Chapter 1: The News

Applejack was waiting patiently inside Doctor Stable's office at Ponyville hospital, waiting for the doctor to come in with her test results. After passing out on the job a few days ago Big Mac pushed Applejack into getting a physical to make sure nothing was wrong, wanting to make sure she was okay, and that she'd be at full capacity in a month when applebuck season began. As time went on Applejack found herself idly clicking her hooves together, waiting patiently for the doctor to arrive, which he luckily did, as she had begun to become impatient.

"Hello Ms Apple, how are you feeling today?" Doctor Stable asked as he came into the room, putting her medical folder on the desk nice and neatly.

"I'm okay, I was forced to come by Big McIntosh" Applejack said honestly, trying her best to not look at her file, expecting it to say that she was completely okay and just passed out from the heat or something. Unfortunately for her, that's not even close to what was now inside her file.

"Now Ms Apple, I hate to tell you this, but the reason you passed out was because you have a tumor growing on your brain" Doctor Stable said in a monotone voice, but it was clear it was hurting him to say it, "We believe it to be caused by your line of work"

"What do you mean I got a 'tumor' from my line of work?" Applejack asked, making air quotes around the word tumor.

"Do you use and chemicals on the job, or spend most of your day outside?" Doctor stable asked, picking up folder to go over it again, seeing the new sheet that clearly said she had a tumor on her frontal lobe.

"Well, yeah, that's what farmers do" Applejack said in somewhat annoyed tone, feeling as if the doctor was asking so he could make fun of her to his colleagues.

"Ms Apple, a brain tumor can develop when chemicals are taken into the body, which happens when you use them and then stay outdoors within a two mile radius of the  chemicals" Doctor Stable explained, pointing a hoof to a poster on the wall labeled Chemicals and You!, which covered the dangers of using dangerous chemicals on any job.

"So what does this mean for me? Can I still work on the farm?" Applejack asked worriedly, now realizing that Big Mac would lose it when he found out about this.

"It means you have to come back in every two weeks, and we highly recommend you lay off the farm work, at least until the situation is under hoof" Doctor Stable said as he picked her file back up, "Other than that one thing you're perfectly fine, now just talk to the front desk to make your next appointment in two weeks"

"Yes sir, thank you for seeing me" Applejack said as she shook his hoof before he left the room. Applejack felt like breaking down once he shut the door behind himself, but she managed to hold it together long enough to make the appointment and leave, but she quickly snapped once she was outside. Tears freely rolled down her face as she made the trek home, running into Rainbow Dash just outside the farm.

"Hey AJ, what's up, where were you today?" Rainbow asked as she brought her napping cloud down to Applejack's level, floating along above her. When Applejack didn't answer Rainbow got worried, so she flew off her cloud and right into Applejack's face, the matted wet fur making Rainbow's eyes widen drastically.

"Are you okay A-" Rainbow tried to ask, but Applejack stopped her.

"Rainbow, can you get the rest of the girls and bring them to the farm later?" Applejack asked sadly, and Rainbow quickly nodded, flying off without any hesitation to find the rest of their friends. Applejack continued to slowly trot back to the farmhouse, the sound of Big Mac bucking apple trees coming from far away, each hit making Applejack cringe. She knew the news would break him, not only knowing that his sister has something deadly inside her, but he's be physically broken within a few days from having to work all by himself.

"Hi sis!" Applebloom said cheerfully as she ran up next to Applejack, having been on her way home from school. Applejack only gave her a slight glance as she continued to trot up the path. Applebloom moved forwards to try and get a look at Applejack's face, but she kept moving it away, which started to annoy her.

"Sis, what's wrong?" Applebloom asked impatiently, stomping her hoof down in front of Applejack, "Why are you ignoring me like that?"

"I'll tell you later, now go play with your friends!" Applejack snapped, making Applebloom flinch. In all her life she's never had Applejack shout at her like that, and she just couldn't take it. Applebloom ran off without another word, her own tears fighting to run down her face as she did. Applejack cursed under her breath as Applebloom's hoof beats became a distant sound, eventually becoming too quiet to hear. As she made it into the yard of the farm house Applejack heard Big Mac galloping towards her, coming to a slow stop just a little bit away from her.

"So, how did it go sis?" Big Mac asked, panting slightly.

"Come inside and I'll tell ya when my friends arrive" Applejack said in a depressing tone, making Big Mac worry.It was rare for her to act this way towards anypony, let alone him, and that meant that something really big had happened. He silently followed Applejack into the house, hearing a loud chorus of hoof beats coming from the road, meaning her friends were already almost here. Rainbow was the first one to make it over the horizon, spotting Applejack heading into the farm house from far away, quickly ushering the other mares to pick up the pace. They arrived moments later, all of them except Rainbow were panting, and they all took a seat on either the floor or the couch in the main room. After a few moments of waiting Applejack cleared her throat, and told everypony what had happened, telling them every last detail.

"Oh that's a load a' hooey" Granny Smith said with a wave of her hoof, dismissing the entire thing as "doctor mumbo-jumbo", but Twilight was probably the most worried of them all with the news of where the tumor sat.

"Have they offered to remove it?" Twilight asked, remembering her anatomy studies from back in Canterlot.

"No, they said as long as it doesn't get any bigger then I should be okay" Applejack said sadly, looking at Twilight with tired eyes. Everypony in the room felt the exact same way, some more than others. Big Mac was quietly shaking in his seat as he tried to hold back tears, and Rainbow was no different, she had to leave the room because of how sad she was, even Pinkie's hair had managed to deflate because of the news.

"Have they offered any treatment to you?" Rarity asked worriedly.

"They said I have to go in every two weeks for something, but they didn't say what" Applejack replied honestly, not being able to recall any information about how they planned to deal with it. At that everypony became very silent, save for some quiet sobs from Rainbow Dash and Big Mac. After a little while everypony left one by one, eventually leaving only Rainbow behind with the Apples. Not knowing what to do Rainbow flew over and gave Applejack a tight hug, seemingly wanting to never let go, and after she did she gave Big Mac a long hug, whispering something into his ear before she left.

"I need to go finish today's harvest..." Big Mac said as he slowly got up and made his way outside, leaving Applejack all alone with Granny, who had fallen asleep a while ago. Now all Applejack had to do was tell Applebloom about all this, somehow...