Dash's Dilemma

Dash's Dilemma

Dash could only realise two things: there were trees all around her, and she was running after Twilight. She couldn't really do anything except think about what she was doing and why. Her body seemed to be answering only to itself, completely ignoring the objections and orders Rainbow's mind were screaming. A glimpse of Fluttershy was seen in her peripheral vision, who seemed to be running the fastest out of the three.

As if to answer the question coming to her mind, a massive, earth-shaking roar boomed from behind her. She stumbled for a second before regaining her hold on the ground, and Rainbow was wondering why she wasn't flying. Sure, she didn't have control over her body at the moment, but she knew her wings wouldn't lock up like Fluttershy's did when she was scared.

Not that she was scared, of course, but Dash didn't have much to do but think about why her body wouldn't spread her wings and fly off into the sky. Her wings were fine; she could feel a short, numb pain every time she stepped on a rock or a particularly sharp or thorny twig, but nothing from her wings except air flowing between her feathers.

A short, high-pitched yelp sounded from somewhere behind her and her body decided it was the perfect time to look back. Her eyes focused on Applejack, running towards Rarity, who had apparently tripped on a root or a rock or something. A large, clawed hand shot out towards the unicorn, but Pinkie Pie slammed into it to give Applejack enough time to fling the mare onto her back and run off again.

Dash faced forwards again, quickly ducking her head beneath a low-hanging branch. She wasn't sure what to do except let her body run from the thing chasing them.  Her mind, however, needed something to do. Thinking about what that creature was, or where in Equestria they were, or if they were even in Equestria, just made her head hurt. She focused on two things, and two things only: counting the steps of the beast behind her, each marked by a slight shake in the ground below, and counting every rock or twig she stepped on.

Eight steps and thirty-whatever rocks later, she heard a low thud followed by a loud, ear-splitting shriek somewhere off to her left. Her body, being as predictable as it was, turned to see where the sound was coming from.

It was Pinkie Pie, crashing through a tree and sliding to a stop at the base of another, a thick furrow forming in her wake.

She was quick to put two and two together: the thing chasing them was getting closer, and had managed to smack Pinkie through a tree. Being the closest one to the pink pony, she sped over to the unconscious mare and lifted her onto her back. Her mind wandered again, switching from steps and rocks to just about anything she could focus on: flying, the Wonderbolts, how the last Daring Do had ended in a cliffhanger.

By the time her mental rambling ended, she was looking at Applejack, quite a ways off. Nopony was running anymore, she noticed. The thing chasing them probably got tired and gave up. Applejack was screaming something and pointing, though. She couldn't really tell what it was she was saying, but her head seemed to take the hint.

She turned around quickly and saw a purple and brown blur headed straight for her.

Dash sat up on her bed, rubbing the sweat off her forehead and groaning. It was that dream again, that same dream that popped up every week or so. She could remember more and more of the dream each time it happened, but the vague visions of it left many unanswered questions.

"Didja have that dream again?"

Dash looked to her side and rested her eyes on the purple unicorn next to her. Her eyes were half-opened and a tired smile tugged at her lips. Rainbow reached a hoof over and twisted one of the pink hairs resting on her cheek, smiling back and forgetting all about the dream.

"Yeah, guess so..." she removed her hoof from Twilight's cheek and flung it over her back, onto the nightstand by the unicorn's new queen-sized bed. She reached around for the small, orange bottle for a second and pulled it over to the bed. Twisting the lid just a few times, she opened it up and reached inside.

Empty.

"Umm, hey Twilight?"

Twilight simply smiled and nodded before casting a knock-out spell, just as potent as the pills Dash had been using to get to sleep after waking from one of her frequent nightmares. She reached for her check-list of supplies and groceries and added 'sleeping pills' to the bottom, before replacing it on the nightstand and relaxing into a deep slumber.

Three months after Rainbow's meltdown had proved more than enough time for her four friends to develop emotional masks that could rival even Celestia's. Not one of them would flinch when Rainbow mentioned Twilight, nor would their eyes wander around nervously when she began conversing, sometimes even arguing, with herself.

The four could now smile and laugh on a whim, and then break down in tears a second later, only to become enraged by nothing and begin shouting at whoever happened to be nearby.

When Rainbow Dash wasn't around, however, their faces always bore frowns. Not because they were sad, nor angry, but because they were so emotionally drained that they didn't bother with it anymore, unless the cyan pegasus was around. The once-close friends were only ever able to engage in awkward conversations, always tired from their constant ruse.

Spike had had it worst of all, having to run the library with Owlowiscious while simultaneously dealing with Dash, who dropped in every once in a while to converse with herself or talk herself to sleep after a nightmare. One day, he decided he couldn't take it anymore and entrusted the library to the owl, moving in with Pinkie Pie and becoming Sugarcube Corner's very own delivery boy.

"Awww, c'mon, Twi. You can just cast that cloud-walking spell or whatever," Rainbow explained. Twilight didn't seem too excited about hanging out in Rainbow's house for once, which was totally not cool considering they were always at the library.

"I don't know... I always feel kinda... meh, walking on clouds..."

"Come on, Twilight. If you don't feel comfortable on clouds, I can just lay out a rug or something for you to sit on."

"Well... it's not so much the clouds as it is walking above the ground..."

"What."

"Well, think about it. You're never really comfortable walking on the floor of my library, right?" Twilight waved a hoof around her for emphasis.

Dash nodded.

"But you were fine walking on the platform hanging off the mountain, right?"

Another nod.

"Well, the way you feel on the ground is similar to the way I feel up in the air."

Dash's mind went into overdrive. She couldn't let Twilight be right this time. The two of them were going to hang out in Rainbow's house and that was final. A thought hit her, and she smiled as she expanded on the idea.

"So, let me get this straight. You don't like walking up high, and I don't like walking on the ground." She paused, waiting for confirmation about the intended question she'd said.

Twilight nodded, not knowing where the pegasus was going with all of that.

"So it's fine if I feel uncomfortable in your library, just so you don't have to be uncomfortable in my house?" Dash pointed a hoof accusingly at the unicorn for emphasis.

Twilight blinked a few times, her mind slowly comprehending what Rainbow had meant. She hung her head and scuffed at the ground, looking up at Rainbow from behind her mane.

The guilt trip, Rainbow thought, mentally hoof-bumping herself. Works every time.

With a sigh of resignation, Twilight raised her head and walked to the library door. "Alright, you win. Let's go."

With a shout of victory and a few beats of her wings, the two were up in the sky, flying to Dash's floating abode. She thought she heard Twilight laughing, and looked over her shoulder to see the unicorn's wide eyes taking in the skies around her, a content smile etched on her face.

Dash landed at her home and Twilight stepped off, onto the clouds.

"Sounded like you had fun up there."

Twilight looked back to where they had come from, a faint smile on her face as her thoughts went back to the flight. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Rainbow smiled and pushed Twilight gently. "And here I thought you didn't like it up here."

"Oh, no," Twilight's smile faded into an uneasy frown. "I don't like walking up here, but flying's fine."

Rainbow couldn't help but let her smile grow wider, and her eyes lit up as she leaned closer to the other mare. "So, want me to take you flying?"

"Hmmm..."

"Hmm?"

"Hmmm... Yeah, why not?"

"YES!" Dash dove underneath Twilight and pushed up off the ground, the unicorn yelping at the sudden lift. She waited a moment for the unicorn to get a good grip, and took off away from her home. Just as she was about to start one of the many Wonderbolts routines she'd memorized, a crazy, definitely dangerous thought crossed her mind.

"Hey Twi?" She glanced over her shoulder, unsure how to ask.

"Hmm?"

"Umm, can I- I mean, hmm..." Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin and thought of a good way to phrase the question. "Well, since I can do a sonic rainboom pretty much whenever I want..."

"You want to do one with me on your back?" Twilight interrupted.

"Uhhh, yeah..."

"Alright, let's do it!"

That caught Rainbow off-guard. "Wait, what? You're not gonna tell me, 'No, that's too dangerous! What if something bad happens?' or anything?"

"Nope, let's go!"

Rainbow looked down at the dot known as Ponyville, then over her shoulder at the mare taking in the landscape beneath them.

"Ready?"

"Huh?" The unicorn blinked, snapped out of her reverie, and tightened her grip around Rainbow's neck. "Oh, yeah. I'm ready."

Without another word, they were off, hurtling straight down towards the speck of Ponyville beneath them. Dash wasn't sure if the rainboom would be any different than normal with Twilight on her back. Maybe her rainbow trail would have some extra purple and pink thrown on top of it. It made sense; her trail consisted of her hair colors, so throw in Twilight's and that's just what happens.

After a few seconds, Dash felt the cone of resistance pushing up against her hooves, fighting the mare for control. She could've broken through at any moment; after all, she had broken through after just a second of upwards acceleration at the royal wedding. But she decided to pretend she was fighting against it, so Twilight could enjoy the rainboom for all it was worth.

When she finally broke through, her speed instantly doubled and she curved upwards to fly parallel with the ground. She smiled and looked over her shoulder to see that the unicorn... wasn't there. Dash panicked and spun around, back towards the origin of her rainboom. She was slowly losing speed and could barely make out the purple shape off in the distance.

She flapped her wings as hard as she could, desperate to catch her marefriend before she hit the ground. She was gaining ground on the unicorn and could start to see her hooves, flailing about in every direction. She pushed on, despite the aching of her wings, and saw Twilight gaining speed as gravity violently pulled her in to take her life.

Twilight wasn't far now, and Dash could see the fear frozen on the other mare's face. She caught up to her in a second and reached out, grabbing Twilight with her forehooves and pulling her in close as she began to slow down. She felt a sharp pain in her back hoof and tilted sideways. Her wing slid painfully across the ground, causing her to spiral out of control.

She flapped her wings frantically, trying to break free from the spin, and she saw the side of a cliff coming up fast. She did the only thing she could think of: she tossed Twilight to the relative safety of a low, grassy hill, and braced for impact.

Twilight Sparkle woke up feeling numb all over, hearing a faint beeping coming from somewhere off to her side. She slowly opened her eyes and winced at the brightness of the light she found herself staring up at. Taking a moment to turn her head, she slowly opened her eyes and lifted her left hoof to protect them from the light, only for her hoof to get caught by something.

She inched her eyes open halfway and inspected her hoof. There were several needles poking through near the tip of it, secured in place by a band of clear tape. Twilight then raised her right hoof towards her eyes, and felt something brush up against it. She turned her head and spotted Rainbow Dash, peacefully asleep in the bed next to her.

Huh, she wondered, whaa-ss sheee dooooooo...

Twilight woke up again, hearing the consistent beeping of the machine at her side. She turned her head and opened her eyes slightly to see that Rainbow Dash wasn't there next to her anymore. Lifting a hoof to her forehead, she opened her eyes halfway and groaned.

"Qui-! She- aykee- up!" a semi-familar voice called from somewhere nearby.

Twilight turned her head to where she thought the voice was, opening her eyes the rest of the way. She saw a pink pony bouncing up and down, somehow staying perfectly still while doing so, and a yellow pegasus looking at her through part of her mane.

"Uuurgh, hey Pi-"

She was cut off as Pinkie flung herself onto the bed and proceeded to squeeze the life out of her and, just as quickly, jumped back down.

"Ahem."

The three turned to see a caramel-colored unicorn stallion, walking up to them with a clipboard floating nearby.

"I see that you're awake," he said, before turning to look at the two visitors. "If you two would be so kind as to wait outside for a moment..."

With slow, hesitant nods, the two exited the room quietly, closing the door behind them with a soft click.

"Now then, I am Doctor Stable. How are you feeling right now?"

Twilight thought for a moment, before a response came to mind that fit the situation perfectly.

"Blegh."

The doctor wrote something onto his clipboard and addressed the patient once again. "Now tell me, do you know why you're here?"

"Yeah.. I was flying with Rainbow Dash and-"

"Wait," Doctor Stable interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Did you say 'Rainbow Dash'?"

Twilight was confused, but thought it best not to question the doctor. "Yeah, Rainbow wanted to do a sonic rainboom with me on her back, but I couldn't hold on and I kinda fell..."

Scribbling more notes into his clipboard, the doctor nodded and left the room without a word.

Applejack came by to visit her bed-ridden friend the next day. She'd brought with her an assortment of healthy, hospital-approved treats for the unicorn to snack on. With Twilight's exhaustion and the nervous shuffling of Applejack's hooves, neither of the two spoke much, simply enjoying as much of each other's company as they could.

Twilight had fallen fast asleep about an hour after Applejack's arrival, and the earth pony stayed for another thirty minutes before returning to her farm.

Next up was Fluttershy, who talked for hours upon hours about her animal friends and all of the beautiful flowers in her garden. She would pause and look over at Twilight occasionally, waiting for confirmation that the unicorn was still awake and listening. When she'd gotten a nod or a few blinks as a reply, she slowly resumed the one-sided conversation.

The pegasus was getting to her favorite part of a story involving Rarity's cat, Opal, when a flying carrot smashed straight into her cheek. She looked over to Angel, who was pointing at Twilight and back at the clock, then suddenly fell onto the ground with his eyes closed, chest rising and falling dramatically.

"Twilight's... late? Sleeping? Oh! Oh no, it's not past her bedtime, is it?" Fluttershy looked back at the unicorn apologetically. "I- I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

When she realized her friend was already asleep, her voice trailed off and she looked back at Angel, who was tapping his foot impatiently and pointing at the window and the night sky beyond. A moment of silence passed, then Fluttershy had swooped up Angel into her hooves and was on her way out of the hospital.

Rarity came in the next day, complaining about Sweetie Belle and her friends tried to get their cutie marks by bringing her display models to life. Their justification: if Ponycchio was a living doll who thought he was a 'real pony', the three of them could easily replicate that.

Needless to say, Rarity wasn't happy being stuck cleaning molten plastic, and had gone to the hospital to vent her frustrations. She was happily, and angrily at the same time, dominating the entire 'conversation' when Pinkie Pie slammed the door open. She tossed a tray of cupcakes she snuck through hospital security onto a table and bounced off to her friend.

The next two hours or so were spent with the two unicorns deeply engaged in Pinkie's stories. They never followed a legitimate story arc, or really made that much sense when one bothered to spend enough time thinking about it, but Pinkie Pie's brand of stories always captivated the audience. When one tried to recall a portion of the story, they would realise they couldn't remember a single thing about the tale, even if it had just been finished moments before. Nopony was bothered by it, and chalked it up to a side effect of absorbing too much Pinkie-ness.

When Pinkie's two-and-a-half-hour break from work/story time was over, Twilight was left alone with the other unicorn. As Rarity went on a new rant about Hoity Toity or something or other, Twilight's mind wandered to who hadn't yet visited her: Rainbow Dash.

She was sure Rainbow would be the first to visit her. After all, the pegasus spent much of her time napping, flying, or thinking of something to do. And with their relationship, that made visiting Twilight even more important. Unable to find a suitable explanation as to why Dash hadn't showed, she decided to voice her question to the only pony close enough to listen.

"Hey Rarity..." she said, clearing her throat, unsure of how to phrase the question. "Why hasn't Rainbow Dash visited me yet?"

Rarity seemed caught off-guard by the question. Or maybe it was how she'd been interrupted in the middle of a story. Twilight couldn't tell which it was before Rarity began speaking.

"Oh, about that... Rainbow's... veerrrrryyyyyy... busy! Yes, Rainbow has been terribly busy lately, dealing with the..." Rarity paused a moment, thinking of something that would take up all of the pegasus' time. "...weather! Yes, that one pegasus, what's her name... Was it Ditzy? Derpy?"

The unicorn paused, thinking about the mailpony's name. She suddenly felt bad; the mare always brought her mail with a cheery 'good morning' and a bright smile, occasionally throwing in a free muffin or a compliment, and Rarity almost always said nothing in reply. She hadn't even bothered to remember the other pony's name. She would make up for her rudeness tomorrow, then. Or... maybe the day afterwards. She certainly couldn't remember to be kind after a day of scrubbing melted plastic off her floors.

"Rarity?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, well... Ditzy has made a real monster out of the weather lately, and Dash has been busy cleaning up after her."

Twilight thought for a moment, contemplating the reason. Rainbow could clear a storm easily enough, and could even ask some other weather ponies to do the job for her. So, based on those facts, either Ditzy was continuing to ruin the skies after Rainbow had fixed them, or the weather was extremely terrible and on the brink of destroying entire towns, and it was so tremendously formidable that it was taking her two whole days to fix. Neither of those made any sense at all, but Twilight dropped the subject anyways.

Rarity continued rambling about her clients and whatnot for a half an hour, then a nurse came in to notfiy the two that visiting hours were over and the unicorn had to leave. After a brief goodbye, Twilight was alone once again, thinking of every possible reason why Rainbow wouldn't visit.

She eventually settled on two plausible ideas: Dash was either feeling guilty and couldn't handle visiting, or was injured in the accident and taken in to a different room of the hospital to heal. Her mind latched on the latter idea, given the fact that Dash had flown face-first into a cliff, and Twilight laid awake throughout the night, worrying about the pegasus's well-being.

Six days after the accident found Twilight leaving the hospital, feeling fit as a fiddle, and trotting idly on the way to her library. Upon entering said library, she was mildly shocked to see not a single book out of place. The shelves were a tad more dusty than usual, but being closed for nearly an entire week, that fact came with no surprise.

The mare, deciding she should prepare for Pinkie's previously prescribed party, trotted up to her room and levitated a brush over to begin her self-grooming. Only, the brush wouldn't move an inch. She groaned once again and, refusing to stand up, crawled over to her table and began the tedious task of manually brushing her mane.

It didn't take long for her to finish tidying up her mane and coat, and she looked over herself in the mirror once more before heading out to her specially-designed stop-sulking-sadly-and-something party. The name was much too long for her to remember, and to top it all off, Pinkie had turned the whole thing into an alliteration.

A light drizzle beginning to fall startled Twilight out of her wandering thoughts. Hoping to avoid her mane and coat frizzing up later, she trotted faster to the location of her party, eager to escape the rain. When the mare entered, she quickly took notice of the few ponies attending. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and a small number of others were chatting idly, playing games, dancing, or, in Octavia's case, playing music.

The pink party-planning pony bounced over to the guest of honor and dragged her towards the center of the room, saying, "Ohmigoshyou'refinallyhereIdidn'tthinkyouweregonnashowbecauseyoulookedsotiredandsadallthetimebutnowyou'reheresothat'sokaybutnowyoucan'tbeactingallsadorlonelyanymoreokaybecausethisisyourpartysohavefunanddon'tdrinkthelemonadeittasteskindafunnybutanywayscomeonhavefunand PARTY!!!"

Twilight obliged, trotting over to converse with Applejack and Carrot Top about agricultural practices. She tried her best to let loose and have fun, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake one thought. A fact, screaming to be proved or refuted, that, she decided, only Applejack would answer truthfully.

The fact that Rainbow Dash was still nowhere to be found.

"Oh, Rainbow's... doing... she's in... Cloudsdale! Working on, uh...clouds. 'Cause, uh... y'know, that's what Rainbow does with clouds... she, uh... works on 'em, yeah," an extremely nervous grin that, despite all of her emotion-hiding-training, only the Element of Honesty could pull off graced her lips, providing Twilight more proof that Applejack wasn't telling her the truth.

Twilight's unammused frown made the earth pony's grin spread even wider in an attempt to prove her truthfulness, but only succeeded in straining her too hard and causing sweat to dribble down over her forehead.

"Uh-huh," came Twilight's flat reply. "So, you're telling me that Rainbow's been up in Canterlot, working on clouds, for the whole week?"

"Uh... Yeah! Yep, that's it. She's been workin' on clouds up in Canterlot all week."

"Hmmm..." Twilight pretended to be thinking, while internally, she was patting herself on the back for her ingenious trick. "But I thought you said she was in Cloudsdale, not Canterlot."

"Uh, yeah, I mean, she was in Cloudsdale originally, but uh... she..."

Yup, the purple mare thought to herself, she's trapped now.

"...uh, was transferred to Canterlot, to, uh, work. Work on the clouds..."

Any second now, and she'll tell me what's really going on.

"...'cause the weather pegasi, uh, I mean, unicorns, in Canterlot..."

Aaaany second now...

"...needed help from a pegasus to, uh... to... oh, buck it. C'mere, I'll show ya why."

Bingo.

"Soooo, Applejack, what exactly are we doing here, again?"

Twilight looked out at the scenery around her. Large, magically-enchanted always-green trees sprung up from the blanket of low-cut grass, sparkling slightly from the recent shower. Small, rectangular mounds of dirt rose from the ground, stone slabs protruding from one end, often decorated with wreaths, pictures, and bouquets of flowers.

Applejack didn't answer, for she had told Twilight several times that she would explain everything once they arrived at their destination. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it: maybe Rainbow was mourning the loss of a loved one, or maybe she had died in the acci... she didn't allow herself to finish the thought. Rainbow was okay, so surely she was mourning or something.

The two came to a stop at the end of one dirt pile, stacks of flowers on either side of the tombstone, and she looked to read only the top line: Here Lies Twilight Sparkle.

"I don't get it, why do I have a grave? It's not like I died. I mean, I just got out from the hospital earlier today. Why would I have a grave if I'm not dead? Unless this is some sort of pra-"

"Twilight."

Twilight stopped her ranting and looked curiously at her orange friend. She noticed tears sliding down the earth pony's face, and waited a moment for her friend to speak.

Applejack paused a moment to collect her thoughts. She could beat around the bush and let Twilight come to the conclusion herself, but that wouldn't work. Twilight wouldn't think she was dead, even if they dug up the grave and looked at her decomposing body. No, she would have to be as blunt as possible and do everything she could to force the truth down the other mare's throat.

"You're Rainbow Dash."

There. She said it. Now all that was left was to-

"What do you mean 'I'm Rainbow Dash?' I'm obviously Twilight Sparkle. I mean, I've been Twilight Sparkle all my life. Why would I suddenly be Rainbow Dash?"

Ah shoulda known this was coming. Now, how to convince her... Applejack pondered, her eyes flicking about to find something to help.

"And I didn't cast a body-swapping spell or anything, I don't even know any. In fact, I don't even know if any exi- wait, is this a prank? If this is a prank, it isn't fu- mmmph mmp hmm."

Applejack retracted her hoof from her friend's mouth and sighed, looking back to the puddle she'd seen and pointing a hoof at it.

"There. Look at your reflection, tell me what ya see."

Twilight unhappily acquiesced, knowing how stubborn Applejack was, and trotted over to the puddle, observing her shimmering reflection. A mare with a purple coat, purple eyes, purple mane with a single pink highlight and a purple horn sticking out from underneath it stared back at her.

"I see my reflection, obviously. What's the point of thi-"

"Ugh. Okay, fine, try an' use your magic. Lift that there puddle up or somethin'."

Twilight focused her magic into her horn and frowned when the puddle didn't move whatsoever. "Huh, I must still be recovering from the-"

"Okay, okay, ya can't use your magic. Now try an' fly."

This caused the unicorn to look back at her friend, confusion splayed out across her face. "Fly? I can't fly, I don't have any wings."

"Ah know, but just... just try an' fly, okay?"

"What's the point? I don't even know how to fly, and I can't use my magic to give myself a pair of wi-"

"Twi."

Twilight sighed in defeat, remembering that Applejack's stubbornness knew no bounds. She shut her eyes and concentrated on where her wings would be, if she were a pegasus. Remembering her studies on flight and aerodynamics, she imagined each and every step to a slow, steady takeoff.

First, the anticipation. Crouching slightly would allow herself to push herself lightly away from the ground, adding momentum to ease the stress on her imaginary wings.

Second, came an action she dubbed 'the initial beat.' Pushing her hooves against the ground, she imagined herself flapping her wings the moment her hooves lost contact with the grass below. She imagined feeling the weak, ever-present air currents that would be her guide to keeping her balance after takeoff.

Finally, came midair suspension, as she liked to call it. Feeling the air currents of her mind, she angled her wings slightly and spread them wide, before slowly rotating them as she gave them a second flap, slicing through the imaginary air as if it were nothing. She would curl her wings at the end of the motion, rotating them in the opposite direction to slice upwards through the air and lose less height than if she were to mindlessly buffet her wings.

The concentration on her imagined wings lessened as her subconscious slowly took control of them, eventually enabling her to cut through the air with absolutely no thought whatsoever. Content that she remembered so much from her studies, she opened her eyes, ready to attempt the steps for real, only to be greeted by a lack of Applejack and a lack of ground around her at that.

She looked down, seeing an orange mare a few feet below her, a hoof raised to her eyes to protect them from the sun hanging high overhead. Wait... the flying unicorn thought, if she's down there, then that means I'm...

Unable to trust her own thoughts, she whipped her head around, looking for a unicorn or pegasus holding her up in the air. Nothing but grass, trees, and graves for as far as the eye could see. Confused, she looked at the mound of dirt near her earth pony friend and her eyes wandered forwards, reading the four words engraved at the top once again: Here Lies Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow Dash's mind flooded with memories her mind had tried to snuff out. Their journey into and through the Everfree Forest; the hydra they had escaped from, whose last, ear-shattering roar woke the Ursa Minor and Major in the cave nearby; their mad scramble through the forest, running from the two Ursas; an uprooted tree, thrown by the Minor, that had hit Twilight head-on and flooded her vision a second later.

Weeks passed, and she remembered waking up from the hospital, only to learn that her marefriend had been killed and Pinkie Pie was in a coma; how the funeral had been postponed until Rainbow Dash was well enough to attend; Fluttershy flying off mid-way through the ceremonies, and the mad scramble to find her shortly afterwards; and finally, of Dash herself, who had, by the time Celestia returned with the yellow pegasus, begun to believe that she had hurt herself in a high-speed crash, the purple unicorn had helped her heal shortly afterwards, and the two mares had been closer ever since.

Dash found herself on the ground in front of her love's grave, Applejack standing over her, shaking her vigorously, asking her if she was okay. The pegasus shoved her friend off of her and looked at the tombstone once more.

"You okay, Rainbow?" was all the pegasus needed to throw a tantrum.

"Get. Away. From me."

Applejack lifted a hoof and leaned back, unsure of how to act to the sudden shift in attitude.

"I. Said. GO AWAY!" she screamed, her hoof flying towards Applejack, only to miss its mark completely and hang limply on the ground. The cowpony nodded solemnly and trotted slowly away, her head hung almost impossibly low.

Rainbow didn't wait for her friend to be out of earshot before she collapsed to her side, hugging the tombstone tightly and allowing her held-back tears to flow freely.