Ch.4 One Down

The girls all sat around an empty pit. They had found this clearing after walking for hours. It was a walk of silence, as each of them remembered all to well what happened just that morning. Applejack. She was gone. Dead. All of them trudged on slowly and aimlessly. Nothing mattered to them. Not in that moment. For hours they walked in that terribly deafening silence. In each of their own minds thoughts resounded like thunder. Every unsaid comment, every compliment never given, every regret they had slammed around in their minds with unbearable stubbornness. No matter how much they tried they could not get those echoes to leave. Not that they really even wanted to. To some, it was like getting rid of a piece of Applejack herself.

It wasn't until midday that they finally stopped. They stumbled upon an empty clearing in a part of the Everfree they had never seen before. Spike walked behind them. He had been clutching Applejack's hat ever since it happened. She had thrown him free and her hat came with him. He would not, could not, let it go. But he lowered it just enough that he could breath some fire into the pit that lay in center of the clearing.

One by one, the girls all took seats around the low fire. Burning cinders lay low as they flickered their way across the pit. Occasionally, a small flame would jump up and dance across the pit, casting a warm glow against the darkness of the Forest.

“I can't believe she's really gone,” Rarity said after the near endless silence.

“She gave up,” Rainbow Dash said angrily, “She couldn't take the pain in her ass anymore, or maybe she thought she would just slow us down. Either way, she decided to take the easy way out. Coward.”

Fluttershy moved so quietly and so quickly no pony even noticed she moved. Maybe they were just that distracted. Dash said what she did and no pony responded. Not right away, but after a moment she saw something. Just out of the corner of her eye she saw a blur of yellow moving toward her. Before Dash could even register Fluttershy was there she did something. Fluttershy slapped Rainbow Dash. The resulting snap of her hoof against Dash's face echoed through the trees. Dash was too awestruck to even come back with anything.

“How can you say that, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said very angrily, “Applejack did not give up! She sacrificed herself. You might be right about her thinking she was a burden, but she would never give up. Instead, she decided to save us all, and take as many of those things as she could with her. She was NOT a coward!”

Rainbow Dash still did not respond. She just turned her head back to look at Fluttershy. The slap alone had unsettled her, but now she was looking into her face. She could see the anger in her eyes at what she had said. Yet, she was crying tears of sadness. It was such a confusing time for all of them. Dash looked down at the ground. Even she knew she was wrong. She was just so goddamn angry! No pony spoke for a while after Fluttershy went back to her seat.

“I don't what to do without her,” Pinkie Pie finally said, “What are we gonna do?”

“Isn't it obvious?”

The voice that spoke was not a voice full of sadness. It was not the voice of somebody who had just lost a dear friend right before their eyes. This voice was not full of sorrow and sadness, but anger and hate. This was voice came from Spike. He was sitting with Applejack's hat laying in front of him. He was just staring at it.

“What is that supposed to mean,” Rainbow Dash asked aggressively.

“I said 'Isn't it obvious?' It should be,” Spike replied strongly.

He looked at the hat still. Even with what she had been through her hat was pristine. Not a single speck of dust or dirt tainted it. Not a single drop of blood stained it. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking up. He stared back at Rainbow Dash through the fires in the pit. The low flames cast an eerie red orange glow over the blue pony.

“We move on,” Spike said, “We keep going. We find Twilight, and then we get our asses the hell out of this damn Forest!”

“Sorry, Spike. Not all of us can just 'move on' as quickly as you can,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Spike snarled from where he sat, but everypony heard it clearly. Even though he was just a baby dragon he was not somebody you wanted to piss off. His scales were tough, his teeth and claws were plenty sharp, and his fire breath could burn down half of Ponyville in just a day. And now all his rage was focused on one blue Pegasus.

“Careful what you say,” Spike warned, “You will get more than a slap from me.”

Spike huffed as a puff of smoke came from his nostrils. He was ready to raise to his feet in less than a moments notice. He was ready to attack. As was Rainbow Dash. She was always ready. But they would not get the chance as saddlebags slammed down in between them. The shock of it forced them to break concentration and take their eyes off one another. They did not look at each other again that day and night. It was mainly due to the saddlebags. They were old. Still quite usable, but also old enough to show their age. The material they were made out of was course and rough at times. Something that had always bothered Rarity, but it was not hers. All eyes around the pit looked at the bags, and the emblem that adorned the side. An apple. Applejack's cutie mark, to be precise. Rarity stood over the bags.

“I grabbed these so Applejack wouldn't have to carry them on her injuries,” She said with as little emotion as could muster, “She was carrying all the food. We should eat.”

No pony moved. Each one of them was afraid to even get close to the bags. It was a large reminder of the friend they just lost. It was like it was staring back at them while they stared at it. Not even Rarity, who had proposed the idea, moved to open the bags. After a long while, one pony finally got up and moved for the bags.

Fluttershy moved over to the bags. She stood by Rarity and looked at. She gave a weak smile and Rarity returned it best she could. Fluttershy looked down at the bags and then to all her friends that were there.

“Spike is right,” She said, “Applejack would want us to move on and find Twilight. She would not want us to sit here and wallow in sorrow. So we will do it. We will eat, we will find Twilight, and we will mourn for Applejack once we leave this Forest.”

It was a little strange seeing the most timid of ponies being so strong. The ponies there wiped their remaining tears away and smiled back at Fluttershy. She was right. This, what they were doing now, was not what Applejack would have wanted.

Fluttershy opened up the bags and handed out some apple baked treats to all the girls. She got hers last and was about to close the bags when she remembered Spike. He had not moved since he sat down. He was still staring at Applejack's hat.

“Spike, do you want something to eat? I don't know much about dragon eating habits, but if you're hungry there is plenty to go around,” She asked ever so softly.

“Thank you, Fluttershy, but I got myself covered.”

Spike motioned at his backpack set beside him. He reached inside and grabbed a small handful of gems. He popped a few small flawless garnets in his mouth. Fluttershy glanced inside his backpack while he was chewing. It was full of gems. She didn't even know he had this many. She knew he like gems like every dragon, but that was a lot of gems in there.

“Is that all you brought, Spike? Gems to eat,” She asked with concern.

“Don't really need much else,” Spike said, “My scales are supposed to protect me, but judging on my arm they are not doing so well. My fire breath is doing really well. So, yeah, all I really need is a handful of gems every now and then to keep me going.”

“If you say so, Spike. Just try to be more careful, okay? I don't want to see any more of my friends getting hurt.”

As Fluttershy went and sat down to eat Spike thought about her words. 'Try to be more careful'. Something told him she was meaning more than just the dangers in the forest. He popped a rather large emerald into his mouth and looked over a Rainbow Dash. Things had gotten pretty tense between them before. Maybe that was what Fluttershy had been talking about.

They took an hour to eat and got ready to set once again. They all agreed that it was probably best not to stay in one spot for too long. They believed they had a break from those things since Applejack's sacrifice. They continued on with a bit more determination in their steps and perseverance in their eyes.

As they were getting ready to leave, a problem occurred. Each pony gathered up their own stuff that they had packed to bring on this journey. Each pony had their own saddlebags. Even Spike had his backpack. But then there was Applejack's bags. What were they going to do with those? Each pony pondered the same question until one finally answered it.

Rarity walked up without a word and magically levitated the bags onto her back, just behind her own. All eyes followed the bags until they were safely on her back. Rarity looked at each of them as their wide eyes looked back at her.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Rarity,” Pinkie asked, “I can easily take them.”

Rarity replied with a question of her own, “I carried them once before, so why not now?”

No pony wanted to comment or say anything, even if the answer was known to all of them. It wasn't even really just one thing. It was more of a series of smaller things. Rarity never like the rough feeling of Applejack's bags, so why would she want to carry them? She was not the strongest pony there. Could she even handle the weight of two sets of saddlebags? Rainbow Dash could, but she had to have room for her wings. Pinkie Pie could handle the weight. He party cannon was easily heavier and she moved that all the time. But no pony wanted to say any of that, so they let her carry the bags.

“Rarity, please try not to lose the bags,” Fluttershy said, “That is our only food.”

“Yes, Fluttershy, I know. I will try my best not to let this slow me down.”