Appledashery

by Just Essay

Should Have Listened To Your Mom

Lights swam and snaked around Rainbow Dash.

Each step was a lurching thing, causing the elevated skyline of Upper Las Pegasus to wobble on either side of her.

The only thing keeping her fetlocks from going fully numb was movement. So she persisted in her forward slump, struggling to keep her eyes open as she battled fresh and fresher waves of nausea. Despite the earlier incident, her stomach felt full, sloshing, and warm.

"Mmmfff..." She opened her muzzle, instantly wishing she hadn't. "Guh." She gulped hard... and then gulped again. Through superheroic effort, she managed to keep the bile down. Her nostrils were too sore to breathe normally, so she had to fill her muzzle with whispers in order to keep the oxygen flowing. "I'm sorry. I could have stopped it. But I didn't. It was stupid. I'm stupid. I know that..."

She stumbled down a dark street of cloudstone. Rich tourists with shopping bags glared at her, making faces at the mumbling street waif. A pegasus-driven chariot glided by, nearly clipping Rainbow's head off. The pilots shouted, then took a sharp turn as they arrived at their casino destination.

"But... if I can't have you... then I'm left with nopony... and yet everypony." Rainbow gritted her teeth. The bile rose again, this time riding a column of sobs. She managed to stifle it with a squeaky breath. "You kept me clean... you k-kept me clean and straight and awesome for so long." A sniffle. "I may have b-been miserable, but that was my fault. I couldn't settle for anything else because nothing would b-be better than you..."

She closed her eyes. She was blind to where she was going. She didn't care anymore.

"The bad part is... is that I could never be honest. And that's the end of me..." She winced. "The end of the pony who could have been awesome... who could have been strong... like you..."

At last, she reopened her eyes. The alleyways of Upper Las Pegasus were dark here. The sounds of the city and casinos dwindled to a cold hush. The towering walls echoed the jingle of Rainbow's bit bag as she lurched along.

"Mmmm... glad... just glad that... no matter where you are... or who you are with..." Rainbow teetered, rediscovered her hooves, and shuffled forward into nothingness. "...you're at least in a better place than me..." She clenched her jaw tight. "And that's what matters... that's all th-that matters..."

Rainbow trotted along. She passed a group of ponies shuffling through the darkness. They stepped aside, allowing her room in the alley to pass on by. Rainbow continued her drunken stroll, the bit bag jingling with every step.

The three ponies trotted slower, their ears twitching to the noise. They lingered for a bit, exchanging glances. Then—looking out into the main street—they turned about-face... and trotted briskly after Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was just passing a heap of garbage. Crows congregated on the mess, pecking and biting into the plastic bags. All of the sudden, they cawed and flew up into the stars, blending with the veil of night.

Rainbow glanced up at them, blinking. Her ears tickled with the sound of stomping hoofsteps, but it was far too late to react.

Whump! A stallion rammed into her, shoulder-first.

"Ooomf!" With a grunt, Rainbow and her bag of coins flew into the nearby alley, rolling in two separate directions... shrouded in darkness.

The thugs looked over their shoulders, held their breaths, and rushed in after her.

Comments

[DeathFox4]

"But... if I can't have you... then I'm left with nopony... and yet everypony." Rainbow gritted her teeth. The bile rose again, this time riding a column of sobs. She managed to stifle it with a squeaky breath. "You kept me clean... you k-kept me clean and straight and awesome for so long." A sniffle. "I may have b-been miserable, but that was my fault. I couldn't settle for anything else because nothing would b-be better than you..."
Thank you! THANK YOU!

The thugs looked over their shoulders, held their breaths, and rushed in after her.

AND NO THANK YOU!
...
Lancie better come back now.

[Aatxe360]

7162322

Nah, let them get their kicks while RD is down.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

7162341 *eye twitch* Don't make me hurt you.

[Tchernobog]

[Nasty Mister Monket]

I hope you shoving in three chapters now doesn't infer we won't have any more chapters for the next three days. Not having my daily dose of masochism might actually influence my mood against wallowing in sadness. My image as a miserable bastard might suffer for this, you know?

Either way, I'm interested in seeing exactly how much more depressing you can make things go from here. I thought we were at rock bottom when she smashed a pub window and fell asleep in a water trough, but getting drunk in a strip club to suppress your PTSD flashbacks, vomiting on your aggressive and uncaring one-night stand and then getting mugged in an alley while ruminating on your crappy love life all while on a holiday you never asked to go on probably tops that.

[Lightning Bearer]

Sure, why not?

[Dash32]

NOOOOO!! CLIFFHANGER!

[Sonikah]

Fight scene time? Or just drunk rolling time?

[Hestia]

That cliffhanger

And here I thought this was actually going to be a happy arc.

[RoboRed]

And it all comes crashing down...

[CommanderCuddle]

Are we at the point in an arc where things steadily get worse with each chapter

[Phoenix Kitten]

...well I've been predicting for a long time that Dash would somehow end up in a hospital bed by the end of this story.
But I was expecting it to be because her atrophy got really bad, not because of this.

Seriously... shit man, this took a reallll dark turn.

Law of Skirtsian equilibrium, if things are looking up in Austraeoh saga, things get bad in Dashery, and vice versa.

[remnants]

Ok this has the potential to go from bad, to really fucking bad, depending on how much Skirts wants to hurt Dash right now.

[zaponator]

Well fuck! Use the drunken master technique!

[PK148]

7163132 I don't remember a part in this story where that wasn't the case. The cause of her problems shift around a bit, but it's always down hill.

[DrEggnog]

Our hero, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe you should've looked in that mirror a little longer Dash.

This depression is written both painfully well and in a way that is far more engaging and dramatic than in part twenty-one.

[BabySkittleMonster]

7163707
Rainbow now has one heck of a climb to make any headway. I don't envy her, that's for certain. And with her limbs the way they are, as well as the frankly pitiful mental state she's in, I don't think she'll be up for climbing.

[Phoenix Kitten]

7163887 ...what do you know?

[Typoglyphic]

I normally read Appledashery updates before Austraeoh 'cause they tend to be lighter. Ya know, less serious.

Then there are those arcs.

[Aatxe360]

7162398

Why hold back?

[Leftover of Saikano]

And then Caramel will stain her dress and Vynil will not get her nap.

[Keebroo]

As much as I'd like to think she'll remember her training in the heat of the moment or be miraculously saved by her ticket to recovery, JE's on a spree, and I dont see any end in sight.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

7164324 Ummm... I dunno.

Still, that was a LOUSY thing to say right then.

[Aatxe360]

7164718

Nah, it'll be fine.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

7165434 Okay, cool.

[CommanderCuddle]

7164617 One word... Lancie

[DeathFox4]

7164110 I am actually avoiding the Austra...whatever series for now. Why? So I don't break the internet checking for updates.

[arancaytar]

The three ponies trotted slower, their ears twitching to the noise. They lingered for a bit, exchanging glances. Then—looking out into the main street—they turned about-face... and trotted briskly after Rainbow Dash.

Yay! The only time Rainbow isn't moping is when she gets to suplex things, so her day is actually looking up.

Oh wait, she's about three sheets too far to the wind and low on anti-noodle potion to suplex anything. Shit.