Appledashery

by Just Essay

==Part Twenty-One: Loyal Love==

One eyelid fluttered open.

Then the other.

Slowly, Rainbow awoke, peering straight up.

A ceiling of cloud stone loomed directly above her.

She looked to her right... then to her left.

Dull shadows clung to every nook and cranny of the bedroom. It was dead silent... like a grave.

Nothing moved and nothing stirred.

Sunlight hung behind the window's curtains, but even that was a dim and dwindling affair.

At last, with a quiet sigh, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes again.

She didn't move a muscle for hours.

---

A warm, warm shower poured over the pegasus' petite features.

She sat with her back slumped up against the tile walls of her stall. Wings drooped at her side and she hung her head, allowing the moisture to drip down her skull and muzzle.

Several minutes in, she raised a forelimb, flexing it. Even with the steamy warm moisture rippling down her figure, she could scarcely feel more than a numb tingle.

A shuddering sigh ran through her figure. Rainbow's eyes trailed the floor, watching as the various streams of liquid ran their chaotic paths into the drain.

---

Rainbow Dash scooted her chair in at her kitchen table. She dug into a bowl of oats under the penumbra of gray sunlight. With each crunching bite she took, the mare grimaced.

The food had grown stale. For the life of her, Rainbow couldn't remember the last time she had gone out shopping for groceries.

One ear twitched, then the other.

She paused halfway through her bowl, leaning back in her chair. She sat there, shoulders slumped and tail limp. Gradually, her eyes lifted, and she scanned the hallway of her sky home—leading back to her bedroom.

Everything was still.

Hauntingly serene.

Her ears twitched again. She tried summoning the semblance of a voice from her memories: snarky, mischievous, and full of boundless sass. Her mind failed her.

So, with a sigh, she fished her spoon back into the bowl, stirred it a bit, and challenged herself to another stale bite.

---

Rainbow Dash stood in place, fidgeting. Her eyes narrowed on the doorknob to her home's front entrance.

She reached a hoof out, lightly touching it.

There was barely any sensation to register.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She pulled her forelimb back, twisting it left and right as she stared at the fuzzy blue fetlock.

Then, with a cold shudder, she lowered the hoof and looked at the front door.

The entrance loomed above her, dark and gray.

She exhaled, tail flicking. Hooves shuffled... but she didn't move forward.

---

Stifling a sigh, Rainbow Dash crawled back into bed.

She sat up for a brief moment, her body frozen.

She glanced across her bedroom... studying the awkward emptiness of it all.

A lump formed in her throat... until she could gaze no more.

Tossing her body to the side, she flung the covers over herself and curled up into a little ball. It was midday, and the rays of sunlight grew bright and brighter between the edges of the window curtains.

The mare clenched her eyes shut, covering her head as if with a shroud. She found many things there in that dismal darkness... but sleep wasn't one of them.

---

Part Twenty-One: Loyal Love
(Where Rainbow Dash Bears the Full Weight of Her Element)

---

Comments

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

And so it begins again.........

[zaponator]

Appledashery 2: Even More Depression

[Phoenix Kitten]

Oh Dash....
I'd say hopefully Flutters comes knocking to try and get her... but no pony even knows that she's back.

[Mares-a-Mares]

Oh no, her hooves.

Rainbow Dash is deep in the dumps.

[Lightning Bearer]

You can't hide forever, Rainbow.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

Rainbow, you're not alone here. You need some help. Someone to listen to you. Someone wise and kind, who can provide you with all the warmth and friendliness you need. And that someone is a mare. That someone is a close friend. And that mare is:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/1_epcot_spaceship_earth_2010a.JPG

[MidnightReflection]

Rainbow's eyes trailed the floor, watching as the various streams of liquid ran their chaotic paths into the drain.

Chaotic... just more memories of Discord being gone now. Rainbow feels alone again. Still denying herself love.

[Sheendough]

6602290 Here we go again.

[RoboRed]

6602344
BEST PONE

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6602689 This Guy Gets It! /)

[RoboRed]

6602746
(\

[Leftover of Saikano]

Where Rainbow Dash Bears the Full Weight of Her Element

Or just the weight of her own stubbornness and depression.

[Hestia]

I'd forgotten about her terminal illness until now. Seems like it really came back to bite her, hard.

I hope she doesn't coop herself up and push everyone away.

[Jern]

Out of all of the countless books and fics I've read throughout my lifetime, I can't think of another author that can manipulate my mood by just describing a scene quite like SS&E/IC/JE can.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

6602607 Yup.

6603161

"You know... the last time we had your friend, we gave her a heaven." He licked his lips. "Maybe she could use a good dose of hell this time... though it'd be heaven for Flam and me—"

I think I want the twins dead way more than I want Romulus to be.

You and me both, my friend.

You and me both.

[Appledash_Gurl]

Why you gatta seem so, saa~aaa~aaa~aaaaaad, oh oh, why you gotta be so, sa~ad?
fin


~ADG

[BabySkittleMonster]

I'm surprised none if her mane 6 friends (except, perhaps, maybe Fluttershy) have noticed the bouts of depression. Vinyl, Bon bon, Caramel and Lyra noticed, and Gilda, so most of her longstanding friends know. That leads me to suspect Fluttershy is in the know, too. But why hasn't AJ noticed? I mean, let's face it. Rainbow is about as subtle (if not more so) as bricks to the face.

[True Edge]

[DIRKWITHAGUN]

well, after the last few chapters or so, i think this just may be one of my favourite fics ever.