Appledashery

by Just Essay

Dissolve

Rainbow Dash sat on a hilltop for hours.

Her once-home hovered in open view, due east.

She cradled a bit bag in her grasp. It felt heavy... but after selling all of her possessions, Rainbow Dash had somewhat hoped that it would feel heavier. She knew it wasn't just the numbness speaking; her eyes would never deceive her.

Rainbow heard the flapping of multiple wings—followed by the roar of a hot air balloon's furnace.

She swiftly pocketed her funds away in her saddlebag. Her ruby eyes traveled up.

A balloon floated in—bearing the colors of a familiar Realtor. A half-dozen pegasi workers accompanied it, floating in formation. They drew behind them a chariot that dragged a large mechanical apparatus. Barking orders to one another, the ponies descended to a patch of earth directly beneath the cloud. They parked the chariot and unhitched the machine.

The seventh pony in the basket of the hot air balloon started hollering commands. Following his lead, the pegasi flew back up to the house. First, they yanked the "For Sale" sign out from the cloudstone stoop. Then they proceeded to skeletonize the foundation of wood, glass, metal, and plastic parts.

Rainbow Dash watched, struggling to keep her breaths even. She figured she was a conspicuous blue figure seated atop her hill so close to the operation. Truth is, nopony bothered to look at her. They'd probably not even see her if they turned their heads.

Forty minutes passed. At last, the pegasi fired up the manabatteries of the metal machine. They aimed a series of tubed funnels up at the floating base of the house. Then—with coordinated wing movements—the six pegasi flew furious circles around the house in counter-clockwise formation.

The machine hummed loudly. Bolts of electricity sparked outward, making contact with the foundation of the household and producing tiny bursts of thunder.

Puff by puff, portion by portion, Rainbow Dash's house dissolved into a cyclonic column of vapor. The machine roared louder, and the mare watched as the misty material was cycled lifelessly through the funnels and into the heart of the machine. The air rang with the grinding of gears and the thrusts of pistons. Out the rear of the machine, a series of hazy clouds thinly materialized, ejected from the apparatus' core. The pegasi stopped flying in circles and prepared to kick the clumps of mist together, forming a large patch of cloud that was four times the size of the previous cloudstone structure. To this, they affixed a complex series of enchanted netting—which was then harnessed to the basket of the hot air balloon.

The seventh pony inside the basket saluted to the others, then fired up the furnace. The balloon drifted away—towing the misty cloud behind it... carrying it off until it became a grayish blue dot in the distance. Meanwhile, the other six pegasi reattached the machine to their chariot and flew off in the direction of Cloudsdale.

Rainbow Dash sat alone—and silent—in the shadow of nothing. A brisk wind kicked up, filling a patch of air that hadn't been filled in years. The morning waxed on cold and gray, and it was somewhere in the midst of this emptiness that Rainbow Dash stood up, turned about, and trudged her way towards the heart of Ponyville.

She had no reason to hurry anymore.

Comments

[destinedjagold]

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

Oh, boy.

Cue the reaction of Ponyville when they notice that a VERY familiar cloud mansion is no longer hovering above their fair town.

I don't much think that that realtor is gonna be any too popular when it gets out that he evicted a national hero from her home, then basically reduced it to nothing.

I'm hoping that when THEY find out about it, that he finds himself with five very irate mares (one of whom, as we all know, is Celestia's personal student)... and, of course, one equally irate baby dragon.

[Hestia]

Not gonna lie, that was actually really heartbreaking to read.

[PropMaster]

Get gone, girl. Go get yourself together.

[RoboRed]

...It's time to go now.

[Aatxe360]

7329943

Wasn't his fault RD couldn't/wouldn't pay her bills. The deliberate choice was her's.

It's also Rainbow's fault for not letting the others(either the girls or anyone with any type of pull she met during the story so far) know about anything so they could help her with some solutions. Could'a would's should'a.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

7329952 Let's hope so.

7330125 Well, true.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

7328038 And it ain't anywhere NEAR done yet.

We still got like over 1,000 chapters to go yet.

Hmmmm, 1,023, to be precise, if I have it figured right.

[Phoenix Kitten]

Okay, one mare that's barely been around, vanishing fully, there are about... maybe 20 residents of Ponyville who she interacted with on a daily basis.
All things considered, that's gonna be kinda hard to notice.
But a whole floating house just up and disappearing? Yeah, that's gonna be harder not to notice.
In fact, I'm surprised nopony did notice.

...Well.. she has Epcot. Maybe once she's found a stable living arrangement, she can spend some time with her. She owes the poor girl an apology still.

[DrEggnog]

Wow.

One thing I love about MLP is that the characters homes are really iconic (Spongebob was the same way, can you imagine Patrick without that rock of his?). Imagining Rainbow's home torn apart makes an impact. It's not like when Twilight's exploded either. Rainbow's doing this by choice.

[Thursday]

That... Was very high tech

[Leftover of Saikano]

Watch as no one notices this inmediately. Only after Rainbow Dash leaves, somepony will say "we were looking for her".

[Autumn Rush]

Okay, girls...

You can intervene anytime now.

[Cotton Fluff]

Wait, wait, what?
The Realtor had her house destroyed? How does that make sense?

The Realtor was even trying to sell the place or get someone else living there last time RD talked to him. That for sale sign wasn't just there to be lawn decoration.

The only way I'd see that being logical is if reconstruction of cloud homes is cheap and/or is the standard practice in Equestria.

That nonsensical part of this chapter aside, besides saying goodbye to the mane six and the B-Team (which I suspect RD will attempt to avoid, but get dragged into doing) she's got no more reason to stay.

7331600
The time for intervention has past, RD is committed to leaving now. Even if the mane six (or B-Team) tried to talk her out of it and give her a place to stay and whatnot I can't see Rainbow accepting it. Not when she's sold herself on the idea that she needs to leave in order to find herself again.

7330867
Assuming Dash can slip away without going through the whole goodbye thing, I would say you've got a pretty spot on prediction. Would fit with everyone's behavior thus far.

7329943
7330316
Do we actually know RD's house is floating above Ponyville and visible to its residents? Was its location mentioned in the story or the show? I don't think I can recall any instance of it being shown in the sky background during episodes or the like. Her house could be a ways off to give her a place to practice her stunts.

[Phoenix Kitten]

7331690
I assume it was more due to the fact it would be easier to transport it to Cloudsdale in a destroyed state than whole.

[Thursday]

7333746 pace yourself. Don't wind up like those of us who are caught up

[Fishberry]

I wonder what will happen next.

[zaponator]

Feels like about time for a fresh new beginning. As depressing as all of this has been lately, I am kind of excited to see where this new direction takes us.

[Thursday]

7340644 I'm almost finished with book 1 yes. :D

[Folomo]

7334386
I saw your advice too late. I am almost up to date now

[arancaytar]

Now that's some heavy metaphor for Dashie's life.