//------------------------------// // Neglected Trophy // Story: A comforting voice // by DauntlessRainbow //------------------------------// A few months had passed, Pinkie Pie is somewhere in Eastern Equestria planning some kind of large festival, Rarity was all the way in Maregentina, some Kingdom far south of Equestria. Rainbow Dash was growing restless, every single day she could keep her composure less and less, some days she seemed to have Pinkie like energy, other days she had no energy, but every single day, she would try and avoid going home. “I’m home!” Once again, silence. Well that’s one disadvantage of a pet tortoise, I might as well own a pet rock! Rainbow thought to herself as she walked the empty hallways of her cloud mansion, eventually arriving to the kitchen, everything was empty, there was no stove, no sink, no cabinets, just a few cloud tables and a fridge. What’s for dinner? She wondered to herself as she opened the fridge to reveal a single carrot Right… I forgot to go shopping today… She let out a deep sigh as she took the carrot and handed it over to tank, who happily started eating. Rainbow then walked up to her room, the only decorated room in the house. She looked around the room for a while, all the trophies that she had ever won, several Wonderbolt memorabilia, and some of her own posters. She began thinking about how many pegasi across Equestria had a poster of her somewhere in her room. Heh, I guess despite everything, I’m still awesome to the core. She made herself chuckle, but then turned her gaze to pictures of her and her friends, she began thinking of simpler times, when everyone was together, when she felt awesome. She wrapped herself in her own wings and looked from her window, “Where did every pony go?” It was the Wonderbolt off season, meaning that she didn’t even have that to keep her distracted. What did she do for fun now? Fly as fast as she could, fly as far as she could, fly as high as she could, and let herself fall as low as she could before catching herself. Your wings are your friends, and your friends will never let you down! She had told this to scootaloo once, when trying to teach her how to use her wings, now her own words voices around in her head every day. She chuckled to herself as she shook her head, “No, they didn’t abandon me, I just… couldn’t keep up with them…” She sighed to herself as she lay down. At least I can still keep up with myself, I think. ==================== Applejack woke up like most days, right before sunrise to the sounds of several animals demanding to be fed. She stretched and brushed her mane before tying it and putting on her stetson. “Mornin’ every pony!” She shouted coming down, as she received a response from her siblings and grandmother. “What a beautiful day it is today, we got lots of work to do, Apple Bloom, be a dear and go get the mail” She set her hat down and sat down for breakfast. “Aww do I gotta? I just sat down!” Apple Bloom responded with a pout, which earned a glare from Applejack. “Ok I’m going…” The small filly set off for the mailbox. Moments later she came back with a bunch of letters and scrolls, as well as a package. “uhhh was any of y’all expecting sumthin’? It’s kinda heavy” Apple Bloom almost fell over, and Big Mac took it off her shoulders. “Huh, no I don’t think so, does it have an address on it?” Applejack questioned as her elder brother examined the package, “From Baltimare, destination, Ponyville” He responded. “Give me here, I don’t think we have any business in Baltimare but let’s check” She took the package out of her brother’s hooves and opened it. Inside was a massive trophy, with an equally large amount of money on a check. “Huh, we present this award to the winner of the pegasi olympics, Rainbow- Oh this is meant for Rainbow Dash!” She thought of a moment and then got a guilty look. “Right… the pegasi olympics, she was talking about it so much, so exited, but none of us went with her, we were all too busy… we didn’t get to see her win” I didn’t get to see her win She instantly felt incredible remorse for choosing to buck apples all week instead of going to watch the pegasi olympics. ==================== “What’s the pegasi olympics?” “Uh, only THE GREATEST EVENT FOR ANY PEGASI!, it’s the event that determines the greatest pegasus of the decade, it’s a battle of speed, agility, strength, wit, and most importantly, SPEED!” With that, Rainbow Dash had struck a pose in the air. “Uh you said that twice” Applejack had responded. “Duh, that’s how important it is! And all of you are invited!” She handed Applejack a golden ticket with the words ‘backstage pass’ written on it. “Yeah perks of being a Wonderbolt, no biggie” Rainbow said with a smug smile. “That’s great and all Sugar Cube, but are you sure Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie can attend? They’re awful busy right now” At this, Rainbow’s smile dropped a bit, but it soon picked up again. “Yeah that’s fine, but you and Fluttershy aren’t, so i’m expecting you girls to be cheering me on from the stands!” “Well actually Rainbow I gotta-“ She was cut of when Rainbow Dash launched into the sky once again. “It’s settled AJ, you are going to watch me be the awsome-est i’ve ever been!” and she flew off. ==================== And I didn’t go… “Sis? You alright?” Apple Bloom’s voice snapped Applejack from her flashback. “Hmm? oh yes I was just thinking how I would go about returning this here package to Rainbow… well I best be off, the sooner I get this into that mare’s hooves, the sooner she learns she won that silly event. Silly, that’s what I used to describe it to my family when I chose to stay home. It was just now sinking in how important of an event this was to her favorite mare. I let my Dash down, I better go talk to her soon. She headed for ponyville, and at reaching Rainbow’s home, she had a realization. Right… I can’t get up there. Just then, she spotted Fluttershy doing some morning shopping. “Fluttershy, little help here?” Fluttershy walked over to Applejack. “Well, of course! how may I be of help?” Applejack handed the package to her friend. “Fly this up there, it’s Rainbow’s, it was delivered to Sweet Apple Acres on accident” The package weighed down on Fluttershy significantly. “Oh wow it’s a big thing! I’m not sure I can fly with it” Fluttershy proceeded to make futile attempts at flight. Applejack continued to walk around Ponyville for a while before a thought came to her head, and she booked it for the school of friendship. “And so, from today on, no more interruptions in the middle of lectures” Starlight Glimmer was scolding both Trixie and Discord in her office when Applejack barged in. “Starlight! I need your magic!” Starlight smiled at Applejack. “What? What for? What do you need?” “Can you cast a cloud walker spell on me? I need to get this here package to Rainbow” With that, Starlight’s horn glowed as she placed a spell on Applejack. “There, now please leave, I still have a pair of mischievous beings to scold” Once again in front on Rainbow’s home, she began to lasso clouds from the sky and forming them into steps until she reached the top. “RAINBOW! YOU HOME?” she shouted at the door and knocked on it, to her surprise, it opened at the knock. That darn irresponsible filly doesn’t lock her front door! She walked in to the glamorous mansion and was met with a surprising view, as she looked around she saw, Nothing… her whole house is empty, neglected even… Applejack thought to herself as she began walking around. “Rainbow Dash! Your package arrived at my home!” Nothing, not even an echo. She walked into the living room, only a TV and a cloud couch could be seen, She walked into the Kitchen, and the state it was in made her gut tighten. She lives here… in this condition Applejack thought to herself. No room looked any better, rooms with no furniture at all in fact looked better than the ones that had very little. She then came to the master bedroom, the door was closed and the front war decorated with Rainbow’s Cuite mark. She was baffled when she opened the door, it was like entering a whole new building, Decorations and posters everywhere, Trophies and ribbons filled the shelves, it was magnificent! “Wow… this is something else!” Her eyes wondered around the room until she spotted a shelf next to the night stand, a shelf full of pictures of all her friends and adventures. She looked at them for a while, memories filling her mind. She then looked at the night stand, only 3 things on it, a lamp, a journal, and a front side down picture. “Huh, I wonder what those are?” She got closer to the nightstand. What are you doing Applejack? you shouldn’t be going around looking at Rainbow’s private stuff! She attempted stopping herself, but soon gave in to curiosity and flipped the picture. She stared at herself. Rainbow has a picture of me on her bedside? She thought for a moment before coming to a realization. I don’t have a picture of her… all I have are posters where she starts as a Wonderbolt… but nothing like this… She then noticed an arm at her side, a blue arm. Wait I remember this! It’s a picture of both of us! We took it right after the race we had trough the falling of the leafs! Applejack turned her gaze to the journal, and once again despite her best efforts, she gave in to curiosity. Applejack opened the journal, she was devastated with what she saw, she was reading a pony’s descent into deep depression. It began as normal, before Twilight’s coronation but several words began appearing more and more, Loneliness, same day, boredom, Fear, fear, fear. The journal only spoke of her fears eventually, until soon, the next page read, (same as last page), and the next said (see previous page), and the next said much the same thing, and the next, and the next, and the next, until eventually Applejack got to where the week of the pegasi olympics should have been held, but to her dismay, she only saw signs of ripped out pages, and the rest was blank. Applejack’s heart started pounding, she looked at the trophy she had been hauling all day. “Best pegasus in equestria, darn Rainbow, what have I been doing with you? Where have I been?” She touched a hoof to her chest as a tear began running down her cheek. “I’ve been neglecting you, the greatest of all, my Dash”