Find Your Happy Thought
Rainbow slumped down onto a sleeping mat a few paces away from the campfire. Unlike Logan, Flynn, and Kepler—she didn't allow for a tent over her head. She gazed sideways at the stone and darkness that had enveloped her. High above, a sliver of twilight fed cold blue luminesence down onto her tired limbs and bruised flesh.
"... ... ...ow," Rainbow muttered.
"Hmmm?" Fluttershy looked over, ears curving back with concern. "Rainbow? Are you alright?"
"Yeah... yeah..." Rainbow tired, then winced... feeling her jaw muscles. "Just... friggin' hate this..."
"Hate what, darling?" Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping?"
"No. Just... coming to a stop," Rainbow muttered. "It's only at times like this that all of the nasty side effects of getting into so many friggin' scraps finally catch up with me." She curled up—wincing as she did so. "Right now... I'm finally feeling the swordtips of the Frostknifers." Her teeth clenched. "Oofa... and there's a right-hook from Seraphimus... and there's another one..." She tongued the inside of her muzzle. "...and an uppercut."
"My stars...!" Rarity curled into a floaty marshmallowy ball, shivering from ghostly head to tail. "I don't even know how you do it!"
"Having a hammock to sleep in helps," Rainbow said. And a wistful smile crossed her muzzle briefly. Then a sigh. "Instead of curling up to the dead-stone bosom of an unforgiving Dark Side..."
"Eh..." Applejack waved a hoof. "You'll get over it."
"Applejack!" Twilight snapped, frowning.
"What?" Applejack shrugged. "I mean it! Our Rainbow is no push-over! She's agile! She's resilient!"
"She's frugal!" Pinkie exclaimed... then squinted into the shadows. "Wait..."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, AJ," Rainbow said. She tried to yawn—but only found another reason to wince. "But... right now... I would trade all of that to just be sleeping on a soft cloud somewhere."
"Maybe you can still make that happen?" Rarity smiled faintly. "Surely if you gather up enough moisture—"
"There is none," Fluttershy said.
"Huh?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "There hasn't been a single cloud in sight since we crossed the Edge, Rarity."
"She's right," Twilight said with a nod. "This is just the very precipice of the plane... but so far it hasn't yielded enough moisture and evaporation to form anything malleable to pegasus hooves."
"Dearie me..." Rarity rubbed her forehead. "I... I-I haven't even noticed!" A dainty gulp. "I suppose I've just been paying attention to the landscape and topography..."
"And you've been doing a very good job of it, Rare-Rare," Rainbow Dash said. "For realsies. We've relied a lot on you as of late."
"Oh... well thank you kindly, darling!" Rarity blushed slightly.
"I only wish I could have been so helpful," Fluttershy said. She shook her head. "But there simply hasn't been any creatures to detect."
"And for all we know..." Twilight looked at the others, nodding. "We're probably better off that way."
"FRUITY!"" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed. In the ensuing silence, she smiled sheepishly at her friends. "That's... uh... th-that's the word I was looking for. Heehee..."
There was a cute drawling sound... strangely melancholic. Everpony looked to see Applejack yawning... and yawning some more.
"Eeeeuhhhh..." Applejack rubbed her eyes. "Reckon I'd have a silly retort to give Pinkie, but I'm suddenly too tuckered out to care."
"You're not alone..." Rarity fought a yawn with all her lady-like strength... and failed. "Mmmmmfff... why did you have to introduce such a dreadful contagion into the air, Applejack?"
"Pardon..."
"Hmmmm..." Rainbow tiredly smiled against the sleeping mat. "Enough about me... when was the last time you guys turned in?"
It was Twilight's turn to fight the infection yawn bug. "Well... uhhhh... mmmff... probably just as long as you've gone without sleep, Rainbow."
"It feels like forever," Fluttershy said, blinking heavily.
"Heh... no kidding." Rainbow nodded. "Why don't you all dive back into the Vanilla Zone? It's been friggin' forever and you've earned it."
"Oh Rainbow..." Fluttershy shook her head. "We couldn't do that—"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzhhnorrrr..." Pinkie Pie was already snoring.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well... we do need to be alert for the final climb to Darkreach... and Wildcard's patrolling for Rainbow and the Herald."
"I..." Fluttershy squirmed in place. "...I just feel bad leaving Rainbow Dash all alone."
"I am not alone, Fluttershy." Rainbow gulped, her eyes turning slightly glossy. "Believe me. I'm not."
"Well, you certainly won't get any argument from me." Rarity smiled tiredly and pushed Pinkie's rump. "Come on, Pinkie..." Slowly, the two were absorbed by a faint lavender light. "Time for dreamland."
"Mmmmmmmm..." Pinkie smiled as she nodded off. "Whatever you say, Maud. Just... be sure to walk Gummi... past the caves of licorice... zzzzzzzzzzz..."
The two vanished softly. Fluttershy followed after them.
Twilight hovered just above Rainbow Dash. "You are going to sleep yourself, right?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Rainbow..."
"Believe me, Twilight. There's no pony on this Plane—Light Side or Dark—who is more tired than I am." A beat. "Well... aside from Ariel, of course."
Finally, Twilight smiled. "Well okay then..." She turned around. "...but you shout if you want us to come back and help you with something."
"I doubt there are any libraries to organize between here and the Armory, egghead."
"Pffft.. whatever. Come along, Applejack..." And Twilight vanished into thin-air.
The farm mare lingered in place, though.
"You heard the Princess' star pupil, AJ," Rainbow fought through a yawn. "Leg it."
"I... I wish that I could, Rainbow..."
"Pffft. Come on." Rainbow cuddled up against the sleeping mat, exhaling. "You're the one who started the yawn fest. Own up to it."
"Well... sure... I'm tired... but..."
"But what?"
Applejack gazed up at the mouth of the ravine. At the endlessly swirling cosmos and galaxies in the distance. "How... how do you ever fall asleep, Rainbow?"
"I... I don't follow..."
"Under the weight of it all... the dag gum enormity of who you are and what yer questin' for..." Applejack winced tiredly. "I'm so sorry. Reckon it's a rude thang to hammer into yer noggin'. But... but sometimes I wonder how you ever... ever found the courage to sleep in all them months and months of soarin' east without us..."
"Without you guys...?" Rainbow shrugged against the mat. "For a while... it wasn't so hard..."
"Oh?"
"I mean... I just carried on like I did back in Ponyville... and in Cloudsdale..." Rainbow's eyes searched the stars above. "I'd dream about killin' it at the Best Young Fliers Competition... or about joining the Wonderbolts... or about stealing the spotlight at a Canterlot Air Show. But... then..." Her ears curved back slightly. "...as I kept moving away from Equestria... those fantasies hurt. They kept my mind agitated... didn't help me sleep at all."
"So... what did you think about?"
"You," Rainbow Dash said. She immediately twitched. "You and the g-girls." A nervous smile. "Hanging out. Doing adventure stuff. Simply having a snack at Sugarcube Corner."
"I... I-I reckon that didn't feel too good for long neither."
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "Eventually things got so chaotic that I was too exhausted to think of anything. Sleep just came to me. Then I met the Noble Jury: Belle, Pilate, Kera... ... ..." She pronounced another name between her teeth, but it was accompanied by a cold shudder. "But there came a time when thinking about them was too painful too. And then I was rejoined with you and Twilight and the rest of the girls..."
Applejack nodded. "The good and the bad come in waves, huh?"
"Totally..."
"Do you ever dream still?"
"... ... ..." Rainbow hugged herself. "You mean besides those terrible nightmares I had?"
Applejack bit her lip. "Sorry. I-I forgot..."
"It's okay. You haven't been a cognizant apple ghost for long."
"Heheh..."
"I don't know what to tell you, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said. "The last few times I've slept, there's been... nothing."
"Nothin'?"
"Just... blankness..." She swallowed. "Wonderful... peaceful blankness..." She rolled onto her back and gazed up at the stars. "Once upon a time—for the sake of being edgy—I used to tell myself that taking naps was just 'practicing for death.' But now? Now that I know so much about life and Urohringr and the Harmonic Plains... I guess I can't pretend to practice for anything anymore."
Silence.
"I expect to see Granny again someday."
Rainbow looked over. "Hmm?"
"Granny Smith..." Applejack murmured, staring up at the stars. "...I'm sad about her passin', of course... and I won't pretend to say that Apple Bloom and Big Mac ain't goin' through tough times back at home with copin' and all..." She looked down at Rainbow Dash. "But somehow... the Harmonic Plains is more real to me than they've ever been. Just seein' all of the epic thangs this world has to offer up close and hearin' the wise words spoken by Mortuana when she was still with y'all..." She paused for a moment, shook her head, then smiled. "I dunno. I mean... this is the Dark Side and all... but somehow everythang's not quite as bleak to me as it used to be."
Rainbow gulped. "I've no clue if that's how the Harmonic Plains really work, Applejack," she muttered. "Or if they're even real... despite everything that Mortuana or Celestia or Luna have said."
"But if they were real... and there is a place where we're all headed to... Granny Smith included... wouldn't you like to meet them all again?"
Rainbow's muzzle hung open. "... ... ...there are too many names to count," she exhaled.
"Well..." Applejack smiled. "Maybe that's yer warm thought to sleep to."
Rainbow blinked.
Applejack tilted her hat. "Good night, sugarcube. You mean the world to us. You really do..." And she backed away... and vanished.
Rainbow Dash was alone. And yet she wasn't.
She knew it. She wrapped her warm smile around herself, rolled over, and collapsed into delirious unconsciousness.
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Well, this is a strange coincidence, that you should post a chapter like this when it's 4 AM and I am stricken with involuntary wakefulness.
Huh, and here I was under the impression that Rainbow and Roarke didn't really get a lot of sleep.
... all of Rainbow's talk about hammocks makes me really want to try sleeping in one just to see if it's as comfortable as the hype says.
These chapters were super sweet
While I love the adventure, just seeing the awesome characters interact and talk and reminisce is really fun to read!
Dash deserves this rest. She has, on her shoulders, the very fate of their world, so some rest ain't too bad!
I’ll share these wings engraved upon my back
With you, struggling amongst sadness and suffering
I hope that you’ll soar to even greater heights in these endless days
for changing 'bout you And so I pray
Though there were lonely nights when I cried
I know that, in the ongoing future, there is someone waiting for me
In this long journey where everyone falters
I’ll take a step forward with thoughts of you in my heart
and my faith in dawn
Hey, I want to tell you something
To the fact that you were born
the fact that we met
And this world with you
thank you
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
There has to be another hammock somewhere....
Also I really miss the Noble Jury hope we hear from them again someday.
Some great interaction between the girls and Rainbow and finally the Mare lets herself sleep and get rested. She needs that pretty bad.
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img04.deviantart.net/f58f/i/2011/122/3/8/black_mesa_logotype_by_dj_corny-d3fe9ds.jpg
I wonder if sleeping on the dark side, abandoning your mind to the Great and gaping unconscious void, will open up Rainbow Dash to darker influences. I wonder if it's easier for the chaos to attack you when you dream. There's no Luna here to protect the dreams of ponies.
That was the sweetest, most tender thing I've seen in this story in a long time.
Ooooohhh, that last convo with Applejack.
My heart. ;;
Sweet dreams, Dashie.
Finally RD hits the snoozer
Sheesh, just give rainbow a break!
She's gonna die from being awesome again, but from insanity brought on by lack of sleep, nutrition, and over excursion.
Anyway, 3.93 books to go!
I always liked that worldview that Applejack has adopted. Though the subject of religion is always a touchy one, the belief that I'll be able to see everyone again in the life after makes death a LOT easier to handle.
As a side note, there is no way Applejack DOESN'T know Rainbow had/has a crush on her. She literally is a built in lie detector and I get the feeling she catches on to people quickly.
Likely she is just waiting for Rainbow Dash to come clean rather than force it out of her. Wouldn't be the element of honesty otherwise.
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How many days has it been?
I think this is the first time in this whole story where Rainbow Dash finds inner peace. Even with the Jury she could not truly relax and knew that they have to go separate ways at some point. Now she has not only a chance to save the word and others, but also herself and her friends. No matter how grim the whole expedition will become, it will be totally worth it.
This. This sentence hits home.
An excellent way to look at death, though I have to wonder if destiny is going to be that kind to Rainbow.
It truly must be a wonderful life, knowing that the Great Beyond is a certainty.
Wrong f-word. What do you mean? Forceful? Fighter-spirited? F
ing amazing?
...well, yes. That too.
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If you open this self quote...
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You'll see I beat you to that reference.
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There was a line in Yaerfaerda that implied something similar - where even the Grand Choke was enough to do eldritch things to the minds of unicorns. Who knows what the dark side might do...
And now we sleep, perchance to Dash.
All caught up, great work so far mate! Love the vibe the dark side gives, and every other possible aspect of the story, wether it's character interaction or enviroment, has been on point as always! Looking forward to the rest of what the darkside has to bring
I feel like we need a "sleep counter" just to keep track of the number of times Dash will actually get any sleep while on the Dark Side.
Probably sooner than you think, AJ, given that before anypony's soul can get anywhere Harmonic, plain shaped or otherwise, there's a teeny detail to deal with concerning an unknown force sucking up souls from around Urohringr.
just hope the second level sleeping soul harvesters aint active in the region, or the only ones left are going to be Wildcard and Seraph?
Hopefully sleep will do her a world of good. Especially now that her dreams have been dehaunted..
Ni ni Dashie. *Pets.*
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I think that was a chapter title, wasn't it? "To Sleep, Perchance To Dash"?
... Oh, I had trouble finding it because I looked under U when I should've looked under Y. Extra word.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/254555/129/ynanhluutr/to-sleep-perchance-to-dash-rub
Dang it, so close. Also on that note she still hasn't talked with the girls about her relationship with Roarke has she?
Halt, Rainbow! You're under a rest.
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I think she discussed it with Ariel, and I could've sworn some of the ghostly host as well.
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Truly a terrible affliction.
I have had a bad case of it for years.
Now clearly in the context of the situation, Applejack is referring to the harmonic plains. However, I see this as foreshadowing. At first Granny's death seemed outta nowhere, mixed among all of the other useless details of current Equestria. But considering the fact that souls are getting sucked up into Uroringhr, an appearance of Granny as a spirit as well as other deceased beings seems highly likely. Gonna be an interesting encounter I hope.
Caves of licorice? Tell me more.
I bet the harmonic prism doesn’t just spew harmony Willy nilly. It needs something to refract first
Finally. How many chapters, how many days has it been? Sleep well, Rainbow.
And our Spectral East Horse finally gets some shut eye...