//------------------------------// // Mission: Petite Pegasus Down // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// Bon Bon sat down, placing a tray of sweets on the table before her and her friends. "She sold her home?" "Yes? Maybe? I-I don't know..." Caramel fidgeted where he sat. "All I know is... when I last saw Rainbow Dash... she was carrying two saddlebags just... full of things!" "Yeah?" Lyra continued drying her mane with a towel. "What kind of things?" "Rainbow Dash things!" Caramel shrugged. "It's way more than I'm used to seeing her carry. And... and then I started pondering about that. And—like—the next day I go to her home to pay her a visit... but... th-the house is gone." "And..." Lyra gazed aside. "...you're so certain that an evaporation machine was used to zap RD's house into thin air?" A blink. "Or in this case thick air?" "Absolutely." Vinyl nodded. "I'm quite sure of it." "But... but why do this?" Bon Bon remarked. "And then why turn around and go join the Equestrian Marathon when you're essentially homeless?" "She's Rainbow Dash," Vinyl droned. "Need I say more?" "Mmmmmmmmmm..." Lyra fluffed her mane for the last time and tossed the towel over a nearby sofa. "...you don't suppose a certain frecklepone is the inspiration for all this bullshit?" "I don't see how," Caramel said. "Applejack hasn't even come close to the center of Ponyville lately... much less to join any marathons." He blinked across the table. "That mare's been keeping to herself lately... holed up at Sweet Apple Acres and everything. At least, that's what Golden Harvest has been telling me. Turns out she and that one stallion dude from the weather commission didn't hit it off after all. Rumor abound, y'know." "Great," Lyra muttered. "It's spreading." "Let's not get off track," Vinyl said, waving a hoof. "Whatever's happening to Rainbow Dash is happening to her. Alone." She peered across the room. "Whatever's possessed her into getting rid of her home, it's somehow not enough to get her to leave town." "Sounds to me like she's on the fence about this whole decision," Bon Bon said. "When is she not?" Vinyl remarked. "And—quite frankly—I think we've been bad friends for not looking into it sooner." "Bad friends?" Lyra scoffed. "We took her on a damn vacation, didn't we? One that she ditched us on about halfway through, might I add." "And how have you both been since we came back from that vacation, hmmm?" Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Had any trouble getting back to your jobs? The careers that you own?" Lyra and Bon Bon glanced aside, fidgeting. "Plus..." Vinyl sighed. "...I tried telling you before. Rainbow ran into Listing. I dunno if you two were too busy locking lips with one another to take notice... but our feathered blue friend has had an awful lot to meditate on as of late. And despite our better hopes, she's likely not going about it the healthy way." "Tell us something we don't know," Lyra muttered. "Okay..." Caramel took a deep breath. "Did you know that Rainbow openly and vocally challenged Brick Lesneigh right after signing up for the Marathon?" "Pfft! That living locomotive of an oaf?!" Lyra's muzzle scrunched. "No offense to Rainbow Dash, but she'd have better luck outrunning a tornado while wearing stilts." "She's pitting herself up against Brick Lesneigh?!" Bon Bon grimaced. "And boasting about it?" "Yeah... even challenged his manager to a shouting match," Caramel said. "Yeesh... it's almost as if she's committing social suicide," Lyra droned. "Yeah," Vinyl exhaled. "Imagine that." The room was dead silent. "Okay... let's not all p-panic," Bon Bon murmured. "If... if you were a maladjusted pegasus over-achiever who just lost her home... where would you be at a time like this?" "How can we be expected to know that?" Caramel winced. "She's Rainbow Dash. She can be anywhere the sky is, for all she cares!" "Knowing her, she's probably working herself to the bone to prepare for this disaster," Vinyl said. "Look... I think it's really simple, you dumbasses," Lyra grunted. "Where do any of us... any of us miserable morons really want to be when our bit bags can afford it?" "Las Pegasus?" Bon Bon remarked. "The Boutique?" Caramel's eyelashes fluttered. "Okay... let me rephrase that." Lyra leaned forward. "When our livers can afford it?" Silence. "Well..." Vinyl shrugged and stood up. "What the Hell." She was the first to head for the door. "Worse case scenario, we can get drunk off our worried butts." The door to the bar opened with a jingle. "Hey!" Caramel blinked, smiling in spite of himself. "They replaced the glass on the door! Huh... who'd a thunk—" "Shhhhhh!" Lyra insisted, stepping forward with Vinyl as the two peered into the establishment. "Keep your eyes peeled." "Guh..." Bon Bon nervously trotted in behind them. "This is creepy." "What?" Caramel blinked aside. "It's just the bar." "Yes... but I'm not used to being here this early," Bon Bon said. "It's so bright out." She fidgeted. "You can see the grime... and cockroaches." "Actually, I show up early here all the time," Vinyl said. "What?" Caramel blinked. "To drink?" "No. Just to relax and write music." "I seriously doubt that Rainbow's come here to relax," Bon Bon said. "Assuming she's here at all." "Lyra?" Caramel asked. "You see her?" Lyra exhaled with a shudder. "No." Her ears drooped. "False alarm, I guess." She turned to the other mares. "I dunno about you, but I'm actually kinda relieved—" A stallion trotted up from the far end of the establishment. "You... uh... you fillies looking for somepony?" The group blinked at him. "I dunno, barkeep," Lyra droned. "Should we?" "Yes." The stallion frowned. "You should." Right as he said this, the ponies heard a fumbling of hooves. A body meatedly stumbled through the restroom door... then proceeded to hobble haphazardly towards a familiar booth in a corner of the bar. A blue pegasus—covered in bruises and welts—crawled onto a seat after much struggle and dug her fuzzy muzzle into a mug of cider. Caramel and Bon Bon winced. "So..." Vinyl took a deep breath. "...how long has she been here?" "She showed up about six vomits ago," the stallion said. "Ahhhhhhhh great," Lyra grunted. "This isn't normal. Even for her," the barkeeper continued. "I hope you gals are here to talk some sense into the mare. If not... then for my bathrooms' sake... I kindly ask that you get her to take her troubles elsewhere." With a sigh, he shuffled off. "Not worth the bits. Not at this rate." The friends exchanged glances. "What?" Lyra waved at Vinyl. "You first, social justice wubber!" "Gnnnngh..." Vinyl adjusted her shades and trotted ahead of the group. "...this should be fun."