• Published 4th Dec 2013
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Appledashery - Just Essay



Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.

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Talking Everfree Syndrome

"So tell me, my fellow pony Rainbow, your friends know not what afflicts you so?"

"Hmm? Oh, you mean the whole atrophy thing? Uh... well, Fluttershy does, like I mentioned before."

"You and her are close, I see. Like winged pony family."

"It's a lot more complicated than that, Zecora. But, yeah, I owe Fluttershy so much. She may be a super wuss in the pegasus department, but she certainly knows how to carry my weight around... so to speak. Heh. Strong girl is strong. I'm a bit scared that I don't tell her enough..."

"Curious—What wisdom does she have to impart on the risk of your paralyzed body and heart?"

"Eh... I guess she doesn't dwell much on it. Most likely because I don't. I mean, I suppose there're some facts that I... er... h-haven't completely one hundred percent divulged."

"Oh?"

"Like, she knows what sort of a number the disease did on my dad, but she's been led to believe—kind of like I have—that I'm somehow a golden exception to the rule. I guess we both secretly hoped that my super awesome wingpower is a sign of... like... some celestially granted immunity or some crap."

"I had assumed that it was no surprise; your wingpower is simply a result of constant exercise."

"True that. Fluttershy's the first pony to tell you that she's seen me training night and day during our foalhood. Even when I hung out with her, I was always flying, especially when she was too weak to. Heh... there were times when I would just spin circles around Fluttershy until she'd squeak like a mouse and threw up. Come to think of it... I'm not sure why I ever once found that funny. Heh... foalhood, am I right? I think it was her voice. Every time she vomited, it sounded like gravel being channeled down a garden house. Wait... uhm... what were we talking about again?"

"You are always aloft in the wind, especially when around a friend."

"Oh. Yeah. That. I guess that's a habit I just couldn't shake. I totally mean it: I'm super comfortable when I'm hovering. I almost enjoy flying more than I do sleeping. I kid you not. I'd nap in mid-air on my way to school. It was funny until the one day I woke up with my body lodged neck-deep into a chunk of Cloudsdalian Cloudstone."

"Uh huh..."

"But, like, with my friends here? In Ponyville? My super awesome super cool super rad new best friends? It's... just something they've gotten used to just as much as me. Like—no joke—if I'm standing around the likes of Rarity or Twilight on my own four hooves for too long, they start to freak out and ask if I'm ill or something."

"So they think that something is off if you are not constantly aloft?"

"Hey, we all gotta have a trademark, don't we? Mine is never touching the ground. I was doin' that hovering biz well before... y'know... the atrophy started hitting home runs up and down my spinal column. Now I do it to... t-to blend in, I guess. My friends are nonethewiser. I guess it's dirty cruel to lie to them in that way. But I'd rather be a total poser in this case than an utter lame-o... if... if that makes any sense."

"Heheheh... I fear for when your feathers give slack, and suddenly your friends find you fallen on your back."

"Oh, I've prepared for something like that in a thousand million ways. 'Whoops! You did it again, Rarity! Your shiny frills have thrown me off balance!' Or 'Darn it, Pinkie! Stop bouncing so close! You're like a friggin' cyclone!' ... Yeesh, now that I think about it, it's almost like I'd be blaming them for something that wasn't their fault. That ain't cool."

"You are evidently concerned of losing the image that you've earned.'"

"I... guess...?"

"Just an observation on my part, nothing to take seriously to heart."

"Well, it's more than just my image, Zecora. My friends...? They're a swell bunch of ponies, but they're also... well.. th-they're mostly ont he 'weak' side. I swear, a day doesn't go by when I'm not freaking out over what kind of stupid thing might march out of Everfree and rip them to shreds. Uhm... no offense to you or any of your Everfree neighbors, of c-course."

"Indeed..."

"Twilight's super smart, but not street smart. You can smell the Royal Palace hallways in the conditioner she uses. I'm scared she's going to bite off waaaaaay more than she can chew one of these days. And then there's Pinkie Pie. Girl's super cray-cray, but in an awesome way. Still, it doesn't change the fact that she's pretty much an oversized filly at heart, and that's a sugary recipe for disaster if there ever was one. Rarity and Fluttershy kind of fit in the same category of 'oh my friggin' gosh I'd better have a backup plan in mind for diving a million miles per hour and sweeping them out of the way of any number of stupid explodey dangers.'"

"Your anxiety's alarming, and yet your loyalty is charming."

"Eh... it balances out, I guess. I don't fret about my friends all of the time... and yet I do. I'm totally not blowing the situation out of proportion. The truth is I do have to come to their rescue a lot of the time. They've come to expect it like gravity. The world's a freaky, scary place—and even freakier and scarier to the few ponies in Equestria who are carrying the Elements of Harmony in their... erm... bosoms. Goddess, I hate that word. I don't know why Rarity says it all the time."

"What of the fifth of your friends? Upon you she also depends?"

"Hmmm?"

"You've spoken in great length about four. I presumed there was one mare more?"

"On mare more... oh... ohhhhhhhh yeah. Hmmmm...hehe... yeah... one mare more, Zecora, one mare more..."

"... ... ... ...?"

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