Appledashery

by Just Essay

Miracledashery

The first thing Rainbow Dash noticed was how incredibly full the central lawn of Sweet Apple Acres was. The farmhouse was virtually surrounded with wagons, tents, and what looked to be a miniature stage for fundraising events during the daytime. If Rainbow didn't know any better, she'd guess that over half of Ponyville was parked directly outside the Apple Family Residence over the better part of the last week.

Nevertheless, she made a wind-whistling bee-line for the front porch.

There, she hovered before the door, cradling the iced lavenders in one forelimb and raising the other hoof to strike the doorframe.

At last, she lingered.

Her jaw muscles tightened and her ears twitched.

Beyond the flapping of her wings, Rainbow Dash could hear the shuffling of hoofsteps, the murmuring of melancholic voices, and a familiar... weeping breath or two.

A knot formed in the back of the pony's throat.

Slowly... with nervous wingstrokes... she strafed to the left, gliding past several windows. She peered in, seeing familiar faces... familiar coat colors... lavender... yellow... white... pink.

Then, with a shift of her feathers, she ascended.

The mare reached the upstairs bedroom windows. Gazing beyond one pane, she saw Apple Bloom lying quietly in bed. A golden-blonde head rested against the covers. Applejack was seated next to her, and the simple twitch of the sleeping mare's ears sent electric jolts surging through the pegasus' heart.

But Rainbow's eyes narrowed on the filly in particular. She gazed for several silent seconds. At last, she saw Apple Bloom's forelimbs stir, followed by a shifting of her face muscles.

Rainbow exhaled with relief. Then, flapping her wings more slowly, she descended until she was once again level with the first floor.

There, she found a window, and beyond it the pegasus spotted stripes... gray fur... and leafy ears.

Holding her breath, Rainbow drifted forward. One by one, she planted the potted specimens of once-extinct flowers along the windowsill. As soon as she made sure they were balanced, she drifted backwards.

Nopony inside was even looking her way.

Clenching her teeth, Rainbow flew forward, gripped the edge of the window, and savagely lifted with the full extent of her numb limbs.

"Grnnngh... grkkk!"

At last, she got the window to budge... and then raised it the rest of the way.

A cold breeze from the outside world whistled inward, filtering into the air of the bottom floor.

Within a blink, Rainbow soared up, darting out of sight of those downstairs.

She rested against the ceiling, holding her breath, feeling the pounding of her heart.

At first, she sensed nothing.

But then...

Hoofsteps. Quiet as a shadow's—but still there. Rainbow peered down just far enough to see a fanged muzzle peering out, then leaning back in. A pair of dark hooves gripped the window, preparing to close it shut once more.

However... the stallion froze, and Rainbow heard a deep... deep gasp emanate from his lungs.

"By the Goddess," Noir exhaled. He picked one of the potted flowers up. Rainbow had never seen the sarosian tremble before, but right now he was struggling to even hold the specimen upright. "Zecora... Miss Zecora! Come here! Right away!"

Exhausted hoofsteps dragged across the floorboards.

"Just what is it, my midnight friend?" A tired yawn. "On a good night's rest, our expertise depends."

"Feast your eyes, my dear..."

"... ... ...black shadows of November!" The zebra's familiar voice stammered. "Is... is this iced lavender?!"

"Ice lavender?" Galloping hoofsteps. "Let Trixie see!" The mother of all gasps. "Sparkle! Sparkle, come look! Do Trixie's eyes deceive her?!"

"Omigosh! Omigosh! How did that even get here?!"

"To answer that, I cannot guess! By utter circumstance, we are blessed!"

"It matches everything the Lunar Code has ever documented in our archives."

"I agree, Mr. Noir. These are... without a doubt... real specimens of Iced Lavender!"

"Then what is everypony waiting for?! Trixie will go fetch the mortar and pestle!"

"Shhhh! Be careful about it! This is the first documented finding of Iced Lavender in... in f-forever! We have to do this right or we won't make a proper formula for Apple Bloom!"

"Just how did they even get here?!"

"Did... did somepony—"

"We've wasted enough time! Wake the Apple Family! Tell them we're working on an antidote right now! Oh, blessed Celestia! It's a miracle! As sure as I'm born..."

Rainbow Dash held a pair of hooves over her muzzle. With flapping wings, she ascended high above the farm house...

...and began pacing in midair.

Comments

[RoboRed]

*collective sigh of relief*?

[Chewierulz]

My god, you just can't let things be easy, can you Dash?

Is she just going to wait a while before returning and let everyone think it was a miracle? Because if so, surely they'll all put two and two together this time. They can't NOT realise it was Dash.

[Phoenix Kitten]

well Dash...
The only pony who's going to know is gonna be Scoots.
Though AJ is smart, Dash said she had a delivery to make before she took off, so, put 2 and 2 together....

...was it worth it?
Heh...what a stupid question.. of course it was.

Quest... complete.
Exp: 0
Bits: 0
Special rewards: ...nothing?

[Mares-a-Mares]

Poor Dashie, but a large amount of it she brings upon herself, silly mare.

[MidnightReflection]

Not to be pessimistic, but... did Rainbow ask for time off from her job for this?

Try to imagine how you'd pace in midair.

[Gammahoof]

Wow, its going to be even more awkward when Dash has to explain where she's been now that she can't just say she was finding the plants.

[Lightning Bearer]

Goddammit, Rainbow.

Also, I wonder if anyone found the letter.

[viofriedsevey]

Goddamn it, atleast Applejack found the letter.

[Phoenix Kitten]

6591941 Has she asked for time off from her job at any point before embarking on her adventures?
I think her boss, whose name I've forgotten, just knows, he got her involved with shady dealings, she's gonna be spending a lot of time away from work.

[Leftover of Saikano]

Ah, Rainbow. If you weren't ill I would punch you. Is it so hard to take some credit?

[zaponator]

Even after all that you never change...

[Hestia]

Dash's selflessness is why I admire her. It's also why sometimes I want to smack her upside the head.

Phew. The last part of this arc has been beyond suspenseful.

[Jern]

OH COME ON!

And we're right back to square one. Rainbow, you're awesome and all, but I want to strangle you half of the time!

[Bulbajer]

Goddamn this mare, she drives me to drink.

[Sileadh]

It's...to be expected, I suppose. Rainbow 'selfless' Dash strikes again. Righting wrongs, braving horrors from Beyond The Wall. I think that both Zecora and Noir will suspect the origin of the miracle, at least when they've time to think about it. It would help if they noticed Dash's absence, but that's no guarantee, what with how busy and exhausted they must have been simply trying to deal with the situation.

When thinking about how the wind is going to blow next, two eventualities spring to mind. Firstly, with the death or removal of pretty much every remaining villain to date (with the exception of Sunset and the Flim Flam Bros, whereby the only information we have about them is the lack of information we have), we have a void for antagonists. Granted Dash can be her own worst enemy at times, but at the moment she has a distinct lack of individuals (in the know) with whom she can bounce off.

Potential players to come may be the other Sarosians chasing up on leads. Just because Noir is content to ally with Dash doesn't mean they all are. The return of Sunset of course. As far as I know she didn't really redeem herself as such, as much as she was given the chance to not be left in a murder hole. Sure the option was given by Dash and one would assume this would grant some special dispensation in the future, but there are no guarantees. Others might include the people she's saved over the course of her adventures catching up to her.

Secondly, the next arc is, I believe, going to be about Dash chasing after Discord. Dash is nothing if not loyal to her friends and at this point I think she considers Discord one, regardless of what he's said and done. I think she's going to chase him down and in her own way, bring him back.

This arc was brilliant, if tiring. So much going on, so many plots flowering about the place. It almost feels like an end and yet I can't help but feel that it is simply the end of this portion of the story. The shard search is over, now its time for the story to become something else.

Also, I just realised that there were so many opportunities for Inuyasha comparisons and I've missed them all!

[TwilightUCrazy]

Fuck.

[Seraphimus]

BITCH. Fucking GOD DAMMIT DASH, Just ONCE FFS

[arancaytar]

The mare reached the upstairs bedroom windows. Gazing beyond one pane, she saw Apple Bloom lying quietly in bed. A golden-blonde head rested against the covers. Applejack was seated next to her, and the simple twitch of the sleeping mare's ears sent electric jolts surging through the pegasus' heart.

Wait, weren't they supposed to take her to New Saros for suspended animation?

DAMMIT DASHIE

JUST LET NICE THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU

AT LEAST ONCE

(Still, I have the faint hope that at least one pony might be able to connect RD's mysterious disappearance with it.)

At least there's ONE more saving throw fate has up its sleeve.

The letter.

[bronyheat]

Dashie... You... Sigh...