Appledashery

by Just Essay

Appledashery

Things are never as bad as they seem.

Rainbow Dash taught me this. Not just because she was secretly a worrywort for so friggin' long, but mostly because she's lived long enough and survived enough hardships to realize that sometimes the best things come at the most unpredictable of times.

Stuff was about to get really... really trippy for Rainbow Dash. She didn't know it quite yet, but she was about to endure something that would test the limits of her sanity... not to mention the strength of her heartstrings. Nothing she had gone through before—no matter how awkward or extreme—could possibly have prepared her for the madness to come.

But before that harrowing event, before she found herself in a place where up was down and inside was outside, she had a pleasant week...

A pleasant week spent with pleasant ponies.

Well... pleasant for the most part...

Comments

[BabySkittleMonster]

Ooh! Cliffhangers for not only the next arc, but the arc after that too! Double bonus!

[RoboRed]

Well, this was another rather short arc.

[Tchernobog]

she was about to endure something that would test the limits of her sanity... not to mention the strength of her heartstrings. Nothing she had gone through before—no matter how awkward or extreme—could possibly have prepared her for the madness to come.

...why, excctly, does this terrify me? >_>

[Sharp Quill]

Uh, so is the next arc the actual visit to Orlandoats, or did that all happen off camera?

[The Dusty Mop]

5300770

I'm guessing the next arc is likely the actual visit to Orlandoats (going relatively fine) and the arc after this finally hitting us with the hallucinations mid-shard gathering. Or even worse, in Ponyville in front of her friends.

[YoshiFawful64]

5300724
It's being directly stated that the limits of Rainbow's sanity and the strength of her heartstrings are going to be put to a huge test, and there's going to be madness. All this, in an SS&E fic. Why on Earth wouldn't you be terrified?

[Lightning Bearer]

Well, that's just ominous and intriguing at the same time, isn't it? Not sure if foreshadowing Fillydian weirdness, hallucinatory flare-ups, or something entirely new.

[TwilightUCrazy]

Stuff was about to get really... really trippy for Rainbow Dash. She didn't know it quite yet, but she was about to endure something that would test the limits of her sanity... not to mention the strength of her heartstrings. Nothing she had gone through before—no matter how awkward or extreme—could possibly have prepared her for the madness to come.

But before that harrowing event, before she found herself in a place where up was down and inside was outside, she had a pleasant week...

had a pleasant week

pleasant week

Well... pleasant for the most part...

[zaponator]

Oooh, is Rainbow's potion habit finally gonna catch up to her next arc?
That'd be cool. Even better if it happens in Ponyville. It'd be neat to see her get through something with a little help from her friends for once, even if she's too drugged up to even realize they're there.

[Aatxe360]

5300724

It doesn't terrify me. Applejack will be fine.

[Leftover of Saikano]

-no one is prepared for how Appledashery will end
-NO ONE

[Sarda]

5307147 well, we were promised it would end with cuddles, but not between whom.

[Nasty Mister Monket]

Damn it all, Colon old boy. I've been holding this off for ages, because I know you. This ridiculously long story would be like all your others - unbearably good. But I had a glimmer of free time, so I happened to think I could get away with reading a few of the first chapters, to get a feel for the story.
I sit here at chapter three hundred and seventy two. Predictably, I have forsaken all the important work I had to do today, yesterday and the day before to binge excessively at this veritable fountain of words. And what amazes me is that it feels completely different, yet exactly the same as the other three times that I did this. Four if you count the second Austraeoh catch-up.

With Austraeoh, the other daily-chapter-eternal-Rainbow-Dash-story, you were drawn in by the serene mysticism of it all. The sublime descriptions, the complete unknown beyond us and Rainbow Dash. And suddenly, the Noble Jury was in endless, eastward pursuit of that awesome spectral maiden as she tore through that horizon, as enamoured and starstruck as that other, somewhat uglier Noble Jury.

In this? I am driven by nothing more than my own sadness. This story is heartbreaking. Sure, Background Pony may be the most soul-crushingly depressing thing you have ever written, but that was abnormal. Philosophy, music and curses leaked from its eyes as it wept those pages in hopeless, resigned sorrow.
This isn't like that - it's not hopeless. Rainbow Dash is simply afraid and insecure - the same things everybody struggles with, which makes her sadness so much more palpable. She's too scared to face her fears or her dreams, simply because she doesn't want to risk the simple happiness of the now, or risk the happiness of those she loves, exchanging her walk-on part in a war for a lead role in a cage. And hence, she keeps walking over that same old ground, facing the same old fears, convincing herself that this is the best way it could be.

You know what? Rather than shamelessly quoting it, I should just shove it here. For me, this feels so very appropriate to Rainbow Dash in this story.

Of course, the thing is, I was of course introduced to this story on your little April Fools day switch.
Hence, I am painfully haunted in the process of reading this story by the characters who have not yet appeared - who the hell is that pony with the almost certainly Disney inspired name?! What the hell's with all the "princess" malarkey?! The fact that I barely remember it all from back then makes it only more excruciating to be so hopelessly mystified by it all.

But in the end, you've promised that they cuddle. And I can't help but need to read about the situation improving. And so, I must read on. Onwards and Eastwards, I suppose.

TL;DR: You write too much, you daft old bastard.

[DrEggnog]

So much to look forward to.

I think I need a short break though. Perhaps some Best Friends Play Ride to Hell before I dive back into the feels bag.

[Seraphimus]

6205073 hah. I know the feeling. Im like 4-5 days in at this point and its hard to put the story down but it's so big you gotta take rests