Applejack went pale as she saw Rainbow's coat turn dark Blue and the colours of her mane became less vibrant. It was a sight she had seen before, and one she had hoped never to witness again; Rainbow Dark. Rainbow's violent alter ego that originated from within Rainbow's mind after it was poisoned by the Pegi-Jack.
"GILDA!!" She heard Rainbow scream, before disappearing in a multi-coloured flash and tackling Gilda, taking her into the sky. Applejack looked at Gregor, whose face was a mixture of shock and rage.
"So this was you're plan all along. Draw my daughter out into the open just so you could attack her and take my last child from me. Well we won't let you; Minotaur, attack!" Gregor boomed, as his guards helped him into the air, protecting him from any harm. The Minotaur charged and behind her, Applejack heard Big Mac let loose a fearsome battle cry. The ponies charged, brushing past Applejack and the others as they made their way slowly backwards.
"AJ! Catch!" called Rarity, throwing Applejack the sword she made for her. Applejack unsheathed it, holding it awkwardly in her mouth as the others stood in front of her, weapons drawn. Some Minotaur got past the pony troops and made a run at the elements. Twilight, garbed in a white hood and cloak, jumped on one and stabbed it with a blade that was hidden on her forearm. Applejack turned to Pinkie and was astounded to see her walking on two legs, holding a sword with her hoof. Applejack glanced upwards at Rainbow and Gilda, just in time to see Gilda slash Rainbow with her claws. Applejack felt nothing but hatred at that moment. She felt a strange tingling make its way from her chest down to her hooves, as miniature arcs of electricity jumped from her hooves to the ground.
'You have got to be kidding me.' She thought, remembering how she had gained super pony abilities while in Rainbow's mind. Another group of about ten Minotaur charged and Applejack pushed past the others, despite their protests. She looked at the Minotaur, letting the feelings of hate fill her up and with a shout, she pushed it outwards, and enormous bolts of electricity arced off her, frying the charging Minotaur. They smoked and crackled as they lay on the ground, dead. Applejack gagged on the smell of burnt flesh. She looked up and saw Rainbow flying toward her and she galloped back to the others, who all looked at her with a mixture of fear and awe. Luna bowed her head when Rainbow arrived, teleporting the group back to the pony camp. Applejack looked at Rainbow, afraid of what it could mean.
"Sugarcube, do you know what you just did. Who you just were?" asked Applejack . Rainbow turned to her, her eyes had been fixed on Luna.
"Yeah AJ I do. It was what Pegi-jack turned me into wasn't it. It was Rainbow Dark." Replied Rainbow, confirming Applejack's fears. Twilight jumped in between the two, flipping her hood down.
"Okay, I am sick and tired of always being out of the loop, so you are going to tell us what happened when you were inside Rainbow's mind." She said, the frustration in her voice distorting it slightly. Applejack and Rainbow both looked at her with anger;
"Are you serious? You ask us to tell you the truth, but none of you will be honest with us. You guys just don't get it. We need to know what happened. Otherwise how are we meant to fit in with you all anymore?" Shouted Applejack, and Twilight stood back, obviously afraid of the powers Applejack seemed to have. Rainbow stood closer to Applejack, and together they stared down their friends. Finally it was Fluttershy who spoke up;
"If it helps at all, I will tell you girls anything." She said, walking over and standing next to Applejack and Rainbow. Derpy and the Doctor soon joined them, followed by Twilight and Luna. Rarity took a few deep breaths before she joined them. Applejack looked at Pinkie, unmoving, her eyes trained desperately on the ground.
"I… I'm not ready." She said quietly and Applejack was about to argue when she was stopped by Twilight.
"Please girls, just leave it. She will tell you when she feels up to it." Twilight told her. Applejack nodded, letting Pinkie pass. Together, they made their way to the main tent and sat around the table. Applejack and Rainbow went first, telling their own sides of the tale. Derpy giggled when she found out the role she had played in events. Applejack smiled, continuing the story. She saw Luna's eyes narrow when she described the abilities she had obtained that were tied to her emotions, at the same time, Rainbow was telling them about how she had become Rainbow Dark. They finished up and were surprised to hear a sigh of relief from her friends.
"I'm so so sorry that you had to go through all that. I…I thought that it would be as easy as walk in, find her and leave. I wouldn't have expected anything like that." Twilight said apologetically. Applejack smiled at her.
"Don't worry yourself sugarcube, we both came out okay. Well, until today that is." Said Applejack.
"Do you know what I'm more interested in? The fact that Rainbow's wing is now completely healed, whereas before it was still shattered into thousands of tiny bone fragments." Said the Doctor, once again pulling his pen-light out and shining it at Rainbow. It made its usual noise and the Doctor's eyes narrowed.
"Well that's peculiar; your immune system is in complete overdrive, healing any injury that you sustain almost instantaneously. Here, look." Said the Doctor, drawing out a dagger and slashing Rainbow's face. Applejack looked ready to pounce on him, when she looked over at Rainbow and could see the wound healing, the cut closed up within seconds, leaving only a small amount of blood on her cheek. Everypony was speechless for a moment, until Rainbow spoke.
"This is awesome, now I don't have to worry about breaking anything when I crash." She said happily. The Doctor giggled;
"I'm afraid not Rainbow, it seems to be slowing back to normal. I'd assume it is only effective while you are Rainbow Dark, as well as a short time afterwards." He said, the look of complete fascination on his face unnerved Applejack. Rainbow expression turned sour and Applejack giggled. A sudden loud gasp from Luna made everypony jump. Luna turned, opening a drawer that contained some of Celestia's things. Soon she produced a large leather bound book. It looked extremely old, judging by the yellow tinged paper that lay between the covers.
"I found this a long time ago, you see, for those who don't know; Princess Celestia was special, not only was she the raiser of the sun. But through a mishap with the Doctor, she gained the ability to have visions of the future when she was a child. She wrote every single one down, usually in verse for some reason. When I found them, I started reading; there were hundreds of books, all full of predictions. Many I knew had come to pass, like when I found myself mentioned as Nightmare Moon. The thing was, the date of the poem was about fifty years before I became Nightmare moon, and it scared me a little. Then I came across this, at the time I paid no attention, mostly because it made no sense. Well, just listen and you will see what I mean." Luna explained, opening the book with her magic and beginning to search the pages feverishly for a certain page. She eventually came to a stop about two thirds of the way through the book.
"This is dated about two hundred years before my return." Said Luna, blowing some stray dust off the book's pages. The ponies all gathered closer, curious to hear what Luna meant.
"It began with two ponies.
Always connected.
It will end with two ponies.
Always connected.
With love so strong
It breaks the boundaries of dreams and reality.
They will be elements no longer;
Instead,
they will change the world.
The first,
brash,
fast as the winds,
the color of splintered light,
shall find that glow,
darkened with rage.
An unstoppable force with no end
No spear.
no arrow.
no sword.
no claw,
can stop the darkness
of splintered light.
The other,
this pony of enormous strength,
both of body and of heart
honest as the sun
powered by love,
By the emotions that drive us all to do great and terrible things.
Together,
they will save the land
put an end to a war that threatens to destroy everything.
Two ponies.
Always connected." Luna finished, taking a deep breath, as the others let the words sink in.
"So, what, we're meant to just use our freaky abilities to end this all?" asked Rainbow and Luna shrugged unhelpfully.
"Well there is always the chance that it could be wrong. Tia's visions weren't always correct, or were subject to change at least." Said the Doctor, lifting Applejack's sprits slightly.
"Ah hope your right Doctor, ah don't want the responsibility of the whole of Equestria." Said Applejack and Rainbow turned to her, stunned.
"What do you mean you don't want the responsibility? I thought you promised to help me end the war, no matter what." Said Rainbow accusingly. Applejack narrowed her eyes at her.
"Ah did, but ah don't think ah'm ready to fight yet. This is all a bit much for me right now okay Rainbow?" she said. Rainbow relented, nodding and kissing Applejack on the cheek.
"I don't know if you have much of a choice, the griffins have called in the dogs to aid them and we will be drastically outnumbered otherwise. We still have a while before the dogs get here, but the thought is still unnerving." Said Luna and Applejack sighed.
'Things just keep going from bad to worse.' Thought Applejack.
"Well that gives us time to think, so let's just back up and listen to your stories, like you all promised to tell us." Said Rainbow, she pointed at Twilight and smirked. "You first." Twilight groaned, and then proceeded to tell them everything. Applejack, sat back as she told her story, feeling drained. Her mouth dropped open as Twilight explained her assassination mission and her subsequent desertion. She finished, and Rainbow, unrelenting, pointed at Fluttershy. Fluttershy's story was quick, the way she had cut her mane, her vow to kill Gilda and her trip to New Grifburg to retrieve Twilight. Applejack rubbed her eyes, tired of listening, needing a break from the harsh truth. Exactly how the war had changed her friends. Applejack cried as Rarity told her story, and got off her seat to hug the white unicorn.
"Enough! I know we asked for this but ah can't take any more. Please, ah'm sorry I was nosy, that I didn't respect your privacy." Said Applejack, still crying, she galloped out of the tent, looking desperately for a place to hide. She eventually found a gathering of rocks that formed a sort of natural shelter. She crawled inside and found it to be very spacious once she got past the entrance. She stayed there and cried for a while. Suddenly, she noticed someone else enter, it was Pinkie.
"Pinkie? How did you find me?" She asked, and Pinkie smiled.
"Actually AJ, this is where I go to sleep when I've been having nightmares." Pinkie told her and Applejack was embarrassed to have invaded her sanctuary.
"Ah'm sorry, Ah'll leave." She said, but Pinkie shook her head.
"Don't worry AJ; I'm actually glad I found you. I wanted to see if you were okay." Pinkie said.
"Well ah'm not. I try my hardest to be strong for Rainbow but I can't even be strong for myself." Applejack said, as more tears rolled over her cheeks. Pinkie hugged her,
"Applejack, if you want my advice, you need to stop looking at this from the point of view of somepony that has lost themselves in time. Look at it from another point of view; namely, how are you going to help us to get back to the way we were before?" Pinkie said. Applejack looked into her eyes, seeing the deep wisdom and mind-boggling randomness within. Then she realised what Pinkie meant, that it wasn't up to anypony but her and Rainbow to make everything right again. And if she wanted her friends back to what they were before, she would have to fight for it, both literally and metaphorically. Applejack wiped the tears away, taking a deep breath and forcing her doubts and fears into the back of her mind, focusing on one thing; her friends, and Rainbow.