//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: True Beauty // by bahatumay //------------------------------// Nearly a week had passed since Applejack had visited Rainbow last, and though her daily life had regained a semblance of normality, that’s all it was: a semblance. No longer did she have to watch for Rainbow napping in the trees, or keep an eye out for buckets of water balanced on doors. She didn’t have to get two mugs out whenever she broke out the cider, and not a single pony had challenged her to a race in the past two weeks. And to be honest, Applejack hated this. Life without Rainbow was… well... kindof gray. Applejack audibly groaned at the awful play on words her brain had come up with. Had she really just thought that? But as painful as it had been, it was true. Life without Rainbow just wasn’t right. Applejack dropped her baskets and stomped determinedly. She was going to go see Rainbow Dash again, bearing more gifts than a mailpony on Hearth’s Warming Eve. First, though, she needed some supplies. * * * Applejack trotted quickly over to the library. She carried saddlebags full of warm goodies, and wanted to get up to Rainbow’s house as soon as possible before they cooled. Not that there was anything wrong with cool baked goods; they were just better warm and fresh from the oven. Remembering Twilight’s instructions last time she had visited, she reached for the handle and pushed without knocking, but to her surprise, the door didn’t move. Inertia made her continue, though, and she ran face-first into the door. She took a step back and rubbed her muzzle. What happened? She suddenly noticed a piece of paper pasted firmly on the door, directly in the middle and with the edges lined up with the frame. That had to be Twilight’s doing. She read it out loud. “‘Gone to Canterlot for research, will return by balloon within the week’. Great,” she muttered. “How’m Ah supposed to get up there now?” Applejack bit her lower lip and began to pace. Twilight had let her keep the sandals, so the cloud part wasn’t a problem; but she needed to get up there and now. But how? Who did she know that could get her up there, and fast; especially on such short notice? Only one mare came to mind. Unfortunately. * * * “...and so Ah need to get up there to Rainbow’s house and Twilight’s gone. Can you do it?” Pinkie Pie frowned. “I don’t think so…” she said, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t know if you knew this, but earth ponies aren’t exactly designed for flying.” She wiggled her hindquarters, demonstrating her lack of wings. Applejack’s jaw opened wordlessly as she thought of the many times Pinkie had done the impossible, including flying. “Please, Pinkie! Ah don’t care how you do it and Ah won’t ask any questions, but Ah need to get up there and pronto!” Pinkie’s grin reappeared. “Do you mean that? No asking questions?” “Ah do!” * * * Applejack took stock of her situation and swallowed nervously. “Well, now Ah'm asking a question. ‘What on blue blazes was Ah thinkin’ climbin’ into this catapult?!’” Pinkie Pie shook her head. “First of all, it’s a trebuchet,” she corrected. “Completely different method of propulsion using a counterweight instead of potential energy stored in a bent shaft. Secondly, it’s perfectly safe! Just trust your auntie Pinkie,” Pinkie finished, patting Applejack on the head before returning to the base of the trebuchet. Applejack glared at her from her position inside the bucket. “Ya know, Ah'm pretty sure Ah'm older than you. In fact, Ah think you're the youngest out of all of us.” “Irrelevant details!” Pinkie proclaimed. “You’ve got everything you need?” “Yeah, Ah’ve got food, cider, no less than a dozen cupcakes—how did you fit them all in here?—and… what’s this?” “A mirror!” Pinkie grinned. Applejack pulled it out and examined it. Her confused face looked right back at her. “Why on earth would you give me a mirror?” she asked. “Well, you see, if a broken mirror is seven years of bad luck, then a whole mirror has to be seven years of good luck! And Dashie needs all the good luck she can get! It’s logic!” Applejack chuckled as she turned the mirror over. “Ah really don’t think it works that wa-” But that's as far as she got, because Pinkie pulled the stop out, releasing the counterweight and sending Applejack flying towards Rainbow's house. Pinkie watched her go, giggling as Applejack flew and screamed wildly the whole time. Smiling broadly, she licked a hoof and held it up in the air before pausing and frowning. “On second thought, I should probably have accounted for wind speed before I launched her,” she mused. * * * Apparently, luck was with Applejack that day, because she landed in front of Rainbow’s front door. Sure, she hit her head on the ground and launched the contents of her saddlebags all over the porch, but hey. that’s a small price to pay. Besides, the cloud was soft enough that nothing had broken—not even the mirror had cracked—so Applejack recovered quickly. She stood up, grateful that the sandals had stayed on, gathered the strewn items and knocked on the door. The answer came quicker than expected. “What do you want?” Rainbow’s voice came. “Ah hadn’t seen you in a while…” “So?” Applejack licked her lips. Already this wasn’t going as well as she’d hoped. “...so Ah figured Ah should come by, see how you were doin’.” Rainbow didn’t say anything for a while, but then spoke. “You alone?” “Yep,” Applejack answered. “Hey, me too. And I want to stay that way, so go away.” Applejack had expected this, and opened her saddlebag to pull out her secret weapon. “Ah’ve got cider…” she said invitingly. Rainbow didn’t answer. Applejack uncapped the thermos and waved it around, letting the scent of cider fill the air. All ponies, including pegasi, had a good sense of smell; and it probably wouldn’t be long before… Rainbow opened the door, her face still set firmly in a glare. Unlike before, though, she didn’t hide her right side behind the door. She just stared at Applejack, quiet and defiant, and Applejack flinched under her angry glare. At least, that was probably it, and not because Rainbow’s face had been healing very slowly, if at all. “That’s cheating, you know,” Rainbow Dash said quietly. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with bringing a friend somethin’ nice,” Applejack said disarmingly. Applejack immediately regretted wording it that way as Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah,” she spat. “‘Friend’. I guess you’ll want to come inside?” “If you want.” Rainbow stepped back, wincing a bit as her right rear hoof hit the ground. “I don’t, but come in anyway.” Applejack ignored her ex-marefriend’s angry tone and slowly stepped inside. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and then widened a bit. Rainbow’s house was a complete mess. Books lay scattered around, many of them open and face down. Half-eaten food was laying around half-completed puzzles, and everything just looked cluttered. Applejack felt a pang as she noticed that the few pictures Rainbow had of the two of them together were flipped over or laying face down. The whole place felt darker, and it wasn’t just from the lack of light in the house. “How long have you been cooped up in here?” Applejack asked, avoiding a small pile of… something. Rainbow shrugged, wincing again. “Doesn’t matter. Since that night at the bar.” Applejack was somewhat taken aback. “Two weeks ago?” “Wow, you can tell time!” Rainbow grinned widely. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’tcha?” Applejack bit back the harsh retort that came to her mouth. Rainbow had been through a lot, and there was no need for her to fight fire with fire. She winced internally at her mental word choice. Rainbow gestured at the counter. “You can leave it there. Or drink it, if you want. I don’t even drink cider anymore.” Applejack was, to put it lightly, taken aback. “Why not?” Rainbow shrugged. “Not sure why you’d care.” Rainbow’s attitude finally got through to Applejack, and she snapped. She took a defiant step forward. “How could you say that?” Applejack asked. “After all we’ve been through?” “After all I’ve been through, you mean?” Rainbow hissed, jabbing a hoof towards the right side of her face. “I nearly died, I’m in constant pain, I lost my speed, I lost my wings, I lost my marefriend, I lost everything I’ve ever loved! And you, just waltzing in here, pretending nothing changed? Everything changed, Applejack! Everything!” Rainbow painfully turned and faced her bedroom. “I think you’ve been here long enough.” Applejack swallowed nervously. “Ah… Ah see.” “Do you?” Rainbow challenged without turning around. “Ah’ll just… You want me to make you lunch or something?” “I want you to go away.” Applejack sighed, knowing that it would be futile to argue. “Can Ah get a ride down, at least?” Rainbow’s ears fell. “That’s not going to happen.” Applejack chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, Ah can’t exactly fly down myse-” Applejack’s voice trailed off as Rainbow, still facing away from her, spread her wings to their full span. At least, she tried to. Her left wing appeared fairly normal, but her right appeared nearly devoid of feathers, and unable to straighten completely. Her once-proud wings had been reduced to but half their former glory. The bar was dark enough that Applejack hadn’t even noticed that two weeks ago. A month earlier, that spreading action would have been accompanied by a sultry wink and a flick of her tail, with Rainbow running her tongue over her teeth as well. Now, though, all it showed was defeat. “No. It’s literally not going to happen. And besides, it’s all tingly from the nerve damage or something. If we didn’t crash and die, I’d probably drop you on your head anyway.” “How did you get up here? On second thought, how do you get up and down?” “I have my ways,” Rainbow said, taking another step towards her bedroom. “No, seriously. How do you-?” Rainbow stopped and sighed dramatically. “First time? Mailmare. Last time? Called in a favor from Raindrops.” Applejack couldn’t stop the next question. “But wouldn’t that hurt?” “They wrapped me in a tablecloth and carried me down, like one of those stupid storks carrying a foal. Happy?” Applejack nodded. “So who are you getting to carry you next time?” Rainbow didn't look back as she began shuffling to her room. “I'm not so sure I’m going out anymore.” Applejack watched her leave. Returning to the kitchen, she dumped her saddlebags out on the counter and prepared the snacks she had brought. When the cupcakes and apple fritters were presentable, she picked up the cider thermos and turned to leave, but then paused. She sincerely doubted that everything had changed, but had Applejack changed? She pushed that thought out of her mind as she set down the cider for Rainbow to drink at her leisure. “Goodbye, Rainbow,” she called as she walked out the door. Rainbow didn’t answer. Applejack sighed as she shut the door behind her. That wasn’t as smooth as she had hoped, but at least it was something. She would need to think of something else for next time. But for now, she had a much bigger problem to deal with. “...How in the hay am Ah gettin' down from here?” * * * “Thanks again, Pinkie,” Applejack said shakily. “Ah… uh… owe you one, Ah guess.” “No problemo!” Pinkie said brightly. “Ah’m not sure where you even got this mattress…” Applejack muttered, gingerly stepping off. As she had suspected, it had been a regular mattress; and frankly, she was surprised to feel she had no injuries from falling such a great distance. “Oh, I always keep them around,” Pinkie said brightly, picking up the mattress and putting it on like an oversized hat. “Sometimes you just want to have fun on a mattress.” Applejack blinked. Had that really just come out of Pinkie’s mouth? “You know, sliding down stairs, using them as jousting pads, bouncing on them? Mattresses are great fun!” Oh. Right. That made more sense. “Ah knew that.” “Welp, I’m gonna go home and mope some more that I don’t know how to cheer up Rainbow Dash. Bye!” And Pinkie bounced off, somehow keeping the mattress hat steady. Applejack paused… and then realized she was likely going to go do the same thing. Except her moping usually involved bucking trees. * * * She wasn’t the only dejected pony in Ponyville that night. Rainbow Dash painfully dragged herself back into the kitchen; the constant smell of food having finally put a dent in her armor. She nosed at the fritters and dragged her tongue along the top of the brownies before shoving her face into the pie. Though it was now cold, the texture and flavor were familiar and instantly brought back memories. Painful memories. Growling, she withdrew her muzzle and tried to wipe her face off. Instinctively, she tried to use her right hoof, but hissed as pain shot through her foreleg. Ignoring the odd sensation of food on her face for now, she continued looking at the gifts she had been left. She cracked a smile as she saw the cider, and opened it and took a drink. To her disgust, it was warm. She groaned in protest and shoved it in the cooling cloud, hoping it would cool quickly. The only thing worse than warm cider was no cider. She continued scanning and paused as her eyes fell on a mirror. Hesitantly, Rainbow Dash pulled it closer, and turned it over, so as to see herself again. The silence of the night was broken by the sound of a pained roar, and then the harsh sound of glass shattering.