//------------------------------// // Six Words // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// The stars had fallen by the time Rainbow Dash returned to her misty home in the skies above northeast Ponyville. She saw the hazy speck from a grand height, recognizing it like the back of her hoof. With her wings spread majestically about, she glided in a descending circle, floating towards the front stoop that hovered high over a babbling river. She landed… and instantly collapsed. “Ooof!” Her forelegs gave way and she tumbled head-over-shoulders into the front door, coming to an upside down stop like a flattened mosquito. “Nnnnngh… muh… goshdarnit!” Her legs shook, quivered, and shook again. Finally, with a frustrated growl, she flung her wings at full length, upending herself so that she parked on her belly in front of the main door. She lay there for a few seconds, groaning inwardly, praising her lucky stars that nopony could see her levitating stoop past sundown. At last, she got up--by flapping her wings. Her legs dangled for a few seconds. Then, with a sigh, she reached forward and opened the front door. Hovering through the lone corridors of her house, Rainbow lit a lantern or two, casting splotches of amber light on the grayish blue skystone that made up the architecture of the floating domain. Once enough lights were lit, she returned to the front door and checked the mat just below the mail slot. Three envelopes had been deposited during her day-long absence. She hovered low enough to scoop them up in her forelimbs, then shuffled through each missive, squinting at the labels. There was a bill, another bill, and then an envelope from Ponyville Central Hospital. It was the last thing that made her wince the most. Nervously, she tore the edge of the thing open with her teeth, pulled the letter out, and gave it a quick scan with her ruby eyes. A minute passed. Rainbow groaned quietly. Rolling her eyes, she floated into the kitchen and slapped the stack of letters limply on the corner of the table. The pegasus sat alone in her kitchen, seated at a sparsely decorated wooden table as she dug a fork through a wooden bowl filled with fruit-and-vegetable salad. She took large, scarfing bites, not bothering with manners. As the meal ran its course, she scraped the fork along the bottom of the bowl to scoop up the last of her leafy green morsels. As a result, the utensil gave off a clattering echo that bounced off the spacious walls of the place. She paused at one point, sitting still on her stool. Her ears flicked, catching nothing but dry silence, like the hushed whispers of clouds settling long after a storm. She glanced around the room, eyeing the shadows just beyond the dim lamplight’s reach. Evening enshrouded the floating house with the quiet grace of a sepulcher. Even her lonesome heartbeats resonated like cannons. With a sigh, Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders, threw off the chilling silence, and returned to her meal with meager enthusiasm. The rush of the running shower knifed through the silent house like a monsoon. Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash relaxed beneath it, lying like a cadaver beneath the steaming hot rush of water. She curled her forelimbs at her chest and allowed every droplet to saturate her fuzzy blue body and spectral mane. Rivers of deliciously warm liquid cascaded around her back, legs, flank, and tail. If she closed her eyes, it would feel like floating down a river of molten lava. So, she closed her eyes and instantly delighted in the notion. Her nostrils flared, delighting in the rush of warm air pumping in and out of her lungs. It was the first thing in over two hours that brought a smile to the pony’s muzzle. She sighed with brief contentment. With wet, swishing wings, Rainbow Dash hovered in a circular motion across her washroom. The whole time, she flailed with two hooves to run a towel through her mane, drying the multi-colored threads to a moderately decent state. She paused in the middle of this exercise, wincing. Lowering the towel from her damp skull, she stared at her forelimb, flexing the leg at the elbow repeatedly. She tongued the inside of her mouth, fighting back an exasperated expression. Rainbow was about to drift her way towards the next room when she paused at the mirror. She glanced at her reflection, and a dull pair of eyes looked back. She tilted her head left and right, keeping intensely silent. At last, she brought a hoof up and slicked her mane back. Keeping the forelimb there, she tilted her head at a specific angle until her ruby eyes twinkled in the dim light. She froze like that for a long while… until the wind was let out of her lungs with a sigh. Tossing the towel to the floor like a limp rag, she hovered limply towards the other end of the house. Rainbow Dash sat on the balcony to her home’s upstairs loft, staring down at the western Ponyville countryside. She took quiet breaths, her ears twitching to the distant sounds of crickets and owl hoots. A misty spread of clouds danced between her home and the horizon, giving the face of Equestria an ethereal shine beneath the combined glow of the moon and stars. Everything shimmered silver, like a photographic flash that refused to dim. The lights of houses and shops died out one by one, casting the roads and hillsides below into tranquil darkness. Rainbow could see the shape of every rooftop and steeple that she knew by heart, and her eyes danced between them as if she was guiding the daredevilish flight of a pegasus silhouette between their sleepy shells. A cold wind blew against Rainbow’s house, chilling her freshly-rinsed skin, still moist with shower water. She invited the sharp sensation, every cell of her body shivering with life. In the midst of the resulting spasm, her eyes drifted to the furthest point west, towards a lone cluster of lights hidden in the depths of countless apple orchids. She did not move a single inch until those lights went out too. Rainbow exhaled heavily. She leaned her muzzle limply over crossed forelimbs, gazing with long, longing eyes. Every thought that ran through her head now was a warm one, but none of them helped chase the shivers away. At last, another gust of cold night air blew Rainbow’s bangs over her eyes. Grumbling, she swept the strands away and stared down at the grayness of the world, suddenly as drab as cemetery stones. “Mmmph…” She got up on wobbly legs and turned her tail to the universe. “Nineteen percent…” And she crawled into her bedroom window like a slithering snake. Rainbow’s hoof drifted hesitantly towards the edge of her dresser. She opened the round container and stared lethargically within. Two pills hid at the bottom of the cylinder as they had that morning. She tilted the container towards an open hoof--but paused about halfway. Clenching her jaw shut, she muttered something under her breath and slapped the cap back on. Planting the container back onto the edge of the dresser with finality, she hovered high and blew out the last of her house’s lanterns. Floating through the shadows, she slid under the covers of her bed, set her alarm, and fluffed her pillow. Then, squirming herself into the deepest patch her mattress could afford, Rainbow Dash curled her body beneath a bunch of blankets, waiting with tiny shivers until her petite body warmed up the comforter enshrouding her like a soft cocoon. Only then did she close her eyes and invite the dark touch of slumber. As she did so, her lungs quivered, and a last breath vibrated out her throat, carrying with it six words that were murmured, heartfelt, to the emptiness. Once those words were finally spoken, Rainbow Dash finally surrendered, and her muzzle went limp with the faint traces of a smile.