Appledashery

by Just Essay

The Gamut

"Uhhhhhh..." Twilight Sparkle turned around, blinking. "Say what?"

"You heard me," Rainbow Dash muttered. She paced back and forth across the air of the library, flapping her wings. "What does it take for me to be a better friend?"

"Since when were you a less-than-average friend, Rainbow?"

"Twilight..." Rainbow sighed, then smiled weakly. "That's flattering and all, but let's be real here."

"I'd say this is as real as real gets," Twilight said. "Unless of course we were dreaming. But if that was the case... heheh..." She pointed at a book lying open right in front of her. "How could I read the text on these pages here?"

"Would a real friend be a perfect stranger to her companions?"

"Hmmmm..."

"Like... all the time?"

"I wouldn't call you a perfect stranger," Twilight said. "After all, you're a busy mare these days. And you still show up... especially when you have stuff to contribute." A giggle. "Like a loyal mare would."

"Would you give me an example?"

"Trixie will!" Trixie trotted through the library, levitating a stack of books. "Rainbow helped Trixie trot straight in a brand new life!"

Rainbow face-hoofed. "Look, besides that—"

"What can be more friendly than saving Trixie?"

---

Rainbow growled, "It's not all about doing epic stuff!" She gulped. "What about the little stuff?"

"Ooh! You mean like jellybeans?" Pinkie Pie cooed from where she shoved a sheet of pies into Sugarcube Corner's oven. "'Cuz that stuff is little! And oh so scrumptious! Mmmm-mmm!" She glanced across the kitchen, smiling wide. "Sorta like you, Dashie!"

"Uhm... ew?" Rainbow made a face.

"Heeheehee... silly pegasus." Pinkie hopped across the kitchen to where more baking supplies rested. "It was a figure of speech!"

"And... uh... yeah!" Rainbow pointed. "That's exactly it! If I was around more, then I wouldn't have reacted so... lamely to a figure of speech!" She gulped. "Don't you get it, Pinkie? I'm getting rusty. I'm a stick in the mud."

"Would that be a cinnamon stick?"

"Uhh..."

"And chocolate mud?"

"Pinkie, I'm being serious here!"

She giggle-snorted. "Of course you are! You're like Maudie!"

"... ... ...I'm like your sister?"

"Yeah! She and I have barely seen each other over the last six months, but I still know she loves me like supersnugglycuddlybumpshard! She writes me things and we've hugged once or twice when we've crossed paths!"

"What's your point?"

"Duhhhhhh!" Pinkie rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be around all the time to prove how awesome you are!" She hopped back to the oven. "After all, you were almost a complete no-show at the Apple Family Farm when Apple Bloom was close to biting the proverbial caramel apple of doom—and yet you were there for what was important!"

"Erm..."

"Fetching Noir and Zecora to stop the poison from killing her, of course!" Pinkie turned to wink. "See? That is the Dashie that I know! Being there at the right time!"

"Yeah, b-but..." Rainbow gulped. "What about being there all the time?"

---

"Well, Rainbow, let's be honest here," Rarity said, sewing the hem of a ballgown in the corner of the Boutique. "Time is a very precious resource. We all do what we can to get by. Why should you be any exception?"

"I... could be using my time wiser," Rainbow Dash murmured from where she sat pensively on a stool.

"So could we all. But Rainbow, I understand that you've been a busy mare as of late, desperate to earn your bits. Believe me... I can relate."

Rainbow looked up, blinking. "Huh?"

"You think that being something of a stranger equates to being a bad friend?" Rarity slowly shook her head. "If that's the case, then I suppose you can count me as the absolute worst."

"Rarity..." Rainbow pouted. "How could you friggin' say that?"

"Quite easily, darling," Rarity said, calmly adjusting her bifocals as she worked harder on the gown. "You and I both know how overloaded I can get with my work. Sometimes... I barely even see daylight—much less a familiar face for a stretch!"

"You've been hanging out with the other girls all these past few months!"

"Mmmmm—true. But only as much as I can afford to."

"You were even there the whole time with Applejack and—"

Rarity lowered her bifocals and glanced over. "Is that what this is all about?"

"Uhhhh..."

"Rainbow, please, do kindly forgive me if I came across as too judgmental the other day." Rarity sighed through a tired smile. "I've had some time to think about it, and I do believe I've come to a rather simple conclusion."

"Which is?"

"Why, you're simply an introvert, darling."

Rainbow nearly reeled from that. "I'm... what?"

"You heard me." Rarity slipped her glasses on and resumed tailoring. "I mean, I had you penned differently at first. But that's only because you had built yourself up... a certain degree of epic notoriety across town. Everyone always praised you and your awesome flying skills. But I could only judge the book by its cover for the longest time. After all, we didn't truly hang out until Twilight came to town and united us all under such a splendid harmonic banner. And when it comes to adventures and saving ponies from certain doom—you're the best there ever could be, Rainbow Dash!"

"But... but Rarity..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "I'm supposed to be loyalty."

"And since when has loyalty had to be executed completely and utterly socially?"

Rainbow bit her lip.

"Is it not clear to you, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked. "For it's quite clear to me. And... and I've come to accept it." She looked at her. "You have something of a shell built around yourself. I have one too. It's how I protect the integrity of my work. I am an artist, after all. And you? You're an athlete. You have your own priorities as well. But when it comes to protecting your friends—to saving them... my oh my if you aren't the very definition of punctual and spectacular."

"I... I don't want to just save my friends, Rares," Rainbow murmured. She gulped. "I want to be with them too."

"Well... heehee... I think you're making a good first step today."

"What, in asking you a bunch of silly questions?"

"They're far from silly, darling." Rarity winked. "They're endearing... because they show that you're sincere in words as much as in action."

Comments

[Lone Gazebo]

Aww, I'm glad that none of them blame rainbow. I'm disappointed they haven't all figured it out like Zecora and Noir have. Or at least mentioned it.

[Tchernobog]

This needs to be punctuated with a visit to Applejack. Asking the same questions... and getting a great answer.

[Lightning Bearer]

Not to rain on the warm and fuzzy vibes this chapter, but I can think of one thing Rainbow could do to be a better friend: She could be a little more open with them. I mean, we're all entitled to some privacy, of course, but it feels like there are whole volumes (literally, in this case) of Rainbow's life that she's essentially hiding from her friends. Experiences, feelings, hopes, etc. And this secrecy--or perhaps, the isolation that goes along with it--has clearly been behind much of Rainbow's unhappiness. Perhaps if she didn't keep the others at arm's length, and trusted them enough to share herself with them, rather than a carefully choreographed sliver of herself, then she wouldn't have to go it all alone. And I don't just mean confessing her feelings for Applejack (though, I still think Applejack would appreciate the truth more than being sheltered from it).

But then, this is Rainbow Dash, so probably not. Not for however-many hundreds of thousands of words, at least.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

"After all, you were almost a complete no-show at the Apple Family Farm when Apple Bloom was close to biting the proverbial caramel apple of doom—and yet you were there for what was important!"

Why am I getting the feeling they (and Pinkie in particular) all know more about her adventures than they are letting on?

[Phoenix Kitten]

Running the whole gamut from Kindness to Generosity.
Except it's not the whole gamut until she asks AJ...

[Khao]

6671905

Agreed. The thing I'm surprised of the most is that she still decides to hide her illness from her friends. From the general public? Yeah, I can totally understand, if I had a similar condition, I don't think I'd let every person I meet know about it. But from her friends? The people she's the closest to? Why? What's she hiding from? What could possibly happen if they knew that she could be ever be afraid of?

They'd be nothing but supportive, and I doubt they'd treat her any differently, or even see her in a different light. And I'm sure Rainbow Dash knows that too.

All the chaos stuff, there's no much reason to hide that either. If anything, they deserve to know considering that they technically were put in danger not too long ago. I'm sure they'd all be willing to help. Heck, she could at least hide Lancie from them and the fact that she kept using the chaos rock things and tell them what you've actually been doing and all the help you've been. And holy fuck tell them about the freaking flower like what the fuck.

The only thing I agree with keeping as a secret is her love for Applejack. If she's not ready to tell her, I think there's no real reason to let any of her other friends know.

You know, even though both stories have massive differences in tone scope and ILUAGfpIUWEQGF-ness, all of this has a ton of parallels to the last arc of Austraeoh. I hope that like it happened in there, all of this is leading to her finally freaking opening up about some of this stuff. Want to be a better friend? Don't just get closer. Allow them to get close too.

[viofriedsevey]

Well, I really fucking hope Applejack is the next stop.

[Phoenix Kitten]

6672290 I think Dash is scared that they would start treating her differently.
That they'd be going out of their way to make sure she doesn't stress her body too much, treating her like she's made of glass.
She's scared they'd pity her.
And that's one thing she could never stand for.
If it ever does come to light, and it might, I can see her breaking down in the street screaming "Don't you dare pity me!"

Really though, it would be better that she told them herself, rather than risk her having a really bad sudden onset of it that hospitalizes her and them all finding out that way.
That's not just going to hurt her, it's going to make Shy look bad too, since she knows. Shy would get hit pretty hard with the "You knew? And you didn't tell us?"
While that would be a heat of the moment anger born from worry thing and apologies would be given, it'd just be something else to pile on to Dash's conscience.

[CommanderCuddle]

They're all being a bit too understanding, about her just disappearing when Apple bloom was about to die... Something is amiss here... very amiss indeed.

[Salad king]

Is it just me or is she starting to show stress building up in front of her friends, yes, yessssssss.... This is progress, now if only she can blow up in front of a certain apul horse and get cuddled.

[Leftover of Saikano]

I used to wonder what friendship could be...

6672810 You know, for a moment, my mind swapped the place of the fourth and fifth words of your post.

[BabySkittleMonster]

6673483
Mine did the exact same thing. And I was temporarily really hopeful.

[zaponator]

You know, the intro to this arc said it was going to be one of the lowest lows that Rainbow ever sunk to.
...still waiting for that other shoe to drop, and the longer it takes the worse it's gonna be, mark my words.

[LucyHorseThing]

"You were even there the whole time with Applejack and—"

Rarity lowered her bifocals and glanced over. "Is that what this is all about?"

*leans forward in seat*

"Uhhhh..."

"Rainbow, please, do kindly forgive me if I came across as too judgmental the other day." Rarity sighed through a tired smile. "I've had some time to think about it, and I do believe I've come to a rather simple conclusion."

*leans forward even more*

"Which is?"

"Why, you're simply an introvert, darling."

*falls off*

[Seraphimus]

There are people. Thise friebds that no matter what happens you know you can count on them. No matter how far away they live or how rarely you see them, when you get back together its like nothing has changed at all. Rainbow Dash is that friend.

[arancaytar]

"Would you give me an example?"

"Trixie will!" Trixie trotted through the library, levitating a stack of books. "Rainbow helped Trixie trot straight in a brand new life!"

Rainbow face-hoofed. "Look, besides that—"

"Look, besides helping AJ avoid bankruptcy, saving a bunch of petrified ponies from certain death, freeing a herd of enslaved deer, saving the life of a dying artist, giving Trixie a chance to turn around her life, saving Applejack's life, saving the life of her sister, giving Shimmy the push to reconcile with Celestia, averting a dragon invasion, and incidentally saving the future of all life in existence, what have I ever done for you?'

[arancaytar]

6672810

I misread this badly.

Well, I really hope fucking Applejack is the next step