Dedicated to everybody at /co/ who got me into this and motivated me to write it.

I don't own MLP.

Chapter 1: Recollection

The sun crept through the cracks between the boards on window in the old loft, stretching it's long fingers over a single mattress lying on the floor. Normally at this time, a certain fiery pony would shield her eyes, throw off the sheets, and stomp down the stairs of the loft, ready for another day of work. However, today was different. She let the sun sting her eyes. She let the rays that normally would have ignited the fire in her heart for another day, douse them instead. Shifting around her sheets to find a cold spot, the distressed mare was flooded by memories of the last night. She had never felt so hopeless, so...out of control.

"It's awfully quiet out..." Applejack said to nopony in particular. It was true. The only sound that cut through the winter night's silence was the rhythmic thwacks of ax against wood. She was supervising the farmhands that were clearing the some of the dead trees out of the orchard. "This winter frost is really gettin' the better of us." she thought, clutching her jacket closer to herself. They hadn't gotten nearly enough work done to prepare for Winter Wrap-Up. The trees had been ta king up space as a decoration to the entrance into Ponyville, but had only proven to be an eyesore after dying. They had been meaning to cut them down earlier, but they never actually found a time to set aside for it. Suddenly, a loud "Timber!" shook her from her thoughts. Soon, the tell-tale sound of buckling bark and wood splitting followed. She watched the tree fall safely into a clearing, but couldn't help as to worry that what they were doing wasn't safe. As she looked back towards the stump, she saw Corks had been the cutter. Grinning like usual, he approached her. She knew what was coming next.

"Love that sound!" he said, followed by his usual booming laugh.

God, she loved that laugh. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Always have, haven't ya?" Applejack replied casually. Her and Corks had been almost inseparable since he showed up. After being fired from his job in Hoofington, He had been living off the land. Looking for work, he arrived at the front gates some time last year. Being the only lumberjack ever to come to Ponyville, He had plenty of work to go around and no reason to leave."So,where we headed to next?" she asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

He picked up on it almost immediately. Giving her a concerned look, he didn't let the small tone go unnoticed. "Fluttershy's Cottage," he said "but are you alright? You seem a little on edge."

Applejack sighed. Corks never did let anything past him, being so protective of her all the time. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous that's all. All these trees fallin' just doesn't seem safe."

He just laughed. "We're out here alone with what? Two or three other people? We'll be fine. You worry too much."

If only that had been true.

She had been at the base of the hill with Corks when it happened. The first thing she heard was the screams. Oh Celestia, the screams. She had turned around and immediately started sprinting up the hill, towards the sound. Corks,now on full alert, grabbed his ax off the ground and stayed close behind her. She knew this would happen, she just knew something would go wrong. She had been in difficult situations like this, but had never ran so fast. As she just began to scale the slope, she heard the trademark loud splintering of wood. A few aching seconds passed, then it hit. The noise was thunderous, almost like an explosion. She had never heard anything like it. It was almost like a mix of thunder and an earthquake. It was terrible and earsplitting, but even this did not scare her. What scared her was it came from the cottage.

As she came to the top of the hill, she saw the . The damage was unbelievable. A large oak tree apparently had fallen onto the small entire place looked like it had imploded from the impact. A number of farmhands were crowded around the wreck, digging through debris for animals and yelling to one another for help. "What in the hay is goin' on here?" she asked one of them.

"Well, Clover messed up and cut the fall restraint on his back-swing. The tree fell the wrong the wrong way, and..." He trailed off, looking toward the wreckage, then the ground. "Clover is fine, but Fluttershy..." He sighed and looked up.

"She's not okay."

Applejack's face went stark white. Oh Celestia, this was her fault. This was all her fault. If she hadn't been messing around with Corks, she could have done something. Now because of her, she's...

"Wait just a second! What the hell do you mean she's 'not okay'? What happened to her?" Corks had been back helping getting the wreckage cleaned up, but when he over heard the young farmhand say something about Fluttershy, he lit up like a firecracker. He looked ready to explode.

"Well, when the tree came down, it collapsed the room she was in..." seeing the face Corks was making, the farmhand quickly told him the rest of the details. "I m-mean she's alive and all, but she's hurt pretty badly. Dr. Whooves said at least 2 broken bones."

A mix of emotions seemed to flash across Corks's face. Applejack couldn't really tell, but he looked almost...confused. After a couple seconds or so, he regained his composure and turned to face the farmhand again. "Alright, well...where is she? Is she gonna be alright?"

"She's at the hospital with Dr. Whooves right now. He says that she will be fine, but will be in no condition to work for at least a month."

Corks suddenly perked up at this. "Well, why don't we just head over there now and check up on her?" He seemed intent on insuring the quiet filly's safety.

"Sorry, but for right now, ya can't see her. Whooves says she needs her rest and can't be bothered right now, but y'all should be able to see her around noon tomorrow." The farm hand smiled. Almost every one knew that Corks felt something special for the filly. Except, of course, the mare herself. The naive girl wouldn't know even if came up and smacked her on the nose.

Corks visibly slouched at hearing this. "...Oh." He glanced at the ground for a second, defeated. However, nothing could keep the colt down for long. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to go tommorow!"

Applejack, however, was not in such high spirits. She felt awful. Her friend, because of her mistakes, was now in the hospital and couldn't even support he life's business! She hadn't meant for this. She...she never asked for this.