//------------------------------//
// Breaking Bonds 
// Story: Cursed Bonds of Loyalty 
// by JavaChips 
//------------------------------//

Morning had descended upon Ponyville, the bright sun making it's way across the horizon, drying the dew from the grass. There was one dampened spirit, however, that the sun couldn't dry. Applejack made her way down the dirt roads of Ponyville, her head hanging in guilt over the previous night's events. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself otherwise, she couldn't help but feel that she was in the wrong backing Rainbow Dash into that corner, no matter what she had done. With her thoughts in tow, she found her way to her destination, the Ponyville Library. The door swung open without much difficulty, and the orange apple picker stepped in. “Twi? Are you in here? I wanted to talk about what happened last....what in the name of Granny Smith is goin' on in here?”
Applejack did her best to move around the various stacks and piles of books, finding her way to her unicorn friend's work bench, where she was hastily turning the pages of one book after the other. “A Hundred and One Trinkets? No. Jewelry Throughout the Ages? No. Ugh, It has to be in one of these books.”
Applejack put a hoof on her friend's shoulder, which must have startled her as the book she was reading flew across the room. Twilight turned to face her friend, catching her breath after the short scare. “Oh, it's just you Applejack.” she said, relieved.
Applejack was still a bit bewildered by the scene. It was true Twilight would go on research binges given any excuse, but she had never seen quite a mess as this before. “What the hay has gotten into you Twilight? First you run off in the middle of the night, and then I come by and find you buried under a pile of books.”
“I've been looking for something.” she explained, turning her attention to Ancient Equestrian Artifacts Vol. VII. “Do you recall that pendant Rainbow Dash was wearing?”
Applejack thought back to the night. Breaking through the tension and anger, she recalled the ruby pendant that had been resting on the pegasus' shoulders. “What about it? I thought it was just a gift from that colt she's been seeing.”
Twilight nodded, skimming across the pages of the book. “It probably was, but it looked so familiar to me, I know I've seen that exact same pendant somewhere before, I just need to figure out....Oh no. It can't be.”
Applejack's mood immediately changed to concern to match Twilight's, moving quickly over to see the book. “What's this? The Griffon's Eye?”
Twilight nodded, looking worried as she closed the book. “We need to notify the princess immediately, this is serious.”
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Dark yawned as he rolled out of bed, checking his mane in the ice mirror in his room. Once he was happy with how it looked, he made his way into the hallway. Halfway to the kitchen for breakfast, he crossed paths with Rainbow Dash, who was looking up at a portrait on the wall, the pendant still around her neck. He looked up at the portrait and smiled. It portrayed an old pegasus, wearing armor traditionally worn by the Equestrian Royal Guard. Around his neck was a familiar ruby pendant. Dark smiled as he approached the filly. “His name is Silver Streak.” he said, surprising his house guest. “He was my great great great grandfather. He was a general during the Griffon Territory War.”
Dash looked over to her host, then up to the portrait again, putting a hoof on her pendant. “It's the same one, isn't it?”
Dark nodded, putting a hoof to her cheek and turning her to face him. “That's right, that amulet belonged to him, and it's one of my most prized possessions. I trust you with it Rainbow Dash, please don't let it leave your person.”
Dash thought for a second, taking in all that had happened in such a short time. She had met a pegasus who loved racing as much as she did, who spent time with her each and every day, and who trusted in her loyalty enough to give her his family heirloom. Finally, she took a deep breath and kissed his chin softly. “I promise.”
Dark smiled, nodding back to her. He beckoned her toward the kitchen, and she made her way in the right direction. As they made their way in, Dark noticed Dash limping on her back left leg. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked.
She stopped for a second, following his gaze to her leg. “Oh, yeah I was in a rush last night. I flew right through the storm and ended up getting a bolt to the leg. I'm not used to flying through storm clouds.”
Dark smiled, walking past her. “Well it's not too hard. There's a storm scheduled in Hoofington to the north this afternoon. If you don't mind a bit of a fly, I can teach you how to fly through storm clouds.”
Dash smiled, sitting down at the table. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”
The two continued to talk through breakfast, until finally Dash decided she should be getting home. Dark waved her off, making plans to meet her in Hoofington later that day. When she was out of sight, he made his way back in to the hallway where the portrait hung. He stared at it for a while, before finally he spoke to it. “Soon.” was all he said.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Applejack galloped as fast as she could toward Rainbow Dash's house. She had to tell her the news immediately, she had to at least try to help her. As she skidded to a stop near her friend's cloud home, she noticed the rainbow hued pegasus stepping out onto her porch. “Rainbow Dash!” she yelled up, catching her breath.
“AJ?” Dash questioned, looking down on her orange friend. “What do you want?”
Applejack could feel the anger and tension in Dash's voice as she asked, it was clear she was still mad about the night before. “Rainbow listen to me, That Dark Streak isn't who he claims to be! He's not looking out for ya!”
Dash growled. “You too? I thought you of all people would understand Applejack, you've always shared my spirit. Don't you think I can make judgement calls just fine?”
The question was an obvious trap, but Applejack didn't have time to dance around it. “Look, just listen alright? That necklace is bad, you need to take it off now before you get into some serious trouble!”
“Why can't any of you be happy for me?! You know what? Forget all of you, I didn't stick around to get yelled at last night and I'm not gonna stick around for this. I'll talk to you and Twilight about this later at the library, if you're ready to listen. See ya around.”
With that, Dash began flying off, leaving a rainbow in her wake. “Dash wait!” Applejack called out. Rainbow Dash was already out of range by the time she spoke up, leaving AJ alone and worried. “You have no idea what he's planning Sugarcube.”
“Rainbow Dash wait!” a small orange filly called out, hastily making her way toward Applejack. “You said we'd practice flying today!”
Applejack looked down at the disappointed Scootaloo and sighed. “Rainbow Dash had to attend to some business Sugarcube, she's in a bit of a confusing place right now.”
Scootaloo looked up at AJ, a bit concerned. “Well, I hope she'll be alright.”
The young pegasus began walking toward home, part disappointed and part worried, leaving Applejack to stare up at the sky. “Me too.” she said softly.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Dark watched the skies to the south from a cloud above Hoofington, occasionally turning his gaze toward the storm moving eastward toward the town. Finally, he caught sight of the spectrum heading toward him, watching it land in front of him. “Just in time, what took you?”
Dash looked a bit tense and annoyed as she stepped closer, flapping her wings irritably. “I had to blow off some steam, I almost forgot about our lesson.”
Dark smiled, shaking his head. “It's fine, you're here just in time. Now, there isn't much you really need to know about flying through storms. You know how to fly through a regular cloud right?”
Dash nodded, smiling. “You just follow the light, it's the sun shining through the other side of the cloud.”
Dark nodded, the rain starting upon them as the thunder rolled. “Right, now to fly through storm clouds, you do the opposite. The patches of light are static electricity building up. When you see a light, bank away from it, into the dark spots. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of thinking backwards.”
Dash nodded, eager to fly up into the clouds. Dark smirked and the two stared off, readying themselves. Finally, the two flew up into the air, soaring through the storm. Dash fell off course a couple of times, but Dark managed to keep her from serious injury. The two followed the storm almost until nightfall.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Dash flew straight home toward the library after her flying lesson, soaring through the window to the main floor, where Twilight and Applejack were waiting for her. “Alright, let's get this straightened out.” Dash said, eager to get it over with.
“Rainbow Dash, please, just listen for a second please.” Twilight pleaded, sliding Ancient Equestrian Artifacts Vol. VII in front of her. “This is a piece called the Griffon's Eye. It's an artifact from the Campolina Museum. It was stolen.”
Dash looked at it, reading it over. It was clear it was the same amulet, but Dash could hardly believe that it was taken from the museum in Campolina. “N-no, there's no way Dark would do that.”
“A lie works in mysterious ways, masquerading as truth untill it has spent it's days.” Came a voice from the basement doorway.
Dash looked over as Zecora revealed herself. She was carrying a newspaper on her back, which she slid across the room to Rainbow Dash. The front page held a story of the Campolina Museum's recent robbery, a visiting exhibit on the Griffon Territory War. It spoke of the Griffon's Eye Amulet that had been taken from under the guards' noses. Once again the picture was of the exact same amulet. Dash took a step back.  On any other day this may have been enough, but her mind was clouded by the beating of her heart. “Th-there's no way, how could anyone break into a museum anyway?”
It was then that Zecora produced a bottle from her satchel, setting it down. “A pony could not get past unseen, that is, disregarding invisibility.”
Dash's head began to ache as her mind battled with her emotions. She put a hoof to her head, which only succeeded in making her friends more worried. “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight spoke up, “Princess Celestia will be here shortly. Please cooperate and give us the amulet, take her to Dark and we can get all this sorted out.”
Dash's head continued to ache, to the point where she could only give into her instinct. Spreading her wings, she zoomed out the window in the direction of the mountains. The three worried friends galloped out of the library, watching their friend disappear into the night. “Rainbow Dash wait!” Applejack called out.
“Oh no, it appears I've arrived too late.” Came a regal voice.
The three turned around to see Princess Celestia land nearby. She had a worried look across her face as she looked down at the three. “Princess, we tried to stop her but she left with the amulet.” Twilight explained.
“I'm afraid it's worse than you think Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia told her. “Much worse.”
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Dark shuffled toward the door as the knocking upon it got louder. He took a deep yawn before opening the door. On the other side of the door was a glaring Rainbow Dash, stepping forward toward him. “You lied to me! You said that it belonged to your grandfather, but you stole it!”
Dark backed away in shock, but Dash took a step forward for every step back. “Rainbow Dash what are you talking about?”
“The amulet, this one here. You stole it from the Campolina Museum. I saw the paper Dark Streak, I know what you did with that potion I gave you. Why? Why did you lie to me?”
Dash's eyes had gone from angry to upset as she fought the tears back. Dark took a sigh, looking at her. “It's true, I did steal it from the museum.” Dark told her, dampening her spirits further. “I had to lie to you about the park, I needed the potion. But don't think I did it for no reason. Though it's true that I stole the amulet, it was first stolen from me.”
Dark beckoned her to follow, and led her to the hallway with Silver Streak's portrait. He pointed to the amulet around his ancestor's neck. “You said you saw the amulet in the paper? Well can you deny that the very same amulet is around his neck?”
Rainbow Dash looked up at the amulet, then down at the one on her neck. It was clear they were the same. “Rainbow Dash I was going to tell you, the guilt was eating me up inside, but I needed to first know that you would trust me enough not to tell the authorities. Now, do you trust me?”
Dash took a moment, her head still aching. Once she got her thoughts in order, she took a deep sigh. “A lot has happened to me tonight.” she told him. “I was told you're a thief, I've found out my friends don't trust my judgement, and now I'm finding out that the story I thought was the truth was hiding a deeper truth. Dark, I trust you, now tell me the whole story.”
Dark once again led her into another room, a sitting room. He took a seat in a chair, offering her use of the couch. “My grandfather fought as a general in the Griffon Territory War. He was a storm maker, just like me. Being a war with Griffons, most of the battles took place in the sky, and our control of the clouds was a vital key to victory. He was rewarded for his bravery and valor with the Griffon's Eye Amulet. Later in his life, near his death, he was approached by the Canterlot Museum to donate the amulet to their exhibit on the war. He refused, explaining that it was to go to his daughter, Bright Streak. From there it would descend down the family line to my father, Winning Streak, who was a lesser known flying ace. Then it was to be mine, but it never got that far. The museum didn't take no for an answer, and instead stole it from under my grandfather's nose. They waited until his death and the aging of my great great Grandmother before opening the exhibit, making sure no one would recall the origins of the amulet. My family never forgot, and when I heard that the Campolina Museum was hosting the exhibit, I had to ask you. I didn't feel good about it, but it had to be done for my family. Rainbow Dash, do you understand?”
Dark was tense, angry. Dash thought for a moment, taking in the story. Finally, she stepped off the couch and walked over, putting her hoof on his cheek. She gave him a soft kiss to calm him down. “I believe you Dark, and I won't let Celestia find you.”
Dark shot up, surprised. “Celestia?! She knows?!”
He jumped off the couch, shutting all the blinds on the frozen windows. Dash watched worriedly as he did. “What's wrong?” 
Dark made his way up to her. “If Celestia knows we may be imprisoned, I don't want anything like that happening to you. Listen, we need to lay low. Can you trust me for just a bit longer and follow me?”
Dash was shocked, and feeling a bit idiotic. She hadn't once thought that she could be imprisoned over this. “A-alright, I trust you. Now where are we going?”
Dark made his way to the front door and singled out a mountain. “On the eastern side is a cave, wait for me at it's mouth, I'll be there momentarily.”
Dash nodded and flew off, making her way toward the mountain. Dark stepped back in for a moment, standing in the hall and staring up at Silver Streak. “It's finally time Grandfather.” he said. “With Celestia in place and the amulet in my hooves, It's finally time.”
Dark trotted through the door and dove off the cloud, doing a dive before levelling off toward the mountain.