//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Always connected- Aftermath // by The-rogue-shadow //------------------------------// ainbow Dash lifted herself off the ground, stretching her wings for the first time in ages. She flew high above the camp, keeping her eyes trained on the ground in search of Applejack. The orange pony had galloped out of the special ops tent, crying her eyes out. Rainbow wished that she hadn't asked her friends to relive such painful memories on her behalf. She spotted Applejack and Pinkie in the training grounds and flew down to meet them. Applejack held a sword in her hooves, and Pinkie was instructing her to swing it as hard as she could at a wooden dummy. "What is going on here?" asked Rainbow, surprised to see Applejack with a weapon after her decision to not fight. Applejack didn't look at her, and just kept swing the sword at the dummy. "I realised that if there is even the slightest possibility of us having to end the war, than I had to be prepared." Said Applejack, grunting as the sword hit the hard wood and got stuck. She wiggled it out, as Rainbow walked over to Pinkie and stood next to her. "Okay, I can see that, but why is Pinkie teaching you?" she said. Pinkie glared at her. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked angrily. Rainbow stammered, suddenly afraid of what Pinkie could do. "Oh, uh… nothing…" stuttered Rainbow. "Nothing huh? Well you just earned yourself ten laps around the track, with no wings missy." Shouted Pinkie. Rainbow took off at a gallop. The track was at least a kilometre and a half in length, she was soon exhausted, having realised on her fifth lap that she should have paced herself like Twilight was always telling her. She finished the ten laps and collapsed in front of Pinkie, before noticing a stallion standing next to Applejack. Rainbow recognised him as Rarity's coltfriend; Black Diamond. "Hello there Rainbow. It's nice of you to join us for the training session. I hope your run limbered you up." He said. Rainbow looked at Pinkie, who grinned as wide as she could. "You weren't teaching Applejack were you?" said Rainbow exhaustedly. Pinkie burst out laughing. "No, I was just keeping an eye on things while Black Diamond took care of some stuff. You should have seen the look on your face." Pinkie said. Rainbow looked at Applejack, who was giggling despite keeping her eyes trained on the practice dummy. Black Diamond poked the back of Applejack's leg with a stick. "Just tighten up your stance AJ. There perfect. Now this time, when you swing it, swing from the elbow, it's a lot faster and doesn't leave you open to attack." He said, as Rainbow stood up and walked closer. Applejack swung the sword again, just how she was told to and in an amazing display of strength, cut the wooden dummy in half. "Oh my! Ah'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" Applejack started. "What are you sorry for? That was amazing. I've never had a student pick this up so quickly." Said Black Diamond happily. He turned to Rainbow; "So are you ready to try?" he asked and Rainbow gave him a smirk. "Why bother, I'm too fast for anything to catch me anyway." She told him mockingly. Black Diamond laughed in response. Rainbow looked him straight in the eye. "You really think so?" Said Black Diamond and Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "Yeah I do." She said. Diamond smile and his eyes glanced down. Rainbow looked and saw a dagger pressed against her chest. Her mouth fell open. "Always mind your surroundings, as well as your opponent. Never underestimate them." Said Diamond very seriously. Rainbow dashed away, trying to flank him. She sped around behind him, and was met with an outstretched arm that knocked her down. "You just have to keep calm and not let your anger get the best of you Rainbow." Black Diamond told her. "But haven't you heard, that's kind of my thing now." Said Rainbow angrily. She leapt at him, throwing punches and Kicks, all of which Diamond dodged. Applejack just stood back and watched Rainbow exhaust herself. ---------------------------------------------------------- Applejack smiled as Rainbow threw herself again and again at Black Diamond, and was repeatedly denied her much wanted violence. Applejack had to hold onto her hat as Rainbow flew rapidly in a circle, summoning a tornado and Black Diamond was dragged into it. Just as Applejack thought that Rainbow had bested the dark green earth pony, Rainbow came rushing out of the tornado and slammed into the ground next to Applejack. Her eyes widened as she saw Black Diamond being gently lowered to the ground by the dissipating tornado. "Now how in the hay did you do that?" asked Applejack, shocked. Black Diamond gave her a wink. "A lot of my ex-marefriends were pegasi and they did not appreciate the break up." He told her and Applejack heard Pinkie giggle. She looked down at Rainbow who had a big red mark on her face. Rainbow stood, turning to Black Diamond. "And what was that for?" She yelled in his face. "I'm trying to teach you in the same way I learnt how to fight." Black Diamond sighed. "Which is?" asked Rainbow, rubbing her face. "By failing repeatedly so that you know that you never give up. You adapt to the situation, never letting your guard down for a moment. Because if you do, you may find out that the pony you care about most in the world has been brutalised by a tribalist prat of a pony." Said Black Diamond, his voice getting steadily shaky. Pinkie rushed over and put her hoof on his shoulder. Black Diamond cleared his throat; "My point is that nopony is perfect Rainbow, you have to work hard and always try to become better than you are now." He said. Applejack looked at Rainbow, the anger in her eyes had faded, replaced by a look of understanding and burgeoning wisdom. Black Diamond walked away, indicating that the lesson was over. Rainbow hugged Applejack, bringing her mouth close to her ear. "I'm sorry, I know now that bringing up the past might not be the best idea." Whispered Rainbow and Applejack smiled, positioning herself so she could kiss Rainbow. She pulled away, and they pressed their foreheads together. "Thanks sugarcube, I came to the same conclusion. Ah think we need to focus more on being there for our friends and for each other than trying to dig up the past." Said Applejack, Rainbow moved her head slightly, indicating that she agreed. Pinkie suddenly burst between them. "Awww, you two are so cute, I need to throw you another party." Pinkie said happily. Applejack smiled awkwardly, as Rainbow rubbed her eyes in mock tiredness. "Actually sugarcube, Rainbow and ah need to train. Ah for one do not want to be unprepared if the prophecy comes true." Said Applejack, Pinkie stopped her happy bouncing, looking at the girls with serious eyes. "Just be careful, I know what happens if you let yourselves go down a dark path." She said cryptically. Applejack was about to question her further, but thought better of it, Luna had warned her to take things easy with Pinkie, as she was the most affected out of them all. Applejack instead just nodded, and Pinkie smiled, turning and walking away. "I worry about her most of all." Said Rainbow once Pinkie was out of earshot. Applejack turned to her and her mind drifted back to the advice Pinkie had given her. 'Ah don't think we have to be. I have complete faith in her Rainbow." Said Applejack. She picked up her sword again and walked over to another training dummy. Taking a deep breath, she let her memories take her back to a sad moment; When Rainbow had first rejected her in the dream realm. She swung the sword and once again, the sword cut the dummy in half. 'Well that's two of my powers accounted for." She thought, thinking back to the lightening she used when she felt hate. 'All that's left for me to use is the super speed, the super voice and the teleporting.' Applejack didn't really want to have to try and induce any of her powers. But she knew that if she didn't, the prophecy might come true and Equestria may be lost forever. Applejack shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. She turned to Rainbow, who had the strangest look of concentration on her face. "What in the hay are you doin?" she asked, and Rainbow looked at her with annoyance. "I know you just used your powers to cut that dummy, so I'm trying to bring out Rainbow Dark without getting angry." Replied Rainbow. Applejack gave her a light smack in the back on the back of her head. "Are you crazy? You can't do that, she's too violent to be left to her own devices." Said Applejack frustrated. "You have no idea what Rainbow Dark could do here." "Well then what am I meant to do? Your powers seem to come and go as you please, but mine are activated by rage. I actually don't get angry that often AJ." Said Rainbow, Applejack glared at her. "Rainbow, my powers are activated when ah dredge up my strongest memories. Ah just had to think of you rejecting me in your mind to be able to cut that in half. My powers seem like they are easy, but they ain't. Ah don't want to look into the past for my most painful memories, just to make more when ah kill something." Said Applejack, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Rainbow hugged her again, but Applejack pushed her away. "Ah don't care what you are going to do, but ah'm gunna train. Like Black Diamond said, we need to keep improving ourselves." Said Applejack. Rainbow looked at the ground, feeling sorry for her. Applejack felt the tremendous gust of wind as Rainbow took off into the sky. Applejack didn't look at her, she just moved to the next dummy and got into the stance she was shown. --------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow landed on a cloud, one of the light, wispy ones that rested at the limits of her climbing ability. She looked down at the pony camp, and at the griffin one on the other side of the sea of blood red poppies. Rainbow couldn't help but wonder why they had grown. Had the blood of thousands soaked the ground to such an extent that the flowers were just being painted on their way to the surface? Or were the flowers themselves the souls of the dead, still wanting to fight and arising from the ground as the blood red flowers. Rainbow lay on the cloud thinking about it for hours. All of a sudden, she felt a weight on the cloud, she turned to see Princess Luna, and was even more surprised to see Pinkie on the Princess's back. "I thought we would find you here." Said Luna, lying down on the cloud next to Rainbow. "Hello Princess, did you want to speak with me?" asked Rainbow respectfully. "Actually Rainbow, both Pinkie and I want to speak with you." Said Luna. "You see Dashie, all three of us are alike, we all have, or had a dark part of ourselves that we had no control over. For you, it is Rainbow Dark, for Princess Luna, it was Nightmare Moon, and me, well remember that tombstone you found. That symbolises my defeat over my dark side." Pinkie told her, and Rainbow was shocked that she was willing to admit what happened to her. "But that's just it Pinkie, Rainbow Dark is meant to do good, not evil. I'm meant to save Equestria from the war. But I can't control myself when I'm Rainbow Dark, I just move on reflex." She explained. "Rainbow Dash, it was the same for me. Nightmare Moon was a construction of my resentment and rage. I was only a helpless bystander to her actions." Said Luna, much to Rainbow's surprise. She was not expecting Luna to have had no control over Nightmare Moon. Rainbow always believed that she was just Luna gone insane. "Dashie, a very handsome Pink stallion once said to me; It is not our dark sides that make us who we are, it is our ability to overcome them that makes us great." Said Pinkie cryptically. Pinkie looked at her with confusion, and Pinkie just smiled, not elaborating on her knowledge. "I just need to figure out how to control Rainbow Dark, is that what you're saying?" asked Rainbow, Luna and Pinkie nodded. "You are just lucky to have something neither of us had during our dark period; somepony like Applejack to bring you back to the light." Said Luna, and Rainbow smiled, looking down at the training grounds and seeing Applejack still working on her sword skills. "She is amazing isn't she?" said Rainbow. Pinkie jumped from Luna's back onto Rainbow's. "We have faith in you both Dashie." Said Pinkie, hugging Rainbow fiercely. Rainbow's smile grew wider. "Thanks Pinkie, but would you mind getting off my back, I have some training to do."