Rainbow, Pinkamena, and Applejack, all walked through the Everfree Forest. An eerie howl rang out through the dark woods, but the three continued to move forward. "So........" Applejack said as she shifted her saddlebags. "y'all have any idea what this 'Tree of Harmony' looks like?" Applejack looked on, as Rainbow's face switched from one of determination, to painful realization. "I....I don't know." "Ho friends!" They turned to Pinkamena, who stood at a cliff, pointing down into a trench. "I am not sure, but methinks this might beest the Tree" They looked down the trench and saw a dark light emitted from the back of the trench. The three exchanged glances, before starting down the crumbling stairway.
They reached the bottom, and stood staring at a gray-silver Tree, with a single gem in the center, and crowned by five more gems. Each gem was a deep gray, without a single trace of shimmer, yet they appeared to emit a powerful darkness, seemingly eliminating every drop of color in it's path. Rainbow nodded.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure this is it."
"So.....what are we supposed to do now?"
"I doth believeth that we should beginneth gathering the Elements."
Applejack nodded, and pulled open the saddlebags. Rainbow flew up, carefully grasping each gem, one by one, and placing it in the bags. When every gem had been removed, she landed next to Pinkamena with a frown. "Okay, now what do we do?" She placed a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment. "I believeth we should beginneth looking for the other ponies The Alicorn Twilight hadst mentioned." Applejack perked up. This was how she could be helpful; by giving them their first lead. "I think we should, cause Ah know one of the ponies that Twilight had mentioned. Rarity." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Okay, where is this 'Rarity'?" "Last Ah heard, she moved to Manehattan to help with the cause. We should head there." Pinkamena and Rainbow nodded, and the group headed back up the stairway.
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The three rode on the train, each staring out the window, with the exception of Pinkamena, who fiddled with her hooves mindlessly. Applejack looked back down at the saddle bags placed next to her. Her thoughts drifted to the gems inside. These gems could be the key to winning a war that had gone on for years.....if they managed to find a way to use them. She then looked up at the Pegasus across from her, and her eyes drifted to Rainbow's chipped ear, and metal wing.
"So........It's gonna be a while until we reach Manehattan, so we should at least do something more than just sit in silence."
Pinkamena rolled her eyes. "And what art thou suggesting we doth?"
Applejack cringed. The grayish-pink Earth Pony had done nothing but scowl the whole time, and it was beginning to freak her out. Her strange way of speaking did not help. "Well, we could talk."
Rainbow scoffed with an offensive tone. "And what are we supposed to talk about?"
"Well........." Applejack had an idea what to talk about, and it would most likely give them a long conversation, not to mention bring the three of them closer, but she was hesitant, due to the fact it would most likely be a touchy subject for both her companions. She decided to risk it. "we could talk about what y'all do on the front lines."
The two soldiers went rigid, staring into the distance.
Applejack immediately regretted her choice of conversation.
Pinkamena eventually shook her head, and resumed fiddling with her hooves, responding with a cold "Just stuff." Applejack looked back to Rainbow, whose eyes were slowly narrowing into a glare. She eventually let out a cold-hearted harrumph that could have frozen a fire, and turned back to the window responding with "That's not important."
Applejack stared forward at the blue Pegasus. She mulled over wether or not she should keep pushing.
Well, Ah'm already off on the wrong hoof. Ah can't dig myself any deeper.
"Rainbow,"
"Soldier 8194253."
"Soldier.......whatever all those numbers were, you don't have to be scared of telling-"
"Soldiers. Don't. Get. Scared."
Applejack narrowed her eyes to a glare. "Now listen here, Ah've had just about enough of your cold scowls and such. Now Ah my sound rude, but Ah don't care if you're a soldier. You are a pony, just like me. You have nothing to be worried about when it comes to telling me things. Ah have never broke a promise in my life, and Ah promise I will not tell a soul a thing you tell me. Do you understand me?"
Rainbow stared in a mix of shook and confusion at the Earth Pony's outbreak. Pinkamena had also looked up from her hoof fiddling to examine the two. The two stared at each in silence, before Rainbow growled. "What do you want to know?"
Applejack sighed in relief. She may have finally found a way into the reserved soldier. "First off....what happened to your wing and your ear."
Rainbow's scowl softened, to the face of a pony who was recalling troubling memories. She looked down at the metal protruding from her side, and placed a hoof to where a sizable chunk of her ear had once been. She let out a sigh. "You really want to know?" Applejack nodded. Rainbow looked to Pinkamena who instantly reeled back defensively. "Ho! Don't behold at me! Applejack wast the one who hath asked, not me!" Rainbow sighed. "Fine."
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Rainbow was shaken awake by a loud explosion, followed by the sound she feared the most, the emergency alarm. She shot up from her bed to see ponies running about. She yelped as another explosion rang out through the barracks. She jumped up, desperately wishing she paid more attention to drill training. She pulled on her uniform, struggling as she pulled the fabric over her wings. She slipped on her helmet, and burst through the door.
She screeched to a halt at the sight before her. Fire spread out around her, flames rising up from the multiple crumbled barracks. Ponies flew and ran about as spells blasted through the midnight sky. She shivered both from the cold of the northern nighttime air, and the shock of the event taking place before her.
She was suddenly flung forward, as another bomb landed on the barracks behind her. She screamed as her helmet flew off her head, as she was flung through the air, and finally found herself slammed into a rock. She groaned in pain, tears streaming down her face. She slowly opened her eyes, before widening them at the sight of her barracks, the place her belongings, and her friends, once were, and the flames that now flew up from it's crumbled remains. She felt her tears coming down like a waterfall, but clenched her eyes shut against the torrent.
She lifted up her head, and winced at a throbbing pain. She lifted a hoof to her ear, and froze as she felt liquid streaming down her hoof. She pulled down her hoof into her line of sight, and stared at the red substance streaked across once blue fur. She turned to the rock on which she had landed, and froze in horror at the sharp edge, which now held a chunk of blue, dripping with blood.
She screamed, but was cut off as a form tackled her to the ground. She found herself pinned to the ground by a crystal soldier, who pulled out a knife, an evil demented grin stretching across his face. She pulled her eyes shut, preparing herself for the inevitable fate that awaited her.
She herd a grunt of pain from the soldier holding her down, and felt the pressure on her hooves quickly release. She lifted her head slightly, and saw an Equestrian soldier, a gray Earth Pony with a flat slightly purple mane, had pushed over her attacker, and delivered him an eternal fate. The Earth Pony looked over to Rainbow, and froze.
Her attacker's knife had missed.
Rainbow stared in horror at the sight. The knife had missed her head, but had ended up slicing her wing clean off. The appendage now lay next to Rainbow, slowly losing color as blood dripped from the wound. "We need to get you to a nurse. Now." Rainbow looked up at the soldier, who stood over her, holding out a hoof. "No." Rainbow grabbed the hoof, and struggled to pull herself up. "I need to keep fighting." "I refuse to let you die because of your own stubbornness. You. Are. Going. To. A. Nurse. Now. Is that understood?" Rainbow stared at the pony, pain overtaking her form, before hanging her head, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Okay."
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Rainbow stared down at her hooves, while Applejack stared forward with what she hoped was a sympathetic expression. She glanced a Pinkamena, who stared forward with a look of shock, and sympathy. Rainbow's eyes narrowed to a glare, tears still falling, as she looked up at Applejack. "You can't tell this to anypony." Applejack nodded. "Ah promise."
"Um.....Applejack?"
She turned to Pinkamena, who pointed down at the saddlebags. The farmer pulled the bags open, and stared in awe at a single gem, that flickered with a soft orange.