Author's Notes:

I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Everything to do with it belongs to Hasbro. “Cupcakes” is not my fanfic, it was written by Sergeant Sprinkles. I don’t own anything.

Also, this is my first fanfic on here, although I have previously published it on FanFiction.net (where my pen name is Gold's Victorian Penmonkey, if anyone is interested) so please be nice!

A life of bucking apples had made Applejack’s hind legs strong.

Strong enough to make Pinkamena stumble back, flailing her weapon, tripping over her own hooves. Applejack kicked again, the sound of hard hoof against bone sickening, and this time, it was, well, for fear of terrible puns, the kicker, shall we say?

In other words, that wood chipper - Pinkie thought, as she tripped and felt herself falling, falling – could have been more strategically placed.

Having it there just didn’t look quite right, you know?

“Sweet Celestia…”

This was going to haunt Applejack forever.

With a swift swipe of a nearby scalpel, the orange earth pony slit the leather straps binding Rainbow Dash’s legs and the wires connecting the nails in her hind hooves to a rather inexplicable electrical power box. The cyan Pegasus collapsed on the floor, jack-knifing around Applejack’s ankles before laying still in a bath of warm, red blood.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Applejack knelt down beside her marefriend and gently turned her head towards her with a trembling hoof.

“Rainbow?” She didn’t get an answer, so she raised her voice as loud as felt normal in the silent basement. Which wasn’t very loud at all. “Dashie? Can ya hear me?”

Looking at Rainbow’s mutilated body, part of Applejack almost hoped she couldn’t. What used to be Dash’s stomach was now a gaping, hollow hole and the nails in her forelegs couldn’t possibly have been driven in any deeper. Her beautiful wings, the pegasus’ pride and joy, had been callously torn off. But worst off all, the lightning bolt cutie mark that had previously adorned her flank - the cutie mark that was her identity, her life - was missing, replaced by only raw, bloody flesh.

Applejack presumed – no, hoped – that nopony could possibly survive this.

But sure enough, Rainbow’s eyes, clouded over with pain, opened just a crack.

“A-Apple…jack…?” She wheezed, voice raspy and hoarse, barely audible, “AJ?”

“Yeah, it’s me, sugarcube,” Applejack whispered, placing a gentle hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Ahm here.”

“F-for real?”

“Yeah, for real, sugar,” Moving her hoof to Rainbow’s mane, Applejack began to soothingly card her hoof through the locks, trying to ignore the fact that the normally soft hair was now matted with dried blood.

Rainbow leant into Applejack’s touch, which worried the earth pony. She was pretty much never this affectionate.

“Hurts…” She slurred, her eyes sliding shut again, only to fly open again as Applejack gave her a panicked shake.

“Don’t ya dare, Dashie!”

“AJ…”

“Ahm sorry, but ya gotta stay with me. You’re gonna be okay, Rainbow, but ya gotta stay with me, alright?”

“Mmm…” Rainbow sounded sleepy, as though she was drifting away, but her eyes stayed open.

“Okay then, we’re gonna get out of here, okay? Okay, Dashie?”

“Mmkay…”

As carefully as possible, Applejack hoisted her injured marefriend onto her back, nausea rising again as Rainbow’s blood stained her orange coat. Despite having been maneuverered with the utmost gentleness, however, Dash hissed in pain at the movement, making Applejack wince.

“Sorry sugarcube.” She murmured in the blue ear that was conveniently placed on her shoulder, “ah love ya, ah don’t wanna hurt ya, but we gotta get ya outta here, we gotta get ya safe.”

As much as Applejack would have liked to speed to her way to the hospital, she couldn’t go faster than a light canter without jostling Rainbow Dash on her back.

She made it, though. She made it in time.

Rainbow Dash slipped in out of consciousness, taking in only brief flashes of scenes and surroundings. Crisp, clean, white hospital rooms. Applejack’s sparkling, green eyes and thick, luscious, blonde mane. The voices of nurse ponies saying things her that brain refused to remember. Vivid nightmares of scalpels and hack saws and morbid giggling and pain.

Eventually, though, the scene stayed put. Blinking in the harsh light, Rainbow absorbed her seemingly-permanent (for now) surroundings. She was in a hospital bed, draped in a hospital gown, sterile bandages wrapped around her torso, flank, hind legs…pretty much every part of her. But things didn’t hurt as much as before.

“Sugarcube? Ya awake?”

And Applejack was here too.

She was sitting bolt-upright in a chair. Her coat was fluffy, like she’d been scrubbed clean, and her mane had clearly just been washed. She had dark circles under her eyes, though, which made Rainbow wonder just how long she’d been neither awake nor asleep. All night? Longer? What time was it?

“Sugarcube? Rainbow? Ya with me?”

“Yeah, AJ.” Rainbow attempted to sit up, only to be hit with a surge of pain through her stomach that made her yelp and groan. Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down.

“Don’t, sugarcube. It’s better if ya just stay put for now.”

Rainbow didn’t argue, laying back down with a wince. She felt as though she should say something, but what to actually say evaded her. What the hay, she thought, was there to say at this point?

“Oh, Rainbow…”

Applejack leant close to Rainbow’s face, her lips kissing away tears the Pegasus hadn’t even realized she’d shed. Dash pulled away almost instantly, scrubbing roughly at the tears that still remained, but more soon replaced them. Cheeks flaming red, she turned away as best she could, embarrassed. Crying wasn’t her scene, especially not in front of other ponies and certainly not in front of Applejack, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Applejack appeared next to her face again, but this time she did not nothing but nuzzle her gently and wrap her hooves around her marefriend.

“It’s okay, sugarcube.” She whispered as Dash wept into her shoulder, though she herself sounded choked up. Rainbow’s chest and stomach heaved with her sobs, and the pressure caused flaming torches of pain to shoot through her torso, forcing more tears forth. She couldn’t seem to stop, however much she wanted to, however much it hurt.

Applejack meant that it was okay to cry.

There wasn’t much else that was okay, and both of them knew it.

This was life-altering. Dash had had to have lots of urgent transplants and surgery, and her wings and cutie mark had been reattached, but even despite the hospital’s best efforts, the question of whether she would fly again was looking grim.

And of course, they had both lost a friend, in more ways than one.

But looking at the sobbing mare in her arms, Applejack tried to push those thoughts out of her mind, at least for now. She was here for comfort, not necessarily realism.

“It’s okay, Rainbow. We’re gonna get through this, you and me, and the others too. We’re all gonna get through this and it’s gonna be okay,” her voice cracked with the tears she was holding back. “You’re gonna be okay, Rainbow.”

Rainbow only cried harder, burying her face in Applejack’s shoulder, breathing in her scent of freshly-bucked apples and hay. The orange Earth Pony sighed, and her breath tickled Rainbow’s ear.

“Ah love ya, sugarcube.” She murmured.

“I love you too, AJ.” Was Rainbow’s tearful reply.