotting toward Lyra's house while Ash seems eerily quiet.
When I arrive, I knock twice and wait.
Is she home?
Right before I knock again, the door opens, revealing the mint green coat and silver mane of Lyra Heartstrings.
"Oh, hi Applejack. How's your cut?"
I dip my Stetson in greeting. "My cut's fine. All healed up, actually. Is Twilight here?"
She shakes her head. "Nope. Not here. We talked for a bit on the way back last night but last I saw she was heading home. Your cut healed already? It looked like your leg was going to fall off."
I pause for a comment from Ash but none comes. I turn around.
She's gone?
I look up and down the street but still can't see her.
"Applejack?"
I turn around to see Lyra, head a bit turned to the side and a look of concern over her features. "Are you okay, Applejack? Here, come inside. I'll give you a break from that sun."
Sun?
I look up to see the clouds completely gone. No shred of them left in the sky.
I feel a headache come on and I start to get dizzy.
I nod to Lyra and half trot, half stumble inside. Until she sets me down on a couch.
She trots into the next room. "I'm going to put on some water for tea."
I lie on the couch, my mind starts to clear and I start to breathe easier. The room is dim, with one or two scattered lamps but mostly pillows and some counter space. Far from being the only couch in the room, I seem to be laying on one of several. Still panting, I turn to my right to see a familiar face.
I sit staring at Ash's face until Lyra trots back into the room, two teacups lifted with her magic and a generally happy face, if a bit shrouded in worry. It's always odd, looking at Ash. The more I see her, the more differences between us I can recognize. Her mane is looser, not tied up in a ponytail or shoved underneath a hat. It's pretty, the light grey of her mane runs through with her darker coat and it gives the impression of a thin slice through glass, visible but only enough to see it shine. Her eyes are another thing, mine are direct, piercing, but hers always seem to have something just behind them, an unseen joke. I almost laugh.
"Mane of glass, hiding eyes. You're starting to sound like one of the windows in Canterlot," I whisper to myself.
Light leaks into the room from half closed windows and lamps strewn about, casting shadows like streams running together into a creek.
"Where did you go?" I ask Ash, her smug smile still apparent in the half darkness. She sits with her head leaning against one hoof, on her side, the perfect picture of casual.
Lyra gives me a cup of tea, then sits down to my left, on the other side of Ash. "I was making tea, Applejack. You look like death; are you taking care of yourself?"
I take a long sip of the tea. It's black, bitter. Decidedly not like the fruit teas I'm familiar with.
Ash rolls her eyes. "She was talking to me, Heartstrings. Don't flatter yourself. I went out, just so you know. I needed to check on something. Though, while we're on the subject, you do look like death." She uses a hoof to sweep back her mane and a coy smile replaces her smug one. "I like it."
I watch the light from the windows move across the room. I've never really noticed it before. I always liked waiting for the sun to rise before apple bucking season but that was a flood of light washing over the darkness. Here' it's like the light is an intruder, breaking into Lyra's house, unwanted, discarded.
Lyra hesitates, as if she's trying to say something but thinks better of it. A silence follows, with Lyra and I drinking our tea and Ash looking mainly bored, making little circles in her mane with a hoof. After a few minutes I set my teacup down and stand up, turning to Lyra. "Thank you for the tea, Lyra, I just need to see Twilight. Do you have any way to contact her?"
Lyra nods, her eyes examining my features. I can't remember the last time I've looked into a mirror so I'm sure I do look like death. "Actually, Twilight is supposed to come here later so we can discuss our findings more. You can wait here until she comes, would that be okay?"
Ash nods, emphatically and claps her hooves together, an excited grin coating her face like jelly. "Great idea. We could cuddle around the fire, drink tea, talk about our troubles, kiss, all that fun stuff."
For a moment, I consider what Ash says, but I shake my head. "No. Thank ya kindly, I really appreciate it. But I think the sooner I find Twilight, the better."
Ash frowns and folds her arms together. "Party pooper."
Lyra helps me up. "Okay. I hope you find her. Let me know if you need anything else."
I dip my stetson and make a half bow. "Thank ya, Lyra. I do appreciate it."
Ash stands in the doorway while I trot outside. The sun beats down on me and I grow more tired with every step. I start to collapse but Lyra appears beside me and helps me up, half carrying me all the way to Twilight's library. After a few minutes, every step feels like fire in my legs. My vision becomes blurry and it feels like every sound is as far away as Sweet Apple Acres.
I can feel my eyes being forced shut, the fire traveling up to my face and attaching itself there, a permanent fixture. Before my eyes swell shut, I look around me for Ash but see nopony but Lyra. I smile at Lyra and I can see her manage a smile as she struggles carrying me before my eyes close completely and I'm engulfed in darkness.
I can't see. I can't hear. I can only feel pain. I can only feel the sun pick me up, a burning form, and devour me.
Then I can't feel anything.
When I wake again, I'm in the basement of Twilight's library. The room's lighting is extremely comfortable and even though for some reason I get the impression it's dark, I can see perfectly. I'm lying on an assortment of pillows that seems to have been hastily put together just when I got here. Looking to my right, I can see Ash examining a machine of some sort, inactive at the moment.
When I stir, she turns around. "You're looking much better. Pity. I'm sure we could have convinced Lyra to let us stay the night."
I roll my eyes. "You seem to be feeling better."
She laughs. "Never felt better or worse, what's it to you? I'm an imaginary friend, not an extension of your pain. Maybe if I was, you wouldn't have passed out like a wimp."
I roll over and stand up, shakily, on the uneven pillows. "Where's Twilight?"
Ash looks at the stairs. "Upstairs with Lyra, but you can already hear them."
As she says, I focus my attention upstairs and hear Lyra and Twilight talking as though they were right next to me. They're whispering, but it's as loud as just talking is to me.
I hear Twilight speak first. "So she asked if I was there and then collapsed?"
I hear a shift and hooves hit the floor, as if Lyra were standing up. "It wasn't just that, though. She seemed shaky and her voice sounded a bit high. Besides that, when Rainbow Dash came to help me carry her, she said she was talking about some kind of storm, happening before the shower last night and she seemed distracted. Do you think the cut she got last night has something to do with this?"
I hear another shift and then a steady clip clop noise going back and forth, as Twilight paces. "But how can that be? There's no infection. Hay, when you brought her in there was no cut. I scanned her eight times for magical influence and it all came up negative. Does that mean she's clear or does that mean she's somehow deflecting the scan? Can she even do that?"
Ash moves next to me and puts a foreleg around me. "Don't you think you should tell them you're awake? It seems downright dishonest to be eavesdropping on them like this."
I bite my lip. "I'm just trying to find out what happened."
Ash shrugs. "If you want to find out what happened, why don't you ask them yourself?"
I open my mouth to respond but I snap my mouth shut. I sigh. "You're right."
I trot up the stairs, hearing a click when Twilight and Lyra turn their heads to the door.
Twilight trots over and opens the door. "Applejack, how are you feeling?"
I wince and the sound washes through me, shaking me to the core. I clutch my ears and retreat further down the stairs.
Ash guides me over to a shelf in the basement with a thick strip of cloth on it, most likely for use cleaning the helmet attached to the large machine Ash examined.
Still shaking and ignoring Twilight's concerned questions, I manage to tie the cloth around my ears, wrapping it twice over.
The cloth muffles the sound of Twilight's voice somewhat that I can whisper a reply. "To be perfectly honest, Twi, I'm not feeling too good at all."
Twilight squints toward my general direction but doesn't look directly at me. "What's wrong?"
I bite my lip again, hard enough to draw blood.
Do I tell her?
I haven't gotten all the way here just to lie to Twilight.
I clear my throat. "Well, for starters, I have a pony nopony else can see or hear who looks just like me."
The four of us sit in the kitchen of Twilight's library while Spike cracks eggs to make omelets. Twilight sits across from me while Lyra sits to my left and Ash to my right.
Twilight starts to say something, then thinks better of it. After doing this a few times, she makes up her mind. "So,"
I nod. "Yes, she's sitting to my right."
Twilight nods, carefully. "And you started seeing her this morning?"
Ash leans toward me, eyes fixed on Twilight. "She's not the brightest apple on the tree, is she?"
The cloth still wrapped over my ears starts to itch. Being up here I can still hear things pretty well, but I'd rather avoid more screaming. The kitchen should be dark, there are only a hooffull of candles lit besides the fire Spike is working with, but I can see perfectly.
"Yes. I started seeing her this morning and she disappeared once before I went in Lyra's house, then again when Lyra was taking me here."
"Well,"
"I'm not crazy." I break in.
Twilight lowers her eyelids. "I was actually going to ask what kind of things she's said to you so far."
I think about it for a moment, then I can feel blood rush to my cheeks.
Ash leans over the table toward Twilight. "You want to find out, Sparkle?"
Lyra and Twilight exchange a glance.
Twilight blushes and clears her throat. "Alright. We'll come back to that. What about other problems?" She glances up to the cloth.
I reach a hoof up and itch my ear. "Hearing is the main one. At certain times, everything I hear sounds a hundred times louder."
"More deafening," Ash supplies.
"Hush," I say, turning to Ash.
Twilight watched the exchange with what some would call a blank expression. I know better. "Has she said anything about it?"
I face Ash. "I tried to ask her about it but all she said was 'everything's the same sound. You can just hear it better,' what does that mean?"
Twilight lays a hoof on her chin. "So it isn't making things louder, it's improving your hearing."
I scoff. "I wouldn't call this an improvement."
Twilight's eyes flick to the cloth and then back to me. "Any idea when your hearing improves? You said it only happens at certain times."
I think back. "Actually, it's a little wierd. It was okay when I was trotting home in the rain, terrible when I got back home, okay in the morning today, fine trotting around town, and then terrible when I was in the basement."
Twilight checks through each location in her head. "But that doesn't make sense. There isn't anything that connects those."
"Both times were in the evening. Is that the rule?" Lyra asks.
Twilight shakes her head. "But it's evening now. The more I hear about this curse, the less sense it makes."
Lyra faces Twilight, turning away from me. "Do you think the cut from the skeleton in the cave did this?"
I can see Twilight get more stressed with every wrong hypothesis and additional question. "I don't even know if anything actually did this or..." She breaks off.
"Or if I'm just crazy." I finish.
"Applejack."
"No. It's not the first time I've thought about it. Heck, Ash says she's just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I should just accept it."
Lyra breaks in. "No. If this were all in your head, your hearing wouldn't be affected. You said you could hear what we were whispering from the basement. That's not insanity, that's magic. What about the fever? When I was carrying her here, she had a burning fever and suddenly it's completely gone when she gets here? I don't buy it. What if we did a test to see if we tell Ash something, Applejack knows it. If she is imaginary, Applejack couldn't possibly and if she isn't Applejack will."
Twilight shakes her head. "But if she has enhanced hearing, she'll just be able to hear whatever we tell Ash."
"So? If she can, it'll just proves she has enhanced hearing, won't it? Still magic."
Twilight shrugs and looks at me. "It's worth a try, if you're okay with it, Applejack."
I set my stetson back on my head, taking care in avoiding the cloth covering or 'bandages' as I've decided to call them. "Let's try it."
I leave Ash in the kitchen with Twilight and Lyra while I trot upstairs. The house is definitely dark, I decide. There's no lamps or candles anywhere and it's night outside so it should be pitch black. But it's not pitch black. I wave my hoof in front of my face. I can see everything, clearer than I can in the day.
Even through the bandages I can still hear downstairs but I force myself to focus elsewhere. I turn my hearing to outside, to Ponyville at night.
I think I can hear laughter. Chilling, malevolent laughter. But why? And who's doing it?
I try to listen closer, to see if I can hear anything around it. I strain my ears until I reach up and remove the bandage around it, then I listen again.
I hear a scream.
It splits the sky like a peal of thunder, striking upward into oblivion. The sound shakes through to my core and I cover my ears with my hooves again.
It was a mare's scream, somewhere in the middle of town.
Something's happened.
I turn around to head back down the stairs but see myself blocked by a mare who looks just like me, but grayer.
"Ash?"
"Not this time, cousin. My name's Spark."
She leans forward as if to say something more, then makes a jab at my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.
I try to back away but she grabs my head and slams her forehead into it. I can hear a crunch as she connects, breaking my nose.
She tries to slam a hoof down on my neck but I roll out of the way and down the stairs.
I can hear her only a step behind me as I roll down the stairs, waiting to pound a hoof onto my head and end me.
Not gonna happen.
I come out at the bottom of the stairs to see Twilight and Lyra open the door at the commotion and look in, gasping.
I come out of my roll and jump into the kitchen, shoving Twilight and Lyra inside, slamming the door behind me.
Before I pass out from the adrenaline and blood leaking out of me, I count the ponies present in the room, Twilight, Lyra, Spike, Ash.
Good.
We're all here.
I can feel myself falling, sliding along the door to the floor. Before reaching the ground, I can only think of one thing.
I wake up to find myself in bed again, a hospital bed this time. I try to move but stop when I feel pain strike through my chest.
Right. Hospital.
I look to my left to see a heart rate monitor, going up and down in time with my pulse, but I don't hear it beeping.
I look to my right to see Ash and Spark, at least I think that's who it is. Standing next to each other, Ash stands up straighter and I can still see the laughter in her eyes. Spark's eyes are set into a glare, untrusting, unhumorous, and she hunches down almost as if to launch herself forward.
Ash stands up. "Welcome back to the wide wide world of reality, Applejack - speaking relatively, of course. I'd hate to lose you."
Spark doesn't move. "Good to know you can take a punch, cousin. Your dying would be mighty inconvenient."
Great. I have two ponies who look like me, following me around everywhere when only I can see them, and they're talking about what's convenient.
I can see Nurse Redheart, entering the room, then looking startled when she sees I'm awake. Her lips move, but I don't hear her saying anything.
Her lips stop moving and she waits expectantly for an answer.
"I can't hear." I say. At the very least, I try to. I can't hear what I'm saying so it might be anything.
Whatever I said, Nurse Redheart comes back with a glass of water and I drink it.
She buzzes around for a few more minutes, moving her lips all the while until eventually she stands up and leaves.
"What did she say?" I ask Ash and Spark.
Spark looks at the door she was leaving in. "She was talking about your injuries, she thinks you took a bad fall down some stairs. Technically, she's correct."
Ash shakes her head. "She was talking about how much you've done for the town and said if you need anything at all while you're here, to let her know." She finishes with a suggestive wink and eyebrow movement.
Okay. Less than helpful.
I see the door open again and Twilight and Lyra trot inside with Nurse Redheart.
They say something I can't hear and I shake my head, raising a hoof to point at my ear. Twilight turns and says something to Nurse Redheart, who nods her head.
Lyra's eyes fill with tears and she buries her face in my sheets.
Ash opens her mouth to say something but I silence her with a look.
Twilight pats Lyra on the back and says something, smiling, then she looks at me and casts a spell. The spell takes forms purple letters spelling out, 'Some of your ribs were broken and your eardrum ruptured but it should heal in a month or two. The deafness is temporary.'
My eardrum ruptured? But when could it have done that? Won't I have noticed?
Spark shakes her head. "You uncovered your ears at their most sensitive and listened into Ponyville, then you got hit with a high pitched scream, and you're wondering when it happened? I feel sorry for the mare that screamed. It's clear you can't help and I don't think anypony else did either. Makes me want to find who did it and buck his face in."
"But I talked to you after I heard the scream."
Spark rolls her eyes. "You're talking to me now."
I smile at Lyra and rub my hoof behind her ear. She looks up and gives me a tear filled smile before Nurse Redheart says something again and Twilight and Lyra leave.
Nurse Redheart points at a bell next to my bed and leaves.
I'm left with Ash and Spark.
Spark grinds a hoof into the floor. "Useless. We should be out there, trying to find out what happened to that mare."
Ash nods. "Right. Then the mare can 'thank' us for our kind services."
"Well, I would be up and about if Spark hadn't attacked me, earlier. What's the matter? Scared to finish the job?"
Spark scoffs. "Are you saying you would have found what happened to the mare if I hadn't stopped you, completely deaf? I want to find what did it, and what 'it' is, and I can't do that if you rush into battle without a full sense."
I sigh. "You could have just told me."
Spark shakes her head. "You wouldn't have believed me if I had. You could hear me just fine and we hadn't even met before. Why would you trust my honesty?"
She's right. I wouldn't have listened.
"What now, then? It's supposed to be one or two months before my hearing recovers. We can't do anything about the scream now."
Ash laughs. "Have you already forgot about the cut? It healed up before you even exited the cave. This won't slow you down for long."
The cut.
The cave.
"What do you know about the cave?" I ask.
Ash smiles. "I know that Twilight wouldn't just leave that abnormal body down there without studying it. I also know that not once when you saw her did she say anything about it. What do you think it means?"
Spark grits her teeth. "Twilight's hiding things from us. Or else, for some reason she didn't take the body - but why? I wonder if there wasn't a fourth mare in that cave."
I shift in my bed, taking care for my wrapped broken ribs. "How and why could there be a fourth mare in the cave? I was there and paying attention and there ain't a reason for it, besides."
Spark shakes her head. "Twilight and Lyra are unicorns, why couldn't the mare have used magic to make herself invisible?"
I sigh. "Y'know this isn't helping me recover."
Ash grins. "No, but turning the lights out will."
I glance up at the lamp above me, illuminating the area. "What makes you say that?"
Ash raises an eyebrow at me. "Your cut healed quickly in the dark cave and shaded rain, yet you still haven't recovered here. Why? Is it because your wounds are greater? But that cut you had was quite wide and healed nearly instantly in the dark. Your healing should have advanced here at the same rate, but there's a light here. So it didn't."
I shake my head. "No. That doesn't make any sense, my hearing wasn't sensitive in the cave and in the rain. Why would my healing be?"
Ash smiles. "I'm not talking about your hearing. I'm talking about how you healed a cut that wide in only a few minutes."
A few minutes?
I shake my head, harder this time. "No. It takes much more than a few minutes to get from the cave to Sweet Apple Acres."
Ash frowns. "But how could you get back to Sweet Apple Acres from a cave twenty eight minutes away, before a four minute shower finished?"
Four minutes? That can't be right.
Ash laughs. "But it is right. The morning before you went into the cave you checked the weather for the week, you need to keep track, as a farmpony. If you remember, the forecast for that day was a shower starting at nine thirty-five pm and ending at nine thirty-nine pm. When you talked to Rainbow Dash earlier, she said it started and ended at just those times. Big Macintosh, himself, asked."
"So Big Macintosh knows something happened."
Ash shrugs. "Or he thinks you're lying. Either way, I'd want to chat with him as soon as you can."
"That makes sense, I reckon. I haven't talked to my family about this at all and I'm supposed to be the element of honesty."
I flick the switch next to my bed and lie down to sleep.
Spark leaves me with something to think about before ii fall asleep. "Even if Big Mac suspects something, why are Twilight and Lyra the only ponies who visited?"
