//------------------------------// // Forgiveness // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// Forgiveness Rainbow Dash flew around town, searching for Geronimo. "I just gotta get this over with. Now where is he?" she searched all over town and then remembered that he was staying with Applejack at the farm. So she swerved off towards the orchard. She flew over the rows of apple trees, searching for the stallion. At one point she thought she saw him working the fields but upon landing she noticed her mistake. "Can I help ya, Ms. Dash?" Big Mac said, kicking a tree. "Oh, sorry, no. I was looking for the Sergeant." she said taking off. Big Mac hooked himself up to the apple cart, and took off for the barn. "That mare is always in a hurry." ------------------------------------------- Geronimo emerged from the kitchen, now coated in apple by products. "I need another shower." he looked up to see Granny Smith sleeping in her chair. "How on earth is she still asleep?" he grabbed some paper towels and began cleaning himself off as he walked out the door. He wiped an apple pie crust off of his face as a blue blur landed in front of him. "Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, how can I help you? Need to let off a little steam and need a punching bag? 'Cause I'm here, just let me take off my sunglasses, I don't even know how they stayed on and didn't break last time, but I probably won't be so lucky this time." he said while beginning to remove his sunglasses. "No, no I don't want to hurt you." He pushed his sunglasses back up and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "So what do you want?" "I Wa-. I nee-, I-." she sighed, took a deep breath, and attempted to say what was on her mind. "Look, I'm trying to say... This isn't easy for me... I'm sorry." she mumbled hanging her head. "What?" he asked honestly confused. "I said I'm sorry ok?" She snapped at him. "I have held a simple grudge against you for the last eight years, I planned on beating you senseless if I ever saw you. I hated you. But now that I have met you, and you explained the whole story, I regret every thought I had about ripping your wings off." Geronimo raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry for thinking it was your fault." "Apology accepted," he said with a comforting smile. "Now, I haven't seen you do much flying, but I know a good one when I see it. So how about you let me train you?" "Why would I need you to train me?" "Because your brother taught me everything he knew, and I have been training pegasi for the past eight years based off of what he taught me." he said with a slightly cocky grin. "And the best one out of all the ponies I taught, became my apprentice, and can't begin to compare to your raw abilities." "Do you really mean it?" she asked with a huge grin covering her face. "Every word." His voice then changed to one of curiosity, "Now tell me, have you ever considered joining the Wonderbolts?" She rolled her eyes, "It's just my lifelong dream. Why?" "Well what if I told you that some of the stunts I can teach you, would make you better than any of the Wonderbolts. And what if I told you that there is a group out there looking for flyers of your caliber, that if you joined, could give the Wonderbolts a run for their money?" "What are you talking about? The Wonderbolts are THE BEST fliers in ALL of Equestria. Who could be better?" With a smug smile he responded, "The 51st." "But I was told that they disbanded after your crash." she said confused. "And anyway I am not joining the military." "That isn't what I meant, because the first part is true," he said looking down, "the 51st no longer refers to a squadron I'm the Air Force, now it refers to two fliers who could put any of the Wonderbolts to shame, a flightless pegasus who used fit in that category, and the memory of your brother who taught the other three. We had made a decision, that as soon as we were out of the military, we would start a flight team that would be the best. On my last mission that dream went down with me. And it won't get back in the air unless it's on the wings of another, and those wings could be yours. I am certain that if you find them, you could convince them to restart that dream." Rainbow was bouncing with excitement, "Where are they? How could I find them?" she said, her voice cracking. "Well, you could..." he prepared to answer, but then confusion swept his face. "I-I don't know. I can't remember where they would be. Hmmm, I guess that the Wonderbolts would be a better option, more secure future, better initial paycheck, and I am sure that you could find their tryouts. So have you ever tried out before?" "Well I took first in the Best Young Flier competition by doing a Sonic Rainboom, saved several of their lives, and hung out with them for a whole day." she said, puffing out her chest. "Impressive, but have you ever tried out?" he asked. "Well, no." she admitted. "Well that explains why you aren't in yet. They need to know that you are committed, that THIS is when you want to be on the team." he said, facehooving. "But now I can teach you stunts that will make you irresistible to the team." "Why are you doing this for me? I was just rude and violent to you, and you respond by teaching me stunts that are going to make my dreams come true, why?" she asked cautiously. "Because, I have been taught the best stunts ever, I have been teaching pegasi the best stunts that they could handle, and none of them could handle the more intense moves." ----------------------------------------------- Thunderclaw pumped his wings, rising into the sky. That freaking griffoness had him following a cold trail. Where could she be? Thunderclaw had been hired by Gilda's parents to go and find her after an argument drove her away. He always had a bit of a crush on her, so he was more than happy oblige. The only problem is that when he started off he had no leads as to where she could be. He had vainly searched the neighboring griffon towns and villages, without any success. Then one of them mentioned that she had a few pegasus friends from her flight camp in Cloudsdale. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was better than aimlessly flying in circles, so he took off for Cloudsdale. Upon reaching the sky-bound town; however, he was starving and almost dying of thirst, due to poor planning, and lapsed into unconsciousness. He spent several weeks recovering and then searching the city for any signs of his quarry. Eventually he found out that she had been in town a little while ago, but she had headed out to see an old friend of hers named Rainbow Dash. Now he was headed towards that Rainbow Dash's current town of Ponyville and he should be able to get there in a few days. Now he extended his wings and tucked his talons and back paws in, preparing for a long glide. ------------------------------------------- Dash's wings had never been so sore in all of her life. Geronimo's training was the hardest flying she had ever done, but the moves that he had taught her would blow the minds of anypony at flight camp, and he said he hadn't even taught her the more advanced moves. "So how do you think our first training session went?" he asked with a sadistic grin. "Don't worry, that was just an evaluation, to see the full extent of your abilities. You, Ms. Dash, are the first one I have ever instructed to complete that so perfectly, you are the best flier I have ever seen." he finished with praise, "Training will be easier from here on out." "Really... I... Was... That... Good?" she was able to say between breaths. "Absolutely, now go home and get some rest, I will give you tomorrow off, but the day after we will start with some real training." Rainbow left, trudging her way towards the hill that her cloud home was floating over. As she did so, Applejack returned from the field. "Why does Rainbow seem so tired?" she asked the Sergeant. "She looks like she jus' did a week's worth a' applebuckin' in a day. Ah should know, ah've done that 'afore." Geronimo just chuckled, "She just started MY training regiment, the first day is always the hardest. But before she knows it she will be taking the flying world by storm." he smiled with pride at what his newest pupil had accomplished. "Her brother would be so proud." That last sentence confused Applejack, "Uh, ain't you her brother?" "Yeah, but I like to try and stay in character." he looked into her eyes, "It's true though, I am extremely proud." Applejack looked deep into his eyes and felt as though she could see everything about him. She couldn't help but feel a strange mixture of happiness and sadness, for everything that he had endured, and all the progress he was making in his new life. She suddenly found herself nuzzling the stallion. Neither of the two ponies had put any time into a romantic relationship, so the sudden affection made them horribly confused. Both of the ponies just stayed in the position that they were in, for fear of upsetting the other. They stayed that way for a few minutes, until Applejack broke the awkward embrace, "Uh, if y'all will a'scuse me, Ah gotta take a shower." She broke away from the awkward embrace and headed back towards the farmhouse. As Applejack approached the house, Big Mac looked at her, raising an eyebrow with a smug smile on his face. "What're ya starin' at?" Applejack asked, glaring at her brother. He shook his head, looked back at his sister, and smiled, "Nuthin'" ------------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash approached the hill that her house was anchored to. She couldn't wait to get home and take an extremely long shower. Every joint in her body ached, her muscles would be extremely sore for the next few days. She was almost entirely unable to move her wings, they were so sore, that she couldn't flap them hard enough to lift off. She began to worry about various things, beginning with work. If her wings hurt this bad tomorrow, then she would be grounded, and there would be no way she could do her job with the weather team, she would have to call in sick. The more she thought, the more she realized that she had a bigger problem on her hooves. She could walk to the hill by her house with no problem, but getting up to it was going to be a problem, since she couldn't fly at the moment. Rainbow looked up and saw her gorgeous house floating in the air, and found herself without the ability to reach it. She sighed and spread her wings, cringing from the pain that it brought, and began to flap. She pumped her wings as hard as she could and... Nothing. She didn't lift off the ground at all, she was sweating and she was exhausted. She had no other ideas. "Cud." she whispered under her breath. Then she inhaled deeply, clenched h teeth and tried again, giving it all she had, and then... Liftoff. She kept flapping as hard as she could and eventually made it up to the level of her front door. She reached out and her wings gave way, her front hooves caught her front porch, as the rest of her fell. She was able to hold on just long enough to pull herself up onto her doorstep. She crawled into her house, and up onto her bed just before lapsing into unconsciousness.