”Tell me why you cried
And why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried
And why you lied to me”
Tell Me Why
- Lennon& McCartney, The Beatles

Twilight awoke, still in the chair by the bed, her diary closed and locked and sitting in her lap. So much of the previous day was a blur- the accident, the discovery of her feelings for Applejack, seeing Macintosh, and all her fears.

Her shoulder was being gently shaken and she turned to her right and came face to face with Rainbow Dash. She felt her lips turn up in a morning smile as she leaned her head forward and rested her horn on top of the cyan pony’s forehead, their noses practically touching.

“Hey there princess” said Rainbow Dash not moving, “So Camee tells me you won’t get out of this chair. You won’t eat or go down to the guest bed.”

Twilight blinked sleepily. Her legs ached and her wings were stiff and sore.

“I bet her I could not only get you out of this chair” rainbow Dash continued, , “but I could get you out to the diner, and don’t worry, I’m payin’” They both stayed there, fore heads touching. Twilight closed her eyes. As expected, Dashie had bounced back, as dependable as the sun and moon. Twilight knew not to ask her how she was, but to act as if everything were normal. What Dashie did for her heart right now was amazing.

“You might lose that bet Rainbow. Unless you’ve got toothpicks to hold my eyes open”

“Don’t need ‘em, Purps”

Purps was short for Purple Pony. It was a nickname that she knew Twilight hated. Actually Dashie had informed her while they were still in Canterlot at the coronation, that she was now Princess Purple Pony. Twilight had just growled.

“Why not?” asked Twilight her eyes opening, looking into Dash’s rose colored eyes.

“Because other than you, I and I alone know where you’re ticklish,” said Dash looking back over her shoulder.

“You wouldn’t dare” Twilight said slowly, giving Dash an evil squint.

“Try me Princess Purple Pony” Rainbow Dash growled back.

“I thought I asked you never to call me that” said Twilight clenching her teeth and trying not to smile.

“Do you love me Purps?”

“Now that’s a stupid question”

“Then prove it. Let me buy you breakfast at the Ponyville diner”

“Dash, now that wasn’t fair”

“All’s fair in love and breakfast ”

“That’s love and war,” corrected Twilight

“Yeah? Well then you have their breakfast special this time. You’ll see what I’m talking about.” They separated, their heads a foot or so apart. Twilight looked suspiciously at her friend

“So where am I-“

“Behind your right ear.” Rainbow Dash cut her off. Twilight’s eyes registered surprise. “And I’ll bet under your left wing – where it joins at the joint,” Rainbow Dash smirked “I don’t bluff baby, you should know that.”

Twilight contemplated Rainbow Dash. Her confident smile, the intensity of her loyalty, and honesty, her loving tenderness for little Scootaloo, who worshiped her, and her teasing sense of humor all came to mind. A surge of love for this sweet friend left her feeling grateful that she was in her life and honored to include her among her closest friends. The intimacy of the moment was not lost on Rainbow Dash who lowered her head slightly and blushed, a clear sign of understanding and mutual affection. And then, as was her way, she raised her head, her face now an exaggerated mask of concern and puzzlement.

“Twi? “ Dash raised an eyebrow and looked closely at her friends face. “You OK? You’re not going to kiss me or something are you? I mean I would totally understand, me being so awesome and all, but give me some notice huh? And no tongue!” She gave her sexiest smile. They both cracked up.

Speculation about Rainbow Dash’s sexual orientation was discussed quietly but enthusiastically and in some cases hopefully throughout Ponyville. She was a jock and her viewpoints were varied to the extent that a case for any of the three options could be made. She did nothing to quell the gossip and often deliberately fueled it, provided an audience was present. She was skilled at it with looks, comments and the occasional kiss on the lips in instances where a simple peck on the cheek would have been considered appropriate.

Were you to be naive enough to take the path less traveled - the direct approach, you had better be prepared for some raunchy talk, if only to see how long it took to make you cross your legs for either the sake of modesty, for desired relief or most often, both. When the Mane 6 were together she loved to make them blush - especially Twilight.

Pinky Pie thought the whole thing was a riot. She would openly ask questions that would make Dash blush and everypony laugh. Fluttershy would turn a deep shade of crimson, but always showed quite a bit of interest. Applejack knew what she was up to and though she tried to keep a straight face by sometimes interjecting a very funny comment; she was far from immune to the physical effects that the raunchy talk inspired. Twilight continuously tried to change the subject or introduce a topic that would throw cold water on it, perhaps in an attempt at dousing what she knew was the warm blush in her cheeks…as well as other areas.

Inevitably though, everypony was crossing their legs, squeezing them together and shifting their hips by the time it was over, ironically nopony as much as Dashie herself. Her eyes would get bright and her cheeks would flush. It was quite the show.

Rarity was a different story. She considered herself very cosmopolitan and sophisticated. She treated the whole topic with the ennui of a pony quite experienced in the ways of the world and would do her best to act bored during Dashie’s dissertations. There was this one time , while just the 6 of them were on a picnic, Rarity stifled a forced yawn.

This, of course, was a mistake...

Dashie turned to her and sighed. She announced to the group that she had a confession to make. She was hot for Rarity, and wanted to do all kinds of perverted things to her. She went about slowly describing just what it was she would do, never taking her eyes off the luxurious snowy coat, trim body and beautiful face. Everypony was paying rapt attention.

Rarity acted disgusted and told Rainbow to stop this foul talk or she would leave. But Rainbow went right on talking. Twilight’s jaw slowly dropped as the cyan pony’s description got even more depraved. Rarity’s protestations lessened and gradually stopped altogether. Nopony was saying anything and nopony knew where to look. The perfume of pony musk floated on the breeze and the sexual tension was wound up so high that it felt like the slightest provocation would make this lovely Sunday afternoon picnic explode into a massive all-out orgy - just another day with the incomparable Rainbow Dash.

At this point Rainbow mustered the same incredible amount of physical self control required to perform a sonic rainboom without getting ripped apart by the shock wave. She had Rarity where she wanted her and slowly crept forward, a wild look in her eyes, still talking about what she would expect in return. Everypony looked at each other, not sure if they should, or if they wanted to stop what was, quite possibly, about to happen. Rarity fell over backwards and pushed herself away on her elbows until her back was up against a tree. Everypony was trying to act as though they were playing along, giving half hearted but clearly uncertain smiles to each other, though it felt like they were holding their collective breaths.

Twilight looked around embarrassed and wondered if everypony was as aroused as she was, she felt wetness between her legs and the whole area felt full and sore. It was then she caught Applejack’s eye. They looked into each other’s eyes for more than a moment, then Applejack gave her a wink, they both smiled and Applejack cleared her throat, breaking the silence.

Dash took the hint, stopped and sat back, completely cool

“Buuuut of course it would never work, I mean a unicorn like you and a pegasi like me? Nah..”

Rarity, her face a mix of fear and desire, at hearing those words looked both hurt and disappointed, then suddenly remembered where she was and that there were more ponies than just the two of them. She tried to look nonchalant.

“Buuuut, asked Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow, “how ‘bout a kiss?”

“Uh… ok, I mean sure, why not?” Rarity said, expending no small amount of effort to sound sanguine.Rainbow resumed her slow stalk, the wild gleam back in her eye.

Rarity swallowed “Bbbut no tongues.”

Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, rolling on her back laughing till tears rolled from her eyes. Twilight noticed she’d kept her legs together, which was certainly not her usual custom. She’d been having Rarity on and everypony else as well. They all joined her, laughing hysterically trying to let as much of the sexual tension dissipate as possible, though most of it would have to wait until each of them got a little alone time at home. Rarity rolled her eyes and joined in the laughter, albeit a bit embarrassed, surely frustrated, and maybe a little hurt.

That, of course, didn’t escape Rainbow’s notice. She stood up, sauntered over to Rarity and looked her in the eyes. Rarity swallowed. Turning her head slightly to the side, Rainbow leaned her head forward and tenderly kissed Rarity on the lips. The creamy white mare’s eyes got dreamy and a shudder passed through her body. Rainbow withdrew and the two looked at each other with true affection and no small amount of lust.

Rainbow walked over to the jug and poured everypony a fresh mug of hard cider.

“I propose a toast to not only the classiest and best looking of the Mane 6, but the best sport too, Miss Rarity, to you.” Rainbow Dash gave a deep bow amidst cheers and catcalls.

Rarity was truly touched by the gesture and next raised her glass “And to you, my little cyan sexpot whose depravity knows no bounds…” big laugh from all, then she let her voice drop to a very sexy husk and giving such a seriously seductive look to Rainbow Dash that it caused the cyan pony to blush “…don’t be surprised if late some night, I take you up on your offer” she said letting the tip of her tongue slip out and touch her upper lip before slipping back in.” Everypony cheered and drank but even as they did, Rainbow Dash and Rarity didn’t break their gaze.

Then came the words that created another great catch phrase for the group. All the ponies were looking towards the two of them and the laughing had died down. Rainbow Dash turned, faced them, gave them the dirtiest leer she could and said quite knowingly:

“Two bits for your thoughts…”

The delivery was so perfect that everypony laughed but everypony blushed deeply. Even Pinky Pie.

From that point on, when Rarity wasn’t around, the “but no tongues” became a popular punch line, and any situation where applicable, “two bits for your thoughts” would get a laugh, and often a blush.

___________

“So I think she looks better. Her color is way better, how is that egg on her head… Hey – does that make her an egghead?” Rainbow asked suspiciously “One egghead in Ponyville is just about all I can stand!” The two of them laughed.

“Seriously, that bump on her head is almost gone and she does look a hay of a lot better. What a relief. She’s a tough one,” Rainbow said looking at the sleeping blonde pony. She stood looking at her friend sleeping peacefully, then reached forward and brushed back a stray piece of her mane. “You know I never noticed how much gold she has in her mane,” she paused “Cami also tells me that her vitals are good which, of course as everypony knows is good. Right?” Rainbow asked hopefully.

“Yes Rainbow, her vital signs – heartbeat, breathing, body temperature, blood pressure – they’re all good.”

“Yeah, I knew that.”

“No you didn’t”

“No I didn’t” replied the cyan pony shaking her head side to side.

“Are you OK Twilight? We have good news about AJ, I’d think you’d be, oh I don’t know, happy? You think she’s going to be ok, don’t you?”

“Yea I guess so, it’s just that, well…” she looked over at Rainbow Dash wondering if she should share her feelings.

“You know I’m the one who should get the toothpicks for my eyelids,” Rainbow commented “Hey, chin up, let’s get something to eat, you’ll feel better after some breakfast. I know I will. I had to work a double shift because Nippy is out with the flu.”

“Wow, it’s getting everypony. Let’s get that coffee before I fall asleep again.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The two ponies left the library and leaning heavily into the wind, headed across the village to the diner. Twilight opened her wings slightly to see if she might fly. Her first sensation was incredibly cold wind blowing up under the wing and chilling the coat underneath. A gust grabbed her wing making her stagger before she was able to tuck it back in. She looked over at Rainbow Dash, a moment of panic in her eyes It was getting brisk.

Winter was coming.

“Don’t push it princess, I can barely fly in this stuff” she yelled over the wind, “We can practice on a nice sunny day.”

“Please don’t call me princess, Rainbow. I hate it when any of you call me that. I wouldn’t be one without you and it makes me feel like I'm not a part of the group, that somehow I'm different and just thinking about that…”

Rainbow looked over at her friend. She couldn’t tell if the tears were from the wind or not. “I’m sorry Twilight. I guess I’m so wrapped up in worrying about AJ I forgot how much this must be upsetting you. Seriously, are you ok?”

“As long as you guys are near me, I’m ok.”

Rainbow Dash was sure now that it wasn’t the wind. She stopped and looked at Twilight.

“Don’t hug me Dash or I will lose it right here.”

“Hug you?!” She gave Twilight a hard shove. “Listen knave, stop your sniveling and gut up. You are such a pansy!”

“Thanks Dash, I needed that,” Twilight said with a sniff.

“Now straighten out that that gargantuan cranium of yours.” Dashie suddenly adopted a Scoltish brogue, “your heed looks like an orange on a toothpick, you know that? Now move that melon of yours to block the wind for me, if ya can!”

“Steady on there, Dash”

“Now that was offside’s, wasn’t it? I suppose you’ll be crying yourself to sleep tonight on your huge pillow”, which came out sounding like pilla.

This set Twilight into a laughing fit. It was a favorite line from a movie about marrying an axe murderer.

“So does Pinky know?” asked Twilight after recovering.

“I don’t know. With that Pinky sense, she’s probably figured somethings up.. I know we have to tell her but we need to tell her calmly. Agreed?”

“Agreed, I can only handle one meltdown at a time, and right now I’m working on mine. Has anypony told Fluttershy?”

“I don’t think so,” said Rainbow Dash “She’s sick with the flu. I’ll probably go over later to visit with her. I’ll tell her.”

“Thanks.”

The two ponies walked in silence for awhile. As they rounded a corner the wind was blocked and they could talk without having to raise their voices.

“So Twi, how did it happen? I mean what happened?”

“She was putting something up on that bookshelf. I told her not to but you know her - she's always insisting on helping. I was in the kitchen and, she was out in the main room and she yelled into me...” Twilight stopped short, remembering what Applejack was putting back. “…and the next thing I knew there was a huge crash”

“What’s the deal with that new bookcase anyway? The shelves carved into the wall should hold the books.” Rainbow Dash asked opening the door to the diner. They went to a booth, and ordered their coffee.

Twilight sighed. “It’s just that one of the shelves has a crack and needs to be fixed so we got this free standing book case temporarily.” Twilight didn’t like where this was going. She stared at her coffee.

“It should have been secured” said Rainbow Dash, a little annoyance creeping into her voice.

Twilight sighed “I was going to get it fixed of today.” her voice dead even, she continued to stare at her coffee.

“A lot of good that does AJ,” muttered Rainbow, “I’m just saying that maybe it should have been done before the party. What was she putting back…some stupid book?” Now Rainbow was getting a bit angrier.

“Nothing, I don’t know” Twilight closed her eyes and kept her head down.

“Probably some stupid book that could have just stayed on the table or on the floor. Some stupid precious book.”

Twilight said nothing she just gritted her teeth and spoke to her coffee. “Does it really matter? Whatever it was it was and it’s not going to make a difference now.” Twilight spoke quietly, trying to get Rainbow to lower her voice.

Rainbow eyed her suspiciously, “Yeah, but don’t you want to know? I mean AJ could be paralyzed and I’d like to know why. Wouldn’t you? I mean, and I’m not saying it is but if it was something like some stupid book then it would be pretty awful.”

Twilight would have done about anything to stop this, even if it meant turning Rainbow Dash’s fury on her.

“I think it was a book, it must have been, some stupid useless book.”

The only way to diffuse the situation, Twilight knew, was to take the blame on herself, and she felt so awful, the tears that she needed now, came easily. Holding a napkin to her eyes she quietly wept. Before she knew it Rainbow had scooted out of her side of the booth and was sitting next to her, blocking her from getting up.

She put her arms around her friend, quietly calming her.

“Hey, hey, c’mon Twilight, it’s not your fault. You had no idea she would do that, Why would you think that? I mean none of us ever help you put your books away, you never let us, you egghead, you have that specific system for exactly how you like to organize them so that you can never find them. She knew that, she would never try-“

Twilight cut her off, wiping her nose, “Can we just get something to eat? I’m really hungry. What do you want-“

“It was my fault.” Rainbow Dash spoke quietly. her eyes went wide at the realization and a look of horror crossed her face.

“What?” said Twilight, as if it were the most ridiculous thought in the world, but the thing that she had tried to stop, was now fully in motion. “…now that’s crazy.”

“She never would have touched your books,” Dash said, her voice full of accusation, “not after that time she mis-filed one and you gave her hay for it.” Twilight felt a horrible pang of guilt at the mention of the episode. Rainbow’s voice dropped to a dead flat monotone. “The only thing that was on that shelf besides the books was that trophy.”

“No, I moved that trophy to another shelf”

“Yeah, nice try, you’re great at magic Twilight but you suck at lying. I was wondering how I got those golden flecks on my legs – you blew the trophy up, didn’t you? With one of you magic spells – like the one you used to blow up the rock with last spring when we were in that cave. The dust that was left went all over the floor. You were angry at it because that’s what she was putting back on the shelf when it fell on her.” Rainbow Dash’s face became distorted

“It’s my fault, Twilight, I’m-”

“It was nopony’s fault. Please don’t do this Rainbow Dash!”

But she could see the rage building in her friends eyes.

“But it WAS ME!!” She started to get hysterical “I was being the typical STUPID showoff, the loudmouth hotshot ASSHOLE!”

“STOP IT DASHIE, PLEASE!” Twilight’s voice broke as she pleaded with her friend. “You would never have hurt her;
everypony knows that you love her.”

“NO!” Rainbow Dash was sobbing now “She is suffering, maybe paralyzed because good ‘ole Rainbow Dash and her ego had to show EVERYPONY that she was COOLER THAN THEY WERE!” She gritted her teeth “The coolest one IN THE WHOLE ROOM!!” now she was screaming and sobbing. “And SHE’s paying for it! I should be paying for it, not the best one of all of us!”

Twilight had never seen Rainbow Dash like this. The look of utter self-disgust and rage on her face was frightening. Twilight had never felt afraid of or for this friend but now she was both.

Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped and looked around realizing where she was. She looked up at all the other ponies in the diner who were looking at her. She got very quiet, the tears rolling down her face. She saw Scootaloo in a booth with her friend Pip and his family. The little Pegasus looked very scared, her eyes brimming with tears. Rainbow Dash looked into the little pony’s eyes. “I’m so sorry” she whispered and walked to the diner entrance, tears streaming down her face, pushed the door open and shot off into the sky leaving a gray smudge in the sky behind her.

Twilight looked at Scootaloo’s face and saw feelings she knew all too well- fear, pain, and loneliness. Scootaloo worshiped Rainbow Dash and seeing her hero break down like that, not knowing why had shaken the little filly to her core.

Twilight bent down and opened her arms, gesturing to her. It’s all it took, Scootaloo’s heartbreaking wail was the only sound in the diner as she rushed to Twilight who picked her up and held her.

They all looked worried, those that had heard worried about Applejack, worried for Rainbow Dash and worried for her, their newly crowned Princess. These were 3 of the Mane Six. They made the town special and everyone felt protected and safe because of them, but more important to everypony who lived there, their lives was better with them in it. Unofficially Twilight Sparkle was their leader though she never liked the mantle. She knew it wasn’t true; the rest of them would be fine without her.

She looked around the diner. She knew most of these ponies by face and a few by name. Once this was over, she would make a point of getting better acquainted with the ponies in her hometown.

Quite murmurs became hushed tones and finally reverted to normal conversation. The names of the Mane Six could be heard spoken throughout the diner.

Twilight took the little Pegasus pony back to the booth and sat down with her friend and his family. She told them what had happened but made it sound far less dire than it was. She explained that Rainbow Dash had to work extra duty because some of the weather ponies were out with the flu and so was very tired and prone to exaggeration and emotion. Applejack had been hurt, but not too badly. Her brother had come out to the library and had seen her. Twilight knew that this was an opportunity to spread the news and quash rumors. She did know Pip’s family and they were trustworthy. After a half hour or so, Twilight headed back to the library.

As she made her way toward the town hall through the wind, her mane and tail whipped around, stinging her like little frantic bees. She tucked her wings closer. It felt nice. She was really starting to love this whole Alicorn thing.

Through her squinted eyes she could see the warm lights of the rooms above the shops in town come on as the doors were shut and “See you tomorrow!” signs were hung in the windows. She saw BG Honeycup come out of the hardware store with a worried expression on his face.

“Oh hey Princess – better get a move on, snow storms coming.”

“Please, it’s Twilight.”

“Okay, then it’s BG.”

“Okay BG, I like that. Is that why all the stores are closing?”

“Eeyup”

“Thanks Mr. Honey, eh… BG”

“Sure, now you git on home.” She could see the window of her bed loft and the warm light there. She thought about Applejack being there, warm and snug in their bed, getting well.

It had gotten colder and the sky darker, steel-gray clouds scudded along with menace. Rainbow Dash had mentioned that a couple of weather ponies were out sick with the flu, which is probably why the weather was turning so dark. She began to hurriedly make her way back to the Golden Oak Library.

“Hi Twilight!!” a Pink explosion went off to Twilights left.

“Ahh! Pinky, don’t scare me like that!” Twilight snapped. Then she calmed “Hi there Pinky old girl!” She forced a smile “How’s my favorite Pink Pony?

“I have no idea! Do I know her? I must! I know everypony in town. Is she new? Maybe I haven’t met her yet! Oh good! I love to meet new ponies!. I have to get the welcome wagon out! I wonder what her favorite cake is? Do you know?” She bounced around, random as ever.

Twilight had to laugh. It felt good. “It’s you silly! And thanks, Pinky”

“Wait, I’m not new! And you’re welcome. For what I have no idea. You really should tell me what you’re thanking me for before you thank me so I can know what I’m being thanked for and so I can say you’re welcome and know why you’re welcome. Wouldn’t you like to know that?”

Twilight started laughing and kept laughing until tears ran from her eyes. It was exactly what she needed – random set to 11.

“Hey Twilight, how are Spike and Rarity? Have you heard from them? No, of course not - too soon.”

She was bouncing again “Fluttershy is under the weather. Well, we all are under it, except Rainbowdash (she ran the name together) she’s over it. Oooh, Pinky, that was a good one..” she said to herself. ”Have you seen Rainbowdash? I saw her fly off before, she seemed upset. Is she ok?” Pinky was always polite, asking how everypony was.

“Doing fine Pinky Pie” Twilight sniffed, her laughing fit finally over.

“GRRREAT!” She bounced around and then landed almost slowly in front of Twilight. Her expression had become soft and she smiled sadly. Her pitch of her voice had dropped, it was suddenly calm and serious, “How is she?”

Twilight’s jaw slowly dropped, her eyes going wide. “You know?”

Twilight looked into those pale blue eyes and saw that a wisdom within had revealed itself. Her voice was calm, her tone both soothing and reassuring, “Of course, silly. I have Pinky sense, remember?”

It took Twilight a minute or two to adjust to the shock of seeing her crazy random friend so calm and quiet. “We’ll know in the next few hours, and then she’ll be out of danger. Is your sense telling you anything about her? Do you know if she’s going to be OK?” Twilight suddenly grew excited, realizing that Pinky might know.

“I don’t know, but nothing bad, so that’s good. I saw Dashie take off. Is she really ok?”

“I hope so, I don’t know…” and that was all Twilight could say.

Pinky put her foreleg around her, still wise and calm “It’s going to be OK Twilight, trust in the Pink Pony. We will all get through this and we’ll all be better on the other side of it.” She looked into Twilight’s eyes. “This is serious and I know you’re scared. but it will be okay.”

“I never knew you were like this, could be so calm, so…”

“Rational? Un-random? I know, sometimes it just happens I can’t control it, but i guess it happens when it needs to. When I found out about Applejack, I knew I had to see you. Do you remember that laughing fit you had a few moments ago? That’s what I love more than anything. That is who I really am, but to make Twilight Sparkle happier now, she needs to talk to a calmer Pinkie.”

“I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect to be laughing at all today, Pinky, I think I’m better now.” She said wiping her eyes.

“My Pinky sense is telling me one thing; you have some serious decisions coming up. You will find solutions in your heart and in your head that may not agree. Go with your heart.”

“I love you Pinky Pie, and thank you.”

Pinky jumped up into the air spinning and squealing then landed back in front of Twilight, back to her silly, crazy random self. She looked puzzled. “You’re welcome again, but I don’t know for what,” she said with a wink. Then they both started laughing.

“See you soon, you crazy loon!” Yelled Twilight as Pinky bounced off.

“I love you too Twilight Sparkle!”

A cold rain began to fall.

“How is she doing Cami?” Twilight asked hopefully as she climbed up to the loft.

“Hello, Princess Sparkle.”

“Oh, hi, I don’t think I know you, are you new?

“I’m Sunny Crest. I’m from Fillydelphia. Ponyville Hospital is so overrun with the flu they asked for help from some of the other hospitals and my aunt lives here. I’m covering for Cami; she needed to take over at Dr. Stable’s clinic. I hate to do this but the little gray pony, Derpy? She was just here. She said they need me at the hospital, 5 new cases just came in. Do you think you can watch her while I head over? I’ll be back in a few hours or my replacement will be here. If you like, you could do some cardiac/venal therapy Is that OK?

“Uh, sure. I guess, and call me Twilight. What do I have to do?” Twilight was unsure but the opportunity to finally do something to help her friend cheered her a little.

“Great. The idea is to start with the extremities and work your way towards her heart, pushing the blood, in effect, to keep it from pooling too long. It’ll shorten her recovery time. By the way, I took off the heart monitor, she’s doing better and has moved her arms a few times and made some noises. Dr. Stable is going to try to make it over later to check her out.

“OK, good to know. What do I need to know about this?” Twilight asked.

“Well first you want to focus on the lower half of back part of her leg – from the coronet – right above the hoof, to her hock, here, about halfway up- the calf muscle. Wow, is she strong! Those are some powerful legs. Now she’s on her left side which is fine. Lift the leg like this and massage from the coronet up towards the hip, sort of pushing the blood towards the heart. Now the injury to her back leg is on the right side so you need to be gentle up there. Just push up on the hip, starting here at the hock – about halfway up, right, and then all the way up to the hip.” As she lifted the rear leg higher and massaged the muscle up toward the hip, Applejack's pubic cleft was exposed. Twilight blushed and turned away.

“Are you OK Twilight? If this is upsetting you, we can do it later.”

“No, no, I’m, uh, just fine.” She said with a slightly forced smile.

“OK, so next, still holding the leg, just bend it up and down, there, that’s it. You can turn her over, but be careful. If not, then just massage her left leg from the inside, pressing from the bottom to the top. Go all the way up to the inside of the hip, like thi-” she paused. “Twilight? What’s so fascinating on the ceiling? Oh, wait, are you’re embarrassed for Applejack.”

“Yeah, well, kind of.”

“That’s OK, I understand. As far as the rest of her body, except for her arm, just massage everything towards the heart.”

“Got it.” Twilight smiled, relieved, and walked the nurse to the door. “Thanks for all your help. When do you think you’ll be back?”

“Hopefully, before the snow storm hits. So many of the weather Pegasi are sick with the flu. I heard some poor Rainbow colored pony is trying to do the whole thing, but it’s getting to the point where no amount of Pegasi could control it. There are 2 storms that are supposed to be converging here late tonight or early tomorrow morning, and then a third might join them. They’re not sure. Well, I gotta go, see you later.” The nurse trotted out into the cold wind toward the hospital.

Twilight closed the door and shivered. She went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. I should probably do the massage therapy on her first.

Dear Applejack,

There hasn’t been much of a change in your condition, though the nurse said that you made some noise and moved your arms a couple of times, which is a good sign. I’m very worried about Rainbow Dash. She has trouble dealing with emotion – it’s just that she runs so deep. Her loyalty is so profound and she feels like she let us down by being irresponsible. She was just fooling around with the trophy. I don’t know if I can get it through that thick blue skull of hers that it just happened, there is no fault. It’s like blaming the person that built the shelf. If anyone is to blame it’s me for not securing the shelf but I can’t deal with that now, there’ll be plenty of time to beat myself up later. Two days ago I might have done that but things have changed in me. It’s not about me, it’s about you, my Applejack.

Oh, I’m such a basket case. It’s all the fear and love and anger. I was really happy to be able to do the therapy on you and she made some sounds and your arms moved, which was great.

I need to find out about Rainbow Dash, I know she is hurting and she’s trying to bury it by handling the coming storm. Derpy stopped by earlier with some muffins and had some tea with me. I asked her if she’d seen Rainbow. She thought she had way up in the clouds but she couldn’t be sure. I told her if she sees her to tell her that I love her and I need her here to help me get through this. Derpy is one very special soul.

I’ve thought about trying to contact Spike and Rarity but they really couldn’t do much and now with this storm, I’d only worry about them trying to get back. You should be back up on her hooves by then
I hope.

P.S. GREAT NEWS!!!! As I was about to go upstairs to see if I could make you feel better, Dr. Monitor came by with his assistant. They examined you and said you seemed much better. He looked at an image of your brain and he said you’re past the danger point!! He said an aneurysm is still there but had gone down. He’s concerned that you haven’t woken up yet, but that the brain is a complex thing that we still know so little about and he expects you’ll wake up soon. So all your tubes and wired are gone, which is very reassuring.

The blizzard has started with a fury; Dr. Monitor was no more than 10 to 15 feet away from my front door before I could no longer see him through the snow. I hope Big Mac can make it, but I’m not counting on it with so much else in his life to safeguard.

I have made the decision to tell you how I feel. I will wait for the right time, but I know it is what I must do, my heart can’t hold it. I will just have to accept whatever happens.

Author's Notes:

I know, the nicknames can be annoying, but I just hear Dashie saying it and she won't stop. I like to think there are a lot of subtexts that go on that we don't see on the show. Kind of a slice of life...