Sky Dancing

Maybe it was true. How could it be? The pale, limp body. Glazed, blankly expressed eyes. Her mouth hung open slightly, and she gasped for air weakly one last time.

"Ungh. Tell...Apple..bloom, and.." she fell completely limp in Twilight's hooves. "Oh, buck it! Applejack, wake up!!" she cried. Why?

"No, no! Why you? Why now?!" She yelled. A light rain began to fall, as if the world knew that it had just lost a great pony. She sat there for several minutes, rocking Applejack's cold limp body. After several minutes, she just sat there, staring into AJ's expressionless eyes, hoping for a blink, a nod, or even just a look back. She bent her head down, and cried.

Applejack had been very troubling lately. She was always tired, or drunk, or occasionally both. She would always respond, when questioned about it, with the same response. "It ain't nothin' y'all should worry about."

But it was. She was becoming increasingly drunk. Sometimes for what seemed like days. She was moody, grumpy, and smelled of hard liquor. Twilight was, of course, the first to notice. Then Rarity began to complain about Applejack falling asleep outside her home. Rainbow Dash got worried for her friend. Fluttershy said AJ had threatened her on several occasions. Pinkie Pie tried cheering her up, but she would only party and get more drunk. Even her family asked for help on the farm because of her constant state of alcoholism.

But no pony expected her to go this far.

Twilight had gone to see her friend when she found her. She was still and cold, laying out in the field. She had a bottle of hard cider on her side, some of it dripping from her mouth. Twilight inspected it and found it smelled of several other heavy drinks. And something else...but what was it? Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. She was. No, she couldn't be.

She was dead.

Twilight ran to the barn to find the rest of the apple family. Granny Smith was baking with Applebloom, and Big Mac was getting ready to go into town.

"Everypony, I NEED to talk with you all," Twilight said, breathlessly. She had galloped from the field, and was exhausted.

"Applejack...is, is..."she spat out before collapsing onto the hardwood floor. granny Smith and Applebloom helped her to the couch in the living room while Big Mac ran to the field to see what happened to Applejack. What he saw made him feel sick, and he picked her up and carried into the barn.

The remaining apples got into a big group hug and cried. Twilight regained her strength and joined them.

END OF CHAPTER ONE.