Into Darkness We Ride Update: Chapter 9 What Is Our Future? · 10:09pm Jul 16th, 2015
“So,” her friend said, grunting up another layer of stone, “what brought all that on? Do you have any plans 'sides ridin' the hero wagon?”
“Huh?” Dash was caught off-guard by the question…
... or she could have been paying too much attention to the way her aurastone glinted off the sweat on Applejack’s legs.
“What you were talkin’ about awhile ago. About plannin’ things and such.”
“Oh… that. Yeah.” She smiled and averted her eyes. “I just figured… maybe you might start… maybe looking for somepony. Like… y’know, a stallion… and stuff.”
Applejack launched herself up another layer of rock and nearly lost her balance.
Rainbow’s quick hooves clamped over her flank to stabilize her and saved her friend from a nasty tumble down the side of the mountain.
The pair shared an awkward pause before Applejack cleared her throat and gently wriggled her cutie marks out of her grip, while Rainbow was on the receiving end of a mental shellacking of her own conscience.
“M-me? N-no… not really, no,” Applejack said. A few quick hops up the side of the mountain, and the duo stood at the entrance of a yawning cave mouth.
There was a long pause.
“Ummm… why? W-were you thinkin’ somethin’ like that?”
“Me?” squeaked Rainbow. Her ruby eyes glinted off the orange light that passed through her vision and into the cave. She was quick to follow. “Well… no, not really. Nothin’ like... that anyway,” she said with a shrug. She pounded the dirt off her hooves and wandered into the cave. “I just figured that… you know, with...” Rainbow winced. “With you losing your family and all, I thought maybe starting one might kinda be high on your bucket list or something.”
Silence pervaded as the words died on both mares’ tongues. Gleaming stones shone a soft light on the cave walls. Stalactites clung defiantly to the ceilings of the cavern as it expanded into a wider chamber deeper in the undermountain, and the limited glow of the stones did little to extend the sight lines of the two ponies to the other end.
Nothing moved in the limited light. So far as both could tell, they were alone in the cave.
Applejack sighed and let her back legs drop, releasing her saddlebags with a tug of the tie around her neck before sifting through her packs. As Rainbow might have anticipated, it was a glistening red apple that she produced.
She wasn’t sure if it was her friend’s predictability or the way Applejack so greedily devoured her ration, but it made Dash chuckle uncontrollably.
The earth pony looked at her, and the duo paused and shared a laugh before Rainbow produced her own apple and proceeded to chow down.
All was quiet for the time being, and a silence like neither had ever shared before loomed around them.
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