//------------------------------// // 07. Trepidation and Motivation // Story: Apples and Lightning // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Applejack had figured the field test her team was taking part in was pretty simple; students would compete in groups of ten teams, with each team starting on the Fillydelphia bay and making their way to a nearby lighthouse to reach the instructor there. To get there they’d have to climb through a man-made labyrinth of crags, mountains and cliffs, all while fighting against soldiers specifically chosen for this exam, and also the other teams. It was all well and good, but that premise sure did leave Applejack feeling mighty antsy when, after twenty minutes of walking through the bayside cliffs, her team hadn't encountered a single other person. No instructors, no soldiers, no other teams. No one. Applejack walked onto a plateau; she could see the bay in the distance, but it was a fair way down, and the plateau was surrounded on one side by steep cliffs, and all others by towering mountains and crags, except for the lone way forward through a narrow corridor between two mountains. Rainbow Dash walked onto the plateau right behind her, and Lightning Dust was nearby, kneeling with her palm flat against the ground and using her magic to search for nearby enemies. “I’m telling you guys,” Lightning groaned as she stood up and joined up with the others, “there’s no one here.” “Are you sure?” Rainbow griped, and Applejack pursed her lips and looked around, because she couldn’t believe it either. “You sure they’re not just, like, super good at hiding?” “As long as they’re connected to the ground,” Lightning Dust explained for the umpteenth time, her patience thinning with each repetition, “I can sense them with my magic. Even if they tried to slink up a tree or a pole of something, I’d still feel ‘em. “So either these guys are using like crazy advanced magic, or—” “Or there really ain’t no one around,” Applejack said firmly, biting her lip. “Yup,” Lightning shrugged. “And while I’d love it to be the first one, I got a feeling the Academy’s still using kid gloves on us, so I think we really just got a bad run of luck and haven’t run into anyone yet.” “So what the heck is up then!?” Rainbow threw her arms into the air and tapped her foot. “Where is everyone!?” “I dunno,” Applejack whispered, her eyes darting up the crags ahead in desperate search of anyone, “but I ain’t got a good feelin’ ‘bout none of it.” “Eh, it’s fiiiiiine,” Lightning chuckled and tapped Applejack’s forearm, other hand in her pocket, “we’re probably just running a little slow cuz of Rainbow Dash, other teams probably went by here already.” “Hey what!?” Rainbow balked, and Lightning snickered. Applejack was glad those two didn’t seem as nervous as Applejack felt, and she wished she could share in their casual banter, but something just felt off to her. None of this was the way it was supposed to be so far, and ever since Applejack set foot on the bay, she’d had this feeling of her hair standing on end. Nothing to do but move forward though. “Alright, let’s keep movin’,” Applejack said, steeling herself. “if we don’t find anyone ‘fore we reach the lighthouse, we’ll just have to ask the instructors what went wr—” Desperate panting and the clacking of hurried footsteps on stone rang in Applejack’s ears, and she looked to see a woman running through the corridor, and her eyes widened as she recognized the girl. “Fluttershy!” she called out, and Fluttershy locked eyes with her and sped up her pace. “Applejack!” Fluttershy cried as she threw herself into Applejack’s arms, Applejack wrapping them protectively around her and looked to see if she was being followed, with Rainbow and Lightning both taking position in front of them to watch for attackers as well. A moment passed in silence, where the only motion was Fluttershy’s shuddering in Applejack’s arms, and then Lightning Dust clicking her tongue. “Rats,” she shrugged, “I thought there was gonna be someone following her and we could finally get some action today.” “What’s goin’ on, Fluttershy,” Applejack gently took Fluttershy by the shoulders, tilting up her chin to look her in the eye. “What happened that’s gotcha runnin’ scared?” “M-my team was attacked, and I—” Fluttershy took a few haggard breaths to try and steady herself, and then planted her feet firmly on the ground even as they still trembled. “Applejack!” she squeaked. “I need your help! My team came across another group. We thought they were another team competing in the field exam, but we were dead wrong. They’re not like any students I’ve seen at the Academy, and I’m scared they might—they might actually ki—” Rainbow put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, which got the pink-haired girl to jump and quickly turn around to see Rainbow’s grin and thumbs-up. “Relax, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, “I don’t who these guys are, but we’ll teach ‘em a lesson about messing with our friends!” “Couldn’t’ve said it better myself, Rainbow,” Applejack grinned, and her smile only widened when she saw the look of relief that washed over Fluttershy. “Ehhh, I guess I’ll throw my hat in too,” Lightning tugged at her trench coat, “after all, you guys would be pretty lost without me.” “What about you, Fluttershy,” Applejack asked, “what do you wanna do?” “I want to help,” Fluttershy whimpered, “I-I know I’m n-not much of a fighter, but I can heal… if you can get me to my teammates, I can make sure that they’re—that they don’t—” “Okay,” Lightning chimed in, “so we bust in there, the three of us beat up the bad guys, and Fluttershy does cleanup? Sounds good to me, what’re we waiting for?” “Let’s do it to it,” Rainbow added, slapping her fist against her palm. “Y’all ready for a real fight?” Applejack pumped her fist, and the collective cheer from her teammates, and even Fluttershy’s shaky but determined nod, filled her with strength. Applejack’s team hid behind a rocky outcropping as they spied the three women who attacked Fluttershy’s team hovering over the unconscious bodies of the two students. The women hadn't seen them yet as far as Applejack could tell, so she took a moment to get a good look at them. The three were all dressed in shabby clothing and had messy, uneven hair. They were all various shades of grey-skinned, and two of them had dark hair, with the third—a grumpy looking woman irritably tapping her foot—having stark white hair that had been jaggedly cut short on one side, and left to grow long on the other. “You’re done?” the white-haired woman spoke in a gravelly voice, aimed at one of the other women who was sitting on the ground inspecting the injured members of Fluttershy’s team. “They’re still breathing,” Lightning Dust whispered, palm flat against the ground. “Good,” Applejack murmured back. Wait a tick, she thought, are they healin’ them? “Mm-hmm,” the kneeling girl stood up and nodded her head, clasping her hands in front of her. She was dressed in a scarf, and baggy clothes, and her demeanor distinctly reminded Applejack of Fluttershy. “Finally,” the white-haired woman sighed. “Still got the thing?” “Mm-hmm,” the demure girl nodded. “So, we doing a sneak attack or what?” Lightning Dust whispered, an eager grin on her face. Applejack propped her arm in front of Lightning. “No, we ain’t doin’ that. Those girls seem pretty eager to leave, and I have a mind to let ‘em. We came to save Fluttershy’s team, and if we can do that without any pointless bloodshed, that’s fine by me.” “What? Are you serious?” Lightning croaked. “What’s wrong with you, Applejack? Your spine get replaced by a cis guy’s or something?” “Shove it, Lightning Dust,” Applejack growled, shooting Lightning an irritated glare. “My top priority as team captain is to make sure no one gets hurt. And I ain’t about to pick a fight with a buncha strangers if I don’t have to.” “AJ, I’m with ya and all,” Rainbow bit her thumbnail, “but don’t you think this is a little odd? These weirdos show up nearby here when we’ve been walking through empty cliffs this whole time? I dunno if I’m ready to chalk that up as a coincidence, y’know?” “Yeah, I do,” Applejack said, peeking out from behind the outcropping at the three women, “and that’s another reason why I don’t wanna fight ‘em. If they are responsible for takin’ out all the people we’ve been s’posed to see ‘til now, then either there’s a lot more’n three of ‘em, or they’re strong as hell. Either way, not a fight I wanna get into.” “Then what do we do?” Fluttershy whimpered. “I think—” “Hey,” the gravelly-voiced woman called out, and Applejack’s blood ran cold, “how long you plan on hiding? You’re not doing a great job.” Lightning Dust jumped out into the open with a huge grin and pointed her fingers at the three women, and Applejack was just fast enough to jump in front of her and grab her hand before she did something stupid. “Sorry ‘bout that, y’all!” Applejack said politely. “We’re a little bit tense, on account of our field test today!” “Uh-huh,” the white-haired girl crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. They were close enough for Applejack to make out the intense and stony features on the woman’s face, but just far enough that she still didn’t feel good about engaging at this distance. Rainbow might’ve been able to get to them before they could attack, but with three of them to worry about, Rainbow’s speed wouldn’t be enough of a strategy. “If you don’t mind,” Applejack said as Rainbow walked up beside her, “we’d like to just grab our comrades and make sure they’re alright. We don’t want no trouble with y’all.” “How’d you even know we were back there anyway?” Rainbow asked. “We weren’t that bad at hiding.” “Doesn’t matter,” the white-haired girl shrugged with a proud smirk and pointed at the third woman, standing behind her, who Applejack barely even remembered she was there due to how easily she faded into the background, “you can’t hide from Maud.” The girl’s smile vanished as she took a step forward and cracked her knuckles. “Anyway, I’m not about to let you bastards just—” “Limestone,” Maud spoke bluntly and calmly as she put her hand on her comrade’s shoulder. “We have somewhere to be.” Limestone groaned and gritted her teeth so hard Applejack half expected them to crack, but then she let out a harsh scoff. “Fine,” she said. “Marble, you ready to go?” “Mm-hmm,” Marble nodded. “Then let’s bail,” Limestone sighed, and she took her two companions and walked away, up a nearby hill and away from the injured teammates. Applejack put her hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief. Looked like they were out of the woods. And then she heard the crackle of electricity in her ear. By the time Applejack turned to see Lightning Dust poised to shoot, and yell a warning to not do it, Lightning had already fired a bolt of magical electricity at Marble, who let out a piercing shriek as she hit the stone ground, writhing with her arms wrapped around herself as her body coursed with electricity. “You didn’t think we were just gonna let you parasites leave, did you?!” Lightning screamed, a bloodthirsty smile painted on her face. Applejack had half a mind to clobber Lightning herself, but she suddenly had much bigger priorities. “Maud! Is Marble—” “She’ll be fine,” Maud responded calmly, and she pumped her fist in Lightning’s direction. Lightning gasped and Applejack turned just in time to see Lightning’s feet suddenly sink into the ground. She tried to pull them out but it was like the ground had moved to keep them stuck. “Shit, Dash!” Applejack called out and pointed a finger at Maud. “Can you get her?!” “Leave it to me!” Rainbow roared and charged toward the hill Maud and Limestone stood upon. “Well this sure went south in a hurry,” Limestone clicked her tongue and jumped from the hill to meet Rainbow, and Applejack who was just behind her. Limestone moved to stop Dash first, punching for her stomach but just grazing her ribs as Dash danced out of the way. Rainbow didn’t stop to fight, her eyes focused solely on her target as she jumped up to meet her. Limestone looked up at Rainbow and grimaced, and Applejack took this opportunity to go for a punch right at the girl’s face, but Limestone wasn’t nearly as distracted as Applejack thought, and deflected Applejack’s punch with a backhand, sending Applejack stumbling awkwardly to the side as she was carried by the momentum. Applejack tucked into a roll to avoid a counterattack, and she spied Lightning—still stuck in the ground—preparing another shot. Limestone scoffed at this and lurched forward, propelling herself incredibly fast, no doubt with magic, and landing with a grunt right in front of a shocked Lightning’s position. “Maud!” Limestone screamed as she grabbed Lightning Dust by the collar. Applejack looked over to Maud, who was engaged in a scuffle with Rainbow, that Dash appeared to be on the losing end of. Applejack couldn’t quite tell, but she did know that Maud wasn’t distracted enough by Rainbow that she couldn’t offer an assist to Limestone. The earth around Lightning Dust’s legs eased as Limestone dragged her up by her shirt collar and lifted her over her head with one hand, before throwing her into a newly formed chasm in the ground— just a few inches deep— that Maud’s magic had made. Once Lightning had been thrown into the hole, it was sealed over like a coffin. “Lightning Dust!” Applejack screamed as she ran to Lightning’s coffin, charging magic into her fist to try and break through the earth and rescue Lightning. Applejack threw her fist into the ground only to be blocked by Limestone’s kick, though the two attacks met with equal force and stopped each other. “Heh,” Applejack grinned and shot an icy glare at Limestone, “how’s yer shin?” she asked, knowing that Applejack’s spell probably shattered the bone it had hit. Limestone responded by stomping her supposedly injured foot onto the ground, shocking Applejack, and pushing herself into the air to throw a lightning-fast kick at Applejack’s head. It felt like she’d been hit by a brick as it sent her flying and crashing into the stone ground, and Applejack groaned as she struggled to her feet. “How’s your face?” Limestone spat. Applejack wiped some blood from her cheek and let her eyes dart for only a second up the hill toward Rainbow’s battle, breathing a small sigh of relief that it looked like Rainbow had gotten some measure of control back. She’d just have to trust Rainbow to take care of herself; Applejack had to focus on Limestone, and not let her hurt the still-in-hiding Fluttershy or the injured men lying unconscious behind Applejack. Applejack had an idea of what Limestone could do, but she wasn’t about to bet other people’s lives on a half-baked theory, so her first step was to get more info. She charged forward and threw a jab, and Limestone deflected the attack by thrusting her wrist into Applejack’s and pushing her arm away, then Limestone threw a punch of her own that Applejack blocked with her other hand before jumping back. Limestone had her eyes trained like a hawk onto Applejack, barely moving a muscle as she waited for Applejack to make the first move. Applejack took a firm step forward and saw Limestone tense up as she waited for the inevitable attack. So she’s mostly defense, Applejack thought. I can work with that. That said… Applejack looked down at Limestone’s shin, which should have been broken by their exchange of attacks before, yet Limestone seemed to have no problem keeping up with Applejack. But when Applejack took a second look, she saw that Limestone’s stance was off-balance just a hair, because she was trying not to put weight onto her broken shin. So if Limestone was affected by Applejack’s magic, but not enough to disable her in one hit, then repeated attacks with the spell would probably wear her down to the point where her defenses would collapse and Applejack could deal the knockout. At least that was the theory; now it was just a matter of putting it into practice, and she’d better do it fast if she wanted to save Lightning Dust. “Lose your nerve?” Limestone growled, and Applejack just smirked. “Hardly.” Applejack got ready to charge but was quickly taken off-guard by a sudden wave of energy that shook through the dirt and stone at her feet, and she jumped back to dodge it. Limestone pumped her fist and another wave came at Applejack, and though she dodged it, this would put a bit of a wrench in things going quickly. Her magic’s a lot stronger’n I thought, Applejack bit her lip and charged forward regardless. Oh well, nothin’ ventured, nothin’ gained! Limestone sent two more shockwaves barreling at Applejack, and while it was a trick to dodge both, she managed to get into striking distance unharmed. She smirked as she readied an uppercut, being sure to stay on the side of Limestone’s injured leg… …which meant she didn’t expect said leg to rise up and hit her in the groin. Applejack hacked and staggered back a step and Limestone threw a punch. Applejack managed to move her head out of the way, but the motion left her way off-balance and Limestone had no trouble taking advantage of that by grabbing Applejack by the hair and throwing her head down as Limestone’s knee rose to meet it, bashing Applejack square in the nose. Limestone threw another punch that Applejack blocked with both hands, grabbing Limestone’s wrist and yanking her closer to Applejack, delighting in the hiss of pain Limestone made as she was forced to put weight on her bum leg. Applejack uppercut Limestone in the jaw, then landed two hard punches square on each cheek before Limestone stomped her foot on the ground and the shockwave of her magic made Applejack stumble just long enough for Limestone to jump out of Applejack’s range. “I gotta admit,” Applejack flicked her nose, “I ain’t never fought anybody like you in the Academy.” “The Academy?!” Limestone snapped. “No shit, headass! A goddamn school doesn’t teach you how to fight! Fighting teaches you how to fight! And if your only experience with combat is in a motherhumping schoolyard, then you’re gonna die on a real battlefield!” Limestone’s eyes pulsed with rage and her grimace twisted into a fierce snarl. Applejack mentally took back her comment from before, because now she was reminding Applejack of someone she’d fought in the Academy; Rainbow Dash. And that gave Applejack an in. “Got a problem with the Academy, Limestone?” Applejack scoffed and affected as smug a grin as possible. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t get in?” Limestone’s eye twitched and she fumed with rage, and that was exactly what Applejack needed; in the second that it took Limestone to process Applejack’s taunt, she was able to close the distance and wind up a punch. Applejack’s hit connected and slammed Limestone’s cheek hard, but her legs wouldn’t budge. That was a little ominous but it wasn’t a huge deal, and Applejack just landed a punch right into Limestone’s nose. Limestone hissed and stumbled a step back, which was Applejack’s cue to charge magic into her leg and stomp on Limestone’s shin, shattering whatever bones were still left unscathed in it. Limestone let out a sharp breath and Applejack charged magic into her arm, throwing a punch at Limestone’s face before stopping herself just short; if she’d hit Limestone’s head with her magic, it would kill her, and that’s not at all what she wanted. Granted, hesitating in the middle of a fight would get her killed, so she quickly switched up her attack and hit Limestone in the nose with her elbow instead, then smacked Limestone’s ribs with the spell and shattering them, before finishing her attack with an unmagical uppercut to Limestone’s jaw that knocked her off her feet and onto her back. “What’s the matter, Limestone?” Applejack cracked her knuckles. “Losin’ yer nerve?” “It is pissing me off,” Limestone growled as she struggled back to her feet, and Applejack just rolled her eyes and figured this gal should know when she’s beaten. “It’s really pissing me off how you think you’ve gotten the upper hand, just cuz you were able to land a few hits!” Limestone screamed and steam poured from her body as she was enveloped in a thick layer of translucent green energy. “A bastard like you who just devours whatever lies the Cross puts in front of them,” Limestone shrieked, “will NEVER beat ME!” The wall of energy subsided, though the steam continued to rise off Limestone’s grey skin, which was now healed of all the bruises Applejack had left on it. Limestone stomped her leg— the one that’d been hurt— onto the stone and didn’t flinch. She was back at one hundred percent. Applejack wasn’t one to give up, but she knew when she was beaten. A gulp of anxious anticipation was the only reaction Applejack could muster in the time it took for Limestone to make her move. Applejack didn’t even register that Limestone had moved until she felt Limestone’s fist against her cheek, and she wasn’t entirely convinced she hadn't gotten hit by a train instead. Applejack staggered back, but before she could even think about countering, Limestone slammed her fist into Applejack’s nose, sending her flying back. Limestone jumped up and stomped her foot into Applejack’s stomach, crushing her against the stone ground as Applejack let out a helpless wheeze. Limestone dragged Applejack off the ground and smashed her against a stone wall, and then just wailed. Limestone landed punch after punch, screaming like a maniac the whole time, and before even a few seconds were up, Applejack could barely see through swollen eyes and felt her throat being choked up by blood. Applejack fell on her hands and knees and threw up blood, and she could barely see the stain it left on the stone through her blurring vision. She let out a quick, haggard breath and looked up to see Limestone’s foot hovering above her face. Sorry, Rainbow. Guess I gotta leave this to you. **** Rainbow kept her eyes on the ground and was starting to feel pretty good about her chances. She’d gotten a decent handle on how Maud’s spell worked; she opened up little pits in the ground to try and trap Rainbow’s legs, but Rainbow figured she was faster, and after a few failed attempts to trap Rainbow and Maud backing further and further up the hill, it was obvious that Rainbow was right. That said, if Rainbow wanted to win she’d actually have to land a hit, and that was a lot harder. She’d gotten the hang of avoiding Maud’s pitfall spell; watch the ground and her own feet, and she could easily jump out of the way of the trap, even multiple traps in sequence cuz she was just that good. But the few times she felt confident enough to actually take a swing, she nearly got grabbed cuz Maud’s defensive perimeter was something else. So basically, there was no safe way for Rainbow to make an attack. Which just meant Rainbow would have to abandon the concept of ‘safe’ altogether. She could work with that. Rainbow ran straight at Maud fast as she could and jumped when she got into Maud’s ‘death range’, figuring Maud wouldn’t be able to easily dodge an aerial attack. She was wrong, as Maud quickly proved by sinking her own feet a few inches into the dirt, and ducking, so Rainbow’s jumping strike just went right over her head, leading Rainbow right into a crag that was opening up like a coffin inviting her inside. “You’re too predictable,” Maud said flatly, and Rainbow smirked and clicked her tongue. “Yeah, you too!” Rainbow spread her arms out and grabbed either side of Maud’s ‘stone coffin’, pushing herself off it and onto the ground. Before Maud could open up another pit, Rainbow threw her knife at Maud’s cheek, expecting Maud to dodge and then she could close in. Instead, Maud didn’t even move as the knife struck her cheek and stayed embedded into her face, blood leaking from the injury that Maud didn’t even seem to notice. Rainbow could work with that too. Rainbow felt the ground opening under her feet and jumped just in time; she knew she’d have to do this quick and she’d have only one shot, but she excelled under pressure! She jumped toward Maud and grabbed the knife in her cheek, slashing it across her face until a bloody gash was left where the knife had been, then slashing across the bridge of Maud’s nose. Feeling the ground under her feet shift, Rainbow jumped to Maud’s side, slashing her arm in the process, then she dodged Maud’s next attack and slashed the back of Maud’s shoulder blades, then her cheek again, then her arm. Maud, covered in little cuts and gashes, stumbled back while Rainbow grinned, finally feeling like she was the one in control of this fight. She charged forward and jumped into a flying kick, and Maud sank into the ground to dodge, just like Rainbow expected. Rainbow hooked her ankle into Maud’s shoulder and threw her weight down onto Maud’s body, holding Maud’s head between her thighs. She mustered up as much strength as she could and jumped back, carrying Maud along for the ride and slamming her into the stone. Rainbow jumped to her feet and stomped on Maud’s spine, hearing a gurgling hack erupt from the woman’s lips. Rainbow took a step back and watched the ground, but Maud didn’t move. Rainbow went pale as she worried for a second that she’d accidentally killed Maud, but the woman moaned and just barely lifted her head. Rainbow still had a knife in her hand. She could kill Maud if she wanted to. And after all, Maud was an enemy. She wasn’t just an opponent, this woman had attacked her and her friends for real. Rainbow had no idea what happened to Lightning Dust, if she was still alive or what. It was sickening to think about, that one of her comrades might have just up and died on the battlefield, but that was a feeling Rainbow knew she would probably have to get used to. And maybe Limestone and Marble had better get used to it too. Rainbow walked toward Maud’s just barely conscious body as she struggled to hold herself up. Rainbow flicked the knife in her hand and pointed it at Maud. Applejack wouldn’t like it. Fluttershy wouldn’t either, and neither would Twilight. But more than any of that, Rainbow wouldn’t like it. “This fight is over,” Rainbow said coldly. “Stay down, or I will make you stay down.” Rainbow let out a pitiful sigh, “Please.” “Marble…” Maud croaked, and Rainbow looked over toward the foot of the hill where Marble’s body was laying, Rainbow’s heart thundering in her chest as she approached, though her frantic heartbeat chilled a bit when she saw Marble was still breathing. “She’s okay,” Rainbow grunted as she picked Marble up. “If I know anything about magic, I’d say she’s just gonna be stunned for a couple hours or something. No biggie.” Maud had propped her back up against a short stone wall, and Rainbow laid Marble comfortably beside her, Maud instinctively grabbing the girl’s hand. “You’re not going to kill us,” Maud said, phrasing it more as a statement than a question, and Rainbow shook her head. “No way,” she said. “If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to proudly call myself a Knight.” Maud arched an eyebrow. “What are they teaching you in that Academy these days?” “I dunno,” Rainbow shrugged, “I sleep through like half the lectures. But to be honest, I don’t really care what the Academy says about how I should deal with my fights. If I killed an opponent who wasn’t an immediate threat, how could I be okay with that? As a Knight, it’s my duty to protect everyone, not just obedient servants of the Cross or whatever, y’know?” Rainbow could barely believe what she was saying. Before she came to the Academy she barely even thought about being a Knight. Not anymore anyway, not since that dream kinda gotten beaten out of her. She went to the Academy so she could become strong and return those beatings tenfold, but along the way she started to remember why she wanted to be a Knight in the first place. “It’s my privilege to help others,” Rainbow declared, pointing proudly at herself. “Not everyone has the means, energy, and desire to help others, and as long as I do have them, how could I live with myself if I didn’t do everything I can to protect everyone?” “If I had beaten you,” Maud said, “I would have killed you.” “Then I’m glad you didn’t beat me,” Rainbow shrugged and took off back down the hill. She knew it was a gamble, leaving two enemy combatants still breathing even if it looked like they were down for the count. It could really bite her in the ass later, but she couldn’t bring herself to take someone else’s life like that. At least that’s what she thought, but all that moralizing and rationale crap went straight out the window when she saw Applejack lying bloodied and battered on the ground. The other girl, Limestone, was standing over Applejack and panting; she didn’t look like she had a lot of fight left in her, which was about to be really bad news for her. Rainbow didn’t say anything, just let the loud crack of her knuckles get Limestone’s attention. “Wh-what the hell happened to Maud?” Limestone’s eyes widened in horror as she turned to face Rainbow, though she quickly let the fear pass and be replaced by anger. It didn’t help her. Rainbow’s fist collided with Limestone’s cheek in the time it took Limestone to blink, and in less than half that time her other cheek had become well acquainted with Rainbow’s other fist. Rainbow grabbed Limestone by her hair and smashed her head against a stone wall, barely even noticing the hacking gasp Limestone released. Rainbow didn’t stop to think as she wailed on Limestone, landing punch after punch after punch on the girl’s face. Rainbow couldn’t tell if Applejack was still breathing—she had to be, since it was Applejack after all— but she couldn’t let go of the thought ‘but what if she wasn’t?’. Rainbow’s barrage of punches left Limestone’s face a blood-red, pulpy mess as she slid down the rock wall, still just barely breathing. The only thing that stopped Rainbow was a gentle hand pressed against her boot. It was Applejack’s. “Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried out as she held Applejack’s cheeks in her hands, not even sure if Applejack was fully conscious by the glazed look in her eyes. “I need healing, now!” Fluttershy stumbled a bit as she ran out of her hiding place, but she was on her knees by Applejack’s side in no time, taking out some kinda weird ointment or something and caressing Applejack’s face with it, and if Rainbow had thought to herself in that moment that she was jealous of Fluttershy getting to put her hands all over AJ’s face and take care of her that would be weird so it’s a really good thing she definitely didn’t THINK THAT MOVING ON. Rainbow stood up and looked around, feeling both uneasy about the quiet, windy atmosphere, but also glad that nothing was attacking them right now. She had a gut feeling that wouldn’t last though. Something or someone was definitely coming out of the woodwork for them sooner or later, and as much as Rainbow relished a fight, she’d rather live to see another day than fight another match that close. Rainbow turned on her heels as she heard Applejack groan and saw AJ standing up and Fluttershy applying her healing juice or whatever to Limestone’s face. Rainbow suddenly realized she only had a fuzzy memory of engaging with Limestone, everything happened so fast; granted, a cursory look at the blood covering Rainbow’s hands was a pretty clear indication of what went down. Applejack stumbled past Rainbow, and while Rainbow had half a mind to stop AJ from overexerting herself, she also remembered that Lightning Dust was still trapped and she couldn’t break her out on her own. Applejack collapsed to her hands and knees and placed her palm on the ground, the stone cracking and shattering from Applejack’s magic and revealing an unconscious and very dirty-looking Lightning Dust, but one who was no more worse for wear than that. “Fluttershy,” Applejack said weakly, but Fluttershy was already on her way. “How is she?” “She’ll be just fine,” Fluttershy pulled Lightning out of the chasm and looked her over. “She just over-exhausted her magic, probably trying to free herself. She’ll be out for a little bit, but then be as good as new.” “And the others?” Applejack asked, lying flat on her back. Her gashes and stuff were all closed up, and she didn’t look like a blowfish anymore, but her face was still pretty swollen and messy and she looked totally exhausted. “I think… I think we’re in the clear,” Fluttershy curled up into a ball. “My teammates are both sleeping off their injuries, and they were healed by the time I got there, and Limestone’s going to make a full recovery too.” “Well then,” Rainbow laughed and held her hand out to Applejack, “I’d say we nailed it!” “I wouldn’t say that,” Applejack wiped some blood from under her nose and then gave a soft chuckle, “but I’ll call it a victory at least.” Applejack clasped Rainbow’s hand and Rainbow pulled Applejack back to her feet. She let her hand linger on Applejack’s for a moment, and she thought about how surreal it was to see Applejack so badly hurt. She’d never seen Applejack like that; hell, she’d never seen Applejack lose a fight, period! Rainbow didn’t want to let go of Applejack’s hand, because a part of her felt like if she let go, Applejack would fall back into that bloodied up place or something; Rainbow just wanted to appreciate that Applejack was still there with her, because she so easily could’ve not been. And just as Rainbow was starting to loosen her grip, a knife came out of nowhere and pierced right through the girls’ hands. Applejack’s eyes widened in shock and was utterly stunned. She faintly heard Fluttershy gasp, as she looked up at the hill she fought Maud on and saw a woman standing there. The woman had a pair of kitchen knives in her hands, just like the one going through Rainbow and Applejack. She was a pink skinned woman with long, long pink hair that was worn totally straight and flat and fell down to her back. Her eyes were as gloomy and dead as if Rainbow was looking right at a corpse. The girl threw another knife, headed right between Rainbow’s eyes.