Chapter 9
Fire burned in Twilight Sparkles eyes. She let out a scream in anger and marched out the front door.
Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash looked in awe of what was happening neither of them had seen Twilight like this before. Rainbow had told them what she had seen, but Rainbow had never expected Twilight to react this badly.
“We have to stop her!” Rainbow cried out. “If we don’t, they’ll kill her! We can’t hurt them!”
...
Twilight stormed into the kangaroo’s makeshift workshop.
“Sergeant Tebbs!” She cried out.
Sure enough, Percy Tebbs stepped out from the back, smiling at her. “Hello Twilight! Something I can do for you?”
“I need a gun,” Twilight said calmly. Her inner rage carefully concealed, if she was visibly agitated, she knew for sure that Tebbs wouldn’t give her one.
“A gun? Sheila, what do you need a gun for?” Tebbs asked.
“Protection,” Twilight said simply. “Precaution, I assure you. Princess Celestia has asked me to carry out a personal favour that will take me close to the border with the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms; I’d rather not be caught unprepared.”
Tebbs thought it over a moment, unsure if it was a good idea or not, but eventually decided it was Twilight, he’d never known her to be anything but truthful.
“You’ll be travelling then? If you want, I could always have one of my troopers go with you. Willoughby should be free,” Tebbs said.
“No, that’s quite all right, besides, travelling to the border with a kangaroo is just asking for trouble. I’ll be fine, thank you,” Twilight said.
Tebbs gave in; he brought out an 11mm magnum Revolver and set it down on the counter in the workshop. Twilight levitated it up, opened the breech and checked the ammunition; six 11mm Magnum rounds were in the cylinder.
“You know how to work one of those?” Tebbs asked.
“Yes,” Twilight stated plainly. “A kangaroo by the name of Roy Melbourne showed me how when I met him in the mohoofie desert.”
Tebbs raised an eyebrow. “Roy Melbourne? You don’t mean the Roy Melbourne? The bounty hunter?”
“Yes. You know him?” Twilight asked.
“Know him? Shelia, I wish. Roy Melbourne was the most decorated soldier of the World War! He’s an inspiration to every kangaroo in the service, and you met him? In Equestria of all places?”
“He said he was on holiday,” Twilight said, sliding the revolver into her saddlebag. “Thank you Sergeant.”
“Twilight Spackle? You’re not planning on doing something rash with that, are you?” Tebbs asked.
“Of course not,” Twilight said, feigning a smile and departed from the workshop.
She had an apothecary to visit.
...
Rainbow Dash and Vinyl had split up trying to cover as much ground as possible in their search for Twilight. Rainbow had kept herself on the ground in case she flashed-forward, knowing how it usually went, it would happen at the most inconvenient time, which would have to be several minutes after being in the air.
She was frustrated, searching this way was inefficient. She decided that she could wait no longer and leapt into the air, rising to a height of ten metres when she spotted the lavender unicorn heading for the edge of town.
As if on cue, her head began to split, and she blacked out.
...
Rainbow Dash had no idea what would happen if her body died during a flash-forward, she certainly did not want to find out. She had to have fallen, she knew that, but could she survive a ten metre drop? She wasn’t sure.
Now here she was somewhere in the future, afraid to open her eyes because she knew she wasn’t going to like what she was waking up to. Maybe she could just stay here, keep her eyes shut until she went back to where she belonged.
“Ya’ll got a lot o’ nerve comin’ ‘round these parts after wha’ ya’ll did Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes; she was lying on the ground at Applejack’s feet.
“An’ sleepin’ on mah property, no less. Ya’ll are lucky I don’t beat the tar outta you!” Applejack exclaimed.
Now Rainbow was mad, it wasn’t even her fault she was here! She couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t her fault that Rainbow Dash had done what had needed to be done. She was sorry Apple Bloom and the others were dead, but she couldn’t fix it! It technically hadn’t even happened yet.
“Wll why don’t you?” Rainbow Dash said, spitting back at the earth pony as she rose to her hooves. Applejack responded with a roundhouse kick that landed squarely on Rainbow’s muzzle, she could have sworn that she’d heard her jaw break, as she scattered back on to the ground.
Her nose was bleeding, but as far as Rainbow could tell, her jaw didn’t break, Applejack must have been holding back, because she knew that the earth pony was strong enough to shatter every bone in her body.
“Cuz, Ah don’ kick ponies when they’re down! Not even you!” Applejack exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash got up again, and Applejack responded with another fierce kick to her flank, sending the Pegasus spinning to the ground, her 10mm pistol flew out of her saddlebag and clattered to the ground.
“What’s this? Ya’ll kill one member o’ the Apple Family and decide that ain’t enough, you come back to finish the job!?” Applejack called out.
Now that wasn’t fair. Applejack was angry, sure, but that was simply ridiculous! Wasn’t it? It had to have been!
Wasn’t it?
“Applejack! Stop.”
Rainbow Dash looked up, Big Macintosh was standing not five metres from where they were, wearing a Ponyville Pattern Sen Gun on his back, clearly, he was part of the Ponyville Militia.
“Go back in the house Applejack,” Big Macintosh said.
Applejack didn’t respond, she just simply turned her back to Rainbow Dash and walked away.
“You all right?” Big Macintosh asked her.
“I’ll live,” Rainbow Dash said plainly. Oh Celestia, please make that a true statement!
“Ah’m sorry ‘bout Applejack, she’s hurt and needs somepony ta blame. Don’t make it right, but Ah understand it. Ah’m hurt too,” Big Macintosh said, helping Rainbow Dash up. “Applejack may not like it, but ya’ll did what ya had to. If you hadn’t, there wouldn’t ‘ave been anypony left to burry us, let alone Apple Bloom,” Big Macintosh said. “Go on home, don’t come back, Applejack’ll kill ya if ya do.”
...
“Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dash what happened to you!?” Twilight exclaimed.
Rainbow had stepped through the door to the library, leaving a trail of blood drops behind her.
“Applejack,” Rainbow said simply.
Twilight frowned. “Rainbow, you knew that was a bad idea. Why would you go there?”
“It’s not like I’m choosing where I wake up Twilight. You’ll have to ask me again after I flash back to where I belong,” Rainbow said, her voice teeming with frustration.
Twilight frowned; she sat down and tended to her friend’s wounds. “It’s not so bad, considering what Applejack is capable of.”
“I figured she was holding back... I don’t know why though. I looked in her eyes Twilight, she wanted blood. I’d only seen that look once before from anypony... it was from you,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Right... that, knowing you, that was where you were just before coming here,” Twilight said sadly. Rainbow Dash nodded in affirmation.
Twilight began to cry. Rainbow Dash gave her a hug. “Shush now, It’s all right, I mean, clearly I turned out fine!”
“It’s not that... It’s about him,” Twilight said. Rainbow Dash froze.
“You... loved him, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked after a minute.
“Yes,” Twilight said with tears flowing, “I loved pure evil. What does that say about me?”
“It doesn’t say anything about you Twilight, he tricked you, he hid who he was from you, he manipulated you. It’s not your fault! It’s his.” Rainbow Dash said giving Twilight a smile. “The Nightshadow you spent time with wasn’t real. It wasn’t your fault.”
Twilight smiled at Rainbow, wiping the tears from her eyes. The two ponies continued to embrace.
...
“NIGHTSHADOW!” Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs outside the apothecary’s home.
The black unicorn opened his front door and stepped outside. “Twilight? Is everything all right?”
Twilight levitated the revolver out of her saddlebag, pressing it against the black unicorn’s head, and pulling back on the hammer. “Does that answer your question?” Twilight asked. Her voice filled with rage.
“Clearly... you’ve discovered something about me that you are angry about,” Nightshadow said calmly. “Perhaps, you should put the weapon away and we can talk about it?”
“Drop the act. I know who you really are now,” Twilight said.
“That is... most unfortunate,” Nightshadow said. “Despite what you’re thinking, I really did enjoy the time we spent together. I’m saddened that you’ve chosen this course of action.”
“Stop. Talking,” Twilight said.
“No.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, she was clearly missing something here. How could he not be afraid? He had no emotion at all.
“If you’re going to do it just...”
Twilight pulled the trigger.