Chapter 8: No Pony Wins In The End

Soarin woke up early in the morning laying back in his hospital bed, with his head feeling like somepony had tried to rip it in half. When he tried to move he felt every muscle in his body cry out in pain, forcing him to lay back down. As the pain receded Soarin tried to remember what had happened to him that put him in the hospital, and when he looked at his nightstand he remembered. A shiny green apple was sitting next to him on the bed, along with a get well soon card from a certain pony he knew.

Sorry that Rainbow attacked you in the club you were at. Her and the rest of my friends learned what happened the day you left, and Rainbow's loyalty made her go find you. I hope you get better soon.

With love,

Applejack

"Wow..." Soarin said slowly as he stared at the card, his mind being blown as he tried to figure out why she sent him this card. How could she still have feelings for him after he left her, literally the day after they had sex, and now he knows that she got pregnant. No mare Soarin has ever met would still love him after doing that, so what made Applejack different? He really couldn't figure out why she did it, and it confused the ever living crap out of him.

*Knock, Knock*

"You awake?" Spitfire asked from the doorway, her hoof still resting on the door frame, "I checked on you an hour ago and you were still out cold. How you feeling?" Soarin didn't respond as he slowly put down the card from Applejack, exchanging it for the apple she had left for him.

"I have an idea for a book..." Soarin said sadly as he bit into the apple, "How to be The Biggest Dickbag You Can In 1 Way" Spitfire raised an eyebrow for a moment before she realized that Soarin had an apple and a get well soon card. Her face immediately dropped down, but Soarin waved it off, telling her that she shouldn't dwell on it. As Soarin continued to eat the apple Spitfire came over to his bedside, putting her hoof on his.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Spitfire asked, her eyes glancing over to the card. Soarin shrugged as he ate the apple, already halfway through it. There was silence as Soarin finished eating the apple, and when he was done he moved to through the core across the room into the trash can, but he stopped. He couldn't do it, and he didn't know why. His leg just stopped moving, the apple ending up falling down onto his stomach.

"Here, let me get that fo-" Spitfire said as she reached for the apple, before Soarin pushed her hoof away. She stood there in shock, staring at Soarin's hoof with wide eyes before he let it fall to the bed. Soarin silently picked up the apple core, putting it on the night stand next to the card, spending at least three minutes trying to get it to stand up again. Spitfire looked at him in worried confusion, afraid that the beating he had received had given him some sort of brain damage.

"Don't worry, I'm still Soarin, I just..." Soarin trailed off as he looked at the apple, "Couldn't throw it away..."

"Are you thinking about her again?" Spitfire asked, remembering how seclusive Soarin was the first week after he left Ponyville. It was like he was trying to find something on his own, and he didn't ask anypony for help. For an entire week he just kept to himself, even avoiding his raving fans and the clubs that invited him for a special occassion.

"Yeah..." Soarin said quietly, a depressing atmosphere falling in the room that made even Spitfire feel uncomfortable. Before Spitfire could attempt to take Soarin's mind off of Applejack the doctor came into the doorway, giving her a look that told her to get out. As Spitfire left she gave Soarin a sad look, and in response he smiled, either because he wanted to let her know that he was going to be okay, or because the doctor gagged when he saw the apple core that was already starting to mummify on the nightstand.

"Mr. High," The doctor said, his voice echoing down the hallway behind Spitfire, "You have three broken ribs, a hairline fracture in your skull, and had internal bleeding. We would like to perform a biopsy to make sure nothing is going to cause issues. Do you consent?"

"Sure, why the fuck not..." Soarin replied, the sound of the doctor getting up and leaving the room making a shiver run down Spitfire's spine.

Rainbow was sitting on the crappy old wall bed that was in her cell, waiting for somepony to come collect her for a trial. After beating up a famous Wonderbolt she knew that at least a four year sentence was in her future, maybe even a life sentence if Soarin was horribly injured. Looking around she found a small rock that she could use to entertain herself for a little bit, so she started throwing it against the wall across from her, over and over.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

*SMASH*

"Ah fuck..." Rainbow said sadly as she got off the bed to pick up the pieces of the shattered rock, which had smashed apart after it's fourth hit against the wall. Looking at the two pieces of rock she saw a collection of small gems inside of it, which made her laugh. She was sure that Rarity would be clambering over anypony in her way to get the gems if she knew about them, but it was highly unlikely that Rarity would ever know they even existed.

"She's just this way ma'am," a guard said as the metal door to the jail cells opened up, the sound of only one pony's hooves coming down the hallway. Rainbow didn't care to move, instead she was trying to figure out how she would be able to smuggle the gems into prison with her, thinking that they would be worth something to the ponies that were locked up.

"Rainbow?" somepony asked, making Rainbow turn around immediately.

"Twilight, what are you doing here?" Rainbow asked, surprised that Twilight already knew that she had been locked up.

"Well, since I'm a Princess I kinda get told when one of my best friends gets their stupid ass tossed in jail..." Twilight said sarcastically, "Seriously, what the fuck were you doing?"

"I was beating Soarin's bastard ass, that's what!" Rainbow said angrily, still extremely pissed at Soarin for leaving Applejack when she got pregnant. Twilight sighed and used her magic to levitate a key from her saddle bags, which she used to unlock the door to Rainbow's cell.

"Come on Rainbow, you don't need to be here," Twilight said, sounding very tired all of a sudden. Rainbow slowly got out of her cell, making sure to hide the gems under her wings so she could show them to Rarity later, most likely making a joke about her cutie mark story or something like it. As they left the cell block Rainbow heard a few of the other prisons start to call out at her, one of them trying to tap her on the ass because she had been the only mare in there in a long time.

"So why are they letting me go?" Rainbow asked, not entirely understanding why she would get free because Twilight showed up, "Was it because you asked nicely?"

"Yup," Twilight replied, "Asking nicely as a Princess is exactly like saying 'Do it or you'll get in trouble' to guards" Rainbow barely managed to stifle a laugh as she thought about the big, manly, guards of Equestria cowering beneath Twilight when she kindly asks them to do anything for her. It wasn't long before Rainbow had a dirty thought of Twilight asking the guards to gang up and...

"Woah!" Rainbow said as she shook her head, trying to get the image of Twilight ordering a bunch of guards to gang up on her out of her head.

"What?" Twilight asked, turning around in such an innocent way that Rainbow's mind immediately added a thick coat of a white slimy liquid.

"Nothing, just, let's keep  going!" Rainbow said quickly, her face burning red as she tried to forget the images that were popping into her head. Twilight raised an eyebrow as Rainbow trotted out the front door ahead of her, not even caring to ask where they were supposed to be going now that Twilight had gotten Rainbow out of jail until she got outside.

"Hey Twilight, where are we going?" Rainbow asked, not even daring to look back at Twilight in case she got another mental image.

"Home," Twilight said as she started to fly away, leaving Rainbow to fly back to her cloud house on her own, slightly fearing that Twilight was just playing a cruel joke on her and the guards were about to pull her back to jail. After a few minutes of waiting nothing happened, so Rainbow headed home in silence, still trying to get the naughty images out of her head.

Applejack was sitting on her bed in silence when Granny knocked on her door, waiting on the other side for her to let her in. When Granny came into the room she hugged Applejack, making her the first pony to touch Applejack since Soarin left, and the two of them headed to sit down on the bed.

"Applejack, how are you feeling?" Granny asked, her motherly tone coming out as she tried to comfort Applejack, "Do you want to talk about anything?"

"I'm fine Granny, I'm just depressed that Soarin left..." Applejack said sadly, "I thought me and him had something, but I guess not, since he left so easily..."

"Oh dear, it's okay, maybe his work is keeping him busy," Granny said, trying to give Applejack some form of hope to hold onto, but it didn't work. Applejack shrugged the idea off, knowing deep down in her heart that Soarin had picked his job over her, and that she was just another mare to him. It wasn't even hard for her to imagine that he'd done something like this before, so nothing Granny could or would say to her was going to change her mind.

"He doesn't want to be with me, so there's nothing I can do about it," Applejack said sadly, her eyes focused on a random spot on the floor, "Now I'm going to have to raise this foal all on my own"

"No dear, you have me, your brother, and your sister here to help you," Granny said, putting a hoof on Applejack's shoulder, "We're your family, and we'll never leave you to fend for yourself like that" Applejack looked up at Granny and gave her a weak smile, knowing that she was telling the truth, but it didn't matter. Her foal wouldn't have a father, and if anything happened to her, they wouldn't have a mother either. She was scared that her foal would end up growing up like her and Applebloom did, without either parent there to support them...

"Granny, do think I'll have only one foal?" Applejack asked, worried that she might end up having multiple foals that she'll have to take care of. Even with her family's help it'll be hard if there's more than one foal, and if there was a bunch of them they would be taken away from their farm work.

"Here, let me listen," Granny said calmly as she lowered her head towards Applejack's stomach, pressing her ear to her stomach.

"Granny it's only been a month, there's no way to t-"

"Three," Granny said, interrupting Applejack, "You'll have three foals"

"How can you tell?" Applejack asked, finding it hard to believe her grandmother would know how many foals she'd be having months before the doctors would be able to.

"It's on old family secret, I'll teach it to you one day," Granny said with a smile, "But don't worry, even with three foals we'll be able to help you take care of them" Applejack's eyes filled with tears as she leaned forwards to hug Granny. She was overwhelmed by the support from her family. Even though she had broken tradition and gotten pregnant without having a husband, they were still happy to help her with the foals. She hadn't been expecting it at all, and knowing that it was there was just too much for her.

"I'll go fix dinner," Granny said after Applejack let her go, "Feel like giving me a hoof?"

"Sure thing Granny," Applejack said as she wiped the tears out of her eyes, still overwhelmed by the support that she was getting from her family.