Facing Consequences, Making Choices

by 1Bit

Chapter 15 - Facing Consequences

A small fire gave life to the still, cold night air. Every now and then, little embers would dance around in the wind and soar up into the sky like small, orange stars that hung low to the ground. On any other night, you could even say the effect was magical; that the symphony of crickets, birds and the gentle breeze combined with the clear sky and full moon made for a beautiful if not perfect night. But the four ponies who sat huddled around the small fire did not share such sentiments. Clouded and disheartened mares stared into the fire, not speaking, not even blinking. Their coats glowed softly in the warm glow of the fire, a big contrast to the harsh, cold landscape that surrounded them. The same landscape that had consumed two of their friends.

Rainbow's eyes were especially focused on the fire at this point and her vision barely wavered. She didn't care about the stares and occasional glances her friends gave her. She didn't care about anything any more. The tears had stopped hours ago, but their descent down her fuzzy cheeks left damp stains which darkened her expression that much more.

"Rainbow."

Her magenta eyes appeared more grey than usual, as if the colour had simply drained away with the tears. Rainbow stared into the flames but all she could see in the orange haze was Applejack being dragged away from her by a thousand green limbs, hallowed screams echoing constantly as she fell further and further into the foggy abyss.

"Rainbow."

The same scene seemed to loop repeatedly inside of her head, like some internal punishment, like she somehow blamed herself for it all.

"Rainbow Dash!"

The pegasus' gaze shifted to the left. Just across from her, she made eye contact with the unicorn yelling her name. Twilight looked back with nothing but concern, her mouth opening and closing as if she had something to say, but couldn't say it. As Rainbow looked around further, everypony looked to have the exact same expression plastered on to their face.

"What?" Rainbow croaked. Her voice seemed less normal, less awesome than usual. She cleared her throat, but it was so dry that she just coughed repeatedly.

There was a deathly pause from Twilight, before she finally spoke up again. "How long have you been with Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash chewed on her words. This was a conversation she didn't want to be having now and definitely not without Applejack, but she had little choice. "A while. I guess."

Another pause. Rainbow grimaced as thoughts of everyone's reactions began spiralling through her head. But for the most part, Twilight just stared at her, but seemingly felt...distant.

"How come you never told us about it? I mean, did you expect to be able to keep it a secret?"

"We were...going to talk to you about it..." Rainbow seemed to shrink with each word she said, curling up into a little protective ball of her own anxiety. "But when the time was right. Not at a time like this. Totally not cool."

"But...why, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow realised the question had been surprisingly directed at her by Rarity, who suddenly replaced Twilight in the conversation. "What do you mean 'why'?" She asked, cocking her head slightly.

Rarity slowly stood up, her face, however shadowed, still looked contorted with a mix of fear and disgust in the flickering light. Her voice only seemed to increase in volume the more she spoke. "Why would you want to be with Applejack? Another mare? For all that time, she was dating Cloudjumper, leading a simple, normal life-"

"Rarity, please." Twilight whispered to her with a sharp edge to her voice.

"All of which was nothing but...a façade, was it Rainbow Dash? Was Applejack's love for the stallion just a stage act? Some twisted joke? Did he almost get himself killed saving the life of the one pony who he truly thought loved him for nothing? Did Applejack always feel such a way about mares? Or was it your actions that turned our friend into some dirty fillyfooler?!"

"RARITY!" Twilight forcefully grabbed the white unicorn and dragged her away from the group. But Rarity fixed her gaze directly onto Rainbow Dash and the look she gave cut through Rainbow Dash like a knife through the heart. If she wasn't broken before, the cyan pegasus was now.

Fluttershy quietly came to Rainbow's side and placed a wing around her. She cooed softly to her as Rainbow began to sob openly in front of her, her face completely concealed between two forelegs. Fluttershy's touch was a warm, motherly one. There was a comfort in it that Rainbow Dash had not felt in a long time, so she leant in closer to Fluttershy's warm body and clutched on to her. Her entire world was coming crashing down around her, so she was perfectly content to lie there and cry. It wasn't awesome on any account, but it was all she was physically able to do as Rarity's words continued to burn in the back of her mind. She could almost puke at those two words. Rainbow could make out shouting and yelling in the distance, a heated argument no doubt but Fluttershy covered her ears so all she heard was a muffled rendition of it all. But judging from Fluttershy's open mouth and look of shock, maybe it was best she wasn't hearing what was being said.

She didn't know quite when she had drifted off to sleep, but the jelly-form Rarity that was seeping out of the remains of the fire was a strong indication she was in some kind of twisted dream. Her hooves refused to move and kept her fixed to the ground as the thing approached her. It seemed to pulsate in some horrific, alien manner and it belched out white blobs which seemed to eat away at the ground beneath Rainbow. The thing didn't seem to have a mouth but yet still, it spoke. It's voice boomed out and announced its presence in the forest. The air was filled with it's howling shrieks. Rainbow tried to cover her ears, but it only made its voice louder in her mind and the tears started to form again.

"Dirty fillyfooler."

"Dirty fillyfooler"

"DIRTY FILLYFOOLER!"

Comments

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

You know, Rarity has never been one of my favorite ponies since the beginning of the show (too prissy and stuck-up for my taste). But with this chapter?

I frickin' hate her with every particle of my being!

I just hope that AJ is alive (she is; we all know that she is. C'mon, this is Applejack we're talkin' about here!), when she comes back and hears about what Rarity said to Dash, I hope she stomps that bitch so far down deep into the ground it'd take a year to pipe sunlight and water to her!

Not that, after this chapter, she's deserve any of that.

I just hope that Twi's ripping her a new one in the background!