//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: Misfortunes // by Spectral //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Rainbow Dash was running through the Everfree Forest. She didn't knew why she was, or how she had gotten there, but she knew that if she didn't reach her in time, Applejack would not make it. Because of the strong wind she could feel pulling her mane and tail, she could not fly, or even unfold her wings from her body out of fear from getting blown away. She heard a roar, followed by a scream, and she recognized Applejack's voice immediately. Doubling her effort, she ran even faster than before, faster than she had ever ran towards the scream. As she rounded a corner, she saw Applejack lying at the feet of an enormous cave bear, shaking of fear and unable to run away because of her broken leg. "Rainbow Dash!" she cried out. "I'm coming", Rainbow Dash thought to herself. As she quickly ran towards the bear, hoping to take it by surprise, she saw it raising a gigantic paw too finish of Applejack. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened with fear, and Applejack just froze, as if she could avoid being seen by the monster in front of her. For Rainbow Dash, time seemed to move extremely slowly, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't gain more speed. The bear roared one more time, and struck against Applejack with such power, that he would have easily broke a tree in half. "NOO!" Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, using her wings to try to get more speed. Too late, she realized her mistake as the wind sudden got a hold of her, quickly pulling her into the sky and away from Applejack. Below her, she saw the bear's paw hit Applejack, throwing her against the wall, bleeding heavily from her head. Rainbow Dash tried to scream, but she couldn't, and the wind just brought her higher and higher into the sky, the light fading away until she was completely alone in the darkness. Rainbow Dash woke up with a start, her heart pounding rapidly as she looked around. The cave was now much brighter than yesterday, but it was still raining and windy outside, and she could see occasional lightning strikes, almost tearing the sky apart. Applejack still slept against her shoulder. The memories of the horrible dream already fading, Rainbow Dash leaned back against the wall again, thinking about what had happened the day before. Guilt and shame hit her as she saw that Applejack's broken leg and flank now had gotten several large bruises, the largest one being the size of two hooves placed next to each other, and the leg sticking out in a strange angle. Dash slowly got to her hooves, careful not to let Applejack fall to the ground. She started walking around the cave, stretching her aching body. She noted that the fire had burned out, so they would have to find more wood. That wasn't an urgent matter though, because of the sun shining through the clouds. What was important now was to find food. Rainbow Dash was starving, and she knew that Applejack was as well. She would probably have to splint Applejack's broken leg, but she had no idea how to. Looking at the yellow earth pony, Rainbow Dash saw that she was now awake and lied there watching her stretching. "Slept well?" Applejack asked her. "Yeah." Rainbow Dash lied, choosing not to tell her about the dream. She was glad she was not the element of honesty."What about you?" "When I finally managed to fall asleep, I did. The pain kept me awake for a while." She grimaced as she looked at her leg, seeing the bruises."Guess I hurt myself pretty bad, huh?" She forced a smile. "Yeah" Dash answered and gave her a brief smile back."About that, should we splint the leg or something? I've got no idea how to do it." "If ya bring me the things, I can tell ya how to." "Sure" Rainbow Dash said, happy to finally be able to do something to help ease Applejack's pain."I guess I better get going, while the sun is up." "Yeah. Well I'll stay here. Not that I could walk away or anything." She rolled her eyes to emphasize the statement."See y'all later!" "Bye!" Rainbow Dash walked out into the storm, careful to not let the wind get a hold of her wings. That part from the dream hadn't yet faded from her memory. The rain was pouring down, making her soaking wet within just a few seconds, and lightning lit the sky every few seconds. Determined not to fail her, Rainbow Dash started to make her way through the storm towards the forest. She was hoping to find some branches and sticks to splint Applejack's leg, as well as to making another fire. She also had to keep an eye out for food. Finding sticks or branches lying around proved to be easy. The storm had blown off a huge amount of these and Rainbow Dash could see several trees that didn't have any branches left. As she bent down to pick up a medium sized branch on the ground, she realized: "How am I going to carry these things? I can only pick up one at a time with my mouth." She paused, thinking about it a second or two. She swore out loud."I don't have time for this. The sun is going to set before I've got enough things!" As she kept walking through the forest, desperate to think of something, an oddly moving branch caught her eye. Upon walking closer to investigate, she saw that it was one of the brown leather bags they had brought for the picnic. It had flied into a small tree, flapping in the wind. Rainbow Dash almost couldn't believe it. This would speed up the process of gathering sticks and food by a lot. She reached out and grabbed the bag with her mouth, throwing it onto her back while holding it down with her wings. Starting to make her way back to the cave they used as shelter, she picked up sticks and logs of various sizes and putting them in the saddlebag, filling it up quickly. As Dash approached the cave the bag had gotten quite heavy, she was exhausted from the effort needed to carry it. Entering the cave, she saw Applejack still lying in the very same spot and the very same position as when she left her. "Hi there", Applejack said faintly, forcing another beautiful smile as she saw the recovered saddlebag. Rainbow Dash smiled back while emptying the content on the floor in front of her. "I could try and splint your leg now" she said."If you tell me how to do it." Applejack thought for a moment. "Take the lids from the bag and tear them into stripes, half a hoof wide" she said. Rainbow Dash did so, though the tough leather didn't give in easily, and ended up with four individual stripes, half a hoof wide and almost four hooves long. She put them in front of Applejack. "Good." From the look on her face, Rainbow Dash could tell she was in pain. "Now" she took a short pause to inhale."Get two sticks bout the length of ma hind leg." Rainbow Dash took two sticks like that from the pile of branches she had collected. Following Applejack's instructions, Rainbow Dash placed one of the sticks on each side of the broken leg, before tying the leather stripes around the leg and securing the sticks into place. "How do you feel?" she asked a bit nervously, afraid she somehow might had done it wrong. "Better" Applejack answered. She tested moving the leg around a bit, and while it still hurt, it wasn't that bad anymore and she could almost completely ignore it now. Applejack looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes and smiled at her. "Thanks." You could hear the sincerity in her voice. "It's the least I could do" Rainbow Dash blushed slightly. Without the pain constantly pulsing from the leg, Applejack noted she was starving. As if she could read her thoughts, or perhaps was just really hungry herself, Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find some food" she said. She picked up the saddlebag that was now lacking a lid along with any other excessive features, put it on and walked out of the cave. "See you soon!" And with that she was gone. Lying still and waiting quickly became boring for Applejack, especially now that the pain wasn't that bad anymore. Her leg felt more numb now, but still hurt if she touched it. Eventually, she tried to stand up. She was shaking of the effort needed and hated herself for being so weak, but eventually managed to get on her hooves. If she didn't put her weight on the hurt leg, she even managed to walk around a bit before exhaustion overtook her and she sank back down on the floor. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was out in the storm, defying the weather in order to find some food before night fell. She wasn't really sure exactly what she was looking for, as long as it was edible. Dash had almost started losing hope as the lightness slowly faded away, when she saw a tree that somehow looked familiar. When she saw the a red fruit hanging from one the branches that had not yet been blown off, she realized it was an apple tree. But that single, red apple, hanging just out of her reach, was the only fruit left on the whole tree. She knew she should have turned back by now, but she just couldn't return to Applejack empty-hooved. She was the element of loyalty after all. Not being able to fly up to the apple because of the wind, Rainbow Dash decided to try and applebuck the tree like Applejack would have done. Positioning herself in front of the tree while facing away, she raised both her hind legs and kicked. The tree shook a little bit but nothing fell down. A bit angry, and desperate, she kicked again, now even harder. This time, she could hear the tree creaking, but still nothing fell down. Once again, she kicked the tree with all her might, and this time a branch fell down, landing a few meters away from her. This gave her an idea. She grabbed the branch with her mouth and poked the apple with it. After a few pokes, the apple fell towards the ground, Rainbow Dash throwing the branch away to catch it. She put it in her bag and started making her way back. After what felt like forever, she got back to the cave. While standing just outside the entrance, she realized she only had one apple. Her stomach was hurting of the hunger, but she knew that Applejack needed it better. Walking into the cave, she found Applejack lying next to another campfire she had created using the rest of the branches and sticks. "Welcome back" she said."I was just startin to wonder." Rainbow Dash gave her a smile. "I got an apple here." Rainbow Dash reached down in the saddlebag and picked up the apple. "You take it" she said, while putting it down next to Applejack. "Thanks" she said happily, and was just about to bite it when she stopped herself."What bout you?" she asked, a bit troubled. "It's cool. I don't need anything" Rainbow Dash lied."You eat it." "You sure bout that?" Applejack didn't look convinced. "Listen AJ, you need it more than I do. Just go ahead and eat it." "Okay" she said, and took a big bite of the apple. While she ate, Rainbow Dash sat down next to her, watching her silently. She kind of regretted giving up the apple, but what she said was true; Applejack needed that apple more than she did, having hurt herself like that. Dash knew she could last without food a little while longer. At least she hoped so. Having finished the apple, Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash. "Thanks" she smiled, and before Rainbow Dash could do anything, she leaned forward and kissed her. Rainbow Dash, completely taken by surprise, just sat there and did nothing. She couldn't believe it. Applejack stopped after a few seconds, a bit worried about Dash's reaction. "Y'all ok..." Before she could finish the sentence, Rainbow Dash cut her off by kissing her. She had wanted this moment to come for such a long time, fantasized about it, but she never had the guts to tell Applejack about her feelings. They fell asleep lying in each other hooves, both of them with a smile on their faces. Outside, the storm slowly started dying and fading away. Thanks for reading, original story here (These author notes are getting repetitive, aren't they?) ~ Rainbow Breeze