//------------------------------// // If an Apple Dashes in the Middle of a Forest... // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// "I suppose it's worth asking," Fluttershy murmured. "Although I think I already know the truth." Rainbow tilted her chin up. "What's that?" "If this friend of yours was so... erm... 'magically gifted'..." She squinted. "Why did you never ask him to help cure your atrophying muscles?" Rainbow bit her lip. "Or..." Fluttershy blinked. "Maybe you did and I just haven't notic—" "This is something else," Rainbow said, brushing her forelimbs back and forth. "Zecora and Noir... they, uh... they work some alchemic 'magic' of their own." "Do they know about your mystical companion?" "Uhhh..." Rainbow winced slightly. "Noir does now... kinda. Zecora..." Rainbow shrugged. "She always knows more than she lets on." "Hmmmm... quite true." "They've helped me on the health front. Meanwhile, my special friend has been... uhh... helping me on the apple front... eheheh... or so I've told myself." Rainbow cleared her throat. "The fact of the matter is... I've... h-had things to occupy my time as of late. And that trip to fetch the flowers?" She shrugged. "That was pushing it to the absolute limit. I don't mean to scare you or nothing, Fluttershy, but it nearly put a friggin' end to me." Fluttershy grimaced, but found the strength to murmur, "I feel like such a bad friend for not picking up on all of this before." "No." Rainbow shook her head. "I'm the bad friend for not telling you and the girls what I was occupied with." "Well, if there was an opportunity to heal Apple Bloom, then perhaps you should have at least told Twilight so that she could have properly assisted you. Or the rest of us for that matter!" "It... wouldn't have been that simple, Fluttershy." "Just why not?!" "You..." Rainbow bit her lip. Hard. "...you girls wouldn't have liked the distance I had to go to make it all work out in the end." "And just what is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow clammed up. Fluttershy sighed. She leaned in to nuzzle Rainbow. "All this time... I thought you were just making deliveries across country." She gulped hard. "In reality, you were going through such... such tough times." "It's not so bad, Fluttershy..." Fluttershy sniffled. "Isn't it, though?" "I put it upon myself," Rainbow said with a weak smile. "Part of me thinks my friend took off because he felt it was his way of protecting me." "I'm almost tempted to believe that," Fluttershy muttered. Rainbow hung her head. "Still... I wouldn't take back anything I did. Not for an instant." "Oh?" "Cuz it did help Applejack in the end," Rainbow said. "And others." "Others?" "Yeah. Trixie, Pinkie Pie, and Daring Do in Dredgemane. Photo Finish in Manehattan." "Photo Finish—?" "Stu Leaves, Donut Joe, Gustave Le Grande, Mulia Mild in Orlandoats." Fluttershy blinked. "Oh yes! Your calamitous run-in with the Flim Flam brothers!" Fluttershy's muzzle hung open. "Wait... do you mean to say that your friend had a hoof to play in that?" "Well. No, not really. But he did do me the favor of saving a precious artifact from the wrong hooves." Rainbow suddenly blinked. "Snkkkkt..." She clutched herself, breaking into a flurry of giggles. "Heeheehee..." "What's so funny, Rainbow?" "I just had a silly... happy thought..." Rainbow Dash wiped her eyes dry. "Of introducing you to another friend of mine." A warm smile. "A pony by the name of Epcot." "Sounds like a pleasant friend." "Oh!" Rainbow gasped. "I almost forgot!" She slapped her hoof against the floor. "Autumn Rush, a minotaur named Iron Will, and a bunch of deer that were enslaved by diamond dogs." Rainbow gestured. "My friend and I freed them from imprisonment. So there's that too, I guess." "Wait wait wait..." Fluttershy's muzzle hung agape. "You mean that... that heroic mare that saved those underground prisoners to the northeast and vanished?" Her eyes widened. "That pony they made a stage play about?! That was you?!" "Oh. That's right." Rainbow blinked. "I heard something about them making a stage performance about that. Huh. The things that you miss when you're busy..." "Rainbow Dash, I..." Fluttershy hung between a grimace and a grin. "I-I just don't know where to begin..." "I know, Flutters. I know..." "You... you did so many amazing things in secret." Fluttershy blinked. "What ever happened to the brash pegasus who wouldn't hesitate to brag out in the open about this sort of thing?" Rainbow shrugged. "I guess she... found something she cherished a whole lot more than the limelight." Fluttershy gazed at her. "Rainbow... Rainbow if Applejack knew..." "There's no guarantee of anything. That's not the point." "Then what is, Rainbow?" "I know it may seem weird to you... twisted, even. But..." Rainbow fidgeted. "All those things I did? All those ponies I helped? I did them all... because of her..." A dim smile, sparkling on the fuzzy edges. "She's the reason I've dared to do anything but just... roll over and become a lump of atrophied muscles. She helps me get up out of bed each day. She... she..." Silence. Rainbow Dash squeaked. "I love her, Fluttershy. She fills me with life. Just the thought of her... like lifeblood. Pure friggin' lifeblood. I..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth, exhaling slowly. "I don't think I can put it into words." "No. I guess you can't." Fluttershy smiled tenderly. "But you can certainly put it to action." Rainbow grinned. Fluttershy grinned back. "Hey... hey!" Pinkie Pie suddenly bounced into the clearing, gazing at the two. "There you girls are! The others were starting to worry! Just what are you up to?" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stared over from where they leisurely sat, facing each other in the middle of the forest. "... ... ..." Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "We're gathering firewood." "... ... ..." Pinkie Pie gazed at them, at the loose twigs and branches surrounding the clearing, and then at the pony pair again. "Mmmmmmmm..." She shrugged. "I've got nothin'." Turning tail, she spun and bounced back towards camp. "Come back to the cave! We've got marshmallowsssssss!"