//------------------------------// // Ruby Star Shines the Brightest // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Several minutes later, the march of the Herald had slowed slightly. All eyes rested on Rainbow Dash as the mare drifted off slightly to the north, hovering above a smattering of sand bars flanking a crystal clear bay of salt water. Ariel, Kepler, and Flynn fidgeted nervously. The Desperadoes looked on in solemn silence. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, drifting to a stop. Her sad eyes were locked on an orange spectre a few feet in front of her. Applejack paced about in midair, hugging her forelimbs together. Her green eyes searched the saturated sand below in endless circles. The rest of Rainbow's friends drifted towards her, their faces bathed in compassion. "Applejack..." Fluttershy sniffled. She rested a hoof on the farm mare's shoulder. "Applejack, we're... we're so so very sorry..." "I'm fine..." "Applejack..." Rarity slowly shook her head. "Be honest with us. We're your friends, darling—" "And do ya forget who yer speakin' to?!" Applejack spun, frowning. "I said 'I'm fine' and I meant it!" Her nostrils flared. "Y'all heard Apple Bloom. She and Big Mac are handlin' themselves. In fact... the farm's doin' loads better than it's ever prospered before!" "How can they be prospering?" Fluttershy said. "They don't have you." "Well they will someday!" Applejack grumbled, pacing again in ghostly circles. "Someday... I'll be right there by their side again! Like I'm supposed to be! That's what all this is about, right? Gettin' us back to Ponyville? Restorin' harmony? So long as we're on the track towards that..." She nodded shakily. "Then it's all fine and dandy. Enough said." "No, Applejack, it's not enough." Twilight floated towards her. "All of our friends and families are in one piece. But then for you to lose Granny? It's... it's not fair. You have every right to be upset—" "If I'm upset I'll tell you, alright?!" Applejack seethed and seethed. "Just... wh-why'd he have to go and pick Ponyville, anyways?" "Who?" Rarity asked. "Discord, who else?!" Applejack's nostrils flared. "He had all the darn cities and maretropolis in the whole of Equestria to pick on, and yet he decided to sink his stinkin' teeth into a tiny lil' town that ain't done no harm to nopony!" She waved a hoof at the stars. "This whole dang world's got entire nations warrin' with one other and worshippin' false goddesses and murderin' innocent souls and Discord's gotta turn Ponyville upside down!" "Nopony could have predicted where a chaos lord like that decided to strike, Applejack," Twilight said. "And nopony was able to stop him—at least not at first. Not even Princess Celestia or... or..." The mare grimaced. Her ears drooped back, and she squeaked forth: "It's... it's all my fault..." Rarity and Fluttershy looked over. "It's... it's easy... so convenient to forget." Twilight gulped. "All of this." Her moist eyes traced the stars. "This whole journey. This whole... terrible mess that we got Rainbow in... that I got all of us in..." She sniffled, then cried, "It's my fault, Applejack. It's my fault for making us use the Elements of Harmony when Rainbow Dash wasn't there to complete it. And because of that... we died... and this whole nightmare began." She hiccuped on a sob, covering her muzzle. "I did it. I murdered Granny Smith. I m-murdered us all..." "Oh darling..." Rarity grimaced. "Awwww, now now, sugarcube..." Applejack sighed, crossing the distance between them. "Ain't no way you can blame yerself." She grasped Twilight's shoulders. "You ain't the... the cogwheel in this whole... dag-nab'd magical nonsense machine that done hijacked Rainbow and the rest of us. And you can't be goin' on carryin' the weight of this mess on yer shoulders..." "And wh-who is...?" Twilight sniffled, burying her face in Applejack's shoulder. "Rainbow? She never asked for this. You never asked for this. But me? I made it happen..." "Now stop that! Ya hear!" Applejack frowned. "Fussin' over the matter ain't gonna make it any better! We need to be strong for Rainbow Dash! For our families back at home! For—" Applejack stopped in mid-breath, for she was receiving a very soft hug from a teary-eyed Pinkie Pie. The mare hugged her from behind, nuzzling her shoulder tenderly. Applejack gazed dead forward, blinking, even as Rarity and Fluttershy drifted in to join the collective embrace. Gradually, her freckles disappeared behind a fresh river of tears. The strong mare's muzzle scrunched, and she seethed and sobbed at the same time: "Why'd he h-have to take Granny away from me? She's one of the str-strongest mares th-that I know..." Applejack whimpered, sobbed. "If... if she c-couldn't last this long... then... then what h-hope do I even have...?" She hung her face, wheezing. "Oh Goddess... Goddess alive... I've abandoned them... Big Mac... lil' Apple Bloom... I-I pr-promised I would look after them always and it's b-been broken...!" "No it hasn't, Applejack," Rarity murmured. She kissed Applejack's ear then nuzzled her tight. "You'll be with them again someday. We'll all be with our families again someday..." "Shining..." Twilight cried. "...Mom... Dad... will they ever forgive me?" "Of course they will," Fluttershy squeezed Twilight while she leaned in to nuzzle Applejack. "This is not our fault. None of this is our fault." "We're gonna make it, guys..." Pinkie Pie sniffled, wrapping her forelimbs around the rest. "...Pinkie Pie promise." All the while, Rainbow hovered in place, her ruby eyes locked on Applejack's sobbing face. When she could finally take no more, she wrenched her gaze away, spinning around completely. With deep, fuming breaths, the mare touched down and trotted off, wading through the shallow seawater. The Herald watched from afar. When Ariel saw Rainbow trotting away, she bit her lip. Sniffling, the mare flapped her wings to go and comfort her— "Hold on there, darlin'..." Bard raised a hoof, urging Ariel to stay. A soft sigh, and the stallion said, "Best let her be." "But..." Ariel swallowed a lump down her throat. "Can't you see that she's—?" Bard shook his head. "Trust a wanderin' soul." His brow furrowed under his hat. "Sometimes you just gotta let it all crumble." Wildcard said nothing. Nicole leaned into Bard, and the Desperado wrapped a gentle hoof around his younger sister. As the siblings shuffled off along with Echo, Remna stood on the edge of a sandbar, her gaze locked on Rainbow from afar. Rainbow Dash took small, tiny steps. She barely disturbed the pocket of ocean water beneath her. The liquid surface rippled, then settled, reflecting the cosmos above. Rainbow came to a stop and—between the stars and their brilliant reflection—she resembled a blue body floating aloft in the chaos of space. If anypony from a hundred miles in any direction gazed her way, the only sign of life would be the flicker of her pendant. For a brief moment, she grasped it—the Element of Loyalty. With one simple flick of the fetlock, everything would end and begin at once. But Rainbow had learned enough about circles. In a cold shudder, she fell to her knees. Starlight rippled and settled, and she hovered among the constellations again. Her ears still echoed with the sound of Applejack's sobs. She drowned it out with deeper and deeper breaths... until her lungs could contain the pressure no longer. Clenching her eyes shut, Rainbow Dash threw her head towards one half of the heavens and screamed for all she was worth. It mattered very little, and she knew it. After several seconds of the hellish exclamation, she grasped her skull and bowed low, soaking in the stars that had long consumed her.