//------------------------------// // The Dashes of Our Lives // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// Vinyl Scratch trotted up to the booth in her sights... hesitated... then ultimately resorted to dragging a chair over from another table. The rest of the mares crowded anxiously behind her as she sat down and leaned forward. "So... uh..." Vinyl's voice rasped. "Wetting your whistle rather early, huh?" "Mrmmmff..." Rainbow didn't look over. The pegasus took a sip of her cider, then muttered out the side of her muzzle: "Am I dead yet?" Vinyl blinked through her shades. She looked back at Caramel, Bon Bon, and Lyra. She glanced at Rainbow again, shaking her head. "No. You're not." "Then early is early enough," Rainbow grumbled, then took another sip. Vinyl bit her lip. Clearing her throat, Bon Bon spoke up: "So... uh... we heard from Caramel that you entered the Equestrian Marathon!" She bore a fragile smile. "That sounds pretty... exciting! No doubt you'll do all of Ponyville pr—" "Look, if I want the company, I'll ask for it," Rainbow Dash hissed, her wingtips bristling. "Now will you kindly buzz off?" "I..." Bon Bon leaned back, ears drooping. "I-I was only trying t-to... compliment you, Rainbow Dash—" "Rainbow, your home is gone," Vinyl spoke bluntly, making Caramel and Bon Bon flinch. Rainbow's jaw muscles tightened, but she didn't say anything. "It's vanished completely. Gobbled up by an evaporation machine, from the looks of it." Vinyl glanced at a pair of saddlebags lying beside Rainbow's booth. "All that was inside has vanished without a trace... unless you might happen to be carrying your last possessions with you at the moment." "I'm not poor and bitless, if that's what you're wondering," Rainbow muttered. She took another sip. "...still got room for a few more drinks." Caramel winced. "Rainbow, what we're wondering is what happened to you," Vinyl said. "Yes, Rainbow." Bon Bon nodded. "One moment, you were relaxing with us on a vacation to Las Pegasus... and suddenly you're out on the street?" "Yeah... funny thing about being out on the street," Rainbow slurred, resisting the urge to hiccup. "You gotta... mrmmm... m-mind your manners. Can't get away with just anything." Her eye darted halfway towards Bon Bon. "How's the acoustics at home now that you've got a musician attached to your butt?" Bon Bon blushed furiously. "Now Rainbow, can't you see we're concerned about you?" Caramel remarked. "This... is pretty scary." He gulped. "Even for you. I... I really don't need all of that Marathon winnings, y'know. Especially if it means you... falling apart like this—" "I've fallen apart before," Rainbow Dash muttered. "This ain't the same. Hic! Believe me." She took another sip, staring forward, bleary-eyed. "I've fallen apart in ways that the whole bunch of you couldn't even begin to imagine. Ever been to death and back? Twice?" The ponies blinked. They exchanged confused, worried glances. "Uhm... no?" Bon Bon squeaked. "Believe me." Rainbow's nostrils flared. "I've never been more free. Now... will you please scram?" A shuddering sigh. "I'm not exactly awesome company right now." "What, you and the toilet?" Vinyl droned. "Stand a little closer and you'll find out soon enough." Silence. "Alright..." Lyra droned, suddenly scooting in next to Rainbow Dash. "Buck this." She waved a hoof in the air. "Give me a tall one. Anything that foams." "Lyraaaaa..." Bon Bon hissed nervously. "I... don't think that's a good idea," Caramel whispered. "Listen to your marefriends," Rainbow burped. "This table's only for drinking ponies." "I know. Which is why I'm getting a drink." Lyra gestured once more to the barkeep. "After all, that's how we always do it, right?" "Mrmmmfff..." Rainbow stared into her mug. "You know..." Lyra smirked. "You don't look half bad for a mare who's done several porcelain confessionals this morning." "Don't you know better than to stick your muzzle into another... Hic!... m-mare's business?" "Heh... believe me..." Lyra waggled her eyebrows. "Over the past week or so? I've stuck my muzzle in far... danker places." "Mrmmfff..." Bon Bon slumped down in a chair, sighing. "Better get me a tall one too." Lyra sipped and sipped from a tall glass of ale. Bon Bon and Vinyl gingerly grasped their own containers, squirming anxiously. Caramel stared nervously into a bowl of pineapple slices. All uneaten. Rainbow Dash sat with slumped shoulders, gazing dead ahead into empty space. Lyra finished sipping. She beat a hoof over her chest, swallowed a burp, and smiled crookedly. "Say, Rainbow, did I ever tell you about my mom?" "Only about the day she died," Rainbow muttered. "And how you spent the whole following week celebrating in Mareami." "Alright..." Lyra swung a hoof through the air. "Rewind a bit." She cleared her throat, then slowly turned the glass around in her fetlock as she spoke into the air above the table. "When I was super young, Mama Heartstrings wanted to make a star out of me. Naturally, she felt my talent would be musical. And she was right. I had a talent for making harmony and I truly enjoyed it. Just... I wasn't obsessed with it as she was—or at least I wasn't obsessed with it to the degree in which she was... or wished to be obsessed with it... through me." Coughing, she continued. "Anywhores... Mom helped shape me into the stuffy, boring, bitter music theorist that I am today. She wanted something different, really. She wanted me to be a famous violinist... cellist... one of those -ist things. But more than that, she wanted my name in lights... sprawling across the skyscrapers of Manehattan or the towers of Canterlot. And... now get this..." A bittersweet smile. "She wanted me to represent progressive Equestrian culture. What did that involve, you ask? Well, in her esteemed opinion, it meant my falling in love with a stallion, getting legally married, and raising at least two foals. Maybe three. I guess she had... visions of me and my future-husband-to-be attending elegant dinners and ballroom dances in between my high profile on stage performances, or some such. Her grandfoals would be posing in little suits before the camera... smiling before the glitz and glam and everything... meh..." Lyra took a long sip, exhaled, and paused a bit before continuing. "Anyways, never mind the fact that I didn't want anything to do with stallions... never mind that only one in every... what is it... six mares are born with an amorous desire for the opposite sex." She gulped. "Never mind the fact that I really... totally sucked at plucking strings... and was only good at composing. Never mind all of that and a bowl of rice. She had to get her way, dammit. She had to live her life through me. She got angry at me for not playing along, and I got angry at her for getting angry at me. And—over time—that anger grew thick... grew solid... grew into a damned ugly wall that rose higher and higher between the two of us until one day... she suffered an aneuyrsm out of nowhere and friggin' croaked. And I celebrated the fact." Rainbow Dash simply stared into her glass. Nevertheless, her ears twitched as Lyra leaned forward to murmur: "Did I ever mention that I almost didn't come back from that one week in Mareami?" "Mrmmmfff..." Rainbow sipped and muttered. "What? Did a shark bite at you?" "No." Lyra shook her head. "The last night I was there, I spent three hours at the edge of a hotel balcony's railing." Vinyl and Caramel sharply looked over. Bon Bon took a deep breath, head hung. "That's right." Lyra nodded. "Only one other soul knows about this before today. A soul whom... I've been lucky enough to vent with in a place with... proper acoustics. If you catch my drift." "There a point to all of this?" Rainbow Dash muttered. "Yes, you tipsy douche canoe. There is." Lyra's brow furrowed. "In a brief moment of painful clarity, I realized that I had wasted my entire young adulthood carving my pathetic life into a sharp dagger to stab into my mother's heart at any and all opportunity." She shrugged. "Instead of just trying to... move on like a sane pony. Or—even better—getting over my pain and bitterness and just trying to embrace her as the mother she was... in spite of her arrogance." Lyra's nostrils flared. "She was gone. She was gone... and I would never... ever get to know or understand the mare who foaled me. It was too late." She gulped. "Far too late... and all I'd ever have to go on from there to eternity was the putrid fascimile of a dysfunctional relationship that my anger and resentment had forged." Lyra took a bitter sip and sighed. "...if there was no such thing as stubbornness, we'd all only die once in life. Instead... existence is... an absurd minefield of murder. I didn't jump off that balcony that night, but I was no less dead inside. It's taken a long... long time to put the semblance of a heart back together inside of me. And, I'll tell you this, I haven't done it alone. No-shit-siree." Rainbow huffed, tilting her mug until the last few drops of cider fell into her muzzle. "Mfff... well... to die even once, you gotta be alive to begin with." "Spoken like a true high schooler," Lyra grumbled. "The point of this whole soap opera special is this, Rainbow." She stared at her friend. "For some of us, it's still not too late." Rainbow's ears drooped as her companions looked on. "You might feel helpless. You might even feel friendless. But you're still you." Lyra smiled tiredly. "The loyal and brash Rainbow Dash. You've got your wings... you've got some bits on you. And you're here in Ponyville... with ponies who care about you... who can not only stop you from taking a stupid leap... but can help put the pieces back together." She brought her glass to her lips as she exhaled one more time. "It's not too late... to harness your stubbornness and turn it into something awesome... instead of murderous..." The air above the table was quiet. Every mare present simply assumed that Rainbow Dash was spending the time digesting Lyra's words. As soon as her muttering words scratched their ears, they sat and listened in abject silence. "That's gotta really suck, Lyra," Rainbow droned. "To lose touch with a mare who treated you so disrespectfully for as long as you knew each other." "Yeah, well..." Lyra shrugged with a bitter smirk. "It was only as long as I've been alive, but who's counting? Heh..." "You know how often my dear old dad expressed his disappointment in me?" Lyra blinked. Her eyes trailed off the lid of her empty glass. "Uhhhhhh—" "Trick question," Rainbow grunted. Her ears drooped back as her bleary-eyed gaze turned into a hard frown. "He never said anything mean or nasty or uncool." The pegasus' blue nostrils flared. "The old stallion always... always believed in me. When the going got tough, he told me super awesome things to motivate me. He carried me on his shoulders... patted my back... encouraged me to be the best I could ever be." She sipped from an empty cider mug—if only to perform the gesture. "He believed in me when nopony ever did. He was loyal to everypony around him, and he never... ever forced anypony into doing stuff they didn't feel was right. And you know what happened to him?" Lyra merely bit her lip. "He died, Lyra." Rainbow's hard eyes sliced across her friends. "He was the best... most awesome stallion there ever was. And life decided to reward him by draining all the strength out of his limbs and numbing his heart until it could beat no more." Her teeth showed as she snarled, "Sinner or saint... sometimes the world just doesn't care if you have the heart of the champion. Sometimes life just wants to watch you bleed on the side of the road until you haven't got the strength to move or gallop... or fl-fly..." "Rainbow..." Bon Bon leaned forward with a sigh. "...what happened to your dad was unfortunate—" "Unfortunate?!?" Rainbow snapped. "It totally sucked ass—is what! Don't sugar coat a tragedy, ya melon fudge! Just because your mane is two-toned doesn't mean you gotta be two-faced as well!" "Hey!" Lyra frowned, swiveling to face Rainbow. "She was only trying to express her compassion. No need to be a douchebag about it!" "Lyra—" Vinyl hummed. "And why not?!" Rainbow hiccuped, then snarled: "Being nice hasn't gotten me anywhere! Being loyal certainly hasn't paid my bills!" She waved a limp hoof through the air. "Believing in love and following—HIC—my flippin' heart hasn't gotten me jack! In the end... I'm just a slightly bluer shadow of my dear old stallion! But I'll be darned if I give up my wings for it! So you can just take your—HIC—sob stories about running the good race versus giving up and just... just... stick it someplace that isn't—HIC—fuzzy!" "Is that what this is about, Rainbow?" Caramel asked, trembling. "The condition that you've inherited? Rainbow, if undergoing an operation to save your limbs will keep you alive—then by all means, go for it! We won't love you any less for not being able to fly—" "It's not about flying or not fl-flying, you... you... parasol!" Rainbow sputtered, pointing off-angle towards Caramel. "I made a promise, dang it! And I'm going to keep to it!" She hunched over and grumbled into her cider mug. "I'm going to win you the money for that stupid operation! Even if it kills me!" "But we don't want you to kill yourself over it, Rainbow!" Caramel sputtered. "Don't you get it?! We'd rather you get better! My operation can wait!" "Mrmmmfff... it's too late now," Rainbow grumbled. "I've gone for broke." "Huh?" "Mrmmmff... threw in... HIC... all of it." "All of what?" "Life's savings..." Rainbow belched, wiping her chin. "Well... aside from—y'know—the essentials." She dropped another coin onto the counter and waved towards the bartender from afar. "Another cider! On the double!" By now, Caramel had paled several snow-white shades. Bon Bon and Lyra exchanged gaping expression. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy..." Vinyl face-hoofed, slumping back in her seat. "...we're in it now." "You did what?!?" Caramel's voice cracked. "Don't worry..." Rainbow muttered, slumped in her seat. "I'll win it all back." "No you will not!" Caramel stammered. "Jee. Thanks for the vote of confidence." Rainbow glared across the bar. "Where's my drink?!?" "Rainbow Dash, you need help!" Caramel frowned. "You've done nothing this past year but deny yourself the things you need to get better! To feel better! And as your friends, we've..." He sniffled. "We've stood idly by and just let you self-destruct! Well we're not going to let you take the final plunge!" "We're not?" Bon Bon blinked. "No! We're not!" Caramel's teeth showed. "Did any of you even listen just a few seconds ago?! She gave up her life's savings! She's homeless and helpless!" "I've risen up from worse depths before," Rainbow muttered. "Not that you'd know a thing or two about that." "Do you hear yourself right now?" Vinyl remarked. "I'm sorry, but it's getting harder and harder to sympathize with somepony so pigheaded and moronic." She stood up, horn glowing. "Time to go, Rainbow." The pegasus grunted as she felt herself being tugged towards Vinyl with magenta magic. "The hay are you doing—?" "Taking you far far away from this watering hole," Vinyl said, hissing with the effort. "Vinyl, darling..." Bon Bon fidgeted. "Maybe you're going about this the wrong—" "Let go of me..." Rainbow slurred. "A cold shower and a cup of coffee will do you good," Vinyl said. "Come on, Rainbow. We'll finish this conversation once you're sober." "Vinyl..." Lyra held a hoof out, sweating. "Uhm..." "I said..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth and flung her wings out. "...leave me alone!" FWOOOSH! The sheer gust of air knocked Vinyl backwards. "Guh!" She fell hard, the back of her head colliding with the edge of a nearby table. Wh-Whack! "Vinyl!" Caramel shrieked, then rushed down by her side. "Grffff..." Vinyl winced, her shades sliding down her nose. A trickle of blood ran down from her scalp. "...oye... that's a loud r-ringing sound..." "Just stay still, Vine!" Caramel insisted, bracing her shoulders. "We're gonna have somepony come look at that!" He called to the front of the bar. "Go fetch Nurse Redheart—!" "And what good has that pony ever done anyone?" Rainbow hiccuped. Vinyl, Caramel, and the others looked up. Rainbow floated close to the ceiling, eyes blinking thinly. "Mrmmmff... only ponies... who ever want to help m-me just want to drain me of all m-my awesomeness..." She mumbled. "I don't n-need... mrmmfff... any of you guys to get the j-job done..." "Oh? Oh really?" Caramel frowned behind fresh tears. "You don't need any of us to be a big flippin' jerk?! Well, what a b-big surprise, Rainbow!" He bit his lip, shaking. Lyra and Bon Bon stared with wide eyes. Rainbow blinked. Her eyes watered for a moment, but she chased the moisture away with a firm blink and an even firmer glare. "Grffff... what do you know? Ya ninny..." FWOOOOSH! She exited the establishment in a blink, even making the bartender flinch. The group stood in numb silence after her departure. Caramel sighed, hanging his head to gaze at the floor. The bartender rushed over with a washcloth bundled around cold ice. "Here. Use this," he hoofed it to Caramel. "I'm... uh... I'm going to go fetch somepony from Ponyville Central. You gals got this place while I'm gone?" "Don't worry, dude," Lyra droned. "We won't run you dry." "Cool... uh... b-be right back." And the stallion galloped off. Caramel sat at Vinyl's side, applying the cold press to her forehead. "Just... just sit still. You're going to be alright." "Mrmmmff... tell my skull that," Vinyl muttered. "Anything else you need, Vine?" Bon Bon asked nervously. "Mmmm..." Vinyl's nostrils flared as she squinted past her own blood. "...could use a tall bottle of vodka." "Wait for the funeral, girl," Lyra said, her dull eyes plastered to the booth. In her drunken fury, Rainbow had left her only possessions on the seat. Nurse Redheart leaned in, closely examining Vinyl's scalp. Squinting, she reached back into her medical bag and applied the last of many, many bandages. Caramel, Bon Bon, Lyra, and the bartender watched from several feet away. "Well...?" Vinyl sat in a chair, tilting her head towards the physician. She winced only once or twice. "How bad is it, Doc? Are you going to have to take the leg?" Nurse Redheart sighed. "Well, it's going to need some stitches. But you don't seem to be suffering a concussion." "Hey, what do you know!" Lyra managed a smirk. "You've got a thick skull after all, Vine." "Not really," Vinyl muttered, wincing under another bandage. "Just... mrmmmf... one too many tours in Chicacolt." "Okay... I've stopped the bleeding," Nurse Redheart said. "Do you feel like you can walk?" "Most definitely." "Good. Follow me back to Ponyville Central." Nurse Redheart led the unicorn towards the front entrance. A fiery sunset bathed the outside world in amber light. "I should be able to get you properly stitched up there." "Thanks, Doc." "Uhm... Nurse Redheart?" Caramel took a nervous step forward. "What about Rainbow Dash?" Nurse Redheart grunted. "What about her?" Bon Bon winced. After a sigh, the medical pony looked back from where she trotted hoof-in-hoof with Vinyl. "I'm sorry... but I've already given that pegasus more than a fair share of educated advice. She chose long ago to go the hard route... and this is the result of that." She held the door open for Vinyl and exited after her. "At this point... she should really be seeing a different kind of doctor..." "Take care of yourself, Vinyl!" Bon Bon called out. "Way ahead of that. Ow ow ow..." Vinyl winced as she hobbled after Nurse Redheart, leaving beyond the vantage point of the other three friends. Bon Bon bit her lip. The barkeeper sighed. "Well... nothing's damaged here, at least. And none of the blood got on the floor." He glanced over at the others. "I see no reason to close. So... uhm..." He cleared his throat. "You're all welcome to stay and hang out." His brow furrowed. "So long as you-know-who doesn't show up again." And he trotted off behind the bar counter. The remaining three fidgeted in place. "I think I lost my thirst," Bon Bon muttered. "Lucky you." Lyra rubbed the back of her neck. "I think I pissed out my liver an hour ago." "What..." Caramel turned to glance at Rainbow's belongings. "...what about Rainbow's stuff?" "Jee, I dunno." Lyra frowned. "Any good bonfires around town?" "Lyraaaaaa..." Bon Bon chided. "Yeah, and what?!" Lyra flung her forelimbs. "What's left to defend that stupid blue turd for?! We came here to talk some sense into her and look what she did to Vinyl!" "It... was the passion of the moment," Bon Bon muttered. "Yeah, well, tell her to take it out on diamond dogs or dragons or something," Lyra spat. "That's the only thing Rainbow Dash is good at anymore, isn't it? Going on long stupid adventures and being a meatheaded butt kicker? Heh... it's a sad state of existence when she runs out of things to kick!" "I... don't think she's ever going to run out of herself," Caramel remarked. "And you!" Lyra pointed. "Get off her teats already! You heard what she called you! Why are you sticking out for the drunken moron?" "Because..." Caramel sniffled. "Because..." "Caramel..." Bon Bon rested a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "Rainbow is confused, angry, and—worst of all—aimless. Please... you don't have to pity her just because she chose to make a huge, unrealistic donation and claim to be doing it in your interest." Caramel looked back. "Rainbow's our friend... and after that vacation we foalnapped her on... don't you think she's also our responsibility?" Bon Bon fumbled for words. She looked back at Lyra. Lyra had her head hung. "Well...?" Caramel blinked. "...we're not friends of Rainbow Dash," Lyra said. Bon Bon turned to look at Lyra. The musician sighed. "... ... ...friends would have done something for her ages ago. But us?" She blew out the side of her muzzle. "Face it. We're just drinking buddies. The slightly less depressing appendix to her Listing Breeze phase." She trotted over to a booth and sat in a slump. "Rainbow ditched her. Might as well let her ditch us too. Not like we're worthy anymore... or ever were." And she was silent... even as Bon Bon slid in and sat beside the mare, leaning her head on Lyra's shoulder. Caramel stared at the two. As the silence persisted, tears formed in his eyes. Sniffling, he glanced back at the bulging saddlebags left beside an empty seat. The last rays of a sunset kissed the treetops and the gently lapping waters of a brook surrounding a quaint cottage. Soft hoofsteps shuffled up the winding garden path. At last, a trembling fetlock knocked on the front door. Seconds passed... Nearly a minute... The door creaked open. Fluttershy stuck her head out. "Uhm..." She brushed her pink bangs aside, blinking. "H-hello?" Her turquoise eyes reflected a petite figure in front of her. Immediately concerned, she opened the door the rest of the way and stepped forward, muzzle agape. She wasn't alone. Big Macintosh emerged from the cabin, blinking curiously. He stood beside his marefriend as the two stared at the sudden visitor. "Caramel...?" Fluttershy tilted her head aside. "Oh my goodness. Why are you crying?" Caramel stood with his head bowed. His legs buckled from the weight of two bulging saddlebags balanced on his flank. Fluttershy and Big Mac exchanged curious glances. Swallowing a lump down her throat, Fluttershy stepped forward and gently grasped Caramel's shoulders. "Caramel... talk to us. What's the matter?" The stallion sniffled. He tilted his head up. "Everything," he whimpered. Eyes watered as he stared pleadingly into Fluttershy's face. "It's Rainbow Dash. You're her friend. Please..." He bit his lip. "You have to help her..." Fluttershy leaned back, her muzzle hanging open in worry. Th-Thwump! Rainbow Dash slid to a rough stop in broken earth. She gritted her teeth. Blood squeezed through. "Mrrffkk... grkkk..." One eyelid fluttered. Then the other. She pushed against the soil. The setting sun blinded her between the trees bordering an empty field. "Hrnnfg... mffffuuu—" Thunk! She fell again, whimpering. Squeaking. Panting breaths rolled through her writhing body. Reddened saliva dribbled from her muzzle. Her nose ran, forming shiny rivulets down her bruised face. "Mmmfff... b-bucking... grnnngh... loser!" She heaved. She heaved again. Legs locked and muscles ripped. She whimpered... squeaked... shrieked... "Get up... get up!" A final thrust of quivering limbs threw her forward... ...only for the mare to plow into the dislodged soil yet again. Thwmmmmp! "Rnnngh... d-dammit..." She gnashed her teeth. She rolled over, wings fluttering—then coiling tightly. Stubbornly. "Grnngh... good f-for nothing—!" A tail flicked. The horizon lurched. "Rrrrrrrrrrgh!" She managed to hobbled three steps. Three and a half. A flash of pain erupted through her body, bubbling in her center until a nauseated flame built inside her stomach. "Aaaaugh—!" Half of her scream ended in a grotesque gurgle, for she was vomiting up bile and stained alcohol. She fell straight into the yellow puddle her puke had made, further staining her bruised figure with the curds of failure. "Grnnkghll... hrkkkk...!" Curling up, she thrust her head forward and spat onto the ground. Wheezing. Sobbing. Half the time her muzzle was open, she was losing her stomach contacts. The rest was agonized wails. Earth-shaking and tree-splitting. The heartless world echoed with her banshee despair, and she collapsed there in the trenches of her desperation, surrounded by the thickening shadows of everything that continued to die. "Mrnngh... hgnnnghhh... hnnghh... please... pl-pleasssee—Celestiaaaa..." Rainbow Dash thrashed—her pained motions growing weaker and weaker until the futility matched the numbness clouding her being. Every where she looked, the world was obscured by tears. There was no outrunning the fog. Nevertheless, she kicked and thrashed and fought for as far as the sparks in her nerves could carry her. "Mrnnfgh... I... I don't want to... d-don't... so... so very..." She sniffled, leaked, emptied. All that remained was a dry husk—growing emptier and emptier. She couldn't even remember a time when even a fifth of it was full. All was cold and crumbling. She saw the pieces falling away, and she didn't like the darkness that lay behond. "Loser... such a loser... sorry... please... Daddy, please..." She covered her muzzle with dead hooves. It was the only thing she had the strength left to do. The shame of it caused the final implosion, and she murmured into the dirtied fuzz, cuddling the horizon of oblivion itself. "Please... so sorry... I love... I-I love..." Gradually, her struggles ceased—if they could even be called such at that point. She drifted into a dark corner far beyond the limits of deflated, and all that answered her was the fringes of her own pointless breaths. "Love... l-love..." And only after she weathered her last thoughts—all of them lonely and bitter—did Rainbow Dash finally surrender to blissful unconsciousness. She lay on the edge of the field, naked, homeless, and stained with her own vices. A blue coat and a rainbow mane curiously decorated the petite epitome of destitution in the middle of nowhere with smug vibrance. As the silence kicked in, the shadows around her coalesced, until she too started to blend in with the gray malaise of desolation around her. Minutes wore on. And as the very last shred of light lingered on Rainbow's sky-colored figure... ...she arrived. A subtle percussion announced it: athletic hooves crunching in the leaves and pine needles situated along the edge of the forest. Wheels of a wagon creaking and turning... groaning. Then—as the procession came to a stop—the rattle of wooden baskets jostling against one another. Silence. The figure stood dead still in ponderous silence. At last, she unhitched herself from the wagon and shuffled forward, closing the distance until she was looming above the melancholic lump that Rainbow had become. And when she reached forward, gently feeling the pegasus' light pulse with an orange hoof... She sighed. Hard and heavy. Apple Bloom drooled. Asleep, the little filly was draped lazily over a bale of hay while a pair of chickens huddled around her body, clucking and pecking at her red bow. Just then, a familiar voice hollered across the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. "Apple Bloom!" "Snrkkk!" Apple Bloom jerked away. The chickens scattered in the dim evening light as she fumbled blindly about, grabbed an abandoned bucket, and flung it at nothing. "Whoah!" Apple Bloom teetered—then fell face-first into a horse trough. Splooosh! "Bllbllbbb!" She lifted her drenched skull with a gasp, blinking wide-eyed across the orchards. "I-I'm doing ch-chores just like you told me to, Big Sis! I wasn't sleeping on the job! Honest!" "Never you mind, Apple Bloom!" echoed Applejack's voice from the ranch's entrance. Apple Bloom flung the moisture out of her face in time to see an orange figure drawing a wagon towards the barn. It wasn't fruit that was lying in the back—but something far bluer... and bruised. "Go into the linen closet! Fetch some blankets and a pillow from the guest room. On the double!" "Uhhhhh—sure thing!" Apple Bloom shook from head to tail like a yellow, red-headed puppy... then proceeded to squint at the wagon. "Wait... is that...?" Applejack's green eyes hardened as she drew the cart towards the edge of the barn. "Do as I toldja, sugarcube. T'ain't a good time for draggin' yer hooves." "Hey! It is Rainbow Dash!" "Apple Bloom..." Apple Bloom rushed up to the wagon, peering inside. "What in the hay happened to her?" She gawked at the unconscious pegasus who was curled up and stained with soil and bile. "Whoah! She looks like shit!" "Apple Bloom!" Applejack roared. "Uhhhhhhhh—!" Wide-eyed, Apple Bloom drew away from the wagon, trembling. "I mean like poop! She looks like poop!" "Where'd you learn that language?" Applejack frowned. "I didn't nurse ya back from the brink of death just so you could be spoutin' all sorts of outhouse gibberish!" "I-I meant to say 'poop!' Really, I did" Applejack sighed. "You've been hangin' around Snips and Snails again, haven't ya? I thought we done talked about this—" "But... but..." Apple Bloom cleared her throat, attempting to change the topic. "Rainbow Dash! What... h-happened to her, AJ?" Applejack clammed up, a tiny knot forming in her beautiful orange throat. She gazed worriedly at the wagon, fidgeting with sudden anxiety. "Not too sure, Apple Bloom. Nothin' good, I reckon." A cough. "Now... would ya please go fetch the thangs I asked ya to? Whatever's happened to Rainbow, somehow I dun think it's anything she can easily brush off. She's... she's gonna need some help." "From the looks of it, she needs to see a doctor!" "One thang at a time. Now git!" "S-sure thing, Applejack!" Apple Bloom turned tail and scampered straight for the farmhouse. "Right away!" Applejack sighed. With slow methodical motions, she unhitched herself from the wagon and trotted slowly to the back. Careful, strong hooves gently laid Rainbow Dash's figure down into the center of a plush bale of hay. The task was remarkably easy—on account of how lightweight Rainbow Dash had become. With soft motions, Applejack reached in and coiled the pegasus' wings by her side. She then straightned the mare's prismatic bangs... one fetlock lingering slightly upon the feathery silk touch. Sucking her breath in, Applejack leaned back to stand in the middle of the barn. Her ears drooped. Her brow started to crease with worry— "Here we go, AJ!" Apple Bloom galloped in from the dying day with several bedsheets draped over her flank. Applejack winced. "Shhhhhh!" She hissed, reaching to take the blankets and pillow from Apple Bloom. "Keep it down, will ya?" "Uhhhhhhh... Applejack?" Apple Bloom pointed with a nervous hoof. "Whatever's happened to Rainbow Dash, I don't think it's somethang she can just wake up from. And..." She winced, eyes narrowing. "Is that barf?" "I think Rainbow's sick, Apple Bloom." "How sick?" Applejack gulped, leaning in with the blanket. "Can't say for sure." "Well, maybe Nurse Redheart can help, don'tcha think?" Applejack was gently laying the first blanket over Rainbow's figure. She tucked the fabric in around Rainbow's sides, making sure the pegasus was comfortable and warm. Her eyes lingered on the bruises marring the mare's face... on the tears still collecting around her weak eyelids. "Applejack?" "Hmmm?" Applejack leaned back, exhaling with a shudder. "Uhm... r-right. And—at least—for the time being—she's safe and warm." Apple Bloom's muzzle scrunched. "How come we ain't puttin' her in the house? Ya know we have a guest room." "From the look of things, Rainbow Dash has been drinkin' an awful lot," Applejack said. "And if I know the girl... she's a stubborn fighter to the core. No tellin' what we're in for when she wakes up. Best we keep her out of the house and away from Granny Smith's fragile heirlooms." "Right. Good thinking, AJ!" Apple Bloom turned around. "Wait right here! I'll go run by Ponyville Central!" Applejack blinked. She heard Apple Bloom's tiny hooves plodding off in the distance, and she blinked again. "No." She spun about. "No! Zecora." Apple Bloom skidded to a stop and looked over her shoulder. "Huh?" "Zecora." Applejack pointed. "Go fetch Zecora." "Zecora?" Apple Bloom rubbed her head. "AJ, are ya sure?" "She and that Noir fella brought you back to life, didn't they?" Applejack said. "If we want Rainbow Dash gettin' better, then we need help from the right ponies. No beatin' around the bush all unnecessary-like. Understand?" "Sure thang!" Apple Bloom smiled heroically. "Zecora it is!" She scampered out of the barn. "Be back in a sec!" "You know yer way to her hut?!" Applejack called out to her. "In my sleep!" was the response, and Apple Bloom was gone. The following silence was deaffening... until it was broken by a fragile squeak. "...!" Applejack spun around. Rainbow Dash was wincing... grimacing... and yet it wasn't enough to wake up from her torturous slumber. Limbs stirred, tensed... and went limp again. More tears leaked from her fluttering eyelids. Tears that were swiftly dried by a tender orange hoof. Applejack swallowed a lump down her throat. Her eyes remained locked on Rainbow Dash... even as she backtrotted from the bale of hay... pulled up an empty bucket... and sat on its upturned end. She squatted there, facing the warmly-bundled pegasus, breathing through the thickness of the rustic barn air lingering between them. Outside, the day slowly died, with the dark fabric of evening coming to fall over the rural landscape in a purple kiss. It drew a sigh out of Applejack, so that she finally removed her hat... and finally removed that which lay gently nestled inside. Even after so many months, the fibers were as blue as ever. And Applejack noted with a twitch of bitter irony that it looked even more colorful than the host that lay dormant across the barn from her. Stifling a pained whimper, Applejack gave the tiny lonesome feather a soft nuzzle, then clutched it tightly to her chest. "Hmmmmmmm..." Applejack exhaled, like firing a cannonball from her lungs. Sad eyes stretched tiredly over the darkening scene, until night itself drew a curtain over the moment, allowing her the briefest of cathartic breaths. "Heaven help me." To be continued... ...in Appledashery Volume Two