//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Always connected- Aftermath // by The-rogue-shadow //------------------------------// Applejack awoke to shouting. She ran out of the tent with Rainbow and the others. Twilight was already awake and had her armour on. Applejack peered into the darkness and could see small flickers of fire at the front lines. Twilight spotted a pony that was carrying some water towards the fire. "What happened?" she asked, the fear in her voice was unmistakable. The pony dropped the bucket. Her eyes were darting around in panic. "Griffins…I think… Midnight attack…. Lit tents on fire…. Have to help." Said the pony, before picking up the bucket and galloping towards the flames. Applejack was the first one to follow her. She dodged the frantic ponies as they dashed around, trying to get organised. Out of the corner of her eye Applejack could make out Rainbow flying beside her. "Rainbow, grab a nice rain cloud and put out the flames." She ordered and Rainbow saluted before disappearing into the sky. Applejack gasped when she saw them, about ten tents had already burnt down and there were still some on fire. She felt the anger rise inside her. Remembering what DuskDrift had said, she let loose her voice power. The flames were torn away from the canvas tents, as the sound waves took the oxygen away. Rainbow showed up a second later, putting out the rest of the fires with a raincloud. Applejack saw an archer with his eyes and his bow trained on the sky. "What are you looking at?" she asked. The archer didn't look at her, just kept his eyes peeled on the sky. A tremendous roar suddenly made everypony silent. Applejack looked up, but couldn't see anything. Rainbow was at her side all of a sudden and Applejack held her breath, waiting. With a boom the dragon landed. Applejack staggered as the ground shook underneath her. It looked at them, snorting acrid black smoke from its nostrils. Applejack looked at Rainbow, whose eyes were wide with fear. "How many ponies were in those tents when they went up?" Applejack asked the archer. "At… At least twenty." He said quietly, trying not to bring himself to the dragon's attention. Applejack closed her eyes against the tears that tried to surface. "Rainbow, I have an idea, but I need you to think of Gilda." Applejack said. Rainbow gave her a puzzled look, before it dawned on her. "Do you think we can?" Rainbow asked. Applejack just smiled and nodded in response. "I'm with you AJ." Rainbow said. Applejack pulled her close and kissed her. She pulled away and galloped straight at the dragon, leaving Rainbow behind. Applejack ignored the worried shouts from Twilight and the others, instead focusing on the dragon in front of her. It noticed her and bellowed, and Applejack had to close her eyes against the heat that was coming out of its mouth. She stopped just short of the dragon and stood there, waiting. The dragon looked down at her, and Applejack took a deep breath. The dragon swung its clawed hand at her. Applejack closed her eyes, letting the fear into herself. Applejack opened her eyes a second later and took a quick look around, and was happy to find herself not being attacked by the dragon, as well as the fact that she was exactly where she wanted to be; On its head. Smiling despite her situation she closed her eyes again, thinking about all of the ponies that lost their lives when the dragon attacked. She let the tears flow freely this time, as the dragon figured out where she was. Its gigantic tail made its way toward her and Applejack reopened her eyes just in time to see it. Holding out her front legs, she caught the tail, only being pushed back slightly. With a shout she jumped off the dragons head, still holding the dragon's tail. The dragon was forced to fall onto its face and Applejack let go when she hit the ground. Applejack turned to see Rainbow Dark walk toward her. The red eyes shone and the smallest smirk was on her face. "Are you ready for this AJ?" asked Rainbow Dark, the voice distorted but still recognisable Rainbow's. Applejack nodded, and her Rainbow Dark's smile grew. "I think we need to end this with a boom." She said, taking off and flying straight at the dragon, knocking it onto its back as it tried to get up. Rainbow Dark then flew upwards, quickly becoming lost in the darkness. Applejack galloped back toward the dragon unsheathing her sword as she went. She jumped, her super strength launching her high into the air. The dragon opened its mouth and Applejack could see the flames building in its gullet. With a grunt she threw her sword into its mouth. The dragon began to gag as Applejack landed on its belly. The scaly skin rippled out from where she landed and Applejack could just make out her sword being coughed up. She galloped along the creature's underside. The scales were soft and slick underneath her hooves. Applejack jumped off at the neck and made her way to the head of the dragon. 'I hope this works.' Thought Applejack as she gripped one of the dragon's horns. With her body still charged with strength, Applejack started to spin the dragon around. It started to thrash about in protest as Applejack spun it faster. She let go and flung the dragon into the air, as she did, she let her memories take her back to when she first saw Gilda the day she had attacked Rainbow. Applejack took a deep breath as she felt muscles in her throat tense. "RAIN-BOW-DASH!" She yelled, the voice propelling the dragon skywards and signalling Rainbow Dark at the same time. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow closed her eyes and imagined Gilda, the look on her face when she attacked her, looking up and seeing Gilda standing over her, covered in Rainbow's own blood. Rainbow could feel herself transforming but it was different this time, it was tempered, controlled. The powerful rage was under her command. She opened her eyes and smiled, just in time to see Applejack slam the dragon's face into the ground. She walked over and Applejack turned to her. "Are you ready for this AJ?" Rainbow Dark asked and smiled even more when Applejack nodded. "I think we need to end this with a boom." Rainbow said, taking off and heading straight for the dragon. She collided with its chin and sent it falling onto its back. Rainbow then changed her course and flew directly up. She let her instincts take over again, as it was too dark to see where she was going until she broke the cloud cover. Rainbow burst through the last cloud and let herself be bathed in Luna's moonlight. "Well hey there Dash." Said a voice beside her, a voice that Rainbow Dark was hoping for. She turned and saw Gilda, relaxing lazily on a cloud, peering through a small hole at the chaos below. "Gilda." Said Rainbow, the distortion in her voice becoming worse. She started to make her way closer when Gilda held out her hand. "I wouldn't Dash. There are Griffin archers all around you. As soon as I give the slightest signal, they will fire. I don't think even you could survive." Gilda told her. Rainbow smiled; "I think you would be surprised." She said, and continued to get closer. Gilda closed her hand and arrows suddenly shot out from all directions, hitting Rainbow on all sides. She cried out in pain, which slowly turned into laughter. She looked at Gilda, whose expression was one of shock, and pulled out one of the arrows that had embedded itself in her neck. The wound healed almost immediately and Rainbow continued to get closer, now holding the arrow as a weapon. "No Dash. Please." Begged Gilda, obviously realising that Rainbow couldn't be stopped. Rainbow's smile grew even wider and she shook her head. "No Gilda, I won't fall for your fake begging." Said Rainbow, holding the arrow above her head. "RAIN-BOW-DASH!" Applejack's voice echoed through the sky, and Rainbow stopped, hesitating as to whether she should kill Gilda or the dragon. With a frustrated yell she dropped the arrow and dove though the hole on the clouds. Rainbow Dark picked up speed, as she held her front legs out in front of her. She could feel the pressure building in her head, threatening to make her skull cave in on itself. And then, with a final burst of speed, Rainbow Dark broke the sound barrier and her speed increased tenfold. A Dark but multi-coloured halo tore through the sky and a perfect, albeit dark, rainbow formed behind her. She ignored her usual feeling of joy that arose from completing a sonic rainboom, instead focusing on the steadily rising dragon in front of her. She closed every orifice on her head that she could, as she hit the dragon and pierced its skin. She burst out of the other side, taking a deep breath, but keeping her eyes closed, allowing her instincts to help her land. Rainbow Dark wiped the blood from her eyes and opened them. The first thing she saw was Applejack, her eyes fixed on the sky at the falling corpse of the dragon. Rainbow walked toward her, the transformation reversing. Rainbow turned in time to see the dragon's body hit the ground, the ground shook with the impact. For a minute, there was silence, as neither Rainbow nor Applejack were certain it was dead. Finally, Rainbow turned to Applejack and smiled. "We did it AJ. We killed a dragon! Woo Hoo!" Rainbow yelled happily, jumping up and down. Applejack laughed and Rainbow tried to hug her, but Applejack shook her head. "There is no way ah'm hugging you until you've taken a long bath." Applejack said jokingly. Rainbow turned as the other elements and Luna appeared, all had their mouths open wide in disbelief. "I… I… I am impressed with both of you, I knew that your abilities were mighty indeed but that was something else. And Rainbow, is that the tip of an arrow in your chest?" Asks Luna, And Rainbow looks down to find what is indeed the tip of an arrow still stuck in her chest. Applejack grabs it with her mouth and pulls. Rainbow grits her teeth at the pain. As soon as it was out, the wound closed over. "Are you okay? Any side effects?" asked the Doctor, once again shining his pen-light over both Rainbow and Applejack. "No Doctor, to be honest, I had more control over Rainbow Dark this time. I think it was because I willed it to happen this time, rather than it just appearing." Rainbow told him. The Doctor smiled, and Rainbow looked at the still shocked face of Luna. "Is there something wrong your majesty?" asked Applejack and Luna was jolted out of her trance. "Oh, it's just that I can't even fathom the strength of your abilities, you took down a fully grown dragon. Even Celestia couldn't." Said Luna, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Rarity hugged her, and Rainbow smiled awkwardly, not quite having figured out Rarity's relationships. "I think we can talk about this later, right now I need a long bath." Said Rainbow, taking off and heading toward the main tent. She crawled into the bath in the bath tent and laid back, letting the blood wash away. As soon as she was clean, Rainbow emptied the bloodied water and ran another bath to wash the last traces of it away. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Is there room for one more sugarcube?" asked Applejack, and Rainbow smiled, not opening her eyes. She nodded and could feel the water shift as Applejack got in. Applejack cuddled her, and Rainbow finally opened her eyes. They kissed, both because they had hardly spent any time alone in the past few weeks and to celebrate their accomplishment. "So are you going to tell me how you ended up with an arrow in your chest?" asked Applejack, raising her eyebrow. Rainbow smiled and told her what had happened. "That slimy polecat! She knows that the rules of engagement say that we aren't to fight at night." Said Applejack, outraged by Gilda's lack of morals. Rainbow shrugged. "We should have expected it really." Said Rainbow. Applejack looked her in the eyes and smiled; "Good point." Rainbow laughed. "Hey AJ, you know what we still haven't done since we woke up?" Rainbow winked at Applejack, who blushed. "Well… I do think we have a reason to celebrate." Said Applejack, and began to kiss Rainbow passionately. And for the rest of the night, they put the thoughts of war, of prophecies and of superpowers out of their minds, instead becoming one with each other.