Next chapter... Ain't got much to say ^^...
R & R ~

***

That night none of the Apples, nor Magenta, could get any sleep.

Mags tossed and turned for hours. She couldn't stop thinking about Flim, Flam and that third unicorn. And the more she thought about them, the more scared of them did she get.

Her thought began to stray over to Flim. He was different from the other two. She felt that he might not be as bad as the other two. He just got into the wrong company, and now he was to afraid to pull away from them. But weren't Flim and Flam brothers? Maybe that's why he couldn't leave? He felt that family was more important? Or had his brother threatened him to stay?

Her thoughts began to confuse her and get tangled up with each other, so she decided to get out of bed. Maybe she could find anything to do, so she could start thinking about something else.

However, as she walked out of the tent she was sleeping in, she noticed the silhuette of a pony sitting in a wheelchair.

Applejack didn't seem to get any sleep either. Magenta walked closer to Applejack, but as she got closer he heard that her friend was crying. Magenta paused, before carefully continuing towards AJ.

"AJ..." Magenta said quietly. Applejack heard her and hurried to wipe her tears away.

"Good ev'nin' Mags! Couldn't sleep, huh?" She said with an unsteady voice. Magenta shook her head. AJ didn't answer for a while.

Finally she said; "I was thinkin' maybe we should go visit Big Mac tomorrow... Se how he feels and..." She paused. "And tell him that we might sell the farm..." She continued, much slower.

Magenta gasped in surprise.

"B-but AJ! We can't sell the farm to those ponies? They were the ones who caused this! This is all their fault! If we would let them have Sweet Apple Acres, then they would be victorious! They would win, and we would all lose everything!" Magenta tried to say as calm as she could, careful not to wake up Granny Smith or Applebloom. AJ shrugged.
"I know! But we need money, Mags... And if they really were going to give us that much money, then we probably won't have any choice but to sell..." AJ said. She sounded like she was close to burst out in tears any second. "But hey, look at the bright side! We would also be able to start someplace new!" She said with a sad laugh.

"But... There must be something we could do?" Magenta asked carefully, but the orange pony just shook her head. Magenta opened her mouth to say something more, but she didn't know what to say so she closed it again.

"Thank you for everything, Mags... You are a great friend!" Applejack said and smiled at Magenta. Magenta smiled back at Applejack.

"You too, thanks for taking me in!" Magenta replied. "I owe you guys a lot!"

Applejack laughed softly. "Maybe we should try to go back to sleep. We've got alot of things to do tomorrow ya know!"

And with that said, they both went back to their tents and tried to get some shuteye. It took a while for Magenta, but she eventually fell into a long, dreamless sleep.

The first thing they did next morning was to visit Big Macintosh in the hospital.

According to the nurses, he had been awake for a coupe of hours now. The big stallion, not used to stay in bed, was restless and had become a tad hostile because of the boredness. But when he saw his family, he immediately cheered up.

"Big Macintosh! You're awake!"Applebloom cheered and rushed forward to give her big brother a big hug. Big Macintosh hugged her back.

"Aren't ya s'posed to be in school?" He asked and ruffled Appleblooms mane. Applebloom shook her head.

"It's saturday! Don't you remember?" She answered and tilted her head. Big Mac blinked surprisingly, drifted away as he was thinking and tried to remember something, and eventually he chuckled.

"Oh yeah! That must've slipped mah mind! Thanks for remembering me, the days here are all so..." He paused and shook his head. "...monotone!"

Granny Smith and Magenta walked up to him. Magenta was pushing Applejack in the wheelchair.

"How are you feeling today, Big Mac?" Magenta asked. Gotcha! She thought, since he wouldn't be able to answer 'Eeyup!' or 'Nnope!' on this one.

"Much better! And i really have to get out of here!" He looked around for any nearby nurses who could hear him and leaned to closer. He whispered with a high pitched voice through tightly clenched teeth; "I'm slowly losing my mind, ya hear! If these devilmares won't lemme out soon, the next thing you know i'll be singin' the Yankee Doodle in a corner!"

His voice sounded so different that Applebloom, Applejack and Magenta couldn't help but giggle.

On the inside, Magenta was bursting with laughter.

Suddenly, Applejack got serious and asked Granny Smith take Applebloom with her out. Applebloom protested, ofcourse. But she finally agreed when she got promised ice cream.

As soon as Granny and Applebloom left, AJ turned to Big Mac and told him everything that happened and that they also now knew who it was who had been sabotaging Sweet Apple Acres and hurt AJ and him.

When he recognized the names Flim and Flam, he let out a quiet, growling sound and pinned his ears agains his neck. Applejack had told Magenta about the Apple familys encounter with the "FlimFlam brothers", so she totally understood Big Macs reaction. And when AJ told Big Mac that they might have to sell their beloved farm to those ponies, he got furious. His eyes grew darker and he shouted something inappropriate as he punched a huge hole in a nearby table.

Magenta took a couple of steps back, frightened. Big Macintosh just lashed out in anger? Big Mac, who was the epitome of tolerance and self control?

Applejack also flinched. Clearly surprised by her brothers outrage, but she didn't move.

Big Mac just realised what he did and hunkered down. "Sorry..." he mumbled.
Some nurses had just heard the ruckus and hurried into the room and saw the table.

Both Magenta and Applejack managed to convince the nurses that everything was okay and what happened to the table was an accident. When the nurses left again, clearly upset over their ruined table, Applejack said;

"I'm sorry Big Macintosh, but i'm afraid we have to sell, and so far the FlimFlam brothers and their freaky boss have been the only bidders! And it aint some shamebid either!"

Big Mac didn't answer, just kept looking down on the ground and clenched the sheets to control his frustration. He finally answered:

"Fine... But i want to be there too! If those good for nothin' cheapskates tries somethin' out!"

Yep, that's it for this weeks chapter ^^, and don't worry Starscape, your questions will soon get an answer ;)...
Anyway, see ya next week ^^!

Delilah OUT!