Chapter 20
They landed next to the healer's tent and ran in. "We have Luna! She needs help!" Rainbow said.
"Help her." Blaze ordered. They placed her onto an empty bed and the healer examined her.
"Hmm...this isn't something I commonly see. It looks to be a form of gure. A toxic plant that, when eaten, can kill you in minutes." She said as she looked Luna over. She looked at her neck and saw the puncture wound. "Ahh this, you see, is where she got the gure. Somepony must've hit her with a dart. She'll be fine. She wasn't injected with enough to kill her, only to make her really sick."
Blaze and Rainbow both gave sighs of relief. "The pony who took her died. We tried to interrogate him, but before we got any answers out of him he had a white foam coming from his mouth." Blaze said.
"That would be the gure. He must've had some in case he got captured." She said as she got to work. "Now if you'll excuse me, the remedy that will remove the sickness will take some time and I need to concentrate." She said as she started to pull ingredients out of the surrounding chests.
Blaze and Rainbow nodded and were about to leave as Rook and Linus ran in. "Linus! Uhh... what-" Blaze started but was cut off by Linus.
"Luna! What happened? Is she alright? Blaze what the hay is going on?!" Linus exclaimed.
"Sit down. Linus. It's a long story." Once he was seated next to Luna, Blaze explained everything.
"So, they kidnapped her, but we don't know what for and Chrysalis has a weapon. Now explain to me why you and Rainbow both were out of camp and just happened to run into a hooded pony?" He asked.
"Look Linus. Whatever you think, I am not the mole!" Rainbow yelled.
"I know you're not. I'm sorry for that Rainbow." Linus said as he bowed his head.
"No sweat Linus. You've been under a lot of pressure." Rainbow said. "Linus, you have to end this fight. You can't let this fight happen. If you do somepony will die. And the army needs both you and Blaze in order to win."
"Rainbow, there isn't any way for me to end this. The challenge can't be revoked...unless I give an offering from me." Linus said with his head down.
"What kind of offering?" Blaze asked.
"The rules state, 'If one participant of the fight gives up a piece of him as an offering to his opponent as a way of showing his regretfulness and willingness to refuse the other in battle without fear of exile, the fight will be called off and no harm will be done to either party. The piece must be either larger than the forearm, or an eye. If it is smaller than the forearm, the offerer must be the other's slave for 20 life cycles.'
"I plan on doing just that. I'm not willing to kill my friend. And I'm not living a life of exile. I need to be able to help the cause." Linus said.
Blaze looked to Rook. "I take it that you were the one who showed him this rule?" Blaze asked.
"Yep. I went searching for him after Luna healed my head. I needed to talk to him about the fight. He told me he was going to let you kill him and that he wasn't going to fight. I told him of that rule, and he chose it." Rook said.
"There has to be another way!" Blaze said frantically. "If you do this, he will be severely injured and unable to fight! Can't I just show him mercy and let him live?" He asked.
"If you do you will be exiled. You will have no ties to us. If you talk to any of us, we are obligated to kill you." Rainbow said quietly.
"Blaze, please. There isn't any other way." Linus said.
"I refuse to believe that! Rook. You are smart. Can't you do some investigation on this? Go through some of the books we carry that may talk about it?" Blaze asked hopefully.
"I can. But the fight is tomorrow. And if I do, I may find something that is worse than what we currently have, or some other rule that makes the offering illegal." Rook said. "I would need the key to the chests that contain the books. And only Luna and Hex have them. Luna is unconscious and Hex only answers to her."
"I'll get you the keys. Luna will understand. Let's go." Blaze said in a hurry.
"I'll stay here and keep Linus company." Rainbow said. Blaze nodded his head and led Rook back to Luna's tent.
Rainbow sat down next to Linus. "You really love her. Don't you?" Rainbow asked looking at Luna. They had both forgotten that the healer was in the room. She had been brewing some sort of mixture at the time. Rainbow cleared her throat. "Sorry. Wrong place, wrong time I suppose." She said.
"Yea. It's fine though. I doubt I'll live past the next 24 hours. Yes I love her. But she doesn't know." He said, looking at her unresponsive body. "Well, she might after what Blaze said. I was hoping I could tell her after the war. Now I may not get that chance."
Applejack walked into the tent and beamed as she saw Rainbow. "Well there ya are sugar cube! I been looking everywhere for you. After you ran off with the blue pony, I didn't see you after that. I heard you had flown in awhile ago." she said. "What's wrong with Luna?" She asked as she saw her on the bed.
"She was ponynapped and had a dart shot into her neck. That's why I didn't come back and visit you again. Blaze and I happened to be on our way back to camp when we saw a hooded pony carrying something. Turned out to be her." Rainbow said.
"Ah see. She'll be alright though?" Applejack asked.
"She'll be fine. Just a little sick. Now if the three of you would please leave so I can concentrate? Besides, you ponies need your sleep. Especially you Applejack. You've been dealing with a lot these past couple of days." The healer said.
They left the tent. "I should probably go help Blaze and Rook out with searching for a way out of the fight tomorrow. Rainbow, again, I'm sorry for what I did." Linus said and ran to look for the others.
"I heard what happened Rainbow. Did Linus really do all that?" Applejack asked worried.
"Yea. And more. But it doesn't matter. Blaze already took my spot." Rainbow replied.
"Yea about him. He sure is a handsome colt ain't he? Strong, caring, and a darn well good flyer from what I hear." Applejack said.
Rainbow blushed. "Really? I hadn't noticed." She said shakily.
"Rainbow you can't hide your feelings for him from me. Remember when you tried to do that to when it came to Big Mac? I walked in on you-" Applejack started.
"Applejack!! That was forever ago, after Derpy decided to trash town hall. Again!" Rainbow said.
Applejack laughed. "So, what's the deal between you and Blaze? He seems to really care about you. At least from the way he acted when it came to the fight." Applejack asked.
"Nothing. We're just friends." Rainbow said hesitantly.
"Then what were you guys doing out of camp before you found Luna? You guys were gone for hours. That's way too long for him to be looking for you." Applejack said persistantly.
Sigh "You're not going to quit are you?" Rainbow asked.
"Not until you tell me." Applejack replied.
"Applejack...When I first came to this camp with Twilight, I met Blaze. We had decided to attack the camp that night. When I first saw him...I don't know he just... had this thing about him that I liked. He was there for me when she died and when Linus accused me of being a mole. After I left the camp because of what happened, he came by and stopped by my cloud. For some reason I was just touched by what he did. I know, I know. I'm the one who was always about avoiding the girly things, but when he told me he took my place, I just felt like somepony was there to care for me. I never had any parents who looked after me. I lived alone most of my life and after Chrysalis returned, I felt alone all over again. I had Twilight, but after Spike's death, she just seemed lost to the world.
"After she died, I asked Blaze to stay with me down by the stream. We slept there with my head nuzzled in his mane as he sang to me." Rainbow smiled as she thought back to that night. "After that, we just...clicked I guess." She was smiling. She couldn't help it. She loved him.
"Rainbow, Ah believe that is the first time you have ever opened up about something like this. I'm proud of you sugar cube." Applejack said with a grin.
"I'm sorry about your sister. I really liked her." Rainbow said.
"It's ok. She died fast. She didn't suffer." Applejack said. She was trying to keep her composure.
"AJ, you can let it out you know? I'm here." Rainbow said. Applejack lost it. She wept. Wept for her sister, for her family, for Twilight. She had always been the strong one. She had always been there for her friends. Now, Rainbow was the one who comforted Applejack. She put her hoof on her shoulder and held her. "Things will get better. We will avenge them." Rainbow said.
"Ah know Rainbow. Ah know. But I miss them so much. Apple bloom was only a filly. She did nothing wrong." Applejack said between sobs.
"Hey, AJ. Let's go get you something to drink. Maybe Rook has some tea he could give you. It's very calming from what I heard." Rainbow said. Applejack nodded her head and they walked to Rook's tent. "We should probably help them anyways. It'll be good for us."