Appledashery

by Just Essay

When the Bombs Fell

"All my life, if there's one thang I've wanted to avoid bein'... it's selfish."

"Selfish... Applejack?"

"Mmmmm. Is that so hard to believe? After all, I have a lot on my shoulders. Ain't no sense in complainin' about it, so I don't. Not that I want to. Just a statement of fact that... that runnin' a farm and lookin' after the family ain't no easy task. I've always stuck to it with no difficulty. Still, a part of me has always been plum scared that I might... I dunno... fall away from the work at hoof and just go my own way."

"Pffft. That's totally not like you."

"I know. But that's the thang about fears. They're not so sensible, now are they? Ya see, Ma and Pa didn't have no choice when they left the family. Fate and circumstance took 'em without their say."

"Right..."

"It would have been so easy... so very easy to have just given up on the farm from the get-go and set out on my own life. And y'know what? I almost did just that! When I was a wee little filly!"

"Are... are you talking about when you were a kid and you went off to Manehattan to be with your Aunt and Uncle?"

"Right on."

"Applejack. Like... you were just a foal. You had your whole life ahead of you! Who knows what decision you would have made?"

"Well, I almost made the wrong one. The easy one. The... selfish one."

"Are you saying that all this time you've secretly wanted to ditch the farm and be a city mare?"

"Eh... not quite. But it's always stuck with me, y'know? That I so very easily could have given up on what's turned out to be a darn challengin'... mite stressful life."

"You don't strike me as if you have regrets."

"Darn tootin'! And... y'know... I've stuck to it! The apple buckin'. The corn shuckin'. The fruit vendorin' in downtown Ponyville..."

"You love your family, AJ."

"Without a doubt. And nothing's ever challenged that! And... and for the longest time, I never thought anythang would."

"... ... ...has that changed?"

"I... I'm not sure. I mean... I ain't no lazy mare."

"Of course not..."

"And I still lurve my family somethin' fierce. But... but I guess things started to get a bit strange when Twilight showed up."

"Strange?"

"Mmmm..."

"Strange in what way, AJ?"

"Like... I've always had friends and acquaintances, y'know? But never before have I had close friends like I've had with y'all. It's just... just so plum amazin'. It's like my whole life opened up a new chapter and the sunlight was shinin' across each paragraph all golden and glorious. Erhm... sorry for gettin' silly and metaphoric. Wish I could make it all clearer."

"Hehe... works for me..."

"And for the first time in my life... I-I felt as though I could have leisure time... leisure time I deserved. Y'all are... just so dang fun to be with."

"You're as strong and dependable as it gets, AJ. Nopony's gonna doubt your convictions."

"Reckon not. And I've managed to keep my loyalties intact between both my friends and my family. You haven't seen me shirkin' no responsibilities. That's for sure."

"Totally."

"In fact, I felt as though I had everythang in the bag. Which is why—I guess—when I see ponies... p-ponies like you startin' to show up less and less to get togethers... I... I unfairly judge ya for bein'... for bein' less strong than myself. And... oh gosh... that just ain't right, Rainbow. That ain't right at all."

"I... guess I can understand where you may have been coming from."

"I-I used to think the same about Rarity! I mean... you know the mare. Always fussin' with her dresses and mane. Dotin' on the stallions. So focused on her work and career. For a long time there, I thought purdy lowly of her. Took a lot of time and experience to rightly humble me."

"Heh... I feel you."

"But t'ain't no excuse for... for the things I said back there at the campfire. Mmmmff... it just sorta came out of me."

"At least it was honest."

"Was it, though? I dunno. I don't feel like I believe it, but I can't change the fact that I said it. And... and that I'm awful sorry."

"I forgive you, AJ."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Huh? You were afraid that I'd forgive you?"

"Yer loyal as can be, Rainbow. Sometimes... sometimes I think you'd forgive a steamroller for crushin' ya to death."

"... ... ..."

"...reckon that dun make much sense."

"I'm still trying to figure it out. Heh."

"Heheheheh... phweeeee... and then of course there's Stu."

"Uhm... what about him?"

"I dun blame you for feelin' less than pleased with the stallion, Rainbow. After all, I've... I've let myself get distracted by him."

"In... what way?"

"Pffft. You know. That time we rode home from yer cyclone trainin' together. I practically ignored you the whole ride."

"Eh... whatever. You two were having fun."

"Were we? I mean... is that all we are? Just fun-lurvin' ponies?"

"What are you trying to get at, AJ?"

"... ... ..."

"Applejack?"

"Stu's a fantastic stallion. But... but bein' around him... well... it brings back them old fears."

"...those old fears of being selfish?"

"Right..."

"What's so bad about that?"

"Simply because... because I find myself thinkin' about him more than you and the other girls... than even my own family. And that scares me."

"It scares you that you've made such a good friend?"

"No, Rainbow. I... I'm afraid you dun get it."

"Get what?"

"It scares me that... awww shucks... th-that I just m-might be fallin' in lurve..."

Comments

[RoboRed]

WELP, THERE IT IS.

[Aatxe360]

6808392

'Tis a good thang...

[Lightning Bearer]

apps.sumerianalien.com/Gallery/upload/s/u/sumerianalien.com/21959/original/e80c36cfabdadae6b192b64bd407f1c9.jpg

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...KA-BOOM

[destinedjagold]

...Welp, all aboard the NOPE train!

[TheOddPerson]

6808449
I think that was the best description of this chapter.

[Khao]

Phew, false alarm. I've been worried for a while that Applejack might be falling in love with Stu. Thank god it's just lurve. Now Rainbow has nothing to worry about.

[Phoenix Kitten]

6808392 Took the words right out of my mouth.

Well.. guess there's those depths that Scoots mentioned.

So about the cuddles mentioned at the start of the story...
It was never said that they were intimate cuddles, they might just be friendly cuddles from Dash accepting that AJ has found a pony she wants to be with, and moving on to find a new love herself, like Zecora did.

[CommanderCuddle]

Hey look at that, it all came crashing and burning down sooner than i thought it would.

[CommanderCuddle]

6808473 I'm pretty sure at this point it's going to be dash dying after stopping some new villain from killing everyone and Applejack cuddles her as the light slowly leaves Dash's eyes, and then we all cry and bigne read the entire story again

[Sheendough]

We all knew this was coming. Now Rainbow either will try to talk shit and convice her to ditch Stu (or something along those lines) or she will tell AJ to follow her heart or something and tell her to keep him while hurting herself in the process (which is the most likely thing).

6808495

Or Dash's sickness will get to her and AJ is going to need to go to the end of the world to save her (remember that Scootaloo said that she kept talking to Dash to know the story). After all, we need closure with the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters we have... Could it be that there's a picture of AJ's parents beneath her hat?

[FloydienSlip]

Well, fuck.

[CommanderCuddle]

6808534 Oh yeah, i keep forgetting scoots is the story teller, eh i still predict Dash dying again at some point, probably dying from both her illness and watching Aj get with Stu as you said

[viofriedsevey]

Ahahahaha Skirts you fucker.

[Phoenix Kitten]

side note

Where were you...

When the Bombs Fell

"It scares me that... awww shucks... th-that I just m-might be fallin' in lurve..."

And then Rainbow Dash fainted on the spot, complete with goat noise.

[BronyInHiding]

Damn this hits home, as someone who's watched a person they loved fall for another one of their friends. Pretending you're happy for them and that you're okay with it requires oscar level acting. Took a couple months to really accept it and move on.

Really feel for Rainbow here..

[TheOddPerson]

The best we can hope for is for rainbow dash to start bawling her eyes out. For Appledashery's RD that would be in character, and I would imagine she would be feeling pretty hopeless right now.

6808545 Scootaloo mentions from time to time how rainbow dash currently is. It's hard to assume she's dead.

[Typoglyphic]

I approve of this development. I hope there are more where that came from.

[CommanderCuddle]

6808755
eh she died before, she can die again

[Autumn Rush]

I...I feel really depressed for Rainbow right now.

[PropMaster]

Ouch. I love it, because that means there's even more intra personal struggles that are gonna go down. That said, poor Dash. I've been in her place, and it sucks.

[Salad king]

CRAP

[viofriedsevey]

6808449 Dr. Dash or How I learned to stop expecting Appledashery and love depression.

[Tchernobog]

spirit-of-metal.com/les%20goupes/M/Murder%20Death%20Kill/pics/logo.jpg

[Leftover of Saikano]

Maybe it's love. Maybe it's Maybelline.
6808899 I was about to reference that same title.

[Jern]

"It scares me that... awww shucks... th-that I just m-might be fallin' in lurve with you Rainbow..."

Jus' gonna pretend that's what you intended to write there JE...

Yep, no applestuery here!

[Shipmun]

Mayday mayday! The ship's going down! Abandon ship-

The heck am I saying? I ain't givin' up after 850,000 words. It's just a crack in our ship's hull, we can get through this...

[Salad king]

Ok so skirts gave us some great stuff in the last few chapters then he gave us this! TO BE HONEST I DONT KNOW WHY IM SURPRISED.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

6808470 Did we just read the same ending to this chapter?

'Cause I think I might have read what AJ said about that differently than you did.

Poor Rainbow.........

[viofriedsevey]

Fuck this shits depressing, theres really no way around it either, Applejack may not of specifically said "in love with Stu" but she said she thinks of him more than her own family. Unless Applejack was lying, which I feel is a tad unlikely, she truly does not see Dash as anything more than a friend. She wouldnt of told her she loves someone else unless that were true. I just can't get this image out of my head of dash trembling and breaking down into tears then running away. Atleast if thats what she did everyone would know something is really wrong.

[zaponator]

Good thing we all value Applejack's happiness and would never want to cause her any pain or sadness by destroying something she cares about!
...right?

[BabySkittleMonster]

6809959
Uh... Hehehe... ..... Right...

*rips up plans of massacre*

[Hestia]

Nope. Nope. Nope. I did not just read that.

I refuse to accept it!!!

[Fishberry]

I don't have any tables left to flip. I flipped them all earlier.

I should have set a few aside...

[LucyHorseThing]

HOLY SHIZ ON A STICK.
I NEED MY SHOTGUN.

[Macky]

encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRF5UR1ewGt422aJPIJBgIzh9-miUuQgZBaAZ19uuKgwoK9EW4Fdw

:O

[Dash32]

SHIT!!! RAINBOW!!! GET THE BUCK OUT!!! NOW!!! ASAP!!!

[DrEggnog]

I thought I already knew this, but then Applejack went and talked about finding him annoying half the time, and I started thinking I was wrong, and then KA-BOOM!

And the thing is, I see no reason why Stu and AJ shouldn't be together. I may not like Stu much, but it's impossible to with Dash as the protagonist of the story. Just... man. What a love triangle.

[DrEggnog]

6808446
6808392
Just like to say that you guys here in the Appledashery comments always have the best images and gifs and reactions. I've had some real laughs.

[Weehawk]

Thanks for the heads up in the comments. I'm actually at the spindle chapter area and thought I should see if I could find some spoilers to know if I'm wasting my time or not. That being said I'm dropping this story now, like I haven't gotten past that wind wall yet and I really don't plan to pick this up again unless some day a spoiler gives me a reason to.

But honestly thanks, I can move off this damn story wasting many more hours of my time.

[kluck]

Perfect

[arancaytar]

"Are... are you talking about when you were a kid and you went off to Manehattan to be with your Aunt and Uncle?"

The fresh cider princess of Manehattan.

(Sorry)

I like how this chapter is going; AJ is opening up to RD; RD is opening up to AJ, any moment now they'll confess their fee-------- OH FOR FUCKS SAKE SKIRTS

[appledasher2104]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

FUCK!

[bronyheat]

Oh sweet Celestia...
Rainbow's soul right about now:
media1.tenor.com/images/be1e4f6a00f39ac32dd8256ea1f293a1/tenor.gif?itemid=16768902

[DIRKWITHAGUN]

the world has gone up in flames. everything has been destroyed and it's that fuckin' stu leaves' fault.