Appledashery

by Just Essay

The Things They Brayed

The dangling remnants of a rusted windmill pivoted two quarters of a circle in the desert breeze, wobbled, and pivoted uselessly back. Dull iron chains dangled from an overturned bicycle while a wall of bent aluminum teetered back and forth. Hazy yellow sunlight glinted off broken glass and a smattering of loose bolts in the arid dirt.

The wind pickedt up, tossing a tumbleweed across the outskirts of the inexplicable junkyard. Listing Breeze paced back and forth beside her makeshift home of a wheel-less carriage.

"Okay. So... remember Sky Surge and the Red Cloud Gang?"

"How could I not?" Rainbow muttered. She sat on a threadbare seat dangling from a bent swing-set. The petite pegasus drifted back and forth, resting her numb limbs. "They worked you all day and all night. I knew things got super weird when you were the one coming home late with bruises for once."

Listing Breeze squinted over her flank. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes. "You were saying...?"

Listing resumed pacing. "So... uh... after you and I both—you know—stopped being you and I both." She cleared her throat. "Sky Surge's gang scored super big. This douchebag of a griffon tried settling down in northern Cloudsdale. He barked at everypony, tried to evict a school... y'know. Typical wealthy supervillain stuff. Everypony hated him. So, for the greater good—and a sweet bonus on the side—Sky, myself, and a few other badflank souls snuck into his hotel and made off with his jewels."

"Luna Poop, Listing..." Rainbow moaned. "Please don't tell me you're still tangled up with the Red Cloud Gang after all this time..."

"Will you let me finish the damned story?!" Listing growled. She sighed, staring off over the wreckage. "So, like... we got a lot more bits out of that heist than we expected. Like waaaaaaaaaaay more. Enough bits to swim in."

"I dunno who would wanna do that."

"Tch... I was being figurat, booger."

"For the last time, don't call me boo—"

"Anyway, the bits got to Sky Surge's head. He wanted to... like... buy a bunch of weapons and try and run the other Cloudsdale gangs out of the heavens. Stupid bonehead went powerhungry and wanted to start a turf war in the clouds."

"And you rolled with him?"

"Tartarus, no! What do you take me for, Rainbow?"

"You were really gung ho about being Sky Surge's go-to mare for tough gigs."

"Yeah, well, I'm really gung ho about keeping my skull intact! Not that I'd expect you to know what that means."

"Heh..."

"I knew what was rotten before jumping into it. So I took my piece of the score and took off for the western territories."

"So..." Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "What's the problem? Sounds like you got out of that whole stupid mess while you could afford it."

"Yeah, well... I afforded it a bit too well..." Listing smiled nervously. "About five thousand bits of affordability. Eheh... not that I was complaining for a few months."

"Let me guess..." Rainbow glared. "You took more than you were allowed... and now you're in it deep."

Listing bit her lip.

"So, what? Sky Surge wants his bits back? Is that why you're holed up in this junkheap?"

"Well, not Sky Surge, exactly. But what's left of the Red Cloud Gang. Sky Surge ended up being tossed behind bars and... uh... the Red Cloud Gang has 'reformed', so to speak, under a new leader."

"Someone tougher and bloodthirstier?"

"Kinda."

"Yeesh..." Rainbow shuddered. "I'm kinda glad I'm not living in Cloudsdale anymore."

"Things have really sank since you left, Rainbow."

"You make it sound like I'm the direct reason for it."

Listing continued pacing. "Anyways, the Red Clouds believe that all assets Sky Surge seized belong to them, and they're not too keen on former members having flown the coop."

"Are they after you?" Rainbow blinked. "You could easily outfly those bozos."

"It's... no longer that simple, Rainbow."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "Why's it no longer 'that simple,' Listing?"

"Mmmmmm..."

"Talk to me," Rainbow droned.

"I... joined a differen group here in Las Pegasus." Listing Breeze coughed and spoke on: "A bunch of tough cookies called the Desert Hounds."

Rainbow blinked. "'Kay... and what's that got to do with your situation?"

"I kinda sorta borrowed from them too."

Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Like how much?"

"Eight thousand bits."

"What in Tartarus for?!"

"I was going to make a drop for them!" Listing exclaimed. "They wanted me to make a delivery to the Buffalo Reserve to the south. Eight thousand bits for top-of-the-line parasprite dust."

"Parasprite dust..." Rainbow Dash face-hoofed. "Friggin' A, Listing..."

"Shhhh!" Listing frowned. "I'm not finished!"

"How?!" Rainbow gritted her teeth. "How could you possibly not be finished?!"

"I... thought I could up the ante a bit," Listing said, fidgeting slightly. "So, instead of going directly to the Buffalo Reserve, I made a detour by the Hump Gang."

"... ... ...who in the crap are the Hump Gang?"

"A bunch of mules who run the southern half of Lower Las Pegasus."

"You're dealing with mules now?!" Rainbow grimaced.

"I thought that—if I could get them a share of the cut—then they could toss a few carriages in the Desert Hounds' direction. We've been needing wheels desperately... especially out here in this friggin' wasteland."

"Listing..." Rainbow sighed, leaning forward from where she sat. "Mules are only good for one of two things." She held one forelimb up. "Packing camp supplies..." She held another forelimb up. "...or packing heat."

"These guys were pretty resourceful, though!"

"Uh huh. Yeah. Whatever." Rainbow squinted. "What happened?"

"They double-crossed me."

"Pffft!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Big surprise."

"They took my eight thousand bits and kicked me out of their hideout." Listing Breeze shuddered. "Now the Buffalos to the south think the Desert Hounds cheated them out of payment for the parasprite dust. So... none of my business associates are allowed to deal around the southern casinos of Lower Las Pegasus." She gulped. "And we never did get those wheels."

"So... let me get this straight..." Rainbow furrowed her brow. "The Buffalos think you and your gang robbed them of eight thousand bits."

"That's right."

"But the Hump Gang stole those bits from you."

"Uh huh."

"So now... you're eight thousand bits short with the Desert Hounds... who probably want your ovaries strung up on fenceposts..." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "...and you're still five thousand bits short with what remains of the Red Cloud Gang back in Cloudsdale!"

"That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Yup."

"Listing, when are you ever going to learn?"

"Learn what?!" Listing shrugged. "The situation's simple! I just gotta get the bits back from the Hump Gang... pay it to the Buffalos in interest... then get the parasprite dust to the Desert Hounds before it spoils!"

"Do you even hear yourself, Listy?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "You're... practically at war with three shifty organizations! And that's not including whatever the LPPD are going to do if they catch you exchanging any of this crummy stuff!"

Listing rolled her eyes. "Come on, booger. I've gotten away with crazier stuff before."

"Pffft..." Rainbow folded her forelimbs. "Don't I know it."

Listing frowned. "Then why are you doubting me all of the sudden?"

"It's not a matter of doubt, Listy! It's common sense!" Rainbow scowled, "Just what do you plan to do with the Red Cloud Gang once you've made peace with the Desert Hounds... if you make peace with them?!"

Listing cleared her throat. "I'll work on it when I get there."

"See?! This is exactly your problem! You never plan for anything!"

"Oh, like you ever planned for anything, Rainbow."

"I sure as heck wouldn't have stuck my head this far up my own flank!"

"Oh really..."

"Yeah really!" Rainbow snorted. "I've changed!"

"Hah!" Listing snickered. "No you haven't."

"How would you know?"

"Because you're still limp as a noodle!"

Rainbow opened her muzzle, but no words came out.

"It's true, isn't it?" Listing wheezed. "Still haven't checked yourself out. Still haven't pulled yourself out of that medical mess. Still believing that fairy tales can come true and somehow save you from yourself." Listing raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, booger. This vacation you're on? Can you even afford it?"

Rainbow fumed, avoiding the mare's glare.

Silence.

A warm breeze blew dust and pebbles across the dead ground.

"Look..." Listing sighed, brushing her orange bangs back. "Sorry for getting... mmmm... h-heated. It's just that this situation is soooooooo crazy frustrating. And I'm at the end of my rope." She gulped. "I had plans of getting the Hell out of Dodge, but those stupid Buffalos are everywhere... and don't get me started on the Hump Gang. They've got friends in the griffon lands to the west. Plus, after all that business with the Red Cloud Gang, I can't show my head around turkey skies. Y'know?"

"Ever thought of flying east?"

"Pffft. What am I, a pussy?"

Rainbow sighed.

"What I need is an edge... an opportunity to catch the mules with their saddles down... and I-I don't have the resources to pull something else on my own. I..." She gulped. "I need a partner to help me outsmart them and win my bits back. Rainbow Dash, I need you."

Rainbow glared. At last, she muttered: "How much do you need, Listing?"

"Huh?" Listing blinked.

"You need all nine hundred of my bits?"

"Heck, no!" Listing grimaced. "Rainbow, I've already robbed enough souls in this cotton-picking kingdom! I'm not about to rob my own fillyfr—" She winced, squirmed, and blurted: "You. I'm not going to rob you." She gulped. "That's... that's not what all of this is about."

Rainbow took a deep breath. Flexing her wings, she tilted forward, landing on wobbly legs. "Well then..." With a sigh, she trotted forward. "Where exactly can we find this 'Hump Gang?'"

Comments

[CommanderCuddle]

I'm getting the feeling that Listing thought abusing Rainbow was a perfectly normal thing to do when they were together

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

Meanwhile, I can still think of four other fillies who are probably going nuts with worry. Imagine the explosion of emotion when they learn what happened to Rainbow, what she's doing, and who she's with.

[DrEggnog]

"Ever thought of flying east?"

"Pffft. What am I, a pussy?"

Got a good laugh there.

[Salad king]

Ok, I've lost the last bit of faith that rainbow will be the one to sort herself out, if she heard all that from listing and is STILL HELPING HER, then she's mad, just strain up insane, and needs to be tied down to stop her doing dumber than dumb shit.

[Fishberry]

Oh no, it's a quest chain.

... Or GTA -Las Pegasus.

"Oh you're buckin' A right it's sarcasm, you buck. Just a few days ago I was happily retired, sulking in a fuzz bar. Then my psychotic ex shows up out of nowhere, to torture me over mistakes- idiotic mistakes she's been making since a decade ago! You and I, our little duo, should be kaput. But hey, let's go on a road trip cuz you got robbed of eight hundred grand, so we can fight a bloodthirsty pack of mules! So forgive me, you ignorant buck. but sarcasm is all I've buckin' got!"

[krakentoa]

Seriously.
This is not realistic.
I refuse.

[MidnightReflection]

This is starting to border on fucking insane. All Rainbow was supposed to do was just relax... and then she got caught by the Breeze.

[Tchernobog]

...Echo, when did you move away from Robhredden? And become a pegasus? And a mare?

[Phoenix Kitten]

7178923 Exactly what I said at the end of the last triple dump.
------------

"How?!" Rainbow gritted her teeth. "How could you possibly not be finished?!"

Exactly this.

"Ever thought of flying east?"
"Pffft. What am I, a pussy?"

Hah... hahah.... haaaah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaah!
Oh girl... you have no fing idea, do you?

[Shotgunmerc]

Soooo we never did get any confirmed hallucinations right? And rainbow is almost certainly experiencing some amount of withdrawal from her potions...

I'm not saying this is all one big hallucination, I am saying that this is batshit crazy

[BabySkittleMonster]

7179220
Sorry mate, you're trapped. Just like the rest of us. We can refuse and refute all we want, but we'll still get sucked into the mad whirlwind of a situation.

[Nasty Mister Monket]

Welcome to Appledashery. Half of it is soul-eroding masochistic sadness, and the other half is so over the top it makes no fucking sense at all.
I guess this answers my question on that aging AMA you half did about whether Appledashery's explosion budget was being reimbursed.

[Leftover of Saikano]

Without the mafia, dragons, and diamond dogs, we need some gangs now to keep Rainbow on her toes.

[krakentoa]

7179423 I think I need to start a rebellion movement. Maybe some criticism as comedy.

[zaponator]

Listing doesn't seem like a bad or evil pony. I think she's just someone who made some intensely stupid mistakes, and unfortunately continues to do so, but she's not Hitler.

The comments are treating Rainbow's decision to help Listing like she's just agreed to join ISIS or something, but clearly there's something good deep down inside the outwardly abrasive mare. She doesn't want to be evil. Life's just not that simple. Rainbow knows this.

[Lightning Bearer]

In Rainbow's defense, who here hasn't willingly involved themselves in a power struggle between thugs and drug-dealers alongside an abusive ex in the middle of a vacation while one's friends are probably worried sick?

[krakentoa]

7180094 *snickers* sure

[RoboRed]

...
...Well, uh...this...
...this, uh...just got a whole lot more interesting.

And a whole lot more insane. We have two parties that clearly don't learn from their past mistakes, have a history with each other, and are about to tangle with a whole lot of bad and dangerous dudes.

But, I'm a sucker for the setting and possible direction that this quest line is heading. So let's see where this goes.

"Ever thought of flying east?"
"Pffft. What am I, a pussy?"

Eastflyingissrsbusinesshowdareu

[Staxon Braxon]

7179775
I get the impression that she has great trouble with understanding when to stop and how to take proper perspective of a situation. Not "let(ting) old gosts lie", the mess with the mules, pushing Rainbow's buttons with her former nickname, taking more than her share from the Red Clouds, even that slip of the tongue at the end of this chapter -- I bet if she cared to avail herself of the casinos in Las Pegasus(and had the bits to do so), she'd go home broke every time.

Taking it a few steps further, it could explain the cause of her abuse towards Rainbow in their relationship. It could have started with small things -- making "playful" remarks that are actually insulting, playing games that feel a lot more like bullying on the receiving end, doing both without realizing that just because she's having fun does not mean that Rainbow's having fun. I can easily imagine her playing a game of keep-away to the point where it seems like she's trying to take ownership of the object in question, and even to the point where Rainbow just gives up.

In time, Rainbow becomes disgruntled at Listing's behavior, and it shows. Listing becomes upset about Rainbow's disillusionment, and tries to fix things. Not able to take proper stock of the situation, she does all the wrong things. Their negative feelings feed into each other, and the whole situation snowballs around Rainbow's emotional issues and her neural degeneration, along with Listing's participation in a criminal gang.

Soon enough, they dislike each other more than not. Listing Breeze, having a terrible sense of perspective, fails to comprehend the idea of proportional justice and hits or beats and openly and blatantly abuses Rainbow verbally for any perceived slight. This soon becomes the norm for them both, and, neither of them being mentally/emotionally mature/healthy enough to realize that the kind of relationship they claim to be in absolutely should not be how it is, neither of them breaks it off on their own. Rainbow's future drinking buddies stage an intervention like they're doing now, and push Rainbow and Listing to a breakup.

They finally part ways, Rainbow's mental health a trainwreck and Listing as oblivious as ever. Bad memories and sour feelings are had all around. Listing helps the Red Clouds swipe a bunch of jewels from a griffon with a bad attitude, bails on them when things get hairy, moves to Las Pegasus, yadda yadda yadda, Bob's your uncle.

Of course, that's all speculation since I don't actually know the details of their former relationship. I'm just trying to keep in mind that I only really know Listing from Rainbow's perspective, and that Rainbow is probably heavily and rightfully biased against her. She's got only one small point for her displaying relatively sound judgment so far, as far as I know, in leaving the Red Clouds when she did, albeit not HOW she did. I think it makes the most sense that her sense of perspective is very immature or dulled in some manner, like how trying to understand another person's speech might be when they talk to you right after you wake up from a restless night's sleep and you're unaware that you're wearing a really good pair of ear protectors.

TL;DR: I agree.

[Macky]

7179159 img.ifcdn.com/images/fa56699e725f18449817b475b08dcf4395819d11a6ee6842421a93031ad9957b_1.jpg

I'd buy it!

[Hestia]

Agreeing to help Listing Breeze doesn't seem like the smartest move here. I'm not sure if I'm impressed with Rainbow for agreeing to help someone who (so far) has treated her like an idiot. I mean, it's rather noble (stupidly noble, even), but I get the feeling it's just gonna cause more trouble for Dashie.

[Cotton Fluff]

Well, this vacation went downhill pretty quick. I suppose Rainbow was having it a bit too easy just chilling and helping Bon Bon through the same situation. Listing being the source of the actual adventure arc... I'm not sure how I feel about that. We all knew or seriously suspected she would pop up again, but to have it actually happen...

I hope that Rainbow will get some sort of serious closure out of this dangerous adventure, something to help her grow as a character and get her out of this rut. I also hope that Rainbow will somehow get in touch with the B-team and let them know she's ok, they have to be worrying about her. If she's gone for much longer this could get messy with either the mane six coming to help find her... or the local authorities, neither of which would be pleased with whatever situation Rainbow will find herself in.

[Folomo]

I have to say I expected listy to be a lot worse. She seems... normal (for a gang gal). And she seems to also care about RD, which I didn't expect.

While I would have prefered RD meeting her own potential love interest (even if it didn't less any where), RD kicking gangsters flanks and saving listy is a pretty good arc for RD IMO.

[arancaytar]

"Shhhh!" Listing frowned. "I'm not finished!"

Maybe not, but please tell me you are, Rainbow Dash. Make like an Austraeoh and don't look the fuck back until you're in Ponyville.

You're... practically at war with three shifty organizations!

Yeah, that's insane, isn't it Rainbow?

"Ever thought of flying east?"

"Pffft. What am I, a pussy?"

Oh that's rich.