"Pacin' around ain't gonna help."

"I don't care!" she said, making her fortieth trip around the waiting room. "I can't sit still."

Big MacIntosh's eyes followed her back-and-forth trotting, but the rest of him stayed still. "Yer jes' gonna make yerself more nervous."

"Well what am I s'posedta do? Read one a'these magazines?" She snatched one up and sarcastically read the cover. "'Breaking news: Nightmare Moon defeated!' Well, that's jes' swell! I sure am glad I learned that today!"

"Applejack," he said firmly, "Sit down."

"Don't tell me what to do!" she shouted, sending the magazine fluttering to the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a few of the other patients glancing over at her with irritation. She either didn't notice, or didn't care. With a weary sigh, he turned back to her and rested his chin on his hoof. "C'mon, now. Think a'the baby."

She paused, one hindleg still in the air. He had a point. Her throat had been hot and stinging with acid for half an hour now, and the foal was squirming around in discomfort. Granny had told her once that the fetus felt everything the mother went through, and she wouldn't want to inflict this kind of stress on anypony.

Applejack slowly lowered her hoof and turned around, but not quite enough to look him in the eye. "I-I'm sorry, big brother," she finally said, her voice softening. "I'm jes' worried."

"He ain't dead, y'know."

She nervously tugged at her ponytail. It was hard not letting on just how concerned she was. All Mac had told her on the hurried ride to the hospital was the bare bones of the story, and she had no idea what condition Flim could be in. "He came close, though, right?"

"Eeyup."

He startled a little when she sat down next to him, brushing her foreleg against his. When he looked up from his lap, Applejack was staring at him with wide, wet eyes.

"I'm so sorry I thought you killed him," she whispered. "I shouldn't've assumed---I mean..."

After she trailed off, they stared at each other for a moment; then Mac put his hoof over hers, and cracked a small smile. "Well... it ain't like I haven't given you reason t'worry," he said with a touch of sheepishness.

"Y'know, under all this grumpiness, you are a good pony. Thanks fer savin' him." She leaned over to nuzzle his cheek. "I'll see to it he thanks ya, too."

"Damn straight."

But, by his own admission, he had given her reason to doubt his motives. "Tell me exactly what went down in that barn, Big Mac."

A flicker of something went across his features. "I told you---he had the equipment floatin' in the air, and dropped it all t'spite us. Me."

"Find that hard to believe."

"Y'find it hard to believe he'd wanna spite me?"

Applejack adjusted herself so she could rest her fetlocks against the tight skin of her belly. "I find it hard to believe he'd cause hundreds a'bits a'damage jes' outta spite... 'specially considerin' he'd haveta pay it off."

She could feel him stiffening beside her. "It's 'cause he's a jackass, AJ."

"You shouldn't say that," she mumbled, eyeing the donkey sitting a few chairs down from them. Hesitantly, and after a few breaths, she added "He ain't that bad."

"Sure he is."

"Bad enough t'ruin a buncha farm equipment fer no reason?"

His face was turned away, but she could see that his ears were pinned back. "Eeyup."

"Are ya sure?" she pressed on. "Are ya sure you had nothin' t'do with it?"

Just like that, his head jerked back around, a deep, dark scowl on his face. "Listen, AJ---he hates me, an' he's usin' you. When are ya gonna get it? He's an asshole!"

There was nearly a full minute of silence, and Applejack's throat constricted a few times as she swallowed. Her brother's eyes were fierce, but there was something underneath that---something softer. Something she thought she recognized. It was just enough to give her the courage to tread on dangerous ground. As she slowly gathered his hooves in hers, she said in a low voice "Lemme tell ya somethin', Mac. Last night, when the two of us were---"

His expression rippled with revulsion. "I don't wanna know."

"Listen'a me!" This time she grabbed his cheeks and forcefully turned him around to look at her. They were both blushing. Part of her couldn't believe she was saying this, but the words spilled out as if on their own: "When we were, uh, makin' love, I... I started---"

"Applejack!"

"I started cryin', an'... an' he stopped." She squeezed his hooves. "He stopped, Mac."

After a few strained moments, he answered "...So?"

Her eyes had drifted downwards, not at her belly, but somewhere off to the side. "So... a lotta stallions would jes' keep goin', even if I was cryin'."

The seat creaked as he shifted around. "Huh?"

Her eyes glazed a little, and she felt that stiffness in her heart that always clamped down when she had to talk about this. "I-I don't know if y'know this, Mac, but... some stallions, they'd jes' keep on goin' even if yer cryin'. Even if you try an' push 'em off. Even if y'beg 'em to stop."

When he spoke, it was barely audible. "Wh... what?"

Their eyes met again, and she met his shocked look with a steely one. "Flim ain't like that. He wouldn't hurt me like that."

It looked like he was struggling to figure out what to say, his face all tight with pain.

"I ain't sayin' he's changed, Mac," she said. "I'm jes' sayin'... maybe he wasn't so bad to begin with."

Before he could respond, the door creaked open, and whatever he'd been meaning to say shriveled up in his throat. As soon as the nurse poked her head around the door, Applejack shot to her hooves. "Is he okay?!"

"You mean Flim Skim?"

Goosebumps shivered up along her hide. That was the first time she'd heard his full name. She hadn't even been sure he had one. "Uh. Yeah." She tilted her head to her right. "My brother here brought him in."

The nurse's eyes darted from Big MacIntosh's face down to Applejack's belly. "And you are his, um... friend?"

For some reason, that made her flush. "You could say that. How's he doin?"

"It... was touch and go," the nurse said with a careful gentleness. "He came close to flat-lining a couple of times, but we managed to stabilize him."

"What does that mean?"

"It means his vitals have returned to normal. The bleeding's stopped, and the transfusion seems to be taking." She hesitated. "It took ten stitches. The injury was fairly deep---"

"Can I see him?"

That made her pause, and she checked her clipboard. "Well... he is stable, but---"

"Please," she said, raising a hoof to her heart. "I need to see him."

"We can only allow family members to---"

"He's family!" she blurted.

She cleared her throat, if only to break the silence. Trying to ignore her brother's eyes boring into her, Applejack gulped, took a deep breath, and then put a hoof on her abdomen. "He's family," she repeated. "He's the father a'my foal. He's..." Again, she cleared her throat, trying not to let her muzzle scrunch up. "He's my fiance."

They stared at each other for a few moments, and then the nurse lowered her eyes. They'd both heard Big MacIntosh's gasp. "Very well," she said, and stepped aside to allow Applejack through the door.

The sight made her eyes sting with tears.

Flim was unconscious. He was breathing very slowly, his nostrils plugged with an oxygen tube. An I.V. ran from the stand into the puncture in his left elbow, and that made her stomach pang---she remembered him saying he was left-hooved. They should have put the needle in his right arm. As she approached him, the sterile scent of the waiting room was replaced by the medicinal smell of disinfectant, with a tinge of blood underneath it.

She made her way to his side. "Flim?"

It was subtle, but she did see his ear twitch. It wasn't enough to rouse him, though. Applejack gently pulled back the blanket, and then lifted his hospital gown. She gasped. His chest was dotted with heart-rate monitors, which must have been responsible for the even mechanical beeping, but that wasn't the worst part---a thick layer of gauze was packed over his side with medical tape, the top stained a rusty brown.

"Oh, sugarcube," she whispered as she lowered his robe, and ran the tip of her hoof through his mane.

"Visiting hours are over at five," the nurse said from behind her. Applejack didn't bother to look up. "Please take your time." When that didn't get a response, she added "You know, he's been coming in and out of consciousness."

His eyelids fluttered, but they didn't open.

"Oh yeah?"

In the periphery of her vision, she could sense the nurse nodding, but couldn't quite see her expression. "He seems disoriented. He keeps asking what time it is. Then he asks for his brother."

She kissed his temple. "I see."

"He's been asking about you, too."

Well, that did the trick. Her head snapped around, eyes all wide. "What?! Really?"

"Mm-hm," the nurse said on her way out, with a little smile playing around the corners of her mouth. "I didn't know how to answer when he asked me how his 'love' was doing."

Slowly, Applejack turned back to him, listening as the door clicked shut. Sweat was pooling on his forehead, so she ripped a tissue from the box on his bedside table and carefully wiped it away.

Flim grunted and jerked his head to the side, so Applejack kissed him again. "Ssh," she breathed as she tenderly pushed his head back onto the pillow. "It'll be okay."

An hour went by, and after awhile she began to hum little lullabies. She couldn't be sure, but it seemed that the beeping of the machines eased into the rhythm of her singing. To her surprise, Big MacIntosh came in and offered her a magazine, but she refused. After he left, she excused herself to the bathroom, and came back with a glass of water. The next forty-five minutes stretched on, and she sipped from the paper cup, listening to his quiet breathing. Every now and then she'd examine him, making sure he was still stable; even though there was a huge bruise forming around where they'd punctured the crook of his elbow, he seemed to be okay. The bag of blood on the I.V. stand slowly emptied, drop by drop.

A memory suddenly hit her:

"If it weren't for the groomsmen pulling him off of me, I probably would have died. As it was, I was in the hospital for two months. Seven transfusions."

Emotion pinched at her throat. She had no idea what it was like to be a twin, of course, but the thought of being wounded and alone, shunned by one's own brother, was a more painful prospect than she cared to consider. And even now, he'd been asking for Flam, and he was still on his own.

Applejack put her forehead against his chest, and let her tears flow.

"I'm sorry, sugarcube," she said as she quietly wept. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

She hiccuped when suddenly she felt something from inside her she'd never felt before: four tiny nubs sliding up and down the sides of her womb, clumsy yet coordinated, as if the foal was trying to walk for the first time. She let out a breathy squeak, still cradling Flim's hoof in her own; she remembered the books Twilight had shown her all those months ago, and those sketches of the developing embryo, the gelatinous-looking little thing with growing bulbs where its various parts would eventually be. If memory served, she had just left the dangerous first trimester, which meant that the risk of miscarriage had dropped significantly. It also meant her baby's brain was pulling together, meaning the little one was learning how to feel, how to move her new limbs... possibly how to dream.

Looking back to the bed, a wide smile spread her tear-stained cheeks. She couldn't help but wonder what the baby would look like. Short and stocky like her, or long and lanky like Flim? Would she be strong like an Earth pony, or skilled like a unicorn, or a combination of both?

"Will she have green eyes?" she murmured, stroking a curl of hair off her suitor's forehead.

She bent down to hug his limp body, and placed another kiss on his cheek. Just as she was about to rise to refill her cup, he jerked in her embrace, and a hoof clattered down on her shoulder.

"What th---Flim?"

His eyes opened, and for a moment, she couldn't breathe.

"A... appl...?"

The cup fell to the floor, and her hooves flew up to his, grasping them together so hard he winced. "Flim?!"

"Applejack?"

"Yeah!" She brushed his mane back, and offered him a weak smile. "Yeah, Flim. It's me. I'm here."

He blearily licked his lips. "Am... I.. dead?"

Applejack laughed and shook her head. "You will be if you ever scare me like that again."

"Wh..." After shifting around a bit, Flim managed to nudge his gown up to his armpit. He blinked, chewing on the side of his lip, and moved to poke at the bandages. Applejack was quick to swat his hoof away.

"Don't touch that!"

"What happened?"

"You hurt yerself," she said as she tucked his gown back around his waist. "Big Mac told me a bit, but I suspect you have yer own version a'what went down."

"Mmph." He pulled the oxygen tube from his muzzle and rubbed his uninjured eye.

"Anything you wanna tell me, hm?"

"Right now I can barely r'member my own name," he slurred. He kept squeezing his eyes shut in a vain effort to get them refocused. "I don't know what they've got me on, but damned if I don't wanna sell it on the street corner."

"Why? So you c'n pay us back fer all the damage you caused?"

"Why, yes, Applejack, I feel just fine. Thanks for asking."

He'd said it with a smirk, but she could tell he was a little miffed. "Aw, shucks. I'm sorry," she said, taking her hat off. "I'll save the naggin' fer later. How are ya feelin', anyway? Does it still hurt?"

He grimaced as he sat up. "Like your sister tried to get her cutie mark in surgery. With a rusty needle. And barbed wire. Ouh..." He slumped back to the pillow, loose as a wet noodle. "I haven't felt this dizzy since the foal was conceived."

"The nurse said you got ten stitches. That's gonna..." She was about to say scar, but quickly changed her mind. "...leave a mark."

"The vest will cover it." He peeked down at the dressing through the neck of his gown, flinching when he saw the blood-soaked gauze. "Well, that's what I get for being stupid."

"Oh yeah? How stupid were ya?"

He idly scratched behind his ears, which had begun to turn pink. "Um. Well. It started with arguing with your brother---"

"Uh-huh." That musta been some argument. "He said you let all the equipment drop to the ground, but I didn't think you'd be that..."

"Idiotic?" he offered.

"...Short-sighted," she finished.

He coughed out a laugh. "That's very charitable of you, Applejack. I hate to tell you this, but it turns out I am that idiotic." Gingerly, he lowered his foreleg back to his side, careful not to disturb the wound. "I can't believe I actually did that."

"I can." Resting her elbow against the side of his mattress, she grinned and said "Of all the dumb things you've done in yer life, where does that one rank?"

"Just under getting you pregnant, I suppose." He woozily glanced at her belly. Was she getting bigger every day, or was that just the drugs? "Er, sweetheart, could you get me a glass of water?"

Applejack eased herself out of the stiff seat. "You do know yer gonna haveta pay fer what you broke, right?"

"Do I need to remind you I've already done a good deal of unpaid labour?"

"In exchange fer room and board!" she called over her shoulder. Once the bathroom door was closed, she pursed her lips in a smile and added under her breath "An' you enjoyed some services most've our guests don't get."

She helped herself to a drink first, and then refilled the cup. She was about to leave when her reflection caught her attention, and she paused for a bit, just staring back at herself. Her freckles were dotting everywhere, even on her ears, and she was so flushed her whole face looked like a ripe fruit. There was even a fine layer of gold fluff around her hairline that she hadn't noticed before. She'd known pregnancy had some transformative effects, but she'd had no idea it could change the face she'd found so familiar.

"Unwed an' pregnant by a grifter," she muttered. "Some Element a' Harmony you are."

There's an obvious solution to one of those problems.

"Not gonna marry him," she said aloud, surprising herself at how cross she sounded.

She was about to push her way out the door, but when it opened a crack, she could hear Flim saying something.

"....not easy for me to do."

"Eeyup."

Applejack's ears pricked up, and she peeked out around the frame. Big MacIntosh was standing by the bedside---He'd waited this whole time?---and Flim was pushing his hooves back and forth, blushing as hard as he could so soon after such a significant blood loss.

"Well, anyway..." He was looking everywhere but at her brother. "As you've probably gathered, having an attack in front of somepony is, well, humiliating to say the least."

"Eeyup."

Her lower lip worked itself between her teeth. He'd had a panic attack back there in the barn? No wonder he looked so exhausted.

And I wasn't there to help...

"So... thank you," he said as he finally met Big Mac's eyes. "Not only for saving my life, but for, er, granting me the dignity when I needed it. Again."

He just nodded solemnly.

Leaning back on his pillow, Flim let out his breath and rubbed a hoof through his mane. "I was telling Applejack earlier that... well... most of this is my fault."

He paused, waiting for an 'eeyup'; when it didn't come, he went on:

"Now, you've been no saint yourself, but given the circumstances, I suppose I can sort of understand where you're coming from." He shot a look at his I.V. "This may be the painkillers talking, but I... I'd like to apologize."

She had to put a hoof over her mouth to keep from making a sound. Her brother looked just as surprised as she was.

"Not for the farm equipment, mind you---I wouldn't have done that had you not threatened to break my horn off. But I am sorry for my behaviour."

"You are?"

"Yes. Granny had every right to deck me---I, I can't believe I actually insulted her that badly. And while I can't say it was fun being on the receiving end of a urine shower, I probably had that coming, too." He looked away, out the window. "This is why we move around so much," he said in a quieter voice. "Neither of us know how to interact with decent ponies for longer than a few minutes."

Applejack noiselessly made her way through the door. Neither had noticed her yet.

Big Mac was starting to look uncomfortable. "You... uh..."

"Don't get me wrong," he continued. "I'm not sorry for sleeping with Applejack. I know you'd like to think she's still as pure as the fallen snow---Celestia knows I'd rather gouge my eyes out than imagine my brother having sex---but you should have known what would happen when you bring the two of us together. That said," he quickly added before Mac could retort, "I am sorry about how I've handled the whole situation." His serious expression changed to a wry smile. "And I'm sorry for kissing you, too."

"You kissed him?"

Big MacIntosh looked up, startled, and Flim almost jumped out of the bed.

"How long were you listening?!"

"A few minutes." After placing the cup on his bedside table, she gave Flim a peck on the cheek and said "It was real big a'you to apologize." Then turning to her brother, she said "An' it was kind a'you t'stick around."

Right now it looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "Uh... eeyup."

She met Flim's gaze, but he instantly broke the eye contact. "So... why'd you kiss him?"

"Oh, you know," he said, waving his hoof, "Just to throw him off his game. And it worked, too---he nearly pissed himself."

That would make sense, but it didn't account for how much they were both blushing. "Uh... huh," she said uneasily. There was definitely something lingering in the air that she didn't like.

Big Mac broke the tension. "We better get goin', AJ."

She waited until Flim had drained the cup, and then leaned over the bed, her belly brushing the sheets, and gave him a kiss on the lips, just open-mouthed enough to flick her tongue-tip against his. When she pulled back, she patted him on the shoulder and said "You rest up now, y'hear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll come visit you again tomorrow. Sound good?"

He pulled her into a hug. "I can't wait."

Big Mac held the door open for her, just like he'd been raised to do, and trailed into the hallway after her. She couldn't be sure, but it seemed like, despite his longer stride, he was deliberately keeping a few paces behind her. Eventually she slowed down enough to walk by his side.

"So he jes' did it 'out of spite', huh?" she said teasingly, not bothering to look at him. "It had nothin' t'do with you sayin' you were gonna break his horn off?"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"You should be! That's a real mean thing to threaten somepony with!"

Although he was still walking normally, his neck seemed to sag a little, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Not jes' that, AJ. I'm sorry. F'r everything."

She wanted to grin, but the sadness on his face changed her mind. "What does that mean?"

"It means..." His head lifted as he took a breath so deep it puffed his barrel out, and then released it slowly. "It means I... I'm sorry fer what yer goin' through. I'm sorry I brought Flim back here. I'm sorry he got hurt. I'm sorry... I'm... I'm sorry."

She was about to ask if that meant he'd changed his mind, but he wasn't done yet.

"I didn't know how much he meant to ya, AJ. I... didn't know how awkward a position I'd be puttin' y'all in." With a few quick steps he was right in front of her, face-to-face. "An' I'm sorry I wasn't there t'protect ya when you needed me."

"Mac, y'don't need to protect me from Flim."

"That wasn't what I meant." He sat down right in the middle of the hallway, and his eyelids drooped shut. "All my life, I... I tried t'protect you. To watch over you, 'cause Pa wasn't there t'do it. An'... what you told me earlier, I... " He put a hoof over his face. "I failed you, Applejack. I failed you so bad."

An orderly was standing behind him, coughing and clearing her throat, so Applejack gently nudged her brother to the side to let her pass. When he lowered his hoof from his face, she was shocked to see his eyes were rimmed with wetness.

"Big MacIntosh..." She leaned in so her belly was pressing against his, and tucked her chin on his shoulder. "Y'can't save me from the world. Nopony can."

They stayed like that for a moment before he raised a foreleg and circled it around her smaller shoulders.

"An' I ain't made outta glass. I don't break---I jes' get stronger. You didn't fail m---"

He jolted backward out of the hug so hard the back of his yoke clattered on the wall.

"What?!"

"You..." His mouth agape, he pointed at her midsection. "It... moved! It kicked me!"

Applejack burst out laughing. She hadn't seen him that stupefied in ages. "Aw, Mac! She's been doin' that fer awhile now."

His eyes grew wider. "'She'?"

"Yeah." She patted the rounded top, which seemed to make the foal settle down. "Zecora told me."

He blinked, and a tear streaked down his cheek. His earlier sadness seemed to be gone. "Is... she sure?"

Applejack glanced to her side. They were at the end of the I.C.U., near where it joined another hallway. A sign hung on the wall, indicating the maternity ward was to the left, and the ultrasound department to the right. "Well... there is one way we can find out."

Author's Notes:

And now I have to figure out how ultrasounds work in Equestria. :/

EDIT: ARGH! Sorry this got uploaded twice. The first time, it registered as having zero words, so I tried to re-edit it, which seemed to do a double-upload for some reason. Damn.