Big Mac was shocked. Though he suspected this, he never expected the revelation to be so strait forward, sudden and frank. Yet, as much as he hated it, he shared the emotion with Sweetie Belle. It was about as wrong as it could get; a stallion falling in love with a mare over ten years younger than he was.

“I’m…I’m sorry…” Sweetie Belle looked down and blushed. As Big Mac stared at her in confusion, he saw a tear fall onto the hardwood floor below. “I just wanted to get that off my chest. Please…please forgive me. No one has to know about this. Just answer me this Big Mac, please. Do you love me? I can tell when you’re lying, so please don’t hurt me. Do you love me?” She looked up, tears pouring from her eyes and down her face. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block the tears from flowing as she braced for the impact of his reply to her question, but she failed, as the tears continued to flow.

Big Mac noticed this and walked up silently to her to answer her question. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear a soothing “Eeyup” as he gently kissed her cheek. Sweetie opened her eyes wide in surprise. “What do I do now?” She slowly looked up and into his deep, green eyes, and became lost. Without thinking, she kissed him passionately on his soft lips.

She was still lost in the moment when she forced her eyes half open. He had done the same, and now they were lost and swimming in each other’s eyes. But something sparked in the back of Sweetie Belle’s mind; his name. “Wait…this is Big Mac! He’s at least ten years older than me!”
She backed away from his warm face. Big Mac knew what was wrong, as he felt the same way. “Sweetie, we can do this. Even if it needs to stay under wraps for now.

“But…Apple Bloom…”

“Forget about Bloom! Right now it’s just you and me.” He kissed her again, and then sat down. Sweetie, however, was left standing. She couldn’t believe what was happening. This went against all her previous beliefs and rising, as well as her friendship. She loved Apple Bloom, but she was in love with Big Mac. Nevertheless, she sat up against him as she had attempted before.

“Mmk. Here’s everypony’s food!” Apple Bloom walked out of the kitchen with a tray of hay sandwiches and two young foals at her feet. “You guys had better be hungry! I worked hard on these!”

“Eeyup.”

“I’m starving!”

“Well here ya go!” She placed the sandwiches on the table in front of the two ponies. “By tha way Sweetie Belle, whatcha think of tha table? Made it myself!” It was a beautiful oak table with complex designs down the legs and side of the tabletop.

“I love it!” She kept sheepishly looking over at Big Mac, still feeling the rush of excitement mixed with guilt caused by the past few minutes. “Love it.” She repeated as she grinned at him. He noticed the game she was playing, and decided he would join in the fun.

“Eeyup. Mighty fine. Looks fancy, but still simple. Fits very well with the country feel of the place but still sophisticated.” He threw a look back at Sweetie Belle and grinned.”

“Guys, if ya don’t like tha table, ya can just say so…” she had a disgusted face and her sadness as almost audible by looking at it.

“Oh no, Bloom! Why would we think that? It’s a great, dependable, sturdy table.” Another glance and grin at Big Mac.

“That’s why! You guys complement it, then ya look at each other and laugh like your lying to me!” She began to yell, frustrated at the two of them.

“Nope.” Responded Big Mac “Were just remembering a joke from a while ago.”

“Oh really?” She returned her grin from before. “What was it? I love me a good joke!”

“It’s kinda inside ya know? Only me and Sweetie get it.” That was another trait Sweetie Belle loved about him. He could think on the spot and make it convincing, but somehow he never was able to convince Sweetie of a lie.

“Oh…ok…” She looked at her sandwich and took a big bite of it, thinking about what could be going on between the two of them. “Oh no…” she conceived a thought of the two of them together “Nah…that’s crazy talk Apple Bloom”

---

The skies were beginning to clear up as the day became longer, and the weather was perfect for Scootaloo, the Wonderbolt in training, to practice her usual routine, but better. She was wary about practicing without Rainbow Dash by her side, but at least this way she was able to pace herself.

She began as usual, a couple of slow laps around the fields she was practicing in, and then she moved on to a few more faster laps, then one big one at full speed. At the end of the final lap cam Scootaloo’s favorite part of the routine: she would sling her head and neck upwards, propelling her upwards as she laid her wings as flat against her sides. This would skyrocket her as high up as possible, and as she reached her limit, she would spread her wings out, but not flapping, and stall in midair. As she freefell toward the earth, she would close her eyes and straiten her body out to a strait dive downwards. As soon as she became about ten yards from the ground, she would bend back again, launching her forward and flying her as close to the ground as possible. The rush, mixed with the smell of the fresh ait above the clouds and the feel of the blades of grass on her stomach once she flattened out, made this the greatest thing ever to Scootaloo, and a privilege to be able to do it.

As Scootaloo sat in the high grass to catch her breath, she felt the urge to do the move known as The Freefall again. Normally she wouldn’t, and would simply continue to catch her breath, as she was usually too tired to perform the move again so soon. Rainbow Dash knew this and wouldn’t allow her to do it, but Dash wasn't here, and Scootaloo was all alone. Free to do what she wanted, and at this moment, she wanted to do The Freefall again.

“Can’t hurt. Just do it quickly and get it over with, then go back to Apple Bloom’s house.” She said to herself as she got into position. It had become much later, and the sun had begun to go down, so she needed to do it quickly. She decided she would do one slow lap, one regular lap, and one speed lap before doing The Freefall.

First lap, she investigated her surroundings: low sun, more fog, getting cloudy. Next, she ran the regular lap. Finally it came time for the speed lap. One patch of fog kept bothering her all three laps, so she decided she would simply stay away from the area. As she reached time to lean back and shoot into the sky above, she became scared. It was almost dark, and Dash wasn't there for help. That fog and the heavy clouds didn’t help either.

She leaned back, clinched her wings to her body, and flew upwards. As she spread her wings, she opened her eyes enough to get the cold night air in them. The burst of dry air left her in tears, and she shook her head in pain. The change in direction threw her off course and when she squinted her eyes open again, she was about three yards from the ground face first. She quickly pulled up, tucked, and rolled. A loud snap, and a crackling sound like a bag of crunchy hay.

Screams of a young mare filled the night sky as she continued to roll; screams of terror, pain, and confusion. As she stopped rolling across the wet, hard ground, she realized her neck was not to its full capacity. She didn’t say broke, because she was scared to. She screamed and screamed, not able to walk due to the loss of her front right and back left legs. As she attempted to crawl slowly back to Sweet Apple Acres, she noticed her legs and neck getting worse with every moment.

Still screaming, she reached the property line for the farm. She could hear other ponies in the distance. That is, she hoped it was other ponies, and not her echoes. “HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE! I NEED HELP!” These three sentences were about all she could get out, in random order, before having to stop and catch her breath and massage the broken legs.

“Sugarcube? Scootaloo is that you? Oh my Celestia, what happened to you dear?” Applebloom yelled as she galloped as fast as possible. She ran to Scootaloo and checked on her legs. “With legs and a neck broke this bad, you’re lucky to be alive. Apple family! We need help!” Somehow, the call caused a small family reunion of random ponies Scootaloo had never seen before.

“Apple fritter, go get the hospital, and tell them to get over here. Apple Bumpkin, stay here with me.” Applejack continued to order more ponies around, telling them where to go and what to do. They all obeyed and did as told without question. Scootaloo laid in the middle of the field half alive, and tried to hold back her tears, but failed. She began to cry and scream with pain as she cried. The sound and sight of her pain were too much for Applejack, who began to cry as well. “It’ll be ok… it’ll be ok… it’ll be ok…were gonna fix everything. Just stay still.” She hugged Scootaloo to both comfort her and hold her still, and laid her head on Scootaloo’s ribs, a few of which on the other side were also broken.

Through the sounds of crying and the sight of tears, Scootaloo was able to notice am ambulance was on its way. She was gripping to consciousness, and was able to hear more Apple ponies running to her rescue as she laid there still slipping from life. “Applejack.” She managed to slip out “Applejack. Thank you. I love you.”

“I know ya do Sugarcube…I know ya do…”

---

Rainbow Dash jogged through the crowds of people in Ponyville, hoping to shake Skylite without having to look too suspicious. It was getting late, making it harder to see everypony, but her bright coat allowed her to be seen from a far distance, while Skylite’s dark brown mane and coat allowed for a disappearing act at night.

The streets were becoming more and more filled with ponies as it became later, which was strange on a weeknight. What was stranger, everypony seemed to be heading in the same direction: Sweet Apple Acres. Normally, this would cause Rainbow Dash to fly the direction they were migrating, but she was on a mission.

As she approached the hospital, she was able to see nurses galloping out the back as fast as possible. Though she wondered where they were going, she was intent in finding a reason for Gummy’s demise. At first, all the nurses, other ponies, and the noise made it impossible to find the only nurse that could be of assistance: Nurse Redheart. As Dash and Skylite began to walk around the hospital, Skylite had forgotten Dash’s mission. All he knew was that Dash had bucked his mother and possibly killed Gummy.

“Ugh. What are we doing here again?” Skylite bowed his head as he sighed the statement.

Dash growled with frustration. “We are here to find Nurse Redheart and figure out how Gummy kicked the bucket, but all I have learned here is that all the nurses look the same, and everypony is headed to Sweet Apple Acres. Nopony wants to help us, all ‘cause of that one reason. They see us here, but they just keep going to the farm.”
Skylite walked to the middle of the bustling, loud, cramped lobby and spread his wings. His large wings helped spread an open area in the lobby, and allowed him to get his point across thanks to the attention it gravitated. “EVERYPONY STOP!” he screamed towards the ceiling. All at once, the room grew silent. Hooves were stopped in their tracks, and looked at Skylite. “Now that you have all stopped acting like lunatics…where is Nurse Redheart?”

“I’m here.” said a gray-brown mare with nurses clothing on. “What seems to be the problem? You seem fine Skylite, and it looks like you brought Dash but she looks in good condition as well.” Dash dropped the bag on the floor and looked solemnly at Nurse Redheart. “Hmm. Yes. Well…” She looked down at the bag, understanding what Dash was trying to say to her. “Girls, I’m gonna need to stay here. You can handle it. Skylite, Dash, follow me.” She began walking up stairs and the two visitors followed.

“So…what’s in the bag?”

“An alligator.” Dash replied.

“Oh…is it the alligator I’m thinking about?”

“Yea.” Skylite simply walked beside Dash and looked at the posters on the wall. Safe sex, drug abuse, call 911; the usual.

“Well, here we are.” She walked up to a room nearly hidden by hospital supplies as if it was nearly ever used. Or maybe nopony wanted to go in there. “Just go on in. I’ll be there in a minute.” She walked back down stairs. She seemed very nonchalant, and it worried Dash. For some reason, she expected Nurse Redheart to react like Dash and Skylite had. But, she saw this sort of things all the time.

Dash opened the door and looked inside. There was a table with a single light shining on it. A window in the back allowed a faint streak of light in the dark room, but being dawn, not much was allowed in. Skylite went in first, being the more naive of the two. Dash had gained some experience in her age, and was a bit more careful in the way she lived. Skylite, however, was still young, and barged into the dark without care. He stumbled over a bucket laying in the floor, and laid there in the floor with the streak of light from the window across his face.

“Coast is clear.” Skylite said jokingly as he blushed.

“Get up. This is serious.” Dash laid Gummy down on the table in the middle of the room. His corpse remained in place, as if frozen in time. The stare provided by his eyes even blanker than when Gummy was alive. This was the first time Dash was able to ree the trail of blood that had once ran from his mouth, though now dried. “That explains the blood.”

Nurse Redheart walked into the room with a scalpel as if she was prepared for what she would see. “Ok, Gummy. What’s wrong with you?” She said to his body as if it would respond. A few minutes of investigation and she noticed the blood trail. “Poison? Hmm…” She began to cut down his stomach and examined the organs. “No…not poison. Were there any witnesses?”

“Pinkie Pie, but we don’t know where she is. We’re not sure if she even saw it.”

“Mmhmm…”She thought about the situation. “Ok, that could put poison back on the list.” A few more minutes of looking at the lungs and stomach and she reached a conclusion. “Well it wasn't poison. And it wasn't murder. Looks like some sort of disease. I’m going to need a sample.” She got the scalpel and cut off some skin from the stomach. “I’ll work fast.”
She walked back out of the room, and Dash noticed her cue to leave. She walked back down stairs and noticed the crowded lobby, and turned to Skylite. “Let’s go out the ER exit. Much quicker.” As she walked to the ER, she heard the bustle return as she passed the entrance.

“It’s ok Sugarcube, we got ya.” said a familiar voice behind Dash. She whipped around to see applejack running beside a stretcher and a orange arm hanging off the side. “Scoot!” She galloped up to Applejack and began to investigate. She couldn't see the stretcher, so she had to ask Applejack.

“AJ! What happened!?”

“We don’t know yet Dash; we heard screaming and went to investigate. Next thing I know, I find Scootaloo half dead in the middle of yall’s practice field!” She had tears in her eyes, and looked back down.
Dash began to cry as well. This was her protégé, nearly her sister! And now she may be dead. “Scoot, can you hear me? It’s Dash! Please, Scoot! Answer me!” she begged. This was the worst tragedy in her life, and if Scootaloo died, Dash would maybe never fly again.

“Da…Dash?” Scootaloo mumbled through her lips. “I’m…sorry…” She lost consciousness.

“SCOOT! DOC IS SHE STILL ALIVE? DOC!” Dash was breaking down. Without Scootaloo, hat was there to live for? Her life was falling apart so quickly, all the stress was getting to her, and she was panicking.

“Yes, Dash she’s alive. She unconscious, but she’s breathing. She has been doing that all night. We will be on floor three if you want to see her after the surgery. Now, Miss Applejack, Miss Dash, I’m going to have to ask you to stay here for a while.”

“Surgery?! What does she need surgery for?” The doctor continued walking and entered the elevator. “AJ, what tha hay is going on?”

“Scoot has a broke front right leg, a broke back left leg, four ribs on her right side, and a broken neck in two places. The very fact that she is alive is a work of Celestia! I found her and she was almost dead. As cold and wet as it was out there, if I hadn’t found her when I did, she might would’ve froze.” Dash was shocked. The fact that Scoot was amazing enough, but Applejack was very punctual in rough situation like this apparently.

“Hmm…come on, Skylite’s here too. You should explain what you know to me ‘n him while we wait.” She began walking over to where Skylite was.

“Ya. Guess I should. Poor kid.”

Next Chapter: The Agreement/The Loss Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes