//------------------------------//
// Gorging 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	"I thought that the hardest part of flying through the Gorge at night would be gliding past the Quarry Eels," Rainbow Dash said, her devilish grin lighting up the dinner table with greater luminosity than the dwindling candles.  "And I was totally right.  But... what I didn't realize was that there's a reason Quarry Eels prefer to hang out in deep tunnels all the time.  They prefer the dark!  Which means..."

Rarity gasped, grasping her muzzle with two dainty hooves.  "Th-they're acquainted with the night!"

"Whoah!  Who's telling this story, Rudety?!  You, or the resident daredevil?!"

"Ahem..." Rarity blushed slightly, fluffing her mane as she tossed a limp hoof forward.  "Do continue..."

"So... yeah!" Rainbow Dash said, her grin increasing in relation to the trembles around the table.  "They're totally nocturnal!  Who'd a thunk it?  I know I didn't!"  She gestured with her hooves as she continued, "So, imagine my surprise when I'm speeding past their tunnels, right?  When suddenly they're not just lunging out at me, but they're friggin' sliding out all the way and chasing me down the gorge!  Oh yeah!  Those eels are super long, by the way!  I never realized it until I saw them in whole.  But, then again, I never thought that I'd ever get a chance to see those over-sized snakes in whole!  Stuff like that just doesn't happen all the time.  I suddenly realized that—heck—I might not ever get to tell another pony ever!  Just looking back at their snapping fangs and how easily they roped around the inside of the Gorge like they friggin' owned the place... heh... I knew that my time was up.  Final curtain call.  Goin' out to pasture.  Bang.  Final nail in the coffin, y'know?"  Rainbow smirked and leaned back in mid-hover like she was reclining on an invisible couch.  "Need I go on?"

"Mmmm..."  Fluttershy inwardly whimpered, crouching until her eyes were barely at level with the tabletop.  "I-I kind of regret asking that you t-tell us about th-this dreadful story..."

"Awwwwwwwww... Come on, Fluttershy!"  Rainbow winked down at her.  "Heck, you already know how it ends!"

"It's okay, Fluttershy."  Twilight reached over and patted Fluttershy's shoulder with her hoof.  "It obviously has a happy ending."  She paused, gulped, and looked up at Rainbow with folded ears.  "Doesn't it?"

Rainbow Dash grinned evilly, her ruby eyes reflecting the worried faces of her marefriends.  "So there I was... being chased by half-a-dozen of these big, scaley things.  Just one chomp of their fangs, and they'd have me for dinner.  I knew that if I tried to fly up and ascend above the walls of the ravine, that'd give the creeps enough open air to lunge for me.  Nope, there'd be no flying away from this chase like a coward.  If I had any hope of shaping them, I'd have to fly to the end of the Gorge until it got thin enough that I could squeeze past the rock and get away from them unharmed."

"What... wh-what did you do?" Rarity asked.

"I knew that 'Boulder Pass' was ahead of me," Rainbow Dash said, brushing her mane back with a slick gesture.  "Most of the rocks that clung to the walls there were super unstable.  A single sneeze could cause an avalanche!  Now, I've flown through this Gorge enough times that I could practically do it in my sleep.  That's how I knew I'd be comfortable enough to do it in the dark.  I just didn't account for having a bunch of fat worms on my tail, their rancid breaths filling my nostrils.  But, I timed it just right."

"Timed what just right, Dashie?" Pinkie asked with blue eyes a'blinking.

Rainbow lowered down and sat before the rest of them.  "Right when doom was upon me..."  She leaned against the table, squinting and grinning from face to friendly face.  "Right when any second meant that I was gonna become eel food..."  She licked the edges of her muzzle, paused for dramatic effect, and then blurted, "I twirled sideways and bucked the ever-living-snot out of the ravine wall!  All of Boulder Pass shook, and—sure enough—it snowed rocks and pebbles all over the place!"  She hovered back up in the air, tilted back in a proud pose.  "Those stupid scale-faces didn't know what hit them!  They had flown straight into a rainstorm of stones, and I'd be a donkey's niece if not one of them suffered a killer concussion!  Hah!  It sounded like coconuts snapping behind me!  I think I even heard one of them squealing in pain like a little sissy!"

"So... you mean..."  Applejack breathed.

"Yup!  They turned tail and ran!"  Rainbow Dash produced a squeaky laugh then folded her forelimbs with a sharp smirk.  "And I... got to finish the flight."  She winked.  "The first pony to have flown through Ghastly Gorge at night... and lived."  She hovered lower and landed on her hooves.  "And she's totally standing right here."

Rainbow Dash had barely finished when Pinkie began cheering wildly.  "Wooohooo!  Way to go Dashieeee!"

"Simply marvelous!"  Rarity clapped her hooves against Sugarcube Corner's tile floor.  "Such a fantastic, riveting yarn!"

"Incredible, Rainbow!"  Twilight stammered, her jaw hanging wide open.  "Such quick thinking!  Any other pony who was unfamiliar with the Gorge couldn't possibly have survived that!"

"Gotta admit, it took a lot of spunk," Applejack's voice said, causing Rainbow's heart to leap to her throat.  Her smile was positively radiant.  "Just flyin' into that nasty place to begin with is like signin' yer own death warrant."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash winked.  "It looks like somepony slipped in some invisible ink."  The air filled with chuckles and giggles.  "Yup!"  She hovered again, containing her own snickers.  "If anypony's gonna be pranking death, you're looking right at her!"

As the table eventually quieted down, Rarity blinked, glancing around worriedly.  "Wait a moment.  Where is Fluttershy?"

"Under the table, silly filly!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Come on out, sugarcube!" Applejack said with a smirk.  "You'll prune up if you keep bathin' in a cold sweat!"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy peaked her head out, blushing slightly.  "I knew Rainbow Dash would end up okay."

The room erupted in laughter.  Twilight and Rarity leaned in to nuzzle Fluttershy, who smiled demurely.

Rainbow Dash gazed down at the scene, smiling.  All of her friends were around, and she was at the center of attention.  She felt warm.  She felt at ease.  She felt...