//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Shifting Morals // by Leafdoggy //------------------------------// I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see Applejack falling. Turning, tumbling through the air, never landing. Her eyes locked to mine, dredging up anxiety like a fish hook in my mind. Reliving that fear I felt, that fear I had never felt before, that fear of what might be. I don’t understand why. When I got back to the farm, she was fine. Scraped up and bruised, but nothing permanent. More rattled than anything. Pinkie just sent me home, saying she wanted to stay and look after Applejack.  Everything went exactly how it was meant to. So why can’t I sleep? Maybe I just need more closure. These ponies have proven to be remarkably resistant to anger and doubt. I must not be completely convinced I did enough. I should go see for myself, watch the fallout. Eliminate my fears. I tiptoe quietly out of the basement and look around. No sign of Pinkie; she must not be home yet. That’s good, I don’t need her following me. Still, better safe than sorry; it’s sneaking from here on out. It’s dark when I step outside, and the streets are empty. Ponyville has few streetlights, most light coming from the houses where people aren’t yet asleep. It leaves the streets looking dreary. Seas of shadow surrounding havens of light which could vanish at any moment. Pinkie mentioned where Fluttershy lives, so I walk in that direction. It’s calm outside. The silence wraps around me like an old friend. The chill that sweeps over me is as cozy as any blanket. My mind calms, my nerves settle. But that anxiety still digs at me, in the back of my mind. The empty streets are eerie. The ponies here are so noisy, so lively, it feels like a different world without them. It's like this whole world was built so ponies could be together, and when you're alone the world itself leaves you behind too. Soon I come up to a cottage on top of a hill, surrounded by greenery and wildlife. The house looks like it’s made of nature itself. All green and overgrown, like it doesn’t want to get in the way of the grass. This must be the place. I can see the three children sitting out front. Things must already be happening in there. Sneaking around to the side, I find a vantage point where I can crouch on the hill and see inside a lit window. Two ponies are silhouetted against the light. The tall one shrinking into herself must be Fluttershy, so presumably the other is Applejack. It's hard to tell, but the two ponies look sluggish, tired. I get the impression they've been arguing for a while, or at least very vigorously. That's all I can read from them though. I’m too far to hear anything, and their body language isn’t telling me what I need to know. If I want to be absolutely sure, I need to crawl closer. “-just don’t get it, Fluttershy.” I hear as I get close enough. That’s Applejack for sure. “It just don’t make sense.” She sounds exhausted. “I don’t remember it at all,” Fluttershy whimpers. She’s barely getting the words out. “And why would I say those awful things to Applebloom? I’ve always seen so much potential in her, I could never.” “I know, I know,” Applejack says. “But it was you.” “But how can you be so sure?” Fluttershy replies. Her voice cracks as she speaks, probably holding back tears. “I saw your face, Fluttershy. Ain’t no doppelganger that would look at me like… like that.” Like what? I don’t think I looked at her strangely. “I just- I don’t-” Fluttershy stutters and her voice trails off. I see Applejack walk up to her. It’s slow and measured, like she’s moving in slow motion. She raises a hoof as she gets close, and I wince, expecting violence, but then she sets her hoof gently on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “We’ll get this sorted,” Applejack says, as calm as I’ve ever heard her. Fluttershy collapses against Applejack. I’m dumbfounded. She’s positive it was Fluttershy, but she’s just brushing past being dropped out of the sky? She should be furious, she should barely be able to contain herself. How is she offering to help? It just doesn’t work like that! My brain is on fire. The world goes dark around me. None of this makes any sense, it goes against everything I know. I have to leave, walk, calm myself down. I need to.. I need to think. I walk down the hill behind the cottage. Forget going back to Pinkie’s tonight, I need to be alone to figure this out. Ponies just… they don’t work the same. I have to figure out how to get to them. How to get through. I’m near the woods behind Fluttershy’s house when a voice behind me says “Enjoy the show?” It scares me so bad I leap into the air and fall flat on my face. The voice snorts out a laugh as I see a pair of blue hooves land next to me. Above me is a tall, toned pegasus, blue fur and a technicolor mane standing stark against the night sky. She’s got a mischievous smile on her face. “What?” I sputter out. “Who are you?” “I’m your last introduction,” she says. “Come on, get up, walk with me.” She prods me in the side and starts walking away, so I get up and follow. She takes me along barren back roads of Ponyville, roads with few houses and even less ponies. I have no idea where she’s leading me; Pinkie certainly never took me this way. “You’re Rainbow Dash?” I ask her. “The one and only,” she says with a grin. “I wanted to make a bigger first impression than Pinkie, but then I saw you at Fluttershy’s place. I probly wasn’t gonna beat the basement suite anyway.” “Have you been following us?” I ask. That’s a problem if so. “A bit,” she replies. “I wanted to get a good look atcha before diving in. Pinkie’s so friendly I knew she’d have the others likin you in no time, so I figured I should hang back and see how things went.” “Hm. Alright. Well, what did you think?” I need to find out if she’s suspicious of me. “I dunno really! I never was good at getting a read on people.” She laughs and smiles at me. “Guess I’m too trusting. How about you tell me? Who is Strawberry Tart?” I have no idea how to answer that. How do you describe a facade of yourself? The question leaves me thinking. Eventually, I just say “I don’t know. I guess I haven’t figured it out yet.” “Well, consider that a good thing,” she says. “If you don’t know who you are, that means you can be anyone. Come on, this way.” She breaks off ahead of me and turns down a side street. She seems to know where we’re going, at least. She’s a bit ahead of me now, and looking straight ahead, away from me. Almost like she forgot I was here. Silence falls over us. There are no lights on the street we’re on, no ponies, not even crickets from the sound of it. Just me and her, lit by a dim moon. I’ve never felt so isolated. A chill runs over me again. “So,” she says after an agonizing pause, “wanna tell me what you were doing at Fluttershy’s?” I look at the ground. What can I say? “I just…” I pause. “I wanted to see what happened.” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash says dryly. Another pause. She still isn’t looking at me. “And?” She continues. “Huh?” “What did you see?” “Well,” I say, then think for a moment. “I guess I saw Applejack forgive her. Or something like that.” “Something like that,” Rainbow Dash repeats. Suddenly she stops, turning and looking straight at me. “What happened next?” The cold night air is reaching down to my bones. I look into her eyes, but I can’t make anything of her expression. I don’t know if it’s because it’s dark, or because I’m frazzled, or both, but I have no idea what she wants to hear from me. I think for a long moment, trying to find the right answer. The wind howls. Leaves fly past. What can I say? I guess I should say the truth. “I just,” I start, then stop again. Then start again, “I don’t get it. She dropped Applejack out of the sky. Applejack could have died! How do you just… ignore that? How can you stay friends? It goes against everything I know.” Rainbow Dash doesn’t respond. She just looks into my eyes. It’s difficult to keep eye contact, but I do. Whatever she wants from me, I need to find a way to give it to her. Eventually, she motions for me to follow her again, and I do. She doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the walk, but it’s long. She takes me all over Ponyville and back again. Through alleys, around ponds. It feels like she shows me every little part of the town. The good and the bad. Places filled with joy, and then places stained with sadness. A bright town under the hold of darkness. We walk for an hour, maybe two. Her ahead, me behind. She leads, I follow. She could have kept me walking until the sun came up, but eventually we stop, right in front of Sugarcube Corner. She turns and looks me in the eyes again, the first time she’s looked at me since she went silent. It makes me wince, but I don’t know why. She doesn’t look angry, or upset, or even particularly serious. She’s just looking. “For the record,” she says after an eternity, “I would have caught Applejack if she went too high.” Then she flies away.