Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
Rainbow Dash had stopped glancing at the citizens of Ponyville.
She had turned to watching leaves fall. They landed in a stream rippling under a bridge along the east end of Ponyville. The sound of a rickety windmill rattled behind a row of houses. There were voices in the greater distance, but she didn't pivot her ears to them.
Somewhere in the softness of the moment—between the ripples of the water—she came back to reality, and the utter hopelessness of having to come to terms with losing two jobs and a house all at once.
It was at such a precise moment that she needed a distraction... and it was at such a precise moment that she got it: in the form of heavy hoofsteps drawing towards hers. A stallion was drawing a wagon. His gait was drooping and his head was hanging low.
A shadow streaked over the bridge, and a voice from above—some random pegasus—hollered: "Hey! Stu! Sharp Quill's got Poker Night all set up! You coming or what?"
"Hmmm?" Stu Leaves looked up. He blinked, and he put on a smile. "Eheh... pretty tuckered out from all this harvesting. Think I might turn in early."
"Awww. You sure?"
"Yeah, dude. Heh... gotta get rich off of somepony else, I guess."
"As if! You smoked us last time! If nothing else, I was hoping for revenge!"
"Next week. Next week for sure."
"Whatever you say, Stu. Good luck with whatever you're haulin'."
"Thanks. I'll need it." As Stu said this, he looked aside. His eyes reflected Rainbow's blue figure and he immediately jerked in place.
Rainbow Dash looked calmly at him.
Stu stared back. He blinked... then blinked again.
Rainbow's brow furrowed. Eventually, she exhaled: "Stu..."
"Hey. Rainbow." He fidgeted a bit, then eventually smiled. "You took off so suddenly. I—"
"Vacation."
"Oh?" Stu's ears twitched. "Oh! Oh right. Vacation. Of course." He froze in place while his ears and tail drooped. Whatever warmth was in his voice had dwindled completely. For a moment, it appeared as if he was staring through the mare... towards some unseen point.
Rainbow cocked her head to the side. "Stu?"
It took him an awkward five seconds to register the fact that she had even spoken. His eyes lifted again. The two looked directly at one another. A spark of warmth flickered across Stu's eyes. His lungs shuddered, and for a second he appeared as though he was going to say something. His muzzle hung open... lingered... then closed again. The next smile that crossed him was genuine, if not a calm and dry thing.
"It's a nice... nice thing to have you around, Rainbow," he suddenly said.
Rainbow squinted. "Stu...?"
"You're... always super kind to me," he remarked. Clearing his throat, the stallion added: "Probably... way more than I deserve."
Rainbow stood in place. She gave a tiny, lazy shrug. "Why wouldn't I be nice to you?"
"Yeah... I guess that's a good point." He exhaled, staring across the rooftops with a glazed expression.
"Stu?" Rainbow leaned forward. "Is everything okay, dude?"
"... ... ...hmmm?" He glanced sideways at her. "Oh. Yes. Everything is... as it should be." He cleared his throat. "I just... have stuff to think about, y'know?"
"Yeah," Rainbow replied sooner than she had intended to. "I do."
"I always imagined," Stu remarked. "Wish I could play it cool... be cool... like you." Silence. Eventually, he trotted along with the cart. "Looking forward to flying with you again."
"Uh... yeah... sure..." Rainbow pivoted, watching curiously as the stallion walked off. For the first time in hours, her numbness had given away—but the tingling was more unsettling than she had hoped for. With a determined breath, she flapped her wings and made for the far end of town.
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Stu is guilty of something.
*frowns slightly at the oddness of this comment*
Okay, what's going on with Stu here? Something sure as heck is.
Hmmmm, I smell a mystery here................
Uh... Is this going where I think it is? Because the last time a pony that wasn't Rainbow acted so lost Lyra and Bon Bon ended up shipped. Is this perhaps... Studashery? How... Odd...
Looks like Stu's doubts are eating him up again. Time to selflessly get him back together with AJ again Dash! Hop to!
No way . . . No freaking way . . . DID STU LEAVES FIND THE LETTER?!
Yeah, probably not. More likely, he's talking about when he dumped Applejack way back when.
I'm telling you guys, he's going to turn out to be Discord...
7271116 Nah, he totally found it. He's acting guilty as hell.
I wonder if anyone from Ponyville saw the for sale sign at Rainbow's house. It appears Thunderlane and Candy Mane didn't, but maybe someone else did.
Stu is feeling guilty. Maybe Chrysalis finally ordered him to move in for the kill.
Hey! Rainbow Dash is right there! You could've invited her too. Do I have to do everything?
7271127 Probably. Then again, it's hard to tell with this author.
7271164 I mean, that's what I hope. And even if not now, eventually. That's gonna be a hell of some drama, and it would just be adding drama on top of drama. Dramariffic!
Please let this mean that Stu has found the letter and some form of drama, resolution appledash comes from it... oh who am I kidding that will never happen
7271167 7271205 It's a possibility that Stu hadn't found the letter yet. It's probably another thing JE has forgotten about or couldn't bring up again. Like, RD was supposed to write Gilda after she was done with her business beyond the griffon walls, yet she hadn't done so yet. And then she forgot to get her bits back from Listing. So meh...
I want to say, as others have, that Stu found the (probably yellowed, water-damaged) letter, but I've incorrectly predicted that approximately 437 times now, so I'm trying to be cautious.
I actually had a dream about Appledashery. Is that a sign of addiction?
Now I know quite a few of the commentators here dislike Stu, but that's no reason to leave his name not capitalized.
I'm going to place a long bet on Stu having figured out Dashie loves AJ WITHOUT having read the letter.
What's eating Stu leaves redux.
7271223 Nah, I think the letter is important enough that it'll come back. Maybe not now, but a big deal was made of it at the time.
Something's going to haaaaaappen...
Something's going to haaaaaaaap-pen!
My Shyama-sense is tingling! No one will predict the twist that's on the brink of corkscrewing into this story!
Image loosely related.
derpicdn.net/img/2013/1/16/214521/thumb.png
You ever get the feeling you're being watched while reading? This came up as the ad at the end of the chapter:
s33.postimg.org/rpfsk3zrz/4627232344011815778.jpg
Made my night
7271223 that letter was pretty goddamn important
As long as Stu is not carrying the dead body of Applejack on that wagon...
Why would anyone not be nice to Stu? Why are you mean, readers?
Huh, are you actually going to use that plot device exactly one year after planting it? Rainbow Dash dropped that letter eleven days from now last year.
Lets see if a year of calling Stu picking it up will actually be right.
I'd almost forgotten all that crap that went down with Stu before. Wonder what's eating him this time.
I'd be excited that Stu and AJ are having trouble, but then I'd also feel guilty about being excited and also you've pulled this shit before.