Apples and Lightning

by Leaf Blade

08. Determination

Rainbow’s hand was still stuck to Applejack’s hand with a knife pierced through their palms, but she still knew she could catch the knife being thrown toward her eyes with her free hand. She flicked her wrist and snatched the knife out of the air, grinning at how amazing she must have looked, before realizing there was a second knife trailing the first.

Thinking either very quickly or not at all, Rainbow lurched forward and grabbed the second knife in her teeth, chomping down on it and inhaling sharply as she felt her lips being cut, but she was at least happy to find that was the extent of the damage, and the knives.

At least until the pink woman standing atop the thill threw at least three more her way.

Rainbow tore her hand through the knife impaling it and Applejack’s, hissing in pain and gritting her teeth against the knife in her mouth, but managing to jump out of the way of the thrown knives, not even pretending to be shocked that there were at least five that she counted hitting the ground.

“Fluttershy!” Applejack called out as she took the knife out of her palm. “Take Lightning Dust and get to safety!”

Fluttershy didn’t hesitate to do as ordered, freeing Applejack and Rainbow to focus on the enemy in front of them.

At least that was before another enemy stood back up.

Rainbow and Applejack both turned their attention to Limestone as she stood to her feet— though just barely, considering her trembling legs and the thick coat of dried blood all over her.

Applejack and Rainbow exchanged a glance and AJ nodded her head toward Limestone before taking off in her direction, leaving Rainbow to deal with the pink girl.

Though before Rainbow could even take a step in the pink girl’s direction, she was halfway toward Applejack with her knives drawn, and Rainbow had to really push it into high gear to get herself between the pink girl and Applejack, lest AJ be cut to ribbons.

Rainbow’s left hand was pretty badly damaged, what with the hole through her palm and everything, and it dangled painfully at her side as she ran to protect AJ, but she still had one of the pink girl’s knives and one good hand to use, and she was hellbent on doing just that.

Everything happened in a big blur, and Rainbow didn’t know if she’d actually saved Applejack until after she’d heard the clanging of knives and the tearing of skin. She felt Applejack’s hand tap her arm—most likely to let Rainbow know she was fine, but Rainbow barely acknowledged it since her head was still spinning— as AJ continued her path toward Limestone.

The pink girl had no intention on stopping for Rainbow and tried to chase Applejack, but Rainbow was just fast enough to get in her way and deflect one of her knife slashes, but not fast enough to deflect the second one, and it was only then that Rainbow realized that her last clash with the girl ended with Rainbow getting cut, so now Rainbow had two gashes on the side of her chest, and the pink girl was uninjured.

“Pinkie Pie!” Limestone growled as she rushed past Pinkie and Rainbow, Applejack hot on her trail as the two ran up the hill.

“Just go, Limestone,” Pinkie said in a dull, monotonous voice, “I’ll take care of this and be right behind you.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about—”

Rainbow’s taunt got cut off, but it was only by lurching her head back in the nick of time that her head didn’t meet the same fate. Pinkie was still not interested in Rainbow at all, and was hyper-focused on stopping Applejack from pursuing Limestone.

As Applejack ran up the hill, Pinkie went to intercept her, and with her speed it’d be no problem to put herself in Applejack’s path, so Rainbow had to find a way to keep Pinkie’s attention long enough for Applejack to disappear behind the hill.

Luckily, Applejack helped with that by throwing her straw hat at Pinkie’s face; Pinkie swiped it out of the air with her knife, cutting it in two, but the distraction was just enough for Rainbow to make up ground.

Rainbow charged at Pinkie and threw her knife at the pink girl’s head, forcing Pinkie to spin around and deflect the thrown blade, halting her progress just long enough for Rainbow to go in for a punch. Pinkie cut Rainbow’s fingers and took a step back, easily avoiding Rainbow’s attack, so Rainbow just jumped forward and threw another.

Another step back from Pinkie, and another slash across Rainbow’s fingers. So Rainbow threw another punch, and another, and another, and each time ended with her hands getting more and more slashes up and Pinkie being no worse for wear.

But…

Pinkie’s eye twitched and she clicked her tongue, her face twisting into a frustrated scowl as she realized Applejack had gotten away, and Rainbow had gotten between Pinkie and the only way up the hill to pursue her.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now,” Rainbow grinned, twitching her bloodied fingers to make sure she could still move all of ‘em. She was projecting confidence now, but she swore if Marble or Maud suddenly re-entered the fight, it’d be all over for her. Not something she could afford to think about right now though.

“You’re pretty persistent,” Pinkie said dryly.

“I’m gonna protect Applejack,” Rainbow said sternly, planting her feet firmly in the dirt, “I’m gonna see her fulfill her mission, and I’m gonna keep fighting until my last breath if that’s what it takes, but I will not let her down.”

“I hope she cares about you enough-“ Pinkie sighed “-to at least throw you a funeral party.”

Rainbow groaned quietly and measured her distance from Pinkie, who appeared to be measuring Rainbow up too, though Rainbow knew she had to remain on guard no matter what, because Pinkie was fast, and just a fraction of a second could make all the difference between Rainbow living or dying in this fight.

So it really sucked that Rainbow was starting to feel woozy and lightheaded.

She twitched her fingers, and they were still moving okay, her left hand was really falling apart, with blood pouring out the hole in her palm, and bloody cuts all over her fingers; she barely had feeling in it already, and it was only getting worse as time went on.

Not to mention, there were cuts all over Rainbow’s other hand now too, plus the two gashes in her stomach. If Rainbow didn’t wrap this fight up soon, Pinkie would.

That said, it was obvious that Rainbow couldn’t approach Pinkie without getting cut, and Pinkie was damn good at avoiding Rainbow’s attacks to boot. But that just meant Rainbow would just have to stop caring about getting hurt and go all in. It was do or die time, and Rainbow had a strong feeling she was about to do both.

But just as long as Rainbow could stop Pinkie from going after Applejack—or Fluttershy and the others, for that matter—then that’s all that counted.

Rainbow rushed Pinkie as fast as she could, but Pinkie was way ahead of her, bringing her knives to bear and jumping back, but Rainbow just grabbed the knives’ blades and yanked on them, shredding her palms but dragging Pinkie off-balance.

Rainbow grabbed Pinkie’s hair and yanked on it, slamming their heads together, which forced Pinkie to loosen her grip on one of the knives, and giving Rainbow the opportunity to snatch it out of her hand.

Rainbow went for Pinkie’s eye with her new knife but Pinkie blocked it with her own, further shredding Rainbow’s hand in the process as her fingers had still been wrapped around the blade. Rainbow pushed against Pinkie’s knife, forcing Pinkie to dig her feet into the dirt and push back, which gave Rainbow the chance to throw the knife at Pinkie’s feet instead.

Pinkie moved her foot out of the way, but with her diverting her focus to that for a fraction of a second, it gave Rainbow an opening to grab Pinkie’s hair once more. Pinkie stabbed her knife into the back of Rainbow’s hand—giving both her hands neat little holes now—but Rainbow just yanked on Pinkie’s long, straight hair and lurched her forward, punching her in the chest.

Rainbow grabbed Pinkie’s wrist, twisting it at an awkward angle and watching Pinkie wince in pain; as Pinkie was distracted by said pain, Rainbow kicked her hard in the stomach.

With the spare second, Rainbow tore the knife out of her hand, and now Pinkie was disarmed, Rainbow still had a hand on her wrist, and Rainbow had a knife; she was now in total control of this fight, but she’d still have to end it quickly before Pinkie regained her momentum.

And that was easier said than done, considering Rainbow felt like the whole world was moving in slow-motion all of a sudden and her vision was blurring.

But whatever, she’d just have to shake that off!

Rainbow yanked Pinkie forward and threw a punch at her face, but Pinkie blocked it with her free hand, and yanked her other hand back. She twitched her fingers and a pink light shone in her hand, and suddenly she was holding another knife.

Not great.

Even less great, Rainbow felt her legs trembling underneath her, ready to give. She tried to charge forward in one last desperate attack, but she couldn’t get her legs to move. Pinkie Pie had no such problems.

Pinkie closed the distance and stabbed Rainbow in the stomach, and Rainbow went for Pinkie’s eyes with her own knife, but Pinkie conjured another knife just in time to block Rainbow’s attack, then tore the knife out of Rainbow’s stomach and stabbed her again.

Pinkie took a step back, and Rainbow tried to move forward but as soon as her legs began to move, they gave out, bringing Rainbow to the ground in a heap.

Pinkie didn’t say anything as she stepped over Rainbow Dash to pursue Applejack. Rainbow growled and bit her lip, because she would be damned if she let things end this way.

While Pinkie was still stepping over her, Rainbow twisted her body around and stabbed Pinkie in the leg. Pinkie cried out in pain but she tried to just keep walking, but Rainbow held tightly onto the knife, digging it into and tearing down across her leg, leaving a bloody gash in its wake.

Rainbow grabbed Pinkie’s leg with her free hand, and though Pinkie tried to shake her off, it wasn’t happening.

“You just don’t know when to give up,” Pinkie growled.

“I do know,” Rainbow cackled, “it’s just never.”

Pinkie stomped on Rainbow’s hand, finally freeing her leg, but she wobbled backward and bumped up against a stone wall. Rainbow couldn’t bring herself back to her feet, but she still had a knife and was able to get just enough forward momentum to stab Pinkie’s other leg in the shin, Pinkie whimpering upon impact.

“I’m not letting you get away,” Rainbow hissed as blood dripped out her mouth and she slashed her knife down Pinkie’s leg.

Pinkie groaned furiously and kicked Rainbow’s head, but Rainbow just took the abuse and kept stabbing her knife into Pinkie’s leg and foot. Even if Pinkie was getting away, Rainbow would make damn sure she couldn’t keep up with Applejack.

The world was spinning around Rainbow now and everything was getting blurrier, gloomier, and darker. She wasn’t sure if she’d like passed out for a second or what, but suddenly Pinkie was standing away from her, though Rainbow could still see the streams of blood pouring down her legs.

Pinkie turned away and Rainbow tried to crawl after her, but she couldn’t move. All she could do was watch as Pinkie walked slowly, painfully, up the hill.

Until Pinkie fell to her knees, then collapsed.

Rainbow tried to push out a wheezy laugh, but all she managed was a smirk as she blacked out.

At least she won.

****

By the time Applejack had gotten away from Pinkie Pie and Rainbow, her quarry Limestone was almost out of sight, and she didn’t see the other two girls as she raced up the hill either, but she was determined not to let Limestone get away.

Applejack didn’t know for sure if Limestone’s group was responsible for the weird disappearance of the field test’s staff, but she couldn’t let Limestone get away until she could get some kind of information out of her, what her group was even doing there during the Academy’s field test, if nothing else.

She picked up her pace as she reached a flat peak and she caught sight of Limestone up ahead, but the sudden appearance of a thin blade cutting in front of her blocked her path and forced her to jump back.

Applejack readied her weary body for a battle as she scanned the woman standing just a couple feet from her, and she was baffled that she didn’t see the woman until it was almost too late.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said in a posh, dignified voice as she delicately traced her ivory finger across the flat of her sword, “but I’m afraid this is as far as I can let you go, darling.”

“And you are?” Applejack raised her fists in front of her and the woman let out a gentle sigh.

She was tall, almost reaching Applejack’s height, with ghostly white skin and an ocean of unkempt dark purple hair that reached down to her back, dressed in a plain white dress shirt, a dark grey long skirt, and blue heels; the kind of getup you wear when you want to pretend to be nobility on a budget.

“My name is Rarity,” the woman said pleasantly and pointed her sword at Applejack. “And you are?”

“Applejack.”

Applejack didn’t see a reason to withhold her own name; there wasn’t much her opponent could really do with it, and her name would be common knowledge once she became the Knight of Strength, though Rarity’s gasp and widening eyes were not the reaction Applejack expected.

“Applejack?” Rarity asked, and let out a small giggle as she bit her thumbnail. “Well, I suppose that does make things a little more interesting, doesn’t it?”

Applejack had a mind to ask what Rarity was going on about, but she still needed to catch Limestone, so she put it out of her mind and prepared for battle. She was feeling much sturdier thanks to Fluttershy’s help earlier, but she still wasn’t back to one-hundred percent, so she’d have to make this fight end as quick as possible.

And if this woman was a swordswoman, then breaking her sword would be the quickest way to take control of this fight.

Applejack charged Rarity, who merely let out a tender sigh before practically disappearing faster than Applejack could even blink, and Applejack only realized Rarity was behind her after she heard the slash cutting through her side.

Rarity flicked her sword, spraying splotches of Applejack’s blood across the stone. Applejack let the Earth Aura charge through her body as she prepared for another attack.

Applejack took a running start, letting her magic course through her arm as she threw a punch aimed at Rarity’s sword. Rarity looked unfazed and merely blocked with the flat of her blade, and Applejack smirked as Rarity walked right into her trap.

And then Applejack heard a crack, and a wave of pain rushed through her hand, and then her whole body.

She stumbled back and steadily moved her hand, and an agonizing twitch of her finger confirmed her fear that her hand had been broken instead of the sword.

“You didn’t think that a mere punch-“ Rarity spoke, somehow from behind Applejack again, and sliced her sword across the back of Applejack’s leg, cutting it open “-could shatter a diamond, did you?”

Applejack fell to her knees, just barely catching herself with her hands before her face could hit the ground, though slapping her broken fingers onto the stone ground sent another shockwave of pain through her that got a pained grimace out of her.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity gently whispered, and Applejack bolted her head up as she saw a shadow begin to cover her, “but as I said, this is as far as you’re allowed to go.”

Applejack grit her teeth as several diamonds formed in the sky and rocketed toward her. She shut her eyes as she braced herself for the painful skewering, but she never felt a thing.

When Applejack opened her eyes, she didn’t recognize the room around her. Her brain was still trying to catch up to what had happened, and the lavish, decorated bedroom surrounding her didn’t make sense to her; red paint and gold curtains, priceless art on the wall and treasures adorning a nearby mantlepiece.

She blinked a couple times, because she still hadn't quite understood why she was no longer in the Fillydelphia cliffs. But then she realized she was lying on a bed, and had been changed out of her bloodstained uniform into a comfortable shirt and pants, and she started to put the pieces together.

Whatever that Rarity had done to incapacitate the Academy field test staff, she must have done the same thing to Applejack.

“Damn it,” Applejack whispered under her breath, swinging her legs around to dangle them off the bed, and putting her fists up to her cheeks, and she took a sec to appreciate that at least her stems weren’t busted anymore. “What is goin’ on here?”

“Oh!” a startled girl’s voice chirped and Applejack was on her feet in a fighting pose before she could even blink, which only startled Twilight Sparkle more as she entered the room. “S-sorry! I didn’t think you’d be awake yet!”

“Uh, I’m sorry,” Applejack lowered her fists and sat back down on the bed, running a hand through her hair. “Guess I’m just a bit punchy right now.”

“No worries,” Twilight chuckled awkwardly, and Applejack got the impression that her ‘no worries’ was meant more for herself than for Applejack.

“Uh, hey,” Applejack stood up and walked over to Twilight, who leaned cautiously against the doorframe, likely uncomfortable with entering the room now that Applejack was awake, “what’s the deal with, uh, this-“ Applejack tugged at her shirt “-situation? Pretty sure I didn’t pass out wearin’ these duds.”

“You came here from the hospital,” Twilight said seriously, “the nurses took care of getting you dressed in clean clothes, and getting you out of the bloodstained ones.”

“Okay,” Applejack sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as some lingering embarrassment burned her cheeks, “I guess that’s—that makes sense.”

“Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, and Fluttershy’s team were all recovered without any serious injuries as well,” Twilight explained, pushing up her glasses while looking anywhere but at Applejack.

“Not to mention,” Twilight continued, “Commander Shining Armor has sent a contingent of troops—including some of our top mages—to scour every inch of the Fillydelphia hills. They found several of the field test crew buried inside the earth itself—shaken and unconscious, but otherwise uninjured, but we need to make sure we don’t leave anyone behind.”

“That’s… a terrifyin’ thought,” Applejack gulped.

“Yeah,” Twilight croaked.

“So what exactly happened out there?” Applejack asked. With her concerns out of the way, it was time to get down to some answers. “Who was that Rarity girl? What did she and her little bandit crew want? Why did they attack the field test crew? Where did they run off to?”

“Actually,” Twilight let out a strained groan, “Shining Armor was hoping you could tell him. Fluttershy and her team gave him their account already, but their information wasn’t much to go off of, and they insisted that you and Rainbow Dash would be able to paint a fuller portrait of the day’s events.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Applejack grumbled and tried not to look as frustrated as she felt.

Wouldn’t do to make Twilight worry any more’n she already was, but Applejack couldn’t help feeling annoyed that not only was she not getting answers, she’d have to answer to Shining Armor on top of that, which was the last thing she wanted.

“Oh, and, um,” Twilight chattered, visibly sweating, “one last thing.” Applejack cocked her head to one side and raised an impatient eyebrow. “Shining Armor isn’t the only one who wants to talk to you.”

“Who el— oh no,” Applejack threw her face into her palm.

“I’m sure that Sir Big Macintosh only wants to make sure that you’re safe,” Twilight said, being awfully optimistic.

“No, what he wants is to give me a lecture,” Applejack groaned. “He’s gonna grill me about goin’ off on my own and tryin’ to handle this situation all by myself, talk about how ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’ it was. Ugh.”

Twilight paused for a moment while Applejack stewed around in her bitterness.

“Uh, would he be wrong though?” Twilight broke the silence with those words, and if she weren’t a family friend and if Applejack were a more impulsive gal, Applejack probably would’ve broken something else.

Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose and glared at Twilight, who took a step back and bumped into the doorframe. Applejack took a deep breath and closed her eyes, releasing her breath in a slow, frustrated sigh.

“Twi,” Applejack said in as calm and measured a tone as she could muster, “I’m already gettin’ this lecture from Big Mac, and probably Shinin’ Armor for that matter, so could you maybe stow it for now?”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight whispered, fidgeting her hands in front of her.

“I’m sorry too,” Applejack cleared her throat and shifted awkwardly back and forth, “I shouldn’t’ve gotten short with ya, you didn’t deserve that.”

Twilight giggled, “If that was your idea of ‘short’, you must have the patience of a saint.”

“Thanks,” Applejack chuckled, feeling her cheeks turn pink again and ruffling up her hair. “Anyhoo, I’d better get changed ‘fore I talk to Rainbow and Lightning Dust, then I’d better-“ Applejack’s arms fell limply to her sides as she sighed “-I’d better talk to Shinin’ Armor and Big Mac.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said.

“Don’t apologize,” Applejack shrugged. “Ain’t yer fault.”

“Well, for what it’s worth,” Twilight twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, “I’m really looking forward to drinks with you and the other girls tonight.”

“Yeah,” Applejack brightened up at that thought and held out her hand, Twilight grabbing hesitantly and Applejack closing her other hand around Twilight’s, “big same.”

****

Rainbow Dash paced the hall, biting down on her thumbnail. There was so much about this situation that just didn’t sit right with her; passing out during a dangerous mission, waking up in some weird location, going through the hospital without waking up, only finding stupid bougie clothes in the dresser—everything was a mess!

And now she was pacing the halls of the some opulent-ass mansion, waiting for Applejack or Lightning Dust to wake up so that she could figure out what the hell was going on!

Last thing she knew, she’d blacked out in the Fillydelphia hills, then bam! Now she was in some mansion, her injuries had been taken care of, and Twilight briefly popped into her room to tell her that Shining Armor was gonna talk her ear off later.

Cool story!

Rainbow heard a door open behind her, and her whole body stiffened up and she whirled around super fast. She bit some skin off her thumb when she saw Lightning Dust coming out of the door.

“Lightning!” Rainbow called out, and Lightning brought her head up and looked at Rainbow, but she looked a little dazed, like she was still half-asleep.

Then Lightning blinked and grinned at Rainbow, throwing off that sense of dreariness she just had on a second ago. Must’ve been nothing.

“Rainbow Dash,” Lightning said coolly, walking down the hall and clasping Rainbow’s hand, “glad you’re up and walking around already. I thought for sure you’d still be snoozing until someone finally woke you up out of pity!”

“Haha,” Rainbow said dryly, sticking out her tongue, “at least I didn’t sleep through the battle!”

Rainbow had only meant that as a joke, but Lightning withdrew her hand like it had been stung by a scorpion.

“Heheh,” Lightning said, not even pretending to actually laugh.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t—”

“It’s whatever,” Lightning dismissively waved her hand. She didn’t say anything else as she passed Rainbow and headed further down the hall.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Rainbow asked. “Don’t you wanna wait for Applejack?”

“Nah,” Lightning shrugged. “Long as you’re here when she wakes up, that’s good enough. Not like she needs me hovering over her or anything. Besides, I gotta-“ Lightning let out a bitter sigh “-I gotta think about some stuff. I gotta lot of work I need to be doing.”

“Well, you’re still coming for drinks tonight, right?”

“Think I’ll pass, Dash,” Lightning waved without looking at Rainbow as she headed out the door. “Rain check though!”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said as Lightning disappeared behind the door, “sure.”

Rainbow kept pacing until her legs got too tired to stand, and she curled up with her back against a door—she didn’t know which door it was, the hall was full of them and Rainbow had long since lost all sense of space or where she was in the hall— holding her legs in front of her and resting her chin on her knees.

And suddenly, the door opened behind her and Rainbow went tumbling onto her back, and she would’ve been super annoyed at that, but seeing Applejack’s pretty face looking down at her was like drinking cold water after three days in the desert.

“Applejack?” Rainbow blinked, cuz part of her wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or something.

“What’s up, sugarcube?” Applejack chuckled. “Why’re you layin’ on the floor?”

Rainbow bolted up and tried to turn around and stand up at the same time, but she slipped halfway up and started falling, so she shut her eyes and braced herself to collide with the hardwood floor. But she after a second of not falling, she opened her eyes to see that Applejack had grabbed her hand and kept her up.

Rainbow jumped back and cleared her throat, pretending like her face was definitely not turning all red right now.

“Uhm, ahem—” Rainbow started mumbling a sentence, but she cut herself off. She let her hand fall limp at her side, sliding it into her pants pocket as she bit her lip.

“Somethin’ wrong, hon?” Applejack took a step closer.

“I’m sorry,” Rainbow croaked, “I really let you down today.”

“How do you figure?” Applejack stood in front of Rainbow and put her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “We went in to save Fluttershy’s team, and we did just that. Yeah, we got our asses kicked, but nobody got killed and we all walked away in one piece. That’s a win in my book.”

“I guess,” Rainbow groaned and put her hand over Applejack’s, taking it off her shoulder and holding it in front of her, “I mean, I know, but I still don’t feel like—eh, I feel like I—”

“Look, I get it,” Applejack put her hand over Rainbow’s, making Rainbow’s heart beat weirdly faster for some reason, “we both got a little in over our heads today. But what matters is we’re both still here, and we got each other’s backs. Which is great, cuz that whole thing with Shining is gonna be torture.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Rainbow cackled. “But hey, at least we’re gonna get drunk like right after!”

“Now you’re talkin’!” Applejack cheered and grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and pulling her into a hug.

Rainbow hesitantly put her arms around Applejack and patted her back before pushing herself away.

“You ready to go and get this over with?” Applejack cocked her head.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded, “I’ll follow your lead.”

Author's Note:

What if Appledash, but I actually manage to update once in a while but everyone gets stabbed and falls over (except Rarity who is perfect).

Please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Grainne Ni Bhroin]

Really hope this gets continued

[Leaf Blade]

10603786
same tbh! it's super on the back burner rn cuz i'm busy with other projects and also Life Happenings, but i haven't forgotten about it

[Grainne Ni Bhroin]

10603797
That's understandable, especially with the steaming pile 2020 has been. But yeah I enjoy the story so far and I am an absolute sucker for some AppleDash fluff