Forth Through 'til the Dawn
Another glorious day in Equestria was drawing to a close. The bright, vibrant land seemed to sigh in contentment as Celestia's life-giving sun began to set slowly into the West. All manner of ponies across the peaceful land looked out upon the sight, from Appeloosa to Manehatten, all of them sharing in the solace and comfort the radiant vista brought them.
Hard won was this peace they shared, a peace bought with sorrow and tears and sacrifice. A peace that cost many ponies their lives. However, it was not needless; they died knowing that, in time, the pain of their passing would ease for their friends and family. They died knowing that the happiness that the breaking of the dark would bring would heal the sorrow of the past.
They knew the price they paid would protect all that they loved, and all that would come after.
Still, many cried as they viewed the setting sun, the pain of that loss still fresh in their mind. From many hearts, in many voices, came whispers of the names of those who fell, praising their deeds in life and honoring them in death.
Thus was the custom, as it had been in the year since the First New Sun, to face the coming darkness of night together without fear, knowing their friendship, despite the vast distances between them all, would see them through to the next light.
As the sun continued it's descent, splashing the sky with swathes of red and trailing the deepening blue transcending to night, most of those ponies huddle together in the quiet warmth of each other's shared company.
Some, however, were alone as they faced the coming night.
Applejack, despite sitting atop a hill bearing a single apple tree with the rest of her family, felt as cold as she ever did facing the coming dark. She was grateful to Big Macintosh and Applebloom for always coming together for this part of the day, but the void in her heart still ached.
She had learned to cope with the loss. Partly because she knew what the sacrifice had meant, partly because she knew that mourning wasn't what she would have wanted, but, most of all, for the small, restless bundle of golden furred, orange-and-red maned energy that sat between her forehooves.
Apple Dunk was only two when the Bearers had come through the small refugee camp he lived in, three years ago during the waning years of the Eternal Eclipse. His mother, bearing a heart embossed upon a winged shield as a cutie mark, on the verge of death struggling with an unknown illness, had begged the Bearers to take him with them, to get him someplace safe. The others had agreed, but Fluttershy, Applejack and, most surprisingly Rainbow Dash were the ones who truly took him in, and promised the ailing mare that he would be well taken care of.
They never learned the identity of the mare. They never found any family who knew of the child. And they never forget the unbridled look of sorrow and love on the mare's face as she reluctantly gave up her son to the saviors of the world.
She died within the hour, a grateful smile upon her once-beautiful face.
"Mamma?" the young colt squeaked, jolting Applejack out of her reverie.
Applejack looked down at her adoptive son and hitched a small, warm smile on her face, masking her pain.
"Yes, kiddo?" she responded, looping a forehoof over his shoulder as he looked up at her, concern in his young face.
"Are you thinking about Mommy?" he asks, tilting his head slightly.
As always, he surprised Applejack with his astute guesswork. He had brains like Twilight, strength like Big Mac, and kindness like fluttershy.
Most important, and most heartbreaking off all, he had his Mommy Rainbow Dash's unyielding loyalty, marked by the lightning-shaped ruby that hung about his neck from a golden torc.
Applejack's smile turns sad as she gave her son a gentle squeeze.
"You caught me, there, sugarcube. I should know better than ta try an' fool you, huh?"
Apple Dunk lowered his head, silver sparkles at the corners of his eyes as leaned his small head against his Mamma's leg, looking out over the sky his more adventurous mother had loved so much.
"I miss her too, Mamma," Dunk said, sniffling slightly. He had barely known her before the end of the Eclipse came, and had cried every night for the first month or so. "I wish she was here. I wish we could be a family again."
"Ah know, darlin'," Applejack replied, feeling her own tears welling up. Big Mac and Applebloom were likewise affected, Big Mac letting his flow freely, staring at the sun, while Applebloom turned to the side and sobbed into a foreleg. "Ah know. But we gotta be strong. Mommy wouldn't want us ta cry over her, now would she? She'd want us ta be happy."
She said the words, and drew some modicum of strength from them, but she could not quite convince herself of her own honesty. The ache in her heart that had lasted since the death of her best friend and the love of her life was always stronger at this point of day. She knew it always hurt less when she remembered the good times, so she focused on those.
The Iron Pony competition. Looking back on it, Applejack always laughed inwardly on their foalish little rivalry, but it was among the most fun she had ever had. Further, the gentle run she had taken with Rainbow after the debacle that was their race the day after served to strengthen their bond of friendship that would blossom into love.
The Best Young Fliers Competition. Rainbow hadn't fared too well during the preliminaries, despite all her friends coming up to Cloudsdale to cheer her on, courtesy of Twilight's fancy spellwork. Well, almost all of them. Rarity had been a tad busy soaking up the limelight that her gossamer wings had generated, only serving to make Rainbow even more nervous at the thought of having to compete against them. All bets were off, however, when Rainbow had pulled off her spectacular Sonic Rainboom to save a wingless Rarity and a trio of unconscious Wonderbolts. This act had netted her the top award, as well as the admiration of the thousands of ponies in attendance, Applejack among them.
The Mare Do Well Incident. Along with the rest of her friends, Applejack and the rest of the Bearers banded together to bring Rainbow Dash off her high horse. Afterwards, Dash had been rather down, hurt by the fact that her friends had pulled such a prank on her. Applejack literally had to rope her out of a cloud to get her to talk. It'd taken some time, but gentle words and a warm embrace eventually got Rainbow to own up to her inflated ego.
There were many others besides.
The Hearth's Warming Eve Rainbow had spent with the Apple family, waking up next to Applejack on the floor after downing half the Apple Reserve Homebrew for that year.
Their first date which ended with several up-ended tables, a bloody nose, a permanent ban from the Gilded Horseshoe, and the sweetest kiss, shared between two young mares.
The day where Dash proposed, using an over-the-top series of acrobatics to write the question in thunderclouds which culminated in a spectacular corkscrewing Sonic Rainboom which sent her careening into the barn and, at the same time, turned an entire field's worth of fresh-harvested zap apples into mush. Applejack could hardly turn down such an over the top proposal, and agreed, her heart soaring, once she had stopped laughing. Big Mac, in the meantime, discovered that the reckless maneuver had turned the zap apple mush into a powerful and energizing concoction. Straining the juice from the mash, they created the first Zap-Boom Crash Cider, named jokingly in Rainbow's honor.
And, of course the wedding day. Unlike most of their dates and Rainbow's proposal, the wedding went about without a single hitch, unless you counted Big Mac bawling like a newborn foal. Neither of the mares had been particularly romantic, but neither could deny the magic in the air as they stared into each other's eyes, sharing a moment of eternity, before leaning in for the kiss that would signal the start of their lives together.
Their all too short lives together.
Rainbow Dash died seven years afterwards, two years after she and Applejack had adopted Apple Dunk. She died in the battle that marked the end of the five-year long Eternal Eclipse that blotted out sun, moon, and stars. In fact, it was her sacrifice, beyond all others, putting her loyalty to her friends and her love for Applejack beyond all else, that shattered the Dark Overlord Tenebrous' hold on the land and broke the seal containing Luna and Celestia within their astonomical bodies.
In one brief instant, her Loyalty outshone all the powers of Harmony as she cleansed the world of Tenebrous' frigid darkness with a wave of blinding, prismatic rainbow.
Then the flash receded, and she was gone, as was the Ruby of Loyalty. The First New Sun rose in the east, and brought light back into the world.
In the aftermath of the battle, Applejack had refused to talk to anybody. She simply ran home to her barn, once they verified Tenebrous was no longer a threat, and wailed and screamed and rebelled against the fact that her best friend and love of her life was gone until she lost her voice and collapsed from exhaustion.
When she awoke, someone had covered her in a rough wool blanket. The sun whad begun to set. She walked out and looked out into the sunset, remembering all her times with her lost love, and as she did, she closed her eyes, shedding a single tear as she whispered softly into the sunset.
"I love you, Dashie."
The moment she said it, she noticed a faint glow coming from a nearby clearing. The clearing had been illuminated in a soft, warm glow, and ringed in the first trees to again bear leaves and flowers since the Eclipse had begun. At the center lay a sat Apple Dunk, who sat with his head ducked, crying. At his feet lay a sleek golden collar, with a single adornment. A ruby cut in the shape of a lightning bolt.
It was in that instant that Applejack knew that her young colt was destined to take up his Mommy's burden.
She walked up to him, and he jumped into her hooves as soon as he noticed her. They cried together at the loss of the greatest pony they ever knew.
A year later, they sat together, son in the arms of the mother, finding solace for their loss in each other.
They looked on into the last rays of sunlight as the moon came up behind them.
Then, the entire Apple family turned and walked back to the house, pausing to brush the gravestone of Granny Smith beside the lone apple tree.
Applejack hung her trademark Stetson hat on the rack by the door as she entered the house, Dunk by her side. Big Mac and Applebloom followed soon after. They all made their way to Dunk's room. Dunk crawled under the sheets, and his Mamma tucked him in, brushing his moist cheek gently.
"Mamma?
"Yes, sugarcube?"
"Will you sing me the song?"
Applejack smiled and nodded. She knew exactly what her colt meant.
Big Mac began to hum, a deep, consoling tone that carried a gentle rhythm, and Applebloom used her own, tenor voice to weave a soft melody.
Applejack closed her eyes, letting the tune wash over her for a moment, then sang:
Sonny lives on a farm, in a wide open space
Take off your Stetson, stay out of the rain
Lay down your head, on a soft river bed
Sonny always remembers the words Mamma says
Sonny don't go away, I'm here all alone
Mamma Dashie's a Hero, never comes home
Nights are so long, silence goes on
I'm feeling so tired and not all that strong
Sonny works on the land, though he's barely a man
There's not much to do but he does what he can
Sits by his window in his room by the stairs
Watching the waves drifting soft on the pier
Many years have rolled on, Sonny's old and alone
Mamma Dashie the Hero, never came home
Sometimes he wonders what his life might have been
Still from the grave Mamma's voice haunts his dreams
Sonny don't go away, I'm here all alone
Mamma Dashie's a Hero, never comes home
Nights are so long, silence goes on
I'm feeling so tired and not all that strong
Sonny don't go away...
By the end of it, she was crying in earnest, but her young son was sound asleep, his head resting against her hoof. She smiled sadly, then, leaning down, she kissed him upon his brow, and tucked him in securely. She then quietly crept out of the room with her siblings.
"Are ya gonna be ok, sis?" Applebloom asked, concern written on her face, wise beyond her years.
"Yeah, I think so," Applejack replied. She might have been crying, but she honestly felt better, knowing Dash's legacy could be kept alive, at the very least through that song.
"You know we're here for ya," Big Mac intoned in his deep, calming voice. Impassive and silent as the giant pony could be, he cared deeply for his sisters, and hated seeing Applejack in such a state.
"I know, guys," Applejack responded gratefully. She walked over and pulled them both into a rough embrace, which they shared. "I love you guys."
"We love you too, Sis," Appleboom answered, leaning against her elder sister.
They broke apart, and Applejack headed for the front door, grabbing her hat on the way out.
Once outside, she made a beeline for the barn, then walked around it. Once around it, she headed straight for the clearing. It hadn't changed from the way she found it that night a year ago. Even in the winter the blooms persisted, and snow never touched the ground here. More than once, a rainbow touched down here, and Applejack had learned to repress the urge whenever this happened to run over and search for her best friend.
She sat down at the center of the meadow, and looked up to the sky. It was a clear night, and as she looked up, she noticed the constelation luna had put up six months ago, taking the shape of a cloud and lightning bolt. This far from the lights of Ponyville one could make out the wash of multicolored stars that gave the bolt a rainbow hue.
Applejack smiled up at the constellation, imagining what Dashie would say if she could see this.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, she returned her gaze to the meadow about her, then closed her eyes. Quietly, she whispered into the night:
"Heya Rainbow Dash. Ah wish you were here. Little Dunkin's getting to be quite the sight. Reminds me a lot of you, to be honest, though Fluttershy says he's like me in a lot of ways. All I see of me is my brutal honesty..."
"Not gonna lie, it gets hard ta go on sometimes without you here. Hard ta think it's been a year since... well, you know. Everyone is calling you the greatest pegasus in the history of Equestria. Heh, it's not like your ego needed that, none. But I kinda agree with them. You always were the greatest, least in my books."
"I miss you a lot, Rainbow. ah know the others do too, but we don't usually talk about it. Apple Dunk does too. He always asks for the same song. Ah don't know why he likes it so much. It always makes me sad, but if it makes him happy, ah'll do it. Truth be told, it makes me happy ta remember you as the hero you always were."
"There was so much we missed out on. So much we should have done. ah regret that every day. Still, we had our moments, huh? And ah cherish every one of them. I love you, Rainbow Dash. I love you, and I always will."
Drawing in a deep, shuddering breath, she exhaled her sorrow as best she could, holding on to her happy memories of her time with the greatest pony she likely would ever meet, then stood and returned to her farmhouse.
Within an hour, the hard-working Apple family were all asleep. The night no longer held the fear of never awaking to see each again anymore. They could all rest easy beneath the glow of the soft and watchful light of Luna's moon, and the gentle shine of Rainbow Dash's constellation. The light was her gift to the world, and though it, she protected all she had held dear in life.
And all would be well.