//------------------------------// // Apple/Dash -- Romance/Sad // Story: Story Compilation // by Trogdor //------------------------------// Sometimes, even the strongest of us just need to be held a little at night. "How could you have been so stupid?!" More tears of anguish flooded from her eyes as she realized she had no real way to answer; her question was only rhetorical. Night had already fallen upon the cloud castle, but the curtains were violently torn shut to hide herself within. Rainbow Dash brutally returned her stare in the mirror. "How can you just stand there staring at me? Huh? . . . Say something! . . . Bucking say something!" She was leaned over, her hoofs pressing against the cold ivory walls on opposite sides of her spitting image. She screamed uncontrollably between the sobs, making no attempts to control herself; she was locked in a furious battle, with her own reflection. Her back rocked from the heavy panting, leaving rings of fog across the mirror. She saw the tears seep from her eyes and glisten across them like glass whenever she blinked. They caught a crimson fire from her irises as they trickled and fell to the floor, fervently burning, nearly through the granite itself. Rounding the corner, there was the final ring... She couldn't stomach watching herself cry. With one final scream her eyes slammed shut as a hoof withdrew from the wall and hammered into the glass. The shards exploded in a metallic resonance, combing the air in thin incisions and brushing along her fur. The reflection had lost the war; yet her own thoughts now became a casualty. Her wings beat rampantly against the mounting fatigue, yet she forced her way through it; the single hoop was all that stood between her and acceptance... her final chance to make it to the Wonderbolts... She slowly opened her eyes, dropping heavy tears in a pattering amongst the shards on the floor. The ground dimly came to focus through the muddled mixture as she brought herself down off the wall, finding the cold stone below. Her breathing had calmed, yet with every exhale she shook violently, whimpering loudly into the empty castle. She ambled clumsily toward the staircase leading up to her bedroom; every step demanding all what little remained of her composure. She tried to cast off the aching that came screaming from her wings; it would be impossible to stop, she couldn't, not now. With one final thrust she hurled her body toward the opening, yet her wing hadn't closed fast enough. The limp feathers slid over the bar, until the cartilage solidly ricocheted off the metal, twisting her body in the sudden shift in momentum, and she was sent falling... The weight of her thoughts pulled her harder into the stairs, until she finally collapsed to her knees in a heap before she could reach the top. What once remained of her strength had all but burned out, leaving her in a pathetic ball on the steps, her head gently bobbing in the deep sobs. She closed her eyes, pressing her hot stomach into the floor and buried her face within her hooves. The stairs seemed even more solid and chilling in response; even they didn't want to accept her. She cried for what seemed like hours. She wailed into the howling castle until she sung hoarse; her tears pooled to the steps until the wellspring in her eyes had long dried out, and she cried some more. She was helpless to consider anything else; crying was all that could save her from her thoughts. The sobs eventually faded into trembling, and her chest burned furiously with each unsteady breath. She whispered into her arms, "W-why... why couldn't you do it, Dash." The visions came to her mind again; the nightmare tape that she rewound over and over again. She sought deliverance, something that the solitude of her home would never offer. She crept down the steps and onto the foyer, perking her ears to the moans of wind through the rafters; they were beckoning to her. She followed the faint glimmer of the window until she pressed her way within the curtains. The breeze wound its way across her body in the cotton and glass cocoon as she gazed out across the humming flickers of light below. The chilling air stung her eyes, and she wrapped her hooves across her body to hold its familiar embrace running through her coat. The cool breath was refreshing against her stomach, and was gladly welcomed as it ran goosebumps down her back. She shuddered once more as her eyes closed, a new thought forming in her mind; the idea of a fly sounded thrilling right now. She stepped her way through the windowsill, making no gesture back into the darkness that would surely have consumed her. The gust that furrowed into her wings shot endorphins through her veins. For the first time all day, a smile crept across her mouth, cracking through the salt plastered to her cheeks. The primal instinct embraced her, and she dove, headlong into the oceans of terrain below. A pain shot out from her wing, from the impact of earlier in the day. She glided smoothly, pumping her wings gingerly to open up the sore muscles. Directly beneath her, the once glistening meadows by day now drifted like a sea of oil in the night; silver streaks reflected from the surface where the moonlight seeped through the gaps in the clouds and caught the leathery blades of grass. Rainbow Dash banked hard before plunging into the milky surface, catching a clean gust beneath her wings and glided over the fields. Where she wound between the slopes, the dark hills subsided against a glass lake. She caught eyes with herself and descended slowly into her reflection, until her hoof hissed across the icy water. The clouds erupted from behind her, forcing her focus back on the Wonderbolts competition. She sighed deeply, no longer feeling anger, yet something continued to nudge at her belly. Turning to the skies, she inspected the clouds with curiosity, they remained untouched after the day of stagnant weather. She eyed the familiar arches and tunnels; the course was, in fact, still entirely intact. Her wings naturally contoured over the plumes of a thermal updraft. Garnering height rapidly, she arched around the tremendous body of a cumulonimbus. She surfaced through a narrow gap and hovered, gazing down at the plump pewter ruffles of a thousand clouds; she was at the start. The memories returned. Three!... Two!... One!... She thundered her wings, sending her into the first opening which quickly siphoned into a narrow tunnel. The delicate light of moon had difficulty penetrating through the thick depths of cloud, and total darkness grasped her into the abyss. Even the ensuing blindness couldn't restrain her; the reminiscence of the course was engrained into her head. Dip right... Hard bank left... She flowed through the tunnels with pristine ease, suddenly diving hard into the emerging starlight. The packs of cloud became much looser, blotting the course in a thick obstacle she interlaced herself within. Her eyes stared fixedly at the immense column at the end of the pack; rounding the corner, there was the final ring. She tore to the finish, wincing her eyes shut. The limp feathers slid over the bar... The hoop passed with a swish of air. She slowed to a hover, opening her eyes to what she barely could comprehend. She batted her wings steadily a few more times, focusing the every motion; the race was finished, without so much a hint of fatigue. She blushed ferociously, turning her back in wake of the obstacle course as she gazed out to the glimmering horizon. Her eyes drifted to the pressing silhouette of Cloudsdale, miles away, and her eyes became muddled over. "You see that!... " She screamed into the night that stared so solemnly back at her. "You bucking see that Wonderbolts!... Huh?!" Rage blinded her as she plummeted from the skies, fervently shredding the wisps of precipitation. She found a cluster of clouds and graced low to the surface. She stomped into the billows with the inherent gift of the pegasi, turning the white plumes to black. They shrieked at the earth below, cracking arches of lightning, igniting the somber fields of grey in bursts of flame; while simultaneously drenching the fires in the torrential downpour. She leaped the gap across the many growing thunderheads, darkening their hearts. The many weeks of clear skies would have to be postponed for the next decade. Her legs drew weary from the late hours of night, and she slowed, trotting to the edge of the storm-front. She sank to her knees, burying her body in the soft, sinister darkness, and screamed. A voice was carried faintly over the howling winds. Rainbow Dash lifted her head from the pooling necropolis; somepony was yelling, no, screaming -- and it wasn't her. "Rai-- Dash!" The holler came muffled over the rolling borders of cloud. Rainbow Dash pulled herself to the edge and peered over; she hadn't realized she had founded the tempest over the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Several trees stood charred and crippled, rocking viciously. Applejack stood between them, hundreds of feet below, bracing herself against the unrelenting gales; her hat was nowhere to be found. "Rainbow Dash what're y'all doin'!" She frantically wailed, "Stop this!" The voice of the cyan mare came cracked and broken from above, "My life is over!" "Rainbow Dash come down here!... We need ta talk!" Applejack pleaded desperately as another gust threatened to carry her away, sweeping her violently across the dirt, "Please!" Rainbow Dash shuddered heavily in a sigh before climbing the sloping edge, and dropped gracelessly to the ground below. Without her touch, in the few seconds of her absence, the clouds seemed to shiver in response, dimming slightly in their ferocity. Yet the storm surged on. She touched down close to Applejack, avoiding her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, it's alright- " "No! No it's not!" She shook her head violently, wincing her eyes shut and leaning back. "That was my last chance -- my last chance!... I have nothing now." She sank in her last words, stifling a whisper between the sobs. She clung to the silence that followed. Please... say you want me Applejack tried to catch her longing eyes with Rainbow Dash as she spoke, soothingly, "Y'all don't need 'em, Dash." "Yeah, then what do I have now?!" She retaliated, distancing herself within the wall she was building around her heart. You have me, Rainbow Dash... "Well... " Applejack stuttered for words to say, "Your friends are always here for ya." Rainbow Dash sniffed hard, never giving in. "I know." Her words came with a tinge of bitter at such an obvious answer. I want you to be there for me The long silence tore at their hearts; the storm was slowly subsiding into a mellow flurry through the trees. The dirt was practically becoming famous. Applejack finally looked up, "Hey, Dash?" She ran a hoof across her eyes, "Yeah?" "Y-y'all can stay in the barn, if ya want... " Rainbow Dash's heart lurched from her chest as she longed to hear those words; yet the wall rose ever higher, and then she killed herself. "Thanks Applejack. I think... I think I'll be fine." She threw on a feeble smile that was more than forced as the unrelenting guilt ripped holes through her stomach. Applejack sank, defeated. "Oh... Alrighty then." They embraced each other awkwardly, hugging tightly, yet masking the true feelings that picked away at their conscious. Applejack longingly watched the cyan mare slip from her hooves and slowly turn to unfurl her wings. Her lips tremored; she gave one last effort. "I'll leave it unlocked, in case ya change your mind... " Dash stopped, returning the gaze longingly for a moment. Her mouth hung open, yet whispered only silence. She turned sharply and took to the skies, forcing herself to break from the moment they shared. A single tear shed its way down her cheek. The wall withheld, and a single thought remained. Why can't I... ? ____________________ Applejack tried to force herself to sleep for hours; yet she found herself outside, staring into the unmasked ocean of stars above, not a cloud in sight. Anxiety nipped at her as she ran a hoof down the crimson stain of the barn door, praying for what may lay beyond. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes. The vibrant colors of a mane surged through her head and she gingerly pressed the door open, shedding the faint light onto the musty dirt floor of the barn. She slowly opened her eyes, peering through the dusty expanse at what she anticipated. The lowly mounds of several hay stacks sluggishly came to focus; there were the wooden pillars, the empty troughs, and the lonesomeness she halfheartedly knew was already awaiting her. Shed breathed out in a sigh as her eyes sank to the floor. She slowly backed out into the night once more, creaking the door shut in a hollow thud. ____________________ Rainbow Dash lifted her head from the hay; she had been drifting into sleep. She rolled to her stomach, straw clinging to her mane, as she craned her neck to peer down from the rafters. A yawn erupted from her mouth, and she blinked away more of the darkness to gaze yearningly into the shadows below. She held her breath in the hours that seemed to pass in a lowly chorus of chirping from the summer symphony outside. She thought she had woken from the closing of the barn door. "Applejack?" She whispered. Yet the barn lay barren; a graven wind shuddered its way through the decaying edifice. She shifted to her back once more shaking, as a deep breath filled her lungs in a sigh, wrapping herself within her wings. It was only the wind