Appledashery

by Just Essay

Neighcolepsy

Rainbow Dash brushed, brushed, and brushed her teeth. Once finished, she spat into her skystone sink and slapped the cloudy partition above it, drenching the basin with fresh water and washing the paste away. Cleaning her brush off, she dropped it back into its cup and stared into the mirror in front of her.

A freshly showered mane hung around her fuzzy blue head in satin-slick sheets of color. The shine to the hair matched the glistening in her ruby eyes. For a brief moment, the pegasus looked spotless and squeaky-clean, like porcelain.

She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

After a deep breath, she brought her forelimb up and flexed it, quietly relishing in the firm feeling of strength that she had in her possession once again. The numbness was gone, as well as the sense of frailty and weakness.

And yet, standing before the mirror, she couldn't shake how indescribably tiny she felt.

"I may be stupid, but at least I hold my own," she muttered.

The reflection in the mirror stared back.

She gulped, leaning forward and planting two hooves on opposite end of the mirror's lower half. "You... you don't think that I'm weak, do you?"

Silence.

"Do you... you even care if I'm weak?"

More silence.

The pegasus sighed. She leaned back from the mirror, carrying a pathetic smirk. "Meh... I need to get a friggin' radio in this place."

She turned tail and stomped out of the bathroom.

---

Rainbow slapped the pale horn onto the corner of her dresser.

She stepped back in the dim candlelight, squinting at it. After a full minute passed, she clenched her jaw, took a deep breath, and said, "Not so tough now with a full dose, huh?"

Silence.

"I just... I-I just got preoccupied with the whole red drake fallout... that's all..." Rainbow gulped. "I daydreamed you up because of the stress. Yeah. It's like the darned Best Young Fliers Competition all over again! I made you up! You're nothing!"

The granite shard sat perfectly still, unmoving.

Rainbow sighed and clenched her eyes shut. "The medicine isn't making me crazy. It's not. I can handle it. I can. I've got to." She swallowed hard and stood still. Seconds later, she squinted one eye open.

The horn was in the same place where she left it.

This time, Rainbow smiled faintly.

"Right... just... j-just have to tell my mind who's in ch-charge..."

She spun around and trudged slowly towards her bed.

"I've got a great job... great friends... great pair of wings..."

Stifling a yawn, she crawled over the padded duvet, then leaned towards her bedside table to blow the candles out. With a happy sigh, she slid snugly under the covers and curled up, folding her wings around her.

"I've... got everything under control," she spoke aloud. "It's all cool. It really is..."

Nevertheless, she couldn't afford to close her eyes. Not yet.

Fidgeting, she reached up, snatched the largest of her pillows, and brought it to her fuzzy chest. She hugged it, nuzzled up to it.

"But... if I was weak," she stammered. "You wouldn't m-mind, would you?"

Silence, and yet Rainbow smiled, her eyes glistening along the edges.

"You're too awesome..." She sniffed, clenching her eyes shut at last as she murmured sideways into the pillow. "Too... t-too awesome for me," her voice craked. "But.. even still..."

Rainbow drifted off, but not without a final exhalation... with six words murmured warmly into the darkness.

And then, with a bittersweet grin, Rainbow was gone.

---

Beautiful countryside glided beneath Rainbow Dash.

She took steady breaths, pushing forward through the warm air currents. It occurred to her that her wings weren't even flapping. This was a strange thing, and yet it wasn't. Rainbow took another sip of cider and kept gliding.

"You're such a sweet thing," Fluttershy said. She leaned forward across the green grass and nuzzled a red-coated mare in the freckles. "Thank you for being such a darling, Big Mac, and always protecting me at flight camp."

"Hmmmm..." Big Macintosh giggled, her green eyes fluttering. "Eeyup," the red-maned mare kissed Fluttershy on the cheek and held her close.

Rainbow Dash stared blankly. She glanced right and saw Spike holding a bound-and-gagged Twilight Sparkle over his scaled head.

"This is for Big Boss!" The whelp snorted fire and tossed Twilight into the blazing depths. "Feast, Aatxe, Destroyer of Unicorns!"

"Mmmmmmmmffff!" Twilight flailed helplessly as she plunged into the lava pits of Tartarus. The abyss exploded with splashing bits. Stamps floated across with his desk, scribbling over a dozen clipboards.

"So many coins, so little cider," said Lyra. She, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Caramel rowed a bar table across the ocean of bits. "Pick your poison, but all you do is drown, silly filly."

"It's not about the money, Zecora," Rainbow Dash muttered. "It's about being strong. Finding a way to fly."

"Why didn't you tell me, my supposed friend?" Zecora sobbed, hunched over atop the front stoop to her hut as it floated away in the golden current. "We are always alone in the end."

"I had no clue that Big Mac was a mare and attended flight camp!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Please... forgive me. I didn't want to hurt you..."

"What are you apologizing for, sugarcube?"

Rainbow looked to her side. The golden bits had bled into crimson apples, and Applejack stood flank-deep in the flood, nevertheless bucking trees as if there was no deluge in the first place.

"I..." Rainbow Dash stammered. "I've been so weak..." She fought tears. "I keep waiting and hoping and dreaming for you." Her chest began to hurt as she struggled to breathe. "Even when I know it's never going to happen. Even when I know that we are never going to happen."

"Awwwwww, darlin'..." Applejack turned to smile past Rainbow as she drifted away in the river of fruit. "Maybe you should stop lookin' at me and start lookin' to where yer goin'?" She pointed with an orange hoof.

"Huh?!" Rainbow caught the flicker of green garden hedges. She looked straight ahead.

A pale monster grinned, its gaping muzzle aimed victoriously at the sky. She collided hard with it, snapping its granite horn off instantly.

"Aaaaaugh!" Rainbow jolted in pain...

---

...and fell to the floor in a mess of tangled bedsheets.

"Ooof!"

The mare fell hard to the ground, her prismatic tail flickering towards the morning-lit window. With much grunting and effort, she rolled onto her hooves and stood up.

With a bleary blink or two, Rainbow Dash glared towards the bed.

"Darn it... darn it! What's wrong with me, lately?" She sighed, turning across the way. "Is it too much to ask for one dreamless night's sleep—?!" She froze.

The horn lay on its side atop the dresser. Its pointed end was aimed at the bed.

"... ... ..." Rainbow slowly, slowly trotted towards the dresser. With a nervous wince, she pivoted her body and bucked the horn.

Cl-Clack! It ricocheted off the wall, rolled across the floor, and came to a stop beside the furthest door frame.

Rainbow stood in place, staring breathlessly at the thing. She gulped and murmured to herself, "I've had a full dose. The medicine's totally, completely in my system." She ran a hoof across her forehead, trembling. "There's gotta be something to this... some reasonable, eggheaded explanation. But..."

She froze, blinking. She turned towards a desk on the far end of the room. Her saddlebag lay open, and she saw the envelope clearly in the morning light, along with the tiny sheet of paper with the note to Romulus in it.

"Hmmmm..." She stroked her fuzzy blue chin, then jolted upright. "Wait... what day is it...?"

Comments

[Aatxe360]

I'd almost forgotten that she hadn't really gone back after the completion of that last task. Am I right?

It's difficult for me to figure out what the titular pun is supposed to be. Maybe I'm just stupid.

I don't know what to say about a R34 Big Mac with the same voice.

[Jay_Baker]

Another great chapter can't wait for the
Next one keep up the good work

[Sheendough]

4219771 It's R63. Also, narcolepsy is basically hallucinating because of a lack of sleep.

[Aatxe360]

4220287

You kids and your rules.

I have no idea why I didn't recognize that. I guess hallucinations can be similar to immediate REM sleep. It's no fun.

The hallucination bit wasn't really explained to me.

[Aatxe360]

4220111

Hehe....playing 'catch-up?'

[Lightning Bearer]

That chapter title is amazing. Yeah, and it'll be interesting to see a follow up to her illicit mission, as well as her employer's reaction.

[zaponator]

...Tuesday?

4221038
More like playing almost caught up!

[DeathFox4]

Yes. RD, you need a radio. That way your dreams are of weather....not this...

-.-

[Darth Sparkle]

I have to wonder where the waste water goes in a cloud home? Do the clouds process the yuck out and recycle the water? If so where do the....solids....end up

[arancaytar]

she spat into her skystone sink

Assuming that's cloudstone, or else skystone means something very different than in Austraeoh...

[arancaytar]

4219771
That's R63; R34 is something entirely different.