Nightmares | Appledash

Chapter Nine

A/N: For those who get notifications for this story, I'm sorry for the spam from all these chapters being posted at the same time lol...

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"It must have been horrible for you," Flash Sentry says as they're driving. Rainbow figures he's being polite and making an effort to small talk, but she'd been rather comfortable in the silence.

"Yeah," she says shortly, hoping he won't carry on with the conversation. She doesn't want to talk to him about this; she doesn't want to talk to anyone at all. No one but Applejack.

"I'm sorry," he says, and Rainbow feels he truly means it. His voice is low and thick with sincerity.

She shrugs and turns her head to gaze out of the window. Her eyes follow raindrops as they travel down the glass, and she finds it oddly soothing. It's as if the sky is trying to tell her something; that she's not alone. That it's crying with her.

"Have you ever lost someone?" she asks quietly.

Flash Sentry shifts in his seat before answering, "Yeah. But not like this."

"Really?" Rainbow murmurs sarcastically, earning a deep sigh from the other.

"I believe you, if it makes you feel any better," Flash tells her. Rainbow frowns, though she knows he can't see it. He seems to sense her confusion anyway, as he proceeds with, "That he did it on purpose, I mean."

Rainbow Dash doesn't know what she's expected to say to that, so she doesn't speak at all. She simply nods at him before burying a hand into the depths of her pocket and clenching it tightly around Applejack's phone.

As they settle back into silence, Dash can't stop the vivid memories from replaying in her head. It had all happened way too quickly; her pulse slowing, her organs shutting down, her heaving breaths, everything. Rainbow hadn't been there to witness it, but she knew Applejack had been struggling. She knew she'd been gripping at thin air while pressing a shaking hand to her wounds to prevent the bleeding, fighting her damn hardest for survival. She also knew that Applejack had known all the attempts were meaningless. Her body had given up long ago and there was nothing she could do to rewrite her fate.

Once Rainbow Dash had arrived at the scene – only four or five minutes too late – she had held the motionless girl close and screamed her name over and over until her throat turned dry and her voice went hoarse. She knew it was useless but she'd done it anyway, and when she finally realized there was nothing she could do to bring her back, a plaintive cry escaped her lips. She let her forehead fall against Applejack's and brought a trembling hand up to touch her cheek. It was met with a wet surface, and she understood that Applejack had been crying too. A great pain tore at Rainbow Dash's heart upon the realization.

At that moment, when she learned she had lost Applejack forever, Rainbow felt her entire body shaking in grave misery as the darkness devoured her whole. She tightened her grip around Applejack's lifeless physique and tried her best to get a look at the girl's face through the blurriness of tears pooling in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash couldn't accept the fact that she couldn't see her anymore. She knew that this was Applejack, the girl she had simultaneously loved and argued with more than anyone else for the past few years of her life. This was the beautiful girlfriend of hers who anxiously walked around in circles while waiting for her returns from morning runs; who would nervously watch Rainbow through the windows as she departed and blow a kiss her way whenever she got caught. Applejack, who always greeted her with warm hugs and the softest of kisses every time she stepped through the entrance of their warm, shared home.

This was her Applejack, who had placed a cautious hand on her cheek and leaned in with trembling lips, kissing her for the very first time on the benches of Canterlot High School after soccer practice when nobody was around. It was the same girl Dash had attended all of the school dances with when she finally decided to stop giving a crap about other peoples' opinions.

This was Applejack, who knew all the sides of Rainbow Dash in a way that no one else ever would because of that absurd pride of hers. This was the only human in this entire world that Rainbow had ever shared her insecurities with; the only person who always knew how to comfort her when she needed it. Applejack was always there to love Dash whenever she awoke with a start in the middle of the night, quivering all over and blabbering nonsense to herself in the dark. This was the girl who had touched her in places prohibited to anyone else; who knows exactly where and how to caress her to make her whole body tremble in anticipation.

This was Applejack, the only person ridiculous enough to pour dreadful amounts of ketchup into her meals and try to convince Rainbow Dash to do the same, despite knowing Rainbow would rather perish than enjoy her meals red and sticky. The one who told her she loved her every morning, day, evening, and night, even though Rainbow Dash rarely said it back.

This was Applejack in her arms, the girl she loved and cared for more than anything else in the whole universe, soaked in blood and frozen cold. This was her beautiful and perfect Applejack; unmoving, limp, and forever gone because of a stupid car crash.

AJ's gorgeous lids were sealed and her once flawless eyelashes were ruined with all the tears she'd shed in her final moments. Rainbow Dash could no longer recognize the million shades of green behind those beautiful fluttering butterfly wings. Everything she loved more than anything else disappeared in just a matter of minutes.

There's a sniff from the passenger seat causing Flash Sentry to advert his attention towards Dash. She still has her face turned to the window, but it doesn't take a genius to understand the girl is crying. Wrinkles appear on his forehead.

"Do you want tissues?" he asks softly, noticing the girl trying to discreetly wipe at her face with a wet sleeve.

"No... I'm fine," Rainbow Dash answers, but the apparent crack in her voice betrays her.

"Do you want me to call someone for you?" Flash asks instead. "A friend or something?"

Rainbow Dash considers it for a moment but quickly realizes she's in no position to talk to anyone right now. She shakes her head.

"Okay, just let me know if there's anything I can do to help," she hears Flash say, and she almost scoffs at him. There is nothing he – or anyone, for that matter – can do to help her right now. She needs Applejack, no one else. Only Applejack.

Then, a switch flips in her head. Dash turns her face just enough to get a slight glimpse at Flash in the driver's seat. She clears her throat. "Actually... There's somewhere I want to go."

"Do you have the address?" he asks her.

"No need. You should know where it is," Rainbow answers.

Flash Sentry blinks at her before slowly replying, "Alright... Where to?"