Chapter 4: Homecoming

Applebloom woke up one morning and felt the warmth of the sun on her face, expecting to feel her brother laying his head on the bed next to her, but he wasn't there. For the past two weeks he would always come in first thing in the morning so he could watch her, but he would usually fall asleep because of how early it was. At first she was worried about it, thinking that something might have happened to him that would have kept him from showing up, but the door opening made her think she had just woken up really early.

"We need to cheek the bandages before she can come home right now" a stallion said from the doorway, a quiet hum coming from another stallion, "Oh, she's awake already"

"Hello?" Applebloom asked quietly, slightly worried about who this new stallion was, and who the pony behind him. The stallion, whom she guessed was a doctor, stayed quiet as he trotted over to her bedside, his hooves coming up to the back of her head. She tensed as his hooves touched the bandages, taking the small bit of tape that was holding them on so they would come off. Once they were off she felt a cold breeze on her eyelids, which had been kept closed for the entire time. The doctor hummed as he looked at them, and then leaned in to look at them closer.

"Can you try to open your eyes Applebloom?" the doctor asked, his voice sounding very serious. She did as he asked and tried to open them, having a small bit of trouble at first, but they came open eventually. She could feel the doctor looking all over her eyes, stopping to look closely at the corneas of both of them.

"Well, everything looks good, I think you can take her home today Big McIntosh" the doctor said after he turned around, the mention of her brothers name making Applebloom move her head around, eventually settling on where she thought he was based off the hoof steps she heard earlier.

"Big Mac?" Applebloom asked quietly, her bottom lip coming out instinctively. She heard Big Mac step forward, staying as quiet as possible before he was at her bedside.

"The doctor said you could come home today, are you ready?" Big Mac asked softly as he put a hoof up on the bed, it's weight feeling familiar as it has been there for the past two weeks. Applebloom nodded quietly, not expecting him to be so quiet when the news that she could finally go home came up. Big Mac slowly picked her up off the bed and put her on his back, quickly checking to see that nothing was being left behind before they left the room. Once they checked out of the hospital Big Mac began trotting away, towards the farm as Applebloom would think, but she was wrong. After a few minutes they arrived at a building, making Applebloom lift her head off Big Mac's back.

"Where are we?" Applebloom asked, but her question was answered as soon as Big Mac pushed the door open.

"SURPRISE!" a bunch of ponies shouted, making Applebloom freak out.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Applebloom shouted in response, not quite sure what was going on. A loud laugh came from Big Mac, making Applebloom even more confused. He had been so quiet before, but now he was laughing loudly.

"It's a surprise party for you getting out of the hospital" Big Mac said while laughing, her reaction making her feel a bit more relaxed, but she was still really confused and scared. Big Mac lowered himself down so she could climb off, but it ended with her in a heap on the floor. Big Mac quickly turned around and helped her up.

"Sorry about that" Big Mac said quickly as he helped her up. Applebloom shook her head quickly, taking quite a few cautious steps forwards until she got the hang of it again, which was met with a loud cheer from everypony that was around her. It was then when it finally hit Applebloom that she was at a party.

"Who's all here?" Applebloom asked, moving her head from side to side as if she was looking at everypony.

"Well, there's me, your sister and Granny" Big Mac said as he started to look around, "As well as the Oranges, your friends, and Applejack's friends"

"Like me!" Pinkie shouted from the other side of the room, making everypony giggle. Applebloom smiled happily before walking forward, colliding with a table that she didn't know was there.

"Ow" Applebloom whined as she back up and rubbed her head where she had hit it. While she sat there she heard two ponies walking over to her.

"Hey Applebloom" Sweetie Belle said happily, with a smile Applebloom guessed. Applebloom turned to where she heard the voice come from and stuck her hoof out, feeling two hooves smack against it, letting her know that either Scootaloo or Babs was with Sweetie.

"How you holding up?" Scootaloo asked calmly while Applebloom had the feeling that someone was staring at her eyes.

"Pretty good I guess" Applebloom answered honestly before feeling the need to ask, "How do my eyes look?"

"Well, they're a bit washed out and cloudy, but they still look like your eyes" Sweetie Belle said, which Scootaloo said was right. For the rest of the party the three Crusaders talked about what Applebloom had missed, from both school and their crusades. Apparently Snips and Snails were caught staring at Diamond Tiara's flank one day, which made them laughing stocks for a few days, but things died down after that, and the crusades have still been less that successful as neither of them had gotten a cutie mark yet. Eventually Babs joined in and talked about what was going on in Manehattan with her group of Crusaders, having about the same luck as Sweetie and Scootaloo had.

"Come on Applebloom, time to head home" Big Mac said, interrupting a story that Babs was telling about her Crusaders.

"Do we have to?" Applebloom asked, wanting to spend more time with her friends.

"Eeyup, now come on, let's get going" Big Mac said as he hoisted Applebloom onto his back, letting her say a quick goodbye to her friends before they left, making their way towards the farm rather quickly. The cold air outside wherever they had the party at let Applebloom know that it was starting to get dark outside. As Big Mac trotted towards the farm with Applejack and Granny Applebloom started to fall asleep, eventually passing out on his back, sound asleep until the next morning.