AppleDash Group Collab

by DbzOrDie

Flame - TwilightUCrazy

Rainbow Dash coughed as she landed. Another shower of sparks and burning embers rained down to her right, missing here narrowly and causing the strangling smoke to billow and obscure her vision further.

The pegasus draped a wing over her mouth, coughing into her own feathery appendage and pressing on further into the blaze.

"Applejack!" she shouted.

A support beam gave way overhead and collapsed, burning to the ground directly in front of her. Rainbow carefully stepped over the fallen wood and ducked lower beneath the soot and smoke, and surged ahead.

"Applejack, where are you?!" she screamed into the groaning building. Somewhere in the burning Apple home, something major snapped, and the entire structure swayed unsteadily, threatening to collapse on her at any moment. Off to her left, she thought she saw Applebloom's bed come crashing through the floorboards separating the upper and lower floors, and shattered on impact.

Rainbow's eyes burned from the hot ash and soot, and tears did little to help.

Then out of the corner of her vision, her ruby eyes picked up movement. There, about ten yards away, trapped beneath a fallen armoire, an orange and yellow form stirred.

"Applejack!" she shrieked, abandoning her caution and bolting through the burning house.

A surge of hot air and flame nearly scorched the pegasus's left wing off as a window somewhere shattered. She skidded to a halt in the cinders next to the fallen furniture and coughed painfully, peering the dense heat.

Applejack stirred, her freckled cheeks wrinkling as she winced in pain beneath the fallen cabinet.

"AJ... are you okay?" Rainbow struggled to wheeze.

"Th-think so..." the farmpony muttered, opening her eyes to flame, ashes and death. She gritted her teeth and tried to move. "Can't move my leg."

Rainbow shot her eyes to her marefriend's back hoof, pinned beneath the partially-collapsed armoire. She bolted around to the opposite side of Applejack, and shoved with all the might she had left. Applejack attempted to stand, but her crushed leg collapsed under her weight, and a pained yelp left her.

"AJ!" Rainbow coughed. "Just hang on! I'm gonna get you outta here!"

The house groaned ominously, and a floor overhead collapsed nearby, blocking Rainbow's exit on-hoof. The two mares became trapped by another burning bed collapsing through the hole from the second floor.

The only way out was up. Applejack looked at her with a knowing smile.

"Sugar," the earth pony rasped, "sugar, it's okay."

"Just hang on," Rainbow grunted, turning back to the crushing cabinet and strained against it again.

"Rainbow..."

"It's alright. I'm gonna get us outta here," she panted, growling as she stepped back to take another charge at the armoire. She grunted against it, then backed up and charged it again. "Come on you stupid thing!" she yelled breathlessly. She turned and bucked it to no avail.

"Sugarcube..." Applejack said, softly stroking Rainbow's fetlock. "It's okay," she said softly with a knowing smile.

Rainbow felt the blood leave her face, and her adrenaline made her hotter than the flames around her.

She wheezed, trying to catch a breath for another attempt to dislodge the stubborn armoire. But Applejack held tight to her hoof, and offered her a reassuring smile.

"Darlin', it's okay," the farmpony voice-cracked. "It's alright now. You've done all you could do and more. But you need to hurry up and leave me before yer stuck in here too."

Rainbow's ears folded flat, and she knew the implications immediately. Applejack's green eyes had become dull and hopeless, and despite her smile, it was only one of contentment or acceptance.

She would die here...

Rainbow collapsed and panted heavily, the smoke beginning to interfere with her breathing. Her vision grew dizzy and she leaned against Applejack's drooping head. The flames closed in all around them.

"Rainbow, please. Hurry up and--"

"I'm not... I'm not leaving you here alone, AJ."

Applejack looked at her with wide, fearful green eyes, her lower lip quivering. "Rainbow, no! Please... you can't stay here! You gotta get outta here while there's still a chance!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head and nuzzled against her marefriend's forehead, planting a soft kiss between her eyes.

"I'm staying with you, AJ. I won't let you die alone."

Applejack's tears fell in great waterfalls, arcing down her freckled cheeks. "Sugar... please... don't do this..." she choked. "You don't have to do this..."

Rainbow wrapped a sheltering wing around the earth pony, and flinched slightly as the house over their heads buckled. Another series of roof panels caved in, and the structure moaned in protest.

She looked at the earth pony weeping into her chest, and cradled her closely, stroking a hoof through her still-beautiful mane.

"I'm not afraid to face anything when I'm with you, AJ..." she whispered softly, letting her tears fall. "I'm not afraid," she promised softly.

Applejack bit her lip and buried her face.

"Hold me..." she begged desperately, quivering in her grasp.

"Shhhh..." Rainbow hushed softly, clutching her tightly and staring up at the building disintegrating around them.

A sharp crack thundered out somewhere in the house.

"It's okay, AJ. It's okay... Whatever happens next... we'll face it together, okay?" She took a breath and braced Applejack against her for what she knew was coming. "It's okay..."

She never knew whether Applejack heard her before the structure around them finally gave in.

Rainbow sheltered her lover in her protective wings, and clenched her eyes tightly. And the walls came tumbling down atop them.

Comments

[Xx_StarlightShadow_xX]

whyyyyyyyy nooooooooo so beautiful

[Fury of the Tempest]

... And there goes the tears, you bastard.

[Damcclub]

SO BEAUTIFUL AND SO SAD!!!!

[survivor]

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