//------------------------------// // Act IV // Story: The Story of Roseheart // by Roseheart //------------------------------// Act IV The crisp morning air passed through her mane. Roseheart opened her eyes and stared in awe at the magnificent sunrise. Home... she thought, resting her head on it's side on top of her hooves. The anger... The fear... why did I leave her? This is all my fault... Closing her eyes, she breathed in the smell of the damp grass—due to the fact that it had rained that night after she had passed out from exhaustion—beneath her. It was such a pleasant smell, and one that had always made this little white filly smile. That is, until now. Now everything around her was a stark contrast of how she felt on the inside. Tears formed at the base of her eyes as she closed them tighter. I had such a good life and I ruined it. Solace did a few stupid things, but its still all my fault. I could've done better. I should've done better, Roseheart's crying became audible. I bet everypony's glad I ran away. Nopony loves me, so why should they care if I get hurt? She opened her eyes and grimaced, saying: "Why do I even bother existing? Even with everything good that I can remember, I can't ignore everything that's happened and all of the pain I feel inside!" Abruptly, Roseheart got up and lifted her front hooves as high as she could into the air, only to smash them down into the soft grassy soil beneath her. She began digging, flinging mud up into the air. More noticeably, she was flinging mud onto her already damp coat. After a lengthy amount of time, the filly stopped her digging and just peered into the dark and muddy hole she had dug. She shut her eyes and let herself fall into the pit of mud. Only her head remained above the surface. "I can't—I just can't do it." she said, pulling herself out of the hole that she had quite literally dug herself into. She looked at the mud that enveloped her body, and let out a sigh. Roseheart walked forward aimlessly until she came to a shallow stream. She waded into it. "Clean, clean, clean," Roseheart sang, starting to clean herself off, "Oh, little filly, you don't want to seem obscene, obscene, obscene. I'll give you a hug when you feel weak, and a bop on the nose..." She stopped for a moment, her mouth left hinged open. A peculiar smile lit up her face. "Just so you'll know, our love forever grows!" she said, clearing off the last bit of mud, "Mom was always so funny. She was always such a liar," Roseheart laughed, "That's what's really funny." she laughed again. Duhdaludahhduda duhdaluhduhdeee hee heeee! "It's all so funny. So funny, so funny, so funny." An unsettling grin formed on her face. Haha, an— she began to think, until she noticed a pair of fillies on the other side of the stream. These two earth ponies looked quite a bit younger than her. One pony had a tan coat and a turquoise mane, while the other, even younger looking, pony had an orange coat and light blue mane. She called out to them: "Why hello there! Hiya! Why don't you two come over here and talk with me? I'm sure we could have some fun!" Neither of them replied. They only looked at one another with concern and slowly started to trot away. Roseheart called out to them again: "Oh c'mon now! Why won't you come over and have some fun with me!" The two fillies heightened their pace. What nerve! I only wanted to have some fun! I need to tell them this. I need to tell them this now, she thought, spreading her wings and taking off toward her fleeing witnesses. The two young ponies stopped walking and started to run. Roseheart, however, was gaining on them, increasing her speed in an almost exponential fashion. She overtook them, swooped around and landed a few feet in front of them, forcing the scared fillies to a stop. "W-w-what do you want w-with us?" said the pony with the tan coat. Roseheart replied: "Oh I don't want to doooo anything with youuuu, I just wanna talk some... some... some..." "Are you okay...?" the orange pony said. "Me? Oh I'm completely fine! Never been better!" "Sis, can we just go back home? She's scaring me..." "Scaring you?! You're a funny little filly!" Roseheart said, chuckling under her breath. These two are such a funny, funny, funny bunch! she thought. The older sister replied: "Leave us alone! You know we don't want to talk to you, so just leave us alone please!" "Oh, you two are a bunch of meanie-beanies now, aren't you? All I was trying to do was be friends with you, but nooooooooooooo you aren't going to be nice when someone is nice to you?" Roseheart raised her hooves and slammed down hard towards the two ponies. However, they moved out of the way just in time. "C'mon, Sunny, let's get out of here!" said the pony with the orange coat. The sisters quickly ran around Roseheart and continued past her in that direction. Roseheart said: "Okay, okay, okay, fine, fine, fine! Look at me! I'm so nice, nice, nice! I'm letting you go!" After a few minutes, the two ponies completely disappeared from view. She turned around and glanced at her reflection in the stream. The smirk on her face quickly faded. "What have I done?" she said, sitting down at the edge of the stream. "What's wrong with me?!" She started to hit at her reflection. "Why did all of this have to happen to me?" she bellowed, "I never did anything to deserve all of this!" Tears were building up in her eyes as she continued the assault on her reflection. "No, no, no, I didn't," she said, "I am and have always been a good little filly. Yes, I've been good," Roseheart got up and stepped away from the stream. She focused downwards on the grass. Who am I kidding? There's no one here but me, she thought, I'm the liar. I haven't been very good at all. Why have I hurt everyone I've cared about? The sorrow-filled expression on her face grew worse. I should probably eat something, but why bother? There's no reason to waste food someone else could have on me. Hours passed and all she could do was look down at the grass beneath her. Her eyes were burning. The tears themselves felt hotter than the sun that hovered over Equestria every single day. Roseheart's stomach eventually growled, but she ignored it. She just sat there. Mind completely empty. The night had finally come. She was not able to conjure up any tears. The filly sat there in silence and in darkness. However, the day was exhausted, and now she was also. Falling into the grass, she fell asleep. She opened her eyes, expecting to see the sun once again in the sky. Something, however, was very different. She was up in the clouds. Roseheart looked down and said: "Whoa, I can't see the ground from here. Where am I?" From out of nowhere, she heard a faint, familiar sound. "Wait a minute.. I think somepony's calling for—" The familiar voice called out again: "Help!" "I'm coming! Don't worry! I'll help you! Keep calling for me!" Roseheart replied, starting off toward the source of the voice. She jumped from cloud to cloud as fast as she possibly could. The voice continued to guide her towards it's origin. After about thirty seconds she arrived at the spot where the voice was coming from. Roseheart was in shock at what she saw. "Rainbow Dash?" "Hey kiddo! It's Roseheart right?" Rainbow Dash replied. "Yea, but, I'm confused, how do you know my name?" "Sorry, no time for small talk, I'm in a bit of a situation here." "Wha—" "I hurt my wings, okay? I tried climbing back up to the top of this cloud but I just can't." "Ok wel—" "What're you gonna do? Fail me like you did your mom and everyone else?" "How—" "Help me! I'm slipping!" said Rainbow Dash, as she slowly inched downward, away from Roseheart. Roseheart reached down with both hooves. "I need you to trust me on this, jump up and I'll catch you." "I can't!" Rainbow Dash replied, "I'm—" She lost her grip and started to hurtle down and away from Roseheart. "Rainbow Dash! No!" she said, as she jumped down with haste after the cyan pony whom she idolized. She opened her wings and sped straight ahead towards the helpless mare. There was just one problem: Rainbow Dash was falling way too fast, and Roseheart just couldn't catch up to her. The ground finally came into view. Roseheart needed to catch up to her, and fast. She flapped her wings with all of her might, hoping to catch up to her heroine in time. Then, suddenly: Thud. "No! No! No! No!" The filly cried out. A few moments later she landed. Rainbow Dash's body was limp before her. "I'm so sorry I—" Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and stared at Roseheart. "Y-you f-failed m-me.. y-you'll n-n-never.." The mare fell silent, and closed her eyes once more. "No!" Roseheart bellowed, however, something seemed different again. Suddenly it was night again, and Rainbow Dash was gone. Roseheart was where she had exactly fallen asleep. "It—It was just a dream." she said. Her eyes focused on something in the distance. She could barely make it out. It looks like a house made out of clouds... She instantly remembered the fire she accidentally started at the abandoned cottage. It made her shiver. Maybe I should go for it. Maybe somepony lives there? I've got to try... With her grim nightmare behind her, she set her sights forward: toward the house made of clouds.