When Rainbow Dash's hooves slid out of the saddlebag, they were grasping a small book with green binding. Its jaded surfaces blended with the gray dust as she laid it gently before her. Her forelimbs traced the edges of the tome, trembling.
She was panting at this point, as if in the throes of labor. Her muscles quivered and her hooves barely managed to stay in contact with the emerald surface of the book. She took several deep breaths in a desperate attempt to steady herself.
She failed.
Clenching her eyes shut, Rainbow Dash gulped and tugged at the outer binding with both limbs, as if it weighed several dozen pounds. When she heard the flutter of pages, she forced her eyes open. The first sight struck her like a gunshot, and her eyes instantly moistened.
Shimmering with a gloss from the dismal grayness above, a photograph displayed six colorful equines in a shared embrace inside Sugarcube Corner. Even upon the fringes of the Silvadelian ruins, Rainbow's tongue tingled upon the memories of so many delicious sensations. A sourness spread through her mouth, exiting her lips in a painful gasp. Slowly, like ripping the flesh off her limbs, she turned the page.
Another photo: this one of two unicorns posed in front of a dress shop. They leaned against each other, sharing a single scarf under the fall of an early winter snow.
Rainbow Dash turned another page. This time, a chuckle escaped her. A pink pony was wrestling with a toothless alligator across a ruined kitchen floor stained with loose flour and cookie dough. A second laugh escaped Rainbow's mouth, and it was accompanied by a loose tear that streamed down her blue cheek.
Rainbow Dash flipped to another sheet, and two more tears trickled down. Her breaths had become shallow hiccups, her eyes curving as she held a hoof over her mouth. Before her, a yellow pegasus hovered up to a tree branch to feed a pair of squirrels while a fluffy white rabbit perched on her shoulders. Everytime Rainbow Dash stared at those crystal blue eyes, her vision grew foggier and foggier.
She wiped a forelimb over her fluttering sockets and turned the page, immediately wishing she hadn't. Six mares stood together on one page in beautiful gala dresses. On the opposite page, five of them were gathered around Rainbow Dash, hugging her tightly, nuzzling her. Somepony somewhere was sobbing, wailing, filling the air with anguished sounds.
Clenching her eyes, Rainbow forced herself onto another page, and yet another, and the one after that. With each flip, the pictures grew foggier and foggier, and yet she knew them like the back of her hoof. They were burned into her retinae, welded to her soul. They carried the cheerful octaves of happy souls frozen in giggles and cheer. They caressed her in her sleep and beckoned her behind every sunrise. She just didn't have the strength to realize it until now.
Then, as she turned a final page, all the strength left Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were of warm emerald. Her mane was golden like the morning sun. She lived upon and relished the earth, and it made the blue sky a dull, cold place. Rainbow's only surrender was to collapse forward, nuzzling the frigid gloss of the photograph, staining it with her tears as her wailing voice ran rivulets across the powdery dust surrounding her, waiting for her. She quivered and scooped the green book in her forelimbs, hugging it to her chest.
Slowly, she sat up. Slowly, her sobs ceased. And slowly—like a melting sunset—her eyes reopened, and all the tears were melting away from the fresh fire within.
Lots of feels in the last couple chapters. Glad to see deeper into what makes Dash tick.
Hello AppleDash, my old friend. Have you come to talk with us again?
I appear to be unable to contain my feels.
Why do the good have to die youuuuunggg?!?
So, facing west, Rainbow Dash amps herself up by reveling in good, sweet memories provided by her only worldly possessions and makes peace with one last loose end. She's amping up for a suicide mission. One I hope she survives.
Episode IV: A New Hope
Careful there...
There are only so many words in the english language.
You don't want to run out of chapter titles.
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Definitely on my read list... But I've learned my lesson.
I'll start when I see the word "Complete" at the end of this.
It's too painful to wait for the updates, even this frequently!
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wow... the feels man... love the feels... and i thank you for that.
Damn! I cried. And I was holding out so well. It would be sad Appledash that did it, too. Stop toying with my emotions, story! But now Dash appears to be back in action, at least.
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Is it bad of me to kinda not want her to survive? I mean, I do, but how on earth its supposed to happen is beyond me. Plus she'd get to be with her friends again. Actually, I think whatever ending puts her with the rest of the Mane 6 will make me happiest - dead or alive, as morbid as that may sound. Eh, I need sleep, no matter how many new updates pop up - What? Two more already? Author, you're either some sort of writing fiend or planning on a long hiatus, aren't you? Onward! (tomorrow)
The book, finally the book! Wait a second, she's basically doing everything that she had absolutely never done before. I hope she doesn't go off and do something stupid.
There is alot of AppleDash shipping in the subtext of this fic.
HA KNEW IT WAS A PHOTO ALBUM!!!!
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so they did die?
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Yeah, WOOOOOOO go team "I knew it was a photo album" !
It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
Her friends renewing her resolve.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. I've been waiting for this oh so very long.
And oh man, those feels. Why can't I hold all of them?
I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, definitely not going to cry...
1469237 I concur. *sob*
IIIIIt's Dashie's Eighth...Marathon.....Evaluation.......Time..........
...
...
...you know what...
I'm not even going to say anything. Except for this:
There was AppleDash shipping.
I despise it.
But even something as horrible as shipping could not detract from the emotion in this chapter.
Also, Austraeoh is ending. (I can see it on Doctor Who...instead of the Pandorica opening, a message is sent to every time and every Conde if the universe that Austraeoh is ending.)
So, because of these reasons...
...I'm going to give Imploding, and you, the reader, from my ranting about shipping. This chapter I'd just too beautiful for rants, even with shipping. I can honestly say that my eyes began to swim and my vision got a bit foggy. The only other fanfic, or any piece of writing, for that matter, that has ever done such a thing to me was My Little Dashie. This might be my favorite fanfic of all time. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. So this is it.
It's really happening.
I'm seriously finishing Austraeoh.
Well...I've dreamed of this day.
But now that I'm here...I don't want to achieve that dream.
I want the story to go on...
1741905 But Applejack was burned into a pile of ash, how can there be shipping?
Wow, I'm tearing up. There's that pit in my stomach and the pitter of my heart. This is new.
And in the path of awesomeness Dash left behind, no one will truly know her fate, except prolly these guys. I hope it'll end like the Alex Rider or whatever series, with her friends appearing around her in her last moments. We're not reaching this Armory or fixing the Machine, are we?
1741905 what is it with you and shipping? it adds to this story immensely.
I thought I would be prepared for this when it came...
I was wrong.
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I just had a funny thought...what if the author just put shipping in this story to spite you?
Silver out!
I just finished Ch. 197 and holy shit. I had a feeling the book had something to do with her friends. I nearly started bawling when I was reading Rainbow's reactions to each page. Then, when she closed the book and looked ahead, I was like, "Oh, Death... Oh, Death... won't you spare them over 'till another year...?"
A cookie for whoever knows what that line is from.
Why did I this chapter happen to be one that I read while at work today? My Little Dashie did not make me cry but this...I wanted to cry so hard for Rainbow, for all that she's lost and suffered through and yet I couldn't. Not there, not then. I think it was that last picture of Applejack that really got to me. I figured from almost the start of the book that the book was a photo album of sorts. Glad to see that I was right. I know I'm months behind the rest of the readers but I'll catch up as soon as I can. I'm starting the second book, whose name I can't remember or pronounce, tomorrow and I look forward to every minute of it.
Just as I suspected, it was a scrapbook.
Fantastic.
I was wrong. With the bequeathing of forgiveness and all that sappy stuff, this pulled my heartstrings vicariously. The raw emotion as she remembered what she blames herself for losing for not being there. I can't add anything more to the comment. Nothing.
The feels...
Jeez, I... I actually felt that.
I really feel for Dash in this moment.
Feels similar to Fallout: Equestria; finding traces of what happened to the Ministry Mare or finding one of there figurines that say simple lines of inspiration even after they are gone, they still have a profound affect on those who know them.
Be Awesome, Rainbow Dash...
Be Awesome!
I have a deep deeply bad feeling about what Rainbow is about to do...I pray to every deity known to man or pony that i am wrong...
And my emotions continue to plummet...
The photo album of feels.
Oh man, it was a photo album. That was well done, it hit like a truck.
They're with you Dash, they always have been. Right there, in your heart. Now go get 'em!
One of my favorite songs goes pretty well with one of my favorite chapters.
You might cry while reading this chapter and listening to this song. I know I almost did.
Damn it, Colon, the feels finally got to me. Are 'ya proud of yourself?
As I've noticed, the victories were getting more bittersweet. The first saving a town from chaotic bat spawn, rescuing slaves, and reuniting families.
Then Darkstine, where the two factions are at war. The obelisk that powered the city was restored, but not before countless children were needlessly sacrificed.
And finally... Here we are. Lessons learned, and emotions spilled. Here we learn that not everyone can be saved. I saw this coming since she met these ponies that she wouldn't be able to save them. This is such a marvelous story you have weaved. I can't wait to see what happens next. Thank you for an experience I won't forget.
Even in death her friends guide her
Geez, man... I mean, holy shit.
The feels hit like a concrete freight train.
... Rainbow Dash just ran out of bubblegum.
The feels are everywhere......
3:17 a.m.
There are few prose and media in the world that can boast making me visibly cry...
I teared up.
Tartarus damn you Imploding Colon! Argh!
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3:41 AM
BEAT YA
I'm not crying.
you're crying.
wE ARe AlL CRyING
An Appledash suckerpunch right in the feels. T_T
Man, so I do still got a heart beating in here...huh
I don't know about you or that cataclysm in the backrgound, but RD just rekindled her fire and- wait- WHO THE FUCK HAS GREEN EYES AND A GOLD MANE?
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Applejack