//------------------------------//
// Okay To Go 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash slowly, limply trotted out of the factory in the middle of Shindig's farm.  By then, the afternoon had run its course, and the sun was making its slow way down towards the flat Fillydian horizon.  A blood red haze of light fell like a curtain over the unkempt orange groves and thick fields.

The concrete panels that formed the walls of the factory reflected the death of day in a crimson sheen, nearly bliding Rainbow Dash.  Not that it mattered much; the pegasus largely kept her head hanging down to the ground.

She trotted slowly across the center of the farmland, her hooves scuffling across the compacted dirt.  Cicadas buzzed in the distance, their song wafting through the humid air to make her ears twitch.





Minutes later, Rainbow Dash stood dead-still behind Applejack's wagon.  She gazed north, her face deadpan and dull.  Her agile body looked ready to leap towards that horizon at any second, but she remained anchored in place.

Slowly, she began chewing on her bottom lip.  She turned and looked behind her at the stack of crates.  Beside the containers of cider, her bag lay, and in it—she knew—was all of her medicine.  It was enough to allow her to fly to Ponyville and back five times, and yet she couldn't budge an inch.

Sighing, she turned and faced the Shindig farmhouse instead.





Rainbow Dash stood silently in the dusty living room.  Her soft gaze fell on the large, elaborate model of a steam-powered city, its tiny windmills and rotating parts frozen forever.  With the sun setting, it was triply dark inside the abandoned house, but she didn't need to see to know what she was looking at.

The mare slowly turned around, feeling the mess of artifacts, notes, and maps blur all around her.  At last, she twirled to a stop, gazing at a brass-framed photograph on an end table.  She trotted forward, squinting her eyes.

Serenity Shindig and Phillip Philanthropy gazed back, smiling.  They looked so happy, so innocent.  In the reflective gloss of the picture frame, the messy work and research of their sons lingered across the room, but the couple were locked far away in a pocket of lost time.  They could not notice.





Rainbow Dash sat on the edge of the house's front stoop.  She hugged herself, tighter and tighter.  The first of several crickets lit the air as the afternoon turned to evening.  The sunset had almost entirely run its course, and a soothing cold velvet washed over Shindig Soils.

Shuddering, Rainbow Dash stared up at the wagon, the factory, then the sky.  Her breaths came out in ragged bursts, and she couldn't keep her ruby eyes in one place for too long.

Gulping, she glanced down at the dirt in front of her.  While there was still dull red daylight to spare, she leaned forward, placed a forelimb against the soil, and drew a curved line through it.  She brought it up, down, and back ground, finishing with a neat indentation.  The basic outline of an apple now lay before her, and she even gave it a little stem with one final flick.

Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash hugged herself again, rocking back and forth as she stared intently at the outline she had made.  She began shivering uncontrollably, and her vision fogged.  As tears formed in her eyes, she clenched them shut, hissing under her breath.

She shook once.. twice... and then—at last—the trembles ended.

When she reopened her eyes, they were clear, and an angry frown accompanied them.





Silver Shill was practically sleeping at this point.

Just then, a series of hoofsteps trotted up, then dropped something at his side.

Th-Thud!

"Guh!" Silver woke up with a start, rattling against his hoof-cuffs.  He leaned against the pipe and looked down to see a box of carrots.  Within seconds, a heavy cider jar landed next to him, followed by a bent, rusted bucket.  "What... wh-what...?!"  He looked up, beady eyes squinting.  "What are all these for?"

"That..."  Rainbow Dash pointed at the carrots.  "Is for when you feel like eating."  She pointed at the cider jar.  "That is for when you feel like drinking.  And that..."  She pointed at the bucket.  "...is for the only thing in life you're good for."  She narrowed her eyes as she backtrotted.  "Because, somehow, I don't think this thing you're in is going to quite cut it."

"Wait... y-you can't be serious!" Silver Shill yanked and jerked at his manacles.  "No, don't leave me in here—!"

"Enjoy the smell, ya melon fudge."  Growling, she slammed the outhouse door shut.

"You'll never make it!  Paradise will be purgatory for y—!"

THUD!  His exclamations became muffled shouts.

Spinning around, Rainbow Dash faced the factory and its small door.  She took the firmest breath of her life... and trotted forward, entering the structure.